Category: News

Common Dreams – by Robert Scheer

Barack Obama’s Justice Department on Monday announced that Citigroup would pay $7 billion in fines, a move that will avoid a humiliating trial dealing with the seamy financial products the bank had marketed to an unsuspecting public, causing vast damage to the economy.

Citigroup is the too-big-to-fail bank that was allowed to form only when Bill Clinton signed legislation reversing the sensible restraints on Wall Street instituted by President Franklin Roosevelt to avoid another Great Depression.    Continue reading “Citigroup: The Original Gangsta”

Zen Gardner

REDDING, California – The Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to seek more information on “chemtrails” after nearly four hours of public comment on the issue.

Supervisor Pam Giacomini put the item on the agenda, and a number of so-called chemtrail experts addressed the panel, followed by dozens of speakers who blamed a host of personal and environmental ills on airplane exhaust.   Continue reading “Shasta County Supervisors All Vote to Explore Chemtrail Issue”

The Guardian

Former US secretary of state and Nobel peace prize winner Henry Kissinger underwent heart surgery at a New York City hospital on Tuesday and was resting comfortably, hospital officials said.

Kissinger, 91, underwent an aortic valve replacement procedure, according to New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

The German-born Jewish refugee served as secretary of state under Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, with a hand in the diplomatic opening of China, landmark US-Soviet arms control talks, expanded ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors and the Paris peace accords with North Vietnam.   Continue reading “Henry Kissinger, 91, undergoes heart surgery”

Daily Mail – by David Martosko

The Obama administration quietly announced on Tuesday that it intends to change the way Americans learn about natural disasters and other major emergencies during radio and TV broadcasts, giving the president the ability to flip a switch and address the entire nation at once.

The Emergency Alert System, the latest version of a program first established in 1951, blasts out  emergency messages in the event of local weather emergencies, but can also be used to warn Americans about terror attacks and major natural disasters.   Continue reading “New emergency alert system will give Obama the power to flip a switch and address the entire nation at once”

Sacramento Bee – by RUSSELL CONTRERAS

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Federal agents paid a struggling addict in crack cocaine for his help with an undercover investigation into a Las Vegas, New Mexico drug operation, a new lawsuit claims.

According to court papers filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, Aaron Romero, 38, was approached by DEA agents in 2011 to assist with drug deals in exchange for portions of the drugs obtained by authorities. But Romero’s participation in “Operation Smack City” reignited a previous crack addiction as he became a victim of recklessness on behalf of DEA agents, causing severe emotional and physical harm, the lawsuit said.   Continue reading “Lawsuit: DEA paid New Mexico man with crack”

Washington Post – by Radley Balko

A couple of themes we explore here at The Watch are the increasing criminalization of just about everything and the use of the criminal justice system to address problems that were once (and better) handled by families, friends, communities and other institutions.A few examples from recent headlines show those themes intersecting with parenthood.

The first story comes from South Carolina, where a mother was jailed and charged with “unlawful conduct toward a child” for . . . leaving her 9-year-old daughter alone to play in a park. Lenore Skenazy of “Free Range Kids”comments:

Continue reading “And now: The criminalization of parenthood”

MassPrivateI

Integrating unmanned flight systems (UAV’s) into use for domestic surveillance can provide first responders with key information in responding to fires, earthquakes and man-made disasters, said John Hill, director of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

Professor Richard Baker, director of ISU’s Center for Unmanned Systems and Human Capital Development, said the expo is designed to bring civilian and military organizations together, as each “has some technology, or equipment or capability that can help in an area of domestic response for disasters, either man-made or natural.” Continue reading “DHS wants to use UAV’s as hearses to transport the dead”

ABC News – by NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press

The White House is defying a congressional subpoena by keeping a top political aide to President Barack Obama from testifying at a hearing Wednesday, setting up a potential new legal battle in this midterm election year.

The White House argued that Obama adviser David Simas is immune from the “extraordinary demand” of being forced to testify before the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into the White House Office of Political Strategy and Outreach, which he directs.   Continue reading “White House Defying Aide’s Congressional Subpoena”

The Blaze – by Jason Howerton

The Internet is relentlessly mocking Rolling Stone’s new photo slideshow outlining the “5 most dangerous guns in America,” with one reader calling it “maybe the worst piece of journalism of all-time.” Making the publication’s list are pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, and even Derringers.

As one commenter asks, “what’s left?” Here’s Rolling Stone’s list, starting with the “most dangerous.”   Continue reading “See Why Rolling Stone’s List of ‘Most Dangerous Guns’ Is Being Called ‘Maybe the Worst Piece of Journalism of All-Time’”

NC Renegade – by David DeGerolamo

Under Arizona state law, it is a felony to introduce disease into the state:

13-2912. Unlawful introduction of disease or parasite; classification

A. It is unlawful for a person to knowingly introduce into this state a disease or parasite of animals or poultry that constitutes a threat to:

1. Livestock or poultry industry in this state.
2. Human health.
3. Human life.   Continue reading “The Federal Government Must Arrest President Obama for Recklessly Endangering the Entire Country by the Intentional Release of Communicable Diseases”

Times of Israel – by ARON DÓNZIS AND HAVIV RETTIG GUR

Two weeks after the brutal slaying of East Jerusalem teen Muhammed Abu Khdeir, and nearly 10 days after the apprehension of seven suspects in his killing, the Shin Bet security service released the results of its investigation Monday, including a complete timeline of events on the night of Abu Khdeir’s killing.

Of the seven people arrested, four were released to house arrest July 10 after police determined they had not taken part in the killing, despite being linked to those suspected in the crime. The three primary suspects, who are related to one another, were remanded in custody on Monday.

Continue reading “‘Suspects hit Abu Khdeir with a tire iron before burning him’”

Khaosad

BANGKOK — Protesters rallied in front of the Israel Embassy in Bangkok today to voice their anger over Israeli air strikes in Gaza, despite the Thai military junta’s ban on public gatherings.

The activists, many of whom were Muslim, held up signs denouncing Israel’s operations in the Gaza Strip and burned Israel’s national flag.  

“Jews is terrorists [sic]” one placard read. “I hate Jews. They are murderers,” proclaimed another.   Continue reading “Demonstrators Burn Israeli Flags At Embassy Protest in Bangkok”

Alt-Market – by Brandon Smith

In the mid-sixties at the height of the “social revolution” the line between democratic benevolence and outright communism became rather blurry. The Democratic Party, which controlled the presidency and both houses of Congress, was used as the springboard by social engineers to introduce a new era of welfare initiatives enacted in the name of “defending the poor”, also known as the “Great Society Programs”. These initiatives, however, were driven by far more subversive and extreme motivations, and have been expanded on by every presidency since, Republican and Democrat alike.   Continue reading “Is The Cloward-Piven Strategy Being Used To Destroy America?”

Breitbart – by AWR Hawkins

On July 14 citizens carrying American flags, Gadsden flags, and signs saying, “Seal Border” marched through Vassar, Michigan, in protest of the “invasion” by illegal immigrants and plans to house Central American children there.

Some of those who took part in the march also carried “semi-automatic rifles.”

According to the Detroit News, “the demonstrators… marched one mile, from city hall to a social services facility that would house the young undocumented immigrants.”   Continue reading “Armed Citizens Gather in Michigan, Protest ‘Invasion’ of Illegal Immigrants”

RT

Fourteen different rice paddies outside of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant evacuation zone were contaminated with radioactive material in August 2013, Japan’s agriculture ministry has found.

Despite the findings – which blamed the removal of a large piece of debris from the Fukushima No. 3 reactor building for the contamination – Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is moving ahead with plans to remove more highly radioactive debris from the No. 1 reactor building later this month.   Continue reading “TEPCO failed to disclose crops over 20KM from Fukushima were contaminated”

The New American – by Ralph R. Reiland

Here’s a recent — and supposedly racist — message from the labor union that represents U.S. border patrol agents, as posted by the governing National Border Patrol Council: “New annual job rating areas: Babysitting, Diaper Changing, Burrito Wrapping, Cleaning cells. Law Enforcement? What’s that?”

The message was designed to acknowledge and publicize the frustration and anger of border patrol agents who’ve been pulled from their job of providing border enforcement and apprehending people who are illegally entering the United States and, instead, been assigned to multiple tasks of homemaking.   Continue reading “National Border Patrol Council: “Law Enforcement? What’s That?””