Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Wednesday 10 December 2014


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Tuesday, 09 December 2014

SOTT Focus
Guest columnist Filip Kovacevic
Sott.net
2014-12-09 12:30:00

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After his surprise meeting with the French president François Hollande at a Moscow airport, Putin held an unscripted press conference which lasted a little less than six minutes.1 From the way he smiled when he took the first question, it was clear that, from his point of view, the meeting went extremely well. And it is not difficult to understand why.

Having created a rift among the NATO allies by negotiating a major gas deal with the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Putin believes that he is now able to drive the point home to the warmongering policy-makers in Washington, London and Brussels that major disagreements on policy toward Russia also exist within the European Union. In other words, he sees Hollande's visit as a major crack in the edifice of the EU's punitive actions against Russia.

It is worth pointing out that rumblings of discontent about the sanctions were present in the EU almost from the day one. Not long after the sanctions were imposed as a reaction to the supposed Russian involvement in the shooting down of MH-17, for which, to this day, there is not a shred of credible evidence, the Slovak prime minister Robert Fico warned that the sanctions against Russia might "threaten" the expected positive growth of EU economies.2
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Puppet Masters
Fort Russ
2014-12-09 22:29:00

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Lies always come out (but sometimes when no one is listening.)

I remember in the spring and summer the population of Ukraine was threatened with seemingly hundreds of FSB detainees. Dozens of officers of GRU. Turned out that the number of those and the others detained is ZERO (BIG ROUND ZERO):

Kiev, December 8 (PolitNavigator, Victoria Litovchenko):
The head of the main investigation department of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasily Vovk announced that there are no FSB generals or officers of the GRU detained by SBU. He said this during a broadcast of "Freedom of Speech". According to him, there are more than 200 people detained associated with Donetsk and Lugansk Republics. "There is no difference in relation to a particular person depending on his nationality," - he said, answering to a question whether there are representatives of other States, or only citizens of Ukraine.
Noodles are needed only during lunch. Now no one wants these noodles, and the Ukrainian people entirely missed the truth about the 'spies' (and I'm angry, I will remind Gebbels junta about their lies). And the truth is simple - THERE WERE NO RUSSIAN AGENTS AND OFFICERS. This is what was announced by the head of the main investigation department of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasily Vovk.
Comment: And it looks like the Novorussians DID get the vast majority of their weapons from exactly where they said they got them: the Ukrainians! We'll give them this much: at least Kiev lies consistently.
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RT
2014-12-09 22:08:00

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Comment: Since the UN is the U.S' puppet, it must be just a symbolic gesture for Syria to demand the UN sanction Israel. There is zero chance that the UN will do anything to reproach Israel after they, again, attacked a sovereign nation, which is in fact a violation of international law. But in a world where laws are routinely broken in the name of the fascist global empire, those actually hoping for Israel to be sanctioned are just not paying attention.


Syrian officials demanded the UN impose sanctions on Israel after Tel Aviv conducted airstrikes near Damascus Airport. They say the attack was a heinous crime against their sovereignty by a country which doesn't hide its policy of supporting terrorism.

Tel Aviv committed a heinous crime against Syria's sovereignty, said Syrian Foreign and Expatriates Ministry in two identical letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and to the Chair of the UN Security Council, SANA news agency reported.

The attack aimed to support armed terrorist groups in Syria, especially after Damascus made some progress in the cities of Deir Ezzor, Aleppo and Daraa, say Syrian officials.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry called for UN officials to impose sanctions on Israel, whose authorities "don't hide their policies in supporting terrorism." Damascus also urged UN to take all necessary procedures to prevent Israel from repeating such attacks in accord with UN Charter.

The letter asserts that Israel is trying to divert the world's attention from the collapse of its own coalition government, which continues "its occupation of the Arab territories and violates the international legitimacy."

Despite the Israeli attacks, Damascus will not stop its efforts to combat terrorism in all its forms, types and tools and on Syrian soil, added the letter.
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Eric Zuesse
Global Research
2014-12-09 21:27:00

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On July 24th, the Times of London did not headline as this news-report is headlined, but instead headlined much more obscurely, "Russia fears prompt Nato to look east for HQ." Of course, people in the West tend not to care a lot about what "Russia fears." They also don't care much about whether "Nato," or actually NATO [it's an acronym and so is supposed to be all-caps], would "look east for HQ." So, this news-report did not garner much attention - as it was, indeed, not intended to.

Online (where the critical, analytical, readers increasingly are), it received even less, because that newspaper isn't online, except for its subscribers - people who are willing to pay for such poor journalism as the Times; i.e, pay to read corporations' PR presented in the form of 'news reports.'

The lengthiest excerpt from the article that's online is at NATO's own site, the PR delivered straight from the horses' mouth, which posting there is certainly validation that the article represents NATO's position accurately, even if it does so in 'appropriately' vague terms. (Of course, that's not "appropriate" for readers, but for NATO, which is the weapons-manufacturers' trade-organization, that's being served in this 'news' story.)

It reports that "a military base in eastern Europe" will be "placing supplies - weapons, ammunition and ration packs - at the headquarters" [what 'headquarters'? It's the first usage of this term there, and yet doesn't say] to enable a sudden influx of thousands of Nato troops to be ready for action in the event of a crisis." Furthermore, "the leading contender [for the 'headquarters,' though the vaguely written article doesn't explicitly say so] is Multinational Corps Northeast, in Szczecin, Poland. ... It would be a 24/7 fully functioning headquarters that forces [what 'forces,' whose 'forces'?] could quickly fall in on to respond rapidly when needed."


Comment: That's quite a fitting name for the fascist NATO HQ. "Multinational Corps Northeast" is a perfect encapsulation of who is behind the drive for war with Russia. Why not explicitly state that corporations are the one's who control the U.S. drive towards world war.


This is a vague way of saying that the prepositioned weapons there would be for "forces" who are rushing in to grab their weapons and invade Russia at a moment's notice. The vague assumption embodied here is that this would be a defensive invasion against an offensive Russia. The news-report is written for people who have that assumption about NATO's being 'defensive', and who do not worry that they might have been fooled into believing it, but the report builds upon that unquestioning assumption on the reader's part. By this implicit instead of explicit means, the article is saying that to call NATO a purely 'defensive' organization isn't a lie - which it actually is - but is instead a perfectly reasonable assumption for intelligent people to hold (despite all historical evidence to the contrary); and that, consequently the idea of NATO's increasingly surrounding Russia with its missiles is purely a 'defensive' measure, nothing for Russians to find terrifying.
"The shift in posture is being proposed by General Philip Breedlove, Nato's top commander in Europe."
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Jonathan S. Landay and Marisa Taylor
Sacramento Bee
2014-12-09 21:17:00

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The CIA's use of torture failed to gain any intelligence on imminent terrorist threats, didn't lead to any high-level terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, produced fabricated information and was far more brutal than the agency portrayed to policymakers and the public, according to a long-awaited Senate report released Tuesday.

The report by the Senate Intelligence Committee also found:

- The agency assigned unqualified personnel to run secret overseas "black site" prisons where it held in often inhuman conditions at least 119 detainees, some of whom were beaten and subjected to unauthorized interrogation techniques, and at least two died;

At least 26 detainees were wrongfully imprisoned;
Comment: What can we say? None of this should come as a surprise to anyone. In fact, the CIA is probably orders of magnitude worse than this report suggests. The CIA is one of the largest, most well-funded, and organized terrorist organizations on this planet. America should be proud. At least they lead the world in that department!
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Greg Miller, Adam Goldman and Julie Tate
Washington Post
2014-12-09 19:10:00

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An exhaustive, five-year Senate investigation of the CIA's secret interrogations of terrorism suspects renders a strikingly bleak verdict of a program launched in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, describing levels of brutality, dishonesty and seemingly arbitrary violence that at times brought even agency employees to moments of anguish.

The report by the Senate Intelligence Committee delivers new allegations of cruelty in a program whose severe tactics have been abundantly documented, revealing that agency medical personnel voiced alarm that waterboarding methods had deteriorated to "a series of near drownings" and that agency employees subjected detainees to "rectal rehydration" and other painful procedures that were never approved.

[Read: Senate Intelligence Committee's full report on the CIA program] 

The 528-page document catalogues dozens of cases in which CIA officials allegedly deceived their superiors at the White House, members of Congress and even sometimes their own peers about how the interrogation program was being run and what it had achieved. In one case, an internal CIA memo relays instructions from the White House to keep the program secret from then-Secretary of State Colin Powell out of concern that he would "blow his stack if he were to be briefed on what's going on."
Comment: Sorry, America, but your reputation is already shot. You'll go down in history as the Ted Bundy of nations. And rightfully so.
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William Barbe
Sott.net
2014-12-09 17:39:00

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In her bid for reelection as leader of the Christian Democratic Union, Angela Merkel was interviewed by Die Welt on Dec. 7, 2014. In that interview she once again condemns Russia:
In an interview with Die Welt am Sonntag, Merkel reproached Russian President Vladimir Putin for standing in the way of East European countries that would like to join the EU or strengthen relations with it. Merkel said "Russia created difficulties" for Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine, which had "on their own sovereign decisions, signed association agreements with the EU."

Merkel told the center-right German daily's Sunday edition that "I am convinced that the collective European response to Russia is the right answer." The chancellor added that the fact "that Russia had broken its guarantees in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 guaranteeing the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine must not be without consequences."
That interview probably did the trick as she was reelected with a staggering 97.7 percent for the eighth consecutive time.
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Adam Kredo
The Washington Free beacon
2014-12-08 16:58:00

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An alleged weapons maker for the Islamic State (IS) claimed that a "radioactive device" has been smuggled into an undisclosed location in Europe, according to an intelligence brief released Monday by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"A Radioactive Device has entered somewhere in Europe," according Twitter user Muslim-Al-Britani, who claims to be a freelance jihadist weapons maker now working alongside IS (also known as ISIL or ISIS), according to tweets captured and disseminated by SITE.


BREAKING NEWS# WARNING A Radioactive Device has entered somewhere in Europe. pic.twitter.com/9GKHjz7ugs

- Muslim-Al-Britani (@TNTmuslim) December 6, 2014


The claim by Al-Britani comes just days after reports emerged that IS could have in its possession a dirty bomb, the elements of which were obtained via earlier IS raids on a university research facility in Mosul that contained uranium. Al-Britani is also responsible for the flurry of reports on the dirty bomb.
Comment: That last statement is interesting in light of Obama's recent decree for immigration reform that has Congress in an uproar.

And this report: SOTT Exclusive: Send in the troops? Only if ISIS gets hold of a nuclear weapon also bears keeping in mind if the US increases the boots on the ground offensive against ISIL.
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Harrison Koehli
Sott.net
2014-12-09 13:34:00

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On Sunday, December 7, Israel reportedly bombed Syria, yet again, this time striking the area near the Damascus international airport and the town of Dimas, close to the border with Lebanon. While the U.S. continues to bomb Syria under the shaky pretense of "fighting ISIS" (while supporting 'rebels' who ally themselves with ISIS in order to bring down Assad, which is what the U.S. really wants to do), Israel forgoes all that liberal 'bleeding heart' pretense and simply gets down to business: targeting locations under Syrian military control, and which involve supplies and food for the Syrian population that really needs them. But that's not all they're up to (more on that below).

Israel must be having a good laugh at the U.S. -- when Bibi and his merry bunch of war trolls want to bomb Syrian civilian and military infrastructure, they just do it, world opinion be damned. For the pansies in the U.S., it's always a 'mistake' -- they really meant to target the 'terrorists'. Grow a spine, guys, and drop the Columbo routine! No one takes a bumbling superpower seriously these days. If you really want to strike fear into the hearts of your enemies, honesty is the best policy. Just tell them: do what we say or we will unleash our trained terrorists on you. Or we'll blackmail you. Or we'll stage a coup in your country, and have you killed in the streets. Or we'll just bomb your country until you submit. That's the way Israel rolls. So take notes, America! Don't be afraid to show the world your true self.
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Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
2014-12-08 00:00:00

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On Sunday December 7, Israel reportedly launched airstrikes inside Syria yet again, this time very close to Damascus in the area near Damascus International airport. Israeli airstrikes also took place in the town of Dimas which is located close to the Lebanese border.

At this time, Israel has yet to comment on the airstrikes.

Syrian state television has stated that "The Israeli enemy committed aggression against Syria by targeting two safe areas in Damascus province, in all of Dimas and near the Damascus International Airport."

State news agency SANA also stated that the strikes were a "flagrant attack on Syria."

Lebanese state news agencies have reported that Israeli jets "breached its airspace" on Sunday.

Reuters reports that "Residents in Damascus said they heard loud explosions and opposition activists posted photos online of jet streams in the evening sky and fiery explosions. Syria's army general command said on state television that there were "material losses in some facilities." It said the strike benefited al Qaeda."
Comment: Israel is not only kicking Syria while it's down, it is aiding ISIS in a myriad of overt ways, just short of sending the IDF's ground forces in with the Jihadis it seems. Have you noticed that Assad has not made any recent comments publicly about striking back at Israel though? He's playing it smart; Putin smart.

See also:

Israel bombs Syria, airstrikes hit near Damascus airport
Assad speaks out: "Terrorism exported to Middle East from Europe"
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Henry Kamens
New Eastern Outlook
2014-12-07 23:25:00

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The latest terror attacks in Russia are not, in themselves, news. This may sound odd to those who have endured them, but they are no different to any number of previous attacks. What IS news is that the world might finally be waking up to what is going on.

The same great programme to destabilise the Russian Federation and the countries friendly to it has been a dominant underlying feature of international relations since the end of the Cold War. Having spent so many years training its military to attack the Evil Empire, the West found itself with nothing left to do when the Soviet system imploded.

The West could only justify its existence by inventing new enemies and trying to destroy them in the same old way. There didn't have to be a reason: the mindset had to be preserved within the military to stop it being let loose on Western streets.

When you can't find enough grounds to attack people with regulars, you use irregulars you can wash your hands of: the principle of state-sponsored terrorism, a term the US coined to describe the actions of groups it conveniently put there to begin with.
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William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
2014-12-07 23:12:00

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South Stream, the $45 billion project to deliver Russian natural gas via underwater pipeline through the Black Sea to Bulgaria and on to other Balkan and southern European markets, is dead. Russian President Vladimir Putin made the death pronouncement on December 1, during a trip to Turkey to meet Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It has major geopolitical and economic consequences for the EU.

As Putin explained, "If Europe doesn't want to realize this, then it means it won't be realized. We will redirect the flow of our energy resources to other regions of the world. We couldn't get necessary permissions from Bulgaria, so we cannot continue with the project. We can't make all the investment just to be stopped at the Bulgarian border," Putin said. "Of course, this is the choice of our friends inEurope."

The Russian President didn't waste a minute to show how he plans that redirection. The real loser is not Russia, but the EU who managed yet again to shoot themselves in the foot by their buckling under to Washington pressure from Victoria Nuland's State Department and the Obama Administration hawks. The South Stream would have provided secure delivery to southern EU countries including Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Croatia and also Serbia. It would avoid the current transit pipelines running through Ukraine. Similarly, to avoid a repeat of the US-induced Ukrainian disruptions of Russian gas to the EU in 2009, Russia and Germany agreed the construction of Nord Stream, also avoiding Ukraine.
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Society's Child
Jen Marlowe
Vimeo.com
2011-01-03 22:05:00

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One Family in Gaza

Just months after the 2008/9 Israeli assault that killed 1,390 Palestinians, filmmaker Jen Marlowe visited Gaza. Among dozens of painful stories she heard, one family stood out. She spent several days with Kamal and Wafaa Awajah, playing with their children, sleeping in the tent they were living in, and filming their story.

Wafaa described the execution of their son, Ibrahim. As she spoke, her children played on the rubble of their destroyed home. Kamal talked about struggling to help his kids heal from trauma.

Palestinians in Gaza are depicted either as violent terrorists or as helpless victims. The Awajah family challenges both portrayals. Through one family's story, the larger tragedy of Gaza is exposed, and the courage and resilience of its people shines through.


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NPR
2014-12-09 21:09:00

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In Beijing, even the tiniest apartment can cost a fortune - after all, with more than 21 million residents, space is limited and demand is high.

But it is possible to find more affordable housing. You'll just have to join an estimated 1 million of the city's residents and look underground.

Below the city's bustling streets, bomb shelters and storage basements are turned into illegal - but affordable - apartments.
Comment: It is a shame that some people have to live this way. It happens all over the world due to psychopathic greed and mismanagement.
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Aditya Kalra and Malini Menon
Reuters
2014-12-09 16:29:00

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India ordered state governments to halt the operations of all unregistered, web-based taxi companies on Tuesday after a female passenger reported she was raped in New Delhi by a driver contracted to U.S. cab company Uber.

The case has caused uproar in India after it emerged that the suspect had previously been charged for rape but had obtained a character reference signed by a police officer that was forged.

It has also revealed a failure to regulate the booming market for app-based taxi services in India. The Delhi transport department said it ordered Uber to cease operations on Monday by post.
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Larken Rose
Activist Post
2014-12-09 19:16:00
A great compilation of Larken Rose audio clips taken from various radio interviews put together in a compelling video. Larken explains how blind faith in government leads to excusing evil. Watch the video and see, is Statism the most dangerous religion?
Comment: Statism is describing the psychological state of "Authoritarian Followers".

"Part of the problem seems to be that a large proportion of any population is what psychologist Bob Altemeyer calls "Authoritarian Followers." Let me quote from the Cambridge Dictionary of Psychology: "Authoritarian personality", and "Authoritarian followers". According to the dictionary:
"Authoritarian followers have the psychological characteristic known as right-wing authoritarianism. This personality trait consists of authoritarian submission, a high degree of submission to the established authorities in one's society; authoritarian aggression, aggression directed against various persons in the name of those authorities; and conventionalism, a strong adherence to the social conventions endorsed by those authorities.

Right-wing authoritarianism ("right" comes from "lawful") is measured on so called RWA scale." The Dictionary tells us that:

.... persons who get high RWA scale scores quite readily submit to the established authorities in their lives and trust them far more than most people do.

They supported Richard Nixon to the bitter end during the Watergate crisis. High RWAs also believed George W. Bush when he said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and they supported the war in that country long after others had signed off. High RWAs also are relatively willing to let authorities run roughshod over civil liberties and constitutional guarantees of personal freedom. They seem to think that authorities are above the law.

Bob Altemeyer, one of the champions in the psychology of authoritarians, notices that authoritarians are characterized by a certain specific cognitive behavior:

Compared with others, authoritarians have not spent much time examining evidence, thinking critically, reaching independent conclusions and seeing whether their conclusions mesh with the other things they believe. (...) They carry a list of 'false teachings' and rejected ideologies in their heads. But they usually learned which ideas are bad in the same way they learned which are good - from the authorities in their lives. Highs are not prepared to think critically."

Global Pathocracy, Authoritarian Followers and the Hope of the World
See also: Ponerology: Why the Corrupt Few Wreak So Much Death, Destruction, and Suffering on the Rest of Us
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RT
2014-12-05 10:57:00

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A video showing three Sydney police officers brutally beating a young woman has gone viral, with over 750,000 views on Facebook. During the clip, the victim is repeatedly hit with a police baton and appears to be kicked in the head by a male officer.

Police brutality has been hitting the headlines in the US, but now it seems the unfortunate trend has made its way to Australia. The woman in question, Claire Helen, who works as a model and actress and was on the receiving end of recurring blows from a police officer, said: "It was the most frightening and humiliating experience of my life."

Law enforcement officers allege that Helen punched a policewoman in the mouth, as well as resisting arrest - an action that the model stringently denies. "They pushed me down. They hit me and kicked me. They pulled my dress over my head," she said, speaking to Channel Nine. Onlookers could be heard shouting, "Let her go," and, "She's not resisting arrest."


View on Sott.net

Helen, who is 1 meter, 60 centimeters tall and weighs 55 kilograms, insists she was just enjoying a quiet night out when she was accosted by law enforcement officers, who were much bigger than her.

"We weren't drunk. We'd been with people playing soccer and went out to have a few drinks. I'm not the sort of person who goes out getting pissed on a Wednesday night. I'm trying to make it as a model and actress. I can't go out every night getting wasted. I definitely don't ever get in circumstances like this," she told Channel Nine news.
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Reuters
2014-12-08 23:23:00

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The United Nations children's agency UNICEF declared 2014 a devastating year for children on Monday with as many as 15 million caught in conflicts in Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and the Palestinian territories.

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said the high number of crises meant many of them were quickly forgotten or failed to capture global headlines, such as in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Globally, UNICEF said some 230 million children were living in countries and regions affected by armed conflict.

"Children have been killed while studying in the classroom and while sleeping in their beds; they have been orphaned, kidnapped, tortured, recruited, raped and even sold as slaves," Lake said in a statement. "Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality."
Comment: In the daily recounting of the news of war and geopolitics, rarely does the MSM discuss the devastating effects of these conflicts on children. These are the real victims of psychopathic wars of aggression. It's easy for armchair war cheerleaders to voice support for military incursions to 'install democracy' in other countries, but how many actually consider the consequences to the millions of children orphaned, maimed, suffering from PTSD and those who have been forced to become child soldiers?

Jon Snow: The (war on the) children of Gaza

Hundreds of Afghan children killed in U.S. attacks

Iraq's War Disfigured Babies

4 decades after war ended, Agent Orange still ravaging Vietnamese

Children in Conflict: Child Soldiers
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RT
2014-12-08 04:15:00

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A passenger airplane almost collided with an unidentified drone near Heathrow marking the first such incident in the biggest UK airline hub's history, British media revealed on Sunday citing a report due to be published next week.

An Airbus A320 which can carry 180 passengers avoided a collision with a drone on July 22 at 2.16 pm flying at an altitude of 700 feet, the Sunday Times reported.

It said that the official report is due to be published on Friday. UK Airprox Board (Ukab), which investigates all cases of reported near-misses, said the incident was of A category - the highest in five ranks assigned by the watchdog.

In its risk level assessments Ukab evaluates A category as "risk of collision: aircraft proximity in which serious risk of collision has existed," according to its website.

The unmanned aerial vehicle did not show on air traffic control radar so investigators were unable to identify it and the case relied on the pilot's testimony, a source told the newspaper.
Comment: The proliferation of small, unauthorized drones that can reach previously unimaginable heights poses an immediate threat to air traffic. In the US, the NASA database suggests that dangerous brushes between drones and passenger aircraft are more common than the FAA acknowledges.

Drones pose serious threat to commercial air traffic! Close encounters with passenger aircraft increasing and FAA unable to handle problem

Drone came within 200 feet of airliner over New York

FAA official: Drone, jetliner nearly collided over Florida

Drone comes within 50 feet of NYPD helicopter, Brooklyn man arrested
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John Vibes
Free Thought Project
2014-12-08 23:04:00

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Miami, Florida - 21-year-old street artist Delbert Rodriguez Gutierrez is now in critical condition and facing death after a police officer in a patrol car ran him over during a chase. Delbert's artist name is "Demz," and police claim that they caught him tagging a building around 2am on Friday morning, near the intersection of NW 5th Avenue and 24th Street, in Wynwood.

Wynwood is an art district in Miami where graffiti is extremely common, and sometimes artists have agreements set up where they are allowed to tag on buildings. However, it is not clear whether or not Gutierrez had permission to be where he was, and police claim that he fled as soon as he saw the flashing red and blue lights of the police car.

Detective Michael Cadavid chased after the young artist in his unmarked patrol car, eventually running him over. After the incident, Cadavid claimed that Demz jumped out in front of the car and could not be avoided.
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Secret History
No new articles.
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Science & Technology
David Mielach
Live Science
2014-12-09 22:04:00

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Just saying the word "spider" can elicit responses of fear or awe from people, but regardless of which side you fall on, there's a good chance that there is quite a bit you don't know about eight-legged arachnids. That's because, simply put, spiders are amazing creatures. There are 40,000 different species of spiders living on every continent except Antarctica, and nearly every one of those species is poisonous. Spiders can range in size from tiny to nearly the size of a small puppy. Here are some other amazing facts about these curious creatures.
Comment: Certainly amazing creatures deserving respect.
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James Cooper
Digg
2014-12-09 17:20:00

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These fascinating images, that on first inspection look like a Grateful Dead gatefold, are actually liquid DNA molecules crystallizing. They were captured by the artist and biochemist Linden Gledhill for a new project called MSSNG.

MSSNG is an ambitious program launched by the advocacy organization Autism Speaks. As scientists sequence the DNA of 10,000 families affected by autism, all the data collected will be made available as open source to other researchers around the world in an attempt to fill in the missing pieces surrounding the condition.
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Shawna Williams
Johns Hopkins Medicine
2014-12-09 18:30:00

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A step toward cracking the code of how brains work.

Whether we're paying attention to something we see can be discerned by monitoring the firings of specific groups of brain cells. Now, new work from Johns Hopkins shows that the same holds true for the sense of touch. The study brings researchers closer to understanding how animals' thoughts and feelings affect their perception of external stimuli.

The results were published Nov. 25 in the journal PLoS Biology.

"There is so much information available in the world that we cannot process it all," says Ernst Niebur, Ph.D., a professor of neuroscience in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "Many researchers believe the brain copes with this by immediately throwing away most of what we take in -- that's called selective attention. But we need to be certain that what is thrown away is really the irrelevant part. We investigated how our neurons do that."
Comment: There is enough research to indicate, that consciously paying attention prevents one's brain from deteriorating. More so, ignoring reality and just going through the motions of life makes one open to myriad harmful influences and manipulation. If we are to become functioning and thinking human beings, we must make an effort to be aware and always pay attention.
'Life is religion. Life experiences reflect how one interacts with God. Those who are asleep are those of little faith in terms of their interaction with the creation. Some people think that the world exists for them to overcome or ignore or shut out. For those individuals, the world will cease. They will become exactly what they give to life. They will become merely a dream in the 'past.' People who pay strict attention to objective reality right and left, become the reality of the 'Future.' -- Cassiopaeans, 09-28-02
Pay attention to this:


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Kate Kelland
Reuters
2014-12-09 16:14:00

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British scientists have found a brain mechanism they think may drive our desire for glucose-rich food and say the discovery could one day lead to better treatments for obesity.

In experiments using rats, researchers at Imperial College London found a mechanism that appears to sense how much glucose is reaching the brain and prompts animals to seek more if it detects a shortfall. In people, the scientists said, it may play a role in driving our preference for sweet and starchy foods.

Glucose, a component of carbohydrates, is the main energy source used by brain cells.
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Charles Q. Choi
Live Science
2014-12-01 10:18:00

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By looking for ripples in the fabric of space-time, scientists could soon detect "strange stars" - objects made of stuff radically different from the particles that make up ordinary matter, researchers say.

The protons and neutrons that make up the nuclei of atoms are made of more basic particles known as quarks. There are six types, or "flavors," of quarks: up, down, top, bottom, charm and strange. Each proton or neutron is made of three quarks: Each proton is composed of two up quarks and one down quark, and each neutron is made of two down quarks and one up quark.


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In theory, matter can be made with other flavors of quarks as well. Since the 1970s, scientists have suggested that particles of "strange matter" known as strangelets - made of equal numbers of up, down and strange quarks - could exist. In principle, strange matter should be heavier and more stable than normal matter, and might even be capable of converting ordinary matter it comes in contact with into strange matter. However, lab experiments have not yet created any strange matter, so its existence remains uncertain.

One place strange matter could naturally be created is inside neutron stars, the remnants of stars that died in catastrophic explosions known as supernovas. Neutron stars are typically small, with diameters of about 12 miles (19 kilometers) or so, but are so dense that they weigh as much as the sun. A chunk of a neutron star the size of a sugar cube can weigh as much as 100 million tons.

Under the extraordinary force of this extreme weight, some of the up and down quarks that make up neutron stars could get converted into strange quarks, leading to strange stars made of strange matter, researchers say.
Comment: You would think that the Earth should be experiencing gravity waves continuously since they should be coming from any cosmic event that significantly disturbs the fabric of space-time, as they describe it. If you think about other kinds of waves, granted we primarily have knowledge about those that take place on the planet, we have earthquakes, tornadoes, tidal waves and airwaves as models. Every time you walk into a room, you are disturbing the air around you. A land mass creaks and you have radiating ground waves. These are observable because they are motion and we are equipped with motion sensors. So, if a dying star explodes into a supernova, the force expelled should send a literal tsunami of telltale gravitational waves. These should be detectable if they are there. Any particle possesses wave properties.

The first LIGO hunted the waves for nearly a decade and found none - limited range and sensitivity? or inadequate filters? Or, is the space-time aspect a not-fully-understood game-changer? According to Einstein's theory of relativity, when a gravitational wave arrives, space-time is distorted. Are we unable to detect this motion because we are in the same space-time as the occurrence, or because we are within our own gravity wave or because what is relative just is?

Strangelets have been thought to be a concern of sorts. Some scientists believe their composition has the properties that would "puncture" planets and leave tracer exit craters. Others speculate that when a strangelet comes into contact with ordinary matter, it hits a nucleus that is immediately catalyzed and converted into strange matter, and the process keeps going until all matter in the vicinity is converted. If true, you can imagine the problem, especially when scientists produce this peculiar particle in the collider at Brookhaven. The "strange matter" hypothesis remains unproven and no one, so far, has witnessed the little assimilator in action!

Strange stars sure make strange articles!
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Irene Klotz
Reuters
2014-12-09 16:05:00

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Billions of years ago, a lake once filled the 96-mile- (154-km) wide crater being explored by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, bolstering evidence that the planet most like Earth in the solar system was suitable for microbial life, scientists said on Monday.

The new findings combine more than two years of data collected by the rover since its sky-crane landing inside Gale Crater in August 2012.

Scientists discovered stacks of rocks containing water-deposited sediments inclined toward the crater's center, which now sports a three-mile (5 km) mound called Mount Sharp. That would mean that Mount Sharp didn't exist during a period of time roughly 3.5 billion years ago when the crater was filled with water, Curiosity researchers told reporters during a conference call.
Comment: Evidence of water was also discovered a year ago:
And "unambiguous evidence for a shoreline" was discovered in 2009:
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Elizabeth Preston
Discover
2014-11-07 16:12:00

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If we're lucky, this is behavior we haven't seen since high school. The coolest individuals can't stand to see others gaining social status, so they cut down any peers who are starting to elevate themselves. Ravens have to live with this behavior all the time. When the top-dog birds see others building new relationships, they attack these birds or put themselves in the middle. They may as well be spreading rumors or defacing each other's lockers.

Wild ravens living in Austria were the ones to reveal this behavior to scientists. The ravens, a group of about 300 birds in the Austrian Alps, have discovered that a local zoo is a convenient source of food. So the wild birds hang around the captive animals year-round (they especially like the wild boar enclosure) and steal their provisions. Because of this, they're used to seeing humans nearby.

For years, scientists have been capturing these birds, marking them with colored leg bands, and studying their social behavior. Now University of Vienna cognitive biologist Jorg Massen and his coauthors asked whether the most dominant birds might be sabotaging those lower down in the group.
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Tricia Edgar
decodedscience.com
2014-11-30 15:40:00

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Sometimes, ecology is quite visible. When an owl catches a mouse, we see that connection very clearly. When a river floods, we see how water shapes a landscape.

Ecology can also be less visible. The soil is a good example of this: There is so much life in that brown material beneath our feet, but since we live on top of it, soil life can be difficult for us to visualize.

Sometimes, ecology is invisible.

What forces guide monarch butterflies as they migrate to a place they've never seen? When animals interact with the Earth's magnetic field, these invisible influences play a big role in animals' behavior.
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Earth Changes
myfoxdetroit.com
2014-12-02 21:09:00

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A relentless attack waged on the Richard family by a Thanksgiving party crasher in Whitmore Lake.

"He kept pounding and pounding and pounding."

It started right after dinner when Mike Richard took his dog Murphy for a walk.

"I took a look off to my right and the ram was over here," Mike said.

A ram broke free from a neighbor's land and wanted very badly to be a part of the Richard's holiday gathering.

"It looked at us and I could see the aggression in its eyes," Mike said. "And started charging after us."

"I slammed the door in its face and that's when all hell broke loose," Paula said.

"He wanted in this house," Mike said.



View on Sott.net
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m.news24.com
2014-12-09 20:51:00

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A Limpopo man has died following an attack by a hippo, the provincial health department said on Tuesday.

"The man was fishing on Friday afternoon when the hippo attacked him," spokesperson Macks Lesufi said.

"When he was rescued, he was badly injured."

Dashi Makhuvele fought tooth and nail with the large animal when it attacked him at Makuleke dam while fishing.

Following his ordeal, the 34-year-old man survived to tell the tale but due to the nature of his injuries he died in hospital on Sunday.
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Bill Hoffman
Sunshine Coast Daily
2014-12-02 20:21:00

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A rare fish species with an odd mating habit and a light dangling from an antenna on its head to attract prey has washed up from the depths at Mooloolaba Beach.

Thirteen-year-old Mia Cornwall discovered the Angler Fish, also known as a Black Sea Devil or a Melanocetus, during a morning walk.

Mia's grandfather Peter Beinssen, who shares her love of all things in nature, arranged for the specimen to be dropped at SeaLife from where it is destined for the Queensland Museum.

Mr Beinssen said the Angler Fish normally lives at depths of around 1600m.
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Brandon Mercer
CBS News - San Francisco
2014-12-09 10:06:00

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Winds above 74 miles per hour in hills above 2500 feet, and 80 miles per hour in the mountains are forecast for Thursday in what could be the storm of the decade according to Bay Area meteorologists.

The computer models are able to break down the exact time of highest danger. By mid-morning Thursday, models indicate winds peaking at 74 miles per hour sustained, not gusts, above 2500 feet. Above 5,000 feet the forecast is for 80 miles per hour. Along the coast, 60 mile per hour winds are forecasts, with higher gusts. The flatter areas around the bay will have widespread gusts from 40 to 50 miles per hour.

KPIX 5 chief meteorologist Paul Deanno said, "Given the long-term drought and short-term saturated ground, many trees will lose the battle with the wind on Thursday."

Deanno compares this week's storms to other significant events saying, "For those of us who have lived here for a while, the potential of this storm is comparable to the ones in January 2008 and February 1998, both of which caused widespread wind & flooding damage. As always, the forecast can change."

The National Weather Service has issued a whopping 15 separate warnings and advisories for the system including a Flash Flood Watch, Gale Warning, Hazardous Seas Advisory, and High Wind Watch.

Rainfall amounts above eight inches are forecast for the coastal ranges, triggering the Flash Flood Watch, an official notice to be looking for potential flooding. During the storm, these alerts will change from watches to warnings as actual floods begin occurring.

A hurricane, though only used to refer to tropical storms, is declared when sustained winds reach 74 miles per hour, and that level of wind is predicted for Thursday, along with rainfal amounts of over half an inch per hour, and if the storm slows, it could reach one inch per hour, causing serious flooding in the Bay Area.
Comment: To see how truly bizarre our weather is becoming, check out the latest monthly SOTT Earth Changes Video Summary.


View on Sott.net

SOTT Earth Changes Video Summary - November 2014

Also read Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection for more on the science behind the crazy weather we've been having here on the big blue marble.
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Kristina Pydynowski
Accuweather
2014-12-09 10:36:00

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A major storm will impact the Northeast through Thursday, complete with gusty winds, substantial snow, heavy rain, a wintry mix and flooding.

A strengthening storm along the mid-Atlantic coast will push northward on Tuesday, then inland Tuesday night through Thursday.

According to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, "This will be a snowstorm for some areas well inland, while impacts similar to a tropical storm will occur along the coast, including much of Interstate-95."

Heavy Interior Snow

The heaviest snow, a general 6 to 12 inches is forecast to fall on the Endless, Catskill and Adirondack mountains. Locally higher amounts can occur.

While the snow will be welcome by those with skiing interests, travel will become extremely treacherous and AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Ben Noll stated that the "wet-clinging nature of the snow could lead to downed trees and power outages."
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Bob Bowles
Orillia Packet and Times
2014-12-05 14:31:00

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If you were a bird, you may want to consider flying south in October and not returning to our area until next May. Many human snowbirds do just that. Many birds migrate south to warmer climates for winter, then return in the spring, but some seed-eating birds tough out the winter with us.

There is a family of birds called flycatchers that survives by hawking flying insects out of the air in mid-flight. There are not many insects flying around in winter, so a flycatcher that tried to overwinter instead of migrate would have little chance of survival.

Flycatchers mainly eat insects and other invertebrates, but also fruit.

One of the largest and most common species of flycatcher that nests in our area in summer is the great-crested flycatcher. It is a member of the Myiarchus genus and the second-largest flycatcher in our area, slightly smaller than the eastern kingbird. Great-crested flycatchers leave our area in late summer and early fall to fly south to southern Central America or northern South America. There are few records of this species staying around in late fall or winter in our area.
Comment: Maybe some change in the planet's environment is interfering with this bird's ability to correctly utilise the Earth's magnetic field to navigate by? See also this: Animal Magnetism: How the magnetic field influences animal navigation

Extract -
Human impacts on the Earth's magnetic field

Humans have an impact on so many aspects of the earth's ecology. While wrangling with the magnetic field might seem like an activity that is out of our reach, human-induced electromagnetic noise could be a concern for migrating animals.

In a 2014 study published in the journal Nature, laboratory studies on robins showed birds that were exposed to background electromagnetic noise had trouble discerning which way was south.


While other studies have not seen the same impact from everyday background noise, it's prudent to be aware that human-induced electromagnetic disturbances could have an impact on some animals' highly-tuned sensory systems.
Then again, perhaps any magnetic changes of a natural kind may also play a role? Earth's magnetic field is weakening 10 times faster now
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Charlie Bullough
Wakefield Express
2014-12-09 14:20:00

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A rare bird caused twitchers to flock to Wakefield today (Monday).

A Blyth's Pipit was spotted late morning by birder Jonathan Holliday close to the Calder Wetlands site, which is across from Pugneys Country Park.

The bird, which breeds in Mongolia, is believed to be the first county record for Yorkshire.

Birders from across the region rushed to Denby Dale Road to see the "archetypal little brown job" after the news broke on social media and pagers. More twitchers are expected tomorrow.
Comment: Maybe some change in the planet's environment is interfering with this bird's ability to correctly utilise the Earth's magnetic field to navigate by? See also this: Animal Magnetism: How the magnetic field influences animal navigation

Extract -
Human impacts on the Earth's magnetic field

Humans have an impact on so many aspects of the earth's ecology. While wrangling with the magnetic field might seem like an activity that is out of our reach, human-induced electromagnetic noise could be a concern for migrating animals.

In a 2014 study published in the journal Nature, laboratory studies on robins showed birds that were exposed to background electromagnetic noise had trouble discerning which way was south.


While other studies have not seen the same impact from everyday background noise, it's prudent to be aware that human-induced electromagnetic disturbances could have an impact on some animals' highly-tuned sensory systems.
Then again, perhaps any magnetic changes of a natural kind may also play a role? Earth's magnetic field is weakening 10 times faster now
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Fire in the Sky
No new articles.
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Health & Wellness
Christina Sarich
Natural Blaze
2014-11-21 22:21:00

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What's a recipe for environmental mayhem and the destruction of human health? The approval of genetically modified organisms by governments worldwide without any scientific safety studies. A new study published by the risk-assessment journal Environment International states that of the GM crops approved for planting and marketing globally, 81% were not studied for possible health and environmental safety risks.

Nevertheless, the biotech industry keeps touting GMO 'benefits' like a narcissistic madman on steroids. This chest beating continues - despite a complete lack of published, peer-reviewed research supporting the safety of genetically modified organisms.
Comment: There is no scientific consensus on GMO safety:

"Anyone that says, 'Oh, we know that this is perfectly safe,' I say is either unbelievably stupid, or deliberately lying. The reality is, we don't know. The experiments simply haven't been done, and now we have become the guinea pigs." ~ David Suzuki, geneticist
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inquisitr.com
2014-11-15 21:06:00

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Monsanto has genetically modified several crops to be RoundUp resistant. This means that the herbicide RoundUp can be sprayed on the crops and the crops will not die. Crops genetically modified by Monsanto to be RoundUp resistant include alfalfa, canola, corn, sweet corn, soybeans, and sugar beets. These GMOs are high on the list of food ingredients that Americans who are against GMOs try to avoid.

The blog The Healthy Home Economist made internet waves this week with a viral post suggesting that most people who believe that they cannot tolerate wheat, actually cannot tolerate RoundUp. In the post, the author claims that just before harvest, most of the wheat used in our foods is sprayed with the herbicide RoundUp.


Comment: Roundup linked to global boom in Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance
Celiac disease, gluten intolerance and irritable bowel syndrome are on the rise worldwide, and that rise has taken place in parallel with the increased use of glyphosate (Roundup) herbicide, shows a new US peer-reviewed paper from Dr. Anthony Samsel and Dr. Stephanie Seneff. The review has been published in theJournal of Interdisciplinary Toxicology.

Roundup is linked in Samsel and Seneff's new review paper to a major increase in celiac disease. A recent estimate suggests that one in twenty people in North America and Western Europe now suffer from this gluten intolerant disease.

"All of the known biological effects of glyphosate - cytochrome P450 inhibition, disruption of synthesis of aromatic amino acids, chelation of transition metals, and antibacterial action - contribute to the pathology of celiac disease," Samsel and Seneff's paper states.
Comment: Yes Monsanto maintains that the use of RoundUp is safe for animals and people, going as far as stating repeatedly 'that RoundUp/glyphosate has a long track record and has been extensively studied.' The results of extensive study however are not what Monsanto wants to hear or share with the wider public! Read more about the serious health concerns associated with RoundUp/glyphosate:
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Ari LeVaux
AlterNet
2014-12-05 20:58:00

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Dietary fat is not as bad as you think....

With the salad days of summer behind us, and dark, cold days approaching, fat is in season. The holidays, and the accompanying onslaught of rich feasts, present a timely opportunity to think about fat. I used to assume we ate more fat in winter because our bodies wanted to pack on some extra insulation against the cold, but the evidence in support of this seemingly obvious notion - that dietary fat leads to weight gain - is being challenged. Beyond the relationship between fat and health, it's beginning to look like other deeply held beliefs about fat might be wrong as well.

Long considered a threat to public health, some recent books, such as Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz, and before that Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes, have challenged the idea that dietary fat is the cause of obesity, heart disease and other associated ailments. Big Fat Surprisewas lauded by the Economist (among other media), which called it 2014's "most surprising diet book." Both Teicholz and Taubes argue that low-fat and non-fat diets, rather than fat, are behind the rise in obesity and related diseases. And Teicholz makes a strong case that fat, especially saturated fat, is actually good for you. As we speak, many government agencies, like USDA, which have long championed low-fat diets, are tip-toeing away from their anti-fat stances.

Along these lines, a study published this November found that "dietary and plasma saturated fat are not related," after a doubling of dietary saturated fat intake showed no significant increase in blood lipids. In other words, even if there is a link between blood lipids (aka fat) and heart disease, factors other than dietary intake of fat, such as carbohydrate intake, are what determine blood lipid levels. It should be noted that this study was funded, in part, by the Dairy Research Institute, the National Cattlemen's Association and the Egg Nutrition Center, all of which must have been pleased with the results. But other studies have shown similar results.

An absence of correlation with heart disease has also been shown with cholesterol intake: A comparison of cholesterol intake versus heart disease across various cultures, summarized in this short video, shows that Australian aborigines have the lowest level of cholesterol intake and the highest level of death from heart disease, while the Swiss have the highest level of cholesterol intake and the lowest rate of death from heart disease.
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Stephen Lendman
Activist Post
2014-12-09 20:37:00

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America's military is the world's greatest polluter. Especially in war theaters. During conflicts. Long after they end.

Notably in Iraq and Afghanistan. Toxic wastelands and then some. Large areas unsafe for human habitation.

Military operations generate hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic waste. Dangerous carcinogens.

Including depleted uranium, heavy metals, hazardous chemicals, plastics, solvents, asbestos, pesticides, petroleum fuels, fungi, and bacteria.

Poisoning air, water and soil. Affecting local populations and US forces. Causing virtually every imaginable health problem. Many longterm. Debilitating. Others potentially fatal.

Including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal ailments, kidney and liver diseases, respiratory, skin and other infections, asthma, immune system suppression, ulcers, birth defects, severe headaches, emotional distress, pulmonary problems, sexual dysfunction and chronic diarrhea.
Comment: U.S wars of aggression are not only killing and maiming innocent people, they are indiscriminately polluting/destroying the environment in which they hope to liberate! The military is not required to follow any environmental protection laws, they are exempt!
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Market Watch
2014-09-11 20:40:00

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Admits Agency's Data Manipulation and Concealment of Research Findings on Initial 2004 MMR Vaccine Study That Found a Strong Statistical Association Between the Timing of the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) Vaccine and Autism Incidence in African-American Boys

In response to the August 25, 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declaration defending the validity of the 2004 DeStefano et al. study, PhD biochemist Brian Hooker responded and outlines inconsistencies in the agency's research practices and position.

Central to Hooker's response is "the irrefutable fact that valid information about race -- for the entire study sample of 2,448 children -- was available and accessible in school records."

The CDC maintains that birth certificates, which were available for only a smaller portion of the children in the study, were necessary to extract race and other information. However, in the original data Hooker obtained from the CDC through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), race information was directly obtainable through school records, which were available for all children in the study.

In addition, Dr. William Thompson, a CDC scientist since 1998, also released a statement on August 27, 2014 that supports Dr. Hooker's assertion that the CDC withheld important data that significantly altered the study's outcome.

According to Dr. Thompson's statement, "Decisions were made regarding which findings to report after the data was collected." Thompson's conversations with Hooker confirmed that it was only after the CDC study co-authors observed results indicating a statistical association between MMR timing and autism among African-American boys, that they introduced the Georgia birth certificate criterion as a requirement for participation in the study. This had the effect of reducing the sample size by 41% and eliminating the statistical significance of the finding, which Hooker calls "a direct deviation from the agreed upon final study protocol -- a serious violation."
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Jane Collingwood
PsychCentral
2014-12-08 00:00:00

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Recent findings suggest that a very low-carbohydrate diet may boost memory in older adults with mild cognitive impairment.

Under fairly extreme low-carb conditions, the body starts to use compounds called ketones, made from the metabolism of fat or protein, as a source of fuel. This state, ketosis, occurs naturally and is quite different from ketoacidosis which is a serious problem caused by severe metabolic disturbances.

A new study tested a ketogenic diet in people with mild cognitive impairment, sometimes a precursor to dementia. For six weeks, half of the 23 participants ate a ketogenic diet, with five to 10 percent of calories coming from carbohydrates, while the others ate a high-carbohydrate diet, 50 percent of calories from carbohydrates.

Those on the ketogenic diet showed significant improvements in verbal memory compared to the other group. The higher their ketone levels, measured in urine, the better their verbal memory.
Comment: As Dr. Gabriela Segura states in The Ketogenic Diet - An Overview:
Our body organs and tissues work much better when they use ketones as a source of fuel, including the brain, heart and the core of our kidneys. Ketones are the ideal fuel for our bodies, unlike glucose - which is damaging, less stable, more excitatory and in fact shortens your life span.

Ketosis cleans our cells from proteins that act like "debris" and which contribute to aging by disrupting a proper functioning of the cell. It basically does this by what is known as autophagy which preserves the health of cells and tissues by replacing outdated and damaged cellular components with fresh ones. This prevents degenerative diseases, aging, cancer, and protects you against microbial infections. A ketogenic diet not only rejuvenates you, it also makes a person much less susceptible to viruses and bacterial infections.

What is considered nowadays a "normal diet" is actually an aberration based on the corruption of science which benefits Big Agra and Big Pharma. If we would go back in time to the days before the modern diet became normalized by corporative and agricultural interests, we will find that ketosis was the normal metabolic state. Today's human metabolic state is aberrant.
See also:
Is the Ketogenic Diet the cure for multiple diseases?

High-fat low-carb ketogenic diets beginning to earn mainstream respect

The art and science of nutritional ketosis Stephen Phinney
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Christina Sarich
Natural Society
2014-12-08 17:10:00

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Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in the 1940s, and it has been used as a poster child for 'safe' antibiotics ever since. Fleming's discovery heralded the 'age of antibiotics,' but new research from Harvard scientists reveals concerning information about antibiotics, confirming that theantibiotic age is coming to an end.

Penicillin has been called better than the 'big gun' antibiotics for treating pneumonia and other childhood diseases, but it that really true in a new age of antibiotic resistance created by their overuse? Even the corrupt FDA admits that antibiotic misuse and overuse is a problem.

According to the Harvard summary:
"One of the oldest and most widely used antibiotics, penicillin, attacks enzymes that build the bacterial cell wall. Researchers have now shown that penicillin and its variants also set in motion a toxic malfunctioning of the cell's wall-building machinery, dooming the cell to a futile cycle of building and then immediately destroying that wall."
This would be a simple microbial process that we could take for granted if it weren't for the resistance to penicillin and other antibiotics that has emerged in the last few decades. The fact is that scientists still don't really know how the original 'age of antibiotics' worked.
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Science of the Spirit
No new articles.
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High Strangeness
No new articles.
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Don't Panic! Lighten Up!
The Onion
2014-12-09 17:55:00

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New York - In an effort to modernize the ancient ethics pledge, officials from the American Medical Association announced Tuesday an update to the Hippocratic Oath that includes a vow of loyalty to national health insurance giant Blue Cross Blue Shield.

"This newly revised pledge requires doctors to uphold their allegiance to Blue Cross Blue Shield, to avoid pricey tests and referrals whenever possible, and to do no harm to any in-network patient so far as it remains sufficiently cost-effective," said AMA spokesperson Amanda Cummings, noting a further addition to the professional oath that obligates doctors to enforce all co-pays and coinsurance payments.

"The updated text also requires physicians to have a comprehensive working knowledge of their specific financial agreement with Blue Cross Blue Shield. And above all, a doctor must, at all times, avoid inflicting any injury or wrong upon the company's bottom line."

Officials added that the new pledge would no longer require doctors to swear by "Apollo the physician, and Aesculapius the surgeon, and likewise Hygeia and Panacea," but rather by Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Scott Serota.
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