“Is the War on Drugs doing more harm than good? In a bold talk, drug policy reformist Ethan Nadelmann makes an impassioned plea to end the “backward, heartless, disastrous” movement to stamp out the drug trade. He gives two big reasons we should focus on intelligent regulation instead.”
“Just as the US admitted shortly after the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ began spreading chaos across the Middle East that it had fully funded, trained, and equipped both mob leaders and heavily armed terrorists years in advance, it is now admitted that the US State Department through a myriad of organizations and NGOs is behind the so-called ‘Occupy Central‘ protests in Hong Kong. The very concept of the United States ‘promoting democracy’ is scandalous when considering it is embroiled in an invasive global surveillance scandal, guilty of prosecuting one unpopular war after another, and brutalizing and abusing its own citizens at home with militarized police.”
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.ca/2014/10/us-now-admits-it-is-funding-occupy.html
“After announcing, on Thursday, that it would seek $500 million to help ‘train and equip appropriately vetted elements of the moderate Syrian armed opposition,’ the White House today posted the following Moderate Syrian Rebel Application Form: ‘Welcome to the United States’ Moderate Syrian Rebel Vetting Process. To see if you qualify for $500 million in American weapons, please choose an answer to the following questions.'”
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/moderate-syrian-rebel-application-form
“The U.S. mainstream media’s deeply biased coverage of the Ukraine crisis – endlessly portraying the U.S.-backed coup regime in Kiev as ‘the good guys’ – reached a new level of absurdity over the weekend as the Washington Post excused the appearance of Swastikas and other Nazi symbols among a Ukrainian government militia as ‘romantic.’ The article finds nothing objectionable about Azov’s plans for ‘sabotage, targeted assassinations and other insurgent tactics’ against Russians, although such actions are often regarded as terrorism. For the first time since World War II, a government had dispatched Nazi storm troopers to attack a European population.”
http://consortiumnews.com/2014/09/15/ukraines-romantic-nazi-storm-troopers/
“Still looking to prove himself worthy of the Nobel peace prize which he so greatly treasures, Obomber is reported to have implicitly threatened the Syrian government. Via the NY Times: ‘He made clear the intricacy of the situation, though, as he contemplated the possibility that Mr. Assad might order his forces to fire at American planes entering Syrian airspace. If he dared to do that, Mr. Obama said he would order American forces to wipe out Syria’s air defense system, which he noted would be easier than striking ISIS because its locations are better known. He went on to say that such an action by Mr. Assad would lead to his overthrow, according to one account.'”
“Lois Lerner’s BlackBerry was intentionally destroyed after Congress had begun its probe into IRS targeting of conservative groups, a senior IRS lawyer acknowledged in a sworn declaration. Thomas Kane, Deputy Assistant Chief Counsel for the IRS, wrote in the declaration, part of a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch against the IRS, that the BlackBerry was ‘removed or wiped clean of any sensitive or proprietary information and removed as scrap for disposal in June 2012.’ That date – June 2012 – is significant because by that time, ex-IRS official Lerner had already been summoned before congressional staffers who interviewed her about reports of the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups.”
“European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton criticized the use of force by the military-backed government, but later assured Sisi that the EU would provide 90 million euros worth of financial assistance. And in December 2013, she even took her family on a Christmas holiday to Luxor, meeting with Egypt’s minister of tourism just a few weeks after dozens of peaceful protesters were killed. The U.S. case is similar. According to U.S. law, a coup is supposed to have consequences. The U.S. government refuses to even obey its own laws, which would entail cutting the $1.3 billion it sends every year to the Egyptian military. Too much is at stake for powerful interests.”
http://fpif.org/u-s-still-funding-oppression-egypt/
“The New York district judge presiding over the criminal case against Ross Ulbricht, the alleged creator of underground online drug market Silk Road, has decreed that cryptocurrency Bitcoin is functionally the same thing as real money. Ulbricht had argued that he could not be charged for money laundering for his alleged part in creating Silk Road, as Bitcoin was not a real currency, but Judge Katherine Forrest rejected his defense. ‘The money laundering statute is broad enough to encompass use of Bitcoins in financial transactions,’ Forrest wrote in a ruling released on Wednesday. ‘Any other reading would in light of Bitcoin’s sole raison d’être be nonsensical.'”
http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/9/5885649/bitcoin-as-good-as-money-says-judge-silk-road-case
“Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hit back hard against countries that have imposed sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, ordering trade cuts that an official said would include a ban on all imports of agricultural products from the United States. White House spokeswoman Laura Lucas Magnuson decried the move, saying ‘Retaliating against Western companies or countries will deepen Russia’s international isolation, causing further damage to its own economy.’ Russia last week banned the import of apples and some other fruits from Poland, saying this was because of sanitary concerns.”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/report-russia-block-us-agricultural-imports-192324674–finance.html
“As all of this demonstrates, there certainly are some heinous, violent people in the world: often including America’s closest allies and the ones who unleash the violence documented here, as well as those at whom that violence is directed. But perhaps some perspective and serious skepticism is warranted the next time we’re relentlessly bombarded with messaging about The New Greatest Villainous Threat in History – and especially manipulative accusations that opposition to U.S. military attack is indicative of support for those New Villains – as a means to secure acquiescence to the next bombing campaign.”
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/08/08/us-bombing-iraq-redundant-presidential-ritual/