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Bahar Azizi and Niall Bradley
Sott.net 2016-02-04 21:35:00
Saudi Arabia's unilateral blockade of Yemen since late March 2015 has caused a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions in the Arabian peninsula. It is extremely difficult for journalists, aid workers and diplomats to access the country, but from the little information that does leak out, it is clear the situation there is dire. From a population of 25 million - about the same as Syria's pre-2011 - at least16 million Yemenis are without clean water, there is a critical shortage of medicine, and 6.5 million civilians are at risk of starvation, including 1.7 million children presently at risk of malnutrition. Peter Maurer, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said after visiting the country last August: "Yemen after five months looks like Syria after five years." Widespread aerial bombardment by air forces of the Saudi and Gulf states - with significant direct and indirect military assistance from the US and UK - has killed thousands of Yemeni civilians. During a press briefing early this year, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that "the number of civilian casualties recorded between 26 March and 31 December, 2015 [is] 8,119 people, including 2,795 killed and 5,324 wounded." However, Dr. Judith Brown, who worked in Yemen for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, points out that the death toll resulting from this military intervention is probably much higher than reported. | |
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Catherine Shakdam
RT 2016-02-03 17:30:00
Today, war refugees have become headlines onto themselves. Whether referred to as migrants or asylum seekers by a well-thinking media complex, the semantics of this new crisis nevertheless betrays a very globalist agenda - yet more engineering, yet more manipulation. With war raging on in the Middle East, millions of people were forced to flee before the advances of terror. Trapped in a conflict which was not of their making, and hunted by armies which have sought only their enslavement and/or annihilation, communities have chosen exile over death, chased out of their lands by the brutality of war. In the face of such human tragedy, Europe opened its borders, inviting in, those who lost everything ... or so we were told. It is this 'humanitarian' narrative EU officials have volunteered to both their constituents and the media - this idea that Western nations hold a duty of care and protection over the millions displaced by war. Indeed, Western powers are responsible. Actually no ... their role far exceeds the responsibility since the Mid-East has burnt under their fire. Let us remember which powers in fact engineered and purposely exported destabilization to the MENA over the past decade. From Iraq, to Syria, Libya and Yemen, military pyres have lit up many skies, engulfing all in their wake. | |
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RT
2016-02-03 02:05:00
US Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Italy was disrupted by a cry of protest at his joint press conference with Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni, when a woman in the audience shouted, "it's you who created Daesh!" The press conference was coming to an end, when the woman stood up from the public, her head covered up by a black veil. "It's you who created Daesh!" she shouted at the two ministers, using another name for the terror group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), reported the Italian state-owned television channel RAI. The woman was dragged away from the conference by the Carabinieri. | |
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Oriental Review
2016-02-03 22:34:00 Comment: Unfortunately, YouTube has deleted the documentary with English subtitles. We're currently attempting to locate an alternative copy...
This is the documentary shown on French TV which has the Kiev 'Maidan' regime throwing fits The hard-hitting documentary by Paul Moreira 'Ukraine, les masques de la révolution' [Ukraine: Masks of the Revolution], was aired on Monday night by Canal+, causing a stir in both Ukraine and France. On Sunday, the Ukrainian foreign ministry reported on Facebook that their ambassador in France had sent an outraged letter to Canal+ where he condemned the documentary as "a pamphlet of the worst disinformation traditions, using primitive methods of journalistic manipulation, including the handling of comments of respondents, distortions in translation and facts, and purely fabricated images." That same day Le Monde heaped pressure on Canal+ by attacking the film's creator. Moreira has calmly and respectfully responded to his critics with a detailed post, translated into English here. To the credit of Canal Plus' management, the documentary was aired at the scheduled time:
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David Edwards
Raw Story 2016-02-03 21:17:00
Struggling Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush was forced to politely ask a group of supporters to applaud for him on Wednesday after a rant about his ability to lead the country was met with complete silence. Speaking at an event in Manchester, New Hampshire on Wednesday, Bush lashed out at GOP hopeful Donald Trump, and promised not to be a divisive president. "My pledge to you, I will be a commander-in-chief that will have the back of the military," he said. "I won't trash talk, I won't be a divider-in-chief or an agitator-in-chief. I won't be out there blowharding, talking a big game without backing it up." "I think the next president needs to be a lot quieter, but send a signal that we're prepared to act in the national security interest of this country," Bush added. "To get back in the business of creating a more peaceful world." Bush paused, waiting for approval from the crowd. But instead, he was met with an awkward silence. "Please clap," the candidate said, looking demoralized. The crowd obliged.
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Sputnik
2016-02-04 20:31:00
The decision to quadruple its military presence in Europe puts the US at its highest risk of a nuclear war with Russia, since the Cuban missile crisis of the early 1960s, as during the entire history of the mutual relationship it has never placed its military forces so close to Russia, according to Professor Stephen F. Cohen. Referring to the recently announced US plan to quadruple its military presence in Europe, political analyst Professor Stephen F. Cohen called it an unprecedented and very dangerous provocation. "We have never put our military force so close to Russia in the history going back to the 18th century," he said during the John Batchelor Show. "During the last Cold War our military presence ended in West Berlin. Now we are militarily right on Russia's borders, at a minimum, in the three Baltic countries, Romania and Poland." | |
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Pepe Escobar
RT 2016-02-04 17:47:00
Picture sleepless nights at 'Sultan' Erdogan's palace in Ankara. Imagine him livid when he learns the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), backed by Russian air power, started a preemptive Battle of Aleppo - through the Bayirbucak region - cutting off Ankara's top weaponizing corridor and Jihadi highway. Who controls this corridor will control the final outcome of the war in Syria. Meanwhile, in Geneva, the remote-controlled Syrian opposition, a.k.a. High Negotiations Committee, graphically demonstrated they never wanted to meet with the Damascus delegation in the first place - "proximity" talks or otherwise, even after Washington and Moscow roughly agreed on a two-year transition plan leading to a theoretically secular, nonsectarian Syria. The Saudi front wanted no less than Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam and all Jabhat al-Nusra, a.k.a. al-Qaeda in Syria, collaborators at the table in Geneva. So the Geneva charade, quicker than one can say "Road to Aleppo!" was exposed for what it is. | |
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Oliver JJ Lane
Breitbart 2016-02-02 00:00:00
A retired media boss at a major German state broadcaster has admitted his network and others take orders from the government on what — and what not — to report. National public service broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), which was recently forced into a humiliating apology for their silence on migrant violence and sex assault is being drawn into a fresh scandal after one of their former bureau chiefs admitted the company takes orders from the government on what it reports. He said journalists received instructions to write news that would be "to Ms. Merkel's liking". Former head of ZDF Bonn Dr. Wolfgang Herles make the remarks during a radio event (from minute 27) in Berlin where journalists discussed the media landscape. Moving on to the freedom of the press, the panel chair asked Dr. Herles whether things in Germany had got "seriously out of whack". With an honesty perhaps unusual in Germany, Dr. Herles replied that ordinary Germans were totally losing faith in the media, something he called a "scandal". He said: | |
Comment: The propaganda exposed in the German media is illustrative of what poses for objective news in most of the Western mainstream press, which has always been controlled by those in power. They continue to get away with such egregious propaganda by continually exploiting fear andxenophobia, keeping people so distracted and stressed that they are unable or unwilling to see the man behind the curtain.
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RT
2016-02-03 17:47:00
The governor's office in Isparta, southwestern Turkey, has reportedly sent a request to all state institutions in the province instructing staff to report cases of "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other top officials straight to the police. Insulting the president is considered a crime in Turkey and the punishment can be up to four years in jail. "According to Articles 299 and 125 of the Turkish Penal Code [TCK], an action must be taken for the posts [on social media] including insults against our president and other senior government officials, which have increased lately in direct proportion to the increase in terror activities in our country," the notification, signed by Isparta Deputy Governor Fevzi Güneş on behalf of Isparta Governor Vahdettin Özkan, stated, Today's Zaman reported. The government began its crackdown on Kurdish fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), outlawed by Ankara, last July. Turkey's authorities maintain those killed during the security operation in the southeast were all PKK members. According to Turkish human rights groups, however, more than 160 civilians were killed during the government offensive. President Erdogan has publicly vowed to continue the operation until the area is cleansed of Kurdish militants. Kurds have long been campaigning for the right to self-determination and greater autonomy in Turkey, where they are the largest ethnic minority. | |
Comment: Maybe the rest of the world can help the Turkish people by insulting the pusillanimous fascist Erdogan wherever they see fit. The guy is plainly a psychopath and should be tarred and feathered and tied to a flagpole in the center of town so people can throw rotten tomatoes at him.
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Sputnik
2016-02-04 17:43:00
Ankara has violated the Open Skies Treaty by not allowing Russian inspectors to conduct a scheduled inspection flight over the Turkish territory, a move that Moscow will not leave without proper response, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday. Russian inspectors were scheduled to perform an observation flight on board the An-30B plane over the Turkish territory within the framework of the Open Skies Treaty on February 1-5. "The itinerary included the observation of areas adjacent to the Turkish border with Syria, as well as airfields that host NATO warplanes. However, after the arrival of the Russian mission to Turkey and the announcement of the desired itinerary, the Turkish military officials refused to allow the inspection flight citing an order from the Turkish Foreign Ministry," head of the ministry's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergey Ryzhkov said in a statement. Ryzhkov called the Turkish move "a dangerous precedent of uncontrolled military activity carried out by a member of the Open Skies Treaty. "We are not going to leave this violation of the treaty by Turkey without proper attention and adequate response," the official stressed. | |
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RT
2016-02-04 16:54:00
A US think tank, which notably receives funding from the military sector, has lashed out at Russia's Sputnik news agency, claiming in a new report that the media organization "discredits" Western governments and institutions such as NATO. The Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), which helps the US and central and eastern Europe to shape strategies and policies, has now shifted its focus towards Russia's "modern warfare", shining a specific spotlight on the English-language agency. CEPA has compiled a five-page report, in which it gives a cursory analysis of Sputnik's reporting, focusing on just one aspect - "European Parliament context" - out of all of its global, 24/7, multilingual coverage. Referring to it as "one piece of the Kremlin's media machine," the author Ben Nimmo accuses Sputnik of contributing to the discreditation of "western governments, policies and institutions such as the European Union and NATO." Nimmo's analysis implies that Sputnik is a platform for merely "a small number of anti-establishment politicians" after calculating the number of quotes and citations of individual eastern European politicians and parties. | |
Comment: The only thing that Sputnik has to do to "discredit" the West and NATO is to tell the truth! Because, the US/NATO do a fine job of discrediting themselves with their asinine, juvenile understanding of world politics and aggressive, bullying behavior.
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Fort Russ
2016-02-02 16:49:00
The head of the British Foreign Ministry Philip Hammond complained that Putin is "absolutely impenetrable". "Watching Putin as Defense Minister and now as Foreign Minister, I realized that no matter how long you watch, you will not be able to see anything - completely impermeable. We have no idea what the Kremlin's strategy is. We don't know," said Hammond. Hammond also said that it is difficult to discern whether the position of the Kremlin changed to support Assad, "because it is impossible to read Putin." In Syria, since March 2011, armed conflict continues, which, according to the UN, has killed more than 220 thousand people. Government troops confront militants from various armed groups, the most active of the terrorist groups being "Islamic State" and "Jabhat al-Nusra" (banned in Russia and several other countries). From September 30th, Russia, at the request of Assad, has conducted airstrikes on the objects of both groups. The U.S seeks the resignation of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and therefore opposes any decision to provide any help. For its part, Russia has repeatedly called for "an international coalition" to cooperate with the Syrian authorities under the auspices of the UN Security Council to combat ISIS. Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow has never concealed their mission and will continue to provide military support for the leadership of the Syria to combat terrorism in accordance with existing contracts and international law. Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ | |
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RT
2016-02-04 14:02:00
Developments on the Turkish-Syrian border give serious grounds to suspect that Ankara is planning a military invasion in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said. "We have serious grounds to suspect intensive preparations by Turkey for a military invasion on the territory of the sovereign state of Syria," Major General Igor Konashenkov, Defense Ministry spokesman, told journalists. "We arerecording more and more signs of concealed preparations by the Turkish military," he added. The spokesman reminded that Moscow had previously provided the international community with irrefutable video evidence of Turkish artillery firing on Syrian populated areas in the north of Latakia Province. "We are surprised that the talkative representatives of the Pentagon, NATO and numerous organizations allegedly protecting human rights in Syria, despite our call to respond to these actions, still remain silent [on the shelling by Turkey]," he said. Turkey is trying to conceal its illegal military activity on the border with Syria and has canceled an agreed Russian surveillance flight over its territory because of that, Konashenkov said. | |
Comment: It has been clear for some time that Turkey has been playing the role of a provocateur, seeking to "shake up" an otherwise hopelessly lost situation, through acts of terrorism and now apparently, acts of war. Attempts to provoke Russia, no matter how tempting, will be resisted by Moscow. Any retaliation Russia exacts against Turkey will be done in a manner that negates any effects carrying over to its primary mission in Syria - to win the war.
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Daniel McAdams
Ron Paul Institute 2016-02-04 13:47:00
Anyone wondering why the rest of the world sees the US administration as insane -- or worse -- need only spend a few minutes watching a daily briefing from the White House or especially the US State Department. These are not endeavors by intelligent and rational representatives of the US government to help explain US policies to the press corps and thereby to the rest of the world, but rather mind-numbingly sophomoric and barely literate diatribes. Who can forget the exchange between AP's top diplomatic reporter Matt Lee and State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf, where Mr. Lee questioned Harf on her assertion that US "evidence" for its claim that Russia was involved in the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17 over Ukraine came from "social media." Pressing Harf for any evidence, he asked "is there anything other than social media" to back US claims? Yes, she said, but only offered that the US assessment was based on "common sense." Then there was that hilarious moment when former State Department Spokesperson Jan Psaki answered accusations by the Venezuelan government that the US was trying to push a regime change on the country. | |
Comment: Further reading:
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Tom DiChristopher
CNBC 2016-02-04 08:11:00
Layoffs surged in January to the highest levels since July as employers in the retail and energy sectors pulled out the pink slips, according to a private survey out Thursday. U.S.-based companies announced 75,114 planned job cuts last month, up more than 200 percent from a 15-year low in December, according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That figure was also 42 percent higher from a year ago. Retailers were the biggest job cutter, despite a nearly 8 percent bump in U.S. holiday sales in 2015. The sector slashed 22,246 positions, a seven-year high.Wal-Mart accounted for much of the payroll reductions. The nation's largest retailer said it plans to close 269 stores and expects to let go 16,000 workers. Macy's said it will also shutter some locations this year, costing 4,820 employees their jobs. Challenger, Gray & Christmas CEO John A.Challenger said the shift from in-store selling to online transactions is playing a major part in the scaling back of retail work forces. Macy's "had a 25 percent jump in their online sales, but their retail sales at bricks and mortars fell by 5 percent, so they are cutting stores," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Thursday. January delivered a fresh round of energy sector layoffs, as well. Announced payroll reductions of 20,246 marked the highest monthly total since the start of the oil price rout in mid-2014 that has sent crude prices spiraling about 70 percent and led to massive cost-cutting in the U.S. oil patch."Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Schlumberger — all the big oil producers of equipment — are continuing to cut jobs. That suggests that the big ... oil and gas companies are cutting production and exploration," Challenger said. | |
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Sputnik
2016-02-04 12:40:00
Syrian political scientist Bassam Abu Abdullah argues that it is the height of cynicism for Western leaders and the media to call Syrian President Bashar Assad a dictator, suggesting that they should take a good look at their allies in the neighborhood before making such accusations. Interviewed by Latvian radio station Baltkom, Abdullah, a professor of political science at the University of Damascus, suggested that when Western commentators say that Assad is an 'undemocratic leader', they are deceiving their audience, because Western allies Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar aren't exactly shining examples of democracy. "Briefly describing the conflict in Syria is not so simple; there are several layers, including the domestic and international. But I do not believe that democracy, freedom and human rights are the main object of this conflict, however the West might portray it," Abdullah said. | |
Comment: Further reading:
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Sputnik
2016-02-04 12:51:00
Bulgaria is reportedly attempting to benefit from a chill in Russian-Turkish ties by developing relations with Moscow. The strained ties between Russia and Turkey have prompted Bulgaria to capitalize on the chill by notably starting to bolster relations with Moscow, media reports said. Last week, Sofia hosted a meeting of the Bulgarian-Russian economic cooperation committee, the first such gathering that has taken since the 2014 collapse of the South Stream gas pipeline project, which aimed to deliver Russian gas to Europe via the Black Sea and the Balkans, bypassing Ukraine. | |
Comment: Further reading:
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RT
2016-02-03 04:37:00
Turkey has set "a dangerous precedent" by denying an observation flight over its territories bordering Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said, vowing a "relevant reaction" to Ankara's violation of its obligations under the international Open Skies Treaty. The Treaty on Open Skies which came into force in 2002 allows unarmed aerial observation flights over the territories of its 34 signatories, which includes Turkey. However the Russian An-30B plane was banned from conducting its surveillance flight over Turkish territory which was scheduled for February 1-5, without any prior warning. "After the arrival of the Russian mission to Turkey and the announcement of the desired itinerary, the Turkish military officials refused to allow the inspection flight citing an order from the Turkish Foreign Ministry," the head of the ministry's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, Sergey Ryzhkov, said in a statement. | |
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RT
2015-09-25 04:32:00
It is important what you do for your country, not the names you are being called, Russian President Vladimir Putin told CBS's '60 Minutes,' saying that the nickname 'tsar' does not fit him. Charlie Rose sat down with Putin to discuss, among other issues, how the world views the Russian leader. CBS has published a preview of the interview. Rose pointed out that some people have been referring to Putin as a 'tsar.' Putin responded that people call him various names, but added he believes the description "does not fit me." "It's not important how I'm called, whether these are well-wishers, friends or political opponents. It's important what you think about you, what you must do for the interest of the country which has entrusted you with the position as the head of the Russian state." | |
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Daily Mail
2016-02-04 21:24:00
Two engineering majors at Virginia Tech university carefully planned the kidnapping and killing of a 13-year-old girl, buying cleaning supplies and a shovel at separate Wal-Mart stores, and then hiding her body in the trunk of a Lexus, a prosecutor alleged on Thursday. Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Mary Pettitt described how authorities believe David Eisenhauer and Natalie Keepers plotted the stabbing death of 13-year-old Nicole Lovell, and argued that Keepers 'is in the same position as the person who carried out the murder.' Pettitt did not suggest a possible motive, or describe the killing itself, but police sources have told CNN that Eisenhauer plotted to kill Lovell because she was 'planning to expose' their sexual relationship. The police sources claim Eisenhauer had sexual contact with Lovell before she disappeared from her home on January 27, after meeting her on an anonymous messaging app called 'Kik'. If true, 18-year-old Eisenhauer would have been breaking sexual consent laws in the state. | |
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RT
2016-02-04 20:37:00
A group of around 1,000 activists protesting against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) have blocked roads in Auckland, as the participant states' delegations gathered in New Zealand to formally sign the controversial free trade agreement. The TPP agreement, hailed as the "biggest trade deal in a generation," was signed in a ceremony attended by ministers from the 12 Pacific Rim countries at Auckland's Sky City Casino, to the dislike of hundreds of protesters. Ahead of the signing, activists gathered on Aotea Square and set out on a march through the streets to SkyCity Auckland, where they were met by dozens of police officers outside the venue. Others staged a sit in at the intersection of Federal and Victoria Street, blocking traffic, to protest a deal that will now take up to two more years to ratify.
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Sarah Grey
Truthout 2016-02-04 18:51:00
When he got home from Iraq, Hart Viges began sorting through his boyhood toys, looking for some he could pass on to his new baby nephew. He found a stash of G.I. Joes - his old favorites - and the memories came flooding back. "I thought about giving them to him," he said. But the pressures of a year in a war zone had strengthened Viges' Christian faith, and he told the Army that "if I loved my enemy I couldn't see killing them, for any reason." He left as a conscientious objector. As for the G.I. Joes, "I threw them away instead." Viges had grown up playing dress-up with his father's, grandfather's and uncles' old military uniforms. "What we tell small kids has such a huge effect," he told Truthout. "I didn't want to be the one telling him to dream about the military." | |
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Zack Kopplin
Science 2016-02-02 01:00:00
In early 2014, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's administration was in the middle of intense negotiations with the United States and other nations to limit Iran's nuclear aspirations. Rouhani, considered a moderate reformer, was under attack by his country's hardline conservatives, who opposed a potential deal. Rouhani challenged Iranian intellectuals to come out and publicly support his policies. "Why is the university silent? Why are the professors silent?" Rouhani said. "What are you afraid of?" One answer may be that they were afraid of being jailed, suggests Anna Maryam Rafiee, a cultural heritage specialist in Toronto, Canada. Her father, chemist Mohammad Hossein Rafiee, has been stuck in a cell in Iran's notorious Evin Prison since June 2015, after speaking out in favor of the nuclear deal that was announced a month after he was imprisoned. Now, more than 300 scholars and scientists, including seven Nobel laureates, have signed an open letter calling on Iran to release Rafiee. "Restricting Dr. Rafiee's rights to freedom of expression through arrest and detention, the conditions of his prosecution, and his inhumane conditions in Evin Prison represent violations of both the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which the Islamic Republic of Iran adheres," the 27 January letter says. Numerous organizations, including Amnesty International and the American Chemical Society, are also calling for the release of the chemist, and the U.S. government has said he is a political prisoner. | |
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Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge 2016-02-03 17:18:00
It was just two days ago that Bloomberg implored officials to "bring on a cashless future" in an Op-Ed that calls notes and coins "dirty, dangerous, unwieldy, and expensive." You probably never thought of your cash that way, but increasingly, authorities and the powers that be seem determined to lay the groundwork for the abolition of what Bloomberg calls "antiquated" physical money. We've documented the cash ban calls on a number of occasions including, most recently, those that emanated from DNB, Norway's largest bank where executive Trond Bentestuen said that although "there is approximately 50 billion kroner in circulation, the Norges Bank can only account for 40 percent of its use." | |
Comment: For more see:
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RT
2016-02-04 16:43:00
Americans are 10 times more likely to be killed by a gun compared to people living in other developed nations around the world. This is according to a new study highlighting the "US has an enormous firearm problem." The alarming statistics were published in The American Journal of Medicine, as part of a study carried out by researchers from the University of Nevada-Reno and the Harvard School of Public Health. The report was aiming to put America's relationship with firearms into perspective. However, one thing was immediately clear: "The United States has an enormous firearm problem compared with other high-income countries. Americans are 10 times more likely to die as a result of a firearm compared with residents of these other high-income countries," the study, under taken by Erin Grinshteyn and David Hemenway, stated. The researchers took data, collected by the World Health Organization in 2010, to compare the US to equally developed countries around the world, such as the UK, Japan and France. The findings proved to be an eye-opener and showed that the US suffers much higher rates of deadly violence, attributable to the considerably higher rate of gun-related murders. | |
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RT
2016-02-03 23:17:00
A former NYPD officer, who was fired for smoking pot, has been arrested for running a prostitution ring. Eduardo Cornejo was under surveillance by the FBI and local police after an anonymous tip accused him of moonlighting as a pimp. The New York Police Department opened the investigation into Cornejo in May, after they received an anonymous tip that the 11-year veteran of the force was using his personal car to sell at least one young women's sexual services after work, Courthouse News Service reported. The NYPD brought in the FBI in November "when they determined the nature and scope of the case, and that it involved interstate transport," Stephen P. Davis, the department's chief spokesman, told the New York Times. Cornejo, 33, had at least ten prostitutes working for him, according to court documents. He would drive the prostitutes to motels on Long Island and Staten Island, as well as in New Jersey and the Bronx, often immediately after his shift.
"I believe this pattern of travel activity, which includes numerous afternoon and evening visits to hotels and motels, is consistent with transporting women to engage in prostitution," FBI Special Agent Rocky Van Warden wrote in an affidavit. | |
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Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project 2016-02-03 00:00:00
In all of 2011, British police killed 2 people. In 2012, 1 person. In 2013, a total of 3 bullets left the barrels of British police guns, and no one was killed. In the last two years, a total of 4 people have lost their lives because of British cops, bringing the total number of citizens killed in the UK to 7 in the last 5 years. On average, police in America kill at a rate 70 times that of its Western neighbors. In just the last week of December, American cops killed more people than the entire country of England killed in the last five years. But if we zoom out just a little further, those numbers become even more shocking. Since 1990, police officers in the United Kingdom have killed exactly 58 people. In the last two weeks of December, police in America killed 60 citizens — It took English cops 25 years to do what American cops did in just the last two weeks of December. On average, British police kill around two citizens a year. American cops kill more than that every day. Of course, all those killed were not innocent, but many were unarmed, shot while running away, and their deaths recorded on video. And all of them deserved due process. Below is this eye-opening video of American cops learning to be less violent.
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Comment: Shoot first, ask questions later. In police confrontations with civilians, pulling the trigger has become an automatic response. Killing someone should be the last resort, not the first.
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RT
2016-02-04 12:39:00
Tear gas and Molotov cocktails have been deployed during a demonstration in Syntagma Square, Athens, where a general strike is taking place. Around 50,000 Greeks marched on parliament in Central Athens on Thursday. Groups of youths then broke away from the crowd and began hurling stones and petrol bombs at police. Officers responded with rounds of teargas and stun grenades, witnesses told Reuters. Now: Tear gas & cocktail bombs in Syntagma in middle of large demonstration during today's general strike #Greece pic.twitter.com/OmPdFkGqXF— Daphne Tolis (@daphnetoli) February 4, 2016 | |
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CBS New York
2016-02-02 03:44:00
There's been another slashing on a New York City subway, and terrified riders are calling for protection. This, as Police Commissioner Bill Bratton insists the subways are safe. As CBS2's Alice Gainer reported, a 30-year-old man is recovering after being slashed with a knife while on a No. 3 train Monday around 12:40 p.m. Police said a suspect in the case, 37-year-old Stephen Braithwaite, has been arrested and charged. Police said the victim was standing with a friend on the Pennsylvania Avenue platform when he saw Braithwaite walking back and forth. The victim told police Braithwaite asked him what he was looking at, challenged him to a fight, threw coffee at him and then slashed him on the chin with a pocket knife once they got on the 3 train. "Every night I see a different slashing," one woman said. "It does concern me because I have to take it every day. So it's kind of scary," another woman said. "We're living in fear of being slashed on the subway; something needs to happen," Kyle Millionmile, of Inwood, told CBS2's Jessica Schneider. | |
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RT
2016-02-03 22:12:00
Seven out of 10 college graduates are leaving school with student loans to pay back, and a new poll shows that these young people have a startlingly low level of knowledge about what debt they owe and what are their payback terms. In January, loan refinancing information company LendEDU asked 477 undergraduate and graduate students from three Bay Area campuses ran a study that shows that shows that most American students don't know basic facts about the money they owe and how it can be collected from them. Only 8 percent of those interviewed surveyed know the current interest rates of their loans, and just 6 percent know how long it will take them to repay their debt. | |
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RT
2016-02-03 22:29:00
Anger ran hot and fingers of blame were pointed every which way at the first congressional hearing about the water disaster in Flint, Michigan. Health officials faced withering criticism, while the committee vowed to "hunt down" missing witnesses. "This is a failing at every level. The public has a right to be outraged and it must be fixed,"thundered the chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) in his opening remarks. "This is the United States of America - this isn't supposed to happen here," Chaffetz said. "We are not some Third World country." Comment: Unfortunately there are plenty of cities across the US that have been deprived of needs for so long by psychopaths in power that they are more like Third World countries than First World. Flint's water supply became contaminated by dangerously high levels of lead following the decision to use Flint River as the source, instead of paying nearby Detroit for properly purified water. The switch took place in early 2014. Sorting out who was responsible for the decision, however, proved as contentious as establishing who among the relevant state and federal officials knew about the lead problem, and when. | |
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| Secret History |
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Dr. Rita Louise
Waking Times 2016-02-04 16:44:00
Societies around the world portray distinct characteristics which define their culture. From the clothes worn; the language spoken and the customs and traditions that are passed from generation to generation, each of these can provide insights into a cultural group. There are, however, a number of universal customs that are practiced on each continent around the globe. They include circumcision, death and burial rituals and cranial deformation. These traditions originated in our remote past. Their purpose and meaning seemingly lost to the sands of time. It was once believed that head modifications developed in Egypt, and then spread around the world. Researchers have concluded that this phenomenon was not isolated to one geographic area and then disseminated out into the surrounding areas. Instead, this bizarre hallmark of ancient societies sprang up around the world in different cultural groups independently. Many have come to believe it to be an inherent step in the evolution of a group's culture. | |
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Gordon Hahn
Russian and Eurasian Politics 2016-02-02 02:01:00
On January 21st the Wall Street Journal's editors allowed on its editorial pages an opinion piece with one of the most glaring distortions of post-Soviet Russian history and politics ever produced by contemporary American 'rusology.' David Satter issued forth yet another of his caricatures of analysis in an exegesis from which he hoped readers would take away: 'eternally totalitarian, imperialistic, and murderous Russia.' The only murder here, however, was Satter's murder of truth and the historical record. In addition to an uniformed analysis of the complicated and unresolved Litvinenko case as well as Russian politics under President Vladimir Putin, he issued forth both a full-fledged perversion of politics under Russia's first post-Soviet president Boris N. Yeltsin and a complete inversion of the history of October 1993. Satter wrote: Let's take the four elements in Satter's compound distortion one at a time. | |
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| Science & Technology |
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Science Daily
Comparing notes boosts cells sensing accuracy2016-01-21 20:36:00
To decide whether and where to move in the body, cells must read chemical signals in their environment. Individual cells do not act alone during this process, two new studies on mouse mammary tissue show. Instead, the cells make decisions collectively after exchanging information about the chemical messages they are receiving. "Cells talk to nearby cells and compare notes before they make a move," says Ilya Nemenman, a theoretical biophysicist at Emory University and a co-author of both studies, published by theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The co-authors also include scientists from Johns Hopkins, Yale and Purdue. | |
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Virginia Morell
Science 2016-02-02 08:45:00
Ship noise may be making it harder for endangered orcas (Orcinus orca) that live in the coastal waters off Seattle, Washington, to catch salmon. Known to scientists as Southern Resident Killer Whales, this population comprises the only known resident orcas in the United States. In the late 1800s, they numbered about 200. But their numbers crashed in the 1960s, after some 47 were captured for display. Today, there are about 80, and they are protected by the Endangered Species Act. The whales already suffer from depleted stocks of Chinook salmon. Now, scientists report online today in PeerJ that commercial ships entering Haro Strait where the orcas live (as shown in the photo above), are likely interfering with the calls the whales make to communicate and locate prey. For 28 months, from March 2011 to October 2013, the researchers used a hydrophone placed 50 meters offshore in the center of the orcas' summertime habitat to measure the noise from 1582 individual ships, including ore carriers, tugs, oil tankers, cargo, military, yachts, and fishing vessels. They found that ships are radiating underwater noise at high frequencies, 10,000 to 40,000 hertz—the same range that orcas and other toothed whales use. Although the scientists do not yet know specifically how the ships' sounds are affecting the orcas, they note that other researchers have shown that the whales increase the amplitude of their most common calls when loud boats pass nearby. The study adds to global concerns about commercial ships' noise and whales' (including baleen whales, like blue whales) hearing. For instance, scientists have found that North Atlantic right whales have lower stress levels in areas without the sound of ships. Quieting technology to limit ships' noise already exists, and is used by the military vessels, which are surprisingly silent, the scientists say. And, they note, there's potentially an even easier fix: Slow down. | |
Comment: See also: Shhh ... Ocean Noises Stress Out Whales
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Science Daily
2016-02-03 00:00:00
Geologists from Brown University may have finally explained what triggers certain earthquakes that occur deep beneath the Earth's surface in subduction zones, regions where one tectonic plate slides beneath another. Subduction zones are some of the most seismically active areas on earth. Earthquakes in these spots that occur close to the surface can be devastating, like the one that struck Japan in 2011 triggering the Fukushima nuclear disaster. But quakes also occur commonly in the subducting crust as it pushes deep below the surface -- at depths between 70 and 300 kilometers. These quakes, known as intermediate depth earthquakes, tend to be less damaging, but can still rattle buildings. Intermediate depth quakes have long been something of a mystery to geologists. "They're enigmatic because the pressures are so high at that depth that the normal process of frictional sliding associated with earthquakes is inhibited," said Greg Hirth, professor of earth, environmental, and planetary sciences at Brown. "The forces required to get things to slip just aren't there." | |
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Christopher Packham
Phys.org 2016-02-04 00:00:00
Many animals including birds and insects have been observed to perceive geomagnetic fields. Past studies have demonstrated that cryptochrome/photolyase family (CPF) light receptor proteins are involved in animal behavioral responses to the presence of geomagnetic fields, but so far, no studies have determined whether these proteins are linked with the direction of the magnetic field vector. Recently, an international collaborative of researchers explored the possibility that CPF proteins provide directional magnetosensitivity in cockroaches. By combining behavioral and genetic approaches, they demonstrated the first evidence that animal-type cryptochrome (Cry2) proteins are sensitive to the direction of geomagnetic fields in two cockroach species. They've published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. | |
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| Earth Changes |
A six-year-old boy is fighting for his life in the hospital after a vicious pit bull attack in Wilmer. This is the second pit bull attack on a child in our area in a week. As we reported, 13-year-old Hunter Sharman was attacked in his front yard in Mobile. Six-year-old Andrew Bulger is in critical condition undergoing his third surgery in two days at the UAB children's hospital in Birmingham. His first two surgeries were at Springhill Medical Center in Mobile, but his injuries were so bad, he was transferred for specialized treatment. "The worst is watching him suffer," said Andrew's grandmother, Rene Bulger. "That's the hardest part, you know?" Andrew can't talk, he can barely move and he can't breathe on his own. Family members say they can't believe their fun-loving little boy is now fighting for his life. Doctors say there is an unknown amount of surgeries ahead and there is no guarantee he will ever talk again. "What they're going to try and do in the surgery is repair the trachea check out the voice box," said Bulger. "It's very hard, especially when we first came. They restrained him because of the tubes."
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Richard Davies
Floodlist 2016-02-03 18:00:00
More flooding hit Queensland earlier today, 03 February, this time in the the state's remote north west. Last week, one man died and several were rescued after floods in the Bundaberg area on 31 January. More heavy rain this week affected communities in the Mount Isa area. On 03 February, Urandangi recorded 162mm of rain in 24 hours, with most of it falling in around 3 hours. This is just short of its highest ever of 164mm, recorded in December 1984. Surrounding areas also received large amounts of rain. Local police reported that flooding in the township of Dajarra has led to several people being evacuated from homes this morning. Police also reported that a number of vehicles in the area have been impacted by flood waters. At least person had to be rescued after he was stranded in his car by floodwater. Several roads across the region were closed. | |
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Efforts to stop a spike in bobcat attacks on pets are running into an unexpected problem. For months animal control officers in Richardson have been trying to crack down on the bobcats. The city has had some success with about six traps set throughout the city. Owners of pets killed by the bobcats are hopeful the problem doesn't get any worse, but they're asking for the public's help. 10-year-old Yorkie, Denali is one of the lucky ones. When a bobcat leaped into her backyard, it went after her owner's other Yorkie, Dakota. "She's confused. She doesn't know what's going on. Last night when we were in bed she was looking around like, where's Dakota?" David Dinsmore said about Denali.
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Volcano Discovery
2016-02-03 14:36:00
Minor eruptive activity (possibly strombolian) seems to continue on the remote island, at least intermittently. Yesterday and the day before, a weak steam and possibly ash plume was visible on satellite imagery as well as a thermal hot spot. | |
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A dog missing for three days is found buried in a 5-foot sinkhole in Platte County. Lisa Van Valkenburgh said she let her dog Maverick out Thursday evening to relieve himself and he wandered off. Van Valkenburgh said she and her family searched for her dog and found him Saturday afternoon. "I walked this road. I walked down and back and walked on this side and came right here and heard a moan, like a bark," Van Valkenburgh said. Maverick's owner said she couldn't believe her 12-year-old German Shepherd was buried alive. "That would swallow a child; that is a dangerous situation," she said. When the dog was pulled to safety Van Valkenburgh said he was lethargic and dehydrated. Greg Sager, the Platte County Director of Public Works said water caused the pipe to rust and the soil was washed away, creating the sinkhole. Sager said a new pipe was ordered today and he expects to have it replaced in a week or two. As for Maverick, his veterinarian said he's expected to make a full recovery.
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RT
2016-02-03 17:31:00
Moscow authorities are trying to determine what caused a rather deep crevice to open up in a parking lot in the capital's northeast. It swallowed two cars! Social media users jokingly suggested the drivers overlooked the parking fee. The incident happened on Wednesday after two unsuspecting drivers parked their Hyundai and BMW on a spot that would soon turn into a gaping hole. The Hyundai was unlucky and literally took a dive into the gap. It had to be pulled out with a crane and a tow truck, while the BMW teetered on the edge of the crater. The surface of the hole was 15 square meters (nearly 161 square feet) and was 3 meters deep, TASS reported.
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Doyle Rice
USA TODAY 2016-02-03 11:25:00
Several tornadoes ripped across parts of eastern Mississippi and western Alabama Tuesday, while a brutal winter storm paralyzed parts of the Midwest with more than a foot of snow. The southern tornadoes left behind devastation but no deaths. The storms took down trees and power poles and damaged structures, the Weather Channel reported. More than 14,000 Alabama Power customers were without power, mostly in Birmingham, the utility reported. In Alabama, the National Weather Service in Birmingham reported a "confirmed large and destructive tornado" on the ground near the city of Aliceville, about 45 miles west of Tuscaloosa, according to the Associated Press. "We have trees down along with live power lines," said Belinda Tilley, Aliceville's emergency 911 director, after the tornado had passed. "We've had some houses hit and minor injuries reported," she added.
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Elizabeth Hsu
Focus Taiwan News Channel 2016-02-02 22:53:00
An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale occurred off the coast of northeastern Taiwan at 10:19 p.m. Tuesday, the Central Weather Bureau reported shortly after the temblor. The quake's epicenter was located at sea about 185.4 kilometers east of Keelung City Hall in northern Taiwan at a depth of 212.7 km, the bureau said. The strongest tremors, which had an intensity of 3 on Taiwan's 0-7 seismic intensity scale, were felt in Nan'ao in Yilan County and Yenliao in Hualian County. Taichung, Nantou County, Taitung County and Hsinchu County recorded an intensity of 2, while an intensity of 1 was reported in Taipei, New Taipei and Taoyuan, the bureau said. | |
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Peter Spinks
Brisbane Times 2016-02-04 01:09:00
Australia's only two active volcanoes have both erupted - and scientists on board a ship conducting research nearby caught the rare event on film. The Big Ben volcano on remote Heard Island in sub-Antarctica, almost 1800 kilometres north of Australia's Antarctic base at Davis Station, erupted a combination of poisonous gases and red-hot lava. It was the first time it had done so in decades.
The other volcano, on the neighbouring McDonald islands, erupted gas only. Scientists on board the CSIRO's RV Investigator were visiting the islands to conduct research into the concentration of iron in Antarctic waters. "We witnessed the lava descending Big Ben as it interacted dramatically with the snow and ice cover of the mountain," said ANU volcanologist Professor Richard Arculus, who witnessed the eruption first hand. | |
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| Fire in the Sky |
No new articles.
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| Health & Wellness |
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Andrea Germanos
Common Dreams 2016-02-03 18:20:00
Author of new report says growth in its use 'will likely contribute to a host of adverse environmental and public health consequences' Glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's herbicide Roundup, is now the most heavily used weed killer ever and its use has exploded in the past decade, a new report finds, a fact that may portend "a host of adverse environmental and public health consequences." The new paper on the global use of the herbicide comes less than a year after the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified it as "probably carcinogenic to humans." | |
Comment: In addition to being a 'probable carcinogen' Glyphosate is a chemical-warfare agent:
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Adderall, the most popular drug for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has been used by many of the 6.4 million American children currently diagnosed with ADHD but also misused by 20-30% of all students who are trying to gain better concentration for taking tests in college. It can be extremely addictive, and has a row of side effects including nervousness, dry mouth, poor circulation, numbness in fingers, difficulty breathing, stomach pains, loss of appetite, and heart problems. In rare cases Adderall can lead to mental illness and psychosis. And there also has been growing evidence that Adderall and similar ADHD medications may lead to damage to areas of the brain, especially if it is a developing brain of a child. | |
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Jon Rappoport
Activist Post 2016-02-03 22:26:00
First, many thanks to great investigative reporter and researcher, Jim West, for help on this story. Okay, here we go. Of course, I'm talking about the Associated Press (AP)—and its recent coverage of the Zika story: January 27, "270 of 4,180 suspected microcephaly cases confirmed." AP actually had its hands on the most explosive information possible, it reported that information in one stunning paragraph, and then it let that paragraph sit there like a dead corpse. It didn't do anything with it. Just another day at the office. Connect the dots? See the implications? Never heard of it. | |
Comment: Isn't it great that we can rely on established health organizations and mainstream news sources for unbiased, truthful reporting of the facts? Oh, wait. We can't.
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| Science of the Spirit |
There's a point at which you start to feel that the enormity of things is so unbelievable, you wonder how you'd ever been walking around at all. With eyes held so tightly; slivers, before. How on earth did the light get in? How did you ever arrive where you are? Perhaps, in being led towards the heat. | |
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Jonathan Twiz
Collective Evolution 2016-02-04 16:12:00
The benefits of writing extend beyond the way it creatively engages the intellect. Writing can be an emotionally rewarding way of letting go of pent up stress and sorrow. It's good to control and override stressful emotional impulses but it serves no benefit if we keep them inside of us.Exercise or talking to loved ones about how you feel can help in this regard, but you may find yourself in a situation where you might not have a voice to hear you or you prefer to keep how you feel to yourself but still need a way to release your emotions. Writing in this case can be very helpful. Writing helps you enter a flow state in which all the built up emotions rush out of your heart and mind and onto the paper. When you write vividly and honestly about your experiences and how you feel, a gradual collection of emotional experiences will be documented throughout your life. Looking back at the journal, you will be able to see patterns of how certain emotional conflicts arise, giving you insight into the source and nature of your malfunctions, and the environment you are putting yourself in that is increasing those conflicts. You'll be in a position to make a better decision about whether certain behavior patterns are serving you or not, as well as determine which people and things are causing those problems in your life. | |
Comment: For more information on Dr. Pennebaker's four-day writing exercise, see:
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Andy Tix
Psychology Today 2016-02-04 13:06:00
We are in a season of mass media consumption. Super Bowl 50 occurs this Sunday, and is coming off the heels of the most watched Super Bowl (and television event) in American history. The most recent Star Wars release (The Force Awakens) grossed over $1 billion in a record 12 days, and is on pace to become the highest grossing film of all-time. What explains why so many individuals are drawn to major productions such as these? Surely, there are many factors, which vary across events and people. One often overlooked explanation is the emotion of awe. Psychologists refer to awe as an intense emotional experience that overwhelms individuals with a sense of vastness or greatness. It often transforms individuals' sense of what is possible. | |
Comment: For more, check out SOTT's Earth Changes videos. They're much better than Star Wars or the Super Bowl for inspiring awe - they're the real deal!
Check out: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - December 2015: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs | |
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| High Strangeness |
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Stassi R.
Humans Are Free 2016-02-03 22:03:00
10. Antonio Vilas-Boas (1957) In 1957, Brazilian farmer Antonio Vilas-Boas claimed he was abducted by aliens while tending to his fields. According to his story, four 5-foot-tall aliens, dressed in gray overalls and helmets, approached him and immediately took him aboard their spherical craft. As time passed, he was instructed to have sex with a female alien with long white hair, red pubic and underarm hair, and bright blue eyes. Vilas-Boas believes he was simply used as a sperm donor, and his offspring is being raised somewhere in outer space. | |
