Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Wednesday 3 December 2014


 Daily Headlines

Democracy is dead in America.

Tensions between Russia and the US are being fueled every day by players who would benefit financially from a resumption of the Cold War which, from 1948 to 1991 cost US taxpayers $20 TRILLION dollars (in 2014 dollars), an amount exceeding our $18 trillion National Debt.
As people express outrage over the grand jury decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson in the Michael Brown case, facts are emerging showing the inconsistencies in Wilson's version of what happenend in the fatal shooting incident.

While Mubarak and his cronies are immunized for their savage crimes, 188 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, who participated in anti-Sisi protests that led to the deaths of 11 police officers, were handed death sentences today en masse.
By John Whitehead
America's Children: The Trials of Growing Up in a Police State
After a year dominated with news of police shootings of unarmed citizens (including children), SWAT team raids gone awry, photo ops of militarized police shouldering assault rifles while perched on top of armored vehicles, and reports on how police are using asset forfeiture laws to pad their pockets with luxury cars, cash and other expensive toys, I find myself asking: how do you prepare a child for life in a police state?
Ukraine may lead to war with Russia. U.S. House Resolution in Congress 758 may be the legal basis for a future president seeking an authorization for war against Russia.

By Deena Stryker
Of Kids and Drones and Culture Wars
What do French kids and independent drones have to do with 'The Clash of Civilizations'?
The U.S. mainstream media pretends it operates with professional standards of objectivity and fairness, but -- especially in its international reporting -- the only real standards are double standards, as the New York Times has shown on Ukraine and Syria, writes Robert Parry.

On the weekend of November 16th, the G20 leaders whisked into Brisbane and whisked out again. It was all so fast, they may not have known what they were endorsing when they rubber-stamped the Financial Stability Board's latest dictat, which completely changes the rules of banking. Not only public and private depositors' funds, but also pension funds--via "bail-inable bonds"--are now targeted for confiscation.
By Andrew Schmookler
Tea Partiers' Response to My Ferguson Piece Provides a Glimpse into the Darkness
I wrote a piece saying that Missouri officials should have made it their top priority to conduct the Ferguson case in a way so as to minimize the chance of inflicting an unnecessary wound on their community and America: do everything possible to make everyone confident in the integrity of the process. Responses from Tea Partiers show something very disturbing that's a window into the dark force on the right.
Renaissance art erased Jesus Jewish heritage and identity. The book "Gospel Figures in Art" exemplifies this identity theft with over 300 images that convert Jesus,his family,and followers into later era Christians without a hint of any Jewish connection for these figures, who,in fact, were all dedicated practicing Jews. This article calls on the art world to finally redress the falsification of biblical history in artworks.

West Antarctic melt rate has tripled in last decade -- ScienceDaily
A comprehensive, 21-year analysis of the fastest-melting region of Antarctica has found that the melt rate of glaciers there has tripled during the last decade. The glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment in West Antarctica are hemorrhaging ice faster than any other part of Antarctica and are the most significant Antarctic contributors to sea level rise. This study is the first to evaluate and reconcile observations from four different measurement techniques to produce an authoritative estimate of the amount and the rate of loss over the last two decades.
This is the perfect time to abandon all hope in the Democratic Party and its entrenched misleadership, and to concede that the oligarchy won the game it so blatantly and brutally fixed. No, the Democrats cannot out-Republican the Republicans, even if they shred their last shred of conscience.

New Book "LBJ: From Mastermind to The Colossus" published.
Inhofe, thanks to the recent elections, is in line to chair the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee when the Republicans assume control of the Senate next month. He has vowed to do all he can to block regulations aimed at cutting emissions.
The most prestigious scientific body in the United States concluded that the only safe intake of trans fats is ... zero. Seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it? And we're not just talking about the risk of heart disease when it comes to trans fats. A 2013 study from Vanderbilt University suggests a diet with trans fatty acids may contribute to death from any cause. Except if you're hit by a truck.
Carbon pollution is the biggest driver of climate change, and 40 percent of all carbon pollution in this country comes from power plants. Yet, astonishingly, there are no national limits on how much carbon pollution these plants can dump into our atmosphere. That's not right, and it's time to fix it.
By Shirley Braverman
New Symptom Checker Puts the World's Medical Knowledge at Your Fingertips!
The two parts of medicine are diagnosis and treatment. What to do if you feel your doctor has misdiagnosed you? A new app now provides a simple diagnostic tool for you to use. Once used it will change the way you talk to your doctor forever.
To Counter Rise of Oligarchy, Sanders Pitches Progressive Economic Vision
In a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday morning, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced his vision for a progressive economic agenda that he says could restore shared prosperity, reinvigorate the middle class, and mitigate a host of social crises that stem from the current system that has created great wealth for a select few while systematically eroding the quality of life for the many.
Ukraine's energy authorities said on Wednesday that an accident at a nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya in the south-east of the country posed no danger and the plant would return to normal operations on Dec. 5. "There is no threat ... there are no problems with the reactors," Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn, who took up his post in a new government only on Tuesday, told a briefing. Demchyshyn, said the accident which happened on Friday in one of the six blocs at Zaporizhzhya, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, had been caused by a short circuit in the power outlet system and was "in no way" linked to power production.

Ukraine's parliament approved the formation of a new government Tuesday, bringing an end to weeks of behind-the-scenes political wrangling following an October election that ushered in a group of pro-Western parties. With the backing of parliament now secured, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, 40, will continue in a position he has occupied since February. New Cabinet ministers include several figures who received Ukrainian citizenship by presidential decree, including Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, an American with experience working for the U.S. State Department.
McConnell told the Wall Street Journal CEO Council annual meeting, "By any objective standard the president got crushed in this election. So I've been perplexed by the reaction since the election, the sort of in your face dramatic move to the left. I don't know what we can expect in terms of reaching bipartisan agreement." This is the same Mitch McConnell who promised before the election that he would break Obama and force him to do the Republican Party's bidding. McConnell intended to accomplish this goal by using government shutdowns to force the president's hand.
This article is shaking some trees on Wall Street and in Washington. "The reason why income equality has grown is very simple: the top 10% of Americans own 89% of stocks and bonds.
By Mark Taylor-Canfield
Is Seattle Worse than Ferguson? Department of Justice Review
Journalist Mark Taylor-Canfield writes at his blog @ Daily Kos about Seattle/Ferguson solidarity protests and a US Dept of Justice review of Seattle police.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid from his government, Israeli media reported on Tuesday. Snap elections will now have to be held, although local media is reporting these are unlikely to happen until March. The move comes less than a day after Netanyahu failed to reach an agreement with his coalition partners over key policy decisions, including the Jewish nation-state bill. Livni heads up the centrist HaTnuah party, while Lapid, a heads the centrist Yesh Atid party. The two parties account for 25 of the coalition's 68 seats and are seen as the most liberal in the otherwise right-wing coalition.

President Obama has settled on Ashton B. Carter to be the next defense secretary, senior administration officials said on Tuesday, but is not prepared to announce the move because the White House has not completed its vetting of him. A former deputy defense secretary with a long history at the Pentagon -- though no uniformed military service -- Mr. Carter was on a short list of prospective defense secretaries from the moment that Chuck Hagel announced his resignation, under pressure, on Nov. 24. Obama is not expected to formally announce Carter as his pick on Tuesday or Wednesday, but may do so by the end of the week, an administration official said.
By Martin Hill
Rand Paul Promotes Ferguson Population Control: "Come on guys, you got to wait to have your kids."
Rand Paul suggests folks "got to wait to have your kids".
By David Swanson
Israel's Secret
Here in Virginia, U.S.A., I'm aware that the native people were murdered, driven out, and moved westward. But what if it had just happened a moment ago, historically speaking? What if my parents had been children or teenagers? What if my grandparents and their generation had conceived and executed the genocide?
By Kathy Malloy
Five by Five
Rep. Paul Brown of Georgia feels Obama has "malicious intent" to harm Americans with a purposeful plan to advance the disease so to better advance his agenda. Well boys, what kind of "agenda" do you think Obama is advancing this time? Socialist? Nazi? Sodomite?

 Latest Articles

GOP Smears Hillary with Obama
GOP strategists have gleefully played up President Obama's plunged poll ratings as if they were Hillary Clinton's. The metamorphosis of Clinton into Obama is amazing to see. First endlessly cite the mid-terms elections not as a rebuff of Obama's performance and popularity but of Clinton's. Next tirelessly cite polls and surveys that variously show that Clinton's favorability and popularity
I have always been saddened by the National Institute of Health's requirement that a research grant would be given only to those who used animals in it. It always seemed cruel to me and I haven't much changed my opinion in this regard.

On November 23rd, 60 Minutes broadcast an episode about crumbling infrastructure in the USA. Most politicians, corporations, business interest groups and labor unions recognize the importance of infrastructure in maintaining our economic competitiveness, both at home and abroad. BUT, nobody can agree about how to raise the funds to maintain and repair roads, runways, ports, railroads, etc. Herein is such a way.

 Best News Links from the Web

The UN General Assembly approved an Arab-backed resolution calling on Israel to renounce possession of nuclear weapons and put its nuclear facilities under international oversight. The resolution, adopted in a 161-5 vote on Tuesday, noted that Israel is the only Middle Eastern country that is not party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. It called on Israel to "accede to that treaty without further delay, not to develop, produce, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce possession of nuclear weapons." The resolution also called on Israel to put its nuclear facilities under the safeguard of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Republican congressional aide who wrote a widely-disseminated Facebook post criticizing President Barack Obama's daughters says that she is resigning today. Elizabeth Lauten losing her job is a victory, and right now, I will bask in that delight. Moments of justice seem rare and fleeting these days. Lauten has a bit of a 'checkered' teenage past, having been arrested in December 2000 for misdemeanor larceny, for stealing from a Belk department store in her North Carolina hometown.