TUCSON, Arizona – The youngest victim of the Tucson shootings was laid to rest Thursday, after Barack Obama hailed the 9-year-old girl as an inspiration to US politicians to heal their poisonous divisions. Christina Taylor Green, who was among six people killed by a misfit gunman last Saturday, has become the heart-breaking public face of the attacks which unleashed a wave of soul-searching about America's political culture. Hundreds of people lined the streets as her small coffin was borne into the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church for the more than service, and fell silent again when it emerged again more than an hour later.

"It was very good, very beautiful, her father was amazing, he said beautiful words. Uplifting her memory, remembering her, it's all it was about," Jodie Kirk, who attended the church ceremony, told AFP afterwards. "She was... just a normal kid, a joy to the world."

Arthur Silber: You Can't Think, and You're Goddamned Liars

Despite President Zine el Abidine ben Ali's promise of reforms, tens of thousands of protesters gather in the capital, calling for him to step down. There are reports of continuing violence.

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the capital of Tunisia on Friday to demand the resignation of President Zine el Abidine ben Ali even after he gave a major speech the night before promising concessions to a protest movement driven by anger over economic troubles and a lack of political freedoms. "We'll only leave if Ben Ali leaves," they chanted. "Resign, Ben Ali!" The Tunisians gathered near the headquarters of the Interior Ministry, which had taken part in a weeks-long crackdown against demonstrators, rioters and activists. Human rights groups say at least 66 people have been killed since the protests began, including eight Thursday night and Friday morning.

BREAKING:
Tunisian leader quits after protests
President Ben Ali flees as chaos hits country

BusinessWeek: Medical staff report 13 new riot deaths
PressTV: Arab states dictate citizens' lives
Al Jazeera: Police fire at Tunisian protesters
Al Jazeera: Tunisia: The end of an era
Daily Mail: 3,300 British tourists to be evacuated
Deutsche Welle: Marches continue in Tunisian capital as president forgoes reelection

RIO DE JANEIRO—The death toll from severe flooding in southeastern Brazil approached 500 people Thursday, as further rain threatened to complicate relief and recovery efforts after walls of mud and water gushed across entire towns in recent days. After a helicopter flyover and visit to some of the affected areas in the state of Rio de Janeiro, President Dilma Rousseff, in her second week in office, vowed to cut bureaucracy that could hinder prompt delivery of federal funding and aid for overwhelmed state and local officials. "It's not only a natural disaster, but a problem also caused by irregular land occupation," Ms. Rousseff said, adding the government needed to provide better oversight. "Housing in risky areas has become the norm in Brazil, and no longer the exception."

Deutsche Welle: Brazilian disaster prompts anger over illegal land cultivation

Discussions of weather control technology used to be limited to the hushed gossip of conspiracy theorists, but it turns out the conspiracy theorists were right (again). Today in Abu Dhabi, scientists have successfully manipulated entire weather systems, causing up to fifty downpours of rain across the Al Ain region the desert nation over the last year.

It's all being accomplished by a team of scientists working for Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of United Arab Emirates. They have erected entire fields of giant ionizers to generate waves of negative ions which rise into the lower atmosphere and attract dust particles. The dust particles, in turn, attract condensation from the ambient air, and when enough condensation is achieved, the clouds can't hold the water anymore and a downpour of rain is unleashed. The whole system was devices by a Swiss company named Metro Systems International. This last year saw huge rainstorms over Abu Dhabi during July and August -- months that are normally bone dry in the desert. The success of the project astonished even the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, whose former director reportedly said, "Maybe this is a most important point for mankind."

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) is putting the final touches on its 2nd memorial week and International conference. PRC’s Palestinian Memorial Week will commence on Saturday 15th Jan till 22nd of Jan 2011. Workshops, Galleries, Film screening, discussions and awareness sessions will take place.

[Page ruined, presumably by Zio government hackers]

Nayfeh Ka'abneh and a friend. (The Guardian)

Children taught outdoors after bulldozers reduce "unauthorised" buildings to rubble.

In a bleak but beautiful landscape of undulating stony hills I watched a group of Palestinian schoolchildren take their lessons yesterday in the open air next to a heap of rubble that, until this week, was their classroom. This is the village of Dkaika, about as far south in the West Bank as you can get. It's a community of around 300 people, without electricity or running water, whose days are spent tending their herds of goats and sheep and trying not to attract the attention of nearby Jewish settlers.

On Wednesday, at about 7.30am, a convoy of military vehicles and bulldozers arrived to tear down 16 homes, an animal pen, a store and one of the village school's classrooms. All were subject to demolition orders, granted because the structures were built without permission, which is almost impossible for Palestinians to get around here. Dkaika is in Area C, under full Israeli military and civil control, which accounts for 60% of the West Bank. At the time there were dozens of children inside the school. The soldiers tried to prevent the its three teachers from entering the building. Sulaima Najadah, 38, who has taught English at the school since last September, told me that he sneaked in to reassure the crying children.

Alternative Information Center: Israel Continues Attack on Residents of East Jerusalem’s Silwan Neighbourhood + PressTV: J'lem Shepherd Hotel demolition - Listen to these incredible speakers talking on behalf of the Palestinian people (Video) + PressTV: Israel razes two more Palestinian homes

H.R. 67, a new bill introduced by Rep. Mike Rogers (R – MI), would extend the Patriot Act’s provisions which would be set to sunset in February through an additional year. The House had approved a previous extension in February of last year, but only after abandoning the privacy protections that were angrily objected to by the Obama Administration. At the time, that bill was slipped into the “Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act.” The new version is expected to face even less resistance, as there is no indication of any Congressional support remaining for anything that might remotely enhance the privacy of ordinary Americans.

A woman who had her breasts exposed during an airport search by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was to receive a "nominal" payment as a part of a settlement agreement, according to documents released this week. The 24-year-old woman was selected for "extended search procedures" prior to boarding a plane to Amarillo, Texas in 2008. A lawsuit claimed that the TSA agent pulled her blouse completely down while frisking her. "As would be expected, plaintiff was extremely embarrassed and humiliated," the lawsuit alleged.

WRAL.com: RDU passengers angered at TSA security methods

An Indianapolis restaurant posted a Craigslist job ad on Dec. 15 for a bar manager who must "be able to handle the guests, give outstanding service, ensure excellent product from the bar and food side." The ad lists one other important requirement: "Must be currently employed!" Such ads, several of which appear on job sites every day, showcase a not-so-subtle approach to hiring discrimination. There are more secretive and systemic forms of hiring discrimination, however, a government attorney and a staffing insider say.

"There's a lot of dirty stuff going on, a lot of hush-hush discrimination, I can assure you," he said. "As a recruiter, you get an HR director on the phone, and they tell you point blank, 'We want somebody in this age bracket, or this particular gender, currently has a job. We don't want to see a resume from anyone who's not working.' It happens all the time."

An update has just been posted regarding the confinement conditions of Bradley Manning.

13 January 2011

The defense has raised its objection to the documented confinement conditions of PFC Bradley Manning on multiple occasions with the Quantico confinement facility and the Staff Judge Advocate’s (SJA) Office. On 5 January 2011, the defense filed a formal complaint with the commander of the Quantico Brig. On the same day, PFC Manning also filed a formal complaint through the confinement grievance process. Both complaints requested that the confinement facility remove PFC Manning from Prevention of Injury (POI) watch and that his classification level be reduced from "Maximum" to "Medium Detention In." The confinement facility did not respond to either complaint.

Due to the lack of response from the confinement facility, the defense, pursuant to the provisions of Rule for Courts-Martial (R.C.M.) 305(g), filed a request earlier today with the Garrison Commander to direct the release of PFC Bradley Manning from pretrial confinement. This request is based upon the fact that the confinement conditions currently being endured by PFC Manning are more rigorous than necessary to guarantee his presence at trial, and that the concerns raised by the government at the time of pretrial confinement are no longer applicable. Further steps to address PFC Manning's confinement conditions will be taken, if necessary.

Posted by Army Court-Martial Defense Specialist at 4:00 PM

This update and future updates from the Law Offices of David E. Coombs can be found here.

Global WikiLeaks support rallies: Jan 15: Global, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Belfast, Sydney, Hobart, Brisbane, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Lyon, Paris, München, Athens, Athina, Dublin, Rotterdam, Łódź, Piła, Belfast, Bucharest,Edinburgh, Glasgow, Barcelona, Geneva, Zurich, Ankara, Istanbul, Liverpool, London, Peterborough, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Göteborg, Lisbon, Vitoria Gasteiz, Málaga, Bilbao, Valencia, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Dover, Denver, Elkton, Eugene, Key Biscayne, Los Angeles, Miami, Missoula, New Haven, New York, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Ortonville, Saint Louis, Saint Paul, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Sanford, Seattle, Raleigh, Tampa, Washington DC | Jan 19: Rock Island | Jan 20: Ann Arbor| Jan 22: Chicago | Jan 22: Pasadena | Jan 24: Columbia | Jan 25: New Orleans | Jan 29: Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne | Jan 30: New York City | Feb 5: Global | Feb 7/8: London | Feb 16: Houston | May 14: Bristol |Campaigns and petitions | Wikileaks Rallies Tomorrow

Testifying last Friday before the Senate Budget Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke rejected any aid to state or local governments across the country that are facing massive budget deficits. “We have no expectation or intention to get involved in state and local finances,” Bernanke said, adding later that the states “should not expect loans from the Fed.” Bernanke was seconded by the Democratic chairman of the committee, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, who said neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate would be “very interested in bailouts to the states.” The flat rejection of aid to the states by the head of the US central bank makes clear the social priorities and class interests represented by all of the institutions of the government.

Ellen Brown: The FED Has Spoken: No Bailout For Main Street

US home foreclosures hit a new record in 2010, as millions of families faced a disastrous combination of joblessness, falling wages, and plunging home values. The latest foreclosure figures, released Thursday by Realtytrac.com, comes amidst a bout of negative economic statistics that underscore the depth of the social crisis. Approximately 2.8 million properties had foreclosure actions taken against them in 2010, about 1 in 45 US households in all and an increase of 2 percent over 2009. The number of properties repossessed by banks jumped 14 percent, to over one million. The new record comes in spite of an 11 percent curtailment of foreclosure filings and evictions in the fourth quarter.

Three days ago we noted that in just the first week of January, the US Mint had sold 2,221,000 ounces of silver "a number which if run-rated would be an absolutely all time monthly record," A quick glance at the tally today, shows that something very scary is going on. In the subsequent three days, the number has surged by 50% and has hit 3,407,000 ounces of silver! In just the first 12 days of the month we have already surpassed the total monthly sales of 9 separate months of 2010.