Yearly Archives: 2013

Unemployed Spaniards rush to play slaves in Ridley Scott’s ‘Exodus’ film

"Thousands of Spaniards in the depressed southern region of Andalusia are queueing up to play the role of slaves in film-maker Ridley Scott’s Biblical epic 'Exodus', hoping for a way out of unemployment. In a region with unemployment at 35 percent, the prospect of work as an extra with a daily wage of 80 euros ($107) has sparked a rush in Almeria where casting is being held for the story of Moses and the Jewish exodus to the promised land. Some 10,000 people turned up at a casting call in the city of Almeria, and another 5,000 in the nearby town of Pechina, one of the casting organisers said." Continue reading →

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Greek teen’s death after argument with bus ticket inspector sparks anti-austerity protests

"The incident quickly touched a nerve in Greece, where the government is using increasingly tough methods to collect revenue under pressure from its international lenders to fix its finances. About 300 people, among them anti-bailout groups, marched to the cemetery where Kanaoutis’s funeral was held on Friday evening. After the service, dozens of youths pelted riot police with stones near the spot where he died. Protesters smashed the windows of a bus in the area and scrawled 'Murderers' in red paint on the windshield. 'Kanaoutis died because he didn’t have a ticket worth 1.20 euros ($1.59),' said the main opposition Syriza party in a statement." Continue reading →

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The Blow That Killed America 100 Years Ago

"'There is a lot of ruin in a nation,' wrote Adam Smith. His point was that it takes a long time for nations to fall, even when they’re dead on their feet. And he was certainly right. America took its fatal blow in 1913, one hundred years ago; it just hasn’t hit the ground yet. This is a slow process, but it’s actually fast compared to the Romans. It took them several centuries to collapse. For all the problems America had prior to 1913 (including the unnecessary and horrifying Civil War), nothing spelled the death of the nation like the horrors of 1913. Here are the key dates." Continue reading →

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Jesse Jackson Jr. sentenced to 30 months in federal prison

"Jackson and his wife, Sandra 'Sandi' Stevens Jackson, both entered guilty pleas in February to appropriating about $750,000 from campaign funds to pay for private school tuition for their children, trips to Costco, expensive clothes and a gold-plated Rolex watch. Jackson was emotional Wednesday morning as he addressed U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson (no relation)." Continue reading →

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IMF Historian Whitewashes The Soviet Spy Career Of The Fund’s Founder

"President Harry S. Truman’s efforts to keep secret the FBI’s investigation of FDR official Harry Dexter White’s illegal activities was the reason why White never became managing director of the Fund – and indeed the reason why the tradition of a European heading the Fund, rather than an American, began in the first place. What Truman, and indeed the FBI, had been unaware of in 1946 was that intercepted wartime Soviet intelligence cables would establish White’s culpability. Decrypting of such cables, part of the top-secret 'Venona Project,' took place over many decades, and the first one mentioning White’s activities was not known to the FBI before 1950." Continue reading →

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Declassified intelligence reveals U.S.-India Cold War cooperation on U2 spy missions

"A declassified American intelligence report on the use of U-2 spy planes has shed new light on cooperation between the United States and India during the Cold War. The document traced the role of the US in monitoring Chinese incursions into India, at the request of New Delhi, which enjoyed a close relationship with the Soviet Union. Following the Sino-Indian conflict of October 1962, when China launched surprise attacks against Indian frontier forces, 'the Indian government appealed to the United States for military aid,' according to CIA historians who traced the events. India allowed the United States to build a base in India for the secret spy planes." Continue reading →

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What Gun Owners must learn from George Zimmerman

"I am certainly not a lawyer or legal expert. Nor do I have every state’s carry and defensive gun use (DGU) laws memorized. Chances are you don’t either, so I think one big take away from the Zimmerman case is the first thing — and I mean the very first thing — you should do before taking your defensive handgun out of the house is to look up and understand any state laws governing where and how to carry as well as any self defense laws that may come to bear in the aftermath of a self-defense shooting. In 2013, this is as important to self-defense as knowing how to shoot accurately." Continue reading →

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A Nation Unhinged: The Grim Realities of “The Real American War”

"Turse’s book reminds us that the primary 'tragedy of Vietnam' was not that America somehow 'lost its way' in fighting an ill-advised war but rather that the war itself was a series of criminal acts perpetrated by the US government on the Vietnamese people. My characterization may sound strident to many today. Most Americans at the time certainly would have disagreed with it. Yet as the war dragged on, the number who recognized the war’s criminality grew inexorably. If you don’t already know the reason, Kill Anything That Moves will show you. And if you already do, this book will remind you why we must never forget what our country did to Vietnam." Continue reading →

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How Old Were the Founding Fathers?

"While famous paintings of our America’s Founding Fathers typically portray them as middle-aged or older, most were actually much younger than we tend to think during the founding of the nation. Todd Andrlik, in a post for the Journal of the American Revolution, compiled the ages of the Founding Fathers on July 4, 1776, and the results may surprise you. For instance, Benjamin Franklin, at 70 years old, was more than twice as old as Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson, at 33 years old. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, who would later go on to write the Federalist Papers, were just 21, 25, and 30 respectively." Continue reading →

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Interview With Tom Woods On Nullification

"There were popular referenda that amount to nullification, we’re not going obey this particular law and people vote and agree not to do it. It can be the legislature. You have a special convention you call. Then the issue is we’ve nullified but what does that actually mean? What it would have to mean is the people of the state would be willing to stand by what they’ve done. I rather suspect that when we’re dealing with issues like the Second Amendment, which, even more than the Obamacare issue, the Second Amendment and the perception that Washington is hostile to the Second Amendment has done more to alert people to nullification than anything else." Continue reading →

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