What Could Possibly Go Wrong

A Guide To Understanding the Middle East, Syria, The West and Oil

"Saudi Arabia wants Assad out of power because it considers him a non-Sunni Muslim apostate, an ally of its Shiite enemy Iran and Saudi Arabia can't bear the thought of an Alewite-Shiite ruling over Sunni Muslims, most of whom reject Saudi styled Sunni Salafist Wahhabism. The US and Saudi Arabia are arming and funding Wahhabist radicals in Syria to secure Wahhabist control of the nation. Why? Because Saudi Arabia doesn't have the military power to do it, it likes to pretend that its on good terms with its Shiite neighbors and it prefers that the US do its dirty work. This has been going on for years because the House of Saud happily jumped in bed with western Big Oil." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Guide To Understanding the Middle East, Syria, The West and Oil

Video of Syrian rebel fighter cutting out heart of soldier and eating it condemned

[May 2013] "Human Rights Watch and the Syrian opposition National Coalition have condemned a gruesome video apparently showing a Syrian rebel fighter cutting out the heart of a regime soldier and eating it. 'International news agencies and social media websites have been circulating a video clip in which a person claiming to be a member of the rebels in Homs performs a horrific and inhumane act,' the National Coalition said. Human Rights Watch said the man depicted in the video appeared to be from a rebel brigade in central Homs province that fired indiscriminately at Lebanese villages earlier this year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVideo of Syrian rebel fighter cutting out heart of soldier and eating it condemned

Syrian rebels’ pledge of allegiance to al Qaeda complicates Western intervention strategies

[April 2013] "The West is floundering over how to respond to Syria’s worsening civil war, especially after a leading Islamist rebel group pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda, opposition officials and experts say. The move by the Al-Nusra Front this week has complicated efforts by US and European officials to come up with unified strategy to support the rebels battling the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. After pushing for weeks to lift a European embargo so arms could be supplied to the rebels, France and Britain have recently backed away from the initiative amid fears weapons could fall into the wrong hands." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSyrian rebels’ pledge of allegiance to al Qaeda complicates Western intervention strategies

Snowden leaks: the real take-home

"To Gen X, a job for life with the NSA was a probably-impossible dream — it's what their parents told them to expect, but few of their number achieved. To Gen Y the idea of a job for life is ludicrous and/or impossible. This means the NSA and their fellow swimmers in the acronym soup of the intelligence-industrial complex are increasingly reliant on nomadic contractor employees, and increasingly subject to staff churn. There is an emerging need to security-clear vast numbers of temporary/transient workers ... and workers with no intrinsic sense of loyalty to the organization. Edward Snowden is 30: he was born in 1983. Generation Y started in 1980-82. I think he's a sign of things to come." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnowden leaks: the real take-home

2009 Promise of Cheaper Health Care Has Morphed Into 2013 Price Hikes

"Remember when President Obama promised back in 2009 that his health care reform plan would cut insurance premiums for the average family by $2,500? Four years later, those promised cuts have morphed into admissions of price hikes. According to a new study from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 70 percent of chief financial officers cite health costs as their top concern, up from 51 percent last year, mainly because of what they expect Obamacare to do to costs. Many smaller companies are contemplating dropping family coverage — and will instead offer benefits to workers only, thanks to the higher costs on the way because of Obamacare. Continue reading →

Continue Reading2009 Promise of Cheaper Health Care Has Morphed Into 2013 Price Hikes

Disturbing report finds U.S. hospitals profit more when surgery goes wrong

"US hospitals face a disincentive to improve care because they make drastically more money when surgery goes wrong than when a patient is discharged with no complications, a study published Tuesday found. An estimated $400 billion is spent on surgery in the United States every year. Privately insured patients with complications provide hospitals with a 330 percent higher profit margin than those whose surgeries went smoothly. Patients whose bills are paid by Medicare — a government insurance plan for the elderly and disabled — produced a 190 percent higher profit margin when complications arose following surgery." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDisturbing report finds U.S. hospitals profit more when surgery goes wrong

Yosemite fire prompts state of emergency in San Francisco

"It’s 150 miles from San Francisco to Yosemite, but the 200-square-mile wildfire that’s edged into the national park has prompted California Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency for the city hours away. That’s because more than 2.6 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area receive water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite. The fire threatens some 5,500 residences. More than 2,700 state, federal and local firefighters from around the nation had joined the fight against the Rim Fire by Friday evening, and large air tankers battled the blaze from above, but dry weather, rugged terrain, and gusty winds limited efforts to carve out containment lines." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYosemite fire prompts state of emergency in San Francisco

Smog crisis creates ‘apocalyptic’ conditions in Singapore

"Fast-food deliveries have been cancelled, the army has suspended field training and even Singapore’s top marathon runner has retreated as residents try to protect themselves from the smog that has descended on the city-state. In Singapore’s worst environmental crisis in more than a decade, the skyscrapers lining the Marina Bay financial district were shrouded by thick smoke Thursday as raging forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia’s Sumatra island pushed air pollution levels to an all-time high. The acrid smell of burning wood lingered everywhere, including inside air-conditioned metro trains, and cars were covered with a thin film of grey ash." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSmog crisis creates ‘apocalyptic’ conditions in Singapore

New York City bike share tech woes enrage normally even-keeled New York bikers

"More than 38,000 New Yorkers have paid $103 for a year-long subscription, but many are still awaiting their blue key — needed to access the bikes. Officials have said 'batches of keys' are going out daily to fix the problem. But those with weekly and day passes are also dealing with spotty problems. Sometimes, docking stations in popular neighborhoods are full and users cannot park their bikes. Other times, the locking mechanisms do not work. And near busy Midtown offices, it is sometimes impossible to find a bike at night. And at some stations, payment via debit or credit card — the only way to purchase a short-term pass — does not function." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew York City bike share tech woes enrage normally even-keeled New York bikers

Obama Seeks to Reshape Neighborhoods With Housing “Diversity”

"The Obama administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is under fire after announcing a proposed executive decree to make American neighborhoods more 'diverse.' Under the new HUD policy, dubbed 'Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing,' the federal government will gather and track data on 'segregation' and 'discrimination' across America before deploying a wide range of social-engineering schemes to ensure more 'diversity' in U.S. neighborhoods. Among the many federal targets in enforcing centrally planned diversity: local zoning regulations, public transportation, land-use policies, government housing agencies, and more." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Seeks to Reshape Neighborhoods With Housing “Diversity”