Atheists demand display of Nothing next to Ground Zero cross

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Atheists demand display of Nothing next to Ground Zero cross

Austrian Red Cross in hot water after ‘rejecting’ blood donations from Muslims

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Austrian Red Cross in hot water after ‘rejecting’ blood donations from Muslims

Indigenous Groups: ‘No Keystone XL Pipeline Will Cross Our Lands’

Indigenous Groups: ‘No Keystone XL Pipeline Will Cross Our Lands’
http://disinfo.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Screen-Shot-2014-02-06-at-1.14.38-PM-300x167.png

Pic: Owe Aku (C)

Sarah Lazare writes at Common Dreams:

Native American communities are promising fierce resistance to stop TransCanada from building, and President Barack Obama from permitting, the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline.

“No Keystone XL pipeline will cross Lakota lands,” declares a joint statement from Honor the Earth, the Oglala Sioux Nation, Owe Aku, and Protect the Sacred. “We stand with the Lakota Nation, we stand on the side of protecting sacred water, we stand for Indigenous land-based lifeways which will NOT be corrupted by a hazardous, toxic pipeline.”

Members of seven Lakota nation tribes, as well as indigenous communities in Idaho, Oklahoma, Montana, Nebraska and Oregon, are preparing to take action to stop Keystone XL.

“It will band all Lakota to live together and you can’t cross a living area if it’s occupied,” said Greg Grey Cloud, of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, in an interview with Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. “If it does get approved we aim to stop it.”

The indigenous-led ‘Moccasins on the Ground’ program has been laying the groundwork for this resistance for over two years by giving nonviolent direct action trainings to front-line communities.

“We go up to wherever we’ve been invited, usually along pipeline routes,” said Kent Lebsock, director of the Owe Aku International Justice Project, in an interview with Common Dreams. “We have three-day trainings on nonviolent direct action. This includes blockade tactics, and discipline is a big part of the training as well. We did nine of them last summer and fall, all the way from Montana to South Dakota, as well as teach-ins in Colorado and a training camp in Oklahoma.”

“We are working with nations from Canada and British Columbia, as well as with the people where tar sands are located,” Lebsock added.

“As an example of this nonviolent direct action,” explains Lebsock, in March 2012 people at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota held a blockade to stop trucks from transporting parts of the Keystone XL pipeline through the reservation.

In August 2013, members of the Nez Perce tribe blockaded megaloads traveling Idaho’s Highway 12 to the Alberta tar sands fields.

Descendants of the Ponca Tribe and non-native allies held a Trail of Tears Spiritual Camp in Nebraska in November to prevent the construction of the pipeline.

More spiritual camps along the proposed route of the pipeline are promised, although their date and location are not yet being publicly shared.

The promises of joint action follow the U.S. State Department’s public release on Friday of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). This report has been widely criticized as tainted by the close ties between Transcanada and the Environmental Resource Management contractor hired to do the report.

While the oil industry is largely spinning the report as a green-light for the pipeline, green groups emphasize that it contains stern warnings over the massive carbon pollution that would result if the pipeline is built, including the admission that tar sands oil produces approximately 17 percent more carbon than traditional crude.

The release of the FEIS kicked off a 90-day inter-agency review and 30-day public comment period. The pipeline’s opponents say now is a critical time to prevent Obama from approving the pipeline, which is proposed to stretch 1,179 miles from Alberta, Canada, across the border to Montana, and down to Cushing, Oklahoma where it would link with other pipelines, as part of a plan to drastically increase Canada’s tar sands production.

The southern half of the Keystone XL pipeline — which begins in Cushing, passes through communities in Oklahoma and East Texas, and arrives at coastal refineries and shipping ports — began operations last month after facing fierce opposition and protest from people in its path.

“Let’s honor the trail blazers from the Keystone XL south fight,” said Idle No More campaigner Clayton Thomas-Muller. “Time for some action, and yes, some of us may get arrested!”

The post Indigenous Groups: ‘No Keystone XL Pipeline Will Cross Our Lands’ appeared first on disinformation.

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RED CROSS EXPOSES “JEWISH” HOLOCAUST HOAX: INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS (IRC) DOCUMENT CONFIRMS 271 THOUSAND NOT 6 MILLION DIED IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS

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RED CROSS EXPOSES “JEWISH” HOLOCAUST HOAX: INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS (IRC) DOCUMENT CONFIRMS 271 THOUSAND NOT 6 MILLION DIED IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS

Former KKK Leader And His Mother Indicted After Alabama Cross Burning

A 28-year-old alleged “former Exalted Cyclops” of the Ku Klux Klan and his mother have both been arrested and are facing federal charges relating to a 2009 cross burning in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Ozark, Ala. 

Steven Joshua Dinkle was arrested in Mississippi on Wednesday for allegedly orchestrating the cross burning and obstructing the ensuing investigation, according to a press release sent out Friday by the Department of Justice. Dinkle was described by the DOJ as having previously held the “Exalted Cyclops” title in an Ozark, Ala. chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Dinkle “conspired with another person to burn a cross in an African-American neighborhood to threaten and intimidate residents of that neighborhood and thereby interfere with their federally protected housing rights” on May 8, 2009, the Justice Department alleges.  

“Dinkle allegedly constructed a six-foot cross, wrapping jeans and a towel around it.  He and his co-conspirator drove the cross to an African-American community near Johntown Road in Ozark where Dinkle poured fuel on the cross, erected it in the ground and set it on fire,” the DOJ press release said. “The indictment further contends that Dinkle obstructed justice by lying to local investigators in 2009, and federal investigators in 2012. Dinkle claimed he had withdrawn from the KKK months before the cross burning, provided a false alibi and denied knowing a person who was, in fact, his superior in the KKK.”

Dinkle’s mother, Pamela Morris, who the DOJ described as “the former secretary of the KKK chapter” was arrested on Nov. 21 and charged with committing perjury before the grand jury investigating the cross burning. In an indictment filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on November 14, federal prosecutors said Morris “knowingly made false material declarations when she denied being involved in the Ku Klux Klan” and when she denied being aware of her son’s KKK involvement. Morris has entered a not guilty plea in the case.

According to the DOJ, Dinkle was charged on five counts in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama including; “one count of conspiracy to violate housing rights, one count of criminal interference with the right to fair housing, one count of using fire to commit a federal felony and two counts of obstruction of justice.” As of this writing, documents from Dinkle’s case were not posted on the court’s website and the federal prosecutor’s office was unable to provide them. 

On Facebook, a page matching Dinkle’s name and listing his hometown as Skipperville, Ala., includes links to footage of Klan rallies, an informational page about the Church of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan from the website of the anti-KKK Southern Poverty Law Center, and multiple links to a speed dating site. A photo posted among the profile pictures on the page in October 2011 shows a tattoo of the KKK blood drop cross logo. In comments posted on the page, its owner used the phrase “white power,” typed racial slurs, and alluded to unspecified legal problems. 

“fucking warrents,” he wrote in 2011 (sic).

Read the full indictment against Morris below.

All TPM News

Former KKK Leader And His Mother Indicted After Alabama Cross Burning

Blue Cross to offer one-year Obamacare reprieve

Blue Cross to offer one-year Obamacare reprieve
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By Deena Winter | Nebraska Watchdog

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska announced Monday it will allow policyholders whose individual health insurance was canceled to comply with Obamacare to keep their current plans for one more year.

EXTENSION: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska will give customers who buy their own insurance a one-year reprieve from cancellation due to Obamacare mandates.

The insurance company this fall sent notices to 46,000 Nebraska policyholders informing them that their insurance plans would be canceled at year’s end because they didn’t comply with the federal Affordable Care Act.

Customers were given the option of new policies that included benefits required under the federal health insurance law, or they could shop around on the health insurance exchange on Healthcare.gov. But glitches with the federally run website have made it difficult for people to shop for new coverage.

For that reason, President Obama recently said insurance companies can give people one-year reprieves. Nebraska’s state insurance commissioner, Bruce Ramge, recently ruled that insurers can offer such extensions, and Blue Cross is taking him up on that offer.

Blue Cross said in a news release that individual policyholders who received cancellation notices can keep their current 2013 plan or choose new insurance that complies with Obamacare mandates. Blue Cross’s individual plans will now be effective from Dec. 31, 2013, through Dec. 31, 2014, for customers with coverage in place by year’s end.

A provision in state insurance law allows insurers to set an early renewal date and keep the 2013 policies in force.

“Simply stated, we’re doing this because it’s the right thing to do for our customers,” said Blue Cross President and CEO Steve Martin. “We are glad to have the opportunity to offer customers the choice between their current plans and 2014 plans that comply with the Affordable Care Act.”

Blue Cross customers who had already chosen a new Obamacare-compliant plan will remain on that plan unless they notify the company or work with an agent to revert back to their old plans. People who choose to stay on their 2013 plans won’t qualify for federal tax subsidies available under Obamacare, and likely will see a premium increase.

“Customers will need to process their options quickly,” said Tom Gilsdorf, director of product development for Blue Cross. “We’re working diligently to ensure everyone is covered on the plan of their choice.”

Blue Cross is the state’s largest health insurer, with nearly half the individual market. It’s also one of four companies selling insurance on Nebraska’s health care exchange, which is being run by the federal government.

Contact Deena Winter at deena@nebraskawatchdog.org.

Editor’s note: to subscribe to News Updates from Nebraska Watchdog at no cost, click here.

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Cross Cuts: Abraham Zapruder and the Evolution of Film

Associated Press

Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy in a televised debate.

Before Nov. 22, 1963, Abraham Zapruder was an ordinary citizen of Dallas: a 58-year-old prosperous manufacturer of women’s clothing who had arrived in the city from Russia by way of Brooklyn. If that day had unfolded differently, that is most likely what he would have remained. But like a small but growing number of Americans at the time, he was also a home-movie hobbyist. With his receptionist, Marilyn Sitzman, as location scout and technical support, Zapruder took his 414PD Director Series Bell and Howell 8-millimeter camera to a spot on Elm Street, not far from his office, hoping to film the presidential motorcade as it drove past.

Bob Jackson/Dallas Times-Herald, via Associated Press

The assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald.

The 26.6 seconds of footage he captured — 486 frames, without sound — inscribed Zapruder’s name in the official history and popular folklore of the John F. Kennedy assassination. Its images, blurry yet vivid, in color when almost all television and a great many movies were still in black and white, form part of what we know or think we know about what happened at Dealey Plaza. On the Web, you can find seemingly infinite versions: in slow motion, with musical accompaniment, with or without Kevin Costner’s explanation and Oliver Stone’s enhancements in “JFK.” And you can encounter an equal number of arguments about what those silent, shaky frames mean: that Oswald acted alone; that other shooters were present; that a conspiracy came to fruition in plain sight; that the truth will never be known.

The distance between 1963 and now can be measured by the fact that so few cameras were on the scene then. In retrospect, Zapruder can be seen — and is frequently cited — as a pioneer of citizen journalism, a resourceful amateur who caught something crucial that the professional news media somehow missed. Now, everyone with a smartphone is a potential Zapruder.

But while the Zapruder film holds an important place in the evolution of media — perceptively examined by Alex Pasternack in an article on Vice’s Motherboard site this year — it also belongs to the story of cinema. What Zapruder made, after all, was not a Vine or a YouTube post, but a film. This is partly a technical distinction, a matter of photochemical processes and separable frames as opposed to bits of digital information. For a dozen years after it was shot, the film was unseen by the public, an almost unthinkable fate now. But these material, technological facts are inseparable from the film’s meaning, which remains a singularly potent topic of argument.

In a 1993 interview in The Paris Review, Don DeLillo, our leading literary investigator of the epistemological shadowlands of American politics and technology, made a distinction between Kennedy’s assassination, which was captured on film, and the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, which happened in front of television cameras. As a result, “Oswald’s death became instantly repeatable,” he said. “It belonged to everyone. The Zapruder film, the film of Kennedy’s death, was sold and hoarded and doled out very selectively. It was exclusive footage.”

The near-simultaneity of these two events, and the different ways that the moving pictures were made and distributed, reveal late November 1963 as one of those moments when the coordinates of history become visible. The televised shooting of Oswald by Jack Ruby was a harbinger of the future — a future that would include the moon landing, the Rodney King beating, the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle and the second plane striking the World Trade Center. Television, as Mr. DeLillo understood it, was a medium of instantaneous transmission and endless reiteration, a template (though this was not clear at the time) for the digital world we now inhabit.

Kennedy was a youthful agent and symbol of the emerging video future, telegenic before that word was widely used. His televised debates with Richard M. Nixon showed his mastery of a medium not yet central to the politician’s repertory, and he nimbly used it during his presidency to address the nation in times of crisis. But he also belonged, less obviously but perhaps more decisively, to the world of film. In 1963, film was both more established, and more prestigious; it was an ascendant cultural force. To Mr. DeLillo, there was “something inevitable about the Zapruder film. It had to happen this way. The moment belongs to the 20th century, which means it had to be captured on film.”

The Undamaged Zapruder Film

NYT > Arts

Cross Cuts: Abraham Zapruder and the Evolution of Film

VIDEO: Does Prince George Have a $3300 Baby Carriage?

Which elite brand of specialty pram (that’s the British word for baby carriage) do Kate Middleton and Prince William have for Prince George? Rumor has it, Kate has upgraded to the Silver Cross Aston Martin! Known as the James Bond of prams, this limited edition, modern masterpiece features ultra-soft Italian suede interior, a carry cot, reclining seat, leather push bar, alloy wheels, and air-ride suspension for gliding over any kind of terrain. Wondering about the price tag of this 007 baby ride? 2,000 pounds, that’s about $3300 US.

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VIDEO: Does Prince George Have a $3300 Baby Carriage?

Kenya Red Cross: 22 Dead in Upscale Mall Attack

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Gunmen threw grenades and opened fire Saturday killing at least 22 people in an attack targeting non-Muslims at an upscale mall in Kenya’s capital that was hosting a children’s day event, a Red Cross official and witnesses said.

The attackers remained inside and firing subsided as military surrounded the mall hours after the attack. People continued to trickle out from hiding places within the Westgate mall, which is frequented by expatriates and rich Kenyans in Nairobi’s affluent Westlands neighborhood.

Kenya Red Cross official Abbas Gullet said at least 22 people were killed in the attack that police blamed on terrorists. He said the death toll would likely rise.

“We are treating this as a terrorist attack,” said police chief Benson Kibue, adding that there are likely no more than 10 attackers involved.

Police did not say what group was responsible for the attack.

Somali’s rebel group al-Shabab vowed in late 2011 to carry out a large-scale attack in Nairobi in retaliation for Kenya’s sending of troops into Somalia to fight the Islamic insurgents.

Off duty Sgt. Major Frank Mugungu said Saturday he saw four male attackers and one female, and that he could clearly identify one of the gunmen as a Somali, though he could not identify the rest.

The Westgate mall, with shops like Nike, Adidas and Bose, has Israeli ownership, and security personnel have in the past identified the mall as a likely terror target in the city.

Elijah Kamau, who was at the mall at the time of the midday attack, said that the gunmen made a declaration that non-Muslims would be targeted.

“The gunmen told Muslims to stand up and leave. They were safe, and non-Muslims would be targeted,” he said.

Jay Patel, who sought cover on an upper floor in the mall when shooting began, said that when he looked out of a window onto the upper parking deck of the mall he saw the gunmen with a group of people.

Patel said that as the attackers were talking, some of the people stood up and left and the others were shot.

The gunmen carried AK-47s and wore vests with hand grenades on them, said Manish Turohit, 18, who hid in a parking garage for two hours.

“They just came in and threw a grenade. We were running and they opened fire. They were shouting and firing,” he said after being marched out of the mall in line with about 15 people who held their hands in the air.

Rob Vandijk, who works at the Dutch embassy, said he was eating at a restaurant inside the mall when attackers lobbed hand grenades inside the building. He said gunfire then burst out and people screamed as they dropped to the ground.

It appears the attack began at the outdoor seating area of Artcaffe at the front of the mall, witnesses said.

Patrick Kuria, an employee at Artcaffe, said: “We started by hearing gunshots downstairs and outside. Later we heard them come inside. We took cover. Then we saw two gunmen wearing black turbans. I saw them shoot.”

Some people were shot at the entrance to the mall after volleys of gunfire moved outside and a standoff with police began. Ambulances continued to stream in and out of the mall area, ferrying the wounded who gradually emerged from hiding inside the mall.

People clutched their small children, and some cried. At one point in the day mall guards used shopping carts to wheel out wounded children.

A local hospital was overwhelmed with the number of wounded being brought in hours after the attack, so they had to divert them to a second facility.

—

Associated Press reporter Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report. 

RealClearPolitics – Articles

Kenya Red Cross: 22 Dead in Upscale Mall Attack

Kenya Red Cross: 22 Dead in Upscale Mall Attack

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Gunmen threw grenades and opened fire Saturday killing at least 22 people in an attack targeting non-Muslims at an upscale mall in Kenya’s capital that was hosting a children’s day event, a Red Cross official and witnesses said.

The attackers remained inside and firing subsided as military surrounded the mall hours after the attack. People continued to trickle out from hiding places within the Westgate mall, which is frequented by expatriates and rich Kenyans in Nairobi’s affluent Westlands neighborhood.

Kenya Red Cross official Abbas Gullet said at least 22 people were killed in the attack that police blamed on terrorists. He said the death toll would likely rise.

“We are treating this as a terrorist attack,” said police chief Benson Kibue, adding that there are likely no more than 10 attackers involved.

Police did not say what group was responsible for the attack.

Somali’s rebel group al-Shabab vowed in late 2011 to carry out a large-scale attack in Nairobi in retaliation for Kenya’s sending of troops into Somalia to fight the Islamic insurgents.

Off duty Sgt. Major Frank Mugungu said Saturday he saw four male attackers and one female, and that he could clearly identify one of the gunmen as a Somali, though he could not identify the rest.

The Westgate mall, with shops like Nike, Adidas and Bose, has Israeli ownership, and security personnel have in the past identified the mall as a likely terror target in the city.

Elijah Kamau, who was at the mall at the time of the midday attack, said that the gunmen made a declaration that non-Muslims would be targeted.

“The gunmen told Muslims to stand up and leave. They were safe, and non-Muslims would be targeted,” he said.

Jay Patel, who sought cover on an upper floor in the mall when shooting began, said that when he looked out of a window onto the upper parking deck of the mall he saw the gunmen with a group of people.

Patel said that as the attackers were talking, some of the people stood up and left and the others were shot.

The gunmen carried AK-47s and wore vests with hand grenades on them, said Manish Turohit, 18, who hid in a parking garage for two hours.

“They just came in and threw a grenade. We were running and they opened fire. They were shouting and firing,” he said after being marched out of the mall in line with about 15 people who held their hands in the air.

Rob Vandijk, who works at the Dutch embassy, said he was eating at a restaurant inside the mall when attackers lobbed hand grenades inside the building. He said gunfire then burst out and people screamed as they dropped to the ground.

It appears the attack began at the outdoor seating area of Artcaffe at the front of the mall, witnesses said.

Patrick Kuria, an employee at Artcaffe, said: “We started by hearing gunshots downstairs and outside. Later we heard them come inside. We took cover. Then we saw two gunmen wearing black turbans. I saw them shoot.”

Some people were shot at the entrance to the mall after volleys of gunfire moved outside and a standoff with police began. Ambulances continued to stream in and out of the mall area, ferrying the wounded who gradually emerged from hiding inside the mall.

People clutched their small children, and some cried. At one point in the day mall guards used shopping carts to wheel out wounded children.

A local hospital was overwhelmed with the number of wounded being brought in hours after the attack, so they had to divert them to a second facility.

—

Associated Press reporter Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report. 

RealClearPolitics – Articles

Kenya Red Cross: 22 Dead in Upscale Mall Attack

Jonathan Trappe"s daring bid to cross the Atlantic Ocean using helium balloons

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Jonathan Trappe and his balloons prepare for take off on Wednesday morning. The IT manager began his attempt cross the Atlantic in a lifeboat attached to a balloon cluster this morning in heavy fog from Caribou, Maine in the United States.Picture: BARCROFT MEDIA

Weird News – Funny and strange news – How About That

Jonathan Trappe"s daring bid to cross the Atlantic Ocean using helium balloons