Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Puppet Masters

China: Silk roads and open seas Pepe Escobar RT.com 2015-05-30 20:01:00 Beijing's disclosure earlier this week of its latest military white paper, outlining a new doctrine moving beyond offshore defense to "open seas" defense, predictably rattled every exceptionalist's skull and bone. Almost simultaneously, in Guangzhou, the annual Stockholm China Forum, hosted by the German Marshall Fund and the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, was mired in deep thought examining the vast Eurasian integration project known in China as "One Road, One Belt". What is also known as the New Silk Road project - displaying all the romantic connotations of a remix of a golden era - is not only about new roads, high-speed railways, pipelines and fiber optics, but also about a naval network from East Asia all the way to the Middle East and Europe. So Chinese maritime expansion in the "open seas" - from the South China Sea to the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean - had to be intimately tied to protection of the Maritime Silk Road.

SOTT Exclusive: Dead or alive? NATO's Kosovar ISIS militant raised from the grave, assumes new role Ante Sarlija Sott.net 2015-05-30 14:52:00 A notorious 24-year-old Kosovar ISIS head-chopping militant going by the name of Lavdrim Muhaxheri has possibly been resurrected from the dead following the release of a video footage where he is allegedly seen killing a Syrian man with a rocket-propelled grenade. It was reported previously that Lavdrim was killed in Syria last year, but it appears that he has now risen from the dead in order to again partake in the US/NATO hollywoodesque ISIS opera. Before joining al-Baghdadi's crusade against the 'infidels' in the Middle East, Lavdrim wasemployed by none other than NATO at Camp Bondsteel, considered to be the largest American military base in the world outside of US territory. Camp Bondsteel is located in the US/NATO-carved and occupied drug and organ trafficking state of Kosovo and is currently headed by criminals such as Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, a former KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) leader. KLA is, of course, another NATO armed and trained terrorist proxy force that was used to break apart Yugoslavia in the 1990s. After Lavdrim's work at Bondsteel, he was schlepped to Afghanistan to partake in NATO operations there. In 'Bondsteel', for a certain period he worked as a labor force, until the year 2010, and there he maintained good reports and recommendations from his employer, and through the private company, as many young Kosovars did, he traveled to work in Afghanistan, respectively in NATO's camps. There he worked for nearly two years, says his friends. Following his lucrative career as a NATO puppet, NATO apparently decided Lavdrim should join their proxy force of ISIS/Jabhat al-Nusra/moderates/opposition Syria who have been tasked with toppling the Assad government. Lavdim Muhaxheri joined the Siria war, as a mujahid, in 2012, and a year later he was returned. Until the half of the Ramadan festival, in 2013, he was in Kosovo, and then he re-joined the fighters in Syria, where he took the position of the leader. Later on he took the leading role in clarifying the internal clashes in the resistance camp against Bashar Al Assad, and he was the first Ablanian who confirmed that there were deep divisions among the revolutionaries. According to reports, after "he was returned" to Kosovo, he was under the investigation of the Kosovo police, only to leave for Syria again and join ISIS despite the so-called investigation. He attained his short-lived notoriety after posting a beheading photo on his Facebook page, something every aspiring jihadi seeks to do these days. Later it was reported that he was killed fighting the Kurdish defense forces, only to now be brought back to life and, according to some, given a promotion to the position of 'strategist' for the so-called Islamic state. Whether Lavdrim Muhaxheri is dead or alive is a moot point, since "Kosovo police said they are working with international partners to verify the authenticity of the video and the time of its publication." It does appear though that the US/NATO-led scripted operation currently going under the banner of ISIS, always needs a character like Lavdrim or a similar front man to paint a 'human face' to their proxy army and give credence to the false narrative that ISIS isn't a puppet in the hands of certain intelligence agencies but a group run by fanatical cutthroats that somehow sprang from the desert by themselves fully armed, trained, driving Toyota pickups and even pickups of Texas plumbers.

Obama: 'Heaven forbid' a terrorist attack happens after Senate inaction on Patriot Act Fred Lucas The Blaze 2015-05-30 19:02:00 President Barack Obama sounded the alarm about what could happen if there is a delay in renewing the USA Patriot Act. "I don't want us to be in a situation in which, for a certain period of time, those authorities go away and suddenly we are dark, and heaven forbid, we've got a problem where we could have prevented a terrorist attack or apprehended someone who was engaged in dangerous activity but we didn't do so simply because of inaction in the Senate," Obama told reporters Friday after meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch at the White House.

Comment: A warning?

Putin concerned over shelling of civilian facilities by Ukrainian army ITAR-TASS 2015-05-29 17:47:00 Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a phone conversation with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, expressed concern over shelling by Ukrainian servicemen of civilian facilities, the Kremlin reported Friday. "The Russian side stressed its concern in connection with more frequent incidents of shelling by the Ukrainian army of civilian facilities that resulted in deaths of civilians," the statement said. "They exchanged opinions on possible additional measures designed to ensure strict observation of the ceasefire regime and de-escalation of tensions," it said.

Comment: As one can see; it's all Russia's fault. Ukraine and the West have no intentions of upholding the Minsk agreements. They are all full of just hot air. It seems the pressure for Russia to act is increasing.

Dennis Hastert's secret gay 'misconduct' is opposite to his voting record on gay rights Joan Shipps Raw Story 2015-05-29 17:33:00 Though he paid millions to keep a man quiet about the nature of their relationship, former House speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) was a reliable opponent of gay civil rights during his tenure in Congress. On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted Hastert, alleging that he agreed to pay a man $3.5 million over several years in exchange for the latter's silence about his prior relationship with the lawmaker, the Associated Press reports. According to the indictment, Hastert gave $1.7 million to the man between 2010 and 2014, who Hastert knew from his past career as a high school teacher and wrestling coach, as compensation for Hastert's "past misconduct," and for said misconduct's concealment.

Comment: Just imagine that Hastert is only the tip of the proverbial sexual abuse iceberg.

The pressure just shifted from Greece to the US and EU Raúl Ilargi Meijer The Automatic Earth 2015-05-30 17:10:00 With the 3rd US Q1 GDP print coming in at -0.7% (-3% if not for inventories), perhaps the media spotlights - and lively imagination - can move away from Greece for a few weeks. The US has enough problems of its own, it would seem. For one thing, its Q1 GDP is now worse than Greece's. Of course its debt is also much higher, just not to the IMF and ECB. But let's leave that one be for the moment. Though a bit of perspective works miracles at times. Of course it's not a technical recession yet for the US, which only recently presented a +4% quarter with a straight face, and there's always the 'multiple seasonal adjustment' tool. But still. It's ugly.

Comment: A pressure cooker building indeed.

Surprised? Emails reveal Idaho ag-gag bill was drafted by dairy lobby Sputnik 2015-05-29 16:30:00 Dairy industry lobbyists in Idaho helped write legislation that makes it illegal to take photographs or record videos at agricultural facilities, acts which in the past have exposed animal cruelty and unsanitary practices. Farming groups in multiple states have thrown their support behind the criminalization of recording. But in Idaho, which passed an "ag-gag" law last year, lobbyists actually crafted the bill before handing it off to lawmakers, according to emails obtained byThe Intercept. From The Intercept: "State Sen. Jim Patrick, R-Twin Falls, said he sponsored the bill in response to an activist-filmed undercover video that showed cows at an Idaho plant being beaten by workers, dragged by the neck with chains, and forced to live in pens covered in feces, which activists said made the cows slip, fall and injure themselves. The facility, Bettencourt Dairies, is a major supplier for Burger King and Kraft. The workers who were filmed were fired."

Comment: Gee, what a surprise! This is how our governments operate and has been for a long time.

The manufacturing of ISIS for Washington's "New Middle East" Julie Lévesque Global Research 2015-05-28 14:26:00 Newly disclosed Pentagon documents prove what we've known for a while now: the Obama administration knew as early as 2012 that weapons were being sent from Benghazi, Libya, to rebels in Syria. The U.S. government also knew at the time that: "the Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood, and [Al Qaeda in Iraq were] the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria." But did they just "know" or was it part of the plan? These official documents of the Obama administration add to the large amount of evidence proving that the actual chaos and havoc wreaked by extremist groups in the Middle East was deliberately created by the U.S. and its allies and is not the result of a "failed foreign policy". Judicial Watch recently revealed: The DoD documents also contain the first official documentation that the Obama administration knew that weapons were being shipped from the Port of Benghazi to rebel troops in Syria. An October 2012 report confirms: Weapons from the former Libya military stockpiles were shipped from the port of Benghazi, Libya to the Port of Banias and the Port of Borj Islam, Syria. The weapons shipped during late-August 2012 were Sniper rifles, RPG's, and 125 mm and 155mm howitzers missiles. During the immediate aftermath of, and following the uncertainty caused by, the downfall of the ((Qaddafi)) regime in October 2011 and up until early September of 2012, weapons from the former Libya military stockpiles located in Benghazi, Libya were shipped from the port of Benghazi, Libya to the ports of Banias and the Port of Borj Islam, Syria. The Syrian ports were chosen due to the small amount of cargo traffic transiting these two ports. The ships used to transport the weapons were medium-sized and able to hold 10 or less shipping containers of cargo. ... The heavily redacted document does not disclose who was shipping the weapons. (Benghazi Scandal: Obama Administration Knew Weapons Were Being Sent to Al-Qaeda in Syria, New Documents Show, Judicial Watch 18 May 2015) Although the documents do not reveal who was responsible for sending weapons to Syria, it is quite obvious from the language used in the documents that it was a US initiative and the CIA presence in Benghazi at the time suggests that US intelligence was behind this gun-running operation.

Comment: The arming of Libyan terrorists in 2011 to overthrow and murder Qaddafi was just the first step of many in implementing Washington's chaos strategy for a "New Middle East." As these fanatic foot soldiers of the American empire move north and east, we can identify Washington's ultimate plan of bringing chaos to the doorstep of both China and Russia.

South Front Crisis News 29 May 2015: Poroshenko business attacked, massive bombing of Yemen continues Ilya, Yan Erik, Chris, Michael, Bernard and Pierre South Front 2015-05-29 15:50:00 An unknown group attacked the company "Roshen" building in Kiev with a grenade launcher last night. There are no casualties, building is damaged. The owner of the company is the President Petro Poroshenko. We remember, so-called "democratic" leader of Ukraine didn't and doesn't want to sell his business despite the law prohibiting Ukrainian president has a business. In this case, Poroshenko isn't the president, but one of the most powerful oligarch in Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia marks its 90th execution this year, setting gruesome record Sputnik 2015-05-30 15:44:00 Amid a number of human rights complaints over the practice, Saudi Arabia's latest execution brings 2015's total to 90. Already equaling the total number from 2014, the kingdom continues to break its own record. "With the year yet to pass its midpoint, the Gulf Kingdom has raced towards this choking toll at an unprecedented rate. This alarming surge in executions surpasses even the country's own previous dreadful records," Said Boumedouha, Deputy Middle East and North Africa programme director at Amnesty International, told Newsweek. Nearly half of Saudi Arabia's executions this year relate to minor drug-related charges. The latest, carried out in Riyadh on Thursday, was no different, despite the fact that the use of capital punishment for such minor offenses is considered a breach of international law.

Comment: This is worse than what ISIS is doing! Psychopathic insanity.

Afghan drug production grew 50-fold since US invasion Sputnik 2015-05-28 14:34:00 Illegal drug production in Afghanistan has increased by a factor of 50 and continues to rise since a US-led operation was launched in the country in 2001, the Russian Federal Drug Control Service (FDCS) chief said Thursday. The amount of land being used in opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan hit a record number of 224,000 hectares last year. "The drug production in Afghanistan is the major problem for Eurasia and Central Asia, with its level increasing 50 times since the launch on October 7, 2001 of US operation Enduring Freedom and continues to rise," Victor Ivanov said.

Comment: Must keep the drug money flowing.

Coercion: US to arm China's Pacific neighbors to counter Beijing's growing influence Sputnik 2015-05-29 14:23:00 United States lawmakers are looking to arm and train American allies in the Pacific as a countermeasure to what legislators claim is Beijing's increasingly aggressive behavior in the region. The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) has added a "China Sea Initiative" to the 2016 defense bill. The legislation was drafted, in part, to address China's ongoing construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea as a part of its ambitious land-reclamation campaign. SASC Chairman Senator John McCain inserted the initiative to offer support - in the form of training and weapons - to allied countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Comment: US keeps claiming it wants a world free of 'coercion' yet uses it for it's own means. War threat against Russia and China rises as U.S. economy declines

Kiev tried to exclude DPR, LPR from Contact Group Sputnik 2015-05-30 14:16:00 Contrary to the Minsk agreements, Ukrainian government tried to exclude the representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics from the contact group on Ukrainian reconciliation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday. The Minister told Rossiya-24 television channel that the launch in early May of the four working sub-groups of the contact group, that would oversee the implementation of the Minsk peace agreement, opens an important opportunity to discuss a broad range of issues. But even this initiative did not go without problems. "There was a huge battle, because despite the Minsk Agreements, to which Donetsk and Luhansk are indispensable part, Kiev tried to reduce the contact group and its sub-groups to a trilateral format Russia-Ukraine-OSCE so that LPR and DPR would be only invited to hear the results of the agreements if Kiev wishes to do so."

Comment: Once again this shows Kiev has no plans to make peace with east Ukraine.

Russian jets force US Navy destroyer away from territorial waters Sputnik 2015-05-30 12:49:00 Russian Navy Su-24 jets forced US Navy destroyer USS Ross to go into neutral waters in the Black Sea, a source in Crimea's security forces told RIA Novosti. The US Navy ship was noticed heading directly toward Russian waters after leaving the Romanian port of Costanta. The incident comes on the same day as fugitive Georgian ex-leader Mikheil Saakashvili's appointment as governor of Ukraine's Black Sea-bordering Odessa region. "The ship's crew acted provocatively and aggressively, which caused alarm among operators of monitoring stations and Black Sea Fleet ships carrying out assignments in the Black Sea. Scrambled Su-24 attack jets demonstrated a readiness to forcibly suppress border violations and defend the country's interest," the source said.

Comment: Looks like the US keeps trying to push Russia's buttons.

Sott Exclusive: Yellow journalism, Western political psychopaths and Russia-hating behind FIFA 'scandal' Joe Quinn Sott.net 2015-05-30 09:42:00 Try and find any public information that shows that Sepp Blatter is guilty of any of the charges of fraud or corruption that have ever brought against him. You won't find it. The only thing Blatter seems to have been "found guilty of" is "political correctness", aka crimes against Western, liberal, capitalist, secular, atheist, war-loving culture.

Society's Child

Former NYPD cop trashes 14-year-old boy shot by police in psychopathic Facebook exchange Terrell Jermain Starr Alternet 2015-05-29 18:09:00 Disturbing window into the mentality of ex-NYPD officers Three former NYPD police officers discussed the murder of a 14-year-old gang member on Facebook and the exchange was awful as one could expect, according to an exclusivereport by Mic News. When 14-year-old Christopher Duran left his home in the Bronx for school last Friday morning, a red bandana-wearing gunman shot him to death. Former police officer and current CNN contributor Thomas Verni posted a New York Post story of Doran's murder on his Facebook page, where the three former cops basically blamed the young boy for his own death. Here is exchange, per a screenshot captured by Mic News: Yep, these men once wore the uniform and had the authority to arrest (and shoot) New Yorkers.

Comment: An enduring trait of pathological individuals is their avoidance of any responsibility for the negative reactions that normal people have to violent, egregious behavior thereby allowing them to blame victims.

Veteran research scientist warns 'Ebola will return' Marie Wolfrom Agence France-Press 2015-05-29 17:36:00 Congolese expert Jean-Jacques Muyembe may be little known to the public, but he has been one of the world's top Ebola investigators since the first epidemic erupted in central Africa in 1976. Now, amid a decline in a west African outbreak that has taken more than 11,000 lives, Muyembe warns that Ebola will strike again in the future and that the deadly virus poses "a threat to the whole world". Muyembe studied medicine in Kinshasa and at the University of Leuven in Belgium. He returned home to the Democratic Republic of Congo -- then known as Zaire -- in 1976, when the northern village of Yambuku was struck by a mysterious disease. "They said many people were dying, and the health ministry asked me to go investigate," Muyembe told AFP. He initially thought it could be a case of typhoid fever but he decided to continue investigating until he got to the bottom of it. "I drew blood, and had no protective gloves or clothing," Muyembe said. Accompanied by a Belgian nun suffering from fever, he returned from Yambuku to Kinshasa. It was her blood samples, shipped in a makeshift cooler to the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, that enabled scientist Peter Piot to identify the worm-looking virus for the first time.

Comment: Some other information to consider: Mutated Ebola virus could spread like flu, says Purdue University biologist Researchers using Ebola to ramp up the fear of...measles? The CDC stockpiles Ebola equipment while mainstream press has an Ebola news blackout Ebola has been off the mainstream news radar for months. Why bring back this story now?

Flashback: Zirin challenges sportswriters to report Israeli violence against Palestinian soccer players Annie Robbins Mondoweiss 2014-03-11 16:04:00 In a few days, the chairman of the Palestinian Football association will head off to a regional meeting of Arab states to organize an effort to expel Israel from FIFA as well as the International Olympic Committee due to treatment of Palestinian footballers under occupation. Meantime, Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation, has followed up on his first damning expose with another riveting article on Israel's targeting of Palestinian soccer players. "A Red Line for FIFA? Israel, Violence and What's Left of Palestinian Soccer" is a full throttle appeal for investigation. First advising US spokesperson Jen Psaki to follow up on the situation (as we noted here), Zirin then directs his focus on his own profession, sports journalists. He reveals that the response to his last article was "overwhelmingly hostile". Some of Zirin's professional colleagues made accusations against him, doubting not only his reporting of the attacks, but the very concept that Palestinian athletes were ever targeted. And that doubt stemmed from the assumption his sources were (merely?) Palestinian. This is some radical racism:

Comment: Could the recent "scandal" involving FIFA and Sepp Blatter be in part an attempt to hide the racist and worse than apartheid treatment of Palestinians by Israel? What would football fans across the world think if they knew Israel targets and kills Palestinian football players? Read more: Yellow journalism, Western political psychopaths and Russia-hating behind FIFA 'scandal' FIFA 'scandal' = US attempts to impose sports sanctions against Russia Pro-Palestinian protesters beaten by Israeli soccer players during football friendly in Austria Israel's future in FIFA is uncertain - accused of deliberately targeting Palestinian national team members

Mystery 'surveillance plane' seen flying over Minnesota cities Sputnik 2015-05-30 15:32:00 Amid reports of US federal aircraft flying mysterious flight paths over American cities, new sightings of a strange, low-flying plane over Minneapolis has reinvigorated suspicions of government surveillance. On Wednesday, an investigation conducted by civil liberties activists noticed a series of unexplained flight patterns in the skies above New York City, Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, and Seattle. Using the publicly available website flightradar24.com, activists also noticed flights over Minneapolis. On Thursday night, more unexplainable flights were observed over the Twin Cities. "I thought, 'Holy crap'," John Zimmerman told the Star Tribune after he and his fellow aviation enthusiasts witnessed a small plane flying low over the city in incoherent patterns. It made repeated circles over downtown, the Mall of America, and Southdale Center for over four hours.

Comment: They are watching you.

Mom and toddler kicked off of flight, crying baby made crew feel 'unsafe' Sputnik 2015-05-30 14:39:00 A 7-months pregnant singer and her 23-month-old were kicked off of their United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Vancouver because the toddler was crying. Singer Sarah Blackwood is currently on tour and travelling with her young son who became restless after boarding. The flight crew reportedly told the young mother to "control your child" while waiting for takeoff on the runway Wednesday.

Comment: This is getting ridiculous! U.S. hysteria: Elderly woman kicked off flight after another passenger reported her for 'looking ill' Autistic child kicked off US flight with emergency landing because pilot was 'uneasy'

Record 4,200 migrants rescued at sea by Italian coastguard, 17 dead RT 2015-05-30 10:40:00 Up to 4,200 migrants sailing across the Mediterranean Sea were rescued by European ships on Friday, but 17 people died during the journey on unseaworthy boats. The number rescued in 24 hours appears to be one of the highest in recent years. The 17 bodies were found on three inflatable dinghies, from which over 300 other migrants were rescued alive, the Italian Navy said on Twitter. Friday's rescue operations were led by the Italian coastguard, and involved German and Irish naval ships working under the auspices of the EU's Frontex border agency. A similar international maritime mission off the coast of Sicily on Thursday resulted in the rescue of over 700 migrants from Libya in six boats. So far, the busiest days this year have been on April 12 when 3,791 migrants were rescued and the May 2 rescue of 3,690 people. Over 40,400 boat migrants, many of them fleeing poverty and conflict-stricken countries such as Syria and Eritrea, have arrived in Italy since the start of the year, according to theInternational Organization for Migration (IOM). New statistics gathered by IOM confirm 2015 appears to be "an even deadlier year than 2014," when nearly 3,300 migrants perished trying to enter Europe. While last year the number of migrants dying in all Mediterranean crossings from January to April was 96, this year's toll is an estimated 1,770 so far through to April 30, IOM said. EU ministers have approved plans for a military operation to fight people smugglers in the Mediterranean. Proposals to destroy traffickers' boats in Libyan waters still need UN approval, however. The European Commission plans to make the rest of the 28-nation EU share the burden of frontline, brunt bearing states such as Italy, Greece and Malta, although some countries, the UK among them, are against the plan.

Comment: A proposed solution to this terrible, ongoing humanitarian crisis is discussed in this article: Problem solved: NATO and EU want to bomb refugee terrorists they created

California school district uses spyware to monitor student social media accounts Sputnik 2015-05-30 00:02:00 An Orange County school district is using new software to spy on their students social media accounts, to "help prevent crime". Students are calling the efforts an invasion of privacy. The school district has obtained a new social media program called SnapTrends, which will allow them to monitor student's Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Foursquare, Vine, and Instagram accounts when used on campus. The software works by looking for keywords being used within a predetermined area based on GPS locations. The social media conversations can be monitored in real-time as they stream in and a security team can zoom in on users it views as influential.  "This information builds a clear view of social conversations when and where they unfold, the influencers driving those conversation, and why; ultimately giving you the ability to make more informed decisions and take more effective actions." the SnapTrends website explains. The district claims that they will be using the software to prevent and stop cyber bullying, keep an eye out for students who are a risk to themselves or others, as well as criminal activities. They will receive assistance from local law enforcement in monitoring their students. When questioned about privacy concerns, Orange County Public Schools Senior Director of Safety and Security Doug Tripp ignores that issue and just reiterates that it is to "protect our children." These privacy issues come at a time when Southern California schools have also been under scrutiny for their militarized school police forces.  The nearby Los Angeles School Police Department had received an MRAP via the Department of Defense 1033 program and was pushed to return it after a wave of harsh criticism. They have also been in possession of three grenade launchers since 2001, and 61 M-16 assault rifles. San Diego School Police are also in possession of an MRAP.

Comment: MRAP (mine resistant ambush protected vehicle)? Assault rifles? Grenade launchers? Spy programs? The police state has moved its parameters into school systems. What "untapped" area is next, nursery schools and daycare? PRIVACY not PRYVACY! Get a grip, America!!!

More anti-smoking fascism: Seattle parks poised to go tobacco free King 5 News 2015-05-30 14:12:00 Seattle city parks are closer to going tobacco free. City parks department commission on Thursday approved a ban set to take effect July 1. The ban would expand a current city ordinance which bans "smoking, chewing, or other tobacco use...within 25 feet of other park patrons and in play areas, beaches, or playgrounds." Several major cities have already adopted a parks-wide smoking ban including Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. "We think protecting people from secondhand smoke, which there is no safe level of secondhand smoke, makes sense," Parks and Recreation acting Superintendent Christopher Williams has said. "It makes sense for us to be doing this as a parks and recreation department."

Comment: The science supporting the dangers of second-hand smoke is dubious at best. This is not about healthier parks. This is about absolute control. Secondhand Smoke, Third-Rate Science Secondhand Smoke, Firsthand Ignorance

Ten things I had to unlearn that my children won't The Dissident Dad libertyblitzkrieg.com 2015-05-28 16:41:00 This list could grow to 1,000 ideas, but I've kept it down to ten. In the future, I might update it and add some more. There are a lot of bad ideas that dominate the world we live in today, most of which are uncritically accepted as the norm and fully embraced by society. As a millennial myself, I've noticed my peers seem to accept most of these as conventional wisdom. Hook, line, and sinker. Here are some ideas I was propagandized with that I hope my children will never have to "unlearn."

VIDEO: The worst place to be during a dollar collapse TruthNeverTold Activist Post 2015-05-29 00:00:00 Ironically, the places that benefited the most from the debt-and-death paradigm are likely to see the quickest outbreak of chaos when dollar collapse begins in earnest. The concentrated aggression, hyper-competitive atmosphere, and wealth disparity of the typical city should be avoided if possible. Recent riots serve as a clear example of what can happen ... and the lights are still on and the financial infrastructure is still in place. In a full-blown dollar collapse, all bets are off. So, think about moving to "boring" parts of the country with real communities. Do it on your terms while options still remain.

Comment: The time to begin preparing for such sad and difficult eventualities is right now. See also: Prepare yourselves, your homes, and your neighborhoods for the violence that is going to sweep America Full scale simulation: New study reveals where to go when civilization collapses A good way to invest your money: Store large amounts of food, like now

Secret History

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Science & Technology

New study finds major faults offshore in southern California could trigger large earthquakes, tsunamis Science Daily 2015-05-29 00:00:00 While their attention may be inland on the San Andreas Fault, residents of coastal Southern California could be surprised by very large earthquakes -- and even tsunamis -- from several major faults that lie offshore, a new study finds. The latest research into the little known, fault-riddled, undersea landscape off of Southern California and northern Baja California has revealed more worrisome details about a tectonic train wreck in the Earth's crust with the potential for magnitude 7.9 to 8.0 earthquakes. The new study supports the likelihood that these vertical fault zones have displaced the seafloor in the past, which means they could send out tsunami-generating pulses towards the nearby coastal mega-city of Los Angeles and neighboring San Diego. "We're dealing with continental collision," said geologist Mark Legg of Legg Geophysical in Huntington Beach, California, regarding the cause of the offshore danger. "That's fundamental. That's why we have this mess of a complicated logjam." Legg is the lead author of the new analysis accepted for publication in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. He is also one of a handful of geologists who have been trying for decades to piece together the complicated picture of what lies beyond Southern California's famous beaches.

Earth Changes

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.4 - Izu Islands, Japan region US Geological Survey 2015-05-30 19:50:00 Time 2015-05-30 18:49:07 (UTC) Times in other timezones Nearby Cities 398km (247mi) SE of Hachijo-jima, Japan 546km (339mi) SSE of Katsuura, Japan 552km (343mi) SSE of Tateyama, Japan 552km (343mi) SSE of Kawaguchi, Japan 627km (390mi) SSE of Tokyo, Japan Scientific Data

Comment:

Portents and signs: Dog with two bodies and eight legs born on Tonga Cindy Tran Daily Mail, UK 2015-05-30 19:09:00 Meet the puppy who was born with eight legs. Incredible photographs reveal the newborn has two bodies joined at the chest with two sets of front legs, two sets of back legs - and complete with two tails. The black and white puppy was born with a total of eight limbs in Vaini of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday and was one of her five siblings to have any abnormalities. Vukitangitau Maloni, from Tonga, who took the images soon after she was born, said the whole community was shocked and speechless at the animals extra legs.

Comment: Other freak animal births this year: Portents and signs: Mutant pig born with strange features and appendage in China Portents and signs: Mutant pig born in Scotland Portents and signs: Calf born with 2 heads at Florida farm Portents and signs: Lamb born with face like an 'angry old man' in Dagestan Portents and signs: 5-legged lamb born in Wales

Thousands of dead bunker fish found dead at Riverhead, New York Denise Civiletti riverheadlocal.com 2015-05-29 18:46:00 Officials are scrambling to avoid a major fish kill in the Peconic Estuary due to exceptionally low oxygen levels in the water. "We're asking for help from anyone with a haul siene net and permit to get the baitfish out of the water before there's a major fish kill like we had here several years ago," Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter said this afternoon. "If you've got the net and the permit, please call Riverhead Police to let us know," he said. "Please call 631-727-4500 to let police know you can help." The town will pay fishermen an as-yet undetermined amount per pound to make the effort economically viable, Walter said, because the market price for baitfish is very low. "This is an emergency, because if we don't get the fish out of the water right away, while they're alive, we're going to have a major die-off," the supervisor said. "Disposing of massive quantities of dead fish is a huge problem, as town officials learned several years ago," he said. "We want to do whatever we can to avoid that problem again. We need to get them out of the water immediately — like yesterday."

Swordfish kills Hawaii fisherman trying to reel it in Sputnik 2015-05-30 17:56:00 A swordfish killed a Hawaii man on Friday during a fishing accident in Kailua-Kona. At about 10:48 a.m., police received a call about a swordfish being spotted in Honokohau Harbor and a man jumping into the water with a spear gun. Randy Llanes, 47, was then seen being punctured in the chest by the sword fish, which measured about 3 feet long and weighed approximately 40 pounds. The Hawaii County Fire Department responded and attempted CPR on Llanes before transporting him to Kona Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at around 11:30 a.m.

Truck pulled out of sinkhole in south Huntsville, Alabama Claire Aiello whnt.com 2015-05-28 17:49:00 A large truck has been pulled out of a sinkhole on Marlin Drive, in the Camelot subdivision in south Huntsville. This area is just east of the intersection of Bailey Cove Road and Green Mountain Road. The truck got stuck about 8:30 a.m. Thursday. WHNT News 19's Alexandra Carter talked with the driver, who wasn't hurt, just surprised. A recovery vehicle came to pull it out of the hole, but crews had to use caution because the second vehicle was also at risk of collapsing in the hole when it got too close. Crews say it looks like the sinkhole was caused by an underground stream from Wednesday's heavy rains. Crews say they could be on the street for one to five hours as they fill in the hole with asphalt.

Dog critically injures owner in Byrneville, Indiana northescambia.com 2015-05-30 17:37:00 A Byrneville resident was airlifted to a Pensacola hospital in critical condition Friday night after being bitten by their dog. The incident happened about 8:45 p.m. on Raines Road. The 50-year old victim was reportedly attacked by their own dog, an English Mastiff, and suffered serious wounds to their arms and abdomen. Further details have not been released. An English Mastiff is a very large breed of dog, with mature males weighting between 150 and 240 pounds.

Obama signs disaster declaration over Texas storms - death toll 24 RT 2015-05-30 16:41:00 A record-setting rainfall that caused massive flooding has triggered the US President Barack Obama to sign a disaster declaration for areas in Texas affected by severe weather that killed at least 24 people and prompted mass evacuations. Barack Obama's federal aid, signed late on Friday, makes federal funding available to sufferers in Harris, Hays, and Van Zandt counties in Texas to rebuild their communities' damaged infrastructure and homes. Other counties could be reportedly added to the request later.

Comment: These Texas rains are "unprecedented"! And still no end in sight.

'UFO clouds' form in wake of Texas storms

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