One-minute clip, of a president who stood up for the poor 75 years ago in circumstances similar to those threatening them today. (1936) FDR tells the truth about the leaders of the modern Republican party. Somehow, in 1936, he foresaw what would be happening NOW. [Today the Democrats are no better than the republicans. Don't fool yourselves into believing otherwise.][Video link]

Michael Snyder: Obama And Romney Both Favor A One World Economic System That Kills American Jobs

The reëlection of Barack Obama is a matter of great urgency. Not only are we in broad agreement with his policy directions; we also see in him what is absent in Mitt Romney—a first-rate political temperament and a deep sense of fairness and integrity. A two-term Obama Administration will leave an enduringly positive imprint on political life. It will bolster the ideal of good governance and a social vision that tempers individualism with a concern for community. Every Presidential election involves a contest over the idea of America. Obama’s America—one that progresses, however falteringly, toward social justice, tolerance, and equality—represents the future that this country deserves.

Stephen Lendman: Obama's Legacy of Shame
Stephen Lendman: Obama's Failed State of the Union
Stephen Lendman: Murder, Inc: Official Obama Policy
Glen Ford: Why Barack Obama is the More Effective Evil
Yves Smith: Barack Obama, the Great Deceiver
Philip Giraldi: Obama’s Report Card

[Editor's Comment:] The last honest American election took place long ago. Americans are not in charge. By habit & encouragement (propaganda) they still are going through the motions at Election Day even though they should know better. It does not matter one whit whom they actually vote for - whether Obama or Romney. Systemic vote fraud most likely will see to it that the election result will be what the elite intended. The corporate vote counting business has closed optical scan voting machines and DRE voting machines against inspections & independent verification. This means that vote fraud can go undetected. It is not a question of whether the voting machines can be hacked or not. (They both can and most likely will be.) It seems to us that the fundamental question this one: Are people still able to independently verify whether their votes have been counted correctly or not? Well, no. They cannot do this anymore. Now the only purpose of the election campaign is to get people to go and vote so that a fraudulent result can be foisted on them and be declared to be the "will of the people". Under these circumstances the only sensible thing to do is not to vote at all, not even for third party candidates. Americans would be fools to vote on November 6th. Stay home - 2012 is rigged!

Iran followed the United States on Sunday in denying that the two countries had scheduled direct bilateral negotiations on Iran's controversial nuclear program. - The New York Times, quoting unnamed U.S. administration officials, had said on Saturday that secret exchanges between U.S. and Iranian officials had yielded agreement "in principle" to hold one-on-one talks. We don't have any discussions or negotiations with America," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told a news conference. "The (nuclear) talks are ongoing with the P5+1 group of nations. Other than that, we have no discussions with the United States." The P5+1 group comprises the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia - plus Germany. The United States has been working with the P5+1 to pressure Iran on its nuclear program, but with few results. The United States and other Western powers allege that the program is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, but Tehran says it is purely peaceful.

New York Times: U.S. Officials Say Iran Has Agreed to Nuclear Talks
John Glaser: NYT: US, Iran Agree to One-On-One Nuclear Talks After Election

Foreign-backed "insurgents" in Syria have admitted that they receive salaries from their regional and trans-regional supporters in US dollars for fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The "insurgents" make thumbprints in ink next to their names and receive USD 150 a month for fighting against Syrian military forces. The commanders of the "insurgents" in the flashpoint city of Aleppo distributed the first salaries of the armed groups, saying the money is coming from some foreign states, including Qatar and Turkey. The military councils "are undertaking to distribute monthly salaries to the fighters, especially on the front lines," said a commander of the armed gangs, Abdul Salam Humaidi. "The Military Council (is) distributing the salaries, with Qatari support... of $150 per person registered for two months," said Haji al-Bab, another insurgent commander. Another commander of the armed gangs said the sources of the money were ‘Turkey and some Persian Gulf states.’ Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011.

The Turkish government has again called on the United States and the European powers to take direct military action against Syria. Speaking to Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed that such an intervention was required to “stop the bloodshed” and resolve the refugee crisis in Syria. "We [Turkey] are doing all we can to help these people, using all diplomatic capacity to stop this bloodshed,” Davutoglu told Guardian columnist and Assistant Editor Simon Tisdall. “But there should be a much more concerted effort by the international community. The best way we can see now is direct humanitarian intervention.”

Wayne Madsen: Turkish-Syrian Border Fighting a Prelude to NATO Intervention?

Media Is Joking With The Lives Of People In Bani Walid.Demand Decency!

Please do something to stop killing children and old people in the city of Bani Walid, the hometwon of the tribe of Werfalla, Libya. Massacres and war crimes. are taking place right now in there. The armed tribal militias controlled by the tribe of Misurata are attacking the city of Bani Walid with rockets and heavy weapons. They don't care about the civilians in the city. Many people including children and women have already died and injured because of the missiles launched to the city of Bani Walid by the armed militias. The armed militias of the tribe of Misurata want to destroy the city of Bani Walid and kill its people as they did to the city of Tawergha and its people. They even say that in their local media a few days ago. Many evidences on Youtube show that they want to take revenge of people of Bani Walid blaming them for supporting the previous regime. Because the UN argued to stop the siege and the war on Bani Walid, they started their propaganda to pretend that they want to only arrest some wanted people. They are taking advantage of being in power as they are governing Libya now to make this appears as a legitimate operation the army is taking against some wanted people. What a stupid excuse that allows armed tribal militias to attack a city with almost 100,000 population just to arrest a few wanted people?. Libyan people went to streets almost a month ago in Benghazi and Tripoli asking for establishing the army as the armed tribal militias are the ones who have the power in Libya now. All Libyans know that those tribal militias are trying hard to get more and more power so that they can impose their agendas on the Libyan National Congress as well as the new government. We, the people of Bani Walid, want the whole world as well as the UN to work ASAP to stop the genocide and the war crimes that are taking place in Bani Walid now by the armed tribal militias controlled by the tribe of Misurata. We, the people of Bani Walid, do believe that the war on Bani Walid is because of historical tribal issues that took place in the region almost a hundred years ago. [Video link]

At least eight people have been killed in new US-led airstrikes in the Wardak and Kandahar provinces respectively situated in central and southern Afghanistan, Press TV reports. Six people were killed in a pre-dawn strike in the Wardak province. The provincial police said the assault had targeted a house. Some local sources said that militants had been killed in the raid, but there has not been an official statement from any militant group confirming the accounts. In a separate raid, two people were killed in the Kandahar province’s Panjwai district in late Sunday.

PCHR: Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Israeli warplanes have once again bombarded the besieged Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinians and injuring several others, Press TV reports. The air raid was carried out on Monday when the Israeli fighter jets targeted the village of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military frequently bombards the Gaza Strip, claiming the strikes are being conducted for "defensive" purposes. However, disproportionate force is always used, in violation of international law, and civilians are often killed or injured.

One hundred alleged victims of abuse at the hands of Chicago police officers, have been granted hearings to describe the torture they faced. For decades, minority inmates were beaten, shocked and suffocated into confessing their crimes.

The Chicago police officers were said to be racially motivated in their actions, abusing African American men arrested on the south and west sides of Chicago for four decades, the Courthouse News reports. Some of the officers are already serving jail time for their involvement in the torture, but new hearings requested by victims Johnnie Plummer and Vincent Wade will take place for 100 additional victims of their abuse. The police officers in question are Lt. Jon Burge, Sgt. John Byrne and those working under their command. Burge, a 64-year old Army veteran, who gained notoriety for torturing hundreds of criminals between 1972 and 1991. The victims of abuse were “subjected to racially motivated physical abuse – including electric shock, mock execution, suffocation with a plastic bag and beating – that caused him to inculpate himself involuntarily in a crime,” the court complaint states. Burge also burned victims with cigarettes and radiators, used a cattle prod on inmates, electrocuted men in their genitals, and used violet wands, hair dryers and stun guns to further harm men’s genital regions. The officer has also been accused of supervising the electrical shocking of a 13-year-old boy. Plummer claims that he was forced to confess to murder when he was 15 years old. He says officers under Burge’s command threatened him, beat him with a flashlight and pulled his hair. As a result, Plummer has been in prison for 21 years without a fair hearing, the complaint states.