Month: February 2015

RT

Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general, said the US-led invasion of Iraq was a mistake and helped to create the Islamist State militant group. He also blamed regional powers for making the conflict worse.

“I was against this invasion and my fears have been founded. The break-up of the Iraqi forces poured hundreds if not thousands of disgruntled soldiers and police officers onto the streets,” Kofi Annan told the Munich Security Conference on Sunday. He added that some of these former security force members went on to join the Islamic State.   Continue reading “US invasion of Iraq helped create ISIS – former UN chief”

MassPrivateI

Are you, your family or your community at risk of turning to violent extremism? That’s the premise behind a rating system devised by the National Counterterrorism Center, according to a document marked For Official Use Only.

The document–and the rating system–is part of a wider strategy for Countering Violent Extremism, which calls for local community and religious leaders to work together with law enforcement and other government agencies. The White House has made this approach a centerpiece of its response to terrorist attacks around the world and in the wake of the Paris attacks, announced plans to host an international summit on Countering Violent Extremism on February 18th.    Continue reading “Police and social workers using gov’t questionnaire to see if you & your family could be terrorists”

Down Trend – by Brian Anderson

The state of Okalahoma is on a roll with introducing unconstitutional unenforceable laws as of late. Yesterday Downtrend’s Robert Gehl told us how the state wants to ban people from wearing hoodies and today we learn that they also want to keep people who have been convicted of DUI from buying and consuming alcohol.

Fox 25 reports that state Senator Patrick Anderson (no relation) has introduced legislation that would further punish those convicted of driving under the influence:   Continue reading “Oklahoma Looks To Ban Alcohol Sales To DUI Convicts”

Richmond Times-Dispatch – by MARK BOWES

Electronic coding errors, reporting inconsistencies, jurisdictional issues and police noncompliance with standard crime reporting guidelines have caused an untold number of officer-involved fatal shootings of civilians to go unreported or uncounted in Virginia.

The full scope of the underreporting of police killings in Virginia cannot be quantified, but the Richmond Times-Dispatch has identified more than two dozen cases that have gone uncounted since 2000.   Continue reading “Untold number of police killings in Va. go unreported or uncounted”

Courthouse News – by ROSE BOUBOUSHIAN

(CN) – A family cannot sue Camden, N.J., over a SWAT team that allegedly threatened to kill children at gunpoint while searching their home for hours, a federal judge ruled.

In a 2012 complaint, Ella Baker describes how two police officers showed up at her home shortly before 11 p.m. on Nov. 5, 2010.

The officers were searching for Anthony Fontanez, whom Baker’s daughter Tawana had dated and who was the father of her children.   Continue reading “Police Dodge Claims of Death Threats to Kids”

ABC News

One of the most liberal states in the country also is one of the most passionate about defending the right to bear arms, a fact that is coming to the fore following proposed legislation to expand background checks and add other gun regulations.

Hundreds of Vermont residents are expected to pack the state House chamber for a public hearing Tuesday night on Senate Bill 31, which would expand background checks from retail to private gun sales, step up reporting about people deemed psychologically unfit to have a gun and add state jurisdiction to what is now just federal enforcement of the ban on convicted felons possessing guns.   Continue reading “In Liberal, Gun-Loving Vermont, New Restrictions Face Fight”

BATR

Human consciousness and the ability to understand that which really occurred in the past, is a skill that many people have little experience with mastering. Scholarship and researching the yesteryear relies upon analyzing accounts of others and is usually based on chronicles written centuries ago. Most of the original evidence used in writing the accounts may be lost, based upon oral myths or accurate translations of vanished languages. Even when the original sources are impeccable in their authenticity or go unquestioned in the ivory towers of academic scrutiny, the crucial question still remains, Was It So? Attempts to provide definitive proof, when it comes to explaining political events, relies more often on the art of understanding the connection among factions, based within the context of their intended agendas then smoking gun documents.   Continue reading “Courage to Face True History”

Sent to us by the author, Brett Redmayne-Titley

The Hamas Movement on Thursday warned it would not remain passive any more if the blockade on the Gaza Strip continued.

As reported by Ma’an News Agency, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called for swiftly moving to lift the siege on Gaza from all sides or else the Movement and its armed wing al-Qassam Brigades would have to escalate the situation and break the blockade.   Continue reading “Israeli Crimes in Gaza Force Hamas to War”

Politco – by Burgess Everett

It wasn’t a new attorney general or defense secretary, but the Senate still hit a milestone on Monday by confirming President Barack Obama’s first nominee following a Republican takeover of that chamber.
The Senate voted 92 to 0 to approve Michael Botticelli as director of National Drug Control Policy, a nomination that didn’t even draw procedural opposition in the hyper-partisan Senate.   Continue reading “Senate confirms new drug czar”

Bloomberg – by Michael P Regan

Rob Arnott, chief executive and co-founder of Research Affiliates LLC, recently picked up the phone to share some thoughts on the current state of the stock market.

Arnott is a pioneer of investing strategies that could be considered “unconventional” if they weren’t slowly but surely becoming more conventional. Among them is the idea of “fundamental indexing,” or weighting stock portfolios by economic metrics like sales, dividends and cash flows rather than the market value of the companies. (The term “smart beta” came later.)   Continue reading “‘Peasants With Pitchforks’ Seen If Profits Get Any Fatter”

Haaretz – by Barak Ravid

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he is determined to address the U.S. Congress on Iran’s nuclear program. Netanyahu rejected the criticism in the United States and Israel, saying that “while some are busy with protocol or politics, a bad deal with Iran is taking shape.”

Speaking at a Likud election event, Netanyahu added that, as prime minister, it is his duty to do everything in his power to prevent a dangerous deal with Iran. “From the day Israel was established to this day, there have been essential differences between Israel and the U.S., and relations remained sound – this will be the case this time as well,” he said.   Continue reading “Netanyahu rejects criticism: I am determined to address Congress”

The Guardian

Day and night, the Chinese-run piers of the Piraeus container terminal are a hive of activity. Lorries come and go while forklift trucks zoom around and colossal cranes heave giant containers from ship to shore.

Five years after its arrival in the Mediterranean, China’s global shipping carrier, Cosco, takes immense pride in the efficiency with which affairs are conducted on these piers. Business activity has tripled since the state-owned conglomerate acquired the port for €500m (£373m), the biggest foreign investment in Greece in modern times.   Continue reading “Greece’s port in a storm: anger as Syriza stops China extending hold on Piraeus”

Counter Current News

The Tampa, Florida City Council voted on Thursday to pay $165,000 in a settlement for an excessive-force lawsuit. The suit was brought by a deaf man who was brutally beaten: punched, kicked and tasered by police nearly four years ago, simply because he did not hear police orders.

Jacob P. Cowie, 30, filed suit against the four Tampa officers in federal court due to the arrest that was caught on video at the 2010 Krewe of Sant’Yago Knight Parade. Naturally, police charged him with “disorderly conduct,” as they do against anyone they want to arrest who has committed no crime. That charge was later dropped, as video proved that he did nothing to warrant this trumped up charge.   Continue reading “Deaf Man Awarded $165,000 After Police Brutally Beat and Arrested Him For Not Hearing Them”

Phys Org – by Lisa Zyga

The universe may have existed forever, according to a new model that applies quantum correction terms to complement Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The model may also account for dark matter and dark energy, resolving multiple problems at once.

The widely accepted age of the universe, as estimated by general relativity, is 13.8 billion years. In the beginning, everything in existence is thought to have occupied a single infinitely dense point, or singularity. Only after this point began to expand in a “Big Bang” did the universe officially begin.   Continue reading “No Big Bang? Quantum equation predicts universe has no beginning”

Daily Mail – by ANUCYIA VICTOR

Cans of minestrone and ravioli, sticks of bubblegum and freeze-dried packets of chicken rogan josh are just some of the essential foods eaten by soldiers in the field around the globe.

Italian industrial designer, Giulio Iacchetti has displayed the contents of army ration packs for an exhibition, providing a glimpse into the difference between the daily diets of the world’s military.   Continue reading “Peanut butter, ravioli, freeze-dried curry… and bubblegum: Combat rations of 20 armies around the world”