Jalalabad, Afghanistan (Reuters / Parwiz)RT News

Washington will announce on Monday a massive aid package to Afghanistan, which it hopes will assist the war-torn country get back on its feet after 12 years of playing host to foreign troops, Reuters has learned.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) will announce three new development programs worth almost $300 million to wean Afghanistan off its ‘war economy,’ which is heavily subsidized today by opium exports – a trade that had been practically squashed while the country was under Taliban rule.   Continue reading “US to pump $300mn into Afghanistan to end ‘war economy’ – report”

RT News

The heaviest snowstorm in nearly half a century in Tokyo and other areas of Japan has caused a rash of snow-linked accidents, resulting in nearly a dozen deaths and injuring more than a thousand people.

Watch more pictures from snow-stricken Japan in RT’s Galleries

Up to 27 centimeters (10.6 inches) of snow was recorded in Tokyo by late Saturday, the heaviest fall in the capital for 45 years, according to meteorologists.   Continue reading “‘Worst in decades’: 11 dead, 1,200 injured in Japan snowstorm”

Mail.com

MOSCOW (AP) — A man employed as a private security guard opened fire Sunday in a cathedral on Russia’s Sakhalin Island in the Pacific, killing a nun and a parishioner and wounding six others, investigators said.

Law enforcement officers detained the 24-year-old man at the scene and were trying to determine why he had attacked the Russian Orthodox cathedral in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the federal Investigative Committee said in a statement. The man worked for a private security firm in the city and was armed with a rifle. His name was not released.   Continue reading “Gunman kills nun, parishioner in Russian cathedral”

Counter Punch – by MIKE WHITNEY

“The U.S. worked hard to create the American dream of opportunity. But today, that dream is a myth.”

Economist Joseph Stiglitz, Financial Times

If you follow the financial news, you already know that the American people are on an epic downer. Just check out some of these headlines I pulled up in a five minute Internet search and you’ll see what I mean:   Continue reading “The American Dream is Dead – Obama Killed It”

Florida Woman Furious After SWAT Team Orders Her Out of Her Own Home During Standoff With Neighbor and What She Found When She Returned HomeThe Blaze – by Elizabeth Kreft

A Jacksonville homeowner thought she may have been robbed Sunday, but realized instead her home had been altered by a SWAT team.

Deborah Franz was told to leave her home by police during a standoff with her neighbor over the weekend. According to WTEV-TV, Franz overheard loud fighting next door, and then saw SWAT team members swarm the street.   Continue reading “Florida Woman Furious After SWAT Team Orders Her Out of Her Own Home During Standoff With Neighbor and What She Found When She Returned Home”

Jeh JohnsonCNS News – by Penny Starr

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, the nation’s top immigration law enforcer, said on Friday that the estimated 11.5 million illegal aliens in the United States are “not going away.”

“They’re here, and they’re not going away,” Johnson said at the Woodrow Wilson Center in remarks billed by the Obama administration as his “first major speech.”   Continue reading “DHS Secretary on Illegal Aliens: ‘They’re Here, and They’re Not Going Away’”

Police say this is the replica handgun that Ariel Levy allegedly brandished when officers performed a welfare check at her apartment on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014. Photo: Hayward Police DepartmentSF Gate – by Henry K. Lee

(02-08) 07:22 PST HAYWARD — The son of a Hayward woman who was fatally shot by police outside her apartment had illegally kept an AK-47 and a machine gun behind a false wall in one of the unit’s closets, authorities said in court records.

Evan Michael Pimental, 23, appeared Thursday in U.S. District Court in Oakland on charges that he received or possessed an unregistered firearm, two days after a Hayward police officer shot and killed his mother, Ariel Levy.   Continue reading “Son of Hayward woman slain by police faces weapons charges”

Libertarian Republic – by Father Nathan Monk

PENSACOLA, FL – Living in Florida, we don’t often have the opportunity to use the heat setting on our thermostat, but this winter we got the chance in a big way. And as a matter of fact, so many people in my neighborhood were using heaters that it blew out the transformer.

So there I was with my wife and three kids, all of us huddled under blankets with the fireplace roaring, watching the temperature continue to drop from a comfortable 65 degrees down to 45. But outside it was 17 degrees and raining and sleeting, and if you were homeless, you had to consider that if you used a blanket to shield yourself from the elements, that you might be hauled off to jail for a violation of a local ordinance prohibiting using blankets, cardboard, or newspaper to cover yourself.   Continue reading “Florida Ordinance Makes It Illegal For Homeless To Use Blankets”

Joe BidenMail.com

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Political dignitaries joined family members at Saturday’s memorial service for Joan Mondale, the wife of a former vice president who was remembered as “a highly charged battery of positive energy” for her passion and persistence about arts, politics and community.

Vice President Joe Biden, former President Jimmy Carter and their spouses Jill and Rosalynn were at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis to pay tribute to Walter Mondale’s devoted partner, who died Monday at age 83 after an extended illness. Leading Minnesota officials, along with Japan’s consul general, filled rows of pews at the two-hour service.   Continue reading “Dignitaries, family bid farewell to Joan Mondale”

Image: MBCC.MT.GOVAOL

John R. Morales, 41, pleaded guilty to drug and weapons charges this week. Morales was sentenced to 16 years and three months in federal prison after authorities found over 1,000 marijuana plants and 27 weapons at a farm he owned back in 2011. Morales was pulled over for speeding when police found clipboards with maps leading them to the drug dens.   Continue reading “McGruff The Crime Dog Actor Sentenced On Drug Charges”

Silver Doctors

Yesterday we reported that Steve Quayle’s banker source “V” has informed him that the recent rash of banker “suicides” are part of a hit list that includes dozens of bankers including a supposed high level Citi executive.

Today, none other than Jim Willie himself has provided SD readers with an exclusive report on the banker deaths, which has now increased to 5 in the past week with American Title CEO Richard Tulley found dead of “self-inflicted nail gun wounds“.    Continue reading “Jim Willie on Bankster Suicides: Bankers Were Taken Out to Prevent Forex Fraud Whistle Blowing”

JHaines – by Neil Keenan

We have been had. Nothing we have grown up believing to be real is in fact real. Connecting all the dots, it dawned on me that there was so much more behind the curtain of everything than I was led to believe. I came to believe the only thing that I could trust was real was the love of my family. My government has turned out to be one big phony corporation — a massive worldwide scam perpetrated by Zionists, Nazis, and Khazars. It has to be stopped!   Continue reading “IRS – Private, Lying, Globalist-Controlled Thugs – We Want Our Money Back!”

catThe Examiner – by Kelly George

A note to cat owners. An Oregon man claims he contracted the bubonic plague from his pet cat.

Fox News reported Wednesday, about a post in the Guardian, where Paul Gaylord details how his cat Charlie was missing a few days in the Cascade mountains. When the cat came back he had a mouse stuck in his mouth and was acting ill. When the owner tried to pull the mouse out, the cat accidentally bit him.   Continue reading “Man says he caught the bubonic plague from his pet cat”

The Hill – by Megan R. Wilson and Mike Lillis

The Obama administration will continue the extension of federal benefits to married same-sex couples as heterosexual couples, Attorney General Eric Holder will announce on Saturday.

The Justice Department plans to issue a policy memo on Monday, which will allow same-sex couples to be able to file jointly for bankruptcy and will mandate that they will not be compelled to testify against each other in trial, among other new rights.   Continue reading “New rights for same-sex couples”

michelledebtslaveTruthstream Media – by Melissa Melton

First lady Michelle Obama has been making the rounds lately to promote the federal student loan program. CNS News reports Mrs. O as telling high school students in Washington,”Almost everyone is eligible for some form of financial aid, and all you have to do to access that aid is fill out this one little form. It’s so simple.”

In her recent quest to get young adults to believe “The American Dream is still alive (we swear),” she even went so far as to post a video on WhiteHouse.gov she titled, “I’m first,” where she has to read her own name from a teleprompter while she waxes on about how she had a rough go of her first year at Princeton, but anyone from anywhere with any amount of money can succeed in college and go on to build an incredible life for themselves in America — just like her. That’s right! Michelle makes it seem effortless to go to college — just take out a few student loans if you can’t afford it.   Continue reading “My Personal Response to First Lady Michelle Obama’s “I’m First” Video”