Monday, November 30, 2015

Aussie taxpayers forced to pay bill for Prince Charles visit...

Australian taxpayers will be charged close to half a million dollars for this month’s brief royal tour.

Prince Charles and Camilla are due to fly out of Australia on Sunday after a five-day tour that took them to Adelaide, the Barossa Valley, Canberra, Sydney, Perth and Albany.

But they’ll be leaving a hefty bill behind.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has confirmed it is covering the costs of the trip.

“The total cost of the visit is not yet known but it is expected that it will be consistent with past visits,” a spokesperson said.

The department pointed out the royal couple’s last visit, a similar six-day trip in November 2012, cost it $437,057. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Royal's travel bill soars as William and Kate spend a staggering £52,000...
  2. Prince Andrew visits Indian slum on private jet at taxpayers' expense...
  3. Duke of York costs taxpayers £15m...
  4. Duke of York made private visits to the President of Azerbaijan...
  5. Prince Andrew hosted Tunisian dictator's son-in-law at palace...
  6. Royal tour to cost Canadian taxpayers over $500,000...

Hillary Clinton’s million little lies...

To hear Hillary Clinton tell it, she was named for Sir Edmund Hillary, the conqueror of Mount Everest — even though she was already 6 years old when he made his famous ascent.

On a visit to war-torn Bosnia in 1996, she claimed she and her entourage landed under sniper fire and had to run “with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base” — although videos of her arrival show her waltzing serenely across the tarmac, waving to the crowd.

She blamed the 2012 attack on American diplomatic and intelligence-gathering installations in Benghazi on “a disgusting video” when she knew almost from the first moment that it was a jihadist assault that took the lives of four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya.

No wonder the late William Safire, writing in The New York Times in 1996, at the height of the Whitewater investigation, called her a “congenital liar.” Said Safire: “She is in the longtime habit of lying; and she has never been called to account for lying herself or in suborning lying in her aides and friends.” Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Hillary Clinton "mis-spoke" about Bosnia...
  2. Hillary Clinton "mis-speaks"... again!!!
  3. Hillary Clinton’s lucrative life of crime...
  4. Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush: Corrupt successors to the same old dynasties...
  5. Hillary Clinton 2016: a recipe for endless war...
  6. Hillary Clinton under fire after Boeing gave her foundation $900,000 weeks...
  7. For Hillary Clinton and Boeing, a beneficial relationship...

The Wild West of Uttar Pradesh: Rise of the radicalised Hindu fringe...

Spending was at an all-time this year for Black Friday and corporations lost billions...

For years, Black Friday brawls and rampant materialism on the day after Thanksgiving have become a sort of twisted American celebration. However, each year the excitement continues to die down as people reject the Black Friday antics and instead do their shopping online or on other days. According to a survey by the National Retail Federation, Black Friday attendance was down over 3%, from 58.7% last year to 55.1% this year.

The survey noted that the average shopper was expected to spend $380.95, which was down from $407.02 the previous year. According to the group’s estimates, sales slipped from $57.4 billion to $50.9 billion.

“A strengthening economy that changes consumers’ reliance on deep discounts, a highly competitive environment, early promotions, and the ability to shop 24/7 online all contributed to the shift witnessed this weekend,” NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement.

People have begun to change how they feel about Black Friday, with some deciding to support local businesses instead of large corporations, and others deciding to take the day off. As we reported earlier this month, outdoor and sporting goods store REI gave their employees a paid day off on Black Friday, urging them to spend a day out in nature. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. If people who sell stuff were honest about Black Friday...
  2. Black Friday: Five ways retailers are tricking you into buying stuff you...
  3. Born to shop...
  4. Black Friday: A shameful orgy of materialism for a morally bankrupt nation...
  5. The dirty secret of Black Friday "discounts"
  6. How advertising turned anti-consumerism into a secret weapon...
  7. Enslaved by our stuff...
  8. There's a staggering conspiracy behind the rise of consumer culture...

Paris: A changing climate of fear...

It was meant to be one of the "biggest civil disobedience events" and spur on effective political action on climate change, but the protests in Paris on Sunday were muted and marred by tit-for-tat violence between masked youths and riot police.

On the eve of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21), which optimists hope will save the planet from runaway global warming, dystopian scenes played out in the Place de la Republique square.

Amid clouds of tear gas, youths in hoodies and bandanas threw rocks, bottles and mud at riot police, who charged and encircled demonstrators, sealing off streets leading into and out of the square.

By Sunday evening, almost 200 arrests had been made, prompting complaints that the authorities are cracking down not on terrorists and criminals, but on protesters and political dissent. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. France puts 24 climate activists under house arrest ahead of UN talks...
  2. ‘Crime of opinion’: French weatherman sacked for climate change skeptic book...
  3. The state of emergency and the collapse of French democracy...
  4. To France from a post-9/11 America: lessons we learned too late...
  5. French parliament approves 'intrusive' surveillance laws after Charlie Hebdo attack...
  6. France wants to fight terrorism by spying on everyone...

Jaffna fears remembering Tamil war dead...

News of the suicide of the young student reached Jaffna households early on Thursday, a reminder of the days when death no longer shocked anyone here.

Senthuran Rajeswaran was 18.

Before he jumped in front of the train, he is alleged to have written a letter appealing to the "good governance" of President Maithripala Sirisena and his administration.

Police said the letter found in the young man's house demanded the release of all political prisoners.

Six years after the end of the civil war that killed at least 100,000 people, Jaffna seems to be on a slow and steady ascent towards freedom and normality. More + photos...

Related posts:
  1. Sri Lanka Tamil prisoners on hunger strike demand release...
  2. Sri Lanka shaken: UN reveals 'shocking findings' of crimes committed by...
  3. Sri Lanka massacred tens of thousands of Tamils as the world looked away...
  4. Sri Lanka: new video evidence of grotesque violations...
  5. Reign of terror continues in Northern Sri Lanka...
  6. Scandal of Sri Lanka’s disappeared...
  7. Leading Sri Lanka into the abyss...
  8. Mass grave fuels fear of thousands buried in Sri Lanka war zone...

Greek girls selling sex for the price of a sandwich...

A study has found young women in Greece are offering sex for the price of a sandwich, an indicator of the austerity in the country.

Sociology professor Gregory Laxos and his team at Panteion University in Athens found that young Greek women had now overtaken Eastern European women as the dominant group in the prostitution industry, metro.co.uk reported.

The researchers compiled data on more than 17,000 sex workers operating in Greece and found that sex in Greece was some of the cheapest on offer in Europe.

“Some women just do it for a cheese pie, or a sandwich they need to eat because they are hungry,” Laxos was quoted as saying. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Schoolgirls for sale in Japan...
  2. Toronto students seek love with a price tag on ‘sugar daddy’ website...
  3. Students in Berlin willing to prostitute themselves to pay for school...
  4. Students becoming prostitutes and turning to sugar daddies...
  5. Madagascar: Girls selling sex to pay for school...
  6. The taxi queens of South Africa: swapping sex for free rides to school...
  7. English students turning to prostitution to fund studies...

Hamburg votes 'No' in 2024 Olympics referendum...

Hamburg mayor Olaf Scholz announced that his city would not be hosting the Olympic Games in 2024. Hamburg's Office for Statistics confirmed that - despite not having the final count of the votes available yet - it would be impossible for supporters of the Olympic bid to get in a majority anymore.

"Hamburg will not bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2024," Hamburg mayor Olaf Scholz said.

"The senate and I would have preferred a different decision, but it is a clear one."

 At the latest tally, roughly 51.7 percent of those participating in the referendum had decided against continuing Hamburg's bid to host the 2024 Olympics. Meanwhile, Hamburg's partner city Kiel voted resoundingly in favor of hosting the event, with almost 66 percent of all participants supporting the bid - but to no avail. About 50 percent of eligible voters chose to take part. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Brazil officials evict families from homes ahead of 2016 Olympic Games...
  2. The Olympics: the biggest corporatist sports scam of all...
  3. Nobody wants to host the 2022 Olympics — and one example from a college...
  4. Ten years later: The Greek Olympic wasteland in photos...
  5. Olympism profiteering, exploitation and corruption...
  6. The Brazil World Cup could be the last true sports mega-event...
  7. ‘Need food, not football’: Brazilian graffiti art expresses outrage over World Cup...
  8. Winter Olympics 2104: Sochi Games "nothing but a monstrous scam"

Sunday, November 29, 2015

M.I.A. — Borders

Calling bullshit on the anti-refugee video taking the internet by storm...

With Open Gates: The Forced Collective Suicide of European Nations is a racist propaganda film that has gone viral. The video, which is designed to scare people about the supposed menace of refugees, has notched up approaching four million views in just a few weeks on YouTube – a figure that has raised significantly following the Paris attacks. As you can see at the top of the video above, the uploader, 'Death of Nations', has been using the Paris terrorists attacks as a way of promoting it.

Back in September, as the refugee crisis in Europe got dramatically worse, I wrote about the bullshit anti-refugee viral memes that were being spread across Facebook and Twitter to vilify people fleeing violence in Syria. I wanted to show that forming an opinion on one the most important issues of our time using something a fascist drew up on a meme generator is stupid. Unfortunately, With Open Gates has made things more stupid. At first, debunking it seemed about as good a use of time as talking politics with a toddler. But while the film has lowered the bar for racism and fidelity to the truth, it has raised the bar for the influence and virulence of online refugee-bashing. After seeing the number of views keep rising, I decided it was time to call bullshit.

The 20-minute video is a mishmash of comically fake and out-of-context footage, bad subtitling and Islamophobic propaganda. Let's take these elements in turn: More + photos + videos...

Related posts:
  1. The European refugee crisis and Syria explained...
  2. John Oliver on migrants and refugees...
  3. 'Europe’s Guantanamo': Refugees in Hungary fed 'like animals in pen' (VIDEO)
  4. Finland to raise taxes on the wealthy to cover refugee costs...
  5. Understanding the refugee crisis in Europe, Syria, and around the world...
  6. Pope Francis calls on every European parish to host a refugee family...
  7. Austrian far-right leader blames U.S., NATO for migrant crisis...
  8. Putin slams US over refugee crisis in Europe...

Decoding the Paris attacks: ISIS blowback or French-Israeli false flag?

Much evidence has come to light that has punctured a litany of holes in the official narrative of the Friday the 13th terror attacks in Paris, which allegedly claimed the lives of 130 civilians.

Mainstream reportage surrounding the event has stimulated a number of intriguing questions about the nature of this operation and how it could have been planned, organized and executed without the knowledge of French and other Western intelligence agencies who, as we know, have constructed a vast and extreme surveillance apparatus over the past 15 years.

Shortly following the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January, the French regime implemented a despotic anti-terror bill that gave authorities virtually unlimited surveillance powers. Yet, despite this amplified power to spy on just about anybody, the French authorities “dropped the ball” once again, failing to stop a highly sophisticated, multi-faceted attack that would have required so much logistical expertise and know-how that it is palpably unfeasible such a plot could succeed without the help of insiders within the French state (and possibly other states).

As has been the case with all of the staged ISIS attacks over the past year and a half – attacks that only started happening after the West launched its counterfeit “anti-ISIS” bombing campaign in August 2014 – many of the individuals accused of the newest wave of terror in Paris had been well-known to and were being monitored by authorities for years.

Samy Amimour, an alleged gunman at the Bataclan theatre, had been placed on a terror watch list in 2012 after attempting to travel to Yemen, as reported by the Guardian, the Telegraph, Yahoo News and other mainstream sources. The International Business Times, in its article “Paris attacks: Bataclan suicide bomber Samy Amimour previously charged with terror offences,” noted Amimour “had been placed under investigation in 2012 for terrorism conspiracy and under judicial supervision,” after which authorities sought his capture by issuing an international arrest warrant. He is said to have disappeared stsin 2013, joining the ISIS insurgency in Syria. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. CONFIRMED: French government knew extremists BEFORE attack...
  2. Terror junkies: the West's addiction to funding radical groups...
  3. ‘Let’s roll’ part deux: American (military) tourists thwart ‘random ISIS
  4. US Intelligence Officer: “Every single terrorist attack in US was a false flag attack”
  5. NATO is harbouring the Islamic State...
  6. Jade Helm, terrorist attacks, surveillance and other fairy tales for a gullible nation...

Government criminalizing rainwater collection in all out war on self sufficiency...

Collecting rainwater is classically seen as a safe and sustainable way of supplying your household with an off-the-grid water supply. Some people collect rainwater only for a backup reservoir, while others prefer to go all the way and maintain their household with pure off-the-grid rainwater collection. This method ensures water during emergencies, can help control floods, saves money and liberates us from company-dependence for our water.

Consequently, this freedom to collect our own rainwater is currently under attack. State laws have been set up in several U.S. States including Oregon, Utah, California, Florida, Colorado and Washington that prohibit the collection, or “diversion” of rainwater, including water that is falling on your own property and is to be used for your own private use or as an environmental conservation technique.

This idea of state-owned rainwater is opposed both by environmentalists on the left, and libertarians and constitutionalists on the right, and even historical figures such as Chief Seattle when he allegedly said during his 1854 oration to the European colonists “how can you own the rain?” Supporters are mainly governments and collectivists who tend to lean toward ideologies that sacrifice individual liberties. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. This man went to prison for collecting rainwater...
  2. Oregan man sentenced to jail for collecting rain water on his property...
  3. Man fined $130,000 for growing food on his lawn...
  4. How to become a backyard garden guerrilla even if you’ve...
  5. 4 year old girl’s vegetable garden must go, says USDA...
  6. Virginia government prosecutes homeowner with criminal charges for...
  7. Since when did it become a crime to grow your own food?

Adam Lambert concert sparks Singapore culture debate...

A growing controversy over a Singapore concert starring openly gay US singer Adam Lambert has highlighted a widening cultural divide in the strait-laced city-state.

Lambert will be the headline act of a lavish New Year's Eve show organised and televised live nationally by state-owned broadcaster MediaCorp.

Over the course of the week, thousands of Singaporeans have flocked online to sign two duelling petitions.

One, started on Wednesday, calls on MediaCorp and the government to drop Lambert, on account of his support for gay rights and reputation for risque performances, which it called "contrary to mainstream Singaporean values".

Comments on the petition called Lambert's performances "disgusting", "disturbing" and "lewd". "Please give more wholesome role models to our youths," said one petitioner Elaine Lui. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Singapore's annual gay rights rally sees largest turnout...
  2. Singapore: Blogger’s conviction violates free speech...
  3. Singapore provokes outrage by pulping kids’ books about gay families...
  4. Top Singapore official attacks Goldman Sachs over LGBT student event...
  5. Singapore holds first gay rally...
  6. Anti-gay Singapore professor pulls out of NYU lecture stint...
  7. Singapore TV station fined for "positive" gay show...

Malaysia invokes British-era law to stifle critics’ voices...

Online critics of the Malaysian government would be well advised not to spend too much money on cellphones.

“Just lost number four,” Eric Paulsen, an outspoken civil liberties lawyer and compulsive tweeter, said Nov. 20 after nearly two hours of questioning at the main police station here over his latest sedition charge.

Paulsen went into the police station with a shiny new Chinese handset, a Xiaomi, and came out without it. At least it was cheaper than the iPhone and two Samsung Galaxies that previously were confiscated from him this year, apparently because they are tools in his social-media activism.

His friend Sim Tze Tzin, an opposition parliamentarian who also was questioned that day, still smarts over the iPhone 6 Plus that was taken from him this year. “Don’t they know how much that thing cost?” Sim said, laughing, after emerging from his own session with the police. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Malaysia under fire for 'human rights clampdown' ahead of Barack Obama visit...
  2. Human Rights Watch accuses Malaysian government of ‘climate of fear’
  3. Malaysia race tension a move to detract from PM’s troubles?
  4. Non-Muslims advised to stay out of Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia on...
  5. Malaysia arrests three news editors for sedition ...
  6. Embattled Malaysian PM Najib drops speech to global anti-corruption gathering...
  7. The music has stopped in Malaysia...

Saturday, November 28, 2015

John Pilger: USA, UK and France gave birth to ISIS monster...

How a secretive elite created the EU to build a world government...

As the debate over the forthcoming EU referendum gears up, it would be wise perhaps to remember how Britain was led into membership in the first place. It seems to me that most people have little idea why one of the victors of the Second World War should have become almost desperate to join this "club". That's a shame, because answering that question is key to understanding why the EU has gone so wrong.

Most students seem to think that Britain was in dire economic straits, and that the European Economic Community – as it was then called – provided an economic engine which could revitalise our economy. Others seem to believe that after the Second World War Britain needed to recast her geopolitical position away from empire, and towards a more realistic one at the heart of Europe. Neither of these arguments, however, makes any sense at all.

When growth did happen, it did not come from the EU. From Ludwig Erhard's supply-side reforms in West Germany in 1948 to Thatcher's privatisation of nationalised industry in the Eighties, European growth came from reforms introduced by individual countries which were were copied elsewhere. EU policy has always been either irrelevant or positively detrimental (as was the case with the euro).

 Nor did British growth ever really lag behind Europe's. Sometimes it surged ahead. In the 1950s Western Europe had a growth rate of 3.5 per cent; in the 1960s, it was 4.5 per cent. But in 1959, when Harold Macmillan took office, the real annual growth rate of British GDP, according to the Office of National Statistics, was almost 6 per cent. It was again almost 6 per cent when de Gaulle vetoed our first application to join the EEC in 1963. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Perhaps the world's conspiracy theorists have been right all along...
  2. The N.W.O. and the Trilateral Commission on Barney Miller in 1981...
  3. Meet the secretive group that runs the world...
  4. The large families that rule the world...
  5. 4 things we know about the secretive Bilderberg Group and 1 thing we'll never know...

Terror in Mali: an attack on China and Russia?

Coming on the heels of the terrorist attack in Paris, the mass shooting and siege at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, the capital of the African nation of Mali, is still further evidence of the escalation of terrorism throughout the world. While there has already been much written about the incident in both western and non-western media, one critical angle on this story has been entirely ignored: the motive.

For although it is true that most people think of terrorism as entirely ideologically driven, with motives being religious or cultural, it is equally true that much of what gets defined as “terrorism” is in fact politically motivated violence that is intended to send a message to the targeted group or nation. So it seems that the attack in Mali could very well have been just such an action as news of the victims has raised very serious questions about just what the motive for this heinous crime might have been.

International media have now confirmed that at least nine of the 27 killed in the attack were Chinese and Russian. While this alone would indeed be curious, it is the identities and positions of those killed that is particularly striking. The three Chinese victims were important figures in China’s China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), while the Russians were employees of Russian airline Volga-Dnepr. That it was these individuals who were killed at the very outset of the attack suggests that they were the likely targets of what could perhaps rightly be called a terrorist assassination operation.

But why these men? And why now? To answer these questions, one must have an understanding of the roles of both these companies in Mali and, at the larger level, the activities of China and Russia in Mali. Moreover, the targeted killing should be seen in light of the growing assertiveness of both countries against terrorism in Syria and internationally. Considering the strategic partnership between the two countries – a partnership that is expanding seemingly every day – it seems that the fight against terrorism has become yet another point of convergence between Moscow and Beijing. In addition, it must be recalled that both countries have had their share of terror attacks in recent years, with each having made counter-terrorism a central element in their national security strategies, as well as their foreign policy. Full story...

Putin and Hollande go after Erdogan’s racket...

(...)

By now, Erdogan and ‘Mini Me’ must have gotten the message. They thought they had it covered when they took out the Su-24, which was not “violating” anything apart from the ultra-lucrative dirty oil extravaganza that profits, among others, ‘Mini Me’. Get rid of a sell oil for Daesh program, defying a NATO oil embargo? That’s an offer Russia cannot refuse.

At least two major questions are left unanswered. How come the US-led ‘Coalition of Dodgy Opportunists’ (CDO), in over a year, never – and the operative word is never – bombed any of the wheels in the Syrian stolen oil machine?

And how come no one among the CDO – Americans especially – did anything to prevent ‘Mini Me’ and others from actually funding the Daesh racket for so long? The CIA obviously knows all this and more, with geostationary satellites all over ‘Syraq’ working overtime.
Well, the CIA was too busy running the cash and weapons highway through Turkmen Mountain to be disturbed by a mere oil smuggling op.

But now Russia is going after all of them; the CIA weapon highway, the Turkish-enabled Jihadi highway, the Daesh-to-Turkey stolen oil highway. Sultan and ‘Mini Me’, get ready to embark on a highway to hell. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Meet the man who funds ISIS: Bilal Erdogan, the son of Turkey's president...
  2. Double dealing tyrant who's sabotaging the West's battle to crush ISIS...
  3. NATO is harbouring the Islamic State...
  4. Terror junkies: the West's addiction to funding radical groups...
  5. CONFIRMED: French government knew extremists BEFORE attack...
  6. Putin: ISIS financed from 40 countries, including G20 members...
  7. Vladimir Putin accuses US of backing terrorism in Middle East...

Schoolchildren in India's Tamil Nadu 'made to wear colour-coded wristbands to show caste'

Pupils in some southern Indian schools are being made to wear colour-coded wristbands to indicate whether they belong, it has been claimed.

The wristbands, which come in shades of red, yellow, green and saffron, indicate whether they are a lowly Dalit (or untouchable) caste, or one of various “upper" castes.

The Indian government has written to officials in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district ordering them to investigate claims made in an exposé in the Indian Express newspaper which claimed that the practice, which is illegal, is used by student gangs to target victims on the basis of caste.

“If it the practice is prevalent in these areas it is a serious violation of human rights and in particular the Dalit community students,” Justice Darmar Murugesan, who ordered the investigation.

 “The notice has been issued. After the receipt of the report we will suggest to the government how to contain this type of illegal and sinful act.” Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Caste – India’s curse...
  2. Two children killed as Dalit family set ablaze in Indian village...
  3. Brazen caste atrocities against India's Dalits go unpunished...
  4. Lynching of boy underlines how the curse of caste still blights India...
  5. Hindu temple in India purified after low-caste chief minister visits...
  6. Dalit women in Tamil Nadu narrate tales of atrocities...

The tough life of a Korean student...

People having sex with horses is on the rise in Switzerland!!!

More Swiss people are having sex with horses, according to a sickening new report.

There were 105 cases of the maltreatment of horses in Switzerland in 2014 — 10 percent of which involved people having sex with them, according to Tier im Recht, an animal welfare group.

“This rate is relatively elevated compared with other types of animals,” Andreas Rüttimann, a legal expert with the group, told reporters, The Local reported.

There are an estimated 110,000 horses living on 18,000 Swiss farms. Experts estimate that 10,000 people in Switzerland are “predisposed” to zoophilia, according to the 20 Minuten newspaper.

The group said the number of unreported horse abuse cases is likely much higher than reported, given that so many people in the country are involved with equestrian activities.

Overall, there were 1,709 incidents of abuse against animals in Switzerland in 2014, up from 1,542 from the previous year, according to Tier im Recht. Source...

Related posts:
  1. Denmark bans bestiality in move against animal sex tourism...
  2. Denmark's animal fuckers...
  3. Thanks, Smokey!
  4. Two men in Delhi rape a cow, stab the poor animal...
  5. Woman in Ireland dies after sex with dog... 
  6. French pensioner faces jail over sex with horse...
  7. 3 men in Zambia rape a chickent to death! WTF!

France puts 24 climate activists under house arrest ahead of UN talks...

French authorities have placed 24 activists under house arrest ahead of major UN climate warming talks starting near Paris next week, using the state of emergency powers declared after the Paris attacks.

The interior ministry said Friday the measures had been taken to prevent the activists from demonstrating ahead of the COP21 conference, but their lawyers and Amnesty International accused the government of abusing the state of emergency.

Three of those concerned, who are in their late 20s, are suspected of belonging to the "radical opposition movement", according to information obtained by AFP.

They are banned from leaving their home town in western France without special police permission, they must report to a local police station three times a day and remain at their homes between 8:00 pm and 6:00 am until December 12, the day after the talks are due to end.

The interior ministry says the three individuals have caused "serious disturbances to public order" in the past. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. ‘Crime of opinion’: French weatherman sacked for climate change skeptic book...
  2. 'Climate sceptic' French weatherman sent on “forced holiday”
  3. UN Paris climate hypocrisy: Limos and learjets...
  4. NASA reveals that Antarctica is actually gaining more ice than it is losing...
  5. Yet another Met Office 'warmer, drier summer’ left us shivering in the rain...
  6. Met Office boss slams Emma Thompson and the BBC for 'scaremongering'
  7. Climate change: the hoax that costs us $4 billion a day...

Coca-Cola blamed for water shortages in Modi's Indian constituency...

Eighteen village councils in northern India are demanding a local Coca-Cola bottling plant be banned from extracting water from the ground, claiming its over-use has led to water scarcity in the area.

The villages, which are located in Mehdiganj area of Varanasi district – the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – claim they have been facing water shortages since 1999 when the plant opened.

"Elected village council heads represent the voice of the people, and they are clear that Coca-Cola is not welcome in Mehdiganj," said Amit Srivastava of the California-based India Resource Centre, which is supporting the village councils.

"It is time for Coca-Cola to pack up and leave.

"Coca-Cola paints a pretty picture of itself internationally as a responsible user of water, but the reality in India is that it exploits groundwater at the expense of the poor, the women, children, farmers and livestock who have to live with less water because Coca-Cola mines groundwater in a water scarce area for profit." Full story...

Related posts:

Saudi king showered Obamas with $1.3 million in gifts in 2014...

(...)

Impressive? Not when compared to the gifts the Saudi king, who died in 2015, gave Michelle Obama.

On Jan. 14, 2014, Barack Obama might have been admiring the watch he wasn’t going to keep, but the first lady got a “diamond and emerald jewelry set including necklace, earrings, ring and bracelet.” Value? $560,000.

On April 15, 2014, she received an identically described set, but this one was worth $570,000.

Malia and Sasha weren’t left off the Saudi king’s list. On Jan. 14, 2014, they received “diamond and emerald jewelry set including earrings, necklace, ring, brooch, and wristwatch. Diamond and ruby jewelry set including earrings, necklace, ring, brooch, and wristwatch.” Price tag: $80,000.

 It may seem odd to give away items that the recipient almost certainly won’t keep, but presents like these apparently play a small but not insignificant role in global diplomacy. In each case, under the heading “circumstances justifying acceptance,” the State Department says “nonacceptance would cause embarrassment to donor and U.S. government.” Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Why Saudi Arabia gets away with murder...
  2. Amnesty tells the US to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia
  3. US OKs $1.75 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia...
  4. FBI accused of whitewashing Saudi Arabian involvement in 9/11 after...
  5. The Madness of King Saud...

Swedish court: 'We cannot ban Pirate Bay'

In a landmark decision, a Swedish court on Friday ruled that the country's internet service providers cannot be forced to block controversial Swedish file-sharing site Pirate Bay.

After considering the case for almost a month, the District Court of Stockholm ruled that copyright holders could not make Swedish ISP Bredbandsbolaget block Pirate Bay.

The court found that Bredbandsbolaget's operations do not amount to participation in the copyright infringement offences carried out by some of its 'pirate' subscribers.

Pirate Bay is blocked by many European ISPs but anti-piracy outfits have always hoped that one day the notorious site would be restricted in Sweden.

 The action was brought by Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, Nordisk Film and the Swedish Film Industry, who teamed up in a lawsuit last year designed to force Bredbandsbolaget to block the site. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Pirate Bay founder finally free after three years...
  2. Pirate Bay founders acquitted in criminal copyright case...
  3. Thank you Pirate Bay...
  4. Key Pirate Bay domains must be seized, court rules...
  5. France bans file-sharing site The Pirate Bay...
  6. Man jailed for almost three years for pirating ‘Fast & Furious’

Friday, November 27, 2015

George Carlin talks about "stuff"

Celebrating genocide: The real story of Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving is one of the most paradoxical times of the year. We gather together with friends and family in celebration of all that we are thankful for and express our gratitude, at the same time we are encouraged to eat in excess. But the irony really starts the next day on Black Friday. On Thursday we appreciate all the simple things in life, such as having a meal, a roof over our head, and the connection with those close to us. But in less than 24 hours, we literally trample over others in a mad dash to accumulate as many material possessions as possible at bargain-prices.

So what is the true history of Thanksgiving? Well, just like we have stories of Easter in which a magical bunny hops around the world and hides baskets of goodies for us to find, or stories of Christmas where Santa Claus travels the globe in one night to leave presents under the tree for good boys and girls – Thanksgiving, too, has its traditional myth which we share with our children. We recount stories of the Indians and Pilgrims getting together for a magical feast of brotherly love and appreciation. The only problem is that, unlike the other holidays, we never reveal the truth about Thanksgiving to our children as they grow older. In fact, most of us don’t understand its bloody history ourselves…

The first actual proclaimed “Day of Thanksgiving” came in 1637 in a meeting between the Pequot Indians and English religious mercenaries. The Pequot were celebrating their annual Green Harvest Festival, which resembles modern-day Thanksgiving. On the eve of the festival, the English demanded that everyone comes out of their homes, puts their weapons on the ground, and surrenders by converting to Christianity. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. When you kill 10 million Africans, you aren't called Hitler...
  2. History teacher denies native american genocide, native student disagrees...
  3. Columbus statue replaced in Venezuela...
  4. Christopher Columbus was a lost sadist. There shouldn't be a holiday in his name...
  5. Black Friday: A shameful orgy of materialism for a morally bankrupt nation...

Meet the man who funds ISIS: Bilal Erdogan, the son of Turkey's president...

Russia's Sergey Lavrov is not one foreign minister known to mince his words. Just earlier today, 24 hours after a Russian plane was brought down by the country whose president three years ago said "a short-term border violation can never be a pretext for an attack", had this to say: "We have serious doubts this was an unintended incident and believe this is a planned provocation" by Turkey.

But even that was tame compared to what Lavrov said to his Turkish counterparty Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier today during a phone call between the two (Lavrov who was supposed to travel to Turkey has since canceled such plans).

As Sputnik transcribes, according to a press release from Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lavrov pointed out that, "by shooting down a Russian plane on a counter-terrorist mission of the Russian Aerospace Force in Syria, and one that did not violate Turkey’s airspace, the Turkish government has in effect sided with ISIS."

It was in this context when Lavrov added that "Turkey’s actions appear premeditated, planned, and undertaken with a specific objective."

More importantly, Lavrov pointed to Turkey’s role in the propping up the terror network through the oil trade. Per the Russian statement: Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Double dealing tyrant who's sabotaging the West's battle to crush ISIS...
  2. NATO is harbouring the Islamic State...
  3. Terror junkies: the West's addiction to funding radical groups...
  4. CONFIRMED: French government knew extremists BEFORE attack...
  5. Putin: ISIS financed from 40 countries, including G20 members...
  6. Vladimir Putin accuses US of backing terrorism in Middle East...

Black Friday Saudi-style: Riyadh to behead more than 50 people...

Saudi Arabia is planning to execute more than 50 people, found guilty of terrorism, in a single day. The move was immediately slammed by Amnesty International, which said the Saudis are “using the guise of counter-terrorism to settle political scores.”

The information about executions was recently released in Saudi media, which said that up to 55 ‘Al-Qaeda terrorists’ and 'criminals' from the town of Awamiyya will be executed in the next few days. However, it hasn’t been specified when and how exactly the executions will take place. Awamiya, in Eastern Province where the authorities suppressed protests in 2011, has a predominantly Shiite population. According to sources, the executions may be carried out after Friday prayers.

Reuters cited the Saudi Okaz newspaper as saying these 55 people are accused of sedition, attacks on security officials, and attempts to overthrow the government and carry out attacks by using explosives and surface-to-air missiles. According to Okaz, those on death row have killed more than 100 civilians and 71 security personnel.

One of the prisoners is accused of attempting to buy nuclear material in Yemen worth $1.5 million for use inside Saudi Arabia. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Why Saudi Arabia gets away with murder...
  2. Saudi teen sentenced to be crucified for attending pro-democracy protest...
  3. Fury after Saudi Arabia 'chosen to head key UN human rights panel'
  4. Saudi abuse scandal rocks India...
  5. Saudi activists silenced and the U.S. is silent...
  6. Saudi Arabia executes 'a person every two days' as rate of beheadings soars...
  7. Saudi Arabia on track to beat annual record of 192 executions...

Double dealing tyrant who's sabotaging the West's battle to crush ISIS: Turkey's Erdogan seems to be doing almost everything he can to cripple the forces actually fighting ISIS ...

Despotic presidents tend to have many admirers who will hail them as saviours of their nations. But they also have a tendency to lock horns with other despots.

The clash between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian fighter, is one which has set the entire world on edge as diplomats desperately work overtime to reduce the tension.

Putin is not blameless in this affair. His air force has been probing Western air spaces provocatively in a number of different locations in recent months. But was the Russian president right, after the downing of the jet, to accuse ‘back-stabbing’ Turkey of being the accomplices of ISIS terrorists?

And was there any truth in Putin’s accusation yesterday — made just as Moscow was expelling 39 Turkish businessmen attending a conference in Russia — that Turkey is propping up ISIS by buying oil from them? Full story...

Related posts:
  1. NATO is harbouring the Islamic State...
  2. Terror junkies: the West's addiction to funding radical groups...
  3. CONFIRMED: French government knew extremists BEFORE attack...
  4. Putin: ISIS financed from 40 countries, including G20 members...
  5. The state of emergency and the collapse of French democracy...
  6. Vladimir Putin accuses US of backing terrorism in Middle East...

French ban on Muslim headscarves is upheld by human rights court after woman sacked for refusing...

Europe's leading human rights court upheld the France's ban on Islamic headscarves in the case of a Muslim social worker who was sacked because she refused to take hers off.

Christiane Ebrahimian lost her job at a psychiatric department of a hospital in Nanterre because patients complained about her refusal to remove her head covering.

She lost her appeal at the European Court of Human Rights today.

The French government bars public employees from displaying their religious beliefs on the job.

In 2004, the country banned the wearing of 'conspicuous religious symbols' including the Muslim face veil, known as the niqab.

The ban was eventually extended to schoolchildren and even parents who wanted to accompany classes on trips. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. MPs in Swiss canton of Ticino back burqa ban...
  2. Senegal considers burqa ban to stop terrorists disguising in Islamic dress...
  3. Cameroon bans Islamic face veil after suicide bombings...
  4. Chad police: Anyone wearing face veils will be arrested...
  5. Belgium burka ban: Diplomat rips off Qatari princess' niqab...
  6. ‘Jilboobs’ raise clerical hackles in Indonesia...
  7. It’s a French woman’s duty to wear a bikini, says ex-minister...
  8. France bans the burqa...

Thursday, November 26, 2015

My life after 44 years in prison...

Cannabis for Parkinson's? The scientific evidence is compelling...

Despite the political controversy surrounding medical marijuana use in the country, research has begun to emerge showing that a component of this plant known as cannabidiol (CBD), and which does not have the controversial psychoactive properties associated with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), may have a wide range of therapeutic applications, including treating conditions that are refractory to conventional drug-based approaches.

One such condition is Parkinson's disease, to which there is, at present, no effective conventional treatment. In fact, the primary treatment involves dopamine increasing drugs that also increase a neurotoxic metabolite known as with 6-hydroxy-dopamine, and which therefore can actually accelerate the progression of the disease. This is why natural alternatives that are safe, effective, and backed up by scientific evidence, are so needed today. Thankfully, preclinical research on cannabidiol has already revealed some promising results, including two studies in animal models of Parkinson's disease (PD) assessing its neuroprotective properties:

(...)

These results, taken together with the results from the animal models of PD, indicate that CBD may provide a drug alternative in PD patients. Additionally, a new study published in Toxicology In Vitro titled,"The neuroprotection of cannabidiol against MPP+-induced toxicity in PC12 cells involves trkA receptors, upregulation of axonal and synaptic proteins, neuritogenesis, and might be relevant to Parkinson's disease," makes the case for using cannabidiol in PD even more compelling by helping to illuminate some of the molecular mechanisms beneath its benefits. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Australian senators give medical marijuana the green light...
  2. Marijuana can heal broken bones, says new study...
  3. Oregon’s youngest medical cannabis patient is now cancer free...
  4. 8 year old Australian girl with severe epilepsy administered liquid marijuana...
  5. Hemp - The ultimate cash crop, health food and environmental savior...
  6. Man credits 130,000 marijuana joints over 30 years with saving his life...
  7. Marijuana stops child's severe seizures...
  8. 2-year-old cured of brain cancer with medical marijuana?

Drone pilots have bank accounts and credit cards frozen by Feds for exposing US murder...

The U.S. Government failed to deter them through threats of criminal prosecution, and clumsy attempts to intimidate their families. Now four former Air Force drone operators-turned-whistleblowers have had their credit cards and bank accounts frozen, according to human rights attorney Jesselyn Radack.

“My drone operators went public this week and now their credit cards and bank accounts are frozen,” Radack lamented on her Twitter feed (the spelling of her post has been conventionalized). This was done despite the fact that none of them has been charged with a criminal offense – but this is a trivial formality in the increasingly Sovietesque American National Security State.

Michael Haas, Brandon Bryant, Cian Westmoreland and Stephen Lewis, who served as drone operators in the US Air Force, have gone public with detailed accounts of the widespread corruption and institutionalized indifference to civilian casualties that characterize the program. Some of those disclosures were made in the recent documentary Drone; additional details have been provided in an open letter from the whistleblowers to President Obama, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, and CIA Director John Brennan.

“We are former Air Force service members,” the letter begins. “We joined the Air Force to protect American lives and to protect our Constitution. We came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS, while also serving as a fundamental recruiting tool similar to Guantanamo Bay. This administration and its predecessors have built a drone program that is one of the most devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world.” Full story...

Related posts:
  1. 'They don't care who gets killed': Ex-drone pilot turned whistleblower...
  2. Obama-led drone strikes kill innocents 90% of the time...
  3. An ex-American drone pilot speaks out...
  4. Whistleblower leaks documents on US drone killings...
  5. Retired US general: Drones cause more damage than good...
  6. Former US military personnel urge drone pilots to walk away from controls...
  7. ‘Drone pilots, please, refuse to fly’
  8. The U.S. media and the 13-year-old Yemeni boy burned to death last month
  9. I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes...

Surge in excess winter deaths blamed on ‘ineffective flu vaccines’ & ‘fuel poverty’

Nearly 45,000 excess deaths were recorded in England and Wales last winter, the highest since 1999, figures show. Experts have blamed the rise on ineffective flu vaccines.

The figures, published in a report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), show excess winter deaths increased 151 percent last year, representing the biggest annual jump in more than 40 years.

Most of the deaths involved people aged 75 and over, with underlying respiratory illness and flu viruses being the main causes, the report found.

The ONS said the rise may be related to the “greater vulnerability” of people with these conditions. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Victory: Nurse fired for refusing flu shot wins lawsuit...
  2. Flu vaccine paradox spreading globally as more vaccinated people catch the flu...
  3. A 5-year-old girl just died of the very strain of flu she was vaccinated against...
  4. School expels child over vaccine that even the doctor refuses to give ...
  5. Last year’s flu vaccine killed and injured over 93,000 US citizens...

NATO is harbouring the Islamic State...

The 13th November Paris massacre will be remembered, like 9/11, as a defining moment in world history.

The murder of 129 people, the injury of 352 more, by ‘Islamic State’ (ISIS) acolytes striking multiple targets simultaneously in the heart of Europe, mark a major sea-change in the terror threat.

For the first time, a Mumbai-style attack has occurred on Western soil — the worst attack on Europe in decades. As such, it has triggered a seemingly commensurate response from France: the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency, the likes of which have not been seen since the 1961 Algerian war.

ISIS has followed up with threats to attack Washington and New York City.

Meanwhile, President Hollande wants European Union leaders to suspend the Schengen Agreement on open borders to allow dramatic restrictions on freedom of movement across Europe. He also demands the EU-wide adoption of the Passenger Name Records (PNR) system allowing intelligence services to meticulously track the travel patterns of Europeans, along with an extension of the state of emergency to at least three months. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Terror junkies: the West's addiction to funding radical groups...
  2. CONFIRMED: French government knew extremists BEFORE attack...
  3. Putin: ISIS financed from 40 countries, including G20 members...
  4. The state of emergency and the collapse of French democracy...
  5. Vladimir Putin accuses US of backing terrorism in Middle East...
  6. Invasion of Iraq led to current instability, the worst foreign policy blunder...
  7. Paris attacks: Why has France been targeted again?

Kerala woman journalist threatened, FB account blocked after post on child sexual abuse in a Madarassa...

On 21 November, a senior journalist working with a prominent Malayalam newspaper wrote a poignant post on her Facebook account about sexual abuses her classmates had to face in a Madarassa years ago. For more than 24 hours now, journalist VP Rajeena’s Facebook account has been blocked, and she continues to receive threats.

In the Facebook post that became controversial Rajeena reminisced about an ‘Ustad’ or teacher at a Sunni Madarassa in Kozhikode city, who would feel up her male classmates’ private parts. She described how young boys in the class would be summoned by the ‘Ustad’ and asked to unzip their shorts. Rajeena said that even as the boys squirmed, the girls too were left embarrassed and shocked. The ‘Ustad’ would then tell the boys that he was only checking the size, she wrote. She also talked about how such experiences were spread out across her six years of education at the Madarassa and even the girls in her class were not spared. The journalist also alleged that another ‘Ustad’ who was above 60 years would move around the class during power cuts and sexually abuse the minor girls.

Ever since Rajeena put up the Facebook post, she was at the receiving end of a barrage of abuses and threats, forcing her to write another post in which she declared that despite everything, she would remain fearless. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Abused on Facebook, 8 women from Kerala push for a change...
  2. Journalist beaten to death after criticising footballer on Facebook...
  3. Journalist set on fire in India after Facebook post making allegations against
  4. A Muslim woman writer forced to leave home, why is the community silent?
  5. We'll probably kill journalists who don't report the truth, says Thai leader...
  6. News from Jaffna:A fearless Tamil journalist...

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

If people who sell stuff were honest about Black Friday...

Aamir Khan: To all the people shouting obscenities at me for speaking my heart out, it saddens me to say you are only proving my point.

First let me state categorically that neither I, nor my wife Kiran, have any intention of leaving the country. We never did, and nor would we like to in the future. Anyone implying the opposite has either not seen my interview or is deliberately trying to distort what I have said. India is my country, I love it, I feel fortunate for being born here, and this is where I am staying.

Secondly, I stand by everything that I have said in my interview.

To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone's permission nor endorsement for that.

 To all the people shouting obscenities at me for speaking my heart out, it saddens me to say you are only proving my point. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Arundhati Roy returns her national award...
  2. Top Indian artists and scientists return awards in protest at alleged ‘climate
  3. PM Narendra Modi's silence emboldening 'thuggish violence,' says Salman...
  4. 41 writers return Indian award, cite climate of intolerance...
  5. Sacred cows undermine Modi’s image of India...
  6. How India's writers are fighting intolerance...