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Joe Quinn and Beau Brendeland
Sott.net 2015-05-29 14:52:00
The good ol' US of A is at it again. Fighting injustice, dispensing truth, kickin' corrupt corporate butt and taking names. No evil-doers are safe, not even outfits that most people in the US Justice Dept. have probably never heard of, like FIFA, the International Federation of Association Football. If, like most of the rest of the world, you think that this 'scandal' has anything to do with the US government's desire to see justice served, then I have a chemical weapon storage facility in Syria to sell you. This 'scandal' is nothing more than a bare-faced and embarrassingly pathetic attempt by the US empire-builders to prevent Russia from hosting the 2018 soccer world cup. Like a petulant, spoiled child that has been told 'no', this is the US government's version of throwing a tantrum and screaming "I HATE YOU!" The official story is that, over the course of several years from the 1990s, the 14 indicted officials had accepted bribes for voting to award FIFA events to particular countries, primarily Qatar, South Africa, and various Latin American nations. But these days, no US government-inspired 'scandal' is worth promoting if it doesn't target Russia, the American empire's favorite whipping boy. Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup in 2010, at a time when the US government still thought it could 'contain' Russia. With last year's events in Ukraine however, all bets were off and Putin's Russia leaped to an all time high in the league table of states in need of 'regime change'. So while there is no doubt that FIFA is as perfidious as any other global corporation, there is obviously more to this situation than mere bribery. So given that corruption within FIFA has been an open secret for years, the question becomes, why now? FIFA is scheduled to elect its next president today, with the incumbent Sepp Blatter, who is up for reelection, viewed as a pro-Russian because he presided over the awarding of the 2018 games to Russia. Blatter's opponent is vice president Prince Ali of Jordan, Jordan being a US client state that has been used as a staging ground for Western-backed 'Syrian rebels' (aka ISIS) to attack Syria. Coincidentally (or NOT!) just one day before the US DOJ indictments, US Senators John McCain and Robert Menendez sent a letter to the FIFA congress urging it to remove Russia as the host country for 2018. Their schizoidal rationale was that: "allowing Russia to host the World Cup would bolster the Putin regime at a time when it should be condemned".
Now, isn't it 'funny' that the world's pre-eminent financiers and supporters of terrorism and brutal dictators have the cojones to call the Russian government a "regime"? Isn't it a hoot that the same global mafia bosses who orchestrated the overthrow of the Ukrainian government last year and ushered in a civil war that has cost the lives of at least 5,000 civilians have the effrontery to accuse Russia of "violations of Ukraine's territorial integrity"? But the hypocrisy doesn't end there. The two signatories to the above letter are far from squeaky clean. McCain is an ardent supporter of Muslim terrorists who has spent the last 4 years loudly advocating for US tax payers' money to be sent to 'Syrian rebels' aka 'ISIS'. In April this year, Menedez was indicted by the same US DOJ on corruption charges for using his Senate office to push the business interests of a friend in exchange for cash and gifts. Another detail in the background here is the fact that FIFA was considering suspendingIsrael due to their treatment of Palestinian footballers. The 'scandal' has proven so glaringly 'fortuitous' for Israel that even the Times of Israel had to call it out and admit that the distraction of the 'scandal' will leave the Palestinian authority's attempt to have Israel banned dead in the water. But take a moment to fully grasp the extent of the desperation of the Anglo-American empire builders in their attempt to vilify Russia. The very idea that Russia might enjoy the positive propaganda of hosting the 2018 World Cup caused such fulminous frothing of the mouth at the US State Dept. that the organisation that had awarded the games to Russia had to be taken down, including its president. | ||
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Matthew Lee
The Globe and Mail 2015-05-29 20:38:00
The Obama administration on Friday formally removed Cuba from a U.S. terrorism blacklist as part of the process of normalizing relations between the Cold War foes. Secretary of State John Kerry signed off on rescinding Cuba's "state sponsor of terrorism" designation exactly 45 days after the Obama administration informed Congress of its intent to do so on April 14. Lawmakers had that amount of time to weigh in and try to block the move, but did not do so. | |
Comment: Cuba, look to Russia. US doesn't have your best interests in mind.
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Jay Dyer
21st Century Wire 2015-05-29 18:45:00
For most consumers of alternative news and media, the lineup of the players constitutes the tyrants and their systemic control, and the enlightened underground, with both sides fighting the great battle of winning the hearts and minds of the rest of the public. For the alternative news and information community, the possibility of large-scale psychological operations within alternative media itself are generally outside the spectrum of the possible. Indeed, crowds today are sill cheering on Assange and his Vaudeville Whistleblower Roadshow with Bradley-Chelsea Manning, and more recently, finding themselves intellectually snowed-in by our last hero, Snowden. Enter Jade Helm... Jade Helm 15 In 2015, the focal point has become the Jade Helm 15 training operation across at least 7 states, with SOCOM running the training exercise for realistic military training. The brief document lists role-playing involving Texas and Utah as "hostile" areas, with insurgents in Southern California and other states like Colorado, California and Nevada as "friendly." On the surface, the exercise gives credence to the ultimate fears and paranoia of tea party and militia groups - clearly the U.S. government is prepping for everything from "martial law," to "economic collapse," and everything else under the sun that can be gleaned from a Google search and baseless YouTube speculation. | |
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Prof. James Petras
Global Research 2015-05-28 18:19:00
Everyone, from political pundits in Washington to the Pope in Rome, including most journalists in the mass media and in the alternative press, have focused on the US moves toward ending the economic blockade of Cuba and gradually opening diplomatic relations. Talk is rife of a 'major shift' in US policy toward Latin America with the emphasis on diplomacyand reconciliation. Even most progressive writers and journals have ceased writing about US imperialism. However, there is mounting evidence that Washington's negotiations with Cuba are merely one part of a two-track policy. There is clearly a major US build-up in Latin America, with increasing reliance on 'military platforms', designed to launch direct military interventions in strategic countries. Moreover, US policymakers are actively involved in promoting 'client' opposition parties, movements and personalities to destabilize independent governments and are intent on re-imposing US domination. In this essay we will start our discussion with the origins and unfolding of this 'two track' policy, its current manifestations, and projections into the future. We will conclude by evaluating the possibilities of re-establishing US imperial domination in the region. Origins of the Two Track Policy Washington's pursuit of a 'two-track policy', based on combining 'reformist policies' toward some political formations, while working to overthrow other regimes and movements by force and military intervention, was practiced by the early Kennedy Administration following the Cuban revolution. Kennedy announced a vast new economic program of aid, loans and investments - dubbed the 'Alliance for Progress' - to promote development and social reform in Latin American countries willing to align with the US. At the same time the Kennedy regime escalated US military aid and joint exercises in the region. Kennedy sponsored a large contingent of Special Forces - 'Green Berets' - to engage in counter-insurgency warfare. The 'Alliance for Progress' was designed to counter the mass appeal of the social-revolutionary changes underway in Cuba with its own program of 'social reform'. While Kennedy promoted watered-down reforms in Latin America, he launched the 'secret' CIA ('Bay of Pigs') invasion of Cuba in 1961and naval blockade in 1962 (the so-called 'missile crises'). The two-track policy ended up sacrificing social reforms and strengthening military repression. By the mid-1970's the 'two-tracks' became one - force. The US invaded the Dominican Republic in 1965. It backed a series of military coups throughout the region, effectively isolating Cuba. As a result, Latin America's labor force experienced nearly a quarter century of declining living standards. | |
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Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post 2015-05-29 16:15:00
Al-Nusra Front has taken to the airwaves with a message for all Westerners and Americans in particular - they really aren't that bad. And there are no plans to attack Americans. They are just your friendly neighborhood terrorist organization, funded handsomely by the West and the GCC, raping and beheading their way across the Middle East. There's nothing to worry about so long as the US allows them to continue to rape little girls, cut off heads, impose savage Sharia law, and eat the hearts and livers of the occasional dissident. This message was brought to you by the feudal monarchy of Qatar and its mouthpiece organization, Al-Jazeera and conducted with a journalist whose past is checkered with a conviction of supporting al-Qaeda. The alleged leader of al-Nusra Front, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, appeared on al-Jazeera with a setting fit for a king (or Emir *ahem*) to discuss Nusra's plans for Syria and the West. The man alleging to be Julani and alleging to be the leader of Nusra, despite claiming to be "fearless," sat with his face covered and his back to the camera. The set was ornately decorated and almost appeared to be some type of palace room or high government building. | |
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RT
2015-05-29 15:10:00
The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Vietnam have signed a free trade zone agreement. It became the first international document on creating a free trade zone between the EEU and a third party. The prime ministers of Russia and Vietnam Dmitry Medvedev and Nguyen Tan Dunghave also signed an agreement for Vietnam to provide Russian investors and service distributors with the most favorable treatment. The EEU will sign free trade zone agreements with other countries, Medvedev said after signing the agreement with Vietnam. "Around 40 states have opted for holding talks on concluding this kind of agreements on a free trade zone with EEU, and of course we will be thinking this through as carefully as possible, so that those agreements are useful to our countries," Medvedev said. | |
Comment: At least part of the world sees the benefits of mutual cooperation.
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South Front
2015-05-29 14:32:00
Iraqi army forces backed by fighters from the Popular Mobilization units have engaged Islamic State militants in the country's western province of Anbar, killing more than three dozen of them in the process. A provincial security sources report 37 ISIS militants were killed as Iraqi forces struck their positions in the district of al-Harariyat as well as the city of Fallujah, located roughly 69 kilometers west of the capital Baghdad. Earlier, On April 11, Islamic State executed four of its own senior commanders in Iraq's northern province of Salahuddin on the grounds that they had fled clashes with Iraqi government forces.
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Comment: South Front history bonus: War of 1812, French Invasion of Russia:
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RT
2015-05-29 14:51:00
Following his resignation as Middle East peace envoy, former Prime Minister Tony Blair is planning to take up the mantle of unofficial liaison point between Israel and the Arab world, aides have said. His resignation was revealed on Tuesday, before he officially sent his formal letter of notice to the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon. The former prime minister served as a peace envoy for the Quartet Group, made up of the UN, the US, the EU and Russia, for eight years. | |
Comment: He is the man who is most capable of keeping the tensions up in the Middle East.
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RT
2015-05-29 10:47:00
Further cuts to the UK defense budget will begin to impact on Britain's operational capacity, critics argue, as Chancellor George Osborne presses ahead with military austerity measures worth £1 billion. Comment: Instead of military defense, how about spending more on public welfare and repairing the living environment? Wait, psychopaths don't do that! The move could also end Britain's ability to meet the symbolic contribution of two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to NATO - a topic of fierce debate in the run-up to the recent general election. The Treasury has requested the Ministry of Defense (MoD) make cuts of £1 billion. One ministry insider warned the Times newspaper that defense austerity, applied to this extent, would "not be a thing you could just swallow and carry on."
In a statement, an MoD spokesperson said: "We are confident that we will spend two percent of GDP on defense in this financial year. "The prime minister has also made clear that there will be an annual 1 percent real-terms increase in spending on defense equipment throughout this parliament." Some experts suggest savings could be made by delaying the bringing into service of certain equipment, like the controversial and long delayed F-35 Typhoon combat aircraft. | ||
Comment: Well, how about stopping military spending entirely? Maybe we should tell our governments - I hope someday you'll join us! - and remind them of the John Lennon song:
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Tom LoBianco
CNN 2015-05-29 12:35:00
Federal officials have indicted former House Speaker Dennis Hastert for lying to the FBI about $3.5 million he agreed to pay to an undisclosed subject to "cover up past misconduct." The indictment was unsealed in the District Court of Northern Illinois on Thursday. The Justice Department alleges that Hastert made large withdrawals after agreeing to pay the money. The indictment does not explain precisely what the "past misconduct" is, but instead details at length various withdrawals and financial transactions he made with the unidentified subject. The payments totaling about $1.7 million occurred over a period of years beginning in 2010 and ending in 2014. | |
Comment: Makes one wonder if individual A was upset he didn't receive the rest of his payments.
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| Society's Child |
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Connie Leonard
Wave 3 News 2015-05-29 20:19:00
Several parents are fired up after hearing a student's hot lunch was dumped in the trash in front of her classmates because her lunch account was past due. Parents claim Bedford Elementary School did something it preaches against: In their words, "bullying" the child, not to mention wasting food to embarrass her. On May 20 an elementary school lunch was packed with a hidden punch a child never saw coming. "Someone came and took her lunch while she was sitting there with her friends and everybody else," said the girl's aunt, Leslie Chilton, who also happens to be the Bedford Elementary PTO Treasurer. Chilton said it would be embarrassing for any child who has no idea their lunch account had a negative balance. "An actual employee told me that afternoon because I was at school," she said of the incident." It was awful to think about her being there, sitting there and she was crying. She's a shy girl anyway, she's 10 years old and she's knows what's going on." | |
Comment: The employee should be fired and the school held accountable. It makes no sense to throw the food away after the child has already received it. To then come and take it away is not just disgusting and disgraceful treatment of a child, it's a waste of food. What's wrong with having the family pay after the fact? Even in schools, it seems that it's hard to find the humanity in people anymore.
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Tyler Durden
Zerohedge 2015-05-29 20:20:00
Yesterday, New Yorkers walking by the Ocean Luxury Rental apartment building at 1 West St around 10:40am, were greeted with a gruesome sight: a 29-year-old man had just jumped to his death from the 24th floor.
unclear ID apparent suicide Traffic to Man Bridge on FDR. @NYPD wanted me gone @NYPDAlerts http://t.co/e0K0hfCcw3 pic.twitter.com/cgHdH013eh— Todd Maisel (@ToddMaisel) May 28, 2015
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Comment: We may see much more of this once markets really start going down.
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RT
2015-05-29 19:04:00
The Federal Aviation Administration says that four commercial airplanes were struck by a green laser while in the sky on Thursday evening outside New York City. No injuries were reported, the FAA said, but federal officials consider illuminating an aircraft to be a serious crime punishable by up to five years in prison and a hefty $250,000 fine. The four planes—American 185, Shuttle America 4213, Delta 2292 and Delta 2631—were each around 8,000 feet off the ground on Thursday evening when they were hit while traveling over Long Island. The incidents all occurred between 9:30pm and 10:00pm, and at least two of the planes were leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, according to the Associated Press. A local CBS News affiliate obtained audio from an exchange between air traffic controllers and one of the pilots affected: "Looks like some lasers coming outside now," the pilot said, adding later that "it is lighting up the inside of the windshield." A provision tacked on to the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 makes it illegal to aim a laser pointer at an aircraft. | |
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Bauer Marshall
False Empowerment 2015-05-27 16:30:00
For the past 25 years, the criminalization of the homeless in the United States has been increasing. As the National Coalition of Homeless points out, criminalization of homeless refers to laws that prohibit life sustaining activities "sleeping/camping, eating, sitting, and/or asking for money/resources in public spaces" and include criminal penalties if someone violates the ordinances. This issue, while not dormant, I believe came to light more when Pastor Dwayne Black along with pastor Mark Sims and 90-year-old Arnold Abbott were arrested for feeding the homeless in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2014. "We fed about six or seven people when the police approached," Black told The Christian Post. "We actually said a prayer and then gave communion to the homeless. If feeding them is going to get me arrested, let me get arrested for giving them communion. The police stayed off to the side, but then they suddenly made a move forward, and Abbott and I stayed." | |
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RT
2015-05-29 15:16:00
A group of US volunteers is headed to the Philippines on a contract to fight groups allied with the Islamic State. One counterinsurgency specialist wonders if their enthusiasm will make up for the lack of logistics, weapons and training. Those in the group have day jobs and regular lives but feel the need to help people endangered by militants who have pledged loyalty to the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), a group in southern Florida told RT's Maria Finoshina. | |
Comment: So how is this guy going to make any difference to the US funded IS?
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RT
2015-05-29 14:57:00
Palestine has dropped its motion to suspend Israel from FIFA, Palestinian Football Association president Jibril Rajoub said. A committee was proposed to monitor the situation between the Palestine and Israeli associations, which FIFA approved. Speaking at the FIFA congress, Rajoub said he was dropping the motion to have Israel suspended from the organization. "I have decided to drop the suspension," Rajoub said, adding that he instead proposes that free movement be ensured for Palestinian players. He also wants an investigation launched into alleged Israeli racism and a vote on Israeli teams on Palestinian territories. | |
Comment: Will this help prevent Israeli soldiers from shooting Palestinian soccer players feet?
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Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse 2015-05-26 14:43:00
Have you heard of the saying "sell in May and go away"? Traditionally, the period from May through October has been a time of weakness for stocks. In fact, on average stocks hit their lowest point of the year on October 27th. And most people don't remember this, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average actually began plunging right at this time of the year just prior to the financial crisis of 2008. Most people do remember the huge stock crash that happened in the fall of that year, but the market actually started to slide in May. Throughout the first four and a half months of 2008, stocks moved up and down in a fairly narrow range, and the Dow closed at a short-term peak of 13,028.16 on May 19th. From there it was all downhill for the rest of the year. So will a similar thing happen in 2015 as we approach the next great financial crisis? Since March 20th, the Dow Jones Transportation Average has already fallen by almost 800 points. So will the Dow Jones Industrial Average soon follow? Well, only time will tell, but the Dow was down 190 points on Tuesday. Signs of trouble are popping up all over the place, and the "smart money" is getting out while the getting is good. The chart that I have posted below shows how the Dow Jones Industrial Average performed during 2008. As you can see, stocks began plummeting long before the financial crisis in the fall. From May 19th through early July, the Dow fell by about 2,000 points. Should we expect to see a similar pattern this summer?... | |
Comment: For more with the author on the upcoming economic collapse, listen to this episode of The Truth Perspective.
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Diary of an Autodidact
2015-05-23 04:22:00
So, it's in the news everywhere: A Duggar son groped his sisters while they slept when he was 14. The family essentially hushed it up. And, now that he is buddies with Ted Cruz, it became a juicy news story. (Nothing like a political AND sexual scandal to sell ads...) And the aftermath is predictable. The Duggars get their show suspended, and the (now adult) kid loses his job. And, there is a brobdingnagian pile of schadenfreude to be found in the tabloids. I have been saying privately for years that something like this would absolutely come to light regarding the Duggars, so this is no surprise to me at all. As an attorney, I have handled several cases involving fundamentalist families with sexual issues, and the facts seem very familiar. I'm not going to get into specifics, because of attorney client privilege. However, there does seem to be a certain amount of commonality in how these go down. I firmly believe that the beliefs within Christian Fundamentalism strongly contribute to these failings - and indeed make them inevitable. First, let me note again that I spent a portion of my teens involved in Bill Gothard's organization. My law school education was at his law school, so I know of what I speak. The Duggars are big in the Gothard organization, and promote it through their TV show. So, I know the exact teachings that they follow and promote. That's why, despite never having seen more than a few minutes of the show at a time, and having no idea which kid was Josh, I was able to make this prediction. All I needed to know was that they followed Gothard's teachings about sex and gender, and I knew that it was more likely than not that a sex scandal would surface sooner or later. In addition, I have been discussing this with some friends, many of them also ex-Gothardites, and some common issues have arisen, and I decided I probably should address them a bit from the perspective of both a lawyer and a former Fundie. Because the perpetrator in this case (and in my cases as well) was a minor - age 14 - a boy in the throes of puberty - the issues are not quite as straight forward as they would be in a typical pedophile case. While I would not defend what this boy did - it was pretty clearly sexual assault - I do understand some of why, and strongly believe that Gothard's teachings contributed to the way he acted out. Again: I am not minimizing sexual assault, or excusing perps. What I intend to show is that Fundamentalist teachings on sex tend to lead to young men who would not otherwise be predators act out in predatory ways. | |
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Jay Syrmopoulos
The Free Thought Project 2015-05-28 04:01:00
In a testament to the "trigger-happy" nature of NYPD cops, the city Housing Authority has ordered all workers fixing elevators in NYC housing projects to wear construction orange vests. New policies were enacted by the Housing Authority after officers pulled a gun on a maintenance crew and fatally shot an unarmed man in a stairwell in a separate incident. According to a New York Post report:
Pulling no punches, one Housing Authority supervisor allegedly told his crews that the new policy was due to NYPD cops being "trigger-happy." In addition to wearing the bright orange vests, workers will now also be required to wear their official identification on a neck lanyard. "They said that in case a cop stops you, we don't want you reaching around in back pocketThat could be another reason for a cop to shoot you," the source told the Post. According to a Housing Authority spokeswoman, the new policies were simply standard operating procedure regarding safety. "The issuance of the safety vests was one action taken to increase safety for elevator personnel through our ongoing 'Safety in Motion' initiative. Although not tied to any particular incident, we hope that this simple action will further protect these hardworking employees and allow them to be easily identified when needed," the spokeswoman said. Regardless of the Housing Authority's public statements, it's quite clear that new measures are a response to the overall violent demeanor of the NYPD. More specifically, they are in response to the killing of unarmed father of two Akai Gurley in a dimly lit stairwell on November 20, 2014. When city agencies feel the need to have their employees wear brightly colored vests to be sure they aren't killed by cops while on the job, you may just have a severe policing problem on your hands. | |
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John Vibes
True Activist 2015-05-26 00:00:00
This week, during the filming of Deutsche Welle's "The New Arab Debates," Corporal Shachar Berrin, a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spoke out about the actions of his fellow officers. During a discussion about the military situation in Israel, Berrin stood up to address the panel about how members of the Israeli military would treat Palestinian people like animals. He also expressed that this is a systematic problem that exists pretty much across the board in the IDF. During the Q&A section of the debate, Berrin stood up and said: My name is Shachar Berrin and my question is for Dani Dayan. It was mentioned that Israel is the 11th happiest country in the world. Other organizations and institutions put it at the mid-30s or different statistics, but it doesn't matter. I propose that what makes a country good isn't whether it is happy or not, it's about the ethics and morality of the country. When soldiers, when we, are conditioned and persuaded on a daily basis to subjugate and humiliate people and consider other human beings as less than human, I think that seeps in, and I think the soldiers, when they go home ... they bring that back with them. | ||||
Comment: The young corporal could not be more correct or wise in his assessments. And the Israeli government mouthpiece could not be more blustering, deceitful and obvious in his attempt to refute him.
Taking it a big step further, Breaking the Silence, the organization that is referenced in the TV program, has documented many acts of unwarranted violence and brutality inflicted by the IDF on Palestinians - as stated by the IDF soldiers themselves - who had the will, the courage and the conscience to speak up about it. Here are but two:
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| Secret History |
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National Journal
Friday would have been President John F. Kennedy's 98th birthday.2015-05-29 09:57:00
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Comment: For more information on this remarkable human being, read these articles written by Laura Knight-Jadczyk:
The JFK Series November 22, 1963: The Day America Died JFK: The Debris of History The Gladiator: John Fitzgerald Kennedy JFK: The Bushes and The Lost King Sim City and John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy and All Those "isms" John F. Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover, Organized Crime and the Global Village John F. Kennedy and the Psychopathology of Politics John F. Kennedy and the Pigs of War John F. Kennedy and the Titans John F. Kennedy, Oil, and the War on Terror John F. Kennedy, The Secret Service and Rich, Fascist Texans John F. Kennedy and the Monolithic and Ruthless Conspiracy Listen to: SOTT Talk Radio: The JFK Assassination 50 Years Later Watch: Evidence of revision (the assassination of America) | |||||
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Yuriy Rubtsov
Strategic Cultural Foundation 2015-05-25 01:07:00
In late May 1945 Josef Stalin ordered Marshall Georgy Zhukov to leave Germany and come to Moscow. He was concerned over the actions of British allies. Stalin said the Soviet forces disarmed Germans and sent them to prisoners' camps while British did not. Instead they cooperated with Germans troops and let them maintain combat capability. Stalin believed that there were plans to use them later. He emphasized that it was an outright violation of the inter-governmental agreements that said the forces surrendered were to be immediately disbanded. The Soviet intelligence got the text of secret telegram sent by Winston Churchill to Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, the commander of British forces. It instructed to collect the weapons and keep them in readiness to give back to Germans in case the Soviet offensive continued. According to the instructions received from Stalin, Zhukov harshly condemned these activities speaking at the Allied Control Council (the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and France). He said the world history knew few examples of such treachery and refusal to observe the commitments on the part of nations that had an allied status. Montgomery denied the accusation. A few years later he admitted that he received such an instruction and carried it out. He had to comply with the order as a soldier. A fierce battle was raging in the vicinity of Berlin. At his time Winston Churchill said that the Soviet Russia became a deadly threat to the free world. The British Prime Minister wanted a new front created in the east to stop the Soviet offensive as soon as possible. Churchill was overwhelmed by the feeling that with Nazi Germany defeated a new threat emerged posed by the Soviet Union. That's why London wanted Berlin to be taken by Anglo-American forces. Churchill also wanted Americans to liberate Czechoslovakia and Prague with Austria controlled by all allies on equal terms. | |
Comment: Is it any wonder that Russia has such a deep-rooted mistrust of the West?
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| Science & Technology |
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Phys.org
2015-05-29 12:57:00
Super-sharp observations with the telescope Alma have revealed what seems to be a gigantic flare on the surface of Mira, one of the closest and most famous red giant stars in the sky. Activity like this in red giants - similar to what we see in the Sun - comes as a surprise to astronomers. The discovery could help explain how winds from giant stars make their contribution to our galaxy's ecosystem New observations with Alma have given astronomers their sharpest ever view of the famous double star Mira. The images clearly show the two stars in the system, Mira A and Mira B, but that's not all. For the first time ever at millimetre wavelengths, they reveal details on the surface of Mira A. "Alma's vision is so sharp that we can begin to see details on the surface of the star. Part of the stellar surface is not just extremely bright, it also varies in brightness. This must be a giant flare, and we think it's related to a flare which X-ray telescopes observed some years ago", says Wouter Vlemmings, astronomer at Chalmers University of Technology, who led the team. The team's results were recently published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Red giants like Mira A are crucial components of our galaxy's ecosystem. As they near the end of their lives, they lose their outer layers in the form of uneven, smoky winds. These winds carry heavy elements that the stars have manufactured - out into space where they can form new stars and planets. Most of the carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen in our bodies was formed in stars and redistributed by their winds.
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Cathy Burke
The Air Force has reportedly picked Lockheed Martin's long-range Joint Air-to-Surface Missile to carry a new "superweapon' - a pulse-generated beam weapon capable of destroying electronics and computers from miles away.Newsmax 2015-05-27 14:59:00 Major Gen. Thomas Masiello of the the Air Force Research Laboratory says the technology, known as CHAMP — for Counter-electronics High-powered microwave Advanced Missile Project — can destroy electronic equipment with bursts of high-power microwave energy, Flight Global reports.
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Chuck Bednar
RedOrbit 2015-05-28 03:12:00
Essential genes lost by the Y chromosome in humans and other mammals and previously thought to have been eliminated have actually just relocated to other chromosomes, the authors of a study appearing in the latest edition of the journal Genome Biology have discovered. In the paper, lead author Dr. Jennifer Hughes of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and her colleagues explain that, while the Y chromosome has the majority of the 640 genes it had once shared with the X chromosome, those genes live on elsewhere in the genome. "The Y chromosome," Dr. Hughes, a research scientist in the lab of David Page, told redOrbit via email, "is particularly vulnerable to gene loss because it does not have a homologous partner for genetic recombination. Our lab's previous work comparing Y-chromosome gene content across eight mammals revealed that the genes that did survive on the Y are extraordinarily long-lived and likely serve important biological functions." "However, there are numerous exceptions where seemingly critical genes were lost from the Y chromosome in certain mammals," she added. "We discovered that in many cases, these genes were not actually eliminated but have found new homes in the genome. Our new study reveals that gene loss from the Y chromosome has been rescued by gene transposition, or relocation, to another chromosome at least 8 times in diverse mammalian species, including human." | |
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Science Daily
2015-05-28 00:00:00
A new study by anthropologists from The University of Texas at Austin shows for the first time that epigenetic marks on DNA can be detected in a large number of ancient human remains, which may lead to further understanding about the effects of famine and disease in the ancient world. The field of epigenetics looks at chemical modifications to DNA, known as epigenetic marks, that influence which genes are expressed -- or turned on or off. Some epigenetic marks stay in place throughout a person's life, but others may be added or removed in response to environmental factors such as diet, disease and climate. If the modification is made to sperm or egg DNA, the changes could be inherited. "By looking at epigenetic marks, we can better understand what genes are expressed during a person's life and how different environmental stresses shaped physical traits and health across generations," said UT Austin anthropology researcher Rick Smith, lead author of the study. Previous studies of modern DNA looked at people who experienced famine in utero during World War II, revealing epigenetic changes related to diet, growth and metabolism. Similarly, other modern DNA studies have shown that some epigenetic marks are tied to cancer and may contribute to the development of the disease. Researchers say that investigating these marks in ancient DNA could improve understanding of the health of ancient populations. | |
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| Earth Changes |
Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection why thousands of fish died in the past week in the state's coastal waters. Multiple natural fish kills were reported during the past week. The kills were reported in several locations on the Thames River between Norwich and the U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Groton, in the lower Connecticut River, in Clinton Harbor and on the Quinnipiac River. Thousands of Atlantic menhaden, and smaller numbers of other species were found dead at each location. The population of Atlantic menhaden has grown in local waters for the past two years, most likely due to limits placed on menhaden harvest along the Atlantic coast. | |
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Dr. Mark Sircus, Ac., OMD, DM (P)
Dr Sircus.com 2015-05-23 00:00:00
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