Who the Hell is Azadeh Ansari?

Iranian president: Israel 'nothing more than a mosquito' to Iran
By CNN Wire Staff
"CNN's Azadeh Ansari contributed to this report"

Who the hell is this Azadeh Ansari and why can't they provide any useful sources? (give a link, make a readable screenshot or a photo of a newspaper, video, tape recording, anything which an interested reader of this propaganda-like article might help to verify ...)

"There Are Times When We Have to Have Those Things in Place"

U.S. Government Has Copies of Most of Your Emails
funniest moments start from 48:40: ... "there are times when we have to have those things in place"- that's it!

Alternatively watch this video starting from 04:02:

More on Surveillance: U.S. Citizens Hesitate To Report Suspicious (Terrorist) Activity

News on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's notorious “See Something, Say Something” campaign: Americans seem to feel some reluctance towards denouncing their fellow citizens, a FEMA survey found out (it is not said how many overall, just the different types of hesitation are mentioned).

For the FEMA .pdf document, click on the following headline:
Improving the Public’s Awareness and Reporting of Suspicious Activity: Key Research Findings from Literature Review, Household Survey, Focus Groups and Interviews

A summary of and comments to the survey can be found at the Center for Investigative Reporting:
Citizens fear reporting 'suspicious activity' will hurt the innocent

An infamous video (funded by the Department of Homeland Security) was shown in 2009 "at the Center for Empowered Living & Learning (CELL), an institution dedicated to addressing the global threat of terrorism, with a museum facility (called Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere: Understanding the Threat) in Denver. The facility includes exhibits on the history of terrorism and its prevention."

But even in Nazi-Germany the population didn't really jump on the Gestapo's denouncing bandwagon: contrary to myth, the willingness of Germans to denounce their fellow citizens was rather not "overwhelming", as recent historical investigations show. (see Denunziation im Dritten Reich - Die Bedeutung von Systemunterstützung und Gelegenheitsstrukturen).

US: Don't Expect Too Much From 2,5 For Education

And your tax money goes to ....

http://www.accuracy.org/release/where-did-your-taxes-go/

 ... the military! Big surprise! Well, hegemony is costly. But spending ten times more for the military-industrial complex than for education of your children might show other unexpected consequences one day ... (or does it already?) 

Get Outta Here!!!

Holy Crap!

Israel forces tourist to pledge to avoid pro-Palestinian activities as condition for entry

Al Jazeera vs Russia Today

Al Jazeera about RT (Russia Today) 
 

RT Replies to Al Jazeera 

Wonderful Northern Lights of January 23-24

Here's the cause: the solar flare as seen by the ESA/NASA Soho satellite on January 23th

CLick HERE to watch the ESA/NASA video

And here you've got the outcome as seen on earth, wonderful pictures taken by Alister Chapman:

The Aurora Borealis was even visible in England and Scotland, watch here:

Assassinating the U.S. President in Order to "Save" Israel?

No hoax, no joke? Andrew B. Adler, editor and owner of a local Jewish newspaper in Atlanta suggested to consider the Mossad killing U.S. president Obama "in order to preserve Israel's existence".

Huffington Post reported that Mr. Adler already apologized. Read here, what blogger Richard Silverstein commented. Learn more about an equally insane suggestion in 2008.

Cheerleaders of War

You may think about Putin what you want, but let's be honest, the whole world has reason to thank him for his news channel "Russia Today" - bravely counterbalancing the US-biased media landscape all around. Take for instance the following report on the "war is inevitable"- cheerleaders in the country of exceptionalists, constantly promoting the next U.S. invasion:

US Domestic Protesters As Terrorists

Would be really interesting to know who ordered the production of this new video game, where protesters against the financial oligarchy are terrorists. Here is the setting:

"Years of political and economic frustration have finally hit a boiling point. Though the United States military has long trained for terrorism abroad, its greatest fear is about to be realized. Domestic terrorists finally have a leader and a voice, and they're ready to strike back at the sources of their anger, to take back that which they believe was stolen from them - their country. The rules of modern warfare are about to be thrown out the window as America's own cities become the battlegrounds of the future."

Note how perfect this scenario fits to the spirit of the 2 previous postings Dubious Militarization of US Local Police and The NDAA-Puzzle.

English/German Trailer:

German Spiegel reports: Occupy Wall Street: Computerspiel macht Banken-Kritiker zu Terroristen

Déjà Vu: Saleh in the US to Drink the Waters

Field Marshal Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's dictator since 1978, will visit his US friends - officially to have medical treatment. Any associations? Ah, yes, on 22 October 1979, at the request of David Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger, President Jimmy Carter invited the notorious Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, to the US for a treatment, after he had been chased out by the Iranian people. (He had been in power there since 1941, so it somehow looks like that being a long time proconsul for the US may really pay off, provided you play by the rules.)

Do you remember Noam Chomsky on the Ongoing Arab Spring?

Dubious Militarization of US Local Police

In addition to the NDAA puzzle, here's another dubious step taken into a problematic future for US citizens: the militarization of the police. "More than ever before, local police across the U.S. have transformed into small army-like forces using billions in grants from the federal government" the Center for Investigative Reporting says. Drones are already in use on US soil. Here's an elaborate DemocracyNow! report:

"We've Got All Sorts of Dark Arts"

One of this year's finest contributions of real journalism: When reporters from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (a sister paper of The Independent) posed as agents for the government of Uzbekistan – a notorious dictatorship allegedly responsible for killings, human rights violations and child labour – they caught on camara what the guys of PR agency Bell Pottinger Group plc told about their dark arts, e.g.

• exploiting their contacts to highest governmental officials to get into dialogue with foreign politicians;
• manipulating Google results to "drown" out negative coverage;
• using members of parliament known to be critical of investigative programs to attack their reporting for minor errors ...

An interesting development of monitoring the British lobbying machine followed since then, including revelations on the PR firm manipulating Wikipedia entries, now under investigation by Wikipedia's own staff.

Not much coverage in German speaking media on that, except "PR-Agentur brüstet sich mit Manipulation von Wikipedia und Google".

Probably the easiest way of manipulation politics in European countries is via EU staff and law makers, as the example of Ernst Strasser, ex-Federal Minister for the Interior of both conservative Schüssel-governments in Austria - has spectacularly shown:

Ernst Strasser taped red-handed

Best of Strasser

Strasser/EU-Lobbyism Persiflage

"Help Solve an Open Murder Case"

It's certainly a good idea to ask the public for help if specialists (in this case cryptologists) can't get on with a solution to a problem.

On June 30, 1999, Ricky McCormick was found dead. He had been murdered and dumped in a field in Missouri. The only clues regarding this incident were two encrypted notes found with the victim. The FBI is asking the public for help (click here).

Also in science it is not unusual to ask for help: see Foldit - Solve Puzzles for Science. Only in the realm of politics it is still kind of "against the rules" to ask the public for help ...

Hillbillies on the Atomic Football

Now already three of the US Republican candidates for presidency announced to "be called by" the almighty Christian being. Read this to find out why it is important to declare oneself a moonshiner for effectively raising the odds to gain US presidency (and therefore control over the nuclear briefcase): Republican Candidates Ears Ring with the 'Call' to Run

watch also: Bill Maher - 'Who Needs Government When You Have Jesus' [11-07-2011]
"Seriously, if God really did call all three to run for president, ..."

and read: "God ’08: Whose, and How Much, Will Voters Accept?"