Archive for month: August, 2014

US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says in a new book that she has faced sexist comments from her male colleagues in Congress, being nicknamed everything from “porky” to the “hottest member of the Senate.”

“Good thing you’re working out because you wouldn’t want to get porky,” Gillibrand says one male lawmaker told her in the congressional gym, according to an excerpt of her book Off The Sidelines published by People magazine.

After she lost weight following a pregnancy, Gillibrand, 47, writes that one male colleague squeezed her waist and requested: “Don’t lose too much weight now, I like my girls chubby.”

In the book, which is being released in September, Gillibrand, 47, recalls one congressman telling her, “You know, Kirsten, you’re even pretty when you’re fat.”

The Democrat from New York told People magazine that these incidents during her work in Congress have motivated her to take on issues like military and campus sexual assault.

“If I can work an issue like sexual assault on college campuses and drive a national narrative and know I’m making a difference,” Gillibrand said, “then whether or not we pass another bill in Congress, there’s still good things I can do.”

On average, 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking in the United States, based on a survey conducted in 2010. Over the course of a year, that equals more than 12 million women and men.

US college campuses reported nearly 5,000 forcible sex offenses in 2012, higher than the rate among peers who don’t go to college, according to US Education Department data cited by Senator Claire McCaskill.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said in a report in May that the number of sexual assaults reported by US service members increased by 50 percent in 2013.

AHT/DT

Britain’s top counter-terrorism authority has stated that “significant progress” is expected in the hunt for ISIL’s likely British executioner of US journalist James Foley.

Assistant Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley announced that 69 arrests of UK nationals traveling to Syria or Iraq to take part in terrorist activities had taken place in the last six months. The crimes of people traveling to Syria ranged from fundraising for Takfiri elements in Syria to preparing for terrorist attacks.

Rowley further described as challenging how the number of dangerous individuals has climbed, as nearly half of those going to Syria were not previously known as being potential terrorists.

Reports indicate that London and the West Midlands have seen the biggest growth in Syria-related probes.

Rowley also urged the public and communities to “help identify for us aspiring terrorists – they may be about to travel abroad, have just returned or be showing signs of becoming radicalized.”

He asked for people to watch out for any suspicious change in behavior in individuals, such as selling possessions or raising money to travel abroad.

The senior law-enforcement official added, “We need everyone to ensure that public debate does not give oxygen to the terrorists by giving them the publicity they seek.”

He further said he backs a call to seize passports from the Britons who go abroad to fight along the terrorists in Syria and Iraq.

This is while London and Washington have been among the top backers of the foreign-backed militancy against the Syrian government and until recently have been largely silent about the massive ISIL terror campaign across Iraq.

Meanwhile, intelligence and security agencies in the UK and US are reportedly close to identifying the man suspected of beheading Foley in a video broadcast by the ISIL terrorist group.

Specialists in America claimed to have produced the first possible images of the murderer using computer technology.

Only the eyes of the killer can be seen under a hood, but US-based ABC News has broadcast the possible full facial images created by experts.

MFB/HJL

US President Barack Obama has ordered a review of the distribution of military hardware to state and local police. Great. Now can we have a review of the distribution of military influence throughout US society?

What we’ve learned so far is that under a federal program, more than $5 billion worth of military equipment has gone to more than 8,000 city and state agencies since 1997. I found out this weekend that one small town not far from me received six military HumVees for a police department where just 25 officers work.

Mine-resistant trucks aren’t the only war tools showing up in US suburbs. Take those gunshot wounds. Michael Brown, the unarmed teen shot by a police in Ferguson August 9, was shot six times, twice in the head. Ever wonder why so many gun shot victims show up with multiple bullets in their flesh?  It’s certainly the cop, it’s also the gun.

As the Atlantic Magazine reported this summer, every time that Congress pays a military contractor to develop a new killer weapon for the battlefield, it almost at once shows up at High Street gun shops – and in Hollywood movies, like Lethal Weapon 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Obama’s review has been sparked by public shock at images from Ferguson, but what do people think happens when war profiteers dominate the marketplace, the media and Congress?

There’s a lot of surplus out there because defense contractors lobby for it. The top five companies spent more than $65 million last year persuading Congress to cancel promised cuts. As a result the 2014  budget gave them everything they asked for, including the controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive weapon system ever, and a tank that we already know that nobody wants.

Weapons makers don’t just do war work of course. Lockheed Martin, the maker of that costly fighter, has also snapped up government contracts to do data collection for everyone from the Postal Service to the IRS, despite a history of fraud. 

Now the country’s SWAT teams are lobbying to keep their military surplus and there’s about to be more of it because Congress is already hearing the Pentagon’s $555 billion budget for next year, isn’t sufficient, in light of the threat posed by the ISIS. That’s good news for the SWAT teams and probably for ISIS. In Syria and Iraq, ISIS has seized an arsenal of US military gear —  even more than the Ferguson police!

So by all means yes, let’s examine the surplus program. But let’s not stop at that. And while we’re at it, Obama says the review will be done by White House Staff and “relevant” agencies including Homeland Security and the Departments of Defense. We can guess what will come of that. How about the residents in towns with all this firepower review the program?  Especially the ones who’ve been shocked, not just by the images  — but by the experience of having police point assault rifles at their heads.

AHT

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has called for the prosecution of the Israeli regime in international courts for committing war crimes against Palestinians.

In a telephone conversation with Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement of Palestine Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shalah on Thursday, Zarif said Israeli officials must stand trial for the crimes they committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

The top Iranian diplomat congratulated Palestinians on their victory against Israel in the seven-week war on the Gaza Strip and praised the “heroic resistance” of Gazans in the face of Israeli brutalities.

After more than seven weeks of Israel’s war on Gaza, Palestinian resistance groups and Israeli officials on Tuesday reached an agreement on a permanent ceasefire for the besieged Gaza Strip.

Under the ceasefire, Israel has agreed to ease the blockade on Gaza and open border crossings for more aid to pass through to the enclave. According to experts, the ceasefire will help rid the territory of its seven-year blockade.

Zarif further expressed hope that the recent triumph of resistance would pave the ground for broader achievements and the restoration of Palestinians rights, including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the liberation of al-Quds (Jerusalem).

He also urged the international community to take concrete steps to rebuild the Gaza Strip, which was devastated in Israel’s nearly 50 days of aggression.

The Iranian foreign minister also reiterated the Islamic Republic’s preparedness to send humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The Palestinian leader, for his part, lauded Iran’s unwavering support for Gazans and highlighted the Islamic Republic’s role in the victories achieved by the Palestinian nation against Israel.

Israel launched an aerial military campaign against Gaza in early July and later expanded its operation with a ground invasion.

At least 2,137 Palestinians, including around 570 children, were killed in the Israeli onslaught on Gaza. Some 11,000 others were wounded.

Tel Aviv says 69 Israelis were killed in the conflict, but Hamas puts the number at more than 150.

YH/NN/HMV

 

A senior Iranian lawmaker says Palestinians’ triumph in their fight against the latest Israeli aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip is tantamount to the victory of the ideology of resistance.

“The triumph of resistance [movements] in Gaza in the recent war was, in fact, the victory of the resistance doctrine,” said Mansour Haghighatpour, vice-chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iran’s Majlis.

In the resistance doctrine, he said, triumph is defined in terms of determination, resistance and perseverance.

He also highlighted the instrumental role of the Islamic Republic in the recent victory of Palestinians against the Tel Aviv regime.

“Employing Iran’s defensive doctrine, resistance [movements] in Palestine has earned major victories against the Zionist regime’s big-headed army,” the parliamentarian added.

He further deprecated the inaction of some Persian Gulf states toward the Israeli onslaught on the blockaded enclave, saying, “We saw that the armies of Arab countries did not tend to offer the least amount of support to the people in Gaza.”

“Everyone witnessed the defeat of the United States, the Zionist regime [of Israel] and their regional lackeys” in the war against the Palestinians, the Iranian lawmaker added.

Palestinian resistance groups and Israeli officials on Tuesday clinched a deal on a permanent ceasefire for the Israeli war on the blockaded Gaza Strip. According to experts, the ceasefire will help rid the territory of its seven-year blockade.

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said the deal marks a victory.

“Today we declare the victory of the resistance, today we declare the victory of Gaza,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

Israel launched an aerial military campaign against Gaza in early July and later expanded its operation with a ground invasion.

At least 2,137 Palestinians, including around 570 children, were killed in the Israeli onslaught on Gaza. Some 11,000 others were wounded.

Tel Aviv says 68 Israelis were killed in the conflict, but Hamas puts the number at more than 150.

IA/NN/HMV