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You don't think we're really Free, do you?

Fact of the matter is, actual freedom doesn't exist, has never existed, and will never exist in the world. The only delineation is between nation-states with more restrictions, and those with less restrictions. And, in case you've not been paying attention, America is sliding the wrong way on the curve.

With that, I bid you Good Night and Sweet Dreams!

Michael Bloomberg to return as head of Bloomberg company

Source: Reuters

Wed Sep 3, 2014 11:07pm EDT

(Reuters) - Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will return as head of Bloomberg LP, the data and financial news company he founded in 1981, replacing Daniel Doctoroff who has decided to step aside, the company said on Wednesday.

The privately held company, in which Bloomberg is the majority shareholder, said Doctoroff would step aside as president and chief executive at year-end.

Bloomberg, whose fortune is estimated at more than $32 billion, had expected to spend much of his time on philanthropic efforts after leaving office in late 2013. Those efforts have included fights for public health and gun control. "This is a sad day for me and my company," Bloomberg said in a statement. "I really wanted Dan to stay and continue in his leadership role. But I understand his decision."

Bloomberg, who stepped down as New York mayor last December, added he "never intended to come back to Bloomberg LP" after 12 years as New York's mayor.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/04/us-bloomberg-idUSKBN0GZ01N20140904

Rand Paul's Evolution On Iraq Is Fully Complete

Source: HuffPo

Posted: 09/03/2014 6:41 pm EDT Updated: 59 minutes ago

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) raised eyebrows this weekend when he endorsed one of the most hawkish positions toward the Islamic State militants currently wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria.

"If I were president, I would call a joint session of Congress," Paul told the AP. "I would lay out the reasoning of why ISIS is a threat to our national security and seek congressional authorization to destroy ISIS militarily."

That put the self-professed non-interventionist to the right of many of his fellow presidential hopefuls, who sounded more tentative notes when asked about the proper U.S. response. Seeking to "destroy ISIS militarily" would require some sort of ground presence in the region, and involve larger American engagement in another Middle East conflict.

But during an interview on Sean Hannity's radio show on Wednesday, Paul sought to clarify that position. The libertarian-leaning senator said that Iran, Syria, and Turkey could be “enjoined” in fighting Islamic State militants because of their proximity and interest in the region.




Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/03/rand-paul-iraq_n_5762270.html

U.N. denies Golan peacekeepers ordered to hand arms to Syria rebels

Source: Reuters

Wed Sep 3, 2014 6:49pm EDT

(Reuters) - The U.N. peacekeeping chief strongly denied on Wednesday allegations from the Philippines' army chief that Filipino peacekeepers in the Golan Heights were ordered to surrender their weapons to Islamist militants who had trapped them.

Filipino army chief General Gregorio Catapang said his soldiers had defended themselves against Islamist rebels last weekend in defiance of an order from their U.N. force commander to surrender their weapons, a move that would be highly controversial in the six-nation, blue-helmeted force.

The U.N.'s under-secretary-general for peacekeeping, Herve Ladsous, denied that any such order was given.

The back-and-forth underlines a rise in tensions in the U.N. peacekeeping force following weekend skirmishes with Islamist militants in Israeli-controlled territory on Syria's southeastern border.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/03/us-syria-crisis-golan-un-idUSKBN0GY2OT20140903

McKayla Maroney lawyers say gymnast was underage in nude photos leaked by hacker: report

Source: New York Daily News

Published: Wednesday, September 3, 2014, 8:46 AM
Updated: Wednesday, September 3, 2014, 12:16 PM

Lawyers for McKayla Maroney are going after websites reposting and sharing the purported leaked naked photos of the gymnast in the wake of the massive celebrity hacking incident.

An attorney for the Olympic gold medalist, 18, reportedly wrote a letter demanding Porn.com remove any photos of her from its website, saying that the athlete was a minor when they were taken, according to TMZ.

Maroney was one of many celebrity women — including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Kirsten Dunst and others — who had several compromising photos of them released online from personal cellphones and devices, in a baffling breach of privacy now being investigated by the FBI and Apple Inc.

The Olympic gymnast was one of the youngest women to have been targeted in the attack. Porn.com has removed all photos of Maroney, a rep for the adult hub told TMZ.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/mckayla-maroney-lawyers-gymnast-underaged-photos-released-online-report-article-1.1925895

Thomas Friedman, Making Sense

President Obama has been excoriated for declaring that “we don’t have a strategy yet” for effectively confronting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. In criticizing Obama for taking too much time, Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told “Fox News Sunday” that “this ‘don’t-do-stupid-stuff’ policy isn’t working.” That sounded odd to my ear — like we should just bomb somebody, even if it is stupid. If Obama did that, what would he be ignoring?

First, experience. After 9/11 that sort of “fire, ready, aim” approach led George W. Bush to order a ground war in Iraq without sufficient troops to control the country, without a true grasp of Iraq’s Shiite-Sunni sectarian dynamics, and without any realization that, in destroying the Sunni Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the Sunni Baathist regime in Iraq, we were destroying both of Iran’s mortal enemies and thereby opening the way for a vast expansion of Iran’s regional influence. We were in a hurry, myself included, to change things after 9/11, and when you’re in a hurry you ignore complexities that come back to haunt you later.

There are no words to describe the vileness of the video beheadings of two American journalists by ISIS, but I have no doubt that they’re meant to get us to overreact, à la 9/11, and rush off again without a strategy. ISIS is awful, but it is not a threat to America’s homeland.

Second, the context. To defeat ISIS you have to address the context out of which it emerged. And that is the three civil wars raging in the Arab world today: the civil war within Sunni Islam between radical jihadists and moderate mainstream Sunni Muslims and regimes; the civil war across the region between Sunnis funded by Saudi Arabia and Shiites funded by Iran; and the civil war between Sunni jihadists and all other minorities in the region — Yazidis, Turkmen, Kurds, Christians, Jews and Alawites.

When you have a region beset by that many civil wars at once, it means there is no center, only sides. And when you intervene in the middle of a region with no center, you very quickly become a side.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/opinion/thomas-friedman-what-are-we-really-dealing-with-in-isis.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region®ion=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region

Okay, I don't mind admiiting I'm scared! Is the Death Comet on its way?

Slate's William Saletan: Why Israel Is No Better Than Russia

Six months ago, after Vladimir Putin annexed part of Ukraine, President Obama authorized sanctions against Russia. “The basic principles that govern relations between nations in Europe and around the world must be upheld in the 21st century,” said Obama. “That includes respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity—the notion that nations do not simply redraw borders or make decisions at the expense of their neighbors simply because they are larger or more powerful.”

The United States has defended that principle in Ukraine and Iraq: You can’t use force to grab territory or change borders. But Israel, a U.S. ally, continues to violate the rule. This weekend, Israel claimed yet more Palestinian territory: nearly 1,000 acres, its biggest land grab in 30 years.

The land isn’t in Gaza, where Hamas has been firing rockets and digging tunnels. It’s in the West Bank, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been preaching nonviolence and trying to negotiate a peace agreement. Israel controls more than 40 percent of the West Bank, using its army to facilitate the occupation of this land by Jewish settlers. This is land never granted to Israel under any agreement. It’s theft.

On Sunday, while the world was distracted by Putin and ISIS, Israel grabbed another chunk. Its army announced that 988 acres near Bethlehem—many of which, according to Palestinian officials, are planted with olive trees and belong to Palestinian families—are now Israeli land.

This isn’t a Putin-style invasion or an ISIS-level bloodbath. But it’s offensive for many reasons. It’s a slap at the United States, which stood with Israel in its latest war in Gaza, and at European countries that cut Israel lots of slack during the lopsided conflict. It’s a thumb in the eye of Secretary of State John Kerry, who keeps trying to restart peace talks. And it discredits Abbas, sending every Palestinian a message that negotiation is for suckers.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/09/israel_s_illegal_land_grab_in_west_bank_the_israeli_rationale_is_no_different.html

William Saletan, a Jewish native of Texas, graduated from Swarthmore College in 1987.

Finally, an unapologeticly blue journalist asks the tough questions!