agassiz forgery: 2011

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Students claim L-3 falsely promised FAA jobs

Arlington-based Link Simulation and Training Air Traffic Control Academy used false promises of jobs with the Federal Aviation Administration? ? Federal Aviation Administration Latest from The Business Journals U.S. sues FedEx for alleged cargo container violations in 2008Lambert ranked among safest US airportsMemphis International ranked 2nd safest airport by Travel + Leisure Follow this company to lure students to the school, according to allegations in a lawsuit filed against parent company L-3 Communications? ? L-3 Communications Latest from The Business Journals Danaher sells defense electro-optical businessDanaher sells defense electro-optical businessCounterfeit Chinese parts found on Boeing P8-A Follow this company .

Thirteen men claim L-3 Communications charged them $41,000 apiece in tuition and guaranteed them that "the first 100 graduates would be hired by the FAA," according to the suit. L-3 provided inadequate training and they never got the jobs, according to the claim filed in federal court in Dallas.

"To date, not a single student has received a job offer as promised," the lawsuit says. "In fact, plaintiffs have learned that the FAA never made the agreement represented by the defendants."

"Furthermore, plaintiffs have learned that their training received at the Academy is insufficient, by itself, to even qualify them to work in a FAA air traffic control tower," the complaint says.

A spokesperson for L-3 could not immediately be reached for comment.

The plaintiffs say L-3 told them that the company had reached an agreement with the FAA to hire the first 100 Academy graduates, that graduation from the academy would qualify them for employment in a FAA air traffic control tower and that graduates would be employed by the FAA before they had to repay loaned tuition.

Greg Jackson and Jim Zadeh of The Law Offices of Greg Jackson PLLC in Fort Worth represent the plaintiff

"To date, not a single student has received a job offer as promised," the lawsuit says. "In fact, plaintiffs have learned that the FAA never made the agreement represented by the defendants."

"Furthermore, plaintiffs have learned that their training received at the Academy is insufficient, by itself, to even qualify them to work in a FAA air traffic control tower," the complaint says.

A spokesperson for L-3 could not immediately be reached for comment.

Greg Jackson and Jim Zadeh of The Law Offices of Greg Jackson PLLC in Fort Worth represent the plaintiff

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_61/~3/BZPLzI5OnJc/students-claim-l-3-falsely-promised.html

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The 7 biggest political downfalls of 2011 (The Week)

New York ? From Mubarak to Weiner, it was a banner year for fallen despots, dictators, congressmen, and presidential hopefuls

If global politics had an annual awards show, the segment devoted to eulogizing those statesmen we lost in 2011 would be long and impressive. From deposed international despots to sexually reckless U.S. politicians who were forced to leave the political sphere, it was a bad year to get caught on the wrong side of revolutions and popular revulsion. Here, seven of the most dramatic, unexpected falls from power in 2011:

1. Hosni Mubarak
Egypt's president for 30 years, Mubarak was forced out?on Feb. 11, after 18 days of mostly peaceful protests centered in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Mubarak was hardly sent into a comfortable retirement: International banks froze billions of dollars of his and his family's assets, and Mubarak ? reportedly in grave health ? was locked up to face murder and corruption charges. Mubarak's downfall is right up there with "the fall of communism 20 years ago" as a "validation to all those around the world who believe in democracy, the power of peaceful protest, and the right of all people to seek redress of their grievances," said The Baltimore Sun in an editorial.

SEE MORE: The 4 biggest scientific breakthroughs of 2011

2. Moammar Gadhafi
The Libyan strongman ruled for 12 years longer than Mubarak, but his end was more gruesome and more final. After months of battle with rebel forces aided by NATO airstrikes, Gadhafi went into hiding in late August when he lost control of Libya's capital, Tripoli. Then, on Oct. 20, Gadhafi was discovered by enemy forces in Sirte, where he was beaten, humiliated, and killed. "Libyans suffered terribly under Gadhafi for decades," said Amy Davidson in The New Yorker. But, in the interest of justice, clearing up the murkiness surrounding the dictator's brutal death "matters, even for him."

3. Silvio Berlusconi
By the time Italy's colorfully controversial prime minister was forced into retirement?on Nov. 12, nearly two decades after taking office, he had achieved a profound unpopularity. Berlusconi presided?over his country's slide toward insolvency, and he was long plagued by allegations of corruption and myriad sex scandals, including charges that he slept with an underage prostitute. The real surprise isn't that "the undisputed clown of international politics has finally been forced out of the circus," said Alex Fusco in Britain's The Independent. It's that he wasn't "led out of office in handcuffs."

4. Dominique Strauss-Kahn
The International Monetary Fund chief and early frontrunner in France's 2012 presidential race was arrested in New York City on May 15, after hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo accused Strauss-Kahn of raping her. New York prosecutors dropped the criminal charges?on Aug. 23 after doubts emerged about Diallo's credibility, but Strauss-Kahn's IMF career and presidential prospects were already in tatters. The collapse of the New York case "doesn't mean that Strauss-Kahn is innocent, of course," said Doug Mataconis at?Outside the Beltway, but I think he has a right to ask "where he goes to get his reputation back."

5. Anthony Weiner
In one of the oddest sex-related scandals of the year, Rep. Weiner (D-N.Y.) resigned from Congress in disgrace on June 16 after he was caught sending sexually suggestive or lewd photos of himself to a group of women he never met in real life. Weiner was busted by a conservative blogger on May 27 when the congressman accidentally posted a photo of his underwear-clad erection to his public Twitter feeed, then clumsily tried to cover his tracks. Finally, Weiner tearfully admitted to being a serial sexter. "Weiner can be described, I think, as Twitter?s first major political casualty," said Greg Sargent at?The Washington Post.

6. John Ensign
Though more old-school than Weiner's mess, the Nevada Republican's sex scandal was perhaps?equally "salacious."?Ensign resigned from the Senate on May 3, barely dodging the Senate Ethics Committee's scathing report, which was released on May 12. The report detailed?Ensign's affair with his campaign treasurer, his attempts to buy her silence and that of her husband ? another longtime aide ? with his parents' cash and a lobbying job, and Ensign's potentially illegal attempts to cover that up. The committee's made-for-TV retelling of the affair is "astounding and a hell of a read," said Taylor Marsh at her blog. "Ensign is actually lucky he resigned," because the Senate would have expelled him after this bombshell.

7. Herman Cain
The one-time Republican frontrunner for the presidential nomination effectively dropped out of the race?on Dec. 3, after badly mishandling several documented accusations of sexual harassment and an alleged extramarital affair. Cain also faced widespread criticism for breezily fumbling routine foreign policy and economic questions. The Cain campaign will "go down as one of the most hapless and bumbling operations in modern presidential politics," said Jonathan Martin at?Politico.

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Stocks to rise after solid Spanish auction

By msnbc.com news services

Stocks are set to rise Tuesday, rebounding from declines in the prior session as borrowing costs in Spain fell and worries about the euro zone's debt crisis eased.

Short-term financing costs for struggling Spain more than halved as banks lapped up debt at an auction, with much of the purchasing power said to come from cut-rate loans from the European Central Bank.

U.S. banks, plagued by concerns about exposure to the euro zone crisis, dragged the U.S. stocks lower Monday, with losses accelerating late in the session. Bank of America Corp's stock price fell below $5 for the first time in nearly three years.

Bank of America shares were up 1.9 percent to $5.08 and Citigroup Inc added 1.5 percent to $25.18 in premarket trade.

Stocks continue to be highly sensitive to headlines and fluctuating bond prices out of the euro zone, sparking high volatility. The market will be prone to large swings this week on expected low volume due to the upcoming Christmas holiday.

The first-ever offer of three-year loans to banks from the European Central Bank on Wednesday is expected to be a strong indicator of whether debt-loaded countries get some relief or endure more pain.

The Munich-based Ifo think-tank said German business sentiment rose sharply in December, defying expectations it would decline and underscoring the resilience of Europe's biggest economy.

On the macroeconomic front, new data showed U.S. housing starts surged to a 1-1/2 year high in November and permits for future construction were the highest since March 2010, as demand for rental apartments rose, offering hope for the weak housing market.

AT&T Inc dropped its controversial bid for T-Mobile USA, the Deutsche Telekom unit, bowing to fierce regulatory opposition.

After the close Monday, business software maker Red Hat Inc forecast fourth-quarter revenue below expectations, hurt by a weaker euro.

Sempra Energy said it expects to exceed its 2011 profit forecast.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/20/9579510-stocks-set-to-rise-after-solid-spain-auction

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Berenson heads to NY for holidays

FILE - U.S. political activist Lori Berenson speaks to The Associated Press at her home in Lima, Peru, in this Nov. 9, 2010 file photo. Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson was headed for New York early Saturday Dec. 17, 2011 after a Peruvian court ruled she and her toddler son could travel there for the holidays, airport security officials said. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro, File)

LIMA, Peru (AP) ? Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson was headed for New York early Saturday after a Peruvian court ruled she and her toddler son could travel there for the holidays, airport security officials said.

Peru's ATV television showed video of Berenson and her 2 1/2-year-old son, Salvador at the airport in front of a ticket counter late Friday and said she was flying to New York.

Reached by cell phone, Berenson refused to comment.

But airport security officials told reporters she was flying directly to New York on an overnight flight.

A three-judge appeals court on Wednesday overturned a lower court judge's ruling denying Berenson permission to travel, said Guillermo Gonzalez, spokesman for Peru's judicial system.

He said Berenson, who was paroled last year after serving 15 years for aiding leftist rebels, was given permission to leave the country beginning Friday but must return by Jan. 11.

Earlier, her father Mark told The Associated Press she has every intention of returning to Peru.

The terms of her parole dictate that she cannot leave until her sentence as an accomplice to terrorism ends in 2015.

"As Lori says, if she doesn't come home, let Interpol arrest her," Mark Berenson said.

Peru could seek her extradition and return her to prison if she doesn't return in the allotted time, Gonzalez said.

Her father said he was "petrified" a negative local reaction to the New York visit could prevent the trip, including celebrating his 70th birthday Dec. 29.

"My worry is that there's going to be screaming to stop this," he said. Some Peruvians consider her a terrorist, opposed her parole and have publicly insulted her on the street.

There was no indication that Berenson encountered any trouble departing. The ATV video showed her pacing in front of a ticket counter, wearing a bulky black backpack, with Salvador in a stroller beside her. She wore pants and a brown polo shirt.

Berenson has been repeatedly hounded and mobbed by Peruvian news media, which has occasionally frightened young Salvador. Last month, one TV channel obtained her new address and showed video of her home.

"It was very dangerous," Mark Berenson said. "The (U.S.) Embassy complained."

"It's just not fair to Salvador or to her," he said. "They used her like she's a celebrity and she just wants to be a low-profile person and get on with her life and be a good citizen."

He said he would appeal to President Ollanta Humala to send his daughter home.

Humala could by law commute her sentence but has not indicated whether he might do so. The AP sought presidential palace comment but its calls were not returned.

Lori Berenson is separated from Salvador's father, Anibal Apari, whom she met in prison and who serves as her lawyer.

He told the AP that she had originally filed for permission to leave the country in October but was denied.

Mark Berenson said his daughter is looking forward to seeing relatives she hasn't met since her 20s, including his 96-year-old aunt, and that he wants his grandson, who loves trees, see the New York Botanical Garden's holiday display.

Since her initial parole in May 2010, Lori Berenson repeatedly expressed regret for aiding the rebel Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.

Arrested in 1995, the former MIT student was accused of helping the rebels plan an armed takeover of Congress, an attack that never happened.

A military court convicted her the following year and sentenced her to life in prison for sedition. But after intense U.S. government pressure, she was retried in civil courts in 2001 and sentenced to 20 years for terrorist collaboration.

Berenson was unrepentant at the time of her arrest, but softened during years of sometimes harsh prison conditions, eventually being praised as a model prisoner.

Yet she is viewed by many as a symbol of the 1980-2000 rebel conflict that claimed some 70,000 lives. The fanatical Maoist Shining Path movement did most of the killing, while Tupac Amaru was a lesser player.

Berenson has acknowledged helping the rebels rent a safe house, where authorities seized a cache of weapons. But she insists she didn't know guns were being stored there. She denies ever belonging to Tupac Amaru or engaging in violent acts.

In an interview with the AP last year, Berenson said she was deeply troubled at having become Peru's "face of terrorism."

Its most famous prisoner, she also became a politically convenient scapegoat, she said.

___

Associated Press writer Martin Villena contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-17-LT-Peru-Lori-Berenson/id-6a2000fe0c394377b0cbe286f7ab9373

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Baby Girl On the Way for J.R. Martinez

"We found out just last week it's a girl and we are over the moon," Martinez, 28, says.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/6jNCdxT5ylM/

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

MTV names Katy Perry its 1st artist of the year

FILE - In this Nov. 20, 2011 file photo, singer Katy Perry arrives at the 39th Annual American Music Awards in Los Angeles. Perry is MTV's first artist of the year. MTV said Thursday that Perry's achievement of tying Michael Jackson with five No. 1 singles from the same album made her omnipresent in pop culture. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, file)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Katy Perry's run of No. 1 singles has earned her the distinction of becoming MTV's first artist of the year.

Perry topped Adele after a spirited discussion among MTV's internal panel of experts, the network said Thursday. Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" was chosen top song of 2011, said Amy Doyle, the network's chief of music programming.

MTV also declared Skrillex its electronic dance music artist of the year over David Guetta.

Different parts of MTV would make "best of" lists in the past, but the network wanted to establish a franchise that brought all its online and TV arms together and emphasized MTV's music roots, Doyle said. The network, established in 1981, hopes it becomes an annual thing.

Seven panelists made the final choice, and their deliberations were featured in MTV programming this week.

"Rolling in the Deep" was an obvious selection as top song, Doyle said. Runners-up were Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" and Rihanna's "We Found Love."

"I loved the song the moment I wrote it," Adele said. "The melody and the beat added some conviction to it. I think that's why people connected with it."

Perry's achievement of tying Michael Jackson's "Bad" as the only albums to yield five No. 1 singles was particularly impressive, Doyle said. Along with the title cut, "California Gurls," ''E.T.," ''Firework" and "Last Friday Night" (T.G.I.F.) all topped the charts. She's trying to beat the record with the current single "The One That Got Away."

"You just really felt her presence in pop culture throughout the year," Doyle said.

Skrillex, whose real name is Sonny Moore, describes his music as a combination of "dubstep, electro and glitch." MTV included the category of best electronic dance music artist to pay tribute to the way the style is taking off with its young viewers, she said.

MTV also asked its viewers to vote on their choice of the best live performances shown on MTV all year. Their choice was "Hurricane" by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-12-15-MTV-Artist%20of%20Year/id-7e9d2924d7c24a22a5a6613c3d465f47

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Balloon Juice ? Dead Civilians are the Cost of Doing Business

by John Cole

Sadly, the only people who will be punished for this are the ones who forgot to destroy the documents:

One by one, the Marines sat down, swore to tell the truth and began to give secret interviews discussing one of the most horrific episodes of America?s time in Iraq: the 2005 massacre by Marines of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha.
?I mean, whether it?s a result of our action or other action, you know, discovering 20 bodies, throats slit, 20 bodies, you know, beheaded, 20 bodies here, 20 bodies there,? Col. Thomas Cariker, a commander in Anbar Province at the time, said to investigators as he described the chaos of Iraq. At times, he said, deaths were caused by ?grenade attacks on a checkpoint and, you know, collateral with civilians.?

The 400 pages of interrogations, once closely guarded as secrets of war, were supposed to have been destroyed as the last American troops prepare to leave Iraq. Instead, they were discovered along with reams of other classified documents, including military maps showing helicopter routes and radar capabilities, by a reporter for The New York Times at a junkyard outside Baghdad. An attendant was burning them as fuel to cook a dinner of smoked carp.

The documents ? many marked secret ? form part of the military?s own internal investigation, and confirm much of what happened at Haditha, a Euphrates River town where Marines killed 24 Iraqis, including a 76-year-old man in a wheelchair, women and children, some just toddlers.

Haditha became a defining moment of the war, helping cement an enduring Iraqi distrust of the United States and a resentment that not a single Marine was ever prosecuted. That is one of the main reasons that all American combat troops are leaving by the weekend.

But the accounts are just as striking for what they reveal about the extraordinary strains on the soldiers who were assigned here, their frustrations and their frequently painful encounters with a population they did not understand. In their own words, the report documents the dehumanizing nature of this war, where Marines came to view 20 dead civilians as not ?remarkable,? but as routine.

Iraqi civilians were being killed all the time. Maj. Gen. Steve Johnson, the commander of American forces in Anbar Province, in his own testimony, described it as ?a cost of doing business.?

The stress of combat left some soldiers paralyzed, the testimony shows. Troops, traumatized by the rising violence and feeling constantly under siege, grew increasingly twitchy, killing more and more civilians in accidental encounters. Others became so desensitized and inured to the killing that they fired on Iraqi civilians deliberately while their fellow soldiers snapped pictures, and were court-martialed. The bodies piled up at a time when the war had gone horribly wrong.

Shit happens.

This is why, no matter how ?right? some of you think US military action or involvement might be (Libya, for example), my default position is to simply oppose any use of force. No matter what the intentions or training, things break down and the innocent die. Bombs will go astray, intel will be bad, discipline will break down. It is inevitable.

Read the whole piece, and how many civilians were killed for getting too close to checkpoints because they were either illiterate and didn?t know to stop or because they didn?t have glasses and couldn?t even see they were near a checkpoint. The price for that was to be gunned down.

December 14, 2011 5:33 pm Posted?in:?War ?67 Comments

Source: http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/12/14/dead-civilians-are-the-cost-of-doing-business/

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Friday, December 16, 2011

PFT: Bears' Hurd's clients reportedly NFL players

Getty Images

WR Roscoe Parrish is set to be an unrestricted free agent, but he wants to return to the Bills.

Two Dolphins fans plan to take to the sky with a plea for owner Stephen Ross to fire G.M. Jeff Ireland.

LB Tracy White has become a mainstay in the Patriots defense.

S Brodney Pool isn?t daunted by having to step into a starting spot on the Jets defense.

It looks like Ravens CB Jimmy Smith will be in the starting lineup in his return to Southern California this weekend.

Bengals DE Carlos Dunlap feels good about his chances of getting back on the field this week.

RB Peyton Hillis? future with the Browns remains unclear.

If C Maurkice Pouncey can?t play, Trai Essex would move into the starting lineup for the Steelers.

Texans QB T.J. Yates is the first quarterback to lead his team to victories in the fourth quarter and overtime in his first two starts since 1968.

A look into the perpetual optimism of Colts offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen.

Through three quarters on Thursday night, Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert had been sacked more often than he?d completed a pass.

The Titans believe that a key to beating the Colts is keeping the quarterback in the pocket.

Preparing for the no-huddle offense has been a big part of the Broncos defensive focus this week.

Delving into the buzz surrounding Josh McDaniels and the Chiefs coaching job.

Snap counts have proven to be a problem for the Raiders this season.

The Chargers have seen improvement from their young defensive linemen over the course of the season.

Cowboys QB Tony Romo said that he isn?t feeling more pressure to carry the offense with RB DeMarco Murray out of the lineup.

C Kevin Boothe?s shaky shotgun snaps have the Giants a little concerned despite his strong overall play.

Red zone defense will be crucial to the Eagles? chances.

Injuries got in the way of a safety duo the Redskins thought would do well this year.

The Bears are expected to promote DE Thaddeus Gibson from the practice squad.

The Lions insist they aren?t using WR Calvin Johnson as a decoy.

WR Tori Gurley opted to stay on the Packers practice squad when the Vikings offered him a chance to join their active roster.

Vikings DT Remi Ayodele has no regrets about his decision to leave the Saints as a free agent.

Falcons WR Roddy White went over the 1,000-yard mark for the fifth straight season on Thursday night.

If Panthers coach Ron Rivera got to decide, QB Cam Newton would go to the Pro Bowl.

The Saints are scaling back their practices as the end of the season approaches.

Chad Pennington and Ron Jaworski each believe Buccaneers QB Josh Freeman can bounce back from a disappointing season.

Third down efficiency is an area where the Cardinals could stand to improve offensively.

DE Chris Long has been a bright spot in the wreckage of the Rams season.

K David Akers is the only member of the 49ers who benefits from their red zone issues.

Thanks to LB K.J. Wright, the Seahawks have nothing to regret about trading LB Aaron Curry.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/15/report-hurds-drug-clients-included-many-nfl-players/related/

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Video: Midday Stock Pops & Drops

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45656524/

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