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Gear

Best of the Web: New York's top court highlights the meaninglessness and menace of the term 'terrorism'

judges gavel
© AlamyA new ruling from New York's highest court illustrates vital points about "terrorism".
A fascinating new ruling unwittingly illustrates the separate system of 'justice' invented for Muslims in the US after 9/11

Valuable revelations are often found in unlikely places. Such is the case with a fascinating ruling released last week by the New York Court of Appeals, that state's highest court, in the criminal case of People v. Edgar Morales. The facts of the case are quite simple, but the implications of the ruling are profound.

The defendant, Morales, was a member of a Bronx street gang known as the "St. James Boys" (SJB). In August, 2002, Morales and fellow gang members went to a party, saw someone from a rival gang which they believed responsible for a friend's death, and told him to leave. When he refused, they planned to attack him after the party. When the party ended, Morales shot at the rival gang member and his cohorts, severely wounding one of them but also accidentally shooting and killing a 10-year-old girl who was a bystander.

Prosecutors were not content to charge Morales with murder and related crimes. Instead, they charged him with crimes of "terrorism" under an anti-terrorism law that was enacted in New York in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack. When enacting the law, the legislature stated that it is designed to ensure that terrorists "are prosecuted and punished in state courts with appropriate severity". Under the law, this newly created "terrorism" crime is committed whenever one acts with the "intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population", but the law contains no definition of that term.

At trial, Morales vehemently argued that what he was accused of doing could not possibly be "terrorism", but the prosecutors insisted - and the trial court agreed - that his violence "furthered the [gang]'s objective to intimidate or coerce other Mexican-American gangs in the Bronx and, as a result of those activities, the [gang] intended to intimidate and coerce the entire Mexican-American community." The jury found him guilty on all counts, including the "terrorism" charges, and the Court of Appeals set out to determine whether the terrorism charges were validly applied to this violence.

Gold Seal

Best of the Web: British State Terrorism from Northern Ireland to Syria

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From Northern Ireland to Syria, it's all the same to the British elite...
This story connects far-flung places. Kenya, Malaya, Northern Ireland and now Syria. The one over-arching theme is British counter-insurgency strategy, or more plainly, the use of state terrorism by British forces to achieve political objectives.

The story came alive again this week with two seemingly unrelated news developments. First, we learn of deeper involvement of Britain's military in the violence raging across Syria. British military officers and Special Forces are reportedly training - in Jordanian territory - foreign-backed militants to step up their campaign of terrorism across Syria.

These terror gangs, whom the Western mainstream media call "freedom fighters", have been plunging Syria into bloody chaos for the past 22 months, with car bombs ripping through civilian neighbourhoods and death squads massacring whole villages, the latest being Aqrab in Hama Province where over 125 people where murdered this week. Ample evidence shows that the mercenaries, recruited from various countries including Libya, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, are covertly supplied with weapons and training from the US, Britain and France via the conduits of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

Comment: The British regime is conservatively estimated to have directly or indirectly killed between 7.5 and 11.5 million people around the world from WWII to 2004 [Source: Unpeople: Britain's Secret Human Rights Abuses, by Mark Curtis].


Gear

Best of the Web: Which Obama should we believe?

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Crocodile tears: Obama kills thousands of children in the Middle East with drones without batting an eye.
As the news of the Connecticut school massacre sinks in, it would take a hard-hearted person not to feel for the parents, families and friends of the victims. It is the sort of event which most of us will not experience first-hand, but some of us may know someone who has gone through a similar tragedy.

In fact, a good friend of mine lost one nephew in a bomb attack in 2008 and last month another nephew was seriously wounded in almost identical circumstances. On the second occasion, President Barack Obama gave the people who wounded the young man - one leg was blown off, as was half of an arm - the green light to continue with their maiming and slaughter of innocents "in self-defence". My friend, as you might have guessed, is a Palestinian from Gaza; his nephews' attackers were Israelis. There was no sign of any grief from Obama, the newly-elected US president on either occasion. No wiping of a tear, nor heartfelt words to try to comfort those left behind to cope with their grief and efforts to re-establish a normal life of the kind we all take for granted.

Like all of his predecessors since World War Two, Obama gives Israel carte blanche to do whatever it wants to the Palestinians. Indeed, he even makes sure that it has the most up-to-date arsenal with which to do its dirty work. Just last week, it was announced that America will replace the munitions used by Israel in its massive bombardment of civilians in the Gaza Strip for eight days and nights in November. Has he suggested that arms and ammunition should be made easier for US citizens to obtain in the wake of Connecticut? No way; he's already, less than 24 hours later, talking of re-opening the debate about gun control. The President of the United States is, however, more than willing to pump the most lethal munitions the military-industrial complex can produce to a state which breaks international laws and conventions at will, and with impunity thanks to his country's unflinching support.

USA

Best of the Web: Western smoke-and-mirrors terrorism

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© Press TV
Barack Obama, America's Conjurer-in-Chief, is trying to entertain the world with a new smoke-and-mirrors trick, with the announcement that his government is recognizing the Syrian National Coalition as "the sole representative of the Syrian people".

The chemical weapons trick seems to have fizzled like a damp squib. So, now it's time for another illusion - the "worthy Syrian opposition".

This motley crew of treasonous exiles - who mysteriously, somehow, have bags of money to trot all over the globe from Doha to Cairo, Tokyo to Marrakech - are all of sudden anointed by the American President as the next government of Syria.


Comment: While it appears sudden, this move has actually been in the pipeline for some time:

True colours shining through: François Hollande bypasses international law, calls on al-Qaeda-in-Syria to form provisional government


Anyone who has read the Doha Protocol that the SNC willingly signed up to while seduced in a luxury hotel last month by their Qatari sponsors should be under no misapprehension. This group of self-serving opportunists has been cobbled together with the sole purpose of selling Syria's sovereignty to the highest, or even lowest, bidder. The people of Syria have been spared no treachery low enough in the imperialists' manifesto of regime change, including surrender of wealth, natural resources and all of Syria's independent foreign policy principles.

Vader

Best of the Web: The truth about Libya, Gaddafi and why the Western elite murdered him

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Muammar Gaddafi, murdered King of Africa
The following is five-part video showing how the psychopaths in power in the Western Empire once again engineered a fake media revolution, bombed innocent civilians, blamed their deaths on their target 'régime', and got away with it by presenting it all under the guise of 'humanitarian intervention'.

Part 1


Part 2


Pirates

Best of the Web: U.S. recognizes unelected terrorists as Syrian 'representatives'

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Could it BE any clearer that the US and UK are now partners with Al Qaeda? Or does this mean that they are now overtly enjoying a close relationship that existed throughout the War on Terror?
US admits Al Qaeda "amongst" Syrian rebels, recognizes them as the "legitimate representative of the Syrian people"

As expected, after a long pause of feigned "consideration," the US has recognized the militants it has been arming, funding, aiding logistically and supporting diplomatically since as early as 2007, as the "legitimate representatives of the Syrian people," with the added caveat, "in opposition to the Assad regime." The Wall Street Journal would report that US President Barack Obama's announcement actually read:
"The Syrian National Coalition for Revolutionary and Opposition Forces is reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population that we consider them the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in opposition to the Assad regime."
The bizarre, uncertain wording sends a message of both uncertainty and resounding illegitimacy, indicating that the US itself recognizes the true nature of the so-called "Syrian" opposition is apparent to an increasing number of people both in public office and across the public, and that a certain degree of rhetorical distance must be kept.

Star of David

Best of the Web: Fabricating WMD 'evidence': Israeli covert operation inside Syria to "track chemical arsenal"

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Ready for yet another war for Israel?
Israel is conducting a covert cross-border operation directed against Syria in liaison with NATO and the Pentagon.

After looking for a "smoking gun" in Iran earlier this year, Israeli special forces are now "tracking" Syria's "stocks of chemical and biological weapons", according to The Sunday Times.
"The cross-border operation is part of a secret war to trail Syria's non-conventional armaments and sabotage their development. 'For years we've known the exact location of Syria's chemical and biological munitions,' an Israeli source said, referring to the country's spy satellites and drones. 'But in the past week we've got signs that munitions have been moved to new locations.'" (Uzi Mahnaimi and Lucy Fisher Israel tracks Syria's chemical arsenal, The Sunday Times 9 December 2012.)
Everyone recalls the WMD hype prior to launching the war on Iraq. It turned out that the Iraqi WMD threat was an outright fabrication.

Those involved in the Iraq WMD propaganda ploy are now applying their skills with a view to fabricating a WMD pretext to intervene in Syria. According to a report from the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, "Israelis 'misread' the Iraqi threat". In 2003, the BBC wrote on the report's findings:

Comment: This is the same Israeli 'intelligence' that brought us 'evidence' of Iran's non-existent nuclear weapons program via the MEK death cult in Iraq. This is also the same kind of 'intelligence' that brought us the war in Iraq. It's pure propaganda and it may signal an imminent campaign of shock-and-awe against Syria, where 40,000 people have already been killed in the U.S./E.U./Israeli dirty war against the Syrian people.


Blue Planet

Best of the Web: It's smart to take all date-specific predictions with a spoonful of cynicism: 2012 'End Times' prophecy corrected by Mayan priests

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Ignore Second-Hand Information ... Hear the Real Prophecy

The Mayan 2012 end of the world "prophecy" is scaring the pants off numerous children and suicidal teeangers. 1-in-10 people believe that the Mayans have prophesied the end of the world (and see this). A Google search for "Maya 2012" currently brings up 325 million hits, only slightly less than a search for the most popular words.

This post is a public service announcement to reach children and adults scared about the Mayan prophecy ... to show with the Mayan priests' own words that the world will not end in 2012.

Many people are talking about the Mayan 2012 prophecy.

But few know what the Mayan priests actually said about 2012.

In reality, Mayan elders say something very different from what you might have heard.

For example, Wakatel Utiw - leader of the National Council of Elders Mayas, Xinca and Garifuna, Day Keeper of the Mayan Calendar, and 13th generation Quiche Mayan Spiritual Leader - says that the end of the Maya calendar has nothing to do with the end of the world.

Vader

Best of the Web: Syria, Bashar al-Assad, and the truth about chemical weapons and who may or may not have them

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© REUTERS/Muhammad Al-Ibraheem/Shaam News NetworkSwathes of modern secular Syria lies in ruins following a two-year long dirty war conducted by Western-backed Al Qaeda against the Syrian people. Here buildings are destroyed in the centre of Homs, October 25, 2012.
Bashar's father Hafez al-Assad was brutal but never used chemical arms. And do you know which was the first army to use gas in the Middle East?

The bigger the lie the more people will believe it. We all know who said that - but it still works. Bashar al-Assad has chemical weapons. He may use them against his own Syrian people. If he does, the West will respond. We heard all this stuff last year - and Assad's regime repeatedly said that if - if - it had chemical weapons, it would never use them against Syrians.

But now Washington is playing the same gas-chanty all over again. Bashar has chemical weapons. He may use them against his own people. And if he does...

Well if he does, Obama and Madame Clinton and Nato will be very, very angry. But over the past week, all the usual pseudo-experts who couldn't find Syria on a map have been warning us again of the mustard gas, chemical agents, biological agents that Syria might possess - and might use. And the sources? The same fantasy specialists who didn't warn us about 9/11 but insisted that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction in 2003: "unnamed military intelligence sources". Henceforth to be acronymed as UMIS.

Attention

Best of the Web: Connecting the global cooling dots

"The sun is the primary source of heat for the Earth... This is worth keeping in mind when the Secretary General of the United Nations or any other lying politician or alleged scientist tell you otherwise."
ice age
Winter doesn't officially begin until December 21, but winter has a mind of its own as does all of nature. While the United Nations charlatans gathered in Doha, Qatar to try to save its global warming hoax by first calling it "climate change" and then by fashioning a funding mechanism to transfer the wealth of developed countries to those who are not, winter has arrived "early" around the world.

That might just have something to do with the cooling cycle that has been active for the past sixteen years, "inconveniently" blowing a big hole in the global warming lies we've been hearing and reading since the late 1980s.

From IceAgeNow.info, a site by Robert W. Felix, the author of a book about ice ages (the Earth has been through quite a few in its 4.5 billion years), here are some recent news stories: