October 31, 2015

Netanyahu Retracts Assertion That Palestinian Inspired Holocaust

Source: NY Times

After more than a week of local and international condemnation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel issued a statement on Friday retracting his accusation that it was a Palestinian cleric who gave Hitler the idea of annihilating Europe’s Jews during World War II.

Mr. Netanyahu, criticized even by Israeli historians for distorting facts, had already said he never intended to absolve Hitler of responsibility for the Holocaust by blaming the mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, but the new statement went further.

“The decision to move from a policy of deporting Jews to the Final Solution was made by the Nazis and was not dependent on outside influence,” Mr. Netanyahu posted on Facebook, in Hebrew and English. “The Nazis saw in the Mufti a collaborator, but they did not need him to decide on the systematic destruction of European Jewry, which began in June 1941.”

He went on: “Contrary to the impression that was created, I did not mean to claim that in his conversation with Hitler in November 1941 the Mufti convinced him to adopt the Final Solution. The Nazis decided on that by themselves.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/world/middleeast/netanyahu-retracts-assertion-that-palestinian-inspired-holocaust.html

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https://m.

October 31, 2015

Charisma - hate (JPOP)

https://m.

October 31, 2015

In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs

When Courtney Griffin was using heroin, she lied, disappeared, and stole from her parents to support her $400-a-day habit. Her family paid her debts, never filed a police report and kept her addiction secret — until she was found dead last year of an overdose.

At Courtney’s funeral, they decided to acknowledge the reality that redefined their lives: Their bright, beautiful daughter, just 20, who played the French horn in high school and dreamed of living in Hawaii, had been kicked out of the Marines for drugs. Eventually, she overdosed at her boyfriend’s grandmother’s house, where she died alone.

“When I was a kid, junkies were the worst,” Doug Griffin, 63, Courtney’s father, recalled in their comfortable home here in southeastern New Hampshire. “I used to have an office in New York City. I saw them.”

Noting that “junkies” is a word he would never use now, he said that these days, “they’re working right next to you and you don’t even know it. They’re in my daughter’s bedroom — they are my daughter.”

When the nation’s long-running war against drugs was defined by the crack epidemic and based in poor, predominantly black urban areas, the public response was defined by zero tolerance and stiff prison sentences. But today’s heroin crisis is different. While heroin use has climbed among all demographic groups, it has skyrocketed among whites; nearly 90 percent of those who tried heroin for the first time in the last decade were white.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/us/heroin-war-on-drugs-parents.html

October 30, 2015

Police: W. Va. Attorney Pulls Gun, Threatens To Shoot Fake Spiders

West Virginia assistant prosecuting attorney has been suspended for a bizarre incident involving a gun and fake spiders.

WCHS reports that assistant prosecutor Chris White was suspended for allegedly pulling a pistol on some fake spiders in his office.

According to Logan County Prosecutor John Bennett, several secretaries in the office decorated for Halloween.

Those decorations included fake spiders.

White apparently suffers from arachnophobia and became irate over the decorations.

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2015/10/29/police-w-va-attorney-pulls-gun-threatens-to-shoot-fake-spiders/

October 29, 2015

Softbank Hawks 2015 Nippon series champions

Woo hoo!!

October 28, 2015

Sanders will propose nixing marijuana from federal list of dangerous drugs

Source: Washington Post

Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders will announce his support Wednesday for removing marijuana from a list of the most dangerous drugs outlawed by the federal government — a move that would free states to legalize it without impediments from Washington.

The self-described democratic socialist senator from Vermont plans to share his proposal during a town hall meeting with college students that will be broadcast on the Internet across the country from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

“Too many Americans have seen their lives destroyed because they have criminal records as a result of marijuana use,” Sanders says in prepared remarks for the event provided to The Washington Post. “That’s wrong. That has got to change.”

No other presidential candidate has called for marijuana to be completely removed from the schedule of controlled substances regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-will-propose-nixing-marijuana-from-federal-list-of-dangerous-drugs/2015/10/28/be8c3adc-7da2-11e5-b575-d8dcfedb4ea1_story.html

October 28, 2015

Like it or not Jeb is right about his brother, George W. Bush's leadership was "awe-inspiring."

We tend to think of things from our own perspective. Look at it for a moment from their perspective. Remember who his actual base is.

Prior to 911 GWB was being seen as an inefficient, muddling looser. He ruminated several times about how things would be better if he was a dictator.




911 was a transformational event that allowed him to service his base, create a unitary executive unaccountable to congress, reframe the role of the United States military and promote the interests of a number of countries.

More so than any president of recent memory GWB changed America, likely forever.

His Base.
Following the 911 attacks the following groups benefited financially,

Military Industrial Contractors - The long expected peace dividend, promised since the fall of the soviet union went out the window and corporations in the military, intelligence, and security benefited handsomely. Something that continues to this day.

The financial sector - Following the 911 attacks Wall Street banks, hedge funds, and home lenders entered into a period of deregulation, continued low taxes, and minimal oversight. Something that continues to this day.

The US military - Under the leadership of GWB the US military, was reinvigorated. After the fall of the soviet union many questioned the size, mission and expense of the US DOD. All those issues were vanquished as the War on Terror took on a life of it's own. No longer were we at war with one country, we now had a global WOT that would be multigenerational. Something that continues to this day.

The energy sector - Post 911 the oil and gas industry benefited incredibly as middle east instability, the destruction of one of the largest OPEC producers drove oil prices to record highs. The beneficiaries, companies like Halliburton, the saudi's and commodity traders made billions perhaps trillions based on his leadership. The rise of fracking, and our continued reliance on fossil fuels. Something that continues to this day.

The Saudi's - With Iraq in ruins the Saudis' had one less competitor on the world market. This allowed them to rake in billions of petro-dollars. GWB's leadership successfully insulated the Saudis' from any connection to the 911 attacks. Something that continues to this day.

Israel - GWB laid waste to the main threat to Israel. After 911 and the invasion of Iraq, Israel will never have to worry about scud missiles raining down on it's cities from Iraq or Saddam giving money to the families of suicide bombers, and funding for Palestinian nationalists. All the while reframing in the eyes of the world the occupation of Palestine as a war against terrorists. In the aftermath of the 911 attacks Israel enjoyed unprecedented intelligence and military cooperation that has not only continued but expanded. Something that continues to this day.

Netanyahu admitted as much saying 911 was good for Israel.




Pakistan - Prior to 911, Pakistan was a bit of an international pariah, corruption, human rights violations and military dictatorship called for them to reform. Under the leadership of GWB all that was swept under the rug as they were transformed into an indispensable ally in the WOT. Something that continues to this day.

The unitary executive. - Following the 911 attacks and the shut down of congress by the anthrax attacks. The leadership of GWB disemboweled any semblance of checks and balances and oversight by congress. From the passage of the patriot act, the Iraq war resolution, congress became a rubber stamp for his initiatives and lost any semblance of power it had before his administration. The careful narrative of the 911 commission set the tone, assigned the blame and wrote the official history of what happened. This was carefully managed by his administration. The rise of the unitary executive and a lack of congressional oversight is something that continues to this day.

The national security state - From being high school drop outs, cops were transformed into first responding heroes, never to be questioned and admired for being a communities front line defenders in the war on terror. Never mind the billions spent on naked body scanners, cameras and other surveillance tools needed to keep the American public safe. Something that continues to this day.

The media - He turned them into fawning stenographers that published ridiculous narratives and kept the American public in a state of panic and RED ALERT for years. Something that continues to this day.

The opposition - Following 911 it was social suicide to be critical of the president and his actions. Millions of previously politically active took a vacation from activism or risked being labeled kooks, peaceniks and crackpots who just didn't get it. In some ways this is one area where there has been push back but by and large it's something that continues to this day.

The next generation of politicians - Not only did they punt on looking at the malfeasance and crimes of the administration. They embraced the spirit of regime change, military expansion overseas all the while caught up in the GWB framework of the global war on terror and two wars which we are still stuck in today.

I could go on, but probably very few people will read this. I think it's clear GWB's leadership was transformational, multigenerational and from his bases perspective extremely successful.

It's a post 911 world and that world was transformed under his leadership.

America will never be the same.

October 27, 2015

Saudi blogger's flogging 'to resume', says wife

Source: Telegraph UK

Saudi Arabia is to resume the flogging of Raif Badawi, the blogger whose first 50 lashes became the centre of an international outcry, his wife says she has been told.

Ensaf Haidar, who is now living in Canada with the couple’s children, said the same “informed source” who originally tipped her off to the flogging of her husband in January had told her the punishment was about to resume.

If the statement is true, it will be a snub to Britain, which privately and publicly has intervened in the case, and especially the Prince of Wales, regarded as one of the kingdom’s “oldest friends”, who raised Mr Badawi’s case personally with King Salman on a visit in February.

It may also be a response to the government's decision to drop a contract with the Saudi prison system worth £5.9 million, believed to have been taken in protest at Saudi Arabia's human rights record.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/11958478/Saudi-bloggers-flogging-to-resume-says-wife.html

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Apparently flogging bloggers is a tool of the Saudis to score points on the world stage. Sick they are.

October 27, 2015

Yemeni hospital hit by Saudi-led air strike: medical aid group MSF

Source: Guardian UK

Yemeni hospital hit by Saudi-led air strike: medical aid group MSF

By Noah Browning

DUBAI (Reuters) - A hospital in north Yemen run by medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was bombed in Saudi-led air strikes, wrecking the facility and lightly wounding two staff members, the group said on Tuesday.

A Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in Yemen's civil war in March to try to restore its government after it was toppled by Iran-allied Houthi forces, but a mounting civilian death toll has alarmed human rights groups.

"Our hospital in the Heedan district of Saada governorate was hit several times. Fortunately, the first hit damaged the operations theater while it was empty and the staff were busy with people in the emergency room. They just had time to run off as another missile hit the maternity ward," MSF country director Hassan Boucenine told Reuters by telephone from Yemen.

"It could be a mistake, but the fact of the matter is it's a war crime. There's no reason to target a hospital. We provided (the coalition) with all of our GPS coordinates about two weeks ago," he said. At least two staff members were hurt by flying debris, according to Boucenine.

Read more: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0SL0VK20151027

October 27, 2015

Three US women claim sexual assault by Saudi prince in Beverly Hills mansion

Source: Guardian UK

Three US women claim sexual assault by Saudi prince in Beverly Hills mansion

Three US women claim a Saudi prince assaulted them and held them captive during three days of sex- and drug-fueled partying at a Beverly Hills mansion.

The unidentified women, who have filed a civil suit in Los Angeles against Majed Abdulaziz Al Saud, 29, say they were hired by the prince as housekeepers in late September.

The suit, filed last Thursday, alleges that the prince terrorized the women and made sexual advances that included rubbing himself against one of them and asking another “to lick my entire body”.

At one point, he also ordered the staff, including security guards, to strip by the pool because he wanted to see everyone’s “naked pussy”.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/27/saudi-arabia-prince-american-women-sexual-assault-beverly-hills