Puppet MastersS


Airplane

Florida lawmakers fast-track legislation to limit drones

Michael Van Sickler
The Miami Herald
Tue, 12 Mar 2013 00:00 UTC
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Miami-Dade Police is reportedly the only agency in Florida to own drones.
The backlash against the use of unmanned drones has found its way to Florida, where lawmakers are fast-tracking legislation to limit their use by local law enforcement.

"It's fine to kill terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan with drones," said sponsor Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart. "But I don't think we should use them to monitor the activities of law-abiding Floridians."


Comment: It is not OK to kill people in other countries just because the U.S. considers them to be 'terrorists'. Alarming numbers of civilians, many of them women and children have been murdered by drones: Desmond Tutu blasts U.S. drones: American or not, all victims are human


Negron's proposal, SB 92, would ban local law enforcement officials from using drones without a warrant or threat of a terrorist attack and prohibit information collected by drones to be used as evidence in courts.

For lawmakers, it's more of a pre-emptive strike. Only three Florida law enforcement agencies have authorization to use drones - to observe, not to shoot - and none of them have used drones in a real-life situation.

Negron's bill is similar to legislation filed in Congress by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who filibustered the confirmation of CIA director John Brennan over drone attacks overseas.
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Pistol

Gabby Giffords' husband reveals he bought an AR-15 assault rifle on a whim

Stephen C. Webster
Raw Story
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 18:12 UTC
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© AFP Photo, Valerie Macon
Former astronaut Mark Kelly, spouse of former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), sparked an online firestorm recently by publishing a photograph of himself buying an AR-15 at an Arizona gun store, saying he made the buy to show how easy it is to pass a background check.

"I just had a background check a few days ago when I went to my local gun store to buy a 45. As I was leaving, I noticed a used AR-15. Bought that too," he wrote. "Even to buy an assault weapon, the background check only takes a matter of minutes. I don't have possession yet but I'll be turning it over to the Tucson PD when I do. Scary to think of people buying guns like these without a background check at a gun show or the Internet. We really need to close the gun show and private seller loop hole."

Kelly bought the weapons the day before he and wife Gabby Giffords appeared at the Tucson supermarket where she and 18 others were shot in January 2011. The shooter, Jared Loughner, used a semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine, and wasn't stopped until he was forced to reload. Kelly and Giffords have since become two of the nation's foremost advocates of gun control legislation, including an outright ban on most semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15.
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Snakes in Suits

Rep. Alan Grayson: Paul Ryan wants sick poor people to die

Eric W. Dolan
Raw Story
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 18:06 UTC
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© Flickr user House Committee on Education and the Workforce Dem, Creative Commons licensedAlan Grayson
Rep. Alan Grayson, a notably blunt Democrat from Florida, blasted House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Tuesday night.

While discussing the Republican congressman's latest budget proposal on Current TV, Grayson accused Ryan of wishing a large swath of Americans would die.

"In one case after another, you look at his principles, you look at his vision, and they're a nightmare for America," he said. "He wants Americans to work until they die, he wants poor people who get sick not be able to see a doctor, not to get the care they need, not to get better, he wants them to die, and he wants an America that consists of nothing but cheap labor for his corporate patrons."
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Bad Guys

North Korea threatens 'merciless' act of military retaliation as end of armistice is confirmed


Raw Story
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 18:03 UTC
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© AFP PhotoNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un
North Korea confirmed Wednesday that it had shredded the 60-year-old armistice ending the Korean War, and warned that the next step was an act of "merciless" military retaliation against its enemies.

A lengthy statement by the North's armed forces ministry added to the tide of dire threats flowing from Pyongyang in recent days that have raised military tensions on the Korean peninsula to their highest level for years.

The statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency argued that the real "warmongering" was coming from the United States and its "puppets" in Seoul.

"They would be well advised to keep in mind that the armistice agreement is no longer valid and (North Korea) is not restrained by the North-South declaration on non-aggression," a ministry spokesman said.

"What is left to be done now is an action of justice and merciless retaliation of the army and people" of North Korea, the spokesman said.
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Question

Report: Man behind Romney '47 percent' video will reveal himself Wednesday

Arturo Garcia
Raw Story
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:57 UTC
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The Florida bartender responsible for capturing former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's infamous "47 percent" remarks will reveal his identity in an interview with MSNBC host Ed Schultz that will air Wednesday.

Both Schultz and Mother Jones, which released the video in September 2012, announced the interview on Tuesday, with Schultz playing clips from the interview.

"I debated for a little while, but in the end I really felt it had to be put out," the bartender said of his decision to leak the video, secretly filmed at a May 2012 fundraiser for Romney. "I felt I owed it to the people who couldn't afford to be there themselves to hear what he really thought."
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V

Women protest all-male conclave to elect new pope


myfoxorlando.com
Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:46 UTC
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Demonstrations took place across the United States and internationally to protest the male-only conclave to elect the next pope.

Members of a church in Sarasota sent up their own smoke signals Tuesday -- not black or white, but pink.

They gathered at the St. Andrews UCC Church in Sarasota. The vigil was one of many held on Tuesday around the globe. Not all were so peaceful though: a melee ensued outside the Vatican Tuesday when two female activists who went topless were dragged away from St. Peter's Square.
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Bulb

U.S. Pacific commander declares climate change top security threat


RT
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:14 UTC
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© AFP Photo / Jay DirectoUS Pacific Command Commander Admiral Samuel J Locklear III.
The head of the US Navy's Pacific fleet has declared climate change as the biggest long-term security threat in the region. Anticipating severe typhoons and rising sea levels that will displace nations, he emphasized a weather crisis few had foreseen.

Fallout from the shifting global temperature is "probably the most likely thing that is going to happen... that will cripple the security environment, probably more likely than the other scenarios we all often talk about," said Navy Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III in an interview with the Boston Globe.

Locklear, a four-star admiral who is in charge of monitoring hostilities between North and South Koreas as well as tensions between China and Japan, discussed his concerns at a Cambridge hotel on Friday with national security experts at Tufts and Harvard. Previously, Locklear was in charge of maritime operations in NATO's conflict with Libya in 2011.

Stationed in East Asia, Locklear currently deals with the increasing number of destructive weather crises, which he believes will eventually have a negative political impact on countries in the region.
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Bizarro Earth

San Francisco runs controversial anti-Muslim bus ads, sparking harsh criticism


RT
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:08 UTC
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© image from http://freedomdefense.typepad.com
San Francisco civic officials have denounced a "racist" anti-Muslim ad campaign underway in the city. Controversial ads with jihadist slogans have appeared on 10 city buses, all of which bear incendiary Islamist quotes.

Those who use public transit in San Francisco, or just pay attention to its ads, might run into the following statements:

"Killing Jews is worship that brings us closer to Allah," a saying attributed to Palestinian militant group of Hamas; "The first thing we are calling you to is to Islam," an alleged quote by Osama Bin Laden; "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan is portrayed as saying.

Other posters feature the Times Square car bomber and Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood, Texas, shooter.
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Megaphone

Military justice 'broken', say sexual assault survivors at Senate hearing

Karen McVeigh
Guardian
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:57 UTC
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© Win Mcnamee/Getty ImagesSeveral former servicewomen testify about being sexually assaulted in the military during a Senate hearing in Washington.
Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing into sexual abuse in US military is the first such hearing in over a decade

The military justice system is broken, riven with inherent bias, conflicts of interest and a hierarchical structure that ensures perpetrators go unpunished, survivors of military sexual assault told Congress on Wednesday.

At the first Senate hearing into sexual abuse in the armed forces for a decade, victims said the system helped encourage predators in uniform, and urged senators to change the law to give survivors the same protections as civilians - namely an independent justice system.

Rebekah Havrilla, a former army sergeant who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after being raped by another service member while in Afghanistan, told the Senate armed services committee that she found a "broken" criminal justice system.

Havrilla, who described an interview during the military investigation into her case as being the "most humiliating thing that I have ever experienced", said it was eventually closed after senior commanders decided not to pursue charges.

"What we need is a military with a fair and impartial criminal justice system, one that is run by professional and legal experts, not unit commanders," Havrilla said.
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Cult

Flashback Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio named in kidnap lawsuit


Los Angeles Times
Sun, 17 Apr 2005 16:41 UTC
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'Hey, I was just doing God's work'...
A human rights lawyer has filed a criminal complaint against an Argentine cardinal mentioned as a possible contender to become pope, accusing him of involvement in the 1976 kidnappings of two priests.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's spokesman Saturday called the allegation "old slander."

The complaint filed in a court in the Argentine capital on Friday accused Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, of involvement in the abduction of two Jesuit priests by the military dictatorship, reported the newspaper Clarin. The complaint does not specify the nature of Bergoglio's alleged involvement.

Under Argentine law, an accusation can be filed with a very low threshold of evidence. A court then decides if there is cause to investigate and file charges.
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