Academi: Company previously known as Blackwater agrees to $7.5 million fine in arms smuggling case

Academi: Company previously known as Blackwater agrees to $7.5 million fine in arms smuggling case
August 10, 2012

Jebus. I've been bitching about this pos company for 5 fucking years and the fuckers just keep getting govt contracts. Erik Prince may have bailed out and left the company to clean up the mess, but the idiot still thinks his right wing xian bullshit can save the world and he can get rich doing it.

It's kind of funny that I just read this article within 3 days of watching "Lord of War" with Nicholas Cage.

The Whistleblower

2010 R 112 minutes
Sent to Bosnia to train cops in the aftermath of that country's brutal civil war, American policewoman Kathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz) uncovers evidence that U.N. peacekeepers are complicit in a flourishing sex-trafficking trade. But when she brings her allegations to light, she discovers that her foes are more powerful than the law. Based on a true story, this thriller from director Larysa Kondracki co-stars Monica Bellucci and David Strathairn.

Fucking DynCorp. My husband had a run in with those corrupt, arrogant, lazy fuckers when he was in the service, and he is next to impossible to piss off, and he was pissed when he got home from work. Anyway, I remember reading this article within a couple years of it being written. When the phrase "diplomatic immunity" showed up in the movie I had to take a break as I was picturing myself going after one of the characters in the movie with a baseball bat. "Immunize that, you fucker!" I thougt.

The DynCorp "See No Evil" Monkey
Posted: 02/10/2012 10:56 am
David Isenberg
Author, 'Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq'

Broken wings: both current and former employees of DynCorp, one of the federal government's largest contractors, have accused the company of taking a fly-by-night attitude toward maintenance of military aircraft
by Kelly Patricia O'Meara

Aug 02, 2011
Contractor Accountability and Human Trafficking at Center of Upcoming Film, The Whistleblower
"...Dyncorp employees ran a “prostitution ring” that imported prostitutes from Kuwait into Baghdad in armored vehicles and operated out of hotels along the Tigris River, according to Barry Halley, a former Dyncorp subcontractor. The women appeared to be adults from Eastern Europe, he said..."

And believe me, it aint just DynCorp:

‘Gentlemen, We Shot a Judge’ and Other Tales of Blackwater, DynCorp, and Triple Canopy’s Rampage Through Iraq

Fed Judge Gives Blackwater Huge New Year's Gift, Dismisses All Charges In Iraq Massacre

By Jeremy Scahill

"...In a memo defending his opinion, Urbina cited a similar rationale used in the dismissal of charges against Iran-Contra figure Oliver North—namely that the government violated the rights of the Blackwater men..."



I'm sure that Jeremy Scahill's mouth is not hanging open in stunned silence. Mine is. The 14 innocent Iraqis the Blackwater assholes slaughtered in this particular incident right's weren't violated, right?

*sigh*

This decade sucked. Big-time. I'm really glad it's almost over. You'd think that after a year of Fucktard (43) being gone I'd hate him a little less, right? Nope, we ain't never getting out from under the mess that retard made.

Happy Fucking New Year.

Mercenaries in Africa a new concept?

Oh fuck me running, get the fuck outta here.

Ladies and Gentleman may I present

Warren Zevon - Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner



Blackwater's New Frontier: Their Own Private Africa

State Department To Blackwater: You're Fired, Leave Iraq by May

$1.2 Billion Contract Won't Be Renewed Following Iraqi Refusal to License U.S. Firm
By BRIAN ROSS and KIRIT RADIA
January 30, 2009

How the hell did I miss this one?

WOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!

No words needed

Good for the country.

Unfortunately the Blackwater and Mormon bigots temporarily won this battle in California. They have not won the war. The Proposition 8 ballot measure is unconstitutional, unfair, discriminatory and wrong.

religion sucks #14

Mormon Church on Prop 8: We Oppose Civil Rights (But Don't Tell)
Rick Jacobs
Posted November 4, 2008 03:43 AM (EST)

"...The Mormon Church's members have contributed some $22 million into Prop 8, a vicious campaign here in California seeking to strip fundamental marriage rights from same-sex couples, making them permanent second-class citizens..."

Traditional Media: Missing the Mormon Ideology/Blackwater Connection to CA Prop 8

Look on the right of this pic--that's interstate 5, so whenever you travel this section of 5 you get to look at this huge Mormon temple.


How can people be smug and ignorant at the same time? That would be the Yes on h8ters, and most people who want to shove their religious beliefs down my throat.

I just talked to my neighbor that I encouraged to register for the first time. She got up early and voted. I know she voted NO on 8, so nyah nyah nyah, stupid Mormons, stupid Blackwater hypocrites.

Yes on 8 wingnuttia in action

They piss me off. ( It's been fixed now, but I was so pissed off I screwed up the last post on this issue.) I flipped them off again, and the idiots told me I was intolerant and I was infriniging on their freedom of religion, and that I wanted to infringe on their freedom of speech. Huh? They want to change my constitution to specifically exclude what the CA Supreme Court decided should not be excluded and I'm intolerant? I flipped them off, that's MY freedom of speech, bitches.

I've noticed something about Rethugs: everything these shitheads accuse you of, they themselves are usually guilty of.

These people are lying, hypocritical sacks of shit. It's Ok to get paid billions of taxpayer dollars to kill Iraqi kids, but better not let an American kid witness a gay marriage, even if the parents approve of the marriage, the ceremony, And don't want their kids pic used in a "YES ON 8" AD. I hate the wingnut fucking fucks.

Not So Strange Bedfellows: Blackwater and Yes on 8
by: Lucas O'Connor
Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 11:10:54 AM PDT


Happy Halloween from Molly McMooseturd, Crowned Queen of Wingnuttia

The Complex and the Gulag

Since my friend is ok, ( 5.4 aint no big deal ) & I'm sick of bad news, I think I'll just read today. These two titles together make me think of Blackwater and Halliburton.


Predators of press freedom

Bilbray sighting in San Diego

Dang, where's my rotten tomatoes when I need them?

Mixed feelings this AM.

First the funny stuff. Amita Sharma has a lovely voice with slight inflections that are interesting to try to figure out. This morning on the local NPR station I really don't know where she was emotionally, but I was laughing my ass off:

San Diego Wants Blackwater to Make Training Facility Wheelchair Accessible

I can't stand Bonfiglio, & I love Mike Aguirre AND his brother.

Still plugging along until the isp sends the right driver. Dayang I miss reading y'all, but this thing is just sooooo slow. Oy. Be back soon. Vista is a pain in the ass so far.

Not happy with the Supreme Court this morning either:

Court rejects death penalty for raping children

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 58 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana law that allows the execution of people convicted of a raping a child...

and

The Supreme Court on Wednesday also cut the $2.5 billion punitive damages award in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster to $500 million.

and watch the Supreme Court be responsible for more dead cetaceans:


Supreme Court to decide Navy sonar appeal
Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:29pm

Seriously. Who does the Supreme Court protect in these cases? It ain't the whales.

Blackwater opens San Diego training center

Blackwater supporter attempting to intimidate protesters in San Diego last year. He looks like an old school fat ass chief. The kind of brainwashed meathead that I love to hate. Stubborn, stupid, and vicious. Probably divorced, or with a third world mail-order bride who meekly does his bidding without questioning and has never been encouraged to become independent of his stupid fat ass. Wonder if he knew about a contract that had already been signed ?


Blackwater opens San Diego training center
By ALLISON HOFFMAN Associated Press Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A new counterterrorism training facility operated by military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide echoed with the grunts of Navy sailors, a day after a federal judge ordered the city to let classes begin.

The 24 trainees batted and punched each other Thursday as they learned basic strike tactics in a corner of the 61,000-square-foot converted warehouse in an industrial area near the U.S.-Mexico border.

For the next three weeks, they'll practice shooting inside a 25-yard indoor firing range and learn to wear sidearms safely while wriggling through ship hatches and up narrow ladders installed in white metal cargo containers stacked along one wall of the building to simulate a ship. Trainers from Blackwater will quiz them on distinguishing small boats carrying cargo from those carrying bombs.

The company sued last month because city officials refused to issue final occupancy documents without a vote by the planning commission, after building inspectors had already signed off on the necessary permits. Blackwater said it faced a Navy contract deadline and accused the city of caving to political pressure.



The company has been targeted by anti-war activists and Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., who opposed its proposed training camp for law enforcement in a remote mountain community east of San Diego. That project was dropped after firing ranges failed to satisfy noise restrictions, but Filner and others have raised concerns that Blackwater is simply seeking a foothold near the border that could serve as a base for providing private migrant or drug interdiction services to federal agencies.

Blackwater insists the warehouse was built to provide the Navy's "ship reaction force basic" training course as part of a $400 million contract. The program is part of an initiative to train sailors in counterterrorist defense tactics after the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in a Yemeni port.

"This facility supports our oldest customer," said company Vice President Brian Bonfiglio, referring to the military.

Blackwater trains sailors from East Coast bases at its headquarters in Moyock, N.C., where it offers an advanced course using model ships floating in a private lake. It developed the California warehouse to offer the introductory program to sailors from San Diego, Guam, Japan and other Pacific bases.

Bonfiglio acknowledged that Blackwater would gladly host other agencies, including the Border Patrol or Coast Guard, at the warehouse, located in an unmarked building within sight of the border fence and the Tijuana airport control tower beyond.

"If we had a bunch of Border Patrol vehicles parked outside, they'd accuse us of trying to take over the border," he said, only half-joking. "But I'd open up our doors to any law enforcement that needed training, if I could do it."

The company has been expanding its domestic law enforcement training business, opening an 80-acre police training center in Mount Carroll, Ill., in 2007 to complement its 7,000-acre complex in North Carolina.

At the same time, Blackwater, the largest private security firm in Iraq, has come under increased scrutiny for its work abroad. Its guards are under investigation by a federal grand jury in Washington for their involvement in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians. The company is also under investigation for possible weapons smuggling, allegations Blackwater denies.

Weapons smuggling? Like, you know, taking over Khashoggi's trade?

Democratic activist Raymond Lutz said those inquiries can't be ignored when it comes to Blackwater's domestic operations.

"To put training in the hands of private profiteers means that you're giving up your ability to oversee what they're doing and when you give it up you lose control," Lutz said. "Why doesn't the Navy train its own people?"

Bonfiglio said his five trainers offer students a depth of counterterrorism experience the Navy couldn't match without pulling its own experts from other duties.

"What we do overseas needs to be separated from what we do in the United States," he said. "Here we put all of our effort into developing training facilities that are unmatched."

The pride of the facility is the mock warship area, where shipping containers are outfitted with red lights to simulate an onboard emergency and speakers blare clanking background noise during exercises.

On Thursday, workers were reinforcing a maze of wooden walls appended to the cargo containers at the request of city inspectors, who are still reviewing Blackwater's application to use the simulated ship area under an amusement-park ride permit, Bonfiglio said.

City lawyers said the company misled inspectors by applying for permits piecemeal and under the names of affiliated companies instead of making a single application to open a training center with firearms. District Court Judge Marilyn Huff ruled Wednesday that the company did not need to seek special approval because the area is already zoned for vocational school use.

The city has not said whether it will appeal.
2008-06-06 09:00:13 GMT


What won't be on TV in San Diego tonight.

The bureaucratic behemoth DoD and your tax dollars

Let's see how the fuckers are spending your money today.


Tomgram: William Astore, Militarizing Your Cyberspace
posted June 05, 2008 10:49 am

...it's now proposing a massive $30 billion cyberspace boondoggle, as retired Air Force Lt. Col. William Astore writes below, that will, theoretically, provide the Air Force with the ability to fry any computer on Earth...

Attention Geeks and HackersUncle Sam's Cyber Force Wants You!
By William J. Astore

... Part of the Air Force's new "above all" vision of full-spectrum dominance, America's emerging cyber force has control fantasies that would impress George Orwell. Working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Department of Homeland Security, and other governmental agencies, the Air Force's stated goal is to gain access to, and control over, any and all networked computers, anywhere on Earth, at a proposed cost to you, the American taxpayer, of $30 billion over the first five years...


Judge allows Blackwater to open San Diego center
By ALLISON HOFFMAN – 15 hours ago

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal judge Wednesday ordered the city to allow military contractor Blackwater Worldwide to begin using a new counterterrorism training center in a warehouse outfitted with an indoor firing range.

District Judge Marilyn Huff ruled that the company would suffer irreparable harm if it could not begin holding classes there for Navy sailors.

Frankly, I'm wondering who this judge, or her husband is playing golf with? So tell me again how judges interpret the law to benefit the people they are paid to serve?

Southern California Residents Gear Up for New Fight to Stop Secretive Expansion by Military Firm Blackwater (Democracy Now)

Blackwater Still Courting Investors
By Noah Shachtman
May 02, 2008 | 3:01:55 PM Categories: Mercs

Looks like Wired Magazine is doing a fine job of following all things Blackwater


San Diego GOP has a cracker?

Heh.

Bill would make Coast Guard protect LNG terminals

Right, yes of course, because the Navy hasn't yet been trained by Blackwater.

Blackwater on the border

Virtual fence on Mexican border deemed insufficient
By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

So?


Blackwater still needs to feed from the government trough, and what better place than San Diego? Just what we need patrolling the border here, Blackwater.

There's just something about right-wing Christofacist zombies. Relentless fuckers, aren't they?

Duncky will come to their rescue. Lemon Chicken man does his best to secure bucks for all the boondoggles that defense contractors can dream up.

Rep Bob Filner, to his credit, has this to say

I have a question though. Why is Blackwater training sailors here? San Diego is one big huge Navy base.

Lobbyist-Free Romney?

Home » Spin of the Day » Jan 26, 2008

...Although U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney "has cast himself as a Washington outsider and blasted his opponents' ties to lobbyists," in fact he "has more than a dozen federally registered lobbyists raising money for him...

Oh and then there's this:

... Meanwhile, Blackwater is deep in the camp of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Cofer Black is Romney's senior adviser on counterterrorism...


Fuck.

Any of the candidates that were interesting to me have been kicked to the curb by the MSM, while it focuses on candidates that it can do business with.

Shit.

No wonder people don't bother to vote.

Update: 10:00 PM 1/30/2008

What an amusing little title:

The Supreme Court Forgets the Little People
The conservative-dominated court is totally out of touch with the rest of the country.

(Snort) Gee ya think?

Republican congressman defies Bush administration, pledges probe into destroyed CIA tapes

Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007
HOPE YEN Associated Press Writer

Mmmmm hmmm, sure, when monkies fly out of my ass.

Maybe Hoekstra can investigate Blackwater also.

Sure, he'll just check out his hometown cronies,rrriiiiiigggghhhhttt, sure buddy.


The FCC is up to their old tricks and the above article looks like more junk news to me.

Watch the junk news video.

Heh, it's only three minutes, and the music is fun. I love the stuff Danny digs up.

Oh. My. God. listen to this.

Well well, whadaya know?

Fitrakis & Wasserman were right, and I knew it!

Ho Ho Ho's -- Buh Bye, Hammers slammed

California Town Rejects Blackwater, Fires Council Members Who Endorsed Them

Posted by Paddy , Cliff Schecter's Blog at 5:33 AM on December 12, 2007.

Update: Rick Jacobs explains why rare triumph of democracy IS a big deal, and yet, the Blackwater slime will continue to ooze into San Diego without vigilant battle from local residents.

I wonder also if this isn't a message to the greedy assholes who think that all government functions should be privatized.

EU-Africa summit begins

Muammar Gaddafi called for compensation from former colonial powers [AFP]

The second ever EU-Africa summit has started in Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, in the presence of 67 leaders from the two continents, including Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe.


Terry has a great post on local Blackwater shenanigans

LA Times T Dec 4, 2007, & today's UT

Iran's nuclear ambitions on hold, U.S. agencies conclude
Intelligence experts say such work has been shelved for now -- a change in consensus with major implications for U.S. policy.
By Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007

China's man at the anchor desk
BROADCAST NEWS IN CHINA: “I don’t feel that any of us are employed to be stooges,” Edwin Maher says of fellow foreigners at China’s English-language television station, CCTV. “But obviously there are limits.” Above, he relaxes in Beijing.
Westerner Edwin Maher reads government 'news' for Beijing TV. He ignores those who call him a sellout.
By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007

A desire to curry voters' favor outweighs earlier calls for fiscal responsibility.For Congress, election imperils balanced budget
By Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007

BASEBALL
Walter O'Malley's long road to the Hall of Fame

Ex-priest pleads guilty in molestation scandal
Michael Stephen Baker's case was a key part of Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's fight to withhold records.
By John Spano, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007
Former Roman Catholic priest Michael Stephen Baker, who authorities say ranks among the Los Angeles Archdiocese's most prolific child molesters, pleaded guilty Monday to sexually abusing two boys and was sentenced to 10 years and four months in prison.

Chavez revolution takes hit in election
Crime, shortages, student opposition combine to help erode support for the Venezuelan president. His constitutional reform plan is narrowly defeated.
By Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007

Powell's turns the page
The legendary Portland, Ore., bookstore has been a how-to guide for surviving Internet and chain rivals. So why is its owner so nervous?
By Scott Timberg, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 3, 2007

Today's fiswrap
Tecate police official slain
Killing occurs hours after tunnel is found
By Anna Cearley
and Sandra Dibble
STAFF WRITERS
December 5, 2007
Juan José Soriano Pereira, 35, who was described as second in command of Tecate's police force, was shot to death in his bed about 2 a.m. yesterday, said Sonia Patricia Navarro, who oversees Baja California's state investigative police force. Soriano was hit by 45 bullets, Navarro said...
...An armed man escaped by ducking into the passageway, leaving behind bundles of marijuana. The Drug Enforcement Administration said yesterday that the drugs weighed 13,776 pounds. No detentions had been made on either side of the border...

Almost seven tons of pot abandoned and a dead high-ranking local Mexican cop. Could someone please tell me why marijuana is illegal again? I don't get it, & neither does Norm Stamper who started out as a San Diego beat cop, and he doesn't think the "War on Drugs" has been successful.

Leslie over at No Quarter has a fantastic blog post on the military-industrial-congressional-complex and their insidious inclusion in the "war on terrorism."

Documentary on Blackwater in Potrero

COUNTY WILDFIRES
Tracing the root of a fire takes time
Power lines, transformers likely caused most of blazes
By J. Harry Jones and Kristina Davis
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
November 11, 2007