While America collectively freaks out over their impending ‘polar vortex’, Canada is changing the game when it comes to cold weather phenomenon as reports of ‘frost quakes’ emerge from around Toronto and across Ontario.
Indeed, as temperatures drop overnight to around -4f around the city hundreds of people are being startled by hearing large booms – causing them to think their homes are being broken into or gunshots are being fired.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the disaster stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, one of them is the continuous leaking of radioactive waste water into the ground beneath the plant and into the Pacific Ocean.

PORTLAND — Local emergency rooms are quickly filling up with flu victims and doctors said they are seeing a rise in H1N1, also known as swine flu, which caused a pandemic back in 2009.
A 5-year-old boy from Eugene died from the flu at Oregon Health & Science University after falling ill on Christmas day, according to officials from the hospital.
A neighbor saw emergency crews at the boy’s home on Christmas day and news of the child’s death came as a shock.
“It’s just sad very devastating. I couldn’t imagine what they might be going through,” said Tim Yali.

Upper West Side (Manhattan)DNAinfo caption: Instagram user Alex Tarhini (@alextnyc) took this photo of a snow-blanketed Upper West Side street. (Click to enlarge.)by KenSome of you have probably had recent snowstorms of your own, while others haven't and are probably feeling mighty jealous. I suppose there are some of you who haven't and are just feeling Schadenfreude for us, which is really mean, but you may enjoy these pictures even more, you rats.

By Richard Edmondson | Fig Trees and Vineyards | January 5, 2014

The Nir Am Reservoir lies near the town of Sderot, in southern Israel. This view of the reservoir shows the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun in the background.

The Stateless Man | Guillermo Jimenez appears on The Stateless Man with Fergus Hodgson to discuss "The Big Lie: Narco-Terrorist Boogeymen and Our Government Saviors." Who are the real "drug lords" in the global trade? What would happen if marijuana were legalized?

It is indeed good to be back…. I missed last week's rant due to fear of having a heart condition, and I am now doing a lot of catching up….First and foremost, I truly want to thank Whitewraithe for helping me out at this blog during my short absence…. I really do hate hospitals, and even after getting a clean bill of health on my heart, I came down over the last few days with a very intense cold and fever.   I do suspect that I caught that during my hospital stay!

By Ron Paul | January 5, 2014

*Of course, don't forget to check your local listings.Tough Justice with Michelle Dockery from Michelle Dockery "She's not Lady Mary anymore."by KenNoah passed this on to me, and at first I assumed it was real -- yet another case of a gosh-darned Brit taking away American j-o-b-s. It turns out to be better than real (kind of scary-real, actually).

Via Politico

OK Yeah – this gives us a good amount of satisfaction! KARMA!
This is NO Movie…. look for a major distraction and a good sweeping under the rug. LA? Stay on this and keep purging the “Bad Lieutenants”
 
The DC Clothsline

[As I explained at the top of Friday night's preview, this is the second part of a three-part Bruckner series, begun December 6-8 with "Bruckner's Fourth Symphony -- four stories for four movements," a reprise of a January 2010 post I've always been fond of.

Student Privacy Compromised by Massive Program

Today's podcast is made up of two long out-takes from a five-hour live show Osborne and I recorded on 1/3/14. I asked Jeffrey Tucker to join us to discuss the new Martin Scorsese film, The Wolf of Wall Street. This podcast includes everything but the discussion of the film, which will follow in the next show.

Today's podcast is made up of two long out-takes from a five-hour live show Osborne and I recorded on 1/3/14. I asked Jeffrey Tucker to join us to discuss the new Martin Scorsese film, The Wolf of Wall Street. This podcast includes everything but the discussion of the film, which will follow in the next show.

Today's podcast is made up of two long out-takes from a five-hour live show Osborne and I recorded on 1/3/14. I asked Jeffrey Tucker to join us to discuss the new Martin Scorsese film, The Wolf of Wall Street.

Regime directly controls "red shirt" enforcers, is directing violence and intimidation as it clings to power. January 5, 2014 (ATN) - Regime "red shirts" attacked peaceful protesters in the northern city of Chiang Mai today, as thousands of fellow protesters marched simultaneously in Bangkok. Thailand's English paper Bangkok Post would report in their article, "Reds attack Chiang Mai protesters," that: 

Hat tip to Gallier for leaving all the information that will be posted below!

By RANNIE AMIRI | CounterPunch | January 3, 2014

The burial of former Lebanese Finance Minister Mohammed Shatah next to assassinated ex-premier Rafic al-Hariri in Beirut’s Muhammad al-Amin mosque was as striking and deliberate in symbolism as the towering structure itself.

RT | January 5, 2014

British MPs have voiced concern that doctors and researchers are being denied access to around half the results from all clinical trials. An influential parliamentary committee has condemned the selectiveness as damaging medicine as a whole.

The New York Times reports that Saudi Arabia supports Al-Qaeda linked terrorists in Syria

Ministry of Defence of Georgia
January 3, 2014
New Year in Afghanistan

Georgian military servicemen participating in ISAF mission celebrated New Year in Afghanistan. Batumi Separate Light Infantry and the 31st Battalions of GAF met New Year in base “Leatherneck”.

Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Anna Seghers
From The Seventh Cross (1939)
Translated by James A. Galston

By Robert Thompson | Axis of Logic | March 8, 2009

The good news is that two envoys have been sent by the USA to Damascus, and that they have discussed with the Syrian Foreign Minister what can be done to improve Syria’s relations with the USA, now that a new régime is in place in Washington.

Here at DWT, once we saw Patty Murray and the Senate Dems sacrifice the working poor to the voracious appetite of conservative predators in their shameful compromise with Paul Ryan, we amped up our coverage of the Republican War on the Poor and the Republicans' latest advances in the highly effective class war they've been fighting against America's working families for decades.

Ma’an – 05/01/2014

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel rejects any US-proposed security concessions for the Jordan Valley, a cabinet member close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, as US Secretary John Kerry visited the Middle East.

Enrico Caruso performed the opera Carmen on Tuesday, April 17, 1906 in San Francisco.  In the morning his hotel, the Palace, was destroyed along with the homes of at least 227,000 of 410,000 people. The city had been the 9th largest in America and the largest on the coast. Enrico Caruso vowed never to return. A road in Marin county immediately north of the city was moved 20 feet. Over a hundred miles down the coast the Salinas river was moved 6 miles further south. 80% of San Francisco’s buildings were destroyed by fire and quake.

Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D. TARPLEY.net – World Crisis Radio January 4, 2014 [download audio] Link to Tarpley’s PressTV Snowden article:How to Identify CIA Limited Hangout Op?   [...]

According to ProgressivePunch's reckoning the 10 Republicans who have bolted their party's House leadership on crucial votes most frequently this session are:

At least 107 were killed and 46 were wounded today. Most of the casualties were insurgents fighting in Anbar and elsewhere.

The nascent civil war in South Sudan is a product of kleptocratic governance, systemic corruption, and political posturing that has reignited deep ethnic divisions between the nation’s two largest tribal groups.(Nile Bowie - RT) - The world’s youngest nation has been in disarray since December 14th, when sporadic gunfire and skirmishes broke out in the capital, Juba.

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Exploiting tragedy for a buck; plus Miss America's not American?, "Quote of the Year" winner[*TO MEET THE JANITOR OF LUNACY, SEE PART 1]Miss America, Missouri-born Nina Davuluri -- zowie!by NoahTHE MINDS OF CORPORATISTS: EXPLOITING TRAGEDY FOR A BUCKWhat is it about the corporate mind?

Today we are joined once again by Kevin Ryan of DigWithin.net to discuss his new article, “The Risks of Trusting the Snowden Story.” We talk about the questions we should all be asking about the Snowden affair and the way it is being reported, and Ryan outlines the reasons that the documents should be released in their entirety.

On the Sunday, January 5, 2014 episode of Exposing Faux Capitalism with Jason Erb, from 8 to 10 PM EST, I intend to provide a full critique and refutation of Tom Woods’ 2013 presentation paper, “Why the Greenbackers are Wrong“. I find it very revealing that he had more time to prepare this paper than […]

The no double jeopardy provision of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: “nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb;“ The double jeopardy “loophole” is this; that where the accused is acquitted of a state crime, he/she is then tried for […]

By Dan Lieberman | Online Journal | July 17, 2009

The modern Israeli city of Ashkelon, 20 kilometers north of the Gaza border, presents a picturesque setting along the Mediterranean coast. Sparkling white beaches matched by white faced apartment buildings, green lawns and several wide boulevards depict a tranquil and content city.

Is this bread kosher or not?

Gotta keep up with the Cruz’s right?

By Paul Craig Roberts | Dissident Voice | January 4, 2014

Have you seen the economic recovery? I haven’t either. But it is bound to be around here somewhere, because the National Bureau of Economic Research spotted it in June 2009, four and one-half years ago.
It is a shy and reclusive recovery, like the “New Economy” and all those promised new economy jobs. I haven’t seen them either, but we know they are here, somewhere, because the economists said so.

Press TV – January 4, 2014

Argentina is to summon former Israeli envoy to Buenos Aires to explain his recent comments that the Tel Aviv regime has killed most of the perpetrators behind the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in the Latin American country in the 1990s.

Surveillance court renews NSA phone records program –FISA court approves metadata collection program for 36th time in seven years

Press TV – January 4, 2014

A new survey shows that France is rapidly losing public support for its military intervention in the Central African Republic (CAR), nearly one month after Paris deployed troops to the country.

By Damian Lataan | January 3, 2014

By Gilad Atzmon | January 4, 2014

In a uniquely dishonest piece, The Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland paid a tribute today to Israel’s veteran PM Ariel Sharon.

"Career-long tool of the mining industry" Shelley Moore Capitoby KenAs I've mentioned, I sometimes get my best insight into the minds, such as they are, of the far-far-far-right-wingers from the merely far-right-wingers. (Wasn't it Freud who said, "It takes one to know one"?) By now it's no surprise to hear the MFRWs tsk-tsk-ing the FFFRWs.

But terrorism dressed as "civil war" likely. Vigilance and swift, decisive action against regime's leadership can stop it. January 4, 2014 (Tony Cartalucci) - The embattled regime of Thailand's Thaksin Shinawatra and his substantial Western backers are attempting to hold peace, stability, and the nation's future hostage in order to extort from Thailand the perpetuation of their current grip on power.

Xinhua News Agency
January 4, 2014
War crime accused takes the oath in Kosovo
PRISTINA: Newly elected mayor of the Municipality of Skenderaj/Srbica, Sami Lushtaku, was briefly taken from the Mitrovica detention center on Friday to his hometown to take the oath for third term in office.
The procedure took some ten minutes, and the defendant was later sent back to the detention center.

Xinhua News Agency
January 4, 2014
The Netherlands to send 14 soldiers to Mali on Monday
THE HAGUE: The first dispatch of Dutch soldiers to go to Mali will depart from Schiphol on Monday, the Dutch Ministry of Defence announced in a press release on Friday.
The group consists of 14 soldiers. Their main task is to build a Dutch camp and to ensure that logistics, infrastructure and equipment are ready at the time that the other soldiers arrive in March, the statement said.

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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Elio Vittorini: Dialogue between a dead soldier and his brother
====
Elio Vittorini
From In Sicily (1937)
Translated by Wildred David