By Andrew V Pontbriand
September 23, 2013
BREAKING
In what appears to be a suicide Car bombing in the Tabasaransky District, in the Dagastan Republic of Southern Russia, 3 people have been killed, including one police officer. The bombing took place during roll call just outside of the Police Station. Continue reading
Russia and the United States reached a deal on a framework that will see the destruction or removal of Syria’s chemical weapons by mid- 2014. Under the plan, the Assad government has one week to hand over an inventory of its chemical weapons arsenal. Continue reading
Andrew Pontbriand
The Massachusetts Port Authority and the Boston Fire Department conducted a drill Wednesday, the 12th anniversary of 9/11. The drill involved what appeared to be a plane on fire. Boston Logan Airport tweeted that the smoke and fire was part of a drill. Continue reading
August marks the month that Congress has their annual five-weeklong recess. So what has Congress done to better the state of the country over the past seven months? Well, to put it simply, not that much. Continue reading
In news that is no less stunning for beingtelegraphed, the attorney general of the United States today is declaring America’s drug war-led over-incarceration a moral failure, and announcing new federal rules to deliberately evade mandatory minimum laws for drug offenses. Here’s The New York Times:
In a major shift in criminal justice policy, the Obama administration will move on Monday to ease overcrowding in federal prisons by ordering prosecutors to omit listing quantities of illegal substances in indictments for low-level drug cases, sidestepping federal laws that impose strict mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related offenses. Continue reading
By Shepard Ambellas
Intellihub.com
August 1, 2013
According to Michelle Cantalano, six agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force (TTF) showed up at her and her husbands residence Wednesday, after being prompted by NSA algorithm authorities that the couple had been searching for pressure cooker and backpacks on the Internet. Continue reading
More than 1,000 prisoners have escaped from a Libyan jail this afternoon, it has emerged.
Libyan security officials said the mass jailbreak occurred at Koyfiya prison, near the eastern city of Benghazi.
The jailbreak happened as protesters stormed the offices of Islamist-allied parties in Libya’s main cities. Continue reading
(Antiwar.com) Every month or two, a new estimate comes out from the Pentagon on the cost of running Guantanamo Bay. Every time, that estimate is dramatically higher than the one that came before. Continue reading
(Reuters) – Bulgarian anti-government protesters rallied peacefully in Sofia for the 41th straight day on Wednesday after more than 100 lawmakers, ministers and journalists spent the night besieged inside parliament before police evacuated them. Continue reading
The recent seizure of a North Korean freighter carrying Cuban, nuclear-capable SA-2 missile components for refurbishment has resurrected the spectre of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when another communist nation developed nuclear dealings with America’s island neighbor. Continue reading
(RT) Cancer is more common than flu in the Iraqi city of Najaf, about 160 km south of Baghdad, one local doctor told RT. After the start of the war rates of leukemia and birth defects “rose dramatically” due to use of depleted uranium by the US military. Continue reading
Truthstream Media – by Aaron Dykes
At least he certainly OUGHT to have known that oral polio vaccines were discontinued in the U.S. due to their known contribution to vaccine-derived paralysis. Continue reading
After moving to the border state of Arizona, I learned quickly that it isn’t prudent to drive a car into Mexico because the Federal Police like to pull over “American-looking” tourists and shake them down for cash (yes, Virginia, the Mexican national police force does profile).
The practice of Mexican police harassing traveling Americans for their cash is so prevalent, most insurance companies require a special rider on one’s insurance policy before covering a car trip into Mexico. Continue reading
As many of you know, Adam Kokesh was arrested on July 9, 2013 at his residence in Herndon, VA. The US Parks Police, aided by the local Herndon police force and a coalition of other agencies raided and ransacked Adam’s home. They provided a warrant only after they had taken Adam into custody and had completed an extensive search. They also detained and harassed all the occupants of the house for an extended period and would not provide reason for the detainment.
The warrant for Adam’s arrest was highly suspect. The warrant was signed by Magistrate Judge John F. Anderson , the same judge that signed the warrant for Edward Snowden’s extradition. In addition, the warrant included an affidavit which has not been released to the public. Continue reading
On Tuesday, Maine became the second state in recent weeks to enact a law that will force authorities to get a judge to authorize a warrant before obtaining either historic or real-time location data about a person’s movements. Maine’s legislature voted to pass the tracking law after it sailed through both houses in the state in May. According to the ACLU of Maine, the legislature took the decisive step of overriding veto by Gov. Paul LePage, who had declined to sign off on the bill.* Continue reading
News reports over the past six months concerning illegal government snooping on citizens and a distressing disregard for Constitutional rights have served to alert many in the populace that their government has become an unrecognizable malevolent force that pits the elitist power structure against “we the people.” Continue reading
The following maps show just who is wiping who off of the map! Continue reading
If we wish to end the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, we need to know who created Israel and why. In 1917 British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour penned a letter to Zionist Second Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild in which he expressed support for a Jewish homeland on Palestinian-controlled lands in the Middle East. This Balfour Declaration justified the brutal seizure of Palestinian lands for the post-WWII establishment of Israel. Continue reading
A gun report ordered in by Obama has ended up highlighting the fact that legal guns are actually saving lives and diffusing crime. Woops! Continue reading
The State Department investigator who accused colleagues last week of using drugs, soliciting prostitutes, and having sex with minors says that Foggy Bottom is now engaged in an “intimidation” campaign to stop her.
Last week’s leaks by Aurelia Fedenisn, a former State Department inspector general investigator, shined a light on alleged wrongdoing by U.S. officials around the globe. But her attorney Cary Schulman tells The Cable that Fedenisn has paid a steep price: “They had law enforcement officers camp out in front of her house, harass her children and attempt to incriminate herself.” Continue reading
MOSCOW—The Kremlin criticized the U.S. decision to arm Syrian opposition fighters and said Washington’s evidence that the Syrian regime is using chemical weapons was unconvincing, but said Friday that Moscow is “not yet” discussing its plans to deliver of air-defense missiles to the regime. Continue reading
Thousands of students angered at rising education costs, clashed with police in the capital, who responded with tear gas and water cannons. The students had flooded the streets for a peaceful march, still wearing their uniforms and backpacks, before it then turned violent. At least 40 were arrested. The students oppose the fact they have to pay 75% of the cost of their own educations – one of the highest rates in the world.
Edward Snowden has resurfaced and accused the U.S. government of trying to “bully” Hong Kong into extraditing him before he leaks more top-secret information.
But Snowden, 29, says he has a card up his sleeve that will complicate any extradition request: Information regarding the National Security Agency’s surveillance of people in Hong Kong.
“I heard today from a reliable source that the United States government is trying to bully the Hong Kong government into extraditing me before the local government can learn of this,” Snowden told the South China Morning Post, referring to the NSA’s monitoring of people in Hong Kong.
“The U.S. government will do anything to prevent me from getting this into the public eye, which is why they are pushing so hard for extradition.”
Snowden showed the newspaper the documents, which it couldn’t verify, that indicated the NSA had hacked computers in Hong Kong and mainland China since 2009. Among the targets was the Chinese University of Hong Kong and “public officials, businesses and students in the city,” according to the paper.
The accusation, if true, undermines the White House’s criticism of China’s ongoing hacking of both government and corporate computers in the U.S.
The documents show “the hypocrisy of the U.S. government when it claims that it does not target civilian infrastructure, unlike its adversaries,” Snowden said.
Here are 20 impeachable unconstitutional economically terroristic things that have happened since obama took office
-IRS targets Obama’s enemies: The IRS targeted conservative and pro-Israel groups prior to the 2012 election. Questions are being raised about why this occurred, who ordered it, whether there was any White House involvement and whether there was an initial effort to hide who knew about the targeting and when.
– Benghazi: This is actually three scandals in one: The failure of administration to protect the Benghazi mission. The changes made to the talking points in order to suggest the attack was motivated by an anti-Muslim video The refusal of the White House to say what President Obama did the night of the attack
– Watching the AP: The Justice Department performed a massive cull of Associated Press reporters’ phone records as part of a leak investigation.
– Rosengate: The Justice Department suggested that Fox News reporter James Rosen is a criminal for reporting about classified information and subsequently monitored his phones and emails.
– Potential Holder perjury I: Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress he had never been associated with “potential prosecution” of a journalist for perjury when in fact he signed the affidavit that termed Rosen a potential criminal.
– The ATF “Fast and Furious” scheme: Allowed weapons from the U.S. to “walk” across the border into the hands of Mexican drug dealers. The ATF lost track of hundreds of firearms, many of which were used in crimes, including the December 2010 killing of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
– Potential Holder Perjury II: Holder told Congress in May 2011 that he had just recently heard about the Fast and Furious gun walking scheme when there is evidence he may have known much earlier.
– Sebelius demands payment: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius solicited donations from companies HHS might regulate. The money would be used to help her sign up uninsured Americans for ObamaCare.
– The Pigford scandal: An Agriculture Department effort that started as an attempt to compensate black farmers who had been discriminated against by the agency but evolved into a gravy train delivering several billion dollars in cash to thousands of additional minority and female farmers who probably didn’t face discrimination.
– GSA gone wild: The General Services Administration in 2010 held an $823,000 training conference in Las Vegas, featuring a clown and a mind readers. Resulted in the resignation of the GSA administrator.
– Veterans Affairs in Disney World: The agency wasted more than $6 million on two conferences in Orlando. An assistant secretary was fired.
– Sebelius violates the Hatch Act: A U.S. special counsel determined that Sebelius violated the Hatch Act when she made “extemporaneous partisan remarks” during a speech in her official capacity last year. During the remarks, Sebelius called for the election of the Democratic candidate for governor of North Carolina.
– Solyndra: Republicans charged the Obama administration funded and promoted its poster boy for green energy despite warning signs the company was headed for bankruptcy. The administration also allegedly pressed Solyndra to delay layoff announcements until after the 2010 midterm elections.
– AKA Lisa Jackson: Former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson used the name “Richard Windsor” when corresponding by email with other government officials, drawing charges she was trying to evade scrutiny.
– The New Black Panthers: The Justice Department was accused of using a racial double standard in failing to pursue a voter intimidation case against Black Panthers who appeared to be menacing voters at a polling place in 2008 in Philadelphia.
– Waging war all by myself: Obama may have violated the Constitution and both the letter and the spirit of the War Powers Resolution by attacking Libya without Congressional approval.
– Biden bullies the press: Vice President Biden’s office has repeatedly interfered with coverage, including forcing a reporter to wait in a closet, making a reporter delete photos, and editing pool reports.
– AKPD not A-OK: The administration paid millions to the former firm of then-White House adviser David Axelrod, AKPD Message and Media, to promote passage of Obamacare. Some questioned whether the firm was hired to help pay Axelrod $2 million AKPD owed him.
– Sestak, we’ll take care of you: Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel used Bill Clinton as an intermediary to probe whether former Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) would accept a prominent, unpaid White House advisory position in exchange for dropping out of the 2010 primary against former Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.).
– I’ll pass my own laws: Obama has repeatedly been accused of making end runs around Congress by deciding which laws to enforce, including the decision not to deport illegal immigrants who may have been allowed to stay in the United States had Congress passed the “Dream Act.”
China has been quietly taking steps to encircle the United States by arming western hemisphere states, seeking closer military, economic, and diplomatic ties to U.S. neighbors, and sailing warships into U.S. maritime zones.
The strategy is a Chinese version of what Beijing has charged is a U.S. strategy designed to encircle and “contain” China. It is also directed at countering the Obama administration’s new strategy called the pivot to Asia. The pivot calls for closer economic, diplomatic, and military ties to Asian states that are increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment throughout that region.
Read more:
Obama urged to ‘punch’ China
A leading U.S. manufacturing group on Monday called on President Obama to take a tough line on China when he holds his first summit with new Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of the week in California.
Even as Chinese companies are stepping up their acquisitions in the American market, Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), suggested the Obama administration should “punch back hard” against the Chinese for recent national security and economic intrusions of U.S. military and business targets.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/3/obama-urged-to-punch-china/#ixzz2VobPW0yR
Japanese troops will converge on California’s southern coast in the next two weeks as part of a military exercise with U.S. troops aimed at improving that country’s amphibious attack abilities.
U.S. and Japanese military officials said the unprecedented training, led by U.S. Marines and sailors, will help Japan’s Self-Defense Force operate in stronger coordination with the United States, its main ally, and better respond to crises such as natural disasters.
China may see it differently, however, given the tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over a long-running dispute concerning islands claimed by both in the East China Sea.
“It’s another dot that the Chinese will connect to show this significant expanding military cooperation,” said Tai Ming Cheung, an analyst of Chinese and East Asian security affairs and director of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at the University of California, San Diego.
China has, for the first time, attempted to spell out its strategy — and plans — to secure its interests in the Indian Ocean in its first “blue book” on the region, released here on Saturday.
The blue book makes a case for China to deepen its economic engagements with the Indian Ocean Region’s (IOR) littoral states, but stresses that Beijing’s interests will be driven by commercial — rather than military — objectives.
However, it warns that the Indian Ocean could end up “as an ocean of conflict and trouble” if countries like India, the U.S. and China failed to engage with each other more constructively as their interests begin to overlap.
Nicaragua canal: Will China build rival to Panama Canal?
With NSA Leaker in Hong Kong, US Looks to Blame China
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/06/09/with-nsa-leaker-in-hong-kong-us-looks-to-blame-china/
RT @tomphillipsin: Staff @ Hong Kong’s Mira hotel just told me #snowden was def there, checked out today, won’t say what time
https://twitter.com/TomLasseter
Could Hong Kong shelter Edward Snowden?
Mr Snowden said he chose to hide in Hong Kong because of it’s “strong tradition of free speech”
Edward Snowden, who has identified himself as the source of leaks about US surveillance programmes, is believed to be holed up in a hotel in Hong Kong.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-22837599#TWEET784322
The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a constitutional challenge to a surveillance program under which the National Security Agency vacuums up information about every phone call placed within, from, or to the United States. The lawsuit argues that the program violates the First Amendment rights of free speech and association as well as the right of privacy protected by the Fourth Amendment. The complaint also charges that the dragnet program exceeds the authority that Congress provided through the Patriot Act.
“This dragnet program is surely one of the largest surveillance efforts ever launched by a democratic government against its own citizens,” said Jameel Jaffer, ACLU deputy legal director. “It is the equivalent of requiring every American to file a daily report with the government of every location they visited, every person they talked to on the phone, the time of each call, and the length of every conversation. The program goes far beyond even the permissive limits set by the Patriot Act and represents a gross infringement of the freedom of association and the right to privacy.”
The ACLU is a customer of Verizon Business Network Services, which was the recipient of a secret FISA Court order published by The Guardian last week. The order required the company to “turn over on ‘an ongoing daily basis’ phone call details” such as who calls are placed to and from, and when those calls are made. The lawsuit argues that the government’s blanket seizure of and ability to search the ACLU’s phone records compromises sensitive information about its work, undermining the organization’s ability to engage in legitimate communications with clients, journalists, advocacy partners, and others.
“The crux of the government’s justification for the program is the chilling logic that it can collect everyone’s data now and ask questions later,” said Alex Abdo, a staff attorney for the ACLU’s National Security Project. “The Constitution does not permit the suspicionless surveillance of every person in the country.”
The ACLU’s 2008 lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the FISA Amendments Act, which authorized the so-called “warrantless wiretapping program,” was dismissed 5–4 by the Supreme Court in February on the grounds that the plaintiffs could not prove that they had been monitored. ACLU attorneys working on today’s complaint said they do not expect the issue of standing to be a problem in this case because of the FISA Court order revealed last week.
Yesterday, the ACLU and Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic filed a motion with the FISA Court, requesting that it to publish its opinions on the meaning, scope, and constitutionality of Patriot Act Section 215. The ACLU is also currently litigating a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, filed in October 2011, demanding that the Justice Department release information about the government’s use and interpretation of Section 215.
“There needs to be a bright line on where intelligence gathering stops,” said NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman. “If we don’t say this is too far, when is too far?”
Attorneys on the case are Jaffer and Abdo along with Brett Max Kaufman and Patrick Toomey of the ACLU, and Arthur N. Eisenberg and Christopher T. Dunn of the NYCLU.
An interactive graphic examining the secret FISA Court order revealed last week is available here.
Today’s complaint is at: aclu.org/national-security/aclu-v-clapper-complaint
An Urgent Appeal to All American to come forward and report on Criminal and Unconstitutional Activity with our U.S. Government was just delivered online. The purpose of the YouTube message from YouTube channel user roypotterqa is to encourage All Americans to stop protecting activity that is underway within the government that is plainly Unconstitutional. The YouTube channel is not too widely known, but enjoys a growing audience due to his past involvement within the government and military – and insider connections.
Roy’s message stands on it’s own symbolically, as it represents what most Americans see as justice. This is an important message and the possibility exists that Roy is taking a significant risk in his public message urging All Americans to consider the greater damage to our country by standing by and doing nothing.
This message is also a dire warning, in that as many also believe, we are close to some catastrophic event that may signal the end of our Republic form of government. There are many corresponding sources of information that corroborate this opinion of imminent danger.
The posting of this video represents due diligence as a reporter and is meant to inform the public of it’s existence. As an Internet News Service, Intellihub.com takes a neutral opinion in terms of our objective of reporting on current events – although our personal opinion(s) may or may not be in agreement with this video message.We stand by our First Amendment Right to publish this Open Source Video and present it to the public unedited for their informational purposes.
The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.
Today no war has been declared — and however fierce the struggle may be, it may never be declared in the traditional fashion. Our way of life is under attack. Those who make themselves our enemy are advancing around the globe. The survival of our friends is in danger. And yet no war has been declared, no borders have been crossed by marching troops, no missiles have been fired.
If the press is awaiting a declaration of war before it imposes the self-discipline of combat conditions, then I can only say that no war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you are awaiting a finding of “clear and present danger,” then I can only say that the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent.
It requires a change in outlook, a change in tactics, a change in missions — by the government, by the people, by every businessman or labor leader, and by every newspaper. For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence — on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. It conducts the Cold War, in short, with a war-time discipline no democracy would ever hope or wish to match.
Nevertheless, every democracy recognizes the necessary restraints of national security — and the question remains whether those restraints need to be more strictly observed if we are to oppose this kind of attack as well as outright invasion.
No President should fear public scrutiny of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary. I am not asking your newspapers to support the Administration, but I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed. Source: John F. Kennedy
A Call To The Invisible Army Of The Restoration Of Liberty
Published on Jun 10, 2013 – 275 views 06–10–2013 at 12:25 pm
An address to those in government who know of governmental wrongdoing and crimes to come forward and save the Republic. I make one serious error and please forgive me; Government does not “give” us liberty, but should give us protection of our liberty!!!!
http://intellihub.com/2013/06/10/an-urgent-message-to-all-americans/
Syrian troops began the first phase of operation “Northern Storm” to liberate the city of Aleppo, attacking militants in the settlements in the west and south of the province.
Their goal is to block militants in the town of Anadan, free the federal road linking the city of Aleppo to Aazaz on the Syrian-Turkish border, controlled by militants for over a year.
Fierce fighting continues for the second day in the vicinity of a military airfield near Aleppo.
“Decisive action by the Syrian army in Aleppo, after the taking of Qusair on the border with Lebanon, as well as the collapse of all hopes for a foreign invasion have utterly demoralized the militants,” said one of the commanders, noting that many members of the opposition are ready to lay down their arms.
Voice of Russia, TASS
Read more: http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_06_11/Syrian-troops-begin-first-phase-of-Northern-Storm-8480/
Let me be clear: This isn’t just navel-gazing. This eyeing the whole kit-n-kaboodle like aKate Upton photo spread. If you’re a Democrat, you might want to hold your hand over your child’s eyes.
This is from Liz Sidotti of the Associated Press (that’s right — the AP):
“As a candidate, Barack Obama vowed to bring a different, better kind of leadership to the dysfunctional capital. He’d make government more efficient, accountable and transparent. He’d rise above the “small-ball” nature of doing business. And he’d work with Republicans to break Washington paralysis.
You can trust me, Obama said back in 2008. And — for a while, at least — a good piece of the country did.
But with big promises often come big failures — and the potential for big hits to the one thing that can make or break a presidency: credibility.
A series of mounting controversies is exposing both the risks of political promise-making and the limits of national-level governing while undercutting the core assurance Obama made from the outset: that he and his administration would behave differently.
The latest: the government’s acknowledgement that, in a holdover from the Bush administration and with a bipartisan Congress’ approval and a secret court’s authorization, it was siphoning the phone records of millions of American citizens in a massive data-collection effort officials say was meant to protect the nation from terrorism. This came after the disclosure that the government was snooping on journalists.
Also, the IRS’ improper targeting of conservative groups for extra scrutiny as they sought tax-exempt status has spiraled into a wholesale examination of the agency, including the finding that it spent $49 million in taxpayer money on 225 employee conferences over the past three years.
At the same time, Obama’s immigration reform agenda is hardly a sure thing on Capitol Hill, and debate starting this week on the Senate floor is certain to show deep divisions over it. Gun control legislation is all but dead. And he’s barely speaking to Republicans who control the House, much less working with them on a top priority: tax reform.
Even Democrats are warning that more angst may be ahead as the government steps up its efforts to implement Obama’s extraordinarily expensive, deeply unpopular health care law.”
Read the whole delicious thing, savor it, and then share the news to your friends who may not understand what “right-wingers” have been squawking about for four long years.
http://www.ijreview.com/2013/06/58230-the-ap-demolishes-the-obama-presidency-in-one-brutal-piece/
With all eyes turned to 29-year-old Edward Snowden, the former CIA analyst who leaked documents about the National Security Agency’s domestic spying is already on his way to becoming the most discussed man in America. Less than 24 hours after the Guardian went public with Snowden’s identity on Sunday, the leaker’s personal life and politics have already taken center stage.
Now at the center of some discussions is Snowden’s endorsement of Ron Paul during last year’s presidential race, a revelation that is providing a rare glimpse into the ideologies of a man who will likely face decades in prison for going public.
According to donation info published by the Center for Responsive Politics’ website OpenSecrets.org, Snowden made two contributions totaling $500 to the presidential campaign of then-Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) during the last calendar year. Snowden made a $250 contribution to Rep. Paul on March 18, 2012, and another $250 donation on May 6.
Rep. Paul was vying for the Republican Party’s nomination as president during last year’s election, ultimately losing that slot to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Paul ended his active campaigning phrase shortly after Snowden’s second contribution was made and retired from Congress in early 2013 after serving decades on Capitol Hill.
Although other links between Snowden and Paul haven’t been published yet, the leaker did say in an interview this week that he supported a third party presidential candidate during the 2008 race that ultimately ended in a win for Barack Obama, a Democrat.
“A lot of people in 2008 voted for Obama. I did not vote for him. I voted for a third party. But I believed in Obama’s promises. I was going to disclose it [but waited because of his election]. He continued with the policies of his predecessor,” Snowden told the Guardian.
Before Barack Obama won his bid for the White House in 2008, he campaigned on a promise of having the most transparent presidential administration in the history of the United States. Today his office continues to stand by that vow despite spearheading an unprecedented war against leakers. The Obama administration has so far charged seven people under the Espionage Act, and more leakers have been prosecuted under that legislation than by every previous president combined.
Snowden is reported to currently be in Hong Kong after fleeing his apartment in Hawaii at the beginning of last month. He previously worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and, most recently, defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. He only worked there for three months before the Guardian published top secret documents last week about the NSA’s phone and Internet surveillance programs, operated for years under a provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and a well-hidden program called PRISM.
“The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife’s phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records [and] credit cards,” Snowden told the Guardian.
“I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things … I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under.”
Before the Guardian went public with Snowden’s allegations about the spy program — then later his identity — the leaker went to the Washington Post and asked them to publish his evidence of PRISM.
“Snowden asked for a guarantee that The Washington Post would publish — within 72 hours — the full text of a PowerPoint presentation describing PRISM, a top-secret surveillance program that gathered intelligence from Microsoft, Facebook, Google and other Silicon Valley giants,” Post reporter Barton Gellman admitted this week.
“I told him we would not make any guarantee about what we published or when,” Gellman recalled for the Post. According to Gellman, “The Post sought the views of government officials about the potential harm to national security prior to publication and decided to reproduce only four of the 41 slides.”
Snowden’s attempt to expose the secretive program through the Washington Post draws an eerie parallel to the case of Bradley Manning, the 25-year-old Army private who gave hundreds of thousands of sensitive government files to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks — but not before his phone calls to the Post and New York Times were ignored.
On the campaign trail last year, then-Rep. Paul said he’d protect Bradley Manning and other whistleblowers if elected to the White House.
“I maintain that government becomes more secret and the people’s privacy is being destroyed. We should protect the people’s privacy and we should make the government much more open,” Paul said last April during a campaign stop in San Antonio, Texas.
“I would certainly lean in the direction of protecting people that are trying to tell the truth,” said Paul. “The more openness the better. That’s what a free society is all about. It wouldn’t be so critical if the government was a lot smaller, but because it is so big it is big issue because there is so much that could be hidden.”
Have you ever wondered why people call George Bush a “Nazi”, or a “fascist”? Did you ever think these were just meaningless insults? If so, you are mistaken.
People call George Bush and his family Nazis and fascists, because his grandfather did business with Nazi Germany very closely, and was heavily involved with assisting them.
IBM, the American technology company, helped the Nazis keep track of their holocaust victims and store data during WWII.
Their employees have received 5 Nobel peace prizes, just like the middle eastern children murdering Barack Obama. If you think this is bad, you haven’t heard the beginning of it; the web of connection there was, between American economic powers and Nazi Germany, is a very complicated and interwoven system.
The Rockefeller Oil Company sold oil to the Nazis during WWII, the very oil that was used in planes to bomb the UK, and many other military operations. These people never faced charged of “aiding the enemy”, and there isn’t a much more direct way they could aid them in destroying other human beings then this. Why?
Because the United States government, since some say , around 1913, with the creation of the federal reserve, has been under the control of the most powerful economic powers of the United States and the world, like the Rockefellers, who wanted war.
The Rockefeller Foundation, as they could not manage to do without the disguise of charity, funded eugenics programs, essentially “ethnic cleansing” programs worldwide, and is widely believed to be the real cause of the holocaust. In 1932, Rockefeller foundation funded Dr. Ernst Rudin became president of the worldwide Eugenics Federation.
The Movement called for the killing and sterilization of people who’s “heredity made them a public burden”. A few months later, Hitler gained control of Germany, and this program.
Perhaps most notoriously, the CIA carried out “Operation Paperclip”, briefly after WWII, bringing over a thousand Nazi scientists to the US from Germany, who were given new identities, and began to work alongside an unsuspecting American civilian population.
After the bankers had their war and their job done in Germany, why not just recycle the scientists? Just as if they controlled both the US and Germany, as the non mainstream facts seem to indicate.
Mainstream culture and their version of history, goes into childlike detail to illustrate a nationalist version of history that would by contrast make these facts seem insane. But considering that, this all makes too much sense.
But wait, there is even more. Prescott Bush, the father of George HW Bush, and grandfather of George W Bush, was closely involved with Nazi Germany, making deals with them so complicated, they form a web of interactions, just as if Germany and the United States were one.
Prescott Bush’s Father was a Railroad Executive and then a Steel Company President, and Prescott was a Wall Street Banker like David Rockefeller, who also sold oil to Nazi Germany and gave them support. Rather then facing by consequences for these acts of vile treason against the human race, these people have furthered their success tremendously.
David Rockefeller’s son, Jay Rockefeller, has been in the US Senate since 1984, and every single one of Prescott Bush’s descendants have been president, or a powerful politician, like Jeb Bush, a Florida Politician.
There are many, many more ties between the great fascist economic powers of the United States, and Nazi Germany, and their so called enemies in WWII. Ones will to research about it on their own, is the determining factor on whether or not a person will know the true version of history.
Mainstream history, of course, illustrates the events from such a false, nationalist perspective, that by contrast, what has been said in this article would seem ridiculous. Yet, it is fact, and it is there on the Internet and in certain books, waiting to be discovered.
There is too much too explain the whole of it in this article, however, I can tell you this- the politicians of the United States are, and have been, heavily involved with, and very often related to, the most wealthy and powerful families on the planet. A merger between economic powers and political powers is exactly what constitutes fascism, that is the exact definition.
When thinking about a global conspiracy, think about the Rockefellers, the Bush Family, the bankers, and the economic ties. Oh, and I didn’t even mention yet, that the Bush Family directly descended from King John of England, who signed the Magna Carta in the 13th Century.
Not only that, but every single president except Martin Van Buren directly descended from him, and many, many other royal figures. The truth is truly stranger then fiction, and it is so very complicated, one must do the research for themselves.
This week after a man was evicted from his Brooklyn apartment he attempted suicide in front of a crowd of people outside of the “Today” show studio. He claims to have been robbed by the IRS and a group of stock brokers, a likely story.
A tortured soul who slashed his wrists in front of a horrified crowd watching the “Today” show outside Rockefeller Center Thursday said he committed this “desperate act” to get back at the IRS and others who robbed him.
Pak, 76, said he emigrated from China to New York in 1948 and made a million dollars buying stocks with money made from running a grocery store and working as a waiter. He claimed TD Ameritrade and Scottrade helped the IRS plunder his funds and he had proof back at his apartment.
“I had to do something desperate to fight the corruption, fight the IRS,” Pak Chong Mar told a Daily News reporter as he lay on a hospital gurney at Bellevue Hospital. “They are so powerful.”
“I need people to help me fight for justice,” Pak said. “If I don’t do something drastic, sooner or later these guys are going to kill me anyway. I couldn’t even pay rent this month.”
“I should be living well,” he said. “I had over a million dollars before. They’re making my life miserable.”
“I saw him take slice after slice. I saw the blood gushing,” witness Kellie Ostransky told The New York Post. Ostransky, who lives near Phoenix, was in town to celebrate her birthday with her twin sister, the newspaper reported.
The Today show did recognize that a person had harmed themselves outside, but they did not say anything about his struggle or the IRS:
Cellphone footage of the unfortunate situation is shown below:
(LONDON) – (UPDATE: Ben Fellows is in touch with friends and OK.)
Journalist and former child actor Ben Fellows has gone missing after writing several articles accusing Ken Clarke of touching him up when he was 15 years old.
His YouTube channel disappeared, and his wife Julia Fellows says she has no idea who took it down. Ben Fellows’ accusation against Clarke was immediately followed by his disappearance. As you will learn in this video, his wife was told by police that they are not going to investigate.
From infowars:
(Ben Fellows)
Following publication of Ben’s story on Patrick Henningsen’s website, Ben’s story was picked up in part by the Daily Express.
What followed was a barrage of emails to Patrick Henningsen from Ken Clarke’s “special adviser” Kathryn Laing, who works in the Cabinet Office, vehemently denying that Ken Clarke ever met Ben Fellows, and requiring Patrick Henningsen remove Ken Clarke’s name from the articles, and make other changes to the articles.
On Thursday 25th October, UK Column Live spoke with Ben Fellows about his allegations, the people he met and what he witnessed growing up as a child actor.
[link to www.ukcolumn.org]
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june062013/ben-fellows-ga.php
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WASHINGTON, DC June 4, 2013 DC Pro-Palestine Activist Interrupt Ehud Olmert’s Speech calling him a war criminal, a murderer, & a terrorist who should be arrested.
On June 4, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visited Washington, D.C.’s Woodrow Wilson Center to offer a so-called “moderate” perspective on Middle East affairs and the Palestinian-Israeli impasse. A DC area coalition of Palestinian justice activists, led by George Mason University Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), were there to challenge Olmert and interrupt the Wilson Center’s complicity with the ongoing normalization of Israeli occupation, settler colonialism, and apartheid. Making clear that no Zionist presence is welcome in the DC metropolitan area, throughout the event activists interrupted Olmert, discrediting the supposed “peace plan” he has been parading around as a viable solution.
Far from the generous offer Olmert would have the Wilson Center audience take it for, Olmert’s two state plan is a Zionist strategy that frames Palestinians as “against peace” for rejecting it. As activists in the audience insisted, a plan which refuses rights of refugees, maintains occupation, and keeps in place the Wall and the apartheid system it reinforces, offers no peace at all.
At one point during the disruptions, Jane Harman, CEO of the Wilson Center and former member of Congress, presented for the audience what passes for the “common sense” perspective of a peaceful and just solution to the conflict. The hegemonic rationale grounding a two state solution permeates nearly every discussion of Palestine in the United States. This view is presented as the moderate, reasonable position for peace and justice. Meanwhile, Olmert justifies his aggressive advocacy for a two- state solution out of fear that the Palestinians will soon demand their fundamental human rights under a one state solution.
As members of SAIA, we represent a growing international movement to deconstruct and undermine this false rationale of a just solution in a Palestinian state alongside a Zionist, Israeli state. The two state solution is not only exclusionary, racist and anti-democratic, but moreover, structurally impossible. The territories designated for a future Palestinian state have been sliced, diced, and carved up over decades of Israeli military encroachment, followed by the on-going construction of illegal settlements. With little-to-no control over water, trade, transportation, or governance, the vision of a Palestinian state is merely a fabrication propagated by Israeli hawks to buy more time for further encroachment.
It is in this spirit that we claim that the only just solution to the Israeli occupation is a democratic, one state solution led by the three tenets of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign:
1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall;
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.
It is appalling that the Wilson Center would host a war criminal of Olmert’s caliber. It is less surprising that Olmert would jump at the invitation since opportunities to speak must be shrinking, as nations across Europe revoke Olmert’s diplomatic immunity, leaving him susceptible to arrest and prosecution for his violations of international law.
GMU Students Against Israeli Apartheid
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking today at the Wilson Center in D.C., delivered an address that was the reverse mirror image of his address to the Jerusalem Post conference in New York in April. The content of the speech was the same: Olmert argued that Israel’s security situation is better than ever before; that neither its traditional enemies (Syria, Egypt) nor its current enemies (Iran) pose a debilitating threat to it; and that it is therefore in an excellent position to make peace with the Palestinians. The reception, too, was the same: just like in New York, Olmert was repeatedly interrupted by angry hecklers in D.C. today. The only difference was that this time, he was taking heat from the left instead of the right.
Olmert was in the middle of discussing the threat of a nuclear Iran, and his hope that America will take the lead in neutralizing that threat, when a young audience member wearing a black Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) shirt called out, “I’m appalled that the Wilson Center would host a war criminal such as yourself. Be sure that the international community will hold you accountable for your war crimes.” He walked to the back of the room, where another young man unfurled a Palestinian flag and joined him in marching out. There was a small smattering of applause from the audience.
Olmert laughed off the disturbance, noting that he’s experienced much worse in the Knesset, and then continued to make the same argument he’d made in New York: that President Obama doesn’t want his legacy to be a nuclear Iran, and that when he, Secretary of Defense Hagel, and Secretary of State Kerry all say they will not allow that to become a reality, we have to take that commitment seriously. He added that the American leaders are “the ones that ought to lead this campaign against Iran.” And, expressing admiration for the Secretary of State’s “emotional involvement” in the peace process, Olmert said he hoped Kerry would be able to stir Obama to greater involvement “on a daily basis.”
But at that point, another young man in a SAIA shirt stood up to share some thoughts of his own—including “To hell with you! Free my people, free Palestine!”—before storming off. Once again, Olmert laughed, noting that this light-skinned heckler (unlike the first one) “doesn’t look like a Palestinian.”
This did not endear him to the crowd. Soon a female heckler shouted and marched off. She was followed by another young woman, who screamed, “Shame on Woodrow Wilson for inviting a war criminal! This is disgusting!” before leaving. The audience member beside her, whose T-shirt read “Olmert is a murderer,” cited the death toll in the 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead, and shouted, “You’re a murderer! You talk about peace? You could have prevented this!” while being escorted out.
Ultimately, Wilson Center Director, President and CEO Jane Harman was forced to call for a tightening of security, and to defend the Center’s decision to invite a broad cross-section of speakers. “I also defend free speech in this country,” she noted. “But it is unfortunate that people feel the need to disrupt a gathering where they could peacefully and civilly ask questions.”
Whereas Harman seemed perturbed by the disturbances, Olmert cynically delighted in being called a war criminal. Referring to the hecklers, he said, “These guys made a mistake. They don’t understand that for me, in Israel, there couldn’t be any better PR than their comments… For many Israelis, this may restore some of my reputation.”
But when Aaron David Miller moderated a question and answer period later on, Olmert turned from cynicism to earnestness, showcasing his moderate side. Asked about his September 2008 offer to Abbas, which recently became the subject of renewed press attention, Olmert clarified that the Palestinian president never said yes to the terms of his peace plan, but never said no, either. Olmert insisted that Abbas is a true partner for peace whose leadership can now help break the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate, because the latter understands that any final deal between the two peoples will look a lot like the one Olmert presented. That deal, Olmert hastened to add, includes resolving the issue of Palestinian refugees within the framework of the Arab Peace Initiative, which has recently been revamped following talks between Kerry and the Arab League.
Asked about the issue of Jerusalem, Olmert suggested we should resist talk of “dividing” the holy city (he prefers the term “sharing”), as if granting Palestinians sovereignty over part of it would constitute a gross betrayal of age-old Jewish dreams. “The part of Jerusalem that the Palestinians are insisting on is not really part of what we thought of as Jerusalem for generations,” he stated. The upshot was that it’s not worth trying to maintain Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem neighborhoods that are mainly inhabited by Palestinians—and that are not of historical importance to Jews, anyway—if that effort would forever foreclose the possibility of peace.
Olmert’s stance on Jerusalem, like his broader attitude toward negotiating a peace deal with Abbas, hews closely to the stances of the Israeli and American Jewish left wing. Yet, as the disruptions at today’s event proved, Olmert is too right-wing for the left—and, as the disruptions at the Jerusalem Post conference proved, he is also too left-wing for the right. Today, Olmert convincingly argued that “this is possibly the last but also the best time that we have to make peace.” The great misfortune is that this man, who is moderate enough to recognize that and to be able to strike a deal, has neither the power nor the broad support—from either side of the political spectrum—to do so.
Op-ed: Paying Clinton huge sum to speak at Peres’ birthday is like hiring a stripper for a wedding anniversary
Whichever way I look at this story – the payment of $500,000 (including 18% VAT) for an hour of Bill Clinton – I can’t help but fee disgust and anger. This sort of event would have gone fairly unnoticed, like the million-dollar wedding in the Tshuva family, before the social protest; before we found out about the plundering and discovered that in the end everything comes out of our pockets.
I am willing to pay half a million dollars to have a team of doctors operate on a child for 12 hours and save his or her life. That would be morally justifiable. But $500,000 for a 45-minute lecture by a greedy former American president? Let’s agree on $4,500. Otherwise he can cancel his visit altogether.
| Peres’ Birthday | ||||||
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And now to President ShimonPeres‘ birthday itself. I am very impressed by the fact that a president who is as old as my mother lives almost 100 times better than she does due to abundant funding, genetics and popular support. I would be glad to be present during his 100th birthday celebrations – if we are still here. But he should celebrate modestly – now and in the future – at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem. I believe this is the time for a small celebration. You’ve celebrated enough.
Yes, we are talking about a medical miracle; a 90-year-old man who has the energy of men half his age. So they should celebrate this at the Sheba Medical and use the money to try and find out how is it that one old man lives like a king while the rest rot.
As for the Jewish National Fund – which is paying most of Clinton’s fee – isn’t it the little blue box containing small change that is supposed to be used to plant trees and build parks? It turns out that the JNF is a huge real estate business that sits on eight billion shekels that belong to us. But it has money to spend on Peres’ birthday because Clinton will be discussing environmental issues.
So plant a tree in Peres’ name; or an entire forest along the border with Gaza called “Peres’ Peace Forest.” But inviting Clinton to speak for $500,000 on the president’s birthday is like hiring a stripper for your wedding anniversary. It’s the last event you’ll be celebrating as a married couple.
Government officials in Jerusalem accused Ireland on Wednesday of leading opposition inside the EU to placing Hezbollah, or at least its “military wing,” on the European Union’s terrorist black list.
According to the officials, Ireland – which holds the EU’s rotating presidency – was supported in this position by Sweden and Finland at a working group on Tuesday that debated the issue.
A consensus of the EU’s 27 states will be needed to blacklist Hezbollah’s “military wing,” a move noweven backed by Germany and France.
In the past these two countries have opposed this step, arguing that it could destabilize Lebanon, make European contact with Beirut more difficult and endanger the UNIFIL troops stationed there.
There are some 11,000 UNIFIL troops in Lebanon, including 1,097 from Italy, 878 from France, 701 from Spain, 359 from Ireland, 155 from Germany, 153 from Austria and 104 from Belgium.
Britain, which in the past held contacts with what it calls Hezbollah’s “political wing,” launched efforts last month to get the EU to blacklist the group’s “military wing.” These efforts have picked up steam in recent weeks because of Hezbollah’s increased involvement in the Syrian civil war.
Tuesday’s meeting in Brussels was the first formal meeting at the request of the British.
A spokesman at Ireland’s embassy in Tel Aviv, when asked if his country was indeed spearheading opposition to the move, said that a formal proposal to designate the “military wing” of Hezbollah had been made by one member state “and is currently being considered within the relevant working group known as CP931, which Ireland chairs as the current EU president.”
The spokesman said that an initial discussion was held on Tuesday, and that further discussions would be required to see whether the working group “can arrive at an agreed position on the proposal.”
That meeting, the spokesman said, was scheduled to take place within the next couple of weeks.
He did not reveal Ireland’s stand on the matter.
However, one Israeli government official who said Dublin was leading the opposition charged that this position was “unusual,” given that Germany, France and Spain – which all have large contingents in UNIFIL – now back the move.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Austria was also opposed, while Lebanon’s Daily Star reported that Italy was leading European opposition.
The claim of Italian opposition was dismissed by Israeli government officials as “unsubstantiated rumors.” A formal request to the Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv for a response went unanswered.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria reversed ground and said on Wednesday it now only had an “indication” that Hezbollah might have been behind last summer’s terrorist attack in Burgas that killed five Israelis and a Bulgarian bus driver, and that this alone did not justify any EU move to list it as a terrorist group.
The new Socialist-led government backed away from charges by its center-right predecessor that Hezbollah had carried out the attack.
“It is important that the [EU] decision be based not only on the bombing in Burgas, because I think the evidence we have is not explicit,” Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin, whose government took office last week, told national state radio BNR.
“There is an indication that it is possible [that Hezbollah was behind it], but we cannot take decisions with important consequences for the EU based on indirect data. If we have enough serious proof from other cases, then we will not waver to back such a decision,” Vigenin said.
Vigenin said the Bulgarian authorities were pursuing their inquiry into the attack and would keep EU governments informed.
The Burgas attack, and a similar type of attack that that was foiled in Cyprus and led to the arrest and conviction there of a Hezbollah man, spurred efforts to get the EU to blacklist Hezbollah.
The EU has refused US and Israeli appeals to place Hezbollah on its terrorist list for more than a decade.
In February, the previous Bulgarian cabinet urged European governments to take a harder stance toward Hezbollah, after blaming it for the Burgas attack.
The Socialists, then in opposition, accused the center-right government of rushing to implicate Hezbollah without proof and exposing the Balkan country to more terrorist attacks.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Ireland-leads-opposition-to-blacklisting-Hezbollah-315613
The New York State Senate passed a controversial bill on Wednesday that aims to classify ‘aggravated harassment of a police officer’ as a crime, but will it give the authorities the green light for strong-arm tactics if passed?
Sponsored by Senator Joe Griffo, Bill S.2402 would make it a felony to “harass, annoy, or threaten a police officer while on duty.”
“Our system of laws is established to protect the foundations of our society,” Senator Griffo said. “Police officers who risk their lives every day in our cities and on our highways deserve every possible protection, and those who treat them with disrespect, harass them and create situations that can lead to injuries deserve to pay a price for their actions.”
Griffo said that New York police require extra safeguards because “too many people in our society have lost the respect they need to have for a police officer…. We need to make it very clear that when a police officer is performing his duty, every citizen needs to comply and that refusal to comply carries a penalty.”
The bill, which will now move to the State Assembly, would make it a crime for a person to make any type of physical action aimed at intimidating a police officer. Harassment of a police officer would be recognized as a Class E Felony, punishable by up to four years in prison.
Not surprisingly, the bill has won accolades from police.
“Professionally, I am grateful to see this bill pass through the Senate,” said Utica Police Department Chief Mark Williams, as quoted by the House Majority Press. “Our police officers have a very dangerous job and need the support of our government leaders to help make them safe.”
Williams believes that all too often, individuals are “physically challenging police officers in the line of duty.” Currently, in instances where an officer is physically attacked but does not sustain a physical injury, the only possible charge is a violation, he explained.
These consequences are too lenient for offenders, and send the wrong message to the public, Williams continued.
However, questions may arise as to where the boundaries should be drawn concerning the right of individuals to report on incidents of excessive police force, for example.
In May 2011, New York homeowner Emily Good was arrested by Rochester police while standing in her yard and videotaping police officers who were performing a traffic stop in front of her house.
When one of the officers asked Good what she was doing, Good replied, “I’m just recording what you’re doing; it’s my right.” The officer then told Good that “we don’t feel safe with you standing right behind us while we’re doing a traffic stop,” and ordered her to go inside her house.
When Good insisted on her right to stand in her yard, she was arrested, handcuffed, and taken away in a police car. She was later charged with obstructing governmental administration.
cavnews.wordpress.com 