The Hammer Is Free

A Texas appellate court has overturned the conviction of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for allegedly scheming to influence Texas state elections with corporate money.

[...]

DeLay, 66, was convicted in 2010 for allegedly trying to influence Texas elections by funneling corporate money to various candidates. Prosecutors said that the money helped the GOP win control of the Texas House and that the majority then pushed through a DeLay-organized congressional redistricting plan that sent more Republicans to Congress. The Justice Department has joined lawsuits challenging the makeup of the map, claiming it unfairly draws minority communities out of certain districts.

[...]

The decision formally acquits DeLay of all charges, but it could still be appealed by the government.

  WaPo

And will.

[Delay] said the legal troubles were hard on his family and called the indictment "an outrageous criminalization of politics."

The way we practice politics IS criminal, isn’t it?

When asked if he planned to return to the political arena, DeLay said he "never left it" but would "probably not" run for elected office again. "There's too much other things that the Lord wants me to do.”

Thank you, Lord.

” But around the political arena, I'm around. They never got rid of me."

We must try harder.

Greenwald on Snowden & the Democratic Party

” Almost every day for four months, I've had the biggest TV shows and most influential media stars calling and emailing me, begging to interview [Edward] Snowden for TV. He has refused every request because he does not want the attention to be on him, but rather on the disclosures that he risked his liberty and even his life to bring to the world.

"He could easily have been the most famous person in the world, on TV every day and night. But he chose not to, selflessly, so that he would not distract from the substance of the story.”

[...]

"When I first began writing in 2005, I was focused primarily on the Bush NSA program, and I was able to build a large readership quickly because so many Democrats, progressives, liberal bloggers, etc, were so supportive of the work I was doing. That continued to be true through 2008.

"Now, a mere four [years] later, Democrats have become the most vehement defenders of the NSA and the most vicious attackers of my work on the NSA - often, some of the very same people cheering so loudly in 2006 and 2007 are the ones protesting most loudly and viciously now.

"Gee, I wonder what changed? In the answer lies all you need to know about the Democratic Party."

  Glenn Greenwald

All of Japan Is Celebrating

Our troops have been a continuing source of tension on the Japanese base.. Now they're paying to get rid of us.

Tokyo is to foot a $3.1 billion bill, which is part of the cost for relocating American troops from Okinawa. For the first time, it will also host US long-range surveillance drones, which would help to monitor disputed islands in the East China Sea.

The cost-sharing agreement for the troop transfer and the future deployment of drones by next spring are both part of an effort aimed at updating the US-Japan military and diplomatic alliance.

  RT

Woo Hoo - Internet!

Be talking at you soon.

Moving....

Farewell from Galveston Island.  Or farewell TO Galveston Island. Or both.

I MAY be offline for a short while. And I MAY be offline for a very long time. Moving back north to an area where internet access may be slow to non-existent. Adios to Tejas. It's been a slice.  And to all three of you readers:  wheeeeeeee!  What a world.

I leave you with this picture I captured a few days ago down on the beach, and this:

   

Who's Got the Button?

RT: France, the US and UK are saying the UN report clearly points to the Assad government's involvement in the August attack . But how can they be so sure, especially as the document states that improvised rockets may have been used, possibly pointing to rebel involvement?

Michael Maloof: I have a report from a source who has direct connections with classified information and he basically told me that [the] US military did an assessment based upon 50 indicators and clandestine interviews that the sourcing of sarin originated out of Iraq and into Turkey before some of it was confiscated in May in Turkey. He believes that since that report was disseminated in August in 2013, that there has actually been a more significant amount of sarin production both in Iraq and in Turkey going to the opposition, principally Al-Qaeda and Al-Nusra.

That was their specific target, to see to what extent Al-Qaeda was actually involved in production, in research and dissemination. He says what was confiscated was bench level or small specimens at the time, but that the production now they believe is much more robust and that the non-proliferation, genie, as he says, is no longer exclusive. So there's quite an increasing concern that this is still ongoing, that production is occurring among some Sunni salafists in Iraq and continues to be transported into Turkey.

  RT

Waiting for an Apology

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has postponed a state visit to Washington in response to the US spying on her communications with top aides. Rousseff is demanding a full public apology from President Obama.

[...]

The Brazilian government said in a statement that "the conditions are not suitable to undertake this visit on the agreed date." It expressed hope that the conflict will be resolved “properly” and the trip will happen "as soon as possible."

[...]

Barack Obama spoke with Rousseff on Monday in an attempt to persuade her into following through with the trip, the Brazilian president's office said, according to AP.

Brazil’s TV Globo reported that the call between the two presidents lasted for about 20 minutes. Obama and Rousseff discussed revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) spied on the Brazilian leader’s phone calls and emails. The two presidents then “jointly” agreed to cancel the meeting, Globo reported, citing the presidential office.

  

Jointly. Obama hasn’t just been fed crow.

Mass Murderers in the US

I guess they forgot to include a graphic showing the male/female ratio.

  Ann Telnaes

”There’s going to be mistakes.”

The Obama administration waived provisions of a federal law which ban the supply of weapons and money to terrorists.

  RT

Okay, we’re just up front with it now. We support and arm terrorists.

President Barrack Obama ordered such a waiver for supplying chemical weapons-related assistance to "select vetted members" of Syrian opposition forces, the administration announced on Monday.

If he can’t be allowed to send in American troops and/or bombs, then he’ll just arm the opposition.

And, oh yes….

The US plan to provide chemical weapons-related assistance to Syrian opposition was in the works before the August attack a senior administration official said as cited by NBC News.

That chemical weapons attack sure was helpful.

So this is who we’ll be arming:

The Syrian opposition groups are increasingly dominated by radical Islamists, many of them foreign fighters who, the UN says, are involved in numerous crimes committed in Syria.

[...]

Still, US politicians believe national intelligence community can ensure that the military assistance goes to the right hands.

Of course they do. Why would you even doubt it?

"Our intelligence agencies, I think, have a very good handle on who to support and who not to support," Senator Bob Corker said on CBS on Sunday. "And there's going to be mistakes. We understand some people are going to get arms that should not be getting arms. But we still should be doing everything we can to support the free Syrian opposition."

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

Naval Yard Shooting

A young man with a troubled history, but high level clearance and access to the DC Naval Yard was the alleged killer of 12.

Mondays' shooting comes less than a month after a military panel recommended the death sentence for US military Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 and injured 30 others at the Fort Hood military base in Texas on November 5, 2009.

[...]

US authorities are still trying to piece together exactly who Aaron Alexis was, and what drove him to gun down 12 people in cold blood and injure another eight.

[...]

Alexis had converted to Buddhism and attended the local Buddhist temple.

“We are all shocked. We are nonviolent. Aaron was a very good practitioner of Buddhism. He could chant better than even some of the Thai congregants,'' Ty Thairintr, a congregant at Wat Budsaya, a Buddhist temple in Fort Worth, told AP.

Thairintr, who said he last saw Alexis five weeks ago, said the latter was upset with the Navy because “he thought he never got a promotion because of the color of his skin. He hated his commander.”

“He was a very devoted Buddhist. There was no tell-tale sign of this behavior,” Thairintr said.

  RT

Really? “He hated his commander,” is not a sign?

Buddhist, Muslim...they're all the same, right Christians?