Not Everyone Likes the Fourth of July-Themed Al Jazeera Video that Mocks Americans as Fat, Gun-Toting Racists

Al Jazeera’s digital media platform AJ+ posted a Fourth of July-themed video mocking Americans as fat, cheese-eating, gun-toting, pill-popping, racist porn watchers.

While some on social media applauded the creation, others slammed the Qatar-owned network for using the holiday “to dump” on America.

Social media users got particularly riled up by the criticism coming from the channel owned by Qatar — a country where stoning is a legal punishment under Shariah law, women have second class legal status, writers can be imprisoned for criticizing the emir and abuse of foreign laborers has been repeatedly criticized by human rights groups.

The video is sarcastically titled “Americans Show Why USA Is The #1 Country In The World.”

After lauding the U.S. as world leader in Olympic medals, Nobel laureates and billionaires, young actors then go on to mock the U.S. for “the most incarcerated people in the world. God-bless the prison industrial complex.”

“When it comes to obesity … a third of us can’t even see our own toes,” said a man waving an American flag.

Another assertion left the impression that nine out of 10 Americans have guns.

“Pew Pew, we’ve got 90 guns per 100 persons. Sorry, Yemen, we beat you in drones and guns!” said one of the actors.

“Americans consume 80 percent of the world’s painkillers. Makes sense though, right? I mean racism in this country is a big pain in the ass,” said a female actor.

Al Jazeera also credited the U.S. with having the “most number of teen pregnancies per capita,” leading the world in credit card debt and “the most deaths by lawnmower.”

“This sort of seems mean spirited to be honest,” Benjamin Buzbee wrote on YouTube. “It’s important to keep perspective and some of these are important issues, but the spirit of this video is to dump on the US the day before independence day – seems more sensationalistic than journalistic. Can’t say I approve.”

Via: The Blaze

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[VIDEO] ‘Total Failure’: Obama Admin Reportedly Tried To Recruit Taliban 5 Members As Informants

The U.S. government tried to recruit members of the Taliban Five as assets, so they could gather intelligence and the U.S. could influence their future actions, Fox News has learned.

The effort to "flip" the five Taliban leaders into becoming informants, however, didn't work. A source familiar with the strategy described it as a "total failure." 

Other sources, who discussed the option on the condition of anonymity, backed up the account. 

The move was pursued to strengthen the Obama administration's ability to prevent the ex-Guantanamo prisoners -- traded more than a year ago for American Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl -- from returning to terrorism. The Taliban Five have been living in Qatar under a travel ban, which was set to expire earlier this week but was temporarily extended amid ongoing talks between the U.S. and Qatar. 

Asked about the strategy of flipping Taliban Five members, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest offered little information at Friday's press briefing. 

"Even as a general matter, this is an intelligence matter that I won't be able to discuss from here," Earnest said. 

The Taliban Five were held for 12 years at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, where military reviews concluded they were a likely security threat and had "high intelligence value." For those reasons, among others, seasoned military officers believe the Taliban Five were obvious recruitment targets. 

"We would definitely have tried to work that with these people because of who they are, and because of the relationships they have," Fox News military analyst and retired Gen. Jack Keane said. "These are people that had significant senior positions inside this organization." 

Via: Fox News

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Report: How Corrupt FIFA Is Tied to Clinton Foundation

From The Daily Beast: Corrupt FIFA Has Clinton Foundation Ties; World Cup Host Qatar Gave Millions

Both Bill Clinton and his family’s charity have been tied to soccer’s governing body, as well as Qatar’s disastrous World Cup bid.

By Jackie Kucinich, The Daily Beast

And just like that, another Clinton Foundation donor is in the news.

The Clinton global charity has received between $50,000 and $100,000 from soccer’s governing body and has partnered with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association on several occasions, according to donor listings on the foundation’s website.

Several top FIFA executives were arrested Wednesday in Zurich and face corruption charges stretching back two decades, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Involvement with the embattled body extends beyond the foundation to Bill Clinton himself. The former president was an honorary chairman of the bid committee put together to promote the United States as a possible host nation for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.

When the U.S. lost the 2022 bid to Qatar, Clinton was rumored to be so upset he shattered a mirror.

Via: The Daily Beast

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CLINTON FOUNDATION DISCLOSES MILLIONS IN ADDITIONAL PAYMENTS UNDER PRESSURE

The Clinton Foundation reported Thursday that it has received as much as $26.4 million in previously undisclosed payments from major corporations, universities, foreign sources and other groups.

Thursday’s disclosure is one of a number of instances in recent weeks in which the foundation has acknowledged that it received funding from sources not disclosed on its Web site.

The ethics agreement was reached between the foundation and the Obama administration to provide additional transparency and avoid potential conflicts of interest with Hillary Clinton’s appointment as secretary of state.

The agreement placed restrictions on foreign government donations, for instance, but the foundation revealed in February that it had violated the limits at one point by taking $500,000 from Algeria.

There was one entity clearly associated with a foreign government that provided speaking fees, of $250,000 to $500,000 for a speech by Bill Clinton: The energy ministry in Thailand.

The U.S. Islamic World Forum also provided $250,000 to $500,000 to the foundation for a speech by Bill Clinton, according to the new disclosure. The event was organized in part by the Brookings Institution with support from the government of Qatar.

Via: Breitbart

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The Arab Sunset - The Coming Collapse of the Gulf Monarchies

Since their modern formation in the mid-twentieth century, Saudi Arabia and the five smaller Gulf monarchies -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) -- have been governed by highly autocratic and seemingly anachronistic regimes. Nevertheless, their rulers have demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of bloody conflicts on their doorsteps, fast-growing populations at home, and modernizing forces from abroad.

One of the monarchies’ most visible survival strategies has been to strengthen security ties with Western powers, in part by allowing the United States, France, and Britain to build massive bases on their soil and by spending lavishly on Western arms. In turn, this expensive militarization has aided a new generation of rulers that appears more prone than ever to antagonizing Iran and even other Gulf states. In some cases, grievances among them have grown strong enough to cause diplomatic crises, incite violence, or prompt one monarchy to interfere in the domestic politics of another.

It would thus be a mistake to think that the Gulf monarchies are somehow invincible. Notwithstanding existing internal threats, these regimes are also facing mounting external ones -- from Western governments, from Iran, and each other. And these are only exacerbating their longstanding conflicts and inherent contradictions.

Via: Foreign Affairs

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Is The United States Going To Go To War With Syria Over A Natural Gas Pipeline?

Is The United States Going To Go To War With Syria Over A Natural Gas Pipeline?

 

Why has the little nation of Qatar spent 3 billion dollars to support the rebels in Syria?  Could it be because Qatar is the largest exporter of liquid natural gas in the world and Assad won't let them build a natural gas pipeline through Syria?  Of course.  Qatar wants to install a puppet regime in Syria that will allow them to build a pipeline which will enable them to sell lots and lots of natural gas to Europe.  Why is Saudi Arabia spending huge amounts of money to help the rebels and why has Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan been "jetting from covert command centers near the Syrian front lines to the Élysée Palace in Paris and the Kremlin in Moscow, seeking to undermine the Assad regime"?  Well, it turns out that Saudi Arabia intends to install their own puppet government in Syria which will allow the Saudis to control the flow of energy through the region.  On the other side, Russia very much prefers the Assad regime for a whole bunch of reasons.  One of those reasons is that Assad is helping to block the flow of natural gas out of the Persian Gulf into Europe, thus ensuring higher profits for Gazprom.  Now the United States is getting directly involved in the conflict.  If the U.S. is successful in getting rid of the Assad regime, it will be good for either the Saudis or Qatar (and possibly for both), and it will be really bad for Russia.  This is a strategic geopolitical conflict about natural resources, religion and money, and it really has nothing to do with chemical weapons at all.

 

It has been common knowledge that Qatar has desperately wanted to construct a natural gas pipeline that will enable it to get natural gas to Europe for a very long time...

Via: The Economic Collapse

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