Perhaps you read Greg Sargent's excellent piece for the Washington Post Tuesday about increasingly reckless and aggressive GOP nihilism in Congress.

U.S. senator calls for military strikes on Syria
 
Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.)
 
(Press TV)  A prominent U.S. senator has called on the administration of President Barack Obama to attack Syrian “airfields, airplanes and massed artillery.”

By Noel Brinkerhoff | AllGov | July 11, 2013

The United States has been accused of spying on numerous countries in Latin America in an effort to collect intelligence on trade secrets and military capabilities.

Despite new rules put into place by Congress in 2009 prohibiting the use of open air trash-burning pits on U.S overseas bases — yes, the same pits that countless numbers of Iraq and Afghanistan vets, and their doctors, say have caused irreparable harm to their health  — an inspector general’s (SIGAR) report released today say they are still in commission at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan.

Press TV – July 10, 2013

Iran’s entertainment and movie channel iFilm as well as the 24-hour English-language news channel Press TV are airing with new parameters on the Express AM44 satellite.
Viewers can watch Press TV and the English version of iFilm on the following frequency:
Satellite: Express AM44 at 11.0 W
Transponder: B5
Frequency: 11109
Polarization: Horizontal
Symbol Rate: 9479
FEC: ¾

Although many Republicans still frown on outright theft-- obviously not all, or Darrell Issa wouldn't still be winning elections-- profiting from the commons is considered a plus in their world of driven greed and selfishness.

RT | July 11, 2013

US President Barack Obama quietly signed his name to an Executive Order on Friday, allowing the White House to control all private communications in the country in the name of national security.

 Aljazeera’s Conspiracy Theory about Obama and Egypt is Brainless Mush
An Al-Jazeera employee talks on the phone at the pan-Arab television channel’s bureau in Cairo. (AFP Photo / Mohammed Abed)

Ma’an – 11/07/2013

JERUSALEM – An Israeli court on Thursday sentenced two Palestinian MPs to 30 months, a committee official said.
PLC deputy Mohammad Tawtah and former Jerusalem affairs’ minister Khalid Abu Arafa were sentenced to 30 months plus a one-year suspended sentence for conducting “Hamas activities,” said Amjad Abu Asab, the director of the Jerusalem prisoners’ families committee.

A few days ago we asked you to take a look at the Blue America Neil Young contest. Shorter version here. But Daylin Leach is a lot more than a cute contest. And although Neil Young's music was important to young Daylin when he was growing up, it isn't the only thing that helped form Daylin Leach.He was raised in Northeast Philadelphia by a single mother.

Eric DraitserStopImperialism.comThe killing of more than 50 people at a demonstration in support of ousted Egyptian President Morsi in Cairo on Monday has justifiably horrified many in Egypt and internationally.

By Keelan Balderson | Wide Shut | July 10, 2013

A new extra-curricular history program taught in Carroll County, Baltimore, USA, is warning students not to get sucked in to 9/11 conspiracy theorizing and that the official Government approved narrative is the only version with any “credence”.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Transformation
July 11, 2013
General Breedlove Visits PATRIOTS in Southern Turkey
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Six Patriot missile batteries have been operating under NATO command and control in southern Turkey since February 2013. The Alliance rapidly deployed these assets in order to augment Turkey’s air defence capabilities.

RT | July 11, 2013

Despite “justified questions” to the American intelligence community regarding eavesdropping on German networks, the US remains Berlin’s “most loyal ally”, announced Chancellor Angela Merkel in interview to Die Zeit weekly.

RT | July 11, 2013

Luxembourg’s long-serving Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker officially announced he would resign following a spying scandal involving illegal phone-taps and other illicit activities.
The announcement comes as Juncker’s junior coalition partner called for the dissolution of the house and early parliamentary elections.

James Corbett joins Truthloader for a conversation on everything from Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal to the Bilderberg group and changing coverage of the mainstream media.

Press TV – July 11, 2013

A prominent U.S. senator has called on the administration of President Barack Obama to attack Syrian “airfields, airplanes and massed artillery.”
The influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin (D-Mich.) who has returned from a fact-finding trip to the Middle East, also expressed support for arming the militant groups fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Local
July 10, 2013
Sweden registers Nato force interest
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The Nato Response Force was formed in 2006 and consists of 13,000 soldiers as well as aircraft and ships. Nato countries take turns to participate in the force, which can be deployed on short notice across the world.
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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Jules Romains: Selections on war
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Jules Romains
From Verdun: The Prelude (1938)
Translated by Gerard Hopkins

When Boehner and Cantor offer a motion to suspend the rules and pass a bill, requiring a 2/3's vote for passage, it doesn't mean the bill isn't controversial; it does mean there's huge bipartisan support for the bill though. And, more often than not, it means lobbyists have greased the way for passage.

Press TV – July 10, 2013

Britain has a CCTV camera for every 11 people, a security industry report disclosed, as privacy campaigners criticized the growth of the “surveillance state”.
Britain has a CCTV camera for every 11 people including 750,000 in “sensitive locations” such as schools and hospitals, British Security Industry Authority (BSIA) says.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the meaning of elections, constitutions, and the rule of law. One recalls that the USSR in its heyday had a beautifully crafted constitution guaranteeing individual rights and also held regular elections for the Supreme Soviet that permitted one to select from a slate of candidates approved [...]

Fidelity to the rule of law is the centerpiece of a free society. It means that no one is beneath the protection of the law and no one is absolved of the obligation to comply with it. The government may not make a person or a class of persons exempt from constitutional protections, as it [...]

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. ~ Tacitus Since the Guardian’s publication of the "telephone metadata" order, courtesy of Edward Snowden, the law professoriate et al. have been speculating about a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court’s "secret" opinion that would explain the seemingly inexplicable – how the National Security Agency legally can [...]

For more than a month, outrage has been profuse in response to news about NSA surveillance and other evidence that all three branches of the U.S. government are turning Uncle Sam into Big Brother. Now what? Continuing to expose and denounce the assaults on civil liberties is essential. So is supporting Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden [...]

When I reported from South Africa in the 1960s, the Nazi admirer Johannes Vorster occupied the prime minister’s residence in Cape Town. Thirty years later, as I waited at the gates, it was as if the guards had not changed. White Afrikaners checked my ID with the confidence of men in secure work. One carried [...]

2 creepy Ohio Republicans with gay kids-- "It's all about MY family"I'm going to do my best to make sure this post doesn't cross the line into the pornographic. But, let me confess that when I was much younger, I sometimes slept around. One time I was in NYC and I met some guy online who was hot to trot and looked awesome. I offered to take him to dinner so we could get to know each other.

At least nine Iraqis were killed and four more were wounded.

Aaron Dykes and Melissa Melton of the newly-created TruthStreamMedia.com joins us to discuss their research on how the biotech giants are working behind the scenes to slip exceptions through the backdoor in federal GMO labeling laws. We discuss the dangers GMOs and processed foods pose to the food supply and how people can take matters into their own hands by growing their own food, sourcing food locally, and boycotting the biotech giants.

Above the fray: The saintly, now sainted, John XXIIIonce again provides cover for a darker "promotion.""[I]t is a bit sad to see Pope Francis, who has been doing wonderful things in his short time at the Vatican, play the old game of self-certification at the top of a saint-making factory. Many hope he will make needed changes in the church.

RT | July 10, 2013

Russia’s inquiry into the use of chemical weapons on Syrian territory was carried out in full accordance with international standards, unlike a similar evaluation by Western countries, says Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Treatment of Palestinians is apartheid by any other name

by Jonathan Cook  -  The National

John Pilger recalls his return to South Africa after his banning and a concern that apartheid did not die.

Footage from Aleppo has confirmed reports that the city’s population is being increasingly repressed by insurgents, who have occupied parts of the city for over a year.
Two towns to the north of the city, Zahra and Nubol, have been under siege for months. Despite the blockade, Syrian transport helicopters regularly resupply the towns. FSA militants have since surrounded areas in in the city’s western districts and expanded their blockade.

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford | July 10, 2013

Only 4 New Dems voted for the Republican plan to tie student loans to market mechanisms that won't just double them, but could actually triple the rates-- all in the name of their deranged ideology of Greed and Selfishness!

International Solidarity Movement | July 10, 2013

We in ComeHomeAmerica (www.ComeHomeAmerica.US) condemn our government’s war on Syria, prosecuted first with sanctions, then with covert support through “allies” like the dictatorial petro-monarchies of the Gulf and now with overt provision of arms for the anti-government forces and perhaps even a bombing campaign. We demand an immediate cessation of this bellicose policy by our government. Sanctions and military intervention in Syria are not in the interests of the American people; nor are they in the interests of the Syrian people.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
July 10, 2013
SACEUR – LANDCOM is first line of defence for retaining jointness
Story by: Lt. Col. Angela Funaro, U.S. Army
LANDCOM Public Affairs Office

Syrian Army seizes Massive Chemical Stockpile from Insurgents. Enough to Wipe Out Entire Country

BY  Christof Lehmann  - nsnbc International

breakingtheset · July 9, 2013

Abby Martin talks to Russell Tice, former intelligence analyst and original NSA whistleblower, about how the recent NSA scandal is only scratches the surface of a massive surveillance apparatus, citing specific targets the he saw spying orders for including former senators Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama.

There are rumors that the Obama administration is considering a “zero option” in Afghanistan – that is, abandoning plans to leave a significant residual force there to train Afghans, perform special operations against the Taliban, and bolster the enfeebled Afghan state and instead withdrawing all U.S.

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford | July 10, 2013

The truth of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967 did not gain widespread attention in America because Israel and American Jews occupied the Middle Ground between decision makers and policy formulation and between events their reportage by the media. On June 4, 1967 President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ate dinner at the home of Abe Fortas. At the dinner was a Loeb of Kuhn and Loeb, a Rothschild investment bank.

Perhaps you just read the news that Iowa populist Democrat Bruce Braley is way ahead of all the Republicans running for the state's open Senate seat. 2014 is shaping up well for Iowa Democrats. Braley's margins must seem daunting for the GOP now. He leads Matt Whitaker 43-34, Joni Ernst 45-33, Mark Jacobs 44-32, Sam Clovis 43-31, and David Young 45-32.

By Jonathan Cook | Dissident Voice |  July 10, 2013

Were it not for the razor wire, giant concrete blocks, steel gates, watchtower and standard-issue surly teenage soldier, it would be impossible to tell at what point the barren uplands of Israel’s eastern Negev give way to the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank.

RTAmerica · July 9, 2013

The National Security Agency continues to experience fallout for the surveillance programs which spy on millions of American’s phone records and online activities, and this time the Electronic Privacy Information Center is filing an emergency petition to end the spy program. Alan Butler, Appellate Advocacy Counsel for EPIC, joins us with the details on the demand.

By Roger Sheety | Palestine Chronicle | July 9, 2013

A June, 2013 speech by Bill Clinton honoring war criminal Shimon Peres has highlighted the extent to which Israeli anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab bigotry has become acceptable within Western mainstream discourse.

Intro to two players:Ghassan Hitto:  Seen by most informed observers as the darling of the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar.