US Torture and the CIA: It’s not especially something that US Federal Employee’s should be engaged in, that said what I think was more despicable, US gov’t funds wasted on doing something that is non-productive from the get go, to outright illegal in the US.

Think about it. They were torturing men that engaged (probably) or saw or lived real-time torture in their own countries. They lived from childhood with dictators. They would know first hand how to lie, say whatever anyone wanted etc.

All for supposed information that the FBI obtained from just talking to them which the CIA officers had to already know. Top that one with the psych guys scamming the US gov’t out of millions and you have the classical story of the Emperor’s New Clothes.

Add that a couple of them were so low-level, they had No intel to divulge and then when the Senate staffers were investigating them, the CIA had officers, on taxpayer time and dime, Spy on the Senate staffers. They became Hackers of other US Federal Employee’s that were investigating them and not what
should be in their job description.

It’s called a FUBAR and the CIA did it which leads me to wonder about their idea of what is known as …..actually gathering intel for the defense of the US.
Next–

”Kentucky county passes ordinance that hits at power of unions”

Employer’s better be aware of KY Safety and Health Department because worker’s are covered by OSH KY law, even if they aren’t in a union.  The rate of workers dying on the job seems to have increased in other states with Right To Work laws. One of the main issue’s with Right To Work is that OSHA or the State agency responsible for worker safety only fine’s the business. No criminal charges for any supervisor or owner of the business are laid against them. A major oversight on the part of the
legislator’s.

Beijing China,  US GOP and the EPA

Context regarding the article, China is the perfect example of a country with lax or no rules and regulations about pollution but they are beginning to see the problem with not having more rules heh

The proof is in the photo and article that without the EPA, there we would be….and…. what the US has and needs to maintain, are the rules and regulations of the EPA which means that the EPA Has to be properly funded in order to do their job or We will be like the Chinese in a Smog surround city. Because the US, being and having a Capitalistic system, business’s are always going to be looking for the Short Term Profit, not the Long Term consequences of their type of business. And a lot of individual’s also.

By having a Federal EPA and the EPA working with State level agencies, the US doesn’t have the same situation that China does have Currently. Which the current GOP want to do away with and have stated it many times and with legislation cutting the budget of the EPA, they are for the short-term, not the long-term.

As a sidenote: By the way, since the US is a Union of States, unlike one party China, some of the States in the past have sued in Federal Court, Other states for Air pollution.
Not something that needs to be re-addressed either.

For the GOP context: I know Exactly where the GOP stand is on the EPA….Read Mitch McConnell’s comments on the EPA.

”Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would do “anything and everything” to stop Environmental Protection Agency regulations on coal-fired power plants from going forward.”
which leaves out entirely the Coal Ash and water pollution issue’s. Ask the people in West Virginia about the consequences. I’m sure there won’t be any Senate hearings on that FUBAR.

We do Not have the cleanest air and haven’t had for a long time. Just because you can’t see the particles, doesn’t mean that you are breathing hepa filtered clean air, like they have in hospitals. Go in one, stand inside the lobby for a while away from the doors, than go back outside and walk a block, you should notice the difference in air quality. It’s also one valid reason that States and the EPA issue Smog alerts and Air Quality alerts.

You can find out your air quality at anytime by going to AirNow………

From Senator Elizabeth Warren:

”Just before the Senate adjourned, I asked for a unanimous consent vote on my Truth in Settlements Act. The bipartisan bill is simple: If the government is going to use settlements to hold corporations accountable – rather than taking them to trial for breaking the law – the government should make the terms of those settlements public. The only group objecting to the bill is the Chamber of Commerce, a powerful lobbying organization for giant corporations, who says that if the public knew those facts, they’d demand more accountability for corporate wrongdoing. (Exactly.) I was disappointed but not surprised that some Senate Republicans objected to the vote. We’ll reintroduce and keep fighting for passage of the Truth in Settlements Act in the next Congress.”

The money usually goes to states and the Federal government….one way to fill in the budget revenue’s. heh  Some people may have gotten a pittance of the fines but I’m not holding my breath for any US company doing what they can to increase their profit, one way or the other.

President Valdimar Putin, “Only a strong Russian state can protect the interests of Russian citizens,” he said, after telling a cautionary tale of an offshore Russian company whose money was blocked because of Western sanctions.”

We get tidbits, enhanced or inflamed by the views of the reporters both here and abroad. We must consider the background of not only Putin, but also the treaties such as BRICS that Russia has engaged. One of the major ones to consider is that the Russian people have gone through more lifestyle deprivation than most countries and in recent history. It does make for a difference in adjusting our viewpoints on how sanctions work with them …or not. IMO that they and their government leaders view any sanctions as more of a challenge than a consequence.

Since breakaway countries from Russia are leaning more and more towards the Euro and NATO, this is presenting a huge issue with Russia. The past agreement to not have NATO on the Russian borders is fast dissolving. War Hawks in NATO and in Russia are happy or not, depending on who is asked. Russia is not going to allow NATO to put troops or equipment on their border and I do not see that effort by NATO or NATO allies as being something that is necessary or needed. It is more of a move to make an effort to have a legitimized reason for NATO.

Not that I agree with international moves that Russia has done or is doing but no need to resort to threatening actions which only ramp up discord. It is how NATO’s actions are perceived: CNN report

Why NATO is such a thorn in Russia’s side
By Diana Magnay, CNN

May 7, 2014 — Updated 1436 GMT (2236 HKT)
Moscow (CNN) — In a telephone call Monday between Russia’s Defense Minister General Sergei Shoigu
and the U.S. Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel, Shoigu described the activity of U.S. and NATO troops near Russia’s border as “unprecedented.”
According to the official Russian version of the call, his American counterpart assured him the alliance did not have “provocative or expansionist” intentions –and that Russia should know this.

But it hardly seems to matter how often NATO makes these assurances. The Kremlin will never trust them. Fear of the Western military alliance’s steady march east is deep-rooted. It strikes at the very heart of Russia’s national sense of security, a relic of Cold War enmity which has seeped down to post-Soviet generations.

Ilya Saraev is a 15-year-old pupil at the First Moscow cadet school in Moscow. He thinks long and hard when I ask him about NATO.
“I think NATO might be a friend to Russia but there’s one point I don’t understand: Why it needs to approach the border with Russia more and more,” he says.”

and there it is. Professor Stephen F Cohen has weighed into the discussion with much the same view. One interview I listened to was on The Young Turks, (YouTube) who also tracked on NATO’s interest in Ukraine.

Given the history of Ukraine’s people, wars with Poland, Germany, Tartars, Cossacks…and the divisions even among the people on land that is or has been designated Ukraine, it’s not surprising that the divisions continue. However, regardless of ethnicity, religion or language of the Ukraine people, they
have been used and abused by other countries  governments outside of their borders and continue to be.

The current situation is just another example of more powerful countries using a third country as a pawn in their push-pull of  world power plays.

The current event of the two police officers shot by an assailant is, to me, one more symptom of the gun culture gone wrong, very wrong. For those blaming the actions, committed by an obviously mentally ill man (he committed suicide at the end)  and tying it to the protests against other actions is really reaching. He did write it but mentally ill people write a lot of strange, to them,  logic reasons for what they do or are going to do.

One headline from an obscure ‘news’ source (I won’t bore you with link) tried very hard to make it appear that the NYPD was at war with the protesters. Really?  The comments on various websites would indicate they too would like to see a ‘war’ of police vs protesters or anyone else. Another symptom of our US gun culture or too much Middle East TV watchers that have become commentary voyeurs.

Categories: Free speech

Tags: Commentary