|
Harrison Koehli
Sott.net 2015-11-23 16:19:00
Things are heating up and moving fast since the terror attacks in France just over one week ago. Since then, we have seen almost daily police raids, arrests and terror alerts and threats on every continent. Western governments are reacting in the only way they know how: declaring states of emergency, cracking down on maybe terrorist cells, staging night-time raids on citizens' homes, dropping bombs in Syria and Iraq, and pushing through new 'anti-terror' legislation. What we are seeing, among other things, are the reactions of various factions within the Western power elite, sometimes acting at cross purposes. Chaos - no matter what the cause - is always an opportunity to bring about a new kind of 'order'. It's cynical, but for those of a fascist bent, this means tightening controls on populations, solidifying their own power base, and manipulating the public through fear. Think of it as a social 'shock doctrine'. Having said that, not all European leaders are likely to be fully on board with this kind of "fascist" agenda where big government and big business hook up to expand their influence and wealth. Some have some shred of decency, or at the very least, some enlightened self-interest. They realize that as the leaders of supposedly sovereign nations, they little more than US vassals, and while they are largely powerless to do anything about it, they don't like it. They know that such a power relationship only ends up benefiting the U.S. They've been blackmailed, threatened and otherwise coerced into toeing Washington's line for years, and that's bound to grate on the nerves. | |
 |
| No new articles. |
| Puppet Masters |
|
Pepe Escobar
TomDispatch 2015-11-22 21:14:00
The U.S. is transfixed by its multibillion-dollar electoral circus. The European Union is paralyzed by austerity, fear of refugees, and now all-out jihad in the streets of Paris. So the West might be excused if it's barely caught the echoes of a Chinese version of Roy Orbison's "All I Have to Do Is Dream." And that new Chinese dream even comes with a road map. The crooner is President Xi Jinping and that road map is the ambitious, recently unveiled13th Five-Year-Plan, or in the pop-video version, theShisanwu. After years of explosive economic expansion, it sanctifies the country's lower "new normal" gross domestic product growth rate of 6.5% a year through at least 2020. It also sanctifies an updated economic formula for the country: out with a model based on low-wage manufacturing of export goods and in with the shock of the new, namely, a Chinese version of the third industrial revolution. And while China's leadership is focused on creating a middle-class future powered by a consumer economy, its president is telling whoever is willing to listen that, despite the fears of the Obama administration and of some of the country's neighbors, there's no reason for war ever to be on the agenda for the U.S. and China. Given the alarm in Washington about what is touted as a Beijing quietly pursuing expansionism in the South China Sea, Xi has been remarkably blunt on the subject of late. Neither Beijing nor Washington, he insists, should be caught in the Thucydides trap, the belief that a rising power and the ruling imperial power of the planet are condemned to go to war with each other sooner or later. | |
|
|
RT
2015-11-23 20:34:00
Israel will revoke the work permits of "terrorist" Palestinians' family members, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanjahu said, adding that Israel will resort to harsher measures to stop the ongoing wave of violence. "A family knows that it has in its midst someone who is extreme or someone liable to attack, and a family like that does not have the right to work in Israel," Netanyahu said during his visit to the Gush Etzion Junction, which has witnessed a number of attacks in recent weeks, Israeli media network Arutz Sheva reported. The Prime Minister said that Israel will resort to harsh new measures to curb the ongoing Palestinian uprising. "We need to carry out additional actions to counter what [threats] do exist," Netanyahu said. "There are no restrictions on the activities of the IDF and the security forces; on the contrary - there's full support, and this is important. There are no limits to our offensive," he added. | |
Comment: The Israeli government is like most criminal organizations. They know that they can hurt someone even more if they go after their family. It's ludicrous for any government to punish someone who isn't involved in violence because they are related to someone who is. The Israelis have lost all sense of whatever little bit of decency they had and now are functioning much like a Mafia, except they are much more dangerous due to the support from the US Empire.
| |
|
|
RT
2015-11-23 20:23:00
Parents who don't immunize their kids will stop receiving childcare benefits next year in Australia. Only people with solid medical reasons will be exempt from the crackdown. The new "no jab, no pay" rules are expected to save more than AUS$500 million (US$350 million) over four years. The changes take effect on January 1, 2016 after legislation passed the Senate on Monday, with the backing of Labor, the Greens and crossbench senators. According to the Department of Health, the percentage of children under seven years old with a conscientious objection recorded on the Australian Childhood Immunization Register (ACIR) rose from 0.23 per cent in December 1999 to 1.77 per cent in December 2014. The government believes that removing non-medical exemptions will "reinforce the importance of immunisation and protecting public health" and that "the choice made by families not to immunise their children is not supported by public policy or medical research nor should such action be supported by taxpayers in the form of child care payments." | |
Comment: Whether a parent chooses to immunize their child or not should not be up to the government. This is not about saving money, but forcing people to inject their children with unproven and often poisonous chemicals. Governments should worry about running their country, not the lives of the people who live in their country.
| |
|
|
RT
2015-11-23 19:51:00
The Ukrainian government has suspended the movement of cargo between Crimea and Ukraine, citing an initiative put forward by PM Arseny Yatsenyuk. The suspension will be active until a list of goods allowed to be delivered to the peninsula is compiled. The decision was preceded by a request from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday which wanted to look into the possibility of a temporary "termination of road and railroad freight transport communication with Crimea in both directions". Within a matter of hours, the ban on cargo transport exchange was approved by the Ukrainian cabinet. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk proposed that a list of goods and services which could be supplied to Crimea be worked out. "So that this list corresponds with Ukrainian interests, first of all I propose to engage the Mejlis [highest executive-representative body]of the Crimean Tatar People to make sure that the decision will take the interests of our fraternal Crimean Tatar people into account," the Prime Minister said in a statement. | |
|
|
Sputnik
2015-11-23 18:12:00
Last week saw an about-turn in the attitude of Western leaders towards Russian President Putin, which has been reflected by the Western mass media, mostly as a consequence of the G20 meeting in Antalya. Here are just several quotes from the Italian media praising Russia's leader and his policies, mostly towards battling ISIL. Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera: "Sour Russian-American smiles needed to be transformed into real cooperation, both politically and militarily. Turkey must be mandated to launch anti-ISIL, and not anti-Kurdish operations, as it is now currently undertaking. ISIL is intensifying its mass killing campaign with the only purpose being to draw us into a ground operation out of revenge. It is a trap known only too well to everyone: for each "crusade" there will be a response in the form of a "holy war", it will be a global conflict and the internal western fronts will eventually collapse. | |
|
|
Phil Butler
New Eastern Outlook 2015-11-23 00:00:00
About 19 months ago I started to wonder, "What is wrong with my countrymen?" When America's and Britain's leadership decided to try and trash Russia's Sochi Olympics, I figured our leadership had sunk to a new low. Since then my thinking has been proven wrong, our leaders are hired killers devoid of any sense of honor whatsoever. Evidence of their complicity in worldwide suffering floats to the top of the new media cesspool every day. The most recent case is Barack Obama's unforgivable breech of etiquette and conscience over the downed Russian airliner over Egypt. Simple disdain cannot cover the depth of pain and suffering world leadership now conveys, but I will try. The western media is sometimes forced to let us know bits and pieces of what is really going on in the world. The gentle uproar we heard when the United States attacked a field hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan proved that the corporations that control your news do not have complete control of your mind yet. I guess knowing the story would get out via MSF's president Dr. Liu and a hundred or more caring doctors who staff the organization prompted the Rupert Murdochs of the world to release the reins on news, if only for a moment. Why even the White House press office was forced to post a statement from Obama, which I quote below:
I feel the need to punch somebody in the nose. Sorry, but this statement does not begin to address the utter savagery of this attack on defenseless human beings. Folks! Listen to me please. This hospital was not hit by some malfunctioning bomb. There was no idiot pilot in error. A US military madman was not responsible, nor was there any real mistake in identifying the target - THESE PEOPLE WERE BLOWN TO BITS THEN STRAFED! Get it, shot to pieces effectively and efficiently. I quote now Dr. Liu's and her colleagues' statements on the nature of the killing. | |
|
|
FARS News Agency
2015-11-21 05:53:00
The Iraqi security forces have seized 2 German planes at Baghdad Airport that were carrying weapons to the Kurdistan region illegally and without prior information and permission of the central government in Baghdad. The captured planes were carrying arms worth $5 million to the city of Erbil in Kurdistan region without prior coordination or information of Baghdad, the Kurdish-language Kurd Press news agency reported on Saturday. Earlier this month, the Iraqi defense ministry announced in a statement that two Canadian and Swedish planes which had also been carrying arms to the Kurdistan region illegally were seized and later returned to their bases in Kuwait and Turkey after unloading their cargoes in Baghdad. According to the statement, "Upon the order of the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces and after several days of confiscation, the two planes were allowed to leave Baghdad international airport with all their cargos to their bases in Kuwait and Turkey". Comment: "Return to Sender" (much less than even a slap on the wrist) Also in November, the Iraqi government had announced that it had seized two planes of the US-led anti-ISIL coalition member states that were carrying weapons to the Kurdistan Region without prior coordination or information of Baghdad. "The inspection committee in Baghdad International Airport has found a huge number of rifles equipped with silencers, as well as light and mid-sized weapons," Head of the Iraqi Parliament's Security and Defense Commission Hakem al-Zameli said. He noted that two Swedish and Canadian airplanes were going to fly to Iraq's Kurdistan region, but they were seized after arms cargos were discovered. | |
Comment: No paperwork, permissions, or legal entry. Above the law, no matter where or when...a handy mantra of imperialism practiced often.
| |
|
|
Phil Butler
Sputnik 2015-11-21 17:04:00
It was almost imperceptible; most people probably missed the sliver of a smile from Vladimir Putin as he leaned in to talk with American President Barack Obama at the G20 in Antalya. Not so many noticed either, the "handwriting" gesture from Putin just before the casual meetup in front of cameras ended. It hit me last night like a scene from the Daniel Craig film Spectre, "the writing's on the wall," Putin had won. ISIL will soon be over. We still have a chance for world peace. When ISIL terrorists slaughtered those innocents in Paris the other day, the extremists essentially beheaded themselves. The message has just not reached their feet I guess. Key to the power play in Cold War II, France and Germany had already bucked the traces of an Obama-Cameron led policy war on Russia. Mr. Hollande and Mrs. Merkel had already orchestrated Minsk II remember, and the Americans and Brits simply did not like that game. Do you recall independent media chiming in on the EU-America disconnect coming? Well, it arrived via a horrid and ghastly event. The French people marching through the tunnels of the Stade de France singing their national anthem, even knowing another bomb could go off any second, this was a stunning reminder of how tough those people really are. Courage, dignity, Russian or French, Syrian or Kenyan, its face is unmistakable. | |
|
|
Deirdre Fulton
Common Dreams 2015-11-23 17:45:00
Mega-merger between pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Allergan could lead to higher drug prices, watchdogs warn. Big Pharma just became Huge Pharma. Creating the world's largest drugmaker—and paving the way for higher pharmaceutical prices—Viagra-maker Pfizer Inc. and Allergan PLC, which manufactures Botox, saidMonday that they would merge in a so-called inversion deal worth up to about $155 billion. The takeover "would be the largest inversion ever," according to the Wall Street Journal, allowing Pfizer to profit from a lower corporate tax rate in Allergan's home country of Ireland. The LA Times reported that the deal "is likely to fuel critics' concerns that consumers would pay even more for drugs as competition declines among manufacturers, insurers and retailers." | |
|
|
Michel Rose
Reuters 2015-11-23 17:54:00
European authorities need to be able to tap into data from the SWIFT bank payments network under a push to clamp down on the financing of militant groups, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Monday. Sapin said SWIFT - the world's biggest electronic payments system - had two computer servers, one in Europe and the other in the United States. However, Europe currently relied on U.S. authorities to collect and analyze the vast amounts of data flowing through the system to detect security issues. "We Europeans don't have the capacity to exploit our own data. I don't think this can carry on this way," Sapin told a news conference. "Since we do not have the means to analyze the data located in Europe, we transfer all of this data to the Americans, who have the capacity to analyze it." | |
Comment: Is this another sign Europe is losing trust in their American ally?
| |
|
|
Alexander Mercouris
Russia Insider 2015-11-23 16:34:00
Russia's diplomats have been as busy as Russia's military. They have now obtained UN Security Council as well as Syrian government approval for Russia's military campaign. They have also got the UN Security Council to scotch the myth of the "moderate jihadis" once and for all. Back in September, when it became clear the Russians were intending to act in Syria,Russia Insider predicted the Russians would try to get a Resolution from the UN Security Council to give additional legal cover for their military action. This is in contrast to the US, which avoids the Security Council whenever it can, and which usually prefers to act unilaterally without a UN Security Council mandate. Thus US bombing of the Islamic State in Syria was doubly illegal under international law because it was carried out without permission from either the UN Security Council or from the Syrian government. Russia's military action by contrast is completely legal. It has the permission of both the UN Security Council and the Syrian government for it. It took weeks for the Russians to get their Security Council Resolution. This was because the US did everything it could to stand in the way. However, after weeks of hard work, Russia's diplomats have finally got the Resolution Russia wanted. What changed the position was the terrorist outrage in Paris. After the Paris attack the French backed Russia's proposal for a UN Security Council Resolution. At that point the US could no longer block it. The US cannot veto a Resolution backed by its own ally France, especially in the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack. | |
Comment: During times of crisis people inevitably turn to those in power for guidance. Fortunately, there is at least one sane world power on the scene who knows how to utilize that trust for good.
| |
|
|
21st Century Wire
Are Israel and Saudi Arabia really 'friends' of press freedom?2015-11-21 00:00:00 Wait, what about free speech? Ce qui est arrivé à...'Je Suis Charlie'?
The New York Times had run a front page story in their early morning US domestic print edition, with a headline that read: "Saudi Defiance on Yemen Reflects Limits of U.S. Strategy" Later, we looked for this same article online, only to find that the headline has been changed to: "Saudi Resolve on Yemen Reflects Limits of U.S. Strategy" Why? Was pressure applied on the NYT editors, and if so, who applied pressure to the editors to make such a significant change on a lead story to change it from 'Defiance' to'Resolve'? In an effort to sanitize the carnage in Yemen, did Saudi Arabia throw its weight around, causing NYT editors to cave in? Perhaps a much worse situation has been happening recently between the BBC and the State of Israel. It seems that Israel has been pressuring BBC into changing its headlines. | |
Comment: Who's the boss? It becomes self-evident. Israeli reach, influence and effect have permeated all aspects of mainstream media and those who test the system are censored or summarily eliminated. It is evident that perception management and control of message has higher priority than truth and freedom of the press. It is self-serving. It is oppression and tyranny. Any time we give up truth, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, we lose.
| |
|
|
RT
2015-11-23 16:54:00
The British government says it will boost anti-terrorism spending by 30 percent, including buying new stealth fighter jets. The announcement comes on the eve of expected massive spending cuts that could decimate public services. The decision to increase security spending was made by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne on Sunday, who said he wants to make sure that London is capable of doing its part in the fight against terrorism. "We are going to step up the aircraft carrier punch of the United Kingdom. We are going to make sure that when these aircraft carriers are available they are going to have planes that can fly from them in force," Osborne told BBC television. "By 2023, we will be able to have 24 of these jets, some of the most powerful in the world, the F-35, on the decks of these carriers." | |
Comment: Not only are they going to spend tax money to create more terrorists, they are gonna kill their own citizens via deprivation of human needs. It's a prime example how austerity works: the people suffer and corporations benefit.
| |
|
|
RT
2015-11-23 16:15:00
Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev has blamed the strengthening of terrorist group Islamic State on "irresponsible" US policies in the Middle East, calling for all nations to stop attempting to destabilize the situation in sovereign countries for their own purposes. "Instead of concentrating their common efforts on fighting terrorism, the United States and their allies have started to oppose Syria's legally-elected president, Bashar Assad," Dmitry Medvedev was quoted as saying by TASS. "A reasonable policy in Mideast countries is supporting legitimate regimes that are capable of securing the territorial integrity of local countries, not in trying to destabilize the situation," he said. The Russian PM recalled that some time ago the US contributed to the strengthening of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, leading to the 9/11 attacks. He also noted that the lessons of the past confirm that the terrorist threat can only be fought by a joint effort, without division into competing alliances. The comments came shortly after US President Barak Obama vowed to destroy Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), in statements made to the press during a visit to Kuala-Lumpur, Malaysia. Obama also urged President Vladimir Putin to "go after the people who killed Russia's citizens," referring to the downing of the Russian A231 airliner over Sinai, Egypt, on October 31. | |
|
|
RT
2015-11-23 15:56:00
Military jets from France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier on Monday flew their first missions over Islamic State-controlled territories in Syria and Iraq, AFP reported, citing military sources. No information has yet been provided on whether the jets' first flights were reconnaissance missions or involved airstrikes. Once the signal for take-off was given, the planes catapulted off the carrier, reaching speeds of 250 km/h speed in 2.5 seconds, an AFP reporter said. | |
Comment: Way to get in there at the last minute France, after Russia has done all the heavy lifting.
| |
|
| Society's Child |
|
John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute 2015-11-23 00:00:00
Thanksgiving is not what it once was. Then again, America is not what she once was. Americans have become so enthralled by the "bread and circuses" of our age—tables groaning under the weight of an abundance of rich foods, televisions tuned to sports and entertainments spectacles, stores competing for Black Friday shoppers, and a general devotion to excess and revelry—that we have lost sight of the true purpose of Thanksgiving. | |
Comment: Sadly, when the economy finally does irretrievably implode we can expect all of the fascistic forces mentioned here to go into overdrive. Prepare. Prepare. Prepare.
| |
|
|
Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg 2015-11-23 11:45:00
| |
Comment: Saudi Arabia: Totalitarian iron-fisted dictatorship. Barbaric "religious" extremists. Terrorist supporters extraordinaire. Best buddies with the U.S. Gov't, oil industry and military-industrial-complex. Getting the picture?
| |
|
|
Phillip Schneider
Waking Times 2015-11-14 20:25:00
Collecting rainwater is classically seen as a safe and sustainable way of supplying your household with an off-the-grid water supply. Some people collect rainwater only for a backup reservoir, while others prefer to go all the way and maintain their household with pure off-the-grid rainwater collection. This method ensures water during emergencies, can help control floods, saves money and liberates us from company-dependence for our water. Consequently, this freedom to collect our own rainwater is currently under attack. State laws have been set up in several U.S. States including Oregon, Utah, California, Florida, Colorado and Washington that prohibit the collection, or "diversion" of rainwater, including water that is falling on your own property and is to be used for your own private use or as an environmental conservation technique. | |
|
|
ITAR-TASS
2015-11-23 18:50:00
The Moscow City Court on Monday ruled to shut down the local Church of Scientology at the Russian Justice Ministry's demand. According to the ministry, the church regulations contradict the federal law on the freedom of religion. The Moscow Church of Scientology registered in the capital in 1994 has been ordered to set up a commission to handle its liquidation within six months. The organization's lawyers said the Justice Ministry gave no serious reasons which "could influence the liquidation." "The organization violated no bans," lawyers said. | |
Comment: Another country banning the Church of Scientology.
| |
|
|
Ron Paul
Ron Paul Institute 2015-11-23 17:29:00
Last week the US House dealt a blow to President Obama's plan to resettle 10,000 Syrians fleeing their war-torn homeland. On a vote of 289-137, including 47 Democrats, the House voted to require the FBI to closely vet any applicant from Syria and to guarantee that none of them pose a threat to the US. Effectively this will shut down the program. The House legislation was brought to the Floor after last week's attacks in Paris that left more than 120 people dead, and for which ISIS claimed responsibility. With the year-long US bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, there is a good deal of concern that among those 10,000 to be settled here there might be some who wish to do us harm.Even though it looks as though the Paris attackers were all EU citizens, polling in the US shows record opposition to allowing Syrian refugees entry. | |
|
|
Amanda Meade
The Guardian 2015-11-22 15:00:00
Sharri Markson, a senior journalist at News Corp's the Australian, has said security forces in Israel were "heavy-handed" when they briefly detained her during a press tour after she collected personal details of wounded Syrian fighters being secretly treated in a hospital. Sources said the chief executive of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, Vic Alhadeff, stepped in to defuse the tense situation when Markson was questioned about breaking the hospital's strict rules on protecting the identity of the 500 patients, some of whom are fighting in the Syrian war. "The primary concern of the Israeli security personnel and hospital authorities was to protect the identities of the Syrian patients because disclosing their personal details would put them in danger," Alhadeff told Guardian Australia. "There was an unfortunate misunderstanding but the situation was quickly defused and resolved." | |
Comment: Perhaps the Israelis were so interested in protecting the identities of the patients because the 'Syrian fighters" are really undercover Israeli agents or even paid mercenaries, and they can't have that knowledge being spread by the media. It wouldn't be surprising if she got a not-so-subtle message sent to her by the "heavy-handed" Israeli security.
| |
|
|
GS Potter
TruthOut 2015-11-21 14:22:00
Charges have yet to be brought against Ben Fields, the white police officer in South Carolina who slammed a 16-year-old Black student to the floor of her classroom at Spring Valley High School, injuring her face and neck and breaking her arm. Nearly a month has passed since the video of the October 26 incident went viral, and while Fields was fired from his job on October 28, he has not been arrested or charged with assault or battery under South Carolina law. Fields had previously been sued for use of excessive force and currently faces a federal lawsuit in which attorneys claim that he "recklessly targets African-American students." Afederal investigation to determine whether or not any federal laws were violated during the incident is underway. | |
|
|
Jed Lipinski
The Times-Picayune 2015-11-22 20:29:00
The after party that followed the Nine Times Social Aide & Pleasure Club's annual second line was in full swing at Bunny Friend Park when gunfire erupted within a crowd of hundreds of revelers, several witnesses recounted Sunday. Music from a DJ was playing. As many as 300 people were wandering throughout the Upper 9th Ward park when the shots rang through the air. One witness, a nurse who would not give her name, said it sounded like New Year's Eve, when celebratory gunfire often occurs, all over again People scattered everywhere. Three witnesses said they saw a man with a silver-colored machine gun head toward Louisa Avenue. They also heard more gunshots coming from within the crowd as he ran away.
New Orleans police officers had been monitoring the second line, but witnesses say they were beginning to disperse as the after party kept going. As soon as gunshots were heard, however, officers were on the scene immediately, witnesses said. Several victims were lying on the sidewalk along Gallier Street sidewalk after the chaos died down a bit.
| |||
|
|
Melanie
Life with Dogs 2015-11-21 22:48:00
Following the deaths and disappearances of dozens of pets in the last 10 years, Delta has recently announced that beginning in March of 2016, they will no longer make pets fly in the cargo hold of their passenger planes. "Delta will no longer accept pets as checked baggage, but will continue to transport allowable pets in all cabins of service except Delta One, effective March 1, 2016," Delta said in a statement. "Customers may also ship pets for travel within the United States as freight through Delta Cargo." | |
|
|
Science Daily
2015-11-20 00:00:00
Countywide reductions in psychiatric services -- both inpatient and outpatient -- led to more than triple the number of emergency psychiatric consults and 55 percent increases in lengths of stay for psychiatric patients in the emergency department.The before and after study of the impact of decreasing county mental health services was published online in Annals of Emergency Medicine ('Impact of Decreasing County Mental Health Services on the Emergency Medicine'). "As is often the case, the emergency department catches everyone who falls through the cracks in the health care system," said lead study author Arica Nesper, MD, MAS of the University of California Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento. "People with mental illness did not stop needing care simply because the resources dried up.Potentially serious complaints increased after reductions in mental health services, likely representing not only worse care of patients' psychiatric issues but also the medical issues of patients with psychiatric problems." | |
Comment: This is worrisome at a time when the economy is already taking its toll on mental health. If the expected economic and social turmoil continues to increase, emergency facilities will be quickly overwhelmed.
| |
|
|
Joshua Krause
The Daily Sheeple 2015-11-22 22:24:00
Finland is in a rather unique position within the European Union. Their nation is by all accounts, very prosperous and stable with a relatively small debt to GDP ratio. However, their nation is also being crippled under the influence of the Eurozone. They've endured a relentless recession accompanied by negative economic growth and high unemployment. In fact, their economy has contracted by .6% this past quarter, which is worse than any other EU nation including Greece. Their current downturn has lasted even longer than the post-Soviet crash of the early 90's. Because of their recent economic woes, Finland has become the perfect example of how detrimental it is to be a part of the EU. That's because they don't fall under the stereotypes of their Southern peers like Greece, Spain, and Italy. Finland isn't a debt ridden basket case nation, rife with corruption, dysfunction, and empty promises. And yet, the Euro is still wrecking their economy. | |
|
| Secret History |
|
Julie Beck
The Atlantic 2015-11-12 21:52:00
The ancient Greek Cynic philosopher Diogenes was extreme in a lot of ways. He deliberately lived on the street, and, in accordance with his teachings that people should not be embarrassed to do private things in public, was said to defecate and masturbateopenly in front of others. Plato called him "a Socrates gone mad." Shocking right to the end, he told his friends that when he died, he didn't want to be buried. He wanted them to throw his body over the city wall, where it could be devoured by animals. "What harm then can the mangling of wild beasts do me if I am without consciousness?" he asked. What is a dead body but an empty shell?, he's asking. What does it matter what happens to it? These are also the questions that the University of California, Berkeley, history professor Thomas Laqueur asks in his new book The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains. | |
|
| Science & Technology |
|
Rick Kubetz
Phys.org 2015-11-17 17:37:00
Apparently, size doesn't always matter. An extensive study by an interdisciplinary research group suggests that the deformation properties of nanocrystals are not much different from those of the Earth's crust. "When solid materials such as nanocrystals, bulk metallic glasses, rocks, or granular materials are slowly deformed by compression or shear, they slip intermittently with slip-avalanches similar to earthquakes," explained Karin Dahmen, a professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Typically these systems are studied separately. But we found that the scaling behavior of their slip statistics agree across a surprisingly wide range of different length scales and material structures." "Identifying agreement in aspects of the slip statistics is important, because it enables us to transfer results from one scale to another, from one material to another, from one stress to another, or from one strain rate to another," stated Shivesh Pathak, a physics undergraduate at Illinois, and a co-author of the paper, "Universal Quake Statistics: From Compressed Nanocrystals to Earthquakes," appearing in Scientific Reports. "The study shows how to identify and explain commonalities in the deformation mechanisms of different materials on different scales. "The results provide new tools and methods to use the slip statistics to predict future materials deformation," added Michael LeBlanc, a physics graduate student and co-author of the paper. "They also clarify which system parameters significantly affect the deformation behavior on long length scales. We expect the results to be useful for applications in materials testing, failure prediction, and hazard prevention." | |
|
| Earth Changes |
Residents on May Street and Chelsea Avenue said their neighborhood has been infested with spiders. The eight legged problem is causing headaches for the homeowners. Photos of the nearly half-mile long spider webshow the extent of habitation by the spiders. The web looks like frost, or maybe morning dew, covering the grass across the road from several homes. Efforts to get rid of the spiders by neighbors Frances Ward, Debra Lewis and Ida Morris are slow-moving. "I've seen about 20 on my porch just in the last day," Morris said. They said they want the city to step in and help get rid of them.
| ||
|
|
Strange Sounds
2015-11-23 19:17:00
The sky is on fire. On November 21, 2015, these incredible lenticular clouds appeared in the sky over Letojanni, near Etna in Italy.
| ||
|
|
Andrew Backhouse
The Chronicle 2015-11-23 16:09:00
Severe thunderstorms are no longer affecting the Southeast Queensland area (east of Dalby from Rainbow Beach to Stanthorpe). The immediate threat of severe thunderstorms has passed, but the situation will continue to be monitored and further warnings will be issued if necessary, the Bureau of Meteorology advised at 8.15pm. Earlier, BOM reports a dangerous thunderstorm had developed and was headed for suburbs north of Brisbane. Queensland's storms started to develop about 2pm, affecting first the Granite Belt and Darling Downs There was golf-ball and even tennis-ball-sized hail smashing Stanthorpe about 4.30pm. The ferocity of the downpour of hail surprised many weatherwatchers.
| ||
|
|
Samantha Elley
The Northern Star 2015-11-23 15:52:00
Hail the size of golf balls has fallen in areas such as Rappville, Yamba and now Lismore as the storm hits the Northern Rivers. Hail approximately 4cm and above has been reported. In Coraki 55mm of rain fell from two separate storm cells which hit here within 20 mins of each other. Hail got up to cricket ball size from the first cell, according to resident Russell O'keefe. "It hailed for around 20 minutes," he said. "The second cell only had hail the size of 20 cent pieces but there was much more hail for about 15 minutes." | |
|
|
OneIndia
2015-11-23 15:34:00
A moderate 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit northwest China's Qinghai Province on Monday, Nov23.The earthquake struck the Qilian County of Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai at 5:02 am, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre (CENC). No casualties have been reported. The epicentre was located at the Arik Township. The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers. Many people living in the county seat of Qilian have stayed outdoors after feeling strong jolt, according to the local publicity department. So far, no casualties have been reported. The county has sent a team to the epicenter to learn the damage after the quake, state-run a news agency reported. | |
[Message clipped] View entire message
