OMG! I was venting & looked up to see this on my news feed. This is absolutely heart breaking. According to reports there were no threats of terrorist acts in the recent days. From what I have read it is too soon to tell if this was indeed a terrorist act.
NY Times reports — BOSTON — A series of explosions was reported near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday, leaving two people dead and at least two dozen injured, according to the Boston Police Department. FULL STORY
Boston Marathon Explosions! (Charles Krupa/Associated Press)
My heart is a bit more at ease knowing that he is facing 2nd Degree Murder but I still think this racist bastard needs to be sentenced to death.
LA Times reports — George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, faces a second-degree murder charge for shooting Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager in Sanford, Fla., the special prosecutor in the case announced Wednesday.
In a televised news conference, State Atty. Angela B. Corey outlined the charges in the case that has sparked national demonstrations calling for Zimmerman’s arrest.
“I can tell you we did not come to this decision lightly,” Corey told reporters. “We do not prosecute by public pressure.”
She said her office had filed information with the charge.
Zimmerman, who has maintained he acted in self-defense, was in custody, Corey confirmed, though she gave no details. He had been in hiding since the shooting after his family said he had received death threats.
Martin, 17, was returning from a convenience store run on Feb. 26 — he had bought a bag of Skittles candy and an iced tea — when he caught Zimmerman’s eye. Zimmerman, 28, was driving out of his gated community in Sanford on his way to the supermarket when he called the Sanford Police Department to report a young black male acting suspiciously, possibly on drugs, he said.
The police dispatcher asked Zimmerman whether he was following the youth. When Zimmerman replied that he was, the dispatcher told him: “We don’t need you to do that.” Moments later, Zimmerman — armed with a 9-millimeter weapon — got out of his car.
Zimmerman has said he shot Martin in self-defense after the youth struck him in the face, knocked him down and began pounding his head into the ground. But many believe Zimmerman was the aggressor, emboldened by his status as the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain.
Coverage of the case was largely limited to local media until the call between Zimmerman and the dispatcher was made public, along with a 911 call that one resident made just before the shooting. In the background of that call, someone can be heard yelling for help. Martin’s parents insist that voice belonged to their son. Zimmerman has said the voice was his.
The phone calls and steady stream of new evidence, not to mention potential evidence, have turned many Americans into armchair CSI experts.
But the case itself struck a chord — and not just within the African American community. Many Americans consider it cut-and-dried evidence of the social injustices that blacks in this country have long faced.
The intense media attention has been propelled in part by outrage in the social media world. Twitter has been flooded with tweets linked by the hashtag #Trayvon. And an online petition at Change.org demanding Zimmerman’s prosecution has received more than 2.2 million signatures — the single biggest reaction the online petition platform has ever had.
In the wake of such scrutiny, as well as marches, protests and rallies held across the country, the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI have launched probes into the case, and Corey was assigned to review the matter. The case even gained the attention of President Obama, who called for a thorough investigation.
And, no surprise, the case has also stirred up a backlash against the media attention.
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that many people — including a majority of Republicans and 43% of whites surveyed — said the media had gone overboard in their coverage.
The Feds shut down MEGAUPLOAD and the infamous hacker group, ANONYMOUS, hacked the Justice department and Universal Music Group, which had been involved in litigation with MegaUpload. Swizz Beats was not listed in the indictment but it is said that he is the CEO of MEGAUPLOAD.
LA Times reports — The Department of Justice announced Thursday that it has conducted a major action to shut down MegaUpload, a popular file-sharing site widely used for free downloads of movies and television shows.
After receiving indictments from a grand jury in Virginia for racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and other charges on Jan. 5, federal authorities on Thursday arrested four people and executed more than 20 search warrants in the U.S. and eight foreign countries, seizing 18 domain names and an estimated $50 million in assets, including servers run in Virginia and Washington, D.C.
MegaUpload is a “digital locker” that allows users to store files that can then be streamed or downloaded by others. Its subsidiary site MegaVideo became very popular for the unauthorized downloads of movies and TV shows. Users whose uploaded content proved particularly popular were paid for their participation.
In a joint statement, the Justice Department and FBI called the action “among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States.”
Ira Rothken, an attorney for MegaUpload, said in an interview that he only learned of the actions in a press release this morning and had not yet read the entire indictment. “Our initial impression is that the allegations are without merit and MegaUpload is going to vigorously contest them,” he said. “We have deep concerns over due process and assets being taken without the opportunity for a hearing.”
According to the indictment, the operators of MegaUpload earned more than $175 million in illegal profits and caused an estimated $500 million in harm to copyright holders. The site is advertised as having more than 50 million daily visitors, according to federal authorities. Four of MegaUpload’s operators have been arrested in New Zealand, while three more remain at large. The seven each face a maximum of 55 years in prison.
Not listed on the indictment is rapper Swizz Beatz — real name Kasseem Dean – who, according to a report in the New York Post, is the CEO of MegaUpload. Beatz is married to pop singer Alicia Keys. Rothken said that Beatz had not been running the site but that recently there had been “a transition period going on.”
The news is sure to be welcome in the entertainment industry, whose leaders have faced a recent setback in their push for the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act. The proposed bills, if passed, would make it easier for U.S. courts to go after piracy sites that, unlike MegaUpload, operate entirely overseas.
Critics who believe the bills are heavy-handed and don’t adequately protect civil liberties conducted a U.S. Internet “blackout.” As many as 10,000 websites went black Wednesday, among them Wikipedia, Craigslist and Reddit. The protest helped to pressure lawmakers to oppose SOPA and PIPA. The Obama administration announced its opposition to the bills in their current forms Saturday.
[Update, 2:55 p.m.: The websites of the Justice department and Universal Music Group, which had been involved in litigation with MegaUpload, were down on Thursday. The sites were attacked by members of the hacker group Anonymous in response to the actions against MegaUpload, according to a report on CNET News.]
SMH…I cannot find these pictures anywhere LOL…I am digging trust!!!
It's NOT my WANKY!!!
Justin Timberlake wants to make it clear — the explicit picture on Mila Kunis‘ cell phone — showing a penis — is NOT J.T. — this according to a source close to Justin.
TMZ broke the story … Mila’s cell phone was hacked, and two of the pics the hackers seized showed Justin — one laying in bed, the other showing Justin with a pair of pink panties over his head.
There is another pic of a penis but that’s it — there’s no torso, no face … and Justin has made it clear to people close to him — he NEVER sent such a pic to Mila or to anyone for that matter.
Scarlett Johansson’s phone was hacked & pictures that she took of herself hit the internet yesterday night. She has reportedly contacted the FBI because she believes this is a criminal act. The pics below were leaked all over the internet yesterday, and as you can see it seems to be the same pattern of her bedroom from her Los Angeles home. Back in March the FBI launched an investigation in March to find the tech savvy group accused of stealing naked photos of Hollywood actresses including Jessica Alba, Scarlett Johansson, Vanessa Hudgens and Christina Aguilera (according to Radar Online).
Ummm may be I need to take down the pics LOL…I don’t want any legal action taken against me, SMH…this just in!!!
TMZ reports — The scofflaws who hacked Scarlett Johansson‘s cell phone … and then leaked several nude pics — are in the crosshairs of the FBI, and we’re told the Feds already know the identity of the main culprit.
TMZ broke the story … Scarlett contacted the FBI yesterday after the pics — one which features her bare breasts and another showcasing her behind — were leaked to several websites.
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … the FBI is “honing in” on the group of hackers and know the identity of at least one of them — and we’re told it’s the ringleader.
Our sources say the hackers have done their dirty work on the cell phones of other celebs, including Vanessa Hudgens, Jessica Alba, Lindsey Vonn, Ali Larter and Emma Caulfield.
Earlier this morning TMZ posted the following:
Scarlett Johansson‘s lawyer is on the attack — warning a bunch of websites that Scarlett owns the copyright to her HACKED nude pics and anyone who doesn’t take ‘em down will FACE HIS WRATH!!!!
TMZ has learned … Scarlett’s attorney — legal pit bull Marty Singer — has fired off threatening letters to various sites including TheDirty.com … demanding that the sites remove the “stolen copyright protected private photographs” immediately … or face legal action.
Singer claims, “The highly personal and private photographs at issue capture our client self-posing in her own home in a state of undress and/or topless.”
And just to make sure he’s perfectly clear, Singer concludes…“If you fail to comply, you will be acting at your own peril. Please govern yourselves accordingly.”
TheDirty tells TMZ … the site will adhere to Singer’s request and take down the photos.
ABC reports — U.S. authorities are scrambling to sort through information that the CIA developed in the past 24 hours indicating that at least three individuals entered the U.S. in August by air with the intent to launch a vehicle-borne attack against Washington, D.C. or New York around the anniversary of 9/11, according to intelligence officials.
Officials say the alleged terror plot was initiated by new Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s successor, who had pledged to avenge bin Laden’s death earlier this year in a U.S. raid.
Intelligence and law enforcement officials told ABC News that at least one of the individuals is a U.S. citizen and one official said that two of the individuals may have had U.S. documentation — whether green cards or passports was unclear.
The threat was described as specific and credible by federal officials. “Al Qaeda has shown an interest in important dates and anniversaries. In this instance it is accurate that there is credible, specific but unconfirmed information,” said Janice Fedarcyk, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the New York office, at a Thursday evening press conference.
At a the same press conference, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg said the NYPD was already on alert because the anniversary is seen by terrorists as an opportune time to strike, and would be deploying additional resources around the city. He also said that the threat was credible and had to be taken seriously, though “it has not been corroborated.”
“We do live in a world where we must take these threats seriously and we certainly will,” said Bloomberg.
As news of the information became public, authorities began weighing whether to raise the national threat level. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have sent a bulletin to 18,000 law enforcement agencies around the country warning them of the potential plot. The bulletin notes that al Qaeda might seek revenge for the death of bin Laden and other key figures on a symbolic date like the anniversary of 9/11.
Although authorities said they had not yet identified the suspects, they are looking at multiple names of individuals who entered the U.S. after mid-August. The operatives are believed to have embarked on their journey to the U.S. from the tribal areas of Pakistan, according to two senior officials. One official said the route may have taken them through Dubai.
The information on the plot was “very specific “ said one official, adding “It seems like the information has been worked for a while.” A second and third official confirmed the specifics of the possible plot added that a declassified bulletin is expected to be issued shortly. FULL STORY!
