10:28pm MDST
Alice Embree : Accessing history in the digital age
Three hundred issues of The Rag are now available in a digital format. By Alice Embree | The Rag Blog | May 8, 2016 Those of us who came of age in the ’60s remember library research as a visit … finish reading Alice Embree : Accessing history in the digital age
Executive Orders, Transition Act & Presidential Interregnum
Another Executive Order was signed by Obama on Friday May 6th, 2016. And Yes, it is not unusual for an outgoing president to add an amendment to the “President Transition Act" of 1963, and for the amendments to happen within 6 months of the next election. What IS unusual are some of the amendments that Obama added on Friday. Some of the language used in these amendments is ambiguous to say the least, leaving some points widely open to interpretation, which always sets off alarm bells for me. But for me there is one Glaring addition that stands out like a beacon of neon light, s... more »
Moldova Next in Line for US-NATO Regime Change
Look at a world map and see where Moldova is located..... more »
U.S.-NATO Pirate Alliance Gone Fascist
- Made it home about 11 pm last night after a 22-hour trip. Watched five good movies on the plane coming from Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. Food was not so hot. Although the food in Odessa was excellent. - Regis and I are very happy with the response our 10-minute video is getting on YouTube. Already over 600 hits - people appear to be sharing it widely. Got lots of emails from people complementing us on it. Seems to be helping people understand the Ukrainian issue. Glad to hear that. - The pro-US *Georgia Today* media site is reporting: NATO... more »
Will The DCCC Welcome Teabaggers Angry At Establishment Republicans?-- PA-09
In the off-chance that the all-white Republican voters in deep red PA-09-- basically the leftover bits and bobs of the southern and central Pennsylvania: Altoona, the exurbs south of Pittsburgh to Chambersburg halfway across the state-- roused themselves on primary day a couple weeks ago to puke on their crooked, philandering congressman, Bill Shuster, we took a little look at the second primary challenge Shuster was getting from wealthy extreme right soiopath and teabagger, Art Halvorson. In 2014 Halvorson had scored 35% in a 3-way primary, to Shuster's 53%. Two weeks ago Halvors... more »
IPR and Innovation 34, When 95% of WHO's EML are off-patent
I am reposting this good article by a good friend, Philip. Enjoy. MAY 3 — Debates on how to improve healthcare in developing countries often start from the same premise: patents can potentially raise drug prices, so they should be abolished for better public health. In the early 2000s this argument drove the campaign against patents on HIV drugs in South Africa. This week it is motivating campaigners against the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in Asia — a proposed Free Trade Agreement between 16 Asian countries that may impose new intellectual requirements. NGO disqui... more »
This Just In From Hillary's Think Tank
Stop the presses! Straight to my in-box from the blog of the "progressive" Center for American Progress founded by Clinton campaign manager and lobbyist John Podesta, were the top two must-not-be-missed click-bait teaser headlines to make your Mothers Day Weekend like, totally, *rock the vote: * *Hillary Clinton's faith is poised to play a big role as she turns to the general election.* *And, how Secret deodorant miserably failed at explaining the wage gap.* Trump will never see her sweat as the sycophantic press writes the next chapter in the Prescribed Hillary Narrative: sucking ... more »
Klee Benally's 'Power Lines' Film Premiere Flagstaff May 21, 2016
http://powerlinesmovie.com/ Power Lines is a politically charged coming of age story about a young Diné (Navajo) poet who runs away and finds home. Featuring Nezbah Ragdoll, Kayla Dailey, Tony Skrelunas, Belinda Ayze, & Sam Minkler.
Western Shoshone at Nevada Test Site: Prayers for Mother Earth on Mother's Day Weekend
Photos by Carl Bad Bear Sampson Western Shoshone Saturday, May 7, 2016 Photos by Carl Bad Bear Sampson Article by Brenda Norrell Censored News On the weeklong Western Shoshone Peace and Friendship Run and Walk, walkers and runners arrived at the Nevada Test Site today, the site of the US atomic bomb testing, on land recognized in the Treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863 as
COMMUNIQUE BY CNI AND EZLN ON REPRESSION AGAINST CHABLEKAL
JOINT COMMUNIQUE BY THE CNI AND EZLN ON REPRESSION AGAINST THE COMMUNITY OF CHABLEKAL To the media To the Human Rights organizations To the Union of Inhabitants of Chablekal To the people of Mexico Sisters and Brothers We, the peoples, communities, tribes, neighborhoods, organizations, and collectives who make up the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) denounce and condemn the events
7 Astonishing Quotes From Auschwitz Survivor Viktor Frankl
[image: Jewish Concentration Camp__1462664718_71.123.204.254] This week Israel celebrated Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Memorial Day, in memory of the six million Jews who were killed by the Nazis during World War II. The Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl survived for three years in several concentration camps --... more »
Blamelessness
Acts of Gord -- floods, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, ice storms -- devastate everything and everyone in their path. Acts of humans like war, train derailments, oil rig blowouts, and pipeline failures likewise do not discriminate in their victims. We consider these victims to be blameless and deserving of all our help and compassion. (Well, except maybe when victims do not share our skin colour, religion, etc. Then we might come around to [minimal] help and [grudging] compassion if the scale of the disaster is massive enough.) Right now the fire in Fort McMurray is gripping Canad... more »
Look Within - A Poem by David Carse
*Look within* *Look within* *Unimginable, perfect beauty* *In the still, silent heart.* *The one perfect blazing radiant Jewel* *All that is* *What you Are * *True Self * *Look and see in the Brilliance.* *Nothing to do to know this:* *Do not think, and this is known.* *When the mind is still* *When the mind is not other than the heart* *Still, silent, radiant heart.* *Look within* *Don't miss this!* *Don't live a life not seeing, not knowing* *This ultimate blinding beauty* *Look and be* *Do not think - look within - you will know* *Who you Are.* *David Carse*
life's a game that we're meant to lose
a girl, a boy, and a graveyard
A Small Non-Profit Is Actually Organizing Raids on ISIS to Free Sex Slaves
[image: Since August, 2014, militants of the Islamic State have been abducting and enslaving Christian and Yazidi women and girls.] A collection of brave individuals acting on behalf of a little-known non-profit is running daring operations to free Islamic State sex slaves, including literally cutting the chains binding a woman to a bed. The Liberation of Christian and Yazidi Children in Iraq... more »
5 Comfortable and Cute Pieces For Summer
Summer fashion has always been harder for me. I love sweaters, boot and scarves. In summer, I always feel like I wear the most boring outfits because I am trying to stay cool. I have put together 5 must have pieces that are light weight, temperature appropriate, comfortable and most importantly super cute! Stay cool AND cute this summer! Denim Romper by Cents of Style * A Denim Romper*- This piece was totally out of my comfort zone but I ended up having a lot of fun with it. It is so comfortable and I love that you can change the look up so much by adding a colorful shirt. I pa... more »
From Our Biased Correspondent
Also while catching up with comments here at *ITBB*, Mishal Husain's new BBC Radio series *From Our Home Correspondent *contained a remarkable report from the Corbynistas' *bête noire* Laura Kuenssberg on the EU referendum debate. Given that Laura is the BBC's Political Editor, I'd have hoped for her to be scrupulously neutral here. 'Scrupulously neutral' she most certainly* wasn't *though. Why was it biased? Well, try this: *When the Chancellor marched onto the gleaming floor of a high-tech factory to deliver the economic Exocet at his rivals who want to leave the EU...* Was it... more »
Can California Democrats Clean Their Own Sacramento Pigsty? Will Doug Kriegel Replace Matt Dababneh
*- by Dorothy Reik,* President, Progressive Democrats if the Santa Monica Mountains "You even spelled my name wrong!" Matt Dababneh’s voice echoed from my cell phone speaker as a crowd of Democrats gathered around while we waited to check into our hotel for the E-Board meeting. They were listening to Matt raging about one of my diatribes, one that called him out. I can’t even remember what he had done because his litany of bad votes and crooked donors are both so long. How he got my number I don’t know. From Eli Broad? Yes, the evil emperor of charter schools who wants 50% of LA s... more »
How Saudi Arabia Is Linked To 911 Terror Attacks
US analyst Daniel R. DePetris asks why Washington is hesitant to release the secret 28 pages of the 911 report. The conclusion is that the 28 pages are irrelevant in linking Saudi Arabia with Al Qaeda and the September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001. The link between the Saudis and Al Qaeda has been documented from before the attacks up until now with terrorist activities in Syria. If anything in the missing 28 pages of the 9/11 Commission Report implicates the Saudis, it is the fact that the pages are missing. Afghan freedom fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated 2 days before 9...more »
Politics As Air Rage
These days, we hear frequent stories about the passenger on an airplane who loses it and has to be restrained by the flight crew. Mark Kingwell writes that air rage has overtaken our politics. The root causes of both are about class: So there we have it, the perfect image of democratic society circa 2016. This is airborne hyperdemocratic dysfunction, the condition in which everyone has been promised everything, but where some kinds of everything are never enough to go around. Because they can’t all be first-class seats. Some people are just happy to have a seat on the plane, may... more »
The Real Story Behind Middle Class Wages
From 1950 to 1970, the percentage of US GDP devoted to wages, salaries, and other compensation, in other words, what the vast majority of us call “income” hovered near between 50% and 52% of GDP overall (see St. Louis Federal Reserve chart for more information). Beginning in 1970 that number began to decline. Under Ronald Reagan […]
The Icing on the Cake
While I'm (desperately) catching up with things, I'm going to strongly echo a comment made here yesterday about last night's *The World Tonight *which noted the "completely sympathetic and unchallenging interview with Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid who - what a surprise - writes frequently for the* Guardian*" re Sadiq election as London mayor. Mr. Hamid did indeed erect straw men over 'Islamophobia' and knocked them down with little or no challenge from the BBC presenter. That same BBC presenter (the usually likeable James Coomarasamy), who also raised up the criticisms of "dog-wh... more »
Big Bird Singing in the Dead of Early Evening
Of all the things about the UK election coverage yesterday, it was the social media reaction to Laura Kuenssberg that most caught my attention. From lunchtime to early evening I learned from the BBC that the SNP had won big in Scotland again. Their [near] triumph and Nicola Sturgeon's victory comments led the BBC One *News at One* and *News at Six*. Both bulletins - especially the *News at Six - *also made much of the remarkable revival of the Scottish Conservatives under Buffalo Ruth and Labour's astonishing, absolutely humiliating third place there. [The striking (if modest) re... more »
20,000 Communists Protest Greece’s Left-Wing Government’s Pension & Tax Reforms
[image: Greek flag fist_compressed_cropped] ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- More than 20,000 slogan-chanting, pro-communist protesters have taken to the streets of Athens to protest against the left-led government’s pension and tax reform bill, which is being debated in Parliament. The march, organized by a union... more »
Charter Schools Week, Part 1: Ravitch Rewrites Shanker
In some recent email snuggling between hedge fund kingpin and KIPP supporter, Whitney Tilson, and Diane Ravitch, Dr. Ravitch attempted to educate Whitney on some of the early rationale for charter schools. Instead, she muddied the historical waters with a bizarre and inaccurate recollection of some of the early developments. Here's a clip from Ravitch's conversation with Tilson, in which Ravitch wistfully considers returning to a time that never was: I would like to see charter schools return to the original idea proposed in 1988 by Albert Shanker and a professor in Massachusetts... more »
Live Feed: Donald Trump Rally Spokane, WA...
*unfortunately, I was unable to attend and I haz a sad!* Alternate Live Stream #1 – Alternate Live Stream #2
The supposedly random phone-in
Here's an *ITBB* exclusive. (I half-spotted it. Sue fully-spotted it.) It concerns BBC phone-ins like *Any Answers *and how - to put it plainly - they've been (partially) taken over by professional agitators (possibly not unlike some episodes of *Question Time *and* Any Questions*). To quote Sue: "There ought to be a dedicated phone-in specially for them, and let them own up. *AA* is not the place. Maybe that's why Anita is employed, it's something to do with shared initials." The first caller today was "Stephen Franklin from north-west London". As a keen *BBC Watch *reader I'm a b... more »
Less than impartial
As loyal readers will know, our close monitoring of the EU referendum coverage of BBC Radio 4's statistical flagship *More or Less *has so far resulted in fairly strong proof of a pronounced pro-Remain/anti-Leave bias. (Please read it for yourselves if you doubt it.) (And please 'listen again' if you still continue to doubt it). This week's edition marked the final episode of the present series. It pledged to look at the numbers on trade and at the UK's relationship with the EU. Would it redress the balance and give us a pro-Brexit debunking? Or would it go 'straight down the m... more »
Laurie Taylor, blackbirds, neo-liberalism and Manx Fiddling
Here's a post I prepared (while I had the chance) on Wednesday night. Whether it's worth posting I'll let you be the judge! ****** It's a lovely night here in Morecambe, still and sunny and sinking softly towards sunset. Collared doves are pouring out their three-note tune in counterpoint to the wood pigeons with their five-note tune. There's a robin doing his trickling little song somewhere, a starling gargling on a drainpipe, and sundry blackbirds letting rip melodiously - all against the backdrop of a chap playing what I'm guessing to be Manx folk music to himself on a violin ... more »
Main Motivation Behind US Voters Is Blocking Unwanted Candidate
Almost half the American voters are going to vote “against” rather than “for,” in order to ensure that either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump doesn’t win the presidential election, according to a poll released this week. RT reports: Nearly half the supporters of Republican candidate Donald Trump plan to vote for him out of fear that Democrat Hillary Clinton might become president. And it’s the same, vice versa, for those who plan to vote for Hillary. “This phenomenon is called negative partisanship,” Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, told Re... more »
Trump Spokesperson Criticizes Romney for Being ‘Pro-Adoption.’ Is She a Racial Separatist?
[image: CNN Screen shot of Katrina Pierson 900 pix] In a CNN interview on Friday, controversial Donald Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson criticized Mitt Romney -- who recently expressed doubts that he will vote for Trump in the presidential election -- for being “pro-adoption.” She used the phrase in the middle of a... more »
Tens of Thousands March in Poland to Support EU, Oppose New Government
[image: Anti-EU catholic activists raise crosses as opponents of Poland's government march to protest the country's direction under a conservative government that is accused of eroding the rule of law, in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday, May 7, 2016. The protest is also meant as a show of support for European values and the country's membership in the EU. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)] WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Tens of thousands of Poles -- perhaps up to a quarter million -- marched through Warsaw on Saturday to express their support for the European Union and opposition to a conservative new ... more »
LEARNING TO READ: There is nothing magic about grade 3
There is nothing magic about grade 3. Comment posted in response to: New York City Aims to Place Reading Coaches in Every Elementary School (Education Week) http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2016/05/new_york_city_reading_coaches.html "Grade 3 is very predictive," Esther Klein Friedman, the executive director of literacy and academic intervention services for the New York City education department, said in an interview recently. "We figure if we've got [students] solidly locked down in reading by the end of grade 2, we've got a really good foundation to sit on." There is nothi... more »
Drug Lord El Chapo Moved To Prison Near US Border
Mexican drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman has been transferred from his maximum security prison near Mexico City to a prison near the border with Texas. El Chapo is the head of Sinaloa organised crime cartel in Mexico and is currently in-between jailbreaks. There are fears that he might be extradited to the US. The Belfast Telegraph reports: The Sinaloa cartel boss was moved from the maximum-security Altiplano lock-up near Mexico City to a prison in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, a security official told The Associated Press, without giving a reason for the transf... more »
The Muslim Mayor
(Most of the following post was written before Ken stepped in to inflame the antisemitism row.) I could hardly live much further away from Bow Bells, but I do care about the rhetoric surrounding the London Mayoral elections. Ken, the previous Labour Mayor, was more famous for antisemitism and cronyism than for London-specific policies. He improved transport, apparently. But what do I care? I’d rather have both feet nailed to the floor than do a daily commute around the capital. Boris was okay because he was `Boris’. He introduced bikes. A bunch of uninspiring candidates unconvinci... more »
Trump isn't responsible for passengers' fear of calculus
Unless Donald Trump loses the interest or dies, he will be the GOP nominee. I have thought that he had the greatest chances among the candidates from August 2015 and was convinced the odds were above 50% since December 2015. Various people who have made the predictions that Trump had no chance have erased their videos – for example, where is your prophesy now, Bill O'Reilly? ;-) At any rate, leftists seem rather hysterical. The confused quantum interpreter Florin Moldoveanu has won a bet he didn't want to win because he thinks that Trump is a "proto-fascist dictator in the making"....more »
Latest Article By John Kaminski: A Teachable Moment!
Yes, it is apparent now that Donald Drumpf will most definitely be the Republican Party candidate for the upcoming 2016 US Presidential "Selections" coming at the beginning of November..... And I have had so many ask me my opinion of Donald's recent statements about putting "America First" in regards to both foreign and domestic policies.... It is also no shock to me that the Jewish power elite that are in full control of America are a bit "peeved" 'by Donald's statement about putting America first, when they of course want America's policies to be wholly controlled by Israel and fo... more »
Wave Of Suicides Plague Small Indian village
Since the start of the year, a tiny village in central India has seen an unprecedented eighty suicides While locals have blamed blame it on demon spirits, some researchers say that pesticides could be behind widespread depression. In a bizarre combination of financial distress, superstition and clinical depression, Khargone, has reported 381suicides in the past year. The continuing ‘depression’ forced the village to declare a state of emergency in early April. It was reported that the youngest resident who tried to attempt suicide was just 11 years old. Russia Today reports: The vi... more »
Editor's Note
Blogging will return later tonight.
Another snapshot
And here's Anita Anand on this afternoon's *Any Answers* introducing the programme: Well, as you have been hearing in the news, the first Muslim mayor of any major Western capital has been sworn in. I'd love to know from you today what does the election of Sadiq Khan do to our political status quo? What does it say about London? What does it say about the rest of the country? And what should parties take away from this? There have been accusations of anti-Sem*e*tic behaviour against Labour, Islamophobia against the Conservatives. What exactly is going on with our politics right no... more »
Snapshot
Here's a 'snapshot' of how the BBC reported its lead story on BBC Breakfast at 7 o'clock this morning: *Headline*: Labour's Sadiq Khan is elected the Mayor of London. He becomes the city's first Muslim mayor, but there has been criticism of the campaign run by the Conservative candidate Zak Goldsmith. *Sadiq Khan*: I am so glad that London today has chosen hope over fear and unity over division. *Introduction to report*: *Naga*: Labour's Sadiq Khan has been confirmed as the new Mayor of London. He becomes the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital. *Ben*: The MP for Tooting ... more »
Americans Renounce Citizenship Fearing Donald Trump Presidency
As the United States comes to grips with the possibility of Donald Trump sitting in the White House making final judgments on U.S. and world affairs, a 1700% increase in renounced citizenship,compared to the Bush era, has been reported by the US Treasury Department. An exodus of U.S. citizens is even more likely after he became the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican party when his rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich dropped out of the race. Sputnik reports: In a public opinion poll released on March 15, 28% of Americans responded that they would consider leaving the coun... more »
Again I wonder if opting out is a dead end. #optout2016
This year’s testing season is drawing to a close. Folks on all sides will once again count their spoils and lick their wounds, prepping for minor flare-ups when test results are finally released, and for future battles to come. I have this feeling that while parents, teachers, and other activists squabble over testing, the system […]
U.S. Beefs Up Security At Its Embassy In Baghdad
*FOX News*: *US Marine platoon arrives in Baghdad to reinforce embassy after protests* The U.S. military has sent a platoon of Marines to bolster security at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad following recent protests led by firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Twenty-five U.S. Marine infantrymen arrived late Thursday night, a U.S. defense official told Fox News. The move comes amid the Sadr-led protests against the rule of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, which escalated last weekend with protesters storming the Green Zone in Baghdad where the embassy is located. *Read more*... more »
Are U.S. Special Forces Spread Too Thin?
*Popular Mechanics*: *Are the Special Forces Stretched Too Thin?* *As the shock-and-awe of conventional warfare has given way to the unpredictable carnage of terrorism, much of the job of keeping America safe has fallen to the military's most elite soldiers. Delta Force. Green Berets. Navy SEALs. The special operators. But with new threats every day and the men stretched thin, can this new strategy last?* On his last flight home, three months before his death, Joshua Wheeler tore through a copy of D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers. It was the only book he could find in English at a s... more »
Former Saudi Arabia Intelligence Chief: Obtaining Nuclear Weapons If Iran Breaks The Nuclear Deal Is An Option
Former Head of Saudi intelligence and current Saudi King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies Chairman Prince Turki Al-Faisal attends a closed session meeting at the IISS Regional Security Summit — The Manama Dialogue in Manama, Dec. 8, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed) *CNN*: *Saudi prince: Getting nukes an option if Iran breaks deal* Washington (CNN)In a reflection of the change and churn in the Middle East, former high-level officials from Saudi Arabia and Israel -- nations that have no formal diplomatic ties -- spoke publicly about their shared sense of Iran a... more »
A Look Back At The Chinese Cultural Revolution 50 Years Later
*Evan Osnos, The New Yorker:* *The Cost of the Cultural Revolution, Fifty Years Later* In 1979, three years after the end of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping visited the United States. At a state banquet, he was seated near the actress Shirley MacLaine, who told Deng how impressed she had been on a trip to China some years earlier. She recalled her conversation with a scientist who said that he was grateful to Mao Zedong for removing him from his campus and sending him, as Mao did millions of other intellectuals during the Cultural Revolu... more »
Six-Word War
*Business Insider:* *'General, sir, we shouldn't go outside': Powerful true-war stories told in 6-word poems* The "Six-Word War" project is the first crowdsourced war memoir collecting experiences from veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In six-word poems, veterans describe the complexities of modern warfare in their own words. The results are at times humorous, agonizing, reflective, and profound. Submissions for "Six-Word War" are accepted on Tumblr, Facebook, and #SixWordWar. Here's a selection of 21 powerful poems from the "Six-Word War" memoir. *Read more* .... *WNU ... more »
A Look At How A B-52 Bomber Performs A Strong Crosswind Landing
*The Aviationist*:* Incredible video shows B-52 bomber performing strong crosswind landing* Depending on the type of aircraft, pilots may be required to apply a Wind Correction Angle (WCA) and “crab” the plane aligning nose and tail with the wind direction to counter the drifting effect of side winds during strong crosswind landings. Whilst most of the planes “de-crab” once the main landing gear touches the ground (or shortly before), the U.S. Air Force iconic B-52 bomber was designed in such a way the landing gear can be set up to 20 degrees left to right of centerline for both ... more »
Global Military Spending
*Business Insider*: *The only chart you need to see to know that the US spends more on its military than the next 11 countries combined* It's no surprise the United States pours more money into its military than any other country in the world. In 2015, the US had a defense budget of about $597 billion, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies' most recent World Military Balance report, released earlier this year. In short, that's more than the next 11 countries combined. *Read more* .... *WNU Editor: *That's a lot of money.
Venezuela Has 4,000 Generals
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (R) and national assembly president Diosdado Cabello attend a military parade to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the failed coup attempt by late president Hugo Chavez in Caracas in this February 4, 2015 picture provided by Miraflores Palace. *Bloomberg editorial*: *Venezuela's Military Needs to Get Out of Business* Venezuela has more than 4,000 generals, compared with fewer than 50 in 1993. This kind of runaway inflation is every bit as pernicious as the economic variety, which also afflicts Venezuela -- in fact, they have to be addressed to... more »
Iran Has An Islamic State Problem In The Eastern Past Of The Country
*Fatemeh Aman and Alex Vatanka, National Interest:** Iran's Other ISIS Problem* Tehran can't ignore Afghanistan and Pakistan. On paper, Iran should be the one country in west Asia that does its utmost to counter the message of Islamic State (ISIS). The movement, after all, is both vehemently anti-Shia and deeply anti-Iranian in its messaging and worldview. However, Iran’s efforts to combat ISIS have been missing one important element, one that should be a prerequisite to any successful anti-ISIS campaign: taking innovative and meaningful steps to inoculate Iran’s own Sunni minori... more »
Paul Ryan Is Unlikely To Be Trump's Running Mate
Yesterday, Noah hit on something when he pointed out that in 1968 George Wallace had picked insubordinate and apocalyptic crackpot and arch-war criminal General Curtis LeMay as his running mate. LeMay, who tried to trigger a nuclear showdown with Russia over Cuba, called JFK's avoidance of the Cuban missile showdown "the greatest defeat in our history." Is there a general-- or even just a major-- as dangerous and controversial today as LeMay was back when LBJ fired him or when George Wallace drafted him for Trump to look to as a running mate? (Sorry, LeMay is dead now.) "Mad Dog" ... more »
New York: forget reading coaches: support libraries and librarians
Comment posted in response to: New York City Aims to Place Reading Coaches in Every Elementary School (Education Week) http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2016/05/new_york_city_reading_coaches.html New York City reading coaches "will emphasize use of the five pillars of reading laid out in the 2000 National Reading Panel report—phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.” Has New York considered the many challenges to the conclusions of the National Reading Panel report? Many of these have appeared in Education Week, as well as in respected professio... more »
Pseudojournalism watch: Pacino weighs in on Trump's latest flip!
*SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2016"This whole discourse is out of order," furious movie star says:* According to a team of underage analysts, Al Pacino has weighed in on Donald J. Trump's latest flip. "This whole discourse is out of order," Pacino reportedly told our investigative team in a late-night telephonic chat. He specifically said that he meant to include the press corps in his assessment. What was Pacino talking about? Atop the front page of this morning's Washington Post, Matea Gold mentions Donald J. Trump's latest flip. Truth to tell, she mentions his flip in passing. She almost m... more »
Sadiq's uncles
I know it's all rather too late now... ...but the *Daily Mail*, *Metro, Harry's Place, *Alan at *Biased BBC *and *many* others reported (before election day) a final bid to stop Sadiq Khan from becoming what the BBC has been calling *all day *today {so far}"the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital": namely the release of that extraordinary video of Sadiq (from 2009) calling 'moderate Muslims' "Uncle Toms". Now, the video *does *suggest (to my mind) that Sadiq was *trying* to say the right thing but the 'Uncles Toms' bit just slipped out...which doesn't* really* make it ... more »
Apology
Please excuse the sheer randomness (and possible sub-standard nature) of the following posts. I've been semi-'out of office' over much of the the past week and am feeling a *long *way 'behind the curve'. (I'm only sorry that Dr. Laura Wright from Radio 4's *World of Mouth* isn't available to us here at *ITBB* to explain the history of those italicised phrases - though I'm sure Dr. Google would also supply the answer).
Does schooling today promote a flat affect?
I was intrigued by this recent NYT article, To Help Students Learn, Engage the Emotions. It makes intuitive sense. Of learning in general: This rule holds true even across subjects and disciplines, Dr. Immordino-Yang writes in her book, “Emotions, Learning, and the Brain.” “Even in academic subjects that are traditionally considered unemotional, such as physics, engineering […]
Donald Trump Has A Feeling Britain Would Be ‘Better Off Without’ EU
Donald Trump has come out in support of Brexit saying that Britain would be “better off without” the European Union (EU) The presumptive Republican nominee for president said that he was not making a “recommendation” but his “feeling” was that the UK should vote to sever ties with the EU. Press TV reports: “I would say [the British] are better off without [the EU], personally,” he said. “But I’m not making that as a recommendation, just my feeling.” “I know Great Britain very well, I know the country very well. I have a lot of investments there,” he said. Last month, US President Bar... more »
ACLU Continues Attacks on Catholic Hospitals in New Report
[image: Trinity Health Catholic Hospitals Abortion - 900] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is continuing its efforts to force Catholic hospitals to conduct abortions and engage in other medical procedures banned by the American bishops’ Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Healthcare Services (ERD). On Thursday, the group... more »
Untitled
*From* *Jenna Orkin* CIA Chief Who Oversaw Bin Laden Raid Convinced He Was Poisoned By ISI Demand for physical gold is exploding LABOUR'S SADIQ KHAN IS THE NEW MAYOR OF LONDON REPORT: FBI has yet to find evidence that Hillary Clinton intentionally broke email rules Big Brother Arrives In Public Schools - Biometric Scanners Track Students Every Move California Fault Lines Are "Locked, Loaded, & Ready" For The Big One, Expert Warns Worst.Month.Ever... Hong Kong Retail Sales Collapse In March "I Mean, Every Trade Was A Tick Up" - Steve Wynn Shows How Stocks Are Manipulated Zimbabwe... more »
Wild Bill: Political Crybaby Season...
*can we all handle another 6 months of this?*
The Finance Committee, KPMG, and Section 241
In the 2013 documentary film *The Tax Free Tour* - excellent doc, highly recommend it - former KPMG accountant Richard Murphy explains that federal governments hire the Big Four - Price Waterhouse Coopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, & KPMG - who write tax laws that benefit both the corps and their clients. According to Murphy, he is still bound not to talk about KPMG client affairs in offshore tax free havens from 30 years ago under pain of fine for breach of ethics and being sued by the clients. Yesterday Canada Revenue Agency's Diane Lorenzato told the Finance Committee right off th... more »
London’s New Muslim Mayor Sadiq Khan Has Pro-Gay Credentials
London has voted for a new mayor in the form of Sadiq Khan. He is the first London mayor with Muslim and Asian heritage and he won 57% of over 1.3 million votes. Some people are curious to know if the non-white, non-Christian new mayor of London is also non-homophobic. The Gay UK reports: Sadiq Khan is the MP for Tooting in London. During his term in office he has, according to theyworkforyou.com, “almost always voted for equal gay rights.” In 2007 he voted Yes on the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation), in 2013 he voted in favour of allowing same-sex couples to marry – but was absen... more »
Senator- US Trying To Block Syrian Liberation Of Aleppo From Al-Nusra
The US government has most likely acted to prevent the Syrian government’s armed forces from recapturing the city of Aleppo from the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front, according to Richard Black, US Senator for the State of Virginia On Friday, Black said: “It is clear to me that what is happening is we are trying desperately to slow down the Syrian army’s advance, which is on the verge of crushing al-Nusra and liberating Aleppo once and for all” al-Nusra Front Sputnik News reports: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated that the United States was attempting to create a sa... more »
Physicists Squeeze Water Molecules Into an Entirely New State
Not readily available in nature of course except perhaps in rock itself. Still interesting and all that. Not sure what to do with it though. By freezing the oxygen we set up multiple locii for the hydrogen and then an average of position prevails. Should apply elswhere if it proves useful. Good stuff. . *Physicists Squeeze Water Molecules Into an Entirely New State* *Written by* *MICHAEL BYRNE* * April 23, 2016 // 09:30 AM EST* *http://motherboard.vice.com/read/physicists-squeeze-water-molecules-beyond-solids-liquids-and-gases* *Physicists from the Department of Energ... more »
Giant Raptor Sightings
This is a report shared here directly and it reminds me that many such reports are lost simply because there is no one to share it with. This is obviously a huge raptor. The speckled head may even make it a juvenile not yet fully grown. That may explain why it is resting in a ditch beside a roadway perhaps eating carrion. The creature exists. A similarly sized raptor was seen by myself as a teenager close hunting over our grain field at a known measured distance of about three hundred yards. It plumage was grey to white even and the only thing close in the guide books were ... more »
Kill the Vampires in your House
Sucking your energy while you sleep, they dont.
Weekend reads: Another autism-vaccine fraud movie?; zombie papers; herbicide-cancer report taken down
The week at Retraction Watch featured an imposter editor and an author who threatened to sue a journal if it didn’t reverse a retraction. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: There may be another movie: A Hollywood screenwriter is developing a film about anti-vaxxer Andrew Wakefield, following the documentary “Vaxxed,” reports Rebecca Robbins for STAT. “Zombie papers can […] The post Weekend reads: Another autism-vaccine fraud movie?; zombie papers; herbicide-cancer report taken down appeared first on Retraction Watch.
GAIA PORTAL: Escarpments of Light impress from Gaia Higher forms
*Escarpments of Light impress from Gaia Higher forms* by ÉirePort *Escarpments* 1 of Light impress from Gaia Higher forms. *Stereos* 2 of viewpoints are accepted and embraced. *Latitudes* 3 of Inner magnificence are traversed. *Monitors* 4 release. Harmonies *entreat* 5. ÉirePort | May 7, 2016 at 08:18 | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/p2sFUY-yg *1. *es·carp·ment \i-ˈskärp-mənt\ 1: a steep slope in front of a fortification 2: a long cliff or steep slope separating two comparatively level or more gently sloping surfaces and resulting from erosion or faultingSe... more »
Will Free Speech Loving Canada allow Dieudonne to Perform at His Sold Out Shows?
* Keep in mind how much Canada loves "free speech"... When it's the state approved kind of"free speech", that is! * *CBC : Publishing the most one sided/propagandistic article imaginable!Of course. Always doing the bidding of our state sponsored tyranny!I'm excluding the heavy hand of perception management employed in the piece* *"Espace Mushagalusa, a small art gallery in downtown Montreal, has booked Dieudonné to play ten shows in a room that accommodates 200 people from May 11 to 16.Shows sold out quicklyGallery owner Mushagalusa Chigoho told CBC the shows... more »
Abandoned Tanker Washed Up On Liberia Beach Causes Concern
The appearance of an oil tanker, washed up and grounded on the shores of Liberia in west Africa with no crew or life boats, remains a mystery and a security concern. The Maritime Executive reports: The ship was abandoned when discovered by local residents, leading to speculation (but no confirmed reports) regarding the crew’s whereabouts. Farbric Radio reports that fishermen had spotted the vessel near the town of Taililor on Monday, and had not seen either crew or lifeboats aboard; the station said that she may have already been abandoned at the time she went aground. On Thursday, ... more »
RT America To Host Third-Party Presidential Debates
Americans tired of watching a two party presidential race can now tune into RT America to see what other third-party candidates are out there. RT America is hosting two third-party presidential debates, asking candidates tough questions and revealing why in the U.S. third-party opinions are not counted by the establishment and the media. Watching the Hawks RT reports: With Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton seemingly locked in a battle to be the most hated presidential candidate in history, and Bernie Sanders fighting the system for the Democratic nomination, many voters are feeling d... more »
World War II Era Aircraft Carrier Found And Its Atomic Role Revealed
Features on an historic photo of USS Independence CVL 22 are captured in a three-dimensional (3D) low-resolution sonar image of the shipwreck in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. (NOAA, Boeing, and Coda Octopus) *FOX News/Live Science*: *Secret atomic role of WWII-era aircraft carrier revealed* A team of underwater archaeologists has pieced together information from declassified government documents and a shipwrecked World War II-era naval vessel to understand the secret role played by one of the most historic U.S. aircraft carriers: the USS Independence. The Independence (C... more »
Military Photo of the Day: U.S. Troops in Tunisia, 1943
[image: US troops with an abandoned M3 halftrack used by German troops in Tunisia, Early May 1943.] US troops with an abandoned M3 halftrack used by German troops in Tunisia, Early May 1943. - Wikipedia
North Korea Party to Give Kim Jong Un Top Title at Congress
[image: A woman is dwarfed as she walks past giant portraits of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il at the Kim Il Sung Square Saturday, May 7, 2016 in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed his country's recent nuclear test to uproarious applause as he convened the first full congress of its ruling party since 1980, an event intended to showcase the North's stability and unity in the face of tough international sanctions and deepening isolation. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)] PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea’s ruling party is pr... more »
Oregon Tells Schools to Let Boys Play Girls’ Sports if They Want
[image: Soccer - 900] Oregon's state government released a set of guidelines for schools Thursday informing educators that students must be allowed to use whatever locker rooms they want and play on opposite-sex sports teams as long as they say it reflects their chosen gender identity. Not... more »
Untitled
*Harvard Will Punish Students Who Join Single-Sex Clubs* *Male Harvard students greatly value their traditional male clubs. And why not? If women can have "safe spaces", why not men too?* Harvard University announced new policies Friday intended to punish any student who joins a single-sex social club. Harvard President Drew Faust announced the decision in an email to students. Under the new policy, any student who joins a single-sex fraternity, sorority, or final club will be banned from captaining a sports team, leading a recognized student group, or being endorsed for fellow... more »
Election 22, Is Du30 victory almost certain?
The SWS, Pulse Asia, and The Standard Poll, these 3 big survey firms say that based on their latest (until this week) surveys show that Duterte will win on Monday, May 9 general elections, getting about 1/3 of the votes. The other 2/3 votes are split into 4 other candidates. So a Du30 victory has a high probability. What's next? This is made possible by our multi-party system. A 2-party system where the winner should get at least 50% + 1 of the votes will have a better mandate. And there are lots of knock out polls before one can be the standard bearer of 2 strong parties. But that ... more »
Video: Ireland Fighting HPV Vaccine Injury & Big Pharma Control
Ireland is fighting back against injuries caused by the HPV vaccine and Big Pharma control over its public health services. R.E.G.R.E.T. is a support group that was set up by parents of Irish teenage girls who developed serious health problems after receiving HPV vaccines (Gardasil) at secondary school. The vaccine has been offered to teenage girls in Ireland since May 2010 as part of the schools vaccination programme and is recommended by the World Health Organsiation. Jefferey Jaxen reports: The world is watching as Irish communities have gained public, political and mainstream m... more »
Untitled
*New analyses reveal that a doubling of atmospheric CO2 would have only a tiny effect on temperature* Will Coal save Japan and the World? Kyoji Kimoto Abstract The central dogma is critically evaluated in the anthropogenic global warming (AGW) theory of the IPCC, claiming the Planck response is 1.2K when CO2 is doubled. The first basis of it is one dimensional model studies with the fixed lapse rate assumption of 6.5K/km. It is failed from the lack of the parameter sensitivity analysis of the lapse rate for CO2 doubling. The second basis is the Planck response calculation by Ces... more »
Zephyr Teachout Schools The DC Political Establishment About What Bribery Means
Congressmen Alan Grayson (D) and David Jolly (R) are running against each other for the open Florida Senate seat but are also co-sponsoring a bill that would prohibit federal elected officials from soliciting campaign donations-- which everyone in DC knows are bribes. Yes, bribes, but bribes redefined in such a way as to keep those who write the laws and those who underwrite their careers out of prison. The video above, an ad running in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo from the Bill Ostrander for Congress campaign hones in on the abstract messaging around "campaign finance refor... more »
Tony Abbott for PM
Probably not the most accurate poll due to the bias of his readers. A poll conducted by Zanetti shows that, of his readers, 90% want Tony Abbot to be Prime Minister. Poor Malcolm gets only 1%; whilst the man who MT has been tricking, ScoMo is only rating slightly above Malcolm (actually double MT's rating) with 2%. Interesting - the two candidates below Tony Abbot are the The ALP's Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek's combined vote at 0% is one percent (1%) below Buffoon Clive Palmer. How can a buffoon out-rate Labor's leader and deputy leader. To Misquote Clive ( and his take on ... more »
The National Party Should Split with Turnbull's Left Leaning Liberals.
On Malcolm Turnbull's knife in the back coup, the Nationals negotiated a new Coalition agreement. As recorded by the Weekly Times on September 15, 2015: (link) THE Nationals have notched up some big wins in a new Coalition agreement negotiated after Malcolm Turnbull toppled Tony Abbott. For the first time, the agreement includes a side letter outlining policy directions for the future, in an apparent bid to protect the party’s platform from the more moderate Mr Turnbull. It includes assurances that there will be no change of policy on some of the most controversial issues of th... more »
On Mother’s Day, The Hidden Pain of Miscarriage and Abortion
[image: sad_woman_head_in_hands] I heard my mother's sobs from the bathroom and knew something was wrong. I went to my parents' room, where my father was sitting alone on the bed, his eyes wet and his head bowed low into his hands. "Why... more »
Giving Trump His Due
[image: Donald Trump - 900] Every Trump critic had “Oh, he**” moments during the primary season. They were when Donald Trump demonstrated a keen, gut-level political instinct that even an exceptionally talented conventional politician would be hard-pressed to match. An example: During a Republican debate... more »
Police: Alleged Wife-Killer Shot Random Human Targets Before Surrendering
[image: Police take Eulalio Tordil, 62, a suspect in three fatal shootings in the Washington, D.C., area into custody in Bethesda, Md., Friday, May 6, 2016. Tordil is an employee of the Federal Protective Service, which provides security at federal properties. He was put on administrative duties in March after a protective order was issued against him. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)] SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) -- The shooting spree began with a domestic slaying in an unusually public place. According to police, Eulalio Tordil, a federal security officer, shot and killed his estranged wife as s... more »
Economic News & Views ( May 7 , 2016 ) Overview For Saturday ( 1. Greece - Ahead Of The May 9th Meeting With Its Creditors , Greece Gov't Pension Reform Measures & Tax Hikes Set For Critical Parliamentary Votes , General Strikes Paralyze Greece , IMF threatens To Pull Out Of Greece Rescue Plan . 2. Turkey In Focus - After Forcing Out Prime Minister Davutoglu , President Gets Back To Tasks Of Securing His Reign Over Turkey , Jailing Journalists , Threatening The Spineless EU & Ignoring The US Bleating . 3. Libya In Focus - Refugee Focus Has shifted To Libya , ISIS Raises Hell Once Again , Disturbing Trend Of Police / Army Officers In Tripoli With Nary A Peep From Internationally Recognized GNA. 4. US Politics Watch - GOP Civil War Between Trump and GOP Elites Continues , FBI Continues Work On "Email-Gate ". 5. Odds & Ends. )
Greece...... *Manos Giakoumis* @ManosGiakoumis 3h 3 hours ago (1) #Greece MoF tabled two key amendments in draft bill on income tax reform: 1) Lower tax-free threshold for taxpayers w <=1 child #ec #imf *Manos Giakoumis* @ManosGiakoumis 3h 3 hours ago (2) change in the tax rate for small businesses to 29% (from 26% for annual income < €50,000 and 33% for higher income). #Greece #ec #imf *EU & Democracy* @EU_Democracy 29m 29 minutes ago (1/2) @tsakalotos #*Greece* FinM http://bit.ly/1Xd6XMq : Fiscal brake constit. impossible... *EU & Democracy* @EU_Dem... more »
Russia Questions The Effectiveness Of The US Led Coalition In Iraq
Russia’s UN envoy has questioned the efficacy of the US led counter-terror operation in Iraq, as terrorist activity there has intensified. Russia is concerned that terrorists seem to have learned to manufacture poisonous substances, Vitaly Churkin said while urging the UN to delve into the origin of chemical agents obtained by militants “via Turkey.” RT reports: Speaking at Friday’s UN Security Council meeting on Iraq, Russia’s Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, commended the Iraqi government’s efforts in combatting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), while questioning the ro... more »
The Warrior’s Way – 50 Ways to Open Up to Personal Power
*Alex Vandenberg* - The wanders into the wilderness, guided by the light of the heart.
GOP Intra-Party Fight Continues as Bush, Graham Pile on Trump
[image: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally, Friday, May 6, 2016, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)] WASHINGTON (AP) -- Big-name GOP leaders piled on Friday against Donald Trump in an extraordinary show of Republican-vs.-Republican discontent over his winning the party’s presidential nomination. Trump just shrugged it off, declaring they didn’t really matter when compared to all... more »
Bernie Sanders Unbowed in His Bid to Push Democratic Convention Further Left
[image: Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks to McDowell county community members and other supporters during a campaign event at Five Loaves and Two Fishes food pantry in Kimball, W.Va., Thursday May 5, 2016. (Christian Tyler Randolph/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT] LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Friday threatened a floor fight over rules and platform planks at the party’s summer convention on Friday, warning the Democratic National Committee not to stack the convention’s standing committees ... more »
French Socialist President Preps for Re-Election Run Amid High Joblessness, Low Growth, Tax Hikes
[image: French President Francois Hollande arrives to deliver a speech after the weekly cabinet meeting, Wednesday, March 30, 2016 in Paris. Hollande has decided to abandon a bill that would have revoked citizenship for convicted terrorists and strengthened the country’s state of emergency.] PARIS (AP) -- The most unpopular president in France’s modern history, Francois Hollande, is preparing the ground for a potential re-election bid. His leftist base is in open revolt, protesting youth are clashing with police nearly every night, and France... more »
Britain To Send Troops To Libya Without Parliamentary Approval
The UK Foreign Office has admitted that plans to deploy 1,000 British troops to Libya without parliamentary approval, are well underway A third of the force will reportedly train local militias to fight jihadists, while the bulk will maintain security. Russia Today reports: The revelations came as Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants detonated a car bomb in Libya’s third city of Misrata on Friday, killing two policemen. Local TV reports suggest the city’s militia commanders have rushed fighters to a key crossroads overrun by IS. In this context of surging violence, the UK... more »
DECC Claim They Are “Driving Down Electricity Costs”!
By Paul Homewood h/t Stewgreen https://www.gov.uk/government/news/securing-the-uks-electricity-supply DECC have now reported on the results of the consultation it held into the operation of the capacity market it began in March: The Government is taking action to ensure the UK’s long-term energy security as it builds a system of energy infrastructure fit for […]
Survey Finds Over 8 Million Are Struggling To Buy Food In UK
Over eight million in Britain cannot afford to feed themselves properly, with around 4.7 millions regularly going a day without food according to estimates of hunger in the UK According to the analysis of UN data by the Food Foundation thinktank, almost 17 times the number of those who use Trussell Trust food banks felt insecure about having enough to consume, which shows hunger in the UK is a great deal more widespread than rising charity food use suggests Press TV reports: Experiencing hunger, being unable to secure enough food of sufficient quality and quantity for a healthy body... more »
Bernie Sanders: Old and In the Way
(By *American Zen*'s Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari Goldstein.) *I*'m surprised no one of any note, influence or consequence has accused Senator Bernie Sanders of being old and in the way. If they ever do, then he should take that as a compliment and keep shuffling his way to Philadelphia. I could be accused of simplistic, one dimensional thinking when I say this but it bears repeating in plain, unvarnished English: Bernie Sanders has exceeded the expectations of his own supporters, the DNC and especially Hillary Clinton's campaign. Without relying on corporate donations or th... more »
MESSENGER Probe Reveals Detailed Map Of Mercury After Demise
NASA’s MESSENGER has revealed a Topographic map of Mercury after the spacecraft ran out of fuel and slammed into the planet’s surface last year, bringing an extraordinary eleven year mission to a successful end. The Planetary Data System (PDS) released the first global elevation model of Mercury’s surface on Friday. MESSENGER Mission News reports: The global topographic model was among three new products released today by the Planetary Data System (PDS), an organization that archives and distributes all of NASA’s planetary mission data. With this 15th and last major data release, t... more »
‘Closer To the Ground,’ Knowing God is Sovereign
[image: Kneeling in field Praying grass - 900] "The closer to His sovereignty that you step, the closer to the ground your face will be in worship, gratitude and humility. Faith to be immovable and unconquerable will find its place in the sovereign will of our God." -... more »
Jesuit James Martin, Evangelical James Robison Agree: Don’t Be a Jerk, and Love Your Enemies
[image: James Martin James Robison - 900] The last three words he just slightly spaced out, giving them even more emphasis. "You've got to talk to them so they can see you love them," Stream publisher James Robison said in a phone meeting a few days ago. He was talking about people... more »
America's Outrageous Ultimatum: Syria as the Libya of the Levant
*May 7, 2016 *(Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - How the United States presumes to possess the authority to determine the fate of a sovereign nation thousands of miles from its own shores in the Middle East is never explained by US Secretary of State John Kerry when he recently announced a new ultimatum leveled at Damascus. Nor is it explained why Syria should capitulate to US demands to begin a political transition that has demonstrably left other nations across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) divided, destroyed, and safe-havens for state-sponsored terrorism years after "successful" ... more »
Japan's Next Generation of Farmers Could Be Robots
This is actually going to happen sooner than later and should be welcomed. Agriculture needs massive amount of repetitive low impact labor also known as drudgery to a human mind better suited to providing guidance and repairing glitches. Productivity demands a massive input of physical attention better supplied by robots. We have taken large equipment as far as it can go and not too satisfactorily either. It really demands a thousand acre field that is nice and flat. Yet productivity falls short even when comparing industrial apples to organic apples and is obviously a fracti... more »
Hyper Vision
It is not too far away. It is also a natural step beyond the Holodec and avoids the reral space that envisages. .. What it does mean is that you can enter an experience and correctly realize that experience. I often wondered what it would feel like to ride a dolphin. This will make just that possible without even annoying a dolphin. Better mind to mind communicdation can be integrated to make even all that work seamlessly. With this Heaven on Earth can be experienced. In the process it can also be realized.. *HYPER VISION* *The world’s hottest startup isn’t locat... more »
Do Soldiers Have Their Own Unique Language?
Ranks of international soldiers stand ready for their upcoming deployment to Afghanistan during a farewell ceremony held July 25 at Heidelberg headquarters. The soldiers will continue the unit’s mission of conducting mainly plans, operations and stability assignments. (Photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Dwight Chaney) *Matti Friedman, The Atlantic*: *The Peculiar Language of Soldiers* *What jargon says about armies, and the societies they serve.* JERUSALEM—“We have two flowers and one oleander. We need a thistle.” Listening to the Israeli military frequencies when I was an infantryman ... more »
Pentagon Admits That U.S. Forces Are On The Ground In Yemen Supporting Combat Operations Against Al Qaeda
JUST IN: Pentagon reveals US forces back in Yemen https://t.co/er054KmBQ9 pic.twitter.com/7wZSm8FVS4 — The Hill (@thehill) May 6, 2016 *The Guardian/AFP*: *US military admits troops are operating inside Yemen to combat al-Qaida* Defense department publicly acknowledges for the first time that US troops are aiding Yemen’s government to fight al-Qaida affiliated forces The US military has for the first time publicly acknowledged that US troops are operating inside Yemen to help the country’s government and a Saudi-backed coalition confront al-Qaida affiliated forces. Defense depar...more »
Tweet For Today
Syrian regime puts on patriotic celebration at the ancient city of Palmyra https://t.co/mtyeXJamKE pic.twitter.com/p1UsMkj1v7 — AFP news agency (@AFP) May 6, 2016
Putin Sells Everything From Coffee To Carpets
From *RFE:* Many Russian entrepreneurs have learned to capitalize on the cult of personality surrounding President Vladimir Putin. Despite massive economic problems and alleged corruption, Putin remains wildly popular with rank-and-file Russians. One cafe in Siberia has gone as far as wrapping itself in all things Putin, along with a few jokes aimed at his perceived enemies. (Marina Myshko, Sergei Chudinov, Current Time, Krasnoyarsk) *WNU Editor:* Groan!!!! Now you know what I must face when I make my annual visit to Russia. As to the question ... is Putin still popular in Russia ... more »
On the Apparent Death of "EnMasse.Ca"
I think it was a couple of weeks ago that thread was started announcing EnMasse dot CA's tenth anniversary. I thought about contributing a few words but I had nothing celebratory to say. And very few people I wanted to interact with. Now it appears the site is kaput. Oh well. I did learn a lot from rabble.ca/babble and enmasse.ca and even from b n' r. About gay rights and feminism and about Canadian politics in general. But for the amount of time and effort? I really can't say.
Who has blocked the Nobel Prize for relativity
Jimena Canales, an Illinois professor, wrote an interesting essay for Nautil.US about a tense debate of Albert Einstein with a super duper famous person I have never heard of: This Philosopher Helped Ensure There Was No Nobel for Relativity To make the story short, the man was Henri Bergson, a French philosopher, and the bloody interaction – which had been assumed to be a friendly intellectual debate – took place on April 6th, 1922. Just to be sure, Einstein has received the prize known as the 1921 Nobel Prize for physics but he received it in November 1922 and the end of 1922 was a... more »
"A Look to the Heavens"
“These cosmic clouds have blossomed 1,300 light-years away, in the fertile starfields of the constellation Cepheus. Called the Iris Nebula, NGC 7023 is not the only nebula to evoke the imagery of flowers, though. Still, this deep telescopic image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries, embedded in surrounding fields of interstellar dust. Within the Iris itself, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. *Click image for larger size.* The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central f... more »
The Universe
"The only way to get what you really want is to know what you really want. The only way to know what you really want is to know yourself. The only way to know yourself is to be yourself. And the only way to be yourself is to listen to your heart. French toast every now and then might help, too." "I do," The Universe "Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!" - www.tut.com
The Daily "Near You?"
Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom. Thanks for stopping by!
"A Nation Can Survive Its Fools...'
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secret... more »
"Clinton Could Face Espionage Act indictment"; Breaking Update!
*"Clinton Could Face Espionage Act indictment"* by IWB May 5, 2016- "Sources close to the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email scandal say she may face indictment through the federal Espionage Act. DC Whispers, the Washington watchdog blog which reported this latest update, said the threat of the FBI indicting Clinton through the Federal Espionage Act was great enough that it recently prompted President Obama to ward off and downplay her crimes in an April 10th interview with Fox News Sunday. During his first appearance on Fox News Sunday since being elected, President... more »
The Economy: "How Systems Break: First They Slow Down"
*"How Systems Break: First They Slow Down"* by Charles Hugh Smith "The reality that cannot be spoken is that all the financial systems we believe are permanent are actually on borrowed time. One way we can judge this decline of resilience is to look at how long it takes systems to recover when they are stressed, and to what degree they bounce back to previous levels. Another is to look at the extremes the system reaches without returning to "normal": for example, interest rates, which rather than normalizing after seven years of suppression are being pushed to negative rates by inc... more »
"The First Casualty Is Truth"
*"The First Casualty Is Truth"* by Jeff Thomas "I know my own nation best. That's why I despise it the most. And know and love my own people, too, the swine. I'm a patriot. A dangerous man." - Edward Abbey "In the fifth century BC, Greek dramatist Aeschylus said, “In war, truth is the first casualty.” Quite so. Whenever national leaders decide to go on the warpath for the sake of their own ambition or self-aggrandizement, it’s the citizenry that will pay the bloody price for their aspirations. Since war is rarely desired by the citizenry, it has to be sold to them. Some form of d... more »
"The Cruelest Joke Of All..."
"The smallest decisions made had such profound repercussions. One ten-minute wait could save a life… Or end it… One wrong turn down the right street or one seemingly unimportant conversation, and everything was changed. It wasn't right that each lifetime was defined, ruined, ended, and made by such seemingly innocuous details. A major life-threatening event should come with a flashing warning sign that either said ABANDON ALL HOPE or SAFETY AHEAD. It was the cruelest joke of all that no one could see the most vicious curves until they were over the edge, falling into the abyss belo... more »
The Economy: “Why I Think There Will Be A ‘Dollar Panic’”
*“Why I Think there Will Be a ‘Dollar Panic’”* By Bill Bonner “Please remember this warning when you go to the ATM to get cash — and there is none. While we were thinking about what was really going on with today’s strange new money system, a startling thought occurred to us. Our financial system could take a surprising and catastrophic twist that almost nobody imagines, let alone anticipates. Do you remember when a lethal tsunami hit the beaches of Southeast Asia, killing thousands of people and causing billions of dollars of damage? Well, just before the 80-foot wall of water sla... more »
Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-up May 6, 2016"
*"Weekly News Wrap-up May 6, 2016"* By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com "Former Clinton insider Larry Nichols has worked with, and now against, the Clintons. Nichols has some of the top political and financial connections on the planet. Nichols hopes the public is finally realizing the enormous power struggle going on. Nichols explains, “There is no two-party system in the United States of America. Let’s get that straight. There is no two-party system, there is one. Part of it is a red team and part of it is a blue team. You think you have a choice, but as you know you only have a cho... more »
Musical Interlude: Vangelis, “Alpha”
Vangelis, “Alpha” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jG--3elufo
Two Steps From Hell, “Victory”
Two Steps From Hell, “Victory” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKRUPYrAQoE
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Three objects stand out in this thoughtful telescopic image, a view toward the mostly stealthy constellation Lynx. The two brightest (the spiky ones) are nearby stars. The third is the remote globular star cluster NGC 2419, at distance of nearly 300,000 light-years. NGC 2419 is sometimes called "the Intergalactic Wanderer", an appropriate title considering that the distance to the Milky Way's satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, is only about 160,000 light-years. *Click image for larger size.* Roughly similar to other large globular star clusters like Omega Centauri, NGC ... more »
"A Universal Law..."
"Here is a universal law: that when it comes to negative and positive, you will always thrive more powerfully in the positive if you have first been immersed in, and have heroically overcome, the polar opposite negative of that thing. To abide in the positive existence of something, without having known and overcome it's polar opposite- that is to be only a frame of the real structure. Easily toppled down and taken apart. True power is in the hands of the one who thrives in the positive, after having known and conquered the negative. Because when the demons come along, she will say ... more »
Chet Raymo, "The Ring of Truth"
*"The Ring of Truth"* by Chet Raymo "In Salley Vickers' novel, "Where Three Roads Meet," the shade of Tiresias, the blind seer of the Oedipus myth, visits Sigmund Freud in London during the psychoanalyst's final terrible illness. In a series of conversations, Tiresias retells the story of Oedipus- he who was fated to kill his father and sleep with his mother- a story at the heart of Freud's own theory of the human psyche. At one point in the conversations, as Tiresias and Freud discuss the extent to which our lives are fated, the question of immortality arises. Freud says of Oedipu... more »
The Daily "Near You?
Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Thanks for stopping by!
The Poet: Mary Oliver, "I Happened to Be Standing"
*"I Happened to Be Standing"* "I don't know where prayers go, or what they do. Do cats pray, while they sleep half-asleep in the sun? Does the opossum pray as it crosses the street? The sunflowers? The old black oak growing older every year? I know I can walk through the world, along the shore or under the trees, with my mind filled with things of little importance, in full self-attendance. A condition I can't really call being alive Is a prayer a gift, or a petition, or does it matter? The sunflowers blaze, maybe that's their way. Maybe the cats ar... more »
Banking/ The Economy: "Derivatives Crisis Of Banks…Worldwide"
*"Derivatives Crisis Of Banks…Worldwide"* I. M. Vronsky “Derivatives are weapons of mass destruction.” – Warren Buffett *"The What And Why Of Derivatives: *"Megabanks trade risk via derivatives contracts to another firm while keeping the underlying asset on their books. This way they can bypass capital requirements and take on more debt. This, in turn, allows them to make more trades, but it also means that if a sudden downturn surfaces in the markets, the firm which borrowed way beyond their means may quickly go bankrupt. Lehman Brothers experienced this after they’d borrowed 30 ...more »
"Why the Vampire Squid Wants Small Depositors’ Money in 1 Frightening Chart"
*"Why the Vampire Squid Wants Small Depositors’ Money in 1 Frightening Chart"* By Pam Martens and Russ Martens “Back in 2010, with the public still numb from the epic financial crash and still in the dark about the trillions of dollars of secret loans the Federal Reserve had pumped into the Wall Street mega banks to resuscitate their sinking carcasses, Matt Taibbi penned his classic profile of Goldman Sachs at Rolling Stone, with this, now legendary, summation: “The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamm... more »
Picture Of The Day
A concert by the symphony orchestra of the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater was held at the Roman amphitheater of Palmyra, Syria. IMAGE: SPUTNIK/AP/MIKHAIL VOSKRESENSKIY
It’s Trump! The Republicans Take Their Future, And Ours, To The Big Casino
*By Noah* *For those who didn’t watch The Sopranos or don’t know: "The Big Casino" is a slang term often used by East Coast Italian-Americans instead of the word cancer, or, "The Big C."* Trump is their guy! The best of the best of the 17 Repug contestants! Are Republicans missing a chromosome or two? Well, they don’t believe in science, so what does it matter? Donald Trump, a birther, bankruptcy king, game show host, and F5 tornado of bigotries, who made his money by parlaying an inheritance into Atlantic City casinos that play on the delusional instant winner get rich hopes of ... more »
Life Aboard A U.S. Nuclear Attack Submarine (Video)
*CNN:* *Life aboard a U.S. submarine* (CNN)Sailing on a U.S. nuclear attack submarine is a trip into a cramped, timeless, windowless undersea world. My team and I got an exclusive trip on the USS Missouri during exercises in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. The first thing we noticed is how just how precious space is on board -- and how the crews, who spend six months at sea on deployment, manage to stay out of each other's way. About a third of the 337-foot vessel is taken up by the onboard nuclear reactor and propulsion, leaving a tiny living and work space for the ... more »
I Came Not to Bring Peace, But To Kick Ass and Take Names.
*I Came Not to Bring Peace, But To Kick Ass and Take Names.* *And I'm Fresh Out of Names. * The early Christian Church depicted Jesus in images and iconography as clean-shaven, and with short hair. However, as the underground, outlawed and officially suppressed followers of the faith began a gradual infiltration and subversion of the various organs and branches of State power and authority , before ultimately taking over full control of the Roman Empire and imposing monotheism, they needed to present an image of their God that could seem to be at least measure up physically to ... more »
Praying For Palmyra: Russia's Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra Performs A Concert Honoring Victims Of Syria War (Full Video)
From *YouTube:* Renowned conductor Valery Gergiev is leading a concert in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra to support the restoration of the UNESCO site and honor victims of the war. The city of Palmyra was devastated by Islamic State terrorists who occupied the site for some 10 months before it was liberated by Syrian troops with Russian air support. *WNU Editor:* Wow .... the music and the historical setting .... wow . I know that Palmyra is a war zone .... but wow .... I wish I was a spectator to this.
Court Rules Child Who Was Unborn When Father Died Can Sue Over His Death
[image: In this Feb. 13, 2005 file photo, Paul Gray from the group Slipknot arrives for the 47th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. The Iowa Supreme Court says the deceased Slipknot bassist's daughter may sue for loss of a parent's companionship, even though she was born after her father died. The ruling Friday May 6, 2016, comes in the wrongful death lawsuit that Gray's widow filed after the heavy metal bassist died of a drug overdose in May 2010.] DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The daughter of the late Slipknot bassist Paul Gray can sue a doctor for the loss of her father’s companionsh... more »
This is How Unconcerned Hillary Clinton is About Bernie
(Tip o' the tinfoil hat to faithful reader CC) I guess we should expect some degree of propaganda not only during election years but one could argue that propaganda has been part and parcel to politics since the days of ancient Rome. ("At his last sex orgy, Paladius fornicated with a sheep instead of a boy. Is that who you want as Proconsul? Vote Severinus, a true pederast, this November!") But astroturfing, as the phrase was coined by Nancy Pelosi years ago, has become a lucrative business and is now as much a part of politics as fellating Iowa corn dogs, pointing at... more »
Orange is the New Antiblack
(By Cyril Blubberpuss, Conservative-American) *P*oor, poor Republicans. When their presidential field still looked like a party at the 19th hole at Augusta with an embittered hostess and a black waiter, they had a choice between someone who could make them richer and someone who could make them even richer. The latter, of course, is Donald Trump. And now that he has the field all to himself, Republicans are clutching their pearls and whatever passes for their testicles. And I do not feel sorry for them one Goddamned bit. The Republican field was very diverse this year. You had ... more »
Russia Stages Classical Concert in Recaptured Palmyra Amphitheater
*Time*: *Russian Orchestra Plays Bach Amid Ruins of Palmyra* *Musicians staged a concert in a second-century amphitheater in the freed Syrian city* A Russian symphony orchestra played a surprise concert in Syria’s ruins of Palmyra, on the site where ISIS killed 25 people in 2015. Russia’s Mariinsky Theatre performed in a Roman amphitheater to a crowd that included flown-in reporters, Syrian soldiers, Russian officials and UNESCO dignitaries, reports the New York Times. Thursday’s concert comes after Russia’s military helped dictator Bashar al Assad’s forces push ISIS out of the a... more »
Gobekli Tepe - after 9,600 BC - a burgeoning reassessment of the Neolithic period
very telling phrase in the first video, "Yes, the earlier sculptures and megaliths (discovered at Gobekli Tepe) were more competently dressed, carved, decorated, than later pillars." This is something that's also evident in the ante-diluvian sites in Peru and Bolivia and Egypt namely vast polygonal walls made of mortarless interconnected blocks of super-hard stone like marble and andesite that were then found by later Mayan Inca Toltec cultures and repaired to the bronze age standard of the day. Such findings break the whole 'mankind slowly evolved as his artistic brain was given... more »
Turkey's Erdogan Tells The EU: "We Will Go Our Way, You Go Yours"
*The Guardian*: *EU-Turkey visa deal on brink as Erdoğan refuses to change terror laws* Refugee pact appears in danger of falling apart as Turkish president tells Europe: ‘We’ll go our way, you go yours’ A visa-free travel deal between the EU and Turkey was on the brink of collapse on Friday night, after Turkey’s president insisted he would not change his country’s anti-terrorism laws, a key condition of the agreement. “We’ll go our way, you go yours,” said Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. When the European commission made a conditional offer of visa-free travel earlier this week, it said A... more »
Sierra Club Wades Into The Muck In South Jersey
The video above is of Alex Law. He's not the corrupt conservative, Donald Norcross, who was just endorsed by the crackpot who runs New Jersey's Sierra Club and who Alex and progressives across New Jersey and across America are hoping to defeat in the June 7th primary. I checked around among progressives in New Jersey I know and-- with one exception, an official who told me Jeff Tittel is "crazy"-- everyone described Tittel, Sierra Club's director in the state, in far worse terms than "crazy." One top staffer in the legislature told me Tittel is "one of the state's most destructiv... more »
Breaking News: Heavily Armed Marines Arrive at US Embassy in Baghdad
Caught this as I was about to stop reading news: *I do not think this has anything to do with the regular occurring protests.* Will their be a false flag type attack on Iraq's parliament? With the special ops forces appearing in ISIS garb? Anything is possible. It's certainly coming down to the wire in Iraq. Interesting admission in this CNN news article! *CNN * *(CNN)**Twenty-five additional heavily armed U.S. Marines arrived at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad within the last several hours, a U.S. official tells CNN. * *The Marines were requested by the State Department, which is in cha... more »
The Big Nuking of '59 How the US would have Nuked East Asia. ISIS to East Asia?
*Two articles that seem not to go together, but, maybe they do?* *The ways of waging war are many. The result death, destruction, disease and chaos are the consistencies- And though the method may change it seems past targets can still be future targets..* *From the past:* *A recent collaborative project between(you'll want to check the image at the link) the Future of Life Institute and Nukemaps has created a visual representation of U.S. plans to use nuclear weapons against the Soviet bloc in 1959. The strikes, derived from a declassified list of U.S. nuclear targets published by... more »
Western Shoshone Run Nears Peace Camp
Today Friday May 6, 2016 Photos by Carl Bad Bear Sampson Western Shoshone On the weeklong Western Shoshone Peace and Friendship Walk and Run, Western Shoshone are asserting their Treaty rights as recognized in the Treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863, defending burial grounds and sacred Yucca Mountain. Scroll down Censored News for more www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Untitled
*From* *Jenna Orkin* Notorious Hacker Makes 'Bombshell' Claim: "I Got Inside Hillary's Completely Unsecured Server" How A Collapse In South America Could Trigger Martial Law In The U.S. EU Plans $290K Per Person Fine For Countries Refusing "Fair Share" Of Refugees; Angry Response Ensues The War On Paper Currency Officially Begins: ECB Ends Production Of €500 Bill "We'll Respond Totally Asymmetrically" - Russia Answers NATO With Three New Deployments Rule on Arbitration Would Restore Right to Sue Banks 'Barefoot doctors' from a small Chinese town now control 80% of China's private h... more »
Biologist Targeted for Exposing the Gender Bending Pesticide Poisoning America
*Christina Sarich* - Big-Ag doesn't want the public to know how dangerous this pesticide is.
Waiting for the big one
Chronologically I am 57 years old Biologically I am under 40 for sure compared to my compartment Physiologically not a day over 19 so with trepidation but not every day I wait for the big one the unifying theory that gives me the big bang knocking all the lifelines into a singularity How many people out there feel star crossed? I do and have good reasons it does not mean for a second there is any truth some people just cant handle good luck and its seems to be no more than that I showed up and x happened Halliup praise the lord Allie Akibar inshalla and Thor's hammer and Odin who is my ... more »
Why Christians Should Oppose Calls to Punish ‘Climate Skeptics’
[image: Stop Questioning - global warming - 900] Since human nature hasn't changed, it should come as no surprise that, even in our supposedly enlightened age, some people still want to use force, masquerading as law, to end debate. It started with people just voicing their opinions that... more »
Trump Will Testify After Election in Trump University Suit
[image: Trump University - 900] SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Donald Trump will testify after the presidential election on a class-action lawsuit that accuses the billionaire businessman and his now-defunct Trump University of defrauding people who paid up to $35,000 for real estate seminars, his attorney... more »
Obama to Flint: Drink Up and Pipe Down
President Obama finally got around to bringing the pipes to the residents of Flint, Michigan this week. His rich baritone pipes, that is - not the kind they desperately need to replace the corroded system still leaching toxic lead into the drinking water supply of thousands of families. Did you really think that the slow genocide of an entire city full of non-rich working people would qualify as a national disaster prompting an emergency presidential declaration and the immediate presence of billions of dollars and the Army Corps of Engineers? Since there is no immediate profit to b... more »
Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- May 6, 2016
*Ian Bremmer, Time:* *4 Reasons the War Against ISIS Is Working—and 1 Reason It’s Not* The U.S.-led coalition has had increasing success in the war on ISIS, especially in Iraq and Syria—but the terror organization is regrouping in Libya ISIS remains the best-funded, best-equipped terrorist organization the world has ever seen. But for the first time since its rise in 2014, real progress is being made against the jihadist group. These five facts explain what you need to know. *Read more* .... *Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- May 6, 2016* Finding A Way Forward in The Wa... more »
World News Briefs -- May 6, 2016 (Evening Edition)
*Reuters:* *Convoy leads Canada fire evacuees through burning city to safety* A convoy of evacuees from the Canadian oil hub of Fort McMurray made its way on Friday through the heart of an out-of-control wildfire on the only highway out of the region, passing through the burned ruins of the city. High winds and parched timber and brush from a spring heat wave stoked flames, which have engulfed 247,000 acres (101,000 hectares) in Canada's energy heartland since erupting on Sunday. Some 88,000 people were forced to flee Fort McMurray and two oil sands sites south of the city were t... more »
Japanese PM Abe Meets Russian President Putin At Sochi
*VOA:** Russia-Japan Leaders Meet as Tensions Loom* MOSCOW—Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Russia Friday hoping to ease strained relations between Tokyo and Moscow before President Vladmir Putin heads to China for a bilateral summit next month. At the top of the agenda was a long-running dispute over the group of islands Russia calls the southern Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories. But Moscow and Tokyo were both quick to dismiss any suggestions that Friday’s meeting would lead to a quick fix to their long-standing territorial dispute. The governments in Tok... more »
A Trump Proposal for National Debt Would Send Rates Soaring
[image: Trump - 900] WASHINGTON (AP) -- In the event that the U.S. economy crashed, Donald Trump has floated a recovery plan based on his own experience with corporate bankruptcy: Pay America’s creditors less than full value on the U.S. Treasurys they hold. Experts... more »
Obama on Trump: This is Not a Reality Show
[image: Obama - 900] WASHINGTON (AP) -- In his first remarks about Donald Trump’s status as the GOP’s presumptive nominee, President Barack Obama on Friday urged the media to undertake tougher scrutiny of presidential candidates. “We are in serious times and this is a... more »
Plague Panic Politics - Eat Shit and You Will Die
And that's what the doctor hired to be one of the Fox News Commentators hired to supply medical expertise says may well have happened to Prince. Because they say he had had the 'flu for around 3 weeks before being found dead. To support this potential diagnosis, he points out that Prince's plane had to make an emergency landing on April 14, requesting an ambulance and paramedics to rush him straight to hospital. The pilot reported that they had a non-responsive male patient on board, and that was the emergency - when Prince arrived at the hospital, he was seen being carried int... more »
Professor Anastasios Tsonis Joins GWPF Academic Advisory Council
By Paul Homewood Announcement from GWPF: Dr Tsonis is an American atmospheric scientist and distinguished professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. His research focuses on the study of climate dynamics and global change. His work has led to the Tsonis criterion, a research method bearing his name. The GWPF Academic Advisory Council is […]
Wild Looking Sunrise at Fukushima Daiichi
Really wild looking sunrise. Its hard to tell from the screenshots the exact location of the sun because at times there appear almost to be two suns rising over plant. Here are more screenshots here: Why does the sunrise look so lopsided?
Cesium Detections in Japan's Soil
Japan's citizens are testing soil for traces of Fukushima contamination. Note that among the 1,000 radionuclides released by Fukushima, they are testing for cesium alone: Masakazu Honda. May 6, 2016. 30 groups show radioactive soil levels to address Fukushima fears. The Asahi Shimbunb http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201605060006.html A coalition of 30 private groups is digging deeper into radiation contamination from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster to address persistent concerns from the public around Japan…. ...The highest reading so far was 135,000 becquerels of radio... more »
The Voodou, Hoodoo, What-You-Don't-Dare-Do People
*"If you look at cave art – the first art was done; the first writing that was done, basically as art. * *And if someone wanted to make something happen; like, if you were in the — like, if you were some fucked up caveman in a cave somewhere, worrying about your dinner. * *What do you do? You draw a bison on the wall; stick some spears in it. * *Go out, and the bison dies filled with spears."* *Grant Morrison * *"Do you know much about voodoo? That's a fascinating practice. * *No real doctrine of faith to speak of - more an arrangement of superstitions; the most well-known of wh... more »
Federal Officer in Custody After Three Fatal Shootings
[image: shooting - 900] SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) -- A federal security officer suspected in three fatal shootings outside a high school, a mall and a supermarket in the Washington, D.C., area was arrested Friday, police said. Three people were also wounded in the... more »
New Theory on the WOW! Signal
There is something new in the story of the WOW! Signal. This is signal detected by radio astronomer Jerry Ehman in 1977. It was a strong blast that lasted for 72 seconds and was never repeated. One explanation for the signal was that it was from an alien civilization on a far distant planet (which, of course, would describe any planet not in our solar system). He circled that point and wrote, “Wow!” next to it. The WOW! Signal Now a fellow at Florida’s St. Petersburg College, Antonio Paris, is suggesting he has a possible explanation for the signal. It wasn’t from another planet in ... more »
World’s Longest Insect Found In Southern China
Researchers in China have discovered the world’s longest insect. A two-foot-long stick insect was found wriggling on a mountain road in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 2014 , according to state media. Xinhua reports: Zhao Li, with the Insect Museum of West China (IMWC) in Chengdu, found the 62.4-cm-long stick insect during a field inspection in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 2014, breaking the record for length for all 807,625 insects discovered so far, according to the IMWC. The previous record holder was a stick insect found in Malaysia in 2008. It measured 56.7 c...more »
Outrage In France Over Police Brutality Of Triple-Amputee
There has been outrage in France after police were caught on camera subjecting a disabled homeless man with no legs and one arm to a humiliating public strip-search on the Paris underground. The footage shot at Paris Gare de Lyon railway station was posted on Facebook by Jean-Didier Bakekolo, who said he witnessed the incident on May 2nd The video starts with police officers walking away from the amputee who was sitting on the floor in his top and underwear after the officers made with him remove off his jeans and prosthetic legs. The victim of the alleged harassment was later ident... more »
#NeverTrump, #NeverHillary-- Unity Camp? Please... Down With Tyranny
The *Washington Examiner* isn't a place I got for news, but now that I've excised Rachel Maddow's show from my regular viewing I do wander over to Fox sometimes in the slot when I used to watch her and Wednesday night Philip Klein-- no relation, but the *Examiner*'s managing editor-- was a guest. He switched his party registration from Republican to Independent in light of the Trump takeover of his party. His explanation of why he would never vote for Trump closely shadows the reason why so many Bernie supporters will never vote for Hillary. (Yes, yes, calm down-- she's the lesse... more »
Americans Duped by White House on Iran Deal, Top Adviser Boasts
[image: Switzerland US Iran] President Obama played the American people when it came to the Iran nuclear deal and used the easily pliable media as his instrument. That's the take-away from a New York Times Magazine profile of the man who says he orchestrated the...more »
Joe Slept Though The Verdict
If you want to know what the Conservatives have learned since their election defeat, Michael Harris writes, you should read the op-ed which Joe Oliver recently penned for the *National Post*: Oliver tried to make the argument that the Trudeau government is overturning all the wonderful things done by Side Door Steve (he doesn’t sit in Parliament — he *lurks* there). Take the Office of Religious Freedom (ORF). Joe sees this Harper-era initiative as a giant step forward for mankind. Others, whose comfort zone isn’t necessarily the Middle Ages, prefer the separation of church and sta... more »
Waiting for the big one
Chronologically I am 57 years old Biologically I am under 40 for sure compared to my compartment Physiologically not a day over 19 so with trepidation but not every day I wait for the big one the unifying theory that gives me the big bang knocking all the lifelines into a singularity How many people out there feel star crossed? I do and have good reasons it does not mean for a second there is any truth some people just cant handle good luck and its seems to be no more than that I showed up and x happened Halliup praise the lord Allie Akibar inshalla and Thor's hammer and Odin who is my ... more »
Wages and telegenicity watch: Obama know-it-all slanders youth!
*FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016Though he may have a bit of a point:* Via Kevin Drum, we were struck by a comment by Obama foreign policy guru Ben Rhodes. A profile of Rhodes will appear in Sunday's New York Times magazine. In this excerpt, he discusses the relative youth of the modern press corps: SAMUELS (5/8/16): It is hard for many to absorb the true magnitude of the change in the news business—40 percent of newspaper-industry professionals have lost their jobs over the past decade....*“All these newspapers used to have foreign bureaus,” [Rhodes] said. “Now they don’t.* They call us to ex... more »
‘Grim Sleeper’ Serial Killer Convicted Of 10 Murders In LA
Los Angeles serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper,” who preyed on destitute and vulnerable black women for over three decades, was convicted on Thursday of murdering 10 people. His victim’s families can now reconcile with the memory of their loved ones. Christian Science Monitor reports: It took decades for an arrest to occur, and even more time passed before a conviction was reached. But on Thursday a jury in Los Angeles County convicted Lonnie Franklin Jr., a former garbage man and mechanic, guilty of 10 murders. Mr. Franklin earned the “Grim Sleeper” moniker for a spate of kil... more »
Researcher who unsuccessfully sued journal to stop retractions earns another expression of concern
A journal has added expressions of concern (EOCs) to four papers about diabetes, including one co-authored by an author who previously sued a different journal when it took a similar action on his papers. The Journal of Physiology flagged the papers after an investigation “could not rule out the possibility” that they contained duplicated Western blots. Though the […] The post Researcher who unsuccessfully sued journal to stop retractions earns another expression of concern appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Israel - Hamas Conflict is Escalating
*VICE News*: *Hamas and Israel Trade Blows in Gaza During Worst Week of Violence Since 2014* For much of the last week, Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas have been trading blows: Israeli warplanes and tanks have been firing into the densely populated Gaza strip, while Palestinian fighters lob mortars at Israeli troops — it's the sharpest uptick in hostilities since Israel's 2014 invasion of Gaza. The escalation of violence comes as Israeli soldiers crossed into Gaza on Wednesday as part of an operation the army says will root out and destroy underground tunnels that... more »
North Korea Leader Kim Jong-un Hails Nuclear And Missile Advances At The Start Of The Party Congress
*BBC:* *N Korea congress: Kim Jong-un praises nuclear tests* North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has opened a rare party congress by praising his country's nuclear achievements. Appearing before thousands of delegates, he said: "Unprecedented results have been accomplished." This year saw the country announce its fourth nuclear weapon test and that it sent a rocket into space. The showpiece congress, the first in 36 years, is a chance for the North Korean leader to cement his power. More than 100 foreign journalists were invited into the country to cover the event but were barred fr...more »
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