The Dialogue Chronicle Randy Robinson - Part 4

The Dialogue Chronicle - 01-07-2015
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The Dialogue Chronicle
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Table Of Contents
Qatar's World Cup Bribery Scandal ......................................... 4
Rand Paul vs Dick Cheney ................................................ 6
Razors Edge: Female Genital Mutilation ..................................... 7
Religion of Peace? Part 1: Sri Lanka ........................................ 10
Religion of Peace? Part 2: Burma .......................................... 13
Revisiting the Arab Spring: Tunisia Wins .................................... 16
Reward for Dead Jihadists: Iraq is on its way to becoming a failed state ............... 18
Russia Claims It Stole a U.S. Drone In Crimea ................................. 20
Russian Warship Arrives in Cuba, 200 Miles from U.S. ........................... 21
Saudi Arabia and the NSA Take on Gay Terrorists .............................. 22
Saudi Arabia Classifies Muslim Brotherhood as Terrorist Group .................... 24
Saudi Arabia Cracks Down on Activists ...................................... 26
Saudi Arabia Threatens Siege on Qatar ...................................... 27
Saudi Arabia's New Anti-Terror Law Criminalizes Free Speech ..................... 29
Saudi Newspaper Appoints First Female Editor ................................ 31
Saudi-Egyptian Allegiance ............................................... 32
Say No to Plants? ..................................................... 33
Scarlett Johansson & SodaStream vs The World ................................ 34
Security Searching Your Cell ............................................. 36
Selena Gomez vs Taylor Swift ............................................. 37
Sen. Dianne Feinstein: Hypocrite .......................................... 38
Sentencing Journalists .................................................. 40
Shakira and Rihanna Spark Lesbian Debate Around the World ..................... 41
Shia Militias and the Policy of Flip-Flopping .................................. 43
Signs of Global Warming ................................................ 45
Sisi & Egyptian Women ................................................. 46
Sochi Olympics: 1936 in the Modern Day .................................... 47
Sometimes, Irony Isn't Funny ............................................. 49
Steven Seagal is Putin's New Chum-Buddy .................................... 51
Suey Park's Pyrrhic Victory .............................................. 52
Tear Gas Ends Protest Against Albuquerque Police Shooting ....................... 55
Teens, Weeds, and the Seeds of Knowledge ................................... 57
Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra's Political Future ............................... 59
Thailand's Military Declares Martial Law .................................... 60
Thailand's Unrest Claims Four More Lives ................................... 62
The Day We Fight Back: Google and Microsoft Protest the NSA .................... 64
The End of an Era ..................................................... 65
The Glass Bowl Doctrine: Nuking Arabs ..................................... 67
The Gun Control Debate Needs to End Already ................................ 70
The Islamic State is Wrong About Cannabis ................................... 72
The Myth of Non-Lethal Weapons .......................................... 74
The Need to Legalize Lebanese Weed ....................................... 76
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The NSA's Quantum Supercomputer to Crack Encryption ........................

The U.S. Congress is Now a Drug Cartel .....................................
Think of the Kids .....................................................
Thor vs Batina .......................................................
Thousands Across Globe March for Syria ....................................
Three More Killed in Egypt Protests Ahead of Elections ..........................
Time to Confront America's Opioid Addicton .................................
Training Iraqi Troops Yet Again ...........................................
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Qatar's World Cup Bribery Scandal

by Randy Robinson - Friday, June 06, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/qatars-world-cup-bribery-scandal/
FIFA may hold
a revote
for Qatar's
bidthe
on Caribbean
the 2022 World
Cup. Allegations
surfaced that Qatar's bid
committee
bribed
FIFA officials
from
and Africa,
totaling overrecently
$5 million.
London's the Sunday Times broke the story on June 1. Citing leaked documents such as e-mails, the
Times claimed former FIFA vice president Mohamed bin Hammam, who is currently Qatar's top football
official, used 10 slush funds and other forms of payment to bribe key members of 30 African football
organizations.
The e-mails reveal exchanges of large sums of money, anywhere between $10,000 and $200,000. One
from a Gambian official to bin Hammam stated, "I write to find out about the progress of my appeal
concerning the Vehicle. I have already got in my possession a colosal (sic) sum of ten thousand US
dollars... and any assistance will be of immense value to me."
In another e-mail to John Muinjo, Namibia's football chief, bin Hammam agreed to pay $50,000 to the
African official for "once-off financial assistance."
Bin Hammam's no stranger to bribery scandals. In 2011, he was banned from FIFA for life after the
association's Ethics Committee found him guilty of illicitly moving funds. After a failed appeal, bin
Hammam resigned from FIFA in 2012.
On June 5, reports of a secret meeting between bin Hammam and a European football official
complicated matters.
The president of the UEFA, Michael Platini, was implicated by association in the scandal because he had
an unannounced lunch with bin Hammam. Earlier this week, Platini demanded a review into Qatar's 2010
bid to host the World Cup, and now he's claiming his opponents are trying to destroy his character by
connecting him to the Qatari businessman.
"I don't regret anything at all," Platini said, according to the Telegraph. He reiterated a second round of
votes was "the right choice for FIFA and football worldwide. But if corruption is proved, there will need
to be a new vote and sanctions."
Platini wouldn't confirm if he believed Sepp Blatter, the current president of UEFA, is behind the
purported rumors connecting him to the bribery scandal. In an interview with L'Equipe, Platini said he
was like St. Thomas, unwilling to accept any gossip without direct evidence.
Some insiders speculate Platini, who is set to succeed Blatter as Europe's next football chief, pushed for a
revote in order to unseat the current president.
Blatter opposed Platini's position. The UEFA president announced Friday he would defend Qatar's right
to host the 2022 World Cup. During a conference in Brazil on Thursday, he said, "The executive
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committee of FIFA said that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was not in question."
Blatter also stated the public should wait for the investigation to complete before making any conclusions.
Although Blatter's now upholding the decision hold the 2022 games in Qatar, a few days earlier he piped
a different tune. According to Business Insider, he said the decision to pick Qatar was a "mistake," largely
due to the extreme heat during the summer months. The nation's average temperatures in the summer are
a dry 50C (120F), which could be lethal to the athletes.
Qatar is the first Middle Eastern country to ever win a bid to host the World Cup. Because of this, some
football officials called racism against those leaking the bribery documents.
Sheikh Ahmad al-Sabah, a president of Asia's Olympic associations, told the International Sports Press
Association that the allegations were "racist actions towards Qatar and Arabs, revealing the malice of
those parties in a way that has no justification."
Officials from Australia and Japan have been most vocal in support of a revote. Both nations competed
with Qatar and lost - for the 2022 bid.
The investigation will be led by U.S. attorney Michael Garcia. He's set to meet with the heads of various
football associations over the next week.
http://youtu.be/1XMtM5aUKgs
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Rand Paul vs Dick Cheney

by Randy Robinson - Sunday, August 10, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/poll/rand-paul-vs-dick-cheney/
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Razors Edge: Female Genital Mutilation

by Randy Robinson - Thursday, January 23, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/razors-edge-circumcision-female-genital-mutilation-2/
Human
the
insane
lengths
women
will Corsets
go through
to make
themselves
morethem.
desirable
to
the
opposite
sex.
High
destroyed
the
lower
legs.
cages.crippling
Cosmetics
destroyed
complexions.
Inrecords
China,
wealthy
used
tomutilated.
break
and
binddestroyed
their
feet,rib
forever
In other
parts
of history
the world,
girlsheels
have
hadwomen
their
genitals
In fact, to this day, girls are still having their genitals mutilated.
Such a procedure is known as female genital mutilation (FGM) which is the removal, in parts or whole,
of a female's outer genitalia. Full removal of the clitoris is usually involved, although stitching up the
vaginal opening is common in some areas.
Female female genital mutilation is also referred to as female circumcision. It is one of the most
controversial human rights topics pertaining to Africa and the Middle East. Activists have made
significant progress toward eliminating the practice but there's still much work to be done.
Ideally, this procedure should be performed by a trained surgeon using sterilized medical tools. However,
this is often not the case. Particularly in rural or poorer communities, female genital mutilation is
performed by people without any formal medical training. Worse, these untrained "circumcisionists" rely
on unclean instruments or completely inappropriate tools like broken glass to remove the female's genital
tissue. Haphazard operations like this often lead to deep infections, which can threaten a girl's life.
The scarring that forms after female genital mutilation can sometimes cause the vaginal opening to seal,
leaving only a tiny opening for urine to pass. This kind of scarring can medically complicate sexual
intercourse, making sex painful for the woman to experience. A scarred vagina can also complicate child
birthing, meaning doctors have to resort to caesarian sections in some extreme cases. If the girl is from a
poor or rural area, a caesarian section may not even be possible. Again, this complication can lead to
death.
The complete inability to experience stimulation is yet another devastating consequence of female genital
mutilation. The clitoris is essential for achieving an orgasm, meaning that this practice can rob a woman
of her ability to enjoy sex to her fullest potential.
Orgasms have been linked to good health and fighting off depression by releasing biochemicals within
the brain, meaning female genital mutilation can deprive a woman of the psychological benefits
associated with experiencing climax. Depression alone can lead to a whole host of other diseases
contributing to cancer, autoimmune disorders, sleep disorders, mood disorders, or even suicide in extreme
circumstances.
Female genital mutilation can take away a female's ability to enjoy or even feel intercourse, and girls are
rarely given anesthesia during the procedure. Not only are these girls deprived of ever experiencing
pleasure from sex, these girls are forced to experience intense pain during the operation as well.
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The lack of anesthesia may be due to the cost for such drugs, but it also stems from folk beliefs that the
girl must endure excruciating pain to strengthen her resolve as a good wife. The agony of the
circumcision is seen as a preparation for child bearing. In many cases, a circumcised female may
experience more pain from childbirth due to the circumcisions effect.
Without anesthesia, severe psychological trauma or, yet again, death can occur. Last June, Suhair alBata'a, a 13-year-old Egyptian girl, died during a botched circumcision in Cairo. Even though a trained
doctor performed the circumcision on Suhair, the shock alone caused the girl's blood pressure to drop
until her heart stopped.
With female circumcision, the girl rarely has any choice. She does not volunteer herself. And, most
telling, it is almost always a girl not a woman but a child who in nearly every culture is devoid of the
full rights that adults take for granted.
Egypt: A national plague
Suhair was not alone. Egypt has the worst record when it comes to female genital mutilation. According
to a recent UNICEF report, 80 percent of girls in Egypt have been circumcised, indicating that the
practice is slowly but steadily losing popularity compared to 96 percent in past years.
Female genital mutilation was outlawed by President Hosni Mubarak, and the ban only reduced the
female circumcision rate by a third. After Mubarak's ousting, Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim
Brotherhood, in full defiance of the ban, urged mothers to subject their daughters to the procedure.
In 2012, Azaa al-Jaraf, a female parliament member and a representative of the Brotherhood, argued for
the establishment of full sharia law in Egypt. She not only supported enforced female circumcisions, but
also fought to prevent women from divorcing their husbands, and to outlaw the teaching of English in
Egypt's schools.
The policies pushed by the Muslim Brotherhood, and other misogynistic agendas under Mubarak,
garnered Egypt a "Worst for Women" title from a Reuters poll. The poll gave the country the lowest
ranking out of 22 other Arab states regarding women's rights. Although female circumcision was a major
factor for Egypt's lowest ranking in the poll, other women's rights issues such as assault, harassment, and
access to public services also contributed to the placement.
The ritual of circumcision and its cultural value
When most Westerners think of female genital mutilation, they imagine a cruel practice that simply
mutilates a young girl to cater to the wishes of savage men. But theres more to it than that.
Surprisingly, the fiercest supporters of female circumcision in the Middle East and Africa are typically
women. Mothers, grandmothers, wives, and aunts often believe that circumcision is a sacred practice that
slices away a girl's childhood and elevates her into full adulthood. The ritual is almost always
accompanied by dance, prayer, singing, chanting and even parties or festivities to celebrate the girl's rite
of passage.
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Female circumcision is also believed to reduce a girl's sexual libido thereby preserving her virginity
and, later in life, her loyalty to her husband.
Despite popular misconceptions, female circumcision is not an Islamic practice per se. The procedure, or
verses affirming it, are listed nowhere in the Quran. There are some hadiths that suggest Muslims should
practice female circumcision, but these hadiths meet a lot of disagreement in scholarly circles. Most
Islamic theologians consider these hadiths to be weak.
Christians, Jews, and animists throughout the Middle East and Africa also practice and enforce female
circumcision. Religion is a flimsy indicator for female circumcision; specific communities and ethnic
groups are more reliable indicators as to whether or not a local girl will undergo the rite.
Even in America...and Europe, too
A recent report from
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Religion of Peace? Part 1: Sri Lanka

by Randy Robinson - Monday, September 22, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/religion-peace-part-1-sri-lanka/
Welcome to our latest installment of "Every Religion Has Its Assholes." In this segment, we'll be taking a
look at Buddhism.
Buddhism, you say? But isn't that the religion of peaceful, happy bald men with laughing bellies and
(Source: Wikipedia Commons)
While CNN, FOX News, and Al-Jazeera spent the past eight weeks circle-jerking over ISIS, Sri Lanka
and Myanmar have been busy instating virtual apartheids against Muslims.
I don't want to confuse these two nations. They're different. They possess unique histories, cultures,
languages, and national identities and it's that last one, the nationalism, that lies at the heart of this nasty
issue.
So for today, we'll focus on Sri Lanka.
Ceylon: Buy Your Command

Sri Lanka's a tiny island nation off the coast of India. You probably don't think much about it, but if you
wear sweat-shop gear from Tommy Hilfiger, Victoria's Secret, or Nike, you likely got something made by
the tiny hands of some poor Sri Lankan kid. If only Air Jordans weren't so freakin' comfortable. Damn
your tiny, skilled hands, sweatshop workers!
For just pennies a day, you too can begin an exciting, glamorous career in Asia's textile industry.
(Source: Associated Press/Manish Swarup)
The nation's also famous for ceylon tea, considered the "cleanest" tea in the world. In fact, tea's such a big
deal for Sri Lanka that it's the nation's second largest industry (second only to the sweatshops).
Historically, Sri Lanka had it pretty rough. In the 1600s, they became a colony of the Portuguese (you
know, the guys who invented modern slavery). Catholic edicts forced Buddhists to convert at gunpoint.
By the 1800s, the British rolled in and destroyed a number of Sri Lanka's most ancient Buddhist temples
and shrines. The British genocide of Buddhists was so effective it practically erased the religion from the
island nation for nearly a hundred years.
Fast forward to today, and we see a Sri Lanka rapidly modernizing as it licks its old colonial wounds. It's
now an integral part of the global economy, a focus for outsourcing by powerhouse nations like India,
China, and the US.
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Locations of Sri Lanka's 2014 anti-Muslim riots. For you geographically-challenged Americans,
India's located just off the upper-left corner of the map. (Source: Wikipedia)
But modernization always triggers an existential crisis. Something about all that industrial alienation...or
something.
To preserve their once endangered cultural identity, Sri Lanka's Buddhist government decided to take a
cue from World-Wars Europe: adopting rabid nationalism. You read that correctly. A nation that
supposedly follows the religion of compassionate, critical thought is now fevered from the selfish,
simplistic mob-mentality of jingoism.
As with all nationalist crazes, the Sri Lankan government also needs a new enemy, an ubiquitous "other"
for the nationalists to rally around and throw rotten tomatoes at. And from this they took their cue from
War-on-Terror America: blame the Muslims.
Just a couple of months ago, riots exploded between extremist Buddhists and Sri Lanka's local Muslim
population. Supposedly, the riots started because of a murder of a Buddhist allegedly committed by two
Muslims. From there, the Islamaphobic madness spread like ebola in Liberia, leading to the deaths of four
Muslims and leaving dozens seriously injured. Thousands of Muslims were displaced because of arson
and other wanton acts of destruction on small businesses (how's THAT for transcending materialism?).
The Badu Bala Sena (BBS) spearheads the anti-Muslim campaigns in Sri Lanka. Founded in 2012, the
nationalist movement incites violence and hatred against Muslims. They've even campaigned against
halal slaughter of livestock under the pretense that halal is cruel to animals (where have we heard that
before?).
Further, the BBS and its allies in the government are considering bans on marriages between Muslims
and Buddhists, much like Myanmar has done. They "fear" the Muslims specifically select Buddhist
women to marry-rape in an attempt to divide the nation.
It probably hasn't helped either that the group calling itself the Islamic State (IS) threatened to blow up
Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world.
YouTube Video
Love (and Facebook) is All You Need

But there's hope. Sri Lanka's sane Muslims took a stance against IS and vowed the protect Borobudur
they even petitioned the leaders of Indonesia to shield the temple from pyromaniac Muslims.
Borobudur. (Source: LivingCool.com)
It gets better, too. Like every religion, there's still plenty of sane Buddhists in Sri Lanka, too, and they're
not down with this whole hating-on-Islam thing. They've staged counter-protests against the BBS and
publicly criticized the nationalists for being a big ol' bag of dicks. They've also got Facebook groups set
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up so Sri Lankans can discuss the BBS's psychoses in a civil manner.

So goes the eternal balancing act between sheer stupidity and humanitarian enlightenment. This is how
we defeat religious zealotry: not with bombs and boots, but with friendship, understanding...and hashtags.
#FuckISIS #FuckBBS
However, let's be honest here. Sri Lankans aren't really pissed about religion. They're pissed that they're
poor as fuck, yet they produce the finest designer clothes and teas for wealthy, clueless Westerners to
mindlessly consume. Has imperialism really ended? Or are we just calling it "good business" now?
The BBS will continue riling up the Buddhists as if this were all about Islam vs. Buddhism, but if the Sri
Lankans really want to improve their lives, maybe they should be shaking their torches and pitchforks at
the neo-liberals who're hijacking their country and its resources.
YouTube Video
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Religion of Peace? Part 2: Burma

by Randy Robinson - Monday, October 06, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/religion-peace-part-2-burma/
Myanmar Muslims living in Malaysia hold a banner and placards during a protest against sectarian
violence in Thandwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, Friday, Oct. 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)
Imagine your government considers you an illegal immigrant, even though you've lived in your home
country your entire life. Your parents were born and raised here. Their parents, too.
Imagine being a criminal if you ever have children. You may only reproduce with a special permit from
your government, and they're stingy with those.
Imagine feeling lucky if you happen to land a job where you work 18 hours a day for slave wages. If you
don't have a job, too bad. Illegals don't get decent jobs.
Imagine facing the possibility that you, your family, and all of your friends may end up in detention
camps, indefinitely, because you can't produce a birth certificate.
This isn't a scene from some dystopian sci-fi novel. This is real, and it's happening right now.
In this June 24, 2014 photo, seven-years old Mubari Khuson, left, his mother, Anwor Begum and a sister,
three-year old Haleda Begum stand by their makeshift tent at Dar Paing, a camp for Rohingya Muslims in
north of Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar. More than 140,000 have been trapped in crowded, dirty camps
since extremist Buddhist mobs began chasing them from their homes two years ago, killing up to 280
people. The others are stuck in villages isolated by systematic discrimination, with restrictions on their
movement and limited access to food, clean water, education and health care. (AP Photo/Gemunu
Amarasinghe)
For the Rohingya people of Burma (aka Myanmar), this scenario threatens their very existence. Residing
primarily in the northern state of Rakhine, the Rohingya aren't Buddhists like the other 95% of Burma's
population. They're Muslim, and this little fact poses a multitude of obstacles for them. Poverty,
negligible access to health care, practically non-existent rights they have no place to go and no home to
call their own.
According to the UN, the Rohingya are the most oppressed people on the planet. The Burmese
government stripped them of citizenship in 1982, and riots in 2012 led to a harsh crackdown on the
minority group. Today, the "hardline" Buddhists of Burma are tossing around the idea of granting limited
citizenship to the Rohingya, under the stipulation that the Rohingya classify themselves as Bangladeshi
immigrants (which they aren't) and can produce the required birth documents (which most of them can't).
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Buddhist protesters paint the Rohingya Muslims as Bangladeshi immigrants.

Failure to file for citizenship will result in detainment at a concentration camp.
At least, that's the government's current plan. The UN expressed its dismay at the Burmese for what is,
obviously, a bald-faced ploy at genocide. Normally, the cynic in me would scoff at the UN's fingerwagging, but this time it may be different. Burma isn't Rwanda; it isn't Kashmir.
Unlike most failed states, Burma serves a purpose in our globalized economy. It sits smack in the middle
of the world's two rising super-powers China and India which means a financially healthy Burma
could facilitate good business in Asia. In other words, the country could make a lot of really rich people
much, much richer.
(Source: Google Maps)
On October 1, the same day the Burmese government announced its apartheid plan to round up the
Rohingya, they also granted licenses to international banks. These banks primarily Japanese, French,
and Norwegian agreed to wipe out nearly $6 billion of Burma's debt. In return for accepting massive
loans, Burma agreed to permit exclusive business contracts with these nations. We're talking roads, power
lines, fiber optic cables for Internet, and, of course, strip malls.
See? Buddhists can get down. Transcend the material. Release the ego. Sign on the dotted line.
These banks and their affiliate businesses aren't just buying access to Burma. They're buying the
government's balls, too exclusive, direct access to the nation's nutsack. So when Burma's Buddhists do
anything stupid like, say, slaughter their own people just for being Muslims the neoliberal investors
can slam down the financial hammer of international justice.
A group of Myanmar Buddhist monks hold a banner and shout slogans during a protest rally against the
visit by the members of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday,
Nov. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)
Neoliberal reforms may actually save Burma from itself. Now, don't get me wrong. I usually cringe at the
thought of neoliberalism's tendency to gut social spending, but it's not like Burma's got any social
programs to sacrifice. Things can only get better from here, right?
Genocide is bad for business these days. Already the UN wants a full investigation into the crimes against
the Rohingya, and the global community condemned the Burma government's plan to reclassify the
Muslim minority as non-citizens two times over. US President Obama has also pushed reforms on
Burma's president, Thein Sein. The reforms are coming in slow, but they are coming.
We'll see what the future holds for Burma. I've got a feeling no matter how much the Buddhist
government may loathe its Muslim minorities, the seductions of cool toys and debt forgiveness may win
over. Besides, nationalism doesn't jive well with Buddhism but technology does.
YouTube Video
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Revisiting the Arab Spring: Tunisia Wins

by Randy Robinson - Monday, January 27, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/revisiting-arab-spring-tunisia-wins/
It's been three years since the Arab Spring began in Tunisia. Three years later, Tunisia's made the most
progress in terms of civil movements and revolutions. The Huffington Post described Tunisia's new
constitution as the "most progressive" of all the Arab states.
What happened, exactly? Why is it, after three years of protests, marches, and riots, only one nation's
made significant progress?
Well, Tunisia's new constitution didn't come easy. It took a lot of hard work, and people died in the
process. But it's here. And hopefully it'll stay for some time.
Tunisia's constitution establishes Islam as the state religion, but the constitution separates religion from
the state. The legislatures will determine the laws of Tunisia, not the imams.
This means sweeping new protections for free speech, women's rights, and religious freedom.
Meanwhile, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey aren't doing so great. In fact, I would say these five
nations are the biggest losers of the Arab Spring thus far.
And I guess Saudi Arabia would be a runner-up. The Kingdom never saw a regime change during the
Arab Spring which, judging from what happened in the loser states, may not have been such a bad thing.
Nonetheless, Saudi Arabia continues to oppress its people, especially women, under the guise of religious
morality.
Arabs, your work isn't done. The Arab Spring isn't over.
If you look at Tunisia, you'll see why they're making headway while the rest of the Arab League
struggles.
Tunisia woke up and realized religion has no place determining laws.
The problem with theocracies is they can never agree on what's religiously acceptable. Let me explain:
Syria: Sadly, PM al-Assad's Alawite, Shi'ite, Christian, and secularist supporters fear jihadists more than
they fear the regime's iron fist.
Libya: Once ruled by the "Muslim" Gaddafi, it's now ruled by the "Muslim" al-Qaeda.
Iraq: President Maliki thinks crushing Sunni protesters will prevent terrorist attacks. That worked out
really well for Fallujah. Good going.
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Turkey: Erdogan's conservative Islamic party seems to be spending a lot of energy gassing and beating
up protesters. I guess that's what happens when your greedy government's more focused on building the
world's largest airport and not serving the public's interests.
Egypt: The first mistake Egypt made during the Arab Spring was voting in the Muslim Brotherhood. The
second mistake was supporting the military dictatorship that ousted the Brotherhood. The new boss looks
a lot like the old one.
The point is, "God's will" is merely an interpretation. I would never trust corrupt, misogynistic religious
"leaders" with any country's laws.
Stop voting for Islam. Stop voting for Christianity or Judaism or any other religion.
Let the people decide how they want to live their own lives, and be sure to protect their choices. Give
your women and children a voice. Let the workers unionize. Stop imprisoning people for victimless
"crimes."
It's 2014. The modern world evolves too quickly for the immutable, inviolable "word of God" to keep up.
YouTube Video
Poll: Has the Arab Spring been successful, or has it failed?
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Reward for Dead Jihadists: Iraq is on its way to becoming a failed

state
by Randy Robinson - Sunday, February 23, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/reward-dead-jihadist-iraq-way-becoming-failed-state/
Iraq's Ministry of Defense posted rewards on its website for the heads of jihadists.
Okay, maybe not heads exactly, but that's pretty much the gist of it.
Right now the rewards are tiered for bringing in a deceased militant. If it's just any run-of-the-mill
militant, it's about $17,000. Not bad.
But if you happen to bring in a soldier for al-Qaeda or ISIS, that'll fetch you a fat $26,000.
I wonder how much someone gets for al-Zawahiri? I'm guessing you get a bronze plaque and a one-onone candlelit dinner with al-Maliki.
This is a sign of a serious problem. Iraq's already gone on record for having a jaw-dropping number of
hasty executions for suspected militants. I guess that proved to be too much trouble, so now they're just
asking any mercenary or vigilante to bring in some bodies.
Has it gotten that desperate? Is Iraq's last resort to turn into the Wild West? Has Iraq's government not
realized that this entire "fight terror with terror" policy doesn't work? You can't condemn murder by
legislating more murder.
I can't even begin to list all the issues there are here. But I'll try:
1. Iraq's government just admitted its security forces are failures. They're outsourcing military and police
actions to any nut-bag with a gun and a homicidal urge.
2. Executions, in sane societies, require trials. A court must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, a
suspected "terrorist's" guilt. How will these vigilantes prove their corpses belonged to former militants?
What happens if this "proof" doesn't pan out?
3. That's a whole shit-load of money to hand out for foot soldiers. Really? Does al-Maliki really believe
killing grunts wholesale is going to stop jihadists? They blow themselves up on purpose, for crying out
loud. They don't fear death; they welcome it.
4. I can imagine a million other ways the Iraqi government could spend their money. How about
improving infrastructure? How about pouring that cash into schools? Hospitals? Medical or academic
research? How about street activists, whose protests in Syria have done more to curb sectarian violence
than all the bombs dropped combined?
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I really want Iraq to pull out of this and mature as a new, "democratic" nation. But I don't see it happening
any time soon.
Poll: Should Iraq offer rewards for dead militants?
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Russia Claims It Stole a U.S. Drone In Crimea

by Randy Robinson - Friday, March 14, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/russia-claims-stole-u-s-drone-crimea/
MOSCOW An American surveillance drone was intercepted in Crimea on Friday, according to a
Russian state defense corporation.
Rostec, the arms and technology contractor, claimed they jammed the drone's communication frequency,
then recovered it largely "intact."
"The drone was flying at about 4,000 metres (12,000 feet) and was virtually invisible from the ground. It
was possible to break the link with US operators with complex radio-electronic" methods, Rostec
announced in a statement according to the AFP.
The AFP report described a photo in Rostec's statement which allegedly shows an armed drone in the sky,
though authorities haven't confirmed whether or not the drone in the photo is the drone that was brought
down.
Earlier this week, unconfirmed reports from Russian-state news agencies said two U.S. surveillance
drones were shot down over Crimea. However, these claims remain unsubstantiated.
Last year, Iran's government stated it also captured a drone, and attempted to reverse-engineer the
technology to produce drones of their own. The quality and efficacy of Iran's drones has not yet been
demonstrated.
Crimea and Ukraine became the center of an international conflict between the United States and Russia
last month after the Euromaidan protests erupted into riots.
As police lost control of Maidan and later the Parliament building, President Viktor Yanukovych fled the
country and is believed to currently reside in Russia as a political refugee. Parliament replaced
Yanukovych with Oleksandr Turchynov.
Yanukovych is currently wanted by the Ukrainian government for "mass murder of peaceful civilians."
The ouster of Yanukovych set the Russian Federation against the European Union and the United States,
as the Russians do not believe Turchynov is the legitimate president of Ukraine. The U.S. and the E.U.
disagree, and have stated Russian intervention into Ukraine's affairs would escalate the situation.
Next week, Crimea, a territory of Ukraine's, will put a vote to its people regarding Crimea's secession
from Ukraine and annexation into the Russian Federation. The Crimean parliament previously approved
the secession move.
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Russian Warship Arrives in Cuba, 200 Miles from U.S.

by Randy Robinson - Friday, February 28, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/russian-warship-arrives-cuba-200-miles-u-s/
HAVANA, Cuba Harkening back to the Missile Crisis of 1962, a Russian intelligence vessel docked in
Cuba on Wednesday.
Russian warships stop by Cuba on a semi-regular basis, although the dockings are usually announced by
the Cuban press and the government. This is the first time in recent memory that a Russian military vessel
pulled into Cuba secretly.
A Russian embassy official told Reuters the visit was on "friendly" terms, and it would likely depart by
Friday.
The U.S. Pentagon has not yet released an official statement about the spy ship's landing.
The development has raised some concerns, as Cuba is only 200 miles from Miami, Florida. On
Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia would build a new military installation in
Cuba, according to RIA Novosti.
"The talks are under way," Shoigu said during a press conference in Moscow. "And we are close to
signing the relevant documents."
The ship, called Viktor Leonov CCB-175, is a Meridian-class intelligence vessel comes equipped with
technologies able to intercept digital communications. It's also armed with surface-to-air missiles and
AK-630 cannons capable of rapidly firing 30 mm shells, according to the AFP. The ship holds a crew of
200 people.
Earlier this month, Iran also sent two warships into the Atlantic Ocean, both of which are expected to sail
close to the U.S. maritime border sometime in the coming weeks.
Cuba is governed by a single-party Communist system. Despite the fall of Soviet Union in the 1990s,
Russia maintains close ties with Cuba's Castro regime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy2CsYJaKgY
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Saudi Arabia and the NSA Take on Gay Terrorists

by Randy Robinson - Thursday, July 31, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/saudi-arabia-nsa-take-gay-terrorists/
Last week, a Saudi Arabian court sent an unnamed gay man to three years in jail along with 450 lashes
for "promoting" homosexuality on Twitter.
On the surface, this looks like another case of Saudi Arabia's close-minded theocracy punishing yet
another gay person for being gay. Or, as Jason Rahlan of the Human Rights Campaign put it: "This
sentence is a horrific reminder of the dangers LGBT people face in Saudi Arabia and the dozens of
nations around the world where it's a crime to simply be who you are." However, a recent
Greenwald/Snowden revelation hints at something much more nefarious going on behind the scenes.
The unnamed man, 24, was snitched out to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the
Prevention of Vice, a gestapo-esque religious police force that cracks down on immorality and
debauchery. Of course, the Commission's definition of "immoral" remains highly subjective, since they
still haven't asked King Abdullah about his falsely imprisoned daughters.
http://youtu.be/UBsduVWUqiE
Alarmingly, the Commission relied purely on digital evidence against the man imprisoned last week.
Initially they used the man's Twitter updates to charge him, but eventually the contents of the man's cell
phone and very likely his computer and the entirety of his Internet traffic incriminated him, too. This
doesn't bode so well for a nation already rife with human rights abuses.
In the U.S., communications evidence is becoming slightly more difficult to exploit. It's also no longer
trendy to smear political opponents for being gay. Federal agencies may still possess a virtual carte
blanche to scour Americans' online behaviors under the pretense of "security," but recently the Supreme
Court ruled local police need a warrant to go through someone's cell phone. The reasoning behind the
ruling is simple: a cell phone can contain more incriminating evidence than someone's home, their
vehicle, or even their tax returns. Not to mention any dick pics for that newest Craigslist hustle.
There's a good chance that this Saudi 24-year-old's cell phone could provide authorities with a veritable
catalog of other gay men to target. After all, the cell phone and its contents are now considered legitimate
court evidence.
On July 25, First Look Media revealed the most recent Greenwald/Snowden revelation: the NSA's been
cozy with Saudi Arabia's intelligence agencies for years. The documents showed the U.S. was interested
in "regime continuity" with the Saudis, which is fancy spy-speak for "Keep Those Guys in Power." Part
of this partnership involves helping Saudi authorities identify "targets" and "threats" through digital
surveillance. Any terrorists caught are then subjected to a myriad of "non-lethal" torture techniques, like
having bathroom cleaner poured down their throats. (And do keep in mind Saudi Arabia considers
homosexuals, atheists, and anyone else who criticizes the royal family as potential terrorists.)
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It doesn't stop there, either. Last year, another Snowden revelation exposed one of the NSA's character
assassination programs. This particular program spied on the porn habits of Islamic "radicalizers" who
recruited militants through YouTube and social media. The NSA aimed to discredit said radicalizers by
publicizing porn-consumption behaviors that would either reveal the radicalizer as a hypocrite (e.g. gay
porn) or a criminal (e.g. child porn).
I don't think it's a huge leap from the NSA's "discredit through porn" program to its "let's help the humanrights violators violate some human rights" program. If the NSA specializes in digging up dirt on
dissidents by seeing what vids those dissidents click on PornHub, then it shouldn't surprise anyone that
Saudi authorities could apply these strategies to gays hiding in the Kingdom. Or lesbians. Or atheists. Or
even your typical grassroots activist. Basically anyone the Saudi government doesn't like who may enjoy
dabbling in kink, gayness, or critical thought.
This means gay men using their cell phones, Twitter, Facebook, etc. to hook-up or even gasp to find
"The One" risk incriminating themselves. Worse yet, they risk incriminating anyone they contact,
regardless of whether or not the contact is gay.
The most frightening part of all this anti-gay mass surveillance is that sodomy can catch someone a death
sentence in Saudi Arabia. The maximum punishment for homosexuality could effectively silence a
dissident or activist forever at the Kingdom's virtual whim.
Although there's no hard numbers for this, Saudi Arabia is believed to have a rather sizable homosexual
population. In 2012, "studies" claimed nearly half of all university students in Riyadh and a quarter of
college-age students in Jeddah "suffered from homosexuality."
And guess who tends to participate in social uprisings?
http://youtu.be/eqZLrtpp9t0
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Saudi Arabia Classifies Muslim Brotherhood as Terrorist Group

by Randy Robinson - Saturday, March 08, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/saudi-arabia-classifies-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-group/
RIYADH The Muslim Brotherhood isn't just catching heat from Egypt anymore. Saudi Arabia, a close
ally of Egypt's, joined Cairo in branding the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
"We hail it, we welcome it," Egyptian Foreign Ministry official Badr Abdelatty told Reuters. "It is in the
right direction."
Other militant jihadist groups were also added to the list, namely the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front and
the newly independent Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).
Saudi Arabian officials announced the royal decree last month, but it was until Friday the Saudi
government decided which groups would be considered "terrorists."
The move comes as a number of young Saudi men leave the country to fight alongside al-Nusra and ISIS
in Syria. As part of the decree, all Saudi citizens who left for the Syrian front have 15 days to return to the
Kingdom or face 20 years in prison.
In a related incident, Saudi Arabia withdrew its ambassadors from nearby Qatar, a nation accused by the
Saudis of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Muslim Brotherhood came to prominence toward the end European colonialism in the Middle East.
The organization, which seeks to impose Sharia law on all Muslim states, claimed responsibility for a
number of high-profile assassinations in the mid-twentieth century. The most infamous was the murder of
Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981 after he signed a peace accord with Israel.
In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood became a pariah, the subject of numerous crackdowns since the 1950s.
In 2005, the organization was effectively banned by President Hosni Mubarak.
After the Arab Spring protests in 2011, Mubarak was deposed, and free elections gave nearly every
available office to Muslim Brotherhood candidates, who were no longer barred from the government.
However, in the summer of 2013, Muslim Brotherhood member and Egyptian President Mohammed
Morsi was himself deposed in a military coup during the Second People's Revolution demonstrations.
Interim president Adly Mansour replaced Morsi and holds the presidency until the upcoming elections.
Late last year, an Egyptian court designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization after a car
bombing in Cairo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE72HULa4ss
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Saudi Arabia Cracks Down on Activists

by Randy Robinson - Friday, April 18, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/saudi-arabia-cracks-activists/
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia The Special Criminal Court in Riyadh sentenced activist blogger Fadel alManasef to 15 years in prison for publishing blog posts and participating in protests.
Al-Manasef, 26, established his presence on the web by criticizing the Saud regime's crackdown on
Internet activism and mobilization. The Saudi Arabian government denies the existence of any policies
targeting activists or free speech, although international human rights groups disagree.
According to al-Manasef's lawyer, Waleed Sulais, the guilty verdicts included staging and participating in
protests, posting articles defaming the government, and communicating with foreign media companies
without government permission.
In addition to prison time, the court also ordered al-Manasef to pay a fine of 100,000 riyals ($26,700
U.S.) and another 15-year restriction on his ability to travel after he serves his sentence.
On April 16, prominent activist and attorney Waleed Abu al-Khair was arrested by Saudi authorities for
defying the king and judiciary. Al-Khair is head of the Saudi Arabia Monitor of Human Rights, and he
has reported the government is pressuring him to disavow his humanitarian work.
Amnesty International described the charges against al-Khair as "trumped up." Said Boumedouha, a
deputy director at Amnesty International, said, "Waleed Abu al-Khair's detention is a worrying example
of how Saudi Arabian authorities are abusing the justice system to silence peaceful dissent. Nobody
should be jailed for peacefully exercising the right to freedom of expression."
Al-Manasef and al-Khair are among a dozen other activists arrested or sentenced in the past several
months for opposing the House of Saud's increasingly restrictive policies on free speech and peaceful
demonstrations.
According to Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia currently holds over 30,000 political prisoners in jail.
YouTube Video
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Saudi Arabia Threatens Siege on Qatar

by Randy Robinson - Tuesday, March 11, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/saudi-arabia-threatens-siege-on-qatar/
RIYADH The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia issued a decree ordering the Gulf State of Qatar to cease
activities believed to support Islamic terrorism.
The order included a ban on Al-Jazeera, the removal of American think-tanks such as the Rand Institute
and the Brookings Institute, and a complete disavowal of the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
If Qatar fails to comply with Saudi Arabia's orders, the Kingdom said it would instate a military blockade
by sea and air around Qatar.
"The independence of Qatar's foreign policy is simply non-negotiable," said Qatar foreign minister Khalid
al-Attiya as quoted by Al-Jazeera.
"Therefore I strongly believe that the recent statements made by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates
and Bahrain have no relationship whatsoever with the internal security of the GCC countries, but they are
related to clear differences in views on international issues," he continued.
The decree came weeks after Saudi Arabia passed a new law restricting all forms of speech, particular
political and religious speech critical of the Saudi royal family. All social media, print and online forms
of communication granting exposure or support to radical troops can result in jail time for Saudi citizens.
Furthermore, all Saudis currently fighting alongside groups deemed "terrorist" organizations by the
government namely the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham
(ISIS) may face 20 to 30 years in prison if they don't return home soon.
Last week, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar under the
pretense Qatar sponsored militant jihadist operations.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki harshly criticized the Gulf States' actions against Qatar, stating he
believes a conspiracy is afoot.
During an interview with France24, al-Maliki said Saudi Arabia was "attacking Iraq through Syria, and in
a direct way." He also stated the Saudis themselves were guilty of supporting "global terrorism."
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City, Saudi Arabia was quietly fingered as a primary
funder of Islamic insurgency, although the issue has reignited in recent years.
In 2010, Wikileaks released a cable from then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "Donors in Saudi
Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide," she wrote.
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The Egyptian government was the first Arab nation to brand the Muslim Brotherhood a "terrorist
organization" in December 2013. Last week, Saudi Arabia joined Egypt by also classifying the
Brotherhood as a criminal jihadist group.
Qatar's government publicly supported the Muslim Brotherhood during 2011's Arab Spring protests.
When Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi won Egypt's presidency, Qatar provided $8 billion in
aid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmmRmT2SZ28
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Saudi Arabia's New Anti-Terror Law Criminalizes Free Speech

by Randy Robinson - Wednesday, February 05, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/saudi-arabia-new-anti-terror-law-criminalizes-political-criticism/
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, what have you done?
King Abdullah signed in an anti-terror law that could have any of you charged with terrorism if you
criticize the state. Demanding reform, whistleblowing, or just talking trash about your politician-imamrulers could land you in jail.
RT reported that the law:
...defines terrorism as any act carried out by an offender intended to disturb the public orderto shake
the security of society stability of the state expose its national unity to danger suspend the basic law of
governance or some of its articles, according to its text as cited by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Terrorists can also be considered those individuals who insult the reputation of the state or its position
inflict damage upon one of its public utilities or its natural resources, or those who attempt to force
governmental authority to carry out or prevent it from carrying out an action, or to threaten to carry out
acts that lead to the named purposes or incite (these acts).
For terrorism.
I'll repeat that. T-e-r-r-o-r-i-s-m.
That means me, right here in this post, could be considered a terrorist in Saudi Arabia. This could be a
"suicide blog," if you will.
The House of Saud has a broader definition for "terrorism" than the US does! Terrorism, as it's
conventionally understood, means to coerce political change through violence or intimidation. Violence
and intimidation are the key words there.
The new anti-terror law isn't just insulting to the Saudi people, it's insulting to anyone who's ever been
killed, maimed, or otherwise traumatized by a terrorist attack.
How is political discussion an act of violence or intimidation? Al Saud's never been terribly reasonable,
but this anti-terror law is an ethical minefield. How can one navigate through that sort of logic? How can
pointing out mistakes or offering suggestions ever be considered terrorism?
Regardless, this anti-terror law tells me two things. One, the House of Saud is intimidated. It must be if it
really thinks political discourse is intimidation. It fears a violent uprising from its disparaged subjects.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but they anticipate riots and revolution sometime in the
foreseeable future.
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Second, it tells me that King Abdullah's gotten kind of lazy.

He's cementing his bloodline's political dominance through legislation. Al Saud's admitted they don't
want to waste their precious energy subjugating you. They aren't even making an effort to hide what
they're doing anymore.
It's 2014 and you still have a king and his dynasty lording over you by royal decree. It's time to catch up
with the rest of the developed world. It's time to ditch the royalty.
If Abdullah's being so shameless about what he wants, then why shouldn't you do the same, Saudis? After
all, I doubt he could arrest every single one of you.
Poll: Should governments ever be immune to criticism or suggestions?
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Saudi Newspaper Appoints First Female Editor

by Randy Robinson - Monday, February 17, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/saudi-newspaper-appoints-first-female-editor/
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia The English-language Saudi Gazette hired its first female editor-in-chief on
Monday, Feb. 17, a first for the conservative Middle Eastern kingdom.
Somayya Jabarti replaced Khaled al-Maeena, a long-time friend and mentor. Jabarti began her journalistic
career in 2003 when she and al-Maeena worked together at the Gazette's rival publication, Arab News. By
2011, she worked as Arab News's deputy editor-in-chief, but her new position at the Saudi Gazette marks
the first time a woman has acted as editor-in-chief of a newspaper in Saudi Arabia.
"There's a crack that has been made in the glass ceiling," Jabarti told Al Arabiya. "And I'm hoping it will
be made into a door. This is a first for a Saudi daily. A mold has been broken where editors-in-chief of
Saudi daily newspapers are concerned."
Jabarti's announcement came as a surprise to many, considering the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia bans
women from a number of public activities, such as driving vehicles. The country's laws obligate all of its
women to be solely dependent on men, as approved male "guardians" are required to escort women to
hospital appointments, visits to friends or even to accept employment.
Al-Maeena weighed in on his decision to bring Jabarti on-board. "I've had the goal almost as long of
wanting to see a Saudi woman enter the male-dominated bastion of editors-in chief," he wrote at the
Saudi Gazette website. "It was not a question of gender but of merit that decided and earned her this
opportunity."
Jabarti hopes her promotion will encourage more women to rise in the Saudi media's ranks, especially
during a time of severely restricted press freedom in the kingdom. "The success will not be complete
unless I see my peers who are also Saudi women in the media, take other roles where they are decision
makers," she said.
"The majority of our reporters are women not because we are biased and choosing women over men,"
she continued. "There are more women who are interested in being journalists, and who are journalists.
The Saudi Gazette currently has a circulation of 47,000.
Jabarti comments on Saudi Arabia's proposed Skype ban, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHIL9qofr-8
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Saudi-Egyptian Allegiance
by Randy Robinson - Monday, August 11, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/poll/saudi-egyptian-allegiance/
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Say No to Plants?
http://54.174.32.164/poll/say-plants/
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Scarlett Johansson & SodaStream vs The World

by Randy Robinson - Sunday, February 02, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/scarlett-johansson-sodastream-vs-world/
What do the Super Bowl, the Oscars, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have in common?
Why, Hollywood starlet Scarlett Johansson, of course. And things just haven't gotten any easier on her.
The whole mess started when she became a spokesperson for SodaStream, a product that lets you make
your own carbonated soft drinks. Pretty harmless, right? Well, SodaStream operates a factory in a
contested Israeli settlement. And that's where the trouble starts.
See, for eight years Johansson was also an ambassador at Oxfam, an international organization devoted to
eradicating poverty and injustice. Oxfam, along with the EU and the UN, don't recognize Israel's illegal
settlements in Palestine.
Oxfam wasn't pleased with Johannson's deal with the Israeli SodaStream, so they gave her an ultimatum:
us or them.
Johansson, in proper neoliberal fashion, chose big business over humanitarianism. Oxfam lost.
SodaStream kept their pearly-toothed Scarlett. And she dressed it up nicely for the Huffington Post:
I remain a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and
Palestine. SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a
bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbors working alongside each other,
receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights.
Of course, Johannson probably should've talked to one of the Palestinians in the West Bank about it. An
anonymous SodaStream employee told Reuters:
There's a lot of racism here. Most of the managers are Israeli, and West Bank employees feel they can't
ask for pay rises or more benefits because they can be fired and easily replaced.
Johansson didn't skate by unscathed. Despite her Oscar nomination, the Super Bowl Committee banned
her original SodaStream ad slated for a spot during one of the busiest television programs of the year.
SodaStream later edited the ad for "sexual" content, although there's rumors they edited it to appease the
Super Bowl's Coke and Pepsi sponsors.
I guess Coke and Pepsi didn't lock down their own uber hotties for this year's stoned pro-football finale.
Or maybe they're still kowtowing to Arab markets.
All-in-all, the Johansson "scandal" embodies everything wrong with celebrity activists: they don't know
what's really going on, they're too rich to truly care, and in the end they always choose the o'mighty dollar
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over human sensibility.

But really, who can blame Johansson? SodaStream swears they treat their Palestinian employees quite
well.
We live in tough times, and a woman's gotta eat or buy a new summer home after all....
YouTube Video
Poll: Should Scarlett Johansson have chosen Oxfam over SodaStream?
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Security Searching Your Cell

http://54.174.32.164/poll/security-searching-cell/
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Selena Gomez vs Taylor Swift

http://54.174.32.164/poll/selena-gomez-vs-taylor-swift/
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein: Hypocrite

by Randy Robinson - Monday, March 17, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/sen-dianne-feinstein-hypocrite/
First, let me begin by saying I applaud Senator Feinstein's fight against the CIA. It takes guts to go headto-head against one of the most powerful organizations in all of human history.
This past week, Feinstein, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused the CIA of tampering
with her investigation into the agency's torture techniques, illegal detainments, and false reports about
Iraq's WMDs.
"Unconstitutional," she called it.
But Feinstein's a lot like Dr. Frankenstein: today's CIA is a monster she created, and now it's coming after
her.
See, the CIA answers to the President of the United States. For the past fourteen frickin' years, Feinstein
vastly enhanced the powers of the Executive Branch. And, by proxy, the CIA.
Back in 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Feinstein voted for the PATRIOT Act, which gave
intelligence agencies carte blanche to do practically whatever they wanted as long as they were fighting
"terrorism."
In 2001 and 2002, she voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force bills, which gave the
president the authority to use any resources to go after anyone connected to Al Qaeda anyone, even
other Americans.
So due process, no self-incrimination, and all these other rights we hold to be God-given and self-evident
gone. With her vote.
In 2004, she voted to extend the PATRIOT Acts, long after everyone became aware of what was in there.
In 2011, 2012, and 2013, she voted for the National Defense Authorization Acts, and the "indefinite
detainment" clauses contained therein. Those gave the president the power to investigate, kidnap, detain,
or even assassinate anyone anywhere on the Earth even Americans even in America.
No trial. No appeal.
Anyone.
In other words, since 2001, Feinstein voted, practically every time, to give the president more and more
war powers. She voted, every time, to give the CIA more and more surveillance powers.
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When regular folks were getting hacked by the NSA, Feinstein defended it. Now that she's getting
hacked, spying on Americans magically became treason.
Well, at least Feinstein knows how it feels now. Welcome, Dianne: you're one of us.
...Sort of.
YouTube Video
Poll: Is Sen. Feinstein taking the Hypocritical Oath, or is she just doing her job?
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Sentencing Journalists
http://54.174.32.164/poll/sentencing-journalists/
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Shakira and Rihanna Spark Lesbian Debate Around the World

by Randy Robinson - Saturday, February 08, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/shakira-rihanna-spark-lesbian-debate-world/
Lebanese-American popstar Shakira recently teamed up with Barbadian-American Rihanna for a steamy
new video, a video critics claim promotes lesbianism and general debauchery.
The video for the song "Can't Remember to Forget You" features the two singers rolling around on a bed
together in their underwear, touching each other in intimate fashion, and at one point Rihanna nearly
kisses Shakira.
Oddly enough, the song itself doesn't feature any homosexual undertones. The lyrics sang by both women
address being heartbroken by a man, though whether or not they've been spurned by the same man isn't
clear.
Although the video scored over 90 million views in its first week, its popularity wasn't celebrated by
everyone.
Fadi Haddad, a Lebanese music video director, told Al Arabiya, "It's a lesbian music video, it's really over
(the top). They are both class A stars, and the song is amazing, but I thought the bed scene was over (too
bold), and the hands (touching), it's really bad."
Haddad maintained lesbians and gays shouldn't be barred from starring in music videos, "but we never
have explicitly labeled it like they have done."
In other parts of the world Shakira and Rihanna were scolded not for promoting lesbianism but for doing
the exact opposite: giving same-sex relations a bad name.
Harriet Williamson, in an op-ed piece for The Independent, accused Shakira and Rihanna of "faux
lesbianism." She wrote, "This is an empty, cynical performance by two straight women."
Williamson also noted, in terms of promoting lesbianism, this video was anything but. "They repeatedly
sing 'Id do anything for that boy,' clearly placing a male presence at the centre of the performance."
Bella Qvist, writing for The Guardian, slammed the video for the same "I'd do anything for that boy" line.
Unlike Williamson, she assessed the video from the perspective of a bisexual woman and took offense at
its exploitation of bisexuality:
According to a recent report, 16% of women aged 16-44 have had a same-sex experience, yet far fewer
label themselves as anything other than hetero.
Why? Could it be because bisexuals are stigmatised as greedy and untrustworthy, often considered only
half-committed to the cause by fully-fledged gay people or promiscuous in the eyes of those who are
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straight? Bisexual has almost become a byword for anything goes, and more often than not bisexuals are
thought of as attention-seeking. Two superstars frolicking to get the attention of a man certainly doesn't
help the bisexual cause, which is why I have beef with Shakira and RiRi.
There's even been a backlash in Shakira's home country of Colombia. Marco Fidel Ramirez, a Colombian
politician, not only blasted Shakira for her sexual displays but for her tobacco use in the video, too. "Our
Shakira with her erotic video is promoting tobacco usage and has become the worst example for our
youth," he tweeted, according to NY Daily News.
Regardless of all the uproar, some critics were just fine with Shakira and Rihanna's newest video,
touching-on-the-bed and all.
"A music video should be surreal, it shouldn't be real," Wissam Mandil, a Middle Eastern music video
producer, told Al Arabiya. "Whether we accept it or not lesbians exist in the Arab world and elsewhere."
Warning: The following video is probably NSFW.
YouTube Video
Does Shakira and Rihanna's video promote lesbianism, or is it just selling sex as usual?
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Shia Militias and the Policy of Flip-Flopping

by Randy Robinson - Wednesday, August 27, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/shia-militias-policy-flip-flopping/
Giddy on up, cowboys! The United States Armed Forces is once again rolling into Baghdad and slappin'
down some radical, extremist, ultra-jihadi Islam.
Except this time the Americans will be teaming up with their old foes: other radical, extremist, ultrajihadi Islamists.
Confused? You should be. The Pentagon is so worried about the Islamic State's new caliphate that it's
willing to team up with its former enemies in Iraq: the Shia militias.
Just a few years ago, one such militia, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, blew up five American troops in Baghdad. They
also kidnapped a number of Western financiers from the capital, murdering the bodyguards and
demanding ransom in the process. In all, this single militia claimed responsibility for thousands of attacks
on U.S. and coalition forces. They continue to harass and murder prostitutes and gays, too.
Shia militias support the Iraqi security forces. (Source: Naameshaam.org)
And now, they may become our new friends. Arab-American relations are full of surprises.
Or are they? Hasn't this happened before?
Back in 2006, Nouri al-Maliki became prime minister of Iraq. Backed by the U.S., he was elected by
Iraq's Shia majority (though the results of that election were contentious). The U.S.'s expectation was he
would unite Iraq's multitude of rival ethnic and religious groups under a national banner. Kind of like
Saddam did, just without the rape and torture.
Instead, al-Maliki got real cozy with Iran. These elite Shia militias operating in Iraq are all trained, armed,
and funded by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. In other words, southern Iraq's relative "stability" was
largely dependent on Tehran which meant al-Maliki was certainly a puppet, but not of the Americans.
He served the Ayatollah, if indirectly.
Under al-Maliki, Iraq's "War on Terror" devolved into an apartheid against the country's Sunnis. Iraqi
Security Forces, to this very day, randomly arrest, detain, imprison, and torture Sunnis simply for being
Sunni.
For example, last month, the Telegraph reported that one of al-Maliki's final actions in office was to
round up Sunnis in a random, "mass arrest." The purpose was to preemptively prevent terrorist attacks by
capturing, albeit blindly, any of the 1,500 supposed "sleeper cells" near Baghdad. These arrests featured
no evidence and no trials. The crime was simply being Sunni.
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The prisons where these Sunnis are held are veritable hells. In February, Human Rights Watch released a
report documenting torture, intimidation, and systematic rape of the women held by Iraq's security forces.
The majority of these women, unsurprisingly, were Sunni. The men don't get it any easier, either.
The rise of the Islamic State is no fluke. It's a reaction. A response. After years of torment by Shia
governments in Syria and Iraq, the local Sunnis rose up. After the Sunnis protests were forcibly shut
down again and again, the Islamic State swarmed into Fallujah, absorbing any downtrodden Sunnis to
join the cause. Over the months, they steamrolled the countryside, taking city after city with their simple
yet effective shock-and-awe tactics.
Shia militants linked to Iran march through Baghdad. (Source: AfricanGlobe.net)
We're basically working with thugs to stop another group of thugs. Last week, an unidentified Shia militia
murdered 76 Sunnis visiting a Mosque near Kirkuk. These Sunnis weren't terrorists; they were civilians
attending weekly services. Most of them were gunned down while they rushed to save their family
members from the slaughter.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, these are the goons the Americans are teaming up with to take on the evil
empire of the Islamic State. Things must be bad. Really, really bad. Then again, the United States never
had much trouble in the past forging alliances with undemocratic regimes rife with human rights abuses.
But I also must wonder what the Shia will get out of this? After all, they're still bragging about defeating
the imperialist Americans. They must be getting something out of the deal if they're accepting help from
the enemy....
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Signs of Global Warming

http://54.174.32.164/poll/signs-global-warming/
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Sisi & Egyptian Women

http://54.174.32.164/poll/sisi-egyptian-women/
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Sochi Olympics: 1936 in the Modern Day

by Randy Robinson - Tuesday, January 28, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/sochi-olympics-1936-modern-day/
Russia's gotten a lot of attention lately for its anti-gay laws. Putin's personally done his best to equate
homosexuality with pedophilia, going so far as to legislate "gay speech" in the presence of minors.
The laws basically restrict any public discourse placing LGBT issues on equal footing as heteronormative
ones. In essence, the law outlaws being openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Gays are even afraid to hold
hands in public, now.
Gays and their allies in Russia can't discuss LGBT topics in the presence of minors, which means Russia's
government is censoring its own people.
Aren't the nation's children supposed to be hearing these discussions? How can they make informed
decisions later in life, when they become voters, teachers, managers, entrepreneurs, etc.? What'll happen
to the next generation of Russians when their government intentionally blinds them?
Then, this week, the mayor of Sochi, Anatoly Pakhomov, said there's no gays in his city. So the anti-gay
laws won't be an issue for the Olympics.
WTF?
For those not in the know, Sochi will host the 2014 Summer Olympics. The Olympics has long been a
platform for patriarchal big governments and big business to pat each other on their patriarchal backs.
Case in point: The Olympics has a policy on social equality, but they've discarded their own rules just for
li'l ol' Russia. They're allowing the Russian government to silence any Russian olympians who make any
statements about LGBT issues. The authorities can even strip medals from Russian athletes for violating
this rule.
But let's come back to Pakhomov's claim: no gays in Sochi.
Sochi has gay nightclubs. So that's an open-and-shut case.
But there's something much bigger going on here. What was it that Pakhamov said? Oh yeah, he doesn't
want gays "imposing their habits on others."
That's funny. I don't see any laws on the Russian books banning heterosexual behaviors. I do, however,
see a lot of haters imposing their straight habits on gay people.
Putin believes he's preserving the traditions of his homeland. In reality, he just cemented Russia's place
alongside Nazi Germany in the history books: the Sochi Olympics, too, will set the stage for subversive
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heroism.
I can't wait to see the world's LGBT athletes bring in some medals. And I'd really, really love to see
Putin's face when a gay olympian wins the gold.
Poll: Should Putin be allowed to censor his nation's athletes if they speak about LGBT issues?
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Sometimes, Irony Isn't Funny

http://54.174.32.164/sometimes-irony-isnt-funny/
A new phone app allows users to tweet their survival status at the push of a button.
The message reads: "I am still alive! #Lebanon #Latestbombing"
Lebanese student Sandra Hassan invented the app, which she says she made ironically. "I didn't expect
that people would actually start using it," she told the BBC. Her original intentions were self-expression
through digital satire, a coder's version of a "joke."
But the joke's been lost: her invention is getting redesigned so users around the world can tell their friends
and followers, "I am still alive!" in countries beyond Lebanon.
So far, over 4,000 Lebanese have downloaded the app. Sadly enough, dozens of users have employed the
app in seriousness.
That's how bad things have gotten in Lebanon, folks. Things are so bad this joke-app has real-world
practicality. In Lebanon, the recent tidal wave of jihadist bombing attacks can shut down cell phone
networks. When bombs go off, too many people try to contact their loved ones, flooding the signals and
drowning out any attempts to dial in.
What's most ironic about this app and its popularity isn't its usage. It's what it says about modern warfare.
All of these bombs and bandanas and banana clips aren't winning the hearts and minds of the people. I'm
talking about your average Arab civilian, someone who just wants to live a peaceful, content life.
And that goes for any country, militia, guerilla unit or whatever else uses violence to push its ideas of
"decency," "morality," or "justice."
If your philosophy only persuades through violence, you don't have a philosophy. You just have a sadistic
compulsion. Not only is that not funny, it's just plain boring.
Shock-and-awe, terrorism, blitzkreig: whatever you want to call it, these strategies require surprise,
sensitivity, freshness. The people, however, are growing jaded. The bombs, the guns, the beheadings it's
just another day in the life of an Arab.
The more the brutes attack, maim, and kill, the more difficult their little struggle becomes. They can't
instill fear in a people who've adapted to the violence.
So feel free to laugh, whoever you are. It's never too soon.
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Steven Seagal is Putin's New Chum-Buddy

http://54.174.32.164/steven-seagal-putins-new-chum-buddy/
Steven Seagal, the New York aikido master best known for his '90s action flicks, has a new best friend
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to The Wire, Seagal described Putin as "one of the great living world leaders," and he "would
like to consider him as a brother."
In an interview with Rossiskaya Gazeta, the action star threw in his support for Crimea's annexation by
Russia. Putin's move "to protect the Russian-speaking people of Crimea, his assets, and the Russian Black
Sea military base in Sevastopol... (was) very reasonable," Seagal said.
In the United States, Seagal's lost his blockbuster luster. Most of his movies go straight to video, and his
late-career's been eclipsed by the arrival of newer action stars like Tony Jaa and Jason Statham. Heck,
even fellow '90s martial-arts hambone Jean Claude Van Damme managed to stay somewhat relevant.
But in Russia, Seagal's still bigger-than-life. Although his movie sales have slumped in the West, in
Moscow he's still an international powerhouse. His movies are widely watched overseas, and he tours
parts of the Old World as a blues musician. During Putin's face-off with Ukraine, Seagal was featured on
the state-owned RT as an "expert commentator." He even kick-started a Soviet-era self-defense-fitness
program for the entire country.
And it's not just the Russians loving on Seagal. The "Above the Law" star loves Russia, too, so much that
he's considering emigrating there.
These are incredibly ambitious moves for Seagal, considering in January he hinted he'd run for the
governorship of Arizona.
Of course, his hypothetical political career would be marred by past scandals. In 2011, he was sued for
driving a SWAT tank over a suspect's puppy. That's not a joke. And the year before that, he was sued for
trying to hire a woman to replace his Russian "sex slaves" also not a joke.
YouTube Video
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Suey Park's Pyrrhic Victory

by Randy Robinson - Monday, April 14, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/suey-parks-pyrrhic-victory/
Last week, Kevin Beane opined over Suey Park's #CancelColbert Twitter campaign. If you need some
context for the situation, check out his piece first, then come back to this one.
I'll start off by stating I don't entirely agree with Beane's position, though I don't entirely agree with Suey
Park, either. She's backtracking lately, saying she was just joking, but c'mon, Suey: I've been following
you for a year. You never joke. ;)
But I'll give her a nod because I recognize what she was trying to do, and most importantly what she
did do.
I give Stephen Colbert a slide for his Asian joke. No, Suey, it's not because I'm some "Asian sidekick"
kowtowing to my white masters. It's because Colbert's playing a character. He's playing the racist,
classist, sexist pundit we see every day on FOX News. Do I think he should be canceled? No, absolutely
not. Do I think he could use his imagination to come up with some better racial jokes? Yes.
But from Beane's end, I also see this from a comedic standpoint. I don't believe most comedians should
ever apologize for their jokes, even their irredeemably offensive ones. It's something that just happens.
When you've made an entire career off of saying offensive things, you're eventually going to step over the
line. Some comedians survive this misstep. Some don't.
(Do note I used two white male comedians in that previous example. Rosie O'Donnell never quite
recovered from her "ching-chong" debacle years ago, probably because she's an obese lesbian, and they're
opinions aren't valued, either.)
However, Suey Park's made a name for herself by not being a quiet, submissive Korean-American
woman. Her goal from day one has been to confront racism against Asian-Americans, a topic that's
hardly, if ever, discussed publicly. It's as if it doesn't exist, even though it most certainly does.
And no one's giving Park her due credit. No one's recognizing she won this campaign. #CancelColbert,
nearly three weeks later, is still trending on Twitter.
I say Park won because the "liberal" media proved her point. They spent all their energies painting her as
some crazy yellow bitch who can't take a joke, instead of using this as a chance to address the problems
us Asian-Americans face on a daily basis.
Did you know Asian-Americans, on average, make less than their white counterparts, even with
comparable or superior education/experience? Did you know Asian-Americans are incarcerated at higher
rates than whites with comparable evidence against their cases? These are two indicators we use to
highlight the plights of blacks and Chicanos in America, but most people in this country don't know
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Asians fall into these same marginalized categories.

That's probably because we're still regarded as the "model minority." We're the ethnic group all the other
ethnic groups should aspire to be: successful, hard-working, well-educated, and most importantly
obedient. We don wan no trubble.
We're supposed to keep our mouths shut and make a healthy profit for whitey let those Negroes and
other brown people catch all the heat for speaking up.
See what I did there?
Case-in-point, the Huffington Post beautifully proved Suey's point twice! and once before this whole
#CancelColbert thing even started.
Back in January, HuffPost started an "Asian Voices" page, much like they've done with blacks and the
LGBT communities. They offered Park a writing gig there, which excited her, since she, like myself, gets
much of her news from that site.
Of course, in true Huffington Post fashion, they didn't want to pay her. The HuffPost has a fairly nasty
history of not paying its writers, although owner Arianna Huffington became a millionaire overnight from
their back-breaking work. So even though the site's now the top-ranked news source in the world, they
still don't want to pay their writers, particularly their Asian writers.
So Park told them to fuck-off. She even got noisy and wrote an article about it. And good for her.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, when HuffPost interviews her about the #CancelColbert
campaign. What happened during this interview?
Well, you can watch it for yourself here, but I'll skip to the best part. At one point the British douchebag
interviewing her tells her she can't take a joke, and she digs in on how he's white, privileged, and doesn't
get to control the dialogue over racial humor. So what's he do?
He cuts her off mid-sentence to say something irrelevant, then calls her opinion "stupid."
That's right. Some stuffy white guy at the "liberal" HuffPost called an incredibly intelligent Asian woman
"stupid." Live. On air.
Had this punk actually known anything about racism against Asians, he would've known Asian women
almost never have their opinions valued, no matter how correct they are. He would've known we, Asian
women and men, are sick and tired of being punch lines it's always small tits, small dicks, overachieving, bad accents, big glasses, anime or videogames whatever, you name it.
And we don't just have to put up with this from white comedians. Black, Hispanic even other Asians
it's always the same punch lines, the same jokes, the same stupid stereotypes being exploited.
It's beyond old. Ching-chang-chong and skinned-cats-in-Chinese-takeout. It's played out.
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If you're a comedian and you're relying on these schticks for cheap laughs, you're fucking fail. Yeah, that
means you, Colbert, even if you're just mirroring Bill O'Reilly. Make some Asian friends, learn about us,
and come up with something new, fresh, and engaging.
After all, don't you want our hard-earned money?
YouTube Video
Did Suey Park make her point that liberals feel entitled to marginalize minorities?
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Tear Gas Ends Protest Against Albuquerque Police Shooting

http://54.174.32.164/tear-gas-ends-protest-albuquerque-police-shooting/
ALBUQUERQUE, NM Police officers dispersed a crowd of protesters with tear gas Sunday after nine
hours of demonstrations against the fatal shooting of a mentally disabled homeless man.
The protests began peacefully as marched through Albuquerque chanting, "The police serve us, they don't
kill us," and "Hey hey, ho ho, killer cops have got to go."
One activist spoke to the crowd gathered at the rally, insisting the protest was not "anti-police" but was
about addressing the department's proclivity for shooting first and asking questions later.
Around 9:30 p.m., police in anti-riot gear fired tear-gas canisters into the rally after a small group of
demonstrators tore down a traffic sign.
The protest revolved around a video showing the March 16 shooting of James Boyd. The video, taken
from a camera mounted on a police officer, shows Boyd speaking with police officers as they escorted
him down the Sandia foothills.
The police confronted Boyd for illegal camping, a misdemeanor in New Mexico. At one point Boyd
stopped after asking the officers to "keep (their) word." The officers responded by stunning him with a
flash-bang grenade and shooting him to death while his back was turned.
Boyd had schizophrenia, and he shuffled between homelessness and incarceration due to New Mexico's
judicial "competency" policies. He had a history of public altercations and violence against police
officers, although activists believe the police response was unnecessary.
The police officers involved in the shooting claim Boyd threatened to kill them with a knife.
According to the Huffington Post, Chief Eden of the APD stated Boyd was a "direct threat." During a
press conference regarding the incident, Eden walked away from the microphone before journalists could
ask why the three armed officers used live ammunition instead of non-lethal alternatives.
John McCall, the attorney who last represented Boyd, said he didn't believe his former client posed a
threat to the Albuquerque police.
"I couldn't imagine (Boyd) being the kind of person to bully or provoke somebody to start a fight. He
could respond to violence around him, and did get into a few fights here and there because of
misunderstandings, but his nature was not of a killer or violent person," McCall told the Albuquerque
Journal.
Activist Patrick Davis, the executive director of ProgressNow New Mexico, described Boyd's death as
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part of a larger problem.

"I was a police officer for a decade," Davis remarked. "The over-militarized approach to law enforcement
is having a very real effect on people's lives here in New Mexico, and our leaders who should be taking
real action seem to be taking it all in stride."
The FBI is currently investigating the officers who shot and killed Boyd.
YouTube Video
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Teens, Weeds, and the Seeds of Knowledge

by Randy Robinson - Friday, September 26, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/teens-weeds-seeds-knowledge/
Oh geez. Project SAM and Parents Against Pot totally called it: marijuana legalization is leading to
disaster in Colorado.
This week, the drug-addled teens of the fair Centennial State took to the streets with their equally drugaddled teachers, striking and protesting against the Jefferson County school board. The bong injections
clearly turned their brains into slavish mush.
YouTube Video
We should consider this the smoking gun of legalization's failed experiment -- if only cannabis had
anything to do with this.
Colorado's teens, for two years straight, actually report smoking less pot than the national average. This
could be because, in Colorado, cannabis is so normalized that it's lost much of its "rebel factor." Cool kids
don't smoke pot anymore. Instead, they do really radical things like volunteer for environmental projects
and clean up vandalism.
Or they protest their school district's bullshit revisionism.
Yep, that's how bad it's gotten in America. Teens don't rebel these days by engaging in wanton crimes and
cocaine-fueled orgies. Nope. Social malfeasance is so common place now that it's just the way of things.
These teens grew up in a world where the little guys get kicked around every day, then made fun of on
FOX News. If you really want to distinguish yourself from your parents, you do what your parents never
did: engage in social actions.
YouTube Video
What happened in Colorado this week is just so poetic I imagine Robin Williams is applauding from the
Other Side. Here's what happened: Jefferson County's school board didn't like the AP curriculum's newest
changes to the history classes. (You can read about those changes here.) The right-wing board, offended
that America has always existed as part of a global community, sought to white-wash our nation's history
by deleting slavery, genocide, and civil disobedience from the course.
Instead, they wanted a focus on free enterprise, patriotism (whatever the fuck that means), and basically a
Leave-It-To-Beaver mythology that America has always been a sterling nation of angels and gumdrops.
So there you have it. In the first state to legalize weed, 10 months in, the teens of Denver appear to be
smarter than their national counterparts. They demonstrate more motivation than the teens in
prohibitionist states. Not only won't they allow the school board to erase their history the good and the
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bad but they possess the wits to stop it.

But what really chaps my hiney is that one of the leaders of the school board, Ken Witt, said this little
juicy bit to the Denver Post: "It's a shame we see kids on the streets instead of in classrooms.... It is never
OK to use kids as pawns, and it's exactly what I think is happening here."
FOR SHAME. No, we shan't see our children used as pawns! Except when we hijack their education to
brainwash them so they won't question authority.
He thinks he's playing chess when everyone else is playing checkers.
The leader of the committee, Julie Williams, even admitted she's no expert in history. You're not, Julie?
Then why're you leading this whitewash? If you weren't an expert in math, should we trust you to
redesign JeffCo's math curriculum, too?
Meanwhile, one JeffCo student, Chrystal Sanborn, had this to say about the affair:
You cant censor history because if you dont learn about it its going to keep happening."
And to think, Sanborn doesn't even have her college degree yet. Time to ask the question: Is our children
learning?
YouTube Video
Time to face reality, too. Teens aren't stupid, even if they do watch MTV. Despite over a decade of
legislating their education into the ground, they can still think critically. They can still organize. They can
still smell bullshit from a mile away.
You see, JeffCo, they have teh Intranetz. Whatever you don't teach them, they'll pick up online. They can
access more books, articles, databases, vidoes, and intellectuals than any state-funded high school ever
could.
And the greatest irony of all of this? JeffCo's schools will get a cool slice of the $40 million in marijuana
tax money set aside from Amendment 64 and Proposition AA. If we want to be scared about cannabis
destroying the minds of the youths, let's turn away from the dispensaries and take a long, hard look at the
adults running the schools. They may very well use that marijuana money to continue lying to our teens
about their nation's history.
Stop worrying about the teens already. They're not kids. Start worrying about the grown-ups.
YouTube Video
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Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra's Political Future

http://54.174.32.164/poll/thai-pm-yingluck-shinawatras-political-future/
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Thailand's Military Declares Martial Law

by Randy Robinson - Tuesday, May 20, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/thailands-military-declares-martial-law/
BANGKOK
In
public
security
onresponse
Tuesday.to six months of social unrest, the Thai military assumed full control of the nation's
Since the start of anti-government protests last November, 28 people have died, hundreds have been
injured, and an assassination attempt was made on the demonstrators' leader, Suthep Thaugsuban.
Early Tuesday morning, military personnel entered several privately-owned TV stations. At 3:00 a.m., a
special announcement was broadcast informing Thailand of the nation's martial law status. Army units set
up patrols at the capital's busiest intersections.
The military denied a coup was taking place. Colonel Winthai Suvari, a spokesperson for the army, told
Reuters, "This martial law is just to restore peace and stability. It has nothing to do with the government.
The government is still functioning as normal."
"As normal" may not appease the anti-government movement. Former parlimentarian Thaugsuban and his
People's Democratic Reform Committee want the Shinawatra dynasty completely ousted from Thailand's
politics.
The former prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, is the sister of billionaire telecom tycoon Thaksin
Shinawatra. In 2006, the military deposed then-Prime Minister Thaksin on corruption charges, and he's
lived in Dubai in self-exile ever since.
In 2008, Yingluck introduced legislation to the Parliament which would've effectively pardoned Thaksin
for his alleged crimes. This move ignited mass demonstrations against the Shinawatras. Rivals publicly
accused Yingluck of acting as Thaksin's puppet, abusing her government position to grant her brother
political influence from another country.
Last November, the demonstrations surged to hundreds of thousands of people in Bangkok. The protests
shut down traffic around the downtown area, and government buildings closed. Within a few days,
protesters raided and occupied a number of government offices. On May 7, a tribunal found Yingluck
guilty of abusing her position, and she, along with nine of her ministers, were removed from office.
Thailand's military, however, is known for staging coups when public unrest can't be controlled. Since
1932, Thailand has experienced 18 coups; 11 of those coups, including the one against Thaksin, were
successful.
The interim prime minister and former commerce minister, Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan, refused to
resign on Monday, despite complaints from anti-government protesters. The Reform Committee claims
he is too closely aligned with the Shinawatras to push the reforms they demand.
The current political conflict in Thailand is divided primarily along class lines. The anti-government
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protesters receive the most support from Thailand's middle class. Thaksin Shinawatra still has broad
support from the country's rural population after he instated a number of socialist programs including
universal healthcare.
Pro-government protesters, known as the Red Shirt movement, were cautious but supportive of the
military's move. "We will see what the army wants," said Jatuporn Prompan, the leader of the Red Shirts.
He added a coup would "never solve the country's crisis and will plunge Thailand deeper into trouble."
Under martial law, the military has full authority over any of the nation's security concerns. The
government, which is currently only made up of the Senate, may operate independently of the military.
Under a true coup, the military would govern both security and government affairs.
YouTube Video
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Thailand's Unrest Claims Four More Lives

by Randy Robinson - Monday, February 24, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/thailand-unrest-claims-four-more-lives/
BANGKOK,
During
series
ofdeceased
attacks aimed
anti-government protesters, four people were
killed
over theThailand
weekend.
Three ofa the
four
were at
children.
On Sunday, an explosive detonated at an anti-Shinawatra rally held outside of a shopping mall at the
Ratchaprasong district. A girl, 6, and her brother, 4, were killed during the attack along with a 40-year-old
woman according to KCRA. Twenty-two people were wounded.
The violence was a continuation from Saturday, when a 5-year-old girl was shot and killed in the Trat
province. According to police Col. Jirawut Tantasri, 34 people were wounded during the gun attack.
Lt. Gen. Paradon Patthanathabut said he believed both attacks were perpetrated by the same group, if not
the same individual. "We believed that there is an element which is armed and prone to use violence
means (sic) to achieve their goal," he told KCRA.
Suthep Yangusban, the leader of the "Shutdown Bangkok" protests and a former Thai politician, accused
the Shinawatra government of staging the attacks to justify increased police actions against the protests.
"Let me tell you, brothers and sisters," Suthep told a crowd during a rally last Friday, "There's no need to
suspect anyone else. It is solely the government that is doing this. No one else would do this. They
thought it up, they planned it, and they acted on it."
Suthep has claimed since January that the Thai government has attempted multiple assassinations against
him. He believes the Shinawatra family hired a "mafia" gambling tycoon to murder him in exchange for
expanded business privileges across the country.
The bombing attack on Friday occurred just 30 yards from Suthep, causing him and his supporters to
suspect he was the primary target for the explosion.
Yingluck Shinawatra, the acting prime minister of Thailand, denied any involvement in the attacks and
condemned the perpetrators. She described the attacks as "terrorism" and vowed to pursue justice at all
costs.
Yingluck urged the population to bridge the "political divide" and to respect each other's ideological
differences. "The use of violence that lead to deaths are not the civilized way of living," she said.
Suthep also stressed the need for non-violence and peaceful engagements with the police and the
government.
The Thai army has so far attempted a position of neutrality, neither rushing in to crush the protests nor
threatening the government with a coup. Army Chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha told Bloomberg, "If there are
more losses, the country will collapse and no one will win."
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The "Shutdown Bangkok" protests began last October when Yingluck Shinawatra pushed an amnesty bill
for her brother, Thaksin, so that he could return to the country cleared of any charges brought against him.
Thaksin, a billionaire telecommunications tycoon, was forcibly deposed by the military in 2006 after he
deployed armed groups to shoot and lob bombs at anti-government protesters. He's lived in exile ever
since.
Suthep and his protesters accused Yingluck of abusing her power to circumvent Thailand's justice system.
The opposition groups believe Thaksin is quietly controlling the government through his sister and
corporate networks.
Although Yingluck approved emergency re-elections, Suthep and his allies shut down the polls to prevent
any votes out of fear of vote-tampering. "Shutdown Bangkok" has called for the immediate resignation of
Yingluck and her administration.
The total death count since the protests began has reached 21 after this weekend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYzdPldd7rY
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The Day We Fight Back: Google and Microsoft Protest the NSA
http://54.174.32.164/day-fight-back-google-microsoft-protest-nsa/
On Tuesday, Feb. 11, Google and Microsoft joined scores of others for "The Day We Fight Back"
campaign, a worldwide protest against the NSA's mass surveillance program.
The protest intersected the "real" world and the digital world. Across the Internet, Facebook and Twitter
users changed their cover photos in support of the protest. On the streets, activists picketed at
telecommunication and government buildings.
Google and Microsoft, two international corporations caught in the NSA's surveillance scandal, pledged
their opposition to the US government's unchecked data gathering program.
Google's vice president of public policy, Susan Molina, wrote on the search engine's blog, "Google
recognizes the very real threats that the U.S. and other countries face, but we strongly believe that
government surveillance programs should operate under a legal framework that is rule-bound, narrowly
tailored, transparent, and subject to oversight."
Microsoft took a slightly different approach from Google, noting loss of credibility between corporations,
the government and the people. "[P]eople wont use technology they dont trust," wrote Fredrick
Humphries, Jr., a Microsoft vice president of government affairs. "Governments have put this trust at risk,
and governments need to help restore it. Microsoft will keep advocating for change until that day comes,
and in the meantime will continue to take direct action to protect our customers."
Both Internet giants have been "strong armed" by the NSA into giving up massive amounts of user data,
according to MIT computer scientist Scott Aaronson. The two companies' push-back against the security
agency may be a move toward greater corporate autonomy from the government, or, as some have
charged, a PR campaign for damage control.
Google's position against the NSA comes nearly a year after former CIA agent Edward Snowden released
documents implicating the US government's global surveillance reach. Snowden's leaks show the NSA's
MUSCULAR program exploited Google networks to spy on intelligence targets.
Microsoft, too, is a company involved with the NSA's mass surveillance projects. In December 2013,
additional revelations by Snowden showed Microsoft was under contract with the NSA to produce a
quantum computer capable of cracking any encrypted data.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBM2IvvnFLI
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The End of an Era

by Randy Robinson - Friday, May 02, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/end-era/
Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney, formerly the world's most famous bachelor, is no longer up for
grabs. Last Sunday, April 27, Clooney quietly got engaged to Lebanese human rights attorney Amal
Alamuddin.
Although her fianc's internationally famous, Alamuddin's no lightweight, either. She studied law at
Oxford and New York University's law schools, and she fluently speaks three languages Arabic, French
and English. In 2011, she represented Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and blocked his extradition to
Sweden.
Her resume's rather long, too. She served as an advisor to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and acted
as a member of the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League on Syria.
She was also the head legal advisor to the U.N.'s prosecuting commission for the assassination of
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. The commission was the first international tribunal for terrorist
attacks.
Currently, Alamuddin defends her clients all over the world. She's acted in the International Criminal
Court, the European Court of Human Rights, and smaller courts in the United Kingdom and the United
States.
Over the years, Clooney himself engaged in activism for human rights issues, making the match between
him and Alamuddin not-so-unlikely. In 2012, Clooney, along with a group of other protesters, were
arrested during a protest at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. In addition to that, he's organized
benefits, telethons and humanitarian organizations to address disaster relief, war crimes and LGBT rights.
The nation of Iran even threatened to sue Clooney (and co-conspirator Ben Affleck) for producing the
Oscar-winning film Argo, which depicted the 1970s U.S. embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.
Of course, news of the engagement triggered a wave of disappointment from women and gay men across
social media, blogs and even morning shows.
TODAY Show hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb expressed their dismay that Clooney would no
longer be available for them even though Gifford's been "supposedly happily married" for almost 30
years, and Clooney's way out of Kotb's league.
Twitter's been buzzing with reactions to the engagement, too. One tweet predicted the engagement would
fall short in two months, although the majority displayed shock, awe or amusement over Clooney's offmarket status.
According to Al Arabiya, Middle Easterners buzzed just as much over the proposal as celebrity-obsessed
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Americans. Comedian and writer Amer Zahr penned a piece congratulating the engagement, wherein he
welcomed the American-born Clooney as a soon-to-be Arab convert.
YouTube Video
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The Glass Bowl Doctrine: Nuking Arabs

by Randy Robinson - Thursday, September 04, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/glass-bowl-doctrine-nuking-arabs/
If you're an American, I'm willing to bet a million Bitcoins you've heard this one:
"Let's just nuke the Middle East into a glass bowl and be done with it."
I call this the "Glass Bowl Doctrine."
There's two camps of Glass Bowlers: one camp wants to level the Middle East and revert to an isolationist
policy, where the US no longer intervenes in Arab affairs. Fair enough.
The second camp plans to have us rush in after we drop the nukes and steal all the oil (presumably after
the radiation subsides in 20,000 years).
With the sudden rise of the Islamic State group, as well as increased threats from al-Qaeda (holy shit,
remember those old-timers?!), this particular plan is once again gaining popularity among the Yanks in
both camps.
http://youtu.be/dGNTCde1Vw4?t=3s
For those of us who're more rational, we can -- without even consulting Google -- list plenty of reasons
why dropping nuclear weapons anywhere is a really, really, really bad idea. Alas, the proponents of the
Glass Bowl doctrine are not exactly rational people, so we must address their position from unique
perspectives.
Below you'll find the Top 5 Reasons Why We Should Not Nuke the Middle East.
5. Glass is difficult to drill.

I can't even drive through a back-alley without blowing a tire. How are semis going to drive over
fields of trinitite?
There's a lot of logistical issues with pumping oil from ground zero. For one, it'd be, like, a gazillion
times more difficult to transport all that petroleum over glass roadways. And if there's ever an oil spill (or
hell, even a light drizzle)? Forget about it.
Then there's the drilling part. In order to drill through glass, we'd need piles of giant diamond-tipped drill
bits. Considering we're facing a worldwide diamond shortage, this could be a serious problem. It gets
worse, too, since nuking the Middle East would mean vaporizing all the Jews in Israel who, as we all
know, secretly control the world's diamond supplies (and the gold, and the media, and Larry David).
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4. We'd burn all that delicious oil.

Experts believe petroleum is somewhat flammable. (Source: U.S. Marine Corps)
I'm pretty sure nuking the Middle East would also mean we'd end up frying all that oil beneath the sand.
This is based on my expertise in nuclear chemistry (I passed high school physics with a C-).
3. We'll end up going to war with Great Britain.

Yes, the British Army still looks exactly like this. (Source: Boston.com)
Sure, America kicked England's ass before (with some help from the French, but only a little). But in
2014, we would face an even graver threat under Cameron, much worse than under King George.
The majority of Britain's restaurants are curry joints. Granted, most of these are Indian cuisine (owned
and operated by Bangladeshi immigrants), but Middle Eastern spices factor significantly into this
equation.
Without their curries (or a steady supply of brown people to produce said curries), the British would
certainly be forced to fall back on their local dining options. These include mouth-watering dishes like
"blood pudding" and "spotted dick."
If the British lose their exotic dining experiences, they may very well ignite World War III. I mean, shit,
they went to war with the American colonists just because we dumped some of their tea into Boston
Harbor and you can't even eat tea.
2. Islamic terrorism will not go away.

According to esteemed political analyst and CIA-insider Mark Davis, Al-Qaeda is building a base on the
moon. On the moon! And very likely right next to the secret Nazi moon-base, to boot.
However will we wage war against the terrorists when they're manufacturing our destruction from the
frigid, dusty confines of the friggin' moon? NASA can't even afford metric system conversions, much less
a fleet of space drones (oh, wait...).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prLOjYqwaAc
1. Jihadist zombies.
Zombies are in the Quran. I'm not joking. Check out verse 2:243.
Uh, hello, did I even need to mention this one? There's bound to be survivors among the nuclear fallout,
and you better believe they'll be unholy terrors: jihadi zombies.
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Shooting militants is easy; it's as easy as blocking a street and parking your gunship over it. But shooting
zombified militants in the head every single time could be a task for US forces, even for a generation
raised on Call of Duty and The Walking Dead.
And just for shits-n-giggles, here's a bonus reason not to melt the Middle East's face off the map:
Bonus Reason: Who's going to teach us how to do this?

http://youtu.be/6lP1I2bvg_Y?t=1m23s
I'm sure, as the globe confronts the ominous threat of climate change, domestic terrorism, and economic
inequality, this skill will come in handy. For some reason. Some day.
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The Gun Control Debate Needs to End Already

by Randy Robinson - Saturday, March 08, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/gun-control-debate-needs-end-already/
Gun control's one of those things in America that just never goes away. Recently, Facebook's new policy
blocks gun dealers from advertising to kids. The policy is kind of a duh, and I'm surprised it took
Facebook nearly a decade to put it in place.
That's fairly sound. I think we can all agree guns shouldn't be peddled to kids.
So of course the NRA, which looks more like a "terrorist group" every day, took issue with Facebook.
Tom King, who belongs to an NRA-affiliate in New York, invoked freedom of speech. He said the new
policy was "kind of a limit on our First Amendment rights."
Really.
What irks me most about gun-nuts is their so-called defense of the Constitution, when they're completely
ignorant on what the Constitution is and what it's for.
The Constitution's only purpose is to outline the powers and limitations of the federal government. If Tom
King and the rest of the NRA were so concerned about the First Amendment, they'd be going after antiwhistleblower campaigns. I've yet to see the NRA defend the likes of Snowden, Manning, Assange, etc.
Also, considering the NRA threatened someone who criticized them, I'd say their record concerning the
First Amendment is pretty dismal.
But let's look at some numbers now. The NRA loves the Constitutional argument. "The Founding Fathers
intended this," "The Founding Fathers intended that." Okay. Let's break that down.
On average, 100,000 Americans are shot each year. Of that number, 30,000 Americans are killed by a
firearm each year.
Let me reiterate that: 30,000 people men, women, children die every year from our "Right to Bear
Arms." Nearly three quarters of all murders and manslaughters involve a firearm.
In my country, children are three times more likely to get shot than U.S. soldiers in combat. Yeah, that's a
really sad number.
Now, don't get it twisted. I don't oppose the Second Amendment. I understand its historical context. Until
our police officers are legally obligated to protect us (which they aren't), and an officer is stationed at
every city block (like in parts of Asia), we should have the right to arm ourselves.
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But if we're going to make a Constitutional argument, well here goes: the Founding Fathers never
envisioned AK-47s or AR-15s. They never imagined, one day, we'd have automatic weapons capable of
holding over a hundred rounds. Laser sights. Sound suppression. Exploding bullets. Hollow-points. Fullmetal jackets. 50-caliber pistols capable of knocking out tanks.
None of this shit existed back in 1776.
Back then, they had single-shot muskets requiring a full minute to reload. I'm sure if Thomas Jefferson
saw an issue of Guns & Ammo, he would've rethought the Second Amendment.
The times have changed. There's no debate there, yet gun-control supporters and the gun lobby never
discuss this part of history. Instead, the UCLA harps on about "state militias" while the NRA cries about
"overthrowing tyranny."
We need to reevaluate the Second Amendment, and we need to do it now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gfFclLtPDo
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The Islamic State is Wrong About Cannabis

by Randy Robinson - Friday, August 29, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/islamic-state-wrong-cannabis/
Apparently, the Islamic State (I.S.) is on an anti-pot crusade in Syria. They're raiding cannabis farms and
burning down the fields. (And I'm willing to bet they're taking slow, deep breaths as they monitor the
raze.)
I.S. claims they burned the cannabis fields because weed is banned in the Quran. The thing is it isn't.
Whenever right-wing Muslims denounce the use of intoxicants, they draw from a specific passage in the
Quran:
O you who believe! Intoxicants and games of chance and (sacrificing to) stones and (divining by) arrows
are only an uncleanness, the work of Shaitan; shun it therefore that you may be successful. The Shaitan
only desires to cause enmity and hatred to spring in your midst by means of intoxicants and games of
chance, and to keep you off from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. Will you then desist?
(Quran, 5:90-91)
The original Arabic word used for "intoxicants" is khamar. Like most words translated not only between
distant cultures, but also between distant time periods, this is an incomplete translation. To fully
understand it requires a bit of historical context.
Khamar better translates into "fogging the mind" or "confusion." It doesn't automatically mean it's
something bad or haram (sinful). But if misused, khamar could be sinful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIspt-RKlhw
The Prophet's concern here was if Muslims imbibed khamar to excess, it'd screw them up. If they're too
wasted to pray, they're too wasted to follow Allah. It's common sense.
And then there's this other verse from the Quran one the hardliners tend to forget - which clarifies
Allah's stance on "intoxicants":
And of the fruits of the palms and the vines, you take therefrom an intoxicant and a provision fair.
Surely in that is a sign for a people who understand. And thy Lord revealed unto the bees, saying: 'Take
unto yourselves, of the mountains, houses, and of the trees, and of what they are building. Then eat of all
manner of fruit, and follow the ways of your Lord easy to go upon.' Then comes there forth out of their
bellies a drink of diverse hues wherein is healing for men. Surely in that is a sign for a people who reflect.
(Quran, 16:64-69)
Here, the Prophet states that plants can be both dangerous and beneficial ("provision fair"), and trusts his
people to know when too much is too much. After all, the "fruits" were meant for human consumption.
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So here we have, yet again, another example of the Islamic State's complete fucktardery. They don't even
understand the basic precepts of the their holy book.
Christian prohibitionists in the U.S. rely on a similar tactic, misrepresenting the Bible to justify a racist
and classist drug war. They'll ramble on about our bodies being our "temples," but will ignore God's
words in Genesis 1:29: "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree
that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food." Cannabis bears seeds and has awesome
nutritional value, therefore God's totally cool with it.
It's possible I.S. isn't going after cannabis because they think it's sinful. There's also a military strategy
here: by burning cannabis fields, they're cutting off a major source of revenue (and stress relief) from
their Syrian enemies. In which case, they're just blowing smoke up our asses with all this haram B.S.
Toke on, Muslims. As long as you're keeping up on your prayers and living a decent, humble life you
can smoke as much weed as you please.
YouTube Video
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The Myth of Non-Lethal Weapons

by Randy Robinson - Tuesday, January 07, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/myth-non-lethal-weapons/
Last week,
Said Jasser
Aliput
died
from inhaling
tear aside
gas. He
an 85-year-old Palestinian killed by Israel
Defense
Forces,
but let's
factional
differences
forwas
a moment.
Forget that Ali was a Palestinian. Forget that the tear gas was launched by Israelis. Step outside of the
nationalist politics and focus instead on what essentially happened.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
Witnesses said IDF soldiers fired tear gas canisters at Palestinian homes, including that of Ali. He was
later rushed to Al-Arabi Hospital in Nablus, where he was pronounced dead around midnight on
Wednesday.
This all happened during a riot that evolved from celebrations for the founding of Fatah.
Rioters, protesters, and dissidents of all shapes, sizes, and creeds are suppressed by the police. This
happens everywhere; it doesn't matter if you're Arab or American. Police forces rely on so-called "nonlethal" weapons to disperse crowds and immobilize citizens deemed unruly.
However, these weapons are not non-lethal. They can be as lethal as any lead bullet. Every week there are
reports from somewhere in the world that police killed someone by smothering the suspect in pepper
spray or stunning a suspect with a Taser until it triggered a cardiac arrest. In some cases, police simply
choke the victim to death using "advanced restraining techniques."
This is the problem. Authorities fall into a false sense of security when these weapons and tactics are
called "non-lethal." They may mistakenly employ these weapons with zeal, believing the "non-lethal"
label confirms their righteous duty as peacekeepers. The righteous, after all, only kill when absolutely
necessary.
To add insult to injury, these weapons don't have the same restrictions as, say, a firearm. Every police
force must follow strict protocols when using a gun, but if they use "non-lethal" weapons, any deaths that
occur get chalked up as "accidental."
It's time to get honest about anti-riot technology. This stuff isn't non-lethal, and the authorities know that.
These weapons tend to kill the elderly, the young, and the ill, making our most vulnerable citizens the
most likely to die from misuse of non-lethal weapons.
There's a real simple solution to all of this. It's kind of revolutionary, actually. In light of all the protests
and police brutality that have happened over the past few years, maybe we should all consider this
solution:
If governments want to keep their citizens quiet, maybe they should listen to the protesters instead of
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blasting tear gas.

Poll: Should tear gas and Tasers be reclassified as lethal weapons?
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The Need to Legalize Lebanese Weed

http://54.174.32.164/need-legalize-lebanese-weed/
When I first saw a photo of Walid Jumblatt, the cannabis-lover in me saw his sleepy-looking eyes and
thought, "There's a stoner."
Alas, I was wrong, if we believe Jumblatt himself.
The head of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party claims he's never even touched a doobie, much less
inhaled one. However, he fully supports the legalization of cannabis in his country, despite harsh
crackdown efforts since the 1990s.
Walid Jumblatt, Lebanese politician and cannabis supporter. (Source: IvarFjeld.com)
Lebanon began its war against cannabis after international pressure from prohibitionist nations, primarily
the United States. Like all the other horrible things my country exports (including bombs, guns, debt,
and Katy Perry), the War on Drugs deeply harms the entire globe. And in Lebanon, the War on Drugs
has, unsurprisingly, been a complete failure.
In the Americas, the War on Drugs gave rise to the Mexican cartels, organized crime outfits that strike
fear in locals and federal agents alike. In Lebanon, the crusade against cannabis fuels Hezbollah, the socalled state-within-a-state that's been directly linked to attacks on innocent civilians.
As should be obvious to most of the readers at TDC, I'm not Lebanese. I'm an American who just-sohappened to have spent most of his life in Colorado. And yes, I was part of the legalization movement
there.
I can say, with little doubt, that Colorado has the world's finest weed. I've tried it in other states, and to be
frank, other states don't bring the same A-Game as the Centennial State.
However, some of my Arab peers beg to differ. I've heard that Lebanon actually has the world's best herb,
and one day I hope to take up that "Pepsi challenge." Legally, of course.
What many American potheads don't know is that, for most of human history, Lebanese farmers were
known as the world's cannabis masters. The legendary strain, "Lebanese Red," comes from none other
than Bekaa Valley. Estimates put Lebanon at the number five spot for world's top hashish producer -- and
that's even under prohibition.
Where the War on Drugs Meets the War on Terror

Prohibition, however, hasn't accomplished much in Bekaa Valley. That's because in Lebanon, cannabis
farmers don't take shit from the government. In the clip from VICE featured below, farmers arm
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themselves with heavy machine guns and rocket launchers. They have the firepower and manpower to
repel government forces from their land.
http://youtu.be/qTM6siUyTzQ
It probably also helps that, within the Bekaa Valley, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) don't really call the
shots; Hezbollah does.
Hezbollah, the Islamist organization that acts as both a political party and a militant group, controls
the Valley. Cannabis produced there which is always converted into hashish goes through the hands
of the self-titled "Party of God" in some way, shape, or form.
http://youtu.be/Bpb0p6d1Mw4
The sad part is, Hezbollah claims it doesn't smoke the stuff. That would be, according to them, haram (a
sin). Yeah, right. Suuuure you don't smoke it.
Hezbollah controlled territories in Lebanon.
Lebanon's Best Efforts

A couple of years ago, Lebanon attempted to stamp out cannabis farming with its other world renowned
intoxicant: wine.
Under this program, French vines were transported to Bekaa Valley. Participating farmers
abandoned Cannabis sativa in order to produce a far more dangerous drug, alcohol. According to the
World Health Organization (WHO), 2.5 million people die each year from alcohol.
Guess how many people die each year from weed? Try zero.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru03rRR2E9k
Suffice to say, Lebanon's weed-into-wine program failed miserably. Because, let's face it: it was a dumb
idea to begin with. Along with grapes, other crops were employed to replace cannabis, but cannabis
thrives in Lebanon's soil under the Lebanese climate. It's cheaper and easier to grow there than any other
crop you can think up.
The market for grapes, wine, and other boring products couldn't diminish the demand for cannabis, and
many of those well-meaning farmers went bankrupt. Most fled to the cities to try and eke out a living.
This exodus of growers meant those loyal to Hezbollah now oversee a greater share of the grows -- and
the profits.
Noah Zaiter, described by The Daily Beast as "one of the most powerful men in Lebanon," makes all his
money from Lebanese Red. He claimed if cannabis were legalized for just six months, he'd pay down the
country's entire debt -- somewhere to the tune of $36 billion. That may be an exaggeration on Zaiter's
part, considering Colorado's legal weed is expected to sell only $1 billion worth of product by the end of
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2014. It's a fun goal to set, nonetheless.

Regardless, legal cannabis in Lebanon would do a lot of good. Besides saving money on clearing fields of
weed, ISF officers won't have to worry about dodging grenades because of a plant. Lebanon would also
experience a boom to its faltering tourism industry, of which a quarter of the nation's economy depends
on. Tax revenue could go into infrastructure, particularly Lebanese schools which desperately need
funding. And since cannabis serves as an excellent supplement to pharmaceuticals, widespread use of
medical marijuana could very well ease some of the strain on the nation's inefficient healthcare system.
But don't take my word for it. Economist Marwan Iskander agrees with me. He told Reuters that
legalization would bring about $400 million a year to the Lebanese government and projected $2 billion
in overall sales. Not bad.
Even those hard-ass farmers, with their RPGs and gatling guns, want it legalized. Ali Shamas, the weed
grower featured in the VICE video above, told Reuters, "We don't like cultivating cannabis by force and
making problems. When the state legalises it and gives licenses, as they do for tobacco cultivation, we
would abide by that, and the state would receive (revenues) from us."
It seems like the only group that doesn't want it legal is Hezbollah.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDUGL2caoag
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The NSA's Quantum Supercomputer to Crack Encryption

by Randy Robinson - Monday, January 06, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/nsa-constructing-quantum-supercomputer-crack-encryption/
One of the latest Snowden documents shows the NSA is building a quantum supercomputer to crack any
encrypted system or communication.
According to the Washington Post, the $80 million dollar research project is called "Penetrating Hard
Targets."
Quantum supercomputers don't exist yet, but they're a dream-come-true for some scientists. Classical
computers, like the kind being used to read this article, rely on binary codes to relay information. These
binary codes, or "bits," are translated as 1 or 0.
A quantum computer exploits the "fuzzy" nature of reality. Using a concept known as "superposition," a
quantum computer can store information as both 1 and 0 in data called a "qubit."
Quantum computers would differ from classical computers according to calculating power. Classical
computers must solve an algorithm one step at a time, whereas a quantum computer's data superpositions
enable it to skip steps unnecessary for arriving at the final answer.
Why would the NSA, or anyone else for that matter, want a quantum computer? Since quantum
computers can process large amounts of data, that means they're ideal for breaking encryption.
Encryption is a process of shielding or cloaking information in nonsense, gibberish data that can't be read
by anyone. Using a particular key or pass code, the "gibberish shield" falls away, and the useful data can
be accessed. Encryption is vital for protecting private or confidential information, as governments,
businesses, and even casual computers users employ encrypted networks for secure data transfers.
By today's standards, most encryption would take weeks, if not years, to break. A quantum computer,
however, could theoretically crack an encryption key in days, if not sooner.
Although this newest NSA development may sound like the makings of a modern-day panopticon, the
United States isn't alone in this effort.
Computer World compared the UK government's spending for its own quantum computers against
America's, and there's a significant difference: $444 million, over five times as much. Russia, China and
the EU have also been racing to create the first sophisticated quantum computing device.
Hacking passwords isn't the only use for a quantum computer. Vern Brownell, the CEO of D-Wave, told
Computer World that quantum computing can be used for a variety of problems. Medical research,
financial analyses, and other logistical puzzles could be easily solved by a quantum computer, he said.
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Despite the NSA's efforts to be the first to get their hands on a quantum computer, successfully designing
such technology may be several years away. Seth Lloyd, a quantum mechanical engineer at MIT,
expressed his doubts.
"I don't think we're likely to have the type of quantum computer the NSA wants within at least five years,
in the absence of a significant breakthrough maybe much longer," he said to the Washington Post.
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The U.S. Congress is Now a Drug Cartel

http://54.174.32.164/u-s-congress-now-drug-cartel/
That title's a bit misleading: we've always known Congress was full of crooks.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives approved an amendment so American banks could finally
accept money from legal weed businesses. That only took, oh, I don't know, 18 years since California first
permitted medical marijuana. Our nation's first legal weed program is almost old enough to vote.
For years, our banks wouldn't take cash from the regulated cannabis industry. They feared accepting this
money would implicate them in federal "kingpin" laws which is funny, because major banks had no
problem laundering cartel funds.
But after yesterday's vote, the House once again seeped themselves deep in legislative hypocrisy.
According to their own federal rules, any representative who accepted campaign funds from a bank, or
who owns stock in a bank, just violated a whole slew of laundering, trafficking, and racketeering statutes.
Cannabis is still Schedule I, meaning the federal government considers it the worst of the worst among
illicit drugs. Anti-drug policies typically punish offenders according to the schedule of the drug, not the
nature of the drug itself. Until cannabis is rescheduled (or better yet, removed from scheduling
altogether), any reforms stand at odds against the Controlled Substances Act.
Ground Zero: Colorado
The above legal conflict isn't some far-fetched allegation from a random pothead, either. Last month,
attorney Rob Corry, along with Miguel Lopez of the 420 Rally and Larisa Bolivar of the Cannabis
Consumer Union, sued the state of Colorado along similar lines. Their suit accused Colorado Governor
John Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock of breaking the federal "kingpin" statutes. In
other words, the plaintiffs allege Colorado's politicians are guilty of conspiracy, money laundering, and
drug trafficking because of the state's regulated (and taxed) cannabis industry.
Corry and Bolivar both stated they don't really believe Colorado's government is guilty of Tony Montanastyle gang-banging. Rather, the suit's basically a stunt to pressure the governor and his self-loathing
mayor buddy to campaign for the state's lucrative cannabis industry. There's a serious conflict between
federal and state laws when it comes to legal weed.
http://youtu.be/ZVlzIJOSSsk
Stop and think about it for a second. Both Hickenlooper and Hancock are reaping huge tax revenues for
their fiefdoms, even though both men opposed Amendment 64. They may raise a stink over the stank of
skunk, but neither one of them seems too shy about spending that weed money. It makes sense Colorado
should spearhead federal legalization efforts.
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And soon, our banks and all their grubby little shareholders will technically be guilty of the same
conspiracy crimes.
Cannabis Prohibition: Ending Sooner Than You Think
Of course, I don't think the House members actually violated kingpin statutes yesterday. Cannabis
sativa's a fucking plant, for crying out loud. It has a whole host of medicinal properties, and yeah, it's the
safest way to get high. We have a right to access it as a medicine, and goddamn it, we have a right to get
ripped.
http://youtu.be/IHBsxfbgrbY
Regardless, if banks begin taking money from legal weed businesses, that spells the end of cannabis
prohibition. It's over. The uncertainties over whether or not this or that investor can cash-in on legit weed
will be gone. Seed money will pour in. Shares will swap as long as the markets are open. Investment
firms can finally buffer some of those gaping wounds created by their risky global Ponzi schemes.
Banks are the most powerful entities on the planet. Once they're sitting on the piles of cash-money
generated by legal green, this chapter of the War on Drugs is over. We'll no longer have to claw through
courtrooms to get legal access to the sacred herb. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup will
do it for us.
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Think of the Kids

by Randy Robinson - Monday, November 24, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/think-kids/
"Oh noes, all this legal marijuanas will destroy our childrens!"
I've been hearing this battle cry from prohibitionists since I was a kid which was a long fuckin' time
ago. And I think I turned out just fine. (Those who know me, please, hold your laughter until you get to
the end of this post.)
This past Halloween, the nation got a taste of what medical states have heard for years: evil strangers will
hand out pot-candy to the kids!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8jmvL8GOF4
Of course, after Halloween came and passed, nothing happened. It never has; there's never been one
documented case of a kid getting dosed on a Cheeba Chew during Halloween.
It doesn't stop there. Every week I'm seeing another article from some derp exclaiming pot does this or
that horrible thing to the minds of our youth. The most popular tropes are low IQs, brain damage, or the
inducing of psychosis. (By the way, none of these anti-pot claims are true.)
Related Post: Does Cannabis Affect IQ?
Now, I don't want to downplay the dangers of cannabis edibles and little kids. Despite what pro-pot
activists may say, it can be dangerous to the younglings. There've been a few cases of toddlers slipping
into comas after eating massive amounts THC. Don't believe me? You can read about 'em here, here, and
here. (This coma thing is fairly rare, however.)
But Let's Get Real

Okay. Too much pot cookie for junior can turn him into a vegetable. Even if it's temporary, even if it's
rarer than a dodo sighting that's fucking scary.
But if we're going to waste billions of dollars imprisoning people over a plant, let's be fair about it, shall
we? Let's be sure we go after everything that poses a hazard to our children.
1. Laundry Pods
Be honest: they look delicious. (Screen capture from ABC News)
So convenient! So fresh! So deadly!
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Sure, prohibitionists can cite dozens of cases of kids going to the hospital from edibles. But according to
CBS:
"The first comprehensive study on the dangers of laundry pods, published Monday in the journal
Pediatrics, found that 17,230 children younger than 6 years old - an average of one child every hour swallowed, inhaled or suffered skin or eye injury from the products in 2012-2013."
Holy fuck! One child every hour? Compare that to one or so kids a month in Colorado who end up in the
ER because of pot candy.
2. Diaper Cream
Christopher Ingraham at The Washington Post recently wrote an article titled, "Your kid is 136 times
more likely to be poisoned by diaper cream than by weed."
Sensational, you say? I think not:
The stuff you put on your baby's butt is more dangerous than cannabis. Stick that in your pipe and smoke
it.
3. Guns
About 10,000 kids are shot in the US each year. About 7,000 of those kids go to the ER due to injuries;
the other 3,000 kids die.
Three. Thousand.
Let's see what that looks like graphically:
Oh, I hear some of you red-blooded Americans saying, "But guns are my constitutional right! Wacky
tobacky ain't no right!"
The right to bear arms is protected by the 2nd Amendment. However, the Constitution doesn't grant the
federal government the power to regulate cannabis, either.
For a historical example, consider the 18th Amendment. Haven't heard of it? That's because it's no longer
in the Constitution. It was the amendment that banned alcohol.
Back in 1920, the US government had to create a constitutional amendment to outlaw booze. Why?
Because the feds couldn't legally regulate it without the amendment. Yet where is the amendment banning
weed?
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So if you really believe in the Constitution, and you're okay with 3,000 kids dying for no-good-fucking
reason other than your precious 2nd Amendment you'd better be voting to legalize in 2016.
And please stop exploiting children to further your illegal, unethical cause: a lot of kids need cannabis
medicines. It's not the legalization activists who're killing kids - it's the prohibitionists.
http://youtu.be/j1HGgZzBxW8
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Thor vs Batina
http://54.174.32.164/poll/thor-vs-batina/
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Thousands Across Globe March for Syria

http://54.174.32.164/thousands-across-globe-march-syria/
PARIS In Western capitals around the world, thousands of protesters marched Saturday to support the
war-stricken citizens of Syria.
The civil war in Syria has killed an estimated 146,000 people and led to hundreds of thousands refugees,
since it began four years ago.
According to an AFP report, Rome held the largest turnout, with over 3,000 people protesting against the
Assad regime.
London held the second biggest turnout, with roughly a thousand demonstrators carrying pickets and
Syrian flags down to Downing Street.
"Your silence is killing us," read one sign. Another read, "Revolution until victory, Syrians deserve life."
Banksy, the elusive fugitive graffiti artist, announced a wall stencil in London on March 18 featuring a
girl with a red balloon, the BBC reported. The image promoted #withsyria, a solidarity campaign for
those suffering under Syria's fighting.
All participating capitals joined Banksy by releasing red balloons on Thursday.
Washington, D.C., too, witnessed a thousand people chanting "revolution" near the White House gates.
In Madrid, hundreds gathered, shouting slogans and waving signs. In Paris, the marchers met at the Eiffel
Tower, which beamed "# Avec Les Syrians" through a set of giant bulbs.
"We are here today, three years after the start of the repression and conflict, to support the Syrians who
are there and in our country," said Genevieve Garrigos, the head of Amnesty International in France.
Syria's parliament recently allowed other candidates to run against President Bashar al-Assad. Peace talks
between the U.N., U.S., and Russia are still on-going in Geneva with little success so far.
YouTube Video
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Three More Killed in Egypt Protests Ahead of Elections

by Randy Robinson - Sunday, May 25, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/three-killed-egypts-protests-ahead-elections/
CAIRO During pro-Morsi protests last Friday, three people were killed by Egyptian police forces and
another 58 were injured.
Eye witness accounts differ, although most agree the protesters were fired upon first. Egyptian authorities
claim residents who oppose the Muslim Brother shot at the protesters before the police got involved.
However, an Associated Press story reported some protesters said the gunmen were Egyptian security
forces disguised in civilian clothing, due to the kinds of guns used in the shooting.
According to the Health Ministry, two of the killings occurred in Cairo. The third happened in Fayoum.
Ever since the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi last summer, Muslim Brotherhood supporters have
gathered each Friday to stage demonstrations against the military-backed interim government. The
government has banned all protests held without a permit, though Brotherhood and Morsi supporters
continue to picket. Last Friday's protests were the final ones before the presidential elections next week.
Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the military commander who authorized the arrest and removal of Morsi in July
2013, is expected to win the elections. His only opponent is Hamdeen Sabahi, who ran against Morsi in
the 2012 election. Sabahi has campaigned as a pan-Arab nationalist candidate, promising to accord the
same rights to members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood despite the interim government's
declaration earlier this year that the Brotherhood was a terrorist organization.
Sabry Abdel-Sattar, an engineering professional, told Ahram Online, "Hamdeen represents the great
history of struggle. We come a slightly younger generation and for us, he was an inspiration for
patriotism."
Over 1,500 Egyptians have died in police and military clashes since the summer of 2013, according to
conservative estimates. Despite the violence, El-Sisi's momentum among Egyptians appears secure. Last
week, pro-Sisi supporters held an event called "Ideas Have Wings," where children in Cairo flew kites
bearing El-Sisi's face.
One of El-Sisi's campaigners, Nada Barakat, said during a recent interview, "In only one year, (El-Sisi)
has managed to restore the spirit of Egyptians and bridged rifts between government institutions. Prior to
30 June (2013), Egyptians were lost and fearful. El-Sisi gave people back their dreams and hopes for a
better future."
http://youtu.be/rx82949yoak
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Time to Confront America's Opioid Addicton

by Randy Robinson - Tuesday, April 01, 2014
http://54.174.32.164/time-confront-opioid-opiate-addicton/
When Oscar-winning actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman died from a heroin overdose a couple of months
ago, opiates suddenly basked in the spotlight again.
Too bad everyone's only talking about heroin, because heroin's the least of our problems.
The BBC reported there's an estimated 500,000 heroin addicts in the U.S. That's a lot. But there's 2
million painkiller addicts just in my country, and the media's been fairly quiet about that.
Opioid addiction's gotten so bad some cities are letting their cops play doctor, namely to administer the
anti-overdose drug Narcan to addicts who took too much.
Last Thursday, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick declared a public health emergency. The
opiate/opioid problem in his state just spiraled-the-fuck out of control. He called it an "epidemic" and a
"public health crisis." He's letting pharmacies sell Narcan to anyone who knows someone hooked on junk,
because even the cops may not get there on time.
Heroin's part of this twisted equation, but prescription painkillers are much easier to obtain than smack.
Snake Eating Its Own Tail
Doctors call it "medicine." If you're in the right bind, you can get a prescription for it. It's totally legit.
They even give it to children.
Now, don't get me wrong. Opioids serve a purpose. Pain in and of itself is a disease, and suffering chronic
pain can lead to a whole host of nasty conditions, not to mention diminish the overall quality of life.
However, more people are dying from painkiller overdoses than heroin and cocaine combined. America
has 5% of the world's population and consumes 80% of the planet's opiates and opioids, most of it
supplied by our "health care" system.
The Center for Disease Control reported roughly 100 people die every day just in the U.S. from drug
overdoses. Since 1990, the rate of drug deaths has tripled. Three out of four prescription overdoses are
caused by painkillers. It's not ecstasy, or molly, or crack, or even meth that's doing this. It's painkillers.
Remember: painkillers are legal.
Getting Rocked by Roxi
OxyContin aka oxycodone aka Roxi is public enemy #1. Known colloquially as "hillbilly heroin," it can
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be chewed, snorted, or injected. It's basically clean, pharmaceutical-grade smack, and you can pick it up
at your local Walgreens if you've got a 'script.
In 2007, the federal government sued Purdue Pharma the creators of OxyContin for lying to everyone
about oxycodone's insane addiction potential. It was one of the biggest pharmaceutical settlements in
history: $600 million. Purdue's president, head attorney, and chief medical officer were individually fined
under criminal charges for misbranding, totaling $35 million.
Of course, Purdue stacked a cool $3 billion in OxyContin sales just in 2011. So $600 million is a drop-inthe-bucket for these glorified smack pimps.
Profit Over Peeps
When we consider the treatments for opioid addiction Suboxone, Naloxone, methadone, etc. the
scheme's up. Suboxone alone netted $1.5 billion in 2012, surpassing Adderall and Viagra's sales. Yeah,
you read that right: more money's spent on overcoming opioid addiction than on ADHD or limp dicks.
And these "alternatives" are fairly dangerous themselves, as they can also cause addiction and overdose.
It's time we reevaluate what we're doing and how we're spending our public funds. Purdue Pharma and
any generics manufacturer should be paying for every incarceration, every rehab session, every drug
awareness class related to their homicidal product. They should be fined into humility. They've created an
empire off of shattered families and broken hopes; it's the least they could do.
See, Purdue doesn't just make OxyContin. They make a topical antiseptic and a name-brand laxative
two products most opioid addicts need to deal with their addiction. Antiseptic prevents infections from
needle punctures. Laxatives relieve the constipation caused by depressed gastrointestinal muscles.
Yeah, Purdue's that dirty. They don't just make money off their "blockbuster" drug; they make extra
dough selling meds to control its side effects. But hey, that's capitalistic medicine, right?
If Purdue really cared about patients, they'd fix this. But they won't, because they don't.
At least OxyContin has an excuse: it's just a pill. It doesn't know any better. Purdue's board of directors is
made up of living, breathing human beings who're supposed to have consciences.
May they all suffocate under their piles of filthy money.
YouTube Video
Poll: Should Purdue Pharmaceuticals face another round of fines?

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Training Iraqi Troops Yet Again

http://54.174.32.164/poll/training-iraqi-troops-yet/
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The Dialogue Chronicle
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