President Barack Obama said last May that control of the United States’ weaponized drone program would shift away from the Central Intelligence Agency and into the hands of the Pentagon, but a new report suggests Congress could keep that from happening. ● According to a front-page article on this Thursday’s edition of the Washington Post, members of the US House and Senate appropriations committee have in total secrecy been spearheading efforts to ensure that a classified provision pertaining to America’s drone war is included in the latest government spending bill. Should those lawmakers be successful in their attempt, Pres. Obama’s stated intentions with regards to America’s controversial drone program could effectively be quashed and control over an arsenal of robotic killing machines would stay within the CIA’s jurisdictions.

The recent cold spell that swept through much of the continental U.S. was the result of global warming, a new propaganda video put out by the White House claims. According to Obama's Science and Technology Advisor, Dr. John Holdren, the U.S. supposedly experienced one of its worst freezes in contemporary history because the planet is warming, an absolutely astounding demonstration of cognitive dissonance that proves the total insanity of our nation's leaders. The video, entitled "The Polar Vortex Explained in 2 Minutes," makes the audacious claim that one of the major indicators of global warming is a progressive increase in extreme cold weather patterns. With a completely straight face, Dr. Holdren, the White House climate czar, attempts to convince America during the clip that extreme cold actually means progressive warming, or something like that.

[Editor's Comment:] If there had been a spell of hot weather, it's pretty darn clear that the White House Climate Czar would have claimed this was because of global warming. So according to him (probably), any spell, whether cold or hot, would prove his position, which fundamentally therefore is untestable. Flashing all sorts of graphs and time-lapse imagery of changing polar ice caps isn't in and of itself science. Science is the realm of the testable. If it's not testable, it's not science. What is it then? Faith? -Well, no, because Obama's Climate Czar is not being sincere. He knows he's lying. So it's not even faith. We'll get to the point: it's clear what it really is - it's propaganda. That's what this video is. Pure & simple. So updating Orwell a wee bit, we'll put it this way: Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, War is Peace and Freezing is Warming...There you have it.

The United States military is conducting a formal investigation into American soldiers burning the dead bodies of what appear to be Iraqi insurgents. ● TMZ obtained 41 pictures that we're told were shot in Fallujah in 2004. Two pictures show a Marine appearing to pour gasoline or some other flammable on the remains of what officials believe are 2 insurgents. Two other photos show the bodies on fire. You then see charred remains. Another photo shows a Marine crouched down next to a dead body and mugging for the camera. Still another pic shows a Marine rifling through the pocket of the pants on a corpse. We have not included all of the photos. Many are just too gruesome. There are well over a dozen bodies in the pics and some are covered with flies and one is being eaten by a dog. We turned them all over to the Pentagon last week, and a Pentagon official tells us the pics have triggered a Marine Corps investigation.

Today, 15 January 2014, WikiLeaks released the secret draft text for the entire TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Environment Chapter and the corresponding Chairs' Report. The TPP transnational legal regime would cover 12 countries initially and encompass 40 per cent of global GDP and one-third of world trade. The Environment Chapter has long been sought by journalists and environmental groups. The released text dates from the Chief Negotiators' summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 19-24 November 2013. The Environment Chapter covers what the Parties propose to be their positions on: environmental issues, including climate change, biodiversity and fishing stocks; and trade and investment in 'environmental' goods and services. It also outlines how to resolve enviromental disputes arising out of the treaty's subsequent implementation. The draft Consolidated Text was prepared by the Chairs of the Environment Working Group, at the request of TPP Ministers at the Brunei round of the negotiations.

President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday warned that the danger of Wahhabi thinking has become a threat to the entire world and not just the region’s countries. ■ The President was speaking during a meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the accompanying delegation, during which talks dealt with the developments in the region and the common challenges facing its countries, foremost being the epidemic of terrorism and extremist takfiri thinking. President al-Assad added that the Syrian people and some of the region’s peoples have become aware of the seriousness of this terrorist thinking and that everybody should contribute to confronting and eradicating it. The Iranian Minister affirmed his country’s keenness on unifying the efforts of the region’s countries to counter the challenges the region is faced with and combat terrorism to achieve security and stability in it. Discussions also tackled the preparations underway for Geneva 2 conference, with Zarif expressing the Iranian leadership and people’s support for Syria in its efforts to make the conference a success.