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jongardner04

Al Qaeda branch claims Charlie Hebdo attack was years in the making - CNN.com - 0 views

edition.cnn.com/...index.html

al qaeda Charlie Hebdo

shared by jongardner04 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • The attack was years in the making, an AQAP leader said in a video, claiming U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was the mastermind behind it.
  • Al-Awlaki was the terror group's spokesman before a U.S. drone strike killed him in Yemen in 2011.
  • French security services have identified a suspected accomplice in that attack, according to the French newspaper Le Parisien. Police sources cited by the newspaper said one line of investigation is that the accomplice, a man from a Paris suburb, may have driven gunman Amedy Coulibaly to the kosher supermarket, where Coulibaly later shot dead four people.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • With France on its highest level of alert, 10,000 troops have deployed across the country. Thousands of police officers are on patrol, including hundreds assigned to protect Jewish schools.
  • It's unclear how many people are blamed for the 54 infractions. The cases include investigations involving phone threats, cyberattacks and Facebook posts, the ministry said.
  • jongardner04 on 16 Jan 15
     
    This article discusses the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
  • jongardner04 on 16 Jan 15
     
    This article discusses the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
  • jongardner04 on 16 Jan 15
     
    This article discusses the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
johnsonma23

One family, trying to keep food on the table | MSNBC - 0 views

www.msnbc.com/...ying-to-keep-food-on-the-table

food msnbc US obama crisis

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • One family, trying to keep food on the table
  • Over the past five years, America has quietly slipped into a hunger crisis.
  • hunger and food insecurity spiked across the country as a result of the financial collapse
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Congress authorized tens of billions of dollars for food stamps and other nutrition programs to slow the rise of hunger, but not enough to bring it back down to pre-recession levels.
  • 49 million Americans suffered from food insecurity. Food stamp use has risen to historic levels
johnsonma23

House GOP intensifies immigration standoff | MSNBC - 0 views

www.msnbc.com/...tensifies-immigration-standoff

immigration msnbc US politics obama

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • House GOP intensifies immigration standoff
  • the task before Congress is quite simple: fund the Department of Homeland Security.
  • either President Obama accepts GOP demands to effectively dismantle his entire approach to immigration policy or Congress will gut Homeland Security funding when it expires at the end of February.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • the far-right plan isn’t going to work.
  • either fold and pass a clean bill before the deadline or force a partial DHS shutdown next month. The latter wouldn’t derail Obama’s policy, but it would undermine domestic border security, which the right claims to care deeply about.
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    Mass immigrations in the US 
johnsonma23

Protests continue as Holder pushes new steps on police shootings | MSNBC - 0 views

www.msnbc.com/...hes-new-steps-police-shootings

police msnbc US culture

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Protests continue as Holder pushes new steps on police shootings
  • As protesters from Boston to south Florida sought Thursday to keep attention focused on the fight for police and criminal justice reform, the Obama administration continued to signal its openness to the movement’s concerns.
  • highlighted the need for better data on police shooting
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • threatened mass civil disobedience and demanded a meeting with state leaders.
  • activists behind the Black Lives Matter movement, who have mostly been out of the headlines since the start of the year, have no intention of easing up. And that those in charge are eager to show they’re listening.
  • “The troubling reality is that we lack the ability right now to comprehensively track the number of incidents of either uses of force directed at police officers or uses of force by police,
  • The news that neither of the police officers responsible for those deaths would be charged added fuel to the fire and set off nationwide protests in recent months
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    Protests supporting 'Black lives matter' 
johnsonma23

America and the Torture Debate - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ca-and-the-torture-debate.html

america torture nytimes com US

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • America and the Torture Debate
  • history shows that governments tend to overreact or act badly when they are attacked or threatened
  • It kept citizens perpetually in fear of known and unknown threats, and so in blind awe of the ever-expanding security state within a state.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • key protections of individual rights were also suspended or violated. A brave few sought the truth and spoke out about the dangers and abuses of a system that became a law unto itself. The abuses of Abu Ghraib, so often excused as the work of a few sadists,
  • Citizens must know what is being implemented in their name
  • it has taken the United States over a decade to come clean.
  • The torture debate in the United States is focused on the efficacy of the practice: Does it work? Can the results help save lives? Can torture, however terrible, give rise to a greater good? Is torture ever justified or justifiable?
  • seems that in the post-9/11 age of hysterical fear-mongering, many Americans are in danger of losing their moral compass.
  • The torturer and those who give succor to the torturer are debased utterly. They defile their country. They cease to be free men. That is their tragedy and the tragedy of their kin. And that is the lesson of history.
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    Allegations of CIA torturing KMS
johnsonma23

BBC News - 'Not safe': French Jews mull Israel emigration - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-middle-east-30790407

bbc french jews israel emigration

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • 'Not safe': French Jews mull Israel emigration
  • The grim and violent climax to the Paris hostage crisis was followed with horror wherever the news is watched. Israel's community of French-speaking Jews followed the unfolding drama with particular sadness but without surprise.
  • Israel's Channel 10 interviewed one of the survivors of the siege at the kosher supermarket who had hidden in a basement cold room
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • "We're not waiting around here to die."
  • Not many French Jews make the decision to emigrate here in such public or such painful circumstances
  • renewed force in the aftermath of the Holocaust
  • the idea that a history of persecution and statelessness gave the Jewish people the right to a place of safety.
  • About 7,000 Jews came to Israel from France in 2014
  • Now clearly all sorts of factors will lie behind every one of those individual decisions, but in Israel the rising numbers of French migrants will be seen by many as a kind of rough and ready measure of the level of anti-Semitism in French society.
  • Israel is in the middle of an election campaign, and several party leaders - including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - have travelled to France in the aftermath of last week's attacks.
  • Israel stands ready to welcome them with open arms if they decide to come.
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    Anti-semitism in France following the Paris hostage crisis.
johnsonma23

BBC News - Islamic State 'beheads guerrilla' in eastern Syria - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-middle-east-30838173

bbc guerrilla syria

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Islamic State 'beheads guerrilla' in eastern Syria
  • Islamic State (IS) is reported to have beheaded a man who they accused of setting up a guerrilla cell in eastern Syria that attacked its fighters.
  • His decapitated body was crucified in the town of Mayadin, in Deir al-Zour province, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • having links with the Syrian government,
  • four men were reportedly killed by IS in the city of Deir al-Zou
  • IS claimed the man had set off an explosion at a restaurant and booby-trapped vehicles used by the group.
  • This is not the first time that there have been reports of resistance to IS in Mayadin.
  • The group's religious police forc
  • has been targeted recently by armed men.
  • Egyptian deputy commander in the area had been abducted, tortured and beheaded.
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    This article disscusses IS beheading men in Syria
johnsonma23

BBC News - Romney 2016: The 'definition of insanity'? - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...blogs-echochambers-30824803

bbc US politics Obama Romney

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Romney 2016: The 'definition of insanity'?
  • Kentucky Senator Rand Paul probably captured the sentiment of most of Mr Romney's potential presidential adversaries when he said the prospect of the 2012 Republican nominee running again and expecting a different result is the "definition of insanity".
  • "I think he's had his chance, and I think it's time for some fresh blood,"
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • "If Mitt Romney is the answer, what is the question?"
  • "Beyond his enthusiasts - a formidable constituency given that many are donors - opinions range from indifference to open hostility."
  • "Interviews with more than two dozen Republican activists, elected officials and contributors around the country reveal little appetite for another Romney candidacy,"
  • one that doesn't come immediately to mind is who would be the best Republican presidential nominee in 2016."
  • "Mr Romney is a man of admirable personal character, but his political profile is, well, protean,
  • "But I know lots of honourable, capable and decent people. I don't want them to run for president either."
  • He predicts Mr Romney's campaign won't gain traction, and the former governor will have to withdraw sometime between the first caucus in Iowa and New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.
  • "If Romney runs now and finishes as an afterthought, it'll be one more sign that the whiz kid couldn't read the tea leaves placed before him despite 20 years of practice in electoral politics
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    Opinions of Romney running for President for a second time
johnsonma23

BBC News - US-Cuba travel and trade: New rules start on Friday - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-latin-america-30836679

bbc travel policy Obama US

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • US-Cuba travel and trade: New rules start on Friday
  • New travel and trade rules between the US and Cuba are to take effect on Friday, US officials say.
  • allowing US citizens to use credit cards in Cuba and for US businesses to export some technologies.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • $100 (£66) in alcohol and tobacco from Cuba. Correspondents say it means the US ban on Cuban cigars is over.
  • The move implements last month's agreement to re-establish ties severed since 1961.
  • release of 53 political prisoners agreed as part of the historic deal.
  • large dent in the US trade embargo against Cuba, only Congress can lift it completely.
  • "immediately enable the American people to provide more resources to empower the Cuban population to become less dependent upon the state-driven economy".
  • new regulations will allow US citizens to travel to Cuba for any of a dozen specific reasons
  • A change in the regulations will also allow US investments in some small businesses and agricultural operations.
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    Cuba and US travel and trade new regulations, and changes
johnsonma23

BBC News - Paris attacks: Pope Francis says freedom of speech has limits - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-europe-30835625

history crisis culture paris bbc attacks

shared by johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Pope Francis has defended freedom of expression following last week's attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo - but also stressed its limits.
  • religions had to be treated with respect, so that people's faiths were not insulted or ridiculed.
  • The magazine was targeted for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. It printed another cartoon of the Prophet on its front page after the attacks, angering some Muslims who say all depictions of the Prophet should be forbidden.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • France has deployed thousands of troops and police to boost security in the wake of last week's attacks
  • the creator of the "Je suis Charlie" slogan, which became a symbol of support for Charlie Hebdo, has applied for a patent, saying that he wants to prevent the commercial exploitation of the design and keep its original message intact.
  • "You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. There is a limit."
  • vowed to protect Muslims who, he said, were the main victims of fanaticism, along with people of other religions.
  • johnsonma23 on 16 Jan 15
     
    The pope agreeing/supporting the Paris attacks due to criticism of religion by the cartoonists
dpittenger

Guantanamo Bay: What next for Cuba prison camp? - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-us-canada-30820897

guantanamo bay cuba prison US politics

shared by dpittenger on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • dpittenger on 16 Jan 15
     
    In 2009, Obama ordered the closing of Guantanamo Bay prison, but Congress didn't let it happen. Congress claims that these prisoners cannot be moved to U.S. jails and that they would danger the U.S. Prisoners have been recently moved, which shows possible progress. 
dpittenger

How Congress is Cutting Science Out of Science Policy - 0 views

www.livescience.com/nce-out-of-science-policy.html

US politics science

shared by dpittenger on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • The bill's impact dramatically affects the fundamental regulatory process, so that nearly every type of protective regulation is vulnerable. As a result, the RAA is opposed by groups who advocate on a variety of issues, ranging from consumer safety and financial reform to food safety and worker rights.
  • Years pass between the time a rule is proposed and its implementation.
  • You might want to call this the first in what we expect to be a long list of "zombie bills" — retreads of bills which failed to become law in previous years, but have been resurrected one more time. These legislative proposals harm science-informed policy, jeopardizing public health, safety and the environment.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The worst part of the bill is the blatant cynicism it demonstrates. This bill harms science, but it also harms democracy.
  • This blatant attempt to subvert public protections has brought together science, consumer, public health, financial reform and environmental activists.
dpittenger

Obama to Senate Dems: 'I'm going to play offense' - Manu Raju - POLITICO - 0 views

www.politico.com/...ng-to-play-offense-114307.html

obama senate politics US

shared by dpittenger on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • The president said he’s prepared to veto hostile legislation, including an Iran sanctions package.
  • Obama vowed to defend his agenda against Republicans in Congress, promised to stand firm against GOP efforts to dismantle his agenda and called on his Democratic colleagues to help sustain his expected vetoes.
  • At the meeting, Obama, who has rarely used his veto pen in his six years in office, signaled he would do so repeatedly, including on GOP-sponsored legislation to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • “We in the administration believe that, at this time, increasing sanctions would dramatically undermine our efforts to reach this shared goal” of reducing Iran’s nuclear weapon capacity, said Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations,
dpittenger

House law enforcement chief monitoring terror threat - CNN.com - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

law enforcement terror monitoring US politics

shared by dpittenger on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • "The public, and in particular the Congressional community, was never in danger during the investigation. The United States Capitol Police (USCP) remains in close coordination with the FBI and my office continues to monitor the situation," Irving writes.
  • The email comes just the day after the FBI successfully foiled a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol
  • "The real weapons of mass destruction today are unemployed 22-year-olds who fall for this radical ideology and we've got to figure out how to counter that," he said on CNN's "New Day."
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Instead, King said the U.S. needs to address what he called a "deeper question": figuring out how the U.S. can combat the radical ideology spread increasingly online by extremists like ISIS and al-Qaeda.
  • "Americans will sleep better knowing that their government is actual doing their constitutional duty,"
dpittenger

Russia faces wave of bankruptcies - Jan. 12, 2015 - 0 views

money.cnn.com/...index.html

russia economics

shared by dpittenger on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Anatoly Aksakov, president of Russia's regional banking association and deputy chairman of parliament's financial markets committee, said firms were running out of cash. "Bankers believe that keeping the situation as it stands will cause a wave of bankruptcies, not only credit institutions but also a number of businesses and companies,"
  • The impact of Western sanctions imposed over Russia's actions in Ukraine has sparked a cash crunch by shutting many companies out of international funding markets.
  • "Banks may need up to ... $45 billion in capital in 2015 to support lending and absorb credit losses, and another ... $11.5 billion to address foreign exchange valuation losses," wrote credit specialist Tatiana Tchembarova.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • It burned through more than $120 billion in foreign currency supplies last year. It now has $388.5 billion left in total international reserves, including gold and other liquid foreign assets.
dpittenger

Starting Friday, U.S. Will Ease Restrictions on Travel to Cuba - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...d-rules-on-travel-to-cuba.html

cuba travel US economics

shared by dpittenger on 16 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • They had to justify their trips to a government agency, apply for licenses, sign up with a firm organizing “people to people” exchanges, or circumvent the law altogether by flying somewhere else first.
  • While ordinary tourism remains banned by law, new rules put in place by President Obama will make it easier for Americans to visit the island than it has been for most of the last half-century
  • The rules will usher in a new era of contact between neighbors that have been estranged for longer than most of their citizens have been alive.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • “Cuba has real potential for economic growth,” Mr. Lew added, “and by increasing travel, commerce, communications and private business development between the United States and Cuba, the United States can help the Cuban people determine their own future.”
  • dpittenger on 16 Jan 15
     
    Traveling to Cuba will now be slightly easier. This could help Cuba economically and it is a big step in the right direction.
qkirkpatrick

BBC News - Have pictures of Muhammad always been forbidden? - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...magazine-30814555

politics religion

shared by qkirkpatrick on 15 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Most Muslims say that pictorial depictions of the founder of Islam are forbidden - but has that always been the case in all of the Muslim world?
  • For most Muslims it's an absolute prohibition - Muhammad, or any of the other prophets of Islam, should not be pictured in any way. Pictures - as well as statues - are thought to encourage the worship of idols.
  • Muslims point to a verse in the Koran which features Abraham, whom they regard as a prophet:
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Many of the images of Muhammad which date from the 1300s were intended only to be viewed privately, to avoid idolatry, says Christiane Gruber, associate professor of Islamic Art at Michigan University. "In some ways they were luxury items, perhaps in libraries for the elite."
  • "[Abraham] said to his father and his people: 'What are these images to whose worship you cleave?' They said: 'We found our fathers worshipping them.' He said: 'Certainly you have been, you and your fathers, in manifest error.'"
  • Such items included miniatures which showed characters from Islam.
  • qkirkpatrick on 15 Jan 15
     
    An article that discusses whether pictures of Mohammed have always been forbidden.
nolan_delaney

BBC - Future - Will religion ever disappear? - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...9-will-religion-ever-disappear

science religion

shared by nolan_delaney on 15 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • nolan_delaney on 15 Jan 15
     
    article led me to wonder what would the political implications of a less religious world be?  how would conflicts be resolved and whow differantly would negotiations enabled/ disabled & settled?
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