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Jason Martin
Sott.net 2015-01-14 15:44:00
If anyone doubts that the attacks on Charlie Hebdo were personal, they are deluding themselves. This hate crime has rightly shocked the entire world, and it sounds a wake up call that the people of the world need constant vigilance in the face of terrorism. | |
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Laura Knight-Jadczyk
Sott.net 2015-01-14 12:00:00
I've often wanted to get my hands on the German newspapers of the time before and immediately after Hitler came to power so as to try to understand what was really going on in Germany at that moment. I wondered if we could draw any lessons from it for our present time. I've asked many people if they have ever seen any such articles reproduced anywhere, or have they heard of them, and I've always drawn a blank on that question. After all, if we suppose that our present time has any similarity to the Third Reich of Hitler, it would be nice to have some concrete material that was written in real time, at the time, on which to base comparisons. As it happens, a guy named Ron Rosenbaum was curious about it too but for a different reason. He interviewed a Holocaust survivor who mentioned an article that he remembered from the time, and Rosenbaum went looking for it. He found a lot more than he bargained for. He found Fritz Gerlich and the Munich Post. Rosenbaum calls Fritz and his ilk the "First Explainers." | |
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Joe Quinn
Sott.net 2015-01-14 01:58:00
While the West has been waging a war on terrorism over the past 13 years, the ordinary Muslim people of Middle Eastern countries have born the brunt of the devastating effects of that war. The war on terror has involved the invasion, occupation and bombing of only Middle Eastern nations. The countries in question - Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Palestine - had no significant standing armies to counter any offensive, and the Western attacks were, by definition, attacks on the civilians of those nations, some of whom took up arms in a futile attempt to resist. In Iraq alone, 2.7 million Iraqi Muslims, most of them civilians, have been slaughtered as a direct or indirect result of the 'war on terror'.2 | |
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Harrison Koehli
Sott.net 2015-01-11 17:30:00
In the last few days since the mass shootings at the offices of the Parisian satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, and a Paris Kosher supermarket which left 17 dead, France has seen massive demonstrations in support of the victims and their families, a catchy but misplaced meme of solidarity with the slogan "Je suis Charlie", and a string of anti-Muslim hate speech and attacks. The head of the French National Police is warning of "further attacks", the government is pushing a hard-line stance in the war on terror, and the country is on red alert. Some are calling it France's 9/11. That could be closer to the truth than they intend to convey by making that particular connection, assuming anyone knows the real culprits behind the 9/11 attacks. To see why, first let's take a look at the Paris attack, the suspects, and what the media has been telling us about them. | |
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Dieudonne
YT 2015-01-12 15:04:00
Little more needs to be said. Watch. | |
Comment: See also this video of BBC reporter Tim Wilcox pointing out to a Jewish woman in Paris yesterday that the Palestinians suffer at the hands of the Israelis, to which she responds, "we cannot do an amalgam", which basically means that when discussing Jewish suffering or terrorist attacks, context is not allowed.
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Glenn Greenwald
The Intercept 2015-01-10 03:12:00
Defending free speech and free press rights, which typically means defending the right to disseminate the very ideas society finds most repellent, has been one of my principal passions for the last 20 years: previously as a lawyer and now as a journalist. So I consider it positive when large numbers of people loudly invoke this principle, as has been happening over the last 48 hours in response to the horrific attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Usually, defending free speech rights is much more of a lonely task. For instance, the day before the Paris murders, I wrote an article about multiple cases where Muslims are being prosecuted and even imprisoned by western governments for their online political speech - assaults that have provoked relatively little protest, including from those free speech champions who have been so vocal this week. | |
Comment: Greenwald absolutely nails it. Good job, Glenn! The hypocrisy is just astounding, and points to a very ugly underbelly beneath all this talk of 'freedom of speech'. The intent is not freedom, it is demonization. See also: The Saker: I am NOT Charlie
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Corey Oakley
Red Flag 2015-01-11 10:42:00
It was Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight who tipped me over the edge. To be fair, he wasn't wholly responsible. If it wasn't for all the lunacy that preceded him, I probably would have dismissed his cartoon as just another Herald Sun atrocity, more a piece of Murdoch-madness to be mocked rather than trigger for outrage. But context is everything. And after days of sanctimonious blather about freedom of speech and the Enlightenment values of Western civilisation, his was one pencil-warfare cartoon too many. The cartoon in question depicts two men - masked and armed Arab terrorists (is there any other kind of Arab?) - with a hail of bomb-like objects raining down on their heads. Only the bombs aren't bombs. They are pens, pencils and quills. Get it? In the face of a medieval ideology that only understands the language of the gun, the West - the heroic, Enlightenment-inspired West - responds by reaffirming its commitment to resist barbarism with the weapons of ideas and freedom of expression. It is a stirring narrative repeated ad nauseam in newspapers across the globe. They have been filled with depictions of broken pencils re-sharpened to fight another day, or editorials declaring that we will defeat terrorism by our refusal to stop mocking Islam. It is well past time to call bullshit. Knight's cartoon made the point exceptionally clear, but every image that invoked the idea that Western culture could and would defend itself from Islamist extremism by waging a battle of ideas demonstrated the same historical and political amnesia. Reality could not be more at odds with this ludicrous narrative. For the last decade and a half the United States, backed to varying degrees by the governments of other Western countries, has rained violence and destruction on the Arab and Muslim world with a ferocity that has few parallels in the history of modern warfare. | |
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Asghar Bukhari
Medium.com 2015-01-07 23:00:00
Most white people don't like to admit it, but those cartoons upheld their prejudice, their racism, their political supremacy, and cut it how you will - images like that upheld a political order built on discrimination. In less than an hour of the dreadful shooting of 12 people at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, the politicians had already started to lie to their own public. John Kerry, US Secretary of State, declared that, "freedom of expression is not able to be killed by this kind of act of terror." The media lapped it up - the attack was now spun as an attack on 'Freedom of Speech'. That cherished value that the West holds so dear. The British Government was so in love with it, that they were passing laws that demanded nursery school teachers spy on Muslim toddlers because they had too much of it. Toddlers were 'free' to speak their mind as long as it agreed with UK Government policy. Still at least it was not as draconian as Western Governments routine harassment of those they thought spoke a bit too freely. Ask Moazzam Beg, the freed Guantanamo Bay Detainee and human rights campaigner, who was falsely accused of terrorism and imprisoned for months, after flying back from Syria with damning evidence of Britain's complicity in torture in the Muslim world. | |
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Sara Malm
Daily Mail 2015-01-13 23:34:00
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the West of 'playing games with the Islamic world', warning fellow Muslims to be 'aware'. Erdogan said Muslims are 'paying the price' for the attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish kosher supermarket in Paris last week. | |
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IMEMC
2015-01-11 22:48:00
Local sources said that the Israeli assailant lives in one of the illegal colonial outposts in the Old City, and that he started walking provocatively in the market, while carrying his government-issued automatic rifle. He then started shouting and cursing at the Palestinian merchants and residents before assaulting a young man, identified as Anwar Mona, 24 years of age. The settler also opened fire at the Palestinians in the area, causing no injuries, while Israeli soldiers arrived at the scene, provided protection to the Israeli assailant, and kidnapped Anwar. The soldiers also installed sudden roadblocks, on Saturday evening, blocking most Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem, especially Bab al-Amoud (Damascus Gate), Bab al-Asbat (Gate of the Tribes) and Bab al-Khalil (Hebron Gate), and prevented the Palestinian from entering or leaving the area for more than 30 minutes. The soldiers also stopped and interrogated dozens of Palestinians, especially young men, and inspected their ID cards. | |
Comment: Israel's illegal settlers are growing more bold and dangerously deranged. Why wouldn't they? They are supported by the pathological religious right, protected at every turn by the police, the Israeli judiciary, and failing all that, by the military and international collusion.
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Sputnik
2015-01-14 22:44:00
The European Union may rethink its sanctions against Russia if the latter abides by ceasefire agreements and abides by the terms of its gas supply deal. The EU is considering the possibility of scaling down its sanctions against Russia and resuming previously-suspended discussions with the country on a broad range of issues, depending on how the situation in Ukraine develops, according to a European Union discussion paper cited by the Wall Street Journal. The paper was drafted ahead of the upcoming meeting of the EU member-states' foreign ministers in Brussels, and hasn't been disseminated yet. | |
Comment: Some EU countries are already calling to ease Russian sanctions. So the EU is upset that Russia has sent numerous aid convoys and requiring Ukraine to pay it's gas bill? EU must also be upset that Russia cancelled the South Stream pipeline. Seems like the EU is not in a position to bargain but desperately needs the sanctions against Russia lifted to help their flagging economies. But how to lift sanctions without EU loosing face or incurring the wrath of the US?
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Binoy Kampmark
Global Research 2015-01-14 22:04:00
This week, British Prime Minister, David Cameron, decided to throw a confused cat among even more confused pigeons. He made comments suggesting that end-to-end encryption should be a thing of the past, a necessary measure to combat that ever woeful virus many deem terrorism. "Are we going to allow a means of communication between people which even in extremis, with a signed warrant from the Home Secretary personally, that we cannot read?" Naturally for him, the answer was no. "The first duty of any government is to keep our country and our people safe." The statements prompted some commentators to wonder what had gotten into Cameron. Certainly, he is moving the gear into electoral mode, with a general poll set for May. And there were the Paris killings, with various decrepit responses from politicians to out bid each other in terms of who could look tough on terrorism. Cameron, evidently, felt he could outdo all of them with a spike of hawkishness. For all of that, Twitter went into apoplectic overdrive, drumming with WebCameronClangers or #CameronCryptoBollox (TechCrunch, Jan 13). The free speech imperative is aligned with the notions of privacy - these are the Siamese twins of political and social practice in the democratic realm. Central to this is the messaging phenomenon in which encryption is king, be it such services as ChatSecure, Cryptocat, Signal/Redphone, Silent Phone and Silent Text, to name but a few star performers outlined by the EFF (TechCrunch, Jan 13). The British Prime Minister is showing a rather scant knowledge of their workings, not to mention the way technology plays out. Then again, he may simply be playing the cheapest of populist cards. | |
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Dmitry Orlov
Club Orlov 2015-01-14 06:15:00
Recent events, such as the overthrow of the government in Ukraine, the secession of Crimea and its decision to join the Russian Federation, the subsequent military campaign against civilians in Eastern Ukraine, western sanctions against Russia, and, most recently, the attack on the ruble, have caused a certain phase transition to occur within Russian society, which, I believe, is very poorly, if at all, understood in the west. This lack of understanding puts Europe at a significant disadvantage in being able to negotiate an end to this crisis. Whereas prior to these events the Russians were rather content to consider themselves "just another European country," they have now remembered that they are a distinct civilization, with different civilizational roots (Byzantium rather than Rome) - one that has been subject to concerted western efforts to destroy it once or twice a century, be it by Sweden, Poland, France, Germany, or some combination of the above. This has conditioned the Russian character in a specific set of ways which, if not adequately understood, is likely to lead to disaster for Europe and the world. Lest you think that Byzantium is some minor cultural influence on Russia, it is, in fact, rather key. Byzantine cultural influences, which came along with Orthodox Christianity, first through Crimea (the birthplace of Christianity in Russia), then through the Russian capital Kiev (the same Kiev that is now the capital of Ukraine), allowed Russia to leapfrog across a millennium or so of cultural development. Such influences include the opaque and ponderously bureaucratic nature of Russian governance, which the westerners, who love transparency (if only in others) find so unnerving, along with many other things. Russians sometimes like to call Moscow the Third Rome - third after Rome itself and Constantinople - and this is not an entirely empty claim. But this is not to say that Russian civilization is derivative; yes, it has managed to absorb the entire classical heritage, viewed through a distinctly eastern lens, but its vast northern environment has transformed that heritage into something radically different. | |
Comment: Russia is sitting in the catbird seat at this point in time. With the deals struck with China and other BRICS members, they and China have the western economic system by the throat. It is a mark of her patience that they haven't pulled the plug yet, and have even extended a lifeline to the EU. Who knows how long that patience will last? If the West continues to treat this proud and storied country as a second-class entity, it could be very short.
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Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge 2015-01-13 19:21:00
Having unveiled his non-boots-on-the-ground strategy in September, President Obama's "promise" was quickly proved fragile when General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, indicated to the House of Representatives armed services committee that the strength of ISIS relative to the Iraqi army may be such that he would recommend abandoning Obama's oft-repeated pledge against returning US ground troops to combat in Iraq. It seems another promise is about to be broken as Bloomberg reports Senator John Cornyn said President Obama told congressional leaders during meeting today at White House he would seek authorization for military force on Islamic State. Boehner's office, in separate statement after meeting, said Republicans would work with him to build support. As Bloomberg reports, Obama to Seek Authorization for Military Force. President Obama told congressional leaders during meeting today at White House he would seek authorization for actions on Islamic State, Republican Sen. John Cornyn tells reporters. | |
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The Charlie Hebdo affair has many of the characteristics of a false flag operation. The attack on the cartoonists' office was a disciplined professional attack of the kind associated with highly trained special forces; yet the suspects who were later corralled and killed seemed bumbling and unprofessional. It is like two different sets of people. Usually Muslim terrorists are prepared to die in the attack; yet the two professionals who hit Charlie Hebdo were determined to escape and succeeded, an amazing feat. Their identity was allegedly established by the claim that they conveniently left for the authorities their ID in the getaway car.Such a mistake is inconsistent with the professionalism of the attack and reminds me of the undamaged passport found miraculously among the ruins of the two WTC towers that served to establish the identity of the alleged 9/11 hijackers. It is a plausible inference that the ID left behind in the getaway car was the ID of the two Kouachi brothers, convenient patsies, later killed by police, and from whom we will never hear anything, and not the ID of the professionals who attacked Charlie Hebdo. An important fact that supports this inference is the report that the third suspect in the attack, Hamyd Mourad, the alleged driver of the getaway car, when seeing his name circulating on social media as a suspect realized the danger he was in and quickly turned himself into the police for protection against being murdered by security forces as a terrorist. Hamyd Mourad says he has an iron-clad alibi. If so, this makes him the despoiler of a false flag attack. Authorities will have to say that despite being wrong about Mourad, they were right about the Kouachi brothers. Alternatively, Mourad could be coerced or tortured into some sort of confession that supports the official story. | |
Comment: We can only agree with Paul Craig Roberts' sentiments above. The public needs to start looking at history more objectively and realize that the world is rife with false flag operations used to control public opinion. It's standard operating procedure, yet most people will deny it, simply because they do not want to believe their beloved leaders are capable of such action. It's time to get over that illusion, and start looking at the world as it is. No one is going to save you, it's up to you to liberate yourselves.
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Marin Katusa
Casey Research 2015-01-14 19:24:00
Unlike western leaders he is capable of engaging in dialogue with those he has no affinity for. One of the most striking things about the Colder War - as I explore in my new book of the same name - has been the contrast between the peevish tone of the West's leaders compared to the more grown-up and statesmanlike approach that Putin is taking in international affairs. Western leaders and their unquestioning media propagandists appear to believe that diplomatic relations are some kind of reward for good behavior. But it's actually more important to establish a constructive dialogue with your enemies or rivals than your friends, because that's where you need to find common ground. Indeed, it's been the basis for diplomacy since time immemorial. Reassuringly, despite having been the target of the Ukraine crisis rather than the instigator, Putin still sees the West as a potential partner, not an enemy. Nor does, he says, Russia have any interest in building an empire of its own. In theory, if Putin is sincere, there should be plenty of room for cooperation, especially in the fight against terrorism. | |
Comment: Indeed, Putin proved again and again that he is a man of his words and that he is an example of true leadership. Of course, psychopaths in power don't like that at all.
Putin signs new military doctrine that names NATO expansion as greatest threat to Russia Putin: Russia won't get dragged into geopolitical intrigues and conflicts SOTT EXCLUSIVE: State of the Planet - Vladimir Putin's 11th address to Russia's Federal Assembly | |
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Chris Floyd
Empire Burlesque 2015-01-12 13:46:00
In keeping with the concept of "unmournable bodies" limned by Teju Cole in the New Yorker (more on this below), news arrives today of yet another clutch of unimportant, unmournable deaths at the hands of extremist violence. From McClatchy: A U.S.-led coalition airstrike killed at least 50 Syrian civilians late last month when it targeted a headquarters of Islamic State extremists in northern Syria [the town of Al Bab, near the Turkish border], according to an eyewitness and a Syrian opposition human rights organization. ... The Syrian Network for Human Rights, an independent opposition group that tracks casualties in Syria, said it has documented the deaths of at least 40 civilians in airstrikes in the months between the start of U.S. bombing in Syria Sept. 23 through the Dec. 28 strike on Al Bab. The deaths include 13 people killed in Idlib province on the first day of the strikes. Other deaths include 23 civilians killed in the eastern province of Deir el Zour, two in Raqqa province and two more in Idlib province. The issue of civilian deaths in U.S. strikes is a critical one as the United States hopes to win support from average Syrians for its campaign against the Islamic State. The deaths are seen by U.S.-allied moderate rebel commanders as one reason support for their movement has eroded in northern Syria while support for radical forces such as al Qaida's Nusra Front and the Islamic State has gained. Rebel commanders say they have intelligence that could avoid civilian casualties, but that U.S. officials refuse to coordinate with them. McClatchy located two sources who confirmed a high civilian death toll from the strike. One witness, an activist in Al Bab, gave the death toll as 61 civilian prisoners and 13 Islamic State guards. The Syrian Network for Human Rights estimated the death toll at 80, and said 25 of those were Islamic State Guards and another 55 were either civilians or imprisoned fightersfrom non-Islamic State rebel groups. Either number would make the Al Bab strike the single worst case of civilian deaths since the U.S. began bombing targets in Syria. | |
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RT
2015-01-14 21:41:00
German leaders joined the Muslim community for a rally in Berlin to commemorate the victims of the Paris attacks and to promote "religious tolerance" amid ongoing mass rallies against immigration policies and the growing "Islamization" of the West. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck joined the rally, which promoted tolerance and religious freedom. The event, which was organized by the country's Muslim community and Turkish groups, took place near Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on Tuesday evening. The slogan of the vigil was "Let's be there for each other. Terror: not in our name!" | |
Comment: As Germany's leader, Merkel is in a good position to say and do something meaningful in response to the CH attacks and the anti-Islamic response: to make sure Germans learn the lesson Germany should have learned almost a hundred years ago. It's doubtful she will, but somebodyneeds to do it. Otherwise Europe may suffer the same fate. See: The Mystic vs. Hitler, or Fritz Gerlich's Spectacles
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Ulrich Rippert
World Socialist Web Site 2015-01-14 21:31:00
Governments throughout Europe have responded to the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in France by moving quickly to push through a raft of anti-democratic measures. They are exploiting the shock and confusion generated by the event in Paris to take actions that have long been prepared, but that have so far encountered resistance. Immediately after the attacks, the police presence at airports, in front of embassies, government buildings, newspaper offices and public places was reinforced by thousands of security forces in European capitals and major cities. Heavily armed and camouflaged military troops have been deployed throughout Paris and elsewhere in France, including at the Eiffel Tower and in all public places. Parts of the city resemble a war zone. On Monday, the Ministry of Defence in Paris announced the deployment of 10,000 troops to maintain peace and order and protect public buildings. In addition, the government has provided 4,700 police officers and gendarmes to guard Jewish schools and synagogues that are considered particularly vulnerable. After a cabinet meeting on Monday, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian spoke of a permanent threat. Prime Minister Manuel Valls promised more money for the secret services and more effective surveillance. At a security summit last weekend in Brussels, the European powers agreed that a European-wide passenger data system must be adopted as soon as possible. Airlines will be obliged to retain the records of their passengers for up to five years. US General Michael Hayden, the former director of the CIA and chief of the NSA, also took part in the meeting. Hayden has been responsible for implementing and expanding much of the illegal and unconstitutional spying programs developed in the United States. | |
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RT
2015-01-14 21:28:00
Pyongyang is ready to suspend nuclear tests if the US cancels annual military drills with South Korea, according to North Korea's deputy ambassador to the UN, who once again reiterated the North's offer. "We the government of the DPRK propose to the US to temporarily suspend the joint military exercises which it conducts every year in South Korea. And if this is the case, we will respond by temporarily suspending nuclear tests which the US is concerned about," An Myong Hun said in New York, as quoted by Inner City Press. The deputy ambassador was also quick to blame Washington for the "division of the nation," calling US foreign policy "hostile" towards the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), as every year the US conducts "dangerous military exercises" near the North Korean border. | |
Comment: Perhaps this latest move on North Korea's part has something to do with this?
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Allison Deger
MondoWeiss 2015-01-13 21:07:00
Congress has passed provisions that immediately end funding to the Palestinian Authority in the event of a unity government with Hamas, or a joint government where Hamas exercises "undue influence." Though, there is one exception. If a supposed unity government recognizes Israel as a Jewish state, the aid will continue. The limitation to the Palestinian Authority's assistance became law on December 16, 2014 as a section in the U.S.'s annual budget on bilateral support. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2015requires a series of redlines to be met on support to the Palestinian government. Notably, no funds "may be obligated for salaries of personnel of the Palestinian Authority located in Gaza," and no funds can go to a "power-sharing government of which Hamas is a member, or that results from an agreement with Hamas and over which Hamas exercises undue influence." | |
Comment: Democracy - where the people choose their leaders - is only legitimate if the U.S. likes those leaders. If they don't, the U.S. is free to do whatever they want in order to get their way (i.e., Israel's way).
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Various agencies
2015-01-14 15:50:00
"We told you so, France." That appears to be the message implied in a provocative tweet courtesy of the Israeli embassy in Ireland, which reposted a photograph on its Twitter account on Wednesday featuring Mona Lisa decked out in Islamic garb while holding what appears to be a rocket. The apparent implied message is that the recent Paris attacks amount to French society and culture having been overtaken by Muslim extremism. The image was originally posted by the Israeli embassy in Ireland in July last year along with three other images depicting iconic figures of other European nations as being under threat of a takeover by Islamic radicals. At the time the images were quickly removed after a popular backlash against what was labeled "crass propaganda". | |
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RT
2015-01-14 01:49:00
The Department of Homeland Security secretary has announced increased vigilance regarding national security, as well as stepped-up random searches of travelers and carry-on luggage in the wake of the recent terror attacks in Paris. In the announcement made on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the Federal Protective Services - which provides security for US government buildings - will be expanding its reach to major cities and will vary shifts and patrols from location to location. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will also conduct random searches of passengers and carry-on luggage at US airports. "We have no specific, credible intelligence of an attack of the kind in Paris last week being planned by terrorist organizations in this country," said Johnson in a released statement. Johnson said the US would continue to share information with the French and other allies about terrorist threats, suspicious individuals, and foreign fighters. Last week's shooting at French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo followed a hostage situation in Sydney in December and a gunman's attack on the Canadian parliament in October - all of which are causing Homeland Security to increase protection. "[The] recent attacks in Paris, Ottawa, Sydney, and elsewhere, along with the recent public calls by terrorist organizations for attacks on Western objectives, including aircraft, military personnel, and government installations and civilian personnel," Johnson said. | |
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John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute 2015-01-14 02:58:00
If 2014 was the year of militarized police, armored tanks, and stop-and-frisk searches, 2015 may well be the year of technologized police, surveillance blimps and scan-and-frisk searches. Just as we witnessed neighborhood cops being transformed into soldier cops, we're about to see them shapeshift once again, this time into robocops, complete with robotic exoskeletons, super-vision contact lenses, computer-linked visors, and mind-reading helmets. Similarly, just as military equipment created for the battlefield has been deployed on American soil against American citizens, we're about to see military technology employed here at home in a manner sure to annihilate what's left of our privacy and Fourth Amendment rights. For instance, with the flick of a switch (and often without your even being aware of the interference), police can now shut down your cell phone, scan your body for "suspicious" items as you walk down the street, test the air in your car for alcohol vapors as you drive down the street, identify you at a glance and run a background check on you for outstanding warrants, piggyback on your surveillance devices to listen in on your conversations and "see" what you see on your private cameras, and track your car's movements via a GPS-enabled dart. That doesn't even begin to scrape the surface of what's coming down the pike, with law enforcement and military agencies boasting technologies so advanced as to render everything up until now mere child's play. Once these technologies, which used to belong exclusively to the realm of futuristic sci-fi films, have been unleashed on an unsuspecting American public, it will completely change the face of American policing and, in the process, transform the landscape of what we used to call our freedoms. It doesn't even matter that these technologies can be put to beneficial uses. As we've learned the hard way, once the government gets involved, it's only a matter of time before the harm outweighs the benefits. | |
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Phillip Weiss
Mondo Weiss 2015-01-13 21:55:00
Last month over 50 alumni of the Israel Arts and Science Academy called on students at the prestige school to refuse to serve in the Israeli armed forces. The story has gotten wide coverage but very little in the U.S. till now. Here are some developments. First, Moriel Rothman-Zecker was published on the New York Times op-ed page - "Why I Won't Serve Israel" - where he points out that the ethos of service in Israel is being undermined on many sides, not just by the IASA letter. A tiny fraction of the 1.7 million Palestinians inside Israel serve in the army; hundreds of thousands of religious Jews don't serve; and thousands of Jews are in a "gray area" of getting out of service. He sees this community as contending with Israel's power structure: Of course, Rothman-Zecker also describes the monolithic social pressure to serve: "Refusal to serve is portrayed by politicians and pundits - many of whom began their careers through service in elite units - as treacherous and marginal." On that note, here is Ronnie Barkan, one of the signers of the IASA alumni letter, going on Israel television and speaking of massacres in Gaza and keeping his cool during an onslaught of hostile questions. Barkan shows real bravery as the hosts blow up at him for saying that Israel is not a democracy. Those hosts are Orly and Guy on Channel 10, who I am told are on the left side of the Israeli mainstream spectrum. "Your call for refusal is illegal. Your call harms the state... I will not accept harming the state," Miriam Peretz, who lost two sons in Israeli actions, catechizes Barkan. | |
Comment: Kudos to these courageous people for refusing to support genocide.
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Cassandra Rules
Albuquerque Police Department's five months without a shooting has come to an end as an Albuquerque police officer remains in critical condition after being shot by a fellow officer on Friday.Free Thought Project 2015-01-11 22:20:00 The unnamed officer was shot while undercover during a drug operation to bust two men for $60 worth of meth. Another officer sustained minor injuries, but information on how has not been released.
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Comment: Cops are ever increasingly shooting people with little or no provocation including their own.
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Travis Gettys
Raw Story 2015-01-14 21:17:00
A father and son say they were turned away from a "Muslim-free" Arkansas shooting range because they are brown-skinned. The duo, who are not Muslim but are South Asian, said they were questioned about their religion and background while filling out paperwork at the Gun Cave in Hot Springs, reported theArkansas Times. The men told a woman at the counter they were from Hot Springs, and she informed them the business was "a Muslim-free shooting range," and if they didn't like that rule they should leave. The younger man told the newspaper that they were not Muslim, but his father asked about the ban and they discussed the rule. "Then, all of a sudden, I don't know what went wrong, but she stopped us from filling out the paperwork and said, 'I don't think you guys should be here,'" the younger man said. "She told us to leave or she'd call the cops on us." | |
Comment: Just another example proving that people who think the U.S. lives in a post-racial world is nonsense.
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RT
2015-01-13 21:19:00
More than 50 anti-Muslim incidents have happened across France - including shootings - in less than a week since the deadly attack on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, according to the nation's Muslim community, which is calling for heightened security. Among the 54 anti-Muslim incidents, there have been 21 reports of shootings and grenade throwing at Islamic buildings, as well as 33 cases of threats and insults, said Abdallah Zekri, president of the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF). CCIF is a monitoring body within the Central Council of Muslims. The figures were provided by the Interior Ministry, Zekri said, and do not include Paris, its suburbs, or the Poitiers mosque fire on Sunday. | |
Comment: After an attack like that of last week's, it is just as important, if not more, for the French government and police to be on the lookout for anti-Muslim attacks. With such a public wound, there will be many French citizens who wish to take out their urge for vengeance on people who are completely innocent of any crime. France's Muslim population should not be collectively blamed for the crimes of a pathological few. It is now crunch time to see how much France actually cares for ALL its citizens.
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Zoe Shenton
The Mirror 2015-01-14 21:00:00
A mother has revealed the shocking and depraved abuse she was subjected to by her husband when she was fast asleep. Sarah Tetley said she only discovered the extent of what her husband Charlie was doing when he was arrested and she watched the sick videos police discovered on his computer. It wasn't until November 2013, two years after the abuse began, when Sarah, 26, started to suspect something was horribly wrong and raised the alarm. "I woke up in the morning in that sort of drowsy just waking up stage and realised that he was molesting me in my sleep," she told ITV's This Morning. | |
Comment: This is totally psychopathic. It's completely evil to rape anyone, but to do it to your wife and mother of your child, while she is asleep? It's unthinkable, and this man should be in prison for the rest of his life for what he's done.
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A man who responded to an online ad for a 30-minute massage forced a woman to have sex with him after he lied and told her he was a police officer, NYPD said. It happened Oct. 26, 2014, at the Linden Motor Inn at 714 South Conduit Blvd. Police released surveillance video in the case Wednesday as they asked for help finding the attacker. The man was at the motel responding to a Craigslist ad for a half-hour massage, police said. When his massage was finished, the man identified himself as a police officer to the 25-year-old victim and ordered her to have sex with him against her will. He displayed a gold and blue "FDA" badge, police said. After sexually assaulting her, the man stole the woman's cellphone and an undetermined amount of money before fleeing the scene in a black C-class Mercedez Benz. The perpetrator is described as a black male last seen wearing a black t-shirt with yellow lettering, light blue ripped jeans and black sneakers. Anyone who recognizes him is urged to call NYPD's anonymous Crime Stoppers tipline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). | |
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Aurin Squire
The New Republic 2015-01-07 05:40:00
For the second consecutive week, New York City police have virtually ceased writing tickets and arresting people for many nonviolent crimes, on the order of a 90 percent drop from a year earlier. After perceived slights by Mayor Bill de Blasio, civil protests against police brutality, and the murder of two officers by a deranged gunman, the New York Police Department is fighting back by not doing its job. Or rather, police appear to be using their resentment as an organizing incentive to skip certain non-essential cop duties. The police seem to be trying to teach a lesson to a city they feel doesn't adequately appreciate them.For New Yorkers who value fair policing, though, the slowdown is an occasion to celebrate. Many of the offenses police have tacitly declared legal are considered quality-of-life (QOL) infractions. Those follow the broken window strategy, a policing philosophy that has been widely discredited since its heyday in Rudy Giuliani's mayoralty. QOL meets small transgressions with arrests and fines - a way, it's thought, to nip more substantial crimes in the bud. Perhaps becauseQOL policing grants cops near-unlimited discretion in determining whom to sanction, its penalties fall disproportionately on people of color. Between 2001 and 2013, the New York Daily News found, more than 80 percent of the 7.3 million people penalized for these infractions were black or Latino. The vast majority of African Americans and Latinos in all walks of life feel like they're treated unfairly by law enforcement, and consider police discrimination the most endemic form of societal mistreatment.It's unfair, brutal, racist, and financially burdensome, and it often follows such small transgressions as jaywalking, skipping $2.50 subway fares or merely irritating police. To many of us from these communities, the past two weeks have amounted to a vacation from fear, surveillance and punishment. Maybe this is what it feels like to not be prejudged and seen as suspicious law breakers. Maybe this is a small taste of what it feels like to be white. | |
Comment: This pleasant interlude appears to be ending. NYC just can't seen to do without the revenue of its 'back door' taxes. A notice was posted in all precincts with an eye to the ending the slowdown. No time off until ticketing was back to acceptable levels. (Though that was never said, of course.)
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Dave Flessner
Times Free Press 2015-01-12 17:20:00
A leak of radioactive water from a tank at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant released tritium into the environment this week, but a TVA spokesman said Saturday the leak was quickly contained and presented no public risk. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which operates the plant near Athens, Ala., said a drain line leaked between 100 and 200 gallons of water containing tritium levels above acceptable EPA drinking water standards. The leak was fixed within three hours of when it was discovered and was largely contained within the plant area, according to TVA. In an incident report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, TVA said it has increased monitoring of water around the plant but has not detected any elevated tritium levels outside the plant. "In the unlikely event any of the tritiated water enters either the intake or outflow channels, it would be significantly diluted in the 2 million gallon-per-minute flowrate (of the Tennessee River)" TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said. "Based on all of these factors, there is no danger to the public or plant workers." | |
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Jeremy Pelzer
Cleveland.com 2015-01-13 20:10:00
A Columbus police spokeswoman defended officers' use of pepper spray and tear gas against Ohio State fans celebrating Monday's football championship win, saying the least amount of force possible was used against the crowds. Police and SWAT team members used the substances to disperse thousands of boisterous revelers who, following the Buckeyes' 42-20 win over Oregon, gathered along North High Street, Ohio Stadium, and around Mirror Lake, a campus pond. A number of fans -- as well as a Northeast Ohio Media Group photographer -- said the crowd-control agents caused them to vomit or suffer from burning eyes and skin. Columbus Police Department spokeswoman Denise Alex-Bouzounis said in an interview Tuesday that the use of pepper spray and tear gas was necessary to keep people safe and clear streets so fire trucks could be deployed to dozens of small fires being set around the campus area. | |
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Jon Terbush
TheWeek.com 2015-01-13 10:50:00
Ohio State football fans on Monday celebrated the university's championship game win by going berserk in the streets of Columbus. The local police, in turn, responded by indiscriminately blasting the crowd with pepper spray and tear gas, as this video from The Columbus Dispatch show. | |
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| Secret History |
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Tanya Lewis
Live Science 2015-01-12 06:52:00
A prehistoric marine-reptile fossil found in Scotland's Isle of Skye represents a new species that lived about 170 million years ago, a new study finds. The specimen was a member of a group of extinct marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs. Researchers say the creature helps to fill in a gap in the fossil record during the Middle Jurassic period, which lasted from about 176 million to 161 million years ago. "It's one of a select few specimens of that age in the world," said Stephen Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh and co-author of the study, published today (Jan. 12) in the Scottish Journal of Geology. Not only that, but "this is the first time we have something distinctly Scottish," Brusatte added. Ichthyosaurs were predatory reptiles that ruled the oceans during the time of the dinosaurs, before large sharks and whales came on the scene. The first ichthyosaurs ever discovered were found in England, and some of the same kinds of rocks where fossils of these animals were found exist in Scotland, Brusatte told Live Science. Researchers suspected the fossils were there, and bits and pieces had been found, but no ichthyosaur fossils were reported in Scotland until now. The specimens in the study were found by an amateur fossil collector named Brian Shawcross. Instead of taking the specimen home, Shawcross donated it to a museum, Brusatte said. The new species - Dearcmhara shawcrossi - is named after him, as well as a Gaelic word for "marine lizard" (dearcmhara). Brusatte and his colleagues found that the fossils contained the arm bone and vertebrae of a new ichthyosaur genus and species. The marine creature was likely about 14 feet (4.3 meters) long, or about the size of a motorboat, Brusatte said. | |
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| Science & Technology |
Information can never be stored perfectly. Whether on a CD, a hard disk drive, or a piece of papyrus, technological imperfections create noise that limits the preservation of information over time. But even if you had a perfect storage medium with zero imperfections, there would still be fundamental limits placed on information storage due to the laws of physics that govern the evolution of the universe ever since the Big Bang. But what exactly these fundamental limits are is still unclear. In a new paper published in the New Journal of Physics, Stefano Mancini and Roberto Pierini at the University of Camerino and INFN in Italy, along with Mark M. Wilde at Louisiana State University, have investigated these fundamental limits to preserving information on a literally cosmic scale. Specifically, they wanted to know how well a given amount of information can be preserved from the beginning to the end of time, with limitations only from physical laws and not technological imperfections in the specific storage medium. "The motivation that has led us to consider this goal, though it may appear unrealistic, was thediscovery of ultimate limitations in information processing," Mancini told Phys.org. "Above all, we want to try to understand if and how spacetime dynamics affects information storage." | |
Comment: For more on information theory and consciousness, and how they may apply to everyday life, read: Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection. Also:
A meta law to rule them all - can-information theory lead the way to a real theory of everything SOTT Talk Radio Information theory or why your brain is not your mind | |
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EarthSky Org
It'll be closer than any known asteroid this large until 2027. At its closest, telescopes and binoculars will show it moving rapidly in front of the stars.2015-01-14 04:09:00
An asteroid, called 2004 BL86 by astronomers, will sweep safely past Earth on January 26, 2015.The flyby is notable because 2004 BL86 will be the closest of any known space rock this large until asteroid 1999 AN10 flies past Earth in 2027. This asteroid is estimated from its reflected brightness to be about 500 meters in diameter (about a third of a mile, or 0.5 km). At the time of its closest approach - January 26, 2015 at 16:20 UTC, or 10:20 a.m. CST - the asteroid will be approximately 745,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from Earth, or about three times the moon's distance. Don Yeomans, who on January 9 retired as manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program Office after 16 years in the position, said:
The asteroid is expected to be observable to amateur astronomers with small telescopes and strong binoculars beginning in the evening of January 26 and into the morning of January 27. Its peak brightness will be about magnitude 8.8, meaning it will not be bright enough to view with the unaided eye. The asteroid will be at its most visible over Europe, Africa, and North and South America. Australians and east Asians will have to look a few hours earlier, when the asteroid isn't as bright. The asteroid will be moving about four degrees every hour through the course of the night. That's fast, faster than the moon moves (about half a degree per hour). The asteroid will be whizzing past in front of the constellations Hydra, Cancer, and Leo. | |
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Arvind Suresh
Genetic Literacy Project 2015-01-13 22:55:00
"Our Viral Inheritance May Make Us Smarter" cries the headline of a news story reporting on a new research study from Lund University in Sweden. "Junk DNA' from million-year-old viruses actually plays vital role in human intelligence: study" claims another, about the same study. The headlines are provocative indeed, suggesting viral gene fragments that are embedded in our genome are linked to intelligence. But is that what the study really claims? Not really, as it turns out. Before we go into the study, let me cover a little bit of the background. Mammals and viruses share a long and storied complex genetic history together. As viruses infected mammals again and again over millions of years, they transferred many thousands of viral gene fragments into the genome. Research stemming from the human genome project showed that there are at least 100,000 known viral fragments that are part of the human genome which makes up more than 8 percent of our genetic material. While these sequences were initially thought to be non-functional remnants of infection, we now know that many viral genes and proteins have evolved to become part of normalcellular functions and even serve to regulate the expression of other genes. The most common of these fragments are known as endogenous retroviruses because they are very similar to a class of viruses known as retroviruses. Retroviruses themselves derive their name because of their ability to RNA back into DNA inside a host cell, reversing the traditional transcription process of converting DNA to RNA and then protein. The reverse transcribed DNA is then integrated into the host genome with the help of a specific viral enzyme known as an integrase and while this helps the virus replicate in the host cell. The Lund University study sheds light on how some endogenous retroviruses may play a key role in brain function. The research group led by biologist Johan Jakobsson looked at the role of a protein called TRIM28 which had been previously shown by other groups to hold back the expression of endogenous retroviral elements. In a previous study, the same group found that when the TRIM28 gene was deleted in neurons of mice, they showed behavioral changes, particularly a vulnerability to stress. So in this study, Prof Jakobsson and his team wondered whether deleting TRIM28 might have a role to play in how neurons function by affecting expression of endogenous retroviruses. | |
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Matt Williams
Universe Today 2015-01-13 23:14:00
Given that our Solar System sits inside the Milky Way Galaxy, getting a clear picture of what it looks like as a whole can be quite tricky. In fact, it was not until 1852 that astronomer Stephen Alexander first postulated that the galaxy was spiral in shape. And since that time, numerous discoveries have come along that have altered how we picture it. For decades astronomers have thought the Milky Way consists of four arms - made up of stars and clouds of star-forming gas - that extend outwards in a spiral fashion. Then in 2008, data from the Spitzer Space Telescope seemed to indicate that our Milky Way has just two arms, but a larger central bar. But now, according to a team of astronomers from China, one of our galaxy's arms may stretch farther than previously thought, reaching all the way around the galaxy. This arm is known as Scutum - Centaurus, which emanates from one end of the Milky Way bar, passes between us and Galactic Center, and extends to the other side of the galaxy. For many decades, it was believed that was where this arm terminated. | |
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| Earth Changes |
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firstcoastnews.com
2015-01-14 19:57:00
Wildlife officials in Glynn County are issuing renewed calls for residents to get their rabies shots after two people and a dog were attacked by a possibly rabid fox Monday. According to a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the attack happened off Glass Circle in Brunswick. Both people are receiving treatment for rabies as a precaution. Tests are being performed on the fox, which was killed following the attack, to determine whether it was, in fact, rabid. | |
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Edie Schmierbach
Mankato Free Press 2015-01-12 19:26:00
Neighbors probably wondered what's up at Jill and Gerald Binstock's place lately. People with binoculars - one man stood in their backyard for an hour Saturday - have been showing up outside the rural Rapidan couple's home, obviously looking for something. Area birdwatchers have been hoping to catch sight of a rare avian visitor to Minnesota. A male varied thrush first started to show up at the Binstocks' feeders Thursday. "I was watching for the little wanderer," said one of the birders, Chad Heins, who is a biology instructor at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato. After an hour or so, Heins got his chance to observe the bird who resembles its cousin, the American robin, but has distinct orange markings near its eyes. | |
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A massive sinkhole suddenly opened up on a street in Lafayette on Monday morning, collapsing into an old mine shaft and nearly swallowing an SUV. The 30-foot by 15-foot hole on East Cleveland Street near Foote Avenue is between 15 and 20 feet deep and partially filled with water. A man who lives in the area had an extremely close call when his car almost fell in early this morning. "In the moment, my truck was almost on top of me," said Lafayette resident Aurelio Zambrano. Zambrano's white Jeep was trapped on the edge of the massive sinkhole.
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Kara O'Neill
Daily Mirror, UK 2015-01-14 13:03:00
It's not every day you see a cow perform a daredevil stunt like this one. Shocked motorists on a high-speed carriageway in Russia captured the hilarious footage of the bovine animal making its great escape from the travelling lorry. The curious creature sticks it head out of the back of the truck before taking a tentative step onto the icy road below. After skidding on its knees for a few metres, the cow emerges from the stunt unhurt and promptly stands up to take in its new surroundings. While it remains unknown whether the animal was being shipped off to the abattoir, this cow wasn't taking any risks as it made a break for it. Luckily, the vehicle behind the truck had plenty of time to stop, meaning the creature was safe and sound, despite his udderly dramatic stunt.
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Comment: See also: Cow flees slaugherhouse in Pocatello, Idaho
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Press TV
2015-01-13 23:34:00
Flooding has claimed at least 40 lives in Mozambique and neighboring Malawi, where a state of emergency has been declared over almost a third of the country. A group of 25 school children was swept away by torrents in Mozambique on Monday, and 18 others have been reported missing in the country, whose large eastern swathes have been swamped. In the town of Mocuba in central Zambezia Province, where the Licungo River overflowed its banks,15,000 people have lost their homes. The flooding of the river has been described as the worst since 1971. The authorities have decreed maximum alert in the north and center of the country, warning that the rains would continue. Malawi officials said at least 19 people died in the southeast African country, and nearly 3,900 homes had to be abandoned. Much of the country's center and western border region is under water. The region is likely to face at least two more days of torrential rain carried by late summer storms, according to meteorologists. | |
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WCVB
2015-01-13 23:16:00
Another minor earthquake has rattled eastern Connecticut. Boston College's Weston Observatory says the 2.1 magnitude earthquake at about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday was in Plainfield. It was in the same area as five small earthquakes over five hours Monday morning. The strongest of those was 3.1 magnitude and could be felt in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Last Thursday, an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.0 to 2.2 was felt in Plainfield. Homeowners reported it was strong enough to shake picture frames off the walls. A research scientist at the Weston Observatory said such a series of small earthquakes in the Northeast is not unusual because the eastern U.S. is atop a tectonic plate affected by geological pressure. | |
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| Fire in the Sky |
No new articles.
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| Health & Wellness |
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Peter Osborne
Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of getting to hang out with New York Times best selling author, and world renowned neurologist, Dr. David Perlmutter. If you aren't familiar with Dr. Perlmutter's work, check out Grain Brain. Some of the concepts in this book are revolutionary, and that brings me to the point of today's post.Gluten Free Society 2015-01-13 23:07:00 Leaky barriers Most people have heard of Leaky Gut, but it is rare to hear anyone talk about the concept of Leaky Brain Syndrome. I have discussed this concept before with Harvard researcher, Dr. Fasano, but only briefly Today I want to talk about one of the most debilitating diseases linked to a break down in the gastrointestinal barrier, but also potentially a break down in the blood brain barrier. Depression. Unfortunately, many are unaware of the connection between gluten and depression. Part of this connection has to do with the role gluten plays in causing intestinal permeability (Leaky Gut). This process was discovered originally by Dr. Fasano. You can read a review of it here. The part less talked about has to do with gluten's impact on the microbiome (good bacteria in the gut).Studies have shown that gluten can alter the normal bacterial flora, and in doing so set the stage for decreased levels of regulatory gut bacteria, and increased levels of bacteria that contribute to inflammation. When you combine leaky gut with altered bacteria, you get an increased presence of bacteria and their by products in the blood. One type of bacterial byproduct is LPS (lipopolysaccharide). Studies have shown that when this happens, the immune system will produce inflammation trying to combat the presence of these translocated bacteria. This increase inflammation has been shown to alter the function of the brain, and a side effect of this is DEPRESSION.[1, 2, 3] The image below illustrates the connection:
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Comment: It is actually much worse: 'Gluten brain': Wheat cuts off blood flow to frontal cortex
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Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com 2015-01-13 19:37:00
Over the past few years, parents of unvaccinated children have been publicly blamed for increasing cases of B. pertussis whooping cough and deaths. This despite the fact that even the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) admits that the rise in reported whooping cough cases cannot be blamed on unvaccinated children because "they are not the driving force behind the large scale outbreaks and epidemics."1 Going back decades, rates of whooping cough have been nearly identical in countries with high and low vaccination rates. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pertussis vaccination rates in the U.S. have remained stable or have increased since 1992. It's important to realize that the pertussis vaccine has never conferred lifelong immunity to whooping cough - even after multiple doses.2 Other viruses and bacteria, such as parapertussis and RSV (which are not covered by the vaccine) can also be clinically misdiagnosed as pertussis if proper lab tests are not performed, while many cases of pertussis are never diagnosed by doctors or reported to the CDC. Most importantly, researchers are now realizing that B. pertussis bacteria have evolved and become vaccine resistant. It is reminiscent of the way that bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics, thanks to the massive overuse of antibiotics in food production. | |
Comment: Read more about how vaccines fails to protect against Whooping Cough:
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Andrew W. Saul
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service 2015-01-14 18:29:00
There were no deaths whatsoever from vitamins in the year 2013. The 31st annual report from the American Association of Poison Control Centers shows zero deaths from multiple vitamins. And, there were no deaths whatsoever from vitamin A, niacin, vitamin B-6, any other B-vitamin, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, or any vitamin at all. Zero deaths from vitamins. Want to bet this will never be on the evening news? Well over half of the U.S. population takes daily nutritional supplements. If each of those people took only one single tablet daily, that makes about 170,000,000 individual doses per day, for a total of well over 60 billion doses annually. Since many people take far more than just one single vitamin tablet, actual consumption is considerably higher, and the safety of vitamin supplements is all the more remarkable. Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD, repeatedly said: "No one dies from vitamins." He was right when he said it and he is still right today. The Orthomolecular Medicine News Service invites submission of specific scientific evidence conclusively demonstrating death caused by a vitamin. | |
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Much ado in the lamestream media about the new study from Johns Hopkins. In that study Johns Hopkins says cancer is a matter of luck, bad luck that is - in other words, unlucky gene mutations. Bad luck and the tired old saw about cancer being largely due to genetics? Where do I even begin to start with such terrible disinformation? Has mankind somehow gotten more and more unlucky? And if it is "unlucky gene mutations" why is it that people who eat and live a healthy anti-cancer lifestyle are so much luckier than those who don't? Cancer was rare a century ago. It has proliferated since then, especially since the 1950's. So I guess that our luck has really taken a turn for the worse since then. And when you think about it, it has (though as is often the case, you make your own luck). | |
Comment: Keep laughing, Johns Hopkins. In the meantime, create your own luck. For more on the influence of diet on cancer see:
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It's been 5 years since the mainstream media began writing about the "dangerous and misinformed anti-vaccination movement." Who are the kooks in this crazy unhinged movement? Surely they are hanging out in labor and delivery rooms, throwing mercury on expectant mothers, making threats against anyone who vaccinates their newborn for a sexually transmitted disease. Certainly they are sneaking into Boy Scout meetings by posing as den mothers and brainwashing neighborhood parents into hosting chickenpox parties. They organize violent protests, vandalize the homes of known pediatricians, and detox children at slumber parties without parental consent. Take a look around you - undoubtedly someone from this "anti-vaccination movement" has infiltrated your very own social circle. Thank goodness for the media, otherwise you would never have known. Except, there is no such thing as the "anti-vaccination movement." A "movement" is a growing organization of people, all pushing toward a common goal. People who exempt their children from vaccination don't have a "common goal." There is no target percentage of "anti-vaccination" they conspire to achieve. There is no agenda to push down anyone's throat. There is no point in time at which they hope to declare victory. The only thing that exemptors have in common is this: they don't care what you do with your kid. They only care about their own. | |
Comment: Additional information to 'talk about' in the vaccination discussion:
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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! |
A black lab in Seattle has become a familiar face to bus drivers and passengers who have gotten used to the canine taking solo trips on public transport. Commuters in the Belltown area said they have become accustomed to the sight of 2-year-old Eclipse climbing aboard the bus without human accompaniment and settling into a window seat before getting off at her destination -- the dog park. "All the bus drivers know her. She sits here just like a person does," bus rider Tiona Rainwater told KOMO-TV. "She makes everybody happy. How could you not love this thing?" Miles Montgomery, a local radio host tweeted pictures he took of Eclipse when he met the Labrador on the bus.
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Big Geek Daddy
Cats are laying down the law and showing who the Alpha male really is in this entertaining Dog Shall Not Pass video compilation. These cats have definitely gotten into these dog's heads with a little feline intimidation.2015-01-14 00:00:00
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