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Saturday, September 28, 2013

McCain Decries the GOP Civil War He Started

http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/Breitbart/Big-Government/2013/Congress/Senate%20Republicans/McCain.png


On Friday, Sen. John McCain indulged in his favorite pastime--going to the media and criticizing his fellow Republicans. Speaking to CBS, McCain said the GOP was "dysfunctional" and blamed Sens. Cruz and Lee for driving wedges between Republicans over their fight to defund ObamaCare. 

"We are dividing the Republican party," McCain said. He continued, "I think that it argues for us to be more united and spend our time against our adversary because we all share the same principles and values and I’d like to see us do that."
.
Obviously, McCain has been struck by a very bad case of "do as I say, not as I do."
After Sen. Rand Paul gave a 13-hour filibuster on the President's use of drones, Sen. McCain and his sub-altern Lindsey Graham took to the Senate floor to denounce Paul's speech. McCain even called Paul and his allies "wacko-birds" who were exerting too much influence in the upper chamber. 

In the weeks leading up to the Senate vote on the continuing resolution, McCain and other Republicans made the rounds of the Sunday shows repeatedly to criticize Sen. Cruz. Although McCain likely wasn't involved, a Republican office followed his lead and forwarded opposition research on Sen. Cruz to Fox News' Chris Wallace.
After Cruz finished his marathon 22-hour floor speech against ObamaCare, McCain swiftly took to the floor with very sharp criticism of Cruz. There were no doubt many Republican Senators who disagreed with Cruz's tactic, yet they didn't feel a compulsion to engage in a very public fight with him.
Who, exactly, is being dysfunctional here?
These examples aren't isolated incidents. McCain has a long history of publicly lashing out at any Republicans who disagree with him. When he was advocating military intervention in Syria, he showed open disdain towards Republicans who questioned the wisdom of yet another foreign intervention, especially since it wasn't clear there were any good guys to back.
Any fissures in the GOP that exist would probably heal quickly if we could just somehow enforce an embargo on McCain appearing on Sunday news shows. 

Sen Harry Reid has investments in Insurance and the Health Industry..!

Ok let's take a look at Senator Harry Reid's financial profile and Campaign Finance donations to his campaigns...it sheds a light on why Harry fights so hard for Obamacare as well as real estate bills! These are the known assets and investments does not include hidden investments...the Media needs to do their job and expose Harry as the crook he truly is...C'mon the man made millions since becoming a Senator...was not before!  This also applies to many in Congress and the Senate of the old school boys!

Harry Reid
Nevada Democrat

Sen. Harry Reid

What the Post found
Estimated wealth
81% since 2004
Financial approach
Invests in: Mixed, Finance / Insurance / Real Estate, Energy / Natural Resources 

Public projects, private interests

Earmark near personal property: $21.5 million
In 2004 and 2005, the Senate majority leader secured $21.5 million to build a bridge over the Colorado River, linking the gambling resort town of Laughlin, Nev., with Bullhead City, Ariz. Reid owns 160 acres of undeveloped land in Bullhead City. The earmarks were previously reported by the Los Angeles Times. "As has been stated before, Senator Reid's support for the bridge has absolutely nothing to do with the property he owns and is based on the fact that the project is good for southern Nevada, and nothing else," a Reid spokeswoman said.

Reid’s financial portrait

The Post examined the personal finances disclosed by all members of Congress and computerized by Center for Responsive Politics to show how they manage their assets and invest their money.  


Financial approach

Real Estate Investor

127 lawmakers hold significant assets in real estate, including office buildings, apartment buildings, undeveloped land and development partnerships. Lawmakers are not required to report the values of their personal residences.
What industries does Reid invest in?
Many assets can be tied to specific industries, such as finance, agriculture or
natural resources. "Mixed" investments are assets not tied to a specific industry.

Estimated Wealth 2010 : 6.8 million  
Mixed : 3.5 million
Finance/Insurance/Real Estate : 3.2 million 

CAREER PROFILE (SINCE 1989)

Top Industries

Campaign Finance Cycle: 

Senator Harry Reid 

IndustryTotal
Lawyers/Law Firms$5,965,755
Casinos/Gambling$1,855,092
Securities & Investment$1,769,233
Lobbyists$1,670,515
Real Estate$1,624,499
Health Professionals$1,570,082
Retired$1,066,798
Business Services$1,028,967
TV/Movies/Music$1,000,101
Insurance$807,360
Pro-Israel$708,534
Leadership PACs$701,949
Misc Finance$677,667
Computers/Internet$633,653
Hospitals/Nursing Homes$576,887
Lodging/Tourism$533,251
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products$517,908
Transportation Unions$420,250
Education$413,775
Public Sector Unions 




Sector Totals 

SectorTotalPACsIndivs
Agribusiness$650,098$369,985$280,113
Communications/Electronics$2,322,191$843,313$1,478,878
Construction$1,171,253$366,150$805,103
Defense$409,053$231,813$177,240
Energy & Natural Resources$1,440,436$704,560$735,876
Finance, Insurance & Real Estate$5,969,726$1,631,972$4,337,754
Health$3,195,227$1,453,453$1,741,774
Lawyers & Lobbyists$7,636,270$673,267$6,963,003
Transportation$1,005,792$535,274$470,518
Misc Business$5,254,659$1,166,434$4,088,225
Labor$1,569,814$1,552,214$17,600
Ideological/Single-Issue$2,426,186$1,441,027$985,159
Other$1,894,323$59,500$1,834,823

Percent of Contributions Coded

legendCoded$34,708,216(89.6%)
legendNot Coded$4,038,608(10.4%)
METHODOLOGY
NOTE: All the numbers on this page are for the 1989 - 2014 election cycles and based on Federal Election Commission data available electronically on Monday, March 25, 2013. ("Help! The numbers don't add up...")







Iranian President Rouhani takes to Twitter after phone chat with Obama

oped" Whats wrong with this picture?...Oh yeah Obama closed with 'May Allah be your Guardian' in Persian!
Who would like to continue with the debate... the nonsense that Obama is not a closet Muslim? Wake the hell up people~ hello look here kinda/sorta makes sense now: http://sharlaslabyrinth.blogspot.com/2013/09/no-2-us-nuke-commander-suspended-amid.html 


View image on Twitter
by:

Describing his phone conversation with President Obama as “historic,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took to Twitter on Friday with a series of a fascinating messages that stunned and encouraged many foreign policy observers.

“In phone convo, President # Rouhani and President @ BarackObama expressed their mutual political # will to rapidly solve the # nuclear issue,” Rouhani wrote to his 64,000 plus followers.
In another tweet, Rouhani noted that he ended his conversation with Obama by saying, “Have a Nice Day!” and that the Obama responded by saying, “Thank you. Khodahafez.”
The phrase is a common way of saying goodbye in the Persian language and is literally translated as, “"May God be your Guardian.”
For its part, the White House used Twitter to publish an official photo of President Obama during his phone conversation with Rouhani. The caption to the photo reads, "Historic phone call in the Oval Office: Pres Obama talks w Iran Pres Hassan Rouhani this afternoon."
The tweets represent a pair of interesting historical marks for the two countries. First, is the more obvious significance being paid to the phone conversation itself – the first between a U.S. and Iranian president in more than 30 years.

However, it’s also noteworthy that Rouhani is on Twitter at all. Iranians had previously been banned from using the site but in September the bans on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites were lifted without formal notice. For his part, Rouhani has shown himself to be prolific at composing his own messages and re-tweeting the messages of others.
For example, he re-tweeted a message from Twitter CEO Dick Costolo who wrote, “I feel like i'm witnessing a tectonic shift in the geo-political landscape reading @ HassanRouhani tweets. Fascinating.”
Rouhani has also been using the account to verify media reports on the progression of relations between the U.S. and Iran. For example, he re-tweeted a report that the two countries would appoint foreign ministers to arrange follow-up talks between officials after the conversation with Obama.
# Obama , # Rouhani agreed ground shud b prepared 4 solving of other issues, incl regional matters. FMs tasked w/ follow-up to expedite coop,” Rouhani tweeted in his most-recent message.
His Twitter account also arguably provides potential insights into Rouhani's online allegiances. For example, he only follow four accounts on Twitter, including Iran's Foreign Minister Javid Zarif and former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, a fellow moderate.
The excitement over Rouhani’s tweets has even led to a few false reports, including one news outlet that erroneously reported that the Iranian leader was using his account to lobby for a personal meeting with Obama during the recent U.N. summit in New York.


Hassan Rouhani @HassanRouhani
After historic phone conversation with @BarackObama, President in plane abt to depart for Tehran.


No. 2 US nuke commander suspended amid probe

oped: Unidentified Fed Law Enforcement agency? Yeah right..give us a break already...Betcha' dollars to donuts it was Eric Holders DOJ...just more of the Obama administration removing Officers who do not agree with his policies!
This image provided by the U.S. Navy shows Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina in a Nov. 11, 2011, photo. The U.S. strategic Command, the military command in charge of all U.S. nuclear warfighting forces says it has suspended its No. 2 commander, Giardina, for unspecific reasons, and he is under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)



WASHINGTON (AP) — The No. 2 officer at the military command in charge of all U.S. nuclear war-fighting forces has been suspended and is under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for issues related to gambling, officials said Saturday.
The highly unusual action against a high-ranking officer at U.S. Strategic Command was made more than three weeks ago but not publicly announced.
Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler, who heads Strategic Command, suspended the deputy commander, Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, from his duties on Sept. 3, according to the command's top spokeswoman, Navy Capt. Pamela Kunze. Giardina is still assigned to the command but is prohibited from performing duties related to nuclear weapons and other issues requiring a security clearance, she said.
Kehler has recommended to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that Giardina be reassigned, Kunze said. Giardina has been the deputy commander of Strategic Command since December 2011. He is a career submarine officer and prior to starting his assignment there was the deputy commander and chief of staff at U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Two senior U.S. officials familiar with the investigation said it is related to gambling issues. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the probe in incomplete.
Strategic Command oversees the military's nuclear fighter units, including the Navy's nuclear-armed submarines and the Air Force's nuclear bombers and nuclear land-based missiles. It is located near Omaha, Neb.
Kunze said Strategic Command did not announce the Sept. 3 suspension because Giardina remains under investigation and action on Kehler's recommendation that Giardina be reassigned is pending. The suspension was first reported by the Omaha World-Herald.
The spokeswoman said a law enforcement agency, which she would not identify, began an investigation of Giardina on June 16. Kehler became aware of this on July 16, and the following day he asked the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to begin a probe.
The suspension is yet another blow to the military's nuclear establishment. Last spring the nuclear missile unit at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., pulled 17 launch control officers off duty after a problematic inspection and later relieved of duty the officer in charge of training and proficiency. In August a nuclear missile unit at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., failed a nuclear safety and security inspection; nine days later an officer in charge of the unit's security forces was relieved of duty.

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

Seymour Hersh
[Seymour Hersh exposed the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. Photograph: Wally McNamee/Corbis] 

Pulitzer Prize winner explains how to fix journalism, saying press should 'fire 90% of editors and promote ones you can't control'

via: The Guardian
Seymour Hersh has got some extreme ideas on how to fix journalism – close down the news bureaus of NBC and ABC, sack 90% of editors in publishing and get back to the fundamental job of journalists which, he says, is to be an outsider.
It doesn't take much to fire up Hersh, the investigative journalist who has been the nemesis of US presidents since the 1960s and who was once described by the Republican party as "the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist".
He is angry about the timidity of journalists in America, their failure to challenge the White House and be an unpopular messenger of truth.
Don't even get him started on the New York Times which, he says, spends "so much more time carrying water for Obama than I ever thought they would" – or the death of Osama bin Laden. "Nothing's been done about that story, it's one big lie, not one word of it is true," he says of the dramatic US Navy Seals raid in 2011.
Hersh is writing a book about national security and has devoted a chapter to the bin Laden killing. He says a recent report put out by an "independent" Pakistani commission about life in the Abottabad compound in which Bin Laden was holed up would not stand up to scrutiny. "The Pakistanis put out a report, don't get me going on it. Let's put it this way, it was done with considerable American input. It's a bullshit report," he says hinting of revelations to come in his book.
The Obama administration lies systematically, he claims, yet none of the leviathans of American media, the TV networks or big print titles, challenge him.
"It's pathetic, they are more than obsequious, they are afraid to pick on this guy [Obama]," he declares in an interview with the Guardian.
"It used to be when you were in a situation when something very dramatic happened, the president and the minions around the president had control of the narrative, you would pretty much know they would do the best they could to tell the story straight. Now that doesn't happen any more. Now they take advantage of something like that and they work out how to re-elect the president.
He isn't even sure if the recent revelations about the depth and breadth of surveillance by the National Security Agency will have a lasting effect.

Snowden changed the debate on surveillance

He is certain that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden "changed the whole nature of the debate" about surveillance. Hersh says he and other journalists had written about surveillance, but Snowden was significant because he provided documentary evidence – although he is sceptical about whether the revelations will change the US government's policy.
"Duncan Campbell [the British investigative journalist who broke the Zircon cover-up story], James Bamford [US journalist] and Julian Assange and me and the New Yorker, we've all written the notion there's constant surveillance, but he [Snowden] produced a document and that changed the whole nature of the debate, it's real now," Hersh says.
"Editors love documents. Chicken-shit editors who wouldn't touch stories like that, they love documents, so he changed the whole ball game," he adds, before qualifying his remarks.
"But I don't know if it's going to mean anything in the long [run] because the polls I see in America – the president can still say to voters 'al-Qaida, al-Qaida' and the public will vote two to one for this kind of surveillance, which is so idiotic," he says.
Holding court to a packed audience at City University in London's summer school on investigative journalism, 76-year-old Hersh is on full throttle, a whirlwind of amazing stories of how journalism used to be; how he exposed the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, how he got the Abu Ghraib pictures of American soldiers brutalising Iraqi prisoners, and what he thinks of Edward Snowden.

Hope of redemption

Despite his concern about the timidity of journalism he believes the trade still offers hope of redemption.
"I have this sort of heuristic view that journalism, we possibly offer hope because the world is clearly run by total nincompoops more than ever … Not that journalism is always wonderful, it's not, but at least we offer some way out, some integrity."
His story of how he uncovered the My Lai atrocity is one of old-fashioned shoe-leather journalism and doggedness. Back in 1969, he got a tip about a 26-year-old platoon leader, William Calley, who had been charged by the army with alleged mass murder.
Instead of picking up the phone to a press officer, he got into his car and started looking for him in the army camp of Fort Benning in Georgia, where he heard he had been detained. From door to door he searched the vast compound, sometimes blagging his way, marching up to the reception, slamming his fist on the table and shouting: "Sergeant, I want Calley out now."
Eventually his efforts paid off with his first story appearing in the St Louis Post-Despatch, which was then syndicated across America and eventually earned him the Pulitzer Prize. "I did five stories. I charged $100 for the first, by the end the [New York] Times were paying $5,000."
He was hired by the New York Times to follow up the Watergate scandal and ended up hounding Nixon over Cambodia. Almost 30 years later, Hersh made global headlines all over again with his exposure of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Put in the hours

For students of journalism his message is put the miles and the hours in. He knew about Abu Ghraib five months before he could write about it, having been tipped off by a senior Iraqi army officer who risked his own life by coming out of Baghdad to Damascus to tell him how prisoners had been writing to their families asking them to come and kill them because they had been "despoiled".
"I went five months looking for a document, because without a document, there's nothing there, it doesn't go anywhere."
Hersh returns to US president Barack Obama. He has said before that the confidence of the US press to challenge the US government collapsed post 9/11, but he is adamant that Obama is worse than Bush.
"Do you think Obama's been judged by any rational standards? Has Guantanamo closed? Is a war over? Is anyone paying any attention to Iraq? Is he seriously talking about going into Syria? We are not doing so well in the 80 wars we are in right now, what the hell does he want to go into another one for. What's going on [with journalists]?" he asks.
He says investigative journalism in the US is being killed by the crisis of confidence, lack of resources and a misguided notion of what the job entails.

"Too much of it seems to me is looking for prizes. It's journalism looking for the Pulitzer Prize," he adds. "It's a packaged journalism, so you pick a target like – I don't mean to diminish because anyone who does it works hard – but are railway crossings safe and stuff like that, that's a serious issue but there are other issues too.
"Like killing people, how does [Obama] get away with the drone programme, why aren't we doing more? How does he justify it? What's the intelligence? Why don't we find out how good or bad this policy is? Why do newspapers constantly cite the two or three groups that monitor drone killings. Why don't we do our own work?
"Our job is to find out ourselves, our job is not just to say – here's a debate' our job is to go beyond the debate and find out who's right and who's wrong about issues. That doesn't happen enough. It costs money, it costs time, it jeopardises, it raises risks. There are some people – the New York Times still has investigative journalists but they do much more of carrying water for the president than I ever thought they would … it's like you don't dare be an outsider any more."

He says in some ways President George Bush's administration was easier to write about. "The Bush era, I felt it was much easier to be critical than it is [of] Obama. Much more difficult in the Obama era," he said.
Asked what the solution is Hersh warms to his theme that most editors are pusillanimous and should be fired.
"I'll tell you the solution, get rid of 90% of the editors that now exist and start promoting editors that you can't control," he says. I saw it in the New York Times, I see people who get promoted are the ones on the desk who are more amenable to the publisher and what the senior editors want and the trouble makers don't get promoted. Start promoting better people who look you in the eye and say 'I don't care what you say'.
Nor does he understand why the Washington Post held back on the Snowden files until it learned the Guardian was about to publish.
If Hersh was in charge of US Media Inc, his scorched earth policy wouldn't stop with newspapers.
"I would close down the news bureaus of the networks and let's start all over, tabula rasa. The majors, NBCs, ABCs, they won't like this – just do something different, do something that gets people mad at you, that's what we're supposed to be doing," he says.

Hersh is currently on a break from reporting, working on a book which undoubtedly will make for uncomfortable reading for both Bush and Obama.
"The republic's in trouble, we lie about everything, lying has become the staple." And he implores journalists to do something about it.






Do You Feel Used and Abused by Cruz -- Or Do You Know the Senate is Scamming You?


Oped: A must read, the transcript of a Rush Limbaugh show...it's a long read but worth taking the time!

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here's Mike Lee.  I'm gonna get started on this.  Mike Lee on the Senate floor today, said this is just the beginning of all this.
LEE:  This is about this town, and it's about the American people and what they deserve, what they demand, what they expect, and what they have a right to, which is the right to live free of undue interference from their national government.  This vote is not the end.  It's not even the beginning of the end.  This is simply the end of the beginning. Washington may appear to have the upper hand at this moment, but it's essential that we remember that the American people will always have the final word.


RUSH:  Folks, let me ask you a question.  I want you to think about this as we go to the break.  It has been asserted by some in the conservative movement media that Ted Cruz is running a really mean scam on you, just a trick.  He knows that what he's advocating isn't possible.  He's just setting you up.  Do you feel tricked?  Do any of you feel like you're being scammed by what Cruz and Mike Lee are doing? 
I want you to think about that.
I'm serious.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH:  Yeah, the theory is that Ted Cruz knows that this defunding of Obamacare isn't gonna happen, never was gonna happen, and you're just being tricked and used, and you're gonna be sad and let down and enraged when you find that out.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Okay, so let's just review something here.  Dingy Harry, the Senate majority leader, is forcing a vote on a bill that includes a provision that defunds Obamacare.  Oh, yes.  You didn't know this?  That's exactly right.  Dingy Harry is forcing a vote on a bill that includes a provision that defunds Obamacare.  This provision will be removed as soon as the bill is passed.  The only reason Dingy Harry is doing this is so some senators can claim that they voted to defund Obamacare.  And yet they want to tell us that it's Ted Cruz who is scamming us.  Yep.  Ted Cruz is the scam artist.  Ted Cruz is lying to you.  Ted Cruz is misleading you.  Ted Cruz is using you.
It's all just a game, don't you know.  You're being told to support something that doesn't have a prayer.  And Cruz, so goes the theory, knows it doesn't have a prayer.  But he's misleading you.  He's tricking you.  He's trying to get you to sign petitions and call Washington and all that for something he knows that isn't gonna happen.  And so the question I have for you is, do you feel tricked?  Do you feel Cruz is using you to either up his profile or raise money down the line?  'Cause he's not doing that.  He sent an e-mail blast out late yesterday afternoon about this, and there was not a request for money in there.

When's the last time that happened to you, by the way?  You got some sort of e-mail from an elected official about some issue that there was not a request for money?  When does that ever happen?  But Cruz sent one of those out.  So he's not been asking for money.  But do you feel tricked?  Do you feel like you've been roped into supporting something and calling your senator or congressman over something that isn't gonna happen, that doesn't stand a prayer of happening?  And when it doesn't happen, are you going to be sad and depressed and really mad, enraged?  Are you going to feel used?  Are you gonna be further soured and turned off to conservatism?

Read the complete Transcript: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/09/27/do_you_feel_used_and_abused_by_cruz_or_do_you_know_the_senate_is_scamming_you

Al Qaeda Opens First Official Twitter Account

AP
BY:  

An official al Qaeda website that is restricted to members of the terrorist group opened its first Twitter account this week in what U.S. officials say is an effort to resolve a major split over Syria’s Islamist rebels.
The Shamukh al-Islam website, used as an official clearing house for al Qaeda members to communicate and issue propaganda statements, started its first Twitter account on Tuesday.
The first posts on the account focused on divisions between two al Qaeda rebel groups in Syria, al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The account, @shomokhalislam, issued 29 tweets, followed one account, and attracted 1,532 followers as of Friday afternoon. U.S. officials said among its followers are several high-profile digital jihadists.

Counterterrorism analysts view the new account as another indicator that terrorist groups are stepping up their use of social media over traditional Internet sites.
The official al Qaeda account also highlights the view among Islamists that Twitter is fast becoming an essential tool for online jihad, or holy war.
“We’ve seen terrorist groups make increasingly effective use of social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook, in recent years,” said Patrick Poole, a counterterrorism expert. “Not only is this important for propaganda purposes but also recruitment.”
The new account also is expected to be a major intelligence target for foreign governments tracking al Qaeda through its online devotees. Unlike the closed website, Shamukh’s Twitter postings and members are public.
Shamukh al Islam postings that were made public on other jihadist websites have been important indicators of al Qaeda activity. The site is considered one of two official media outlets for al Qaeda central, the Islamist terror group now led by Ayman al Zawahiri.

The emergence of the new Twitter account comes as jihadists are facing a major split, both online and on the ground, over divisions between al Nusra and ISIL, according to officials.
The Arabic-language account initial tweets included statements that decried the split between the Syrian rebel groups and promised a neutral stance – an indication of significant divisions within al Qaeda.
Counterterrorism analysts said in the past the web forum appeared reluctant to embrace Twitter but now accepts that micro-blogging is a key element for jihadism.
The split in al Qaeda could be good news for western security services that have been battling the terror group since the 1990s.
It is hoped the divisions will render the group less effective and limit its ability to conduct deadly attacks and bombings.
However, the main benefit will be to foster ideological divisions. Al Qaeda is seeking to overthrow non-Islamist governments and replace them with those that impose strict Sharia law. The use of violence—bombings, shootings, assassination, and other attacks—is a hallmark of the group.

The split over Syria first emerged in April when the leaders of the Iraqi al Qaeda group, Islamic State of Iraq, announced its merger with al Nusra Front in Syria.
That prompted al Zawahiri to issue a statement a month later denying the merger and announcing the appointment of a mediator to try and bridge relations.
ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi then issued an audio message that rejected al Zawahiri’s decree and stated that the merger would continue.
The split opened yet another front in the civil war in Syria. The battle lines now include Syrian government forces against three opposition rebel factions, al Nusra, ISIL, and the more secular but still Islamist Free Syrian Army.
A translated tweet from the new account included a reference to an earlier statement from Shamukh that stated: “Obviously extremely serious challenges and state of dissension at this very sensitive juncture.”
Other messages noted divisions among “brothers” into three camps: those who are staying silent on the Syria division; those that favor al Nusra; and those supporting ISIL.
The rival al Nusra and ISIL members in the past asked online administrators to remove postings from each other’s faction.

To address the problem, the administrator for the Twitter account said both it and the web site would remain neutral. Members also were warned that voicing hostility toward either al Nusra or ISIL would lead to account suspension.
It is not known why Twitter has not suspended the Shamukh account, as it did to the Somali al Qaeda affiliate Al Shabaab during the recent attack in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Twitter account also sought to promote unity between the warring factions and to provide jihadists with trusted statements and information.
Shamukh al Islam is one of two official al Qaeda web sites that are closed to non-members. The second is Al Fida. Another unofficial al Qaeda-related website is Ansar al-Mujahidin, which has been shut down since July. It was among the first al Qaeda sites to open a Twitter account last year.
Poole, the counterterrorism expert, said the recent Al Shabaab terrorist attack in the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, involved the use of Twitter as part of an overall attack strategy. The group used Twitter to provide live updates and the four-day attack progressed in what Poole said was a relatively advanced psychological warfare operation.
“We’ve also seen divisions within these groups played out in social media, the most obvious example being the criticism on Twitter and YouTube directed at Al Shabaab leaders by former member American jihadi Omar Hammami, who had helped them develop their social media presence,” he said.

Al Shabaab then used Twitter to admonish Hammami and challenge his views, Poole said. Hammami’s online criticism was viewed as so serious a threat that he was pursued and reportedly killed in a gun battle with Al Shabaab within the past few weeks.
Aaron Y. Zelin, a counterterrorism analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, stated in a report published earlier this year that while jihadist are attracted to Twitter and Facebook, most favor approved online forums.
During two recent apparent cyber attacks on the Shamukh website, many jihadists opened Twitter accounts and Facebook pages to communicate, he said.
“Both of these forum takedowns—in March and April, as well as in December and January—exposed the limits of al Qaeda’s official online media procedures, which are headed by its distribution network al Fajr Media,” Zelin stated.
“Al-Fajr is responsible for coordinating between al-Qaeda Central (AQC), its affiliates’ media outlets (As-Sahab Media for AQC, al-Malahim for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al-Furqan for al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), and al-Andalus for al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)), and the forum administrators.”
While the websites were blacked out, likely the result of an intelligence service cyber strike, al Fajr was unable to send official content to al Qaeda affiliates.

“If the dissemination of official releases is no longer to be done centrally, it has the potential to make the forums obsolete and usher in a new era whereby jihadi activists primarily rely on social media platforms to interact with one another,” Zelin said.
Facebook use by terrorists also appears to be increasing, he said.

Friday, September 27, 2013

18th Century original 2nd Amendment Fail...!

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The 25 GOP Judah's...log and remember next election cycle!

Here are the 25 Senate Republicans who voted to allow Harry Reid (D-NV) and the Democrats to fund Obamacare today and remember, they aren't stuck with ObamaCare like we are! We say time to FIRE THEM when their election comes up!



Addendum: The 19 supporters of  'We the People' :
The 19 Senate Republicans who voted against cloture on the continuing resolution and to defund Obamacare:

Does Obamacare cover....

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Liberal Logic 101

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DHS Detains Oath Keepers Heading To Gun Rally

Come and take it
This video was originally produced by Infowars.com
Liberty lovers gathered at the Texas capitol building to show appreciation for the U.S. Constitution.

http://youtu.be/0yl6arYsbHc 




Some arrived late however, having been detained by the Department of Homeland Security for using a public walkway to pass by a federal building.
One of the DHS agents was not even aware that in Texas, it is legal to carry a longarm.

Hypocrisy And John McCain

McCain
by Shorty Dawkins
John McCain recently wrote a piece for the Russian newspaper Pravda.ru, which was, ostensibly, in response to a piece written by Vladimir Putin in the New York Times. Please, spend the time to read them both. Whereas President Putin’s piece was a rational, statesman-like argument for his position, Senator McCain’s piece was merely a personal attack on Putin. It was personal and hypocritical to the highest degree. It was truly a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
John McCain says in his opinion piece: “I believe you should live according to the dictates of your conscience, not your government. I believe you deserve the opportunity to improve your lives in an economy that is built to last and benefits the many, not just the powerful few. You should be governed by a rule of law that is clear, consistently and impartially enforced and just. I make that claim because I believe the Russian people, no less than Americans, are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Really, John? You believe in inalienable rights? If so, why have you voted to legislate the Rights delineated in the Bill of Rights? You voted for the NDAA bill that deprives us of due process, all at the whim of the President. Yet you say you believe in inalienable rights. You have supported the NSA spying on our communications. Inalienable rights, John?
You say you believe you should live by the dictates of your conscience, not the government, yet you call Edward Snowden a traitor for doing just that. 

You say: “I believe you deserve the opportunity to improve your lives in an economy that is built to last and benefits the many, not just the powerful few.” John, didn’t you vote for the Bank bailouts, that benefited the bankers and left the bill for the American public to pay? And don’t you support the concept of the Petrodollar, a fiat money supporting scheme engineered by Henry Kissinger during the Nixon Administration? And isn’t the petrodollar the reason for the invasions of Iraq, Libya, and, if you have your way, Syria? Have you voted to eliminate the Federal Reserve System, the foundation of the fiat money scheme? No? Yet you claim to believe in an economy built to last. John, you are being hypocritical. All fiat money schemes eventually collapse. They cannot last. They are houses of cards, or, more correctly, Ponzi schemes.
What of the Rule of Law you claim to believe in, that should be equally applied to all? Have any bankers, from the too big to fail banks, that have admittedly laundered hundreds of billions of dollars in drug money been brought to justice? No, they are fined a pittance of their profits. No jail time for your banker friends. Didn’t you vote for the bailouts of the banks, AIG , General Motors and Chrysler?
You say in your opinion piece: “A Russian citizen could not publish a testament like the one I just offered. President Putin and his associates do not believe in these values. They don’t respect your dignity or accept your authority over them. They punish dissent and imprison opponents. They rig your elections. They control your media. They harass, threaten, and banish organizations that defend your right to self-governance. To perpetuate their power they foster rampant corruption in your courts and your economy and terrorize and even assassinate journalists who try to expose their corruption.” 

Isn’t this a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black? It is certainly true of Russia, though slightly less so than in the days of the Soviet Union, but your own response to Edward Snowden, Bradley Manning and the Wikileaks disclosures prove you are on the side of corruption, John. When you support the surveillance of our communications, are you respecting us, John? You complain of the Russian controlled media but our mainstream media is tightly controlled by a few oligarchs, similar to Russia.
When I read your opinion piece, Senator McCain, I am reminded of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew, his Vice-President. Richard Nixon, of course, is famous for declaring “I am not a crook” shortly before he resigned the Presidency in disgrace. Spiro Agnew, who pontificated often about “Law and Order” resigned from the Vice-Presidency amid allegations of bribery and extortion, and admitted to tax evasion. You pontificate about inalienable rights, the rule of law, and a sound economy, yet you would deny all these to the American public. You, sir, are a hypocrite of the highest order, and an enemy of the Constitution. It is time for you to resign.

Bad Government Policy Has Created the Worst Inequality On Record … And It’s Destroying Our Economy

hour glass
This article comes from Washington’s Blog.

It’s Not an Accident … It’s Policy

America is experiencing unprecedented inequality.  And a who’s who of prominent economists (and investors) say that inequality is hurting the economy.
Defenders of the status quo pretend that this inequality is something outside of our control … like a force of nature.  They argue that it’s due to technological innovation or something else outside of policy-makers’ control.
In reality, inequality is rising due to bad policy.
Nobel prize winning economist Joe Stiglitz said this month:
Inequality is not inevitable. It is not … like the weather, something that just happens to us. It is not the result of the laws of nature or the laws of economics. Rather, it is something that we create, by our policies, by what we do.
We created this inequality—chose it, really—with [bad] laws …

Gaming the System

The world’s top economic leaders have said for years that inequality is spiraling out of control and needs to be reduced. Why is inequality soaring even though world economic leaders have talked for years about the urgent need to reduce it?
Because they’re saying one thing but doing something very different. And both mainstream Democrats and mainstream Republicans are using smoke and mirrors to hide what’s really going on.
And it’s not surprising … Nobel winner Stiglitz says that inequality is caused by the use of money to shape government policies to benefit those with money. As Wikipedia notes:
A better explainer of growing inequality, according to Stiglitz, is the use of political power generated by wealth by certain groups to shape government policies financially beneficial to them. This process, known to economists as rent-seeking, brings income not from creation of wealth but from “grabbing a larger share of the wealth that would otherwise have been produced without their effort”

Rent seeking is often thought to be the province of societies with weak institutions and weak rule of law, but Stiglitz believes there is no shortage of it in developed societies such as the United States. Examples of rent seeking leading to inequality include
  • the obtaining of public resources by “rent-collectors” at below market prices (such as granting public land to railroads, or selling mineral resources for a nominal price in the US),
  • selling services and products to the public at above market prices (medicare drug benefit in the US that prohibits government from negotiating prices of drugs with the drug companies, costing the US government an estimated $50 billion or more per year),
  • securing government tolerance of monopoly power (The richest person in the world in 2011, Carlos Slim, controlled Mexico’s newly privatized telecommunication industry). 
(Background here, here and here.)
Stiglitz says:
One big part of the reason we have so much inequality is that the top 1 percent want it that way. The most obvious example involves tax policy …. Monopolies and near monopolies have always been a source of economic power—from John D. Rockefeller at the beginning of the last century to Bill Gates at the end. Lax enforcement of anti-trust laws, especially during Republican administrations, has been a godsend to the top 1 percent. Much of today’s inequality is due to manipulation of the financial system, enabled by changes in the rules that have been bought and paid for by the financial industry itself—one of its best investments ever. The government lent money to financial institutions at close to 0 percent interest and provided generous bailouts on favorable terms when all else failed. Regulators turned a blind eye to a lack of transparency and to conflicts of interest.
***
Wealth begets power, which begets more wealth …. Virtually all U.S. senators, and most of the representatives in the House, are members of the top 1 percent when they arrive, are kept in office by money from the top 1 percent, and know that if they serve the top 1 percent well they will be rewarded by the top 1 percent when they leave office. By and large, the key executive-branch policymakers on trade and economic policy also come from the top 1 percent. When pharmaceutical companies receive a trillion-dollar gift—through legislation prohibiting the government, the largest buyer of drugs, from bargaining over price—it should not come as cause for wonder. It should not make jaws drop that a tax bill cannot emerge from Congress unless big tax cuts are put in place for the wealthy. Given the power of the top 1 percent, this is the way you would expect the system to work.

Former Sectretary of Labor Robert Reich recently noted:
When so much wealth accumulates at the top, with money comes the capacity to control politics… It’s not that people are rich, it’s that they abuse their wealth … The wealthy contribute to political candidates and the access that their contributions buy entrenches inequality by securing subsidies, bailouts and policies that lead to even greater inequality.
Read more here.


Stewart Rhodes on Coast 2 Coast (Video)...'Oath Keepers'

http://youtu.be/CTsXULfqI_Y 




Stewart Rhodes, founder and President of Oath Keepers, argued that there’s a relentless campaign going on to centralize power, militarize the police, and strip power out of the hands of average citizens. This kind of situation sets people up for a dictatorship, such as seen in Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany, he remarked. Rhodes believes that economic collapse and the ensuing chaos will be used to accelerate the centralizing of power, and the scrapping of the US Constitution.
Stewart also discusses what people need to do now to counter that assault and to prepare for what is coming.

The Ugly Face of Tyranny: Feinstein Comes For Your Right To Speak Freely Online

SenFeinstein
This article was written by Mac Slavo and originally published at SHTFplan.com
Senator Diane Feinstein has taken up the fight for truth and liberty, just as she has done for health care and the widespread disarmament of American citizens.
This month Congess has been debating a new media shield law, which according to its authors, aims to protect journalists and bloggers from being forced to testify about their work should their sources or information come into question.
But Diane Feinstein has refused to support the bill, noting that the law would essentially grant this shield privilege to anyone who chooses to share their opinion on the internet (including those pajama sporting bloggers and news aggregators working out of their basements).
But because freedom of speech, as interpreted by Feinstein, is nothing more than a privilege granted to us by her and her ilk in Congress, she has taken steps to ensure that only those journalists sanctioned by the government will be protected by the new shield laws.

The final hurdle for the Judiciary Committee was defining who is a journalist in the digital era.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) insisted on limiting the legal protection to “real reporters” and not, she said, a 17-year-old with his own website.
I can’t support it if everyone who has a blog has a special privilege … or if Edward Snowden were to sit down and write this stuff, he would have a privilege. I’m not going to go there,” she said.
Feinstein introduced an amendment that defines a “covered journalist” as someone who gathers and reports news for “an entity or service that disseminates news and information.”
The definition includes freelancers, part-timers and student journalists, and it permits a judge to go further and extend the protections to any “legitimate news-gathering activities.”
As noted by Dave Hodges at The Common Sense Show, this very report, for example, is being published by an unlicensed and unofficial news-related web site, and therefore, would not meet the stringent guidelines set forth by Feinstein’s new amendment.

In the definition introduced in Feinstein’s amendment, somebody writing for a small town paper with a circulation of 30 would receive First Amendment protections, but quality news people such as Steve Quayle, John Stadtmiller, Jeff Rense, Doug Hagmann, Stan Deyo, Michael Edwards, Alex Jones, George Noory and Matt Drudge would not be considered journalists and therefore, the First Amendment would not apply to this group of aforementioned newsmen.
With the passage of this amendment, our sources would not be privileged and many of our sources would dry up. But Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper can take bribes from the CIA to not cover certain stories, yet Feinstein thinks they deserve protection as authentic journalists.
And for those out there who don’t have a blog or web site where they share news, videos, information and criticisms of government, consider that the Feinstein amendment doesn’t refer to just web sites. It covers all internet venues. It’s not about how the information gets out there, it’s about the individual or organization disseminating it.

So, should you choose to share an opinion in the comments section on this web site or post on your Facebook or Twitter page, you would, just as this author, fall outside of the Constitutional protections of the First Amendment.
Your comments, if critical of government or big business interests, would not be protected by shield laws. You see, you’re not capable of forming an opinion or citing appropriate references for your argument. To do that, you must be licensed by the State or approved by a court. 


But the government can’t do that, right?
They’ve already tried and failed on their first attempt, but what if this law would have passed?!
John McCain previously introduced a bill that would fine bloggers up to $300,000 for “offensive statements, photos and videos posted by visitors on comment boards”.
If the bill would have been successful, this legislation would have marked the end for previously unrestrained opinions. Hiding behind the pretense of protecting our children, McCain’s legislation was referred to as the “Stop the Online Exploitation of Our Children Act.” The legislation demands that a Stalinist-type army of informants and spies will browse various websites looking for inappropriate internet material which might pose a threat to children. McCain’s internet army would then pass the information on to the relevant police authorities and subsequent bloggers could be fined $300,000 or have faced jail time.
Anyone who has participated in online comment boards is keenly aware that they are very difficult to moderate. Some articles and news events may receive thousands of comments. Yet, one oversight by the moderator, one day off from the internet, could spell doom for the financial future of a blogger. What citizen can afford to take that chance? Hence, your right to self-expression has been sacrificed. Your first amendment right to self-expression is technically still intact. However, the personal affordability to exercise free speech would have been severely jeopardized

Common Sense Show
While McCain’s bill died a horrible death, and rightly so, Feinstein’s amendment essentially aims to do the same thing, though monetary fines for journalistic transgressions are as of yet undefined.
You see, as is always the case with our Congressional benefactors, the devil is in the details.
Take, for example, health care. For years the establishment pushed for universal, affordable health care for all Americans. The efforts really started back in the 1990′s with the failed Hillary-care movement. But it didn’t really die. In fact, calls for free health care got louder and louder, and in 2008 they came to a head with the election of Barack Obama, who promised just that for Americans. It took nearly 20 years, but they did it, and millions of Americans thought they had won a victory.
But, lo and behold, after legislation to cheapen and improve our health care was passed, we began to see the fine print come to fruition. And all those folks who vehemently supported an affordable care option are now wondering what the hell happened. As was revealed in recent days, costs aren’t going down. Just the opposite, in fact. For many Americans who rallied behind the President those costs are going to double, triple, or quadruple!

Now they are pushing forward with new restrictions on speech. And just as no one thought they’d actually be paying more for health care after the legislation was passed, no one really believes the government would go so far as to eliminate our ability to open discourse.
As with Obamacare, it’s all in the details – the fine print and the complementary regulations to follow.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is government double-speak for, “you’re about to get screwed.”
Guess what Feinstein’s version of the Media Shield Law is going to do.
Disclosure: This report has been published by an unlicensed and unregistered journalist-blogger-commentator. It has not been sanctioned by the United States government. Under new legislation pending in Congress, this report, as well as those who comment and share it online may be determined by a future court to be criminalistic or terroristic in nature and subject to penalties under U.S. Law.

A Visitor From The Past

A Visitor From The Past
A Visitor From The Past
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Has he visited in your mind? In your soul? In your spirit? In your heart?



CSPOA Supports Sheriff Finch in Florida

 

Sheriff Finch vs The Man

We pledge that all of the money you donate via this button will go directly to Sheriff Finch, excluding the transaction fees charged by PayPal (2.9%). You may also send check or money order to the CSPOA using the address on our contact page. Be sure to specify the purpose of your donation.




The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association is proud to announce that we are wholeheartedly supporting and endorsing Liberty County, FL Sheriff Nick Finch for his courageous stand for liberty and the right of the people to keep and bear arms as guaranteed in the U S and Florida Constitutions. Sheriff Finch’s actions to nullify the arrest of a citizen in his county stand as a shining example of a constitutional Sheriff doing his duty and keeping his oath to protect, preserve, and defend the God-given rights we as all Americans are supposed to enjoy.

A quick review of the incident tells of a Mr. Parrish being pulled over for a very minor traffic violation last March. The officer, a deputy employed by Sheriff Finch, did a pat-down search of Mr. Parrish and discovered a small pistol in his pocket. Parrish had no “permit” for such and the deputy arrested him for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. Sheriff Finch was notified of the situation and he went to the Liberty County Jail that he manages. There, after looking over the entire incident, he released Mr. Parrish and canceled the arrest. This is fully within his power of discretion as sheriff. In the first place, Sheriff Finch disagreed with the probable cause used to justify the stop and disagreed with the pat down that led to Parrish’s arrest. More importantly, Sheriff Finch nullified a wrong and stood for the Constitution which he is sworn to uphold. Faced with a choice between obeying a state statute or adhering to individual liberty, he chose liberty!
Following this incident, Sheriff Finch was investigated by the State of Florida and arrested for destroying official documents, a dubious accusation at best. Florida Governor Rick Scott took it upon himself to first suspend Sheriff Finch, then remove him from office and fill the vacancy by appointing a member of the very agency that investigated and arrested him! (In layman terms this is all called “the good ‘ol boy system”)!

So, Sheriff Finch has no job, no income, and is facing felony charges. The State has made it so Sheriff Finch has no money to provide for his family or pay for his lawyers. Finch has two special needs children and a very supportive wife. Yes, the State has already made a plea offer to Sheriff Finch and yes, you guessed it, if he promises to leave his position as Sheriff then all charges against him will be dropped. Of course, Sheriff Finch is fighting this absurd arrest and illegal action by the Governor all the way!
Sheriff Finch has never been a member of Oath Keepers or the CSPOA and we had never met prior to this incident. He is simply a man trying to do his job and standing for what’s right. What Sheriff Finch did is exactly what we have been advocating for years: He interposed himself on behalf of a citizen. We hope that all local officials and sheriffs across America will do likewise!
Since this incident, I have spoken with Sheriff Finch and his lawyer several times to be sure that we understood all the details of the case. After doing so, I feel confident in supporting him. The CSPOA recently sent $2500 to Sheriff Finch, and we will be sending more as circumstances allow. We encourage you to donate what you can to help him in his fight against incredible odds.

Sheriff Richard Mack (Ret)
CSPOA Founder and President

Senator Harry Reid...Do as I say not as I do...I am above y'all...!

Got Your Back
Senator Harry Reid is a hypocrit, fraud, crook, mental midget with one big ego...he needs to be removed from the Senate and put out to pasture...Harry if Obamacare is so great how about you your Congressional cohorts and the whole damn Obama administration give up your Federal Medical benefits and accept that which you are shoving down the throats of Middle America...by the way revisit the US Constitution and Bill of Rights....hello Congress can pass no Laws that exempt Congress from Laws placed on the entire country..! You Mr. Reid ~so called Mormon Elder are a religious fraud akin to your boss Barry Barack Hussein Soetoro Davis Obama or whatever his real name is...how do you sleep at night after lying 24/7 in the Senate hearings and on the boob tube...your family must be really proud of you...you feed them well out of the trough of Middle Class American working stiffs all across the country!~ They suffer while your bank account prospers...God will judge you soon..after all you are in the end times of your Golden Years...sleep on that!


Check out this E-mail Wonderful Harry sent out to Nevadans...what a joke and so self serving ...do as I say not as I do...!

September 26, 2013


Dear Fellow Nevadan:
 
Starting on October 1, you can visit Nevada Health Link to compare your options and enroll in a health insurance plan. Coverage begins as soon as January 1, 2014, and open enrollment ends on March 31, 2014. 
 
Click here or on the video below to view Senator Reid’s video message on the start of open enrollment. 



My office will be hosting events throughout the state during open enrollment. For more information, please visit reid.senate.gov. You can also visit NevadaHealthLink.com, or en Español, enlacedeseguromediconevada.com
 
Sincerely,
 
HARRY REID
U.S. Senator for Nevada  
[Side Note I suggest all to flood Harry's phone and Fax shut this Moron down!]

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