Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6_I3f5QaNw
Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Russia’s airborne special forces
Lavrov did not go into detail about how this arsenal was removed and to which locations. But his reference to “Russian military advisers training Syria’s military” clearly indicated that Russian forces were directly involved in removing the WMD out of the reach of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists.
His assertion that they were “under control” indicated that Russia was also involved in safeguarding them.
DEBKAfile’s Moscow sources add: Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian civil war achieved four objectives:
Economist Michael Feroli of JPMorgan makes a great point in a new report about the fiscal cliff. Almost whatever the outcome, he points out, it will do little to nothing to change the nation’s lethal long-term budget trajectory. Focusing, as the current negotiations do, on a completely arbitrary ten-year budget window is a complete distraction. The national debt will still be rocketing higher:
In the chart [above], the green line indicates the CBO’s projections for publicly-held debt as a percent of GDP assuming a continuation of current tax and spending policies. In this scenario debt-to-GDP is projected to reach 247% in 30 years time.
The President is currently pushing for $1.2 trillion of revenue over 10 years, or about 0.6% of GDP over that same horizon. Assuming that increase in revenue as a share of GDP persists after 2022, and taking account of the saving from reduced federal debt service payments, publicly-held debt (the yellow line) will still amount to 226% of GDP in 30 years.
The following are 75 economic numbers from 2012 that are almost too crazy to believe…
#1 In December 2008, 31.6 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, a new all-time record of 47.7 million Americans are on food stamps. That number has increased by more than 50 percent over the past four years, and yet the mainstream media still has the gall to insist that “things are getting better”.
#2 Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps. Today, about one out of every 6.5 Americans is on food stamps.
#3 According to one calculation, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of “Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”
#4 According to one recent survey, 55 percent of all Americans have received money from a safety net program run by the federal government at some point in their lives.
#5 For the first time ever, more than a million public school students in the United States are homeless. That number has risen by 57 percent since the 2006-2007 school year.
…
#15 There are four major U.S. banks that each have more than 40 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives.
Sorry for not getting back to you. Remember what I said a month ago about the push to remove Boehner from his position asSpeaker? That move has now turned into all out war. Kudos to the Tea Party wing who stood strong and united against what Boehner did to them with the committee purge. And a double kudos to a certain outgoing Congressman from Florida who when asked if they could count on his vote for Boehner’s Plan B said, “Tell Speaker Boehner he can go to hell. I won’t vote for anything he sends my way unless it’s a vote to impeach Barack Obama or his own resignation as Speaker. Preferably both.”
The fact this particular Congressman was even approached about supporting the Plan B option shows just how weak John Boehner has become among his own Republicans. January 3rd is the vote for Speaker. I am going to be part of an effort to see Boehner removed. We would actually like him to step aside to avoid further conflict inside the party. And if the White House wants to see that as some kind of victory for them, they will have another thing coming. These Republicans are finally getting ready and willing to start putting up a real fight.
South Sudan’s army shot down a United Nations peacekeeping helicopter in the restive Jonglei state on Friday, killing the four Russian crew members onboard, U.N. and military officials said.
A U.N. source said the helicopter was on a reconnaissance mission in an area where the SPLA, South Sudan’s army, has been fighting rebels led by David Yau Yau.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the attack on the “clearly marked” helicopter and in a statement called “on the government of South Sudan to immediately carry out an investigation and bring to account those responsible for this act.”
He demanded measures be put in place to prevent any further incidents in South Sudan, where the U.N. mission known as UNMISS, was created after it seceded from Sudan in July 2011.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_plxNJrbGc
Labor-backed groups attack ALEC in new report
Two more deep-pocketed groups—one funded by Iowa taxpayers—have joined the progressive campaign to dismantle the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
The Iowa Policy Project and Good Jobs First coauthored a recent report, “Selling Snake Oil to the States: The American Legislative Exchange Council’s Flawed Prescriptions for Prosperity,” that claims ALEC’s free-market policies have negatively impacted states in which they were implemented.
The report claims “states that were rated higher on ALEC’s Economic Outlook Ranking in 2007,” the first year the ranking was published, “have actually been doing worse economically in the years since, while the less a state conformed with ALEC policies the better off it was.”
ALEC is a private-public partnership of state legislators and businesses that works to advance free-market legislation. ALEC’s members craft model legislation that is introduced roughly 1,000 times a year in state capitals around the country by a group of about 1,600 to 2,000 legislators, most of whom are Republicans.
As reported by the Free Beacon, ALEC has been the target of a coordinated intimidation campaign by progressive groups.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPNpe-wPc5E
From YouTube:
Ben Swann takes a look at claims that the Ct. State Police are planning to arrest members of the alternative media who report the events at Sandy Hook Elementary beyond the official story.
In the suddenly white-hot gun-rights debate it has become clear that most Americans, after decades of socialist indoctrination in our schools have not the remotest idea of what a right is. To them it is a debating point, i.e. “I know you have the right to guns, but that is out-dated and really not practical.”
The referenced statement is what I have been fighting against since 1986 when Colorado implemented a seat belt law (and I know I lose a lot of you on this topic, but bear me out). The seat belt law was my first encounter with the concept: “It’s a good idea and well, why not pass a law making a good idea a good law?”
Let me tell you what’s wrong with that. The seat belt law directly impacts Thomas Jefferson’s definition of liberty which is available at many sites online, but it states: Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.
…
We are very close to the point where it is going to be time to shut up and fight. They have beaten the church, the Tea Party and the Republicans. What makes you think they will not take on gun owners?
Expanded Carry in Parks…
Insensitively exploiting the recent evil mass-homicide within a “Gun-Free” Connecticut school, the Winston-Salem City Council announced a list of requested legislation they want to see from this year’s NC General Assembly. Among these demands is repeal of last year’s expanded park carry that was passed as HB 650.
Incredibly, the Council responds to murder in a “Gun-Free Zone” by demanding expansion of their dangerous reach within North Carolina municipalities.
Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines was quoted as saying park carry is “a mixed bag, and it’s confusing. The legislature pre-empted local governments’ authority to control local parks. I think they should leave that up to us.” Compliance with this law is as easy as permitting law-abiding citizens to carry everywhere. Left up to the Mayor, we would be unable to defend our families in parks. This type of endangerment can no longer be tolerated.
Council Member Derwin Montgomery claims, “local governments have a right to regulate the time and place (arms are carried)”. So according to the Councilman, a right that “shall not be infringed” upon can be “regulated”?
Gold is marginally lower in dollars today and on course for its largest weekly drop since June (-2.6%), as COMEX speculators continue to have the upper hand over store of wealth buyers including central banks.
Prices fell below $1,650 an ounce on Thursday for the first time since August despite strong fundamentals which have not changed.
Gold has come under pressure from heavy liquidation by hedge funds and banks on the COMEX this week. The unusual and often ‘not for profit’ nature of the selling, often in illiquid Asian trading, has again led to suspicions of market manipulation.
Short sellers, technical and momentum traders have the upper hand and are pressing their advantage in these less liquid holiday markets. Nervous longs are being stopped out through stop loss orders and concerns regarding the clear downward short term trend.
The recent drop in the gold price has resurrected physical purchases in the market keeping premiums steady at $1 to $1.10/oz above London prices.
“Definitely, there’s physical buying. It’s from all over the place. Physical dealers are buying” a physical trader in Singapore told Reuters.
The al-Safira military-chemical weapons complex
The Syrian Air Force is again firing Scud missiles, this time to stem the general offensive Syrian opposition forces, including jihadis, launched Friday, Dec. 21, to capture the Syrian army’s military-industrial complex at al Safira and the big chemical and biological weapons store adjoining the facility. It is there, that Scud D missiles stand ready for launching, loaded with chemical weapons.
Rebel forces are converging on Al Safira from the east, the west and the south. Among them are brigades of the Jabhat al-Nusra which the US has designated part of al Qaeda in Iraq.
DEBKAfile military sources report extremely heavy fighting. The rebels have reached points 1-2 kilometers from the perimeter walls of the Al Safira chemical weapons stores and are being pounded by Syrian warplanes and assault helicopters as well as Scuds, in a desperate effort to halt their advance.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual news conference in Moscow, December 20, 2012. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and European Union leaders are likely to clash over issues ranging from Syria to trade, energy and human rights on Friday when Putin holds his first talks in Brussels since his re-election as president in May.
Relations between the 27-nation bloc and Russia, its main external supplier of energy and a key trading partner, have been soured by rows over gas pipelines and brewing trade disputes over cars and pigs.
European leaders have taken issue with the jailing of members of punk band Pussy Riot, prosecutions of opposition figures and laws restricting protests and foreign-funded organisations since Putin was re-elected.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in September such moves constituted “a trend that is of very serious concern to the European Union”.
