Pro-military displays during NFL football games are virtually ubiquitous these days and nowhere is that more apparent that at a New York Jets home-game, where the team singles out soldiers on the big screen and admonishes the crowd to cheer them.

The “Hometown Hero” segment might seem like just lazy pandering to jingoism among hometown fans, but it’s not. The Jets, like many NFL teams, are actually getting paid by the Pentagon to do it.

Between direct Pentagon funding and the National Guard, 14 NFL teams have received $5.4 million over the past 4 seasons to pay them to hold these pro-military segments.

Some Americans have heard of New York Times reporter and book author James Risen and his refusal to expose a source. But, because most reports on that matter scrupulously avoided the subject of what it was Risen had reported, relatively few people can tell you. In fact, Risen reported (in a book, as the New York Times obeyed a government request to keep it quiet) that back in the year 2000 the CIA gave nuclear weapons plans to Iran. Flaws had been introduced into the plans, with the stated intention of slowing down an Iranian nuclear weapons program if one existed. Risen's reporting that the flaws were glaringly obvious, including to the former-Russian asset assigned to deliver the plans to Iran, made the scheme look even worse than it at first sounds.

Exclusive: Russia will celebrate the Allied victory over Nazism on Saturday without U.S. President Obama and other Western leaders present, as they demean the extraordinary sacrifice of the Russian people in winning World War II – a gesture intended to humiliate President Putin, writes ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern.

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President Barack Obama’s decision to join other Western leaders in snubbing Russia’s weekend celebration of the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe looks more like pouting than statesmanship, especially in the context of the U.S. mainstream media’s recent anti-historical effort to downplay Russia’s crucial role in defeating Nazism.

Though designed to isolate Russia because it had the audacity to object to the Western-engineered coup d’état in Ukraine on Feb. 22, 2014, this snub of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin – like the economic sanctions against Russia – is likely to backfire on the U.S. and its European allies by strengthening ties between Russia and the emerging Asian giants of China and India.

ComFest needs people with professional license and/or other comparable standing in health care & medicine are automatically welcome. For those not, you only need to have certified training (Red Cross and American Heart Assn courses qualify) in First Aid & CPR, or otherwise demonstrate appropriate skills.

We operate two First Aid Stations: the Main Station, in the center of Goodale Park, is just a bit northwest of Safety Radio Base, and adjacent to Cleanup & Recycling, Signage, and the golf cart corral. It operates 9am-midnight on Friday, somewhat earlier on Saturday and Sunday. Station 2 is on the east edge of Goodale Park, across the street from the intersection of Park Street and West Poplar, and operates 3-11pm Friday, and 3-9pm Saturday and Sunday. Both First Aid Stations are in synch with a three-member unit of firefighter/paramedics from the Special Events Office of the Columbus Division of Fire. Firefighters and colleagues are members of Local 67, IAF.

If we could see a Mother’s Day

All around the world,

Where mothers lived a day of joy,

Where mothers felt their worth,

Then what exactly would we see

So moms could realize

That their lives are important and

Their own perspectives wise?

The women in Sudan would not

Be flogged for wearing pants.

Their spirits wouldn’t be constrained;

They’d run, skip, sing, and dance.

In Arabia we’d celebrate

No groping of the girls;

They’d drive their cars with elbows bare,

Show ankles under skirts.

As golden rays of morning light

Touched arms tan from the sun,

Brown locks of hair blown by the breeze

From scarves could come undone.

And no false blame on women for

Attracting hands of men,

As if the hands were victims of

The evil feminine.

Instead of yoking women, telling

Them they have to hide,

The men without firm self-control

Would wear handcuffs outside.

And stiff Wahhabi thoughts of us