U.S. Scales-Back Military Exercise with Israel, Affecting Potential Iran Strike

A smaller U.S. contingent may make it more difficult for the Israeli government to launch a pre-emptive strike on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Full Story…

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Russia is disengaging from Syria: Arms shipments stopped, warships exit Tartus

Russian naval vessels have unexpectedly departed the Syrian Mediterranean port of Tartus and Russian arms shipments to Syria have been suddenly discontinued. debkafile’s military sources reveal that those and other steps indicate that the Russians are rapidly drawing away from the Syrian arena to avoid getting caught up in the escalating hostilities expected to arise […]

The third straight Republican Convention greatly impacted by a major storm

The third straight Republican Convention greatly impacted by a major storm.

There were two major record-setting, billion-dollar hurricanes at the time of the 2004 (Frances) and 2008 (Gustav) Republican Conventions. They literally became the main news stories up to and during the Republican Convention.

Full Story – Bill Koenig…

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Pakistan Christian girl held, accused of blasphemy

From Yahoo! Reports…

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani authorities have arrested a young Christian girl after hundreds of furious neighbors gathered outside her house and accused her of violating the country’s strict blasphemy laws by burning pages of the Muslim holy book, police and neighbors said Monday. The girl’s age was not immediately clear, with reports […]

Agencies tamp down speculation over hollow-point ammo purchases

Obscure federal agencies triggered a firestorm of conspiracy theories this week after they put out orders for thousands of rounds of deadly hollow-point bullets. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/17/agencies-tamp-down-speculation-over-hollow-point-ammo-purchases/#ixzz23s515mPS

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‘Brotherhood’ starts crucifixions

Opponents of Egypt’s Muslim president executed ‘naked on trees’

The Arab Spring takeover of Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood has run amok, with reports from several different media agencies that the radical Muslims have begun crucifying opponents of newly installed President Mohammed Morsi.

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Harvard cracks DNA storage, crams 700 terabytes of data into a single gram

A bioengineer and geneticist at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have successfully stored 5.5 petabits of data — around 700 terabytes — in a single gram of DNA, smashing the previous DNA data density record by a thousand times.

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Virginia vintners taste the police state

While the Obama administration is busy eviscerating private property rights at the federal level, Republican-controlled Fauquier County, Va., has decided to follow suit in its own way. Fauquier’s Board of Supervisors recently passed a winery ordinance that tramples private property rights and some fundamental civil liberties.

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Iran: Israel’s existence ‘insult to all humanity’

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Israel’s existence is an "insult to all humanity," Iran’s president said Friday in one of his sharpest attacks yet against the Jewish state, as Israel openly debates whether to attack Iran over its nuclear program.

Yahoo! Full Story…

theguardian story…

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Cleanup begins for dead fish along Gulf Coast

This isn’t considered a minor fish kill on Galveston Island. There are hundreds of thousands of fish that have died and now Texas Parks and Wildlife is trying to determine why.

Full Story…

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