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Henry Giroux
Counterpunch 2015-08-21 00:00:00
Authoritarianism in the American collective psyche and in what might be called traditional narratives of historical memory is always viewed as existing elsewhere. Viewed as an alien and demagogic political system, it is primarily understood as a mode of governance associated with the dictatorships in Latin America in the 1970s and, of course, in its most vile extremes, with Hitler's poisonous Nazi rule and Mussolini's fascist state in the 1930s and 1940s. These were and are societies that idealized war, soldiers, nationalism, militarism, political certainty, fallen warriors, racial cleansing, and a dogmatic allegiance to the homeland.[i] Comment: Sounds familiar:
Education and the media were the propaganda tools of authoritarianism, merging fascist and religious symbols with the language of God, family, and country, and were integral to promoting servility and conformity among the populace. This script is well known to the American public and it has been played out in films, popular culture, museums, the mainstream media, and other cultural apparatuses. Historical memory that posits the threat of the return of an updated authoritarianism turns the potential threat of the return of authoritarianism into dead memory. Hence, any totalitarian mode of governance is now treated as a relic of a sealed past that bears no relationship to the present. The need to retell the story of totalitarianism becomes a frozen lesson in history rather than a narrative necessary to understanding the present. | ||
Comment: Totalitarianism and the police state have already arrived in America and it's not just the overtly crazy Republican presidential candidates that are driving it; the more covert Democrats have been driving it under the Obama regime for the past 8 years. It doesn't look the same as the totalitarianism of the past, but the results are the same: the destruction of freedom, justice, and the concern for the well-being of our fellow humans. With psychopaths in power, the names change, but the contempt for humanity and human decency remains the same. Unfortunately, history appears to be repeating itself and it looks like we're in for a bumpy ride.
For more information on the subject of psychopaths in power, read Political Ponerology:
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John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute 2015-08-18 19:55:00
Saddled with a corporate media that marches in lockstep with the government, elected officials who dance to the tune of their corporate benefactors, and a court system that serves to maintain order rather than mete out justice, Americans often feel as if they have no voice, no authority and no recourse when it comes to holding government officials accountable and combatting rampant corruption and injustice. We're impotent in the face of SWAT teams that break down doors and leave toddlers scarred for life. We're helpless to prevent police shootings that leave unarmed citizens dead for no other reason than the police officer involved felt "threatened." We shrug dismissively over the plight of fellow citizens who have their heads cracked, their bodies broken and their rights violated for failing to jump to attention when a police officer issues an order. And we fail to care about the thousands of individuals who have been punished with extreme sentences for nonviolent offenses and are forced to spend their lives asmodern-day slaves in bondage to private prisons and the profit-driven corporations they serve. Make no mistake about it: virtually anything and everything is a crime nowadays (feeding the birds, growing vegetables in your front yard, etc.) to such an extent that if a prosecutor, police officer and judge were so inclined, you could be locked up for any inane reason. This is tyranny dressed up in the official garb of the police state. It is the self-righteous, heavy-handed arm of the law being used as a decoy to divert your attention to the so-called criminals in your midst (the fisherman who threw back small fish into the ocean, the mother who let her child walk to the playground alone, the pastor holding Bible studies in his backyard) so that you don't focus on the criminal behavior being perpetrated by the government (bribery, cronyism, electoral fraud, slush funds, graft, pork, theft, and on and on). In the face of such abject injustice, outright corruption and overt inequality, it's hard to feel empowered to believe the average citizen can make a difference. It's hard to persuade anyone to stand against tyranny when all you can promise them as a reward is persecution, prosecution and a one-way trip to the morgue. And when the outcome seems to be a foregone conclusion—the government always wins—it can seem pointless, even foolhardy, to dare to challenge the system. As such, it's far easier to buy into the political process, even though elections amount to nothing of consequence. There are also those who subscribe to the notion that an armed revolution is the only thing that will save America. These armed resistors are making themselves easy targets and will be the first to be taken down by militarized police who are trained to kill and armed to the teeth with every kind of weapon imaginable, from grenade launchers and sniper rifles to armored vehicles and Black Hawk helicopters. So how do you not only push back against the police state's bureaucracy, corruption and cruelty but also launch a counterrevolution aimed at reclaiming control over the government using nonviolent means? | |
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| Puppet Masters |
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Prof. James Petras
Global Research 2015-08-22 20:30:00
2015 has become a year of living dangerously. Wars are spreading across the globe. Wars are escalating as new countries are bombed and the old are ravaged with ever greater intensity. Countries, where relatively peaceful changes had taken place through recent elections, are now on the verge of civil wars. These are wars without victors, but plenty of losers; wars that don't end; wars where imperial occupations are faced with prolonged resistance. There are never-ending torrents of war refugees flooding across borders. Desperate people are detained, degraded and criminalized for being the survivors and victims of imperial invasions. Now major nuclear powers face off in Europe and Asia: NATO versus Russia, US-Japan versus China. Will these streams of blood and wars converge into one radiated wilderness drained of its precious life blood? | |
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Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation 2015-08-23 20:18:00
When visitors arrive it is a basic norm to extend hospitality. But for Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States next month, the American response seems to be one of extending sumptuous hostility. No doubt, US President Barack Obama will greet his guest with smiles and handshakes, red carpet and banquet at the White House. However, the official American reception barely conceals the seething hostility that Washington is harbouring for the Chinese leader. Duplicitous, schizoid, two-faced, are some of the phrases to describe Washington's mindset. Cast your mind back to how Obama was courteously received when he visited Beijing in November 2014. The American leader addressed the Great Hall of the People, with gratitude to President Xi, thanking him for the «extraordinary hospitality that you and the Chinese people have shown to me on this state visit». Obama went on to say: «And it is a fact that when we work together, it's good for the United States, it's good for China, and it is good for the world». Now that President Xi is visiting the US on his first state visit, the American «reception» is certainly going to be «extraordinary» - but not in a complimentary meaning. | |
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Al-Awsat
2015-08-24 15:12:00
Ground troops from the United Arab Emirates have landed in the central Yemeni province of Ma'rib to support forces loyal to Yemen's government in their fight against the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents, sources say. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition targeting the Houthis in Yemen, which includes the UAE, confirmed that Emirati forces have arrived in the central oil-rich province. "What is happening in Ma'rib is an on-the-ground operation to support Yemeni forces comprising the Popular Resistance [a coalition of volunteer forces loyal to the government] and the Yemeni army," Asiri said. "They are being supported by air cover [from the coalition] as well as information and experts on the ground," he added. | |
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Michael Snyder
Economic Collapse Blog 2015-08-24 15:34:00
We witnessed something truly historic happen on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 530 points, and that followed a 358 point crash on Thursday. When you add those two days together, the total two day stock market crash that we just witnessed comes to a grand total of 888 points, which is larger than any one day stock market crash in U.S. history. It is also interesting to note that this 888 point crash comes in the 8th month of our calendar. Perhaps that is just a coincidence, and perhaps it is not. It just struck me as being noteworthy. This is the first time that the Dow has dropped by more than 300 points on two consecutive days since November 2008, and we all remember what was happening back then. Overall, this was the worst week for the Dow in four years, and there have only been five other months throughout history when the Dow has fallen by more than a thousand points (the most recent being October 2008). Of course we still have six more trading days left in August, so there is plenty of time remaining for even more carnage. | |
Comment: Things are not looking too hot. The weather has long since gone bonkers, the victims of Western imperialism are on the doorstep, and the global economy is thrashing. Check out:
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Ziad Fadel
Syrian Perspective 2015-08-22 17:12:00
It had to happen, sooner or later. The seeming diffidence of the Syrian brass had to transform into a bolder and more pugnacious articulation of Syria's right to self-defense. With Russia now inevitably bound to the Syrian government for reasons discussed at length on our website; and Iran, now dazzled by a new role to play in regional politics; the green light turned on, finally, with Moscow withdrawing all restrictions on the use of advanced weaponry sold to the Syrian military. If you want to know what the former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Martin Dempsey, meant when he told Congress Syria had a "robust air defense system", the Zionists just found out for themselves. | |
Comment: If this is true the Israeli military has certainly been begging for just this kind of response. One would imagine that they could be hoping for Syria to directly confront them, in order to spin a narrative that justifies a more open invasion. But, for the time being, terrorists will be used for that purpose. See:
Israeli airstrikes leave 6 Syrians dead - Netanyahu blames Iran | |
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RT
2015-08-24 07:12:00
The Shanghai composite has closed down 8.5 percent in a brutal selloff, as Beijing's measures have failed to ease investor concerns about the slowdown of the world's second-largest economy. China's stocks are now down for the year after being up 60 percent in June.
"This is a real disaster and it seems nothing can stop it," Chen Gang, Shanghai-based chief investment officer at Heqitongyi Asset Management Co., told Bloomberg. "If we don't cut holdings ourselves, the fund faces risk of forced closure. Many newly-started private funds suffered that recently. I hope we can survive." Asian markets followed China with a broad selloff. | ||
Comment: Is this another step towards a global economic meltdown? While the unwitting public is being lulled into complacency, those 'in the know' are preparing for what lies ahead: Signs that the American elite are feverishly preparing for something BIG. See also:
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Associated Press
2015-08-22 17:19:00
Israeli airstrikes in southern Syria killed six people and wounded seven, Syrian state TV reported Friday, in retaliation for a rocket attack on Israel the previous day that Israeli officials blamed on militants backed by Iran. Four rockets exploded in an open field in northern Galilee on Thursday. There were no injuries but it was the first time since the 1973 Mideast war that rockets from Syrian territory have slammed into Israel. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Syrian state TV said an Israeli drone strike on Friday targeted a "civilian car" close to a busy market in the village of Kom, killing five people. Ahmad Sheikh Abdul-Qader, governor of the southern region of Quneitra, said the attack happened on the road leading to the village of Khan Arnabeh, near Kom, and destroyed the car. | |
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Uri Avnery
Opednews 2015-08-23 21:56:00
ONE HAS to choose: Binyamin Netanyahu is either incredibly shrewd or incredibly foolish. Take his Iran policy. Actually, there is little to choose from. Netanyahu has no other policy to speak of. According to him, Iran constitutes a mortal danger to Israel. If it obtains a nuclear weapon, God forbid, it will use it to annihilate Israel. It must be stopped by any means, preferably by American armed intervention. This may be quite wrong (as I believe). But it makes sense. So what did Netanyahu do? FOR YEARS, he alarmed the world. Every day the cry went out: Save Israel! Prevent the destruction of the Jewish State! Prevent a Second Holocaust! Prevent Iran from producing The Bomb! The world did not take any notice. It was busy with many other matters. There are crises galore everywhere, all the time. Economic depressions. Plagues. The warming of the earth. But Netanyahu did not let off. He used every rostrum, from the Knesset to the United States Congress, to shout his message. At long last, a weary world paid heed. OK, the Jews warn of the Iranian bomb? So let's do something to prevent it. Not just something. No. Let's get all the great powers of the world together to compel Iran to end this nonsense. And they did. The USA, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- practically the whole world -- commanded Iran to start negotiations. There was only one single issue: preventing Iran from getting The Bomb. Nothing else mattered. Compared to this giant issue, everything else was insignificant. And then something unexpected happened. Iran's political system replaced their loudmouth president with a very different one: a soft-spoken, eminently reasonable politician. Negotiations started, and Iran sent an even more soft-spoken, eminently reasonable diplomat to conduct them. The foreign ministers of the world were enchanted. After playing a little hard-to-get, Iran accepted an agreement. The World got, more or less, everything it wanted. No bomb for a long time. Very intrusive inspection procedures. (They were not really needed. Up-to-date espionage techniques can quickly detect any movements toward a bomb.) EVERYBODY WAS happy. Everybody, that is, except Netanyahu. He was furious. What kind of an agreement is this? | |
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| Society's Child |
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Travis Gettys
Raw Story 2015-08-24 18:43:00
Police terrorized a naked woman and her children at gunpoint last week during a no-knock raid on the wrong apartment. Marianne Diaz said she was awakened about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday by SWAT officers knocking down the door to her Worcester, Massachusetts, apartment as officers wearing helmets and shields burst inside and pointed "big guns" at her head, reported the Telegram & Gazette. "Stop f*cking crying and take care of your f*cking kids," one officer commanded, Diaz said. Diaz said her 7-year-old daughter was shaking in terror as she held her 18-month-old daughter in her lap, and she said officers would not allow her to cover up for about 10 minutes — after a woman officer frisked her nude body. "It was terrorizing, and the worst thing I've ever been through in my life," Diaz told WBZ-TV. "They were loud, vulgar and disgusting in behavior." | |
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Miri Wood
Syria News 2015-08-22 14:29:00
Syrian archaeologist Dr. Khaled al Asaad, Director of Antiquities in Palmyra, was brutally murdered on 18 August 2015, his body tied to a traffic light pole, his severed head between his feet. The rabid proxy army of the imperialist powers so hate science and beauty, that they added to their perversity by keeping his glasses on his head. He was killed by the takfiri savages who have been funded, armed, and trained by the US, Britain, France, and their rabid underlings in the Levant and the Gulf. A sign affixed to his body listed his crimes as including being a passionate patriot, and member of the Ba'ath Party [since 1954, just a few years after the Syrian people threw out the French occupiers]. One Syrian described his depraved murder as part of an "organized series of crimes against our history to wipe out any connection with our past." Those words expose the perverse efficiency of cultural genocide: Slaughtering the past, present, and future, simultaneously. | ||
Comment: For futher reading on the US-IS connection check out Is ISIS a creation of the US government? Do large hairy mammals relieve themselves in the woods?
Also: Iraqi commander: Tapped ISIS communications confirm US aid of arms and food | ||
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Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge 2015-08-24 11:22:00
Three weeks ago, when we last looked at the collapse in trade along what may be the most trafficked route involving China, i.e., from Asia to Northern Europe, we noted that while that particular shipping freight rate Europe had crashed some 23% on just one week, there was some good news: at least the Baltic Dry index was still inexplicably rising, and at last check it was hovering just above 1,100. That is no longer the case, and just as with everything else in recent months, the Baltic Dry dead cat bounce is now over, with the BDIY topping out just above 1200 on August 4, and now back in triple digit territory, rapidly sliding back to the reality of recent record lows which a few months ago we suggested hinted that much more is wrong with global trade, and the global economy, than artificially manipulated stock markets would admit. More importantly, a major source of confusion appears to have been resolved. Recall that as we noted on August 3, "many were wondering how it was possible that with accelerating deterioration across all Chinese asset classes, not to mention the bursting of various asset bubbles, could global shippers demand increasingly higher freight rates, an indication of either a tight transportation market or a jump in commodity demand, neither of which seemed credible. We may have the answer." | |
Comment: Here is a comment on the article by Mac Salvo at SHTFPlan.com:
It isn't just trade which is collapsing. Currencies around the world in emerging market countries have been in serious decline for over six months and global stock markets have taken a serious turn for the worst since China announced their currency devaluations and it is continuing today. Oil and other commodities have also been crashing over the last year or so as well, which helps to confirm that the global trade freefall is indeed real.
Other significant writers such as Bill Holter at Jim Sinclair's Mineset are giving warning to prepare now, if you are able, for what is coming ahead because he predicts the credit system is going to seize up and it might seize up sooner than one might think.
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RT
2015-08-24 03:25:00
A massive fire has engulfed a warehouse at a steel plant located near Tokyo's Haneda Airport, sending thick black smoke into the air. A fire department official confirmed that the heavy smoke was coming from a major fire at the facility which is owned by steelmaking giant Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal.
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Comment: This is the latest in a spate of recent industrial related explosions and fires. Yesterday near Tokyo there was a large explosion at a US military base, which is reportedto have housed petroleum products and ammunition. These follow explosions in east China's Shandong Province at a chemical plant and petrochemical factory, as well as the recent apocalyptic scenes following massive explosions at the Chinese port of Tianjin.
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| Secret History |
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| Science & Technology |
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| Earth Changes |
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Tim Howard
The Daily Examiner 2015-08-25 20:35:00
Local authorities will leave the stinking carcass of a whale washed up on Back Beach at Angourie to the ghost crabs and other organisms. Media officer for the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage Lawrence Orel said National Parks and Wildlife Service rangers investigating the scene had decided to let nature take its course. The dead whale, which has been partially eaten by sharks, washed up on the beach on Saturday. Mr Orel said the ghost crabs and other beach organisms would quickly finish what the sharks had started. "It's already partially buried by the natural action on the beach," he said. "There's only two or three square metres of it still visible." Mr Orel said the evidence of shark activity on the whale's body had to be expected. | |
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Press TV
2015-08-24 20:27:00
The decomposing body of a whale is washed up on a beach in southern Iran, with experts providing conflicting accounts on why the giant creature has died. Iranian media said Monday that the animal was spotted a few days ago on a beach near the port city of Dayyer in southwestern province of Bushehr, a first such incidence in decades in the gas-rich area. Experts have begun assessing how the animal had actually died while people were also pondering what would be the best way to dispose of the large beast. The head of the local environment department said biometric and sampling tests have been carried out on the carcass of the whale, showing that the animal died after hitting a big vessel. Abdullah Najafi did not elaborate whether there were broken bones or hemorrhaging visible on the body of the whale which could prove a ship strike. He said the animal is 13.30 meter long (43.6 feet) and has a weight of around 8 tons. | |
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Daily Sabah
2015-08-24 18:47:00
Seven people were killed, 17 were injured and three were lost in floods and mudslides in Turkey's northeastern province of Artvin, the province's governor Kemal Cirit said on Monday. Kemal Cirit said, one of the lost was a child, and the rescue teams are currently trying to reach the other two. "Since 12 p.m. today [Monday], our coastal regions, especially Hopa, have received a lot of rain. This terriantial rain has caused mudslides, and 8 people lost their lives in the center of Hopa and its three villages," Cirit had told a private news channel. But talking at the governorate's press meeting later on the evening, Cirit stated that seven people-not eight- had died in the floods and three had gone missing. The governor also said that 17 people were injured, five of whom were transferred to Rize State hospital. | |
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The Peninsula (Qatar)
2015-08-24 16:56:00
The ready to harvest major and minor crops, including cotton, paddy, chilly and vegetables worth almost Rs85bn ($0.85bn) have been completely washed out by the rain and floods in Sindh, an official of Sindh Abadgar Board said yesterday. "Almost all the summer crops planted on 2.1 million acres of riverine land on two sides of the Indus River were ready for the harvest," the president of Sindh Abadgar Board Abdul Majeed Nizamani told, adding that rains and floods wiped out the standing crops completely. The average value of the washed out crops comes to around Rs40,000 acre, which brings the total cost to around Rs85bn. A part of the crops planted on mainstream agriculture lands in the province have also been impacted, the farmers added. | |
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Zach Dennis
Palm Beach Post 2015-08-24 16:11:00
A sinkhole in a Groveland neighborhood led to one person evacuating and almost forced a local middle school to close their doors after a boil-water alert was issued. The sinkhole opened on Sunday afternoon, swallowing up parts of the street and driveway of a home in this central Florida town, police said. It measured at 45 feet wide and 65 feet deep and ruptured a water main, which caused the hole to fill with water, WFTV reported. Sgt. Stephanie Crews of the Groveland Police Department said no one was injured, but one person had to be evacuated. The sinkhole is estimated to stop shifting by Monday morning, WFTV added, and once that happens, crews will be able to cap off the water main and restore service to the customers that were affected.
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The Spartanburg County Coroner's Office was on scene of a dog attack Saturday night. Jamie Nelson, director of Spartanburg County Environmental Enforcement, said a dog attack occurred at a residence on Beverly Hills Drive. Nelson said three individuals were attacked during the incident. Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said 25-year-old Porsche Nicole Cartee was pronounced dead at the scene. Clevenger said statements from witnesses indicate Cartee suffered trauma to her body during the attack. On Sunday, Clevenger said an examination revealed the cause of death to be dog bites to the head and body. Clevenger identified the dog as a pit bull and said two other family member were injured in the incident. Nelson said the dog was euthanized and will be tested for rabies on Monday. The attack remains under investigation by the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office and Animal Control. | |
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RT
2015-08-24 12:02:00
The world's oldest and deepest lake could face severe damage from wildfires which are burning out of control along its shores. Lake Baikal, home to 20 percent of the world's unfrozen fresh water, is facing a potential ecological catastrophe with 36 fires burning in the region. It is one of the jewels of Russia, both in terms of its importance ecologically and for tourism. However, as plumes of smoke billow out in southern Siberia, thousands of hectares of forest are being destroyed around Lake Baikal. | |
Comment: All over the world we are witnessing extensive wildfires, which in some regions have been described as "unprecedented". Could some of these wildfires have been fueled from outgassing, then possibly 'sparked' by an increase in atmospheric electric discharge events, such as lightning strikes? See also:
Study: Wildfire seasons are more destructive and lasting longer almost everywhere on Earth | |
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traveller24
Weird weather took hold this past weekend as both Saturday and Sunday evening saw the skies over the Mother City light up due to thunder and lightning storms.2015-08-23 21:40:00 Many in Cape Town took to social media to document the unusual weather, saying they felt as if they were in Joburg or Durban. Following are seven shots we thought completely nailed the stunning occurrence. The South African Weather Service confirmed in an update on Sunday afternoon that there was a 30% chance of rainfall for Sunday evening with similar conditions for the Western Cape continuing into Monday and Tuesday. Mild conditions can be expected in Cape Town on Monday with maximum temperatures reaching a 17°C, while cold conditions could be expected in the Northern Cape with Sutherland reaching a low of 2°C. Weather conditions for Joburg, Pretoria and Vereeniging would be fine and warm with maximum temperatures of 25°C but the SA Weather Service warned of extremely high fire dangers over the western interior of the Eastern Cape.
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| Fire in the Sky |
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| Health & Wellness |
The French people are no fools. As a culture, France seems to see through clever marketing ploys concocted by abusive corporations intent on perverting the laws of honest capitalism for their own profit. And, the French people seem to catch on long before most other countries raise a collective eyebrow. In 1992, for example, more than two decades before Americans finally started to turn their backs on fast food, French citizens were protesting in the streets against McDonalds. The activism spilled into violent confrontation as protesters lit a bonfire outside a McDonald's and again in 1999 when José Bové dismantled a McDonald's under construction in South France with the help of a group of fellow farmers. | |
Comment: Shawn Siegel from the Activist Post stated back in 2013 'Conscious denial of critical information is disinformation.' Read more critical information about the serious concerns regarding vaccines and their alleged safety:
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Chris Kresser
ChrisKresser.com 2015-08-18 00:00:00
Almost 40 million Americans suffer from chronic sinusitis. Unfortunately, most conventional treatments are not effective and don't address the underlying cause. Find out why probiotics may represent the future of treating chronic sinus problems. Chronic sinusitis (also known as chronic rhinosinusitis, or CRS) is one of the most common human diseases, affecting 1 in 7 American adults. And like many other modern, chronic conditions, its prevalence appears to be increasing. CRS is a debilitating and often intractable disease. Over 20 percent of patients are unresponsive to drug therapy, and up to 40 percent of patients do not respond to surgery. The conventional viewpoint is that CRS is caused by the presence of certain harmful species of bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis. (1) In other cases, CRS may result from an immunologic reaction to fungi that colonize the sinuses. (2) Fungal species associated with this syndrome include Bipolaris specifera and Aspergillus, Curvularia, andFusarium. | |
Comment: See the following for other remedies that might help treat sinus infections:
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| Science of the Spirit |
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Jeremy Dean
PsyBlog 2015-08-23 00:00:00
Depression does not spread between friends, a new study finds. Indeed, friends can provide a protective effect against depression. Professor Frances Griffiths, one of the study's authors, said: "Depression is a major public health concern worldwide. | |
Comment: This underscores the importance of meaningful connections with family and friends. Not only is social isolation a risk factor for depression, but has also been linked to addiction.
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