Year: 2014

Mail.com

BAGHDAD (AP) — The extremist-held Iraqi city of Mosul is set to usher in a new school year. But unlike years past, there will be no art or music. Classes about history, literature and Christianity have been “permanently annulled.”

The Islamic State group has declared patriotic songs blasphemous and ordered that certain pictures be torn out of textbooks. But instead of compliance, Iraq’s second largest city has — at least so far — responded to the Sunni militants’ demands with silence. Although the extremists stipulated that the school year would begin Sept. 9, pupils have uniformly not shown up for class, according to residents who spoke anonymously because of safety concerns. They said families were keeping their children home out of mixed feelings of fear, resistance and uncertainty.   Continue reading “Islamic State group issues new curriculum in Iraq”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Income inequality is taking a toll on state governments.

The widening gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has been matched by a slowdown in state tax revenue, according to a report being released Monday by Standard & Poor’s. Even as income for the affluent has accelerated, it’s barely kept pace with inflation for most other people. That trend can mean a double-whammy for states: The wealthy often manage to shield much of their income from taxes. And they tend to spend a lower percentage of it than others do, thereby limiting sales tax revenue.   Continue reading “US wealth gap putting the squeeze on state revenue”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday that a Tampa, Florida, woman can pursue her lawsuit alleging that the government invaded her privacy in the scandal over former CIA director David Petraeus.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Jill Kelley can press her claim that the FBI and Defense Department violated her privacy when officials allegedly leaked information about her to the news media.   Continue reading “Judge: Lawsuit in Petraeus scandal can proceed”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday will bestow the Medal of Honor on a pair of soldiers for their acts of bravery in the Vietnam War.

Congress granted an exemption so Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins and Army Spc. Donald P. Sloat could receive the medal, because recommendations typically must be made within two years of the act of heroism, and the medal presented within three.   Continue reading “Vietnam soldiers to receive Medal of Honor”

Huffington Post – by Joseph Erbentraut

A professor who left his position at another school to join the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — only to see his job offer abruptly retracted as a result of social media posts criticizing Israel’s role in the Gaza conflict — has publicly addressed the controversy for the first time.

At a Tuesday press conference on the UIUC campus, Steven Salaita detailed the personal hardships his job offer’s termination — just two weeks before his proposed start date — caused for him and his family. He also chided the the school’s chancellor and board of trustees for setting what he calls a “perilous standard.”   Continue reading “Professor Who Lost Job Over Anti-Israel Tweets: University Setting A ‘Perilous Standard’”

New York Times – by Roger Cohen

It was the time of unraveling. Long afterward, in the ruins, people asked: How could it happen?

It was a time of beheadings. With a left-handed sawing motion, against a desert backdrop, in bright sunlight, a Muslim with a British accent cut off the heads of two American journalists and a British aid worker. The jihadi seemed comfortable in his work, unhurried. His victims were broken. Terror is theater. Burning skyscrapers, severed heads: The terrorist takes movie images of unbearable lightness and gives them weight enough to embed themselves in the psyche.   Continue reading “The Great Unraveling”

Computer World – by Patrick Thibodeau

In Boyers, Pa., a recently opened 2,000-sq.-ft. data center has been purpose-built to protect against an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), either generated by a solar storm or a nuclear event.

The company that built the facility isn’t disclosing exactly how the data center was constructed or what materials were used. But broadly, it did say that the structure has an inner skin and an outer skin that use a combination of thicknesses and metals to provide EMP protection.   Continue reading “New data center protects against solar storms and nuclear EMPs”

Breitbart – by Brandon Darby

NOGALES, Arizona — On September 11, 2014, individuals or a group in Mexico hung a message to America over the U.S.-Mexico border wall condemning American support for Israel and declaring support for Palestine. U.S. federal agents discovered the banner draped over the primary border fence in Arizona’s Yuma Sector in a restricted area that could only have been reached from Mexico. The message also contained an image described by authorities as an anarchist symbol. The incident was kept secret from the American public by federal authorities. Breitbart Texas exclusively obtained the leaked incident report from federal agents on the condition their identities remain private.   Continue reading “Feds Find Anti-Israel and Pro-Palestine 9/11 Message to America on Border Fence”

Ubergizmo – by Edwin Kee

A Samsung Group subsidiary has worked on a robot sentry that they call the SGR-A1, and this particular robot will carry a fair amount of weapons that ought to make you think twice about crossing the borders of South Korea illegally – as it has been tested out at the demilitarized zone along the border over with its neighbor, North Korea. The SGR-A1 will be able to detect intruders with the help of machine vision (read: cameras), alongside a combination of heat and motion sensors.   Continue reading “Samsung SGR-A1 Robot Sentry Is One Cold Machine”

CNS News – by Susan Jones

Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday announced an effort to counter “violent extremism” by spurring “local engagement” in cities across the country.

He did not offer specifics, but it sounds like he wants law enforcement and community leaders to meet regularly, to share information on people who may have traveled overseas to join ISIS, or on people who may be plotting attacks right here in the U.S.   Continue reading “Holder Announces Pilot Programs to Counter ‘Violent Extremism’”

Breitbart – by Bob Price

MISSION, Texas — Authorities prepare to use “whatever force is necessary” to defend international bridges between Texas and Mexico from U.S. based militia groups. The preparations by Texas law enforcement agencies are in response to recently discovered plans by militia groups to attempt closing several international bridges. The militia groups’ plans are intended to be protests against the federal government’s failure to secure the border between the U.S. and Mexico. The plans call for militia groups to begin blocking traffic on an undisclosed number of international bridges in the Rio Grande Valley on Sept. 20th, 2014.   Continue reading “Texas Police Prepare to Defend International Bridges from Militia Groups”

Think Progress – by Kiley Kroh

A recent move by Wisconsin utility We Energies to not only raise electricity rates on all consumers but also to add an additional charge on those who produce their own energy and sell it back to the grid has sparked outrage within the state and beyond. The plan would raise the “fixed charge” on all customers’ electric bills from $9 to $16 a month, as well as reduce net metering — a policy that enables customers with solar panels or other forms of distributed generation to sell their excess electricity back to the grid — and add a new charge on these electricity-generating customers.   Continue reading “Push To Impose Extra Fees On Solar Customers Draws Outrage In Wisconsin”

Waking Times – by April McCarthy, Prevent Disease

Consuming a daily serving of canned food products has a more than 1,000% increase in urinary bisphenol A (BPA) concentrations compared with when the same individuals consumed fresh food daily. The study is one of the first to quantify BPA levels in humans after ingestion of canned foods.

The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).   Continue reading “Consuming Canned Foods Increases Toxic Exposure 1000 Fold”

The Common Sense Show – by Dave Hodges

“Shortly, the public will be unable to reason or think for themselves. They’ll only be able to parrot the information they’ve been given on the previous night’s news”. Zbigniew Brzezinski

As the title indicates, all American sheeple own two washing machines. One of them looks like this:   Continue reading “American Sheep Own Two Washing Machines”

Nunez Report, Reuters

Germany announced a ban on the Islamic State on Friday, saying it aimed to prevent the group from recruiting young jihadists in Germany,Reuters reported.

Coinciding with the launch of a broad U.S. campaign against the Sunni terrorists, which could include air strikes in Syria as well as Iraq, Germany introduced an immediate ban making all IS propaganda, symbols and activities illegal.   Continue reading “Germany makes all ISIS propaganda, symbols and activities illegal.”

DC Gazette

Somehow, we all knew this had to be lurking in the background somewhere when it comes to Michelle Obama and the inedible school lunch disaster:

Moochelle Obama has been working the food circuit since 2005, when she (because of her vast experience as a nutritional expert) was named to the corporate board of Wall-Mart processed foods supplier, TreeHouse Foods Inc. For her valuable input, she received $45,000 in 2005, $51,200 in 2006, plus 7,500 TreeHouse stock options worth more than $216,000. Continue reading “Following The Money: Origins Of Michelle Obama’s School Lunch Program”

Breitbart – by Pam Key

Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Secretary of State John Kerry when asked if any nations have volunteered to supply combat troops to fight ISIS on the ground said, “We’re not looking to put troops on the ground.”

Bob Schieffer asked, “Mr. Secretary, you’ve gotten any specific commitments for military help? For example, have you found anybody that is willing to put troops on the ground in to this fight?”   Continue reading “Kerry: We’re not looking to put any counties troops on the ground”

The Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist

When her mother and father came outside after hearing her cries for help she was desperately holding a tree with one arm while plainclothes officers were beating her in the head, neck and throat.

Dymond Milburn, now 20-years-old, was an honor student attending advanced classes at Austin Middle School, when her life would be forever scarred by Galveston police.

On the night of August 22, 2006 at 7:45 PM, Emily Milburn was preparing her children for school the next day, when a breaker broke, cutting off electricity to the family’s home. Emily asked her daughter, Dymond, to go outside and hit the switch, located downstairs and outside the house.   Continue reading “Cops Beat & Kidnap 12-yo Girl in Front of her Home, Claiming She was a Prostitute”