What it Really Takes to Secure Peace in Afghanistan
Kathy Kelly | zcomm.org | 2019-02-13
Constant military surveillance of Afghans yields almost no real intelligence about the problems they face each day. An unusual group of volunteers uses a far different approach…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/what-it-really-takes-to-secure-peace-in-afghanistan/
US Air Freight Company that Smuggled Weapons Into Venezuela Linked to CIA "Black Site" Renditions
Whitney Webb | mintpressnews.com | 2019-02-13
The parallels between aspects of the Contra scandal and the current situation in Venezuela are striking, particularly given the recent "outrage" voiced by mainstream media and prominent U.S. politicians over Maduro's refusal to allow U.S. "humanitarian aid" into the country. | The post US Air Freight Company that Smuggled Weapons Into Venezuela Linked to CIA "Black Site" Renditions appeared first on MintPress News.
mintpressnews.com/us-company-that-smuggled-weapons-into-venezuela-linked-to-cia-renditions/255049/
Venezuela Accuses U.S. of Secretly Shipping Arms After Weapons Found on Plane with Possible CIA Ties
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-02-13
A North Carolina-based air freight company has halted flights to Venezuela following a report by McClatchy linking it to possible arms smuggling. Last week, Venezuelan authorities claimed they had uncovered 19 assault weapons, 118 ammunition cartridges and 90 military-grade radio antennas on board a U.S.-owned plane that had flown from Miami into Valencia, Venezuela's third-largest city. The Boeing 767 is owned by a company called 21 Air based in Greensboro, North Carolina. The plane had made nearly 40 round-trip flights between Miami and spots in Venezuela and Colombia since January 11, the day after Venezuelan…
www.democracynow.org/2019/2/13/venezuela_accuses_us_of_secretly_shipping
US Charges Air Force Counterintelligence Agent With Spying for Iran, Committing Cybercrimes
Tyler Durden | theantimedia.com | 2019-02-13
(ZH) — A former US Air Force counterintelligence agent with access to top secret national defense information was charged with spying for Iran after she defected to the Islamic Republic and helped it target her former colleagues, according to a seven-count indictment made public on Wednesday (see below). According to prosecutors, Monica Elfriede Witt a.k.a. Fatemah Zahra, a.k.a. Narges …
US Charges Air Force Counterintelligence Agent With Spying for Iran, Committing Cybercrimes
Pentagon's 1st AI strategy vows to keep pace with Russia & China, wants help from tech
RT | rt.com | 2019-02-13
The Pentagon has issued its first AI strategy, where it pleads with tech giants to help boost military capabilities and catch up with Russia and China in developing artificial intelligence for military purposes. | …
rt.com/usa/451349-pentagon-artificial-intelligence-strategy/
What it Really Takes to Secure Peace in Afghanistan
Kathy Kelly | progressive.org | 2019-02-12
Constant military surveillance of Afghans yields almost no real intelligence about the problems they face each day. An unusual group of volunteers uses a far different approach.
progressive.org/dispatches/securing-peace-in-afghanistan-kelly-19212/
Will Trump Resign Before the 2020 Election?
David Rosen | counterpunch.org | 2019-02-12
As Donald Trump gave his 2019 "State of the (Dis)Union" speech, an unasked question haunted the event — will he be forced to resign before the 2020 election? Much media attention is focused on "Russia Gate" and the Mueller investigation as well as the dozen or so investigations getting underway by the new Democrat-controlled Congress. However, Trump's…
counterpunch.org/2019/02/12/will-trump-resign-before-the-2020-election/
Unions See an Opening in the Wake of a Ruling That Was Supposed to Finish Them Off
Rachel M. Cohen | theintercept.com | 2019-02-12
At a conference in Washington, labor leaders said their losses following the Supreme Court's decision in Janus were not as severe as they had feared. | The post Unions See an Opening in the Wake of a Ruling That Was Supposed to Finish Them Off appeared first on The Intercept.
theintercept.com/2019/02/12/labor-union-conference-teacher-strike-janus/
Trump orders US agencies to turbocharge AI research and ensure American dominance
RT | rt.com | 2019-02-12
President Donald Trump has compelled federal agencies to step up research and development of artificial intelligence (AI) with a new order, calling the US lead in AI of "paramount importance" to America's national security. | …
rt.com/usa/451241-trump-order-ai-dominance/
The Supreme Court Is Playing Favorites With Religion
ACLU | aclu.org | 2019-02-11
The court's recent decisions threaten religious neutrality — the "clearest command" of the Establishment Clause. | Last week, the Supreme Court permitted the state of Alabama to execute a Muslim man, Domineque Ray, without his religious advisor present. The court's 5-4 decision reversed an emergency lower-court order that had temporarily delayed the execution because of grave concerns that Alabama's pr…
aclu.org/blog/religious-liberty/supreme-court-playing-favorites-religion
Will the US Speak Out on Hungary's Rights Crisis?
Human Rights Watch | hrw.org | 2019-02-09
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban addresses the supporters after the announcement of the partial results of parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, April 8, 2018. | © 2018 Reuters | When he visits Hungary next week, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo should raise the alarm in light of Hungary's deteriorating human rights situation. | Instead of sending a message of business as usual, he should make clear that Hungary's backsliding on human rights has implications for its relations with the US. | Undermin…
hrw.org/news/2019/02/09/will-us-speak-out-hungarys-rights-crisis
Watch the 16th Julian Assange Vigil
Consortiumnews | consortiumnews.com | 2019-02-08
Unity4J presented the 16th online vigil for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday. You can watch the replay here. Guests: Mike Gravel, Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, Brian Becker, Teodrose Fikre and more. Among the topics discussed were the Geneva city parliament voting… Read more ?…
consortiumnews.com/2019/02/08/join-the-16th-assange-vigil-webcast-here-at-4pm-est/
Planned Parenthood: SCOTUS Halts Louisiana Abortion Law for Now, But Roe v. Wade Fate Uncertain
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-02-08
The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a restrictive Louisiana anti-choice law from going into effect Thursday, in a major victory for reproductive rights advocates. The case was seen as a litmus test for determining whether millions of women across the nation will continue to have access to abortions. The divided court ruled 5 to 4 in favor of an emergency appeal by a Louisiana-based abortion provider, Hope Medical Group for Women, to temporarily block a Republican-backed law that could have left the state with just a single doctor legally allowed to perform abortions. The law requires doctors who perform abo…
www.democracynow.org/2019/2/8/planned_parenthood_scotus_halts_louisiana_abortion
In Alabama, a Muslim Man Was Denied the Presence of His Imam During His Execution
ACLU | aclu.org | 2019-02-08
The Supreme Court's ruling to move forward with Domineque Ray's execution violates the Establishment Clause's principle of religious neutrality. | Domineque Ray was pronounced dead last night at 10: 12 p.m. Thirty minutes prior, his execution by lethal injection began. | His last words were a proclamation of his Muslim faith in Arabic. But Ray's imam was missing from the room, despite Ray's repeated requests to the state for his imam's presence. In the days leading up to his death, Ray w…
aclu.org/blog/religious-liberty/alabama-muslim-man-was-denied-presence-his-imam-during-his-execution
Trump Withdrawing from Old Wars While Threatening Iran with New One
Shared by Jocelyn Dombroski | therealnews.com | 2019-02-07
While Trump is withdrawing US troops from Syria and Afghanistan, he is ramping up aggression against Iran — acting both less and more hawkish than his intelligence agencies. Trita Parsi says Washington is violating international law in its campaign to isolate and strangle Tehran | The post Trump Withdrawing from Old Wars While Threatening Iran with New One appeared first on The Real News Network.
therealnews.com/stories/trump-withdrawing-from-old-wars-while-threatening-iran-with-new-one
Spanish state vs Catalonia: putting a political trial on trial
stuart_m | greenleft.org.au | 2019-02-07
On February 12, the trial of 12 Catalan politicians and social movement leaders involved in the October 1, 2017 independence referendum is set to begin in the Spanish Supreme Court. | The leaders face sanctions as harsh as 25 year's jail for their alleged offences — rebellion, sedition and embezzlement of public funds. | It is the first of three trials. Other defendants, including former police chief, José Lluís Trapero, will face the National High Court. Those members of the Catalan parliament who allowed discussion and voting on the referendum enabling law will face the High Court of Justice of Catalonia…
greenleft.org.au/content/spanish-state-vs-catalonia-putting-political-trial-trial
"Liar-in-Chief": Rep. Ilhan Omar Slams Trump's SOTU Remarks on Border, Venezuela, Israel & More
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-02-06
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Trump called for bipartisan unity while he attacked Democrats and the Robert Mueller investigation, denounced efforts to expand abortion rights in Virginia and New York, attacked immigrants and reiterated his demand for a border wall–with no mention of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which delayed his address by a week. Women in Congress wore all white to the speech in a nod to the movement for women's suffrage. After the address, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams made history, becoming the first African-Americ…
www.democracynow.org/2019/2/6/liar_in_chief_rep_ilhan_omar
Ana María Archila: Brett Kavanaugh's Presence at SOTU Represented Failure of U.S. Democracy
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-02-06
As we continue to discuss President Trump's State of the Union, we are joined by Ana María Archila, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy. She attended the address as a guest of New York Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In September, Archila made headlines when she, along with another woman, Maria Gallagher, confronted Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona in an elevator after he announced his support for Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. Shortly after the confrontation, Sen. Flake called for a delay of the Senate vote pending a limited FBI investigation.
www.democracynow.org/2019/2/6/ana_maria_archila_brett_kavanaughs_presence
Trial of El Chapo Highlights Failure of U.S. War on Drugs, But Will U.S. Ever Be Held to Account?
Democracy Now! | democracynow.org | 2019-02-05
Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, the notorious Mexican drug kingpin, has been on trial in New York City for 11 weeks. A federal jury headed into deliberations yesterday after more than 200 hours of testimony at the Federal District Court in Brooklyn revealing the inner workings of the Sinaloa Cartel, the major drug trafficking organization run by El Chapo. Fifty-six witnesses took to the stand with stories of murder, violence, spying, widespread corruption and even one tale of the drug lord escaping arrest in 2014 by climbing naked through a sewer alongside a former lover. El Chapo faces 10 charges, including leading a…
www.democracynow.org/2019/2/5/trial_of_el_chapo_highlights_failure
Was that the Onion or Reuters Quoting Mike Pompeo on Venezuela?
Joe Emersberger | zcomm.org | 2019-01-16
This Reuters article says "The Maduro regime is illegitimate and the United States will work diligently to restore a real democracy to that country," Pompeo told reporters in Abu Dhabi, where he is on a tour of Middle East countries. " [emphasis added] The Onion might have simply changed "countries" above to "dictatorships" or, Read…
zcomm.org/zblogs/was-that-the-onion-or-reuters-quoting-mike-pompeo-on-venezuela/