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English: The aurora borealis, or northern lights, decorate the night sky in Fort McMurray, Alberta. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Aerial view of Fort McMurray. (From top to bottom: downtown, Grant MacEwan bridge over the Athabasca River, Thickwood) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)10:36pm MDST
Nepali Montessori
Since the Nepal earthquakes, we’ve been asking Montessorian Susan Stephenson how the Nepali Montessori schools are that she helped set up. ( I featured a while back one she had helped set up in Bhutan, if you recall.) She has now heard news, she says, about two schools where she has worked, including the Shree Mangel Dvip Boarding school for poor children of Tibetan origin: The children are all okay in both, say the reports, but sleeping outside… ... while the damage is great all around the area, all the children, monks and nuns are alive and safe… the damage to the upper floors... more »
Don Scott: The Wrong Choice for Fort McMurray-Conklin
As I suspected, Don Scott and the PC machine are getting desperate. Clearly it isn't business as usual. He is being forced to defend his first term but many long-time PC supporters are giving up on him. So desperate, in fact, that Scott's only play seems to be attack his Wildrose and NDP opposition. Forced to defend a budget that is clearly unpopular with Albertans, Scott accuses Wildrose leader and local candidate, Brian Jean of showing a lack of leadership. Mr. Scott, were you showing leadership when you spent over $24,000 on a government trip to Poland? Why don't you show lea... more »
Rebellion Continues in Sicily
*The Tiny Italian Town Killing the U.S. Navy’s * * Surveillance Plans* *The Sicilian village of Niscemi keeps scoring unlikely victories in its battle to keep a controversial U.S. military satellite system from going online.* By Barbie Latza Nadeau NISCEMI, Italy — Sicilian pensioner Salvatore Terranova blames America for messing with his pacemaker. Every six months or so, he has to drive across the island to Palermo to get it re-calibrated. His doctors told him that he uses the computer and cellphone too much, even though he says he doesn’t actually use electronic devices much a... more »
The U.S. Moves To Contain China
U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping during a joint news conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing November 12, 2014. Petar Kujundzic/Reuters *Bill Powell, Newsweek*: *In Washington, a Strategic Shift on China—Toward Containment* *"China represents and will remain the most significant competitor to the United States for decades to come. As such, the need for a more coherent U.S. response to increasing Chinese power is long overdue.”* *The words are dispassionate: “significant competitor”; not "enemy.’’ They are careful: "A more co... more »
Iran's Foreign Minister: U.S. Congress Can’t Stop An Iranian Nuclear Deal
John Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif in Lausanne. Photograph: Reuters *Josh Rogin, Bloomberg:* *Iran's Zarif Says Congress Can’t Stop Obama* *If Iran strikes a deal with the West, all sanctions will be lifted very quickly and there’s nothing the U.S. Congress can do to stop it, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told a New York audience Wednesday.* *In a set of blustery and self-righteous remarks, Iran’s top diplomat assured the crowd at New York University that President Barack Obama would be compelled to stop enforcing sanctions only days after any nuclear agreement wa... more »
Musical Interlude: Michael Jackson, “Earth Song”
Michael Jackson, “Earth Song” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAi3VTSdTxU
Intro by Paul Craig Roberts: "The Western media has created a fictional account of events in Ukraine. The coup organized by the Obama regime that overthrew the elected democratic government in Ukraine is never mentioned. The militias decked out in Nazi symbols are ignored. These militias are the principle source of the violence that has been inflicted on the Russian populations, resulting in the formation of the break-away republics. Instead of reporting this fact, the corrupt Western media delivers Washington’s propaganda that Russia has invaded and is annexing eastern and southern Ukraine." "The Western media is complicit in many war crimes covered up with lies, but the false story that the Western media has woven of Ukraine is the most audacious collection of lies yet."
------------------------------ Statement by Elena Bondarenko—People’s Deputy of Verkhovna Rada of UkrainePOSTED BY OLGA LUZANOVA ⋅ APRIL18, 2015 Translated by Alya & Alan Bailey / Edited by Olga Luzanova I, Elena Bondarenko, a deputy of Partiya Regionov [Party of the Regions], which is in opposition to the governing party in Ukraine, would like to make a statement about the fact that the government is directly threatening with assault opposition politicians, depriving them of freedom of speech in the parliament and in other places, as well as conniving in the crimes against opposit... more »
Free Download: Mark Twain, “The Mysterious Stranger”
*"The Mysterious Stranger"* by Mark Twain "An unfinished novella that Mark Twain worked on periodically from roughly 1890 until his death in 1910. The body of the work is a serious social commentary addressing Twain's ideas of the Moral Sense and the ''damned human race.'' Published posthumously in 1916 by Twain's biographer Albert Bigelow Paine. “…I must go now, and we shall not see each other any more." “In this life, Satan, but in another? We shall meet in another, surely?” Then, all tranquilly and soberly, he made the strange answer, “There is no other.” A subtle influence blew... more »
Saudi u-turn on human rights abuses. PM says: “No drama.”
This just in… [image: image] BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------- Word is just coming in that internationally popular, highly respected, and super-casual New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, has just delivered the world an historic diplomatic coup, by persuading the Saudi Royal Family to end it’s centuries long tradition of not having any human rights. “It wasn’t really a big deal, to be honest,” said Key. “I just said: ‘Look Salman, the people of New Zealand have had enough of this beheading business, and stoning women and st... more »
Two Speeches About The Armenian Genocide
*Forgotten Fire (2002)*. *Video Title: English Speech of Aram I. about the Armenian Genocide || Vatican. Source: Soghomon Tehlirian. Date Published: April 12, 2015. Description:* Any attempt to erase the Armenian Genocide from history and from our common memory is doomed to failure.“, Aram I. This is the English part of the speech of Aram I, Vatican April 12, 2015. *Video Title: Paula Yacoubian on Centennial of Armenian Genocide: The Ottomans Were the Forefathers of ISIS. Source: MEMRI TV. Date Published: April 28, 2015. Description: * On the centennial of the Armenian genocide... more »
Musical Interlude: Yanni, "Magical Concluding Musical Performance"
Yanni, "Magical Concluding Musical Performance" -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbBAlUnNKjM&html5=1
"A Look to the Heavens"
"The dark Horsehead Nebula and the glowing Orion Nebula are contrasting cosmic vistas. Adrift 1,500 light-years away in one of the night sky's most recognizable constellations, they appear in opposite corners of the above stunning mosaic. *Click image for larger size.* The familiar Horsehead nebula appears as a dark cloud, a small silhouette notched against the long red glow at the lower left. Alnitak is the easternmost star in Orion's belt and is seen as the brightest star to the left of the Horsehead. Below Alnitak is the Flame Nebula, with clouds of bright emission and dramatic ... more »
The Poet: Arthur O’Shaughnessy, "Music and Moonlight"
*"Music and Moonlight"* "We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone seabreakers, And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world forever, it seems… We, in the ages lying In the buried past of the earth, Built Ninevah with our sighing, And Babel itself in our mirth; And o’erthrew them with prophesying To the old of the new world’s worth; For each age is a dream that is dying, Or one that is coming to birth." - Arthur O’Shaughnessy, "Music and Moonlight" (1874)
Chet Raymo, “The Seat of the Soul”
*“The Seat of the Soul” * by Chet Raymo "It was not my first visit. I had been there once before to talk with the great man, to the Castle of Cloux, near Amboise, in the valley of the Loire. He had been living there since 1516, at the invitation of Francis I, king of France. He was 67 years old, bundled up in a thick fur wrap by a roaring fire. His face showed age but not infirmity. Long white hair fell about his shoulders. White beard. Thick, downswept brows shaded his eyes like awnings. A strong nose. And of course the mouth, serious yet generous, not unlike the mouth of the Chris... more »
The Poet: Linda Pastan, "What We Want"
*"What We Want" * "What we want is never simple. We move among the things we thought we wanted: a face, a room, an open book and these things bear our names- now they want us. But what we want appears in dreams, wearing disguises. We fall past, holding out our arms and in the morning our arms ache. We don't remember the dream, but the dream remembers us. It is there all day as an animal is there under the table, as the stars are there even in full sun." ~ Linda Pastan, "Carnival Evening"
"The Purpose Of Life..."
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Three Musts..."
"There are three musts that hold us back: I must do well. You must treat me well. And the world must be easy." - Albert Ellis
Mohawk Nation News 'BALTIMORE - RESERVATION CITY'
http://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2015/04/29/baltimore-reservation-city/ -- Censored News www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
The Reason Why Iran Seized A Container Ship In The Persian Gulf Yesterday
*Ankit Panda, The Diplomat:* *What Really Happened in the Persian Gulf on April 28, 2015?* *Iran’s navy has seized a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel, the MV Maersk Tigris.* *A 65,000 ton, Danish-owned, Singapore-chartered, container ship, en route to the United Arab Emirates from Saudi Arabia, manned mostly by Eastern European and Asian sailors, is intercepted, boarded, and confiscated by the Iranian navy, prompting a U.S. destroyer to investigate.** *That wasn’t an anecdote from Tom Friedman’s next book on globalization–it’s a rough description of what took place on Tuesday, Apr...more »
The Many Failures of the CPI
*Guest post by Mark Thornton* [image: Shoppers]Economists of the Austrian school oppose the whole notion of trying to accurately measure“inflation” which mainstream economists see as a general rise in prices. (Austrians view inflation as a politically engineered increase in the money supply.) A few years ago, mainstream economists like Paul Krugman chastised the Austrians for the lack of anticipated price inflation in the economy. However, their mistake was a fixation on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). If you looked around at other prices in the economy you could see higher price... more »
The "Living Wage" Mistake
*Guest post by Ryan McMaken* [image: cutting bills]Much of the push to raise minimum wages centres on the assumption that each individual worker should be paid an amount allowing a worker to purchase food, health care, transportation, and housing based on that one wage alone. In many cases, the living wage claims extend to the claim that each worker — or two adult workers, in some cases — should be able to support a family of four or more. Unfortunately, the “solution” to this challenge generally proffered these days is the minimum wage, which as we have seen here, here, here, and... more »
Russia has NUKES, losts of NUKES, NUKES ignore tanks
Northern Europe is justifiably taking the new Russia seriously as they should. But drill down on the numbers and its all paper tiger.
Battle between common sense and natural law
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Nobel Prize Winner Paul KrugmanIt all about Economics today. Now that divine rule can no longer be used the MAN is arming up with soft science. The science that is soft enought to be friendly and not hard enough to be true.
Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 29, 2015
*Dana El Baltaji, Bloomberg*: *The Last Kings -Succession in the Persian Gulf* *The world has only a handful of old-fashioned kings, the kind whose subjects must follow their every command. Europe’s monarchs gave way to constitutions and elected governments long ago, as did those in Japan and Thailand. Almost all of the remaining absolute monarchs are in the oil-rich countries ringing the Persian Gulf, one of the globe’s most turbulent neighborhoods. That’s focused attention on who will succeed the region’s elderly and increasingly frail sovereigns. Succession could pose a risk to... more »
ECONOMICS FOR REAL PEOPLE: From the Education of Cyrus to the Education of Economists
*[image: 276464_137539366339987_1226509_n]* *Here’s what’s happening this evening with our friends at the Auckland Uni Economics Group. All welcome!* What's the connection between Cyrus and economics? In tonight's seminar, we will be looking at an economic idea that has been understood, if only in a rudimentary sense, by economic thinkers since antiquity – all the way back to Xenophon, who talks about it in his *Cyropaedia *(or *The Education of Cyrus*). Despite this illustrious lineage however, it's an idea that only received its first detailed treatment in the work of an eigh... more »
Politicians and School VP's Behaving Badly
When I saw a headline about Premier Prentice trying to defend the actions of yet another of his hapless MLA's, I knew just knew that this one had to do with one of our local clowns. Like a bad hangover, Minnesota Mike keeps hanging around. It really is ridiculous that Prentice tries to defend him. I'm not sure what part about how 3-Way Mike broke the law of a foreign country can be defended. I guess in Prentice's fantasy land, if you're a PC you can do as you please as long as you fess up to it afterwards. Pathetic. All this has led to the PC's (rightfully) getting walloped in ... more »
World News Briefs -- April 29, 2015 (Evening Edition)
*BBC*: *Nepal earthquake: UN launches $415m appeal* *The UN has launched a $415m (£270m) appeal for those affected by Nepal's earthquake, as frustration mounts at the pace of relief efforts.* *The UN said it wanted to support government efforts to provide emergency relief over the next three months.* *Riot police have clashed with people trying to leave the capital Kathmandu, and there are reports of villagers blocking trucks carrying supplies.* *The government says it has been overwhelmed by the disaster.* *MIDDLE EAST* Heavy fighting in Yemen, Saudi Arabia *trains tribal fight... more »
Justice Ginsburg argues that justices claiming to uphold the eternal definition of marriage don't know what they're talking about
*by Ken* When I went yesterday with the *Washington Post* team's account of the Supreme Court's oral arguments on the cases it's hearing regarding same-sex marriage, I kept meaning to check ThinkProgress to see what legal eagle Ian Millhiser had to say about the proceedings. For general coverage I think we did OK, but now I'm happy to say that we can turn to Ian M for his particular take. It turns out that he has taken particular note of a comment by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in response to some usual blithering from the Court's biggest blowhard-jackass, Nino Scalia. (There ma... more »
Brand/Miliband
A Frost/Nixon for our age? No, but the media reaction to Russell Brand's encounter with Ed Miliband is out of all proportion to what was said. The actual content of the interview is pretty innocuous, at least from the standpoint of grizzled lefties and hardened politicos. Yet where Brand's core audience are concerned, the teens to the mid-30 somethings who tend not to pay politics anywhere near as much mind as the likes of you and I, it's a different story. That is why Ed was absolutely right to seek him out and take whatever ra-ra-revolutionary verbiage cum cheeky banter on offer, ... more »
How Much Water Does The California Oil Industry Actually Use?
*Mike Gaworecki* - No one knows exactly how much water the California oil industry is using. The post How Much Water Does The California Oil Industry Actually Use? appeared first on Waking Times.
Tsunami of pride in my son hit me today
History Major had a son and it was planned just like the siege of Babylon Son did math at age one went to school and won now today in history or maybe yesterday or tomorrow the exact date does not matter much he is an official graduated from an accredited university astro physicist No he can not read fortunes or analyse the signs what he knows is more of gods language expressed with mathimatical precision and how it applies to the universe than every human that lived until this time Talk about an education examining the big picture what he is going to do with this in uncertain but no... more »
Huge Corporate Testing Balls and the Shrunken Civil Rights Fig Leaf
When Bush II was in the White House, he dismissed skeptics of NCLB's monstrous deformation of educational equity as scoundrels engaged in the "soft bigotry of low expectations." Never mind the skeptics were to be proven right, for by the time they were, a brand new privatization fleet had been launched and corporate charter school growth was enjoying exponential growth, even as public schools were being blown apart. As Glen Ford noted recalled in 2012, High stakes testing was designed as a Trojan Horse for a corporate educational takeover, but packaged as a public good. . . . Ever...more »
Is The Yemen War The Reason Why The Saudi King Reshuffled His Succession And His Cabinet?
Khaled Abdullah/Reuters *Bruce Riedel, The Daily Beast*: *Yemen's War Shakes Up the Saudi Palace* *King Salman’a terror-fighting nephew becomes crown prince; the king’s ambitious son, the defense minister and the face of the fight in Yemen, is now second in line to the throne.* *Less than four months after ascending the throne, Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud has made unprecedented changes in the line of succession that benefit his own son Prince Mohammed bin Salman. These shifts come as Salman pursues the most assertive foreign policy in recent Saudi history.* *The king ... more »
Yemen War News Updates -- April 29, 2015
*Reuters*:* Heavy fighting in Yemen, Saudi Arabia trains tribal fighters* *(Reuters) - Saudi-led air strikes hit five Yemeni provinces as fighting raged in the southern city of Aden on Wednesday, and sources in the region said the kingdom was training armed tribesmen to fight the Iran-allied Houthi group.* *Houthi rebels' tanks and snipers killed at least 12 civilians overnight in Yemen's Aden as they advanced toward the centre of the city, residents said, and a Saudi-led coalition airdropped arms to anti-Houthi fighters in the city of Taiz.* *The Houthis took the capital Sanaa... more »
The FBI Helped Facilitate A Failed 2012 Ransom Payment To al Qaeda For The Family Of Kidnapped Aid Worker Warren Weinstein
Warren Weinstein was accidentally killed in January by a US drone targeting al-Qaida militants. Photograph: Reuters *Wall Street Journal*:* FBI Helped Facilitate Ransom for U.S. Hostage Killed in Drone Strike* *Agency helped U.S. hostage Warren Weinstein’s family assess whether it should pay Pakistani middleman for his release.* *The Federal Bureau of Investigation helped facilitate a 2012 ransom payment to al Qaeda from the family of kidnapped aid worker Warren Weinstein, senior U.S. officials said, in an unsuccessful bid to secure the release of the American, who was killed in ... more »
U.S. Congress Wants To Authorize Direct Funding To Iraqi Kurdish And Sunni Militias In Their War Against The Islamic State
Kurdish peshmerga forces sit on top of a tank on the outskirts of Kirkuk on 18 April. Photograph: Reuters *U.S. News and World Report/Al-Monitor*: *Defense Bill Recognizes Iraq's Kurdish, Sunni Militias as a 'Country'* *The draft House bill carves out 25 percent of anti-Islamic State funding for the peshmerga and Sunni tribes.* *Republican war-policy writers are demanding that the United States recognize Kurdish and Sunni militias as their own “country” amid growing concerns about Iran’s influence over Baghdad.* *The House Armed Services Committee on April 27 released an annual... more »
Supplemental: Today, Gene Lyons tackles the Clinton rules!
*WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015We were struck by two reader comments:* Yesterday, we showed you what Paul Krugman recently wrote about the so-called “Clinton rules”—about the destructive press culture which has long been directed against both Clintons and Gore. For that rumination, click here. Today, Gene Lyons discusses the same pseudo-scandal drenched topic. Back in 1996, Lyons wrote the original book on the subject—“Fools for Scandal: How the Media Invented Whitewater.” In today’s column, Lyons discusses last Friday’s “bombshell report” in the New York Times, the same novelistic ps... more »
Midday Musical Interlude: Jason Mraz, “I Won't Give Up”
Jason Mraz, “I Won't Give Up” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1-4u9W-bns&html5=1
The Daily "Near You?"
Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Thanks for stopping by!
What Is Really Happening In Afghanistan
*Franz-Stefan Gady, The Diplomat*: *Taliban Onslaught: What is Happening in Afghanistan?* *The fighting season in Afghanistan began with a vengeance this year.This year’s fighting season in Afghanistan began with a vengeance. Last week, hundreds of Taliban fighters attacked army and police installations around the northern Afghan city of Kunduz. The battle is still raging, with heavy casualties on both sides.Two weeks prior to the offensive in Kunduz city an estimated 1,000 Taliban fighters overran Afghan army positions in Jurm District in Badakhshan Province. Additonally, h... more »
After Spending Billions Of Dollars The U.S. Still Does Not Know How Many Afghan Soldiers There Are Or What Is Their Operational Capabilities
Afghan civil order policemen stand guard at the compound of a provincial governor's office in Jalalabad on April 8. Parwiz/Reuters *Jonathan Broder, Newsweek:* *U.S. Doesn't Know How Many Afghans Are Fighting the Taliban* *After nearly a decade of training, equipping and paying for Afghanistan's security forces, the United States has no idea how many Afghan soldiers and police are currently serving or how effective they are at fighting the Taliban.* *That's just one of the grim conclusions from John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR), who ... more »
Contrary To White House Pledges U.S. Military Involvement In Afghanistan Continues To Expand
An American Special Forces soldier prepared for a patrol last year in Parwan Province, Afghanistan. Rather than ending the American war in Afghanistan, the military is transforming it into a continuing campaign of airstrikes and raids that have in practice stretched or broken the parameters publicly described by the White House. Credit Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times *New York Times*: *U.S. Attacks in Afghanistan Go Beyond White House’s Pledges* *KABUL, Afghanistan — Months after President Obama formally declared that the United States’ long war against the Taliban wa... more »
Did U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Tell His Iranian Counterpart That He ‘Wished The U.S. Had A Leader Like Iran’s Supreme Leader’?
Secretary of State John Kerry boarding a plane in Paris after negotiations on Saturday. Credit Pool photo by Charles Dharapak/NYT *Washington Times/Free Beacon:* *John Kerry told Iran he ‘wished U.S. had a leader like Iran’s supreme leader’: report* *Secretary of State John Kerry told his Iranian counterpart that he wished the United States had a leader more like Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, according to comments made by a senior Iranian cleric and repeated in the country’s state-run media.* *Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda claimed during Friday prayer services in Iran that in negot... more »
Historic Hologram Protest Against Spain’s Gag Law
*Video - *Spanish Citizens cannot protest against the Congress or hold meetings in public spaces. So the citizens made a hologram protest. The post Historic Hologram Protest Against Spain’s Gag Law appeared first on Waking Times.
"It's A Mess, Ain't It?"; A Comment
*Deputy Wendell:* "It's a mess, ain't it, sheriff?" *Sheriff Bell:* "If it ain't, it'll do till the mess gets here." - "No Country For Old Men" ◆ *A Comment:* Folks, I don't have to tell you that sometimes it feels like the whole world's gone crazy, though it may seem like it by this little blog's content. There are just so many things happening so fast now that it's impossible to keep up. Don't believe me, don't simply believe something because it's here, or another website, or TV. Everything here is active-linked so you can go and check the actual source. Please do. Verify everyth... more »
The Economy: “Are You Ready for the Ban on Cash?”
*“Are You Ready for the Ban on Cash?”* by Bill Bonner Gualfin (“End of the Road”), Argentina - “Not much to report from the financial markets. And things seem to have settled down in our hometown of Baltimore, after they called out the National Guard. So, we’ll return to our exploration of the Fed’s fabulous fantasyland… *Money for Nothing: *Yesterday, we looked at the coming liquidity drain. It is roughly what has been happening in California already. When more liquidity is being used than is available, things dry up. But wait… Do the feds have a still-untapped aquifer of cash and... more »
Progressives Are Not Alone — 87% of Republicans Oppose Fast Track
*How the Tea Party sees Fast Track (source)* *by Gaius Publius* In covering the TPP battle between President Obama and the CEO class on the one side, and most of the rest of the country on the other, I've noted that the Tea Party right is as opposed as the "professional" left. (My own TPP coverage is collected here.) Now comes more evidence of that. Let's start with The Hill (h/t Dave Johnson; my emphasis throughout): *Trade vote stirs angst on the right* Trade legislation is sowing discord among Senate Republicans that could make it tougher than expected to pass fast-track trad... more »
"We're All Mad Here..."
"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can't help that," said the cat: "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here." - Lewis Carroll, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
“An Army General Discusses 911, Military Drills On US Soil, And Geoengineering”
*“An Army General Discusses 911, Military Drills On US Soil, And Geoengineering”* by Dane Wigington “The interview below is a dialog addressing the most critical issues we face. The discussion is between myself, former Army Major General Albert Stubblebine, and his wife Dr. Rima Laibow. General Stubblebine is the highest ranking US military official to courageously speak the truth about the 911 false flag event and the US government's role in this unimaginable crime. Dr. Laibow has long since been a pioneer in the fight to expose countless global issues, especially related to our he... more »
Imagine the BBC coverage if it had been a senior Conservative politician
Imagine the BBC coverage if it had been a senior Conservative politician featured on the front page of The Times as having questionable tax avoidance actions to account (pun intended) for. The BBC would be headlining the story and the Conservative concerned would be being doorstepped and David Cameron and George Osborne would be being asked to condemn their colleague. 'Tory sleaze' would be the BBC headline and the outrage would be tangible. However this Times story related to senior Labour MP (and Head of the Public Accounts Committee) Margaret Hodge. The Times has several pieces ... more »
Branded.
American researchers have found human brains imitate the speech patterns of other people, even complete strangers, without meaning to. They say a humans want to “bond” with others, even when a voice cannot be heard or, somewhat embarrassingly, even if another person is a foreigner. Scientists from the University of California, Riverside, found the subconscious copying of an accent comes from an inbuilt urge of the brain to “empathise and affiliate”. Well, we all knew that didn’t we? Look at George Galloway with that hilarious Scots/Paki-ese that comes forth whenever he’s addressin... more »
The Clintons' Uranium Deal and the Nuclear Complex
Davidson, Amy (2015, April 24). Five Questions About the Clintons and a Uranium Company. The New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/five-questions-about-the-clintons-and-a-uranium-company [excerpted] The Times has reported that people involved in a series of Canadian uranium-mining deals channelled money to the Clinton Foundation while the firm had business before the State Department. And, in one case, a Russian investment bank connected to the deals paid money to Bill Clinton personally, through a half-million-dollar speaker’s fee..... read the entire article. Th... more »
The Operation Called “Engineered Consensus”
*Jon Rappoport* - What we call reality is a hodge-podge of engineered acceptance. The post The Operation Called “Engineered Consensus” appeared first on Waking Times.
“Geoengineering- Fast Track to Total Disaster And Total Collapse”
*“Geoengineering- Fast Track to Total Disaster And Total Collapse”* By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com “Dane Wigington runs a website dedicated to exposing and explaining to the public the dangers of climate engineering, also known as “chemtrails.” This is not some sort of conspiracy theory but hard science, also known as “solar radiation management” or “geoengineering.” What does Wigington say to the disbeliever? “We have film footage of these tankers spraying at altitude, up close nozzles visible. We have close up photographs of these nozzles right behind the engines. At that point,... more »
World News Briefs -- April 29, 2015
*Reuters:* *Tired of waiting for aid, angry Nepalis block roads* *(Reuters) - Nepali villagers blocked trucks carrying supplies for earthquake victims on Wednesday, demanding the government do more to help after last week's disaster left more than 5,000 people dead and tens of thousands homeless and short of food and water.* *In the capital Kathmandu, about 200 people protested outside parliament, asking for more buses to go to their homes in remote parts of the Himalayan nation and to hasten the distribution of aid that has flooded into the country but been slow to reach those i... more »
Tax the Rich, Decentralize the Media, More Democracy, Cooperatives, Break Up Big Landholdings
Russel Brand: Ahead of the release of mine and Micheal Winterbottoms new film, 'The Emperor's New Clothes' I take a look at how the political parties are powerless in tackling the larger economic problems we face.
Inequality 25: On High CEOs Pay and Legislated Minimum Wages
What is wrong with this illustration? .... Well, if the $10,000 an hour CEO is able to expand the company, retain existing jobs with bonuses at year end, and hiring more, then his rate is justified. In contrast, another CEO gets $1,000 or $400 an hour, and the company goes bankrupt, the workers who get $8 or $10 an hour will soon get $0 an hour. The latter is not exactly a helpful model of a CEO for the rest of society. An entrepreneur who has empowered some people who used to earn nothing or $5 an hour somewhere and was hired at $8 an hour, will soon become a criminal, a law vio... more »
THE PSEUDOJOURNALISM RULES: Missing from the bombshell report!
*WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015Part 3—Basic questions the Times didn’t ask:* Has the New York Times published a “bombshell report” about the greedy Candidate Clinton? Based on its length and its massive layout, that’s plainly the way the Times report was sold. Beyond that, many major mainstream pundits have viewed the massive report that way. Chris Hayes even *called* it “a bombshell report” on his cable program last week. For ourselves, we very much *wouldn’t* call it a bombshell report. We’d be more strongly inclined to describe the report as the latest result of the pseudo-journali... more »
The Hard War Against Disposable Youth
This is shocking but not really surprising: Baltimore teenagers appear to have been deliberately set up by government officials and cops on Monday for purposes of accelerating the school-to-prison pipeline, transforming it into a virtual downhill luge event of Olympic Malthusian proportions. The ruling cartel seized upon a rumor of a "purge" of the police department by roving street gangs in the wake of Freddie Gray's funeral, and got the bright idea of closing the schools early and cancelling the public transportation that is the only way home for many of the kids. Instead of being... more »
The Baltimore Riots: HERE Is The Real Truth About These Riots - A Set Up By The Government Themselves!
I have been watching all the Jew spew news reports over the last few days about the riots taking place in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, USA, much like everyone else and from what I have been seeing, nothing at all makes any sense as to WHY these riots are even occurring... We have the Jew spew media reporters going absolutely hog wild with their reports, and in many of their reports I see so many errors in the "reporting", which leads to so much false information being promoted.... Therefore in regards to this entire riot situation, I do sense a set up.... Something is seriously w... more »
Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- April 29, 2015
*VOA:* *Korea, China Wary Of US-Japan Military Pact* *SEOUL/BEIJING—A new defense pact between the United States and Japan that will give Tokyo’s forces a more ambitious global role provoked wary reactions from neighbors South Korea and China Tuesday.* *Even though South Korea may stand to benefit from a stronger Japanese military presence to counter the North Korean threat and China’s rising power, officials remain reluctant because of lingering tensions over Tokyo’s wartime past.* *Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- April 29, 2015* New guidelines allow Japan to defend U.S...more »
PH Travell Tax Should be Abolished
The Philippine travel tax is one of those envy-driven taxes. Just get the money by force, no need to explain where it is spent. This applies to Filipinos who travel abroad for pleasure/tourism, business, conference, etc. I took this photo last April 22 on my way to KL, Malaysia. OFWs are exempted from paying this tax, but they still have to get that certificate, meaning they still pay P200 to the government. If one pays the full amount of tax, no more processing fee. But if one avails of the reduced rates, say he brings a child who is below 12 years old, he pays the reduced rate +... more »
MY COOPERATING TEACHER SPEAKS OUT
I worked for 4 years as a mentor to 19 new teachers (TFA corps members getting their Masters) in my role as a field specialist at Fordham University. I explained to them how different my preparation to become a teacher was compared to the lack of preparation they received. One major difference was that when I student taught at Taft H.S. in the Bronx I had a master teacher, Phyllis Opochinsky, as my cooperating teacher. I was not allowed to teach for weeks. I only observed her and other teachers. We discussed methodologies. We prepared lesson plans. We discussed techniques. Only th... more »
7 Health Benefits of Bee Propolis
*Margie King* - Bees make more than honey. They also make gunk called propolis. And this "bee glue" is a powerful health balm. The post 7 Health Benefits of Bee Propolis appeared first on Waking Times.
The World's First Annual Report On Suicide Terrorism Has Been Released
The CPOST Suicide Attack Database is now current through January 2015. Learn more at http://t.co/3z4O3RHJkH pic.twitter.com/PG2cl6kR22 — CPOST (@CPOST_UChicago) March 26, 2015 *UChicago News:* *Chicago Project on Security & Terrorism creates first annual report on suicide terrorism* *A new report on global trends in suicide terrorism shows that during 2014 more than 4,300 people in more than 15 countries were killed in suicide bombings. Out of the 15 countries, Afghanistan and Iraq led the world last year in suicide attacks with an increase in Iraq.* *The report shows that Iraq a... more »
Salvador Freixedo: Defending Ourselves From the Gods
[It was with great delight that we received a copy of *Espacio Compartido * (Shared Space), the official bulletin of the IIEE (*Institución de Investigación y Estudios Exobilógicos* - Institute for Exobiological Study and Research), sent by our distinguished friend and colleague Ignacio Darnaude. Among its fascinating contents was a chapter from Salvador Freixedo's *Defendámonos de los Dioses* - Beware of the Gods - the landmark book I translated in the very early 1990s upon learning that such an important book to the study of ufology remained unavailable in English, although the ... more »
Interpreting a Regulation
Erickson & Partners v. Ontario (Health and Long-Term Care), 2015 ONCA 285: [20] Starting, then, from first principles, the interpretation of s. 39(6) of the Regulation requires the court to read the words of the Act and the Regulation "in their entire context and in their grammatical and ordinary sense harmoniously with the scheme of the Act, the object of the Act, and the intention of Parliament." As well, when interpreting a regulation, a court must consider the words granting the authority to make the regulation in question, in addition to the other interpretive factors.
Saudi Arabia's King Reshuffles The Saudi Line Of Succession And The Cabinet
*BBC:* *Saudi Arabia's king announces new heirs to throne* *Saudi Arabia's new king has announced a major cabinet reshuffle that puts in place a new generation to succeed him.King Salman has appointed his nephew, the powerful Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, as crown prince.The king's son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has been made deputy crown prince and the foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, has been replaced.King Salman, 78, acceded to the throne in January after the death of his half-brother Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. * *More News On Saudi Arabia's King ... more »
French Troops Accused Of Child Abuse In Central African Republic
President François Hollande pictures here meeting French soldiers on a trip to Central African Republic. Photo: AFP *The Guardian:* * UN aid worker suspended for leaking report on child abuse by French troops* *Anders Kompass said to have passed confidential document to French authorities because of UN’s failure to stop abuse of children in Central African Republic* *A senior United Nations aid worker has been suspended for disclosing to prosecutors an internal report on the sexual abuse of children by French peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic.* *Sources close to... more »
Does It Matter To You Who Wins The British Election Next Week?
During the American Revolution, Patriots didn't just have the British Army and Hessian mercenaries to contend with. At least 20% of the white colonists, conservatives, were traitors and sided with the British. As many as 2.5 million colonials were Tories or Royalists and after the war almost 100,000 of them fled the 13 colonies for Britain, Canada and other British colonies. Benjamin Franklin's own son, William, was one of them-- a governor of New Jersey who stayed loyal to the crown and settled in London after the British and their conservative allies were defeated. A week from ... more »
Keeping the TPP Under Wraps
https://campaigns.350.org/ If there is one thing that distinguishes the Harper government from its predecessors, it's an obsession with secrecy. And that obsession is glaringly apparent in Mr. Harper's refusal to release any information about the Trans Pacific Partnership. Tom Walkom writes: Exact details of the proposed 12-country deal remain secret. Leaked draft chapters suggest that the pact, like most modern trade deals, will cover far more than trade. It will give foreign multinationals the right to challenge domestic laws and ... more »
Japan Considering Sending Air Patrols To The South China Sea
*Reuters*: *Exclusive: Japan considering joint U.S. air patrols in South China Sea - sources* *(Reuters) - Japan's military is considering joining the United States in maritime air patrols in the South China Sea in response to China's increasingly assertive pursuit of territorial claims, a Japanese and a U.S. source familiar with the discussions said.* *News of the deliberations came as Japan and the United States unveiled new defence guidelines during a visit to Washington by Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, reflecting his plans for Japan to take on a wider security role beyo... more »
Political Executions Continue In North Korea
Kim Jong-un reportedly executes 15 top North Korean officials in mass death penalty. KCNA via Reuters Voice of America:* Seoul: Kim Jong Un Executed 15 Senior Leaders This Year * *South Korea's spy agency says North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un, has ordered the execution of 15 senior leaders this year.* *Seoul spy officials provided that information to lawmakers during a private session of parliament Wednesday, according to lawmaker Shin Kyung-min.* *One of the executed officials was said to be a vice minister for forestry, who was killed after complaining about Kim's fores... more »
Finland Will 'Not Create A Farce' Over Yesterday's Reports That Depth Charges Were Dropped On A Suspected Russian Submarine
*Business Insider*: *Finland dropped 6 depth charges on a suspected Russian submarine but says it doesn't want to 'create a farce'* *The Finnish government is refusing to confirm whether it believes that a submarine — presumably from Russia — entered its territorial waters because it's worried about a repeat of the "farce" that Swedish authorities got themselves into after submarine sightings there last October.* *Commodore Olavi Jantunen, chief of operations in the Finnish navy, told local broadcasters that the navy had identified a "possible underwater object" at noon on Monday... more »
DARPA's Self Steering Bullet Can Now Hit Moving Targets
*Endgadget*: *DARPA's steerable bullet proves it can hit moving targets* *DARPA announced that its self-steering bullet program, dubbed the Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO), passed another developmental milestone in late February. Per an administration release, and the video below, experienced and novice shooters alike were able to strike moving targets. And, in the case of expert shooters, able to hit actively evading targets as well.* *WNU Editor*: I can see the day when a soldier paints a target a kilometer away .... takes the shot .... and regardless of what the targe... more »
Ukraine President Poroshenko: Full-Blown ‘War’ Possible
President Petro Poroshenko speaks at the press conference after Ukraine-EU summit on April 27. © Volodymyr Petrov *Kyiv Post:* *Poroshenko says full-blown ‘war’ possible as situation in Ukraine’s east further deteriorates* *Full-scale war can flare up instantly, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko warned at the International Support for Ukraine converence in Kyiv on April 28.* *“The threat of war is still hanging over us. It is our reality. War may erupt at any moment,” Poroshenko said. “But we are prepared to do everything we can to erase any possibility to doubt or retreat.”* *... more »
Ukrainian President Poroshenko's Chocolate Factory Seized In Russia
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaks during a news conference after a meeting with EU top official in Kiev Apr. 27. Gleb Garanich / Reuters *Moscow Times/Reuters*:* Russia Seizes Ukrainian President Poroshenko's Candy Factory* *KIEV — Russian authorities have seized the assets of a confectionery factory owned by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in the Russian city of Lipetsk in order to block their sale, parent company Roshen said on Tuesday.* *Since March 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and pro-Russian rebels rose up in eastern Ukraine, the Lipets... more »
The Economy: “Exactly When the Fed Will Launch QE4”
*“Exactly When the Fed Will Launch QE4”* by Bill Bonner Gualfin (“End of the Road”), Argentina - “On Friday, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record highs. It’s the first time both indexes have done so since December 31, 1999. Why such optimism? High profits, you say. But where do profits come from? Households have less money to spend than they did 15 years ago. And companies cannot make money just by selling things to each other. The only explanation is that customers – including the US government – continue to borrow and spend. Corporations borrow money to buy their own shar... more »
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*Falsely accused male college student strikes back* A COLUMBIA University student in New York has sued the school, saying it failed to protect him against harassment when a female student went public with claims he raped her after school and law enforcement authorities rejected her case. The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court by Paul Nungesser, a German citizen who said one-time friend Emma Sulkowicz has repeatedly and publicly called him a “serial rapist,” resulting in national and international media attention. Defendants include the school, its board of trustees, Pres... more »
Rounding Up the KMT Again
*You just never know where you'll end up biking in Taiwan...* Rounding up a bunch of news this week. Solidarity blogs on a TISR poll on cross strait relations and party favorability. Read whole thing, but as he points out, the people don't seem to see a whole lot of difference between Ma's cross-strait stance of 3 Noes and Tsai's Status Quo stance. Solidarity observed on Twitter that the Chinese Communist Party and the KMT have exactly the same unfavorable rating, 59.9%. The DPP meanwhile clocks in at 49.3% favorable. Speaking of polls, a recent poll from the deep Green Taiwan Brai... more »
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*Australian Warmists breathing steam over Bjorn Lomborg* *Australian universities are full of Warmists but appointing just one person who questions their dogma to a university post is outrageous, it seems. Bias and bigotry anyone? Certainly no willingness to debate ideas or engage in civil discourse there* HIS own country stripped him of funding and he’s famously known as a “climate contrarian” so why is Australia giving Dr Bjorn Lomborg $4 million to set up a university think tank? That’s the question being asked in the scientific community, which has been left reeling by the ... more »
Medieval Remedy Could Put an End to Hospital Superbug MRSA
*Video - *UK Scientists successfully recreated and used a thousand-year-old Anglo Saxon remedy to kill hospital superbug MRSA. The post Medieval Remedy Could Put an End to Hospital Superbug MRSA appeared first on Waking Times.
“ISDS: A Corporate Cluster Bomb To Obliterate Our People’s Sovereignty”
*“ISDS: A Corporate Cluster Bomb To Obliterate Our People’s Sovereignty”* by Jim Hightower “The Powers That Be are very unhappy with you and me. They’re also very unhappy with senators like Elizabeth Warren, activist groups like Public Citizen, unions like the Communications Workers of America and… well, with the majority of Americans who oppose the establishment’s latest free-trade scam. Despite its benign name, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a cluster bomb of legalized “gotchas” that won’t bode well for the vast majority of Americans and for our small businesses. TPP empowers g... more »
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*Mitch Landrieu says Katrina and the Federal Flooding, while tragic, spurred positive change for New Orleans ~Jaquetta White * *City Park official hired City Park contractors for private work ~David Hammer* *Chaz-Matazz: Bywater Fest Returns for Ninth Year ~NOLA DEFENDER*
C-51 Hearing: Question About Info-Sharing
harpercon MP Rick Norlock finishes his questioning by asking RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson a question about information sharing between his agency and Citizenship and Immigration: *Mr. Rick Norlock: * For my next question, Commissioner Paulson can comment. On Friday we heard Commissioner Paulson, who came before the committee, and we viewed the tape, of course, of the murderer of Corporal Nathan Cirillo. During the question and answer period, he indicated that he was able to receive passport information and that in this particular case the information sharing was sufficient. ... more »
Argentina: UFOs? Researchers Look Into the Ibicuy Lights
*Source: AIM Digital, Visión OVNI & Planeta UFODate: 04.29.2015* [On April 13 2015 we presented an interesting account on the "Ibicuy lights", which have frightened more than one fisherman in these riverine islands. Andrea Pérez Simondini has visited the site for research and to provide further insight on the matter - SC] *Argentina: UFOs? Researchers Look Into the Ibicuy Lights* *By AIM Digital* A research team is analyzing eyewitness accounts from residents of Mazzaruca, Ibicuy, regarding manifestations of mysterious lights over rural roads: "We held a night watch on April 18 a... more »
Economic News , Data and Views ( April 29 , 2015 ) .... Greece in focus as data continues to show economy on the back foot , Creditor talks items to consider , Varoufakis attacked at dinner allegedly by anarchists ..... Bonds in Europe in focus - Bunds showing some weakness with failed 5 year auction even as ten year bunds spike in yield , Denmark debt still reflecting negative yield mania ( June Bills sell at - .98 yield ) .... Riksbank expands Qe Program and notes repo rate may be cut further.....Euro crosses 1.10 on Eurozone data , Eurozone bank lending shows increase - first time since 3/12 ..... QE item of note..........
Tweets... *fred walton* @fredwalton216 9s 9 seconds ago fred walton retweeted Kathimerini English Varoufakis apparently attacked Tuesday in Greece... fred walton added, *Kathimerini English *@ekathimerini New Democracy issues statement condemning late Tuesday attack on FinMin Yanis #*Varoufakis* *zerohedge* @zerohedge 33s 33 seconds ago Greek Finance Minister Attacked By Anarchists, Shielded By Wife http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-2 9/greek-finance-minister-attacked-anarchists-shielded-wife … zerohedge [image: Photo published for Greek Finance Minister Attacked By An... more »
Dijkgraaf on quantum physics' gifts to mathematics
*LHC:* Collisions will begin mid June, despite the ULO in the tube (Unidentified Lying Object). The speed is disappointing to me. One year ago, the director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton Robbert Dijkgraaf gave a public lecture at the Perimeter Institute. The 1-hour video was posted one month ago so it's about time for the TRF readers to have the opportunity to watch it. The words written below are meant to be moderately disorganized notes – which will not be proofread – rather than a full-fledged TRF blog post nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. The title was... more »
R.I.P. Abraham Rotstein
Today its an accepted fact like the resurection of Jesus that free trade is a heavenly thing. Abraham Rotstein was one of the last significant voices pointing out the Emperour has no clothes for the middle class.
Russia, China to Close Joint Helicopter Construction Deal in May
[image: Mi-26 Halo]Russia and China plan on signing a final agreement in May after “dotting all the i’s” in the joint construction of a series of helicopters, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Tuesday. “Yesterday, we agreed on the final details with this big project…Therefore, we hope that already in May we will dot all the i’s and sign the final document,” Rogozin said after a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang in Eastern China. Rogozin added that the Chinese are “very interested” in the project and are one of the main investors in it. According to Rogozin,... more »
US approves $1.5 bln in Boeing fighter jet maintenance for Australia
[image: RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornet]The U.S. State Department has approved the sale of $1.5 billion in maintenance services, spare parts and logistics for Australia's fleet of Boeing Co F/A-18E/F and EA-18G fighter jets, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which executes foreign military sales, notified Congress on Tuesday about the possible deal, which also includes software and hardware updates, testing and training. Lawmakers have 15 days to block the sale, although such action is rare. Read more
Secret Air Force Space Plane Gets Darth Vader-Style Engine
The Air Force’s secret robot space plane is going to try out a new engine. The X-37B has so far spent a total of 1367 days tooling around in Earth’s orbit, doing classified things. Yesterday, the Air Force Research Lab announced that on its fourth flight, the X-37B will come with a new fuel-efficient engine for maneuvering in space. Hall thrusters were developed first by the Soviet Union during the 1960s, as a way for satellites to correct their course while in orbit. Read more
Russian Spacecraft Spinning Out of Control in Orbit, with Salvage Bid Underway
The Russian space agency Roscosmos is scrambling to regain control of a robotic Progress 59 cargo ship that appears to have suffered a serious malfunction shortly after launching into orbit early today (April 28). Video from the Progress 59 spacecraft showed it in a dizzying spin, with the Earth and sun rapidly coming into and then out of frame. Russian flight controllers abandoned plans to attempt to dock the cargo ship with the International Space Station on Thursday (April 30), NASA spokesman Rob Navias said in a NASA TV update. Read more
India requests for C-130J follow-on support package from US
[image: IAF C-130J Super Hercules]The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has notified Congress of a potential foreign military sale (FMS) of follow-on support of C-130J Super Hercules aircraft and associated equipment to India. Under the estimated $96m sale, India has requested for the supply of five years of follow-on support for its fleet of C-130J Super Hercules, including eight spare AN/ALE-47 counter-measure dispensing systems, six spare AN/ALR-56M advanced radar warning receivers, and up to 9,000 flare cartridges. The package also covers spare and repair parts, con... more »
Election 2015: Fighting talk on Scottish campaign trail
[image: Successor class SSBN]Britain should focus on building strong conventional armed forces rather than "obsessing" over nuclear weapons, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has said. But Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson claimed a post-election deal between the SNP and Labour could jeopardise the country's defence. Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie will use football analogies to boost the morale of his troops in Edinburgh. Read more
(Don't Concern Yourself With Civil Rights of Corporations - They Have Them - You Don't) Ferguson Fuse To Light Up World? (US False Flags Abound - Anthrax Started the Downfall) Judith Miller Outed As Spy (A Conspiracy Inside the Government) Always Trust the FBI To Lie? No Courage Awards for Charlie Do
Bet you didn't know this (read on, it's a doozie!): The corporate constitutional "rights" angle to this cell tower story is perhaps more startling than most. For you see, the federal government passed a sweeping new law in 1996 that made it illegal for a city or county government to vote "No" on a cell tower application based on the elected officials' concerns about the human or environmental
Art - Chris Turnham - illustrator and printmaker
"Clean, oh so very clean." that's the instinctive impression the graphic architectural work of Chris Turnham gives Free Planet. *Chris is an illustrator and printmaker based in Los Angeles. He's worked as an artist in both feature and television animation and has contributed illustrations to publications and children's books. *
Here's why a British aircraft carrier will host an American F-35 contingent
[image: RAF F-35 Lightning II]The “special relationship” with America is central to Britain’s national security and America also counts heavily on British diplomatic and military support. In an era of budget “austerity” in Britain and sequestration in America, there is great benefit for both countries when it comes to joint military operations and platforms procurement. The combination of budgetary factors, procurement costs and issues, and the continuing need for air and sea power is why the relationship between the US and UK is so “special” that Britain’s next aircraft carrier, H... more »
US destroyer sent after Iran boards commercial ship
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[image: USS Farragut (DDG-99)]The US military has sent a destroyer in pursuit of a commercial ship that was fired upon, and then boarded by, Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. The Maersk Tigris, a Marshall Islands-flagged commercial craft, was intercepted by patrol ships from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy about 6pm AEST, according to Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. After the ship refused to comply with an Iranian order to steam further into Iran's territorial waters, one of the Iranian patrol vessels fired across the Tigris... more »
Global Strike Command is USAF's new weapon against China: expert
[image: B-2 Spirit]A pure bomber command is likely to be established for the first time in US military history after the Air Force made the announcement last week to reassign all its heavy bombers to the Global Strike Command last week, James Hasik, a senior researcher from the Washington-based Atlantic Council wrote in a piece for National Interest magazine. The USAF put the nuclear-capable B-52Hs and B-2As bombers of the 8th Air Force and the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles of the 20th Air Force under the Global Strike Command in 2009. However, the de-nucleariz... more »
Russian Su-33 Fighter Jets Hold Drills Over Barents Sea
[image: Su-33 Flanker-D]Russian fighter pilots have held tactical training exercises using air-to-air missiles over the Barents Sea, the head of Russian Defense Ministry's Northern Fleet's press service said Tuesday. "Tactical flight exercises using air-to-air missiles were held by pilots from the Northern Fleet's carrier-based fighter aviation regiment. The training was held in a military range for fighter readiness of Naval aviation over the Barents Sea. Several Su-33 [Flanker-D] fighters made several dozen flights," Capt. 1st Rank Vadim Serga said. Earlier this month, Russian Su-... more »
Brazil, Venezuela evince interest in BrahMos missile
[image: Brahmos firing by INS Rajput]The supersonic cruise missile system BrahMos, which is a joint venture between India and Russia, has caught the attention of countries like Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Brazil in Latin America and also of South Africa, which is part of the BRICS grouping, because it has been developed at a low cost of $300 million. Sources have told the FE that there have been preliminary discussions with these countries. Venezuela’s willingness to procure the supersonic missile (the air version) jointly produced by India and Russia will be on the agenda of ta... more »
Here are all the ships in the German navy
[image: German Navy Ships in 2015]Though it has very little coastline, Germany has still managed to construct and maintain a fleet of nearly 100 naval vessels. Although not the largest or most powerful fleet in Europe, the Germany Navy plays an important role in supporting NATO missions and preserving maritime security and trade. Most recently, Germany contributed 11 ships to the UK-led Exercise Joint Warrior 15-1 off the coast of Scotland. The graphic from Naval Graphics shows every vessel currently serving in the German Navy as of April 2015: Read more
Watch Out, Asia: Russia Tests New Anti-Ship Missile System
[image: Bal-E CMS]On Tuesday Russia’s Pacific Fleet tested a new mobile, coastal missile unit, according to local media. Tass media outlet (formerly ITAR-TASS) reported that Russia’s Pacific fleet— whose area of operations covers the Asia-Pacific—conducted its first test of the Bal-E modern coastal missile system (CMS). "Deploying the system from the move, the personnel carried out a missile launch on a sea target complying with the specified standards," a Pacific Fleet spokesman, Captain First Rank Roman Martov, is quoted of saying. Read more
China's nuclear submarines in Gulf of Aden could cause unease: Experts
[image: Type 091 (Han) class SSN]China for the first time has divulged the deployment of a nuclear submarine for anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, a move defence experts say could cause unease among neighbours, including India. Chinese official media said that a nuclear submarine of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy accompanied the anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden patrolled the area for more than two months, escorting two ships and a supply vessel. The submarine stated to be Type 091 has since returned to its base in Qingdao, Shandong province. Read more
Ran out of bug powder - I am dead as a writer - rebel-empires always fail
*desperate gasp of inspiration* there, I said it, "I've run out of bug powder." Nobody buys Mike Philbin books. Why should they? Mike Philbin is a nobody with nothing ideas. He's the guy you walk past on the book shelves of the shops in your town. He's that guy who bangs about upstairs with his rotting boots on rotten wooden floors whose eyes are open all the time wondering where his life went gasping at the roaches for a taste of the yellow powder that surrogates his coarse creativity. I'm dead, as far as you the book-reading or book-buying public are concerned. Maybe I never exist... more »
Finland fires warning shots at 'foreign submarine' near Helsinki
[image: Submerged submarine]Finland has fired warning shots at a suspected foreign submarine off the coast of Helsinki in the early hours of Tuesday morning, amid growing military tensions with neighbouring Russia. Carl Haglund, Finland's defence minister, did not say whether Russia was involved, but the incident was reminiscent of a Swedish hunt for a foreign submarine in its waters last October that many thought to be Russian. Mr Haglund told Finnish media that the target has likely left the area, adding that Finland has rarely used such warning charges. Read more
ONI Reveals Massive Chinese Naval Buildup
[image: LuyangIII] The problem with navies is that they promote an arms race. That promotes war on Land. Yet Naval power is almost useless to stop a land war. China has zero reason to play great power except to plausibly chill USA adventurism of which we have seen too much. Even then the mere existence of such a fleet ensures that we have an Indian Fleet. All at absorbent cost and resource diversion to both countries. Add in China's bullying over coastal rights and the South China Sea and we quickly force everyone in the region to form an anti China Navy. ... more »
The New Cool
This is not unknown. The problem remains operating range and temperature gap. What ever material is used it must handle room temperature and then drop well below the freezing point of water to be really competitive. Otherwise we are not lucky. Yet it does produce a temperature gap. It this can be tapped effectively than a better product is certainly plausible. So we will wait to see what comes out of this. After all we have been waiting for over a century so far.. *The new cool: Physicist discovers new material set to change cooling industry* *Date:* *April 10, 2015* ... more »
Triassic Mass Extinction May Give Clues on How Oceans Will Be Affected by Climate Change
[image: Fragmentary fossil of pelycosaur, a mammal-like reptile from the Permian or Triassic Period. The end-Triassic mass extinction cleared previously abundant species from ecological niches while also having profound effects on ocean ecosystems.] Yes the oceans became toxic. Yet it was all about volcanism on a grand scale. I would think that the real problem was that the flood of sulphur took almost a million years to leach out of the ocean's surface waters. Sulfur toxic conditions would have killed almost anything and for that reason we had a global extin... more »
Tom Hayden Captures Absurdity of Cuban Embargo
US policy on Cuba was incomprehensible from the very beginning and its maintenance became bad policy the minute Cuba was forced to seek an alliance with the USSR and its step child the Cuban Missile Crisis*.* You do not engage in behavior that induces a natural ally to join with your real enemy for protection. Now we have a glimmer of sense emerging and all are talking and trying to resolve the problem. It has lasted 55 years. China only had to wait twenty years for the USA to come to its senses. What makes it so sad is that we face real problems that are not been handled a... more »
Topol M Tears Up Moscow's Streets
*Sputnik:* *Topol M Tears Up Moscow's Streets, Arriving at Exhibition Center* *A road-mobile Topol-M missile complex tore up the streets of Moscow Monday night, completing a 100-kilometer journey from the town of Serpukhov, south of Moscow, before arriving in the capital.* *Bystanders and media managed to get a first-hand glimpse of the mobile strategic missile system, which was headed to the All-Russian Exhibition Center in northern Moscow. The vehicle is set to take part in an outdoor public exhibition of Soviet and Russian weaponry in honor of the 70th Anniversary of Victory i... more »
Forest Fires Headed Toward Chernobyl
Forest fires heading for Chernobyl nuclear plant – Ukraine Interior Ministry Published time: April 28, 2015 16:36 http://rt.com/news/253897-chernobyl-fires-rage-ukraine/ Very good discussion at Optimal Prediction http://optimalprediction.com/wp/largest-forest-fire-since-1992-endangers-chernobyl-nuclear-plant/
Heavy Emissions at Daiichi
This morning I posted screenshots of elevated emissions at Daiichi. I wasn't able to watch the cams again until now. The view is foggy with subtle pink inflection: Webcam watchers at Enenews saw what appeared to be heavy daytime emissions as well, as illustrated by this comment with links: LastChants Teri -in NE WA April 28, 2015 at 8:13 pm · Reply Pg 88 screen caps of Smoke not stopping! Thick air since 6am but wow, it's increased. Making me wonder if they're having troubles in the turbine bldgs or up and down the whole harbor itself. I can't even see on TBSJNN if the fire bo... more »
Burying The Greatest Victory in Spite
*April 29, 2015* (Ulson Gunnar - NEO) - In efforts to demonize Russia, the history of the Western World is being distastefully rewritten. The monumental sacrifices of the Russian people during World War II are not only being marginalized, but flipped upon their heads. Today, reading through the Western media, one will find a multitude of comparisons between Russia and Nazi Germany, with Russian President Vladimir Putin compared with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Beyond distasteful, this propaganda is dangerous to the point where it borders on exonerating the Nazis, even celebrating t... more »
Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW) - Green Fertilizer
Welcome to Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)! Wondering how to live greener? You've come to the right place. Each week we challenge ourselves to try a new task ... or "amp up" something we're already doing. We raise our awareness, learn from each other and develop Eco-friendly skills which will improve our lives and protect our planet. Doing so together gives us power ... the power to Change The World! If this is your first visit, please click *HERE* for information and a complete list of all the challenges we've taken on so far. This post contains great information and I encourag... more »
Kate Braun : Celebrate the fire festival Beltane, aka May Day
Beltane has to do with heat, romance, passion, survival, spontaneity, food, fertility, and joining. By Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | April 29, 2015 We celebrate the season of Beltane, also called Roodmas, May Day, and Walpurgisnacht, on April … finish reading Kate Braun : Celebrate the fire festival Beltane, aka May Day
Alan Waldman : TELEVISION | ‘Scott & Bailey’ is a gripping Manchester cop series headed by three smart, strong women
Lesley Sharp, Suranne Jones, and Amelia Bullmore are deft as police inspectors great at their jobs but shaky in their personal lives. By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | April 28, 2015 [In his Rag Blog column, Alan Waldman … finish reading Alan Waldman : *TELEVISION* | ‘Scott & Bailey’ is a gripping Manchester cop series headed by three smart, strong women
Mohawk Nation News 'WE ARE PRISONERS OF WAR'
http://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2015/04/28/we-are-prisoners-of-war/ -- Censored News www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Musical Interlude: Mike Oldfield, “Tubular Bells”
Mike Oldfield, “Tubular Bells” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5gDGcXIEQE
If you think you're hearing unexpected and unwanted sound on Web pages you visit, you may not be nuts, and maybe can fight it
*by Ken* Have you had the experience of visiting a website and after a while hearing mysterious, not immediately traceable, er, stuff -- very likely stuff of a commercial nature -- and you can't figure out where it's coming from? Yes, there are Web pages that triggger the opening of other Web pages, but those you can find and close down easily enough. And sure, you can sometimes see that there's an advertising thingie on the page that's yammering on its own, which you can maybe stop (or maybe not, without getting the heck out of the page entirely). But what I'm thinking of as ram... more »
"A Look to the Heavens"
“The spiral arms of bright galaxy M106 sprawl through this remarkable multiframe portrait, composed of data from ground- and space-based telescopes. Also known as NGC 4258, M106 can be found toward the northern constellation Canes Venatici. The well-measured distance to M106 is 23.5 million light-years, making this cosmic scene about 80,000 light-years across. *Click image for larger size.* Typical in grand spiral galaxies, dark dust lanes, youthful blue star clusters, and pinkish star forming regions trace spiral arms that converge on the bright nucleus of older yellowish stars. Bu... more »
Chet Raymo, “Thinking Like A Tortoise”
*“Thinking Like A Tortoise”* by Chet Raymo “The average lifespan in a hunter-gatherer society is 32 years. If you think you'd like the simplicity and ecological integrity of a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, be sure to take your mobile phone and not wander too far away from a hospital. Culture, medical and biological science in particular, changed things dramatically. A century-and-a-half ago life expectancy at birth was 50 years, with child mortality being the most significant limiting factor. By the time I was born, life expectancy at birth was pushing 70 years, with the age-range 14-... more »
"Life Is Hard?"
"Life is hard? True- but let's love it anyhow, though it breaks every bone in our bodies." - Edward Abbey "When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard," I am always tempted to ask, "Compared to what?" - Sydney Harris
The Poet: Mary Oliver, “Wild Geese”
*“Wild Geese”* "You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagi... more »
From inside Baltimore city [updated]
UPDATE: Other commentary I like: - 'The Great Society' Meets its Waterloo in Baltimore – Michael Hurd, LIVING RESOURCES - The Mayor of Baltimore’s Not-So-Freudian Slip – Michael Hurd, CAPITALISM MAGAZINE - Baltimore's Long History of Failed Development and Urban Renewal – Nick Gillespie, HIT & RUN ------------------------------ Let me say at the outset I am in favour of the rule of law. As is this mother giving her son “the smackdown of his life” for throwing rocks at Baltimore police. (No, beating your kid in public isn't good parenting. But ringing them u... more »
Covering The War In Syria
*Vocativ*: *These Guys Risk Their Lives To Film Daily Attacks In Syria* *As the civil war in Syria drags into its fourth year, a group of Syrian and American journalists under the name Aleppo Media Center capture the daily violence tearing the country apart. The frequent attacks by the Syrian government aren’t covered in the Western media nearly as much as threats by ISIS, says Ali Al-Zajel, cameraman for the center, which produces hundreds of images a day.* *The Syrian Civil War between President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups, including ISIS, has left more than 200,000 dead a... more »
Untitled
*Try to imagine full-throated apologies from the prosecutors axed in ‘Commentgate’ ~Mark Moseley, The Lens* *Looting Louisiana in the Broad Daylight (with apologies to Emmylou Harris): Who audits LA severance tax payments? ~Louisiana Voice*
Untitled
*Ranking Saints draft needs: No. 3 Wide receiver ~Mike Triplett, ESPN*
Is The World On Course For The Biggest Mass Default In History
Eurozone bond prices have entered a Kafkaesque world of negative yields Photo: Alamy *Jeremy Warner, The Telegraph:* *Negative interest rates put world on course for biggest mass default in history* *More than €2 trillion-worth of eurozone government bonds trade on a negative interest rate. It's a bubble that is bound to end badly Here’s an astonishing statistic; more than 30pc of all government debt in the eurozone – around €2 trillion of securities in total – is trading on a negative interest rate.With the advent of European Central Bank quantitative easing, what began fou... more »
Since 2010 the Big 4 UK banks have paid £42bn in fines and compensation for their scams. There's another £19bn on the way
SOURCE DAILY MAIL: Britain's biggest banks face further £19bn of fines and charges to pay for financial scandals The UK’s ‘big four’ banks – HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland – have already racked up a £42billion bill in the UK over the last five years. This represents 88 per cent of the industry wide total of £48billion in charges faced by 13 banks and
Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 28, 2015
*Kartikay Mehrotra/Unni Krishnan/Tom Lasseter, Bloomberg:* *Nobody Knows Just How Bad Things Are in Nepal * *Down a side street in Kathmandu, Sumit Balang watched a bulldozer rummage through bricks, concrete chunks and other pieces of a four-story apartment building left in ruins after an earthquake on Saturday.* *Somewhere in there was his brother. Balang’s eyes followed the slow excavation on Tuesday morning before he showed a text message he received the previous night from his older sibling, Amit: “I need food and help.” Maybe Amit Balang, 33, was still alive. Maybe he wasn’t.... more »
World News Briefs -- April 28, 2015
*The Guardian*: *Aid flights to Yemen blocked after Saudi Arabian jets bomb airport runway* *Bombing by aircraft that had ignored warning to turn back intended to prevent Iranian plane landing in Sana’a airport* *Planned aid flights to Yemen have been blocked after Saudi Arabian jets bombed the runway at Sana’a airport on Tuesday.* *Aircraft belonging to the Saudi Arabian-led coalition carried out the bombings on Tuesday afternoon to prevent an Iranian plane from landing in the Yemeni capital, a spokesman for the coalition said.* *MIDDLE EAST* U.S., allies conduct *20 air stri... more »
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