Israel takes risk with airstrike on Hezbollah - Yahoo News

Israel takes risk with airstrike on Hezbollah - Yahoo News
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
Israel has opened a new front in its attempts to halt weapons smuggling to Hezbollah, striking one of the
group's positions inside Lebanon for the first time since the sides fought a war eight years ago.
This week's airstrike, meant to prevent the Islamic militant group from obtaining sophisticated missiles, is part of a risky policy that could easily backfire by triggering retaliation. But at a time when the Syrian opposition says Hezbollah has struck a major blow for President Bashar Assad's government in neighboring Syria by ambushing al-Qaida-linked fighters there, it shows the strategic importance for Israel of trying to break the Syria-Hezbollah axis.

For now, the odds of a direct conflagration between Israel and Hezbollah appear low. The group has sent hundreds of fighters to Syria and is preoccupied with saving Assad's embattled regime. Syrian state media
reported that army troops killed 175 rebels, many of them al-Qaida-linked fighters, near Damascus on Wednesday, but the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a prominent opposition group, said it was Hezbollah forces that carried out the dawn ambush. Israel considers both Hezbollah and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front to be grave threats. With a lack of good choices, Israel has avoided taking sides in the Syrian war, and in the short term, is content watching the two sides beat each other up. But in the long run, officials have expressed concerns about the battlefield expertise that Hezbollah has gained. Officials also

suspect that despite repeated Israeli airstrikes on suspected arms shipments, Hezbollah has managed to get its hands on many sophisticated weapons, including Russian-made anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles,
ensuring that any future conflict with Israel will be far more intense than previous rounds of fighting.

"The type of scenario we have to plan for is extremely robust," said an Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing an intelligence assessment. "It means the Israeli
operational response has to be forceful, swift and decisive." Israel and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shiite group committed to Israel's destruction, battled to a stalemate during a monthlong war in the summer

of 2006. Both sides have avoided any direct confrontation since a U.N.-brokered cease-fire ended the fighting, but each has been gearing up for renewed clashes.

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Israeli soldiers of the Golani brigade adjust their
weapons during training near the border with
Syr … Hezbollah rained some 4,000 rockets and missiles on Israel in 2006, mostly short-range, unguided projectiles. Israel believes the group now possesses 100,000 rockets and

missiles. These include weapons with longer ranges, guidance systems
and larger warheads, are capable of striking anywhere in Israel. The
weapons come from Syria and Iran.

"Iran is handing out torches to the pyromaniacs," Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, said during a tour of the northern front this week. "I suggest that everyone keeps in mind that underneath this quiet, a storm is brewing." Israel believes Hezbollah has used the fighting in Syria as cover to transfer weapons back to Lebanon. Israeli leaders have repeatedly vowed to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining "game changing" weapons that could alter the current balance of power, and over the past year Israel has carried out a series of covert airstrikes in Syria that targeted shipments of weapons believed to be bound for Hezbollah. These included Russian-made anti-aircraft and surface-to-sea missiles, as well as advanced Iranian guided missiles.

Neither Israel nor Syria nor Hezbollah had confirmed any of the airstrikes, since going public might only escalate tensions. This changed after Monday's attack, the first inside Lebanon itself. The attack took place on a known smuggling route along the Syrian-Lebanon border, and a senior Lebanese security official said it targeted long-range surface-to-surface missiles from Syria heading to a Hezbollah depot in Lebanon's Bekaa region. He said one Hezbollah official overseeing the operation was killed. The official spoke on condition of

anonymity in line with regulations.

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Israeli soldiers of the Golani brigade with prayer shawls after night training near the border with  … After two days of silence, Hezbollah confirmed the airstrike, saying it had caused material damage but no casualties. "We will retaliate for this Israeli aggression, and the resistance will choose the appropriate time and place as well as appropriate means to respond," Hezbollah said. The Israeli military declined comment, though senior security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the mission, confirmed Israel's involvement. Hezbollah's participation in the Syrian war is highly controversial and divisive in Lebanon and has eaten away at the group's wider base. But Hezbollah remains a formidable force in Lebanon, and has two ministers in the current national unity government that was recently formed following 11 months of impasse. After Wednesday's threats against Israel, the group may lose credibility if it does not retaliate. "They are in a fix," said Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut. "They very well understand that if they responded, the Israeli response will be overwhelming. They wouldn't be able to cope with the consequences of an all-out offensive at this time," he said. "That's why I tend to think they will swallow their pride."

A senior Israeli official said Hezbollah does not seem "eager to ignite" the area, but that Israel was following its moves "very carefully." He said one likely scenario could be a Hezbollah attack on Israeli targets abroad. The group has been blamed for a string of bombings on Israeli tourists and diplomats in Asia and Europe, including a July 2012 attack in a Bulgarian resort that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media about the matter. Israeli

military officials said late Wednesday that the army had raised its alert level along the northern front with Lebanon. Israeli TV stations also said the military had moved a battery of its "Iron Dome" rocket-defense system to the area.

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Israeli soldiers of the Golani brigade eat after night training near the border with Syria in the Is …The likelihood of retaliation is just one of the shortcomings of the Israeli airstrike policy. It also appears that the strikes have failed to halt the flow of arms to Hezbollah. In recent days, Israeli military officials have acknowledged that Hezbollah has likely succeeded in sneaking sophisticated weapons into Lebanon.

On Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Eli Sharvit, a senior naval official, told reporters the military operates under the assumption that Hezbollah now possesses Russian-made "Yakhont" anti-ship missiles, guided weapons
capable of striking targets up to 300 kilometers (200 miles) out at sea. This could put Israeli warships, as well as natural gas installations, at risk. Officials say it is possible that Hezbollah has obtained other sophisticated weapons as well. "We assume that what Syria possesses, Hezbollah has," he said. Yiftah Shapir, a former Israeli air force officer who is now a military analyst at the INSS think tank in Tel Aviv, said the fact that sophisticated weapons have made their way to Hezbollah does not mean the airstrike policy has failed. "You can't expect every strike to have 100 percent success," he said. Yet he said Hezbollah has transformed itself from a ragtag guerrilla group into a formidable fighting force. "These weapons though make it clear that since 2006 Hezbollah is no longer a terrorist organization, but an army and a well-equipped army," Shapir said.

Voter warns Mary Landrieu on Obama: ‘I don’t vote for black people… They got their place’ | The Raw Story

Voter warns Mary Landrieu on Obama: ‘I don’t vote for black people… They got their place’ | The Raw Story
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
An article published by NPR on Tuesday indicated that Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) tough re-election battle in Louisiana could be less about her vote for health care reform, and more about her decision to
support the country’s first black president.

For weeks, groups like Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity have been airing advertisements telling Louisianans how Landrieu hurt their families by supporting President Barack Obama’s health care reform law.

NPR’s Alisa Chang recently spoke to people in Galliano, Louisiana to find out what they really thought about Landrieu.

Beau Broussard told Chang that politicians didn’t run for office without stopping by to speak to the Cajuns who spend their day sitting beneath an old oak tree. He recalled that the last candidate brought some beans.

“They were delicious. Ooooo! I’d vote for him just for them white bean,” Broussard said.

But if white beans could get Broussard to vote for one candidate, then a black man’s health care law could be reason enough for him to oppose Landrieu.

“I don’t vote for black people, lady,” he said. “No, ma’am. I don’t vote for black people. They got their place, I got my place. That’s the way I was raised.”

Broussard argued that Landrieu — who he called “Obama lady” — voted with the president too often. He acknowledged that she had done a lot for the state, but he said that voting for the health care law crossed
the line.

 Listen to the audio below from NPR’s Morning Edition, broadcast Feb. 25, 2014.

 http://www.npr.org/2014/02/25/281396562/democratic-sen-landrieu-walks-a-fine-line-in-red-louisiana

UAW chief says VW vote tainted by outside 'threats' - Yahoo Finance

UAW chief says VW vote tainted by outside 'threats' - Yahoo Finance
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
The head of the United Automobile Workers said on Monday the union's appeal of a failed organizing vote at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee will focus on the actions of outsiders, not VW -- in a clear reference
to remarks by Senator Bob Corker, an outspoken UAW critic. Corker defended himself, saying he had the right as an elected official to speak out ahead last week's vote, in which workers rejected the UAW's
bid to represent them.

Late last week, the UAW asked the U.S. National Labor Relations Board to investigate the organizing vote,
citing what it characterized as "interference by politicians and outside special interest groups."

The UAW spent two years trying to persuade the workers there to unionize and lost despite cooperation from VW management . Its failure upended plans to use the Chattanooga plant as a springboard to organizing factories of foreign auto makers in the American South.
In an interview with Reuters, UAW President Bob King said, "Corporate VW acted with great integrity," in the run-up to last week's election.

"Our issue is really with outside third parties trying to threaten and intimidate both the company and workers," King said. "It was certainly not the company."
VW cooperated with the union on the vote, allowing organizers to use its facilities, for instance, while officially remaining neutral.

But a number of anti-union Republicans, including Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga who now represents Tennessee in the U.S. Senate, urged the VW workers to reject the union. Corker and some members of the state legislature made statements that the UAW characterized as threats that swayed the results.

Just days before the vote, Corker said he had been "assured" that if workers at the plant rejected the UAW organizing drive, the company would reward them by sending new work to the plant. He has declined to name the source of the assurance.

"I just can't imagine - even as partisan as this NLRB might be -I can't imagine they would try to keep a United States senator from weighing in about things they know about," Corker told reporters in Washington, DC, on Monday.

He told Reuters that a VW decision on whether to expand the Chattanooga plant appeared to be on hold while the NLRB investigated. "I think until the issue is resolved, it will be difficult (for VW) to talk with the state about incentives and do all those kind of things," Corker said.

UNUSUAL CHALLENGE
Challenges to union election results typically focus on allegations of improper conduct by management, and labor experts see the UAW's focus on outsiders as complicating their case.

"I think it is flimsy," said John James, executive director of the Center for Global Governance, Reporting and Regulation at Pace University in New York. Comments by Corker were protected by both free speech

safeguards and Congressional immunity, he noted. But Lance Compa, who teaches labor law at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said that politicians had gone beyond free speech in their statements.

"The state legislators crossed that line when they said they would withhold economic development support for a new product line in the Chattanooga plant if the employees vote for the UAW. That was an outright threat which poisoned chances for a fair election," he said by email. Corker's comments were also a threat, he added, arguing the NLRB had a case. Volkswagen had flatly denied Corker's claim that the union vote was related to factory expansion. But days later, the workers voted against the union by a 712 to 626 margin.

King acknowledged on Monday that for complaints against third parties such as Corker, there is "a
little bit, not a lot" of precedent regarding where free speech ends and illegal interference begins.

Rice: I have no regrets over Benghazi | MSNBC

Rice: I have no regrets over Benghazi | MSNBC

 
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
National Security Adviser Susan Rice addressed the Ukrainian crisis Sunday, saying the United States is on the side of the Ukrainian people as the protests continue at Independence Square in Kiev.

Anti-government demonstrators are standing in opposition to President Viktor Yanukovich, who turned down a trade deal with the West. Yanukovich has since fled Kiev after demonstrators took control of the
capital on Saturday, and his current whereabouts are unknown. The country’s parliament voted to remove Yanukovich, and new elections are set for May 25.

While speaking with David Gregory on Sunday’s Meet the Press, Rice acknowledged the bloodshed that has taken place since protests began last November.

“From a U.S. point of view, our interests have been clear all along: we want to see a de-escalation of the violence; we want to see constitutional change; we want to see democratic elections in very short order and the opportunity for the people of Ukraine to come together in a coalition unity government,” Rice said.

Rice also addressed the Syrian humanitarian crisis, calling it horrific, while also reiterating that military intervention in the region is not the United States’ interest. Rice also stated the U.S. is supporting moderate opposition with both “material and political support.” The UN Security Council has also unanimously approved a resolution on access to humanitarian aid.

“We are very much committed to trying to work to resolve this conflict, but in a way that doesn’t insert the United States back into a hot, bloody conflict in the middle of the Middle East,” Rice told Gregory.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry recently accused Syrian  President Bashar Assad of holding up peace talks in the region, and  Kerry has also called on Russia to help in the process.

Rice also spoke briefly on the attack on the Sept. 11, 2012  attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four,  including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Rice told Gregory she had no  regrets on her involvement in the story.

“…what I said to you that morning, and what I did every day  since was to share the best information that we had at the time,” Rice  said. “The information I provided, which I explained to you was what we  had at the moment. It could change. I commented that this was based on  what we knew on that morning, was provided to me and my colleagues and  indeed to Congress by the intelligence community. And that’s been well  validated in many different ways since. And that information turned out  in some respects not to be 100 percent correct. But the notion that  somehow I or anyone in the administration misled the American people is  patently false. And I think that’s been amply demonstrated.”

Rice also said the United State was still actively looking for those behind the attack.

“The investigation is ongoing, and it [has] indeed made  progress,” she said. “But the point is: we will get the perpetrators. We will stay on it until this gets done…The United States stays on the  case.”

Libya struggles to pay bills as protests slash oil revenues - Yahoo Finance

Libya struggles to pay bills as protests slash oil revenues - Yahoo Finance
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
Some Libyan government ministries are struggling to cover expenditures because of budget problems, a
minister said on Sunday after protesters shut down another vital oilfield in the OPEC producer.

In the latest sign of turmoil gripping Libya since Muammar Gaddafi's ouster in 2011, heavy shooting near the General National Congress (GNC) building interrupted a national parliament session and forced legislators to evacuate. Militias and armed protesters seized ports and oilfields over the last seven months to press demands on the central government. Oil and gas exports are the sole source of the government budget and to fund food imports.

Oil output fell to 230,000 barrels a day on Sunday after a new protest shut down the El Sharara field, down from 1.4 million bpd in July when nationwide protests started. Western powers fear Libya will slide into greater instability if budget problems worsen. More than half of the budget goes to public salaries and subsidies.

"The financial situation of the government is difficult," said Culture Minister Habib al-Amin, who acts as a
government spokesman. "Some ministries have been unable to pay for expenditures due to a lack of budget and liquidity."

Amin warned vital government services such as health care and electricity supplies were at risk unless the GNC assembly agreed on a budget for 2014.
The government has submitted a budget draft to the GNC but did not release details. Analysts say it will be difficult to overcome a funding gap as oil revenues might halve this year compared to the typical level of

around $50 billion.

MORE PROTESTS
The oil production situation worsened over the weekend, when state-owned National Oil Corp (NOC) said it had been forced to close the 340,000 bpd El Sharara oilfield due to new protests. With giving details, Habib said clashes in the area made it impossible to restart output at the field.
NOC put production at 230,000 bpd, down from 275,000 bpd a week ago. It gave no export figures but Libya needs to feed its 120,000 bpd Zawiya refinery and 20,000-bpd Tobruk refinery to meet domestic fuel demand.

The government has put pressure on tribal leaders in eastern Libya to persuade an armed group seeking greater autonomy to lift a blockade of three ports that previously handled 600,000 bpd. Talks have gone nowhere so far. There has been no progress toward reopening Hariga port in the east.

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has said the government will act against the oil unrest, but analysts say the army is too weak to tackle heavily armed protesters.
Violence erupted late Sunday when anti-aircraft guns were fired in the vicinity of the GNC's building,
prompting evacuations.
GNC spokesman Omar Hmeidan said lawmakers had been debating two militias who threatened last week to dissolve parliament, tapping into popular frustration that Libyans are tired of a lack of progress in the
country's transition toward democracy.

The United Nations helped defuse the situation, but the two militias brought fighters into the capital last week. Details about the shooting were not immediately available.

Congolese Engineers Develop Solar Powered "RoboCops"

Congolese Engineers Develop Solar Powered "RoboCops"
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
There are RoboCops in Congo. Literally. In Kinshasa, the capital city of Congo, two large robots  have replaced police officers in directing traffic and pedestrians. Standing 8 feet tall, the solar-powered robots
are equipped with multiple cameras, opening the potential for monitoring traffic and issuing tickets.
“If a driver says that it is not going to respect the robot because it’s just a machine the robot is going to take that and there will be a ticket for him,” Isaie Therese, the engineer behind the project told China Central Television Africa.
“We are a poor country and our government is looking for money. And I will tell you that with the roads the government has built, it needs to recover its money,” she added.

Commuter Demouto Mutombo told CCTV Africa through an interpreter: “As a motorcyclist I’m very happy with the robot’s work. Because when the traffic police control the cars here there’s still a lot of traffic. But since the robot arrived, we see truly that the commuters are respectful."

Nigeria's leader surrounded by 'incompetent' frauds: ex-bank boss - Yahoo News

Nigeria's leader surrounded by 'incompetent' frauds: ex-bank boss - Yahoo News
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
Nigeria's former central bank chief Lamido Sanusi on Sunday described the president who ousted him as a
simple man trying to do well who has been undermined by incompetent and fraudulent aide Sanusi, widely

respected by economists in Nigeria and abroad, was suspended by President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday over alleged financial misconduct, a move seen by many analysts as politically motivated.

Sanusi has accused the state Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) of misappropriating $20 billion (14.5 billion euros), allegations that earned him powerful enemies across the government.

In an interview with AFP in Lagos, Sanusi said many of the people advising Jonathan are sycophants who do not speak frankly about the extent of corruption in government. “When you sit with President Jonathan himself he appears a nice simple person who is trying his best to do his best," Sanusi said.

"His greatest failing obviously is that he is surrounded by people who are extremely incompetent, who are extremely fraudulent and whom he trusts.”

Jonathan, who has led Africa's most populous country and top oil producer since 2010, is expected to seek another term in elections next year, but must first overcome unprecedented divisions within his own party.

When Sanusi was removed, just four months before his tenure was set to expire, analysts voiced concern that Jonathan was seeking to sideline an increasingly vocal critic of his government's record on corruption.

- Rights threatened? -

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Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan leaves after attending a session at the World Economic Forum in …Sanusi learned of his suspension while in Niger for a regional meeting. Hm immediately returned to Lagos, where intelligence agents from the Directorate of

State Services (DSS) seized his passport.

On Friday, he secured a temporary order from the Federal High Court in Lagos barring DSS agents or police from arresting him.

“I thought taking away my passport was the beginning of infringement on my fundamental human rights," Sanusi told AFP, explaining why he had already sought court protection. Regarding the allegations against him, Sanusi said he had earlier this year heard of a report condemning his performance and wrote to Jonathan in "June or July" asking if an explanation was needed, but received no reply.

The first time he was formally notified about the allegations was the day he was suspended, he said.

He argued it would be too simple to describe his removal as payback for his attacks on the NNPC.

"Since 2009 I have been annoying the government... You’ve got people who think I have the wrong friends, people who think maybe I have not distanced myself enough from people who are seen to be opposition figures,” he further said.

The list of his enemies may have been built up over years, but the NNPC affair appeared to be the final straw.

- Unprecedented graft -

The NNPC has become notorious as one of the most opaque oil companies in the world, but Sanusi said the extent of the graft may have reached an historic high.

“I think everybody has known that NNPC is rotten. I don’t think it has ever been as bad as this,” he told AFP.

He has levelled various accusations against the company, but an alleged kerosene subsidy payment scam has received increased attention. Even though the NNPC pays subsidies to kerosene vendors, Nigerian consumers still pay full market price for the product.

According to Sanusi, the so-called kerosene subsidy money in fact pays for "private jets...yachts... and expensive property in Beverly Hills and Switzerland." Sanusi has ruled out running for elected office, but said he may still have a future in public service.

In the short term, he voiced readiness to face any attacks that may be coming from those committed to preserving the status quo in a nation where, despite massive oil wealth, most of the 170 million people live
on less than $2 a day.

“If I am sacrificed in whatever way, my freedom or my life... if it does lead to better accountability it will be well worth it,” he said

C.African Republic militia says will only disarm after Muslim rebels do - Yahoo News

C.African Republic militia says will only disarm after Muslim rebels do - Yahoo News  
 JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
A powerful militia in Central African Republic said on Saturday it will only disarm once its main rivals, the mainly Muslim Seleka fighters, lay down their weapons, a deadlock that risks prolonging the crisis in the war-torn country.
The "anti-balaka" self defence militia was formed last year to defend Christian communities targeted by Seleka forces who ousted the president in March, triggering cycles of revenge killings that continue to grip the country despite the deployment of thousands of foreign peacekeepers. Seleka fighters have in recent weeks been forced out of power and scattered, mainly to the north. But Muslims who stayed behind have been targeted, and France now believes the largely Christian militia is the main obstacle to peace.

"We will lay down (our weapons) in the centre of town in front of the international community ... only on the condition that these bandits are disarmed first," Sebastien Wenezoui, spokesman for the "anti-balaka" force said on Saturday. Wenezoui said that fighters from around Bangui, the crumbling capital that has seen hundreds of thousands of its residents forced from their homes by street battles and lynchings, would hand over all the weapons they owned. French and African troops - which rushed in reinforcements as 1,000 people were killed in clashes during the month of December alone - have tried to disarm gunmen in the

riverside capital but the city remains awash with guns and machetes. Militia members carrying machetes

and hunting rifles and adorned with amulets patrolled around their base where Wenezoui was speaking. Nearby, French troops protect the city's airport, which serves as their base. At its peak, violence in Central African Republic displaced 1 million people, about a quarter of the country's population. Michel Djotodia, Seleka leader and interim president after the March rebel takeover, stepped aside last month under intense international pressure after failing to halt killings.

He went into exile and his men withdrew to bases in the remote north, which borders Chad and Sudan.

France now has 1,600 soldiers operating alongside 6,000 African peacekeepers in its former colony. But
foreign troops have struggled to halt attacks on Muslims caught in the void. The commander of French forces in Central African Republic said earlier this month the "anti-balaka" forces were now the "enemies of peace" in the country. A top U.N. official warned of "ethnic-religious cleansing" as Muslim civilians fled north or into

neighbouring countries, leaving the majority Christian population in the south. "We are ready to live alongside

Muslims that were born in our country but only on the condition that the government ... holds a dialogue between the two communities," Wenezoui said, highlighting tensions with Muslims who have come from neighbouring countries, especially Chad. The European Union says as many as 1,000 EU soldiers will be dispatched and the United Nations is mulling rolling out a peacekeeping operation. Having originally hoped for a swift operation, France says its mission will last longer than the initial six months forecast and admits to having underestimated the depth of the hatred, which has stirred memories of Rwanda's genocide 20 years ago.

However, many in the country believe origins of the bloodshed have little to do with religion and instead blame a political battle for control over resources in one of Africa's weakest-governed states, split along ethnic fault lines and worsened by foreign meddling.

NAACP wants Rand Paul to speak - Lucy McCalmont - POLITICO.com

NAACP wants Rand Paul to speak - Lucy McCalmont - POLITICO.com
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
The NAACP has offered Republican Sen. Rand Paul the opportunity

to speak to the organization, with the its interim president saying, “We’d love to have him.” In an interview taped for C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” that will air Sunday, Lorraine Miller said she was interested in hearing more about the “Economic Freedom Zones” that the Kentucky senator has pushed.

“We’d love to talk with him about it and work with him on it,” Miller said, adding that her comments amounted to an invitation to Paul to address the group.,A top Paul aide said the senator is game.

“Senator Paul is pleased to hear that the NAACP would like to work with him on reforms like economic freedom zones and he would be honored to address the organization,” Doug Stafford, a senior adviser to Paul said.
Paul announced Friday that he will be visiting Simmons College, a historically black college in his state, on Monday. He previously spoke at Howard University in Washington last spring.
Miller also addressed the challenge the Republican Party has faced in gaining support from African-Americans, noting the jobs program proposed by President Barack Obama that was defeated in Congress.

“African-Americans see this. It’s clear. It’s evident. And so you vote for who supports you and we haven’t seen a lot of support from the Republican Party,” she said.
Nevertheless, Miller acknowledged that many members of the GOP understand the issues facing the African-American community, but said “we just need to connect those dots and work together.”

“We’re willing to extend our hand in an effort of sincere, sincere collaboration,” Miller said. “And once we do that, I think we can come up with things that will mutually benefit the African-American community.”

The Supreme Court May Soon Take Away This Important Right

The Supreme Court May Soon Take Away This Important Right

JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
If the controversial oil-services company Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  )
has its way, then small investors may soon lose one of their most
potent weapons against corporate fraud: the ability to file class-action
lawsuits under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

At the end of last year, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear
Halliburton's appeal in a class-action case brought by investors against
it and former CEO David Lesar for "knowingly or severely recklessly
misleading" the public more than a decade ago about the company's
liability for asbestos claims.

Indeed, it's no exaggeration to say that the very existence of
securities fraud class actions hinges almost entirely on the outcome of
this case.

The facts of the caseThe facts involve
statements made by Halliburton in 2001 about the extent of exposure to
asbestos litigation assumed in its acquisition of Dresser Industries.

In January of that year, the company reported that "prospective
asbestos liabilities ... should have minimal adverse impact on the
company going forward." In August, it claimed that "asbestos exposure
concerns appear to be overblown." And in November, it stated that "open
asbestos claims will be resolved without a material adverse effect on
our financial position or the results of operations."

Yet less than a month after the last statement, Halliburton was hit
with a $30 million asbestos verdict, causing investors to lose faith in
the company's assurances and fear the worst. Shares in the oil services
company proceeded to plummet, dropping by 42.7% on the day of the
announcement.

The current class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of investors
soon thereafter and has made its way through various courts ever since.

A critical legal wrinkleThe specific issue
before the Supreme Court is a nuanced one. Halliburton isn't simply
professing its innocence or asking the justices to hold that it didn't
mislead investors. Instead, it's moving the court to bar plaintiffs from
litigating the case as a class action as opposed to separate lawsuits.

On the surface, this doesn't seem like a big deal. Who cares if
investors have to sue Halliburton individually as opposed to as a class?
What difference does it make to people who didn't own Halliburton stock
when the alleged misrepresentations took place?

The answer is that it makes a huge difference.

This is because Halliburton is asking the court to overturn a legal
doctrine known as the "fraud on the market" theory, which creates a
rebuttable presumption that investors rely on statements of material
fact made publicly by corporate executives. Without this presumption,
securities fraud cases would be far too complicated to litigate as class
actions, leaving individual investors to fend for themselves against
deep-pocketed corporations.

The implications of this would be considerable. Most importantly, for
nearly three decades, the securities laws have been predicated on both
public and private enforcement -- the former by the SEC and Justice
Department and the latter by private class-action lawsuits. Without the
latter, in turn, the market would lose a critical overseer and, one can
only assume, be far more susceptible to deceit.

Lawyers: Free man wrongfully locked up for decades - Yahoo News

Lawyers: Free man wrongfully locked up for decades - Yahoo News

JohnButts@JBMedia -  Reports:

Attorneys for a Texas man who was
kept in prison for more than three decades after his murder conviction
was overturned have asked a court to free him so he can get on with his
life, saying he's suffered enough from the mishandling of his case and
that key trial evidence has gone missing.

Attorney Jeffrey Newberry wrote in a recent court
petition that the state clearly violated Jerry Hartfield's right to a
speedy trial by waiting decades to retry him for the 1976 death of
Eunice Lowe, who was beaten to death at the Bay City bus station where
she worked as a ticket agent.

"The
most serious prejudice a defendant can suffer in being denied a right
to a speedy trial is to have his defense possibly impaired," Newberry
wrote. He urged State District Judge Craig Estlinbaum to free Hartsfield
"with prejudice," meaning the state couldn't retry him on the same
charges.

Hartfield, 57, was
convicted in 1977 of killing Lowe and sentenced to death, but that
conviction was overturned three years later. After prosecutors
unsuccessfully appealed that ruling, then-Gov. Mark White commuted
Hartfield's sentence to life in prison in 1983.

Hartfield,
who is described in court documents as an illiterate fifth-grade
dropout with an IQ of 51, didn't challenge his continued detention until
2006, when a fellow prisoner pointed out that once his conviction was
overturned, there was no sentence to commute. Appeals courts agreed and
ordered Hartfield freed or retried. Hartfield is scheduled to stand
trial again in April for Lowe's slaying.

In
a court filing, Matagorda County District Attorney Steven Reis rejected
the assertion that Hartfield should go free. While acknowledging that
the state "may be partially responsible" for the delay in retrying
Hartfield, Reis argued that prosecutors didn't act in bad faith and that
Hartfield bears some responsibility.

View gallery

This handout image provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Jerry Hartsfield. Hart …

Hartfield "failed to proffer
any evidence that he wanted a speedy trial during this period," Reis
wrote. No evidence supports a finding that Hartfield "actually wanted a
new and speedy trial," that he did anything before 2007 to assert that
his right to a speedy trial had been violated, or that the state
deliberately acted to delay a retrial, Reis contends.

Newberry contends that the state was solely responsible for the retrial delay.

"Had
the state carried out the (appeals court) mandate, Hartfield would not
have needed to file the documents that he began filing," he wrote. "Mr.
Hartfield has affirmatively demonstrated that his ability to present a
defense has been prejudiced by the delay."

Newberry
also says authorities haven't been able to find some evidence used to
convict Hartfield, including a pickaxe used in the attack or Lowe's car,
which was stolen and later recovered. Furthermore, a Texas Ranger who
was a key witness for the prosecution at Hartfield's 1977 trial has
since died, he wrote.

Estlinbaum asked both sides to address some legal questions before he rules on the matter.

At
the time of the killing, Hartfield, who grew up in Altus, Okla., was
working construction at nuclear power plant near the bus station where
Lowe worked. He was arrested within days of the killing in Wichita,
Kan., and was convicted and sentenced to death in 1977.

Hartfield
disputes a confession police said he gave them that was among the
evidence used to convict him. Prosecutors also had an unused bus ticket
found at the crime scene that had his fingerprints on it and testimony
from witnesses who said he had talked about needing $3,000. Reis said
Hartfield led authorities to Lowe's car in Houston and that his
fingerprint was on a piece of broken Dr Pepper bottle found beside
Lowe's body.

Profiting From Murder: Zimmerman Fight Cancelled • Africanglobe.net

Profiting From Murder: Zimmerman Fight Cancelled • Africanglobe.net

JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:

To the delight of some, and to the chagrin of others, the proposed bout between rapper DMX and George Zimmerman has been canceled by promoter Damon Feldman. Dubbed a “celebrity” boxing match, the

fight was proposed last month with a contender being chosen from a list of people who wanted to fight George Zimmerman.
Game was the firstcelebrity to say he wanted a shot in the ring with Trayvon Martin’s killer. DMX came next,
promising to piss on the former neighborhood vigilante. Though
Zimmerman said, Game would be the perfect challenger, DMX was allegedly
said to be the opposing fighter for the bout.
However, many people were vehemently opposed to the visual diarrhea, saying it is a travesty that child killer George Zimmerman would be labeled a celebrity and making money off the notoriety he gained from shooting an unarmed Black child. Many in the Black community, including Al Sharpton, stepped forward with their opposition of what seemed to be a lose, lose situation no matter who won in the ring.
After hearing all angles, Feldman has decided to cancel the bout, claiming he now realizes the whole thing was a bad idea. Feldman released the following statement via his Twitter account.

All you people are right. The George Zimmerman fight is canceled I’m sorry
for anyone I hurt with this but this was a very big opportunity thank
you. I want to thank everyone for the good n bad comments I’ve made the
choice to cancel the fight w George Zimmermann more to life then money.

It was my decision to cancel the George Zimmerman fight it was worth a lot
of money to me but people’s feelings meant more to me. I walked away
from av million dollar payday with this fight but to be honest I’d
rather be happy and make people happy thank you.

UPDATE: In response to the cancellation of the fight, DMX’s publicist Domenick Nati has released the following statement…

“Damon Feldman has announced that the George Zimmerman fight is cancelled via  his Twitter. As previously stated, DMX never agreed to the fight and we  thank you for all of the support from DMX’s fans. This situation will  not affect any of DMX’s upcoming concerts in America or around the
world.”

Analysis: Washington gridlock at a crossroads - Yahoo News

Analysis: Washington gridlock at a crossroads - Yahoo News

JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:

President Barack Obama and Congress stand at a junction.

The road the
country has been on for the past five years is now beginning to come to
an end. The Federal Reserve, which pumped $3 trillion into the economy
to keep the Great Recession from worsening, is withdrawing its financial
lifeline amid signs of fresh economic growth. The nation's gross
domestic product is inching up, and annual federal budget deficits are
heading down.

How Washington
policymakers respond to the improvements in the economy may even sow the
seeds for more cooperation in Washington.

But don't count on it.

Finger-pointing
still abounds between the Democrats who control the White House and the
Senate and the Republicans who control the House of Representatives
ahead of midterm elections later this year that will determine control
of Congress for the remainder of Obama's presidency.

"The president's policies are not working," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, declared.

Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., countered: "We cannot have a
country that's paralyzed because of a group of people — the group of
people who are the tea party-driven Republicans in Congress."

"There
are no winners here," suggested Obama, with just under three years to
go to complete his economic legacy. "The American people are completely
fed up with Washington."

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FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2014, photo, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio gestures while speaking durin …

An important indicator of
the state of the economy came Friday, when the Labor Department reported
that the U.S. jobless rate in January fell to a five-year low of 6.6
percent. But employers added just 113,000 jobs, a modest gain. The
numbers were a slight improvement from the 6.7 percent rate of the month
before and a lot lower than the 10 percent reached briefly in 2009. But
that is still significantly higher than the 5 percent or lower
unemployment rate that usually signifies a healthy economy.

But
even as public confidence in the economy is improving, polls also show
that Americans' approval of Congress is at or near record lows.

More
key fiscal battles are looming after self-inflicted wounds like last
fall's government shutdown and repeated debt-limit crises over the past
few years.

The federal
government once again is about to bump into the limit on its borrowing
authority, which is set by law. Last October's deal to end the 16-day
partial government shutdown suspended the debt ceiling until Feb. 7.
That's Friday.

Treasury
Secretary Jacob Lew has urged Congress to act quickly to raise the debt
limit, saying "at some point very soon," probably by month's end, he'll
run out of delaying strategies, and the nation could default for the
first time ever on some of its debt.

"This
can and should be a breakthrough year for our economy," Lew told the
Bipartisan Policy Center. "The table is now set for us to build on the
economic progress that we have made over the last five years — and it is
incumbent on Washington to be part of the solution, and to avoid the
brinksmanship of recent years that has done so much to diminish economic
momentum."

Some congressional
Republicans are looking for concessions from the administration in
exchange for their support on the debt limit increase.

View gallery

In this Feb. 6, 2014, photo Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks at the Capitol in Wash …

Also, early next month,
Obama will submit his federal budget for the fiscal year that begins
Oct. 1. Presidential budgets almost always trigger partisan warfare. In
fact, the White House is already drawing heat from some Republicans for
delaying its fiscal 2015 budget submission by a month. Presidential
budgets are traditionally sent to Congress in early February.

"The
president failed to meet one of his most basic responsibilities —
submit a budget to Congress," complained Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas,
noting that Obama had called on Congress only two weeks ago in his State
of the Union address to act quickly on his priorities. Cornyn is the
sponsor of a bill that would withhold Lew's government salary for every
day the president's budget is late.

Republicans
constantly blame Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill for a range of
problems, beginning with the president's rocky rollout of his health
care overhaul and expensive government programs, claiming such policies
are threatening to derail the recovery that began in 2009. Democrats, in
turn, point at Republicans and accuse them of triggering the government
shutdown and advocating hurtful spending cuts on social programs.

Both
parties are mindful of the enormous public anger that the shutdown
ignited and its damage to the economy. Many don't seem quite as eager to
go to the mat again, especially on the fast-approaching debt ceiling.

"The
goal here is to increase the debt ceiling," Boehner told reporters. "No
one wants to default on our debt." However, the House speaker didn't
rule out trying to get something in return for such GOP support.

"Republicans
got burned by the government shutdown and decided to take that off the
table," said Thomas Mann, a scholar who studies Congress at the
Brookings Institution. Mann thinks the GOP will also back away this time
from digging in its heels on the debt ceiling and try to reach some
sort of deal on immigration. "But those battles are far from resolved."

Standard
& Poor's called the October shutdown, which furloughed 800,000
federal workers, a $24 billion drag on the U.S. economy. The bipartisan
Congressional Budget Office estimates the shutdown, together with a
cutback in government spending and higher taxes that took effect last
year, subtracted 1.5 percentage points from last year's economic growth,
extending the nation's long crawl out of the deep 2007-2009 recession.

For
all of 2013, the economy expanded at a lackluster 1.9 percent pace,
even though the October-December quarter posted a respectable 3.2
percent increase in the gross domestic product.

"The
single biggest impediment to a stronger economic recovery has been the
years of dysfunction in Washington and the policies that have emerged,"
suggests Steven Rattner, a longtime Wall Street executive who was
Obama's auto-bailout adviser in his first term.

Pakistan, Taliban start peace talks in Islamabad - Yahoo News

Pakistan, Taliban start peace talks in Islamabad - Yahoo News

JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:

A long-awaited first round of
peace talks between Pakistani Taliban insurgents and the government
began in Islamabad on Thursday after persistent delays and growing doubt
over the chance of their success.

The
insurgents have been battling to topple Pakistan's government and
establish strict Islamic rule since 2007, but Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif believes both sides are now ready to find a negotiated settlement
and stop fighting.

In a statement after the meeting, which lasted over three hours, the two sides stressed their commitment to dialogue.

"Both
committees concluded that all sides should refrain from any act that
could damage the talks," it said. "Both condemn recent acts of violence
in Pakistan, saying such efforts should not sabotage the talks."

Irfan
Siddiqui, a government negotiator picked by Sharif, sent a text message
from the meeting in an Islamabad government building, describing the
atmosphere as "cordial and friendly".

Several earlier efforts at
striking peace deals with the militants failed to end the violence for
long, only allowing them to regroup, recruit new fighters and strike
back with renewed vengeance.

Pakistan's
neighbors are watching closely, acutely aware that another failure to
find a peaceful solution could further destabilize the region already
nervous ahead of the expected pull-out of most foreign forces from
neighboring Afghanistan.

Thursday's meeting in Islamabad was a
preliminary round where the two sides were expected to agree on a broad
roadmap for future contacts.

But many in Pakistan doubt that talking to an insurgent group that stages almost daily attacks will succeed.

As
the sides prepared for talks this week, a suicide bomber killed eight
people near a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in the city of Peshawar. The Taliban
have tried to distance themselves from the attack but the bombing
reinforced doubts about the talks.

SCEPTICISM

Taliban bosses
watched the progress of the talks in Islamabad from their mountainous
hideouts on the Afghan border, with their interests represented by three
Taliban-friendly public figures hand-picked by the insurgents.

"The
progress of the talks will be submitted to the prime minister," said a
government official, who declined to be identified, as he was not
authorized to comment on the talks.

The Pakistani Taliban, known
as Pakistani Tehreek-e-Taliban, are a deeply fragmented umbrella group
consisting of dozens of entities, so striking a deal with one of them
would not necessarily stop the violence.

On Tuesday, the first
attempt at talking got off to a shambolic start after government
negotiators failed to turn up at an agreed time, angering the
insurgents' representatives.

"The unavoidable question for the
government though: what are talks meant to achieve if violence continues
even in the immediate run-up to the first real, known attempt at
talks?" the respected Dawn daily wrote in an editorial.

Militants
have stepped up attacks against security forces since the beginning of
the year, prompting the army to send fighter jets to bomb their
strongholds in the ethnic Pashtun region of North Waziristan, along the
Afghan border, and triggering talk that a major ground offensive was in
the works.

Rand Paul Would Like To Punish Poor Woman Who Procreate | News One

Rand Paul Would Like To Punish Poor Woman Who Procreate | News One

JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:



If you let Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) tell
it, then there is no such thing as a “war on women,” and even if there
was, women are winning the battle so what’s there to complain about?
Speaking with CNN’s Candy Crowley, Paul asserted, “The
whole thing of the ‘war on women,’ I sort of laughingly say, ‘Yeah,
there might have been – but the women are winning it.’” Paul cited women
making up more than half of the students at medical and law school to
back up his claim. More, he touted the female members of his family to
stress that this idea of Republicans being anti-women in both tone and
policy is nothing more than folklore.


The likely GOP 2016 presidential candidate went on to say, ”I think
women are doing very well, and I’m proud of how far we’ve come.”


Okay, everybody, let’s just shut up now. Rand Paul has spoken. Or not.


As awesome as it is to know that the rich White women who make up
Rand Paul’s family are doing an outstanding job in their careers, this
is not a truth shared by most women.


In Maria Shriver’s annual report on “Women in America,” they found the following:

1 in 3 American women, 42 million women, plus 28 million
children, either live in poverty or are right on the brink of it. (The
report defines the ‘brink of poverty’ as making $47,000 a year for a
family of four.)


Nearly two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women, and these workers often get zero paid sick days.


Two-thirds of American women are either the primary or co-breadwinners of their families.


More than half of the babies born to Moms who are under 30 are born to unmarried mothers, and most of them are White.


Even though women outnumber men in higher education, men still make
more money than women who have the same level of educational
achievement, from high school diplomas to advanced graduate degrees.
 And in 2011, men with Bachelors’ degrees earned more than women with
graduate degrees.


60 percent of low-income women say they believe even if they made all
the right choices, ‘the economy doesn’t work for someone like me.’

These are structural problems elevated by bad policy mostly
engineered by conservatives. Sort of like Rand Paul’s idea to cut
government benefits to unwed mothers who have multiple children.


SEE ALSO: ‘Structural Racism’ Blamed For Severe Health Disparities In Minnesota


Paul recently floated that possibility at a recent Commerce Lexington luncheon. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports:

During a question-and-answer period following his remarks
at a Commerce Lexington luncheon, Paul responded to a question about
workforce development by including a warning about unwed young mothers
doomed to poverty.


Although he said the job of preventing unplanned or unwanted
pregnancies should be left to communities and families, Paul left open
the possibility of a role for government.


‘Maybe we have to say, ‘Enough’s enough, you shouldn’t be
having kids after a certain amount,’” Paul told the business group at
one point.

Paul added that being “married with kids versus unmarried with kids
is the difference between living in poverty and not.” Yeah, former
President George W. Bush already peddled that “let’s get the po’ folk married and spare them from poverty” program and it failed miserably.


But as Mother Jones’ Stephanie Mencimer highlighted, there is precedence about one successful pro-marriage program in Minnesota:

[T]he only social program ever to show documented success
in impacting the marriage rates of poor people came in 1994, when the
state of Minnesota accidentally reduced the divorce rate among poor
Black women by allowing them to keep some of their welfare benefits when
they went to work rather than cutting them off. During the three-year
experiment and for a few years afterward, the divorce rate for Black
women in the state fell 70 percent. The positive effects on kids also
continued for several years.

And yet, Paul stresses that the slashing of an unwed’s
mother’s benefits would be “tough love.” There is no love in such a
sentiment. Republicans want to suppress wages and restrict access to
birth control, but then punish poor women who fall victim to what is an
obvious set-up.


Still, Paul maintained in his State of the Union interview:

And I think some of the victimology and all of this other
stuff is trumped up. We don’t get to any good policy by playing some
sort of charade that somehow one party doesn’t care about women or one
party is not in favor of women advancing, or other people advancing.

We also don’t get good policy by continuing to give power to
deceptive, prejudice-harboring politicians who even when presented with
evidence of their biases, opt instead to play “victim” despite it being
clear who’s truly doing the victimizing. If I had a trap door, Paul and
the rest of his ilk would have a special invitation to fall right
through it.