Silent misery: Actual US unemployment 37.2%, record number of households on food stamps in 2013
RT NEWS
January 22, 2014
As the White House proclaims a recovery is occurring, and the stock market has a head of steam, millions of Americans and their dependents are being left out of the recovery, according to a set of economic indicators.
Perhaps the most worrying yet least reported aspect of the so-called US recovery involves the national labor picture. Although the official US unemployment rate is 6.7 percent, this figure obscures the reality, according to an influential Wall Street adviser.
In a leaked memo to clients, David John Marotta calculates the actual unemployment rate of Americans out of work at an astronomic 37.2 percent, as opposed to the 6.7 percent claimed by the Federal Reserve.
“The unemployment rate only describes people who are currently working or looking for work,” he said.
“Unemployment in its truest definition, meaning the portion of people who do not have any job, is 37.2 percent. This number obviously includes some people who are not or never plan to seek employment. But it does describe how many people are not able to, do not want to or cannot find a way to work,” he and colleague Megan Russell reveal in their client report, which was leaked to the Washington Examiner.
Contrary to expectations, a drop in the unemployment rate, Marotta argues, is presently a sign that the unemployed are simply dropping out of the job market.
The “officially-reported unemployment numbers decrease when enough time passes to discourage the unemployed from looking for work,” said Marotta and Russel. “A decrease is not necessarily beneficial; an increase is clearly detrimental.”
The authors then take aim at the so-called Misery Index, which provides something of a pulse rate of American prosperity, based on unemployment and inflation. The Wall Street adviser said the Index, which he maintains is actually over 14, as opposed to the 8 advertised by Washington, fails to address how the US economy is being hugely subsidized by various schemes, including monthly bond purchases by the Federal Reserve.
“Today, the Misery Index would be 7.54 using official numbers,” the two analysts wrote. However, taking into consideration the full unemployment picture, including workers who have given up the job search, which is 10.2 percent, together with the historical method of calculating inflation, which is now 4.5 percent, ‘the current misery index is closer to 14.7.”
In food stamps we trust
Marotta’s findings, which put the actual US unemployment rate at over 37 percent, seem more credible when viewed alongside other indicators, including the number of Americans who now rely on government assistance to make ends meet.
It has just been reported that a record 20 percent of American households were receiving food stamps in 2013, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The USDA data shows there were 23,052,388 households on food stamps in an average month of fiscal 2013, a jump of 722,675 from fiscal year 2012, when there were 22,329,713 households on food stamps per month on average.
Last year, according to data from the Census Bureau, there were 115,013,000 households. With 23,052,388 households – or 20 percent of the total number of households –now dependent on food stamps.
In just half a decade, the number of American households on food stamps has significantly increased. In fiscal year 2009, for example, the number of households receiving the government assistance program was 15,232,115. Five years later, in 2013, that number had surged by 51.3 percent to hit 23,052,388 households.
Meanwhile, the monthly average for individuals on food stamps hit an all-time-high of 47,636,084, according to the USDA. This is an increase of 1,027,012 over the 46,609,072 people who were getting food stamps in 2012.
In 2009, the number of individuals relying on the government program stood at 33,489,975. In 2013, the number was 47,636,084, an increase of 42.2 percent.
It should come as no surprise that spending on the US government’s food stamp program, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), has reached an all-time high.
Last year, SNAP cost $79,641,880,000 - a 164 percent increase over the past decade.
During the last five years, the SNAP program exploded by 36.8 percent, from $58,223,790,000 in 2009 to $79,641,880,000 in 2013.
Showing posts with label government deception. Show all posts
Showing posts with label government deception. Show all posts
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Saturday, February 9, 2013
CIA lied about torture to own agency officials - but are you really surprised?
CIA was lying about torture even to its own staff - CIA veteran Kiriakou
RT News
February, 9 2013
AFP Photo / Files / Paul J. Richards
President Obama adopted most of President Bush’s counter-terrorism policies, argues John Kiriakou - the former CIA official who blew the whistle on the agency's torture practices and is now set to go behind bars for it.
After 9/11 Kiriakou served as the chief of counter-terrorist operations in Pakistan. Now he is heading to prison, having been sentenced to two-and-a-half years.
Despite that, he says he is proud to have played a role in outlawing torture. Voting for Obama, Kiriakou believed that it would bring positive change – but it never came, he told RT. “I never believed I would be going to prison under a President Obama. Never.”
[...]
'Most people don’t realize this but President Obama has surrounded himself with the same Intelligence advisors who advised President Bush.'
[...]
'The first Al-Qaeda I’ve ever caught was a 19-year-old boy from Tunisia. And the only reason he went to Afghanistan was he had nothing else to do.'
[...]
'We find ourselves murdering people and in many cases children with no evidence whatsoever that they are involved in any criminal or terrorist activity...'
(Click here to read the full interview and article)
RT News
February, 9 2013
AFP Photo / Files / Paul J. Richards
President Obama adopted most of President Bush’s counter-terrorism policies, argues John Kiriakou - the former CIA official who blew the whistle on the agency's torture practices and is now set to go behind bars for it.
After 9/11 Kiriakou served as the chief of counter-terrorist operations in Pakistan. Now he is heading to prison, having been sentenced to two-and-a-half years.
Despite that, he says he is proud to have played a role in outlawing torture. Voting for Obama, Kiriakou believed that it would bring positive change – but it never came, he told RT. “I never believed I would be going to prison under a President Obama. Never.”
[...]
'Most people don’t realize this but President Obama has surrounded himself with the same Intelligence advisors who advised President Bush.'
[...]
'The first Al-Qaeda I’ve ever caught was a 19-year-old boy from Tunisia. And the only reason he went to Afghanistan was he had nothing else to do.'
[...]
'We find ourselves murdering people and in many cases children with no evidence whatsoever that they are involved in any criminal or terrorist activity...'
(Click here to read the full interview and article)
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Russian attack sub patrolled Gulf of Mexico undetected for several weeks...and we only knew about after it left the region!
Was this news released deliberately to counter President Obama`s proposal to slash $1.3 billion from the defense budget for the Navy`s shipbuilding projects? It may seem so, but what does it say about our national defense and cost to our ballooning defense spending? (RSA)
Russian attack submarine sailed in Gulf of Mexico undetected for weeks, U.S. officials say
BY: Bill Gertz
Washington Free Beacon
August 14, 2012
A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles operated undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks and its travel in strategic U.S. waters was only confirmed after it left the region, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
[...]
The officials who are familiar with reports of the submarine patrol in the Gulf of Mexico said the vessel was a nuclear-powered Akula-class attack submarine, one of Russia’s quietest submarines.
The fact that the Akula was not detected in the Gulf is cause for concern, U.S. officials said.
A Navy spokeswoman declined to comment.
One official said the Akula operated without being detected for a month.
“The Akula was built for one reason and one reason only: To kill U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarines and their crews,” said a second U.S. official.
“It’s a very stealthy boat so it can sneak around and avoid detection and hope to get past any protective screen a boomer might have in place,” the official said, referring to the Navy nickname for strategic missile submarines...
(click here to read the full article on the Washington Free Beacon)
 |
| Russian Akula sub, image credit: AP |
BY: Bill Gertz
Washington Free Beacon
August 14, 2012
A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles operated undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks and its travel in strategic U.S. waters was only confirmed after it left the region, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
[...]
The officials who are familiar with reports of the submarine patrol in the Gulf of Mexico said the vessel was a nuclear-powered Akula-class attack submarine, one of Russia’s quietest submarines.
The fact that the Akula was not detected in the Gulf is cause for concern, U.S. officials said.
A Navy spokeswoman declined to comment.
One official said the Akula operated without being detected for a month.
“The Akula was built for one reason and one reason only: To kill U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarines and their crews,” said a second U.S. official.
“It’s a very stealthy boat so it can sneak around and avoid detection and hope to get past any protective screen a boomer might have in place,” the official said, referring to the Navy nickname for strategic missile submarines...
(click here to read the full article on the Washington Free Beacon)
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Dysfunction in Washington: 60 House Bills to Name Post Offices, Zero To Fix Mail Service...
By Amy Bingham
ABC News
Aug 1, 2012
In the 18 months the 112th Congress has been sworn in, the House has introduced 60 bills to rename post offices. Thirty-eight have passed the House and 26 have become law. During those 18 months, the House has produced 151 laws, 17 percent of which have been to rename post offices, according to Congressional Democrats.
Not a single bill has come to the House floor aimed at reforming a Postal Service, which is bleeding billions of dollars because of Congressional mandates.
Today the United States Postal Service will default on a Congressional mandate to pay $5.5 billion to “prefund” health benefits for future retirees. On Friday, the House of Representatives will leave town for a five-week summer vacation. There is no plan to take up postal reform before that summer recess.
The Postal Service has attempted to enact an array of cost-cutting measures to pull itself out of a $22.5 billion budget shortfall. Over the past five years USPS has cut more than 110,000 employees. The mail service, which takes no taxpayer money but is regulated by Congress, has announced plans to close or consolidate 230 mail processing centers, cutting 13,000 jobs and saving an estimated $1.2 billion annually.
The service attempted to close 3,700 post offices under a plan announced last year, but after public outcry decided to cut operating hours to between two and six hours per day at 13,000 locations. USPS claims that move will save $500 million per year.
One of the largest cost-saving measures would be ending Saturday mail delivery, a move the Postal Service says will save $3.1 billion a year. But USPS can’t cut delivery without Congressional approval, and partisan disagreements over whether Congress should take control of USPS’s operations until it is solvent again or if it should leave the decision making to the postmaster general have halted any action on Capitol Hill.
USPS claims that if Congress does not act, the mail service will default not only on the $5.5 billion payment due today, but also on another $5.6 billion payment for future retiree’s benefit due September 30.
The Postal Service has pleaded with Congress for years to end the requirement that it pre-fund its retiree’s health benefits. But many lawmakers claim that because USPS has such a massive workforce – there are 614,000 Postal Service employees—if it does not pre-fund retirement benefits, it will not be able to pay them in the future.
And as long as these disagreements persist, it looks like naming post offices is the closest Congress will get to passing postal reform.
ABC News
Aug 1, 2012
In the 18 months the 112th Congress has been sworn in, the House has introduced 60 bills to rename post offices. Thirty-eight have passed the House and 26 have become law. During those 18 months, the House has produced 151 laws, 17 percent of which have been to rename post offices, according to Congressional Democrats.
Not a single bill has come to the House floor aimed at reforming a Postal Service, which is bleeding billions of dollars because of Congressional mandates.
Today the United States Postal Service will default on a Congressional mandate to pay $5.5 billion to “prefund” health benefits for future retirees. On Friday, the House of Representatives will leave town for a five-week summer vacation. There is no plan to take up postal reform before that summer recess.
The Postal Service has attempted to enact an array of cost-cutting measures to pull itself out of a $22.5 billion budget shortfall. Over the past five years USPS has cut more than 110,000 employees. The mail service, which takes no taxpayer money but is regulated by Congress, has announced plans to close or consolidate 230 mail processing centers, cutting 13,000 jobs and saving an estimated $1.2 billion annually.
The service attempted to close 3,700 post offices under a plan announced last year, but after public outcry decided to cut operating hours to between two and six hours per day at 13,000 locations. USPS claims that move will save $500 million per year.
One of the largest cost-saving measures would be ending Saturday mail delivery, a move the Postal Service says will save $3.1 billion a year. But USPS can’t cut delivery without Congressional approval, and partisan disagreements over whether Congress should take control of USPS’s operations until it is solvent again or if it should leave the decision making to the postmaster general have halted any action on Capitol Hill.
USPS claims that if Congress does not act, the mail service will default not only on the $5.5 billion payment due today, but also on another $5.6 billion payment for future retiree’s benefit due September 30.
The Postal Service has pleaded with Congress for years to end the requirement that it pre-fund its retiree’s health benefits. But many lawmakers claim that because USPS has such a massive workforce – there are 614,000 Postal Service employees—if it does not pre-fund retirement benefits, it will not be able to pay them in the future.
And as long as these disagreements persist, it looks like naming post offices is the closest Congress will get to passing postal reform.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Audit reveals $200 million wasted on Iraqi Police program that the Iraqi themselves DID NOT want
US audit: $200M wasted on Iraqi police training
ASSOCIATED PRESS/NYPOST
Posted: July 30, 2012
BAGHDAD — US auditors have concluded that more than $200 million was wasted on a program to train Iraqi police that Baghdad says is neither needed nor wanted.
The Police Development Program- which was drawn up to be the single largest State Department program in the world - was envisioned as a five-year, multibillion-dollar push to train security forces after the US military left last December. But Iraqi political leaders, anxious to keep their distance from the Americans, were unenthusiastic.
A report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, released Monday, found that the American Embassy in Baghdad never got a written commitment from Iraq to participate. Now, facing what the report called Baghdad's "disinterest" in the project, the embassy is gutting what was supposed to be the centerpiece of ongoing US training efforts in Iraq.
According to the report, the embassy plans to turn over the $108 million Baghdad Police College Annex to Iraqis by the end of the year and will stop training at a $98 million site at the US consulate in the southern city of Basra. Additionally, the number of advisers has been cut by nearly 90 percent - from 350 to 36.
"A major lesson learned from Iraq is that host country buy-in to proposed programs is essential to the long-term success of relief and reconstruction activities. The PDP experience powerfully underscores that point," auditors wrote in a 41-page summary of their inspection. An advance copy was provided to The Associated Press.
Auditors noted that it "has clearly been difficult" for American diplomats to secure a solid commitment from Iraq's government to participate in the training program. Still, the report concluded, "the decision to embark on a major program absent Iraqi buy-in has been costly" and resulted in "a de facto waste."
The findings call into question funding needs at the largest US embassy in the world, as the Obama administration prepares its new spending plan for the 2013 fiscal year that begins Oct 1. While auditors said it's unknown how much the embassy in Baghdad is requesting, additional money for the police program "may not be needed."
Despite years and billions of dollars of training, Iraq's police force remains a vulnerable target for militants. On Sunday, seven police were killed and nine more wounded in bombings and shootings near the former al-Qaida stronghold of Fallujah, about 64 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad. It appeared to be the latest strike by the Sunni insurgency as it seeks to reclaim areas where US troops ousted them...
(click here to read the full article)
ASSOCIATED PRESS/NYPOST
Posted: July 30, 2012
The Police Development Program- which was drawn up to be the single largest State Department program in the world - was envisioned as a five-year, multibillion-dollar push to train security forces after the US military left last December. But Iraqi political leaders, anxious to keep their distance from the Americans, were unenthusiastic.
 |
| AP |
According to the report, the embassy plans to turn over the $108 million Baghdad Police College Annex to Iraqis by the end of the year and will stop training at a $98 million site at the US consulate in the southern city of Basra. Additionally, the number of advisers has been cut by nearly 90 percent - from 350 to 36.
"A major lesson learned from Iraq is that host country buy-in to proposed programs is essential to the long-term success of relief and reconstruction activities. The PDP experience powerfully underscores that point," auditors wrote in a 41-page summary of their inspection. An advance copy was provided to The Associated Press.
Auditors noted that it "has clearly been difficult" for American diplomats to secure a solid commitment from Iraq's government to participate in the training program. Still, the report concluded, "the decision to embark on a major program absent Iraqi buy-in has been costly" and resulted in "a de facto waste."
The findings call into question funding needs at the largest US embassy in the world, as the Obama administration prepares its new spending plan for the 2013 fiscal year that begins Oct 1. While auditors said it's unknown how much the embassy in Baghdad is requesting, additional money for the police program "may not be needed."
Despite years and billions of dollars of training, Iraq's police force remains a vulnerable target for militants. On Sunday, seven police were killed and nine more wounded in bombings and shootings near the former al-Qaida stronghold of Fallujah, about 64 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad. It appeared to be the latest strike by the Sunni insurgency as it seeks to reclaim areas where US troops ousted them...
(click here to read the full article)
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
President Obama now can control all private communication in America
The police state just keeps getting better...
Obama gives himself control of all communication systems in America
RT NEWS
July 10, 2012
US President Barack Obama quietly signed his name to an Executive Order on Friday, allowing the White House to control all private communications in the country in the name of national security.
President Obama released his latest Executive Order on Friday, July 6, a 2,205-word statement offered as the “Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions.” And although the president chose not to commemorate the signing with much fanfare, the powers he provides to himself and the federal government under the latest order are among the most far-reaching yet of any of his executive decisions.
“The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions,” the president begins the order. “Survivable, resilient, enduring and effective communications, both domestic and international, are essential to enable the executive branch to communicate within itself and with: the legislative and judicial branches; State, local, territorial and tribal governments; private sector entities; and the public, allies and other nations.”
President Obama adds that it is necessary for the government to be able to reach anyone in the country during situations it considers critical, writing, “Such communications must be possible under all circumstances to ensure national security, effectively manage emergencies and improve national resilience.” Later the president explains that such could be done by establishing a “joint industry-Government center that is capable of assisting in the initiation, coordination, restoration and reconstitution of NS/EP [national security and emergency preparedness] communications services or facilities under all conditions of emerging threats, crisis or emergency.”
“The views of all levels of government, the private and nonprofit sectors, and the public must inform the development of NS/EP communications policies, programs and capabilities,” he adds.
On the government’s official website for the National Communications Systems, the government explains that that “infrastructure includes wireline, wireless, satellite, cable, and broadcasting, and provides the transport networks that support the Internet and other key information systems,” suggesting that the president has indeed effectively just allowed himself to control the country’s Internet access.
In order to allow the White House to reach anyone within the US, the president has put forth a plan to establish a high-level committee calling from agents with the Department of Homeland Security, Pentagon, Federal Communications Commission and other government divisions to ensure that his new executive order can be implemented.
In explaining the order, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) writes that the president has authorized the DHS "the authority to seize private facilities when necessary, effectively shutting down or limiting civilian communications."
In Section 5 of his order, President Obama outlines the specific department and agency responsibilities that will see through his demands. In a few paragraphs, President Obama explains that Executive Committee that will oversee his order must be supplied with “the technical support necessary to develop and maintain plans adequate to provide for the security and protection of NS/EP communications,” and that that same body will be in tasked with dispatching that communiqué “to the Federal Government and State, local, territorial and trial governments,” by means of “commercial, Government and privately owned communications resources.”
Later, the president announces that the Department of Homeland Security will be tasked with drafting a plan during the next 60 days to explain how the DHS will command the government’s Emergency Telecommunications Service, as well as other telecom conduits. In order to be able to spread the White House’s message across the country, President Obama also asks for the purchasing of equipment and services that will enable such.
RT NEWS
July 10, 2012
 |
| US President Barack Obama (AFP Photo/Pool/Luke Sharrett) |
President Obama released his latest Executive Order on Friday, July 6, a 2,205-word statement offered as the “Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions.” And although the president chose not to commemorate the signing with much fanfare, the powers he provides to himself and the federal government under the latest order are among the most far-reaching yet of any of his executive decisions.
“The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions,” the president begins the order. “Survivable, resilient, enduring and effective communications, both domestic and international, are essential to enable the executive branch to communicate within itself and with: the legislative and judicial branches; State, local, territorial and tribal governments; private sector entities; and the public, allies and other nations.”
President Obama adds that it is necessary for the government to be able to reach anyone in the country during situations it considers critical, writing, “Such communications must be possible under all circumstances to ensure national security, effectively manage emergencies and improve national resilience.” Later the president explains that such could be done by establishing a “joint industry-Government center that is capable of assisting in the initiation, coordination, restoration and reconstitution of NS/EP [national security and emergency preparedness] communications services or facilities under all conditions of emerging threats, crisis or emergency.”
“The views of all levels of government, the private and nonprofit sectors, and the public must inform the development of NS/EP communications policies, programs and capabilities,” he adds.
On the government’s official website for the National Communications Systems, the government explains that that “infrastructure includes wireline, wireless, satellite, cable, and broadcasting, and provides the transport networks that support the Internet and other key information systems,” suggesting that the president has indeed effectively just allowed himself to control the country’s Internet access.
In order to allow the White House to reach anyone within the US, the president has put forth a plan to establish a high-level committee calling from agents with the Department of Homeland Security, Pentagon, Federal Communications Commission and other government divisions to ensure that his new executive order can be implemented.
In explaining the order, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) writes that the president has authorized the DHS "the authority to seize private facilities when necessary, effectively shutting down or limiting civilian communications."
In Section 5 of his order, President Obama outlines the specific department and agency responsibilities that will see through his demands. In a few paragraphs, President Obama explains that Executive Committee that will oversee his order must be supplied with “the technical support necessary to develop and maintain plans adequate to provide for the security and protection of NS/EP communications,” and that that same body will be in tasked with dispatching that communiqué “to the Federal Government and State, local, territorial and trial governments,” by means of “commercial, Government and privately owned communications resources.”
Later, the president announces that the Department of Homeland Security will be tasked with drafting a plan during the next 60 days to explain how the DHS will command the government’s Emergency Telecommunications Service, as well as other telecom conduits. In order to be able to spread the White House’s message across the country, President Obama also asks for the purchasing of equipment and services that will enable such.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Western-backed Syrian Rebels Ransack Christian Churches
NATO-backed thugs desecrate places of worship
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Shocking images have emerged which show the aftermath of Christian churches ransacked by NATO-backed Syrian rebels, illustrating once again how western powers are supporting Muslim extremists in their bid to achieve regime change in the middle east.
A photograph provided to us by a Christian woman in Homs, scene of some of the bloodiest clashes of the conflict, shows a member of the Free Syrian Army posing with a looted Catholic cross in one hand and a gun in the other while wearing a priest’s robe.
“Everyone knows simply removing these garments from the church is a sin. The priest is the only one who wears them too. They even pray before putting them on. Him posing in front of the funeral car as well is disgusting to the max,” our source told us.
“They destroyed the church and went in to film it. I know this for a fact.”
“The Robes can only be worn by Deacons or Priests or Sub-Deacons, and they a Christian man wouldn’t hold a Cross in one hand and a gun in another,” the woman adds
Another image shows a ransacked church in Bustan al-Diwan (Old Homs).
While Syrian rebels busy themselves ransacking Christian churches, they’re also rallying around the Al-Qaeda flag just as their counterparts did in Libya.
This video shows Syrian “activists” flying the Al-Qaeda flag during an anti-Assad protest in the northern Syrian town of Binnish.
In another clip, armed Syrian rebels address the camera standing behind a table draped with the black Al-Qaeda flag.
Last month we highlighted a photo published by French news agency AFP that shows a Syrian rebel wearing the Al-Qaeda flag on his arm accompanying UN observers in the village of Azzara.
Why are western governments who are supposed to be engaged in a ‘war on terror’ against radical Muslim terrorists handing those very same terrorists control over entire countries?
A third image sent by our source shows another place of worship, Church Um Al Zinar, with part of its roof missing thanks to Syrian rebels who have been portrayed by the international media as saints despite their involvement in terrorist bombings and massacres.
The latest terror attack carried out by rebels occurred earlier today when gunmen stormed a pro-government TV station, bombing buildings and shooting dead three employees.
The sight of NATO-backed rebels desecrating Christian places of worship is becoming a recurring theme.
Back in March we reported on shocking video footage which showed Libyan rebels desecrating Christian and Jewish graves at a cemetery.
The clip shows Libyan rebels breaking apart headstones while shouting “Allahu Akbar”. The men later try to smash up a large Christian cross statue with sledgehammers.
Watch the clip below.
Infowars.com
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Shocking images have emerged which show the aftermath of Christian churches ransacked by NATO-backed Syrian rebels, illustrating once again how western powers are supporting Muslim extremists in their bid to achieve regime change in the middle east.
A photograph provided to us by a Christian woman in Homs, scene of some of the bloodiest clashes of the conflict, shows a member of the Free Syrian Army posing with a looted Catholic cross in one hand and a gun in the other while wearing a priest’s robe.
“Everyone knows simply removing these garments from the church is a sin. The priest is the only one who wears them too. They even pray before putting them on. Him posing in front of the funeral car as well is disgusting to the max,” our source told us.
“They destroyed the church and went in to film it. I know this for a fact.”
“The Robes can only be worn by Deacons or Priests or Sub-Deacons, and they a Christian man wouldn’t hold a Cross in one hand and a gun in another,” the woman adds
Another image shows a ransacked church in Bustan al-Diwan (Old Homs).
While Syrian rebels busy themselves ransacking Christian churches, they’re also rallying around the Al-Qaeda flag just as their counterparts did in Libya.
This video shows Syrian “activists” flying the Al-Qaeda flag during an anti-Assad protest in the northern Syrian town of Binnish.
In another clip, armed Syrian rebels address the camera standing behind a table draped with the black Al-Qaeda flag.
Last month we highlighted a photo published by French news agency AFP that shows a Syrian rebel wearing the Al-Qaeda flag on his arm accompanying UN observers in the village of Azzara.
Why are western governments who are supposed to be engaged in a ‘war on terror’ against radical Muslim terrorists handing those very same terrorists control over entire countries?
A third image sent by our source shows another place of worship, Church Um Al Zinar, with part of its roof missing thanks to Syrian rebels who have been portrayed by the international media as saints despite their involvement in terrorist bombings and massacres.
The latest terror attack carried out by rebels occurred earlier today when gunmen stormed a pro-government TV station, bombing buildings and shooting dead three employees.
The sight of NATO-backed rebels desecrating Christian places of worship is becoming a recurring theme.
Back in March we reported on shocking video footage which showed Libyan rebels desecrating Christian and Jewish graves at a cemetery.
The clip shows Libyan rebels breaking apart headstones while shouting “Allahu Akbar”. The men later try to smash up a large Christian cross statue with sledgehammers.
Watch the clip below.
More on the NATO plane shot down over Syria
Note: The F-4`s are known as 'air weasels' who sniff out the air-defenses of a host country and used for probing attacks on air-defense batteries and carry out reconnaissance. Its no surprise a NATO jet flown by Turkey would be conducting such a operation like this. The F-4`s, even though 30 years old, are the work horses for conducting the initial phase of warfare to plan the air and ground war campaign....As always there's always more than meets the eye. - RSA
Tony Cartalucci
Infowars.com
June 27, 2012
Once again the Western press preys on the ignorance of the population as a whole, freely admitting that a Turkish jet entered Syrian airspace (later confirmed here) but was “a mile into international waters” by the time it was shot down.
Technicalities
The F-4 fighter jet, the newest of which are already around 30 years old, has a top speed of mach 2.2, or 1,600 mph/2,500 kph. That means in one minute it can travel 26 miles – or nearly one mile ever 2 seconds.
Any anti-aircraft weapon fired against Turkey’s admittedly “off course” fighter aircraft would have certainly been fired while the aircraft was well within Syrian airspace with the fired ordnance airborne and on course to intercepting the aircraft before the aircraft traveled back over international waters. Turkey’s claim of being “a mile” within international airspace may seem reasonable to the average reader accustomed to traveling at speeds where a mile is relatively far, but in terms of air combat, a mile equates into seconds.
Turkey, acutely aware of the immense tensions it itself has cultivated with neighboring Syria, exercised reckless abandon by traveling so closely to Syrian airspace. What readers may also be unaware of is the role US-built F-4′s play in scouting out and neutralizing air defense systems. Designated “wild weasels,” F-4′s had been extensively used in the opening phases of war against Iraq in 1991, flying 2,596 sorties, firing more than 1,000 air-to-ground missiles, and destroying more than 200 targets in a campaign aimed at destroying Iraqi air defenses.
Perhaps hoping the average reader is profoundly ignorant to how speeds, trajectories, and weapons of modern warfare work, the press has attempted to portray the downing of the F-4 as a provocative act carried out entirely over international waters. In reality, Turkey’s jet was fired upon in Syrian airspace, by its own account, as it was supposedly in “international space” for only one or two seconds before finally being struck. Syria claims the entire event took place over Syrian waters – a claim NATO has been unable to refute with anything more substantial than mere rhetoric.
Act of War
Turkey has been admittedly harboring, arming, and supporting terrorists within its borders to destabilize neighboring Syria, according to US policy makers. Turkey has also made multiple threats against Syria, threatening partial invasion and conducting blockades. When a Turkish fighter crossed into Syrian airspace, Syria had every right to believe it was merely the next stage of military escalation implemented by NATO through its member-state Turkey.
Compounding Turkey’s provocative violation of Syria’s airspace, at the loss of one of its fighters, it with NATO’s explicit backing, is trying to escalate an already unjustified posture of war and aggression against Syria. The United Nations has been characteristically mute over these brazen violations of world peace as the West pursues openly a campaign to overthrow the government of Syria and replace it with a suitable proxy regime of its own preference...
(click here to read the full article)
Tony Cartalucci
Infowars.com
June 27, 2012
Technicalities
The F-4 fighter jet, the newest of which are already around 30 years old, has a top speed of mach 2.2, or 1,600 mph/2,500 kph. That means in one minute it can travel 26 miles – or nearly one mile ever 2 seconds.
Any anti-aircraft weapon fired against Turkey’s admittedly “off course” fighter aircraft would have certainly been fired while the aircraft was well within Syrian airspace with the fired ordnance airborne and on course to intercepting the aircraft before the aircraft traveled back over international waters. Turkey’s claim of being “a mile” within international airspace may seem reasonable to the average reader accustomed to traveling at speeds where a mile is relatively far, but in terms of air combat, a mile equates into seconds.
Turkey, acutely aware of the immense tensions it itself has cultivated with neighboring Syria, exercised reckless abandon by traveling so closely to Syrian airspace. What readers may also be unaware of is the role US-built F-4′s play in scouting out and neutralizing air defense systems. Designated “wild weasels,” F-4′s had been extensively used in the opening phases of war against Iraq in 1991, flying 2,596 sorties, firing more than 1,000 air-to-ground missiles, and destroying more than 200 targets in a campaign aimed at destroying Iraqi air defenses.
Perhaps hoping the average reader is profoundly ignorant to how speeds, trajectories, and weapons of modern warfare work, the press has attempted to portray the downing of the F-4 as a provocative act carried out entirely over international waters. In reality, Turkey’s jet was fired upon in Syrian airspace, by its own account, as it was supposedly in “international space” for only one or two seconds before finally being struck. Syria claims the entire event took place over Syrian waters – a claim NATO has been unable to refute with anything more substantial than mere rhetoric.
Act of War
Turkey has been admittedly harboring, arming, and supporting terrorists within its borders to destabilize neighboring Syria, according to US policy makers. Turkey has also made multiple threats against Syria, threatening partial invasion and conducting blockades. When a Turkish fighter crossed into Syrian airspace, Syria had every right to believe it was merely the next stage of military escalation implemented by NATO through its member-state Turkey.
Compounding Turkey’s provocative violation of Syria’s airspace, at the loss of one of its fighters, it with NATO’s explicit backing, is trying to escalate an already unjustified posture of war and aggression against Syria. The United Nations has been characteristically mute over these brazen violations of world peace as the West pursues openly a campaign to overthrow the government of Syria and replace it with a suitable proxy regime of its own preference...
(click here to read the full article)
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Will downing of Turkey`s (vis-a-vis NATO) jet by Syria result into pretext for Syrian war finally?
Gulf of Tonkin redux? Prelude to waging war on Syria?
Press TV
Tue Jun 26, 2012
Lyndon Johnson wanted war on Vietnam and got it. The August 1964 false flag Gulf of Tonkin incident initiated full-scale conflict after Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
War was authorized without declaring it.
It's an American tradition. Big lies launch wars. Manufactured pretexts initiate them. Mass killing and destruction follow.
One nation after another is ravaged. Syria's next, then Iran. Expect other states on Washington's hit list to follow.
On June 22, two Turkish warplanes provocatively entered Syrian airspace low and fast. Perhaps they were testing its defense systems or probing for other reactions.
Doing so showed hostile intent. It wanted a response and got it.
Ankara's directly involved in Washington's war on Syria. It's arming insurgents. It provides safe havens.
On June 23, Syria's SANA state media headlined "Military Spokesman: Anti-Air Defenses Intercepted a Target That Violated Syrian Airspace Over Territorial Waters, Shot It Down West of Lattakia," saying, "At 11:40 AM on 22/6/2012, an unidentified aerial target violated Syrian airspace, coming from the west at a very low altitude and at high speed over territorial waters, so the Syrian anti-air defenses counteracted with anti-aircraft artillery, hitting it directly as it was 1 kilometer away from land, causing it to crash into Syrian territorial waters west of Om al-Tuyour village in Lattakia province, 10 kilometers from the beach."
Syria's military spokesman also said naval forces from both countries were "searching for the two missing pilots."
On June 23, Turkey's Today's Zaman headlined "Turkey says Syria down(ed) its air force jet," saying, the incident will "likely....worsen already strained relations between" both countries.
[...]
On June 24, Turkey's Hurriyet daily said "wreckage of a Turkish jet shot down by Syria (was found) in Syrian waters....Turkish news channels reported (it) on Sunday, without citing a source."
On June 24, Reuters headlined the truth in a two paragraph report, saying:
"Wreckage of downed Turkish jet found in Syrian waters: TV."
"Search teams have located the wreckage of a Turkish fighter jet shot down by Syria on Friday in Syrian waters at a depth of 1,300 meters, Turkish news channels reported on Sunday, without citing a source."
Mossad-connected DEBKAfile (DF) featured the same information, saying:
"Turkish TV: downed plane wreckage found in Syrian waters."
[...]
Moreover, violating another country's airspace by trying to avoid its defensive capabilities at low altitude shows clear hostile intent.
Damascus has every right to consider these type actions aggressive and threatening. Turkey would react the same way. So would Washington, key NATO partners and Israel.
A virtual state of war exists in Syria short of officially declaring it. These type incidents can easily be used as pretexts for full-blown conflict. It remains to be seen if Washington has that in mind...
Turkish TV reports said two military aircraft were on a reconnaissance mission.
In fact, Ankara acted provocatively. Likely it was at the behest of Washington. Turkey is a NATO member. It can invoke NATO Charter Articles 4 or 5.
Article 4 calls for members to "consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence, or security of any" is threatened.
Article 5 considers an armed attack (real or otherwise) against one or more members, an attack against all, and calls for collective self-defense.
[...]
Moreover, violating another country's airspace by trying to avoid its defensive capabilities at low altitude shows clear hostile intent.
Damascus has every right to consider these type actions aggressive and threatening. Turkey would react the same way. So would Washington, key NATO partners and Israel.
A virtual state of war exists in Syria short of officially declaring it. These type incidents can easily be used as pretexts for full-blown conflict. It remains to be seen if Washington has that in mind.
(click here to read the full article)
Press TV
Tue Jun 26, 2012
War was authorized without declaring it.
It's an American tradition. Big lies launch wars. Manufactured pretexts initiate them. Mass killing and destruction follow.
One nation after another is ravaged. Syria's next, then Iran. Expect other states on Washington's hit list to follow.
On June 22, two Turkish warplanes provocatively entered Syrian airspace low and fast. Perhaps they were testing its defense systems or probing for other reactions.
Doing so showed hostile intent. It wanted a response and got it.
Ankara's directly involved in Washington's war on Syria. It's arming insurgents. It provides safe havens.
 |
| F-4 Phantom |
Syria's military spokesman also said naval forces from both countries were "searching for the two missing pilots."
On June 23, Turkey's Today's Zaman headlined "Turkey says Syria down(ed) its air force jet," saying, the incident will "likely....worsen already strained relations between" both countries.
[...]
On June 24, Turkey's Hurriyet daily said "wreckage of a Turkish jet shot down by Syria (was found) in Syrian waters....Turkish news channels reported (it) on Sunday, without citing a source."
On June 24, Reuters headlined the truth in a two paragraph report, saying:
"Wreckage of downed Turkish jet found in Syrian waters: TV."
Mossad-connected DEBKAfile (DF) featured the same information, saying:
"Turkish TV: downed plane wreckage found in Syrian waters."
[...]
Moreover, violating another country's airspace by trying to avoid its defensive capabilities at low altitude shows clear hostile intent.
Damascus has every right to consider these type actions aggressive and threatening. Turkey would react the same way. So would Washington, key NATO partners and Israel.
A virtual state of war exists in Syria short of officially declaring it. These type incidents can easily be used as pretexts for full-blown conflict. It remains to be seen if Washington has that in mind...
Turkish TV reports said two military aircraft were on a reconnaissance mission.
In fact, Ankara acted provocatively. Likely it was at the behest of Washington. Turkey is a NATO member. It can invoke NATO Charter Articles 4 or 5.
Article 4 calls for members to "consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence, or security of any" is threatened.
Article 5 considers an armed attack (real or otherwise) against one or more members, an attack against all, and calls for collective self-defense.
[...]
Moreover, violating another country's airspace by trying to avoid its defensive capabilities at low altitude shows clear hostile intent.
Damascus has every right to consider these type actions aggressive and threatening. Turkey would react the same way. So would Washington, key NATO partners and Israel.
A virtual state of war exists in Syria short of officially declaring it. These type incidents can easily be used as pretexts for full-blown conflict. It remains to be seen if Washington has that in mind.
(click here to read the full article)
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Here we go again, another underwear bomber case with links to the CIA - surprise...surprise (Infowars)
CIA Catches Themselves in New Underwear Bomb Plot
‘Al-CIA-Duh Bomber’ Was a CIA Informant
Infowars.com
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
COMMENT: Yes, it’s the same old pattern of a phony narrative to hype fear & subservience, but ultimately scripted at CIA/Pentagon/FBI headquarters and carried out by informant/double agents handled from the beginning.
Associated Press: Al Qaeda Bomb Plot: Would-Be Bomber Was CIA Informant
NECN/NBC News – Federal official: CIA’s source was bomber himself in Yemen
FLASHBACK: Terror Expert: London Bombings Mastermind Aswat is MI6 Asset
FLASHBACK: Two British SAS officers caught dressed up as Arabs to foment terror in Basra, Iraq
Just one day after reports that the CIA had foiled a plot involving a “sophisticated underwear bomb” targeted against U.S. airliners, the entire story has once again collapsed into a farce.
Just as the FBI has been caught directing every major domestic terror plot, it turns out that the supposed “bomber” was actually a CIA informant.
“U.S. and Yemeni officials say the supposed would-be bomber at the heart of an al-Qaida airliner plot was actually an informant working for the CIA,” reports the Associated Press.
“Officials say the informant was working for the CIA and Saudi Arabian intelligence when he was given the bomb. He then turned the device over to authorities. Officials say the informant is safely out of Yemen.”
So all the propaganda and fearmongering over this plot was once again over nothing -this was yet another staged incident just as the first underwear bomber event was a manufactured hoax from beginning to end.
Watch Alex Jones’ comments on this story from last night’s Infowars Nightly News below.
Federal official: CIA’s source was bomber himself in Yemen
‘Al-CIA-Duh Bomber’ Was a CIA Informant
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
COMMENT: Yes, it’s the same old pattern of a phony narrative to hype fear & subservience, but ultimately scripted at CIA/Pentagon/FBI headquarters and carried out by informant/double agents handled from the beginning.
Associated Press: Al Qaeda Bomb Plot: Would-Be Bomber Was CIA Informant
NECN/NBC News – Federal official: CIA’s source was bomber himself in Yemen
FLASHBACK: Terror Expert: London Bombings Mastermind Aswat is MI6 Asset
FLASHBACK: Two British SAS officers caught dressed up as Arabs to foment terror in Basra, Iraq
Just one day after reports that the CIA had foiled a plot involving a “sophisticated underwear bomb” targeted against U.S. airliners, the entire story has once again collapsed into a farce.
Just as the FBI has been caught directing every major domestic terror plot, it turns out that the supposed “bomber” was actually a CIA informant.
“U.S. and Yemeni officials say the supposed would-be bomber at the heart of an al-Qaida airliner plot was actually an informant working for the CIA,” reports the Associated Press.
“Officials say the informant was working for the CIA and Saudi Arabian intelligence when he was given the bomb. He then turned the device over to authorities. Officials say the informant is safely out of Yemen.”
So all the propaganda and fearmongering over this plot was once again over nothing -this was yet another staged incident just as the first underwear bomber event was a manufactured hoax from beginning to end.
Watch Alex Jones’ comments on this story from last night’s Infowars Nightly News below.
Federal official: CIA’s source was bomber himself in Yemen
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Qatar, becoming the bastion of the globalists` war on Islam
| yourdictionary |
A.M. Freyed
May 1, 2012
Soccer meets politics at Doha’s Mohammed Abdul Wahhab Mosque … Qatar’s increasing engagement in European soccer and international sport is just one leg in the small Gulf State’s high-risk attempts to position itself as a global player ‘on the right side of history,’ James M. Dorsey writes in his analysis on the Gulf State’s growing influence in international sport. … A multi-domed, sand-colored, architectural marvel, Doha’s newest and biggest mosque, symbolizes both Qatar’s bold storm into the 21st century and the pitfalls that that march entails. It’s not the mosque itself that raises eyebrows but its naming after an 18th century warrior priest, Sheikh Mohammed Abdul Wahhab, the founder of Islam’s most puritan sect. – Middle East Online (4/21/12)
This is obvious for anyone who wants to look. The powers-that-be are apparently building an Islamic arc in the Middle East and Africa via the installation of various radical-to-moderate Islamic regimes in such places as Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya, to mention a few. The idea seems to be to create various religious and political blocs that can then be exploited for purposes of propaganda.
The elites always work this way, via divide-and-conquer. They are using thesis, antithesis, and synthesis to build a global world order that will feature both East and West. Religion is the anvil and war is the hammer.
Is a special strategy to be employed? Once Barack Obama is re-elected, if he is, the US President (with more “latitude”) might well emerge as a peace-maker between East and West. He will cement his manipulated legacy and the world will take another step toward a dangerous global unification.
The program seems obviously deliberate. Even Syria is on the firing line. Vladimir Putin has objected to the global elite’s takeover of Syria but chances are that after the election, Putin will withdraw his veto and the Assads will fall. Syria, too, may become an Islamic state.
Enter Qatar
But what is most intriguing among these manipulations is the role that the Arab Emirates and countries like Qatar continue to play. These small countries are easily manipulated and have seemingly become the center of a strategy intended to combine East and West.
Little Qatar is the founder of the major Arab wire service Al Jazeera. Qatar is surely a well-fitted cog in the global elites’ mechanism, or so it would seem. Its Emir was put in place by the US; in fact, the US initially attacked Iraq from a huge military base there.
Al Jazeera, the news service, is a kind of Arab CNN. It is not a genuine artifact. Instead, it seems aimed at indoctrinating Islam with an Islamic/Western admixture of monetary paradigms (central banking, debt, etc.) and generally the warfare/welfare state.
Qatar, like Bahrain and other small countries in the Middle East are laboratories of an East/West amalgamation. The tools used in this cultural mix ‘em up are actually anything and everything that comes to hand, including sports...
(click here to read the full article)
Cenk Uygur`s (TYT) honest and real assessment of the 2012 White House Corespondents` Dinner and sad current state of affairs of our government (MUST WATCH)
Published on Apr 30, 2012 by TheYoungTurks
http://youtu.be/U3tSpRDoPZk
Subscribe to The Young Turks: http://bit.ly/eWuu5i
Monday, April 30, 2012
Terrorist Plots, Hatched by the F.B.I. (NY Times)
By DAVID K. SHIPLER
NY Times
Published: April 28, 2012
THE United States has been narrowly saved from lethal terrorist plots in recent years — or so it has seemed. A would-be suicide bomber was intercepted on his way to the Capitol; a scheme to bomb synagogues and shoot Stinger missiles at military aircraft was developed by men in Newburgh, N.Y.; and a fanciful idea to fly explosive-laden model planes into the Pentagon and the Capitol was hatched in Massachusetts.
But dramas were facilitated by the F.B.I., whose undercover agents and informers posed as terrorists offering a dummy missile, fake C-4 explosives, a disarmed suicide vest and rudimentary training. Suspects naïvely played their parts until they were arrested.
When an Oregon college student, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, thought of using a car bomb to attack a festive Christmas-tree lighting ceremony in Portland, the F.B.I. provided a van loaded with six 55-gallon drums of “inert material,” harmless blasting caps, a detonator cord and a gallon of diesel fuel to make the van smell flammable. An undercover F.B.I. agent even did the driving, with Mr. Mohamud in the passenger seat. To trigger the bomb the student punched a number into a cellphone and got no boom, only a bust.
This is legal, but is it legitimate? Without the F.B.I., would the culprits commit violence on their own? Is cultivating potential terrorists the best use of the manpower designed to find the real ones? Judging by their official answers, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department are sure of themselves — too sure, perhaps.
Carefully orchestrated sting operations usually hold up in court. Defendants invariably claim entrapment and almost always lose, because the law requires that they show no predisposition to commit the crime, even when induced by government agents. To underscore their predisposition, many suspects are “warned about the seriousness of their plots and given opportunities to back out,” said Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman. But not always, recorded conversations show. Sometimes they are coaxed to continue...
(click here to read the full article)
NY Times
Published: April 28, 2012
But dramas were facilitated by the F.B.I., whose undercover agents and informers posed as terrorists offering a dummy missile, fake C-4 explosives, a disarmed suicide vest and rudimentary training. Suspects naïvely played their parts until they were arrested.
When an Oregon college student, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, thought of using a car bomb to attack a festive Christmas-tree lighting ceremony in Portland, the F.B.I. provided a van loaded with six 55-gallon drums of “inert material,” harmless blasting caps, a detonator cord and a gallon of diesel fuel to make the van smell flammable. An undercover F.B.I. agent even did the driving, with Mr. Mohamud in the passenger seat. To trigger the bomb the student punched a number into a cellphone and got no boom, only a bust.
This is legal, but is it legitimate? Without the F.B.I., would the culprits commit violence on their own? Is cultivating potential terrorists the best use of the manpower designed to find the real ones? Judging by their official answers, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department are sure of themselves — too sure, perhaps.
Carefully orchestrated sting operations usually hold up in court. Defendants invariably claim entrapment and almost always lose, because the law requires that they show no predisposition to commit the crime, even when induced by government agents. To underscore their predisposition, many suspects are “warned about the seriousness of their plots and given opportunities to back out,” said Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman. But not always, recorded conversations show. Sometimes they are coaxed to continue...
(click here to read the full article)
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