| Puppet Masters |
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South Front
2015-07-24 20:17:00
Since June Islamic State has launched a series of spectacular counterattacks in a two-pronged line of effort targeting Kurdish and government forces [Bashar al-Assad] in northern Syria. Thus, ISIS launched an offensive against Hasaka City, conducting suicide attacks and seizing the government-held southwestern neighborhoods of the city. On July 16, government units and the national backup forces cut off ISIS supply route from al-Shaddadi and al-Meilabiyeh around Hasaka. It was few days after another supply route from Jisr Abyad in the southwestern side of Hasaka city had been blocked. Then the army re-took control of the main electricity transmission stations on the southern outskirts of Hasaka city. Meanwhile, from thirty to forty Islamic State militants disguised in Kurdish YPG and the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel uniforms infiltrated the Kurdish border town of Ayn al-Arab, detonating two SVBIEDs at the border crossing to Turkey and clashing with YPG forces.
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RT
2015-07-24 19:36:00
There are no grounds to keep Russia sanctions in place, said member of the French National Assembly Thierry Mariani, who heads the parliamentary delegation currently on a two-day visit to Crimea. "As the US is lifting Cuba blockades, I see no reasons for Europe to keep Russia sanctions in place," Mariani told reporters after speaking at the Crimean Parliament in Simferopol on Thursday. He added that he felt the effect of sanctions as the delegation's mobile phones stopped operating because European companies refuse to provide service in the area. The Crimean status referendum held on March 16, 2014 made it possible for the Crimean peninsula to avoid the scenario unfolding in eastern Ukraine, he said. Mariani noted that he "observed the devastation and the people's suffering with horror" while he was visiting war-torn Donbass two months ago. | |
Comment: It looks like the French delegation had some fun while in Crimea, too: Winning hearts and minds: French MP visiting Crimea buys T-shirt that says 'Obama, you're a schmuck'
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Dave Kranzler
The News Doctors 2015-07-23 15:44:00
The Shanghai Gold Exchange is the only major official physical gold trading market in the world. All trades on the exchange are settled with the exchange of ownership on physical gold bullion. Paper future contracts do not trade on the SGE. In contrast, trading occurs on the LBMA and Comex in paper gold. The Comex is de facto a 99.999% paper gold exchange for which the percentage metal backing the paper traded is minuscule. The LBMA has been rapidly "catching up" to the Comex in this regard, although on a percentage basis the LBMA experiences a higher amount physical gold exchanged than the Comex. Because of the way in which the SGE functions, gold withdrawn from the SGE measures the true demand for gold in China in a given time period. All gold - except for the gold purchased by the Peoples Bank of China - purchased by any form of end user must pass through the SGE by law. It is for this reason that "withdrawals" represent the most accurate measurement of demand for gold in China - except the Central Bank's demand. In the past two weeks, 106.1 tonnes of gold were withdrawn from the SGE. As Smaulgld.com has observed: Gold withdrawals on the Shanghai Gold Exchange the past two weeks were larger than the amount of gold delivered on COMEX during 2014 and greater than the amount of gold Germany has repatriated from the New York Fed since 2013. LINK I'll point out one minor correction to the fact above: it's more gold than the U.S. Government has been able to repatriate back to Germany. | |
Comment: Investors know that a big 'adjustment' is on its way. Time will tell how this will play out.
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Bozorgmehr Sharafedin
Reuters 2015-07-23 11:23:00
* Deal shows Iran's wishes, Rouhani says * Rouhani puts authority on the line * Blocking of deal not seen likely * Accord is 'new page in history' (Adds Saudi comment, Mogherini, context, U.S. senator) President Hassan Rouhani defended Iran's nuclear deal with world powers after it came under attack from conservatives at home, arguing on Thursday it reflected the nation's will and was "more valuable" than carping over the details. While many Iranians hope last week's agreement will bring an end to sanctions and deliver prosperity, the elite Revolutionary Guards military force and conservative lawmakers have said it endangers the country's security. "This is a new page in history," Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on television, reiterating that the deal had launched a phase of reconciliation with the outside world. Pinning his authority to the fate of the agreement, Rouhani added that this new era had not begun when it was reached in Vienna on July 14 but rather on Aug. 4, 2013, the day Iranians elected him to solve the nuclear dispute. | |
Comment: With the influx of comments from the peanut gallery, opinions are encompassing all possible reactions in a virtual global tug-a-war. Rhetoric, hearsay, threats and bias aside, in the end it appears to come down to Obama and Khamenei: Obama with the necessary veto power to keep the deal and Khamenei the necessary approval power to seal it. All the rest is tap dancing.
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Henry Kamens
New Eastern Outlook 2015-07-24 15:30:00
What is going on here in Georgia, a country of never-ending flux, reform and intrigue? Various NGO-backed youth organisations and other 'vested interests' have begun conducting protests. This is not unusual in itself, but they are working at the behest of people like Mikheil Saakashvili and Carl Bildt, who don't exactly have good reputations in Georgia. Worse, they are being funded to do so. The latest issue they are protesting about is the dispute over the borderline between Georgia proper and the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which gained a semblance of independence in the aftermath of the Russian-Georgian war of August 2008. A lineup of politicians and NGO types have closed ranks to make provocative statements about what is happening there and gain political ground. Individually and collectively they are making scripted statements like the following: "Steps that could be perceived as provocative must be avoided, as must any action that is detrimental to ongoing efforts to stabilise the situation, in an atmosphere conducive to longer-term conflict resolution and regional stability." This is the usual doublespeak, which we are left to infer things from because those things can't actually be said. The actual crux of the matter is, what is actually going on, and who is doing what to whom and why? | |
Comment: The average people are used time and time again as pawns in the power plays of oligarchs.
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Caleb Maupin
New Eastern Outlook 2015-07-24 15:11:00
On July 15, the United States military began practicing "counterinsurgency" warfare in the southwestern regions of the country. In nine different states, the Army Green Berets, Navy Seals, US Marines Special Operations Command, and Air Force Special Operations Command have been practicing scenarios involving "insurgents" within the domestic United States.The mainstream media assures us that such drills are routine, while some more alarmist elements speculate that it is based on fears of a foreign invasion. However, anyone who is paying attention should know what these drills — mysteriously called "Operation Jade Helm" — are really about. People in the United States are not happy. Incarceration and police brutality are rising, and good-paying jobs are becoming increasingly rare. Neighborhoods throughout the midwest are a mess of foreclosed homes and unemployment. Food banks across the country are reporting a record demand amid a continuing episode of mass malnutrition, here in the so-called "richest country in the world." The NSA is listening to our phone calls and reading our e-mails, and practices by police and military that were once considered torture are becoming more routine and accepted. | |
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Steven MacMillan
New Eastern Outlook 2015-07-24 15:23:00
The US is intensifying its efforts to replace Russia as one of the EU's largest energy suppliers, hoping to provide gas from the US itself to Europe, in addition to exploring regional players as possible suppliers. As Sputnik reported in an article titled: US will be Able to Supply Gas to Ukraine in Two Years: Since relations between the West and Russia have deteriorated so rapidly following the US coup in Ukraine, Western strategists have been working relentlessly to find a replacement to Russian energy supplies to the EU. In the immediate term, this is impossible, a reality that unnerves many in Washington and Brussels. But in the medium to long term, an assortment of countries could combine to replace Russian energy, or at least dramatically reduce Europe's energy dependence on Moscow. | |
Comment: The US attempt to isolate Russia has backfired on the West in general. But don't expect that to slow them down: We'll take you down with us: US fears isolation, keeps tight grip on Germany
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RT
2015-07-24 13:48:00
A former MI5 director warned Margret Thatcher's administration that allegations concerning one MP who had a "penchant for small boys" could cause the government serious political embarrassment. Investigators currently looking into the historic child sex abuse scandal found that nothing had been done about the potential threat to children, but rather the security service had warned the allegations could damage the reputation of Thatcher's government. Newly discovered files show former spy chief Sir Anthony Duff had written to Cabinet Secretary Sir Robert Armstrong in 1986 to warn him of claims made about the behavior of one MP. The new documents were analyzed by the head of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Peter Wanless and Richard Whittam QC. Other politicians whose names were mentioned in the review of new material include former Cabinet minister Leon Brittan, Thatcher's aide Peter Morrison, ex-diplomat Sir Peter Hayman and former minister William van Straubenzee. Wanless and Whittam said the documents showed that threats to children were not taken seriously. | |
Comment: The priorities of those in power are not merely "misplaced", rather they so often operate from the inhuman premise of destroying lives.
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Russia Insider
Free advice to Obama, Cameron, Merkel, et al: You are backing the mental midgets in this affair. Note giggling of viewers in the background.2015-07-24 12:51:00
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Comment: Wow, evil Putin and people gladly swallow this BS.
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Patrick Maguire & Tom Batchelor
Daily Express, UK 2015-07-22 10:17:00
The former prime minister warned the party not to veer to the left as a shock poll put the socialist firebrand on course for victory. A sensational YouGov survey of Labour members and supporters found the veteran backbencher has secured the backing of almost half the electorate. The scale of the crisis facing the party prompted Mr Blair to warn Labour against a lurch to the left. Giving a speech this morning, he launched a scathing attack on the socialist leadership hopeful, saying: "People who say their heart is with Corbyn, get a transplant." Comment: Says the Tin Man! He said: Comment: The 'values' of modernity: economic debt slavery, illegal wars of aggression, and rampant nihilistic narcissism (led and instigated by pure psychopathy). Who would ever want to abandon such values? | |
Comment: That's an interesting bluff on the Tories' part. Their real fears of Corbyn leading the opposition is betrayed by the fact that the British media has been activated to 'nail him to the wall'.
As for Blair, 'get a heart transplant' is an interesting turn of phrase from the man who pretty much ripped the heart of the old British Labour Party and turned it into a heartless Neo-Liberal, NeoCon supporter of ruthless Western empire. | |
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Finian Cunningham
Sputnik 2015-07-23 23:04:00
There seems little doubt that Western so-called democracies are gravitating toward increasingly autocratic politics. Executive power is being exercised by secret policy formulation, to be imposed on the electorate, or on other countries, with no regard for democratic oversight. Western states are once again flirting with fascism - as in earlier dark periods over the past century. Here is a recent snapshot of the disturbing trend. Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond this week openly voiced his frustration with democratic processes something that is "cumbersome" for the pursuit of foreign military objectives. | |
Comment: In the not-to-distant future, there will be a clash of civilizations in unprecedented scale.
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Marjorie Cohn
truthdig 2015-07-22 22:43:00
After Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush declared the Philippines a second front in the war on terror ("Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines"). The Philippine government used this as an opportunity to escalate its war against Muslim separatists and other individuals and organizations opposing the policies of the government. The egregious human rights violations committed by the Philippine military and paramilitary forces are some of the most underreported atrocities in the media today. The International Peoples' Tribunal on Crimes Against the Filipino People, held July 16-18 in Washington, D.C., drew upward of 300 people. An international panel of seven jurors heard two days of testimony from 32 witnesses, many of whom had been tortured, arbitrarily detained and forcibly evicted from their land. Some testified to being present when their loved ones, including children, were gunned down by the Philippine military or paramilitary. I testified as an expert witness on international human rights violations in the Philippines, many of which were aided and abetted by the U.S. government. | |
Comment: Another country in a sad state affairs due to US interference.
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Pepe Escobar
RT 2015-07-23 21:37:00
You may have heard of the N-11. Yes, it's another clever Goldman Sachs concoction, to the benefit of that prized specimen - the "global investor". These are the next BRICS, the new emerging powers. The N-11 is made up of: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam. Some of these upstarts may even become members of the increasingly assertive BRICS. The moment the sanctions regime vanishes, arguably sometime in early 2016, Iran will become the hottest N-11 in the world. It's very hard to beat its roll call of assets: a consumer market of more than 80 million, largely well educated people; a human capital mix that is even more attractive than Turkey; and in the all-important energy front, a combination of as much oil as Saudi Arabia, as much gas as Russia, and arguably more mineral resources than Australia. And soon back with a vengeance in the global market. Talk about an economic game-changer. | |
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| Society's Child |
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M. Alex Johnson and Jacquellena Carrero
NBC News 2015-07-22 15:35:00
A United Airlines jet with 156 people aboard was diverted Wednesday to Grand Junction, Colorado, after at least six people became ill, United and fire officials said. One person was being treated at a hospital and five others reported nausea and headaches after oxygen masks deployed on UAL Flight 447 from Denver to Los Angeles, an Airbus A320, the Grand Junction Fire Department told NBC News. Shawn Montgomery, a spokesman for the fire department, said the hospitalization was likely a precaution because of the patient's medical history. United said in a statement that the diversion was "due to a medical issue onboard." All passengers were evacuated safely and were to be flown to Los Angeles on a different plane, it said. | |
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Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge 2015-07-23 16:13:00
Just in case you still harbored any doubt that absolutely zero lessons were learned from the cataclysmic financial collapse of 2008/09. We learn from the New York Times that: | |
Comment: Not holding criminals accountable, and in fact encouraging their crimes, is a sure-fire way to ruin a society. Don't be surprised if the inevitable unrest is used to ram a fascist regime down everyone's throats:
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David Swanson
World Beyond War 2015-07-23 00:00:00
George Clooney is being paid by the world's top two war profiteers, Lockheed-Martin and Boeing, to oppose war profiteering by Africans disloyal to the U.S. government's agenda. Way back yonder before World War II, war profiteering was widely frowned on in the United States. Those of us trying to bring back that attitude, and working for barely-funded peace organizations, ought to be thrilled when a wealthy celebrity like George Clooney decides to take on war profiteering, and the corporate media laps it up. "Real leverage for peace and human rights will come when the people who benefit from war will pay a price for the damage they cause," said Clooney — without encountering anything like the blowback Donald Trump received when he criticized John McCain. Really, is that all it takes to give peace a chance, a celebrity? Will the media now cover the matter of who funds opponents of the Iran deal, and who funds supporters of the wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, etc.? Well, no, not really. | |
Comment: George Clooney epitomizes the cognitive dissonance so evident in Hollywood today. On one hand he produces and stars in the consciousness-raising film Syriana about the destructive political, economic and social influence of Western oil industry and intelligence agency interests on the Middle East. And on the other, Clooney has now effectively become a paid shill for the military-industrial-complex! Maybe Matt Damon can sit him down and explain the profound hypocrisy and contradictions inherent in Clooney's new criminal advocacy. But how do you explain something to someone who seems so hopelessly out of touch with reality?
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Dr. Glen Barry
EcoInternet 2015-07-18 13:54:00
The global environment collapses as in the pursuit of short-term growth, humanity overruns natural ecosystems including the atmosphere that make Earth habitable. Together we urgently address inequity, climate change, overpopulation and natural ecosystem loss or alone we each face the horrors of economic, social, and ecological collapse. | |
Comment: While the author makes some good points, understanding psychopathy will be required in order to implement any change to our society:
Political Ponerology | |
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RT
2015-07-24 14:02:00
Relatives of individuals who have died in police custody have called on Home Secretary Theresa May to involve them in a newly announced independent review. The mother of Olaseni Lewis, a 23-year-old who died in a London psychiatric hospital after being restrained by police officers, said the review must include input from family members if it is to be anything more than an "exercise in public relations." May will announce an independent probe into deaths and serious incidents in police custody on Thursday in a bid to restore public confidence in the police. The review will look at events leading up to and following fatalities in police care, with particular focus on the use of restraint, suicides, and access to mental health facilities. The number of suicides following release from police custody for 2013-2014 is at its highest in 10 years, with 68 people killing themselves within two days of leaving custody.
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Paul Craig Roberts
Institute for Political Economy 2015-07-23 21:33:00
How can the life of such a man Be in the palm of some fool's hand? To see him obviously framed Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land Where justice is a game.—Bob Dylan, "Hurricane" Attorney John W. Whitehead opens a recent posting (see below) on his Rutherford Institute website with these words from a song by Bob Dylan. Why don't all of us feel ashamed? Why only Bob Dylan? I wonder how many of Bob Dylan's fans understand what he is telling them. American justice has nothing to do with innocence or guilt. It only has to do with the prosecutor's conviction rate, which builds his political career. Considering the gullibility of the American people, American jurors are the last people to whom an innocent defendant should trust his fate. The jury will betray the innocent almost every time. As Lawrence Stratton and I show in our book (2000, 2008) there is no justice in America. We titled our book, "How the Law Was Lost". It is a description of how the protective features in law that made law a shield of the innocent was transformed over time into a weapon in the hands of the government, a weapon used against the people. The loss of law as a shield occurred prior to 9/11, which "our representative government" used to construct a police state. The marketing department of our publisher did not appreciate our title and instead came up with The Tyranny of Good Intentions. We asked what this title meant. The marketing department answered that we showed that the war on crime, which gave us the abuses of RICO, the war on child abusers, which gave us show trials of total innocents that bested Joseph Stalin's show trials of the heroes of the Bolshevik Revolution, and the war on drugs, which gave "Freedom and Democracy America" broken families and by far the highest incarceration rate in the world all resulted from good intentions to combat crime, to combat drugs, and to combat child abuse. The publisher's title apparently succeeded, because 15 years later the book is still in print. It has sold enough copies over these years that, had the sales occurred upon publication would have made the book a "best seller." The book, had it been a best seller, would have gained more attention, and perhaps law schools and bar associations could have used it to hold the police state at bay. | |
Comment: Authoritarian followers, egged on by their psychopathic leaders. are the most logical explanation for the dismal state of affairs:
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Winning hearts and minds: French MP visiting Crimea buys T-shirt that says 'Obama, you're a schmuck'
RT
2015-07-24 12:30:00
One of the French parliamentarians visiting Crimea has spoken his mind through fashion. Senator Yves Pozzo di Borgo from the center-right UDI party has acquired a T-shirt with Putin and Obama portraits, the caption saying: "Obama, you're a schmuck." The senator, currently on a two-day visit to Crimea, was strolling along a picturesque quay when he reportedly came across an article of clothing that spoke for itself. Yves Pozzo di Borgo (who is also vice-president of the French-Russian Friendship Group of the Senate and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and OSCE) immediately snapped the T-shirt up and even tried it on, Lifenews reported. | |
Comment: Will Yves win hearts and minds back in France with this stunt?
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RT
2015-07-24 12:17:00
Three people have been killed and seven others injured after a man opened fire at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. One of the deceased is the suspect, who turned the gun on himself. According to witnesses the man opened fire some 20 minutes into the movie Train Wreck, which was being screened at the Grand Theatre in in Lafayette. "He wasn't saying anything. I didn't hear anybody screaming either," a witness told The Advertiser, describing the shooter as "an older white man." Comment: Update: 59 year-old John Russell Houser has been identified as the suspected lone gunman, Louisiana police announced on Friday. The shooter eventually turned the gun on himself, before authorities were able to approach him. | |
Comment: Another tragedy in America. This is only going to get worse as social and economic stress increases.
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John Vibes
The Free Thought Project 2015-07-23 03:17:00
A woman was arrested this week and had her child taken from her after she called 9-1-1 to report that she was being attacked by her husband. When police arrived on the scene just after noon on Tuesday, they found a man attempting to strangle his wife in the presence of a small child. The man was taken into police custody, but they did not stop there. They also attempted to place the child in government custody, and when the mother objected to them taking away her child, they arrested her as well. As any caring mother would do, the woman attempted to prevent the police from stealing her baby, at which point they became violent with her, even using a stun gun on her. The police said that the woman became "combative" and attempted to grab the officer's pepper spray, but she was fully within her rights trying to save her child from a government kidnapping. If the police would not have tried to take her child away, the situation would have likely ended with the abusive husband getting arrested, as it should have. Now the concerned mother is facing felony charges of disarming a police officer, child neglect, as well as resisting arrest and obstructing. Sanilac County Sheriff Gary Biniecki made a statement after the incident, saying that"This case is a reminder that this type of violent encounter can happen anywhere at any time. The situation could have had a tragic outcome and goes to show you how important having the right tools to do the job is, such as tasers." The police say that the child was in danger, even after the father was subdued, but there is no proof or indication that the mother was unfit to take care of her child in any way. Sadly, this child is now likely to become a ward of the state whose track record "fostering" children is horrifying. | |
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RT
2015-07-22 13:49:00
Adverts that use sexually attractive people to plug a product may have the opposite of the intended effect and actually put customers off buying goods, a new study has shown. Despite the advertising adage "sex sells," customers can be so distracted by the sexualized content of adverts that they fail to notice the products involved. The study found that shoppers are less likely to remember adverts featuring sexually explicit content, violence or other non-family friendly material than more benign adverts. Violence was also likely to make viewers tune out of the adverts. Adverts with violence are more likely to be forgotten and be received less favorably when compared with other brands the study found. Ohio State University psychologist Professor Brad Bushman said the findings of their study were hugely relevant to advertising agencies. "Our findings have tremendous applied significance, especially for advertisers. "Sex and violence do not sell, and in fact they may even backfire by impairing memory, attitudes and buying intentions for advertised products. Advertisers should think twice about sponsoring violent and sexual programs, and about using these themes in their ads," he added. | |
Comment: Today, sexual imagery is used to sell almost everything; sexualizing women being the chief medium. We see it on billboards, buildings, television and magazines, intimating these images (women) are objects, not people. Maybe consumers just aren't 'buying it' anymore.
See also: Modern Music: Promoting pedophilia to adults and sexual debauchery to children | |
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Clifton Adcock
Oklahoma Watch 2015-07-15 00:00:00
Funds and property seized by Oklahoma law enforcement agencies have gone missing or have been used for personal or other improper purposes, state audit records reveal. Among the violations were using seized money to pay on a prosecutor's student loans and allowing a prosecutor to live rent-free in a confiscated house for years, records show. The cases were cited in a state commission hearing Tuesday in which authorities objected to new legislation aimed at curbing abuses of civil asset forfeiture by state and local law enforcement agencies. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Kyle Loveless, R-Oklahoma City, has spurred heated opposition from district attorneys and sheriffs. Forfeiture involves law enforcement agencies seizing private property and money believed to have been used in drug trafficking or other crimes. After the assets are forfeited in court, authorities can keep the money or property even when the suspect is never convicted or charged. | |
Comment: The so-called war on drugs has been a great excuse to imprison poor people for minor offenses and grab people's property using insubstantial evidence for the benefit of police, local governments and the prison industrial complex.
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| Secret History |
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New Scientist
2015-07-23 00:00:00
The first Europeans to penetrate the Amazon rainforests reported cities, roads and fertile fields along the banks of its major rivers. "There was one town that stretched for 15 miles without any space from house to house, which was a marvellous thing to behold," wrote Gaspar de Carvajal, chronicler of explorer and conquistador Francisco de Orellana in 1542. "The land is as fertile and as normal in appearance as our Spain." Such tales were long dismissed as fantasies, not least because teeming cities were never seen or talked about again. But it now seems the chroniclers were right all along. It is our modern vision of a pristine rainforest wilderness that turns out to be the dream. What is today one of the largest tracts of rainforest in the world was, until little more than 500 years ago, a landscape dominated by human activity, according to a review of the evidence by Charles Clement of Brazil's National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus, and his colleagues. | |
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| Science & Technology |
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Kerry Sheridan
Phys.org 2015-07-23 00:00:00
Astronomers hunting for another Earth have found what may be the closest match yet, a potentially rocky planet circling its star at the same distance as the Earth orbits the Sun, NASA said Thursday. Not only is this planet squarely in the Goldilocks zone—where life could exist because it is neither too hot nor too cold to support liquid water—its star looks like an older cousin of our Sun, the US space agency said. That means the planet, which is 1,400 light-years away, could offer a glimpse into the Earth's apocalyptic future, scientists said. Known as Kepler 452b, the planet was detected by the US space agency's Kepler Space Telescope, which has been hunting for other worlds like ours since 2009. "Kepler 452b is orbiting a close cousin of our Sun, but one that is 1.5 billion years older," NASA said in a statement. | |
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| Earth Changes |
An adult pygmy sperm whale was found dead Wednesday morning on the shores of on Maui. According to David Schofield of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA's Marine Mammal Response Network responded to reports of the beached whale at around 6:30 a.m. By the time crews arrived, the 985-pound whale was confirmed dead. A Hawaiian cultural practitioner was called to perform a blessing over the whale, Schofield said, before crews transported the carcass to Oahu via Aloha Air Cargo, where it was then taken to Hawaii Pacific University. At approximately 10:30 p.m. that night, a necropsy was performed and officials determined the animal appeared healthy, meaning there were no clear signs of disease. However, there was a fracture near the whale's jaw area. | |
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Local governments across Inner Mongolia are taking steps to try to battle a massive locust infestation said to be taking over large parts of the region. Both chemical and biological means are being used to fight the locusts. Around 200-thousand hectares of farmland has come under attack since Friday. Bateer, a local grassland management official in the city of Chifeng, says this is something they have to cope with on an annual basis. | |
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youtube.com
2015-07-21 17:22:00
Thousands of locusts have descended on Crimea, where they're devouring crops and threatening to destroy the region's entire agricultural output this summer. The insects have already spread over 6,000 hectares of farmland, prompting the Crimean government to declare a state of emergency in three districts.
Source: Associated Press | ||
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Kirstie McCrum
Daily Mirror, UK 2015-07-24 16:40:00
The downpours hitting the country this week have caused chaos, and the economic costs are still going up for many China has been beaten by unbelievable rainstorms for the last three days - and these flood images show the shocking aftermath of all of that precipitation. But although there has been destruction and shocking downpours, these images show that people are, for the most part, getting in with real life in the best way they can. The continuous rainstorms have affected 360,700 people in 14 counties, districts and cities in central China's Hubei province since Wednesday, the provincial civil affairs department said. In Wuhan, capital of Hubei, more than 10cm fell on Thursday, while outside of the city, as about 36,950 hectares of cropland had been damaged and 145 houses had collapsed.
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youtube.com
2015-07-24 16:22:00
Rainstorms continued to wreak havoc in China Thursday, leaving six people dead and four others missing after rain-triggered floods in the eastern Fujian Province. Continuous downpours that started on Sunday battered the western and central parts of Fujian, affecting 420,000 people and forcing more than 171,000 to evacuate.
Source: New China TV | ||
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A carefully planned, 115-day scientific expedition on the Canadian icebreaker CCGS Amundsen has been put on hold as the vessel was called to help resupply ships navigate heavy ice on the eastern side of Hudson Bay. "Obviously it has a large impact on us," says Martin Fortier, executive director of ArcticNet, which coordinates research on the vessel. "It's a frustrating situation." During the summer, ArcticNet utilizes the Amundsen as a floating research center, running experiments 24 hours a day. | |
Comment: All of which is more than a little reminiscent of a similar fiasco in the Antarctic last year: Ship of fools: Icebound expeditioners apologise for Antarctic rescue mission
'Stuck in our own experiment': Leader of trapped team insists polar ice is melting against evidence of his own experience | |
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Around 1,000 people were evacuated from areas around the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan, after floods and mudflow swept through residential street |
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