March 6, 2016

BOOM! Saudi Arabia's Exploding Christmas Gifts, From Hillary Clinton

Saudi Arabia's Exploding Christmas Gifts From Hillary Clinton
By Medea Benjamin and Rebecca Green * 06 March 2016 * PINKtank via TruthOut

On Christmas Eve in 2011, Hillary Clinton and her closest aides celebrated a $29.4 billion sale of over 80 F-15 fighter jets, manufactured by US-based Boeing Corporation, to Saudi Arabia. In a chain of enthusiastic emails, an aide exclaimed that it was "not a bad Christmas present."

These are the very fighter jets the Saudis have been using to intervene in the internal affairs of Yemen since March 2015. A year later, at least 2,800 Yemeni civilians have been killed, mostly by airstrikes - and there is no end in sight. The indiscriminate Saudi strikes have killed journalists and ambulance drivers. They have hit the Chamber of Commerce, facilities supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders), a wedding hall, and a center for the blind. The attacks have also targeted ancient heritage sites in Yemen. International human rights organizations are saying that the Saudi-led strikes on Yemen may amount to war crimes.

During her tenure as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton made weapons transfers to the Saudi government a "top priority," according to a new report published in The Intercept. While Clinton's State Department was deeply invested in getting weapons to Saudi Arabia, the Clinton Foundation accepted millions of dollars in donations from both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the weapons manufacturer Boeing. Christmas presents were being gifted all around.

Despite the brutal attacks on Yemen and egregious domestic human rights violations, Saudi Arabia remains the number one US ally in the Arab world. While the original US interest was to secure Saudi's vast oil reserves, today only 10% of oil used in the United States now comes from the Kingdom. US dependence on Saudi oil has been superseded by US dependence on weapons sales.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35100-saudi-s-exploding-christmas-gifts-from-hillary-clinton

March 6, 2016

FBI Now Spying on HS Students, To ID and Weed-Out "Extremists & Anarchists" for Pre-crimes.

The FBI Has a New Plan to Spy on High School Students Across the Country
By Sarah Lazare * Mar 4, 2016 * AlterNet via TruthDig

Under new guidelines, the FBI is instructing high schools across the country to report students who criticize government policies and “western corruption” as potential future terrorists, warning that “anarchist extremists” are in the same category as ISIS and young people who are poor, immigrants or travel to “suspicious” countries are more likely to commit horrific violence. ...

This overwhelming threat is then used to justify a massive surveillance apparatus, wherein educators and pupils function as extensions of the FBI by watching and informing on each other.

The FBI’s justification for such surveillance is based on McCarthy-era theories of radicalization, in which authorities monitor thoughts and behaviors that they claim to lead to acts of violent subversion, even if those people being watched have not committed any wrongdoing. This model has been widely discredited as a violence prevention method, including by the U.S. government, but it is now being imported to schools nationwide as official federal policy.

Schools as "hotbeds of extremism"
The new guidelines depict high schools as hotbeds of extremism, where dangers lurk in every corner. “High school students are ideal targets for recruitment by violent extremists seeking support for their radical ideologies, foreign fighter networks, or conducting acts of violence within our borders,” the document warns, claiming that youth “possess inherent risk factors.” In light of this alleged threat, the FBI instructs teachers to “incorporate a two-hour block of violent extremism awareness training” into the core curriculum for all youth in grades 9 through 12.

According to the FBI’s educational materials for teenagers, circulated as a visual aide to their new guidelines, the following offenses constitute signs that “could mean that someone plans to commit violence” and therefore should be reported: “Talking about traveling to places that sound suspicious”; “Using code words or unusual language”; “Using several different cell phones and private messaging apps”; and “Studying or taking pictures of potential targets (like a government building).”

Under the category of domestic terrorists, the educational materials warn of the threat posed by “anarchist extremists.”

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_fbi_has_a_new_plan_to_spy_on_high_school_students_20160304

March 4, 2016

House of Cards - Season 4: Unofficially available at 3:01 a.m EST on March 4.

I'm an unashamed inveterate House of Cards junky. I'll be watching.

I wasn't sure if this should be posted this in GD or GD-P.

March 2, 2016

Cheers to Sanders Campaign from Leonardo DiCaprio

March 2, 2016

NYTimes calls Mass. for Bernie Sanders

With 48% of the vote v. Hillary's 51%.

Someone pushed the wrong button I guess..

March 2, 2016

Looks like Bernie's winning 4-5 states tonight (out of 11 total). That a VERY respectable showing.

These results are NOT a Clinton "mandate" for Hillary (or her supporters) to climb on
a high-horse and start demanding that Bernie "get out now".

That is total BULLSHIT. Don't buy into it for a second.

GO Bernie!!!!

March 2, 2016

Massachusetts: Hillary lead shrinking, now down to just +3%

http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results

March 2, 2016

Bernie's winning Colorado by +11 ... WOOT! nt

March 2, 2016

Where are the fucking NUMBERS/PERCENTAGES? .. on races "too close to call"???????

This is maddening. It's not like the M$M don't have numbers/percentages, they do
and are fucking hiding them behind non-stop yammering, just saying "those races are
too close to call"..

and they have the audacity to call themselves "journalists".

March 1, 2016

D.W. Shultz Joins Predatory Lenders' attacking Eliz. Warren & her Consumer Protection Bureau.

A sad foreshadowing of what's in-store for we 'the little people' under a Hillary Clinton Administration?

WASHINGTON -- Payday lenders have been gunning for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since the day President Barack Obama tapped Elizabeth Warren to set up the new agency. They've had plenty of help from congressional Republicans -- longtime recipients of campaign contributions from the payday loan industry. As the CFPB has moved closer to adopting new rules to shield families from predatory lending, the GOP has assailed the agency from every conceivable angle -- going after it's budget, attempting to tie its hands with new layers of red tape, fomenting conspiracy theories about rogue regulators illegally shutting down businesses and launching direct attacks on payday loan rules themselves.

To date, the GOP blitz has resulted in a few close shaves for the young agency, but no actual defeats. But the industry has cultivated a powerful new ally in recent weeks: DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla) .. is co-sponsoring a new bill that would gut the CFPB's forthcoming payday loan regulations. She's also attempting to gin up Democratic support for the legislation on Capitol Hill, according to a memo obtained by The Huffington Post.

The DNC chair isn't the first Democrat to defend payday lenders. A handful of House Financial Services Committee members consistently join the GOP's payday loan boosterism. But support from such backbenchers has been politically impotent. Wasserman Schultz, by contrast, is the nominal head of the Democratic Party. Her support undercuts efforts by liberals in Congress to draw contrasts with Republicans on economic issues.

The misleadingly titled Consumer Protection and Choice Act would delay the CFPB's payday lending rules by two years, and nullify its rules in any state with a payday lending law like the one adopted in Florida.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/debbie-wasserman-schultz-paylenders-cfpb_us_56d4ce38e4b03260bf77e8fc