It is utterly impossible to look at the delineation of a "Southern race" and not see the Civil War, the creation of an "Irish race" and not think of Cromwell's ethnic cleansing, the creation of a "Jewish race" and not see anti-Semitism.
There is no fixed sense of "whiteness" or "blackness," not even today. It is quite common for whites to point out that Barack Obama isn't really "black" but "half-white." One wonders if they would say this if Barack Obama were a notorious drug-lord. - More
Israel will continue to take military action to prevent the transfer of advanced weaponry to Syria, The New York Times quoted a senior Israeli official as saying Wednesday, a day after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi to discuss the troubled situation.
According to the Times, the Israeli official – who contacted the paper – said, “Israel is determined to continue to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah. - More
Prosecution witnesses tried to explain Monday why they didn't find a Fayetteville man's DNA on the 5-year-old girl he's accused of raping and killing more than three years ago.
Mario Andrette McNeill, 32, is charged with murder, kidnapping and rape in the death of Shaniya Davis. He could face the death penalty if convicted of murder. - More
The U.S. Marine Corps announced Monday that Capt. James V. Clement will be tried for dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming an officer and failure to stop misconduct by those under his command.
The charges were referred for trial following an evidentiary hearing held last month at Camp Lejeune, N.C. A date for the upcoming court-martial has not been set. - More
The police officer who was gravely wounded in the shootout with the Boston bombing suspect spoke publicly for the first time. He told CBS News he got involved in the manhunt when he responded to the shooting of a fellow officer.
Officer Richard Donohue was at scene of the shooting with the Tsarnaev brothers on April 19. The officer who was killed, Sean Collier, was a good friend. Within three hours, Donohue would be the next to go down.
Cleveland cops were summoned six times to handle accusations that accused kidnapper Ariel Castro had assaulted or menaced people, including three alleged beatings of his wife, but he was only convicted once and was never sentenced to any prison time.
One of the accusations against Castro was that he battered his wife while she was recovering from brain surgery, according to newly released police records. - More
“What’s blocking us right now is sort of hyper-partisanship in Washington that, frankly, I was hoping to overcome in 2008. And in the midst of crisis, I think the other party reacted, rather than saying now is the time for us all to join together, decided to take a different path,” Obama said at the Democratic National Committee fundraiser. “My thinking was after we beat them in 2012, well, that might break the fever, and it’s not quite broken yet.
"But I am persistent,” he said. “And I am staying at it. And I genuinely believe that there are actually Republicans out there who would like to work with us but they’re fearful of their base and they’re concerned about what Rush Limbaugh might say about them. And, as a consequence, we get the kind of gridlock that makes people cynical about government and inhibits our progress.”
Taiwan Sunday sent four coastguard and naval vessels to strengthen patrols in waters near the Philippines following public outrage over the shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by Filipino coastguards.
“The government is determined to protect our fishermen,” cabinet spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen said in a statement as a frigate and coastguard vessels set sail for the area where the 65-year-old fisherman was killed Thursday. - More
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