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Sonali Kolhatkar
Truthdig 2014-12-11 11:00:00
There is a pattern emerging in my Facebook feed this week. One group of friends has been posting stories of police brutality and protests accompanied by personal statements of outrage. Another group has been remarking on the disgusting revelations from the Senate Intelligence Committee's CIA torture report and the need for accountability. There is little overlap between the two groups, and yet the common threads between the U.S.' foreign and domestic policies are disturbingly uncanny. Whether on the streets of Baghdad or Ferguson, soldiers and militarized police forces have historically enforced control, not law. Behind the prison walls of Guantanamo and Texas, some authorities have tortured and brutalized rather than interrogated. They have not protected nor served; they have attacked and killed. They have not gathered intelligence; they have violated people's humanity. I am an immigrant to the United States. The names of those killed and tortured in Iraq and Afghanistan invoke in my imagination people who look like me, people I could have known, who could be my family. In the faces of those killed and tortured in Ferguson and Los Angeles, I see my neighbors and friends, people I know and love and think of as family. These are not separate and distinct. The pain I feel while reading the CIA report is as strong as the grief that comes from perusing the images of unarmed people of color who have been killed by U.S. police. The U.S. tortures and imprisons people of color both at home and abroad. | |
Comment: Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." He was one of only a few leaders in recent history who could see the connections made in the above article, and was murdered for it. What is a little known fact was that, in addition to speaking out against institutionalized racism and economic inequality, he was also very strongly against the U.S.'s war in Vietnam and stood as a stalwart voice in opposition to it.
See the must watch video 'Evidence of Revision' for it's documentation of the real events leading to King's assassination by the psychopathic elite running the United States.
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Jessica Glenza
The Guardian 2014-12-12 04:45:00
Plainclothes California highway patrol officers have walked among demonstrators for weeks, report stated An undercover California highway patrol officer who had infiltrated protests against police violence in Oakland pulled a gun on demonstrators after his and his partner's cover was blown.
Screen shot of two undercovers. This is 6 secs into video, before gun cop pulls mask back up. https://t.co/AXtSbos9HZ pic.twitter.com/1WPGrSwH3N
According to accounts in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Berkeley Daily Planet, a few dozen protesters remaining from larger demonstrations yelled that two men in plainclothes were police. "Just as we turned up 27th Street, the crowd started yelling at these two guys, saying they were undercover cops," the Chronicle's freelance photographer Michael Short told the newspaper on Thursday. Comment: As these Twitter reports show, these very same cops were the ones instigating for violence and looting among the protesters:
Many folks said the cops were hitting windows minutes earlier- look at the tools in his hands, esp. his gun hand. pic.twitter.com/ptaMoufnKD
@Federal_flashes @DaveId those are the ones who were hitting bank windows before T-Mobile got looted! #berkeleyprotests
UNDERCOVER COPS in march just exposed - they were instigators of looting. Pulled gun on protestors when discovered. #berkeleyprotests
Comment: This is nothing new. Police have been infiltrating peaceful protests for years and instigated violence and looting. But with the atmosphere already heated of late and people very angry at police, it's no surprise they were attacked when discovered. It's also not surprising that the California Highway Patrol, whom the undercover officers worked for, told reporters in a conference call that the officers "followed procedure", that he "pulled his badge" and identified himself, and that the officer "didn't target a person's head". That last statement is totally false just based on a few of the pictures taken of the incident. | |
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Ante Sarlija
Sott.net 2014-12-15 18:40:00
On December 12th, Reuters reported the following: As has become the norm for the 'European Union governments,' they all agreed on something that has no basis in reality. There is actually no proof that the Syrian Air Force is targeting civilians. Are we supposed to believe that amid fighting foreign backed insurgents, the Syrian government decided to take a break and bomb their own people? For what purpose? To justify further intervention from the U.S. and their coalition of the guilty? Should we forget that the U.S. has a long history of fabricating atrocities just for that purpose? Just last year we had the alleged chemical weapons attack which nearly lead to another U.S. sponsored 'humanitarian bombing' if it weren't for Russia. The claims that 'Assad gassed his own people' turned out to be fictitious as are those that he is now bombing civilians. Mainstream media propaganda aside, there is plenty of evidence that the U.S. air strikes are targeting civilians. Here are a few reports from SOTT.
By their actions we can see that it's not the civilians that the EU stooges worry about, but pleasing their masters in U.S. who care about nothing but "degrading, disrupting and destroying" Syria using a proxy-terrorist force of their own creation. | |
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Eric Zuesse
On Saturday, December 13th, Russian media reported that U.S. President Obama evidently can't wait to sign the congressional authorization for war against Russia (which has already been passed in draft form by 98% of U.S. House members and 100% of U.S. Senate members), and that he is already shipping military supplies into Ukraine for use against Ukraine's ethnic Russians that the Ukrainian Government is trying to eliminate.Global Research 2014-12-15 18:09:00
Mikhail Emelyanov, a leading Russian parliamentarian, was quoted as saying on Saturday, Russia "cannot calmly watch as the US arms Ukraine with the most modern lethal weapons. In this regard, we should not appear weak. The situation is very alarming. Judging by US intentions, they want to turn Ukraine into a fighting platform against Russia." The popular Russian website "Colonel Cassad" reports that the reason why Ukraine's airports in Zaporozyhe, Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk mysteriously shut down for other traffic on Saturday was to unload weapons-shipments from the U.S. Specifically, it said that, at Zaporozyhe, "one of the airport workers replied that the airport has to be prepared to accept military aircraft with equipment, including Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk. The equipment is expected from the United States."For the time being, civilian traffic at all three of those airports is being reduced during the next few days, in order to unload that U.S. freight. Also reported Saturday at fortruss.blogspot was that, "Right now at Zaporozhye airport they are unloading two transport planes from USA. Cargo is in boxes. According to additional information two more planes are expected to arrive."Just one day prior, Foreign Policy had bannered on Friday, "Who Will Foot the Bill in Ukraine?" and their reporter naively claimed that, "little aid is forthcoming for Ukraine as its government faces a shortfall."
The "aid" is actually already coming, in the form of U.S. military cargo shipments, gratis from U.S. taxpayers (though hardly gratis from the U.S. armaments-makers, whose business is booming from this). And the Ukraine "government faces a shortfall" thing is actually far worse than that: as Forbes's Mark Adomanis headlined on April 15th, "Ukraine's Economy Is Nearing Collapse." He reported, "The central bank was forced to take such desperate measures because the currency has been in free fall, losing more than 35% of its value against the dollar this year. The Hryvnia has been the world's worst performing currency in 2014." And: "The only reason that things haven't totally imploded is because of the $18 billion package of assistance from the IMF and the $9 billion in additional assistance pledged by the United States and the European Union. This financial assistance is desperately needed and will obviously help the Ukrainian government keep the lights on. The problem is that Ukraine's funding needs aren't a static target but are directly influenced by changes in its economic outlook. Since that economic outlook is darkening, Ukraine's already large funding needs have grown commensurately."Forbes's Kenneth Rapoza then noted on November 12th, "The nation's currency, the hryvnia, has lost 91.5% of its value so far this year." | ||
Comment: Also see: SOTT EXCLUSIVE: Despite talks of peace Ukraine is actively preparing for war
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Reports indicate that a gunman dressed in Al Qaeda or "Islamic State" (ISIS) attire has taken hostages in a cafe in the Australian city of Sydney. Demands made by the gunman include being allowed to contact Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and bringing him the Al Qaeda/ISIS flag. The latest incident should be examined in the context of ISIS' genesis and the source of its ability to seemingly menace the entire planet with violence and acts of terrorism with seemingly inexhaustible resources. The United States, Saudi Arabia, Israel and several other European and Middle Eastern partners openly conspired to use Al Qaeda as a regional mercenary force in a proxy war against Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah in Lebanon as far back as 2007. Having then materialized this force in 2011 and having openly trained, armed, funded, equipped, and harbored this terrorist force since then - up to and including today - the "Sydney Siege" is but the latest, predictable fallout from the West's global state-sponsored terrorism. The so-called "Islamic State" - neither "Islamic" nor a "state" - is in reality simply a rebrand of Al Qaeda - Al Qaeda itself the terrorist front created by US and Saudi intelligence agencies as part of another covert, proxy war - then, against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
As evidence of this "rebrand," nearly all organizations from North Africa, across the Middle East, and their affiliates in southern Russia, Central Asia, and even China which had previously operated either affiliated to or directly under the banner of Al Qaeda have seamlessly realigned themselves with ISIS. These groups include Libyan terrorist organizations such as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) - both of whom received NATO air cover, weapons, and cash during the West's 2011 bid to reorder the nation of Libya. In all, from attempting to directly overthrow the Syrian government with a massive, regional armed terrorist front, to using this front as a pretext for direct military intervention, the story of ISIS' rise is also the story of America's hegemonic designs across the greater Middle East. The campaign of destruction across Syria and in neighboring countries is but one Western objective ISIS helps serve - the other is manipulating public perception through staged terror threats worldwide to create a climate of fear across the West and build support for expanding direct military intervention in both Syria and Iraq. | ||
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As predicted, the suspect amid the "Sydney Siege," has long been on the radar of Australian law enforcement, as well as a frequent visitor to Australia's court system. Before that, however, he came to Australia as a political refugee, an opponent of what he called the "Iranian regime," and was even interviewed by Australia's ABC network in 2001 as part of an ongoing anti-Iranian propaganda campaign. It has been revealed that long-time agitator, alias "Man Haron Monis," also known as "Manteghi Boroujerdi," was the suspect amid the so-called "Sydney Siege" hostage crisis. Monis/Boroujerdi claims to be a Shia'a religious leader and is often seen in press photos dressed as one. Despite this, he was at the center of a hostage crisis requesting the flag of the "Islamic State" terrorist organization be delivered to him while claiming association with other ISIS "brothers." Neither Islamic nor a state, ISIS is led by US, Israeli, and Saudi-backed Wahabi terrorists, promoting a perversion of Sunni Islam - the bane to both genuine Sunnis and Shia'a worldwide and against which both the nations of Syria and Iran are fighting. Monis/Boroujerdi rose to infamy amid two notable incidents - one being his involvement in the stabbing death and burning of his ex-wife - the other being his controversial campaign of sending hate-letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers killed during the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. The latter was used extensively to stir up division across the pro and anti-war political divide. | |
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Aeneas Georg
Sott.net 2014-12-14 09:07:00
When one looks at the signals coming from Kiev and most importantly from their handlers, the US, then it is hard to see anything but war, war and more war. Not necessarily a direct war between the US and Russia, but a war with Russia to the last Ukrainian. A basic knowledge of psychopathy helps to explain why that is, as psychopaths
The Ukrainian government plans to double the defense budget and to call up 40000 new conscripts so as to boost the available cannon fodder to 250.000 people. Eerily, in the same news this week was setting aside by the Ukrainian government of 80 hectares of land for a cemetery so as to be able to bury the dead Ukrainian soldiers. As some people quickly calculated, then such a cemetery would have the capacity of 250.000 graves. That is a huge number, which makes one wonder if the Ukrainian handlers have something else in mind such as a false-flag operation? As the false-flag Malaysian shoot down didn't work out and considering that we are talking about psychopaths, who prefer to double the bet rather than admit defeat, then a bigger false flag event blamed on Russia is not out of the question. Remember that parasites are oblivious to the fact that in killing the host on which they feed, they are also killing themselves. | |
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Carrie Dann
NBC News 2014-12-14 09:39:00
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Comment: Listen to the latest SOTT Blog Talk Radio Show, where editors discuss the recent release of the CIA torture program investigation:
Behind the Headlines | |
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Daily Mail UK
2014-12-15 01:15:00
Terrorists were today holding up to 20 hostages in an armed siege in a cafe in Sydney where an extremist flag was being held up in a window. Witnesses reported seeing staff and customers sobbing as they were forced to stand with their hands pressed against the windows of the Lindt cafe. At least two gunmen are involved in the siege but dozens of armed police have sealed off the streets surrounding the site. One gunman is believed to have a shotgun and possibly an explosive device. Martin Place has been shut down and scores of police are surrounding the building after the alarm was raised about 9.45am. Journalist Chris Kenny, who was in the shop about 20 minutes before the siege began, said he understood the automatic glass sliding doors had been disabled. 'I did speak to a couple of people who saw a bit more of this unfold than I did,' he said. 'One woman said she tried to go into the shop just after I came out with my takeaway coffee but the doors wouldn't open. 'So obviously whoever is doing this has disabled the automatic glass sliding doors to stop anyone else going in and she said immediately she could see there was a weapon. 'The woman was quite frantic but very clear what she was telling (the police). Additional images | |
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The Local
2014-12-13 10:07:00
Spy equipment that can be used to eavesdrop on the mobile phones of politicians and ordinary Norwegians has been discovered in several places in the Oslo area, including close to the country's parliament, newspaper Aftenposten has revealed. The equipment, hidden in fake mobile base stations, can be used to monitor all mobile activity in the vicinity. The paper conducted tests close important buildings in central Oslo and discovered a number of the devices, including close to the prime minister's residence on Parkveien and close to the government offices. The purpose of the equipment appears to have been to find out who was entering and passing parliament, the government offices and other buildings in the area. It could also be used to listen to phone calls and monitor data traffic of selected people in the area, the paper says. It is not known who placed the equipment, according to the paper, but no Norwegian agency has admitted to being responsible. Only the police, security police and the National Security Agency (NSM) are entitled to use eavesdropping equipment under Norwegian law. The security police (PST) said that "very many" organisations could be responsible for the fake base stations: "It could be private actors or state actors," said the PST's Arne Christian Haugstøyl. "I can't on the basis of these discoveries say that it is a foreign intelligence agency, but I can say that we know that foreign intelligence agencies have this kind of capacity. And in our preventive work we advise those looking after Norwegian interests not to talk about sensitive issues on mobile phones," he said. | |
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Riley Waggaman
Russia Insider 2014-12-14 23:07:00
Russia. It's a terrible country full of baseless "claims" about NATO: "NATO bombed this, NATO killed that" - so hurtful and malicious. Luckily for us, a public relations intern has compiled a helpful "NATO fact sheet about NATO" in order to thwart this insensitive Russian smear campaign. Or to use NATO's own words: As you already guessed, NATO's webpage of facts about NATO is actually little more than asmorgasbord of twisted logic and transparent bullshit topped off with self-denial sprinkles. Your correspondent has selected his three favorite "facts" for closer examination, and will now report on his findings. FACT: Don't listen to the haters. Afghanistan's security forces are awesome | |
Comment: Not a pretty picture! NATO spreading truth and democracy with bombs and bullets. Who is next?
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Alexander Mercouris
Sputnik 2014-12-13 23:00:00
The latest jihadi attack on the Chechen capital Grozny once again illustrates a dark truth. Namely that in the midst of the United States' seemingly endless "War on Terror" one jihadi terrorist movement is spared all criticism. This is the one which for more than a decade has been waging war on Russia in the Caucasus. This is clearly shown by the way the Western media reported the attack. Though it received scant attention, the reports of the incident that were provided studiously avoided referring to the perpetrators as either "jihadis" or "terrorists". Instead they were called such things as "militants", "separatists" or even just "Chechens" - the last especially outrageous given that their intended targets were Chechens. It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that it is because this particular jihadi movement, unlike all the rest, targets Russia. That this is the only thing that differentiates this jihadi movement from the others is unimportant. The mere fact it opposes Russia is apparently enough. That this is indeed a terrorist jihadi movement no different from the others requires some explanation and a brief discussion of the recent history of the Caucasus. | |
Comment: See also:
Rest assured, you will not get the truth about the situation in Chechnya from the mainstream media. For years it was a major front in the covert war against Russia waged by the West. Putin shut it down. Now they're trying other tactics: sanctions, Syria, Iran, and the rise of militant Islam in general. | |
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Andrew Korybko
Sputnik 2014-12-07 22:30:00
The US and its allies aren't the only ones fighting terrorism in Syria. Russia has supported the government there in its anti-terrorist struggle for over the past three and a half years, but it receives barely any Western media acknowledgement for its efforts. This week's meeting that Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem had with Putin and Lavrov in Sochi was scarcely reported on in the West, but this doesn't mean that it was insignificant. In fact, it was neglected precisely because of its significance, since it shows that Russia is the main international actor helping to bring peace to the country and victory to the anti-terrorist forces. All of this jars with the mainstream narrative that the US is the solution to the Mideast's woes, instead showing that it's actually the problem in the first place. Call 'Em How You See 'Em
Russia is certain that the US is the Mideast's main headache and has lately come out with some hard-swinging statements against it. Lavrov previously decried the use of the false "good terrorist, bad terrorist" myth, which first came about over 30 years ago when the US created the Mujahedeen, saying that political interests shouldn't supercede anti-terrorist considerations. Seeing that the US obviously wasn't listening after it started bombing Syria, he raised his tone this week to saying that Russia is against "attempts to use extremist and even openly terrorist groups for the purposes of a regime change in Syria", in clear reference to the US' policy of arming supposedly 'moderate' Islamic militant groups. Putin said afterwards in an interview that "the main risk...stems from the activities of the so-called Islamic State and other radical groups that were once actively employed by some Western countries, which flirted with them and encouraged them", so it's no perhaps wonder that he earlier voiced the impression that "whatever Americans touch they always end up with Libya or Iraq." | ||
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Saurav Jha
The Diplomat 2014-12-12 22:40:00
Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual summit visit to India this year was a brief affair. Putin camelooking for assurances that an India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have no truck with Western attempts to isolate Russia and will continue to be a "time tested and reliable" partner, especially at a time of economic difficulties for Russia. These, he received. India has given the Russians both official as well symbolic reassurance that it does not support Western sanctions. In return, India has got its own set of guarantees at the highest level from the Russians for spares for existing Russian-origin military hardware, with Moscow agreeing to move more quickly on transferring technology for the equipment to Indian firms. Keen to retain its position in the Indian defense sector, Russia has also become the first major arms exporter to come on board with India's military-aerospace industrial goals under the "Make in India" program, with an initiative to produce and even export Russian origin helicopters from Indian soil being announced during the visit itself. At a time when Russia needs India's high-end human resources and its market size and India requires more high-value manufacturing elements, the long-standing trust between the two sides seems to be helpful. While the joint vision document released during the visit explicitly notes that India and Russia oppose economic sanctions that do not have the approval of the United Nations Security Council, it was perhaps the fact that a business delegation led by the Crimean prime minister accompanied Putin on his visit that was more revealing of India's stance on Ukraine. The Indian government is apparently encouraging Indian businesses to engage more deeply in Crimea, in a clear signal that it stands with Russia irrespective of American positions. In fact India is going even further than China is in making its support for Russia clear. | |
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Fort Russ
2014-12-14 21:41:00
Ukrainian airports are shut down in order to accept military-transport planes of USA and NATO. One of my readers who has connections in Zaporozhye already confirmed it. His friend's work is connected with Zaporozhye airport. Here is his quote: In Dnepropetrovsk - a similar situation, from Kharkov there was no confirmation. In general,apparently the US does not want to wait until the Act on military assistance to Ukraine adopted by the senate will pass through congress and are boosting rearmament of junta troops. New unofficial military advisers/assistants should be expected to show up as well. | |
Comment: Initial reports were laughably transparent:
Airspace in the region is controlled by Kolomoisky, Mossad's biggest stooge in Ukraine.
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Eric Zuesse
Global Research 2014-12-11 17:13:00
IMF says Ukraine will be bankrupt 'within weeks' and needs $15 billion more for war against eastern Ukraine; EU threatens Russia with more sanctions if Russia lets Ukraine go bankrupt; EU will lose billions on Ukraine if Russia won't bail them out. The details are here and here. And here's the back-story to that: Mark Adomanis of Forbes is the clearest and most honest writer in the West about Ukraine's financial situation, though he propagandizes constantly against Russia just like all the rest of the West's aristocracy-paid 'reporters' do (and must do, in order to keep their jobs). He wrote on 15 April 2014, that, "when it bought $3 billion worth of [Ukrainian Government] bonds at the end of 2013 Russia inserted a clause that stipulates that the total volume of Ukrainian state-guaranteed debt cannot exceed 60% of its annual GDP. If that threshold is breached, Russia can legally demand repayments on an accelerated schedule. Given the parlous state of the Ukrainian economy and its government's extremely weak finances, this essentially means that if Ukraine's debt exceeds 60% of its GDP Russia can legally force it to default."Ukraine's foreign debt has soared above that $60 billion limit, because of a demand that the IMF placed upon its $17 billion loan on 1 May 2014, namely that Ukraine eliminate or otherwise crush the people in the area of Ukraine where the public had voted 90% for the pro-Russian Ukrainian President whom Obama had overthrown on February 22nd. The way that CNBC headlined it on May 1st, the day before pro-Government thugs massacred this new Government's resistors at the Trade Unions Building in Odessa and so started the program to exterminate the residents of that region, was "IMF Warns Ukraine on Bailout if It Loses East." What that meant was that, without the gas-fields and the other assets in the east, the Ukrainian Government wouldn't have valuable-enough assets to sell off or "privatize" so as to be able to make good on the IMF's $17 billion loan to Ukraine, and taxpayers in the U.S. and Europe would then need to absorb losses on those loans; so, the Ukrainian Government needed to follow-through and exterminate those people in order for the loans to keep coming. The aristocrats want to control their land, not the people on it. The residents are just an obstruction. This money was loaned by the IMF in order to enable Western corporations (mainly Big Oil and Big Ag and Big Military) to take over Ukraine. For examples: the residents in the areas that are being bombed did not want fracking there, and did not want a NATO missile base there. | |
Comment: The insanity of the EU and of their U.S. patrons is more apparent with each passing day. They fabricate atrocities which they later use to demonize Putin, and it has been so from the start of the U.S. engineered coup d'état in Ukraine.
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Thierry Meyssan
Russia is reacting to the economic war which NATO is waging against her in the way she would have reacted in a conventional war. She allowed herself to be hit by unilateral "sanctions" in order to better lead the opponent to a battleground of her own choosing. Simultaneously, she has signed agreements with China to safeguard her future and with Turkey to disrupt NATO. As long ago, against France or Germany, her initial defeat could be the guarantee of her victory in the end.Voltaire Network 2014-12-13 16:37:00
At the annual summit on security organized by the Bertelsmann Foundation and NATO in Munich in 2007, President Vladimir Putin had stressed that the interest of Western Europeans was not only overseas but also and especially with Russia. Since then, he has continued to try to build economic relations, including the construction of the North Stream pipeline under the leadership of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. For its part, the United States has done everything to prevent this rapprochement, including the organization of the Kiev coup and the South Stream pipeline sabotage. According to the Atlanticist press, Russia would have been severely impacted by the unilateral "sanctions" - in reality acts of economic war - imposed on the occasion of the annexation of Crimea to the Federation or of the destruction of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing and by lower oil prices. The ruble has lost 40% of its value, wasted investments in the South Stream gas pipeline cost $ 4.5 billion and the food embargo has cost $ 8.7 billion. The Atlanticist media assures us that Russia is now definitely ruined and isolated politically. The Atlanticist press however is at an impasse concerning the consequences of this economic war in the European Union. Besides the ban on food exports which is likely to destroy whole sections of its agriculture, the renunciation of South Stream will weigh very seriously on the future of the Union by increasing the price of energy.
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Comment: See also: The implications of the Russian-Turkish gas deal for the future of NATO
EU losers! Russia scraps South Stream pipeline project, announces major alternative gas deal - Did Putin just poach Turkey?
Western leaders are scratching their heads as Ankara pivots East Putin's counterpunch to EU: Exit South Stream, enter Turk Stream | ||
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Mac Slavo
Shtfplan.com 2014-12-13 00:00:00
Homeland Security officials are warning that a major coronal mass ejection, solar flare or electromagnetic pulse may be inevitable and catastrophic to modern civilization. The devastation to the electric grid and modern infrastructure could impact the lives of more than 100 million, and cause untold casualties during prolonged outages. Homeland Security conducted a study assessing the risks with these extreme solar events (as well as manmade EMPs). | |
Comment: Aside from the possibility of a power grid failure, there are a number of other reasons to be prepared. If you haven't noticed, financial analysts are predicting an immanent collapse, theglobal weather has been completely bizarre, and many scientists are predicting a global temperature decline that will likely be the steepest ever recorded in human history. Doubtless, the DHS also knows that something wicked this way comes, but since they aren't likely to let us know that we live in a cosmic shooting gallery, they are couching their preparedness warnings in a veiled way. In short, it never hurts to be prepared!
See also:
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Cavan Sieczkowski
Huffington Post 2014-12-12 12:33:00
Greenpeace is apologizing to the people of Peru after pulling a stunt at the site of the sacred Nazca lines. Government officials claim the action damaged the ancient markings. Before dawn on Monday, 20 Greenpeace activists went to site of the historic Nazca lines and laid out massive yellow letters reading "Time for Change: The Future is Renewable." Currently, the United Nations is holding the Lima Climate Change Conference in the country, and the stunt was apparently intended to catch the attention of officials gathered there. According to a press release on Greenpeace's website, the group meant for the message -- which can be seen from the sky -- "to honor the Nazca people, whose ancient geoglyphs are one of the historic landmarks of Peru. It is believed that one of the reasons for the Nazca's disappearance can be linked to massive regional climate change." However, the government of Peru did not take it as an honor. "It's a true slap in the face at everything Peruvians consider sacred," Deputy Culture Minister Luis Jaime Castillo told Associated Press.
The Greenpeace activists entered a "strictly prohibited" area near the famed figure of a hummingbird, according to Associated Press. Entrance to this area is permitted only with authorization, and those who get approval must wear special footwear. "They are absolutely fragile," the minister said of the geoglyphs. "They are black rocks on a white background. You walk there and the footprint is going to last hundreds or thousands of years. And the line that they have destroyed is the most visible and most recognized of all." | ||
Comment: Unfortunately, the Nasca lines world heritage site is not "renewable" in the near future. Greenpeace gave a dubious apology for its unfortunate and irremovable "footprint." No matter what their original intent (which was a stunt at best), it was an unthinkable act of chutzpah and stupidity that will leave its "mark" for generations. I doubt that that was the ultimate message Greenpeace wanted to make. It will, however, be how many will think of it and Greenpeace, for a long time to come.
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David Henry
ABC 2014-12-15 00:00:00
A suspect in five killings barricaded himself inside a suburban Philadelphia home on Monday morning, several local media outlets reported. Police had discovered the bodies of five people in three separate locations, WPVI television and other media reported. The suspect, believed to be a military veteran, was holed up in a home in Souderton, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles north of Philadelphia, WPVI reported. | |
Comment: So many US vets are suffering from PTSD and because the VA is so overwhelmed with vets needing help, many of these must wait excessively long times to get help if they are able to get any assistance at all. These incidents are another sad testament to the US pathocracy where the elites think that those they send off to fights their wars of aggression are little more than cannon fodder.
PTSD is an epidemic for military vets and their families | |
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Henry Giroux
Counterpunch 2014-12-12 00:00:00
With the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on torture, it becomes clear that in the aftermath of the loathsome terrorist attack of 9/11, the United States entered into a new and barbarous stage in its history, one in which acts of violence and moral depravity were not only embraced but celebrated. Certainly, this is not to suggest that the United States had not engaged in criminal and lawless acts historically or committed acts of brutality that would rightly be labeled acts of torture. That much about our history is clear and includes not only the support and participation in acts of indiscriminate violence and torture practiced through and with the right-wing Latin American dictatorships in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil in the 1970s but also through the wilful murder and torture of civilians in Vietnam, Iraq, and later at Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, and Afghanistan. The United States is no stranger to torture nor is it a free of complicity in aiding other countries notorious for their abuses of human rights. Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman reminded us by taking us as far back as 1979 that of the "35 countries using torture on an administrative basis in the late 1970s, 26 were clients of the United States."[1] In fact, the United States has a long record of inflicting torture on others, both at home and abroad, although it has never admitted to such acts. Instead, the official response has been to deny this history or do everything to hide such monstrous acts from public view through government censorship, appealing to the state secrecy principle, or deploying a language that buried narratives of extraordinary cruelty in harmless sounding euphemisms. For example, the benign sounding CIA "Phoenix Program" in South Vietnam resulted in the deaths of over 21,000 Vietnamese. As Carl Boggs argues, the acts of U.S. barbarism in Vietnam appeared both unrestrained and never ending, with routinized brutality such as throwing people out of planes labeled as "flying lessons" or "half a helicopter ride,"[2] while tying a field telephone wire around a man's testicles and ringing it up was a practice called "the Bell Telephone Hour."[3] Officially sanctioned torture was never discussed as a legitimate concern; but, as indicated by a few well-documented accounts, it seems to be as American as apple pie.[4] | |
Comment: Psychotherapist and holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl once said that, "The last of human freedoms - [is] the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances." The given set of circumstances is that we now live in a world (and particularly in the US) that is dominated by the values of psychopaths; individuals who have no compunction about making people be made to suffer in horrific ways. We are being given a choice about the information being presented to us though. We can decide that the torture being described - like in the article above, is actually justified to insure security, or "just a mistake," or at any rate not all that important given that we readers aren't the suspected terrorists or the incarcerated being made to endure it. Or, we can choose to think and to actually see that there is something dreadfully wrong and inhuman about it - regardless of the justifications we are being asked to accept. Here at SOTT we hold the latter view; that if there is anything at all that is capable of staining our souls, and inflicting the "mark of the beast" upon us, it is the acceptance of torture anywhere, or under any circumstances.
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Moreh B.D.K. and Zeidy David
Counter Current News 2014-12-15 01:43:00
In Victoria, Texas a police officer was just recorded beating and tasering a 76-year-old man who called the cop a "Goddamned Nazi Stormtrooper." These sound like pretty harsh words until you find out that the officer was harassing the man for an expired inspection sticker, even though the vehicle had dealer tags which makes it completely exempt from such stickers. The 23-year-old cop was placed on administrative leave on Friday after beating and tasering Pete Vasquez. Vasquez was driving a work-owned dealer vehicle on Thursday when Officer Nathanial Robinson started harassing him. When Vasquez explained the exemption to the cop, Robinson became enraged. The dashcam video shows it all. Robinson slams Vasquez onto the hood of the patrol car before forcing him to the ground, then shocking him twice while on the ground. "He just acted like a pit bull, and that was it," Vasquez said. "For a while, I thought he was going to pull his gun and shoot me." Chief J.J. Craig said that he took this matter very seriously and offered a personal apology to Vasquez, but he stopped short of disciplining the rogue officer. "Public trust is extremely important to us," Craig said, hoping that his apology will keep his department from getting sued. "Sometimes that means you have to take a real hard look at some of the actions that occur within the department," he continued. "You want to make sure you give the right kind of person a badge and a gun," he finally added. Larry Urich, a co-worker of Vasqueze at the car lot, told local Victoria Advocate reporters that the officer should be fired and prosecuted for assault. "I told the officer, 'What in the hell are you doing?' This gentleman is 76 years old," Urich explained. "The cop told me to stand back, but I didn't shut up. I told him he was a goddamned Nazi Stormtrooper." | |
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RT
2014-12-11 04:31:00
Contrary to the perception in the media, poverty - not gentrification - is booming in US neighborhoods. When such conditions double or triple, areas quickly fall into disrepair, services are cut, and crime escalates, according to a new report. Media attention tends to focus on poor neighborhoods that are rapidly undergoing gentrification by way of investments and an influx of wealthier new residents, but a paper by cityobservatory.orgshows a troubling trend that is more prevalent. The number of poor people living in high-poverty urban neighborhoods has more than doubled, the report found, from two million to four million over the past 40 years. Additionally, the number of high-poverty neighborhoods has nearly tripled from 1,100 to 3,100. "The direct negative economic consequences of concentrated poverty are well established...fewer local job prospects...poor physical connections to growing job centers...[worse] health...poor quality public services that worsen the experience of poverty for neighborhood residents, and make it harder to attract new residents and businesses, adding to a cycle of decline," said the report's authors Joe Cortright and Dillon Mahmoudi. The study, titled 'Lost in Place,' looks into why the persistence and spread of concentrated poverty - not gentrification - is the biggest urban challenge in the US. It analyzed changes in high-poverty neighborhoods in 51 of the largest metropolitan areas between 1970 and 2010. In these areas, 30 percent or more of the population lives below the poverty line.
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Comment: Under the leadership of psychopaths, our society is collapsing. We are past our expiration date.
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RT
2014-12-13 04:53:00
Stopping to film Baltimore police officers kicking a handcuffed man, a local woman says she found herself being tasered and arrested while police hurled expletives. She is now suing the department. Kianga Mwamba, 36, claims she was tasered and arrested by Baltimore Police Department officers in March while filming the arrest of another man on her mobile phone. After she was released, she noticed someone had tampered with her mobile phone - erasing the arrest video. Charges against her were eventually dropped in September, but Mwamba recently served the police department with a lawsuit seeking $7 million. "I'm in shock for real, like are they really doing this to me," Mwamba, the daughter of a veteran of the Maryland Capitol Police, said as she recalled the arrest in an interview this fall with the Baltimore Sun. The lawsuit filed with the Circuit Court for Baltimore City last Thursday said the police "attacked" her, "dragged" her from her vehicle, and "threw her onto the street, handcuffed her, tasered her, called her a 'dumb bitch,' and kept her restrained." The suit alleges the officers arrested Mwamba to "prevent the disclosure of the video taken of them beating a handcuffed man." Video of the March 30 melee surfaced online this week. Police erased the 135-second recording from Mwamba's phone, but it was recovered from her cloud account, according to the lawsuit. | |
Comment: This is the power of a dictatorship. In a police state, cops see themselves as occupying 'enemy territory'. They have been brainwashed and trained for it. You, the citizen are the enemy.
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Brandon Smith
Alt-Market 2014-12-10 19:53:00
Like many people, I grew up watching numerous television shows and mainstream movies depicting a world in which the common police officer stood as a sentinel of civilized society against a seething underbelly of violence and chaos just beneath the surface of the world around us. Through public schooling, we were indoctrinated to fear the drug culture as a breeding ground of gangland destruction and to worship law enforcement officials as the only barrier between us and a cocaine-frosted wasteland. We were led to believe that every day police were holding back a tide of crime and terrorism. The so-called "thin blue line" was an indispensable part of a safe and prosperous nation. To criticize or present opposition to the institution of state and federally funded law enforcement is often considered tantamount to treason - or, at the very least, it is considered unpatriotic. After all, we have all been told every moment of our lives that a world without police would immediately turn into a frothing, frenzied orgy of mass insanity and that average human beings cannot be trusted to take responsibility for the day-to-day security of their neighborhoods and towns. Official doctrine today demands a designated warrior class, separate from the rest of us, to handle the protection and care of weakling citizens. | |
Comment: The populace's rage against the police is growing stronger every day. See:
Time lapse video shows massive amount of people who protested police brutality today | |
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Chris O'Brien
Los Angeles Times 2014-11-28 09:00:00
With her right hand, my 8-year-old daughter, Kalian, presses the red-hot soldering iron against the circuit board. With her left hand, she guides a thin, tin wire until it's pressing against both the circuit board and the tip of the iron. The tin begins to melt. There is a wisp of smoke, and a metallic smell drifts back to where I am standing behind her, a bit nervously, sweat running down my forehead onto my safety goggles (which I have always detested). I am ready to pounce if that soldering iron slips and touches her skin. Instead, she pulls the iron and wire away. The solder cools, holding in place a metal pin from a computer chip. It's one of 20 solders she must make to attach the chip to the circuit board, and the moment seems to last forever. Attaching the chip is just one of the tiny steps she and her brother, Liam, 10, will take over the next 10 months to create their own miniature computer, called a Hackerling Circuit. We were building these computers as part of a program called Curiosity Hacked, started by some friends here. The goal is to teach kids a wide range of digital and analog skills: computer programming, 3-D printing, and sewing and drawing. | |
Comment: At at time when our schools are increasingly failing to teach children anything of value and in many cases are little more than indoctrination centers, this is an inspiring development that can give children real life skills as well as stimulate their curiosity and creativity. Let's hope this movement continues to expand!
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SHTFplan
2014-12-14 22:29:00
As the biggest storm in five years took aim at California this week cities across the state distributed sandbags, cancelled school and warned residents to prepare for power outages. And though the storm didn't really live up to the media hype, some people did take the warnings to heart and made last minute trips to the grocery store to stock up on foodstuffs and other supplies just so they wouldn't have to go out in the rain. But not everyone was prepared. One San Francisco resident in particular highlights just how susceptible America is to disasters and what to expect in the event of a widespread emergency. "I thought we were going to watch tv all day, but now the power's out," Beth Ludwig said. Her mom added that the kids had never experienced a power outage before. | |
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Lucy Williams
BBC 2014-12-14 16:08:00
Russia has donated a 25m tree Christmas tree to the Notre Dame cathedral in France, following an appeal for help. The cathedral had struggled to raise the money for its annual tree and appealed to foreign embassies in Paris for assistance. "It was a surprise but it won't create problems. It was a gift. No money changed hands. And if it helps to build bridges, so much the better.", said one of the Parisian clergy. The surprise donation comes at a time of strained relations between the two countries, over Russia's involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. | |
Comment: If this is propaganda, it's the best sort. A need was made known; Russia immediately and generously stepped up. It would be interesting to know what answers Notre Dame got from other embassies. And where was the French government in all this?
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Nick Bernabe
The whole country, and the world, stood up to police brutality and institutionalized racism today.TheAntiMedia 2014-12-13 20:43:00 This short time lapse video puts the protests into perspective. While the mainstream media may report hundreds or maybe a thousand, you need to know the truth. You are not alone, many many other young people around the country have also awaken to the injustices we face. Here's the proof:
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RT
2014-12-13 21:26:00
Protesters are taking to the streets in cities across the US to protest grand juries' decisions not to indict the white officers responsible for the deaths of two unarmed black men, and demand police accountability. | |
Comment: The right-wing mainstream media wants us to believe it is black people vs. white people. But it is not. White people are also protesting over police brutality. This is a very basic issue: those who have a shred of humanity left, and those who do not. Racism is just a symptom of this more fundamental reality.
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Athena Jones
CNN 2014-12-13 18:24:00
Congressional staffers plan to walk off their jobs Thursday afternoon to show their support for the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in the wake of the decision by two grand juries not to indict the police officers responsible for their deaths, according to three staffers who plan to participate in the event. The planned walkout comes after days of protests across the country, including in Washington, D.C., where demonstrators have marched through downtown, blocking roads and bridges on an almost nightly basis since last Wednesday's decision by a grand jury in Staten Island not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Garner. "We're proud to have this moment of solidarity with the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the thousands of peaceful protesters around the country who are telling this country that black lives matter," said one staffer who was helping to plan the event. | |
Comment: Prayers may or may not work, but action has a better chance of being effective. Female students are protesting for protection, minimum wage workers are protesting for a better life, women in military are speaking out against injustice, NFL cheerleaders are suing the employers for basic wages and respect.
This is no longer a issue between black vs. white or wealthy vs. poor, it is about psychopaths vs. the rest of the humanity. | |
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Jennifer Gerson Uffalussy
Yahoo! News 2014-12-08 00:00:00
Comment: There is lot of public outrage against the American education system since the publication of Rolling Stone's article exposing the rape culture at American universities. As expected, the mainstream media published many articles to control the damage. This is another Yahoo article intended to seed distrust in the victim's account. Here is a short list of the MSM's arguments.
On November 19, Rolling Stone published its story "A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA" by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, an investigative journalist and two-time winner of the National Magazine Award for investigative reporting. The article was disturbing, detailing the brutal gang rape of "Jackie" - reportedly her real nickname - at a fraternity house during the beginning months of her freshman year at the college, as part of an initiation ritual for the frat's pledges. Most chilling, perhaps, was one dehumanizing detail she described, where one of the young men attacking her told the others, "Grab its [expletive] leg!" as she struggled in vain. Last week multiple news sources began calling Jackie's story - and the Rolling Stone piece - into question. | |
Comment: The amount of public outcry signified the resonance echoed by the students, parents and others alike. Tragically, the para-moralistic media sharks continue to devour the victims and Sabrina Rubin Erdely's credibility with unrealistic expectations, denial, wishful thinking and propaganda.
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| Secret History |
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Agence France-Presse
2014-12-14 22:44:00
Archaeologists on Sunday unveiled a restored colossal statue of Amenhotep III that was toppled in an earthquake more than 3,000 years ago at Egypt's famed temple city of Luxor. The statue showing him in a striding attitude was re-erected at the northern gate of the king's funerary temple on the west bank of the Nile. The temple is already famous for its existing 3,400-year-old Memnon colossi - twin statues of Amenhotep III whose reign archaeologists say marked the political and cultural zenith of ancient Egyptian civilisation. The 12.92-metre (43-foot) statue unveiled on Sunday stands west of an existing effigy of the king, also depicting him walking, which was unveiled in March. "These are up to now the highest standing effigies of an Egyptian king in striding attitude," said German-Armenian archaeologist Hourig Sourouzian, who heads the project to conserve the temple. The world-famous twin Memnon colossi are 21 metres tall but show the pharaoh seated. The restored statue now stands again for the first time since its collapse 3,200 years ago, Sourouzian told AFP from Luxor. Consisting of 89 large pieces and numerous small fragments and reassembled since November, the monolith weighs 110 tonnes. It had lain broken in pieces after the earthquake in 1200 BC, Sourouzian said. The statue shows the king wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, and each hand holding a papyrus roll inscribed with his name, like the one standing next to it that was unveiled earlier this year. His belt, holding a dagger with a falcon-head handle, is fastened with a rectangular clasp bearing the names of the king. Work to conserve the Amenhotep III temple is entirely funded through private and international donations. Pharaoh Amenhotep III inherited an empire that stretched from the Euphrates to Sudan, archaeologists say. The 18th dynasty ruler became king aged around 12, with his mother as regent. Amenhotep III died in around 1354 BC and was succeeded by his son Amenhotep IV, widely known as Akhenaten. Luxor, a city of some 500,000 people on the banks of the Nile in southern Egypt, is an open-air museum of intricate temples and pharaonic tombs. | |
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| Science & Technology |
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MedicalXpress
2014-12-15 18:34:00
The next time you are in a crowded room, or a meeting, or even at the park with your kids, take a look around. How many people are on their phone? Distractions invade every aspect of our lives. Status updates, text messages, email notifications all threaten to steal our attention away from the moment. While we fight the urge to check the phone, our brains are making constant judgment calls about where to focus attention. The brain must continually filter important information from irrelevant interference. Scientists have hypothesized for decades about how the brain might accomplish this, but it has been challenging to find evidence to support the theories. Now, researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have identified a neural circuit in the mouse brain that controls attention and sensory processing, providing insight into how the brain filters out distractions. The work has implications for devastating psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia that are characterized at least in part by significant attention deficits. The cortex is the region of the brain where most cognitive function happens. It is there that information is processed and interpreted, and decisions are made. But sensory information must pass through a neuronal gate, called the thalamus, on its way to the cortex. The thalamus, a ball-shaped bundle of neurons, is coated in a thin neuronal skin called the thalamic reticular nucleus, or TRN. As early as 1984, Nobel laureate Francis Crick hypothesized that the TRN might function like a guardian of the gate, regulating precisely which information is worthy of being passed on through the thalamus to the cortex for further analysis. | |
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AstroWatch
2014-12-14 13:00:00
"Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour," could be still an actual description of our ability to predict asteroid threats to Earth. The sentence from the Bible (Matthew 25:13) sound like a reminder of a vast number of more than 1,500 currently potentially hazardous objects, floating in space, meandering around in the Solar System. Some of them may be destined to pay our planet a close visit someday, unexpectedly, Chelyabinsk-style, as the one that hit Russia in February 2013, causing serious damages and injuring about 1,500 people. Who would have predicted that? Lately, one of the potentially hazardous asteroids, named 2014 UR116, created quite a buzz when various media reported that the 370-wide space rock may hit Earth. Its impact would cause an explosion 1,000 times greater than the Chelyabinsk meteor. But the discoverer of 2014 UR116, Vladimir Lipunov, a professor at Moscow State University, becalms the public. "This asteroid will not collide with Earth during the next 100 years," Lipunov toldastrowatch.net. Comment: Remember though, that on February 15th, 2013, when space agencies, 'experts' and the mainstream media reassured the general public that asteroid 2012-DA14 was due to safely pass by our planet. It did, but within hours another separate asteroid/comet fragment unexpectedly slammed into the atmosphere and exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. | |
Comment: "...but just to make sure and avoid any potential catastrophe, it's better to track them constantly". Forget about funding for advanced warning systems - NASA et al. are broke. Look to the past for what is to come! Celestial Intentions: Comets and the Horns of Moses
See also: NASA map downplays sharp rise in meteor fireball impacts over last 20 years | |
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Stuart Gary
ABC Science, Australia 2014-12-15 03:58:00
It looks like a freeze dried desert now, but this image taken by the Mars Curiosity rover is proof that the red planet once had regular wet seasons, and was capable of supporting life. This layered rock photographed by the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover shows thick-laminated, evenly-stratified sandstone layers, which are commonly found on Earth where river deltas flow into lakes and seas. The suspended material in the water then settled onto the ancient lake bed and gradually, over years, built up the many layers, which are now exposed in this rock outcrop. These multiple layers of sedimentary deposits are evidence that there were regular cycles of water carrying plumes of river sediments flowing into the lake which once filled Gale crater. The sandstone has slowly eroded away over billions of years through the actions of sand blasting winds. These cross-bedded sandstones were imaged at the edge of a location called Hidden Valley, which is on the foot hills of the crater's five kilometre high central peak, Mount Sharp. The scene combines multiple frames taken with Curiosity's right-eye camera on August 7th, 2014, during the 712th Martian day or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. | |
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Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes & Martino Nicolini
CBET nr. 4034, issued on 2014, December 14, announces the discovery of a comet (magnitude ~18) by Leonid Elenin on three CCD images taken on 2014, December 12 with a 0.4-m f/3 astrograph at the ISON-NM Observatory near Mayhill, NM, USA. The new comet has been designated P/2014 X1 (ELENIN).Remanzacco Observatory 2014-12-15 00:11:00 We performed follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of 10 unfiltered exposures, 120-sec each, obtained remotely on 2014, December 12.4 from H06 (iTelescope network - Mayhill) through a 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD + f/4.5 focal reducer, under bad seeing conditions, shows that this object is slightly diffuse with FWHM about 20% - 30% wider than that of nearby field stars of similar brightness. Our confirmation image (click on it for a bigger version)
M.P.E.C. 2014-X66 (including pre-discovery Pan-STARRS1 and Mount Lemmon observations, found by G. V. Williams in the MPC archive from September and October) assigns the following elliptical orbital elements to comet P/2014 X1: T 2015 Jan. 7.74; e= 0.71; Peri. = 34.36; q = 1.81; Incl.= 25.97 Congrats to Leonid for the discovery of his third comet! | |
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| Earth Changes |
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Ekaterina Blinova
Sputnik 2014-12-15 22:26:00
Scientists will make every effort to save the endangered subspecies of the world's biggest northern white rhinos through artificial insemination of female species, although the chances are slim, Vladimir Krever, the WWF Russia coordinator of biodiversity conservation program told RIA Novosti. Earlier, the San Diego Zoo reported that one of only six northern white rhinoceros remaining in the world died of old age on Sunday, December 14. The rhino, named Angalifu, was almost 44 years old and arrived in San Diego from Sudan in August 1990. "Angalifu's death is a tremendous loss to all of us. Not only because he was well beloved here at the park but also because his death brings this wonderful species one step closer to extinction," said Randy Rieches, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park curator as cited by the Daily Mail. | |
Comment: It is such a heart breaking tragedy to see this kind of human caused extinctions continuing to occur due to greed with no regard given to the animals.
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Marianne Garvey, Brian Niemietz and Oli Coleman
New York Daily News 2014-12-12 20:39:00
The rodents have pestered the staffs of Vanity Fair and Vogue. Conde told employees that they cannot eat at their desks and that a complaint will be made with the city's health department. Conde Nast's rat problem is getting worse rather than better. While Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter tells Confidenti@l that rats stubbornly continue to occupy the new Conde Nast offices at One World Trade Center, we're also told that Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour doesn't even want to go in the building anymore. And while there were multiple previous reports that the pests were terrorizing the glamorous staff atVogue, we're now told they've "taken over" more of the storied publishing house. | |
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Sputnick
2014-12-15 14:18:00
Over 1,300 passengers spent the night trapped in trains stranded due to power blackouts caused by heavy snowfalls in Japan's northern Niigata Prefecture. Some 1,350 passengers found themselves spending the night on trains stranded in Japan's northern Niigata Prefecture on Sunday, according to The Japan Times. The trains were stranded by a power outage resulting from heavy snowstorms. | |
Comment: Temperatures have been declining for the past 16 years and it looks like that is going to continue, so we will probably be seeing much more of the above scenarios.
30 leading scientists predict global cooling | |
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Jamie Secola
Pensacola News Journal 2014-12-13 15:50:00
Local officials can't confirm the source of a strange stench that has area residents complaining on social media. Area residents are complaining on social media about a strange smell that stretches from Pace to Gulf Breeze and the beaches. But local officials can't confirm what the smell is or where it's coming from. "We haven't had any reports of any issues," said Joy Tsubooka, the public information officer for Santa Rosa County. "It's hard to say what it is because on very clear, very cold days like this, odors can travel very far." Residents have described the stench as smelling like spoiled milk and dead fish. "Why does it smell of rotten fish all over #Pensacola this morning?" one resident asked on Twitter. | |
Comment: See also: Mystery odor fouling life in Beacon Woods, Bayonet Point, Florida
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youtube.com
2014-12-13 15:10:00
The Earth is about to begin a steep drop in global temperatures off its present global temperature plateau. This plateau has been caused by the absence of growth in global temperatures for 18 years, the start of global cooling in the atmosphere and the oceans, and the end of a short period of moderate solar heating from an unusually active secondary peak in solar cycle #24. Average global atmospheric and oceanic temperatures will drop significantly beginning between 2015 and 2016 and will continue with only temporary reversals until they stabilize during a long cold temperature base lasting most of the 2030's and 2040's. The bottom of the next global cold climate caused by a "solar hibernation" (a pronounced reduction in warming energy coming from the Sun) is expected to be reached by the year 2031. The predicted temperature decline will continue for the next fifteen years and will likely be the steepest ever recorded in human history, discounting past short-duration volcanic events. Global average temperatures during the 2030's will reach a level of at least 1.5° C lower.
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One Monroe family is concerned for their safety, and the well-being of their pets after a raccoon attacked them this weekend. Now, they're speaking out so others know of the danger. Ruth Ulrich never expected to spend her Saturday afternoon warding off a diseased raccoon. "It was during the daylight, it's laying around as though it were a cat or something, all stretched out. Then it would wake up from that state and would have something that appeared to be like seizures," said Ulrich. Ulrich says it was hissing and charging at her. She wasn't sure what to do, so she called the police. "The policeman said if there's any problems, call me back, but he needed to go on and do other things," said Ulrich.
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Idaho State Journal
2014-12-14 19:51:00
Police fatally shot a 1,000-pound cow Friday afternoon that had led them on a lengthy chase through the city's north side. The heifer eventually died after being shot by a Pocatello police officer in the backyard of a residence at Henderson and Jessie Clark lanes around 1:30 p.m. Police had shot the animal earlier in the pursuit but the wounded cow kept running. Pocatello Police Chief Scott Marchand said the two shots his officers took at the cow were fired because of the safety risk the animal posed. | |
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Doyle Rice
USA Today 2014-12-13 06:00:00
The U.S. experienced fewer tornadoes in the past three years than any similar span since accurate records began in the 1950s. Yet meteorologists aren't sure exactly why. As this year comes to a close, about 150 fewer damaging tornadoes than average have hit the U.S., according to data from the Storm Prediction Center (SPC). Explanations for the decrease in twisters the past three years range from unusual cold to unusual heat, or just coincidence. Despite the calmer than average years, deaths due to twisters remain near the average of 60 each year, with 68 killed in 2012, 55 in 2013 and 42 so far this year, according to the SPC. That pales in comparison with the 553 Americans killed by tornadoes in 2011. So far this year, just 348 EF-1 or stronger tornadoes have touched down across the country, marking the third-lowest number on record. An average year sees about 500 EF-1 or greater tornadoes. A total of 364 EF-1 or stronger tornadoes touched down in 2012 and 404 in 2013. EF refers to the Enhanced Fujita Scale of tornado intensity, which runs from EF-0 to EF-5. Most twisters that cause damage and deaths are EF-1 or higher, with wind speeds of at least 86 mph. Harold Brooks, a meteorologist with the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla., said there's no consistent reason for the three-year lull - the calmest stretch since a similar quiet period in the late 1980s - because weather patterns have varied significantly from year to year. | |
Comment: Interesting that the tornado experts won't hazard a guess as to the factors influencing the creation and intensity of the twister phenomena. Consider that the lack of West Coast storms that has magnified the drought conditions in California, and other coastal states, account in part for the decrease in large-scale weather systems that travel across the country. Low temperatures from recent "polar vortexes" has to be a factor (due to the global temperature downturn as we approach ice-age triggering conditions). And, the experts do not address the electrical component (charge rebalancing between the ionosphere and the Earth's surface) of tornadoes coupled with the effects of, and reasons for, the solar minimum (a less positively charged ionosphere causing a reduction in the electric potential differential). Perhaps they need to do some homework and come up with some answers.
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Oliver Milman
The Guardian 2014-12-10 14:34:00
Over five trillion pieces of plastic are floating in our oceans says most comprehensive study to date on plastic pollution around the world More than five trillion pieces of plastic, collectively weighing nearly 269,000 tonnes, are floating in the world's oceans, causing damage throughout the food chain, new research has found. Data collected by scientists from the US, France, Chile, Australia and New Zealand suggests a minimum of 5.25tn plastic particles in the oceans, most of them "micro plastics" measuring less than 5mm. The volume of plastic pieces, largely deriving from products such as food and drink packaging and clothing, was calculated from data taken from 24 expeditions over a six-year period to 2013. The research, published in the journal PLOS One, is the first study to look at plastics of all sizes in the world's oceans. Large pieces of plastic can strangle animals such as seals, while smaller pieces are ingested by fish and then fed up the food chain, all the way to humans. | |
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Grimsby Telegraph
2014-05-14 12:57:00
An East Lindsey farm worker has died after being attacked by a cow. The Health and Safety Executive is investigating the incident, which took place at a Wragby farm on Easter Sunday, April 21. 60-year-old stockman John Turner is said to have been seriously injured in an attack by a cow at Kilmister Farm. Mr Turner was taken by air ambulance to Hull Royal Infirmary, but later died. Wragby-based HR Bourn & Sons Ltd, which owns the farm, confirmed that it was co-operating with the HSE investigation into the incident. A statement from the company said: "John Turner tragically died in hospital after being attacked by a cow at Kilmister Farm in Wragby on April 21. | |
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cbc.ca
2014-07-28 13:08:00
The man killed in a cow attack on a B.C. farm on Canada Day has been identified by the B.C. Coroners Service as 49-year-old Allen Donald Powder. Powder, who called Yellowknife, N.W.T., home, came to the Okanagan to work every summer. He was working on a farm in Cherryville, B.C., the morning of July 1. Cherryville, which is at the foothills of the Monashee Mountains, is roughly 55 kilometres east of Vernon in B.C.'s North Okanagan. According to a statement released by the coroner, Powder and another farm worker were moving cattle from one corral to another when the cow attacked. "One of the cows became very agitated and aggressive and they were having trouble controlling the cow," said B.C. Coroners Service spokesperson Barb McLintock. | |
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Raw Story
2014-12-13 22:38:00
Negotiations on forging a UN pact to fight climate change headed into an unscheduled 13th day on Saturday in a frantic quest to bridge a rift between rich and poor countries. Ministers and senior officials from 195 states were to examine a compromise for calming a bustup over who bears responsibility for fighting climate change. The talks in Lima had been scheduled to end at 6:00 pm (2300 GMT) Friday, but ran into the pre-dawn as countries horse-traded over elements of a draft text. | |
Comment: Climate change is real, but the theory that "gas emissions are responsible" is full of holes.
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BBC
2014-12-01 21:13:00
A 71-year-old man has died after he was attacked by cattle in County Fermanagh. Robert Brown was killed at his farm at Knockmanoul, near Ballinamallard. It is believed that it happened on Saturday night as he was preparing cows for a routine TB test. He was found in his cattle yard by a neighbour after a family member could not get in touch with him. The Health and Safety Inspectorate is carrying out an investigation. Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott knew Mr Brown and said it was an extremely sad day for the community. | |
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calcoastnews.com
2014-12-11 20:58:00
A 65-year-old ranch hand is in the hospital after a cow attacked him during a branding operationat a ranch on Wednesday in the Cuyama Valley. Shortly after 10 a.m., the cow charged the man and pinned him against a corral causing chest and upper body injuries. Firefighters responded to the ranch near the intersection of Highway 166 and Cottonwood Canyon Road to find the man having difficulty breathing. Emergency medical personnel then transported the man in a medical helicopter to the trauma unit at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara. | |
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| Fire in the Sky |
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TASS
2014-12-13 11:39:00
A meteorite weighing about one tonne is lying buried deep in sand on the bottom of Lake Vygozero in Russia's northwestern republic of Karelia, Vadim Chernobrov, the leader of a team of researchers, said on Friday. Magnetic field distortion has been registered over the meteorite crater. Divers failed to lift the heavy object from the bottom because of thin ice. "All observable factors - the flight direction, whop, specific crater testifying to the velocity of the fall - all indicate that it was a meteorite," he said. "It is a unique case having no precedents in the history." | |
Comment: Don't expect this event to be reported in the mainstream media. The powers that be are not interested in people knowing about 1 ton rocks falling on planet earth, especially as people might want their rulers to do something about it instead of waging pointless wars of destruction. Remember the 'Mandate of Heaven'!
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| Health & Wellness |
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Jay Walljasper
Alternet 2014-12-03 19:09:00
Four reasons walking has become America's 'untrendiest trend.' Hint: It's not just health. Walking is going places. Humans' most common pastime - forsaken for decades as too slow and too much effort - is now recognized as a health breakthrough, an economic catalyst and a route to happiness. Real Simple magazine (circulation: 2 million) declared "walking America's untrendiest trend" in its February 2014 cover story. A month later Builder magazine (a construction trade journal) announced on its cover, "Walkability. Why we care...and why you should too." The reason? Simple: "Increasingly, the market is demanding places where homeowners can hoof it." The New Yorker weighed in last September quoting the new book A Philosophy of Walking, which asserts that walking "makes it possible to recover the pure sensation of being, to rediscover the simple joy of existing." | |
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HDL is commonly referred to as "good cholesterol," as clearly higher levels of this carrier protein are associated with a reduced risk for accumulation of atherosclerosis within the walls of arteries, especially the arteries that supply blood to the heart. While so much attention is focused on total cholesterol, as well as LDL, which unfortunately has been given the name "bad cholesterol," it seems clear that it is fair to explore what can be done to raise HDL since it is so important for vascular health. As it turns out, diet does in fact playing important role in determining a person's HDL level. In a study appearing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Canadian researchers evaluated the diets of 619 Canadians of either Aboriginal, South Asian, Chinese, or European descent who had no previously diagnosed medical conditions. The researchers were particularly interested in the amount of carbohydrate intake in comparison to HDL, and what they found was really quite profound. In comparing those who diets were highest in carbohydrate consumption with those who favored a lower carbohydrate diet, those who ate the least amount of carbohydrates had an HDL that was, on average, 11% higher. | |
Comment: For more information on how to navigate your cholesterol panel, check out LDL is your friend and I have high cholesterol, and I don't care.
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Christina Sarich
Natural Society 2014-12-06 23:50:00
Yet More Evidence GMOs Should be Banned A new study released in September of this year gives even more evidence that GMOs should have been banned before they were ever allowed on the market. Read on to find out how "Genetically Engineered Crops, Glyphosate and the Deterioration of Health in the United States of America"pinpoints a significant correlation between GMOs and 22 diseases. Why does the biotech industry keep hiding the toxicity of their products? Well, there are numerous reasons - the corruption of the American and international governments, the fact that the USDA's main man appointed by Obama was a former Monsanto executive, and the tremendously deep pockets of mega-corporations to launch propaganda campaigns - are just a few. | |
Comment: The author is correct in her statement; 'there is already ample evidence that GMO's are dangerous' Sott.net has been reporting on the serious health effects of GMO foods for the past several years:
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Madlen Davies
MailOnline 2014-12-11 22:17:00
People with back pain are being prescribed a drug which does nothing to help their discomfort. A study has found a drug commonly prescribed to treat lower back pain is actually ineffective. The drug pregabalin works no better than a placebo to control pain, doctors discovered. Pregabalin, which is marketed by pharmaceutical company Pfizer under the name Lyrica, is commonly prescribed all over the world to treat chronic lower back pain syndromes such as lumbar spinal stenosis. This syndrome, which is the leading reason why elderly people have spinal surgery, causes shooting or twinging pains, tingling, and numbness in the lower back, buttocks, and legs. These symptoms are often called sciatica. | |
Comment: A decade of pain "studies" conducted by Baystate Medical Center's Scott S. Reuben on Vioxx, Lyrica, Celebrex and Effexor were completely fabricated--including the patients say published reports. It's no secret that the FDA is loaded with Big Pharma cronies, and the industrycan influence research for its own ends. Before taking prescriptions, it's always a good idea to do some research - knowledge protects!
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Ron Grisanti, D.C., D.A.B.C.O., D.A.C.B.N., M.S.
Your Medical Detective 2014-12-13 00:02:00
Estrogen is not a single hormone. It is a class of hormones and hormone like compounds that have estrogenic properties. There are human estrogens, animal estrogens, synthetic estrogens, phytoestrogens, and xenoestrogens. The three human estrogens are estradiol, estrone, and estriol, and belong to the steroid hormone family. "Estrogen dominance" is a term coined by Harvard physician John R. Lee M.D. It describes a condition where a woman can have deficient, normal, or excessive estrogen but the body has little or no progesterone to balance its effects. Signs and symptoms of estrogen dominance include: | |
Comment: For more information, check out What your doctor may not tell you about menopause.
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| Science of the Spirit |
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Jeremy Dean
PsyBlog 2014-12-09 16:10:00
The mere presence of the mother helps sooth an infant as well as changing genes in the emotional centres of the brain. The new study from the NYU Langone Medical Center examined which genes in rat pups were active when its mother was either present or absent. The study found that when experiencing pain, hundreds of genes in the rat pups brains were modified by the mother's presence. The pups were also soothed by the mother's presence. This is the first time that scientists have shown how the infant brain reacts to the presence or absence of its mother when in distress. | |
Comment: Any mother knows that an infant needs her presence to feel emotionally safe and nurtured. We don't necessarily need scientific studies to tell us this, but what is disturbing is that in our emotionally crumbling society, scientific researchers are still trying to find substitutes for parental nurturing.
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| High Strangeness |
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Heather Tooley
Inquisitr.com 2014-12-15 20:55:00
A mystery sea creature seen on Google Earth is suspected to have caused an unexplained wake in New Zealand's ocean waters. Opposing Views reports that last week an unusual wake was seen at Oke Bay of the Bay of Islands located in the Far North District of the country's North Island. Pita Witehira of Hamilton, New Zealand, found the interesting image on Google Earth while he was doing some holiday research. The unidentified creature is thought to be around 40-feet long, judging by the size of the wake. Witehira rules out a boat causing the wake since white froth wasn't seen in the water. He has a different explanation for it.
The Google image was reportedly captured by satellite around 11:30 a.m. on January 30 of this year. | |
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Chris Richards
Daily Mirror, UK 2014-12-13 18:40:00
The video obtained by investigate journalist David Collins shows military aircraft in the skies above Arizona on the night of one of the world's most famous UFO sightings in March 1997 This incredible leaked classified video shows fighter jets "engaging unknown aircraft" in the skies above the southern US on the night of one of the world's most famous UFO sightings. The 14-second clip, posted on YouTube, shows American military aircraft on patrol during the Phoenix Lights sighting of March 13, 1997 when a series of lights were spotted above Arizona's state capital. The military footage was obtained exclusively by US investigative journalist David Collins, of Phoenix-based KWBV Investigations, who later alerted Mirror Online. The Phoenix Lights were seen by thousands of Arizona residents but 17 years on what exactly happened remains a mystery.
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thelocal.dk
2014-12-12 16:06:00
After a deer was found with its head "bitten off", nature authorities warn that a very large and dangerous dog - or even a wolf - could be on the prowl. Authorities have warned that a "large" and "unusually strong" animal is on the loose north of Copenhagen. A deer calf was found in the forest park Jægersborg Dyrehave with its head bitten off and the Danish Nature Agency (Naturstyrelsen) says that only "an unusually large and strong dog, or a wolf" could have bitten the head off in that fashion. "We feel that it is in the public's interest [to know about the animal, ed.] and we recommend using real caution if visitors encounter a stay dog out here [in Dyrehaven, ed.]," forest manager Hans Henrik Christensen told BT. "We have simply never seen this kind of bite before and we have taken samples from the dead deer and have sent them for DNA tests to see if this could be a wolf," Christensen said. The deer's head has not been found and Christensen said the bite was "exceptionally violent". "The animal bit through the neck bones, so the head was quite simply bitten off," he told BT. |
