Federal Judge Throws Out Lawsuit by ACLU and Nation Magazine Against the NSA.

Federal Judge Throws Out Lawsuit by ACLU and Nation Magazine Against the NSA.

Show we be surprised?

Shocked by the decision of a true judicial patriot and defender of constitutional rights?

Here are some excerpts:
  
"A federal district judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and others against the National Security Agency on the ludicrous grounds that, because the NSA did not admit to its spying, the plaintiffs’ claim that they were threatened by unwarranted surveillance was based on “subjective fear.”

The Guardian reports:

The judge in the case, TS Ellis III, said the suit relied on “the subjective fear of surveillance”, because the NSA did not admit to having collected any of the information it was alleged to have collected by the ACLU. …"

Please read the rest at: http://legal-observer.blogspot.ru/2015/11/federal-judge-throws-out-lawsuit-by.html

U.S. Police Routinely Travel to Israel to Learn Methods of Brutality and Repression

Greg Krasovsky: As a former City of Philadelphia Police Officer (1989-1992) and a lawyer, I believe that foreign acquired police tactics -- on how to deal with protesters and/or hostile segments of populations in contested & occupied territories --  will not bring anything good to policing of American poor neighborhoods & ghettos. Have you seen the recent police brutality cases in Israel against Israeli Ethiopian Jews? 

U.S. Police Routinely Travel to Israel to Learn Methods of Brutality and Repression

Here are some key excerpts:

"When McKinney, TX police officer David Eric Casebolt brutally took down a teenage girl at a pool party in June, he was using a form of martial arts called Krav Maga in which he trained exclusively. These combat techniques were developed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

This is a small reflection of a larger reality that exists in U.S. law enforcement, one that helps explain the brutality and militarization that now characterizes so many police forces.  Since 9/11, cops have been traveling abroad to learn from one of the most repressive and dangerous State forces in the world today—the Israeli military and intelligence apparatus.
...
At least 300 high-ranking U.S. sheriffs and police from all over the country, as well as FBI and US Customs and Border Protection agents, have traveled to Israel to learn first-hand the most efficient means of subduing populations.  The purported reason is counterterrorism, but protests and crowd control methods are commonly discussed.
...
Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University, notes how militarized U.S. police reflect the training that is received in Israel and spread throughout the ranks.

“If American police and sheriffs consider they’re in occupation of neighborhoods like Ferguson and East Harlem, this training is extremely appropriate – they’re learning how to suppress a people, deny their rights and use force to hold down a subject population.”
To complement this Israeli military training that ramped up in the mid-2000s, the Pentagon and Homeland Security started the 1033 program which funneled billions of dollars of military-grade equipment to local law enforcement.  MRAPS and military weapons have become all too familiar on American streets.

What order-following, state-sanctioned thug is going to refuse the most advanced tactics and tool of repression?
...
This increasingly common scenario is indicative of law enforcement that views the populace as the enemy.  Peaceful protests of unjust government practices are fundamental to the progression of society.  Police with militarized tactics and gear are the progenitors of violence.
...
If we are to end the militarization of U.S. law enforcement, one of the most important parts of that will be stopping the training of police by the Israeli military and intelligence apparatus.  We do not want their methods of repression and brutality replicated here."

Please read the entire article at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/u-s-police-routinely-travel-israel-learn-methods-brutality-repression/

The Punishment Society.

Greg Krasovsky: As a former City of Philadelphia Police Officer (1989-1992), I find Paul Craig Roberts' article "The Punishment Society"  thought-provoking and alarming. 
    
Here are some excerpts -- the bold highlights are mine. 

"It brought to mind that punishment has become a primary feature of American, indeed Western, society. A baker in Colorado was punished because he would not bake a wedding cake for a homosexual marriage. A county or state clerk was punished because she would not issue a marriage license for a homosexual marriage. University professors are punished because they criticize Israel’s inhumane treatment of Palestinians. Whistleblowers are punished—despite their protection under federal law—for revealing crimes of the US government. And children are punished for being children.
...
Schools are no longer places of learning. They are places of punishment. Kids are punished for the most absurd reasons. Nothing more than behaving as a child brings on punishment. As Henry Giroux has written, schools have become places of control, repression, and punishment.

17,000 American public schools have a police presence. All common sense has long departed.
Five and six year-olds who get into a shoving match are arrested and carried off in handcuffs. Police issue tickets and fines to students for what was ordinary behavior in my school days. Suspensions result as do police records that hamper a child’s prospect of success.

The violence that Ben Fields used against Shakara is routine. Mother Jones reports that a Louisville goon thug, Jonathan Hardin punched a 13-year old in the face for cutting into the cafeteria line and of holding another 13-year old in a chokehold until the student became unconscious. A dispute over cell phone use resulted in a Houston student being hit 18 times with a police weapon.

The police violence extends beyond the schools. Any American unfortunate enough to have a police encounter risks being tasered, beaten, arrested, and even murdered.

Protesters, war and otherwise, are beaten, tear gassed, arrested. The American police state is working hard to criminalize all criticism of itself. Violence has become the defining hallmark of the United States. It is even the basis of US foreign policy. In the 21st century millions of peoples have been killed and displaced by American violence against the world."

Please read the rest of Dr. Robert's article at:

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2015/11/03/the-punishment-society-paul-craig-roberts/

Success, Failure, and the "Finest Warriors Who Ever Went Into Combat"

Tomgram: Nick Turse, Success, Failure, and the "Finest Warriors Who Ever Went Into Combat"

Is this what America's founding fathers wanted? A country whose special forces are on missions in 135 countries to further U.S. national interests, including supporting violent regime change with military intervention, assistance or cloak and dagger "advisors"?

Here are some excerpts from Nick Turse's article:

"If journalism was once considered the first rough  draft of history, now, when it comes to American military policy at least, it’s often the first rough pass at writing a script for "The Daily Show." Take, for example, a little inside-the-paper piece that Eric Schmitt of the New York Times penned recently with this headline: “New Role for General After Failure of Syria Rebel Plan.” And here’s the first paragraph:

“The Army general in charge of the Pentagon’s failed $500 million program to train and equip Syrian rebels is leaving his job in the next few weeks, but is likely to be promoted and assigned a senior counterterrorism position here, American officials said on Monday.”

Yes, you read that right. Major General Michael Nagata is indeed “likely to be promoted.” He remains, according to Schmitt, one of “the Army’s rising stars” and is “in line to be awarded a third star, to lieutenant general, and take a senior position at the National Counterterrorism Center in Washington.” Oh, and one of the reasons for his possible upcoming promotion, other than having overseen a program to produce 15,000 American-backed “moderate” Syrian rebels ready to fight the Islamic State that actually only produced a handful of them who fought no one, is according to “colleagues” his “bureaucratic acumen in counterterrorism jobs at the C.I.A. and the Pentagon.”

Bureaucratic acumen! What better skill could you ask for in the new American national security state built since 9/11 on failure? No kidding, wouldn’t you give your right arm to be in an organization that essentially called whatever you did success and promoted you accordingly? AsTomDispatch’s Nick Turse notes in his latest stunning report on America’s Special Operations forces, the secret military within our military that has in recent years grown to monstrous proportionshas also gone from “success” to “success”; that is, as an organization, its expansion has been dependent upon Washington’s military failures and disasters, especially in the Greater Middle East. One of Bob Dylan’s famed cryptic lyrics seems to cover the situation with a certain precision: “She knows there's no success like failure. And that failure's no success at all.” Tom 

...

Have these “warriors” actually been successful beyond budget battles and the box office? Is exceptional tactical prowess enough?  Are battlefield triumphs and the ability to batter terror networks through relentless raiding the same as victory? Such questions bring to mind an exchange that Army colonel Harry Summers, who served in Vietnam, had with a North Vietnamese counterpart in 1975.  “You know, you never defeated us on the battlefield,” Summers told him.  After pausing to ponder the comment, Colonel Tu replied, “That may be so. But it is also irrelevant.”

So what of those Green Berets who deployed to 135 countries in the last decade? And what of the Special Operations forces sent to 147 countries in 2015? And what about those Geographic Combatant Commanders across the globe who have hosted all those special operators? 

I put it to Vietnam veteran Andrew Bacevich, author of Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country. “As far back as Vietnam,” he tells me, “the United States military has tended to confuse inputs with outcomes. Effort, as measured by operations conducted, bomb tonnage dropped, or bodies counted, is taken as evidence of progress made. Today, tallying up the number of countries in which Special Operations forces are present repeats this error. There is no doubt that U.S. Special Operations forces are hard at it in lots of different places. It does not follow that they are thereby actually accomplishing anything meaningful.”"

Please read the rest of the article at: http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176060/

Washington Accuses Putin. Russian Airstrikes are Targeting “Our Guys” in Syria: CIA Operatives, Military Advisers, Mercenaries, Special Forces, … Instead of ISIS Terrorists

Washington Accuses Putin. Russian Airstrikes are Targeting “Our Guys” in Syria: CIA Operatives, Military Advisers, Mercenaries, Special Forces, … Instead of ISIS Terrorists.

Greg Krasovsky: If the accusations leveled in the below article are true, namely that US, UK and French special forces and intelligence agents have been training, monitoring, advising and commanding "running" Syrian insurgents, including Al-Qaeda affiliated jihadist terrorists, then this is bad news -- first and foremost for the citizens of the US, UK and France, who trusted their governments to fight terrorists and not nurture, feed, arm and protect them just to overthrow a legitimate government whose leader these countries don't like.

In such a case, Russia is not the bad guy for exposing this foolish policy, providing military assistance to Syria's lawful government and for bombing terrorists regardless of who trained, funded or armed them.

 

"Russian Airstrikes are Targeting “Our Guys”: 

The Western media quoting US officials has reported that the Russian Air Force is not really targeting ISIS terrorists.

They are targeting CIA sponsored operatives inside Syria. 

According to a US official in an interview with Fox News:

‘Putin is deliberately targeting our forces. Our guys are fighting for their lives.’

Moscow is “deliberately targeting” U.S.-backed forces in Syria as part of a military campaign that has killed up to 150 CIA-trained rebels, a U.S. official told Fox News

The claims state that Russia’s apparent mission to destroy ISIS is really a facade, and that their real mission is to kill American assets. (October 14, 2015).

The “Our Guys” category (“fighting for their lives”) not only includes bona fide “moderate terrorists” trained by the Western military alliance, it also includes countless Western military advisers, intelligence agents and mercenaries (often recruited by private security companies) operating on the ground inside Syria since March 2011.

In a bitter twist, by making these accusations directed against Moscow, the Obama Administration candidly acknowledges what has been known from the outset: the presence of Western forces inside Syria in support of Al Qaeda affiliated terrorists. Lest we forget, this constitutes an undeclared act of war against a sovereign country in violation of international  law (Nuremberg).  

Amply documented, from the outset of the Syrian insurgency, Western special forces and covert intelligence agents including British SAS, French Parachutistes, CIA, MI6  and Mossad have integrated rebel ranks. Their activities are not limited to training. They are routinely involved in overseeing the conduct of terrorist operations on the ground together with Turkish and Qatari special forces, as well thousands of mercenaries recruited from Muslim countries:

“As the unrest and killings escalate in the troubled Arab state, agents from MI6 and the CIA are already in Syria [2012 report] assessing the situation, a security official has revealed. Special forces are also talking to Syrian dissident soldiers. They want to know about weapons and communications kit rebel forces will need if the Government decides to help.  (Syria will be bloodiest yet, Daily Star, January 2012). (emphasis added)

From the outset of the insurgency, Al Qaeda affiliated rebel forces including ISIS and Al Nusrah are “infiltrated” by Western military and intelligence  operatives."

Please read the rest of the article at: 

http://www.globalresearch.ca/washington-accuses-putin-of-targeting-our-guys-including-cia-operatives-and-western-military-advisers-inside-syria-instead-of-isis-terrorists/5482475

Minsk Deal? Never Heard of That! Ukrainian Forces Shelling Donetsk Airport

Minsk Deal? Never Heard of That! Ukrainian Forces Shelling Donetsk Airport

So what is there to gain from shelling the already destroyed Donetsk International Airport?

Unless you want to justify military expenditures, militarization of society and deflect attention from other serious economic problems.

War mongering always brings misery, death and destruction.

Please read the Sputnik article at:

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151027/1029156346/Ukrainian-Forces-Shelling-Donetsk-Airport.html

Reality Check: Obama Pushes Perpetual War In Seven Countries?

Reality Check: Obama Pushes Perpetual War In Seven Countries?

President Obama says that if the GOP had their way he would be involved in wars in seven different countries. Really? How many countries DOES the president have us fighting in?

This is a Reality Check you won't see anywhere else.... 

but on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p7khnhzdrc


"The people who make wars, the people who reduce their fellows to slavery, the people who kill and torture and tell lies in the name of their sacred causes, the really evil people in a word—these are never the publicans and the sinners. No, they’re the virtuous, respectable men, who have the finest feelings, the best brains, the noblest ideals."

ALDOUS HUXLEY, After Many a Summer Dies the Swan

So what was the reason why President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, again?