Gonzo Doom

Global realities from a less than enthusiastic point of view.

[gonzodoom-blog]

ASSAD IS A TYRANT

Report: Syria fitting fighters with chemical weapons | Defense Tech http://defensetech.org/2013/01/03/report-syria-fitting-fighters-with-chemical-weapons/

[gonzodoom-blog]

Over 35 years, just two Latinos have been among the 170 Kennedy Center honorees, Plácido Domingo in 2000 and Chita Rivera in 2004. And only one Latina, former TV personality Giselle Fernández, sits on the Kennedy Center board of trustees, which is appointed by the president.

[alaaaaa-blog]

Lk meeeeeeet alf mabrouk la a7la 3rees Souria ❤

[gonzodoom-blog]

Love that!

[gonzodoom-blog]

Sailors hoisted the first unmanned aircraft capable of carrier operations aboard the USS Harry Truman on Monday at at Norfolk naval base, Va. It marked the first time the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System, built by Northrop Grumman, has boarded a ship.

DefenseTech.org

[gonzodoom-blog]

[theamericanbear]

Given that the CIA was holding prisoners in Benghazi, the goal of the Sept. 11 action at the consulate may have been an effort to free them, or payback for their detention. And everybody involved in that detention, including CIA Director David Petraeus, was committing a crime.

Paula Broadwell, Whistleblower

Or, “What everyone seems to be ignoring about the Petraeus biz.”

(via theamericanbear)

[theheritagefoundation]

Wonder what great businesses aren’t being started these days?

[gonzodoom-blog]

Presumably businesses that wouldn't put out mom and pop hardware shops around the country.

[gonzodoom-blog]

Small, inexpensive and lethal, drones enable everyone from terrorists to the Chinese People's Liberation Army to engage in what the Pentagon acknowledges is a new arms race with "alarming" consequences. More than 50 countries operate surveillance drones and, increasingly, are fitting them with weapons.

David Wood

[vicemag]

Inside Aleppo, Syria’s “Stalingrad”

I am traveling with the Free Syrian Army on the front line of the al-Arqub neighborhood in Aleppo. Sniper rounds crack as the bullets zip over our heads. The acidic taste of gunpowder scares my throat and burns my waterless tear ducts. Just a half mile from the gutted and destroyed Dar al-Shifa hospital, we are traveling in an area known by the locals as Stalingrad. The reference plays on the macabre similarities between the Nazi’s relentless bombardment of the Russian city during the Second World War, and the unforgiving attacks this part of Aleppo has seen during Syria’s uprising. One group of fighters here is so conservative they refuse us the luxury of smoking a cigarette while escaping death on the hollowed streets. The only signs of life come from atop a bleeding tree scarred and bent by bullets and shrapnel. This bleeding tree offers me a moment of solace, because the pathetic little spruce has refused to die. In defiance of war and the death that follows, this ugly thing sprung two new leaves—green specks of life on the naked branches that defy man’s destruction. This sight offers me a faint memory of what the allure of life was before this inhuman war.

Continue

[gonzodoom-blog]

Fearless people.

[gonzodoom-blog]

All the places in Seattle Cannabis will not be "legal"

[gonzodoom-blog]

This should be criminal...

[azspot]

There’s one other possible motivation for Israel’s severe restrictions on commerce involving Gaza: collective punishment. Maybe Israeli leaders want to keep all of Gaza impoverished as payback for the sins of Hamas. Maybe they even think that this impoverishment will lead Gazans to reject Hamas. If so, I have bad news: If Gazans reject Hamas, it will be in favor of Islamic Jihad or even more radical elements, in keeping with the general principle that imposing unjust suffering on people empowers extremists.

The Mainstream Media’s Biased Coverage of the Gaza Blockade (via azspot)

Well said.

[theamericanbear]

[gonzodoom-blog]

President Mohamed Morsi agreed Monday to scale back a sweeping decree he had issued last week that raised his edicts above any judicial review, according to a report by a television network allied with his party. The agreement, reached with top judicial authorities, would leave most of Mr. Morsi’s actions subject to review by the courts, but preserve a crucial power: protecting the constitutional council from being dissolved by the courts before it finishes its work.

With a threatened strike by the nation’s judges, a plunge in the country’s stock market and more street protests looming, Mr. Morsi’s administration initially sent mixed messages on Sunday over whether it was willing to consider a compromise: a spokesman for the president’s party insisted that there would be no change in his edict, but a statement from the party indicated for the first time a willingness to give political opponents “guarantees against monopolizing the fateful decisions of the homeland in the absence of the Parliament.”

And we wonder why people have been protesting for pretty much 2 Years straight.

[azspot]

And, yeah, it’s nice that Walmart has been able to provide a working class facing at best stagnant wages with lots of cheap stuff, but Walmart has itself had no small effect on dragging average wages down. It’s not just that they’ve been an inspiring business model for the rest for corporate sector, impressed by the chain’s growth and profitability. That’s led to endless rounds of outsourcing and speedup. But also by lowering the cost of reproduction of the working class, to use the old language, they’ve made it easier for employers to keep a lid on wages. You might think of the minimum feasible wage as the one that would assure that most of the workforce could show up and labor day after day. By lowering the cost of the bare minimum, Walmart makes it a lot easier for all employers to pay less. That brings a smile to the faces of stockholders, of course, but no so much the average worker.

Doug Henwood (via azspot)

Spot on.

[con-tem-plate]

Romney’s final share of the vote? You guessed it: 47 percent.

Poetic justice.

[gonzodoom-blog]

Those numbers caught up to him.

[cognitivedissonance]

Okay, taking this with a huge grain of salt… but if this is the case, my day is now 100% more fantastic now that the U.S. Department of State has recognized the awesome that is Andrew W.K. — the always and future cultural ambassador of partying hard.

[gonzodoom-blog]

"China landed a J-15 on the Liaoning in late 2012, opening the way to a true naval aviation force. With 2 more locally-built carriers underway, that force can be expected to grow quickly. American naval observers keep stressing the decade-long amount of time required to train and field an effective carrier force, but China has a wealth of engineering talent, and a large aviation force to draw on. Don’t be surprised if the Chinese beat American predictions by a comfortable margin."

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/china-to-buy-su33-carrierbased-fighters-from-russia-02806/