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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
September 18, 2013
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said it's wrong to blame guns for the Washington Navy Yard massacre that took 12 innocent lives on Monday.
"Blaming this on guns is like saying the big problem with obesity is we've got too many spoons," Gohmert said in an interview with Newsmax published Tuesday night. "It's not the spoons, it's not the guns. It's the people who have them."
The shootings took place at Naval Sea Systems Command where, as Navy Cmdr. Tim Jirus told The Huffington Post on Monday, people with certain security clearance are allowed to bring weapons onto the base -- even though they don't necessarily do so. The alleged shooter, Aaron Alexis, had clearance to enter the base and did so with a disassembled shotgun in a bag.
Gohmert said he thinks all military officers on military bases should carry guns. ...............................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/18/louie-gohmert-navy-yard-shootings_n_3949857.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037
Louie Goober's latest chart-topper
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said it's wrong to blame guns for the Washington Navy Yard massacre that took 12 innocent lives on Monday.
"Blaming this on guns is like saying the big problem with obesity is we've got too many spoons," Gohmert said in an interview with Newsmax published Tuesday night. "It's not the spoons, it's not the guns. It's the people who have them."
The shootings took place at Naval Sea Systems Command where, as Navy Cmdr. Tim Jirus told The Huffington Post on Monday, people with certain security clearance are allowed to bring weapons onto the base -- even though they don't necessarily do so. The alleged shooter, Aaron Alexis, had clearance to enter the base and did so with a disassembled shotgun in a bag.
Gohmert said he thinks all military officers on military bases should carry guns. ...............................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/18/louie-gohmert-navy-yard-shootings_n_3949857.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037
September 18, 2013
A Company Town Becomes Our Town
How a town shadowed by Chevron built a vibrant movement to challenge corporate power.
BY REBECCA BURNS
[font size="1"]On July 13, the Richmond chapter of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment sponsored a bus tour of foreclosed and blighted properties. Forty-six percent of Richmond mortgages are underwater. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)[/font]
Richmond, Calif., is a company town in revolt. On August 3, more than 200 people were arrested at a sit-in at the gates of the Chevron oil refinery, the town’s largest employer, to mark the one-year anniversary of a disastrous refinery fire and protest the corporation’s ongoing role in climate change. The day before, city officials had announced that Richmond would sue Chevron for damages related to the fire, which landed more than 15,000 area residents in the hospital with injuries like smoke inhalation. Such a lawsuit would’ve been unthinkable 10 years ago, given Chevron’s stranglehold over local politics.
The city of 100,000 has grown up around the Chevron refinery, which is older than Richmond itself. Until 2005, the corporation was allowed to appoint its own inspectors, and last year’s fire was the third major accident to occur at the refinery since 1999. Seventy percent of Richmond’s residents are black, Latino or Asian American, and residents of North Richmond, where several public housing projects are located, bear the brunt of the health burden resulting from ongoing toxic exposure. Though it’s difficult to prove that high rates of asthma, cancer and heart disease among Richmond residents are linked to industrial pollutants—something community groups have long argued—people of color in Richmond have a life expectancy 10 years shorter than whites in other parts of the country, according to the city’s Health Equity Partnership.
Many who grew up in the shadow of the 3,000-acre refinery say they remember times when Chevron would send a few hundred dollars to their families after a spill occurred, paying hospital bills in exchange for families’ silence.
But over the past decade, Richmond’s residents have been building a vibrant movement to challenge corporate power. In 2006 voters ousted Mayor Irma Anderson, the pro-Chevron incumbent, and elected environmental activist Gayle McLaughlin. McLaughlin is fond of comparing the groundswell that brought her to office to anti-Chevron resistance movements in countries such as Nigeria and Ecuador, where the company maintains a heavy presence. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/15597/a_company_town_becomes_our_town1/
How a town shadowed by Chevron built a vibrant movement to challenge corporate power
A Company Town Becomes Our Town
How a town shadowed by Chevron built a vibrant movement to challenge corporate power.
BY REBECCA BURNS
[font size="1"]On July 13, the Richmond chapter of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment sponsored a bus tour of foreclosed and blighted properties. Forty-six percent of Richmond mortgages are underwater. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)[/font]
Richmond, Calif., is a company town in revolt. On August 3, more than 200 people were arrested at a sit-in at the gates of the Chevron oil refinery, the town’s largest employer, to mark the one-year anniversary of a disastrous refinery fire and protest the corporation’s ongoing role in climate change. The day before, city officials had announced that Richmond would sue Chevron for damages related to the fire, which landed more than 15,000 area residents in the hospital with injuries like smoke inhalation. Such a lawsuit would’ve been unthinkable 10 years ago, given Chevron’s stranglehold over local politics.
The city of 100,000 has grown up around the Chevron refinery, which is older than Richmond itself. Until 2005, the corporation was allowed to appoint its own inspectors, and last year’s fire was the third major accident to occur at the refinery since 1999. Seventy percent of Richmond’s residents are black, Latino or Asian American, and residents of North Richmond, where several public housing projects are located, bear the brunt of the health burden resulting from ongoing toxic exposure. Though it’s difficult to prove that high rates of asthma, cancer and heart disease among Richmond residents are linked to industrial pollutants—something community groups have long argued—people of color in Richmond have a life expectancy 10 years shorter than whites in other parts of the country, according to the city’s Health Equity Partnership.
Many who grew up in the shadow of the 3,000-acre refinery say they remember times when Chevron would send a few hundred dollars to their families after a spill occurred, paying hospital bills in exchange for families’ silence.
But over the past decade, Richmond’s residents have been building a vibrant movement to challenge corporate power. In 2006 voters ousted Mayor Irma Anderson, the pro-Chevron incumbent, and elected environmental activist Gayle McLaughlin. McLaughlin is fond of comparing the groundswell that brought her to office to anti-Chevron resistance movements in countries such as Nigeria and Ecuador, where the company maintains a heavy presence. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/15597/a_company_town_becomes_our_town1/
September 18, 2013
from TomDispatch:
Letter to an Unknown Whistleblower
How the Security State’s Mania for Secrecy Will Create You
By Tom Engelhardt
Dear Whistleblower,
I don’t know who you are or what you do or how old you may be. I just know that you exist somewhere in our future as surely as does tomorrow or next year. You may be young and computer-savvy or a career federal employee well along in years. You might be someone who entered government service filled with idealism or who signed on to “the bureaucracy” just to make a living. You may be a libertarian, a closet left-winger, or as mainstream and down-the-center as it’s possible to be.
I don’t know much, but I know one thing that you may not yet know yourself. I know that you’re there. I know that, just as Edward Snowden and Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning did, you will, for reasons of your own, feel compelled to take radical action, to put yourself in danger. When the time comes, you will know that this is what you must do, that this is why you find yourself where you are, and then you’re going to tell us plenty that has been kept from us about how our government really operates. You are going to shock us to the core.
And how exactly do I know this? Because despite our striking inability to predict the future, it’s a no-brainer that the national security state is already building you into its labyrinthine systems. In the urge of its officials to control all of us and every situation, in their mania for all-encompassing secrecy, in their classification not just of the millions of documents they generate, but essentially all their operations as “secret” or “top secret,” in their all-encompassing urge to shut off the most essential workings of the government from the eyes of its citizenry, in their escalating urge to punish anyone who would bring their secret activities to light, in their urge to see or read or listen in on or peer into the lives of you (every “you” on the planet), in their urge to build a global surveillance state and a military that will dominate everything in or out of its path, in their urge to drop bombs on Pakistan and fire missiles at Syria, in their urge to be able to assassinate just about anyone just about anywhere robotically, they are birthing you.
In every action, a reaction. So they say, no? .........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175748/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_how_to_build_a_national_security_blowback_machine/#more
Letter to an Unknown Whistleblower: How the Security State’s Mania for Secrecy Will Create You
from TomDispatch:
Letter to an Unknown Whistleblower
How the Security State’s Mania for Secrecy Will Create You
By Tom Engelhardt
Dear Whistleblower,
I don’t know who you are or what you do or how old you may be. I just know that you exist somewhere in our future as surely as does tomorrow or next year. You may be young and computer-savvy or a career federal employee well along in years. You might be someone who entered government service filled with idealism or who signed on to “the bureaucracy” just to make a living. You may be a libertarian, a closet left-winger, or as mainstream and down-the-center as it’s possible to be.
I don’t know much, but I know one thing that you may not yet know yourself. I know that you’re there. I know that, just as Edward Snowden and Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning did, you will, for reasons of your own, feel compelled to take radical action, to put yourself in danger. When the time comes, you will know that this is what you must do, that this is why you find yourself where you are, and then you’re going to tell us plenty that has been kept from us about how our government really operates. You are going to shock us to the core.
And how exactly do I know this? Because despite our striking inability to predict the future, it’s a no-brainer that the national security state is already building you into its labyrinthine systems. In the urge of its officials to control all of us and every situation, in their mania for all-encompassing secrecy, in their classification not just of the millions of documents they generate, but essentially all their operations as “secret” or “top secret,” in their all-encompassing urge to shut off the most essential workings of the government from the eyes of its citizenry, in their escalating urge to punish anyone who would bring their secret activities to light, in their urge to see or read or listen in on or peer into the lives of you (every “you” on the planet), in their urge to build a global surveillance state and a military that will dominate everything in or out of its path, in their urge to drop bombs on Pakistan and fire missiles at Syria, in their urge to be able to assassinate just about anyone just about anywhere robotically, they are birthing you.
In every action, a reaction. So they say, no? .........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175748/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_how_to_build_a_national_security_blowback_machine/#more
September 18, 2013
from Grist:
A month ago, there were 200 families living on one edge of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, pretty much right in the middle of India. But now there are zero families living there. They moved out. And the tigers — one tiger at least — moved in. Treehugger writes:
Really, this is good for everybody. The villagers got incentive packages to move away, plus now their livestock is safe from encroaching tigers. And the tigers get to live in human houses and pretend to be people, which is really what all animals want.
This entire village moved out to make room for tigers
http://grist.org/list/this-entire-village-moved-out-to-make-room-for-tigers/from Grist:
A month ago, there were 200 families living on one edge of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, pretty much right in the middle of India. But now there are zero families living there. They moved out. And the tigers — one tiger at least — moved in. Treehugger writes:
It didn’t take long before the village, now completely void of people, to be filled anew. A little over four weeks after the last human departed, Ramdegi is now home to herds of bisons, deer, antelope, and boars — grazing on the budding meadows that were once cropland and cattle farms. … According to the Times of India, even a tiger has been spotted prowling the grounds of the empty village, free from dangerous and often deadly conflicts with humans that have driven the species to ‘endangered’ status.
Really, this is good for everybody. The villagers got incentive packages to move away, plus now their livestock is safe from encroaching tigers. And the tigers get to live in human houses and pretend to be people, which is really what all animals want.
September 18, 2013
She sure didn't have a peaceful easy feeling.
Vernett Bader, 54, is accused of stabbing her live-in ex-boyfriend Monday night because he wouldn't stop listening to The Eagles at their North Charleston, S.C. residence, according to ABC News 4.
Police say Bader was watching TV with the man's brother and told her 64-year-old ex to turn his music off. The ex responded by telling her to "shut up" and took her tolerance to the limit by continuing to play the classic rock tunes.
Apparently not one to take it easy, Bader then allegedly grabbed a bread knife and started swinging it at the man. He told police by the time he managed to get the knife away from her, the desperado was already gone, headed to the kitchen to get another, the Post and Courier reported. The victim locked himself in the bathroom to get away from her. ......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/17/vernett-bader-stabs-roommate-ex-the-eagles_n_3943852.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=4157027b=facebook
Woman Stabs Roommate Who Wouldn't Stop Listening To The Eagles: Cops
She sure didn't have a peaceful easy feeling.
Vernett Bader, 54, is accused of stabbing her live-in ex-boyfriend Monday night because he wouldn't stop listening to The Eagles at their North Charleston, S.C. residence, according to ABC News 4.
Police say Bader was watching TV with the man's brother and told her 64-year-old ex to turn his music off. The ex responded by telling her to "shut up" and took her tolerance to the limit by continuing to play the classic rock tunes.
Apparently not one to take it easy, Bader then allegedly grabbed a bread knife and started swinging it at the man. He told police by the time he managed to get the knife away from her, the desperado was already gone, headed to the kitchen to get another, the Post and Courier reported. The victim locked himself in the bathroom to get away from her. ......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/17/vernett-bader-stabs-roommate-ex-the-eagles_n_3943852.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=4157027b=facebook
September 18, 2013
Near-Toothless Man Guilty Of Biting Off Neighbor's Penis
The tooth can hurt.
An English man with only a couple of teeth was found guilty this week of biting -- or should we saw gumming -- off his neighbor's penis, Kent Online reported.
Jason Martin, 41, got into an altercation with 39-year-old Richard Henderson in their Kent neighborhood in July after Henderson sent Martin a text message asking him to turn down his music, according to the Daily Mail.
Martin bit down on Henderson's penis through his pajamas so forcefully that it became detached, according to the Metro. It was later reattached with stitches. .......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/17/jason-martin-toothless-man-bites-off-penis_n_3941110.html
September 18, 2013
from Der Spiegel:
Revelations the US is spying on international bank transfers has angered European parliamentarians. Some are calling for the suspension of the SWIFT deal between the EU and US. "Washington must make clear where it stands," says one.
The recent revelations regarding the degree to which the US intelligence agency NSA monitors bank data in the European Union has infuriated many in Europe. "Now that we know that which we had long been suspected, we have to protest loudly and clearly," Jan Philipp Albrecht, a legal expert for the Green Party in the European Parliament, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. He is demanding a suspension of the SWIFT agreement, which governs the transfer of some bank data from the EU to anti-terror authorities in the United States.
On Monday, SPIEGEL reported that the NSA monitors a significant share of international money transfers, including bank and credit card transactions. The information comes from documents in the possession of whistleblower Edward Snowden that SPIEGEL has been able to see. "Follow the Money" is the name of the NSA branch that handles the surveillance. Information obtained by "Follow the Money" then flows into a financial database known as Tracfin. In 2011, Tracfin had 180 million datasets -- 84 percent of which are comprised of credit card data.
But data from the SWIFT network, headquartered in Brussels, also ends up on Tracfin. SWIFT, which handles international transfers among thousands of banks, is identified by the NSA as a "target" according to the Snowden documents. They also show that the NSA monitors SWIFT on several different levels, with the NSA department for "tailored access operations" also being involved. Among other methods, the documents note that the NSA has the ability to read "SWIFT printer traffic from numerous banks." .......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/nsa-spying-european-parliamentarians-call-for-swift-suspension-a-922920.html
EU Parliament Furious about NSA Bank Spying
from Der Spiegel:
Revelations the US is spying on international bank transfers has angered European parliamentarians. Some are calling for the suspension of the SWIFT deal between the EU and US. "Washington must make clear where it stands," says one.
The recent revelations regarding the degree to which the US intelligence agency NSA monitors bank data in the European Union has infuriated many in Europe. "Now that we know that which we had long been suspected, we have to protest loudly and clearly," Jan Philipp Albrecht, a legal expert for the Green Party in the European Parliament, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. He is demanding a suspension of the SWIFT agreement, which governs the transfer of some bank data from the EU to anti-terror authorities in the United States.
On Monday, SPIEGEL reported that the NSA monitors a significant share of international money transfers, including bank and credit card transactions. The information comes from documents in the possession of whistleblower Edward Snowden that SPIEGEL has been able to see. "Follow the Money" is the name of the NSA branch that handles the surveillance. Information obtained by "Follow the Money" then flows into a financial database known as Tracfin. In 2011, Tracfin had 180 million datasets -- 84 percent of which are comprised of credit card data.
But data from the SWIFT network, headquartered in Brussels, also ends up on Tracfin. SWIFT, which handles international transfers among thousands of banks, is identified by the NSA as a "target" according to the Snowden documents. They also show that the NSA monitors SWIFT on several different levels, with the NSA department for "tailored access operations" also being involved. Among other methods, the documents note that the NSA has the ability to read "SWIFT printer traffic from numerous banks." .......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/nsa-spying-european-parliamentarians-call-for-swift-suspension-a-922920.html
September 17, 2013
Rush Limbaugh has a children’s book coming: FAQ
By Erik Wemple, Published: September 5 at 6:58 pm
Rush Limbaugh announced today on his radio show that he has a book on the way this fall (Oct. 29): “Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans.”
OK, that’s not the most self-explanatory book title in literary history, so let’s do a little FAQ here:
Q: Who is “Rush Revere”?
A: That would be the Rush Limbaugh character that fronts the radio host’s outfit Two If By Tea. Here’s the full explanation from the Two If By Tea website: “Rush Revere is a modern-day Paul Revere who rides around America espousing fundamental American values.
He is a close friend of Rush Limbaugh who sounds the alarm that The Liberals Are Coming!™ Dressed in attire from the American Revolution he recalls the early days of the new Republic. An illustration capturing Rush Revere on his horse graces every bottle of Two If By Tea®.” ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2013/09/05/rush-limbaugh-has-a-childrens-book-coming-faq/
Green Eggs and Oxycotin ...... Three Little Racist Pigs?
Rush Limbaugh has a children’s book coming: FAQ
By Erik Wemple, Published: September 5 at 6:58 pm
Rush Limbaugh announced today on his radio show that he has a book on the way this fall (Oct. 29): “Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans.”
OK, that’s not the most self-explanatory book title in literary history, so let’s do a little FAQ here:
Q: Who is “Rush Revere”?
A: That would be the Rush Limbaugh character that fronts the radio host’s outfit Two If By Tea. Here’s the full explanation from the Two If By Tea website: “Rush Revere is a modern-day Paul Revere who rides around America espousing fundamental American values.
He is a close friend of Rush Limbaugh who sounds the alarm that The Liberals Are Coming!™ Dressed in attire from the American Revolution he recalls the early days of the new Republic. An illustration capturing Rush Revere on his horse graces every bottle of Two If By Tea®.” ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2013/09/05/rush-limbaugh-has-a-childrens-book-coming-faq/
September 17, 2013
Act Erratically and the Police Will Shoot You
Tuesday, 17 September 2013 10:15
By Kristina Chew, Care2 | Report
Display unusual behavior and, although unarmed, you could be shot by a police officer.
That is precisely what happened to two men, in two different states, over the past weekend.
Officer Shoots Unarmed Man Fatally in North Carolina
Early on Saturday morning, 24-year-old Jonathan Ferrell, a former Florida A & M football player, was shot and killed by Officer Randall Kerrick of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina, says the Charlotte Observer. After being a car crash severe enough that he apparently had to crawl out the back window, Ferrell walked about a half-mile to the nearest residence.
.......(snip).......
Two Bystanders Shot By Police Pursuing Unarmed Man
On Saturday night in New York City’s Times Square, police also fired at an unarmed African-American man, says the Guardian. Two bystanders, including a woman using a walker, were wounded as people ran for cover. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/18879-act-erratically-and-the-police-will-shoot-you
Act Erratically and the Police Will Shoot You
Act Erratically and the Police Will Shoot You
Tuesday, 17 September 2013 10:15
By Kristina Chew, Care2 | Report
Display unusual behavior and, although unarmed, you could be shot by a police officer.
That is precisely what happened to two men, in two different states, over the past weekend.
Officer Shoots Unarmed Man Fatally in North Carolina
Early on Saturday morning, 24-year-old Jonathan Ferrell, a former Florida A & M football player, was shot and killed by Officer Randall Kerrick of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina, says the Charlotte Observer. After being a car crash severe enough that he apparently had to crawl out the back window, Ferrell walked about a half-mile to the nearest residence.
.......(snip).......
Two Bystanders Shot By Police Pursuing Unarmed Man
On Saturday night in New York City’s Times Square, police also fired at an unarmed African-American man, says the Guardian. Two bystanders, including a woman using a walker, were wounded as people ran for cover. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/18879-act-erratically-and-the-police-will-shoot-you
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