The Bureau of Investigative Journalism writes The United Nations plans to set up a special investigation unit examining claims of civilian deaths in individual US covert drone strikes. UN investigators have been critical of US targeted killings since they began in 2002. The new Geneva-based unit will also look at the legality of the programme. […]
Egypt President condemns Israeli Air Raids on Gaza
Aljazeera Arabic is reporting on a speech by Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi on Wednesday evening Cairo time, in which the Muslim Brotherhood figure condemned Israeli attacks by fighter jet on the Gaza Strip. Morsi was careful to say that Revolutionary Egypt continues to respect all its treaties and international obligations, reassuring Washington and Tel Aviv […]
Open Source Center Reports from Sept. 12 on Libya Consulate Attack Support Crowd Protests
Republican critics of the Obama administration’s evolving accounts of what happened in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 imply that there was early certainty in the US intelligence community that it was an attack staged by an al-Qaeda affiliate. In fact, the theories of who was behind the attack were multiple and conflicting for days afterward. […]
Lesley Gore to Todd Akin, Joe Walsh and Richard Mourdock: “You Don’t Own Me” (Video)
Given the rise of neo-patriarchy, especially in the Republican Party, which keeps trying to control women’s bodies and put women in their (subordinate place), Lesley Gore has issued a public service announcement to the tune of her 1964 hit single, “You don’t Own Me.” The song went to no. 2 at the Billboard charts, just […]
Mourdock, Rape as a Gift of God, and Islamic Sharia
Indiana candidate for the US Senate Richard Mourdock, who has been endorsed by Mitt Romney, has caused a stir by calling children conceived of rape ‘gifts of God.’: Here is his statement: Mourdock’s position appears to reflect a theology of predestination, that events in this world are preordained as God’s will. As he later explained, […]
The Most Bloated Election in History (Engelhardt)
Tom Engelhardt writes at Tomdispatch.com Democratic Mockpocalypse Obesity is an American plague — and no, I’m not talking about overweight Americans. I’m talking about our overweight, supersized presidential campaign. I’m talking about Big Election, the thing that’s moved into our homes and, especially if you live in a “swing state,” is now hogging your television […]
Romney’s Major Flip-Flops in the Third Debate
Gov. Mitt Romney continued his amazing chameleon act in the third presidential debate, apparently reversing several of his earlier talking points on foreign policy in the game’s ninth inning. On Israel-Palestine Romney said Monday, ” Is — are Israel and the Palestinians closer to — to reaching a peace agreement? No, they haven’t had talks […]
US must Pressure Bahrain on Human Rights (Strindberg)
Anders Strindberg writes in a guest column for Informed Comment All is not what it seems: Bahrain and U.S. strategic interests On the last Friday night of September, Bahraini police shot seventeen-year old Ali Ne’amah in the back with bird shot, in the village of Sadad. He died on site. Ali’s family insists that he […]
SNL Spoof of Second Presidential Debate (Video)
Saturday Night Live spoofs the second presidential debate at Hofstra University: