Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Wednesday, 27 January 2016

SOTT Focus
Beau Brendeland & Niall Bradley
Sott.net
2016-01-27 13:57:00

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The recent Telegraph exclusive publishing specious claims by 'anonymous US sources' that Russia is covertly 'undermining EU unity', specifically by conducting "Kremlin influence operations" and infiltrating political parties, is the latest in a long line of hysterical nonsense from the self-styled 'exceptional' rulers of the world. Can you believe the gall of these idiots? Their lies are so obvious, you can only shake your head at how desperate they have become.

By the time we came of age, the paranoid insanity of the "Red Menace" had long become something to look back and cringe at. 'Russian spies dividing Europe' was the hallmark of a Cold War in which every subversive (and often violent) act of US foreign policy was justified because 'the Russians are doing it'. The US has been, and is, infiltrating various European political parties - and even Russian ones - via its Orwellian "Non-Governmental Organizations", spreading US influence and buying politicians who will be subservient to the Empire. And that's just the 'soft power' stuff. There's also a sordid history of overthrowing governments, rigging elections, bribing (and even assassinating) leaders- and it's an unbroken chain right up to the 2013 overthrow of the Yanukovich government in Kiev. So it is rather galling to see the US State Department accusing others of doing something for which it is infamous.

The Telegraph article is itself an example of the Western elites doing what they accuse the Russians of doing. Not only are these Anglo-American hypocrites spreading false information, in the process they are projecting what they are doing onto the Russians, whose 'crime' is to take an independent stance on certain global issues. Others have already ripped the claims to shreds, so we just want to draw your attention to a couple of points.

Here we have a British 'newspaper of repute' (one that is notorious for operating as an arm of British intelligence) announcing that American intelligence will conduct a "major investigation" - led by US Director of National Intelligence James "not willfully" Clapper - into the Kremlin's 'infiltration' and alleged secret funding of European political parties over the last decadeAdditionally, The Telegraphinforms us, Washington is "becoming concerned about" Moscow's alleged efforts to undermine NATO, block US missile defense and undo the Western sanctions imposed on Russia after it rescued Crimea from Ukraine's deadly embrace with Western 'civilization'.
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---Best of the Web
RT
2016-01-27 10:58:00

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Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld came to promote his solitaire app, but when Stephen Colbert craftily brought up the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Rumsfeld's remarks left 'The Late Show' host and many others saying "Wow."

Launching his 'Churchill Solitaire' game, the 83-year-old Rumsfeld has been on a media tour where tough questions are not a prerequisite. Talking about the Iraq War, even as it looms like a cloud, can be a challenge when 2016 is saturated with politics and a fun application built to benefit charity is closer at hand. But Colbert made transitioning to the taboo topic look easy.

Colbert asked if Islamic State, or terrorist groups like it, holding western Iraq and eastern Syria was considered "a worst-case scenario, or a beyond-worse-case scenario" in 2002 and 2003 during the run-up to declaring war.

The "disorder in the entire region ... generally, people had not anticipated," Rumsfeld answered.


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Comment: This isn't about getting an 'admission' or a 'confession' from Rumsfeld, or from any of the others involved in unleashing hell on Earth.

As Rumsfeld makes plain in this masterful interview by Colbert, psychopaths literally don't understand the meaning of the term 'fact'. For them, facts are fluid things. Even when you think you've got him to commit to one particular definition of the term 'fact', that can change for him the next day.

That's why self-styled 'reality-creators' like Rumsfeld treat 'intelligence' as they do: as a government service for spinning narratives that can have little to no bearing on objective reality. Why work to eke out and abide by scarce Truth when you can have so much more fun with abundant Lies?
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Puppet Masters
Press TV
2016-01-27 04:54:00

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The French justice minister has stepped down in protest at the government's controversial plan to strip convicted French-born terrorists of their citizenship if they have a second nationality. Christiane Taubira announced her resignation in a tweet on Wednesday, saying,"Sometimes to resist means staying, sometimes resisting means leaving." The minister from French Guiana became France's most senior black politician when she was named to the portfolio in 2012.

Taubira's resignation came just hours before a parliament commission debate on the contentious proposal, including a range of measures for convicted terrorists that would go from depriving them of the right to vote and the right to become a civil servant, to revoking their citizenship.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls reassured that France would respect its obligations under international law preventing people from becoming stateless. Taubira had criticized the plan, calling it discriminatory and useless in preventing the radicalization of French citizens. Jean-Jacques Urvoas, the president of parliamentary committee in charge of reviewing the legislation, was named as the new justice minister.

Following the Paris attacks, France has been under a state of emergency, giving authorities extra powers to keep people in their homes without trial and search houses without judicial approval.
Comment: This "symbolic" constitutional measure is known as the "loss of nationality" plan. The critics believe it sends a message that French citizens could be divided into those who were "pure" French and worth more than those with mixed backgrounds. Unfortunately, Taubira's resignation removed one more obstacle to government changes and special security measures that make up theextended state of emergency, i.e.: expanded powers to government, security and police to dissolve groups or associations, act without judicial oversight, house arrest without linking to criminal offense, searches without warrants, block websites...you get how this goes. Extending and boosting emergency powers was voted in by 551 to 6. With fundamental liberties and rights voted out of the picture, the French shouldn't expect a repeal any time soon.
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Pepe Escobar
Strategic Culture Foundation
2016-01-26 19:25:00

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He came, he saw, and he pocketed all the deals that matter. Chinese President Xi Jinping's tour of Southwest Asia - Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt - could easily be sold anywhere as your typical Chinese-style win-win.

On the PR arena, Xi did a sterling job polishing China's image as a global power. Beijing scored diplomatically on all counts, obtaining several more layers of energy security (over half of China's oil come from the Persian Gulf) while expanding its export markets and trade relations overall.

In Iran, Xi oversaw the signing of 17 politico-economic agreements alongside Iran's President Hassan Rouhani. Yet another diplomatic coup: Xi was the second leader of a UN Security Council member country to visit Tehran after the nuclear deal struck in Vienna last summer; the first was President Putin, in November. Note the crucial Russia-China-Iran interaction.

To make it absolutely clear, Xi issued a statement just before arriving in Tehran, confirming Beijing's support for Iran to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). That will solidify for good the key strategic partnership trio working for future Eurasia integration.
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David Smith
The Guardian
2016-01-26 19:11:00

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Robert Gates, a Republican stalwart and former US defence secretary who served under eight presidents, has derided the party's election candidates for a grasp of national security issues that "would embarrass a middle schooler".

An ex-CIA director who first joined the White House under Richard Nixon, Gates joked that if frontrunner Donald Trump wins the presidency, he would emigrate to Canada. He condemned the media for failing to challenge candidates from both parties on promises he believes are unaffordable, illegal or unconstitutional.

"The level of dialogue on national security issues would embarrass a middle schooler," Gates said of the Republican contenders at a Politico Playbook event in Washington on Monday. "People are out there making threats and promises that are totally unrealistic, totally unattainable. Either they really believe what they're saying or they're cynical and opportunistic and, in a way, you hope it's the latter, because God forbid they actually believe some of the things that they're saying."

Gates is among Republican elders dismayed by the way this year's campaign is unfolding, with establishment figures such as Jeb Bush, whose father he served as director of central intelligence, failing to gain traction against mavericks with unusual prescriptions for keeping America safe.
Comment: While Gates may be stirring the pot to get a little extra publicity to help sell his new book, what he's saying about the Republican candidates is not wrong. Donald Trump's campaign is the one that gets the most attention for the inflammatory statements and crude level of communication, but the entire discourse in political circles is truly horrific:
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RT
2016-01-27 16:35:00

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Iran has warned a US warship that it should leave an area in the Sea of Oman, where the Iranian navy is holding a major military exercise.

After the Islamic Republic's navy warned the vessel it quickly left the area, according to Tasnim news agency.

The tactical phase of the Velayat-94 war games kicked off Wednesday in a 3 million-square kilometer area of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, the Tasnim news agency reported. Tehran is testing its submarines, destroyers and coastal missile batteries as well as communications and electronic warfare stations.

"The maneuvers aim to show Iranian forces' strength both in ensuring security on the seas and in defending the country's sea borders in the Hormuz Strait, the Sea of Oman and the north of the Indian Ocean," Rear-Admiral Habibollah Sayyari was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

The drill comes shortly after the successful resolution of a diplomatic conflict between the US and Iran over two US Navy boats, which entered Iranian territorial waters and were detained by the Revolutionary Guards' navy.

The 10 American sailors were briefly released as Tehran confirmed that a navigational error was to blame for the incident.
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Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
2016-01-22 16:06:00

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Poland's new ultra-nationalist government is sharpening the European Union's internal problems. Just as EU leaders are warning that the bloc is in danger of collapse from internal tensions, the ascendant Eurosceptic Poles are pushing contradictions to the limits. In an attempt to ease the EU strain, the US-led NATO alliance is being called upon to mollify Poland's anti-EU government. However, in mitigating the EU's «Poland problem», the consequence will mean more NATO aggression towards Russia.

When Poland's new President Andrzej Duda was received in Brussels this week there was a palpable sense of strained relations with the 28-member EU bloc. The EU announced that it was going ahead with a formal inquiry into fresh laws enacted earlier this month by the ruling Justice and Law (PiS) party. The party came to power in Polish elections last October on a platform of anti-EU rhetoric and socially conservative policies, propelled by Poland's largely Catholic electorate.

The new Polish laws in question allow Duda's government to sack or appoint senior managers of the country's publicly owned media networks and also to weaken the constitutional court. The latter is seen as a move towards giving the ruling party more power to enact its brand of conservative policies. The EU formal probe into Poland's new laws will determine if they contravene the bloc's «democratic standards». More Brussels-Warsaw confrontation is on the way.
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RT
2016-01-26 13:34:00

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At least 22 people have been killed and over a hundred wounded in two terrorist blasts in a residential area of the Syrian city of Homs, state TV reported. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to provincial Governor Talal al-Barazi, two explosions occurred with a difference of a few minutes in the residential area of Al-Zahra. He said at first a car stuffed with explosives was blown up, parked in a densely populated quarter, then almost on the same spot a suicide bomber blew himself up.

Barazi said "the aim of the terrorists was the checkpoint of the Syrian security forces." He added that"among the dead there were several on duty policemen at the checkpoint, but most of the victims are civilians."

The explosions have caused damage to residential buildings and infrastructure of the neighborhood, SANA correspondent reported.

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) has claimed responsibility for the attack. According to Reuters, the terrorist group said in an online statement that one of its fighters drove a car loaded with explosives to a security checkpoint in the Al-Zahra neighborhood and blew himself up.

Late last month two terrorist attacks hit the Al-Zahra area, killing 19 civilians and injuring over 40.


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Comment: In the Western narrative about 'the war in Syria', Homs is being fought over by the Syrian Arab Army (the state forces loyal to Assad) and the Free Syrian Army.

ISIS is nowhere in sight.

And yet they got into this city in western Syria and set off two massive car bombs.

How else could they have done this if not with the help of the 'moderate' FSA?
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Sputnik
2016-01-27 12:08:00

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Russia has good reasons to consider NATO a threat, according to a Polish member of the European Parliament.

It's Washington that keeps positioning its troops closer and closer to Moscow and not vice versa, Polish MEP Janusz Korwin-Mikke pointed out.

He also criticized the actions of the Polish Law and Justice (PiS), Poland's ruling political party, which actively promotes establishing a NATO military presence in the country. According to Korwin-Mikke, the Polish government's policies remind him of those of pre-WWII Poland, which, as it became apparent in September 1939, ultimately proved to be rather reckless and dangerous.
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Sputnik
2016-01-27 11:57:00

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In the past 14 years, Washington's road to the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa has been littered with banana peels; although the Pentagon's strategy has yielded nothing but disaster in the regions, it seems the White House is unwilling to change its foreign policy, Peter Van Buren notes.

The prospect of America continuing its military involvement in the Middle East and putting more "boots on the ground" is a recipe for disaster, not a solution to a problem like Daesh (Islamic State/ISIL) according to Peter Van Buren, a US author and 24-year veteran of the US State Department.

"Time to remind him or her [US presidential candidates] that Washington's war on terror strategy has already sent at least $1.6 trillion down the drain, and left thousands of American troops and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Muslims dead. Along the way we lost precious freedoms to the ever-expanding national security state," Van Buren writes in a recent article for his WeMeantWell.com site.
Comment: Instead of getting out, they're getting more stuck in:

US hints at staying in Afghanistan for many more decades, possibly forever
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RT
2016-01-27 10:54:00

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Several witnesses have told investigators that former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky played a crucial role in the 1998 assassination of a Siberian city's mayor, a defense attorney has said. "All the witnesses who testified against him are currently in custody. They say that they heard from someone that without my client's participation this crime would never take place," RIA Novosti quoted Khodorkovsky's state-appointed defense lawyer as saying Wednesday.

The lawyer spoke in the Moscow City Court, which was looking into her request to cancel the previous ruling that ordered Khodorkovsky's arrest. In late December, Russian investigators officially charged the ex-tycoon in the criminal case that was opened after the murder of Vladimir Petukhov, the mayor of Neftyugansk, who came into conflict with Yukos stakeholders and managers and was killed on June 26, 1998 - Khodorkovsky's birthday. The charges of conspiracy to murder two or more people potentially carry a life sentence in Russia.
Comment: Earlier, when Khodorkovsky was still in prison...
...he said that if and when he is released, he simply wants to spend time with his family, but many see in him someone who could eventually unite the fractured opposition to Putin.

When Putin came to power in 2000, he offered an informal deal to Russia's oligarchs - they could keep their wealth but they were not to dabble in politics.Khodorkovsky broke the deal. Keen to turn his company, Yukos, into a modern, international business, he made allegations of corruption in the Kremlin and funded opposition political parties.
See also:
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Sputnik
2016-01-27 02:44:00

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The digital maintenance and logistics system of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter could be vulnerable to cyberattacks, the Pentagon's operational test chief warned last month.

Michael Gilmore, Pentagon director of operational test and evaluation (DOT&E), issued a warning in a December 11 memo that was recently leaked to the media.

The F-35's Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) "continues to struggle in development with... a complex architecture with likely (but largely untested) cyber deficiencies," Gilmore wrote.
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Sue Chang
Market Watch
2016-01-27 02:57:00

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Soros is a man intimately familiar with currency crises

Not long after billionaire George Soros forecast a so-called hard landing for the Chinese economy, Beijing fired back by calling out the high-profile investor, warning him of betting against its currency, according to media reports Tuesday.

"Soros' challenge against the renminbi and Hong Kong dollar is unlikely to succeed, there is no doubt about that," said a government official in an opinion piece widely cited by several media outlets.

The article headlined, "Declaring war on China's currency? Ha ha," was published by the People' Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party which is widely viewed as Beijing's propaganda tool.

A translation of the Mandarin version of the editorial linked by ZeroHedge includes references to the U.S. suffering from a "Dutch disease" and "financial predators." Reports of the People's Daily's article follow Soros' recent prediction that a precipitous slowdown in the Chinese economy is inevitable.

"A hard landing is practically unavoidable," Soros told Bloomberg Television last week on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "I'm not expecting it, I'm observing it," he said, referencing his China outlook.
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South Front
2016-01-26 01:58:00

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International Military Review - Syria (Jan. 26)


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Sputnik
2016-01-21 01:10:00

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As a Senate subcommittee met on Wednesday to look into waste from the Pentagon's USAID task force, some are calling for them to review why the Kajaki Dam, a $300 million project, is sitting in Afghanistan unfinished for the last eight years.

Since 2008, the Kajaki Dam, an expensive plan to provide electricity to southern Afghanistan, has become a "monument for all that has gone wrong," Megan McCloskey wrote for ProPublica.

The project began three years after the invasion, in 2004. USAID went in and restored two turbines that were neglected and nearly inoperable, which lead to the dam beginning to produce some power. The success of the operation, however, depending on the installation of a third turbine — one that was scheduled to be completed a decade ago.
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Society's Child
RT
2016-01-27 20:06:00

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Twelve suspects have been arrested in two Canadian provinces, mostly in Quebec, during a major bust on an alleged online child sexual exploitation ring. The operation was the result of a three-year-long investigation.

The suspects, aged 27 to 74, were detained on Wednesday in Quebec City, Montreal, Trois Rivieres, Toronto, Saint-Eustache and Richelieu-Saint-Laurent.

They are suspected of having online discussions about their sexual experiences with kids and sharing advice on where to meet children without causing suspicion, Quebec's provincial police force, Surete du Quebec, said.
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Bernie Suarez
Activist Post
2016-01-26 00:00:00

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The establishment has been working hard over that past few years to make martial law the norm in the United States. A few events which are most responsible for the normalization of martial law stand out in most of our minds.

First there was the frightening gun confiscation and private home intrusion seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Particularly after the flooding in New Orleans. Many people witnessed for the first time the real horrors of martial law as militarized police, the National Guard and FEMA all operating until Federal orders bullied ordinary civilians around forcing them out of their homes and into a FEMA camp set up at public arenas. At the time, no one was used to seeing this here in America. But after a while people carried on with their business; but the memory of the arguably acceptable martial law scene playing out in the case of a natural disaster stayed in everyone's memory.

Then 8 years later on April 15, 2013 we had the staged Boston bombing pressure cooker detonations at the Boston Marathon. We all know the story, how within the following days the establishment cooked up the "chase" for the real perpetrators which they used to officially introduce the "lockdown" concept. I warned about this then. To this day I firmly believe the Boston bombing was set up to show America how an "event" can and will be used to lock down a town or a city.
Comment: Before the American Police State went into full overdrive these past few years, the only time one even heard the word 'lockdown' was when one was watching a crime drama or prison movie (unless of course one has experienced these things first hand). Nowadays, the crime drama or prison movie is not isolated; we're living it, or at least hearing and reading about some event occurring nearly every week; the prison has grown.

See this small sampling of articles we've carried with the word 'lockdown' in it:
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RT
2016-01-27 04:57:00

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President Obama's final year in office marks the Guantanamo Bay detention facility's 15th year in operation. RT interviewed David Remes, a lawyer who has advised over a dozen Gitmo inmates, about the rising stakes facing the remaining prisoners there.

Remes, who left a lucrative position in corporate law in 2008 to pursue his newfound passion for defending human rights, told RT anchor Lindsay France that the chances of the prison camp being closed by the end of Obama's term were slim to none.

"Of course, if a Republican becomes president, there is, I'd say, no hope that Guantanamo will be closed as a detention facility, so Obama's plan is to transfer as many cleared detainees as he can," Remes said. "That is, detainees who are approved for transfer, and to review as many uncleared detainees as possible, so that he can transfer those cleared detainees, also, abroad."

"Those he can't transfer, or doesn't want to transfer, he wants to bring to the United States," a move which Remes called" moving Guantanamo, not closing it." Remes lamented that this idea was only "removing the symbol," but "not removing what it symbolizes."
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Danny Boyle
The Telegraph, UK
2016-01-27 19:45:00

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Ferry services to the Isle of Wight have been disrupted after a large fire at a boatyard on an industrial estate in Cowes.

Explosions were reported after the blaze broke out at a marina workshop, containing flammable gas and 50 fibreglass boats, in Medina Village.

Plumes of smoke billowed as high as 200ft into the air while more than 30 firefighters tackled the blaze on Monday afternoon.

Smoke could be seen from Isle of Wight ferries and one operator, Red Funnel, was forced to cancel some services on safety grounds.

Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service were called to the scene at about 12.30pm.

Fifty fibreglass boats are believed to be on the premises, in addition to cars and acetylene cylinders.


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Social media users posted pictures on Twitter of a pall of thick, black smoke visible around the town.
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Jonathan Ofir
Mondoweiss
2016-01-27 17:39:00

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"My principle says maximum Jews on maximum land with maximum security and with minimum Palestinians", said Israeli Knesset member Yair Lapid in an interview with the right-wing newspaperMakor Rishon over the weekend.

This is a person who is a self-declared 'centrist' and 'liberal' politician. This would almost seem comic, perhaps ridiculous, if he was not a man ranked first on the list of the "Most Influential Jews in the World" by The Jerusalem Post in 2013.

But who is this man, who seems to challenge the very essence of the term "liberal"?

Yair Lapid seems to be every mother-in-law's dream. Handsome, charming, up-beat, often smiling and in good mood. He entered politics 2012 and won a storming victory for Yesh Atid party in 2013, with no substantial prior political experience. His credentials, and no doubt public appeal, were based upon his past as a TV presenter and news anchor, as well as journalist and author. His focus was very much on "social justice", which was a very hot item in Israel at the time - a term which naturally did not really include Palestinians as a part of its considerations. With a somewhat vague political agenda, his party suddenly became the second largest in the Knesset after Likud, with 19 seats.
Comment: Lapid seems to have read the Obama/Clinton blueprint for aspiring political leaders in the West: Appear progressive if possible, talk about social justice, try to be all things to all people - but when it comes down the brass tacks of militarism and empire-building - sound, act and support policies that are "strong" and "nationalistic". In other words, be a nice little archon for darkness and pathology where it involves anyone who isn't a part of the clan.
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RT
2016-01-27 15:10:00

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Parents in the Austrian city of Wels are angered after a teacher substituted the word 'God' in a popular Christian children's song with 'Allah'. The teacher said the alternative version was meant to be sung only by Muslim kids in a mainly-Muslim class.

However, the controversial decision has caused outrage among parents, with some filing a complaint with the state council that oversees school activity.

"It isn't just about the use of the word Allah. It also means God! You just can't go about rewriting text like this," said the father of one of the pupils to Austrian newspaper Krone.

The original song, titled 'Gottes Liebe ist so wunderbar' (God's love is so wonderful) is extremely popular among Austrian Christian children.
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RT
2016-01-27 16:39:00

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Six Cleveland police officers have been sacked over a deadly 2012 car chase, in which 137 shots were fired at a car in less than 20 seconds, killing two unarmed people. Another six officers have been suspended for up to 30 days.

Detective Steve Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, confirmed that legal action has been taken against the officers, who he identified as Wilfredo Diaz, Brian Sabolik, Erin O'Donnell, Michael Farley, Chris Ereg and Michael Brelo. The last was the only officer charged with manslaughter, but he was acquitted in May of 2015.

According to the investigation, Brelo stood on the hood of a car, which contained Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, while firing at them - 49 times.

Thirteen police officers faced investigation over the incident, of which six were fired and another six were suspended from their duties for 21 to 30 days, whole one officer retired.

All had been accused of committing a range of violations, including failing to request permission to join a pursuit, leaving the city of Cleveland without notifying dispatchers, taking and sharing unauthorized photos at a crime scene, and violating firearms safety protocols.
Comment: Not only should the officers involved in this horrific murder be fired, they should have faced charges. If the city does not charge the officers, the families of the deceased should sue the city and the officers involved. They should all have to pay a price beyond just losing their jobs.
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RT
2016-01-21 16:32:00

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Chinese police have carried out a raid on a human-trafficking ring in Sichuan province, rescuing 15 infants from the gang's clutches. The children were being sold for as little as $3,000. A total of 78 arrests were made in the bust.

According to a report by Xinhua, the gang was trafficking children from China's remote south-west to be sold to buyers in a coastal area situated some 2,000km (1,240 miles) away.

Suspicions were aroused when police spotted a couple in September that had made frequent commutes between Liangshan, Sichuan province, and Linyi, in Shandong, near the coast.

"The gang members were managed in an organized way and assumed different tasks, including trafficking infants, transportation and seeking buyers," an officer said on Tuesday. The wife was in charge of purchasing the infants in Liangshan, to then transport them to Linyi. The husband would seek out buyers in the city.

The children were priced according to gender: little boys fetched 50,000-60,000 yuan ($8,000-$10,000), and the girls 20,000-30,000 yuan. After their rescue, they were placed in the care of the local civil affairs department in Sichuan.

The police have taken blood samples to identify the children and bring them home to their biological parents.
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Press TV
2016-01-27 01:52:00

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized Europe's response to ongoing refugee crisis gripping the continent, saying the European governments' reaction to the problem has resulted in a crackdown on basic freedoms. HRW director, Kenneth Roth, made the remarks in his introductory essay to the New York-based rights group's annual report released on Wednesday. "Fears of terror attacks and of the potential impact of refugee influx led to a visible scaling back of rights in Europe and other regions," Roth said.

The official further warned that "a polarizing us-versus-them rhetoric" adopted by Europe and the United States has moved from "the political fringe to the mainstream. Blatant Islamophobia and shameless demonizing of refugees have become the currency of an increasingly assertive politics of intolerance," he added.

The HRW report raised concerns about the situation in France, where exceptional measures have been put in place under a state of emergency, giving authorities extra powers to keep people in their homes without trial and search houses without judicial approval. The measures were adopted after terror attacks in and around the French capital city of Paris on November 15, 2015. Some 130 people lost their lives and 350 others injured in the assaults claimed by Daesh Takfiri group.

The HRW report warned that these "potentially indiscriminate policing techniques" risk exposing blameless young Muslims to racial profiling. The right response to the inflow of refugees is not more repressive border and immigration enforcement, but a better controlled program for the resettlement of asylum seekers, according to the report. "The effect of European policy so far has been to leave refugees with little choice but to risk their lives at sea for a chance at asylum," Roth said.
Comment: The problem with scaling back the rights of those who were set up to scare us is that these same rights will slip away from us as well. Smoke and mirrors, propaganda and deception, slight of hand... Control. This is how it works.
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RT
2016-01-27 16:00:00

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The City of Seattle is suing Monsanto over allegations that the agrochemical giant polluted the Lower Duwamish River and city drainage pipes, becoming the sixth city to file a lawsuit against the company.

The complaint was filed in federal court on Monday by two firms, Baron & Budd and Gomez Trial Attorneys, on behalf of Seattle. The lawsuit claims that the industrialized Lower Duwamish River was contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and that Monsanto continued to produce the chemicals despite knowing about the health and environmental risks that they pose.

"Long after the dangers of PCBs were widely known, Monsanto continued its practice of protecting its business interests at our expense," City Attorney Pete Holmes said in a statement. "The City intends to hold Monsanto accountable for the damage its product wreaked on our environment."
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RT
2016-01-26 22:42:00

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Austrian athlete and daredevil, Felix Baumgartner, known for his super-sonic leap from the stratosphere, has bashed EU politicians for their "idiotic" refugee policies in a lengthy post. He added that Washington is destabilizing Europe "on purpose."

Baumgartner, the first human to break the sound barrier without a plane and holder of records for the highest balloon ascent and highest parachute jump, made several posts criticizing Western politicians on his Facebook page.

Baumgartner, who is Austrian by birth, but has been living Switzerland since 2012, lashed out against Vienna's policies, chiding local politicians for their failures in leading the country.

"A country where you are fined for fishing without a license but where people cross the border without passports is run by idiots," he wrote. According to the Local, this quote, which was posted by Baumgartner in a separate picture, is not new and has been attributed to Czech Republic President Milos Zeman.

Nonetheless, the athlete went further in a follow-up post criticizing German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her "disastrous 'welcome' policy," which he said is not a solution to the refugee crisis, but rather the source of the "problem".
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Press TV
2016-01-27 01:36:00

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A new report has revealed that race hate crimes on Britain's railway networks have risen by 37% in the past five years. This means an average of more than five reported incidents of abuse or harassment a day. According to the report by the British transport police (BTP), covering railway services in England, Scotland and Wales, including London underground, recorded 1,993 hate crimes in 2015, an average of 5.5 per day. The crimes have been racially or religiously motivated.

BTP went on saying that the number of race hate crimes resulting in a prosecution fell between 2011 and 2015, from 704 to 663. Meanwhile, most of the hate crimes last year were carried out by white people, who accounted for 73% of suspects. In 2015, black suspects accounted for 17% of incidents where the race of the suspect was stated, compared with 14% in 2011.

The most common type of hate crimes recorded in 2015 involved racially or religiously motivated harassment, alarm or distress. Muslims have always been among the main victims of hate crimes across the UK. According to statistics by Metropolitan Police, Muslims in London faced a 70% increase in Islamophobic attacks in 2014-15.

A total of 816 hate crimes against Muslims had been recorded in the 12 months to July 2015. The number stood at 478 over the same period in 2013-14. Islamophobic offences are defined by Met "as any offence which is perceived to be Islamophobic by the victim or any other person." Anti-Muslim attacks range from cyber-bullying and assaults to extreme violence.
Comment: Backlash from the recent Paris terror attacks accounts for the uptick in Islamophobia and a wave of crimes against Muslims in the UK. The PTB, who orchestrated those events and created this dynamic, proudly sit back and watch this domino effect in action. In London, anti-Muslim attacks have risen from 24 to more than 70 reported incidents per week since the massacre.

See also: US Islamophobia fueled by Zionist-controlled media
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RT
2016-01-27 12:16:00

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A Danish teenager who said she was sexually assaulted now faces a fine for using pepper spray against her attacker. The man who pulled her to the ground and tried to undress her fled the scene without any charges.

The incident took place in the center of the small town of Sonderborg in southern Denmark at about 10 p.m. local time Wednesday. She told police that an English-speaking man knocked her to the ground, tried to unbutton her pants and undress her.

However, she was apparently able to protect herself as she pulled out pepper spray and used it against the man, who escaped the scene and hasn't been charged.
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RT
2016-01-27 03:42:00

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Ammon Bundy, the leader of the armed group occupying a federal wildlife refuge near Burns, Oregon, and four others have been arrested by law enforcement amid gunfire, according to the FBI.

At 4:25 pm on Tuesday afternoon, the FBI and Oregon State Police "began an enforcement action to bring into custody a number of individuals associated with the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. During that arrest, there were shots fired," the Bureau said in a statement.

The FBI said one person who was "a subject of a federal probable cause arrest is deceased." He said they are not releasing any information on the person "pending identification by the medical examiner's office."

One person suffered non-life threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. He was arrested and is in custody.

The arrested individuals include:
  • Ammon Edward Bundy, age 40, of Emmett, Idaho.
  • Ryan C. Bundy, age 43, of Bunkerville, Nevada.
  • Brian Cavalier, age 44, of Bunkerville, Nevada.
  • Shawna Cox, age 59, of Kanab, Utah.
  • Ryan Waylen Payne, age 32, of Anaconda, Montana.
According to KATU News, Bundy and the others were arrested near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Shots were fired after FBI agents and Oregon State Police made a traffic stop.
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Sputnik
2016-01-27 02:16:00

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Newly leaked documents leave more questions about how and why the drinking water supply in the city of Flint, Michigan, was replaced with polluted and corrosive river water.

It had been reported that Flint's water supply was changed to cut costs, saving the state an anticipated $6 to $8 million per year. According to an email leaked to Motor City Muckraker, however, that may not have been the case, detailing that there were other ways to cut costs that would not entail poisoning an entire city.

In the email, the then-Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Director Sue McCormick offered a proposal which would have saved Flint $800 million over 30 years; some 20% over what they saved from the switch to Flint River water.
Comment: Further reading:

"Disadvantaged people are largely victims of middle - and upper-class pollution because they usually live closest to the sources of pollution—power plants, industrial installations, and in central cities where vehicle traffic is heaviest. Usually they have no choice. Discrimination created the situation, and those with wealth and influence have political power to keep polluting facilities away from their homes. Living in poverty areas is bad enough. High pollution makes it worse."

The dirty racial politics of pollution: 7 toxic assaults on communities of color besides Flint


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Secret History
Cahal Milmo, Mick Browne
The Independent, UK
2016-01-27 13:58:00

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Highly-sensitive documents suggest terrorist who plotted attack that killed nine civilians in 1993 was British agent

The police watchdog in Northern Ireland is probing claims that the senior IRA operative who planned the 1993 Shankill Road bombing was an informant who passed on details that could have allowed the security forces to prevent the atrocity.

Nine civilians, including two children, were murdered in the attack on a fish shop in Belfast's loyalist heartland 23 years ago which became one of the most notorious incidents of the Troubles and led to a wave of sectarian reprisal killings.

Highly-sensitive documents stolen by the IRA during a break-in at the fortified headquarters of the then Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in 2002 have now been claimed to show that the terrorist who plotted the bombing was a British agent known as "AA".

Leaks from the stolen papers suggest AA had extensively briefed his MI5 or Special Branch handlers on the aim and likely timing of the attack, which was designed to inflame sectarian tensions by killing the leadership of the loyalist Ulster Defence Association (UDA) terror group as they met above Frizzell's fish shop on a busy Saturday in October 1993.
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Science & Technology
Paul Wallis
Digital Journal
2016-01-27 00:32:00

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Quebec - The new theory for germline guidelines is based on IVF screening practices, and it's pretty damn confronting. Forget Frankenstein; this is a whole new order of difficulty with a lot of new dangers.

In a society where accountability is virtually non-existent, it's also a very high-risk issue. The ability to edit genes and deal with genetic disorders with genetic screening is either a horror story in progress or a major achievement depending on your point of view. Just about everybody has pointed out that an arbitrary determination of genetic makeup is untrustworthy by definition.

Big money will be in play, and that money usually wants to make a lot more of itself. Greed reproduces itself, too.

Given the environment of truly irrational pricing and other depraved evil spirits/scumbags in medical industries, why should these guys be allowed to participate, and make more money, editing the human race?

Not to detract from this whole new horizon of fascinating science in any way — the basic process of editing genes in IVF is supposed to manage some truly hideous, crippling, genetic conditions. Fair enough, you'd think. It's a practical way of managing a lot of otherwise catastrophic medical conditions.

Inheritable germline genetic modifications, however, raise big issues and potentially big problems. Germline is defined by Google as "a series of germ cells each descended or developed from earlier cells in the series, regarded as continuing through successive generations of an organism." Add to this new tech related to genetic modifications, which has literally exploded in the last decade or so since the Human Genome Project, and the whole issue of gene editing gets very tricky, very quickly.

That means that germline edits are permanent and will be carried on in new generations. In human terms, that could mean "selecting or de-selecting" things like human traits, according to researchers at the Centre of Genomics and Policy at McGill University in Quebec.

Umm.... Turning human behaviors on and off? Sounds like a reliable way of causing multiple disasters, doesn't it? Some human behaviors may deserve to be turned off, but who do you trust with this ability? Big Pharma? Big Medicine? Big Politics? The usual insufferable pig-ignorant/do nothing/hate everybody "elites" of every generation? Would you trust a society which wouldn't do well in comparison with a dunghill for rational behavior of its own?

Imagine inheritable behaviors and other characteristics based on the whims of some claque of ideologically and/or money-driven people whose technical knowledge will be superseded in hours or days and whose view of humanity is as rational as a politician's understanding of ethics and accountability.

The inevitable result would be the "genetic fashions" of the day vs real human needs and rights. This would be the culture of gene editing if it doesn't have guidelines and those guidelines can't be enforced. The need for guidelines isn't in question. The question is whether those guidelines can work at all. There are real dangers in this scenario.
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Peter Holley
The Washington Post
2016-01-26 00:00:00

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For months now, angry strangers have been showing up at Christina Lee and Michael Saba's front door with a curious demand: "Give me back my stolen phone!"

Sometimes, families will show up; other times, it's groups of friends or a random person with a police officer in tow, according to Fusion. Despite using different service providers, everyone who bangs on their door has been led to the suburban Atlanta home by a phone-tracking app.

The problem — as the couple desperately tries to explain visitors — is that the missing phones aren't at the house and never have been.

They are not, in fact, thieves. Saba is an engineer; Lee is a journalist.

The pair doesn't understand why exactly, but both Android and iPhone users on various networks are being directed to their house by phone-tracking apps.
Comment: Another small but important sign of how the pace of technology seems to outstrip the foresight and resources required to employ technology wisely.
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Earth Changes
Sandi Doughton
Seattle Times
2016-01-27 12:49:00

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For decades, geologists, emergency managers and media in the Pacific Northwest have been warning that the region will someday be slammed by a megaquake and tsunami that could be the country's worst natural disaster.

But it took an East Coast magazine to finally elevate the issue onto the White House agenda.

Inspired in large part by an article in The New Yorker in the summer, the Obama administration is hosting an Earthquake Resilience Summit on Tuesday — and is expected to underscore its support for an earthquake early warning system on the West Coast.

It's not clear whether that support will come with additional federal money, but foundations and some Northwest businesses will announce contributions to a warning system.

The event will be streamed live beginning at 9:30 a.m. PST.

The article that kicked things off was published in the July 20 edition of the weekly magazine, which once ran a map on its cover showing the entire Western U.S. dwarfed by a few midtown intersections, reflecting a Manhattan-centric world view.
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John Knicely
KIRO 7
2016-01-27 19:06:00

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A continuous tremor has been shaking from Vancouver Island south toward Olympia. A lead seismologist at the University of Washington told KIRO 7 they are not alarmed, but that the tremor is likely tied to the biggest quake in the Puget Sound region.

Hundreds of tremors registered across the Pacific Northwest within a 25-hour span starting Monday.

The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network plotted 427 tremors on a map.

"What's happening is there's an episode where the deep plate boundary is kind of rumbling," said Dr. John Vidale, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.

The tremor can last three weeks and happens about once a year. It's been shaking 30 miles under Puget Sound since Dec. 22. Unlike an earthquake map, the dots on the tremor map show readings of the same tremor. You can see the map here.
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RT
2016-01-27 20:46:00

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The extreme weather patterns observed during El Nino show no sign of abating, with large tidal waves and unusual rainfall continuing to hit Pacific coastal regions.

The Californian city of Pacifica has declared a local emergency due to cliff erosion caused by El Nino.

Ocean currents are currently battering the city's shoreline - and putting hundreds of residential properties at risk of collapsing into the sea.

Astonishing video captured from a drone reveals the terrifying extent of erosion.


View on Sott.net

The footage shows heaps of soil crumbling from the cliffside, undercutting apartments which hang precariously above on Esplanade and Palmetto Avenue.
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RT
2016-01-27 16:48:00

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Two people were reported injured and many vehicles were tossed about as a twister touched down in Coconut Creek, Florida.

Heavy storms on Wednesday morning soaked the area, just a few miles inland from Florida's Atlantic coast, between Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale.

At Broward College, the twister picked up cars, tossing them around. Several vehicles ended up stacked on top of others.


View on Sott.net
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wncn.com
2016-01-27 19:22:00

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A beached whale was discovered on the shore at Kure Beach Wednesday.

According to Kure Beach Police, the whale was found about two blocks south of the Kure Beach Fish Pier around 6:00 a.m.

William McClellan of the University of North Carolina Wilmington says the whale was a baby humpback between 1 and 2 years old. He says the whale was very thin and appeared to have been sick for some time.

Officials say about two dozen dead whales wash up on the North Carolina coast per year. UNCW has been notified.


View on Sott.net



View on Sott.net
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Ted O'Connor
abc.net.au
2016-01-27 18:55:00

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Fire authorities have warned significant rainfall is needed to extinguish dozens of blazes burning out of control in remote areas of Tasmania's west and north.

Some of the biggest fires are burning in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA), where rare ecosystems are at risk from bushfires.

A total fire ban is still being enforced and recent rainfalls were enough to prevent flare ups but they were not heavy enough to stop the threat.

Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) chief officer Gavin Freeman said a Lauderdale man had been charged after allegedly lighting a campfire in the state's north-west then leaving the area.

"It's the first time we've had a total fire ban for four days in a row," he said.

"It's been a long weekend for a lot of people.

"But it is frustrating, we've been very clear about the implications of not abiding by the total fire ban.

"We've tried to ease the restrictions as much as we can."

TFS northern regional chief Ian Bounds said crews could not become complacent, despite cooler conditions this week.


View on Sott.net
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Gulf Digital News
2016-01-27 15:27:00

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A two-tonne, 4-metre shark attacked an Emirati sailor and his crew of five on the deck of their fishing boat at Fujairah coastline.

The Emirati sailor recalled the horrific incident that took place in the early hours of Sunday when the shark suddenly jumped into the boat.

According to Hamza Al Sharaa, the Emirati sailor, the shark seemed hungry and was trying to find anything to eat.

"It was 2 am and we were 28 miles away from the shore," he told The National.

"One of our crew members was fixing the fishing rope on the boat when the shark jumped out of the water from his back trying to eat him and, in seconds, it was in the middle of the boat after it hit one of the boat barriers," he said adding that the shark leapt three metres out of the water to get onto the boat.


View on Sott.net
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Harrison Daily News
2016-01-25 15:09:00

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The source of a mysterious sound heard Sunday afternoon in many parts of the Ozarks is still primarily that — a mystery.

Harrison Police began getting calls about the sound just before 4:45 p.m. Sunday.

The first caller was on West Park Avenue. The woman reported she heard an explosion and felt vibrations, although the explosion sounded a long way off.

An officer on patrol checked in the immediate area, but didn't locate anything that might have been the source. A report said he spoke to people at the Soccer Complex who also heard it and thought it might have come from the Highway 7 South area.

A few minutes later, a caller on Highland reported hearing it and an officer checked that area,speaking to people on Windsor Drive who said it shook their house.
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Jonathon Gilbert
New York Times
2016-01-25 14:10:00

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Farmers and fumigators in Argentina are running out of time as they scramble to control the country's worst plague of locusts in more than half a century, officials warned on Monday.

The provincial authorities and Senasa, the government's agricultural inspection agency, have intensified their efforts to exterminate swarms of the insects in the dry forests of northern Argentina.But their attempts might not be enough to prevent the locusts from developing into a flying throng in the coming days — when they will then threaten to devour crops like sunflowers and cotton, and grasslands for cattle grazing.

"It's the worst explosion in the last 60 years," Diego Quiroga, the agriculture agency's chief of vegetative protection, said in a telephone interview. "It's impossible to eradicate; the plague has already established itself. We're just acting to make sure it's the smallest it can be and does the least damage possible."

Small pockets of locusts, which first appeared last June, at the start of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, have spread across an area of northern Argentina about the size of Delaware. The mild and rainy winter here created comfortable breeding conditions for the locusts; their surge outpaced the ability of the authorities to control the spread of the insects.
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Ari Yashar
Arutz Sheva
2016-01-25 18:04:00

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Electric corporation kicks it into high gear as snow starts moving in ahead of overnight buildup; electricity usage breaks record


Jerusalem was visited by bursts of snow showers on Monday as a three-day storm continues to set upon Israel, and the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) has declared a state of emergency in the capital in anticipation of the coming deluge.

On Monday the record for electricity usage in winter was broken, as the 12,200 megawatt previous high was shattered and consumption continues to rise. A 2.3% increase from the previous record has already been reached.

A full 47 millimeters (nearly two inches) of rain fell in Jerusalem on Monday, making it the highest amount of rainfall in the entire country. While snow also fell down upon the capital, it did not stick or build up - but that's to change on Monday night, as Jerusalemites can anticipate to wake to a white morning on Tuesday.

IEC Director Maj. Gen. (res.) Yiftah Ron-Tal updated Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) on Monday regarding the company's preparations for electricity disturbances in Jerusalem, after snow began falling earlier in the day.

A situation room has been opened in Jerusalem and an emergency situation has been declared by the IEC.
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Sputnik
2016-01-26 20:42:00

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According to the BBC, about 450 houses were affected on Tuesday morning, and another 700 later in south-west Wales.

The country's authorities have issued numerous warnings about possible floods, and the Meteorological Office of the country warned that rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday could reach 4 inches.

Earlier in December, hundreds of people were forced to flee their homes due to an unprecedented flooding with the highest level ever recorded in some parts of northern Britain. Tens of thousands of homes were left without electricity because of heavy rain and strong wind.
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Super Station 95
2016-01-17 22:20:00

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An ocean data buoy is alerting to an "event" in the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the west coast of Oregon. This is where a magnitude 9 earthquake hit in 1700.

According to the data buoy, the water column height (depth) fell sharply within minutes off the coast of Oregon, signaling the land beneath the ocean has suddenly "sunk."

Here are the graphs showing what the ocean data buoy recorded:

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As of 0231:30, the initial water column height is 2738.80 Meters deep (8985.56 feet). Two minutes and thirty seconds later, that same water column height had dropped to 2738.66 Meters deep (8985.10 feet). Where did the four inches of water disappear to? Answer: The earth sunk; and continued to sink for the next several HOURS. As you can see from the second chart above, from 0230 GMT to 0600 GMT, the ocean continued to sink to 2737.7 meters deep (8981.95 feet). The buoy is too far away from shore to be affected by high/low tide, so where did the four feet of ocean water disappear to?

This means a Tectonic Plate in the Ocean named the "Juan de Fuca Plate" has made a sudden, eastward movement and slipped beneath another Tectonic Plate named the "North American Plate." This type of event is usually followed by a massive upward movement of the North American Plate causing a very severe earthquake.
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Malta Independent
2016-01-13 22:01:00

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An undersea earthquake measuring 4.4 on the richter scale was felt in all parts of Malta at around 6pm.

According to the website of the University of Malta's Seismic Monitoring & Research Group the tremor took place to the north east of Malta, around 30 kilometres out. It lasted for around ten seconds.

The tremor seemed to be more violent than usual. Buildings shook for a few seconds and this newsroom received several reports from our readers. A person in Gharghur wrote: short but very strong as things fell off the shelves!!

People wrote on Facebook and on news website comment boards that today's tremor reminded them of another strong quake felt in the 1960s. Many said they had never felt a tremor this strong before.
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Fire in the Sky
No new articles.
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Health & Wellness
Alison Abbott
Nature
2016-01-26 21:00:00

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For the second time in four months, researchers have reported autopsy results that suggest Alzheimer's disease might occasionally be transmitted to people during certain medical treatments — although scientists say that neither set of findings is conclusive.

The latest autopsies, described in the Swiss Medical Weekly1 on 26 January, were conducted on the brains of seven people who died of the rare, brain-wasting Creutzfeldt - Jakob disease (CJD).Decades before their deaths, the individuals had all received surgical grafts of dura mater — the membrane that covers the brain and spinal cord. These grafts had been prepared from human cadavers and were contaminated with the prion protein that causes CJD.

But in addition to the damage caused by the prions, five of the brains displayed some of the pathological signs that are associated with Alzheimer's disease, researchers from Switzerland and Austria report. Plaques formed from amyloid-β protein were discovered in the grey matter and blood vessels. The individuals, aged between 28 and 63, were unusually young to have developed such plaques. A set of 21 controls, who had not had surgical grafts of dura mater but died of sporadic CJD at similar ages, did not have this amyloid signature.
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Gary Truthkings
truthkings.com
2016-01-24 18:32:00

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It is amazing, really, that an obvious cause and effect can play out right in front of everyone's eyes and yet somehow, the greater portion of government officials end up surprised by it? I'm talking about the cause (berating, humiliating parents who choose not to vaccinate their children) and the effect (those same parents who just stop telling anyone about their medical decision). It should be rather obvious that if you create an environment of hostility for people who choose to exercise a human right not to vaccinate their children, you could potentially alienate them and cause them to eventually become rather withdrawn.
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Dr. Jeremy Dean
PsyBlog
2016-01-27 17:19:00

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60 people were given tests of memory and thinking skills after drinking this for 30 days.

Two cups of hot chocolate a day could help keep the brain healthy, a recent study finds.

The research involved 60 people whose average age was 73.

They were given tests of memory and thinking skills and the blood flow in their brains was measured.
Comment: Additional health benefits of chocolate:


The health benefits of eating dark chocolate have been extolled for centuries, but the exact reason has remained a mystery - until now. Researchers have just reported that certain bacteria in the stomach gobble the chocolate and ferment it into anti-inflammatory compounds that are good for the heart...

"When these compounds are absorbed by the body, they lessen the inflammation of cardiovascular tissue, reducing the long-term risk of stroke," said John Finley, Ph.D., who led the work. He said that this study is the first to look at the effects of dark chocolate on the various types of bacteria in the stomach.
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Brandon Turbeville
Natural Blaze
2016-01-26 16:13:00

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A new recommendation has been released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government advisory group that is now recommending all adults be routinely screened for depression as part of their healthcare.

The first part of the recommendation suggests that all adults be screened, but singles out pregnant women and new mothers as a target population. The second part of the recommendation mentions the need to ensure that systems are in place that will allow for the proper diagnosis and treatment of people who are singled out through this screening. The guidelines, which were published in the journal of the American Medical Association, did not specify how often adults should be screened.
Comment: A similar government 'recommendation' known as The Mother's Act was implemented back in 2009. While the current U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines appear to be for the benefit of pregnant women and new mothers, enforcement of so called recommended guidelines could represent a slippery slope toward medical tyranny.

As the author suggests: 'What about individuals who don't want to seek counseling, take antidepressants, or otherwise engage in a "treatment policy?"' Is this current Task Force being set up to ultimately benefit Big Pharma? The following quote from the 2009 article about The Mother's Act seems to suggest that this could be the case:
Mixtures of antipsychotics, antidepressants and anticonvulsants, now used as "mood" stabilizers, are regularly prescribed for the all "anxiety" and "mood" disorders sought to be marketed via the Mother's Act. Drug cocktails represent dollar signs.

The doctors make out like bandits as well. "Psychiatry has increasingly replaced psychotherapy with something called 'medication management,' which largely consists of symptom assessment and prescription updates," Dr Bruce Levine, author of, Surviving American's Depression Epidemic, reports in the August 13, 2008Huffington Post...

"The bottom line," he says, "is that psychiatrists who offer only medication management routinely make nearly triple the income as do psychiatrists who provide mostly psychotherapy."
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RT
2016-01-27 14:35:00

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Ancient mineral clay used by aboriginal people in Canada for centuries could be the key to fighting against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and published in theAmerican Society for Microbiology's mBio journal on Tuesday, found that the clay killed 16 strains of ESKAPE bacteria samples from nearby hospitals and waste treatment facilities.

ESKAPE bacteria - which includes Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae,Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species - causes the majority of infections in US hospitals, and is resistant to antibacterial drugs.
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Kelly Brogan MD
kellybroganmd.com
2015-06-26 15:47:00

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Recent research shows basic anatomy that has eluded scientists and clinicians up until this point: the brain has a lymphatic system, one of the primary purposes of which is to connect it to the immune system.

We have entered a time in the history of modern medicine that is awkward at best, and intolerable at worst. We've gone too far down the wrong path, once again. We've made a lot of silly mistakes in the past from thinking the world is flat to doctors endorsing smoking. Making mistakes is ok! What's not ok, however, is a failure to acknowledge the error of our ways when it becomes self-evident.
Comment: Missing link found between brain, immune system - with major disease implications
In a stunning discovery that overturns decades of textbook teaching, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the brain is directly connected to the immune system by vessels previously thought not to exist. That such vessels could have escaped detection when the lymphatic system has been so thoroughly mapped throughout the body is surprising on its own, but the true significance of the discovery lies in the effects it could have on the study and treatment of neurological diseases ranging from autism to Alzheimer's disease to multiple sclerosis...

The unexpected presence of the lymphatic vessels raises a tremendous number of questions that now need answers, both about the workings of the brain and the diseases that plague it. For example, take Alzheimer's disease. "In Alzheimer's, there are accumulations of big protein chunks in the brain," Kipnis said. "We think they may be accumulating in the brain because they're not being efficiently removed by these vessels." He noted that the vessels look different with age, so the role they play in aging is another avenue to explore. And there's an enormous array of other neurological diseases, from autism to multiple sclerosis, that must be reconsidered in light of the presence of something science insisted did not exist.
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Andrew W. Saul
Orthomolecular Medicine News
2016-01-26 15:06:00
We hear about the hazards of lead. We know that lead poisoning can cause severe mental retardation. Lead has been clearly linked with Alzheimer's disease. We have been told to avoid lead in our homes and in our water, and to clean up lead pollution of our environment. But we have not been told how to remove it from our bodies. Vitamin C megadoses may be the answer.

Dr. Erik Paterson, of British Columbia, reports:
"When I was a consulting physician for a center for the mentally challenged, a patient showing behavioral changes was found to have blood lead levels some ten times higher than the acceptable levels. I administered vitamin C at a dose of 4,000 mg/day. I anticipated a slow response. The following year I rechecked his blood lead level. It had gone up, much to my initial dismay. But then I thought that perhaps what was happening was that the vitamin C was mobilizing the lead from his tissues. So we persisted. The next year, on rechecking, the lead levels had markedly dropped to well below the initial result. As the years went by, the levels became almost undetectable, and his behavior was markedly improved."
How much vitamin C?

Frederick Robert Klenner, M.D., insisted that large amounts of vitamin C are needed to do the job. One old (1940) paper got it wrong, and Dr. Klenner comments:
"The report by Dannenberg that high doses of ascorbic acid were without effect in treating lead intoxication in a child must be ignored, since his extremely high dose was 25 mg by mouth four times a day and one single daily injection of 250 mg of C. Had he administered 350 mg/kg body weight every two hours, he would have seen the other side of the coin."
Here is what 350 milligrams of vitamin C per kilogram body weight works out to in pounds, approximately:

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Sputnik
2016-01-26 01:03:00

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The United States has added the Dominican Republic and the US Virgin Islands to the list of countries for pregnant women to avoid amid the spread of the Zika virus through Latin American and the Caribbean, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in a statement.

"CDC is working with other public health officials to monitor for ongoing Zika virus‎ transmission," the statement said on Tuesday. "Today, CDC added the following destinations to the Zika virus travel alerts: United States Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic."
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Alliance for Natural Health
2016-01-12 21:21:00

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Just because Big Pharma can't make big money from the potential solutions is not a reason for further delay.

Antibiotic-resistant illnesses currently kill an estimated 700,000 people a year globally. By 2050, these illnesses are expected to kill 10 million people. Based on recent research, it could be even worse—and coming even sooner.

We have had a taste of this over the winter, with an especially nasty Avian (or Type A) influenza bug hitting people, and in some cases being followed by secondary bacterial infection such as bronchitis or pneumonia. From what we hear, many of the people infected by the virus had the flu shot—which may have been more on target than last year, but which is never very protective, as we have pointed out before, and still contains mercury. Fortunately in most cases antibiotics still work against the secondary bacterial infections, which could otherwise be life-threatening.
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Science of the Spirit
No new articles.
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High Strangeness
April Holloway
Ancient Origins
2016-01-26 01:02:00

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A new report published in the latest edition of the American Journal of Modern Physics has revealed a startling finding - a newly developed telescope with concave lenses has observed, for the first time, entities in our terrestrial environment that are invisible to our eyes and to conventional Galileo telescopes with convex lenses. Even more surprising is the fact that these entities have been observed to move 'intelligently' in the night sky in a manner suggesting unauthorized surveillance of the area.

Revolutionary New Santilli Telescope


The discovery was made by Dr Ruggero Santilli, a highly-regarded expert in mathematics, cosmology, and physics, who has been nominated for Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry. Dr Santilli developed a new type of telescope that was designed to observe antimatter-light. This form of light has a negative index of refraction, thus requiring concave lenses to focus it, rather than the traditional convex lenses used in conventional Galileo telescopes.