CLG: Global warming-sceptic US senator given funds by BP political action committee, Israel Spied on Iran Nuclear Talks With U.S.

News Updates from CLG
25 March 2015

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Previous edition: Islamic State calls on backers to kill 100 U.S. military personnel

Israel Spied on Iran Nuclear Talks With U.S. --Israel's snooping upset White House because information was used to lobby GOP-controlled Congress to try to sink a deal | 23 March 2015 | Soon after the U.S. and other major powers entered negotiations last year to curtail Iran's nuclear program, senior White House officials learned Israel was spying on the closed-door talks. The spying operation was part of a broader campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to penetrate the negotiations and then help build a case against sabotage the emerging terms of the deal, current and former U.S. officials said. In addition to eavesdropping, Israel acquired information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe, the officials said.

White House insists Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories must end | 23 March 2015 | The White House issued a passionate call for eventual Palestinian statehood on Monday as it stepped up criticism of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, for appearing to question a two-state solution to Middle East peace. "An occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end," Barack Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, told a conference of liberal activists in Washington. "Israel cannot maintain military control of another people indefinitely," he added. Despite Netanyahu's efforts to distance himself from pre-election comments that appeared to rule out a Palestinian state, the US administration remains sceptical about his commitment to peace.

9,800 troops to remain in Afghanistan through end of 2015 - White House | 24 March 2015 | The White House said Tuesday the U.S. will keep its current complement of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through the end of 2015, instead of cutting the number by about half as originally planned. In a joint statement with Afghanistan issued during a day of meetings with [US-installed] Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the White House said the size of the U.S. troop presence for 2016 will be decided later this year.

Insane in the membrane: US promises billions to fund Afghan military through 2017 | 23 March 2015 | Officials have confirmed the US will continue to spend about 4 billion a year to fund Afghanistan's military for the next two fiscal years. It is a sign of support for the government in Kabul, which Washington views as more cooperative than in the past. The pledge means continued US funding for Afghan security forces at the peak level of 352,000 troops through the end of fiscal year 2017, a financial commitment costing about 4 billion a year, news agencies quoted US officials following the day of talks with Afghan leadership at Camp David.

US House urges Obama to send arms to Ukraine | 24 March 2015 | The US House [of sociopaths] has passed a resolution calling on President Barack Obama to send lethal weapons to Ukraine, despite the fragile truce in the eastern part of the country. The non-binding resolution was approved by an overwhelming majority of 348-48...Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on Germany and France to take action against Kiev's non-compliance with the Minsk peace agreement.

US must release photos of Abu Ghraib prisoners, federal judge rules | 21 March 2015 | The US must release photographs showing abuse of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, a federal judge has ruled in a long-running clash over letting the world see potentially disturbing images of how the military treated prisoners. US district judge Alvin Hellerstein's ruling Friday gives the government, which has fought the case for over a decade, two months to decide whether to appeal before the photos could be released...It's unclear how many more photographs may exist. The government has said it has 29 relevant pictures from at least seven different sites in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it's believed to have perhaps hundreds or thousands more, Hellerstein said in a ruling in August.

'Tanks? No thanks!': Czechs unhappy about US military convoy crossing country | 22 March 2015 | Czech anti-war activists have launched the 'Tanks? No thanks!' campaign to protest the procession of US Army hardware through the Eastern European country. They say it has been turned into a "provocative victory parade" near the Russian border. The American military vehicles, which took part in NATO drills in Poland, Lithuania and Estonia, plan to cross the territory of the Czech Republic between March 29 and April 1 on their way to a base in the German city of Vilseck.

House effort would completely dismantle Patriot Act | 24 March 2015 | A pair of House lawmakers wants to completely repeal the Patriot Act and other legal provisions to dramatically rein in American spying. Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Tuesday unveiled their Surveillance State Repeal Act, which would overhaul American spying powers unlike any other effort to reform the National Security Agency. The bill would completely repeal the Patriot Act, the sweeping national security law passed in the days after Sept. 11, 2001, as well as the 2008 FISA Amendments Act, another spying law that the NSA has used to justify collecting vast swaths of people's communications through the Internet.

Chicago Police fighting to keep cellphone trackers secret | 22 March 2015 | The Chicago Police Department is fighting to keep a lid on how, when and where officers have used covert cellphone tracking systems -- with an outside law firm billing the city more than 120,000 to battle a lawsuit that seeks those secret details. Since 2005, the department has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on cell-site simulators manufactured by the Harris Corp. in Melbourne, Florida, records show. The devices capture cellphone signals; cops can use the technology, originally developed for the military, to locate cellphones.

Muon scans confirm complete reactor meltdown at Fukushima No. 1 | 20 March 2015 | The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has announced that its muon tomography scanning efforts at Fukushima have borne fruit, and confirmed that nuclear plant's Reactor #1 suffered a complete meltdown following the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011. What today's findings confirm is that nuclear fuel rods inside the reactor underwent complete meltdown. After first denying that a melt-through had occurred, TEPCO later changed its tune and said that it most likely had, at least at Reactor #1.

'Smart meters' called a major threat to health, national security | 12 March 2015 | Utilities around the country are installing millions of "smart meters," devices which use wireless technology to send information back to the companies about power usage by their customers. But there's a growing body of scientists deeply concerned about bathing the public in low-level, non-thermal radiation, and they say the smart meters pose the greatest danger of all...Jerry Flynn retired from the Canadian Armed Forces after a 26-year career, much of which was spent as a specialist in electronic warfare. "There's nothing more dangerous than a smart meter on your house," he told KRMG, and he's not the only one who thinks so.

Boston Show Trial: The Opinion of an Attorney at Law --A former law professor explains the backpacks of the accused were the wrong ones | 24 March 2015 | The Boston bombing has to be the most blatant hoax in recent American history, dwarfing 9/11, Wellstone and Sandy Hook by several orders of magnitude. How much more obvious could it be when we have video with police on bullhorns announcing, "This is a drill! This is a drill!" and The Boston Globe tweeting that a controlled demolition will be set off during the marathon "as part of bomb squad activities" and that it will be set off "in one minute in front of the library", which then proceeds to happen.

France plane crash: Black box found, no indication of terrorism | 24 March 2015 | A Germanwings passenger jet carrying 150 people crashed Tuesday in a snowy, remote section of the French Alps, sounding like an avalanche as it scattered pulverized debris across the mountain. All aboard were feared dead, French officials said. The pilots sent out no distress call and had lost radio contact with its control center, France's aviation authority said, deepening the mystery over the A320's mid-flight crash after an 8-minute surprise steep descent as it flew from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.

Attendance at Ted Cruz's 2016 announcement was mandatory for Liberty University students [OMG. Can you *imagine* the Washington media repercussions if a university forced students to listen to President Obama? Fox News [sic] -- and all the Operation Mockingbird nutjobs' heads would explode!] | 23 March 2015 | To casual viewers of Ted Cruz's 2016 campaign announcement, the youthful faces suggested the senator had tapped into a broad base of support amongst the newest generation of conservatives. The speech, which Cruz delivered to thousands of students at Liberty University, was broadcast live by at least two networks and streamed in real time on the web, marking the Republican's first official foray into the 2016 presidential campaign. The event, however, was no typical political rally, at which the most fervent supporters of the candidate are usually in attendance. The students, some of whom wore Rand Paul T-shirts, were required to be there, giving Cruz the appearance of a packed house for the first nationally broadcast campaign event of the 2016 presidential election.

Ted Cruz Becomes First Major Candidate to Announce Presidential Bid for 2016 | 23 March 2015 | Senator Ted Cruz of Texas announced on Monday morning that he would run for president in 2016, becoming the first Republican candidate to declare himself officially in the race. Linking the determination of his immigrant father with the resolve of the founding fathers and his own faith in "the promise of America," Mr. Cruz spoke at length about his family and his faith as he laid out a case for his candidacy. Mr. Cruz, a first-term senator, is seen by Republicans and Democrats as a divisive figure in Washington, but as a truth-telling hero to many conservatives and evangelical Americans.

Mystery around Jeb Bush's 'unknown' private email account | 24 March 2015 | Jeb Bush used another, previously unreported email address [jeb at gencom.net] when he was governor of Florida, records show -- the newest wrinkle in an evolving debate over public officials' use of private email accounts. The disclosure follows revelations that Hillary Rodham Clinton used a private email address to conduct State Department business when she was secretary of state. Republican Bush and Democrat Clinton are two likely contenders in the 2016 race for the White House. Bush said through a spokeswoman that he was unaware of the account [LOL!], although records showed that people wrote to him there more than 400 times between 1999 and 2004.

Global warming-sceptic US senator given funds by BP political action committee | 22 March 2015 |One of America's most powerful and outspoken opponents of climate change global warming regulation received election campaign contributions that can be traced back to senior BP staff, including chief executive Bob Dudley. Jim Inhofe, a Republican senator from Oklahoma who has tirelessly campaigned against calls for a carbon tax and challenges the overwhelming consensus on climate change global warming, received 10,000 (6,700 pounds) from BP's Political Action Committee (PAC). The BP PAC is funded by contributions from senior US executives and company staffers who sent in contributions to the PAC totalling more than 1m between 2010 and 2014.

U.S. top court rejects challenge to Wisconsin voter ID law | 23 March 2015 | The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to Wisconsin's Republican-backed law requiring voters to present photo identification to cast a ballot, a measure Democrats contend is aimed at keeping their supporters from voting. The justices declined to hear an appeal filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the law. The ACLU said it then filed an emergency motion with a federal appeals court to try to keep the law from taking effect immediately. Voter identification suppression laws have been passed in a number of Republican-governed states over Democratic objections.

Court to hear appeal on Obama's immigration actions | 24 March 2015 | A federal appeals court said Tuesday it will hear an expedited appeal of an earlier ruling against President Obama's executive actions on immigration. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will listen to oral argument April 17 in the administration's attempt to overturn a ruling last month by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen.

Oklahoma Senate panel approves nitrogen gas executions | 24 March 2015 | Legislation that authorizes the use of nitrogen gas to execute Oklahoma death row inmates has been approved by a state Senate committee. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 8-0 Tuesday for the House-passed measure and sent it to the full Senate for a vote. Under the bill, lethal injection would remain the primary method of execution, but nitrogen gas would be an alternative if lethal injection is declared unconstitutional or if the drugs are unavailable.

Utah governor signs bill making firing squads the state's backup execution option | 23 March 2015 | More than a decade after Utah largely moved away from firing squads for executions, the state on Monday officially reversed course and made that the backup method of execution. Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert (R) signed a bill making firing squads the option if the state is unable to obtain the drugs needed for a lethal injection...Firing squads were never formally banned in Utah.

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