| Puppet Masters |
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Eric Zuesse
Global Research 2015-06-10 00:00:00
Interviewed on June 6th by German Economic News, the chief economist at Bremer Landesbank, Folker Hellmeyer, says that because of Obama's sanctions against Russia, German exports declined year-over-year by 18% in 2014, and by 34% in the first two months of 2015 (no later figures), but he asserts that "The damage is much more comprehensive than these statistics show," because those are only the "primary losses," and there are in addition "secondary effects," which get even worse over time. For example: "European countries with strong business in Russia, including Finland and Austria, are economically hit very hard. These countries consequently place fewer orders from Germany. Moreover, considering that European corporations will circumvent the sanctions, to create production facilities at the highest efficiency level in Russia, we lose this potential capital stock, which is the basis of our prosperity. Russia wins the capital stock," at the EU's expense, even though the sanctions are targeted against Russia. | |
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Henry Samuel
UK Telegraph 2015-06-10 19:29:00
The father of one of the victims of Toulouse killer Mohammed Merah accused the French spy service of paying Merah's father thousands of euros for a clip of his final minutes detailing his links with the agency. Albert Chennouf-Meyer, whose son Abel, a soldier, was killed by Merah in March 2012, filed a legal complaint in France for "destruction of evidence." | |
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Chris Hedges
Truthdig 2015-06-07 02:44:00
The military in the United States portrays itself as endowed with the highest virtues—honor, duty, self-sacrifice, courage and patriotism. Politicians, entertainers, sports stars, the media, clerics and academics slavishly bow before the military machine, ignoring its colossal pillaging of state resources, the egregious war crimes it has normalized across the globe, its abject service not to democracy or freedom but corporate profit, and the blind, mind-numbing obedience it inculcates among its members. A lone soldier or Marine who rises up inside the system to denounce the hypermasculinity that glorifies violence and war, who exposes the false morality of the military, who refuses to kill in the service of imperial power, unmasks the military for what it is. And he or she, as Chelsea Manning has learned, swiftly pays a very, very heavy price. Spc. Robert Weilbacher as a new Army combat medic stationed in South Korea listened to stories told by combat veterans, many suffering from trauma and depression, about the routine and indiscriminate slaughter of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was horrified. He had believed the propaganda fed to him over the years. He considered himself a patriot. He had accepted the notion that the U.S. military was a force for good, intervening to liberate Iraqis and Afghans and fight terrorists. But after hearing the veterans' tales, his worldview crumbled. He began to ask questions he had not asked before. He began to think. And thinking within any military establishment is an act of subversion. He soon decided he did not want to be part of an organization that routinely snuffed out the lives of unarmed people, including children. He applied in February 2014 for a classification known as Conscientious Objector (1-0). He instantly became a pariah within his unit. No one wanted to associate with him. He was taunted as a "traitor," "coward," "faggot" and "hippie." He was assigned to the most demeaning jobs on the base. And the military bureaucracy began making him jump through hoops that he is still trying to negotiate two years later. He became an example to his fellow soldiers of the physical and emotional harassment, as well as humiliation, that is visited on all who dare within the military to challenge the sanctity of war and discipline. "I feel as if my own government is torturing me," he said when I reached him by phone in his barracks at Fort Campbell, Ky. | |
Comment: Kudos to another person who has recognized that the U.S. government and its military glorifies war to justify ongoing murder of innocent people for nothing other than bloodshed for many and extraordinary profits the very few.
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Dave Kranzler
Investment Research Dynamics 2015-06-09 00:00:00
This comment comes from a very well-connected Wall Street/DC insider and is in reference to how illiquid the bond markets have become. Something deep and dark has transpired behind the Orwellian "curtain" used by the elitists to hide the inner workings of the financial markets, especially with regard to big bank balance sheets and OTC derivatives. What's happening right now reminds of the movie "Jurassic Park." You can hear and feel the monster coming but you can't see it yet and you don't know it will pop up in your face or how big it is. | |
Comment: More on this from a recent USA Watchdog interview with Gregory Mannarino:
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John Shiffman
Reuters 2015-06-08 18:20:00
Since retiring from the U.S. Army in 2000, Dr. John Henry Hagmann has helped train thousands of soldiers and medical personnel in how to treat battlefield wounds. His company, Deployment Medicine International, has received more than $10.5 million in business from the federal government. Comment: Likely due to the federal government's support of such 'deployment medicine'. The taxpayer-funded training has long troubled animal rights activists, who contend that Hagmann's use of live, wounded pigs to simulate combat injuries is unnecessarily cruel. But an investigation by Virginia medical authorities alleges that pigs weren't the doctor's only training subjects. During instructional sessions in 2012 and 2013 for military personnel, Hagmann gave trainees drugs and liquor, and directed them to perform macabre medical procedures on one another, according to a report issued by the Virginia Board of Medicine, the state agency that oversees the conduct of doctors. Hagmann, 59, is accused of inappropriately providing at least 10 students with the hypnotic drug ketamine. The report alleges Hagmann told students to insert catheters into the genitals of other trainees and that two intoxicated student were subjected to penile nerve block procedures. Hagmann also is accused of conducting "shock labs," a process in which he withdrew blood from the students, monitored them for shock, and then transfused the blood back into their systems. The report alleges that Hagmann also "exploited, for personal gain and sexual gratification" two participants who attended a July 2013 course at his Virginia farm. | |
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Thad Beversdorf
According to an article today from Bloomberg,The First Rebuttal 2015-06-10 13:39:00
Now quite clearly the claim and the chart are both ridiculous but that said, this brings up a good topic. The Almighty American Consumer. | |
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RT
2015-06-09 14:04:00
In between pontificating on the US election, Greece's turmoil and the position of Russia,participants in the shadowy Bilderberg conference are going to discuss the development of artificial intelligence and risks of cyberspace. The club that has been bringing together west's most influential financiers, media moguls, industry captains, politicians and royalty for over six decades, is meeting this week in Austria. Some 140 guests are to visit the Telfs-Buchen alpine resort, where this year's conference is to be held, just 20 km from the site of the G7 summit. The group has published its agenda and guest list ahead of the four-day private event. From politics, it brings together two current European prime ministers, Mark Rutte of the Netherlands and Charles Michel of Belgium, and several ministers such as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen and Finnish Finance Minister Alexander Stubb. A lower tier of public officials in the group includes the top US diplomat for combating Islamic State, John Allen. Prominent international organizations are represented by figures such as Benoît Coeuré, member of the executive board at the European Central Bank. | |
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Sputnik
2015-06-09 01:39:00
During a news briefing, President Barack Obama had some strong words of encouragement for himself: now that former president Bush is gone, the world loves America again! Of course, when you actually survey global citizens, the US is still far from being the most respected nation on Earth. During the Bush years, America's global popularity took a tumble. According to Pew Research numbers, the US was ranked fairly favorable in 2000, but began to decline every year until 2008. In 2000, 93% of British citizens polled viewed the US positively. Eight years later, that percentage dropped to 53%. German disillusionment was even worse. Beginning with 78% favorability in 2000, only 31% Germans felt the same way by 2008. Dragging an international coalition into two foreign wars will do that. | |
Comment: Yeah, the US has the respect of the world because not many dare to upset the world's bully.
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Sputnik
2015-06-09 22:40:00
With the exception of the USSR, no country has ever faced such a dramatic decline in relative power as the US, Patrick Buchanan points out, adding that hubris, ideology, bellicosity, and stupidity have dealt a blow to America's positions. By the end of George H.W. Bush's presidency, the United States had come out on top as the sole global superpower; however, a lot has changed since then, admitted Patrick J. Buchanan, an American conservative political commentator and publicist, noting that Washington's once unchallenged supremacy is vanishing into thin air. "With the exception of the Soviet Union, some geostrategists contend, no nation, not defeated in war, has ever suffered so rapid a decline in relative power as the United States. What are the causes of American decline? Hubris, ideology, bellicosity, and stupidity all played parts," Mr. Buchanan pointed out. The political commentator emphasized that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Washington demonstrated "imperial content" to Russia, "shoving NATO right up into Moscow's face" and carrying out "color-coded" revolutions in the former Soviet Republics. | |
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Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation 2015-06-08 21:38:00
Amid knee-slapping and beer-drinking, Germans greeted US President Obama with rapturous applause as he opened the G7 summit in Bavaria at the weekend. Obama was addressing the crowds in a public square in the historic town of Krün on a sunny morning; with the Bavarian mountains serving a splendid backdrop. Alongside him was his "great friend Angela". Merkel, the German chancellor, was beaming smiles at every jocular quip from the American president, as if the American NSA spying on her personal communications never happened. | |
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| Society's Child |
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pressofatlanticcity.com
2015-06-06 10:05:00
A New Jersey state senator wants to stop smokers from lighting up in vehicles if children 16 and under also are present. Joseph Vitale said the measure he introduced last month would protect children from being exposed to tobacco products and electronic cigarettes in confined spaces. The Middlesex County Democrat chairs the Senate's Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. Comment: Historically speaking, these 'bans' on smoking mostly occur in totalitarian states - Nazi, Germany being a prime example. Violators would face a $100 fine, but would not face surcharges or points on their driving or insurance records. The smoking ban would be a secondary offense, meaning violators could only be cited if drivers are stopped for committing a moving violation. Many smokers and critics are panning the proposal, saying that it's well-intentioned but not needed. They also believe it will be difficult to enforce. "Most parents who smoke do what they can to not expose their kids to second-hand smoke," Christine Miller of Ewing said while smoking outside a Trenton office building this week. "In my case, I rarely smoke inside my house and I don't smoke in my car when my daughters (ages 5 and 7) are with me. I know he's seeking to protect kids and I can understand his thinking, but I think there are more important issues that our lawmakers and law enforcement people can be working on." But the proposal does have supporters, including children's right advocates and nonsmokers. | |
Comment: More anti-smoking nonsense! Smoking tobacco is actually good for some people. Certainly, the chemically-laden, commercially processed sheet tobacco found in your average pack of smokes is as not good for you as natural or organic tobacco, but its not as 'evil' as this article states:
See also: Health Benefits of Smoking Tobacco
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Natalie Bochenski
Brisbane Times 2015-06-10 15:48:00
Security camera footage from outside a Ravenshoe cafe has shown the full force of the traumatic explosion that injured 20 people on Tuesday. Channel Nine has aired the CCTV footage, which shows people starting to run from the Serves You Right cafe after it was hit by an out of control 4WD ute around midday. The truck had hit the cafe's gas bottles, sparking a huge fireball. The footage shows the blast roaring from the cafe doors onto the footpath, with more patrons fleeing the fire. Witnesses can also then be seen venturing into the blazing shop to pull people out, ripping off clothing and dousing victims with water.
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David Edwards
Raw Story 2015-06-10 01:50:00
A former Pennsylvania bishop who was sentenced to probation for sexually assaulting a child had his probation revoked this week after he was caught molesting another child. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, then-Higher Call World Outreach Church pastor Duane Youngblood was sentenced to probation in 2008 after he admitted sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy who he was supposed to be counseling. In December, Youngblood was sentenced to serve up to 48 month in jail over allegations that he sexually assaulted another boy for more than 2 years during counseling sessions at the church. | |
Comment: Unfortunately nothing will stop this type of person from committing the same crime over and over again.
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RT
2015-06-09 20:59:00
The case of Audra West, a Texas hairdresser who was severely beaten in a Florida jail, has received a boost after video emerged showing police officers handling her violently, without physical provocation. The police deny any wrongdoing. West was on holiday when she was detained at a bar on Fort Lauderdale beach for being drunk in public and resisting arrest in May last year. She was then taken to the North Broward Detention Facility. After spending ten hours in the police station, her period began, and West asked Deputy Kristin Connelly for a tampon. According to West's lawyer, Gary Kollin, who spoke to RT, Connelly refused the request, asking the detainee to use a "polite" tone. West then rephrased it, but Connelly denied her again, with the inmate then mouthing "F**k you" at the officer. This was the moment the incident escalated.
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| Secret History |
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The Malaysian Insider
2015-06-10 03:14:00
Researchers in Peru have discovered a trio of statuettes they believe were created by the ancient Caral civilisation some 3,800 years ago, the culture ministry said yesterday. The mud statuettes were found inside a reed basket in a building at the ancient city of Vichama in northern Peru, which is today an important archaeological site. The ministry said they were probably used in religious rituals performed before breaking ground on a new building. Two of the figures, a naked man and woman painted in white, black and red, are believed to represent political authorities. The third, a woman with 28 fingers and red dots on her white face, is believed to represent a priestess. | |
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RT
2015-06-09 16:15:00
Edward VIII wanted Britain to be bombed into an alliance with the Third Reich and blamed "Jews and Reds" for World War II, according to a prominent academic. The research, carried out by UK-based German historian Karina Urbach, delved into the historical archives of 30 nations, including Germany, Spain and Russia, revealing the fascist sympathies of many European aristocrats. Writing for The Conversation website ahead of the release of her new book, Go-Betweens for Hitler, Urbach said Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne in 1936 and became the Duke of Windsor, "has always been known for his pro-Nazi sympathies." | |
Comment: Also see:
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| Science & Technology |
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RT
2015-06-10 17:07:00
An amazing discovery could rewrite textbooks, after a paleontologist accidentally found blood and soft tissue preserved in tattered dinosaur fossils. If proven, science expects answers to age-old questions, including: "Can we resurrect dinosaurs?" The red blood cells and collagen fibers were discovered by chance when Imperial College London's Sergio Bertazzo and Susannah Maidment were examining the buildup of calcium in human blood vessels. Bertazzo wanted to perform a few tests using electronic microscopes and ended up asking the Natural History Museum for some fossils to test his findings, according to the IB Times. They received eight pieces, all estimated at 75 million years old. What the pair found could prove we've consistently been looking at dinosaurs in the wrong way: it suggests that nearly every fossil science studied in the past century could contain similarly well-preserved blood and tissue samples, answering questions on dinosaur evolution, physiology, behavior, and whether their DNA could also be intact. From there on in, we're entering sci-fi territory. | |
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RT
2015-06-09 21:37:00
Thrusters of the Soyuz spacecraft docked at the International Space Station (ISS) misfired on Tuesday, Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said. The incident slightly changed the station's position, but no threat to ISS or the crew was reported. The incident happened during standard testing of the Soyuz's docking system, Roscosmos press service reported on Tuesday. The spacecraft was being tested ahead of its planned return to Earth on June 11.
"Today, on June 9, 2015 at 18:32 MSK (15:32 GMT) during a scheduled testing of radio approach and docking system between the International Space Station and Soyuzspacecraft, Soyuz's engines started inadvertently, which led to a slight change of ISS position," Roscosmos said. | |
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| Earth Changes |
A lot of people in Maine posted photos on social media on Saturday (June 6) of a ring around the sun. I saw two rainbow rings but didn't go all double rainbow guy. Here's what caused the ring to appear overhead. According to an article by The University of Illinois, the phenomenon is called a 22 degree halo. The website explains, "Halos form when light from the sun or moon is refracted by ice crystals associated with thin, high-level clouds....A 22 degree halo is a ring of light 22 degrees from the sun (or moon) and is the most common type of halo." Stephen Lenz Usually the ring is white but on more rare occasions it has color like a rainbow. I also saw a second ring on Saturday which it turns out is a 46 degree halo. They're less common than a 22 degree halo, but form the same way. In even more rare instances, a sun dog will form which looks like a mini sun on each side of the halo. Isn't science fun?
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Michael Janitch
Dutchsinse.com 2015-06-08 00:00:00
Western Indonesia's Mount Sinabung has been placed on high alert for what is being called a "mega-eruption" for several km/miles around the volcano. Video reports coming out from the region show ash, steam, and eruptive blasts currently occurring. In addition to the large eruption at Mount Sinabung, we now have other reports that the nearby Toba supervolcano is showing large emissions of steam (from the ground), as well as foul smelling gas. According to reports from Indonesian press, locals are alarmed by these recent developments. Toba supervolcano is indeed a "super-volcano" by all measurements. Actually LARGER in eruptive power to the other more well known "Yellowstone" super volcano (located in Wyoming / United States). | |
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Samudra Gupta Kashyap
The Indian Express 2015-06-10 17:53:00
Thousands of people across Assam have been affected after incessant rains over the last week caused several rivers, including the Brahmaputra, to overflow. The overflowing rivers have breached embankments, inundated villages and damaged standing crop, affecting over 80,000 people, according to a report by the state disaster management body. Eighteen revenue circles in 10 districts have been badly affected by the relentless rains, stated the daily flood report issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Tuesday. The districts of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji in eastern Assam, where nearly 45,000 people were affected by the overflowing rivers, were the worst hit. In Tinsukia, another district hit hard by the relentless rains, authorities have already set up three relief camps. A sizeable portion of the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park in the district has been submerged by the rising levels of the Brahmaputra.
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Gatlinburg,Tennessee
Las Vegas Review Journal 2015-06-07 17:37:00
Summer hasn't officially started, but severe thunderstorms in the midwest and south didn't get the memo. An intense (to say the least) hail storm hit the town of Gatlinburg, Tenn., last week for about 10 minutes, according to YouTuber irishgurrier, who uploaded video of the June 2 storm. The video shows hail coming down so hard you can't see past the house he's standing by, as it pounds nearby vehicles, creating a massive pile of ice. In an aftermath video, the person recording is seen walking through the piles of ice ... in flip flops.
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USGS
2015-06-10 13:52:00
Time
Seismotectonics of South America (Nazca Plate Region) The South American arc extends over 7,000 km, from the Chilean margin triple junction offshore of southern Chile to its intersection with the Panama fracture zone, offshore of the southern coast of Panama in Central America. It marks the plate boundary between the subducting Nazca plate and the South America plate, where the oceanic crust and lithosphere of the Nazca plate begin their descent into the mantle beneath South America. The convergence associated with this subduction process is responsible for the uplift of the Andes Mountains, and for the active volcanic chain present along much of this deformation front. Relative to a fixed South America plate, the Nazca plate moves slightly north of eastwards at a rate varying from approximately 80 mm/yr in the south to approximately 65 mm/yr in the north. Although the rate of subduction varies little along the entire arc, there are complex changes in the geologic processes along the subduction zone that dramatically influence volcanic activity, crustal deformation, earthquake generation and occurrence all along the western edge of South America. | |
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A waterspout formed on Lake Moultrie Tuesday afternoon giving some excitement to some nearby workers and vacationers. Workers at the Cross Generating Station noticed the waterspout around 2 p.m., and took pictures and video as it formed on the lake. Randy Taylor shot video of it around 2:20 p.m. as it moved slowly along the water. Several people in surrounding areas also submitted pictures of the waterspout.
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Multiple agencies, including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), are looking into why hundreds of fish are washing up on some Panhandle beaches. Reports began rolling in over the weekend from people on beaches across Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties, according to Catalina Brown, the Fish Kill Hotline coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. "It's too early for us to know what it could be," Brown said. Katy Krueger was out walking on Navarre Beach on Monday morning when she encountered the dead fish. | |
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Southern provinces of China have been plagued by heavy rain over the last 5 weeks,many of them enduring the wettest May for 40 years, according to China's National Meteorological Center (NMC). Deadly floods struck on 11 May 2015 in southern China, when 7 people died. Since then, dozens more have lost their lives, including 10 people over the last 2 days, where heavy rainfall has affected 9 provinces and municipalities. According to China's Ministry of Civil Affairs, the affected areas are Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan and Guizhou. The Ministry said yesterday that at least 10 people have been killed in flood-related incidents over the last 2 days, including drowning, landslides and collapsed buildings. At least 4 people are still missing.
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Guatemala's disaster management agency, Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres (CONRED), said that over 8,000 people have been affected by heavy rainfall, which has caused landslides and floods, since Saturday, 06 June 2015. The worst affected areas are the departments of Guatemala and Sacatepéquez. Flooding in the city of Antigua Guatemala, in Sacatepequez department, affected over 5,000 people. CONRED say that the flooding was worsened by garbage blocking the city's drainage system. The heavy rains caused a landslide at kilometer 24 of the CA-1 route, on the road to El Salvador, in the municipality of Fraijanes, Guatemala department. CONRED say that the landslide debris has since been cleared and the road re-opened. | |
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Nick Budnick
The Oregonian 2015-06-09 18:12:00
Hundreds of lightning strikes have sparked dozens of wildfires on state and federal land in southern Oregon since Monday, and continued thunderstorms and high winds have prompted a "red flag" fire warning for Hood River, Curry, Josephine, Jackson, and Klamath counties. On a day when the Obama administration warned of potentially catastrophic wildfires in the Northwest and Southwest this summer, Oregon officials say fire season has begun far earlier than usual. "This is the earliest that I can remember in a long time," said Don Ferguson, a spokesman for BLM's Medford district. "I heard someone say it's burning like August out there. " Fire officials in Klamath and Lake counties made it official on Friday, declaring that fire season regulations are in effect. The recent lightning strikes have often come without significant rainfall. Officials on Tuesday said state and federal fire teams had started battling the majority of fires by late afternoon. While most of them were a tenth of an acre, there were exceptions. | |
Comment: In Germany, 33 people have been injured after lightning struck one of the country's biggest music festivals.
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| Fire in the Sky |
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Michael Snyder
End of the American Dream 2015-06-09 02:55:00
Internet buzz about a giant meteor that is going to strike our planet in September has become so intense that NASA has been forced to issue a statement publicly denying that it is going to happen. NASA insists that the agency knows of "no asteroid or comet currently on a collision course with Earth", and that "no large object is likely to strike the Earth any time in the next several hundred years". To be honest, NASA should perhaps hold off on making such bold statements concerning what will happen in the future considering the fact that the Chelyabinsk meteor that exploded over Russia in 2013 took them totally by surprise. In any event, what we do know is that our region of space is absolutely packed with meteors and asteroids. At this point, approximately 10,000 major near earth objects have been discovered by scientists, andabout 10 percent of them are one kilometer or larger in size. If any of those big ones were to hit us, we would be looking at another Tunguska event or worse. Very large meteors have struck our planet before, and they will hit us again. It is only a matter of time. But of most immediate concern to lots of people out there are the various theories that are floating around about September. The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in a British news source just this week... These theories have become so popular that NASA decided to come out and publicly address them... So NASA has spoken. | |
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| Health & Wellness |
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Chris Kresser
ChrisKresser.com 2015-06-09 00:00:00
Celiac disease is on the rise, and the population-wide overuse of antibiotics could play a key role in triggering disease onset. There's no denying that celiac disease (CD) is more prevalent now than ever. In the US, rates of CD have increased at least 5-fold over the past few decades, and prevalence in Finland has doubled. (1, 2, 3) The incidence of CD has also increased four-fold in the UK and three-fold in the Netherlands in the past 20 years, and the incidence of pediatric CD in Scotland has increased 6.4-fold. (4, 5, 6) So naturally, everyone is wondering - why? We know that there's a strong genetic component to celiac disease (and our ability to detect the disease has vastly improved), but the rising rates have occurred too quickly to be explained by a genetic shift in the population. Besides, the genes that predispose an individual to CD are actually relatively common in the population, but only a very small percentage of those people actually develop the disease. In other words, genetics appear to be necessary - but not sufficient - for someone to develop CD. | |
Comment: While the overuse of antibiotics has played havoc with our gut microbiome, the epidemic rise in celiac disease is likely caused by a number of factors. One of which is that modern grains contain significantly more gluten than traditional varieties of the same grains and are thus more toxic. In addition, the mass introduction of GMOs over the past decade has contributed to an explosion in diagnoses of gluten sensitivity. The increase of GMO crops has also resulted in the expanded use of glyphosate which has been linked to celiac disease.
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