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Newspaper

Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media

Lisa O'Carroll
The Guardian
Fri, 27 Sep 2013 18:30 UTC
seymour hersh
© Wally McNamee/CorbisSeymour Hersh exposed the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize.
Pulitzer Prize winner explains how to fix journalism, saying press should 'fire 90% of editors and promote ones you can't control'

Seymour Hersh has got some extreme ideas on how to fix journalism - close down the news bureaus of NBC and ABC, sack 90% of editors in publishing and get back to the fundamental job of journalists which, he says, is to be an outsider.

It doesn't take much to fire up Hersh, the investigative journalist who has been the nemesis of US presidents since the 1960s and who was once described by the Republican party as "the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist".

He is angry about the timidity of journalists in America, their failure to challenge the White House and be an unpopular messenger of truth.

Don't even get him started on the New York Times which, he says, spends "so much more time carrying water for Obama than I ever thought they would" - or the death of Osama bin Laden. "Nothing's been done about that story, it's one big lie, not one word of it is true," he says of the dramatic US Navy Seals raid in 2011 [see footnote].
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Light Saber

Seymour Hersh Says bin Laden Death Story "One Big Lie" - Reason to Impeach Obama?

Sherwood Ross
The Rebel
Fri, 18 Oct 2013 18:02 UTC
Obama bin laden
If Seymour Hersh says in a forthcoming book the tale of the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of U.S. SEALS is "one big lie" and "not one word of it is true," President Obama may be hard pressed to avoid impeachment.

Over a lifetime of journalism, investigative reporter Hersh has acquired a deserved reputation for honesty, accuracy, reliability, and integrity that is unmatched in his profession and if he says the bin Laden account is a fake, you can take it to the bank.

Hersh told The Guardian, Britain's investigative daily, "Nothing's been done about that story." A Pakistani report on the killing of bin Laden, Hersh says, was published with considerable U.S. input and is "a bullshit report." bin Laden allegedly was killed by a U.S. SEAL team in Abbottabad, Pakistan, May 1, 2011.
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Robot

Schwarzenegger intends to challenge law and run for president

Travis Gettys
Raw Story
Fri, 18 Oct 2013 16:13 UTC
Arnold
© Agence France-PresseAustrian-born actor and former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in Rome.

Actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is working to change the law so he can mount a 2016 presidential run, according to a New York Post report.

The newspaper quotes unnamed sources who say the actor, who's in New York City to promote his latest movie, "has been talking openly about working on getting the constitutional rules changed."

The source said the 66-year-old Schwarzenegger, a Republican, intends to file the necessary paperwork to challenge the rules.

The U.S. Constitution forbids foreign-born citizens from holding the chief executive position, but some legal experts have said it's not completely clear that courts would enforce the law instead of letting voters decide.

Constitutional amendments require two-thirds majority approval in both the House and the Senate and then must be ratified by at least 38 of the 50 states.
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Bad Guys

'Our' weaponized Wahhabi bastards

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times Online
Fri, 18 Oct 2013 13:46 UTC
House of Saud
© Carlos Latuffe
Life is good if you're a member of the Gulf Counter-revolution Club, officially known as Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). You can crush the Arab Spring at will. You can hire goons all across dar-al-Islam to advance a sectarian Sunni-Shi'ite divide. You can be deeply implicated in the destruction of Syria. You can treat a significant part of your own population as third-class citizens.

Not only you get away with it; you get rewarded with expensive toys. And in one particular case - Saudi Arabia - even with a two-year seat at the UN Security Council.

Not to mention that the House of Saud expertly gets away with manipulating Islam as the pillar of its "legitimacy". The House of Saud controls the Hajj - which took place this week; an enormous logistical operation that "legitimizes" its role as leader of Sunni Islam, and automatically, the whole Islamic world. Well-informed Muslims though are very much aware of the fallacy - as much as they're aware of how the House of Saud is fast transforming Mecca into a Vegas-style pay-per-prayer luxury resort. Who's profiting? Certainly not the pilgrims.

This week, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced it had notified congress about selling more state-of-the-art heavy metal for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). That breaks down into "various munitions and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support" to Riyadh for US$6.8 billion and to Abu Dhabi for $4 billion.
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Eye 1

Crew of US ship arrested after it entered Indian waters carrying a 'huge cache of weapons on board'

Steve Nolan
The Daily Mail,UK
Fri, 18 Oct 2013 11:04 UTC
  • The ship, owned by U.S security firm AdvanFort, was stopped on Saturday
  • 33 crew men including six Britons, have been detained by Indian police
  • They claim that a weapons haul onboard was not properly declared
  • But AdvanFort say that the ship was part of an anti-piracy operation
The crew of a U.S-owned ship have been arrested by Indian police accused of entering Indian waters illegally with a stockpile of weapons on board.

The Indian coast guard stopped the ship, which belongs to security firm AdvanFort, on Saturday and detained 33 crew members.

AdvanFort claims that the ship has been supporting an anti-piracy initiative in Asia but Indian authorities say that they found weapons that had not been properly declared.

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Arrests: The crew of the Sierra-Leone registered MV Seaman Guard Ohio, pictured, have been detained by Indian police
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Eye 1

Britain: Online surveillance challenged

Steven Erlanger
The New York Times
Thu, 03 Oct 2013 00:01 UTC
Three British organizations said Thursday that they had filed a legal challenge in the European Court of Human Rights to the online surveillance programs of the British spy agency the Government Communications Headquarters. The groups are seeking to have the court declare the collection of metadata, including e-mails and social media messages, in secret programs revealed by the American intelligence analyst Edward J. Snowden to be an illegal breach of the right to privacy.
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Bulb

80% of voters think U.S. is on wrong track


Rasmussen Reports
Wed, 16 Oct 2013 10:25 UTC
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Five-year Low: 13% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction

The number of U.S. voters who feel the country is heading in the right direction has fallen to the lowest level of the Obama presidency.

Just 13% of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey for the week ending October 13. That's down from 17% the week before and the lowest finding since the week of October 20-26, 2008, when George W. Bush was still president.

Confidence in the country's direction has fallen 15 points since the government shutdown began two weeks ago and is down from a high of 43% the week before Election Day last fall.

After President Obama assumed office in January 2009, the number of voters who felt the country was heading in the right direction rose to 40% in early May of that year. In 2010 and 2011, confidence fell to the narrow range of 14% to 19%, levels similar to those measured in the final months of the Bush administration. Optimism began easing up again in mid-December 2011.
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Cult

French court upholds Scientology fraud conviction


The Globe and Mail
Wed, 16 Oct 2013 10:10 UTC
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© L. Ron Hubbard Library/Associated PressChurch of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
France's top appeals court on Wednesday upheld a fraud conviction and hundreds of thousands of euros in fines against the Church of Scientology for taking advantage of vulnerable followers.

The Cour de Cassation rejected the organization's request that a 2009 conviction for "organized fraud" be overturned on the grounds it violated religious freedoms.

The group has previously indicated that it will appeal the conviction to the European Court of Human Rights.

The conviction saw Scientology's Celebrity Centre and its bookshop in Paris, the two branches of its French operations, ordered to pay 600,000 euros ($838,452) in fines for preying financially on several followers in the 1990s.
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Snakes in Suits

Budget deal allows for January federal pay raise

Eric Yoder
Washington Post
Thu, 17 Oct 2013 10:05 UTC
Image
The budget measure that ended the partial government shutdown allows for a 1 percent raise for federal employees in January in addition to providing back pay for those furloughed, according to two Democratic Maryland senators.

"The promise of a modest pay raise and back pay for furloughed government employees are good first steps in recognizing the value of federal workers," said Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee in a joint statement with Sen. Ben Cardin.

"I'm proud we were able to fulfill our promise to make them whole again with back pay and finally break through the pay freeze with a modest adjustment for next year," said Cardin, a member of the Senate Finance Committee.

Federal employee salary rates have not been increased since January 2010. Some employees have had their pay frozen that entire time while some have received raises due to promotion, performance, or on advancing up the steps of their pay grades.
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Arrow Down

Chicago marathon featured warrantless bag searches along 26-mile track, unprecedented security


Police State USA
Tue, 15 Oct 2013 23:59 UTC
Chicago Marathon_1
© Nancy Stone, Chicago TribuneAnti-terrorism agents tout rifles in front of the disarmed public at the 2013 Chicago Marathon.
Chicago, Illinois - Continuing the trend of mass-suspension of the 4th amendment at every possible event, police searched the bags of anyone they chose along the 26-mile track of the annual Chicago Marathon. More disturbing than the predictable push to eliminate privacy rights is the public's utter acquiescence in the face of the growing police state.

At the annual race on Sunday, October 13th, a legion of police officers lined the streets. Chicago Police sent more than 1,000 officers to the race; some wearing conspicuous yellow vests, others infiltrating the crowd in plain clothes. FBI agents wearing military fatigues held a visible presence throughout the track, along with federal ATF agents and U.S. Marshals carrying rifles. DHS agents littered the scene performing searches with dogs.

Department of Homeland Security designated the marathon a "Level Two" event, justifying the massive presence of federal agents at the race. Near the intersection of Michigan and Jackson, a giant Emergency Alert System banner read "EAS: Alert Level Low."

"Everywhere you look there's about 20 officers at the corner, about 14 helicopters in the air," said Amie Byrne.
Chicago Marathon_4
© AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh1,000+ CPD officers staffed checkpoints and performed random bag searches.
Grant Park was locked down with checkpoints and suspicionless bag searches. To add to the security theater, the race banned costumes for participants and only allowed runners to carry clear plastic baggies.

Barriers and fencing were erected in many places, a notable difference from years past. "(Now) you can't run out and say, 'Hi,'" commented one onlooker. Unlike in the past, when police have looked the other way, no one was allowed to help a marathoner finish the run in the last mile or two.
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