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Harrison Koehli
Sott.net 2014-11-20 22:20:00
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently spoke about countering extremism in the next decade at an expanded Security Council meeting in the Kremlin. As usual, he had some interesting things to say. Here are some highlights, with commentary. On the inhumanity of extremism The western puppet masters also know how dangerous and destructive extremism is, which is why they foment it in regions they wish to control. They also know that ordinary people also know how dangerous and destructive it is. But unlike their leaders, they see this as a bad thing, which is why their governments make a big show about 'fighting terrorism'. | |
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| Puppet Masters |
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Patrick Martin
World Socialist Web Site 2014-11-20 22:58:00
The US Senate blocked action Tuesday on a bill that would have imposed only minor limitations on a National Security Agency program that collects records of the phone calls of every American. The vote was 58 to 42 to take up the measure for consideration, with supporters falling two votes short of the 60 required to force action. The vote was nearly by party lines in the outgoing lame duck Senate, with 52 Democrats, two independents who generally vote with the Democrats and four Republicans supporting consideration of the bill. The 41 Republican opponents were joined by one Democrat, Bill Nelson of Florida. The effect of the vote is to delay consideration of any legislation on NSA spying until the next session of Congress, when Republicans will be in the majority and will control key committees like Intelligence and Judiciary, which originate and write legislation. The defeated measure, drafted by the outgoing chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, would have placed very slight restrictions on the NSA program that collects metadata on virtually ever phone call placed in or through US telecommunications companies or the Internet. The bill had the support of the Obama administration, demonstrating that the military-intelligence apparatus, which dictates policy on such issues, was quite content with the toothless legislation from Leahy. The main purpose of the bill was to give the impression that Obama and the Democrats are responding to the widespread public outrage over government spying sparked by last year's revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, while actually doing nothing to restrict snooping by the intelligence agency. | |
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Michael Isikoff
Yahoo News 2014-11-20 22:03:00
Proposal draws bipartisan fire from Congress, but agency officials say the criticism is overblown A CIA plan to erase tens of thousands of its internal emails - including those sent by virtually all covert and counterterrorism officers after they leave the agency - is drawing fire from Senate Intelligence Committee members concerned that it would wipe out key records of some of the agency's most controversial operations. The agency proposal, which has been tentatively approved by the National Archives, "could allow for the destruction of crucial documentary evidence regarding the CIA's activities," Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein and ranking minority member Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., wrote in a letter to Margaret Hawkins, the director of records and management services at the archives. But agency officials quickly shot back, calling the committee's concerns grossly overblown and ill informed. They insist their proposal is completely in keeping with - and in some cases goes beyond - the email retention policies of other government agencies. "What we've proposed is a totally normal process," one agency official told Yahoo News. The source of the controversy may be that the CIA, given its secret mission and rich history of clandestine operations, is not a normal agency. And its proposal to destroy internal emails comes amid mounting tensions between the CIA and its Senate oversight panel, stoked by continued bickering over an upcoming committee report - relying heavily on years-old internal CIA emails - that is sharply critical of the agency's use of waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques against al-Qaida suspects in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks. In this case, however, Chambliss - a conservative Republican who has sided with the CIA on the interrogation issue - joined with Feinstein in questioning the agency's proposed new email policy, which would allow for the destruction of email messages sent by all but a relatively small number of senior agency officials. | |
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International Middle East Media Center
At least 600 Palestinian children were arrested in Jerusalem since last June. Of these children, nearly 40% were reportedly exposed to sexual abuse during arrest or investigation by the Israeli authorities, according to a report by the Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC).2014-11-21 21:48:00
The PCC says that the daily arrest campaigns constitute a collective punishment against Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. Attorney with the PCC, Mufeed al-Haj, said that other violations were reported during the apprehension of children, including but not limited to night and predawn raids on family homes, physical and sexual abuse. According to WAFA, Al-Haj added that, under the applicable laws, minors undergoing investigation should be accompanied by their parents, yet Israeli authorities pay no respect to these laws in many cases. Forces often ignore laws and arrest Palestinians without even having warrants. Since last June, Israel has arrested hundreds of Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank, most during predawn and night raids on their family houses. | |
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Pepe Escobar
Asia Times Online 2014-11-21 10:05:00
These are bleak times. I've been in serious conversation with some deep sources and interlocutors - those who know but don't need to show off, privileging discretion. They are all deeply worried. This is what one of them, a New York strategic planner, sent me: The propaganda attack against Putin equating him with Hitler is so extreme that you have to think that the Russians cannot believe their ears and cannot trust the United States anymore under any circumstances.That may sound somewhat extreme - but it's a perfectly logical extension, further on down the road, of what the Russian president intimated in his already legendary interview with Germany's ARD in Vladivostok last week: the West is provoking Russia into a new Cold War. [1] | |
Comment: To have a look at NATO's global military bases, watch this video from 2011:
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Ante Sarlija
Sott.net 2014-11-21 22:11:00
What would it take for the U.S. government and its caliphate of psychopaths to deploy ground troops to "fight" ISIS? Recent statements by Obama give us a clue: It seems, however, that Obama doesn't need the threat of a jihadi with a nuke to justify sending more troops to Iraq and Syria, because he recently authorized the deployment of an additional 1,500 troops to Iraq. U.S. Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby recently said: | |
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RT
2014-11-21 02:45:00
President Barack Obama announced an executive order on immigration reform Thursday, which he will sign on Friday. The actions will affect up to 5 million undocumented immigrants in the US, many of whom are the parents or spouses of legal residents. Obama announced his plan for unilateral action on immigration via a prime-time address from the White House. He will sign the executive order during a rally in Las Vegas on Friday. Because the plan will not be passed by Congress, it could also be easily reversed by a new president after Obama's term runs out in just over two years. The president called his actions "a commonsense middle ground approach," as he continued to push Congress to pass a comprehensive bill reforming the country's immigration system. Under the terms of his order, undocumented immigrants who have lived in the US for five years or more, and are parents of American citizens or lawful residents, will be subjected to criminal and national security background checks. Once these are completed, they can pay taxes and defer deportation for three years at a time. The US will also increase security at the borders and focus deportation efforts on criminals and potential security threats rather than families. "Mass amnesty would be unfair. Mass deportation would be both impossible and contrary to our character," Obama said in his remarks. "If you meet the criteria, you can come out of the shadows and get right with the law. If you're a criminal, you'll be deported. If you plan to enter the US illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up." | |
Comment: "A common purpose - a higher purpose" for whom? American exceptionalism to create wars and chaos in other countries? Certainly not a common purpose to improve the life for the average Joe.
See this article for more on the immigration issue: Xenophobia in action: U.S. Center for Immigration Studies wants people to think immigration is a problem based on the number of non-English speaking residents. CIS, and other racist groups of their likes, can blame "foreigners" all they want for the troubles that face America today, but they are looking in the wrong direction. As Charlie Reese wrote recently: | |
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Stephen Lendman
RINF 2014-11-21 02:58:00
Israeli policy is longstanding. Reflecting anti-Palestinian state terror. Institutionalized racism writ large. Vicious repression. Brutalizing Muslims for not being Jews. Enforcing militarized occupation harshness. Denying Palestinians rights everyone deserves. According to Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) director Jeff Halper: Netanyahu lied. He's a serial liar. Everything he says lacks credibility. Big Lies substitute. Claiming Israel locked in "the grip of a terrorist onslaught." Palestinians face brutalizing Israeli state terror. Police state barbarism writ large. Provoking justifiable Palestinian anger. Inciting violence. Able to boil over uncontrollably any time. Perhaps into a third intifada. Or pretext for Israeli all-out war on millions of Palestinians. | |
Comment: The pro-Israel propaganda is unrelenting in the face of abhorrent suffering in Gaza and no one is doing anything about it. There is a connection between our cosmic environment and the actions of human beings. If humanity doesn't take a stand against such evil, the Universe will.
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Robert Reich
RobertReich.org 2014-11-17 02:41:00
The richest Americans hold more of the nation's wealth than they have in almost a century. What do they spend it on? As you might expect, personal jets, giant yachts, works of art, and luxury penthouses. And also on politics. In fact, their political spending has been growing faster than their spending on anything else. It's been growing even faster than their wealth. According to new research by Emmanuel Saez of the University of California at Berkeley and Gabriel Zucman of the London School of Economics, the richest one-hundredth of one percent of Americans now hold over 11 percent of the nation's total wealth. That's a higher share than the top .01 percent held in 1929, before the Great Crash. We're talking about 16,000 people, each worth at least $110 million. One way to get your mind around this is to compare their wealth to that of the average family. In 1978, the typical wealth holder in the top .01 percent was 220 times richer than the average American. By 2012, he or she was 1,120 times richer. It's hard to spend this kind of money. | |
Comment: If you want to know more, check out Political Ponerology by Andrew Lobaczewski.
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Western media bows to their masters by avoiding any mention of Israeli violence against Palestinians
Rania Khalek
Electronic Intifada 2014-11-20 02:07:00
As Tuesday's grisly murder of five Israelis in a Jerusalem synagogue by two Palestinian assailants continues to dominate headlines, major media outlets are actively erasing the Israeli violence that preceded the attack and the surging anti-Palestinian assaults that have followed. In typical fashion, The New York Times buried information alluding to Palestinian death and suffering in the fourteenth paragraph, while CNN disappeared Palestinians from the discussion entirely. The Washington Post went even further, using the synagogue attack as an opportunity to erase Israeli violence against Palestinians both past and present. Noting that the attack site is located in what used to be Deir Yassin - a Palestinian village destroyed in 1948 after Zionist militias deliberately executed more than one hundred of its inhabitants, including children - the Post rendered the massacre an unproven accusation against Israel. Following an uproar on social media, the Post quietly removed the reference to Deir Yassin from the piece without issuing an explanation or correction. These same media outlets are gleefully painting Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip as heartless monsters based on a marginal celebration that took place in Gaza City. "Residents of the Gaza Strip paraded in the streets singing victory songs, giving out candy, waving flags," declared The New York Times, eliciting images of widespread jubilation. | |
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Peter Koenig
Global Research 2014-11-20 01:49:00
The new Axis of Evil - The Anglo-Saxons threesome, US, UK, Australia, plus Japan - have accused Vladimir Putin of aggressions in Ukraine, threatening with new sanctions - the usual déjà vu jumbo-tango, no substance whatsoever. But the media repeat it ad nauseam - much of the world believes it. Much of the world isn't even interested in knowing the truth. It's a lie lodged deep under the skin of the comfort zone of the average western European and US citizen. Mr. Putin is marginalized at the G20 summit in Brisbane Australia. Washington's European vassals are afraid to even get close to the Russian President - it could be ill-seen by Master Obama.Madame Merkel had a brief private conversation with Mr. Putin - the supplier of 30% of Germany's energy. Then, she went on castigating him in public for interfering in Ukraine's democracy. What planet is she from? The others dare aping her critique - after all she represents the strongest nation in Europe - the strongest spineless puppet. The Kremlin is again blamed for having shot down Malaysian flight MH17 over Ukraine - by world leaders who know very well that they are lying. They cannot have ignored the appalling conclusion of the analysis by the German pilot and airline expert, Peter Haisenko, that MH17 could not have been brought down by a surface-to-air missile, but rather by gunfire of an Ukraine military aircraft, type SU-25, as indicated by shrapnel holes in the cockpit (Global Research July 30, 2014). A plane fitting the description of an SU-25 was spotted near the MH17 by Russian and Kiev airport controllers. Several eyewitnesses on the ground in the conflict zone saw at least one fighter plane approaching the Malaysian airliner, as reported by BBC (though the report was later withdrawn - in an act of BBC self-censuring). Peter Haisenko's findings were subsequently also confirmed by OSCE analysts. Sadly, the black box that could have further enhanced the analysis is in the hands of the neoliberal Dutch government which in connivance with the White House and to the humiliation of the families of the almost 300 gruesomely murdered passengers of MH17 will not divulge the truth. | |
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| Society's Child |
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RT
2014-11-21 22:42:00
A rookie NYPD officer "accidentally" shot and killed an unarmed African-American man in a staircase in a New York apartment block. It happened as Ferguson is tensely waiting for a grand jury decision on a police officer who shot Michael Brown. Akai Gurley, 28, and his girlfriend Melissa Butler were entering a staircase on the seventh floor in Pink House project in Brooklyn late Thursday evening when two policemen came down from the eighth floor. Peter Liang and his partner, Shaun Landau were doing a top-to-bottom patrol. Liang, a rookie on probationary assignment, fired a shot in Gurley's chest without a warning, Butler said. "They didn't present themselves or nothing and shot him," Butler told DNAinfo New York. "As soon as he came in, the police opened the [door to the] eighth-floor staircase. They didn't identify themselves at all. They just shot." Gurley and Butler tried to go down the stairs but reached only the fifth floor where Gurley lost consciousness. There a neighbor called an ambulance. Butler says the policemen did not come to help nor called the ambulance. Gurley, who has a 2-year-old son, was pronounced dead on arrival to hospital. An NYPD spokesperson said the police department's internal affairs bureau is investigating the shooting. Liang has been placed on modified assignment and was relieved of both his badge and gun. | |
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Alex Ellefson
Alternet 2014-11-17 22:41:00
Mention Parappana Agrahara to someone in India and they're not likely to assume you're talking about the neighborhood in India's fourth largest city, Bangalore. Instead, the name will probably bring to mind one of India's most infamous prisons, which has housed high-profile Indian celebrities and politicians. The prison is an island surrounded by an urban ocean, walled off from the city of Bangalore by monstrous gates and barbed wire fences. For years, the jail has suffered from overcrowding, leading prison officials sometimes to let convicts out early in an attempt to shrink the prison population. Last week, Indian officials investigating the prison presented a file to the local high court that included two hand-written letters by anonymous female inmates alleging that guards forced them to have sex with male prisoners. According to the letters, the guards charged between 300 and 500 rupees (between $4 and $8) to sleep with the women, a high price considering prison inmates earn about 20 rupees per day making furniture, weaving clothes and doing other odd jobs in the jail. Investigators discovered the letters inside the grievance boxes in the women's wing of the prison. The court ordered that an inquiry of the complaints, which will be carried out by the Prisons Department and the Women and Child Welfare Department. | |
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RT
2014-11-21 21:06:00
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was heckled by protesters as he tried to pay tribute to the victims of the last year's Euromaidan riots in Kiev, which saw around 100 dead and led to a regime change in the country. "Shame on you!", "Who are your heroes, Poroshenko?" and "Down with Poroshenko!" people shouted as the president lit a candle at the memorial at Institutskaya Street in central Kiev. Around 50 people were killed on Institutskaya Street during clashes between the police and protesters, in which firearms were widely used, with the rest of the victims dying at the nearby Independence Square or Maidan. | |
Comment: And there won't be any resolution to the conflict anytime soon: Ukrainian Nazis threaten military takeover 'if things don't change within 6 months' - Reports of Ukrainian Army teaming up with eastern rebels
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Travis Gettys
The Raw Story 2014-11-21 21:19:00
Walmart is once again asking employees to donate canned goods to help their less-fortunate coworkers celebrate Thanksgiving. An employee shared a photo Thursday afternoon of a donation bin set up at an Oklahoma store on the Making Change at Walmart Facebook page. "Rather than agree to pay a decent wage or provide full-time hours, Walmart and its owners (the Waltons) continue to earn massive profits while too many of the workers who make the company a success go hungry," said the caption to the posted photo. A worker at an Indiana store told Making Change at Walmart that managers at her location were organizing bake sales and encouraging employees to donate food to their co-workers. "We are all in need, but we feel a sort of obligation to take care of our co-workers who are also struggling," said Tanya Roudebush, who works for Walmart in Frankfort, Indiana. "The cycle is crazy. It doesn't make any sense." | |
Comment: Walmart makes $16 billion a year in profits, by relentlessly squeezing every dollar it can from both suppliers and employees. It has repeatedly come under fire from both workers and labor watchdog groups for paying poverty wages, forcing workers into part-time positions, bullying workers over scheduling issues, retaliating against those who speak out, and even coaching employees to take advantage of government social programs in lieu of worker benefits.
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Are you waiting for the next major wave of the global economic collapse to strike? Well, you might want to start paying attention again. Three of the ten largest economies on the planet have already fallen into recession, and there are very serious warning signs coming from several other global economic powerhouses. Things are already so bad that British Prime Minister David Cameron is comparing the current state of affairs to the horrific financial crisis of 2008. In an article for theGuardian that was published on Monday, he delivered the following sobering warning: "Six years on from the financial crash that brought the world to its knees, red warning lights are once again flashing on the dashboard of the global economy." For the leader of the nation with the 6th largest economy in the world to make such a statement is more than a little bit concerning. | |
Comment: More from Michael Snyder on economic truths: indications and warning
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Joshua Krause
Activist Post 2014-11-19 14:21:00
For the longest time, PETA has been treated as nothing more than an annoyance for most people. Even among some animal activists, the organization is despised for its attention whoring antics. They're notorious for their shallow, gimmicky media stunts involving scantily clad women, and caged protesters, and they never miss an opportunity to make their presence known in the news. Almost everything they do is a carefully crafted attempt draw attention to their cause, and the don't even try to hide it. But when it comes time to walk the walk, PETA has been accused of falling short of their lofty claims.Last year the organization found itself in hot water after it was discovered that one of their animal shelters was euthanizing many perfectly healthy animals. Despite adoption rates going up, and euthanization rates going down, it was found that PETA was killing 95 percent of the animalsin their care; far more than neighboring shelters. | |
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Moreh B.D.K.
Counter Current News 2014-11-21 03:01:00
The family of Dillon Taylor say that when the 20-year-old was shot and killed by Salt Lake City Police, officers were responding to what sounds like an intoxicated 911 caller. The woman who called police on Taylor could not tell if he was black, white, Latino... only that he "looked suspicious" and she was sure that he was armed. Police took this obviously unreliable and confused caller very seriously when they confronted Taylor who had not broken any law whatsoever. "They are obviously looking for trouble just the way they look," the caller can be heard on the 911 call saying. "We're almost at 21st South," she continues as police head to the scene of the non-crime. "The guy in the red hat has a gun. The guy flashed his gun, the kid flashed a gun as he was walking by. They are looking for trouble that's all I see." | |
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Bryce Covert
ThinkProgress 2014-11-19 15:54:00
Kmart will open its doors at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day this year and remain open for 42 hours,meaning that many employees will have to come to work to staff shifts. While the company says it tries to fill the slots with volunteers or seasonal hires, workers are reporting that the reality on the ground is very different. Jillian Fisher, who started a petition on Coworker.org asking Kmart to give her mother and other employees the flexibility to take the holiday off, surveyed 56 self-identified employees from more than 13 states. Of those, just three said they had the option to ask to take the holiday off. In a press release from the petition organizer, one employee said human resources has told them, "if you do not come to work on Thanksgiving, you will automatically be fired... I made the request to work a split shift on Thanksgiving and was denied." Another said, "Our manager stated at a staff meeting: 'Everyone must work Thanksgiving and Black Friday. No time off.'" At one location, an employee says signs have been posted in the break room saying workers can't request time off on Thanksgiving or Black Friday and that everyone has to put in at least some time on both, while at another signs have been posted saying no one can request time off between November 15 and January 1."I am a lead at a Kmart and it is mandatory for me to work on Thanksgiving," another employee said. "If I were to call out I would be terminated, and requesting off is not allowed." | |
Comment: Ah, the blessings of unfettered capitalism. It's fulfilled the dreams of the .01%, bringing back the good old days of serfdom. We've become a feudal society, but hey, we peasants have cool smartphones, so we don't notice.
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Jay Syrmopoulos
The Free Thought Project 2014-11-19 06:03:00
"The result was a protracted high-speed chase that put the public and officers in danger, the death of two unarmed people - one a totally innocent passenger - and a circular firing squad that nearly killed several of their own." Cleveland, Ohio - Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams were driving near downtown Cleveland on November 29, 2012, when Russell's car backfired. Police in the area apparently mistook the sound for gunfire and gave chase. What took place next was a stunning car chase that involved over 60 police cruisers and lasted almost a half hour. It's unclear exactly why Russell didn't pull over, but what is clear is that when the chase ended, Russell and Williams were killed in a hail of gunfire after 13 officers unloaded 137 rounds into the vehicle in an elementary school parking lot. Russell, the driver, was shot 23 times. Williams was shot 24 times while sitting in the front passenger seat. Neither one of the victims were armed, which was confirmed after no weapons were found in the bullet riddled vehicle. Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo is charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter, he was released on a $10,000 dollar bond. Brelo is accused of firing 49 of the 137 shots. Randolph Daley, Michael Donegan, Patricia Coleman, Jason Edens and Paul Wilson were all charged with misdemeanor dereliction of duty. Brelo unloaded 49 shots, the last 15 as he stood on the hood of Russell's car firing through the windshield well after the chase was over and the other officers on the scene had stopped firing. The actions of Brelo that day are nothing short of sociopathic. Of course police union officials have attempted to denigrate the murder victims by calling them criminals and labeling the incident as a "good shoot." While the majority of the officers involved only got a slap on the wrist, it's heartening to see that Bralo is being held accountable for his actions. | |
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| Secret History |
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| Science & Technology |
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Dennis Mersereau
The Vane 2014-11-18 20:22:00
The above photo, taken from a plane above Buffalo yesterday by photographer Jeff Suhr, shows the brutal lake effect snow storm in effect over Western New York right now. Some areas are expecting up to six feet of snow by the end of the week. These snowstorms are among the most intense in the world, and the processes that create them are pretty spectacular. The Great Lakes Lake effect snow is possible in cold spots around the world, but this post will focus on the extreme weather that's often centered around the Great Lakes. The five lakes in the Upper Midwest - Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario - are the perfect size and in the perfect location to maximize the impact of this annual snow bonanza. As prevailing winds are most commonly from the north and west, the southern and eastern shores of each respective lake are known as the "snowbelt" because they take the brunt of most heavy lake effect snow events. | |
Comment: The articles below show the effects of nature's snow machine on Buffalo, NY this week:
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RT
2014-11-21 20:34:00
A British man has become the first person in the country to be diagnosed with a rare tapeworm in his brain. The worm was discovered after the 50-year-old man complained about headaches and strange smells. The rare type of parasitic worm had burrowed its way from one side of the man's brain to the other, and had been there for four years. Doctors treating the man were puzzled by the ring-like patterns moving through the patient's brain. A series of scans revealed the 1cm worm had been slowly tunneling through the man's brain. It was extracted during a biopsy at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. Experts identified the parasite as Spirometra erinaceieuropaei; an extremely rare tapeworm. According to the health service tapeworms are parasites that can live in a person's intestine (bowel). They don't always cause symptoms and when they do they are often mistaken for another illness. Parasitic worms are most common in developing countries and are rare in the UK. Tapeworms can be caught be touching or consuming anything containing contaminated feces, or by eating raw contaminated pork, beef or fish, and can grow up to 9 meters in length. | |
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Esther Inglis-Arkell
io9 2014-11-21 14:00:00
Han purple is an ancient pigment that wasn't reconstructed by modern chemists until 1992. After the chemists got done with it, it was the physicists' turn. Han purple, they found, eliminates an entire dimension. It makes waves go two-dimensional! The Chemistry of Han Purple You'll see Han purple on the famous terracotta warriors surrounding the tomb of the first emperor of China, or on ancient pottery and other works of art. Where you won't see it is on anything made between 220 A.D. and 1992, because after the pigment disappeared it took 1700 years to re-discover it. Elisabeth FitzHugh, a conservator at the Smithsonian, pinned down the chemical composition of the pigment and announced it was a barium copper silicate. (The paper describing the discovery is a fun read. It starts by pointing out the inferiority of other ancient purple pigments, which tended to be closer to red than purple. It also stresses that Tyrian purple, made from sea snails, was a textile dye, not a pigment, and that it could range anywhere from "reddish-blue to purplish-violet." Take that, Phoenicians!) | |
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European Southern Observatory
2014-11-19 14:07:00
New observations with ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile have revealed alignments over the largest structures ever discovered in the Universe. A European research team has found that the rotation axes of the central supermassive black holes in a sample of quasars are parallel to each other over distances of billions of light-years. The team has also found that the rotation axes of these quasars tend to be aligned with the vast structures in the cosmic web in which they reside. | |
Comment: A preprint of the paper "Alignment of quasar polarizations with large-scale structures" by D. Hutsemékers et al., to appear in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics" can be read here
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| Earth Changes |
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Gary Walton
The Big Wobble Almanac 2014-11-20 21:44:00
Are we witnessing the Gulf Stream closing down? Is the cold November in the US just a precursor of what is to come? A massive snowstorm has wreaked havoc in the north-eastern US and left seven people dead in upstate New York. After sweeping across the Great Lakes, the storm dumped 5ft (1.5m) of snow in the Buffalo area, with more forecast. The storm caused seven deaths there - one in a car crash, one trapped in a car and five from heart attacks. Freezing temperatures were recorded across all 50 US states, including Florida and Hawaii, and there were more deaths elsewhere in the country. New data from The Earth Wind Map and The NOAA Data Satellite both agree and are now showing the Gulf Stream is colder than average in not one area but two! The huge section in the North Atlantic is still showing colder than average on both website's (see links above) but more alarming they are also both showing the Gulf itself is now colder than average and this was not the case last month. | |
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Reuters
A shallow 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck at sea 96 miles northwest of Ternate in the Indonesian Moluccas on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.2014-11-21 10:27:00 There was no threat of a tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. The quake was only 6.2 miles deep. A 7.3 quake was recorded off the Moluccas on Saturday, causing residents near the quake to flee their homes. Indonesia is located inside the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire," a seismically active zone where different plates of the earth's crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes. (Reporting by Nick Macfie; Editing by Jeremy Laurence) |
Comment: The 7.3 earthquake that struck off Indonesia on Saturday is reported here. It looks like the Pacific Ring of Fire is becoming increasingly more active once again.
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wtsp.com
2014-11-18 16:35:00
A Florida Fish and Wildlife biologist was in the right place at the right time for one lucky bald eagle. In a Facebook post, FWC says traffic on a Sarasota road screeched to a halt as drivers witnessed an "epic mid-air battle" between two eagles. Still fighting, the two birds crash landed into a nearby muddy ditch. A 16-year-old girl saw the fight and told her mom that one of the eagles needed her help. She would be a good choice to come to the animal's aid; Michelle van Deventer is both an FWC biologist andFlorida's bald eagle coordinator! Van Deventer pulled to the side of the road and jumped into the ditch after seeing the winning eagle fly off, leaving the loser behind. With help from the Wildlife Center of Venice and Sarasota County Animal Services, she was able to secure the exhausted and stressed bald eagle. The male eagle was taken to a WCV clinic and kept overnight. After determining it had no serious injuries, it was safely released the following morning. | |
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Liz Taurasi
Chelmsford Patch 2014-11-18 15:39:00
Sightings of the wild animal are on the rise throughout the state. Chelmsford, like many neighboring towns, is seeing its share of bobcats in the area. But after a neighborhood dog was attacked, some residents want them relocated. The Miller family of North Chelmsford told WHDH, 7-News a bobcat attacked their dog and the vet bills are climbing into the thousands. The dog is recovering from his injuries, and the family is glad he survived. Now the Millers and others want the bobcats removed. Neighbors told the news station there's a family of four bobcats they've been seeing for weeks. But relocating them is unlikely to happen. State guidelines don't allow for wild animals to be removed or relocated. | |
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| Fire in the Sky |
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| Health & Wellness |
The conventional agriculture industry claims that the pesticides, herbicides and insecticides it uses are safe when used as directed, but peer-reviewed evidence suggests otherwise. André Leu investigates these claims in The Myths of Safe Pesticides (Acres U.S.A., 2014), translating technical jargon into layman's terms to break down the five most-repeated myths about pesticide safety. The following excerpt is from chapter 1, "Myth #1: Rigorously Tested." | |
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Charles Hugh Smith
of two minds 2014-11-18 21:05:00
Why is sickcare (a.k.a. "healthcare") absurdly unaffordable in America? There are many structural reasons which I have covered in depth for years, but one that most of us can relate to from personal experience is needless, hyper-costly scans and tests. Even those of us who have never had a CT or MRI scan (and I hope I never will) know the drill from friends and family: practically every injury is now scanned by one device or another at enormous expense--not for treatment, as M.D. Ishabaka explains, but as defensive medicine to ward off future lawsuits or in response to patient demands. | |
Comment: Not only can CT scans be useless in some cases, they can also contribute to cancer:
The Coming Cancer Epidemic from Overuse of CT Scans CT Scans Cause Cancer The Danger of CT Scans: The Leading Cause of Breast Cancer? | |
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Colafrancesco S, Perricone C, Tomljenovic L, Shoenfeld Y.
Global Research 2014-11-21 00:00:00
Abstract PROBLEM: Post-vaccination autoimmune phenomena are a major facet of the autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA) and different vaccines, including HPV, have been identified as possible causes. METHOD OF STUDY: The medical history of three young women who presented with secondary amenorrhea following HPV vaccination was collected. Data regarding type of vaccine, number of vaccination, personal, clinical and serological features, as well as response to treatments were analyzed. RESULTS: All three patients developed secondary amenorrhea following HPV vaccinations, which did not resolve upon treatment with hormone replacement therapies. In all three cases sexual development was normal and genetic screen revealed no pertinent abnormalities (i.e., Turner's syndrome, Fragile X test were all negative). Serological evaluations showed low levels of estradiol and increased FSH and LH and in two cases, specific auto-antibodies were detected (antiovarian and anti thyroid), suggesting that the HPV vaccine triggered an autoimmune response. Pelvic ultrasound did not reveal any abnormalities in any of the three cases. All three patients experienced a range of common non-specific post-vaccine symptoms including nausea, headache, sleep disturbances, arthralgia and a range of cognitive and psychiatric disturbances. According to these clinical features, a diagnosis of primary ovarian failure (POF) was determined which also fulfilled the required criteria for the ASIA syndrome. | |
Comment: Despite claims by the medical mafia and BigPharma of the necessity and safety of the HPV vaccine, the evidence continues to mount that this vaccine has no benefit, and in fact may be one of the worst abuses inflicted on young women:
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Gretchen Reynolds
New York Times 2014-07-17 22:19:00
Sleep is essential for good health, as we all know. But a new study hints that there may be an easy but unrealized way to augment its virtues: lower the thermostat. Cooler bedrooms could subtly transform a person's stores of brown fat - what has lately come to be thought of as "good fat" - and consequently alter energy expenditure and metabolic health, even into daylight hours. Until recently, most scientists thought that adults had no brown fat. But in the past few years, scanty deposits - teaspoonfuls, really - of the tissue have been detected in the necks and upper backs in many adults. This is important because brown fat, unlike the more common white stuff, is metabolically active. Experiments with mice have shown that it takes sugar out of the bloodstream to burn calories and maintain core temperature. A similar process seems to take place in humans. For the new study, published in June in Diabetes, researchers affiliated with the National Institutes of Health persuaded five healthy young male volunteers to sleep in climate-controlled chambers at the N.I.H. for four months. The men went about their normal lives during the days, then returned at 8 every evening. All meals, including lunch, were provided, to keep their caloric intakes constant. They slept in hospital scrubs under light sheets. | |
Comment: Cold adaption can have a number of positive benefits for health. See the following thread from our forum for some discussion on the topic: Cryogenic Chamber Therapy
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Heather Callaghan
Activist Post 2014-11-20 16:59:00
Olivia and Madelyne Meylor are in their early 20s. They still want the world to know what happened to them as teens after they received three Gardasil shots - an HPV vaccine marketed as a way to prevent cervical cancer. Diagnoses of Premature or Primary Ovarian Failure (POF) followed leaving only 5 percent chance one of them could ever get pregnant. | |
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Erica Burt
Sott.net 2014-11-20 00:59:00
Recently there has been a lot of 'debate' in the mainstream media about vaccinations. While this debate is not new, it is something to take notice of, at least I have been taking note. What sparked my interest in the current vaccine debate, and the taking of notes, was a comedy segment on T.V. While I am not a regular viewer or cable subscriber, I had the opportunity while visiting family to watch Comedy Central, I almost fell out of my seat when the topic of saying no to Vaccines appeared on The Daily Show . What really sparked my curiosity was that, the next night, The Colbert Reporthad the infamous Dr. Vaccinations: Haters and Ya-Sayers This 'Anti Vaxxer' debate is a hot topic and the content and/or poking fun on cable t.v. brings this debate to a much wider audience. I am an 'Anti Vaxxer' and have been for years. I have 2 grown children and neither of them was ever vaccinated. I am personally against and highly suspicious of the American vaccination effort that has been ongoing for years. I live in a state, like many in the US, that is very pro-vaccination. When my children were young, I received phone calls and endless mail about the immediate importance of my children receiving their required immunizations (vaccinations). I have been cornered by emergency room nurses and over zealous doctors about the immediate necessity to comply with vaccination laws and requirements. I have left community health centers in tears, feeling like a horrible mother, because I questioned the safety and effectiveness of required vaccinations. Back then, while holding firm to my 'No' choice, I admit I did not know the facts, I just knew something wasn't right. Fortunately other mothers in my community were 'anti-vaxxers' as well and through experience, research and motherly support, I began to form a more informed basis for my decision to say 'No'. In today's parenting world things have changed. At least from my personal interactions with families with small children. As a mother and former teacher, I am around young children and their parents often, sooner or later the topic of vaccinations pops up. There are two distinct camps among parents, what I call vaccination Haters and Yay sayers. Those who do not support vaccinations and those who are only too happy to comply with vaccination requirements. While I don't 'go there' right away, when talking to the uninformed (or 'disinformed') about my personal anti-vaxx stance, I wait for the parent to ask a specific question. If the parent is a supporter of vaccinations, the conversation is usually pretty short: 'it's the parents choice, do your research, etc'. If, on the other hand, the parent is really struggling and is looking for some solid research and data on the safety of vaccinations and WHYthere is such an intense debate going on, I offer the following information. Readers may find it useful in a similar situation. | |
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| Science of the Spirit |
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Project Compassion Stanford
Huffington Post 2014-11-16 00:33:00
We've all heard the old adage that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but what about a smile? An extensive scientific literature review sponsored by Dignity Health and conducted by the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University reveals a growing body of scientific evidence that indicates kindness holds the power to heal. We now know that this often overlooked, virtually cost-free remedy has a statistically significant impact on our physical health. For example, the positive effect of kindness is even greater than that of taking aspirin to reduce the risk of a heart attack or the influence of smoking on male mortality. And it doesn't even require a trip to the pharmacy. | |
Comment: Also read about the importance of kindness when dealing with addiction issues: Killing addiction with kindness
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| High Strangeness |
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| Don't Panic! Lighten Up! |
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RT
2014-11-21 20:00:00
A US political satirist staged a social experiment at a prestigious university. Waving an ISIS flag wasmet with no negative reaction, but with an Israeli flag he got a less-than-warm reception from the students. Filmmaker Ami Horowitz headed to the University of California, Berkeley, one of the most prestigious and selective universities in the country, to assess students' reactions to two very different, but powerful symbols. He took to the university campus waving an infamous black-and-white flag - the emblem of the Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL).
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Comment: On the one hand, the ignorance of what should be the most educated young adults in the U.S. as astounding. See below for an equally atrocious example from a campus in Virginia.
On the other hand, maybe these students aren't that stupid. Sure, Israel isn't in Europe, but at least their general sentiment regarding the Zionist state was spot on. Israel is just as sickly destructive (if not more so), and poses a greater threat to world peace than ISIS ever will. In fact, we can probably blame Mossad (not to mention CIA, MI6, NATO, etc.) for ISIS in the first place. So while Horowitz may have been attempting to show how dumb American students are because they don't know who ISIS is, and are hold 'intolerant' opinions about Israel, it doesn't really come off. Israel is still a child-killing, racist country that deserves its place as 'worst country in the world'. |
