What The Video Shows Vs. What The Officer Claims About Sam Dubose's Killing

What The Video Shows Vs. What The Officer Claims About Sam Dubose's Killing (UPDATED)

The prosecutor says Ray Tensing's body cam video shows he was lying.

Simon McCormack Crime and Weird News editor, The Huffington Post

Posted: 07/30/2015 01:55 PM EDT | Edited: 1 hour ago

The body camera video that captured former University of Cincinnati Officer Ray Tensing's killing of Sam DuBose tells a very different story from the one Tensing told authorities, according to the prosecutor handling the case.

 Joe Deters, the prosecutor for Hamilton County, Ohio, on Wednesday announced murder and manslaughter charges against Tensing, who stopped DuBose on July 19 for not having a front license plate.
In the police report describing the incident, University of Cincinnati officer Eric Weibel, who arrived to provide Tensing with backup, says Tensing told him he was dragged by Dubose's moving car once Dubose started the vehicle and attempted to drive away.
Tensing also reportedly told Weibel he thought he'd be run over by DuBose and fired his weapon to prevent that from happening.
It is true that in the body cam video, Tensing tells the other cops who arrive at the scene that his left arm got caught, possibly in the steering wheel of DuBose's car, as The New York Times notes. This backs up Weibel's account.
But Deters said Wednesday that the video doesn't support that telling of events.
Rather than being dragged by the moving car, Deters said, Tensing "fell backward after he shot [DuBose] in the head."
The video does appear to support Deters' account that Tensing fell backwards after firing the shot.

In the video, Tensing repeatedly asks DuBose if he has a license. DuBose says he has one and it's not suspended, but he doesn't have it on him.
Tensing then asks DuBose to take his seat belt off. At that point, DuBose appears to put his right hand on the key in the ignition, and it sounds as if his car is starting.
Tensing screams, "Stop! Stop!" before firing his gun at DuBose.
The officer falls backwards onto the ground and then gets up and starts running. There's no clear indication that Tensing was dragged before he shot DuBose.
Moreover, only about ten seconds pass between the moment DuBose appears to start the car to the time Tensing gets off the ground and starts running, from about the 1:54 mark to 2:04 in the above video.

When asked directly if he thought Tensing purposely misled investigators about what happened, Deters was blunt.

"Yeah, yes, I think he was making an excuse for the purposeful killing of another person," the prosecutor said.

Stewart Mathews, the attorney who represents Tensing, did not immediately return a request for comment from The Huffington Post.

But he has previously said his client was dragged by DuBose's car and feared for his life.
Mathews also claimed that another video from a different officer's body cam shows his client on the ground after getting free from the car.
Tensing pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Thursday. He faces a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted of murder.
UPDATE: Tensing has reportedly bailed out of jail. Two other University of Cincinnati police officers involved in the DuBose case were put on administrative leave Thursday, according to WKRC.

MORE: sam dubose, Samuel Dubose, Ray Tensing murder

The KGB apparently didn’t try to recruit David Cameron – It was just a ‘gay pick up’

• Joseph Patrick McCormick
• 30^th July 2015, 10:58 AM

(Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

The KGB apparently did not try to recruit David Cameron when he was 19, and instead, experts say he was probably just the target of a gay pick-up.
The Prime Minister first told the story in 2006 of KGB agents attempting to recruit him as a Cold War spy when he was 19 on his travels through the Soviet Union.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs, Mr Cameron said: “I travelled on the Trans-Siberian railway… and then met a great friend in Moscow. We went down to the Black Sea and were on the beach in Yalta.
“These two Russians who spoke perfect English sort of turned up on the beach, which was mainly reserved for foreign tourists, and took us out to dinner, and interrogated us in a very friendly way about life in England and politics.”

The claims have been denied, however, as Russian paper Komsomolskaya Pravda reports.
According to the newspaper, an author and intelligence historian Gennady Sokolov, said he had it on good authority that there was no record of a bid to recruit Mr Cameron.
He said: “If the KGB had a task to work with a 19-year-old unknown young man Cameron, there would have remained certain paperwork on this matter.
“We have cautiously asked well-informed people if there is a file on Cameron in KGB archives. We got a definite reply that there is no such file in the archives, and there was no such file earlier. The KGB was not working on Cameron.”
Going on, Mr Sokolov said he had tracked down the men and that they had been black-market salesmen, and that they had hoped to buy items such as jeans from the West, which were then banned under Soviet law.
“The pair planned to buy some foreign stuff like jeans to resell them later and, after all, to make friends with two nice looking British guys.” He added: “There was also a gay motive.”

Omar Sharif Jr. (openly gay) Featured on Arabic TV News

Omar Sharif Jr. Featured on Arabic TV News The interview is being hailed as the first time many people in the Arab world have heard directly from a gay person MORE

Roy Moore Violated Judicial Ethics In Calls To Ignore Gay Marriage Ruling

Roy Moore Violated Judicial Ethics In Calls To Ignore Gay Marriage Ruling, SPLC Says

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's outspoken opposition to gay marriage is a violation of judicial ethics, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) said Wednesday

Changing A Light Bulb In Saskatchewan...... A MUST-WATCH!

This is a sure cure for vertigo.

 

    I HOPE THIS GUY GETS PAID A LOT OF MONEY.

 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/f1BgzIZRfT8?feature=player_embedded

Armed US Soldiers Arrested in Vienna Airport on Their Way to Ukraine

Armed US Soldiers Arrested in Vienna Airport on Their Way to Ukraine

Sputnik – 30.07.2015

The soldiers carried assault rifles in their luggage, but had no approval, Kurier reported.
A few days ago, a group of American soldiers caused a security alert at Vienna’s Schwechat airport. The men were stopped while trying to travel with army weapons to Ukraine without any necessary permits, the newspaper wrote.
The Austrian police had to intervene and remove the weapons. An investigation into the case was launched.
The nine US soldiers were on their way from Washington to Ukraine, where they were to be deployed.
“However, since there were problems with their connecting flight after a stopover in Schwechat, they had to rebook their flight and, therefore, leave the transit area,” Colonel Michael Bauer, Defense Ministry spokesman said.
M16 assault rifles and pistols were discovered in the luggage of the American soldiers at a security checkpoint. The incident caused huge shock, because the weapons were not declared and registered and, thus, carried illegally.
The soldiers had not obtained the required transit approval by Austria. In special cases, the stay or transit of foreign military forces may be officially allowed after completing the application procedure, but the US soldiers did not send any required requests.
The attempt by the American embassy to obtain the approval after the incident was rejected for legal reasons. Instead of going to Ukraine, the soldiers had to fly back home to Washington and were allowed to take the weapons with them, the newspaper reported.

6 People Stabbed At Jerusalem Gay Pride March - worst attack in years on the event in Jerusalem

6 People Stabbed At Jerusalem Gay Pride March

It was the worst attack in years on the event in Jerusalem.

By Allyn Fisher-Ilan

Posted: 07/30/2015 12:12 PM EDT | Edited: 4 hours ago

JERUSALEM, July 30 (Reuters) - An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man stabbed and wounded six participants, two of them seriously, in the annual Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem on Thursday, with police saying the suspect was jailed for a similar attack 10 years ago.
About 5,000 people celebrating the event were marching along an avenue when a man jumped into the crowd, apparently from a supermarket, and plunged a knife into some of the participants, witnesses said.
"We heard people screaming, everyone ran for cover, and there were bloodied people on the ground," Shai Aviyor, a witness interviewed on Israel's Channel 2, said.
It was the worst attack in years on the event in Jerusalem, a divided city where the religious population is more prominent than in other parts of Israel and highlighted the tension nationwide among disparate social groups.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it "a despicable hate crime," and President Reuven Rivlin warned that social intolerance could spell disaster for Israel.

Police said they arrested the suspected perpetrator, an ultra-Orthodox man. Spokeswoman Luba Samri said he was the same assailant jailed for the stabbing of three marchers at a similar Jerusalem event in 2005. Israeli media said the suspect had been released from prison several weeks ago.
The parade has long been a focus of tension between Israel's predominantly secular majority and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority, who object to public displays of homosexuality.
Many devout Jews, Muslims and Christians criticize homosexuality as an abomination of their beliefs. Gay marriages performed inside Israel are not recognized by the authorities.
Police and medics said the attacker wounded six people. Two were taken to hospital in serious condition, including a young woman, said a doctor at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital, where the victims were being treated.

The march is held in the largely Jewish side of the divided city. Palestinians predominate in occupied East Jerusalem.
Oded Fried, the head of a leading gay rights group, said the attack would not deter the movement. A similar Gay Pride event on June 12 in the more gay friendly business hub of Tel Aviv passed off without incident.
"Our struggle for equality only intensifies in the face of such events," Fried said.

Netanyahu said Israel would prosecute those responsible to the full extent of the law, adding: "Freedom of individual choice is a basic value in Israel."
Rivlin, whose job as president is largely ceremonial, said: "We must not be deluded a lack of tolerance will lead us to disaster."

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Gay Pride Parade Attacks In Jerusalem

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EU rightly separates Israel’s security from its colonial abuses

EU rightly separates Israel’s security from its colonial abuses

http://www.agenceglobal.com/index.php?show=article&Tid=2873

by Rami G. Khouri          Released: 25 Jul 2015

[Forwarded by Rupa]

________________________________________

BEIRUT — Events related to the Iran nuclear technology/sanctions agreement, the war in Yemen, and the battle against the “Islamic State” tend to dominate the headlines from the Middle East these days, but behind the scenes significant developments related to the Arab-Israeli conflict continue to take place. The idea of a dramatic external intervention to resolve this conflict remains a distant possibility, including options like new and better mediation by a joint American-European combine, French support for a “relaunched” Arab Peace Initiative, or taking the conflict to the UN Security Council or General Assembly. As significant may be the slow but continuing moves by the European Union (EU) to differentiate between the security of the state of Israel within its pre-June 1967 borders and the actions of Israel as a colonial and occupying power in the territories seized in 1967.

These moves have been underway for a few years now in the slow, bureaucratic manner in which the EU does business. They focus primarily on legal and political moves that would prohibit EU member states and private companies, like banks, from doing business with Israeli government or non-governmental entities based in the occupied territories. The significance of these moves is that they shift the center of gravity of the Palestinian-Israeli struggle away from the two arenas where Israel dominates and progress has been minimal to zero (brute power on the ground, and the American-mediated failed negotiations of the past 20 years), and into the arena of international law, accountability and appropriate sanctions against miscreants, where Israelis and Palestinians have equal rights and obligations.

Two concurrent developments in the past week have given new vitality to this effort. The first was the decision by the EU to keep moving ahead with the process of labeling Israeli goods made in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and the second is a new proposal by a respected European think tank for EU states to differentiate more firmly between Israel proper and its post-1967 colonial realm, including the possibility of ending official and private business dealings with Israeli banks.

These developments send the powerful political message that Israel’s continuing illegal actions in the occupied Palestinian territories cannot continue forever with impunity. The EU move occurs while several other significant developments increase the pressure on Israel to respect its legal and ethical obligations: The Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians continues to pick up steam around the world, the United States government more openly and frequently expresses its opposition to some Israeli moves in the occupied territories, and some EU member states unilaterally recognize the State of Palestine.

The net result is that global powers that Israel had always assumed were safely in its pocket are fed up with its behavior that flaunts international law, and are prepared to take action to make this point. This increases the likelihood of combined political-economic pressures by states and civil society around the world to sanction Israel for its subjugation of Palestinians, just as the world once pressured and finally helped to end South African Apartheid policies.

Israelis cry out that this is anti-Semitism, but the world now routinely ignores such desperate Zionist measures, because those who pressure Israel to end its often brutal and inhuman colonial behavior are also strongly committed to its existence and security within its pre-1967 borders. The declining impact of Israeli attempts to intimidate, immobilize, and silence the critics of its colonial actions (with the possible exception of the very strange terrain of the US Congress) is an important sign of the changing international environment related to the Israeli-Palestinian and wider Zionism-Arabism conflicts. Moving the dynamics of this conflict into the realm of international law, rather than brute power on the ground or the dysfunctional bias of American mediation, should be applauded, because it could ultimately provide all concerned with their legitimate rights, on an equal basis, and show a real will to end impunity by all sides.

The most intriguing new development last week was the European Council on Foreign Relations report, entitled “EU Differentiation and Israeli Settlements,” which argued that the EU is violating its own laws and needs to take actions that would more emphatically affirm its normal relations with Israel while condemning and somehow punishing Israel's activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Among the possible moves the EU could take would be to stop dealings with Israeli banks that profit from operations in the occupied territories, including widespread loans and housing mortgages — which triggered a sudden drop in some Israeli bank stocks. Such moves would take the initial labeling of products made in Israeli settlements to a much more significant level, including possibly ending the tax-exempt status of European charities with links to Israeli settlements, or not recognizing qualifications from academic, medical and other Israeli institutions based in the occupied territories.

Rami G. Khouri is published twice weekly in the Daily Star. He was founding director and now senior policy fellow of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. Follow him on Twitter @ramikhouri.

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19 Lies Parents Tell Their Kids

19 Lies Parents Tell Their Kids



I'm a good parent. And I lie to my kids.

The lying isn't what makes me a good parent, but it doesn't automatically mean I'm a bad one, either. Because you lie to your kids, too. I know you do. And if you say you don't, you're a dirty goddamned liar.

We lie to our children for a multitude of reasons. Because we want to protect them. Because we don't always know the right answer. And yes, because sometimes we're lazy.

There's a difference between lying to kids specifically to hurt them, and telling little white lies. The latter is the result of taking care of tiny humans who inevitably drive you to your breaking point and threaten to send you careening over the edge.

So, with that mind, here are 19 common lies parents tell their kids.

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19. "It's time for bed."
Technically, bedtime is in an hour. But since I've had a long day, you can't tell time, and the end of daylight saving time has brought on the sweet merciful darkness, the night-night train is boarding early.

18. "Oh honey, this tastes delicious."
No it doesn't. I don't care that it's called "Dada's Surprise," because I know the surprise is you took a little bit of everything in the house and mixed it together to create this abomination currently accosting my taste buds. I can't prove you did it on purpose because you know I'm parentally obligated to imbibe it, but we both know you're old enough to realize milk and orange juice don't go together.

17. "That drawing is FANTASTIC!"
Look, I'm your dad. I'm never going to tell you something you worked hard on sucks. But why do you insist on playing this game where you make me guess what you drew? If I'm being honest, it looks like a sphincter with three arms -- not Batman. In the future, just tell me what you drew so we don't set ourselves up for mutual disappointment.

16. "No, I don't know where your art project went."
Yes I do. I threw it away. Not to be mean, but because I have to. Seriously, buddy, you bring home five art projects a day from school. Our kitchen wall is filled with your creations. If I don't make at least a little room, we'll be on Hoarders in a hot second.

15. "My phone is dead."
Can I play with your phone? Can I play with your phone? Can I play with your phone? Sometimes I give in and placate you, but dammit IT'S MY PHONE AND I WANT TO PLAY WITH IT! So I lie to you and tell you it's dead in the hopes you'll get distracted by something shiny and allow me to tweet about how annoying it is when young kids are completely hooked on technology.

14. "Your mom and I are going to bed, too."
After a certain point, The Bedtime Wars drag on so much that anything is fair game. Which means I will lie to you and say whatever is necessary to put you down. So yes, of course we're all going to bed. Don't mind the sound of the TV downstairs, I'm just leaving it on for the dog.

13. "No, I don't think you're getting a shot at the doctor's today."
Actually, you're getting four shots. Which means I really didn't lie.

12. "We can't have a cat because you're allergic to them."
We've never had you tested, so technically this might not be a lie either. But I will tell 1,000 lies if it keeps those godforsaken felines out of my domicile.

11. "The dog ate your candy."
Unlike cats, dogs are fantastic animals and man's best friend. They are also a great tool for parents to shift blame. Because the truth is, I ate your candy. I'm not even sure how a box of Thin Mints became yours. I paid for the damn things. I should just be able to tell you I ate them because I was hungry and dammit this is my house! But then you hit me with those sad eyes and I have no choice but to do the right thing -- blame an innocent and much beloved household pet.

10. "Babies are made when two people really love each other."
Or when two people have too much wine. Or the condom breaks. Or mommy forgets to take her special pill. Or the vasectomy doesn't take.

9. "Santa/The Easter Bunny/The Tooth Fairy doesn't come if you don't poop in the potty."
Yeah, we actually told Will this when he was potty training. MJ and I got a six-pack of beer, blocked him in the bathroom, and waited him out. Then, at the end of our ropes, she told him the Easter Bunny would skip his house if he didn't poop in the toilet. Thirty seconds later, he dropped a few chocolate nuggets in the porcelain basket, and potty training was finished. See? Lying is just good parenting.

8. "I think your favorite stuffed animal is on vacation."
If by "vacation" you really mean somewhere in the 50-mile stretch between the grocery store, pet store, and toy store, then yes -- he's on vacation. A permanent one. Ultimately, this will end in disaster and tears and crying and refusal to sleep without your old friend, which is exactly why I'm going to lie to you for as long as you'll buy it. Sometimes parenting is strictly about survival.

7. "The toy store/candy store/Disney World is closed."
I've told you no. Repeatedly. I've explained to you with perfect logic and reason why we can't go to any of the ridiculous places you're begging me to go. But you don't care. It's not your job to care. I get that. But it's my job to be on time (or at least not ridiculously late), which means it's a million times easier to lie to you and tell you the place you want to go is closed. Some day you'll be able to tell time and this ruse won't work, but today is not that day.

6. "We're all out of ice cream."
Until you go up to bed. Then it's ice cream city up in here.

5. "It's a tie."
Bullsh*t! I won. Not only that, I mopped the floor with you. It wasn't even close. I'm not sure why I have to spare your feelings, since it'll only be a few years until you're older, I'm weaker, and you dance on my withered bones once you're able to defeat me in just about everything.

4. "Caillou isn't on TV anymore."
Not on OUR TV, anyway. That bald-headed whiny little sh*t.

3. "Yes, your fish has been very sleepy lately."
Someday, when you're older and I'm mentally prepared, I'll tell you that Nemo now sleeps with the fishes. But in the meantime, your sleepy fish will be totally reinvigorated as soon as the pet store opens.

2. "We won't let anything happen to you."
For my money, this is the best (and most necessary) lie on the list. And make no mistake -- it is a lie. We can strive to protect our kids all we want, but we'll never have complete control. If gunmen walk into the school, a driver crosses the double yellow line, or armed robbers break into our house, then parents are hard-pressed to be able to keep this promise. But you can bet your ass I'll keep promising my boys this until the day I die. Because it's the right thing to do to make your kids feel safe.

1. "Your mom and I were just... wrestling."
Mom is on top of me because she's trying to pin me. No, you can't play too. Yes, we need a lock on the bedroom door.

So, how about it, parents? What other lies do you tell your kids?

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Catholic Nun Explains Pro-Life In A Way That Will Stun Many (Especially Republican Lawmakers)

Catholic Nun Explains Pro-Life In A Way That Will Stun Many (Especially Republican Lawmakers) 

byLeslie SalzilloFollow

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attribution: None Specified

In one simple quote, Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B. sums up the hypocrisy in the 'pro-life' movement:

"I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is."

This quote applies well to many Republican lawmakers and anti-choice extremists who continue to introduce/pass misogynist laws restricting a woman's reproductive rights. At the same time, the GOP works to shut down women's health clinics, with a special vengeance towardsPlanned Parenthood (#StandWithPP). You don't hear of these Right Wing anti-choice extremists adopting children from unplanned pregnancies. But you do hear of them cutting government programs like school lunches for children, cutting aid to families who are homeless and/or in need, and blocking free college education. No, the goals of these hypocrites seem to be more about controlling l women's bodies and women's futures. It's good to hear a Catholic nun define GOP double talk so well.

An outspoken advocate for women, Sister Joan Chittister is an author of 50 books and a lecturer. Holding a Ph.D. from Penn State University, she is also a research associate in a division of Cambridge University. Other subjects of her writing includes women in the church and society, human rights, peace and justice, religious life and spirituality. She has appeared in the media on numerous shows including Meet the Press, 60 Minutes, Bill Moyers, BBC, NPR, and Oprah Winfrey. You can visit Joan Chittister's website at Joan Chittister.org.

The photo of Sister Joan Chittister from her new upcoming book: 'Joan Chittister: Her Journey from Certainty to Faith by Tom Roberts, due out in September.'

Excerpts of this story were taken from an earlier Daily Kos diary: 'Anti-Choice Extremists Shut Down Planned Parenthood Website'

Diplomat Warns: U.S. Jews Aren't United Behind Israel on Iran Deal

Diplomat Warns: U.S. Jews Aren't United Behind Israel on Iran Deal

Israel's consul general in Philadelphia sent classified telegram to Jerusalem with grave warning about sentiments in U.S. Jewish community toward Israel's campaign against nuclear accord.

http://www.haaretz.com/beta/.premium-1.668607

Barak Ravid | 

Jewish Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) hugs a Code Pink activist at an event of activists delivering more than 400,000 petition signatures to Capitol Hill in support of the Iran nuclear deal, July 29, 2015Credit: Reuters

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 More than 140 U.S. Jewish federations mum on Iran deal – 8 come out against 

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 Will partisan fight over Iran deal permanently polarize Jewish Americans? 

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 Why don’t American Jewish groups represent American Jews on Iran? 

Israel’s consul general in Philadelphia, Yaron Sideman, warned Jerusalem this week that the American Jewish community is divided over the nuclear agreement with Iran, and does not stand united behind Israel in the controversy.

Sideman sent a classified, sensitive telegram to Jerusalem on Tuesday with a grave warning about the sentiments in the Jewish community toward Israel’s campaign against the deal.

“At this crucial point of the Iranian issue – which for years has been at the core of Israeli foreign policy and was described countless times by the Israeli leadership as an existential threat – the Jewish community in the United States is not standing as a united front behind Israel and important parts of it are on the fence,” Sideman wrote in the telegram, a copy of which reached Haaretz.

Sideman’s telegram reflects what Israeli diplomats in North America and the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem are reluctant to say out loud. Many diplomats feel that the American Jewish community is caught in a vise between Israel’s fight against the agreement with Iran and the internal American political conflict over it.

Sideman wrote that a CEO of one of the Jewish federations in the Philadelphia region told him that in his view, Israel’s status vis-à-vis the Obama administration is at a low point, which could adversely affect the Jewish community.

He cited the Jewish leader telling him, “In the next year and a half (until the end of President Barack Obama’s term) Israel’s and the Jewish communities’ maneuvering space regarding advancing Israel’s interests is extremely limited to non existent.” Thus, Sideman continued, “He isn’t interested in taking steps that would worsen the situation and harm the Jewish community’s status even more.”

The consul general said the CEO, who is inclined to support the deal with Iran, objects to exerting pressure on Democratic lawmakers in the federation’s jurisdiction, for fear it would harm the Jewish community. “The practical meaning is that certain lawmakers don’t hear from him and from other key figures in the Jewish community within their frame of reference,” he wrote.

Sideman, who has been serving for several years as consul general in Philadelphia, was formerly director of the consulate’s department in charge of relations with the U.S. Congress. His diplomatic reports in the past also reflected his evaluations courageously and candidly.

For example, before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress some two weeks before the Israeli election, Sideman warned of the growing criticism of the speech in the Jewish community and among Israel’s non-Jewish friends.

Barak Ravid

Haaretz Correspondent

10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down

Fact-checking some of the gun lobby's favorite arguments shows they're full of holes.

—By Dave Gilson

| Thu Jan. 31, 2013 7:01 AM EST

By cutting off federal funding for research and stymieing data collection and sharing, the National Rifle Association has tried to do to the study of gun violence what climate deniers have done to the science of global warming. No wonder: When it comes to hard numbers, some of the gun lobby's favorite arguments are full of holes.
Myth #1: They're coming for your guns.
Fact-check: No one knows the exact number of guns in America, but it's clear there's no practical way to round them all up (never mind that no one in Washington is proposing this). Yet if you fantasize about rifle-toting citizens facing down the government, you'll rest easy knowing that America's roughly 80 million gun owners already have the feds and cops outgunned by a factor of around 79 to 1.

Sources: Congressional Research Service (PDF), Small Arms Survey
Myth #2: Guns don't kill people—people kill people.
Fact-check: People with more guns tend to kill more people—with guns. The states with the highest gun ownership rates have a gun murder rate 114% higher than those with the lowest gun ownership rates. Also, gun death rates tend to be higher in states with higher rates of gun ownership. Gun death rates are generally lower in states with restrictions such as assault-weapons bans or safe-storage requirements. Update: A recent study looking at 30 years of homicide data in all 50 states found that for every one percent increase in a state's gun ownership rate, there is a nearly one percent increase in its firearm homicide rate.

Sources: Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Myth #3: An armed society is a polite society.
Fact-check: Drivers who carry guns are 44% more likely than unarmed drivers to make obscene gestures at other motorists, and 77% more likely to follow them aggressively.
• Among Texans convicted of serious crimes, those with concealed-handgun licenses were sentenced for threatening someone with a firearm 4.8 times more than those without.
• In states with Stand Your Ground and other laws making it easier to shoot in self-defense, those policies have been linked to a 7 to 10% increase in homicides.

• This Is How the NRA Lies to Gun Owners About Obama's Agenda
• NRA's School Security Plan Cites Phony Shooting
• This Collection of NRA Ads Reveals Its Descent Into Crazy
• The NRA Myth of Gun-Free Zones
• Gunmakers and the NRA Bet Big on Silencers. What Could Go Wrong?
• Investigators Discover NRA Materials in Newtown Killer's House
• EXCLUSIVE: Unmasking the NRA's Inner Circle
• Meet the NRA's Board of Directors
• The NRA Myth of Arming the Good Guys
• How the NRA and Its Allies Helped Spread a Radical Gun Law Nationwide

See our full special report on gun laws and the rise of mass shootings in America.

Myth #4: More good guys with guns can stop rampaging bad guys.
Fact-check: Mass shootings stopped by armed civilians in the past 30 years: 0
• Chances that a shooting at an ER involves guns taken from guards: 1 in 5
Myth #5: Keeping a gun at home makes you safer.
Fact-check: Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun.
• For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home.
• 43% of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.
• In one experiment, one third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger.
Myth #6: Carrying a gun for self-defense makes you safer.
Fact-check: In 2011, nearly 10 times more people were shot and killed in arguments than by civilians trying to stop a crime.
• In one survey, nearly 1% of Americans reported using guns to defend themselves or their property. However, a closer look at their claims found that more than 50% involved using guns in an aggressive manner, such as escalating an argument.
• A Philadelphia study found that the odds of an assault victim being shot were 4.5 times greater if he carried a gun. His odds of being killed were 4.2 times greater.
Myth #7: Guns make women safer.
Fact-check: In 2010, nearly 6 times more women were shot by husbands, boyfriends, and ex-partners than murdered by male strangers.
• A woman's chances of being killed by her abuser increase more than 5 times if he has access to a gun.
• One study found that women in states with higher gun ownership rates were 4.9 times more likely to be murdered by a gun than women in states with lower gun ownership rates.
Myth #8: "Vicious, violent video games" deserve more blame than guns.
Fact-check: So said NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre after Newtown. So what's up with Japan?

	United States	Japan
Per capita spending on video games	$44	$55
Civilian firearms per 100 people	88	0.6
Gun homicides in 2008	11,030	11

Sources: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Small Arms Survey (PDF), UN Office on Drugs and Crime
Myth #9: More and more Americans are becoming gun owners.
Fact-check: More guns are being sold, but they're owned by a shrinking portion of the population.
• About 50% of Americans said they had a gun in their homes in 1973. Today, about 45% say they do. Overall, 35% of Americans personally own a gun.
• Around 80% of gun owners are men. On average they own 7.9 guns each.
Myth #10: We don't need more gun laws—we just need to enforce the ones we have.
Fact-check: Weak laws and loopholes backed by the gun lobby make it easier to get guns illegally.
• Around 40% of all legal gun sales involve private sellers and don't require background checks. 40% of prison inmates who used guns in their crimes got them this way.
• An investigation found 62% of online gun sellers were willing to sell to buyers who said they couldn't pass a background check.
• 20% of licensed California gun dealers agreed to sell handguns to researchers posing as illegal "straw" buyers.
• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives did not have a permanent director for 7 years, due to an NRA-backed requirement that the Senate approve nominees.
This article has been updated.
Icons in gun ownership chart: Handgun designed by Simon Child, rifle designed by Nadav Barkan, shotgun designed by Ammar Ceker, all from the Noun Project
Front page image by konstantynov/Shutterstock

World Record Bodybuilder Comes Out as Trans

Fans who knew the champion bodybuilder as 'Kroc' now can call her Janae Marie Kroc, a transgender woman and self-described 'gender-fluid alpha male/girly girl lesbian in a male body.'

BY  Dawn Ennis

July 28 2015 3:45 PM ET 

Janae Marie Kroc via Instagram

Step aside, Caitlyn Jenner: Another athlete known to the public as one of the world’s strongest men has come out as transgender.
Janae Marie Kroc, the world record-holding bodybuilding star and record-smashing powerlifter, whose website promises to help others get “as big and as strong as inhumanly possible,” announced her transition online via social media. She was formerly known as Matt Kroc.
Cyd Zeigler at Outsports confirmed that Kroc, 42, is now describing herself as both trans and gender-fluid and, according to the report, living in both genders.
Kroc told her fans via Instagram and in a subsequent statement to a bodybuilding website that she considers herself an “Alpha male/girly girl Lesbian in a male body” and that she is single.
“Being a total alpha male and transgender definitely makes me unique even in the transgender community,” she wrote to Gymflow100, perhaps unaware, as she is in the early stages of her transition, that many trans women adopt “alpha male” roles to mask their genuine gender identity -- she's hardly the first former U.S. Marine to transition -- and that there are plenty of trans men who identify as “alpha male.”

“And of course also makes me incredibly complex as a person. I often feel like two completely different people trying to share one body with both fighting over who gets to be in control.”

Kroc, who has three sons, said in her statement she was still undecided about whether to fully transition and live as a woman full-time.
Some fans were in disbelief, thinking her transition was a joke, despite reports on GayStarNews, Headlines and Global News, and other sites. So Kroc wrote a second online statement to dispel any lingering doubts:

“First, yes this is really me and yes I am transgender. Second, one does not 'become' transgender, you are or you aren’t. I have known this since I was five years old and it has been a very heavy burden to carry.

“I never asked for nor did I want this. For most of my life I would have given anything to not feel the way I do and at one point it drove me to consider suicide. Now I am perfectly comfortable with who I am and have been very open about this for many years.”

Kroc has held the powerlifting world record in the 220-pound class since 2009.
She added that living true means the end of her bodybuilding career: “One thing that I am 100% certain of is that if I do eventually decide to transition I would never compete in powerlifting again.”

“I feel that would be a no-win situation and I would never want to do anything that would reflect negatively on the transgender or powerlifting communities.”

Read Janae Marie Kroc’s statement here.

Italian Politician: Gays Should Change Gender If They Want To Wed

By Linda July 29, 2015 Categories: Big Gay News, Top Headlines

Advocate.com reports that an Italian politician thinks passing same-sex marriage is a “waste of time”, and has proposed instead that gay and lesbian people change their gender identities.
Read the full story from Advocate.com 

US Navy analyst convicted of spying for Israel to be released

US Navy analyst convicted of spying for Israel to be released
By Emelina Perez on Jul 29, 2015 10:12 am
[JURIST] Attorneys for Jonathan Pollard [official website] announced Tuesday their client was granted parole [statement] by three members of the Parole Commission. Pollard is a former Navy intelligence analyst convicted of conspiracy to deliver classified information to Israel on November 21, 1985. Pollard claimed he learned [advocacy backgrounder] the US was deliberately withholding information pertinent to Israel's national security, putting many lives at risk. He is set to be released on November 21. According to his lawyers, Pollard has had...   +read more

New Jersey announces plans for police body cameras

New Jersey announces plans for police body cameras
By Matt Belenky on Jul 29, 2015 12:57 pm
[JURIST] New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's [official website] office announced [press release] Tuesday that the New Jersey State Police will spend $1.5 million to acquire 1,000 body cameras for troopers, in addition to the implementation of new guidelines aimed at expanding disclosures about investigations of officers' use of force. This will be first time New Jersey troopers will have cameras on them and the gear is expected to come out within the next few months. The agency will purchase the...   +read more

Malaysia prime minister fires attorney general investigating him for corruption [what about abuse-of-power]

Malaysia prime minister fires attorney general investigating him for corruption
By Matt Belenky on Jul 29, 2015 04:27 pm
[JURIST] Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak [official website] fired Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail [official website] on Tuesday on news that Patail was investigating him on corruption charges. The charges include documents that allegedly money from the state investment fund went into Razak's personal accounts. Razak also announced that Deputy Attorney General Muhyiddin Yassin will also be removed and replaced by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, a cabinet member. The documents related to Razak's corruption also allegedly show that [AP report] $700...   +read more

Appeals court upholds California ban on shark fin sales

Appeals court upholds California ban on shark fin sales

Wednesday 29 July 2015 at 3:58 PM ET by Taylor Brailey

©  WikiMedia (NOAA)

[JURIST] The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] on Monday upheld [opinion, PDF] a California ban [AB 376 text] on the sale of shark fins, which makes it "unlawful for a person to possess, sell, offer for sale, trade, or distribute a shark fin" in the state. The plaintiffs in the case, Chinatown Neighborhood Association and Asian Americans for Political Advancement, are organizations that engage in commerce involving shark fins. The plaintiffs contended that the law violated the Supremacy Clause and the Dormant Commerce Clause [LII backgrounders] of the US Constitution. In upholding the District Court's decision that the law does not violate these constitutional provisions, the Ninth Circuit recognized that the state's interest in regulating fish and wildlife resources, and thus in regulating the protection of sharks, which have been shown to be harmed in the absence of this law.
The Humane Society deems [press release] the court's decision to be a win for the state of California. The organization's deputy director of animal protection litigation, Ralph Henry, stated:

The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International applaud the court for upholding California’s decisive action on this important animal welfare and conservation measure. The California law and similar laws recently passed in more than a half dozen other states are critical tools in preventing the loss of millions of sharks each year to the cruel practice of finning.

To date, eleven states [shark conservation website] have similar shark fin laws in place, and a federal law currently prohibits "shark finning," a process whereby a shark's fins are removed and the shark is killed.

The Male Menopause Isn't A Myth After All

The Male Menopause Isn't A Myth After All, Study Suggests

Read more.

How Coca Cola Affects Your Body In 60 Minutes

How Coca Cola Affects Your Body In 60 Minutes

Read more.

Scientific studies, data and history refute Pentagon’s climate/national security claims

Scientific studies, data and history refute Pentagon’s climate/national security claims

Climate Depot’s Rebuttal

By Marc Morano – Climate Depot – July 29, 2015

July 29, 2015: Pentagon: Climate change ‘urgent and growing threat’ to national security

Pentagon Spent $22,000 to Write 14-Page Report on Climate Change

If any Americans actually believe the climate claims linking ‘global warming’ to a rise in conflicts, no amount of evidence, data, logic or scientific studies will likely persuade them. But given the high profile nature of the Pentagon report, a rebuttal is necessary.
Obama has claimed that climate ‘deniers’ were a huge part of the problem. Obama explained: “Denying it, or refusing to deal with it, endangers our national security and undermines the readiness of our forces.”
Obama seems to be borrowing his claims from Rolling Stone Magazine :

See: Forget ISIS, skeptics are greatest threat?! – Rolling Stone: Climate ‘Deniers’ Put ‘National Security at Risk’
Also see: Paper: ‘Osama bin Laden cared more about global warming than GOP Sen. James Inhofe’

But actually believing the above statements endangers our capacity for rational thought and evidence based research. Actually believing Obama and his Pentagon’s climate claims, undermines our nation’s ability to distinguish real threats from politically contrived nonsense.
UN climate treaties and EPA climate regulations will not prevent wars, conflicts or impact the creation of terrorist groups.
The President seems to believe every modern malady is due to ‘global warming.’

See: White House doom: Climate change causes allergies, asthma, downpours, poverty, terrorism – Lists 34 effects

President Obama claimed that man-made climate change was partly responsible for the civil war in Syria. “It’s now believed that drought, crop failures, and high food prices helped fuel the early unrest in Syria, which descended into civil war in the heart of the Middle East,” Obama said.
First off, extreme weather is not getting more ‘extreme.’

See: Extreme weather failing to follow ‘global warming’ predictions: Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Droughts, Floods, Wildfires, all see no trend or declining trends

Scientists reject notion that human-caused climate change led to war in Syria – ‘Human-influenced climate change impact on the drought conditions was almost certainly too small to have mattered’

2014 Study: ‘The humanitarian crisis of the late 2000s largely predated the drought period.‘ – ‘Focusing on external factors like drought and climate change in the context of the Syrian uprising is counterproductive as it diverts attention from more fundamental political and economic motives behind the protests and shifts responsibility away from the Syrian government.’ […]

Global warming is not a threat to the world, but global warming ‘solutions’ are. The estimated 1.2 billion people in the world without electricity who are leading a nasty, brutish and short life, will be the ones who “will pay” for global warming solutions that prevent them from obtaining cheap and abundant carbon based energy.

See: S. African activist slams UN’s ‘Green Climate Fund': ‘Government to govt aid is a reward for being better than anyone else at causing poverty’ — ‘It enriches the people who cause poverty’

Simple historical facts undermine the President’s claims about global warming and national security concerns.
Small Sampling of evidence countering President Obama’s claims.

Lord Christopher Monckton, Former Thatcher Adviser issues point-by-point rebuttal to Obama: ‘Does the ‘leader’ of the free world really know so little about climate?’ – ‘If this Obama speech was the very best that the narrow faction promoting the extremist line on global warming could muster for their mouthpiece, then the skeptics have won the scientific, the economic, the rational, and the moral arguments – and have won them hands down.’

‘All Large European Wars Occurred With CO2 Below 350 ppm’ Via Real Science website- Most Of The World’s Wars Occurred Below 350 PPM CO2 — ‘Now that we know that war is caused by global warming, I was very surprised to discover that the vast majority of wars occurred before 1988 – including the War of 1812′

UN Climate Chief: Middle East Was Peaceful When CO2 Was Below 350 PPM — UN’s Christiana Figueres: ‘Food shortages and rising prices caused by climate disruptions were among the chief contributors to the civil unrest coursing through North Africa and the Middle East’
Scientific studies comprehensively debunk the notion that rising carbon dioxide will lead to more wars.
Flashback: Debunked: the ‘climate change causes wars’ myth –Peer-reviewed paper ‘thoroughly eviscerates’ climate war claims — ‘The primary causes of civil war are political, not environmental’
‘A total takedown’ of myth by the Center for Strategic and International Studies — ‘Since the dawn of civilization, warmer eras have meant fewer wars. The reason is simple: all things being equal, a colder climate meant reduced crops, more famine and instability. Research by climate historians shows a clear correlation between increased warfare and cold periods. They are particularly clear in Asia and Europe, as well as in Africa’
Scientific American : ‘Greens Should Stop Claiming More Warming Means More War’
Follow the (military) money: Is the military ‘taking on climate change denialists’ or simply following the lead of its civilian leaders?
Conflict Deaths and Global Warming – ‘The problem is that the conflicts that are cited as examples of the phenomenon are located in areas known for both frequent conflict prior to the current warming period and for historical patterns of extreme climates similar to those seen today.’
Der Spiegel Demolishes Syria War-Climate Paper By Kelley et al.: ‘Hardly Tenable’…’Distraction From Real Problems’
Even BBC features harsh criticism of new study: ‘Their strong statement about a general causal link between climate and conflict is unwarranted by the empirical analysis that they provide’ — BBC: Rise in violence ‘linked to climate change’ — ‘Changes in temperature or rainfall correlated with a rise in assaults, rapes and murders’
Climate Depot Round Up Counters global warming/war claims:
Climate Depot’s rebuttal to Sen. John Kerry’s climate change/national security claims
Study: Cold spells were dark times in Eastern Europe: ‘Cooler periods coincided with conflicts and disease outbreaks’ –Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’: ‘Some of Eastern Europe’s greatest wars and plagues over the last millennium coincided with cold periods’ — ‘The Black Death in the mid-14th century, the Thirty Years’ War in the early 17th century, the French invasion of Russia in the early 19th century and other social upheavals occurred during cold spells. The team suggests food shortages could explain the timing of some of these events’
New study: Global cooling led to wars, famine and plagues in 1560-1660: Cold ’caused successive agro-ecological, socioeconomic, and demographic catastrophes’
Global Conflict Not Linked to Global Climate Change — ‘Wars in Burundi, Chad, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Peru, the Comoros, Congo, Eritrea, Niger, and Rwanda are so numerous that I could probably make a statistical argument that one in five wars are due to the AFC winning the Super Bowl’
Discovery News: Cold times led to angry runts, famine, and war; warm times led to The Renaissance
Remarkably sane article in Science : Warm periods are good, cold periods are bad
Time Mag reports: ‘Peaks of social disturbance such as rebellions, revolutions, & political reforms followed every decline of temperature’ — ‘Number of wars increased by 41% in Cold Phase’ — ‘Peaks of social disturbance such as rebellions, revolutions, and political reforms followed every decline of temperature, with a one- to 15-year time lag’
Study: Climate change ‘NOT to blame’ for African civil wars — ‘Climate variability in Africa does not seem to have a significant impact on risk of civil war’
A UN IPCC Scientist’s New Study! ‘Global Warming Sparks Fistfights & War, Researchers Say': ‘Will systematically increase the risk of many types of conflict ranging from barroom brawls & rape to civil wars & international disputes’ — Climate Depot Responds
Extreme weather failing to follow ‘global warming’ predictions: Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Droughts, Floods, Wildfires, all see no trend or declining trends