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WillyT
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WillyT's Journal
January 14, 2014
Man... There Are Days When I Really Miss Occupy... At Least There Was Some Hope There...
Hope seems to be in very short supply, lately.
January 14, 2014
By Robert Costa, Matea Gold and Carol D. Leonnig - WaPo
Updated: Monday, January 13, 5:35 PM
<snip>
TRENTON, N.J. — A roiling political scandal involving the administration of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie expanded into new areas Monday, ratcheting up the pressure on the embattled Republican on the eve of his annual address to state legislators. As Christie spent the day finalizing his State of the State speech, Democratic lawmakers announced the creation of special investigative committees with subpoena power to further scrutinize a scheme in which top aides to the governor worked to paralyze traffic in Fort Lee, N.J., in an apparent plot against the town’s Democratic mayor.
Meanwhile, new documents released by Jersey City officials Monday suggest that the Christie administration punished the Democratic mayor of that town last summer by cutting off his access to top state officials when he declined to back the governor’s reelection bid. And in Washington, federal auditors have begun looking into Christie’s use of Hurricane Sandy recovery money to pay for an expensive tourism marketing campaign last year starring him and his family.
The developments compound the political challenge Christie faces in trying to move past the controversy, which began as a local furor over blocked access lanes to the George Washington Bridge before exploding into a national story that threatens his future as a leading GOP presidential candidate.
“This started as an inquiry into the Port Authority, and now the trail leads directly into the governor’s office,” Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski (D), who will head the assembly’s investigation of the bridge episode, said in an interview. “The scope of our investigation has gotten considerably larger, and it’s clear there was an inappropriate use of power.”
When asked about the new investigations, a Christie spokesman pointed to the governor’s remarks at a news conference last week in which he said his administration will “work cooperatively” with legislators.
The governor is expected to address the bridge scandal in Tuesday’s speech...
<snip>
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/christies-staff-cut-access-to-jersey-city-mayor-who-would-not-endorse-him/2014/01/13/32d76970-7c83-11e3-9556-4a4bf7bcbd84_story.html
Bridge Controversy Expands Into New Areas For Gov. Chris Christie In New Jersey - WaPo
Bridge controversy expands into new areas for Gov. Chris Christie in New JerseyBy Robert Costa, Matea Gold and Carol D. Leonnig - WaPo
Updated: Monday, January 13, 5:35 PM
<snip>
TRENTON, N.J. — A roiling political scandal involving the administration of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie expanded into new areas Monday, ratcheting up the pressure on the embattled Republican on the eve of his annual address to state legislators. As Christie spent the day finalizing his State of the State speech, Democratic lawmakers announced the creation of special investigative committees with subpoena power to further scrutinize a scheme in which top aides to the governor worked to paralyze traffic in Fort Lee, N.J., in an apparent plot against the town’s Democratic mayor.
Meanwhile, new documents released by Jersey City officials Monday suggest that the Christie administration punished the Democratic mayor of that town last summer by cutting off his access to top state officials when he declined to back the governor’s reelection bid. And in Washington, federal auditors have begun looking into Christie’s use of Hurricane Sandy recovery money to pay for an expensive tourism marketing campaign last year starring him and his family.
The developments compound the political challenge Christie faces in trying to move past the controversy, which began as a local furor over blocked access lanes to the George Washington Bridge before exploding into a national story that threatens his future as a leading GOP presidential candidate.
“This started as an inquiry into the Port Authority, and now the trail leads directly into the governor’s office,” Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski (D), who will head the assembly’s investigation of the bridge episode, said in an interview. “The scope of our investigation has gotten considerably larger, and it’s clear there was an inappropriate use of power.”
When asked about the new investigations, a Christie spokesman pointed to the governor’s remarks at a news conference last week in which he said his administration will “work cooperatively” with legislators.
The governor is expected to address the bridge scandal in Tuesday’s speech...
<snip>
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/christies-staff-cut-access-to-jersey-city-mayor-who-would-not-endorse-him/2014/01/13/32d76970-7c83-11e3-9556-4a4bf7bcbd84_story.html
January 14, 2014
I'll begin with the first unraveling:
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address
Was it the Supreme Court deciding that Corporations had the same rights as people?
Was it WWII and the advent of the MIC/Security State?
Was it Bush v. Gore?
Was it 9-11?
Anybody?
There's No Way To Poll This... So I'll Just Ask, And Invite Your Input...
When Did The Concept/Idea Of The United States Of America Begin To Unravel ???I'll begin with the first unraveling:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address
Was it the Supreme Court deciding that Corporations had the same rights as people?
Was it WWII and the advent of the MIC/Security State?
Was it Bush v. Gore?
Was it 9-11?
Anybody?
January 14, 2014
HuffPo
Posted: 01/13/2014 4:08 pm EST | Updated: 01/13/2014 5:17 pm EST
<snip>
Agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Justice Department officials have met in secret with members of Mexican drug cartels in exchange for information on rival drug organizations, a new extensive investigative report by Mexico's El Universal newspaper startlingly concludes. According to the report, U.S. agents held more than 50 secret meetings with cartel operatives on Mexican territory between 2000 and 2012 -- without informing Mexican authorities.
El Universal writes:
El Universal based its reports on extensive interviews, as well as official American and Mexican documents. Several of the documents were related to the Chicago trial of Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the son of Sinaloa leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.
As Business Insider noted in 2012, Zambada-Niebla alleged while in detention in Chicago that the U.S. government struck a deal with Mexico's Sinaloa cartel to finance and arm the drug traffickers in exchange for information. Zambada-Niebla was arrested after having met with DEA officials, and believed that the alleged deal implied he was immune from arrest or prosecution.
According to the documents made public for the first time by El Universal , DEA agent Manuel Castanon said the following about that meeting:
<snip>
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/dea-negotiated-mexico-drug-cartels_n_4590832.html
My God... 'DEA Negotiated With Mexican Drug Cartel Members: Report' - HuffPo
DEA Negotiated With Mexican Drug Cartel Members: ReportHuffPo
Posted: 01/13/2014 4:08 pm EST | Updated: 01/13/2014 5:17 pm EST
<snip>
Agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Justice Department officials have met in secret with members of Mexican drug cartels in exchange for information on rival drug organizations, a new extensive investigative report by Mexico's El Universal newspaper startlingly concludes. According to the report, U.S. agents held more than 50 secret meetings with cartel operatives on Mexican territory between 2000 and 2012 -- without informing Mexican authorities.
El Universal writes:
Without the presence of Mexican authorities, as bilateral agreements stipulate, without informing the Mexican government, the agents of the DEA met with members of the cartels in Mexican territory, to obtain information about their rivals and at the same time and establish at the same time a network of informants of narco-traffickers, who signed cooperation agreements, subject to results, so that they can obtain future benefits, including charges being dropped in the United States.
El Universal based its reports on extensive interviews, as well as official American and Mexican documents. Several of the documents were related to the Chicago trial of Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the son of Sinaloa leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.
As Business Insider noted in 2012, Zambada-Niebla alleged while in detention in Chicago that the U.S. government struck a deal with Mexico's Sinaloa cartel to finance and arm the drug traffickers in exchange for information. Zambada-Niebla was arrested after having met with DEA officials, and believed that the alleged deal implied he was immune from arrest or prosecution.
According to the documents made public for the first time by El Universal , DEA agent Manuel Castanon said the following about that meeting:
<snip>
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/dea-negotiated-mexico-drug-cartels_n_4590832.html
January 13, 2014
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Christie
Ironic... Re: Christie...
Born in Newark, Christie became interested in politics at an early age, and volunteered for the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Tom Kean in 1977. Graduating from the University of Delaware, he earned a J.D. at Seton Hall Law School. Christie joined a Cranford law firm in 1987, where he became a partner in 1993, and continued practicing until 2002. He was also elected as a county legislator in Morris County, serving from 1995 to 1998, during which time he generally pushed for lower taxes and lower spending. By 2002, Christie had campaigned for Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush; the latter appointed him as United States Attorney for New Jersey, a position he held from 2002 to 2008. In that position, he emphasized prosecutions of political corruption, and also obtained convictions for sexual slavery, arms trafficking, racketeering by gangs, as well as other federal crimes.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Christie
January 13, 2014
By: DSWright - FDL
Monday January 13, 2014 10:17 am
<snip>
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is heading towards its final version according to the Australian Trade Minister. Reportedly the controversial US provision on intellectual property (IP) is no longer the stumbling block, instead the section of the agreement on agriculture, particularly sugar, is requiring extra efforts to complete.
The US’ IP proposal gained international attention when it was published by Wikileaks. The IP plan gave massive power to media companies to disrupt the internet to protect their government granted monopolies. Also included at the US’ insistence are plans to deregulate Wall Street, essentially going around Congress and the meager new Dodd-Frank law.
Yet, according to Trade Minister Robb, it is not America’s promotion of media conglomerates that is causing problems at this stage – but their favoritism towards domestic sugar producers.
For those unaware, the Fanjul brothers run a virtual monopoly on sugar in America and have shoveled millions into both political parties...
<snip>
Link: http://news.firedoglake.com/2014/01/13/tpp-set-to-be-finalized-according-to-australian-trade-minister/
TPP Set To Be Finalized According To Australian Trade Minister - FDL
TPP Set To Be Finalized According To Australian Trade MinisterBy: DSWright - FDL
Monday January 13, 2014 10:17 am
<snip>
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is heading towards its final version according to the Australian Trade Minister. Reportedly the controversial US provision on intellectual property (IP) is no longer the stumbling block, instead the section of the agreement on agriculture, particularly sugar, is requiring extra efforts to complete.
Trade Minister Andrew Robb says the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement is close to being “sealed”. Mr Robb, in the US to lead the Australian government’s delegation for the G’Day USA promotion, said the Obama administration had wanted him to go to Washington DC for talks on the FTA. However, he said he would wait for formal TPP discussions scheduled “in a couple of weeks”.
The US’ IP proposal gained international attention when it was published by Wikileaks. The IP plan gave massive power to media companies to disrupt the internet to protect their government granted monopolies. Also included at the US’ insistence are plans to deregulate Wall Street, essentially going around Congress and the meager new Dodd-Frank law.
Yet, according to Trade Minister Robb, it is not America’s promotion of media conglomerates that is causing problems at this stage – but their favoritism towards domestic sugar producers.
Mr Robb told The Australian that many of the issues surrounding the TPP were close to resolution “but it still requires some market access issues to be put on the table”. He said, for instance, Japan needed to liberalise more on trade and the US could be more open on agriculture, including sectors such as sugar.
For those unaware, the Fanjul brothers run a virtual monopoly on sugar in America and have shoveled millions into both political parties...
<snip>
Link: http://news.firedoglake.com/2014/01/13/tpp-set-to-be-finalized-according-to-australian-trade-minister/
January 13, 2014
"Of The TPP's 29 Draft Chapters, ONLY 5 Deal With Traditional Trade Issues."
Link: http://www.exposethetpp.org/TPPImpactsYou.html
From: http://www.exposethetpp.org/
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