Monday - December 31, 2012

9 NATO oil tankers torched in eastern Afghanistan
Press TV - The incident occurred on Sunday when a bomb planted in a fuel tanker detonated in a terminal near the airport, where NATO oil tankers were parked. Jalalabad Airport, which is located five kilometers (three miles) southeast of Jalalabad, is currently used only for military purposes and is seen as the second largest US airbase in Afghanistan.

Al-Qaida offers bounty for US ambassador in Yemen
RT - An audio message produced by the al-Malahem Foundation, Al-Qaeda’s media arm, and posted on militant Islamist websites on Saturday, said the group is offering 3kg of gold, worth $160,000, for the ambassador’s head. It is also offering 5 million Yemeni Riyal (US$23,000) to anyone who kills an American soldier in Yemen.

US sends military forces to Chad
Press TV - The United States has sent its military forces to Chad under the pretext of protecting the lives of American citizens in the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR).

Germany to make final decision on Saudi arms deal
Press TV - The German government and its national security council are to make the final decision on supplying Riyadh with 30 advanced and modern armored vehicles, called the Dingo 2, which are worth about 100 million euros, according to German reports on Sunday. Sources reportedly involved in the negotiations said Riyadh wants to purchase a total of 100 of the “Dingo” vehicles, which can be deployed in cases of war or riot.

UN Syria 'Peace Plan' a Fraud
Activist Post - UN "peace envoy" Lakhdar Brahimi is attempting to broker a transitional government ahead of proposed elections in Syria. For Brahimi, his efforts are not only in vain, they are entirely disingenuous. The proposal of a "transitional government" in the midst of what is in fact a foreign invasion, funded, armed, and perpetuated openly by foreign interests violates both Syria's sovereignty and the UN's own founding charter.

Executives At Collapsed Iceland Bank Jailed For Fraud
Reuters - Two former executives at an Icelandic bank which collapsed in the 2008 financial meltdown were sentenced to jail on Friday for fraud which led to a 53 million euro loss, in the first major trial of Icelandic bankers linked to the crisis.

Tokyo Almost As Irradiated As Fukushima
Zero Hedge - We’ve documented the spread of radiation from Fukushima to Tokyo for a year and a half.... Unfortunately, as the following recent headlines from Ene News show, things are only getting worse...

VIDEO: Obama to Put “Full Weight” Behind Feinstein Gun Confiscation Plan
Kurt Nimmo - President Obama went on Meet the Press Sunday and said he will put his “full weight” behind passing new restrictions on the Second Amendment in 2013.

Adam Lanza's dead body to be used to criminalize innocents who have similar gene
(NaturalNews) According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, researchers from the University of Connecticut have been tasked with dissecting the dead body of Adam Lanza, the young man accused of killing 20 children and six adults at the school, in search of a malformed or mutated gene that may have triggered his alleged bout of violent rage that fateful December 14 morning.

VIDEO: Blog turns tables on gun map paper
Politico - A blogger who retaliated against a New York newspaper that came under fire for identifying people with gun licenses in its circulation area explained on Thursday why he published the names and home addresses of the paper’s employees.
* Related Article: Journal News To List More Gun Permit Holders After Uproar

Piers Morgan to Leave U.S. if Second Amendment Not Repealed
Kurt Nimmo - On Saturday, CNN host Piers Morgan threatened to deport himself if the United States government does not roll back the Second Amendment.

25 Years Murder Free In ‘Gun Town USA’
WND - In March 1982, 25 years ago, the small town of Kennesaw – responding to a handgun ban in Morton Grove, Ill. – unanimously passed an ordinance requiring each head of household to own and maintain a gun. Since then, despite dire predictions of “Wild West” showdowns and increased violence and accidents, not a single resident has been involved in a fatal shooting – as a victim, attacker or defender.
* Related Article: California gun sales jump; gun injuries, deaths fall

Merry Christmas and Happy Gun Control, Chicago
LRC Blog - Chicago, one of America’s most Nazified, anti-gun cities, has just recorded its 500th homicide. This is another banner year for Rahm Emanuel’s tightly controlled non-gun “paradise.”

YouTube: Understanding The 2013 NDAA: Part 2- Section 1029
Ben Swann takes a look at the 2013 NDAA and section 1029 also known as the Gohmert Amendment which guarantees the right to trial in an Article III court. But is this section 1029 ineffective? Make sure you check out Part 1- the Feinstein/Lee Amendment.

VIDEO: Insiders Warn of More False Flags to Confiscate Guns
Activist Post - My sources, retired ex-feds, tell me that America is in much more danger than just a looming and catastrophic depression, resulting food riots and extreme government suppression of civil disobedience. Soon, if my sources are correct, nobody will be safe, not even the politicians.

YouTube: Libertarians Not Welcome Here, Says NH State Rep
Tom Woods talks about the recent comments of Rep. Cynthia Chase, who is appalled that people who believe in nonviolence are moving to her state.

VIDEO: Army seeks regulatory exemption for DU in Hawaiʻi as doctors find uranium in people’s urine
dmzhawaii.org - After falsely claiming that the Army had not used Depleted Uranium (DU) in Hawaiʻi, the Army now admits to DU contamination in Schofield (Līhuʻe, Oʻahu) and Pōhakuloa Training Area. The Hawaiʻi County Council passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on live fire training in Pōhakuloa as long as DU contamination is present.

Obama Orders Pay Raise for Biden, Members of Congress, Federal Workers by Executive Order
weeklystandard.com - President Barack Obama issued an executive order to end the pay freeze on federal employees, in effect giving some federal workers a raise.... Here's the list of new wages, as attached to President Obama's executive order...

YouTube: Ron Paul: Republicans And Democrats Pretend They're Fighting
CNBC 12/28/2012 - Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) Joins CNBC's Money in Motion to discuss the impending fiscal cliff.

VIDEO: How The Fed’s Quantitative Easing Increases World Hunger
triplepundit.com - The United Nations (UN) FAO Food Price Index jumped 25 percent in 2010. And according to the World Bank, they sent 44 million people into poverty in that year alone.... Some people put the blame on biofuels. But, the people I spoke with in the biofuel industry claim that their contribution is quite small, pointing out that, for example, while 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop is used for ethanol production, roughly one third of that is recycled back into animal feed in the form of distillers dry grain. So what is causing food prices to go up?

US preparing for military invasion in Syria: Israel
Press TV - Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya'alon told Israel Radio on Thursday that Israeli officials were in close touch with their American counterparts about the latest developments in Syria. He added that at the current juncture there was no fear that Syria would use its alleged chemical weapons against Israel.

Palestinians may take Israel to ICC over child detentions
RT - Palestinian authorities are considering taking legal action against Israel over hundreds of Palestinian children being detained, with some reportedly maltreated.

Iraq militia group warns Turkey
Press TV - An Iraqi militia group threatens to target Turkish interests in response to, what it has denounced as, Turkey’s “blatant interference” in Iraq’s internal affairs.

Malian PM calls for swift African-led military intervention
Press TV - Malian Prime Minister Diango Cissoko has called for an immediate African-led military intervention in the country to help the Malian government battle the militants controlling the northern part of the West African country.

When U.S. drones kill civilians, Yemen’s government tries to conceal it
Washington Post - U.S. airstrikes have killed numerous civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other parts of the world, and those governments have spoken against the attacks. But in Yemen, the weak government has often tried to hide civilian casualties from the public, fearing repercussions in a nation where hostility toward U.S. policies is widespread.

USS John Stennis enters Persian Gulf
Voice of Russia - The American aircraft carrier USS John Stennis has passed the Strait of Hormuz and entered the Persian Gulf after patrolling the Arabian Sea together with a guided missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay, the US Navy reports. The warship is currently docked in Saudi Arabia’s port of Jebel Ali.

Japan security firm to offer private drone
phys.org - A Japanese security company plans to rent out a private drone that takes off when intruder alarms are tripped and records footage of break-ins as they happen, a spokeswoman said on Thursday. The helicopter-like device is equipped with a small surveillance camera that can transmit live pictures of a crime taking place.

VIDEO: Mayan Apocalypse Results in Damaged Pyramid Caused by Tourists
Fox News Latino - While Gomez did not provide specific details on the damage, he indicated it is irreparable. There is a reason, he said, why climbing the stairs is forbidden at the site. The now ruined Temple II is described as one of the site’s best known structures and located about 340 miles north of Guatemala City.

American Gun Owners to be Fingerprinted and Registered: Feinstein Announces Nightmare Plan
Infowars.com - California Democrat Dianne Feinstein will introduce legislation in January calling for the fingerprinting and registering of all gun owners in the United States. On her Senate web page, Feinstein states her proposed legislation will add fingerprinting and photo identification to the National Firearms Act.

VIDEO: By calling for gun control, you are unleashing your own worst nightmare - Must see video!
Mike Adams - By screaming about how they wish to destroy the Second Amendment and disarm the American people, collectivist media gun grabbers and “school shooting doomsday” fear mongers have managed to do exactly what they hoped NOT to do: They have pushed millions of AR-15s and hundreds of millions of rounds of ammunition into the private hands of Americans.

VIDEO: Piers Morgan: Time for an ‘Amendment to the Bible’
mediaite.com - CNN’s Piers Morgan, who has come under fire for his vocal support of gun control and his strident opposition to gun enthusiasts, one of whom he denounced on his show as an “unbelievably stupid man,” has stepped in another hornet’s nest.

White House Set to Ignore Piers Morgan Petition
Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones - Given the fact that the Obama administration has failed to respond to dozens of petitions advocating states secede from the union, it seems almost inevitable that the White House will also ignore the petition to deport Piers Morgan for his rhetorical assault on the constitutional rights of American citizens.

VIDEO: Cops told NBC not to use gun clip
Politico - NBC was told by the Washington police that it was “not permissible” to show a high-capacity gun magazine on air before Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” according to a statement Wednesday from the cops.
* Related Article: The latest claim is that Gregory got bad advice...

The Bill of Rights is not negotiable - SHARE this urgent declaration
(NaturalNews) The Bill of Rights describes a set of individual rights and liberties which are not granted by government, but recognized as DIVINE rights given to use by our Creator. Because government never granted the rights in the first place, it has no authority to take them away.

If You Are On This List You May Be In Grave Danger
Mac Slavo - Much to the amusement of those who would confiscate firearms from law abiding citizens, the list, complete with an interactive map, essentially allows those who are preparing to commit such crimes as burglary, robbery or worse to locate specific addresses where residents are armed.

Marines to Undergo Random Breathalyzer Tests
LA Times - Starting Jan. 1, Marines at Camp Pendleton and other bases will be subject to random Breathalyzer tests twice a year under what is billed as the toughest anti-drinking policy in the U.S. military.

Charity Begins With Wealth Creation
John Stossel - Charity—helping people who have trouble helping themselves—is a good thing two times over. It’s good for the beneficiary and good for the donor, too. Stephen Post's fine book, The Hidden Gifts of Helping, reveals that 76 percent of Americans say that helping others is what makes them most happy. Giving money makes us feel good, and helping face-to-face is even better.

Government Dependents Outnumber Those With Private Sector Jobs In 11 U.S. States
Economic Collapse - America is rapidly becoming a nation of takers. An increasing number of Americans expect the government to take care of them from the cradle to the grave, and they expect the government to dig into the pockets of others in order to pay for it all.... In 11 different U.S. states, the number of government dependents exceeds the number of private sector workers.

VIDEO: Thousands of Turkish people protest planned deployment of NATO missiles
Press TV - Thousands of Turkish people protest planned deployment of NATO missiles
Thousands of Turkish people have taken to the streets to protest against the plan to deploy advanced surface-to-air Patriot missiles near the Syrian border, Press TV reports.

VIDEO: Govt shelling kills 20 in northern Syria, including 8 children – activists
RT - (GRAPHIC VIDEO) A video has appeared online, allegedly showing the aftermath of a shelling in Raqqa, a northern Syrian province. Activists claim that the graphic footage shows the bodies of the 20 victims of the attack, including eight children. Media report that the amateur video was provided by the UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human rights.

VIDEO: Syria army police chief defects
BBC - The commander of Syria's military police has defected from President Bashar-al Assad's government and reportedly fled to Turkey. Lt Gen Abulaziz al-Shalal is one of the highest-ranking officials to join the uprising against the Syrian regime. The army had failed to protect Syrians and turned into "gangs of murder", the general said in a video statement.

Japan Election 'An Incredible Dissociation From Public Opinion'
Activist Post - In a recent article I wondered why the heck people would be so crazy as to vote for the pro-nuke Liberal Democratic Party in Japan’s election. Though citizens are overwhelmingly anti-nuclear, they still “elected” a pro-nuke party.... It may be true that “[t]he public were looking for a way to punish the ruling Democratic Party of Japan for its policy failures”. But they may get the opposite of what they want. That is called cutting off your nose to spite your face. Ouch!

UK Doctors' kitchen knives ban call
BBC - A&E doctors are calling for a ban on long pointed kitchen knives to reduce deaths from stabbing. A team from West Middlesex University Hospital said violent crime is on the increase - and kitchen knives are used in as many as half of all stabbings. They argued many assaults are committed impulsively, prompted by alcohol and drugs, and a kitchen knife often makes an all too available weapon.

New MRSA superbug strain found in UK milk supply
Independent - A new strain of MRSA has been found in British milk, indicating that the superbug is spreading through the livestock population and poses a growing threat to human health. The new strain, MRSA ST398, has been identified in seven samples of bulk milk from five different farms in England.

Report: GOP senators won’t confirm Kerry until Clinton testifies on Benghazi
Washington Examiner - “The Senate is expected to take up Kerry’s nomination in early January, but multiple Republican senators have already said they won’t agree to a vote on Kerry’s nomination until Clinton testifies about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi,” The Cable’s Josh Rogin notes.
* Related Article: Where's Hillary?

Brits Petition Government: We Don’t Want Piers Morgan Back
Paul Joseph Watson - Clarkson: ‘It took us 40 years to get rid of him’. Brits have responded to the petition calling on the White House to deport Piers Morgan for his anti-second amendment stance by lodging a petition of their own with UK Home Secretary Theresa May entitled ‘Stop Piers Morgan from being deported back to the UK from America’.... “We got rid of him once and why should we have to suffer again. The Americans wanted him so they should put up with him. We washed our hands of him a long time ago,” the petition reads.

Feinstein & Cuomo Admit Planning Australian Style Government Gun Buy Back
ammoland.com - While details are scant in both Feinstein’s and Cuomo’s press release on the plan, Cuomo was quoted as making it clear that the buyback would be compulsory and participation mandatory. Although it remains a question what the penalties for non compliance would be. Cuomo further added that they would make gun owners “an offer they can’t refuse” when referring to buyback amounts of up to 500 dollars.

CA Lawmakers Take Aim at Gun Rights
capoliticalreview.com - California already has the toughest gun regulations of any state, yet legislators (including a Republican) have introduced a long list of new proposals at news conferences where they used the Connecticut tragedy to grandstand.

Gunman Who Killed 2 Firefighters Left Chilling Note
NY Times - Last summer, Mr. Kohut had asked him if he wanted a beer because it was a hot day. “He said, ‘No, because I’m on meds,’ ” Mr. Kohut recalled Tuesday...

10 Predictions for 2013
Activist Post - As we enter 2013, time itself seems to be speeding up or condensing to make the potential for dramatic events more likely. Tipping points appear to have been breached on many fronts, and what waits on the other side is difficult to know.

Obama cuts vacation short as 'fiscal cliff' looms
CBS News - Obama was expected to arrive in Washington early Thursday, the White House said late Tuesday. First lady Michelle Obama and the couple's two daughters are scheduled to remain in Hawaii until Jan. 6.... Congress was expected to return to Washington on Thursday.

Social Security Ran $47.8B Deficit in FY 2012; Disabled Workers Hit New Record in December: 8,827,795
CNS News - The Social Security program ran a $47.8 billion deficit in fiscal 2012 as the program brought in $725.429 billion in cash and paid $773.247 for benefits and overhead expenses, according to official data published by Social Security Administration.

One in 12 in military has clogged heart arteries
Fox News - Just over one in 12 U.S. service members who died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars had plaque buildup in the arteries around their hearts - an early sign of heart disease, according to a new study. None of them had been diagnosed with heart disease before deployment, researchers said.

Global Warfare: US Deploying Troops to 35 African Countries
Global Research - The United States Army will be deploying troops to nearly three-dozen African nations in the coming year. Soldiers based out of Fort Riley, Kansas’ 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division will begin training in March 2013 in order to prepare for a project that will send troops to as many as 35 African nations, the Associated Press reports. Citing a growing threat from extremist groups, including those with ties to al-Qaeda, the Department of Defense is hoping to install American soldiers overseas in order to prepare local troops there for any future crises as tensions escalate.

Iran Navy plans weeklong massive war games in southern waters
Press TV - Iran Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari says the country’s naval forces are to conduct weeklong massive exercises across one million square kilometers of southern waters as of December 28. “The specialized maritime maneuver, codenamed Velayat-91, will be held east of the Strait of Hormuz in the Sea of Oman and north of the Indian Ocean as far as the 18th parallel north,” Sayyari told a press conference on Tuesday.

US to send troops to Kenya for ‘training’ reasons
Press TV - The U.S. Army will soon start training Kenyan troops as part of a major expansion of American military capabilities in Africa. The Washington Times reported on Dec. 23 that the move would be an effort to respond quickly to sudden challenges in hot spots such as Libya. The team heading to Kenya will likely consist of fewer than 200 troops.

US to sell $1.2bn in spy drones to S. Korea
RT - The Pentagon has informed Congress of its plans to sell four Global Hawk high-altitude spy drones to South Korea. Under the deal Seoul’s surveillance capabilities would be greatly improved, even though the US DoD itself wanted to retire the aircraft. The US Department of Defense wants to sell four of the Block 30 version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft to Seoul under the Foreign Military Sales program. It formally notified Congress of the proposed deal, which is estimated to worth $1.2 billion, reports the Pentagon-affiliated Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

EU, IMF urge Greece to improve tax collection
Press TV - The Greek parliament is expected to pass a new tax law after Christmas, in an attempt to raise about 2.5 billion euros over the next two years as part of a 13.5 billion euro austerity package. The government is also set to pass a second piece of long-delayed legislation to crack down on tax evasion.

Global banking to be joined by 'Google Bank' and 'Apple Bank
RT - Conventional banking could soon become a thing of the past with the use of the internet and mobile devices booming. They are gradually replacing usual banking cards as a means to pay a bill, Deutsche Bank warns.

Ho, Ho, Ho: United Nations Wants 5% Budget Increase
Breitbart - The United States is responsible for 22% of the UN’s regular budget, including the political missions. Some of these missions complement U.S. activities in Iraq and Afghanistan; others, such as the UN Special Coordinator Office for the Middle East Peace Process, do not.

The World's Largest Naval Station Is Packed Tight For Christmas
Business Insider - The Navy does its best to get troops home for the holidays when it can, but this display at Norfolk Naval base is still more the exception than the rule.

Deport Piers Morgan Petition Receives More than 60,000 Signatures
Kurt Nimmo - The petition was not posted to deny Morgan protection under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment protects speech regardless of the nationality of the speaker. The petition was posted to draw attention to Morgan’s effort to rob Americans of their right to possess firearms and shed light on the Second Amendment argument ignored or dismissed by the corporate media. It successfully accomplished this objective within several hours of appearing on the White House website.

Dem. Senators: 30 Round Magazines for Me But Not for Thee
Breitbart - Democrats like Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and others have made it abundantly clear that no one needs "a 30-round" magazine for a gun.

Get Ready For The Rise Of Personal Drones
Business Insider - Already, companies like FedEx are counting the days until drones are admitted to standard US airspace. The FAA will officially allow it starting in 2015, but the drones cannot fly higher than 400 feet above the ground and must be at least five miles away from any airport.

VIDEO: Santa Arrested In Austin For Drawing On Sidewalk With Chalk
Huffington Post - Officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety arrested a man dressed as Santa Claus in Austin Friday on charges of criminal mischief after writing with chalk on the grounds of the state Capitol building, the Austin American-Statesman reports.

School Obama's Daughters Attend Has 11 Armed Guards
Breitbart - Some interesting news has broken in the wake of the latest push for gun control by President Obama and Senate Democrats: Obama sends his kids to a school where armed guards are used as a matter of fact.

440+ School Age Children Shot in Gun-Controlled Chicago
Breitbart - Chicago has been a shining city on a hill for gun-grabbers for decades. In fact, so extreme is the gun control in the Windy City that prior to the 2010 Supreme Court decision in McDonald v. Chicago, you couldn't even have a gun in your own house with which to defend yourself or your family.

Take Your Children Out of Government Schools
Activist Post - Aside from school violence, there are some other very compelling reasons that parents may want to consider when deciding where and how to educate their child.

NY Gunman Who Shot Firemen Already Barred From Owning Guns
Breitbart - While liberals on Twitter pointed at the shooting of four firefighters in upstate New York as evidence that more gun control is necessary, NBC News reports that the gunman, one William Spengler, was already banned from owning guns. Spengler served 17 years in prison for killing his grandmother with a hammer in 1980.

YouTube: Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk 12/24/12: Government Security is Just Another Kind of Violence
The senseless and horrific killings last week in Newtown, Connecticut reminded us that a determined individual or group of individuals can cause great harm no matter what laws are in place. Connecticut already has restrictive gun laws relative to other states, including restrictions on fully automatic, so-called "assault" rifles and gun-free zones. Predictably, the political left responded to the tragedy with emotional calls for increased gun control. This is understandable, but misguided....

It’s Not a “Fiscal Cliff” … It’s the Descent Into Lawlessness
Washington's Blog - It’s Not a Tax or Spending Problem … It’s a Devolution Into Lawlessness. The “fiscal cliff” is a myth. Let’s look at some specific examples of our descent into lawlessness...

VIDEO: Assad Just Hit Us With Poison Gas, Syrian Rebels Say
Wired - The regime of embattled Syrian president Bashar Assad gassed rebel forces in the battleground city of Homs, anti-government activists told Al Jazeera on Sunday. If the unconfirmed report is true — and that’s a huge if — the chemical attack could signal the biggest escalation yet of 20-month-old Syrian civil war, with serious implications for the rest of the world.

Syria militants kill several civilians
Press TV - On Sunday, dozens of people were killed in the northern town of Halfaya, where foreign-backed militants attacked a bakery and killed civilians including women and children.

Syrian troops find tunnels full of weapons near Damascus
Press TV - Syrian troops have discovered a series of tunnels in the Damascus suburb of Dayara with a large amount of weapons and ammunition stored inside, Press TV reports. A significant quantity of stolen medicines and medical equipment were also found inside the tunnels on Sunday.

Afghan policewoman shoots dead US military adviser
RT - An investigation into the shooting is underway, Interior Ministry spokesperson Sediq Seidiqqi said in an interview with AFP. The shooter was detained by her fellow officers after the incident, Sidiqqi added. Afghan and ISAF officials are reportedly working to confirm that the woman is a police officer.

Red alert issued for Chilean volcano
RT - A top level “red” alert has been issued by the Chilean authorities as Copahue volcano began spewing ash raising fears of an imminent eruption. No evacuation has been ordered by the National Emergency office as there are no big towns are in the current risk area. About 500 people live in Copahue, a village famous for its spa waters, and there are about 900 in the town of Caviahue and an estimated 800 more in local indigenous Mapuche communities.

BREAKING: NY Paper Publishes Legal Gun Permit Holders Names in Print & Online!
amiglobalsecurity.com - December 23rd 2012 a New York Newspaper Printed the names and addresses of every Licensed Pistol Permit holder in two Counties and another County is being posted shortly!... In an article title “The gun owner next door: What you don’t know about the weapons in your neighborhood” the paper linked to an interactive map titled: “Map: Where are the gun permits in your neighborhood?” where you can search neighborhoods to see who received a legal permit to own a hand gun license listed by name and address.
* Related Article: Legal Gun Owners in New York Outed Like Sex Offenders

VIDEO: MSNBC: People Against Gun Control Are Scared Of “Black And Brown People” Rising Up To Get Them…
Infowars.com - Shockingly, this is the same UPenn professor who called for the filmmaker behind “Innocence of Muslims” to be locked up for making the movie.

Gun myths busted: Automatic weapons, buying guns online, background checks, assault rifles and other fictions of the liberal media
(NaturalNews) People who don't own guns are wildly ignorant about them, and they're easily suckered into liberal media myths that willfully repeat total lies such as being able to "buy guns online" or the idea that you can easily buy "automatic weapons" or "assault rifles." These are all complete lies. Let's expose the myths right here...

Staten Island Sandy Relief Camp to be Shut Down Because of Cold Weather
dnainfo.com - Organizers of a relief camp set up in New Dorp Beach, which hands out hot food, clothing, heaters and cleaning supplies to people hard hit by Sandy, said the city told them to take down the tents before Jan. 1 because of fears they couldn't withstand winter weather.

VIDEO: Deputy pepper sprays, detains man with Down Syndrome
CNN - His eyes stinging with pepper spray, a developmentally disabled 21-year-old man was hit and forced to the ground before being taken into custody by California sheriff's deputies in an incident that left his family Thursday demanding justice.

Agenda 21 Is Being Rammed Down The Throats Of Local Communities All Over America
Economic Collapse - The philosophy behind Agenda 21 is that our environmental problems are the number one problem that we are facing, and that those problems are being caused by human activity. Therefore, according to Agenda 21 human activity needs to be tightly monitored, regulated and controlled for the greater good. Individual liberties and freedoms must be sacrificed for the good of the planet.

VIDEO: The Real Transfer of Wealth: From Manufacturing to Government (with Infographic)
Activist Post - The story centers around industry. Creators of the infographic posted below worked with InetSoft, as well as data obtained from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis to look at the shift in percentage of U.S. GDP as made up by various industries over the first decade.

12 Economic Charts Covering 12 Months of 2012
Liberty Crier - From Gas Prices to Food Stamps; from ‘Bulk Ammo’ to Consumer Confidence; and from Earnings to Economic Data, these 12 charts of the 12 months of 2012 are definitely Not Jim Cramer’s.

There Is Such A Thing As The Milk Cliff: If Congress Doesn’t Act Soon, Prices Could Double
Consumerist - For the apparently shrinking amount of milk drinkers out there, we’ve got some bad news: There’s a thing called the Milk Cliff, and we’re standing on it. If Congress doesn’t act on a new farm bill that amends a policy from 1949, the price of a gallon of milk could increase and possibly even double. Yes, a milk cliff.

US Navy Seal's 'apparent suicide' in Afghanistan under investigation
Guardian - Navy Seal Commander Job W Price, 42, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, died on Saturday from a non-combat-related injury while supporting stability operations in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. A US military official said the death "appears to be the result of suicide". The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the death is still being investigated.

Taliban claim attack on convoy kills 10 US soldiers
Press TV - Taliban militants launched a fresh attack on US forces on Sunday as American troops were on their way from Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan to Jalalabad in Nangarhar.

Muslim Brotherhood claims victory in Egypt constitution vote amid fraud allegations
RT - Egypt's new Sharia-based constitution has been approved in a second round of voting, the ruling Muslim Brotherhood party said. The country's opposition leveled accusations of fraud, saying it will appeal the referendum results.

Syria militants use chemical weapons against Syrian forces
Press TV - Militants fighting against the Syrian government have used chemical weapons against the army in Daraya near the capital, Damascus, military sources say. According to a commander of the Syrian Presidential Guard, at least seven Syrian soldiers were killed on Saturday after they were attacked by a chemical weapon which produced a toxic yellow gas.

REPORT: Russian forces take Syrian chemical, biological weapons under control
DEBKAfile - The Russian foreign minister’s statement was a message to Washington that the transfer of Syria’s weapons of mass destruction to one or two protected sites was under Russian control.

U.N. Security Council approves military mission in Mali
LA Times - Aiming to reclaim the northern stretches of Mali from extremists, the United Nations Security Council on Thursday approved the deployment of African-led forces to the West African nation for a year.... A West African bloc of nations has already authorized 3,300 troops for the anticipated mission.

South Sudan army ‘shoots down UN helicopter’
BBC - The UN says a helicopter from its peacekeeping mission in South Sudan has been shot down by the army, killing all four crew, believed to be Russians.

YouTube: Rand Paul Objects to Indefinite Detention on Senate Floor 12/21/12
Senator Rand Paul 12/21/12.
* Related Video/Article: Levin, Graham and McCain: Arguments for Indefinite Detention and Ron Paul's Statement...

You Tube: The National Rifle Association Press Conference 12/21/12
NRA - Now, we must speak ... for the safety of our nation's children. Because for all the noise and anger directed at us over the past week, no one — nobody — has addressed the most important, pressing and immediate question we face: How do we protect our children right now, starting today, in a way that we know works? Continue reading here.

NRA Speech: ‘There Should Be a Police Station In Every School.’
Liberty Crier - During a recent press conference National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre suggested an armed policeman in every school in our nation. But did he really mean to say there should be a police station in every school?
* Related Video: Code Pink disrupting NRA's LaPierre speech

Deport Piers Morgan Petition Reaching Goal
Kurt Nimmo - The petition was posted in response to British citizen Piers Morgan using his bully pulpit at CNN to undermine the civil liberties of the American people. It is calling for his deportation before he helps enemies of the Constitution do irreparable harm to the Second Amendment.

Michigan Governor Rejects Bill That Would Allow Conceal-Carry In Schools, Churches, Stadiums
Mac Slavo - The Michigan Legislature has enacted a bill allowing people who undergo extra training to carry concealed weapons in places such as schools, churches, day care centers and sports stadiums where they previously were off-limits.... That bill, which is by far one of the most sensible legislative actions this year, made its way to the desk of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

VIDEO: Reality Check: The very politically incorrect truth about the Second Amendment
Fox 19 - Tonight, we are looking at the second amendment, the intention behind it and what the founders might think about the gun debate today.

New York Gov: Gun Confiscation and Forced Buy-back an Option
Kurt Nimmo - New York governor Andrew Cuomo says the state of New York is serious about gun confiscation. The Democrat and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development told an Albany radio station he plans to propose a package of draconian legislation during his Sate of the State address next month.

VIDEO: Reality Check: Reduce violent crime by issuing more concealed carry permits
Fox 19 - We told you about a task force that President Obama is calling on to help reduce gun violence. Chances are that commission will not come back with a recommendation for more concealed carry permits as part of the answer. But should they?

WND Names Ron Paul 'Man of the Decade'
WND - Honoring one of the most inspiring and principled political careers in contemporary American politics, culminating in an extraordinary “farewell address” upon his recent announced retirement from the House of Representatives, WND has named U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, as its “Man of the Decade.”

VIDEO: Three arrested in deadly Indianapolis home explosion
theindychannel.com - Three people have been arrested in the explosion on Indianapolis' south side that killed two neighbors and damaged dozens of homes, RTV6 first reported Friday morning.... All three were charged with two counts of murder, one count of conspiracy to commit arson, 33 counts of arson, a Class B felony and 12 counts of arson, a Class A felony.

Don't be fooled by January pay - higher taxes loom
AP - Social Security payroll taxes are set to increase on Jan. 1, so workers should immediately feel the squeeze of a 2 percent cut in their take-home pay. But as talks drag on over how to address other year-end tax increases, the Internal Revenue Service has delayed releasing income tax withholding tables for 2013.

Police fire tear gas on Morsi supporters
Press TV - Egyptian police forces have fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators in a rally in support of President Mohamed Morsi in the second largest city of Alexandria.

3 killed in US drone strike in Pakistan
Press TV - At least three people have been killed in a US assassination drone attack in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region, reports say.

US terror drone destroyed in South Waziristan
Press TV - A US assassination drone has been destroyed in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region of South Waziristan, local sources say. The drone crashed in the Kaza Panga area of South Waziristan late on Thursday. It is not yet clear that the unmanned aircraft, which was reportedly on a targeted killing mission, was shot down or crashed due to technical problems.

YouTube: Why Switzerland Has The Lowest Crime Rate In The World
The key to freedom is to be able to have the ability to defend yourself &, if you dont have the tools to do that, then youre going to be at the mercy of whomever wants to put you away. Guns are deeply rooted within Swiss culture - but the gun crime rate is so low that statistics are not even kept. The country has a population of six million, but there are estimated to be at least two million publicly-owned firearms, including about 600,000 automatic rifles and 500,000 pistols.

VIDEO: Chinese Pharma Companies Accused of Selling Pills Made from ‘Dead Babies’
Natural Society - According to the documentary, Chinese hospitals and abortion clinics give stillborns and aborted babies to drug companies, but reports suggest that some of these remains even come from China’s infamous “dying rooms.” These are places in which babies are left intentionally to perish when families cannot—or, for the legal limit of having only one child lest a fee or even a physical beating be incurred by officials, will not—raise them. Chinese hospitals perform about 13 million abortions annually to keep its enormous population in check.

YouTube: UK: Unbelievable road rage attack
The worst case of road rage we've ever come across was caught on camera by an innocent driver who found himself the target of a madman.

UN slaps sanctions on two Iran firms
Press TV - The United Nations Security Council has adopted sanctions against two Iranian firms on charges of supplying arms to the Syrian government, but stopped short of naming countries fuelling unrest in Syria by arming militants in the Arab country. The Iranian companies hit by UN sanctions on Thursday are Yas Air and SAD Import Export Company, AFP reported.

Israel violated laws of war targeting media, civilians in Gaza
RT - Israeli army attacks on journalists and media centers in Gaza during last month’s military operation violated the laws of war, Human Rights Watch has said. Two Palestinian cameramen were killed and at least 10 media personnel were wounded during the conflict. Four media facilities and four private companies were also damaged, and a two-year-old boy who lived across the street from one of the buildings was killed by the IDF attacks, the organization said.

US Alone in Blocking UN Resolution Opposing Israeli Settlements
antiwar.com - The United States was alone on Wednesday when all other 14 members of the UN Security Council condemned Israeli settlement plans in Jerusalem after abandoning a legally binding resolution because of an imminent US veto. The Security Council would have passed a legally binding resolution obligating Israel to refrain from building settlements in the controversial area of East Jerusalem known as E1... Instead, the council members decided to simply make statements condemning the settlement plans.

MoD penance: Tortured Iraqis get £14 million from London
RT - The British Ministry of Defense has allocated over $22 million (£14 million) to be paid to hundreds of Iraqis who claimed to have been illegally held and tortured by UK forces during their occupation of the country after the 2nd Gulf war. The average payment to the 205 people has been almost $114,000 (£70,000). Another 196 people have lined up to receive reparations as Iraqis bring their cases to the London courts. At least 700 more individuals are likely to make claims in 2013.

'End of the road' for ACTA in Europe as EC withdraws court appeal over treaty
RT - The European Commission has withdrawn its request to review ACTA’s compatibility with the EU law in the European Court of Justice. The move virtually ensures the treaty will never be adopted in the Union.

PHOTOS: 21 December 2012 is here: 'Apocalypse' LIVE UPDATES
RT - The much-anticipated date for the end of the world is finally coming, as predicted by the Mayans, and we’ve got the latest updates on how the globe is dealing with 'Armageddon.'

House passes $633bn defense bill
Press TV - In a 315-107 vote, the House of Representatives has approved a massive $633 billion National Defense Authorization Act for 2013, a consensus version which will now move on to the Senate for rubber stamping. The bill is something of an increase over the initial House version, which was $606 billion and was approved in July, and a slight increase over the Senate version, which was $631 billion. One key difference from the Senate version is the removal of the Feinstein Amendment, which was aimed at banning the military from detaining U.S. citizens on American soil and holding them without charges.   
* Related article: US House passes another anti-Iran bill

NDAA fuels militarization, enriches defense corporations, expands empire
Press TV - Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) gave the following speech on the floor of the House of Representatives on December 20, 2012....

U.S. on alert for Islamist ire to ‘Zero Dark Thirty’
Washington Times - Could the release of “Zero Dark Thirty” provoke violent protests against the U.S. in response to the film’s searing depictions of “enhanced interrogation” — the coercive, super-secret and bitterly debated methods used by the CIA against al Qaeda terrorism suspects?

Boxer proposes letting governors use National Guard troops to increase school security
Politico - Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is proposing allowing governors to use National Guard troops to increase security at schools in the wake of the Newtown, Conn. shooting. Boxer, who said the legislation is modeled after a previous law that had National Guard troops help with border security, would allow governors to decide how troops would be used at schools. While a governor already has the power to send troops to a school, the legislation would allow for the governors to access federal funds for those troops, she said.

Newtown 7th Grader Starts Movement To Rid America Of Violent Video Games
CBS News - Violent video games are drawing new scrutiny in the wake of the Newtown elementary school tragedy. Some gamers are already giving them up … voluntarily. CBS 2’s Lou Young met one seventh grader in Newtown on Thursday who was gathering a selection of his personal video games. He was getting rid of them for one reason and said he wants you to get rid of yours as well. “All of it is kill, just kill as many people as you can without dying,” Max Goldstein said.

If Obama is Opposed to Guns, Why Did his Administration Just Purchase 1.6Bil Rounds of Ammo?
Intel Hub - Guns are the problem in America today, we’ve been told from every corner of the media, and so the only solution is to get rid of all the guns. But not exactly. There’s one organization in America that’s loading up on masses of assault rifles and enough ammunition to run a 10-year shooting war. That organization is, of course, the U.S. federal government and its Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has purchased a total of 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition to be used domestically, inside the United States. It begs the question: Why does the Department of Homeland Security — named after Hitler’s “Office of Fatherland Security” — need 1.6 billion rounds of ammo?

The Psy-Ops War on Preppers: This Has Become a Two-For-the-Price-of-One Crisis
Intel Hub - First of all, where is the headquarters of this “Doomsday Preppers Movement” I’ve been reading about? And where can I sign up? I didn’t realize there was an organized movement, one deserving of capital letters. Who is the leader of this “movement”? I’d like to meet him (or her) immediately! The propaganda machine is not only going after guns in the wake of the terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School – this has become a two-for-the-price-of-one crisis, allowing the government and media to yet again, demonize preppers.

Mayan calendar, Sandy Hook, Peace Prize Obama: Your entire reality has been scripted by the manipulation masters
(NaturalNews) This is a message for those who are new to Natural News and who seek the truth in this time of great change. You may have already noticed the Mayan calendar prophecy was a hoax. The universe didn't end. We're all still here, and we must face our future rather than writing it off.

VIDEO: Daily Paul 'End of The World' Party
Daily Paul - The End of the World Party, as we wait out the day. And see if anything happens... Report all weirdness here.

Eric Holder: executive orders on gun control?
Washington Examiner - “The Obama administration will consider executive actions and specific proposals for legislation as part of its gun policy response to the school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, U.S., Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday,” per Reuters. Holder, who is traveling to Newtown today, said they are considering their options on executive orders: “Those options will have to include a ‘strong and robust’ Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the chronically under-funded agency that enforces federal gun laws, he said.”

Sales of bulletproof backpacks, kids' body armor by Utah company ...
Fox News - Sales for bulletproof backpacks and child-sized body armor manufactured by a Utah company have increased 500 percent since last week’s shooting massacre at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary, company officials said.... The backpacks, which retail for as little as $300, will stop a bullet fired from a .357 Magnum and feature an armor component that weighs just 10 ounces, Williams said. He declined to discuss specific sales figures.

VIDEO: Adam Lanza haircut: Barber wishes he had killed the teen
wtvr.com - Lanza would sit with his head straight down, his eyes adrift, never making eye contact. Skuba would run clippers through his hair like a buzz saw. The kid was about 12 when he first came to the shop. His mom would bring him in, every four weeks, over the next five years.... When the haircut was done, the barber would tell Lanza it was time to get up. But he’d just sit there, like he was still getting clipped. His mom would grab him by the arm and yank him up. It’s time to go, Adam. Your haircut is done. The boy would listen to his mother. Always, always, always. Never would he disobey her.

Air Force asks sports network to help analyze drone intelligence
RT - According to an article from the paper’s Jim Michaels, the Air Force has reached out to ESPN recently in hopes that the sports station’s video analysts will have some ideas about how to process hours upon hours of sensitive footage captured by drones. The intelligence that’s picked up by hovering drones in areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan can often help counterterrorism officials thousands of miles away determine when and how to hit suspected insurgents with missiles that be fired from those very same UAVs.

31 at Base Daycare Center Had Criminal Records
military.com - The Defense Department has expanded its investigation into the criminal backgrounds of child care providers at all military facilities after officials discovered many had criminal records at a Northern Virginia base where two daycare workers have been charged with assaulting children. Leaders at the Fort Myer, Va. daycare facilities hired at least 31 civilian workers who had criminal records on charges ranging from assault to sexual offenses, a senior Defense Department official said Wednesday.

School Districts Cancel Class Due To Doomsday Talk, Potential Threats
CBS News - Thousands of students will have an extra long holiday break after school administrators in at least two Michigan counties decided to cancel classes because of talk surrounding the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut and rumors connected to the Mayan calendar predicting the end of the world. Five districts in Lapeer County and 20 districts in Genesee County posted announcements Wednesday evening cancelling classes Thursday and Friday.

The high price of impatience: Michelle jets off to Hawaii with the kids for 17 day vacation before the President can leave ... at a cost of $100,000 to the taxpayer
Daily Mail - With thousands of families struggling to raise funds for Christmas, you would think the Obamas might manage a little thriftiness. But last night, Michelle Obama and her two daughters flew to Hawaii for a 17-day holiday - days before the president joins them. The separate flights will incur costs of more than $100,000 to the taxpayer.

VIDEO: Kucinich slams Social Security cuts
Press TV - Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) on Thursday blasted President Barack Obama’s reported plan to cut Social Security by linking cost-of-living increases to the Chained Consumer Price Index - or “Chained CPI.”... “Will seniors be pushed off the fiscal cliff?” Kucinich asked in a speech on the House floor on Thursday. “Social Security did not cause the deficit, but the White House’s plan to lower Social Security cost-of-living benefits could eventually reduce Seniors’ annual benefits by hundreds of dollars. The gimmick is called the ‘Chained Consumer Price Index.’”

75 Economic Numbers From 2012 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe
Economic Collapse - What a year 2012 has been! The mainstream media continues to tell us what a "great job" the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve are doing of managing the economy, but meanwhile things just continue to get even worse for the poor and the middle class. It is imperative that we educate the American people about the true condition of our economy and about why all of this is happening.

20 Signs That The U.S. Poverty Explosion Is Hitting Children And Young People The Hardest
Economic Collapse - This is easily the worst economic environment that we have seen for young people since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The number of good jobs continues to decline. Many young people are faced with the choice of taking a bad job or having no job at all.

War or prosperity? UK announces higher price tag for Afghan war while cutting vital social services
RT - The UK has revealed that the cost of its involvement in the war in Afghanistan has reached $27.6 billion, and may end up being as much as $32.5 billion. Meanwhile, the UK continues to slash domestic social services to reduce its budget deficit. UK Prime Minister David Cameron said that Britain has no plans to abandon Afghanistan: “We will be contributing £70m [US$113 million] a year to help pay for the Afghan National Security Forces.”

Iran urges support for 6-point Syria plan
Press TV - “Iran presented the new six-point plan to end the Syrian crisis and, in this plan, it invited [the sides] to put an end to any violence while insisting on dialogue as the only solution to the crisis in Syria,” Roknabadi said in a meeting with newly elected Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bishop Youhanna Yazigi in Beirut on Thursday. He reaffirmed Iran’s stance on the necessity to promote stability and restore unity in Lebanon and emphasized that internal conflicts among regional nations would guarantee the Israeli regime’s interests.

S&P upgrades Greece’s credit rating
RT - Amid the continuing downward economic spiral, Standard & Poor's ratings agency has upgraded Greece’s credit grade to a B-, the highest since June 2011, although the bonds are still at junk status. The backing of the Eurozone countries to keep Greece afloat and Athens’ determination to pursue harsh austerity measures in the face of popular rejection has prompted the agency to increase country’s credit worthiness by six notches with a stable outlook.

Belgium looks at euthanasia for minors, Alzheimer's sufferers
france24.com - Belgium is considering a significant change to its decade-old euthanasia law that would allow minors and Alzheimer's sufferers to seek permission to die. The proposed changes to the law were submitted to parliament Tuesday by the Socialist party and are likely to be approved by other parties, although no date has yet been put forward for a parliamentary debate.

Madrid threatens to block Barcelona’s ‘illegal’ independence bid
RT - Madrid has warned Catalonia that it has the sufficient means to block the fugitive region’s “illegal” plans for a self-determination referendum, as two Catalan political giants unite to pursue their battle for independence. Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria announced Wednesday that the country's central government believes the vote would be unconstitutional, saying, “our legislation has many mechanisms to stop any illegality."

VIDEO: Wal-Mart Bribery Investigation Reveals Damning Evidence
Activist Post - Following on the heels of a former Wal-Mart executive exposing a widespread bribery campaign inside Mexico orchestrated to "gain market dominance," additional details have been provided in a recently released New York Times investigation. The former executive had been in charge of obtaining permits for Wal-Mart's subsidiary Wal-Mart de Mexico. He led investigators to a paper trail which showed that the price to skirt zoning regulations to construct their outlets and do business was ultimately $24 million dollars; next to nothing compared to its now $380 billion annual revenue in that country.

Defiant Netanyahu vows more settlements in East al-Quds
Press TV - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to push ahead with settlement expansions in occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem) despite mounting international condemnation. “We are going to build in Jerusalem for all its residents, this is something that has been done by all previous governments and this is something that my government will continue to do,” a defiant Netanyahu said in a meeting with foreign ambassadors on Wednesday.

Russians in Syria are ‘legitimate targets’ - key opposition group member
RT - Russians are legitimate targets for military attacks in Syria, a member of the Syria’s National Opposition Coalition said. The Coalition is recognized by the US and a number of its allies as the only legitimate representative of the Syrian people. "Russia, like Iran, supports the Assad regime with weapons and ammunition, as well as in the political arena, so the citizens of these countries are legitimate targets for militants in Syria," Haitham al-Maleh, a member of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces told RT.

‘Fast and Furious’ Gun Found At Site Where Mexican Beauty Queen Killed
CBS News - A gun found at the scene of a shootout between a Mexican drug cartel and soldiers where a beauty queen died was part of the botched “Fast and Furious” operation, CBS News reports. Authorities had said that Maria Susana Flores Gamez was likely used as a human shield and that an automatic rifle had been found near her body after the Nov. 23 shootout. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tells CBS News that the Justice Department did not notify Congress that a Fast and Furious firearm was found at the scene in Sinaloa.

Exxon Deal Brings Iraq, Kurdistan to Brink of Civil War
antiwar.com - Exxon Mobil has signed a pact with the KRG to drill in oil fields along the nebulous line of control between the two sides, near Kirkuk and the Maliki government insists it controls this region, in theory though clearly not in practice. “The prime minister has been clear: If Exxon lays a finger on this territory, they will face the Iraqi army,” noted MP Sami Alaskary, a close aide of Maliki, adding that “we will go to war, for oil and for Iraqi sovereignty.”

UBS traders charged, bank fined $1.5 billion in Libor scandal
Reuters - Earlier on Wednesday, the Swiss bank admitted to fraud and bribery in connection with efforts to rig the interest rates and agreed to pay $1.5 billion (922.9 million pounds) in fines to regulators in the United States, UK and Switzerland.... In settling with U.S., UK and Swiss authorities, UBS not only paid one of the largest fines ever imposed on a bank, its Japanese subsidiary pleaded guilty to one U.S. criminal count of fraud relating to manipulation of benchmark rates, including the yen Libor.

French psychiatrist sentenced after patient commits murder
(Reuters) - A French psychiatrist whose patient hacked an elderly man to death was found guilty of manslaughter on Tuesday in a groundbreaking case that could affect the way patients are treated. A court in Marseilles said Daniele Canarelli, 58, had committed a "grave error" by failing to recognize the public danger posed by Joel Gaillard, her patient of four years.... Defense lawyers said the ruling would have serious repercussions for treatment of the mentally ill. "If a psychiatrist lives in fear of being sentenced, it will have very real consequences and probably lead to harsher treatment of patients," said Canarelli's lawyer, Sylvain Pontier.

State Department resignations follow Benghazi report
fox6now.com - Three State Department officials, including two who oversaw security decisions at the diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, resigned in the wake of a review of security failures there, senior State Department officials told CNN Wednesday.... Despite all the criticism, the board found that no U.S. government employee had engaged in misconduct or ignored responsibilities, and it did not recommend that any individual be disciplined. Eric Boswell, assistant secretary of diplomatic security, and Charlene Lamb, deputy assistant secretary of state for international programs, submitted their resignations, a senior official said. A third official in the Near East Affairs bureau also resigned, the official said.

VIDEO: Father of Sandy Hook Victim Asks ‘Read the Card?’ Seconds Before Tear-jerking Press Conference
Infowars.com - As unexplained factors in the tragic Sandy Hook school shooting continue to surface, independent researchers have pointed to an odd clip where Robbie Parker, father of slain 6-year-old Emilie Parker, asks if he should read off of a card, and is told that he should, during a press conference that took place the day after Friday’s shooting. The Huffington Post described Parker’s heartfelt statement as “fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath,” though he can be seen cracking a smile and brief laugh just before approaching the microphone. The full press conference can be viewed here. Is the establishment media trying to steer the victims’ reactions?

YouTube: Full Disclosure: Is There A Connection Between Libor Scandal and School Shootings?
Ben Swann takes a look at reports in alternative media that the fathers of Adam Lanza, the alleged Sandy Hook shooter and James Holmes, the alleged Colorado theater shooter were both supposed to testify in the Libor scandal.

VIDEO: Paul Craig Roberts: You Can’t Have A Police State And An Armed Population, They’re Going To Take Our Guns Away
Liberty Crier - An RT reporter tries to force Paul Craig Roberts into her gun control narrative and miserably fails. Paul argues that if the government can’t keep people from drinking alcohol and can’t keep people from taking drugs, it can’t keep people from owning guns. The only thing gun control will accomplish is an increase in the crime rate and a more docile population for the government to manipulate.

VIDEO: Former Seattle Police Chief Demands Repeal of Second Amendment
Kurt Nimmo - Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper believe the Second Amendment should be removed from the Bill of Rights and replaced with legislation “that makes sense for today’s world, not the world that existed at the time of the drafting of the Constitution and certainly the Bill of Rights.” Mr. Stamper’s comment underscores widespread ignorance of the Constitution and its philosophical underpinnings.

Obama appoints Biden to take charge on gun control
RT - US President Barack Obama has chosen Vice President Joe Biden, a long-time gun control advocate, to lead an initiative to tackle gun violence on a policy level, which might involve reinstating an updated version of a ban on assault weapons. The president promised to use “whatever power this office holds” to protect America’s children after last Friday’s shooting in Newtown, Conn., which might mean reinstating a ban on assault weapons.

VIDEO: Obama Targets Gun Shows
Kurt Nimmo - During a news conference on Wednesday, Obama said that a “majority of Americans support laws requiring background checks before all gun purchases so that criminals can’t take advantage of legal loopholes to buy a gun from somebody who won’t take the responsibility of doing a background check at all.” This is a direct reference to gun shows. Under the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986, individuals “not engaged in the business” of selling firearms are not required to conduct background checks on buyers or maintain records of sale. For gun-grabbers, this law is known as the “gun show loophole.”

Gun sales surge after Connecticut massacre
Fox News - The prospect of a renewed assault weapons ban in the wake of the Connecticut school massacre has set of a round of buying, as thousands of Americans head to their local gun store to secure the popular AR-15 -- the model used by the school gunman -- before potential government prohibitions on their purchase.

Guns Out of Stock at Wal-Mart as Magazine Prices Surge on
Bloomberg - Searches of five kinds of semi-automatic rifles on Wal- Mart’s website showed them to be out of stock at stores in five states, including Pennsylvania, Kansas and Alabama.... Wal-Mart has about 10 modern sporting rifles, the gun industry’s term for firearms that look like an M-16 military rifle, listed on its website. The retailer removed a description and picture of the Bushmaster AR-15, which was the model used in Newtown, after the shootings.

VIDEO: Person of the Year: President Barack Obama: “Architect of the New America”
Mac Slavo - One of the most prestigious awards that can be bestowed upon a member of the elite is Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. This year, the award goes to the “Architect of a New America”, none other than Barack Obama. The President joins such notable figures and social architects as Adolf Hitler (1938), Joseph Stalin (1939, 1942), Nikita Khrushchev (1957), Richard Nixon (1971, 1972), Henry Kissinger (1972), The Endangered Earth (1988), Ted Turner (1991), Bill Clinton (1992, 1998), George Bush (2000, 2004), Vladimir Putin (2007), and Ben Bernanke (2009). Read the cover story [Time.com]

NDAA 2013 - Indefinite detention without trial is back
RT - Lawmakers in Washington have stripped an amendment from next year’s National Defense Authorization Act that could have kept the government from indefinitely detaining US citizens without charge or trial. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Michigan) told reporters on Tuesday that an amendment to the 2013 defense spending bill approved only two weeks earlier had been removed. That amendment, authored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), was pitched as a solution to a clause in the current NDAA that allows for the indefinite detention of US citizens without due process or habeas corpus.

New Mobile Pre-Crime Technology Marketed to U.S. - Developed by Ex-Israeli Intelligence
Activist Post - Disturbingly, this system aims to go beyond supposed terrorist threat detection, and claims to be able to aid in establishing connections to crimes after they are committed - not only on the wider international stage, but also within the halls of private business: The system can also be utilized by law enforcement after a crime has taken place to determine a suspect's association to a particular criminal action or organization. Private sector security companies similarly utilize Cogito to detect intent to harm an employer's interests, among employees, management or job applicants (emphasis added).

‘Citizen Drone Warfare’: Hobbyist explores a frightening scenario
Washington Post -Less than a month ago, rumors that celebrity news and gossip website TMZ was interested in obtaining a paparazzi drone prompted privacy concerns and public debate about the appropriate personal and commercial uses of unmanned aerial vehicles. Now, a new online video poses a more troubling question: What if civilian drones are equipped to shoot more than just pictures?
* YouTube video: Citizen Drone Warfare

Government report: 'TSA's main concern isn't safety, it's self-preservation'
RT - Despite the constant criticism, the Transportation Security Administration stopped a program that would give airports the option of having private employees conduct security screenings. These employees would have greater workplace flexibility and be held to higher standards, thereby improving customer service. TSA was given the power to decide which locations could participate, but between 2002 and 2011 it only allowed 16 out of 440 commercial US airports to hire these employees. TSA Administrator John S. Pistole terminated the program last year, returning full power of airport security to his agency by eliminating the competition.

YouTube: Ben Swann Reality Check: Are calls for stricter gun laws really about guns?
In the days after the Connecticut school shooting, there has been a lot of talk about the need for gun control laws to be more strict across the nation. This is a highly charged issue. Some say stricter laws would protect the innocent. Others say it would do nothing but take guns away from law abiding citizens.

YouTube: Piers Morgan resorts to name calling after losing Gun Control debate !!!
Piers Morgan resorts to childish name calling after horribly losing a gun control debate with the Larry Pratt who is the executive director of the Gun Owners of America.

VIDEO: Michigan governor vetoes bill allowing concealed weapons in public places
CNN - Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed legislation that would have allowed concealed pistol license holders who undergo additional training to carry concealed pistols in schools and other public places, his office said Tuesday in a statement. Snyder rejected the bill because it did not provide an opportunity for public places -- such as schools, day care centers and hospitals -- to exempt themselves from the provision, the statement said.

Tennessee Considers Training And Arming Schoolteachers To Protect Against Shootings
TPM - A member of the Republican-controlled legislature plans during its upcoming session to introduce a bill that would allow the state to pay for secretly armed teachers in classrooms so, the sponsor told TPM, potential shooters don’t know who has a gun and who doesn’t.

My Personal Pledge of Resistance Against Any Attemp to Disarm Us by Means of an “Assault Weapons Ban”
Oath Keepers - We need to call a spade a spade and teach our fellow citizens that taking away military style semi-autos is disarmament. And we need to throw down the gauntlet and take a hard stand against it, right now. When we, as Oath Keepers, pledged to not obey any orders to disarm the American people, this is what we meant. Any attempt to disarm the people of any arms currently in their possession is illegitimate and must be nullified, refused, disobeyed, and resisted. And so, in response to this obvious assault on our right to keep and bear arms (as in military arms), I feel compelled to make the following personal pledge...

Freedom Firearms for sale, gun stocks drop
Examiner - An investment group has decided to sell Freedom Firearms Company because it no longer wants to be in the gun business. Cerberus Capital Management on Tuesday announced it is selling the company in the wake of Friday’s shootings at Sandy Nook School in Newton, Conn. The gun company is being sold, the investment company said, because it has no interest in "being drawn into the national debate that is more properly pursued by those with the formal charter and public responsibility to do so." Among the company’s investment advisors is former Vice President Dan Quayle, who serves as chairman of Cerberus Global Investments.

Exclusive: Cops, detectives, FBI agents, U.S. soldiers tell Natural News they will not enforce gun confiscation orders
(NaturalNews) In the wake of the recent Sandy Hook shooting, I reached out to my contacts in law enforcement, military and (retired) FBI over the last three days, asking three simple questions... I posed these questions to one ex-FBI agent, one retired Sheriff's deputy, two active duty city police detectives, one retired former police captain of a major U.S. city, two U.S. Army veterans and one USMC veteran, discharged several years ago after two tours in Afghanistan during which he sustained a severe personal injury. For obvious reasons, none of them wish to be identified by name, but their answers below speak to their credibility and authenticity. Here are their answers...

YouTube: Psychiatry: The True Shadow Government
It takes corrupt minds to establish a Federal Reserve, to execute a Holocaust, to forward racism propaganda from past to present, to call for mandatory mental screening and mass psychiatric "medicating" of a society. All the while, running the show through mass-media-mind-programming geared towards unawareness and quite frankly... slavery.... This video is a chapter from the full length video Psychiatry: An Industry of Death produced by CCHR is the worlds leading watchdog on mental health. Please also visit http://www.cchr.org to find out what you can do to help stop this madness.

YouTube: The TRUE SOURCE of RANDOM & MASS SHOOTINGS and VIOLENCE
This video highlights the link between psychiatric drugs and acts of senseless violence, including nearly all recent mass-shootings and school shootings.

VIDEO: Female US cop caught on tape giving two women body cavity search during routine traffic stop... and 'using the SAME gloves on both'
Daily Mail - Two Texas women are suing after state troopers subjected them to a humiliating and invasive 'roadside body cavity search' that was caught on video. Female trooper Kellie Helleson is seen in the footage aggressively searching the private parts of Angel Dobbs, 38, and her niece, Ashley Dobbs, 24, in front of passing cars. The women, who claim the trooper used the same rubber glove for both of them, were initially stopped by Helleson's colleague David Farrell on State Highway 161 near Irving after he saw one of them throw a cigarette butt out the window.

YouTube: Thousands Remain Displaced From Sandy Without Heat and Power
The Real News - Residents desperate for government assistance for rebuilding and mold remediation seven weeks after Sandy.

INFOGRAPHIC: Uncovering The Federal Reserve
BestAccountingPractices.net - Is the Fed still doing its job today? What secrets are being kept from us and how are the Fed’s ations impacting our economy? Some say the Fed was meant to create a balanced economy, while others argue its purpose was to inorganically manipulate free enterprise, rescusing banks that we’d be better off without.
Complaints Against The Fed...

VIDEO: David Walker: "There Is No Party Of Fiscal Responsibility In Washington"
Daily Bail - The original budgetary truth teller. David Walker is the former Comptroller General of the United States (the nation's top independent accountant) and is the current President of the non-partisan Comeback America Initiative. Walker wrote a deficit op-ed for Reuters yesterday... Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher calculated that the government's unfunded liability for Social Security and Medicare alone comes to a staggering $99.2 trillion, or $330,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States. It's an impossible figure, but still on the low side compared to this estimate of $222 trillion published at Bloomberg.

15 Signs That The Ring Of Fire Is Waking Up As We Head Into 2013
Activist Post - While most of the world has been focused on other things, the Ring of Fire has been quietly waking up. Over the past couple of months, there has been a steady string of noteworthy volcanic eruptions and earthquakes that have occurred along the perimeter of the Pacific Ocean. But because none of them have happened near a highly populated area, we really haven’t heard much about them in the news.... The following are 15 signs that the Ring of Fire is waking up as we head into 2013…

First major snow storm sweeps across midwestern US states
Press TV - Weather forecasters cautioned on Thursday that heavy snowfalls, accompanied by strong winds, would likely generate blizzard conditions for road travelers from the central state of Kansas to Wisconsin in the north, AP reported. According to the report, state of Nebraska's largest school district has already canceled classes due to a heavy snowfall over Wednesday night, with many school districts following suit across neighboring Iowa, where drivers were warned to keep off the roads starting Wednesday evening because of snowy road conditions.

Ottawa orders Canadian scientific journals not to publish Iranian articles
Press TV - In a recent move, the Canadian Journal of Psychiatric Nursing Research refused to publish an article by an Iranian assistant professor despite the earlier acceptance of the article. The journal argued that it "will not be permitted to publish" the article as previously stated, citing the political and non-academic reasons. It said that Ottawa had closed down its mission in Tehran for what it called the “civil rights abuse of the citizens of Iran” and “the threat to the security of Canadian personnel and Israel.”

Israeli death squads involved in Sandy Hook bloodbath: Intelligence analyst
Press TV Dec 18, 2012 - Today, Michael Harris, former Republican candidate for governor of Arizona and GOP campaign finance chairman, in an internationally televised news broadcast, cited “Israeli revenge” in, what he called, “the terrorist attack in Connecticut.” Harris cited Israeli “rage” against the US and against President Barack Obama. By “Israel,” we mean “Netanyahu.” The mission was to teach America a lesson, knowing that “America would take the punishment, keep “quiet,” and let a ‘fall guy’ take the blame.”
* Press TV Video: The Zionist-controlled Western media fueling culture of violence: Mike Harris

US will not support UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements: official
Press TV - The United States has criticized Israel for its plans to build more settler units in the occupied Palestinian territories but says it will not throw its weight behind a UN resolution condemning the illegal Israeli settlements.

US drastically expanding military presence in the Philippines
Press TV - The US will significantly increase its military presence in the Philippines – an announcement that has angered China, whose Communist Party chief urged his military to prepare for a struggle and whose state-run media have criticized the agreement. The US announced in 2011 that it would increase joint training exercises and ship visits to the Philippines in order to counter China’s growing influence in the region. These visits have been welcomed by Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III.

China arrests over 500 members of pseudo-Christian Mayan Apocalypse sect
RT - If the end of the world does indeed happen on December 21, some of the people predicting it will meet it in a prison cell: Chinese authorities have arrested more than 500 members of a doomsday cult in a nationwide crackdown. The underground group ‘Almighty God’ – which unofficial sources claim may have several hundred thousand members – held unsanctioned meetings for its followers, distributed warning leaflets and spread doomsday predictions through social media and text messages.

Watch What Happens When Guns Are Banned In Australia And The UK
Liberty Crier - “Laws that forbid the carrying of arms… disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes… Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” ~Thomas Jefferson

Health Canada Plans to Treat Marijuana Like Other Medicines
CBC News - A proposal released by Health Canada would treat medical marijuana more like medicine and effectively commercialize its production and distribution.... Essentially, the new system will create licensed grow-ops that people could shop at, provided they have a prescription from their doctor. The regulations would allow for a regulated commercial market of licensed producers.

Families hit after supermarkets hike ‘budget’ food prices by as much as 110% in one year
Daily Mail - Families relying on supermarket budget ranges to make ends meet are suffering some of the steepest food price hikes, research reveals. The big supermarket chains have increased the price of more than 40 per cent of their own-label budget lines in the past year. And compared with items in other ranges, the mark-up is far higher – often more than 20 per cent.

VIDEO: Sandy Hook Police Scanner 911 Call Reveals 3 Shooters seen...
One Dead Inside - 2 seen outside

VIDEO: Raw Film CT Police Search Woods After Shooting- 2 More Perps Shown

CENSORED FACTS: Two Newtown Shooters Were Captured Alive

$13mn wasted on Afghan project
Press TV - The United States hires a private contractor to complete a major infrastructure reconstruction project in a war zone, yet when the equipment goes unused and the project unfinished, the contractor is paid millions -- in full -- anyway.

Top Online Gun Retailer Suspends Sales of Firearms: “Effective Immediately”
Mac Slavo - Online retailer Cheaper Than Dirt!, one of the world’s largest sporting goods stores and a top online gun distributor, has suspended sales of firearms as of Tuesday. According to an alert posted on its Facebook and Twitter accounts, the “temporary” suspension is effective immediately as the company reviews its policies and promotions related to online gun sales.... Within minutes of the newCheaperThanDirt! policies being put into place, hundreds of comments criticizing the company’s move began flowing on social networks...

Numerous school massacres stopped by gun owners who wielded their weapons in defense of children
(NaturalNews) We here at Natural News believe the mainstream media, which so often overlooks these kinds of stories because they don't fit into the statist government worldview held by the majority of news editors, has done a disservice to the public by ignoring these acts of selflessness and heroism. With that in mind, we bring just some of the most recent high-profile incidents - including what could have been additional school massacres - that were stopped by law-abiding citizens using their Second Amendment rights to protect themselves and others.

The Antipsychotic Prescribed To Adam Lanza Has A Troubled History All Its Own
Business Insider - New York Magazine wrote a piece about shooter Adam Lanza's supposed "aspergers" syndrome as a "red herring" meant to distract from the real problem (guns, of course, the subject goes without mentioning). Inside the piece though they report Adam Lanza's uncle said the boy was prescribed Fanapt, a controversial anti-psychotic medicine. Fanapt was the subject of a Bloomberg report when it passed regulators, after previously getting the "nonapproval" stamp. Why wasn't it approved, you might ask?

Discovery Channel To Cancel Two More Gun Shows
Paul Joseph Watson - Following its decision to cancel the hit gun show American Guns in response to the Connecticut school massacre, the Discovery Channel has signaled that two more firearms-based programs are set to be axed.

Anonymous Senator Uses “Secret Hold”: Blocks FBI’s Immediate Response To Violent Crimes Bill
Donna Anderson - Currently, the FBI has no authority to directly assist investigations where there is no immediate evidence of violations of federal law, such as mass killings at schools, non-federal office buildings, theaters and shopping malls.... If passed, HR.2076, the Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2011, would enable the FBI to become involved immediately upon the request of state and local law enforcement officials. The bill also defines “mass killings” as three or more killings in a single incident and would raise funding limits for the FBI for deployment of tactical response, command and control, and other crisis-management assets.

VIDEO: Gov. Rick Perry Backs Teachers Packing Heat
Adan Salazar - Compounding a mild pro-gun rant with a declaration to consider a 2016 presidential run, Texas Governor Rick Perry affirmed his commitment to the Second Amendment by encouraging allowing all teachers in the state of Texas to carry guns on campus at a Tea Party event Monday.

Mass Shooter Adam Lanza 'Spent Hours Playing Call Of Duty'
Business Insider - It has emerged that Lanza spent his time in the basement of the family’s four-bedroom home in Newtown playing video games, such as Call of Duty and obsessing over guns and military equipment, according to an interview in The Sun with plumber Peter Wlasuk. Call Of Duty is controversial because of its violent content. The Advertising Standards Authority in the UK banned daytime advertising of the game earlier this year.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Pulls Semi-automatics as Attack Against Second Amendment Intensifies
Kurt Nimmo - So intense is the push to deny firearms to law-abiding American citizens, a large sporting goods store has suspended the sale of semi-automatic weapons across the nation. Dick’s Sporting Goods announced the move today as it sends “our deepest sympathies to those affected by this terrible tragedy” in Newtown, Connecticut. According to CNN, Dick’s has also removed the “modern sporting rifles” page from its website. The firearms used in the Sandy Hook massacre were not purchased at Dick’s.

After the massacre: Major firm sells stake in rifle makers Bushmaster while gun sales surge
RT - The private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management cut its ties with the gun manufacturer, which has been thriving financially. Private equity firms usually make long-term investments in a company, but Cerberus took a radical step by selling its investment in the Freedom Group, since the gun manufacturer produced the .223 Bushmaster rifle used in last week’s school massacre.

SWAT cops to ask for IDs from everyone in Arkansas town
RT - At a town hall meeting on Thursday, Mayor Mike Gaskill and Police Chief Todd Stovall endorsed a plan to send cops dressed in full-fledged SWAT gear and equipped with AR-15s into downtown Paragould starting in 2013. The militarized police force will be tasked with trying to control a crime rate that has made Paragould an increasingly dangerous place to live in recent years.... n order to bring crime down, residents of Paragould may soon have to endure police officers brandishing semi-automatic assault riddles on the regular. What’s more, Stovall says, is he intends to have the cops collecting identification from everyone and anyone in an attempt to discourage criminal activity.

No Clear Link Between Cancer and 9/11 Debris, Study Finds
NY Times - Six months after the federal government added cancer to the list of sicknesses covered by the $4.3 billion World Trade Center fund, a New York City health department study has found no clear link between cancer and the dust, debris and fumes released by the burning wreckage of the twin towers.... The prevalence of three cancers — multiple myeloma, prostate and thyroid — was significantly higher, but only in rescue and recovery workers and not in the rest of the exposed population. But since the number of actual cases was small and the subjects of the study may have been screened more frequently for cancer than other people on average, the researchers noted that it was too early to draw any correlation to time spent at ground zero.

YouTube: Rebel Yell: 700,000 Americans sign secession petitions to White House
RT - Hundreds of thousands of Americans say they want to break away from Washington. Residents across the land, have signed internet petitions, saying they don't want to be part of the United States anymore. Marina Portnaya has the story.

The 'fiscal cliff' facade: It's about the spending, stupid
(NaturalNews) The mandated spending cuts and expected tax hikes are likely to put a damper on an already struggling economy, to be sure. But even if Congress and the president do nothing and allow the cliff to be breached and taxes go up - as they are expected to anyway, in addition to the expiration of the Bush-era cuts - the country's debt will still continue to grow. And that's the real issue. The U.S. government has a debt problem because it has a spending problem - not a revenue collection problem.

What In The World Are Barack Obama And John Boehner Thinking?
Economic Collapse - Both are seeking about a trillion dollars of spending cuts and about a trillion dollars of new "revenue", but they don't see eye to eye on how to get there. But overall, they are both definitely playing in the same ballpark. And those numbers certainly do sound impressive until you realize that they are talking about a time span of ten years. Personally, I would love to see federal spending cut by a trillion dollars this year. But that will never happen. A trillion dollars over the course of a decade breaks down to about 100 billion dollars per year.

Oil sheen at BP disaster site a mystery
Press TV - The Coast Guard and BP both said the recent inspections confirmed that the company's Macondo well, which blew out in April 2010 and spawned the nation's worst offshore oil spill, remains secure and isn't leaking oil. Relief wells that were drilled in 2010 to stop the gusher also were found to be secure during the four-day survey, BP said. However, investigators collected samples of a white, cloudy substance that appeared to be coming from several areas on the overturned rig on the sea floor. Lab tests were planned on the samples of the substance, which isn't believed to be oil.

Russia: No blue helmets should enter Syria
Press TV - Russia has opposed any possible deployment of United Nations peacekeepers in Syria. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov has been cited as saying, “There is neither peace [in Syria] for peacekeepers to keep, nor truce for them to monitor.” The UN has been reportedly planning to deploy 10,000 peacekeepers inside Syria. The Russian official has stated that “there is no clear separation line between the conflicting sides” in Syria.

Militants may get chemical arms: Syria
Press TV - On Monday, Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari said in letters to the UN Security Council and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the foreign-backed militants could use chemical weapons against Syrians and shift the blame to the government, the Associated Press reported. Damascus is "genuinely worried" that Syria’s enemies could provide chemical weapons to armed groups "and then claim they had been used by the Syrian government," he said.

Moscow fires warning shot across bow of US naval-based ABM
RT - A top Russian official says a US missile defense system near Russia’s border is strategically destabilizing and may prompt an arms race. Speaking on the threat of mobile, naval-based elements of the US missile defense system “suddenly appearing” on Russia’s coastline, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said such an event would trigger “the harshest reaction from Russia."

'Iran to mass produce host of drones'
Press TV - Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says the country is planning the design and mass production of a wide range of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). “We will use every opportunity to design all kinds of drones,” the Iranian defense minister said on Monday.

Israel steps closer to 1,500 new settlements in East Jerusalem
RT - Israel’s Interior Ministry committee has approved the construction of 1,500 houses on disputed territories in Jerusalem, amid UN condemnation. The approval follows the Palestinians UN status being upgraded.

Italian technician, two Russian workers kidnapped in Syria
RT - The Russian embassy in Syria has officially confirmed that two Russian citizens have been kidnapped in the coastal city of Latakia. An Italian engineer has also been abducted, according to Italian officials.... So far no one has claimed responsibility for the abduction so far.

Bulgaria asks for permanent US troops presence – report
RT - Bulgaria has asked the United States to place a permanent military force in the country aimed at strengthening security in the region and increasing their military cooperation, local media reports. Bulgarian Defense Minister Anu Anguelov has discussed the opening of a US military base in Novo Selo, near Sliven, with officials of the Pentagon in early December, reports Dneven Trud daily newspaper citing sources in the Bulgarian military. Nothing has yet been set in ink, but if the deal is to go through, it could double the American troop numbers in the country, according to the report.

UN steps up patrols in eastern Congo
Press TV - The spokesperson for the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), Kieran Dwyer, told the UN News Center on Monday that the peacekeepers received reports of M23 rebels moving into some positions around Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

CIA 'tortured and sodomised' terror suspect, human rights court rules
Guardian - CIA agents tortured a German citizen, sodomising, shackling, and beating him, as Macedonian state police looked on, the European court of human rights said in a historic judgment released on Thursday. In a unanimous ruling, it also found Macedonia guilty of torturing, abusing, and secretly imprisoning Khaled el-Masri, a German of Lebanese origin allegedly linked to terrorist organisations.

New wiper virus targets Iranian computers
RT - Iran has been subjected to another attack by a virus capable of wiping the data on infected PCs. Antivirus experts suggest the virus has been active for at least two months and expect the next attack to take place during January, 2013. Iran's Maher Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center has issued a warning, cautioning that the new malware continuously erases data from the hard disk drives, despite the simplicity of design and functionality, as it slips into the PC without being detected by the antivirus and anti-malware programs.

Scientists in China Fired For Secretly Testing GMO Rice on Children
TheDailyMeal - Three scientists in China were fired for ethics violations last week, months after a Greenpeace report accused them of secretly testing genetically modified rice on schoolchildren. The tests were conducted four years ago on 25 students between the ages of six and eight at a primary school in Hunan province, Shanghaiist reports. For their lunches, the children were given genetically modified “golden rice,” which had been nutritionally enhanced to address vitamin A deficiencies.

Top Ten Legal Drugs Linked to Violence
When people consider the connections between drugs and violence, what typically comes to mind are illegal drugs like crack cocaine. However, certain medications — most notably, some antidepressants like Prozac — have also been linked to increase risk for violent, even homicidal behavior.

CBI Deals With Massive Influx Of Potential Gun Buyers
CBS News - The Colorado Bureau of Investigation says it received 4,154 requests for background checks from potential buyers on Saturday. That was so many the CBI couldn’t process them all and the backlog grew to nearly 18 hours. The Unit could only process 3,001 checks on Saturday. Extra staff was brought in over the weekend and workers are still trying to clear the backlog.

St. Louis County Police Chief Recommends Arming School Personnel
CBS News - St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch says it is time to talk about arming civilian school personnel following Friday’s massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, comparing it to arming airline pilots after September 11, 2001. “I see it no differently,” he said. “Pilots have been armed now for many many years, we’ve not had another hijacking and the issue is, for the bad guy, he doesn’t know which airplane he’s getting on, if the pilot is armed or not.”

Fla. state representative Dennis Baxley favors ending ban on guns in schools
News-JournalOnline.com - "We need to be more realistic at looking at this policy. In our zealousness to protect people from harm we've created all these gun-free zones and what we've inadvertently done is we've made them a target," he said. "A helpless target is exactly what a deranged person is looking for where they cannot be stopped."

22 Stats That Prove That There Is Something Seriously Wrong With Young Men In America
Economic Collapse - When are we finally going to admit that we have a very serious problem with this generation of young men in America? We have failed them so dramatically that it is hard to put it into words. We have raised an entire generation of young males that don't know how to be men, and many of them feel completely lost. Sometimes they feel so lost that they "snap" in very destructive ways. Adam Lanza and James Holmes are two names that come to mind. Why is it that mass murderers are almost always young men?

VIDEO: U.S. Gov't Asks Federal Judge to Dismiss Cases of Americans Killed by Drones
Activist Post - As a clear sign of what can be expected, the U.S. government has asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit brought by the families of three Americans killed by drone strikes in Yemen. If federal courts rule that these cases are without merit, it will set a dangerous precedent that only the executive branch of government can decide which Americans have a constitutional right to due process, while further enhancing a framework where the government will decide who is fit to be mourned and who should be forgotten.

Oath Keepers to Provide Teachers With Free Firearms and Self-Defense Training
Oath Keepers - This initiative is in response to the recent tragic mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The volunteer instructors will be drawn from the member rolls of Oath Keepers in each state. Those instructors will be paired up with any teachers and school staff in the same state who contact Oath Keepers and request instruction. The organization pledges to keep their identity confidential, but will also offer group lessons or to come to the school to teach the staff on-site.

Texas School District Will Let Teachers Carry Guns
Fox News - A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to pass a law specifically allowing teachers and staff to pack heat when classes begin later this month. Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements.

VIDEO: Americans Turn In Guns After School Massacre
Paul Joseph Watson - Law-abiding Americans across the country are turning in their guns as part of police buyback programs in response to the school massacre in Connecticut – a shocking illustration of how citizens are choosing to disarm themselves without the need for gun control legislation. Citizens in Brooklyn, San Francisco, Oakland, Evanston, Ill, and Baltimore all lined up around the block to sell their guns back to police as a gesture in response to the Sandy Hook shooting on Friday.

VIDEO: 'Dark Knight Rises’ Scene Eerily Shows “Sandy Hook” Written on Map
infowars.com - Bizarre evidence that the Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut may have been staged has surfaced in the form of YouTube videos which point out the words “Sandy Hook” were written on a map that appeared in the most recent Dark Knight movie, a startling revelation given the deluge of mysterious coincidences already plaguing the movie.

Discovery Channel Cancels Hit Gun Show After School Massacre
Paul Joseph Watson - Following a flood of complaints to the show’s official Facebook page in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting, the Discovery Channel has announced that the hit reality show American Guns will not return for a third season. “This comes as something of a surprise given its growing popularity,” reports Fox News. “The show had a 50 percent ratings increase for its second season premiere, and one of its stars, Renee Wyatt, recently said she would “definitely” be interested in returning for season three.”

South Carolina Lawmakers Propose 5-Year Jail Sentence for ‘Obamacare’ Implementation
usnews.com - South Carolina state Rep. Bill Chumley last week pre-filed a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would criminalize implementation of President Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare reform law. If his bill becomes law, any state official caught enforcing the healthcare law would be guilty of a misdemeanor and "must be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than two years, or both."

Number of homeless students hits new record: Over 1 million
RT - The number of homeless students in America topped one million for the first time last year as a result of the economic recession, a number that has risen 57 percent since 2007. The US Department of Education found that of these 1,065,794 children, many lived in abandoned homes, cheap hotels, stations, church basements and hospitals. Some spent their time sleeping over at the houses of various friends whenever they could. Others fell victim to drugs and sexual abuse, in some cases trading sexual acts for food, clothing and shelter or selling illegal drugs.

VIDEO: Controversial Interview Exposes 5 Signs Stocks Will Collapse in 2013
moneynews.com - “After putting $803,436 in Obama’s re-election campaign, a media giant attempted to keep Americans from seeing the video by banning it from their sites,” stated Aaron DeHoog, the financial publisher who is unapologetic for the release of controversial footage that has gained international attention. The video DeHoog is referring to is a stunning interview with famed economist Robert Wiedemer, author of the New York Times best-selling book Aftershock.

YouTube: Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk 12/17/12: Right-to-Work is Good for Business, Labor, and Liberty
Many observers were surprised when Michigan, historically a stronghold of union power, became the nation's 24th "Right to Work" state. The backlash from November's unsuccessful attempt to pass a referendum forbidding the state from adopting a right to work law was a major factor in Michigan's rejection of compulsory unionism. The need for drastic action to improve Michigan's economy, which is suffering from years of big government policies, also influenced many Michigan legislators to support right to work....

VIDEO: Ron Paul On Stossel
Daily Paul - The real fiscal cliff.

Libya declares emergency law in southern regions
RT - Libya has temporarily shut down its borders with its southern neighbors and declared emergency law in seven southern regions citing mounting unrest there. This comes as Tripoli struggles to bring the entire country under its full control.

Treasure flight: Afghan’s baffling gold exodus
RT - Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest countries, has reportedly seen travelers taking large quantities of gold out of the country, mostly to Dubai. Heroin money laundering and sanctions evasions by Iran are the rumored causes. The surge in gold trafficking began this past summer, the New York Times reported. Passengers carry bags full of gold on commercial flights leaving Kabul, most of them to Dubai. One passenger reportedly boarded a morning flight in mid-October with 37 kilograms of gold bars. The load was worth more than $1.5 million. Over the last two weeks of October, more than 250 kg of gold – worth $14 million – left the country through the airport.

300k more UK families face fuel poverty
Press TV - The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG) has warned that 300,000 more homes can be pushed into fuel poverty this Christmas compared to last year. The warning comes as soaring energy prices have added almost seven percent to average annual fuel bills recently.... Pensioners constitute nearly half of Britain’s fuel poor families. Moreover, a third of fuel poor households have people as their members with a disability or illness while a fifth have a child aged five or less.

Turkey owes NATO for Patriot missiles
Press TV - NATO expects Ankara to play an “important role” in the Western military alliance’s mission in Afghanistan in return for the deployment of Patriot missiles along Turkey's border with Syria.

VIDEO: Syria militants recruit children
Press TV - New footage has emerged showing foreign-backed militants in Syria recruiting children and reportedly sending them to the frontlines to fight the government forces... According to the video, the terrorist Free Syrian Army is forcing children as young as 12 to join their ranks to carry out attacks. The footage also shows children being forced to dig their own graves before joining militants.

Blast hits Palestinian camp in Syria
Press TV - An explosion has targeted the Palestinian al-Yarmouk refugee camp in the Syrian capital city, Damascus, as government forces continue battling foreign-sponsored militants.

Israel attacks Press TV crew in Gaza
Press TV - Press TV correspondent Ashraf Shannon said Israeli forces fired on the farmers and Press TV crew near the border fence in the Khan Yunis area. Shannon said, “Israel troops were standing 200 to 250 meters away from us, and it was clear that we were journalists, standing right behind the farmers."

Iran offers condolences to US families
Press TV - The following is the full text of Ahmadinejad’s condolence message released on Sunday: “I received, with great sorrow, the news about the unfortunate incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the State of Connecticut which led to the deaths of 20 innocent American children and seven teachers...."

Afghan President: 'Foreign troops must leave Afghanistan’
Press TV - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called on US and NATO troops to immediately leave the country, saying security transition to local forces should take place as soon as possible... "We are working to make this transition of security happen sooner. We want all the foreign forces to come out of the villages and go to their bases so the Afghan forces can carry out the security," said Karzai during a Saturday conference on Afghan foreign policy strategy in Kabul. "I'm completely sure that the withdrawal of international forces in 2014 will give us more opportunity to provide more security,” he added.

Egypt backs Islamist constitution in first round vote – unofficial results
RT - Unofficial results say Egypt has backed the controversial sharia-based constitution in the first round of voting. Voters got behind the document by a narrow margin of 56.5 percent amid opposition allegations of fraud. The new draft constitution was backed by 56.5% of Egyptians and rejected by 43.5%, Al-Ahram reported Sunday. Egypt's capital Cairo has reportedly voted against the constitution. The percentage given by the media is just preliminary, however, as not all of the votes have been counted. Ninety eight percent of the ballots have been processed, however, the Muslim Brotherhood said. The unofficial estimate of voters turnout was 33%, Egyptian media reported.

German parliament approves Patriot missiles, 400 troops for Turkey
Press TV - German MPs of the lower house of parliament voted 461-86 on Friday to approve the deployment of two Patriot missile batteries and 400 troops in Turkey along the Syrian border, Reuters reported. According to a NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Western alliance’s regulations do not allow him to speak on the record, each Patriot battery has an average of 12 missile launchers.

Internet Remains Unregulated After UN Treaty Blocked
Guardian - The US was first to declare its opposition to the draft treaty. "It is with a heavy heart and a sense of missed opportunities that I have to announce that the United States must communicate that it is unable to sign the agreement in its current form," Terry Kramer, head of the US delegation, told the conference, after what had looked like a final draft was approved.... The US was joined in its opposition by the UK, Canada, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Qatar and Sweden.

Italy's public debt hits record high
Press TV - The Italian central bank says the country’s public debt has risen to an all-time high of over two trillion euros as the eurozone struggles to overcome a deepening financial crisis.

France bans contested chemical BPA in food packaging
NY Daily News - The French parliament voted Thursday to ban the use of bisphenol A, a chemical thought to have a toxic effect on the brain and nervous system, in baby food packaging next year and all food containers in 2015.... It became a concern following evidence in lab animals of a toxic effect on the brain and nervous system. Some studies have found a link between exposure to BPA and coronary heart disease and reproductive disorders.

Mentally challenged man stabs 22 schoolchildren in China
Press TV - The attack took place on Friday at the entrance to the Chenpeng Village Primary School in Guangshan county. “Twenty-two elementary school students were stabbed, so was an adult villager,” AFP quoted a police spokesman from Guangshan as saying.

Cached Photo of Sandy Hook children practicing their evacuation drill day just days before massacre
* Related Link: Murdered Principal's Haunting Pictures of Sandy Hook children practicing their evacuation drill day just days before massacre

YouTube: Connecticut Police Spokesman Newtown Will Prosecute Independant Journalist Whistleblowers

YouTube: Sandy Hook Elem: 3 Shooters (A CLOSE LOOK)

YouTube: Connecticut Police Spokesman Newtown Will Prosecute Independent Journalist Whistleblowers

Drone Operator asks “Did we Just Kill a Kid”, Commander Tells him it Was Just a Dog with 2 Legs
Intel Hub - Bryant and his coworkers sat in front of 14 computer monitors and four keyboards. When Bryant pressed a button in New Mexico, someone died on the other side of the world. The report goes on to explain one of the circumstances that finally crossed the line and really made him realize the kind of murderous activity that he was taking part in. Deeper into the article the horrific details of this encounter are revealed...

VIDEO: Report: Congress To Move Against Guns: “It Will Ban the Sale, the Transfer, the Importation and the Possession”
Intel Hub - Come January 1, 2013, Feinstein will introduce new legislation that would ban assault rifles similar to the bill she championed in California. “I’m going to introduce in the Senate, and the same bill will be introduced in the House — a bill to ban assault weapons,” Feinstein said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “It will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession, not retroactively, but prospectively.” “The purpose of this bill is to get… weapons of war off the streets.”

Ex-US official: Arm school employees
Press TV - In the wake of the Newtown, Conn., mass shooting that claimed 26 lives Friday, former Education Secretary Bill Bennett said Sunday that schools should possibly consider arming certain employees to prevent attacks. "Let's remember the good things here: the heroism of those teachers and that principal," Bennett said on "Meet the Press." "And I'm not so sure -- and I'm sure I'll get mail for this -- I'm not so sure I wouldn't want one person in a school armed, ready for this kind of thing."

Newtown murders: astonishing Hunger Games 'coincidence,' and killer's mother now a Doomsday Prepper?
(NaturalNews) CBS News gives us this sizzling report: (Source): the CBS Evening News, broadcast (on network TV) Sat. 12-15-2012. Segment begins at 7 minute point in online version of the TV broadcast.... Here is John Miller's punch line: "We spoke to another relative who also said she was worried about the defense of her home if there was a collapse of the economy [on screen - close up casual photo of Mrs. Lanza]. She wanted to have weapons on hand to defend them which of course only underscores the irony that those were the guns used by her own child to kill her and so many others."

The Federal Government is Guilty Accomplice in School Shooting in Newtown Connecticut
Oath Keepers - This shooting is yet another tragic example of the failed, grotesque insistence on helpless victim zones where any crazed gunman can be assured of a large number of disarmed, undefended, helpless victims, all crammed into one place, where he can kill many children before an armed defender arrives from elsewhere.... And in this case, all of the teachers and staff were willfully disarmed by the Federal Government, by force of law and threat of prison, to ensure that they would be disarmed and incapable of saving the lives of the children entrusted to their care.

VIDEO: Obama Wipes Away Fake Tears
Kurt Nimmo - In a performance that would assuredly not win him an Oscar, Obama pretended to wipe away tears today during a news conference following the school massacre in Connecticut. His staged homage to the young victims rings especially hollow considering the fact the Obama administration shipped weapons to murderous drug cartels in Mexico under the Justice Department’s Fast & Furious operation and he has authorized the CIA to uses its killer drones to slaughter innocents in Pakistan. The cartel war bankrolled by transnational banks has so far resulted in 60,000 deaths with more than 10,000 people missing.
* Related Article/Video: Celebrities Demand Outrageous Gun Laws...

Newtown school shooting story already being changed by the media
(NaturalNews) One of the most important red flags of a staged shooting is a second gunman, indicating the shooting was coordinated and planned.... Eyewitness reports of a second shooter now being "scrubbed" from the news. As the story of this shooting was first breaking, the news was reporting a second gunman. FoxNews reported that this second gunman was "led out of the woods by officers" and then questioned. The original source of this report was the Connecticut Post....

VIDEO: Bloomberg Demands Obama Take “Executive Action” Against Second Amendment
Kurt Nimmo - New York mayor and noted gun-grabber Michael Bloomberg went on Meet the Press today and told Obama he should skirt Congress and the Constitution and take executive action against firearms owners in the United States.
* Related Article: Feinstein Vows to Introduce Assault Weapons Ban Bill

Piers Morgan Wants to Eviscerate the 2nd Amendment
Melissa Melton -Not only does Piers Morgan apparently want to straight up take away people’s guns, but he has a multi-step plan for exactly how America should be disarmed. The host of CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight went on an anti-gun Tweet rant following the mass shooting in a Connecticut school that left 28 people, including 20 children, dead earlier this morning.

VIDEO: Man With Concealed Carry Permit Stopped Mall Shooting
kgw.com - Nick Meli is emotionally drained. The 22-year-old was at Clackamas Town Center with a friend and her baby when a masked man opened fire....

Real Or Fake? “I’m Going to Kill Myself on Friday and it Will Make the News”
Paul Joseph Watson - Was an Internet messageboard post made on Wednesday night by a user who threatened to kill himself on Friday morning and “make the news” made by Connecticut school shooter Adam Lanza, or is it a Photoshopped fake? The post, which according to the screenshot appeared on the 4Chan website at 22:18 on Wednesday night and was made by a user called ‘iKTatjYX’. The post stated, “I’m going to kill myself on Friday and it will make the news, be watching at 9am.” Under the message is a disturbing [GRAPHIC] image of the dead bodies of Columbine school shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

Gun control petition to White House gets large and immediate support online
The Hill - A petition urging the Obama administration to “produce legislation that limits access to guns” has more than 25,000 signatures just hours after its inception.

YouTube: Fox News 2006 Report: Antidepressants: School Shooters and Suicide
The evidence is in. A small percentage of those taking antidepressants will become homicidal and/or suicidal. But a small percentage of 30,000,000 is more than hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. alone! Though most of those people manage to get off the medications before acting on strong violent impulses, that's a lot of lives placed in jeopardy. And even if not common, too often, the result is tragic....

SSRI-Induced Akathisia's Link To Suicide and Violence
lawyersandsettlements.com August 18, 2007 - Akathisia is but one in a long list of side effects that SSRI makers were able to keep hidden, as they settled thousands of lawsuits out of court, by obtaining court orders to seal documents produced in litigation. For instance, a 1984 Eli Lilly document showed akathisia occurred in at least 1% of patients long before Prozac was approved. In a paper entitled, "Suicides and Homicides in Patients Taking Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft: Why They Keep Happening - And Why They Will Continue," Dr Jay Cohen points out that, as soon SSRI's arrived on the market in the late 1980s, reports of sudden, unexpected suicides and homicides by patients taking the drugs began to come in.
* Related Article: Is It the Drugs, the Doctors, or the Drug Companies?

In a move likely to raise pro-Israel hackles, Obama reportedly set to nominate Hagel as defense chief
timesofisrael.com - The Obama administration is expected to select former Republican senator Chuck Hagel to succeed Leon Panetta as the United States secretary of defense, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing sources in Washington. The nomination of Hagel would likely worry Israel supporters, who have criticized the former Republican senator for what they see as a chilly stance toward the Jewish state.

VIDEO: Clinton Slips, Falls, Skips Out on Benghazi Hearing
Kurt Nimmo - It looks like Madame Secretary of State Clinton will not be compelled to tell the American people what she knows about what happened in Benghazi on September 11. “Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who skipped an overseas trip this past week because of a stomach virus, sustained a concussion after fainting, the State Department said Saturday,” the Associated Press reports today.

Report: John Kerry to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State
NY Daily News - President Obama has chosen Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to succeed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, according to a report.... The White House has not confirmed the selection. It is widely known that Kerry was interested in the job, and the former presidential nominee emerged as the clear favorite after another contender, UN Ambassador Susan Rice, withdrew from consideration last week.

Obama quietly releases Gitmo report amid news of Conn. shooting rampage
Daily Caller - The White House released a required report on its anti-jihad operations Friday, showing the administration is holding 166 suspected terrorists in the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detention camp, despite President Barack Obama’s 2008 promise to close the facility permanently.

YouTube: Zero Dark Propaganda - Breaking the Set
RT - Abby Martin takes a look at films that glorify war by highlighting the recent film 'Zero Dark Thirty' as an example of an over-sensationalized historical narrative. LIKE Breaking the Set.
* Related Article: CIA hagiography, pernicious propaganda

VIDEO: Jimmy Carter: Marijuana Legalization Is Smart, Imprisonment For Possession Is Out Of Control
Liberty Crier - Former President Jimmy Carter gave a full-throated endorsement of state efforts to legalize marijuana during an appearance at a CNN forum aired on Tuesday. Carter, who as president supported an era of marijuana decriminalization in the mid-1970s, told CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux that he was “in favor” of states that were taking steps to legalize the drug.

Strip Search Of 10-Year-Old Prompts Complaint Against Elementary School
CBS News - The parents of a 10-year old Union elementary school student have filed a complaint against the school for strip-searching their son to find an allegedly stolen $20 bill.... However, another teacher came into the office at the same time and said that the money had “miraculously” been found on the floor of the cafeteria. Holmes defended her actions after the fact, telling WRAL-TV, “Any staff member who has ever worked with me knows that I care for my students and that even when I have to discipline them, I love them.”

TSA calls bomb specialist on wheelchair-bound 12-year-old girl
RT - TSA detained a 12-year-old wheelchair-bound girl for nearly an hour at the DFW International Airport after they found explosive residue on her hands. TSA left the mortified girl in tears, but refused to let her mother get close enough to comfort her.

US judge prompts outrage after saying: ‘If she didn’t want sex, her body should have just shut down’ in rape case, and reducing sentence of attacker by ten years (Independent)
Independent - Judge Derek Johnson's comments, which echo those of outgoing U.S. representative Todd Akin, who used the phrase 'legitimate rape' and said women who are the victims of rape rarely get pregnant, have drawn widespread condemnation. The states Commission on Judicial Performance has also attacked the the judge for taking ten years off the recommended sentence for the rapist in the case, imposing a six-year sentence instead.

9/11 ‘truthers’ now in charge of Missouri highway
RT - The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has accepted paperwork completed by the St. Louis 9/11 Questions Meetup Group, a collective of locals who say they are “concerned about the many disturbing aspects” of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.... Beginning soon, a portion of state road will be fitted with signs advertising the group in exchange for their cooperation in picking up litter.
* Related Article: Georgia KKK want their own highway

Rand Paul insists he'll be on ballot for Senate in 2016
courier-journal.com - Paul told reporters after a speech to Lexington business leaders on Friday that he has formed a re-election committee and that he intends to be on the ballot for Senate, though he still didn't rule out running for president. "I'm really not going to equivocate on whether I'm running for Senate or not," Paul said. "That will happen." As far as a presidential bid, Paul said "it will probably be two years before we have a serious discussion" about that.

YouTube: HSBC Couldn't Track $60 Trillion in Suspicious Activity?
The Young Turks - HSBC was able to track Eliot Spitzer's 3 deposits to a holding account for an escort service. But they couldn't track $60 trillion in suspicious activity transfers from drug cartels and al-Qaeda that benefited them? Could it be because Spitzer was investigating the banks? Cenk Uygur breaks down the financial hypocrisy.
* Related Video/Article: HSBC: Too Big to Jail

QE 4: Folks, This Ain’t Normal – What You Need To Know About The Fed’s Latest Move
Zero Hedge - If you had stopped me on the street a few years ago and asked me what I thought would have happened in the stock, bond, foreign currency, and commodity markets on the day the Fed announced an $85 billion per month thin-air money printing program directed at government bonds, I never would have predicted what has actually come to pass.

We Are Witnessing The Death Of Small Business In America
Economic Collapse - The United States was once known as "the land of opportunity", but now that is fundamentally changing. At this point we truly do have a "crisis of entrepreneurship" in this country, and that is a huge reason why America is in decline. We are witnessing the slow death of the small business in America, and that is incredibly bad news for all of us.

Israeli soldiers assault two Reuters cameramen
(Reuters) - Israeli soldiers punched two Reuters cameramen and forced them to strip in the street, before letting off a tear gas canister in front of them, leaving one of them needing hospital treatment. Israel's military said on Thursday it took the allegations seriously, but offered no explanation for the assault that occurred on Wednesday evening in the heart of Hebron.

Iraq blast kills 2 Iranians, injures 20
Press TV - At least two Iranians have been killed and 20 others wounded in four roadside bombs in the Iraqi city of Samarra, north of the capital, Baghdad. The explosions took place on Friday after the bus carrying the Iranian pilgrims hit the bombs. An official from Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization Massoud Akhavan told IRNA on Friday that the two victims of the terrorist attack were both women.

Greeks earning 42,000 Euros to be taxed at top rate under plan
myfoxny.com - Under the new guidelines, the 42 percent top tax rate and earnings threshold replaces the previous level of 45 percent for incomes above €100,000 ($130,770). The new rate is part of a simplification of the country's tax rules. There are currently eight tax bands ranging from 18 percent to 45 percent. These will be replaced by three tax rates: 22 percent, 32 percent and 42 percent.

YouTube: Farage: Eurozone leaders behaving like drug addicts and alcoholics
Nigel Farage MEP, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), Co-President of the 'Europe of Freedom and Democracy' (EFD) Group in the European Parliament.

Taliban say they killed 8 US-led forces
Press TV - Taliban militants claim they have killed at least eight US-led troopers in a car bomb attack that targeted a convoy belonging to NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) outside the Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan.

VIDEO: 5 wounded as Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli troops
RT - Five Palestinians have been injured after clashes with Israeli troops as thousands of Palestinian protestors marched through Hebron in the West Bank Thursday, during a funeral being held for a teenager who was killed by Israeli troops Wednesday.

VIDEO: Tehran and IAEA lock horns over inspecting Parchin facility
RT - The IAEA delegation holding talks in Tehran hopes to finally inspect the Parchin military base, where Iran has allegedly tested elements of its nuclear program. Tehran has refused all previous attempts by the IAEA to get inside the compound. The top item on the agenda for the UN nuclear watchdog’s delegation that arrived in Tehran for talks early Thursday is getting access to the Parchin military base southeast of Tehran. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) suspects that once it was used as a military testing ground for components needed to make a nuclear weapon.

VIDEO: Chinese General Threatens “Third World War” To Protect Iran
Before It's News - According to NDTV, a Chinese news station based outside the country, in regard to recent speculation that Iran would be the target of a US-Israeli military assault, Major General Zhang Zhaozhong commented that, “China will not hesitate to protect Iran even with a third world war,” remarks described as “puzzling to some”.

YouTube: The Road to World War 3
We are on a road that leads straight to the World War 3, but in order to see that and to fully understand what is at stake you have to look at the big picture and connect the dots. This video examines the history of the dollar, its relation to oil, and the real motives behind the wars of the past two decades.

China-Japan exchange diplomatic blows after Chinese 'airspace violation'
RT - The Japanese Foreign Ministry issued a statement, saying a Chinese state aircraft had strayed into airspace over the disputed archipelago, prompting the scrambling of eight F-15 fighters. Japanese spokesman, Osamu Fujimori branded the incident as “extremely deplorable” and said that Chinese ships had also been spotted violating Japanese territory earlier on Thursday. The Chinese ambassador in Tokyo has been formally summoned to account for the apparent violation and hear the Japanese government’s protest.

Eurozone greenlights more bailout funds for Greece
RT - Eurozone finance ministers have approved the release of another €34 billion aid package to Greece after weeks of painful negotiations and amid widespread public discontent at the effect of austerity on the Greek people and economy.... This comes despite the apparent failure of a bond-buyback operation which left the country in need of further financial assistance. It is hoped that this latest loan will prevent Greece from going bankrupt, which could potentially trigger turmoil in the financial markets.

Battle over Internet: US web authority challenged - report
RT - Several countries including Russia, China and Saudi Arabia are reportedly seeking to reduce US dominance over the Internet. If successful the move will empower governments to silently eliminate troublesome websites. A UN group is challenging US dominance over the key parts of the Internet, which is reportedly reflected in a proposal put through at the Worldwide Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai.

Tweeters 'could be military targets'
theage.com.au - Social media users whose use tweets and online posts to comment on a military operation could be regarded as legitimate military targets. Australian army Land Warfare Studies Centre analyst Chloe Diggins on Thursday said a recent social media war between Israel and Hamas raised complex ethical questions about who was a combatant and therefore a legitimate military target. A key question was whether such comments constituted an act of war. "If that's the case, this might mean that those using social media in support of military operations are now legitimate targets," she wrote in a blog for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Seismic fears: UK govt reverses ban on fracking
RT - The UK has lifted a ban on the gas extraction technique known as fracking amidst activist outcry. Fracking was prohibited a year ago after it caused two minor quakes, but lawmakers maintain new safety measures reduce the risk of seismic activity. The move concerns the company Cuadrilla, who want to exploit shale gas reserves in the northern county of Lancashire. The company was forced to put a halt to gas extraction back in 2011 after fracking caused two minor earthquakes in the North of Great Britain.

US orders sending Patriot missiles to Turkey
Press TV - The United States plans to deploy Patriot missile batteries and about 400 troops to Turkey following the announcement of a similar move by Germany. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has signed orders to authorize the plan, the New York Times reported on Friday. Washington will provide two out of six Patriot missile batteries, while Germany and the Netherlands will each contribute two.

VIDEO: Will antiwar orgs get behind HCR 107 to prevent war on Syria?
Veterans Today - After a year’s worth of bloodshed in Libya and simultaneous drum-beating for invading Syria in the same manner, H.Con.Res. 107 was introduced on March 7, 2012 by Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) threatening impeachment of the President if he were to take the U.S. to war without a proper authorization by Congress. Even with the imminent threat of a U.S./NATO military invasion of Syria … which could come any day now before the new Congress is sworn in next month after the holidays … there is little, if no mention of the Republican Congressman’s HCR 107 from the “left-only-need-apply” national antiwar organizations, let alone any public endorsements or calls for Congress to support and enact the resolution.

US Senate bill to make Europe less energy dependent on Russia
RT - The US seeks to lift limitations on its LNG deliveries to Europe and strengthen competition in European energy markets. It’s to break the EU’s dependence on Russian gas, as “the Russians overplayed their hand”, says US Senator Richard G. Lugar.

National Counterterrorism Center to Examine Government Files of U.S. Citizens for Possible Criminal Behavior
cryptogon - Through Freedom of Information Act requests and interviews with officials at numerous agencies, The Wall Street Journal has reconstructed the clash over the counterterrorism program within the administration of President Barack Obama.... The rules now allow the little-known National Counterterrorism Center to examine the government files of U.S. citizens for possible criminal behavior, even if there is no reason to suspect them.... Now, NCTC can copy entire government databases—flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and many others.

VIDEO: Second Amendment Opponents Regroup as Dust Settles Following Illinois Concealed Carry Ruling
Kurt Nimmo - Gun rights opponents in Illinois on Wednesday said they will continue their fight to rollback the Second Amendment after the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that a ban on concealed carry is unconstitutional. Gun-grabbers in Chicago demanded state Attorney General Lisa Madigan appeal the ruling.

YouTube: Wal-Mart security kills another alleged shoplifter
RT - Last Friday in Houston, Texas, a woman was shot at a Wal-Mart for allegedly shop lifting. Shelly Frey was shot and killed by a security guard on duty at the store and this isn’t the first time Wal-Mart security has murdered an allegedly shoplifter. The retail giant has received its fair share of bad publicity, but what does this latest incident mean for Wal-Mart? Rachel Kurzius joins RT with how Wal-Mart has been able to overcome scandal after scandal.

YouTube: Ex-FBI Agent Reveals What to Do If The Police Get in Your Face
Mike Adams talks Dale Carson, a trial lawyer, former FBI agent, police officer, detective, SWAT team member, undercover operative and private investigator who now defends clients against unfair charges. He is the author of Arrest-Proof Yourself, which is required reading for anyone wanting to avoid unnecessary interactions with the law.

VIDEO: FEMA trailers sitting uninhabited, victims want answers
ABC News - There are mobile homes, already built, winterized and ready to go, up to a thousand, but no one is living inside of them. Nobody in a position of power seems to want them, but some of those facing months of rebuilding, do.... "We don't need FEMA trailers. We are focusing on getting people back in their homes," Mayor Bloomberg said. Instead of trailers, Mayor Bloomberg is relying on his program called Rapid Repairs to get people back into their homes quickly.... The Mayor's resistance to trailers is solidly supported by FEMA which insists they wouldn't work here.

VIDEO: A Deadline Looms for Your Tax Preparer
Liberty Crier - As part of a sweeping new licensing scheme, the IRS won’t let tax preparers continue to prepare your tax returns in 2013 unless they first get a special permission slip from the government by paying for and completing 15 hours of continuing education by the end of this year. They will also have to pass an IRS-mandated exam by the end of next year. These new regulations threaten the livelihoods of as many as 350,000 tax return preparers, many of them independent mom-and-pop businesses, and could waste up to 5 million man hours. But the IRS says it will not extend the deadline.

Food stamps increase by over 600,000 in last month of data
mybudget360.com - The food stamp figures are stunning because they show in the last two months food stamp usage has skyrocketed by over 1,000,000. In the last month of data observation, food stamp usage increased by more than 600,000. Keep in mind to qualify for food stamps you have to carefully demonstrate that you are earning very little and technically are classified as being in poverty. So what does it say that our nation now has 47.7 million Americans on food stamps?

55 Reasons Why California Is The Worst State In America
Economic Collapse - Why in the world would anyone want to live in the state of California at this point? The entire state is rapidly becoming a bright, shining example of everything that is wrong with America. It is so sad to watch our most populated state implode right in front of our eyes.

FDIC Guarantee Program Set to Expire After Senate Block
Bloomberg - The TAG program, introduced in the wake of the 2008 credit crisis, guarantees $1.5 trillion in non-interest bearing accounts above the FDIC’s general limit of $250,000. An initial extension is set to end Dec. 31.... The TAG program, which provided unlimited backing for accounts used for payrolls and other business expenses, was opposed by Republicans as a bailout-era program that shouldn’t be extended. Community bankers sought the extension as a way to keep accounts from being moved to bigger banks or money-market mutual funds.

Two scientific studies link Gulf War Illnesses to U.S. bombing of Iraqi ammo dump that released toxic sarin gas
dallasnews.com - A Dallas epidemiologist and a military intelligence expert have published scientific studies that attribute Gulf War Illness to a Jan. 18, 1991, U.S. bombing raid on an Iraqi ammunition dump. The studies concluded that a plume of sarin gas, a toxic nerve agent, rose from the dump and was carried by the wind to contaminate thousands of U.S. troops.

‘US trains Syria militants in Jordan’
Press TV - Press TV - US-based National Public Radio (NPR) reported on Wednesday that “Jordanian authorities, along with their US and British counterparts” had organized training for the militants. One of the militants, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he attended a training course in Jordan and that the training was “not led by uniformed Western soldiers, but rather by men in plainclothes who spoke several different dialects of Arabic.” “This suggests the trainers may have been private contractors, who are sometimes used by the US for training and assembly of sophisticated weaponry,” the report said.

Car bombing kills 16 in Qatana, southwest of Syrian capital
Press TV - The Syrian state media reported on Thursday morning that a deadly car bombing rocked the city of Qatana, southwest of Damascus, killing at least 16 people. Reports further indicated that the explosion, which targeted a military housing compound near an elementary school, was carried out by the foreign-backed militants fighting against the Syrian government.

VIDEO: North Korean satellite 'tumbling out of control,' US officials say
NBC News - The object that North Korea sent into space on Wednesday appears to be “tumbling out of control” as it orbits the earth, U.S. officials told NBC News. The officials said that it is indeed some kind of space vehicle, but they still haven’t been able to determine exactly what the satellite is supposed to do.

Japan scrambles F-15 jets over disputed island
Press TV - Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters on Thursday that F-15 planes were mobilized after Chinese aircraft entered the airspace just after 11 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) over the disputed islands, known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan. Over the past two months, Chinese ships have moved in and out of waters around the islands. However, the Japanese Defense Ministry said the airspace intrusion was the first ever by China.

VIDEO: Syrian opposition urges US to 're-examine' blacklisting of 'terrorist group
RT - The leader of Syria’s new opposition group, the National Coalition, says Washington “must reconsider” its decision to blacklist one of the alliance’s members. It comes as the US agrees to accept the coalition as Syria's official opposition group. Washington has branded the jihadist Al-Nusra Front as a terrorist organization, saying it is trying to hijack the Syrian uprising on behalf of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. US officials say the group has claimed responsibility for carrying out nearly 600 attacks that have killed numerous Syrians during the country’s 20-month uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Syrian rebels set to execute Ukrainian journalist
RT - NGOs are urging Syrian rebels to release a Ukrainian journalist, Anhar Kochneva, who is set to be executed Thursday. Meanwhile the group behind the kidnapping warned it would now target all Russians, Ukrainians and Iranians on Syrian soil. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), ARTICLE 19, the International Press Institute and Reporters Without Borders issued a joint statement expressing deep concern about Kochneva’s life and urging the leadership of the Free Syrian Army and of the Syrian Opposition Coalition to ensure that the journalist is safe and set free.

Syria Fires Scud Missiles at Insurgents, U.S. Says
NY Times - President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have resorted to firing ballistic missiles at rebel fighters inside Syria, Obama administration officials said Wednesday, escalating a nearly two-year-old civil war as the government struggles to slow the momentum of a gaining insurgency. Administration officials said that over the last week, Assad forces for the first time had fired at least six Soviet-designed Scud missiles that carry warheads in the latest bid to push back rebels who have consistently chipped away at the government’s military superiority.

IDF to begin giving its medics chemical weapons antidote
timesofisrael.com - The IDF has acquired tens of thousands of doses of a drug used to combat nerve agent chemical poisoning and will distribute them to all combat medics in the coming months, according to a report in the new issue of the army’s Bamahane weekly magazine. The drug, diazepam, is an anti-convulsant, halting seizures caused by nerve agents such as VX and sarin. Until now, the IDF supplied all medics with atropine, a drug that counters attacks on the respiratory system, but diazepam, which protects the central nervous system, was available only in intravenous form and was distributed only to rear echelon battalion medical centers.

Israeli FM: Israel to Keep Seizing Palestinian Tax Money for Months
antiwar.com - As part of his Hanukkah speech, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman vowed to see the Israeli government continue to seize the entirety of the Palestinian Authority’s tax revenue for at least the next four months, and possibly much longer.

North Korean rocket launch condemned
RT - Pyongyang claimed the Unha-3 rocket successfully delivered a scientific satellite Kwangmyongsong-3 into orbit. The UN Security Council has condemned North Korea’s rocket launch in a short statement following an emergency meeting, saying that “an appropriate response” is now being considered. North Korea will face “consequences” for the launch, a US spokesman warned. The White House called the rocket launch a “highly provocative act that threatens regional security” earlier this Wednesday.

German police raids Deutsche Bank offices in tax fraud probe
Police has searched several offices of Germany’s biggest bank, Deutsche Bank AG, in connection with a carbon credit tax evasion case. The Bank’s Co-CEO Fitscheand and CFO Krause are currently under investigation. Five hundred police officers raided Deutsche Bank offices and other private residences in Frankfurt, Berlin and Duesseldorf on Wednesday. Five arrest warrants for bank employees were issued following the major Frankfurt office raid, in which the building was surrounded by more than 20 police cars.

VIDEO: Margaret Thatcher: Defining Socialism
Liberty Crier - These brief exchanges took place during Margaret Thatcher’s last speech in the House of Commons on 22 November 1990. While socialist cry foul when wealth gaps widen between the upper and lower classes they fail to ask the question if everyone is better off than they were ten years ago (in terms of purchasing power, standard of living, etc.).

TEPCO unable to locate source of leak in Fukushima reactor
asahi.com - The operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is grappling to locate the source of a leak of highly radioactive water in the crippled No. 2 reactor, and will continue trying to pinpoint the cause next week.... Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it was unable to identify the source of the leak when the robot inspected one of the eight vent pipes that connect the chamber with the containment vessel on Dec. 11. TEPCO suspects the radioactive water is leaking from fractures near the pressure suppression chamber.

VIDEO: Oregon Mall Shooter Jacob Roberts Quit His Job, Seemed 'Numb' Before Attack
ABC News - In the days before he stole a semiautomatic weapon and stormed into an Oregon shopping mall, killing two people in a shooting spree, Jacob Roberts quit his job, sold his belongings and began to seem "numb" to those closest to him. Roberts' ex-girlfriend, Hannah Patricia Sansburn, 20, told ABC News today that the man who donned a hockey mask and opened fire on Christmas shoppers was typically happy and liked to joke around, but abruptly changed in the week before the shooting.

Soldiers As Lab Rats
American Conservative - Apropos Lewis Lapham’s article yesterday about government efforts to keep people from taking drugs, Raffi Khatchadourian has a memorable New Yorker piece about the Army giving them to people. Specifically the Edgewood Arsenal experiments in which soldiers were routinely dosed, in pursuit of a chemical weapon that could incapacitate but not kill, with substances like LSD and a particularly nasty-sounding dissociative referred to as BZ. The experiments have been under intense scrutiny due to a forthcoming lawsuit on behalf of the victims...

US Torture Victim Takes Case to International Human Rights Tribunal
Activist Post - The American Civil Liberties Union and Yale Law School’s Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic today filed a petition against the United States with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHCR) for the unlawful detention and torture of José Padilla, a U.S. citizen, whom the United States detained and interrogated for four years.

Florida nears 1 million permits for concealed weapons
(Reuters) - The number of active concealed weapons licenses in Florida, already home to more owners of such registered weapons than any other U.S. state, is expected to reach the 1 million mark next week, a state official said on Wednesday. Applications for the permits in the state of 19.1 million people have doubled since 2007. Only 0.3 percent of the more than 2 million total permits issued since 1987 have been revoked, said Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. "Floridians who are obtaining these licenses are obtaining them for the right reason and are using them in an appropriate way," Putnam said

Obama approved F-16 fighter jets as gift to Egypt
RT - Despite instability due to the new Islamic government in Egypt, the US is sending more than 20 F-16 fighter jets to Egypt as part of a $1 billion foreign aid package. The first four Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets are set to arrive in Egypt on Jan. 22, an unnamed source told Fox News. Although Egypt already has more than 200 such planes and the latest delivery fulfills an order placed two years ago when former President Hosni Mubarak was still in power, the protests and widespread instability in Egypt have caused some to wonder if providing jets at this time is a bad idea.

New House Letter Calling on Obama to Punish Palestinians
peacenow.org - The letter, which is circulating House-wide for cosponsors, calls on President Obama close the PLO office in Washington, to call the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem back to Washington for consultations, and to use "every means at our disposal to ensure that this General Assembly vote does not serve as a precedent for elevating the PLO in other UN bodies or international forums." The letter notes that this includes "reaffirming our commitment to maintaining and enforcing U.S laws that require withholding U.S. contributions from any international forum that grants membership to the PLO....
* The full text of the letter is available here.

Media Ignores Bombing of Social Security Building
Paul Joseph Watson - Apart from local media outlets in Phoenix, the mainstream press has virtually ignored what would normally be considered a major story in light of constant fearmongering about terror threats – the bombing of a Social Security Administration building in Casa Grande just two weeks ago.... The reason why the story has received such scant coverage is most likely the fact that the alleged terrorist blamed for carrying out the attack – Abdullatif Aldosary – is an Iraqi refugee who helped the United States in the uprising against Saddam Hussein in 1991.

YouTube: Ben Swann: Republican State Senator Thinks "Nullifiers" Should Be Hanged and Shot?
Ben Swann takes a look at claims by a Florida State Senator and what he thinks of those who believe in nullification.

Full Disclosure: Ben Swann Launches New Facebook Page
Liberty Crier - Television News Anchor Ben Swann recently announced the launch of a new Facebook page. The new Facebook page re-brands the Reality Check star under a new name, “Full Disclosure”. You can support Ben Swann by liking his new Facebook page here.

VIDEO: Court Finds ‘Choose Life’ License Plate Scheme Unconstitutional
Liberty Crier - U.S. District Court Judge James C. Fox ruled on Friday that North Carolina’s plan to offer a specialty “Choose Life” license plate to drivers without offering an alternative plate supporting reproductive freedom was unconstitutional and that the state cannot therefore produce or distribute the “Choose Life” plate. In the court’s ruling, Judge Fox concluded, “the State’s offering of a Choose Life license plate in the absence of a pro-choice plate constitutes viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.”

Electroshock Torture Handcuffs Now Patented
(NaturalNews) A U.S. patent has been uncovered that describes electronic handcuffs capable of delivering torturous electroshocks, “gas injections” and injectable “chemical restraints” to prisoners who wear them. The cuffs can be remote-controlled by prison guards, cops or MPs to deliver stronger or weaker electroshocks as desired… or even chemical injections.

VIDEO: Woman Brutally Tased By Police For Trying To Buy iPhones
Steve Watson - A Chinese woman living in Massachusetts was tased repeatedly by police at a mall after store owners called police when she attempted to buy more than one iPhone as gifts for her family. WMUR news reports that 44-year-old Xiaojie Li was visiting the mall in Nashua, New Hampshire, last week to buy christmas presents, but ran into trouble at the Apple store. Li, who cannot speak English very well, was confused when workers refused to allow her to buy more than two iPhones. According to her daughter, Li recorded video of other customers buying multiple iPhones, prompting Apple staff to ask her to leave.

VIDEO: Cop Tucks $100 Bill into Broke Driver’s Ticket
CBS Dallas - A traffic stop in Plano ended like unlike any you’ve ever heard about before. It started when Hayden Carlo was pulled over for an expired registration sticker. Carlo says he’s been struggling to support his wife and two small children. “You get paid, pay your bills, and there’s your money. It’s gone.”He told the officer he had no excuse for the expired sticker. I said ‘there’s no explanation for why I haven’t done it, except I don’t have the money.’ I said ‘it was either feed my kids or get my registration done.”

YouTube: Why I Hate School But Love Education
As the cyclical and seemingly never ending debate about education rages on, the topic - somewhat ironically, often poses more questions than it provides answers. But what is the value of mainstream schooling? Why is it that some of the most high profile and successful figures within the Western world openly admit to never having completed any form of higher learning?...

Catcher in the Rye dropped from US school curriculum
Telegraph - American literature classics are to be replaced by insulation manuals and plant inventories in US classrooms by 2014. A new school curriculum which will affect 46 out of 50 states will make it compulsory for at least 70 per cent of books studied to be non-fiction, in an effort to ready pupils for the workplace. Books such as JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird will be replaced by "informational texts" approved by the Common Core State Standards. Suggested non-fiction texts include Recommended Levels of Insulation by the the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Invasive Plant Inventory, by California's Invasive Plant Council.

Test results show American schoolchildren lag behind Asian, European peers in math, science
globalpost.com - American schoolchildren lag behind their peers in several Asian and European countries in math and science, global test results show.... The United States ranked 11th in fourth-grade math, 9th in eighth-grade math, 7th in fourth-grade science and 10th in eighth-grade science, the WSJ reported.... Gerry Wheeler, interim executive director of the National Science Teachers Association, said the results showed US students had “made small strides” but the country “can and must do better.”

UC Berkeley offers scholarships to illegal immigrants
RT - The University of California at Berkeley is using $1 million to fund scholarships for nearly 200 illegal immigrants, which is the largest single gift for this type of scholarship any American university has ever given out. Most of the scholarship recipients will be children of immigrants who crossed the border illegally and have grown up in the United States. Such children are currently ineligible for federal grants, loans or work-study positions, making it financially difficult for them to enroll in college.

Obama’s Swearing-in Will be Open-press
Politico - The Presidential Inaugural Committee has announced that President Obama's official swearing-in will be open to the press, allaying the concerns of those in the White House press corps who had feared restricted access.

Fed’s New Money Printing Scheme Will Ensure Long-term Unemployment
Kurt Nimmo - Citing fictitious unemployment numbers, Federal Reserve boss Ben Bernanke announced today that the Fed will spend $45 billion a month to “sustain an aggressive drive” to force long-term interest rates to zero and keep them there “until unemployment drops below 6.5 percent.” The Fed said it will direct the money into long-term Treasurys to replace an expiring bond-purchase program known as Operation Twist and further increase its “investment portfolio,” now reaching a whopping $3 trillion.

Profiting From a Child’s Illiteracy
NY Times - THIS is what poverty sometimes looks like in America: parents here in Appalachian hill country pulling their children out of literacy classes. Moms and dads fear that if kids learn to read, they are less likely to qualify for a monthly check for having an intellectual disability. Many people in hillside mobile homes here are poor and desperate, and a $698 monthly check per child from the Supplemental Security Income program goes a long way — and those checks continue until the child turns 18.

Twinkie CEO Admits Company Took Employees Pensions and Put It Toward Executive Pay
AlterNet - The company is in the process of complete liquidation and 18,000 unionized workers are set to lose their jobs. More troubling – they could lose their pensions. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal , Hostess’ CEO, Gregory Rayburn, essentially admitted that his company stole employee pension money and put it toward CEO and senior executive pay (aka “operations”). While this isn't technically illegal, it's another sleazy theft by Hostess executives - who've paid themselves handsomely while running their company into the ground.

Bristol Palin’s Failed Reality Show Received $354,348 In Taxpayer Dollars From Alaska
thinkprogress.org - The continuing move of the entire Palin family into reality television careers is an amusing downfall story, but it took a serious turn today with the news that the state of Alaska had provided $354,348 in subsidies to Bristol Palin’s most recent venture into the genre, her Lifetime show Bristol Palin: Life’s A Tripp, which had such dreadful ratings it was yanked from its slot after two episodes.

Sorry Protesters: Your Jobs Are Being Sent To China And They Aren’t Coming Back
Economic Collapse - The funny thing is that the workers that are out there protesting these union bills actually voted for the politicians that are killing their jobs. Both parties are married to the one world economic system and the “free trade” agenda, and Barack Obama has been one of the worst offenders. He has been pushing for more “free trade agreements” throughout the past four years, and yet union workers continue to support him enthusiastically.

VIDEO: TIME LAPSE: Job Losses In The Great Recession
Daily Bail - Geography of the great recession. Watch jobs disappear from the U.S. economy. Chart runs from January 2007 -- one year before the start of the recession -- to the most recent video update in April 2011. UPDATE: CHART SHOCK: The REAL Unemployment Rate Is 22%...

Secret Meeting in London: Plotting to Wage War on Syria without UN Authorization
globalresearch.ca - Today’s (London) Independent cover story reports the: “plan for (the) international coalition to provide air and naval support, plus military training for the opposition”, commenting that :“Western intervention is now deemed necessary as civil war has reached ‘tipping point’ “ and of course: “Britain, France and US agree ‘no boots on the ground.’

Russia slams US for recognizing Syrian opposition
Press TV - Russia lashed out at the United States on Wednesday for recognizing an opposition coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, saying it ran against agreements to seek political transition in the Middle Eastern nation. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was surprised by the move and that it appeared the United States was betting on "armed victory" of the opposition over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government. "This contradicts the agreements set in the Geneva communique that proposes the start of all-Syrian dialogue between the representatives named by the government on the one side and the opposition on the other," Lavrov said.

Rivals to talk unity as Egypt shakes in referendum fever
RT - The Egyptian military are to hold unity talks between political rivals to discuss ways of calming tensions in the country. President Mohamed Morsi is pushing for a controversial referendum vote despite a judicial boycott and opposition rallies. The unity talks on Wednesday evening will not to touch upon politics or the contentious referendum on a recent draft constitution, the country's top brass says. Morsi and his supporters said they would attend the meeting. Leading members of Egypt's opposition, including Mohamed ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, and Hamdeen Sabahy, will also take part in the talks.

VIDEO: Egyptian protesters break through barricades outside Morsi’s palace
RT - Protesters have breached barricades outside Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s palace as both supporters and opponents of the president gather throughout Cairo for rival rallies over a disputed draft constitution.... At the same time, up to ten thousand of President Morsi’s supporters also gathered in front of Rabaa Al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo's Heliopolis, some four kilometers away from the presidential palace and a rallying spot for anti-Morsi protesters. Protesters cheering for the constitution blocked off one of the two roads near where the mosque is located.

France urges foreign military intervention in Mali after PM arrest
RT - France has urged rapid foreign military intervention in Mali after the country's prime minister, Cheikh Modibo Diarra, was arrested and ordered to resign. Mali's president is expected to name a new prime minister later Tuesday. Diarra addressed the nation on television hours after soldiers loyal to Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo, who led a recent coup, arrested him. The soldiers ordered Diarra to resign because he "doesn't get along" with Sanogo, a spokesman for the military junta told AP.

North Korea launches long-range missile
RT - North Korea launched a long-range rocket Wednesday morning despite international opposition and growing tensions in the region. The missile reportedly crashed into the Pacific. South Korea’s president has called an emergency meeting over the issue. The launch was confirmed by officials at South Korean Defense Ministry and its Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Syrian Rebels Pledge Allegiance to Al-Qaeda Group That Killed U.S. Troops
Paul Joseph Watson - A new petition posted on the ‘We The People’ section of the WhiteHouse.gov website demands that the Obama administration cease all funding and support for terrorists and extremist rebels in Syria, as news emerges of 29 different Syrian rebel groups pledging allegiance to the Al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front, a group responsible for killing U.S. troops in Iraq and one that is currently the primary fighting force in the NATO-backed bid to topple President Bashar Al-Assad.

'More than one shooter' on scene at Oregon mall - Reports
legitgov.org - A gunman opened fire at an Oregon shopping mall outside of Portland on Tuesday and multiple people were believed to have been shot and wounded, authorities said. The gunman remained at large at the Clackamas Town Center near the Portland suburb of Happy Valley, said Steve Campbell, spokesman for the city. "There is an active shooter at the Clackamas Town Center," Campbell said.
* Related Article/Video: Three people dead in Oregon mall shooting spree, including gunman

Sex charges rock Purpose Driven ‘healthy church’
WND - Pastor Dale Lee McFarland was an up-and-coming star in the “Purpose Driven Church” movement, having left his position as a Microsoft executive to launch a thriving megachurch in Arizona and travel the world with evangelical superstar Rick Warren to train others in the methods of “The Purpose Driven Life.” McFarland’s congregation, Radiant Church in Surprise, Ariz., had even boasted of receiving the Church Health Award from Purpose Driven Ministries and had grown to be one of the largest Assemblies of God churches in the country. But earlier this year, a couple in the church filed a lawsuit, Courthouse News reports, alleging McFarland told the wife to have sex with him with “God’s approval” and divorce her husband.

US officially designates key Syrian opposition group as al-Qaeda affiliate
RT - The US Department of State has declared the Syrian rebel group al-Nusra Front a terrorist organization, despite the group’s success in effectively fighting the Assad regime and protecting rebel strongholds. The rebel group was blacklisted for alleged links it has to Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). US officials have expressed concern that al-Qaeda loyalists and radical Islamists are planning on taking control of the opposition movement and influencing the post-Assad political state if the rebels win.

Israel spends $647 million to load up on US munitions following Gaza war
RT - The Pentagon has approved a deal to supply 6,900 precision bomb kits to replenish Israel’s weapons stockpiles, diminished by the recent war against Hamas in Gaza. The contract is valued at $647 million. “The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the Pentagon said in a statement. The deal is expected to sail through formal approval by legislators.

Pentagon Says Afghan Forces Still Need Assistance
NY Times - As President Obama considers how quickly to withdraw the remaining 68,000 American troops in Afghanistan and turn over the war to Afghan security forces, a bleak new Pentagon report has found that only one of the Afghan National Army’s 23 brigades is able to operate independently without air or other military support from the United States and NATO partners.

Senate kills Pentagon's 'alternative CIA'
RT - The US Senate Armed Services Committee has halted the Pentagon’s request to send overseas more spies from the DoD’s Defense Intelligence Agency. In a surprise addition made last week to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, or NDAA, members of the Senate added a provision to the annual Pentagon spending bill that disrupts recently announced plans to put clandestine officers from the Department of Defense’s DIA overseas.

VIDEO: U.S. appeals court strikes down state's concealed-carry ban
NBC Chicago - The state of Illinois would have to allow ordinary citizens to carry weapons under a federal appeals court ruling issued today, but the judges also gave lawmakers 180 days to put their own version of the law in place. In a 2-1 decision that is a major victory for the National Rifle Association, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said the state’s ban on carrying a weapon in public is unconstitutional.... David Sigale, an attorney who represented the Second Amendment Foundation in the lawsuit, called the decision by the appeals court in Chicago “historic.” PDF: Concealed Carry Ruling.

VIDEO: Four WV homes gone Tuesday after a massive explosion
12160.info - Four homes went up in flames and collapsed in charred heaps Tuesday after a natural gas line exploded in an inferno that raged for at least an hour, melting guardrails and pavement on a swath of Interstate 77. Five other homes had extensive external damage, and several people were treated for smoke inhalation, but authorities said there were no fatalities and all residents had been accounted for.... Guardrails melted, utility poles burned, an ordinarily reflective green interstate sign was burned down to white metal and the blast blew a huge hole in the road, throwing dirt, rocks and debris across the interstate. "Even the hillside was on fire," [Gov.]Tomblin said.... Federal and state investigators are now trying to determine the cause.

Obamacare just raised your health care premium by $63
hotair.com - Among the regulations being rushed out the door by the Department of Health and Human Services 32 months after Obamacare passed is a requirement that every plan in America be subject to a $63 fee. That $63 is part of a fund to subsidize people with pre-existing conditions, who are more expensive to cover but whose costs must be transferred to healthier individuals in the new system.... But don’t worry. It’s temporary. The fee starts at $63 in 2014 and it gets lower every year until it’s phased out in 2017 because, obviously, people with pre-existing conditions will stop costing more money after that.

10 Signs We Live in a False Economy
Activist Post - It's time to admit that we live in a false economy. Smoke and mirrors are used to make us believe the economy is real, but it's all an elaborate illusion.

12,000 hold demo against anti-union state law in Michigan
Press TV - On Tuesday, demonstrators gathered inside and outside the state Capitol building in Lansing before the Republican-led House passed the bill that would ban workplace rules that make union membership a condition of employment for government workers.... Michigan Governor Rick Snyder will now sign the so-called “right-to-work” bill into law on Wednesday that would make Michigan the 24th state with “right-to-work” laws, which prohibit unions from establishing a "closed shop" requiring employees to join unions and contribute dues.

National Intelligence Council Report: Only Globalization Will Save the Future
Activist Post - In a new report entitled “Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds”, the National Intelligence Council (NIC) says that due to global economic changes, shifting in investments and the sudden rise of other nations to buck the US as the world’s superpower, the balance of “megatrends” in sovereign countries is transforming the world. Intelligence agencies in the US consulted with private corporations, academia, think-tanks, those of political influence and leaders in 14 countries; as well as the European Union. Global dominance is leaving American shores for other world leaders to come and claim their possible rise to power

FedEx Overcharged Customers for Years, Sealed E-Mail Says
Bloomberg - FedEx Corp. (FDX) has been “systematically overcharging” customers by billing businesses and government offices at higher residential rates, a company sales executive said in an internal e-mail unsealed in a lawsuit.... The e-mails were unsealed yesterday in a class-action, or group, lawsuit claiming FedEx Corp. and FedEx Corporate Services Inc. overcharged commercial and government customers as much as $3 each for millions of packages delivered. The plaintiffs, who claim violations of federal civil racketeering laws, seek three times the amount of the alleged overcharges in their lawsuit.

15 Signs That The Economy Is Rapidly Getting Worse As We Head Into 2013
Economic Collapse - How can the mainstream media claim that the U.S. economy is "improving" when it is painfully obvious to anyone with a brain that the middle class is being absolutely eviscerated?

Israel Used Depleted Uranium Munitions During Gaza Offensive
Richard Silverstein - I'm beginning to read reports from Gaza that indicate that the IDF may've used depleted uranium munitions during its recent assault. A local journalist writes in Electronic Intifada about the grotesque forms of some of the victims' wounds. He (incorrectly, I believe) associates them with chemical weapons like white phosphorus...

Israel behind bogus Iran nuclear data leak says reports
RT - Israel may be behind a series of leaks implicating Iran in nuclear weapons experiments, Western diplomats say, stressing that in doing so Tel Aviv could have compromised the ongoing UN investigation into Tehran's nuclear activities and ambitions. In its efforts to raise international pressure on Tehran, Israel supposedly carried out leaks of several documents from an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigation, The Guardian reported on Monday citing Western diplomats.

Iran launches 2nd phase of largest Mideast combined cycle power plant
Press TV - Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has inaugurated the second phase of the largest combined cycle power plant in the Middle East.... The plant will provide 50 percent of the electricity needs of the three Iranian provinces of Tehran, Qom and Alborz.

Ecuador may consider political asylum for Syria’s Assad
RT - After granting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange political asylum, Ecuador may consider doing the same for embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad and his inner circle, if he asks for it. Speaking to Brazilian daily Folha de Sao Paulo, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said, “Any person who requests asylum in Ecuador, we will consider as a human being whose basic rights we must respect.” “We would analyze such a request with all responsibility,” he added.

Google parks $10 billion in Bermuda, avoiding $2 billion in taxes
RT - Google reportedly avoided another $2 billion in taxes thanks to outsourced banking, which has already dubbed "immoral" and an "embarrassment" in media as austerity budgets reshape Europeans' lives. The California-based Internet giant shifted $9.8 billion in revenues into a no-tax Bermuda company, cutting its overall income tax rate almost by half, Bloomberg cites the company's subsidiary financials as showing. Information disclosed on the increase in Google’s revenues routed to Bermuda could add fuel to the outrage spreading across Europe and the US over corporate tax dodging, the agency reports.

Israel tanks, bulldozers enter Gaza in 1st post-truce incursion
Press TV - Local sources reported on Monday that the Israeli army tanks and bulldozers launched the brief intrusion into the eastern city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. The Tel Aviv regime’s recent incursion of the coastal enclave comes for the first time after an Egypt-mediated cease-fire put an end to Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip on November 21. Israeli military has already breached the truce deal on several instances.

VIDEO: Syria Government: USA May Be Trying To Frame Us Over Chemical Weapons
Steve Watson - The Syrian regime has written to the UN, warning that it believes the US may attempt to frame it by alleging that it has used chemical weapons on so called “rebels”, as well as innocent civilians. “The U.S. administration has consistently worked over the past year to launch a campaign of allegations on the possibility that Syria could use chemical weapons during the current crisis,” a letter penned to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by the Syrian Foreign Ministry states. The letter was one of a series sent to the UN head according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.

Russia’s Lower House to consider US citizens’ blacklist
RT - Russian State Duma is due to approve the draft law targeting US citizens involved in Human Rights violations, which is seen as a response to the so called ‘Magnitsky Bill’ approved by the Senate last week. The document was developed jointly by all the parliamentary parties and it could be approved at the first reading as early as Tuesday. The current version does not contain a list of particular names, but simply provides for sanctions against US citizens who had violated the rights of Russians, in particular adopted Russian children.

US detained hundreds of Afghan teenagers
RT - The US military said it has captured more than 200 Afghan juveniles, whose average age is 16, and held them prisoner for about one year without charging them for any crimes. A report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said that more than 200 detainees under the age of 18 were held at a military prison at the Detention Facility in Parwan for being characterized as “enemy combatants”. The teens had not been charged with any crimes, but were each held for an average of one year for the sole purpose of preventing “a combatant from returning to the battlefield”, the report said.

US military facing fresh questions over targeting of children in Afghanistan
Guardian - The US military is facing fresh questions over its targeting policy in Afghanistan after a senior army officer suggested that troops were on the lookout for "children with potential hostile intent". In comments which legal experts and campaigners described as "deeply troubling", army Lt Col Marion Carrington told the Marine Corp Times that children, as well as "military-age males", had been identified as a potential threat because some were being used by the Taliban to assist in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.

German security personnel strike hits airports nationwide
RT - Thousands of passengers were affected by a short-notice strike at ten airports across Germany, as 1,000 security staff demand better working conditions. The action started on Monday morning and lasted for several hours. The strike, organized by the trade union ver.di, which represents about 15,000 security personnel at German airports, brought disruption to daily operations. "We're aiming to hit the employers, which is why the strike was called on short notice," Deutsche Welle’s website quotes ver.di’s spokesman Christoph Schmitz as saying.

Japan may scrap nuclear plant sited over active seismic fault
straitstimes.com - Geologists said on Monday a Japanese nuclear plant may be sited over an active seismic fault, indicating that it will probably be scrapped. All five experts tasked by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) with investigating the tectonic situation underneath Tsuruga plant in Fukui prefecture said it showed signs of geologically recent movement. Under government guidelines, atomic installations cannot be sited on a fault - the meeting place of two or more of the plates that make up the earth's crust - if it is still classed as active.

YouTube: Mind blowing speech by Robert Welch in 1958 predicting Insiders plans to destroy America

Next-gen US drone: now equipped with ‘death ray’ laser
RT - The next generation of military drones, unveiled by a leading US manufacturer, will not just carry a limited supply of rockets – but will likely be fitted with an ultra-light laser, capable of repeatedly destroying objects at the speed of light.... Over the past four years, the Defense Advance Research Project Agency (DARPA) has given contractor General Atomics over $60 million to develop and then scale HELLADS – a powerful 150 kW ray with a difference.

Too fat to serve: US army gives tons of overweight soldiers the boot
RT - Fifteen times more troops were discharged from the US Army this year due to obesity than five years prior. With scores of recruits unfit to serve due to the extra pounds, the country’s top brass have deemed it a national security concern. The American Army is discharging servicemen in an attempt to cut its budget, and the first to be given their walking papers are those who have failed fitness tests because of obesity. During the last 10 months alone, 1,625 troops were dismissed from the US army due to being overweight, the Washington Post reported.

Powerful new film coming soon: American Empire
(NaturalNews) When American Empire: An Act of Collective Madness premiered in October at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, it received instant accolades as "the most controversial movie of the year...and quite possibly the decade" from Screen Daily. The movie critic magazine went on to describe the film as "a gripping provocative analysis of the current state of the U.S.," and a production that "clearly and concisely presents unpalatable facts."

US Air Force developing stealth drones in secret says report
Press TV - The U.S. Air Force is on track to expand its multi-million dollar drone fleet with evidence emerging that new stealth drones are under development by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman on classified funds. Bill Sweetman of the Aviation Week & Space Technology has gathered evidence of new stealth Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that would potentially be armed. This new generation of drones, if successfully engineered, will pale the widely-used Predator and Reaper drones in comparison.

YouTube: Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk 12/10/12: The Secret Military Expands: A More Deadly and Disturbing Phase in the War on Terror
Earlier this month we learned that the Obama Administration is significantly expanding the number of covert Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) agents overseas. From just a few hundred DIA agents overseas today, the administration intends to eventually deploy some 1,600 covert agents. The nature of their work will also shift, away from intelligence collection and more toward covert actions. This move signals a major change in how the administration intends to conduct military and paramilitary operations overseas. Unfortunately it is not a shift toward peace, but rather to an even more deadly and disturbing phase in the "war on terror."

10 Reasons Why It’s Not The End of the World As We Know It
Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones - Despite the fact that there are innumerable genuine crises and real economic problems all over the world for which people should be making serious preparations, manufactured hysteria surrounding supposed Mayan prophecies about the end of the world on December 21 has dominated the headlines and stoked panic amongst significant numbers of people. Here are ten reasons that suggest December 21st will not herald the end of the world as we know it.

US indicts HSBC in money-laundering case
Press TV - State and federal authorities decided against indicting HSBC in a money-laundering case over concerns that criminal charges could jeopardize one of the world’s largest banks and ultimately destabilize the global financial system. Instead, authorities on Tuesday are expected to announce a record $1.9 billion settlement with the bank, according to law enforcement officials briefed on the matter. The bank, which is based in Britain, faces accusations that it transferred billions of dollars for Iran and enabled Mexican drug cartels to move money illegally through its American subsidiaries.

Defense contractors seek fiscal cliff relief, budget-busting tax breaks at same time
Press TV - The dangers of sequestration are by now well understood, with more than 2 million jobs hanging in the balance and the Joint Chiefs warning of severe damage to America's security,".... Less understood is the role the industry has played in pushing the country to the economic precipice. For years, these companies have lobbied for -- and won -- lucrative tax breaks that have cost the government billions of dollars. Even now, their lobbyists are pushing for an extension of a break that allows some companies to avoid paying taxes on some income earned overseas.

VIDEO: Rick Santelli: Heads Up Middle Class! "All They're After Isn't Fixing The Economy, It's Your Bucks"
CNBC News Dec 10, 2012.

Californians could face ‘double taxation’ with state, federal carbon taxes
Daily Caller - Last month, environmentalists cheered as California launched a cap-and-trade program, but talks of a federal carbon tax raised concerns about double taxation. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that while the chances of a federal tax on carbon emissions being adopted are still remote, California state officials are worried enough to have started discussing the prospect.

History of Iran: Arming Iraq: A Chronology of U.S. Involvement
Iran Chamber Society - What follows is an accurate chronology of United States involvement in the arming of Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war 1980-88. It is a powerful indictment of the president Bush administration attempt to sell war as a component of his war on terrorism. It reveals US ambitions in Iraq to be just another chapter in the attempt to regain a foothold in the Mideast following the fall of the Shah of Iran.

Flashback: U.S. Military Sales to Iraq Raise Concerns
NY Times Dec 28, 2011 - The Obama administration is moving ahead with the sale of nearly $11 billion worth of arms and training for the Iraqi military despite concerns that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is seeking to consolidate authority, create a one-party Shiite-dominated state and abandon the American-backed power-sharing government.

‘Russia rejects foreign plans for Syria’
Press TV - The Russian foreign ministry, in a statement released on Monday, said Moscow rejects "attempts to force prepared recipes for socio-political development" on the Middle Eastern nation, Reuters reported. The statement added that Russia calls for an end to fighting and the start of talks between the Damascus government and Syrian opposition parties. On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed Moscow’s strong opposition to repetition of the Libyan scenario in Syria, stressing that the Kremlin will not allow such a thing to happen again.

All data on US RQ-170 drone decoded: Iranian commander
Press TV - Senior Iranian commander Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh says all data on the US RQ-170 drone previously captured by Iran has been decoded by the Islamic Republic.

Navy sends 2 more warships for N. Korean missile launch
Washington Times - The Navy has positioned two more warships in the Pacific to monitor North Korea’s upcoming long-range missile launch. The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain and the guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh have joined the USS Benfold and the USS Fitzgerald, both guided-missile destroyers, to monitor the launch, a Navy official said Saturday.

US commando killed in Afghanistan rescue mission...
Breitbart - A US special forces commando was killed during a mission in Afghanistan that succeeded in rescuing a kidnapped American doctor, the White House said Sunday.... The US soldiers killed seven Taliban insurgents in the pre-dawn raid Sunday, launched when intelligence showed that the hostage, Dilip Joseph, was in "imminent danger of injury or death", NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.

3,000 US troops secretly return to Iraq via Kuwait
Press TV - Over 3,000 US troops have secretly returned to Iraq via Kuwait for missions pertaining to the recent developments in Syria and northern Iraq, Press TV reports. According to our correspondent, the US troops have secretly entered Iraq in multiple stages and are mostly stationed at Balad military garrison in Salahuddin province and al-Asad air base in al-Anbar province. Reports say the troops include US Army officers and almost 17,000 more are set to secretly return to Iraq via the same route.

VIDEO: Why Oh Why Israel?
Tim King Salem-News.com - (WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES) What possible reason exists to justify the gaping hole Israel left in Gaza's heart? How can pounding people into burning pools of twisted torture and grief be an answer? What on earth justifies this violence?... Israel's aggression toward the people of Gaza and the U.S. blessing of it proves that we are no longer fit to continue, we might as well give up.... Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Tim is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

VIDEO: 'Killing Palestinians is popular in Israel around election time'
RT - In an Egypt-brokered truce, both Israel and Hamas claimed victory. But who exactly is the winner, and was Israel’s operation a success, in a broader sense? For that, RT’s Sophie Shevardnadze talks with former assistant US Secretary of Defense and former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman.

Egyptian opposition formally rejects constitutional referendum
RT - The Egyptian opposition has rejected a constitutional referendum set for December 15, saying it would fail to represent all Egyptians. It comes after President Mohamed Morsi rescinded a decree granting himself sweeping powers. "The National Salvation Front (NSF) rejects the referendum to be held on December 15," the powerful opposition coalition's spokesman Hussein Abdel Ghani told a news conference. "We are against this process from start to finish."
* Related Article: Morsi to Relinquish Expanded Powers...

Report: DOD drafting plans to strike Syrian chemical weapon targets
The Hill - Senior U.S. defense officials are drafting plans for a potential preemptive strike against government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, prompted by concerns over the country's chemical weapon stockpiles. While information on the specific status of those weapons remains extremely fluid, recent U.S. intelligence showed Assad's forces outfitting air-to-ground bombs with sarin gas at two airfields in Syria, according to CNN.

‘NATO plans Syria attack via Turkey’
Press TV - An Iranian lawmaker says deploying patriot missiles on the Turkish-Syrian border is a prelude to NATO's military intervention in Syria via Turkey. “By deploying Patriot missiles in Turkey, NATO is trying to bring the developments in Syria under its control,” member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Mohammad-Saleh Jokar said Sunday. The lawmaker added that claiming the missiles are there to protect Turkey from a possible Syrian attack is a propaganda campaign aimed at legitimizing the deployment of the missiles.

Experts skeptical Syria is preparing to use its chemical arsenal
miamiherald.com - “I’m skeptical about sarin being prepared or artillery shells being filled. I’ve just seen too much in the past with satellite photography making assumptions about chemical weapons, most infamously in Iraq,” said Greg Thielmann, a senior fellow at the Arms Control Association in Washington and an early skeptic of U.S.... “Even if we could see them being filled, how do we know how they intend to use them?” Thielmann added. “There’s no threat made by Assad of using them, and we’ve made our threats to a sufficient level that he could expect something pretty nasty if he did.”

UK claims to have evidence Assad may use chemical weapons
RT - The UK has joined the US in claiming Syria's government may soon use chemical weapons on its own people. The Syrian government has warned of the potential danger of these weapons falling into the hands of “terrorist groups.”

Four killed in US drone attack in Pakistan
Press TV - At least four people have been killed in U.S. drone attack in Pakistan after targeting the country’s tribal region. Local officials say the American unmanned aircraft fired four missiles at a compound in North Waziristan tribal region, near the Afghan border. Pakistani officials have condemned the U.S. for violating the country’s sovereignty. Meanwhile, Washington claims that the attacks target militants despite the fact that evidence shows most of the victims are civilians.

Japan poised to shoot down North Korean missile
Telegraph - The Japanese government has ordered its military to shoot down the missile that is expected to be launched by North Korea as early as Monday.... Three Japanese destroyers equipped with the advanced Aegis detect-and-destroy weapons system have been deployed in the Sea of Japan. The US has also stationed warships in the area to monitor the launch.

Obama Gives OK For Black Box Data Recorders to Be Installed in All Cars
Activist Post - With complete disregard for driver privacy, the Obama administration gave their consent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) to mandate black box event data recorders (EDR) be installed in all new cars in the US. The NHTSA says that by September 2014 all car and light trucks will be equipped with EDRs that will silently “record the actions of drivers and the responses of their vehicles in a continuous information loop.”

Chinese Group Buys 80% of AIG Plane Unit for $4.2 Billion
Bloomberg - A Chinese group agreed to buy 80.1 percent of American International Group Inc. (AIG)’s plane-leasing unit for $4.23 billion in the nation’s largest acquisition of a U.S. company.... The acquisition gives the group control of the world’s second-largest aircraft lessor as rising travel in China and Asia spurs demand for planes. AIG, which counts the U.S. government as its largest investor, is selling the Los Angeles- based unit as Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche focuses on insurance operations and works to reduce debt.

$700,000 In Gold Goes Missing from Pfizer Pharmaceutical Lab
Intel Hub - Pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer, known for such drugs as Viagra, has reported that about $700,000 in gold dust has come up missing at its Chesterfield, Missouri lab. According to police, Pfizer is unsure of how the gold went missing, prompting them to contact police to help determine whether it was lost or stolen.... Pfizer did not want to comment on how it uses gold.

Clinton to testify on Benghazi attack report: U.S. lawmaker
Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on a report expected to be released next week on the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, a top Republican lawmaker said on Friday.

Pentagon prepares military operation in Mali
RT - According to testimonies from officials speaking to the Post, both the Pentagon and State Department will assist opposition to the terrorists by training, equipping and transporting troops to tackle what Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Delaware) has called “the largest territory controlled by Islamic extremists in the world.” Speaking on the record, though, the Pentagon’s deputy assistant secretary for Africa tells the paper that US influence might not end there.

VIDEO: Reality Check: Is Sports Writer Jason Whitlock Correct To Call “The NRA The New KKK”?
(FOX19) Earlier this week, a sports writer by the name of Jason Whitlock made headlines when he blamed a lack of gun control for the death of Kansas City Chiefs’ player, Jevon Belchers, who killed himself and the mother of his child on Saturday. A day later, Whitlock called the National Rifleman’s Association ‘the new KKK’. Ben Swann of Reality Check takes a look at the NRA and KKK’s history together.

Smith & Wesson Announces 48% Surge In Gun Sales
Paul Joseph Watson - With gun control becoming part of the national debate over the last week in the aftermath of NBC Sports anchor Bob Costas’ comments, Smith & Wesson have announced a 48% surge in firearms sales and a quarterly profit of $21.2 million dollars. “Net sales from continuing operations for the second quarter were a record $136.6 million, up 48.0% from the second quarter last year,” states a press release by Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation. The $21.2 million profit compares to a $1.6 million loss in the same quarter last year.

YouTube: Officer Michael Reichert admits to planting drugs or drug scents on cars
Public Service Announcement & Traveler Warning for anyone driving through Southern Illinois: While testifying under oath, Officer Michael Reichert admits to planting drugs or drug scents on cars in hotel parking lots for K9 "training" without notifying the owners. He then lets unsuspecting motorists drive away with drug scents still on their vehicles. Drug sniffing K9s can detect drug odors for hours, if not days after being planted.

Student's parents file lawsuit after boy strip-searched in school
RT - Chicago Public Schools are facing a lawsuit after a 15-year-old boy said he was strip-searched at a high school while a security guard allegedly touched his genitals in search of drugs. The boy came home crying, embarrassed and distraught that he was stripped naked in front of two security guards, a Chicago police officer and a female assistant principal.... After finding no sign of drugs, the officers left him alone. But the 15-year-old came home crying and was traumatized from the incident. The boy suffers from an emotional disorder and a learning disability, and the incident affected him drastically.

New Evidence of Voting Fraud with Prop 37 Initiative to Label GMO’s
Intel Hub - Now, as the Dec 14 deadline for the turn in of the votes approaches, more evidence of voter fraud is coming to light. According to Food Democracy Now: “Right now the votes for Prop 37 to label genetically engineered foods are still being counted. On Tuesday morning, Dec 4th, Prop 37 hit 6,004,628 votes on the California Secretary of State’s website, but this tally was quickly reversed within an hour of being publicized by Food Democracy Now!

Group Plans to Draft Judge Andrew Napolitano for President in 2016
thenewamerican.com - Next week, Revolution PAC will reportedly announce the formation of a committee to draft Judge Andrew Napolitano to run as a Republican in 2016 for president. Notably, Ron Paul once named Napolitano as the man he would choose as a running mate. According to a story published by Forbes, as well as an announcement on their own website, the Revolution PAC committee will initiate its Draft-the-Judge Campaign by circulating nationwide a petition to gather signatures to demonstrate the level of grassroots support within the liberty movement to put His Honor at the top of the ticket.

Press fear Obama private swearing in
Politico - The White House Correspondents Association is strongly urging the Obama administration to allow press access to the president’s official swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20, following indications from inauguration committee officials that the event could potentially be closed to the press.

YouTube: Prison labor booms in US as low-cost inmates bring billions
RT - US breeds a Chinese-style inmate labor scheme on its own soil. Both state and some of the biggest private companies are now enjoying the fruits of a cheap and readily available work force, with tens of millions of dollars spent by private prisons to keep their jails full.

Dollar's Decline Catches Up With U.S. Mint
thenewamerican.com - Within days of each other, two announcements concerning the future of U.S. currency appeared in the popular press, and each avoided any mention whatsoever of the primary driver of the changes. First was the announcement on November 26 from Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner that the U.S. Mint will begin removing pennies and nickels from circulation starting the first of the year, supposedly because they’re too expensive to make.... Two days later CNN reported that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) called for the United States to stop printing one-dollar bills and switch instead to one-dollar coins. The GAO claimed that such a move could actually make the government some money....

CBO: Feds Borrowing $4.8 billion Per Day in FY 2013, So Far
CNS News - The federal government ran a deficit of $292 billion for the first two months of fiscal year 2013 – October and November 2012 – amounting to $4.8 billion of borrowed money each day.

VIDEO: War on drugs a trillion-dollar failure
CNN News - Here we are, four decades after Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs in 1971 and $1 trillion spent since then. What do we have to show for it? The U.S. has the largest prison population in the world, with about 2.3 million behind bars. More than half a million of those people are incarcerated for a drug law violation.... In the United States, if illegal drugs were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco, they would yield $46.7 billion in tax revenue.
* Related Video: BBC TV: Richard Branson and Ethan Nadelmann Discuss Failed Drug War

Show This To Anyone That Believes That Taxes Are Too Low
Economic Collapse - Most people just focus on income tax rates and they forget about the dozens of other ways that they are bleeding us dry. It really is kind of like “death by a thousand cuts”, and of course the middle class gets hit the hardest.... The following are 44 more taxes that at least some average Americans are paying now or will be paying soon other than federal, state and local income taxes…

VIDEO: Reality Check: Is Speaker Boehner Pushing Conservatives Out Of Budget And Finance Committee Seats?
(FOX19) – Speaker of the House John Boehner just removed 4 of the most fiscally conservative Congressmen in Washington from finance and budget committees. Is the Republican establishment pushing out fiscal conservatives?

Ron Paul warns Republicans not to further anger their base
thedaily.com - Ron Paul has a message for his fellow House Republicans trying to tame the Tea Party: Don’t. You’ll only make them angrier. Paul is sounding the warning after GOP leaders booted four Tea Party supporters off the Budget and Financial Services committees in hopes of advancing a deal with Democrats that would keep the country from going off the fiscal cliff.... “They’re going to punish freshmen legislators? If you’re looking for dissension, then you’re going to get it,” Paul told The Daily. “These congressmen will never cave. They’re going to get the support of the people … They will become heroes.”

Could two platinum coins solve the debt-ceiling crisis?
Washington Post - Thanks to an odd loophole in current law, the U.S. Treasury is technically allowed to mint as many coins made of platinum as it wants and can assign them whatever value it pleases. Under this scenario, the U.S. Mint would produce (say) a pair of trillion-dollar platinum coins. The president orders the coins to be deposited at the Federal Reserve. The Fed then moves this money into Treasury’s accounts. And just like that, Treasury suddenly has an extra $2 trillion to pay off its obligations for the next two years — without needing to issue new debt. The ceiling is no longer an issue. the platinum coin option really legal? Apparently so. It was discussed during the 2011 debt-ceiling crisis by Jack Balkin, a law professor at Yale Law School.

Gov Turns Up the Heat On Circulating Liberty Dollar Coins
Liberty Crier - This is an email from Bernard von NotHaus who is the Monetary Architect and Editor of the Liberty Dollar: Dear Liberty Dollar Supporters! Some years ago, news reporter Simon Constable joked that you should hide your Liberty Dollars because the feds are coming after them! Unfortunately, the Secret Service just took an alarmingly big step in that direction. I just received the message below that was sent to an E-Bay seller who had all his NORFED Liberty Dollar (NORFED) removed from his site...

VIDEO: Police Called When Crowd Signing Up For Housing List Gets 'Out Of Control'
10tv.com - Columbus Police sprayed Mace on several people in a crowd that had gathered to sign up for a list to get subsidized housing at a northwest Columbus apartment complex. Police said the crowd started to gather Friday night for the Saturday morning event at The Heritage apartment complex on Gatewood Road near Sunbury Road in northeast Columbus.

VIDEO: 'No dialogue’: Egyptian opposition refuses negotiations with Morsi
RT - The Egyptian opposition has refused to negotiate with embattled President Mohamed Morsi. Activists called for mass rallies to be held on Friday to protest the newly written constitution that will be put to a vote next week.

2,145 US soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001: Pentagon
Press TV - The New York Times reported on Thursday that the Pentagon had identified 2,145 soldiers who have been killed since the invasion of Afghanistan. The US media say nearly two-thirds of the fatalities occurred during the Obama administration, which saw the deployment of 33,000 additional troops to Afghanistan after 2009 to increase the number of the US forces to over 100,000.

US conducts atomic test amid global urge for nuclear disarmament
Press TV - The US has conducted a nuclear test in Nevada to examine the effectiveness of its atomic weapons stockpile amid the growing global urge for nuclear disarmament. The US Energy Department announced that the Wednesday nuclear test was aimed at providing “crucial information to maintain the safety and effectiveness of the nation's nuclear weapons.” The subcritical experiment, known as Pollux, was conducted by the staff from the Nevada National Security Site, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories.
* Related Article: Hiroshima mayor condemns US nuclear test

North Korea only one week away from long-range rocket that can reach California
(NaturalNews) A prominent South Korean news agency is reporting that North Korea is only one week away from having a long-range rocket capable of reaching California. "North Korea is believed to have completed the installation of a long-range rocket capable of reaching California. "North Korea is believed to have completed the installation of a long-range rocket on the launch pad" at the Dongchang-ri base in the country's northwest, reports Yonhap News Agency in South Korea.

VIDEO: Flash floods and toxic cloud cause havoc in Argentinean capital
RT - The worst flooding in over a half-century and a toxic cloud caused by a pesticide container fire have wreaked chaos in Buenos Aires. Neighborhoods were left underwater by torrential rains amid evacuations due to toxic fumes released by the fire.

VIDEO: Tsunami hits Japan’s Miyagi prefecture after powerful 7.3 quake
RT - Following a 7.3-magnitude quake, a meter-high tsunami struck Japan’s Miyagi prefecture, where the tsunami that triggered the Fukushima nuclear plant crisis hit last year. Authorities reported no damage, radiation levels at Fukushima remain stable. The earthquake hit 245 kilometers off Japan’s eastern coast at a depth of around 35 kilometers. The tremor prompted a tsunami warning on the Miyagi prefecture, where last year’s devastating quake triggered a tsunami and multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.... An aftershock of 6.2-magnitude struck the eastern coast just minutes after the initial quake.

Costa Rica now battling Monsanto over GMO corn
(NaturalNews) With the exception of about 1,000 acres of land that have been devoted to the cultivation of transgenic crops for research purposes -- these include cotton, soy beans, bananas, and pineapples -- the Central American nation of Costa Rica, which is known for its bio-diverse agricultural heritage and stunning landscape, is essentially free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in its native food supply.

VIDEO: Morsi: ‘I won’t tolerate anyone working to overthrow a legitimate government’
RT - The Egyptian president has addressed the nation, accusing the foreign-funded opposition of trying to incite violence against his legitimacy. Following the speech, hundreds of protesters stormed and torched the Muslim Brotherhood's Cairo HQ. The president’s speech, which was aimed at restoring stability in the country, has ignited a new escalation in violence.... “I separate the legitimate opposition from the vandals who committed violence,” Morsi told the nation. “The opposition thinks Article 6 is a problem. I won’t insist on keeping it, and anyway, the decree ends after the referendum.” Morsi said he will form a new assembly to write the constitution if the current draft is rejected by the referendum.

US to declare leading Syrian opposition group foreign terrorist organization
RT - The US may soon name the Syrian rebel al-Nusra Front, one of the strongest among the opposition, a foreign terrorist group. The designation is likely to complicate the opposition’s fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The US Department of State has been collecting evidence against the group for several months to classify the Islamic radicals as a foreign terrorist organization. Officials believe the designation will come before the Friends of Syria meeting, which is scheduled for Dec. 12 in Morocco.

US ramps up threats in 'psychological' war on Assad
RT - American media are reporting extensively that the Syrian president is getting ready to use chemical weapons on his own people, raising concerns that Washington could be planning a strike on Damascus with the chemical threat as a pretext. Reports that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime is preparing to use its chemical weapons at home have created a storm in the US media.

UN conference to approve world wide snooping 'hit by hackers'
RT - A United Nation conference in Dubai has been disrupted by a suspected hacking group after the UN agreed to adopt a new Internet standard that allows governments and corporations to spy on people. The World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) has convened in Dubai to debate changes to a wide-ranging communications treaty, and in particular, plans for deep-packet inspections which would allow for massive eavesdropping. The United Nations has said it is working towards adopting the strategy worldwide, infuriating bloggers and Internet experts.

Deutsche Bank Hid $12 Billion In Losses To Avoid A Government Bail-Out
Zero Hedge - Forget the perfectly anticipated Greek (selective) default. This is the real deal. The FT just released a blockbuster that Europe's most important and significant bank, Deutsche Bank, hid $12 billion in losses during the financial crisis, helping the bank avoid a government bail-out, according to three former bank employees who filed complaints to US regulators. US regulators, whose chief of enforcement currently was none other than the General Counsel of Deutsche Bank at the time!

Vaccine myths unraveling: 600 percent increase in number of parents refusing vaccinations for their children (Australia)
(NaturalNews) So many Australian parents are taking charge of their children's health and making informed vaccination decisions, in fact, the Australian government is now working feverishly to dissuade and re-indoctrinate them back into the vaccine fold. According to 3AW 693 News Talk in Australia, the Australian Medical Association, along with the Academy of Science, has published a 20-page propaganda pamphlet that attempts to discard all the opposing science against vaccines as "common myths," and instead reassure everyone that vaccines are perfectly safe.

LA activists rally against fundraiser for Israeli army
Press TV - Pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged a rally outside the Century Plaza hotel in Los Angeles to protest against a fundraiser for the Israeli army.... Demonstrators said the fundraisers for the Israeli army help Tel Aviv continue “committing atrocities” against the Palestinian people.

US Senate approves 'Magnitsky Act', ties it to Cold War era trade law's repeal
RT - The US Senate has passed by an overwhelming majority a new bill normalizing trading relations with the Russian Federation, while at the same time critisizing its former adversary's human rights record.

Obamacare creator leaves White House job for lobbying role with Big Pharma
RT - A key figure involved in designing the president’s signature health insurance mandate referred to as Obamacare has left her role at the White House to work for one of the very companies profiting off the bill she helped create. Elizabeth Fowler will be leaving her role as the special assistant to the president for healthcare and economic policy at the National Economic Council and joining pharmaceutical giants Jonson & Johnson.

VIDEO: "Doomsday Prepper” Raided By Police, FBI After Criticizing Obama
Paul Joseph Watson - A “doomsday prepper” in a rural area of Maryland became a target for police and the FBI after he told an undercover cop that he was “very irritated” about Barack Obama’s re-election, sparking an investigation that eventually led to 46-year-old Terry Porter being thrown in prison and having his home raided by 150 armed officers.

Anti-Second Amendment Democrat Arrested With Gun at Chicago’s O’Hare
Kurt Nimmo - The arrest yesterday of Illinois Democrat Donne Trotter by TSA agents for attempting to bring a .25-caliber Beretta pistol on an airplane at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport demonstrates the hypocrisy of the anti-Second Amendment crowd. Trotter is charged with one count of attempting to board an airplane with a weapon, a Class 4 felony. Donne Trotter is a long-time gun-grabber. He opposed concealed carry legislation in the state and worked to outlaw so-called assault weapons.

They Can Do That?! 10 Outrageous Tactics Cops Get Away With
AlterNet - Talk to someone who has never dealt with the cops about police behaving badly, and he or she will inevitably say, “But they can’t do that! Can they?” The question of what the cops can or can’t do is natural enough for someone who never deals with cops, especially if their inexperience is due to class and/or race privilege. But a public defender would describe that question as naïve. In short, the cops can do almost anything they want, and often the most maddening tactics are actually completely legal.

VIDEO: Milwaukee Cop Who Punched Handcuffed Woman in Face Reinstated Thanks to Police Bill of Rights
reason.com - Milwaukee Cop Richard Schoen was fired in May of this year after his superiors saw a dashboard-camera video that shows Schoen climbing into the backseat of his cruiser to repeatedly punch a handcuffed woman in the face. He’s now getting his job back despite the objections of Milwaukee’s police chief and mayor.

Seniors decry ban on Christmas tree in their complex in Newhall
Daily News - Residents in a Newhall senior apartment complex are protesting an order from management to remove their beloved Christmas tree from the community room because, they were told, it's a religious symbol. On Tuesday, Tarzana-based JB Partners Group Inc. sent a memo to staff at The Willows senior apartment building demanding they take down Christmas trees and menorahs in communal areas.The company has owned The Willows for four years, but this is the first time it's given such a directive to staff.

Obama's Public 'Inauguration' Just for Show, Likely to Cost Taxpayers Over $100 Million
weeklystandard.com - The Inaugural Committee announced Thursday that activities will last three days: a day of service on Saturday, the small private ceremony on Sunday, and the public swearing-in, parade and balls on Monday." That means, the public "inauguration" is just a show, while the actual inauguration will again be behind closed doors (just as it was last go around). What's the show going to cost? If the cost of recent past inaugurations are any indication, well over $100 million.

Gary Franchi’s Revolution PAC Raised More Than $1.2 Million And Spent Just $172,000 To Help Ron Paul
Liberty Crier - Revolution PAC raised $1.2 million by pitching itself as a booster for Texas Representative Ron Paul’s run for president. Under the direction of Gary Franchi, the group spent $1 million, 83 percent of its cash, on administrative expenses, including about $153,000 for himself and his companies. A $1,766 monthly fee for “office rent” went to a Franchi company whose address is a mailbox at a Northbrook, Illinois, UPS Store. Franchi said in an interview there is a physical location for the companies, declining to give its address “for privacy reasons.”

VIDEO: Rand Paul: We Should Let Dems Raise Taxes And Then Let Them Own It!
realclearpolitics.com - SEN. RAND PAUL: I have yet another thought on how we can fix this. Why don't we let the Democrats pass whatever they want? If they are the party of higher taxes, all the Republicans vote present and let the Democrats raise taxes as high as they want to raise them, let Democrats in the Senate raise taxes, let the president sign it and then make them own the tax increase. And when the economy stalls, when the economy sputters, when people lose their jobs, they know which party to blame, the party of high taxes. Let's don't be the party of just almost as high taxes.

Ten Months to Launch “Obamacare”––Get Ready for Some Startling Rate Increases
Health Policy and Marketplace Review - On average, expect a 30% to 40% increase in the baseline cost of individual health insurance to account for the new premium taxes, reinsurance costs, benefit mandate increases, and underwriting reforms. Those increases can come in the form of outright price increases or bigger deductibles and co-pays. In states with the least mandates or for health insurance companies with the tightest underwriting now, the increase could be a lot more.

VIDEO: Odd Danske Bank Commercial “A New Normal” Tells You What is Normal in the NWO
12160.info - Until February 2012, Danske Bank was owned by elite financier Peter Straarup who is a member of the Trilateral Commission (created by David Rockefeller) and of the Bilderberg group. The bank’s latest commercial entitled “A New Normal Demands New Standards” is quite odd, not to say deeply disturbing and upsetting. It basically shows a bunch of things that are supposedly considered “the new normal”…And most of these things…not good.

Thousands of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes to be Released in Florida
Daily Mail - Hundreds of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes are awaiting federal approval for release into the Florida Keys as part of an experiment aimed at reducing the risk of dengue fever. Mosquito control officials have requested the Food and Drug Administration's sign off on the experiment that would be the first of its kind in the U.S. Some residents of the tourist town of Key West worry though on how much research has been done to determine the risks of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes on the Keys' fragile ecosystem.

Israel Used Depleted Uranium Munitions During Gaza Offensive
Richard Silverstein - I’m beginning to read reports from Gaza that indicate that the IDF may’ve used depleted uranium munitions during its recent assault. A local journalist writes in Electronic Intifada about the grotesque forms of some of the victims’ wounds. He (incorrectly, I believe) associates them with chemical weapons like white phosphorus...

The UN asks for control over the world’s Internet
RT - Members of the United Nation’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) have agreed to work towards implementing a standard for the Internet that would allow for eavesdropping on a worldwide scale. At a conference in Dubai this week, the ITU members decided to adopt the Y.2770 standard for deep packet inspection, a top-secret proposal by way of China that will allow telecom companies across the world to more easily dig through data passed across the Web.

‘Colombia in chaos’: Anti-govt mass protests hit 20 cities
RT - Thousands of Colombians marched in 20 cities across the country to protest President Santos’ political agenda. They condemned the government for negotiating with the rebel militant group FARC rather than addressing domestic issues. Protesters marched in various locations in the Colombian capital, banging pots and pans in what is known as a ‘cacerolazo.’ Simultaneous demonstrations were held in 21 cities across the country. The protesters decried recent government negotiations with Colombian rebel militant group FARC, pointing to a recent rise in terrorist attacks and general lack of security in Colombia.

Europeans outraged over the US using Patriot Act for worldwide spying
RT - Researchers from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands have condemned the United States for allowing the controversial Patriot Act to bypass foreign laws and let Americans intercept data from persons internationally. In a just published study, Cloud Computing in Higher Education and Research Institutions and the USA Patriot Act, researchers from the school’s Institute for Information Law say that legislation enacted to allegedly protect the security of US citizens has in the process eroded privacy protections on a global scale.

26 Amazing Facts About Finland's Unorthodox Education System
Business Insider - Since it implemented huge education reforms 40 years ago, Finland's school system has consistently come at the top for the international rankings for education systems. So how do they do it? It's simple—by going against the evaluation-driven, centralized model that much of the Western world uses.

PA Says Israeli Housing Decision is 'End of Peace Process'
israelnationalnews.com - Former chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, declared Wednesday that Israel's decision to build in the area between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim meant the “end of the peace process.” IIsraelis wondered what peace process he was talking about, as negotiations were broken off by Mahmoud Abbas despite the ten-month buiding freeze Israel imposed on itself.

VIDEO: Morsi advisors resign amidst reports of killings in Cairo violence
RT - Four people have reportedly been killed as clashes between supporters and opponents of Egypt’s president continue in Cairo. The escalating violence forced four top officials to resign, including the chief of the constitutional committee. Zaghloul El-Balshi, the general secretary of the supreme committee on the constitutional referendum, announced his resignation in a televised interview Wednesday night. “I will not participate in a referendum that spilled Egyptian blood,” he said as cited by Ahram Online daily. “I call on Morsi to cancel the constitutional declaration immediately.”­

Four killed in Lebanon clashes
RT - Four people have been killed, and dozens injured in two days of fighting in the Lebanese city of Tripoli as gunmen with rivaling alliances in neighboring Syria’s 21-month-old conflict faced off. The fighting in Lebanon’s port city was sparked by the reported killings last week of 21 Lebanese from Tripoli and one Palestinian in the Syrian town of Tal-Kalakh, near that country's border with Turkey.

One dead, scores injured as Bangladeshi police use live ammunition on protesters
RT - At least one person has been killed and scores injured and detained by police as a protest organized by Bangladesh’s largest Islamic party turned violent, with police reportedly using live ammunition against the rioters. The strike was organized by Jamaat e Islami in protest against the trials of the organization's leaders, who are charged with war crimes allegedly committed during the country’s 1971 liberation war. During the nationwide protests, rioters have set some 20 cars on fire, including one at the US Embassy in Dhaka.

Japan deploys Patriot missiles to combat North Korean rocket threat
RT - The Japanese Navy has delivered surface-to-air missile systems in order to battle a perceived threat arising from the planned North Korean rocket launch, Kyodo news announced. Two Patriot Advanced Capability-3 batteries have arrived to the island of Ishigaki, some 400 kilometers southwest of Okinawa, on board the JDS Kunisaki. Patriots will also be deployed on Okinawa. Japan's armed forces have been placed on standby ahead of the planned North Korean missile launch.

Michigan House passes bill blocking NDAA detention
tenthamendmentcenter.com - A bill condemning detention provisions written into the National Defense Authorization Act and blocking any state cooperation with federal agents attempting to detain people in Michigan without due process unanimously passed the Michigan House Wednesday. HB5768 declares, “no agency of this state, no political subdivision of this state, no employee of an agency of this state or a political subdivision of this state acting in his or her official capacity, and no member of the Michigan national guard on official state duty shall aid an agency of the armed forces of the United States in any investigation, prosecution, or detention of any person pursuant to section 1021 of the national defense authorization act…” It passed 107-0.

Newly Released Drone Records Reveal Extensive Military Flights in US
Activist Post - Today EFF posted several thousand pages of new drone license records and a new map that tracks the location of drone flights across the United States. These records, received as a result of EFF’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), come from state and local law enforcement agencies, universities and—for the first time—three branches of the U.S. military: the Air Force, Marine Corps, and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).

The U.S. Senate rejects the UN Convention on Disability Rights
Activist Post - The vote -- 61 to 38 -- divided closely on party lines, with Republicans calling the vote a victory for national sovereignty and parental rights.... While many were calling this a defeat for the internationalists and the NWO, I must question if this may be a knee-jerk response to a more complex situation. The fact is that the U.S. has launched a covert war against its elderly and disabled. The battlefield is convening every weekday in guardianship courts across the country, where demographic targeting of some of our most vulnerable citizens is happening on a regular basis.

Sheriff’s ‘Crowd Control’ Spy Drone Suspended After Privacy Uproar
Steve Watson - A county Sheriff’s department in California that planned to buy and operate a surveillance drone has been forced to suspend the idea, and possibly scrap it altogether after privacy advocates fought tooth and nail in opposition. The Oakland Tribune reports that the American Civil Liberties Union stepped in earlier this week to prevent the Alameda County Sheriff’s office from acquiring the drone using grant money from the California Emergency Management Agency.

Riot act read to school censoring 1st grader's poem
WND - A school district in North Carolina has been given a deadline to affirm that it will not censor a student’s speech, or a legal team assembled by the Alliance Defending Freedom will seek a “remedy” to the problem. The issue arose several days ago when the school district told a first-grade student that a poem commemorating her grandfathers’ military service could not include the word “God,” because one member of the community didn’t like it.

Thousands of US troops arrive near Syrian shore on USS Eisenhower
RT - The USS Eisenhower, an American aircraft carrier that holds eight fighter bomber squadrons and 8,000 men, arrived at the Syrian coast yesterday in the midst of a heavy storm, indicating US preparation for a potential ground intervention. While the Obama administration has not announced any sort of American-led military intervention in the war-torn country, the US is now ready to launch such action “within days” if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad decides to use chemical weapons against the opposition, the Times reports.

VIDEO: Bob Costas: Young Men Can’t Own Guns “Without Something Bad Happening”
Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones - During an appearance on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, Bob Costas attempted to prop up his ludicrous claim that young men can’t own guns “without something bad happening,” by asserting that athletes have never used a gun in a positive context, a claim which is easily debunked.

Senate to vote on Federal Land Seizure Act Thursday
gunowners.org - Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) -- who is “F” rated by Gun Owners of America -- is pushing a “hunting” bill that authorizes the Obama administration almost unlimited power to seize private lands for “environmental” purposes. Anti-gun Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled Tester’s bill for a vote, and it will probably take place on Thursday. ACTION: It is imperative that gun owners contact their Senators and ask them to OPPOSE S. 3525. Click Here to tell them that the modest conservation gains allowed in the bill are totally offset by giving unelected bureaucrats the authority to steal land from hunters and private property owners.

VIDEO: Dennis Kucinich on DIA: "Big Brother Getting Fat On Tax Dollars! While We Have Less Freedom!"
Daily Paul - Looks like Dennis has taken a few steps down the Rabbit Hole.

YouTube: NYPD officer on the rights of the public to film
Retired NYPD detective Graham Weatherspoon talked to Luke Rudkowski about filming the police and some of the historic moments he was apart of in his life. Graham Weatherspoon is the spokesperson for 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care. The event was filmed at a recent Police Reform Organizing Project (PROP) event in Harlem NY.

Taser International sued by man left with brain damage after being electrocuted
RT - Taser International is being forced to defend itself in court this week after a man filed a lawsuit against the electroshock gun company, claiming he went into cardiac arrest as a result of being shot in the chest by a Taser.... Taser International cautions law enforcement on the potential risks involved with shooting a person’s chest. But these warnings are new: on the day Fahy was shot with a Taser, no such warnings existed. Lawyers are expected to debate on whether such warnings would have made a difference on that December night.

VIDEO: New York City Hits Sandy Victims With ‘Failure To Maintain’ Property Citation
CBS News - Residents in one Queens neighborhood are crying foul after they were written up for failing to clean up the city’s own mess. It is yet another new complication in life after Superstorm Sandy. Rosanne and Joe Cavaliere are still trying to clean up from the hurricane. They have branches through their roof, busted front windows, and, to add insult to injury, they recently received a citation notice from the city.... The Department of Buildings said the citation is a mere formality. It’s a way to keep track of all downed trees. But for people in this neighborhood…it’s a permanent mark on their property that they want removed from the records.

Tim Geithner: Obama 'absolutely' prepared to go over fiscal cliff
Press TV - During an interview with CNBC, Geithner was asked if the White House was willing to dive off the cliff if Republicans don’t accept a deal that raises tax rates for those making more than $250,000. “Oh, absolutely," he responded. "Again, there's no prospect in an agreement that doesn't involve the rates going up on the top 2 percent of the wealthiest." Geithner’s comments offer the strongest indication that Obama would accept the automatic spending cuts and tax rate increases that kick in if an agreement is not reached before the Dec. 31 deadline.

U.S. is Only Developed County where Younger Generation will Receive Less Education than their Parents
allgov.com - A new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says the United States is now the only major economy in the world where the younger generation will not surpass the preceding generation in terms of schooling.... Today, only about 20% of young adults will reach a higher level of education than their parents, a rate that’s among the lowest rates in the developed world, according to the OECD. Schleicher says that a major problem in the U.S. is that the skyrocketing cost of going to college has created a barrier for many young Americans who do not come from wealthy families.

VIDEO: CNBC: Dennis Gartman's Warning: Don't Buy Gold Coins
Daily Bail - Mark-up on coins should be 2%, not 30-40%. "I think you've got the public piling into gold, which happens, and we have to be careful because when the public comes into something, the pros tend to think, 'Well, that's the end of the move.' And the last time we saw gold coin sales of this consequence was actually in 2008, and gold moved from $900 an ounce, almost relentlessly, to $1,700 an ounce." "I will counsel people to be careful when buying gold coins because the markup on gold coins can be preposterous, stupid, egregious, silly. The last time this happened, gold took off on the upside. It didn't top out."

It's Official, More Than A Million U.S. Gulf War Troops Dead and Disabled
libertyforlife.com - According to an official Department of Veterans Affairs Gulf war Information Systems Report dated August 2007, more than THREE AND A HALF MILLION U.S. troops who took part in the Gulf War since 1990 are dead or disabled. On page 7 of the official report under the title Compensation and Pension Statistics August 2007, on line six of the chart the total Veterans who have been granted "Claims Granted Service Connection" is 1,201,104 Gulf War Veterans. A total of 1,603,743 claims have been filed (line 3).

Sales of homes facing foreclosure rise
Press TV - Sales of U.S. homes facing foreclosure are on the rise and outpacing sales of bank-owned homes. Foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc. says 193,059 U.S. homes in some stage of foreclosure or owned by banks were sold in the third quarter. That’s an increase of 21 percent from the previous three months, but a decline of 3 percent from a year earlier. In the third quarter, sales of homes already in the foreclosure process jumped 22 percent compared to the previous quarter and a year earlier, foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.

Serb ambassador to NATO dies after reportedly jumping from a Brussels parking lot
RT - Serbia’s ambassador to NATO, Branislav Milinkovic has leapt to his death from a parking lot in a Brussels airport. Police have launched a probe to find out the motives behind the apparent suicide that came amid Serb talks with NATO officials.... Milinkovic was at the Brussels airport to receive Serbian Deputy Foreign Minister Zoran Vujicm, who was due in the Belgian capital for NATO talks along with other officials. After the delegation arrived, they walked through the parking lot to their cars, and Milinkovic suddenly broke from the group, walked over to the barrier and jumped, an anonymous official said.

‘Syria is not Libya’ - Lavrov
RT - The Russian Foreign Ministry has told its NATO partners that it hopes there will be no attempts at military intervention in Syria. Lavrov advanced Russia’s firm position on Syria after a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels on Tuesday.... Moscow, which is pushing for a diplomatic resolution of the Syrian conflict, has regularly met with both the Syrian rebel opposition as well as those who are loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose rule has been fiercely challenged by a 20-month political uprising.

Palestinians to sue Israel at ICC over settlement expansion
Press TV - Nabil Sha’at, a senior member of the Palestinian Authority, said on Tuesday that Palestinians would file a complaint at the ICC if the Israeli regime sticks to its recent plan to build thousands more settler units in East al-Quds and the West Bank, including in the controversial E1 area. “By continuing these war crimes of settlement activities on our lands and stealing our money, Israel is pushing and forcing us to go to the ICC,” Sha’at said.

Israel rejects UN call for nuclear transparency
RT - Israel has rebuffed a UN call to adhere to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and open itself to international inspectors, calling the suggestion a "meaningless mechanical vote" of a body that “lost all its credibility regarding Israel.”

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood calls for pro-Morsi demonstration
Press TV - Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has called for a demonstration in support of President Mohamed Morsi outside the presidential palace in the capital Cairo, on Wednesday.

VIDEO: Morsi returns to palace as protesters block entrance
RT - Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has returned to his palace, but some 200 protesters are still blocking one of the entrances. The president was forced to flee his residence on Tuesday when protesters clashed with police.

NATO votes to deploy Patriot missiles on Turkey-Syria border
RT - NATO foreign ministers have voted to approve Ankara’s request for Patriot missiles to be deployed on the Turkey-Syria border. Ankara requested the deployment over fears that Syria could attack with missiles and chemical weapons. The Patriots can be used to intercept missiles and planes. Officials from the 28-member alliance meeting in Brussels have said that the US-made missiles will be for purely defensive purposes.

Syrian rebels kill 29 students in attack on school near Damascus
RT - A mortar attack by Syrian rebels on a school near Damascus has reportedly killed 29 students and a teacher, local SANA news agency reported.... Although the attack was confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the identity of the attackers remains unknown. Syria's state news agency reported that an unspecified group of rebels shelled the school. “They were killed by a mortar launched by terrorists,” the broadcaster said, referring to the rebels fighting the pro-government forces.

VIDEO: Morsi flees as angry crowd storms Cairo palace in clash with riot police
RT - Egyptian riot police have fired tear gas at protesters demonstrating against President Mohamed Morsi near the presidential palace in Cairo. At least 18 people have been injured in the clashes, which forced Morsi flee his residence. Presidential sources say Morsi left the palace as the crowd started getting out of control. Protesters broke through police lines and barbed wire barricades in front of the presidential palace, with riot police responding with tear gas.

Iran aims biological warheads at Israel
WND - Iran has 170 ballistic missiles aimed at Tel Aviv, many with biological warheads, WND has learned. According to a source who served in Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and who recently defected, the Islamic regime has armed hundreds of its ballistic missiles with biological warheads, and 170 of them are targeting Tel Aviv from underground missile silos. The Islamic regime ruling Iran has prepared for the total destruction of Israel, he said.

‘Iran will take legal action against US’
Press TV - Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Tuesday that the US ScanEagle drone, which had been captured by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) upon entering the country’s airspace over Persian Gulf waters, would be used as evidence against the US at international courts, IRNA reported. “We had formally protested such actions by the US and had announced that we would defend our borders by any means possible,” Salehi said.

VIDEO: Iran Shows Off Downed U.S. Spy Drone
Kurt Nimmo - “The U.S. drone, which was conducting a reconnaissance flight and gathering data over the Persian Gulf in the past few days, was captured by the Guard’s navy air defense unit as soon as it entered Iranian airspace. Such drones usually take off from large warships,” said Gen. Ali Fadavi, navy chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The U.S. Navy disputed the claim and said all its unmanned aircraft in the region were “fully accounted for,” according to CBS News. Iranian television showed footage of a Boeing-designed ScanEagle, described as a low-cost, long-endurance autonomous unmanned vehicle (see video above).

‘Scum villages’: Amsterdam to exile lawbreakers to prison camps
RT - Amsterdam residents with a record of harassing their neighbors will be exiled, the city’s mayor announced. After being forced out, they will live under police supervision in special container housing units with only basic amenities. Authorities in the Dutch capital have formed a task force to identify the worst offenders behind the 13,000 complaints of antisocial behavior the city receives annually, Amsterdam-based daily Het Parool reported. Those charged who defy a compulsory six-month course in the camps will face eviction and homelessness. Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan has allocated an estimated 1.3 million euro to the project, which he argued will protect law-abiding residents from being forced to move by unruly neighbors.

Arrest of Activist Artist Protesting Drones Highlights NYPD Surveillance Program
Activist Post - Attia, a former veteran of the war in Iraq as a geo-spatial analyst ... designed a series of fake ads that co-opted city display cases; his posters depicted drone surveillance and bombings with the statement, "Drones: Protection When You Least Expect It." Attia has been charged with 56 counts of possession of a forged instrument and grand larceny possession of stolen property. An additional charge, which could carry the most severe penalty with years in jail, concerns an unloaded .22 pistol that was found under his bed at the site of his arrest. Attia claims that the gun is a 120-year-old antique.

Senate approves $631bn defense budget
Press TV - The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Pentagon's 2013 budget on Tuesday, despite a political impasse over debt reduction that could see huge cuts to military spending next year. After months of negotiations, lawmakers voted 98-0 to approve the $631 billion National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, which actually began on October 1. The bill must be reconciled with a version passed earlier this year in the House of Representatives before going to President Barack Obama's desk for signature, although the White House has threatened to veto the act.

Bloomberg wants Hillary Clinton to succeed him
RT - Rather than enter the 2016 presidential race, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg encouraged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to instead run for his position in 2013.

TSA Seeks Permission to Conduct “Security Assessments” on Highways
Paul Joseph Watson - The TSA is seeking permission from the Office of Management and Budget to conduct “security assessments” on highways as well as at 140 other public transportation hubs, including bus depots and train stations. The request was buried amidst a deluge of jargon and published in the Federal Register on November 30. If approved, it would allow the TSA to to “conduct transportation security-related assessments during site visits with security and operating officials of surface transportation entities.”

TSA creating all new watch list for Americans
RT - Being absent from a federal no-fly list might not mean you won’t be hassled the next time you enter an US airport. The Transportation and Security Administration is constructing a new list of known “low risk” passengers. According to the November 19 Federal Register newsletter put out by the US government, the TSA is trying to put together a new roster of airport patrons who may be a cause for concern but not necessarily dangerous enough to be added to the no-fly list that contains suspected terrorists and other persons of interest.

Deputy Police Chief Calls For “Permanent” DWI Checkpoints In Texas
Paul Joseph Watson - A deputy police chief in South Texas wants to set up “permanent” DWI checkpoints in order to “save lives,” raising the possibility that Texans could be forced to show their papers, submit to breathalyzer tests, or even be mandated to have blood drawn whenever they drive down the street.... Jim Harrington of the Texas Civil Rights Project opposed the idea, saying sobriety checkpoints allow for police abuse of power. The measure is expected to be debated by legislators in January.

Breaking: Does New Photo Prove Trayvon Martin Killing Was Self-Defense?
Infowars - A newly released color photo showing injuries sustained by George Zimmerman during his altercation with Trayvon Martin, which ended up with Zimmerman shooting the 17-year-old dead, could prove that the killing was an act of self-defense and that media coverage of the story was an exercise in manufactured race-baiting.

US households already went off their fiscal cliff and breached their debt ceiling – US quickly approaching another debt ceiling limit aligning with the fiscal cliff
mybudget360.com - Few people realize that the debt ceiling is aligning right on track with the fiscal cliff. Total public outstanding debt is now at $16.369 trillion and is only $63 billion away from breaching the limit.... An interesting parallel is looking at US households. Instead of adjusting to lower incomes in the 1990s and 2000s, US households decided to go into massive debt. Yet that access to debt has now been breached. In essence, US households hit their own debt ceiling and fiscal cliff...

Federal Reserve Buying 90% of New Bonds
silverdoctors.com - According to JPMorgan (who would know since as a primary dealer, they flip treasury take-downs to the Fed roughly 30 minutes after issuance for a handsome profit), the Federal Reserve is currently absorbing approximately 90% of new dollar-denominated fixed-income assets.... That’s right, even the financial MSM is now admitting that the Fed is now nearly entirely monetizing the US deficit outright. This is why QE4 will be announced next Wednesday (which has already been fully priced in thanks to multiple leaks from the Chicago Fed’s Evans as well as Bernanke last week) and why the Fed will ramp up outright purchases to $85 billion a month ($1.02 Trillion/yr) when operation Twist ends- there are simply no remaining buyers of US debt.

YouTube: Ben Swann - The Jerry Doyle Show - John Boehner Purges Fiscal Conservatives
Dissent need not apply in the House Finance Committee. John Boehner has bounced a number of Republicans who have voted against party leadership reminding us of the moves made at the RNC to silence the Ron Paul delegates. Ben Swann joins Jerry in talking about it....

Hostess CEO Cuts Worker Pay, But Leaves Own Salary Untouched
thinkprogress.org - After failed Twinkies-maker Hostess filed for bankruptcy in November, acting chief executive Gregory Rayburn imposed an 8 percent across-the-board pay cut on the company’s workers. Despite those cuts, Rayburn, who took the company over after its second bankruptcy filing in March, will not be subject to the pay cut because he is not technically a company employee.

New Bill Would Take Income-Based Student Loan Payments Straight From Your Paycheck
Consumerist - Student Loan debt in the U.S. recently crossed the $1 trillion mark, with a good chunk of that owed to the U.S. government. In an attempt to streamline the whole process, a soon-to-be-introduced bill would replace the current system of debt collection with automatic payroll deductions tied to the borrower’s income. Similar systems are already in place in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, and Wisconsin Representative Tom Petri plans to introduce the idea to Congress as soon as this week, reports Bloomberg.

UN resolution calls for Israeli nuclear transparency
Press TV - The UN passes a resolution, calling on the Israeli regime to quickly open its nuclear program to inspection and join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) “without further delay.” The 193-member UN General Assembly on Monday passed the resolution 174 to six with six abstentions, urging Tel Aviv to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to have access to its nuclear facilities. Only the US, Canada, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau voted against the resolution that reflects international concern about suspicious Israeli nuclear activities. Israel, the only possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, is widely known to have between 200 and 400 nuclear warheads.

Tehran claims capture of US spy drone in Iranian airspace
RT - Tehran has claimed it captured a US spy drone in the Persian Gulf after the unmanned aircraft entered Iranian airspace, Iran’s Press TV reported. The drone was identified as a US-made ScanEagle. The drone was allegedly gathering intelligence on Iran, and was detected after flying over the Persian Gulf for the past two days. The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Navy captured the drone after the aircraft violated Iranian airspace, naval chief Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said.

Militants assassinate journalist in Syrian capital: Syria TV
Press TV - The foreign-backed militants in Syria have assassinated a journalist in the Syrian capital, Damascus, the Syrian TV reports.

Monsanto to receive huge government bailout from European Union
(NaturalNews) After unloading tens of millions of dollars to defeat the historic California Proposition 37 to label genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), biotechnology abomination Monsanto is now set to receive a multi-million dollar bailout from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a London-based financial group connected to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to cover a slew of financial losses incurred by the evil corporation throughout Europe.

Israeli settlers occupy 5-story house in Palestinian area of East Jerusalem
RT - Israeli settlers have occupied a five-story house in a Palestinian area of East Jerusalem, allegedly in an effort to establish a new settlement. It comes as the international community condemns Tel Aviv’s plan to build new settlements in the area. Peace Now, an organization which calls itself the “leading voice of Israeli public pressure for peace,” has condemned the move in a statement.

U.N. pulls nonessential international staff from Syria
The United Nations has ordered all of its non-essential international staff to leave Syria, saying Monday that the escalating violence in the civil war-struck country is making it harder and more risky for humanitarian workers to do their jobs. The U.N. also plans to reduce some of its field work in the Arab state.... The U.N. also has decided to halt field trips into Syria from the capital Damascus by its international staff except in certain emergency cases.

Pentagon relies on Iran in fighting for soldiers' health in Afghanistan
RT - The US military has grown increasingly dependent on the antivenin to treat bites by Oxus cobras, which is a highly venomous snake whose bite can completely paralyze its victim in less than an hour. In most cases, those who are left untreated after such a cobra bite do not survive. The antivenin is also used to treat bites by Haly’s pit vipers and other snakes that are found in southwest Asia.... With $35,650 spent on the antivenin vials since January 2011, the US has been a significant customer for the Iranian institute, mainly because suppliers are few.

US boosts number of spy drone flights over Iran
RT - The Wall Street Journal alleges this week that the US has ramped-up its number of spy drone missions over the Bushehr nuclear reactor ever since fuel rods were unexpectedly discharged from the facility in October, just two months after the facility became fully operational.

Egypt draft constitution gets oversight from Supreme Judicial Council
RT - Egypt's Supreme Judicial Council has agreed to oversee referendum on draft constitution following the country’s highest court open-ended strike, thus overriding calls for a boycott. The highest judicial authority agreed that it would delegate its judges to monitor the constitutional referendum, which is slated on December 15. Mohamed Gadallah, Morsi’s legal adviser, estimates that up to 10,000 people may be needed to supervise the vote.

UBS near a deal over Libor rigging
RT - Swiss bank UBS AG is reportedly close to settling an investigation by US and British authorities over alleged Libor rate manipulation and could pay a more than $450 million fine. Currently the bank is in discussions with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the US Justice Department and Britain's Financial Services Authority over the issue, the New York Times reported citing officials close to the matter.

Duma Warns Russian TV Over End of World Hype
RIA Novosti - A group of Russian politicians have urged national TV networks to show restraint in broadcasting material suggesting the end of the world is nigh, a deputy from Russia's LDPR party said on Monday.... Their letter warned TV stations that excessive media hype about the "end of the world" could have negative effects on some people's mental and emotional state, and also stressed that thousands of conmen, pseudo-wizards, self-styled "visionaries" and "snake-oil salesmen" are exploiting it to prey on the gullible. The letter called for the media to run special announcements stating that talk of any upcoming apocalypse is clearly unscientific.

Norway ringing in thorium nuclear New Year with Westinghouse at the party
smartplanet.com - A privately held Norwegian company will start burning thorium fuel in a conventional test reactor owned by Norway’s government with help from U.S.-based nuclear giant Westinghouse, the company revealed here recently. The four-year test at Norway’s government owned Halden reactor could help thorium inch closer to replacing uranium as a possible safer and more effective nuclear power source. Many people believe that thorium is superior because it leaves less long- lived dangerous waste, makes it far more difficult to fashion bombs, runs more efficiently, and can be made meltdown proof.

New Yorker Editor: “Hillary Clinton Is Running For President”
Paul Joseph Watson - [New Yorker Magazine editor David] Remnick made the observation after attending the annual Saban Forum in Washington, D.C. this past weekend, a meeting of highly influential members of the Israeli political class, including Avigdor Lieberman and Ehud Olmert. Former President Bill Clinton was also in attendance. “Hillary Clinton is running for President,” wrote Remnick, adding, “Everyone had a theory of which they were one hundred percent certain."

YouTube: Sec. of State Hillary Clinton Needs Taxpayer Money for Propaganda?
Ben Swann takes a look at statements by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the need for more money to put out the American governments message.

YouTube: Judge Napolitano: Bob Costas Has 'No Basis' for Bringing Gun Control Into the Jovan Belcher Tragedy
On FBN's Varney & Co. this morning, Judge Andrew Napolitano weighed in on the issue, saying that Costas and Whitlock have "no basis" for the conclusion that Belcher and Perkins would still be alive if he did not have access to a gun. "We all use steak knives to help us enjoy our meals, but they can also be a dangerous weapon. So is the government going to ban them? They're far more easily attainable than guns," said Napolitano.

GMO company DuPont Pioneer bribing third-grade students with 'seed' money
(NaturalNews) Biotechnology giant Pioneer Hi-Bred, which is owned by chemical giant DuPont, has made a strategic inroad into public education in Hawaii. According to The Garden Island, this key purveyor of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) has developed a partnership with Eleele Elementary School (EES) in Eleele, Hawaii, where the company has apparently been given free reign to subtly indoctrinate the school's students into GMO dogma while bribing them with so-called "seed" money.

Cheerios Removes App During Fury of Anti-GMO Backlash
Activist Post - Just a few days ago, Cheerios (General Mills) released an app on Facebook asking 'fans' to gratefully show what Cheerios means to them. Users could write their own sentiments by placing Cheerios' iconic black font over a yellow template, complete with little cheerios for periods and dots. The app was yanked after only one day when their Facebook page (and photo album associated with the app) was flooded with a torrent of anti-GMO messages from angry consumers.

US Senate bans Russia arms exports
Press TV - The US Senate has unanimously approved a motion to bar the Pentagon from purchasing any kind of military items from Russia’s major arms exporter Rosoboronexport over the firm’s weapons sales to Syria. The amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act authored by Republican Senator John Cornyn needs to be approved by the Congress. The amendment, however, clearly stipulates that the ban can be overturned if “the Secretary of Defense determines that such a waiver is in the national security interests of the United States with respect to the capacity of the Afghan National Security Forces.”

VIDEO: From sci-fi to reality: The computer-blitzing drone that can cripple a nation's electronics at the touch of a button
Daily Mail - Now scientists have turned fantasy into reality by developing a missile that targets buildings with microwaves that disable computers but don’t harm people. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing successfully tested the weapon on a one-hour flight during which it knocked out the computers of an entire military compound in the Utah desert. It is thought the missile could penetrate the bunkers and caves believed to be hiding Iran’s suspected nuclear facilities. But experts have warned that, in the wrong hands, the technology could be used to bring Western cities such as London to their knees.

Sen. Schumer Inaugurated Latest Anti-gun Frenzy When He Moved to Take Firearms from Veterans
Kurt Nimmo - Prior to the anti-Second Amendment commentary of Bob Costas and Kansas City sports writer Jason Whitlock (who compared the NRA to the KKK), notorious gun-grabber Charles Schumer made a move in the Senate to deny veterans the right to own firearms. Schumer raised a stink last week after Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., prepared to amend a $631 billion defense bill and prevent the Veterans Affairs Department from adding the names of veterans the government designates as mentally incompetent and unable to handle their finances into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Entire Louisiana Town Evacuated After Authorities Discover 6 Million Pounds of Improperly Stored Explosives
theblaze.com - A town in northwest Louisiana has been turned on its head after authorities discovered a staggering 6 million pounds of improperly stored explosives that, according to the Associated Press, is sometimes used in howitzers and other artillery. Boxes and small barrels of the M6 artillery propellant were found both outdoors and crammed into unauthorized buildings leased by Explo Systems Inc. at Camp Minden, a former Louisiana Army Ammunitions Plant, state police superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson said Sunday. About 800 of the residents of nearby Doyline voluntarily left on Friday, and police have continued to evacuate residents as they contain the situation.

Veteran Journalist Describes “Sexual Assault”, “Rape” At Hands Of TSA
Steve Watson - A prominent journalist of over 20 years has written a scathing piece describing her treatment at the hands of the TSA last week, saying she feels “violated and raped”.... “The search involved highly invasive groping and probing of my private areas.” Kaplan writes. “As part of the procedure, which took five to six minutes, the TSA agent reached into my skirt, exploring front to back.”... “I am horrified and disgusted by the experience – a clear example of absolute abuse of absolute power.” Kaplan states.

YouTube: Police unload 137 bullets into UNARMED suspects after pursuit; 2 dead
EAST CLEVELAND, OH -- Two unarmed suspects were slain by police officers after a 25-minute pursuit. At the conclusion of the chase, which may have included up to 50 police vehicles, 13 officers drew their weapons and unloaded at least 137 rounds in to the suspects' Chevy Malibu. No weapons were found, and there was no evidence of return fire. The police were so violent and so reckless that they even shot up their own cruisers with friendly fire.

VIDEO: Wichita Cops Indiscriminately Fire Tear Gas on 1,000 Nightclub Patrons
Intel Hub - This past Thanksgiving weekend in Wichita, Kansas police indiscriminately fired tear gas on over 1,000 nightclub patrons. The story is just now finally beginning to surface in the media, thanks to viral videos that were posted to YouTube. According to reports, there was an ongoing feud between the business and the city, who was trying to force the night club out to make way for expensive hotels.

Homeless Man Given Boots By NYC Police Officer Chooses To Go Barefoot Again
npr.org - The Times says the man is Hillman, who has lived on the streets of the city for most of the past decade. And Hillman, who the Times writes "was by turns aggrieved, grateful and taken aback by all the attention that had come his way," tells the newspaper that he's walking around barefoot again because the boots are too valuable to wear all of the time. "I could lose my life," he says. Someone might kill him for the footwear. According to the Times, Hillman says he's an Army veteran and has a "worn veteran's identification card that confirmed his service." That connection to the military isn't mentioned in a story from the New York Post, which found some of Hillman's family.
* Related Video: NYPD Officer Gives Boots to Homeless Man - Interview

IRS aims to clarify investment income tax under healthcare law
Reuters - The Internal Revenue Service has released [159 pages of] new rules for investment income taxes on capital gains and dividends earned by high-income individuals that passed Congress as part of the 2010 healthcare reform law. The 3.8 percent surtax on investment income, meant to help pay for healthcare, goes into effect in 2013. It is the first surtax to be applied to capital gains and dividend income. The tax affects only individuals with more than $200,000 in modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), and married couples filing jointly with more than $250,000 of MAGI.

Billions Wasted On Faulty Obamacare Digital Health Record Experiment
Judicial Watch - In a classic example of how government blows through your tax dollars, billions have been squandered on a faulty electronic medical records system that operates with no oversight and continues receiving big wads of cash from Uncle Sam. It gets better; by the time it’s all said and done—in about four more years according to government estimates—American taxpayers will have been fleeced $6.6 billion! It’s all part of the Obama Administration’s hostile takeover of the nation’s healthcare system.

Obama Supporters - So how am I doing so far to start off my second term?
nesaranews.blogspot.com - Here is a partial list of U.S. companies that have eliminated jobs SINCE the November Elections!

VIDEO: Not So Safe Deposit Boxes States Seize Citizens' Property to Balance Their Budgets ABC News
12160.info - This says it all!!!! States Seize/Steal Citizens Private Property To Balance Budgets.

'Bleak future for US business owners'
Press TV - Concerning the next 12 months, 21 percent of the questioned believed that their company will need to layoff staff, 30 percent anticipate “poor” cash flow and 28 percent expect to be in a “poor” financial position. All of these results were the highest percent ever recorded for this Gallup poll since the start in August 2003. Thirty-four percent of the owners expected their capital spending would decrease over the next 12 months making it a record high since July of 2010.

Is This Why Americans Have Lost The Drive To “Earn” More
Zero Hedge - In the recent past we noted the somewhat startling reality that “the single mom is better off earning gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income & benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income and benefits of $57,045.” While mathematics is our tool – as opposed to the mathemagics of some of the more politically biased media who did not like our message – the painful reality in America is that: for increasingly more Americans it is now more lucrative – in the form of actual disposable income – to sit, do nothing, and collect various welfare entitlements, than to work.

Vietnam veterans sue US military
Press TV - The military has failed to correct the wrongful discharges of thousands of Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, an advocacy group says in a federal lawsuit. Vietnam Veterans of America on Monday joined a proposed class action lawsuit in Hartford against the Army, Navy and Air Force. The lawsuit, filed last year by a veteran, says the Vietnam veterans suffered PTSD before it was recognized and were discharged under other-than-honorable conditions that made them ineligible for disability compensation and other benefits. The lawsuit says the military has refused to review or upgrade the discharge statuses of thousands of Vietnam War-era veterans with service-related PTSD.

France, UK summon Israeli ambassadors over settlement controversy
RT - International criticism has been mounting against Israeli plans to build new settlements. The UK and France summoned their Israeli ambassadors to get clarification and show disapproval amid reports of recalls. Other countries also spoke out. International reaction against Israel has been heated. Britain is considering a strong reaction to Israel’s plans and has summoned Israeli ambassador for talks over planned settlements, asking for clarification on the issue.... France and Sweden also consulted their ambassadors to Israel to decide on measures to show their disapproval.

Turkey scrambles jets as Syrian warplanes bomb border region
RT - The Turkish Air Force scrambled F-16 jets fighter jets along its border with Syria after Syrian warplanes attacked rebel positions on their side of the border. The Syrian forces were targeting the rebel-controlled town of Ras al-Ain, reports the Lebanese newspaper Daily Star, citing Turkish security sources. The rebels captured the locations about a month ago. The source said the Turkish planes came from the base in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

VIDEO: At least 15 people dead and dozens wounded in car bomb blast in Homs, Syria
RT - At least 15 people are reported to be dead and dozens injured in an explosion that rocked the Hamra district of Homs, Syria. The blast happened near the Mosque of Omar and a nearby stadium.... Homs has been a frequent battleground during the 20 month uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Environmental risk: UK protests over fears of fracking ban lift
RT - Campaigners protested in London against fracking, a controversial practice of shale gas extraction, amid reports that the UK is to lift the temporary ban on the method. Critics cite the environmental risks the practice poses, including earthquakes.

Almost half of Fukushima children now have thyroid disorders from radiation poisoning, officials blame 'too much seafood'
(NaturalNews) Thousands of Japanese children from Fukushima and the nearby areas have been diagnosed with cysts and nodules on their thyroid glands. So far, 41.1 percent of 57,000 tested have shown these early warnings of potential thyroid cancer. Even worse, four out of five Fukushima evacuees have been observed with developing thyroid abnormalities. It's not just iodide isotopes with their relatively short radioactive half-lives that can penetrate thyroid glands, cesium-37 isotopes with longer half-lives can too. Here's the shocking truth about radioactive half-life.

VIDEO: Suicide bombers attack US base in Afghanistan
Telegraph - A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan says that a suicide attack on a major US base in Jalalabad had killed at least one other person.

Israel to build 3,000 settler units after Palestinians’ UN bid
Press TV - The measure came just hours after UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to upgrade Palestine’s status from "observer entity" to "observer non-member state," despite strong opposition from Israel and the US.... Analysts believe that Palestinians may well have been expecting this Israeli move since Tel Aviv sped up construction of Jewish settlements in occupied territories last November to punish the Palestinians for winning the UN cultural agency, UNESCO, membership. Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.

Netanyahu brushes off world condemnation of settlement plans
Reuters - "We will carry on building in Jerusalem and in all the places that are on the map of Israel's strategic interests," a defiant Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting. In another blow to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Israel announced it was withholding Palestinian tax revenues this month worth about $100 million. Israel said the reason for the move was a Palestinian debt of $200 million to the Israeli Electric Corporation, an obligation that has existed for some time.

Turkey requested Nato missile defences over Syria chemical weapons fears
Guardian - A request by Turkey for Nato Patriot missile defences to be deployed on its territory followed intelligence that the Syrian government was contemplating the use of missiles, possibly with chemical warheads, Turkish officials have told the Guardian. The officials said they had credible evidence that if the Syrian government's aerial bombardment against opposition-held areas failed to hold the rebels back, Bashar al-Assad's regime might resort to missiles and chemical weapons in a desperate last effort to survive.

Bomb explosion rips through Press TV vehicles in Syria
Press TV - A bomb attack has ripped through six vehicles, including an SNG truck, belonging to Press TV and al-Alam television networks in the Syrian capital Damascus, security sources report.

Intelligence Asset Anonymous Declares Cyber War on Syria
Kurt Nimmo - In a press release issued on Thursday, the shadowy group admitted it “has been working with Syrian activists for well over a year.”... The press release promises “take-downs, defacements, data dumps, E-Mail bombs and black fax attacks” and says it will begin its attack by targeting the website of the Syrian Embassy in China.... The rhetoric used by Anonymous in the press release posted on the opensource online pastebin site AnonPaste is reminiscent of the propaganda used by the U.S. government and its NATO allies.
* Related Video: Government Controlled Opposition Psyop

Benghazi explained: Interview with an “Intelligence Insider”
canadafreepress.com - Every politician, whether it’s a congressman senator, diplomat, or their spokespeople and the media are lying to the American public every time they call the location of the attack a consulate. It was not. There was absolutely no diplomatic consulate in Benghazi. None. Words are important here. They can create a wrong image, an incorrect picture of what was really going on. The property where our Ambassador and other Americans were murdered was a rented villa consisting of a primary residence with a couple of outbuildings behind the actual house. The reason they’re still calling it a consulate is to subtly divert any questions about our activities there.

U.S. overseeing mysterious construction project in Israel
Washington Post - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to supervise construction of a five-story underground facility for an Israel Defense Forces complex, oddly named “Site 911,” at an Israeli Air Force base near Tel Aviv. Expected to take more than two years to build, at a cost of up to $100 million, the facility is to have classrooms on Level 1, an auditorium on Level 3, a laboratory, shock-resistant doors, protection from nonionizing radiation and very tight security. Clearances will be required for all construction workers, guards will be at the fence and barriers will separate it from the rest of the base. Only U.S. construction firms are being allowed to bid on the contract and proposals are due Dec. 3, according to the latest Corps of Engineers notice.

Army shuts down for Christmas
thesundaytimes.co.uk - In a move that former military commanders say is unprecedented, a leaked memo from a general says all military and civilian personnel in land forces — amounting to 110,000 men and women — are to take “block leave” for 25 days from December 14 until January 7. The decision means all army barracks, Territorial Army buildings and other military sites in Britain will close for almost four weeks to provide “an opportunity for utility savings”.
* Related: The actual military directive

Now sick babies go on death pathway: Doctor's haunting testimony reveals how children are put on end-of-life plan
Daily Mail - Sick children are being discharged from NHS hospitals to die at home or in hospices on controversial ‘death pathways’. Until now, end of life regime the Liverpool Care Pathway was thought to have involved only elderly and terminally-ill adults. But the Mail can reveal the practice of withdrawing food and fluid by tube is being used on young patients as well as severely disabled newborn babies.

Experts call for mental illness screening for children
Reuters - Leading mental health experts are calling for school children to be screened for risk of mental illnesses such as depression and have devised a test that reliably identifies those at high risk. The test can be done on a computer and could be used to alert doctors and psychologists to intervene early, said Barbara Sahakian a professor of clinical neuropsychology at Britain's Cambridge University.

New Studies Reconfirm That UNDER-Population Could be a Future Problem
Intel Hub - “A new Pew Research Center study shows that U.S. births have fallen to their lowest rate on record—63.2 per 1,000 women of childbearing age–a development that will delight population control zealots but is nothing to celebrate. “Over the long term, nations tend to see their birthrates decline as they become more prosperous, a trend that can threaten that prosperity,” reports Miriam Jordan in today’s Wall Street Journal. “When low fertility is coupled with low mortality, the result is an aging society with a high proportion of elderly people and relatively fewer workers to support them, a situation that Japan and many European countries face.”

VIDEO: NBC uses NFL murder-suicide tragedy to make plea for gun ban
Daily Caller - During halftime of NBC’s coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles versus the Dallas Cowboys, NBC Sports analyst Bob Costas made a plea for gun control during his weekly commentary on “Sunday Night Football.” Responding to the weekend murder-suicide by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, Costas relied on a column by writer Jason Whitlock, formerly of the Kansas City Star, to make a gun-control argument.

Pentagon plans major expansion of spy program
Washington Post - When the expansion is complete, the DIA is expected to have as many as 1,600 “collectors” in positions around the world, an unprecedented total for an agency whose presence abroad numbered in the triple digits in recent years.... Among the Pentagon’s top intelligence priorities, officials said, are Islamist militant groups in Africa, weapons transfers by North Korea and Iran, and military modernization underway in China.

Anti-Drone Activists Could Get 7 Years for 'Irritating' US Air Force Colonel
commondreams.org - A local judge in upstate New York has signed an order of protection for a US Air Force colonel that could make it a crime, punishable by up to seven years in prison, for anti-drone activists to continue their weekly peace vigil outside or near the gates of the Hancock Air National Guard base there. How will they know if they've broken the rules of the order? Apparently, if one specific military officer at the base finds their protest or direct actions 'irritating' personally.

VIDEO: Seismic Evidence Implies Controlled Demolition on 9/11
washingtonsblog.com - André Rousseau is a Doctor of Geophysics and Geology, a former researcher in the French National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS), who has published 50 papers on the relationships between the characteristics of progressive mechanical waves and geology. Dr. Rousseau is an expert on measurement of acoustic waves. Rousseau says that the seismic waves measured on September 11th proves that the 3 buildings were brought down by controlled demolition. Specifically, in a new scientific article published by the Journal of 9/11 Studies, Rosseau writes...

VIDEO: City Attorney Tells San Bernardino Residents To ‘Lock Their Doors,’ ‘Load Their Guns’ Because Of Police Downsizing
CBS Los Angeles - The city attorney of San Bernardino is under scrutiny for telling residents to “lock their doors and load their guns” during a city council meeting. The official explained that because the city is bankrupt and slashing public safety budgets people will need to start protecting themselves. City Attorney Jim Penman said he doesn’t regret what he said. “You should say what you mean and mean what you say,” Penman said.... The city of San Bernardino has seen a 50 percent increase in murders this year compared to 2011.

VIDEO: Cop Flips Crippled Woman’s Car for Driving Two MPH Over Speed Limit
Adan Salazar - When you’re being pulled over for a simple infraction like speeding, you don’t expect police to push your car off the road forcing it to flip, but that’s exactly what happened to a Florida woman last month.

YouTube: Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk: Government Spending Will Send Us Over The Fiscal Cliff
Ron Paul's weekly update published Dec 2, 2012.

Sen. Hatch: Obama fiscal proposal ‘classic bait and switch’
The Hill - "What [Obama] proposed this week was a classic bait and switch on the American people—a tax increase double the size of what he campaigned on, billions of dollars in new stimulus spending and an unlimited, unchecked authority to borrow from the Chinese," Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said in Saturday's weekly GOP address.

The Chart That Keeps Ben Bernanke Up At Night
Zero Hedge - What changed in the last 30 days? Did the world just wake up to the idea that the only way out of this quagmire is a twisted currency war that appears to have re-ignited thanks to Abe's efforts? Something appears to have snapped in the American psyche as the last 30 days have seen the largest physical gold sales on record.

VIDEO: Reality Check: The Money In Your Pocket Is Worth Less Than The Cost To Produce It?
(FOX19) – You can put this one in the file labeled, “Only in Washington”. Did you know that the cost to produce some of the money in your pocket actually costs more than the value of the money itself?

Our Collapsing Economy and Currency
Paul Craig Roberts - Washington’s response to the fiscal cliff is austerity: spending cuts and tax increases. The Republicans say they will vote for the Democrats’ tax increases if the Democrats vote for the Republican’s assault on the social safety net. What bipartisan compromise means is a double-barreled dose of austerity.

34 Signs That America Is In Decline
Economic Collapse - This article will mainly focus on the economic decline of America, but much could also be said about our social, political, moral and spiritual decline as well. We are simply not the same country that we used to be.

10 Ways to Prepare Your Community for Economic Collapse
Activist Post - It's one thing to prep for yourself, but if the economic collapse is sustained for a long period of time, it will take a tribe to survive as comfortably as possible. The bigger your extended survival group the easier it will be, and if you can encourage your greater community to move more toward self-reliance the better off you all will be.

Mayor Bloomberg Orders Raid on Occupy Sandy Disaster Relief Shelter
Intel Hub - In the response to hurricane Sandy, Occupy Wall Street supporters have shown that voluntary, decentralized mutual aid is far more effective than government programs and agencies like FEMA. At one point, pictures were taken of occupy sandy volunteers feeding FEMA workers who couldn’t even find supplies for themselves. Now, super villain mayor Bloomberg in New York is thanking them for their service to the community by ordering a raid and eviction on a shelter that they have helped set up and have been using as a base of operations.

Major “smart grid” conference call: Mon Dec 3, 4pm EST / 1pm PST
takebackyourpower.net - A new report called “Getting Smarter About the Smart Grid” was published this week by the National Institute for Science, Law and Public Policy in Washington, D.C. Written by smart grid technology expert, Timothy Schoechle, PhD, the report says billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars have been misspent by the federal government in subsidizing new utility meters known as ‘smart meters’. View and download full report... Join the Media & Community Leader Conference Call on Monday, December 3rd at 4:00 p.m. EST to discuss many important new insights in “Getting Smarter About the Smart Grid”. Dial-In to (641) 715-3200, Access Code: 784589#.