Waiting For Everyman
Waiting For Everyman's JournalBrutal editorial against the R's by the WaPo editorial board
Regarding the shutdown of course. It contains a concise summary of the facts too.
House Republicans are failing Americans in their effort to kill Obamacare
...
Republicans tried to block its (ACA's) passage and failed; they hoped to have it declared unconstitutional and failed; and they did their best to toss Mr. Obama out of the White House after one term in order to strangle it in its cradle, and they failed again.
They’re entitled to keep trying, of course — though it would be nice if someday they remembered their promise to come up with an alternative proposal. But their methods now are beyond the pale.
After months of refusing to confer with the Senate on a budget proposal, they have demanded a conference committee to keep the government funded for six weeks. They are rejecting a budget extension that includes limits on federal spending — the so-called sequester — that they insisted on and that Democrats oppose. In a particularly shabby piece of faux populism, their final proposal Monday night included a measure to deprive congressional aides, many of whom earn considerably less than the esteemed members, of the subsidy to purchase health insurance that employers routinely provide.
That measure was emblematic of Republicans’ heedlessness of the impact of their actions on ordinary Americans and their government. Incoming FBI Director James B. Comey was stunned to discover that his agency has had to stop training recruits, close criminal cases and even deny gasoline money to agents because of budget cutbacks, as The Post’s Sari Horwitz reported. Now, with the shutdown, 800,000 workers are being furloughed, and thousands of others are being ordered to work but may not get paid. And these effects pale beside the economic havoc that would be caused by a failure to honor the government’s financial obligations, a prospect that looms just a couple of weeks ahead.
Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Budget Committee chairman and former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and their colleagues may be in a difficult political position. Honestly, we don’t much care. They need to reopen the government and let it pay its bills.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/house-republicans-are-failing-americans-in-their-effort-to-kill-obamacare/2013/10/01/49995ed0-2ab1-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_story.html
Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark.
It's going to become increasingly difficult for the R's to deny that this is their fault, and solely their fault, with editorials like this being written by major newspapers. In fact, I think their attempt at blame-shifting this onto the Dems is a lost cause already. They have been a little too obvious about stating their intentions and carrying this out, to hide it now.
Al-Bayda: Anatomy of a War Crime (Human Rights Watch)
Reporting by Channel 4 News.
It goes with this HRW article and report, released yesterday...
Syria: Mass Executions by Government Forces
New Evidence That at Least 248 Executed in Coastal Towns
September 13, 2013 Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/09/13/syria-mass-executions-government-forces
“No One’s Left”: Summary Executions by Syrian Forces in al-Bayda and Baniyas, 68-page report by HRW (I highly recommend reading this report, it is worth the time.)
http://www.hrw.org/node/118645/
HRW: New 68-pg report documenting mass executions by Syrian gov in two coastal towns
Re-posted from a reply to this thread, because the report really deserves more exposure than that...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023662649
Syria: Mass Executions by Government Forces
New Evidence That at Least 248 Executed in Coastal Towns
September 13, 2013 Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/09/13/syria-mass-executions-government-forces
Link below: The 68-page report by HRW linked to in the article, includes numerous witness accounts and names names, places, and dates. It is nobody's opinion, it's all specific facts. I read the whole thing and I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand what's going on in Syria right now. The massacres in these towns BY GOVERNMENT FORCES took place during 2 days last May. Read it, put yourself in their place, and see if you can better understand the rage in the OP article. I'm not excusing it, but it does make more sense
“No One’s Left”: Summary Executions by Syrian Forces in al-Bayda and Baniyas
I'm pretty sure that report was just released today. Here's another worthwhile report released today, a film called "Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution". I highly recommend this too. The line that got me, when Nour, a 24 year old English teacher says, "Why should I die cheap?". She meant accidentally, by stray shrapnel or something, as opposed to doing something to help her country. Please watch it, and read the report.
If anyone can read every word of that 68-page report, and still honestly argue that we should do nothing to stop that carnage, then I could only say that we'd have to agree to disagree.
"Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution" (new Syrian documentary)
If you only watch one video today, make it this. Released today, directed by a Marylander, Matthew Van Dyke, who fought for the Libyan Revs and was a prisoner for months, now helping the Syrian Revs with his films.
Nour, 24, English teacher turned photo-journalist: "I used to wear fancy dresses and high heels, but not anymore... I have to do this for my country, I have to give what I can give. It's pretty important to let the world see what's going on.... Why should I die cheap?"
The director's twitter page for further info and links. He's asking that the film be reposted as much as possible, without charge except giving credit as the filmmaker.
https://twitter.com/Matt_VanDyke
This might help explain why...
Syria: Mass Executions by Government Forces
New Evidence That at Least 248 Executed in Coastal Towns
September 13, 2013 Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/09/13/syria-mass-executions-government-forces
Link below: The 68-page report by HRW linked to in the article, includes numerous witness accounts and names names, places, and dates. It is nobody's opinion, it's all specific facts. I read the whole thing and I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand what's going on in Syria right now. The massacres in these towns BY GOVERNMENT FORCES took place last May. Read it, put yourself in their place, and see if you can better understand the rage in the OP article. I'm not excusing it, but it does make more sense
“No One’s Left”: Summary Executions by Syrian Forces in al-Bayda and Baniyas
I'm pretty sure that report was just released today. Here's another worthwhile report released today, a film called "Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution". I highly recommend this too. The line that got me, when Nour a 24 year old English teacher says, "Why should I die cheap?". She meant accidentally, by stray shrapnel or something, as opposed to doing something to help her country. Please watch it, and read the report.
Blast wrecks government office in Libya's Benghazi: witnesses
Source: The Daily Star, Lebanon
September 11, 2013 09:02 AM
Agence France Presse
BENGHAZI, Libya: A powerful blast caused severe damage to a foreign ministry building in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Wednesday, witnesses said.
It was not immediately known if the blast, which the witnesses said appeared to have been caused by a car bomb, had resulted in casualties.
The explosion comes on the first anniversary of an attack by militants on the United States consulate in Benghazi, which killed four Americans, including the ambassador.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Sep-11/230835-blast-wrecks-government-office-in-libyas-benghazi-witnesses.ashx#axzz2eZ1SXMNu
Hands Off Syria??
I have a strong hunch most people here would do a lot better than this. The vid does make a generally valid point though... as we see.
A message today to anti-war activists from the Syrian town of Kafranbel
In case anyone thinks this is fake, this town is well-known among Syrians for doing similar visual statements for quite a while...
...
“We started writing signs in English in May 2011 because we felt that the international community would care more about human rights than Arabs, so we wanted to address them in a common language,” he said.
Cartoons were introduced in August 2011, executed by a technician at a dental clinic who sketched as a hobby. Syrians took notice, and foreign media regularly featured Kafranbel’s signs.
Protests, and the signs, are meticulously planned, and every detail has a meaning. Posters, for example, carry datelines that tell the story of the conflict, starting with just Kafranbel, to Occupied Kafranbel and then Liberated Kafranbel after the army was expelled from the town in August.
“We switched again seven weeks ago to the Syrian Revolution Kafranbel,” Fares said. “Most of the world has forgotten that we are in a revolution, and call it a civil war. We are reminding them of what is actually happening on the ground.”
...
http://beta.syriadeeply.org/2013/03/kafranbel-witty-slogans-encroaching-islamists/#.Ui0NKD9228A
This doesn't necessarily mean that I'm for intervention at this point; I'm not necessarily against it either -- will have to wait and see what develops a bit more.
New German intercept shows Assad responsible for chemical weapons attack
Headline:
Assad 'launched chemical attack in moment of panic because he was scared rebels would take Damascus', say spies as Russia sends missile cruiser to Mediterranean
Bashar Al-Assad launched the chemical attack which killed hundreds of people because he 'lost his nerve' in a moment of panic and worried that Damascus would fall to rebel troops, according to new intelligence.
In a telephone call which was tapped by German spy chiefs, a senior Hezbollah commander told the Iranian embassy in Lebanon that Syria's president intended to tilt the balance of power towards the regime in the battle for control of the country's capital.
...
The call from a Hezbollah leader about the chemical attack, in which he described the move as 'a big mistake', was intercepted by Germany's BNC intelligence service and reported by Der Spiegel magazine.
The revelation has led the country's top spies to agree with the U.S. intelligence assessment that Assad was indeed responsible for using chemical weapons in the attack on August 21.
...
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2411254/Syria-crisis-claims-Assad-launched-chemical-attack-scared-rebels-Damascus.html#ixzz2eKKVoLsN
The interesting thing about this, to me, is the news that Assad is that worried about actually losing Damascus.
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