Jim BeardenMail.com

SEATTLE (AP) — Under pressure from national union leaders, machinists in Washington state took a late-night vote that defied their local union bosses by narrowly approving a new labor contract that secures a coveted plane project for the Seattle area but moves workers away from pensions.

The tight count exposed deep rifts in the once-powerful union, but with plenty of states lining up to give Boeing exactly what it wanted to get work on the 777X, the aerospace giant had a tremendous advantage.   Continue reading “Local labor influence takes hit in Boeing contract”

Mail.com

BEIRUT (AP) — An al-Qaida linked group claimed responsibility on Saturday for a suicide car bombing last week in a Shiite-dominated neighborhood in Lebanon, as its fighters fought other rebels in neighboring Syria in the most serious infighting since the uprising began.

It was the first time at the al-Qaida linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for an attack in Lebanon, underscoring how the ever more complex Syrian war is increasingly spilling over into its smaller neighbor.   Continue reading “Al-Qaida group says responsible for Beirut bombing”

Jeffrey SinclairMail.com

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — With a single star studded on each shoulder of his immaculate dress blues, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair waited his turn to go through the metal detectors at the federal courthouse at Fort Bragg, just like everyone else.

He smiled broadly at one of the armed military police officers posted at the door and asked: “How many jumps do you have?” The young soldier, wearing the wings of a paratrooper with the elite 82nd Airborne, stood a little straighter as he confidently answered 28. Sinclair nodded in approval, not mentioning the 217 jumps listed in his own log. After a few more pleasantries, Sinclair put his arm around the man and smiled again as another MP snapped a cellphone photo.   Continue reading “Rapid fall for Army general accused of sex crimes”

Mail.com

BAGHDAD (AP) — The city center of Iraq’s Fallujah has fallen completely into the hands of fighters from the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, police said Saturday, yet another victory for the hardline group that has made waves across the region in recent days.

ISIL is also one of the strongest rebel units in Syria, where it has imposed a strict version of Islamic law in territories it holds and kidnapped and killed anyone it deems critical of its rule. Also on Saturday, it claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing in a Shiite-dominated neighborhood in Lebanon.   Continue reading “Iraq city falls fully into hands of al-Qaida group”

1013018_151475898375878_1653905854_nA. J. MacDonald, Jr.

“These perturbations allow for the immediate and lasting ability to create localized fog or stratus cloud formations shielding critical assets against attack from energy based weapons.” – Operational Defenses through Weather Control in 2030

VIDEO – Fox News Reporting on Chemtrails (Make Viral) – http://youtu.be/EuZCFikZYyo  Continue reading ““Chemtrails” shield targets from space-based Directed Energy Weapons (DEW)”

U.S. spying controversyYahoo News – by STEPHEN BRAUN and KIMBERLY DOZIER

WASHINGTON (AP) — A secretive U.S. spy court has ruled again that the National Security Agency can keep collecting every American’s telephone records every day, in the midst of dueling decisions in two other federal courts about whether the surveillance program is constitutional.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Friday renewed the NSA phone collection program, said Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Such periodic requests are somewhat formulaic but required since the program started in 2006.   Continue reading “US spy court: NSA to keep collecting phone records”

Sen. Bernie Sanders is not going to like this. (Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)Washington Post – by BRIAN FUNG

“Has the NSA spied, or is the NSA currently spying, on members of Congress or other elected officials?”

That’s the question Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) put to the National Security Agency’s chief in a bluntly worded letter Friday. It seems, however, that the agency cannot categorically say no.

Sanders didn’t use the word “spy” lightly. He was careful to define his terms, indicating he meant the collection of phone records from personal as well as official telephones, “content from Web sites visited or e-mails sent,” and data that companies collect but don’t release to the public.   Continue reading “The NSA refuses to deny spying on members of Congress”

ABC News – by ROD McGUIRK Associated Press

A U.S. Coast Guard heavy icebreaker will leave Australia for Antarctica on Sunday to rescue more than 120 crew members aboard two icebreakers trapped in pack ice near the frozen continent’s eastern edge, officials said.

The 122-meter (399-foot) cutter, the Polar Star, is responding to a Jan. 3 request from Australia, Russia and China to assist the Russian and Chinese ships because “there is sufficient concern that the vessels may not be able to free themselves from the ice,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.   Continue reading “US Icebreaker to Rescue 2 Ships in Antarctica”

New York Times – by EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS and ASHLEY SOUTHALL

A single-engine plane made an emergency landing on the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx on Saturday afternoon, officials said. No one was seriously injured.

The plane landed in the northbound lane of the expressway around 3:20 p.m. near East 233rd Street, fire officials said.

The plane, which had flown from Danbury, Conn., on a tour of the Statue of Liberty, landed in the northbound lane around 3:20 p.m. near East 233rd Street, officials said. The pilot and his two women passengers were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital with minor injuries.   Continue reading “Small Plane Makes Emergency Landing on Bronx Highway”

80042Lobe Log – by Jim Lobe

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has published the list of senators who so far have agreed to co-sponsor the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013, aka the Wag the Dog Act of 2014. You’ll recall that the initial list, which was introduced by its principal engineers, Sens. Mark Kirk and Robert Menendez, Dec 19, included 26 co-sponsors equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, to which newly elected New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker quickly added his name. Since then, 20 other senators — all Republicans, unsurprisingly — have added their names, for a grand total of 47 — still short of a majority, let alone one that could survive an Obama veto that the White House has already committed the president to cast if the bill is passed in its present form.   Continue reading “47 Senators Take AIPAC’s Word Over U.S. Intel Community”

Syrian OilInternational Business Times – by David Kashi

As the United States and Western Europe struggle to find a resolution to the bloody civil war in Syria, Russia has undertaken another geo-strategic gambit in the Eastern Mediterranean by boldly claiming a stake in a huge oil and gas field off Syria’s shores. Last week, a Russian state-controlled energy group, Soyuzneftegaz, struck a deal with the Syrian regime for rights to develop and produce oil and gas off Syria’s coast.

Under terms of that deal, Soyuzneftegaz will be permitted to perform offshore drilling, development and production activities in Syria’s territorial waters. The agreement covers 2,190 square kilometers in the Mediterranean waters, at an initial cost of some $90 million, all assumed by Soyuzneftegaz.   Continue reading “Moscow Enters The Eastern Mediterranean Gas Fields: What’s Really Behind Russia’s Energy Deal With Syria?”