Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

WestStar

WestStar's Journal
WestStar's Journal
July 1, 2013

FOX10 Phoenix reporting DPS chopper pilot landed at site of 19 Prescott firefighters

and confirmed them dead. The pilot apparently personally new most of the crew and reported that they were mostly the sons of Prescott city firemen.

Their average age was 22 years old.

June 30, 2013

Hispanic guy guns down Black guy and there is hardly any notice taken on progressive sites

Hell, it's all they are talking about on right wing sports talk radio. Hour after hour day after day.

Aaron Hernandez (Puerto Rican/Irish/Italian), a wealthy mansion dweller, has allegedly murdered in cold blood, with an illegally possessed gun no less, a young man Odin LLoyd(black guy). Where is the outrage? Where is the endless speculation about racist motives? Why aren't there 100's of posts discussing how our society and it's attitudes are responsible for this tragic incident? Where are the endless details about Aaron's background and prior actions?

Why no comment from the President about if he had a son he would look like Odin?

Where is the media hype? Why must I listen to Sports talk radio to get the real news?

I'm suspicious of the mostly deafening silence on this matter.

June 28, 2013

Birders fake birds death to discredit wind power

An enthusiast who travelled to the Western Isles to view a rare bird has told of his "dismay" after watching it fly into a wind turbine and die.

The white-throated needletail, which breeds in Asia and winters in Australasia, was spotted on Harris.

About 30 birdwatchers travelled to the island to see the unusual visitor, which has only been recorded five times in the UK since 1950.

However, they then saw it die after colliding with the wind turbine.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-23082846



They have no actual evidence of the windmill actually striking the bird, just conjecture.

I'm suspicious.
June 26, 2013

23 years ago today, 6/26/1990, Phoenix set an all time record temp of 122 degrees

The current forecast for this coming weekend is going to be close. 118 predicted for Friday and 117 for Saturday.

I'm all for breaking records, looks like we have 2 shots at it.

June 25, 2013

Where do they come from?



No cooking show for you Ryan.
June 24, 2013

Rusty the red panda goes missing from National Zoo

A red panda named Rusty has pulled an Edward Snowden and gone missing. No word on whether he's bound for Ecuador.
Rusty was last seen in his exhibit at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. And then—abracadabra!—Rusty vanished.
The zoo posted this alert to its Twitter feed on Monday morning:




In a series of Twitter updates, the zoo wrote that zookeepers have scoured trees but have not been able to find him. "Red pandas are wild animals, & will bite if cornered or scared," the zoo warned. "If you do see Rusty, don’t try to approach him. Stay where you can safely keep an eye on him & alert the Zoo (202.633.4888) immediately."


http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/rusty-red-panda-goes-missing-national-zoo-165736563.html
June 18, 2013

NSA plant in San Antonio shrouded in secrecy

SAN ANTONIO - Over the past six years, the National Security Agency has quietly transformed the former Sony chip fabrication plant on the northwest side into a black-box hub of intelligence gathering and data storage.

Satellite and aerial imagery show that massive air conditioning units and backup generators have been added to the facility, which is now ringed by barbed-wire fencing. City permits and property tax records show that the complex has been dramatically expanded.(schnip)

However, a San Antonio Express-News examination of funding for major construction projects listed in the Defense Department's budgets from fiscal years 2004 through 2013 found no appropriations for the extensive work at the old Sony plant.

"I would have thought that funding for the San Antonio facility would be handled about the same as that for Utah or Georgia, and I can't immediately think of why it wasn't," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' government secrecy project.

(A) spokeswoman said the facility became operational late last year.


Your tax dollars at work, but you have no need to know.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/NSA-plant-in-San-Antonio-shrouded-in-secrecy-4604109.php





The National Security Agency building in San Antonio is seen in an aerial photo Thursday. The NSA may have invested as much as $300 million to overhaul the former Sony plant, which was closed in 2003, to turn it into a hub of classified activity. Photo: William Luther, Staff / © 2013 San Antonio Express-News
June 17, 2013

Need an example of what's wrong with the media?



CNN, Piers Moran.
June 15, 2013

Is there really a distinction between arming the "rebels" in Syria to take out Assad

and sending in a team of snipers or launching a drone attack to acomplish the mission? (To me there is another option which is to mind our own effing business but be that as it may)

Reports are that our government will be spending $50 million a day, money we have to print, to keep 2 ancient tribes from killing each other.

So whether he has been pushed, tricked or suckered into this position or that he really thinks, in his best considered judgment and opinion, that what he is about to implement is the right and proper course of action, why not save the blood, time and money and just "order a hit".

Oh you say. "it's against the law to for Obama to assassinate a foreign leader."

Well, no it isn't...

No standing Federal law criminalizes the assassination of a foreign official outside the boundaries of the United States. In the absence of such a statute, only Executive Order 12333 prohibits the act of state-sponsored killing. This Order, which was drafted in the mid-1970s in the wake of revelations of government involvement in plots to kill several foreign leaders, has been maintained by every administration since President Ford. In recent years, however, there have been several attempts by Congress to override Executive Order 12333. The most recent of these initiatives is H.R. 19, the “Terrorist Elimination Act of 2001,” proposed in January of this year by Representative Barr of Georgia.3 The findings section of this bill states:

Past Presidents have issued Executive orders which severely limit the use of the military when dealing with potential threats against the United States of America, these Executive orders limit the swift, sure, and precise action needed by the United States to protect our national security; present strategy allows the military to bomb large targets hoping to eliminate a terrorist leader, but prevents our country from designing a limited action which would specifically accomplish that purpose .

http://www.bc.edu/dam/files/schools/law/lawreviews/journals/bciclr/26_1/01_TXT.htm

So if the President is really convinced that he is following the proper course of action by eliminating Assad, a simple Executive order would give him the authority to do so.

Profile Information

Member since: Sun May 19, 2013, 08:19 PM
Number of posts: 202
Latest Discussions»WestStar's Journal