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Psychopathic American leaders joke about dead veterans and children

Realist Report
Youtube
Tue, 04 Feb 2014 07:24 UTC
American political leaders of both parties are war mongering psychopaths. They do not care about you, your family, or the lives of innocent people. Watch as they laugh and make jokes about suffering and death. Warning: Graphic footage.

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U.S. House raises $17.2 trillion debt ceiling, no strings attached


RT
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:09 UTC
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© Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFPU.S. Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner.
The US House of Representatives has agreed to raise the government's borrowing cap until March 2015, without specifying the exact limit. It's a huge shift as the bill was approved for the first time in three years with no conditions from Republicans.

The bill next goes to the Senate, where approval is expected from the Democratic majority.

The 221-220 vote was a landmark victory for Democrats, and will put an end to Washington's budget enmity, which led to a two week US government shutdown in January.

Raising the debt ceiling, an action Republicans have fought against staunchly for three years, means the US will increase the $17.2 trillion borrowing limit and be able to meet promised financial obligations.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner promised the February 27 technical default deadline, set by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, would be met in good faith.

The vote was "a positive step in moving away from the political brinkmanship that's a needless drag on our economy," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement after the vote.
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Laptop

Bitcoin exchanges suspend conversions as hacker attack intensifies

Charles Arthur
The Guardian
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 14:38 UTC
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© Ted Soqui/ Ted Soqui/CorbisBitcoin's value has plunged as the attack has intensified.
Moves follow crackdowns by China and Russia on use of the cybercurrency amid fears over criminal use

Three online exchanges for the bitcoin virtual currency have suspended conversions into state-backed currencies, saying they are under attack from hackers suspected of trying to create fraudulent transactions.

The value of the currency has plunged as the attack has intensified, from $926 on 5 February to $530 on 12 February on MtGox, one of the affected exchanges. Bitstamp, based in Slovenia, and BTC-e, in Bulgaria, also halted withdrawals indefinitely on Wednesday as they came under attack.

The moves follow crackdowns by China in December and Russia last week on use of the cybercurrency, which some authorities fear could be used for money laundering, funding terrorism or tax evasion.
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Attention

Global capitalism has written off human race

Paul Craig Roberts
Press TV
Wed, 19 Feb 2014 07:08 UTC
Capitalism is over
© Unknown

Economic theory teaches that free price and profit movements ensure that capitalism produces the greatest welfare for the greatest number. Losses indicate economic activities where costs exceed the value of production, thus investment in these activities is curtailed.

Profits indicate economic activities where the value of output exceeds its cost, thus investment increases. Prices indicate the relative scarcity and value of inputs and outputs, thus serving to organize production most efficiently.

This theory doesn't work when the US government socializes cost and privatizes profits as it has been doing with the Federal Reserve's support of "banks too big to fail" and when a handful of financial institutions have concentrated much economic activity. Subsidized "private" banks are no different from the former publicly subsidized socialized industries of Great Britain, France, Italy, and the former communist countries. The banks have imposed the costs of their incompetence, greed, and corruption on taxpayers. Indeed, the socialized firms in England and France were more efficiently run and never threatened the national economies, much less the entire world, with ruin as do the private US "banks too big to fail." The English, French, and communists never had to print $1,000 billion dollars annually to save a handful of corrupt and incompetent financial enterprises.
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Arrow Down

Colombia President fires chief of armed forces


Press TV
Wed, 19 Feb 2014 07:01 UTC
Colombian Army Chief, General Leonardo Barrero
© UnknownPicture taken on January 20, 2014, shows Colombian Army Chief, General Leonardo Barrero, delivering a speech during a press conference in Tame Arauca, Colombia.
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has fired the country's chief of armed forces for "disparaging comments" about the judiciary.

Santos said on Tuesday that General Leonardo Barrero was dismissed for "disrespectful remarks" against the judiciary and nation in a phone conversation published on the weekend.

The allegations were published by Colombia's Semana magazine. Barrero's remarks were found on secretly recorded phone conversations made during probe into the corruption allegations.

Barrero was heard insulting the investigating prosecutors in a phone call with a colonel imprisoned over possible links to extrajudicial killings.

Barrero told colonel Robinson Gonzalez del Rio, who is facing criminal charges over the killing of two men in 2007, that the prosecutors' investigations into the extrajudicial killings is a "bunch of crap," and suggesting that he and others "organize a mafia" to discredit investigating judges.
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Heart - Black

Protect Syria: Will Samantha Power's words fool us again?

Caleb Maupin
RT
Wed, 19 Feb 2014 06:47 UTC
Tank confiscated by Syrian rebels
© AFP Photo / Abu Hadi Al-HamwiA tank confiscated by rebel fighters fires at a pro-government position near the Syrian city of Hama, on February 19, 2014.
After several hours of closed-door Security Council Consultations at the United Nations on Thursday, February 13, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power came out in front of the press to do what she does best.

Power gave a speech bemoaning what she called "the greatest humanitarian crisis of our generation." She gave statistics of "6.8 million Syrians in need of assistance.... There were 4.25 million internally displaced persons..." She spoke of "images of emaciated and tortured Syrians, of dead and dying children, and of so much more."

Samantha Power has been the UN Ambassador for several months now, after a lengthy career as one of the many voices reciting this same narrative. Each performance is delivered with a different cast of characters, in different corner the globe where some government has defied Wall Street and neo-liberalism, and the pentagon is itching to attack. The public, of course, must be psyched up to support arming the terrorists, sending the cruise missiles, and overthrowing the defiant regime.
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USA

Do we care about people if they live in Bahrain?

David Swanson
War Is A Crime.org
Mon, 17 Feb 2014 05:41 UTC
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I had a heck of a time making sense of the U.S. Navy's new motto "A Global Force for Good" until I realized that it meant "We are a global force, and wherever we go we're never leaving."

For three years now people in the little island nation of Bahrain have been nonviolently protesting and demanding democratic reforms.

For three years now the king of Bahrain and his royal thugs have been shooting, kidnapping, torturing, imprisoning, and terrorizing nonviolent opponents. An opponent includes anyone speaking up for human rights or even "insulting" the king or his flag, which carries a sentence of 7 years in prison and a hefty fine.

For three years now, Saudi Arabia has been aiding the King of Bahrain in his crackdown on the people of Bahrain. A U.S. police chief named John Timoney, with a reputation for brutality earned in Miami and Philadelphia, was hired to help the Bahraini government intimidate and brutalize its population.
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War Whore

Venezuela: Right-wing provokes violence in time-worn practice

Steve Ellner
Green Left Weekly
Thu, 13 Feb 2014 05:31 UTC
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© Tamara Pearson/Venezuelanalysis.comViolent opposition protest in Merida. February 11
History repeats itself. The time-worn tactic of the dominant class that controls the spread of information is to provoke violence and then blame it on the enemy, usually those who struggle for change.

Nero did it when he burned down much of Rome and blamed it on the Christians. Similarly, US newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst used the sinking of the USS Maine in 1898 to create war fervour that led to war with Spain.

Hitler ordered the burning of the Reichstag and blamed it on the Communists. He also had Germans dressed as Poles attack German troops to justify the invasion that began World War II.

The Gulf of Tonkin incident played out a similar scenario to justify US escalating its war on Vietnam. And George Bush Sr. used the same tactic to justify the invasion of Panama in 1989.

In Venezuela, this tactic has been used umpteen times throughout the past 15 years. The most infamous incident was on April 11, 2002 when shootings by snipers on demonstrators justified the US-backed coup against then-president Hugo Chavez.
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V

Venezuela's Maduro holds mass rally to reject violence as protests continue

Ewan Robertson
venezuelanalysis.com
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 05:22 UTC
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Thousands of government supporters gathered yesterday in Caracas to call for "peace" after violent clashes left three dead on Wednesday. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles today called supporters to gather for a national march "against paramilitaries and violence".

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro held the mass rally to reject the violent incidents at some opposition protests in recent weeks. The worst of the violence occurred in Caracas on Wednesday, when clashes left three dead and several dozen wounded. There are conflicting accounts as to exactly what happened.

Maduro used yesterday's gathering to attack what he called a "coup plot" by the far right opposition, and to promote his "national pacification plan" to reduce crime and tackle political violence. He told supporters that to construct peace in Venezuela, political differences should be settled through a battle of ideas, not arms.

"We call on all Venezuela to combat in the streets with ideas, with values, in high quality debate, with respect for people's rights, without violence," Maduro declared.
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Eye 1

Psychopaths in our midst: Venezuelan intelligence official arrested in connection with 12 February violence in Caracas

Ewan Robertson
venezuelanalysis.com
Mon, 17 Feb 2014 05:10 UTC
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An official of Venezuela's intelligence service has been arrested in connection with the violent clashes last Wednesday in Caracas which left three dead, a Venezuelan newspaper has reported.

An investigation is underway to determine the exact succession of events which led to the deaths of two men that day: Bassil Dacosta, an opposition supporter, and Juan Montoya, a Chavista. President Nicolas Maduro has said that both were killed by the same gun.

The killings occurred two blocks from the Attorney General's office in central Caracas, which footage shows violent opposition supporters attacking beforehand. The events occurred after a large student-led opposition march had concluded in the area, and most participants had already left.

The information on the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) officer's arrest was given to private newspaper Ultimas Noticias by an unnamed "military source". According to the information, the detained official was part of a group of SEBIN officers who ignored presidential orders to remain in the organisation's headquarters that day. The source said the officer is called Melvin Eduardo Collazos Rangel, and was arrested on Saturday.
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