Friday, April 26, 2013

13-04-27 Privatized secret police state - the epitome of capitalism?

From the start, there were "conspiracy theories" about the private security mercenaries at the Boston Marathon, which were seen in photographs of the finish line.
But the article below shows the deplorable level of a privatized secret police state we have reached.  Even the Soviet Union never got that far - privatizing the secret police... This is a unique capitalistic achievement, I guess. jz
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Hired guns at the Marathon: Why Such Secrecy about Private Military Contractor's Men Working the Event?

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General News 4/25/2013 at 15:05:07
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(Article changed on April 25, 2013 at 16:04)
(Article changed on April 25, 2013 at 15:47)
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(Article changed on April 25, 2013 at 15:42)
By Dave Lindorff

Seven Craft Intl. mercenaries near a communications van post-bombing by ThisCantBeHappening)
Speaking as an investigative reporter with almost 40 years's experience, I can say that when government officials won't talk, they're generally hiding something embarrassing or worse.
And nobody will talk about those Craft International Services private security personnel who were widely observed and photographed near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, wearing security ear-pieces, hats and T-shirts bearing the company's skull logo, and all wearing the same dark coats, khaki pants and combat boots, some carrying what appear to have been radiation detectors.
I first contacted a man identifying himself as Jack Fleming, a public affairs person with the Boston Athletic Assn., sponsor of the marathon. Fleming advised me that "If you want to ask about that you should contact the Commonwealth (of Massachusetts) Executive Office of Public Safety."
I called that agency and spoke with the public information office there, a man named Terrell Fleming. He first said, "Did you call the Marathon organizers?" When I replied that I had, and that they had said to call his office, he replied, "They did?" Then he said, "You should call the City of Boston Police Department. They released a security plan to some media organizations."  
Indeed they had released that plan to the  Boston Globe . Based upon the information it got from the police  the article the Globe ran , did report that the Police had deployed "air patrols, K9 units, and more than 1,000 uniformed officers and soldiers along the 26-mile course and the finish line," but it made no mention of the private contracting of soldiers-for-hire, which is what Craft International does (see the  Craft website ).  News agency Reuters  reported, meanwhile, that a top official for the Massachusetts state Homeland Security Department, Undersecretary Kurt Schwartz, told a group at Harvard U. that his agency had "planned" for a possible bombing attack on the marathon, even running a "table-top" exercise about such an event a week before the race. 
I called the Boston Police to ask if they had hired the Craft International personnel observed at the scene just before and after the bombing, and was told by the public affairs office there  that "Anything having to do with the investigation of the bombing would have to be referred to the FBI Boston Division office."  When I pointed out that I wasn't asking anything about the investigation, but was simply asking who had hired the security personnel from Craft International, the answer was simply repeated: "You'll have to ask the FBI."
So I called the FBI, and got a public affairs person there named Amanda Cox. Her initial response to my question was, "I do not have any information on that." 
I then said I had been referred to her by the Boston Police Department, and said that photos of the scene after the bombing had shown Craft International personnel conversing with FBI agents. She then put down the phone, and I could hear her turn to a supervisor and ask, her voice muffled, "This guy's asking about the Craft Security Consultants -- who hired them and what they were doing."
I next overheard the muffled voice of another woman to whom she had been speaking reply, "I think you could safely say, "I do know we worked with a lot of people who worked on security at the marathon...'"  After that I couldn't make out what was being said. ..
For the rest of this article by DAVE LINDORFF in ThisCantBeHappening!, the new independent three-time Project Censored Award-winning online alternative newspaper, please go to: www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/1718

Dave Lindorff is a founding member of the collectively-owned, journalist-run online newspaper www.thiscantbehappening.net. He is a columnist for Counterpunch, is author of several recent books ("This (more...)

13-04-26 Until the US gains control of its criminal banking system, the world is unlikely to emerge from the New Greater Depression


WATCH: Elizabeth Warren Vs. Ben Bernanke

Most of you have seen this already but we've never posted the video.  From a Senate Banking Committee Hearing on Feb. 26.
Now we have the tools to shut down the banks.
Who does he think he's kidding.  The entire FDIC would seize up and die attempting to resolve JPM's derivative desk alone.
That's the most entertaining line from Bernanke, as he discusses possible future bailouts for too big to fail banks.  Entertaining because it's an absolute fabrication.  We annihilated this claim back in the day with video evidence.  If JPMorgan blew up its derivatives desk, and was facing capital calls, Jaime Dimon would call Robert Rubin who would call Tim Geithner who would call Obama (to inform him of the decision, NOT to ask his permission) then call Jack Lew and tell him to show up at the press conference at 2 pm with Bernanke to announce the bailout.  Or some such shit.  There would probably be balloons of every color, and smiling children everywhere.  And a massive photo of Jamie Dimon on every wall in the room.
The bailouts are a never-ending psychedelic clown show, but without Bozo and laughter.
And I'm the ringside reporter, once promising and strong, now strung out in the corner muttering under my breath
Big banks are getting an $83 billion too big to fail subsidy amounting to a free insurance policy from the American people.
Someone arrest Hank Paulson.


Here's the Bloomberg story that Bernanke mentions:

Taxpayers Are GIVING Big Banks $83 Billion A Year!



Debating Too Big To Fail Bank Subsidy
Shahien Nasiripour and Reuters Counterparties chat about Fed Governor Jeremy Stein's remarks regarding the too big to fail implicit subsidy for banks.
All links you will see within this story are clickable.

13-04-26 OK, I am speechless... drones on US citizens on US soוl...

But then again, it is the natural logical sequel... You can, therefore you should drone whomever, wherever, whenever... jz



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Ron Paul Fans Furious Over Rand Paul's Drone Flip-flop
By John Hudson
Rand Paul told Fox Business Network on Tuesday he's OK with drone strikes on American citizens who, for instance, rob a liquor store.

13-04-26 "Keeper of the Last Mosque" by Yizthaq Shami (1888-1949)


English below


שומר המסגד האחרון מאת יצחק שמי (1888-1949)

ידידיה שמיר (בן 95) לשעבר סגן המדען הראשי במשרד הביטחון ומאחרוני היישוב הישן בחברון, קורא פסקאות מתוך סיפורו של אביו, יצחק שמי (1888-1949), "שומר המסגד האחרון", שהתגלה לאחרונה, ומעולם לא הופיע בדפוס.
אנו מקווים שכלל סיפוריושל שמי ומאמריו, בענייני המזרח התיכון, שחלקם לא הופיע בדפוס קרוב למאה שנה, יצאו לאור שוב בקרוב. 

דר' יוסף צרניק
בשם עזבונו הספרותי של יצחק שמי, ז:ל
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מתוך "שומר המסגד האחרון"
המקום הזה והאילנות האלה היו חביבים עלי מילדותי הרחוקהזכרונות עבר רבים קשרוני אליועל העצים האלה טיפסתי בנערותי עם חברי בני גילי בתורנו אחרי קיני ציפוריםבשוכות הללו קשרנו נדנדות והתנודדנו בהם עד כדי סחרחורתכאן ערכנו כירות משותפות וכאן טווינו את חלומות האושר של עתידנובשובי לא מכבר לעיר מולדתי מאוכזב ושבור כנפיםאחרי נודי על פני תבל עשרות בשנים ואחרי שטחנת החיים טחנה אותי היטב עד דקהייתי חוזר תכופות אל החורשה הזאת ומבקש בה מרגוע לנפשי הנילאהמפיח בגל האפר הקר שנערם על ימי הנהרה שחלפו ומחטט בתהום הנשייה בתוך תילי הפיח אחרי גיצים מלהלהים ולוחשים של ימי האושר האבודים.
גם היום שקעתי כאן כרגיל בהזיות והרהורים כשעיני מביטת ניכחן על העיר הקרובה המשתרעת למולי בגושי בתיה וחודי מסגדיה המעורבבים זה בזה והמוטלים זה על גבי זה ומתפרקדים בחמה בצלעות הגבעות בעצלות ותנומה ושלווה ושקטעוד מבטי תרים ניכחי כמחפשים נקודות אחיזה לגלי הזכרונות ששטפוני ועברוניוהנה מנקיקי אחד האילנות שלמולי הזדקר עורב גדול כחלוק אבן שניתז מכף קלעחג חוגים אחדים סביבו בפרץ וחבט בגפיו האפלים כלילה סביב ענפיוהמריא אל על ועמד על צמרתו ופתח בצריחת זוועה חודרת הפולחת קרב ולב.

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Yedidyah Shamir (95 yo), one of the last of the old Hebron Jewish community, reads a couple of paragraphs of the story "Keeper of the Last Mosque" by his father, Yitzhaq Shami (1888-1949), which has been recently discovered, and has never been published.

We hope that his stories and essays on Middle Eastern subjects, some of which have not appeared in press for almost a century, will be published again soon.

Joseph Zernik, PhD
On behalf of the Estate of Yitzhaq Shami

From the "Keeper of the Last Mosque"

This place and these trees were my favorites from my bygone childhood. Many memories tied me to this place. On these trees I climbed with my friends, looking for birds' nests. On their branches we tied swings, and swung till we got dizzy. Here we lit bonfires and wove the dreams of our future happiness. Having come back recently to my home town, disenchanted and my wings broken, after travelling the world for decades, and after being finely milled by life, I often came back to this olive grove, looking for solace for my worn out soul, blowing the cold ashes of piled high on bright days, gone by, searching the abyss for smoldering ashes of lost happy days.




Today too, I dwelt into thoughts and musing, while my eyes were looking at the nearby town lying in front of me with its clustered homes and mosque towers all clustered on top of each other...




Suddenly, a large raven shot up from one of the trees, like a stone... landed on the top of the tree, and started with terrible screech piercing stomach and heart.