Fred Sanders
Fred Sanders's JournalUS-led forces pound Islamic State stronghold in Syria
Source: The Times of Israel
Large series of airstrikes target Jihadist ‘capital’ of Raqqa, destroying infrastructure and transit routes, spokesman says BY AFP July 5, 2015.
US-led coalition forces said they carried out a series of 16 airstrikes Saturday on the Islamic State in its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, in one of the biggest assaults on the extremists.
“The significant airstrikes tonight were executed to deny Daesh the ability to move military capabilities throughout Syria and into Iraq,” spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gilleran said in a coalition statement, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.
“This was one of the largest deliberate engagements we have conducted to date in Syria and it will have debilitating effects on Daesh’s ability to move from Raqqa.”
Coalition forces “successfully engaged multiple targets” throughout Raqqa — the extremists’ de facto capital — the statement said, destroying IS structures and transit routes.
Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-led-forces-pound-islamic-state-stronghold-in-syria/
Happy Independence Day, ISIS.
Obama Blasts Netanyahu For Abandoning Two-State Solution, Making Anti-Arab Remarks
Source: Think Progress/Huffington Post
March 21 5:26 EDT
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has jeopardized future negotiations for peace with the Palestinians by abandoning the two state solution and demonizing Arab voters, President Barack Obama said on Friday in an interview with the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein.
In his first public comments about the Israeli election, in which Netanyahu’s Likud party almost certainly won enough seats to secure Netanyahu a fourth-term as prime minister, Obama criticized Netanyahu for fomenting fear of Arab-Israelis. On election day, as he appeared to be losing at the polls, Netanyahu told supporters, “The right-wing government is in danger. Arab voters are going en masse to the polls. Left-wing NGOs are bringing them on buses.”
“We indicated that that kind of rhetoric was contrary to what is the best of Israel’s traditions,” Obama told the Huffington Post. “That although Israel was founded based on the historic Jewish homeland and the need to have a Jewish homeland, Israeli democracy has been premised on everybody in the country being treated equally and fairly. And I think that that is what’s best about Israeli democracy. If that is lost, then I think that not only does it give ammunition to folks who don’t believe in a Jewish state, but it also I think starts to erode the name of democracy in the country.”
Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/03/21/3637253/obama-blasts-netanyahu-abandoning-two-state-solution-anti-arab-remarks/
Go get 'em President Obama - the liars, woo pushers, corrupt puppets, religious zealots, opportunists and general purpose fact deniers everywhere are not near as loved as you.
MP's Knew of HSBC Swiss Tax Evasion Claims in 2011 | The Guardian
Source: The Guardian (UK)
Tuesday, February 10, 2015 17:50 GMT
Britain’s chief tax inspector told MPs in September 2011 that his department possessed a disc containing records from the Swiss subsidiary of a major UK bank – understood to be HSBC, contradicting Downing Street’s assertion on Tuesday that ministers only became aware of the scale of potential tax evasion through the bank at the weekend.
At the time, the former chairman of the HSBC, Stephen Green, was trade minister, having been appointed by David Cameron nine months earlier.
Hansard transcripts show that David Hartnett, the then head of HMRC, told a Treasury select committee investigation into tax avoidance: “I think the whole nation probably knows that our department has a disc from the Swiss – from the Geneva branch of a major UK bank – with 6,000 names, all ripe for investigation.”
Speaking to the Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop, Hartnett continued: “We have hundreds [of people] under investigation, some of them under criminal investigation, and we are about to challenge another 800. Then we will industrialise the process, challenging 1,000 at a time, with a view to having all those who need challenging challenged pretty quickly.”
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/10/mps-knew-of-hsbc-swiss-tax-evasion-claims-in-2011
Hell, yes...
"There is hypocrisy in the discussion of the Netanyahu-Boehner end-run. It is not unprecedented for foreign leaders to lobby Congress directly; the Arab states opposed to Iran do it all the time, and the British prime minister, David Cameron, lobbied Congress earlier this month on behalf of Obama’s Iran policy, and against the arguments of the Republicans.
But the manner and execution and overall tone-deafness of Netanyahu’s recent ploy suggest that he—and his current ambassador—don’t understand how to manage Israel’s relationships in Washington. Netanyahu wants a role in shaping the Iranian nuclear agreement, should one materialize. His recent actions suggest that he doesn't quite know what he's doing."
Crashing Oil Prices Will Be Terrible ONLY For A Tiny Part Of The US Economy
The media propaganda campaign to get folks to feel sorry for the taxpayer subsidized, near tax-free profit gravy train than is oil and gas production in America is yet another lie on the loose that folks need to get their pants on over and chase before they ask for more subsidies.
Please, Mr. Oil Baron, stop pissing on folks and telling them it is raining.
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"The US Economy And Stock Market As A Whole Won't Even Notice. While oil and gas capex represents an increasing share of overall capex, it represents less than 1% of GDP (see yellow line in chart above). For the stock market, the 11.9% drop in expected energy sector profits will be more than offset by gains elsewhere. According to FactSet, analysts expect S&P 500 earnings to rise 8.6% in 2015.
There's no getting around the fact that lower oil prices are bad news for the oil sector. But what's bad for the oil sector is more than good for the rest of the economy and the markets.
"Consumer spending represents 68% of the US economy," Charles Schwab's Liz Ann Sonders noted. "Oil and gas capex represents about 1% of US GDP and less than 9% of US total capex (which in turn represents about 12% of US GDP). Therefore, the benefit of lower energy prices to the consumer and many businesses greatly outweighs the significant hit to energy companies and/or energy-oriented capex, especially in energy-oriented states.""
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(Blue line is annual national industrial Capex, Yellow line is energy sector % of national GDP)
http://www.businessinsider.com/energy-investment-a-small-share-of-gdp-2014-12
Pope Leads Global Praise for US-Cuba Rapprochement
Source: Yahoo News (AFP) (4 hours ago)
Paris (AFP) - Pope Francis led a chorus of global plaudits for Wednesday's breakthrough in US-Cuban relations which was hailed from Berlin to Bogota as "courageous" and "historic."
In a personal coup for the pope, it emerged that the Vatican had played a central role in bringing together the global capitalist superpower and the tiny communist island.
The Argentinian pontiff sent "warm congratulations" to the former arch-foes for their "historic decision... to establish diplomatic relations, with the aim of overcoming, in the interest of the citizens of both countries, the difficulties which have marked their recent history".
The Vatican said in its statement that the pontiff had sent letters to US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro, offering their delegations his offices in October to "facilitate a constructive dialogue on delicate matters, resulting in solutions acceptable to both parties."
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper noted his country -- which never broke off ties with Cuba -- had also played a part in ending the standoff.
"Canada supports a future for Cuba that fully embraces the fundamental values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law," Harper said.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-leads-global-praise-historic-us-cuba-rapprochement-220851078.html
So Canada also had a role to play in the rapprochement.
Gotta love Canada and rapprochement.
Man Convicted in German Exchange Student's Killing
Source: AP
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana man who shot and killed a German exchange student caught trespassing in his garage was convicted of deliberate homicide Wednesday despite arguing that a state "castle doctrine" law allowed him to use deadly force to protect his home and family.
Cheers erupted in the packed courtroom when the verdict in the case of Markus Kaarma, 30, was read. The parents of the victim, 17-year-old Diren Dede, hugged and cried.
"It is very good," Dede's father, Celal Dede, said with tears in his eyes. "Long live justice".
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At a hearing Thursday, Diren Dede's parents will give statements to the judge to consider at sentencing. Prosecutors asked for the hearing so Celal and Gulcin Dede won't have to return to Missoula in February.
Kaarma shot Dede in the early hours of April 27 after being alerted to an intruder by motion sensors. Witnesses testified Kaarma fired four shotgun blasts at Dede, who was unarmed.
Kaarma's attorneys argued at trial that he feared for his life, didn't know if the intruder was armed, and was on edge because his garage was burglarized at least once in the weeks before the shooting. They said Kaarma's actions were justifiable because he feared for his family's safety.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Deliberations-resume-in-exchange-student-killing-5962189.php
The "Castle doctrine" was actually applied, the absolute defence of justification was rejected, the part about the defense of your "castle" has to be reasonable, using deadly force has to be justified.
Four shot gun blasts at the unarmed "intruder". Not reasonable.
Good to know there is still Justice in the world.
America's Ebola Epidemic Currently Consists Of One Person With Ebola | Think Progress
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/10/28/3585269/both-dallas-nurses-confirmed-ebola-free/
Nearly a week after health officials declared her Ebola free, Amber Vinson will be released from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, officials said on Tuesday. The news means that there is just one known person in the U.S. who has an active case of Ebola.
Vinson, one of nearly 70 medical personnel who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, received her diagnosis days after the CDC announced her colleague Nina Pham had contracted the virus. The diagnosis caused further worry when it was revealed that Vinson had flown commercially days before being hospitalized.
Pham, who fell ill two days after Duncan succumbed, was released from the National Institutes of Health last week after two weeks of treatment. She visited the White House not long after, where she and President Barack Obama shared a hug.
For weeks, Vinson’s family members fought criticism, stressing that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved her travel plans. According to hospital officials, Vinson will make her first public statement during a national news conference at 1 p.m. E.T.
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http://hamilton7science.wikispaces.com/file/view/science_-_you're_doing_it_wrong-1.jpg/155926393/525x420/science_-_you're_doing_it_wrong-1.jpg
This is not a "war", it is a pogrom in a ghetto, the Gaza ghetto is like the Warsaw ghetto.
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EDIT:
We are not alone:
"A Pew Research Center poll released Monday showed that a plurality of Democrats across the country, 35 percent, and liberals, 44 percent, said that Israel had “gone too far” in its response to its conflict with Hamas. Meanwhile 47 percent of Democrats told Gallup that Israel’s actions during the current conflict were “unjustified,” compared to just 31 percent who thought the opposite."
To be ignored and sent to jury.......ignored in the media, ignored by our own progressive heroes.....
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Israelis want a "final solution", having apparently forgotten their own history.
War is between relatively equal sides, no war ends up with 1300 civilians killed on one side and 2 on the other, anyone care to weigh in on the math?
Meanwhile cowardly American politicians hide behind chest beating symbolic votes and ship more ammo to Israel as a gift, hoping to keep their fundraising intact and not be attacked by the compliant media...as hundreds of children are torn part limb by limb in their sleep as they
lay in "protected" UN shelters.
As evil as the slaughter is the evil of the American media advancing evil lies and war crimes by the dozens. The human shield argument is so lame as to be a war crime itself, but criminals always have their own sick mind justifications, do they not?
Did you get the part where Israel gets to or has to, I have not figured that out yet, to buy more ammo and weapons.....directly from the American manufacturers? Because the hereto before secret stash of a billion dollars already in Israel, provided by you as a taxpayer, is not enough. Not enough to continue the killing at the pace Bibi wants. How sick is that!
America and Israel belong on the same psych ward, and in the same courtroom.
And yes, I am directly attacking Israel. Israel is wrong and the dead children are dead right, so take me to the jury for my whipping, I am man enough to defend myself and the dead at the same time.
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