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No Entry

Syrian government working to repair communications, claims Western-backed terrorists responsible for shutting down Internet

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Syria has effectively been cut off from the internet, with fierce clashes around Damascus airport.


Akamai, a firm that monitors global traffic, said internet traffic stopped from 1026 GMT, and that this supports the observation from another IT firm, Renesys, "that Syria is effectively off the Internet".

The internet going down coincided with reports that Syrian troops on Thursday evening had launched a major offensive in southeastern Damascus along the airport road.

The army attacked rebel strongholds in a string of towns along the highway and near the airport, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP by phone.

Comment: Regarding the "targeting of journalists", let's be clear about who is doing the targeting:

Marie Colvin: Is a false narrative being created to justify an attack on Syria?

British Channel 4 journalist Alex Thomson: The Syrian 'rebels' set me up to be shot at by Syrian military


Chess

TSA chief will be a 'no show' at congressional hearing

TSA Administrator John Pistole
© CNNTSA Administrator John Pistole says he won't testify before a committee that lacks jurisdiction over his agency.
TSA Administrator John Pistole says he won't testify before a committee that lacks jurisdiction over his agency.

A congressional hearing Thursday on aviation security will be missing its chief witness, who declined to testify.

Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole had been asked to appear before the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on aviation on the impact of his agency's policies on passengers and the airline industry.

But Pistole said he had no plans to attend, arguing the panel has no jurisdiction over TSA matters.

The TSA has been regularly criticized over the years by Republicans in the House, especially, for not becoming leaner and more efficient.

Dying woman: TSA spoils end-of-life trip TSA rescues kidnapped woman at airport Rep. Issa: TSA 'cooked the books' Man strips to protest TSA pat-down

"No representative from TSA will be present," Pistole said in a statement posted on the agency's website.

It is not common but not unheard of for an agency director to decline to testify at a congressional hearing outside of a scheduling conflict or another agreed-upon reason.

Bell

Currently writing an amendment, Senator Lindsey Graham favors indefinite detention - without trial - for Americans

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) constantly attacks the Obama administration for "government overreach" and "expanding big government" when it comes to health care, but he is currently writing an amendment to an upcoming defense bill that would allow the U.S. government to lock U.S. citizens in prison on the suspicion of terrorist association, without a trial, reports Mother Jones.

The amendment would support the U.S government's power to "detain under the law of war" any individual "who joins al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or an associated force" and "plans or participates in a belligerent act against the United States on behalf of such forces anywhere within the United States and its territories."

Sen. Graham's catch-all amendment is a response to the one proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) that would prevent the U.S. government from detaining Americans and legal permanent residents suspected of terrorism without charge or trial.

Pirates

Amazon makes billions from British customers, pays pennies in tax

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Amazon paid just £1.8m in corporation tax in the UK despite racking up a pre-tax profit of £74m on £3.35bn sales in 2011, according to figures the web giant wanted to keep secret.

MPs probing the company's minuscule corporation tax bill demanded to see Amazon's profit numbers as well as its sales performance, and published the details despite the company labelling them "non-public" and "confidential".

Amazon added its LoveFilm operation and "other business activities" to its UK sales, amassing a total of £3.35bn in 2011, up from the £2.91bn it had earlier admitted for the year, but its pre-tax profits were just £74m.

However, Amazon didn't even pay corporation tax on this figure in Blighty: instead it footed the tax bill for just its Amazon.co.uk Ltd subsidiary, which manages its warehouses, bringing its corporate tax payment to a bargain-basement £1.8m.

Colosseum

The End of Jewish Power

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Israel suffered a humiliating defeat at The UN yesterday. The nations of the world stood up and said NO to the Jewish state - NO to Israeli occupation, NO to Israeli human rights abuse, NO to Jewish racism. In effect, they stood up and confessed to serious Zio-fatigue.

Despite Jewish success in constantly reminding Europeans of their tormented past, Europe yesterday delivered itself of its guilt and Israel's European allies such as Germany, France, Britain and Italy also delivered a clear messages to Israel - they are right out of patience. This is a very good news indeed.

But interestingly, this united opposition to Israel is not in response the Israeli strength. On the contrary, it is actually a reaction to Israeli weakness. In the last few months we have seen the complete and final eradication of the famed Israeli power of deterrence. For months, Israel gave the impression that it was ready and willing to attack Iran nuclear facilities, only to have to admit, even to itself, that it lacked both the means and guts to do so. Israel then launched a lethal attack on the people of Gaza. It called up 75.000 IDF reservists, only to find out that it didn't have the stomach to face Palestinian resistance.

So, just as Israel is learning to admit to its own cowardice, the rest of the world is at last finding the courage to realise that it can well do without a Jewish state that is nothing but trouble and a grave threat to world peace.

In spite of the powerful Jewish lobby, the Zionist-controlled media and Wall Street, the Jewish state and its Zionist backers have proved to be impotent. It may have the desire, the hope and even the pathos, but it just ain't stiff enough to deliver.

Che Guevara

Irish socialist leader arrested then released without charge

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A leading member of republican socialist group éirigí was among four people brought before the Special Criminal Court last night charged with possessing weapons and ammunition.

Ursula Shannon, Inglewood Crescent, Clonsilla, and three men were charged with possessing two handguns and ammunition at Tullybeg, Rahan, Co Offaly on Tuesday night.

Éirígí general secretary Breandán Mac Cionnaith released a statement confirming "Ursula Ní Shionnain" is a member.

The party would not take steps to distance itself from Ms Shannon, he said.

"However," he added, "I have no doubt that some of the more sensationalist media outlets will try to exploit Ursula's arrest to insinuate all sorts of conspiracy theories and to engage in McCarthy-like 'reds under the beds' hysteria against éirígí. That, of course, will be nothing new."

War Whore

Ben Swann: "No Country Would Tolerate Missiles From Outside Borders" U.S. Hypocrisy?

Ben Swann takes a look at the statement last week by President Obama that "No country would tolerate missiles being fired from outside their borders". We compare the numbers on U.S drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.


Light Sabers

Iran supports oppressed people of Gaza

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© UnknownBrigadier General Hossein Salami
Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami reiterated Iran's support for the innocent and oppressed people of Gaza, and warned the Israeli leaders against any new incursion into the region.

Salami said the Islamic Iran is supporter of Gaza's innocent and oppressed people, and the victory of Palestinians against Israel in Gaza is a sign of Iran's support and power against the Israeli leaders' crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.

He warned the Israeli leaders against aggression on Gaza and killing defenseless people living in the Palestinian territories.

He said that the Israeli leaders saw strength of the Islamic army which could create an incredible victory in Gaza in line with the Islamic Awakening movements in the region.

Donut

United Nations threatens Colorado, Washington state over marijuana decriminalization laws

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Likely empowered by a U.S. administration that favors the kind of nanny state politics a ruling global entity would no doubt embrace, the head of the United Nations' International Narcotics Control Board feels comfortable telling federal officials they should move to challenge measures in Colorado and Washington that decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana for adults 21 and over.

Raymond Yans lectured the voter-approved measures - part of the United States' democratic process, something most UN member countries are not familiar with - send "a wrong message to the rest of the nation and it sends a wrong message abroad."

In an interview with The Associated Press, Yans said he would like to see Attorney General Eric Holder "take all necessary measures" to ensure that marijuana possession remains illegal throughout the United States.

Evil Rays

Internet shut down in Syria: But who did it?

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© AkamaiAkami confirms traffic flow to Syria effectively ended at 10:30 AM eastern time
Syria has reportedly cut off all access to the Internet according to Akami and web monitoring firm Renesys. In a short blog post, Renesys said that "all 84 of Syria's IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet. Monitoring firm Akamai has also confirmed that no traffic is getting in or out of Syria. The BBC is reporting the mobile service has also been cut off.

A Google Transparency Report page shows that Google traffic to Syria appears to have been cut off Thursday morning.

Deposed Egyptian president Hasni Mubarak famously cut off Internet and mobile phone service in Egypt at the height of the Arab Spring demonstrations that led to his ouster. Although he was successful in getting the Egyptian carriers to cooperate, some Egyptians still managed to get online by making international data calls from old-fashioned telephone modem lines.

Comment: There is no way currently of telling if this is an internal kill switch act or the act of an external force within or outside of Syria causing this.

On the balance of probabilities, however, it's probably best to assume that the Western proxy army in Syria is responsible for this move in anticipation of ramping up their attacks against Syrian civilians.

Syrian government working to repair communications, claims Western-backed terrorists responsible for shutting down Internet