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- Obama adviser biggest regret: Keeping America in dark about UFOs
- GM apples that resist browning approved by US govt
- US southwest set for worst water shortage in 1,000 years
- Megaupload programmer gets 1yr in prison for role with Dotcom’s site
- Whistleblower Chelsea Manning to receive taxpayer-funded hormone therapy
- S. Carolina inmates face harsh penalties for social media
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Posted: 14 Feb 2015 04:56 PM PST
 Outgoing senior US presidential adviser John Podesta has revealed that the main regret of the past year of his service at the White House was keeping Americans away from learning the truth about UFOs. Law professor Podesta, 66, published in his Twitter microblog on Friday – his last day as Obama’s counselor with a special interest in climate and energy matters – a list of his “favorite memories” of the year, concluding with his biggest regret that once again proves his fascination with aliens and TV show “The X-Files”, of which he is known to be a huge fan. In 2007, a Washington Post journalist asked Podesta about reports on Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain email correspondence to and from the former chief of staff on such terms as “X-Files” and “Area 51” – terms, popular with UFO conspiracy theorists. Podesta’s response through a spokesperson was, “The truth is out there,” the tagline for “The X-Files” American science fiction TV show. Podesta is also an author of an introduction to the 2010 book “UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record.” In it, he wrote: “As someone interested in the question of UFOs, I think I have always understood the difference between fact and fiction. I guess you could call me a curious skeptic. But I’m skeptical about many things, including the notion that government always knows best.” Source The post Obama adviser biggest regret: Keeping America in dark about UFOs appeared first on USAHM Conspiracy News.       |
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Posted: 14 Feb 2015 04:16 PM PST
 GMO apples that resist browning have been approved as safe to eat, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), rebuffing efforts by the anti-GMO lobby to reject the fruit. The apples were developed by the Canadian biotech firm Oksangan Specialty Fruits Inc. The apples are unlikely to pose a plant pest risk to agriculture or to have a significant impact on the human environment the US Department of Agriculture said on its website Friday. “It is the biggest milestone yet for us, and we can’t wait until they’re available for consumers,” Okanagan president Neal Carter said in a statement. Because of concerns from consumers worried about GMO foods only genes from fruit trees were used in the apples’ development. The approved apples will probably be grafted to existing apple trees and produce non-browning fruit in three to five years. Many other GM crops like corn and soya have been spliced together with genetic material from other organisms and bacteria. But the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) said the genetic changes to the apples may present a danger to human health and because apples are sprayed with many different pesticides, the genetic modifications will only mean more treatment with pesticides. The director of the OCS, Ronnie Cummins, said they will be putting pressure on food companies and shops not to sell the apples. The fruits will be marketed as Arctic Granny and Arctic Golden. Source The post GM apples that resist browning approved by US govt appeared first on USAHM Conspiracy News.    |
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Posted: 12 Feb 2015 05:22 PM PST
 Southwestern USA could be set for its worst drought in 1,000 years because of climate change. Numerous states have experienced severe water shortages, with 64 million people affected. Researchers say things could get worse. The arid conditions in the southwest of the United States and the Great Plains have been caused by higher temperatures, while ground water supplies are shrinking. Studies by scientists using computer models show that the US could be in for its worst droughts since the 12th and 13th centuries. “The 21st-century projections make the [previous]mega-droughts seem like quaint walks through the Garden of Eden,” said Jason Smerdon, who was a co-author of the paper, which was published in the journal Science Advances and is also a climate scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Ben Cook, from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, also helped to write the paper added that American’s may have to get used to droughts as a way of life. These mega-droughts during the 1100s and 1200s persisted for 20, 30, 40, 50 years at a time, and they were droughts that no one in the history of the United States has ever experienced, he said in a press release. “The droughts that people do know about like the 1930s ‘dustbowl’ or the 1950s drought, or even the ongoing drought in California, and the southwest today – these are all naturally occurring droughts that are expected to last only a few years or perhaps a decade. Imagine instead the current California drought going on for another 20 years,” Cook added. To aid their research, the scientists sued data, which they retrieved from tree rings. They were able to determine how much precipitation had fallen and how much moisture was in the ground as the rings were wider during wetter years. “The surprising thing to us was really how consistent the response was over these regions, nearly regardless of what model we used or what soil moisture metric we looked at,” Cook said in the press release. It has long been accepted by scientists that the southwest and the Great Plains will become arid during the second half of the 21st century as a consequence of climate change. However, this process is being accelerated due to the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Precipitation levels can be misleading the authors of the report said. Rainfall levels could remain the same as non-drought years, but an increase in temperature means more water is evaporated. California saw record amounts of rainfall in December 2014, though this has not been enough to fill up water supplies across the state. Crucially, snowfall amounts have been low, which has made it difficult to replenish reservoirs and underground aquifers. NASA says satellite images show the Sierra Nevada range snowpack is half the amount of past estimates. Read More Here The post US southwest set for worst water shortage in 1,000 years appeared first on USAHM Conspiracy News.    |
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Posted: 12 Feb 2015 04:10 PM PST
 An Estonian computer programmer for the now defunct file-sharing site Megaupload has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison less than a week after he unexpectedly arrived in the United States upon reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors. Appearing in a dark jumpsuit inscribed with the word “prisoner,” Andrus Nomm, 36, pleaded guilty before a judge in the Eastern District Court of Virginia in Alexandria on Friday morning to one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement , in turn resolving for him a three-year-plus legal battle that began with the unsealing of a 13-count criminal indictment against Megaupload and its executives in early 2012. Prosecutors have long alleged that Nomm and a half-dozen other former Megaupload employees participated in a “worldwide criminal organization” that engaged in copyright infringement and money laundering on a massive scale by operating a website that made copies of movies, music and other protected works available online without authorization and then rewarded the individuals who provided that content with cash bonuses. Nomm was brought to the US on Monday and apprehended pursuant to the arrest warrant issued more than three years earlier. The Associated Press reported that a Nomm, a resident of both Estonia and Turkey, had agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors, but the most recent court filing in the case – a document dated Thursday – remained under seal as of Friday afternoon, obscuring for now the latest details from the public. “This conviction is a significant step forward in the largest criminal copyright case in US history,” Assistant US Attorney General Caldwell said in a statement after Friday’s hearing. “The Mega conspirators are charged with massive worldwide online piracy of movies, music and other copyrighted US works. We intend to see to it that all those responsible are held accountable for illegally enriching themselves by stealing the creative work of US artists and creators.” The US government shut down Megaupload in January 2012 and issued arrest warrants for its founder, German-born internet tycoon Kim Dotcom, and six others: Finn Batato of Germany, Julius Bencko of Slovakia, Sven Echternach of Germany, Mathias Ortmann of Germany, Bram van der Kolk of the Netherlands and Nomm. A criminal complaint filed against the men that same month accused them of involvement in a “mega conspiracy” that had generated millions of dollars for the website through subscription sales and advertisement revenue, the likes of which the government said was only made possible by providing a service that unlawfully afforded customers access to copyrighted materials. Members of the so-called “mega conspiracy” were initially charged with more than a dozen counts, including conspiracy to committee racketeering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, criminal copyright infringement and wire fraud. With the exception of Nomm, however, all co-defendants have so far defied US-led attempts for extradition and avoided thus far standing trial in the US. Read More Here The post Megaupload programmer gets 1yr in prison for role with Dotcom’s site appeared first on USAHM Conspiracy News.    |
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Posted: 12 Feb 2015 04:04 PM PST
 Chelsea Manning, the US Army intelligence analyst who was given a 35-year jail sentence for leaking national security secrets to Wikileaks, has been approved for US taxpayer-paid hormone therapy in the physical transition to become a woman. The decision to grant Chelsea Manning, 27, who was born Bradley Manning, hormone therapy was revealed in a memo from officials at Fort Leavenworth prison, where Manning is serving his sentence. A day after sentencing in August 2013, Manning declared she had felt female since childhood. During her trial, Manning’s lawyers had argued that she had been disillusioned by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the public had a right to see the documents, which included military reports and diplomatic cables. But while in prison, Manning remains a soldier and so the issue of hormone therapy had to be dealt with by the US Army. A memo obtained by the US media describes the decision of the commandant of Fort Leavenworth prison to allow the treatment for Manning’s full transition to become a woman. “After carefully considering the recommendation that [hormone treatment]is medically appropriate and necessary, and weighing all associated safety and security risks presented, I approve adding [hormone treatment]to Inmate Manning’s treatment plan,” Col. Erica Nelson, the commandant of the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks in Kansas, wrote in a Feb. 5 memo. It was not clear when the treatment would start, although Nelson wrote that Manning would not be allowed “female hair grooming.” Manning had requested hormone therapy so he could live as a woman. Transgender people are not allowed to serve in the US military so the Defense Department cannot pay for hormone therapy but the Department of Veterans Affairs does provide it. Read More here The post Whistleblower Chelsea Manning to receive taxpayer-funded hormone therapy appeared first on USAHM Conspiracy News.    |
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Posted: 12 Feb 2015 04:02 PM PST
 For South Carolina prison inmates, posting on Facebook is regarded as a severe crime on par with murder, according to a new report. Social media activity in the state’s prisons is punishable by solitary confinement and other draconian penalties. A South Carolina Freedom of Information Act request by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) revealed that since 2012 the state’s Department of Corrections (SCDC) has considered “Creating and/or Assisting With A Social Networking Site” — basically accessing social media like Facebook or blogs and email for any reason — a Level 1 offense, on par with the most heinous of crimes like murder. “Since the policy was implemented, SCDC has brought 432 disciplinary cases against 397 inmates, with more than 40 inmates receiving more than two years in solitary confinement,” EFF wrote of the policy. In addition to long stretches of solitary confinement, some inmates found to have used social media had privileges like phone access or visitation time taken away. An inmate need only be found to have smuggled a cell phone into prison to access social media or to have asked friends or family to check his account after giving them his personal password. In addition, the SCDC issued a separate Level 1 infraction for each day an inmate accesses social media, not for each time. “In other words, if a South Carolina inmate caused a riot, took three hostages, murdered them, stole their clothes, and then escaped, he could still wind up with fewer Level 1 offenses than an inmate who updated Facebook every day for two weeks,” EFF wrote. Most of the cases involved in the policy concerned use of Facebook, which has complied remarkably, processing hundreds of profile-suspension requests from SCDC officers. Facebook says it can censor inmates’ pages based on its Terms of Service agreement, “specifically, purported violations of terms banning users from using aliases or sharing passwords with third parties,” according to EFF. Read More Here The post S. Carolina inmates face harsh penalties for social media appeared first on USAHM Conspiracy News.   |
