Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Message from Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to youths in Europe and North America Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei Khamenei.ir 2015-01-25 07:34:00 In the name of God, the Beneficent the Merciful To the Youth in Europe and North America, The recent events in France and similar ones in some other Western countries have convinced me to directly talk to you about them. I am addressing you, [the youth], not because I overlook your parents, rather it is because the future of your nations and countries will be in your hands; and also I find that the sense of quest for truth is more vigorous and attentive in your hearts. I don't address your politicians and statesmen either in this writing because I believe that they have consciously separated the route of politics from the path of righteousness and truth. I would like to talk to you about Islam, particularly the image that is presented to you as Islam. Many attempts have been made over the past two decades, almost since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, to place this great religion in the seat of a horrifying enemy. The provocation of a feeling of horror and hatred and its utilization has unfortunately a long record in the political history of the West.

Comment: Strange, he doesn't sound so crazy and evil. Funny how the western media does not let our supposed enemies speak directly to westerners. One is reminded of the 2006 letter from Ahmadinejad to Bush.

Puppet Masters

Hillary Clinton mocks Putin, gladly accepts $500K in jewels from head-chopping Saudi dictator Riley Waggaman Russia Insider 2015-01-24 22:40:00 Hillary Clinton is a comedic genius. Just listen to her "impersonate" Vladimir Putin. Do you hear that husky, not-at-all-Russian voice? It's like she NSA wire-tapped into Putin's voice box and then temporarily share-wared his most inner thoughts. Amazing. When she loses the 2016 elections, she will surely have gainful employment as a children's entertainer. She'll need that job, too, after her husband is through with the legal bills associated with his most recent flying sex slave scandal. The Clintons - America's living treasures.

Obama will not meet US-bound Netanyahu, but Bibi will address US congress Andrew Beatty Yahoo! News 2015-01-23 23:13:00 US President Barack Obama has refused to meet Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who will make a controversial visit to the United States in early March as he fights for re-election.

Comment: While Obama may not want to deal with 'chickenshit' Netanyahu, House Speaker John Boehner invited Bibi -- and the Israeli leader accepted - without any involvement from the White House. In public, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest politely describes this as a "departure" from protocol. He also says the president will not meet with Netanyahu when he visits in early March, but has attributed that decision only to a desire not to influence Israel's upcoming elections. But in private, Obama's team is livid with the Israeli leader, according to Haaretz. "We thought we've seen everything," a source identified as a senior American official was quoted as saying. "But Bibi managed to surprise even us. There are things you simply don't do. "He spat in our face publicly and that's no way to behave. Netanyahu ought to remember that President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there will be a price." This time Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might have gone too far. It's bad enough that John Boehner invited him to address a joint session of Congress and lobby for more sanctions on Iran - and directly seek to undercut the president's top diplomatic initiative. Far worse is that Netanyahu accepted the invitation; it was a demonstration of ingratitude and hubris rarely seen before in the annals of the US-Israel bilateral relationship. It's politics as usual. Bibi, Boehner Team Up Against Obama But it is fair to say that, these days, there is a particularly close connection between the Republicans and the Likud. After all, Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson is one of Netanyahu's most avid supporters. And if the ties weren't obvious already, House Speaker John Boehner's announcement Tuesday that he's invited Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress on February 11 makes the link perfectly clear (PDF). He's giving Netanyahu the chance to bask in the full glow of the Washington spotlight just weeks before the Israeli elections on March 17. There are three takeaways from this ploy that are almost as stunning as they are obvious: First, Boehner's invitation is motivated as much by hostility to Obama and to his Iran policy as by a desire to reelect Netanyahu as prime minister.  ... That takes us to the second point: Boehner is using Netanyahu as much as Netanyahu is using the invitation. It's not at all clear, of course, where the idea of the invite originated. It doesn't strain the bounds of credulity to imagine it arose from a quiet suggestion by Israel or its prominent supporters here at home. But, in any case, Netanyahu can rally support for the Republican mantra that Iran is the region's dangerous bad boy, and he's virtually guaranteed a rousing reception among both parties. ... Third, it will help Netanyahu in the March elections. But how much? As my grandmother used to say about her chicken soup, "It probably couldn't hurt." The Israeli pundits hammered Netanyahu's visit to France in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre for what they believed to be a political exploitation of the Paris terrorist attacks. But that visit wasn't well orchestrated. This one will be very carefully stage managed, complete with media interviews. ... The Washington excursion is just an extra flourish. Any time an incumbent has an opportunity to use the powers and prestige of office to burnish his prime ministerial image, particularly that close to an election, so much the better. It won't be determinative. Israelis didn't ride in on a bale of hay yesterday; they're all too familiar with their politicians' politicking. But in a close election, being feted and supported by your country's key ally with a focus on critical security issues in an age of jihadi terror, well.....that's not a bad photo op. And if Bibi wins? We probably can expect to see more of him as both Democratic and Republican candidates for president of the United States fight for the title of Israel's best friend. This attitude towards other independent nations is not new to Israeli politicians or celebrities. The world's 'mightiest' and 'wealthiest' nation is no exception. See: Hollande didn't want Netanyahu in Paris for march - he came anyway "As above, so below": Miss Israel muscled her way into Miss Lebanon's selfie

European parliament report: 'cooperation with Russia is more preferable than confrontation' Jon Benton The Parliment 2015-01-22 22:22:00 Ioan Mircea Pașcu has presented a report to the European parliament arguing that in the long run cooperation with Russia is more preferable than confrontation. Parliament's rapporteur on the strategic situation in the Black Sea and the annexation of Crimea by Russia Ioan Mircea Pașcu has delivered his report to parliament's security and defence subcommittee. In his report, Pașcu has argued that the annexation of Crimea by Russia is, "completely changing the strategic situation in the Black Sea". He claimed that Russia's move into Ukraine was prompted by NATO's eastward expansion. Russia's annexation of Crimea and encroachment into eastern Ukraine has been met with widespread condemnation across the world. Its actions in the region have breached several international agreements to which it is party to, including the Helsinki accords, the Paris charter and the Budapest memorandum - the first two of which guarantee national sovereignty, while the latter protects Ukraine's independence and borders.

Comment: Of course no mention of the illegal coup in Ukraine by US/NATO/EU. Wonder what 'cooperation' really means?

Pentagon dispatches first batch of US forces to train Syrian rebels RT 2015-01-24 00:00:00 Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is sending the first wave of about 100 US forces to the Middle East in the coming days to train and equip Syrian opposition fighters battling Islamic State militants. The US troops, mostly special operations forces from the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), will begin arriving in countries outside Syria in the next few days, Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said on Friday.

Comment: Since 2011, the US has been training and arming Syrian rebels to topple the legitimate Syrian government. The Syrian rebels failed in their objective. Next, the US secretly supported ISIS, which declared war against Syria's Assad regime. The US deployed troops in Iraq under the pretext of "fighting ISIS". That too had limited success in eliminating Syrian government forces. Now, it is openly deploying troops to support Syrian rebels.

Sibel Edmonds on Gladio B and the Paris shootings Jim Corbett The Corbett Report 2015-01-21 18:55:00 Sibel Edmonds of BoilingFrogsPost.com joins us today to discuss a range of issues, from terror operations in Xinjiang to Gladio B in Belgium and her reaction to the Paris shooting. We also talk about her new podcast, Probable Cause, and what she is hoping to accomplish with it.

Comment: See also: Charlie Hebdo attacks bear all the markings of a false flag operation Charlie Hebdo: France's 9/11 Charlie Hebdo: The hidden agenda (video)

Military-clad English-speakers caught on camera in Mariupol shelling aftermath RT 2015-01-25 16:10:00 Armed people in uniform speaking fluent English with no accent have been spotted in Mariupol in the aftermath of the rocket hit, fuelling allegations that foreign private military contractors are serving among Ukrainian troops. The port city in eastern Ukraine, under Kiev's control, saw a surge of violence on Saturday, when several rockets hit a residential area in the east of the city, reportedly killing 30 civilians. Numerous videos from the scene showed destruction in the aftermath of the attack, for which local militia and Ukrainian troops blamed each other. But among footage shot in Mariupol, there are some videos showing armed men in military uniform, who speak English fluently. One video uploaded on YouTube is apparently raw footage of a local news channel MSN (Mariupol News Service). One episode shows a man passing resolutely by the camera.

The threat of Boko Haram and NATO's obliteration of Libya Ajamu Baraka The Black Agenda Report 2015-01-25 15:38:00 This article was first published by Black Agenda Report on May 14, 2014 and by Global Research on May 16, 2014. You can't understand the threat posed to Nigeria by Boko Haram, or the ghastly destruction of Syria over the past three years, outside the context of "the vicious NATO obliteration of the state of Libya." One huge crime begets many consequences, including the death of the U.S. ambassador in Benghazi. The Left should be outraged at Obama policies - in North Africa, in Syria, and in backing neo-fascists in Ukraine. Seemingly out of nowhere, Boko Haram burst into the awareness of people around the world as a shadowy group of Islamists with the ability to carry out audacious attacks that paralyzed the army of the most populous country in Africa. People now want to know the group's origins, where they came from, why they are kidnapping girls and how they became such a powerful threat. All important questions - but questions that cannot be answered by just looking at the internal politics of Nigeria, as important as those are, because Boko Haram is incomprehensible when decontextualized from the destabilization, death and destruction unleashed across Africa from the Sahel into West Africa as a result of one historic event - the vicious NATO obliteration of the state of Libya.

Comment: Placing any hope within this diseased system is a waste. Real hope rests in the choices we make on a daily basis - do we honor the truth of the world that we live in, or do we live like sheeple?

SOTT Exclusive: Goldman Sachs couldn't do God's work without City of London, the Western oligarchy's 'European Headquarters' Niall Bradley Sott.net 2015-01-25 17:56:00 Noam Chomsky once wrote, regarding censorship, that while you will not find the truth on the front pages, it's very often in plain sight on the business pages. The following gem in yesterday'sGuardian isn't quite 'splainin' things up front, but with geopolitics and Western oligarchs' 'balance-of-power' strategy in mind, it's not difficult to see what 'God's emissary' was getting at: Britain must remain in Europe, says Goldman Sachs president The Guardian - Sat, 24 Jan 2015 The head of one of the world's leading investment banks has said Britain should remain in the EU, describing London as "a great financial capital of the world". Goldman Sachs' president and chief operating officer Gary Cohn said it is the best thing "for all of us" that the financial services industry stays in London. "All of us", of course, refers to other Western oligarchs like Cohn. Mr Cohn told the BBC: "I think for the UK it's imperative to keep the financial services industry in London."We all want to stay in London - it is our European headquarters. i.e., London is the Western oligarchy's base of operations for ruling over Europe.

Propaganda Alert! Davos elites warned about 'catastrophic' cyberattacks Phys.org 2015-01-24 10:51:00 Attacks on power plants, telecommunications and financial systems, even turning all of Los Angeles' traffic lights green: Davos elites were warned Saturday of the terrifying possibilities of modern cyber terrorism. Eugene Kaspersky, who heads the Kaspersky Lab security group, said the possibilities of individuals being hacked would only increase in future as more devices, such as "smart" televisions, are hooked up to the Internet. "What you call the Internet of Things, I call the Internet of Threats," he told the assembled global political and business movers-and-shakers. "The worst of the worst scenarios is an attack on a big infrastructure, a power plant. If there's no power, the rest of the world doesn't work," Kaspersky cautioned. Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said that criminals could bring about chaos in a much lower-level way. "You can wreak havoc in all kinds of ways," said Ilves, who added that it was the duty of governments to give citizens powerful encryption tools to protect their data. He told an anecdote about traffic authorities in Los Angeles who went on strike and also set all the lights to red, sparking gridlock. "But what if someone turned all the lights green?" he asked. In the wake of the cyberhack on Sony late last year, cybersecurity has been a hot button topicat the four-day World Economic Forum in the swanky Swiss ski resort. Comment: See: Was Sony hack an inside job Experts call FBI findings into question andSOTT Exclusive N Korea offers US joint investigation into SONY cyberattack US counters with sanctions and blacklisting The conclusion, in Ilves's words: "Basically nothing is safe."

Comment: The rhetoric on cyber attacks has been steadily increasing, with even larger cyber security exercises being held. Could a cyber false-flag attack be imminent? As well as "extremist groups such as Islamic State" already being linked to "modern cyber terrorism"; recently Admiral Mike Rogers, the director of the U.S. National Security Agency warned: China and "probably one or two" other countries have the ability to invade and possibly shut down computer systems of U.S. power utilities, aviation networks and financial companies

Flashback: Fear, Inc. The roots of the Islamophobia network in America Wajahat Ali, Eli Clifton, Matthew Duss, Lee Fang, Scott Keyes, and Faiz Shakir Center for American Progress 2011-08-26 07:57:00 On July 22, a man planted a bomb in an Oslo government building that killed eight people. A few hours after the explosion, he shot and killed 68 people, mostly teenagers, at a Labor Party youth camp on Norway's Utoya Island. By midday, pundits were speculating as to who had perpetrated the greatest massacre in Norwegian history since World War II. Numerous mainstream media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic, speculated about an Al Qaeda connection and a "jihadist" motivation behind the attacks. But by the next morning it was clear that the attacker was a 32-year-old, white, blond-haired and blue-eyed Norwegian named Anders Breivik. He was not a Muslim, but rather a self-described Christian conservative. According to his attorney, Breivik claimed responsibility for his self-described "gruesome but necessary" actions. On July 26, Breivik told the court that violence was "necessary" to save Europe from Marxism and "Muslimization." In his 1,500-page manifesto, which meticulously details his attack methods and aims to inspire others to extremist violence, Breivik vows "brutal and breathtaking operations which will result in casualties" to fight the alleged "ongoing Islamic Colonization of Europe." Breivik's manifesto contains numerous footnotes and in-text citations to American bloggers and pundits, quoting them as experts on Islam's "war against the West." This small group of anti-Muslim organizations and individuals in our nation is obscure to most Americans but wields great influence in shaping the national and international political debate. Their names are heralded within communities that are actively organizing against Islam and targeting Muslims in the United States.

Comment: Who benefits from the demonization of Islam in the west? Looks like the 1%, the war profiteers, and Israel. After 9/11 they worked on the United States. Now they are working on Western Europe.

The world the Neocons have wrought Peter Koenig Information Clearing House 2015-01-23 01:00:00 "We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive." ~Albert Einstein January 23, 2015 "ICH" - Imagine - a bunch of French, CIA and Mossad special forces, one of them or a combination of the three, attack a racist, Moslem-insulting publisher in Paris and a kosher supermarket at another end of town - killing altogether 17 people, notwithstanding the 'suicide' of the French police chief in charge of investigating the atrocity. A million and a half people in Paris take to the streets - about 6 million throughout Europe - all screaming or carrying posters with a maddening, inexplicable "Je Suis Charlie" - depicting an utterly brainwashed mindset, brainwashed for decades with Washington directed mind control. They do not know, do not want to know, that the Charlie massacre was yet another staged event, another false flag that will eventually give their masters green light to intensify their 'wars on terror' around the globe. Terrorists are mostly Muslims; so is their dictum. Before the massacre, the powers that be identified three Muslims as the perpetrators of the crime to come. Soon after the Charlie attack, they sent killer squads to massacre them, before anybody could question them. The fight on terror - don't leave witnesses behind. The millions of demonstrators' war cry is literally asking the western armies, led by NATO to turn- and speed up their brutal killing machine in the Middle East - to exterminate the Moslem population.The western public has been told and is constantly being told by the western powers dominated main stream media that Muslims are at the heart of all evil; when in fact quite the contrary is true. The West under neoliberal leadership (sic) has become a horrifying merciless killing machine. That's Paris Charlie revisited and in a nutshell. - That's our neoliberal 'civilization' - with a purpose.False flag written all over the walls of Charlie Hebdo's blasphemous infrastructure. Waging even more savage war on the 1.6 billion Muslims. Killing 17 people by Empire and its stooges, will allow Empire and its stooges to kill more millions, perhaps tens of millions, to exterminate this 'evil' Muslim sect of 'terrorists'. A 'terrorist' is anybody who doesn't bend to the empire's boot. That doctrine has been impregnated in western minds ever since another false flag killed on 9/11 about 3,000 people in New York, allowing the beginning of the eternal war - wars, one succeeding the next - the criminal Bush-Blair legacy of the 21st Century.

Comment: From closed-door meetings to think tanks - from think tanks to Plans and statements drawn up on paper - from Plans on paper to the promise of money, power, and position - from the elevated statuses of these individuals who see only domination and the unending hunger for more - and this hunger; coupled with the resources to inflict chaos on a massive scale, has brought us to this. We cannot stop them. They have built the trains, armed the soldiers, hypnotized the masses, and are pushing ever, relentlessly, forward. But we can pass the word on: There is an alien virus that has infected the body of human beings on this planet. And they are called psychopaths.

Donetsk accuses Kiev of false flag in Mariupol, orders to suppress Kiev military presence RT 2015-01-24 00:03:00 The Donetsk militia has been ordered to suppress Kiev's military positions to the east of Mariupol, but is not going to storm the city, said Donetsk Republic head, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, accusing Kiev of a false flag operation and shifting the blame. "Until now, we weren't conducting any operations outside Mariupol. We're saving strength," Zakharchenko was cited by RIA-Novosti news agency as saying. "But now, after Kiev decided to shift the blame on us for its erroneous fire from Grad multiple rocket launchers at residential areas [in Mariupol], I gave an order to suppress the positions of the Ukrainian military, stationed east of Mariupol," he added.

Comment: If the Ukrainian Armed Forces are responsible for this attack, it was a bad decision. What better way to turn the population against you and in favor of Donetsk? But then, it seems Mariupol would rather be part of Donetsk regardless.

The biggest threat to world peace: US wars in 150 countries FARS News Agency 2015-01-23 02:01:00 The so-called exceptional United States, a beacon of liberty and justice in the world, is busy carrying out clandestine wars in more than half the nations on the planet and it's official! According to Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bockholt, a public affairs officer with US Special Operations Command, American forces are conducting black ops and shadow wars in 133 countries - roughly 70% of the nations on the planet. This capped a three-year span in which the country's forces were active in more than 150 countries, carrying out missions ranging from kill and capture raids to terrorist training exercises, wars and coups - with unforeseen blowbacks and catastrophic consequences. Just for the record, some 405,000 people have been killed as a result of the US-led war in Iraq. Some 200,000 people have also been killed in Syria where America's "moderate" terrorists are pushing for regime change in Damascus. The US is also a major threat to its own people: It is the world's largest incarcerator of people, with some 2.3 million in prison - one million of whom are African Americans.

Comment: There's no question that the psychopaths running the U.S. are the biggest threat to world peace...along side the rabid psychopaths in Israel!

Pay attention to the extraordinarily suspicious death of Argentina's Alberto Nisman Miguel Henrymakow.com 2015-01-21 21:08:00 Argentine Federal Prosecutor Alberto Nisman, left was found shot to death Sunday. Israelis believehe was murdered because he was going to testify Monday about Argentine President Cristina Kirchner's coverup of a Iranian role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish Community Center that killed 85 and injured hundreds. Miguel, a resident of Buenos Aires challenges this view.  With this last service for Israel, Nisman helped destroy Cristina Kirchner's government. Her government was too Pro-Palestinian, Pro Iran, and pro Russia and China. Sound like France's recognition of the Palestinians and Charlie Hebdo?

Eurasian power in the post-western world (assuming we're not all incinerated first) James Holbrooks Activist Post 2015-01-23 22:33:00 "Western Europe is undergoing a wave of Islamization, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. It is awash in this, and we would like to ensure that the State of Israel will have varied markets around the world." Speaking ahead of a meeting with the prime minister of Japan on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu stressed Israel's need to reduce its dependence on European trade. The arrival of the delegation marked the first time since 2006 that a Japanese prime minister has visited Israel, and highlights the extent to which ties have been strengthening between the two countries since Netanyahu was welcomed in Japan in May of last year.

Comment: Times ahead are certainly confusing, as expressed by this author especially in the unexpected twists in logic towards the end of the article. So far the BRICS are lining their ducks in a row and out maneuvering the West, embarrassingly so! In a scenario where the BRICS nations forgive, forget and bring orphaned Israel into the fold, it is still a fact that Israel is run by psychopaths and will always destroy the protector of its ASSets. BRICS should look to the West and take note. It is not hard to see the Zionist seduction of Western morals and ideals, the destruction of political objectivity, the anti-semite tantrum for effect while holding the world hostage. There is a lesson in truth and gullibility here for all. Unfortunately, it will be learned (or not) too late for Israel's current allies, not soon enough by the BRICS, and never by Israel.

Society's Child

Accused Vanderbilt football player blames gang rape on university's culture of 'sexual freedom' David Ferguson Raw Story 2015-01-24 00:00:00 A former Vanderbilt University football player is blaming peer pressure and the school's culture of "sexual freedom" for an incident in which he and several other men reportedly raped a woman's unconscious body, urinated on her and posted photos and video of the event on social media. According to Gawker, Cory Batey does not deny that he took part in the dorm room assault on the unconscious woman, but his lawyers told Reuters that their client is not to blame, saying the assault was caused by "a campus culture of sexual freedom, promiscuity and excessive alcohol consumption." The victim testified in court on Thursday that she did not know what had happened to her until she was shown video of the football players attacking her.

Comment: Here is a map of colleges that are under sexual assault investigations.

San Diego cop punished for objection to racist cartoon Arturo Garcia Raw Story 2015-01-23 00:00:00 A San Diego, California police officer is suing his supervisors for allegedly punishing him after he objected to the use of a racist cartoon in training sessions for supervisors, KGTV-TV reported. Sgt. Arthur Scott said in his lawsuit against the city that he was transferred out of his division against his will after he complained to assistant police chief Todd Jarvis about the cartoon - a crude depiction of the department's first Black officer - being shown to sergeants and lieutenants during a mandatory week-long event he attended last August. The suit also said that Scott was threatened with disciplinary action and passed over for a promotion.

Comment: The San Diego PD needs to upgrade their lingo: it's "freedom of speech" and "satire"! "Je suis SDPD!"

Greece's Syriza party officially wins parliamentary elections RT 2015-01-25 21:50:00 Greece's radical leftist party, Syriza, is leading the country's parliamentary election, claiming 36.5 percent of the vote, and leaving the ruling New Democracy party in second place with 29.22 percent, according to the first official results. The votes have so far been counted at 25 percent of polling stations across the country, the Interior Ministry of Greece said. The exit-polls earlier revealed that Syriza, has won between 35.5 and 39.5 percent of the vote in the national parliamentary election, leaving the New Democracy party more than 10 per cent behind. The New Democracy party, led by Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, has received between 23 and 27 percent of the vote.

Sick bag alert: Clint Eastwood claims 'American Sniper' is 'the biggest antiwar statement' Scott Kaufman Raw Story 2015-01-25 19:50:00 In the wake of antiwar criticism from the left and pro-war praise from right about his film American Sniper, director Clint Eastwood told those gathered at Saturday's Producers Guild Award Nominees Breakfast that his film makes "the biggest antiwar statement any film can." Eastwood insisted that the film was an "antiwar statement" because it depicted "what [war] does to the family and the people who have to go back to into civilian life like Chris Kyle did." "One of my favorite war movies that I've been involved with is Letters from Iwo Jima," he continued. "And that was about family, about being taken away from life, being sent someplace. In World War II, everybody just sort of went home and got over it. Now there is some effort to help people through it. In Chris Kyle's case, no good deed went unpunished."

Comment: No mention of the dead and suffering victims of these wars. Disgusting.

'Wellfare not Warfare': Protest in London against £100bn nuke replacement plan RT 2015-01-24 00:00:00 Thousands of CND campaigners wrapped the UK Ministry of Defence in a two-mile long 'peace scarf' to protest the imminent overhaul of the sea-based Trident nuclear defense system. Protesters carried placards reading "Books Not Bombs" and "Climate Not Trident", as they loudly chanted: "Wrap up Trident, ban the bomb now!"

France: Je suis hypocrite? Brandon Turbeville Activist Post 2015-01-22 17:40:00 In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, social media was filled with predictable tag lines, hashtags, and memes. It was the result of a general public who had briefly tuned in to current events or the fact that there was a country outside of their own expressing "sympathy and solidarity" with the victims of the terrorist attack. All this proved, however, was that the culture creation machine was well at work at producing feel good messages and that a simple Tweet was quite enough to make the majority of people contented that they had done their patriotic duty. Critical thinking? Not necessary. Within hours of the attacks, social media was flooded with "I stand with Free Speech" and "Je suis Charlie." Americans, unaware of anything that happens outside of their own borders (or within) were happy to retweet and share familiar sounding memes while the French were happy to indulge themselves in the fantasy that they are a free people.

Comment: See also: France's arrest of Dieudonné shows the sham of its free speech celebrations Paris: March of the hypocrites The moral hysteria and blindness of Je suis charlie

Secret History

Asteroid that killed the dinosaurs boiled Earth's atmosphere Claire Belcher, Rory Hadden The conversation 2015-01-22 00:00:00 The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs set off an intense heat wave that briefly boiled the Earth's atmosphere - but it didn't burn off all the plants. Humanity has not been unlucky enough to observe at first hand the effects of a large impact, so to investigate whether a massive asteroid would spark off a global wildfire we had to turn to the laboratory. We have modelled, for the first time, the heat generated by the impact and what it meant for the planet's plants. Our research is published in the Journal of the Geological Society. This all happened 65m years ago at the end of the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs still roamed the earth. Suddenly, between 60 and 80% of all living species became extinct. Until the 1980s, this catastrophic loss of life was a mystery, but then scientists found a clue - traces of the element iridium in rocks of this age. Iridium generally falls to Earth with extraterrestrial objects. This suggested a massive asteroid collided with the planet and that this could be responsible for the mass extinction.

Comment: Is history repeating? Fireball sightings are on rise. The Chelyabinsk meteor explosion should serve as a reminder of what humanity has coming for it.

Science & Technology

Mystery galactic bubble traveling at breakneck speed Nola Taylor Redd Discovery News 2015-01-23 15:00:00 Giant bubbles of gas that erupted from the core of the Milky Way galaxy millions of years ago are expanding out into space at mind-blowing speeds, according to new observations that may help reveal how the strange balloon-like lobes formed. Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have clocked the speed of gas bubbles, known as Fermi bubbles, at a whopping 2 million mph (3.2 million km/h). The giant structures now extend 30,000 light-years above and below the plane of the Milky Way. "A few million years ago, there was a very energetic event at the galactic center, and we're seeing a remnant," lead author Andrew Fox, of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, said at a press conference this month. Fox presented the new Hubble observations at the 225th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, revealing the age of the Fermi bubbles.

Gergely Bogányi's classical piano makeover Kristin Hohenadel Slate 2015-01-22 11:42:00 So many of life's familiar objects are constantly redesigned according to the whims of fashion and the latest trends. But the curves of a classical music instrument seem almost sacred, inviting design changes that tend to be of the nip-and-tuck variety, preserving familiar forms and ageless appeal. Even Liberace's piano, after all, is really only a tarted-up version of a classical shape. But this week Hungarian pianist Gergely Bogányi unveiled a radical redesign of the grand piano, a project he initiated in order to make it sound the way he heard it in his head. Produced by Louis Renner, a world-renowned German company that specializes in making piano actions and hammerheads, Bogányi and a team of designers and engineers spent more than a decade rethinking the piano's 18,000 parts from the inside out. Bogányi writes on the piano's promotional website that he is following in the footsteps of the great Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt, who worked with 19th-century piano manufactures to improve the instrument's sound to match the expectations he had in his mind. The new piano, Bogányi says, "is born out of deep love, and humble respect for classical piano tradition, built upon a lifetime desire to improve upon it with fresh innovation in sound and design."  Bogányi's piano incorporates a weather-resistant composite soundboard within a modified traditional iron-and-wood piano frame that creates a stable, clear sound in all climates and allows the instrument to stay in tune longer than a traditional piano. Bogányi says he was inspired by traveling the world with his piano tuner, who was constantly trying to create a consistent, quality sound in every piano. "It was always so difficult with each concert hall having such different conditions that affected the piano," Bogányi says. "Dryness, dust, humidity were always a factor. Could we find a way to keep this quality consistent?" It's difficult to get a sense of how the redesign affects sound quality by watching the brief promotional video below, in which the human playing the piano is strangely absent.

Comment: You may like or not the shape of the new piano, but regardless, the sound is amazing! There are several excerpts to choose from.

Earth Changes

Rare Arctic gyrfalcon found in Wells Harbor, Maine Bob Duchesne Bangor Daily News 2015-01-23 21:51:00 We interrupt this column for a special announcement: "A gyrfalcon has appeared in Wells Harbor!" The gyrfalcon is the largest falcon in the world, capable of taking down a Canada goose. It preys principally on ptarmigan, a chicken-like bird of the tundra, but it is so powerful that it is known to dine on other formidable raptors of the north, such as short-eared owls and rough-legged hawks. It breeds in barren arctic regions around the world, but occasionally wanders southward in winter.It seldom stays long in one place. My small group was on the prowl for snowy owls when we visited southern Maine last weekend. Several unusual birds also were known to be in the area, including a king eider in Ogunquit. The forecast was ideal, so down Interstate 95 we went. As we pulled into the public parking lot next to the harbor in Wells, a large hawk rested on the nearest tree - in fact, the only tree on the lot.

Comment: See also:Rare Arctic gyrfalcon seen in Madbury, New Hampshire

Hundreds of dead seabirds found in north Iceland Zoë Robert icelandreview.com 2015-01-25 20:34:00 Hundreds of dead guillemots were recently found by farmer Gunnar Óli Hákonarsson at Sandur in Aðaldalur, North Iceland. The birds, which were found on a beach east of the mouth of Skjálfandafljót river, are believed to have died from starvation due to bad weather in December. Foxes and ravens have been scavenging on the bird carcasses. Böðvar Þórisson at the Natural Institute of the West Fjords told mbl.is this week that a large number of seabirds were found dead in Ísafjörður earlier this month. An increase in seagulls, which are more aggressive in their feeding habits, may be to blame, he said. According to Róbert Á. Stefánsson at the Natural Institute of West Iceland, even seagulls have been hungry this winter.

Comment: See also: "Massive chick deaths" in Iceland's seabird colonies Unexplainable seabird deaths puzzle scientists in Iceland

Hitting the nail on the head: Global warming believers are like a hysterical 'cult': MIT scientist compares 'climate alarmists' to religious fanatics Ellie Zolfagharifard Daily Mail, UK 2015-01-22 19:19:00 Climate change alarmists have been likened to a fanatical 'cult' by an MIT professor of meteorology. Dr Richard Lindzen told a Massachusetts-based radio station that people who believe in global warming are becoming more hysterical in their arguments. 'As with any cult, once the mythology of the cult begins falling apart, instead of saying, oh, we were wrong, they get more and more fanatical,' he said.

New England threatened by 'historic' snowstorm with possible significant snow accumulations Alastair Jamieson nbcnews.com 2015-01-25 17:47:00 New England is braced for "paralyzing, crippling blizzard-like conditions" as the second East Coast winter storm in as many days threatens to dump up to two feet of snow in some areas, forecasters said. Boston and New York City will see high winds and possibly "significant" snow accumulations as an Alberta clipper moves through the Ohio Valley Sunday and off the Mid-Atlantic coast Monday before intensifying over Long Island and New England through Wednesday. "This is going to be a big one, historic," Weather Channel coordinating meteorologist Tom Moore said. "There could be paralyzing, crippling blizzard conditions. They're going to be talking about this one for a while." Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington D.C. were already set for a messy Monday morning commute with up to three inches of snow expected overnight Sunday.

Coyote attacks mother and baby before killing 2 dogs in Ladera Ranch, California inquisitr.com 2015-01-14 16:32:00 A mother, with her baby, had to fend off an aggressive coyote in attack mode on Monday, in the Southern California community of Ladera Ranch. The coyote finally moved on when it apparently realized it wasn't going to get the baby, but continued on in a bold rampage through the suburban neighborhood to kill two dogs. The woman and her adorable little 10-month-old daughter were enjoying some outside playtime on the grass late Monday morning, just a short distance from their home, when the threatening coyote decided to join them. "I was playing with (my daughter) out on the grass, and out of the bushes came a coyote," the mother explained to KTLA 5 News, from the safe confines of her home.

Six skiers killed after massive slide of snow and ice on mountain in French Alps Peter Allen Daily Mirror, UK 2015-01-25 16:04:00 The bodies of four men and two women were found in the Queyras valley in the Haute-Alpes Six experienced skiers have been killed in one of the deadliest avalanches ever in the French Alps. The bodies of the four men and two women, aged between 50 and 70, were found in the Queyras valley, in the Haute-Alpes department, today. The party had set off on Saturday the range straddling France and Italy, but triggered the massive slide of snow and ice within a few hours. Pierre Besnard, the Haute-Alpes prefect, said 'the bodies of three of the skiers were found overnight Saturday to Sunday', while the rest were recovered this morning.

Dead pilot whale washed ashore at Fairy Meadow, Australia Brianna Parkins Illawarra Mercury 2015-01-25 14:53:00 A five metre long whale carcass has been found washed ashore between Fairy Meadow and Towradgi beaches this morning. The female adult pilot whale died at sea from natural causes according to the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA). ''The whale was showing clear signs of illness, it was underweight and excessive lice was found in its mouth,'' said ORRCA spokeswoman Shona Lorigan.

Fire in the Sky

No new articles.

Health & Wellness

Retaliation against a horrible boss prevents employees feeling stressed, study claims Sophie Freeman Daily Mail, UK 2015-01-20 19:53:00 It might sound like a risky strategy but standing up to a hostile boss can actually boost your work life, according to a study. Employees felt less like victims when they retaliated against their bad bosses and as a result experienced less psychological distress, more job satisfaction and more commitment to their employer, the researchers from Ohio State University found. And most surprisingly of all, giving their boss a taste of their own medicine didn't appear to damage the person's career prospects. Lead author of the study, Professor Bennett Tepper, said: 'Before we did this study, I thought there would be no upside to employees who retaliated against their bosses but that's not what we found. 'The best situation is certainly when there is no hostility. But if your boss is hostile, there appears to be benefits to reciprocating. 'Employees felt better about themselves because they didn't just sit back and take the abuse.'

Thinking about obesity and diabetes Dr. Malcolm Kendrick drmalcolmkendrick.org 2015-01-23 06:34:00 Outside of heart disease and statins, another area I have been studying for many years is diabetes. Not type I diabetes (caused by destruction of beta-cells in the pancreas and a lack of insulin), but type II diabetes. Type II diabetes has nothing to do with a lack of insulin, it is generally considered to be caused by insulin resistance i.e. enough insulin is produced, but there is 'resistance' to its effects. This resistance firstly drives up the insulin levels. However, as it worsens, the raised insulin levels are no longer sufficient, so the blood sugar levels rise anyway. At first the fasting sugar levels may be normal, but the response to a sugar 'test' shows an abnormally high level about an hour later. This is why a glucose tolerance test (GTT) used to be the way of diagnosing early stage type II diabetes. This has been superseded by the HbA1c test. This test, essentially, looks at the amount of glucose that has stuck to your red blood cells over the last month. Which gives an idea of what the 'average' sugar level has been over a longer time period. It is a better measure. Anyway, without getting too bogged down in technical details, the model that is used to explain type II diabetes is very simple. You eat too much You become obese As you become more and more obese you become more and more insulin resistant Your insulin level rises to overcome this resistance At some point the resistance become too much You develop raised blood sugar levels aka type II diabetes I call this the 'blowing up a balloon' model of diabetes. As the balloon expands, you need to blow harder to get more air in. This model (or variations thereof) is almost universally agreed, by almost everyone. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that I do not agree with it. Yes, there is not the slightest doubt that diabetes and obesity are related. In fact, there is no doubt that obesity; insulin resistance and type II diabetes are closely related.

The most common nutrition myths ever told Jeff Roberts collective-evolution.com 2015-01-11 00:46:00 With the advent of the internet came a superabundance of available information regarding personal health. However, with this deluge of available information also came a hefty downfall - a massive amount of misguided and unreliable information. Out of all fields of discussion, it's safe to say that no other topics are more dangerous to have misinformation spread about than diet and nutrition. If a nutrition myth is continually repeated, it can soon become a culturally accepted truth, something that is dangerous to the general public. So for that matter, this article will address some of the most common and misguided nutrition 'facts' out there today.

Saying 'No' to Vaccines? What to expect from your doctor Missy Fluegge vactruth.com 2015-01-22 00:13:00 As more parents have become aware of the risks and side effects of vaccines, many vaccination rates have been declining. Pharmaceutical companies and doctors alike are concerned about this awakening, so they have created training materials to help vaccine providers handle what one manual refers to as "vaccine-hesitant parents." When you take your child to their health care provider for a visit, you may have a list of questions to ask them about vaccines. You might be wondering about the risk of autism, the side effects of a vaccine, or the damaging effect dozens of vaccines will have on your child's immune system. And, your child's doctor will have answers: the ones they are trained to give you. Organizations such as the World Health Organization and the National Academy of Pediatrics, two names you might trust but should not, have created brief manuals for doctors, nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, and even pharmacists, teaching them how to successfully deal with parents who question or refuse vaccines. [1] [2]

Comment: Additional examples of 'Training materials to help vaccine providers handle what one manual refers to as "vaccine-hesitant parents." ' UNICEF Surveils, Defames health sites over vaccines A finer order of control: Monitoring system to globally track 'false social media claims on dangers of vaccines'

Pasadena woman resists measles vaccine -- health officials want her quarantined Brian Shilhavy Health Impact News 2015-01-24 23:20:00 ABC 7 News in Los Angeles is reporting that federal health officials want to force a 26-year-old grad student, whose younger sister was one of the confirmed cases of measles caught recently at Disneyland, into a quarantine. Ylsa Tellez does not have the measles, and is not sick. So why do health officials want to force her into quarantine? Because she is not vaccinated against the measles. She could reportedly avoid the quarantine if she gets the vaccine. "(They were) saying I need to get vaccinated and I need to be quarantined, otherwise I'm going to go to jail or something, or I'm going to get a misdemeanor," said Ylsa. Ylsa says she refuses to be a prisoner in her own home despite the possible quarantine order. Ylsa's mother is also defending her daughter. "It's not nice when my daughter is threatened like this because she's not even sick," said Myrna Tellez. (Source.)

Comment: There may come a time when forced quarantine will be considered a luxury. There have already been instances of forced chemotherapy. Forced vaccination may be next.

Science of the Spirit

The power of vulnerability Dr Brené Brown YouTube 2013-07-04 00:00:00 We associate vulnerability with emotions we want to avoid such as fear, shame, and uncertainty. Yet we too often lose sight of the fact that vulnerability is also the birthplace of joy, belonging, creativity, authenticity, and love. Vulnerability is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.

Comment: Also check out Benefits of hugging, Isolation and addiction, Men and woman process emotions differently.

High Strangeness

United monsters of America: Infographic shows the location of strange beasts Ellie Zolfagharifard Daily Mail, UK 2015-01-23 18:59:00 From the Jersey Devil to the Mothman, the US is filled with fictional creatures that have come to life in the nation's imagination. Now one artist has decided to draw these cryptids by hand, revealing the beasts that are feared the most in each state. 'The map is a bit of a declaration of optimism and wonderment as to what might be possible on planet Earth,' artist Mark Adams told Dailymail.com.

Don't Panic! Lighten Up!

Sarah Palin reverts to incoherent babblings during teleprompter freeze David Martosko, Us Political Editor In Des Moines, Iowa and Kieran Corcoran Daily Mail 2015-01-25 01:27:00 Former Alaska governor and tea party darling gave confusing address at the Iowa Freedom Summit, rambling after her teleprompter froze The Republicans' 2008 VP nominee had previously said she was 'seriously interested' in a 2016 presidential bid, but sounded not-ready-for-prime-time Head-scratching lines included: 'The man can only ride you when your back is bent' Called President Obama an 'overgrown little boy, angrily shouted 'Screw the left in Hollywood!' and yelled that jihadis should 'get the hell out!' Republican firebrand Sarah Palin is rarely at a loss for words but became unmoored on Saturday in Iowa after her teleprompter froze and left her without portions of her prepared speech.

Comment: Facepalm!