Dr. Cornel West

Did the good doctor refer to Obama as:
A. The black mascot of Wall St.
B. A Rockefellar republican in black face
C. The head of America's killing machine and proud of it
D. All of the above

"We Live in a World Where the Architects of the Financial Crisis Regularly Dine at the White House."

[m]ost shameful failings of the Obama administration: the lack of even a single arrest or prosecution of any senior Wall Street banker for the systemic fraud that precipitated the 2008 financial crisis:
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What Obama justice officials did instead is exactly what they did in the face of high-level Bush era crimes of torture and warrantless eavesdropping: namely, acted to protect the most powerful factions in the society in the face of overwhelming evidence of serious criminality
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Worst of all, Obama justice officials both shielded and feted these Wall Street oligarchs (who, just by the way, overwhelmingly supported Obama's 2008 presidential campaign) as they simultaneously prosecuted and imprisoned powerless Americans for far more trivial transgressions
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The same Lanny Breuer was recently seen announcing that the banking giant HSBC would face no criminal prosecution for its money laundering of funds for designated terrorist groups and drug networks on the ground that the bank was too big to risk prosecuting
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Underlying all of that is what the Senate's second-highest ranking Democrat, Dick Durbin, admitted in 2009: the banks "frankly own the place
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/23-6

Fiasco at Obama Inaguration Event

Lupe Fiasco from June, 2011:“To me,” Lupe began, “the biggest terrorist is Obama in the United States of America. I’m trying to fight the terrorism that’s causing the other forms of terrorism. You know the root cause of terrorists is the stuff the U.S. government allows to happen. The foreign policies that we have in place in different countries that inspire people to become terrorists.”
http://music-mix.ew.com/2011/06/08/lupe-fiasco-president-obama-terrorist/

Lupe's take on Obama from July 2012:
[w]ho is a great speaker, but kills little children - our President." He continued, "I'm talking about ordering a drone attack. Ordering drone attacks that go and kill mothers, innocent bystanders, children. Militants too, but the collateral damage. You're responsible for that, too."
http://www.complex.com/music/2012/07/lupe-fiasco-criticizes-president-obama-says-he-kills-little-children

Lupe today at the inaguration event:
"Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist/ Gaza Strip was getting bombed, Obama didn't say shit."

Senkaku

BEIJING--China has responded sharply to comments by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the disputed Senkaku Islands.
Clinton expressed opposition to "any unilateral actions that would seek to undermine Japanese administration" over the territory during Japan-U.S. talks at foreign ministerial level in Washington on Jan. 18.
In response, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Jan. 20 that Clinton's warning against a move by China failed to acknowledge the rights and wrongs of the situation.
"The United States should be careful with its words," Qin said, and expressed "strong discontent" and "firm opposition" to the statement.
Qin said the U.S. side also bears its historical responsibility in the matter, apparently hinting that the United States did not clearly address the territorial issue when it returned Okinawa to Japan in 1972.
He also said current tensions between China and Japan over the islands stemmed from Tokyo escalating its provocation.
The Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea are administered by Japan, but claimed by China, which calls them Diaoyu.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ201301210075

In a related story, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked what her husband's thoughts are on this sensitive matter. Madame's Secretary's reply below:
 

Mali

"So this whole thing bears the imprint of US Africom [US Africa Command] and an attempt to militarize the whole region and its resources. Mali is a strategic lynchpin in that. It borders Algeria which is one of the top goals of these various NATO interventions from France, the US and other sides. Mauritania, the Ivory Coast, Guinea, Burkina Faso. All of this area is just swimming in untapped resources, whether it be gold, manganese, copper."
http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/socom-manufactured-french-invasion-of-mali-training-the-man-behind-the-coup/

Mega

[s]econds before a helicopter roared overhead and faux police agents rappelled down the side of his mansion. Dotcom eventually ordered everyone to "stop this madness!" before breaking out into a dance alongside miniskirt-clad "guards" as music boomed.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/indicted-megaupload-founder-launches-new-site-0

You Feel Lucky Punk

Japan says it may fire warning shots and take other measures to keep foreign aircraft from violating its airspace...
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[w]hich is to say if Japan fires the first shot, then China wouldn't stint on responding and not allow them to fire the second shot."
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201301200020

Bomb Explodes in Athens Mall

There was an explosion a little before 11 a.m. at The Mall commercial center in the upscale Athens neighborhood of Marousi
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Police said they believe new groups are forming in the wake of crushing austerity measures and those who are angry with government policies
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/01/20/bomb-explodes-in-athens-mall/#!lightbox/0/

In recent days, small explosive devices were planted outside the homes of journalists and of the government spokesman's brother, while others targeted bank ATM machines.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2013/Jan-20/202997-explosive-device-at-shopping-mall-near-athens-injures-two.ashx#axzz2IYVigQg8

The jobs news from Greece continues to be relentlessly bad.
The latest official figures for the third quarter of the year show the jobless rate rose to 24.8 percent of the workforce. It was the highest quarterly unemployment rate since this data series started in 1998
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For young people the total was 56.6 percent and nearly two thirds of all unemployed have been looking for work for more than a year.
http://www.euronews.com/2012/12/13/greek-unemployment-climbs/