Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Tuesday 23 September 2014


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Monday, 22 September 2014

SOTT Focus
Niall Bradley
Sott.net
2014-09-20 12:51:00

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Apparently terrorized by the fear-mongering tactics of the British establishment media, in the form of hysterical warnings about food price rises and "societal disintegration", the fiercely independent Scottish people voted to remain in the UK. Or so the British establishment media would have us believe.

The official result matched the predictions of polls conducted by huge for-profit City of London market research companies. Prime Minister David Cameron declared that "this settles the independence debate for a generation." Case closed? I don't think so. We're being asked to believe that a majority of Scots voted 'Yes' to more austerity, 'Yes' to more wars in their name, 'Yes' to keeping nuclear weapons, 'Yes' to the continued theft of Scottish natural resources and 'Yes' to less democracy.

If all of that sounds unbelievable, it's because it is:
"It's not who votes that counts. It's who counts the votes."

~ Attributed to Stalin
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Lorenzo Del Savio and Matteo Mameli
Truthout
2014-09-20 18:51:00

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Machiavelli wrote that when we are trying to understand politics and the history of human societies, much can be explained in terms of the eternal conflict between two fundamental desires. One is the desire of the grandi - that is, the super-rich and the super-powerful - to protect their wealth and power, and to accumulate more wealth and power. The other is the desire of ordinary citizens - that is, anyone who is not super-rich or super-powerful - to live in peace and freedom without being subjected to the predatory activities of the grandi. As stressed by John McCormick, Machiavelli thought that the predatory tendencies of oligarchs were the gravest threat to the liberty and well-being of ordinary people.


Comment: Not only is it the gravest, it's ultimately the only real threat to the masses: all other threats stem from this one.


Machiavelli was right. Many things have changed, but what was true then is still true today.Oligarchic appetites are an enormous threat to liberty and freedom. Machiavelli used his writings to try to convince those in power that oligarchic greed needed to be curbed; his critique of oligarchic domination has often been misunderstood.


Comment: Irony of ironies: that bastion of 'liberty and freedom', the U.S., is in reality an oligarchy - the 1%. Just look at the people they support, like puppet president Poroshenko (oligarch, worth $1.3 billion) in Ukraine, and their 'darling martyr for democracy' Khodorkovsky(oligarch, once worth $15 billion) from Russia.


But who are the oligarchs today in our corporatized and financialized world? They are the super-rich and more generally those who command massive concentrations of wealth, even if they do not own it, or even if they own only a fraction of it, such as the individuals in charge of multinational corporations and financial firms.
Comment: And who exactly are these heartless, ruthless, greedy oligarchs? Psychopaths.
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Charlotte Meredith
The Huffington Post, UK
2014-09-20 22:23:00

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Despite more than two million people voting to keep Scotland a part of the United Kingdomyesterday and acceptance from Alex Salmond that the outcome of the vote was the "the democratic verdict of the people of Scotland", a petition saying the outcome of the referendum vote was rigged has garnered more than 70,000 supporters.


Comment: That's because it blatantly WAS rigged:

Scottish referendum result undoubtedly rigged


It may have been the largest turnout in UK history with a majority vote of 'No', but thousands are demanding a revote because of "strange occurrences", that have already been dismissed as examples of vote rigging.

The petition states:
Countless evidences of fraud during the recent Scottish Referendum have come to light, including two counts of votes being moved in bulk into a No pile, Yes votes clearly being seen in no piles and strange occurrences with dual fire alarms and clear cut fraud in Glasgow. We demand a revote be taken of said referendum, where each vote shall be counted by two individuals, one of whom should be an international impartial party without a stake in the vote.
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Paul Hutcheon
Sunday Herald
2013-06-09 22:29:00

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Margo MacDonald MSP, who says she believes there are undercover agents operating in the SNP, told MI5 chief Andrew Parker that his staff should only be used to thwart criminal and terrorist acts, rather than engage in dirty tricks against those who support Scottish independence.

A Home Office spokesman declined to comment on the letter.

The purpose of MI5 is to protect the UK "against threats to national security", a form of words that could be interpreted as resisting the break-up of Britain. Some Nationalists have long believed the SNP was infiltrated in the 1970s by agents worried booming North Sea oil revenues could lead to independence.

MacDonald, a former deputy leader of the SNP and now an independent MSP, believes MI5 was active during the constitutional debate in this period and wants a commitment that such activity has ceased.
Comment: For the record, the newspaper that published the above article was the ONLY media outlet in the entire UK that supported Scottish independence. Margot MacDonald has since died.
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Paul Craig Roberts
PressTV
2014-05-25 20:12:00

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Western propaganda about events in Ukraine has two main purposes. One is to cover up, or to distract from, Washington's role in overthrowing the elected democratic government of Ukraine. The other is to demonize Russia.

The truth is known, but truth is not a part of the Western TV and print media. The intercepted telephone call between US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt reveals the two coup plotters discussing which of Washington's stooges will be installed as Washington's person in the new puppet government.

The intercepted telephone call between Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and EU foreign policy official Catherine Ashton revealed suspicions, later confirmed by independent reports, that the sniper fire that killed people on both sides of the Kiev protests came from the Washington-backed side of the conflict.
Comment: For a wider view of the situation developing in Ukraine, see: Putin's maneuvers in Ukraine: A push toward ... peace?
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TRUTHstreammedia
YouTube
2014-09-19 00:03:00

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Voting for independence? From inside the corrupt system you want independence from? What could possibly go wrong?

It isn't as if leading up to this the Queen didn't get all freaked out (the official term is "bajiggity"), Cameron didn't make ridiculous teary-eyed speeches about how he would be heartbroken if they left and begging the Scots to stay, the banks and IMF didn't panic or threaten Scotland repeatedly, Neocon think tanks didn't preposterously claim a Yes vote would cause Putin to annex Eastern Ukraine, the media didn't continually tell the Scottish people over and over that the No vote was leading the whole time before even going into it, and the whole idea of Scotland's independence definitely wasn't painted as a cheap socialist movement or anything... and all just to gloss over the real threat to the bankers and elites, which might be that Scotland would've been able to keep 90% of the revenues from its huge oil reserves had it voted itself independent (if such a thing is even truly possible in the oligarchical world order we currently find ourselves living under).

Nah. It was nothing like all that. God save the queen! Long live the NWO! Let the Hunger Games begin! And may the odds be ever in your favor...


View on Sott.net
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Puppet Masters
Jim Quinn
The Burning Platform
2014-09-20 23:01:00
The suppression of gold prices is essential at all costs to the Anglo-American banking interests. The saber rattling and attempts to lure Russia and China into military conflict are about who controls the financial world.

Russia and China keep accumulating the eternal currency - gold. The American Empire and their EU disciples continue to accumulate debt and print fiat currencies. Has fiat paper ever won out over gold in the long-run? Change is coming. Revolution is in the air. You can sense the desperation of the ruling oligarchs. Their fiat world is beginning to crumble. But they will not go without a bloody fight.

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Michael Thomas
stateofthenation2012.com
2014-09-21 22:37:00

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The United Kingdom Could Not Lose Scotland - The City Of London Would NOT Allow It

The pre-vote polls were very close to 51% NO to %49 YES right up until the day of the vote. These poll numbers could not have legitimately changed to a 55% NO to %45 YES overnight.

Couldn't happen. Wouldn't happen. Didn't happen. Clearly, the Scottish Independence voting process was rigged just as the electoral apparatus was tampered with.

WHY?

Simply put, such a defection from the British camp by Scotland would have not only broken up the United Kingdom - the financial kingpin in the New World Order - it would have severely impacted the entire British Commonwealth.

There is no question it would have given rise to a revolutionary fervor among many other nations in the Commonwealth to leave the UK orbit.

However, the worst 'consequences' of a "YES" vote would have been born by the European Union.Not only would it send a very loud and empowering message to the many EU member states who are only members because of an unwillingness by their respective governments to offer similar referendums, the UK's standing and influence would have been forever altered and greatly diminished in Brussels.

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The UK, where it concerns its relationship with the European Union, is very odd in the first place. As the banking capital of the world, the City of London dictates many of the extremely oppressive terms of various financing arrangements and loan guarantees that are extended throughout the community of nations. Their very quiet and often hidden power over the economic and financial activities of the EU are much greater than their lack of full membership would indicate.This is by design.
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RT
2014-09-19 18:47:00

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Media reports that Russia is considering disconnecting from the global internet are false, Dmitry Peskov, presidential press-secretary, said. But the country is working to improve cyber security due to the unpredictable behavior of the West, he added.

"Russia's disconnection from the global internet is of course out of the question," Peskov told the Interfax news agency, adding that such a possibility has never been considered.

However, he stressed that "recently, a fair share of unpredictability is present in the actions of our partners both in the US and the EU, and we [Russia] must be prepared for any turn of events."

"We all know who the chief administrator of the global internet is. And due to its volatility, we have to think about how to ensure our national security," Vladimir Putin's press-secretary said.

When asked if Russia is developing the means to improve its cyber security, Peskov replied by saying: "We're working on such measures, they are being looked at."

It's not about disconnecting Russia from the World Wide Web, but about "protecting it from possible external influence," he concluded.

Russia's communications minister, Nikolay Nikiforov, also denied claims that the authorities are thinking about cutting ties with the global internet.
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ecns.cn
2014-09-22 22:20:00

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A Chinese flotilla docked in an Iranian port for the first time on Saturday as both China and Iran pledged to strengthen naval ties.

The Chinese missile destroyer Changchun and missile frigate Changzhou were guided by Iran's frigate Alvand to the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, the PLA Daily reported.

The two Chinese warships are part of the 17th Chinese escort naval fleet, which just finished its mission in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia.

The Chinese flotilla came here for peace, and to strengthen understanding and naval exchanges, Huang Xinjian, commander of the fleet, said upon arrival.

Amir Hossein Azad, the commander of Iran's First Naval Zone, said: "The voyage of the Chinese army's fleet of warships for the first time in Persian Gulf waters is aimed at a joint preparation of Iran and China for establishing peace, stability, tranquility and multilateral and mutual cooperation," according to Iran's FARS News Agency.

During the five-day stay, Huang is scheduled to meet officials from the Iranian navy and Hormozgan province. Bandar Abbas is the capital of the province.

Both sides will also hold a series of activities, including deck receptions, open-house events on the warships, and sport activities such as soccer and pingpong.
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Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post
2006-04-10 20:32:00

Comment: The following piece, published in 2006, reveals that the U.S. was running a massive PSYOP using the founder of "al-Qaeda in Iraq", Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who coincidentally fought for the CIA/mujahideen in Afghanistan, where he later spent time withcurrent head of ISIL/ISIS/IS Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.



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The U.S. military is conducting a propaganda campaign to magnify the role of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to internal military documents and officers familiar with the program. The effort has raised his profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe may have overstated his importance and helped the Bush administration tie the war to the organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The documents state that the U.S. campaign aims to turn Iraqis against Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, by playing on their perceived dislike of foreigners. U.S. authorities claim some success with that effort, noting that some tribal Iraqi insurgents have attacked Zarqawi loyalists.

For the past two years, U.S. military leaders have been using Iraqi media and other outlets in Baghdad to publicize Zarqawi's role in the insurgency. The documents explicitly list the "U.S. Home Audience" as one of the targets of a broader propaganda campaign.

Some senior intelligence officers believe Zarqawi's role may have been overemphasized by the propaganda campaign, which has included leaflets, radio and television broadcasts, Internet postings and at least one leak to an American journalist. Although Zarqawi and other foreign insurgents in Iraq have conducted deadly bombing attacks, they remain "a very small part of the actual numbers," Col. Derek Harvey, who served as a military intelligence officer in Iraq and then was one of the top officers handling Iraq intelligence issues on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an Army meeting at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., last summer.
Comment: Just 2 weeks after this article was posted, conveniently Zarqawi 'reappeared'. Obviously, that PSYOP hadn't ended. Any bets on Zarqawi's bunk buddy Baghdadi also being a PSYOP creation, refurbished and re-purposed for the new war on ISIS?
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Dmitri Trenin
Carnegie Europe
2014-08-22 19:37:00

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Amid the ongoing crisis over Ukraine, the Kremlin has adopted a new national strategy that crystallizes trends that have been gaining ground in Russia over the past two years. This development goes beyond the current crisis in Russian-Western relations and has important consequences for Russia's neighbors, especially the EU.

Essentially, the Kremlin sees Russia's future as separate from the rest of Europe's. Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal for a Greater Europe stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok, cold-shouldered by many in the EU, has now been finally withdrawn by its author. Instead, Russia will largely rely on its own resources as it seeks to develop its economy, consolidate its political system, and build a strong military.

Russia's development model will not be autarkic, but neither will it rely too much on exploiting the fruits of globalization. Recent sanctions against it have taught Moscow that these fruits can suddenly grow sour. Instead, Russia will be in the business of import substitution industrialization, promoting domestic agricultural production, and seeking to create a measure of financial autonomy.

The defense industry has long been designated the prime vehicle of industrial and technological innovation. Its main mission, however, will be completing Russia's military modernization by equipping the country's armed forces with a wide range of usable instruments of power, both for home defense and force projection.

Confrontation with the West - especially over economic sanctions and information warfare against Russia - has given Russian patriotism a powerful boost. Now, Moscow's task at hand is to consolidate the bulk of Russian society on the basis of this platform, thus cementing national unity. Those few who disagree would be putting themselves beyond the pale as foreign agents.
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Tyler Durden
Zerohedge.com
2014-09-22 19:18:00

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In yet another rather embarrassing event for The White House, just days after President Obama praised the French for helping in the fight against ISIS, and General Martin Dempsey noted "the French were our very first ally and they're with us again now," French officials have, according to Reuters, ruled out participation in airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria. With the fall of France (and Germany already saying "nein"), it appears the broad coalition is now a "coalition of none," as Obama has stated the US would not go it alone...

Last week...
Germany and the U.K. ruled out carrying out air strikes on Islamic State militants in Syria, a day after President Barack Obama authorized the start of U.S. air strikes there.

Turkey - the USA's closest ally in NATO among the Middle East - denies them its airbases for use as launch sites of airstrikes and will not support airstrikes in Syria

Iraq's newly-installed US-friendly PM al-Abadi defies the US and halts airstrikes on ISIS-held civilian areas
Last Friday...
President Obama and his staff are thanking France for agreeing to help in Iraq in the fight against the Islamic State.

"We look forward to coordinating with our French partners in the days to come," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
And now today...
  • FRANCE RULES OUT AIR STRIKES IN SYRIA AGAINST ISLAMIC STATE, FOREIGN MINISTER LAURENT FABIUS SAYS
The "Coalition of None" continues...

If you like your anti-ISIS airstrike coalition, you can't keep it...

* * *

Perhaps most concerningly for The US administration, the fact that Germany and France have denied the US leaves them instead sided with Russia's perspective on Syria and ISIS, as "there are deep concerns that the U.S. will bomb not only ISIS positions in Syria, but also the Syrian government forces."
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Shawn Helton
21st Century Wire
2014-09-20 18:36:00

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Was voter fraud committed during the Scottish Independence referendum?

It has been confirmed that the names of 10 people were already crossed off a voter list prior them voting inside a polling station.
According to reports, the Glasgow City Council confirmed that there were ten cases of suspected electoral fraud occurring at polling stations following the Scottish referendum vote on the 18th. As authorities have been investigating thousands have gathered outside in George Square, Glasgow, which has been dubbed "Independence Square,"in the time leading up to the vote.

Scotland on Sunday published a piece in early September suggesting the integrity of the electoral register was called into question a month prior to the historic vote:
"With less than two weeks to go before the independence vote on 18 September, Scotland on Sunday has learned that a formal complaint is to be made by Labour to the returning officer at East Ayrshire Council after activists discovered that at least four children in the area aged between three and 11 have received polling cards."
Continuing, the recent polling concerns were put into context:
"The revelation has echoes of the problems which beset the 1979 devolution referendum, in which some dead people were given the vote, undermining public confidence in the result which did not meet the threshold set by the Callaghan government for creating a Scottish Parliament."
What would be the motive for keeping Scotland in the UK?
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RT
2014-09-22 18:18:00

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Moscow is bewildered by Washington's warmongering rhetoric, which accompanied President Petro Poroshenko's visit to the US. Russia has also noted all the Russia-unfriendly opinions voiced recently by hawkish American politicians.

"We'll keep in mind all signals, including those unfriendly towards Russia, that were heard during the visit of the Ukrainian president to Washington," commented Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov. "We do regret that there are quite influential circles [within the American establishment] that are unambiguously working against the emerging stabilization [in Ukraine]," Ryabkov said.


Comment: If you have the stomach, you can view Poroshenko's obsequious, nauseating, obviously scripted speech in Washington here: Pass the sick bag! Poroshenko's speech in front of the Imperial Senate


In short, US senators urged to supply Ukraine with arms to fight against Russia and President Putin.

Senator Robert Mendez, a Democrat who runs the Foreign Relations Committee told CNN, "We should provide the Ukrainians with the type of defensive weapons that will impose a cost upon Putin for further aggression.


Comment: Mendez, and the entire Imperial Senate and Congress, seem to be living in a fantasy world. No wonder the Russians no longer wants anything to do with them.
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The Saker
The Vineyard of the Saker
2014-09-21 18:35:00

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Demonstrations in Russia


According to RT, 5'000 to 26'000 people have marched in the streets of Moscow demanding peace in the Ukraine. According to Vzgliad, 20 people demonstrated in Petrozavodsk and Saratov, 50 in Perm, up to 100 in Ekaterinburg, 10 in Novosibirsk, 15 in Syktyvkar and a few people in Barnaul. What are important here are not the actual figures, but the order of magnitude. What we clearly see is that these demonstrations were tiny, at least by Russian standards and when RT's Anissa Naouai reports that there was a "very high turnout" she is plain wrong. Also, and this is no less important, let us be very careful about what these demonstrations were all about: for peace in the Ukraine and against war. With such a vague and yet doubleplusgoodmeaning slogan, even refugees from bombed out Donetsk could agree (maybe even especially them).

What we have here is a typical propaganda ploy: get people in the streets in support of peace, love and happiness all over the world, and then present that as an "opposition" protest against the government policies. But, come on, seriously, who wants war in the Ukraine? The Kremlin?

The other important point is this: even if, for argument's sake, we agree that 100% of the demonstrators were fierce opponents of Putin or Russian policies in the Ukraine, that is less than nothing compared to Putin's 80%+ approval rate.

So what did not happen?
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Stephen Lendman
Activist Post
2014-09-21 15:35:00

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Fear-mongering is sinister. It's reprehensible. It's longstanding US policy. So are false flags. Merriam-Webster calls them "deliberate gross distortion(s) of the truth used especially as a propaganda tactic." Wikipedia says they're "covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities."

Official reports hype Big Lies. MSM scoundrels regurgitate them. Truth is systematically buried. Deception substitutes for reality.

False flags are pretexts for militarism, wars, occupations, colonization, resource theft, and exploiting populations for profit. They facilitate ruthlessness. They foster police state repression against freedom. Post-9/11, global war on terror lawlessness followed. It rages out-of-control. One country after another is ravaged, destroyed and pillaged. No end of conflicts loom. Permanent war is official US policy.
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Fred Mazelis
Word Socialist Web Site
2014-09-18 15:30:00

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After a two-week campaign, the Yale University Episcopal chaplain was forced to resign over a letter to the New York Times in which he explained that actions such as the recent Israeli war on Gaza were breeding anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere.

The Rev. Bruce Shipman, in a three-sentence letter that was published in the Times on August 26, responded to an Op-Ed article by scholar Deborah Lipstadt discussing European anti-Semitism. Shipman's letter read, in its entirety, as follows:
"Deborah E. Lipstadt makes far too little of the relationship between Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza and growing anti-Semitism in Europe and beyond.

"The trend to which she alludes parallels the carnage in Gaza over the last five years, not to mention the perpetually stalled peace talks and the continuing occupation of the West Bank.

"As hope for a two-state solution fades and Palestinian casualties continue to mount, the best antidote to anti-Semitism would be for Israel's patrons abroad to press the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for final-status resolution to the Palestinian question."
Comment: The "spirit of collaboration and collegiality" at Yale is apparently one that seeks to maintain cooperation with the brutality and genocidal psychopaths of Israel. America's educational institutions have always been more about indoctrination than actual education. Zionists have been playing victim and trying to cover their crimes with cries of anti-Semitism for far too long. People must speak out, and thankfully people like Rev. Chapman are doing so.
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Activist Post
2014-09-21 15:26:00
The elite's cryptic monument to depopulation and world government just became more mysterious (and creepier) - somebody has officially updated it with an engraved cube marking the year 2014 inserted into the English/Spanish slab of the 'new 10 commandments' for the 'Age of Reason' desired by its creators.


View on Sott.net
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John Ficence
Commoditie Futures.com
2014-09-22 15:07:00

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The super-rich are looking to protect their wealth through buying record numbers of "Italian job" style gold bars, according to bullion experts.

The number of 12.5kg gold bars being bought by wealthy customers has increased 243pc so far this year, when compared to the same period last year, said Rob Halliday-Stein founder of BullionByPost.

"These gold bars are usually stored in the vaults of central banks and are the same ones you see in the film 'The Italian Job'," added David Cousins, bullion executive from London based ATS Bullion.

The bars which are made from pure gold and are worth more than £300,000 each at today's prices of $1,223 (£760) an ounce.

Mr Cousins added that he has seen more confidence from gold buyers this year as prices remain stable after sharp falls in the price of gold last year.
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RT
2014-09-22 10:36:00

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London politicians gulled Scottish voters out of independence by making a false "vow" to grant Glasgow extra powers, First Minister Alex Salmond has said. He also raised the prospect of another referendum, saying the break-up is inevitable.

Alex Salmond, leader of the 'Yes' campaign and the outgoing head of the Scottish National Party (SNP), told the BBC's Sunday Politics program that the UK government won last Thursday's referendum vote by 55-45 percent by deceiving the people ahead the referendum and promising to rapidly expand Scottish autonomy.

"I think the vow was something cooked up in desperation for the last few days of the campaignand I think everyone in Scotland now realizes that," said Salmond.

"It is the people who were persuaded to vote no, who were misled, who were gulled, who were tricked effectively," he added. "They are the ones who are really angry."
Comment: All Scots should be outraged right now and use that rage to fuel their next action! Both those who voted either for or against Independence. Not only they were tricked through empty promises and propaganda campaigns, but their referendum result was undoubtedly rigged!

"They have stolen this landslide referendum victory from Scots, who have always been fiercely independent. [...] I encourage Scots to gauge for themselves just how many of their fellow Scotsmen voted Yes or No, perhaps by forming local committees to conduct informal polls, then watch as you learn that the true result was 70%+ in favour of independence."

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Society's Child
RT
2014-09-19 04:06:00

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A Brooklyn man has been arrested and charged with reckless endangerment for flying his GoPro-equipped drone too close to a New York Police Department helicopter.

The police helicopter was flying over Brooklyn as officers searched for a missing teenager early Wednesday morning. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) came within 50 feet of the aircraft.

"That's when the helicopter had to suddenly change course," police told CBS.

Local resident Isaac Rosa was then arrested for illegally operating the drone, which was outfitted with a GoPro camera. He was charged with reckless endangerment and obstructing government administration on Wednesday, CBS reported.

The man was later arraigned and released on a bail of $1,500.

"I am very disappointed that they are trying to make an example out of me," Rosa told the New York Post. "At the end of the day, this is not an illegal activity."

New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said at a swearing-in ceremony in July that he was concerned about the "terrorism component" regarding drones, raising concern over the idea of "somebody out there effectively joyriding with the drone."
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RT
2014-09-19 03:40:00

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It took a Louisiana mother six months to learn that police had killed her son during a scuffle. She believed he had died due to brain damage from chronic cocaine use. Now the FBI is investigating his death.

Robert Minjarez Jr. died in March, but it wasn't until the 11-page state forensic pathologist's report was released in August that his mother, Catherine Cortez, learned the truth about his death - which was ruled a homicide by the Lafayette Parish Coroner.

The month of March began with the 30-year-old leaving an emergency room against medical advice after being treated for Rhabdomyolysis, or muscle breakdown. The next day, a clerk at a Lafayette, La., gas station called police to report that Minjarez was standing outside the door, hallucinating, KATC reported.

Officers with the Scott and Carencro Police Departments, as well as deputies with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office, responded to the call. Minjarez was cuffed at his hands and feet, then pinned to the ground by at least three cops, surveillance video showed.

Minjarez could be heard saying, "I didn't do anything, I didn't do nothing," the Louisiana Forensic Center's pathologist report said. Later, he "can be heard screaming, 'help, help, help me get them off, you're going to kill me... what the [expletive] did I do', followed by 'you're going to suffocate...' and "I can't breathe' [three] times."
Comment: All over the country, goon cops are essentially murdering people left and right and are not held accountable. The victims of these goons have absolutely no rights. Protect yourself by not calling the police for any reason. As Paul Craig Roberts says: "The most fatal mistake that any American can make is to call the police."

Goon cops have gone wild all over America
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RT
2014-09-22 21:27:00

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Hundreds of activists marched in London on Sunday to protest against British involvement in Syria and Iraq, with many accusing the government of funding terrorist groups.

The activists, many of whom are Iraqi Kurds, accused the British government of supporting the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) by providing training and arms to Syrian rebels, many of whom are affiliated with the terrorist group.

Marching on Trafalgar Square, the group chanted 'Down with ISIS!' and 'Wake up, UK!' They also criticized the British government's close ties with Saudi Arabia, who they say are the primary funders of the Islamic State.

"ISIS terrorism has so far claimed the lives of thousands and thousands of people in the most violent and barbaric conditions," Memed, a Kurdish activist told Ruptly.


View on Sott.net
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The Guardian
2014-09-22 21:11:00

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A Pentagon program that distributes military surplus gear to local law enforcement allows even departments that the Justice Department has censured for civil rights violations to apply for and get lethal weaponry.

That lack of communication between two cabinet agencies adds to questions about a program under review in the aftermath of the militarized police response to protesters in Ferguson, Missouri.

The Pentagon, which provides the free surplus military equipment, says its consultation with the Justice Department will be looked at as the government reviews how to prevent high-powered weaponry from flowing to the untrustworthy.

The Justice Department has opened civil rights investigations into the practices of some 20 police departments in the past five years, with the Ferguson force the latest. The investigations sometimes end in negotiated settlements known as consent decrees that mandate reforms. Yet being flagged as problematic by Washington does not bar a police department from participating in the program.

"Given the fact that they're under a consent decree it would make sense that the Department of Defense and Department of Justice coordinate on any such requests, [but] that is currently not the state," said Jim Bueermann, who heads the non-profit Police Foundation.
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Michael Snyder
End of the American Dream
2014-09-18 19:21:00

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What has happened to America? Please show these numbers to anyone that does not believe that the United States is in decline. It is time for all of us to humble ourselves and face the reality of what has happened to our once great nation. For those of us that love America, it is heartbreaking to watch the foundations of our society rot and decay in thousands of different ways. The following are 50 facts that show how far America has fallen in this generation, but the truth is that this list could have been far, far longer...

#1 According to a survey that was just conducted, only 36 percent of all Americans can name the three branches of government.

#2 Only 25 percent of all Americans know how long U.S. Senators are elected for (6 years), and only20 percent of all Americans know how many U.S. senators there are.

#3 Even if you include same-sex couples in the numbers, the marriage rate in the United States is ata 93 year low.
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IOL News
2014-09-22 19:17:00

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The July crash of an Air Algerie passenger plane in Mali, which killed all 116 people on board, remains unexplained after the first investigative report into the accident was released by French authorities.

The first findings from the ongoing investigation into the cause of the crash, released on Saturday, yielded no clear findings although investigators did not rule out a terrorist attack.

"We currently have no preferred hypothesis," said Bernard Boudeille of France's Bureau of Investigations and Analyses. "Nothing can confirm or deny the possibility of terrorism."

Prior to the July 24 crash, the pilots of the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 had announced plans to deviate from their planned route because of expected inclement weather.
Comment: Consider the following excerpt from Superluminal Communications dated 26 July 2014:
Q: (L) I want to know what caused the crash of the Air Algerie flight number AH 5017? I would like to know what caused that crash?

A: Multiple elements were involved here. First there was a vortex of electric charge which quadrupled the power of the thunder stroke. Second, due to the vortex, there was a breach of the realm curtain. This induced EM effects which disoriented the pilots. Expect more of this sort of thing around the planet in future.

Q: (Pierre) Why was there a vortex of electric charge?

A: The current is grounded, thus more current "flow". Read Pierre's book!
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Catherine Deveney
The Guardian
2014-09-21 18:20:00

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The mood in the capital of the Highlands was downbeat after the independence vote - but there were pockets of approval

The makeshift sign at the roundabout on the outskirts of the Highland capital of Inverness has all the jaunty optimism of a referendum race still to be run: "Happy Thursd-aye," it declares. Except it's now Friday morning and the result is not aye but naw. Round the corner in the city's bus station, 25-year-old Mark MacKenzie makes a disconsolate figure in his kilt, trainers and full ginger beard, dreadlocks tied up in a ponytail. "I am devastated," he says. "I have lost faith in the Scottish people."


Comment: It's not the Scottish people who should be blamed, but rather the Powers That Be who rigged the referendum so that no matter how many Yes votes were cast, the end result would be no independence. They just could not allow the people to choose, to set an example that other countries would follow. It's too dangerous.


Inverness was a yes city. The Highlands has a population of 233,000 and covers a third of Scotland's land mass, including some of the most remote and sparsely populated terrain in Europe. The area as a whole rejected independence by a margin of 53% to 47%. But in the capital, it was hard to find anyone in the 80,000 population who admitted to voting no. Inverness has a maverick political past with a strong tradition of independent councillors and, before boundary changes, was once the only four-way marginal in the UK, split between Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and SNP. It is now the constituency of the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander.

It's a long way from Westminster. MacKenzie, who works in events, feels so disaffected he has never voted before. Not that he didn't make the effort: he always spoiled his ballot papers. Independence offered an alternative to London-centric politics. "But it's not anti-English," MacKenzie said. "It's anti-establishment. The ruling classes are privately educated. I'm not saying they're bad people but they don't have a clue what it's like to live in Inverness."
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Benjamin Hale
Slate.com
2014-09-19 18:13:00

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As the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has spiraled out of control, affecting thousands of Liberians, Sierra Leonians, and Guineans, and threatening thousands more, the world's reaction has been glacially, lethally slow. Only in the past few weeks have heads of state begun to take serious notice. To date, the virus has killed more than 2,600 people. This is a comparatively small number when measured against much more established diseases such as malariaHIV/AIDSinfluenza, and so on, but several factors about this outbreak have some of the world's top health professionals gravely concerned:
  • Its kill rate: In this particular outbreak, a running tabulation suggests that 54 percent of the infected die, though adjusted numbers suggest that the rate is much higher.
  • Its exponential growth: At this point, the number of people infected is doubling approximately every three weeks, leading some epidemiologists to project between 77,000 and 277,000 cases by the end of 2014.
  • The gruesomeness with which it kills: by hijacking cells and migrating throughout the body to affect all organs, causing victims to bleed profusely.
  • The ease with which it is transmitted: through contact with bodily fluids, including sweat, tears, saliva, blood, urine, semen, etc., including objects that have come in contact with bodily fluids (such as bed sheets, clothing, and needles) and corpses.
  • The threat of mutation: Prominent figures have expressed serious concerns that this disease will go airborne, and there are many other mechanisms through which mutation might make it much more transmissible.
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Chris Vedelago
The Sydney Morning The Sydney Morning Herald
2014-09-22 15:22:00

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A Melbourne man was hauled off a Tiger Airways flight by federal police on Saturday after claims he was seen doodling and writing sentences in a notebook satirising the current terrorism threat.

The incident has highlighted the growing sensitivity among officialdom and the public following the decision of the Abbott government to raise the national threat level and a series of raids were staged against alleged home-grown Islamic fundamentalist terrorists linked to the Islamic State movement.

Oliver Buckworth, 28, claims he was removed from a Gold Coast-bound flight after a fellow passenger saw the contents of his notebook over his shoulder and informed Tiger staff.

"The irony is I was writing a sentence about the absurdity of the fearmongering when we live in such a happy country of ice-cream and beaches and fluffy things," he said.
Comment: It has become painfully obvious that the psychopaths in charge have succeeded in their aims to frighten society into submission. Now even making comments in a private notebook will get you thrown off a plane and put on the terror watch list. It seems that making any statement against the police state is a 'terrorist' act. And the passenger causing the hysteria will no doubt be seen as a hero for his fear-mongering. This is beyond ridiculous!

Remember that the real enemies are the psychopaths in charge breeding submissiveness through fear and lies
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Press TV
2014-09-22 10:05:00

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The US army has confirmed that a Texas man accused of scaling a fence and getting inside the White House with a folding knife before being stopped is an Iraq war veteran.

The 42-year-old Omar Jose Gonzalez was arrested Friday and is expected in federal court on Monday to face charges of trying to illegally enter the White House while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon.

The military said Gonzalez, who retired from army in 2012 due to disability, served in Iraq from October 2006 to January 2008.

Gonzalez has said after the arrest that he needed to contact the US president because he was "concerned that the atmosphere was collapsing."
Comment: Another story to remind us that the U.S. government makes all kinds of promises to its citizens when they are needed to be used as cannon fodder for its illegal world-wide wars, but when those who survive return home, broken and suffering from the atrocities they witnessed, they are totally forgotten and ignored by the state:

Millions of U.S. veterans and soldiers suffering needlessly; suicides, mental illness, poverty

22 veterans kill themselves every day: more US soldiers dying from suicide than combat

Ernest Hemingway, who knew war well, wrote in A Farewell to Arms:
The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry."
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Patrick Boehler
South China Morning Post
2014-09-22 07:24:00

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At least two people were killed and many more injured in a series of explosions in China's restive western region of Xinjiang on Sunday, state media reported.

Explosions hit at least three locations in Xinjiang's Luntai County at around 5pm on Sunday, the Tianshan news portal, run by the regional government, said in a short report on Monday morning.

The report did not identify the explosions, which appeared to be coordinated attacks, as acts of terrorism.

"The local social order was normal," the report said, indicating that there was no further unrest following the explosions.

An unspecified number of those wounded have been sent to hospitals for treatment, the report said. Investigations were ongoing.
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Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
2014-09-22 06:45:00

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The next time you visit a hospital, it is your wallet that may end up hurting the most. All over the United States, it has become common practice for hospitals to wildly inflate medical bills.

For example, it has been reported that some hospitals are charging up to 30 dollars for a single aspirin pill. And as you will see below, some victims report being billed tens of thousands of dollars for a non-surgical hospital visit that lasts only a few hours. When something is seriously wrong with us, most of us never stop to ask our health professionals how much it will cost to actually treat us.

In that moment, we are desperate and we just want someone to help us. Many doctors and hospitals take full advantage of this by billing their "customers" as much as they feel they can possible get away with.

It is a legal scam that is bilking ordinary Americans out of billions of dollars every single year.
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RT
2014-09-20 06:42:00

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The Catalan parliament has passed a law giving its regional president the power to carry out a non-binding consultation vote on secession from Spain. Catalan nationalists believe this law enables them to hold the long-awaited independence referendum.

On Friday, the Catalan parliament voted in favor of the new law, with 106 MPs supporting it and 28 voting against.

The MPs hope it will bring Catalan President Artur Mas a step closer to the planned independence referendum on November 9.

However, while the nationalist block thinks the bill directly paves the way for a referendum on independence, the Catalan socialists who allied with them for the vote do not share this opinion.

The Spanish government called the Catalan consultation vote illegal and said it will be taking the matter up at the Constitutional Court. The court has the power to suspend the vote after it hears the case on Tuesday.

Madrid maintains that any kind of secession vote has to be decided by the whole country, citing Spain's 1978 constitution.
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BBC News
2014-09-19 08:20:00

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Turkey has allowed thousands of Syrian Kurds fleeing Islamic State (IS) militants to cross its southern border, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. TV footage showed exhausted people, mostly women and children, crossing into the south-eastern border village of Dikmetas under tight security.

The move followed clashes with Turkish Kurd protesters who were calling for the refugees to be allowed in.

Syrian Kurds have been massing along the Turkish border since Thursday. They have been fleeing escalating clashes between IS and Kurdish fighters in the area.

Turkey - which shares a border with Iraq and Syria - has taken in more than 847,000 Syrian refugees since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011. It is under pressure from Western countries to stem the flow of foreign fighters joining Islamic State.
Comment: By Saturday, September 20, the number of Syrian refugees rose to 60,000 now that the flood gates are open. It is noted that this turn of events has not been entirely popular in Turkish society. They fear that it will bring IS to their borders and the war to their doorstep. Over the past three days IS expanded its captured Kurdish villages from 16 to 60.
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Kate O'Hare
Breitbart.com
2014-09-18 23:03:00

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While there are variations in Christian theology about the nature of Satan and demons, traditional Christian thought holds that these creatures are evil, the threat from them is real and should be taken seriously. Exactly what self-proclaimed "satanists" think about all this is unclear, other than that they make a public show of worshiping Satan and calling upon demons for assistance.

Thus, it may be that the Oklahoma City satanists, who call themselves the Dakhma Angra Mainyu, believe that the black mass they're holding on Sunday, Sept. 21, at the Oklahoma City Civic Center, is harmless fun, or a deliberate insult to Catholics (since the "black mass" is a perverted parody of the Catholic Mass), or even a serious attempt to call upon dark forces.

But according to the beliefs of a priest from the neighboring Diocese of Tulsa, both those putting on the event and those attending--although poorly attended in the past, this year's event has sold out all 88 tickets--may be in spiritual peril.

Even though the event has been tamed a bit to comply with state law (the usually naked female "altar" will have lingerie; and vinegar is being substituted for urine) and it will no longer feature a Consecrated Host (after a legal challenge, organizer Adam Daniels returned his pilfered Communion wafer to the Church, specifically, Archbishop Coakley of Oklahoma City), Monsignor Patrick Brankin is worried.
Comment: The author alludes to evil being something outside us in the form of demons, dark attachments or in the performance of some satanic ritual. Evil is here, now, as evidenced by the cabal of psychopaths in positions of power all over the planet. They are the root of human suffering. The battleground for good and evil is within us, not 'out there'.

Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil adjusted for Political Purposes
Global Pathocracy, Authoritarian Followers and the Hope of the World
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Secret History
Giorgos Christides
BBC News
2014-09-21 07:48:00

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The discovery of an enormous tomb in northern Greece, dating to the time of Alexander the Great of Macedonia, has enthused Greeks, distracting them from a dire economic crisis.

Who, they are asking, is buried within.

In early August, a team of Greek archaeologists led by Katerina Peristeri unearthed what officials say is the largest burial site ever to be discovered in the country. The mound is in ancient Amphipolis, a major city of the Macedonian kingdom, 100km (62 miles) east of Thessaloniki, Greece's second city.

The structure dates back to the late 4th Century BC and is 500m (1,600ft) wide, dwarfing the burial site of Alexander's father, Philip II, in Vergina, west of Thessaloniki.
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April Holloway
Ancient Origins
2014-09-20 14:26:00

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Archaeologists have revealed the process utilized by highly-skilled craftsmen to create the magnificent gold artifacts that were found around Stonehenge. According to Discovery News, the gold work involved such tiny components that optical experts believe they could only have been made by children or adults with extreme short-sightedness, and would have caused lasting damage to their eyesight.

In 1808, William Cunnington, one of Britain's earliest professional archaeologists, discovered what has become known as the crown jewels of the 'King of Stonehenge'. They were found within a large Bronze Age burial mound just ½ mile from Stonehenge, known today as Bush Barrow. Within the 4,000-year-old barrow, Cunnington found ornate jewellery, a gold lozenge that fastened his cloak, and an intricately decorated dagger.
Comment: Why is it that archaeologists of the mainstream ilk always projects ancients as brutes with primitive to no technology, as in 'they must have been myopic'. Most ancient technology has been lost to cataclysms and archives of 'forbidden history', but still optical technology made from crystals isn't that far of a stretch.

See also: New digital map reveals hidden archaeology of Stonehenge
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Duncan Gibbons
Coventry Telegraph
2014-09-19 13:48:00

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Mystery surrounds a strange pattern carved into the ground near Coventry.

The spiral shape was spotted on satellite maps by a historian researching the fabled Knights Templar, who founded the tiny hamlet of Temple Balsall, near Balsall Common, 1,000 years ago.

Intriguingly the pattern, which is about 30m in length, is just half a mile from the site of an intricate crop circle which appeared in 2011.
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news.com.au
2014-09-15 12:30:00

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The train cart rattles along the track. Leaving the bright sunshine behind, you plunge deep into the dank, subterranean world.

The guide points out scratch marks on the wall - made by bears, who fortunately don't live in the caves anymore. Venturing deeper, you pass some engravings and drawings of a rhino, horses and a procession of mammoths. They are impressive. Not simply childish drawings of animals, but skilled works of art.

Two kilometres in, the train grinds to a halt. You get out and start to walk, hoping the movement will warm up your limbs. You stumble into a hidden gallery, darkness engulfing the group. The guide explains in hushed tones why these caves are so magnificent.

At last, you're allowed to switch on your head-torch. Gazing upwards, you now understand what the guide was on about. Animals of all shapes and sizes adorn the ceiling. Some intricately painted, others simple line drawings. No wonder this is known as the "Great Ceiling".

Welcome to Rouffignac Cave.


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Around two to three million years ago, this vast network of caves in Dordogne, France was created when water penetrated along fractures in the bedrock, dissolving the soft limestone. The cave system reaches 10 kilometres underground, through a mind-boggling maze of tunnels and shafts.

Over 250 prehistoric artworks litter the walls of this cave system, which is accessible only aboard the electric train that zips visitors 13,000 years back in time.
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Science & Technology
Barbara K. Kennedy
phys.org
2014-09-17 12:01:00

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Next week in St. Petersburg, Russia, scientists on an international team that includes Penn State University astronomers will present a paper that provides a simple explanation for mysterious ultra-long gamma-ray bursts - a very rare form of the most powerful explosions in the universe.

"The recent discovery of ultra-long gamma-ray bursts raised questions about whether some new physics is required to explain them, but our work suggests a much simpler explanation," said David Burrows, a Penn State professor of astronomy and astrophysics. "Our analysis reveals that theserare gamma-ray bursts, which can last for hours, can be explained as standard explosions occurring in a region with a low density of matter that is located behind a cloud of dust when viewed from Earth."

Dick Willingale, an astronomer at the University of Leicester and a co-author of the study, said, "Not only is this result significant scientifically, but it shows the importance of international collaborations to build observatories, and of sharing information between those observatories."
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Seiichi Yoshida
Aerith Net
2014-09-20 21:06:00
Discovery Date: September 14, 2014

Magnitude: 16.5 mag

Discoverer: A. R. Gibbs (Catalina Sky Survey)

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The orbital elements are published on M.P.E.C. 2014-S09.
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RT
2014-09-19 00:11:00

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The M60-UCD1, discovered by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 2013, is one of the smallest known galaxies. But now the space agency has discovered that the dwarf galaxy is harboring a "monster" black hole.

The diameter of M60-UCD1 is about 300 light years - just 1/500th of our galaxy's width. However, it is packed with 140 million stars, which also makes it one of the densest galaxies.

For comparison, NASA explains, the nighttime sky we see from Earth's surface shows 4,000 stars. If we lived inside the newly-discovered M60-UCD1, our nighttime sky would be covered with at least one million stars "visible to the naked eye."

But what really surprised astronomers is the supermassive black hole they found inside M60-UCD1.


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Lurking in the smallest galaxy, the black hole is five times the mass of the one at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. It has a mass equal to 21 million suns, and is 15 percent of the small galaxy's total mass - but less than 0.01 percent of the Milky Way's total mass. 

"That is pretty amazing, given that the Milky Way is 500 times larger and more than 1,000 times heavier than the dwarf galaxy M60-UCD1," University of Utah astronomer Anil Seth, lead author of an international study on the dwarf galaxy, said in Nature's Thursday publication.

The finding has prompted astronomers to consider rethinking dwarf galaxy theories.
Comment: The astronomers used adaptive optics technology to study the galaxy and its massive black hole. Using data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope along with the Gemini North 8-meter optical and infrared telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea, they captured the dwarf galaxy and the black hole's mass. Normally, images from telescopes on the ground are blurred out by the 'twinkling' of the stars caused by the refraction of light in the atmosphere. With adaptive optics, a flexible mirror is used to undo the affects of the atmosphere and get a sharper image. Since there were no bright stars next to M60-UCD1, the team used a laser to create their own "fake" stars in the upper atmosphere to use for the adaptive optics process. This allowed them to study the motions of the stars at many points within the very small object. By observing the motions of the stars at the center of the ultra-compact dwarf compared to in its outskirts, they were able to separately weigh the stars in the galaxy and the black hole.
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Earth Changes
Myles Ma
nj.com
2014-09-22 18:43:00

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An Edison hiker was found dead Sunday after an encounter with a bear, police said.

Darsh Patel was 22.

Patel was part of a group of five Edison men hiking through the Apshawa Preserve, a wooded area of West Milford, Police Chief Timothy C. Storbeck said in a press release. They ran in different directions when a black bear began to follow them.


View on Sott.net


Video of press conference starts at about 7 minute mark.
Comment: The other deaths caused by bears in 2014 in north America -

Bear attacks - fourth fatality this year in North America: Bear kills hunter near Norman Wells, Canada

Bear attacks and kills 31-year-old man in Wyoming

Rick Cross, missing Kananaskis hunter, killed in bear attack, Alberta

Woman killed by a black bear in Fort McMurray, Alberta

By way of comparison the number of deaths in the recent past (years 2000 - 2013) seem to average out to about just two a year, going by this wikipedia list -

List of fatal bear attacks in North America

A number of fatalities has also occurred recently in Russia -

Bear attacks kill at least three people with many others injured in Siberia and far-east Russia
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Ismael Kasooha
New Vision
2014-07-22 18:22:00

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A two-year-old child has been killed by a chimpanzee, which kidnapped her in the garden in the presence of the parents.

Mujuni Semata, the son of Zabroni Semata of Kyamajaka in Muhorro town council, Kibaale district was kidnapped by chimpanzees on Sunday and died hours after his parents found him lying unconscious in the forest.

"We were in the garden burning grass after clearing the fields. As the children and their mother settled down for a late lunch, a group of chimpanzees attacked, taking the child with them," said Semata.

The bereaved mother, Omuhereza Ntegeka, 21, said: "As we shared the meal, one of the children asked for drinking water. I moved to get the water from the jerrican, about five meters away only to see the chimps emerging from the nearby bush and get hold of two children. They, however, dropped one and sped off with Mujuni."
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Liz Klimas
theblaze.com
2014-01-15 16:53:00

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Wild boar have apparently had enough of being prey for hunters and are striking back.

At least two videos have been posted on viral media in the last couple months showing cases of boars getting their revenge.

This video, shot from a French hunter's perspective and time-stamped Jan. 4, recorded a dog barking in the background. The hunter raised his firearm and, before he can even think about firing a shot, he was run down by a speeding boar.


View on Sott.net
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Steve Glazier
Mychamplainvalley.com
2014-09-19 09:32:00

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In Burlington the temperature reached the freezing mark for the earliest time in the season since 1964! That data is according to the National Weather Service in Burlington.

Low temperatures dropped into the 20s and 30s across the area and broke/tied records in some cases. A record low was established in Massena, NY for Thursday and Friday. A record low was tied for Friday in Burlington and St. Johnsbury. These temperatures were 10-20 degrees below average for this time of the year!

It means the end of the growing season for 2014 for many. This is particularly early to see this kind of cold weather. Typically the Champlain Valley does not get frost until the first week of October. However this year for the Champlain Valley it has come nearly three weeks early.
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Sadie Whitelocks
Daily Mail, UK
2014-06-25 22:47:00

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A TV cameraman in Japan has been left on crutches after being savagely attacked by a wild boar in the street.

The terrifying incident was filmed by bystanders, who kept a safe distance from the manic animal.

Footage shows the tusked hog charging through an urban area and knocking a woman over. It then turns its attention to the cameraman.


View on Sott.net
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Jenn Ruckel
ktoo.org
2014-07-31 22:17:00

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Yet another muskox attack over the weekend has left dog owners aggravated, while Nome residents and wildlife officials dispute who is responsible for coming up with a solution to the problem.

This time, the victim was Mitch Erickson's dog Onslo, who was tethered to a dog box at the lot Erickson shares with Diana Adams. Last week, Adams was cited for killing a muskox in Icy View.

Erickson explained how he found his dog lot. "You could see the pen was thrashed and the two dogs that were in it were loose. And I realized one was missing," said Erickson. "He was found about an hour later and we had to put him down cause he was all torn up."

This isn't the first time muskox have threatened Erickson and Adams's lot. Last year, two separate incidents left their dogs injured or worse.

"So we're two dead and one wounded," said Erickson.
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Anthony Watts
Watts Up With That?
2014-09-19 00:00:00

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Eric Worrall writes: The British and Icelandic MET offices are expressing concern about the possible effect on the climate, of a potentially enormous volcanic eruption in Iceland.

According to The Express, a UK daily newspaper;


"BRITAIN could freeze in YEARS of super-cold winters and miserable summers if the erupts, experts have warned.

Britain could face a freezing winter if the Icelandic volcano erupts.
Depending on the force of the explosion, minute particles thrust beyond the earth's atmosphere can trigger DECADES of chaotic weather patterns.
...
The first effect could be a bitterly cold winter to arrive in weeks with thermometers plunging into minus figures and not rising long before next summer.

The Icelandic Met Office has this week warned of "strong indications of ongoing magma movement" around the volcano prompting them to raise the aviation warning to orange, the second highest and sparking fears the crater could blow at any moment."


The Bardarbunga eruption could yet be a fizzle - the climatic damage caused by the eruption very much depends on the scale of the eruption, the amount of sulphates and ash hurled into the atmosphere, and even the direction of upper atmospheric wind patterns.
Comment: With the continuing volcanic eruptions around the Ring of Fire, coupled with the huge increase in meteors falling worldwide, the earth's atmosphere is already experiencing increases in particulate matter. These, in addition to the decrease in solar activity have been contributing to thecooling of the earth over the past 17 years. It is looking increasingly likely that we are headed into an ice age.

To fully understand the various additional factors that are influencing our climate, read Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection.
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Shwe Aung
DVB
2014-09-20 00:00:00

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Seven people, including a baby, lost their lives and three are still missing as heavy flash floods hit rural areas of Mandalay and Sagaing divisions on Friday morning.

Speaking to DVB on Friday, Katha-based writer Hercules said that three people were killed when a flash flood swept them away in the middle of the night in Inn Daw Township in Katha, Sagaing Division.

"Torrential rains started at 2:55am on Friday and continued for about three hours. Rainfall measured 4.92 inches," he said. "A strong flash flood developed from a mountain stream and it destroyed five houses. Two women were carried away in the current, a 58-year-old mother and her 20-year-old daughter. Their bodies were discovered among some bushes at around 10 the next morning.
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Angela Fritz
The Washington Post
2014-09-19 14:58:00

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A violent hail storm has ravaged parts of Tuscany, Italy on Friday, with significant impacts on the region's capital of Florence.

Videos of the storm show torrential rain and hail coming down, and while the hail stones themselves are not large, the sheer quantity is enough to cause chaos on the city streets. Local media report that the hail storm lasted about ten minutes in the city of Florence. This was plenty of time for hail stones to coat the roads like snow.

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Radar shows the storm beginning off the west coast of Tuscany early Friday morning. As the storm crosses into Tuscany, it grows in size and intensity. By 1:30 p.m. local time, the storm is over Florence. Gaping holes in the storm suggest it was so intense that it maxed out on Weather Underground's radar reflectivity scale.


View on Sott.net
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Matthew F. Smith
Alaska Dispatch News
2014-08-22 13:23:00

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Another close encounter with a musk ox -- this time in the Northwest Alaska community of Wales -- involved an angry bull charging a tethered dog several times before the musk ox was killed.

The attack comes amid a summer of similar threats to dogs -- and people -- in and around Nome, some of which have left dogs dead and resulted in musk ox shot "in defense of life or property," or DLP.

Helena Oxereok was using a four-wheeler to haul water with her sister's boyfriend on Aug. 16 when she saw the shaggy bull come from behind her house in Wales, about 110 miles northwest of Nome.Despite neighbors and family members yelling and revving their four-wheelers to scare the animal away, she said, the bull ignored them until it saw her dog Sam.

"And then it started chasing my dog around its house -- maybe six times my dog had to run away," Oxereok said Thursday in a phone interview.

"At one point, it got to where my dog was being pushed but not really hurt, pushed by the musk ox's head, and I'm glad the chain didn't get caught on his horns, otherwise he would have been in big trouble."


View on Sott.net

Oxereok said her brother Randy grabbed his SKS rifle and shot several warning shots in the air, but the musk ox was unfazed.
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coastaldigest.com
2014-09-20 12:57:00

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With the sighting of a leopard roaming in the limits of Shree Mahalingeshwara temple at Atrady, near Manipal over the past three days and a confirmed leopard attack on a man, the local residents are fear-stricken by the predator in their territory and refuse to venture out of their houses after dark.

A person named Dinesh Poojary suffered injuries from the leopard attack that took place three days ago.

On the night of Wednesday, the leopard is said to have attempted to catch some fowl roosting on a tree in the backyard of the house belonging to Dinesh Poojary at around 12 a.m. Later the same night, the leopard made another attempt and made off with two chickens.
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Greg Spinks
goerie.com
2014-09-19 21:44:00

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Visitors to Pymatuning State Park have been greeted in recent weeks by a very rare guest, Sabine's gull. Other rare guests may soon follow.

"Sabine's gull has been attracting birders from all over the area," said Meadville photographer Shawn Collins. "The gull is normally only found out west, Alaska and northern Canada. I was able to capture some photographs near the spillway area."

Collins says he has been a birder for most of his life and in recent years began to learn the skills of a photographer.

"It was just great to be able to photograph this bird right here at Pymatuning."

The Audubon Society in Meadville is aware of the rare bird at Pymatuning.

"It's just a beautiful bird," said Sarah Sargent, of the Audubon Society. "It's a good looking bird in its breeding plumage."
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Anthony Watts
Watts Up With That
2014-09-20 20:02:00
Sunshinehours reports that the Antarctic Sea Ice Extent for September 19th, 2014 is 20.11297 million square kilometers, which is 1,535,000 sq km above the 1981-2010 climatological mean.

Another 58,000 sq km. was added since yesterday, making it the 7th All-Time Record in 7 Days.

This new record is 610,000 sq km higher than the previous daily record. The red line represents 2014 data.

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Data source
Comment: With so much focus on the "loss" of Arctic sea ice, not many people are looking southward. The Antarctic has as much affect on climate as the more familiar Arctic. It is also just as sensitive to variations in solar radiation, increased aerosols from volcanic eruptions and other sources, and increased atmospheric loading of cosmic dust. Though the mechanism is not well understood, it seems some of the more dramatic effects of global cooling are becoming evident here first.

Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection
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Fire in the Sky
No new articles.
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Health & Wellness
RT
2014-09-19 13:08:00

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The most populated US state confirmed its first batch of cases of the disease that has been spreading across the country, causing severe respiratory problems in infants and young children, according to the state's chief health official.

Four children, ranging in age from 2 to 13 and all from Southern California, have confirmed cases of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68). One of the patients is from Ventura County; the others are from San Diego County.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from mid-August to September 18, 2014, a total of 153 people from 18 states were confirmed to have respiratory illness caused by EV-D68, which has forced dozens of children to be hospitalized.

"There will definitely be more. It's just a matter of time. This will spread across the entire country," Dr. Pia Pannaraj, an infectious diseases specialist at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, told KTLA.

Children who contract the virus may experience difficulty breathing and wheezing, particularly youngsters with asthma problems.

"These children start with what seems like a normal cold on the first day - runny nose, a little bit of cough - but by the second day, they can't breathe at all. They come in and they need a tube to help them breathe," Pannaraj said. More cases are anticipated in the coming weeks.
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Christina Sarich
Natural Society
2014-09-22 21:37:00

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Did you realize that all conventional methods of killing cancer have only a 3% overall 'cure' rate? Chemotherapy and radiation not only have low cure rates, but they also kill healthy cells and often make cancer worse, when this is completely unnecessary because most cells can be reverted into healthy, non-damaging cells with the right treatment.

That's not something the American Cancer Society (ACS) and Susan G. Komen for the Cure want you to know, though. They are in bed with Big Pharma, and financed by the legacy of John D. Rockefeller who started the ACS in 1913.

An Unfortunate History

The ACS was begun as a business model - not a means to 'cure' people from life-threatening illness. It's also a brilliant way to wash dirty money. The ACS, in fact, receives more money in contributions every few minutes than the Independent Cancer Research Foundation (ICRF) (which has 90% 'cure rates') receives in a full year!!

John D. Rockefeller is also the son of the founder of the pharmaceutical industry in the US. Sterling Drug, Inc., the largest holding company in the Rockefeller Drug Empire and its 68 subsidiaries, showed profits in 1961 of $23,463,719 after taxes, on net assets of $43,108,106 - a 54% profit.

Squibb, another Rockefeller-controlled company, made not 6%, but 576% on the actual value of its property in 1945. At this time, the Army Surgeon General's Office and the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery were also heavily promoting vaccines to the tune of 200 million 'shots' per year.
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Geoffrey Mohan
LA Times
2014-09-22 04:05:00

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single dose of a popular class of psychiatric drug used to treat depression can alter the brain's architecture within hours, even though most patients usually don't report improvement for weeks, a new study suggests.

More than 1 in 10 adults in the U.S. use these drugs, which adjust the availability of a chemical transmitter in the brain, serotonin, by blocking the way it is reabsorbed. The so-called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, or SSRIs, include Prozac, Lexapro, Celexa, Paxil and Zoloft.
Comment: It is disturbing to discover that a single dose of these drugs can alter the brain, considering the vast independent research studies that have shown that these drugs can provoke suicidal thoughts, violent behavior and can be extremely dangerous to one's health. What is worse, they are useless considering that they have about the same efficacy as placebos, and in many cases are less effective than exercise and meditation in treating depression.

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Suzanne Humphries, MD
vaccinationcouncil.org
2014-08-26 00:49:00

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Millionaire vaccine inventor and mandatory vaccine advocate Paul Offit recently released a shortVIDEO for doctors on medscape. Here is a transcript of the speech. Please read it before moving along. It is only one page long. This statement that outlines Offit's personal belief system could be a prelude to the legal removal of all philosophical and religious vaccine exemptions in the United States of America. This is something that Offit has been working toward for years, and the likely end-purpose of his series of books.

Paul Offit believes that exempting your child from vaccination is morally reprehensible. He considers himself an authority on autism, all infectious diseases, morality, history, every religious system, and infant immunology. You may also recognize Dr Offit as the one who says that all vaccines are perfectly safe and infants can tolerate theoretically 10,000 of them at once:
    "A more practical way to determine the diversity of the immune response would be to estimate the number of vaccines to which a child could respond at one time.... each infant would have the theoretical capacity to respond to about 10, 000 vaccines at any one time." [1]
Comment: Dr. Humphries makes some important points in the article above. Depending on what side of the argument one supports, to vaccinate or not. The right for parents to choose, based on research and data, is a hotly debated topic these days. The pro vaccination camp is working overtime to sway the debate, the following is an example:

Saying no to vaccines appears on The Daily Show
Weston A. Price Chapter leader and popular blogger Sarah Pope of Healthy Home Economist has left people on both sides of the vaccine issue in awe after her appearance onThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Her segment is actually with Samantha Bee, and her pro-vaccine opponent is the ubiquitous propagandist Dr. Paul Offit. Four-and-a-half hours of interview were carefully chiseled into a few minutes of carefully selected phrases.

It took guts for Sarah to agree to share why she doesn't vaccinate. While there was a risk in being edited, national viewers were finally exposed to someone stating that "herd immunity" through vaccination is a myth. There was a clear bent against people who don't vaccinate, but in the end both sides were ridiculed.
Men like Dr. Offit have an agenda, financial or otherwise, and really lack any sort of moral character, ironic he would accuse parents, who disagree with his views as morally reprehensible.
Paul Offit believes that exempting your child from vaccination is morally reprehensible
The choice to not vaccinate is morally reprehensible Why?! Because corporate medicine and it's 'experts' are some how more knowledgable about what is best for other people's children? Families with legitimate concerns should cower to physicians and experts and allow them to over-ride their parental philosophical and religious rights based on corrupted, profit based science?

Many would say that it is morally reprehensible for a doctor (millionaire vaccine inventor) to support and encourage vaccinations while dismissing important facts, and questions regarding vaccine safety. As the author shares, Dr.Offit has tremendous influence in the debate:
The status accorded to him by the pharmaceutical and medical fields permits him to influence the opinions and practice of lower rung physicians regarding vaccine exemptions. Unfortunately, even doctors will simply believe the "expert"[2] without bothering to go and check their own medical literature, to see if the self-proclaimed expertise has a solid scientific foundation. Research shows that when people listen to the expert, the part of their brains that is capable of independent thought goes to sleep.[3]
The vaccination debate is getting more attention because daily, uncomfortable and disturbing truths are coming to light, and those capable of 'independent thought' are not going to sleep!
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ScienceDaily
2014-09-21 20:44:00

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New research published today in the online journal PLoS Outbreaks predicts new Ebola cases could reach 6,800 in West Africa by the end of the month if new control measures are not enacted.

Arizona State University and Harvard University researchers also discovered through modelling analysis that the rate of rise in cases significantly increased in August in Liberia and Guinea, around the time that a mass quarantine was put in place, indicating that the mass quarantine efforts may have made the outbreak worse than it would have been otherwise. Deteriorating living and hygiene conditions in some of the quarantined areas sparked riots last month. Sierra Leone began a three day country-wide quarantine today, where all citizens have been asked to stay at home, said Sherry Towers, research professor for the ASU Simon A. Levin Mathematical, Computational and Modelling Sciences Center (MCMSC).

"There may be other reasons for the worsening of the outbreak spread, including the possibility that the virus has become more transmissible, but it's also possible that the quarantine control efforts actually made the outbreak spread more quickly by crowding people together in unsanitary conditions," Towers said.

The study, "Temporal variations in the effective reproduction number of the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak," is authored by Towers, Oscar Patterson-Lomba of the Harvard School of Public Health and Carlos Castillo-Chavez, ASU Regent's professor and MCMSC executive director.
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Inquisitr
2014-09-09 14:20:00

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The mysterious virus known as EV-D68 has spread across the Midwest at a rapid rate. Many children have been hospitalized with the virus, about 475 in Kansas City alone, and there is no known vaccine to lessen the effects of the virus or protect those that have yet to acquire it.

EV-D68 has created an outbreak in Colorado, Missouri, Utah, Kansas, Illinois, Ohio, and four more states in the Midwest. The symptoms can mimic those of the influenza virus, but can have a much more dire impact on those that fall ill. Dr. Mary Anne Jackson, the hospital's division director for infectious disease shared her concern with CNN.
"It's worse in terms of scope of critically ill children who require intensive care. I would call it unprecedented. I've practiced for 30 years in pediatrics, and I've never seen anything quite like this,"
Although there is no known vaccine for the virus, and the scope which it will reach is also unknown,those that have become infected are following a common theme. They have all been vaccinated with the MMR vaccines, influenza vaccines, and polio vaccines. Of course, many children in the United States have been vaccinated, and most are required to be vaccinated in order to enter school. However, it is interesting to note that the illness is not occurring, yet, in children that have not been vaccinated.
Comment: Won't be a first time vaccination would jeopardize health or cause harm:
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RT
2014-09-20 02:52:00

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At least 700 infants may have been exposed to tuberculosis in the nursery area of a Texas hospital. The babies were put at risk of catching the contagious disease by a member of staff who was infected, health officials said.

Forty hospital employees were also put at risk of catching the disease. City Department of Public Health officials told AP that the exposure happened between September 2013 and August 2014 at Providence Memorial Hospital in El Paso.

The bacteria that causes TB can lie undetected for months or years before it eventually causes a breakout of the illness. It is contracted through germs spread by the coughs or sneezes of an infected person.
"This is an incredibly large exposure investigation, and it involves infants, so it is particularly sensitive," Carrie Williams, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said on Friday. "Babies are more likely than older children and adults to develop life-threatening forms of TB."
Employment and medical records had to be examined to determine all of those who were put at risk.
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Felix
HomelandSurvival.us
2014-09-20 02:36:00

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"Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it" Once again it looks like Washington has forgotten the past. They are about to send 3000 troops to Africa to help contain the Ebola outbreak.There should be some serious red flags in this mission. The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 was a global disaster killing between 20-50 million people. The spread in the United States started with soldiers returning from WWI. While Ebola is different from influenza in the way it spreads it is just as deadly if not more so.

The 3000 troops are being sent directly to the hot zone to coordinate relief efforts. They plan on building 17 additional treatment centers and recruit and train medical personnel to staff them. They'll be providing logistics, engineering and other non-medical support. The military has said that troops will not have direct exposure to patients infected with the virus.

U.S. troops will receive protective gear and specialized training to avoid contracting Ebola. "We're going to train. We're going to equip them the best we can. You can never eliminate risk in a military operation. You deal with it. ... and the men and women who sign up and serve in the military understand that when they do," Kirby said. "And I can tell you that should any of our troops fall ill, we're going to do everything we can to make them better, and to get them back to the treatment that they need."
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CBS Boston
2014-09-19 22:26:00

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More than 150 children are being treated for possible cases of Enterovirus at Boston Children's Hospital, officials said Friday.

Doctors said they are seeing a sharp increase in the number of children with respiratory problems, and several with suspected cases of the virus are on life support. There are about 12 children in critical care and about 24 in intermediate care, doctors said.

The ages of the patients range from 2 years old to 10 years old, according to officials. The number of children being treated is about three times higher than what the hospital is used to seeing at this time of year.

Massachusetts General Hospital and Baystate Medical Center in Springfield reported suspected cases of Enterovirus earlier in the week. Lab samples are being sent to the Centers for Disease Control to confirm if the cases are Enterovirus D68.
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Dave Mihalovic
Prevent Disease
2014-09-19 01:13:00

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Neurodevelopmental disabilities, including autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and other cognitive impairments, affect millions of children worldwide, and some diagnoses seem to be increasing in frequency. The review published in The Lancet Neurology journal, says the news is so troubling they are calling for a worldwide overhaul of the regulatory process in order to protect children's brains.

"We know from clinical information on poisoned adult patients that these chemicals can enter the brain through the blood brain barrier and cause neurological symptoms," said Dr. Philippe Grandjean.

"When this happens in children or during pregnancy, those chemicals are extremely toxic, because we now know that the developing brain is a uniquely vulnerable organ. Also, the effects are permanent."
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Anastasia Pantsios
Ecowatch
2014-09-11 21:53:00

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new study provided more ammunition for what public health experts and environmental activists have been saying since fracking became widespread in the last half decade: chemicals used in the natural gas drilling process can be hazardous to health.

The study "Proximity to Natural Gas Wells and Reported Health Status: Results of a Household Survey in Washington County, Pennsylvania," published yesterday in Environmental Health Perspectives, found that people who live near fracking sites have more health problems than those who don't.

The Yale-based research team that produced the study looked at families in southwesternPennsylvania's Marcellus shale region who use ground-fed water wells. Surveying 492 individuals in 180 households, researchers found a significantly greater number of skin and respiratory problems among those who lived within one kilometer of a natural gas well than those who lived two kilometers away.
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Cassius Methyl
The Daily Sheeple
2014-09-19 21:24:00

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You never thought you would find yourself living in a society where 2 or 3 year-olds were legally high on amphetamines every day, did you? In a far beyond sick release of information, it has been revealed that toddlers can be prescribed amphetamines including, Ritalin, Adderall, and 'ADHD medications' legally. There is no rule against it, and apparently some people do not have the moral depth to understand the consequences of giving amphetamines to a mind in a stage of development that early.

About 10,000 toddlers are now known to be on amphetamines/Ritalin/other ADHD drugs. It's almost unbelievable, I know.
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Opposing Views
2014-09-18 00:00:00

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A Phoenix dental hygienist spoke out after she kept finding strange blue dots lodged in between the teeth and gums of her patients.

Trish Walraven asked around and found other dental health professionals were seeing the same issues.

"We thought it was a cleaning product or something that people were chewing," Walraven said.

It turned out to be a common plastic called polyethylene. It's used to make bulletproof vests, garbage containers, grocery bags, and even knee replacements, WLOX reported. It's also used in microbeads that can now be found in Crest toothpaste.

"Pretty much everyone was saying that they were using some form of Crest toothpaste," she told WLOX.

According to dentist Dr. Justin Phillip microbeads shouldn't be anywhere near your mouth.
Comment: Plastic microbeads, which are typically less than a millimetre wide and are too small to be filtered by sewage-treatment plants, are able to carry deadly toxins into the animals that ingest them. Studies have shown that persistent organic pollutants, among them fat-soluble chemicals such as DDT and PCBs, stick to polyethylene microbeads, where they can become super-concentrated.

Tiny plastic timebomb - the pollutants in our cosmetics
Get Plastic Out Of Your Diet
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RT
2014-09-20 15:37:00

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The mosquito virus chikungunya has left almost 500,000 people ill, and 109 of them are newborn babies, according to an official in the Dominican Republic hit by the disease.

The newborns contracted the illness from their mothers, who were ill while giving birth, Carmen Adames, the Health Ministry's coordinator dealing with the outbreak, told AP. None of the children have died, she added.

The symptoms of the disease take three to seven days to appear, and include high fever, severe headaches and joint pain that can render a person virtually immobile for months. Research in the Indian Ocean islands has demonstrated that patients can suffer joint pains for as long as two years, depending on their age.
Comment:
From Happy New Year 2014?:

The number four spot on my 2012 list [of probable events] was pandemics. I think we can move that one a little higher in probability this coming year. The signs are all around viruses are mutating faster than science can keep up with them, plus government-controlled secret science itself is probably engineering pathogens beyond your worst nightmares. How long (or how soon) before that gets out of control? When you play with fire, you inevitably get burned. We also can't forget comet borne pathogens. With the Earth passing through the dust of numerous comets, the possibility of a repeat of the Black Death scenario is higher. Keep in mind that particulate matter deposited in the upper layers of the earth's atmosphere can take up to two years to filter down to the troposphere where humans can then be contaminated.
With the latest decade's growth in exposure to cometary debris there is good probability that our biosphere is absorbing material for more virulent outbreaks, with chikungunya being such a product. For more on this little acknowledged cosmic connection:
Mainstream science scoffs at the idea that if there is life such as bacteria and viruses in space, some of it would naturally fall to Earth. While some researchers agree that comet dust may harbor organic matter, they argue that even if the dust did reach Earth's atmosphere, a fiery entry would make all organic matter's survival questionable. But in a study published in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science [2], it is detailed that amino acids - the building blocks of life - were found in a meteorite where none were expected. Why? Because this particular meteorite formed when two asteroids collided, the shock of collision heating it to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit - hot enough that all complex organic molecules like amino acids should have been destroyed. They found them anyway, and their study cites the possibility of sample contamination being highly unlikely. In addition to amino acids, they found minerals that only form under high temperatures, indicating that they were indeed forged in a violent collision.

New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection
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Caroline Chen, Brendan Greeley and Kelly Gilblom
Bloomberg
2014-09-20 19:03:00

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The Ebola outbreak in West Africa could spread to hundreds of thousands more people by the end of January, according to an estimate under development by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that puts one worst-case scenario at 550,000 or more infections.

The report, scheduled to be released next week, was described by two people familiar with its contents, who asked to remain anonymous because it isn't yet public.

The projection, which vastly outstrips previous estimates, is under review by researchers and may change. It assumes no additional aid or intervention by governments and relief agencies, which are mobilizing to contain the Ebola outbreak before it spirals further out of control in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

"CDC is working on a dynamic modeling tool that allows for recalculations of projected Ebola cases over time," Barbara Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in an e-mail. "CDC expects to release this interactive tool and a description of its use soon."

The World Health Organization said last month that the outbreak could reach 20,000 cases before being brought under control. That projection is already outdated, WHO spokesman Dan Epstein said yesterday in a phone interview.
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Science of the Spirit
Chuck Bednar
RedOrbit
2014-09-22 21:17:00

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Researchers from the Harvard School of Medicine and the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences have discovered a region of the brain responsible for causing people to fall into a deep sleep.

This slumber-promoting circuit, which is located deep in the primitive brainstem, is only the second such "sleep node" ever discovered in the brains of mammals, the study authors said. In research published online last month in Nature Neuroscience, they explain how this region is not only capable of but also necessary for producing what is known as slow wave sleep (SWS) in humans.

By using genetically targeted activation and optogenetically based mapping to examine the brain's circuitry, the researchers found that half of all sleep-promoting activity originates from a region of the brainstem known as the parafacial zone (PZ). The brainstem is a primordial part of the brain and is responsible for regulating the basic functions necessary for survival, including breathing, body temperature, blood pressure and heart rate.

"The close association of a sleep center with other regions that are critical for life highlights the evolutionary importance of sleep in the brain," said Caroline E. Bass, assistant professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and a co-author on the recently-published paper.
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Lecia Bushak
Medical Daily
2014-09-20 17:46:00

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Many a time we've woken up without remembering our dreams from the night before. However, we may recall small slivers of them, or perhaps their general aura. They're usually pretty weird; we'll wake up after visiting a bizarre city splashed in pastel colors, giant giraffes, and winding staircases. Or maybe that's just me.

But according to a small new study, it's very likely that our dreams get weirder as the night goes on: right after we go to sleep, we dream of things somewhat based on reality. But once hours have gone by, our dreams tend to get stranger, the authors of the study surmise, "like a wild animal tearing up your back garden." The study was published in the journal Dreaming.

"We found that dreams were increasing in bizarreness from the early to late night," Dr. Jose Malinowski, a lecturer in cognitive psychology at the University of Bedfordshire in the UK, told Time. These later dreams are also more emotionally charged.

For the study, the researchers examined 16 participants while they slept for two nights. They woke them up at various times of the night to ask them what they were dreaming about. Each participant was awoken about four times every night. In the morning, as soon as they woke up, they also reported what they had been dreaming about.

But whether or not dreams are rooted in reality, or if they're pretty far-fetched and bizarre, Malinowski believes that dreams are a "safe haven" for problem-solving and figuring out personal issues. They're a way for us to gain insight into our emotions that might normally be repressed, and are often a way for us to approach a problem we might not normally see in our waking hours. She also recommends dream therapy as a different avenue for people to examine their psyche.

"People really enjoy [dream therapy]," Malinowski said. "Dreams are like a safe space. People feel like they haven't generated them because they're often so bizarre. [But] they're a safe way to explore the self."

Source: Malinowski J, Harton C. The Effect of Time of Night on Wake-Dream Continuity. Dreaming. 2014.
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Jeremy Dean
PsyBlog
2014-09-21 00:00:00

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A new survey of 3,400 American workers in all kinds of organisations has found that one-third have been bullied at work and around 20% have been forced to quit their job as a result.

Amongst other things, bullying constituted feeling they were the subject of gossip, were taking the rap for mistakes they hadn't made and getting constantly criticised.

As bad as workplace bullying is, there is something worse for both mental and physical well-being, another new study finds.

A series of surveys carried out by researchers at the University of British Columbia and elsewhere asked people about their experiences of harassment and ostracism at work (O'Reilly et al., 2014).

These revealed that people felt ignoring others was socially acceptable - especially in comparison to bullying.

People generally thought that being ignored was significantly less harmful than being bullied.

A second survey, however, looked at people's actual experience of both ostracism and bullying.

Contrary to people intuitions, ignoring others emerged as more damaging than direct harassment.
Comment: The reason that abuse often not obvious to others is that psychopathic individuals are extremely adept at "wearing a mask" that often fools others into thinking they are ideal employees and leaders. It is only those that have been targeted, typically subordinates or peers, who begin to sense that they (and the organization) are being manipulated. They commonly marginalize others, create schisms between people and cause infighting within groups. Much of this is done secretly, so they are able to maintain a veneer of normality while disarming their prey. Educating oneself about the nature of these predators is of utmost importance in order to protect oneself and to understand how they have overtaken society.

Dr. Paul Babiak on the crisis of psychopaths in the workplace
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Natural Blaze
2014-09-16 22:10:00

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It is estimated that more than 20 percent of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although, PTSD symptoms affect non-service people too - it can affect lots of different people who have survived trauma, hardship and extreme stress.

A new study from the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers hope for those suffering from the disorder. Researchers there have shown that a breathing-based meditation practice called Sudarshan Kriya Yoga can be an effective treatment for PTSD.
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Rupert Sheldrake
iai News
2014-09-20 19:39:00

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Animals are not machines, and the very idea is now holding back scientific progress

Many people who have not studied science are baffled by scientists' insistence that animal and plants are machines, and that humans are robots too, controlled by computer-like brains with genetically programmed software. In Richard Dawkins' vivid phrase, we are "lumbering robots."

It seems more natural to assume that we are living organisms, as are animals and plants. Organisms are self-organising; they form and maintain themselves, and have their own ends or goals. Machines, by contrast, are designed by an external mind: their parts are put together by external machine-makers and they have no purposes or ends of their own. If you get into a car and it's in working order, it will go wherever you want. If you get onto a horse, it might have its own ideas about where to go.

The starting point for modern science was the rejection of an organic view of the universe. In the seventeenth century, the machine metaphor became central to scientific thinking, with very far reaching consequences. In one way it was immensely liberating. New ways of thinking became possible that encouraged the invention of machines and the evolution of technology.

Before the seventeenth century, almost everyone took it for granted that the universe was like an organism, and so was the Earth. In classical, medieval and renaissance Europe, nature was alive. For example, William Gilbert (1540 - 1603), a pioneer of the science of magnetism, was explicit in his organic philosophy of nature. "We consider that the whole universe is animated," he wrote, "and that all the globes, all the stars, and also the noble earth have been governed since the beginning by their own appointed souls and have the motives of self-conservation". Even Nicholas Copernicus, whose revolutionary theory of the movement of the heavens, published in 1543, placed the sun rather than the earth at the centre of the universe, was no mechanist. His reasons for making this change were mystical as well scientific. He thought a central position dignified the sun.
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High Strangeness
Bill Hand
Sun Journal
2014-09-20 15:20:00
A New Bern woman and her son saw a triangular UFO shortly after leaving church Wednesday evening, and reported the incident on the national radio talk show, Coast to Coast AM, hosted by George Noory.

The woman was later interviewed by the National UFO Reporting Center and stated that the incident happened at about 8:50 a.m. According to the report, her son pointed and told her there was "something very big in the sky."

"When I looked up," she told NUFORC, "I saw a large dark triangular mass blocking out the sky. Its dimensions were 300 feet by 200 feet. The only color you could see was a yellow light at each corner of the triangle."

"The mass moved very slowly and if you weren't paying attention it would just look like a dark night out because the mass was almost camouflaged in the sky. It didn't make any sound and headed in a south west direction."

The site noted that "she sounded to us to be quite credible."

If you are that woman, or someone else who has seen the UFO, would you contact Bill Hand at the Sun Journal?
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Don't Panic! Lighten Up!
Russia Insider
2014-09-19 23:45:00
A message to the US, EU, and UK... with love from Crimeans.


View on Sott.net
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The Onion
2014-09-19 03:06:00

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