St. Louis earns top position as America’s most dangerous area

The 2010 "Most Unsafe Cities" list has been published by the CQ Press. Last year’s leading rated city, Camden, N.J., was bumped into second place by new number 1 St. Louis. Critics call the CQ biggest risk cities list "irresponsible," but CQ Press defends the ratings as a way for communities to hold civic leaders accountable.

The most hazardous cities in The United States

St. Louis reached the top of the CQ biggest risk cities in 2009 after being number 2 behind Camden the year before. Third place is Detroit, Michigan. Right next to Detroit is Flint which came in fourth place. Oakland, California, rounds out the leading five. Places within the United States of America are compared based on violent crimes by CQ Press. Auto theft, burglary, aggravated assault, murder, rape and robbery are all included in this list. You will find 2,070.1 chaotic offences per 100,000 people in St. Louis according to the 2009 survey. 429.4 is the average throughout the nation. Camden finished seven points behind St. Louis and 18 points ahead of Detroit.

Overview of chaotic criminal offense statistics

Probably the most unsafe cities are rated by CQ Press. Federal Bureau of Investigation crime data has to be used for this. The methodology of the survey is something the Associated Press accounts area officials and criminologists question. A spokesperson for the St. Louis Police Department told AP that the most dangerous places list was irresponsible. The Federal Bureau of Investigation doesn’t appreciate its data getting used in ways like this, reports the AP. This is exactly what Greg Scarbro who is the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program’s unit chief said. A spokesman for the mayor’s office in St. Louis said crime has gone down each year since 2007. Camden Mayor Dana Redd told the Philadelphia Daily News that CQ issued a "flawed" report, published "for the sake of making a buck."

Most secure cities based on CQ

In contrast to the most hazardous places, CQ Press named El Paso, TX, a border area with raging Mexican drug violence right next door, as the most secure of all cities of its size in the U.S. Honolulu was 2nd safest and NY Area was 3rd. El Paso had only been up to 2nd and third on the CQ safest places report which makes this the first time it has come first.

Articles cited

Associated Press

google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hjbTudvgLq379jbYawS7w_WOFUjA?docId=22c9981f4ca34807ba7ac8dc07726067

Philadelphia Daily News

philly.com/dailynews/local/20101122_Camden_loses_crime_title.html

El Paso Times

elpasotimes.com/ci_16670537?source=most_viewed

Viktor Bout, alleged Merchant of Death, extradited to United States of America

A person named Viktor Bout who the Drug Enforcement Agency accuses of being a weapons dealer was extradited to the U.S. from Thailand Tues, a development that aroused anger from the Kremlin. Nicholas Cage has Bout (who has been detained in Thailand since 2008) to thank for the lead role in the 2005 cinema product “Lord of War,” which was depending on the arms dealer’s alleged adventures. Bout is fated to appear before United States of America prosecutors eager to pin him with the terrorism label and Russia is irritated by that fact, a state of affairs that could, or could not be interpreted as an inconvenient pothole in the road to U.S./Russian reconciliation.

The reason behind worry by Russians about Viktor Bout

Tuesday, Viktor Bout made his way to the United States of America Washington spent two years working to get him extradited on terrorism charges. Moscow tried to get Bout set free, however the Thai government refused. Because he tried to sell $5 million in weapons to the Columbian rebels in 2008, he was arrested by the Royal Thai Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Bout denies being an arms dealer. His business was supposedly concerning delivering goods. Inaccessible places throughout the world were where he focused on delivering. Bout having Russian military intelligence is what many think. U.S. officials finding out about it would be the major concern.

Merchant of Death being tracked

Viktor Bout is suspected of furnishing ruthless warlords within the Middle East, South The United States and Africa with weapons. Bout was a previous Russian military lieutenant who supposedly employed about 300 individuals in his global weapons operation. The Taliban was allegedly being supplied with weapons by Bout. In 2002 in Afghanistan this happened. He went underground, and DEA agents finally caught up to him in 2008, posing as arms buyers for Columbian rebels. Having missiles, drones, landmines and other weapons was what a DEA indictment is accusing Bout of.

United States of America and Russia both using a person

The extradition was called illegal and politically motivated by Russian foreign ministry as Viktor Bout was sent to the U.S.. This might hurt the relationship between the U.S. and Russia a bit. President Barack Obama and Dimitry Medvedev have been working on relations between the two countries. Others say that if last summer’s Russian spy scandal featuring Chapman did little to disrupt the new spirit of detente, Viktor Bout is not much of a threat. What could be a setback is the new Republican advantage in the U.S. Congress, which is set to debate the ratification of a new U.S./Russia nuclear treaty.

Details from

Washington Post

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/16/AR2010111600072.html?hpid=topnews

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2009/1022/who-is-viktor-bout

Telegraph

telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/8137270/Viktor-Bout-extradition-takes-shine-off-US-Russian-reset.html

Newsweek Daily Beast – Marrying to go two different directions

Earlier today, "The Daily Beast" and "Newsweek" announced that they would be combining. This had been announced by the new mixed editor Tina Brown. These 2 advertising companies will continue operations, with changes. The relationship is full 50 percent. There will be one editor for the two news operations. Tina Brown intends on running them very differently.

Seeing ‘The Daily Beast’ and ‘Newsweek’ as one

"The Daily Beast" is a news and editorial website that has been running for about 2 yrs. Stephen Colvin, founder of "The Week" and "Maxim," and Tina Brown, former editor of "Vanity Fair", run it together. "The Washington Post" sold "Newsweek" last year. Sidney Harmon bought it for $1. "Newsweek" plans to continue operations. It has been going for 77 years already.

Different media for different partners

The Newsweek Daily Beast Company is something Tina Brown sounded really looking forward to in an NPR interview. A 24/7 news cycle is what the web is great for which can be "beast-like" hopefully. She then said that "Newsweek" could be doing something else entirely. Magazines, she claims, are the perfect medium for long-form, investigative, "meaningful" journalism the web simply cannot very easily support.

…having done so much Web news now, I can really see what a magazine can offer, which is unique in the marketplace … is a different kind of narrative rhythm. … In a magazine you can be more reflective…

 

This means that Newsweek could be the "arm" of the newest media company when "The Daily Beast" can have the "animal-like" energy that has been what it is known for.

What the Newsweek Daily Beast Company would do

There is an interesting 50 percent divided of power in the company. This is how the Newsweek Daily Beast Company is planning on going. So far, the InterActive Corp and Barry Diller have been financing. This is how "The Daily Beast" has gotten by. USA Broadcasting and Fox Broadcasting Company are what Barry Diller is known for creating. Diller is also the Chairman of Expedia. Between 2007 and 2009, there was a 38 percent drop in revenue for "Newsweek" which is why $1 had been all Sidney Harmon had to pay for it. The two companies will share profits and revenues, and also the hope is that the partnership will shore up "Newsweek’s" cuts, which for just the first quarter for 2010 clocked in at $11 million.

Info from

New York Times

mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/newsweek-and-daily-beast-partnership-to-be-announced/

NPR

npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/11/12/131265004/tina-brown-merger-of-newsweek-and-daily-beast-amplifies-both

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsweek

The Daily Beast

thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-11-11/the-daily-beast-and-newsweek-to-wed/

DEA bust of Mexico canal netting thirty tons of pot

The Mexico tunnel isn’t really something people drive their automobiles via. Running between Tijuana and San Diego, the Mexico tunnel was a complex undercover drug transport system. About thirty tons of cannabis was grabbed last week when federal agents found the 21,600-inch long Mexican tunnel. Resource for this article – Mexico tunnel discovery a drop within the drug smuggling pail by Personal Money Store.

Tunnel in Mexico seemed like a drug cartel dug it

The Mexico tunnel linked warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana where drug smugglers stored their stash. A Mexican drug cartel is probably responsible for digging the Mexico tunnel considering how much it would have cost to do the whole thing. Tuesday was when the Drug Enforcement Agency began its investigation. It only happened because, near the Mexican border, a semi-trick that looked suspicious was leaving a warehouse in an industrial area. The truck had been stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint and 10 tons of marijuana were within the trailer. About 10 to 15 tons of weed were found within the warehouse that the DEA agents went and checked out.

$20 million in pot found

The Mexico tunnel was discovered when DEA agents looking inside a closet found a small opening in the floor. A 20 foot underground passageway with a rail running system that was six football fields long which led to another Mexico warehouse and was lighted and ventilated. They found more marijuana there too. About 4 tons more were taken while Mexican authorities were told about it. About $20 million in marijuana was taken in by the DEA.

Drug traffic won’t stop

Drug cartels are going increasingly more underground since there has been a crackdown on drug smuggling leading to the Mexico tunnel. Last month Mexican authorities seized 150 tons of marijuana in Tijuana, the largest drug bust in Mexican history. The amount of illegal drugs coming from Mexico into the U.S. probably won’t stop with these seizures, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The Monitor’s Sarah Miller wrote her opinion on it. She said that the Mexican government has just a PR victory. Miller ended up with an angry letter from the Mexican U.S. ambassador as a result of this.

Citations

Los Angeles Times

latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1104-drug-tunnel-20101104,0,595478.story

ABC News

abcnews.go.com/News/secret-tunnels-mexico-us-smuggling-drugs-guns-people/story?id=12057362&page=2

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/1020/Mexico-seizes-105-tons-of-marijuana-in-Tijuana.-Does-it-matter

National Aeronautics and Space Administration and DARPA join on 100 Year Starship

The newest project between National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is creating a sensation. The onus of the project is designing and ultimately building a spacecraft that will take individuals and enough supplies and equipment to Mars. It’s called the Hundred Year Starship, however the journey would be a bit different from the moon landings. The difference is type of significant. The hitch is the astronauts on this mission won’t come back.

Visiting Mars with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and NASA

Pete Worden, from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ames Research Center, brought news at the Long Conversation Conference in San Francisco. He said that National Aeronautics and Space Administration and DARPA are working together on a project. The Telegraph reports that the project is called the 100 Year Starship. The govt agencies have asked for help from any person who can give it to them. The world’s billionaires are being solicited for donations, including Larry Page, co-founder of Google. An original design could be available next year. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Challenge, which was an endurance race for self-driving cars, had been much more concrete than this project. Getting astronauts and cargo to Mars is the challenge being worked on with the project. This project is different than the international Space Station and Apollo 11. The astronauts will not be coming back from Mars.

One way ticket

It is hard for making a ferry between Earth and other planets because of the distance. A journey to Mars would take nine months to complete. Becoming self enough is the plan for those who go there. That’s what they will have to learn to do. NASA has $1 million to spend, but it’s envisioned the project would cost at least $10 billion to pull off. Based on Fox News, there is a lot of fuel to move equipment into space. Four pounds of fuel per one pound of equipment is needed. It could be nearly extremely hard for making a return journey since getting to Mars is already a difficult one.

Colonizing on Mars

Mars is the next good undertaking in space exploration, and colonizing other planets is maybe next on the list. The plan would involve getting astronauts to live on Mars. This would lead them to be there permanently. They would have to adjust to living on the Red Planet. This planet, at some point, will die. Mankind, if it’s to survive, must find a way to live someplace else.

Details from

The Telegraph

telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8091965/Nasa-unveils-bold-plans-to-send-humans-one-way-to-Mars-to-colonise-planet.html

Fox News

foxnews.com/scitech/2010/10/29/nasa-cover-up-hundred-year-starship/print