Washington Post

President-elect Donald Trump has picked as his secretary of state Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of ExxonMobil, setting up a possible confrontation with members of his own party in the Senate, Trump’s transition team announced Tuesday.

Since Tillerson’s name emerged as a candidate for the post, leading Republicans have expressed reservations about his years of work in Russia and the Middle East on behalf of the multinational petroleum company.   Continue reading “Trump picks ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state”

Brought up by Mike in AZ.

New York Post – by Jacob Sullum

Last week, the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2016, a k a S. 10, was introduced in the Senate, read three times, and approved by unanimous consent without debate or amendment — all on one day. That sort of bipartisan consensus, which suggests a bill is so obviously unobjectionable that no discussion is necessary, usually means trouble, and this case is no exception.   Continue reading “Congress’ rotten idea for fighting anti-Semitism”

Sent to us by Tax Revolutionn Institute.

Tax Revolution Institute – by Philip Schlosser

74,608 pages, 2.4 million words.

That is the present size of Title 26 of the U.S. Code, i.e. the “Internal Revenue Code.” One would think this would be nearly impossible for an enterprise wielding an army of tax experts to absorb, let alone the average taxpayer. However, it doesn’t stop there.   Continue reading “Tax Code Complexity Now Costs U.S. Economy up to $1 Trillion Annually”

WREG 3 News – by George Brown

KNIGHTSTOWN, Ind. — An Indiana town is being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union over part of its Christmas decorations.

Residents of the town of 2,000 people can’t remember a time when an illuminated cross didn’t sit atop a Christmas tree in the town square.   Continue reading “ACLU suing Indiana town over Christmas decorations”

Wikipedia

The McCollum memo, also known as the Eight Action Memo was a memorandum, dated October 7, 1940 (more than a year before the Pearl Harbor attack), sent by Lieutenant Commander Arthur H. McCollum, who “provided the president with intelligence reports on [Japan]… [and oversaw] every intercepted and decoded Japanese military and diplomatic report destined for the White House”[1][unreliable source?] in his capacity as director of the Office of Naval Intelligence‘s Far East Asia section. It was sent to Navy Captains Dudley Knox, who agreed with the actions described within the memo, and Walter Stratton Anderson.   Continue reading “McCollum memo”

Sputnik

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The assistance include the provision of defense articles and services to forces allied with the United States, according to the release.

“I hereby…determine that the transaction, encompassing the provision of defense articles and services to foreign forces, irregular forces, groups, or individuals engaged in supporting or facilitating ongoing US military operations to counter terrorism in Syria, is essential to the national security interests of the United States,” Obama said. “[I hereby] waive the prohibitions…related to such a transaction.”   Continue reading “Obama Waives Restrictions on Military Assistance to Foreign Forces in Syria”

My Fox 8

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Renowned astronaut and former U.S. Sen. John Glenn has died, according to the Columbus Dispatch. He was 95.

Glenn was hospitalized “more than a week ago,” according to Ohio State University spokesman Hank Wilson.

Glenn had heart valve replacement surgery in 2014.   Continue reading “John Glenn, astronaut and former US senator, dead at 95”

NPR

Two juveniles have been arrested and charged with arson for allegedly starting the fire that killed at least 14 people in east Tennessee last month. They might be tried as adults, and authorities say there might be more arrests.

Prosecutors say the two minors started a fire on Nov. 23, according to a statement from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Feeding off a drought-stricken forest, the Chimney Tops 2 fire grew inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On Nov. 28, it swept into Gatlinburg, a popular tourist destination.   Continue reading “2 Juveniles Charged With Arson, Suspected Of Starting Deadly Tennessee Wildfire”

Reuters – by Florence Tan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil major BP BP.L is shipping almost three million barrels of U.S. crude to customers across Asia, pioneering a lengthy and complex operation likely to become more popular after OPEC last week announced deep production cuts.

BP’s efforts, involving one of the world’s longest sea routes, seven tankers and a series of ship-to-ship transfers, underscore a desire among oil traders to develop new routes to sell swelling supplies of cheap U.S. shale oil to Asia, the world’s biggest consumer region.   Continue reading “In mammoth task, BP sends almost three million barrels of U.S. oil to Asia”

EcoWatch – by Dan Zukowski

A six-inch crude oil pipeline operated by Belle Fourche Pipeline Company in western North Dakota was shut down following discovery of a leak on Monday. The amount of the spill was not immediately known, but oil has leaked into the Ash Coulee Creek in Billings County.

The site of the spill is about 200 miles from the camp where members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their supporters have been protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.   Continue reading “Oil Pipeline Shut Down After Spill, Just 200 Miles From Standing Rock”

Waking Times – by Makia Freeman

The Pearl Harbor false flag operation of December 7th, 1941 which provided the excuse for the US to enter World War 2 is to be celebrated once again. This Wednesday (December 7th, 2016) will be the Pearl Harbor 75th Anniversary event. The horrific event was yet another in a long long line of false flag operations that have been carried out by unscrupulous criminals (our misleaders) over the years. Just as with the 9/11 false flag attack, around 3000 American lives were sacrificed so that the US Government had the pretext they needed to go to war. As the 75th anniversary approaches, it is appropriate to cast our gaze back in time and set the record straight on the Pearl Harbor false flag op in the hope that this information will spread far and wide, and prevent future leaders from using this hackneyed tactic to trick people into submission and achieve their dark political and geopolitical goals.   Continue reading “Pearl Harbor False Flag 75th Anniversary: Time to Admit the Deception”

Bloomberg

President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Twitter that SoftBank Group Corp. founder and Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son will invest $50 billion in the U.S., creating 50,000 new jobs.

Son told reporters the funding would go to “new companies, startup companies in the United States.” The Japanese billionaire is developing a $100 billion technology fund with the government of Saudi Arabia, though it’s unclear whether that would be part of the U.S. investment.   Continue reading “Japan’s SoftBank to Invest $50 Billion in U.S., Trump Says”

The Ottawa Citizen

If you’re upset that your commute took a few minutes longer this morning, be grateful you don’t live in Montreal.

Facebook user Willem Shepherd posted this video on Monday morning and it has already racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

This isn’t your normal  video of cars sliding down a slippery slope.   Continue reading “Watch as two buses, a police car and a snowplow slide down an icy Montreal hill”

Mediate – by Alex Griswold

After police arrested a man with a firearm in a Washington D.C. pizzeria Sunday night, the son of Donald Trump‘s incoming national security advisor General Michael Flynn tweeted out his continued support for the conspiracy that spawned the attack.

“Pizzagate” is the name for the bizarre conspiracy theory claiming that associates of Hillary Clinton ran a child sex-trafficking ring out of D.C.’s Comet Ping Pong. Those claims are entirely without basis, but that didn’t stop a North Carolina man from walking into Comet Ping Ping with a weapon demanding answers.   Continue reading “Gen. Michael Flynn’s Son Continues to Push #Pizzagate Conspiracy After Attempted Assault”

Fox News

An Ohio firefighter was shot and wounded while on the scene of a house fire late Monday night.

Authorities told WDTN-TV that the firefighter was responding to a house fire in Youngstown at around 11:30 p.m. during the time of the shooting. The unidentified firefighter was expected to recover.   Continue reading “Ohio firefighter shot and wounded at scene of house fire”

Northern Star

TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter says the U.S. will give back to the Japanese government nearly 10,000 acres of land on Okinawa that U.S. Marines use for jungle warfare training.

The giveback, to be completed by the end of this month, has been in the works for 20 years and is the largest by U.S. forces in Japan since 1972.   Continue reading “Carter: US to return Okinawa land to Japanese government”

NBC News

A massive sinkhole in Texas swallowed two cars on Sunday night, injuring one person and killing a reserve deputy, officials said.

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office identified the dead officer on Monday as seven-year veteran Dora Linda (Solis) Nishihara.   Continue reading “Massive Texas Sinkhole Swallows Two Cars, Killing Sheriff’s Deputy”

Washington Post – by Mark Berman

A jury deadlocked Monday in the case of a former South Carolina police officer charged with murder after he was recorded on video last year firing a barrage of bullets at the back of Walter Scott, a fleeing driver, in one of the most high-profile shootings to rattle the nation in recent years.

“We as the jury regret to inform the court that despite the best efforts of all members, we are unable to come to a unanimous decision,” the jury wrote in a note that Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman read aloud in the courtroom.   Continue reading “Mistrial declared in case of South Carolina officer who shot Walter Scott after traffic stop”