US begins transporting French troops to Mali: military

Stuttgart, Germany: The US military has started airlifting French troops and equipment into Mali to assist their operation against al Qaeda-linked rebels, the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said on Tuesday.

"At the request of the French government, we have begun flying equipment and personnel from France to Mali," an AFRICOM spokesman, Chuck Prichard, told AFP.

"We expect the mission to last for the next several days. As of yet we've had two flights that have landed and we anticipate more in the coming days."


US begins transporting French troops to Mali: military | NDTV.com

Military Plans to Hide Drones Underwater to Prevent Detection

On January 11, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced a weapons program that sounds as sinister as it does science fiction.
In a program it inelegantly calls Upward Falling Payloads, the clandestine military research and development group plans to build weapons vehicles that will be stored dormant underwater for years and then suddenly surface when summoned by remote control and deliver their payloads — including drones — by “falling upward.”

“The goal is to support the Navy with distributed technologies anywhere, anytime over large maritime areas. If we can do this rapidly, we can get close to the areas we need to affect, or become widely distributed without delay,” said Andy Coon, DARPA program manager. “To make this work, we need to address technical challenges like extended survival of nodes under extreme ocean pressure, communications to wake-up the nodes after years of sleep, and efficient launch of payloads to the surface.”

In an announcement, DARPA reasons that the sea is the perfect place to hid these deadly nodes. Keeping the weapons below the surface will give their attacks the element of surprise and the vastness of the oceans “provides opportunity to simultaneously operate across great distances.”



Military Plans to Hide Drones Underwater to Prevent Detection

Union membership falls to lowest percentage in 76 years | Reuters

 The total number of union members fell by nearly 400,000, from 11.8 percent of the workforce in 2011, the Labor Department report on union membership said. The rate of 11.3 percent of the workforce was the lowest since 1936, when Franklin Roosevelt was president.

Union membership falls to lowest percentage in 76 years | Reuters

McDonald's settles Mich. suit over Islamic diet - seattlepi.com

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — McDonald's and one of its franchise owners agreed to pay $700,000 to members of the Muslim community to settle allegations a Detroit-area restaurant falsely advertised its food as being prepared according to Islamic dietary law.

McDonald's and Finley's Management Co. agreed Friday to the tentative settlement, with that money to be shared by Dearborn Heights resident Ahmed Ahmed, a Detroit health clinic, the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn and lawyers.

Read more:

McDonald's settles Mich. suit over Islamic diet - seattlepi.com

My Response to Your Inaugural Speech, Mr. President - Michael Brown - Page 1

 The president declared it. A pastor prayed it. And woe betide those who differ with this new reality announced at yesterday’s presidential inauguration: Gay is now an official social category as defined and tangible as black or white. Put another way, romantic attraction and sexual desire are now viewed as being as innate and immutable as skin color.

Make no mistake about it. Another significant step was taken yesterday at the inauguration, and what was once associated with the extremist views of radical gay activists is now as American as apple pie. As expressed in the closing prayer of Episcopal pastor Luis León, “We pray for your blessing, because without it we will see only what the eye can see. But with your blessing, we’ll see that we are made in your image, whether brown, black or white; male or female; first generation immigrant or Daughter of the American Revolution; gay or straight; rich or poor.”

Earlier in the festivities, and framing his speech in historic, Constitutional terms, President Obama said, “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths -- that all of us are created equal -- is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall . . . .”
Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall? By Seneca Falls, Obama was referring to a watershed moment in the women’s rights movement that took place in the mid-1800’s in Seneca Falls, New York. By Selma, he was referring to the pivotal Civil Rights marches and protests that took place in Selma, Alabama in the mid-1960’s. And by Stonewall he was referring to the Stonewall Riots that took place in New York City in 1969 when drag queens and their gay friends fought back against the police who raided their bar.

My Response to Your Inaugural Speech, Mr. President - Michael Brown - Page 1

West Point center cites dangers of 'far right' in U.S. - Washington Times

The report also draws a link between the mainstream conservative movement and the violent “far right,” and describes liberals as “future oriented” and conservatives as living in the past.

“While liberal worldviews are future- or progressive -oriented, conservative perspectives are more past-oriented, and in general, are interested in preserving the status quo.” the report says. “The far right represents a more extreme version of conservatism, as its political vision is usually justified by the aspiration to restore or preserve values and practices that are part of the idealized historical heritage of the nation or ethnic community.”

Read more:

West Point center cites dangers of 'far right' in U.S. - Washington Times

al Qaeda had help from inside: French Muslim "changed sides" when jihadists stormed the Gas Complex - Atlas Shrugs

Up to five of the al Qaeda-linked Islamists who carried out the most spectacular and bloody hostage in recent years were employees of the gas plant, security sources have revealed.

One of those involved in the "inside job" was of French nationality, the sources told the Daily Telegraph, in what appears to be a blow to those in charge of safety at the highly strategic In Amenas plant, which accounts for 12 per cent of Algeria's gas production.
The unnamed French accomplice is said to have changed sides once his comrades in arms had broken into the desert site in southeastern Algeria after attacking bus at a false checkpoint. He then took part in the kidnapping operation before being killed during the Algerian army assault on the site.

#myjihad al Qaeda had help from inside: French Muslim "changed sides" when jihadists stormed the Gas Complex - Atlas Shrugs

Nazi Germany Timeline

 Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  Read and learn....and then watch! Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary the devils roams about seeking whom he may devour.  He loves to devour men who are in positions of power so that he can establish his kingdom on the earth...the kingdom of darkness.  A word to the wise is sufficient.....

 
This timeline for Nazi Germany covers the major domestic events between 1933 when Hitler was appointed Chancellor to the year World War Two broke out – 1939. From 1933 to 1934 Hitler consolidated his power so that by the end of 1934 he held supreme power throughout Nazi Germany.

1933

January 4^th: Papen met Hitler at the home of German banker Kurt von Schroeder.

January 15^th: An election in the state of Lippe saw the Nazi Party win 38,000 votes out of a possible 90,000 – 39.6%.

January 22^nd: Oskar Hindenburg, son of the President, and Otto Meissner, Chief of the Presidential Office, met Hitler.

January 28^th: Schleicher resigned as Chancellor when Hindenburg refused to grant him another dissolution of the Reichstag.

January 30^th: Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany

February 1^st: Hitler announced his ‘Proclamation to the German People’ and promised new elections for March 5^th. Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag.

February 4^th: A decree ‘For the Protection of the German People’ gave Hitler the power to ban political meetings and the newspapers of his political rivals.

February 17^th: Goering issued a decree that ordered the police to make “good relations” with nationalists associations (SA + SS) but to make free use of their weapons against the Left.

February 22^nd: Goering united the SA, SS and Stahlhelm into one single police force.

February 23^rd: The first restrictions on homosexual rights groups were introduced.

February 27^th: The Reichstag building was burned down.

February 28^th: ‘The Emergency Decree for the Protection of People and State’ was passed, which led to the suspension of civil rights, a ban on the left wing press and the rounding up and arrest of communist and socialist leaders.

March 5^th: Elections to the Reichstag were held. The Nazis gained 288 seats (43.9% of the votes). The German National Party gained 52 seats (8% of the votes). Combined, this gave the Nazis a majority of support in the Reichstag.

March 6^th: Communist and Socialist Party headquarters were occupied by the state police as were trade union headquarters. Buildings housing publishing companies associated with the left wing were also occupied.

March 9^th: All states that were previously not loyal to the Nazis now had Nazi-loyal state administrations.

March 13^th: Joseph Goebbels set up the Reich Propaganda Ministry.

March 15^th: The German press received its first directive from Goebbels.

March 20^th: Himmler announced the establishment of a concentration camp at Dachau.

March 21^st: The newly elected Reichstag sat for the first time.

March 22^nd: The Interior Ministry set up a racial hygiene department.

March 23^rd: The Enabling Act was passed by the Reichstag that gave Hitler huge personal power.

March 28^th: The first open attacks by the SA against Jewish businesses occurred. Gleichschaltung was introduced – the forcible removal of all known opponent to the Nazis.

April 1^st: An official one-day boycott of Jewish shops took place. Literature produced by the Jehovah’s Witnesses was banned.

April 7^th: A law for the ‘Restoration of the Professional Civil Service’ was introduced that banned all Jews and non-Germans from public service.

April 26^th: The Gestapo (Secret Police) was established by Goering.

May 1^st: Hitler gave his ‘Day of German Labour’ speech.

May 2^nd: Trade unions were banned

May 6^th: The Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Workers’ Front) was introduced to replace trade unions.

May 10^th: ‘Un-German’ books were publicly burned.   

May 19^th: The Reich government took on the task of regulating workers contracts.

June 22^nd: The Social Democrat Party was officially banned.

July 5^th: All political parties other than the Nazi Party were banned.

July 14^th: A ‘Sterilisation Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases’ was passed.

July 20^th: Hitler agreed a Concordat with the Papacy.

September 23^rd: Work on the first autobahns was started.

October 14^th: Hitler pulled Nazi Germany out of the League of Nations and the Disarmament Conference.

November 17^th: The Nazi Party won 92% of the votes cast in an election.

November 27^th: Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude) and the Beauty of Labour organisations were introduced.

December 1^st: A law was passed that safeguarded the unity of the party and the state.

1934

January 20^th: A law was introduced ‘for the ordering of national labour’. Decisions made in the workplace were weighted in favour of the management and against the workers.

January 24^th: Alfred Rosenberg was appointed ideological supervisor of the Nazi Party.

January 26^th: A German-Polish non-aggression pact was signed.

January 30^th: the independence of the state governments was abolished. The ‘Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich’ was passed.

March 21^st: ‘The Battle for Work’ started.

April 20^th: Himmler was made Acting Chief of the Prussian Gestapo.

April 24^th: A People’s Court was established to deal with treasonable offences.

June 17^th: Von Papen, Vice-Chancellor, denounced what the Nazi Party had introduced into Germany.

June 20^th: The SS is made independent from the SA and put in the hands of Himmler who is appointed Reichsfűhrer of the SS.

June 25^th: Austrian Nazis murdered Austrian President Engelbert Dollfuss in the hope that the Austrian Nazi Party can take control of the country.

June 26^th: Von Papen was appointed German envoy to Austria.

June 30^th: Night of the Long Knives occurred when the leadership of the SA was wiped out along with some of Hitler’s political enemies. 

August 2^nd: President Hindenburg died. Hitler declared himself both Chancellor and President. The armed forces in response to the Night of the Long Knives swore an oath of loyalty to Hitler. Hjalmar Schacht was appointed Minister of Economics.

August 19^th: A plebiscite was held in Nazi Germany asking the public if they approved of Hitler’s powers. 90% said ‘yes’.

October 8^th: A Winter Relief scheme was established.

October 26^th: A special party/government department was set up to deal with abortions and homosexuality. Homosexuals were arrested across Nazi Germany.

1935

March 17^th: Compulsory military service was introduced.

June 26^th: A law introducing compulsory labour service was introduced. 

September 15^th: The Reich Citizenship Act (the Nuremberg Laws) forbade Jews to marry German nationals.

1936

April 4^th: Goering was appointed Commissioner of Raw Materials.

August 1^st: Start of the Berlin Olympic Games.

August 16^th: End of the Berlin Olympics.

August 28^th: The mass arrest of Jehovah Witnesses began.

September 9^th: A second Four Year Plan was introduced to make Germany self-sufficient.

October 19^th: Goering was put in charge of the Four Year Plan.

December 1^st: The Hitler Youth movement became a state organisation. All non-Nazi youth movements were banned.

December 13^th: ‘Spring of Life’ (Lebensborn) was set up.

1937

February 10^th: The national bank and the railway system were both put under the control of the state.

March 9^th: The mass arrest of “habitual criminals” started.

1938

January 19^th: The ‘Faith and Beauty’ organisation was set up for women aged between 17 and 21. 

April 22^nd: The employment of Jews in businesses was banned.

November 9^th: Kristallnacht – Night of the Broken Glass.

December 3^rd: The start of the closure of all Jewish businesses occurred along with their compulsory sale to ‘Aryans’.

1939:

January 21^st: Schacht was dismissed as President of the Reichsbank.

August 27^th: Food rationing was introduced.

September 4^th: War Decrees were introduced.

October 14^th: Clothing coupons were introduced.

Nazi Germany Timeline