Puppet MastersS


MIB

Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire! President Obama claims the NSA has never abused its authority.

Trevor Timm
The Guardian
Mon, 02 Dec 2013 10:40 UTC
obama4
© Michael Reynolds/EPA Barack Obama speaks during the end of year news conference at the White House
The facts that we know so far - from Fisa court documents to LOVEINT - show that the NSA has overstepped its powers

Time and again since the world learned the extent of what the NSA was doing, government officials have defended the controversial mass surveillance programs by falling back on one talking point: the NSA programs may be all-powerful, but they have never been abused.

President Obama continually evokes the phase when defending the NSA in public. In his end-of-year press conference, he reiterated, "There continues not to be evidence that the [metadata surveillance] program had been abused". Former NSA chief Michael Hayden says this almost weekly, and former CIA deputy director and NSA review panel member Mike Morrell said it again just before Christmas.

This mantra is likely to be repeated often in 2014 as Obama is set to address the nation on government surveillance, and Congress and the president debate whether any reforms are necessary.

There's only one problem: it's not true.
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Star of David

Gilad Atzmon: Israeli lobby a 'threat' to Western politics


Press TV
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 14:15 UTC

Israel and its powerful lobby in Washington D.C. are considered a risk to "our Western politics," said a London-based political activist on Monday, in a reference to Tel Aviv's opposition to a newly-reached nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 - the five permanent members of the UN Security council plus Germany.

People around the world start to realize that the price we are paying "for the Jewish lobby's interfering with our Western politics is severe," said Gilad Atzmon in a phone interview with Press TV.

After Iran and the six world powers reached an interim deal in Geneva on Nov. 24 over Tehran's nuclear energy program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fiercely opposed the agreement calling it "weak and desperate."

Netanyahu even appealed to members of the US Congress as negotiations were underway to kill the Geneva deal, which is set to ease some of sanctions imposed on Tehran.

Atzmon said "it is Israel that imposes civil threats, not just to the region but to the world" but now it is opposing a deal that will bring peace to the region.
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Star of David

'Israel wants Palestine obliterated'


Press TV
Tue, 31 Dec 2013 10:37 UTC
israeli settlement
© File photoLaborers work at a housing construction site in an Israeli settlement in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
The Israeli regime is obliterating Palestine through its continued expansionist policies while the world turns a blind eye to the plight of Palestinians, says a political analyst.

"Over the past 20 years, Palestine has been plundered by Israel, its rich arable lands confiscated, its water resources rerouted to benefit illegal settlers and its people treated as mere cattle awaiting slaughter," Catherine Shakdam wrote in a Monday article for Press TV.

"After decades of injustice, humiliation and bloodshed, the land of Palestine is but a shadow of its former self, a fractured country whose ever-shrinking borders will soon collapse on themselves to leave behind only the memory of what once was," she added.

Shakdam said the Tel Aviv regime has mastered the practicing of "apartheid" policies over the past decades, adding, "Far beyond security concerns, Israel seeks to eat away at Palestine until nothing is left but memories, believing otherwise would simply be utterly naïve."

Comment: Israel's ethnic cleansing and apartheid in Palestine
U.N. rights inquiry says Israel must remove settlers
UN General Assembly Passes Nine Resolutions on Israel-Palestine
Israel Won't Cooperate With UN Probe of West Bank Settlements
Leaked Document: Israeli Forces Train And Arm Settlers To Attack Palestinian Protesters
Who is the Superpower, America or Israel?
US vetoes UN vote on Israeli land grab and genocide
Peace In the Middle East? - Over the bodies of 3 million Palestinians
Netanyahu vows to keep building illegal settlements: Who will stop him?
The Palestinian Genocide Continues
Israel blows off UN review, buying time to whitewash human rights record
UN investigator: Israel engaged in ethnic cleansing with settlement expansion

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Eye 1

The most important surveillance order we know almost nothing about

Alex Abdo
Common Dreams
Tue, 31 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
blog spying
Over the last seven months, we have learned an incredible amount about the government's post-9/11 surveillance efforts. But there is a crucial gap in our basic understanding.

We now know, for example, a good deal about how the government conducts surveillance that targets Americans, and about surveillance of foreigners that sweeps up Americans' international communications when the actual surveillance takes place on U.S. soil (for example, from a Google facility in the United States). But we still know very little about Executive Order 12,333, which governs the NSA's surveillance abroad - even when that surveillance sweeps up Americans' communications.

To fill that gap, the ACLU, along with the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School, today filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit demanding that the government release basic information about its use of Executive Order 12,333 to conduct surveillance of Americans' international communications.
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Wolf

Beware of suspicious farmers: FBI links almanacs with terror planning


Fox News
Sun, 29 Dec 2013 07:48 UTC
2013 almanac
© unknown
The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used for terrorist planning.

In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use almanacs "to assist with target selection and pre-operational planning."

It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other investigations for anyone carrying almanacs, especially if the books are annotated in suspicious ways.

"The practice of researching potential targets is consistent with known methods of Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations that seek to maximize the likelihood of operational success through careful planning," the FBI wrote.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the bulletin this week and verified its authenticity.
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Black Magic

Children's Books Glorify Rise of Totalitarianism in US - Just like in Nazi Germany


Tomato Bubble
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 07:29 UTC
scholastic brainwashing
© unknown
Established in 1920, Scholastic is the largest publisher and distributor of children's books in the world. Scholastic titles are found in thousands of schools and libraries across America, and also internationally.

It's Orwellian sounding history book series, 'Cornerstones of Freedom', contains many items with a Marxist-Globalist slant. The putrid vomit is sold to gullible parents, teachers, and administrators as "American History". Most disturbing of all the titles is one of its 2012 releases, entitled 'Homeland Security', in which the HS & TSA Army of liberty killing goons are glorified for their work in border protection, airline security, and disaster response.

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Calendar

Top seven underreported stories for 2013

Liz Wahl
Russia Today
Wed, 01 Jan 2014 16:22 UTC
This year's top stories get to the heart of critical issues like privacy, government transparency and government overreach. From the death of internet icon Aaron Swartz to the historic military trial of Chelsea Manning to unprecedented scrutiny of the drone campaign, RT correspondent Liz Wahl takes a look at the seven top stories we covered that the mainstream media underreported or overlooked 2013.

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Dollars

Best of the Web: U.S.: The shocking redistribution of wealth in the past five years

Paul Buchheit
Common Dreams
Mon, 30 Dec 2013 00:00 UTC
Image
© CultureChange.org
Anyone reviewing the data is likely to conclude that there must be some mistake. It doesn't seem possible that one out of twenty American families could each have made a million dollars since Obama became President, while the average American family's net worth has barely recovered. But the evidence comes from numerous reputable sources.

Some conservatives continue to claim that President Obama is unfriendly to business, but the facts show that the richest Americans and the biggest businesses have been the main - perhaps only - beneficiaries of the massive wealth gain over the past five years.

1. $5 Million to Each of the 1%, and $1 Million to Each of the Next 4%

From the end of 2008 to the middle of 2013 total U.S. wealth increased from $47 trillion to $72 trillion. About $16 trillion of that is financial gain (stocks and other financial instruments).

The richest 1% own about 38 percent of stocks, and half of non-stock financial assets. So they've gained at least $6.1 trillion (38 percent of $16 trillion). That's over $5 million for each of 1.2 million households.

The next richest 4%, based on similar calculations, gained about $5.1 trillion. That's over a million dollars for each of their 4.8 million households.

The least wealthy 90% in our country own only 11 percent of all stocks excluding pensions (which are fast disappearing). The frantic recent surge in the stock market has largely bypassed these families.
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Syringe

Taiwan: Hundreds monitored after H7N9 bird flu case


Yahoo! News
Wed, 01 Jan 2014 09:00 UTC
Image
© AFP/Sam Yeh
A monitor shows the temperature of passengers at Sungshan Airport in Taipei, on April 4, 2013
Taiwanese authorities are monitoring hundreds of people who may have had contact with a mainland Chinese tourist infected with the H7N9 strain of bird flu, officials said Wednesday.

The 86-year-old man from the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu is in stable condition in hospital in Taiwan, where he was on an eight-day tour, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said in a statement.

As many as 500 people may have had contact with him, all of whom are being asked to report to doctors should they develop possible symptoms, the statement added.

The 149 people who may have had close contact include two family members accompanying him on the tour, the tour guide, bus driver, medical personnel and patients sharing the same hospital ward, it said.
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Pirates

A tale of two families: Bush-Bin Laden connections since 1970s


CBC News
Tue, 19 Aug 2003 13:02 UTC
Image
Dubya got into the oil business thanks to two Bin Laden brothers.

Daddy Bush was meeting one of these brothers on the morning of 9/11.

When does conspiracy theory become conspiracy fact?

The following snippet from a 2003 CBC News investigation into the Bin Laden-Bush connections reveals the close business relationships the two clans had going back three decades.

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