December 26, 2012

Los Angeles' gun buyback event to be held today

Source: Los Angeles Times

The city of Los Angeles is holding its annual gun buyback event at two locations Wednesday in an event that was moved up several months in response to the deadly elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

LAPD officials are to be on hand to take back firearms at the L.A. Memorial Sports Arena and the Van Nuys Masonic Temple from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The guns can be turned in anonymously, with no questions asked, officials said.

The city is offering up to $100 in Ralphs gift cards for handguns, shotguns and rifles, and up to $200 in gift cards for assault weapons.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa created the gun buyback program in 2009. So far, it is credited with getting close to 8,000 firearms off the streets.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/12/los-angeles-gun-buyback-event.html

December 26, 2012

Handgun-owners map draws outrage

An interactive map showing the names and addresses of all handgun permit-holders in New York's Westchester and Rockland counties has drawn a response from mostly disgruntled readers since it was posted Saturday on a newspaper's website.

The interactive map published by the Journal News, prompting more than 1,300 comments as of Tuesday, allows readers to zoom in on red dots that indicate which residents are licensed to own pistols or revolvers.

"So should we start wearing yellow Stars of David so the general public can be aware of who we are??" wrote one commenter.

Some of those responding threatened to cancel their subscriptions or boycott the publication completely.

More: http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/25/us/new-york-gun-permit-map/index.html?c=us

December 26, 2012

Syrian rebels capture town, attack air base in new gains in north

Source: AP

BEIRUT —Syrian rebels fully captured a northern town near the Turkish border on Tuesday after weeks of heavy fighting and attacked a regime air base in a neighboring province, activists said.

The air base is in Aleppo province, where opposition fighters have already captured three other large military bases in recent months. Rebels have also laid siege to the international airport in the city of Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital, and launched an offensive on the police academy near the city.

With steady rebel gains across the north, President Bashar Assad’s regime is having increasing difficulty sending supplies by land to Aleppo province, especially after rebels cut a major thoroughfare from Damascus. It is just another sign that the opposition is consolidating its grip across large swathes of territory in northern Syria near the Turkish border.

In another blow to the regime, activists said that Mohammed Adnan Arabo, a member of Syria’s parliament has left the country and joined the opposition. Ahmad Ramadan, an executive council member of the opposition Syrian National Council group, and other activists said Arabo arrived in Turkey on Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/un-envoy-to-syria-worried-over-crisis-after-talks-with-assad/2012/12/24/69ed3892-4e29-11e2-835b-02f92c0daa43_story.html

December 25, 2012

N.Y. gunman wrote that 'killing people' was what he did best

(So the NRA made sure he had the right tool for the job.)


Officer: I can see the muzzle blast coming at me

This time, there was a note.

Before ex-con William Spengler, 62, opened fire on firefighters who had responded to a blaze at his home in Webster, N.Y., on Christmas Eve, killing two and seriously wounding two others, he'd typed a couple pages announcing his plans, police said.

"I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I do best: killing people," Spengler wrote, police said Tuesday.

The previous morning, Spengler shattered the holiday calm with a shocking assault that officials found uncharacteristic of the 14 years he'd spent out of prison since killing his grandmother with a hammer in 1980.

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ny-firefighter-killer-20121225,0,5162396.story

December 24, 2012

We got another live one folks

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022063633

December 23, 2012

Israel says Syria chemical weapons are secure for now

Source: Reuters

JERUSALEM - Syria's chemical weapons are still secure despite the fact that President Bashar al-Assad has lost control of parts of the country, a senior Israeli defense official said on Sunday.

Amos Gilad told Army Radio that the civil war between Assad and opposition forces fighting to topple him had become deadlocked, but that the Syrian leader showed no signs of heeding international calls to step down.

"Suppose he (Assad) does leave, there could be chaos ... in the Middle East you never know who will come instead. We need to stay level-headed; the entire world is dealing with this. At the moment, chemical weapons are under control," Gilad said.

As Syria's southern neighbor, Israel has been concerned about chemical weapons falling into the hands of Islamist militants or Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, warning it could intervene to stop such developments.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL5E8NN0QI20121223

December 23, 2012

North Korea could have U.S. within missile range, says South

Source: Reuters

SEOUL - North Korea's rocket launch this month showed it has likely developed technology, long suspected in the West, to fire a warhead more than 10,000 kilometers, South Korean military officials said on Sunday, putting the U.S. West Coast in range.

North Korea said the December 12 launch put a weather satellite in orbit but critics say it was aimed at nurturing the kind of technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.

North Korea is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests and the U.N. Security Council condemned the launch.

South Korea retrieved and analyzed parts of the first-stage rocket that dropped in the waters off its west coast.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/23/us-korea-north-missile-idUSBRE8BM01720121223

December 23, 2012

Egypt's constitution approved in vote, say rival camps

Source: Reuters

CAIRO - A constitution drafted by an Islamist-dominated assembly was approved by a majority of Egyptians in a referendum, rival camps said on Sunday, after a vote the opposition said drove a wedge through the Arab world's most populous nation.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled President Mohamed Mursi to power in a June election, said 64 percent of voters backed the charter after two rounds of voting that ended with a final ballot on Saturday. It cited an unofficial tally.

An opposition official also told Reuters their unofficial count showed the result was a "yes" vote.

The referendum committee may not declare official results for the two rounds until Monday, after hearing appeals. If the outcome is confirmed, a parliamentary election will follow in about two months.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/23/us-egypt-politics-idUSBRE8BL03X20121223

December 23, 2012

Syrian Christians Face Bleak Christmas

By James Brooke
Voice of America
Dec 22, 2012

Christmas trees and lights decorate this city on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean. As Christmas approaches, however, Syria's 2 million Christians are not celebrating. They are worrying. If an Islamist government replaces the secular government of Bashar al-Assad, they wonder what the future will be for Syria's religious minorities.

Daniel, an Armenian Orthodox, escaped from Syria three months ago with his wife and five children. "I had to come here. Because we as a Christian sect are targeted. Salafis and Muslim Brotherhood, and al-Qaida people, came and displaced us," he said.

Tolerance fades

Before the civil war, he said, Syria was a secular nation of religious tolerance. ”At the garage where I worked, there were Armenians, Christians, Muslims,” Daniel, a 48-year-old car mechanic, said. ”We ate together, I would go eat at their place. We would not ask if someone was Muslim or Christian.”

After Egypt, Syria has the second largest population of Christians in the Arab world - about 2 million people.

More: http://www.voanews.com/content/syrian_christians_face_bleak_christmas/1570239.html

December 22, 2012

Santa says stop arguing