http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=south Wed, 22 May 2013 01:44:42 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=south Tue, 21 May 2013 22:03:02 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=39e_1369187904 Max Moore They have killed Kenny. Again. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=39e_1369187904 Max Moore Chocolate Rain in <span class="highlight">South</span> Park chocolate rain, kills kenny Tue, 21 May 2013 20:15:52 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6de_1369181652 flashpointreport Source: http://syriareport.net/turning-point-battle-for-al-qusayr/ Following the securing of villages surrounding the key city of Al-Qusayr in Homs province, Syrian aircraft dropped flyers over the city on May 10th. The flyers informed civilians in the besieged town of a corridor to the North through which they were urged to evacuate pending an imminent offensive to uproot embedded militants. Observers were expecting a speedy offensive, but due to a lull in civilian evacuation, the assault was postponed on or around May 14th. Recently, reports suggest civilians who later tried to leave, were forced to stay, utilised as a human shield by divided, arguing militant factions. Why is Al-Qusayr important?Al-Qusayr is a small city with a population of between 30,000 and 50,000 about 9 km from the northeastern border of Lebanon. It is also 22 km southwest of Homs. Due to it's proximity to Lebanon, Al-Qusayr is an attractive position for militant groups trafficking arms and personnel. Al-Qusayr is a strategic link between Damascus, the coast, and Homs, Hama and Aleppo to the north. Since March, the Syrian army has been on the offensive, securing key areas in Aleppo, Damascus countryside , Dara'a and Homs. The primary objective of these pinpoint operations is the disruption and eliminating of supply lines from neighbouring countries, a lifeline enabling militant groups to continue their attrition against Syrian army installations such as airbases. In Rif Dimashq (Damascus countryside) specifically, militant organisations intensified attempts to disrupt life in Damascus with regular mortar and rocket attacks, and occasional car bombs. Following a stunning deployment of artillery and airpower on May 19th, Syrian forces and it's allied guerrilla detachments of the National Defence Forces (NDF) and Hezbollah stormed Al-Qusayr. Within the first day, the centre of the city was secured following the witnessing of the church having been destroyed by militants - Al-Qusayr has a significant Christian population. According to our source, the greatest challenge for Syrian troops and it's guerrilla allies, were Chechen militants and entrenched, well trained snipers. Underlining the logistical and strategic importance of the city, insurgents were reported to be well armed and consistently firing hundreds of rounds a minute while deploying mortars and rocket propelled grenades. During the day, 20th May, the Syrian army were reported to have control over 60% of the city. Since then, their advance has been reported as slow, but significant as the role of aircraft and armoured units became more limited, presenting infantry with the objective of fighting in a heavily built-up area. Significantly, the Syrian command left the Northern gateway out of the city wide open. Initially, this was the corridor for civilians who were urged to evacuate in the days and weeks before the assault. Little is known about the motive for such a decision, but it is highly likely that this is in order to draw adversaries into open ground to allow for accurate targeting and eventual defeat of armed militants who will have expended supplies during their encirclement. Indeed, a split between two groups emerged following the near total encirclement of the city - those who wanted to fight to the death and those who wanted to evacuate the city in anticipation of a saturating Syrian army assault on the city. As of today, the situation remains slow but steady. The various army brigades involved in the multi-directional assault on the city are converging in the south of the city, readying for an assault on the west. The battle is not over and what will become of the remaining adversaries in the northern corridor of the city remains to be seen. After the Battle of Al-QusayrA map posted by Syrian Perspective 's source, which sheds light on Syrian army strategy. As noted, Al-Qusayr's surrounding areas were subject to a build-up and eventual encirclement of Syrian troops and allies. Northwest of the city, the villages of Al-Hamidiyah and Al-Haydariya were secured - completing a chain around insurgent positions and entrenchments. It is expected that militant groups will be fully encircled, sieged and eliminated in order to secure Homs governate (province) in it's entirety. The army's strategy of securing important cities, towns and other populated centres while placing less emphasis on isolated rural positions, has paid off. It is possible that the army and it's allies will fully secure the west of the country and move west in an effort to confront Al-Qaeda and other factions which are particularly active in that region. Take note of surrounding positions of Hama city, including Talbiseh and Rastan. From predictions of Syrian army collapse to increasing victories on the groundReports of new counter-insurgency strategies in early 2013 appears to have paid off, with a clear increase in morale for Syrian troops. Reports from Damascus indicate an increasingly confident administration. More recently, Russia's transfer of advanced P-800 Oniks/Yakhonts anti-ship missiles underline Moscow's position on the conflict - one which is against foreign intervention. Yakhonts anti-ship missile with a range of up to 300 km. Syria's possession of upgraded missiles will reportedly thwart plans for a naval blockade and no-fly zone A marked re-calibration in Syrian army methodology can be traced back to the latter weeks of 2012, where reports of "opposition victories" were attributed to the overrunning and capture of insignificant, isolated Syrian army positions and installations. In fact, reports suggest that military strategists have decided against the defence of strategically unimportant outposts, in favour of an operational consolidation of manpower and equipment in order to pursue direct confrontation with militant organisations. Consideration of the Syrian army's historically based Soviet military doctrine from the years of President Hafez al-Assad and the close relationship between the Soviet Union and recently Russia is important. Russian lessons of a costly war in Chechnya and the resulting defeat of Jihadist militants groups are key to gaining more understanding of Syrian rationale in dealing with entrenched and oftentimes elusive militant groups. Additionally, the Soviet era military hardware has had many opportunities to present it's defects as well as advantages. The Syrian Air Force inventory includes aging but reliable Sukhoi combat jets. The Syrian army, ill-prepared for an asymmetrical, foreign equipped and funded militant onslaught, has proved remarkably resilient. Despite crucial military hardware being of age, the reliable nature of vehicles and aircraft coupled with well trained personnel has enabled the Syrian armed forces to turn strategy into success. Indeed, the Western media narrative has performed a stunning u-turn of army having it's days numbered, having it's back broken with defections and close to collapse. Absent from the reporting of Western media outlets, often quoting alleged experts, is accurate reports of the Syrian army's doctrinal order of battle - living up to the reputation of one of the best trained and equipped army's in the region. Worth considering also, is the army's breaking of two much reported sieges of Wadi al-Deif and Hamidiya outside Maarat al-Numan in mid-April. Airdrops to the installations were naturally discontinued, allowing greater employment of airpower to other important flashpoints. President Hafez al-Assad's emphasis on the maintenance of a well disciplined and competent military have survived. Calibrated with Russian lessons of the Chechnya conflict and Hezbollah's combat experience, effectiveness and asymmetrical tactics, the Syrian army is living up to it's reputation as a logistically and cohesive force. Source: http://syriareport.net/turning-point-battle-for-al-qusayr/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6de_1369181652 flashpointreport Turning Point: Battle for Al-Qusayr al qusayr Tue, 21 May 2013 18:54:47 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8c5_1369176695 userkc Summary of events in Syria for May 21 http://anna-news.info/node/11467 ANNA News http://www.youtube.com/user/newsanna http://anna-news.info/ Today, terrorist groups from Haraszti, and the Duma tried to unlock the army surrounded the area Barzov militias. On army checkpoints were attacked with car bombs. The explosions took place near a police hospital, located on the main highway leading to Damascus from the northern parts of the country and the outside of the building control system, water supply, located just south. As a result of the ensuing fire burned down the building. There are dead and wounded, including not only military but also civilians. Another car filled with 1 ton of explosives, has not reached its goal of being undermined by the military. In the wake of the bombings strike up clashes had destroyed many attackers. In Haraszti also was eliminated a group of militants led by warlord, a Saudi national named Abu Muzhahed and the bus with the terrorists, to break the aid of his accomplices. On a section of motorway Mujahideen was blown armored personnel of the security forces. Building of the police hospital was shelled with mortars by militants, leaving one person dead, several injured. The area also Barzov of fierce clashes in which dozens of terrorists were liquidated "Dzhebhat An-Nusra", including the leader of one of the factions entrenched there, a Kuwaiti national who bore the nickname Abu Muaz. Were offset by a few snipers and destroyed stores of weapons and ammunition. Fights also captured district plantations Barzov, Haraszti and neighborhood Kabuna and Tishreen quarter. In Kabune clash occurred at one of the army checkpoint, where they were eliminated, all participating in the attack on him by terrorists. In the industrial area Kabuna Air Force planes were destroyed militant hideouts, and after the air attack Syrian artillery inflicted a series of precision strikes against concentrations of terrorists in Dzhobare and territories between him and Kabunom. In the province of Damascus clashes with terrorist groups took place in Al-Hudzheyre, An-Nebek, Deir Atye and plantations around the city Duma. In the Damascus suburb kiswa exploded a car bomb, a number of civilians were injured. As a result of a mortar attack by militants campus garment factories, located in the village of Mleha, three workers were killed, 23 were wounded. Some of the injured are in critical condition. In Adre location of the 39th regiment of the Syrian army was attacked by gangs of terrorists, an attempted from two sides. Under the main entrance on the territory of the military rebels had dug a tunnel in which they were placed containers of TNT, the blast that killed five soldiers, two were injured. Following the explosion of militant groups have attempted to enter the territory of the regime of the object, which ended in failure. A lot of members of the gangs were killed and wounded, and the rest fled. It should be noted that this sortie - not the first. The day before yesterday the terrorists drove a stolen tank military base to the fence and fired five shots that killed one officer, five privates were wounded. Strike up after this attack, fight lasted 6:00. It resulted in an escape group that has left the battlefield in many dead and wounded. Spurred failure and forced to retreat militants fired several mortar shells at a military unit that resulted in property damage. The situation remains tense as in the Khan Sheikh, where terrorists Free Syrian Army was kidnapped one of the elders and respected people in the village, and his son was injured by them. In response, the militias arrested a number of troops belonging to the Free Syrian Army fighters, which caused further deterioration of the situation: armed groups fired on residential areas of the village of mortars. According to some reports, among civilians wounded there. In the province of Homs in Al Kseyr operations continue to sweep the city blocks from the armed groups. At present, the main forces of the surviving terrorists have accumulated in its northern part, where they had previously captured airfield Ad-dub, through which they hope to escape from the environment. In today's fighting Syrian military was destroyed Lebanese militant group, owned by the flow, "Al-Mustaqbal", led by Saad al-Hariri and the terrorist squad, consisting of 20 members, led by warlord Vrtana Al Zhuri of "An-Nusra Dzhebhat." On the border with Lebanon today was again detected and eliminated a group of militants who had tried to break the line and get into the city for assistance to terrorists, who are in the "pot." In the city of Ar-Rastan in the counter-terrorist operation Syrian army destroyed militant hideouts, their cache of weapons and ammunition, the 23-mm anti-aircraft gun, cars with high-caliber machine gun and a workshop for the production of IEDs. On the east of the province boestolknovniya that resulted in the neutralization of dozens of members of the armed groups and their cars with a large-caliber machine gun, occurred between Hussein and Ain Tel Al-Gar, and between the villages and Bveyr Sacra. In the city of Homs in the quarters of the old city of Hai Al-Varsha, Hai Al Vaara and Karabis congestion terrorists were killed, they owned cars and a workshop for the manufacture of IEDs, 10 militants were captured alive. In the province of Idleb as a result of an army division counter-terrorism operations have been released three people who were abducted by an armed group "Dzhebhat en-Nusra." One of them - the officer of the Syrian army. All three were released were sent to Aleppo, and then went home. In the vicinity of a military objective Muaskar Al-Shabib today were defused three IEDs remotely operated weighing 100 kg each and two anti-personnel mines. Accumulations of militants were eliminated near the settlement Sernin, destroyed tank belonging to terrorists, infantry fighting vehicle and storage of arms and ammunition. 2 field camp members of armed groups were found in the vicinity of Tel Salma and the military airport of Abu Duhur. Among the dozens of militants killed - five snipers. The grouping of militants "Dzhebhat An-Nusra", numbering about 1,000, the siege continues military base Muaskar Al-Shabib. Clashes, during which the Syrian army uses against the heavily armed terrorist groups artillery and aircraft, are still going on. In the province of Aleppo rebels were again fired from mortars and villages Nubbul Zahra civilian has been injured, injury was a child. The area was subjected to a military airfield Minneh mortar and rocket attacks by terrorists as a result of which the site was divided helicopter. After the shelling began a fierce clash that continues to this day. In the south of the province of Aleppo prevented an armed group attempted to infiltrate the village Sheikh Saeed. The attackers were killed and dozens injured. One soldier was wounded. Captured belonged to gangs fighting vehicle. In the city of Aleppo, the army had progressed deeper into the quarter Dahr Abed Rabbo, the Al-Leramon. Clashes continue also in the vicinity of the district of Castello. Artillery bombed clusters of terrorists and their hideouts in the areas of Bustan al-Basha, Sheikh Maqsood and on the road in the town of Al-Bab. In the Al-Marja was eliminated a group of militants, among whom was a citizen of Sudan. In Raqqa around the locations of the 17th Division of the Syrian army artillery strikes were subjected to field camps of terrorists "Dzhebhat en-Nusra" and Free Syrian Army, they owned vehicles with a heavy machine gun and military equipment. In Day-ez-Zor army units have made progress deeper into the district Hai Al-Sinai, where they were based terrorist groups. Boestolknovniya occurred also in other areas of the city. The group of students Meyadin village that tried to get in Deir ez-Zor for the exams at the end of compulsory certificates in Syria 9-year course, was beaten by the armed terrorist squad that led the children to return home. However, they broke and threw on their exam ID. In the province of Latakia clashes with army units militant gangs "Dzhebhat An-Nusra" occurred in Jabal Al-Turkman, Rabia, Toros, Beit-Malaki, Al-Najah Ara Wadi Azraq. Destroyed many members of gangs, their weapons and ammunition. In the province of Hama completes sweep of terrorist groups Halfa population, in which the sappers neutralized the road and some of the buildings of the village, mined terrorists. The surviving militants are trying to run in the neighborhood of the village. The process of returning civilians Halfa will begin May 22. Dozens of terrorists "Dzhebhat An-Nusra" killed in the Syrian army counter-terrorist operation in the village of Busra al-Harir province of Daraa. In areas of the old town of Daraa and in the villages of Al-Shazhara, Al Shabrak, sachem, Dzhulyan al-Shaykh al-Miskin and Huvar also saw heavy fighting, during which the members of the groups have been neutralized by the organization. Attempts to help brooked defeat the militants do not stop by extremist forces in the territory of Jordan. So, today was again foiled an attempt to penetrate into Syria group of armed terrorists, most of them in the course of a knotted clashes were killed. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8c5_1369176695 userkc Summary of events in Syria for May 21 Syria Tue, 21 May 2013 18:21:01 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fbf_1369174418 plokiju image 1 NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument captured this first image on May 20, 2013, at 2:40 p.m. CDT, as the tornado roared along its path through Moore, Okla. MODIS is aboard one of the Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites. image 2 The agency also released this annotated version of the image from MODIS. According to NASA, "the twister touched down west of Newcastle at 2:56 p.m. and moved northeast toward Moore." image 3 The NOAA's (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) GOES-13 satellite captured this image of the storm in relation to the rest of the U.S., which NASA notes resembles an "exclamation mark." The storm is located in the south central area of the country. image 4 How big was the Oklahoma storm system compared to the rest of the world's weather? The GOES-13 satellite also provided this full-globe image of the storm. image 5 This is a nighttime satellite view of Oklahoma City before Monday's tornado, acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite in the early morning hours on May 20. The image shows the light (both natural and man-made) the city generated at that time. image 6 The image below shows Oklahoma City the night after the storm ravaged the area on May 20. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite took the photo in the early morning on May 21. http://mashable.com/2013/05/21/nasa-oklahoma-tornado-space/ Video: The GOES-13 video shows storm systems that sparked other tornadoes in the Midwest from Monday afternoon into the evening. Several separate tornadoes developed in Kansas, Iowa and Oklahoma, and the storms extended along an extended path from Texas up through Minnesota. http://www.space.com/21242-oklahoma-tornado-satellite-footage.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fbf_1369174418 plokiju Storms That Spawned Deadly Oklahoma Tornadoes Seen from Space Storms, That, Spawned, Deadly, Oklahoma, Tornadoes, Seen, from, Space Tue, 21 May 2013 16:30:24 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1e5_1369167798 Rubicon_Cube - - PERU (South America) She did not want to live anymore and sneakily put rat poison in their dinner. (Fast Forward To 0:25 If You Are A Typical Impatient LiveLeaker) - - http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1e5_1369167798 Rubicon_Cube Wife Poisons Her Husband And 6 Kids, Then Herself poisoned,peru Tue, 21 May 2013 15:42:33 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a28_1369165142 kosherfilms After the riots in Husby, the comments on the police Facebook page has been hard. Now South "Overj"arva Police decided to close down the page at the moment. - It was very unpleasant epithets, says Lars Bystrom, police spokesman. Police in Southern "Overj"arva have written a post about their actions during the unrest in Husby on his Facebook page. It was not long before the comments raged from the public, reports Swedish Radio Kulturnytt. And the wording was harsh. The comments included the wording 's time to put into the military. " Other comments were directed at police with phrases such as "vile pig cop." On Tuesday afternoon, the decision was made to close down his Facebook page temporarily. - It was very unpleasant epithets so we decided to shut down, says Lars Bystrom. How is the tone against the police in general right now? - People generally think I sympathize with the job we are trying to do. But there's always one, as we see it is very small, group who do not like what we do. What form does that happen? - As to indulge in stone throwing. They can not think s"arskit good about ourselves.This includes also the man screaming okv"adningsord. But we are trying to build relationships with people in these contexts, says Lars Bystrom. http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/polisen-stangde-ner-sin-facebook-sida/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a28_1369165142 kosherfilms Sweden's police shut down their facebook page after the muslim riots sweden, islam, muslim, riot, police Tue, 21 May 2013 15:14:17 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=149_1369161946 Franky_be_nice Colombian police have raided a home in the City Santa Marta, Colombia. With the help of Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the arrest was made early tuesday morning. "Below" 35 year old 'Almondo Pena Soto' AKA 'Seis Dedos Soto' (Six Finger Soto) has being charged with trafficking Cocaine using Homing Pigeons. The RCMP believe the Birds were shipped in crates to South America where the Narcotics were surgically planted into upwards of 2500 Pigeons. The RCMP have not released where or even if the Drugs have surfaced on Canadian soil. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=149_1369161946 Franky_be_nice Homing Pigeons drug running Birds, cocaine, 6 finger Soto Tue, 21 May 2013 12:00:07 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=279_1369150653 aydeo "Suddenly a large man entered the backseat of my car , slammed the car door shut and said: 'Shut up and drive.'" Miri Lehmann was attacked and carjacked by a West Bank resident who had jumped into her car and threatened her with a needle. Lehmann eventually managed to escape and the attacker took the wheel. He began driving the car out of the city until an ensuing police chase, which included a police helicopter, successfully halted him in the Yavne area. "I had no idea he had a needle and stone; I just jumped out of the car," Lehmann posted on Facebook. The incident took place Thursday at 8 am, while Lehmann was driving to work in south Tel Aviv. When she stopped at a traffic light on Har Zion Boulevard, a man jumped into the backseat of her car. "The backseat door suddenly opened," she recounted on Sunday to Ynet, "and a big man, holding something in his hand, told me to shut up and continue driving. I began screaming, telling him to get out, but he shut the door and sat down. "I understood that he wasn't going anywhere, so instinctively I unfastened my seatbelt and jumped out of the car." The car then began to roll down the street, hitting the car in front of it. Lehmann ran for her life as her assailant jumped to the driver's seat. "He began driving in reverse very quickly onto the boulevard itself. He almost ran me over. Afterwards he began driving like a madman in the wrong direction and escaped." In a Facebook post she published immediately after the event, Lehmann described the instances following the traumatic experience: "I found myself walking down the street shaking and crying between rows of cars who had witnessed the event. "I tried getting into two different cars, but the guys driving them wouldn't let me in. Eventually, a lovely couple let me into their car and they already had the police on the line. They waited with me until the police arrived and I gave them my statement," she wrote. According to Lehmann, only at the time she was giving the police her statement did she come to grips with the fact that she had experienced an armed robbery. Her personal belongings had remained in the car, which was later found, together with the perpetrator, at the end of a joint police chase conducted with the help of a helicopter by the Tel Aviv and Central District police. According to a police statement, eyewitnesses said the man was holding a needle. After his arrest, the police said that a needle and a very large stone were found in the car. The man's remand has been extended until Tuesday. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4381590,00.html http://news.walla.co.il/?w=/10/2643309 Second photo - Tel Aviv http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=279_1369150653 aydeo Tel Aviv: Woman carjacked under threat of bloody needle by a Palestinian drug addict Woman,Carjacked,Palestinian,Drug addict,Tel Aviv Tue, 21 May 2013 11:39:20 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d5b_1369149417 Detroit Iron 10:27 AM XAVIANT HAZE Miami is a world famous Mecca of sun, sand, sex and fun outlandish decadence. It's also a very dark town, haunted by real life zombies , third world-esque poverty and a long history of racial segregation and violence . Because of this entropic mix Miami boasts an impressive musical resume, birthing a mix of pirates, tropical wanderers and wayward sons that over the decades have created some of the most groundbreaking, influential and varying musical styles. With a long history of music innovation and violence, it's no wonder that Miami shows up as the spark that helped create Rock n' Roll - in the form of a Suicide note. Late one night in some neon faded Art Deco beach hotel, an anonymous man killed himself leaving behind only a crumbled note in one of his jean pockets. On the note where the words "I walk a lonely street" his last ode to a cruel world. Little did he know his sacrificial death would soon give birth to a whole new generation of music lovers. His unidentified corpse was shown on the cover of the Miami Herald with the headline asking, "Do You Know This Man?" When exactly this suicide happened can't be confirmed and a search of the Miami Herald Digital Archives hasn't provided any help. We know that it was sometime in 1955 when Steel-guitar player, singer-songwriter and failed dishwasher repairman Tommy Durden read the Herald suicide article while working a gig in Jacksonville, Florida. Durden believed the suicide note's line had a dark blues quality and scribbled it down as a future song lyric. He showed the article and the lyric to his friend Mae Boren Axton, herself a songwriter, TV personality, radio host and publicist. Mae immediately was drawn to the lyric, deciding that naturally at the end of a lonely street one would find a "Heartbreak Hotel" and with that verse, a light bulb of creativity exploded in the warm Florida air. Mae wrote the rest of the lyrics while Durden worked out the melodies on his guitar. Within an hour the duo had composed one of the most important songs in the history of music. But Mae was more than just a schoolteacher and part-time songwriter; she was a visionary who saw the 'big picture' before anybody else. That 'big picture' was Elvis Presley and way before the Colonel turned him into a money making machine, Mae Axton was convinced that Elvis was going to be the biggest thing to hit America since the Model-T Ford. Mae first encountered Elvis during a tour she helped set up in Jacksonville, Florida when the relatively unknown Memphis singer was a last minute replacement booked to open for country recording star Hank Snow. As Elvis began his set, Mae Quietly blended in with the crowd at the Gator Bowl, and watched in awe as twenty-year old Elvis completely blew the audience away with his mix of hillbilly swag, bluesy crooning and pelvic shaking lunacy. After his performance, teenage girls chased Elvis back to the dressing room while managing to completely tear off the young stud's shirt. The forty-year old Mae had never seen anything like that in her entire life. Nobody had. She quickly helped get Elvis booked for a return show on July 28, 1955, which caused excessive lines of teenage girls waiting to get inside and irate local preachers screaming about the dangers of Elvis's shaking hips. After another smashing performance Mae interviewed Elvis for a local radio station. She was influential in helping get Elvis's first record "That's alright Mamma" radio airplay in Florida and during the interview the 'King' gratefully acknowledges this fact... "Well, thank you very much, Mae, and I'd like to personally thank you for really promoting my record, because you really have done a wonderful job, and I really do appreciate it because if you don't have people backing you, people pushing you, well you might as well quit." After the interview Mae boldly declared to Elvis that she would write his first number one hit. After concluding the "Heartbreak" writing session with Durden, a local Country singer named Glenn Reeves stopped by for a visit and was immediately put to work by Mae. She asked Reeves to record a demo of the song with her tape recorder in the style of Elvis Presley, Reeves wasn't a fan but being a good friend did the song anyways. The fact that Reeves even knew who Elvis was, is a testament to how much buzz the 'King' had created for himself in the South. After finishing the song, Reeves thought "Heartbreak Hotel" was weird and that Elvis "wouldn't go far" and declined any credit or association with the song. Mae had no intention of ever using Reeves anyways; she just wanted something to show Elvis in the hopes that he would record the song. She approached the popular country duo The Wilburn Brothers and offered them a chance to record a better quality version of "Heartbreak Hotel" but the duo declined, calling the song "Strange and almost Morbid". With no choice but to hunt down the kid on her own, she headed to Nashville where Elvis was being honored as the most promising male country star of 1955 at the annual Country Music Disc Jockey Convention. By this time the Colonel Tom Parker had weaseled his way to becoming Elvis's manager, and shortly after Thanksgiving of 1955 secured for Elvis a record deal at RCA. Since Mae had worked with Tom before as a publicist in the early 50's she was on familiar terms with the Memphis slickster. It's even rumored that Mae is the only person in the world that the notorious Colonel Tom Parker has ever apologized to. After talking with Tom about a song she wanted Elvis to record she was told where to find the kid, and headed out in the rain towards the Andrew Jackson Hotel. Elvis was relaxing in his room and in a jovial mood when Mae showed up with her tape-recorded demo. Upon hearing the rough sounding tape Elvis shouted, "Hot dog, Mae! Play it again!" mesmerized as he played the track about ten times in a row. Elvis said the song reminded him of Roy Brown's " Hard Luck Blues " and agreed to record a version. Mae was delighted and the next day they sat down with the Colonel to hammer out a deal. Though the team of Mae and Durden are responsible for penning the song, Elvis's name appears on the finished record as a third writer. It's common knowledge that the Colonel often insisted his boy get co-writing credits in exchange for cutting a song. Always securing a steady stream of publishing checks for the two of them. However this wasn't the case, Mae was so confident that "Heartbreak" would help establish Elvis as a star she insisted on a shared credit in order to help Elvis buy a house for his mother in Florida. With formalities out of the way Elvis began to rehearse the song and added it his live repertoire, changing one line of the lyric, from "they pray to die" to "they could die" while performing the song for the first time in Swifton, Arkansas on December 9. The small club was packed with over 200 people and Elvis oozing with confidence after singing with RCA rocked the club to the floor. The club's owner and everyone there could sense that something fresh was happening. The 20-year-old Elvis was already a regional star but he had yet to appear on national television. That night in the Arkansas club, Elvis burned through some tracks he'd recorded for Sun, a few covers, and then introduced his new song in that familiar Southern drawl, "I"ve got this brand new song and it's gonna be my first hit." His words were prophetic. A month later Elvis entered the recording studios at RCA, where he was scheduled to record five songs in two days. The studio at 1525 McGavock Street was RCA's first permanent recording facility in Nashville, a town still years away from becoming the recording center of the musical universe. Surprisingly, up to then there were only a handful of studios in town. It wasJanuary 10th, 1956 and Elvis Presley who two days prior just turned 21 was ready to begin recording his debut single for RCA. Mae was also present during the session; interested in watching Elvis record live and curious to how her song would end up sounding. At Sun Records, Elvis had been backed by Sentry Moore on guitar and Bill Black on bass. Later a drummer was added -- a position eventually filled by D.J. Fontana on a permanent basis. At RCA, the Elvis combo was joined by legendary Nashville guitarist Chet Atkins on rhythm guitar and future Grammy winner Floyd Cramer on piano, along with a gospel trio consisting of Ben and Brock Speer of the Speer Family and Gordon Stoker of the Jordanaires. They recorded on monaural equipment (single track) and the studio was somewhat of a live room with a curved ceiling that created low frequency problems causing bass notes to be boomy and roll around for a long time. They were always in search of a dead spot for the bass. They also had several large curtains hanging on the walls to help "deaden" the room. They employed the use of movable "wall-like" baffles to isolate instruments to minimize sound bleeding into other mics. During that first session RCA was anxious to recreate the "slapback" echo effect that Sam Phillips had created at Sun. To add them to Elvis's vocals Chet and engineer Bob Farris created a psuedo "echo chamber" by setting up a speaker at one end of a long hallway and a microphone at the other end and recording the echo live. It sounded strange to hear it as they were recording live because at Sun studios Sam used to add the effect afterwards. This technique failed to add anything special to the first two songs they recorded " I got a Woman " and " Money Honey " but as soon as they tried it out on "Heartbreak Hotel" goose pimples suddenly appeared on everybody's skin. The heavy overdubbing of echo and the drummer's rim shots created a powerful atmosphere of upbeat despair that effortlessly matched Elvis's heart-rending vocal. It was a perfect blend of haunting lyrics and ghostly music set to the penetrating crooning of a man destined for greatness. During the opening lines to each verse when Elvis sings acapella, his voice is penetrating, dejected, and completely captures the alienation of disaffected youth. The dark track sounded like it belonged more on a Doors album than a lead single for RCA in 1956. The gloomy song was markedly different from anything Elvis had done previously at Sun Records and when his former label boss Sam Phillips heard an acetate from the Nashville session, he pronounced "Heartbreak Hotel" a "morbid mess." Biographer Donald Clarke writes: The sound quality of that first session was not good, and 'Heartbreak Hotel' is the worst of them all. Chet Atkins played rhythm guitar and Floyd Cramer was added on piano, together with an entirely unnecessary vocal trio led by Gordon Stoker, lead singer of the Jordanaires. Scotty Moore's guitar sounds exceptionally, irritatingly tinny, Cramer is too prominent and the whole track sounds like it was made underwater in a breadbox. It was a disgraceful recording for 1956 but a good song for Presley. On hearing the new songs, the RCA executives in New York freaked out and wanted to scrap the sessions. They told producer Steve Sholes to turn around and head straight back to Nashville to re-record the tracks. Sholes later stated, "They all told me it didn't sound like anything, it didn't sound like his other records and I'd better not release it, better go back and record it again" But Elvis was unfazed and begged the grey-haired executives to trust his instincts and release "Heartbreak Hotel" as a single. Promising that if it sank he would be at their mercy for any song they wanted out of him. Elvis had that Southern charm, and he had it in spades. The RCA 'brass' relented and pressed ahead with the release, albeit with sizeable suspicions. Elvis clearly believed in it, certain that the song was the right one to catapult him into the big time. It was properly mastered and released as a 45 single with the B-side " I was the One " on January 27, 1956 and went nowhere despite Elvis making his network television debut on the Dorsey Brothers Stage Show. For the first month of its release "Heartbreak Hotel" barely registered on the pop charts and seemed to prove that the RCA executives were right. But that all changed when Elvis finally had the chance to perform the song on the popular Milton Berle Show. This performance from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hancock in San Diego California, rocketed Elvis to superstardom. His good looks, unique voice and swiveling hips sent the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Californian girls into a frenzy of screams, faints and tears. The men had never seen anything like it and the San Diego Police Chief announced that if Elvis ever returned to his city and performed in the way that he did he would be jailed for disorderly conduct. Like a meteor blast Elvis had hit the mainstream. The fateful string oftelevision exposure (a new medium) undoubtedly helped propel "Heartbreak Hotel" to the number-one spot on Billboard's best-seller list 45 days after its release, where it stayed #1 for eight weeks. The song also reached number one on the country chart and number three on the R&amp;B chart. It became Elvis Presley's first Gold record selling more than a million copies just as Mae Axton had predicted. Considering this is the song that really introduced rock to the mainstream (white public) it's amazing how dark the lyrics really are... Well, since my baby left me, I found a new place to dwell It's down at the end of lonely street at Heartbreak Hotel You make me so lonely baby, I get so lonely, I get so lonely I could die And although it's always crowded, you still can find some room Where broken hearted lovers do cry away their gloom You make me so lonely baby, I get so lonely, I get so lonely I could die Well, the Bell hop's tears keep flowin', and the desk clerk's dressed in black Well they been so long on lonely street They ain't ever gonna look back You make me so lonely baby, I get so lonely, I get so lonely I could die Hey now, if your baby leaves you, and you got a tale to tell Just take a walk down lonely street to Heartbreak Hotel "Heartbreak Hotel" put Elvis on the map, and helped forever alter the landscape of Popular Culture. He would perform the song during most of his live shows between 1956 and 1977, including a blistering rendition on his 1968 comeback special. Elvis performed it for the last time on May 29, 1977 at the Civic Center inBaltimore, Maryland. The song and alternative takes have been released on almost every Presley compilation album since the 60's. In 1979, following Presley's death, author Robert Matthew-Walker wrote, "Heartbreak Hotel became one of the legendary rock performances. For many people it is Elvis Presley, and it continues to excite and fascinate listeners. Heartbreak Hotel is a classic performance, yet when it is analyzed it appears so simple that one cannot recall a time when one did not know it." "Heartbreak Hotel" is one of the most influential songs of all time. It single handedly ushered in the era of Rock n' Roll and influenced every key rock artist in its wake. In a 1975 interview, John Lennon recalled his friend Don Beatty introducing him to Presley's music. Lennon said that his family rarely had the radio on, unlike other members of The Beatles who grew up under its influence. Beatty showed Lennon a picture of Presley that appeared along with the charts on the New Musical Express magazine, and Lennon later heard "Heartbreak Hotel" on Radio Luxembourg. Lennon said: When I first heard "Heartbreak Hotel", I could hardly make out what was being said. It was just the experience of hearing it and having my hair stand on end. We'd never heard American voices singing like that. They always sung like Sinatra or enunciate very well. Suddenly, there's this hillbilly hiccuping on tape echo and all this bluesy stuff going on. And we didn't know what Elvis was singing about... It took us a long time to work what was going on. To us, it just sounded as a noise that was great. George Harrison credits "Heartbreak Hotel" with handing him a "rock n roll epiphany" when in 1956, at age 13, he overheard it being played at a neighbor's house while riding his bike. Thus, it was "Heartbreak Hotel" that turned Harrison from a relatively well-mannered schoolboy into a guitar-crazed truant who would audition for John Lennon's Quarrymen the following year. The Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards stated in his 2010 autobiography,Life, that "Heartbreak Hotel" was one of the first rock and roll influences he had. Apart from Presley's impact on him, Richards was even more impressed by Scotty Moore's guitar playing, as well as the rest of the band. Richards says: Good records just get better with age. But the one that really turned me on, like an explosion one night, listening to Radio Luxembourg on my little radio when I was supposed to be in bed and asleep, was "Heartbreak Hotel." That was the stunner. I'd never heard it before, or anything like it. I'd never heard of Elvis before. It was almost as if I'd been waiting for it to happen. When I woke up the next day I was a different guy. Led Zeppelin's lead singer Robert Plant stated that the song "changed his life". He recalled hearing it for the first time when he was eight years old: It was so animal, so sexual, the first musical arousal I ever had. You could see a twitch in everybody my age. All we knew about the guy was that he was cool, handsome and looked wild. Critic Robert Cantwell wrote in his unpublished memoir Twigs of Folly: The opening strains of "Heartbreak Hotel", which catapulted Presley's regional popularity into national hysteria, opened a fissure in the massive mile-thick wall of post-war regimentation, standardization, bureaucratization, and commercialization in American society and let come rushing through the rift a cataract from the immense waters of sheer, human pain and frustration that have been building up for ten decades behind it. Paul McCartney says, "It's the way Elvis sings it as if he is singing from the depths of hell. His phrasing, use of echo, it's all so beautiful. Musically, it's perfect." With "Heartbreak Hotel" a certifiable smash Elvis Presley was on his way to superstardom. Over the years he begged Mae to write another song for him, but feeling she could never top "Heartbreak" Mae declined, content that her initial hunch about Elvis was right. Mae continued to write other minor hits through the 60s and 70s while maintaining a career as a schoolteacher and community activist. Proud to have set Elvis on his way but completely nonchalant about writing one of the most groundbreaking songs ever. In a 1982 interview, the song's co-writer Tommy Durden said the song, "has paid the rent for more than 20 years." Citing its cultural significance the Grammy's inducted the song into their Hall of Fameand when then presidential candidate Bill Clinton (the first black president) made his famous appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1992, he chose "Heartbreak Hotel" to play on his sax. He killed it, got the crowd hyped and secured the gig for the presidency... And to the deserted soul who took his own life in Miami, never knowing that his suicide note "I walk a lonely street" would forever change the world by helping to shape &amp; create the phenomena of Rock n' Roll - Thank You. Sadly, your loss was our gain. C'est la vie... http://xavianthaze.blogspot.com/2013/05/how-suicide-in-miami-gave-birth-to.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d5b_1369149417 Detroit Iron HOW A SUICIDE IN MIAMI GAVE BIRTH TO &quot;HEARTBREAK HOTEL&quot; AND THE RISE OF ROCK N' ROLL Elvis, Heartbreak Hotel Tue, 21 May 2013 03:08:35 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4b4_1369119624 Bricksnsticks Usage In the less critical sense, the phrase is commonly used in two contexts. In the first, and more common context, it alleges that someone has deliberately and falsely accused another person of being a racist in order to gain some sort of advantage. An example of this use of the term occurred during the O. J. Simpson murder trial , when critics accused the defense of &quot;playing the race card&quot; in presenting Mark Fuhrman 's past (e.g., his recorded use of the word &quot; ***** &quot; in addition to his being accused of tampering with murder evidence in prior cases, as well as his use of the Fifth Amendment to avoid potential self-incrimination upon questioning) as a reason to draw his credibility as a witness into question. In the second context, it refers to someone exploiting prejudice against another race for political or some other advantage. The use of the southern strategy by a political candidate is said by some to be a version of playing the race card, such as when former Senator Jesse Helms , during his 1990 North Carolina Senate campaign, ran an ad showing a black man taking a white man's job, intended as a criticism of the idea of racial quotas . The ad was interpreted by many people as trying to play to racist fears among white voters. Stanford professor Richard Thompson Ford has argued that the race card can be played independent of the person making the claim, or the race in question. An example cited was the Hillary Clinton campaign claiming that Obama won the 2008 Democratic Primary in South Carolina due to the disproportionate number of black registered Democrats in the state, implying more racism in the general population. George Dei, Karumanchery, et alia, in the book Playing the Race Card argue that the term itself is a rhetorical device used in an effort to devalue and minimize claims of racism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_card Obama Claims He's Visited 57 States At a campaign event in Beaverton, OR, Obama claimed to have visited 57 U.S. states during the campaign. http://youtu.be/EpGH02DtIws http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4b4_1369119624 Bricksnsticks RACECARD RACECARD Tue, 21 May 2013 02:30:55 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e5a_1369116725 LethalMutation A driver who assaulted a cyclist during a road rage incident will not be charged with an offence by West Midlands Police due to Home Office guidelines - despite the episode being caught on video and bearing strong similarities to one in south east London in 2011 which resulted in charges being brought and a conviction secured after footage was posted to road.cc. The white van involved, registration number FP07KJN, can first be seen around 10 seconds in, pulling out of a yard, with the rider moving past it on the inside then ahead of it to get around a car that is being parked, although the queue of traffic ahead means that that manoeuvre would not have held up the van. The rider, who is also on Twitter under the user name CCStev, said that he showed the footage to police, but they told him that Home Office rules meant they were unable to press charges, because the driver, after being made aware of the video, admitted his guilt, and had no previous convictions. While the police insist their hands are tied, the cyclist is said to have been unhappy with the alternative provided - that he seek a "local resolution" with the motorist, although it is a course of action he has reluctantly accepted. The van is operated by a Birmingham-based pet business, Weird and Wonderful of Birmingham, which has deleted its Facebook and Twitter accounts as a result of the complaints it was receiving from cyclists, as well as disabling the online feedback form on its website. An email from BikeBiz has gone unanswered. According to CCStev, "The driver was not charged. He was brought in for interview and initially claimed provocation, that I kicked his van and kicked him in the chest. "He changed his story when told there was video evidence. He still claimed I kicked him and the van and only after the officer pointed out that she couldn't see any of that, on his solicitor's advice he finally accepted full responsibility. "Because he had no police record and admitted to the offence, under the ridiculous scoring system imposed on the police he was eligible for a caution. "As the victim I was given the choice of the driver receiving a caution or I could accept a local resolution, the terms of which that I would receive an amount in compensation and a written apology. I'm far from happy about it but reluctantly accepted the resolution. "I don't think the police are to blame but the decisions made by Government departments that govern them. "This was a violent, unprovoked attack that has no place in society and I'm very disappointed and angry that the driver will not face criminal consequences." In February, national cyclists' organisation CTC launched a campaign urging cyclists to write to their local Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) asking them to make road safety a priority in their policing plans. However, as this incident shows, Home Office red tape can mean that the hands of the police are tied. LINK http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e5a_1369116725 LethalMutation POV Road Rage: Cyclist assaulted while wearing helmet cam cyclist, bicycle, GoPro, road rage, helmet cam, anger, battery, assault, fight, 1st person, POV Sun, 19 May 2013 13:12:17 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5e1_1368982141 Baysangur Published on May 13, 2013 For downloads and more information visit: http://www.journeyman.tv/?lid=65238 Last year the video of police shooting dead protesting miners in South Africa shocked the world. Since then serious questions are being raised about rampant police brutality. Are the authorities out of control? "This government murders. They don't muck around," says Andile Nose, a drill operator present during the now infamous Marikana massacre. With scenes more reminiscent of the apartheid regime, the video of last year's killing of 34 people is only one of several to emerge recently showing brutality by the police, which many say has gone way beyond self-defence. The images of Ido Masia, a 20-year-old taxi driver from Mozambique, being handcuffed to a police van and dragged 400m along the road shocked the world."Everyone everywhere was crying. We had no power because they are armed with guns." The calls for a clampdown from victims' families and human rights campaigners are getting increasingly loud as they insist, "this is not an indication of one or two bad apples". With history seemingly repeating itself, can this police brutality be reined in before more lives are lost? http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5e1_1368982141 Baysangur Above the Law - <span class="highlight">South</span> Africa - Part 2 south africa police brutality unarmed civilians miners shootout