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Environment

Fracking

With a bevy of fellow senators and natural gas industry experts angling to jack up profits by boosting gas exports, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) had a reminder for them in a Senate hearing Thursday: You didn't build that gas boom -- taxpayers did. Natural gas prices have plummeted since 2005, as firms across the nation have aggressively deployed hydraulic fracturing technologies to extract gas from shale formations deep underground. That boom started with the work of George Mitchell's Mitchell Energy and Development Corp., which proved in Texas in the 1990s that fracking could work. But Franken wanted his colleagues to at least reflect on what it would mean for the people who made it all possible -- the taxpayers. "I want everyone here to understand who developed that technology, and who's responsible for that, and it's the taxpayers of the United States," Franken said in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. "We're hearing senators talk about discoveries of reserves of natural gas in their states as if this is just a discovery that happened out of nowhere," Franken said. "This is because of the taxpayers doing investments in research into three-dimensional microseismic imaging, done in Sandia National Labs." Indeed, while Mitchell is widely credited with sparking the natural gas resurgence, a number of researchers have pointed out that his efforts were made possible by decades of research that cost billions of dollars and were led by the federal government. "This whole renaissance in natural gas is due to research done by the Department of Energy paid for by the United States taxpayers," Franken said. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/29/al-franken-natural-gas_n_6573154.html

On Left Right and Center http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/left-right-center/2014-the-year-that-was Rich Lowry started off with the most consequential story of the year the drop in oil prices which he credits to fracking. Rich Lowry (1:51): I think the most consequential story of the year is the continued fracking revolution. That is utterly transforming the global oil market that is collapsing the price of gas and what will be an enormous benefit to American consumers and making the lives very uncomfortable for nasty little dictatorships around the world Venezuela and especial Vladimir Putin’s Russia which is in a free-fall and couldn't happen to a nicer person. Matt Miller: And now it seems before I get Bob into this also it does seem Rich this is one of those things that kind of came out of even though people knew about the US everywhere seems to have caught everybody who is smart by surprise Rich Lowry: Absolutely and this is just a phenomenon that just goes to the continued and this is very encouraging vitality and dynamism of the American economy. We owe this basically to very shrewd and ambitious people who pioneer these new methods of getting energy out of the ground and ten years ago no one would have predicted or very few people would have predicted it and it's utterly transformed the landscape.

Climate Change

A Shameful Climate Witch Hunt. By RICH LOWRY http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/02/opinion-rich-lowry-climate-change-115518.html

Behavior

Protest

Pussy Riot releases new video in support of Moscow protest. http://www.avclub.com/article/pussy-riot-releases-new-video-support-moscow-prote-213372

San Diego City Council Staffer Suspended Without Pay After Shooting Comment. A staffer for Councilwoman Lorie Zapf referred to police brutality protesters as “fucking idiots” and said “I wanted to shoot them” http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/dec/12/city-council-staffer-calls-inauguration-protesters/

Open Carry

open carry walk Royal Oak/Madison Heights short version. https://youtu.be/ZaXQbcACnbU?t=5m25s

Religion

All Charges Dropped Against Woman Who Vandalized Satanic Display in Florida Capitol. Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/03/22/all-charges-dropped-against-woman-who-vandalized-satanic-display-in-florida-capitol/

Herbert and Catherine Schaible are members of the First-Century Gospel Church, a faith healing group in northeast Philadelphia that relies on the advice given in James 5:14–15: Is anyone among you sick? Let him call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. After Kent died, Herbert said, “We tried to fight the Devil, but the Devil won.” http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/16/faith-based-medicine-is-snake-oil.html

Arkansas Legislator Justin Harris Performed Exorcisms On Adopted Daughters Before Giving Them Away: Report. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/13/justin-harris-exorcisms-arkansas_n_6861114.html

The Satanic Temple launches petition for 'discrimination transparency'. http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2015/03/12/the-satanic-temple-launches-petition-for-discrimination-transparency

The idea that “In God We Trust” isn’t meant to convey an exclusive religious message is insulting to the intellect. Surely, Mielke and the crusading IGWT zealots wouldn’t be eager to display in “In Allah We Trust,” though they might disingenuously argue that Allah is but another name for the same heavenly tyrant. Also, it shows an incomprehensible amount of ignorance to completely disregard the presence of non-believers, polytheists, and others who can’t possibly imagine the IGWT plaque to represent their religious opinions in any way. Fortunately, the Seattle chapter of The Satanic Temple, headed by one Lilith Starr, took note of the general discontent Mielke’s disgraceful idiocy has engendered, and is offering an alternative, or complementary, plaque that better reflects our American secular constitutional values of plurality and legal equality. The proposed plaque displays a border of symbols representing a diversity of religious views, centered with the phrase “E Pluribus Unum,” followed by its translation, “from the many, one”. If the IGWT plaque is truly believed, by those who endorse it, to reflect a broad range of religious opinions, surely nobody will object to more appropriate display of inclusion.

7 Satanic Strategies to Distract From Christianity. http://www.christianpost.com/news/7-satanic-strategies-to-distract-from-christianity-135044/

“HAIL SATAN! Let us stand now, unbowed and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds in darkened times. Let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat of the Tree of Knowledge and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old. Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not their fealty to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations. Let us reason our solutions with agnosticism in all things, holding fast only to that which is demonstrably true. Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of One or All. That which will not bend must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise. It is Done. Hail Satan.” http://youtu.be/bfNcpInSthk

The theft of a Celtic sea god sculpture from a mountainside in Northern Ireland must be labeled as a religious hate crime, a local pagan priest believes. The statue, made by a ‘Game of Thrones’ set creator, prompted a media stir after it was vandalized. The six-foot statue of Manannán Mac Lir, a sea deity in Irish mythology, was stolen from Binevenagh Mountain near Limavady in County Derry in January and replaced with a crucifix bearing the words “you shall have no other gods before me.” http://rt.com/news/228771-pagan-statue-theft-religion-crime/

Iceland to build first temple to Norse gods since Viking age. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/02/iceland-temple-norse-gods-1000-years

Glenn Beck Praises Woman Who Tore Down Satanist Display: 'I'm Glad At Least Somebody Is Standing Up' - See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-beck-praises-woman-who-tore-down-satanist-display-im-glad-least-somebody-standing

It occurs to me that my history of taking on religion might led to my murder. Oh, well. It’s worth it. http://rall.com/2015/01/14/will-i-be-killed-by-religious-fanatics

January 16 http://religiousfreedomday.com

After Paris shooting, Irish say it’s time to finally ditch their blasphemy law. In 2009, a new defamation law was adopted that included a definition of blasphemy and said it could be punished with a fine of up to 25,000 euros (almost $30,000). Blasphemy was hence defined as “publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion, with some defenses permitted." The new law and definition had been criticized by atheists and free speech advocates before they even went into force. Shortly before it passed, Michael Nugent, chairman of Atheist Ireland, argued that it "incentivizes outrage," while Eoin O'Dell, a senior lecturer in law at Trinity College Dublin, later told The Post that it was "literally medieval." "Under this proposed law," Nugent wrote in 2009, "if a person expresses one belief about gods, and other people think that this insults a different belief about gods, then these people can become outraged, and this outrage can make it illegal for the first person to express his or her beliefs." http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/01/13/after-paris-shooting-irish-say-its-time-to-finally-ditch-their-blasphemy-law/

Watchdog: Do tax breaks for churches favor believers over nonbelievers? Religious organizations in America are largely exempt from income, sales, property and other taxes – perks worth at least $71 billion a year in the U.S., according to a recent study that was quite conservative in its methodology. That translates into a break of some $7 billion a year for religious institutions in California, and some $700 million a year for those in Orange County. The totals are likely higher, as real estate (and nearly everything else) in California is more expensive than almost anywhere in the nation. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/tax-647039-churches-church.html

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Dec. 24 (UPI) -- A woman wearing a "Catholic Warrior" T-shirt was arrested on accusations of damaging the Satanic Temple's holiday display in the Florida Capitol, police said. Authorities said Susan Hemeryck, 54, a Tea Party activist, told a pair of Florida Department of Law Enforcement Capitol Police officers she was "sorry and had to take down the Satanic display" about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday because it was "not right." Police said the officers told Hemeryck not to remove the Satanic Temple's "Happy Holidays" display, and she responded by saying she "could not take it anymore" and started ripping the display apart. Read more: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2014/12/24/Police-Catholic-Warrior-damaged-satanic-display/2601419432415/#ixzz3ONienoMq

Photos: Township orders zombie Nativity scene removed. http://www.wlwt.com/news/30369258

Police State

Sheriffs Want Popular Police-Tracking App Disabled. "I do not think it is legitimate to ask a person-to-person communication to cease simply because it reports on publicly visible law enforcement, she said. She said a bigger concern among privacy advocates is how much information about customers Waze shares with law enforcement, since the service necessarily monitors their location continually as long as it's turned on. Brown and Kopelev raised concerns during the meeting of the National Sheriffs Association winter conference in Washington. They pointed to the Instagram account of the man accused of shooting two NYPD officers last month. Ismaaiyl Brinsley posted a screenshot from Waze on his Instagram account along with messages threatening police. Investigators do not believe he used Waze to ambush the officers, in part because police say Brinsley tossed his cellphone more than two miles from where he shot the officers. Kopelev said he hadn't heard about the Waze app until mid-December when he saw his wife using it. Afterward, Kopelev said he couldn't stop thinking about the app and was motivated to act by the NYPD shooting. While attending the funeral of one of the officers in New York, he spoke with Brown, his former boss. Brown asked Kopelev to discuss Waze at the upcoming sheriffs' association conference. Kopelev refers to his efforts as his "personal jihad. http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Sheriffs-Want-Popular-Police-Tracking-App-Disabled-289755401.html

Bullying and Sexism

Holy. Crap. A week in the tweet reply feed of @femfreq. Holy. Crap. http://t.co/KlouggcNYV https://t.co/eufMOpsHJn

In hindsight, Bill Cosby’s old books on love, sex and family are incredibly creepy. As a boy, Cosby liked to hurt little girls, because they deserved it. “If a girl wandered on to a football field where I was playing,” he writes of his sports-obsessed childhood, “I might make knocking her down part of my fly pattern, for a girl was only an honorary human being; and if my roller skating assumed a certain grand sweep, a girl or two might hit the cement, not an unfitting position for such a lesser part of humanity.” Cosby makes no apology for this violence. Girls were a “kind of dopey enemy,” he explains, and boys like him simply “practiced the violence that was so essential to their becoming men.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2015/01/27/in-hindsight-bill-cosbys-old-books-on-love-sex-and-family-are-incredibly-creepy/

Crime

Gun Violence

Gun Threats and Self-Defense Gun Use. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/firearms-research/gun-threats-and-self-defense-gun-use-2/

The Myth Behind Defensive Gun Ownership. Guns are more likely to do harm than good. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/defensive-gun-ownership-myth-114262.html

ARLINGTON A woman accused of shooting her husband and his adult daughter called a friend Wednesday and told him she did it, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained Thursday by the Star-Telegram. Veronica Dunnachie, 35, was arrested Wednesday in the deaths of Russ Dunnachie, 50, and Kimberly Dunnachie, 20. They were found in Russ Dunnachie’s home in the 2500 block of Edinburgh Street in Arlington by patrol officers who were making a welfare check, according to the affidavit. The suspect has been involved in area open-carry activities and has this quotation on her Facebook page: “Sometimes removing some people out of your life makes room for better people.” Her profile photo shows her aiming a gun. Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article4428614.html#storylink=cpy

Rethinking Gun Control. Surprising findings from a comprehensive report on gun violence. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_nature/2013/06/handguns_suicides_mass_shootings_deaths_and_self_defense_findings_from_a.html

Cop Crime

CHP officer pleads no contest to sharing explicit photos of female arrestees, avoids jail. Disgraced former California Highway Patrol officer Sean Harrington pleaded no contest Tuesday to two felony counts of secretly copying and sharing explicit photos of female DUI suspects, but he will avoid serving any time in jail. Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Terri Mockler said she struggled with his punishment but in the end gave him a 180-day suspended jail sentence for the two felony computer theft charges. As long as he follows the terms of his probation and attends violence-prevention classes, Harrington will not spend time behind bars. However, his law enforcement career is almost certainly over. Mockler read a quote from Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the early women’s rights activist: “Women’s degradation is in man’s idea of his sexual rights. Our religion, laws, customs, are all founded on the belief that woman was made for man.” “To me, that sums up what happened here,” the judge said. http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20150127/chp-officer-pleads-no-contest-to-sharing-explicit-photos-of-female-arrestees-avoids-jail

Washington Cop Attempts to Incite Photographer by Invading Personal Space. One tactic we occasionally see is when a cop stands directly in your personal space, close enough where he can kiss you, claiming he has the right to stand where he pleases – when you know if you would do the same to him, he would fear for his life and kill you. What they’re really doing is hoping the citizen pushes the cop off or punches him in the face, which you will see is very tempting in this video where a smug Tacoma cop named Barry Paris does his best to incite photographer Scott Shimek, not only standing in his personal space, but brushing up against him for no reason. Paris is a veteran cop who shot an innocent man in 1996, resulting in a $538,000 settlement for the victim with no disciplinary action against him, so he learned early on he can get away with anything. The latest incident took place Tuesday as Shimek aka Rogue Reflections was photographing a union protest in front of a hospital. As he was photographing the protest, he noticed undercover Tacoma cops following and video recording him, so he turned his camera on them. After 45 minutes, he crossed the street and was issued a jaywalking citation, even though several cops and protesters were also crossing the street in the same area. http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2014/11/tacoma-cop-incite-photographer-barry-paris/

Cops, CIA Share a Culture of Lawlessness. From Ferguson to Staten Island to Langley, we need to get our security forces under control. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/12/cops-cia-share-a-culture-of-lawlessness.html

San Diego

Trolley Cops Mostly Swarm These Two Areas. http://voiceofsandiego.org/2015/01/13/trolley-cops-mostly-swarm-these-two-areas/

Violent Online Threats

The Cops Don't Care About Violent Online Threats. What Do We Do Now? http://jezebel.com/the-cops-dont-care-about-violent-online-threats-what-d-1682577343/+tcberman

Sex Crimes

Conservative Scold Ken Starr Got a Billionaire Pedophile Off. Many believe Jeffrey Epstein could have been jailed for life for violating scores of underage girls, but Ken Starr and the rest of his legal team got him a deal. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/30/conservative-scold-ken-starr-got-a-billionaire-pedophile-off.html

War

Cyber War

The FBI told their story about North Korea attacking Sony. Before we retaliate, read what they didn’t tell you. http://fabiusmaximus.com/2014/12/20/rebuttal-holes-fbi-north-korea-sony-attack-74873/

Terror

CIA sometimes overlooks Islamic extremists, Vegas intelligence expert says http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/military/cia-sometimes-overlooks-islamic-extremists-vegas-intelligence-expert-says

Iraq IS Daesh

Hagel dismisses usefulness of body counts in Islamic State fight. http://www.stripes.com/hagel-dismisses-usefulness-of-body-counts-in-islamic-state-fight-1.325289

Don’t believe the U.S. military when it says it doesn’t keep body counts. http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/01/22/dont-believe-the-u-s-military-when-it-says-it-doesnt-keep-body-counts/

Secretary of State John Kerry is a distinguished diplomat with impeccable manners -- but that doesn't mean he's above lobbing a well-placed insult when it comes to enemies of the United States. Kerry made clear earlier this week that he is committed to referring to the Islamic State as "Daesh," a name that the group considers so degrading that it has threatened to kill anyone under Islamic State rule who uses it. The Islamic State's opponents in the Muslim world have already embraced the name. "Daesh" is an acronym for the Arabic phrase meaning the "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria" (though the last word can also be translated as "Damascus" or "Levant"), and it is thought to offend the extremist group because it sounds similar to an Arabic word for crushing something underfoot. Daesh in Arabic "sounds like something monstrous. ... It's a way of stigmatizing [the Islamic State], making it something ugly," Joseph Bahout, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/11/kerry-daesh-isil_n_6309664.html

Iraq Bush War

“The truth is unspeakable”: A real American sniper unloads on “American Sniper” "The truth is unspeakable," says real-life American sniper who wants nothing to do with a dangerous propaganda film Take Garett’s first hit, the one he described as giving him a feeling of ecstasy. The feeling did not last long. His target was not dead. “I remember looking back and he was down in the middle of the road arching his body, spinning on his back and screaming and pulling on his stomach as if I shot him with an arrow and he was trying to pull it out. All the sense of satisfaction just washed away and this horror filled it — this sadness, anger and frustration. I was mad at him that he just didn’t die. I ended up putting another three rounds down and he finally stopped moving. That was the first time I took another life.” There is a long pause on the other end of my phone. “He looked like he could have been my father. Who knows why he was out there fighting. A lot of people were fighting us because they did not want to be occupied or because they had family members who were hurt or killed and they wanted to get some sort of vengeance. By the end of my tour, it was really hard to justify killing them. We should not have been there in the first place.” While in Iraq, Garett was told by an army chaplain that a stronger belief in God would alleviate the guilt he was feeling. God was on America’s side, and Garett was fighting for God and country. Get over it, soldier. Once home, he sought treatment for his PTSD from a Veterans Administration hospital and heard the same message delivered in a different way. “I was taken aside more than once at the VA [during group therapy] and told that the VA is not a platform to express my political views. My recovery hinged on the fact that I felt guilt and shame over committing atrocities against an occupied country. We went over there and brutalized and oppressed, and that is part of my psychological and moral injuries. If I can’t talk about it at the VA, then the VA can’t help me.” http://www.salon.com/2015/02/04/this_american_sniper_didnt_keep_track_of_his_kills_and_hates_that_i_ask_him/

CIA job interview leads to criminal investigation of Green Beret Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn was investigated by the Army Criminal Investigation Command for an undisclosed violation of the U.S. military’s rules of engagement in 2010 that resulted in the death of a known enemy fighter and bombmaker in Helmand province, Afghanistan, according to the officials. The Army closed a lengthy investigation last summer without charging Golsteyn with any crime, but Army Secretary John McHugh revoked a Silver Star that Golsteyn had been awarded for heroism on Feb. 20, 2010, during the iconic Battle of Marja. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/02/06/cia-job-interview-led-to-criminal-investigation-of-green-beret/

Average Soldiers Don’t Trust Their Generals and They Have a Point. A survey last year showed only 27% of the military felt senior leaders looked out for their best interests. To fix the morale crisis generals need to stop acting like politicians. The instances Mr. Hunter documents are the kind of maddeningly stupid, petty bureaucratic abuses that have been a part of military life for years. What's new, and what is far more politically detestable and damaging to morale, is the growing recognition that our armed forces have become military proxies for Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni nations, (a.k.a. our Muslim "allies"), and that our middle eastern "friends" are directly responsible for the funding and encouragement of the worst terrorists on the Planet. In other words, the U.S. military is fighting as a Sunni proxy against other Sunni proxies who've now gone rogue and want to destroy their benefactors, our "allies." I can't imagine anything sapping the morale of the troops more than the knowledge that almost 7,000 troops have been killed and tens of thousands have been maimed fighting to (allegedly) liberate people who wouldn't squat and piss on them if they were in flames, and have little if any interest in democratic governance or western values. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/03/average-soldiers-don-t-trust-their-generals-and-they-have-a-point.html

U.S. gunfire kills two Reuters employees in Baghdad By David Finkel http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040601368.html

Afghanistan Bush War

Task Force Violent http://www.militarytimes.com/longform/military/2015/03/19/task-force-violent-part-3/24309667/

Ukraine

Threat of new Russian incursion as violence flares in Ukraine. http://www.stripes.com/news/threat-of-new-russian-incursion-as-violence-flares-in-ukraine-1.325166

Troops and Veterans

Irregular Army: How the US Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight the War on Terror, Matt Kennard Just weeks before the hardcover edition of Irregular Army came out in September 2012, a neo-Nazi US Army veteran walked into a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and shot dead six worshippers. A topic that had never managed to hold the interest of the American media during the War on Terror—the extremists being trained by the country's military—suddenly moved front and center. Many Americans wondered how this white supremacist could have survived in the military for so long; surely something must have gone wrong. But the Wisconsin shooter, Wade Michael Page, was merely one of many far-right radicals who have used the US military over the past two decades to gain access to the highest-grade weaponry in the world, alongside attendant training. The Springfield semiautomatic 9mm handgun used by Page in Oak Creek was, for instance, very similar to the Beretta M9, the civilian version of the pistol issued by the US military. And neo-Nazi veterans, like Page, were explicit about wanting to use their new military skills in the coming race war they hoped would ignite in the US. Page's heavy-metal white-power band, called End Apathy, was itself a call to arms. According to a 2010 interview he gave to a white supremacist website, he wanted to "figure out how to end people's apathetic ways"; the band was meant to "be the start towards moving forward." http://www.vice.com/read/american-isis-the-domestic-terrorist-fallout-of-the-iraq-war-213

Army cites investigation in revoking Green Beret's Silver Star. http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/2015/02/05/green-beret-matt-golsteyn-silver-star-stripped-investigation/22930207/

Ventura won't see 'American Sniper'; says Kyle is no hero. https://www.yahoo.com/movies/s/ventura-wont-see-american-sniper-says-kyle-no-214839865.html

Female vet harassed for parking in reserved spot resonates with other servicewomen (+video). In a recent incident in North Carolina, a female veteran received a nasty note after pulling into a veterans-only parking space at a grocery store. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2015/0123/Female-vet-harassed-for-parking-in-reserved-spot-resonates-with-other-servicewomen-video

Muslim sailor sues for right to reenlist and wear beard. Berts, an African American and native of San Francisco, served on the dock landing ship Fort McHenry at Whidbey Island, Wash., and with a beachmaster unit in Coronado before being assigned as a military history and physical education instructor at the Navy training site at Great Lakes, Ill. At Great Lakes, he was allegedly subjected to a “barrage of derogatory terms, anti-Islamic slurs, and inappropriate lines of questions about his religious beliefs and loyalty to the United States,” according to the lawsuit. Among other things, a senior noncommissioned officer repeatedly used slurs involving race and religion when addressing Berts, the lawsuit contends. Backed by Navy chaplains, Berts was seeking permission to wear a beard, which was permitted under Navy rules. The rules give commanders discretion to grant such permission. Berts’ request and appeal were denied, according to the lawsuit. After his “religious accommodation” appeal was denied, he was “removed from his teaching duties…and stationed in an abandoned roach-infested building” guarding obsolete office equipment, the lawsuit contends. He became depressed and had difficulty sleeping, the lawsuit adds. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-muslim-sailor-beard-20150110-story.html

The real American Sniper was a hate-filled killer. Why are simplistic patriots treating him as a hero? Chris Kyle, a US navy Seal from Texas, was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and claimed to have killed more than 255 people during his six-year military career. In his memoir, Kyle reportedly described killing as “fun”, something he “loved”; he was unwavering in his belief that everyone he shot was a “bad guy”. “I hate the damn savages,” he wrote. “I couldn’t give a flying fuck about the Iraqis.” He bragged about murdering looters during Hurricane Katrina, though that was never substantiated. He was murdered in 2013 at a Texas gun range by a 25-year-old veteran reportedly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/06/real-american-sniper-hate-filled-killer-why-patriots-calling-hero-chris-kyle

A worsening morale crisis AFTER 13 YEARS OF WAR, TROOPS FEEL BURNED OUT AND WITHOUT A SENSE OF MISSION. MORE DOUBT THEIR LEADERS AND THEIR JOB SECURITY. http://www.militarytimes.com/longform/military/2014/12/07/americas-military-a-force-adrift/18596571/

Christian War

Why 'Have a blessed day' greeting rattled the Air Force. When some airmen complained, gate guards at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia were told to stop saying 'Have a blessed day.' A minor uproar caused the Air Force to again allow the greeting. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2015/0313/Why-Have-a-blessed-day-greeting-rattled-the-Air-Force

Crime and Corruption

The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors have recommended bringing felony charges against retired Gen. David H. Petraeus for providing classified information to his former mistress while he was director of the C.I.A., officials said, leaving Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to decide whether to seek an indictment that could send the pre-eminent military officer of his generation to prison. The Justice Department investigation stems from an affair Mr. Petraeus had with Paula Broadwell, an Army Reserve officer who was writing his biography, and focuses on whether he gave her access to his C.I.A. email account and other highly classified information. F.B.I. agents discovered classified documents on her computer after Mr. Petraeus resigned from the C.I.A. in 2012 when the affair became public. Mr. Petraeus, a retired four-star general who served as commander of American forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has said he never provided classified information to Ms. Broadwell, and has indicated to the Justice Department that he has no interest in a plea deal that would spare him an embarrassing trial. A lawyer for Mr. Petraeus, Robert B. Barnett, said Friday he had no comment. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/us/politics/prosecutors-said-to-recommend-charges-against-former-gen-david-petraeus.html

Navy Commander Pleads Guilty In Massive Bribery Case. Jose Luis Sanchez entered the plea at a Tuesday hearing in San Diego federal court. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced March 27. A judge agreed to let Sanchez remove a GPS monitor while free on bond. Sanchez was accused of accepting bribes, including prostitutes and travel, for steering Navy ships to Leonard Glenn Francis, chief executive of a Singapore-based company that provided services to vessels at ports. Francis has pleaded not guilty. http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/jan/06/navy-commander-pleads-guilty-massive-bribery-case/

Torture

BUSH WHITE HOUSE’S REPEATED TORTURE DENIALS LED CIA TORTURERS TO SEEK REPEATED REASSURANCES https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/02/bush-white-houses-repeated-torture-denials-led-cia-torturers-seek-repeated-reassurance/

MEET ALFREDA BIKOWSKY, THE SENIOR OFFICER AT THE CENTER OF THE CIA’S TORTURE SCANDALS https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/12/19/senior-cia-officer-center-torture-scandals-alfreda-bikowsky/

They Said ‘No’ to Torture: The Real Heroes of the Bush Years. The opposition to torture within the CIA was so strong, Mayer reports, that the CIA Inspector General, John Helgerson, “conducted a serious and influential internal investigation.” That led the Justice Department to “ask the CIA to suspend the torture program”—at least “until it could be reconciled with the law.” The heroes in the torture report include Ali Soufan, former FBI agent and interrogator of terrorists who, according to Lawrence Wright in The Looming Tower, came closer than anyone to preventing the 9/11 attacks. Soufan has argued publicly against torture and in favor of “rapport-building” as the best technique to get information from suspects. The CIA heavily censored his memoir The Black Banners in what Wright called an effort “to punish a critic and to obscure history.” He was featured in a Frontline documentary made by Martin Smith and James Gilmore. Another hero: Alberto Mora. As general counsel of the Navy in 2004, Jane Mayer reported, he tried to stop the torture program. He told his superiors at the Pentagon that the Bush torture policy violated the Geneva Conventions’ prohibition of torture and “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.” He described the Bush program as “unlawful” and “dangerous,” and warned that the torturers could face criminal prosecution. He was featured in the documentary Taxi to the Dark Side by Alex Gibney (which won the Best Documentary Oscar in 2007). Some of the heroes were ordinary soldiers, like Sgt. Joe Darby, who first revealed the Abu Ghraib abuses. As a result,” Luban points out, he “had to live under armed protection for six months.” Others were high officials, like Philip Zelikow, an adviser to Condoleezza Rice, who, Luban reports, wrote an “anti-torture memo” that the White House “attempted to destroy.” And there was Ian Fishback, an army captain who reported that his own unit was abusing Iraqi prisoners. Eventually he wrote an open letter to Senator John McCain, asking, “Do we sacrifice our ideals in order to preserve security?” His answer: “I would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is ‘America.’ ” http://www.thenation.com/blog/192873/they-said-no-torture-real-heroes-bush-years#

Imprisoned Former CIA Agent John Kiriakou Speaks About Torture, Prison, and the Future. A jailhouse interview with the man whose disclosures prompted this week’s damning torture report. http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/capitalcomment/national-security/imprisoned-former-cia-agent-john-kiriakou-speaks-about-torture-prison-and-the-future.php

CIA morale 'deeply hurt' following Senate report. The US Senate report on the CIA's interrogation methods has unleashed a fierce debate about America's intelligence services. CIA director John Brennan has defended his agency's program, in contrast to President Obama. With a reference to history, Ullman said he expects little to change in the future. "We had the attempted assassination of Fidel Castro by two administrations. We had Jack Kennedy working with the Mafia. I mean, it's absurd. But the fact of the matter is this is unfortunately the way governments operate." Bamford called it outrageous that there will apparently not be any legal consequences for the perpetrators of the murder and torture. Ullman, however, sees things differently. "They had the findings of the president, the authorization of the president, and the findings of the attorney general that this was legal," he said. "If anybody is to be prosecuted, it seems to me it should be the president." http://www.dw.de/cia-morale-deeply-hurt-following-senate-report/a-18124389

Those still searching for their moral compass after being confronted by the repulsive facts in the Senate’s report on torture should take a cue from the one man in Washington who actually knows what it is like to be beaten, humiliated, starved, and isolated — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). When the controversial report was released Tuesday, McCain broke with his own party and spoke passionately on the Senate floor in favor of the release of the report. McCain said that the use of torture, “did much harm and little practical good,” adding that it “stained our national honor.” http://news.usni.org/2014/12/12/opinion-john-mccain-senate-torture-report-revolutionary-war

FLOOR STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE REPORT ON CIA INTERROGATION METHODS http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=1a15e343-66b0-473f-b0c1-a58f984db996 http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2014/1210/Torture-John-McCain-s-unique-brutal-perspective-video

Americans are deeply divided about torture. http://theconversation.com/americans-are-deeply-divided-about-torture-35350

Who would Jesus torture? If it was conclusively proven that torture is not effective in intelligence gathering would you still torture?

Competing claims of torture effectiveness http://bigstory.ap.org/article/67fea22c39e84ce5b210347a676fa499/competing-claims-torture-effectiveness

Dianne Feinstein leaving intelligence job amid clash on tactics report. http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/la-na-feinstein-intel-20141207-story.html#page=1

Spying

Petraeus must be prosecuted. The Broadwell affair capped an ignoble history of betraying those he was sworn to serve. http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/1/david-petraeus-felonychargespaulabroadwell.html

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, STRONG ADVOCATE OF LEAK PROSECUTIONS, DEMANDS IMMUNITY FOR DAVID PETRAEUS https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/01/12/dianne-feinstein-advocate-whistleblower-prosecutions-demands-immunity-david-petraeus/

Border

Smuggling

Drone Carrying Meth Crashes Near San Ysidro Port of Entry. Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Drone-Carrying-Meth-Crashes-Near-San-Ysidro-Port-of-Entry-289353601.html

Checkpoints

Incidents at Border Patrol checkpoints spur complaints. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2015/01/30/teacher-legal-guns-triggers-cbp-checkpoint-incident/22634247/

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