the big 5 stories:

#1 - Is The CIA Behind Mexico's Bloody Drug War?

Is the CIA the cause of the bloody border war that is happening right now just south of the US? 23,000 have died and counting. The Central Intelligence Agency has a long history of criminal activity and drug running with roots that go back to the agency's forerunners. The current Mexican drug war that is reeking havoc of the US border is the result of both above-board policies and black-budget shenanigans. From dealings with Lucky Luciano to bringing crack-cocaine to south central Los Angeles to the opium production going on right now in Afghanistan, the CIA has always been the world's drug dealer. Journalist Mike Whitney reports that the evidence of CIA involvement in the drug trade is vast, documented and compelling." Full Story

#2 - Homeland: Drones Coming to Texas

Many may not know it but "drones" have been flying over every border state except Texas. That now changes as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate hearing on Tuesday that unmanned aerial drones will soon fly through Texas skies. The same drones that have killed over 700 Afghans (see below). The reason given was to fight the drug war but the growing presence of a military weapon patrolling domestic skies is sending a chilling to many. Full Story

#3 - Obama's Drone War Killed 700 Afghans in 2009

Of the 44 predator strikes carried out by US drones in the tribal areas of Pakistan over the past 12 months, only five were able to hit their actual targets, killing five key Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, but at the cost of over 700 innocent civilians.

According to the statistics compiled by Pakistani authorities, the Afghanistan-based US drones killed 708 people in 44 predator attacks targeting the tribal areas between January 1 and December 31, 2009.

For each Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist killed by US drones, 140 innocent Pakistanis also had to die. Over 90 per cent of those killed in the deadly missile strikes were civilians, claim authorities.

The success percentage for the drone hits during 2009 was hardly 11 per cent. On average, 58 civilians were killed in these attacks every month, 12 persons every week and almost two people every day. Most of the attacks were carried out on the basis of human intelligence, reportedly provided by the Pakistani and Afghan tribesmen, who are spying for the US-led allied forces in Afghanistan. Full Story

#4 - Polls Show Growing Support for Repeal of Health Reform

A new national poll shows support for repealing President Obama’s health care reform law has not abated in the month since its passage, and actually ticked up.

“Support for repeal of the recently-passed national health care plan remains strong as most voters believe the law will increase the cost of care, hurt quality and push the federal budget deficit even higher,” said the new release from the polling firm Rasmussen Reports.

Fifty-eight (58) percent of likely voters said they would support an effort to repeal the legislation, as Republicans have given consideration to campaigning on such a promise. Just 38 percent communicated opposition to such an effort.

The percentage who support repeal efforts are up 3 percent from the week just after the bill passed, when President Obama made several campaign-style stops in support of the bill. Full Story

#5 - Death Squads in Afghanistan

It should no longer be a matter of dispute that US Special Forces in Afghanistan are responsible for an increasing number of murders, whether part of targeted extra-judicial killings or the result of bad intelligence. From the attack on a bridal shower in Gardez on February 12, 2010 that killed numerous civilians, including two pregnant women, to the growing list of executions of insurgents in the Kandahar area, Special Forces have become the US military version of death squads.

As noted in an April 25 article in New York Times, the offensive against supposed Taliban forces in Kandahar has already commenced, with the "opening salvos of the offensive…being carried out in the shadows by Special Operations forces." Full Story

also:
*Financial Reform: GOP Prepared To Abandon Stalling Tactics

*Immigrants fall through the cracks of a broken system

*US puts child soldier on trial