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Holder Did Not Go Far Enough On Sentencing & Drug Policy Reform
By Kevin Zeese and Cliff Thornton
End the injustices of mandatory sentencing: Pardon those unjustly punished, end the drug war
Finally, after working to see the end of mandatory minimum sentencing for nearly 30 years, hearing Attorney General Holder say the obvious – that mandatory sentences don’t work, are costly, unfair and need to be ended – was welcome. Unfortunately, Mr. Holder’s comments are mostly rhetoric with inadequate policy change. There are important steps that could be taken by President Obama and Attorney General Holder right now, without Congress, that could end injustice being suffered by tens of thousands and prevent future injustices.
Institutionalized US Spying: More Than NSA's Involved
by Stephen Lendman
Washington has 16 known US spy agencies. NSA and CIA are best known. Perhaps few Americans know much about the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
It calls itself "first in all-source defense intelligence to prevent strategic surprise and deliver a decision advantage to warfighters, defense planners, and policymakers."
"DIA deploys globally alongside warfighters and interagency partners to defend America's national security interests."
Last December, the Washington Post headlined "DIA sending hundreds more spies overseas," saying:
It's "part of an ambitious plan to assemble an espionage network that rivals the CIA in size, US officials said."
Perhaps it includes covert domestic spying. CIA's charter prohibits it. According to the ACLU, it "didn't stop the (agency) from spying on Americans."
Bradley Manning Addresses Sentencing Hearing
by Stephen Lendman
He's an American hero. He's no spy. He committed no crimes. He acted responsibly. He did the right thing. He deserves praise, not prosecution.
He exposed US war crimes. He fulfilled his legal obligation to do so. He's victimized unjustly. Police state injustice wants him imprisoned longterm. Systemic unfairness defines US policy.
Manning was convicted on 20 of 22 charges. They include six espionage counts. He potentially faces 90 years imprisonment. On August 14, he addressed his sentencing hearing. More on that below. Manning's a 2013 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Over 100,000 people worldwide support him. On August 12, RootsAction co-founder Norman Solomon delivered thousands of pages to Oslo's Nobel Committee.
Fukushima nightmare: An atmospheric scientist and a medical scientist sound alarm
By Rady Ananda
Food Freedom News
In this two-hour July 2013 interview with an atmospheric scientist and planetary risk consultant, we learn that the Fukushima catastrophe is ongoing, that the US government is lying to us about our exposure to radiation and its attendant impact, and that our Food "Safety" agencies have raised allowable levels of radiation by more than 400%.
Simon Atkins, PhD, DSc, warns not to eat any Pacific seafood and to consider moving to the Southern Hemisphere, at least 15° south of the equator.
In a more staid presentation in March, a medical scientist presents detailed information on the impacts of the Fukushima catastrophe on the human body, in terms any intelligent lay person can comprehend.
Police State Egypt
by Stephen Lendman
Bloody Wednesday revealed state-sponsored police state harshness. Egypt exhibits classic characteristics.
Wikipedia calls a police state one "in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic, and political life of the population."
"A police state typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and social control, and there is usually little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive."
Merrian-Webster's definition is "a political unit characterized by repressive governmental control of political, economic, and social life usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police and especially secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures."
The Oxford dictionary calls it "a totalitarian state controlled by a political police force that secretly supervises the citizens’ activities."
World Leaders Declare America and Israel Pariah States: A Fable
By Stephen Lendman
They're responsible for state-sponsored terrorism. They violate fundamental international law doing. It's no longer tolerated.
Victor Hugo once said, "There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come."
It's now. It arrived. It's here. It's real. August 17, 2013 won't be forgotten. It's a turning point in world history. It's hugely important. It's historic. It's long overdue. It's been long awaited. It finally arrived. It'll be long remembered.
UN Secretary-General Desmond Tutu will announce a momentous world body decision. He'll speak for many dozens of world leaders. They're united. They're committed like he is.
They represent most of Europe, Latin and Central America, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Oceana. They're forthright. They're explicit. They're straightforward. They're unambiguous. They're not backing down.
Spy on Me, I'm Innocent!
By David Swanson
You've heard people say they want to be spied on, as long as it means that other people will be spied on too. I know you've heard people say this, and which people it was, and how your face looked when you heard it, and what your next telephone call was. Or, rather, I could know all of that if I were one of the thousands and thousands of low-level snoops it will take for our government to accomplish its surveillance goals.
The logic is completely flawed, however. As FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley remarks, if you're looking for a needle in a haystack, adding more hay doesn't help. It makes you less likely to find the needle. A government that sucks up ever vaster quantities of useless information on innocent people actually hurts its own ability to investigate crimes. And the imagined intimidating effect of things like surveillance cameras in public spaces doesn't actually reduce crime; it merely makes us think of each other as potential criminals.
Targeting Hezbollah in Beirut
by FRANKLIN LAMB
Outside Makfouz Rouweiss store, Dahiyeh.
This observer was sitting with my friend Zuhair on my balcony in south Beirut, when at 6:20 pm on 8/15/13 erupted a huge blast that seemed to shake our 12 story concrete building even more so than the one just down the street did on July 9. We both leaned over the railing at the same time. I commented that I did not see any smoke, while he spoke only two words: “Bir Abed.”
He meant, as it turned out, that rather than two blocks east and one north of our building’s entrance, as was the case with the last blast, this one was three blocks east and three south. Though on the same road as the July bombing, today’s attack was about two hundred yards from the Hezbollah Media Relations office, run by my friend Dr. Ibrahim Mousawi, located at the end of our street.
EDITORIAL: Life and Death Issues Confronting Mankind At This Moment
by Jeff Steinberg
The fight for Glass-Steagall and the growing danger of world war emanating from the Middle East are the life and death issues confronting mankind at this moment. These battles are in midstream and remain unsettled. There have been significant developments over the past hours and days that are important to understand.
The fight for Glass-Steagall was center-stage on Wednesday and Thursday at the national convention of the NCSL in Atlanta. After hardcore hooligan tactics by Wall Street lobbyists drove Delaware State Senator Cloutier to withdraw the Glass-Steagall resolution she had presented, the LaRouchePAC team escalated the fight dramatically. On Wednesday morning, as delegates and lobbyists were boarding the buses taking them from their hotels to the convention site, they were all greeted by the LPAC team, distributing the statement on "Glass-Steagall or America is Doomed." [2] The Wall Street lobbyists were caught totally off guard and scrambled to attempt to get the police to remove us. They failed. As the result, the focus of the entire convention shifted to the Glass-Steagall fight. At receptions on Wednesday night, our organizers got detailed reports on the Wall Street thuggery and generated added support for Glass-Steagall.
Dispossessing East Jerusalem Palestinian Residents
by Stephen Lendman
Israel plans Judaizing Jerusalem entirely. It wants it exclusively Jewish. It's an international city. It's under a UN trusteeship. It doesn't matter.
Ethnic cleansing is official Israeli policy. Palestinian owned land is seized. Homes are demolished. Dispossessions follow.
Israel wants Arabs excluded. It wants Jerusalem at Israel's epicenter. It's a religiously important city for Christians, Muslims and Jews.
Zionists consider it Israel's historic capital. It's symbolic of Judaism's post-WW II revival and prominence. For Christians, it's where Jesus lived and died.
It's Islam's third holiest site. The Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque rank after Mecca's Sacred Mosque and Madina's Mosque of the Prophet.
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