Red Cross: How We Spent Sandy Money Is a ‘Trade Secret’ | ProPublica

The charity is fighting our public records request for information on how it raised and spent money after the superstorm.

Just how badly does the American Red Cross want to keep secret how it raised and spent over $300 million after Hurricane Sandy?

The charity has hired a fancy law firm to fight a public request we filed with New York state, arguing that information about its Sandy activities is a “trade secret.”

The Red Cross’ “trade secret” argument has persuaded the state to redact some material, though it’s not clear yet how much since the documents haven’t yet been released.

As we’ve reported, the Red Cross releases few details about how it spends money after big disasters. That makes it difficult to figure out whether donor dollars are well spent.

Why I’m considering quitting | Ann Barnhardt

… When I read commentator after commentator breathlessly asking, “Why would they do this?  It looks so bad!”  I just shake my head.  They did it because THEY ARE THE ENEMY.  They’re not Americans.  America is dead.  It’s their state now, and they will do what they want, when they want, and what you think about it or what the Constitution or the old U.S. Code says is utterly, totally, completely irrelevant.

They don’t care that it looks bad because the overthrow of the constitutional republic is a fait accompli and has been for YEARS.  What the hell are you going to do about it?   Nothing.  Oh, you’ve made that PERFECTLY clear.  These people have been committing CAPITAL OFFENSES according to the old U.S. Code on a daily basis for YEARS and NO ONE GIVES A SHIT…“

Leftovers from Afghanistan and Iraq Wars: 1,558 Amputations; 7,224 Severe Brain Injuries; 118,829 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders |AllGov

George W. Bush with Afghanistan War amputees Neil Duncan and Max Ramsey, July 24, 2006 (photo: Chris Kleponis, Pool, Getty Images)

The American toll from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can be contemplated in many different ways, thanks to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

A new CRS report (pdf) has provided a human accounting not only of how many service personnel died in the two conflicts, but of the many kinds of serious, life-long injuries with which thousands returned home.

A total of 1,558 soldiers endured major limb amputations as a result of battlefield injuries. Major limb amputations include the loss of one or more limbs, the loss of one or more partial limbs, or the loss of one or more full or partial hand or foot, according to the CRS.

Considerably more military personnel suffered “severe or penetrating brain injuries”— 7,224. Another 23,319 men and women were diagnosed with “moderate” brain injuries.

When “mild” and “not classifiable” cases are factored in, nearly 288,000 total brain injury cases were reported among all military personnel deployed and not deployed.

Then there are the post-traumatic stress disorder cases. The military and the Department of Veterans Affairs are currently trying to help 118,829 individuals who made it back with this mental disorder.

The CRS report also provided a demographic breakdown of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan (so far).  The Iraq campaign resulted in 4,476 American deaths. Female personnel accounted for 110 of the fatalities; the rest were men. The vast majority of Iraq war deaths were Caucasian (3,697), followed by 444 blacks, 230 Hispanics, and 78 Asians.

In Afghanistan, there have been 2,299 military deaths as of January 6, of whom 49 were female. The ethnic composition is as follows: 1,953 whites, 188 blacks, 92 Hispanics, 63 Asians, and others.

via AllGov – News.

Here’s Why the NRA Won and Gabby Giffords and Mike Bloomberg Lost | Mother Jones

And as a partial counterpoint to the WSJ article on the same subject, I post this for your consideration.  In a nutshell, the progressives at Mother Jones see gun supporters in the same bile-green light of disgust and noblesse oblige as they have always.   Mother’s view of the NRA, however, as some disembodied corporate entity unrelated to the will (and money) of a large number of American patriots is logically dissonant.  I.e.:

Money, a tragic moment, and public support do not equal political power

Mother Jones —By Andy Kroll | Thu Apr. 18, 2013 1:45 PM PDT

On NBC’s Meet the Press last month, National Rifle Association honcho Wayne LaPierre, the face of the American gun lobby, delivered this message to New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg: “He’s going to find out that this is a country of the people, by the people, and for the people, and he can’t spend enough of his $27 billion to try to impose his will on the American public. He can’t buy America.” The day before, Bloomberg had announced that he would spend $12 million of his own money on an ad blitz pressing members of Congress to pass new legislation expanding background checks for gun purchases. LaPierre went on national television to tell the mayor that all those millions wouldn’t make the difference in the fight in Congress over new gun laws.

Guess what? LaPierre was right…

Separation | Ol’ Remus & The Woodpile Report for 2/26/13

DC has always been distant from the people. Apart from the IRS and the draft, they were “the other” we read about in the papers, running gangsters and spies to ground, getting the interstate built, fighting wars and generally looking out for the Little Guy. We believed they were the Big Picture People doing things on the largest scale on behalf of all who worked hard, lived responsibly and stayed right with the law. DC was the captain and crew of our mighty ship, alert and sure, cutting cleanly through heavy seas and turgid morass alike, while their grateful passengers shuddered at the hardship and horrors beyond the delights of the endless buffet on the promenade deck.

Belgium Will Become an Islamic State | Gatestone Institute

…The rise of the Islam Party comes amid a burgeoning Muslim population in the Belgian capital. Muslims now make up one-quarter of the population of Brussels, according to a book recently published by the Catholic University of Leuven, the top Dutch-language university in Belgium.

In real terms, the number of Muslims in Brussels — where half of the number of Muslims in Belgium currently live — has reached 300,000, which means that the self-styled “Capital of Europe” is now the most Islamic city in Europe...  via Gatestone Institute.

The Nuclear Bible: A false-flag nuclear conspiracy | David Chase Taylor

As readers of this blog may have figured out, I don’t go in much for open-ended-autocorrelative-conspiracy-theories presented as fact.  At best these sorts of things are allegations, hypotheses or possibilities.  That said, David Chase Taylor deserves to be parroted if for no other reason than for the work he has done in piecing together a hypothesis of false-flag / nuclear terrorism – something I DO believe we are likely to see in the near future. GE.

On February 1, 2011, Julian Assange of Wikileaks revealed to the world via leaked classified diplomatic documents that Al-Qaida was on the brink of using a nuclear bomb and that the West was on the verge of a “Nuclear 9/11”. What the diplomatic documents failed to mention was actual target, date and location of the upcoming nuclear terror attack… go here and bring a cup of coffee and an open mind

Gadhafi regime missiles missing | APP

WASHINGTON – Inspectors searching for shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles amassed by Moammar Gaddafi and prized by terrorists can’t account for potentially thousands of them. “The frank answer is we don’t know and probably never will,” said Andrew Shapiro, an assistant secretary of State.

Inspectors have accounted for about 5,000 of the portable missiles and components. Qaddafi’s regime stockpiled about 20,000 portable missiles during his four decades in power…via APP.com