At least 12 people have been shot — with multiple fatalities — at a Navy building in Washington by a gunman who was later killed but may not have acted alone, authorities said. ● Shots were fired just after 8 a.m. at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters in southeast Washington, and in the ensuing hours there were conflicting reports on the number of victims and the number of gunmen, although a federal law enforcement official told Fox News that one shooter has died. Police said as many as two additional gunmen may still be at large, and thousands of workers who report to the building were being told to "shelter in place" until officials could safely evacuate them. As many as 12 people were shot, including seven fatally, a U.S. official told Reuters, citing a preliminary report.

New York Post: 2 gunmen in ‘military-style fatigues’ sought; 12 shot dead in DC
Reuters: Gunmen open fire at Navy Yard in Washington, several killed, injured
Russia Today: At least 12 fatalities in DC Navy Yard shooting – police

Country reportedly stopped producing atomic weapons in 2004 but possesses enough fissile material for up to 190 warheads. ● Israel possesses a stockpile of 80 nuclear warheads, all of which were produced by 2004, when Israel froze all production, according to a report published over the weekend. The report, in the September/October issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, cited US Defense Intelligence Agency figures. Israel began to produce nuclear warheads in 1967 and gradually built up its arsenal, producing between two and three warheads each year until it amassed 80 warheads in 2004.The report did not say why Israel had ceased production, although it noted that the Jewish state is estimated to have produced enough fissile material for 115 to 190 warheads. Israel’s nuclear program has long been shrouded in secrecy, with the country maintaining a policy of ambiguity while refusing to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

LA Times: Israel has 80 nuclear warheads, can make 115 to 190 more, report says

Xymphora: "The People Against the 800 Pound Gorilla" by Jean Bricmont and Diana Johnstone: "An American friend who knows Washington well recently told us that “everybody” there knows that, as far as the drive to war with Syria is concerned, it is Israel that directs U.S. policy. Why then, we replied, don’t opponents of war say it out loud, since, if the American public knew that, support for the war would collapse? Of course, we knew the answer to that question. They are afraid to say all they know, because if you blame the pro-Israel lobby, you are branded an anti-Semite in the media and your career is destroyed."

Jean Shaoul: Israel attacks Russian plan for Syria’s chemical weapons ■ Obama’s decision was made necessary by overwhelming popular opposition to war. But Netanyahu and his right-wing allies have been unable to contain their anger and derision. Unidentified Israeli officials were widely quoted mocking the decision as undermining the image of American resolve. They said that if Obama was hesitating in confronting Syria, he would be even more hesitant in striking at Iran, a far more complicated move. This would, they argued, leave Israel to act alone. Netanyahu took a swipe at Obama, saying that Israel could not trust anyone on security issues. Speaking to naval officers at a graduation ceremony in Haifa, he said, “The main rule that guides me in my actions as prime minister and on which I am very particular, is: If I am not for myself, who will be? If we are not for ourselves, who will be? We are for ourselves.”

Kerry: Attacking Syria Remains an Option
Obama, Kerry Reiterate Threats of Attacking Iran

Chemical weapons were used on a relatively large scale in the Ghouta area of Damascus in Aug.21 attack, the UN investigators’ report says. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has submitted report at a closed-door meeting in New York. ● “The Mission has concluded that chemical weapons were used on a relatively large scale in the Ghouta area of Damascus in the context of the ongoing conflict in Syria. The attack resulted in numerous casualties, particularly among civilians,” Ban Ki-moon said in a statement published on the UN website. The UN Secretary General said the conclusions drawn in the report are “overwhelming and indisputable”.

These are the vile creatures Obama and Netayahu are working with. They are destroying Syria, piece by piece. This is insanity. They are saying; "We swear to god that we will eat your hearts and livers you soldiers or Bashar the dog. We are the heroes of Baba Amr." There is a historical connection to eating heart and livers of men when it comes to the history of Islam. "Her status as a Sahaba (companion of Muhammad) remains questioned because of actions she took against the Muslim community before her conversion, particularly an incident of alleged battlefield cannibalism." Sick sick "human" being.

Washington's Blog: 2 Congress Members: We Shouldn’t Be “Al Qaeda’s Air Force” - Kerry’s Claim that Syrian Rebels Are Not Associated with Al Qaeda Has Been Thoroughly Debunked

Secularists Are Miniscule Part of Overall "Rebellion". ■ A new report from defense analysts IHS Jane’s provided some of the first recent estimates of the size of Syria’s "rebellion", and more importantly the groups that make it up. They put the overall "rebel fighters" at 100,000 strong, but that is made up of some 1,000 different factions. Al-Qaeda directly commands the loyalty of around 10,000 of those fighters. nother 30,000 to 35,000 of the "rebels" [terrorists] are “jihadists” from pro-al-Qaeda factions that aren’t explicitly run by the group, and still 30,000 more represent various Islamist factions of a somewhat more moderate character. What’s left is the secularist component, a pretty small minority in the grand scheme of things, made doubly so by the fact that the al-Qaeda run forces like Jabhat al-Nusra have been dramatically more formidable in fighting. Jihadists have been the most active portion of the "rebellion", attacking ethnic Kurds and religious minorities nationwide, including three more Alawite villages sacked today in Homs Province.

Justin Raimondo: Obama’s Contras: The Syrian ‘Rebels’

● Beginning on Wednesday, heavy rains have caused unprecedented flooding in the state of Colorado. As of Sunday, there are several confirmed deaths and more than 500 people missing in what is being described as a 500-to-1,000-year flood. The National Weather Service reported that 1.73 inches of rain fell southeast of Denver in less than 30 minutes. Some areas have received more than 15 inches of rain since the flooding began. More rain is expected in the coming week.
● Rains have washed away bridges and roads. Houses have fallen into the rivers. In the Big Thompson Canyon area, Highway 34 has been washed out, cutting off a major route to Estes Park, which, as of Saturday, had only radio communication with the outside world.
● President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency late Saturday, and said federal assistance would be available to the state. So far, however, only a measly $5 million in federal funds has been set aside to aid the victims of the floods. In Boulder County alone, an estimated $150 million will be needed just to repair 100 to 150 miles of roads and 20 to 30 bridges. According to County Transportation Director George Gerstle, it will cost 10 to 15 times the county’s normal annual budget.

A leaked copy of the world’s most authoritative climate study reveals scientific forecasts of imminent doom were drastically wrong. ● The Mail on Sunday has obtained the final draft of a report to be published later this month by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the "ultimate watchdog" whose massive, six-yearly ‘assessments’ are accepted by environmentalists, politicians and experts as the gospel of climate science. They are cited worldwide to justify swingeing fossil fuel taxes and subsidies for ‘renewable’ energy. ● Yet the leaked report makes the extraordinary concession that the world has been warming at only just over half the rate claimed by the IPCC in its last assessment, published in 2007. Back then, it said that the planet was warming at a rate of 0.2C every decade – a figure it claimed was in line with the forecasts made by computer climate models. But the new report says the true figure since 1951 has been only 0.12C per decade – a rate far below even the lowest computer prediction. ● The 31-page ‘summary for policymakers’ is based on a more technical 2,000-page analysis which will be issued at the same time. It also surprisingly reveals: IPCC scientists accept their forecast computers may have exaggerated the effect of increased carbon emissions on world temperatures – and not taken enough notice of natural variability.

Rules bar government researchers from talking about their own work with journalists and even fellow researchers. :: The Canadian government in recent years has banned government scientists from talking about a growing list of research topics including: snowflakes, the ozone layer, salmon, and previously published work about a 13,000-year-old flood. Now it seems the scientists are talking back. Researchers in 16 Canadian cities have called protests on Monday against science policies introduced under the government of Stephen Harper, which include rules barring government researchers from talking about their own work with journalists and, in some cases, even fellow researchers.

Glenn Greenwald: A lavish Star Trek room he had built as part of his 'Information Dominance Center' is endlessly revealing ■ It has been previously reported that the mentality of NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander is captured by his motto "Collect it All". It's a get-everything approach he pioneered first when aimed at an enemy population in the middle of a war zone in Iraq, one he has now imported onto US soil, aimed at the domestic population and everyone else. But a perhaps even more disturbing and revealing vignette into the spy chief's mind comes from a new Foreign Policy article describing what the journal calls his "all-out, barely-legal drive to build the ultimate spy machine". The article describes how even his NSA peers see him as a "cowboy" willing to play fast and loose with legal limits in order to construct a system of ubiquitous surveillance. But the personality driving all of this - not just Alexander's but much of Washington's - is perhaps best captured by this one passage, highlighted by PBS' News Hour in a post entitled: "NSA director modeled war room after Star Trek's Enterprise". The room was christened as part of the "Information Dominance Center."