Every one of these is reviewed, and rest assured, the public reports about civilian casualties are not just a little bit wrong, they are wildly wrong.Republican Rep. Mike Rogers • During a discussion of the House Intelligence Committee’s review process, for U.S. drone strikes in foreign countries, with Ohio’s Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich on the House floor Monday. The current chairman of the House Intelligence Committee also said he believes ”that people use those reports for their own political purposes outside of the country to try to put pressure on the United States.” source
President Vladimir V. Putin said Thursday that he would sign into law a ban on adoptions of Russian children by American citizens, retaliating against an American law that punishes Russians accused of violating human rights and dealing a potentially grave setback to bilateral relations.
Mr. Putin announced his decision at a meeting with senior government officials on Friday, including cabinet members and legislative leaders. The adoption ban, included in a broader law aimed at retaliating against the United States, was approved unanimously by the Federation Council, the upper chamber of Parliament on Wednesday.
Seriously, though, the U.S. is not happy about this, finding it awful that Russia is putting orphaned children in the middle of a political battle. But the truth of the matter is, there are dozens of families out there which just had their hopes dashed over a transparently political move. Lame.
President Obama will “actively support” efforts by Democrats to reinstate a federal ban on assault weapons next year, the White House announced on Tuesday.
Press secretary Jay Carney said the president would back Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) when she introduces legislation at the opening of the next Congress to ban certain assault weapons in the United States.
Carney said the president would also support other gun-control efforts, including legislation to close the “gun show loophole” on background checks and prevent the sale of high-capacity ammunition clips.
Thoughts?
We wholeheartedly endorse the Strike Debt/Rolling Jubilee initiative, and any others like it that we might not be aware of. Regardless of your thoughts on the Occupy movement, taxes, entitlement programs, etc, it seems likely that we can all agree that this is an amazing way to help people in need. source
The term “minority,” at least as used to describe racial and ethnic groups in the United States, may need to be retired or rethought soon: by the end of this decade, according to Census Bureau projections released Wednesday, no single racial or ethnic group will constitute a majority of children under 18. And in about three decades, no single group will constitute a majority of the country as a whole.U.S. Will Have No Ethnic Majority, Census Finds - NYTimes.com (via firthofforth)
The Obama administration has formally designated a rebel group fighting in Syria as a terrorist organization in hopes of marginalizing the Al Qaeda affiliate and reducing its chances of playing a major role in the country should the government fall.
Administration officials blacklisted Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, describing it as a wing of Al Qaeda in Iraq, which was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans during the height of the Iraq war. The Nusra Front is one of dozens of rebel groups that have emerged in the Syrian conflict.
It remains to be seen what effect, if any, blacklisting Jabhat al-Nusra — also known as the Nusra Front — will have on the rebel militia, which has earned the trust and support of many Syrians battling the Assad regime. However, it does prevent the United States from supporting the group, or any others that work with the Nusra Front in the future, and U.S. officials hope it will dissuade others in the region from supporting the group as well.
BREAKING: US economy adds 146,000 jobs in November
The U.S. economy added a solid 146,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008. The government said Superstorm Sandy had only a minimal effect on the figures.
AP reports:Hiring remained steady during the storm and in the face of looming tax increases. But the government said employers added 49,000 fewer jobs in October and September than initially estimated. And the unemployment rate fell from 7.9 percent in October mostly because more people stopped looking for work and weren’t counted as unemployed.
Photo: A man walks past destroyed homes on the Rockaway Peninsula in the Queens borough of New York on Nov. 27, 2012. (Seth Wenig/AP Photo)
The good news: Things are improving. The better news: A tough month after Sandy didn’t crimp the improvement.
Both sides in the strike that has crippled the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have agreed to federal mediation, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Tuesday at a news conference.
Villaraigosa said the agreement was an encouraging sign and could help bring an end to the strike, now in its eighth day. He said the parties negotiated throughout the night and there had been some recent movement.
“I’m hopeful that the mediator will be here today,” Villaraigosa told reporters. “We’ve got to get a deal and get a deal as soon as possible.”
Approximately 20,000 workers in the region have been affected by the strike, which is now on its seventh day, and the work stoppage has shuttered 10 of the 14 available cargo container terminals at ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach. Union members claim that the 14 employers being picketed have been slowly but steadily outsourcing jobs to states and countries with lower-paid, non-union workers. The terminal owners deny the claims, saying they’ve guaranteed the union members full job security in addition to wage and pension boosts. source
We are not going to be able to come up with comprehensive tax reform package that gets it all done just in the next two weeks. We are not going to be able to come up with necessarily a comprehensive entitlement reform package that gets it all done in the next two weeks. When you look at what Ronald Reagan did back in 1986 working with Bill Bradley and others, that was a year-and-a-half process … Let’s essentially put a down payment on taxes. Let’s let taxes on upper-income folks go up.President Obama • Demanding an end to top-end Bush tax cuts during his first post-election interview with Bloomberg News’ Julianna Goldman. While he may have signaled some willingness to compromise, the President told Goldman that Republicans needed to give more, and that the most recent “fiscal cliff” proposal from Speaker Boehner was “still out of balance.” source
This is a red line for the United States. I am not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people. But suffice it to say we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton • Making clear that the United States will not remain idle on the sidelines any longer if the Syrian government uses chemical weapons on civilians or rebel forces inside the country. The United States and other nations have maintained a mostly hands-off policy with regards to the conflict in Syria, instead pushing for change via diplomacy, though international pressure has yet to yield any significant results outside of occasional political defections. The Syrian government has already responded with a denial that they own such weapons, saying officials would never do such a thing “under any circumstances.” source
I can’t add much to what’s already been (and will be) ...
One of the perks of being an early employee...
Over the last 90 days, the Digg...
#FMMDI (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza)
Thanks. I guess my thoughts are as follows:
1. I think...
Two Months Ago I set out to interview the principal cast...
Pretty soon you’ll be able to print your 3D projects at the local Staples.
A new service called “Staples Easy 3D” will allow customers to upload their designs to Staples’ website, then pick up the printed objects at their local office supply megastore, or have them shipped to their home or business — not unlike the photo- and document-printing service the company already offers.
The project was announced today at Euromold 2012 by 3-D printer manufacturer Mcor Technologies, who is partnering with Staples to provide its new Iris printers for the service.
An interesting decision, though one we suspect will work out for the company based on the increasing popularity of 3D printing thanks to companies like MakerBot Industries. Between this and the introduction of more Dunder Mifflin office supplies, we think we might be spending a little more time at this particular office supply chain in the future.
I didn’t feel that PFC Manning should be detained more than 90 days in the brig.Daniel Choike, former commander of Marine Corps Base Quantico • Testifying on recommendations he made to the Pentagon regarding the long-term detention of Pfc. Bradley Manning during a pre-trial hearing today. The hearing in Fort Meade, Maryland is scheduled to last until Sunday, and Manning’s legal team hopes to convince the judge that the young soldier was subjected to illegal pre-trial punishment. If they are able to do so, Manning’s charges and sentence could be reduced or dismissed entirely. source
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