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‘Pressure tactics’: Unions publishing names of nonunion workers

The Kansas chapter of the United Auto Workers union is using its website to draw attention to GM workers who choose not to pay union dues.
UAW Local 31 dedicates an entire page of its website to listing the names and work stations of employees who have opted to exercise their rights not to be in the union. UAW Local 31 lists nearly 30 workers at the Fairfax, Kansas GM plant who are not in the union. The “Scab List” is published under the union website’s “Important Information” section.
Local 31 president Vicki Hale did not respond to request for comment.
Glenn Taubmann, a lawyer at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, said that scab lists are used to pressure workers into joining the union. The use of their personal information and where they can be found in the plant make them easy targets for harassment and intimidation.
“It comes as no surprise that unions in right to work states engage in all sorts of harassment and pressure tactics against independent-minded workers,” he said. “The ugly truth is that once UAW bosses get into power, they will not tolerate any worker who refused to ‘voluntarily’ join and pay dues. Their view of “voluntary” unionism is an iron fist against anyone who dissents.”

Mysterious blast at Iran nuke plant proves weapons program alive, say experts

The massive blast at an Iranian nuclear plant earlier this week remains shrouded in mystery, but it cleared up one thing, according to those who track the Islamic Republic: The nuclear weapons program Tehran has long denied is real.
The massive blast Sunday night rocked buildings more than 10 miles away, and before-and-after satellite images published by the Israel Defense Force showed startling destruction at a facility Iran has repeatedly barred international inspectors from entering.
“[The] images indicate that a complete section of structures was simply eliminated by an unexplained explosion,” IDF analyst Ronen Solomon said. “The explosion wiped several testing units off the face of the earth while inflicting collateral damage on adjacent buildings.”
Iran, which initially denied an explosion took place, was forced a day later to own up to a blast, via the IRNA official Iranian news agency. The report said two people had been killed as a result of a fire at the site. The true casualty figure may never be known.

“The explosion wiped several testing units off the face of the earth while inflicting collateral damage on adjacent buildings.”- Ronen Solomon, IDF analyst

Israel has long insisted that Iran’s charm offensive, successful in easing western sanctions, is a ruse to buy time while it pursues nuclear weapons.
“Don’t be fooled by Iran’s manipulative charm offensive,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 29. “It’s designed for one purpose and for one purpose only: to lift the sanctions and remove the obstacles to Iran’s path to the bomb.
“Once Iran produces atomic bombs,” Netanyahu added, “all the charms and all the smiles will suddenly disappear. They’ll just vanish. And it’s then that the ayatollahs will show their true face and unleash their aggressive fanaticism on the entire world.”
As in past cases when things explode or scientists are killed in Iran, speculation centers on Israeli intelligence agencies, who, just as predictably, do not comment. Both misplaced blame and proper credit serve the purpose of burnishing their reputation within enemy and terrorist regimes. There are other possibilities, including that it was an accident or that Iranian dissident groups or western intelligence agencies played a role.
“If someone did succeed in infiltrating the Parchin site with explosives and causing the huge explosion which took place there, we are talking about an exceptional achievement,” regional terror analyst Ronen Bergman suggested in Wednesday’s Ynet.com.
Parchin, a site to which international inspectors have repeatedly been denied access since 2007 – a fact that many opponents of the P5+1 talks have long insisted in itself makes a mockery of the so-called negotiation process – is rumored to be the location of the development of the key warhead components required for making a nuclear bomb.
“Western officials suspect that at the heart of this secret development is the weapon group developing the nuclear lens mechanism,” Bergman said. “It's a complex system of timers and explosives assembled around the core of the bomb, which explode in a way that "pushes" the enriched uranium sphere inwards and starts the chain reaction needed for an atomic explosion. If the smoking gun for the existence of the weapon group is found, it will serve as decisive evidence that Iran has been lying and that there is no point in negotiating with it.”
The assassination of a series of Iranian nuclear scientists inside Iran in recent years as the result of bombs planted on, or next to their vehicles by mysterious motorcycle-riding hitmen, together with the vicious Stuxnet computer virus that hit Iran’s key Natanz nuclear facility in 2010, has allegedly put the brakes on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear project.
According to Amnesty International, thousands of dissidents languish in Iranian jails, (including a significant number of journalists). Iran is second only to China in the number of executions it carries out each year, often following only a token trial.
 Regime support is also indicated in the September 2013 massacre of at least 52 Iranians in neighbouring Iraq at the Camp Ashraf refugee camp that had been designated a safe haven for Iranian activists, many of whom had opposed the direction of their nation’s nuclear ambitions. U.S. officials were reportedly furious at Iran’s Revolutionary Guard praising the attack, while Foreign Policy magazine reported that, “U.S. intelligence officials believe that Iranian commandos took part [in the attack].”

Once-sleepy South Dakota Senate race could pose problem for GOP

South Dakota’s once-sleepy Senate race appears to be waking up – and it could throw a wrench into Republicans’ plans to seize control of the chamber next month.
The state’s Senate race for months had been considered a virtual lock for Republicans. But a new poll shows the independent in the race surging, and Democratic fundraisers have started to pour money into the contest.
Now, just as a late shake-up turned the Kansas Senate race competitive and prompted Republicans to rush to the incumbent’s aid, South Dakota could soon represent another Republican headache.
“I think the dynamics in South Dakota are putting pressure on Republicans,” said Nathan Gonzalez, managing editor of The Rothenberg Political Report.
The latest poll showed front-running former GOP Gov. Mike Rounds leading in South Dakota – but not by much.
According to the Survey USA/KOTA/KSFY/Aberdeen American News poll taken between Oct. 1 and Oct. 6, Rounds is only leading independent Larry Pressler 35-32 percent among likely voters. (Pressler is a former GOP senator who has not said how he would caucus if elected.)
Not far behind is Democrat Rick Weiland, with 28 percent.
Gonzalez said he’s not “completely surprised” over the poll findings, because “I didn’t think Rounds ever closed the deal in this race.”
But he added: “I do tend to be surprised when a third-party candidate is getting more than 20 percent.”
The survey results are raising eyebrows all over the political spectrum because the poll before it, commissioned by CBS/NYT/YouGov, had the former governor leading Pressler 42-12 percent in late September, with Weiland getting 27 percent. A Survey USA poll taken earlier that month showed Rounds with a comfortable double-digit lead ahead of both Pressler and Weiland, as did every other poll dating back to April.
So what’s happening?
Dick Wadhams, senior strategist for the Rounds campaign, told FoxNews.com the poll is an anomaly, and that “the race is not nearly as close as that.”
In fact, Rounds is still ahead with double digits, Wadhams insisted.
But the Democrats must sense the dynamics are the shifting, too, as they’re putting new resources into the race. FoxNews.com has confirmed the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is devoting $1 million to the race – an investment that suggests they believe Pressler will peel just enough votes off Rounds to give their candidate a fighting chance. If either wins, that’s one fewer race Republicans can count on for the six total seats they need to seize control of the Senate.
“The DSCC must have their own data or else they wouldn’t be putting so much money into this,” Gonzalez said.
That money will add to a push of negative ads funded by other Democratic super PACs already weighing in on the race. According to reports, Every Voice Action started running TV ads on Sept. 18 criticizing Rounds. Meanwhile, Mayday, a super PAC co-founded by Harvard University law professor Lawrence Lessig, said it would start a $1 million campaign in supporting Weiland and against Rounds.
Rounds, for his part, has been dealing with questions over the so-called “EB-5 scandal,” which refers to a federal program that allowed immigrants to earn green cards by investing $500,000 in American businesses. Rounds expanded the program, which is now being scrutinized for corruption and abuse, during the tail-end of his 2003-2011 term.
“I think Rounds has not run a spectacular campaign and his fundraising has lagged,” added Gonzalez. “He’s let Pressler and Weiland define themselves, and I think he’s been averse to running negative or contrast ads,” allowing his “opponents to be whatever they want to be.”
In Pressler’s case, that’s a sage, moderate, three-term former senator who feels it’s his duty to get back to Washington for the sake of his state. Pressler, 72, has one paid staffer and only $100,000 in the bank, but his message must be resonating somewhere if the recent numbers are to be believed.
“I wouldn’t put too much stock in that,” Pressler told FoxNews.com, referring to the polls, “but I do feel we have never been so warmly received as we (he and his wife, Harriet) have been as we travel across the state.”
Pressler, who was first elected in 1978 and served three terms, was ousted by current Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson, who is retiring this year. A Vietnam War veteran, Pressler is known for being the only lawmaker approached in the infamous Abscam sting who deliberately turned down the offered bribe.
“It’s somewhat audacious, but I want to do public service,” said Pressler, now a grandfather of four. He wants to serve only one term in order to bring back revenues and jobs to South Dakota, and to help break the gridlock in Washington. He counts fellow independent Sen. Angus King, of Maine, as a friend, and has not yet decided if he would caucus with the Democrats or Republicans if he upsets Rounds on Nov. 4.
But Wadhams says that is not likely to happen and so far, the political tip sheets agree. While acknowledging that the dynamics seem to be shifting, Gonzalez says the Rothenberg Political Report still has the race “leaning Republican.” Cook Political Report, too, has the race in “likely” standing, between “leaning” and “solid” Republican.
“Larry Pressler has had a bit of a honeymoon in this campaign,” Wadhams said, suggesting the gloves in the Rounds corner are about to come off.
A similar shift has taken place in Kansas, where GOP Sen. Pat Roberts now faces a challenge from independent Greg Orman – and has hammered Orman as a liberal.
In South Dakota, Wadhams said: “Voters are going to find out that there are no fundamental differences between Weiland and Pressler, that a new, liberal version of Pressler has emerged. Anyone who says he has voted for Obama twice, who supports ObamaCare and gun control – there is something wrong with that.”
Pressler acknowledges voting for President Obama, and supports the Affordable Care Act, but with modifications. He also supports limited background checks on gun purchases, he said.
“I am a practical moderate,” he said. “I would say we have a very liberal Weiland and a very conservative Rounds. I am a moderate centrist and I want to work to solve problems.”

US-led coalition intensifies airstrikes against ISIS in Kobani

The U.S.-led coalition targeting Islamic State militants ramped up airstrikes Thursday in the Syrian and Turkish border town of Kobani as the militant group reportedly sent reinforcements into intensified fighting against Kurdish forces.
The fight for the town situated near the Turkish frontier has become a major early test for the co-ordinated campaign aimed at degrading and destroying the terror group.
U.S. officials hope it could pull Turkey into the battle against the Islamic State as a means to opening up a new front, but also fear the country might stand aside and let two of its enemies, the Kurdish fighters and the Islamic State group, fight for the town.
Turkish officials have said that while they do not want Kobani to fall, they will not take on a greater role in the coalition’s strategy until it outlines a plan that also includes attacking Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Attacking Assad’s regime "is not the focus of our international coalition and not the focus of our efforts by the United States," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
"Both sides also agreed that we will continue a dynamic and deepening bilateral consultation process across the multiple lines of effort against ISIL, including military support, countering foreign fighters, counter-finance, humanitarian assistance, and de-legitimizing ISIL's messaging and rhetoric," she said using and acronym for the Islamic State group.
Turkey has also asked for a buffer zone inside Syria to secure a border, but the White House and Pentagon have said the U.S. is not considering that option.
U.S. officials said Thursday the U.S. is largely talking to Turkey about other alternatives besides inserting ground forces into the fight: allowing U.S. and coalition aircraft to fly over Turkish territory; allowing its air base in Incirlik, some 100 miles from the Syrian border, to be used by U.S. or coalition planes or for logistics and training; and equipping moderate Syrian opposition forces fighting to topple Assad.
The fight for Kobani has brought Syria's civil war yet again to Turkey's doorstep, and for weeks the U.S. and its allies have pressed Ankara to take a more robust role in the coalition.
In addition, Kurds have held massive demonstrations across Turkey in which they accuse the government, which has deployed its tanks just across the frontier, of doing nothing to save the town.
As many as 19 people were killed around the nation in clashes with police over the government’s unwillingness to aid Kurds trapped in Kobani. 
Protesters outraged that Turkey was “letting Kobani fall” burned Turkish flags and statues of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic, when images of Kurds fleeing Kobani and pouring into Turkey sparked a global call for action against the terror group.
Responding to the criticism, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said it was unrealistic to expect Turkey to launch a ground war against the Islamic State group on its own.
Cavusoglu said Turkey is prepared to play a bigger part once a deal is reached with the coalition. "Turkey will not hold back from carrying out its role," he said.
The U.S. Central Command said five airstrikes south of Kobani since Wednesday had destroyed an Islamic State group support building and two vehicles, and damaged a training camp. The strikes also hit two groups of Islamic State fighters, it said in a statement.
The coalition airstrikes have even forced some Islamic State fighters out of Kobani.
"Indications are that Kurdish militia there continue to control most of the city and are holding out against ISIL," said the U.S. Central Command.
The Pentagon still has said the town may yet fall to the extremists because air power alone cannot prevent it.
Even with the numerous airstrikes, the Islamic State group has managed to capture a police station in Kobani, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Islamic State militants launched their offensive on Kobani in mid-September, capturing several nearby Kurdish villages and steadily strengthening their control around the town. The fighting forced at least 200,000 residents to flee into Turkey.
More than 500 people have been killed in and around Kobani since the fighting began, according to The Observatory's chief, Rami Abdurrahman. He said the Islamic State group was rushing in reinforcements, indicating the extremists also view Kobani as a test of will.