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Robert Fisk
UK Independent 2014-10-20 23:08:00
So who is winning the war? Isis? Us? The Kurds (remember them?) The Syrians? The Iraqis? Do we even remember the war? Not at all. We must tell the truth. So let us now praise famous weapons and the manufacturers that begat them. Share prices are soaring in America for those who produce the coalition bombs and missiles and drones and aircraft participating in this latest war which - for all who are involved (except for the recipients of the bombs and missiles and those they are fighting) - is Hollywood from start to finish. Shares in Lockheed Martin - maker of the "All for One and One for All" Hellfire missiles - are up 9.3 per cent in the past three months. Raytheon - which has a big Israeli arm - has gone up 3.8 per cent. Northrop Grumman shares swooped up the same 3.8 per cent. And General Dynamics shares have risen 4.3 per cent. Lockheed Martin - which really does steal Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers quotation on its publicity material - makes the rockets carried by the Reaper drones, famous for destroying wedding parties over Afghanistan and Pakistan, and by Iraqi aircraft. And don't be downhearted. The profits go on soaring. When the Americans decided to extend their bombing into Syria in September - to attack President Assad's enemies scarcely a year after they first proposed to bomb President Assad himself - Raytheon was awarded a $251m (£156m) contract to supply the US navy with more Tomahawk cruise missiles. Agence France-Presse, which does the job that Reuters used to do when it was a real news agency, informed us that on 23rd September, American warships fired 47 Tomahawk missiles. Each one costs about $1.4m. And if we spent as promiscuously on Ebola cures, believe me, there would be no more Ebola. Let us leave out here the political cost of this conflict. After all, the war against Isis is breeding Isis. For every dead Isis member, we are creating three of four more. And if Isis really is the "apocalyptic", "evil", "end-of-the-world" institution we have been told it is - my words come from the Pentagon and our politicians, of course - then every increase in profits for Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics is creating yet more Isis fighters. So every drone or F/A-18 fighter-bomber we send is the carrier of a virus, every missile an Ebola germ for the future of the world. Think about that. | |
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Rossiya 1
2014-09-25 22:24:00
Hosted by a popular TV and radio journalist, the following Russian chat show ('Sunday Evening With Vladimir Soloviev') provides insight into how Russians view the U.S. sanctions and the broader economic and propaganda war directed against their country. Guests Sergei Markov: Deputy Chairman of the Russian Public Forum on International Affairs Andrei Isaev: Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans' Affairs Sergei Mikheev: Political Scientist Nikolai Starikov: Writer and co-Chairman of the Great Fatherland Party Evgeny Tarlo: Member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Original source Turn on Subtitles/CC for EN subtitles
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RT
2014-10-20 18:40:00
A Lebanese-American reporter working for Iranian channel, Press TV, Serena Shim has been killed in a car crash in Turkey, following her reports of accusations from Turkey's intelligence agency that she had been "spying." "Our correspondent Serena Shim has been killed near the Turkey-Syria border. Serena was killed in a reported car accident when she was returning from a report scene...their car collided with a heavy vehicle," a Press TV broadcast stated on Monday. Shim had also been the mother of two young children. The driver of the vehicle was subsequently arrested, according to Turkish news agency Hurriyet, citing the Turkish Doğan News Agency. Press TV disputed this, alleging that both driver and vehicle have disappeared. Press TV has additionally expressed suspicion, implying that it may not have been an accident. "Just a couple of days ago she had been threatened by Turkish intelligence," the broadcast said. Shim had been returning to her hotel after reporting from Suruç - a rural district near the Syrian border, where a many foreign journalists are based. They are covering news from the Syrian northeastern border town of Kobani, under siege by Islamic State militants for the past month due to its strategic importance. | |
Comment: Rest in peace, Ms. Serena Shim. Thank you for your courageous work.
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Richard Walker
American Free Press Newspaper 2014-10-19 16:54:00
Just when you think you've heard it all about Israel's murderous bombardment of Gaza, you discover there is much more to the tragedy. Yes, there was a massive loss of innocent life and the utter destruction of tens of thousands of homes, schools and public buildings, but it now transpires Israel will profit handsomely from the $7 billion or more it will take to rebuild Gaza over the next 20 years.The scandalous fact is Israel will continue to control the flow of all building materials into Gaza and will insist they must be bought from Israeli companies. An unnamed European Union (EU) official quoted in news outlets said it was outrageous a country that had just demolished 25,000 homes was "demanding its construction industry rebuild them at the expense of the international community." That rebuilding project will have to include at least 5,000 homes not repaired from the previous Israeli bombardments and replacing Gaza's only power station, leveled by Israeli missiles. | |
Comment: Comment: For more on Israel's evil dealings in these matters see: Israeli occupation refuses to allow construction material into besieged Gaza Strip
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CrossTalk
RT 2014-10-17 22:44:00
What was supposed to happen in Ukraine? Why has the Western media stopped talking about the blunders of the Ukrainian regime? Is Ukraine a failed state beyond repair? How long will Petro Poroshenko last as president of Ukraine? RT's CrossTalk brings together Eric Kraus, Charles Bausman, and Alexander Mercouris to discuss the elephant in Europe's living room.
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Mashable
2014-10-20 21:23:00
Dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards collected millions of dollars in U.S. Social Security benefits after being forced out of the United States, an Associated Press investigation has found. The payments, underwritten by American taxpayers, flowed through a legal loophole that gave the U.S. Justice Department leverage to persuade Nazi suspects to leave the U.S. If they agreed to go, or simply fled before deportation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and internal U.S. government records. Among those receiving benefits were armed SS troops who guarded the network of Nazi camps where millions of Jews perished; a rocket scientist who used slave laborers to advance his research in the Third Reich; and a Nazi collaborator who engineered the arrest and execution of thousands of Jews in Poland. There are at least four living beneficiaries. They include Martin Hartmann, a former SS guard at the Sachsenhausen camp in Germany, and Jakob Denzinger, who patrolled the grounds at the Auschwitz camp complex in Poland. Hartmann moved to Berlin in 2007 from Arizona just before being stripped of his U.S. citizenship. Denzinger fled to Germany from Ohio in 1989 after learning denaturalization proceedings against him were underway. He soon resettled in Croatia and now lives in a spacious apartment on the right bank of the Drava River in Osijek. Denzinger would not discuss his situation when questioned by an AP reporter; Denzinger's son, who lives in the U.S., confirmed his father receives Social Security payments and said he deserved them. | |
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Declan Walsh
New York Times 2014-10-15 00:00:00
Eight Afghan paramilitary soldiers were killed during an assault on a Taliban hide-out in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Wednesday. It was the latest of several clashes to take a heavy toll on the security forces as American combat forces leave the country. The deaths, caused by a car bomb, occurred during a raid by the Khost Protection Force, a C.I.A.-trained paramilitary unit that has carried out operations along the border with Pakistan for more than a decade. The governor's spokesman, Mohammad Mubarez Zadran, confirmed in a phone interview that the troops belonged to the Khost militia force, established by the C.I.A. and American Special Operations forces after 2001, and which The Associated Press reported in May had up to 3,500 fighters. The future of the Khost Protection Force, and others like it in various Afghan provinces, has been unclear as the C.I.A. withdraws from remote Afghan bases in concert with the broader drawdown of American combat troops from Afghanistan. Some of the units were earmarked to be handed over to the Afghan intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security, after this year. | |
Comment: Border wars. Every inch counts. Lines in the sand. Evil recognizes no such line. Since spring, the CIA has been ending contracts and dismantling its frontline Afghan counterterrorist forces in south and east Afghanistan, leaving outposts stretched too thin and sizable holes for the Taliban and al Qaeda to gain/retain the upper hand. Supposedly the exit shrinks the CIA footprint. Or, does it give the U.S. an excuse to come back stronger and more deadly?
This is the extent of the 'debate' US audiences are allowed to hear. What they don't hear is that all 'sides' are funded, trained, armed and directed by the CIA and Special Ops. The cross-talk in administration circles was that these paramilitary forces would be significantly expanded in the near future. Now, it appears the opposite is unfolding. Already disbanded: the 900-man Counterterrorist Pursuit team in Paktika Province next to Khost. The forces now facing the chopping block: 750 members of the Counterterrorist Pursuit Teams in the Kunar region - home to the elusive Afghan al Qaeda leader Farouq al-Qahtani al-Qatari - and the entire 3,500-strong Khost Protection Force. The Afghan government was reportedly given no advance notice of the firings. Has a secret deal been made? A bait and switch? Or do we smell a rat with a plan? | |
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RT
2014-10-20 17:25:00
The Swedish military did not confirm allegations that "a damaged Russian submarine" is being hunted for in waters east of Stockholm, while adding that a search for a "foreign vessel" is ongoing. Moscow said none of its military vessels have been damaged. Sweden deploys troops near Stockholm due to alleged underwater threat The official statement by the Swedish military said the search around the Stockholm archipelago was due to "alien underwater activity." However, Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet cited "several persons with knowledge about the ongoing search operation" to say that the operation was launched after a radio communication in Russian was detected in the area. The communication was reportedly transmitted on a special frequency, used by Russia in emergency situations. | |
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Ilan Pappé and Samer Jaber
The pine trees in Palestine appeared with the establishment of the state of Israel. The pine is generally a European species which before the 20th century was not to be seen in the Middle East. It was brought to Palestine by the Zionist settlers for two main reasons. Firstly, it gave the new Jewish settlers the feeling that the place they had migrated to is somehow part of Europe. And if Palestine were to be 'Europeanized' in such a manner it would also be 'civilized' and the inferior local population would be replaced by a superior one. Thus Zionism was not just a redemption of an ancient land, it was also the revitalization of what in their eyes was an Arabian desert both ecologically and culturally.Mondoweiss 2014-10-17 16:17:00
The second reason for their import was more practical; they were brought to cover up the ethnic cleansing of Palestine that took place in 1947-48 and produced the Palestinian Catastrophe, the Nakba. The fast-growing pine was widely used to create Israeli national and recreational parks to hide the ruins of the destroyed Palestinian villages and neighborhoods evicted by force in 1948. These forests were presented later on as Israel's green lungs forming together an ecological carpet covering a barren land. The largest of these 'lungs' is the Mount Carmel National Park near Haifa; one of the early projects which attempted to erase the Palestinian life and society that existed there for centuries. This forest stretches over big and famous villages such as Ijzim, Umm al-Zinat and Khubbaza which have disappeared and are no longer to be found on any map. This method did not stop in 1948. When Israel occupied the West Bank and Jerusalem in 1967 pine trees again were planted to cover the new wave of destroyed villages those Imwas, Yalo and Beit Nouba, in the Latrun Valley near Jerusalem. In their stead the 'green lung', the Canada Park appeared as a recreational ground hiding the inhumanity of the villages' depopulation. Covering ethnic cleansing with pine trees is probably the most cynical method employed by Israel in its quest to take over as much of Palestine as possible with as few Palestinians in it as possible. Like all the other means, which will be described here, they can be found in every historical juncture ever since Zionism appeared on the land of Palestine. Another means used in 1948 and in 1967 was renaming Palestinian villages as Jewish settlement - more often than not by appropriating the Arabic name of the destroyed Palestine community for the new settlement. A naming committee in 1949 transformed in such a way the destroyed villages of 1948 and Hebrewized the Arabic names and thus the Palestinian village of Lubya became Kibbutz Lavi and the Palestinian city of Asqalan became the Israeli city of Ashkelon. And after the 1967 occupation, the settlement of Tekoa was built next to the West Bank village of Tuqu' and on its land. The principal means however were not trees or renaming - it was, and still is, colonization. For this method to succeed this 19th century method, deemed illegal already hundred years ago, had first to be accepted and approved by the Israeli Jewish society; even in 2014. | |
Comment: Israel carries on this despicable policy secure in the knowledge that its over-armed lapdog, the US, will defend it at every turn.
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Paul Craig Roberts
USAWatchdog 2014-10-19 00:00:00
Former Treasury Secretary Dr. Paul Craig Roberts says all U.S. financial policy revolves around propping up the dollar. Dr. Roberts contends, "I've always said the whole system is rigged. It's a house of cards, and the weak spot is the dollar because they cannot print foreign currencies for which to buy dollars. So, if there is a worldwide run on the dollar, they lose control then. In the meantime, they have all these things they can do to counteract the direction of the markets, and I expect them to continue doing that." So, if propping up the dollar is the top priority, then suppressing the gold price is a close second. Could the COMEX or LBMA simply run out of metal sold below mining cost? Dr. Roberts says, | |
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Robert Parry
Global Research 2014-10-15 00:00:00
For months, the New York Times and other major U.S. news outlets have insisted that it's just Russian propaganda to say that a significant neo-Nazi presence exists inside Ukraine, but thousands of these "non-existent" neo-Nazis battled police on Tuesday outside the parliament building in Kiev demanding recognition of their Hitler-collaborating forebears. The parliament, aware of the obvious public relations fiasco that would follow if it bowed to far-right demands to honor members of the Nazi-affiliated Ukrainian Insurgent Army (or UIA), defeated the proposal. That touched off riots by an estimated 8,000 protesters led by Ukraine's right-wing Svoboda party and the Right Sektor. Historians blame the UIA and other Ukrainian fascist forces for the extermination of thousands of Poles and Jews during World War II as these right-wing Ukrainian paramilitaries sided with the German Nazis in their fight against the Soviet Union's Red Army. Svoboda and the Right Sektor have elevated UIA leader Stepan Bandera to the level of a Ukrainian national hero. But Svoboda and Right Sektor activists are not just neo-Nazi street protesters. They were key figures in last February's violent uprising that overthrew elected President Viktor Yanukovych and established a coup regime that the U.S. State Department quickly recognized as "legitimate." Many far-right militants have since been incorporated into the Ukrainian military in its fight to crush resistance to the coup regime from ethnic Russians in Ukraine's east. | |
Comment: The Western media is, as usual, following a script dictated by their masters who have been using the neo-Nazi armies in their proxy war in Ukraine. It remains to be seen what the masters will do when their 'useful pets' turn on them.
A deal between devils: The neo-Nazi element and the U.S.'s proxy war in Ukraine Putin interview: Real fascist threat growing in Eastern Europe US/NATO: Heirs to the Nazi Germany's script for Ukraine | |
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Jeff Mason
Reuters 2014-10-20 15:08:00
President Barack Obama made a rare appearance on the campaign trail on Sunday with a rally to support the Democratic candidate for governor in Maryland, though the event was marred somewhat by early departures of crowd members and a yelling heckler. With approval levels hovering around record lows, Obama has spent most of his campaign-related efforts this year raising money for struggling Democrats, who risk losing control of the U.S. Senate in the Nov. 4 midterm election. Many candidates from his party have been wary of appearing with him during their election races because of his sagging popularity. Not so Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown of Maryland, who is running for governor, and Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois, who is running for re-election. "You've got to vote," Obama repeated over and over at a rally for Brown in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, near Washington. Democrats have a history of not turning up to vote in midterm elections. "There are no excuses. The future is up to us," Obama said. Some 8,000 people turned out for the event, held in a noisy school gymnasium. But a steady stream of people walked out while he spoke, and a heckler interrupted his remarks.
Obama's help, or lack thereof, may not matter much to Brown, who is 11 points ahead of Republican opponent Larry Hogan, according to an average of polls by RealClearPolitics. Quinn's race is tighter. He is ahead of Republican Bruce Rauner by 1.8 points, according to the RealClearPolitics average. The governor, echoing the president at other Democratic events, encouraged the crowd at Chicago State University to get to the polls. "When we vote, we win," Quinn told the auditorium of some 6,200 people. Obama picked out people from the crowd whom he knew, and seemed to relish being back in Illinois. "It's good to be home," Obama said. "I care about what happens here," he said to applause. Obama said he planned to cast his vote early on Monday. He is scheduled to spend the night at his Chicago home. | ||
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David Rising, Randy Herschaft and Richard Lardner
The Associated Press 2014-10-20 13:59:00
Dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards collected millions of dollars in U.S. Social Security benefits after being forced out of the United States, an Associated Press investigation has found. The payments, underwritten by American taxpayers, flowed through a legal loophole that gave the U.S. Justice Department leverage to persuade Nazi suspects to leave the U.S. If they agreed to go, or simply fled before deportation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and internal U.S. government records. Among those receiving benefits were armed SS troops who guarded the network of Nazi camps where millions of Jews perished; a rocket scientist who used slave laborers to advance his research in the Third Reich; and a Nazi collaborator who engineered the arrest and execution of thousands of Jews in Poland. There are at least four living beneficiaries. They include Martin Hartmann, a former SS guard at the Sachsenhausen camp in Germany, and Jakob Denzinger, who patrolled the grounds at the Auschwitz camp complex in Poland. | |
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TASS
He said that Russia would support all efforts designed to implement the agreements, including those reached in Minsk that are already being implemented2014-10-19 09:23:00
Ukraine is the closest fraternal nation for Russia with which it has "common historical, cultural and civilization roots, the same world outlook as well as language and literature, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Russia's NTV television channel. "We cannot lose Ukraine because it is not confined to a group of persons who committed a state coup and seized power; it is not confined to the Nazis who continue marching in Kiev and other big cities committing acts of vandalism, destroying monuments and glorifying Hitler's accomplices," Lavrov said. "Ukraine is the closest to us, fraternal nation, with which we share common historical, cultural and civilization roots, the same world outlook, let along the language and literature." "What's happening in relations between our presidents proves that we are going to find the way out of the crisis anyway and will help the Ukrainian brothers to agree on how they should build and develop their country," he stressed. "We will support all efforts geared to implement the agreements, including those reached in Minsk that are already being implemented, and those that were reached with participation of Russia, the United States and the European Union in April in Geneva, where the Ukrainians undertook a commitment to immediately start a nationwide comprehensive, open and accountable dialogue on the constitutional reform that is supposed to involve representatives of all regions and political forces in Ukraine." | |
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Press TV
2014-10-19 08:53:00
There is complicity between the Bush administration that was involved in torture and the current Obama administration that has been involved in whitewashing the program, an American political commentator says. An upcoming investigation into the CIA's interrogation program reportedly ignored the role of former US president George W. Bush or his administration officials in approving torture against prisoners. The five-year probe is led by the US Senate Intelligence Committee into the torture program conducted by the CIA in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. "The CIA report regarding torture is really a whitewashing of what the United States was doing during the Bush administration," Eric Draitser from Stopimperialism.com told Press TV on Saturday. "When President Obama first took office, he was asked about the torture that went on under the Bush administration and in the CIA and whether or not he would be investigating that and he's quoted 'we shouldn't look back and we should look forward'," he added. "In other words that he was unwilling that for his administration to be the one to prosecute criminals in the CIA and criminals in the former Bush administration, who were responsible for violation of the UN Charter," the analyst said. Draitser also argued that the US is not simply a country with a president and it is the head of an Imperial system that justifies torture, genocide, and war. "There is no significant difference between the parties. There's one ruling class and representatives of those parties are either accepted or rejected within that ruling class," he said. | |
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Cahir O'Doherty
Irish Central 2014-10-16 01:07:00
Don't come to Australia, you'll drown. That's the hard hitting message being sent out by the current Australian government to asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants, in the hope it will discourage more of them from ever setting out for its shores. The controversial new government approved poster - which has already been printed in 17 languages - reads: "No way. You will not make Australia home." The blunt language and the ominous imagery, part of the Australian government's OperationSovereign Borders program, ensured the poster became a global internet sensation this week. To underline the Australian government's point that the danger isn't worth it, the new poster presents a tiny boat being tossed by a threatening sea. Critics are already calling it the anti-tourist campaign of the century. | |
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Documentary produced by Béatrice Pignède, with footage shot by Jonathan Moadab, Sylvia Page, Jean-Sébastien Farez and Saber Farzard. Music by Gilad Atzmon.
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Comment: A further in depth interview on the politics of identity can be found here: SOTT Talk Radio: The Controversy of Zion - Interview With Gilad Atzmon
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Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post 2014-10-16 03:57:00
In yet another curious coincidence surrounding the recent Ebola crisis, it appears that FEMA has been preparing for the appearance of a pandemic of deadly disease in the near future all along. As part of the FEMA Pandemic Exercise Series: PANDEMIC ACCORD: 2013-14 Pandemic Influenza Continuity Exercise Strategy , the Sifma.org website states that, The Federal Executive Boards in New York City and Northern New Jersey in partnership with FEMA Region II, The Department of Health and Human Services Region II, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and the Clearing House Association are sponsoring a two year series of pandemic influenza continuity exercises - tabletop exercise 2013 (complete), full scale exercise 2014 - to increase readiness for a pandemic event amongst Federal Executive Departments and Agencies, US Court, State, tribal, local jurisdictional and private sector continuity.The exercise, having been underway since 2013 is scheduled to continue to December 4th 2014. The exercise will involve eight scheduled events and/or webinars which will discuss questions surrounding continuity of operations for essential services, transportation impacts, disruption in communications and internet connectivity, disruptions to power sources and other related possible damages to the normal function of societal life. The exercises also deal with the aftermath of the pandemic including "coping with the deaths of multiple coworkers/loved ones," "replacing staff," and "replacing personal protective equipment for a potential next wave." | |
Comment: Fishy indeed. See: New emergency drills simulate nuclear explosion in Nebraska - The role of drills in false flag operations
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| Society's Child |
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Chris Hedges
Truthdig.com 2014-10-19 22:32:00
Toronto - I met with Sheldon S. Wolin in Salem, Ore., and John Ralston Saul in Toronto and asked the two political philosophers the same question. If, as Saul has written, we have undergone a corporate coup d'état and now live under a species of corporate dictatorship that Wolin calls"inverted totalitarianism," if the internal mechanisms that once made piecemeal and incremental reform possible remain ineffective, if corporate power retains its chokehold on our economy and governance, including our legislative bodies, judiciary and systems of information, and if these corporate forces are able to use the security and surveillance apparatus and militarized police forces to criminalize dissent, how will change occur and what will it look like? Wolin, who wrote the books Politics and Vision and Democracy Incorporated, and Saul, who wroteVoltaire's Bastards and The Unconscious Civilization, see democratic rituals and institutions, especially in the United States, as largely a facade for unchecked global corporate power. Wolin and Saul excoriate academics, intellectuals and journalists, charging they have abrogated their calling to expose abuses of power and give voice to social criticism; they instead function as echo chambers for elites, courtiers and corporate systems managers. Neither believes the current economic system is sustainable. And each calls for mass movements willing to carry out repeated acts of civil disobedience to disrupt and delegitimize corporate power. | |
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Cassandra Rules
The Free Thought Project 2014-10-20 22:35:00
"You do not riddle a vehicle with 600 shots, by 33 people, knowing there is an innocent person inside." An attorney for the family of Misty Holt Singh spoke out on Thursday, asserting that Stockton police used unreasonable force in the July 16th incident when they took the life of this 41 year old mother of two. Holt-Singh was taken hostage by robbers at Bank of the West in Stockton, California, in front of her 12 year old daughter who was waiting for her in the car. "Misty was crying," a witness told KOVR. "She was saying her daughter was alone in the car. She said, 'I don't want my daughter to see me coming out with you,' and they said, 'Don't worry, nothing is going to happen,' and they took her anyway." Unfortunately it was not only the robbers that Holt-Singh needed to worry about. Holt-Singh was in the vehicle as the three suspects lead police on a high speed chase which lasted for nearly an hour. The suspects reportedly fired over 100 rounds at officers during the 55 mile incident. Two other women were taken hostage as well, but were either thrown or jumped from the vehicle as it was speeding from police, both survived. The beloved wife and mother was ultimately shot at least 10 times- not by the suspects, but by the police- 33 of them, who fired 600 rounds into the vehicle despite knowledge that it contained a hostage. Holt-Singh as well as two of the three suspects were killed in the barrage of bullets. | |
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teleSUR
2014-10-20 20:27:00
The New York Times joins the U.N. Special Envoy on Ebola and the leaders of ALBA nations in lauding Cuba's impressive efforts against the deadly disease in West Africa. The U.N. Special Envoy on Ebola, David Navarro, arrived in Havana on Sunday to participate in the Extraordinary Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Latin America (ALBA) on Ebola to begin on Monday. Navarro hailed the contributions of Cuba in attacking the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone, where a contingent of 165 health care professionals, including some from Venezuela, are hard at work. "You are providing impressive support to African people now, as you have done for many years," said the special envoy. He told the press that Cuba "is providing a high level of solidarity... and it is gratifying to know that the government has agreed to cooperate with other governments." Comment: If only the U.S. and the EU could do the same. Navarro said that on Monday, he will speak of the "threat posed by the outbreak of Ebola in the world, and the courage of those who are helping those who have fallen ill with the disease." | |
Comment: Is the West allowing Cuba to do its dirty work? Double shame on the rich elite that doesn't give one bit about the suffering of others and that gladly hands over responsibility to a small country that they were hell-bent on destroying before.
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BBC News
Fire crews have been battling a major blaze at Didcot B Power Station, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue has said.2014-10-20 18:58:00
At the height of the fire, which broke out in one of the cooling towers, 20 fire appliances were at the scene Energy company RWE npower, which owns the gas-burning power station, has said the fire is now under control and there have been no injuries. Police have warned local people to stay indoors and close their doors and windows. The plant was shut down and all areas isolated before crews moved in to tackle the fire. Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: "First, I want to thank the emergency services who are at Didcot working to tackle the blaze. "I've been reassured by National Grid that there is no risk to electricity supplies. I will be keeping in touch with the relevant authorities throughout. | |
Comment: Are you paying attention yet?
Take a look at this small sample of recent gas explosions. Don't you think it's a bit peculiar, if not worrying? | |
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TASS
2014-10-20 15:54:00
Russia should be ready in winter for a second wave of migration of refugees from Ukraine, and not only from the country's embattled southeast, Russia's human rights ombudswoman Ella Pamfilova told Russian government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta during a business lunch. Pamfilova said that "the first wave of refugees is now on a decline as people are inspired with a possible truce". "But there will be winter, which will be hard to live through in affected Ukrainian territories. So we should be ready for the second wave of migration and not only from the southeast of Ukraine. We should also not forget that many refugees who arrived earlier remain in Russia," she said. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in early September Russia has had to pay some 1 billion rubles ($25.3 million at current rates) for the stay of Ukrainian refugees on its territory. Unprecedented wave of refugees Pamfilova said Russia was not ready for the unprecedented wave of refugees from the neighboring country, but that aid to the people was provided promptly thanks to joint efforts by officials and ordinary people. "I don't remember such a burst of civic activism... People got involved in work jointly with the authorities; businessmen, volunteers, ordinary people who decided to house refugees united their efforts. Russia has lived through a unique kind of unity in this connection," she said. Pamfilova said regional human rights ombudspersons are involved in constant monitoring of the situation with refugees, and she said she plans to submit a package of proposals to the Russian government taking into account the monitoring results. Western selectiveness The ombudswoman sharply criticized selectiveness of Western media in their coverage of the situation in Ukraine's southeast. According to Pamfilova, "independent" European media "are writing about Iraq, Syria and Palestine" but for some reason "fail to notice the death of civilians in Ukraine's southeast." "Why such selectiveness? Instead of demonstrative breadth of independent views, [they are] only following the order to label Russia accusing it of everything," she said. "Russia has things to be criticized for, but [critics] should have the moral right to do so. I have the utmost disappointment and I don't hide it from my Western colleagues when I meet with them," the ombudswoman said. Speaking about the work of human rights organizations in the world in general, Pamfilova said many institutions under the United Nations aegis have yielded to the situation and stopped providing information objectively. "The powerful human rights billy club is masterfully used to defend someone's economic and political interests. I can't name a single institution in the world which would be absolutely objective and unbiased," she said. "The values of human rights, understood in a certain way, are imposed by force: you must, you have to. But different countries have different history, culture and mentality," Pamfilova said. "When a country with a certain history, traditions, culture and religion is censured for the absence of same-sex marriages, people have a feeling that the entire system of European values makes that the cornerstone," she said. "The fundamental rights are played down at that, and people have a natural rejection." | |
Comment: Ms.Pamfilova has summarized the situation very well. The UN and other "human rights" organizations are completely under the influence of Western hegemonic goals, while the Western media broadcasts this rampant bias as objective news. Russia's compassionate treatment of the refugees from Ukraine's aggression is a clear mark of a sane country, but we just don't hear about it.
Contrast these policies with the total lack of concern shown by the US for the multitudes it murders and makes homeless around the world.
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Steven Powell
Local 8 Now 2014-10-15 00:00:00
Ever fall behind on yard work? This East Tennessee woman did -- and now she's headed to jail. Karen Holloway was cited by Lenoir City officials for not keeping up her yard. She says this all started over the summer, when the city sent her a citation, claiming her yard wasn't properly maintained. "With my husband going to school and working full time, me with my job, with one vehicle, we were trying our best," she said. Holloway, who has two kids still at home, says she'll be the first to admit this yard needed some attention. But she feels the city has gone too far by imposing jail time. "[The bushes and trees] were overgrown. But that's certainly not a criminal offense," she said. | |
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Cassius Methyl
TheAntiMedia 2014-10-18 14:03:00
Amidst the rampant, brutal corruption of American police departments today, another department decided to cross the 'thin blue line' this week, signing a petition to fire their chief of police who has a long record of power abuse. Lt. Mark Byrd was a vocal figure in the creation of the petition and movement against the chief of the Asheville Police Department in North Carolina. He says he was retaliated against by the chief because his wife sued the department over sexual harassment. The chief who is being held accountable for being corrupt by his department, William Anderson,faced previous accusations of racism in Florida, and has brought controversy wherever he went, including Greenville, NC and an unnamed city in Florida. In the petition against Chief William Anderson, the 44 officers agreed, | |
Comment: Every now and then (but not often) we get to hear about decent and human police officers. And although we should applaud their willingness to take a firm stand against corruption we should expect nothing less. But since we live in a world that is dominated by psychopaths, their behavior has a trickle-down effect on all of us.
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Moyers & Company
The Raw Story 2014-10-20 06:48:00
The federal minimum wage of $7.25 is now worth 30 percent less than it was in the 1960s, after adjusting for inflation. It is quite literally a poverty wage - if you support a child, working full-time at the federal minimum will land you $650 below the federal poverty line; supporting two kids will put you more than $4,000 beneath it. We've noted before that low-wage employers shift some of their labor costs onto the backs of taxpayers by encouraging their workers to apply for public benefits. These employers are the true "welfare queens," their profits indirectly subsidized by the public, which allows them to keep prices artificially low. We've argued in the past that this is one of several reasons whyconservatives who oppose spending on the social safety net should favor raising the minimum to a point where workers can get by on their own labor. | |
Comment: Many low-wage workers have to take some form of public assistance; many are forced to rely on food stamps to feed themselves and their families. Often, they must hold two or three jobs, and even then there are still never enough hours to earn enough to have enough to eat.
A whistleblower's tale of the new minimum wage economy Walmart gets $7.8 billion a year in tax breaks and subsidies from the US tax system - Employees forced to depend on social programs to get by McDonald's advice to underpaid employees: Break food into pieces to keep you full | |
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Sinan Salaheddin
The Associated Press 2014-10-20 13:57:00
Iraqi officials say three car bombings in the revered Shiite shrine city of Karbala have killed at least 16 people. A police officer said Monday that the explosives-laden cars were parked in commercial areas and parking lots near government offices. He says 41 others were wounded in the explosions. A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to media. Karbala is home to two revered Shiite saints and is located about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad. The attacks came hours after a suicide bomber blew himself up among Shiite worshippers as they were leaving a mosque in a commercial area in central Baghdad, killing at least 17 people | |
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Melissa Melton
The Daily Sheeple 2014-10-19 00:00:00
You ever have that nightmare that you're a teenager and you find yourself at school naked? Remember how relieved you felt to wake up and find out it was just a nightmare? Well, that nightmare came true last Thursday for Oregon teen Sara Rue at Salem's Roberts Annex alternative high school. Rue told KATU News that she thought she was having a panic attack as the teacher was confronting another student on an unrelated matter. Rue got up to leave the classroom and remove herself from the stressful situation and the teacher began grabbing her aggressively to keep her in the room. | |
Comment: Schools in America are starting to look more like prisons, where the 'inmates' have no rights and can be disciplined harshly for minor or imaginary infractions. The teachers are using their authority in abusive ways, often molesting students and generally beginning to behave like the police.
Raising up compliant children in the American police state The final nail in the coffin: The death of freedom in our schools Police State: Handcuffing seven-year-olds won't make schools safer Two high school teachers arrested after allegedly having sex with 16-year-old student Married Georgia teacher charged with sexual assault after having sex with students on school grounds | |
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CBS is making a show that's basically The Birds, but instead of birds attacking humans, it's all of the animals across the globe attacking humans. All of them. CBS has ordered 13 episode of the TV adaptation of James Patterson's totally wacky Zoo. The book is centered around an outbreak of organized animal attacks. The animals know something, and they're pissed! These are coordinated attacks against the human species, which just sounds so ridiculously terrible I cannot wait to watch it every single day. Here's the synopsis from Amazon: | |
Comment: For real life creature attacks on humans from across the globe check out this Animalstopic.
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Ma'an News Agency
2014-10-19 17:39:00
Ramalla-- A young Palestinian girl who was struck by an Israeli settler vehicle earlier Sunday has succumbed to her wounds, medics told Ma'an. Einas Khalil, five, died after being hit by a car driven by an Israeli settler near the central West Bank town of Sinjil, medical sources at Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah said. The girl and young Nilin Asfour were walking on the main road near the village when they were hit, and were taken to the hospital in Ramallah where their wounds were described as serious. Einas passed away hours later. Residents of Sinjil accused the settler of deliberately hitting the girls. Israeli police arrived at the scene shortly after the incident and opened an investigation into whether it was deliberate, locals said. Over 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law. | |
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ITAR-TASS
2014-10-19 23:30:00
A thirty-meter black-blue-red flag of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) was hoisted on Sunday in central Donetsk on the occasion of one of the first national holidays, the Flag Day. "Regrettably, we have too few holidays now, but this holiday we will remember for years to come. Each of the occupied cities - Slavyansk, Mariupol, Kramatorsk, and others - will host our flag sooner or later," DPR Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko said. According to a TASS correspondent, about 2,000 people gathered on Sunday in Donetsk's central Lenin Square. Representatives from various DPR districts carried in a giant flag measuring 30 by 14 meters made by residents of all towns of the republic. Denis Yurchenko, a bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in Beijing, and several other city residents made a number of final symbolic stitches. On a signal from Zakharchenko, the flag was hoisted on the facade of one of the buildings surrounding the square. "We have withstood much and are yet to withstand much. We are a united people and we shall overcome anything," Zakharchenko said. "We will make our city better, we will restore everything that was destroyed and will live in the most beautiful city - let our enemies be envious." No violations were reported during the festivities. | |
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France 24
A controversial artwork in the centre of Paris said to resemble a giant green sex toy was apparently vandalised overnight Friday, after critics decried the 80-foot installation as a "humiliation" for the French capital.2014-10-19 23:05:00 Called "Tree", the piece by US artist Paul McCarthy was erected in Paris's upmarket Place Vendôme on Thursday as part of the FIAC international art festival which begins next week.
The inflatable artwork is intended to represent a Christmas tree, according to McCarthy, but has caused outrage among some due to its resemblance to an anal plug sex toy, prompting calls for city authorities to remove it. Feeling has been so strong that McCarthy, 69, has said he was slapped three times in the face by a passer-by as the artwork was unveiled. Some angry Paris residents now seem to have taken matters into their own hands, with photos posted on Twitter overnight Friday showing the installation lying on its side and looking limp and deflated after apparently being vandalised. | |
Comment: One doesn't need to look any further than some other works by Paul McCarthy to see that it can't be described as anything other than pure filth.
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RIA Novosti
2014-10-17 00:00:00
There are still too many people living in poverty, but the world is making progress in tackling the problem, largely thanks to such countries as Brazil, India and China, Professor David Hulme, Director of the Brooks World Poverty Institute, told RIA Novosti Friday. "There are still too many people living in poverty, but one good thing to note is that things are getting better, the world is making steps to address extreme poverty, and this is largely due to the work of countries like Brazil, India and China tackling poverty and reducing inequality in their countries," Hulme said. | |
Comment: At least these countries recognize their problems and are attempting to do something to alleviate suffering, while the US is so busy fomenting rebellions and expanding the global war of terror, that income inequality and poverty have been growing exponentially.
80% US population face near-poverty, no work Why we should be seething with anger over income inequality Money to kill: Pentagon has requested $58.6 billion for wars in 2015 U.S. Congress to cut food stamps by $9 billion. | |
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| Secret History |
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Dr Sally Sheard
The Conversation 2014-10-20 18:35:00
On October 19 an inspector sent north from London to Sunderland reported a long-awaited arrival: the first British case of cholera. It was 1831 and as part of a second pandemic cholera had again progressed from its Bengal heartland through Europe, before reaching the Baltic ports. It was only a matter of time. The British public, informed by newspaper reports, were acquainted with the symptoms: profuse watery diarrhoea, severe abdominal pain and often death within a matter of hours. In advance of its arrival in Russia thousands fled from the cities. In Poland it was killing one in two victims. And unlike today, where oral rehydration solution can prevent dehydration and shock, there was no effective treatment. Cholera was (and is) caused by vibrio cholerae bacteria and spread by poor sanitation and unsafe drinking water. Although most people infected do not develop symptoms the bacteria remain present in faeces for one to two weeks after infection and contamination can go on to infect others. In 1831, the conditions in which the second pandemic spread (there were six in total between 1817 and 1923) were little different to those in which Ebola is travelling today. And indeed there are some interesting parallels - from the developing official response, to riots and suspicion of the medical community. The government's reaction as cholera made its way through Europe was to wait and see; although there was a greater degree of protection as an island then - with fewer travellers coming and going than we see today - a traditional quarantine policy would never have been 100% reliable. Screening ships' passengers and crews would not, as is happening with Ebola, have picked up the newly infected, although this was considered. Quarantine was seen as a greater risk to economic prosperity than the disease was to human life. | |
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Owen Jarus
LiveScience 2014-10-20 14:23:00
A 6,000-year-old temple holding human-like figurines and sacrificed animal remains has been discovered within a massive prehistoric settlement in Ukraine. Built before writing was invented, the temple is about 60 by 20 meters (197 by 66 feet) in size. It was a "two-story building made of wood and clay surrounded by a galleried courtyard," the upper floor divided into five rooms, write archaeologists Nataliya Burdo and Mykhailo Videiko in a copy of a presentation they gave recently at the European Association of Archaeologists' annual meeting in Istanbul, Turkey. Inside the temple, archaeologists found the remains of eight clay platforms, which may have been used as altars, the finds suggested. A platform on the upper floor contains "numerous burnt bones of lamb, associated with sacrifice," write Burdo and Videiko, of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The floors and walls of all five rooms on the upper floor were "decorated by red paint, which created [a] ceremonial atmosphere." The ground floor contains seven additional platforms and a courtyard riddled with animal bones and pottery fragments, the researchers found. | |
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Steve Connor
The Independent, UK 2014-10-19 21:32:00
It was supposed to have been the definitive piece of scientific evidence that finally exposed the true identify of Jack the Ripper after he had brutally murdered at least five women on the streets of Whitechapel in the East End of London, 126 years ago. A 23-year-old Polish immigrant barber called Aaron Kosminski was "definitely, categorically and absolutely" the man who carried out the atrocities in 1888, according to a detailed analysis of DNA extracted from a silk shawl allegedly found at the scene of one of his murders. However, the scientist who carried out the DNA analysis has apparently made a fundamental error that fatally undermines his case against Kosminski - and once again throws open the debate over who the identity of the Ripper. The scientist, Jari Louhelainen, is said to have made an "error of nomenclature" when using a DNA database to calculate the chances of a genetic match. If true, it would mean his calculations were wrong and that virtually anyone could have left the DNA that he insisted came from the Ripper's victim. The apparent error, first noticed by crime enthusiasts in Australia blogging on the casebook.orgwebsite, has been highlighted by four experts with intimate knowledge of DNA analysis - including Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, the inventor of genetic fingerprinting - who found that Dr Louhelainen made a basic mistake in analysing the DNA extracted from a shawl supposedly found near the badly disfigured body of Ripper victim Catherine Eddowes. | |
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Rossella Lorenzi
Discovery News 2014-10-18 14:23:00
The imposing mosaic unearthed in the burial mound complex at Amphipolis in northern Greece might contain the best-ever portrait of Alexander the Great as a young man, according to a new interpretation of the stunning artwork, which depicts the abduction of Persephone. It might also confirm previous speculation that the tomb belongs to Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great. The mosaic portrays the soul-escorting Hermes, Hades and Persephone. In reality, the mosaic most likely has human counterparts represented in the guise of the three mythological characters, said Andrew Chugg, author of The Quest for the Tomb of Alexander the Great. "I am thinking very much that Persephone should be an image of the occupant of the tomb being driven into the Underworld," Chugg told Discovery News. "That means an important queen of Macedon that died between 325-300 B.C. possibly at Amphipolis. So we are exactly where we always were: Olympias or Roxane," Chugg said. | |
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David Keys
The Independent, UK 2014-10-17 21:00:00
Scientists, examining Britain's greatest Anglo-Saxon gold treasure collection, have discovered that it isn't quite as golden as they thought. Tests on the famous Staffordshire Anglo-Saxon treasure, a vast gold and silver hoard found by a metal detectorist five years ago, have now revealed that the 7th century Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths used sophisticated techniques to make 12-18 karat gold look like 21-23 karat material. Scientific research, carried out over the past two years on behalf of Birmingham City and Stoke-on-Trent City councils, which jointly own the hoard, has revealed that the Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths had discovered an ingenious way of, metallurgically, dressing mutton up as a lamb. It appears that they deliberately used a weak acid solution - almost certainly ferric chloride - to remove silver and other non-gold impurities from the top few microns of the surfaces of gold artefacts, thus increasing the surfaces' percentage gold content and therefore improving its appearance. This piece of Anglo-Saxon high tech deception turned the surfaces of relatively low karat, slightly greenish pale yellow gold/silver alloys into high karat, rich deep yellow, apparently high purity gold. Archaeologists had never previously realised that Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths had developed such technology. | |
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| Science & Technology |
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Amanda Barnett, Ben Brumfield and Mariano Castillo
CNN 2014-10-20 18:25:00
It was the closest comet near-miss known to astronomers, but everything is alright. Comet Siding Spring shaved past a planet's surface at one third the distance of the Earth to the moon. But it wasn't Earth in the cross hairs - it was our neighbor Mars. Earth got lucky in more than one way. With a gang of NASA orbiters and rovers on and around Mars, their cameras and instruments got a historic front row seat on the comet that NASA said made the closest recorded pass ever by any planet. The three orbiters are just coming out of hiding. The comet came so close that Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) had to duck and cover on the other side of the planet. Otherwise, Siding Spring's debris of dust and gas flying at 126,000 miles per hour just 87,000 miles above Mars' surface could have blasted them like a shotgun. They're all OK, NASA said in a statement. It will take a few days for them to transfer pictures and data to Earth. Siding Spring has moved on. The comet does not pose a threat to Earth and was headed back out to the outer reaches of the solar system, NASA said. | |
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Phys.org
2014-10-20 11:00:00
Blind cave fish may not be the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to understanding human sight, but recent research indicates they may have quite a bit to teach us about the causes of many human ailments, including those that result in loss of sight. A team of researchers, led by Suzanne McGaugh, an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences, is looking to the tiny eyeless fish for clues about the underpinnings of degenerative eye disease and more. A new study, published in the October 20 online edition of Nature Communications, opens the doors to research that could illuminate the mechanisms behind human disease. Cave fish exhibit repeated, independent evolution for a variety of traits including eye degeneration, pigment loss, increased size, number of taste buds and shifts in behavior. The researchers are investigating how organisms adapt to cave environments and which genes are involved in a range of traits. "The cavefish genome sequence is similar to the human genome sequence, and we share many of the same pathways and genes with them," says McGaugh. "They're an ideal subject for study, because they have traits that are directly translatable to human health." | |
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Mike Edelhart
Given the frenzy of interest following the announcement of the Apple Watch, you might think wearables will be the next really important shift in technology.Yahoo! News 2014-10-19 10:20:00 Not so. Wearables will have their moment in the sun, but they're simply a transition technology. Technology will move from existing outside our bodies to residing inside us. That's the next big frontier. Here are nine signs that implantable tech is here now, growing rapidly, and that it will be part of your life (and your body) in the near future. 1. Implantable smartphones
Sure, we're virtual connected to our phones 24/7 now, but what if we were actually connected to our phones? That's already starting to happen. Last year, for instance, artist Anthony Antonellis had an RFID chip embedded in his arm that could store and transfer art to his handheld smartphone. Researchers are experimenting with embedded sensors that turn human bone into living speakers. | |
Comment: Why such levity from Mr. Edelhart when writing about totalitarianism? Stevie Wonder could see that this is nothing to be lighthearted about.
See: Beyond Orwell's worst nightmare 2011: A Brave New Dystopia | |
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Ken Kremer
Source 2014-10-18 18:19:00
The US Air Force's unmanned, X-37B military space plane made an autonomous runway landing on Friday, Oct. 17, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., concluding an orbital test flight nearly two years in duration on a record breaking mission whose goals are shrouded in secrecy. The Boeing-built X-37B, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), successfully de-orbited and safely touched down on Vandenberg Air Force Base at 9:24 a.m. PDT, concluding a 674-day experimental test mission for the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. This was the third flight of an X-37B OTV vehicle on a mission known as OTV-3. "I'm extremely proud of our team for coming together to execute this third safe and successful landing," said Col Keith Balts, 30th Space Wing commander, in a statement. | |
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Science Daily
2014-10-17 00:00:00
New research into a rare pathogen has shown how a unique evolutionary trait allows it to infect even the healthiest of hosts through a smart solution to the body's immune response against it. Scientists at the University of Birmingham have explained how a particular strain of a fungus,Cryptococcus gattii, responds to the human immune response and triggers a 'division of labour' in its invading cells, which can lead to life-threatening infections. Once inhaled, the pathogen can spread through the body to cause pneumonia or meningitis. The outbreak strain of this fungus differs significantly from other strains because it threatens the lives of healthy people -- those with a strong immune response -- rather than those usually considered at risk of infection. Professor Robin May, from the University of Birmingham, explained, "It is important to point out that the risk to any individual is still very low: the fungus is non-contagious and cannot be passed between humans, or indeed from animals to humans, so we're not presenting a doomsday scenario here." | |
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Kelly Dickerson
LiveScience 2014-09-27 10:22:00
Twelve years ago, a U.S. military rescue mission in Afghanistan went horribly wrong. A Chinook helicopter carrying U.S. troops failed to receive a crucial radio message and was shot down over the snow-covered peak of Takur Ghar. But the radio failure was not caused by malfunctioning equipment. Instead, a giant, 62-mile-long (100 kilometers) "plasma bubble" made up of clouds of electrically charged particles was responsible for the communication blackout, new research suggests. Michael Kelly, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL), in Laurel, Maryland, started to put the pieces together after reading a journalist's account of the Battle of Takur Ghar. He suspected the radio failure was caused by a little-known space weather effect caused by these mysterious plasma bubbles.
During daylight hours in the upper atmosphere, radiation beaming down from the sun rips electrons from their atoms. But once the sun sets, the electrons start recombining with their atoms. This recombination process happens faster in the lower atmosphere because there are heavier particles there, and electrons recombine faster with molecules than they do with single atoms. Since the plasma in this part of the atmosphere is less dense, it rises and burrows into the denser plasma above. This causes giant bubbles of charged particles to form, similar to the way air bubbles rise from a submerged diver. | ||
Comment: The data for this research was from the Global Ultraviolet Imager(GUVI) instrument aboard NASA's Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) mission, which launched in 2001 to study the composition and dynamics of the upper atmosphere. A new model, based on this data, shows the electron-depleted regions of the atmosphere where radio wave interference, known as scintillation, is most likely to occur. Bubbles have been tracked between 53 and 370 miles above the earth, perhaps answers to space weather communications blackouts.
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Static electricity is known to play an important role on Earth's airless, dusty moon, but evidence of static charge building up on other objects in the solar system has been elusive until now. A new analysis of data from NASA's Cassini mission has revealed that, during a 2005 flyby of Saturn's moon Hyperion, the spacecraft was briefly bathed in a beam of electrons coming from the moon's electrostatically charged surface. The finding represents the first confirmed detection of a charged surface on an object other than our moon, although it is predicted to occur on many different bodies, including asteroids and comets. The new analysis was led by Tom Nordheim, a doctoral candidate at Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL), University College London, and was published recently in the journalGeophysical Research Letters. Hyperion is porous and icy, with a bizarre, sponge-like appearance. Its surface is continuously bombarded by ultraviolet light from the sun and exposed to a rain of charged particles - electrons and ions - within the invisible bubble generated by Saturn's magnetic field, called the magnetosphere. The researchers think Hyperion's exposure to this hostile space environment is the source of the particle beam that struck Cassini. | |
Comment: The Electric Universe theory and much more are discussed in Pierre Lescaudron and Laura Knight-Jadczyk's new book, Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection.
For more information listen to: SOTT Talk Radio show #70: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made? SOTT Talk Radio: The Electric Universe - An interview with Wallace Thornhill | |
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Niall Bradley
Sott.net 2014-10-18 20:00:00
'Something is not right' with Saturn's 'Death Star' An interesting recent space study found that one of Saturn's moons is behaving in a way scientists weren't expecting to see: | |
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phys.org
2014-10-16 16:22:00
A University of Otago researcher is part of an international team that has discovered that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) played a surprisingly large role in the evolution of primitive microbes known as archaea. HGT, which involves acquiring genetic material from another unrelated organism instead of inheriting it from a direct ancestor, is most known today for its role in antibiotic resistance and its use in genetic modification technologies. The team's findings appear this week in the prestigious journal Nature and show that archaea have swiped dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of bacterial genes on numerous occasions. Their research shows that these gene transfers are a far more important mechanism of microbial evolution than had been previously thought. Archaea, which live in environments ranging from boiling geysers to the human navel, are single-celled microbes representing one of the three domains of life. The other two are bacteria and eukaryotes (organisms whose cells have a nucleus, such as plants and animals). | |
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| Earth Changes |
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youtube
2014-10-08 22:56:00
Share this video so something can be done!! An army of rats are living between a Walmart and Mcdonalds in Baton Rouge. Both businesses are located near the intersection of Old Hammond hwy and Airline hwy in Baton Rouge, LA. Numerous rat holes are visible and tons of rats were roaming around before we and other people noticed them. After that, they began to scatter into the holes. View and be grossed out!
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US Geological Survey
2014-10-20 22:21:00
Event Time 2014-10-20 19:33:21 UTC 2014-10-20 14:33:21 UTC-05:00 at epicenter Location 0.511°N 77.825°W depth=10.0km (6.2mi) Nearby Cities 9km (6mi) S of San Gabriel, Ecuador 37km (23mi) ENE of Ibarra, Ecuador 40km (25mi) SSW of Ipiales, Colombia 47km (29mi) ENE of Atuntaqui, Ecuador 113km (70mi) NE of Quito, Ecuador Scientific Data | |
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Today (Singapore)
2014-10-15 22:10:00
A heavy thunderstorm pelted Turf City with hailstones yesterday afternoon, felling trees and causing damage that could prove costly for some businesses there. The owner of All Star Golf Range, Mr Tendy Tsai, told Channel NewsAsia that the severe thunderstorm happened at around 2.30pm and caused some structural damage to the facility, but no one was injured. Mr Tsai said he was waiting for the surveyor to assess the damage. "The golf range will be closed for approximately two to three months and we will incur a loss of about S$300,000," he added.
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The flooding in Nicaragua that we first reported here has continued to affect the country, leaving 24 dead and 32,000 homeless. All 17 of Nicaragua's departments have been affected. Over the last few days the flooding has affected parts of the capital Managua, where at least 9 people died after 4 houses collapsed in one of the city's poor communities. The rain has been so relentless there is simply no place for the water to go. A report in Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa said "There is no end to the rain and the ground is saturated". Local authorities say that over 4,500 homes have been damaged or destroyed. Over 5,000 are living in relief camps after being evacuated. | |
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Heavy rainfall in the wake of Tropical Storm Trudy have caused flooding and mudslides in Guerrero and Oaxaca states in southern Mexico. Over 4,000 people have been evacuated and a state of emergency has been declared in 36 municipalities. Four died in a mudslide in the municipality of Ometepec. In the same area one man was swept away by a swollen river. The other death occurred in Tlacoachistlahuaca. | |
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Strange Sounds
2014-10-20 00:00:00
Last Monday, an apocalyptic hail storm swept through Lages, a small town situated in the central part of the state of Santa Catarina. After looking at the extreme pictures below you will understand why a state of emergency was decreed after this intense and rare hailstorm in Lages. According to officials, more than 60% of the city has been hit by the terrible storm. This extreme weather event injured many people. The large hail - the size of golf balls - destroyed roofs, windows, cars and trees. A real hail apocalypse! | |
Comment: We know extreme weather is the new normal, but the frequency of intense hail storms (among many other anomalous weather phenomena) hitting places that rarely see traces of milder variables, is hopefully enough to make more sit up straight and snap out of their normalcy bias. Our weather system seems to be heading towards an ice age, and these freakish hail storms are indicative of such a transition, see why: Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection
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phys.org
2014-10-20 18:02:00
A mass of marine debris discovered in a giant sinkhole in the Hawaiian islands provides evidence that at least one mammoth tsunami, larger than any in Hawaii's recorded history, has struck the islands, and that a similar disaster could happen again, new research finds. Scientists are reporting that a wall of water up to nine meters (30 feet) high surged onto Hawaiian shores about 500 years ago. A 9.0-magnitude earthquake off the coast of the Aleutian Islands triggered the mighty wave, which left behind up to nine shipping containers worth of ocean sediment in a sinkhole on the island of Kauai. The tsunami was at least three times the size of a 1946 tsunami that was the most destructive in Hawaii's recent history, according to the new study that examined deposits believed to have come from the extreme event and used models to show how it might have occurred. Tsunamis of this magnitude are rare events. An earthquake in the eastern Aleutian Trench big enough to generate a massive tsunami like the one in the study is expected to occur once every thousand years, meaning that there is a 0.1 percent chance of it happening in any given year - the same probability as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake that struck Japan, according to Gerald Fryer, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. | |
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RT
2014-10-20 16:52:00
A man in a Siberian village was suddenly confronted by a bear apparently looking for food. The man, however, kept his cool and repelled the attack by throwing a computer component at the animal. The incident happened in a village near the city of Tomsk in Western Siberia, Russia. A local man decided to walk to a dump apparently in search of non-ferrous metals when he suddenly saw a bear, the district's regional game commissioner told RT. A medium-sized bear rushed, or maybe just moved, towards the man. But the man kept his head and shouted at the bear, furiously. He picked what was near at hand at the dump - a computer part - and threw it right at the predator. The move evidently confused the bear. "The bear rushed to one side, the man to the other," added Sergey Yelnikov who arrived at the scene to investigate the incident and later tracked the animal. | |
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thenews.pl
2014-10-20 16:22:00
The search for a missing 60-year-old man was suspended on Sunday evening after a bear attacked members of a rescue team in the Bieszczady Mountains of south east Poland. According to the Bieszczady branch of Poland's Mountain Rescue Voluntary Service (GOPR), the incident marks the first such bear attack in the region in 50 years. Two members of GOPR were searching the national park on a quad when the bear struck. The two men managed to flee unharmed, but when they returned to the vehicle, traces of blood indicated that the bear was injured. GOPR has stated that the animal could be highly dangerous if wounded, and accordingly, no access to the area is allowed until the bear has been tracked down. | |
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cbc.ca
2014-10-19 15:51:00
Claudia Huber, who operated an adventure tour company, died Saturday A woman from the Teslin, Yukon area has been killed by a bear. Claudia Huber, who was in her early 40s, was taken to the Teslin Community Health Centre, a 50-kilometre trip, by her husband, who told officials about the incident. It's not clear whether she had already died by the time he got her to the centre. Huber and Matias Liniger operate Breath of Wilderness, a year-round adventure touring company. The company website includes a German translation. | |
Comment: The other deaths caused by bears in 2014 in north America -
Black bear kills hiker near West Milford, New Jersey - fifth fatality this year in North America Bear attacks - fourth fatality this year in North America: Bear kills hunter near Norman Wells, Canada Bear attacks and kills 31-year-old man in Wyoming Rick Cross, missing Kananaskis hunter, killed in bear attack, Alberta Woman killed by a black bear in Fort McMurray, Alberta By way of comparison the number of deaths in the recent past (years 2000 - 2013) seem to average out to about just two a year, going by this wikipedia list - List of fatal bear attacks in North America A number of fatalities has also occurred recently in Russia - Bear attacks kill at least three people with many others injured in Siberia and far-east Russia | |
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Deccan Chronicle
2014-10-19 19:58:00
A 52-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant in Karamadai on Saturday, the third person to be killed by a jumbo in just two months in Coimbatore. Vegetable vendor K. Murugesh came out of his house at Periyar Nagar in Karamadai to answer nature's call around 5.30 am when two tuskers standing near a bush, almost seven km from the forest boundary, charged towards him. As it was dark, Murugesh did not notice the pachyderms and was close to the tuskers when they trumpeted and came charging from the bush. Though Murugesh tried to escape, one of the elephants chased and attacked him, causing grievous injuries. A few villagers, who came out on hearing his loud screams, rushed Murugesh to the government hospital in Karamadai. However, he died on way. The forest department staff are now battling to drive away the two tuskers into the forest. | |
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Fiona Keating
International Business Times 2014-01-25 19:33:00
Bob and Irene McKeown were lucky to survive a terrifying encounter with a bear in California. Surveillance video footage shows the couple leaving their holiday home, unaware that the bear was close behind them. As the couple walked towards their car, they were followed by the young animal, which lunged at Bob McKeown. After helping his wife into the vehicle, McKeown felt something on his leg. "I closed the door and I looked.... a bear!" McKeown told news network KTLA. "You don't know how scared you are, you just see a bear. I've never encountered a bear," he added.
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news.webindia123.com
2014-10-18 19:00:00
A 50-year-old man was attacked and injured critically in the central Kashmir district of Ganderbal, official sources said here today. A bear entered the village Chount Waliwar in Ganderbal from nearby forest and before the locals could do anything the wild animal attacked and injured Mian Chichi, they said. The injured was immediately rushed to local hospital from where he was referred to S K Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in a critical condition. The wild animal later escaped back into the forest, they added. | |
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The Modesto Bee
2014-10-17 16:59:00
A group of dogs has caused thousands of dollars' worth of damage to three vehicles this week at Heritage Ford in Modesto. The first incident occurred sometime late Monday night or early Tuesday morning, said commercial/fleet sales manager Jerry Urban. Employees arrived at work to find claw marks and dents all over the bumper, grille and fenders of a car. The fender of a truck had also been clawed and chewed on. Urban assumed the damage had been done by dogs; there was fur left on the car, blood near bite marks and the smell of urine. He said the dealership's security company confirmed later in the week that the vandals were dogs, just in time to for them to strike again. | |
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Joe Malinconico
The Record 2014-10-14 16:37:00
Bitten on his face, arm, stomach and back, a 35-year-old Paterson man said he crawled out of his Albion Avenue home early Sunday morning to escape the four-year-old pit bull he had raised as a puppy. The victim, Juan Cay, said the dog turned on him during a domestic argument involving his wife and her uncle. "I was frightened for my life," said Cay. "I thought that dog was going to kill me." Cay said that at one point during the attack his wife confined the dog in a bedroom, but the animal broke out and went after him again. Cay said his wife again managed to get the dog into a different room. "I crawled out and passed out on the sidewalk," said Cay. Cay was treated at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, authorities said. The victim said he likely will need surgery to repair damage to his arm. | |
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| Fire in the Sky |
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NLTimes
2014-10-20 17:42:00
Last night a fireball was visible above the Netherlands. The Werkgroep Meteoren says that it was visible as a bright sphere. The work group received more than 20 reports from people who saw the fireball within 45 minutes. This was the 5th fireball visible above the Netherlands. Comment: The fifth? What, the fifth ever? Very unlikely! A quick search pulls up these five from recent years: Enormous fireball seen from Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany, 13 February 2013 Meteor Fireball Explodes Over Netherlands Fireballs seen over Germany spark UFO speculation UK / Holland / Germany Fireball Meteor 12SEP2013 Large Fireball Over The Netherlands Raw Footage 01 18 2014 Fireballs are meteors that are much brighter than normal. They are usually seen during meteor showers. During the next few days the Orioniden shower will reach its maximum. According to the work group, the shower will probably be very visible. The Orionidens originated in Halley's Comet, which comes close to the sun and the earth every 76 years. | |
Comment: Earlier in the same evening, this was filmed over the Netherlands:
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DL Cade
PetaPixel 2014-10-17 00:00:00
Astronomers can wait decades to see or capture what Ben Lewis photographed by accident while shooting a time-lapse Ashton-Wildwood County Park, Iowa very early this morning. Called a 'bolide fireball,' what you see in the short time-lapse above is an exceptionally bright meteorite that explodes in a bright flash at its end, leaving behind this strange bright puff of red smoke. To the untrained eye you would think a 'night fury' from How to Train Your Dragon just passed by, but this is in fact a natural phenomenon that, in real time, lasted an amazing 12 minutes! Shot with a Canon 6D and 35mm lens at f/1.4 10 sec, and ISO 1600 with a 10 second delay between frames, Lewis was actually sleeping when this happened. When he came back to review the footage he initially thought it was an airplane, but upon closer inspection he realized it was much stranger than that.
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| Health & Wellness |
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Jack Urwin
Vice 2014-10-20 22:53:00
It's a hereditary condition - men raised by men unable to communicate emotionally, the symptoms of what we now know as PTSD becoming synonymous with masculinity. This is wildly fucked up when you stop to consider it. A traumatic event in one's childhood is capable of inspiring exactly three things: shitty debut novels, self-absorbed blog posts, and dark jokes that make your friends feel weird around you. Case in point, the last conversation I had with my father, who'd been off work with the flu for a couple of weeks. "How are you feeling, dad?" I asked. "Better," he replied. Then he stood up and made his way to the bathroom to die. A big part of me hopes that, vision fading and lips turning blue, my dad's final thought before submitting to the cold grip of extinction was a gleeful, Haha, I got you, you little shit. If that final word really was the last in his lifetime of unwavering sarcasm, it was - for my money - the single greatest burn I've ever heard. Three weeks later, I celebrated my tenth birthday. A few months after that, I took home the title of "funniest pupil" in a classroom awards ceremony. Deflecting my grief into something that made others laugh felt much better than breaking down crying several times a day - which, in reality, was what I wanted (and probably) needed to do. People latch onto any kind of positivity after something so painful, and I guess I found validation in the laughter of my peers. Plus, let's face it, no one wants to be the kid constantly crying about their dead dad. That guy is always a total fucking buzzkill. When the coroner was finished rooting around inside the vessel that had, for 51 years, housed my one-time Mensa member father (he was too tight to renew his subscription after the first year), a fatal heart attack was recorded, and off went dad to his fiery conclusion in the Loughborough crematorium. But the post-mortem also revealed significant scar tissue indicative of a previous attack sometime in the months or years previously. That was news to us all. Apparently, near-fatal chest pains weren't something that he deemed worthy of professional consultation. Classic dad! | |
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Jon Rappoport
Activist Post 2014-10-20 22:42:00
The experts were expressing grave doubts all the way back in 1977. Right at the beginning. They were questioning the validity of standard tests used to diagnose Ebola - tests being the only way to say the virus is present in humans. Of course, if the tests are unreliable, the whole premise of an epidemic caused by a single virus has no value. It's an unwarranted assumption. At that point, you can look for illness and death stemming from a number of causes. And you're driven to the fact that, in Africa, large numbers of people have been dying for a very long time, for reasons that have nothing to do with germs: Grinding poverty, war, starvation and severe malnutrition, contaminated water, pesticides, lack of basic sanitation, extreme overcrowding, stolen farm land, toxic medicines, and so on. Not a viral epidemic. | |
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ScienceDaily
2014-10-20 21:58:00
Infection with herpes simplex virus increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Researchers at Umeå University, Sweden, claim this in two studies in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia. "Our results clearly show that there is a link between infections of herpes simplex virus and the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. This also means that we have new opportunities to develop treatment forms to stop the disease," says Hugo Lövheim, associate professor at the Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Geriatric Medicine, Umeå University, who is one of the researchers behind the study. Alzheimer's disease is the most common among the dementia diseases. In recent years research has increasingly indicated that there is a possible connection between infection with a common herpes virus, herpes simplex virus type 1, and Alzheimer's disease. A majority of the population carries this virus. After the first infection the body carries the virus throughout your lifetime, and it can reactivate now and then and cause typical mouth ulcer. The hypothesis which links the herpes virus and Alzheimer's disease is based on that a weakened immune system among the elderly creates opportunities for the virus to spread further to the brain. There this can in turn start the process which results in Alzheimer's disease. | |
Comment: Some helpful articles on Alzheimer's disease:
Food for thought: Eat your way to dementia - sugar and carbs cause Alzheimer's Disease Ketogenic Diet Reduces Symptoms of Alzheimer's The Ketogenic Diet - An Overview Ketogenic Diet (high-fat, low-carb) Has Neuroprotective and Disease-modifying Effects | |
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ScienceDaily
2014-10-20 21:46:00
Physical exercise in old age can improve brain perfusion as well as certain memory skills. This is the finding of Magdeburg neuroscientists who studied men and women aged between 60 and 77. In younger individuals regular training on a treadmill tended to improve cerebral blood flow and visual memory. However, trial participants who were older than 70 years of age tended to show no benefit of exercise. Thus, the study also indicates that the benefits of exercise may be limited by advancing age. Researchers of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), the University of Magdeburg and the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology have published these results in the current edition of the journal Molecular Psychiatry. Scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development were also involved in the study. The 40 test volunteers were healthy for their age, sedentary when the study commenced and divided into two groups. About half of the study participants exercised regularly on a treadmill for 3 months. The other individuals merely performed muscle relaxation sessions. In 7 out of 9 members of the exercise group who were not more than 70 years old, the training improved physical fitness and also tended to increase perfusion in the hippocampus -- an area of the brain which is important for memory function. The increased perfusion was accompanied by improved visual memory: at the end of the study, these individuals found it easier to memorize abstract images than at the beginning of the training program. These effects were largely absent in older volunteers who participated in the workout as well as in the members of the control group. The study included extensive tests of the volunteers' physical condition and memory. Furthermore, the study participants were examined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This technique enables detailed insights into the interior of the brain. | |
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ScienceDaily
2014-10-20 21:31:00
Looking forward in science often requires looking back, evaluating trends to extrapolate future outcomes. A classic case is Moore's Law, which predicts that the density of components on an integrated circuit will double every 24 months. The estimate has helped guide many developments in the computer industry. In a new study, Rolf Halden, PhD, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, examines the trajectory of chemicals appearing as emergent threats to human or environmental health. Halden's meta-analysis of 143,000 peer-reviewed research papers tracks the progress of these chemicals of emerging concern or CECs, revealing patters of emergence from obscurity to peak concern and eventual decline, over a span of 30 years. The study reveals that around 14 years typically elapse from the onset of initial safety concerns about a given chemical to the height of concern and appropriate action. This extended timeline implies protracted exposure to CECs for a large number of people. The research results appear in the current issue of the Journal of Hazardous Materials. "To better protect human health and the environment, it is desirable to decrease both the number of CECs entering commerce and the time required to take action," says the study's author. Halden is the director of Biodesign's Center for Environmental Security, whose primary focus is "to protect human health and critical ecosystems by detecting, minimizing and ultimately eliminating harmful chemical and biological agents through early detection and engineering interventions." In past research, his group has evaluated a broad range of common chemicals and assessed their human and environmental impact, including antimicrobial chemicals in personal care products, plastics (and chemicals involved in their fabrication), tobacco, brominated flame retardants and fluorinated synthetic chemicals on prenatal and postnatal health. | |
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RT
2014-10-20 19:12:00
The Spanish nurse who contracted the Ebola virus while treating infected patients at a Madrid hospital has seemingly beaten the disease following a complex treatment, the country's government said. Teresa Romero, 44, was the first person to become infected with Ebola outside of West Africa earlier in October. She was hospitalized with a high fever and moved to an isolation unit at a hospital in central Madrid. New tests revealed a negative result for the virus, according to a statement released by the Spanish government on Sunday. The patient's treatments included a drip of human serum with antibodies from Ebola sufferers who had survived the disease, as well as other drugs which were not named. One of the unnamed drugs was reportedly the experimental anti-viral medicine favipiravir, El Mundonewspaper reported. | |
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Twitchy
2014-10-20 16:03:00
@rcallimachi Would you please quit calling it Ebola panic? It's really Ebola awareness. Awareness that we're being told lies by govt.President Obama can count on many in the mainstream media to have his back when it comes to offering a defense of his administration's actions (or inactions). Include New York Times Foreign Correspondent Rukmini Callimachi among this administration's staunch defenders when it comes to the issue of Ebola: @bdcory who has returned from Liberia 22 days ago not hysteria? And finally how is kicking a woman in an airplane toilet not craziness? @rcallimachi How is this govt to be trusted? @bdcory What have they done to lose your trust? The incompetence of a hospital in Dallas is not equivalent to our governmentDoes the Obama administration have a "Lapdog Czar" yet? | |
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The Memory Hole
2014-10-20 04:07:00
"Right now, what's on the line in this country is whether or not we're going to have the legal right in the future to make choices about federally recommended vaccines." -Barbara Loe Fisher On this edition of Real Politik James speaks with Barbara Loe Fisher, president and co-founder of the National Vaccine Information Center, a non-profit charity established in 1982. For the past three decades, she has led a national, grassroots movement and public information campaign to institute vaccine safety reforms and informed consent protections in the public health system. Loe Fisher has researched, analyzed and publicly articulated the major issues involving the science, policy, law, ethics and politics of vaccination to become one of the world's leading consumer advocacy experts on the subject. NVIC is not "anti-vaccine," as mainstream news media might encourage the public to believe. Rather, it is pro-safe vaccines and exists to ensure the informed consent of the parents and patients who chose to vaccinate. | |
Comment: Barbara Loe Fisher, a pioneer in vaccine education and safety, and the founder of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), shares important information about calling the Department of Human Health Services to task on vaccine over sight, policies and laws. She very clearly points out the obvious conflicts of interest between big pharma aka drug companies and DHHS vaccination enforcement policies:
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Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com 2014-10-10 03:13:00
The connections between stress and physical and mental health are undeniable. Studies have found links between acute and/or chronic stress and a wide variety of health issues. This includes reduced immune function, increased inflammation, high blood pressure, and alterations in your brain chemistry, blood sugar levels and hormonal balance, just to name a few. According to recent research, stress also appears to be related to onset of Alzheimer's disease, which currently afflicts about 5.4 million Americans, including one in eight people aged 65 and over.1 It is projected that Alzheimer's will affect one in four Americans in the next 20 years, rivaling the current prevalence of obesity and diabetes. There is still no known cure for this devastating disease, and very few treatments. Alzheimer's drugs are often of little to no benefit, which underscores the importance of prevention throughout your lifetime. Fortunately, there's compelling research showing that your brain has great plasticity and capacity for regeneration, which you control through your diet and lifestyle choices. | |
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Keith Bell
Greenmedinfo.com 2014-09-16 02:36:00
There are gaping holes in vaccine science, especially the critical role of microflora in mediating vaccine effects, including adverse ones.
In Part 1, we explored microbes as the underlying beauty of diversity in explaining how children react differently to vaccines. It's known gut dysbiosis contributes to inflammation and poor vaccine response. This means imbalanced flora leads to vaccine failure. Children born with imbalanced flora may be prone to powerful vaccine reaction of the immune system leading to injury. Important microbes such as protective Bifidobacteria may be reduced or absent. Some groups with microbial predisposition based on ancestral dietary habits may be predisposed to vaccine reaction and higher risk of injury. How childhood vaccines affect flora balance, short and long-term, remains unknown. And there are no studies about how the infant microbiome may predispose a child to vaccine injury. | |
Comment: Learn more about how diet can effect the intricate balance of gut flora composition:
Read more about the amazing connection between the brain, heart and gut minds:
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Bill Sardi
LewRockwell.com 2014-10-16 10:04:00 Comment: While this article reviews important research, it leaves out crucial and life-saving information that we'll add here and there. Caveat lector!
There is no ethical way to conduct a study of anti-Ebola virus vaccines and drugs in humans. You can't intentionally inject individuals with a deadly virus and then give an inactive placebo pill to half of those who agree to participate as they do in most controlled human clinical studies. [Guardian UKOct 10, 2014] An article published in Scientific American asked: "How do you test a human Ebola vaccine that works?" The answer: "You don't." [Scientific American Sept 17, 2004] But what if the Ebola virus is spreading rapidly and killing hundreds or even thousands? The public would likely demand public health officials do something even if available vaccines and drugs are still unproven. A manufactured outbreak of Ebola would force the issue. Something would have to be done. The public outcry for a cure would be deafening. | |
Comment: There might be a sinister hand in this Ebola outbreak, but we can't ignore other crucial information of the current state of affairs. As we have reviewed in the comments:
- Despite technological advances, humanity's health and lifestyle is at its worst. We are crippled by the food we eat, the air we breathe and by relentless stress thanks to pathological greed from psychopaths who rule this world. - As a direct or indirect consequence from the above, we live in a world ruled by examples of indifference towards truth and human life itself. - Without considering Ebola, dangerous infections and unknown microbes are spreading like wildfire all over the world. Increasing numbers in meteor fireballs might play a big role here. It is well recorded in history: comets are harbingers of pestilence. 2013 saw a dramatic increase in meteor fireballs - What does 2014 have in store? - There is a high degree of hysteria among the masses today. From Fascism is HERE! NOW! Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007: For more information on how all these factors come together, check out Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection: The Secret History of the World. | |
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Liz Bennett
Underground Medic 2014-10-15 00:00:00
We all have one...a junk drawer. The place we shove things that we will want again, but we're not sure when and items which just don't have another 'home'. Remodelling the house means mine is even more full of shit junk than usual. A cursory glance turns up batteries, receipts, a watch with a damaged strap, plastic carrier bags, a furry boiled sweet circa God knows when, a screwdriver, dog lead, and more batteries...you get the picture. Admit it, you have a drawer, cupboard or box just like this. The deaths of several children in the UK has been linked to these drawers...or rather a particular item we often store in them: Lithium batteries. | |
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RT
2014-10-18 18:12:00
In two months, Russia is planning to send a new experimental vaccine against Ebola to Africa, according to the country's health minister. The efficiency of the drug, which is to be tested on the ground, is about 70-90 percent. "Today we are discussing that we will have enough of Triazoverin vaccine in two months so that we can send them to our personnel in Guinea and test its efficiency in clinical conditions," Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said. The vaccine has so far proved efficient against various hemorrhagic fevers, including the Marburg virus which is very similar to Ebola. "The efficiency ranges between 70 and 90 percent and this is a very good indicator," Skvortsova said. | |
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Josephus Weeks
The Dallas Morning News 2014-10-14 17:34:00
On Friday, Sept. 25, 2014, my uncle Thomas Eric Duncan went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. He had a high fever and stomach pains. He told the nurse he had recently been in Liberia. But he was a man of color with no health insurance and no means to pay for treatment, so within hours he was released with some antibiotics and Tylenol. Two days later, he returned to the hospital in an ambulance. Two days after that, he was finally diagnosed with Ebola. Eight days later, he died alone in a hospital room. Now, Dallas suffers. Our country is concerned. Greatly. About the lack of answers and transparency coming from a hospital whose ignorance, incompetence and indecency has yet to be explained. I write this on behalf of my family because we want to set the record straight about what happened and ensure that Thomas Eric did not die in vain. So, here's the truth about my uncle and his battle with Ebola. Thomas Eric Duncan was cautious. Among the most offensive errors in the media during my uncle's illness are the accusations that he knew he was exposed to Ebola - that is just not true. Eric lived in a careful manner, as he understood the dangers of living in Liberia amid this outbreak. He limited guests in his home, he did not share drinking cups or eating utensils. And while the stories of my uncle helping a pregnant woman with Ebola are courageous, Thomas Eric personally told me that never happened. Like hundreds of thousands of West Africans, carefully avoiding Ebola was part of my uncle's daily life. And I can tell you with 100 percent certainty: Thomas Eric would have never knowingly exposed anyone to this illness. | |
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Lisa Bloomquist
Collective-Evolution 2014-10-15 15:13:00
"A few popular antibiotics affect DNA, similar to some chemotherapy agents. If you're sensitive to them, you could pay a neurological price that causes sudden and serious neuropathy and degrees of brain damage. The Food and Drug Administration is concerned about drugs in the fluoroquinolone class, and these already have a black box warning for an increased risk of tendon ruptures. But I'm telling you that more reports have come in with accusations of neurological damage. Personally, I would only use these for life-threatening infections that were unresponsive to older, regular antibiotics." -Suzy Cohen, RPh It is not appropriate to give people cell-destroying chemotherapy drugs when they don't have cancer. That should be obvious. It shouldn't even need to be said. But it's happening every day when people are prescribed fluoroquinolone antibiotics - Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/levofloxacin,Floxin/ofloxacin and Avelox/moxifloxacin - to treat ear, bladder, prostate, sinus and other infections.Fluoroquinolones are chemotherapy drugs. They have just been mass marketed as antibiotics by the FDA. You may be thinking something along the lines of, "WHAT? Cipro isn't a chemo drug, it's an antibiotic. Everyone knows that." | |
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| Science of the Spirit |
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Jeremy Dean
PsyBlog 2014-10-19 00:00:00
It's well-known that when we're in a good mood, our style of walking tends to reflect how we feel: we bounce along, shoulders back, swinging our arms in style. Sometimes, just from our gait, it's more obvious to other people how we feel than to ourselves. Now, a new study finds that it also works the other way around: people who imitate a happy style of walking, even without realising it, find themselves feeling happier (Michalak et al., 2015). | |
Comment: Another way to enhance well-being is to walk in nature as often as possible:
Nature walks improve mental well-being, lower stress and depression | |
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| High Strangeness |
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Norman Byrd
Examiner 2014-10-18 23:42:00
A UFO sighting in southern West Virginia has been reported that not only presents multiple witnesses of the objects in question but also the witnessing of multiple unidentified flying objects during the sighting. Open Minds reported Oct. 17 that ten men working at a coal plant in Marmet, West Virginia, saw the four flying objects as a collective. Three of the UFOs were massive, the size of football fields. They were all flying extremely low to the ground - and deathly silent. Originally reported on the Mutual UFO Network website, the actual sighting took place at 10 p.m. on October 12, 2014. It was quiet all around, according to the reporting witness. The plant had shut down. The guys had just finished some pipe repairs and were leaning against their vehicles. One of the guys pointed at the sky. "What is that?" he asked. Everyone looked up. The first of what would be three huge flying objects was headed toward them. | |
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| Don't Panic! Lighten Up! |
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RT
2014-10-20 09:28:00
The head of the Chechen Republic has ironically called the refusal to pay prize money to his horses "a disgraceful page in Germany's history" and added that German authorities will have to pay "multi-millions in compensation" over the scandal. Ramzan Kadyrov replied to the news that his two race horses, Zazu and Dashing Home, were refused prize money after races in his usual way - by posting a comment on his Instagram account. The top Chechen politician complained that the decision would make both horses depressed. "After prolonged debates in the government and Bundestag, after consultations between the president and the federal chancellor they decided to deprive Zazu of the money earned by honest work and fast hooves. They also limited its freedom of movement. In Berlin they say that any horse must fall under sanctions imposed on its master and answer as if it were human," Kadyrov wrote in his comments. "It turns out that Zazu is to blame for all the troubles that take place in the World - it was this horse who had made the decision to start wars in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, the decision to bomb Belgrade." | |
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Sarah Gray
Salon 2014-10-20 15:56:00
On Sunday's "Last Week Tonight" John Oliver pointed out that the Supreme Court of the United States just began their annual session. Oliver, however, is frustrated because live video coverage of the cases being argued is not permitted. Audio clips are allowed to be recorded, however when the clips are paired with court drawings, very important country-altering decisions are reduced to bland images. Oliver has a plan to fix this (and possibly get the country to pay attention to the Supreme Court and the very important rulings that emerge): dogs. Taking inspiration from the Internet sensation "keyboard cat," Oliver introduces animal reenactments. Watch below: | |
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youtube.com
2014-10-18 22:39:00
Hilarity ensues as man Is attacked by bloodthirsty rabbit. The laughing in the background makes it even funnier.
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Earth Porm
2010-07-23 17:48:00
You have never heard a scream like this, Casey the Schnauzer let out a true scream of joy when her long-lost sibling came home. Rebecca Svetina and her family dog Casey have been pals for about 9 years, although their relationship has often been long distance. When Rebecca was studying to be a communication major at Kent State University, Casey was only a puppy. In between college breaks, Rebecca would return to her parent's house is Murrysville, where her dog was always there to greet her. As any college student knows, there were a lot of hellos and goodbyes as Rebecca went back and forth to college and then home. But never had Rebecca been gone for so long until she decided to embark on a trip to Slovenia in 2008. On July 23, two years later, Rebecca finally returned home. At which point Casey could not have been happier to see her. Her family was excited to see her, no doubt, but it's her little doggy that stole the show. Just want until you see the video for yourself! | |
Comment: They don't call them man's best friend for nothing!
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Russell Brand
The Trews 2014-10-17 23:13:00
After Fox News cancelled my appearance on 'Hannity' we paid them a visit at their New York Headquarters. Subscribe Here Now and send links to video news items of topical stories that you'd like me to analyse. Produced & directed by Gareth Roy. Thanks to Jimi Crayon: @jimimackay and Urban Nerds: @urban_nerds for our creative services
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