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Charlie Osborne
ZNet 2014-07-15 16:39:00
A fresh set of documents leaked by Edward Snowden show how the UK intelligence agency can manipulate online polls and debates, spread messages, snoop on YouTube and track Facebook users. GCHQ has developed a toolkit of software programs used to manipulate online traffic, infiltrate users' computers and spread select messages across social media sites including Facebook and YouTube. The UK spy agency's dark arts were revealed in documents first published by The Intercept, and each piece of software is described in a wiki document written up by GCHQ's Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG). The document, which reads like a software inventory, calls the tools part of the agency's "weaponised capability." Some of the most interesting capabilities of the tools on the list include the ability to seed the web with false information - such as tweaking the results of online polls - inflating pageview counts, censoring video content deemed "extremist" and the use of psychological manipulation on targets - something similar to a research project conducted with Facebook's approval, which resulted in heavy criticism and outrage levied at the social media site. | |
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Patrick Martin
World Socialist Web Site 2014-07-15 16:19:00
As the Israeli onslaught on Gaza enters its second week, more and more evidence of atrocities is being made public, producing widespread expressions of outrage around the world. There have been numerous protests in Europe and North America, which though still relatively small, reflect the growth of popular understanding of the criminal character of the one-sided "war" against Gaza. Since the non-stop air strikes began on Gaza July 7, Israel has carried out more than 1,300 bomb and missile attacks on the Gaza Strip, an average of one massive explosion every nine minutes, 24 hours a day. Amid reports that Israel's security cabinet was to meet early Tuesday morning to consider a cease-fire proposal advanced by the Egyptian regime, there was no letup in this onslaught, and Israeli troops and tanks remained poised on the border of Gaza for a potential ground invasion. Hamas and other Palestinian groups have fired more than 900 rockets, but there is no comparison in terms of the damage inflicted. The rockets are primitive and unguided, most hit open land; not one Israeli has been killed. Every Israeli bomb and missile finds some human target in Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas on the planet, with more than 10,000 people in each square mile. The death toll among Palestinians in Gaza stood at over 185, as of this writing Monday. The vast majority of these are civilians, not fighters in any of the Palestinian armed groups, and a significant number, at least 50, are children. At least 1,200 more Gazans have been wounded. | |
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Times of India
2014-07-12 16:04:00
Twenty-year-old Palestinian Sally Saqr lies in a hospital bed in Gaza's Shifa hospital with burns that have turned her cheeks an angry pink beneath her ventilation tube. She survived an Israeli strike in the early hours of Saturday morning that hit a care home for Palestinians with special needs. Two of her fellow residents were not so lucky. Thirty-year-old Ola Washahi and 47-year-old Suha Abu Saada were killed when the rocket slammed into the home, destroying it. The two women's body parts were still being pulled from the rubble hours later, causing initial confusion over whether another person had been killed. The facility's director, Jamila Alaywa, is unable to contain her fury as she describes the tragedy that has befallen the centre she set up in 1994. "Both Ola and Suha had severe mental and physical handicaps, and had been living at the centre since it was founded," she told AFP. The building in northern Gaza's Beit Lahiya housed 13 residents, including some who were on weekend visits at their family homes when the strike hit. Five residents and a helper were inside, screaming in terror as the building collapsed around them. "They didn't understand what was happening and they were so frightened," Alaywa said. "They fired the rocket and it hit us without any warning. There was no warning strike with an empty rocket," she added. Israel has said it tries to minimize civilian casualties by firing a small missile at a target first, to give non-combatants a chance to leave. Comment: Psychopathic morality: "It's okay, we'll just shoot you in the leg first so you have a chance to limp away before we set the dogs loose. It's only fair to give you a sporting chance after all." | |
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Anti-dollar alliance: BRICS establish $100bn bank and currency reserves to counter Western dominance
RT
2014-07-15 15:50:00
The group of emerging economies signed the long-anticipated document to create the $100 bn BRICS Development Bank and a reserve currency pool worth over another $100 bn. Both will counter the influence of Western-based lending institutions and the dollar. The new bank will provide money for infrastructure and development projects in BRICS countries, and unlike the IMF or World Bank, each nation has equal say, regardless of GDP size. "BRICS Bank will be one of the major multilateral development finance institutions in this world," Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday at the 6th BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil. The big launch of the BRICS bank is seen as a first step to break the dominance of the US dollar in global trade, as well as dollar-backed institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, both US-based institutions BRICS countries have little influence within. "In terms of escalating international competition the task of activating the trade and investment cooperation between BRICS member states becomes important," Putin said. | |
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RT
2014-07-13 22:43:00
Thousands have fled northern Gaza after Israel warned residents to leave the area to avoid airstrikes. At least 167 people, mostly civilians, have already died as a result of Operation Protective Edge, which entered its sixth day on Sunday. Follow RT's live updates on Israel's Operation Protective Edge Israel dropped leaflets in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, located near the border with Israel, urging residents to leave the region by midday Sunday and warning of airstrikes on Hamas sites. Residents of the town, which has a population of 70,000, were told via the leaflets and telephone calls that "those who fail to comply with the instructions to leave immediately will endanger their lives and the lives of their families." At least 167 Palestinians - most of them civilians, including about 30 children - have died as a result of airstrikes since Israel's Operation Protective Edge began on Tuesday, Gaza's Health Ministry reported. More than 1,100 others have been injured. | |
Comment: If Netanyahu truly wanted to accomplish the goal of degrading Hamas' rocket launching capability, there would be a covert operation and little collateral "damage." Instead this is a blood bath of thousands of Palestinian innocents and horrific mass destruction. Who is the brutal terrorist enemy?
3 videos, must see: Israeli 'knock on the roof' bombing technique caught on film (VIDEO) | |
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RT
2014-07-14 00:00:00
As a never-ending stream of spy scandals put Washington-Berlin relations under unprecedented strain, Germans are increasingly asking themselves whether the country should be blindly following the US. A recent poll for Der Spiegel showed that up to 57 percent of Germans would like Berlin to conduct policies more independent from the US, and an Op-Ed article by the publication asked more bluntly: "Germany's Choice: Will It Be America or Russia?" This question, previously unimaginable for Berlin, show just how deeply the US spy scandals are shattering German politics. An unceasing row of intelligence scandals, that started over a year ago with revelations of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, have revealed that the US has beeneavesdropping Germans, Chancellor Angela Merkel included, for years now. | |
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Simon Walters
Daily Mail 2014-07-12 11:46:00
The row over claims of an establishment cover-up of an alleged paedophile ring took a new turn last night over fresh claims concerning former Commons Speaker George Thomas. When late Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens tried to expose public figures he claimed were involved in a Westminster child sex ring in the 1980s, Thomas, who was in the Speaker's chair at the time, had himself been blackmailed over his homosexuality. Furthermore, The Mail on Sunday has been told of claims that Thomas, who later became Viscount Tonypandy, propositioned young men in the Speaker's official grace and favour apartment in Parliament. A senior political source said: 'Thomas had an interest in young men and did not hide it at Westminster.' In the 1960s, Thomas was a Minister in the Home Office, which is accused of losing over 114 files on alleged child sex cases, including Dickens's dossier in the 1980s. And he reportedly used his Home Office position to help Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe - who was later acquitted of attempted murder of his gay lover - to cover up an alleged homosexual offence against a minor. The disclosures follow the announcement of official inquiries into claims of a Westminster paedophile ring and a Home Office cover-up. Thomas, who died in 1997, was one of Britain's best-loved and most influential public figures as Speaker from 1976 to 1983. Comment: How likely is it that the only perverts who will be exposed in this scandal are the ones who are already dead? | |
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Voice of Russia
2014-07-13 11:40:00
President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has ruled out any chance of Russia giving Crimea back to Ukraine. "Crimea is part of Russia. Return, handover or any other manipulation is not even up for discussion," Dmitry Peskov said in a program on the Russian News Service radio on Saturday in a comment on a statement by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry that returning Crimea to Ukraine is one of Ukraine's conditions for normalizing its relations with Russia. On July 9, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Ukraine against trying to get back the peninsula by force. "If the idea is to attack this part of Russian territory, the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, I wouldn't advise anyone to do that. We have a national security doctrine, and it very clearly prescribes the action to be taken in that case," Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow. At a referendum in Crimea on March 16, 96.77% of voters supported a proposal for the region to join Russia, according to the Crimean Central Election Commission. On March 18, Putin signed a treaty that sealed the incorporation of Crimea and Sevastopol into Russia. | |
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Roi Tov
Saturday brought a turning point to Operation Strong Cliff.* Everybody was expecting one, the start of an IDF ground operation in Gaza Strip. Instead, at 4:30PM, July 12, 2014, Hamas made history. After almost a week of brutal bombings of Gaza, it pulled out its best missiles and hit Nahariya, a Jewish town on the border with Lebanon.2014-07-15 00:00:00
Hamas Shocks Israel The list of "Red Color" sirens heard on July 12, 2014, 4:30PM starts with Nahariya, 170km north of Gaza. "Tzeva Adom" (Red Color) is the IDF code for approaching missiles. One missile fell on an open space in the town, setting a distance record for Hamas. It fire capabilities cover the entire Coastal Plain. There were at least two other massive launching events at 3PM and 4PM. The launching included medium and large range rockets and short-range mortars. Ashkelon, near Gaza, was hit seven times during the day. In one of the sites hit, a fire started. In 2012, during Operation Pillar of Cloud, I used official IDF data and calculated a success rate of 25% of the antimissiles used. This was in contradiction to the 75% claimed by Hebrew media. In the linked articles I described the statistical manipulations used by the IDF. More careful than then, the IDF is now reporting the success rate on a daily base. It is below 25%. Day...............Launchings.. Monday.........63............. Tuesday........157............ Wednesday...130............... Thursday.......197............ Friday............137......... Saturday........124........... A point to keep in mind is that the price of the launched rockets starts at $100 for cheap Kassam missiles. Every antimissile launching costs over $50,000. In the following night, four soldiers from Shayetet 13, the IDF Naval Commando, were hurt while unsuccessfully trying to invade a Hamas launching base. They were taken to the hospital in Ashkelon, the most hit town on Saturday. On the Jewish Shabbat, Hamas launched its best rockets and shocked Israel. | |
Comment: The IDF follows an aggressive combat doctrine based on two principles - "zero casualties" for IDF soldiers at the cost of deploying increasingly indiscriminate firepower in densely populated areas, and the "dahiya doctrine" promoting targeting of civilian infrastructure to create widespread suffering amongst the population with a view to foment opposition to Israel's opponents. This was confirmed in practice by the UN fact-finding mission in Gaza which concluded that the IDF had pursued a "deliberate policy of disproportionate force," aimed at the "supporting infrastructure" of the enemy - the civilian population.* Savvy of Israel to utilize blatant marketing tactics to describe their justification to eradicate defenseless Palestinian civilians and, by-the-way, garner American funding for one of the world's most sophisticated air forces to do so.
*paraphrased from a quote by Dr. Nafeez Ahmed, an international security journalist and academic. | |
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Voice of Russia
2014-07-14 11:06:00
Britain, having denied a Russian delegation entry visas to visit the Farnborough international air show this week, has triggered a determined response from Moscow, with Russia threatening to take "symmetrical" measures, Interfax reports. "We qualify this British move as patently unfriendly and expect official explanations from the British side about the current situation, which does not fit into the framework of normal relations between our nations. We also reserve the right to symmetrical action, as is customary in diplomatic practice," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yury Matery, in a statement. "We are justifiably indignant about the situation. We have always assumed that it is in the interests of Britain, as the organizer of large-scale international events, that they should be successful and as representative as possible. But this is by no means the first instance of problems with issuing visas to participants in official Russian delegations to Farnborough shows. There have been problems for the same reason with regard to other international forums in Britain, including an international exhibition of ecological foods in April this year and the Info Security Europe 2014 exhibition in summer this year," he continued. Russia's Embassy in Britain "has sent a note to the Foreign Office, requesting explanations," Matery said, adding that "no response has been received so far". | |
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RT
2014-07-15 10:52:00
France, Germany, and Italy are among EU members who don't want to follow the US lead and impose trade sanctions on Russia. US sanctions are seen as a push to promote its own multibillion free-trade pact with Europe. "France, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, and EU President Italy see no reason in the current environment for the introduction of sectorial trade and economic sanctions against Russia and at the summit, will block the measure," a diplomatic source told ITAR-TASS. In order for a new wave of sanctions to pass, all 28 EU members must unanimously vote in favor. EU ministers plan to discuss new sanctions against Russia at their summit in Brussels on Wednesday, July 16. Even if only one country vetoed, sanctions would not be imposed. With heavyweights like France and Germany opposed to more sanctions the measure will likely again be stalled, the source said. According to the source, the US sees slapping Russia with sanctions as a way to promote its own trade agenda with Europe, a side rarely explored in mainstream media. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the US and Europe would create the world's largest free trade zone, but some worry it could balloon into an "economic NATO" or could end up putting corporation interest above national. | |
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Translated from Russian
Lenta.ru 2014-07-10 10:23:00
Yakov Mirkin, Doctor of Economics, Professor, Head of the International Capital Markets Department, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Science The global financial system is again pushing the global economy into the pit of the crisis: even deeper than in 2008. Russia will also have hard times. We are connected to the U.S. and the EU with one umbilical cord. As before, on the European Union accounted for 50 percent of Russia's exports and imports (the figure for January-April 2014). The trade with the U.S. has even increased by 9 percent. If these economies suffer, Russia will suffer as well. If they have problems with their finances, we'll see bankruptcies on our home soil too. Red lights on the dashboard The biggest risk is the bubble in U.S. stock market. Dow Jones increased by 25 percent within 1.5 years. And it raised 2.6x since the bottom of spring 2009. A bit too much for the "developed market" of the USA, isn't it? It is usually stable, not so fluctuating and bouncing as the raging emerging markets. Yet another red light is the "stock market capitalization to GDP" indicator. And again, it is too high for the United States together with the UK: the pre-crisis value in 2008 is already exceeded. Once the markets reached them six years ago, everything collapsed. What is really going on with the finance of these famous kingdoms? Almost the same as during the flood in August 2002 in Europe. | |
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ITAR-TASS
2014-07-13 10:14:00
Ukraine has refused to admit that it shelled Russian territory. The country's Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday in which it said that Ukrainian soldiers did not deliver fire in the region mentioned by Russia. "Ukrainian servicemen have never shelled, are not shelling and will not shell territories of a neighboring state or residential quarters," the statement said. Comment: Liars. They've been shelling residential quarters for months. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences "over the death and injuries of Russian nationals in the town of Donetsk in [the southern Russian] Rostov Region." The Ukrainian army shelled the Russian town of Donetsk on the border between the two countries with high-explosive projectiles early on Sunday. A shell hit a private house killing one Russian resident and seriously wounding another two. The Russian foreign policy department expressed protest to Ukraine's charge d'affaires in Russia over the shelling. | |
Comment: Russia has apparently responded to this provocation:
Ukraine military plane shot down from Russia as warning to US puppet regime in Kiev Kiev may deny the initial attack, but they seem to have gotten the hint: Tired of losing aircrafts? Ukraine's military suspends combat aviation flights in offensive area | |
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ITAR-TASS
2014-07-15 07:47:00
The Ukrainian armed forces conducting a military operation in the country's embattled southeast have suspended combat aviation flights in the area to investigate a recent crash of a military plane, the operation's press center said on Tuesday. "Aviation flights have been suspended until a special order due to the investigation of Ukrainian Armed Forces' An-26 military transport plane crash in the Luhansk Region on July 14, 2014," the press center said on its Facebook page. Ukrainian military aircraft involved in the operation have been at their permanent bases since July 14, the statement said. These measures have been taken to establish the causes of the An-26 plane crash and carry out an operation to find the plane's six crew members, the statement said. | |
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RT
2014-07-15 07:03:00
Washington and Doha have signed the largest arms deal of the year, preparing to enhance Qatar's military capabilities with $11 billion-worth of Apache assault helicopters, PAC-2 missile defense complexes and Javelin man-portable anti-tank missiles. The deal has been signed on Monday in Pentagon by US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Qatari Defense Minister Hamad bin Ali al-Attiyah. Altogether Qatar is buying 10 batteries of Patriot missile defense systems and 500 Javelin anti-tank missiles manufactured by US defense industry giants Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, and 24 Apache helicopters made by Boeing, an anonymous US official told the AFP.
The Patriot complexes with 247 PAC-3 missiles cost over $7 billion, the Apache helicopters and related gear are worth over $3 billion, and the Javelin anti-tank missiles cost additional $100 million. Comment: The U.S. don't do defence, they do wars of aggression. The title of defence minister is outdated and orwellian double-speak in nature. | ||
Comment: Qatar is an important U.S. ally in sowing chaos in the Middle-East and for that reason is it rewarded. Qatar is probably also aware that if it doesn't obey the U.S. then regime change will be next and discontent will be easy to find, as democracy, free speech and human rights are as rare as the sand in the Saharan desert is common.
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AFP
Yahoo! News 2014-07-14 12:06:00
Russian state television has provoked a storm of criticism after it aired an uncorroborated report claiming that the Ukrainian army publicly nailed a three-year-old boy to a board in a former rebel stronghold. Ukraine accused Russia of ratcheting up its propaganda war by airing an interview in which a woman gave graphic details of the alleged incident in the Ukrainian flashpoint city of Slavyansk, which neither AFP nor other media have been able to confirm. Comment: It would be hard to confirm even if it did occur. The chaos in eastern Ukraine makes sure of that. Channel One television at the weekend broadcast footage of a woman who said she recently saw Ukrainian soldiers round up people in central Slavyansk, which the army took over this month after three months of clashes with separatists, and nail an insurgent's child to a notice board. A spokeswoman for Ukraine's interior ministry, Natalya Stativko, on Monday slammed the report as "following in the footsteps of Goebbels," Nazi Germany's minister of propaganda. Comment: Pot, kettle, black. Nice response, coming from a Nazi. | |
Comment: See the atrocity report here, which includes the original video interview, and judge for yourself: Eyewitness account of Ukrainian atrocities in Slavyansk: Three-year-old boy nailed to an announcement board
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Voice of Russia
2014-07-14 10:29:00
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) officials announced that residents of some Donetsk districts are suburban areas are being evacuated in an orderly manner due to constant artillery strikes carried out by Ukrainian troops, reports Interfax. "We evacuated around 500 people just yesterday in the evening from the private household districts, which were subject to artillery fire, so on average we evacuate regularly seven to eight buses from the city districts and suburbs," DPR First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Purgin told reporters. "The evacuation is being held in an orderly fashion and information of large-scale evacuations of the entire Donetsk population does not exist," he stressed. According to Purgin's statement, Ukrainian military continually shells Donetsk suburbs and its outskirts. As a result of gunfire last night about 15 people were killed, the militia reported. | |
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ITAR-TASS
2014-07-15 07:59:00
The militia fighters said that over the past day they have "destroyed about 100 personnel of the Ukrainian armed forces, five tanks, two infantry combat vehicles" People's militia fighters in the southeast of Ukraine have armed themselves with tanks, warplanes, multiple rocket launcher systems and artillery. According to the self-defense forces of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, the armaments have been taken in combat with the Ukrainian security forces. People's militia fighters previously said that they managed to start an exhibition sample of a WW2 tank that was removed from a military memorial pedestal. | |
Comment: Maybe it is having an effect: Tired of losing aircrafts? Ukraine's military suspends combat aviation flights in offensive area
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RT
15 people have been killed and over 160 injured as several subway cars derailed on the Moscow Metro on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya dark blue Metro line on Tuesday morning.2014-07-15 06:04:00
"According to the latest data, 15 people are dead {new data indicates that there are more than 20 people dead}. Three bodies have been retrieved," Deputy Mayor Pyotr Biryukov told journalists. He added 12 bodies remain stuck in the damaged train. Media reports have emerged of 16 people being dead. Those have not yet been officially confirmed. The driver of the derailed train, who was earlier reported dead, is actually alive and being treated in hospital, Moscow authorities say, according to RIA Novosti. The accident happened during the morning rush hour when the train was packed with passengers. | |
Comment: Read the following forum thread, to learn more about the increase in train derailments and explosions since 2013.
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Mairav Zonszein
972 Mag 2014-07-14 12:26:00
Israeli organization Physicians for Human Rights posted a chilling status on their Facebook page Sunday relaying a Gazan teenager's last status on Facebook before being killed in an Israeli airstrike: According to the latest reports from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 70% of the fatalities thus far (89) are civilians of which 30% (27) are children. As of Monday morning, at least 172 Palestinians have been killed, and zero Israelis. | |
Comment: No doubt the IDF feel perfectly justified over the murder of this young man. He asked for it, right?
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RT
2014-07-15 00:09:00
A Chicago company is under fire from a local union after employees complained they are being monitored and disciplined for using the bathroom more than just a few minutes a day. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Teamsters Local 743 union has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board regarding the situation, claiming that workers are being penalized if their time in the bathroom exceeds 30 minutes a week, or six minutes a day. The company under the microscope is Chicago-based WaterSaver Faucet Co. and its sister company Guardian Equipment Inc., both of which have placed limits on employees looking ti relieve themselves at work. In fact, Teamsters agent Nick Kreitman said the businesses have even "offered $1 per day for anyone who doesn't go to the bathroom at all." | |
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Joachim Hagopian
Global Research 2014-07-14 23:42:00
Today a shameful culture of sexual violence permeates across thousands of America's college campuses. This dark cloud hanging over campuses has never adequately been dealt with by US institutions of higher education and, because of that fact, American women attending college in 2014 must live in growing daily fear of being sexually violated by their fellow male students at a never before seen rate. One in five women report being a victim of sexual assault while studying at America's colleges and universities today. Another study determined that one in four college women have survived rape or attempted rape since age 14. A current trend estimates that one in three women will be sexually assaulted during her life. Take into account that the vast majority of victims choose not to report sex crimes to the authorities at all, a range anywhere from 60% up to 97% of sexually assaulted women will forego the stress of reporting sex crimes. When those kind of numbers are added to the overall equation, perhaps upwards of nearly half of all females attending college in America today are astoundingly being sexually violated, harassed and/or stalked on a regular basis. Though there are some who challenge these alarming numbers, keeping young women in pursuit of higher education in America safe from predatory male counterparts has never been a high priority until reaching its present crisis stage. What is even more repugnant and telling is the men committing rape continue getting away with it with odds overwhelmingly on their side, giving them an emboldened advantage and sense of impunity that only motivates and reinforces them to brazenly rape again and again. Statistics show that sexual perpetrators will not stop at committing rape just once. Even if they get caught and receive treatment, recidivism rates for rapists are extremely high. They are far more apt to be serial rapists raping different women on average of six times before they are ultimately exposed and apprehended. Yet for many decades US colleges and universities have been quietly sweeping this mounting epidemic under the rug, concealing the truth from both the public and female students alike because the school's reputation and image are far more important than the safety and well being of their college coeds. Campus sexual assault is yet another sad and tragic crisis currently exploding amongst America's "best and brightest" enrolled at the nation's best ivory tower institutions today. Sexual assault becomes the latest US scandal brewing alongside the over trillion dollars in loan debt accumulating to pay for the ever-mounting costs of a college education. | |
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Would you like to have a picture of a 3D demon exploding out of your chest? Would you like to make it look like an exquisite piece of art was carved out of your right leg? Would you like to see the shock on people's faces when they think that a real scorpion is sitting on your shoulder or a real snake is crawling down your back? In recent years, more Americans have been getting tattoos than ever before, but now a new body art trend is spreading across America like wildfire. 3D tattoos can be far more realistic than conventional tattoos, and many are choosing them for their pure shock value. But how will all of these young people feel about their weird tattoos a decade or two from now? And what does all of this bizarre body art say about our society? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Below are photos of 3D tattoos that I found on Facebook and Pinterest. At first glance, it is hard to believe that some of these are actually tattoos... | |
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Police State USA
2014-07-14 23:03:00
North Augusta - A mother has been arrested and thrown in jail on charges of child neglect because her 9-year-old daughter was found playing at a park by herself. It might sound like a reasonable, normal place for an American kid to spend a summer day. That is, until busybody neighbors and overzealous government agents arbitrarily decided that it is abusive. Debra Lynn Harrell, 46, was arrested by the North Augusta "Department of Public Safety" - charged with unlawful neglect toward a child, according to WFXG, when someone reported that the girl had been hanging out there playing by herself for a few hours. Ms. Harrell later confessed that she does give her daughter the freedom to play at the neighborhood park while she works at a McDonald's restaurant to support her family. For her efforts, Ms. Harrell was locked in a cage and her daughter was taken into the custody of the Department of Social Services. | |
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RT
2014-07-14 20:01:00
Three Israeli Jews who were arrested for the murder of a Palestinian teenager have confessed to kidnapping him and then burning him alive, officials stated. They said it was revenge for the killing of three Jewish youths last month. The murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir has unleashed intense fighting between Israel and Hamas around the Gaza Strip which has been going on for a week. The Israeli court refused to give the names of the suspects, who have not been formally charged, however it did state that two of them were minors. The Jerusalem Post revealed that the main suspect in the investigation, a 30-year-old man,attempted to kill his own daughter weeks before the homicide. It is believed he may cite previous mental health problems in mitigation. "I expect soon to get the investigative material, in which I will look for support for the assessment there is a complex problem in the matter of my client's criminal culpability," an attorney for the organization, Honenu, said. It was also claimed by Israeli media reports that the other two teenage suspects will likely claim "temporary insanity" in the grisly murder of the 16-year-old. Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court also confirmed that three of the suspects involved in the kidnapping, torture and murder of Abu Khdeir had unsuccessfully tried to abduct a different victim in the same area the night before. | |
Comment: So if a Canadian kills an American, are Americans justified in killing some random Canadian teen for revenge? These Israelis are almost as irrational and downright idiotic as their leaders.
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Wendy McElroy
The Hill 2014-07-04 18:59:00
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) explained the motivation behind H.R. 4989, known as Justina's Law. "Sixteen months ago, Justina was a [competitive] figure skater. Today, she cannot stand, sit or walk on her own." The bipartisan legislation aims to chop federal funds to "research in which a ward of the State is subjected to greater than minimal risk to the individual's health with no or minimal prospect of direct benefit." The proximate cause is the tragic saga of now-16-year-old Justina Pelletier. Both officials in Massachusetts and medical staff at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) are accused of sanctioning and conducting experimental research on Justina after removing her from parental custody. Justina's ordeal occurred over the vigorous objections of both parents. It could happen to any family. In February 2013, Justina had difficulty retaining food due to flu-like symptoms. Her parents, Lou and Linda Pelletier, were particularly concerned because she was being treated for a confirmed diagnosis of mitochondrial disease. A leading expert, Dr. Mark Korson, chief of Metabolic Services at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, advised taking Justina to the emergency room at BCH. | |
Comment: Over 95 children dead during the last decade in DCF alone? Probably not even the tip of the iceberg. See:
Head of Mass. Social Services agency at center of Pelletier case resigns Boston Psychiatric Unit's imprisonment of teenager Justina Pelletier needs State investigation into reckless endangerment of psychiatric diagnosing Another clue in this article: Mother jailed for refusing to drug daughter with a highly controversial antipsychotic - Child ends up in a mental institution | |
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| Secret History |
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Rashmi Drolia
Times of India 2014-07-15 15:15:00
Charama (Chhattisgarh): Chhattisgarh state department of archaeology and culture plans to seek help from Nasa and Isro for research on 10,000-year-old rock paintings depicting aliens and UFOs in Charama region in Kanker district in tribal Bastar region. According to archaeologist JR Bhagat, these paintings have depicted aliens like those shown in Hollywood and Bollywood flicks. Located about 130km from Raipur, the caves come under village Chandeli and Gotitola. "The findings suggest that humans in prehistoric times may have seen or imagined beings from other planets which still create curiosity among people and researchers. Extensive research is needed for further findings. Chhattisgarh presently doesn't have any such expert who could give clarity on the subject," Bhagat told TOI. | |
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Tia Ghose
Live Science 2014-07-15 13:37:00
Sparkly, gold grills aren't just for Flavor Flav; ancient Celts may have sought out flashy smiles as well. Archaeologists have unearthed a dental implant in a grave in France that dates to the third century B.C. The implant - an iron pin that may have screwed into the gum to hold a decorative tooth in place - was found in the mouth of a skeleton in a Celtic burial site in La Chêne, France. The tooth was described in the June issue of the journal Antiquity. Though it's not clear what the false tooth would have been made of, it was likely put in to enhance the owner's smile, said Guillaume Seguin, an archaeologist at Archeosphere in France and co-author of the study. "In Le Chêne, the replaced tooth is a central maxillary incisor," which is one of the "most visible teeth when you speak or when you smile," Seguin told Live Science in an email. "So there, the intention was probably aesthetic." | |
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Owen Jarus
Live Science 2014-07-15 10:49:00
A wall painting, dating back over 4,300 years, has been discovered in a tomb located just east of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The painting shows vivid scenes of life, including boats sailing south on the Nile River, a bird hunting trip in a marsh and a man named Perseneb who's shown with his wife and dog. While Giza is famous for its pyramids, the site also contains fields of tombs that sprawl to the east and west of the Great Pyramid. These tombs were created for private individuals who held varying degrees of rank and power during the Old Kingdom (2649-2150 B.C.), the age when the Giza pyramids were built. [See Images of the Painting and Giza Tomb] The new painting was discovered in 2012 by a team from the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which has been excavating these tombs since 1996. | |
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| Science & Technology |
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Molly McElroy
Sciencedaily.com 2014-07-14 17:31:00
Infants can tell the difference between sounds of all languages until about 8 months of age when their brains start to focus only on the sounds they hear around them. It's been unclear how this transition occurs, but social interactions and caregivers' use of exaggerated "parentese" style of speech seem to help. University of Washington research in 7- and 11-month-old infants shows that speech sounds stimulate areas of the brain that coordinate and plan motor movements for speech. | |
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Yahoo News
2014-07-15 16:05:00
Just imagine the fish you could catch with a worm that is five feet long. That might be what these adventurers thought when they discovered a massive earthworm that stretched yardsticks at a full metre-and-a-half in length. The photos were submitted to Project Noah, a global study app that encourages nature lovers to document the wildlife they encounter by uploading photos to their phones. In this case, this massive worm was found in "extremely rich forest soil" in the foothills of the Sumaco Volcano in Ecuador. According to the site's forum, it's been identified as aMartiodrilus crassus, which is Latin for "worm which feeds on dogs and small children." | |
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Ian Johnston
The IndependentThe Independent 2014-07-13 19:53:00  A British company has produced a "strange, alien" material so black that it absorbs all but 0.035 per cent of visual light, setting a new world record. To stare at the "super black" coating made of carbon nanotubes - each 10,000 times thinner than a human hair - is an odd experience. It is so dark that the human eye cannot understand what it is seeing. Shapes and contours are lost, leaving nothing but an apparent abyss. If it was used to make one of Chanel's little black dresses, the wearer's head and limbs might appear to float incorporeally around a dress-shaped hole. Actual applications are more serious, enabling astronomical cameras, telescopes and infrared scanning systems to function more effectively. Then there are the military uses that the material's maker, Surrey NanoSystems, is not allowed to discuss. |
Comment: A sign of the times, perhaps.
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| Earth Changes |
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Yahoo News
2014-07-15 00:00:00
Tens of thousands of people in the Philippines hunkered down in evacuation centres while three people were reported missing Tuesday as a typhoon pounded its eastern coast amid warnings of giant storm surges and heavy floods. The eye of Typhoon Rammasun struck Legazpi city in the eastern Bicol region in the early evening, with Manila and other heavily populated regions expecting to be hit on Wednesday afternoon, the state weather service said. "Roofing sheets are flying off the tops of houses here... the wind is whistling," Joey Salceda, the governor of Albay province in Bicol said over ABS-CBN television. He said there had been no reports of deaths while damage to the region -- an impoverished farming and fishing region of 5.4 million people -- was expected to be "moderate". However, Bicol police said three local men were listed as missing off the island of Catanduanes on Tuesday, a day after they pushed out to sea to fish and failed to return. The Philippines is hit by about 20 major storms a year, many of them deadly. The Southeast Asian archipelago is often the first major landmass to be struck after storm build above the warm Pacific Ocean waters. | |
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NBC News
Cell phone video captures a car being pummeled by hail.2014-07-15 15:52:00
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BBC
2014-07-14 11:49:00
A six-metre (20ft) minke whale has been found dead on an Isle of Man beach, the Manx Wildlife Trust (MWT) has confirmed. The juvenile whale was discovered at Glen Maye on Saturday evening, the trust's marine officer Lara Howe said. The Manx Society for Marine Conservation and MWT have carried out tests and believe it died from "natural causes." A decision on how to safely dispose of the carcass will be taken later. The Manx government is due to decide whether to bury the whale or leave it in the hope the high tide will wash it away. | |
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It's not the kind of record you want to be hearing about in the middle of July. David Phillips, senior Climatologist for Environment Canada, joined Richard and Kathy on Winnipeg's Morning News. He confirms that yesterday's high, 15.7 degrees Celsius, was the coldest July 13th in Winnipeg since 1884. He puts the reasoning behind a type of polar vortex - that cold low which is sitting over the heart of North America. However, the good news is that it will be short lived according Phillips. He says starting tomorrow the mercury will continue to rise and by the weekend we should be hitting temps around 30 degrees. That's, not the end of it either. Phillips forecasts the heat to continue over the next couple of months. | |
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| Fire in the Sky |
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| Health & Wellness |
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Your Medical Detective
2014-07-15 08:37:00
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health believe that lowering blood glucose levels could reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in both diabetics and non-diabetics. The researchers found that hemoglobin A1c ( HbA1c ) - a measure of long-term blood glucose level - predicts heart disease risk in both diabetics and non-diabetics. An elevated blood glucose level is the defining feature of diabetes, but until now it was unclear whether elevated glucose levels contributed independently to increasing heart-disease risk. The study is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. "Our results suggest that improving blood-glucose control may reduce heart disease risk," said Elizabeth Selvin, lead author of the study and at Bloomberg School of Public Health's Department of Epidemiology. For non-diabetics, lifestyle modifications, such as increased physical activity, weight loss and eating a healthful, low-glycemic, index diet rich in fiber, fruit and vegetables, may not only help prevent diabetes, but also reduce the risk of heart disease," she said. Comment: A diet rich in fiber, fruit and vegetables is a diet rich in sugar. This has been the standard dietary recommendations for decades, resulting in a historical unprecedented health catastrophe which didn't existed before. It is a diet low in carbs and rich in animal fats the one which cures diabetes and lowers your risk for cardiovascular disease. See: The Ketogenic Diet - An Overview Solve Your Health Issues with a Ketogenic Diet Type 1 diabetes...cured? It's official - Time to drop hazardous low fat guidelines | |
Comment: An important next step is to incorporate strategies for lowering HbA1c. Indeed! Start here:
Sweden becomes first Western nation to reject low-fat diet dogma in favor of low-carb high-fat nutrition |
