The Vulgar Trader

Wow, Americans Are a Lot More Miserable About the Economy Than Canadians

911 Dispatcher Tells Woman About To Be Sexually Assaulted There Are No Cops To Help Her Due To Budget Cuts

“This is the dawning of the age of austerity… age of austerity!” Courtesy of CBS in Seattle:

“Uh, I don’t have anybody to send out there,” the 911 dispatcher told the woman. “You know, obviously, if he comes inside the residence and assaults you, can you ask him to go away? Do you know if he’s intoxicated or anything?”

The woman told the dispatcher that Bellah previously attacked her and left her hospitalized a few weeks prior to the latest incident. The dispatcher stayed on the phone with the woman for more than 10 minutes before the sexual assault took place.

“Once again it’s unfortunate you guys don’t have any law enforcement out there,” the dispatcher said, according to Oregon Public Radio.

The woman responded: “Yeah, it doesn’t matter, if he gets in the house I’m done.”

Police say Bellah choked the woman and sexually assaulted her.

Before you ask, no, there is no good reason for this to happen, but other details are in the report here.

Court Filing: US Gov Backing Mexican Drug Cartel

We’ve long suspected this was true, and now we have this court filing which documents and argues that the US government may have armed the Mexican Drug Cartel, Sinaloa, as a way to ensure they gained the upper hand in Mexico’s drug cartel wars. By arming Sinaloa, the filing claims, the US government planned to make Mexico’s drug war easier to manage.

The filing which is asking for discovery reads:

As Robert C. Bonner, the former head of the DEA and Commissioner of the United States Customs Department pointed out… the United States government’s plan to destroy the Cali and Medellin drug cartels in Colombia was based (as in this case) on giving carte blanche to rival cartels to continue their drug smuggling operations in the United States without concern for its associated death and destruction in both countries, in return for their assistance against the Cali and Medellin cartels.

He makes it clear that in Colombia, “the objective was to dismantle and destroy the Cali and Medellin cartels-not to prevent drugs from being smuggled into the United States or to end their consumption.” He goes on to say “the United States must accept that the goal in Mexico is similar; the destruction of the large Mexican cartels, nothing more and nothing else.”

This strategy, which he calls “Divide & Conquer,” using one drug organization to help against others, is exactly what the Justice Department and its various agencies have implemented in Mexico. In this case, they entered into an agreement with the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel through, among others, Humberto Loya-Castro, to receive their help in the United States government’s efforts to destroy other cartels.

Under that agreement, the Sinaloa Cartel under the leadership of defendant’s father, Ismael Zambada-Niebla and “Chapo” Guzman, were given carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States and were also protected by the United States government from arrest and prosecution in return for providing information against rival cartels which helped Mexican and United States authorities capture or kill thousands of rival cartel members. Indeed, United States government agents aided the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel.

The filing goes on to suggest that Operation Fast and Furious was an extension of that policy and concludes with a request for discovery of relevant documents. Read the rest here.

DHS Raids Mall Kiosks, Cause Terrorism

Courtesy of Buffalo News Channel 4:

Federal agents swept through two shopping malls Monday, seizing fake merchandise and shutting down stores.

The Department of Homeland Security spearheaded the investigation that targeted mostly kiosks in the Walden Galleria and Boulevard Mall. Agents hauled bags and boxes out of the Boulevard Mall after stripping three kiosks of their merchandise.

Jim Spero, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Buffalo office of Homeland Security, says the sale of counterfeit goods - in Buffalo and beyond - poses a major security threat.

“When you purchase counterfeit goods, when you sell counterfeit goods, you don’t know who you’re dealing with. You don’t know what kind of criminal activity you’re supporting,” Spero said. “It’s actually organized crime that is behind the distribution of these goods. It could be terrorists as well.”

Chris Hedges recently noted that the DHS is becoming increasingly broad in its mandate, infiltrating every organization possible to justify their continued existence — “stamp collecting clubs” he says half jokingly, pointing out that the Stazi of East Germany did the same thing. Clamping down on cheap iPhone knockoffs and claiming a link to terrorism would seem to fall under that umbrella.