Written by Although negotiations are in the early stages, officials from both governments said they are favorably inclined toward a deal. They are scheduled to intensify their discussions Thursday and Friday in Washington prior to higher-level meetings in March. If an arrangement is reached, it would follow other recent agreements to base thousands of U.S. Marines in northern Australia and station Navy warships in Singapore.
Posts in category Military
Philippines may allow greater U.S. military presence in reaction to China’s rise
Envoy: Rumors of plan to divide Afghanistan ‘dishonor’ sacrifice of 1,800 US troops
The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan on Tuesday condemned rumors that the United States is planning to divide the war-torn country, saying the suggestions were “lies that dishonor the sacrifice of more than 1,800 American service members who have died in the cause of a unified Afghanistan.”
Ambassador Ryan Crocker said in a statement that a “free and independent media plays a vital role in any democracy” and that Afghanistan’s media and the Afghan government spokespersons were ”important elements in our close bilateral relationship.”
But he then went on to say that, “rumors that the United States has a plan to divide Afghanistan or change its form of government are, frankly speaking, lies that dishonor the sacrifice of more than 1,800 American service members who have died in the cause of a unified Afghanistan, governed by its Constitution.”
Rick Sanchez: “there is a huge problem with journalism in the United States”
Dana Loesch, a CNN contributor, made a statement on her radio show that she would “drop trou and do it too.” The act she was talking about was joining US Marines to urinate on dead Afghans. Earlier this week a video of US Marines urinating on dead Afghans went viral and caused pandemonium. Most people condemn the actions of the Marines while others applaud their brutal actions. Rick Sanchez, journalist, author and former CNN host, joins us for more.
Ron Paul Hits Gingrich With Chickenhawk Label At Debate
Ron Paul doubled down on his stance that fellow 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is a ‘chickenhawk’ for being so eager to send Americans to war despite his Vietnam deferments. The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.
‘Doomsday Clock’ might be reset
A group of scientists are meeting in Washington DC to answer an age-old question: when will the world come to an end?
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has been monitoring events since after the Second World War to predict the likelihood of Armageddon.
Now, the University of Chicago’s so-called “Doomsday Clock”, a symbolic time piece that tells us how close humanity is to global catastrophe, might be reset pending this week’s meeting.
Blackwater settles Iraq killings suit
A wrongful death lawsuit linked to a defining moment of the Iraq war has ended with the company formerly known as Blackwater agreeing to settle with the families of four security contractors killed in a gruesome 2004 ambush.
The victims’ survivors reached a confidential settlement with the company’s successor, Academi, agreeing to dismiss the case before the Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. The court entered an order dismissing the case on December 29.
An administrator for the estates of Stephen Helvenston, Mike Teague, Jerko Zovko and Wesley Batalona sued Blackwater in 2005 after the contractors were murdered by Iraqi insurgents while escorting a convoy in Fallujah.
They were beaten, burned and executed, and two of their charred bodies were strung from a bridge over the Euphrates River. Searing media images of the events disturbed Americans at one of the low points for the United States during the Iraqi occupation.
The former Blackwater came to symbolize the U.S. policy of hiring private contractors to perform work previously handled by the military.
Iran warns U.S. carrier not to return to Persian Gulf
TEHRAN — Iran’s army chief on Tuesday warned a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf, as Iran’s navy ended 10 days of tense war games in the Persian Gulf.
Gen. Ataollah Salehi, the commander of the Iranian armed forces, lauded Iran’s defensive skills and lashed out against the USS John C. Stennis and its battle group. The carrier and its accompanying ships left the strategic Persian Gulf last Thursday, their departure filmed by Iranian drones.
“We warn this ship, which is considered a threat to us, not to come back, and we do not repeat our words twice,” Salehi said, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency.
Ron Paul, Racism and Conspiracy Theorists
Written by The Ron Paul campaign must really be doing something right. The corporate owned mainstream media is really attacking him with all guns blazing. They dredge up the fear card and accuse him of being a racist. They spin his words and try to frame the argument in a way that, in my opinion, is very dishonest to say the least. Some would call these corporate shills outright liars, but in their minds they’re just trying to push the propaganda that will get their guy elected so their corporate masters can maintain their power. The problem for them is that the masses of humanity aren’t as dumb as they seem to believe. The people on catching on to their little game. There’s a world of difference between the way they treat Ron Paul who WILL follow through on his campaign promises to restore personal freedoms as best he can (judging from his political consistency and voting record), and the way they treated Barrack Obama who made promises that sounded good and somewhat Ron Paulish but were never meant to be kept. READ MORE »
Protesters Block Van Carrying Govt Report! No Cops Pepper Spraying & Beating Them! Backwards Country
Soldiers just back from Iraq get new orders: Afghanistan
Atlanta (CNN) — Soldiers who just returned from Iraq are among several thousand being ordered to Afghanistan in six months as part of a mission designed to beef up Afghan forces ahead of a planned 2014 U.S. military withdrawal, officials said.
News of the pending Afghanistan deployments came as families at bases across the country were celebrating the return in recent days of troops who turned off the lights at a number of U.S. bases ahead of an end-of-the-year deadline to leave Iraq.
U.S. general brings Baghdad standard home
“We are glad that we have brought all soldiers back home in time for Christmas to spend with loved ones. We do have to put information out about an upcoming mission, though,” the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, said Tuesday on its Facebook Page.
In the posting, the brigade said it was one of four selected to “support a Security Force Assistance Mission to Afghanistan in early summer.”
Federal Government Takes Final Step to Suspend Constitution
In what can only be considered a tragic irony, the U.S. Senate passed out of the final conference committee the controversial National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, coinciding with the 220th Anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights. Section 1031 of the National Defense Authorization Act otherwise known as the NDAA, provides broad authority for the federal government to use the military in domestic operations in order to detain Americans indefinitely and without trial. Such a move not only whitewashes the natural rights of Americans, whereby even publicly criticizing the federal government can now rise to the purposefully vague definition of a “belligerent act”, it also sits in direct violation of “Posse Comitatus” an 1878 law forbidding use of the military at home and against Americans. Here are Congressman Paul’s remarks on the bill: [ROLL PAUL CLIP]
As Congressman Paul stated, the bill requires absolutely no supporting evidence to issue the order of detention, instead leaving it up to the whim of the Executive Branch to act as Judge, Jury, and in some cases having already decreed the power to assassinate Americans earlier in the year, executioner.
The danger behind allowing any law that includes such arbitrary terms, as “belligerent act” simply cannot be overstated as the Department of Homeland Security has already published multiple reports labeling those who support the Constitution or protest the FEDERAL RESERVE to be “domestic belligerents” and thus in the eyes of the federal government a threat to National Security.
Even more disconcerting is the level of pompous disregard elected members of Congress show as they arrogantly eradicate the foundational principles of America, trampling upon the very ideals that helped spark the first American Revolution, with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina recently stating during debate in the Senate:
“Please know, what will come your way: Death, Detention, and prosecution. And when they say, I want my lawyer, you tell them shut-up, you don’t get a lawyer.”
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (SC-R)
Debate on S. 1867
National Defense Authorization Act
Further, Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, one of the bill’s primary sponsors who drafted the original version in secret along with Republican Senator John McCain, states The Obama Administration specifically requested Section 1031 of the bill be expanded to include the indefinite detention of Americans, threatening to veto the bill if it failed to encompass citizens and non-citizens alike.
However one member of Congress has openly stated that the Military should “NOT comply” if the order comes down to arrest ANY American on American soil. Here is Rep Justin Amash last night on Fox Business Andrew Napolitano’s show, FREEDOM WATCH:
[ROLL CLIP]
According to the group “OPEN CONGRESS” an organization that tracks federal legislation, the bill receives private-sector support mainly from those involved in the receipt of military contracts, such a Honeywell. Honeywell, a company historically known by the public as a manufacturer of thermostats for heating and air conditioners, is in reality one of the largest U.S. military contractors, with revenues of over $4 billion and enthusiastically supports this draconian piece of legislation.
Thus, this bill now puts everyone whether Tea Party member, Occupy Wall Street protestor, Son or Daughter of the modern Liberty movement in the crosshairs of a federal government who sees the Constitution as an encumbrance upon their absolute and unquestionable rule.
With the bill now clearing both House and Senate conference committees as of this yesterday, the only hope at this point to halt the legislation from becoming law is for Patriotic Americans to flood the White House with telephone calls, emails, and faxes demanding this President not sign the bill into law. Please melt the White House Switchboard and comment line right now.
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
While Americans have been led to believe that Obama will sign the legislation there is still the chance that he may veto the law to gain approval with the American people. Whatever the reason, to preserve liberty or to gain favor. Let us hope and pray that our efforts are successful and that he does veto this bill.
Again the numbers to call are:
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Remember to please like, favorite and share this video. Leave your comments below and to find patriots like you who have a heart for restoring the republic join our exclusive social network home to more than 34,000 concerned Americans at RTR.org. For the Reality Report I’m Gary Franchi.
Obama will not veto National Defense Authorization Act
The White House on Wednesday said it would not veto the controversial National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
President Barack Obama’s spokesman Jay Carney said lawmakers who crafted a compromise version from rival Senate and House versions of the legislation had addressed his worries about proposed tough rules on detainees.
The legislation has been the subject of considerable criticism.
At one point the bill contained a provision that would have authorized the U.S. to use military force anywhere there were terrorism suspects, including within the U.S. itself. The American Civil Liberties Union described it as authorizing a “worldwide war without end.”
The section was removed from the bill in July.
But other controversial provisions, Sections 1031 and 1032, remained. The provisions would have authorized the U.S. to indefinitely detain suspected terrorists anywhere in the world without charge or trial, and hold them in military custody.
Craig Shirley: How Pearl Harbor – and December 1941 – Made America a Global Power
The bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 killed over 2,400 Americans and led directly to the entry of the United States into World War II.
In his powerful, thickly researched new book, December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World, Craig Shirley chronicles the day-by-day shifts in American culture, politics, and national identity through that horrible month. Before December, Shirley tells Reason’s Nick Gillespie, a solid majority opposed entry into World War II and the “eminently respectable” America First movement was poised to help select the next president of the United States. Non-interventionism was so universal that Franklin Roosevelt himself had campaigned for his third term as president on a promise to keep “American boys” out of European wars.
By the start of 1942, says Shirley, the long tradition of isolationism was over, never to be seen again. The nation that had rejected the League of Nations after World War I helped create the United Nations and America quickly became not simply a global economic, political, and military power but the dominant player on the globe.
The author of many books, including two biographies of Ronald Reagan and a forthcoming book on Newt Gingrich, Shirley talks with Reason’s Nick Gillespie about what was gained – and lost – in the historical hinge point that was December 1941.
Approximately 8 minutes.
Camera by Meredith Bragg and Jim Epstein; produced by Bragg.
Ron Paul is the Only Electable Candidate for President
2012 Leave a Comment
The corporate controlled, establishment mass media would still have you believe that Ron Paul is some crazy fringe candidate. They still insist that he is unelectable despite his 3rd place finish in Iowa (one wonders how Santorum got so many votes there) and his second place finish in New Hampshire, and polls that have him doing very well against Obama. This despite the fact that the Republican Party leadership seem embarrassed by his presence and want to keep voters away from him more than the Dursleys wanted to keep Harry Potter away from their muggle relatives. When even those who count the votes have to admit to so many flocking to the eccentric family uncle one starts to wonder if maybe he has a real chance of gaining the Republican nod. It is, after all, a matter of numbers and if there is overwhelming support then even the most corrupt organization starts to worry about being too obvious with their cheating and fixing of elections. READ MORE »