The Bully and His Bride Seem to be Losing Their Iron Grip

The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution on Thursday giving implicit recognition to Palestinian statehood despite threats by the United States and Israel to punish the Palestinian Authority by withholding funds for the West Bank government.

  World News NBC

More than 130 countries voted on Thursday to grant Palestine the upgraded status of nonmember observer state in the United Nations, a stinging defeat for Israel and the United States and a boost for President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, who was weakened by the recent eight days of fighting in Gaza.

[…]

[The] vote offered a showcase for an extraordinary international lineup of support for the Palestinians and constituted a deeply symbolic achievement for their cause.

  NYTimes

The vote, which was taken at a meeting of the body in New York on Thursday, represents a long-sought victory for the Palestinians but a diplomatic defeat for the US, with 138 countries voting in favour of the upgrade.

Nine countries voted against it and 41 others abstained.

A Palestinian flag was quickly unfurled on the floor of the General Assembly, behind the Palestinian delegation.

[…]

Immediately after the results were announced, US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice reiterated the US opposition to upgrading the Palestinians to a nonmember an observer "entity".

"Today's unfortunate and counter-productive resolution places further obstacles in the path to peace. That is why the United States voted against it," she said.

  alJazeera

Or maybe it was because Israel leads the US around by the balls.

Another Cabinet Rice with Ties to Big Oil?

From Condi Rice to Susan Rice: Obama's likely choice for Secretary of State--

The current U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Rice owns stock valued between $300,000 and $600,000 in TransCanada, the company seeking a federal permit to transport tar sands crude 1,700 miles to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast, crossing fragile Midwest ecosystems and the largest freshwater aquifer in North America.

[...]

Rice is reportedly Obama’s favorite to take the helm at the State Department next year. Clinton has said repeatedly that she plans to step down shortly after Obama’s second inauguration in January.

  OnEarth

Susan Rice, as Secretary of State, will have a say in whether or not the tar sands pipe goes through.

And that's not all...

In 2010, for instance, when Rice and her husband held at least $1.5 million in Royal Bank of Canada, the institution was labeled Canada's most environmentally irresponsible company by the Rainforest Action Network for its support of tar sands development. Public pressure from environmentalists and Canada’s First Nations tribes convinced the bank to stop funding tar sands projects earlier this year.

[...]

[A]bout a third of Rice’s personal net worth is tied up in oil producers, pipeline operators, and related energy industries north of the 49th parallel -- including companies with poor environmental and safety records on both U.S. and Canadian soil. Rice and her husband own at least $1.25 million worth of stock in four of Canada’s eight leading oil producers, as ranked by Forbes magazine. That includes Enbridge, which spilled more than a million gallons of toxic bitumen into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River in 2010 -- the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history.

[...]

After initially indicating it would likely approve TransCanada’s application, the State Department ordered a review of alternate routes to avoid putting critical water sources in Nebraska at risk. The move, which officials said would likely push the approval process back to the first three months of 2013, was an attempt to spare the Obama administration a politically risky decision just before an election year.

Expect approval in 2013....but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Just Like Fox But Not As Good At It

[Thomas] Ricks tells the Washington Post's Melinda Henneberger that the moment wasn't planned, and he wasn't gunning for a gig with Fox News's arch-nemesis. “MSNBC invited me, but I said, ‘You’re just like Fox, but not as good at it,’" says Ricks. "They wrote back and said, ‘Thank you for your candor.’” We can't wait to hear what he says when CNN calls.

  NY Mag

backstory

In a Nutshell

Worship the Power

Black Friday sales were up, Christmas shopping is underway, and The Good Man has the reins of power, the red button, the drones, and the kill list. All is right with the world.

In sum, we have had four straight years of a president who has wielded what is literally the most extreme and tyrannical power a government can claim – to execute anyone the leader wants, even his own citizens, in total secrecy and without a whiff of due process – and who has resisted all efforts to impose a framework of limits or even transparency.

But finally, according to a new article on Sunday by The New York Times' Scott Shane, President Obama was recently convinced that some limits and a real legal framework might be needed to govern the exercise of this assassination power. What was it that prompted Obama finally to reach this conclusion? It was the fear that he might lose the election, which meant that a Big, Bad Republican would wield these powers, rather than a benevolent, trustworthy, noble Democrat - i.e., himself.

[...]

"Facing the possibility that President Obama might not win a second term, his administration accelerated work in the weeks before the election to develop explicit rules for the targeted killing of terrorists by unmanned drones, so that a new president would inherit clear standards and procedures, according to two administration officials.

[...]

”Though national security officials insist that the process is meticulous and lawful, the president and top aides believe it should be institutionalized, a course of action that seemed particularly urgent when it appeared that Mitt Romney might win the presidency.

[...]

”The effort, which would have been rushed to completion by January had Mr. Romney won, will now be finished at a more leisurely pace, the official said."

  Glenn Greenwald

We've got another four years for secrecy and wide open kill policy, and we can assess the situation again when we find out who is likely to win the 2016 election.*  Thanks for all your votes, tools. (George and Dick are soooooo jealous.  Dick "the most evil man in the world" Cheney couldn't even have gotten away with this.  Of course, we all knew he was evil.  Now we have a Good Man - a Peace Laureate, in fact - aiming the drones and checking off the names on the kill list.) 

But, wait...

"Partly because United Nations officials know that the United States is setting a legal and ethical precedent for other countries developing armed drones, the U.N. plans to open a unit in Geneva early next year to investigate American drone strikes.”

UN? UN? Irrelevant.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

*Although, we can't even be sure that another Democrat would be so Benevolent and Good and Noble as the Peace Laureate, so maybe we just have another four years.

Where's that sarcasm font when you need it?

Israel's Latest Is Too Much Even for the British Government

Looks like we're going to be out there alone with Israel at the UN.

Britain is prepared to back a key vote recognising Palestinian statehood at the United Nations if Mahmoud Abbas pledges not to pursue Israel for war crimes and to resume peace talks.

Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, has called for Britain’s backing in part because of its historic responsibility for Palestine. The government has previously refused, citing strong US and Israeli objections and fears of long-term damage to prospects for negotiations.

On Monday night, the government signalled it would change tack and vote yes if the Palestinians modified their application, which is to be debated by the UN general assembly in New York later this week.

[...]

The US and Israel have both hinted at possible retaliation if the vote goes ahead.

  Raw Story

Oooooh

I'm just guessing here, but I don't think Ricks will be invited back to Fox News.

(There seems to be some trouble with the player. If you can't watch it from the graphic below, click here and scroll down to the video.)



UPDATE 11/28:

A Fox News Channel (FNC) vice president has told the Hollywood Reporter that author Tom Ricks apologized privately for his comments on Monday that the network has been “operating as wing of the Republican Party.”

  Raw Story

As though after watching that exchange you could possibly think Ricks would be apologetic, it wouldn't easy enough for someone to fact check? Geez, Fox.

Ricks denied ever making any such apology.

Further on the apology.

UPDATE: 11/29

Ricks tells the Washington Post's Melinda Henneberger that the moment wasn't planned, and he wasn't gunning for a gig with Fox News's arch-nemesis. “MSNBC invited me, but I said, ‘You’re just like Fox, but not as good at it,’" says Ricks. "They wrote back and said, ‘Thank you for your candor.’” We can't wait to hear what he says when CNN calls.

  NY Mag

Bankster Punishment

Let's see....$2 billion versus $47.6 million.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

It's Sunday

Missed it by “that much.”

In January of this year, televangelist Pat Robertson informed his “700 Club” audience that God had revealed the results of the 2012 election to him in a vision, implying broadly at the time that the Almighty was less than pleased with President Barack Obama.

[...]

'I thought I had heard clearly from God, what happened? What intervenes? Why?” Robertson said. “You ask God, how did I miss it? Well, we all do and I’ve had a lot of practice.”

In January, Robertson said that God’s message to him was, “Your president holds a radical view of the direction of your country which is at odds with the majority, expect chaos and paralysis.”

He also predicted an “economic collapse” that would devastate the country, the result of which would be a new president. “But I’m not supposed to talk about that,” he said.

  Raw Story

So now we know how long it takes messages from God to get to Pat Robertson – 4 years.

But that's much quicker than it gets to the rest of us. The rest of us had to wait until somebody who could hear God learned how to write to find out how quickly God created the Earth.

Bryan Fischer, the director of issues analysis of the conservative fundamentalist American Family Association, says that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was not wrong for suggesting that the Earth was created in seven days because the only “eyewitness account” is in the Bible.

[...]

“So, the only eyewitness account we could possibly have would have to come from the creator himself, and fortunately he left us an eyewitness account.”

  Raw Story

Has any King James Bible believer ever explained why God quit dictating messages for print? Maybe he was like Margaret Mitchell* and had just one good book in him.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

*Gone with the Wind   

Not to be confused with Martha Mitchell, wife of Nixon's attorney general John Mitchell, a much more interesting story.

“The Martha Mitchell effect is the process by which a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health clinician mistakes the patient's perception of real events as delusional and misdiagnoses accordingly.”  [...] Quoting psychotherapist Joseph Berke, the authors note that "even paranoids have enemies." [...] After the Watergate break-in, Martha Mitchell began contacting reporters when her husband's role in the scandal became known, for which she became known as "the Mouth of the South". Nixon later told interviewer David Frost [...] that Martha was a distraction to John Mitchell such that no one was minding the store, and "If it hadn't been for Martha Mitchell, there'd have been no Watergate."

WWII Secret Message Is Still a Secret

A World War II code found strapped to the leg of a dead pigeon stuck in a chimney for the past 70 years may never be broken, a British intelligence agency said Friday.

[...]

[W]ithout knowing who the sender, “Sjt W Stot,” is or the intended destination, given as “X02,” it is extremely difficult to decipher the code, the agency said. Although the code books and encryption systems used should have been destroyed, there is a small chance that one exists somewhere.

  waPo

Start looking. I hate an unsolved mystery.