March 3, 2014

Neo-Nazis Pour Into Kiev

A stream of European jihadists have traveled to Syria to wage holy war. Now a group of European neo-Nazis are traveling to Ukraine to save the white race

In early February, Fredrik Hagberg stood at the rostrum in Kiev’s City Hall, offering fraternal and comradely greetings from Sweden to the sweaty, bruised, and exhausted Ukrainian insurrectionists scattered throughout. The place was festooned with flags—some celtic crosses, a stray Confederate banner, a standard for the political party Svoboda, whose members essentially controlled the building—reflecting the dubious politics of its occupiers.

Revolutionary tourists, thrill seekers, and parachute journalists suffused Kiev. Sen. John McCain, actress Hayden Panettiere, and French intellectual Bernard Henri-Levy roused massive crowds with paeans to freedom and national sovereignty, while offering moral support to the opposition forces led by former boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko.

But Hagberg, a square-jawed and baby-faced member of the Swedish armed forces, had a darker message.

“I stand before your forces of revolution to tell you about what your future might be if you fail your glorious endeavour,” he said in fluid-but-clipped English. “I stand here as a Swede. However where I come from is no longer Sweden.” Hagberg warned Ukrainians that a successful revolution must chart a path that carefully avoided the evils of abortion and ethnic mongrelization, one that harshly punished welfare abuse and rejected the normalization of homosexuality. “Officials in Sweden like to calls us the most modern country in the world. I say to you, brothers, this is what awaits you if you choose to follow our example. You now have the opportunity to choose and create your own future. Do not accept the trap of choosing either the West or Russia.”

It’s unclear who, if anyone, invited him, but Hagberg was speaking as a representative of Nordisk Ungdom (Nordic Youth), a Swedish neo-Nazi group that celebrates “a traditional ideal of a better man, striving for something greater and more noble than his own personal benefit; an idealistic man who fights for Europe’s freedom.” Visitors to the group’s English-language website are met with with a Barbara Kruger-like advertisement beseeching visitors to “help us to help the revolution! Support a free Ukraine! Donate Now...” Because Hagberg is trying to provoke his fellow neo-Nazis into travelling to Kiev to help shape a new, fascist-friendly Ukraine.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/28/the-swedish-neo-nazis-of-kiev.html

March 2, 2014

Florida State Attorney Corey Seeks 60-Year Sentence for Marissa Alexander

Jacksonville, FL - Florida State Attorney Angela Corey announced on March 1, 2014, that her office is seeking a maximum 60-year sentence in the retrial of Marissa Alexander, beginning in late July.

Marissa Alexander, the 33-year-old African American mother who fired a non-lethal warning shot to fend off her abusive husband, was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2012. State Attorney Corey, who personally prosecuted the case, sought the maximum sentence of 20 years under Florida's mandatory sentencing laws, despite no injuries or deaths. The jury deliberated for 12 minutes before returning a guilty verdict. The judge ordered Alexander's 20-year sentences for the three charges to be served concurrently--at the same time.

However, in 2013, a 1st District Court of Appeals judge overturned Alexander’s conviction and called for a new trial. Corey's latest demand is for the judge to order consecutive sentences, meaning Alexander may serve three 20-year sentences, sixty years, if convicted again.

A statement from the Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign called the move by Corey, "A stunning abuse of power." The statement continues, "As a consequence of winning the appeal to hopefully secure a more fair trial, Alexander now faces the alarming prospect that the original devastating sentence could be tripled in the new trial."


http://www.fightbacknews.org/2014/3/2/florida-state-attorney-corey-seeks-60-year-sentence-marissa-alexander

March 1, 2014

Rumor surrounding 'Captain America: Winter Soldier' movie post-credit scene. (Spoiler Alert)

Someone claiming to have seen the Captain America sequel already has just announced the film's post-credits scene. It comes from an odd source, but the description still sounds pretty plausible to me. Either way, warning: After the jump is a significant spoiler or a pack of lies.

The news comes from Lainey Gossip, whose writer apparently has access to secret early Marvel movie screenings (which seems unlikely, but in her article she describes both the film's abundance of physical stunt-work, as well as the characters of both Peggy and Sharon Carter which leads me to believe the writer is legit). Anyways, here's her description of the scene:

But the thing that's probably going to leave people talking the most is the post-credits stinger. They're calling them "The Twins", the brother-sister team of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, and they don't look like any Marvel heroes we've met to date. Having seen them, I am really sad for Fox and the X-Men, because this sh*t… (Fox's version) is horrible in and of itself, but in comparison it's outright embarrassing.

Makes total sense to me. Of course Cap 2 would link to Avengers 2 instead of the goofier, cosmic Guardians of the Galaxy; besides, Marvel always loves introducing these types of characters in earlier movies when they have the chance; and I'm sure Marvel is cackling delightedly and essentially getting their Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in theaters before Fox's X-Men: Days of Future Past.


http://io9.com/will-this-be-captain-america-the-winter-soldiers-post-1515239478

March 1, 2014

Gov. Brown signs $687M plan for drought relief in California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGO) -- Amid one of California's driest years on record, Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday signed legislation to assist drought-affected communities and provide funding to better use local water supplies.

"Legislators across the aisle have now voted to help hard-pressed communities that face water shortages," said Governor Brown. "This legislation marks a crucial step but Californians must continue to take every action possible to conserve water."

The legislation had broad, bipartisan support. SB 103 passed 34-2 in the Senate and 64-3 in the Assembly. SB 104 passed 33-3 in the Senate and 68-1 in the Assembly. The bills provide $687.4 million to support drought relief, including money for housing and food for workers directly impacted by the drought, bond funds for projects to help local communities more efficiently capture and manage water and funding for securing emergency drinking water supplies for drought-impacted communities.

In addition, the legislation increases funding for state and local conservation corps to assist communities with efficiency upgrades and reduce fire fuels in fire risk areas, and includes $1 million for the Save Our Water public awareness campaign which will enhance its mission to inform Californians how they can do their part to conserve water.


http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/state&id=9450283

March 1, 2014

Debbie Dingell launches campaign in Dearborn for husband's U.S. House seat

Debbie Dingell launched her congressional campaign Friday, telling supporters that making education affordable, protecting the environment and representing Michigan’s workers are her top priorities.

“I’m not running to replace John Dingell. I think he’s irreplaceable,” she said of her husband, who has held the seat for 58 years. “I want to keep fighting for the issues that have always been my passion, especially women and children.”

Several dozen supporters joined Debbie Dingell, 60, at the Panera Bread in her hometown of Dearborn, the first of three stops to launch her campaign.

Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly said Dingell is the best person to represent the district because of her breadth of knowledge of the cities and towns in the 12th Congressional District, which covers portions of western Wayne and Washtenaw counties.

“You have to know Washington and Washington needs to know you,” he said. “We’ll be sending a freshman to Washington. She should have the ability to be known and have access to departments. I can’t wait to see her take on Washington on our behalf.”



http://www.freep.com/article/20140228/NEWS06/302280073/Debbie-Dingell-U-S-House-campaign

March 1, 2014

Talking Heads - Road to Nowhere (VIDEO)

February 28, 2014

Violent Femmes - "American Music" (Video)

February 28, 2014

NYC Church Warns That 'Homo Demons' Unleashed By Obama Will Steal Men

A New York City church sign is warning black women that "homo demons" unleashed by President Barack Obama are out to steal their men, the Washington Times reported Thursday.

The ATLAH World Church in Harlem posted a photo of its marquee to its Facebook page.

The church's pastor, James David Manning, has previously criticized Obama and accused him of destroying the black family, according to the Village Voice.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/church-sign-warns-homo-demons-unleashed-by-obama-will-steal-husbands

February 27, 2014

Cult-like, corrupt and Christian conservative: Inside the campus group creating Wal-Mart managers

For decades, the campus group Students in Free Enterprise has drawn major funding and leadership from Wal-Mart, and channeled scores of students into the retail giant’s management ranks. Renamed Enactus in 2012, the group calls itself “the world’s best-known and most successful program helping university students to create community empowerment projects …” But California State University, Chico, accounting professor and former SIFE insider Curtis DeBerg told Salon that the well-heeled group served as “really a marketing branch to support business leaders who supported SIFE,” and that his decade as one of SIFE’s Sam Walton fellows was marked by fraud, turf war and falsehood. “There’s something entirely inconsistent about servant leadership as Wal-Mart practices it,” said DeBerg, the founder of the now-rival spinoff Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship. DeBerg’s memoir, “How High Is Up?: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of a Sam M. Walton SIFE Fellow,” will be released next month.

Asked about DeBerg’s allegations, Enactus sent a statement from CEO Alvin Rohrs saying that DeBerg “has not been associated with our organization for more than a decade and we are puzzled as to why these complaints would resurface now.” Rohrs told Salon that “we take the integrity of our competitions extremely seriously” and that a three-month investigation by an “independent investigator” into the cheating alleged by DeBerg had “found no impropriety or indication of any unethical behavior.” Rohrs added, “Over the last 11 years we’ve used this incident to continue to improve and strengthen our processes to ensure the highest standards of transparency and accuracy.”

In contrast, University of California, Santa Barbara, labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein, the author of “The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business,” told Salon over email that DeBerg “offers an inside account of the cultlike character, institutional corruption and corporate conservative ideology of an organization that is a product of the founding generation of Walmart executives,” as well as “part of the cultural apparatus that sustains the entire evangelical capitalist world within which so many retail, hotel, and food processing companies make their way.”

Wal-Mart referred a request for comment to Enactus. Noting that Wal-Mart served as SIFE’s top corporate sponsor and hired over a third of management trainees from SIFE in 2003, the historian Bethany Moreton argued that SIFE, an “economic counterpart” to the right-wing political group Young Americans for Freedom, had been “adopted” by Wal-Mart. Today SIFE has renamed itself Enactus; Wal-Mart’s CEO (SIFE’s most recent past board chair) and its central U.S. vice president sit on Enactus’ board; Wal-Mart and its Sam’s Club subsidiary are seven-figure Enactus donors.



http://www.salon.com/2014/02/26/cult_like_corrupt_and_christian_conservative_inside_the_campus_group_creating_wal_mart_managers/

February 27, 2014

Lawmakers Pull Ohio Religious Freedom Bill After Comparisons to Arizona Legislation

A controversial, so-called “religious freedom” bill in the Ohio legislature is being pulled. The legislation, similar to the bill that recently passed in Arizona, has been widely criticized for opening the door to discrimination against LGBT Ohioans. Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles reports on why the Ohio legislation is dead for now.

One of the sponsors of the religious freedom bill being considered in the Ohio legislature, Democratic Rep. Bill Patmon, says the plan is dead.

“We are pulling the bill, the entire bill, not just support or anything, but the bill is being pulled off of the legislative agenda—and by my request,” Patmon said. “And there is too much of a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of what’s going on in this particular case. And when you find that, then you have to maybe go back to the drawing board, because we are not Arizona nor were we ever intended to be or to have a bill that is reflective of what they’re doing.”

Patmon says he was pushing the bill because he wanted to make sure there were protections for people who wear a cross necklace, a yarmulke or some other religious symbol in their workplaces.


http://www.ideastream.org/news/feature/lawmakers-pull-ohio-religious-freedom-bill-after-comparisons-to-arizona-leg