At least 37 people were killed and another 62 more were wounded in today's violence. Another journalist was assassinated in northern Iraq, while a family of five was killed in Diyala province. A series of bombings took place across Baghdad as well.
Last week I was stunned when I heard Rachel Maddow's first report on how Chris Christie took revenge on a mayor for partisan differences by essentially shutting down the traffic on the country's busiest bridge for a few days. Turns out, it's the world's busiest bridge-- and Friday, Maddow did a little update (above). The words "dangerous sociopath" come immediately to mind. I wonder how many voters will see this as the ultimate example of why a self-entitled bully like Christie must be kept as far away from lethal power as possible.
"♫Makin' a soundtrack for another planet to hear♫ on Episode089 - We Are Explorers which features brand new sounds from Painted Palms, Anna Calvi, Tim Easton,
A fake celebration of a show that is not even our 250th. Recorded live.
Part 2:
Voices include long-time supporters and friends, Osborne and Brian. This installment includes a fascinating (in my opinion) discussion about agricultural history, practices and sustainability.
A fake celebration of a show that is not even our 250th. Recorded live.Part 2:Voices include long-time supporters and friends, Osborne and Brian. This installment includes a fascinating (in my opinion) discussion about agricultural history, practices and sustainability.
A fake celebration of a show that is not even our 250th. Recorded live.
Part 2:
Voices include long-time supporters and friends, Osborne and Brian. This installment includes a fascinating (in my opinion) discussion about agricultural history, practices and sustainability.
Bitcoin enthusiast Mike Caldwell puts away his coins at his office in Sandy, Utah, September 17, 2013.(Reuters / Jim Urquhart)
RT
The United States government hasn’t decided on the legality of Bitcoin just yet, but federal regulator have determined that a Utah man must stop mining and selling physical copies of the crypto-currency to online customers.
The world built for you by Tech-nopoly
RT
A US government contractor claims his life turned into a thriller worthy of Hollywood after Google auto-completed his search to reference bomb-making. The man lost his job and is suing top Washington brass, from the CIA head to the Secretary of State.
Marcelo Álvarez and Sondra Radvanovsky sing the Act II duet from Verdi's A Masked Ball at the Met, Dec. 8, 2012.by KenIn Friday's preview we heard answering soprano and tenor snippets from three great Verdi duets, and I hope you heard what causes them, as I noted, to blend in my head.
MEMO | December 15, 2013
The President of Egypt’s Court of Appeals, Judge Mohamed Awad, has said that he will not participate in the judicial supervision of the referendum on the new constitution. He claims that the document lacks credibility.
Sunday again, and of course time for my weekly rant...Is it just me? Or are others just as disgusted by the continuing world wide praise for the mass murdering terrorist known as Nelson Mandela. I for one cannot see what was so "great" about this man at all. He was a Communist, a terrorist, and definitely a mass murderer. He spent years in prison not for his stance against "Apartheid", but for his actions against the South African government. He called for the violent overthrow of a government, and rightfully should have been hanged for his acts of terrorism against the South African n
Decreasing suffering often means “comforting the afflicted, and afflicting the comfortable.” However, AlterNet’s recently republished Psychotherapy Networker article, “The 14 Habits of Highly Miserable People,” authored by psychotherapist Cloe Madanes, instead appears to have afflicted many of the afflicted.
Press TV
December 14, 2013
US possesses thousands of fatal drones
Audio
Rick Rozoff from Stop NATO International has accused the US government of manufacturing thousands of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the past decade or so to either assassinate people or spy on them in many countries, including Yemen.
Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
George Farquhar
From The Recruiting Officer (1706)
Growing up, I never knew any rich people. I'm sure I saw some in movies and on TV but it was like the tooth fairy or a white Santa Claus… not real. I had aspirations but they weren't tarnished and perverted by a lust for money; I was lucky. Susan Berman was my first wealthy friend. Like most wealthy heirs, her money was inherited from criminals.
Decreasing suffering often means “comforting the afflicted, and afflicting the comfortable.” However, AlterNet’s recently republished Psychotherapy Networker article, “The 14 Habits of Highly Miserable People,” authored by psychotherapist Cloe Madanes, instead appears to have afflicted many of the afflicted.
RT | December 14, 2013
Uruguay’s president has accused the head of the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) of lying and double standards, after the official claimed the country did not consult the anti-drug body before legalizing marijuana.
Earlier this week, Uruguay became the first country in the world to legalize both the sale and production of marijuana.
It is now just over one year since the Sandy Hook operation in Newtown Connecticut involving the use of poor actors, a fully compliant media in the hoax, and some other high paid shills….
You know the famous old audio clip of FDR welcoming the hatred of Wall Street plutocrats? It was a long speech but, by far, that line, about welcoming the hatred of America's villains, got the loudest and most sustained applause. I don't mean to equate Adam Green of the PCCC with FDR, but if I were giving him any advise I would tell him to welcome the hatred the consultant-driven world of hacks that Buzzfeed services.
At least 34 people were killed, including a group of Shi'ite pilgrims, and 43 more were wounded in attacks across Iraq.
ACLU – 12/14/2013
BOSTON — The ACLU of Massachusetts calls for a moratorium on the use of controversial and unregulated license plate scanner technology in all Massachusetts police departments, following a Boston Globe exposé of problems in the Boston Police Department’s program.
This documentary proves there is only one political party in the United States and Great Britain. That one party covers up the rape and murder of children. This video was made in 1993 by the Discovery Channel and Yorkshire TV. It was scheduled to be aired on British TV but was cancelled. Tremendous pressure had been put on the Discovery Channel and Yorkshire TV by the Clinton administration to pull it.
Once Moudud Ahmed defended the country's independence leader, but now he is sick and in jail as the prime minister cracks down on opposition ahead of January's national elections.
Cowichan Valley Citizen
December 13, 2013
NATO is now a threat to global peace
Letter from Gerry Masuda
Duncan – NATO was created in 1949 to keep the Russians out, the Germans down and the U.S. in Europe. NATO was successful in achieving this and has outgrown this original mission. NATO is now taking on another role which may not be supported by We the People of the nations which make up NATO.
Voice of Russia
December 14, 2013
Nuland’s cookies as illustration of West’s ‘policy of non-interference’ in Ukraine
Andrei Smirnov, Igor Siletsky
By Haitham Sabbah • Jul 23, 2009
The row over a racist advert of Cellcom – an Israeli mobile phone operator, which shows Israel Occupation Forces soldiers playing football with Palestinians on both sides of the Apartheid Wall, continues.
In the Cellcom advert, IOF soldiers on patrol along the Wall stop their army jeep when it is hit by a soccer ball from the Palestinian side of the Wall. A game ensues, back and forth with the unseen Palestinians after a soldier dials up “reinforcements,” including two smiling women in uniform, to come and play.
This week the Santa Clarita Valley Republican Assembly posted a resolution they had just passed on their Facebook page. Short version: "thanks, but no thanks." Santa Clarita Republicans-- not to mention normal people in Santa Clarita, absolutely detest Tony Strickland, the carpetbagger who switched districts from CA-26 to CA-25 this month. (People in CA-26 who contributed money because they preferred him to Julia Brownley, are just out of luck. He's not giving anyone their money back.) Anyway, here's the resolution:
Our guest this week is ex-professional astrologer Marcia Montenegro of Christian Answers for the New Age, who joins us to discuss the diverse teachings and practices of the New Age movement. Neither a religion nor a philosophy, but more precisely a worldview, the New Age offers a perceptive critique of many of the dehumanising features of modern life, but proposes a solution, which (though in many ways attractive) is nevertheless deceptive, harmful, and ultimately incapable of delivering its promises.
Our guest this week is ex-professional astrologer Marcia Montenegro of Christian Answers for the New Age, who joins us to discuss the diverse teachings and practices of the New Age movement. Neither a religion nor a philosophy, but more precisely a worldview, the New Age offers a perceptive critique of many of the dehumanising features of modern life, but proposes a solution, which (though in many ways attractive) is nevertheless deceptive, harmful, and ultimately incapable of delivering its promises.
Al-Akhbar | December 14, 2013
Syrian rebel commanders from the Islamic Front which seized control of bases belonging to Western-backed rebels last week are due to hold talks with US officials in Turkey in coming days, rebel and opposition sources said on Saturday.
Since AR4, there have been a series of new multiproxy studies, several of which were cited in AR5 (Mann et al 2008; Ljungqvist et al 2010; Christiansen and Ljungqvist 2012; Shi et al 2013). A distinctive feature of these and other recent multiproxy studies is the incorporation of varve thickness and near-equivalent mass accumulation rate (MAR) series, in which varve thickness (positively oriented) is interpreted as a direct proxy for temperature.
A few comments on the final UN report on alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria are in order. The report provides evidence which suggests use of chemical weapons against the Syrian army, including on a fairly large-scale in Khan al-Assal and including with the use of Sarin. This has major implications which should give […]
Its essential to know that this article comes from a “Progressive” author, and not a “right wing extremist” or the Koch Bros cabal. thx
So, once again, the FBI has foiled their own terrorist plot and stopped a suicide bomber from blowing up a fake bomb that they gave him. NBC:
By Diego Cupolo | Upside Down World | December 13, 2013
In a historic move, Mexican congress members have voted to open the state-controlled energy sector to foreign investment for the first time in 75 years. On Thursday, President Enrique Peña Nieto applauded the legislation, which is poised to become the nation’s most significant economic reform since the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement.
Twenty years since its passage, NAFTA has displaced workers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, depressed wages, weakened unions, and set the terms of the neoliberal global economy.
The senators had to stay up past their bedtimes Wednesday and Thurdsay because Miss McConnell is having another one of his pointless hissy fits. A career-long hater of democracy-- and someone who had pledged to obstruct everything President Obama set out to accomplish, including even the orderly functioning of government, McConnell has ramped up his now-failed agenda of blocking all presidential nominations but pointless delaying tactics.
RT | December 14, 2013
A rare way of life is under threat in Spain where authorities have renewed attempts to evict dozens of cave-dwelling families from their homes in an ancient settlement in Granada. Residents say “it’s a disgrace”, and are determined to resist eviction.
Throughout the week dozens of activists have been protesting the eviction they deem unlawful and unfair.
Its almost like Hitlery is “sabotaging” her 2016 nomination before she starts. Reminds us of John Kerry, John McCain, and Mitt Romney….
Can’t have Bibi and Israel mad at us…. Right? Maybe a pile of debt for us … er cash for WMD’s will salve relations?
The editors of Foreign Policy magazine inhabit a fairy tale world of planet-saving superheroes and wicked climate deniers.
By David Swanson | FDL | December 12, 2013
With 196 nations in the world and U.S. troops already in at least 177 of them, there aren’t all that many available to make war against. Yet it looks like both Syria and Iran will be spared any major Western assault for the moment. Could this become a trend? Is peace on the horizon? Are celebrations of Nelson Mandela’s nonviolence sincere?
By Paul Fontaine – Grapevine – December 12, 2013
In a landmark ruling, Reykjavík District Court sentenced four former executives of Kaupthing Bank to between 3 and 5 1/2 years in prison for financial crimes dating back to 2008.
