White House Looks To Undercut Netanyahu Speech

WASHINGTON (AP) — In what is becoming an increasingly nasty grudge match, the White House is mulling ways to undercut Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming trip to Washington and blunt his message that a potential nuclear deal with Iran is bad for Israel and the world.

There are limits. Administration officials have discarded the idea of President Barack Obama himself giving an Iran-related address to rebut the two speeches Netanyahu is to deliver during his early March visit. But other options remain on the table.

When Dad Was VP, Jeb Bush Lobbied The Administration For A Medicare Fraudster

WASHINGTON -- Jeb Bush personally lobbied the secretary of health and human services, while his father was vice president, on behalf of a Miami figure who would later flee the country accused of one of the greatest Medicare frauds in the program's history.

Bush pressed then-HHS Secretary Margaret Heckler to give the man's HMO a waiver so that it could accept larger sums of Medicare money than it otherwise would have been allowed, Heckler told The Huffington Post.

Miguel Recarey Jr., head of the health maintenance organization International Medical Centers (IMC) who often boasted of connections to the Miami Cuban mafia, paid Bush $75,000 in the mid-1980s. Bush has acknowledged receiving the payment but said it was tendered for real estate consultation. But the deal he consulted on was never closed.

Ukraine Denouement: The IMF’s One-Two Punch

The fate of Ukraine is now shifting from the military battlefield back to the arena that counts most: that of international finance. Kiev is broke, having depleted its foreign reserves on waging war that has destroyed its industrial export and coal mining capacity in the Donbass (especially vis-à-vis Russia, which normally has bought 38 percent of Ukraine’s exports). Deeply in debt (with €3 billion falling due on December 20 to Russia), Ukraine faces insolvency if the IMF and Europe do not release new loans next month to pay for new imports as well as Russian and foreign bondholders.

Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko announced on Friday that she hopes to see the money begin to flow in by early March. But Ukraine must meet conditions that seem almost impossible: It must implement an honest budget and start reforming its corrupt oligarchs (who dominate in the Rada and control the bureaucracy), implement more austerity, abolish its environmental protection, and make its industry “attractive” to foreign investors to buy Ukraine’s land, natural resources, monopolies and other assets, presumably at distress prices in view of the country’s recent devastation.

If Congress Passes Obama’s War Request, It Authorizes Operations in All These Countries

President Obama has asked Congress for a three-year war authorization to combat “ISIL or associated persons or forces,” regardless of where those forces may be. There are no geographic limitations in Obama’s proposal.

The White House has a straightforward explanation for why: “…if we pass a piece of legislation that says Congress has authorized the President to carry out the use of military force against ISIL targets in Iraq and in Syria, we don’t want anybody in ISIL to be left with the impression that if they moved to some neighboring country that they will be essentially in a safe haven and not within the range of United States military capability,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “So that is why we’ve been clear about not including a geographic limitation in this proposal.”

Premier Christy Clark Has Left Us No Choice

Dear Premier Christy Clark,

I'm having a hard time finding these choices you keep telling me I have. You say that you'd rather I have money in my pocket so that I can choose what to do with it. You say that you want your B.C. government to be accountable to taxpayers like me but I'm having difficulty understanding what you mean about choices and being accountable.

I really wish I could enjoy the choices you say I have. Please help me to find them. All I seem to be able to find are all the things I didn't choose.

Exponential Rise In War Crimes In Syria, UN Panel Warns

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. investigators said Friday they are considering publishing their secret list of alleged war criminals in Syria to press for justice for the thousands of victims.

In a strong indication that they will do just that, the investigators expressed hope that releasing the names would put alleged perpetrators of torture, executions and kidnappings "on notice," act as a deterrent and help to protect people at risk of abuse.

CNRL's Steve Laut Says Oilsands Face 'Death Spiral' If They Don't Cut Costs

As the world’s oil glut continues to build, wiping out hopes of a price recovery, the head of one of Canada’s largest oilsands operators is warning the industry faces a “death spiral” if it doesn’t figure out how to cut costs.

Speaking before the Chamber of Commerce in Fort McMurray, Steve Laut, president of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL), said oilsands companies can still return to health, but only if they aggressively begin to cut costs.

Off with their heads! Exposing the new feudalism

Every so often, a cluster of news stories combine to become more than the simple sum of their parts. In the last few weeks, stories have emerged that reinforce the argument made by some academics and commentators suggesting that the West, including Canada, is beginning to devolve into a kind of new feudalism. First up the revelations, leaked by an insider, that Swiss banking giant HSBC actively facilitates gross tax evasion on the part of the world's wealthy and also launders billions in drug money.

Second, we have been provided a window on the heart-stopping corruption and moral turpitude of (at least some of) the global political elite through revelations that former IMF chief Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn (I'm not making that up) -- the same guy accused of raping a New York hotel maid who settled out of court -- is now charged with "aggravated pimping" for providing prostitutes for sex orgies. This is the man who was once destined to be the French Socialist Party's presidential candidate.

Daniel Ten Oever, boy with autism, put in handcuffs for throwing chairs

The parents of a nine-year-old boy who has autism are angry Ottawa police handcuffed their son after he reportedly threw chairs inside the principal's office.

Officials told Daniel Ten Oever's parents, Dan Ten Oever and mother Stephanie Huck, that the boy threw the chairs in St. Jerome Catholic School on Thursday.

A female Ottawa police officer then responded and put handcuffs on Daniel to restrain him, the parents told CBC News.

Trudeau says Harper’s pandering to fear of Muslims unworthy of a PM

OTTAWA - Justin Trudeau says Stephen Harper is pandering to fears about Muslims with his insistence that no one should be allowed to wear a veil while taking the oath of Canadian citizenship.

The Liberal leader says Harper's stance — which the Conservative party has enthusiastically embraced to rally support, raise money and pad its voter data base — is unworthy of a prime minister in such a diverse, multicultural country.

Harper sparked the criticism after vowing last week to appeal a court ruling that allowed a Muslim woman to take the citizenship oath without removing her niqab, a religious face-covering garment that leaves only the eyes exposed.