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Heart - Black

In Context: Hillary Clinton's 'What difference does it make' comment

Tom Kertscher
PolitiFact
Tue, 07 May 2013 15:28 UTC
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© ReutersThen-Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., greeted each other prior to a Senate committee hearing on Jan. 23, 2013
If the buildup doesn't disappoint, you can expect plenty of news out of the U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing on May 8, 2013.

The panel, which includes freshman U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, will review how President Barack Obama's administration -- including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- handled the Sept. 11, 2012 bombing at the U.S. consulate in Benghzai, Libya.

The attack killed four Americans -- and set off administration critics such as U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

A few days before the hearing, it was disclosed that a top U.S. diplomat had said "everyone" at the consulate thought "from the beginning" that the attack was an act of terror.

And even before that, Johnson had reminded citizens at least twice of what Clinton told him about the attack during a Senate committee hearing in January 2013.

"Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night and decided they'd go kill some Americans," Clinton said. "What difference - at this point, what difference does it make?"
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Star of David

Stephen Hawking joins academic boycott of Israel

Harriet Sherwood and Matthew Kalman
Guardian
Wed, 08 May 2013 15:22 UTC
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© Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPAA statement published with Stephen Hawking's approval said his withdrawal was based on advice from academic contacts in Palestine.
Physicist pulls out of conference hosted by president Shimon Peres in protest at treatment of Palestinians

Professor Stephen Hawking is backing the academic boycott of Israel by pulling out of a conference hosted by Israeli president Shimon Peres in Jerusalem as a protest at Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

Hawking, 71, the world-renowned theoretical physicist and former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, had accepted an invitation to headline the fifth annual president's conference, Facing Tomorrow, in June, which features major international personalities, attracts thousands of participants and this year will celebrate Peres's 90th birthday.

Hawking is in very poor health, but last week he wrote a brief letter to the Israeli president to say he had changed his mind. He has not announced his decision publicly, but a statement published by the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine with Hawking's approval described it as "his independent decision to respect the boycott, based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous advice of his own academic contacts there".

Hawking's decision marks another victory in the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions targeting Israeli academic institutions.

In April the Teachers' Union of Ireland became the first lecturers' association in Europe to call for an academic boycott of Israel, and in the United States members of the Association for Asian American Studies voted to support a boycott, the first national academic group to do so.
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Eye 1

Alabama police look to drones to monitor college campus


RT
Sat, 11 May 2013 14:21 UTC
University of Alabama at Hunstville
University of Alabama at Hunstville
Officials at an Alabama university have divulged a new plan to use unmanned aerial devices to help police monitor, and supposedly protect, students on campus.

Law enforcement officials unveiled the plan Wednesday at a press conference at the University of Alabama Huntsville, telling the Huntsville Times the aircraft would provide an "eye in the sky" that could help stop a mass shooting on campus.

Gary Maddux, the lead research director of Systems Management and Productions Center, said that because the remote-controlled surveillance devices fly at a lower altitude than drones, they are totally unlike the controversial military aircraft.

"We just want to be able to make a difference and we want to make a difference quickly and come up with something to help law enforcement," he said. "That's what it's all about - improving our response times so maybe we could mitigate the next tragedy that could occur."

Maddux did not specify how the surveillance technology will prevent criminal activity or improve campus police response time. He did add, however, that the drones will "be incredibly useful and offer a wide range of possible applications."
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Stormtrooper

Cops beat woman for filming another beating "You want to film something b**ch? Film this!"


AlterNet
Fri, 10 May 2013 13:54 UTC
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© Shutterstock
Baltimore - Makia Smith sued the Baltimore Police Department, Police Commissioner Anthony Batts and police Officers Nathan Church, William Pilkerton, Jr., Nathan Ulmer and Kenneth Campbell in Federal Court.

Smith claims she was stuck in stand-still rush hour traffic in northern Baltimore when she saw the defendant officers beating up and arresting a young man.

She says pulled out her camera, stood on her car's door sill and filmed the beating.

"Officer Church saw plaintiff filming the beating and ran at her," the complaint states. "He scared her and she sat back in her vehicle. As he ran at her, he yelled, 'You want to film something bitch? Film this!'
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Bad Guys

Stealing Syria's oil: The EU/Al-Qaeda oil consortium


Dissident Voice
Sat, 04 May 2013 12:01 UTC
Syria Oil
© ALICE Martins/AFP/Getty ImagesA picture taken on April 15, 2013 shows a Syrian man in the Al Raqqa countryside, who until three months ago was a farmer, pouring crude oil brought from Deir Ezzor province into a pit where it will be distilled as part of the refining process to produce fuel.
The decision of the European Union to lift the embargo on Syrian government's energy exports by importing oil from the 'armed opposition' is another flagrant violation of international law. It violates the UN General Assembly declaration of 1962 on Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources and is yet another violation of the 1981 UN declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention and Interference in the Internal Affairs of States. But it is much more than a technical violation of the law. It marks the decent of civilization into barbarism.

London and Paris, have more than Washington, been at the forefront of aggression against Syria. In spite of the fact that it has now been confirmed by most media sources that the Syrian 'opposition' is Al-Qaeda, London and Paris persist in their insane drive to arm the terrorists, using the spurious argument that if they don't arm the 'moderates' the 'extremists' will take over the country. However, in the words of the New York Times, 'nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of'. The fact that the Syrian 'rebels' are, in fact, Al-Qaeda has even been admitted by the war-mongering French daily Le Monde. So, Paris and London are pushing for further arming of Al-Qaeda and the legalization of oil trading with the jihadi terrorists. In plain language this means that the loose, terrorist network known to the world as Al-Qaeda will soon become one of the EU's partners in the oil business. A new absurd chapter in the Era of Terror is about to be enacted.
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Chess

Russian airbase in Belarus no threat to Europe - Lavrov


RIA Novosti
Fri, 10 May 2013 05:24 UTC
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© RIA Novosti / Eduard PesovSergei Lavrov, Radoslaw Sikorski and Guido Westerwelle in Warsaw
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday the possible establishment of a Russian airbase in Belarus should not be seen as a response to US missile defense plans in Europe.

"I see no reasons to worry about this issue," Lavrov said at a press conference with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski in Warsaw.

The foreign minister said Russia and Belarus are a "unified military space," adding: "No matter if there are Belarusian or Russian planes there, nothing will change... We are protecting our border [the border of the Union State of Russia and Belarus]."
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Telephone

"Welcome to America: All phone calls are now being recorded"


Moxnews.com / Youtube
Wed, 08 May 2013 05:19 UTC
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Chess

Russia, UK have common interest in stabilizing Syria - Putin


RIA Novosti
Fri, 10 May 2013 15:57 UTC
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© RIA Novosti / Sergei GuneevBritish Prime Minister David Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russia and the United Kingdom have common interest in preserving Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The UK premier arrived in Russia's Black Sea resort city of Sochi on Friday to discuss a wide range of issues, although it is expected that Syria, which has been one particular area of policy divergence between the two countries, is likely to top the agenda.

Putin said at talks, which were initiated by Cameron, the sides discussed the options for a positive development of a situation in Syria and also "a number of joint steps" to settle the ongoing crisis.

The Russian leader said Moscow and London have "common interest in a speedy end to the violence, the launch of a peace process and the preservation of Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty."
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Camcorder

Video: Mass surveillance on rise in US after Boston attack


Russia Today
Fri, 10 May 2013 04:14 UTC
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Stormtrooper

California deputies seize phones after beating man to death

Carlos Miller
Photography is Not a crime
Fri, 10 May 2013 15:00 UTC
kcso badge
© Unknown
Law enforcement authorities in California beat a man to death with their batons before seizing at least two cell phones from witnesses who captured the incident on video.

One of the phones was seized without a warrant. The second phone was seized with a warrant but only because a family lawyer had arrived on the scene.

It doesn't appear as if the lawyer had any sense to download the video before the phone was seized.

Or more likely, Kern County sheriff deputies would not allow it.
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