Intrepid Report

Food for thought....

Intrepid Report Newsletter

Monday Thanks to Bill Clinton, Mel Reynolds is still an active tool for the Rhodes Secret Society By John Klyczek With his prison sentence commuted by fellow Rhodes scholar, Bill Clinton, disgraced ex-Congressman Mel Reynolds was arrested in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Monday, February 18. Reynolds, who was convicted of the “statutory” rape of a 16-year-old girl and solicitation of child pornography, is now charged with “possession of pornographic material he shot on different occasions . . . in his hotel rooms” including “more than 100 pornographic videos and a further 2,000 nude pictures,” according to NewsdzeZimbabwe. Sleepwalking again By Paul Craig Roberts On the 100th Anniversary of World War 1, the Western powers are again sleepwalking into destructive conflict. Hegemonic ambition has Washington interfering in the internal affairs of Ukraine, but developments seem to be moving beyond Washington’s control. Harassed by the Empire They do it because they can By Publius I’m a WASP in my late 60s and retired after spending most of my working life in finance. I’m a US Army veteran. And I get harassed by Customs and Border Protection each time I return to my home in the USA. A free and open Internet: The latest from the frontlines By Michael Winship Last Wednesday’s announcement by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler that the FCC would write new rules to insure open access to the Internet—otherwise known as Net neutrality—generally was seen by consumers as a step in the right direction. But media reform advocates were concerned that it didn’t go far enough. Egyptian historic breakthrough with Russia not a strategic shift yet By Nicola Nasser The recent two-day first official visit in forty years by an Egyptian defense minister to Russia of Egypt’s strongman, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, accompanied by Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, was indeed an historic breakthrough in bilateral relations, but it is still premature to deal with or build on it as a strategic shift away from the country’s more than three-decade strategic alliance with the United States. Tuesday Sochi Olympiad: Outing of Americans’ political envy By Ben Tanosborn Vic Wild, paying homage to his adoptive Red-White-and-Blue, gave two gold medals to Russia which if given to the United States, would have tied Russia’s final tally in gold (Russia, however, would have won the final total medal count by one instead of five). Western meddling opens Pandora’s Box in Ukraine By Linda S. Heard While EU envoys to Kiev were patting themselves on the back for twisting the arm of Ukraine’s beleaguered leader, President Viktor Yanukovych had made a hasty exit. ‘Peaceful’ demonstrators in Independence Square were still baying for his blood even after he signed an agreement to early elections, a reversion to the 2004 constitution clawing back presidential powers—as well as the formation of a unity government! Thailand is viewed as China’s Ukraine by Obama cold warriors By Wayne Madsen (WMR)—The neoconservatives who continue to permeate the Obama administration in the persons of the foul-mouthed and ill-tempered Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, along with second- and third-tier functionaries, have decided on all-out covert warfare with the nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This information has been passed to WMR by intelligence assets in the field in some of the most remote parts of the Asian land mass. Lions and tigers and shoes, oh my! By Lisa Simeone Ah, yes, earlier this month it was toothpaste, now it’s shoes. I’m obnoxious but so what? By Missy Comley Beattie By the time you read this, I may have a grandson. May be on my way to spend a week with him. I’m excited yet anxious, thinking of years ago and the way I felt when I was pregnant, unconcerned with gender, caring only about a healthy baby. Wednesday Anatomy of the Deep State By Mike Lofgren There is the visible government situated around the Mall in Washington, and then there is another, more shadowy, more indefinable government that is not explained in Civics 101 or observable to tourists at the White House or the Capitol. The former is traditional Washington partisan politics: the tip of the iceberg that a public watching C-SPAN sees daily and which is theoretically controllable via elections. The subsurface part of the iceberg I shall call the Deep State, which operates according to its own compass heading regardless of who is formally in power. Democracy murdered by protest as Ukraine falls to intrigue and violence By Paul Craig Roberts Who’s in charge? Certainly not the bought-and-paid-for-moderates that Washington and the EU hoped to install as the new government of Ukraine. The agreement that the Washington- and EU-supported opposition concluded with President Yanukovich to end the crisis did not last an hour. Even the former boxing champion, Vitaly Klitschko, who was riding high as an opposition leader has been booed by the rioters and shoved aside. The newly appointed president by what is perhaps an irrelevant parliament, Oleksandr Turchynov, has no support base among those who overthrew the government. As the BBC reports, “like all of the mainstream opposition politicians, Mr. Turchynov is not entirely trusted or respected by the protesters in Kiev’s Independence Square.” Turkey’s pro-Western imperialism puppets accuse Turkish people of being ‘conspiracy theorists’ By Sibel Edmonds I just finished reading a ridiculous hit piece published at Eurasia.Net accusing the Turkish people of being conspiracy theorists for believing that the imperial US and EU are engaged in schemes towards regime change around the world. According to the article and its sources, one must be ignorant, uninformed, uneducated and a big time conspiracy theorist in order to believe that the US-EU are engaged in political manipulations and regime change operations around the world. Judge: NYPD’s spying on Muslims is OK, reporting on it is not Critics say ruling is reminiscent of legal justification for Japanese-American internment camps By Sarah Lazare A federal judge ruled Thursday that the NYPD’s secret spying on Muslims in schools, restaurants, and mosques with no evidence of wrongdoing is perfectly legal, and it was the media’s exposure of this surveillance that was the real cause of harm. The decision prompted outcry from civil rights and racial justice advocates. Humanity is at the crossroads of the most serious economic and social crisis in modern history By Frank Scott Which is why what remains of a privileged population in the USA is being mobilized to support regime change in Syria, Thailand, Venezuela and the Ukraine, a health care marketplace in the USA, a zealous drive to destroy Iran and an equally fanatic attempt at declaring Russia a worse menace now than at the time of brain dead American anti-communism. Thursday Curbing the diagnosis of ADHD By Jerry Mazza In the Feb. 23 The New York Times, Stephen P. Hinshaw and Richard M. Scheffler point to “the writing is on the chalkboard” with their op-ed Expand Pre-K, Not ADHD: “Over the next few years, America can count on a major expansion of early childhood education. We embrace this trend, but as health policy researchers, we want to raise a major caveat: Unless we’re careful, today’s preschool bandwagon could lead straight to an epidemic of 4- and 5-year-olds wrongfully being told that they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.” America’s Jewish ambassador to Ukraine lauds neo-Nazi Ukrainian party By Wayne Madsen (WMR)—Not since the massacre at a summer camp of social democratic Norwegian youth by the Israel-loving Norwegian neo-Nazi Anders Breivik has there been clearer evidence of the collusion between Zionists and neo-Nazis as the statement by the pro-Zionist U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt that the neo-Nazi Ukrainian political party Svoboda “played an extremely constructive role during these three months of demonstrations.” Ukraine’s troubles are far from over By Linda S. Heard President Viktor Yanukovych has fled the scene but who can blame him? Even after he announced a truce so-called peaceful protesters attacked retreating police with volleys of petrol bombs. And when he caved-in to an EU-brokered deal to fulfill their demands, the crowd in Kiev’s Independence Square was baying for his blood and referring to opposition leaders as “traitors” for signing-up to it. The death of innocents By Philip A Farruggio For those out there who have never had a dog or cat as a pet for a long period of time, what I am about to share may seem overly dramatic. Yet, one hopefully realizes that these blessed creatures become like little children to us. They, like little children, need our focused attention and caring in order to survive. Communicating the Atomic Fart By Walter Brasch My son’s best friend bought an iPhone shortly after they were first released in 2007. Friday The constitutional hoax By Arthur D. Robbins For centuries, the United States Constitution has been held up to the world as one of civilization’s greatest achievements. It has been exalted and extolled at home and abroad, emulated and imitated by countries in both hemispheres. In some broad sense, it has provided a foundation for our belief in man’s perfectibility and the possibility of government that serves the common good. An indirect offensive strategy against the Obama-Cameron-Harper doctrine By Wayne Madsen (WMR)—The policy employed by U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the primary agitators behind the violent overthrow of democratically-elected governments around the world, can best be referred to as the OCH (Obama-Cameron-Harper) doctrine. The first country to feel the effect of the OCH doctrine is Ukraine, where mob violence, stoked by provocateurs on the payroll of global hedge fund vulture George Soros and the Central Intelligence Agency, brought about the overthrow of the government of democratically-elected President Viktor Yanukovych. The crisis in Ukraine By Paul Craig Roberts In 2004, Hungary joined the EU, expecting streets of gold. Instead, four years later in 2008, Hungary became indebted to the IMF. The rock video by the Hungarian group, Mouksa Underground sums up the result in Hungary today of falling into the hands of the EU and IMF. Vigilantes with a badge: The war against the American people By John W. Whitehead The following incidents are cautionary tales for anyone who still thinks that they can defy police officers, even if it’s simply to disagree about a speeding ticket, challenge a search warrant or defend oneself against an unreasonable or unjust charge, without deadly repercussions. The message they send is that “we the people” have very little protection from the standing army that is law enforcement. Liberals face a hard day’s knight? By Michael Winship That’s a pretty pathetic knight up there on the cover of the March issue of Harper’s Magazine. Battered and defeated, his shield in pieces, he’s slumped and saddled backwards on a Democratic donkey that has a distinctly woeful—or bored, maybe—countenance. It’s the magazine’s sardonic way of illustrating a powerful throwing down of the gauntlet by political scientist Adolph Reed, Jr. He has challenged the nation’s progressives with an article in the magazine provocatively titled, “Nothing Left: The Long, Slow Surrender of American Liberals.”

NBC Fiddles As Kiev Burns

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FOCUS: Frank Rich | NBC Fiddles As Kiev Burns

Frank Rich, New York Magazine
Rich writes: "The Olympics have a history of turning a blind eye toward politics, with notorious instances like the Nazi-hosted 1936 Berlin Games and the 1968 Mexico City Games staged amid global protests and the bloody Tlateloco Massacre."
READ MORE

Intrepid Reporter: Amerikan Stasi police state staring us in the face, White men and guns

Intrepid Report Newsletter
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT Intrepid Report is 100% independent. We receive no corporate funding. We receive no foundation funding. All we have is you, our readers, to keep us going. Won’t you please help by making a donation today? Any amount you can afford, however small, is appreciated. Monday Presidents’ Day: from 1885 to 2014 By Jerry Mazza Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February. Originally established in 1879 in recognition of President George Washington, it is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government. The missing 28 pages about Saudi Arabia and 9/11 By Wayne Madsen (WMR)—The Obama administration, like its predecessor, is doing everything possible to maintain the secrecy of the 28 pages of the 800-page congressional report on the intelligence failures surrounding the 9/11 attack. The report, titled, “Joint Inquiry Into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001,” detailed the results of a congressional investigation of the events surrounding 9/11. But entirely redacted from the report are 28 pages dealing with specific sources of foreign support for the alleged 9/11 hijackers, fifteen of whom were Saudi nationals. The five criminals In America, the Gestapo has replaced the rule of law By Paul Craig Roberts RT is the best English language news source available to Americans. On January 29, RT published a photo of five presidential appointees lying through their teeth to Congress. No honor in killing ‘God’s Dog’ By Walter Brasch A week before the opening of the Olympics, 759 Pennsylvanians paid $25 each to participate in a sport that would never be a part of any international competition. Lang Lang and Obama: Two different kinds of performances By Missy Comley Beattie It’s Wednesday. For some reason, I think of Wednesday’s child, full of woe. And I’ve just glanced up and out to see large snowflakes dancing between the two towers of my complex, swirling indecision, whether to rest or continue performing. Tuesday The Snowden effect: From governmentalized to privatized and commoditized How safe is our information with billionaire corporatists & dollar-hungry opportunistic individuals? By Sibel Edmonds Please raise your hand if you are one of many concerned citizens when it comes to our government collecting and keeping your data without a warrant or any justification. Do you see my hand? I know I am a shorty, but it is up there; my hand. I assure you. In fact it has been there for a long time. Russia under attack By Paul Craig Roberts In a number of my articles I have explained that the Soviet Union served as a constraint on US power. The Soviet collapse unleashed the neoconservative drive for US world hegemony. Russia under Putin, China, and Iran are the only constraints on the neoconservative agenda. Usurious returns on phantom money: The credit card gravy train By Ellen Brown, J.D. The credit card business is now the banking industry’s biggest cash cow, and it’s largely due to lucrative hidden fees. Master race chosen people-ism: An infantile disorder By Frank Scott The problem of racism is primarily the treatment of darker skinned people by the lighter skinned; that treatment is always murderously damaging to humanity itself and not only the particular people being savaged by those who thought themselves, somehow, more human than others. But reaction to mistreatment on racial grounds, especially without consideration of the economic roots of such inhumanity, may be as dangerous to the survival of the race. Building a society based on social and environmental values By Kéllia Ramares-Watson “Life Without Money” is a compilation of essays on theories and practices of non-monetary economics, which some people, including Anitra Nelson, call non-market socialism. It is a book intended primarily for academics who might want to consider teaching from this book, and those whom Nelson calls “thinking activists,” i.e., people who are primarily activists, but who are also interested in economic theory. Each chapter has many end notes and several gray boxes that mark out special points a teacher might wish to bring out during a lecture. Wednesday Do you remember Bosnia? By Luciana Bohne If you remember Bosnia from the 1990s, you may remember the much-publicized ethnic violence, massacres and rapes, and something savagely atavistic, dismembering a unified country once called Yugoslavia. It is now back on a pre-WW I map, the disunified “Balkans,” a mosaic of statelets reconstituted along ethno-nationalist lines: Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia—and the British-UN protectorate of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) and Republika Srpska (Serb Republic), a collage of Croat, Serb, and Muslim populations, each inhabiting its own ethnic space. US and EU are paying Ukrainian rioters and protesters By Paul Craig Roberts A number of confirmations have come in from readers that Washington is fueling the violent protests in Ukraine with our taxpayer dollars. Washington has no money for food stamps or to prevent home foreclosures, but it has plenty of money with which to subvert Ukraine. Egypt’s Russian pivot restores equilibrium By Linda S. Heard Cairo’s decision to cement close economic, diplomatic and military ties with Moscow was not one that the interim government took lightly. Egypt was pushed to forge new alliances by its longtime ally—the US, which chose to side with the Muslim Brotherhood, following president Mohammad Mursi’s ousting on July 3, 2013, rather than accept the majority’s will. How Pharma got doctors to prescribe Risperdal, Wellbutrin, Bextra, Neurontin, Prempro & more By Martha Rosenberg Until 2010 when the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which requires disclosure of Pharma payments, passed, the only thing better than working for Pharma was being a doctor wined and dined by Pharma. Paranoia, surveillance and military tactics: Have we become enemies of the government? By John W. Whitehead Relationships are fragile things, none more so than the relationship between a citizen and his government. Unfortunately for the American people, the contract entered into more than 200 years ago has been reduced to little more than a marriage of convenience and fiscal duty, marked by distrust, lying, infidelity, hostility, disillusion, paranoia and domestic abuse on the part of the government officials entrusted with ensuring the citizenry’s safety and happiness. Thursday Why opt for a no-cost solution to a problem when there is money to be made? By Bev Conover In cities and towns across the US, red light cameras are being installed for the ostensible purpose of preventing T-bone collisions at intersections, not to mention raking in big bucks from motorists running red traffic lights. Diplomacy Canadian style By Eric Walberg A new identity and a precious Canadian passport for a fugitive Mossad agent. A honeypot security officer working for Canadian immigration romancing an Iranian-Canadian businessman, and letting the cat out of the bag. Who needs John le Carre? Netanyahu warns world (again) about Iran ‘aggression’ By Jerry Mazza Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday with more words of warning to the West about Iran. As American as apple pie By Dave Alpert Michael Dunn, the white man who murdered Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old African-American, while arguing over the loudness of the music being played, was found guilty on four of the five counts with which he was charged. Global capitalism has written off the human race By Paul Craig Roberts Economic theory teaches that free price and profit movements ensure that capitalism produces the greatest welfare for the greatest number. Losses indicate economic activities where costs exceed the value of production, thus investment in these activities is curtailed. Profits indicate economic activities where the value of output exceeds its cost, thus investment increases. Prices indicate the relative scarcity and value of inputs and outputs, thus serving to organize production most efficiently. Friday Obama’s nuke-powered drone strike on America’s energy future By Harvey Wasserman So the “all the above” energy strategy now deems we dump another $6.5 billion in bogus loan guarantees down the atomic drain. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has announced finalization of hotly contested taxpayer handouts for the two Vogtle reactors being built in Georgia. Another $1.8 billion waits to be pulled out of your pocket and poured down the radioactive sinkhole. Amerikan Stasi police state staring us in the face American sheeple stick heads in the sand; pretend to be ostriches By Paul Craig Roberts American taxpayers have built an entire city in Virginia so that the Pentagon can practice occupying American cities and putting down protests by US citizens. CIA‘s use of Nazi strategy on Ukrainian right-wing nationalists unabated since Cold War By Wayne Madsen The Central Intelligence Agency appears to be caught in a time warp. At the roots of the CIA’s and George Soros’s “resistance” movement in Ukraine lie Ukrainian fascists and pro-Nazis, the ideological forbears of the current Ukrainian right-wing fascist party Svoboda and other radical right and anti-Russian groups largely based in western Ukraine. The Libyan bedlam: General Hifter, the CIA and the unfinished coup By Ramzy Baroud On Friday, Feb. 14, 92 prisoners escaped from their prison in the Libyan town of Zliten. Nineteen of them were eventually recaptured, two of whom were wounded in clashes with the guards. It was just another daily episode highlighting the utter chaos which has engulfed Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Ghaddafi in 2011. Freedom Rider: White men and guns By Margaret Kimberley Michael Dunn may be an easily identifiable outlier, but America clearly has a serious gun fixation and it results in the deaths of 11,000 people every year. Michael Dunn is the Jacksonville, Florida, man who shot Jordan Davis to death in the so-called “loud music” case. It should have been called the “white person shoots black person just because” case.

Stephen Hawking | What's Happening in Syria Is an Abomination

FOCUS: Steve Weissman | Obama's Global Gamble on Iran: What Do We All Stand to Win or Lose?

Steve Weissman, Reader Supported News
Weissman writes: "Like premature reports of Mark Twain's death, complaints that the Obama is pulling back from the Middle East are greatly exaggerated, and for reasons that are not what they seem."
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WE NEED SUPPORTERS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE: We have readers, we have subscribers. What we need are supporters. Who can join those who have already given? We are roughly at 33% of our budget for February. Thanks to all. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News

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Stephen Hawking | What's Happening in Syria Is an Abomination

Steven Hawking, Guardian UK
Hawking writes: "What's happening in Syria is an abomination, one that the world is watching coldly from a distance. Where is our emotional intelligence, our sense of collective justice?"
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Peter Van Buren | Drone Killing the Fifth Amendment
Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch
Van Buren writes: "Now, if you were plotting to kill an American over coffee, you could end up in jail on a whole range of charges including - depending on the situation - terrorism. However, if the president’s doing the killing, it's all nice and - let's put those quote marks around it - 'legal.'"
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Robert Parry | Does Nixon's 'Treason' Boost LBJ's Legacy
Robert Parry, Consortium News
Parry writes: "LBJ's ranking might change if the new evidence on Richard Nixon sabotaging LBJ's Vietnam peace talks were factored in."
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Journalists Who Broke NSA Story Receive George Polk Awards
Martin Pengelly, Guardian UK
Pengelly reports: "The three journalists who broke the National Security Agency revelations from Edward Snowden in the Guardian are among the recipients of the prestigious 2013 George Polk Awards in Journalism."
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UN Report Details North Korea's 'Crimes Against Humanity'
Mark Memmott, National Public Radio
'ccording to U.N. investigators, 'the gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.'' Mark Memmott, NPR
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The Sochi Games Are Being Held on the Land of Genocide
Dave Zirin, The Nation
Excerpt: "If you look at history, we've been there for thousands of years, up until 1864 when Russia and the Czar Nicholas I culminated a 101-year war by eradicating, erasing Circassians from history."
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Radiation Leak Detected at New Mexico Waste Facility
Laura Zuckerman, Reuters
Zuckerman reports: "Underground sensors have detected excessive radiation levels inside a nuclear waste storage site deep below New Mexico's desert."
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A Winner & A Hero! Gus Kenworthy!

 

This guy is our new, favorite Olympian!

It's silver medal freeskier Gus Kenworthy from Telluride, CO!

He already won the silver medal in slopestyle at the Olympics, but his mission isn't complete! He came across a bunch of stray dogs in Sochi and pledged to bring them home with him because of Sochi's mandate to exterminate street dogs. He’s already working on getting the 4 puppies and their mother vaccinated and has kennels lined up so they can fly to their new home in the US.

Gus will keep one little guy and find good homes for the rest.

 

 

 

US to pump $300mn into Afghanistan to end 'war economy'

Breaking News and Commentary from CLG13 Feb 2014

http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

Previous edition: White House Mulls Killing Another American

CLG surpasses 6,000 'likes' on Facebook By Lori Price, www.legitgov.org 12 Feb 2014 CLG News got an early Valentines Day gift on Wednesday when the Citizens for Legitimate Government page on Facebook surpassed 6,000 'likes.' CLG very much appreciates the 'love' shown by readers on Facebook! Now, for those of you on Facebook who haven't clicked 'like' on our page, please join us. :)

OMG. US to pump $300mn into Afghanistan to end 'war economy' - report 09 Feb 2014 Washington will announce on Monday a massive aid package to Afghanistan, which it hopes will assist the war-torn country get back on its feet after 12 years of playing host to foreign troops, Reuters has learned. The US Agency for International Development (USAID aka CIA-front group) will announce three new development programs worth almost $300 million to wean Afghanistan off its 'war economy,' which is heavily subsidized today by opium exports -- a trade that had been practically squashed while the country was under Taliban rule. [AND revived by the US after its invasion/occupation. USociopaths slash food stamps, will not extend unemployment insurance, won't help Detroit, can't fix a pothole -- and yet, there's $300 million to give to US mercenaries in Afghanistan to protect the CIA's poppy fields and opium routes?]

GCHQ 'using online viruses and honey traps to discredit targets' - Edward Snowden revelations --Documents provide evidence that GCHQ has moved beyond its role as a surveillance agency and now occupies operational territory more traditionally associated with its confreres, MI6 and MI5. 09 Feb 2014 Britain's GCHQ has a covert unit which uses dirty tricks from "honey trap" sexual liaisons to texting anonymous messages to friends and neighbours to discredit targets from hackers to governments, according to the latest leaks from whistleblower Edward Snowden... The revelations on Sunday sparked criticism that GCHQ is adopting tactics used by illegal hackers, such as so-called denial of service (DoS) attacks to disable chatrooms, which have no clear authority under British law and may have infringed the rights of other internet users. The covert GCHQ unit -- the Joint Intelligence Threat Research Group (JTRIG) -- runs what it terms an "Effects" programme against Britain's enemies under what it calls the four Ds: "Deny/ Disrupt/ Degrade/ Deceive."

US senator files class-action suit on NSA 13 Feb 2014 US Republican senator Rand Paul is filing a "class-action" lawsuit challenging a National Security Agency's surveillance program. Represented by former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, Paul filed his suit at 11am (0200 AEDT on Thursday) in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. Paul's lawsuit is the latest to challenge NSA surveillance, but it's the first to be filed by a member of congress.

Lights Out for NSA? Maryland Lawmakers Push to Cut Water, Electricity to Spy Agency Headquarters --NSA nerve center in Fort Meade targeted by bill. 10 Feb 2014 The National Security Agency's headquarters in Ft. Meade, Md., will go dark if a cohort of Maryland lawmakers has its way. Eight Republicans in the 141-member Maryland House of Delegates introduced legislation Thursday that would deny the electronic spy agency "material support, participation or assistance in any form" from the state, its political subdivisions or companies with state contracts. The bill would deprive NSA facilities water and electricity carried over public utilities, ban the use of NSA-derived evidence in state courts and prevent state universities from partnering with the NSA on research.

Online, live protests target NSA surveillance 11 Feb 2014 Hundreds of websites posted messages opposing online government surveillance on Tuesday, as activists planned live protests and other gatherings in cities all over the world. Social news giant Reddit, blogging site Tumblr and Mozilla, the makers of the Firefox browser, were among the most high-profile sites to take part in the online protest. Much of it targeted surveillance by the National Security Agency in the United States.

Homeland Security to Purchase 141,000 Rounds of Sniper Ammo 11 Feb 2014 The Department of Homeland Security is buying more bullets with a solicitation for over 141,00 rounds of sniper ammunition. According to a solicitation posted on FedB-zOpps, the federal agency is looking to procure 141,160 rounds of Hornady .308 Winchester 168gr A-MAX TAP ammunition. Such ammunition is sometimes retailed as "Zombie Max," a marketing gimmick alluding to its power. The latest purchase further illustrates the fallacy of the DHS's excuse that it is buying bullets in bulk in order to save money. The federal agency will pay around $1.20 for each round, when a lower grain round could be acquired for around a quarter of the price.

Fifteen Iraqi soldiers killed in pre-dawn attack 11 Feb 2014 Iraqi security and morgue officials say militants have attacked an army encampment guarding an oil pipeline in northern Iraq, killing 15 soldiers overnight. The pre-dawn attack took place near the town of Hamam al-Alil, situated 330 kilometers (200 miles) north of Baghdad, late on Monday. A medical official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said eight of the soldiers were beheaded while the others were killed by gunfire.

Israeli arms seized from al-Qaeda-linked militants: Iraqi Cmdr 10 Feb 2014 A senior Iraqi commander says weapons seized from al-Qaeda[al-CIAduh]-linked militants in the Arab country are advanced Israeli-made arms. Fadhel Jamil al-Barwari, who is the commander of the prominent Golden Battalion, has made the remarks on his Facebook page, adding that all arms that have been confiscated from the terrorists since 2006 are Israeli-made. Barwari established the Special Forces group for countering terrorism in the year 2003. [Well, I guess now we know why Al-Qaeda never attacks Israel.]

Blast hits US-led military convey in Afghan capital, Kabul 10 Feb 2014 Casualties are feared after a powerful bomb blast rocked a US-led military convoy in an administrative district of the Afghan capital, Kabul. Reports coming out of the country suggest that the bomb explosion targeted a US-led foreign military group near Pul-e-Charkhi prison in eastern Kabul. A thick cloud of smoke has been seen rising over the scene of the explosion.

Pakistani anti-drone activist abducted in Rawalpindi 11 Feb 2014 A Pakistani anti-drone activist is missing after being kidnapped from his home in the city of Rawalpindi. Kareem Khan was seized at his home by 15 to 20 men in the early hours of February 5 and has not been heard from ever since, his lawyer Shahzad Akbar said on Monday. Khan's brother and teenage son were killed in a US drone attack that targeted his home in the tribal area of North Waziristan in December 2009. Despite the Pakistani government's repeated calls on Washington to end the drone attacks, the US government continues its strikes on the Waziristan region.

Two NATO contractors killed in attack in eastern Afghanistan 10 Feb 2014 The US-led Western military alliance says at least two civilian contractors working for coalition forces have been killed in a bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan. This comes after a car bomb explosion targeted a convoy of US-led forces in the country's troubled east on Monday. NATO has confirmed that two of its civilian contractors were killed in the deadly explosion.

Judge sets 'trial' date for marathon bombing --Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges over April 15 bombings 13 Feb 2014 A US federal judge has set a November 'trial' date for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, despite objections from defence lawyers who say that will not give them enough time to prepare. Judge George O'Toole Jr said he believed a November 3 trial was realistic and fair. Tsarnaev's lawyers had asked for a trial date no earlier than September 2015. Prosecutors, who are seeking the death penalty for [patsy] Tsarnaev, want the trial this year.

Homeland Security Chair: 'High Degree of Probability' for Explosion During Olympics [Hmm... How on earth does he *know* this?] 09 Feb 2014 The Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security said Sunday that there is a "high degree of probability" of an explosion during the Sochi Olympic games. Speaking on Fox News [sic] Sunday, Rep. Mike McCaul said that an explosion or bomb of some sort is likely to go off during the Olympics in Russia, although he suggested it would happen outside the Olympic Village itself. "There's a high degree of probability that something will detonate, something will go off," McCaul said.

US media, politicians mobilize against Sochi Olympics 10 Feb 2014 The Sochi Olympics opened on Friday amid a propaganda onslaught from the US media. Taking its cues from the Obama administration and allied powers in Europe, the American press has sought to sabotage the event and turn it into a humiliation for the regime of President Vladimir Putin... Recently passed anti-gay laws in Russia that ban "homosexual propaganda" are being utilized as one of the principal cudgels against the Putin government. While the US maintains the closest ties with regimes like Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is punishable by flogging and death, Washington and its allies have whipped up a frenzy in the human rights community around these issues with regards to Russia. While Russia is hardly a paragon of democratic rights, the signatories of this letter come from countries that are carrying out a massive assault on civil liberties. US President Barack Obama openly declares that he has the right to authorize the assassination of US citizens without due process, and has done so. His government presides over the largest spying operation in world history.

Corpora-terrorists strike again: Explosion at NH Ball Bearings Plant Injures 15 11 Feb 2014 An explosion rocked a small-town ball bearings plant on Monday, shaking walls, shattering windows and sending at least 15 people to the hospital. Hazardous-materials teams responded after Monday afternoon's explosion at the New Hampshire Ball Bearings Inc. plant in Peterborough... Local hospitals were asked to prepare for patients who may have been exposed to hazardous materials.

MAD COW DISEASE ----

North Carolina hospital to 18 patients: You may have been exposed to incurable disease --Instruments used in surgery didn't get approved sterilization 10 Feb 2014 Doctors and hospital officials from Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, are notifying 18 neurosurgery patients that they might have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a serious and incurable neurological disorder. "Today we are reaching out to 18 neurosurgery patients who were exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease over the last three weeks at Forsyth Medical Center," said Jeff Lindsay, president of the center.

New bridgegate subpoena focuses on former Port Authority official's November testimony 12 Feb 2014 A newly issued subpoena in the ongoing George Washington Bridge investigation seeks information related to a former Port Authority official's November testimony before the committee investigating the controversy, an attorney for one of the subpoenaed groups confirmed Tuesday. The subpoena, issued yesterday by the joint legislative committee, seeks any drafts of former Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni's November testimony, any edits to it, or correspondence with Baroni prior to the appearance, attorney Mark Sheridan confirmed Tuesday. Sheridan represents Gov. Chris Christie's reelection campaign, which has been subpoenaed by both the committee and the U.S. Attorney.

Christie's bridge scandal lawyers seek interview with former top aide, Fort Lee mayor 11 Feb 2014 Lawyers hired by Gov. Chris Christie’s office to investigate the George Washington Bridge scandal want to interview a former top aide to the governor and the mayor of Fort Lee as the legal maneuvering over the controversial lane closures intensifies. Randy Mastro, a former federal prosecutor leading the governor's legal team, made a request for an interview in a letter sent Saturday to an attorney for Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. The firm also sent an interview request last week to lawyers representing Bridget Anne Kelly, the governor's former deputy chief of staff and a prominent player in the scandal. And David Wildstein, the former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey official also at the center of the controversy, was contacted by the firm, his lawyer said today.

New Jersey traffic jam victims ask Christie to resign, if he knew 11 Feb 2014 Valerie Howard-Fadul recalled feeling "excruciating" pain after the anesthesia wore off, when her usual 45-minute drive home across the Hudson River after a medical eye treatment stretched into five hours in the now infamous bridge traffic jam orchestrated by aides of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Howard-Fadul, 55, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, was one of the motorists ensnared in last September's epic tie-up. She and others joined political activists on Tuesday to call for Christie's resignation - if he played a role in the traffic fiasco.

Senate clears debt limit measure for Obama 13 Feb 2014 Legislation to raise the federal debt limit and prevent a crippling government default cleared Congress on Wednesday with an awkward assist from top Senate Republican leaders who were forced into a politically treacherous vote engineered by tea party favorite Ted Cruz. The Texas Republican's maneuver forced several GOP colleagues, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, into a reluctant vote against a filibuster, helping the measure along. On a day of legislative drama, the key vote clearing the way for final action was held open for more than an hour and broke open only after McConnell and top lieutenant John Cornyn, R-Texas, unexpectedly voted "aye." Several other Republicans then switched their votes to support the measure, ultimately breaking the filibuster by a 67-31 margin.

House approves 'clean' debt limit after Republicans drop demands 11 Feb 2014 The House of Representatives narrowly approved a one-year extension of federal borrowing authority on Tuesday after Republicans caved into President Barack Obama's demands to allow a debt limit increase without any conditions. The 221-201 vote, carried mainly by Democrats, marked a dramatic shift from the confrontational fiscal tactics House Republicans have used over the past three years, culminating in last October's 16-day government shutdown.

Justice Department Sued Over $13 Billion JPMorgan Pact 10 Jan 2014 With a record $13 billion sticker price, the settlement deal between JPMorgan Chase and the government captured the attention of Wall Street and Washington late last year. And yet, according to a lawsuit that a nonprofit group filed against the Justice Department on Monday, the crucial details of the deal were for the government's eyes only. The lawsuit filed by Better Markets, a group critical of Wall Street, challenged the constitutionality of the deal, a landmark settlement stemming from accusations that JPMorgan overstated the quality of mortgage securities it sold before the financial crisis.

Republicans Setting Up Fake Websites for Democratic Candidates 07 Feb 2014 The National Republican Congressional Committee appears to have set up at least 16 websites meant to appear like the official websites of Democratic candidates. TIME wrote that "the tactic smacks of 'spoofing' scams, whereby spammers masquerade under fake phone numbers or email addresses to win trust." Paul S. Ryan of the Campaign Legal Center even said that the websites may violate an FEC regulation prohibiting political parties from using a candidate's name in special projects.

In Arkansas, 'Private Option' Medicaid Plan Could Be Derailed 10 Feb 2014 Last year, the Republicans who control this state's Legislature devised a politically palatable way to expand Medicaid under President Obama's health care law. They won permission to use federal expansion funds to buy private insurance for as many as 250,000 poor people instead of adding them to traditional Medicaid. But just as the idea is catching fire in other states with Republican or divided leadership -- Iowa has adopted a version of the plan, and New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Utah and other states are exploring similar avenues -- Arkansas may abruptly reverse course, potentially leaving the 83,000 people who have signed up so far without insurance as soon as July 1.

Missouri's Michael Sam says he's gay in advance of 2014 NFL Draft 09 Feb 2014 Former Missouri defensive lineman Michael Sam, the 2013 SEC Defensive Player of the Year, is set to enter the 2014 NFL Draft under unique circumstances. Sam will enter the NFL as the league's first openly gay player. Sam was interviewed Sunday by the New York Times and ESPN. He told the media entities he came out of the closet and told his teammates "I'm gay" earlier during the 2013 season. This was the first time Sam has spoken publicly about his sexual orientation, and he's about to put the NFL on a different axis.

Nutjob Gustavo Pronotto, Mendoza zoo continue to torture polar bear: Arturo, 'a polar bear in the Argentine desert,' stays in his zoo 09 Feb 2014 The future of Arturo the polar bear, one of the main attractions at the zoo in the Argentine province of Mendoza, is no longer a mystery. A 'medical board' decided that, because of his advanced age and the fragile state of his health, it is not advisable to move him anywhere. Environmentalists did not agree. "The evaluation they did was visual, without touching him, observing him from a distance," complained Gabriel Flores, an activist of the Ecologists United movement, which for more than a year had denounced Arturo's living conditions. "It was a halfway fake evaluation that doesn't convince us at all," he said. Pictures of Arturo in the scorching 40 C (104 F) heat of the arid city of Mendoza during the Southern Hemisphere summer shocked Argentine society and sparked a debate about sending the bear to an ecological reserve in Canada or some other polar bear-friendly climate. "This is a polar bear in the middle of the desert," Flores said. [See also: Activists struggle to get elderly polar bear out of the Argentina heat 20 Dec 2013.]

Activists struggle to get elderly polar bear out of the Argentina heat --'There is no way for him to escape the heat, which can rise to more than 40 degrees Celsius in Mendoza.' 20 Dec 2013 Arturo is a 28-year-old polar bear who lives in a zoo in Mendoza, Argentina. Activists have been campaigning to get him out of Mendoza for months, saying the scorching hot weather is taking a toll on him. A zoo in Canada has even offered to adopt him, but local authorities have swayed back and forth on whether to refuse to let him go. Arturo has spent two decades in Mendoza's zoo, where he is the only polar bear... Maria Fernanda Arentsen is originally from Mendoza, Argentina. She works as a university professor in Winnipeg, Canada. "As you can see in the videos, Arturo lives in a concrete enclosure with only a shallow pool. There is no way for him to escape the heat, which can rise to more than 40 degrees Celsius during the summer months in Mendoza. [The polar bear in Buenos Aires, who was 16 years old, died on a day with a high of 36.7 degrees]. He has been filmed rocking back and forth in a way that animal experts say signals distress. It breaks my heart to see this."

Heavy ice and snow threaten travel again in U.S. South 12 Feb 2014 Another major winter storm unfurled across a wide swath of the U.S. South on Tuesday, and forecasters warned that potentially high accumulations of ice could cripple road travel and result in broad power outages in the coming days. The storm could be "a catastrophic event" of "historical proportions," the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City, Georgia, said of the latest blast of wintry weather to hit the region in recent weeks. Conditions were expected to worsen overnight, with up to an inch (2.5 cm) of ice predicted in parts of South Carolina and Georgia.

Sinkhole swallows eight prized Corvettes 12 Feb 2014 A gaping sinkhole collapsed part of the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky on Wednesday, damaging eight prized cars that plunged in a heap while the attraction geared to the classic American sports car was closed to visitors. "They're all just kind of nose down in the bottom of the hole," said Western Kentucky University engineering professor Matt Dettman, part of a team brought in to assess the damage and the stability of the surrounding area. Six of the cars were owned by the museum and two were on loan from General Motors, said museum spokesperson Katie Frassinelli.

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