by Stephen Lendman

Amos Oz is a noted Israeli academic, author, journalist, and novelist. He's also a vocal Netanyahu critic. More on his recent comments below.

It's well known that Israel's government reflects militarized occupation, colonialism and apartheid. It's done to enforce harshness. It continues because it's profitable. Doing so breaches international law.

The 1973 International Convention for the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (the Apartheid Convention) called it state-sanctioned discriminatory "inhuman" racism.

It's "committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them."

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http://www.opednews.com/articles/Netanyahu-s-Apartheid-Gove-by-Stephen-Lendman-130130-716.html

Jacob Heilbrunn | January 30, 2013

One of the more lamentable traits of neoconservatism has been steadily to try and lower the bar of who—or what—is deemed anti-Semitic. Elliott Abrams, for example, recently denounced former Senator and Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel as an anti-Semite, a grave accusation that boomeranged on him as even Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, nominally Abrams' boss, felt constrained to observe that it was a preposterous statement. Now a web site called the Washington Free Beacon, which is edited by Matthew Continetti, a son-in-law of William Kristol, who is the editor of the Weekly Standard, has descried anti-Semitism at the New Republic.

The Beacon alleges that the new owner of the magazine, Chris Hughes, is purging Jewish contributing editors from the masthead. It says,

The New Republic has quietly dropped at least five prominent Jewish writers from its masthead in a move that may signal the publication’s continued drift away from a staunchly pro-Israel standpoint.

The magazine has launched an aggressive new editorial direction under the ownership of wealthy socialite Chris Hughes, who is best known for sharing a room with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard University.

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http://nationalinterest.org/blog/jacob-heilbrunn/the-neocon-charge-jewish-purge-the-new-republic-8040

Nearly a third of Americans live with no savings account at all.

A new report reveals a fact that too many Americans are familiar with first-hand: nearly half of the nation's residents have no safety net to protect them from falling into poverty in the event of a layoff or other financial misfortune.

The recently published Assets & Opportunities Scorecard from the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) shows that "[n]early 44 percent of Americans don't have enough savings or other liquid assets to stay out of poverty for more than three months if they lose their income," as NPR summarized. At the same time, nearly a third of Americans live with no savings account at all.

The nonprofit [CFED] tries to help low- and moderate-income families achieve the American dream. The group's president, Andrea Levere, says that's not easy when all your energy goes into paying the rent and buying food.

"It's only when you have those basic needs satisfied that you then can think, 'How do I make sure I have the best education for my children? How do I make sure I have the skills I need to be more competitive in the workplace?' " says Levere.

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http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/report-nearly-half-americans-have-no-safety-net-keep-them-out-poverty?akid=9992.260530.MfV7_I&rd=1&src=newsletter786361&t=17

"Tell me I was right on Iraq!"

Essentially, that's what Sen. McCain said during most of his time in today's confirmation hearing for Chuck Hagel. And that sums up why the die had been cast on the Hagel nomination, before we even got to these hearings today, which I am currently at. This vote, I believed (and now believe more than ever) is a referendum on neocon policy, not on Chuck Hagel.

Chuck Hagel, one of the first Republicans to stand up to President Bush on Iraq. Chuck Hagel who opposed the surge in Iraq, and in Afghanistan, and is against preemptive wars as a first option. Chuck Hagel being confirmed would put a nail in the coffin of neocon military policy. And that drives senators on the right insane.

That's why instead of looking ahead to issues we urgently face, in terms of a readied military that can meet commitments, McCain tried to bully Senator Hagel into saying McCain was right on the war in Iraq, and on the surge there. Of course, McCain wasn't right on the war, and wasn't right on the surge. Iraq stabilized not because of our increased military presence, but because of the Sunni awakening. In short, Iraq stabilized when Iraqis finally wanted that. But that wasn't going to keep McCain from blowing up at Chuck Hagel for daring to challenge him and other neocons.

The end of neocon rule is why Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma spent his question time presenting a blog from ultra-conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin, a favorite of the neocon cabal.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-soltz/gop-farce-at-hagel-hearin_b_2591483.html

Source: ABC NEWS

By GINA SUNSERI
Jan. 31, 2013
What would you tell seven astronauts if you knew their space shuttle was crippled on orbit?

It was a question that faced NASA's Mission Control considered after initial suspicions that something might be wrong with the shuttle Columbia as it was making its doomed reentry in 2003.

Wayne Hale, who later became space shuttle program manager, struggled with this question after the deaths of the Columbia crew 10 years ago. Recently he wrote about the debate in his blog, recalling a meeting to discuss the dilemma:

"After one of the MMTs (Mission Management Team) when possible damage to the orbiter was discussed, he (Flight Director Jon Harpold) gave me his opinion: 'You know, there is nothing we can do about damage to the TPS (Thermal Protection System). If it has been damaged it's probably better not to know. I think the crew would rather not know. Don't you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than to stay on orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out?"

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/columbia-shuttle-crew-told-problem-reentry/story?id=18366185

RALEIGH, N.C. - Daimler Trucks North America is warning 1,300 jobs could be lost at three North Carolina factories, reversing course a year after announcing plans to rehire more than a thousand workers there.

The company said Thursday the layoffs could hit in April if other efforts fail to address lower demand.

Portland, Ore.-based Daimler Trucks said it could cut 715 jobs at a factory in Cleveland, N.C., that builds Freightliner long-distance trucks, 400 at a Mount Holly plant that builds smaller Freightliner delivery trucks, and 80 at a Gastonia parts plant.

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http://www.startribune.com/business/189248691.html?refer=y

By Alexander Bolton - 01/29/13 03:08 PM ET

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday declined to voice support for Democratic legislation that would ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips.

Reid said he would bring gun-violence legislation to the floor and open it to a lengthy amendment process. But he declined to endorse the assault weapons ban introduced last week by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), which has the support of the 2nd- and 3rd-ranking Senate Democratic leaders.

“She’s talked to me about her assault weapons. The new one. She believes in it fervently and I admire her for that. I’ll take a look at that,” he said in response to a reporter's question. “We’re going to have votes on all kinds of issues dealing with guns, and I think everyone would be well advised to read the legislation before they determine how they’re going to vote [on] it.”


Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/279895-reid-declines-to-endorse-feinstein-assault-weapons-ban#ixzz2JaZ8TGIB
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DETROIT -
Michigan State Police Lt. Michael Shaw said two people are dead, 20 people are hurt and dozens of cars crushed in a massive crash that has closed a portion of I-75 in Detroit.

--CLIP
Local 4 spoke with several drivers at the scene who said they were in shock, but were able to get out of their cars safely and get off the interstate. They said white-out weather conditions made it very hard to see and the chain-reaction crash.

“I slowed down because of the weather, with the white-out, I tried to get out of the way and next thing …slammed into a truck," said one driver.

Several drivers said they tried to help others who were stuck in their cars before rescue crews got on the scene.

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http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2-dead-20-hurt-in-massive-crash-on-I-75-in-Detroit/-/1719418/18352868/-/format/rss_2.0/-/f6k5ywz/-/index.html

LIVE LINK: http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/WATCH-LIVE-Local-4-cameras-on-I-75-crash-scene/-/1719418/18352278/-/dtqpocz/-/index.html

MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry slammed outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday for a recent statement which referred to Russia’s “unwillingness” to assist in settlement of the Syria conflict, saying it was symptomatic of America's obstructive attitude to resolving the crisis.

“Unfortunately, we have repeatedly said that in their public statements, American representatives often show a very biased, and sometimes completely wrong interpretation of Russia’s position on Syria,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters.

“The same refers to the US Secretary of State's statement, which it is hard to assess as other than an attempt to turn everything upside down,” Lukashevich said.

In a recent interview with the NPR media organization, Clinton said regarding Syria: “Certainly from my perspective, the Russians were unwilling to go forward.”

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http://en.rian.ru/politics/20130131/179150313/Russia-Slams-Clintons-Bias-Over-Moscows-Syria-Position.html

MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has issued a secret order to put the country under martial law in preparation for a third nuclear test in its history, a South Korean newspaper reported on Thursday.

Kim Jong-un convened an emergency meeting with top defense and security officials last Saturday and supposedly said: “The country will be under martial law starting from midnight on January 29, and all the frontline and central units should be ready for a war,” Korean Joongang Daily reported, citing an unidentified source.

The paper also speculated that the new nuclear test could be held either on February 16, the birthday of former leader Kim Jong-il, or February 25, the inauguration day of South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye.

North Korea vowed on January 23 to strengthen its military capabilities and step up its controversial nuclear program shortly after the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions on the country over the December rocket launch.

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http://en.rian.ru/military_news/20130131/179151454/NKorea-Imposes-Martial-Law-Ahead-of-Nuclear-Test--Media.html