THE HEADLINES

President Obama and Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani in the White House

GIVING “MATERIAL SUPPORT” TO THE JIHADIST ENEMY: THE U.S. GOVERNMENT.

As many people languish in detention for such “crimes” as making money donations to Islamist charities, it now emerges that the Obama administration itself provided much military support for “rebel” forces in Libya by way of arms transfers to Qatar which wound up in the hands of Libyan jihadists. Although expressing “concern” about the possibility of this happening, former officials say the U.S. had little “intelligence” that would let them know that U.S. resources were being so distributed. And now, with Qatar continuing to support Syrian rebels, there is concern that the “footprint” of American support of “enemies” of the U.S. raises doubt about the wisdom of U.S. support for the Syrian insurgency.

(New York Times)

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NUCLEAR REACTORS ARE SO EXPENSIVE THAT POWER COMPANIES CANNOT EVEN AFFORD TO CLOSE THEM.

A 1954 promise that nuclear reactors would generate electrical power “too cheap to meter” is dramatically contradicted in the very high cost of nuclear-generated as opposed to traditional forms of power production. A major reason they are so expensive to operate is that, given the real threat of catastrophe associated with their operation, huge expenses are incurred by the necessity of mechanical safeguards and human agents to monitor them. More of them, like that at Crystal River in Florida, which has been shut down for three years, would close but for the enormous cost of “de-commissioning” a nuclear reactor.

(Counterpunch)

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SOCIAL SECURITY RECIPIENTS ARE “GREEDY GEEZERS” FEEDING ON “A MILK COW WITH 310 MILLION TITS.”

This the view expressed by former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson, co-chair of the President’s “deficit reduction commission” which is preparing to base that “reduction” largely on the diminishment of Social Security payments. Simpson and his co-chair Erskine Bowles have found a nourishing “tit” for themselves, the $40,000 they get as a “speakers fee” every time they speak to a gathering of CEO’s about the necessity of reducing the “milk” available to seniors, even though Simpson himself once noted that 60% of seniors depend on Social Security for at least half of their incomes.

(In These Times)

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WHO RUNS PHILADELPHIA SCHOOLS ANYWAY? THE PARENTS AND TEACHERS OR THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION?

This is the essence of a complaint with the city’s Ethics Board demanding the WPF, Philly’s largest foundation, be required to register as a lobby group in view of their well-financed activities aimed at promoting the privatization of the city’s school system. School leaders are seduced by realizations of relief of their cash-starved budgets from the WPF activities, but they may be selling off public education in the city in the process.

(Philadelphia Inquirer)

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IN SOUTH FLORIDA A-HUNTING WE WILL GO: FOR BURMESE PYTHONS THAT IS.

Pythons as pets are already banned in Florida, and now the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission goes after the offspring of those pets-past and invites hunters to complete among themselves in a hunt in which prizes will be given both to the hunter who “harvests” the most pythons and the one who gets the largest one.

(Palm Beach Post)

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Quote of the day…