2015-09-20 Hello world!

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9/20 @ 5:39 : Jerusalem, IL

9/20 @ 4:45 : Florida, US

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9/20 @ 12:20 : Rehovot, IL

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9/19 @ 10:44 : United States, US

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9/19 @ 12:43 : Lenoir, North Carolina, US

9/19 @ 11:13 : France, FR

9/19 @ 10:56 : Philippines, PH

2015-09-20 US and torture...

2015-09-20 US and torture...
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WATCH: "Secrets, Politics and Torture"

The secret history of the fight over the CIA’s controversial interrogation methods, widely criticized as torture.

pbs.org|By FRONTLINE

2015-09-20 US: Get ready for Carly v Killary....

2015-09-20 US: Get ready for Carly v Killary....
=========================
You've come a long way, baby... I recall reading Virginia Voolf's "Thoughts on peace in an air raid" (1940) as part of English lit in high school - a call for women to assume leadership - which would inevitably bring peace and an end to wars... jz
Coleen Rowley writes:
Wouldn't it be something if Carly and Killary ever got to debate each other as to who would make the toughest, most vicious, bloodthirsty meanest chickenhawk President?

What you want to bet they both take some glamour shots posing with guns sometime soon? Even if it's only pretending to "hunt varmints" like Mitt Romney.

Carly Fiorina’s Military Would Cost an Extra $500 Billion (And That’s Before the New Nukes)

The surging presidential candidate sounded awfully hawkish at the last GOP debate. But those talons don’t come cheap.

thedailybeast.com

2015-09-20 Israeli propaganda source on Syria, quotes itself...

2015-09-20 Israeli propaganda source on Syria, quotes itself...
========================
Today, Yediot daily (YNET) writes:
"US to Russia: Read for a compromise in Syria"
"Following the many reports over the past two weeks regarding massive Russian presence on the ground in Syria..."
However:
* We are yet to see pictures of the massive Russian presence on the ground in Syria.
* International analysis sites note Yediot (YNET) as a major source for the publication of fake intelligence on the scope of Russian presence in Syria...
It is worthwhile also to note the bottom line: US is ready for a compromise with Russia regarding Syria, which involves the retirement of Bashar Assad.
That also means that the entire story we have been fed for the past 4-5 years, of a "civil war" and various colors (good and bad) Muslim rebels can be summed up with the US's desire to replace Bashar Assad.
And Russia offered the same deal to the US in 2012, prior to the death of some 100,000 civilians and creation of the largest refugee crisis since WWII...

2015-09-19 Deep State America

2015-09-19 Deep State America
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For the police and intelligence agencies, the propensity to operate in secret is a sine qua non for the deep state, as it provides cover for the maintenance of relationships that under other circumstances would be considered suspect or even illegal.
But for players in the deep state, there is no accountability and no legal limit. Everything is based on self-interest, justified through an assertion of patriotism and the national interest.
And deep state players are to be rewarded for their patriotism. They benefit materially from the criminal activity that they engage in.
First of all, one should note that for the deep state to be effective, it must be intimately associated with the development or pre-existence of a national security state. There must also be a perception that the nation is in peril, justifying extraordinary measures undertaken by brave patriots to preserve life and property of the citizenry. Those measures are generically conservative in nature, intended to protect the status quo with the implication that change is dangerous.
Those requirements certainly prevail in post 9/11 America, and also feed the other essential component of the deep state: that the intervening should work secretly or at least under the radar. Consider for a moment how Washington operates. There is gridlock in Congress and the legislature opposes nearly everything that the White House supports. Nevertheless, certain things happen seemingly without any discussion: Banks are bailed out and corporate interests are protected by law. Huge multi-year defense contracts are approved. Citizens are assassinated by drones, the public is routinely surveilled, people are imprisoned without be charged, military action against “rogue” regimes is authorized, and whistleblowers are punished with prison. The war crimes committed by U.S. troops and contractors on far-flung battlefields, as well as torture and rendition, are rarely investigated and punishment of any kind is rare. America, the warlike predatory capitalist, might be considered a virtual definition of deep state.
One critic describes deep state as driven by the “Washington Consensus,” a subset of the “American exceptionalism” meme. It is plausible to consider it a post-World War II creation, the end result of the “military industrial complex” that Dwight Eisenhower warned about, but some believe its infrastructure was actually put in place through the passage of the Federal Reserve Act prior to the First World War. Several years after signing the bill, Woodrow Wilson reportedly lamented, “We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.”

Deep State America

Democracy is often subverted by special interests operating behind the scenes.

theamericanconservative.com

2015-09-19 Deep State America

2015-09-19 Deep State America
=====================
For the police and intelligence agencies, the propensity to operate in secret is a sine qua non for the deep state, as it provides cover for the maintenance of relationships that under other circumstances would be considered suspect or even illegal.
But for players in the deep state, there is no accountability and no legal limit. Everything is based on self-interest, justified through an assertion of patriotism and the national interest.
And deep state players are to be rewarded for their patriotism. They benefit materially from the criminal activity that they engage in.
First of all, one should note that for the deep state to be effective, it must be intimately associated with the development or pre-existence of a national security state. There must also be a perception that the nation is in peril, justifying extraordinary measures undertaken by brave patriots to preserve life and property of the citizenry. Those measures are generically conservative in nature, intended to protect the status quo with the implication that change is dangerous.
Those requirements certainly prevail in post 9/11 America, and also feed the other essential component of the deep state: that the intervening should work secretly or at least under the radar. Consider for a moment how Washington operates. There is gridlock in Congress and the legislature opposes nearly everything that the White House supports. Nevertheless, certain things happen seemingly without any discussion: Banks are bailed out and corporate interests are protected by law. Huge multi-year defense contracts are approved. Citizens are assassinated by drones, the public is routinely surveilled, people are imprisoned without be charged, military action against “rogue” regimes is authorized, and whistleblowers are punished with prison. The war crimes committed by U.S. troops and contractors on far-flung battlefields, as well as torture and rendition, are rarely investigated and punishment of any kind is rare. America, the warlike predatory capitalist, might be considered a virtual definition of deep state.
One critic describes deep state as driven by the “Washington Consensus,” a subset of the “American exceptionalism” meme. It is plausible to consider it a post-World War II creation, the end result of the “military industrial complex” that Dwight Eisenhower warned about, but some believe its infrastructure was actually put in place through the passage of the Federal Reserve Act prior to the First World War. Several years after signing the bill, Woodrow Wilson reportedly lamented, “We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.”

Deep State America

Democracy is often subverted by special interests operating behind the scenes.

theamericanconservative.com

2015-09-19 Coming to a City Near You: The First 9/20 Psilocybin Mushroom Day

2015-09-19 Coming to a City Near You: The First 9/20 Psilocybin Mushroom Day
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By Lex Pelger, AlterNet
Thirty events around the world will celebrate the magic mushroom. READ MORE»

Coming to a City Near You: The First 9/20 Psilocybin Mushroom Day

Thirty events around the world will celebrate the magic mushroom.

alternet.org

2015-09-19 A refugee's alternative view on the refugee crisis...

2015-09-19 A refugee's alternative view on the refugee crisis...
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Linh Dinh's regulars are the unique photo-essays "Postcards from the End of America" - criss-crossing the US and documenting life under the Greater Depression. Here, in view of the current refugee crisis, he discusses his own history as a Vietnamese, unaccompanied, child refugee. Well worth the reading. JZ
____
"So there you have it, to survive in the years ahead, you must be flexible, resilient and, when absolutely necessary, even illegal, but preferably without hurting anybody. You must also evolve a technique for dealing with assholes. They’re multiplying."

Our Refugee Future

During the current refugee crisis in Europe, it is said that there are many imposters among genuine refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen, all countries, incidentally, that America and its allies have destroyed. Too many of them are men, it...

unz.com

2015-09-19 The failed West's war on Assad and the refugee crisis

2015-09-19 The failed West's war on Assad and the refugee crisis
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In 2012, at a critical point in the West's engineered civil war in Syria, Russia offered a resolution, involving Assad's departure. The West declined. The outcome is the largest refugee crisis since WWII...
_____
West 'ignored Russian offer in 2012 to have Syria's Assad step aside'
Exclusive: Senior negotiator describes rejection of alleged proposal – since which time tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced

West 'ignored Russian offer in 2012 to have Syria's Assad step aside'

Exclusive: Senior negotiator describes rejection of alleged proposal – since which time tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced

theguardian.com|By Julian Borger

2015-09-19 Britain's Drone Strike in Syria - These executions are a mark of tyranny

2015-09-19 Britain's Drone Strike in Syria - These executions are a mark of tyranny
===========
White the queen parades in celebration of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta... jz
_____
Patrick Cockburn
The ability to execute its own citizens has been a mark of tyrannical government from Rome in the days of the Caesars to Moscow during the Great Purge in the 1930s The lack of public response to the British government ordering the assassination by pilotless drones of two British citizens, Reyaad Khan and Rahul Amin,... Read More

Britain’s drone strike in Syria: These executions are a mark of tyranny

The ability to execute its own citizens has been a mark of tyrannical government from Rome in the days of the Caesars to Moscow during the Great Purge in the 1930s

unz.com

2015-09-19 ISRAELI media gain attention as anti-Russian propaganda sources...

2015-09-19 ISRAELI media gain attention as anti-Russian propaganda sources...
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Several serious sites note in recent days that Israeli YNET and Yediot (same company) have been a major source of false intel in recent days, regarding the scope of Russian involvement in Syria.
In Israel itself, any CIA type disinformation is taken as absolute truth... For example: Israeli media are now discussing the capabilities and limit of the Russian armed forced in running two simultaneous wars in - in Ukraine and in Syria... Kind of second level propaganda analysis based on false intel regarding both Ukraine and Syria... smile emoticon
Given the stories emerging from Germany regarding CIA buying journalists, I asked friends what they thing the rate of Israeli journalists would be, compared to their German colleagues. The estimate - on tenth, and they may also do it for free...

A Russian military intervention in Syria? I very much doubt it | The Vineyard of the Saker

A bird's eye view of the vineyard

thesaker.is

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2015-09-19 DRONES!

2015-09-19 DRONES!
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Air Force Times runs ad urging drone pilots to disobey orders

A US veterans’ organizations is running an advertisement in Air Force Times urging military drone operators to refuse orders to fly attack missions. This comes as the Air...

rt.com

2015-09-19 Hello world!

 

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