"A two-county SWAT team was sent to a home in Idaho Springs to evict a 63-year-old woman. SWAT team members with assault rifles were sent in because two dozen protestors joined 63-year-old Sahara Donahue. The protestors were part of a group called the Colorado Foreclosure Resistance Coalition, which is part of the Occupy movement." Continue reading →
"Every schoolboy used to know that at the height of the empire, almost a quarter of the atlas was coloured pink, showing the extent of British rule. But that oft recited fact dramatically understates the remarkable global reach achieved by this country. A new study has found that at various times the British have invaded almost 90 per cent of the countries around the globe. The analysis of the histories of the almost 200 countries in the world found only 22 which have never experienced an invasion by the British." Continue reading →
"It wasn’t so long ago that the following statement could only appear in a dystopian novel or movie script. The U.S. President has killed an American citizen without due process, without even charging him with a crime. His decision to do this has been challenged by members of neither party. While the media-fueled frenzy goes on about how supposedly different Romney and the conservatives are from Obama and the liberals, no one even raises an eyebrow about this terrifying political development. Not even the left, which quite correctly howled at the Bush administrations’ assaults on freedom." Continue reading →
"Concerned that US/Saudi/Israeli/Qatari-supported al-Qaeda rebels in Syria look too much like, well, al-Qaeda members, the US has announced that it prefers to create a whole new opposition in Syria. If what is claimed by the US administration and is amplified in the subservient Western press is true -- that the vast majority of the Syrian people are fighting with or supporting those seeking to overthrow the Syrian government -- why on earth would it be necessary for the United States Department of State to gather its allies together in Qatar to create a Syrian opposition?" Continue reading →
"Kuwaiti riot police used stun grenades and smoke bombs against thousands of demonstrators who blocked a major road south of the capital on Sunday as the emir met four leading opposition figures. After elite special forces and police completely sealed off the original protest site in Kuwait City, organisers told supporters via Twitter to gather instead at Mishref, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of the capital. The government had vowed to use force if necessary to prevent the march, saying that processions and demonstrations are illegal without a permit." Continue reading →
"Israel has for the first time admitted assassinating the PLO’s former number two, Abu Jihad, in a raid on the movement’s Tunis headquarters in 1988, a newspaper reported on Thursday. The report, published in Israel’s top-selling Yediot Aharonot, said the operation was planned by the Mossad spy agency and carried out by the Sayeret Matkal elite commando unit. Abu Jihad, whose real name was Khalil al-Wazir, was shot dead in the early hours of April 16, 1988 in a commando raid on the PLO headquarters by what was presumed to be Israeli agents." Continue reading →
"Well, in very targeted strikes, we use very targeted strikes against al Qaeda. And so if it is a very targeted strike, many would argue that that’s short of war. And if it only seeks to go after their nuclear program, that is — we’re not talking about invasions or naval engagements or troops on the ground, none of that. And this has been used by other — President Clinton used this tactic. [..] And we do know, those — that the Iranians believe that there is a whole panoply of options — war and then these targeted strikes they don’t see as — wouldn’t see as an act of war." Continue reading →
"The number of suicides among U.S. Army active duty and reserve personnel in 2012 is higher than the total combined military fatalities from Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan over the same timeframe. In 2012, there have been a total of 247 suspected suicides among Army active and reserve duty personnel. Of those, 158 have been confirmed as suicides and 89 remain under investigation. An additional 40 military fatalities were the result of 'non-hostile causes,' which means they were fatalities not caused by the Taliban, insurgency forces or Afghan forces – so-called 'green-on-blue' attacks." Continue reading →
"Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday condemned a NATO operation that he said killed four children in the country's east, a claim the coalition said was possible. The operation took place in the Baraki Barak district of Logar province on Saturday, a statement released by Karzai's office said, adding: 'It resulted in the killing of four innocent children' who were tending to livestock." Continue reading →
"With no response about the NDAA, Luke later asks Robert Gibbs on how President Obama will defend having a secret kill list in the debates. Gibbs gives a standard response on the administration doing what it has to do to handle the threat of Alqaeda. Sierra Adamson then follows up by questioning if there is justification for killings such as Anwar al-Awlaki's 16 year old son who was an American citizen, to which Gibbs lays the blame of his death on Anwar al-Awlaki not being a responsible father." Continue reading →