The United States has made the surprise announcement that it will end combat operations in Afghanistan earlier than expected. Many believe the Obama Administration has finally given in to political pressure ahead of this year's presidential election.

Quotes from the founder of planned parenthood herself Margaret Sanger. After reading these tell me again that planned parenthood isn’t a eugenics based organization filled with people who are truly racist and inhuman to the core.

With the precious metals sector having been in the grip of another bankster-induced “silly season”, I was very unsure about how the market would “react” to the latest shenanigans of B.S. Bernanke. Put another way, I was uncertain as to whether the actual fundamentals would be allowed to assert themselves – even to a small degree.

Pickpockets no longer need to touch their victims — they can use cheap technology to read credit cards through peoples’ pants.

The Israeli occupation authorities have issued notice of their intention to demolish a renewable energy project which generates electricity and represents the only source of lighting for the houses in a Palestinian village near Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The people of Al-Mnazel received the demolition notice advising of Israel's plans to destroy the solar panels which provide them with electricity. The project was established a couple of years ago with funds from the Spanish government.

What a bunch of petty minded, vindictive assholes. I guess when you think you are Gawd-Awfull's chosen people you feel you have to act to show it. /SR

At least 11,000 villagers have been trapped by heavy snow and blizzards in Serbia's mountains, authorities said, as the death toll from Eastern Europe's weeklong deep freeze rose to 122, many of them homeless people.

JUST SAY NO TO ANY MORE WARS...Feb. 4 anti-war actions called to stop imperialist threats to Iran

As someone with 37 years experience in the print media, I have two complaints about the way in which the electronic media are covering this Republican presidential primary.

Today Thursday February 2 2012, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in the besieged Gaza concentration camp, coming through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the northern border of the Gaza Strip.

“The looks on their faces when they knew they got the wrong door was priceless,” she recalls. “They looked at each other dumbfounded.”

Sanchez says another agent came by later that day to offer an apology, but it was one that Sanchez felt wasn’t quite genuine.

“For me it felt routine apology, it felt like just a regular, ‘I’m sorry for the inconvenience. Here’s the phone number for your landlord to get reimbursed for the door, have a good day.’

And that’s how I felt, like it was a smack in the face.”

In a previous post we shared a story from SHTF School founder Selco in which he discussed his experience of Living Through SHTF In the Middle of A War Zone during the conflict in Bosnia in the 1990?s. This yielded an extensive discussion from our community about preparations, strategies, and the reality of what it’s like when the system around you collapses into conflict.

In the following post we present another experience, this time from Cairo, from someone who was there at the height of the riots and violence that would eventually lead to the collapse of the entire political structure of Egypt and imposition of military rule.

Madison Ruppert, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Late last year I reported on how the Department of Justice refused to reveal the legal justification for the United States’ highly secretive drone-based targeted killing program in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the New York Times.

After that failed attempt, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has stepped up to the plate in an effort to get the Obama administration to actually live up to their promises of transparency.

However, the government continues to nonsensically claim that the program is indeed so incredibly secret that they cannot even confirm or deny the existence of the program itself...

Today on Off the Grid Radio, Bill Heid interviews Austin Green and Holland Van den Nieuwenhof, part of the team that has produced an explosive new video, A Noble Lie. This film is an effort to bring to light the truth behind the April 19th, 1995 attack against the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City that killed 168 men, women, and children.

Our guests on today’s show tell us that for every white operation, there is a black operation that goes on as well. What was our intelligence community trying to do when it was keeping Timothy McVeigh under surveillance, when it was providing him the material to destroy a federal building? What is the truth behind the deaths of first responders and whistleblowers?

Listen here: http://www.offthegridnews.com/2012/02/03/a-noble-lie-with-austin-green...

Noble Lie trailer:

A Noble Lie is the culmination of years of field research, interviews and investigative reporting conducted by independent journalists and ordinary citizens in their quest to find the truth. At times risking their lives and their sanity, the evidence they have uncovered threatens to blow the lid off of the official story of the bombing.

Utilizing unseen-before footage and explosive eyewitness testimony, A Noble Lie will change forever the way you look at the face of terrorism.

Anthony Gucciardi
Activist Post

McDonald’s has recently caved to consumer demands to cease the utilization of ‘pink slime’ scrap meat covered with ammonium hydroxide in their hamburgers and chicken sandwiches.

Britain's whiteout weekend will deliver up to six inches of snow and ice this weekend with temperatures falling to -12 and windchill making it feel significantly colder.

The Met Office said snow will deliver what is expected to be the biggest and most widespread snow dump of winter.

Saturday is expected to be the coldest day of winter, with -12C temperatures due in the early hours feeling like -15C due to bitter windchill.

The majority of England will remain at 0C or lower all day - but feeling like -6C in Siberian winds.

Amidst pending comprehensive immigration reform, the United States has proposed several steps including changes in the F-1 and H-1B visas to attract foreign skilled workforce, a move likely to benefit professionals from countries like India.

Prominent among these reforms include providing work authorisation for spouses of certain H-1B visa holders, 17-month extension of optional practical training (OPT) for F-1 international students to include students with a prior degree in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, allow for additional part-time study for spouses of F-1 students and allow outstanding professors and researchers to present a broader scope of evidence of academic achievement.

Evidence continues to mount that, rather than simply pursuing commercial interests with then Defence Secretary Liam Fox, Adam Werritty was involved centrally in working with the British and Israeli intelligence services to try to engineer war against Iran. His official contact in all this was Matthew Gould, now British Ambassador to Israel.

Really!

This video starts with familiar Ron Paul footage and you may think you have seen it before but probably not just continue. Also the graphic at 8:05 is perfect.

It was a physical manifestation of the loathing and hatred of Ron Paul and his supporters.

In Florida, Newt Gingrich’s security goons, aides and his fawning supporters attacked a man who held up a Paul sign during a Gingrich campaign stop at the Winderemere Baptist Church in suburban Orlando.

Eddie Dillard, a Paul supporter, was physically assaulted and injured by Gingrich’s security goons after he refused to be intimidated and move out of the candidate’s way as he soaked up media attention. A Gingrich campaign aide encouraged the assault.

Tony Cartlalucci, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

West & Arab proxies fail to swindle world with genocidal Libya-style regime change resolution at UNSC...

Remember how peculiar it was that presidential candidate Mitt Romney refused to release his tax returns? That was predictably a non-starter. Most voters probably assume the reason he resisted was to avoid the controversy over his strikingly low tax rate.

We've heard this crap before.

Eric Blair
Activist Post

Google and Twitter have been under great pressure to censor content on their platforms from several countries. Twitter has been blamed for stoking revolutionary and protest uprisings around the world, assuredly sparking concerns in all leaders who seek to hold onto power. Meanwhile, Google has already succumbed to censorship demands in China, as well as individual YouTube removal requests from various nations.

Most recently, in America, Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Senator Joe Lieberman, sent a letter to Google requesting that they censor violent content on their Blogger platform. Lieberman also made a similar request to Twitter, that they deactivate accounts that tweet anti-West content...

United States is using illegal weaponry - particularly depleted uranium - during its wars in the Middle East.

An interview with Gareth Porter, investigative journalist:

Iran has apparently found a way to stay in business despite a new EU oil embargo and asset freeze. India is reportedly agreeing to pay Iran in gold for its oil, instead of US dollars. Reports suggest Iran's biggest customer, China, could follow suit. Christoph R. Horstel, a government consultant and political analyst in Potsdam, Germany says he thinks the EU embargo is doomed to fail.

The Bilderberg Crime Network will fail to extricate themselves from the coming Depression. Hyperinflation and Austerity will not do it. A war will not save them in the next 16 months before the dollar crashes. And a plague will only enrage a people who have been robbed and lied to all their lives.

We will win. And they will lose.

Marc Faber speaks on economic issues!

US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta “believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June,” reports the Washington Post, adding that Panetta was likely told of the timing when Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak postponed a a planned U.S.-Israel military exercise that had been scheduled for May.
It now appears that the United States has almost finalized getting all its ducks in a row in preparation for Israel’s assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Washington Post article makes it clear that the Obama administration will stand by while Tel Aviv leads the attack. The US will only become overtly involved if “Iran hits U.S. assets” or if “Israel’s population centers were hit”.

Sanchez says they left her on the floor for 35 minutes, with her daughter screaming for her mommy in the other room.

“I was told not to move, so I didn’t move,” she tells WBZ, out of fear that she’d be shot.

Boston Herald struggles to defend against Defamation case after losing on Summary Judgment. They are going to trial folks after lying and saying a woman had sex with an inmate and snuck into prison with State Rep Gloria Fox. The women were there to report on abuses within the prison, and the Herald is all buddy-buddy with the prison folks so they had to try to put her down. Thing is, the victim/survivor is like a magna cum laude college grad and her father is an attorney. I met her on a talk show I was co-hosting a couple years ago and helped her present her case to her attorneys, who took it on pro bono/contingency.

New York office: The company is grappling with sinking advertising revenue as more people go online for their news

The IMEU shares the following op-ed from the University of Pennsylvania’s school newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian, as well as a link to today’s press briefing with Ali Abunimah and Anna Baltzer who discuss the first-ever national BDS Conference, which will bring together supporters of the movement this weekend at UPenn. The op-ed, written by UPenn graduate Max Blumenthal, is in response to Alan Dershowitz’s scheduled visit to the campus which aims to counter the UPenn BDS Conference. This is the first media result of the IMEU’s newly launched outreach to student groups on campuses across the country.

Michael Brown — Communications Director, IMEU

The Islamic Republic of Iran has successfully launched its domestically-built Navid-e Elm-o Sanat satellite into orbit following a decree by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The satellite, completely designed and built by Iranian experts, blasted into orbit early Friday on the third day of the 10-Day Dawn celebrations, marking the 33th anniversary of the victory of Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979...

NaturalNews) A massive victory against Monsanto and genetically engineered seeds has been achieved in the United Kingdom today. Monsanto has announced a total withdrawal from the UK, shuttering its Cambridge-based wheat production operation. UK newspaper Daily Mail was instrumental in promoting opposition against Monsanto through its "Frankenstein Foods" educational campaign (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-199884/GM-giant-quits-Britain...).

The paper is now reporting that Monsanto plans to sell off GMO crop-breeding centers in France, Germany and the Czech Republic. Daily Mail reported, "...the company has given up hopes of introducing GM crops to Europe." (Are you grinning as wide as I am right now?)

WHAT middle-class?! They have DESTROYED the middle-class.

The protesters pushed their way toward the barricaded Interior Ministry building near Tahrir Square, and hurled stones at police, who responded with tear gas. Many protesters were treated for the effects of tear gas.

A crew from RT's Arabic-language channel Rusiya al-Yaum got under fire from tear gas in Egyptian capital during clashes between protesters and police on Thursday night.
Mass unrest erupted in Egypt after Wednesday's fatal stampede at a football match in Port Said. Many Egyptians accuse the military authorities of deliberately provoking the violence to create instability and prevent a peaceful transfer of power.

Members of the Warring Family choose funny nicknames (“Bibi” for Netanyahu—in Hebrew “bibi” means “my sewage” . . . .

unfortunately yes.

Rady Ananda
Activist Post

If Washington State’s GMO-label bills, HB 2637 and SB 6298 don’t get voted out of committee by Friday at 5 pm, they’re dead, which is exactly what Monsanto-funded legislators on both the House and Senate Ag committees want...

It also has no patent, meaning it could be manufactured for a fraction of the cost of newly developed drugs.

Notice that the stunned witnesses - citizens - aware they were observing injustice - didn't do anything to stop it. That's because critical mass requirements for the coming chain-reaction of public rage has not yet been reached. These witnesses - and the victim of this crackpot "ranger" - can safely be added to the critical mass + side.

In a ceremony made famous by the 1993 film Groundhog Day, the beaver-like animal was watched as he emerged from his lair on Gobbler's Knob, a small hill in the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. He was judged to have seen his shadow when he came out at dawn, ushering in six more weeks of winter.

Phil's predictions are reported by meteorologists to be correct between 75 and 90 per cent of the time.

The Post columnist said Mr Panetta "believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June before Iran enters what Israelis described as a 'zone of immunity' to commence building a nuclear bomb."

President Barack Obama and Panetta are "said to have cautioned the Israelis that the United States opposes an attack, believing that it would derail an increasingly successful international economic sanctions program and other non-military efforts to stop Iran from crossing the threshold," he said.

Testifying before Congress, Ben Bernanke said that the decision in December by the European Central Bank to offer cheap three-year loans to Europe's banks "has taken away some of the financial stress and given it a little more breathing space".

The comments from the world's most powerful central banker came as the latest batch of US economic data offered some hope that America's recovery is at least sustaining the momentum it finished last year with.

In his Saturday column in the New York Times, Pulitzer-prize winning reporter James B. Stewart tallied up his tax rate and found it to be a shocking 74 percent of taxable income. Is he possibly the most taxed man in America, he wonders?

Tax rates have been much discussed of late, with Mitt Romney’s tax returns disclosing his 13.9 percent tax rate, and the appearance of Debbie Bosanek, Warren Buffett’s secretary, at the State of the Union address last week to boost President Obama’s push for more tax equity. Bosanek is reported to pay a 35.8 percent tax rate, while her famous boss says his rate is 17.4 percent of his taxable income.

As I pointed out yesterday, the Center for American Progress (CAP), a Democratic-Party-linked thinktank in D.C., has met quietly with officials of the Israel lobby group AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and explicitly sought to squelch suggestions by its own journalists that AIPAC is pushing war on Iran.

Notably it squelched a CAP blogger, Eli Clifton, who wrote in August at the thinktank's site that AIPAC's summons to Congress for sanctions on Iran "brings to mind eery parallels" to its campaign for Iraq sanctions that paved the way for that stupid war. Clifton's piece concluded:

It would appear that AIPAC is now using the same escalating measures against Iran that were used before the invasion of Iraq.

So as November 2011 approaches, I happen to glance over my collection of news articles from 10 years ago, and what do I see?

C.I.A. Says Iran Makes Progress On Atom Arms
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
New York Times, November 30, 1992

A draft Central Intelligence Agency report on Iran concludes that the country is making progress on a nuclear arms program and could develop a nuclear weapon by 2000, senior Administration officials say...

But don't worry, if Iran didn't have the bomb last year, doesn't have the bomb today, it will in another couple of years. Or another couple years after that. And so on, and so forth, for ever and ever...

A nuclear-armed Iran wouldn't necessarily constitute a threat to Israel's continued existence, Mossad chief Tamir Pardo reportedly hinted earlier this week.

Apart from US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta saying Iran is not currently developing a nuclear weapon ; and the fact that we’ve been being told Iran was about to develop a nuclear weapon for 20 years, including among many, many others, some CIA claims in 1992 and Israeli intelligence claims in 1995 that Iran would have them in 5 years and US State Department claims that they’d have one within 16 days in December 2006; not even the current head of Mossad thinks Iran would use nuclear weapons on Israel if it developed them

Cardiac computed tomography (CT) and other medical scans sometimes involve injecting a radioactive iodide dye into the bloodstreams of patients in order to highlight the produced images. But a new study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine has revealed that this radioactive dye can cause permanent thyroid damage, as well as cancer.

(CNSNews.com) - The amount of money the federal government takes out of the U.S. economy in taxes will increase by more than 30 percent between 2012 and 2014, according to the Budget and Economic Outlook published today by the CBO.

At the same time, according to CBO, the economy will remain sluggish, partly because of higher taxes.

“In particular, between 2012 and 2014, revenues in CBO’s baseline shoot up by more than 30 percent,” said CBO, “mostly because of the recent or scheduled expirations of tax provisions, such as those that lower income tax rates and limit the reach of the alternative minimum tax (AMT), and the imposition of new taxes, fees, and penalties that are scheduled to go into effect.”

Few can define fascism. Many cannot recognize it. History provides shocking stories of its past episodes. But its root structural feature is the tight relationship between the state and large corporations of a nation, which permit enormous fraud and lead to grand inefficiency, even while aggression and war accompany its handiwork in an ugly fabric weave. Nowhere is the bond more scummy and corrupt than with the banking industry, not in general but in Wall Street where defense of the USDollar has come. That defense was contracted from the USGovt to Wall Street, whose ties developed into a vast network of corruption. That cozy relationship led to the gutting of Fort Knox and its gold bullion in the 1990 decade of so-called prosperity.

Sometimes the most vicious thing you can do to the OPD is to not use violence, give them enough rope to hang themselves.
Remember, if they attack us, it only helps us, unless we attack them, then all people see of us is violence, our message is crushed.

Not all strategies are equal, and it’s not enough to just look at how justified you think it is, there are also overarching consequences which should not be ignored.
Throwing bottles at officers only makes their show of excessive force look justified and damages the footage, they’re well protected by riot gear you aren’t hurting them, but doing that does hurt the protesters next to you.