Hours before the historic vote at the General Assembly on the upgrade status on Thurday, four senators presented legislation, threatening to stop the million-dollar assistance.

The 193-member General Assembly voted 138-9 with 41 abstentions at the United Nations for a resolution approving the upgrade. Nine countries, including Canada, Israel, and the United States, voted against it.

Having earned the observer non-member status, Palestinians will enjoy access to UN agencies and the International Criminal Court (ICC) where they could file complaints against Israel.

“The biggest fear I have is that the Palestinians achieve this status it won’t be very long before the Palestinians use the United Nations as a club against Israel,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

The legislation to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority would reportedly come into effect once Palestinians file war crime charges against Israel at the ICC. The Senate could wrap up the legislation by the week’s end.

Proponents of the measure, including Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said they expect it to win overwhelming approval.

MP/MA - Source: presstv.ir

Peace, nonviolence, diplomacy, human and civil rights, as well as fundamental rule of law principles are systematically spurned. That's now rogue states operate.

Pillar of Cloud raged from November 14 - 21. Memorandum of understand terms ended eight terror bombing days. Israel violated its pledge multiple times. Its word isn't worth the paper it's written on.

Less than 24 hours after conflict ended, Israeli soldiers killed one Palestinian. Another 19 were injured.

On November 25, three more Palestinians were shot. They were wounded, not killed. On November 26, another four Palestinians were injured. Soldiers opened fire on them. They threatened no one.

Since November 22, 15 fishermen were accosted at sea. Naval vessels used live fire. Israel claimed they exceeded a recently expanded zone. Believe nothing Israeli authorities say. They systematically lie.

Boats were damaged and confiscated or destroyed. Fishermen on board were arrested, detained, and interrogated. At least most were released.

No one assaulted did anything improper. Israeli claims were lies. Expect continued land and sea incidents ahead.

On November 28, seven Palestinians were shot and injured. At least one is in serious condition. Israel said "rioters" damaged a border fence trying to enter Israel.

Israeli authorities make this stuff up. They do it to justify persecution and at times murder.

Nonviolent Palestinians are called threats to Israeli security. These type claims are baseless. Israel pledged attacking Gazans would stop.

Similar promises were made before. Horrific oppression continues. Truce terms changed nothing. Believing otherwise is wishful thinking.

West Bank Palestinians are attacked, beaten and arrested. Apartheid is a way of life. Settlements exclude Arabs. Jews only roads exist. Segregated bus lines appear next.

Palestinian workers with legal permits are being ordered off buses. Settlers claim they pose a security risk. Israel's Transport Ministry may exclude Arabs. Buses henceforth may be for Jews only.

Jim Crow America relegated Blacks to the back of buses. Israel perhaps wants Arabs excluded entirely.

On November 27, B'Tselem headlined "Attempt at bus segregation appalling," saying:

Disclosure about possible segregated bus lines is uncalled for. Services "must be available on an equal basis to all and any who require them."

B'Tselem's executive director Jessica Montell said:

"The attempt at bus segregation is appalling, and the current arguments about ‘security needs’ and ‘overcrowding’ must not be allowed to camouflage the blatant racism of the demand to remove Palestinians from buses."

Israel plans greater occupation harshness. Conditions for besieged Gazans persist. Truce terms changed nothing.

December 10 is International Human Rights Day. It commemorates the General Assembly adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948.

World leaders pledged to "complement the UN Charter with a road map to guarantee the rights of every individual everywhere."

In 1946, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was discussed at the General Assembly's first session.

Member States submitted the UNHR to the Economic and Social Council "for reference to the Commission on Human Rights for consideration....in its preparation of an international bill of rights."

On December 10, 1948, UN Resolution 217 A (III) adopted UNHR. No members dissented. Eight abstained. Despite emerging Cold War tensions, common ground was found.

UNHR's 30 articles pledged "to promote respect for (fundamental human) rights and freedoms....both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction."

They affirmed life, liberty, security and dignity. They said no one should be held in bondage or subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. They scorned arbitrary arrests, detention, exile, and other human rights violations.

They said everyone may leave any country and return freely. Discrimination of any kind was deplored. Free expression, assembly, movement, thought, opinion and religion were championed.

Everyone has the right to work and receive equal pay for equal employment. Essential rights to healthcare, food, clothing, housing, and education were supported.

Articles affirmed that "(n)othing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for the State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein."

Since 1945, the UN failed to uphold fundamental Charter and other international law principles. America, Israel, and other imperial partners bear full responsibility.

On Friday, December 7, human rights supporters will march in Tel Aviv. In solidarity, they'll express support for equality, democracy, peace, and social justice.

Arabs will march with Jews. A midday concert will be held. An official song is titled "Being Human." Avihu Medina wrote it. A special version called "Being a Woman, Being Human" will be performed.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) sponsors this year's march. Hundreds of organizations, activists, and others will participate. Together they say: "It's our right, to all human rights, for every human being." Jews, Arabs and all others.

It comes after Pillar of Cloud. It's when Israel plans greater occupation harshness. It follows multiple truce violations.

It's after Kairo USA's press advisory headlined "Christians and Jews Gather to Support Churches' Call to Investigate Unconditional Military Support of Israel," saying:

On November 29, they met in Washington. They demanded US support for Israel be contingent on its compliance with US laws and policies. Participating groups included:

Jewish Voice for Peace, Kairos USA, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, United Methodist Kairos Response, Friends of Sabeel North America, Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace, The Palestine Israel Network of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, and others.

Thousands of signatures were obtained. They seek justice for occupied Palestinians. Stopping the Israeli beast is crucial. It threatens humanity.

Violence in Gaza continues. Palestinians are isolated. They're trapped in concentration camp hell. They're on their own. They suffer horrendously out of sight and mind.

Israeli repression is relentless. Civilian deaths are commonplace. From January through October 2012, Israel killed 79 Palestinians. Eleven were in the West Bank. Others were Gazans.

UN and EU officials do nothing to help. They allow grave crimes against humanity. They ignore Palestinian suffering. Naked Israeli aggression and cold-blooded murder are called Israel's right to self-defense.

Palestinian rights are systematically spurned. It's been that way for decades.

Official Israeli policy reflects perpetual conflict, daily violence, intimidation, and repression. Children and infants are harmed most. A Gaza psychiatrist said:

"Children exposed to so much violence have no option but to terminate their childhood and move into a different frame. The likelihood is that they will never stabilize."

Their parents, siblings and friends are killed. Many don't expect to reach adulthood. Trauma devastates them. There's no place to hide.

No one helps. Israel attacks when it wishes. It's vicious and relentless. Violence never ends. Conflict prevents peace, security and freedom. Palestinians deserve better. They hope for what doesn't come.

Alia Kalajar said her seven-year old daughter, Nisma, "stopped talking, and we don't know if she will ever talk again." Israel bombed their home. Nisma sustained a head fracture and internal bleeding.

Dozens of other children and infants were killed or injured. Some won't ever recover. Many don't understand. Will war on Iran follow? More on that below.

James Petras called Israel's strategic goal "Genocide (for a) Greater Israel - the bloody purge of 5 million Palestinians, the creation of a 100 percent 'pure' Jewish State."

It's that and more. Israel wants Middle East hegemony. It wants rivals balkanized or eliminated. It wants Syria, Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon, and Iran replaced by pro-Western puppet regimes.

It threatens regional war for dominance. Washington provides support. Together they threaten humanity. Media scoundrels cheerlead them. They endorse what they should condemn.

Syria tops their target list. Conflict rages daily. Civilians suffer most. Perhaps Lebanon is next. Strategy calls for isolating Iran. Plans call for replacing its independent government with subservient pro-Western puppet leaders. War may be prioritized. Israel urges it.

Propaganda wars precede hot ones. Conflicts and other forms of violence are glorified in the name of peace. Code language conceals policies.

War is humanitarian intervention. Invasions, slaughter, mass destruction and occupations are liberation. Plunder is economic development. Exploitation and dominance are called democracy.

Managed news mind manipulation inverts truth for public support. Big Lies suppress it. Terrorism is what they do, not us. Iran's moment of truth awaits. Washington vilified the Islamic Republic for decades.

Israel wants war. Mossad-connected DEBKAfile (DF) called Pillar of Cloud "Less a War than an Anti-Iran Coup." It claimed Washington, Turkey, and Qatar were involved.

Aborting Tehran's military ties to Hamas was planned, said DF. "In the short term, the Israeli miniwar was meant as a vivid lesson for Tehran about the fate awaiting its Arab allies. Hizballah is advised" to beware.

Washington and Egypt are involved in preventing Iranian arms from reaching Gaza. Propaganda wars continue.

Haaretz published a spurious AP report. It headlined "Iran allegedly planning nuclear weapon stronger than bomb used on Hiroshima."

It bears repeating. Annual US intelligence reports say no evidence whatever suggests an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Israeli, US, and EU officials know it. They pretend otherwise.

Iran threatens no one. Alleging a nuclear threat is red herring cover for regime change. Haaretz/AP claim a "leaked diagram." The source was unnamed.

Concealed ones lack credibility. Claims about Iranian scientists running nuclear weapon computer simulations able to produce "triple the explosive force" that destroyed Hiroshima are meaningless.

Without proof, they're baseless. Haaretz/AP said an unnamed "country critical of Iran's atomic program" leaked information to help shut it down.

IAEA made similar claims last year. Proof was absent. It reported alleged diagrams showing Iran was calculating the "nuclear explosive yield" of potential weapons.

An unnamed senior diplomat said Haaretz/AP used old IAEA information. Israel and Washington fabricated it. It was proved baseless. Anti-Iranian pseudo-experts called it credible.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) weighed in. It called AP's diagram "nothing more than either shoddy sources or shoddy science. In either case, the world can keep calm and carry on."

AP embarrassed itself. So did Haaretz for publishing its rubbish. BAS added:

"The graphic has not yet been authenticated; however, even if authentic, it would not qualify as proof of a nuclear weapons program."

"Besides the issue of authenticity, the diagram features quite a massive error, which is unlikely to have been made by research scientists working at a national level."

AP's diagram "shows two curves: one that plots the energy versus time, and another that plots the power output versus time, presumably from a fission device."

"But these two curves do not correspond: If the energy curve is correct, then the peak power should be much lower - around 300 million ( 3x108) kt per second, instead of the currently stated 17 trillion (1.7 x1013) kt per second."

"As is, the diagram features a nearly million-fold error.
This diagram does nothing more than indicate either slipshod analysis or an amateurish hoax."

"In any case, the level of scientific sophistication needed to produce such a graph corresponds to that typically found in graduate or advanced undergraduate-level nuclear physics courses."

Iran denies interest in developing nuclear weapons. No evidence proves otherwise. Bogus claims hype tensions. They surface repeatedly. Expect more next year, especially after Israel's January elections.

Rogue states never quit. America and Israel reflect the worst of what they represent.

Author: Stephen Lendman - lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net

Source: mathaba.net

In early summer, NATO had attempted to overwhelm Damascus and Aleppo with a torrent of psychological operations, communication disruptions, foreign terrorists crossing Syria's borders, and a devastating assassination of top Syrian officials in the heart of Damascus. The idea was to cause panic, division, mass defections and fold the Syrian state when in reality, it was more than able to fight on. Syria called the bluff and here it still stands.

With the Israel-Gaza charade concluded, it was reported that NATO would pivot back toward Syria - and it has. It has handpicked a new proxy-regime to act as the face of the terrorists battling Syrian civilians and soldiers alike within the country, while it has been conducting a concerted and refocused propaganda campaign to paint the Syrian government as once again, "imminently about to fall."

Reports are now trickling in that communications are failing across the country and another attempt at a Libyan-style "Mermaid Dawn" is being made by NATO and its terrorist proxies inside Syria. The hope is, that after several months more of terrorism, threats, sanctions, and pressure put on the border by both Israel on the Golan Heights, and Turkey along Syria's north, that this time the trick might work.

If operations are not already in progress, they will be soon, and one must recall historical instances when this tactic has been used before so as to recognize it when it is tried again.

Reposted below, is Thierry Meyssan's June 2012 warning regarding NATO psychological operations - and the information is as relevant now as ever. Inside Syria, unity and resilience is more important now than ever.

***

Thierry Meyssan
Source: voltairenet.org
June 12, 2012

In a few days, perhaps as early as Friday, June 15, at noon, the Syrians wanting to watch their national TV stations will see them replaced on their screens by TV programs created by the CIA. Studio-shot images will show massacres that are blamed on the Syrian Government, people demonstrating, ministers and generals resigning from their posts, President Al-Assad fleeing, the rebels gathering in the big city centers, and a new government installing itself in the presidential palace.

This operation of disinformation, directly managed from Washington by Ben Rhodes, the US deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, aims at demoralizing the Syrians in order to pave the way for a coup d’etat. NATO, discontent about the double veto of Russia and China, will thus succeed in conquering Syria without attacking the country illegally. Whichever judgment you might have formed on the actual events in Syria, a coup d’etat will end all hopes of democratization.

The Arab League has officially asked the satellite operators Arabsat and Nilesat to stop broadcasting Syrian media, either public or private (Syria TV, Al-Ekbariya, Ad-Dounia, Cham TV, etc.) A precedent already exists because the Arab League had managed to censure Libyan TV in order to keep the leaders of the Jamahiriya from communicating with their people. There is no Hertz network in Syria, where TV works exclusively with satellites. The cut, however, will not leave the screens black.

Actually, this public decision is only the tip of the iceberg. According to our information several international meetings were organized during the past week to coordinate the disinformation campaign. The first two were technical meetings, held in Doha (Qatar); the third was a political meeting and took place in Riyad (Saudi Arabia).

The first meeting assembled PSYOP officers, embedded in the satellite TV channels of Al-Arabiya, Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, Fox, France 24, Future TV and MTV. It is known that since 1998, the officers of the US Army Psychological Operations Unit (PSYOP) have been incorporated in CNN. Since then this practice has been extended by NATO to other strategic media as well.

They fabricated false information in advance, on the basis of a “story-telling” script devised by Ben Rhodes’s team at the White House. A procedure of reciprocal validation was installed, with each media quoting the lies of the other media to render them plausible for TV spectators. The participants also decided not only to requisition the TV channels of the CIA for Syria and Lebanon (Barada, Future TV, MTV, Orient News, Syria Chaab, Syria Alghad) but also about 40 religious Wahhabi TV channels to call for confessional massacres to the cry of “Christians to Beyrouth, Alawites into the grave!”.

The second meeting was held for engineers and technicians to fabricate fictitious images, mixing one part in an outdoor studio, the other part with computer generated images. During the past weeks, studios in Saudi Arabia have been set up to build replicas of the two presidential palaces in Syria and the main squares of Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. Studios of this type already exist in Doha (Qatar), but they are not sufficient.

The third meeting was held by General James B. Smith, the US ambassador, a representative of the UK, prince Bandar Bin Sultan (whom former U.S. president George Bush named his adopted son so that the U.S. press called him “Bandar Bush”). In this meeting the media actions were coordinated with those of the Free "Syrian" Army, in which prince Bandar’s mercenaries play a decisive role.

The operation had been in the making for several months, but the U.S. National Security Council decided to accelerate the action after the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, notified the White House that he would oppose by all means, even by force, any illegal NATO military intervention in Syria.

The operation has a double intent: the first is to spread false information, the second aims at censuring all possible responses.

The hampering of TV satellites for military purposes is not new. Under pressure from Israel, the USA and the EU blocked Lebanese, Palestinian, Iraqi, Libyan and Iranian TV channels, one after the other. However, no satellite channels from other parts of the world were censured.

The broadcast of false news is also not new, but four significant steps have been taken in the art of propaganda during the last decade.

• In 1994, a pop music station named “Free Radio of the Thousand Hills” (RTML) gave the signal for genocide in Rwanda with the cry, “Kill the cockroaches!”

• In 2001, NATO used the media to impose an interpretation of the 9/11 attacks and to justify its own aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq. At that time already, it was Ben Rhodes who had been commissioned by the Bush administration to concoct the Kean/Hamilton Commission report on the attacks.

• In 2002, the CIA used five TV channels (Televen, Globovision, ValeTV and CMT) to make the public in Venezuela believe that phantom demonstrators had captured the elected president, Hugo Chávez, forcing him to resign. In reality he was the victim of a military coup d’etat.

• In 2011, France 24 served as information ministry for the Libyan CNT, according to a signed contract. During the battle of Tripoli, NATO produced fake studio films, then transmitted them via Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, showing phantom images of Libyan rebels on the central square of the capital city, while in reality they were still far away. As a consequence, the inhabitants of Tripoli were persuaded that the war was lost and gave up all resistance.

Nowadays the media do not only support a war, they produce it themselves.

This procedure violates the principles of International Law, first of all Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights relating to the fact of receiving and imparting information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. ”Above all, the procedure violates the United Nations General Assembly resolution, adopted after the end of World War II, to prevent further wars. Resolutions 110, 381 and 819 forbid “to set obstacles to free exchange of information and ideas” (like cutting off Syrian TV channels) and “all propaganda provoking or encouraging threats to peace, breaking peace, and all acts of aggression”. By law, war propaganda is a crime against peace, the worst of crimes, because it facilitates war crimes and genocide.

Source: mathaba.net

The name "United Mexican States," or "Estados Unidos Mexicanos," was adopted in 1824 after independence from Spain in imitation of Mexico's democratic northern neighbor, but it is rarely used except on official documents, money and other government material.

Still, President Felipe Calderon called a news conference Thursday to announce that he wants to make the name simply "Mexico." His country doesn't need to copy anyone, he said.

Calderon first proposed the name change as a congressman in 2003 but the bill did not make it to a vote. The new constitutional reform he proposed would have to be approved by both houses of Congress and a majority of Mexico's 31 state legislatures.

However, Calderon leaves office on Dec. 1, raising the question of whether his proposal is a largely symbolic gesture. His proposal was widely mocked on Twitter as a ridiculous parting shot from a lame-duck president.

Calderon said that while the name change "doesn't have the urgency of other reforms," it should be seen as a relevant issue. "Mexico doesn't need a name that emulates another country and that no one uses on a daily basis," he said.

The United States looms larger than perhaps any other country in the Mexican cultural imagination: Mexicans follow U.S. sports teams, watch U.S. television shows and buy U.S.-made products. For many, however, there is also resentment of a larger and more powerful northern neighbor that's often seen as ignoring or looking down its nose at Mexico.

Calderon has tried to keep Mexico's international image, and its vital tourism industry, from being tarred by the waves of violence set off by his six-year, militarized offensive against drug cartels. At least 47,500 people have died in cartel-related violence during his term in office, although the number is believed to be far higher, since his administration stopped releasing an official count last year.

A poll released this week by the Vianovo consulting firm said that half of all Americans view Mexico unfavorably and more than 70 percent believe it's unsafe to travel south of the border. The poll of 1,000 adults had a margin of error of four percentage points.

"It's time for Mexicans to return to the beauty and simplicity of the name of our country, Mexico," Calderon said. "A name that we chant, that we sing, that makes us happy, that we identify with, that fills us with pride."

Source: news.yahoo.com

Friends,

TZM Global Radio Show returns this Wed., Nov 21st '12 at 4pm EDT with Host Peter Joseph.

blogtalkradio.com

In this broadcast Peter Joseph will discuss Zday 2013, the long overdue 2012 Orientation Guide release and develepoments, the Global Redesign Institute initiative and other updates.

Free TZM Global Show Archives:
http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/radio_shows

About: Started in 2009, TZM Global Radio is a weekly radio show presented by various coordinators/lecturers of The Zeitgeist Movement in a rotational fashion.

www.thezeitgeistmovement.com

http://www.turismoassociati.it/lang1/blog_talk_radio.html

In a bid to stamp out organized crime in the country, Uruguay has legalized the sale of about 20 marijuana cigarettes a month to its citizens.
 
Users will be able to buy 40 grams – or 1.4oz – a month, about enough to roll up 20 joints and the sale will be regulated by the state with the dope being sold at a market price of around $34.

To regulate their purchases, smokers will be given a card with a barcode that keeps track of the amount of pot each person purchases.
 
Uruguayan President José Mujica, who previously announced plans to grow up to 150 hectares of mariajuana for sale to users, said that his government hopes to eliminate the black market trade in pot – and related violence - by implementing this measure.

We are losing the battle against drugs and crime in South America. Somebody has to be the first.
 
“The negative effects of consuming marijuana are far less harmful than the outbreak of violence associated with the black market,” added Interior minister Eduardo Bonomi
 
Read more: latino.foxnews.com via THCFinder.com

From this, it follows that if you are making campaign contributions or donating to front groups who spend your money on behalf of candidates, you’re wasting your money, or worse, diverting your resources away from political action that actually could make a difference. There’s more to political life than elections although you wouldn’t know it from Karl Rove’s brave new world of perpetual campaigns.

Take it from someone who worked as a Republican apparatchik for many years inside the Washington machine, the American political system is an exercise in mass deception and mass delusion. Elections stupefy the people and give political cover to what Will Rogers called “America’s only native criminal class” (viz., Members of Congress) to commit all manner of felonies in the name of the public interest.

Voting legitimizes the criminal enterprise called government, and it makes voters a party to the crime. And to top it off, there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the major party candidates. If you believe otherwise, watch this video.

American elections are a game played between the forty-yard lines, kept carefully within narrow bounds where the two establishment political parties can trade offices back and forth without changing a thing and without endangering their political duopoly.

The establishment parties wail about how difficult it is to cut spending and balance the budget but neither of them puts forth serious proposals to reduce the size of government by, say, bringing the troops home and dismantling the military-industrial-security-state complex; by eliminating all public sector pensions, including their own, and cutting bureaucrats’ salaries and eliminating cabinet departments.

They insist on continuously raising the national debt and giving reckless and corrupt bankers guarantees and bailouts rather than making them eat their losses and take the haircuts they deserve. The permanent political duopoly never gives serious consideration to measures that would restore Americans’ freedoms and personal privacy, such as eliminating all forms of sovereign immunity and holding elected officials, judges and bureaucrats to the same standards as ordinary citizens and requiring all public officials to abide by the same laws as everyone else. It never enters polite Washington conversation to consider subjecting federal laws and regulations to a ballot initiative in which the people have the opportunity to repeal them. Super majority voting requirements to check passionate majorities are fiercely resisted. And it is beyond the pale of social propriety in Washington for candidates of either establishment party to propose repealing the income tax and making the dollar as good as gold by ending the Fed and outlawing fiat money creation by the government or a central bank.

Instead, the parties play the Washington Monument game, conspiring with each other to eviscerate earned Social Security and Medicare benefits from retirees rather than keeping the terms of the deal the government cut with today’s seniors back in the day when they were still working and producing and paying taxes to support the programs. It’s the oldest bait-and-switch gambit in the world.

Class warfare too is a favorite Washington game as the permanent establishment parties stoke envy and jealousy among the people, turning Americans against one another so the hoi polloi don’t turn against them. They deceive people into believing the tax increases coming down the pike will only land on the rich. It’s such a tawdry lie but no politician ever lost money betting on the gullibility of the American voter. It has all played out innumerable times before. They tell the country they just want the rich to pay a little bit more but everyone ends up paying a whole lot more.

The promise of elections is that they establish an efficient negative feedback loop through which the clashing of competitive electoral forces reveals previous errors, elucidates the truth and validates the will of the people by selecting for public office candidates who are capable of and committed to solving pressing public problems.

But it turns out, most of the problems are self-inflicted by the very politicians who demand that voters empower them to fix the mess they created. Quite the opposite of their promise, elections set up a nasty positive feedback loop that legitimizes the destructive acts of the political class. Winning an election is a license to make a new mess under the guise of cleaning up an old mess that career politicians made before the last election. They are perpetual mess machines.

That’s because elections are the very opposite of adversarial legal proceedings and competitive markets. Election campaigns ignore what’s important and obsess over trivia and minutiae. They are theatrical sword fights, not true competition of the marketplace. Election campaigns create their own reality rather than revealing objective reality. They formulate public opinion and distort public perception rather than discovering peoples’ preferences through the clash of competition. They manipulate people’s preferences rather than satisfying them. American politics is a political matrix, a virtual reality World of Political WarCraft. But, the consequences are only too real.

The entire American political system is based on a false syllogism that runs something like this:

• If you make campaign contributions and work your butt off for political candidates, then
•  You can elect the “right” people to office, and then
• The candidates you elected to office will be committed to the policies and values you hold and, therefore
• The candidates you elected to office will promote the “right” laws and regulations and appoint the “right” bureaucrats and judges and, then
• The “right” laws and regulations you donated money and sweated to see adopted will be enacted into law, and the law will be interpreted and implemented the “right” way by the “right” judges and bureaucrats, and therefore
• You should make large campaign contributions to and work long hours on behalf of and vote for candidates who promise to change the world the way you want to see it changed.   QED—or rather, LOL

To anyone who still buys this crock of malarkey, I say, “Remember John Roberts.” Elections don’t change a thing, and if they did, as Emma Goldman once said, they would soon be illegal.

Anti-abortion advocates take note. You are illustrative of the electoral scam being run in America today. You will never elect the “right” candidates to appoint the “right” judges to overturn Roe v. Wade; you will only succeed in rewarding the same lying politicians and enriching the same PACs and political operators behind them who’ve been running this scam for the last 40 years. Elections don’t work, and you better find a new strategy if you hope to stem the tide of abortions.

Mr. and Ms. American voter: You’ve been had.

Source: Forbes.com - Author: Lawrence Hunter, Contributor ("I write about the intersection of economics and politics.")

Poland's Supreme Court concluded that a person may be found guilty of offending religious sensibilities even if the defendant had not “directly” intended to do so.

The court was examining the matter in relation to an appeal against the 2011 aquittal of Robert Darski – frontman of internationally renowned rock group Behemoth - who tore up a copy of the bible on stage.

Darski's case will now be re-examined by a district court.

During the 2011 hearing, Darski's lawyers had argued successively that the 2007 concert was for a closed group of fans who had not been offended by the musician's behaviour.

Furthermore, the court accepted that the singer's actions were a kind of “artistic” performance, and that the singer had not “directly” aimed at offending religious sensibilities.

However, the Supreme Court has indicated in its Monday ruling that Darski's actions have legal ramifications beyond the concert arena.

“The crime of offending religious sensibilities is committed not only by he who intends to carry it out, but also by he who is aware that his actions may lead to offence being taken,” the court concluded.

While on stage, Darski called the Catholic Church the world's “most murderous cult” and tore up a copy of the bible, declaring it to be a “book full of lies.”

Darski had been brought to court by former MP Ryszard Nowak, chairman of the privately run Nationwide Defence Committee against Sects.

Following yesterday's hearing, Nowak declared his satisfaction with the ruling.

“A clear signal has been sent to all the courts in Poland that one must take care with regard to offending religious feelings.

Meanwhile, after emerging from court, Darski himself said that on the one hand “one should respect the court's verdict.”

However, he also claimed that his country's mentality “is immature, trying to gag people,” and that he was in court for “the good cause”, namely the right to “freedom of speech.”

The maximum penalty in Poland for offending religious sensibilities is a two-year prison sentence.

The case will now be examined by a district court in Gdansk, northern Poland.

Source: thenews.pl

During the last days, we posted on ShittyFaceBook less then the usual. After more then 12 hours of inactivity, when trying to connect and share with Turismo Associati's Facebook friends, we've got this messagge: "Facebook Login - Account Disabled - Your account has been disabled. If you have any questions or concerns, you can visit our FAQ (it reads FuCK) page here."

So we want to know what happened (yes, we like to consider ourselves free persons)...

Disabled - Harassment

What???

The Merriam Webster dictionary gives this definition of the transitive verb

HARASS \hə-ˈras; ˈher-əs, ˈha-rəs\

1   a : exhaust, fatigue

    b (1) : to annoy persistently (2) : to create an unpleasant or hostile situation for especially by uninvited and unwelcome verbal or physical conduct

2:  to worry and impede by repeated raids

Of course, FaceBook is above common sense (must come with the C.I.A. ownership):

One of Facebook's main priorities is the comfort and safety of our members. Your account has been disabled for violating Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Our policies prohibit:

Ą Credible threats to harm others or the promotion of self-destructive behavior

Ą Targeting individuals on the site is not allowed

Ą Hate speech or singling people out based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or disease

Ą Graphic content including sadistic displays of violence against people or animals and depictions of sexual assault

Not to mention that if this generic answer does not answer your doubts, Facebook invites users to go away: If you believe your account was disabled by mistake, please contact us.

This is great, they connect to your mail account to see again if you are you (who the hell should you be?!) so they get free access to your private e-mails (what would you do with your privacy anyway?).

But they have two more funny questions:

Does Facebook disable everyone that gets reported?

A Facebook administrator looks into each report to decide the appropriate course of action. If no violation of our community standards has occurred, no action will be taken. If a violation has occurred, you may receive a warning or become disabled, depending on the severity of the violation.

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In conclusion, it seems Turismo Associati, the Trilingual World Observatory: italiano, english, română; GLOBAL NEWS & more, harassed your ass with information.

Our advice?

Look outside your window and see the Sun. Go take a walk and FUBAR FascistFaceBook. You are too beautiful to be spied by some perverted liars.

Author: TA, the one that had some good moments with you my ex Facebook friends, the one that was designated to post TurismoAssociati.it's news articles on that "social network".

Here are some facts about What is FACEBOOK:

One of the dumbest ideas ever on Facebook is that friends can automatically add you to groups. How To Stop People From Adding You To Facebook Groups

Facebook stole every contact and phone number in your phone – here’s how to undo the damage.

FACEBOOK APPARTIENE ALLA CIA ? EDITORIALE DI ERNESTO CARMONA . (DOES FACEBOOK BELONG TO THE Central Intelligence Agency? EDITORIAL by ERNESTO CARMONA.)

Facebook is a trap, says web founder.

Dixie Elixirs has made their drinks available to anyone with a prescription for medical marijuana.

The drinks come in eight different flavors, including pink lemonade, root beer and grape. But if the company really wants to get their drinks into the hands of marijuana lovers, they may want to start working on pizza and nachos flavors.

But marijuana is only legal to consume in 14 states with a prescription from a doctor. So, unless you are one of the approximately half-million people who is a medical marijuana patient, this pot-infused soda won't do you much good.

It's an open secret that you can smoke marijuana and still be a valuable part of society. But when you think of smoking weed, you're more likely to think of Cheech and Chong than the people running the United States government. (Even though at least two U.S. presidents have admitted smoking it.)

The drink makers say part of the reason they developed their line of mary-jane drinks was to remove that "reefer madness" stigma associated with marijuana smokers.

If California voters decide to make recreational marijuana legal this November, you may start seeing these organic sodas (the drink makers really know their audience) in grocery stores and liquor stores right next to the stuff from Pepsi and Coke.

But if Coca-Cola's history is any sign of what the company might do next, they could return to the heady days of putting mind-altering substances in their sodas.

At a time of sagging soda sales, drink makers are looking for a way to boost sales, and marijuana might be the answer. Medical marijuana has already proven an effective way at boosting newspaper sales, of all things. The New York Times reports that medical marijuana ads in small Colorado newspapers boost revenues enough for it to increase the size of its staff.

Source: news.discovery.com - Author: David Teeghman (Tue Oct 19, 2010) - Photo: Dixie Elixirs