Puppet Masters
Five lawmakers were injured early Wednesday in the fight that broke out as opposition leaders tried to delay a debate on the legislation.
The government says the measures to give police heightened powers to break up demonstrations are aimed at preventing violence such as the deadly clashes that broke out last year between Kurds, supporters of an Islamist group and police. Critics say that the new measures are part of a steady march toward blocking mass demonstrations that threaten Erdogan's iron grip over Turkish politics.
CNN's Carol Costello spelled out, in glorious technicolor, that Western women are being manipulated by ISIS onlineTM into thinking that life with the world's most high profile head-choppers (after Saudi Arabia) would be pretty cool and fun because there would be kittens, nutella and "emojis" (whatever they are).
Minnesota newspaper apologizes for calling selfie-loving narcissist Obama a 'self-absorbed assclown'
The original comments were made by St. Paul Pioneer Press sports producer Kevin Cusick, who ran one of his "Loop Ten" articles - a column that pokes fun at the top newsmakers and "fakers" of the day. When President Obama granted a recent interview to BuzzFeed, he posed with the increasingly popular selfie sticks as part of a video urging young people to sign up for health care coverage.
Making fun of people for using the widely-mocked selfie stick may be par for the course these days, but Cusick found himself in trouble over his choice of words.
"A fool-proof way to make yourself look like a self-absorbed assclown," read the caption under the photo, showing Obama holding the stick as he posed for a picture.
After the caption began spreading on social media, though, Cusick ended up taking back what he wrote.
"After further review, it's a poor choice of word," he told local KMSP. "I must have been in an especially foul mood last night. I've toned it down a bit."
Now, the caption reads: "A fool-proof way to make yourself look like a self-absorbed celebrity."
Unfortunately for enemies of the selfie stick, Obama's appearance with one seems to have led to a surge in interest for the devices. Google said searches for the stick increased threefold since the president used one, and some retailers are even reporting higher sales, the Washington Post reported.
That long-sought and closely guarded ability was part of a cluster of spying programs discovered by Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based security software maker that has exposed a series of Western cyberespionage operations.
Kaspersky said it found personal computers in 30 countries infected with one or more of the spying programs, with the most infections seen in Iran, followed by Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Mali, Syria, Yemen and Algeria. The targets included government and military institutions, telecommunication companies, banks, energy companies, nuclear researchers, media, and Islamic activists, Kaspersky said.
The firm declined to publicly name the country behind the spying campaign, but said it was closely linked to Stuxnet, the NSA-led cyberweapon that was used to attack Iran's uranium enrichment facility. The NSA is the agency responsible for gathering electronic intelligence on behalf of the United States.
A former NSA employee told Reuters that Kaspersky's analysis was correct, and that people still in the intelligence agency valued these spying programs as highly as Stuxnet. Another former intelligence operative confirmed that the NSA had developed the prized technique of concealing spyware in hard drives, but said he did not know which spy efforts relied on it.
NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines declined to comment.
Comment: This is probably just the tip of the iceberg. You can bet that these same spying programs are also inside the majority of computers used by Americans as well. The expectation of privacy is just an illusion, we no longer are allowed privacy by our increasingly paranoid government agencies.

Putin at the press conference following the Russian-Hungarian talks.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: First of all, we place great importance on the agreements reached in Minsk. Perhaps not everyone has noticed this yet, but what is particularly important in these agreements is that the authorities in Kiev are essentially agreeing to carry out far-reaching constitutional reform in order to satisfy demands for independence - call it what you will, decentralisation, autonomy or federalisation - in different parts of the country. This is a very important and very significant decision on the part of Ukraine's authorities.
Comment: For more on the UN Security Council initiative, see:
The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to approve a Russia-drafted resolution to support the Minsk agreements, reached by the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine last week. The resolution was submitted to the UNSC by Russia on February 13, a day after the Minsk deal was agreed on. It is aimed at endorsing and executing the Minsk agreements. The document also expresses concern over the continuing violence in eastern Ukraine, and stresses the importance of resolving the conflict peacefully. ... The resolution calls for a "total ceasefire" and a "political solution" that respects the "sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine".On the visit to Hungary: And the latest in Debaltsevo:

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton address the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in September 2014.
The Clinton Foundation has dropped its self-imposed ban on collecting funds from foreign governments and is winning contributions at an accelerating rate, raising ethical questions as Hillary Clinton ramps up her expected bid for the presidency.
Recent donors include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Australia, Germany and a Canadian government agency promoting the Keystone XL pipeline.
In 2009, the Clinton Foundation stopped raising money from foreign governments after Mrs. Clinton became secretary of state. Former President Bill Clinton, who ran the foundation while his wife was at the State Department, agreed to the gift ban at the behest of the Obama administration, which worried about a secretary of state's husband raising millions while she represented U.S. interests abroad.
The ban wasn't absolute; some foreign government donations were permitted for ongoing programs approved by State Department ethics officials.
The donations come as Mrs. Clinton prepares for an expected run for the Democratic nomination for president, and they raise many of the same ethical quandaries. Since leaving the State Department in early 2013, Mrs. Clinton officially joined the foundation, which changed its name to the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and has become a prodigious fundraiser as the foundation launched a $250 million endowment campaign, officials said.
Comment: Besides the obvious hope that throwing vast sums of money at Ms. Clinton's pet project will improve relations with the potential next president, the Foundation's various initiatives are an elitist's dream. Vaccination projects that will only sicken Africa's population even further, farming "aid" projects that will further destroy any sort of sustainability by creating reliance on gmos and pesticides, schooling designed to educate just enough to create compliant workers. What 1%-er wouldn't want to contribute to that?

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (R) addresses during a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest February 17, 2015.
Both Hungary and Russia need each other and are interested in reliable gas supplies and transit, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said after signing several deals with President Vladimir Putin.
"I have clearly stated that Hungary needs Russia. For us, Hungarians, it is important that Russia is open for Hungarian products. And Hungary is interested in reliably getting Russian energy," Orban said at a joint press-conference with Putin.
He has stressed that Hungary will strive for cooperation with Moscow as well as maintaining "good contacts".
Comment: This was Putin's first visit to an EU state since the Ukraine crisis started last year. As readers can see from the above, Orban has been vocal about criticizing the EU's aggressive posturing against Russia. So it's unsurprising Hungary would be Putin's first choice. Greece next?
You can read Putin's statement about the deals in Hungary here.
David is now loudly warning that events have entered the crack-up phase, which he predicts will be defined by the following 4 developments:
- Increasingly desperate moves by the world's central banks
- Increased market volatility and losses
- Deflation in industrial and commodity prices
- Decreasing demand due to Peak Debt
This article is a good example of the sort of press Merkel gets in Germany. It portrays her as the heroine of the hour, battling to save peace from the sinister designs of others. The article lavishes praise on her in a way that readers outside Germany might find unsettling. Contrary to what many in the West think, the Russian media never writes about Putin in this way.
The very favourable publicity Merkel gets in Germany is coordinated by her own office. Articles like the one in Der Spiegel are written in close communication with her office. This means that though the article gives a rather one-sided account of the Minsk negotiations, it is nonetheless packed with information if one knows how to read it properly. In the case of this particular piece, we can be certain that Merkel's office was involved since the article actually names it as a source.
The first thing we learn from the text is that what triggered the Minsk process is the disintegration of the Ukrainian economy and especially of the Ukrainian military.
The gala is meant to honor the "Jewish 100," a list of the "top 100 people positively influencing Jewish Life." The list of honorees, many of whom are not Jewish, includes Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi, One Direction member Harry Styles, and the Pope. Algemeiner is not exactly a household name, but it has managed to carve out a niche for itself publishing online articles filled with a particularly rabid brand of hasbara. "Why do 80% of Palestinians Support Murder?" one piece asks. Another approvingly quotes an Israeli think-tank's claim that "almost 50% of those killed in Gaza" during Operation Protective Edge were "terrorist operatives" (according to the Gaza Health Ministry, 70% were civilians, while a recent AP investigation concluded that only 11% were militants). The publication's tone should be familiar to anyone who has waded into the morass of right-wing Zionist propaganda: fear masquerading as strength.
Comment: One can only hope the real truth leaking out becomes a tidal wave.













Comment: Don't know whether to cheer them or not but this security bill does seem over the top and a desperation move by Erdogan. He seems worried about something.