A young woman sits cross-legged on the ground laughing playfully as she is fed a lychee. Another plays cards in pair of baggy pink pyjamas.
The moving images could show any group of young women as they go about their daily lives in prison.
But just hours - and in some cases minutes - after the pictures were taken, each of the four women were led into a concrete yard and executed.
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"It is not unfair to make an American citizen account for the fact that they decided to help Al Qaeda to kill us all and hold them as long as it takes to find intelligence about what may be coming next," says Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) in support of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). "And when they say, 'I want my lawyer,' you tell them, 'Shut up. You don't get a lawyer.'"
INTERNATIONAL. Investment gurus Jim Rogers and Marc Faber agree to various degrees on many issues but the one thing separating them this week is the future direction of the Chinese economy and if this could have a devastating impact on commodities around the world.
Both Faber and Rogers have been warning about the effects of monetary and fiscal policies on the US economy, since the recent rally has been mostly based on printed money, a kind of 'reverse Robin Hood policy' of govern... (more)
Excitement over America’s use of drones in multiple Muslim countries is, predictably, causing those weapons to be imported onto U.S. soil. Federal law enforcement agencies and local police forces are buying more and more of them and putting them to increasingly diverse domestic uses, as well as patrolling the border, and even private corporations are now considering... (more)
The fact-checking site PolitiFact serves a valuable purpose when it actually performs its stated function: to “help you find the truth in American politics” by “fact-check[Ãng] statements” from political and media figures. But it undermines its own credibility when it purports to resolve subjective disputes of political opinion under the guise of objective expertise. That’s precisely what it did yesterday in this ... (more)
Peyton Hillis of the Cleveland Browns makes it clear who he supports for president in 2012. His teammate Tony Pashos is a big Ron Paul supporter as well.
Police in Tampa Bay, Florida spy on a local garden store with cameras, stalk their customers, then use false pretexts to invade their homes without warrants in the hope they'll find drugs.
From TampaBay.com:
LARGO — Last fall, a white Chevy truck pulled into the parking lot of a hydroponic gardening shop on Ulmerton Road.
A man went in, purchased some supplies and drove off.
Shills for the War on Terror say al Qaeda is motivated by hatred for “our freedoms.” The good folks in Congress, taking that message to heart, are acting to protect us by ensuring al Qaeda no longer has anything to complain about.
William Sumner argued the Spanish-American War, despite the military victory, was actually a “Conquest of the United States by Spain” because it marked America’s adoption of the authoritarian character of a European em... (more)
Don’t let the media or any brainwashed American tell you that being a service member is difficult. It was one of the easiest jobs in the world. I will concede to the facts that the training at times is physically demanding and risking your life for whatever you are fighting for seems difficult to the average person. However, the day to day life of a military person is mind-numbingly easy. Military members are trained to have a "kill or be killed mentality", so the whole notion that... (more)
Put aside all other issues for a moment, and ignore the trivialities that dominate the airwaves and what passes for national debate in this country. The Senate this week ratified a defense authorization bill containing an amendment cosponsored by Democratic Sen. Carl Levin and Republican Sen. John McCain that would empower the military to detain American citizens captured on U.S. soil indefinitely without civil process, in addition to expanding the post-9/11 Authorization to Use Military Force a... (more)
Among all competitors for the Republican nomination, 2012 Presidential candidate Ron Paul has the best chance of defeating President Obama in a head-to-head race, according to a new poll.
The NBC News/Marist Poll has Ron Paul polling in the top three among likely Republican caucus goers. Paul places third with 17 percent behind Mitt Romney in se... (more)
NEW YORK – The FBI has been illegally using its community outreach programs to secretly collect and store information about activities protected by the First Amendment for intelligence purposes, according to FBI documents released today by the American Civil Liberties Union.
“The trust that community outreach efforts aim to create is undermined when the FBI exploits these programs to gather intelligence on the very members of the religious and community organizations a... (more)
Sergeant Vince Ariaz liked what he saw in 15-year-old "Maggie." Eager to please, in awe of police work, and seeking a trustworthy authority figure in her life, the shy brunette was an ideal fit for the Brownwood, Texas, Police Department's Explorer program.
With nearly 2,000 law enforcement Explorer posts and upward of 32,000 14- to 21-year-olds participating in the Boy Scouts-affiliated program each year, Maggie had entered a primary gateway into American law enforcement. The pau... (more)
The U.S. has long had Iran virtually encircled as a result of the American occupation of Afghanistan on Iran’s Eastern border, its invasion of Iraq on its Western border, its NATO ally Turkey hovering on Iran’s Northwestern border, some degree of military relationship with Turkmenistan on Iran’s Northeastern border, and multiple U.S. client states sitting right across the Per... (more)
In 1948, the legendary baseball manager Leo Durocher declared that “nice guys finish last.” Although Durocher would later deny the quote, his pithy line summarizes a popular and pessimistic take on human nature. When it comes to success, we assume that making it to the top requires ethical compromises. Perhaps we need to shout and scream like Steve Jobs, or cut legal corners like Gordon Gekko: the point is that those who win the game of life don’t obey the same rules as everyon... (more)
Permit me to state the obvious: The government shouldn’t be allowed to imprison people indefinitely without charge or trial. It shouldn’t be necessary to say this nearly 800 years after Magna Carta was signed and over 200 years after the Fifth Amendment was ratified.
Yet this uncomplicated principle, which is within the understanding of a child, is apparently lost on a majority in the U.S. Senate. Earlier this week the Senate voted 61-37 in effect to authorize the exec... (more)
Herman Cain, the pizza executive who became a Republican presidential front-runner, ended his campaign today at the opening of his Georgia headquarters in Atlanta.
Cain, who returned home to Atlanta yesterday for his first face-to-face talk with his wife since the accusation of an extramarital affair surfaced Nov. 28, had said he would clarify his next steps in the race today based on the toll on his family and campaign fundraising.
