Cuba has demanded the US hand back the Guantanamo Bay military base before relations with Washington are normalised.

In a speech, President Raul Castro also called for the lifting of the US trade embargo and Cuba's removal from a terror list.

Last month the two countries announced a thaw in relations, agreeing to restore diplomatic ties. They were severed in 1961.

High-level talks were held last week.

A Congressional delegation arrived in Havana to begin negotiations aimed at reopening embassies in the two countries' capitals.

Meanwhile, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro appeared to signal his approval for the political rapprochement.

President Barack Obama was in Riyadh on Tuesday to pay his respects to the late Saudi King Abdullah. His visit, for which he cut short a much-hyped trip to India, underscores how important the U.S.-Saudi relationship remains to the American leadership. On social media, however, much of the attention has focused on something else: His wife's attire.

As noted by the Associated Press, Michelle Obama did not wear a headscarf or veil Tuesday. In Saudi Arabia, that's unusual: The country is one of the few on Earth where women are expected to cover their heads, and most Saudi women wear niqabs.

Exceptions are made for foreigners, however, and Michelle – who did wear loose clothing that fully covered her arms – appears to have been one of them. In photographs from the official events, other foreign female guests are also shown not wearing headscarves.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — American Sniper is tops at the box office but don’t expect to see former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura lining up at a theater for it.

Ventura, a former Navy SEAL, won $1.8 million in a defamation lawsuit last year against the estate of the late Chris Kyle, the SEAL protagonist of the movie, which has sparked debate over whether snipers should be considered heroes. Ventura said Wednesday he won’t see the film partly because Kyle is no hero to him.

"A hero must be honorable, must have honor. And you can’t have honor if you’re a liar. There is no honor in lying," Ventura told The Associated Press from his winter home in Baja California, Mexico. He also noted that the movie isn’t playing there.

Ventura also dismissed the movie as propaganda because it conveys the false idea that Iraq had something to do with the 9/11 attacks. “It’s as authentic as Dirty Harry,” he said, referring to fictional movie series starring Clint Eastwood, the director of American Sniper.

On Tuesday, news broke that the President is planning to request the largest Pentagon budget in history.

You read that right. President Obama will likely ask for a $534 billion base budget, in a move that’s being sold as part of a strategy to beef up responsiveness to emerging worldwide threats and fund efforts against ISIS and others.

This plan will blow past budget caps to the tune of $34 billion in 2016 and $150 billion over the next five years.

Many in the new Congress, it’s sad to say, are eager to both hike overseas spending and ignore budget controls, with some Republican leaders saying they’ll do anything they can to “fix” sequestration.

The argument that more money – and fast! – is what’s needed to keep us safe is dishonest at best.

For one, when it comes to wars, the money’s already there. It’s in the Overseas Contingency Operations budget. This money is immune to budget caps, and is often used as a slush fund to spend beyond them. OCO got an additional $64 billion in the latest “CRomnibus” budget deal, and now President Obama is set to request about $60 billion more.

It’s hard to imagine that the fund has dried up, or that it needs the extra billions the President wants. Meanwhile, the suggestion that even more base funds are needed to keep us safe is dubious and should be questioned.

This assumption misses a key part of keeping America truly safe: Reforms, streamlining, and a real modernization strategy. Simply piling on more money allows the Pentagon bureaucracy to avoid any tough choices.

As retired Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer said in 2013, “We need an effective defense, not an expensive defense. There are tons of cuts we can still make.”

He’s right. Any honest assessment of the Pentagon reveals that it, like any other government agency, is absolutely loaded with waste, fraud, and abuse. Whether we’re talking about over $1 trillion for a jet that barely works or hundreds of millions in excess military-grade equipment controversially gifted to local police forces, it’s clear that there’s no reason to treat this particular bureaucracy with kid gloves.

That’s exactly what the President and likely many Republicans in Congress want to continue doing, though.

Billionaire Bill Gates called for “a kind of global government” this week, arguing that the creation of such a system would be needed to combat major issues such as “climate change.”

Speaking with Germany’s “Süddeutsche Zeitung” newspaper Tuesday, Gates decried the fact that a proper United Nations system has failed to materialize as planned.

“You can make fun of it, but in truth it was sad how the conference in Copenhagen is run, how individual who behave like the UN system failed,” Gates said according to an English translation in the Huffington Post.

Gates went on to stress his position further, stating that a global government was “badly needed” in order to combat an array of issues ailing the planet.

“Take the UN, it has been created especially for the security in the world. We are ready for war, because we have taken every precaution. We have NATO, we have divisions, jeeps, trained people,” Gates said. “But what is with epidemics? How many doctors do we have as much planes, tents, what scientists? If there were such a thing as a world government, we would be better prepared.”

Monthly dividend paid a few days ago, not bad for a startup. You can keep tabs on this outfit on cryptostocks.

The film American Sniper, based on the story of the late Navy Seal Chris Kyle, is a box office hit, setting records for an R-rated film released in January. Yet the film, the autobiography of the same name, and the reputation of Chris Kyle are all built on a set of half-truths, myths and outright lies that Hollywood didn't see fit to clear up.

Here are seven lies about Chris Kyle and the story that director Clint Eastwood is telling:

1. The Film Suggests the Iraq War Was In Response To 9/11: One way to get audiences to unambiguously support Kyle's actions in the film is to believe he's there to avenge the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The movie cuts from Kyle watching footage of the attacks to him serving in Iraq, implying there is some link between the two.

2. The Film Invents a Terrorist Sniper Who Works For Multiple Opposing Factions: Kyle's primary antagonist in the film is a sniper named Mustafa. Mustafa is mentioned in a single paragraph in Kyle's book, but the movie blows him up into an ever-present figure and Syrian Olympic medal winner who fights for both Sunni insurgents in Fallujah and the Shia Madhi army.

3. The Film Portrays Chris Kyle as Tormented By His Actions: Multiple scenes in the movie portray Kyle as haunted by his service. One of the film's earliest reviews praised it for showing the “emotional torment of so many military men and women.” But that torment is completely absent from the book the film is based on. In the book, Kyle refers to everyone he fought as “savage, despicable” evil. He writes, “I only wish I had killed more.” He also writes, “I loved what I did. I still do. If circumstances were different – if my family didn't need me – I'd be back in a heartbeat. I'm not lying or exaggerating to say it was fun. I had the time of my life being a SEAL.” On an appearance on Conan O'Brien's show he laughs about accidentally shooting an Iraqi insurgent. He once told a military investigator that he doesn't “shoot people with Korans. I'd like to, but I don't.”

4. The Real Chris Kyle Made Up A Story About Killing Dozens of People In Post-Katrina New Orleans: Kyle claimed that he killed 30 people in the chaos of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, a story Louisiana writer Jarvis DeBerry calls “preposterous." It shows the sort of mentality post-war Kyle had, but the claim doesn't appear in the film.

5. The Real Chris Kyle Fabricated A Story About Killing Two Men Who Tried To Carjack Him In Texas: Kyle told numerous people a story about killing two alleged carjackers in Texas. Reporters tried repeatedly to verify this claim, but no evidence of it exists.

6. Chris Kyle Was Successfully Sued For Lying About the Former Governor of Minnesota: Kyle alleged that former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura defamed Navy SEALs and got into a fight with him at a local bar. Ventura successfully sued Kyle for the passage in his book, and a jury awarded him $1.845 million.

7. Chris Kyle's Family Claimed He Donated His Book Proceeds To Veterans' Charity, But He Kept Most Of The Profits: The National Review debunks the claim that all proceeds of his book went to veterans' charities. Around 2 percent – $52,000 – went to the charities while the Kyles pocketed $3 million.

Although the movie is an initial box office hit, there is a growing backlash against its simplistic portrayal of the war and misleading take on Kyle's character. This backlash has reportedly spread among members of the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences, which could threaten the film's shot at racking up Oscars.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul – who received the least enthusiastic response from donors during a Sunday night forum of prospective candidates that also featured Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz – finished last in Luntz’s poll, the source told POLITICO.

The poll is by no means a definitive assessment of the feelings of the hundreds of wealthy business leaders who comprise the vaunted network created by billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch. But it does provide an early glimpse into the leanings of a pool of mega-donors who are being hotly courted by the field of would-be candidates, and whose checkbooks could go a long way towards determining who emerges with the GOP nomination – regardless of whether the Koch network decides to formally back a candidate

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a likely presidential contender, defended billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch from "liberal haters" who won't leave the largely Republican mega-donors alone.

Asked in an interview Tuesday night on Fox Business Network about the Koch brothers potentially bankrolling a liberty-minded Republican presidential candidate, Paul focused his answer on the pair's detractors.

"I think one thing that's important for all the people who bash them to know is that, much of what they do is for the concept and the ideas of free markets and liberty. It has nothing to do with government," Paul said.
"And I defy any of the liberal haters that are out there to find one instance when they have ever asked for a subsidy or a special government break. I have never heard of any and what they're wanting is to be left alone, like most businesses in our country," he said.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) criticized President Obama for being “petulant” and “childish” by refusing to meet with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday’s “On the Record” on the Fox News Channel.

Paul defended House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) extending an invitation to speak before Congress, saying “we are a co-equal branch of government, and the speaker’s in charge of inviting folks to speak, it’s only usually given to leaders, heads of state. Benjamin Netanyahu’s been here before. I can’t understand why it would be a controversy, other than maybe the president’s acting a little bit petulant over this because he wasn’t consulted.

But it almost looks a little bit childish to me that he’s going to make a big stink over ‘oh, now I won’t even meet with an ally, who’s the head of state of an ally when he comes to Washington because I wasn’t consulted.'” And “Israel’s an important ally, I don’t understand why he would refuse to meet with him other than just sort of being, like I say, petulant or childish about not being consulted.”

Probably not

Just arm the Kurdish Peshmerga properly. They are much more efficient than the US or the Iraqi army. Also, they are less corrupt and more used to the terrain.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) thinks Mitt Romney, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) might actually help him win the 2016 GOP presidential primary.

And Paul isn't the only one who thinks this trio of high-powered rivals could give him an edge.

In a recent conversation with Business Insider, a close ally of one of the other candidates went so far as to say the current likely composition of the Republican field gives Paul the best shot at a victory.

"Based on where the primary electorate is right now, if there's a frontrunner in this race from an electoral perspective, it's probably Rand Paul," the source said.

And what will you personally do if it doesn't? lol...I'm sure you (like the rest of these shills) will all pull together and help him pay his heat and water bills, right.  As if you guys geniunely care about the welfare of the next man in this 'greater fools' game haha.

Someone seems to have an axe to grind.

Ulterior motive or just another troll?

from the knc thread. more junk possibly incoming? let's wrap this all up on ebay or something

Don’t take for granted the support for whistleblower Edward Snowden among Millennials. NSA spying receives more support from people under 30 years old than any other age group according to a new Pew Research poll. People aged 18-29 approved of the NSA at a rate of 61 percent compared to just 40 percent from the 65 and older crowd. From the article at Pew Research Center:

Favorability ratings for the National Security Agency (NSA) have changed little since the fall of 2013, shortly after former NSA analyst Edward Snowden’s revelations of the agency’s data-mining activities. About half (51%) view the NSA favorably, compared with 37% who have an unfavorable view.

Young people are more likely than older Americans to view the intelligence agency positively. About six-in-ten (61%) of those under 30 view the NSA favorably, compared with 40% of those 65 and older.

The three key components of McCain’s approach are these:

Expand the U.S. force in Iraq from the current 2,300 troops to 10,000 to assist Iraqis troops. Rather than keeping U.S. service members confined to bases and headquarters, many of them would be dispatched to the front lines to direct or call in air strikes and take other steps to assist the Iraqis.

Establish safe zones or no-fly zones in neighboring Syria. McCain initially was reacting to news reports last year that ISIS was attempting to assemble a modest air force with pilots trained by Iraqi military defectors. While that threat has yet to materialize, McCain and administration officials have considered establishing a Syrian no-fly zone to protect civilians from airstrikes by the Syrian government.

Expand aid and military assistance to moderate Syrian rebels to help them fight back against ISIS and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. As The Washington Post noted, Assad appears to be buoyed by months of U.S. and allied air strikes against ISIS that have taken enormous pressure off of him while he continues to destroy rebel forces seeking to topple him.

McCain said it’s an outrage that the Obama administration has pulled back and is no longer insisting that Assad step aside, although his regime is responsible for the deaths of over 200,000 Syrian civilians.

Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said Saudi Arabia “needs to be working against radical Islam.”

In discussing President Barack Obama’s visit Paul said, “I hope he says to Saudi Arabia that we’d like them to help us and work with us instead of against us. I think a lot of the arms that Saudi Arabia and Qatar have poured into the Syrian war, the Syrian civil war have actually been hurting us. They have actually wound up in the hand of ISIS. So I hope the message to them is they need to be working against radical Islam. They need to quit funding radical Islamic schools in our country around the world and need to send ground troops in to help us fight ISIS.”

“So Saudi Arabia needs to step up to be on our side and not be provoking the situation,” he added.