Category: Politics

Bundling Diplomacy: Obama Places Two Fundraisers In Key Ambassadorships

President_Barack_Obama250px-Theboldandthebeautifullogo2004We have previously discussed how President Obama continues to reward donors with ambassadorships, including some with little background or known talents for the jobs. I have long been a critic of this practice and I remain astonished that the American people allow it to continue. However, fat cat friends are often given trivial ambassadorships like the Vatican or smaller nations. It is still not a good practice but the damage is limited. Obama however have been handing out major posts to those who give him or the DNC millions in bundled dollars. This week the Senate confirmed two nominees to Argentina and Hungary that should outrage people who believe diplomacy should be left to diplomats and do not believe that such posts should be handed out as favors to wealthy friends. It is a national disgrace but we have become accustomed to the effective selling of these government offices. It certainly conveys a truly insulting message to these two countries that neither they nor their problems amount to much of a priority for the United States.

Continue reading “Bundling Diplomacy: Obama Places Two Fundraisers In Key Ambassadorships”

Can You Find The Crime In This Picture?

2014121174435504580_20If you guessed a woman driving, you are ready to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Loujain Hathloul has continued to defy the Saudi ban on female drivers. She was stopped at the border with the United Arab Emirates when she tried to drive back into the country. Our erstwhile ally is the only country to prevent women from driving in the name of Islam — making such medieval neighbors in the region like Iran look positively advanced in comparison.

Continue reading “Can You Find The Crime In This Picture?”

Snowden Awarded Top Award In Swedish Parliament For Disclosing Threats To Democracy and Constitutional Rights

Stora_riksvapnet_-_Riksarkivet_Sverige228px-Picture_of_Edward_SnowdenThe debate in the United States continues over whether Edward Snowden is a whistleblower or a traitor. I previously wrote a column on that question. There appears to be less debate in Sweden where Snowden received standing ovations in the Swedish parliament after being given the Right Livelihood award for his disclosure of sweeping surveillance programs of the United States. The award honors Snowden “for his courage and skill in revealing the unprecedented extent of state surveillance violating basic democratic processes and constitutional rights”. This week, the new movie on Snowden also captured two more awards and critical acclaim.

Continue reading “Snowden Awarded Top Award In Swedish Parliament For Disclosing Threats To Democracy and Constitutional Rights”

The Iraqi Ghost Army: The Equivalent Of Four Divisions Found To Be Nonexistent

250px-Army_of_the_deadIn movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, a ghost army can be a decisive advantage for a besieged army. It appears that Iraq has not just a ghost army but one that is 50,000 strong. The “ghost soldiers” were discovered in an investigation as the latest example of corruption in the country where literally billions of dollars in U.S. aid have disappeared without a trace.

Continue reading “The Iraqi Ghost Army: The Equivalent Of Four Divisions Found To Be Nonexistent”

Corporate Greed

department of treasury

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw) Weekend Contributor

Now that we have celebrated Thanksgiving, I was struck by the news that Congress is considering legislation that would grant large tax breaks to corporate citizens and actually remove tax breaks for the poor and the middle class.

‘ “This Congress seems willing to give huge tax cuts to big businesses—who are already doing better than ever—but somehow can’t prevent tax increases on 50 million working Americans that will occur when expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit expire,” Harry Stein, the Associate Director for Fiscal Policy at American Progress Action Fund, told ThinkProgress. “This is a great deal for CEOs and a terrible deal for struggling families.”’ Nation of Change  Continue reading “Corporate Greed”

Turkish Government Building Mosques On University Campuses

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

blue-mosqueIn another sign of what formerly was a secular state that is now becoming more Islamist, the Religious Affairs Leader of Turkey, Mehmet Görmez, announced his department was constructing eighty mosques at various universities countrywide.

The Article 136 of the Turkish Constitution does provide for an official department, The Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, as it is known by formal name, “to execute the works concerning the beliefs, worship, and ethics of Islam, enlighten the public about their religion, and administer the sacred worshiping places.” After the dismantling of the caliphate in 1924, the department was formed.

Under Turkey’s former President Abdulla Gül who served from 2007 to August of 2014, the nation began separating from its secular practices. The latest announcement could be a sign that the government wishes to further instill Islam into the social fabric of future generations; beyond what was a long standing leaning toward separation of government and religion.

Continue reading “Turkish Government Building Mosques On University Campuses”

Pakistan Anti-Terrorism Court Sentences Married Couple And Network Owner To A Total of 104 Years For “Blasphemous” Television Program

Screen Shot 2014-11-26 at 10.12.15 PMVeena Malik, along with her husband Asad Bashir Khan Khattak and former network owner Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman to a total of 104 years in jail in the latest absurd blasphemy prosecution based on Sharia law. Malik, an actress, was given 26 years in jail by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court for “malicious acts” of blasphemy for reenacting the marriage of the Prophet Mohammed’s daughter.

Continue reading “Pakistan Anti-Terrorism Court Sentences Married Couple And Network Owner To A Total of 104 Years For “Blasphemous” Television Program”

Rape By Fraud: New Jersey Legislator Seeks To Make It A Crime Pretend You Are “Someone [You] Are Not” To Have Sex With Another Person

singleton_colorAssemblyman Troy Singleton (D-Mount Laurel) has introduced a controversial measure that would change the law in New Jersey to criminalize lies used to get someone to have sex. While such lies are notorious but common elements in many pickup situations, Singleton calls such acts as “rape by fraud.”

Continue reading “Rape By Fraud: New Jersey Legislator Seeks To Make It A Crime Pretend You Are “Someone [You] Are Not” To Have Sex With Another Person”

Obama: “I Just Took An Action To Change The Law” On Immigration

Screen Shot 2014-11-26 at 9.27.01 AMThere was an unscripted moment for President Barack Obama yesterday that might make Justice Department lawyers defending the recent unilateral changes to immigration laws a bit uneasy. The President was faced with an understandably annoying problem of hecklers who interrupted his speech demanding an end to deportations of anyone. The President responded with a clearly justified admonishment that they should let him speak, but he added in obvious frustration “What you’re not paying attention to is the fact that I just took an action to change the law.” That is what the Administration lawyers have striven to deny. They are insisting that this was not a change in law (which is a legislative act) but the exercise of discretion allowed under the law.

Continue reading “Obama: “I Just Took An Action To Change The Law” On Immigration”

Schumer: The Affordable Care Act Was A Mistake To Pass In The First Term And “Made No Political Sense”

220px-Charles_Schumer_official_portraitSen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) made headlines yesterday with public statements that passing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (or Obamacare) was a mistake and “blew” the opportunity of the party to pass meaningful legislation that appealed to the middle class. As the third-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, the statement was a rare public rebuke of the strategy of the Obama Administration and the Democratic leadership. Schumer stated that at the time “Americans were crying out for an end to the recession, for better wages and more jobs; not for changes in their healthcare.”

Continue reading “Schumer: The Affordable Care Act Was A Mistake To Pass In The First Term And “Made No Political Sense””

The Stockman Effect: Texas Congressman Names Scientific Theory After Himself And Then Drafts Law To Force The Government To Study Him It

220px-Steve_Stockman_official_portraitScientists and environmentalists might be a bit alarmed by a bill introduced in the House that references a scientific theory that they were entirely (and perhaps blissfully) ignorant of before last week: the “Stockman Effect.” The Stockman Effect Act mandates that the director of the National Science Foundation must commission a study on the extent to which changes in the weather can be attributed to natural shifts in the Earth’s magnetic fields. That may have led many scrambling for their textbooks and scientific journals. They would have been better off looking up the names of the sponsors. Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) clearly is looking for a legacy as he completes his final term in office after losing his seat in the last election. He wants a federal law that orders that a federal study of his own theory. Stockman, as you might imagine, is a sceptic of man-made climate change theories but he is an advocate of . . . well . . . Stockman science.

Continue reading “The Stockman Effect: Texas Congressman Names Scientific Theory After Himself And Then Drafts Law To Force The Government To Study Him It”

Iranian Negotiators Brag How They Are Artfully Tricking Western Diplomats With A Good Cop/Bad Cop Tactic

220px-John_Kerry_official_Secretary_of_State_portraitMohammad_Javad_Zarif_2014Many cops, attorneys and others have used the classic good cop/bad cop tactic to try to force concessions or confessions. The key of course is not to admit that you are just doing good cop/bad cop. That seems to have escaped Iranian negotiators in the ongoing nuclear program talks who have been giving interviews bragging about how they are screaming at American and other diplomats in a good cop/bad cop ploy. Hmmmm. It is nothing like a man screaming like a lunatic to convince you that he and his country should have access to weapons-grade nuclear material.

Continue reading “Iranian Negotiators Brag How They Are Artfully Tricking Western Diplomats With A Good Cop/Bad Cop Tactic”

Senegal Arrests Five Women Under The Country’s Draconian Anti-Homosexual Law

640px-Coat_of_arms_of_Senegal.svg900px-Flag_of_Senegal.svgWe have been watching with alarm as African nations pass more draconian anti-homosexual laws. Senegal has added its name to his ignoble list. President Yahya Jammeh signed a new law that establishes life imprisonment for some homosexual acts. Jammeh is a vehemently and vocal anti-gay leader who told gays and lesbians in 2008 to leave the country or risk decapitation. Five women have now been arrested as accused lesbians in what human rights groups are calling a national campaign of terror and torture by the police.

Continue reading “Senegal Arrests Five Women Under The Country’s Draconian Anti-Homosexual Law”

Trade Agreement With Iceland Might Allow Japan To Bypass Effect Of Whaling Sanctions

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

220px-Minke_Whale_(NOAA)Icelandic news source IceNews reports that the governments of Japan and Iceland are negotiating a trade agreement that also would include exports to Japan of whaling products. The agreement will certainly attract much attention from the environmental groups, and NGOs world-wide.

Japan does however have both cultural and culinary appetites for whale meat and will go to lengths to obtain these products which are a valuable commodity in Japan. A new trade agreement with Iceland could provide a means for sources that would have otherwise become increasingly restricted by International actions

Continue reading “Trade Agreement With Iceland Might Allow Japan To Bypass Effect Of Whaling Sanctions”