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Fannie and Freddie in Good Hands with Mel Watt
by Stephen Lendman
On May 1, Obama nominated Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). It replaced the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB), the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (DHUD). It did so following their statutory merger. FHFB regulates Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and 12 Federal Home Loan Banks.
If approved, Watt will replace Edward DeMarco. Since August 2009, he's been acting director.
Change.org called him the "single biggest obstacle to meaningful economic recovery."
Willie Manning: Unjustly Sentenced to Death
by Stephen Lendman
Capital punishment is barbaric, unjust and unconscionable. It's the ultimate denial of human rights. Nothing justifies state-sponsored murder. Wrongfully executing innocent victims alone explains why.
David Protess heads the Chicago Innocence Project (ChIP). It investigates wrongful convictions. On March 19, he headlined "Executing the Death Penalty," saying
"Since 1973, 142 death row inmates have been officially exonerated." Many others should have been but weren't. Most countries abandoned capital punishment. America uses it abusively.
On May 6, Protess headlined "Murder in Mississippi," saying:
Willie Manning is Black. In 1994, he "was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1992 murders of two white college students. (He) steadfastly professed his innocence." He still does.
Kerry in Moscow
by Stephen Lendman
Russian condemnation of Israeli air strikes preceded Kerry's arrival. Moscow's Foreign Ministry called them "a threat to regional stability."
It wants politicizing chemical weapons use stopped. On May 6, Russian Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev said "no one has reliable information about the use of chemical weapons in Syria."
"If anyone does, we would like them to show their evidence that such weapons have indeed been used."
On May 5, UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria (COI) investigators said testimonial evidence indicates "rebel forces" used sarin. A day later they reported "no conclusive findings" of their use.
UN Human Rights Council Duplicity
by Stephen Lendman
A previous article said the following:
On May 5, Reuters headlined "UN has testimony that Syrian rebels used sarin gas: investigator."
Geneva-based "UN human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria's civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday."
"The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen evidence of government forces having used chemical weapons…."
On May 6, the UN News Centre headlined "Syria: UN human rights Inquiry has 'no conclusive findings' on use of chemical weapons."
Guantanamo Closing—Why it’s Symbolically, Spiritually and Materially Important
By Don Dust
Finally. President Barack Obama has made a clear and convincing case for closing Guantanamo! Yet many Americans expected, or assumed, it would have closed early in his first term—that is to say the case was already self-evident. After all it was one reason this president was elected our new leader—to reverse the criminality and immorality of the Bush Administration. Mostly the same reasons finally articulated were just as true as when he initially took office. (See Obama Remembers Gitmo Exists Says ‘Not Necessary’ for American Safety by Lucy Steigewald at AntiWar.com April 30, 2013.)
Closing this stigma of war crime and national shame has always been a high agenda item for many Americans. It is has now become the watermark battleground that could begin to show who, or what, really runs this country—certain special interests (that elected legislators really represent) and the Pentagon/ CIA or The People of this country? In essence it is our own Berlin Wall (and to think Dick Cheney’s company played a part in building it).
Profile of Lawless Aggression
by Stephen Lendman
Israel and America are longstanding imperial partners. They spurn international laws. They do so repeatedly. They ignore their own.
They jointly plan and wage wars. Israel's attack on Syria was a joint US/Israeli provocation. Haaretz's military correspondent Amos Harel suggested it, saying:
"The (US) administration officials' familiarity with the nature of the Syrian targets seems to indicate that there had been advance coordination with Israel, and make the attacks look more and more like part of a larger campaign that isn't over yet."
Israel's weekend attacks were lawless acts of aggression. Post-WW I, the League of Nations failed to prevent them. So did Kellogg-Briand.
Final thoughts on Zionism’s success and Arab failure
MY LAST POST
By Alan Hart
Alan Hart speaking with Yasser Arafat
I am withdrawing from the battlefield of the war for the truth of history as it relates to the making and sustaining of the conflict in and over Palestine that became Israel, and the following is an explanation of why.
More than three decades ago when I made my commitment to this war effort, in the full knowledge that it would make me persona non grata in the eyes of the mainstream media I had served with some distinction, I believed that the single most amazing thing about the conflict was Zionism’s success in selling its propaganda lies - lies which were told not only to justify anything and everything the Zionist (not Jewish) State of Israel did and does, but also to establish and fix the boundaries of what could and could not be discussed in public discourse about Israel’s policies and actions. (I mean what could and could not be discussed by non-Jews, Europeans and Americans especially, if they didn’t want to be terrorized by smears and false charges of anti-Semitism which could result in them losing their positions and jobs).
Washington’s Presumption
Paul Craig Roberts
The new president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, is cast in Chavez’s mold. On May 4, he called US president Obama the “grand chief of devils.”
Obama, who has betrayed democracy in America, unleashing execution on American citizens without due process of law and war without the consent of Congress, provoked Maduro’s response by suggesting that Maduro’s newly elected government might be fraudulent. Obviously, Obama is piqued that the millions of dollars his administration spent trying to elect an American puppet instead of Maduro failed to do the job.
If anyone has accurately summed up Washington, it is the Venezuelans.
Who can forget Chevez standing at the podium of the UN General Assembly in New York City speaking of George W. Bush? Quoting from memory: “Right here, yesterday, at this very podium stood Satan himself, speaking as if he owned the world. You can still smell the sulphur.”
Yair Shamir: Profile of Israeli Extremism
by Stephen Lendman
He's a former IDF officer. He's now an Israeli politician and businessman. He's former Prime Minister Yitzhak's son. He's named after Avraham "Yair" Stern.
In 1940, he founded the terrorist Lehi group. It's commonly called the Stern Gang. During WW II, it offered to help Nazi Germany and fascist Italy against Britain.
In return, it sought transfer of occupied European Jews to Palestine. It wanted a Jewish state based on "nationalist and totalitarian principles."
Yair's father, Yitzhak, was one of Lehi's leaders. It was more extremist than Irgun. In 1942, after British forces killed Stern, he, Nathan Friedman-Yellin, and Israel Sheib comprised its troika leadership.
Pawns Are Always Expendable When Played
By Vincent L. Guarisco
"You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it. But what Chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it's really a good idea and whether there are other better ideas." ~~Stanley Kubrick
Chess is a crafty old game -- one that's been played throughout the ages. When I was a young lad in my Junior year of High School, I was quite good at it. In fact, I became my school champion. Indeed, I wanted to be the next grand-master like my mentor, "Bobby Fischer."
In 1974, Fischer's match against the Russian Spassky was seen as the Match of the Century -- East v. West. Soon after, Fisher resigned from chess after a bout with the body politic. It was then that I realized a simple game that I adored could be exploited for political reasons. In 1992, Bobby came out of exile to replay Spassky in Yugoslavia. This outraged some Americans (but not me) as it was declared a breach of a bogus UN embargo. Evading arrest, in July 2004, he successfully got political asylum in Iceland. He remained there until his death in 2008. May the champ rest in peace...
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