 | |||||
 |  |  |  | ||
|
| No new articles. |
| No new articles. |
| Puppet Masters |
|
Mary Kay Mallonee,
CNN 2014-06-27 00:00:00
A Mexican law enforcement helicopter crossed into Arizona and fired two shots near U.S. border agents in what Mexican authorities later acknowledged was a mistake, a U.S. law enforcement official said Friday. No one was hurt in the incident, which happened at about 6 a.m. local time Thursday about 100 yards into U.S. territory as Mexican police were conducting an anti-drug operation, the official said on condition of anonymity. Information about who authorities aboard the helicopter were targeting wasn't immediately available. No one returned fire, and the helicopter returned to Mexico, the official said. | |
 |
|
David Ferguson
Raw Story 2014-06-27 16:24:00
A candidate running to represent Michigan's 95th House district in the state legislature wants you to know that once you look past his bizarre sexual fetish and multiple felony convictions, he is a rock-ribbed conservative Republican, whose "stool of conservatism" is held up by "faith, family and freedom." Michigan Live reported Friday that Saginaw's Jordan D. Haskins dismisses the arrests and prison time as the results of youthful indiscretion and said that he is ready to "move on from that and do what I can" to serve his state as a Republican state Representative. "I have dreams," Haskins said to Michigan Live, "and I want to make a difference." Comment: Forgive us for not wanting to know the details of those dreams. Haskins, 24, has served prison time in two states and is currently on parole, but there are no rules preventing him from running for the state House. On four occasions between April of 2010 and January of 2011, Haskins broke into vehicles on public and private property, disconnected the ignition wires, then started the engine. As the wires snapped and spit sparks, Haskins would masturbate to climax in a sexualized ritual he calls "cranking." | |
Comment: This is the kind of person that gets elected to office. In fact, this is the type of person that usually feels the urge to run for office. Most of them are just more clever at not getting caught.
| |
|
|
RT
2014-06-27 16:17:00
Participants in the EU summit on Friday postponed imposing economic sanctions on Russia. The move comes a day after an advertizing campaign by two top US business lobbies warned of the negative impact on US companies. "Preliminary consultations show that today almost no leaders of EU states find it necessary to impose trade and economic sanctions on Russia," a source in the delegation from a Western European country said with confidence to ITAR-TASS. However the European officials carried out preparatory work on possible sanctions to implement against Russia if the situation in Ukraine demands so. Sanctions will be most effective if the main trade partners from Europe take part, the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said. The Obama Administration doesn't want to put US companies in unprofitable conditions in terms of the competition should it introduce further sanctions against Russia, he added. The US needs the EU as a partner in enforcing economic measures as the tradevolume between Russia and Europe of $330 billion is almost ten times Russia-America trade. | |
|
|
David Cole
The Nation 2014-06-27 16:01:00
A healthy democracy demands transparency from its government and privacy for its citizenry. Only if we know what our government is up to can we exercise our responsibility as citizens to ratify or veto their actions at the ballot box. And only if we can be assured that our conversations are not being monitored by government officials will we have the space to develop our critical faculties, pursue intimate associations, try out new political ideas and flourish as human beings. However, too many government officials, even in democratic states, tend to favor secrecy for their own actions and transparency from the citizenry. When asked what measures they are employing that might threaten our privacy, officials have long responded with some version of "We can't tell you, of course... but trust us." And when facing charges that they have violated the privacy of those they represent, the government invariably argue's for the narrowest definitions of privacy (your metadata isn't private) and the broadest justifications for invading it ("fighting terrorism" generally does the trick). Because democracy depends on government transparency and personal privacy, but our representatives too often prefer the opposite, citizens, civil society and the press must be vigilant about privacy and its threats. Absent popular resistance, the tendency of government to favor secrecy and access to its citizens' most intimate information will undermine the very foundations of democracy. For its entire existence, The Nation has exercised that watchdog role for the country with courage, conviction and persistence. This volume, consisting of essays, investigations, editorials and columns dating from 1931 to 2014, illustrates the critical importance of the Fourth Estate in checking the desires of the surveillance state. | |
Comment: The Nation is right about the threats posed by government privacy and public transparency, but blind to the fact that government transparency would not let the people exercise their 'right' to vote the perps out of office or coerce change in policy: elections are rigged, the people hold no power, and American democracy is a total illusion. It's rotten to the core.
| |
|
|
Jon Stone
SmartWater is normally used to track criminals who steal laptops.BuzzFeed 2014-06-26 15:48:00
Police commissioners have urged the Met to put ultraviolet dye in its new water cannon in order to track people hit by the weapons, Boris Johnson's policing boss has said. Stephen Greenhalgh, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, told members of the London Assembly that police and crime commissioners from around the country had advocated the use of "SmartWater" in the crowd control weapon. The substance would remain invisible until those hit by the water had an ultra-violet light shone on them, at which point it would glow fluorescent yellow and identify them as having been at a protest or other public order situation. Comment: Suppose you have been identified as having done some protesting. So what!? Considering that being in a public protest is not a crime, and that there are many reasons why you might get yourself sprayed by a water cannon - non of which prove culpability of a criminal act - what purpose can this idea have if not to intimidate and discourage the average citizen from exercising their democratic right to take part in a demonstration?? | |
|
|
Pepe Escobar
Asia Times Online 2014-06-27 16:02:00
So now a huge Hardcore Sunnistan stretches all the way from the suburbs of Aleppo to Tikrit and from Mosul to the Jordanian/Iraqi border - the same one that dissolved in 2003 when Shock and Awe turned into Mission (Un)Accomplished. In an eerie echo of Dick Cheney's army's footprints reverberating in the sands of Anbar province, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and their coalition of the willing (jihadis, Islamists, Ba'athists and tribal sheikhs) now pose as the "liberators" of Iraqi Sunnis from the clutches of an "evil" Shi'ite majority government in Baghdad. In addition, ISIS also controls the PR wars. Here, a jihadi details how any sort of possible Washington "kinetic" involvement will be interpreted as an unholy alliance between the Empire and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki against the underdogs. From a Sunni perspective, it's down with Iraq's Counter-terrorism law; down with de-Ba'athification (with the ascent of neo-Ba'athist Jaysh Rijal al-Tariqa al-Naqshbandia -- JRTN, led by former Saddam honcho Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri); down with the Interior Ministry in Baghdad going after Sunni politicians; down with protests being crushed. At the same time, it's the return of the US-sponsored Sahwa (Sons of Iraq) -- who fiercely fought al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2007, the mother of ISIS -- and the return of assorted Shi'ite militias (Muqtada al-Sadr not only repelled the new wave of US "military advisers" -- that's how it started in Vietnam -- but also warned that his own badass Men in Black will "shake the ground" fighting ISIS.) The mid-2000s are the new normal; it's gonna be militia hell all over again. Mesopotamia, we got a problem. Neo-Ba'athists want nothing but a secular Iraq run by Sunnis, Saddam-style (rather former neocon darling Ahmad Chalabi.) ISIS wants a Caliphate extending all across the Levant under Sharia law. Something's got to give. What will give will be the Iraqi nation itself -- the balkanized, protracted (intended) consequence of the 2003 invasion and occupation, finally transmogrified into Jihad Central. | |
|
|
RT
2014-06-27 15:47:00
A long and bloody battle has been raging near the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk despite Kiev's ceasefire. Self-defense fighters claim to have killed a whole platoon of Kiev's National Guard, while the latter claim to have destroyed a militia tank. The Ukrainian forces shelled the outskirts of Slavyansk on Friday and hit the city with artillery fire, say reports from the scene, quoted by RIA Novosti. Following heavy shelling, Ukrainian troops took over a checkpoint seized by the self-defense overnight, witnesses said. Several shells hit civilian houses in the nearby village of Golubovka, killing a 47-year-old woman and her 26-year-old son. The two reportedly had no time to take cover from the attack as their house was hit by the first shell that fell in the area. Intense fighting on the outskirts of Slavyansk overnight into Friday was earlier confirmed by both sides. The long and bloody battle centered on a checkpoint manned by the National Guard - troops loyal to Kiev that in March were formed from former and serving Ukrainian troops, Maidan self-defense squads, radical groups taking part in protests and from other volunteers, many of whom come from western Ukraine. The Slavyansk self-defense claims that the checkpoint was used as a strategic point in the relentless shelling of the city by the National Guard, which they say has continued despite the ceasefire.
| ||
|
|
RT
2014-06-27 15:32:00
Satellite imagery and photographs confirm that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have staged mass executions in the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, which amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes, according to Human Rights Watch. Radical Islamists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS/ISIL) have stormed unopposed across much of northern Iraq and have taken the cities of Mosul and Tikrit, as well as capturing border posts with Syria. Their aim is to create a medieval-style caliphate in northern Iraq and eastern Syria. Human Rights Watch report that between 160 and 190 men were killed in at least two locations around Tikrit between June 11 and June 14. Pictures on the HRW website showed rows of men lined up in trenches who were then shot by gunmen, it also said that the death toll could be much higher, but they had no way of locating bodies or even getting to the area to carry out a full investigation. "The photos and satellite images from Tikrit provide strong evidence of a horrible war crime that needs further investigation. They and other abusive forces should know that the eyes of Iraqis and the world are watching," Human Rights Watch emergencies director, Peter Bouckaert, said in a statement. "ISIS is committing mass murder, and advertising it as well," he added.
| ||
Comment: Psychopaths self-select to be part of groups like ISIS. No different than the police, Mossad, CIA, Gladio, etc. They know they can get away with murder ... literally. Such groups provide the perfect plausible lies (vengeance, protection, political change, preventing terrorism) for what is really just cold-blooded murder.
| ||
|
|
Voice of Russia
2014-06-25 15:12:00
The Israeli air force carried out 12 raids on the Gaza Strip overnight after militants fired more rockets at southern Israel, Palestinian security sources said Wednesday, AFP reports. The attacks struck training grounds used by Palestinian militants, leaving two people lightly injured, they told AFP. The Israeli military confirmed a series of overnight strikes in a statement which said it had struck five rocket-launching sites in northern Gaza, as well two other sites in central and southern areas of the strip. The raids took place after militants fired five rockets at southern Israel, one of which hit an open area. Two were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system while the other two landed inside Gaza, the statement said. | |
Comment: Israel's 'retaliation' is always out of proportion to the rocket strikes by Gazans -- never mind the fact that most attacks from Gaza are themselves retaliations, when not manufactured by Israeli intel/special ops. Israel practically invented the false flag and the Palestinians have been suffering as a result for generations.
| |
|
|
RT
2014-06-26 15:03:00
France has warned its citizens against taking part in any economic activity in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying this may entail legal risks because the Jewish settlements are illegal under international law. The warning is part of a joint act drafted by the five largest EU countries: Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain, Haaretz cited a French diplomat as saying. Italy and Spain are expected to issue similar warnings over the next few days, while the UK and Germany did so a few months ago. The move comes after the failure of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and also following massive protests against the construction of settlements across the EU. The notice by the French Foreign Ministry advises against investing, purchasing land, or engaging in economic activity in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Golan Heights. It was published as part of recommendations for French people traveling to Israel. | |
Comment: While the warning is non-binding, is this a sign that something more is going on behind the scenes? Will Europe, and the rest of the world, ever grow the teeth to do something about Israel's flagrant abuse of international law for the past two generations?
| |
|
|
Govtslaves.info
2014-06-25 00:16:00
1. "In the next century, nations as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority. National sovereignty wasn't such a great idea after all." -Strobe Talbot, President Clinton's Deputy Secretary of State, as quoted in Time, July 20th, 1992. 2. "The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of "liberalism" they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." -Norman Thomas, for many years U.S. Socialist Presidential candidate. 3. "Today the path of total dictatorship in the United States can be laid by strictly legal means, unseen and unheard by the Congress, the President, or the people. Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system, another body representing another form of government - a bureaucratic elite." -Senator William Jenner, 1954 | |
|
|
Rick Newman
Survivalbackpack.us 2014-06-26 14:22:00
If you're a typical family, you're considerably poorer than you used to be. No wonder the "recovery" feels like a recession. A new study published by the Russell Sage foundation helps explain why many families feel like they're falling behind: They actually are. The study, which measures the average wealth of U.S. households by income level, reveals a startling decline in wealth nationwide. The median household in 2013 had a net worth of just $56,335 - 43% lower than the median wealth level right before the recession began in 2007, and 36% lower than a decade ago. "There are very few signs of significant recovery from the losses in wealth suffered by American families during the Great Recession," the study concludes. Not surprisingly, lower-income households have lost a larger portion of their wealth than those with higher incomes, as the following chart from the study shows:
| ||
|
|
David Edwards
Raw Story 2014-06-26 13:48:00
Fox News resident psychiatrist and Medical A-Team member Dr. Keith Ablow asserted on Thursday that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could never win the White House without the help of Bill Clinton because her "entire reputation" was from "sleeping with the president." Speaking to the hosts of Out Numbered on Fox News, Ablow said that Hillary Clinton's recent gaffes about her wealth - and, of course, Benghazi - meant that "she will tell you anything" to get elected. Fox News contributor Kirsten Powers, however, took issue with pundits who criticized the former first lady because her husband had defended her during a recent book tour. "I think that's unfair though," Powers said. "It is her husband, he's in the public life. And somebody is naturally going to ask him. What is he supposed to say?" | |
|
|
David Edwards
Raw Story 2014-06-26 12:32:00
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Wednesday objected to President Barack Obama's immigration policies because he said that they were "luring" diseased children to the United States. Speaking at a House Judiciary hearing titled "An Administration Made Disaster: The South Texas Border Surge of Unaccompanied Alien Minors," Gohmert accused President Obama of giving undocumented children a "free pass" to stay in the country. "And what is occurring by this administration luring these children into America by the promise of a free pass once they get here, there are children that are suffering and being hurt, being lured here to their detriment," the Texas Republican opined. "Now, if they get here successfully, that's a different story." Gohmert said that he had visited a facility in Texas over the weekend where children were "lying on a concrete floor." | |
|
|
Neil Clark
RT 2014-06-27 09:12:00
Iraq is in turmoil - with ISIS controlling large areas of the country - but the truth is that it's been in turmoil since the illegal 2003 invasion. 2013 was Iraq's bloodiest year since 2008, but as I wrote here members of the elite political class and warmongers in the West weren't interested. Iraq post-invasion had become the greatest non-news story of the modern era. The people who could not stop talking about Iraq in 2002/3 and telling how much they cared about ordinary Iraqis were strangely silent. Instead they were devoting their energies into propagandizing for another Middle Eastern military 'intervention', this time against Syria. Now that Iraq is back in the western news headlines again, with calls for 'intervention' to counter ISIS, it's worth bearing in mind what the architects of the Iraq war and the cheerleaders for it said in the lead up and during the invasion about the 'threat' from Saddam's WMDs and how toppling a secular dictator would help the so-called 'war on terror'and bring peace and security to the region. Do we really want to take these people's advice on what 'we' should do now in Iraq?Up to a million people have been killed since the illegal invasion and as critics predicted at the time, the war led to enormous chaos and instability and boosted radical Islamic extremism. By their own words, let the warmongers be damned. | |
|
| Society's Child |
|
Daniel Jennings
Healthy Debates 2014-06-25 00:00:00
A Pennsylvania woman claims doctors took her seven-day-old healthy baby and called police and social workers simply because she gave birth at home. She also says that doctors at St. Joseph's Hospital transferred her baby to another hospital without her permission. "[The doctor] came in the room with a stern look and said if you refuse to transfer her, we WILL CONTACT DHS (Department of Human Services) AND THE POLICE," said the woman, Fatima Doumbouya. Doumbouya and her husband refused permission, but they didn't realize that the doctorshad already decided to move their daughter to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The mother and her husband, Bilal Smith, only learned of the transfer when a nurse told them the baby was being moved. They had never given permission nor signed any paperwork authorizing the action. Doctors informed her that the baby would have to be transferred to Children's because St. Joseph's lacked the proper instruments to examine her. | |
Comment: It seems that doctors and hospitals are becoming ever more aggressive in their abductions of children, and are particularly targeting those parents who disagree with AMA based medical protocols which insist on the vaccination of infants with multiple dangerous vaccines.
| |
|
|
Voice of Russia
2014-06-25 02:54:00
US sanctions on Russia are putting a huge risk on American businesses and jobs, according to a recent article from Bloomberg. In fact, two top US business-related lobbies are getting ready to break with President Barack Obama over the idea of even more sanctions against Russia after several months of giving their disapproval to the White House. On Thursday. June 26 the US Chamber of Commerce along with the National Association of Manufacturers are planning on running newspapers ads in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post - giving a stern warning that even more Russia sanctions risks ruining US workers jobs as well as businesses, claims an anonymous person who knows very well of these plans, cited by Bloomberg. Leaders from both the US and European Union have made it clear to Russia that it risks a new set of sanctions on its economy sector unless that is it takes the necessary actions to de-escalate the crisis that has been on-going in Ukraine. Yesterday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel informed members of her party that sanctions created to affect Russia's $2 trillion economy have been put on the agenda for a meeting of EU leaders to be held June 26-27. | |
Comment: Putin must be laughing and saying "I told you so"!
| |
|
|
Natasha Lennard
Vice 2014-06-26 15:53:00
The defenders and promulgators of data-driven, predictive policing - which is meant to anticipate crimes before they happen - face a PR problem: reassuring the public against fears that such methods are ushering in a totalitarian future reminiscent of the science-fiction film Minority Report. Concerns about preemptive crime fighting through data hoarding and analysis are hard to assuage, however, because they are perfectly valid. A lengthy feature published in the Guardian on Wednesday looked at the permeation of data-driven analysis in the LAPD and other municipal police forces. "As the ability to collect, store and analyze data becomes cheaper and easier, law enforcement agencies all over the world are adopting techniques that harness the potential of technology to provide more and better information," it noted. "But while these new tools have been welcomed by law enforcement agencies, they're raising concerns about privacy, surveillance and how much power should be given over to computer algorithms." The Guardian's report describes an LAPD war room full of video screens. They show incidents of crime in real time; multiple newscasts; the seismic effects of earthquakes; and sections of the city as small as 500 square feet where algorithmic data-crunching indicates that crimes are most likely to take place. At first glance, such systems seem benignly empirical. Why wait for a robbery or a shooting when algorithms working beyond the capabilities of human intuition can help prevent these incidents in advance? But such an understanding wrongly assumes the neutrality of information. The picture of crime to come is based on pre-existing police data, which we know to be biased and flawed. | |
|
|
RT
2014-06-27 15:21:00
A bear kept in captivity in a recreation center in the Rostov Region attacked a five-year-old girl, biting off her hand. The girl is being treated in hospital, while her mother blames the center's owner for not having fed the animal. On June 24, the girl was helping her mother, who worked at the recreation center in the Rostov Region in southern Russia as a cleaner. The child went up to the bear, which was kept in a cage surrounded by a mesh wire. It had an opening large enough to approach the animal's cage, the regional investigative committee reported. The mother heard the girl screaming and rushed to help. She literally had to tear off her daughter's hand which was caught in the bear's chops. She then applied a tourniquet and with the help of one of the center's visitors took the child to hospital, she told the LifeNews channel. The woman believes the bear was hungry. "When full, an animal would never touch a child," she said. The recreation center owner blames the girl's mother. | |
Comment: Symbolic? The Russian media and public are pushing for military intervention to protect Russians living in SE Ukraine. Regardless, these animals should not be kept in captivity for the entertainment of humans; they should be in the wild. See: Zoos drive animals crazy
| |
|
|
Brandon Blackwell
Cleveland.com 2014-06-26 16:55:00
The 51-year-old man who died outside a Cleveland courtroom Wednesday told a judge that the 14-year-old girl he victimized had feelings for him. Miguel Aybar's remark outraged Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Michelle Denise Earley who issued a sharp rebuke in the form of a 60-day jail sentence. Aybar pleaded no contest to unlawful restraint and was found guilty, a court spokesman said Earley ordered Aybar out of court. He collapsed outside the courtroom and died. The West Side resident was accused of restraining his teen victim and of "kissing her in the mouth with his tongue," according to a court document. Courtroom video shows Aybar apologize to his victim and to the girl's mother minutes before his death. | |
|
|
Nina Golgowski
Sylvia Rosalie Schmitt's 18-year-old grandson, Brandon Machetto, was charged Monday with her murder after authorities say he was found driving her body away from her nudist community home in Lutz, Florida.NY Daily News 2014-06-24 12:57:00
A silver alert for a missing 74-year-old woman ended in tragedy Monday when her body was allegedly found in the back of her minivan outside her nudist home in Florida. Sylvia Rosalie Schmitt's 18-year-old grandson, Brandon Machetto, has been charged with her murder after he was found driving her body away from her home in Lutz, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said at a press conference. | |
|
|
Karen McVeigh
The Guardian 2014-06-26 13:30:00
Justices side with seven Massachusetts anti-abortion protesters who said 35-foot buffer zone infringed on free speech The US supreme court struck down a Massachusetts law ensuring a 35-foot protective "buffer zone" outside abortion clinics, ruling that it violated the first amendment by preventing the free speech of anti-abortion protesters. In a unanimous decision, the court said the zone was too sweeping, intruding onto public sidewalks where free debate and leafletting traditionally take place. The decision, which was relatively narrow, allows the state an opportunity to enact a new, less restrictive law. It did not overturn a previous supreme court decision in 2000, which upheld a buffer zone in Colorado. The 2007 law was aimed at keeping protesters at least 35 feet from the entrance to prevent clashes between opponents and advocates of abortion rights that were occurring outside healthcare clinics. | |
|
|
Phil Helsel
More than 30 people in Texas were taken to area hospitals after a two-story building collapsed during a celebration - an accident that could have been far worse, authorities said.NBCnews.com 2014-06-27 12:55:00 The collapse of the second floor of a two-story garage in west Harris County at around 1 p.m. sent 36 people to area hospitals, but most suffered only minor to moderate injuries, Houston Fire Department Senior Captain Ruy Lozano told NBC News. |
|
|
Scott Kaufman
Raw Story 2014-06-26 13:10:00
A former member of the Tacony Town Watch in Philadelphia is claiming that he was removed from the watch because of his "religious belief" in the superiority of the white race. William Walters, the Grand Dragon of Ku Klux Klan-affiliated group East Coast Knights of the True Invisible Empire, told Philadelphia that the organization is "a Christian group," and on his Facebook page, he regularly argues that his racist beliefs are religious in origin: Post by William Walters. Walters said he plans on suing the Town Watch and the 65th Ward for his dismissal as soon as he finds a lawyer who will take his case. The American Civil Liberties Union already rejected him, and he has yet to hear back from the Philadelphia Bar Association. | |
|
|
Elizabeth Barber
Reuters 2014-06-26 13:04:00
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on Thursday signed into law a measure raising the minimum wage to the highest of any U.S. state, $11 per hour, by 2017. The move comes as U.S. Democrats nationally are trying to make the minimum wage a key issue ahead of midterm congressional elections in November, framing the effort as a quest of conscience on behalf of the millions of Americans living on wages that have not kept up with rising costs of living. "Raising the minimum wage brings a little relief to the working poor, many of whom do jobs we could not live without and who recycle money right back into the economy," Patrick said in a statement announcing the signing. The law will raise the state's minimum wage in stages from its current level of $8 per hour and follows similar moves by neighboring Connecticut and Vermont. | |
|
|
Scott Kaufman
Raw Story 2014-06-26 12:55:00
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is challenging a proposed law that would prevent individuals convicted of stalking from purchasing firearms and expand the definition of "intimate partner." The NRA sent letters imploring senators to oppose the Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act of 2013, which Minnesota Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar wrote to expand the definition of "intimate partner" to include "dating partners" and prohibit firearm sales to individuals who have been convicted of stalking. "As a former prosecutor, I know how domestic violence and stalking can take lives and tear apart families," Sen. Klobuchar told the Huffington Post. "This is a commonsense bill that would protect victims and keep our families safe, and I will continue to work to move this legislation forward." In the letter, the NRA argued that the legislation "manipulates emotionally compelling issues such as 'domestic violence' and 'stalking' simply to cast as wide a net as possible for firearm prohibitions." | |
|
|
Travis Gettys
Raw Story 2014-06-26 12:48:00
Conspiracy theorists have gathered more than 53,000 signatures to place a 9/11 "truther" measure on the ballot. The nonprofit group NYC Coalition for Accountably Now wants voters to decide whether New York City's Department of Buildings should investigate the collapse of any building taller than 20 stories dating back to Sept. 11, 2001, reported Crain's New York Business. The measure does not include the Twin Towers, so only the collapse of 7 World Trade Center would fit the description laid out by activists, who have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in their campaign to force an investigation. The group's executive director insists his organization wants only to find out why 7 WTC collapsed and prevent future building collapses. | |
|
|
Travis Gettys
Raw Story 2014-06-26 12:42:00
A South Dakota teen said his manager forced him to wear a demeaning nametag while working at his fast food job. Tyler Brandt said his boss had been verbally abusive to him since the 16-year-old began working at a Mexican restaurant in Yankton, reported KELO-TV. "I've been very vulnerable, and I've been allowing him to say things to me that shouldn't be said, and after a while I was just worried about being terminated from my position at Taco John's," the teen said. The verbal abuse escalated, the teen said, and the manager pulled him into his office and gave Brandt a nametag that read "Gaytard." "I put it on because I didn't want to upset him, and I felt that if I did do anything to upset him, it would cause me to lose my job because he'd be looking for ways to fire me," Brandt said. | |
|
|
David Ferguson
Raw Story 2014-06-26 12:26:00
A mother in Stafford, Texas came home to find her daughter and her two sons shot to death in an apparent murder suicide. According to the Houston Chronicle, the victims were 23-year-old Faheem Mughal, 18-year-old Fahad Mughal and their 15-year-old sister, Rebecca Mughal. Police told the Chronicle that they received a frantic 911 call around 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday from a woman who was screaming that her baby was dead. When officers arrived at the residence, the woman was outside. She told police that two of her children were dead. Inside the house, however, officers found three bodies. Police said they removed multiple handguns and rifles from the scene and are conducting ballistics tests to determine which ones were used in the killings. | |
|
|
Robert S. Eshelman
The Nation 2014-06-25 00:00:00
The US economy could suffer damages running into the hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century due to climate change, according to a study released yesterday. The report, titled "Risky Business," is the first comprehensive assessment of the economic risks of climate change to the United States. It was commissioned by a panel of influential business leaders and former government officials, including hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Bush administration Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. "I have had a fair amount of experience over my career in attempting to understand and manage risk," said Paulson, alluding to the 2008 financial collapse. "In many ways the climate bubble is actually more cruel and more perverse." | |
Comment: Paying attention to the devastating effects of climate change and acting to provide a measure of food safety for the populace would be a good plan. Unfortunately these businessmen apparently lack understanding that the world has been cooling for the past 17 years, and that climate change may be of an entirely different order. Considering that this report has been prepared by and for the 1%, it is doubtful that protecting the populace is of any concern at all, protecting profits is more likely their primary concern. People worldwide are already experiencing the effects of soaring food prices.
Fire and Ice: The Day After Tomorrow Rising food prices - not just your imagination Food prices jumped 5.3% in Armenia in just one month Food prices in U.S. to skyrocket in 2014 Global food system vulnerable due to growing population and climate change | |
|
| Secret History |
|
The Siberian Times
Power of science brings to life our past from 'unique' skull discovered in a grave northwest of Lake Baikal.2014-06-23 17:56:00
The extraordinary ability of modern scientists to play the role of detectives delving into the deep past is highlighted by work of Canadian experts in co-operation with their Russian colleagues on the skull of a man from the early Bronze Age - some 3,995 to 4,420 years ago. The man was aged 35 to 40, the evidence suggests he did not die a natural death. 'This specimen really intrigued me,' said bioarchaeologist Angela Lieverse, associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan. 'I've known about this skull for about ten years and there are a couple things about it that are fascinating.' One was that the man was missing two front teeth on the lower jaw. The other was an obvious stone projectile tip embedded in the exact same spot where the two incisors should be. 'We knew there was a projectile, we could see it, but we didn't know if it occurred years before the individual died or if it happened around the same time as his death. I suspected it happened earlier and had something to do with the very unusual missing teeth.' | |
|
|
Annalee Newitz
io9 2014-06-24 17:56:00
The Harappan civilization dominated the Indus River valley beginning about five thousand years ago, many of its massive cities sprawling at the edges of rivers that still flow through Pakistan and India today. But its culture remains a mystery. Why did it leave behind no representations of great leaders, nor of warfare? Archaeologists have long wondered whether the Harappan civilization could actually have thrived for roughly 2,000 years without any major wars or leadership cults. Obviously people had conflicts, sometimes with deadly results - graves reveal ample skull injuries caused by blows to the head. But there is no evidence that any Harappan city was ever burned, besieged by an army, or taken over by force from within. Sifting through the archaeological layers of these cities, scientists find no layers of ash that would suggest the city had been burned down, and no signs of mass destruction. There are no enormous caches of weapons, and not even any art representing warfare. That would make the Harappan civilization an historical outlier in any era. But it's especially noteworthy at a time when neighboring civilizations in Mesopotamia were erecting massive war monuments, and using cuneiform writing on clay tablets to chronicle how their leaders slaughtered and enslaved thousands. What exactly were the Harappans doing instead of focusing their energies on military conquest? | |
Comment: The missing link when researching the collapse of civilizations is the human-cosmic connection and the cometary bombardments that inevitably bring civilizations to their knees. See Laura Knight-Jadczyk's Secret History of the World series of books for more details, especially the newest volume, authored by Pierre Lescaudron: Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection.
| |
|
| Science & Technology |
Physicist James Franson of the University of Maryland has captured the attention of the physics community by posting an article to the peer-reviewed New Journal of Physics in which he claims to have found evidence that suggests the speed of light as described by the theory of general relativity, is actually slower than has been thought. The theory of general relativity suggests that light travels at a constant speed of 299,792,458 meters per second in a vacuum. It's the c in Einstein's famous equation after all, and virtually everything measured in the cosmos is based on it - in short, it's pretty important. But, what if it's wrong? Comment: In fact, general relativity predicts that the velocity of light would be reduced by a gravitational potential, the author proposes a correction by using a first approximation effect of a gravitational field in the framework of the quantum electrodynamics theory. Light velocity is constant in the theory of special relativity where no interaction fields are involved. | |
Comment: Space is not empty, and while the author tries to introduce a gravitational field to quantum electrodynamics equations, it could be argued that the presence of charged matter along with electromagnetic fields across large distances in space may indeed be more straightforward source of light velocity slowing and spectral shifts (notably red shifts). Only time will tell if theoretical physicists will persue the matter further.
| |
|
|
Becky Oskin
Live Science 2014-06-27 15:07:00
For 50 years, scientists have wondered what annihilated the ancestor of L-chondrites, the roof-smashing, head-bonking meteorites that frequently pummel Earth. Now, a new kind of meteorite discovered in a southern Sweden limestone quarry may finally solve the mystery, scientists report. The strange new rock may be the missing "other half" from one of the biggest interstellar collisions in a billion years. "Something we didn't really know about before was flying around and crashed into the L-chondrites," said study co-author Gary Huss of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The space rock is a 470-million-year-old fossil meteorite first spotted three years ago by workers at Sweden's Thorsberg quarry, where stonecutters have an expert eye forextraterrestrial objects. Quarriers have plucked 101 fossil meteorites from the pit's ancient pink limestone in the last two decades. [Photos: New Kind of Meteorite Found in Sweden] Researchers have nicknamed the new meteorite the "mysterious object" until its formal name is approved, said lead study author Birger Schmitz, of Lund University in Sweden and Chicago's Field Museum. It will likely be named for a nearby church, the Österplana, he said. | |
|
|
RT
The Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) in California, site of the largest solar telescope on the planet, has issued a mesmerizing video and photos in previously unseen detail of surprisingly active plasma in the sun's fine structures.2014-06-26 21:33:00 BBSO's New Solar Telescope (NST) possesses an unprecedented level of high resolution and enables the sharpest-ever photos of the visible corona of our star. One of the sunspots captured by the NST is the size of the Earth, but such structures can be the size of Jupiter. The temperature of the sun's surface is about 6,000 Kelvins, whereas sunspots are approximately 1,500 Kelvins colder; therefore they look dark against the blazing turbulent plasma.
| |
|
| Earth Changes |
|
Becky Oskin
Live Science 2014-06-27 14:54:00
If you think there have been more earthquakes than usual this year, you're right. A new study finds there were more than twice as many big earthquakes in the first quarter of 2014 as compared with the average since 1979. "We have recently experienced a period that has had one of the highest rates of great earthquakes ever recorded," said lead study author Tom Parsons, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park, California. But even though the global earthquake rate is on the rise, the number of quakes can still be explained by random chance, said Parsons and co-author Eric Geist, also a USGS researcher. Their findings were published online June 21 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. With so many earthquakes rattling the planet in 2014, Parsons actually hoped he might find the opposite - that the increase in big earthquakes comes from one large quake setting off another huge shaker. Earlier research has shown that seismic waves from one earthquake can travel around the world and trigger tiny temblors elsewhere. | |
|
|
Monotosh Chakraborty
The Times of India 2014-06-27 11:52:00
The danger of venturing into the prohibited areas of Sunderbans was revealed again on Thursday morning when a tiger jumped from the bank of a creek and leapt back with a man in its jaws. This is the fourth time that a human was killed by a tiger in the Sunderbans this year. The victim, 62-year-old Sushil Majhi, lived in Lahiripur near Datta river, less than kilometre from a creek that runs deep into the forest. Along with his son Jyotish, 40, and adopted daughter Molina, Majhi would often row up the creek to catch crabs. On Thursday, at the crack of dawn, the three set out on a boat to the forests of Kholakhali, an area where fishing is banned. | |
|
|
thelocal.no
2014-06-27 10:15:00
The torrential rainfall that descended on Oslo on Thursday smashed all historical records, with a colossal 44.5mm of rain falling in just a single hour between four and five on Thursday afternoon. Water streamed down the city's streets on Thursday afternoon, causing gridlock in much of the city centre, while hailstorms left parts of the city covered in a layer of freak summer ice. The previous highest rainfall rate the city has seen since records began in 1937 came came in 1980, when 41.5mm of rain fell in an hour over the summer. "It seems as though we had nearly one month's rainfall in three hours," Marit Helene Jensen told Aftenposten after the rain subsided yesterday evening.
| ||
|
|
thelocal.se
2014-06-27 10:02:00
Sweden's meteorological agency SMHI warned of storms hitting the south on Thursday and the town of Mörrum wasn't spared. "The hailstorm must have lasted about ten minutes and it was absolutely crazy. There was several inches of it on the ground," Göran Odenhammer, father and occasional snowman builder, told The Local. Odenhammer and his seven-year-old son David ventured outside to inspect the hail and did what comes naturally - have fun in the snow/hail during the Swedish summer. | |
|
| Fire in the Sky |
| No new articles. |
| Health & Wellness |
|
Rebecca Kreston
Discover Magazine 2014-06-22 09:45:00
It's one of the easiest ways to care for your health, a ritual we participate in daily: brushing those osseous outcroppings, our teeth. For those of us who heed the pleas of our dentists, flossing is a part of our routines, too. But the state of affairs of our glistening maws - the density of plaque, the presence of gingivitis, a full set of chompers - is important beyond mere aesthetics. Good oral fitness, particularly steps taken to limit the bacterial status quo, plays an important role in the goings-on of our body as a whole; a dirty mouth - and not the kind prone to sailor-like profanity - can provide important clues as to how susceptible you are to heart attacks and strokes. Periodontitis is a chronic bacterial infection of the scaffolding of teeth, including the gums, connective tissue, and jawbone that surround and encapsulate a tooth. It may well be one of the most common diseases of man: in the United States, anywhere from 30 to 50% of the adult population has a mild form of the disease, while an additional 5 to 15% suffers from a severe form. That disease begins with dental plaque or calculus, a layering and mineralization of pathogenic microbes that thrive in the dark, wet, and (occasionally) nutrient-rich crevices of our mouth. Over 500 microbes have been implicated as residents of these so-called periodontal pockets, those clefts and rifts between tooth and gum, forming complex biofilms and microbiotic communities of Gram negative rods, Gram positive cocci and rods, and spirochetes. Periodontitis can incite additional infections: burrowing tooth cavities or caries; gingivitis, an infection of the fleshy gums; and, most severely, destruction of the alveolar jawbone that props the teeth (3). | |
Comment: One thing that heart disease and poor oral health have in common is that both can be exacerbated by a diet high in carbohydrates. It is well known that excess sugar contributes to cavities and periodontitis, and studies have shown that high-carb diets are a marker for heart disease, Alzheimer disease, and diabetes among others.
| |
|
|
Noel Brinkerhoff
AllGov 2014-06-20 22:01:00
Some neurological conditions such as autism and schizophrenia may be linked to exposure to air pollution, a new study shows. Experts at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that subjecting young mice to air pollution causes unhealthy changes in their brains, including the enlarging of the same areas found in humans diagnosed with autism and schizophrenia. The research showed the changes tended to occur more often in males, and that other troubles like memory loss, learning disability and impulsivity became prevalent. The findings support those of earlier studies indicating a link between air pollution and autism in children. Last year, JAMA Psychiatry reported a correlation between children living in areas with high levels of traffic-related air pollution and autism. In fact, these kids were three times more likely to develop the condition. "Our findings add to the growing body of evidence that air pollution may play a role in autism, as well as in other neurodevelopmental disorders," Deborah Cory-Slechta, professor of environmental medicine at the University of Rochester and lead author of the study, said. Earlier this year, a Harvard University study showed that exposure in the womb to diesel, lead, manganese, mercury, methylene chloride and an overall measure of metals was "significantly associated with autism spectrum disorder," with the highest association from exposure to diesel exhaust, according to a story in the Provo Daily Herald. "Air pollution contains many toxicants known to affect neurological function and to have effects on the fetus," the Harvard study stated. Learn More: New Evidence Links Air Pollution to Autism, Schizophrenia (University of Rochester) Harvard Draws Link between Autism and Air Pollution (Caleb Warnock, Daily Herald) Traffic-Related Air Pollution, Particulate Matter, and Autism (by Heather E. Volk, Fred Lurmann; Bryan Penfold; Irva Hertz-Picciotto and Rob McConnell, JAMA Psychiatry) | |
Comment: It's not just developmental problems
| |
|
|
Mary Elizabeth Williams
Salon 2014-06-26 21:43:00
A mother is arrested for infant neglect after a hospital crisis that began with her veganism In a case likely to kick up - yet again - the debate over parental responsibility regarding how children are fed, a Florida mother was arrested Tuesday for child neglect and her newborn was admitted to the hospital in a crisis that started over vegan beliefs. Local news station WESH reports that Sarah Anne Markham's pediatrician alerted authorities after the woman's 12-day-old baby appeared dehydrated during a doctor visit. The doctor said that Markham refused the medical advice to admit the child to the hospital or take the medicine offered, on the grounds that "it contained ingredients that came from animals." After police were summoned to her home, Markham reportedly told them that she'd purchased organic soy formula for the baby, and that "she wanted to pursue a religion-based treatment and she had contacted a 'natural' or vegan doctor, but police said she did not share any proof of this to them." Police added that "They asked Markham if the product was confirmed with a doctor that it was safe to give the newborn, and she replied saying that since it was organic, it must be OK." The baby remains in protective custody. The case has chilling echoes of the one of the Atlanta couple who three years ago were sentenced to life for murder in the starvation death of their 6-week-old son. The couple's defense argued that "the parents did the best they could while adhering to the lifestyle of vegans," but prosecutors countered that they'd limited his diet to soy milk and apple juice. At the time of his death, the baby weighed just three and a half pounds. Also in 2011, a French couple were charged with "neglect and food deprivation followed by death" after the demise of their 11-month-old baby, who died underweight and with a vitamin deficiency. The vegan couple admitted the child's entire diet consisted of breast milk. That police had to forcibly enter the 23-year-old Markham's home because she "told police she didn't think she had to answer or acknowledge police presence," and that a new mother would even contemplate caring for her child based on "a religion-based treatment" strongly suggests a parent with issues that are far beyond the parameters of simply wishing to pursue a vegan lifestyle. And at the other end of the spectrum, diet-based neglect doesn't have to mean deprivation of animal products. Earlier this year, an 8-month-old Colombian baby was "rescued" for medical intervention by a local charity after tipping the scales at 44 pounds. In the U.S., childhood obesity can be cited as "a form of medical neglect" and grounds for placing a child in foster care. | |
|
| Science of the Spirit |
|
Kelly April Tyrrell
University of Wisconsin-Madison 2014-06-27 15:37:00
For children, stress can go a long way. A little bit provides a platform for learning, adapting and coping. But a lot of it - chronic, toxic stress like poverty, neglect and physical abuse - can have lasting negative impacts. A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers recently showed these kinds of stressors, experienced in early life, might be changing the parts of developing children's brains responsible for learning, memory and the processing of stress and emotion. These changes may be tied to negative impacts on behavior, health, employment and even the choice of romantic partners later in life. The study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, could be important for public policy leaders, economists and epidemiologists, among others, says study lead author and recent UW Ph.D. graduate Jamie Hanson. | |
|
|
Amanda Froelich
It has now been confirmed by science that hugging trees can beneficially affect human health by altering vibrational frequency.True Activist 2014-06-23 15:08:00
Hugging a tree may have gained popularity as a maligned hippy practice, but it has now been validated by science to be incredibly beneficial for both people and the planet. Contrary to popular belief, hugging - or even just being in the vicinity of - a tree can boost one's health in several ways. In a recently published book by author Matthew Silverstone, Blinded by Science, evidence confirming trees and their healthful benefits includes their effect on mental illnesses, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), concentration levels, reaction times, depression, and the ability to alleviate headaches. | |
|
| High Strangeness |
|
KTLA 5
2014-06-26 13:28:00
For the second straight Wednesday, mysterious flashing lights were spotted in the skies above Southern California, witnesses reported. The strange pulsating lights could be seen from Orange County down to San Diego around 10:30 p.m., which was about the same time they were visible the previous week, witnesses told KTLA. Eventually, the lights disappeared. |
