OBAMA - Where's the TRANSPARENCY?

Rift grows between Obama, media as press groups blast administration ‘spin’ Published August 13, 2014 July 16, 2014: President Obama talks in the press briefing room at the White House.Reuters While Congress is on recess and President Obama vacations in Martha's Vineyard, a coalition of free press groups is escalating an already-aggressive campaign against the Obama administration for allegedly freezing out the press and cracking down on reporters. The flood of critical letters and petitions and statements from First Amendment groups marks a new level of tension in a relationship that for years has been deteriorating. Though Obama, as a candidate in 2008, was widely seen to enjoy favorable media treatment, his administration now is fielding accusations that it's one of the least transparent in history. Society of Professional Journalists President David Cuillier, in a statement earlier this week, blasted the administration for what he called "excessive message management and preventing journalists from getting information on behalf of citizens." SPJ is among the groups that's been leading the charge on the issue. Last month, more than three dozen groups, including SPJ, wrote to the White House about what they described as growing censorship throughout federal agencies. [...] ... vowed greater transparency going forward and pointed to several steps the administration has taken: like processing more "freedom of information" requests, declassifying records and releasing information on White House visitors. "Typical spin and response through non-response," Cuillier shot back. He said he hopes the administration is "sincere" about being more open, "but we want action. We are tired of words and evasion." Media groups are gearing up for another confrontation on Thursday, when they plan to present a petition with 100,000 signatures -- backed by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Freedom of the Press Foundation and others -- to the Justice Department. It calls for the administration to halt legal action against New York Times reporter James Risen, who detailed a botched CIA effort during the Clinton administration to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. Risen's reporting is at the center of criminal charges against former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling. Federal prosecutors want to force Risen to testify about his sources at Sterling's trial, and the Supreme Court recently refused to get involved in the case. Risen argued he has a right to protect his sources' identity, either under the Constitution or rules governing criminal trials. A federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., earlier rejected Risen's bid to avoid being forced to testify. At the same time federal prosecutors have fought Risen in court, Attorney General Eric Holder has suggested that the government would not seek to put Risen in jail should he refuse to testify as ordered. But journalist groups want assurances. Risen also is expected to speak during a press conference at the National Press Club on Thursday afternoon. The case follows tension last year surrounding the Justice Department's snooping on Fox News' reporter James Rosen's phone records and emails, and its seizure of AP phone records in the course of leak investigations. The controversy over those actions led to some reforms at the Justice Department. [...] EXTRACT ONLY  - FULL @ SOURCE http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/13/rift-grows-between-obama-media-as-press-groups-blast-administration-spin/

Hard to believe there's any tension b/w press and government when the mainstream press seems to always carry whatever the official government/corporate line may be (eg Ukraine reporting).

UKRAINE - More US War Monger Propaganda - Send ARMS

Even a Russian invasion of Ukraine won't disturb Obama's vacation By Jed Babbin | August 13, 2014 | 6:02 pm Two crises – one in Iraq and one in Ukraine – aren’t enough to disturb President Obama’s vacation. [...] If that weren’t enough, Ukraine is apparently facing an imminent Russian invasion, cloaked as a “humanitarian” mission, which the Ukrainians have vowed to turn back at their border. Fifty-eight years ago, President Dwight Eisenhower faced a very similar scenario. When Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, Britain, France and Israel sent troops to contest his action. While Ike was preoccupied with Suez, Hungarians rebelled against Soviet oppression. Eisenhower was entirely focused and gauged the risk of war with Russia too great to intervene. The Soviet army crushed the rebellion and restored their puppet government.  [Jeb would rather a US puppet govt had been installed, I take it?  How predictable is it trying to goad with some comparison from the not so glorious US history.  I wouldn't be too proud of imperialist violations of national sovereignty of foreign nations for the almighty dollar.] Obama is disengaged, even disinterested. As a result, Ukraine is likely to suffer the same fate as Hungary did in 1956.  [Yeah, Obama's US$5 billion disinterested.  US is supporting neo-Nazi death squads and Biden's son is already installed in puppet Ukraine - the spoils already divided.  But Obama's 'disinterested'.] Russian strongman [He's head of state, moron.  Not a circus act.  Only circus act is in USA] Vladimir Putin is riding a wave of popularity sustained by his personal super-macho Image, which he has successfully conflated with Russia’s Image in the minds of his countrymen. American and European sanctions haven’t even paused his plan to restore Ukraine as a Russian satellite, which has been unfolding since February. Then, Russian special forces and mercenaries seized the Crimean Peninsula. Putin formally annexed it to Russia with great fanfare in March.  Russia has about 40,000 troops massed at the Ukrainian border apparently ready to invade. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Reuters that there was no sign of Russia withdrawing its troops and that there was a “high probability” of a Russian military intervention. The only White House reaction has been a statement that an invasion would “... provoke additional consequences.” That echoes previous statements that have accompanied Obama’s ineffective sanctions.  [NATO dickhead Rasmussen says what he's told to say.  Means jack.  It's the same old bullshit propaganda from the US.] Russia has declared a humanitarian crisis in the Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Lugansk and is dispatching a “relief” convoy of some 280 trucks. The humanitarian crisis is real, but the only part of the crisis Putin cares about is the looming defeat of the Russian-backed insurgents by Ukrainian forces. Putin’s personality, which depends on sustaining his Image, cannot allow such a defeat.  [*Eyeroll*  But his 'personality' can allow the slaughter of East Ukraine independence supporters, sponsored by US lowlifes on the make.] The Ukrainians have vowed to stop the convoy at the border and only let it proceed if it is inspected and accompanied by the International Red Cross. Most analysts conclude that the convoy will serve as the lead elements of a Russian invasion.  [This is IMMORAL. What they are doing is using humanitarian aid as a *political tool*, to smear the Russians, to create (non-existent) Russian 'threat' in the minds of the public and, ultimately, to BLOCK aid to 3.9 million people who need it.  This is a dog act, USA and EU / NATO puppets.]   That is probably wrong because the situation allows Putin to actually send relief, albeit in trucks driven by Russian army soldiers and partly laden with communications and navigation equipment along with food and water, making an invasion easier without making his intent too obvious. It’s only about a 13-hour drive from Moscow to Donetsk, so Putin has the luxury of time to load the trucks with whatever suits his plan.  [This guy is a nutjob that sees invasion at every turn.  Delivery of *aid* is not some delivery of supplies ahead of invasion.  Gee, I think if they were intent on invading, getting supplies in post invasion would be a piece of cake; no bogus aid convoy is required.  Seriously, this guy needs help.] If the Ukrainians block the convoy, Putin would blame them for blocking relief to the suffering. If they let it through, Putin can take credit. Either way, he wins. But he shouldn’t.  [Here we go; wouldn't want Putin to get *credit* where credit's due.  How mental is that?] It is late for Obama and NATO to send military supplies and aid to Ukraine, but not too late. Sending arms and speaking out in favor of Ukrainian freedom, Obama would not face a risk of war like that faced by Eisenhower.  [The war monger wants to send arms!!!  What a joke.] By failing to act, Obama strengthens Putin and encourages his aggression against Ukraine and other former Soviet satellite nations.  [Here we go, Goebbels, more Russian 'aggression' -- which is fucking non-existent to date.] Jed Babbin served as a deputy undersecretary of defense in the George H.W. Bush administration and is a senior fellow of the London Center for Policy Research. He is the author of "The BDS War Against Israel," with Herbert London. SOURCE http://washingtonexaminer.com/even-a-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-wont-disturb-obamas-vacation/article/2552007 I'm so angry reading this. The campaign of bullshit from the US and the idiocy of the Americans is astounding and anger provoking, when you consider that these people are playing with other people's lives  --  they're as good as murderers. If this fucker feels so strongly, maybe he should get on the front lines with the neo-Nazi death squad thugs -- after the US puppet government has finished shelling civilians -- and maybe he should put his money where his mouth is and take a shot on a one-to-one basis. Somehow I doubt this war monger feels that strongly. ........................................................ Excuse typos - too angry to check & edit.

NORTH CAROLINA - REPUBLICAN MORONS - BLOODLETTING PLATFORM

GOP hopes Obama foreign policy hurts Hagan By Renee Schoof McClatchy Washington BureauAugust 13, 2014  WASHINGTON — With international crises dominating the national agenda, could President Barack Obama’s low standing on foreign policy right now hurt Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan’s re-election bid in North Carolina? A McClatchy-Marist poll this week found voters widely disapprove of the president’s policies on the foreign front _ the greatest level of rejection in any year of his presidency. Very quickly the Republican National Committee issued a statement claiming that his poll numbers “are sinking Democrats.”  [WTF is the point of these polls?  As if the idiots surveyed have a CLUE, when the idiot politicians sure don't.] Foreign policy is part of what makes voters unhappy with the president, and that will affect turnout for the mid-term elections in November, said Jennifer Duffy, a Senate analyst for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.  [Not living conditions:  work, prices, fuel, taxes etc?  Yeah, right.] Democrats are trying to get voters to turn out in North Carolina, she said, “but the less popular the president is, the harder it will be.” In an email Wednesday, Thom Tillis, Hagan’s Republican opponent in the highly competitive race, called Obama’s foreign policy “reckless” and claimed that it has led to crises in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Ukraine. Tillis, speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, said, “Instead of standing up to Obama, Kay Hagan has been a rubber-stamp for his failed policies, which have weakened America’s standing in the world and emboldened our enemies.” His campaign press secretary, Meghan Burris, said that Obama hadn’t taken seriously enough the threats from Russia or from the Islamic State, the jihadist group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria and which has prompted a re-injection of U.S. military personnel into Iraq. She also said that the administration “has not been fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself,” and that some Democrats had criticized the president, but Hagan had “remained silently supportive.” [Let the blood-letting begin!] Tillis made the same criticism of Hagan in a debate in April. Asked about the threat of Iran getting a nuclear bomb, Tillis said Hagan “sat idly by as the president has weakened our position in the Middle East.” He also said she didn’t support a strong military.  [WTF is Hagan supposed to do?  The talks have been going on FOREVER because this is what IRAN wants -- nuclear 'energy'.  Without resolving it diplomatically (as they're trying to do), the only other option is -- what?  Invade Iran to impose your will?  Morons.] Hagan’s campaign fired back Wednesday. It said that she opposed the administration in 2013 by joining a call from Congress for tougher sanctions on Iran at a time when the White House wanted to focus on negotiations instead. She also sponsored and voted for sanctions against Iran in previous years. Hagan also has voted for military aid to Israel and for legislation aimed at bolstering U.S.-Israel relations. On U.S. military spending, she opposed a budget plan in 2013 for making what she saw as military cuts that were too deep. She also said that year that she voted in favor of a budget deal that eliminated across-the-board spending cuts after military leaders said it would restore money the Pentagon needed. “As a member of the Armed Services Committee and the aunt of two nephews serving on active duty, Kay takes national security issues seriously and she will never play politics with them,” said campaign Spokeswoman, Sadie Weiner. “Speaker Tillis has shown a lack of understanding and a concerning tendency to fire first and aim second when it comes to matters of national security.” But come November, will any of this matter in the voting booth? Kenneth Fernandez, an assistant professor who directs polling at Elon University, said he didn’t think Obama’s foreign policy would have any noticeable effect on voters. He said Republican challengers would have to come up with an alternative course of action, such as doing nothing or escalating U.S. involvement in trouble spots. “Both alternatives are not very attractive and difficult to explain to the public,” he said. SOURCE http://www.kentucky.com/2014/08/13/3378808/gop-hopes-obama-foreign-policy.html?#storylink=cpy

What, they want Obama to go to Gaza and pull the trigger? Would that be more down their alley?

Threats from Russia?  More like US-NATO threat TO Russia. 

OMG!  The Republicans are basing their electoral platform or campaign on BLOODLETTING!!!

These ppl are fucked.

Think they might need to find a proper platform.

USA - JOHN NAPIER TYE & Fourth Amendment Rights - US Surveillance Abroad

By Charlie Savage THE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON — After President Barack Obama delivered a speech in January endorsing changes to surveillance policies, including an end to the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' domestic calling records, John Napier Tye was disillusioned. A State Department official, Tye worked on Internet freedom issues and had top-secret clearance. He knew the Obama administration had also considered a proposal to impose what an internal White House document, obtained by The New York Times, portrayed as "significant changes" to rules for handling Americans' data the NSA collects from fiber-optic networks abroad. But Obama said nothing about that in his speech. So in April, as Tye was leaving the State Department, he filed a whistle-blower complaint arguing that the NSA's practices abroad violated Americans' Fourth Amendment rights. He also met with staff members for the House and Senate intelligence committees. Last month, he went public with those concerns, which have attracted growing attention. When operating abroad, the NSA can gather and use Americans' phone calls, emails, text messages and other communications under different — and sometimes more permissive — rules than when it collects them inside the United States. Much about those rules remains murky. The executive branch establishes them behind closed doors and can change them at will, with no involvement from Congress or the intelligence courts that are charged with protecting Americans' privacy. "It's a problem if one branch of government can collect and store most Americans' communications, and write rules in secret on how to use them — all without oversight from Congress or any court, and without the consent or even the knowledge of the American people," Tye said. "Regardless of the use rules in place today, this system could be abused in the future." Tye, 38, is speaking out as Congress considers amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs how the NSA operates domestically. The legislation resulted from the uproar over leaks by Edward J. Snowden, a former agency contractor. But the proposed changes would not touch its abilities overseas, which are authorized by Executive Order 12333, a Reagan-era presidential directive. The administration has declassified some rules for handling Americans' messages gathered under the order, but the scope of that collection and some details about how the messages are used remain unclear. "The debate over the last year has barely touched on the executive order," said Jameel Jaffer, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer. "It's a black box." The Times interviewed nearly a dozen current and former officials about EO 12333 rules for handling communications involving Americans, bringing further details to light. By law, the NSA cannot deliberately intercept an American's messages without court permission. But it can "incidentally" collect such private communications as a consequence of its foreign surveillance. The volume of incidental collection overseas is uncertain. Officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the topic, said the NSA has never studied the matter and most likely could not come up with a representative sampling. Tye called that "willful blindness." Still, the number of Americans swept up could be sizable. As the NSA collects content in bulk overseas from fiber-optic hubs and satellite transmissions for later analysis, Americans' messages within the mix can be vacuumed up. By contrast, when operating domestically under FISA, the agency may engage only in targeted, not dragnet, collection and storage of content. Congress left the executive branch with a freer hand abroad because it was once rare for Americans' communications to go overseas. But in the Internet era, that is no longer true. Large email companies like Google and Yahoo have built data centers abroad, where they store backups of their users' data. Snowden disclosed that in 2012, the NSA, working with its British counterpart, GCHQ, penetrated links connecting the companies' overseas data centers and collected 181.3 million records in 30 days. CONTINUED @ SOURCE http://www.telegram.com/article/20140813/NEWS/308139532/1052

Fourth Amendment - prohibits unreasonable searches/seizures without court warrant & probable cause.


Good luck to this guy.  At least he's trying to do something.

It's great that there's some kind of starting point protective legal framework in the US.  Most other countries don't have that.

US, EU, NATO - SUPPORT NEO-NAZI MURDER SQUADS IN EASTERN UKRAINE

Ignoring Ukraine’s Neo-Nazi Storm Troopers August 13, 2014 Exclusive: You might think a story about modern-day Nazi storm troopers attacking a European city without mercy would merit front-page coverage in the U.S. press, but not when the Nazi paramilitaries are fighting for the U.S.-backed Ukrainian government and are killing ethnic Russians, writes Robert Parry. By Robert Parry The U.S.-backed Ukrainian government is knowingly sending neo-Nazi paramilitaries into eastern Ukrainian neighborhoods to attack ethnic Russians who are regarded by some of these storm troopers as “Untermenschen” or subhuman, according to Western press reports. Recently, one eastern Ukrainian town, Marinka, fell to Ukraine’s Azov battalion as it waved the Wolfsangel flag, a symbol used by Adolf Hitler’s SS divisions in World War II. The Azov paramilitaries also attacked Donetsk, one of the remaining strongholds of ethnic Russians opposed to the Kiev regime that overthrew elected President Viktor Yanukovych last February. The Wolfsangel symbol on a banner in Ukraine. The Wolfsangel symbol of Adolf Hitler’s SS on a banner in Ukraine. Yet, despite this extraordinary reality – modern-day Nazi storm troopers slaughtering Slavic people in eastern Ukraine – the Obama administration continues to concentrate its criticism on Russia for sending a convoy of humanitarian supplies to the embattled region. Suddenly, the administration’s rhetoric about a “responsibility to protect” civilians has gone silent. This same hypocrisy has permeated nearly everything said by the U.S. State Department and reported by the mainstream U.S. news media since the Ukraine crisis began last year. There was fawning coverage of the Maidan protesters who sought to overthrow Yanukovych and then an immediate embrace of the “legitimacy” of the regime that followed the Feb. 22 coup. As part of this one-sided U.S. narrative, reports about the key roles played by neo-Nazi activists and militias were dismissed as “Russian propaganda.” But the ugly reality has occasionally broken through the blinders of the Western press. For instance, on Sunday, in the last three paragraphs of a long article about the Ukraine conflict, the New York Times reported that the Ukrainian military strategy has been to pound rebel-held cities from afar and then turn loose paramilitary forces to carry out “chaotic, violent assaults.” “Officials in Kiev say the militias and the army coordinate their actions, but the militias, which count about 7,000 fighters, are angry and, at times, uncontrollable. One known as Azov, which took over the village of Marinka, flies a neo-Nazi symbol resembling a Swastika as its flag.” [See Consortiumnews.com’s “NYT Discovers Ukraine’s Neo-Nazis at War.”] Actually, the Azov fighters do more than wave a Swastika-like flag; they favor the Wolfsangel flag of Hitler’s SS divisions, much as some of Ukraine’s neo-Nazis still honor Hitler’s Ukrainian SS auxiliary, the Galician SS. A Ukrainian hero hailed during the Maidan protests was Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera whose paramilitary forces helped exterminate Jews and Poles. Yet, this dark side of the Kiev regime generally gets ignored by the mainstream U.S. media despite the fact that the idea of modern-day Nazi storm troopers wreaking havoc on Slavic “Untermenschen” would seem like a very juicy story. But it would destroy the white-hat/black-hat narrative that the State Department and the MSM have built around the Ukraine crisis, with the Kiev regime in the white hats and the ethnic Russian rebels and Russian President Vladimir Putin wearing the black hats. It might be hard to sell the American people on the notion that neo-Nazis waving an SS flag and ranting about “Untermenschen” deserve white hats.[...] CONTINUED @ SOURCE http://consortiumnews.com/2014/08/13/ignoring-ukraines-neo-nazi-storm-troopers/

Looks like US, EU and NATO will support anything, deceive the public and stand by any regime -- if it serves corporate interests.

UK - DAVID CAMERON'S MASSIVE HEDGE FUND DONATIONS & THEIR MASSIVE TAX CUTS

David Cameron’s election bankrolled by a small pool of big money donors     August 13, 2014 (2:56 pm) - Latest figures from the Electoral Commission reveal that hedge funds have given to the Tories a total of £45.7 million in donations, and have received a £145 million tax cut - Analysis of Conservative Party donations shows that almost £2m of donations in the last quarter came from donors who attended private dinners with David Cameron and other senior Ministers, taking the total to £5m from dinner donors in 2014 Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, said: "Families are struggling with their finances but Tory Party coffers are booming. "The Prime Minister wants to buy the next election with a small pool of big-money donors bankrolling his campaign. In contrast Labour has thousands of activists across the country working in communities. "When millions are flowing in from hedge funds and exclusive groups of donors, is it any wonder David Cameron stands up for the privileged few? "Millionaires and hedge funds have been given a tax cut while hardworking families suffer from a cost-of-living crisis. David Cameron is leading an out-of-touch, hollowed-out party which has no answers to the major challenges our country faces." Ends http://press.labour.org.uk/post/94629826764/david-camerons-election-bankrolled-by-a-small-pool-of

So who do you think Cameron answers to: the voter or the finance sector? LOL

Also, note the massive tax cuts these hedge fund pirates are getting.

USA SUCKS UP TO SPY-VICTIM - GERMAN GETS TOP POST US ARMY EUROPE

Achtung! German now in top U.S. Army position Is America losing control of Armed Forces? Published: 14 hours ago In an unprecedented move, a German officer has been appointed to a key command post over the U.S. Army in Europe. German Brig. Gen. Markus Laubenthal, 51, became chief of staff last week, the first non-American officer to hold that position, the Army said. According to Germany’s defense ministry, Laubenthal will serve as “the right-hand man” to Lt. Gen. Donald Campbell Jr., who commands more than 37,000 U.S. Army Europe, USAREUR, personnel from headquarters in the central German city of Wiesbaden. [...] Laubenthal’s appointment comes at a time when relations between the U.S. and Germany are decidedly strained. Recent revelations of U.S. spying and the tapping of German government phones, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s, have put the two nations at odds with each other. The new appointment may be meant to repair relations. “This is a bold and major step forward in USAREUR’s commitment to operating in a multinational environment with our German allies,” Campbell said of Laubenthal’s appointment. “U.S. and German senior military leaders have been serving together in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan for years. Sustaining the shared capability from this experience will benefit both U.S. and German armies.” A German army spokesman called the move “a clear sign for a good German-American cooperation.” If there has ever been a need for an increased spirit of cooperation, it is now. Besides NSA spying on German nationals, in July, German authorities expelled the CIA’s station chief in Berlin after the discovery of two suspected spies allegedly working for the U.S. from inside the German government. [...]  CONTINUED @ SOURCE http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/achtung-german-now-in-top-u-s-army-position/

USAREUR

...  an Army Service Component Command responsible for the continuous oversight and control of ground operations throughout the United States European Command (USEUCOM) ...

USAREUR

abbr.

United States Army, Europe

 

US grovelling.  Like it.  :)