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Missouri lawmakers want a list of every woman who has had an abortion

Amanda Marcotte
Salon
Thu, 07 Apr 2016 02:40 UTC

Comment: Last time we checked, medical information was protected by the Fourth Amendment, as well as HIPA, but we suppose things like the constitution and legal precedent doesn't matter much when your brain is fried by GMOs and pharmaceuticals and educating by the demagogues of Fox News.


missouri
© R. Gino Santa Maria via Shutterstock
The Missouri State Capitol Building in Jefferson City.
While major anti-choice activists and politicians are rushing to microphones to disingenuously declare, contra Donald Trump, that they would never try to punish women for abortions, their true punitive and frankly creepy side is coming out in Missouri.State legislators there are threatening to arrest Mary Kogut, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, because she won't turn over a list of names of women who got abortions to them. Kogut's lawyers are citing federal law protecting patient privacy to keep this list out of the hands of Republican legislators.

To be more specific, a list of consent forms signed by abortion patients has been subpoenaed by the interim Missouri State Senate Committee on the Sanctity of Life. (Yes, that is their name. I preferred the original name, the State Senate Committee of People Who Are Definitely More Moral Than You Sluts.) It's part of the ongoing witch hunt started when anti-choice activists released a series of hoax videos falsely accusing Planned Parenthood of coercing women into abortion so they could sell fetal tissue on the black market. A dozen similar investigations in other states turned up no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, which was entirely predictable, given the obvious lurid-Christian-right-urban-legend nature of the story the videos were pushing.

Missouri is one of the states where an investigation of Planned Parenthood turned up nada, but so devoted are anti-choicers in the legislature to believing that some kind of debauched and perverted behavior is going on at Planned Parenthood that they are still running pointless investigations.

Under the circumstances, it's easy to see why Kogut and her colleagues at Planned Parenthood are wary of turning a list of names of women who have had abortions to these ghouls. Would you want some Bible-thumping Missouri Republican leering at your name on an abortion consent form? Especially in our day and age when having your name and a general idea where you live means it would take a few minutes to find you on Facebook? Yeah, didn't think so.

Comment: Locking someone up for protecting peoples' rights? We must be in the USA.

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Bad Guys

New 'Suicide Battalion' in Crimea aims to strengthen Kiev's presence in the region

Simon North
Russia Insider
Sat, 09 Apr 2016 03:30 UTC
Ukraininan ship
© AFP 2015/ VIKTOR DRACHEV
The idea of peaceful development of the Crimea sticks in the throat of the so-called Mejlis, an NGO claiming to represent the interest of the Crimean Tatars, reports Russian online magazine Svobodnaya Pressa.

Recently one of them - Mustafa Dzhemilev, People's Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada and representative of the Crimean Tatar People designated by Poroshenko, presented another anti-Russian "project" called the Suicide Battalion.

This new armed group will include Crimean Tatars from the Kherson region of Ukraine that borders the peninsula. According to Dzhemilev, it will defend the border and "strengthen the Ukraine's presence" in the region. The battalion is not intended to put up armed resistance, but to collect information and "deliver it to the attention of the world community".

Comment: One wonders if Erdogan has been busy fulfilling Turkey's 2015 promise to these deranged fools:
Lenur Islyamov, one of the organizers of the so-called Crimean blockade, says that the Turkish defense ministry has promised to provide his group with assistance for the formation of a 560-man volunteer battalion, to be comprised of Crimean Tatar nationalist volunteers.


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Magnify

The real story behind the renewed conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh

Joachim Hagopian
Sott.net
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
Nagorno-Karabakh
Last Thursday US Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden met separately with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sarkesian while the South Caucasus adversaries attended a 50-nation nuclear summit in Washington boycotted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. But no sooner did Kerry pronounce "an ultimate resolution" to the ongoing Azeri-Armenian dispute over the autonomous Nagorno-Karabakh (NG) enclave, while Aliyev was flying home the next day his Azerbaijani military was launching a major overnight offensive into the contested region marking the bloodiest fighting since Russia's brokered truce that ended a three year war back in 1994.

The US Empire has consistently refused to recognize the democratic rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, the vast majority 95% being Armenian who voted overwhelmingly to declare its independence from Azerbaijan in 1991 during the waning months of the Soviet Empire while both Azerbaijan and Armenia were still outer Soviet states. This fateful decision resulted in a bloody conflict where up to 30,000 Azeris and 6,000 Armenians lost their lives in the ensuing war fiercely fought over the region's self-declared autonomy. Azeri residents in Nagorno-Karabakh fled to outlying Azerbaijan districts that geographically surround the disputed region with estimated totals of nearly three quarters of a million displaced Azeris and up to a half million displaced Armenians. By war's end the Armenian military prevailed, protecting the sovereignty of their people who had been living on that same turf of land for centuries. The autonomous enclave vigorously defended by Armenian troops during the war has since the 1994 treaty been a de facto governed independent region despite its non-contiguous location separate from the Republic of Armenia while enveloped by angry Azeri citizens vowing revenge insisting that Armenians have stolen near one fifth of their country.

Azerbaijan's latest violent escalation was gleefully egged on by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu:
The whole world should know that Turkey will stand shoulder to shoulder with Azerbaijan against these Armenian attacks until the end of the world. Our 78 million-strong population will continue to stand on Azerbaijan's side until all of its lands under occupation have been liberated.
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Colosseum

First international media tour of historic Palmyra sites since ISIS destruction, US journalists decline invitation


RT
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 23:12 UTC
Palmyra media tour
© Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation / Facebook


The Russian military have given access to journalists from 11 countries to the liberated Syrian city of Palmyra. Moscow noted the absence of American journalists in the group. The group of 27 media professionals from Germany, Italy, Belgium, China, Serbia and other nations were transported from the Russian military base in Khmeimim to Palmyra on Thursday.

They were carried halfway across the country by Mil Mi-8 AMTSh military transport helicopters guarded by Mil Mi-35 helicopter gunships. The journalists were taken to the historic part of the city, which was badly damaged by the Islamic State while they controlled the city. They also had a chance to speak to local residents and Russian military engineers, who are taking part in demining the city.

Noticeably absent among the group were journalist from the US, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov noted. He said that four US-based media outlets cancelled their accreditation requests on the eve of the trip, "as if they were following an order."

Comment: US media coverage of the events in Syria over the past six months has been abysmal. They only relegate themselves to become dreams of the past as they continue to ignore events like these in favor of a false and psychopathic reality.

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Pirates

Al-Qaeda reaps power and benefits from Saudi intervention in Yemen


RT
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 17:18 UTC
Lineup Al-Qaeda
© theconservativetreehouse.com
Al-Qaeda in Yemen, all factions are Sunni Extremists, manufactured by the USA/UK and Israel.
Al-Qaeda has made major financial gains as a result of the war in Yemen, running its own mini-state and pocketing $100 million in looted bank deposits and revenue from running the country's largest port, a Reuters investigation has revealed. The group's deep pockets and increased power are down to the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, which has reportedly helped it become stronger than at any time since its emergence almost 20 years ago.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has a major presence in Mukalla, a city of 500,000 people, where it runs the third largest port in Yemen. As part of its port "management," the group operates speedboats manned by armed fighters who impose fees on ship traffic. Yemeni government officials and local traders estimate that the group earns up to US$2 million every day in taxes on goods and fuel coming into the port. In addition, it is believed the group has managed to extort $1.4 million from the national oil company. The group also looted Mukalla's central bank branch, gaining an estimated $100 million, according to two senior Yemeni security officials. The economic empire of Mukalla was described to Reuters in detail by more than a dozen diplomats, Yemeni security officials, tribal leaders, and residents.

AQAP has abolished taxes for local residents in Mukalla, and group members have integrated themselves with southern Yemenis who have felt marginalized by their northern counterparts for years. The group has also made propaganda videos in which they have boasted about paving local roads and stocking hospitals. In doing so, the group has managed to win over many locals. "I prefer that Al-Qaeda stay here, not for Al Mukalla to be liberated," said one 47-year-old resident. "The situation is stable, more than any 'free' part of Yemen. The alternative to Al-Qaeda is much worse."


Comment: The situation seems stable because al-Qaeda, IS and the coalition are on the same side. AQ is acting like a mafia, and for all we know, the US and SA are reciprocal beneficiaries. (Think of it as an offshore tax haven...or the equivalent of an offshore asset accumulator!)


AQAP has managed to expand its territory by using many of the tactics used by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). It boasts 1,000 fighters in Mukalla alone, and controls 600km (373 miles) of coastline. The group also claimed responsibility for the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack, which left 12 people dead at the satirical magazine's Paris office.

Comment: Not all citizens of Al Mukalla are in favor of al-Qaeda taking charge. Not even a year ago, there were huge demonstrations and protests by thousands against the presence of this militant group in the city for its looting and terror tactics. Supposedly in a 'war' against al-Qaeda, the US and Saudi coalition all but guarantee al-Qaeda's success and safety. What is good for Western-spawned AQ, is good for US/SA even if it means civilians pay a deadly price. It has been said: the ultimate winner in Yemen will be AQAP.

See also:

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Arrow Down

Joint NATO-Russian project that could have prevented Brussels attacks was scrapped by NATO after Crimean reunification


RT
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 15:18 UTC
Aleksandr Grushko
© Grigoriy Sisoev / Sputnik
Russia's permanent representative to NATO Aleksandr Grushko
Russia's permanent representative to NATO Aleksandr Grushko has confirmed that a Russia-NATO joint anti-terror project may have been able to stop the attacks that hit Europe in recent months if the program hadn't been scrapped by the alliance.

"This was a multinational project. It was aimed at preventing terrorist attacks in public places. Full-scale tests that had been carried out in one of the NATO member states showed that if the project had been completed...it would have let us prevent such situations as occurred at Brussels' airport and metro to a significant extent," said the diplomat, confirming media reports.

Earlier, a source told TASS that the joint STANDEX (Stand-off Detection of Explosives) project - which was designed to "detect explosives remotely in real time in public places, in the first turn, on public transport systems, metro stations, airports and railway stations" - was based on sophisticated technology which allowed the precise location of bombs planted in large crowds. The system used spectrum analysis of microparticles in the air, and provided the identification of both the presence of explosives and the pin-point location of the person in the crowd.

Comment: Rather convenient for NATO as the project, if enabled, would have made it more difficult for 'intelligence' services to blame 'security lapses' for their failures or for the West to facilitate false flag attacks.

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Dollar

Britain is at the heart of the global tax haven network

Dan Glazebrook
RT
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 20:28 UTC
David Cameron

Bare-faced liar and psychopath, David Cameron
The British government's claim to be tackling tax evasion is about as credible as Al Capone claiming to be leading the fight against organized crime. In fact, Britain is at the heart of the global tax haven network, and continues to lead the fight against its regulation.

The 11 and a half million leaked documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca have proven, once again, what we have already known for some time - that the 'offshore world' of tax havens is a den of money laundering and tax evasion right at the heart of the global financial system.

Despite attempts by Western media to twist the revelations into a story about the 'corruption' of official enemies - North Korea, Syria, China and, of course, Putin, who is not even mentioned in the documents - the real story is the British government's assiduous cultivation of the offshore world. For whilst corruption exists in every country, what enables that corruption to flourish and become institutionalized is the network of secretive financial regimes that allow the world's biggest criminals and fraudsters to escape taxation, regulation and oversight of their activities. And this network is a conscious creation of the British state.
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Propaganda

Robert Parry on fact-free media: Neocons still dominate the news

Robert Parry
Consortium News
Thu, 07 Apr 2016 19:57 UTC
hiatt

Fred Hiatt: neocon, liar, warmonger.
Several weeks ago, I received a phone call from legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh who had seen one of my recent stories about Syria and wanted to commiserate over the state of modern journalism. Hersh's primary question regarding reporters and editors at major news outlets these days was: "Do they care what the facts are?"

Hersh noted that in the past - in the 1970s when he worked at The New York Times - even executive editor Abe Rosenthal, who was a hard-line cold warrior with strong ideological biases, still wanted to know what was really going on.

My experience was similar at The Associated Press. Among the older editors, there was still a pride in getting the facts right - and not getting misled by some politician or spun by some government flack.

That journalistic code, however, no longer exists - at least not on foreign policy and national security issues. The major newspapers and TV networks are staffed largely by careerists who uncritically accept what they are fed by U.S. government officials or what they get from think-tank experts who are essentially in the pay of special interests.
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Info

Russia and NATO agree to meet for the first time in almost 2 years


RT
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 19:46 UTC
O zastavniku Žiki, pukovniku Đonu te Sporazumu između Srbije i NATO-a iz pera Miroslava Lazanskog
© Wikipedia
NATO and Russia will meet for the first time since the military bloc suspended all cooperation with Moscow in 2014. Ukraine, Afghanistan, and military relations will be among the topics discussed at the meeting set to be held within the next two weeks.

"Following consultations with Russia, we have agreed to hold a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at Ambassadorial level," the bloc said in a statement released on Friday. "This meeting will take place in the next two weeks at the NATO headquarters in Brussels," it added.

"The NATO-Russia Council [NRC] will discuss the crisis in and around Ukraine and the need to fully implement the Minsk Agreements. We will discuss military activities, with particular focus on transparency and risk reduction. We will also address the security situation in Afghanistan, including regional terrorist threats."

Comment: See also:

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Airplane

U.S. sends 3000 tons of weapons and ammo to al-Qaeda in Syria; Russian sends aid to civilians


Moon of Alabama
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 19:45 UTC
Syrian al-Qaeda
© AFP 2016/ AMC / FADI AL-HALABI
"America rules!"
The United States via its Central Intelligence Service is still delivering thousands of tons of additional weapons to al-Qaeda and others in Syria.

The British military information service Janes found the transport solicitation for the shipment on the U.S. government website FedBizOps.gov. Janes writes:
The FBO has released two solicitations in recent months looking for shipping companies to transport explosive material from Eastern Europe to the Jordanian port of Aqaba on behalf of the US Navy's Military Sealift Command.

Released on 3 November 2015, the first solicitation sought a contractor to ship 81 containers of cargo that included explosive material from Constanta in Bulgaria to Aqaba.
...
The cargo listed in the document included AK-47 rifles, PKM general-purpose machine guns, DShK heavy machine guns, RPG-7 rocket launchers, and 9K111M Faktoria anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) systems. The Faktoria is an improved version of the 9K111 Fagot ATGW, the primary difference being that its missile has a tandem warhead for defeating explosive reactive armour (ERA) fitted to some tanks.
The Janes author tweeted the full article (copy here).

Comment: Meanwhile, from Russia with love:



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