Month: November 2013

Take The Money And Run: China’s Ill-Gotten Wealth Flees Overseas

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– Take the Money and Run: China’s Ill-Gotten Wealth Flees Overseas (OfTwoMinds, Nov 26, 2013):

The front door is covered with official pronouncements of “the China Dream” and blustery demands of hegemony, but the back door is choked with members of the financial/political Elite fleeing China and taking their wealth with them.The first thing to understand about China is there is always a front door and a back door to everything. The front door is what’s presented to the outside world; the back door is for everything that doesn’t fit the PR image created by the front door.

Read moreTake The Money And Run: China’s Ill-Gotten Wealth Flees Overseas

London’s Mayor Says We Should ‘Thank The Super Rich’

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– London’s Mayor Says We Should “Thank the Super Rich” – Calls Them “Tax Heroes” and Compares to the “Homeless and Irish Travelers” (Liberty Blitzkrieg, Nov 26, 2013):

If you thought you had seen it all when it comes to sob stories of the “super rich” following the comparison of the criticisms of banker bonuses to the lynching of black people in the south by AIG’s CEO in September, think again. The latest groveling, inane defense of the “super rich” comes from none other than the gatekeeper of the largest oligarch whorehouse on planet earth. The Mayor of London, Mr. Boris Johnson.

Now I warn you, do not read the following Op-Ed on a full stomach. The vapid, nonsensical, Onion-like prose may very well induce fits of nausea and uncontrolled regurgitation. This is quite frankly one of the worst things I have ever read in my life. It echoes like a sort of grandiose ass-kissing ritual one would have encountered in a Middle Age court from an aspiring manservant of the realm, desperately trying to rapidly advance a coupe of notches up the social strata of some decadent feudal kingdom. Simply put, Boris Johnson should be ashamed to show his face in public after writing such disingenuous garbage.

Now for some excerpts from the UK Telegraph:

The great thing about being Mayor of London is you get to meet all sorts. It is my duty to stick up for every put-upon minority in the city – from the homeless to Irish travellers to ex-gang members to disgraced former MPs. After five years of slog, I have a fair idea where everyone is coming from.

Read moreLondon’s Mayor Says We Should ‘Thank The Super Rich’

53% Of Bankers Say Ethics Inhibit Career Progression – Here’s Why

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– 53% Of Bankers Say Ethics Inhibit Career Progression – Here’s Why (ZeroHedge, Nov 26, 2013):

The Economist found, rather sadly, despite all the glad-handing and happy-talk, that 53% of financial services executives believed that strict adherence to ethical conduct would make career progression difficult. As this former Wall Street trader told The Guardian, “a precedent needs to be set, to slow down Wall Street’s wild behavior. A reminder that rules are there to be followed, not exploited.” The reason, among others, is summed up by the following, “if a customer wants a red suit, you sell them a red suit. If that customer is Japanese, you charge him twice what it costs.”

Via The Guardian,

My first year on Wall Street, 1993, I was paid 14 times more than I earned the prior year and three times more than my father’s best year. For that money, I helped my company create financial products that were disguised to look simple, but which required complex math to properly understand. That first year I was roundly applauded by my bosses, who told me I was clever, and to my surprise they gave me $20,000 bonus beyond my salary.

The products were sold to many investors, many who didn’t fully understand what they were buying, most of them what we called “clueless Japanese.” The profits to my company were huge – hundreds of millions of dollars huge. The main product that made my firm great money for close to five years was was called, in typically dense finance jargon, a YIF, or a Yield Indexed Forward.

Read more53% Of Bankers Say Ethics Inhibit Career Progression – Here’s Why

U.S. Generals Now Take Action To Watch Obama

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FYI.

– U.S. generals now take action to watch Obama (WND, Nov 25, 2013):

Retired Army, Air Force leaders say ‘government continues down path of destroying America’

WASHINGTON – After one of them called for the “forced resignations” of President Obama and congressional leaders in response to multiple grievances, including the alleged political purge of hundreds of senior military officers, two retired U.S. generals are creating a citizens’ commission to scrutinize Obama administration actions on national security and economic issues.

“America’s Provisional Leadership Council” will look at major concerns, as outlined by Army Gen. Paul E. Vallely and Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles Jones, in an eight-point paper titled “The Americans Project.”

Read moreU.S. Generals Now Take Action To Watch Obama

Barack Obama And The ‘Isms’

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FYI.

– Capitalism Is A Mentality (Monty Pelerins World, Nov 25, 2013):

“Capitalism is not things; it is a mentality.”

So stated Ludwig von Mises in a talk in mid 1952 in a series of lectures entitled Marxism Unmasked which he gave at the San Francisco library.

Mises provided examples that illustrated this mentality or its lack. One pertained to India (my emboldening):

Read moreBarack Obama And The ‘Isms’

If This Doesn’t Terrify You … Google’s Computers OUTWIT Their Humans

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– If this doesn’t terrify you… Google’s computers OUTWIT their humans (The Register, Nov 15, 2013):

‘Deep learning’ clusters crack coding problems their top engineers can’t

Analysis Google no longer understands how its “deep learning” decision-making computer systems have made themselves so good at recognizing things in photos.

This means the internet giant may need fewer experts in future as it can instead rely on its semi-autonomous, semi-smart machines to solve problems all on their own.

Read moreIf This Doesn’t Terrify You … Google’s Computers OUTWIT Their Humans

Contaminants in Meat (Part 1)

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– We’re Eating What? Contaminants in Meat, Part 1 (Huffington Post, Nov 6, 2013):

Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans to “relax” federal meat and poultry inspections, allowing meat processors greater leeway in policing themselves, already the agricultural trend. But most food activists ask how standards could be relaxed any further when drug residues, heavy metals, cleaning supplies, gasses, nitrites, hormones and other unwanted guests contaminate the meat supply. They are almost all unlabeled.

Read moreContaminants in Meat (Part 1)

Hamburger Chef Jamie Oliver Proves McDonald’s Burgers ‘Unfit For Human Consumption’

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– Hamburger Chef Jamie Oliver Proves McDonald’s Burgers “Unfit for human consumption” (Political Blindspot, Aug 3, 2013):

Hamburger chef Jamie Oliver has won his long-fought battle against one of the largest fast food chains in the world – McDonalds. After Oliver showed how McDonald’s hamburgers are made, the franchise finally announced that it will change its recipe, and yet there was barely a peep about this in the mainstream, corporate media.

Read moreHamburger Chef Jamie Oliver Proves McDonald’s Burgers ‘Unfit For Human Consumption’

One Year Later, The Makers of ‘Pink Slime’ Are Hanging On, And Fighting Back

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– One Year Later, The Makers of ‘Pink Slime’ Are Hanging On, and Fighting Back (TIME, March 06, 2013):

As the meat industry again makes news thanks to an endless stream of articles about horse meat masked as beef popping up all over Europe, the “pink slime” story is still playing itself out in courthouses, law offices and the one BPI plant still in operation.

Five weeks before the Internet went mad over the presence of “pink slime” in ground beef across the U.S., the product’s creator was being inducted into the Nebraska Business Hall of Fame.

Read moreOne Year Later, The Makers of ‘Pink Slime’ Are Hanging On, And Fighting Back

The REAL ‘Lone Ranger’ Was An African American Lawman Who Lived With Native American Indians

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– The REAL ‘Lone Ranger’ Was An African American Lawman Who Lived With Native American Indians (Political Blindspot, Oct 25, 2013):

The real “Lone Ranger,” it turns out, was an African American man named Bass Reeves, who the legend was based upon. Perhaps not surprisingly, many aspects of his life were written out of the story, including his ethnicity. The basics remained the same: a lawman hunting bad guys, accompanied by a Native American, riding on a white horse, and with a silver trademark.

Historians of the American West have also, until recently, ignored the fact that this man was African American, a free black man who headed West to find himself less subject to the racist structure of the established Eastern and Southern states.

Read moreThe REAL ‘Lone Ranger’ Was An African American Lawman Who Lived With Native American Indians

Radiation Exposure Explained: Rad, Rem, Sieverts, Becquerels

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– Explained: rad, rem, sieverts, becquerels (MIT News, March 27, 2011):

A guide to terminology about radiation exposure

Sometimes it must seem as though reports on releases of radioactive materials from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami are going out of their way to confuse people. Some reports talk about millisieverts while others talk about rem or becquerels, when what most people really want to know is much simpler: Can I drink the milk? Is it safe to go home? Should people in California be worried?

Read moreRadiation Exposure Explained: Rad, Rem, Sieverts, Becquerels

Japan: Approved ‘Secrecy Law Represents A Coup D’Etat’ – Prison For ‘Inappropriate Reporting’ – Official: We’re On Path To Be A Fascist State

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– Secrecy law approved in Japan — AP: Prison for ‘inappropriate reporting’ — Official: We’re on path to be fascist state — Fear Fukushima cover-ups to worsen (ENENews, Nov 26, 2013):

Associated Press, Nov. 26, 2013: Japan’s more powerful lower house of Parliament approved a state secrecy bill late Tuesday […] Critics say it might sway authorities to withhold more information about nuclear power plants […] The move is welcomed by the United States […] lawyer Hiroyasu Maki said the bill’s definition of secrets is so vague and broad that it could easily be expanded to include radiation data […] Journalists who obtain information “inappropriately” or “wrongfully” can get up to five years in prison, prompting criticism that it would make officials more secretive and intimidate the media. Attempted leaks or inappropriate reporting, complicity or solicitation are also considered illegal. […] Japan’s proposed law also designates the prime minister as a third-party overseer.

BBC, Nov. 26, 2013: Japan approves new state secrecy bill to combat leaks […] The bill now goes to the upper house, where it is also likely to be passed.

The Australian, Nov. 25, 2013: Japanese press baulks at push for ‘fascist’ secrecy laws […] Taro Yamamoto [an upper house lawmaker] said the law threatened to recreate a fascist state in Japan. “This secrecy law represents a coup d’etat by a particular group of politicians and bureaucrats,” he told a press conference in Tokyo. “I believe the secrecy bill will eventually lead to the repression of the average person. It will allow those in power to crack down on anyone who is criticising them – the path we are on is the recreation of a fascist state.” He said the withholding of radiation data after the Fukushima disaster showed the Japanese government was predisposed to hiding information from its citizens and this law would only make things worse. […] The Asahi Shimbun newspaper likened the law to “conspiracy” regulations in pre-war Japan and said it could be used to stymie access to facts on nuclear accidents […]

Read moreJapan: Approved ‘Secrecy Law Represents A Coup D’Etat’ – Prison For ‘Inappropriate Reporting’ – Official: We’re On Path To Be A Fascist State

Iran Nuclear Deal: Saudi Arabia Warns It Will Strike Out On Its Own – Saudi Arabia Seeking To Obtain Atomic Bomb

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FYI.

– Iran nuclear deal: Saudi Arabia warns it will strike out on its own (Telegraph, Nov 25, 2013):

Saudi Arabia claims they were kept in the dark by Western allies over Iran nuclear deal and says it will strike out on its own

A senior advisor to the Saudi royal family has accused its Western allies of deceiving the oil rich kingdom in striking the nuclear accord with Iran and said Riyadh would follow an independent foreign policy.

Nawaf Obaid told a think tank meeting in London that Saudi Arabia was determined to pursue its own foreign and policy goals. Having in the past been reactive to events, the leading Sunni Muslim nation was determined to be pro-active in future.

Read moreIran Nuclear Deal: Saudi Arabia Warns It Will Strike Out On Its Own – Saudi Arabia Seeking To Obtain Atomic Bomb

Edward Snowden’s ‘Doomsday Cache’ Has British And US Intelligence Officials Worried

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– Spies worry over “doomsday” cache stashed by ex-NSA contractor Snowden (Reuters, Nov 25, 2013):

British and U.S. intelligence officials say they are worried about a “doomsday” cache of highly classified, heavily encrypted material they believe former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has stored on a data cloud.

The cache contains documents generated by the NSA and other agencies and includes names of U.S. and allied intelligence personnel, seven current and former U.S. officials and other sources briefed on the matter said.

The data is protected with sophisticated encryption, and multiple passwords are needed to open it, said two of the sources, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

Read moreEdward Snowden’s ‘Doomsday Cache’ Has British And US Intelligence Officials Worried

Nuclear Professors: Every Scientist And Engineer Scared About Fukushima Reactor No. 4 SFP Fuel Removal

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– Nuclear Professors: Every engineer is really scared about fuel removal at Unit 4 — I advised gov’t to be ready to use explosives to collapse pool after 3/11 (VIDEOS) (ENENews, Nov 26, 2013):

Arirang’s ‘In Depth’, Nov. 23, 2013: […] there is mounting concern about radiation leakage caused by the Fukushima nuclear plant destruction. There is reemerged concern as Japan dismantles its nuclear plant.

Professor Suh Kune-yull, Nuclear Engineering at Seoul National University: Q: What’s the situation like in Fukushima? A: Your guess is as good as mine, in fact, nobody‘s really sure about it. […] Q: Everyone around Japan, everyone in the world, we have to be on our toes for the next however many years [fuel removal at Unit 4] will take? A: It’s not many years, it’s many decades — that’s what I’m saying. They’re talking about a year and a half, 18 months. That’s a very implausible case, that there’s no accident […] no slippage? […] That’s where everybody, where every knowledgeable scientist and engineer gets really scared about this.

Read moreNuclear Professors: Every Scientist And Engineer Scared About Fukushima Reactor No. 4 SFP Fuel Removal

Government Model Shows West Coast Of North America To Get Highest Level Of Fukushima Contamination Until 2030s

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FYI.


Top (L) Mar. 2015; Top (R) Mar. 2019; Bottom (L) Mar. 2021; Bottom (R) July 2031

(Note that the total ocean release used in the model is just 1/3 of the estimate by other researchers. It also does not take into account the daily release of 400 tons of radioactive water from the plant that’s likely been ongoing since soon after 3/11.)

– Gov’t model shows West Coast of N. America to get highest level of Fukushima contamination until 2030s (VIDEO) (ENENews, Nov 26, 2013):

China-Korea Cooperation on the Development of Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System of Radionuclides: In this study we are concerned with long-term oceanic-scale dispersion of Cs 137 released from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP. […] The information that helped us to determine the source term of radioactive materials for the numerical experiments was the concentrations of radioactive materials in the ocean reported by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). […] using monitoring data from the web site of TEPCO near the northern and southern discharge channels of the Fukushima Daiichi NPP. […] Assuming a total release of 9 PBq of 137 Cs from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP into the marine environment (only including liquid releases on the Pacific Ocean), the simulation is carried out up to 2041.

Plutonium Levels ‘Slightly Elevated’ In Pacific After Fukushima – Scientist: It’s ‘Most Likely’ Flowing From Plant Into Ocean – 2.5 TRILLION Bq Of PLUTONIUM Released To Air In Four Days After 3/11

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Plutonium is the deadliest substance on the planet.

Flashback:

– Scientists Detect Plutonium From Fukushima In Lithuania


Unpublished data from Kenna, Masque, Buesseler et al.

– Unpublished Data: Plutonium levels ‘slightly elevated’ in Pacific after Fukushima — Scientist: It’s ‘most likely’ flowing from plant into ocean — 2.5 trillion Bq of plutonium released to air in four days after 3/11, almost all blown out to sea (AUDIO) (ENENews, Nov 26, 2013):

Press Conference, March 27, 2011: REPORTER: According to NISA, the stagnant water in the nuclear power plant, whether the water contains plutonium has not been investigated by the Cabinet I believe, and I think extensive investigation is necessary don’t you think? CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: […] the soil within the nuclear power plant premise is now being investigated. I have been reported that the measurement is not easy […]

Ken Buesseler (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA) and Michio Aoyama (Meteorological Research Institute, Japan), Aug. 4, 2012: Surface ocean in June 2011, see slightly elevated Pu -from direct discharge?  -Pu removed on sinking  particles, so Cs/Pu ratio increases over time (Kenna, Masque, Buesseler et al. unpublished) […] Seafloor sedimentation is small, but important sink for Cs (Pu?)

Read morePlutonium Levels ‘Slightly Elevated’ In Pacific After Fukushima – Scientist: It’s ‘Most Likely’ Flowing From Plant Into Ocean – 2.5 TRILLION Bq Of PLUTONIUM Released To Air In Four Days After 3/11

‘I Fear For What’s Coming’ – 68 Percent Of Americans Believe The Country Is On The Wrong Track

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– “I Fear For What’s Coming” – 68 Percent Of Americans Believe The Country Is On The Wrong Track (Economic Collapse, Nov 26, 2013):

Are you deeply concerned about the future of America?  Is something in your gut telling you that our system is fundamentally broken and that the mainstream media is not telling you the truth about what is happening?  If so, you are definitely not alone.  Right now, there are millions upon millions of Americans that are absolutely horrified as they watch this nation deteriorate.  In fact, according to an analysis of recent polling data conducted by Real Clear Politics, approximately 68 percent of all Americans believe that the country is on the wrong track and only 23.5 percent of all Americans believe that the country is on the right track.  And of course our problems did not appear just recently.  In fact, many of them are the result of decades of very foolish decisions and they are not going to be fixed easily.  Unfortunately, there is very little consensus among Americans about how to fix any of our problems.  There is more anger, frustration, hatred and division in the United States today than there has been in decades, and there is very little hope that the great storms that are looming on the horizon will be averted.  Those that are wise are preparing for what is coming.  Those that are not are going to be absolutely blindsided by what is rapidly approaching.

Read more‘I Fear For What’s Coming’ – 68 Percent Of Americans Believe The Country Is On The Wrong Track

Total Insanity: Japan To Reopen Soccer Facility In Fukushima’s J-Village For 2020 Olympics

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– Believe It Or Not: Japan To Reopen Soccer Facility In Fukushima For 2020 Olympics (ZeroHedge, Nov 26, 2013):

Below we present a twitter exchange we had with a Japanese media outlet overnight on Twitter. It needs no commentary.

US Challenges China, Flies B-52 Bombers Over New Air Defense Zone

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– US Challenges China, Flies B-52 Bombers Over New Air Defense Zone (ZeroHedge, Nov 26, 2013):

One of the notable developments in the neverending China-Japan territorial sovereignty dispute over various rock formations (and potential massive natural resources located beneath them) in the East China Sea, has been China’s launch of an “air defense zone” over said disputed islands. As AP reported previously, Beijing on Saturday issued a map of the zone — which includes a cluster of islands controlled by Japan but also claimed by China — and a set of rules that say all aircraft entering the area must notify Chinese authorities and are subject to emergency military measures if they do not identify themselves or obey Beijing’s orders. Various Japanese airlines responded in a confused manner overnight, with neither JAL nor ANA sure whether or not to comply with China’s new demand which is merely the latest territorial escalation.

Read moreUS Challenges China, Flies B-52 Bombers Over New Air Defense Zone

Jeremy Scahill: The Man Exposing The US Dirty War – ‘Dirty Wars’ (Trailer)

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‘Undeclared wars have been launched in countries across the globe’ … Jeremy Scahill (centre, in black) in a scene from Dirty Wars. Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

– Jeremy Scahill: the man exposing the US Dirty War (Guardian, Nov 24, 2013):

While making the documentary Dirty Wars, Scahill met the survivors of secret US hit squads in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia – and promised to tell their stories

Jeremy Scahill, whose provocative documentary Dirty Wars is released in the UK this week, has been described as a “progressive journalist” and an activist in the same mould as Glenn Greenwald. Is “progressive” a word he is comfortable with? “It’s not a term I would reject in terms of my personal politics,” he says, “but I see myself as an independent journalist and my mission is to try to tell stories about real people.”

Scahill’s critics write him off as an activist or an advocate, but he argues that all journalists have a point of view. “Oftentimes the ones who are activists on behalf of the state don’t get labelled as activists. People who accept the state’s version of events are considered objective journalists. People who question the state’s version of events, particularly in the face of overwhelming evidence that the state is either lying or involved in extra-legal activity, are tarred with the brush of being activists. There is a systematic smearing of anyone who questions the state, while people who are slavishly devoted to advocacy for the state somehow wear the crown of objectivity.”

The real people in the film – and the book, Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield, which accompanies it – are the victims of what are, in effect, US hit squads operating in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and other places where the American government is waging its “war on terror”. Starting with one murderous attack on an Afghan police chief and his family in eastern Afghanistan, Scahill widens the focus to portray an out-of-control US military, operating through a shadowy organisation called the Joint Special Operations Command, stalking an ever increasing number of targets in an apparently endless war. It is a compelling picture that tries to make sense of the spiralling number of drone strikes and targeted assassinations; tries, too, to prise a reaction from viewers who have been desensitised by a decade of such killings.

Read moreJeremy Scahill: The Man Exposing The US Dirty War – ‘Dirty Wars’ (Trailer)

Michael Hastings Was Murdered: Security Experts Say His Car Was Hacked! (CBS News Video)

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YouTube Added: Nov 25, 2013

November 2, 2013 CBS News

Related info:

– Who Killed Michael Hastings (Nation of Change)

– Michael Hastings Believed His Mercedes Was Being Tampered With (LA Weekly)

– The Michael Hastings Car Crash: No Skids Marks, A Flying Engine And ‘Boston Brakes’ (Liberty Blitzkrieg)

– Barrett Brown and Michael Hastings v. FBI (Cryptome, June 20, 2013)

– Michael Hastings Told WikiLeaks Lawyer He Was Being Investigated By The FBI Only A Few Hours Before Deadly Car Crash (Daily Mail, June 20, 2013)

– On The Assassination Of Journalist Michael Hastings: ‘We Got The Message …’ (Video – Veterans Today, June 19, 2013):

“For those who didn’t watch the entire video, go back.  Catch the last few seconds.  I was flabbergasted.”

Rarely Seen Sea Creature Normally Living At The Depths Of The Ocean Caught Off Miami Beach

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Related info:

– Unprecedented Concentration Of Sea Creatures Near Shore In California

– Fukushima Radiation Plume To Hit U.S. West Coast Any Day Now – Senior Scientist: ‘Really Bizarre’ U.S. Not Testing


Dactylobatus clarkii or Hookskate caught off Miami Beach by Capt. Mark Quartiano or Mark the Shark

– Bizarre Sea Creature Caught Off Miami Beach (CBSMiami, Nov, 25, 2013):

MIAMI BEACH – A rarely seen sea creature that normally lives at the depths of the ocean has been snagged by Captain Mark Quartiano, better known as Mark the Shark.

The odd-looking creature was caught off Miami Beach. According to Quarantino, who posted the photograph in his Instagram account over the weekend, the huge beast is a Dactylobatus clarkii or Hookskate.

Read moreRarely Seen Sea Creature Normally Living At The Depths Of The Ocean Caught Off Miami Beach