Well, I guess that guy isn't going to be standing in a courtroom telling stories!
How convenient!
At least one FBI agent and two cops are in the room, when their high-value guest suddenly turns on them, leaving them no option but to dispatch him to his reward. Right there. Right then.
Not even the dignity of a burial at sea!
This is sure to fan the flames of the Boston Conspiracy, and rightfully so.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
CBC "exclusive" reveals that Ottawa is not capital of Eritrea
Last year the Harper gang issued an ultimatum to the Eritrean diplomats in Canada; stop collecting that 2% income tax from Eritreans resident in Canada or we'll send you packing.
Apparently the Eritrean diplomats don't take orders from Ottawa, and now the CBC has a scoop!
Those wily black Islamists are still hard at it! Still accepting those voluntary 2% tithes from their countrymen and forwarding them home, where they permit the government to provide the barest of social services and a rudimentary, very rudimentary degree of health care and education.
Canada's ultimatum followed similar demands in the US, UK, and Sweden, all countries that have a critical mass of Eritrean immigrants.
The irony is that Eritrea should be a good candidate for the recent Canadian initiative to piggyback "foreign aid" on mining projects. Canadian gold miner Nevsun owns the only gold mine in the country, its Bisha property, from whence it has dug well over a billion dollars worth of the metal since opening the mine in 2011.
Hmm... a billion dollars coming out; a 2% tax on the incomes of a few thousand cab drivers and apartment supers going in...
Who do you suppose is getting the better of that trade-off?
But the Harper gang is going to make things right by putting a stop to those 2% remittances?
Apparently the Eritrean diplomats don't take orders from Ottawa, and now the CBC has a scoop!
Those wily black Islamists are still hard at it! Still accepting those voluntary 2% tithes from their countrymen and forwarding them home, where they permit the government to provide the barest of social services and a rudimentary, very rudimentary degree of health care and education.
Canada's ultimatum followed similar demands in the US, UK, and Sweden, all countries that have a critical mass of Eritrean immigrants.
The irony is that Eritrea should be a good candidate for the recent Canadian initiative to piggyback "foreign aid" on mining projects. Canadian gold miner Nevsun owns the only gold mine in the country, its Bisha property, from whence it has dug well over a billion dollars worth of the metal since opening the mine in 2011.
Hmm... a billion dollars coming out; a 2% tax on the incomes of a few thousand cab drivers and apartment supers going in...
Who do you suppose is getting the better of that trade-off?
But the Harper gang is going to make things right by putting a stop to those 2% remittances?
Taliban wreak vengence on families of NATO collaborators
Last summer we commented on the ethical void Canada was creating in refusing to act promptly to facilitate the immigration of Afghans who had been recruited to work for the NATO/ISAF forces there. That particular story had a temporary happy ending when Sayed Sarif was finally permitted to come to Canada.
Sharifi is in the news again.
Although nearly a year has gone by since we admitted him, bringing his extended family to join him has been an exercise fraught with bureaucratic foot-dragging of the highest order. Now the Taliban has caught up with Sharifi's family, something entirely predictable.
And also entirely avoidable.
Sharifi is in the news again.
Although nearly a year has gone by since we admitted him, bringing his extended family to join him has been an exercise fraught with bureaucratic foot-dragging of the highest order. Now the Taliban has caught up with Sharifi's family, something entirely predictable.
And also entirely avoidable.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Nathan Blanc vs. the IDF; Round 10
Young Nathan is back in the brig. For the 10th time!
All because he wants to serve his country in some way that doesn't involve picking up a gun.
For their part, the Israeli Defence Forces want to send a message to all (non-Haredim) Israelis that resistance is futile...
You will conform to the dictates of the authoritarian state.
In a democracy there should be breathing room for conscientious objectors.
Sign this petition to let Defence Minister Ya'alon know that the world is watching. A country with a conscience needs to have room for conscientious objectors.
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/immediately-and-unconditionally-release-conscientious-objector-natan-blanc-from-his-10th-term-in-prison
All because he wants to serve his country in some way that doesn't involve picking up a gun.
For their part, the Israeli Defence Forces want to send a message to all (non-Haredim) Israelis that resistance is futile...
You will conform to the dictates of the authoritarian state.
In a democracy there should be breathing room for conscientious objectors.
Sign this petition to let Defence Minister Ya'alon know that the world is watching. A country with a conscience needs to have room for conscientious objectors.
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/immediately-and-unconditionally-release-conscientious-objector-natan-blanc-from-his-10th-term-in-prison
Another CP train goes off the tracks, but it's just a "little" oil spill
So don't worry about it.
Hatchet-man Hunter Harrison tells us CP Rail is "investing in technology to limit derailments."
Whew! In the nick of time, I might add!
Since he's axed 4 or 5 thousand of the guys who used to maintain those tracks I guess it's a good thing derailment-limiting technology is available to take their place.
Mr. Harrison has reaped a $50 million windfall since he climbed aboard Bill Ackman's plan to goose the share value of the venerable CPR.
Bill is doing that by firing all the workers and making the trains longer. Why did no one think of that before?
I'd guess because they were interested in running a trans-national railway in a socially and environmentally responsible way, which everybody knows doesn't cut it in this day and age.
Anyway, this makes it three spills in three months for Bill and Hunter and the little railway that used to could.
But watching the Bill and Hunter show has become a lot like watching NASCAR; we know "the big one" is coming.
Hatchet-man Hunter Harrison tells us CP Rail is "investing in technology to limit derailments."
Whew! In the nick of time, I might add!
Since he's axed 4 or 5 thousand of the guys who used to maintain those tracks I guess it's a good thing derailment-limiting technology is available to take their place.
Mr. Harrison has reaped a $50 million windfall since he climbed aboard Bill Ackman's plan to goose the share value of the venerable CPR.
Bill is doing that by firing all the workers and making the trains longer. Why did no one think of that before?
I'd guess because they were interested in running a trans-national railway in a socially and environmentally responsible way, which everybody knows doesn't cut it in this day and age.
Anyway, this makes it three spills in three months for Bill and Hunter and the little railway that used to could.
But watching the Bill and Hunter show has become a lot like watching NASCAR; we know "the big one" is coming.
Rise up and die
After you, Mr. Hedges...
Chris Hedges has written an excellent article about where we're at and how we got here.
Not much there to disagree with, and the article makes a perfect exclamation point for today's testimony at the Senate by Apple CEO Tim Cook. Cook stated flat-out that anyone who thought Apple would repatriate it's off-shored billions without a massive reduction in the US corporate tax rate was dreaming in Technicolor.
That blunt "go fuck yourself" is what Cook refers to as honoring the spirit of America's tax laws.
But back to Chris Hedges. I have one question;
Rise up and do what?
Of course we need to support the Bradley Mannings and the Julian Assanges in their struggles. Those are our struggles too, after all.
But beyond that, what?
Does Hedges intend his screed to be a call to arms? If so, he is seriously deluded. With all due respect to those who have fetishised the second amendment, armed resistance is a dead-end. There's a reason America's military-industrial complex wants drones in the sky over your house; that arsenal in your spare room doesn't mean a damned thing to the Hellfire missile coming at you from 30,000 feet.
There is no future in armed resistance. Americans need to reclaim their democracy. This is not an exclusively American problem of course, but the world looks to America's 99% for leadership.
After all, they've made up the most ground in the race to the bottom over the past forty years or so.
Chris Hedges has written an excellent article about where we're at and how we got here.
Not much there to disagree with, and the article makes a perfect exclamation point for today's testimony at the Senate by Apple CEO Tim Cook. Cook stated flat-out that anyone who thought Apple would repatriate it's off-shored billions without a massive reduction in the US corporate tax rate was dreaming in Technicolor.
That blunt "go fuck yourself" is what Cook refers to as honoring the spirit of America's tax laws.
But back to Chris Hedges. I have one question;
Rise up and do what?
Of course we need to support the Bradley Mannings and the Julian Assanges in their struggles. Those are our struggles too, after all.
But beyond that, what?
Does Hedges intend his screed to be a call to arms? If so, he is seriously deluded. With all due respect to those who have fetishised the second amendment, armed resistance is a dead-end. There's a reason America's military-industrial complex wants drones in the sky over your house; that arsenal in your spare room doesn't mean a damned thing to the Hellfire missile coming at you from 30,000 feet.
There is no future in armed resistance. Americans need to reclaim their democracy. This is not an exclusively American problem of course, but the world looks to America's 99% for leadership.
After all, they've made up the most ground in the race to the bottom over the past forty years or so.
Rotten Apple; the decay of an iconic American company
Today's Senate hearings add momentum to Apple's shift from being celebrated for inspired design and technology innovations to being celebrated for inspired tax-avoidance schemes.
The hundred billion plus Apple has parked in Ireland aren't causing CEO Tim Cook to lose any sleep. "We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar," claims Cook. "We not only comply with the laws, we comply with the spirit of the laws."
He's absolutely right of course. He is acknowledging that the "spirit" of America's tax code is to facilitate tax avoidance by wealthy individuals and corporations. That's the same spirit Mitt Romney was saluting when he admitted to keeping most of his fortune in offshore tax-shelters.
Tax law isn't intended to tax the rich; it's intended to let them off the hook.
And apparently it has proven remarkably successful in achieving that goal.
The hundred billion plus Apple has parked in Ireland aren't causing CEO Tim Cook to lose any sleep. "We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar," claims Cook. "We not only comply with the laws, we comply with the spirit of the laws."
He's absolutely right of course. He is acknowledging that the "spirit" of America's tax code is to facilitate tax avoidance by wealthy individuals and corporations. That's the same spirit Mitt Romney was saluting when he admitted to keeping most of his fortune in offshore tax-shelters.
Tax law isn't intended to tax the rich; it's intended to let them off the hook.
And apparently it has proven remarkably successful in achieving that goal.
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