Month: July 2015

How Monsanto Wrote and Broke Laws to Enter India

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H/t reader squodgy:

“So the thousands of suicided farmers were conned illegally & the Indian Government stood by.”

– How Monsanto Wrote and Broke Laws to Enter India (Sustainable Pulse, July 27, 2015):

Citizens of the United States are being denied the right to know what they are feeding their families. Despite the fact that 90% of American citizens want GMO labelling on their food, big business is doing everything it can to prevent people from accessing their rights. Representative Pompeo’s bill, popularly known as the DARK Act (Denying Americans the Right to Know), has been written almost entirely by the biotech industry lobby. While American citizens are advocating for their rights to knowledge and healthy, affordable food, Monsanto’s legal team is busy on every legislative level trying to prevent this from happening.

How Monsanto Wrote and Broke Laws to Enter India

Source: vandanashiva.com By Dr. Vandana Shiva

Monsanto’s subversion of democratic legal processes is not new. In fact, it is their modus operandi, be it the subversion of LA’s decision to be GMO free by amending the California Seed Law—equating corporations with persons, and making seed libraries and exchange of seed beyond 3 miles illegal— or suing Maui County for passing a law banning GMOs.

Read moreHow Monsanto Wrote and Broke Laws to Enter India

More Than 1 000 Of The Leading Researchers In Artificial Intelligence And Robotics Signed And Published An Open Letter: We Must Stop Killer Robots Before They Are Built

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Skynetterminator

Flashback:

– Pentagon Developing Humanoid Terminator Robots That Will Soon Carry Weapons

– Meet Britain’s Deadly Superdrone That Picks Its Own Targets

– Professor: Drones Will Soon Be Able To Kill During War Without Human Assistance AND ‘Perform More Ethically Than Human Soldiers Are Capable Of

What could possibly go wrong?

– Open letter: we must stop killer robots before they are built (The Watchers, July 28, 2015):

More than 1 000 of the leading researchers in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics have signed and published an open letter calling for a ban on offensive autonomous weapons, also known colloquially as “killer robots”. 

The letter, published July 27, 2015, has also been signed by many technologists and experts, including SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, physicist Stephen Hawking, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Skype co-founder Jaan Talinn and linguist and activist Noam Chomsky.

Musk, Hawking and Wozniak have all recently warned about the dangers that AI poses to mankind. Though it has to be said, Wozniak thinks humans will be fine if robots take over the world; we’ll just become their pets.

Read moreMore Than 1 000 Of The Leading Researchers In Artificial Intelligence And Robotics Signed And Published An Open Letter: We Must Stop Killer Robots Before They Are Built

Israeli Soldiers Shot Hundreds of Palestinian Children with Live Ammunition: The Devastating Impact of Life After an Injury

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– Israeli Soldiers Shot Hundreds of Palestinian Children with Live Ammunition: The Devastating Impact of Life After an Injury (Global Research, July 27, 2015):

“Before I was shot I did not bother anyone or get angry with anybody,” says Basel Kamal Safi from Deir Ammar refugee camp, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

He was just 17 when an Israeli soldier shot him with live ammunition.

“Now I get angry because of the pain, especially when someone accidentally touches my injury,” he says in the short video below.

It is one of two videos published recently by Defense for Children International–Palestine (DCI-Palestine), highlighting the experiences of children shot by Israeli occupation forces with live ammunition.

The second video, below, features Fadel Abu Odwan, a 14-year-old in Gaza whose injury will leave him unable to have children.

Read moreIsraeli Soldiers Shot Hundreds of Palestinian Children with Live Ammunition: The Devastating Impact of Life After an Injury

AND NOW … Britain: Police May No Longer Attend Burglaries

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Sara Thornton

– Sara Thornton: Police may no longer attend burglaries (BBC News, July 28, 2015):

The public should not expect to see a police officer after crimes such as burglary, the head of the new National Police Chiefs’ Council has said.

Sara Thornton told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire budget cuts and the changing nature of criminality meant police in England and Wales had to prioritise.

Read moreAND NOW … Britain: Police May No Longer Attend Burglaries

NASA: 1 Billion ‘Earths’ In Our Galaxy Alone

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milky-way-galaxy

– NASA estimates 1 billion ‘Earths’ in our galaxy alone (Washington Post, July 24, 2015):

There are a billion Earths in this galaxy, roughly speaking. Not a million. A billion. We’re talking 1 billion rocky planets that are approximately the size of the Earth and are orbiting familiar-looking yellow-sunshine stars in the orbital “habitable zone” where water could be liquid at the surface.

That’s a billion planets where human beings, or their genetically modified descendants, as well as their dogs and cats and tomato plants and crepe myrtle trees and ladybugs and earthworms and whatnot, could plausibly live.

Read moreNASA: 1 Billion ‘Earths’ In Our Galaxy Alone

Greek Economy Faces Total Collapse As Doctors Flee, Retail Sales Plunge 70%

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greece

– Greek Economy Faces Total Collapse As Doctors Flee, Retail Sales Plunge 70%  (ZeroHedge, July 28, 2015):

Back in May we outlined the cost to the Greek economy of each day without a deal between Athens and creditors.

At the time, a report from the Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Enterprises showed that 60 businesses closed and 613 jobs were lost for each business day that the crisis persisted without a resolution.

Since then, things have deteriorated further and indeed, with the imposition of capital controls, businesses found that supplier credit was difficult to come by, leading to the very real possibility that Greece would soon face a shortage of imported goods, something many Greeks clearly anticipated in the wake of the referendum call as evidenced by the lines at gas stations and empty shelves at grocery stores.

As a reminder, here’s what WSJ said earlier this month: 

Read moreGreek Economy Faces Total Collapse As Doctors Flee, Retail Sales Plunge 70%

The End Draws Near For Syria’s Assad As Putin’s Patience “Wears Thin”

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Hmmh.

Before:

– Putin Reiterates Russian Support for Assad’s Syria, Promises Aid (Moscow Times, June 29, 2015):

AMMAN/BEIRUT — Syria’s foreign minister said in Moscow on Monday Russia had promised to send political, economic and military aid to his country, where the army is coming under some of the heaviest pressure since the start of the civil war.

Insurgent groups have made gains against government forces in northwest, central and southern Syria in the past two months but Damascus has voiced confidence that it can hold on to important territory with the help of its allies.

“I got a promise of aid to Syria – politically, economically and militarily,” Walid al-Moualem said at a televised news conference after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin. He did not give details.

– The End Draws Near For Syria’s Assad As Putin’s Patience “Wears Thin” (ZeroHedge, July 28, 2015):

Early last month in, “The Noose Around Syria’s Assad Tightens” we outlined the latest developments in the country’s prolonged civil war. Here’s what we said then:

The US-led alliance realizes very well that as long as Assad has to fight three fronts: i.e., the Nusra Front in the northwestern province of Idlib and ever closer proximity to Syria’s main infrastructure hub of Latakia, ISIS in the central part of the nation where militants recently took over the historic town of Palmyra, and the official “rebel” force in close proximity to Damascus, Assad’s army will either eventually be obliterated or, more likely, mutiny and overthrow the president, putting the Ukraine scenario in play.

In short, the US and its Middle Eastern allies are simply playing the waiting game; watching for the opportune time to charge in and “liberate” Syria from whatever army manages to take Damascus first, at which point a puppet government will be promptly installed. 

Read moreThe End Draws Near For Syria’s Assad As Putin’s Patience “Wears Thin”

Wall Street Still Didn’t Get The Memo – China’s Done, Tops In!

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– Wall Street Still Didn’t Get The Memo—–China’s Done, Tops In! (David Stockamn’s Contra Cormner, July 28, 2015):

Bubblevision’s Scott Wapner nearly split a neck vessel today denouncing the US stock market sell-off. It was completely unwarranted, he thundered, because China don’t have nothin’ to do with anything.

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The collapse of red capitalism in China is exporting gale force deflation to the global economy, meaning that the already evident rollover of world trade is just beginning its descent.

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So S&P profits are not immune, not by a longshot. One of these days, perhaps soon, even Scott Wapner will get the memo.

How A Chinese Farmer Lost More Than Everything Trading Stocks

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– How A Chinese Farmer Lost More Than Everything Trading Stocks (ZeroHedge, July 28, 2015):

Last night, just six weeks after one Chinese farmer Liu Jianguo invested his life savings in the Chinese market, proclaiming “it’s a lot easier making money from stocks than farm work,” we wondered if it was time for a sequel:

A few hours later we find out that it was because as CNBC reported in its sequel, another farmer has lost it all… and more. As CNBC’s Eunice Yoon reports, just a few weeks after his glorious gamble in China’s manipulated market, the farmer “trader “now owes – thanks to wonders of margin calls and leverage – as much as he originally invested.

From the hope-filled exuberance of early June to Yang Cheng’s utter hopelessness, “I have lost everything,” after he followed the government’s ‘grand plan’ to open the economy and encourage stock market speculation.

Read moreHow A Chinese Farmer Lost More Than Everything Trading Stocks

‘Neural Dust’ Brain Implants Are So Microscopic, You Won’t Even Know That You’ve Been Implanted

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Obama has announced a 100-million dollar brain mapping project

Flashback:

– Study Analyzing The Prevalence Of RFID Chips In 3 Geographically Discrete U.S. Populations Finds That On Average 1 In 3 Individuals Carry An RFID Chip

– New brain implants are so microscopic, you won’t even know that you’ve been implanted (Natural News, July 17, 2015):

The cult of “science” has a fetish for trying to amalgamate humanity with machine. And its latest endeavor in this pursuit has taken the form of an emerging brain implant technology that would render humans part flesh, part computer.

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), have come up with a concept they’ve dubbed “neural dust” that they say can be implanted into people’s brains for data collection purposes. And the technology is reportedly so small that humans wouldn’t even know it was inside their heads.

Read more‘Neural Dust’ Brain Implants Are So Microscopic, You Won’t Even Know That You’ve Been Implanted

US Middle Class Stays Dead: Homeownership Drops To 48 Year Low; Median Asking Rent Soars To All Time High

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homeownership rate Q2 2015

– US Middle Class Stays Dead: Homeownership Drops To 48 Year Low; Median Asking Rent Soars To All Time High (ZeroHedge, July 28, 2015):

Three months ago, just as the last Census Homeownership and residential vacancy report hit, Gallup released its latest survey which confirmed just how dead the American Dream has become for tens if not hundreds of millions of Americans.

According to the poll, the number of Americans who did not currently own a home and say they do not think they will buy a home in “the foreseeable future,” had risen by one third to 41%, vs. “only” 31% two years ago. Non-homeowners’ expectations of buying a house in the next year or five years were unchanged, suggesting little change in the short-term housing market.

As Gallup wryly puts it, “what may have been a longer-term goal for many may now not be a goal at all, and this could have an effect on the longer-term housing market.”

gallup housing

Earlier today, the US Census released its latest homeownership data, which confirmed that for what is left of America’s middle class, owning a home has become virtually impossible, with the homeownership rate plunging from the lowest level since 1986, or 63.7%, to just 63.4% the lowest reading since the first quarter of 1967.

Read moreUS Middle Class Stays Dead: Homeownership Drops To 48 Year Low; Median Asking Rent Soars To All Time High

Obama: ‘I Think I’m A Pretty Good President. I Think If I Ran Again, I Could Win’ (Video)

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Obama-White House

– Obama: “I Think I’m A Pretty Good President. I Think If I Ran Again, I Could Win” (ZeroHedge, July 28, 2015):

As noted yesterday, during a moment of social network levity in the president’s twitter stream, Obama who is currently in Ethiopia as part of his African tour, urged Americans to eat ice cream. Subsequently, he shifted into a more serious diplomatic mode, and during an address to the African Union, whose “leaders” are not well versed in the finest traditions of democracy (no, not accepting legal bribes from lobbies but term limits), he urged African leaders to share power and recognize the value of changes in government. Obama used his own term-limited tenure as an example on Tuesday, making some interesting comments about 2016.

“Now, let me be honest with you,” Obama said. “I am in my second term. It has been an extraordinary privilege for me to serve as the President of the United States. I cannot imagine a greater honor or a more interesting job. I love my work. But under our Constitution, I cannot run again.”

The crowd cheered appreciatively.

He then added: “I actually think I’m a pretty good president. I think if I ran, I could win. But I can’t. So there’s a lot that I’d like to do to keep America moving, but the law is the law.”

“I actually think I’m a pretty good president – I think if I ran, I could win. But I can’t.

“And that’s a good thing, Obama said, because “I know someone with fresh blood, new insights will be good for my country.”

As for himself, Obama told the African leaders he can still serve his country after leaving office, as well as see his family more often and travel without such a large security entourage.

“I’m looking forward to life after being president,” Obama said.

He is probably not alone.

The speech capped Obama’s trip to Kenya and Ethiopia. The president flies back to Washington, and the Courses at Andrews on Tuesday.

Read moreObama: ‘I Think I’m A Pretty Good President. I Think If I Ran Again, I Could Win’ (Video)

Walter Palmer: American dentist revealed as killer of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe

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v2-Cecil-Bryan-Orford-Youtube
Cecil was probably Zimbabwe’s most famous lion and the star attraction of Hawange national park

– Walter Palmer: American dentist revealed as killer of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe (Independent, July 28, 2015):

The tourist who paid thousands of pounds to kill one of Zimbabwe’s most cherished lions has been identified as an American dentist.

Authorities in Zimbabwe say Walter Palmer, from Minneapolis, paid a $55,000 (£35,000) bribe to wildlife guides to allow him to shoot the lion, named Cecil, with a crossbow.

The 13-year-old animal was found beheaded and skinned near the Hwange National Park, where he was beloved by tourists and local residents alike.

Read moreWalter Palmer: American dentist revealed as killer of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe

Alexander Litvinenko’s father retracted ‘Putin poison’ claim, inquiry told

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H/t reader squodgy:

“Of course, the British Secret Service are always whiter than white. (see Princess Diana, Jimmy Savile, Ted Heath, Gaddaffi, Saddam et al,)”

 Alexander Litvinenko was a former agent in the Russian FSB
In a 2006 statement Walter Litvinenko told how his son was struggling to speak when he visited him in hospital but accused Vladimir Putin over his death

– Alexander Litvinenko’s father retracted ‘Putin poison’ claim, inquiry told (Independent, July 28, 2015):

Walter Litvinenko, the father of the murdered Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, spoke of his regret at blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for his son’s death, an inquiry has heard.

Mr Litvinenko died aged 43, almost three weeks after drinking tea laced with polonium-210 in a London hotel in November 2006.

That year, Mr Litvinenko senior told police that even though his son had struggled to speak on his deathbed, he had told him: “Daddy, Putin has poisoned me”.

“He said Putin was a man with a perverted mind, a very dangerous man. Daddy, be careful,” Mr Litvinenko senior said his son had warned.

Read moreAlexander Litvinenko’s father retracted ‘Putin poison’ claim, inquiry told

The Disappearing Retirement Fund – The US Government Has The Power To Seize Private Pension Funds “To Protect Pensioners”

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empty-piggy

– The Disappearing Retirement Fund (International Man):

As a general principle, I’ve always tended to avoid entrusting others with my money. I’ve avoided funds, as they are often based upon investments that are peaking or close to peaking. I’ve avoided pension funds, as they’re often structured in a similar manner.

And whenever by law I’ve been required to be invested in such funds, they’ve rarely been successful over the long term. In the end, I would invariably have made more money by pursuing those investments that had great promise but at the time were unpopular (and therefore underpriced).

As dubious as I tend to be of conventional investment schemes (and those who broker them), I am doubly dubious of any government-run scheme. Governments, historically, have proved to be poor money managers, and politicians tend to place more value on big promises that garner votes than on delivering on those promises.

Read moreThe Disappearing Retirement Fund – The US Government Has The Power To Seize Private Pension Funds “To Protect Pensioners”

Why China Will End Up Like Japan

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– Why China Will End Up Like Japan (ZeroHedge, July 27, 2015):

Just as Japan thought they could go back to pre-Plaza Accord growth rates by holding on to the old ways in the 1990s, the Chinese will expect the growth miracle to return in 2016 with the “right” policies. It will not. It is all a mirage though. Just as in Japan, the Chinese will not allow the market process to do its magic to get the economy back on a stable footing. Draconian measures to stop the recent stock market rout are a clear testimony of that. In other words, the Chinese economy will resemble that of Japan, and it will do so very soon, if it is not already there.  China is heading straight into a zero growth environment, and will be mired there for years to come.

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When Will We Ever Learn?

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TIME THE CRASH

– When Will We Ever Learn? (STA Wealth Management, July 27, 2015):

Life is full of irony. When I was in school, I hated history. It was boring. It was pointless. How was reading about a bunch of dead people ever going to be useful in life? Today, I consume everything I can find on history. Particularly, financial history. Ironic.

Of course, it only took me 25 years in the investment world to realize that human behavior is quite fascinating. The capacity for optimism is seemingly limitless, but the “sting” of failure is quite transient.

While it is in those failures that valuable lessons are taught, studies have shown that humans tend to suppress or substitute new memories over time.

George Santayana once said:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Read moreWhen Will We Ever Learn?

Planned Parenthood Sting Video #3: ‘Human Capital.’ Episode 1. [CONTENT WARNING] (Video)

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– Planned Parenthood Sting Video #3: ‘Human Capital.’ Episode 1. [CONTENT WARNING] (RedState July 28, 2015):

CONTENT WARNING.

The video is pretty much three parts: there’s the part where Planned Parenthood swears up and down that they don’t harvest babies for profit. There’s the testimony from a former phlebotomist and tissue harvester that yes, Planned Parenthood harvests babies for profit. And then there’s the (content warning) part where you see a couple of Planned Parenthood staffers casually separate out an aborted baby on a clear pie dish and ask the sting operatives whether said operatives would be willing to buy the… stuff. Oh, and then they made it clear that they want to be paid per item, not per baby:

ginde-planned-parenthood

“I think a per-item thing works a little better, just because we can see how much we can get out of it.”

Read morePlanned Parenthood Sting Video #3: ‘Human Capital.’ Episode 1. [CONTENT WARNING] (Video)

3-Year-Old London Child Deemed “Extremist” And Placed In Government Reeducation Program

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Yes, a 3-year-old child can be an “extremist” now, …

… and these guys are “BLOODY NORMAL”…

Lord-Janner-Tony-BlairTony Blair, Cardinal Edward Egantony-blair-jimmy-saville

WTF!!!

– 3-Year-Old London Child Deemed “Extremist” and Placed in Government Reeducation Program (ZeroHedge, July 27, 2015):

The United Kingdom has gone batshit crazy. There’s simply no other way to put it. I warned about Britain’s “war on toddler terrorists” earlier this year in the post: The War on Toddler Terrorists – Britain Wants to Force Nursery School Teachers to Identify “Extremist” Children. Here’s an excerpt:

Nursery school staff and registered childminders must report toddlers at risk of becoming terrorists, under counter-terrorism measures proposed by the Government.

The directive is contained in a 39-page consultation document issued by the Home Office in a bid to bolster its Prevent anti-terrorism plan.

The document accompanies the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, currently before parliament. It identifies nurseries and early years childcare providers, along with schools and universities, as having a duty “to prevent people being drawn into terrorism”.

Never fear good citizens of Great Britain. While your government actively does everything in its power to protect criminal financial oligarchs and powerful pedophiles, her majesty draws the line at toddler thought crime. We learn from the Independent:

A three-year-old child from London is one of hundreds of young people in the capital who have been tipped as potential future radicals and extremists.

As reported by the Evening Standard, 1,069 people have been put in the government’s anti-extremism ‘Channel’ process, the de-radicalization program at the heart of the Government’s ‘Prevent’ strategy.

Read more3-Year-Old London Child Deemed “Extremist” And Placed In Government Reeducation Program

Dead LA man who had 1,200 guns, underwater car identified; believed to be ‘part alien’ secret government worker

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What?

Not The Onion … check!

Not April 1 … check!

guns

– Dead LA man who had 1,200 guns, underwater car identified; believed to be ‘part alien’ secret government worker (NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, July 23, 2015):

The mystery behind a Los Angeles gun fanatic found decomposing in a car last week has deepened as his fiancée’s family said he was an alien-hybrid secretly working for the government.

The bizarre statement came Wednesday as the betrothed woman’s lawyer identified the dead man as Jeffrey Alan Lash — almost one week after he was discovered rotting in his car parked on the street in the tony Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

Los Angeles police found more than 1,200 guns, nearly 7 tons of ammunition, bows and arrows, knives, machetes and $230,000 in cash inside Lash’s home last Friday.

They also discovered a Toyota SUV designed to drive underwater among the 14 vehicles registered in his name.

Read moreDead LA man who had 1,200 guns, underwater car identified; believed to be ‘part alien’ secret government worker

Chinese Stocks Suffer Second Biggest Crash In History, 1,500 Companies Halted Limit Down

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– Chinese Stocks Suffer Second Biggest Crash In History, 1,500 Companies Halted Limit Down (ZeroHedge, July 27, 2015):

This was not supposed to happen.

After pledging, investing and otherwise guaranteeing the Chinese stock market to the tune of 10% of GDP, and intervening on at least 40 different occasions in the past month ever since China’s stock bubble burst in late June, with the subsequent crash nearly taking the Shanghai Composite red for the year, overnight China officially lost control for the second time, when after a weak start to the Monday trading session, things turned very ugly in the last hour, when the Shanghai Composite plunged by 8.48%, closing nearly at the lows, and tumbling some 345 points for its biggest one-day drop since February 2007 and its second biggest crash in history!

20150726_china6

The selling was steady throughout the day, but spiked in the last hour on concerns China would rein in its market-supporting programs following IMF demands to normalize its relentless market intervention. According to Bloomberg’s Richard Breslow: “fear that the extraordinary support measures employed to hold up the market may be scaled back caused heavy afternoon selling resulting in a down 8.5% day.” Of course, one can come up with any number of theories to explain the plunge: for example the PBOC did not buy enough to offset the relentless selling.

Read moreChinese Stocks Suffer Second Biggest Crash In History, 1,500 Companies Halted Limit Down