NEO

This was definitely not supposed to happen. It seems that an Israeli military man with the rank of colonel was “caught with IS pants down.” By that I mean he was captured amid a gaggle of so-called IS–or Islamic State or ISIS or DAESH depending on your preference–terrorists, by soldiers of the Iraqi army. Under interrogation by the Iraqi intelligence he apparently said a lot regarding the role of Netanyahu’s IDF in supporting IS.   Continue reading “Israeli Colonel Caught with IS Pants Down”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Because of man-made global warming and a strong El Nino, Earth’s wild weather this year is bursting the annual heat record, the World Meteorological Organization announced on Wednesday.

The United Nations weather agency’s early bird report on 2015 says it is the hottest year on record, surpassing last year’s record heat. It made the proclamation without waiting for the end of the year because it has been so extraordinarily hot, forecast to stay that way and unlikely to cool down enough to not set a record.   Continue reading “UN weather agency: It’s record hot out there this year”

Huffington Post – by Carla Herreria

Hawaii’s Department of Health announced Thursday that the National Guard will be assisting the agency in a “support” role after 79 cases of dengue fever have been confirmed on the Big Island since Sept. 11.

So far, the National Guard’s involvement has been small, according to Hawaii News Now, and has included flying mosquito sprayers from Oahu to the Big Island.   Continue reading “Hawaii Calls In National Guard As Dengue Fever Outbreak Grows”

Liberty Blitzkrieg – by Michael Krieger

Students and faculty at Smith College apparently didn’t want a repeat of that ugly episode at the University of Missouri, where a communications professor was filmed calling for the forcible removal of a journalist from an on-campus demonstration earlier this month.

So when they held a sit-in Wednesday to protest racial discrimination, their solution was to not let in members of the media in the first place — unless said media members pledged allegiance to the cause.   Continue reading “Protesters at Smith College Demand Journalists Swear Loyalty Oath Before Reporting on Them”

Lew Rockwell – by Joachim Hagopian

The sad truth is that in the new millennium, government propaganda prepares its citizens for war so skillfully that it is quite likely that they do not want the truthful, objective and balanced reporting that good war correspondents once did their best to provide.   Continue reading “Terrorism Fallout: Mainstream Media Propaganda Fuels and Fans the Flames of War”

Newsmax – by Joe Schaeffer

One of the top-ranking Democrats in the Senate vows that his party will “bring a universal background check bill to the floor of the Senate early next year.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York made the statement Friday at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, where he was honored with the “Sarah Brady Visionary Award,” named after the wife of former President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary Jim Brady, who was shot and left brain-damaged by an attempted Reagan assassin in 1981.   Continue reading “Schumer: Senate Dems Will Push Major Gun Control Bill Early in 2016”

Huffington Post

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. government can keep secret various memos related to its legal justification for using drones to kill citizens suspected of terrorism overseas, a federal appeals court said in a decision unsealed Monday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reached its decision in a second round of Freedom of Information Act requests by the American Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times after an earlier request had succeeded in forcing the government to disclose a redacted version of a 2010 41-page legal opinion prepared by the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department describing for the Defense Department the legality of targeted drone attacks.   Continue reading “Targeted Killing Memos Can Be Kept Secret, Court Rules”

RT

The Russian Air Force base in Latakia will be reinforced with S-400 SAM system, which will soon be deployed there, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Wednesday.

“S-400 will be deployed on Khmeimim airbase in Syria,” Shoigu said at a Defense Ministry meeting.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian Su-24 was shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter jet near the Turkish-Syrian border. One pilot died in the incident. The second one was rescued and brought to the Russian airbase in Latakia.   Continue reading “Russia to deploy S-400 defense missile system to Khmeimim airbase in Syria – defense minister”

ABC News

Russia’s military has recovered the second pilot from its bomber shot down by Turkey on Tuesday, Russia’s defense ministry has announced.

Moscow’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, briefed president Vladimir Putin on the rescue on television, informing him that the pilot had been found after a twelve-hour search and that he was now back in a Russian airbase in Syria.   Continue reading “Pilot From Downed Russian Jet Rescued, ‘Alive and Well’”

Sputnik

While authorities in Ankara have insisted that it shot down the Russian Su-24 bomber after the aircraft entered Turkish airspace, the Russian Defense Ministry has released video proving that the plane never left Syrian airspace.

According to a leaked letter written to the UN Security Council by the Turkish Ambassador, Turkey’s military justified the shooting down of a Russian bomber by claiming that the aircraft had entered Turkish airspace for 17 seconds. Continue reading “Russian Defense Ministry Video Proves Su-24 Never Entered Turkish Airspace”

New York Post

It pays to have friends in high places.

Al Sharpton gave himself a 71 percent raise last year after his National Action Network group drew a record $6.9 million in donations — as the controversial cleric’s association with Mayor de Blasio and President Obama lent him a newfound air of legitimacy.

De Blasio’s election gave Sharpton a seat at City Hall, as the mayor treated him as an adviser and presented him at a press event next to Police Commissioner Bill Bratton after the death of Eric Garner.   Continue reading “Al Sharpton gives himself 71% raise thanks to de Blasio, Obama”

BATR – by James Hall

The usual holiday cheer that underpins the throngs of shoppers may be missing this season. Political pundits are eager to blame potential terrorist risks as a compelling reason to avoid the crowds at malls, but knowing the sentiments of the consumer culture, it is difficult to accept that retail businesses will be empty. Nevertheless, will the economy incentivize the bargain hunters to brave the added security obstacles to storm the doors for the reward of super discount pricing?

The expected immediate shock in France is understandable. Xmas sales plummet, Champs-Elysees empty in edgy post-attack Paris, indicates that upscale customers respond predictably.   Continue reading “Grinch that stole Christmas”

The Washington Post

CAIRO —Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi declared a month-long state of emergency and city-wide curfew in the capital, Tunis, on Tuesday after a deadly blast ripped through a bus carrying security officers tasked with guarding the North African leader.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, which occurred as the bus traversed one of Tunis’s busiest highways at rush hour and killed at least 12 people, officials said. Essebsi was not near the site of the explosion, authorities said. More than a dozen others were wounded, Tunisian media reported.   Continue reading “Tunisian bus attack strikes presidential guard in heart of capital”

AOL

Utah father Colby Nielsen broke down in tears on Monday, Nov. 23, watching helplessly as his infant daughter was given to her new adoptive parents without his consent.

After Kaylee was born on Nov. 4, the 20-year-old father claims he has never left her side.

But all that changed when he was forced to give her up to adoptive parents, after Kaylee’s mother decided to put her up for adoption, unbeknownst to Nielsen.   Continue reading “Newborn daughter given up for adoption without paternal consent”

NBC News

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg, composer Stephen Sondheim, violinist and conductor Itzhak Perlman and baseball great Willie Mays are among a number of notables who will be presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

Singer and actress Barbra Streisand, NASA mathematician Katherine G. Johnson, Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski will also receive the award.   Continue reading “Obama Honoring Spielberg, Streisand and More With Medal of Freedom”