The Weed Blog Daily Update

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• How To Make Strawberry Marijuana Muffins
• Illinois Governor Signs Hemp Research Measure Into Law
• 34,000 New Mexicans Suffering From Alzheimer’s Denied Access To Medical Cannabis
• Earl Blumenauer To Talk Federal Tax Reform For Marijuana Businesses At International Cannabis Business Conference

How To Make Strawberry Marijuana Muffins Posted: 30 Aug 2014 08:46 PM PDT Strawberry Marijuana Muffin Recipe Feeling motivated to make tomorrow’s breakfast now? Or perhaps you’re just waking up late and you want to make something dank to celebrate the fact that you don’t have a hangover. These strawberry muffins are also medicated, giving your morning snack an added boost that’s sure to brighten up your morning. [...]

Illinois Governor Signs Hemp Research Measure Into Law Posted: 30 Aug 2014 07:42 PM PDT By Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director Democrat Governor Pat Quinn has signed legislation, House Bill 5085, authorizing state universities to cultivate industrial hemp for research purposes. The new law takes effect in January. Illinois joins more than a dozen states — including Hawaii, Indiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah earlier this year — that have enacted legislation redefining hemp as an agricultural commodity and authorizing state-sponsored [...]

34,000 New Mexicans Suffering From Alzheimer’s Denied Access To Medical Cannabis Posted: 30 Aug 2014 06:37 PM PDT The Secretary of Health denied a petition to add Alzheimer’s disease to the list of medical conditions eligible for the medical cannabis program, even though the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Advisory Board voted unanimously to recommend making neurodegenerative dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, qualifying conditions. Alzheimer’s disease, similar to many of the conditions presently included in New Mexico’s [...]

Earl Blumenauer To Talk Federal Tax Reform For Marijuana Businesses At International Cannabis Business Conference Posted: 30 Aug 2014 05:32 PM PDT Congressman Earl Blumenauer,  U.S. Representative for Oregon’s 3rd congressional district, will be presenting at the first annual International Cannabis Business Conference in Portland, OR this September. The conference focuses on the emerging billion dollar cannabis industry and features an impressive list of experts in the cannabis industry.  Blumenauer is by far the most outspoken representative in the nation [...]

Palestinians are sentenced to sadness

Yousef M. Aljamal

The Electronic Intifada

31 August 2014

yousef_and_ayman_.jpg

The writer (left) with his friend Ayman Shokor who was killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza.

I always wanted to meet my mother’s West Bank family who I had not seen for more than a dozen years. Israel’s policies of separation imposed on the Palestinians in Gaza, where my father was born and where I grew up, and the West Bank, where my mother was born, made it impossible.
It took my mother 12 years to get a permit to visit her family in the West Bank.
She was only allowed to go because her eldest brother was dying in hospital, a condition that didn’t apply to the rest of the family. No first-degree relative dying means no permit and thus more forced separation.
Our family has never been able to gather in one place. Even when my mother went to the West Bank, she could not see all her brothers and sisters. Each time, someone would be missing, someone would be displaced elsewhere.
Studying in Malaysia and having had my application for an Egyptian visa to go back to Gaza declined, I recently decided to go to Jordan instead. There I could see my relatives in Jordan and my West Bank family, who were supposed to gather to attend my cousin’s wedding.
But as Gaza was being bombed, and I suffered a grievous loss, it was hardly a celebration.

Worried on the plane

I thought it would be a golden opportunity for me to get know my family again after long years of separation by Israel.
But I felt worried as the plane approached the Jordanian capital Amman that I was doing something I was not ready for. I envisioned my family and tried to imagine how they looked the last time we met compared to how they might look now.
The difference brought no comfort to my heart. I was no tourist visiting the country that shelters some of my family who ended up there. I was not like the white tourists in the seats behind me planning their trip to Petra.
I was not like anyone on the plane. I was worried.
“Keep me updated, I will be waiting for you at the arrival hall,” my cousin Ahmed said to me before I took off. “Don’t come on time, I expect some delay,” I replied. I was right. I was held for an hour before I was allowed in to Jordan.
I had some expired paperwork to enter Jordan that I wanted to renew, but I was told by the Jordanian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur that I didn’t need a visa to get into Jordan, despite my repeated reminders to them that I live in Gaza. I was finally allowed in, to my delight.
“An hour is nothing,” I said to myself.
My cousins Ahmed and Abdulkarim, who I knew through Facebook, were waiting for me. We hugged each other as a sense of alienation took over the place. I felt I would need more time to get to know them again.
We last saw each other some twelve years ago. We were little kids then, and now we are young men. “Aboud,” as he is known in the family, drove us to my uncle’s house. I inspected streets and buildings on both sides of the road. I tried to recall some memories I had of Jordan when I visited so many years ago. The silence of dawn gave me comfort, but not our silence, not that sense of alienation that cousins should not feel in the first place.

My revenge: surprising visit to my aunt

In Amman, where many people of Palestinian origin live, I felt at home. It was a great chance to taste many Palestinian dishes I missed in Southeast Asia. I had mansaf, grape leaves, msakhan and sambousek, among many other dishes, thanks to the hospitality of my uncle’s family and my big Jordan family.
The day after I arrived I went to see my aunt who didn’t know I was coming. I thought not telling her would be a sweet surprise that would be my revenge after so many years of separation. On our way to her house, I saw her son, Ismail, who I used to play cards with many years back. I recognized him. He didn’t recognize me. We hugged each other as I was still in the car and he promised to follow us minutes later.
My aunt was so happy to be surprised by me. Only nonstop hugs could convey our feelings.
The following day, I went to visit my cousin Abir who is married and normally resides in Qatar and who I have never seen before. I played with one of her kids, Abdulghani, who didn’t stop smiling. Days later, I got to see Abir’s brother Luai, for the first time too. Both are in their thirties.

Jerusalem’s lights

My cousin Ammar arrived from Russia where he is doing graduate studies. The following day Ahmad and I drove him back to “the bridge.” It was my first time going to the Allenby Bridge, connecting Jordan with the occupied West Bank and the rest of Palestine and separating me from my family.
I saw the West Bank hills. Jerusalem’s lights could be spotted as we drove down to our destination. I thought about so many years of continuing separation. “If only Israeli occupation was not here, it would take me a few minutes to be in Palestine,” I said to myself.
I recalled the words of Mourid Barghouti in his memoir I Saw Ramallah, addressing the bridge: “How was this dark piece of wood able to distance a whole nation from its dreams? To prevent entire generations from taking their coffee in homes that were theirs? … You are near like the stars of the naive poet, far like the step of one paralyzed. What embarrassment is this? I do not forgive you, and you do not forgive me. The sounds of the wood under my feet.”
I kept repeating his words in my mind as Ammar disappeared into the gate. I felt so near to my grandparents’ graves that I never got to see, just down the road from where I was, just hundreds of meters away from where I am supposed to be.
My uncle, at whose house I stayed, arrived from Saudi Arabia with his eldest son — the groom in the wedding we were all gathering for. Time hadn’t changed him. He was still fond of shisha — water pipe — and had a sense of humor to which my mother had always attributed my repeated jokes. “Two-thirds of the boy takes after his maternal uncle,” she would say.
A few days later, my West Bank family started arriving in Jordan. I got to meet my uncle Yasir and his daughter Sarah for the first time in fifteen years. He looked different.
The youngest in the family, he had gray hair invading the image of him that had been fixed in my mind of a young man with dark black hair. He still had his sense of humor. I would repeatedly hear his famous word “mizyati” to describe someone foolish or funny.
A day later, my aunt Iman arrived along with her husband and some of her kids. The youngest among my mother’s sisters looked stylish and youthful. She smoked cigarettes and was checking her Facebook regularly. I always wanted to meet her. One time I asked a friend of mine from Gaza, who got a permit, to visit her in Bethlehem. This time it felt so different talking to her face to face.

My aunt didn’t know me

The following day, my aunt Jamila arrived in Jordan from the United Arab Emirates, where she has been living for the past three decades. The eldest among my grandparents’ children, time had made its mark on her. She still looked beautiful. We queued to greet and hug her. She knew all my cousins because of her repeated visits to Jordan. When it was my turn to hug her, she was asked by the crowd to guess who I was.
“Maybe one of the husbands of my nieces?” she said. A moment of silence that summarized the fifteen years of separation overtook the place. Time stopped for a second before they told her who I am. She looked at me in disbelief, trying to discern my features and hugged me for so long. My feelings were mixed, that I finally got to see her and that she didn’t know me. A sense of alienation took over again.

My childhood friend Ayman killed in Gaza

I was in the car with my uncle visiting relatives and distributing wedding invitations when my sister from Gaza texted me saying, “Your friend Ayman Shokor just got killed in Israeli artillery shelling.”
It took me a while to comprehend and accept another shock. My memory flashed so quickly in front of my eyes. I remembered Ayman as a child in our neighborhood playing our traditional games. I remembered him as the best goalkeeper in the school in our refugee camp. A graduate of Arabic literature, Ayman loved language and painting. He loved birds like no one else did. One day he gave me a pair of doves as a gift.

140831-yousef6.jpg

Ayman Shokor “loved birds like no one else did.”
(Yousef M. Aljamal)

Now, for a fact, Ayman has gone, and his smile will be remembered forever. Days after he was killed, his younger brother’s wife gave birth to his first baby boy and they named him after Ayman.
Another Ayman X, just like my youngest brother Omar, named after his dead older brother, also killed by Israel and who he had never seen.
The happiness of the wedding was never felt, for Palestinians are sentenced to sadness, the sadness of loss, the sadness of having a family in Gaza which was under constant airstrikes for 51 days by Israel. It is the sadness of Ayman’s grieving mother who lost her son, who had her sweet heart torn out by Israel.
A very beautiful wedding took place. A very beautiful friend was lost, once and forever.
Yousef M. Aljamal is a Gaza-based translator and blogger. He contributed to the Gaza Writes Back anthology and co-translated The Prisoners’ Diaries: Palestinian Voices from the Israeli Gulag. His website is www.yeljamal.wordpress.com. He can be followed on Twitter: @YousefAljamal.

ICC: Palestine is a state, can file war crimes complaints against Israel if chooses

By YONAH JEREMY BOB

08/31/2014 12:21

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ICC Prosecutor writes in 'The Guardian' that "Palestine could join Rome Statute"; endorsement of possible Palestinian application does not mean for sure Israelis will be indicted.

Smoke rises following Israeli air strike in Gaza August 19 Photo: REUTERS

Confirming officially for the first time what has been implied, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, in a highly unusual op-ed on Friday in The Guardian, wrote that "Palestine" is now sufficiently a state to file war crimes complaints against Israelis if it chooses to join the ICC's Rome Statute.
Ending speculation on the issue, Bensouda explained concisely that her office had concluded that following greater UN recognition in 2012, "Palestine could now join the Rome Statute."

Related:

• Hamas backs bid to join ICC
• PA to tell UN: Force Israel out of W. Bank, or we'll seek war crimes charges in The Hague

Bensouda's op-ed, is in and of itself a highly uncharacteristic public venue for her to articulate her office's usually closely held official positions. But it appeared to be a response to the unprecedented barrage of criticism following the recent Gaza war from a range of parties that her office was artificially blocking the Palestinians from filing against Israelis.
On August 5, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki met with Bensouda to investigate in greater detail the possibility of Palestine joining the ICC's Rome Statute, which would grant it the right to file war crimes complaints with the court.
At the time, Bensouda's office merely confirmed that Palestine had not yet chosen to join the Rome Statute and, therefore, could not file any complaints.
Some had speculated that this message muddied Bensouda's readiness to accept Palestine as a state.
This is despite prior more unofficial statements and hints indicating that she would accept Palestine as a state which could file complaints following the UN General Assembly's recognition of Palestine as a non-member state on November 29, 2012.
Bensouda's op-ed is especially significant as it effectively ends the debate on the issue and signals a win for the Palestinians despite failing to qualify with the ICC as a state during a push from February 2009 – April 2012. 
The UN Human Right's Council's newly appointed commission to investigate Israel and Hamas for alleged war crimes during the recent war, further multiplies the significance of the op-ed.
In the piece, Bensouda explained critics were wrong to take the ICC's inaction on the Palestine issue so far as evidence of obstruction.
Rather, said Bensouda, Palestine, like any other state, had to officially choose to join the Rome Statute, without which her office was powerless to act.
Bensouda also took aim at arguments that she should exercise her own personal discretion to end impunity and guarantee justice by seeking to file an indictment against Israelis without even Palestine joining the ICC and without a UN Security Council referral (the two standard ways for ICC cases to start.)
Effectively ending the debate on this issue as well, she said that in this situation, such unilateral action was a recipe for disaster, stating such unilateralism would be "neither good law nor does it make responsible judicial action."
Bensouda's endorsement of any upcoming Palestine application (which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said he will file if neither the US nor the UN press Israel into setting borders with him) does not mean that the ICC would for sure indict any Israelis involved in the war.
There are a number of other additional legal and diplomatic obstacles which could block such an indictment, but it does remove the primary obstacle that has been in place for the past five years. 

Western Leaders Support Israeli Genocide! [and thus are complicit to genocide!]

Western Leaders Support Israeli Genocide!

By Stephen Lendman

21/08/2014

Longstanding US-led Western support lets Israel get away with genocidal mass murder and destruction. More on this below.

Israel’s ”Operation Protective Edge” is the latest example of a well-planned, premeditated Israeli aggression on Palestine.

It has nothing to do with “Hamas” rocket attacks, self-defense or security.

It has everything to do with maintaining occupation harshness, assuring unchallenged control of all valued parts of Judea and Samaria, denying Palestinians self-determination, stealing their land and resources, as well as pursuing a longstanding Greater Israel objective.

Israel believes its “promised land” extends from the Nile Valley to the Euphrates. It includes parts of Syria, Jordan and Lebanon at least to the Litani River.

It lawlessly occupies Syria’s Golan Heights, as well as Lebanon’s Ghajar village and 14-square mile water-rich Sheba Farms.

In 1982, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs senior adviser Oded Yinon published “A Strategy for Israel in the 1980s.” It’s a regional conquest and dominance plan.

For Israel to survive, Yinon believed it must dominate the Middle East. It must become a world power.

All challengers must be eliminated. Israel wants Arab nations Balkanized along ethnic and sectarian lines.

It wants weakened, fragmented, divided, reconfigured controllable satellites. Its Judaization of Palestine master plan involves slow-motion genocide.

It wants Arabs excluded from all valued Judea and Samaria areas. It wants irreversible facts on the ground established.

Ideally, it wants Palestine entirely Judaized. It wants Arabs ethnically cleansed by whatever means possible.

In February 2012, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik, commented after visiting Israel and Occupied Palestine, saying:

“From the Galilee and the Negev to East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Israeli authorities promote a territorial development model that excludes, discriminates against and displaces minorities, particularly affecting Palestinian communities.”

“Throughout my visit, I received repeated complaints regarding lack of housing, threats of demolitions and evictions, overcrowding, the disproportional number of demolitions affecting Palestinian communities side by side with the accelerated development of predominantly Jewish settlements.”

“The policies adopted by the Israeli authorities severely restrict Palestinians from building legally through various means.”

“Among others, Israel has not provided the Palestinians with the necessary planning framework to ensure that their basic housing and infrastructure needs are met.”

“Currently, tens of thousands of Palestinians are estimated to be at risk of their homes being demolished due to unregulated building.”

At issue is pursuing maximum Judaization with minimum Arabs. Current policies reflect Yigal Allon’s post-Six Day War plan.

It called for permanent militarized occupation. It mandated “maximum land with minimum Arabs.” Its other elements included:

• dispossessing the Palestinians from areas Israel wants exclusively for Jews;

• annexing all valued parts of Judea and Sumaria;

• controlling Greater Jerusalem;

• claiming it as Israel’s exclusive capital;

• establishing settlements, military bases, free-firing zones, commercial locations, tourist sites, nature reserves, no-go areas, Jews-only roads, checkpoints, barriers, and other exclusively Jewish areas;

• stealing the Palestinian resources; and

• crushing resistance by brutal subjugation and genocidal wars of aggression.

The late Edward Said once said “(you) cannot continue to victimize someone else” because of your own previous victimization or for any extrajudicial reason.

“We cannot fight for our rights and our history as well as future until we are armed with weapons of criticism and dedicated consciousness.”

Mahatma Gandhi once said “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French.”

“It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs.”

“Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their “national” home.”

Bertrand Russell once asked “(how) much longer is the world willing to endure this spectacle of wanton cruelty?

In his book titled “Peace Not Apartheid,” Jimmy Carter said:

“Peace will come to Israel and the Middle East only when the Israeli government is willing to comply with international law.”

“The United States is squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global anti-American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories.”

President Nicolas Maduro said “(the) Bolivarian Government of Venezuela vigorously condemns the unfair and disproportionate military response by the illegal state of Israel against the heroic Palestinian people.”

Israel believes it has a “divine right” to operate extrajudicially. Western leaders offer full support.

Obama supports the Israeli aggression. So do nearly all congressional members. They lie calling it Israel’s “right to self-defense”.

The Jewish state’s only enemies are ones it invents. It does so as pretexts for colonization, occupation, apartheid, ruthless militarized repression and wars of aggression.

A July State Department statement lied saying “(no) country should be expected to stand by while rocket attacks from a “terrorist” organization are launched into their country.”

Fact: “Hamas” is no terrorist organization.

Fact: It’s Palestine’s democratically elected government.

Fact: It responds solely to the Israeli aggression.

Fact: International law affirms its right to do so.

Fact: Israel is one of the world’s most egregious human rights abusers.

Fact: It ignores international laws, norms and standards.

Fact: It operates extrajudicially.

Fact: It’s guilty of virtually every crime imaginable and then some.

Fact: Western leaders turn a blind eye to what demands universal condemnation and accountability.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is a convenient imperial tool. He shames the office he holds.

He urged Israel to exercise maximum restraint. He was largely silent on its genocidal war.

He called legitimate Gazan rocket attacks in response to Israeli aggression “unacceptable.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron “strongly condemned the appalling attacks being carried out by Hamas against the Israeli civilians… and underlined Israel’s “right to defend itself” from them.”

He ignored what speaks for itself. Hamas responds solely in self-defense.

Its rockets are pinpricks compared to Israeli firepower. They killed two Israeli civilians and one Thai national.

Israel’s genocidal war murdered over 2,065 Palestinians so far. It injured over 10,300 others. Many seriously. Some will die. Others will be maimed for life. Over 80% are civilians. Over 550 are children.

Israel indiscriminately turned large parts of Gaza to rubble. Entire residential neighborhoods were destroyed.

Schools, hospitals, UN shelters and mosques were bombed and shelled. Not one square inch of Gaza is safe.

State terrorism is an official Israeli policy. So is lawless collective punishment.

Israel considers civilian men, women and children legitimate targets. So are civilian structures and infrastructure unrelated to military necessity.

Rogue terror states operate this way. America and Israel are the world’s worst.

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore “condemn(ed) unreservedly the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel which pose such a grave threat to the population.”

At the same time, he criticized mounting civilian casualties in Gaza.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier told the Israeli Knesset members:

“I have come to tell you that the French people will always stand at the State of Israel’s side whenever its existence is threatened.”

He failed to explain its existence never faced existential threats except briefly during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. For sure it faces none now.

Current French President Francois Hollande strongly supports Israel’s right to “self-defense.”

At the same time, he said “(all) efforts must be boosted to impose, now more than ever, a ceasefire in Gaza and end the suffering of the civilian population.”

His government so far did nothing to do it. Nor any other Western one.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier said “it’s the legitimate right of Israel to protect its own people.”

She turns the truth on its head holding “Hamas” alone responsible for current and past conflicts with Israel.

GW Bush earlier said “Hamas…show(s) its true colors as a “terrorist” organization that refuses to recognize Israel’s “right” to exist.”

“In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel, and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire.”

Fact: Hamas will recognize Israel when it unconditionally accepts Palestinian self- determination within 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its exclusive capital.

Fact: Israel bears full responsibility for sabotaging current and earlier efforts for sustainable peace and stability.

Israel is a lawless rogue terror state. Washington supports its brutal occupation and genocidal wars. So do other Western nations.

As long as status quo conditions remain, justice for long-suffering Palestinians will remain elusive.

Israeli genocidal wars of aggression will repeat. Unaccountable mass murder and destruction will follow.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

Nebraska Cops Receive no Jail Time for Stealing Memory Card, Despite Big Talk from County Attorney

Nebraska Cops Receive no Jail Time for Stealing Memory Card, Despite Big Talk from County Attorney

by aletho

By Carlos Miller | Photography Is Not A Crime | August 30, 2014 A Nebraska cop who chased a man into his home after he had video recorded cops arresting his brother, confiscating his camera and later admitting to throwing the memory card away, received a year of probation this week after his charge was […]

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UK’s MI6 aided torture of Nepal rebels: Report

UK’s MI6 aided torture of Nepal rebels: Report

by aletho

Press TV - August 31, 2014 British secret service MI6 has been accused of aiding Nepal’s authorities in the torture of Maoist rebels during the South Asian country’s civil war. The accusations were made by author Thomas Bell in his new book Kathmandu citing sources in the Nepalese security establishment on Britain’s involvement in the […]

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The plumber..................................

A pipe burst in a doctor's house. He called a plumber. 

The plumber arrived, unpacked his tools, did mysterious plumber-type things for a while, and handed the doctor a bill for $600.

The doctor exclaimed, "This is ridiculous! 

I don't even make that much as a doctor!."

The plumber quietly answered, "Neither did I when I was a doctor."

How Much Honey Does One Bee Produce?

A worker bee produces one-twelfth of a teaspoon (0.4 mL) of honey in its
lifetime.

One worker bee produces 1/12 of a teaspoon (0.4 mL) on average in its
entire lifespan. Honey is produced when bees collect flower nectar and
store it in honeycombs. The design of the honeycombs allows for air flow
from outdoors and the beating of the bees wings. This lets the nectar
liquid evaporate while the sugars break down, resulting in sticky honey.
During a trip to collect nectar from flowers, a bee will visit from 50 to
100 flowers. Collectively, honey bees must extract nectar from around two
million flowers and travel over 55,000 miles (88,513 km) to produce one
pound (0.45 kg) of honey.
Read More: http://www.wisegeek.com/how-much-honey-does-one-bee-produce.htm?m

Germany publishes new draft cybersecurity law

Germany publishes new draft cybersecurity law

By Nicholas Tomsho on Aug 30, 2014 03:24 pm
[JURIST] The German Federal Ministry of the Interior [official website] on Friday published [text; in German] its revised proposal for a new IT security law. The draft law seeks to protect the privacy of German citizens and improve the IT security of companies operating in the country by imposing new minimum security requirements on telecommunications providers and operators of critical communications infrastructure, among others. The most current draft law was based on a version that was proposed in 2013, but...   +read more

US imposes new sanctions on 30 groups with ties to Iran

US imposes new sanctions on 30 groups with ties to Iran

By Nicholas Tomsho on Aug 30, 2014 03:51 pm
[JURIST] US National Security Council [official website] spokesperson Caitlin Hayden announced [press release] on Friday that the White House is placing new sanctions on over 30 organizations and individuals with ties to Iran. The sanctions come as the US continues to negotiate with Iran regarding the future of the country's controversial nuclear energy program. Five Iranian banks and several aviation and shipping companies accused of aiding Iran's nuclear program or supporting terrorism in the Middle East have been targeted. The...   +read more

Russian ‘Soldiers Mothers Committees’ — a US Covert Op?

Russian ‘Soldiers Mothers Committees’ — a US Covert Op?

by aletho

By Daniel McAdams | Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity | August 30, 2014 A major component in the latest western government and media claims of a Russian invasion of Ukraine is protests of the various Russian "Soldiers' Mothers Committes" over the supposed disappearance of their soldier sons in Ukraine. Absent compelling visual evidence […]

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Iran's Summer Massacre of 1988

Shiva Mahbobi

26 years ago around this time, the most horrific crime was committed by the Islamic regime in Iran and thousands of political prisoners were executed during the month of July. The massacre went on in several prisons around the country but Evin and Gohardasht prisons particularly witnessed massacre in a much bigger scale.   Reza Gafari, a survivor of the massacre, in his book A State of Fear descri ... Continue reading »

Daniel Pierce: Over $90,000 raised for gay teen after video of him 'disowned' by family goes viral

Daniel Pierce: Over $90,000 raised for gay teen after video of him 'disowned' by family goes viral - Americas - World - The Independent

Shared by
Craig Webster

independent.co.uk - Daniel Pierce surreptitiously filmed the moment his father, grandparents, step-mother and his father's sister accused him of “making a choice” and choosing his sexuality. He said his family staged ...

Occasional Resistance

Occasional Resistance

The Palestinian resistance should not become an occasional one because the Israeli occupation is not, the Israeli occupation attacks are not occasional, the Israeli occupation checkpoints, land looting, killing, kidnapping, house demolition, stealing our natural resources, raids, uprooting our trees and much more are not occasional.  The international community should hear, see and read about our peaceful resistance activities against the Israeli occupation on daily basis, it has to be very intensive popular resistance everywhere in Palestine, not only in certain places, it should not be only on weekly basis and or in commemoration of certain occasions, it has to be on daily basis and Beit Ommar town is a very good example of such peaceful popular resistance and made good achievements. 

In 1987 Israeli occupation authorities have built a colonial outpost to the west of Beit Ommar, in between Beit Ommar and our neighboring town Sorif, they called it Tsurif, it was both a colony and military outpost, and the only way to reach it is through my Town Beit Ommar, so they have organized 4 supplies convoys very well guarded by Israeli occupation forces to and from this colonial outpost, and parallel line the Beit Ommar citizens also organized 4 protests on daily basis to conside with these convoys, for six years nonstop on daily basis of peaceful popular resistance Israeli authorities have finally understood the lesson but not the easy way, they understood that they are not welcome, the citizens of Beit Ommar will continue as much time as it takes to force the Israeli occupation to dismantle this colonial outpost,  and in 1993 Israeli occupation authorities have dismantled this colonial outpost once and forever, the colonial outpost was later replaced with Palestinian houses everywhere, and now after 21 years you only see a little Palestinian neighborhood in that area, it was not easy, many citizens of Beit Ommar were killed, hundreds were injured by only live ammunition and hundreds were kidnapped (arrested) to get this goal accomplished but finally we won our land.

Did Beit Ommar stopp its struggle since then???????, Absolutely not, just like other Palestinian villages, towns, cities and refugee camps they continued the struggle to end the Israeli occupation, but in Beit Ommar its not on weekly basis, its on daily basis since 1987 until now, we used the weekly protests just to attract more media attention to cover the situation in Beit Ommar and shed more lights on the Israeli occupation forces and colonists attacks against the Citizens of Beit Ommar, their land and properties, and during the past 4 months we had protests two times a day, day and night time to make them get the message again that the only way to stop us is by ending the occupation, even if they end us we will chase them in their dreams until the occupation is over.

 Since the year 2000 until now Israeli occupation forces killed 17 citizens from Beit Ommar mostly under the age of 18 years old, the last 3 were killed in 27 July 2014, Hashem Abu Mariya, Abdulhamid Ibregaith and Sultan Za’aqiq, more than 2000 citizens were arrested, hundreds were injured, hundreds of Beit Ommar land were stolen in favor of colonial expansion and 10s of houses were demolished in addition to the Israeli occupation military watch tower that stands at the entrance of my town Beit ommar since 1988. All these sacrifices have not kneel Beit Ommar citizens but made them even stronger and more determined to continue the struggle.

Palestine’s popular committees have to develop their ways and tactics, yes protests are not the only way of resistance but they are the most important, everyone has to be involved, every Palestinian NGO has to be involved, every Palestinian political party and syndicates have to be involved, every Palestinian politician has to be involved, its not a one man’s show and / or an elite popular resistance the way it is now in the West Bank, it’s a collective effort, it requires everyone’s input and it has to be on daily basis, the Israeli occupation forces should not rest, the Israeli occupation economy should not be stable, they should suffer constant losses, they should always suffer of moral pressure if they have any and the world should understand that the Palestinians shall not stop until the Israeli occupation (the last occupation on this planet) of Palestine is over.

By: Younes Arar

Coordinator of South West Bank Popular Committee

Cofounder of Beit Ommar Popular Committee

Cofounder of The High Follow up Popular Resistance Committee in Palestine  

--

Younes Arar

+972599965272

Couple Fined For Refusing To Host Gay Wedding Shuts Down Venue

Couple Fined For Refusing To Host Gay Wedding Shuts Down Venue

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m.yahoo.com - A Christian couple fined $13,000 for refusing to host a lesbian wedding on their New York farm has decided to close the venue rather than violate their religious beliefs. Cynthia and Robert Gifford...

Fundamentalist Christian "love" on display when gay son comes out

Fundamentalist Christian "love" on display when gay son comes out

by Steveningen

Trigger Warning: The video below contains severe verbal and physical abuse.
I'm still shaking with anger and revulsion after watching this video recorded by a young man who has come out to his clearly Fundamentalist Christian Family. The young man's (note) stepmother, after telling her stepson that she has known since he was a child that he was gay, chides him for making the "choice" to become gay. The unidentified man assures her that this is not the case while she begins citing biblical teaching to prove that he is wrong.
After telling him that he has to leave his home, things escalate as another woman begins to berate him in earnest, screaming obscenities at him before physically attacking him as the young man screams in fear and shock. As the video concludes, the father weighs in raving mad, calling him a disgrace. Watch this video only if you have a strong constitution.
This video illustrates very clearly the danger that people and organizations that preach anti-gay bigotry pose to our community. Our streets often become home for children who come out in a family such as the one we see in this video. The Williams Institute estimates that 40% of children who end up homeless are LGBT. Further, The Trevor Project reports that LGBT youth are 4 times more likely than the general population to attempt suicide and that suicide is the "2nd leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24." Given the brutality of this five minute clip, it is easy to understand these statistics.
Dan Savage has reached out to try to find this young man to offer aid.

That was hard to listen to. Jesus. Fucking. Christ. My heart breaks for that poor, brave, tough kid. What the fuck is wrong with these people? We could have a fundraiser up and running for this poor kid by morning—if we knew who he was and where he was.

I hope he finds Dan's message and gets in touch with him. If you or someone you know find themselves in a similar situation, know that there are resources available. The National Runaway Switchboard at 1-800-RUNAWAY as well as The Ali Forney Center are two excellent organizations who stand by ready to help. No child should find themselves homeless or have to live in an abusive situation simply for being who they are.
UPDATE: With many thanks to fellow kos member, sabathiel, the young man has stepped forward. His name is Daniel and you can donate here.

Oh My you guys! I am in tears! I didn't realize that this was even set up for me! I am so thankful for all the comments, support and donations! I don't even know how to thank y'all! I wish I could give each and everyone of you a huge hug! I was trying to respond to everyone but I couldn't keep up!! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! This is all just so amazing!!! Thank You from the bottom of my heart!!
Daniel

UPDATE 2: With gratitude to cooper888, here is a link to more of Daniel's story. (note) Updated to reflect accuracy

“Russia Invades Ukraine” says NATO BUT Where are the Russian Tanks?

“Russia Invades Ukraine”, Strategic NATO Public Relations Stunt. Where are the Russian Tanks?

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, August 29, 2014

Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/russia-invades-ukraine-strategic-nato-public-relations-stunt-where-are-the-russian-tanks/5398148

Read the London tabloids. Russia has launched “a full-scale invasion”. A vast propaganda campaign has been launched. Where is the evidence?

The media is spreading “fake evidence” in the week leading up to the Wales NATO Summit.
The objective is to herald Russia as the aggressor.

What is at stake is a strategic public relations stunt.
Sixty countries will be represented at the NATO Summit in Wales on 4-5 September including the 28 NATO member states.
The media lies “fit the military agenda” already formulated by the Pentagon in consultation with NATO and Her Majesty’s Government.
US-NATO requires “evidence” to build a political consensus at the Wales NATO Summit on September 4-5 hosted by Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron. According to PM David Cameron in a letter addressed to heads of State and heads of government of NATO member states ahead of the Summit:

“Leaders [of NATO countries] must review NATO’s long term relationship with Russia at the summit in response to Russia’s illegal actions in Ukraine.

“And the PM wants to use the summit to agree on how NATO will sustain a robust presence in Eastern Europe in the coming months to provide reassurance to allies there, building on work already underway in NATO.” (See PM writes to NATO leaders ahead of NATO Summit Wales 2014)
A pretext for an all out war on Russia under a humanitarian cloak? The West coming to the rescue of civilians in Eastern Ukraine?
In late July in consultation with the Pentagon, NATO’s Europe commander General Philip Breedlove had (ahead of the Wales NATO meeting) already called for “stockpiling a base in Poland with enough weapons, ammunition and other supplies to support a rapid deployment of thousands of troops against Russia”.(RT, July 24, 2014). According to General Breedlove, NATO needs “pre-positioned supplies, pre-positioned capabilities and a basing area ready to rapidly accept follow-on forces”:

“He plans to recommend placing supplies — weapons, ammunition and ration packs — at the headquarters to enable a sudden influx of thousands of Nato troops” (Times, August 22, 2014, emphasis added)

Breedlove’s “Blitzkrieg scenario” which could escalate into a World War III scenario is part of NATO’s summit agenda in Wales next week. In substance it is a “copy and paste” of the draft Russian Aggression Prevention Act (RAPA) (in the US Senate) which directs President Obama to initiate the militarization of Eastern Europe with a view to confronting Russia.
The Convoy of Russian Tanks. Where is It?

In support of NATO’s planned deployments to Eastern Europe, the Western media is claiming without evidence that a large convoy of Russian tanks has crossed the border into Ukraine and are operating under Russian command inside Ukraine.
The satellite images released by NATO show tanks and vehicles inside Ukraine, within an area controlled by Donbass forces. Where did they come from?


While media reports (with extensive photographic evidence). confirmed the entry into Ukraine of a convoy of Russian “white vans” which were part of Russia’s humanitarian initiative, nobody actually saw the tanks entering Ukraine.

With regard to the NATO satellite images, there is no indication as to where these tanks and armored vehicles came from and whether they were operated by the Russian military.
The Daily Mail online featured an unconvincing 20 second video of an alleged Russian tank inside Ukraine (see still image above).


Spinning a Russian Invasion
This is not the first time that the media is spinning a “Russian Invasion”. Earlier reports in June alluded to State Department sources that:

“three aging Russian T-64 tanks had been sent to Ukraine,” and that the Ukrainian government was claiming that there were 10 more tanks. The Times also noted:
Adding to Western concerns, the senior Obama administration official said, artillery has been moved to a deployment site inside southwest Russia and may soon be shipped across the border.
Not only are the anonymous claims of one official the source of the information–they also provide the analysis of that information, floating a slightly-too-perfect theory that Russia is handing over old equipment in order to make it seem like they’re not actually doing so (Peter Hart, Ukraine Tips From Nameless US Officials: Good Enough for the New York Times, Global Research, June 27, 2014, http://www.globalresearch.ca/ukraine-tips-from-nameless-us-officials-good-enough-for-the-new-york-times/5388916

It should be noted that this as well as previous “Russian invasions” have been the object of sizable speculative gains on financial markets.
Where are the alleged Russian Tanks?
While various explanations are put forth concerning the alleged Russian tanks and armored vehicles, what is never mentioned in Western media reports is that the Donbass militia do not need Russian tanks.
In the course of the last two months, the Donbass militia have acquired a significant arsenal of tanks and armored vehicles captured from Ukrainian forces.

Rebels operate a tank in eastern Ukraine (Rob Stothard/Getty Images)

http://www.vox.com/2014/8/15/6006281/russia-ukraine-war-what-we-know

The large loss of military equipment is confirmed by the Ukraine Ministry of Internal Affairs, either destroyed or captured by Donbass forces.
Official Ukraine sources acknowledge a significant loss of tanks and armored vehicles.
Based on a two week period in July, 35 Ukraine Army tanks and 96 Armoured Battle Vehicles were either confiscated or destroyed by Donetsk and Lugansk forces, according to an official brief signed by Arsen Avakov (Minister of Internal Affairs) and V. Gritsak (Head of ATO [Anti-Terrorism Operation])

1. Tanks: 35
2. Armoured Battle Vehicles: 96
3. Artillery: 38
4. Aircraft: 7
5. Helicopters: 2
6. Automobiles: 104

While the above figures do not distinguish between confiscated and destroyed military equipment, Cyberberkut, provides the following data based on leaked official information.
According to Cyberberkut: some 65 tanks and 69 armoured battle vehicles were captured by the Donbass militia over a period of less than 2 months (from June 20 to August 15).

tanks T-64 – 65 units;

infantry fighting vehicles (BMP) – 69 units;

armored personnel carriers (BTR) – 39 units;

combat reconnaissance patrol vehicles (BRDM) – 2 units;

airborne combat vehicles (BMD) – 9 units;

multiple artillery rocket systems (RSZO) BM27 Uragan – 2 units;

self-propelled guns (SAU) 2S4 “Tyulpan” – 2 units;

self-propelled guns (SAU) 2S9 “Nona” – 6 units;

self-propelled guns (SAU) 2S1 “Gvozdika” – 25 units;

howitzers D-30 – 10 units; 82 mm. caliber mortars – 32 units; anti-aircraft mounts ZU-23-2 – 18 units; wheeled vehicles – 124 units.

While we are not in a position to fully corroborate the Cyberberkut report, the figures collected over the period of June 20 to August 15 are broadly consistent with the official release.
What these two sets of figures confirm is that rebel forces in Donesk and Lugansk possess a significant military arsenal and this arsenal did not originate from Russia. It was captured from Ukraine forces as confirmed by official Ukraine sources.
This information is of crucial significance because it refutes the accusations by Washington and NATO that the tanks and armored vehicles identified in Donbass came from Russia.
Moreover, there is evidence that entire Ukrainian battalions have surrendered to the Donetsk and Lugansk militia, Large number of Ukrainian soldiers who have abandoned the battlefield have fled to Russia or have the Donbass militia:

“The 72^nd Brigade for all intents and purposes has ceased to exist [in early August] due to ammunition and food rations running out. They held on while they still had resources and then began to exit into the territory of the Russian Federation – at first in separate groups, followed by the surviving remnants of the once full-fledged brigade.
The hardware was all abandoned at their positions, which continue to be controlled by Junta troops that have not yet surrendered. When militiamen would drive up on tanks as close as 400 metres away from the positions of the Junta, there was no return fire – there is simply nothing to fire back with. Some of the soldiers of the 72^ndBrigade had no rounds left during the surrender; others had 1-2 magazines per automatic rifle. (Entire Ukraine Military Brigade Abandons the Battlefield and Surrenders to Donbass Militia, The Surrender of the 72nd Brigade, Global Research, August 4, 2014)

More generally, the Western media has failed to cover the war theater in Donbass. More than 2000 civilians have been killed as a result of shelling and bombing by Kiev forces, close to a million Ukrainians are refugees in Russia.
The humanitarian crisis is invariably not mentioned by the media and when it is, the blame is placed on Russia.

Entire battalions of the Ukraine forces have surrendered.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/ukraine-handed-military-equipment-to-militia-forces-once-again/5396869

http://www.globalresearch.ca/media-blackout-major-military-operation-in-east-ukraine-1600-soldiers-reported-killed/5392193

---

Annex I
July 18, 2014 – Official Ukrainian Military Accounting of Losses for July 9-15, 2014

((1) Ukrainian Version; (2) Translation)
TOTAL UKRAINIAN LOSSES

1. Killed in Action: 1600
2. Wounded in Action: 4723
3. Tanks: 35
4. Armoured Battle Vehicles: 96
5. Artillery: 38
6. Aircraft: 7
7. Helicopters: 2
8. Automobiles: 104

TOTAL MILITIA LOSSES

1. Killed in Action: 48
2. Wounded in Action: 64
3. Tanks: 2
4. Armoured Battle Vehicles: 0
5. Artillery: 5
6. Automobiles: 8

TOTAL CIVILIAN LOSSES

1. Killed: 496
2. Wounded: 762

SIGNED & SUBMITTED BY: Arsen Avakov (Minister of Internal Affairs) and V. Gritsak (Head of ATO)

---

Annex II Cyberberkut Report (Translated from Russian)

Having access to classified information of Ukrainian security services, we are able to confirm that the fratricidal war led by the Kiev regime is from a military standpoint in an impasse. The Kiev forces have experienced significant losses.
From the new documents, we are able to confirm that from 8 to 15th of August, the Army of the Southeast has captured:
tanks T-64 – 18 units;
infantry fighting vehicles (BMP) – 24 units;
armored personnel carriers (BTR) – 11 units;
combat reconnaissance patrol vehicles (BRDM) – 2 units; airborne combat vehicles (BMD) – 9 units;
multiple artillery rocket systems (RSZO) BM27 “Uragan” – 2 units;
self-propelled guns (SAU) 2S4 “Tyulpan” – 2 units; self-propelled guns (SAU) 2S9 “Nona” – 2 units;
self-propelled guns (SAU) 2S1 “Gvozdika” – 10 units; 82 mm. caliber mortars – 6 units;
anti-aircraft mounts ZU-23-2 – 3 units; wheeled vehicles – 44 units.

In total, from June 20 to August 15 during the punitive action, according to the reports of the Ukrainian military, the militia forces captured:

tanks T-64 – 65 units; infantry fighting vehicles (BMP) – 69 units;
armored personnel carriers (BTR) – 39 units;
combat reconnaissance patrol vehicles (BRDM) – 2 units;
airborne combat vehicles (BMD) – 9 units;
multiple artillery rocket systems (RSZO) BM27 Uragan – 2 units;
self-propelled guns (SAU) 2S4 “Tyulpan” – 2 units;
self-propelled guns (SAU) 2S9 “Nona” – 6 units;
self-propelled guns (SAU) 2S1 “Gvozdika” – 25 units;
howitzers D-30 – 10 units; 82 mm. caliber mortars – 32 units; anti-aircraft mounts ZU-23-2 – 18 units; wheeled vehicles – 124 units.
References
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-ukraine-civil-war-latest-developments/5394563
http://www.globalresearch.ca/ukraine-handed-military-equipment-to-militia-forces-once-again/5396869
http://www.globalresearch.ca/media-blackout-major-military-operation-in-east-ukraine-1600-soldiers-reported-killed/5392193