Winning Hearts & Minds

Do Americans love Big Brother?

"Now we know the NSA and the FBI are vacuuming up Americans’ telephone calls, emails, Google searches, parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases and all sorts of digital 'pocket litter.' Vast quantities of the world’s communications are being stored in Utah, available for government inspection. Now we know the NSA and the FBI have consistently misled Congress and the public with half-truths about supposed oversight. Now we know the sudden flood of leaks is not damaging our security. So is it just that Americans love Big Brother because they haven’t been told the truth in the past? If so, the latest revelations may cause a shift in public opinion." Continue reading →

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South African group calls for Obama’s arrest during presidential tour

"Cosatu cites Obama's 'horrifying record of US foreign policy in the world', highlighting, the 'militarisation of international relations for the multinational companies and their profit-seeking classes in the US'. It is also opposing the 'US support for oppressive regimes that benefit US narrow interests', saying in a statement on its website that its call was part of world-wide struggle against imperialism. Many in the country have already heeded the call with a huge protests, dubbed the 'Nobama campaign', being planned across the country. The University of Johannesburg's decision to award him an honorary degree has already spurred protest and frustration." Continue reading →

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Restore The Fourth: Group Organizes Nationwide Anti-NSA Spying Protests On July 4

"Restore the Fourth is a grassroots, non-partisan, non-violent movement that seeks to organize and assemble nationwide protests on July 4th, 2013. Protesters in over 100 cities across America will gather to demand that the government of the United States of America adhere to its constitutionally dictated limits and respect the Fourth Amendment. http://www.RestoretheFourth.net provides a detailed list of protest locations. Restore the Fourth maintains that justification of the Fourth Amendment beyond the original text need not be given; the legitimacy of which is self-evident." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRestore The Fourth: Group Organizes Nationwide Anti-NSA Spying Protests On July 4

Disabled Duck Gets A New Foot Thanks to 3D Printing Technology

"After living one year with a backward foot, disabled duck, Buttercup, will finally get a viable foot due to 3D printing technology. Buttercup was born in a high school biology lab last November and at first appeared like any normal yellow and fluffy duckling. However, Buttercup's deformity quickly revealed itself as the duckling could not walk around properly due to a partially developed foot. Fortunately for this little duck, the Feathered Angels Waterfowl Sanctuary, a Tennessee-based group, came to his rescue." Continue reading →

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Incoming police chief shoots woman while trying to kill her dog

"A woman in North Carolina says that the incoming police chief in one town did not react to provide immediate assistance after accidentally shooting her while trying to kill her allegedly aggressive dog. Tamara Whitt said that she couldn’t understand why Winston-Salem Assistant Chief Barry Rountree would take the chance of firing his weapon while she was standing so close to the 'very passive' dog. Doctors told Whitt that the 40 caliber bullet would have to remain in her leg because it was too dangerous to remove. Rountree was placed on administrative leave. The city, however, insisted that Rountree’s swearing-in would go on as scheduled on Sunday." Continue reading →

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Anti-government protests continue in Istanbul: ‘Government, resign!’

"Thousands gathered in Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Saturday to protest against the harsh police treatment of demonstrators whose anti-government rallies have rocked the country for nearly a month. Riot police blocked off the centre of the square, the symbolic heart of the nationwide protest movement, for some two hours as the demonstrators chanted 'Government, resign!' but there was no fresh violence. The crowd also denounced the death of a demonstrator in the country’s Kurdish-dominated southeast on Friday after soldiers opened fire to disperse villagers protesting against the expansion of an army outpost." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnti-government protests continue in Istanbul: ‘Government, resign!’

Gulf Arab youth get around segregation with smartphone flirting

"In the United Arab Emirates and all across the conservative Gulf countries, dating is unacceptable among nationals while arranged marriages are the norm. By switching on WhosHere, a smartphone application which is popular in the kingdom, a young man sitting at the men’s section of the cafeteria could contact girls sitting in the families’ section. Before such applications, men would throw at the girls pieces of paper with their telephone numbers scribbled on them. But the Saudi telecom authority warned in March that it would ban applications like Skype and WhatsApp if providers failed to allow authorities access to censor content, according to an industry source." Continue reading →

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Ron Paul: The Death of Daniel Somers

"The numbers sadly tell the story: more military suicides than combat deaths in 2012, some 22 military veterans take their lives every day, nearly 30 percent of veterans treated by the VA have PTSD. We should be saddened but not shocked when we see the broken men and women return from battles overseas. We should be angry with those who send them to suffer and die in unnecessary wars. We should be angry with those who send them to kill so many people overseas for no purpose whatsoever. We should be afraid of the consequences of such a foolish and dangerous foreign policy." Continue reading →

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Paul Craig Roberts: Washington Is Driving The World To The Final War

"It is not possible for a true patriot to support a government that destroys the Constitution. The United States is the Constitution. Our country is not the Obama regime, the Bush regime, or some other administration. Our country is the Constitution. The Constitution is our country. Beyond obligations to one’s own country, all humans have a responsibility to human life itself. Washington’s puppet states, such as the NATO countries, Japan, and Colombia, by providing cover and support for Washington’s aggression are enabling Washington to drive the world into World War III." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: Washington Is Driving The World To The Final War

A Social Phenomenon: Protests Erupt in Brazil

"A girl organized a protest, expecting a few hundred people to attend. Instead, there were tens of thousands, and then a million. It was like throwing a seed crystal into a super-saturated solution and causing crystallization throughout the whole body of liquid. It was like a wildfire spreading. This is what we so far have NOT seen occur in America. This is, however, what the authorities are preparing for. They know that the array of grievances of Americans is growing by the day, week, month and year. They know that they have not addressed these grievances, and they know that when the promises of government cannot be kept, these grievances are going to spill into the streets." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Social Phenomenon: Protests Erupt in Brazil