The LAPD is fighting crime from a high-tech war room that gives it eyes all over the city. The surveillance hub is now a model for police forces around the world and KCAL9 got an exclusive tour inside from Chief Charlie Beck.

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Days of Noah

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
—Matt 24:37

“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great•Strongs 7227: rab, rab; by contracted from 7231; abundant (in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality):—(in) abound(-undance, -ant, -antly), captain, elder, enough, exceedingly, full, great(-ly, man, one), increase, long (enough, (time)), (do, have) many(-ifold, things, a time), ((ship-))master, mighty, more, (too, very) much, multiply(-tude), officer, often(-times), plenteous, populous, prince, process (of time), suffice(-lent). in the earth, and that every imagination•Strongs 3336: yetser, yay´-tser; from 3335; a form; figuratively, conception (i.e. purpose):—frame, thing framed, imagination, mind, work. of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
—Genesis 6:5

“We are targets on our own soil,” says Beck. “We have to be ready.”

What began as a grass roots idea following the 9/11 terrorist attacks is now a state-of-the-art real-time analysis critical response center. It’s called RACR, and it’s located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

“This is a system that cuts through the red tape, that gets information to the people that need it,” says Chief Beck. He calls it “the brains of the department, twenty-four/seven.”

Police in the activity center monitor live feeds of city and traffic cameras, counter-terrorism information, and real-time crime mapping, with cutting edge software.

“If we didn’t have that we would be operating blind,” says Capt. Sean Malinowski, the Commanding Officer at RACR. “Essentially we’re always activated here.”

RACR is a critical crime-fighting tool at the center of every high profile incident in the City of Los Angeles.

“We have some real-time tools that help us analyze crime as it’s happening,” says Malinowski. “And then we feed that information out to the geographic areas and to patrol divisions.”

RACR is relied upon during events like dignitary visits from the Royals and President Obama, as well as the recent Occupy LA showdown and arrests.

“We had eyes on that, both through video cameras that the city owns, and also through video streams that were provided by the actual Occupy LA protesters,” says Malinowski.

Most recently, RACR was invaluable in putting an end to the Hollywood arsons.

Malinowski says RACR plotted each arson fire incident as it happened, creating a three-square-mile geographic hot spot that resulted in the quick arrest of accused fire starter Harry Burkhart.

“At the time he was taken into custody, this area was flooded with sheriffs and with LAPD officers,” says Malinowski. “Based on the fact that we kind of could see his movements in real time.”

RACR was born in a functioning bomb shelter, four stories below the Los Angeles Civic Center.

LAPD Commander Blake Chow remembers a time when tracking crime at RACR was done by hand. “There was very little technology,” says Chow, and RACR had no budget.

Police operated with dry erase boards, personal computers, and simple monitors.

“When we built RACR, there was no template to look at,” says Chow. “There was no police department we could go look at and ask them, ‘how did you build it?’”

Today LAPD’s RACR is the standard operating model for law enforcement agencies worldwide. It’s used as a guidebook on how to protect communities and fight crime.

Fast running out of money, solar-panel maker Solyndra LLC last summer sold off nearly $60 million worth of inventory for less than $20 million in cash to a newly formed corporate entity closely tied to the company’s biggest investors, records show.

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Days of Noah

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
—Matt 24:37

“These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just•Strongs 6662: tsaddiyq, tsad-deek´; from 6663; just:—just, lawful, righteous (man). man and perfect•Strongs 8549: tamiym, taw-meem´; from 8552; entire (literally, figuratively or morally); also (as noun) integrity, truth:—without blemish, complete, full, perfect, sincerely (-ity), sound, without spot, undefiled, upright(-ly), whole. in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt•Strongs 7843: shachath, shaw-khath´; a primitive root; to decay, i.e. (causatively) ruin (literally or figuratively):—batter, cast off, corrupt(-er, thing), destroy(-er, -uction), lose, mar, perish, spill, spoiler, x utterly, waste(-r). before God, and the earth was filled with violence•Strongs 2555: chamacç, khaw-mawce´; from 2554; violence; by implication, wrong; by meton. unjust gain:—cruel(-ty), damage, false, injustice, x oppressor, unrighteous, violence (against, done), violent (dealing), wrong
•Strongs 2554: chamacç, khaw-mas´; a primitive root; to be violent; by implication, to maltreat:—make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong, imagine wrongfully..”
—Genesis 6:9-11

Editors note about the word perfect• In James 1:27, when the Holy Spirit wrote the Book of James, through, James, the half brother of Jesus, He used the word unspotted.
• In the Strongs this word is defined • Strongs 2554 (aspilos, as´-pee-los; from 1 (as a negative particle) and 4695; unblemished (physically or morally): — without spot, unspotted.).
• Both in Noah’s generation and this, the Spirit of God is calling us to live purely in our walk with Him. In doing so we become the people like Noah.
• Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Let us continue in God’s Grace and live godly in this evil and perverse generation.
• As Noah and as Lot, we will see the deliverance of God.

Backed by $535 million in federal loan guarantees but burning through the little cash it had left, Solyndra made its first sale in late July to a corporate entity that had been formed just a day earlier. Three more transactions followed over the next few weeks with the same buyer, Solyndra Solar II.

By the time the last sale took place on Aug. 29 — two days before the company announced plans to file for bankruptcy — Solyndra had sold off a total of $58.1 million worth of inventory for $17.5 million, according to documents Solyndra attorneys filed last month in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

The sales began at a time when Solyndra officials were trying hard to assure lawmakers and the public of the company’s prospects amid increasing questions about the company’s financial health. Inside the company, the sales transactions show, officials were moving fast to raise cash and buy Solyndra more time.

Todd Zywicki, bankruptcy professor at the George Mason University School of Law, said it’s not unusual for troubled companies to sell off assets to improve liquidity. But he said the inventory sales figure cited by Solyndra — $58.1 million in inventory for $17.5 million in cash — seems unusual.

“The test under the bankruptcy code is whether the sale was for reasonably equivalent value and selling inventory at such a huge discount raises real concerns,” he said. “If Solyndra Solar II is owned or controlled by any insiders or anything like that, then it becomes even more suspicious.”

Solyndra Solar II was formed in Delaware by affiliates of Solyndra’s debtor in possession lender — investors Argonaut Private Equity and Madrone Capital Partners — as well as other debt holders, bankruptcy and government records show. Another special-purpose entity, Solyndra Solar LLC, was formed to purchase the company’s accounts receivable.

Argonaut is the investment arm of a foundation headed by billionaire Oklahoma businessman George Kaiser. Madrone Partners has ties to Wal-Mart’s Walton family.

Steve Mitchell, an Argonaut executive who served on Solyndra’s board, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that investors did not profit from overall sales of the accounts receivable and inventory. The plan was to give the company more time to turn around, he said.

“The inventory was purchased to give the company more time to turn the corner as Solyndra’s revenues were ramping and its costs were coming down, unfortunately the macro solar and economic environment at the time proved too difficult,” Mr. Mitchell said.

“The $58.12 million reported by Solyndra in its bankruptcy filing is the cost to produce the inventory purchased, with the DOE’s consent, by Solyndra Solar II,” he said, referring to the Energy Department, which awarded Solyndra’s loan guarantees in 2009.

“Solyndra’s expected sales proceeds for this inventory was $35 million,” he said. “In the event Solyndra sold these solar panels at the expected price, Solyndra would recover 91 percent of the total sales proceeds.”

To sell the inventory, Solyndra formed its own special entity called Solyndra Financing LLC, which, in addition to inventory, also sold off tens of millions of dollars in the company’s accounts receivable to a separate entity called Solyndra Solar LLC.

Both Solyndra Solar and Solyndra Solar II were created to “raise additional capital and improve debtor’s liquidity position” in the months before the company went bankrupt, attorneys said in filings.

‘Certain inventories’

The formation of Solyndra Solar LLC and Solyndra Solar II LLC was first disclosed in bankruptcy filings last year, but records at the time did not reveal just how much inventory and accounts were being sold off.

In addition to the $58.1 million in inventory sold off to Solyndra Solar II for $17.5 million, the company also sold $59.1 million in accounts receivable to Solyndra Solar LLC for $46.4 million in cash, according to bankruptcy filings.

The bankruptcy filings don’t say how bankruptcy attorneys arrived at the $58.1 million figure for the inventory. A bankruptcy attorney for Solyndra did not respond to email questions Tuesday.

“Certain inventories were sold to Solyndra Solar II on the dates listed for …aggregate cash proceeds of approximately $17.5 million,” the bankruptcy filing states, noting four sales transactions ranging from $5.8 million to $26.5 million for a total of $58.1 million.

The first accounts receivable sale took place on June 3 for $25.7 million. Five other sales followed until the last one for $722,220, which took place on Aug. 4.

Searching for cash

The inventory sale was reported because bankruptcy law mandates disclosure of property “transferred outside the ordinary course of business” going back two years before the date of the bankruptcy filing. The inventory and accounts receivable transactions were the only such sales reported by Solyndra.

Under the inventory deal, Solyndra Solar II would buy Solyndra’s inventory and the solar company, in turn, agreed to market, sell and ship the inventory on behalf of Solyndra Solar LLC, bankruptcy records filed last year show.

“What this appears to be is an effort to bring cash into Solyndra on the eve of bankruptcy by converting accounts and inventory to cash,” said Mr. Zywicki, who reviewed the bankruptcy filing on Tuesday at the request of The Washington Times.

“There’s nothing inherently problematic about that as it is common to want to stockpile cash on the eve of a bankruptcy in order to have a sort of war chest going into the case,” he said.

“It could be a problem, however, if there were particular creditors who were benefited by converting the accounts/inventory to cash for some reason or if those assets were converted to cash for less than reasonably equivalent value.”

Comparison with private sector likely to heat up debate over ending freeze.
Buoyed by generous benefit packages, federal workers earn significantly better compensation than similarly educated workers in the private sector, according to a report released Monday from Congress‘ chief scorekeeper that threatens to reignite at the national level last year’s state battles over public-employee rights.

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Days of Noah

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
—Matthew 24:37

Corruption

”The earth also was corrupt•Strongs 2040: haracç, haw-ras´; a primitive root; to pull down or in pieces, break, &ä destroy:—beat down, break (down, through), destroy, overthrow, pluck down, pull down, ruin, throw down, x utterly. before God,and the earth was filled with violence”.
—Gen 6:11

Overall, federal workers earn 16 percent more in total compensation — including wages and benefits — than comparable private-sector employees, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Only private-sector workers with the highest levels of education, such as doctors and lawyers, earn more than their public counterparts.

The finding is incendiary at a time when Republicans in Congress are fighting for a freeze on federal worker salaries and the Obama administration is balking, arguing that after two years of freezes, it’s time to ramp up pay.

The CBO said federal workers do better in wages at the low education end, are about equal in the middle, and fall behind the private sector at the top end.

But the key difference is in benefits, where federal workers average more than $20 per hour in compensation — 48 percent higher than the $13.60 in prorated hourly benefits in the private sector. Added together, CBO said, that means significantly higher pay for government employees.

“For workers at all education levels, the cost of total compensation averaged about $52 per hour worked for federal employees, compared with about $45 per hour worked for employees in the private sector with certain similar observable characteristics,” CBO analysts said in their report.

Unions that represent federal workers said the CBO’s comparison was pointless.

The CBO looked at workers with equivalent education levels, but John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the better approach is to compare specific jobs. On that measure, Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show that federal employees make less than those working equivalent jobs in the private sector.

“Salaries and wages should be a function of the job, not the job-holder — and that’s the case in the federal government,” Mr. Gage said.

He also said the federal government doesn’t consider race, age or sex in employment, and questioned whether discrimination may play a role in holding down pay for some in the private sector.

“The logical implications of a study such as CBO’s can border on the absurd. Assessing the cost of hiring certain numbers of whites and racial minorities, young and old, women and men might lead to the ridiculous notion that since the private sector pays, on average, lower wages to women and racial minorities, then to cut costs, the government should hire more people with those demographic characteristics, rather than hire according to skill,” he said.

Emboldened by the 2010 elections, new Republican governors and legislative majorities in some states last year battled public workers in attempts to curtail benefits and in some cases strip collective bargaining rights.

The fight was most pointed in Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker is likely to face a recall vote this year over his push, and in Ohio, where Gov. John Kasich’s effort to curtail public employee unions’ bargaining power was overturned by a referendum in November.

In Washington, the battle has been less heated — in part because Republicans haven’t gone as far as their state counterparts, and in part because the GOP and Democrats agreed on halting cost-of-living increases for federal civilian workers in 2011 and 2012. That did not rule out pay increases for merit or promotions, but both sides said it amounts to a freeze.

The House has a vote slated for this week to continue that freeze through the end of 2013 for federal workers, members of Congress and their staff.

“While private-sector workers face the squeeze and millions of families continue searching for work, the idea of asking that their hard-earned tax dollars go to fund a pay raise for government employees is just not right,” said Rep. Sean P. Duffy, the Wisconsin Republican who is sponsoring the freeze bill.

But Democrats are balking this time.

After supporting the pay freeze for the past two years, the White House objected in December when Republicans proposed continuing the freeze and using the savings to cover some of the costs of extending the payroll-tax cut into 2012.

Administration officials first said they planned to use the money elsewhere, and then planned to allow a half-percent pay increase for federal workers.

The White House did not respond to a request seeking comment on the CBO report.

The government spent about $200 billion on salaries in 2011, with $80 billion going to pay for the military and $120 billion covering civilian employees governmentwide.

The federal government employs about 2.3 million civilian workers, which is about 1.7 percent of the total U.S. workforce. Another 2.3 million uniformed personnel are employed, including 1 million reservists, and 800,00 people work for government enterprises such as the Postal Service.

Warren Buffett, whom President Obama likes to cite as a fair-minded billionaire while arguing for higher taxes on the wealthy, stands to benefit from the president’s decision to reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline permit.

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Days of Noah

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
—Matthew 24:37

Corruption

”The earth also was corrupt•Strongs 2040: haracç, haw-ras´; a primitive root; to pull down or in pieces, break, &ä destroy:—beat down, break (down, through), destroy, overthrow, pluck down, pull down, ruin, throw down, x utterly. before God,and the earth was filled with violence”.
—Gen 6:11

“The king by judgment establisheth the land: but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth•Strongs 7843: shachath, shaw-khath´; a primitive root; to decay, i.e. (causatively) ruin (literally or figuratively):—batter, cast off, corrupt(-er, thing), destroy(-er, -uction), lose, mar, perish, spill, spoiler, x utterly, waste(-r). it.”
—Proverbs 29:4

Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC, which is among the railroads that would transport oil produced in western Canada if the pipeline isn’t built.

“Whatever people bring to us, we’re ready to haul,” Krista York-Wooley, a spokeswoman for Burlington Northern, a unit of Buffett’s Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc., told Bloomberg News. If Keystone XL “doesn’t happen, we’re here to haul,” she said.

The Obama administration rejected TransCanada’s request for a permit on Jan. 18, saying there was not enough time to review the proposal by Feb. 21, the deadline imposed by congressional Republicans eager to see the pipeline built. The decision came from the State Department, although Mr. Obama said he agreed with it.

TransCanada said it plans to submit another proposal that would avoid an environmentally sensitive route through Nebraska. The State Department had been reviewing the pipeline project tor three years when it rejected the permit.

If completed, the $7 billion Keystone XL would deliver 700,000 barrels a day of crude from oil sands in Canada to Texas refineries on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. It would traverse about 1,600 miles.

The State Department’s review of the project said shipping oil via rail is more costly than delivering it to refineries by pipeline.

Mr. Obama often cites Mr. Buffett as an example of a civic-minded billionaire because the entrepreneur has said he should pay a higher tax rate than his secretary. Mr. Buffett and the president like to tell the story of how Mr. Buffett pays a 15 percent effective tax rate, while his secretary pays a higher rate even though she earns only a fraction of what he does.

The president has called his push for higher taxes on the wealthy the “Buffett rule.”

The secretary, Debbie Bosanek, will sit with first lady Michelle Obama in her box in the House gallery at Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech.

Republicans, labor unions and even some Democrats have criticized the administration’s rejection of the pipeline permit, saying it would create up to 20,000 jobs. Critics accuse the president of buckling to pressure from environmentalists who oppose the project and are important to Mr. Obama’s re-election effort.

Jos, Nigeria (CNN) — A string of bombs struck churches in five Nigerian cities Sunday, leaving dozens dead and wounded on the holiday, authorities and witnesses said.

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Ishmael•FYI: Ishmael is the son of Abraham through Hagar, the maid of Abraham’s wife Sarah.
Ishmael is the Biblical father of the Arab nations.
•From these nations came Mohammad, who in approximately 632 a.d founded the Religion of Islam.
•The Religion is divided into two main groups, The Sunni’s and The Shiite’s. These two are engaged in a battle to gain control of the religion.
•The Shiite branch claims its right to control because Ali, its founder, was the nephew of Mohammad.
•While the Sunni branch claims its right to control because its founders were the generals in-charge when Mohammad died.
•It is reported that the Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni based organization.
•The battle continues to this very day.
•The verse below is speaking directly concerning Ishmael and the nations that would come from this direct descendent of Abraham.

“And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
—Genesis 16:12

Perilous Times

“This know also, that in the last days perilous•Strongs 5467: chalepos, khal-ep-os´; perhaps from 5465 through the idea of reducing the strength; difficult, i.e. dangerous, or (by implication) furious:—fierce, perilous. times shall come.”
—2 Timothy 3:1-2a

”But evil•Strongs 4190: poneros, pon-ay-ros´; from a derivative of 4192; hurtful, i.e. evil (properly, in effect or influence, and thus differing from 2556, which refers rather to essential character, as well as from 4550, which indicates degeneracy from original virtue); figuratively, calamitous; also (passively) ill, i.e. diseased; but especially (morally) culpable, i.e. derelict, vicious, facinorous; neuter (singular) mischief, malice, or (plural) guilt; masculine (singular) the devil, or (plural) sinners:—bad, evil, grievous, harm, lewd, malicious, wicked(-ness). See also 4191.
•Strongs 4192: ponos, pon´-os; from the base of 3993; toil, i.e. (by implication) anguish:—pain. men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
—2 Timothy 3:13

Editors note about the word perilous•FYI: The Greek word (chalepos) (perilous) is only used one other time in the New Testament, Matthew 8:28. There it is translated as (fierce) when describing the nature of the devils that possess Legion and his cohort.

Days of Noah

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
—Matthew 24:37

“And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence•Strongs 2555: chamacç, khaw-mawce´; from 2554; violence; by implication, wrong; by meton. unjust gain:—cruel(-ty), damage, false, injustice, x oppressor, unrighteous, violence (against, done), violent (dealing), wrong
•Strongs 2554: chamacç, khaw-mas´; a primitive root; to be violent; by implication, to maltreat:—make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong, imagine wrongfully. through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
— Genesis 6:13

The blasts mark the second holiday season that bombs have hit Christian houses of worship in the west African nation. In a statement issued late Sunday, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan called the bombings “a dastardly act that must attract the rebuke of all peace-loving Nigerians.”
“These acts of violence against innocent citizens are an unwarranted affront on our collective safety and freedom,” Jonathan said. “Nigerians must stand as one to condemn them.”
Bombs targeted churches across the country, hitting the cities of Madalla, Jos, Kano, and Damaturu and Gadaka, said journalist Hassan John, who witnessed the carnage in Jos. The death toll in Madalla alone was 18, including two people reported dead overnight at a nearby hospital, Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Yushau Shuaib told CNN.
John said witnesses in Madalla reported a higher death toll, with more than 30 killed. Some victims died after being taken to a hospital, he said.
In Damaturu, a northern town in Yobe state, a police station and a state security building were also bombed, an aid worker said. The worker asked not to be named for security reasons.

Nwakpa Okorie, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said the some of the wounded were taken to the capital Abuja for treatment.
“The situation is under control now. The security agents have secured the streets close to the bombed areas … in Madalla, Jos and Dematuru,” he said.
Jonathan said his government “will not relent in its determination to bring to justice all the perpetrators of today’s acts of violence and all others before now.” And in Washington, the White House said U.S. officials would help Nigeria pursue those behind “what initially appear to be terrorist acts.”
“We condemn this senseless violence and tragic loss of life on Christmas Day,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a written statement. “We offer our sincere condolences to the Nigerian people and especially those who lost family and loved ones.”
The first explosion Sunday struck near a Roman Catholic church in Madalla, west of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, the National Emergency Management Agency said. Church officials were trying to get a picture of what happened in the city.
“Lives have been lost but we do not have the details,” said the Rev. Michael Ekpenyong. “The area has been cordoned off. I tried to call the priest, but I couldn’t get through.”
Ekpenyong, the secretary general of the country’s Catholic Secretariat, said the church that was bombed was “not a big church, but lots of people attend.” Photos from the scene showed burned-out cars and at least three bodies on the ground, one covered with a blanket, at the rural church.
Usman Abdallah Baba, who witnessed the bombing, said there were at least 15 or 16 casualties and that authorities were still counting the toll.
Baba said local people were already blaming the violent extremist Muslim Boko Haram sect, which has targeted Christians as well as Muslims its members consider insufficiently Islamic.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the acts “in the strongest terms,” his office said in a statement Sunday.
He expressed his condolences to the Nigerian people and reiterated a call “for an end to all acts of sectarian violence in the country.”
In 2010, five churches in Jos were attacked while residents were celebrating Christmas Eve. The blasts killed dozens in Jos, which lies on a faith-based fault line between the Muslim-dominated north and the mainly Christian south.
On Sunday, two blasts targeted the Mountain of Fire Ministries church in Jos, northeast of the capital, said John. No one was killed in that bombing, which John called a “miracle” — but a police officer who got into a gun battle with the attackers died of his wounds later, John said, citing officials.
The second church, in Jos, was hit by two explosions when young men threw bombs, John said. Police responded quickly and exchanged gunfire with the attackers, who wounded at least one of the police officers, he said.
The injured officer was rushed to the Jos University teaching hospital for medical attention, but died of his wounds, John said. The attackers fled into the crowd and disappeared after the attack, John said.
Police arrested four people and recovered four unexploded devices, Nigerian state television reported.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and has the world’s sixth-largest Christian population — about 80.5 million people as of 2010, according to a report published this month by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in Washington. That makes the country just over 50% Christian, according to the Pew figures.
Dozens killed in fighting in Nigeria
The latest attacks follow two days of clashes between militants and security forces in northern Nigeria. Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, the Nigerian army chief of staff, said the clashes left three soldiers dead and several more wounded.
The fighting began Thursday between Boko Haram militants and the military in the Yobe state town of Damaturu, Ihejirika said.
“There was a major encounter with the Boko Haram in Damaturu,” Ihejirika said Friday. “We lost three of our soldiers, seven were wounded. But we killed over 50 of their members.”
Boko Haram translates from the local Hausa as “Western education is outlawed.” The group has morphed into an insurgency responsible for dozens of attacks in Nigeria in the last two years.
Boko Haram’s targets include police outposts and churches as well as places associated with “Western influence.”

Egyptian police and soldiers fired guns and teargas to try to clear protesters from Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Tuesday, the fifth day of clashes that have killed 13 people and drawn a stinging rebuke from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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Days of Noah

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
—Matthew 24:37

Violence

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence•Strongs 2555: chamacç, khaw-mawce´; from 2554; violence; by implication, wrong; by meton. unjust gain:—cruel(-ty), damage, false, injustice, x oppressor, unrighteous, violence (against, done), violent (dealing), wrong
•Strongs 2554: chamacç, khaw-mas´; a primitive root; to be violent; by implication, to maltreat:—make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong, imagine wrongfully.
—Genesis 6:11

Ishmael•FYI: Ishmael is the son of Abraham through Hagar, the maid of Abraham’s wife Sarah.
Ishmael is the Biblical father of the Arab nations.
•From these nations came Mohammad, who in approximately 632 a.d founded the Religion of Islam.
•The Religion is divided into two main groups, The Sunni’s and The Shiite’s. These two are engaged in a battle to gain control of the religion.
•The Shiite branch claims its right to control because Ali, its founder, was the nephew of Mohammad.
•While the Sunni branch claims its right to control because its founders were the generals in-charge when Mohammad died.
•It is reported that the Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni based organization.
•The battle continues to this very day.
•The verse below is speaking directly concerning Ishmael and the nations that would come from this direct descendent of Abraham.

“And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
—Genesis 16:12

Perilous Times

“This know also, that in the last days perilous•Strongs 5467: chalepos, khal-ep-os´; perhaps from 5465 through the idea of reducing the strength; difficult, i.e. dangerous, or (by implication) furious:—fierce, perilous. times shall come.”
—2 Timothy 3:1-2a

”But evil•Strongs 4190: poneros, pon-ay-ros´; from a derivative of 4192; hurtful, i.e. evil (properly, in effect or influence, and thus differing from 2556, which refers rather to essential character, as well as from 4550, which indicates degeneracy from original virtue); figuratively, calamitous; also (passively) ill, i.e. diseased; but especially (morally) culpable, i.e. derelict, vicious, facinorous; neuter (singular) mischief, malice, or (plural) guilt; masculine (singular) the devil, or (plural) sinners:—bad, evil, grievous, harm, lewd, malicious, wicked(-ness). See also 4191.
•Strongs 4192: ponos, pon´-os; from the base of 3993; toil, i.e. (by implication) anguish:—pain. men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
—2 Timothy 3:13

Editors note about the word perilous•FYI: The Greek word (chalepos) (perilous) is only used one other time in the New Testament, Matthew 8:28. There it is translated as (fierce) when describing the nature of the devils that possess Legion and his cohort.

Clinton condemned as “particularly shocking” incidents such as one in which two Egyptian soldiers were filmed dragging a woman protester on the ground by her black full-body veil, exposing her bra, then clubbing and kicking her.

“Women protesters have been rounded up and subjected to horrific abuse. Journalists have been sexually assaulted. And now women are being attacked, stripped and beaten in the streets,” Clinton said in a speech at Washington’s Georgetown University on Monday.

“This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonors the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform and is not worthy of a great people …

“Women are being beaten and humiliated in the same streets where they risked their lives for the revolution only a few short months ago.”

Medical sources say 13 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in the violence that began on Friday in Tahrir and nearby streets leading to parliament and the cabinet office.

After a night of clashes, gunfire rang out across the square at dawn as security forces charged hundreds of protesters demanding an immediate end to army rule.

Later thousands of women marched on the square to condemning attacks on female protesters. But by nightfall the square was calm again.

The United States, which saw deposed leader Hosni Mubarak as a staunch ally, gives Cairo $1.3 billion a year in military aid, a commitment that began after Egypt in 1979 became the first Arab state to make peace with Israel.

PRESSURE ON ARMY

Clinton’s remarks, some of the strongest U.S. criticism of Egypt’s new rulers, ratchet up pressure on the army. But Western diplomats said it was unlikely Washington would use its aid budget as leverage. U.S. officials have so far praised the army for promising to hand power to civilians.

A staggered parliamentary election is under way and the army has pledged to hand power to an elected president by July.

The women marchers were dressed in black and accompanied by male demonstrators who vowed to protect them from harassment.

“The women of Egypt are a red line!” they chanted.

Some looked up at male onlookers on surrounding balconies, chanting: “You who are standing by the window, tomorrow it will be your sisters!”

“This is a continuation of the systematic violence we used to witness (under Mubarak),” said Sarah Rifaat, a 27-year old environmentalist. “They manipulate women, thinking they can break the people and scare them this way.

“What happened to the girl who was stripped and dragged was sheer savagery. We cannot be silent about this. I want someone from the military council to admit responsibility.”

In a statement, the army council that took over after Mubarak was overthrown in February apologized, saying it “respects and appreciates Egyptian women and their right to protest and fully participate in political life.”

“ISOLATED INCIDENT”

General Adel Emara, a member of the army council, said on Monday that the attack on the woman protester was an isolated incident and was under investigation.

But other generals and their advisers have condemned the pro-democracy protesters, sometimes in extraordinary terms.

“What is your feeling when you see Egypt and its history burn in front of you?” retired general Abdel Moneim Kato, an army adviser, told the daily al-Shorouk, referring to a government archive building set alight during clashes. “Yet you worry about a vagrant who should be burnt in Hitler’s incinerators.”

Those comments drew fierce criticism from politicians and rights groups, saying they would stir further violence.

“The least that can be said about such comments is they are irresponsible and he must be punished for them, publicly and transparently,” the Arab Network for Human Rights said, adding that “his Nazi opinions incite hatred and justify violence.”

General Emara said “evil forces” wanted to sow chaos and that soldiers had shown “self-restraint” despite provocation.

“What is happening does not belong with the revolution and its pure youth, who never wanted to bring down this nation,” he said. Despite the actions of the security forces in Tahrir, Emara denied that the army had given orders to clear the square.

Hard-core activists have camped in Tahrir since a protest against army rule on November 18, which was sparked by the army-backed cabinet’s proposals to permanently shield the military from civilian oversight in the new constitution.

A week of mayhem in November killed 42 people.

The flare-up has also marred the parliamentary election, which began on November 28 and ends on January 11.

Results so far suggest the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood and hardline Salafi Islamists will have a majority in the lower house – groups the West once looked to Mubarak to keep in check.

Washington has reached out to Islamists in a shift in approach since the summer. A senior U.S. diplomat met Islamist and other newly elected members of parliament in the northern city of Alexandria, the embassy said on Tuesday.

(Additional reporting by Dina Zayed and Alexander Dziadosz; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

A popular North Carolina college student gunned down three years ago pleaded for her life in the moments before her death and asked her assailants to pray with her, according to testimony at the murder trial.

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Days of Noah

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
—Matthew 24:37

Violence

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence•Strongs 2555: chamacç, khaw-mawce´; from 2554; violence; by implication, wrong; by meton. unjust gain:—cruel(-ty), damage, false, injustice, x oppressor, unrighteous, violence (against, done), violent (dealing), wrong
•Strongs 2554: chamacç, khaw-mas´; a primitive root; to be violent; by implication, to maltreat:—make bare, shake off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong, imagine wrongfully.
—Genesis 6:11

Eve Carson, student body president at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, died from multiple gunshot wounds on March 5, 2008, after she was allegedly kidnapped and robbed by two men.
Prosecutors say 21-year-old Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr. and 25-year-old Demario James Atwater kidnapped Carson from her home sometime after 3:30 a.m., took her in her SUV to withdraw money from ATMs and then shot her five times, WRAL-TV reported.

Atwater pleaded guilty last year to state and federal charges in the case and is serving two life sentences in federal prison. Lovette, who is now on trial, faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
Jayson McNeil, a lifelong friend of Lovette’s, testified Tuesday about a conversation he says he had with Lovette about the crime on March 12, 2008. McNeil said Lovette called him the day a warrant was issued for his arrest.
“Before (Lovette) even shot her, he explained, she was saying, ‘Let’s pray,’” 20-year-old McNeil told the courtroom. “She wanted them to pray together.”
McNeil, whose testimony was part of a plea deal in a federal drug case, said Lovette told him that he and Atwater went to Chapel Hill to rob and that they saw Carson getting into her SUV, according to WRAL.
“They rushed her,” McNeil testified.
Lovette got into the driver’s seat, and Atwater got into the backseat with Carson and held a gun to her head, McNeil told jurors.
“He said the whole time that Eve Carson was in the backseat that she was pleading for her life and explained that they didn’t have to do what they were doing,” McNeil testified. “Demario was feeling her clothes and touching her in certain parts of her body.”
Lovette said they killed her because she had seen their faces.
Carson was shot four times with a .25-caliber to her right cheek, back, right arm and right buttock. She also was shot through her right hand and right temple with a sawed-off shotgun.
The medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Carson testified Tuesday that the young woman could have survived the four handgun wounds with appropriate medical care, according to the station.
“Only one of these wounds was immediately fatal, and that was the shotgun injury to the head,” Dr. Cynthia Gardner reportedly told jurors.

Regulators investigating the collapse of MF Global have determined that the firm combined money between securities and futures accounts owned by customers, and transferred funds outside the country to at least one entity, a source said on Friday.

To view popup window put your cursor on the blue words

Days of Noah

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
—Matthew 24:37

Corruption

”The earth also was corrupt•Strongs 2040: haracç, haw-ras´; a primitive root; to pull down or in pieces, break, &ä destroy:—beat down, break (down, through), destroy, overthrow, pluck down, pull down, ruin, throw down, x utterly. before God,and the earth was filled with violence”.
—Gen 6:11

“The further we get into (the investigation) the more complex it is … but we’re making progress,” the source said, adding that the commingling and transferring of money is making it harder for regulators to determine what money belongs where.

MF Global took futures segregated money and put it into the account for customer securities, essentially mixing futures and securities that were both owned by customers, said an official familiar with the matter.

Until now, it was believed that only customer futures accounts were affected.

The source also told Reuters that MF Global had been using customer funds for “several days if not weeks” rather than just a few days before the firm collapsed.

Regulators had previously thought the firm was using customer funds on the Thursday and Friday before it filed for bankruptcy on October 31.

CME Group, the Chicago exchange where MF Global traded, said it had reviewed the company’s books a week before the bankruptcy and found no issues with the customer money.

If MF Global started improperly dipping into its customers’ accounts long before the firm’s collapse, the allegation would raise questions of why the regulators and auditors failed to spot such behavior.

Congress has already started asking questions about potential lapses in regulatory oversight of MF Global. The pressure on regulators would only increase if MF Global turns out to have misused customer funds over an extended period of time.

“Establishing the specifics of what happened is key to figuring out how the system failed and how to fix it going forward,” Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa said in a statement on Thursday. “Congress will need to keep drilling down.”

MF Global collapsed in late October after the firm was forced to reveal that it had made a $6.3 billion bet on European sovereign debt.

An effort to sell the firm failed, partially due to the revelation that hundreds of millions of dollars in customer money were not where they should have been.

Investigators such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have been scouring the company’s books, described as messy and unorganized, for the fund shortfall that has been estimated as much as $1.2 billion by the liquidating trustee..

However, regulators have been at odds with the trustee, believing that figure is too high.

(Additional reporting by Philip Shishkin; Editing by Gary Hill)

Former president’s new firm Teneo Strategy was hired to boost Corzine.

To view popup window put your cursor on the blue words

Days of Noah

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
—Matthew 24:37

Corruption

”The earth also was corrupt•Strongs 2040: haracç, haw-ras´; a primitive root; to pull down or in pieces, break, &ä destroy:—beat down, break (down, through), destroy, overthrow, pluck down, pull down, ruin, throw down, x utterly. before God,and the earth was filled with violence”.
—Gen 6:11

A former MF Global employee accused former president William J. Clinton of collecting $50,000 per month through his Teneo advisory firm in the months before the brokerage careened towards its Halloween filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Teneo was hired by MF Global’s former CEO Jon S. Corzine to improve his image and to enhance his connections with Clinton’s political family, said the employee, who asked that his name be withheld because he feared retribution.

“They were supposed to be helping Corzine improve his image as a CEO—I guess you can tell how that went,” he said. Corzine resigned as CEO and chairman November 4.

Before Corzine joined MF Global in May 2010, the firm was a smart and well-run commodities broker, a culture that was turned upside-down by his leadership style, he said.

“The traders would be shaking their heads,” he said. “They would come back to their desk and say, ‘Well, I thought we were going to do this—but Corzine would come by and do something else all by himself,’” he said.

The Teneo contract with MF Global lasted at least five months, he said. “The board cancelled it after Corzine resigned.”

The source, who is no longer associated with MF Global, said Teneo is a dual-track company with one side devoted to merchant and investment banking and the other side set up to provide image and strategy consulting services.

Clinton is the chairman of the company’s advisory board. His duties and compensation have not been released. The other member of the board is former British prime minister Tony Blair.

Two of the three founding partners are very close to the former president and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton. They are Douglas J. Band, who is the former president’s counselor and has served on his personal staff since 1995 and Declan Kelly, who earned the “Hillraiser” status in the secretary’s 2008 run for president for bundling more than $100,000 for the campaign.

Another prominent member of the Clinton political family is Tom Shea. Shea is a senior vice president for Teneo Strategy and served as Corzine’s chief of staff, when Corzine was the governor of New Jersey.

Kelly sold his public relations firm Financial Dynamics in 2006 to FTI for $340 million, and stayed with that company until July 2009, when he joined the State Department as the Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland.

The source said, “Kelly was given a job they created out our whole cloth.” The job did not exist previously.

“He basically got to ride around developing a book of business, while he waited for his non-compete clause to run out,” he said.

Kelley and the former president traveled together networking and making introductions at international conferences and events, he said.

The Secretary of State also traveled with Kelly, including the October 2010 U.S. – Northern Ireland Economics Conference, which Kelly organized and at which the secretary was the featured speaker.

The secretary announced that she accepted Kelly’s resignation May 11.

Teneo landed its first major client June 1, when the Rockefeller Foundation gave Teneo a $3,447,150, six-month contract to help plan the foundation’s 2013 centennial.

The foundation is another member of the Clinton’s extended family. It gave Clinton its Lifetime Innovation Achievement Award July 27 and the foundation is listed as a between $1 to $5 million contributor to the William J. Clinton Foundation, along with several members of the Rockefeller family who are listed as individual contributors.

[In the preparation of this story, several emails and phone calls were placed to Teneo, MF Global and the State Department for comment. In each case, there was no response.]

It follows an 11-day stay in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, earlier this year, which is also believed to have cost the U.S. taxpayer millions.

To view popup window put your cursor on the blue words

Days of Noah

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
—Matthew 24:37

Corruption

”The earth also was corrupt•Strongs 2040: haracç, haw-ras´; a primitive root; to pull down or in pieces, break, &ä destroy:—beat down, break (down, through), destroy, overthrow, pluck down, pull down, ruin, throw down, x utterly. before God,and the earth was filled with violence”.
—Gen 6:11

While most Americans are lucky to get a few weeks of holiday every year, it seems the country’s leader gets a little more freedom in the matter.
President Barack Obama has announced his Christmas vacation to Hawaii – for a staggering 17-day trip.
Obama, who visited the island just two weeks ago for an economic summit, will head to Honolulu on Saturday December 17 until Monday January 2.

The president, who was raised in Hawaii until he was six, will be joined by his wife Michelle and their daughters, Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10.
The White House travel office announced the president has no public events scheduled for the trip.

The President’s family covers the cost of a private beach front residence in Kailua, Oahu, for their vacation – a ‘Winter White House’ that costs up to $3,500 a day, or $75,000 a month.
But the local and federal taxpayers help pay the bill for travel and s

Last year the trip cost more than $1 million,according to the Hawaii Reporter.
Obama announced the trip during a campaign fundraiser on Oahu’s Leeward Coast during his stay on the island last month.

‘It is great to be home, great to feel that Aloha spirit,’ he said.
‘And Michelle and the girls will be back shortly for Christmas vacation, as we do every year. We’ll see if Washington gets its business done, so I can get here as well. But that’s always a challenge.’
It follows an 11-day stay in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, earlier this year, which is also believed to have cost the U.S. taxpayer millions.
Next week, the president will be saving a few cents by hosting a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Obama will speak with Harper at the White House about economic competitiveness, security and key global issues.
Harper has urged Obama to support an oil pipeline from western Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
But the Obama administration said last month it was delaying a decision on the project until it can study new potential routes that would avoid environmentally sensitive areas in the Midwest. The decision is expected to be delayed until 2013.