Published on 31 Jul 2012 by TheBigPictureRT
Amber Lyon, award-winning investigative journalist and filmmaker, joins Thom Hartmann. Something is happening in Anaheim, California – despite a complete blackout from the mainstreem media. Take a look at some of these pictures by award-winning investigative journalist Amber Lyons from Anaheim over the weekend. When we hear terms like militarized police – this is what comes to mind. Officers decked out in full military gear as though they’re about to be deployed to Afghanistan. So what’s behind this? Why are militarized police on patrol in Anaheim? Well – Sunday marked the ninth straight day that local citizens took to the streets to protest police brutality. Nine days after police shot an unarmed man – 25-year-old Manuel Diaz – in the back of the head killing him. Since that shooting…the streets of Anaheim have been the scene of mostly peaceful protests that have at times turned violent in response to heavy handed police crackdowns. Last week – this was the scene in Anaheim – as police in riot gear fired less lethal projectiles like bean bags and pepper balls indiscriminately into crowds of people. 24 people were arrested that night – storefront windows were smashed, and fires were started. And last night – as hundreds poured into the streets for a peaceful march and ceremony for Manuel Diaz – they were once again met with Anaheim police equipped with full military gear. Nine people were arrested on Sunday.
Syrian rebels executed 3 men in Aleppo without trial ..
They are really beasts not human beings.. Execution was in a school
سورية or سوريا : ܣܘܪܝܐ,
officially the Syrian Arab Republic
الجمهورية العربية السورية
or is an Arab country in Western Asia,
bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north,
Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south,
and Israel to the southwest.
In English, the name Syria was formerly synonymous with the Levant, known in Arabic as Sham, while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC.
In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.
The population of Syria is
74% Sunni (mostly Sunni Arabs, but also Kurds, Circassians and Turkomans),
12% Alawi and Shia (mostly Arabs),
10% Christian (Arab Christians, Assyrians and Armenians) and
3% Druze (sometimes considered part of Shia Islam).
Combined, 87% of the Syrian population is Muslim. The majority of the Syrian population is Arab.
The modern Syrian state was established after the First World War as a French mandate, and represented the largest Arab state to emerge from the formerly Ottoman-ruled Arab Levant.
It gained independence in April 1946, as a parliamentary republic.
The post-independence period was tumultuous, and a large number of military coups and coup attempts shook the country in the period 1949–1971.
Between 1958 and 1961, Syria entered a brief union with Egypt, which was terminated by a military coup in Syria.
Syria was under Emergency Law from 1963 to 2011, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, and its system of government is considered to be non-democratic.
Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1971.
Since March 2011, an uprising against the government of Assad, considered an extension of the events of the Arab spring, has thrown a significant part of the country into armed conflict.
As of July 15, 2012, Syria is effectively in a state of civil war.
World War III (WWIII or Third World War) is the conflict that denotes a successor to World War II (1939–1945).
The conflict would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would likely be a nuclear war and devastating in nature.
In the wake of World War I, World War II, the commencement of the Cold War and the development, testing and use of nuclear weapons, there was early widespread speculation as to the next global war.
On 16 June 2006 the defence ministers of Iran and Syria signed an agreement for military cooperation against what they called the “common threats” presented by Israel and the United States.
Details of the agreement were not specified.
However Syrian defense minister Najjar said “Iran considers Syria’s security its own security, and we consider our defense capabilities to be those of Syria.”
The visit also resulted in the sale of Iranian military hardware to Syria.
In addition to receiving military hardware, Iran has consistently invested billions of dollars into the Syrian economy.
The Syrian leadership, including President Assad himself, belongs predominantly to the Alawite branch of Shi’a Islam.
Currently, Iran is involved in implementing several industrial projects in Syria, including cement factories, car assembly lines, power plants, and silo construction.
Iran also plans to set up a joint Iranian–Syrian bank in the future.
On 17 February 2007, Presidents Ahmadinejad and Assad met in Tehran. Ahmadinejad afterwards declared that they would form an alliance to combat US and Israeli conspiracies against the Islamic world.
During the 2011 Syrian uprising, Iran has aided the Syrian government. The Guardian has claimed that in May the Iranian Republican Guard increased its “level of technical support and personnel support” to strengthen Syria’s “ability to deal with protesters,” according to one diplomat in Damascus.
Iran reportedly assisted the Syrian government sending it riot control equipment, intelligence monitoring techniques and oil.[9] It also agreed to fund a large military base at Latakia airport.
The Daily Telegraph has claimed in August that a former member of Syria’s secret police reported “Iranian snipers” had been deployed in Syria to assist in the crackdown on protests.
According to the US government, Mohsen Chizari, the Quds Force’s third-in-command, has visited Syria to train security services to fight against the protestors.
Europe’s financial crisis is showing that even the strongest economies aren’t immune to struggles. As desperation spreads into Germany, fears are growing that there could be a wave of attacks by far-right groups on immigrants, who they are blaming for their unemployment.
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – It is not acceptable for the Zionist regime to see Iran as a powerful state in the region, Head of Lebanese Hizbullah Shura Council Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek said Monday.
The official said officials of the Zionist regime have felt serious concern about the increase in the number of Iran’s centrifuges as well as the country’s peaceful nuclear activities.
“Despite all challenges, wars and sanctions imposed on Iran, the country is still continuing its way towards progress, security and stability,” the sheikh added.
Referring to the ongoing crisis in Syria, he said that it was the objective of the global arrogance and its regional agents to protect the Zionist regime through complete destruction of Syria.
Referring to the claims made by foreign powers about the alleged use of chemical weapons by Damascus, Sheikh Yazbek said they were just fabricated claims aimed at justifying direct intervention in Syria and occupation of the country in order to form a buffer zone to support Syrian opposition.
According to Sheikh Yazbek, the best way to end the ongoing crisis in Syrian was to hold talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups in order to protect the country and reach a common viewpoint to defend Palestine.
Tel-Aviv intends to divide Syria according to the Somali scenario, a bi-weekly news letter reported on Monday.
According to the writer, Israel Shamir, the Zionist entity aims to make Syria disintegrated parts and controlled by armed groups, who will not hinder the Zionist army from striking Iran.
The report in the American newsletter, Counter Punch, cited a conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the latter’s recent visit to the occupied territories.
Also in the conversation, it was clear that the Zionsit entity and the US administration were not concerned over the “people’s demands” in Syria. However they were concerned over one issue: which was “breaking with” the Islamic Republic.
The newsletter posted the highlights of this conversation which was translated from Hebrew.
HAMBURG, July 31 (Reuters) – Western Europe’s rainy summer is causing concern to farmers struggling to gather wheat harvests in the top three European Union producers France, Germany and Britain and worry about quality loss is growing, analysts said on Tuesday.
Time is starting to get tight but a stint of hot, dry weather could still permit a good crop to be gathered, they said.
In France, the EU’s largest wheat producer, the return of rain late last week revived concerns about harvest delays and possible quality damage in northern French grain belts, which could spoil a crop that has so far produced strong yields and satisfactory quality.
After last week’s dry and hot weather helped harvesting, storms and heavy showers between Friday and Sunday soaked some fields where plants are now ripe for cutting.
“The majority of wheat crops to the north of the Seine river are potentially ready to harvest but for that to happen we need favourable weather,” said Jean-Charles Deswarte of French crop institute Arvalis, referring to the river that flows through Paris and up to the north coast.
Temperatures are forecast to climb back up to the mid-20s Celsius in north France from Tuesday but scattered showers are also expected this week.
“Up till now it wasn’t too serious as the wheat crops were barely ripe but now there’s little room left for manoeuvre,” said Michel Portier, head of grains consultancy Agritel.
Wheat harvest results in south France show good yields and reasonable quality.
“The first part of the harvest meets quality requirements for export,” a trader said, citing protein content of between 11 and 11.2 percent on the west coast. “But what will it be like in Rouen or Dunkirk unless clear weather establishes itself?”
Most of the buyers in Europe’s primary Middle Eastern export markets demand protein content of at least 11 percent.
LINCOLN — A civil liberties group wants to know if Nebraska and Iowa law enforcement agencies are using new technology to track and record drivers’ movements.
Nebraska and Iowa affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union are among 38 state affiliates that requested information from local police departments and state agencies Monday about automatic license plate readers.
Plate readers are cameras mounted on patrol cars or stationary objects along the road that snap a photograph of every license plate that passes by.
Images of the plates, along with the time, date and location, are recorded and transmitted to a database.
Alerts then go out to officers when a plate matches one being looked for by law enforcement.
Amy Miller, legal director for ACLU of Nebraska, said the concern is not about snapping photos and looking for stolen vehicles or criminal suspects.
It’s about what agencies are doing with data collected on the general driving public.
“Tracking and recording people’s movements raises serious privacy concerns because where we go can reveal a great deal about us, including visits to doctor’s offices, political meetings and friends,” Miller said.
“We need legal protections to limit the collection, retention and sharing of our travel information,” she said, “and we need these rules right away.”
ACLU of Nebraska sent letters to the Omaha and Lincoln Police Departments and the Nebraska State Patrol.
Miller said those agencies were chosen because they are the largest in the state. She said she did not know if any of the three use the plate readers.
The Omaha Police Department does, according to a 2009 World-Herald report. The department bought two systems that year using about $60,000 in federal grant funds. One camera was installed on the north side of the city and one on the south.
At the time, Todd Schmaderer, then the Omaha Police Department’s southwest precinct captain, said the system did not raise privacy concerns because it recognizes only license numbers entered in the National Crime Information Center.
He also said the readers did not record information about drivers or occupants of the vehicles.
Kevin Coakley demands his winnings from William Hill
An angry punter refused payment on a wild 1000/1 bet on a UFO flying over the Olympics Opening Ceremony is demanding answers.
Kevin Coakley is still waiting for his £1,000 winnings after placing the £1 wager on Friday and claims there is video evidence of a UFO above the Olympic Stadium taken from news reports of London 2012’s big opening night.
The former chauffeur, who made the bet at his local branch of William Hill, is in despair as bookmakers have told him they are waiting for official confirmation from Prime Minister David Cameron of any Olympic extraterrestrial activity.
After missing the showpiece ceremony on Friday night, Mr Coakley checked online to see if any of the estimated billion people who watched the ceremony around the world had spotted anything unusual.
To his surprise, the 44-year-old clicked into an internet furore about a flying saucer apparently hovering over the Olympic Park – as he had predicted.
Social media site YouTube had pages of clips containing news footage from TV stations such as Sky, BBC and RTE, which all showed a green glowing object flying over East London and internet forums were starting to suggest tha
This Guy is a total retard! basically he is saying because their guns (Govts) are bigger than yours you dont need them because they are no good! lol… what a plonker!……….
Published on 31 Jul 2012 by TheBigPictureRT
Thom gets the latest on the uprising in Anaheim from Emmy award winning journalist Amber Lyon. Also discussed: the latest casualties from Romney’s outsourcing, the news that a Koch brother-funded scientist has changed his thoughts on climate change and in tonight’s “Daily Take” Thom discusses how one specific word in the second amendment has turned America into a battlefield.
Published on 31 Jul 2012 by Buzz60
The Kurata 01 is a giant Mech that comes complete with reportedly safe cannons and BB gatling guns. We’re skeptical about the safety, but sold on the cool – even if the price tag is $1.4 million. Then there’s the question of the wrong people getting hold of this monster. Our Patrick Jones thinks it through
