China Expands Defense Budget Over 12% To $132 Billion

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China Expands Defense Budget Over 12% To $132 Billion

Prostitution crackdown expands nationwide

The Ministry of Public Security on Sunday urged police nationwide to crack down on prostitution, gambling and drug crimes after the recent exposure of widespread prostitution in Dongguan, Guangdong province.

The ministry urged police to use Dongguan as a lesson and intensify their campaigns against prostitution, gambling and drugs to improve people’s sense of security and satisfaction.

“The ministry attaches great importance to the issue and will resolutely investigate, severely punish and firmly attack the organizers, operators and ‘protective umbrellas’ behind prostitution crimes,” Wen Guohui, a ministry press officer, said on Sunday.

The ministry’s statement followed a report by China Central Television on Feb 9 about prostitution in Dongguan. The report said local police turned a blind eye to the widespread prostitution.

The report triggered a massive crackdown in the city. More than 6,000 police officers swept through hundreds of hotels, saunas and karaoke bars in Dongguan on Feb 9, arresting at least 67 people, shuttering 12 venues and suspending two police chiefs.

The ministry, which sent a panel to Guangdong to supervise the raid, said it will investigate malfeasance and other illegal behavior of any officials involved and punish them no matter who they are.

On Friday, Yan Xiaokang, vice-mayor of Dongguan and head of the city’s public security bureau, was sacked for dereliction of duty.

On Sunday, Party leaders of four local townships in Dongguan — Humen, Houjie, Huangjiang, and Fenggang — also made open apologies. They admitted loopholes in the management and said they will learn from this lesson and fully perform their duties in fighting crimes.

Since the crackdown in Guangdong, police in many other provinces, including Jiangsu, Heilongjiang, Hunan and Shandong, have mounted large-scale campaigns against prostitution and the sex trade.

On Thursday night, 200 police in Nantong, Jiangsu province, raided local karaoke clubs and nightclubs, arresting 100 people suspected of providing sex services.

On the same night, 300 Leiyang police in Hunan province raided hotels, entertainment venues, saunas and websites in a crackdown on sex trade and gambling.

Leiyang police arrested 79 people suspected of their involvement in prostitution and gambling. Police also shut down 22 entertainment venues and seized and destroyed 25 gambling machines.

Earlier on Tuesday, authorities in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, dispatched 4,800 police officers to investigate 2,700 hotels, bathhouses and entertainment places in a similar crackdown.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

Prostitution crackdown expands nationwide

Dallas City Council Expands Ban On First Amendment

Newly expanded ordinance outlaws any activity the city claims to be “distracting to motorists”

Kit Daniels
Infowars.com
January 24, 2014

The Dallas, Texas City Council recently expanded an existing ordinance which bans anyone carrying a sign within 75 feet of a freeway to also prohibit anyone from peacefully assembling on or near service roads, bridges and overpasses, including those not holding signs and individuals the city considers to be dressed provocatively.

Protest Ordinance

Passed by the council at their latest meeting, the expanded ordinance gives police and code enforcement officers free reign to ticket or arrest anyone that they deem to be “distracting motorists,” a term vague enough for the government to enforce in almost any situation without an actual complaint.

“Rather than prohibit the carrying of signs that distract motorists within 75 feet of the designated highways, the proposed amendment would prohibit all conduct intended to distract motorists by individuals standing within the lateral curb line of the highways, including adjoining service or frontage roads as well as on bridges or overpasses over the highways,” the proposal reads.

The ban includes individuals who are not holding signs and those who are “wearing any costume, clothing, attire or accessory intended to attract or seek the attention of the public,” provisions which are so broad, they would seemingly apply to those wearing swimsuits while advertising a charity car wash and even those wearing the latest in fashion trends.

Out of Dallas’s 14 city council members, four voted against the measure, including one member who blasted the ordinance as violating the First Amendment, according to the Dallas News.

The council member, Philip Kingston, also added that the ordinance opens the city up to additional lawsuits.

However, the Chair of the Transportation and Trinity River Project Committee, Vonciel Jones Jill, supported the proposal and said that under the old ordinance, officers did not have authority to regulate the conduct of citizens assembled in public.

“No one is attempting to control speech,” she said. “That is not the point of the ordinance.”

“The point is to regulate conduct.”

Jill would be wise to actually read the First Amendment, because it recognizes the right of the people to assemble peacefully, not just the right to free speech.

Officials will no doubt use this ordinance to shut down any sort of gathering that challenges their authority and the status quo by hiding their political suppression under the guise of “driver safety.”

Back in November, the Dallas Police Dept. attempted to stop Alex Jones and the Infowars crew from protesting outside the Federal Reserve building.

A spokesperson for the police told the crowd that by carrying signs and handing out flyers in public, they were violating two city ordinances.

“Within 75 feet of a freeway or service road, according to the Dallas city ordinance, you may not hold a sign,” she said, adding that handing out leaflets to drivers was also violating city code.

These officials are simply using city ordinances to deceptively violate basic human freedoms recognized by the Bill of Rights.

This article was posted: Friday, January 24, 2014 at 2:41 pm

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Dallas City Council Expands Ban On First Amendment

TSA Expands Searches of Parked Cars at Airports

TSA Expands Searches of Parked Cars at Airports
http://isbigbrotherwatchingyou.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/442f1__nsa_spying__031213search.png

Sign says vehicles “will be searched by uniformed security”

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
December 3, 2013

TSA-approved warrantless searches of vehicles parked outside airports are being expanded, with a photograph taken at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport informing Thanksgiving travelers that all vehicles belonging to AmeriPark customers “will be searched by uniformed security.”

The policy, which first came to light earlier this summer after complaints from people who found notes inside their car which read, “your vehicle has been inspected under TSA regulations,” continues to cause confusion and stoke concern amongst privacy advocates.

When the story first broke, the TSA was keen to deflect responsibility by explaining that although, “the plan is approved by the TSA, it is up to each airport authority and its state and local law enforcement partners to follow the plan that has been implemented.”

The sign above, originally posted by Young Americans For Liberty, suggests that airport uniformed security guards are responsible for carrying out the searches at Birmingham International, not valet parking staff. The image was taken on November 27, the day after Thanksgiving and one of the busiest travel days of the year.

At some airports the searches are also being conducted with customers receiving no notification whatsoever.

“I was inside paying my bill. I looked through the window and saw this gentleman looking through my trunk,” said Michelle Zevola, who used the Curbside Valet Service at Charlotte Douglas Airport. “He was moving things around, shining a flashlight, going through the compartments. I am so fine being searched at the airport. It’s about safety. But I am not fine with my personal property being searched without permission or notification,” added Zevola.

“There is no posted signage at the valet stand or around the airport that indicates cars left with curbside service will be searched. There is also no warning on the back of the valet ticket,” reported NBC Charlotte. Deputy Aviation Director Jack Christine admitted that the searches had been taking place for a year and half without any signage or notification.

Under the guidelines, the person performing the search, whether that be a valet parking employee or a “unformed security” guard, is instructed to check the trunk, the engine as well as scan inside the car.

The policy represents a clear violation of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution, which protects Americans against “unreasonable searches and seizures,” although TSA officials have justified the measures as necessary “to keep you and your family safe at the airport.”

Critics have lambasted the TSA and airports who enforce the policy for entrusting searches of vehicles to valet parking attendants, who wouldn’t normally be considered to be highly trained in bomb detection skills.

“Take note of that, America. Your safety can only be guaranteed by a search of valet-parked vehicles, but not by a trained agent,” wrote TechDirt’s Tim Cushing. “Instead, your valet will do a brief search of your vehicle to ensure there’s nothing inside the cabin, trunk or under the hood that looks like a bomb. (Like, for instance, a bundle of wires and some other stuff with a post-it attached saying, “NOT A BOMB.”)”

Another traveler who complained that her car had been searched with zero notice was Laurie Iacuzza, who said she was “furious” that airport personnel rifled through her vehicle without permission.

Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71
FOLLOW Paul Joseph Watson @ https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

This article was posted: Tuesday, December 3, 2013 at 1:48 pm

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Read more about TSA Expands Searches of Parked Cars at Airports and other interesting subjects concerning NSA at TheDailyNewsReport.com

Illinois expands background checks to all gun purchases

A customer inspects a 9mm handgun at Rink’s Gun and Sport in the Chicago, suburb of Lockport, Illinois in this June 26, 2008 file photograph.

Credit: Reuters/Frank Polich/Files

CHICAGO | Sun Aug 18, 2013 9:58pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a gun-control measure into law on Sunday that expands background checks to cover all firearms purchases in the state, closing what he said was a loophole that exempted gun sales between private parties.

The new law also requires all gun owners to report any lost or stolen firearms to local police within 72 hours.

“Guns are a plague on too many of our communities,” Quinn, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Making sure guns do not fall into the wrong hands is critical to keeping the people of Illinois safe. This commonsense law will help our law enforcement crack down on crime and make our streets safer.”

The expanded background checks go into effect on January 1, 2014.

Previously in Illinois, where Democrats control the state legislature but remain sharply divided over firearms safety, only adults buying guns from a licensed firearms dealer or at a gun show in the state have been subject to background checks.

Those buyers must have a firearm owners identification (FOID) card, which is issued by Illinois state police to applicants who pass a screening of state criminal and mental health records. The seller must then call a state-run hotline to check that a buyer’s FOID card is valid before making the sale.

Under the new law, gun sales or transfers between private parties, including those that take place online, will have to follow the same system.

Not all of Quinn’s gun-control efforts, which tend to draw greater support in the state’s cities than in its rural areas, have been successful.

In July, state lawmakers voted to override the governor’s veto of parts of a gun bill allowing individuals to carry more than one gun, to carry guns into some places that serve alcohol, and to carry a partly exposed gun.

The bill was drafted after a federal appeals court struck down the state’s law banning people from carrying a concealed weapon in public last December, saying it violated the constitutional right to bear arms.

In April, the U.S. Senate rejected an effort, championed by President Barack Obama, to pass new federal gun-control laws, including an expansion of background checks to include people buying guns online or at gun shows.

(Reporting by Karen Pierog in Chicago; Writing and additional reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Steve Gorman and Will Dunham)

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Illinois expands background checks to all gun purchases

Zimmerman trial expands deep divide

The verdict shows how politicized every speck of American life has become, Scarborough writes. | AP Photo

The Trayvon Martin case highlights more than the flaws of Florida law or the inadequacies of courtroom justice. It also paints in vivid display the vulgar state of American political culture.

Within seconds of Saturday night’s verdict exonerating George Zimmerman, liberals and conservatives scurried to their shabby political corners and began tweeting hyperbolic political pronouncements on a judicial process that few of them knew anything about.

Continue Reading

Liberals launched anguished attacks against George Zimmerman, the state of Florida, stand-your-ground laws, the gun culture, and the current state of racial relations in America in under 140 characters. Some conservatives used the opportunity to gloat and continue their attacks against Al Sharpton, the national media, racial politics, American liberalism, and a dead teenager.

The entire spectacle was repulsive.

The Zimmerman verdict showed just how politicized every speck of American life has become for a hyper-partisan political class that has little in common with most Americans. In fact, they are probably why most Americans hate politics.

How exactly was it that liberals and conservatives could so neatly line up on opposite sides of a troubling courtroom trial involving a Hispanic man and an African-American teenager?

And how could one side unanimously proclaim the verdict a victory for courtroom justice while the other side immediately declared the verdict a defeat for racial tolerance?

There has to be a liberal somewhere in America (who is paid to express his viewpoints) who understands that the prosecution had a difficult burden to carry in the trial, just as there must be a conservative who is deeply troubled by the of events of this case.

If it seems like I am taking a removed, middle-ground approach on this trial, let me assure you that I am not.

I am angry that George Zimmerman could chase a teenager through his neighborhood, ignore a dispatcher’s pleas, make racially charged statements, provoke a confrontation with a young man armed only with Skittles, and pull the trigger that ended that teenager’s life, only to walk away without as much as a misdemeanor attached to his name. But I also know that the laws of Florida favored the defense, that the prosecution overreached in its efforts to convict Zimmerman on a second-degree murder charge, and that we will never know which man was screaming for help in the moments that George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin. I also know that it is a fool’s errand to second-guess the conclusions of a jury that sat through countless hours of testimony and evidence before reaching a verdict.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t draw my own personal conclusions, like my belief that George Zimmerman is a racist idiot who chased an unarmed teenager through a neighborhood for little reason more than he was a black man wearing a hoodie. I can also conclude that many conservative commentators were offensive in their reflexive defense of Zimmerman, as well as their efforts to attack the integrity of a dead black teenager. I am also not sure how it is that the right-wing’s professional chattering classes usually find themselves on the other side of African-Americans in racially sensitive cases.

I do not remotely suggest that all conservatives opposed Zimmerman’s trial. The National Review’s Rich Lowry agreed with a handful of conservatives like myself that Trayvon Martin’s killer should be tried in a court of law. But I remained confused by a political party that desperately tries to expand its minority outreach by considering the granting of citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants while refusing to even give the benefit of the doubt to a young black man gunned down for no good reason in a suburban Florida neighborhood. I just don’t get it.

What I do get is why over 90 percent of African American voters have been voting against GOP presidential candidates for most of my life. Conservative commentary and GOP stand-your-ground laws only exacerbated that divide. If Republicans are to take back the White House anytime in the next generation, that reality has to change. After this week, it has definitely become a longer, harder slog.

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Zimmerman trial expands deep divide