Former LAPD Deputy Chief Stephen Downing Ignored By Obama on Drug War Question

Source: Adam Kokesh

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Original Question Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0IpiATxdR4

Hundreds of 9/11 Cops Diagnosed with Cancer

Source: RT

The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center took the lives of 23 NYPD officers who responded to the scene that day. 

In the decade since though, the number of cops that have died from cancer is more than double that number, and the link, experts say, is astounding.

Before the 9/11 tragedy, an average of six NYPD cops filed claims for cancer-related disability each year. Around 12,000 men and women were dispatched to Ground Zero on September 11, and a decade down the road, the number of annual cancer claims has nearly tripled. Today there around 16 police officers each year in New York that are applying for cancer-related disability insurance, and the statistic has some saying that it is more than a coincidence.

In all, 297 cops that came to the scene of the September 11 terrorist attack in Lower Manhattan have been diagnosed with cancer since late 2001. 56 of them have passed away from their illnesses and the average age of diagnosis is only 44 years old. Less than half of that number — 23 police officers — were actually killed on the scene at Ground Zero.

The latest numbers come after a just-released study was published out of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, and they say that the number of cancer deaths in the last decade is growing in “astronomical numbers.”

New York Times Publishes Hit Piece Against US Constitution As FBI Demonizes Everyday Americans As Possible Terrorists

Source: The Intel Hub

In a move that has shocked many Americans, the New York Times has published a hit piece against the US Constitution and its “outdated” ways.

The hit piece comes on the heels of a sitting justice of the Supreme Court recommending multiple other constitutions and human rights charters to Egypt over the very constitution she is tasked to protect.

Joe Joseph, speaking during an emotionally charged Intel Hub News Brief Podcast, outlined this disgusting attack on the very foundation of this country and the ridiculous examples and excuses used to demonize the Constitution.

In the hit piece, the author actually claims that the US Constitution guarantees “relatively few rights."

There are lots of possible reasons. The United States Constitution is terse and old, and it guarantees relatively few rights.

The commitment of some members of the Supreme Court to interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning in the 18th century may send the signal that it is of little current use to, say, a new African nation.

And the Constitution’s waning influence may be part of a general decline in American power and prestige.

Relatively few rights? Interpreting the Constitution in its original form a bad thing? America losing its prestige because we follow our Constitution?

These absurd statements and type of thinking actually make sense coming from the New York Times, especially when you consider their devout worship of globalization and any war the military industrial complex wishes to wage.

CNN Cuts Off Ron Paul As Soon As He Begins Talking About National Defense Authorization Act!

Source: MOXnews

Exposed: The Arab Agenda in Syria

Source: Asia Times
Pepe Escobar

Here's a crash course on the "democratic" machinations of the Arab League - rather the GCC League, as real power in this pan-Arab organization is wielded by two of the six Persian Gulf monarchies composing the Gulf Cooperation Council, also known as Gulf Counter-revolution Club; Qatar and the House of Saud.

Essentially, the GCC created an Arab League group to monitor what's going on in Syria. The Syrian National Council - based in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries Turkey and France - enthusiastically supported it. It's telling that Syria's neighbor Lebanon did not.

When the over 160 monitors, after one month of enquiries, issued their report ... surprise! The report did not follow the official GCC line - which is that the "evil" Bashar al-Assad government is indiscriminately, and unilaterally, killing its own people, and so regime change is in order.

indiscriminately, and unilaterally, killing its own people, and so regime change is in order.

The Arab League's Ministerial Committee had approved the report, with four votes in favor (Algeria, Egypt, Sudan and GCC member Oman) and only one against; guess who, Qatar - which is now presiding the Arab League because the emirate bought their (rotating) turn from the Palestinian Authority.

So the report was either ignored (by Western corporate media) or mercilessly destroyed - by Arab media, virtually all of it financed by either the House of Saud or Qatar. It was not even discussed - because it was prevented by the GCC from being translated from Arabic into English and published in the Arab League's website.

Until it was leaked. Here it is, in full.

The report is adamant. There was no organized, lethal repression by the Syrian government against peaceful protesters. Instead, the report points to shady armed gangs as responsible for hundreds of deaths among Syrian civilians, and over one thousand among the Syrian army, using lethal tactics such as bombing of civilian buses, bombing of trains carrying diesel oil, bombing of police buses and bombing of bridges and pipelines.

PAKISTAN: ‘CIA drones deliberately target innocent people’

Source: Global Research and The News International
Noor Aftab

Speaking publicly for the first time on the controversial CIA drone strikes, Obama claimed last week they were used strictly to target terrorists. However the new report counters this claim, with international law specialists fiercely positing that the strikes amount to little more than state-sanctioned extra-judicial executions, and going on to question just how the US government would react if another state such as China or Russia started taking similar "justified" action against those they declared enemies.

The upsurge in Washington's unmanned war has been so dramatic that the US now has 7,000 drones in operation, with 12,000 more on the ground, while not a single new manned combat aircraft is under research or development at any western aerospace company.

ISLAMABAD: In what can only be described as a gross violation of the Geneva Convention, the CIA-sponsored drone campaign in Pakistan has killed dozens of innocent civilians involved in either rescuing injured victims or partaking in funerals.

According to a report published by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism with the Sunday Times, between 282 and 535 civilians, including 60 minors, have been credibly reported as killed as a result of drone strikes since US President Barack Obama took office three years ago.

“A three-month investigation including eyewitness reports has found evidence that at least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims," affirmed the report. It went on to state that "More than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners."

Speaking publicly for the first time on the controversial CIA drone strikes, Obama claimed last week they were used strictly to target terrorists. However the new report counters this claim, with international law specialists fiercely positing that the strikes amount to little more than state-sanctioned extra-judicial executions, and going on to question just how the US government would react if another state such as China or Russia started taking similar "justified" action against those they declared enemies.

'US Failure in Afghanistan Destabilizes Region'

Source: PressTV

A political analyst says that amid a US official's warning of a failed mission in Afghanistan, "all the neighbors have a responsibility to aim for a stable government."

Press TV has conducted an interview with Marvin Weinbaum, Middle East Institute, to further discuss the issue.

Greece Declares Emergency in Flood Hit North

Source: ZeeNews

A swollen river in Greece bursts its banks, flooding homes and forcing authorities to declare a state of emergency on Tuesday, officials said.

In Poland, meanwhile, the big freeze that is holding the rest of Europe in its icy grip killed another six people in the last 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Ministry spokeswoman Malgorzata Wozniak said on Tuesday that three other people died of asphyxiation with carbon monoxide from heaters they were using to heat their homes. The temperatures in Poland have plunged as low as minus 32 C (minus 26 F) since the freeze began.

In Greece, rescuers had to extract five elderly people on Tuesday from their flooded homes after the river Evros burst its banks near the country’s northeastern border with Bulgaria. Sevaral elderly residents were also evacuated overnight from another three villages in the area.

Evros, which enters Greece from Bulgaria and runs along the border with Turkey, is swollen after days of heavy rainfall, compounded by a burst dam in southern Bulgaria.

The dam on Bulgaria’s Ivanovo Reservoir collapsed on Monday, sending a torrent into the nearby village of Bisser that killed eight people and flooded 700 houses.

Turkey: Attack on Iran "Would Be a Disaster"

Source: AlterNet

(Reuters) - Turkey and Qatar urged the West on Sunday not to attack Iran to solve a nuclear row, but to make greater efforts to negotiate an end to the dispute.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, a gathering of security officials and diplomats, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said an attack would be a "disaster" and the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme could be ended very rapidly. 

"If there is strong political will and mutual confidence being established, this issue could be resolved in a few days," he said. "The technical disputes are not so big. The problem is mutual confidence and strong political will. " 

Turkey was the venue of the last talks between Western powers and Iran a year ago which ended in stalemate because participants could not even agree on an agenda. 

The West has since imposed much tougher sanctions on Iran, which it suspects of seeking nuclear weapons capability. Iran says its nuclear work is purely civilian and peaceful. 

Davutoglu added: "A military option will create a disaster in our region. So before that disaster, everybody must be serious in negotiations. We hope soon both sides will meet again but this time there will be a complete result." 

In Tehran, the deputy head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards told the semi-official Fars news agency Iran would attack any country whose territory is used by "enemies" of the Islamic state to launch a military strike against its soil. 

Washington and Israel have not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the standoff. Iran has warned of firm retaliation if attacked, including targeting Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane. 

Another Reason War Must Be Avoided: Israeli Attack Will Prompt Pakistani Response

Source: YNetNews

European diplomat based in Islamabad says Israeli strike would force Pakistan to support Iranian retaliation, while EU official says 'political and economic consequences of attack would be catastrophic for Europe'

Is the world counting down to "D-Day"? After US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta estimated that Israel would attack Iran by June, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned government officials against "Iran chatter," A European diplomat based in Pakistan said that if Israel attacks, Islamabad will have no choice but to support any Iranian retaliation.

The diplomat's statement raised the specter of putting a nuclear-armed Pakistan at odds with Israel, which is widely believed to have its own significant nuclear arsenal.
 
Related stories:

• Op-ed: Raising the stakes on Iran
• 'Panetta believes Israel will strike Iran soon'
• Iran vows to hit any country that stages attack  

To some, the greatest risk of an attack was to the moribund world economy. Nick Witney, former head of the EU's European Defense Agency, said "the political and economic consequences of an Israeli attack would be catastrophic for Europe" since the likely spike in the price of oil alone "could push the entire EU, including Germany, into recession."