“Former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) joins Alex Wagner to give his take on the situation in Syria, how Obama has handled the situation, and why he thinks the ‘grand deception’ of the Syria debate is that this is a question of national security.” Continue reading →
“The Ecuadoran government has proposed legal changes to punish libel disseminated over social networks like Twitter or Facebook, a top official said Wednesday. Alexis Mera, President Rafael Correa’s secretary for legal affairs, said the move aimed not to control content on social networks, but to extend to them the same rules that apply to other media. Under Ecuador’s penal code, slanderous libel, which involves a false accusation of a crime, carries a punishment of between six months and two years in prison. Correa has used the courts to sue for libel newspapers and journalists who have written critically about him.” Continue reading →
“Michael had been living in LA [alone] for at least 6-months renting two apartments in the same building; one for living, one for writing. Michael and Elise Jordan had been married less than two-years at the time of his death. In less than a year of marriage, Michael and Elise were technically physically separated for large amounts of time by this move and careers. Worth a glance, if you look at this video of the two of them from last summer [2012], you will notice they do not behave as a loving couple, let alone newlyweds in comparison to the reporter John Avalon and his wife. In fact, the bubbly-ness and warmth Elise usually exudes [in other media appearances] is completely lacking.” Continue reading →
“The German government is being accused of terrorism on its own citizens for a police squad raid in which officers armed with a battering ram forcibly took four children from their parents because they were being homeschooled. The accusations are being posted on a Facebook page for the German embassy in Washington. The reaction developed after, as WND reported, four homeschooled children, ages 7 to 14, were forcibly taken from their Darmstadt, Germany, home by police armed with a battering ram. The parents, Dirk and Petra Wunderlich, were told they won’t see the children again soon, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association.” Continue reading →
“Ronald Reagan did exactly the opposite. For the majority of the 1980s, Iraq under Saddam Hussein was locked in combat with the Islamic Republic of Iran in a war that killed more than 1,000,000 people on both sides. The United States explicitly backed the secular Hussein over the Ayatollah Khomeini’s government in Tehran, still smarting from the embassy hostage crisis that had only ended when Reagan took office. That backing not only included the shipment of tons of weapons to support Baghdad, but also looking the other way when Iraq unleashed its chemical weapons stockpiles — including sarin and mustard gas — against Iranian civilians and soldiers alike.” Continue reading →
“Despite being legalised in both of those two states, marijuana remains on the NFL’s list of banned substances; players found to have used the drug are punishable with fines and suspensions. Not everyone believes that should be the case. Many players will be sympathetic to their cause. The former NFL lineman Lomas Brown, now an analyst for ESPN, told the Detroit News last year that at least 50% of players smoke pot. Earlier in 2012, ESPN had reported that as many as 70% of prospects trying out at the NFL Combine admitted to having used the drug at some point. A number of players have enjoyed highly successful careers despite acknowledged marijuana habits.” Continue reading →
“Police say Lopez resisted arrest and kicked at an officer’s baton. He fell to the ground after being Tasered. Santos Lopez was beaten with a police baton at least six times while on the ground. Officers ordered him repeatedly to get on his stomach, but he refused, leading to even more tasing. He is now at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. His family says he’s suffering from broken bones, cuts, and a collapsed lung. Santos Lopez is expected to face charges for resisting arrest and battery. His family is planning to sue the department for police brutality. Police say the responding officers didn’t know about Santos Lopez’s undiagnosed mental condition at the time of the incident.” Continue reading →
“Researchers have found a new theory to explain the sudden spike in computers using the Tor anonymity network: a massive botnet that was recently updated to use Tor to communicate with its mothership. Making a C&C server a Tor hidden service makes sense from an attacker’s perspective. Tor makes it much harder for white hats and law enforcement officers to identify the malware operators and to shut down the server. Instead of connecting to a registered IP address, an infected machine connects to a pseudo address such as vtipk3.onion that is hard—if not impossible—to trace. Researchers have been predicting that botnets would adopt Tor protocols since at least 2010.” Continue reading →