The Birthers New Game

Dave Weigel notes how a new smear campaign launched from the right wing echo chamber has exploded across the usual media dumping grounds like Drudge and Fox News. The reports claim that Newark Mayor Cory Booker doesn't live in Newark. In fact, they go on to claim that he's never lived there and that his neighbors have never seen him around.

It's a rather fanciful tale, but the warning flags about these claims should come up from the byline on down.

For starters, let's look at who's peddling this particular story. It's Joel Gilbert, a director who's best known for putting together birther conspiracy films about how President Obama isn't an American citizen and should not be president. He's now doing the same thing with Cory Booker (another African American politician at that). It's meant to be disruptive, but it doesn't take much to rebuff this kind of transparent smear job that's worthy of James O'Keefe.

Substantively, these claims about Booker not living in Newark can't pass the smell test. Booker's presence in Newark is well documented on social media - especially Twitter. There are hundreds of messages relating to hyperlocal activities of Booker and his neighbors in Newark including helping out neighbors around the corner when the power went out during Hurricane Sandy. In particular, there's this exchange.

https://twitter.com/CoryBooker/statuses/263990447205122048

Local media reports and national media outlets followed the reporting and provided photos and interviews with those who stayed over at Booker's Newark home or came by to recharge phones, etc. It was widely reported. For instance, Huffington Post carried this story as part of the larger context of what people were doing to cope with the storm's effects. Time had a similar report, indicating that 12 of his neighbors crashed at his place, getting food delivered and watching kid-friendly DVDs.

Now, we've got Steve Lonegan aligned right wing media outlets peddling a smear about how Booker isn't a Newark residence. In fact, we've even got political operative Dick Morris pushing this nonsense and going beyond it to claim that he's got a plan to deny Booker a seat in the Senate based on lack of residency.

Politicker indicated that Booker gave his neighbors free reign to use an entire floor, including kitchen and bathroom, complete with photos. That's from November 2, 2012.

An easy Internet search disproves this nonsense, but that's actually besides the point. Lonegan and the right wing are trying to delegitimize candidates in any way, shape, or form. Birther and conspiracy theories all fit into the strategy to undermine their political opponents. It makes it easier to attack their political achievements when claiming that they aren't legitimate either. Putting this out there with less than 24 hours to go before the special election is meant to give Booker little time to counter the smear and take Booker off message.

It all comes at a time when Lonegan's long-shot chance at winning is getting longer. Lonegan's supposed closing rally in the polling is just that - supposed. He hasn't come any closer than double digits in any polls, and a few are indicating that Booker has regained a significant and comfortable lead.

Part of the reason that the spread has grown is that Booker has rightfully called Lonegan and his fellow travelers as the extremists as they are. Lonegan didn't help his cause any when he got Sarah Palin to stump for him. That only burnished his extremist credentials.

Lonegan's attack ads also attempt to throw every conceivable buzz word at Booker, even calling him corrupt. It hasn't worked, but it only shows that Lonegan is a one-trick pony who can gin up interest only by whipping right wingers into a frenzy.

While that can help rally the base, it wont peel off independents who are flocking to Booker and reinforces the fact that Lonegan is a tea party extremist who's comfortable with shutting down government and threatening default in order to extort the kind of defund/delay/destroy Obamacare demands that his fellow travelers in the House and Senate are pushing.

Lonegan is all kinds of wrong for New Jersey, and wrong for the country. Tomorrow's election should seal that fate.

Polls open in New Jersey's special election tomorrow at 6 am through 8pm.

Cross Posted at LGF

The Latest Casualty In Syria's Civil War: Aleppo's Historic Souk

Syria's civil war continues to rage on and the casualties continue rising. As the tally of those refugees displaced by the war grows to a record level in the 21st century, the body count continues rising as the tally from a Syrian military airstrike on a town near Syria's northern border was 21, including eight children. At the same time, among the latest casualties is Aleppo's historic souk, which was a UNESCO World Heritage Site and dates back to the 14th century.

Heavy shelling rocked Damascus and other towns today, just a day after the closing of the week-long United Nations General Assembly meeting, where world leaders spent countless hours calling for an end to the deadly Syrian crisis and Syria’s foreign minister accused members of trying to impose colonial policies on his country.

Anti-government activists reported shelling in Daraa, Idlib, and the Damascus suburb of Douma today, and at least 17 people were killed this morning as a result of the violence, according to the opposition's Local Coordination Committees of Syria. Fierce fighting in Aleppo, which began in the city's Souk al-Medina over the weekend and continued into yesterday, left the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, smoldering.

At the close of the General Assembly yesterday, no diplomatic resolution was reached on Syria, despite more than seven days of speeches where “Syria was discussed by one country after another,” reports the Associated Press.

Souks are markets that are at the heart of many cities throughout the Middle East. They are wonderous places to behold as merchants ply their wares in stalls and spices and herbs waft through the air as dry goods and foods are sold. The Aleppo souk was destroyed in the course of heavy fighting between rebel forces and Bashar al Assad's forces. Before it was destroyed, it was considered the world's largest covered souk, and fires destroyed more than 1,500 shops. Activists claim that Assad's forces used incendiary rounds in attacking rebel forces in and around the souk.

The UN General Assembly wrapped up business without taking any action on the situation.

Meanwhile, the authenticity of a video purporting to show rebels holding a kidnapped American journalist Austin Tice has been questioned. It appears that Assad's propagandists may have staged the video to discredit the rebel forces.

Joseph Holliday, a former United States Army intelligence officer who tracks Syrian rebel groups for the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, told The Post that it seemed strange that the armed men around Mr. Tice were wearing what appear to be salwar kameez, traditional clothing worn in Afghanistan, which looked very clean. “It’s like a caricature of a jihadi group,” he said. “My gut instinct is that regime security guys dressed up like a bunch of wahoos and dragged him around and released the video to scare the U.S. and others about the danger of Al Qaeda extremists in Syria. It would fit their narrative perfectly.”

The video came to light the same day that Syria’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, scolded other countries who “clearly induce and support terrorism in Syria with money, weapons and foreign fighters,” in an address to the United Nations General Assembly.

At the same time, reports indicate that Hizbullah forces are among those killed in Syria. Their identities were revealed by Lebanese security officials upon the return of their remains to Lebanon for burial. While it isn't clear which side they fought for, Hizbullah has been generally backing Assad's regime and could have been bolstering Assad's loyalist militias.

Another one of Syria's neighbors, Jordan, caught four people trying to enter Syria.

Jordan on Tuesday charged four men with illegally trying to cross into Syria after an exchange of gunfire with Jordanian border guards last week, a military prosecutor said.

The prosecutor said three of the men were in custody following their arrest along an isolated stretch of the northern frontier with Syria.

He said the fourth man escaped after the group had shot at a Jordanian border patrol, wounding one officer. The prosecutor spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.

He said the men were all Jordanian and were armed with automatic rifles and ammunition, and had computers and mobile phones when they were arrested.

Syria has become a honey pot for jihadi groups and others seeking the experience of fighting in yet another conflict in the region.

Ahmadinejad Makes Annual Trip To UN General Assembly; Anti-Gay, Anti-Israel Comments Ensue

There's no surprises here. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hates Israel's very existence and doesn't think any better of gays or lesbians. He lets those views air once again in an interview given before he speaks at the United Nations expect that they will be part and parcel of his rants tomorrow when he speaks at the UN General Assembly (which will likely be marked by Israel, the US and other countries walking out on his rants).

During a taped interview with Piers Morgan broadcast Monday night on CNN, Ahmadinejad responded candidly to Morgan's questioning about a statement the Iranian leader once made that Israel should be "wiped off the map."

Speaking through a translator, Ahmadinejad said:
If a group comes and occupies the United States of America, destroys homes while women and children are in those homes, incarcerate the youth of America, impose five different wars on many neighbors, and always threaten others, what would you do? What would you say? Would you help it? ... Or would you help the people of the United States?

So when we say "to be wiped," we say for occupation to be wiped off from this world. For war-seeking to (be) wiped off and eradicated, the killing of women and children to be eradicated. And we propose the way. We propose the path. The path is to recognize the right of the Palestinians to self-governance.

Ahmadinejad also did not fully acknowledge the Holocaust, saying to Morgan, "Whatever event has taken place throughout history, or hasn't taken place, I cannot judge that. Why should I judge that? I say researchers and scholars must be free to conduct research and analysis about any historical event."

That he's going to claim that Israel's existence is an abomination and is an illegitimate state isn't news. He's been doing this routine for years. Ahmadinejad's also been deep in Holocaust denial for years as well.

That he's doing it in a speech scheduled for Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day, is. Who put together that schedule?

Mission Accomplished: Mystery Anti-Muslim Film Sows Violence Around World

If the intent of whoever was behind the mystery film was to disrupt US diplomatic missions around the world, mission accomplished.

The overdubbed video clips have taken on a life of their own and it's no longer about the video, but anger directed at the US for no reason other than it's the in-thing to do in places like Tunisia and Egypt. At a time when the economic conditions in those countries isn't improving after regime change, protesting against the US (and throw in the anti-Israel sentiments expressed in some) is a safe way to divert attention away from the inability to improve the economic conditions as fast as everyone wants.

Blaming the US is better than trying to create jobs in those countries. Claiming that the US engaged in blasphemy or somehow supports blasphemy is easier than trying to understand that free speech is a universal right and includes the right to say things that other groups might not like or want to hear or see, but it doesn't give anyone the right to blow stuff up or riot and destroy property. Free exercise of religion means not imposing your religious views on others, or other nations for that matter.

Those behind the film are agent provocateurs who sought to sow discord and create conflict. They achieved those goals, and now the US and those regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere these protests/riots are going on have to deal with the fallout.

One has to also wonder who benefits from the repercussions of these protests/riots/attacks. Iran definitely comes to mind, as do the regimes that replaced longstanding brutal regimes that did not tolerate dissent. This is something that has to be explored at greater depth.

Riots and protests are spreading to other countries, and the list now includes Tunisia, Lebanon (which happens to be where Pope Benedict is visiting on a diplomatic trip), Yemen, Bangladesh, and the German embassy in Khartoum Sudan has been torched. Jordan has also seen protests. Here's a map showing where those protests are underway.

But you know who hasn't seen the film or the clips - most of those protesting. It's a ginned up controversy and the film's creators/backers are still not fully known. And what's known about those involved thus far indicate that the producer was a convicted criminal and a shady character - a grifter being a most charitable term, while the director was incompetent and may not have known the plot/dialogue and the actors didn't know what they were doing or that the film was overdubbed afterwards to completely change the meaning and context of the scenes.

This situation smells, make that reeks, of the trajectory followed in the cartoon jihad that cost more than 100 lives across the world and resulted in embassies of several countries being attacked.

Once again, we have an obscure publication that gets picked up and within days is turned into a rallying cry for rioting and protests by Islamist leaders decrying the blasphemous acts and portrayals - urging death to those involved. Instead of the targets being embassies of the Danes, the nation of the Jyllands Posten, which published the cartoons originally, it's US diplomatic facilities are being targeted (and also Germany). In some instances, it appears that local governments are backing protests, while others - as in Libya - the government is actively trying to block the attacks/protests.

It may also be useful to try and distinguish between the terror attack that killed Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans in Libya and the protests/riots in Egypt and elsewhere. The attack in Libya appears to have been a preplanned attack to coincide with 9/11, while the protests elsewhere appear to be more closely related to the outrage over the mystery film. The film outrage may have spurred protests in Libya as well that were exploited by the attackers, but the scenario has blurred together into one mess that will take quite some time to sort out.

Protests Continue Against Mystery Film; US Embassies On Alert

Protests continue in Egypt and now in Yemen against US embassies over the mysterious anti-Muslim film that set the actions of the past few days, including deadly attacks against the US mission in Libya that ended in the death of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, plus another 30 injuries to both American and Libyans.

The ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, was missing almost immediately after the start of an intense, four-hour firefight for control of the mission, and his body was not located until Wednesday morning at dawn, when he was found dead at a Benghazi hospital, American and Libyan officials said. It was the first time since 1979 that an American ambassador had died in a violent assault.

American and European officials said that while many details about the attack remained unclear, the assailants seemed organized, well trained and heavily armed, and they appeared to have at least some level of advance planning. But the officials cautioned that it was too soon to tell whether the attack was related to the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Fighters involved in the assault, which was spearheaded by a Islamist brigade formed during last year’s uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, said in interviews during the battle that they were moved to attack the mission by anger over a 14-minute, American-made video that depicted the Prophet Muhammad, Islam’s founder, as a villainous, homosexual and child-molesting buffoon. Their attack followed by just a few hours the storming of the compound surrounding the United States Embassy in Cairo by an unarmed mob protesting the same video. On Wednesday, new crowds of protesters gathered outside the United States Embassies in Tunis and Cairo.

The wave of unrest set off by the video, posted online in the United States two months ago and dubbed into Arabic for the first time eight days ago, has further underscored the instability of the countries that cast off their longtime dictators in the Arab Spring revolts. It also cast doubt on the adequacy of security preparations at American diplomatic outposts in the volatile region.

Libya says that they've arrested several people in connection with the attacks, and the US has sent a Marine FAST team to Libya. The US has also sent two warships (one already on station) and a drone unit to gather intel and to go after those responsible.

The million dollar question remains who was behind the film, what were their goals and aims, and how exactly an obscure film (which is really just a bunch of badly overdubbed film clips) that appears to have been uploaded in July, saw less than a few thousand hits since, exploded into the nexus of an international conflagration of attacks against US embassies in concert with 9/11. It appears that the film was overdubbed with anti-Muslim sentiments only eight days ago. Even then, it received little attention.

I don't believe in coincidences. Nor do I believe what anyone involved the movie has had to say thus far - because much of what they've said can't be confirmed by anyone. Sam Bacile doesn't appear to have existed except as a pseudonym/agent provocateur and a guy who had apparently come forward to claim that he was Bacile has recanted. Morris Sedak is an agitator whose motives are to foment war back in Egypt. Steve Klein has ties to extremist groups, but his involvement is only tangential to the overall story. The references to Jewish donors/backers/Israel is a misdirection play to try and bring the usual assortment of anti Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment to a head and to inflame passions even further.

Is it possible that AQ or another terror group took advantage of the protests in Egypt to use similar protests in Libya to carry out the deadly attacks there? Possibly, and the US government is looking at that possibility quite seriously.

The situation in Egypt also appears to have taken on a life of its own, and there are reports of protests elsewhere, including Yemen. This isn't necessarily by coincidence either. Whoever spread the anti-Muslim overdubbed versions basically did their own Hitler's Downfall-style routine to rant against Islam. We need to know who was behind the overdub, and at the same time, do more to track down who was responsible for the Libya attack and provide increased protection to our other embassies and consulates.

The US has got debunk the nonsense online that rabble rousers and militant mullahs are spreading to those who are now protesting/rioting - mostly without even seeing the film clips at issue or knowing; that's what many of the Administration and embassy statements refer to - protecting rights of free speech and freedom of religion, but that the two have to coexist without engaging in violence. It's not easy since the mindset of those who would protest and engage in violence are primed to act, and it confirms the biases of both those militant Islamists and socons who think Islam is an enemy of civilization. Extremists on both sides are exploiting the situation to their own ends, and one has to wonder who benefits from this.

That's why I keep going back to Iran. Iran has the means and stands to benefit from sowing violence and discord across the region - to tie up US and rival interests while Iran continues on its aggressive path.

As far as its impact on the US presidential election, the response from GOPer Mitt Romney and his supporters seems to be that the Obama Administration policy resulted in creating the environment allowing the attacks, the foreign policy amounts to apologia, and the response was inattentive and scattershot. Still, the main difference between Romney's policies and those of the Administration are one of tone, since Obama has largely carried over Bush Administration policies, including on dealing with international terrorism, going after those responsible for attacks on US interests around the world, and

Protesters Overrun US Embassy In Egypt Over Mysterious Movie

No one can actually verify what film the protesters are supposedly upset about which makes the protests against the US Embassy in Cairo all the more odd and disturbing. Reuters and USA Today can't seem to track down the film, but regardless of the facts and circumstances, a group of protesters set out to overrun the US Embassy in Cairo. They succeeded in taking down the US flag for a time and scrawling graffiti referring to not disgracing the name of the prophet Mohammad.

From Reuters:

"This movie must be banned immediately and an apology should be made ... This is a disgrace," said 19-year-old, Ismail Mahmoud, a member of the so-called "ultras" soccer supporters who played a big role in the uprising that brought down Hosni Mubarak last year.

Many Muslims consider any depiction of the Prophet to be offensive.

Mahmoud called on President Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's first civilian president and an Islamist, to take action. Many others were supporters of Islamist groups.

About 20 people stood on top of the embassy wall in central Cairo, where about 2,000 protesters had gathered.

"There is no god but Allah, Mohammad is Allah's messenger. We will sacrifice ourselves for you, Allah's messenger," they chanted, with many waving religious flags.

A U.S. embassy official had no immediate comment on the protesters' actions but the embassy had put out a statement earlier on Tuesday condemning those who hurt the religious feelings of Muslims or followers of any other religions.

"We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others," the U.S. embassy said in its statement.

One slogan scrawled on the walls of the embassy, a fortress-like structure that is near Tahrir Square where Egyptians revolted against Mubarak, said: "If your freedom of speech has no limits, may you accept our freedom of action."

An Egyptian state website carried a statement by Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church condemning what it said were moves by some Copts living abroad "to finance the production of a film insulting Prophet Mohammad".

About a 10th of Egypt's 83 million people are Christians.

It was not immediately clear which film angered protesters.

However, according to the website www.standupamerianow.org, the Christian Pastor Terry Jones, who angered Muslims by burning a copy of the Koran, was due to take part in an event on Tuesday called "International Judge Mohammad Day" in Florida in which it would symbolically put the Prophet on trial and play it out live over the Internet.

"Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy," the U.S. embassy statement said, adding that it condemned the efforts by "misguided individuals" to hurt the feelings of Muslims.

What's interesting is that you've got hundreds of people protesting a film allegedly being made in the US but not a single person can actually cite the name of the film. Moreover, it appears that FARS (Iran) is pushing the claim that Egyptian Coptic Christians are behind the film and fanning sectarian violence that will inevitably result from such claims.

So, the only "film" that could even fit the profile is some Internet production by Terry Jones who's got quite the reputation for hating Islam and showing a tremendous amount of religious intolerance.

That might be what they're protesting, but as with most kinds of protests across the Arab world, all it takes is a rumor for things to take hold, and no amount of debunking will stop things.

What we do know is that Egypt has been hit by several waves of sectarian violence since the fall of Hosni Mubarak and Coptic Christians have been under assault from Islamists who are asserting themselves at the Coptic Christians' expense.

UPDATE:
According to twitter links to this website provided by NJDhockeyfan, the name of the film is Life of King of Islam but there's no reference in IMDB.com. It was supposedly done by Sam Basil (again no reference in imdb), but they refer to Terry Jones' actions. There's also a reference to Dutch involvement, but it's not clear what is being referenced.

UPDATE:
The Atlantic seems to have run down more details, though there's way too much speculation about who is behind the film, their intentions, and other salient details.

The movie is called Mohammed Nabi al-Muslimin, or Mohammed, Prophet of the Muslims. If you've never heard of it, that's because most of the few clips circulating online are dubbed in Arabic. The above clip, which is allegedly from the film (update: Kurt Werthmuller, a Coptic specialist at the Hudson Institute, says he's confirmed the clip's authenticity) is one of the only in English. That's also because it's allegedly produced by Florida Pastor Terry Jones (yes, the asshole who burnt the Koran despite Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' pleas) and two Egyptians living in the U.S., according to Egyptian press accounts. The Egyptians are allegedly Coptic, the Christian minority that makes up about a tenth of Egypt.

Obviously, there's a lot to this story that's still unclear. What we do know is that some members of Egypt's sometimes-raucous, often rumor-heavy media have been playing highly offensive clips from the highly offensive film, stressing its U.S. and Coptic connections. In the clip below, controversial TV host Sheikh Khaled Abdallah (known for such statements as "Iran is more dangerous to us than the Jews" and that Tehran had engineered a deadly soccer riot in Port Said) hypes the film as an American-Coptic plot and introduces what he says is its opening scene.

UPDATE:
A second American embassy has been besieged, this time in Libya. Libyan security forces have been fighting against unknown militias in the vicinity of the American embassy.

The AP reports that Morris Sadek is promoting the video on his website and on some television stations.

Morris Sadek, an Egyptian-born Christian in the United States known for his strongly anti-Islam views, said in an interview from Washington that he was promoting the video on his Web site and on certain television stations, which he did not identify.

He said the video “explains the problems of the Copts who suffer from Muslims,” for which he blamed the Koran.

For several days, the Egyptian news media have been reporting on the movie, playing excerpts and blaming Mr. Sadek for it, with ultraconservative clerics going on the air to denounce it.

Medhat Klada, a representative of Coptic Christian organizations in Europe, said Mr. Sadek’s views did not represent those of expatriate Copts.

“He is an extremist,” he said in an interview from Switzerland. “We refuse any attacks on religions because of a moral position.”

This has the feel of the cartoon jihad in the making - where more than 100 people were killed around the world, several embassies were ransacked and torched, and all because of the publication of cartoons in a Danish publication, Jyllands Posten.

More Defections as Casualties Climb Across Syria

The butchers' bill continues rising courtesy of Bashar al-Assad's security forces as they attempt to rebuff rebel forces in Aleppo and other parts of Syria. The security forces aren't exactly distinguishing themselves in anything other than running up a body count.

There have been an increasing number of defections, including another general among those seeking refuge in Turkey today. The rebel forces are trying to maintain support among the civilian population, but with a renewed military offensive, they are unavoidably putting them all in harm's way. The rebels continue to hold on to territory and Assad cannot allow that to continue.

Rebel headquarters in the north-east of Aleppo were bombed again this morning. The building has been attacked three times now. One bomb missed the building, hit a nearby house, killed 10 people. Another this morning hit a hospital, killed another 10. A third hit a wedding hall and no one was injured. Two bombs did hit their target inside the headquarters, but neither exploded. Nonetheless it was time for the rebels to move on. They had lost the patience of neighbours who weren’t too happy about their neighbourhood being relentless targeted by jets above. They’ve move but there has been more bombing in areas they’ve moved to. So there has been no let up in this siege.

Aleppo was strafed by Syrian air force planes and bombarded by artillery to the point that UN observers were forced to leave the city for fear for their own safety. They had that option; Syrians are between a rock and hard place. They could stay and try to ride out the fighting, but they could face being killed by fire coming from either the rebels or the military. Or, they could attempt to make a run for one of border countries, in which case they could get hit on the way or face an uncertain future as to when they could return. It's a humanitarian nightmare, and it's not going to improve anytime soon.

Aleppo has apparently been surrounded by Syrian forces, and it's likely to result in still higher casualties across the city. It appears that Assad's forces are content with aerial bombardment and artillery strikes rather than a ground offensive thus far.

Assad made his first television appearance today, when he appeared in a video alongside an Iranian diplomat.

Even as the fighting rages on, the US and others are already contemplating a post-Assad Syria. They are looking at how to avoid the very messy situations in Libya or Iraq, though I doubt anyone can prevent a sectarian conflict as Sunnis seek retribution against the Alawites and Assad loyalists who have run Syria for more than 40 years. Syria has been a police state where you would be disappeared if your loyalty was questioned. There will be demands for accountability among those involved in the Syrian security apparatus.

Meanwhile, the cyberwar between loyalists and rebel forces has spread to sites including Reuters.

On Sunday, it was a hijacked Reuters twitter feed trying to create the impression of a rebel collapse in Aleppo. On Monday, it was another account purporting to be a Russian diplomat announcing the death in Damascus of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

As the situation on the ground becomes ever more bloody, both sides in Syria are also waging what seems to be an intensifying conflict in cyberspace, often attempting to use misinformation and rumor to tilt the war in reality.

On Friday, Reuters was forced to temporarily shut down its system for posting blogs on www.Reuters.com after the appearance of a series of unauthorized, and inaccurate, reports citing opposition military reverses in Syria.

On Sunday, the company took similar action to suspend the @ReutersTech twitter account after it appeared to have been seized, renamed and used to send a series of false tweets apparently designed to undermine the rebel Free Syrian Army. Both incidents remain under investigation.

The attacks were not the first time a major media or other organization had been targeted apparently by supporters of Assad. Some - including the defacement of a Harvard University website last year to post a picture of Assad in military uniform -- have been claimed by the "Syrian Electronic Army".

Expect a whole lot more of this as Assad's forces attempt to counter all the negative press coming from their ongoing attacks against the rebel forces, while the rebels attempt to counter that with their own propaganda.

Putting Iran's Elections Into Context

Iran's carrying out elections and the results wont really shed all that much light on who wields power in the country. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei basically picks and chooses who runs through the Guardian Council. There are hardliner factions, including those who have backed Khamenei's previous chosen one - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (who is term-limited and can't run for a third term as President).

The election basically pits what media outlets refer to as Ahmadinejad's faction versus Khamenei's faction.

Iran's supreme leader urged Iranians to vote in large numbers as the country held parliamentary elections Friday, saying a high turnout would send a strong message to the enemies of the nation in the nuclear standoff with the West.

The balloting for the 290-member parliament is the first major voting since the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009 and the mass protests and crackdowns that followed.

It is unlikely to change Iran's course over major policies — including its controversial nuclear program — regardless of who wins, but it may shape the political landscape for a successor to Ahmadinejad in 2013.

That's not really accurate.

While Ahmadinejad has tried to expand his power, Khamenei slapped him down. There was an incident where Ahmadinejad attempted to sack a minister, but Khamenei restored the minister to that post within days. That's a reminder of where power really lies in the country and should be a message that media outlets really take away from the kabuki play of elections.

Iran's mullahs get to pick and choose who runs for office, and they do so with the blessing of the Supreme Leader. If the mullahs don't like the candidate - they don't even get on the ballot.

Opposition leaders, including Mirhussein Mousavi, are under house arrest. Mousavi had run against Ahmadinejad in the disputed elections and lost. Massive protests erupted across Iran and it was violently suppressed, leaving the opposition groups under arrest and the watchful gaze of the Iranian security forces loyal to Ahmadinejad and Khamenei.

Taken as a whole, the elections really don't indicate who runs the country or whether the Iranian regime is shifting policies since the power is dictated from the same person - Supreme Leader Khamenei.

Even opposition groups in Iran recognize this - that the statements coming from Khamenei about voting in the election as a poke in the eye of the West (US) is just propaganda to prop up canddiates that have been selected to run by the same cabal that has run the country since the 1979 revolution. It's not change - it's rearranging deck chairs.

Iran's economic situation remains dire and Khamenei is using all manner of tactics to ensure that his power is preserved. At the same time, Iran's political and religious leaders are invoking the crisis with the West over Iran's nuclear program as a way to get out the vote, even though most Iranians are far more concerned over their economic situation.

The World Continues Reacting to Kim Jong-il's Death

China has formally recognized Kim Jong-un as the new leader of North Korea following the death of his father. Expect other countries to follow, and there's no reason for anyone not to accept that Jong-un is the newest dictator in charge of North Korea. The dynastic totalitarian regime begun by Jong-un's grandfather continues, and Jong-il's death allows the regime to reinforce and restate its cult of personality surrounding the Kim clan.

While China has traditionally had close ties and has thwarted efforts to pressure North Korea into giving up its nuclear program, it doesn't have the kind of sway to affect the political situation as much as one might suspect. They're often as much in the dark about the political machinations as everyone else. They're spectators to the death and transition in the regime. China has been keen on keeping the border tightly controlled, because it doesn't want to deal with a potential influx of millions of North Korean refugees streaming across the border. Since that border is far less militarized by the North Koreans, it is often used by those trying to escape the regime to points elsewhere in Asia, including South Korea.

Meanwhile, MSNBC/New York Times wonders whether intel services dropped the ball by not detecting signs of Kim's death.

For South Korean and American intelligence services to have failed to pick up any clues to this momentous development — panicked phone calls between government officials, say, or soldiers massing around Mr. Kim’s train — attests to the secretive nature of North Korea, a country not only at odds with most of the world but also sealed off from it in a way that defies spies or satellites.

Asian and American intelligence services have failed before to pick up significant developments in North Korea. Pyongyang built a sprawling plant to enrich uranium that went undetected for about a year and a half until North Korean officials showed it off in late 2010 to an American nuclear scientist. The North also helped build a complete nuclear reactor in Syria without tipping off Western intelligence.

Will younger Kim's aunt, uncle be N. Korea puppet masters?
As the United States and its allies confront a perilous leadership transition in North Korea — a failed state with nuclear weapons — the closed nature of the country will greatly complicate their calculations. With little information about Mr. Kim’s son and successor, Kim Jong-un, and even less insight into the palace intrigue in Pyongyang, the North’s capital, much of their response will necessarily be guesswork.

The fact is that the North Korean regime is so insular that it is nearly impossible to divine its intentions or decision making processes because so little is communicated (telecommunications in general in North Korea is highly limited so there isn't much in the way of chatter that could be intercepted) and human intelligence assets are also constrained by the very nature of the regime.

North Korean leaders want to perpetuate this notion and secretive nature because so much of their power is derived from the inability of others to understand what's going on in the country - including North Koreans who are constrained from knowing anything other than what the regime deems necessary.

Indeed, news of the death was kept from North Koreans for 48 hours, likely to insure the handover of power to Kim's son. There are even questions about what will happen to Jong-il's remains; some question whether he'll be embalmed and put on display next to his father, or buried simply. Considering the cult of personality surrounding the Kim clan, expect the regime to spend whatever it takes to display his remains, even if the impoverished country remains on the verge of famine and can't afford extravagances such as the multimillion dollar costs associated with such displays.

For the moment, his remains are lying in repose in Pyongyang. North Korean media handlers are pushing the propaganda about Jong-un, noting his divine origins in a fashion that mimics the cult of personality established around his father and grandfather.

Assad Denies Ordering Bloody Crackdown, Even As Murderous Regime Continues Continues Bloodletting

Bashar al Assad was interviewed by Barbara Walters for ABC News, and he vociferously denies ordering the bloody crackdown against protesters. Assad claims that the overwhelming majority of those killed are security forces, but that goes against everything that has trickled out of Syria that isn't controlled by the Syrian media (which is controlled by Assad's regime).

Assad, whose regime has been condemned by the West, the Arab League and former allies, dismissed suggestions that he step down and scoffed at sanctions being imposed on Syria.

His defiant stance was on display in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters who confronted the Syrian dictator in Damascus with stories and evidence of civilians being tortured and killed, some of them children.

"People went from house to house. Children were arrested. I saw those pictures," Walters said to Assad.

"To be frank with you, Barbara, I don't believe you," Assad said.

Walters asked Assad about the case of Hamza al-Khateeb, a 13-year-old boy detained by Syrian forces after a protest whose lifeless body was returned to his parents shot, burned and castrated. The boy's death galvanized protesters, and photos on the internet inflamed world opinion.

Assad denied the boy had been tortured. "No, no, no. It's not news," he insisted. "I met with his father, the father of that child and he said that he wasn't tortured as he appeared in the media."

The tide of pro-democracy protests sweeping the Arab world reached Syria in mid-March and news of violent clashes between protesters and government agents have leaked out of this tightly controlled dictatorship and on to the Internet. The bodies of the dead, some of them children, have been found bearing the marks of torture.

According to a United Nations report released last week, more than 4,000 people have been killed and the country is embroiled in an undeclared civil war, an assessment Assad dismissed with the question, "Who said that the United Nations is a credible institution?"

No one has any reason to trust anything coming from Assad's regime either. Assad has repeatedly claimed that he's instituted reforms, only to accelerate the crackdown against protesters.

The intensification of the crackdown has led some military forces to desert and join forces with the opposition to take up arms against Assad's regime; and in this way Assad could claim that the overwhelming majority of those killed are members of the military (he's just lumping together all those who went AWOL with the protesters, and those members of the military that are still loyal), but there's a huge discrepancy between the number he claims to have been killed in the ongoing protests against the regime and the number that the UN and human rights groups have ascribed to the violence.

Moreover, the composition of the death toll is markedly different; civilians are repeatedly targeted by the regime and the military continues operations against major cities in Syria, including Hama and Homs, inflicting casualties on civilian populations.

Assad would love to shift blame on to terror groups, but he has no one to blame but himself and his regime for the situation; he's playing from his father's Hama Rules playbook, but faces a modern communications network that allows opposition groups to get their message out despite restrictions by the regime. Assad can't control the message coming out of Syria, so he's forced to counter the claims by calling them lies.

Pants on Fire Liar; Rush Plays Fast and Loose With Income Statistics

Rush Limbaugh was playing fast and loose with the facts when he claimed that if you made $50,000, you were somehow in the top 10% of income earners in the country.

Here's the transcript (HT: Lidane at LGF):

Do you know that if you earn $50,000 a year or more, you are in the upper 10% of wage earners in America? I love telling people that statistic. They don't believe it, and it sort of puts this...

Do you know what it takes to be in the top 1%? Take a stab. What is it? Top 10%: $50,000 a year or more you are in the top 10% of wage earners. Take a stab at the floor, the minimum income that qualifies to be in the top 1%. Brian, what do you think it is? (interruption) You're close. He said, "$500,000." It's $343,000 a year. If you make $343,000 a year, you are in the top 1%. Now, I know. I can hear members of the New Castrati, "Mr. Limbaugh! Mr. Limbaugh! That is just silly, that's just crazy! Everybody knows that the top 1% is the millionaires and the billionaires and the Fortune 500!" No, no, no, no. The top 1% starts at 343,000. There aren't that many people in it. This is the whole point.

He started off talking about the rising cost of colleges, which is indeed an incredibly important issue because the costs of education have risen far beyond what matching the rate of inflation would have brought. Those costs are pricing families out of sending their kids to college, or are saddling students with loans that aren't supported by jobs after graduation.

But the real issue is the statistics he's claiming are true.

He says $343,000 puts you in the top 1%. On first blush that sounds about right, but Kiplingers says that puts you in the top 5%. Yet, a story from Kiplingers from which the income calculator links says that $343,927 puts you in the top 1%.

$50k in Kiplingers would only put you at 50% of top earners. Not top 10%.

According to the WSJ/Fox tool, $50k barely ranks at 56%, and $343k puts you in top 3%. That's based on household income.

There are some differences in methodologies and how you figure on which percentile you place a given salary, but Rush claimed that $50,000 puts you in the top 10%. That's not just off by a few percentage points, but is absolutely wrong.

As a fact-checker, I find Rush's statements flamingly (but not surprisingly) false.

Ahmadinejad Doesn't Fail To Deliver The Crazy At UN General Assembly...AgainT

You have to hand it to Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He certainly knows how to get his anti-Semitic trooferism on. He's nothing if not predictable in his insane rhetoric.

Last year he gave quite the rant, and the US and other delegations walked out in disgust.

Well, he reprised last year's speech, carrying on with the same themes. And the US and other delegations again walked out in disgust.

Ahmadinejad told the U.N. audience that the United States used "the mysterious September 11 incident" as a pretext for wars against Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Iranian president offered his criticism in the form of a series of questions, asking who had engaged in slavery, imposed colonialism, supported military regimes and triggered World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

'The answers are clear," Ahmadinejad said.

"By using their imperialistic media network which is under the influence of colonialism they threaten anyone who questions the Holocaust and the September 11 event with sanctions and military actions," he said.

More than a dozen diplomats from other countries, including France, left the chamber soon after the U.S. delegation departed.

Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said: "Mr. Ahmadinejad had a chance to address his own people's aspirations for freedom and dignity, but instead he again turned to abhorrent anti-Semitic slurs and despicable conspiracy theories."

Ahmadinejad accused some unidentified European countries of still using the Holocaust "as the excuse to pay fine or ransom to the Zionists." He also said any question about the foundation of Zionism is condemned by the U.S. "as an unforgivable sin."

When the idea of an independent fact-finding investigation of "the hidden elements" involved in the Sept. 11 attacks was raised last year, he said, "My country and myself came under pressure and threat by the government of the United States."

Note too that Iran has no problem engaging in all kinds of chicanery to remain in power - using force to thwart opposition protesters from having a peaceful voice and exporting terrorism to all corners of the Middle East but against Israel in particular.

It has bought power and proxy armies in the form of Hizbullah and in Syria and Lebanon. Iran seeks to expand its power into Iraq, and looks to counter Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-majority countries in the region.

But it is with the United States and Israel that he doesn't hold back with his craziness. It's nothing we haven't seen before, but it's again a stark reminder of what Israel is up against and why Israel lacks a partner for peace in the Palestinians and other neighboring countries (Lebanon and Syria).

Assad's Security Continues Onslaught

Over the weekend, Syria began utilizing its naval forces to shell cities along its coast that held protests against Bashar Assad's regime. That didn't stop the protests, but the death toll continues climbing.

Renewed heavy gunfire is reported in the Syrian port city of Latakia as a military crackdown on unrest entered a third day.

Activists say 27 people have died and that residents trying to flee the Ramel district, including women and children, have been fired on by troops.

The government says it is tackling armed terrorist gangs.

More than 1,700 people have reportedly died in the six-month uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
'Shooting is intense'

The Ramel quarter and neighbouring areas are said to be under constant heavy gunfire as tanks and troops move through the streets.

The assault began on Saturday, a day after mass anti-government protests in the city.

Most credible reports put the death toll at above 2,000 and nearly all are civilians who are doing nothing more than exercising their right to protests against a regime that considers any such protests to be violating its power and authority to control every aspect of Syrian life.

It's also been reported that Spain apparently offered Assad asylum as an effort to stop the ongoing onslaught, but Assad rebuffed the effort. It should come as no surprise since Assad's regime really isn't under the kind of mortal peril that was seen in Egypt, Tunisia, or even Libya; the opposition isn't nearly as well defined and formed, and there haven't been the kind of defections that can undermine the regime.

Meanwhile, the Syrian propagandists are hoping to divert attention from their mass murder by claiming Israel has somehow built a "racist" fence in the Golan Heights as though a fence designed to protect Israel against infiltrators is somehow racist or morally equivalent to the mass murder unleashed by Assad's regime.

Fact is that Israel has had no choice but to reinforce its border fences and installations across its northern borders with Lebanon and Syria precisely because those regimes have seen fit to enable protesters to swarm the border in the hopes of provoking international incidents - all of which are designed to take the pressure off Assad.

Assad's Security Thugs Murder 10+ At Funeral Procession; Brutalization of Syria Continues

Bashar al Assad's regime has no intention of ceasing its efforts to murder protesters and those opposed to the regime. It has no qualms about opening fire on funeral processions of those it previously murdered.

In the latest attacks, at least 10 people were murdered at a funeral procession for those slain in protests over the past couple of days.

Syrian activists say security forces have fired on a funeral procession, killing at least 10 people.

The Local Coordination Committees help organize and track the protests in Syria. The group said the mother of a man who was shot dead the day before was among the victims Tuesday.

Another activist in Homs confirmed that security forces opened fire at a funeral procession outside the Khaled bin Al-Waleed mosque. He said people inside the mosque called him to describe the scene.

The shooting in Homs came a day after activists said security forces there killed 10 people in raids.

At the same time, pro-Assad gunmen have opened fire on crowds in places that are hostile to Assad's regime. That kind of action has to be condoned by Assad's regime itself, considering how the regime operates.

Meanwhile, in an effort to deflect attention from his own problems, Assad's regime has declared its recognition of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Assad's ongoing crackdown has limited opposition groups efforts to unite, although a group met in exile in Turkey to establish a National Salvation Council. I consider that a good first step towards establishing an alternative to Assad's brutal regime and putting it in a position to begin soliciting support and recognition as Syria's legitimate government. It will take a whole lot more, particularly defections from Syria's military and diplomatic corps to pull off - and Assad's crackdown has done much to prevent a coalescing of opposition behind a single banner.

Kucinich Can't Be Reached For Comment as Assad's Thugs Continue Brutal Crackdown

If it's Friday in Syria that means that protesters again have taken to the street demanding that Bashar al Assad leave and Bashar al Assad's thugs are busy with their brutal crackdown, including murdering still more Syrians in northern towns.

About 1,000 anti-government demonstrators gathered before they were attacked and dispersed by pro-government demonstrators.

T[h]anks and helicopters opened fire and reportedly killed a number of civilians as military forces swept through several northern villages. The crackdown comes just days after the government allowed a small gathering of opposition activists in Damascus. Around 1,700 people have been killed in Syria's violence so far, and around 10,000 have fled to refugee camps in Turkey.

Assad's troops keep murdering protesters at funerals for those slain previously by the regime.

These protests aren't going away, including in the Damascus suburbs, but Assad's crackdown hasn't subsided either.

Recall that Democrat Dennis Kucinich was busy claiming that Assad was withdrawing troops from cities as proof he was really showing some kind of respect for human rights and Syrian rights to protest.

Assad's security forces continue murdering Syrians opposed to the regime - just in different towns than the ones his security forces were in just a few days ago. Those forces simply redeployed to deal with opposition groups elsewhere in the country. They haven't stopped the brutality.

There's a term for people like Kucinich - useful idiot - and he wears that term well.

Assad Continues Pacification of Opposition; Kucinich Continues Shilling For Assad

Bashar al Assad's security forces continue their crackdown against opposition groups and protesters throughout Syria. They've chosen new targets to strike out at - hitting new and different towns without regard for the importance of local shrines of historical significance:

Syrian tanks and helicopters opened fire and killed at least two civilians as the military advanced through a series of villages in northwestern Syria on Thursday, a push that sent residents running for the hills, several villagers said in phone calls with CNN.

"I can see smoke rising from the surrounding area," said a man named Omar Wahid, who spoke by telephone after he fled his home to a neighboring village. "It feels like a battlefield."

Syria has been engulfed by more than three months of anti-government discontent.

The crackdown on anti-government protests in the Jabal Zawiya region of Syria's Idlib province comes just days after Syrian authorities allowed a historic opposition conference to be held in the capital, Damascus.

Villagers said they saw helicopters sweeping in, dropping commandoes into the area from ropes Thursday morning.

They also said tanks and helicopters bombarded ancient Byzantine ruins in Al Bara. Al Bara is the site of a famous "dead city," a destination for tourists fascinated by fifth-century Byzantine churches, monasteries, and an iconic, fully intact pyramid-shaped burial chamber.

"They attacked the old church," said Mohamed Smail, a farmer who fled his home and spoke to CNN from the hills around Al Bara. "We are calling on international organizations to protect our ruins. They are destroying our cultural heritage."

For all the claims that Assad is allowing reforms to go forward, his security forces continue to add to the butcher's bill.

All the while, we've got Rep. Dennis Kucinich running around meeting with Assad on what he's billing as a fact-finding mission, but which has amounted to a propaganda bonanza for Assad.

With the House not in session, Kucinich has been in Syria, where he was quoted by the state news agency saying kind words about President Bashar al-Assad, whose government has killed its own people. "President al-Assad is highly loved and appreciated by the Syrians," Kucinich said, per the news outlet.

Later, Kucinich said he was misquoted. But he received this blistering criticism from the Washington Post's editorial page:

Mr. Kucinich, who has fiercely opposed the U.S. intervention against Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi, traveled to Damascus over the weekend to huddle with Syria’s dictator, who is desperately seeking to avoid being isolated and labeled illegitimate by the outside world. Thanks to the slaughter by his security forces of at least 1,400 people — the vast majority of them unarmed civilians — Mr. Assad has few friends these days: The European Union and United States have sanctioned him personally, and even his regime’s most faithful allies are close to abandoning him... But Mr. Assad still has a friend: Mr. Kucinich.

Kucinich today issued a press release, stating: "I don’t support the violence, I don’t condone the violence and by direct appeal to President Assad and in supporting those who are seeking freedom and serious reforms, I am working to end the violence. I appealed to President Assad to remove his forces from the cities. He told me he would, and today we learned that he has begun to do just that."

Assad didn't remove troops and cease hostilities; he simply moved them from one location to attack others.

Kucinich is the epitome of a useful idiot by his very words and actions.

What Is Dennis Kucinich Doing Meeting With Assad?

What exactly is Dennis Kucinich doing meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad? He's gone to Syria ostensibly on a fact-finding mission, but it's all too likely that he'll be used as a useful idiot by Assad's regime to spread the regime's propaganda.

Sana said al-Assad has briefed the two men on the current events in Syria and the process of an overall reforms Syria is passing through, underscoring the importance to "distinguish between the people's righteous demands, which the government is meeting through the endorsed laws and decrees, and the armed groups that take advantage of these demands to foment anarchy and destabilize the country."

It added that the two men have expressed keenness about Syria's security and stability "which is the basic pillar of the entire region's stability."

Syria has been gripped by more than three months of anti- government protests, however, the protestors' demands have snowballed from modest reforms to the downfall of the leadership who ruled the country for about four decades.

Syria blames the unrest on "armed extremist groups" that aim at toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and establishing an Islamic emirate instead.

The Syrian government said 1,300 members of security forces have died since the eruption of protests in mid March, including 120 last week in north Syria, meanwhile, according to activists, more than 1,400 civilians have died and some 10,000 have been detained during the government's alleged crackdown on protests.

Assad continues his brutal crackdown against opposition protesters and for all the talk about reforms, Assad's actions show the cynical hypocrisy at work. Everything Assad does is in furtherance of trying to remain in power. Everything he's saying and doing is to remain in power. Leaked documents show just how Assad was trying to control the flow of information by limiting Internet accessibility.

The meeting with Kucinich was a calculated move to try and curry favor with the US that the regime is engaging in as brutal a crackdown as Khadafi's in Libya.

Ahmadinejad Scapegoats Israel For Region's Woes (AGAIN)

It's the common tactic of dictators, despots, autocrats, and theocrats in the Middle East. When all else fails, blame Israel.

That's what Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is doing once again. He also calls the notion of a 2-state solution "Satanic". He's spewing his usual anti Israel venom, claiming that there would be peace and tranquility in the Middle East if Israel simply didn't exist.

Of course, that would mean ignoring the Libyan dictator Mumar Khadafi's violent crackdown against fellow Libyans in a brutal civil war that has already killed thousands.

It would mean ignoring Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad's brutal crackdown against fellow Syrians who are opposed to his ongoing regime and its ongoing murder of protesters and children.

It would mean ignoring the Yemeni civil war that has broken out amid Ali Abdullah Sale's refusal to transition to a new government.

It would mean ignoring the violent crackdown against protesters in Bahrain.

It would mean ignoring the Tunisian revolution.

It would mean ignoring the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak by the Egyptian people.

It would also mean ignoring the brutal crackdown by Ahmadinejad's own government against opposition groups.

None of those events had anything to do with Israel or the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict.

In fact, the ongoing civil wars, protests, and crackdowns have everything to do with the multitude of failed regimes, failed economic policies, and absolute repression of the Arab street by unelected regimes.

Israel has nothing to do with any of this.

But Israel is regularly scapegoated by these regimes, and Ahmadinejad in particular, because these regimes have no other answers and use Israel as a convenient excuse for all that ails the region.

A Twitter/Yfrog Exploit Allowed Unauthorized Postings on Rep. Weiner's Account?

The whole kerfuffle and smear campaign against Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY)  just gets more interesting. Cannonfire and Milowent have apparently found a way to duplicate how the image of a man's torso and penis was ostensibly sent from Weiner's Twitter account. For starters it would appear that Yfrog has no security (or is leaky) to the point that anyone can not only share images, but place images in the directories of other people even if the other person has password protection on their account.

That kind of arrangement makes it real easy to share images, but also inevitable allows for all manner of mischief - such as what apparently happened with Rep. Weiner's account.

Kudos to Milowent and others who figured this out and showed conclusively that it doesn't require hacking to make it appear that someone sent images or "hacked" the account.

(c) Cannonfire

More to the point here's the key graf:

Please understand that I have never sent a single tweet in my entire life.The first two instances were created automatically, when I uploaded those first two test pictures to Yfrog (as outlined in previous posts). The third instance was created when milowent sent a pic to my Yfrog address.
Both the tweet and the image seem to originate with me, but they did not.

Thankfully I don't have a Yfrog account (and until now, never knew that such a thing existed), and my twitterings are usually quite tame text links, comments etc.

Whoever did this attempted the framing of a Congressman with lewd photos, and it would take a review of the IP addresses at Yfrog and Twitter to confirm that this happened.

Those who are proffering the original tweet and photo as proof of Rep. Weiner's misconduct are engaging in propaganda and attempting to delegitimize the Congressman as part of a smear campaign. It's a high tech attempt, and those responsible for spreading the smear might have gotten away with it except for the fact that others have managed to duplicate the manner in which the item was placed into Weiner's accounts - without actually hacking into the accounts.

Jimmy Carter Engages In Wishful Thinking; Lies About Hamas

In light of President Obama's successful greenlighting of the raid to kill Osama bin Laden, former President Jimmy Carter was interviewed and he expressed regret over not sending sufficient forces to attempt to rescue the hostages in Iran. The failure of the mission (Operation Desert Eagle) was doomed when helicopters crashed and the team could never reach its mission objectives.

Carter compared the success of the recent mission to get Osama bin Laden with Operation Eagle Claw, his administration’s failed 1980 attempt to rescue the hostages held captive in Iran. “When people ask me what I would change from when I was in the White House” said Carter ruefully, “I always say I would send one more helicopter…if I knew then what I know now, I would have sent one more helicopter.”

It would have taken more than one additional helicopter to guarantee success, but that's all so much wishful thinking.

The real problem with Carter isn't his regret in not sending sufficient forces to rescue the American hostages in Iran, but the fact that he continues to lie and obfuscate on behalf of Hamas and other terror groups. Once again, he absolutely lies about Hamas and the US treatment of the terror group:

Carter, 86, also spoke about Middle East peacemaking efforts during his presidency. He said while not wanting “to get too personal” when discussing the Reagan administration, “hardly a word was said about Middle East peace for the next eight years. Those things hurt.” Talking about the 21st century, Carter said there are “chances now to see peace in the Middle East that were dormant last year.”

He was critical of certain US policies in past eras, noting that the Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas was not deemed a terrorist organization until after its candidates prevailed in lawful elections. He added, “It’s not a very popular thing in our country to say anything that criticizes the incumbent government of Israel.”

That portion in bold is as spectacular and clear a lie as can be established. A handy dandy search of the US State Department reveals that Hamas was on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list in
1999:

Background Information on Foreign Terrorist Organizations
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism
October 8, 1999Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)
Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG)
Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
Aum Shinriykyo
Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA)
Gama'a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group, IG)
HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement)
Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM)
Hizballah (Party of God)
Japanese Red Army (JRA)
al-Jihad
Kach
Kahane Chai
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE)
Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, NCR, and many others)
National Liberation Army (ELN)
Palestine Islamic Jihad-Shaqaqi Faction (PIJ)
Palestine Liberation Front-Abu Abbas Faction (PLF)
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC)
al-Qa'ida
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17 November)
Revolutionary People's Liberation Army/Front (DHKP/C)
Revolutionary People's Struggle (ELA)
Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, SL)
Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA)
Definition of Terrorist Activity Used in These Designations

For Hamas, the entry involves the following background:

HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement) a.k.a. Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, Students of Ayyash, Students of the Engineer, Yahya Ayyash Units, Izz Al-Din Al-Qassim Brigades, Izz Al-Din Al-Qassim Forces, Izz Al-Din Al-Qassim Battalions, Izz al-Din Al Qassam Brigades, Izz al-Din Al Qassam Forces, Izz al-Din Al Qassam Battalions

Description: Formed in late 1987 as an outgrowth of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Various HAMAS elements have used both political and violent means, including terrorism, to pursue the goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in place of Israel. Loosely structured, with some elements working clandestinely and others working openly through mosques and social service institutions to recruit members, raise money, organize activities, and distribute propaganda. HAMAS's strength is concentrated in the Gaza Strip and a few areas of the West Bank. Also has engaged in peaceful political activity, such as running candidates in West Bank Chamber of Commerce elections.

Indeed, the group was added to the FTO list in 1993, which is about the same time the Oslo Accords were consummated.

Carter clearly lies about this indisputable fact, which is par for the course when it comes to Carter discussing anything having to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict. It shows an ongoing willingness to ignore Hamas and its murderous intent (including against US citizens over the years), and savaging Israel at every opportunity even when Israel is doing nothing more than protecting itself from unending attacks from terrorist groups like Hamas.