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[Luck]

News Updates from Citizens for Legitimate Government
6 to 7 Nov 2012
http://www.legitgov.org
 
Security chiefs refused order from PM in 2010 to prepare military to strike Iran within hours if necessary, TV report says 04 Nov 2012 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered their security chiefs in 2010 to have the military ready to attack Iran's nuclear facilities within hours if necessary, but were rebuffed by the security chiefs, an Israeli TV investigate news program claimed on Sunday. The order to step up military readiness was given by Netanyahu and Barak to the then-chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Gabi Ashkenazi, and to the then-head of the Mossad, Meir Dagan, at a meeting on an unspecified date, the report claimed. But Dagan reportedly retorted that the order, if followed, might lead to a war based on an illegal decision.
 
Billions more needed to refurbish B61 nuclear bombs --NNSA's internal agency bottom line for project in July had risen to *6.8 billion 04 Nov 2012 The National Nuclear Security Administration, already under fire for billions of dollars of cost overruns, has underestimated by billions more how much it will cost to refurbish the nation's stockpile of B61 nuclear bombs, according to an independent cost assessment commissioned by the agency. Already juggling its budget to cope with existing problems, the agency will likely need to come up with another $1 billion per year for the next few years if the project is to go ahead as currently envisioned, according to a summary of the assessment obtained by the Journal.
 
Secret money funds GOP door-knockers 05 Nov 2012 There's so much secret money in conservative politics that even volunteers are getting paid -- and paid well. Grassroots activists who used to knock on doors and make phone calls for free are the latest beneficiaries of the historic spending spree to defeat President Barack Obama and elect GOP lawmakers. Deep-pocketed nonprofit groups -- funded by unlimited, and mostly undisclosed, contributions -- are offering canvassers and phone bankers wages upwards of *15 an hour and dangling perks such as performances by 3 Doors Down, drawings to win iPads and the chance to stay in a "posh hotel," POLITICO has learned.
 
$11 million donation tied to Koch brothers; Calif. agency alleges 'money laundering' 05 Nov 2012  Ending a mystery that captivated the run-up to Election Day, the Arizona group behind an anonymous *11 million donation revealed under court order Monday that the shadowy donation was laundered through two groups, including one tied to David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who have played a huge role in spreading anonymous political cash around [and destroying] the country. The donation, the largest anonymous contribution to a ballot measure campaign in California history, was made to the Small Business Action Committee, a conservative group running a campaign for Proposition 32, the measure that would curb labor's ability to collect political cash, and against Proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Brown's tax-hike initiative.
 
Turkey Puts Israeli Officers on Trial 05 Nov 2012 Turkey will try former Israeli military chiefs in absentia today for ordering a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship, publicly prolonging a dispute between the former allies even as their interests in the region converge. The four suspects, including ex-military chief Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, face nine consecutive life terms in prison for "inciting to kill monstrously and by torturing," according to the indictment at the Ankara court. It was approved before the second anniversary of the May 31, 2010 raid, in which nine Turks were killed.

One-quarter of EMTs don't get flu vaccine --Sixty percent of EMTs who did not get vaccinated said they do not trust public health authorities when they say influenza vaccine is safe 05 Nov 2012 Patients are regularly advised brainwashed by pharma-terrorists to get an annual flu vaccine, but 25 percent of St. Louis's emergency medical technicians do not get vaccinated, researchers say. Sixty percent of EMTs who did not get vaccinated said they do not trust the public health authorities when they say the influenza vaccine is safe, and about a third said that flu vaccine has a lot of side effects and reported being afraid of them. More than half in this unvaccinated group also said they do not believe they can play a role in transmitting influenza to their patients if they are not vaccinated.
 
CLG Newsletters blocked by rr.com, roadrunner.com, and adelphia.net Posted by Lori Price, www.legitgov.org 06 Nov 2012 For several days, CLG Newsletters are not reaching subscribers who use rr.com, roadrunner.com, and adelphia.net -- domains that have blocked and are currently blocking CLG's IP. Please contact your ISP and Time Warner Cable (contact info here) to share your thoughts on them censoring the CLG. I'm really sick of the censorship -- and the hours expended on it -- so if there is an attorney that would like to volunteer his/her services regarding this situation, please contact lori at legitgov dot org. Thank you.

Ohio faces controversy over voting machines 06 Nov 2012 As people head to the polls today to cast their ballots, a critical "battleground" state in the presidential election faces a last-minute controversy over its voting machines. In Ohio, a lawsuit alleges that Secretary of State Suppression Jon Husted (R) and Election Systems & Software, an Omaha, Neb., company that makes electronic voting systems used in the state, improperly approved the use of untested, non-state certified software in voting machines to help tally results. The suit -- filed Monday in federal district court... claims that the software could erroneously alter election results or even lead to election fraud. According to the complaint, the suit alleges that the software could introduce mistakes into the vote count, or allow third parties to manipulate the results.
 
California's Prop. 37 food labeling initiative trailing badly 06 Nov 2012 Proposition 37, the genetically engineered food labeling initiative, was trailing badly late on election day. With just over a fifth of the statewide votes counted, the measure was losing with 42.7% yes to 57.3% no. It was polling strongly ahead five weeks ago, but fell steadily in the polls under a barrage of negative campaign television advertisements funded by a food and biotech industry [terrorists'] war chest of more than *44 million.
 
Same-sex marriage measures passing in Maryland and Maine 06 Nov 2012 Maryland and Maine appeared poised to become the first states in the nation to back same-sex marriage at the ballot box Tuesday night, and other gay-marriage measures were on the ballot in Minnesota and Washington. The issue had been before voters 32 times and had been rejected every time. But activists say public opinion has shifted since 2008, when California passed a constitutional amendment reserving marriage for heterosexual couples.
 
Voting machine changes Obama to Romney 07 Nov 2012 Computer problems, as well as human ones, have drawn complaints across the US as millions of Americans go to the polls. One Pennsylvania voter highlighted a problem with voting machines on YouTube, complete with video, in which a touchscreen changed his choice from President Barack Obama to Republican Mitt Romney. "I initially selected Obama but Romney was highlighted," the man wrote. "I assumed it was being picky so I deselected Romney and tried Obama again, this time more carefully, and still got Romney." This was not the first allegation of foul-ups with electronic machines. In Ohio, some Republicans claimed machines were changing Romney votes to Obama, while Democrats accused Republican state officials of installing untested "experimental" software at the last minute.

Obama Tells US: 'The Best Is Yet To Come' --US President Barack Obama tells his supporters he returns to the White House 'more determined and more inspired than ever'. 07 Nov 2012 Barack Obama has won a second term as US President after beating Republican challenger Mitt Romney following a bitter and costly election campaign. ... [Lest we forget: NDAA, drones, PATRIOT Act renewal/expansion, insurance cartel giveaway aka 'health care' reform, Guantanamo Bay still open (tribunals underway), forgiveness of Bush-era war criminals (heck, even some brand new war crimes), surrender to GOP on debt ceiling (and everything else), Afghanistan until 2014, contractors in Iraq, etc.]
 
Fiery consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren beats Scott Brown in Massachusetts Senate race --Warren makes history as first woman elected to serve as US senator from Massachusetts 07 Nov 2012 Democrat Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law professor who promised to battle for a struggling middle class, defeated incumbent Republican Scott Brown tonight in the Massachusetts Senate race, despite Brown's attempts to paint himself as a one of a dying breed, a moderate New England Republican.

[Luck]

News Updates from Citizens for Legitimate Government
08 Nov 2012
http://www.legitgov.org
 
Bradley Manning Offers to Plead Guilty to Partial Charges, Including Leaking to WikiLeaks 07 Nov 2012 Accused WikiLeaks leaker Bradley Manning offered on Wednesday to plead guilty to parts of the charges he is facing, in exchange for the government pursuing lesser charges. Manning did not plead guilty but indicated in a plea notice submitted by his attorney, David Coombs, that he is willing to accept responsibility for some of the lesser included charges, but not the charges as they stand in whole. The move is known as "pleading by exceptions and substitutions" and is a strategy for negotiating the charges against him, which his attorney has tried repeatedly to do, unsuccessfully, via other means during pre-trial hearings.
 
Tepco terrorists too big to fail: Tepco seeks more govt bailouts as Fukushima costs soar --Tepco indicates costs could rise to $120 bln 07 Nov 2012 Fukushima nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said on Wednesday it would have to seek more government funds to tackle the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, as cleanup costs soar four months after the utility was nationalised. A senior minister said the government saw no alternative to providing continued support for the utility, known as Tepco. Tepco officials suggested the costs of compensation and decontamination could double to 10 trillion yen ($124.55 billion), making greater government support vital.
 
Election Night: Obama Drone Bombs Several in Yemen 07 Nov 2012 On Wednesday morning, as many Americans sifted through the voter data and exit poll numbers of President Barack Obama's reelection the night before, the Twitter feeds of close watchers of Yemen lit up with reports of another sort of presidential event: an apparent U.S. drone strike had killed several individuals in that country. There was no way of being certain if the strike was indeed American, or for that matter if it was a drone strike at all, although it had all the markings of one. "All signs (after dark, suspicions of locals, target) point to Sanhan strike being a US drone," Yemen-based freelance journalist Adam Baron wrote on Twitter. Several other analysts concurred. A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. If it were a American strike, of course, it would have to have been authorized by Obama.
 
Record number of women elected to U.S. Congress 07 Nov 2012 A record number of women will serve in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives after sweeping victories in Tuesday's election that challenged the traditional male makeup of the U.S. legislative branch. Twenty women will serve in the 100-member Senate and at least 81 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives will be women. A few races still await final results from Tuesday's voting.
 
Numbers nerd Nate Silver's forecasts prove all right on election night 07 Nov 2012 One big winner of US election night was the statistical guru and unashamed numbers nerd Nate Silver, who correctly predicted not only Barack Obama's victory but the outcome of the presidential contest in all 50 states. Silver, the political forecaster at the New York Times, infuriated Republicans in the closing days of the race by arguing on his blog FiveThirtyEight.com that Obama's chances of winning were steadily increasing. His final forecast gave Obama a 90.9% chance of victory. Silver also forecast 332 electoral college votes for Obama against 206 for Romney - the actual result, assuming Obama's Florida victory is confirmed.
 
AT&T blocking CLG Newsletter again after IP switch was made to avoid RR block 08 Nov 2012 AT&T is blocking the CLG Newsletter after an IP switch was made by CLG's webhoster to avoid the Time Warner Cable (rr.com, roadrunner.com, and adelphia.net) block. AT&T did not deliver the CLG Newsletter early this morning to its domains. If any techie wishes to help me with these ongoing obstacles, which keep me from updating the CLG website with actual news items, please write lori at legitgov dot org. Thank you. [Note: CLG's earlier updates are posted below, as the IP has been changed again, so AT&T people should receive this update.]
 
Iranian warplanes fired on U.S. drone over Persian Gulf - Pentagon 08 Nov 2012 Iranian warplanes fired multiple rounds at an unmanned, unarmed U.S. surveillance aircraft in international airspace over the Persian Gulf last week, but the craft was undamaged and returned safely to its base, Pentagon spokesman George Little said on Thursday. President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta were both advised early on about the unprecedented incident, which occurred at about 4:50 A.M. Eastern Time on November 1. Iran was later warned through diplomatic channels the United States would keep conducting surveillance flights in the region and would protect its military assets, Little said. [And, Iran will keep firing on them.]
 
The Racist States of America: Shocking map reveals hateful tweets following Obama's re-election --Map comes two days after massive riot at Ole Miss 08 Nov 2012 Rather than using social media to express their frustration and disappointment that Republican Mitt Romney lost the election in an elegant way, many Twitter users instead used the platform to post shockingly racist tweets, calling President Obama a 'n*****' and a 'monkey.' A map collected by Floating Sheep shows the shocking demographic of racist 'hate tweets,' many of them collected from states that were won by Romney. The majority of the tweets, as Jezebel noted, were often from young white residents in southern states.
 
Health group asks Obama to stop eating junk food in public 08 Nov 2012 A Washington, D.C.-based health group is making another appeal to President Obama to stop eating junk food in public now that election season is over. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) made headlines in May when it filed a petition with the White House objecting to Obama's habit of grabbing hamburgers, hot dogs and other unhealthy foods with his staff and visiting dignitaries. On Wednesday, PCRM Founder Neal Barnard called on Obama to abandon the foods he ate on the campaign trail -- "cheesesteaks in Philly on Monday, barbecue in Dallas on Tuesday, cheese pizza in Madison, Wis., on Thursday" -- now that he has secured reelection.

[Luck]

Six states defy feds
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2012/11/07/national-press-release-six-states-defy-feds/
Posted by Mike Maharrey
For Immediate Release: Nov. 7, 2012

Americans in 6 states vote to nullify unconstitutional acts

While most pundit and media attention focused on the presidential race Tuesday night, citizens of six states quietly voted to nullify unconstitutional acts.

Voters in Alabama, Montana, and Wyoming all passed measures guaranteeing health care freedom, despite federal mandates in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Massachusetts voters defied federal law and approved a measure to legalize marijuana for medicinal use. And in Washington and Colorado, they took it a step further, decriminalizing pot completely.

“Yesterday, Barack Obama won the presidential election. But, the people of six states voted to exercise their freedom without federal ‘permission,’” Tenth Amendment Center executive director Michael Boldin said. “Americans on both sides of the political aisle told D.C. to butt the hell out last night.”

In all six cases, the nullifying measures won by comfortable margins. [See link above for more.]

ACTION ITEMS

CLICK HERE http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/legislation/ – for Model Nullification legislation that can be introduced in your state

CLICK HERE http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/nullifyobamacare – for the TAC’s Nullification organizer’s toolkit. Use it for the issue listed, or for anything you want to act on

CLICK HERE http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/ourlasthope – to get the book, Our Last Hope, the “owner’s manual” for the modern nullification movement.

CLICK HERE http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/03/04/the-states-rights-tradition-nobody-knows/ – To read more about how the Principles of ’98 were used by states throughout American history.

[Luck]

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
10 to 13 Nov 2012
http://www.legitgov.org

Court: Alleged torture victims can't sue Donald Rumsfeld 08 Nov 2012 A federal appeals court in Chicago has ruled that two American contractors allegedly tortured by U.S. forces in Iraq can't sue former Defense Secretary [war criminal] Donald Rumsfeld. The 8-3 decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a ruling by a three-judge panel of the same court. Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel claim in their lawsuit that U.S. forces detained them in 2006 after they alleged illegal activities by their Iraqi-owned employer.
 
Hints of a more virulent, mutating West Nile virus emerge 08 Nov 2012 The West Nile virus epidemic of 2012, the worst in a decade, may be notorious for yet another reason: The virus, in some cases, is attacking the brain more aggressively than in the past, raising the specter that it may have mutated into a nastier form, say two neurologists who have extensive experience dealing with the illness. One doctor, Art Leis in Jackson, Miss., has seen the virus damaging the speech, language and thinking centers of the brain -- something he has never observed before. The other, Elizabeth Angus in Detroit, has noticed brain damage in young, previously healthy patients, not just in older, sicker ones -- another change from past years.
 
Charles Darwin earns 4,000 write-in votes against creationist Ga. congressman 08 Nov 2012 Charles Darwin earned almost 4,000 write-in votes against a Georgia congressman who denounced evolution and other scientific theories as "lies straight from the pit of hell." The symbolic votes in Athens-Clarke County were a small percentage of more than 209,000 votes won by Republican Rep. Paul Broun in his unopposed re-election Tuesday. Broun gave a speech to a church group on Sept. 27 lambasting evolution, embryology and the Big Bang theory. Critics urged voters to write in the 19th-century British naturalist who is considered the father of evolution.
 
E-mail threats triggered probe of Petraeus, officials say 10 Nov 2012 The collapse of the dazzling career of CIA Director David H. Petraeus was triggered when a woman with whom he was having an affair sent threatening e-mails to another woman close to him, according to three senior law enforcement officials with knowledge of the episode. The recipient of the e-mails was so frightened that she went to the FBI for protection and help tracking down the sender, according to the officials. The FBI investigation traced the threats to Paula Broadwell, a former military officer and a Petraeus biographer, and uncovered explicit e-mails between Broadwell and Petraeus, the officials said.
 
Displaced Sandy residents: FEMA 'shelter' like prison camp with 'Blackhawk helicopters flying over day and night' --No media allowed inside fenced complex --Officials turned off WiFi; cops unplugged iPhones after learning people were contacting press 10 Nov 2012 (Oceanport, NJ) As he lights up a Marlboro and takes a slow drag before exhaling, Brian Sotelo is a man who has finally reached his breaking point. Anger drips from every word as he peers out at the tops of the white tents rising over the trees in the distance... We stood and talked in the cool morning air a short distance up the road after security at the front gate threatened to have our cars removed outside the entrance to what Sotelo's identification tag calls "Camp Freedom," even though it more closely resembles a prison camp. "The elections are over and here we are. There were Blackhawk helicopters flying over all day and night. They have heavy equipment moving past the tents all night."
 
And, today's obstacle is: Hotmail, MSN blocking CLG Newsletter 11 Nov 2012 Apparently, Microsoft does not like the CLG. Hotmail.com, Live.com, and MSN.com subscribers did not receive recent editions of the CLG Newsletter. CLG's webhoster, MayFirst, has submitted paperwork to remove the block of CLG's IP. If you use Hotmail, Live, or MSN, please feel free to let me know if you receive your CLG Newsletter again.
 
Iran warns of stronger reaction to US drones: Cmdr. 11 Nov 2012 A senior Iranian military commander says the Islamic Republic will respond with stronger action if the US drones repeat their intrusion into Iran's airspace. Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, commander of the Aerospace Division of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said on Sunday that the mission of the US drone repelled by the Iranian forces last week was to gather oil and economic intelligence around the Kharg Island in southern Iran. "According to the information we have, the mission of the drone was to gather intelligence and, in another sense, espionage,"
 
New scandal: FBI agent BANNED from investigation into Petraeus's affair after he 'grew obsessed' with a woman at the center of the probe and sent her shirtless photos 12 Nov 2012 A federal agent was pulled off the investigation into David Petraeus's illicit contact with Paula Broadwell when the agent reportedly became obsessed with another woman involved in the probe, The Wall Street Journal reports. The FBI found that the agent had sent shirtless photos of himself to Jill Kelley, the Tampa woman who reportedly received a half dozen emails from Broadwell that warned Kelley to stay away from Petraeus. The emails were sent from anonymous accounts. That same agent was a friend of Kelley's and he had started the FBI investigation into the emails -- which eventually led to Petraeus's downfall -- after Kelley came to him for help upon receiving the anonymous threats.
 
British medical journal slams Roche on Tamiflu 12 Nov 2012 A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu. The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic. On Monday, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ journal called for European governments to sue Roche. "I suggest we boycott Roche's products until they publish missing Tamiflu data," wrote Peter Gotzsche, leader of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen. He said governments should take legal action against Roche to get the money back that was "needlessly" spent on stockpiling Tamiflu.
 
Will MSNBC Continue to Shill for the Great Betrayal? By William K. Black 12 Nov 2012 The austerity component of the Grand Bargain was economically illiterate. Within the administration, it was the product of refusing to listen to its economists and listening instead to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Geithner is not an economist. Geithner hated Obama's stimulus program and embraced austerity. He convinced Obama to embrace an austerity deal that would have inflicted a gratuitous second recession on America and doom Obama's chance of re-election. Geithner had a powerful ally in convincing Obama to adopt such a program. Obama had decided to signal his fidelity to Wall Street by appointing William Daley as his Chief of Staff. Daley was from JP Morgan Chase. He came from (and has returned to) The Third Way - a Wall Street front group dedicated to pushing austerity and trying to further enrich Wall Street by privatizing Social Security. "As Special Counsel to President Clinton in 1993, Daley coordinated the successful campaign to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)...."
 
Argentine Judge Freezes Chevron Assets to Pay $19 Billion Ecuador Fine 12 Nov 2012 Adrian Elcuj Miranda, a judge in Buenos Aires, has ordered the seizure of Chevron's assets in Argentina, to force the company to pay a $19 billion penalty for polluting the Amazon in Ecuador. The plaintiffs are seeking similar legal action in Brazil, Canada, Colombia and other countries... In 2011 the Ecuadorean courts ruled against Chevron and ordered the company to pay $18.2 billion in damages, which was increased to $19 billion this past July. Chevron appealed the judgement but the Ecuadorean appellate court ruled against the company on January 3, 2012. Chevron is now trying a multitude of ways to defeat the ruling such as appealing the Ecuadorean fine in U.S. courts.

[Luck]

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
15 Nov 2012
http://www.legitgov.org
 
Gas prices: FSA examines whistleblower's claims of 'Libor-like' manipulation --Whistleblower claims £300bn wholesale gas market has been manipulated by big power companies 12 Nov 2012 The City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, is investigating claims by a whistleblower that Britain's £300bn wholesale gas market has been "regularly" manipulated by some of the big power companies, exploiting weaknesses that echo the recent Libor scandal. Separately, the energy regulator Ofgem has been warned by a company responsible for setting so-called benchmark prices, ICIS Heren, that it had seen evidence of suspect trading on 28 September, a key date as it marks the end of the gas financial year and can have an important influence on future prices.
 
'Dream Team' of Behavioral Scientists Advised Obama Campaign 13 Nov 2012 Less well known is that the Obama campaign also had a panel of unpaid academic advisers. The group -- which calls itself the "consortium of behavioral scientists," or COBS -- provided ideas on how to counter false rumors, like one that President Obama is a Muslim. It suggested how to characterize the Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, in advertisements. It also delivered research-based advice on how to mobilize voters. "In the way it used research, this was a campaign like no other," said Todd Rogers, a psychologist at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a former director of the Analyst Institute. When asked about the outside psychologists, the Obama campaign would neither confirm nor deny a relationship with them.
 
Google: Surveillance 'is on the rise' --More than 16,000 Google accounts specified in U.S. government's user data requests - report 13 Nov 2012 Google received more requests from the U.S. government to hand over user data during the first half of this year than from any other country, according to the search company's biannual "Transparency Report" released on Tuesday. From January to June, Google received nearly 8,000 requests for user data from the U.S. government. The search company said it "fully or partially" compiled with roughly 90 percent of them. That's up from the 5,950 requests for user data that Google received from the U.S. government during the same period a year ago.
 
Anti-terrorism expert advises against $3.1 billion BioWatch upgrade --Cost of 'upgrade' is *3.1 billion for initial five years 13 Nov 2012 Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's top expert on anti-terrorism technology has privately advised her to spike a long-planned, multibillion-dollar upgrade of BioWatch, the nation's troubled system for detecting a biological attack. Dr. Tara O'Toole, the department's undersecretary for science and technology, doubts that the so-called Generation 3 version of BioWatch could be relied on to detect anthrax, smallpox, plague or other deadly germs in the event of a [US lab-generated] biological attack, scientists familiar with the matter said.
 
Anti-austerity anger stirs strikes in Europe 14 Nov 2012 Protesters bristling over austerity cuts launch a Europe-wide string of rallies and strikes Wednesday, pouring into streets, refusing to work and grounding more than 700 flights. General strikes in Spain and Portugal will spearhead the day of action called by European unions and joined by activists as anger over governments' tight-fisted policies boils over. For Spain, the eurozone's fourth-largest economy where one in four workers is unemployed in a deep recession, it is the second general strike in eight months in protest against draconian budget cuts.
 
Secession petitions filed for all 50 states 14 Nov 2012 Petitions signed by hundreds of thousands of Americans seeking permission for their states to peacefully secede from the union have now been filed for all 50 states on the White House website. The secession petition push began last week on the site's We The People section after a Slidell, La., man filed a petition on Nov. 7 to allow Louisiana to secede. Residents from other states followed suit. Texas is in the lead with more than 99,000, but Gov. Rick Perry said on Tuesday that he does not support secession. Meanwhile, residents of Austin, Texas's stubbornly liberal stronghold, have petitioned the White House to allow the city to "withdraw from the state of Texas [and] remain part of the United States."

'Fix the Debt': A Trojan Horse for Corporate Tax Cuts 14 Nov 2012 With a ^60 million war chest and the blessing of more than 80 CEOs of America's biggest corporations, "Fix the Debt" is passing itself off as a reasoned call for compromise to save the nation from economic disaster. But as this new infographic and a recent study show, the companies behind Fix the Debt stand to gain *134 billion from one of the tax breaks they are promoting. Not just any tax break, mind you, but a new tax incentive for corporations to send U.S. jobs overseas. A new report from the Institute for Policy Studies (ISP) warns that: [Fix the Debt] is a Trojan horse concealing massive corporate tax breaks that would make our debt situation much worse. [It's] a powerful corporate lobby using the deficit as an excuse to sneak through costly corporate tax breaks, while at the same time cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Israeli protesters gather in Tel Aviv to urge end to Gaza operation 15 Nov 2012 Some 200 protesters rallied in central Tel Aviv on Thursday night, calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. The activists, largely identifying with left-wing political parties Meretz and Hadash, chanted slogan such as "Arabs and Jews refuse to be enemies," "in Gaza and Sderot, little girls want to live," and "Bibi and Barak, war is not a game." Across the street, dozens of right-wing activists, including MK Michael Ben Ari, from the National Union party, engaged in a counter protest, chanting "everyone knows left-wingers are traitors," and "let the IDF in, let the IDF win." In central Jerusalem, police arrested five people participating in a protest against Israeli activity in Gaza.
 
#opIsrael -- Anonymous stands by Palestine in this time of war and grief (Anonymous) 15 Nov 2012 For far too long, Anonymous has stood by with the rest of the world and watched in despair the barbaric, brutal and despicable treatment of the Palestinian people in the so-called "Occupied Territories" by the Israel Defense Force. Like so many around the globe, we have felt helpless in the face of such implacable evil. And today's insane attack and threatened invasion of Gaza was more of the same. But when the government of Israel publicly threatened to sever all Internet and other telecommunications into and out of Gaza they crossed a line in the sand. As the former dictator of Egypt Mubarack [sic] learned the hard way -- we are ANONYMOUS and NO ONE shuts down the Internet on our watch. To the IDF and government of Israel we issue you this warning only once. Do NOT shut down the Internet into the "Occupied Territories", and cease and desist from your terror upon the innocent people of Palestine or you will know the full and unbridled wrath of Anonymous.
 
McCain skips Benghazi briefing, gets testy when questioned by CNN 15 Nov 2012 Most of the Republican members of a Senate committee investigating the terrorist attack at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, skipped a classified briefing by administration officials on the incident Wednesday, CNN has learned. The missing lawmakers included Sen. [hypocritical sociopath] John McCain of Arizona, who at the time of the top-secret briefing held a press conference in the Capitol to call for the creation of a Watergate-type special Congressional committee to investigate how and why the attack took place. When CNN approached McCain in a Capitol hallway Thursday morning, the senator refused to comment about why he missed the briefing, which was conducted by top diplomatic, military and counter-terrorism officials. Instead, McCain got testy when pressed to say why he wasn't there.

[Luck]

1. Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
16 Nov 2012
http://www.legitgov.org

BP to Admit Crimes and Pay $4.5 Billion in Gulf Settlement 16 Nov 2012 BP, the British oil company, said Thursday it would pay *4.5 billion in fines and other payments to the United States government and plead guilty to 14 criminal charges in connection with the giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago. The payments include a *4 billion fine to be paid over five years, with much of it to go to government environmental agencies, BP said in a statement. As part of the settlement, BP pleaded guilty to 11 felony misconduct or neglect charges related to the deaths of 11 people in the Deepwater Horizon accident in 2010, which unleashed millions of barrels of oil into the gulf. A law enforcement official familiar with the case also said that two BP employees would be charged with manslaughter in the case.

[Israel] Ministers to okay call up of 75,000 troops 16 Nov 2012 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his nine top ministers for a special discussion Friday evening, on the third day of Operation Pillar of Defense [puke] in Gaza. Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser conducted a telephone survey among the government ministers to approve the call up of 75,000 soldiers. According to a state official, "We are going to significantly aggravate the operation." At the same time, Air Force planes attacked a rocket-launching cell in the Gaza Strip. Southern communities were bombarded with rockets throughout the day, and several rockets were also fired at Tel Aviv and the Jerusalem area.

State of emergency declared for hospitals across Israel 16 Nov 2012 Israel declares state of emergency for all hospitals in the occupied territories as Ehud Barak orders call-up of fresh troop reserves, Israeli media say.

Israel Mobilizes Troops as Hostilities Escalate 16 Nov 2012 Israel began mobilizing tens of thousands of troops Thursday and extended its aerial and artillery attacks on the Gaza Strip to a third day early Friday, while Palestinian militants mounted their deepest-ever missile strikes into the heart of Israel. The exchanges, which have killed 19 Palestinians and three Israelis, broadened a conflict that had erupted into the open Wednesday. Israel responded to escalating missile strikes from Gaza militants by launching a blitz of airstrikes that day that killed the top military commander of Hamas, the Islamist militant group and political movement that runs Gaza.
 
Israel launches fresh air strikes on Gaza 16 Nov 2012 Israeli war planes carried out multiple new air strikes as dawn broke Friday after a sleepless night punctuated by rocket fire on the Gaza Strip. The strikes included several direct hits on Gaza City. "There have been 130 strikes overnight until now," Hamas interior ministry spokesman Islam Shahwan said, citing "tens of strikes" across Gaza on Friday morning, as international journalists in Gaza City reported multiple raids. In response, Palestinians fired 11 rockets back at Israel overnight.

8 Palestinian rockets explode in southern Israel 16 Nov 2012 At least 8 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip have exploded in the Israeli cities of Eshkol and Ofakim. A number of rockets also fired from the coastal enclave have hit Bnei Shimon, Ashdod, Sha'ar Hanegev and Hof Ashkelon in the southern Israeli-occupied territories.
 
Anonymous hacker group attacks Israeli websites 16 Nov 2012 Hacking group Anonymous has launched a series of cyber attacks against websites in Israel. Data bombardments briefly knocked some sites offline and led to others being defaced with pro-Palestinian messages. The OpIsrael campaign was launched by the hacking collective in retaliation for attacks on Gaza. The cyber attacks come as the Israeli army updates its web campaign adding "achievements" and "badges" for regular visitors. Anonymous said it had launched the OpIsrael campaign following threats by the Israeli government to cut all Gaza's telecommunication links. This, said the group in a statement posted to the AnonRelations website, "crossed a line in the sand".

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2. TargetFreedom.com

These items below are from John Perna. As he suggests, it seems obvious that the U.S. is increasingly a police state, but what doesn't make sense is why the police state allows anyone to publicly proclaim that it is a police state. It must not be quite totally a police state yet, but is rapidly going that way. Another concern is that much of the most public proclamations of the police state, such as by tv shows with Jesse Ventura et al, may be psy ops by intelligence agencies to make opponents of the police state fear them in order to make us feel defeated enough to keep us from taking effective action.

Best Collection of Freedom Videos UPDATED DAILY
http://targetfreedom.com/videos-to-watch/best-collection-of-freedom-videos/
This is the Most Extensive Collection of Freedom Videos Ever Compiled. If this message has been emailed the recipient may have to copy and paste the links into the address bar, as censorship of these kind of links is rampant. Adding spaces to the URL is the usual method. These URLs are regularly removed from servers. If this occurs go this page, and click on them here. Book mark the main page: http://targetfreedom.com/ DOWN LOAD ANY THAT YOU LIKE.
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ELECTION FRAUD PLAYLIST
- http://targetfreedom.com/ron-paul/election-fraud-playlist/
- http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL41B48841A41B3212&feature=view_all
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Ron Paul's Congressional Farewell Speech 11/14/2012
- http://targetfreedom.com/bills-in-congress/ron-pauls-congressional-farewell-spee\ch-11142012/
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaP_QTV4aWQ&list=UUiqRq2mT_bBPMRhHap684Ig&index=1\&feature=plcp
- http://youtu.be/yaP_QTV4aWQ
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Please visit The Police State playlist on channel johnperna2
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF9D71591C543CE51&feature=view_all
To see all of the videos on channel johnperna2 click here: http://www.youtube.com/user/johnperna2?feature=mhee
You can watch in three different formats:
1. In the "playlist" which gives the smallest screen, but provides a scrolling selection.
2. Individually, which gives a larger screen, but does not provide a scrolling selection.
3. TO WATCH IN FULL SCREEN, CLICK ON ICON IN LOWER RIGHT CORNER
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Has the American Government Ordered Your Death Yet?
- http://targetfreedom.com/american-concentration-camps/has-your-government-ordere\d-your-death-yet/
DHS just bought 14 Billion rounds hollow point ammo. This is illegal to use in war. The only possible use is domestic, against the American people. At the same time the American government will be putting 30,000 Predator drones in the skies above us.
Read the article: "FEDS ARMING FOR WAR WITH WHO?" AT:
- http://targetfreedom.com/american-concentration-camps/feds-arming-for-war-with-w\ho-5/
Federal Ministry of Murder Playlist
- http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2i2YIitddOJEsmg37QIHYYctun2Gzhmt&feature=\view_all
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TYRANNY AT YOUR DOOR NOW - Do You Think That America is Not a Police State Yet?
- http://targetfreedom.com/american-concentration-camps/do-you-think-that-america-\is-not-a-police-state-yet/

[Luck]

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
19 Nov 2012
http://www.legitgov.org
 
Homeland Security office OKs efforts to monitor threats via social media --DHS first began experimenting with possibility of social media monitoring in 2010 with pilot programs that targeted public reactions to the earthquake in Haiti, the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill 15 Nov 2012 A little-known privacy office in the Department of Homeland Security has given its stamp of approval to an ongoing initiative aimed at monitoring social media sites for emerging threats. Congress created the department's privacy office in 2003 to review major initiatives and databases and make certain those initiatives respected the rights of Americans, while also enabling homeland security officials to better collect and share information about possible terrorism and criminal suspects. The privacy office has since conducted compliance reviews every six months, with the most recent assessment published last week.
 
TSA Vendor Denies Faking Test of Body-Imaging Software 15 Nov 2012 OSI Systems Inc.'s Rapiscan unit, one of two suppliers of body-scanning machines in U.S. airports, may have falsified tests of software intended to stop the machines from recording graphic images of travelers, a U.S. lawmaker said. The company "may have attempted to defraud the government by knowingly manipulating an operational test," Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Transportation Security Subcommittee, said in a letter to Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole Nov. 13. Rapiscan, in a statement today, said it couldn't have manipulated testing because those processes were controlled by the government.
 
Maker of Airport Body Scanners Suspected of Falsifying Software Tests 15 Nov 2012 A company that supplies controversial passenger-screening machines for U.S. airports is under suspicion for possibly manipulating tests on privacy software designed to prevent the machines from producing graphic body images. The Transportation Security Administration sent a letter Nov. 9 to the parent company of Rapiscan, the maker of backscatter machines, requesting information about the testing of the software to determine if there was malfeasance.

Why Cell Phones Went Dead After Hurricane Sandy 15 Nov 2012 After Hurricane Sandy, survivors needed, in addition to safety and power, the ability to communicate. Yet in parts of New York City, mobile communications services were knocked out for days. The problem? The companies that provide them had successfully resisted Federal Communications Commission calls to make emergency preparations, leaving New Yorkers to rely on the carriers' voluntary efforts. We have so far heard few details about why the companies made the particular business choices they did on backup power and what the consequences of those choices were, because the FCC has been blocked from asking -- even though about a third of people rely on mobile service as their only voice-communications connection.
 
Heads up! FDA Panel Gives Nod to Bird Flu Vaccine 16 Nov 2012 An FDA advisory panel has voted in favor of a vaccine against with the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu that would be stockpiled and used in case of [the next US-engendered] pandemic. By twin votes of 14-0, the panel agreed that the immunogenicity and the safety of the vaccine, made in Quebec by GlaxoSmithKline, were enough to meet licensing standards under accelerated approval regulations. Those rules, set in 2007, allow rapid approval of a vaccine on the basis of markers that are likely to predict clinical benefit. The Q-Pan H5N1 vaccine, developed under contract with the Department of Health and Human Services, consists of a monovalent, inactivated, split A/H5N1 influenza virus antigen and Glaxo's AS03 adjuvant.
 
Gaza hospitals stretched, need supplies to treat wounded: WHO 17 Nov 2012 Gaza hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties from Israel's bombings and face critical shortages of drugs and medical supplies, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday. The U.N. health agency appealed for *10 million from donors to meet the need for drugs and supplies over the next three months. Officials in Gaza said 43 Palestinians, nearly half of them civilians including eight children, had been killed since Israel began its air strikes.
 
Hackers launch assault on Israeli government websites 18 Nov 2012 More than 44 million hacking attempts have been made on Israeli government websites since Wednesday when Israel began its Gaza offensive, according to Israeli officials. Finance minister Yuval Steinitz said just one hacking attempt was successful on a site he did not want to name [lol], but added that it was up and running after 10 minutes of downtime. Attempts on defence-related sites were the most numerous, according to his ministry, while 10m attempts were said to have been made on the site of Israel's president, 7m on the foreign ministry and 3m on the site of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
 
Israel ready to 'significantly expand' Gaza offensive --Britain warns Israel that Gaza invasion would cost the country international support. 19 Nov 2012 The Israeli army is ready to "significantly expand" its operation in Gaza, the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday as Hamas launched fresh rocket attacks on Tel Aviv. Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said "The soldiers are ready for any activity that could take place". Netanyahu issued the warning as Israel's "Iron Dome" system intercepted two rockets aimed at Tel Aviv. Hamas militants admitted responsibility for the latest rocket attack on Israel's commercial capital. Israel's Foreign Ministry told FRANCE24 that a ground offensive into Gaza was likely if the rocket attacks continued.
 
Israel Bombs Government and Media Sites in Wider Attack 19 Nov 2012 Israel pressed its assault on the Gaza Strip early Sunday, deploying warplanes and naval vessels to pummel the coastal enclave as Israeli forces widened the onslaught from mostly military targets to media offices and centers of government infrastructure including the four-story headquarters of the Hamas prime minister. The crash of explosions pierced the Gaza City quiet several times throughout the early morning, with one attack injuring several journalists at a communications building, witnesses said. Palestinian news agencies reported that two children were killed in a predawn strike on Sunday in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
 
Anonymous attacks Israeli government websites 19 Nov 2012 Hacker collective Anonymous appear to have joined forces with Palestinian combatants and has attacked several Israeli government sites in what it terms Operation Israel. A press release posted on the Anonymous-affiliated Anonpaste website deplores what the hacking group says is "the barbaric, brutal and despicable treatment of Palestinian people in the so-called Occupied Territories by the Israeli Defence Force". The hackers threaten Israel that it must not shut down the Internet or it "will know the full and unbridled wrath of Anonymous." [Israel should know the 'full and unbridled wrath of Anonymous' -- whether they shut down the Internet or not.]
 
Turkey Labels Israel a 'Terrorist State' 19 Nov 2012 Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of being a "terrorist state" on Monday and criticized world powers for supporting the weeklong bombardment of Gaza that has killed more some 115 people, signaling that the three-year-old rift between the countries is deepening. Speaking in Istanbul shortly after returning from Cairo... Mr. Erdogan railed against what he called Western powers' failure to take concerted action to stop bloodshed in Syria. But harsher words were aimed at one-time ally Israel. "Those who speak of Muslims and terror side by side are turning a blind eye when Muslims are massacred en masse," he told a gathering of the Eurasian Islamic Council. "Those who turn a blind eye to discrimination toward Muslims in their own countries, are also closing their eyes to the savage massacre of innocent children in Gaza... Therefore, I say Israel is a terrorist state."
 

[Luck]

(cont.)
Senate bill, quietly rewritten, allows feds to read e-mail without warrants 20 Nov 2012 A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans' e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law. CNET has learned that Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans' e-mail, is scheduled for next week. Leahy's rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies -- including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission -- to access Americans' e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant. It also would give the FBI and Homeland Security more authority, in some circumstances, to gain full access to Internet accounts without notifying either the owner or a judge.
 
U.S. blocks U.N. Security Council action [on] Israel, Gaza conflict 20 Nov 2012 The United States blocked on Tuesday a U.N. Security Council statement condemning the escalating conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, setting the scene for a possible showdown between Washington and Russia on the issue. [How do you excuse this one, Obama apologists?]
 
Faster than NATO, France ends Afghan combat role 20 Nov 2012 France on Tuesday ended its combat operations in Afghanistan, pulling hundreds of troops from a base in a volatile region northeast of Kabul and fulfilling promises to end its combat role on a faster track than other NATO allies. After a handover ceremony with Afghan troops, 500 French combat soldiers in trucks and armored vehicles left the Nijrab base in the Kapisa region -- where anti-government insurgents have been active -- and traveled southwest to Kabul, the capital, said Col. Thierry Burkhard, a French military spokesman.

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[This isn’t exactly govt news, but it’s close to it and it’s next door. - Luck]
Take this job and shove it: Fed-up Bangor TV anchors quit on air
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/11/20/news/bangor/anchors-away-at-wvii-cindy-michaels-tony-consiglio-resign-on-air/?ref=mostReadBoxNews
BANGOR, Maine — Citing a longstanding battle with upper management over journalistic practices at their Bangor TV stations, news co-anchors Cindy Michaels and Tony Consiglio announced their resignations at the end of Tuesday’s 6 p.m. newscast.
Michaels and Consiglio, who have a combined 12½ years’ service at WVII (Channel 7) and sister station WFVX (Channel 22), shocked staff members and viewers with their joint resignations Tuesday evening.
“I just wanted to know that I was doing the best job I could and was being honest and ethical as a journalist, and I thought there were times when I wasn’t able to do that,” said Consiglio, a northeastern Connecticut native who broke in with WVII as a sports reporter in April 2006.
Not everyone was shocked by the on-air resignations.
“No, that was unfortunate, but not unexpected,” said Mike Palmer, WVII/WFVX vice president and general manager. “We’ll hire experienced people to fill these positions sooner rather than later.”
Neither reporter had told anyone of their decisions before Tuesday’s newscast.
“We figured if we had tendered our resignations off the air, we would not have been allowed to say goodbye to the community on the air and that was really important for us to do that,” said Michaels, the station’s news director, who has spent six of her 15 years in Bangor’s radio and TV market at WVII.
Both Michaels, 46, and Consiglio, 28, said frustration over the way they were allowed or told to do their jobs — something that has been steadily mounting for the last four years — became too much for them.
“There was a constant disrespecting and belittling of staff and we both felt there was a lack of knowledge from ownership and upper management in running a newsroom to the extent that I was not allowed to structure and direct them professionally,” Michaels explained. “I couldn’t do everything I wanted to as a news director. There was a regular undoing of decisions.”

[Luck]

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
23 - 25 Nov 2012
http://www.legitgov.org
 
Homeland Security Wants to More Than Double Its Predator Drone Fleet Inside the US, Despite Safety and Privacy Concerns --DHS has already spent $250 million over the last six years on ten surveillance Predators of its own. 20 Nov 2012 Despite renewed criticism from both parties in Congress that domestic drones pose a privacy danger to US citizens—and a report from its own Inspector General recommending to stop buying them--the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has indicated it wants to more than double its fleet of Predator drones used to fly surveillance missions inside the United States. Yesterday, California Watch reported that DHS signed a contract that could be worth as much as $443 million with General Atomics for the purchase up to fourteen additional Predator drones to fly near the border of Mexico and Canada. Congress would still need to appropriate the funds, but if they did, the DHS drone fleet would increase to twenty-four.
 
Gaza fighting continues amid peace efforts 20 Nov 2012 Israel and the Hamas militant group edged closer to a cease-fire Tuesday to end a weeklong Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, but after a day of furious diplomatic efforts involving the U.S. secretary of state, U.N. chief and Egypt's president, a deal remained elusive and fighting raged on both sides of the border...Israeli tanks and gunboats pummeled targets in Gaza in what appeared to be a last-minute burst of fire, while at least 200 rockets were fired into Israel. As talks dragged on near midnight, Israeli and Hamas officials, communicating through Egyptian mediators, expressed hope that a deal would soon be reached, but cautioned that it was far from certain.
 
Revealed: Military emails show that NO U.S. sailors witnessed Osama bin Laden's secret burial at sea 21 Nov 2012 --Defense Department says it cannot find any images or videos of bin Laden's aboard USS Carl Vinson --Pentagon failed to produce autopsy report, death certificate or results of DNA tests --The CIA, which ran the bin Laden raid, and has special legal authority to keep information from ever being made public. Internal emails among U.S. military officers indicate that no American sailors watched Osama bin Laden's burial at sea from the USS Carl Vinson, and traditional Islamic procedures were followed during the secret ceremony. The emails, obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, are heavily blacked out, but are the first public disclosure of government information about the al-Qaida leader's death. The emails were released Wednesday by the Defense Department. Although the Obama administration has pledged to be the most transparent in American history, it is keeping a tight hold on materials related to the 'bin Laden' raid. In a response to separate requests from the AP for information about the mission, the Defense Department said in March that it could not locate any photographs or video taken during the raid or showing bin Laden's body. It also said it could not find any images of bin Laden's body on the Vinson. The Pentagon also said it could not find any death certificate, autopsy report or results of DNA identification tests for bin Laden, or any pre-raid materials discussing how the government planned to dispose of bin Laden's body if he were killed. [Osama bid Laden died in December 2001. See: News of Bin Laden's Death and Funeral - December 2001.]
 
UK intelligence sued for using sex to infiltrate activists --Evidence uncovered by the Guardian suggests practice of undercover officers sleeping with their targets 'routine' 21 Nov 2012 Undercover police officers had long-term sexual relationships with political activists and joined them at family gatherings and on holidays to make their targets "emotionally dependent" on them, according to papers submitted to the high court. The allegations were revealed at the start of a legal attempt by the Metropolitan police to have the claims heard in secret. Ten women and one man have launched a legal action claiming they were conned into forming "deeply personal" relationships with the police spies. The case is the first civil action to be brought before a court since the Guardian revealed police officers frequently slept with political campaigners as part of a spy operation over four decades.
 
Flu jabs are a 'waste of taxpayer's money', claim scientists who say the benefits have been over-hyped --University of Minnesota report says benefits - especially for older people - have been over-promoted {greatly exaggerated} 21 Nov 2012 But some experts are now arguing that the jab's effectiveness has been exaggerated. A report published by the Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota, says not only is this misleading the public about the true effectiveness of the jab, it is hindering the development of new vaccines. The Independent says a review by the highly respected Cochrane Collaboration, an international network of experts, concluded that the vaccine had little impact in years, like the winter of 2011-12, when the vaccine and the viruses were mismatched.
 
Pentagon Wants to Keep Running Its Afghan Drug War From Blackwater's HQ 21 Nov 2012 Inside a compound in Kabul called Camp Integrity [sic], the Pentagon stations a small group of officers to oversee the U.S. military's various operations to 'curb' the spread of Afghanistan's cash crops of heroin and marijuana, which help line the Taliban's CIA's pockets. Only Camp Integrity isn't a U.S. military base at all. It's the 10-acre Afghanistan headquarters of the private security company formerly known as Blackwater. Those officers work for an obscure Pentagon agency called the Counter Narco-Terrorism Program Office, or CNTPO. Quietly, it's grown into one of the biggest dispensers of cash for private security contractors in the entire U.S. government: One pile of contracts last year from CNTPO was worth more than $3 billion. And it sees a future for itself in Afghanistan over the long haul... When all the options are exercised, the contract extends through September 29, 2015, over a year past the date when Afghan soldiers and cops are supposed to take over the war. And the "government preferred location" to base CNTPO? Camp Integrity.
 

[Luck]

(Cont.)

Netanyahu: Israel ready for fresh attacks 22 Nov 2012 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that the Tel Aviv regime is ready for fresh attacks on the Gaza Strip in case of, what he called, an Egypt-brokered ceasefire's failure to hold. "I know there are citizens that expect a harsher stand in Gaza - and we are prepared to make one. We choose when to act, against who to act and how to act," he was quoted as saying on Thursday. Netanyahu said Tel Aviv was "giving the ceasefire a chance."
 
US building drone subs to track, chase away enemy vessels: Report 22 Nov 2012 The American military has begun work on developing unmanned submarine drones capable of navigating oceans to track underwater vessels of rival nations. The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), tasked with developing new military technologies, began the project since "the growing number of adversaries able to build and operate quiet diesel electric submarines is a national security threat that affects US and friendly naval operations around the world," the report adds, citing a statement posted on DARPA's website. The United States Department of Defense is in the initial stages of developing "unmanned drone submarines" that will navigate oceans across the globe, "tracking and following enemy subs for months at a time," RIA Novosti reported Wednesday.
 
Protesting Greek municipal workers occupy town halls 22 Nov 2012 Greek municipal workers occupied hundreds of town halls across the country for a fifth day on Thursday to protest against public sector layoffs demanded by European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders. Greece has promised the lenders it will revamp its bloated public sector by putting as many as 27,000 workers into a layoff scheme. City and local workers are expected to be among the first to be laid off under the plan. Their protests have intensified since the Greek government passed a package of austerity measures earlier this month, with workers this week staging daily sit-ins at more than two thirds of the country's 330 city halls and several ministries.

High-tech surveillance gear raises questions in NJ 23 Nov 2012 A federal anti-terrorism program has drawn North Jersey deeper into the practice of hidden surveillance, equipping police departments with high-tech cameras, infrared technology and automatic license plate readers to keep tabs on people as they travel to local reservoirs, financial hubs and malls. The stepped-up security around potential terrorist targets links the region into a network of clandestine monitoring. Some of the departments are already putting to use the equipment provided by Homeland Security; others are gearing up.
 
Judge stops school from expelling girl who refused to wear tracking device 24 Nov 2012 A Texas high school student will be allowed to continue going to class for now despite her refusal to cooperate with a[n insane] program that forces pupils to be mandatorily tracked with computer chips. Andrea Hernandez was told she'd be expelled from John Jay High School's Science and Engineering Academy in San Antonio starting next week if she insists any further on disobeying a new policy that requires students to wear ID badges equipped with tiny Radio Frequency Identification ('RFID') chips. Now attorneys with the Rutherford Institute say Hernandez has been granted a temporary restraining order that will prohibit the Northside Independent School District from relocating the student to another facility.
 
Obama 'drone warfare rulebook' condemned by human rights groups 25 Nov 2012 President Barack Obama's administration is in the process of drawing up a formal rulebook that will set out the circumstances in which targeted assassination by unmanned drones is justified, according to reports. The New York Times, citing two unnamed sources, said explicit guidelines were being drawn up amid disagreement between the CIA and the departments of defense, justice and state over when lethal action is acceptable. Human-rights groups and peace groups opposed to the CIA-operated targeted-killing programme, which remains officially classified, said the administration had already rejected international law in pursuing its drone operations. "To say they are rewriting the rulebook implies that there is already a rulebook" said Jameel Jaffer, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Center for Democracy. "But what they are already doing is rejecting a rulebook – of international law – that has been in place since [the second world war]."
 
Anonymous takes down NISD website over student tracking 25 Nov 2012 The hacker group Anonymous has claimed responsibility for taking down the Northside ISD's [Independent School District, San Antonio, TX] website in protest of the district's controversial tracking ID badges for students. The group said in an e-mail to KENS 5 that they took down the district's website (www.NISD.net) on Saturday. They also included in the e-mail a link to a recent Kens5.com article on the district's new Smart IDs: "We saw your article... Anonymous (@tr1xxyAnon) are not going to allow this!" The website was still down as of Sunday morning.
 
Anonymous to NISD: 'I hope you noticed that I took down your website for a reason' 25 Nov 2012 On Sunday, tr1xxyAnon tweeted, 'This is the official statement of #Anonymous and me.' The announcement was posted on Pastebin. 'Dear NISD, I sincerely hope you have noticed that I have took [sic] down your website for a reason, and that reason is stripping away the privacy of students in your school. What was going through your mind when you had this idea? Now it is your school and your rules, but you seen what I did to your website, and have a simple deal for you, weather you accept it or not, is up to you. ...I am giving you 1-3 days to hold this meeting with the parents... IF you do not hold this meeting and nothing happens, I will simply shut down your website, like I did last time.'
 
Fire Kills 112 Workers Making Clothes for US Brands 25 Nov 2012  The 100-plus workers who died in a fire late Saturday at a high-rise garment factory in Bangladesh were working overtime making clothes for major American retailers, including Wal-Mart, according to workers' rights groups. Officials in Bangladesh said the flames at the Tazreen Fashions factory outside Dhaka spread rapidly on the ground floor, trapping those on the higher floors of the nine-story building. There were no exterior fire escapes, according to officials, and many died after jumping from upper floors to escape the flames. As firemen continued to remove bodies Sunday, officials said at least 112 people had died but that the number of fatalities could go higher. [Solution: Boycott sacks of sh*t of the universe, Wal-Mart.]

[TJames]

Brother! Now they want to make laws about what Obama can eat. He has the right to eat pie.

[Luck]

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
28 Nov - 7 Dec 2012,
http://www.legitgov.org
 
Flu Fascism: TriHealth fires 150 employees for not getting flu shots 22 Nov 2012 One of Cincinnati's largest employers fired approximately 150 employees Wednesday for failing to get a required flu shot. TriHealth offered all of its 10,800 employees free flu shots. Employees had a month to get the flu shot. The deadline was Nov. 16. Employees who did not get the shot were terminated Wednesday, a company spokesperson said. [NO ONE wants mercury-laden, squalene-filled vaccines! US pharma-terrorists are creating pandemics-for-profit. We'll take your shot after you take ours.]

Texas Schools Teaching Boston Tea Party as Terrorist Act 23 Nov 2012 The most historical instance of protesting against taxation without representation is now being taught in Texas schools as a terrorist act. As recently as January of this year, the Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative [of morons] included a lesson plan that depicted the Boston Tea Party, an event that helped ignite the American Revolution, as an act of terrorism. TheBlaze reports that in a lesson promoted on the TESCCC site as recently as January, a world history/social studies class plan depicted the Boston Tea Party as being anything but patriotic, causing many people to become upset with the lack of transparency and review for lessons. "A local militia, believed to be a terrorist organization, attacked the property of private citizens today at our nation's busiest port," wrote the 'teachers' in charge of organizing the curriculum about the Boston Tea Party.

US to leave 10,000 troops in Afghanistan past 2014 26 Nov 2012 Some 10,000 US troops will remain in Afghanistan after NATO combat operations end at the end of 2014, US media reports said Sunday. The administration of President Barack Obama aims to keep around 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan after formal combat operations in that country end in 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported late Sunday... However, the paper said, some defense analysts outside of the US government believe that the training and counterterrorism mission would require a much larger US presence -- perhaps as many as 30,000 troops.
 
Man Charged After Jokingly Claiming He Had Dynamite in His Luggage --Hurtado taken into custody and charged with falsely reporting a bomb at an airport 26 Nov 2012 A Guatemalan man has been charged after authorities say he jokingly claimed to have dynamite in his luggage at Miami International Airport. Miami-Dade police say Concourse J was partially evacuated Monday afternoon. According to an arrest report, when a ticket agent at TACA Airlines asked Alejandro Hurtado if he had any hazardous materials, Hurtado told the agent he had dynamite. The agent told Hurtado he was calling police, and Hurtado said he was only joking. Bomb squad officers responded and searched the bag but found no explosives.
 
Supreme Court rejects plea to ban taping of police in Illinois 26 Nov 2012 The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal of a controversial Illinois law prohibiting people from recording police officers on the job. By passing on the issue, the justices left in place a federal appeals court ruling that found that the state's anti-eavesdropping law violates free-speech rights when used against people who audiotape police officers.
 
Florida regulators approve $294 million for future nuclear power plants 27 Nov 2012 Florida's two largest electric utilities won state approval Monday to charge customers *294 million in costs for future nuclear facilities in 2013, despite objections from consumer advocates. FPL, a unit of NextEra Energy Inc., sought *151 million, which will be *1.69 per month for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours. Progress, a unit of Duke Energy Corp., will get *143 million. Utilities normally cannot pass on such expenses until new or renovated plants go into operation, but state law makes an exception for nuclear facilities. The [corporate welfare] law is designed to encourage nuclear power despite high construction costs compared to other generating options. Since the law went into effect, more than *1 billion in expenses for future nuclear facilities already have been passed on.

Syrian newspaper names 142 dead foreign fighters 28 Nov 2012 A Syrian newspaper yesterday published the names of 142 foreign fighters from 18 countries the government said were killed alongside rebels in Syria's conflict. The list, which Al Watan reported was sent to the United Nations Security Council by the Syrian government last month, included Arab, North African, Central and South Asian terrorists, giving the date and place of their death. Among the people named were 47 Saudis, 24 Libyans, 10 Tunisians, nine Egyptians, six Qataris and five Lebanese. It also listed 11 Afghans, five Turks, three Chechens, one Chadian and one Azerbaijani.
 
Two Years of Cablegate as Bradley Manning Testifies for the First Time by Julian Assange 29 Nov 2012 For years, WikiLeaks faced a chorus of accusations by U.S. officials and right-wing pundits of making the world a less-safe place, and of having potentially caused harm through publication of embarrassing secrets. In reality, the cables show that torture and killing are not isolated events, but the violent manifestations of an aggressive policy of coercion used by the United States in the pursuit of its strategic commercial and political goals around the world. While U.S. law bans the training of military units with a history of human rights violations, in practice the law is easily and often circumvented... A diplomatic cable from November 2009 mentions as a side note that right-wing paramilitaries in Colombia were responsible for the death of 257,089 victims, a figure well above the estimations of local human rights activists. The U.S. has nonetheless offered generous support to the Colombian military; Amnesty International, which has called for a complete cut-off of U.S. military aid to Colombia, has estimated that total U.S. aid in 2006 amounted to *728 million, of which 80 percent was given to military and police assistance. As of 2012, U.S. military support to Colombia is ongoing.
 
Police Can Access Your Email Without a Warrant If It's 180 Days Old 30 Nov 2012 When retired four-star general and former CIA Director David Petraeus resigned from his post this month after admitting to an extramarital affair, one of the more startling revelations was that the dalliance was discovered when the FBI sifted through his private Gmail account. The spy chief had been out-spied. More alarming is that the average American could easily be subjected to the same snooping that Petraeus endured. According to current law, police can access email through a provider, like Yahoo or Gmail, without a warrant if the message is more than 180 days old.

[Luck]

(Cont.)

DIA sending hundreds more spies overseas 01 Dec 2012 The Pentagon will send hundreds of additional spies overseas as part of an ambitious plan to assemble an espionage network that rivals the CIA in size, U.S. officials said. The project is aimed at transforming the Defense Intelligence Agency, which has been dominated for the past decade by the demands of two wars, into a spy service focused on emerging threats and more closely aligned with the CIA and elite military commando units. When the expansion is complete, the DIA is expected to have as many as 1,600 "collectors" in positions around the world, an unprecedented total for an agency whose presence abroad numbered in the triple digits in recent years.

Activists Demand Judge Step Down in Jeremy Hammond Case 01 Dec 2012 Supporters of Jeremy Hammond, the Chicago hacktivist denied bail by a federal judge in New York for his role in the hack of Stratfor, a private intelligence firm, are demanding the judge in the case recuse herself. Judge Loretta Preska denied bail to Hammond in court last week, saying that the alleged anonymous affiliated hacker posed a "substantial danger to the community." Information revealed since her ruling shows that Preska's husband, Thomas Kaveler is employed by Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, a client of Stratfor, and Kaveler himself was a victim of the hack. According to a press release from the collective Anonymous, Kaveler's email address and other data was published by Wikileaks after the Stratfor hack. Preska never disclosed this information and supporters of Hammond say that conflicts with her ability to give him a fair trial.

US boosts number of spy drone flights over Iran [Oh dear. Looks like one just came to a bad ending.] 03 Dec 2012 Heightened concerns over Iran's potential development of a nuclear weapon have prompted the United States to increase its surveillance efforts overseas in the past two months, a new report claims. The Wall Street Journal alleges this week that the US has ramped-up its number of spy drone missions over the Bushehr nuclear reactor ever since fuel rods were unexpectedly discharged from the facility in October, just two months after the facility became fully operational. The US has long voiced concern over the possible procurement of a nuclear warhead by Iranians, but surveillance has increased significantly in the weeks following the recent discovery of spent fuel rods, US officials confirm on condition of anonymity.
 
Kissinger and the secret spy network of former Gestapo and S.S. men 'who plotted to overthrow West German government' 03 Dec 2012 A German academic has unearthed evidence showing former U.S. Secretary of State [terrorist] Henry Kissinger once discussed a coup with disgruntled Nazis to overthrow the West German government in the 1970s. Kissinger and Richard Nixon were aggrieved at the left-leaning government of the day's burgeoning friendship with the hardline East German government. Kissinger became the contact man for a secret spy network made up of old Nazis and elite aristocrats aimed at torpedoing the plans formulated by Chancellor Willy Brandt. The treasurer of the group was Alfred Seidl, a former Nazi who acted as the chief defence lawyer for Hitler deputy Rudolf Hess.

Cops want logs of Americans' text messages 03 Dec 2012  AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and other wireless providers would be required to record and store information about Americans' private text messages for at least two years, according to a proposal that police have submitted to the U.S. Congress. CNET has learned a constellation of law enforcement groups has asked the U.S. Senate to require that wireless companies retain that information, warning that the lack of a current federal requirement "can hinder law enforcement investigations." They want an SMS retention requirement to be "considered" during congressional discussions over updating a 1986 privacy law for the cloud computing era -- a move that could complicate debate over the measure and erode support for it among civil libertarians.
 
Corporate profits hit record as wages get squeezed 03 Dec 2012 Just four years after the worst shock to the economy since the Great Depression, U.S. corporate profits are stronger than ever. In the third quarter, corporate earnings were *1.75 trillion, up 18.6% from a year ago, according to last week's gross domestic product report. That took after-tax profits to their greatest percentage of GDP in history. But the record profits come at the same time that workers' w*ges have fallen to their lowest-ever share of GDP.
 
Iran Captures US Drone In Its Airspace 04 Dec 2012 Iran has "captured" a US drone gathering intelligence over Gulf waters after it entered its airspace, state media has reported. The report quoted the Revolutionary Guard's navy chief General Ali Fadavi on the "intruding" [aka illegally spying] ScanEagle drone, but offered no precise details on the location or how it had been seized by the Guards' naval unit.
 
NDAA Nullification Bill Passes Michigan House, 107-0 05 Dec 2012 The Michigan House of Representatives unanimously voted in favor of House bill 5768 (HB5768) today. Due to support from a wide coalition of grassroots activists across the political spectrum, the bill passed unanimously. The final vote was 107-0. HB5768 asserts that no State employee or agency will assist the Federal government – in any way – in the detainment of people under the 2012 NDAA.
 
British 'Anonymous' hacker faces jail for £3.5m cyber-attack on PayPal because it wouldn't process WikiLeaks donations --Victims' websites would get message: 'You've tried to bite the Anonymous hand. You angered the hive and now you are being stung.' [LOL!] 06 Dec 2012 A leading British member of the 'Anonymous' hacking gang was today convicted for a series of devastating cyber-attacks on some of the world's biggest companies. On one occasion, hacktivist Christopher Weatherhead helped target PayPal because it would not process donations for the fundraising arm of Julian Assange's WikiLeaks, costing it pounds 3.5million. The self-confessed 'idealist' boasted online he would 'rape' and 'kill' the companies Anonymous attacked. Today the 22-year-old remained impassive as the unanimous guilty verdict was returned for his part in distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attacks, which made the victim's [sic] website suddenly crash.
 
Rights group: Israeli strike on Gaza home unlawful --Human Rights Watch says bombing of Daloo family home during Gaza operation violated laws of war because of large number of civilians killed 07 Dec 2012 A leading human rights group accused Israel of violating the laws of war when it killed 12 civilians in an airstrike during its recent conflict with Palestinian 'terrorists' in Gaza. Israel attacked the home of the Daloo family in Gaza City, killing 10 family members and two other civilians. Israel's army says the home was a hideout for a senior 'Hamas terrorist' involved in rocket attacks.

[Luck]

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
10 to 13 Dec 2012
http://www.legitgov.org
 
Some Hospital Employees Dismissed, Suspended After Refusing Mandatory Flu Shots 05 Dec 2012 Despite resistance from some employees, more state hospitals this year are making [deadly] flu shots mandatory for all workers, and some have even suspended or dismissed a handful who have not complied. This year, 19 of the 29 acute care hospitals in the state require that all employees get flu vaccinations.State health officials did not name the hospitals. Earlier this year, the Connecticut Hospital Association adopted a statewide policy endorsing mandatory flu vaccination for hospital staff.
 
War crime #1: NATO forces 'attack Afghan health clinic' in violation of Geneva conventions 06 Dec 2012 NATO forces stormed into a clinic in central Afghanistan, damaging doors, windows and medical equipment, before using it as a jail and military command centre, in violation of the Geneva conventions, according to the aid group that runs the facility. Nato and Afghan troops were dropped off by helicopters late one October evening and headed straight to the clinic, according to the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, which has published details of the assault on their small centre in Wardak province, a few dozen miles south-west of Kabul.
 
War crime #2: U.S. military is detaining more than 200 children and teens as 'enemy combatants' 07 Dec 2012 The U.S. military has detained more than 200 Afghan teenagers who were captured in the war for about a year at a time at a military prison next to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, the United States has told the United Nations. The U.S. State Department characterized the detainees held since 2008 as "enemy combatants" in a report sent every four years to the United Nations in Geneva updating U.S. compliance with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Most of the juvenile Afghan detainees were about 16 years old... the U.S. report said. "I've represented children as young as 11 or 12 who have been at Bagram," said Tina M. Foster, executive director of the International Justice Network, which represents adult and juvenile Bagram detainees.
 
War crime #3 KBR shouldn't be able to sue government, Oregon members of Congress tell Pentagon --KBR trying to force US taxpayers to pick up $100 million bill to pay for KBR's poisoning of US troops 08 Dec 2012 Six Oregon members of Congress released a letter to the Pentagon Saturday urging it resist efforts by defense contractor [terrorists] KBR to have American taxpayers pick up the estimated *100 million bill after a federal court judgement last month in favor of 12 soldiers from the Oregon National Guard. The federal jury in Portland ordered KBR to pay *85 million to the 12 Oregon soldiers who were exposed to the carcinogen hexavalent chromium while in Iraq in 2003. Under a once-classified indemnification clause in the contract, KBR subsequently sued the Army Corps of Engineers to cover about *100 million in damages and legal costs. [See also: U.S. Commandos' New Landlord in Afghanistan: Blackwater --Academi's *22 million no-bid contract runs through May 2015 05 Dec 2012.]
 
Columbus Police spray Mace on 'unruly' crowd for subsidized housing --Several individuals, sprayed with Mace by police, were treated at scene by emergency crews 08 Dec 2012 (OH) Columbus Police sprayed Mace on several people in a crowd that had gathered to sign up for a list to get subsidized housing at a northwest Columbus apartment complex. Police said the crowd started to gather Friday night for the Saturday morning event at The Heritage apartment complex on Gatewood Road near Sunbury Road in northeast Columbus. Authorities said that its highest number, the crowd reached 2,000 people.
 
War crime #4: 3,000 US troops secretly return to Iraq via Kuwait 09 Dec 2012 Over 3,000 US troops have secretly returned to Iraq via Kuwait for missions pertaining to the recent developments in Syria and northern Iraq, Press TV reports. According to our correspondent, the US troops have secretly [not so much] entered Iraq in multiple stages and are mostly stationed at Balad military garrison in Salahuddin province and al-Asad air base in al-Anbar province. Reports say the troops include US Army officers and almost 17,000 more are set to secretly return to Iraq via the same route. All US troops left Iraq by the end of 2011, after nine years of occupation, as required by a 2008 bilateral security agreement between the two countries.
 
'US to send sophisticated arms to militants in Syria' 09 Dec 2012 The United States is reportedly planning to send sophisticated weapons to foreign-sponsored militants fighting the Syrian government. Washington has already admitted to providing logistical and communication assistance to militants in Syria, but now there reports of a covert US plan to practically arm them. The recent reports said a wide range of modern weapons would be sent to Syria through Washington’s regional allies, such as Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
 
NSA buddy Google wants me to change 'CLG News' name as 'too long' for people to remember by Lori Price, www.legitgov.org 09 Dec 2012 On Sunday morning, I went to access a video on YouTube, regarding a DHS anti-terror exercise, rehearsing to mow down civilians during a 'zombie apocalypse.' (Yes, that is actually where US tax dollars go.) Prior to hitting 'play,' a screen popped up. Google would not let me access the video unless I changed my Google name - because they asserted that 'CLG News' was too 'long' for people to remember! They want me to use my actual name instead of 'CLG News,' because, they said, 'Lori Price CLG' is shorter than 'CLG News.' Apparently, Google is mathematically-challenged. When I declined the Google 'offer,' I was forced to give a 'reason' for not wishing to change my name. Ok, here it is. NSAciopaths: I'm going to keep 'CLG News.' Go f*ck your surveillance selves, and the microchipped horse you rode in on.
 
Israel suspected over Iran nuclear programme inquiry leaks 10 Dec 2012 Israel is suspected of carrying out a series of leaks implicating Iran in nuclear weapons experiments in an attempt to raise international pressure on Tehran and halt its programme. Western diplomats believe the leaks may have backfired, compromising a UN-sanctioned investigation into Iran's past nuclear activities and current aspirations. The latest leak, published by the Associated Press (AP), purported to be an Iranian diagram showing the physics of a nuclear blast, but scientists quickly pointed out an elementary mistake that cast doubt on its significance and authenticity. An article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists declared: "This diagram does nothing more than indicate either slipshod analysis or an amateurish hoax."

Public Buses Across Country Quietly Adding Microphones to Record Passenger Conversations 10 Dec 2012 Transit authorities in cities across the country are quietly installing microphone-enabled surveillance systems on public buses that would give them the ability to record and store private conversations, according to documents obtained by a news outlet. The systems are being installed in San Francisco, Baltimore, and other cities with funding from the Department of Homeland Security in some cases, according to The Daily, which obtained copies of contracts, procurement requests, specs and other documents. The use of the equipment raises serious questions about eavesdropping without a warrant, particularly since recordings of passengers could be obtained and used by law enforcement agencies. It also raises questions about security, since the IP audio-video systems can be accessed remotely via a built-in web server, and can be combined with GPS data to track the movement of buses and passengers throughout the city.

[Luck]

(Cont.)

US, Britain to assist militants in Syria: Report 11 Dec 2012 The United States and Britain have decided to provide military assistance to the militants fighting the Syrian government, a report says. A Monday report by the Independent said the head of the British Armed Forces, General Sir David Richards, held a secret meeting in London a few weeks ago with military officials from France, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates as well as an American general. Officials from several other British government departments also hosted similar meetings and discussions with their counterparts in 'allied states' to review strategies and ways to 'help' the foreign-sponsored militants in crisis-stricken Syria.
 
Al-CIAduh's HSBC paymaster busted--but no jail time, of course: HSBC pays record *1.9bn fine to settle US money-laundering accusations 11 Dec 2012 HSBC was guilty of a "blatant failure" to implement anti-money laundering controls and willfully flouted US sanctions, American prosecutors said, as the bank was forced to pay a record *1.9bn (pounds1.2bn) to settle allegations it allowed terrorists to move money around the financial system. At least *881m in drug trafficking money was laundered throughout the bank's accounts. The US Senate said the bank had operated a "pervasively polluted" culture that lasted for years, allowing HSBC to move billions around the financial system for Mexican drug lords, terrorists and governments on sanctions lists. HSBC's Mexican operations moved *7bn into the US operations, for instance, which the Senate was told was tied to drug money.
 
Iraq abuse inquiry was a 'cover-up', whistleblower tells court 11 Dec 2012 A former investigator into allegations that British troops abused Iraqi prisoners resigned because she did not want to be implicated in "a cover-up", the high court has heard. Louise Thomas, 45, left the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) in July because she thought it was not a genuine investigation but a "face-saving inquiry", she told the court on Tuesday. Her evidence came at a preliminary hearing in advance of a judicial review, expected next month, into the government's refusal to hold a public inquiry into allegations of mistreatment of Iraqis between 2003 and 2008.

U.S. to sell Israel munitions to renew stock after Operation Pillar of Defense 11 Dec 2012 The United States will sell Israel munitions worth *647 million, in order to renew the inventory of the Israel Defense Forces following the massive bombings in Gaza during Operation Pillar of Defense. The deal will include the supply of 6,900 precision bomb kits to the Israel Air Force. The U.S. Department of Defense notified Congress of the sale on Monday. The deal states that the U.S. will supply Israel with some 6,900 Joint Attack Munitions tail kits, which convert regular bombs into "smart" munitions, which are guided by satellite and allow precise hits on targets.

Israel raids Palestinian NGO offices amid heightened tension 11 Dec 2012 Israeli soldiers raided the offices of three civil society organizations on Tuesday in the heart of Ramallah, the de facto Palestinian capital in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Entering before dawn [as all fascists do], troops wrenched open the doors of the Women's Union, the Palestinian NGO Network and Addameer, an advocate for Palestinians in Israeli jails, confiscating five computers from the latter group.

WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning's lawyer says client was treated like a 'zoo animal' 11 Dec 2012 Army Pfc. Bradley Manning's defense attorney argued Tuesday that the soldier's former jailers at the Marine Corps brig at Quantico mistreated him to protect themselves from recriminations over their high-profile prisoner. David E. Coombs said Quantico officials ignored the opinions of multiple health professionals that Manning was not a risk to himself or others and kept him isolated in a tiny cell 23 hours a day... Manning was kept on either suicide watch or injury-prevention status for months.

Panetta says Obama weighing US presence in Afghanistan after 2014 12 Dec 2012 U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday that President Obama will decide in the next few weeks how many U.S. troops will stay in Afghanistan after the combat mission ends in December 2014. Panetta did not reveal what options Obama is considering, but officials have said he may settle on a figure between 6,000 and 10,000. There currently are about 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The post-2014 mission is expected to focus on counterterrorism and advising Afghan security forces protecting the CIA's opium routes and overfunding Blackwater/Academi terrorists. [See: U.S. Commandos' New Landlord in Afghanistan: Blackwater --Academi's *22 million no-bid contract runs through May 2015 05 Dec 2012.]
 
First rule of CIA torture: You don't talk about CIA torture. U.S. judge orders terror suspects' experiences in clandestine CIA prisons kept secret 12 Dec 2012 The U.S. military judge overseeing the Guantanamo prosecution of five alleged conspirators in the September 11 attacks has issued an order maintaining secrecy over the defendants' experiences in clandestine CIA prisons. The protective order safeguarding classified information in the case was signed on December 6 by the judge, Army Colonel James Pohl, and unsealed on Wednesday. It is not limited to documents formally labeled "Top Secret" by the CIA or produced by the government, but also prohibits disclosure of the defendants own "observations and experiences" in the secret CIA detention, rendition and interrogation program.
 
Holy coincidence, Batman! Clackamas Town Center shooting: Police, mall workers trained earlier this year for shooting scenario --In late spring, several teams of sheriff's deputies worked with the Clackamas Town Center's unarmed security staff to put on a one-day training seminar during which they staged several 'active shooter' scenarios. --Following their agreed-upon plans, mall security officers placed the 1.4 million square-foot facility on lock-down, blocking the entrances. 12 Dec 2012 Six months before a lone gunman burst into Clackamas Town Center Tuesday, firing dozens of rounds into the crowds of shoppers, police and mall employees trained together for just such an emergency. Because of their similar training and shared goal of advancing toward and neutralizing the threat, officers from different agencies arrived "on the same page," though they came from the FBI, federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives, Oregon State Police and police departments in Portland, Milwaukie, Gladstone, Oregon City, Canby, West Linn, Lake Oswego, Molalla, Sandy and Woodburn.

Breaking: Susan Rice withdraws name from consideration for Secretary of State 13 Dec 2012

CIA 'tortured and sodomised' terror suspect, European court rules --Landmark European court of human rights brands CIA treatment of wrongly detained Khaled el-Masri as torture 13 Dec 2012 CIA agents tortured a German citizen, sodomising, shackling, and beating him, as Macedonian state police looked on, the European court of human rights said in a historic judgment released on Thursday. In a unanimous ruling, it also found Macedonia guilty of torturing, abusing, and secretly imprisoning Khaled el-Masri, a German of Lebanese origin allegedly linked to terrorist organisations. Masri was seized in Macedonia in December 2003 and handed over to a CIA "rendition team" at Skopje airport and secretly flown to Afghanistan. It is the first time the court has described CIA treatment meted out to terror suspects as torture.

UK PM criticized for secret trial plan 13 Dec 2012 Campaigners for civil liberties have criticized British Prime Minister David Cameron for defending the Tory-led government's controversial plans for secret trials. Legal action charity Reprieve condemned the scheme to extend the use of secret hearings in courts, saying it was aimed at covering up Britain's role in torture. Cameron claimed in the Commons on Tuesday that it "will always be a judge that decides" whether to make a trial secret. Lawyers and campaigners warn that such controversial proposals would put the British government above the law.