November 14, 2015

Lebanon Holds Day of Mourning After Deadly Beirut Blasts

Source: BBC

Lebanon is holding a national of mourning after at least 41 people were killed in two sucide bombings in the capital, Beirut.

The Islamic State (ISIS) said it was behind the attacks.......

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34805466

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A new kind of war against an enemy fighting a new and completely moral-free kind of battle.

November 12, 2015

Why should we vote for anyone in the primaries if they refuse to shout about this great injustice?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=1484







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"What do you say is your problem, Uncle Sam?"

November 4, 2015

Meet Canada's New Minister of Justice and Attorney General: Jody Wilson-Raybould

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/11/jody-wilson-raybould-minister-of-justice-attorney-general/




Jody Wilson-Raybould was just sworn in as Canada’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. She’s also the MP representing the new riding of Vancouver-Granville, which serves nearly 100,000 Vancouverites.

The 44-year-old’s first foray into federal politics was last year when she secured the nomination for Vancouver-Granville. Wilson-Raybould has a long history of serving the First Nations community, being part of the We Wai Kai First Nation herself.


Wilson-Raybould’s background is in law. She graduated from the University of Victoria with a Political Science degree and then a law degree from UBC. She was called to the Bar in 2000 where she served as a prosecutor at the Main Street courthouse on the Downtown Eastside for four years.

She was also elected as regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations in 2009, but she stepped down in June of 2015 in order to be able to run for the Liberals in the October 19 federal election.

Wilson-Raybould’s First Nations name is “Puglaas,” a Kwak’wala name which means “woman born to noble people.” Her Twitter account is aptly named @Puglaas. Her father, Bill Wilson, is a First Nations politician, while her mother, Sandra Wilson, is a teacher."

November 4, 2015

Meet Canada's New Minister of Defence, sworn into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government:

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/new-liberal-government-sworn-in-today


The Right Honourable Lt.-Col. Harjit Singh Sajjan, Minister of National Defence

The first Canadian of Sikh and Indian heritage to command a Canadian Army regiment




"Decorated Canadian war veteran Lt. Col Harjit Singh Sajjan received the Order of Military Merit last Friday, one of the military’s highest recognition, the Order of Military Merit.

He is the first Sikh to receive this award and continues to be a role model for youth across the country as he prepares to serve his country in new ways.

Sajjan, who is rumoured to be running for the Vancouver South federal Liberal nomination and close to federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, is the son of the former member of the World Sikh Organization (WSO) Kundan Singh Sajjan.

Sajjan is an Afghanistan war hero who is the first Sikh to command a Canadian Army regiment and who was portrayed as a role model in Ottawa’s latest Welcome to Canada booklet for immigrants. Sajjan is also a former Vancouver police officer, decorated after serving once in Bosnia and three times in Afghanistan."


http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/threads/colonel-harjit-singh-sajjan-gets-canadian-militarys-highest-recognition.42450/

November 1, 2015

Study: Human DNA Found in 2% of Hot Dogs and Sausages Analyzed by Genome Sequencing

http://www.clearfood.com/food_reports/2015/the_hotdog_report

Cross Contamination of Pork and Meat in Vegetarian Food Aslo Found

Of the 345 hot dogs and sausages Clear Food analyzed for this report, 14.4% were problematic in some way. Problems included substitutions and hygienic issues. Substitution occurs when ingredients are added that do not show up on the label. Hygienic issues occur when some sort of non-harmful contaminant is introduced to the hot dog, in most cases, human DNA. Here's what we found:

Substitution: We encountered a surprising number of substitutions or unexpected ingredients. We found evidence of meats not found on labels, an absence of ingredients advertised on labels, and meat in some vegetarian products.

Hygienic issues: Clear Food found human DNA in 2% of the samples. 2/3rds of the samples with human DNA were vegetarian products.*

We found evidence of chicken (in 10 samples), beef (in 4 samples), turkey (in 3 samples), and lamb (in 2 samples) in products that were not supposed to contain those ingredients.

Pork is a particularly unwelcome substitution in any food when you consider that significant numbers of people do not eat pork for religious reasons. Clear Food found pork substitution in 3% of the samples we tested. In most cases, pork found its way into chicken and turkey sausages.

Pork substitution was an issue in products across the price spectrum being sold at a wide variety of retailers.

October 30, 2015

U.S. Women's Soccer Team Take Selfie With President Obama

You can feel the love The Man carries with him and shares with others, a true gift.

October 19, 2015

Trudeau Family Votes in Montreal | Paper Ballots!

What struck me, for one thing, is the paper ballot....same as used across the country and the 4 day Canadian Thanksgiving holiday....the paper ballots are hand counted by an election official and all political party representatives.

October 10, 2015

Fox's O'Reilly Calls Media Matters A "Hate Group" | Crooks and Liars

Oh dear. Media Matters has apparently done something terrible to annoy Bill O'Reilly and Stuart Varney to the point where they're foaming at the mouth and calling Media Matters a "hate group," a pejorative O'Reilly has used against the organization in the past.

It began gently enough, with them agreeing that Media Matters is really just a "far-left propaganda machine." And then they ramped it up, suggesting that their tax-exempt status should be taken away because...hurt fee-fees.

Fox News has been after Media Matters for years. At one time, they had a page up on their website with a petition inviting viewers to sign to have their tax-exempt status revoked.

Media Matters is the left-side equivalent to the right-wing's Media Research Center. No one is calling for MRC's head on a platter, so what's got Bill-O's panties in a bunch?

http://crooksandliars.com/2015/10/oreilly-calls-media-matters-hate-group

October 9, 2015

"We Did it Together,' Says Tunisian Co-Winner of 2015 Nobel Peace Prize | NPR

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/09/447110303/2015-nobel-peace-prize-goes-to-tunisian-quartet-of-mediators


"National Dialogue Quartet, a group that helped preserve Tunisia's dreams of democracy in 2013, has won this year's Nobel Peace Prize, with the Nobel Prize Committee citing its "decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia."

"We are here to give hope to young people in Tunisia, that if we believe in our country, we can succeed," said Ouided Bouchamaoui, president of The Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, a group that's part of the Quartet.

Talking by phone with a Nobel representative today, Bouchamaoui was asked if the group has a leader; she replied, "No, it's a collaboration. We did it together, the four of us.""



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"The Quartet, made up of the General Labor Union; the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts; the Tunisian Human Rights League; and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers, was formed in the summer of 2013 to act as mediator between the warring parties."

"The committee held Tunisia up as an example of a peaceful transition to democracy in a region mired in violence."

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A triump of diplomacy and what the Nobel Prize Committee Chair called a result of the force of "moral authority".

Official Press Release:

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2015

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is to be awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011. The Quartet was formed in the summer of 2013 when the democratization process was in danger of collapsing as a result of political assassinations and widespread social unrest. It established an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war. It was thus instrumental in enabling Tunisia, in the space of a few years, to establish a constitutional system of government guaranteeing fundamental rights for the entire population, irrespective of gender, political conviction or religious belief.

The National Dialogue Quartet has comprised four key organizations in Tunisian civil society: the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT, Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA, Union Tunisienne de l'Industrie, du Commerce et de l'Artisanat), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH, La Ligue Tunisienne pour la Défense des Droits de l'Homme), and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers (Ordre National des Avocats de Tunisie). These organizations represent different sectors and values in Tunisian society: working life and welfare, principles of the rule of law and human rights. On this basis, the Quartet exercised its role as a mediator and driving force to advance peaceful democratic development in Tunisia with great moral authority. The Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is awarded to this Quartet, not to the four individual organizations as such.

More: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2015/press.html

October 8, 2015

Amnesty International Says The U.S.-Supported Coalition In Yemen Is Committing War Crimes

Source: Amnesty International/Think Progress

'BOMBS FALL FROM THE SKY DAY AND NIGHT': CIVILIANS UNDER FIRE IN NORTHERN YEMEN

A devastating air bombardment campaign launched in March 2015 by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia has killed and injured hundreds of civilians in Yemen, many of them children. The governorate of Sa’da has been particularly targeted, as it is the stronghold of the Huthi armed group, and its capital Sa’da city has suffered more destruction as a result of relentless coalition airstrikes than any other city in Yemen. Much of the city and its surroundings are in ruins and most of the civilian population was forced to flee. This report details the results of Amnesty International field investigations into 13 airstrikes in Sa’da carried out between May and July 2015.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde31/2548/2015/en/

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Think Progress article:

"In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition began bombing Yemen in an attempt to support the embattled regime and counter the advances of the Houthi rebels. This coalition, supported by logistics and intelligence provided by the United States, has now been accused of war crimes in a recent report by a prominent international rights group.
“The coalition airstrikes investigated by Amnesty International in Sa’da governorate have involved serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes,” the report, published this month by Amnesty International, reads."

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/10/07/3710223/heres-why-the-us-may-be-complicit-in-war-crimes-taking-place-in-yemen/