10:16pm MDST
Ryan Still Claiming He's Not "Running"
This morning Ryan Grim and Sam Stein reported that Charles Koch is telling his friends in private that he's confident Paul Ryan is a "shoo-in" to be the GOP's nominee if Trump comes up at least 100 delegates shy." Despite all the Ryan protestations to the contrary *Huff Po* also asserts a close Paul Ryan associate told them that Ryan himself "said he would only be interested in it if the party could unite behind him, a scenario he can’t envision. 'I don’t know what to tell you? He doesn’t want the nomination. And can you imagine the backlash from the Trump forces if someone who di... more »
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Point your telescope toward the high flying constellation Pegasus and you can find this expanse of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies. Centered on NGC 7814, the pretty field of view would almost be covered by a full moon. NGC 7814 is sometimes called the Little Sombrero for its resemblance to the brighter more famous M104, the Sombrero Galaxy. *Click image for larger size.* Both Sombrero and Little Sombrero are spiral galaxies seen edge-on, and both have extensive central bulges cut by a thinner disk with dust lanes in silhouette. In fact, NGC 7814 is some 40 million light-year... more »
Chet Raymo, “The Ultimate Citadel of Humanism”
* “The Ultimate Citadel of Humanism”* by Chet Raymo “Here I go again. It seems lately that these posts drift more and more toward memoir, toward summing up, toward drawing together the raveled treads of a life. What started almost ten years ago as a continuation of my 20 years of science essays in the Boston Globe -- essays that aspired toward a spritely objectivity -- has become willy-nilly an exercise in self-indulgence. That so many of you have stayed for the ride suggests, I hope, that we share certain life-experiences, and that together we articulate a Tao, a way, a common aspi... more »
The Daily "Near You?"
Moscow, Idaho, USA. Thanks for stopping by!
“Tell Me Yourself, I Challenge You..."
"You think the end justifies the means, however vile. I tell you: the end is the means by which you achieve it. Today's step is tomorrow's life. Great ends cannot be attained by base means. You've proved that in all your social upheavals. The meanness and inhumanity of the means make you mean and inhuman and make the end unattainable." - Wilhelm Reich “Tell me yourself, I challenge you— answer. Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last, but that it was essential and inevitable to tortur... more »
“Execution of Palestinian Exposes Israel’s Military Culture”
*“Execution of Palestinian Exposes Israel’s Military Culture”* by Jonathan Cook "It might have been a moment that jolted Israelis to their senses. Instead the video of an Israeli soldier shooting dead a young Palestinian man as he lay wounded and barely able to move has only intensified the tribal war dance of the Israeli public. Last week, as the soldier was brought before a military court for investigation, hundreds of supporters protested outside. He enjoys vocal support too from half a dozen cabinet ministers, former army generals, rabbis and – according to opinion polls – a sig... more »
Hope for the future
It’s easy to be pessimistic about the future, and curmudgeonly about younger folk. See. Alex Epstein from the Center for Industrial Progress takes another view: *For the past several years I've thought that the Internet-dominated world will exacerbate certain kinds of problems for certain young people (manifested through all sort of addictive behavior and inability to concentrate on anything important) but enable other young people to become far more capable and productive than I and other "high performers" were at their age. I am thoroughly enjoying the latter category the... more »
Will Ukraine President Poroshenko Survive The Revelations In The Panama Papers?
*Reid Standish, Foreign Policy:* *Will the ‘Panama Papers’ Bring Down Ukraine’s Chocolate King?* Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko came into office in 2014 vowing to fight his country’s endemic corruption and break the bonds between business interests and politics in Ukraine. That’s going to be a lot harder now that leaked documents have revealed a secret offshore company setup in Poroshenko’s name and not disclosed in his public income statements. Ukrainian politicians wasted no time in using the revelations put forward against Poroshenko in the so-called “Panama Papers” — a t... more »
"About the Bombshell 'Panama Papers' Leak"
*"About the Bombshell 'Panama Papers' Leak"* By Sarah Lazare/AlterNet "The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other media partners dropped the explosive “Panama Papers” leak on Sunday. The trove is described by ICIJ, a global network of investigative journalists, as “11.5 million leaked files to expose the offshore holdings of world political leaders, links to global scandals and details of the hidden financial dealings of fraudsters, drug traffickers, billionaires, celebrities, sports stars and m... more »
How to Debate a Wingnut: Cenk Uygur Slices & Dices Ann Coulter
. . *By MARC McDONALD* One thing that has long been a pet peeve of mine is when I watch a Progressive get stomped on by a Conservative in a debate. More often than not, the latter happens not because the Conservative has the facts on his side. Rather, it's that Conservatives *appear* to do well in debates because they simply spew an endless assortment of lies, often in a loud voice. If you repeat this formula over and over again against a wimpy, unprepared Progressive who's afraid to stand up to you, you will appear to win the debate. And in our TV culture, of course, appearances ... more »
CIA Agent Admits Obama Created ISIS To Invade Syria
According to a new report by a former CIA agent, President Obama created ISIS as an excuse to invade Syria and oust Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. In 2012 the CIA proposed a detailed plan to topple the Syrian leader which was vetoed by Obama. Former CIA operative, Doug Laux, told NBC News that the plan had been met with inexplicable opposition from the White House at the time. Activistpost.com reports: In his book slated for release Tuesday, Left Of Boom: How a Young CIA Case Officer Penetrated the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, Laux describes how “CIA officials were pushing a multi-tiere... more »
Russian Intelligence: CIA is a Branch of Wall Street
A Wall Street worker currently on trial on suspicion of spying for Russia says that the CIA and other spy agencies in the U.S. routinely work through Wall Street in order to collect various pieces of economic information against other countries. Eugene Buryakov, a former employee of Vnesheconombank, worked for Russian intelligence undercover at the bank and has not denied his guilt. Fort Russ reports: Usually our spies never admitted guilt, this is something different. As far as I understand our authorities continue to deny as they always do. It is strange for Buryakov to admit gui... more »
France Deploy Armed Guards To Patrol Trains
France have announced the deployment of armed security forces dressed as civilians to passenger trains in an attempt to bolster security in the country in the aftermath of the Brussels attacks. Guillaume Pepy, head of the national railway operator SNCF, said that 3,000 armed plain-clothes officers will patrol trains and are authorised to shoot if necessary. Presstv.com reports: At present, guards patrolling the trains wear navy-blue uniforms embellished with the company logo, and carry visible weapons. Among other measures, a team of special agents will monitor some of the 40,000 t... more »
Supreme Court Bolsters Political Influence of US Latinos
[image: The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Monday, April 4, 2016, after justices ruled in a case involving the constitutional principle of “one person, one vote” and unanimously upheld a Texas law that counts everyone, not just eligible voters, in deciding how to draw legislative districts.] WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court unanimously endorsed election maps that bolster the growing political influence of America’s Latinos on Monday, ruling that states can count everyone, not just eligible voters, in drawing voting districts. The decision rejected a challenge... more »
Senate GOP Strategy for Dealing with Trump: Keep it Local
[image: Rob Portman] WASHINGTON (AP) -- For months Donald Trump has dominated the political scene like no other. But listen to endangered Senate Republicans as they campaign for re-election and you might not even know he exists. In Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey chaired a... more »
Trump and Cruz Making Final Pitches to Wisconsin Voters
[image: Trump - Cruz - 900] MILWAUKEE (AP) -- After Donald Trump’s toughest stretch of the campaign, he and Ted Cruz made spirited final pitches Monday to Wisconsin voters, who will cast ballots Tuesday in a Republican primary that both consider a key step in the... more »
A challenge to education researchers
For the most part, I read education research like I learned to read it: A bit of introduction, skim methods and results, cut right to the discussion and conclusions. When I was doing my dissertation, I was skimming hundreds of articles and simply didn’t have the time to read every word, unless it was some […]
Russia And The Panama Papers
*Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg*: *Putin's a Pauper, His Friends Are Rich* Recent reports by two consortia of investigative journalists purport to have exposed the dealings and offshore accounts of some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest associates. They don't name him as a beneficiary of any account, suggesting that Putin is as poor as a church mouse -- or would be if he ever lost power. The investigations were published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, respectively. The first names St.... more »
‘Corruption’ as a Propaganda Weapon
By Robert Parry (Consortium News) Sadly, some important duties of journalism, such as applying evenhanded standards on human rights abuses and financial corruption, have been so corrupted by the demands of government propaganda – and the careerism of too many writers – that I now become suspicious whenever the mainstream media trumpets some sensational story aimed at some “designated villain.” Far too often, this sort of “journalism” is just a forerunner to the next “regime change” scheme, dirtying up or delegitimizing a foreign leader before the inevitable advent of a “color rev... more »
Land Defenders Spirit Camp Photos Joye Braun
Photos by Joye Braun Dakota, Lakota and Nakota land defenders establish Spirit Camp to halt Dakota Access pipeline on Standing Rock in North Dakota.
God’s Not Dead 2 Opens, and Opens Eyes to Legal Persecution of Christians
[image: God's Not Dead 2 - Grace and lawyer - 900] God’s Not Dead 2, the sequel to the surprise 2014 hit God’s Not Dead, opened this weekend in theaters across the country, bringing to light the legal battles people of faith are facing in cities and towns nationwide. Starring Melissa Joan... more »
Why We Need Reagan’s Nuclear Defense Approach Now More Than Ever
[image: Reagan-Gorbachev - 900] President Ronald Reagan delivered his famous Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) speech over three decades ago. In it, Reagan emphasized the need to develop a comprehensive layered ballistic missile defense system for the United States. Reagan understood the importance of "rendering... more »
Turkish Leader Rejects ‘Lessons in Democracy’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised the West for attempting to give Turkey “lessons in democracy” amid increasing criticism from the U.S. and Europe that Turkey is suppressing press freedoms under his regime. “Those who attempt to give us lessons in democracy and human rights must first contemplate their own shame,” Erdogan said. Middleeasteye.net reports: His comments came after US President Barack Obama said Turkey’s approach towards the media was taking it “down a path that would be very troubling”. Erdogan’s government has recently seized control of major oppo... more »
International Tax Police Find New Culprit to Target: Law Firms
*Guest post by Daniel Mitchell* Many nations in Western Europe can no longer afford their big welfare states. Countries such as Greece, Spain, and Italy already have needed bailouts, while it’s just a matter of time before several other European nations face a fiscal day of reckoning. But the problem isn’t confined to Europe. Countries such as the United States and Japan also have serious long-run problems because of changing demographics and poorly designed entitlement programs. Unfortunately, rather than fix their own fiscal problems, many of these nations are working throug... more »
What a perfect story to have followed the one above! I have listened to many experts on investing who, once they get you hooked, announce that there is a price for their advice. However, in all of the many months that I have come across articles by Mike Larson, he has been giving away the knowledge I've wanted for free. For example, we are now made aware of the fact that car sales are tanking. What more do we need to realize that the U.S. economy is an the verge of a crash that might well exceed that of 1929. I believe that buying gold or silver now while its cheep is your best way to protect your wealth.
------------------------------ Right on Cue, Auto Sales Tank; Here’s What to Watch for Next … *Mike Larson* | *Monday, April 4, 2016 at 4:20 pm* The market’s focus on Friday was squarely on jobs. Investors apparently decided the employment situation was good enough that stocks should be bought, and the Dow edged ever closer to 18,000. But is there something ELSE investors like you should be paying attention to? I think so. I’m talking about fading auto sales! Frankly, the March numbers stunk up the joint. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales ended up coming in at 16.6 mill... more »
Commentaries, Analysis, And Reaction To The Panama Papers (Updated)
*Mathew Ingram, Fortune:* *Behind the Panama Papers: How the Massive Document Leak Came to Be* *The huge international project involved 100 media partners, but few major U.S. outlets.* A quiet spring weekend was suddenly shattered on Sunday when news of the “Panama Papers” investigation broke. The massive international project involved approximately 400 journalists across 75 countries, plowing through roughly 11.5 million documents from a secretive Panamanian law firm specializing in creating offshore holding companies. The investigation took more than a year, commencing after Ba... more »
Trump Is A Work Of Fiction But...
The next phase of the Republican Party primary will feature Trump suing individual state parties as they all start ganging up on him-- surely not coordinated by the Paul Ryan Coronation Committee; just a coinkidink-- and stealing his delegates. South Carolina has threatened to take all the state's delegates all from him for saying he no longer considers the loyalty pledge in effect. Louisiana already gave 10 Trump delegates to Cruz and Trump says he's suing the party. Tennessee's delegate contingent has been engineered to be anti-Trump enough for Trump to threaten a suit there as ... more »
Obama Administration Claims Global Warming Will Literally Drive People Crazy
[image: Climate Change, Global Warming Alarmism, Climate Science] The Obama administration released a new report claiming global warming will make mental health issues worse -- the report notes even "perceived" threats from global warming will harm the mentally ill. "Many people will experience adverse mental health outcomes and... more »
"How It Really Is"
Remember, Martha Stewart went to prison for telling *1* (one) lie to *1* (one) FBI agent during *1* (one) interview. Hillary will be questioned by the Director of the FBI, James Comey, a tough former Federal prosecutor. Given her inclination to lie as naturally as she breathes, draw your own conclusions as to the outcome... Indictment, anyone? ◆ *Related:* “Comey’s FBI Makes Waves”
Quote of the Day: The greater truth about death and taxes …
*"The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets."* ~ Will Rogers . Content is copyright PC.BlogSpot.Com © Please contact author for permission to republish: (organon at ihug.co.nz)
The Economy: "Was There A Run On The Bank? JPM Caps Some ATM Withdrawals"
*"Was There A Run On The Bank? JPM Caps Some ATM Withdrawals"* by Tyler Durden "Under the auspices of "protecting clients from criminal activity," JPMorgan Chase has decided to impose capital controls on. As WSJ reports, following the bank's ATM modification to enable $100-bills to be dispensed with no limit, some customers started pulling out tens of thousands of dollars at a time. This apparent bank run has prompted Jamie Dimon to cap ATM withdrawals at $1,000 per card daily for non-customers. "Most large U.S. banks, including Chase, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Well...more »
The Panama Papers -- News Updates April 4, 2016 (Updated)
*Daily Mail*: *Map reveals how secretive Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca relies on a network of offices with contacts around the world to support its super-rich clients* * Secretive law firm Mossack Fonseca is based in Panama but has branches in more than 35 cities around the world * Success relies on a network of banks and accountants who put clients in touch with the firm to manage their assets * Work with Mossack Fonseca to create thousands offshore accounts, which can be used to conceal financial affairs * Thousands of accounts were requested by major financial institutions in... more »
Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 4, 2016
*Paul Lashmar, Quartz:* *The Panama Papers: How hundreds of journalists revealed the secrets of some of the world’s most powerful people* With the Panama Papers exposé perhaps we can now say the fortress walls of offshore secrecy are finally cracking. Such havens allow corruption and tax avoidance to take place on a massive international scale by some of the richest and most powerful people on Earth. Meanwhile, the poor get poorer. Western politicians have huffed and puffed about clamping down on offshore havens but in reality their collective breath would not have knocked over a ... more »
Nantou: 101 + 56 = Staggering
[image: DSC01676] *Drew on the 56* Slow news week and I haven't felt much like blogging. But with the excellent weather, it's time for some serious riding. Monday Drew took Eva and myself down to Nantou to do the awesome 投56, 20 kms of desolate hills, via the 投101 through the tea districts above and east of Lugu. Gorgeous. As always, click on read more to see more... *ROUTE NOTES*: To find this road, follow the 16 to Jiji, then turn south across the bridge on the 139. Cross the river, get on the 131. Follow that south, climbing a bit, to the 投101. Follow the 投101 until it ends. The... more »
Guest Post: Tom McIver: Caprice Young and the Master of Deception
*“Jed’s predecessor, Caprice Young, made over $250,000 for her work at the CCSA. Check out the cast of characters on CCSA’s board of directors.” — Kenneth Libby* [image: Caprice "Capricious" Young, Privatization Princess, CORO Fellow, CCSA Alum, ICEF Flunky, and Poverty Pimp.]These pages have addressed right-wing school privatization pusher Caprice Young before. Her early history working with Richard Riordan, predatory capitalist and junk bond felon Michael Milken, and racist, bigoted, anti-immigrant nativist Steve Poizner was discussed in a piece that also exposed her profiting f... more »
Economic News , Data & views ( April 4, 2016 ) Monday's Top Items ( 1. Panama Papers Exploded Onto The Scene Yesterday , Hints Of Many More Revelations Though. 2. Greece - Rocky Bailout Talks Resume Between Greece and Creditors After IMF Leak . 3. Dutch Have Their Referendum On EU- Ukraine Association Agreement April 6th. 4. Refugee Crisis News For Monday. 5. Around The MENA Horn - Items From Libya , Syria & Iraq. )
Panama Papers..... *fred walton* @fredwalton216 19s 19 seconds ago fred walton Retweeted Glenn Greenwald This could impact the impeachment effort against Rousseff... fred walton added, *Glenn Greenwald* @ggreenwald House leader spearheading Dilma's impeachment, Eduardo Cunha-found w/millions in Swiss accounts- is in #PanamaPapers http:// politica.estadao.com.br/noticias/panam a-papers,panama-papers-revelam-107-offshores-ligadas-a-personagens-da-lava-jato,10000024501 … *sushil punia* @sushilpunia 1m 1 minute ago http://ow.ly/36CBT Chile's head of Transparency Interna... more »
April 4: Wow!
The story below is told largely with its focus on Israel, China and Russia. But it's a story that covers the whole world. Yes, even Canada and, who would guess it? -even New Brunswick. And, toward the end there's reference to a book on the subject that looks worth reading. This is about a revolution that is happening to all of us. It's about an economic system which has always been corrupt but is now so sophisticated in its corruption it is a threat to all of us. We're living through a period in which democracy is being destroyed, and in which the nation itself is becoming just a wo... more »
Are standardized tests better than grades?
Sent to the Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2016 Supporters of the current testing program argue that standardized tests can help parents see how their children are doing in school ("Battle Lines Drawn as Student Testing Is Set to Begin" April 3). There is, however, no evidence that the current standardized testing program provides better feedback to parents than teachers' evaluations of students. Studies done at the secondary school level show that grades are an excellent predictor of future academic success, and the results of standardized tests do not add additional information. Th... more »
We Need a President Who Will Lead in Asia
[image: US President Barack Obama during a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the US Ambassador's Residence in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Monday, March 24, 2014.] Whoever occupies the Oval Office in 2017 will face security threats around the world -- including in Asia. Stability in Asia is currently being threatened by North Korea's growing military capabilities, China's increasingly aggressive behavior, historical animosities and rising nationalism.... more »
‘Done Nothing but Drive Us Apart’: Former Radical Black Panther Gets Candid on Obama, Race Relations
[image: Clarence Mason Weaver - 900] Clarence Mason Weaver was once so filled with hatred towards white people in America that he broke up with a girlfriend who had a white dog, the now-conservative told The Daily Caller New Foundation in this exclusive video interview. A... more »
Huge Mysterious Planet Ejected From Milky Way Heading Towards Earth
A 737-page Kremlin report by Aerospace Defence Forces scientists warns that a new planet in our solar system appears to be heading towards us, confirming rumors that the elusive Planet X (or Nibiru) spotted last January is set to collide with the Earth in the near future. Scientists say that Planet x was originally located in the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and has been on an orbital path towards Earth for almost 5 billion years. Whatdoesitmean.com reports: According to this report, in early 1999, the Federation (at its Embassy in Washington D.C.) received an unsolicited “trove... more »
France Stage Terror Drill With Crisis Actors Ahead Of Euro 2016
Government officials in France have staged a fake terror drill using crisis actors in preparation for Euro 2016 this summer. The mock terrorist attack prepares emergency crews for a potential chemical weapons attack at the European Championship games. Dailymail.co.uk reports: More than 2,000 people from the French emergency services took part in a fake chemical attack designed to give them the best possible training should the tournament by targeted. The activities undertaken were also in response to the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris on Friday, November 13 last year wh...more »
Pakistan's Reckoning: India's Policy Towards Balochistan Draws More Attention In Wake of Spy's Arrest
*Related: * *The Crimes of Pakistan Against Balochistan* *Captured Indian Spy's Taped Confession Vindicates Pakistan's Narrative That India Is Funding Terrorism In Pakistan * *Mashal Khan Takkar: Birth And Death of Pakistan* *An excerpt from, "Operation Kalat: Ideas For A Free Balochistan" By Sayan Ganguly, Swarajya, October 3, 2015: * If India hopes that Balochistan can be used as a lever just by dangling the unspoken threat of arming and training the Baloch rebels in the near future, it would be a mistake. That is a very twentieth century tactic which has run its course and will m... more »
Untitled
*5th Annual Levee Breach Bike Tour~Levees.org*
Huge UFO Mothership Has Entered Our Solar System, Say Astronomers
UFO hunters claim that an unusually large object can be seen in recent images captured by astronomers that they say shows a giant UFO entering our solar system. The giant alien structure was spotted approaching Jupiter’s moon Europa – and resembles an intergalactic UFO armada, or mothership, according to online experts. Humansarefree.com reports: Online UFO hunters claim that the images captured recently by two amateur astronomers working independently suggest that a major expeditionary effort mounted by a technologically advanced spacefaring alien race from a distant planetary sy...more »
Record Breaking Numbers Protest In Iceland, Demanding Revolution
Record numbers of protestors have taken to the streets in Iceland demanding snap elections, calling on Prime Minister Sigmundur DavÃð Gunnlaugsson to resign after the Panama Papers revealed he is among several leading politicians with links to offshore tax havens. The protests coincide with ongoing weekly protests held against the Icelandic government’s handling of the financial crisis in 2008 – which some have referred to as the “Kitchenware Revolution”. Icenews.is reports: There had been weekly protests since October 2008 against the Icelandic government’s handling of the financia... more »
Turkey Rejects Drought Claims: “Who Does NASA Think It Is?”
Turkey has slammed claims by NASA that a region in the country is experiencing its worst drought in 900 years. Forestry and Waterworks Minister Veysel Eroglu criticised NASA’s technology as being “inadequate” and, addressing parliament, asked “Who does NASA think it is?” Middleeasteye.net reports: A report released by the US government’s space agency last month found that a drought affecting the eastern Mediterranean since 1998 is “likely the worst… of the past nine centuries”. The report used tree-ring records to track the history of human-induced climate change, concluding that “... more »
Mormons Warn The Apocalypse Is Coming This Wednesday
A Mormon cult from southern Utah believe that this Wednesday, April 6th is the day of the Apocalypse. Coincidentally it’s also the day that their leader, Lyle Jeffs, appears before a judge in a major fraud case. As he appears before the judge an earthquake will cause the walls of a Texas prison to crumble and Lyle’s brother, Warren Jeffs (a Mormon ‘Prophet’ and supreme leader) will walk free. This is despite the fact that Jeffs is currently serving a life sentence for having sex with underage girls as young as 12. Rawstory.com reports: By divine coincidence, perhaps, Wednesday is 6... more »
North Korea To Launch ‘Practice’ EMP Attack
Russian generals have previously warned the EMP Commission that a top-secret design for a super-EMP warhead was accidentally leaked to North Korea in 2004. Now intelligence experts have warned that North Korea’s launch of the KSM-4 satellite on February 7 may be used to “practise” an EMP attack on the United States – potentially causing a blackout on the national grid, killing millions. Allnewspipeline.com reports: On Oct. 8, 2015, NORAD Commander Gortney told the Atlantic Council, “I agree with the intelligence community that we assess that they [the North Koreans] have the abilit... more »
Anonymous Launch #OpIsrael Cyberattack Against Israel
Israel are preparing for an oncoming cyberattack by Anonymous on April 7th, as a group of anti-Israel hacktivists have vowed to cause major disruption across the country in their campaign #OpIsrael. Israeli cybersecurity experts have said they are not concerned with the threat, claiming that the country is prepared for whatever the hacktivist group throws at them. Techcrunch.com reports: The attack has taken place every year on April 7since 2013 and was first launched on the eve of the Holocaust Remembrance Day with a stated goal of erasing Israel from the Internet. “The nightmare ... more »
100-year-old Grandma Booted Out Of Her Home For Being Noisy
A 100-year-old grandmother has been given two weeks to vacate her Palm Desert apartment, by a judge who ruled in favor of her landlord who complained that she was “too noisy.” Evelyn Heller must now leave her apartment following the brief trial at Palm Springs court house on Friday. The Independent reports: Deep Canyon Desert LLC, the company that manages Ms Heller’s apartment, said they evicted the elderly woman because she often had loud, disruptive verbal arguments with her daughter. According to the Desert Sun reports, Ms Heller was also accused of keeping the apartment in a “de... more »
World News Briefs -- April 4, 2016 (Evening Edition)
*Reuters*: *World figures deny wrongdoing as 'Panama Papers' reveal offshore wealth* Governments across the world began investigating possible financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful on Monday after a leak of four decades of documents from a Panamanian law firm that specialized in setting up offshore companies. The "Panama Papers" revealed financial arrangements of global politicians and public figures including friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, relatives of the prime ministers of Britain, Iceland and Pakistan, and the president of Ukraine. While holding money i... more »
‘Fugit Amor,’ by Auguste Rodin
[image: 9867f0db1e56d32bb8a78f7d1dfa6778] "*Fugit amor*" is the Latin for fugitive or transient love… [image: Capture] The Rodin Museum explains the piece: *‘Fugit Amor’ is without question one of Rodin’s most beautiful compositions: the two straining bodies are combined in one perfect flowing movement. This two-figure group, which appeared twice on ‘The Gates of Hell,’ [depicting figures from Dante’s ‘Inferno,’ and] was exhibited as an independent work from 1887 under the names ‘The Dream’ and ‘The Sphinx,’ which show how closely it related to the Symbolist aesthetic of the... more »
Andrea Mitchell Said British Sailors Were Held by Iran in 2007 for 'Months and Months.' That's Not True.
Appearing tonight on MSNBC in advance of Barack Obama's final State of the Union address, foreign correspondent Andrea Mitchell spoke to Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews about Iran's seizure of two U.S. Navy riverine gunboats (and 10 crew members) that had entered Iranian territorial waters on their way from Bahrain to Kuwait - perhaps accidentally, perhaps due to a mechanical malfunction or
Politics and the Panama Papers
After expending a long day compiling and pouring over spreadsheets, I wasn't expecting two terabytes worth of them would bring a smile to my face. Yet that happened last night when the massive leak from Mossack Fonseca of Panama City flashed across the world's media. In a society like ours where everyday folk can't move for video cameras and tracking devices, it's welcome when those at the top feel the heat of, for want of a better phrase, surveillance from below. As the data hasn't been dumped online for all and sundry to skim through, there will be more than a few scandals buried... more »
“White Sheets and Red Golf Caps”
Robert Tracinski ably explains the fetid sewer of support flushed out by Donald Trump – people who understand Western civilisation not as a set of ideas, but as some kind of symbol of their racial identity. They’re calling themselves alt-right; he’s identified them simply as The Other Left. Or even more simply: Yes, The Alt-Right Are Just a Bunch of Racists: *I’m talking about the so-called “alt-right,” which stands for “alternative right,” though I can’t find anything particularly “right-wing” about them—not in the American sense, which has traditionally meant advocacy of fre... more »
NATO Paved The Way For ISIS To Take Palmyra
American author Daniel Lazare blames American action and inaction for the capture of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra last year, which was liberated recently by the Syrian Arab Army. Washington and its allies in the Middle East funneled arms to terror groups such as Daesh and al-Qaeda and later sat back and watched as Palmyra fell into the hands of their favorite Islamists. Western leaders and allies blamed president Assad for their shortcomings, repeating the mantra “Assad must go” while Palmyra was being beheaded and pulverized by terrorists. The west’s deafening silence after t... more »
Taliban Smartphone App Removed From Google Play
A Taliban technology that allowed for the spread of online hate and extremism has been removed by Google. An app developed for Android smartphones which allowed the Taliban to connect with a wider digital audience was removed from Google Play store after it was branded as ‘hate speech.’ The app, named Alemarah, was part of the Taliban’s advanced technological efforts to compete with the Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL who have recently made inroads into Afghanistan and Taliban territory and are better positioned in the cyber world. The Mirror reports: The app, named Alemarah, gave Android s... more »
Siri Now Responds To Rape Claims
Siri, the iPhone’s built-in digital “assistant” has been criticized for not understanding the full meaning behind a victim telling the artificial intelligence that they were a victim of sexual assault. However, the tech giant has now updated the software so that Siri is better equipped to deal with sensitive queries. According to IBNLive: In the past, Siri gave responses to statements like “I was raped,” inadequately. It would simply respond, “I don’t know what you mean by ‘I was raped'” and instead redirected users to web search. Even alternative digital assistants like Google Now... more »
The End Of Days? Satellite Photo Shows Nile River Blood Red
A recent image supplied by the European Space Agency (ESA) shows a photo of the Nile River in Egypt running a blood red color. GeoBeats News reports: The red in the picture signifies the presence of vegetation, reports CBS News. Gathered by the new Sentinel-3A satellite, the picture taken on March 3, 2016 is teeming with detail. Egypt showcases its capital city of Cairo, as the Nile River pulses toward where it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Sitting distantly northward are the islands of Cyprus and Crete. Somewhat counterintuitively, the Red Sea also appears in the image, on the... more »
Even Your Wine Isn’t Safe From Monsanto: Here’s Why
Ah, organic wine. Those of us who are against GMOs take comfort in knowing that our wine is, at the very least, organic. Or is it? Now, some devastating research has revealed that Monsanto’s tentacles have made their way into ‘organic wine’ in California. According to TheInertia.com: Recent tests show that this is the case with Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller. This herbicide is produced by Monsanto, and it is used by farmers as a heavy-duty herbicide. Samples of wine from 10 different vineyards indicate the presence of Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, in every sample. It shou... more »
Rare Rectangular UFO Spotted Over Georgia
A witness from the city of Cumming in Forsyth County, Georgia, has reported seeing a large, black, rectangle-shaped UFO flying low and leisurely over the city and blocking out stars from view. According to the witness in a strange report submitted on March 15, 2016, and filed as Case 75213 in the archives of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), the sighting occurred on November 4, 2013. The witness was standing outside his home at about 2:15 a.m. on November 4, 2013, talking on his cell phone, when he noticed something unusual about the night sky. The weather was mild and the sky was cle... more »
Navy Bureaucracy Has No Idea How to Make Job Title ‘Yeoman’ Gender-Neutral
[image: Ray Mabus] The Navy is hell-bent on adjusting job titles to suit gender equality, but the bureaucracy is stumped on changing the clerical position of “yeoman” and has mulled over alternatives like "yeo-person" and "yeo-specialist" as replacements. But up to this point,... more »
Speaker Ryan’s Trip to Israel Sends All the Right Signs
[image: Paul Ryan, CPAC] Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., is in Israel on his first foreign trip as Speaker of the House. As much as security and geopolitical relations will be at the forefront of the visit, the economic bonds between the two free-market democracies... more »
Here Paul Craig Roberts is again focusing on the fake U.S. job results. So as a preamble, I am including below "The ShadowStats Alternate Unemployment Rate for March 2016 is 22.9%" ...as permited by ShadowStats.com at http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts. Note that all officially discouraged workers "were defined out of official existence in 1994". So adding those "out of official existance" to the "U-6 unemployment" rate now proves that about 23% of all Americans are out of work or working only part time. Nevertheless, the Fed and the Stock Markets(!) are running on the (incorrect) assumption that about 95% of all Americans are employed and thus boosting the economy by consuming. What do you think will happen when they find out the truth?
------------------------------ *Jobs Report Blues — Paul Craig Roberts * ------------------------------ April 2, 2016 | Original Here | Use original and sign up at the bottom if you wish to receive his newsletter via email Jobs Report Blues Paul Craig Roberts On Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that there were 215,000 new jobs in March. John Williams of ShadowStats.com reports that these “new jobs” result from the the Birth-Death model that “artificially inflates headline month-to-month payroll gains with add-factors that currently average wel... more »
Will The Republican Party EVER Be Able To Escape Its Own Congenital, Backward-Looking Obstructionism?
On the day Obama announced his nominee to fill Scalia's job was Merrick Garland, we made it clear what our opinion of the nomination is: Yuck! The political gamesmanship yielded up the most conservative nominee a Democrat has proposed to the Supreme Court in many decades. Terrible choice... but politically strategic. Easily, the worst of all outcomes would be that Garland gets confirmed in a lame duck session after a Bernie landslide pulls in a nearly filibuster-proof Democratic Senate that does not include Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Rob Portman (R-... more »
Greece Begins Sending Back Migrants To Turkey
*New York Times:* *Greece Begins Sending Migrants Back as E.U. Deal Takes Effect* MYTELINI, Greece — Before a long-negotiated European Union accord with Turkey went into effect last month, the breezy Greek island of Lesbos, set in the shadow of the Turkish mainland, was a port of passage for hundreds of thousands refugees seeking to travel further into Europe. On Monday, the Greek and European Union authorities effectively started ushering people out, as a phalanx of police officers began enforcing a program of mass deportations of migrants back to Turkey. As the sun rose over th... more »
U. of Northern Arizona Neutralizes TFA Critique
Even though University of Northern Arizona associate professor, Barbara Veltri, knew the State of Arizona was closely tied to the charter school industry and to Teach for America (TFA), which supplies a third of the teachers in “no excuses” charter schools, she had no idea that her published research and scholarship on TFA would ever be slighted, denigrated, and mislabeled by her own university. A little background is in order to better understand the censorious institutional insult that Dr. Veltri experienced last week. The new corporate paternalists and the old line segregat... more »
Ebola Is Back As Mysterious Flare-Up Of Virus Spreads
Reports of new instances of Ebola has intensified over the last few weeks, with the latest case of a 5-year-old boy testing positive in Liberia sparking fears that a pandemic is coming. Deputy Health Minister, Tolbert Nyenswah confirmed “A five-year-old boy, the son of the deceased, tested positive early on Sunday morning“. According to Yahoo News: More than 11,300 people have died over the past two years in the world’s worst Ebola epidemic, nearly all of them in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. While the WHO said this week that West Africa’s Ebola outbreak no longer constitutes an... more »
Mysterious Jellyfish Invasion Mystifies Florida Residents
Florida is known for its sunny beaches, theme parks, and warm waters. But now, something sinister has taken over the shoreline: thousands of jellyfish. Lifeguards from Hallandale Beach discovered the jellyfish washed up on the shoreline, and posted about it on the City of Hallandale Beach’s Facebook page. KTLA reports: Strong winds and ocean currents can bring these creatures onto shore. Unfortunately, there is no way to forecast their arrival, CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar said. These bluish, purplish jellyfish, called Velella velella, have bodies designed to allow them to sai... more »
Here Are The Top 9 Benefits Of Oregano
Oregano is an incredible herb. We are used to adding the spice to many of our everyday recipes. But, did you realise that Oregano’s benefits go far beyond just flavoring food? Eating the herb has numerous health benefits, including giving your body an antibacterial punch to fight various illnesses, providing the body with powerful antioxidants, vitamins and essential oils … and much more. Mark’s Daily Apple explains: 9. Recipes Oregano means “mountain joy” and is a wonderfully aromatic, flavorful herb popularly used in Spanish and Mediterranean cooking. Oregano also goes by the name... more »
Greece Is Now Deporting Migrants Back To Turkey
As a part of a new EU plan aimed at reducing the number of refugees flowing into Europe, Greece has begun sending migrants back to Turkey. Greek border agents put 135 migrants on a ferry back to Turkey, much to the anger of Turkish authorities. USAToday explains: Human rights groups have been highly critical of the plan, saying Turkey, which already hosts 2.7 million Syrian refugees, can not adequately care for the migrants. “This is the first day of a very difficult time for refugee rights. Despite the serious legal gaps and lack of adequate protection in Turkey, the EU is forging ... more »
Hero For ‘The People’ Bob Geldof Wants 100K For Speech On Poverty
One of the self-professed “heroes” who fights to end world poverty, Sir Bob Geldof, is now charging $100,000 to talk about the plight of poor people. Geldof recently billed Australian organizers $100,000 to talk about Third World poverty and greed, before heading off to his 5-star hotel room paid for by stunned organisers. According to The Daily Telegraph: Geldof, 54, spoke about the tragedy of Third World poverty and the failure of governments to combat the crisis at a Crown casino function in Melbourne on Thursday night. Fellow activist, World Vision CEO the Reverend Tim Costell... more »
DC Madam Lawyer To Release Secret 2016 Election Bombshell Documents
In what is possibly one of the most stunning developments of the 2016 election, the lawyer who represented the infamous “DC Madam” from 2006/07 has come forward with some bombshell information about Ted Cruz. The lawyer has GUARANTEED that previously top-secret documents about to be released could change the entire 2016 US Presidential race. This is the same man who released phone records 5 years ago which saw the downfall from very powerful Washington officials. The lawyer of the now deceased “DC Madam” says that he has secured a “dead man switch” on the information which he says i... more »
British Man Convicted After Keeping Wife As A Slave
A Pakistani woman kept as a slave has had her day in court. Her husband, who kept her as a slave, was sentenced to two years in jail in what is believed to be that first British conviction regarding servitude between a wife and husband. The South China Morning Post reports: “This is a ground breaking case which demonstrates how far we have come in tackling modern-day slavery,” said Crown Prosecution Service lawyer Damaris Lakin in a statement. Safraz Ahmed, 34, from London, subjected Sumara Iram to “physical and mental torture” after she moved to Britain in 2012 following an arrange... more »
#OccupyCNN: Bernie Supporters Protest Media Bias
Over 1000 Bernie Sanders Supporters gathered in Hollywood, Los Angeles outside of the CNN (dubbed “Clinton News Network”) building on Sunset Boulevard on Sunday, April 4, to protest the Bernie blackout in the media and the blatant pro-Clinton bias. The #OccupyCNN hashtag has since been trending worldwide. This protest comes one week subsequent to Bernie Sanders landslide wins in the state primaries of Hawaii, Washington State, and Alaska on Western Saturday which CNN downplayed. Despite Bernie’s 6 major wins out of 7 contests in a row, he has been mostly ignored by CNN. While the pr... more »
Hospitals Are Quietly Paying Ransom Demands To Hackers
Many hospitals across US cities (Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. most recently) are trying to grapple with a new reality: ransomware. Experts are now warning of a coming surge in the hacking technique which shuts down hospital computer networks and then demands a payment to “unlock” the newly sealed information. Over 52 percent of equipment tested by The Health Information Trust Alliance were found infected with the virus, putting potentially millions of lives at risk. Yahoo News reports: The most common type of malware was ransomware, Nutkis said, which was present in 35 percent o... more »
For The Braindead Western Media, No More Candy Is Coming Out of The Putin Piñata
*The braindead Western media can hit the Putin Piñata until their arms break, but there is no more candy coming out. The party is over, all the guests have left, it's time to clean up.* *Angry Arab - Panama Papers: it is only Putin:* Joe on Facebook posted this (I cite with his permission): "The bloody King of Saudi Arabia, the former Emir of Qatar, the West's darling Oligarch Poroshenko are all named in the documents, and the papers splash photos of Putin, who is not named. They have gotten so comfortable in their arrogance of power that they've lost any sophisticated touch of pro... more »
no won has ever felt my pain for being pedestrian
Sure lots of peeps have failed more spetactular but I feel it more deeply' belive me
By Coming Clean, Donald Trump Could Change America’s Heart on Abortion
[image: Donald Trump] Last week I urged reporters to ask Donald Trump, who has boasted of his many sexual conquests and pumped up baseless adultery rumors about a GOP rival, whether he’d ever told a woman to abort the child whom they had... more »
The Latest on ‘Panama Papers': US Reviews Massive Leak for Possible Corruption, Many World Leaders Named
[image: Mossack Fonseca, Panama Papers] MADRID (AP) -- The Latest on the publication by a coalition of media outlets of an investigation into offshore financial dealings by the rich and famous (all times local): 11:55 p.m. The Panamanian law firm at the center of a... more »
America’s Power Plants Are Switching From Coal to Natural Gas
[image: Natural Gas Power Plant, Electricity] America got more electricity from natural gas than coal for the first time ever last year, according to data published Monday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The average capacity factor, or how intensely the power plant is running, of America's natural gas... more »
Bastard Regimes of America And Iran Deceived Their Naive Publics About The Nature of The Nuclear Deal
*The foolish leaders of America and Iran would be wise to simmer down tensions in the region, draw away from accusatory stances, and behave like responsible states for once in their history. If not, both the bankrupt U.S. empire and the bankrupt Islamic Republic will be destroyed in any coming war along with their pet obsession Israel. * *An excerpt from, "Obama: Iran not following 'spirit' of deal" By Julian Hattem, The Hill, April 1, 2016: * President Obama on Friday criticized Iranian leaders for undermining the “spirit” of last year’s historic nuclear agreement, even as they st... more »
The Crimes of Pakistan Against Balochistan
*An excerpt from, "Open Letter to Ban Ki-Moon On Crimes Against Balochistan" By Mir Balach, Asian Human Rights Commission, July 30, 2013: * Dear Sir, The Baloch Social Media Activists forum would like to draw your kind attention towards the heinous crimes that the occupying Pakistani army is committing against humanity in Balochistan on daily basis. In order to contain the Baloch Freedom Movement, the Pakistani state has adopted a sinister strategy of eliminating the intellectuals and activists of Baloch society –with its systematic 'dirty war' which generally is called "kill and ... more »
Unveiled: NASA’s Mars Curiosity Actually Filmed In Greenland?
A NASA video purporting to show the surface of Mars has been exposed as a fraud, as experts have revealed that NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover was actually filmed in Greenland, fooling millions who believed they were watching footage from the red planet. NASA have defended the footage, saying that they often test their equipment in Greenland due to its similarity to Mars. However, many experts and conspiracy theorists believe that NASA have been caught red handed faking footage of the red planet. From the video description: Here is the Mars rover Curiosity seen in Greenland (Devon Isla... more »
The Growing Scandal Over Cooked Islamic State Intelligence Just Got Much Worse
*Shane Harris & Nancy A. Youssef, Daily Beast*: *Intel Analysts: We Were Forced Out for Telling the Truth About Obama’s ISIS War* The growing scandal over cooked ISIS intelligence just got much worse. Now, analysts are saying they’re being forced out for not toeing the Obama administration’s line on the war. Two senior intelligence analysts at U.S. Central Command say the military has forced them out of their jobs because of their skeptical reporting on U.S.-backed rebel groups in Syria, three sources with knowledge of their claim told The Daily Beast. It’s the first known instance... more »
Panama Papers: Massive data leak exposing hidden fortunes and front companies
A consortium of journalists now exposing off shore accounts, hidden fortunes, money laundering, tax evasion and front companies, following the largest data leak ever: Panama Papers 2.6 terabytes of data: https://panamapapers.icij.org/ Will the media expose US corporate criminals in this leak? https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/04/
For Your Own Good! Embedding Transnational Agribusiness And GMOs Into African Agriculture
CounterPunch, Countercurrents, Global Research, RINF Don't take free content on the web for granted. Please read *this *I could not continue to produce these articles without public support. The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) has just released the report For your own good!, which outlines the GMO industry’s expansion across Africa. The report focusses on non-commercial traditional crops, such as cassava, sorghum, sweet potato, pigeon pea, cowpea, banana and rice, which corporations are attempting to genetically modify and roll out under the guise of philanthropy. The repor... more »
Escape to America: A Syrian Christian Perspective
[image: Christian Syrian Refugee - 900] In the midst of a much-publicized "refugee crisis," Christians in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East have struggled for recognition as the group most targeted for persecution. "For the last five years, the general mood among my family and... more »
MIT Finds a Way to Make Coal Twice as Green
[image: electricity-coal - 900] Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced Monday they found a way to make electricity from coal twice as environmentally friendly. Coal gasification and fuel cell research could lead to a 50 to 60 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per unit of... more »
Senior Intel Analysts Say They Were Kicked Out for Contradicting Obama’s ISIS Agenda
[image: Obama - 900] Two top intelligence analysts at U.S. Central Command say they were kicked out for producing negative reports on Syrian rebel groups backed by the Obama administration. Sources close to these analysts told The Daily Beast that they were actively targeted... more »
Thanks to ID we know everything thinkabioot is bull hockey , so what to do with reality?
life is death and caeser\ come s so bad live mhters cause the alternative in evey bad senario was deatht and if the internet can spell out the peeps god bless it
Robert De Niro, Alt-Media Hero for Successful Launch of VAXXED Documentary
*Global Freedom Movement*- It was never going to be easy for a documentary so damning to the government to be seen.
I am 57, how did I ever get so old
I should have died at nineteen or 24 or maybe that time at 27 What can I say about being alive so many years late have I learned so much can I give you some wisdom that will fill your cup *No thats not me becasee * *the truth is inside out* *aliens took my brain* *and now I appear human'* *but my thinkiing is aliesn* *do they know something* *about math or shoudl we* *lead with supertistion* *when going against * *a superior force* *I reeal wanted no underline*
Warring I hope its not to late, cause I can not predict earhquakes, but climate change is so real
Do you truly love anyone? Do you know what it means to be filled with joy just because they are beside you voluntarlly no handcuffs no robots no Scarlet Johanson fantasy just real people in love doing the day to day That world is about to be upeneded if you do not strike now and it may be too late but at least you can tell your contrecptioin method it was too little to late We are facing down the big extiction and the powers that bee are still foucued on banking sorry dude when climate change cums your ATM is goo and you got no chance to be a bad boy cause its all underwater
Geeky Baby Bibs
This post is sponsored. All craft ideas and general geeky love is my own. ' I'm a geeky mom. Star Wars, Harry Potter, Super Hero movies? I view them as rite of passages in my kids lives. I love taking them to Comic Con and I love when they want to dress up as something geeky for Halloween. It only seems natural that geekiness extends to the littlest ones too. What kind of geeky mom would I be if I didn't make adorable geeky bibs? You will need: - baby bibs without plastic on the back - white heat transfer - an iron - a Cricut or other way to cut the vinyl To m... more »
Get It Together Linky Party
[image: Get It Together Link Party]Don't miss another week of the #BloggersGetSocial Get It Together link party. We pin, tweet, and/or Facebook share ALL of the posts here! We are all about networking, action, and accountability. While that link up was focused on social media networks, this NEW and improved link up is co-hosted by some of my favorite blog buddies and features #BloggersGetSocial! Bloggers Get Social is a network and accountability group, and I created it with the hopes of bringing new and veteran bloggers together to collaborate on their goals. With this link up, we ... more »
Been ruff I am barking like a purse dog
As an intergral part of the globalized Harper economy I provide expert services for consumer of olgoploies. Basicly I take the shit that pays the dividends quartaly. I am measured by how well I can use stupid human tricks to transform a wolf into a sheep. Thats job one, then sell them some sunshine to go with the darkness that prepetually fills the screens. Outage in Arizona, Zombie are in control of the cable again. Ghosts in the machine talk to me everyday, they are pretty old like the software we use to control the flock and the fold, but the shareholder dont care, they got lots ... more »
“An Unfiltered Mind”
*“An Unfiltered Mind”* by James Howard Kunstler “He says what he really thinks.” That is the standard explanation for the astounding political rise of Donald J. Trump. Somehow the news media have missed the meaning of this: that the rest of political America refuses to say what it really thinks. Why is that and how can it be? The simple answer: they’re afraid of how it will play on television. One error of the mouth and you’re politically crucified. You’re done. Taken out with the trash. Trump’s secret is that every error of his unfiltered mouth — and the hypothetical mind connecte... more »
Musical Interlude: Kevin Kern, "To Sleep on Angel's Wings"
Kevin Kern, "To Sleep on Angel's Wings" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF5rWpaYDAw
"A Look to the Heavens"
“A mere 600 light-years away, M44 is one of the closest star clusters to our solar system. Also known as the Praesepe or the Beehive cluster its stars are young though, about 600 million years old compared to our Sun's 4.5 billion years. Based on similar ages and motion through space, M44 and the even closer Hyades star cluster in Taurus are thought to have been born together in the same large molecular cloud. *Click image for larger size.* An open cluster spanning some 15 light-years, M44 holds 1,000 stars or so and covers about 3 full moons (1.5 degrees) on the sky in the constella... more »
BREAKING: Next week, Einstein to speak for himself!
*MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2016Our search for coherence resumes:* Starting next Monday, we'll be presenting a week in which Einstein will speak for himself. Last week, we reviewed part of last November's PBS broadcast, Inside Einstein's Mind. During the hour-long program, Nova tried to explain the thought experiment which led to special relativity, the revolutionary theory Einstein unveiled in 1905. In our view, Nova staged a major fail. In our view, it's all part of our ongoing "culture of incoherence," an artefact of the academic, publishing and journalistic worlds. As we noted, Nova's ... more »
Taliban App Removed From Google Play Store
Alemarah App *CNN*: *Google Play removes app made by the Taliban* *Google has removed an app made by the Taliban from its Play store.* The Taliban app was first discovered on Friday by SITE Intel Group, a website devoted to tracking jihadists online. The propaganda product was taken down shortly thereafter. A Google (GOOGL, Tech30) spokesman declined to comment on the app disappearing from its store, citing a policy that the company doesn't discuss specific apps. But the spokesman said the company does remove apps from Google Play that violate its policies. Jihadist groups, inclu... more »
Corbett Report: What I Learned From the Panama Papers
*Title: What I Learned From the Panama Papers. Source: corbettreport. Date Published: April 4, 2016. Description: * The Panama Papers are out and the Panama Papers propaganda is out right along with it. So why does this new mega-leak seemingly only expose those in the State Department crosshairs or expendable others and not a single prominent American politician or businessman? And what does this have to do with the OECD's plan for a global taxation grid? Find out more in today's Thought For The Day with James Corbett.
New Hopes for Vatican Progress With Breakaway Traditionalists
[image: Pope Francis] VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis met with the head of a breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics amid new hopes for progress toward ending a quarter-century of schism. The Society of St. Pius X said the 40-minute meeting Friday was... more »
Van Morrison
Van Morrison Van Morisson Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morisson Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morisson Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morisson Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morisson Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morisson Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morisson Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison and I steped right up like a ballarina
Erdogan Lashes Out At Western ‘Lessons In Democracy’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at mounting Western criticism of his clampdown on free speech and journalism in Turkey. Speaking at a meeting of the Turkish Red Crescent in Ankara, Erdogan criticised the U.S. and Europe as being hypocritical in their condemnation of Turkey’s apparent lack of human rights. “Those who attempt to give us lessons in democracy and human rights must first contemplate their own shame,” the Turkish leader said. Middle East Online reports: His comments came after US President Barack Obama said Turkey’s approach towards the media was tak...more »
Five more notices for Duke pulmonary pair brings retraction tally into double digits
Two retractions and three corrections have appeared for a group of Duke researchers that already have 10+ retractions under their belts. The reasoning behind them echoes that which we’ve seen before in notices for Michael Foster and Erin Potts-Kant: Following an inquiry from the university, the journals were informed that some of the data or results weren’t reliable, and not all of the experiments could be […] The post Five more notices for Duke pulmonary pair brings retraction tally into double digits appeared first on Retraction Watch.
ISIS Passport Found In Syria Leads Reporter To Russia
A Russian passport found among documents recovered from ISIS jihadis in Syria has led a reporter from Russia Today (RT) to a city in central Russia. Journalist Maria Finoshina uncovers the story of a man who gave away a good life and took his family to their apparent deaths in Syria’s jihadi badlands. Kurdish YPG fighters recently liberated the city of Hasakah in north eastern Syria from Islamic Stste/ISIS. Russia Today reports: Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) recruits its followers and potential fighters from across the entire world, with many of them bringing their whole fa... more »
The Times Is the Pits (and the Pendulum)
Edgar Allan Poe, who blended fact and fiction in his dual careers as journalist and horror writer, would have had a field day working at the New York Times. For what other reason than fear-mongering would the Times conduct a premature Bernie Sanders burial service right on its most coveted plot? (top left corner of its homepage) In what macabre liberal pundit Paul Krugman gleefully calls a "premortem," the newspaper has grimly collated several Bernie eulogies from Canned Obituary Central. However, to avoid any appearance of hackery or complicity, the news ghouls were very care... more »
RADICAL THERAPY IS ALL ABOUT SELF- HEALING
*The approach I take in my book RADICAL THERAPY, SURRENDER TO LOVE AND HEAL YOURSELF IN SEVEN SESSIONS (Not Seven Years) and in my heart centered consultations with Veterans with PTSD as well as others with PTHD (Post Traumatic Heart Disorder) is indeed, in reality, a radical approach for self-healing ~ and meant to be shared with the world: Allen L Roland, PhD* *The Basic underlying and uniting force of the universe is a psychic energy field of love and soul consciousness ( the Unified Field) which lies not only beyond time and space but also beneath our deepest fears... more »
Campaign watch: Commenters learn to sound off about Dowd!
*MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2016Fourth column about her pal Trump:* In Sunday's New York Times, Maureen Dowd penned her latest pal-of-mine column about her pal, Candidate Trump. Since January 31, Dowd has penned four columns about Trump. The tone of these columns has been rather unusual for Dowd. The Times provides these synopses: *April 3, 2016:* Trump Does It His Way Donald Trump has an all-new sensation. He admits he was wrong. *March 20, 2016:* Will Trump Be Dumped? Donald Trump fights those in his party who want to snatch away the nomination, and is unable to resist taking jabs at Eli... more »
Major English Novelist Bashed for Pushing Back Against Transgender Lobby
[image: British writer Ian McEwan pauses during an interview in Cartagena, Colombia, on January 30, 2010, in the framework of the 'Hay Festival'. The 'Hay Festival', which was born in 1988 in the English population of Hay-on-Way, and that since 2006 is also held in Cartagena, brings together writers, historians, photographers and journalists. This fifth edition saw the participation of British writer Ian McEwan, the Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa, Italian Paolo Giorgano, French Francis Pisani, the Cuban-French Zoe Valdes, Venezuelan Francisco Suniaga, Colombian William Ospina, and the ... more »
Afghan War Is Slowing NATO's Training Mission
Incoming Commander of Resolute Support forces and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, U.S. Army General John Nicholson speaks during a change of command ceremony in Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 2, 2016. REUTERS/Rahmat Gul/Pool *Reuters*:* Exclusive: Fierce Afghan fighting slows NATO training mission - new U.S. commander* Intense fighting and unprecedented casualties suffered by Afghan forces in 2015 have put U.S. and NATO efforts to train a self-sufficient force behind schedule, the new commanding general in Afghanistan told Reuters on Monday. The impact of t... more »
UK’s Crippling Energy Bill For Industry
By Paul Homewood Port Talbot Steel Works I want to explore further the effect of high energy costs on the UK steel industry. Last December, the House of Commons Select Committee for Business, Innovation & Skills published a report on the steel industry. It included these two graphs: Figure 6: […]
Great Bob Dylan Cover
Zee Advi is from Malayasia a Muslim country. Its not a flawless place but overall a brilliant country taken in context. I would enjoy living there. Another reason to keep Islamic Terrorism in context. Another reason to believe that the Beatles had way more to do with the fall of communism than Ronald Reagan and his band of idiots.
Blur VS Oais 25 odd years later
I can hardly stand to listen to Oais. I dont have one song in my playlist. Blur wins totally.
CawRant Events #21
*CawRANT Events #21* After a brilliantly sunny and beautiful Spring Weekend...here we are at Monday again and it's back to West Coast Gray. My* CawRANT Events Rant file *is full to overflowing...so it's time for a *RANT!* *Never Any Closure...or Justice* The first issue, or as I like to call it, burr under my saddle, is the fact that in the West (I don't know about the East....maybe its like this there too)...there is *never any closure to news stories that arise*. Rather than being resolved...they just drift off into the horizon...never going any where...or repeat themselves over... more »
Sanders Wants to Reform ("Revitalize") the Democratic Party. Will He Play His Ace to Do It?
*Sanders shows he knows he has an ace. Will he play it?* *by Gaius Publius* Sanders has more leverage than he's ever had in his life. He has the right vision and the right goal. He's also holding the right cards — all he has to do is play them. In particular, he has an ace. Will he play it if he loses to Clinton? To understand what I just wrote, listen to the short video clip above. It's 3½ minutes of the candid interview Sanders gave on a recent episode of *The Young Turks* (full interview here). *"What Do You Do If You Lose?"* I want to direct you to two answers from Sanders.... more »
Iran Warns The U.S. To Not Cross Its 'Red Lines'
Iranian Deputy Chief of Staff of Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazzayeri warned the US officials that Iran's missile power is a redline which can no way be encroached. *Jerusalem Post*: *Iranian military official warns US: Stay away from Iran's red lines* *Iranian deputy chief of staff says Islamic Republic will not curtail its missile program no matter what.* Iran warned the U.S. on Monday that any attempt to encroach on the Islamic Republic's ballistic missile program would constitute the crossing of a "red line." "The US calculations about the Islamic Republic and the... more »
Mohawk Nation News 'CLAIM OUR MINDS - tsinion'kwarihoten'
http://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2016/04/04/claim-our-minds-tsinionkwarihoten/
Theme Park Employee Found Dead Inside Haunted House
Police are investigating the death of a 45-year-old theme park technician whose body was found inside the Phantom Manor haunted house in Frontierland at Disneyland Park in Disneyland Paris. New York Post reports: They confirmed they are investigating the death of a male technician in the Phantom Manor attraction. It is believed the 45-year-old man was electrocuted while working in the attraction, which features ghosts and other ghoulish themes, and resembles the house out of the 1960 cinematic classic “Psycho.” A spokesman for the prosecutor in nearby Meaux said the man, who has not... more »
California Enacts Highest Statewide Minimum Wage in US
[image: Gov. Jerry Brown - 900] LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law Monday giving California the nation’s highest statewide minimum wage of $15 an hour by 2022. That and a similar effort in New York mark the most ambitious moves... more »
Atheists Say Darwinism Means Life is Meaningless, But Their Behavior Shows They Know Better
[image: Charles Darwin Stamp Eyes Close Up - 900] In a YouTube video the University of Chicago evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne said science has shown that "the universe and life are pointless … in the sense that there is no externally imposed purpose or point in the universe. As atheists this... more »
Sobibor Death Camp Survivor Jules Schelvis Dies at 95
[image: Sobibor death camp survivors - 900] BERLIN (AP) -- Jules Schelvis, a Dutch survivor of the Nazis’ Sobibor death camp who testified at the landmark trial of John Demjanjuk and founded the Sobibor Foundation, has died. He was 95. The Amsterdam-based Sobibor Foundation said Monday that... more »
Truth about Mogul
Over on Rich Reynolds *UFO Conjectures*we’ve just had a lesson in some of the skeptical thought processes. In a conversation that was tangential to the main point, one of the commentators Dr. Albert Crary wrote, “The only plausible explanation is Flight #4 did fly and there were many, many errors in how it was recorded (incorrectly) giving the impression it never did fly at all.” My first thought was, “Seriously?” The leader of Project Mogul in New Mexico was Dr. Albert Crary and it is his field notes and his documentation that apparently, according to some in the skeptical communit... more »
As We Shift: The Pleiadians: "Dear, Dear Human"
*These last few weeks there are many early morning wake up calls. Most will be shared in the newsletter, which **you can sign up for here**. This one felt urgent and wonderful and necessary to be posted everywhere, so please share! It is the answer to all of our collective dreams and wildest imaginings, as well as validation for what we have been saying – * *WE are the ones we’ve been waiting for!* *~Sophia* *Note – The night before I was woken up every few hours. This ended approximately 3:00 AM or so. I awaken for the day at 5:00 AM.* *“I would like to connect with those being... more »
Silly people
Good grief. The perpetual and tiresome CF identity crisis continues. Pips will be removed and replaced by metal maple leaves, according to Lieutenant-General Marquis Hainse, commander of the Canadian Army. Gold braid will be returned to the uniform cuffs. These changes reverse some of the insignia changes brought about three years ago by the Conservative government.
A Different Kind of Pro-Life Strategy
[image: abortion protest - 900] “I skipped out of the confessional.” For 29 years, Veronica (I’ve changed her name to protect her privacy) had avoided the Church and lived in “constant fear,” as she describes it, “that my secret would get out and the people... more »
Library of Congress Replaces ‘Illegal Alien’ With ‘Noncitizen’
[image: Library of Congress - 900] The Library of Congress will stop using the term "illegal alien," instead opting to use "noncitizen" or "unauthorized immigration" when discussing those who unlawfully come to the country. The change came after a group of pro-DREAM Act students, known as CoFIRED, at... more »
Peru: Former Head of State Openly Discusses UFOs?
*Source:www.informador.mx.co and Planeta UFODate: 04.02.2016* Peru: Former Head of State Openly Discusses UFOs? MEXICO CITY - Former president and current presidential candidate Alejandro Toledo shook his country's news media in a press conference when he confessed to discussing UFOs with the international media. "I was interviewed by CNN on a subject that would be considered outlandish, seemingly proper of the realm of science fiction, but it isn't: extraterrestrials." As of the end of this edition, this interview has not been made public, and some have described it as an atten... more »
Spain: The Unexpected Visitors - UFOs in Valle del Guadalhorce
*Source: www.malagahoy.es (Spain)Date: 04.03.2016* *Spain: The Unexpected Visitors - UFOs in Valle del Guadalhorce* By Pablo Bujalance The closing of the *Caminito del Rey* without a reopening date has caused consternation (and anger) among area hoteliers, hardened explorers, restless German tourists and run-of-the-mill enthusiasts. Few people know this, because such things seldom receive coverage in the media, but it turns out that ever since the hazardous trail was reopened, with the inevitable boom in tourism, UFO sightings have been on the rise in Valle del Guadalhorce. It's ... more »
US Navy Seizes Iranian Weapons Shipment Believed Headed To Yemen
A cache of weapons is assembled on the deck of the guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG 107). The weapons were seized from a stateless dhow which was intercepted by the Coastal Patrol ship USS Sirocco (PC 6) on March 28. US Navy Photo *Daily Mail: **US Navy intercept Iranian weapons shipment including 1,500 AK-47s and rocket launchers in the Arabian Sea heading to war-torn Yemen* * US Navy says it has seized a weapons shipment in the Arabian Sea * Vast horde of weapons is thought to have been from Iran heading to Yemen * The Navy said the shipment included 1,500 Kalashnikov ass... more »
Vaccine Maker Admits On FDA Website that DTaP Vaccine Causes Autism
*Catherine J. Frompovich* - Here is smoking gun evidence that the pharmaceutical industry has known about the link between vaccines and autism.
Jill Stein: We Have a Lethal Illness
Abby Martin sits down with Dr. Stein from the Green Party to look at how her career in medicine helped her diagnose America's "multi-organ failure," and why her ideas pose such a threat to Empire.
Commentaries, Analysis, And Reaction To The Panama Papers
*The Guardian:* *What are the Panama Papers? A guide to the biggest data leak in history* * What is Mossack Fonseca, how big is it, and who uses offshore firms? Key questions about one of the biggest ever data leaks * Revealed: the $2bn offshore trail that leads to Vladimir Putin * How the world’s rich and famous hide their money offshore The Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5m files from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which sh... more »
Unit 1 Steaming Away
The streets are wet at the Futaba intersection so there is high humidity in the air but Unit 1 looked like this yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that, when the streets were dry. Lots of blue visible on the TEPCO cam 4.
Coincidence? Migrants back to Turkey as US trains new "Syrian Rebels"
Anyone who reads here knows I am not a coincidence theorist! *We are looking at a plan, obfuscated by the migrant return narrative.* With the assistance of at least one alleged humanitarian *N*o *G*ood *O*rganization. So let's read the news reports covering the who's who of Syrian migrants. So called? *This information is taken from several sources:* *CTV* DIKILI, Turkey -- A first group of migrants were ferried from the Greek islands to Turkey Monday as part of a controversial European Union plan to curb migration to Europe. *Under heavy security, authorities on the Greek islands... more »
The Panama Papers -- News Updates April 4, 2016
*USA Today*: *Worldwide fallout continues over Panama Papers* The massive, anonymous leak Sunday of more than 11 million documents belonging to a law firm in Panama — Mossack Fonseca — that detail how powerful people hid their wealth reveals suspected cases of money laundering, sanctions evasion and tax avoidance. Here's what you need to know: *Read more* .... *WNU Editor:* I will be updating this news story at 21:00 EST. *The Panama Papers* PANAMA PAPERS: The secrets of dirty money -- Suddeutsche Zeitung Panama Papers -- ICIJ ICIJ/OCCRP Panama Papers project yields unprecedented... more »
Court Upholds Total Population Count in Electoral Districts
[image: Supreme Court - 900] WASHINGTON (AP) -- A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can count everyone, not just eligible voters, in deciding how to draw electoral districts. The justices turned back a challenge from Texas voters that could have dramatically altered political... more »
Banks Discriminate Against Legal Gun Sellers as ‘Firearms Dealers’
[image: gun control - 900] The stories of two businessmen who recently were denied banking services because they sell firearms suggest a secretive government program called Operation Choke Point still affects industries across the nation that the Obama administration considered undesirable. In one case, a... more »
Chile: Ghosts on a Bus?
*Source: La Red (Chile) and Liliana Nuñez OrellanaDate: 04.04.2016* *Chile: Ghosts on a Bus?* The driver who took the photo claims they're angels, but others have found a darker side to the photo. A forceful debate has taken place on social media regarding a photo on the Transatiago 210 bus, after some users reported the existence of a ghostly presence in the photo. Others say the image isn't real, while believers opine there is more than one spirit present. However, the person responsible for the photo explained that "the photo was taken by the driver, who happens to be my fat... more »
Poll: Should retracted papers be made available for free?
Recently, Robert Geller of the University of Tokyo brought an interesting issue to our attention. In following a particular paper that had been flagged with concerns on PubPeer, he saw that the journal had eventually retracted it. Even though the journal was sold under a subscription-based model, it made the retraction notice available outside the […] The post Poll: Should retracted papers be made available for free? appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Reports of Russia's Defeat in Syria are Greatly Exaggerated
*April 4, 2016 *(Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - In the immediate aftermath of Russia's announcement of a partial withdrawal from Syria upon accomplishing its initial objectives, pundits, politicians, and analysts in the West attempted to capitalize on it by portraying Russia in retreat, broke economically, and attempting to avoid a quagmire it had entangled itself in. However, more honest and thoughtful analysis noted that Russia's partial withdrawal was more diplomatic than strategic - a grand gesture by Moscow to the West that it was able and willing to give the perpetrators of this pr... more »
Conservatives Fear the Lame Duck but Aren’t Ready to Kill It
[image: Mark Meadows - 900] Conservatives don't want to ground a lame duck Congress altogether. They just want to clip its wings a bit and keep bad policy from taking flight during the frantic last months of the year. Part of every congressional lifespan, the... more »
Gun-Battles Rocked The Capital Of The Congo Republic. Rival Militias Are Being Blamed
*Reuters*: *Gunbattles rock Brazzaville in wake of disputed Congo election* Gunbattles rocked the capital of the Congo Republic on Monday, shattering a relative calm that had followed President Denis Sassou Nguesso's re-election in a disputed poll last month. The fighting between security forces and unidentified gunmen was some of the worst to hit Brazzaville since 1997, when Sassou Nguesso returned to power after months of urban warfare between rival militia groups in the capital. He had previously ruled the oil-producing country from 1979 until he lost an election in 1992. Wit... more »
Korean Lawyers Defend Village on Jeju Island from Samsung & Navy
*The Navy’s damage claim against Gangjeong residents is a declaration of war against its own citizens * By Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) The ROK Navy is claiming a sum of 3.4 billion won [approximately 3 million US dollars] in damages against 116 individuals including residents and clergy and 5 organizations. The Navy is demanding this money in compensation for the losses incurred by the construction company due to a 14-month delay in construction in the naval base due to residents, etc. obstructing the work. We (Minbyun) found that this case is an unjustified decla... more »
What’s Behind the Educational Divide in GOP White House Race?
[image: back of graduates during commencement] WASHINGTON (AP) -- It was in Nevada, just about month ago, when Donald Trump proclaimed his affection for the uneducated. “We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love... more »
Azerbaijan And Armenia Continue Their War Over Nagorno-Karabakh
*The Guardian*: *Azerbaijan and Armenia clashes continue for third day* *Azerbaijan says three of its troops died overnight in Nagorno-Karabakh region as Russia and the west call for a ceasefire.* Deadly clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region have continued for a third day, despite international pressure to halt the worst fighting in decades over the disputed territory. Azerbaijan said three of its troops were killed overnight when Armenian forces shelled its positions using mortars and grenade launchers, taking the overall death toll in th... more »
Air Strikes Kill 22 al-Qaida-Linked Militants in Syria
[image: U.S. airstrikes] BEIRUT (AP) -- A senior Al-Qaida official was killed in air strikes Sunday night that killed at least 21 other militants in Idlib province, a jihadist stronghold in northern Syria, according to monitoring groups. The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors... more »
EU Begins Shipping Migrants in Greece Back to Turkey
[image: Greece Migrants] DIKILI, Turkey (AP) -- A controversial European Union plan to curb migration and smash smuggling rings in Turkey began Monday as 202 migrants from two Greek islands were piled onto boats heading back to Turkey. Under heavy security, authorities on... more »
Complaints About Iraq PM Abadi Undermine His Cabinet Reshuffle
Iraq’s Prime Minister Haidar Abadi finally presented his new cabinet of technocrats to parliament. It now has a little over a week to discuss the nominees. The whole process to come up with the ministers has been fraught with problems with the majority of the ruling parties opposing Abadi’s plans. The main problem is that Abadi’s cabinet threatens the ruling parties hold on the government. What has made the situation worse is Abadi’s unwillingness to consult with others and to present a clear plan. The premier is already facing a difficult situation, and his alienating the other l... more »
THE TRIBE IN THE MIRROR: She knew the truth at 17!
*MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2016Part 1—Loathing Candidate Clinton:* Yesterday morning, we were awakened by screams and cries at an ungodly hour. The caterwauling was coming from the Spartan sleeping quarters where each of the analysts is provided with his or her own sleeping bench. How piteous were the analysts' cries for help? It almost sounded like wildcats, or other frightening visitors, had invaded the Sleeping Quarters. Understandably annoyed, we rolled over and went back to sleep. We were convinced that we'd eventually learn the cause of this commotion. Hours later, the analysts blurt... more »
Turmeric & Honey Elixir
The Turmeric and Lemon Morning Elixir Servings 1 serving Prep Time 5 minutes Cook Time no cooking Ingredients What you’ll need… - 1/2 a lemon, squeezed for juice - 1/4 - 1/2 tsp turmeric - 1/2 tsp honey - 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder - 1 cup warm water, or milk *For more information, please click on the link provided below:* *The Alternative Daily*
Now this is transparent: Retraction for plagiarism earns 4-page editor’s note
A journal has retracted a paper about 3D imaging after concluding the authors used equations from another researcher without attribution — and has conveniently included a detailed editorial explaining exactly what happened. It’s rare for us to see a journal be so transparent in explaining what went wrong with one of its papers, so we’re thanking […] The post Now this is transparent: Retraction for plagiarism earns 4-page editor’s note appeared first on Retraction Watch.
World News Briefs -- April 4, 2016
*BBC: **Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens* A huge leak of confidential documents has revealed how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth. Eleven million documents were leaked from one of the world's most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. They show how Mossack Fonseca has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and avoid tax. The company says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and has never been charged with criminal wrong-doing. *Read more *.... *MIDDLE EAST* Syrian army presses ahead *with ... more »
Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- April 4, 2016
Huge Russian convoy going to Palmyra to demine it pic.twitter.com/n3ORoXgzUN — BM-27 Uragan (@bm27_uragan) April 2, 2016 *FOX News:* *Video of military convoy new evidence Russia not pulling out of Syria* There is more evidence that Russian forces are not pulling out of Syria, but instead, more troops are arriving there, a new video from Russian television Saturday apparently shows. The video shows a convoy of Russian troops headed to Palmyra to begin mine clearance operations after ISIS was routed from there earlier this week. Col. Steve Warren, a US-led coalition spokesman in... more »
Veterans’ Health Derailed by VA Skipping Out on Millions in Doctor Bills
[image: Veterans Affairs] A free-choice program implemented to get veterans crucial medical care is under siege because the Department of Veterans Affairs has not paid millions of dollars owed to the doctors providing it. Now, the VA employee union, which opposes letting veterans... more »
Massive Data Leak Exposes World’s Mega-Rich, Heads of State in Dubious Off-Shore Tax Schemes
[image: Panama Papers] The leak of more than 11.5 million confidential documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, now known as the Panama Papers, exposed a number of world leaders, celebrities, athletes and criminals for using offshore accounts as tax havens and involvement... more »
What Does It Mean To Be A Democrat In 2016?
Campaigning in Eau Claire Saturday night, Clinton told a small crowd of supporters that she's "been a proud Democrat all my adult life. And I think that is kind of important if we are selecting someone to be the Democratic nominee of the Democratic Party." I suppose she meant that as a little dig at Bernie since he's been an Independent, rather than a Democrat, although he caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate, just as he did in the House. As she has admitted in writing and in speeches, Clinton grew up as a conservative Republican. Her first foray into politics was trying to pr... more »
Untitled
*State Senate Decision to Slash Funding to CUNY Over Antisemitism Will Send Message to Other Universities* The head of a major Jewish organization praised the New York State Senate’s decision last week to slash funding to the City University of New York (CUNY), telling The Algemeiner that the move was necessary to motivate CUNY to properly address the antisemitism across its campuses, and ought to serve as a precedent for other states and universities. Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), told The Algemeiner, “This case will send a message to legis... more »
6 Examples Of Divide And Conquer … and What You Can Do
*Paul A. Philips* - The program is to keep us all fighting amongst each other.
Should Women Be Allowed In Combat? Equality Debates Reality
[image: Women in combat - 900] On December 3, 2015, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter decided unilaterally to open combat positions to women, a move made over the unanswered objections of critics, including many now-muzzled serving officers who were ordered to implement the policy. The order stands until... more »
Untitled
*Atmospheric ozone levels have neither declined nor grown since 1987* MEAN GLOBAL TOTAL OZONE FROM GROUND STATION DATA: 1987-2015 JAMAL MUNSHI ABSTRACT: Latitudinally weighted monthly mean global ozone is estimated using total ozone data from sixteen ground stations at latitudes from 89 S to 71 N and longitudes 170 E to 170 W. Data from all sixteen stations are available without gaps for a 29-year sample period from January 1987 to December 2015. The monthly mean global ozone series does not show a sustained decline that can be interpreted in terms of the Rowland-Molina-UNEP theo... more »
Audit Finds UN Deficiencies Linked to Alleged Bribery Case
[image: UN_Geneva] UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- An internal audit has found important deficiencies and lapses in the U.N.’s involvement with two foundations and several non-governmental organizations linked to an alleged bribery case involving former General Assembly president John Ashe. The audit by... more »
British PM: ISIS Terrorists Working to Drone the West with Nuclear Material
[image: drone-407393_640 - 900] British Prime Minister David Cameron warned world leaders Friday that Islamic State terrorists are currently developing plans to fly drones over the skies of Western countries and spray nuclear material in an attack. Cameron revealed his concerns to other world leaders... more »
Trump Pushes Kasich to Drop Out, Kasich Pushes Back, Cruz Leads in Wisconsin
[image: FILE - In this Dec. 2, 2015, file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Prince William County fair grounds in Manassas, Va. A U.S. judge is urging the Obama administration to protect from public disclosure federal court records involving the once-secret criminal history of a former Trump business partner. The case involves Felix Sater, a Trump business associate who had pleaded guilty in a major Mafia-linked stock fraud scheme and cooperated with the government. The AP reported in December 2015 that, even after learning a... more »
Clinton’s Frustration Grows as Democratic Primary Race Continues
[image: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton reacts to a remark while being introduced during a campaign event at the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)] SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- Hillary Clinton snapped at a Greenpeace protester. She linked Bernie Sanders and tea party Republicans. And she bristled with anger when nearly two dozen Sanders supporters marched out of an event near her home outside New... more »
U.S. Navy Seizes Weapons Shipment From Iran Likely Heading to Yemen
[image: Yemen Map-900] DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The U.S. Navy says it has seized a weapons shipment in the Arabian Sea from Iran likely heading to war-torn Yemen. The Navy said in a statement Monday that the USS Sirocco on March... more »
Vietnam's Coast Guard Seizes Chinese Vessel In South China Sea
Flag of Vietnam Marine Guard flies near a ship of Chinese Coast Guard in the South China Sea, about 210 km (130 miles) off shore of Vietnam May 14, 2014. Reuters *IBTimes*: *Vietnam seizes Chinese fuel ship in South China Sea, arrests sailors* Vietnam seized a Chinese fuel vessel after it allegedly crossed into Vietnamese waters, the worst maritime face-off between the two claimants of South China Sea assets in recent weeks amid an ongoing 'fish war' in the waters of the region. Vietnam's coast guard captured the vessel and towed it to the northern port city of Hai Phong along wi... more »
Wave of Suicide Attacks Kills at Least 29 People Across Iraq
[image: Suspected members of the Islamic State group wait to be taken for interrogation after being found among civilians returning to Ramadi for the first time since the city was taken back by Iraqi government forces earlier this year, in Ramadi, Iraq, Sunday, April 3, 2016. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)] BAGHDAD (AP) -- Militants unleashed on Monday a wave of suicide attacks across Iraq, killing at least 29 people and wounding dozens, officials said. The deadliest attack took place in the southern province of Dhi Qar when a suicide bomber... more »
China Developing A Warship To Surpass The USS Zumwalt
*New American:** China Developing New State-of-the-art Warship to Outperform the U.S. Navy's Best Destroyers* In yet another indicator of China’s rapid military progress, the Chinese are hard at work to develop a new battle cruiser, the “Type 055,” which will be as advanced as the ultra-expensive, Space Age-looking USS Zumwalt – but will be much more heavily armed. The new Zumwalt-class DDG-1000 guided missile destroyer, of which the first of three vessels scheduled to be built is now undergoing sea testing preparatory to being integrated into the Pacific Fleet, is a triumph of s... more »
Obama, Trump, dirty bombs, new nuclear powers, NATO, bombs on Europe
Last Friday, a nuclear summit ended in Washington D.C. It was a somewhat low-key event because the leader of Russia – which is arguably the world's #1 nuclear superpower – didn't attend. Putin's absence was already decided in the era of the anti-Russian hostilities in late 2014. And the absence didn't imply that the Russian rather formidable weapons ceased to exist. Is it really a good idea to antagonize the bear just because someone in the West has different opinions about a peninsula in the region he doesn't really understand? During the summit, Barack Obama warned against the... more »
Islamic State 'Bans All Christians From Leaving Raqqa'
The flag of the Islamic State flutters on the "dome" of the Armenian Catholic Church of the Martyrs in Raqqa (AFP) *The Independent:** Isis 'bans all Christians from leaving Raqqa' as military operations against group intensify in Syria* There was no explanation for the reported decree, which came after the group was driven out of Palmyra Isis has reportedly forbidden all Christian and Armenian families from leaving its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa "under any circumstances" as military operations intensify. The so-called Islamic State released a decree effectively keeping all membe... more »
How Is Your Joy? What About in the Face of Death?
[image: manwithcross] What does joy look like? A joyful spirit produces a kind of inner peace and contentment. Telling of his own experience while imprisoned, the apostle Paul wrote, "I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any... more »
Turkey Threatens Armenia With “Another Armenian Genocide”
Turkey are to begin military operations against the Republic of Armenia – just a century after they attempted to wipe the country off the face of the earth in the brutal killing of 1.5 million of its citizens in what is known today as the Armenian Genocide. According to Russian intelligence sources Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has voiced concerns that the 3 million population nation of Armenia has become the “greatest threat to world peace”, and has vowed to “do something about it”. Whatdoesitmean.com reports: Once gaining their own nation, however, this report notes, Arme... more »
ISIS Uses Chicken Blood To Stage Fake Photographs
A new ISIS photograph purporting to show a young dead boy lying down in a pool of blood has been exposed as yet another fake in a growing collection of fake propaganda by the terrorist organisation. It turns out the young boy in the photo was actually lying in a pool of chickens blood. Thesun.co.uk reports: The gory picture claimed to show a lad murdered by Iraqi soldiers. But the snap has been exposed as a LIE. Journalist Haidar Sumeri posted the original picture on Twitter, alongside one ISIS never wanted you to see. It shows the ‘dead’ child alive and well and posing with a huge... more »
Panama Papers Expose Criminal Financial Dealings Of World’s Elite
Over 11 million documents have been leaked revealing the secretive criminal financial dealings of the world’s elite, including 12 current and former world leaders, and over 128 politicians and public officials from around the globe. The “Panama Papers” reveals how previously highly secretive financial transactions flows through the world’s financial system, funding crime and dodging tax. Zerohedge.com reports: Here is the brief summary of how these documents have been revealed, via the Sueddeutsche Zeitung: Over a year ago, an anonymous source contacted the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) ... more »
UN Declares Israel As Having World’s Worst Human Rights
The U.N.’s top human rights body has officially declared Israel as the world’s worst human rights violator- beating Iran, North Korea, Russia and China for the number 1 spot. Foxnews.com reports: The U.N. Human Rights Council wrapped up its latest session in Geneva on Friday, March 27 by adopting four resolutions condemning Israel. That’s four times more than any of the other 192 UN member states. There were four resolutions on Israel. And one on North Korea — a country that is home to government policies of torture, starvation, enslavement, rape, disappearances, and murder – to n... more »
It Is Now A Criminal Offence To Take A Screenshot With Your Phone
People who take a screenshot of their mobile phone may face up to 2-years in prison under strict laws in the UK. Users caught screen-grabbing pictures on popular apps such as Snapchat, without the original owners consent, could be sued and face jail time, according to The Independent. British copyright law makes it illegal for anybody to copy an image and make it publicly available without explicit consent from the original owner. Activistpost.com reports: In addition, those caught saving and sharing ‘raunchy’ snaps could be looking at a much more serious crime. Those convicted of ... more »
Assad Says Syria Will Destroy ISIS Without Western Intervention
In an exclusive interview with various Russian news agencies, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced that Syria is on the verge of completely eradicating all terrorists from the country, including ISIS, without assistance or interference from the West. Speaking to RIA Novosti and Sputnik, Assad criticised supposed US-led coalitions aimed at ‘fighting terrorism’ as failing to play a role in the liberation of Palmyra. Syrian Free Press reports: He added that the occupation of Palmyra by terrorists less than a year ago was evidence of the failure of the coalition and that it is no... more »
Saudi Arabia Royal Family About To Collapse
The royal family in Saudi Arabia is about to collapse any day now, leading to chaos in the country, according to Myles Hoenig – political analyst and activist. Hoenig commented that he thinks the Saudi royal family is “teetering on the edge of collapse” following Donald Trump’s speech at a recent Wisconsin rally where he denounced the Saudi royal family, saying that America should distance itself from them. Presstv.ir reports: The billionaire businessman told supporters that the US should be reimbursed by the countries it provides protection, especially those with vast resources su... more »
Corruption At The United Nations
The United Nations headquarters building is pictured though a window with the UN logo in the foreground in the Manhattan borough of New York August 15, 2014. REUTERS/CARLO ALLEGRI *Reuters:* *Exclusive: U.N. audit identifies serious lapses linked to alleged bribery* The United Nations' internal investigations office has uncovered serious lapses and due-diligence failures in the world body's interaction with organizations tied to an alleged bribery scheme involving a former U.N. General Assembly president. The 21-page confidential report by the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Se... more »
UN Peacekeepers Have A Corruption Problem
UN peacekeepers in Liberia. Photo: UNMIL/Staton Winter *New York Times*: *Armies Used by U.N. Fail Watchdog Group’s Test* The militaries of the 30 countries that provide the most soldiers and police officers to United Nations peacekeeping operations also are among those most susceptible to corruption, according to a study released Sunday by an anti-corruption monitoring organization. The organization, Transparency International, known for its annual corruption rankings of governments around the world, said that in its A-to-F grading for the armed forces of the top troop-contributin... more »
Israel Cannot Keep Up With The Arms Race That is Now Gripping Much Of The Middle East
Israeli soldiers respond with laser-firing rifles to a simulated Palestinian attack playing out on an interactive screen, during an open-fire scenario training in Camp Tsur infantry training base in southern Israel, near Yeruham March 24, 2016. REUTERS/AMIR COHEN *Reuters:* *Israel says Mideast arms proliferation imperils its military edge* Israel’s neighbors are buying arms on a scale that threatens its regional military superiority, the deputy Israeli air force chief said on Sunday, in remarks that appeared aimed at helping secure more defense aid from a reluctant Washington. U... more »
Poland Moves Closer to an Almost Total Ban on Abortion, Polish Left Reacts
[image: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - MARCH 07: Prime Minister of Poland, Beata Szydlo arrives for The European Council Meeting In Brussels held at the Justus Lipsius Building on March 7, 2016 in Brussels, Belgium. EU leaders are meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Brussels, to discuss the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War, as thousands of migrants remain stranded in Greece after borders along the Balkan route to Germany are closed. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)] With polls claiming that half the Polish people want the country’s restrictive aborti... more »
Missouri Veteran Who Escaped Nazi Prison Camp Gets Medal 71 Years Later
[image: This February 2016 photo provided by Dan Shifrin shows his father, 93-year-old Edwin Shifrin at home in Clayton, Mo., looking at a prisoner-of-war medal he just received for his World War II military service. The award was expedited by U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri after she was approached by Shifrin's family about his clever escape from a Nazi prison camp. That may never have come to light if not for the efforts of son Dan Shifrin, who says he was able to learn about the escape by digging through old news reports and his father's military records.] KANSAS CITY, Mo. ... more »
20,000 Killer Bees Hospitalise Muslims In Arizona Mosque
Over 2o people were injured and one person hospitalized after a swarm of 20,000 killer bees attacked a Mosque in Phoenix, Arizona on Friday afternoon. The unusual attack happened at the Muslim Community Mosque leading to roads being shutdown around the area as fire crews sprayed the building with foam to disperse the swarm of bees. Dailymail.co.uk reports: The bees had formed a nest under the eaves of the mosque. One mosque worker there told Azfamily.com that a man had already been booked for Saturday to remove the nest but the bees attacked earlier than expected. Nearby residents ... more »
Islamic State - Teenage jihadis 'planned' terror attack in Brighton per Daily Express
This Daily Express article http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/657779/Islamic-State-ISIS-terror-plot-Brighton-jihadis-Syria doesn't surprise me, there's a serious problem with Islamists in the UK, Europe and the world that's only going to get worse. Here's the headline from this report: 'BRIGHTON TERROR PLOT: Teen ISIS jihadis 'planned' gun and knife attack on seaside town A GANG of nearly 30 young people from seaside town Brighton have been unmasked as budding jihadis who were feared to be plotting a terrorist attack. Counter-terrorism officials identified the large group, of whi... more »
Teenager ‘All Over The News’ After Killing Two In Car Crash
A teenager drove her blue Honda through a stop sign killing two in a horror car crash and then goes on home later to boast about it on Facebook. The 18-year-old posted “im all over the news bad car crash 2 died,” on her Facebook page. The Telegraph reports: Brianna Longoria of Lancaster, California, was driving her blue Honda on Thursday afternoon with two friends as passengers. According to a KTLA report, Longoria was traveling at speed when she failed to stop at a junction and drove into another car carrying two men. The other vehicle, a Toyota Corolla, was knocked off the road, a... more »
Turky’s ‘Ministry Of Religion’ Encourages Martyrdom For Children
Turkey’s highest national religious body has issued its latest children’s magazine published by the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs in which Islamic martyrdom is glorified in a series of cartoons. Russia Today reports: A colorful cartoon titled “may god bless our martyrs, may their graves be full with holy light” features dialogues between parents and children that promotes an idea of religious martyrdom. In one box of the comics, a father says to his son: “How good it is to be a martyr…” He also adds that martyrdom gives a person an opportunity “to gain the right to go to h... more »
Execution Exposes Collective Israeli Brutality Of The Palestinians
The recent execution of Palestinian Abdel Fattah Al Sharif as he lay wounded on the ground by an Israeli soldier has exposed Israel’s culture of impunity. The cruelty and injustice meted to the Palestinian by the Israeli state is polluting universal logic and empathy which has collectively evolved into the modern civilized world throughout the centuries. It is more dangerous not to see a danger than to imagine one. Dissident Voice reports: Last week, as the soldier was brought before a military court for investigation, hundreds of supporters protested outside. He enjoys vocal suppor... more »
Holographic principle from threads and bottlenecks
Matt Headrick and Michael Freedman have released an interesting paper on holography and entanglement: Bit threads and holographic entanglement First, I must say that Matt is at faculty of Brandeis (we've known each other in Greater Boston). Michael Freedman is the most senior person at Station Q (stands for "quantum computing", I guess) of Microsoft Research in Santa Barbara. He's the same man who received a Fields medal for his contributions to the Poincaré conjecture (now theorem) in the 1980s and who co-discovered things like exotic 4-spheres. We could say that they have propose... more »
Syrian Troops Retake Town Christians Had Fled During ISIS Occupation
[image: In this March 2, 2016, file photo, Syrian solders and Russian solders, who escort a group of journalists in the background, stand near a car covered by collage showing photos of faces of Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, and a Syrian general, President's Assad brother, Maher Assad, center, in Maarzaf, about 15 kilometers west of Hama. Syrian state media and an activist group say government forces and their allies have entered a central town that was held by the Islamic State group. The push into Qaryatain comes exactly a week after... more »
North Korea Now Blocking Facebook, Twitter, Other Websites
[image: A notice announcing new Internet restrictions banning the use of Facebook, Twitter and other websites is displayed at an Internet provider's office in Pyongyang, North Korea on Friday, April 1, 2016. North Korea has officially announced it is blocking Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and South Korean websites in a move underscoring its concern with the spread of online information.] PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea has officially announced it is blocking Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and South Korean websites in a move underscoring its concern with the spread of online infor... more »
Survey: Scotland Is Not Religious
New research indicates that two thirds of Scots never attend Church or other religious services except for social reasons. The figure, which is the highest ever recorded, is the latest evidence that Scotland is now an overwhelmingly secular country. The majority are free from religion and show a lack of ideas and feelings towards belief, but maintain them for the daily mysteries of life. The Sunday Herald Scotland reports: However, authoritative research for the highly respected Scottish Social Attitudes survey also found that nearly half of the population still identifies with one ... more »
Military Photo of the Day: April 4, 2016
[image: Soldier at Night-900] A U.S. Army soldier with the Florida National Guard scans the night horizon during a field training exercise in Arta, Djibouti, on March 16, 2016. Wow! Thanks to Staff Sgt. Kate Thornton for taking this breathtaking photo.
Mysterious Fairy Circles now Discovered in Australia’s Desert
It is good to find that the Namibian circles are not unique as that should police up their explanation. Self organizing around scarce water resources does appear to be the likeliest and most flexible solution to the problem so we will take it. The world is full of unique oddities that challenge the science. . *Mysterious fairy circles now discovered in Australia’s desert * *Circle game: plants build fairy circles?Brad Howe, Heliwest Group https://www.newscientist.com/article/2080615-mysterious-fairy-circles-now-discovered-in-australias-desert/* *Deep in the Australian outb... more »
Space Tech Is Helping Engineer the World's Biggest Nuclear Fusion Reactor
Nice update on how we are manufacturing materials able to withstand extreme conditions. Present state of the art is using carbon fibers with resins to form composites.. The next step forward will be to use graphene in much the same way. Progress at this level is naturally slow and painful. It is still progress. Material science absorbs lifetimes of research effort and will continue to do so. I would have been happy to see glass metal layers been manipulated as well but that likely needs graphene mastery... *Space Tech Is Helping Engineer the World's Biggest Nuclear Fusio... more »
Revolutionary Hydroponic Garden Grows Food Year-Round Utilizing NAS
Interesting. Note that the plants are nicely maturing. At a one hour rotation it should be enough for the base of the vases to pass through the water every hour. The one hour duration is also fast enough to prevent gravity from directing plant movement. Assuming it can then stand up to normal operating conditions it may well turn out to be useful on earth. I am much more skeptical regarding space conditions. We are then dealing with zero gravity and this provides little in the way of acceleration in any direction. Who knows on this unusual product at this t... more »
Bacteria have Biological Wheels We Can Now See
WOW!! Just look at the complexity and symmetry. In the meantime we have the editorial against intelligent design. Recall that all life anywhere in the physical tier is operated by an effective second tier super computer tied to each and every cell quite able to design changes on its own initiative it it is recognized as worthwhile. This has nothing to do with an anthropomorphic GOD but everything to do with the potentialities of computer intelligence and advanced logic. My take home is that all aspects of our physical existence is intelligently directed by an assemblage of ef... more »
Anti-semitism at the heart of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party per Daily Mail Online
The antisemitism that has long existed at the left of the Labour Party has become more mainstream and more overt as the Labour Party has become under the control of the left. Guido Fawkes has exposed many of the antisemitic left, I've tweeted and blogged about some of these Labour Party members and more. This article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3519864/Anti-semitism-heart-Corbyn-s-Labour-Party-Devastating-dossier-exposes-extensive-anti-Jewish-bigotry-Labour-poses-profoundly-troubling-questions-leaders-answer.html caught my eye, here's an extract: '... in the words of... more »
Turkish President Erdogan: Obama Spoke 'Behind My Back' On Press Freedom
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a dedication ceremony for an Islamic mosque in Lanham, Maryland, April 2, 2016. REUTERS/THOMAS RAMSTACK *The Independent*: *Turkey's President Erdogan attacks Barack Obama for criticising press crackdown ‘behind my back’* *Obama had voiced criticism of Turkey's media clampdown* President Tayyip Erdogan has hit back at comments made by Barack Obama about press freedom in Turkey, saying the US President spoke out "behind my back". Mr Obama said on Friday that he was “troubled” by the Turkish government's control of the media, while atte...more »
Tweet For Today
Should we release all 11 million #PanamaPapers so everyone can search through them like our other publications? — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 3, 2016
Most European Islamic State Fighters Are From 4 Countries
Islamic State video claims to show nine Paris attackers. (photo credit:screenshot) *Al Arabiya/AFP*:* Most EU foreign fighters in Iraq, Syria are from 4 nations* Around 4,000 Europeans have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join extremist groups as foreign fighters, most from just four EU countries, a new study released Friday said. Of the estimated 3,922 to 4,294 foreign fighters from EU member states, some 2,838 came from Belgium, Britain, France and Germany, said the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in The Hague. Using data supplied by 26 EU countries, the independent t... more »
Picture Of The Day
U.S. and South Korean naval ships traverse the ocean in formation as part of Foal Eagle 2016 in the waters surrounding the Korean peninsula, March 24, 2016. The U.S. ships are assigned to the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Andre T. Richard
The Pentagon Resumes A Second Training Program For Syrian Rebels (Updated)
The US attempted a program in 2015 to train and arm Syrian rebels. (AFP/Fadi Al Halabi) *Washington Times:* *U.S. military launches second training program for Syrian rebels* The U.S. military said Friday is has started training dozens of Syrian opposition fighters to combat the Islamic State terrorist group, a revamped program that officials hope will not run into the same problems that doomed the first rebel training program in Turkey last year. New recruits are being trained how to identify targets for U.S.-led coalition airstrikes to allow coalition aircraft to better strike I... more »
State Of The Race: Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania
This morning CBS put out YouGov tracking polls for Wisconsin, New York and Pennsylvania, three big states with a combined 208 delegates at stake for the Republicans and 597 delegates for the Democrats. Wisconsin's primary is this Tuesday. New York's is 2 weeks later (April 19) and Pennsylvania voters come up to bat a week after New York on April 26. OK, first the easy part-- the horserace stuff. Wisconsin first: Republican winner-take-all primary *•* Cruz- 43% *•* Trump- 37% *•* Kasich- 18% Democratic primary *•* Bernie- 49% *•* Hillary- 47% New York is the next big prize... more »
China Developing A Warship To Surpass The USS Zumwalt
*New American:** China Developing New State-of-the-art Warship to Outperform the U.S. Navy's Best Destroyers* In yet another indicator of China’s rapid military progress, the Chinese are hard at work to develop a new battle cruiser, the “Type 055,” which will be as advanced as the ultra-expensive, Space Age-looking USS Zumwalt – but will be much more heavily armed. The new Zumwalt-class DDG-1000 guided missile destroyer, of which the first of three vessels scheduled to be built is now undergoing sea testing preparatory to being integrated into the Pacific Fleet, is a triumph of s... more »
"Sunny Days”. Sleazy Sell-Out.
"Sunny Days”. Sleazy Sell-Out. ...........part I *Written by Robin Mathews April 2016* Anthony Hall writes about *“ballot-box colonialism”,* “*imperial globalization*” and its “*licence for lawlessness*” – as well as the present “*terror economy*” - in Earth Into Property (*McGill-Queen’s, 2011).* Hall focuses attention on the relentless and brutal shapes of U.S. imperialism growing since 1492 and now expressed in almost every form of international finance, banking, trade organization, military initiative, and ... more »
Rada, Bada, Dada all the way to Xvada
Intersellar dialects speaking in touguies to me so now I am on earth all comfy but in the star people still talk to me
More U.S. Special Forces To Be Deployed To Syria
Photo Credit:Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov *Reuters*: *Exclusive: U.S. weighs ramping up deployment of special forces to Syria* The U.S. administration is considering a plan to greatly increase the number of American special operations forces deployed to Syria as it looks to accelerate recent gains against Islamic State, U.S. officials told Reuters. The officials, with direct knowledge of the proposal's details, declined to disclose the exact increase under consideration. But one of them said it would leave the U.S. special operations contingent many times larger than the around 50 tro... more »
Syrian War News Updates -- April 3, 2016
Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad take positions on a look-out point overlooking the historic city of Palmyra in Homs Governorate in this handout picture provided by SANA on March 27, 2016. REUTERS/SANA/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS *Reuters*: *Syrian forces seize Islamic State-held town near Palmyra* Syrian and allied forces backed by Russian air strikes drove Islamic State militants out of the town of al-Qaryatain on Sunday after encircling it over the past few days, Syria's military command said. Surrounded by hills, al-Qaryatain is 100 km (60 miles) west of the ancient c... more »
Yesterday's Future
For some reason I've got myself wondering... If I'm kicking off a superhero game set in the late 1950s, what is the future of that world like? The ability to predict the future is challenging. A high school student in the 1980s, all the science fiction I read and watched pretty much assumed the Soviet Union would be around in the year 2016. Either that or the USA and Soviet Union would be competing to dig themselves out of the rubble of a thermonuclear war. I'm not certain how much people really believed in the idea that we'd have flying cars, though as a kid who grew up obsessed... more »
Panama Papers: Biggest Leak In History Reveals How The Rich And Powerful Hide Their Money
*Daily Mail:* *Putin and the 'Dirty Dozen': 11million leaked documents reveal how TWELVE world leaders – plus Russian leader's inner circle, British politicians and Lords – hide their millions in tax havens* * 11million financial documents have been leaked from Panamanian law firm * Show how world's rich and powerful use offshore tax havens to hide wealth * Twelve current or former world leaders implicated along with UK politicians * Russian president Vladimir Putin's friends appear to have earned millions * Leak is bigger than the amount of data stolen by Edward Snowden in 2013 * Ge... more »
Chet Raymo, “A Fishy Tale”; “You Now Have A Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish”
*“A Fishy Tale”* by Chet Raymo "As dumb as a goldfish. I mean, what could be dumber than swimming around in murky water all day - glassy eyed, slimy scaled, cold blooded - waiting for someone to sprinkle food flakes into the pond or tank. On a scale of smarts, goldfish would seem to fall somewhere between a limpet and a stone. Conventional wisdom has it that fish have a memory span of about a second. But conventional wisdom, it turns out, is wrong. Goldfish are not the dummies they are made out to be. Scientists at Plymouth University in England have successfully trained goldfish t... more »
Inside The Collective Mind Of A Trumpist Mass
I don't want to call Trump and his followers animals; I like animals. Besides, some of Trump's followers aren't just stupid, violent, racist bricks. They have real grievances against a rigged system and haven't figured out that the only presidential candidate offering a path out is Bernie, not Trumpy. Reporter Gwynn Guilford decided to take a little trip into the belly of the beast and see what made these people Trump fans *aside* from the economic conditions thrust onto them by bad trade policies and a society rigged, like most, by the status quo-preserving political class. What ... more »
The Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke, "Sunset"
*"Sunset"* "Slowly the west reaches for clothes of new colors which it passes to a row of ancient trees. You look, and soon these two worlds both leave you, one part climbs toward heaven, one sinks to earth, leaving you, not really belonging to either, not so helplessly dark as that house that is silent, not so unswervingly given to the eternal as that thing that turns to a star each night and climbs – leaving you (it is impossible to untangle the threads) your own life, timid and standing high and growing, so that, sometimes blocked in, sometimes reaching out, one moment your life is a s... more »
"5 Frightening Psychological Experiments"
*"5 Frightening Psychological Experiments"* by Rebecca Sato "Man is a marvelous curiosity. When he is at his very, very best he is a sort of low grade nickel-plated angel; at his worst he is unspeakable, unimaginable; and first and last and all the time he is a sarcasm. Yet he blandly and in all sincerity calls himself the 'noblest work of God.'" - Mark Twain, "Letters From the Earth" "It’s a given that Earth cannot survive indefinitely, if for no other reason than that the sun will eventually expand and roast the planet. Of course, many scientists believe that by the time that hap... more »
"You Better Decide..."
“A wise man once said you can have anything in life, if you sacrifice everything else for it. What he meant is, nothing comes without a price. So before you go into battle you better decide how much you're willing to lose." - "Grey's Anatomy"
Random links for Monday
[image: image] “The Police Association is backing decriminalisation of drugs as a way of reducing the harm done by drug-dealing gangs.” *Decriminalised drugs 'would reduce gang harm'* - RADIONZ.CO.NZ To be fair, something similar can be said about every UN programme. *Report slams Clark's programme: unable to bring significant change to the world's poor* – STUFF “Of all the wildly impossible assertions made by Donald Trump, the notion that he could eliminate the nation’s $19 trillion in debt in just eight years ranks near the top. Trump suggests he can manage this feat simply... more »
The Daily "Near You?"
Tauranga, Gisborne, New Zealand. Thanks for stopping by.
“The Panama Papers: Dirty Little Secrets: Inside the ‘Wikileaks of the Ultra-Rich and Ultra-Powerful’”
*“The Panama Papers: * *Dirty Little Secrets: Inside the ‘Wikileaks of the Ultra-Rich and Ultra-Powerful’”* *Implicates World Leaders, Giant Corporations* By Frederik Obermaier, Bastian Obermayer, Vanessa Wormer and Wolfgang Jaschensky "The Panama Papers is a global investigation into the sprawling, secretive industry of offshore that the world’s rich and powerful use to hide assets and skirt rules by setting up front companies in far-flung jurisdictions. Based on a trove of more than 11 million leaked files, the investigation exposes a cast of characters who use offshore companies ... more »
“Climate Catastrophe, Coming Even Sooner?”
*“Climate Catastrophe, Coming Even Sooner?”* by Elizabeth Kolbert “One of the first people to propose that climate change could result in rapid sea-level rise was an eccentric British geographer named John Mercer. A hesitant speaker in public, Mercer was less restrained in private. He was once arrested for jogging naked. It was said that he liked to do his fieldwork in the nude—a curious habit for a man who studied glaciers. In a seminal paper published in 1968, Mercer proposed that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, known in scientific circles as WAIS, was vulnerable to collapse. The r... more »
"How It Really Is"
Pending indictment, *if* there is any rule of law left...
Untitled
*From* *Jenna Orkin* Storm 'Unfreezes' North Pole, Causing Temperatures to Rise 50 Degrees Fahrenheit Above Normal Brazil (Like Russia) Is Under Attack By Hyrbid War Wikileaks Reveals IMF Plan To "Cause A Credit Event In Greece And Destabilize Europe" Shocking Video From Brussels Anti-Islam Protest Of Moment Muslim Woman Is Run Over By Car IMF's Christine Lagarde: "When The World Goes Downhill, We Thrive" "Production Freeze" Narrative Collapses In Two Days: Russian Oil Output Hits New Post-Soviet Record Chicago Disintegrates - Gun Shootings Soar An Unprecedented 89%: "It's The... more »
Sen. Graham to Arab World: Trump Or Not, Congress Retains Foreign Policy Role
[image: In this photo provided by Egypt's state news agency, MENA, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right meets with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, left, at the office of the Presidency in Cairo, Egypt. On Sunday, Graham told reporters in Cairo, that Republican candidate Donald Trump’s campaign does not mean that the U.S. has “fundamentally changed in terms of the way we view the world,” and even if he wins, the congress will be around doing its job.] CAIRO (AP) -- Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham sought to reassure the Arab world Sunday over the prospect of Donald Trump beco... more »
Middle, High School Students To Receive Satanic Books From School
Many are horrified that a middle and high school district in Colorado will soon be distributing both satanic and atheist literature to its students. This comes on the heels of pressure from atheist groups. According to CBN News: Beginning April 1, the Delta County School District will provide students books from Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Satanic Temple, and Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers after the groups complained. FFRF Co-president Dan Barker said the push to hand out satanic books happened in response to Gideon Bibles being distributed in a passive way to ... more »
Deaths From Overwork Are Rising At An Unsettling Pace In Japan
In Japan, the death of a person from overwork is called “karoshi”, and now it is on the rise in the country. According to Reuters: Labor demand, with 1.28 jobs per applicant, is the highest since 1991, which should help Prime Minister Shinzo Abe draw more people into the workforce to counter the effect of a shrinking population, but lax enforcement of labor laws means some businesses are simply squeezing more out of employees, sometimes with tragic consequences. Claims for compensation for karoshi rose to a record high of 1,456 in the year to end-March 2015, according to labor minis... more »
Economic News & View ( April 4, 2016 ) Sunday News / Events Catch ( 1. Refugee Crisis News For Sunday. 2. Moscow Blaze At Ministry Of Defense. 3. Crude Oil News De Jour. 4. IMF- Greece "Leak " Situation - Sunday Development. 5. Around The Horn - Libya Political Situation On display. 6. Panama Papers - "Unprecedented Leak" Exposes The Criminal Financial Dealings Of Some Of The World's Wealthiest People. )
Refugee Crisis..... *Patrick Kingsley* @PatrickKingsley 39m 39 minutes ago EU-Turkey deal: The first deportation boat from Lesvos has left for Turkey, say witnesses. Pics via activists *Hugo Dixon* @Hugodixon 3h 3 hours ago Critical day for Greece tomorrow. Country supposed to start return of migrants to Turkey. IMF/EU also return to discuss financial troubles. *Hugo Dixon* @Hugodixon 3h 3 hours ago 2 what happens in Greece on both migrant and financial fronts could have a big impact on #Brexit referendum. *World Economic ForumVerified account* @we... more »
Tigers In China Live In Horrific Conditions To Make Aphrodisiac
Tigers held in captivity in China are being held in abhorrent conditions so that they can produce “tiger wine” – an aphrodisiac for Chinese men According to GeoBeats News: It’s technically illegal in the country to breed the big cats in captivity, however, an exception allows tiger farms to do so if they are professedly in place to deter poaching, reports RT. Animal rights activists say it’s all just smoke and mirrors–that the farms are intentionally starving the tigers to death for profit. Once the emaciated and often sick cats have died, their skins are saved and their bones are a... more »
College Cheerleader Set To Plead Guilty On ISIS/Terror Charge
A 20-year-old Mississippi State University sophomore is expected to plead guilty on a terrorism charge. Jaelyn Young’s plea comes after she and her fiancé, Muhammad Dakhlalla, were arrested last year. They had plans to join ISIS. According to BET: The couple were originally arrested after undercover federal officials got word of their planned trip to Syria for their honeymoon. Both were jailed in Oxford. Dakhlalla has already pleaded guilty to the charges and is awaiting his sentence. According to prosecutors, Young was the “the leader of the plot [and] by the time Young began datin... more »
Young Boy Remembers Past Life As Hollywood Actor From 1930’s
A young boy from Oklahoma is making headlines for his alleged past-life memory. The young man, only 10 years years old, has vivid memories of his former life – as a Hollywood actor from the 1930’s! According to Spirit Science: This 10 year old boy from Oklahoma named Ryan, was born with the memories of his past experiences. He is able to remember vivid details of his past life, which took place in 30′s Hollywood. He says he was an actor on broadway who worked for an agency, travelled the world and was married 5 times. They were actually able to open a book and have him point to a man... more »
Monsanto’s Big Secret: GMO Insect Planned To Replace Honey Bee
Don’t worry, Monsanto is coming to the rescue! When it comes to human food crops, 70 out of the main 100 are pollinated by bees. In the last 60+ years, honey bee populations have declined 90% from 3.2 million hives to 2.4 million. Monsanto is now working on a way to solve this crisis…. According to HealthyLife-Online.com: Beekepers in Western countries have been reporting slow declines of stocks due to impaired protein production, changes in agricultural practice, or unpredictable weather. On 2007, an abnormally high die-offs (30–70% of hives) of European honey bee colonies occurred... more »
China Near Completing Nuclear Missile That Can Reach U.S.
The missile that is known as “the world’s longest-range missile”, China’s DF-41, is expected to be complete as early as this year. The DF-41 is capable of striking the United States from anywhere in China. Yahoo News reports: “Given the number of real reported tests, it is reasonable to speculate the DF-41 will be deployed to PLA Strategic Rocket Force bases in 2016,” Richard Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center in Washington told the Financial Times. Once fielded, the DF-41 will absolutely change the game for the People’s Liberation Army’s Rocke... more »
The Infuriating Secret Reason Marijuana Is Really Banned
Could there be a secret motive behind the ban on marijuana? Many wonder why the herb is still criminalized. The reason behind the ban is more infuriating than most could ever imagine. According to Raw Story: Most of us assume it’s because someone, somewhere sat down with the scientific evidence, and figured out that cannabis is more harmful than other drugs we use all the time—like alcohol and cigarettes. Somebody worked it all out, in our best interest. But when I started to go through the official archives—researching my book Chasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War ... more »
Campaign Latest: Trump Says Wisconsin ‘Has the Feel of a Victory’
[image: A supporter of Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, gives Trump the thumbs up during a town hall Saturday, April 2, 2016, in Rothschild, Wis.] WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on the 2016 presidential campaign, with the focus Sunday on Wisconsin, which holds its primaries Tuesday (all times Eastern Daylight Time): 2:05 p.m. Donald Trump is predicting a “great success” is Wisconsin, despite polls showing... more »
Quote of the Day: On merit versus privilege
*“The Money-Maker is the discoverer who translates his discovery into material goods. In an industrial society with a complex division of labour, it may be one man or a partnership of two: the scientist who discovers new knowledge and the entrepreneur— the businessman— who discovers how to use that knowledge, how to organize material resources and human labor into an enterprise producing marketable goods. “The Money-Appropriator is an entirely different type of man. He is essentially non-creative— and his basic goal is to acquire an unearned share of the wealth created by... more »
SAS Soldiers To Use ‘Transformers’ To Fight ISIS In UK
The SAS have a new deadly weapon in their fight against ISIS terrorist attacks on UK soil. The elite special forces of the British Army could deploy to any part of the UK in the event of a terror attack using a tilt-rotor multi-mission military aircraft nicknamed the “Transformer,” capable of vertical take-off and landing. The Mail On Sunday reports: In the event of an attack, the UK’s elite fighting force will swoop into action on a £43 million heli-plane nicknamed the ‘Transformer’. The Mail on Sunday can reveal that SAS troops on high alert to respond to a Paris-style strike in t... more »
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