U.S. Politics

[StefanAVFC]

Terrifying. It's far-right propaganda, plain and simple.

It looks like an ISIS video, in English.

Edited April 13, 2018 by StefanAVFC

[Awol]

39 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

Terrifying. It's far-right propaganda, plain and simple.

It looks like an ISIS video, in English.

Those eyes... she’s a scary lady. 

You get the sense Trump isn’t going to leave quietly when Meuller drops the hammer. 

[Czechlad]

1 hour ago, maqroll said:

Edging closer to incitement with every new video:

 

This is so reminiscent of the stuff my parents grew up watching when Czech was under soviet control. 

[Chindie]

Well, Syria is on.

We'll be doing our bit in 5, 4... It's not like Theresa has been sat around waiting to go for a few days while she waited for her master's voice.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Chindie

[maqroll]

Syria bombing started within an hour of the Cohen-Prague story breaking...

[Brumerican]

Just now, maqroll said:

Syria bombing started within an hour of the Cohen-Prague story breaking...

[Brumerican]

On 13/04/2017 at 19:36, Brumerican said:

Genie Energy are doing pretty well too . A company who own oil drilling rights in Syria funnily enough . To top it off their board consists of a rather too good to be true list of names.

Genie official website.

Strategic Advisory Board

The Strategic Advisory Board of Genie Oil and Gas advises management on strategic, financial, operational and public policy matters.

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Michael Steinhardt (SAB Chairman)
Noted Wall Street investor and Principal Manager, Steinhardt Management LLC. Founder Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co., and noted philanthropist.

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Richard Cheney
46th Vice President of the United States. Vice President Cheney also served as President and CEO of Halliburton Company and U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1989 to 1993.

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Marry Landrieu
United States Senator from Louisiana from 1996 to 2014. Senator Landrieu served as chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. In her capacity as chair, she sponsored and passed the U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Bill. The bill fosters partnerships focused on developing resources such as natural gas and alternative fuels, on the academic, business and governmental levels.

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Rupert Murdoch
Founder and Executive Chairman of News Corporation, one of the world’s largest diversified media companies. News Corporation’s holdings include Fox Entertainment, Dow Jones and Company, the New York Post, HarperCollins and significant media assets on six continents.

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Bill Richardson
Governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. Mr. Richardson has served asU.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1997-1998), Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration (1998-2001), Chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and as Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.

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Jacob Rothschild, OM, GBE
Chairman of the J. Rothschild group of companies and of RIT Capital Partners plc. Chairman of Five Arrows Limited. Lord Rothschold is a noted philanthropist and Chairman of the Rothschild Foundation.

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Dr. Lawrence Summers
Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University. Dr. Summers served as the 71st Secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton and as Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama.

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R. James Woolsey
Director of Central Intelligence from 1993 to 1995 and as Under Secretary of the Navy from 1977 to 1979. Mr. Woolsey is co-founder of the United States Energy Security Council and is Chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

---

 

© 2017 | All Rights Reserved | Genie Oil and Gas | Contact Us

.

Probably worth bumping this .

 

[Czechlad]

I don't think it's a distraction. Trump promised strikes a couple days ago, and what Assad is doing in Syria is a war crime. He needs to be stopped. Chemically attacking your own citizens inhumane. 

[Keyblade]

6 hours ago, Czechlad said:

I don't think it's a distraction. Trump promised strikes a couple days ago, and what Assad is doing in Syria is a war crime. He needs to be stopped. Chemically attacking your own citizens inhumane. 

As opposed to bombing them, or opening fire on a large group of them?

International law is weird. Giving rules and regulations on how to kill civilians. "Just don't use chemicals guys!"

[sne]

Murdering people the wrong way is a bit frowned upon by the international body.

Although as long as it's your own people you are murdering they seem happy enough to look the other way.

But after 5 years or so they will not stand for it and are likely to issue a warning, or even a resolution. (That will be vetoed by the US or Russia.

Oh, you got oil you say, interesting...

[HanoiVillan]

7 hours ago, Czechlad said:

I don't think it's a distraction. Trump promised strikes a couple days ago, and what Assad is doing in Syria is a war crime. He needs to be stopped. Chemically attacking your own citizens inhumane. 

Counterpoint: he isn't going to be, and in fact the conflict will only end when he achieves some form of 'victory', however disgusting anybody may find that. 

[OutByEaster?]

1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said:

Counterpoint: he isn't going to be, and in fact the conflict will only end when he achieves some form of 'victory', however disgusting anybody may find that. 

It will be interesting watching the slow process of 'rehabilitation' of Assad once that victory is achieved. He isn't running out of gas anytime soon, so the international community will be making some effort to repaint him as a 'strong leader who made mistakes in a difficult conflict' over the next few years. (Until we can kill him obviously.)

*See also Hussein, S.

 

[Davkaus]

9 hours ago, Czechlad said:

I don't think it's a distraction. Trump promised strikes a couple days ago, and what Assad is doing in Syria is a war crime. 

Considering Trump has openly advocated for war crimes, I'm not sure that bit bothers him so much.

I suspect the history of war being good for polling is of more importance to him and our illustrious Prime Minister.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Davkaus

[blandy]

2 hours ago, sne said:

Murdering people the wrong way is a bit frowned upon by the international body.

Although as long as it's your own people you are murdering they seem happy enough to look the other way.

But after 5 years or so they will not stand for it and are likely to issue a warning, or even a resolution. (That will be vetoed by the US or Russia.

Oh, you got oil you say, interesting...

That's completely wrong. They only look the other way when it's brown people.

12 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

I suspect the history of war being good for polling is of more importance to him and our illustrious Prime Minister.

That's also not really right ( in the UK at least ). It's true that it helped the evil witch in the 80's with the Falklands, probably leading to her getting re-elected, but it's pretty much harmed everyone else, since at the polling stations in electoral terms. There might be a moderate bounce in the opinion polls for a few weeks, but just as likely that May will see a backlash from it.

[HanoiVillan]

10 minutes ago, blandy said:

That's also not really right ( in the UK at least ). It's true that it helped the evil witch in the 80's with the Falklands, probably leading to her getting re-elected, but it's pretty much harmed everyone else, since at the polling stations in electoral terms. There might be a moderate bounce in the opinion polls for a few weeks, but just as likely that May will see a backlash from it.

IIRC, Iraq had majority support, but only just, at the time of the invasion, but rapidly became unpopular afterwards. Certainly by the time of the 2005 election it was a massive liability. 

The only polling I saw this week suggested that UK voters favoured doing absolutely nothing with regard to Syria by a two-to-one margin, with less than a quarter favouring any intervention. Last night's actions were popular with newspaper columnists, rather than the public, though of course that is valuable in a different way. If whatever that bombing raid was last night is the truly the end of our (public) involvement, then probably about half of the electorate will never even realise it happened. 

[bickster]

So was this Operation Desert Stormy?

[Xela]

2 minutes ago, bickster said:

So was this Operation Desert Stormy?

[sne]

Bit surprised this hasn't gotten more media (in Sweden anyway)

Quote

Prominent Lawyer in Fight for Gay Rights Dies After Setting Himself on Fire in Prospect Park

 

The lawyer David S. Buckel in New Jersey Supreme Court during a 2006 case about same-sex marriage. Mr. Buckel died on Saturday after setting himself on fire in a Brooklyn park, the police said.CreditJose F. Moreno/Associated Press

A lawyer nationally known for being a champion of gay rights died after setting himself on fire in Prospect Park in Brooklyn early Saturday morning and leaving a note exhorting people to lead less selfish lives as a way to protect the planet, the police said.

The remains of the lawyer, David S. Buckel, 60, were found near Prospect Park West in a field near baseball diamonds and the main loop used by joggers and bikers.

Mr. Buckel left a note in a shopping cart not far from his body and also emailed it to several news media outlets, including The New York Times.

Mr. Buckel was the lead attorney in Brandon v. County of Richardson, in which a Nebraska county sheriff was found liable for failing to protect Brandon Teena, a transgender man who was murdered in Falls City, Neb. Hilary Swank won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Mr. Teena in the 1999 movie “Boys Don’t Cry.”

While serving as marriage project director and senior counsel at Lambda Legal, a national organization that fights for the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Mr. Buckel was the strategist behind important same-sex marriage cases in New Jersey and Iowa.

Friends said that after he left the organization, Mr. Buckel became involved in environmental causes, which he alluded to in his note as the reason he decided to end his life by self-immolation with fossil fuels.

“Pollution ravages our planet, oozing inhabitability via air, soil, water and weather,” he wrote in the email sent to The Times. “Most humans on the planet now breathe air made unhealthy by fossil fuels, and many die early deaths as a result — my early death by fossil fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves.”

In his note, which was received by The Times at 5:55 a.m., Mr. Buckel discussed the difficulty of improving the world even for those who make vigorous efforts to do so.

Privilege, he said, was derived from the suffering of others.

“Many who drive their own lives to help others often realize that they do not change what causes the need for their help,” Mr. Buckel wrote, adding that donating to organizations was not enough.

Noting that he was privileged with “good health to the final moment,” Mr. Buckel said he wanted his death to lead to increased action. “Honorable purpose in life invites honorable purpose in death,” he wrote.

The police said Mr. Buckel was pronounced dead at 6:30 a.m. in what they said was a suicide.

Susan Sommer, a former attorney for Lambda Legal who is now the general counsel for the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, said Mr. Buckel was “one of the architects of the freedom to marry and marriage equality movement.”

“He deserves tremendous thanks for recognizing this was in many ways at the heart of what it meant to be gay for many Americans and making it a priority,” she said. “I learned so much from him about the emotional center of what it means for a gay person not to be able to have all the protections for the person they love and that it’s worth fighting for.”

Lambda Legal credited Mr. Buckel for focusing the organization on the rights of lesbian, gay and transgender youth. One of the cases Mr. Buckel spearheaded, Nabozny v. Podlesny, was the first time a federal court ruled that schools have an obligation to prevent the bullying of gay students, said Camilla Taylor, acting legal director at Lambda Legal.

Mr. Buckel also guided Lambda Legal’s national work to allow gay people to marry. In another case he led, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples and their children were harmed because they were excluded from the rights granted via marriage. When Mr. Buckel suggested filing a lawsuit for gay marriage in Iowa in 2005, it was legal only in Massachusetts.

“It was considered a crazy thing to do because of the notion that Iowa would get to marriage equality before places like New York and New Jersey,” Ms. Taylor said.

Catherine Varous, a neighbor of Mr. Buckel’s, said he was very active in gardening, and together they worked on the Greenest Block in Brooklyn competition.

She said she often saw Mr. Buckel and his partner at the Park Slope Food Co-op and a farmer’s market. “He was the quieter of the two,” she said, referring to Mr. Buckel. “He was definitely more serious.”

Amy Orr, a kindergarten teacher who lives in the neighborhood, was out for her regular weekend jog at about 6:25 a.m. when she saw police officers standing over something that was smoldering.

She said she first “thought it was a pile of garbage because of the shopping cart” but then she saw the outline of a human body.

Runners and bicyclists continued to pass. But as more police officers and firefighters gathered, they all looked “dumbfounded,” Ms. Orr said. “Nobody could believe it.”

By 11 a.m., the authorities had removed Mr. Buckel’s body, leaving a blackened patch and a circular indentation around which parks officials placed two orange cones.

The grim scene stood in stark contrast to the rest of the park, which brimmed with activity. Several youth baseball games continued nearby and participants in PurpleStride, a walk dedicated to ending pancreatic cancer, strode along the bike path with runners and joggers.

The field where Mr. Buckel died would ordinarily be filled with activity, too. Warren Beishir, a graphic designer, said it was used for volleyball, soccer and barbecuing.

Mr. Beishir sat across from the field under a tree with his wife, Susan Stawicki, their 2-year-old daughter and their neighbors. They live across from the park and were awakened by sirens and flashing lights.

“How do you do that to yourself? It’s a terrible way to go, and I don’t want to think about it after today,” Mr. Beishir said.

“I hope they are at peace,” Ms. Stawicki said.

Can't be all that common with Buddhist monk style protests in the US?

[TheAuthority]

5 hours ago, sne said:

Bit surprised this hasn't gotten more media (in Sweden anyway)

Can't be all that common with Buddhist monk style protests in the US?

I must admit I had not seen anything about this and I live in the city.

[villakram]

4 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

I must admit I had not seen anything about this and I live in the city.

Only if it went on someone's feed... I suppose he's lucky no one was there or they would have stood by and recorded it.

Should have really done it somewhere more public, though I guess it easy to criticize someone in that mindset. What a sorry mess society currently is.