Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department began investigating the security contractor’s operations in Iraq. But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater’s top manager there issued a threat: “that he could kill” the government’s chief investigator and “no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq,” according to department reports.
Monday, June 30, 2014
BushCo's kinda people
This guy and his company are a two-ply wetsuit and a vibrator away from being perfect "Christian" hypocrites.
Friday, June 27, 2014
Who needs to stop at "third-world level" services?...THIS IS 'MURICA we can make hellscapes like no other!
While everybody in America can have a gun, apparently having water is not so important.
At this point, a mere quarter-million or so folks have lost their ability to obtain clean water...meanwhile, GM, Chrysler and who knows how many banks are doing just fine on that government bail out money.
But hey, those corporations are people...and those people of Detroit are, uh, apparently not.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
It was six in the morning when city contractors showed up unannounced at Charity Hicks' house.
Since spring, up to 3000 Detroit households per week have been getting their water shut-off – for owing as little as $150 or two months in bills. Now it was the turn of Charity's block – and the contractor wouldn't stand to wait an hour for her pregnant neighbour to fill up some jugs.
"Where's your water termination notice?" Charity demanded, after staggering to the contractor's truck. A widely-respected African-American community leader, she has been at the forefront of campaigns to ensure Detroiters' right to public, accessible water.
The contractor's answer was to drive away, knocking Charity over and injuring her leg. Two white policemen soon arrived – not to take her report, but to arrest her. Mocking Charity for questioning the water shut-offs, they brought her to jail, where she spent two days before being released without charge.
At this point, a mere quarter-million or so folks have lost their ability to obtain clean water...meanwhile, GM, Chrysler and who knows how many banks are doing just fine on that government bail out money.
But hey, those corporations are people...and those people of Detroit are, uh, apparently not.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Thursday, June 26, 2014
"Chemistry"
Sounds like a bit of it may be missing from the Ghanian national team (which is fortunate for the U.S. as a Ghana victory vs. Portugal could be very bad).
Which, to be fair, is less money than FIFA officials are asking for from Uruguay's FA to pretend that Louis Suarez was just giving somebody a hickey.
With their squad in complete shambles, now a fresh backlash is expected to rain down on the Black Stars after defender John Boye, who plays in Ligue 1 with Rennes, was snapped kissing his share of the $3 million.
The image of a footballer literally kissing money whilst at the World Cup is possibly one of the best illustrations of the scourge of modern football.
See the image below, together with a second picture of a Ghanaian official counting the money.
This comes just after the team literally made the Ghanian government fly in a plan with the $3 million plus in cash bonuses they thought they would not get otherwise.Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng have been expelled from Ghana's World Cup squad for alleged indiscipline.A statement on the Ghana Football Association website said both players had "been suspended indefinitely".
It added Boateng had used "vulgar verbal insults targeted at coach Kwesi Appiah" and said Muntari was guilty of an "unprovoked physical attack on an executive committee member".
Which, to be fair, is less money than FIFA officials are asking for from Uruguay's FA to pretend that Louis Suarez was just giving somebody a hickey.
With their squad in complete shambles, now a fresh backlash is expected to rain down on the Black Stars after defender John Boye, who plays in Ligue 1 with Rennes, was snapped kissing his share of the $3 million.
The image of a footballer literally kissing money whilst at the World Cup is possibly one of the best illustrations of the scourge of modern football.
See the image below, together with a second picture of a Ghanaian official counting the money.
So, cost of a soul then?
Next up, defending Chief Wahoo as a lovable scamp of a character not demeaning at all, no sirree Bob...after all the check cleared.
Might as well be Larry Sabato.
The Washington Redskins have hired longtime Virginia politico and liberal blogger Ben Tribbett to help guide the team's battle over their controversial nickname.
Tribbett, 34, is a native Northern Virginian and lifelong Redskins fan. He was a regular defender of the team's nickname long before the team recruited him to help aid their efforts to defend them.
Might as well be Larry Sabato.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
And here I thought all the skits at this year's World Cup focused on the English Team and its fans...
I don't recall the last NFL player that tried to eat human flesh three times.
We usually save that behavior in 'Murica for Rick James, Marv Albert, or the latest teapartying hypocrite at the Twin Cities Airport.
We usually save that behavior in 'Murica for Rick James, Marv Albert, or the latest teapartying hypocrite at the Twin Cities Airport.
You know it's bad
When your living your life like an actual "Game of Thrones" character (would he not make a good member of House Bolton) has this sponsor thinking about its reputation.
A personal sponsor of Luis Suarez, the betting firm 888poker, say they are "reviewing their relationship" with him and won't tolerate "unsporting behaviour" following allegations he bit Italy's Giorgio Chiellini.That's right...too loathsome for an a gambling establishment.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
So...when's the Chris Christie Toll Bridge opening?
Oh, that's right, they are all tolling for him.
Investigations into the Christie administration and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have zeroed in on possible securities law violations stemming from a $1.8 billion road repair agreement in 2011, according to people briefed on the matter. While the inquiries were prompted by the apparently politically motivated lane closings at the George Washington Bridge last year, these investigations center on another crossing: the Pulaski Skyway, the crumbling elevated roadway connecting Newark and Jersey City. They are being conducted by the Manhattan district attorney and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
But we haven't had a chance to bomb anything yet!
The Ukraine, that place the usual suspects wanted to bomb to prove their manhood before returning to the usual shiny pile of rubble, has had the nerve to possibly end their fighting before we get a chance to kill people too.
[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Vladimir Putin has called on both sides in eastern Ukraine to lay down their arms and compromise, giving his strongest backing yet for the peace plan announced by Ukraine's new president, Petro Poroshenko.Ol' Soul Eyes is in, Separatists, are you also in?
Separatist leaders in two main areas of Ukraine's east have agreed to observe a ceasefire until Friday, one of the leaders has said. Alexander Borodai made the comments after meeting a "contact group" that included a former Ukrainian president, Moscow's envoy to Kiev and a representative of the OSCE security watchdog.Okay, that sounds like a maybe, better lob a few warheads in case this thing gets official.
[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Monday, June 23, 2014
Shame sure to follow Stiff reprimand
Well, apparently Donald Rumsfeld was just as creepy when he compared "Old Europe" to the U.S.'s new allies of Eastern Europe as you may, or should, have imagined.
Just ask Poland's Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski:
Hey, Poland emphasize your oil reserves and we'll be there for you.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Just ask Poland's Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski:
According to a transcript of excerpts of the conversation that was published by Wprost on its Internet site, Sikorski told Rostowski: "You know that the Polish-US alliance isn't worth anything." "It is downright harmful, because it creates a false sense of security ... Complete bullshit. We'll get in conflict with the Germans, Russians and we'll think that everything is super, because we gave the Americans a blow job. Losers. Complete losers."
According to the transcript, Sikorski described Warsaw's attitude towards the United States using the Polish word "murzynskosc." That derives from the word "murzyn," which denotes a dark-skinned person and someone who does the work for somebody else, according to the PWN Polish language dictionary.Well, that is offensively accurate.
Hey, Poland emphasize your oil reserves and we'll be there for you.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Friday, June 20, 2014
Ineffective Clients are a "Diem" a dozen
Whether it's the Middle East or the Far East, it's good to know that the times may change, but America's abilities to out-bully others remains as unchanging as ever.
Especially when bombs and American soldiers have been involved. After all, this could get messy.
And what a look that is, after our other fiction, being the "good guys". [cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Senate intelligence committee, told a hearing on Wednesday that Maliki's government "has got to go if you want any reconciliation", and Republican John McCain called for the use of US air power but also urged Obama to "make very clear to Maliki that his time is up".Because the greatest way to undermine the fiction of a democratic Iraq is for another country to tell 'em to ditch their leadership.
Especially when bombs and American soldiers have been involved. After all, this could get messy.
And what a look that is, after our other fiction, being the "good guys". [cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Another selection for the "You Stay (KKK)lassy files" of the modern GOP
Hard to believe, I know.
A Republican official in Arizona on Wednesday confirmed something that's long been suspected. State schools superintendent John Huppenthal has been a prolific and often incendiary anonymous commenter on local political blogs.
Under various pseudonyms, including Falcon9, Thucky and Thucydides, Huppenthal has authored hundreds of comments at the progressive Blog for Arizona since at least 2011. He engaged in self-promotion, writing in February that he's "sure" Huppenthal, who's up for re-election this year, "will be our next superintendent."
He once decried Barack Obama for "rewarding the lazy pigs with food stamps (44 million people), air-conditioning, free health care, flat-screen TV's (typical of 'poor' families)." and even went birther, claiming that the president wrote in his memoir that "he was born in Kenya!!!"
In one comment, he compared Margaret Sanger to Adolf Hitler, writing that the Planned Parenthood founder "fed 16 million African-Americans into the abortion mills. He also argued that Franklin D. Roosevelt's "disastrous economic policies drug down the whole world and directly led to the rise of a no-name hack named Adolph Hitler who was going nowhere until Germany's economy went into the tank."That's your state "School Superintendent" Arizona.
They are just getting into this whole "smack talk" idea
You'd think China could learn a thing or two from North Korea, but trash talking from the late 1940s is I guess all they had left from the Chang-era.
British Prime Minister then replied in the most stereotypical way possible.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Britain is an "old, declining empire" which resorts to "eccentric acts" to hide its embarrassment over its declining power, an official Chinese newspaper has claimed on the second day of a visit by the country's premier, Li Keqiang, to London.Invalid on present-tense usage alone. Who's advising them, Karl Rove and his Sweden-slams?
British Prime Minister then replied in the most stereotypical way possible.
...if you're David Cameron, this is when you use the international hotbed of a card that is Downton Abbey... He gave Chinese premier Li Keqiang a copy of the script for the show's first episode signed by creator Julian Fellowes.Yeah, that'll show 'em Britain's not an old, declining empire.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Life is easier if it is lived without a conscience
Sociopathy has its advantages...for example Dick and Dickette Cheney can say this...without the requisite shame...and this being America being shamed.
Cheney and his daughter penned an opinion piece that will be published in The Wall Street Journal Wednesday, slamming Obama for being "so wrong about so much at the expense of so many."
When exactly did these things last exist there?
I believe the horse left that barn through the door and promptly entered the glue factory quite some time ago.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
The leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite, and Sunni Usama al-Nujaifi, the last speaker of parliament which dissolved this month, stood apart and listened as Maliki's predecessor Ibrahim al-Jafaari called for "defending the state and protecting its sovereignty and dignity."I.e. "Bring on the drones!" That will dignify this sucker right up!
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Day ending in "Y" and all that
Funny how the only inroads the GOP is making with non-white voters is with those willing to cash a NewsCorp. paycheck.
"If you take a look, you mentioned the Hispanic population — the African American population, there's a number of things that our party stands for that they embrace," Tillis said. He went on to say that Republican need to do a better job reaching out to minority voters. Tillis then said that unlike the Hispanic or black populations, which have been growing, the "traditional population of North Carolina and the United States is more or less stable."Yes, North Carolina, a tradition of not having black people in it, if you do not count the last four hundred years...or white people for that matter.
Exposure has a tendency to work...Anthony Weiner excepted
Well, imagine that.
It turns out that judges with daughters are more likely to vote in favor of women’s rights than ones with only sons. The effect, a new study found, is most pronounced among male judges appointed by Republican presidents, like Chief Justice Rehnquist.Yes, actual real-world experiences with plaintiffs or criminal defendants that come before the court, has a tendency to open the eyes of your ivory-towered conservative jurist. Which is why soon, we'll have a new kind of exposure (well, an ancient one to be honest) encouraged by individuals at ironically labeled conservative think tanks. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Monday, June 16, 2014
Fred Garvin Hiatt...Male Prostitute
Hey, ol' Fred was sooooooooooooo very right in supporting the original Iraqi clusterfuck from the beginning, so obviously he's the guy to throw stones now (just like every other asshole)
Unfortunately, disengagement turns out not to work. A drones-first policy has stoked anti-American fervor from Pakistan to Yemen. Libya is on the brink of civil war. Syria has become “the most catastrophic humanitarian crisis any of us have seen in a generation,” as Mr. Obama’s U.N ambassador said. Now Iraq is disintegrating. Of course, as many commentators write, Iraq’s politicians are to blame. But if the United States had maintained a presence, it might have steered Iraqi politics in a more constructive direction.And if only you weren't so effing gung ho to bomb the enemy de jour Freddie!
Obviously this was worth hurting the poor over
Water wet, death, taxes, and military programs being a huge waste.
The Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, or GMD, was supposed to protect Americans against a chilling new threat from "rogue states" such as North Korea and Iran. But a decade after it was declared operational, and after $40 billion in spending, the missile shield cannot be relied on, even in carefully scripted tests that are much less challenging than an actual attack would be, a Los Angeles Times investigation has found. The Missile Defense Agency has conducted 16 tests of the system's ability to intercept a mock enemy warhead. It has failed in eight of them, government records show.Oh well, maybe if we cut medicare some more? [cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Friday, June 13, 2014
Another Adventure goes about as rationally predicted
Another "solid" investment in the Saigon of the no-longer aughts:
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
After Iraq's armed forces were disbanded following the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the United States and its allies committed more than $25bn to training and building a new military.And now we know just how awesome that's working out.
...recent operations in the west on the Syrian border and around Falluja and Ramadi have suggested both serious political and operational shortcomings. The collapse of an estimated 30,000 forces in and around Mosul underlined a lack of morale and an apparently chaotic chain of command.Good job 'Murica -- put it on the multi-trillion dollar tab!
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Hard to believe, based on their track record of accomplishment
American intelligence caught off guard on Iraq falling apart (well, further apart).
I mean that never happens, other than normally happening.
And to think of all those text and internet messages they've been hoovering up...somehow they still missed it.
But former girlfriends of their employees...THEY'VE GOT THAT NAILED!
I mean that never happens, other than normally happening.
And to think of all those text and internet messages they've been hoovering up...somehow they still missed it.
But former girlfriends of their employees...THEY'VE GOT THAT NAILED!
So, Helicopters off the future Iranian Embassy then?
Amazing how Operation Clusterfuck, the ridiculously conceived, stupidly undertaken, poorly managed, and contemptuously defended, invasion and occupation of Iraq -- at a cost of probably hundred of thousands of lives and trillions in tax dollars is going the way of the last similar American gross foreign policy adventure (remember kids, Afghanistan is the best of the three--chew on that one!).
Naturally, this rotten piece of shit, undertaken by a band of war criminals is going to blame this all on Obama...or Obamacare -- take your pick.
Naturally, this rotten piece of shit, undertaken by a band of war criminals is going to blame this all on Obama...or Obamacare -- take your pick.
The unfettered "Id"
Welcome to the newly emergent European right-wing -- the dormancy is over.
In an explosive political climate, where popular rage is at boiling point nearly five years into the country's worst crisis in living memory, the politics of hate so embodied by Golden Dawn is becoming increasingly pervasive. "Who cares if six million Jews were exterminated?" asked the businessman back at the cafe, in a shocking endorsement of that reality. "I don't care if they were turned into soap. What I care about is the salary I have lost, the never-ending taxes I am forced to pay, the criminals who rule this country, the anger I carry inside."A little cutting, a little pasting (and some unfairness)...but not a lot...and this could be a Republican voter in Virginia's Seventh Congressional District voting against Cantor.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Bread crumbs and you can't come to the Circus
Much is made of the old bromide "Bread and Circuses" as how elite of ancient Rome ("the I percent") placated the masses by giving them free grain and sporting events to make them forget the stratified social order.
True or not, times have certainly changed.
Brazil, home of the 2014 FIFA World Cup has the modern adaptation of that rule.
So not much for bread.
How about those circuses?
The circus is for other people.
Although FIFA the organization makes out well, hoovering up as much as they can out of Brazil as they can. What they cannot carry, they'll leave for the International Olympic Committee in 2016.
And that's the unkindest Brazilian of them all.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
True or not, times have certainly changed.
Brazil, home of the 2014 FIFA World Cup has the modern adaptation of that rule.
According to estimates from the federal government, the World Cup will cost the public treasury somewhere around 26 billion reais ($11.6 billion).Oh they'll get the stadiums built...but not much other promises will be kept.
So not much for bread.
How about those circuses?
The cheapest World Cup final ticket will cost the average Brazilian 25 hours of work
The circus is for other people.
Although FIFA the organization makes out well, hoovering up as much as they can out of Brazil as they can. What they cannot carry, they'll leave for the International Olympic Committee in 2016.
And that's the unkindest Brazilian of them all.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Monday, June 09, 2014
"You lucky Bastards!"
That's essentially what George Will is saying about college sexual assault victims.
What a guy, huh?
What a guy, huh?
Another day in America
Another mass shooting by two guys who love guns as much as they hate humanity.
easier (ed. DERP!) harder time getting the license that allowed them to drive to the spot they started killing people than it took to get the guns they killed them with...before they offed themselves.
And in spite of the fact it's Vegas, nobody is going to take that bet.
Two Las Vegas police officers were killed Sunday in what appears to be a politically motivated ambush in a pizza restaurant that spilled over to a nearby Wal-Mart, where the two shooters committed suicide after killing a woman in the store. Details are sketchy, but Metropolitan Police Department sources close to the investigation say the shooters shouted that “this is the start of a revolution” before opening fire on the officers, and draped their bodies with cloth showing a Revolutionary War-era flag. Investigators have also found paraphernalia associated with white supremacists.And I bet these two assholes had a much
And in spite of the fact it's Vegas, nobody is going to take that bet.
A well regulated Militia,being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
United States of A-holes.
Another day, another time to ponder "what the hell is wrong with you?!"
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
The father of Bowe Bergdahl, the Idaho soldier released from captivity in a controversial prisoner swap with the Taliban, has received emailed death threats that authorities are investigating, an Idaho police chief said on Saturday.I mean, really?
U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has told people treating him at an American military medical facility in Germany that he was tortured, beaten and held in a cage by his Taliban captors in Afghanistan after he tried to escape, a senior U.S. official said Sunday.I guess, not even having a vestigial soul helps.
Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle said Friday that the POW was lucky he wasn't found by his fellow soldiers before the exchange. Otherwise, Guilfoyle said, Bergdahl may have been brought home "in a body bag."Yes, cheering on Americans to one-up torture...USA, USA, USA! At least there's sanity on other stuff.
Indiana state treasurer Richard Mourdock, who mounted an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 2012, says America is going the way of Hitler's Nazi Germany. Mourdock broke down the comparison in detail on Saturday, the day after the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.Crazy has no sense of propriety.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Saturday, June 07, 2014
Obviously this right-wing lunatic is actually a left-wing plant
His last name was MARX and "the left" is subtle that way. Sincerely, faithful Sean Hannity apologist.
Friday, June 06, 2014
Hey, you -- middle-aged trender...
Stop watching "Orange is the New Black" and get to work!
You've got to save those "Hipster sick days" for the World Cup!
You've got to save those "Hipster sick days" for the World Cup!
Rollback...
You go...
Working mothers at Walmart staged a series of strikes on Wednesday in protest over wages and conditions at the world's largest retailer, as a new report claims the company's top executives received $104m in taxpayer subsidies over a six-year period.How dare these proles stand up against their betters, especially morally...uh, what?
The majority of mothers working at Walmart, which drew a $16bn profit last year, earn less than $25,000 a year
Since 2009, Walmart has ducked $104 million in taxes by exploiting a tax loophole around bonus payments to just eight top executives, according to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF).
Thursday, June 05, 2014
Wednesday, June 04, 2014
Things to do in Denver now that you might as well be dead!
Maureen Dowd took pot in the name of channeling Peggy Noonan apparently.
And then I realized FUCK somebody beat me to my obvious joke...obviously.
...then I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. [ed. 'THAT'S JUST REAGAN] I barely made it from the desk to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours. [ed. REAGAN AGAIN!] I was thirsty but couldn’t move to get water. Or even turn off the lights. I was panting and paranoid [ed. REAGAN REAGAN REAGAN!!!], sure that when the room-service waiter knocked and I didn’t answer, he’d call the police and have me arrested for being unable to handle my candy.
I strained to remember where I was or even what I was wearing, touching my green corduroy jeans and staring at the exposed-brick wall [ed. OH RONNY!]. As my paranoia deepened, I became convinced that I had died and no one was telling me.
And then I realized FUCK somebody beat me to my obvious joke...obviously.
She'll fit in well
Well congrats there Iowa, you've managed to have your GOP nominate someone who actually aspires to be Sarah Palin (two girls, one drool cup).
Jodi Ernst.
Whose politics fit in well with the famous Ernsts from the past.
Ernst Rohm
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Stavro-Blofeld
Plus the famous German comedy from the late 30s... Ernst Goes to Kamp
Jodi Ernst.
Whose politics fit in well with the famous Ernsts from the past.
Ernst Rohm
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Stavro-Blofeld
Plus the famous German comedy from the late 30s... Ernst Goes to Kamp
Well, I suppose he's had practice
Francois Hollande a man who cheated on wife with a mistress and his mistress with another mistress is undoubtedly the world leader most prepared for this situation.
Something Hollande is evidently quite good at...or at least claiming to be.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Hollande will host President Barack Obama and President Vladimir Putin on Thursday after separate talks at the Elysée Palace before the 70th anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landings in Normandy the next day. But because of the tensions over Ukraine between the US and Russian leaders – who are not scheduled to hold talks – two consecutive dinners are to be held in order to keep the politically estranged leaders apart.I guess it beats being with Vlad and peering into his soul.
Something Hollande is evidently quite good at...or at least claiming to be.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Tuesday, June 03, 2014
Like it's a day ending in "Y" or "even a stopped clock with no hands is wrong all the time"
I'm sensing a theme...a theme so prevalent it really isn't a theme -- more of a mantra, wrapped inside a cliche, frozen in concrete...made from endangered black-footed ferret tears.
Big GOP Talking Point Debunked
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