Month: February 2013

European ‘Democracy’ Full Frontal – EU Parliament Head Tells Italians Not To Vote For Silvio Berlusconi

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– European “Democracy” Full Frontal – EU Parliament Head Tells Italians Not To Vote For Silvio (ZeroHedge, Feb 21, 2013):

To say that Germany does not love Silvio Berlusconi would be an understatement. But not even we thought European “democracy” would stoop so low as to tell Italians not to bring Bunga back or else. As Reuters reports, the German president of the European Parliament, once compared to a Nazi concentration camp guard by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, warned Italians on Thursday not to back the scandal-ridden media tycoon at the ballot box. Martin Schulz is the latest in a line of German politicians to express fears about a possible Berlusconi comeback largely due to worries he will halt Rome’s reform drive that has helped to lift investor confidence in the euro zone. “Silvio Berlusconi has already sent Italy into a tailspin with irresponsible behavior in government and personal escapades,” Schulz was quoted as saying in German daily Bild.

Ironically, as today’s PMI data confirm, it is somewhat hypocritical of Germany to accuse Italy of anything since in the Zero-Sum mercantilist union, it is only Germany, now that France has careened off the cliff, that benefits from everyone else’s misfortune. The irony is that Germany should be rooting for Silvio – after all they need that EURUSD some 1000 pips lower to boost German exports, and when all hell breaks loose with Italian bond spread, Germany will simply inject another €500 billion in current account liquidity via Target2 (even if it means crushing PIMCO and their long Italy bond position). To pretend that anything in Europe at this moment is about solidarity is hypocrisy of the nth degree.

Read moreEuropean ‘Democracy’ Full Frontal – EU Parliament Head Tells Italians Not To Vote For Silvio Berlusconi

America’s TBTF Bankster Subsidy From Taxpayers: $83 Billion Per Year

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– America’s TBTF Bank Subsidy From Taxpayers: $83 Billion Per Year (ZeroHedge, Feb 20, 2013):

Day after day, whenever anyone challenges the TBTF banks’ scale, they are slammed down with a mutually assured destruction message that limitations would impair profitability and weaken the country’s position in global finance. So what if you were to discover, based on Bloomberg’s calculations, that the largest banks aren’t really profitable at all? What if the billions of dollars they allegedly earn for their shareholders were almost entirely a gift from U.S. taxpayers? The stunning truth is that the top-five banks account for $64 billion of an implicit subsidy based on the ludicrous (but entirely real) logic that: The banks that are potentially the most dangerous can borrow at lower rates, because creditors perceive them as too big to fail. Perhaps this realization will increase shareholder demands – or even political furore? The market discipline might not please executives, but it would certainly be an improvement over paying banks to put us in danger.

Read moreAmerica’s TBTF Bankster Subsidy From Taxpayers: $83 Billion Per Year

Sandy Hook: 2 Guns Apparently Removed From Car Trunk (Video)

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And yes, why have they searched the vehicle at NIGHT?


YouTube Added: 25.01.2013

Description:

Just skip ahead to 0:40. You see the cop rack the slide of a long gun and set it on the left side of the trunk. Then a white suited guy picks up what you can clearly see is a long gun from the right side of the trunk.
Around the same time, a guy picks up the long gun set on the left side of the trunk by the brown suited cop. The guy who picks up the gun from the left side does it in a shady way so its hard to see the gun, but you just saw a cop clearly set a gun on that left side of the trunk where the white suited guy reached in.

Sandy Hook Massacre: Both Long Guns Found in Trunk of Car
http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2013/…

Connecticut School Massacre Briefing from local police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_ubdj…

4 Handguns Found In School, AR-15 Left In Car According To Several Federal And CT State Officials
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqpjJ6…

Why Should U.S. Taxpayers Give Big Banks $83 Billion A Year? (Bloomberg)

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– Why Should Taxpayers Give Big Banks $83 Billion a Year? (Bloomberg, Feb 20, 2013):

On television, in interviews and in meetings with investors, executives of the biggest U.S. banks — notably JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon — make the case that size is a competitive advantage. It helps them lower costs and vie for customers on an international scale. Limiting it, they warn, would impair profitability and weaken the country’s position in global finance.

So what if we told you that, by our calculations, the largest U.S. banks aren’t really profitable at all? What if the billions of dollars they allegedly earn for their shareholders were almost entirely a gift from U.S. taxpayers?

Read moreWhy Should U.S. Taxpayers Give Big Banks $83 Billion A Year? (Bloomberg)

A Meal In Fukushima: 171 Bq/Kg

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– 171 Bq/Kg measured from a meal in Fukushima (Fukushima Diary, Feb 21, 2013):

Disaster measure department of Fukushima prefecture announced they measured 171 Bq/Kg from a meal. It was a meal of a person living in North part of Fukushima. It’s 430 Bq/day. The survey was conducted from September to November of 2012.

The total testees are 77 people. From the meal of the rest of 76 people, 0.074 ~ 2.5 Bq/day was measured.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/radiotheater/archives/52017923.html

USDA Received Dire Pathogen Warning BEFORE Deregulating GM Alfalfa

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– USDA Received Pathogen Warning BEFORE Deregulating GM Alfalfa (Activist Post, Feb 20, 2013):

Following a 6 year approval battle, the USDA fully deregulated Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa in January 2011. A week later, they partially deregulated GM sugar beets. This occurred despite Secretary of Agriculture’s Tom Vilsack’s knowledge of a stark warning letter by Dr. Don M. Huber, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology, Purdue University two weeks prior, who found a link between the modified organisms and the proliferation of the new pathogen. Huber knew about its presence in Roundup Ready soy and corn and sought to hold off the GE alfalfa calling the situation an “emergency.”

Dr. Huber said (vid below) “we don’t know what it is” – it’s a new entity first noticed by veterinarians in the late ’90s, new to science. It’s not a virus, although similar, actually smaller in size and like a fungus that spreads like a virus. It’s contained in Roundup Ready (RR) and Roundup sprayed plants and feed and bizarrely affects all farmland animals often with infertility and spontaneous abortions – an inter-species syndrome that could be the first of its kind.

Read moreUSDA Received Dire Pathogen Warning BEFORE Deregulating GM Alfalfa

U.S. Air Force Releases Terrifying Video Of Tiny Flybots That Can Hover, Stalk And Even Kill Targets

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– Death from a swarm of tiny drones: U.S. Air Force releases terrifying video of tiny flybots that can can hover, stalk and even kill targets (Daily Mail, Feb 20, 2013):

  • Air Vehicles Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, is already developing prototypes of tiny drones that can hover
  • The Micro Air Vehicles will work in swarms to provide complex surveillance of a battlefield
  • They can also be armed with incapacitating chemicals, combustible payloads or even explosives ‘for precision targeting capability’

The U.S. Air Force is developing tiny unmanned drones that will fly in swarms, hover like bees, crawl like spiders and even sneak up on unsuspecting targets and execute them with lethal precision.

The Air Vehicles Directorate, a research arm of the Air Force, has released a computer-animated video outlining the the future capabilities of Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs).

The project promises to revolutionize war by down-sizing the combatants.

‘MAVs will become a vital element in the ever-changing war-fighting environment and will help ensure success on the battlefield of the future,’ the narrator intones.

‘Unobtrusive, pervasive, lethal – Micro Air Vehicles, enhancing the capabilities of the future war fighter.’

Read moreU.S. Air Force Releases Terrifying Video Of Tiny Flybots That Can Hover, Stalk And Even Kill Targets

Leon Panetta: Pentagon To Place 800,000 Civilian Workers On Unpaid Leave

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In other news:

– 800000 Pentagon staff face unpaid leave (Financial Times, Feb 20, 2013):

The “vast majority” of the Pentagon’s civilian personnel will be put on temporary unpaid leave if automatic spending cuts take effect on March 1, leaving 800,000 workers without pay for one day a week for more than five months.

In a letter to all US defence department employees, defence secretary Leon Panetta warned of “a serious erosion of readiness across our force” that would occur under sequestration – budget cuts worth $1.2tn over a decade under which military spending will take a big hit.

But Mr Panetta also said he was “deeply concerned” about the fate of Pentagon staff and their families. “We are doing everything possible to limit the worst effects on DoD personnel – but I regret that our flexibility within the law is extremely limited,” Mr Panetta said. Military personnel will be exempt from the automatic cuts, but civilians will be affected – and beginning in April will be subject to a one day per week furlough for 22 weeks. Mr Panetta said employees would be given 30 days’ notice before the furloughs.

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– Pentagon awash in pink slips, preparing 800000 civilian furloughs (Washington Times, Feb 20, 2013)


US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. (File photo)

– Pentagon to place 800,000 civilian workers on unpaid leave: Leon Panetta (PressTV, Feb 20, 2013):

The US Department of Defense (DOD) announced that 800,000 civilian employees are to be placed on unpaid leave if across-the-board budgets cuts take effect in March.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Congress on Wednesday that the Pentagon is to place nearly a million civilian defense employees on unpaid leave as congressionally mandated budget cuts worth USD 46 billion start on March 1.

Read moreLeon Panetta: Pentagon To Place 800,000 Civilian Workers On Unpaid Leave

‘No More Hesitation’ Series: Police Shooting At Pictures Of Pregnant Women And Children For Target Practice?

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Law Enforcement Targets INC

– Is Your Local Police Department Using Pictures of Pregnant Women and Children for Target Practice? (Reason, Feb 19, 2013):

What if I told you police in your town could desensitize themselves to the idea of shooting a (armed) child, pregnant woman, or young mother, for just a couple of bucks? The “No More Hesitation” series from Law Enforcement Targets Inc. offers exactly that. For less than 99 cents per target, police can shoot at real-life images “designed to give officers the experience of dealing with deadly force shooting scenarios with subjects that are not the norm during training.”Update: The marketing team at Law Enforcement Targets, Inc. sends along this helpful explanation for the “No More Hesitation” series:

“The subjects in NMH targets were chosen in order to give officers the experience of dealing with deadly force shooting scenarios with subjects that are not the norm during training. I found while speaking with officers and trainers in the law enforcement community that there is a hesitation on the part of cops when deadly force is required on subjects with atypical age, frailty or condition (one officer explaining that he enlarged photos of his own kids to use as targets so that he would not be caught off guard with such a drastically new experience while on duty). This hesitation time may be only seconds but that is not acceptable when officers are losing their lives in these same situations. The goal of NMH is to break that stereotype on the range, regardless of how slim the chances are of encountering a real life scenario that involves a child, pregnant woman, etc. If that initial hesitation time can be cut down due to range experience, the officer and community are better served.”


Law Enforcement Targets, Inc.

The series contains seven targets in all, titled Pregnant Woman, Older Man 1, Older Man 2, Older Woman, Young Mother, Young Girl, and Little Brother. Each of the depicted subjects is armed.

I’ve reached out to Minnesota-based Law Enforcement Targets, Inc., for comment on what inspired the series and whether it’s popular with law enforcement groups (see comment added above). Considering that the company has landed $5.5 million worth of contracts with the federal government, it might also be interesting to know if these targets are being used by federal law enforcement agents.

20 Signs That The U.S. Economy Is Heading For Big Trouble

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– 20 Signs That The U.S. Economy Is Heading For Big Trouble In The Months Ahead (Economic Collapse, Feb 20, 2013):

Is the U.S. economy about to experience a major downturn?  Unfortunately, there are a whole bunch of signs that economic activity in the United States is really slowing down right now.  Freight volumes and freight expenditures are way down, consumer confidence has declined sharply, major retail chains all over America are closing hundreds of stores, and the “sequester” threatens to give the American people their first significant opportunity to experience what “austerity” tastes like.  Gas prices are going up rapidly, corporate insiders are dumping massive amounts of stock and there are high profile corporate bankruptcies in the news almost every single day now.  In many ways, what we are going through right now feels very similar to 2008 before the crash happened.  Back then the warning signs of economic trouble were very obvious, but our politicians and the mainstream media insisted that everything was just fine, and the stock market was very much detached from reality.  When the stock market did finally catch up with reality, it happened very, very rapidly.  Sadly, most people do not appear to have learned any lessons from the crisis of 2008.  Americans continue to rack up staggering amounts of debt, and Wall Street is more reckless than ever.  As a society, we seem to have concluded that 2008 was just a temporary malfunction rather than an indication that our entire system was fundamentally flawed.  In the end, we will pay a great price for our overconfidence and our recklessness. 

Read more20 Signs That The U.S. Economy Is Heading For Big Trouble

Recovery: It Takes A B.A. To Find A Job As A File Clerk

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From the article:

“When you get 800 résumés for every job ad, you need to weed them out somehow,”said Suzanne Manzagol, executive recruiter at Cardinal Recruiting Group, which does headhunting for administrative positions at Busch, Slipakoff & Schuh and other firms in the Atlanta area.

– It Takes a B.A. to Find a Job as a File Clerk (New York Times, Feb 19, 2013):

ATLANTA —The college degree is becoming the new high school diploma: the new minimum requirement, albeit an expensive one, for getting even the lowest-level job.

Consider the 45-person law firm of Busch, Slipakoff & Schuh here in Atlanta, a place that has seen tremendous growth in the college-educated population. Like other employers across the country, the firm hires only people with a bachelor’s degree, even for jobs that do not require college-level skills.

This prerequisite applies to everyone, including the receptionist, paralegals, administrative assistants and file clerks. Even the office “runner” — the in-house courier who, for $10 an hour, ferries documents back and forth between the courthouse and the office — went to a four-year school.

“College graduates are just more career-oriented,” said Adam Slipakoff, the firm’s managing partner. “Going to college means they are making a real commitment to their futures. They’re not just looking for a paycheck.”

Read moreRecovery: It Takes A B.A. To Find A Job As A File Clerk

The Drones Are Coming Home

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– Unmanned Flight (National Geographic, Issue March 2013):

The Drones Come Home

Unmanned aircraft have proved their prowess against al Qaeda. Now they’re poised to take off on the home front. Possible missions: patrolling borders, tracking perps, dusting crops. And maybe watching us all?

At the edge of a stubbly, dried-out alfalfa field outside Grand Junction, Colorado, Deputy Sheriff Derek Johnson, a stocky young man with a buzz cut, squints at a speck crawling across the brilliant, hazy sky. It’s not a vulture or crow but a Falcon—a new brand of unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, and Johnson is flying it. The sheriff ’s office here in Mesa County, a plateau of farms and ranches corralled by bone-hued mountains, is weighing the Falcon’s potential for spotting lost hikers and criminals on the lam. A laptop on a table in front of Johnson shows the drone’s flickering images of a nearby highway.

Read moreThe Drones Are Coming Home

Cancer ‘Wonder’ Drugs Trigger Cancer Spread To Bones

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– New cancer ‘wonder’ drugs trigger cancer spread to bones (Natural News, Feb 20, 2013):

Most cancer drugs are used to hopefully kill tumors and keep malignancies from spreading. Unfortunately, new research from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis raises serious concerns that Big Pharma’s highly touted class of cancer drugs known as IAP antagonists actually increases the risk of tumors spreading to bone.

Read moreCancer ‘Wonder’ Drugs Trigger Cancer Spread To Bones

People’s Liberation Army ‘Unit 61398’ – US Ready To Strike Back Against China Cyberattacks – China Denies Cyber Attack Allegations

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– Cyber-assault HQ: how US is under attack from this office in Shanghai (Independent, Feb 19, 2013):

A barrage of malicious cyber-attacks against computer networks in the United States and other countries over several years has been sourced by a private US security firm to a single building on the fringes of Shanghai, which, it says, is occupied by the Chinese military.

A 60-page report released by Mandiant, a Virginia-based firm that specialises in cyber-espionage, concludes that hundreds or perhaps thousands of English-speaking Chinese computer experts toil daily inside the anonymous-looking 12-storey building in the Pudong district of Shanghai. ‘Unit 61398’, as it is known, hacks into foreign networks on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Mandiant alleges.

“The nature of Unit 61398’s work is considered by China to be a state secret; however, we believe it engages in harmful computer network operations,” the security firm said in the report, which drew instant rebukes from the Chinese government. “It is time to acknowledge the threat that is originating in China, and we wanted to do our part to arm and prepare security professionals to combat that threat effectively.”

The company asserted that the unit, one of several in China believed to be involved in invading overseas computer systems, had “stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organisations across a diverse set of industries beginning as early as 2006”.  While most of the activity targeted corporations in the United States are smaller number is located in Canada and Britain, it said.

– US ready to strike back against China cyberattacks (AP, Feb 19, 2013):

WASHINGTON (AP) – As public evidence mounts that the Chinese military is responsible for stealing massive amounts of U.S. government data and corporate trade secrets, the Obama administration is eyeing fines and other trade actions it may take against Beijing or any other country guilty of cyberespionage.

According to officials familiar with the plans, the White House will lay out a new report Wednesday that suggests initial, more-aggressive steps the U.S. would take in response to what top authorities say has been an unrelenting campaign of cyberstealing linked to the Chinese government. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the threatened action.

The White House plans come after a Virginia-based cybersecurity firm released a torrent of details Monday that tied a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai to years of cyberattacks against U.S. companies. After analyzing breaches that compromised more than 140 companies, Mandiant has concluded that they can be linked to the People’s Liberation Army’s Unit 61398.

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– China denies cyber attack allegations (BBC News, Feb 20, 2013)

Gas Prices Skyrocketing, Hit More Than $5 A GALLON

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City of Angels: Los Angeles has the highest gas prices in the country, with premium and diesel climbing up to an eye-watering $5.39 per gallon

– Gas prices hit more than $5 a GALLON after rising for the past 32 days (Daily Mail, Feb 18, 2013):

  • National average for gallon of gas is now $3.73 per gallon
  • But in parts of Los Angeles, price leapt to more than $5 per gallon
  • Price spike blamed on variety of factors, such as cost of crude and refinery closings

Fuel prices have skyrocketed across the country, with a gallon of gas reaching past $5.00 in some parts of the country. The price of petrol has been continually climbing for the past 32 days, causing many Americans to spend as much as 10 percent of their income on gas.

Experts are puzzled why prices keep ascending, as many drivers tend to shy away from long trips in the winter months due to slick road conditions.

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UAE To Buy $200 Million Worth Of US Drones

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– UAE to buy $200mn worth of US drones (PressTV, Feb 19, 2013):

The United Arab Emirates has signed $1.4 billion in military contracts that includes $200 million worth of U.S.-made drones.

Washington has traditionally used “obedient Arab dictatorships” in the Persian Gulf as military bases in the region, according to antiwar.com.

Arming adversarial Arab monarchs with drones merely feeds the process of proliferation, the report added.

Read moreUAE To Buy $200 Million Worth Of US Drones

Pravda: ‘Putin Warns Obama’

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– Putin warns Obama (Pravda, Feb 18, 2013):

Last Saturday the US media went wild saying things about Russia like,

“Russian nuclear bombers intercepted near Guam” – NBC News

“Air Force confirms Russian jets circled US territory of Guam” – Fox News

“Sending a Message’: Russian Bear Bombers Caught Circling Guam Before Obama Delivered the State of the Union” – The Blaze

It happened right before Obama delivered his State of the Union address they said.  The funny thing was that it happened last Tuesday but was not reported until Saturday. Yes, the Blaze is right. There was a message. NBC and others would have been on time with the news if they had listened closer to Putin rather than kissing Obama’s behind and following Soros’ orders. Last Thursday, Putin sent Obama a Valentine:

“Any kind of direct or implicit interference with Russia’s home affairs, all sorts of pressure being exerted on our country and our allies – is absolutely unacceptable.”

No, he never mentioned the US but implied it as he has done in other speeches like “bomb and missile democracy” and we all know who is spreading that across the world lately.

Read morePravda: ‘Putin Warns Obama’

UN: US Has Failed To Pursue The Church Pedophilia

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Cardinal Roger Mahony and other top Roman Catholic officials from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles worked behind the scenes to protect priests involved in sexual abuse of children. (File photo)

– US has failed to pursue the church pedophilia: UN (PressTV, Feb 19, 2013):

The United Nations has accused the United States for failing to pursue cases of child sex abuse among religious leaders and groups.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child released a report this month highlighting widespread sexual abuse committed by clerics and staff of religious institutions in America, along with a lack of measures “to properly investigate cases and prosecute them”.

“The committee is deeply concerned at information of sexual abuse committed by clerics and leading members of certain faith-based organizations and religious institutions on a massive and long-term scale,” the report said.

This comes as the American Catholic Church attempts to tackle an ongoing nationwide scandal over a pattern of covering-up allegations of sexual crimes committed by abusive priests.

Read moreUN: US Has Failed To Pursue The Church Pedophilia

Former Assistant Secretary Of Housing Catherine Austin Fitts: The Perfect Pope

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Flashback:

– Former Assistant Secretary Of Housing Catherine Austin Fitts: The People Who Are Leading America Are ‘Literally Doing A Vast Number Of Things That Are Going To Depopulate Or Bankrupt The Rest Uf Us’

– The Perfect Pope (Solari, Feb 15, 2013):

The other day, I imagined members of the Knights of Malta and Opus Dei (the money guys) gathering in a quiet sanctuary to discuss the current financial meltdown in the Catholic Church and the perfect Pope to help evolve their business model and lead them into a new and wealth building period.

Who would be the ideal candidate? What would the profile be?

Read moreFormer Assistant Secretary Of Housing Catherine Austin Fitts: The Perfect Pope

Iran Sentences 4 To Death In Biggest Bank Fraud Case

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– Iran sentences 4 to death in biggest bank fraud case (PressTV, Feb 18, 2013):

Iran Judiciary has handed down death sentence to four people convicted of involvement in the biggest embezzlement case in the country’s banking history.

“Four people were sentenced to death on charges of corruption on earth and disrupting the country’s economic system,” Iran’s Judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei told reporters on Monday.

Read moreIran Sentences 4 To Death In Biggest Bank Fraud Case

Golden-I: ‘Robocop’ Headset Lets Police See Through Walls (Video)

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YouTube Added: 19.02.2013

– The ‘Robocop’ headset that lets police see through walls and identify suspects just by LOOKING at them (Daily Mail, Feb 19, 2013):

  • Headset’s display uses infrared to help spot criminals in a building
  • High definition camera can be used to identify suspects
  • Version for fire and ambulance crews also under development
  • Will compete with Google’s Glass headset, which is also expected to go on sale this year

A headset computer promises to give police officers and other emergency services Robocop-like abilities.

The Golden-i device, similar to the Glass project being developed by Google, offers the ability to see through walls thanks to infrared technology.

It is operated by voice commands and head movements and allows the wearer to access vital information without using their hands.

Read moreGolden-I: ‘Robocop’ Headset Lets Police See Through Walls (Video)