Soros Put $80 Million Into Pot Battle

Friday, 04 Apr 2014 01:03 PM

By Melissa Clyne

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Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros has funneled at least $80 million over the last 20 years to advocacy groups trying to legalize marijuana, The Washington Times reports.

Through donations to the nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance and others, Soros, 83, may be the cannabis crusade’s biggest supporter, along with the late Progressive Insurance Co. chairman, Peter B. Lewis, who reportedly contributed $40 million to the cause, according to the Times.

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Soros also contributes to the ACLU and the Marijuana Policy Project, both of which fund legalization efforts. In 2013, the latter ranked Soros ninth on its list of most influential marijuana users, between No. 8 John Kerry and No. 10 Bill Maher, a proud pot smoker who once said he never made a secret he had tried pot, “about 50,000 times.”

"He said he had tried marijuana, enjoyed it, 'but it did not become a habit and I have not tasted it in many years,'” the MPP quotes Soros as saying.

His funding helped legalize recreational pot use in Colorado and Washington state and organizations benefitting from his contributions are working to get the issue on Florida’s ballot as well as similar legislation passed in Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, according to the Times.

In a 2010 Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, Soros spelled out his reasons for supporting legal pot.

“Like many parents and grandparents, I am worried about young people getting into trouble with marijuana and other drugs,” he wrote.

“The best solution, however, is honest and effective drug education. One survey after another indicates that teenagers have better access than most adults to marijuana—and often other drugs as well—and find it easier to buy marijuana than alcohol. Legalizing marijuana may make it easier for adults to buy marijuana, but it can hardly make it any more accessible to young people. I'd much rather invest in effective education than ineffective arrest and incarceration."

He also cited the billions in taxpayer dollars spent on criminalizing marijuana -- 40 percent of all drug arrests are marijuana related, according to Soros -- the root of which he said was to punish Mexican immigrants who purportedly "smoked the killer weed."

A majority of both Republicans and Democrats – 67 percent and 71 percent, respectively – say the federal enforcement of marijuana laws is not worth the cost, though 59 percent of Democrats favor legal pot compared with just 37 percent of Republicans, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center poll. The same poll indicated that for the first time ever, a majority of Americans, 52 percent, favor legalizing marijuana, an 11-point gain from a 2010 survey.

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Related Stories:

• Ex-Girlfriend Punches George Soros During NY Court Appearance
• Poll: Nationwide Marijuana Legalization Inevitable

 

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/georgesoros-legalize-marijuana-donate/2014/04/04/id/563747#ixzz2xxNqYqf9
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Tell John Boehner: 200,000 veterans deserve a vote

Republicans talk a big game about "supporting the troops," but over 200,000 veterans have lost their unemployment benefits due to Congressional Republican inaction. The Senate has advanced an extension, with bipartisan support -- but Speaker Boehner is refusing to even hold a vote. Join with Senator Cory Booker & VoteVets (a veteran's organization fighting for progressive causes), and tell Boehner to hold an up-or-down vote!  (Already took this action? Forward this email to spread the word!) John Hlinko, Left Action When his country called, Rick Hall went to Vietnam. He served and sacrificed, but now that he finds himself out of work — for the first time in over fifty years — all he can do is wait for Congress restore the unemployment benefits he lost late last year. Last month, almost 40,000 veterans, military family members, and VoteVets supporters signed our petition calling on Congress to act on this important issue. And the good news is, the Senate is set to vote on bipartisan, compromise legislation this week that will restore unemployment benefits for over two million Americans who have lost them since December. Unfortunately, Speaker Boehner and his Tea Party Caucus refuse to hold vote on the bill in the House, despite the fact that over 200,000 veterans have lost their benefits since Congress failed to act last year. They deserve a vote. Please join VoteVets, Senator Cory Booker, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Senator Chris Murphy and sign our joint petition calling on Speaker Boehner to bring an unemployment insurance extension up for a vote. As Rick Hall says, "I have never asked for anything that I have not worked for, but after paying into the system for 55 years and fighting for our country in Vietnam, I believe that I have more than paid my fair share in unemployment insurance … It's not a handout." We received messages and notes from hundreds of veterans like Rick who have lost their benefits since December. Their stories deserve to be heard, and their service to country acknowledged in this debate. Sign our petition and tell Speaker Boehner that Rick Hall and the 200,000 veterans who have lost unemployment insurance deserve a vote in the House. This is an issue of fairness to those who sacrificed so much to serve. They deserve a vote, and we intend to make our voices heard until they get one. All the best, Jon Soltz @JonSoltz Iraq War Veteran and Chairman VoteVets.org

Breaking: Supreme Court Backs Big Coal Over People

Join a rapid response rally to help protect our democracy! William H, The Supreme Court just issued its ruling on McCutcheon V. FEC and it's a disaster for our democracy. Five justices sided with Shaun McCutcheon, the climate-denying coal baron, opening the door for near-unlimited campaign contributions from individuals. We're still figuring out all the implications of this decision – and ways to fight it – but in the meantime, one thing is clear: it's time to get organized. Will you join us TODAY at one of the "Money Out, Voters In" events happening around the country? This is a dark day for anyone who cares about democracy, clean energy, or climate. Money isn't everything though. Tens of millions of dollars were spent in the last election by the fossil fuel industry to target candidates who oppose the Keystone XL tar sands export pipeline, and who support clean energy and a safe climate. All of those candidates won, despite the mountains of money thrown against them. Despite this cynical and reactionary decision, we'll keep our faith in the only force that has consistently rallied against greed throughout our nation's history - the American people. That’s why all of us need to step up.  You can help by forwarding this alert to anybody who might be interested and by bringing your family and friends to the rally in your area. If you don't see an event near you, it's easy to set one up. Corporate interests may have won this court case, but we can’t let them beat us down. Together we can take back our democracy. See you in the streets, Steve, Matt, David, and the rest of us at Oil Change International **Not familiar with this case?  Check out this piece Steve wrote recently in the Huffington Post about it: http://bit.ly/McCutcheonCoalMoney	Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Donate now
Oil Change International campaigns to expose the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitate the coming transition towards clean energy. We are dedicated to identifying and overcoming barriers to that transition. We are a 501c3 organization and all donations are fully tax deductible. Check out our blog at PriceOfOil.org and find out how much oil and coal money your Representatives take at DirtyEnergyMoney.com.

Crisis in Ukraine Prompts Renewed Focus on U.S. Nuclear Posture

National Defense - 3/21/2014


By Valerie Insinna

As tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalate, U.S. foreign policy hawks contend that Russian aggression merits a second look at the U.S. military's uncertain nuclear modernization plans.

Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has become increasingly anti-democratic and hostile to the United States, said Mark Schneider, senior analyst at the National Institute for Public Policy. For the United States, this should stir concerns about Russia's nuclear intentions.

"U.S. nuclear modernization programs are minimal. We are basically replacing systems only when they're 40 to 80 years of age," he said March 19 on Capitol Hill. "Assuming everything went perfectly [with future budgets], and we actually had the funding, nothing [new] will be operational before 2020."

Putin announced Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian province of Crimea on Tuesday. Since then, Russian forces have seized Crimean bases and pushed out Ukrainian forces, according to reports.

During Putin's two presidencies, Russia has invaded two countries -- Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine. Putin previously held the presidency from 2000 to 2008.

"In both the Russian actions in Georgia and the Ukraine, the U.S. unfortunately made no significant effort to deter the events before they happened, and no real penalty was imposed on Russia for what it did in these situations," Schneider said.

President Barack Obama on March 20 announced sanctions against Russian officials and Putin allies.

The U.S. nuclear triad -- comprised of land-based ballistic missiles, long-range bombers and submarines that can launch ballistic missiles -- is aging and in need of modernization or replacement. Russia's military activities in Ukraine may push the U.S. government to move forward with procuring new weapons, said Loren Thompson, an analyst at the Lexington Institute, an Arlington, Va.-based think tank.

The most expensive leg of the triad to modernize is the Ohio-class submarine replacement, which the Navy wants to begin building in 2021. At about $6 billion per copy, the service will likely struggle to fit procurement costs into its shipbuilding budget, which is about $15 billion per year.

The Air Force also intends to purchase a long-range strike bomber at $550 million per aircraft to replace the B-2 and B-52, Undersecretary of the Air Force Eric Fanning said earlier in March. He indicated that the price of the aircraft is causing the service to cut back on desired capabilities.

Although the Air Force plans to start building the new bombers in the mid 2020s, officials want to delay certification for nuclear operation until the 2040s, Thompson said. "If concern about a resurgent Russian threat persists, though, it may move up the date when the new bomber can contribute to nuclear deterrence," he wrote in a March 20 editorial for Forbes.

The service soon must also decide whether to upgrade its collection of Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles or pursue new delivery vehicles. It is conducting an analysis of alternatives due later this year.

"The most important military consideration that Vladimir Putin overlooked in mounting his annexation of Crimea is how it would bolster the resolve of western nations to maintain their defenses. ... Many people in Washington might have been prepared to forego spending money on a new generation of nuclear weapons before Putin made his move, but he has now changed the strategic calculation," Thompson said.

Meanwhile, Russia is building its next-generation nuclear fleet. The first of the country's new Yasen-class attack submarine was delivered last year.

"The announced program involves modernization of about 98 percent of the ground-based ICBM force by 2021. They have announced a new heavy bomber which would be deployed somewhere around 2025 if they're successful," Schneider said. "The current pattern of modernization basically is one [in which] we will see complete modernization of Russia's nuclear portfolio before we modernize anything."

Schneider argued that the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty had the opposite effect on Russia than was intended. Instead of decreasing the number of nuclear weapons the country is allowed to have, the treaty contains loopholes that could allow Russia to expand its arsenal, he said.

"For example, the New START treaty does not mention ground mobile ICBMs, and all definitions in the treaty were changed to exclude coverage of ground mobile ICBMs. And they also eliminated the START treaty prohibitions on air-launched ICBMs or surface ship-launched ICBMS," he said. "Together those are very large loopholes that can be exploited to achieve capabilities far in excess of what's notionally permissible under the New START treaty."

Since that treaty was signed in 2010, Russia has announced increases to its intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missile fleets, he said. It plans to produce 400 new ICBM and SLBMs before 2020.

Schneider believes one of those new weapons, the RS-26, is an intermediate-range missile that would be illegal under the 1987 intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty.

Because the Obama administration has not called attention to Russian nuclear treaty violations, Congress should press executive branch officials to respond publicly to questions on arms control issues, said Paula DeSutter, former assistant secretary of state for verification, compliance, and implementation during the George W. Bush administration.

Contact writer Valerie Insinna at 703-247-2542 or vinsinna@ndia.org.

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Enabling The Illusion of Political Change: Bush, Obama, Brennan, Geithner, and Gates

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  (88 fans)by Michael Collins http://www.opednews.com/author/author3863.html

We're six years into the Obama administration and nothing much has changed concerning the most fundamental challenges facing the citizens of the United States.   Those challenges are:

• Reviving and reforming an economy that is rigged for only the very wealthiest interests;
• Ending the usurpation of individual rights by the national intelligence cabal; and
• Freeing the nation and the world from the endless insertion of U.S. intelligence and military operations throughout the world.

We have the same lousy economy with the same greedy interests in charge of the same too big to fail institutions making sure that they alone prosper.  Tax incentives and government supports are for the very few in the top 0.001%.  It is all about Wall Street at the expense of working people and Main Street.
Thanks to Snowden's revelations, we know that domestic spying capabilities and activities have expanded considerably since the Bush administration.
While the death count is lower, U.S. sponsored subversive activities and military interventions overseas are a constant.  The destruction of Libya under the guise of humanitarian relief, the open source conspiracy to destroy Syria, and the fantasies about the Ukraine having anything to do with our national security are just three of many morally repugnant, profit-generating projections of power around the world conducted in our name.  PNAC prevails.
Why and How Did this Happen?
There's an obvious answer to the why part of the question.  Those very few individuals and interests in control are not willing to share any of their wealth.

Even if they were willing to share, their fear of retribution for their massive crimes against the people is so profound; the super elite seek safety through full spectrum surveillance and control.  They see their clumsy efforts as somehow controlling the populace and offering protection from the imagined wrath of their victims.
Endless war in Asia and serious subterfuge everywhere else provides a level of public distraction that those in charge hope will substitute reactive hysteria for a critical examination of the grand scam that the power elite use as the basis for their wealth and power.
How the seamless transition of policies between Bush and Obama occurred is a bit subtler although fairly simple in principle.  You change parties, creating the illusion of change.  At the same time, keep key figures from the previous administration are retained to sustain old policies under the mantle of a new party.
Bush becomes Obama on a substantive level while social issues are used to make people think that there's a real difference between the parties.  For example, the Obama administration is supportive of gay rights issues but both gay Americans and those who oppose gay rights all suffer the consequences of a locked down economy in which resources are funneled to the super wealthy, domestic spying, and foreign adventures.
The careful placement high-level Bush operatives and a Wall Street shill in charge of critical elements of the government assured the preservation of right wing, neoconservative economic and foreign policies.  Nothing of substance changed in 2008 or 2012.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, the liberal hope, as candidate Obama  presented himself, indicated that he'd like Bush Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to remain in that position for the Obama administration.  Gates said yes.  It took five years to get out of Iraq, we're still in Afghanistan, and the policy of no defense system left behind is still in place bleeding billions from the Treasury every single day.  Mission accomplished.
Just before the 2008 inauguration, president elect Obama announced his choice of Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary.  Geithner was head of the powerful New York Federal Reserve Bank during the critical period leading up to the 2008 financial collapse.  As one of Wall Street's chief regulators, he told the world, it's all good, no problems here.  We know how that worked out.  Dutifully, Geithner assumed the role of Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and carried out the biggest bailout in the history of the world.   Despite the efforts of honest bankers and others like Elizabeth Warren, the wholesale looting of the Treasury by Wall Street continued.  Socialism for the extremely rich and survival of the fittest for the rest of us is the motto.
The expansion of domestic spying and continuation of secret operations around the world shows that a nominal Democrat can do just as much damage to the Constitution as a right wing Republican.   A carryover from the Bush administration, John Brennan, made happen.  Brennan latest work for Obama is Director of the CIA.  As Robert Parry pointed out in a recent article, Brennan was at the center of 1984 like activities under Bush.  Under Brennan, the CIA stands accused of cyber sabotage against congressional committees to block, of all things, an investigation into CIA prisoner abused by the Bush administration.
As the saying goes, people can have differing beliefs but not different facts.  The roles and products of Obama, Brennan, Geithner, and Gates are indisputable facts.
There is no Democratic Party, no Republican Party.  There's just The Money Party.  It's the real power behind the theatrics referred to as a two party political system.   The party has no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests; preserved at any cost as long as the costs and suffering are borne by the people.
     

Latest Snowden Revelations: NSA Surveillance Key to Targeted Killings

Monday, 10 Feb 2014 07:42 AM

By Greg Richter

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Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who broke the story of NSA leaker Edward Snowden's revelations last year, says to expect "a lot more significant stories" as he launches a new independent news website this week.

On Monday, his new site, The Intercept, dropped its first big story, about the NSA's role in targeted killings.

The article reveals an NSA program codenamed GILGAMESH that provides geolocation data to U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to target drone strikes and capture/kill raids.

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"The National Security Agency is using complex analysis of electronic surveillance, rather than human intelligence, as the primary method to locate targets for lethal drone strikes – an unreliable tactic that results in the deaths of innocent or unidentified people," the article states.

Without the crucial geolocation data, the article suggests it would be nearly impossible to target suspected terrorists, since the human intelligence is apparently often not that reliable. But in terms of definitively proving the targets are in fact terrorists, the abstract location data is even less reliable.

"Rather than confirming a target’s identity with operatives or informants on the ground, the CIA or the U.S. military then orders a strike based on the activity and location of the mobile phone a person is believed to be using," the article continues.

JSOC would be helpless "without the NSA conducting mass surveillance on an industrial level,” the story states, quoting a former Air Force drone operator named Brandon Bryant. “That is what creates those baseball cards you hear about,” featuring potential targets for drone strikes or raids.

"Once the bomb lands or a night raid happens, you know that phone is there," the former drone operator continues. "But we don’t know who’s behind it, who’s holding it. It’s of course assumed that the phone belongs to a human being who is nefarious and considered an 'unlawful enemy combatant.' This is where it gets very shady.

"We’re not going after people — we’re going after their phones.

"People get hung up that there’s a targeted list of people," he continues. "It’s really like we’re targeting a cell phone. We’re not going after people — we’re going after their phones, in the hopes that the person on the other end of that missile is the bad guy."

The article is written by Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill, the highly regarded author of "Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield," a book and documentary film that details covert U.S. military operations around that world.

"Whether or not Obama is fully aware of the errors built into the program of targeted assassination, he and his top advisors have repeatedly made clear that the president himself directly oversees the drone operation and takes full responsibility for it," the report states.

The NSA reportedly declined to respond to questions about the program. An NSA spokesperson refused to discuss “the type of operational detail that, in our view, should not be published.”

Appearing Sunday on CNN's "Reliable Sources," Greenwald dodged questions of whether he had new inside sources with tales similar to Snowden's, but he said that if sources come forward they will be "defended and protected" and what they reveal will be "aggressively reported" by journalists and media outlets.

But the new story seems to confirm that Greenwald and his team do have new sources, and they're naming them if the source agrees.

"Sounds like you have other sources that you're protecting," host Brian Stelter said.

Story continues below video.



Again, Greenwald would not answer specifically, but said it is fair to say there are other people who have been "inspired by Edward Snowden's courage and by the great good and virtue that it has achieved."

Snowden was inspired by the likes of Bradley Manning, Daniel Ellsberg, and others, Greenwald said. Likewise, there are others inside the government who have seen "extreme wrongdoing" who are inspired by Snowden, he said.

Greenwald said he and other journalists will be launching online magazines with First Look Media, which is funded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. Omidyar said in a blog post on Thursday that "the site's staff has already uncovered a host of new and disturbing revelations in the NSA documents."

Greenwald told CNN that his stories will begin appearing on the site this week, possibly as early as Monday. It's unclear whether the new drone operator Bryant is violating classified secrets laws from the story, though he is apparently confirming details in Snowden's trove of stolen NSA documents.

Greenwald first revealed stories of the National Security Agency's ability to spy on Americans' emails and phone calls in the British newspaper The Guardian. His source was Snowden, who is living under temporary asylum in Russia.

Snowden and Greenwald have been called heroes by some and traitors by others. The two camps cross cross party and ideological lines, making for sometimes strange bedfellows on the controversial issues of privacy versus national security.

Greenwald is living in Brazil, but has said he will come to the United States in the spring despite the possibility of facing charges for releasing Snowden's documents. A book he is writing about Snowden and his role is scheduled to be published in April.

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Related Stories:

• Mike Rogers, CIA's Morell: Snowden Likely Stole Secrets with Russian Help
• Snowden Documents Reveal NSA Working On A Super Computer

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Leaked Phone Call: Kiev Snipers Hired by US-Backed Opposition

False flag killings used to delegitimize Yanukovich government
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
March 5, 2014
Details of a leaked phone call between EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and Estonian foreign affairs minister Urmas Paet suggest that the US-backed opposition was responsible for hiring snipers who gunned down protesters in Kiev and not the deposed government of Viktor Yanukovich, as the media widely claimed.

During the phone call, Paet tells Ashton that evidence presented to him by a doctor who treated victims of the sniper attacks clearly indicates both police and protesters were being shot at by the same people.

“There is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition,” said Paet during the phone call, which was hacked by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

“And second, what was quite disturbing, this same Olga [Bogomolets] told as well that all the evidence shows that the people who were killed by snipers from both sides, among policemen and then people from the streets, that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides,” the Estonian FM added.

The true narrative therefore suggests that forces within the opposition hired the snipers in order to kill protesters and then blame the deaths on Yanukovich’s administration, thereby delegitimizing his bid to hold onto power. This is a classic example of the kind “false flag” attack that NATO, which has vehemently sided with the opposition, perfected in Europe throughout the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s under Operation Gladio.

“I think we do want to investigate. I mean, I didn’t pick that up, that’s interesting. Gosh,” Ashton said in response to Paet.

However, the only real “investigation” conducted into the sniper killings was overseen by a secretive British team who refused to tell the BBC who they were working for. The investigators suggested that they had already concluded the Yanukovich government was responsible for the “bloodbath” before any formal results were even published.

Paet indicated that the newly installed government had since launched a cover-up of the sniper attacks, remarking, “They don’t want to investigate what exactly happened.”

The phone call was conducted after Paet visited Kiev on February 25 at the height of the clashes between police and protesters.

Earlier in February, another hacked phone call was leaked in which US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Victoria Nuland was caught red handed plotting with top diplomat Geoffrey Pyatt to pick Ukraine’s future puppet leaders. Nuland specifically approved Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who later became Prime Minister after the coup.

Suspicion as to who was really behind the sniper attacks should be focused on armed right-wing extremists who are now patrolling Kiev after the overthrow of Yanukovich. As we previously highlighted, after both Nuland and John McCain met with the leader of the neo-nazi affiliated Svoboda Party, the organization was handed three top positions within the newly formed Ukrainian government despite its clear links to fascism and anti-Semitism.

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*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

This article was posted: Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 9:10 am

Tags: foreign affairs, terrorism, war

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