Biotech Companies Set To Be Given Legal Right In Decisions To Ban GM Crops In EU

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– Biotech Companies Set to Be Given Legal Right in Decisions to Ban GM Crops in EU (Sustainable Pulse, May 27, 2014):

A new GM law being discussed in Brussels this week could grant biotech companies, like Monsanto and Syngenta, unprecedented power over decisions on whether to ban genetically modified (GM) crops in Europe, according to Friends of the Earth Europe.

stop-GMO-crops

The new law is being promoted as a way to give governments more sovereignty over decisions on whether to ban GM crops. However, the current proposals give biotech companies the legal right to decide whether a ban should be allowed. If companies refuse, governments are forced to fall back on vague, non-scientific legal grounds upon which to ban GM crops, opening the door to legal challenges [1].

Adrian Bebb, food campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe said: “It is an affront to democracy that companies like Monsanto will be given legal status in any decision to ban their products. Governments must be able to ban unwanted and risky GM crops without needing the permission of the companies who profit from them.”

“For more than 15 years national governments have fought against new GM crops and strongly defended their rights to ban them. This proposal is a poisoned chalice that fails to give member states the solid legal grounds to ban genetically modified crops.”

Read moreBiotech Companies Set To Be Given Legal Right In Decisions To Ban GM Crops In EU

EXCLUSIVE: Edward Snowden Tells Brian Williams The U.S. Stranded Him In Russia

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– EXCLUSIVE: Edward Snowden Tells Brian Williams the U.S. Stranded Him in Russia (NBC News, May 28, 2014):

Edward Snowden, in an exclusive interview with “Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams, blamed the State Department for stranding him in Russia, saying he “never intended” to wind up there.

“I personally am surprised that I ended up here,” Snowden said in the interview, an excerpt of which aired on TODAY on Wednesday morning.

Snowden’s comments about his new home came in an extended, wide-ranging interview with Williams, his first with a U.S. television network, airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.

Read moreEXCLUSIVE: Edward Snowden Tells Brian Williams The U.S. Stranded Him In Russia

US Trains Syrian Rebels In Qatar To ‘Ambush’ Soldiers And ‘Finish Off’ The Wounded

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– US trains Syrian rebels in Qatar to ‘ambush’ soldiers and ‘finish off’ the wounded – report (RT, May 28, 2014):

At a secret base in Qatar, the US military is training rebels to raid Syrian government troops and vehicles, as well as to “finish off the soldiers still alive after an ambush,” first-hand interviews in a Frontline documentary have revealed.

The documentary, scheduled to air Tuesday night on PBS stations, offers rare insight into how Washington is fostering the armed insurgency against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

It features interviews by journalist Muhammad Ali with Syrian rebels presented as members of a “moderate faction” who describe a clandestine meeting with their “American handlers” in Turkey, along with the receiving of weapons and ammunition and the subsequent travel to Qatar for training.

Read moreUS Trains Syrian Rebels In Qatar To ‘Ambush’ Soldiers And ‘Finish Off’ The Wounded

Snowden: I Am A Real Spy, Not Low-Level System Administrator

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– I am a real spy, not low-level system administrator – Snowden (RT, May 28, 2014):

Edward Snowden was trained as a professional spy and actually worked undercover abroad for America’s biggest intelligence agencies, developing their IT security architecture, the whistleblower revealed in an exclusive interview to NBC News.

“I was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word, in that I lived and worked undercover, overseas — pretending to work in a job that I’m not — and even being assigned a name that was not mine,” Snowden told Brian Williams, anchor on NBC’s on Nightly News?

“So when they say I’m a low-level systems administrator, that I don’t know what I’m talking about, I’d say it’s somewhat misleading,” he said.

Read moreSnowden: I Am A Real Spy, Not Low-Level System Administrator

South African White Bread Contaminated with Monsanto’s GM Soya

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– South African White Bread Contaminated with Monsanto’s GM Soya (Sustainable Pulse, May 21, 2014):

The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has today brought into sharp focus the white bread industry in South Africa with the release of its new report ‘GM Contamination, Cartels and Collusion in South Africa’s Bread Industry.’

The report shows that the white bread tested contains high levels of Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) soya and that most companies are unashamedly flouting GM labelling laws and undermining the consumer’s right to know. The nation consumes about 2.8 billion loaves of bread a year, handing over more than R28 billion of their hard-earned cash to a cartel comprising Tiger Brands, Premier Foods, Pioneer Foods and Foodcorp, that controls the wheat-to-bread value chain. Roughly a quarter of South Africans live below the bread line and price fluctuations in bread – our second most important staple food after maize – has hit the poor the hardest.

Read moreSouth African White Bread Contaminated with Monsanto’s GM Soya

Here Is The Mystery, And Completely Indiscriminate, Buyer Of Stocks In The First Quarter

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–  Here Is The Mystery, And Completely Indiscriminate, Buyer Of Stocks In The First Quarter (ZeroHedge, May 27, 2014):

With the Fed having tapered its liquidity injections into the stock market from $85 billion to “only” $45 billion per month, retail investors getting burned by the recent high beta and momentum stock flame out and “greatly unrotating” into the renewed safety of bonds, not to mention a churning market that until last week was unchanged for the year, and hedge funds ever shorter into this latest ramp, many are asking themselves: who is buying?

Here is the answer.

Read moreHere Is The Mystery, And Completely Indiscriminate, Buyer Of Stocks In The First Quarter

First Cisco And Microsoft, Now IBM: China Orders Banks To Remove High-End IBM Servers

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IBM logo_0

– First Cisco And Microsoft, Now IBM: China Orders Banks To Remove High-End IBM Servers (ZeroHedge, May 27, 2014):

A week ago, in retaliation to the inane charges lobbed by the US accusing 5 Chinese army officials of spying on US companies (when the NSA spying scandal on, well, everyone refuses to leave the front pages), China announced it would ban the use of Windows 8 on government computers (considering the quality of Windows 8, this is likely a decision government computers would have taken on their own regardless). Today, China has expanded its list of sanctioned companies from Microsoft to include IBM as well, following a Bloomberg report that the Chinese government is pushing domestic banks to “remove high-end servers made by International Business Machines Corp. and replace them with a local brand.”

Why is MSFT and now IBM sowing the seeds of the US government’s stupidity and failed attempts to distract from its own spying scandals? We don’t know. Here is what we do know:

Read moreFirst Cisco And Microsoft, Now IBM: China Orders Banks To Remove High-End IBM Servers

NATO Scrambles F-16 Jets Over Lithuania After Russian Warplanes Allegedly Enter Airspace

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– NATO Scrambles F-16 Jets Over Lithuania After Russian Warplanes Allegedly Enter Airspace (ZeroHedge, May 27, 2014):

The Ukraine conflict continues to simmer, with the conclusive presidential election perceived as a positive even as the fighting in the eastern part of the nation intensifies, but it is NATO member Lithuania where today’s action was, where according to the Lithuanian Defense Ministry, NATO sent two fighter jets from Estonia after Lithuania said Russian vessel disturbed civilian shipping in Baltic Sea, and two Russian warplanes flew over Lithuanian airspace.

Read moreNATO Scrambles F-16 Jets Over Lithuania After Russian Warplanes Allegedly Enter Airspace

Obama To Authorize Weapons Training Of Syrian ‘Rebels’

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Related info:

 – AND NOW: Syrian Rebels Receive First Shipment Of U.S. MISSILES

– Obama To Authorize Weapons Training Of Syrian “Rebels” (ZeroHedge, May 27, 2014):

This will end well. President Obama is, according to WSJ, close to authorizing the US military to train “moderate” Syrian rebels. The move – clearly expanding Washington’s role in the conflict and a subtle side-swipe at Putin – is aimed at providing a seemingly arbitrary group of rebels with weapons training to fight against both Bashar al-Assad’s regime’s army as well as Al-Qaeda-linked groups. One quick question – how will Obama determine who is ‘moderate’ and who is full Al-Qaeda-tard?

As WSJ reports,

A new military training program, if implemented, would supplement a small train-and-equip program led by the Central Intelligence Agency which Mr. Obama authorized a year ago.

Read moreObama To Authorize Weapons Training Of Syrian ‘Rebels’

Israel Asks Interpol Not To Carry Out Gaza Flotilla Court Ruling – Report

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– Israel asks Interpol not to carry out Gaza flotilla court ruling – report (RT, May 27, 2014):

Israel has appealed to Interpol not to implement a Monday ruling of a Turkish court that issued arrest warrants for four former Israeli military commanders on trial in absentia over the 2010 killing of nine Turks, Hebrew-language daily newspaper Ma’ariv reported. The Turks were killed in an Israeli commando raid on Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship that challenged Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. However, Israel branded the Turkish court’s ruling as “tainted by political motives,” asking Interpol not to honor it, the daily reported. An Istanbul court requested an Interpol Red Notice for the arrest of four senior Israeli military chiefs days after the tenth Turkish citizen who was seriously injured in the 2010 raid died after four years in a coma.

White House Admits Staging Fake Vaccination Operation To Gather DNA From The Public

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– White House admits staging fake vaccination operation to gather DNA from the public (Natural News, May 27, 2014):

The White House has officially admitted that fake vaccination programs have been used by the United States as a cover for covertly stealing DNA samples from the public as part of the so-called “war on terror.” The aim of the scheme, carried out in the Middle East, was to use DNA analysis to identify suspected terrorists who would then be targeted to be killed by the United States.

Read moreWhite House Admits Staging Fake Vaccination Operation To Gather DNA From The Public

Antibiotics Found At High Concentrations In China’s Lakes And Rivers

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– Antibiotics found at high concentrations in China’s lakes and rivers (Natural News, May 27, 2014):

Cities in China are quickly becoming toxic waste sites, emitting so much pollution now that people have to walk around with filters over their face. Even the bright blue skies above these highly polluted cities can’t disperse the smog. One man has even proposed selling jarred French mountain air to Chinese city dwellers. Many “organic” products coming from China contain alarming levels of heavy metals, as tested by the Natural News Forensic Food Lab.

As these modern-day chemicals are consumed en masse and discarded into the environment as waste, they begin infiltrating the countryside, accumulating in rivers and lakes. A joint study by the East China University of Science and Technology and the Tongji and Tsinghua Universities, reports that Chinese water quality is plummeting fast, with worrisome amounts of antibiotics and pharmaceuticals appearing throughout the country’s waterways.

Read moreAntibiotics Found At High Concentrations In China’s Lakes And Rivers

California Professor: “Serious threat” to our ocean, environment and society from ongoing Fukushima radiation releases — U. of California: “Unprecedented events with global consequences… fallout is far from over”

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– California Professor: “Serious threat” to our ocean, environment and society from ongoing Fukushima radiation releases — U. of California: “Unprecedented events with global consequences… fallout is far from over” — Scientist: ‘Risky’ (PHOTO) (ENENews, May 27, 2014):

Sonoma County Gazette, April 24, 2014: Citizen Science: Monitoring Fukushima Radiation […] Sponsored by the SRJC Physics Program and Chemistry Dept.: Two leading world experts in radiation monitoring will be speaking at 7:00pm on Saturday, May 31, in Carole Ellis Auditorium located on the Petaluma campus of Santa Rosa Junior College. […] The on-going radiation releases from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant constitute a serious threat to our ocean, natural environment and society.  Dr. [Ken] Buesseler’s presentation, “The View from the Ocean,” will provide an overview of studies of Fukushima radionuclides in the ocean, its uptake by fish and potential impacts on fisheries in Japan and the U.S. West Coast. […] Dan Sythe will discuss his extensive work in developing and manufacturing radiation monitoring devices and his efforts to equip, educate and protect communities faced with the threat of radioactive fallout. […] For more information, contact: Lynda Williams [SRJC Professor of Engineering/Physics] 707-527-4680 [email protected]

Read moreCalifornia Professor: “Serious threat” to our ocean, environment and society from ongoing Fukushima radiation releases — U. of California: “Unprecedented events with global consequences… fallout is far from over”

The Size Of The Derivatives Bubble Hanging Over The Global Economy Hits A Record High

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Related info:

– The Elephant In The Room: Deutsche Bank’s $75 TRILLION In Derivatives Is 20 Times Greater Than German GDP

– The Size Of The Derivatives Bubble Hanging Over The Global Economy Hits A Record High (Economic Collapse, May 26, 2014):

The global derivatives bubble is now 20 percent bigger than it was just before the last great financial crisis struck in 2008.  It is a financial bubble far larger than anything the world has ever seen, and when it finally bursts it is going to be a complete and utter nightmare for the financial system of the planet.  According to the Bank for International Settlements, the total notional value of derivatives contracts around the world has ballooned to an astounding 710 trillion dollars ($710,000,000,000,000).  Other estimates put the grand total well over a quadrillion dollars.  If that sounds like a lot of money, that is because it is.  For example, U.S. GDP is projected to be in the neighborhood of around 17 trillion dollars for 2014.  So 710 trillion dollars is an amount of money that is almost incomprehensible.  Instead of actually doing something about the insanely reckless behavior of the big banks, our leaders have allowed the derivatives bubble and these banks to get larger than ever.  In fact, as I have written about previously, the big Wall Street banks are collectively 37 percent larger than they were just prior to the last recession.  “Too big to fail” is a far more massive problem than it was the last time around, and at some point this derivatives bubble is going to burst and start taking those banks down.  When that day arrives, we are going to be facing a crisis that is going to make 2008 look like a Sunday picnic.

If you do not know what a derivative is, Mayra Rodríguez Valladares, a managing principal at MRV Associates, provided a pretty good definition in her recent article for the New York Times:

Read moreThe Size Of The Derivatives Bubble Hanging Over The Global Economy Hits A Record High

Obama Should Apologize For Treating Military Veterans Like Garbage For The Past 5 Years

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FYI.

Related info:

– Study: 27% Of US Veterans From Iraq, Afghan Wars Going Hungry

– Suicide Rate Among Young Veterans Jumps By 44 Percent In 2 Years

– NYC Food Bank Head: 40% Of Veterans Need Food Assistance

– Obama Should Apologize For Treating Military Veterans Like Garbage For The Past 5 Years (Economic Collapse, May 25, 2014): 

This Memorial Day, Barack Obama and members of Congress will honor our veterans by wearing ribbons and laying wreaths, but what they should really do is apologize to the entire nation for treating them like human trash for the past five years.  You see, the truth is that this VA scandal is nothing new.  The problems at the VA hospitals have been documented over and over again for years.  When Barack Obama was a U.S. senator, he served on the Veterans Affairs Committee.  So as he entered the White House, he was supposed to be an expert in this area.  And back in 2008, he pledged to “make the VA a leader of national health care reform so that veterans get the best care possible“.  But of course that never happened.  And now Obama is claiming that he only learned of the “secret waiting lists” at VA hospitals by “watching television“, and his staff says that he is “madder than hell” about it.  So now that he has been publicly shamed, will Obama actually do something about it?  Because our military veterans deserve far better care than what they have been getting.

Read moreObama Should Apologize For Treating Military Veterans Like Garbage For The Past 5 Years

Florida Couple Threatened With Jail Time For Feeding Homeless In Violation Of Local Ordinance

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– Florida couple threatened with jail time for feeding homeless in violation of local ordinance (Natural News, May 27, 2014):

A Florida couple who has been feeding homeless folks in a public park for over a year was cited recently for allegedly violating a local ordinance. Daytona Beach police officers says Debbie and Chico Jimenez are not allowed to serve home-cooked meals at Manatee Island Park without the proper permits, and threatened to arrest them on top of giving them each a $373 ticket for serving the homeless without permission.

NBC News reports that the couple’s ministry, known as “Spreading the Word Without Saying a Word,” has been serving healthy meals every Wednesday at the park for over a year. The Jimenezes claim that police officers never told them that they needed a permit, and are often at the park when the meals are being distributed. Only recently, they say, did it become a problem.

“We were given 10 days to either pay the fine or tell them we’re going to court,” stated Debbie to reporters. “We’re going to court. The police don’t like it. But how can we turn our backs on the hungry? We can’t.”

Read moreFlorida Couple Threatened With Jail Time For Feeding Homeless In Violation Of Local Ordinance

Video: Cops Taser Man 18 Times Then Pounce On Family Member As He Films Incident

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– Video: Cops Taser Man 18 Times Then Pounce On Family Member As He Films Incident (Infowars, May 26, 2014):

Incident highlights how police are attacking those who document brutality

Cops Taser Man 18 Times Then Pounce On Family Member As He Films Incident

A video of yet another brutal tasering has gone viral on the internet, also highlighting how police are increasingly targeting people who film their heavy handed actions.

The video shows two police officers from Springfield in Illinois, pinning a young male suspect on the ground. As he writhes beneath them, one of the officers deploys and uses it on the suspect at point blank range. The crackle of the electricity from the weapon can be heard.

The man filming the incident, presumably a family member, shouts to the suspect and the cops “Justin, Don’t worry, about it, suing the f*** out of y’all.”

An older woman screams at the cops to let him go, also yelling at the man to stay clam.

The family claim that the cops tasered the suspect up to eighteen times during the fracas. As they keep using the taser, the man tells the cops that he is worried that he is going to die, and the man with the camera phone becomes worried that they are “trying to kill” the suspect.

Read moreVideo: Cops Taser Man 18 Times Then Pounce On Family Member As He Films Incident

?Yatsenyuk Demands $1 Billion Worth Of Gas ‘STOLEN’ By Russia In Crimea

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– ?Yatsenyuk demands $1bn worth of gas ‘stolen’ by Russia in Crimea (RT, May 27, 2014):

Russia owes Ukraine about 2.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas worth around $1 billion, which was “stolen together with Crimea,” self-appointed Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Tuesday.

“We have no idea what he means,” Reuters quotes Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov as saying.

Earlier on Tuesday Yatsenyuk said he was waiting for a reply from Russia on his claim 2.2 bcm of natural gas was “stolen” by Russia when it took over the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and consequently local gas supplier Chornomornafrogaz (Black Sea Gas). At Gazprom prices the value of the gas is about $1 billion, Yatsenyuk calculated.

Read more?Yatsenyuk Demands $1 Billion Worth Of Gas ‘STOLEN’ By Russia In Crimea

‘Slaughterhouse’: Civilians Die In Kiev’s Ruthless Military Attacks Day After Vote (GRAPHIC)

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– ‘Slaughterhouse’: Civilians die in Kiev’s ruthless military attacks day after vote (GRAPHIC) (RT, May 27, 2014):

Bodies are piling up in Donetsk morgues after Kiev unleashed fighter jets and artillery on the country’s southeast just hours after the presidential election. New leader-elect Petro Poroshenko is pushing for the crackdown to become even “more effective.”

Ukraine’s southeast saw only a brief suspension of Kiev’s military operations on Sunday while the nation took to the polls. Just before the presidential election, Ukrainian MPs called for immediate troop withdrawal from the country’s southeast.

Read more‘Slaughterhouse’: Civilians Die In Kiev’s Ruthless Military Attacks Day After Vote (GRAPHIC)

Alarm In Donetsk As People Brace For Ukrainian Forces Attack

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– Alarm in Donetsk as people brace for Ukrainian forces attack (RT, May 27, 2014):

People are clearing shelves in Donetsk city shops, fearing a new wave of attack and storming of the city by Ukrainian troops. Fighter jets are buzzing overhead in the sky, as self-defense prepares for a fight in the occupied administrative buildings.

For the first time since the Monday attack, gunfire was heard at Donetsk’s airport and Ukrainian military helicopters and fighter jets reappeared above the area.

Meanwhile, residents of the eastern Ukrainian city have rushed to the shops, sweeping foodstuffs from the shelves, as many fear a full-scale storming of Donetsk is being launched.

…

Michelle Obama Urges High Schoolers To Monitor Their Families’ Politically Incorrect Thoughts

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Related info:

– Michelle Obama Says Life On Campaign Trail Felt Like Military Life

– Michelle Obama’s School Lunches In Pictures: ‘Is That Photo Taken From Death Row?’

– Michelle Obama Accused Of Spending $10 Million Of Taxpayers’ Money On Her Vacations

– Good Thing The US Only Has 6.6% Unemployment …

… or else the following photo just tweeted by Marie-Antoinette Michelle Obama of White House canines dining on fine taxpayer-funded china might have seemed just a little inappropriate.

michel-obama

– Michelle Obama urges high schoolers to monitor their families’ politically incorrect thoughts (RT May 27, 2014):

In a speech seniors designed to commemorate the US Supreme Court decision that desegregated schools, First Lady Michelle Obama made a statement against racism to high school students that reminded critics of George Orwell’s “1984.”

Obama spoke to graduating high school students from five area high schools at the Topeka, Kan. Senior Recognition Day on May 16, the day before their graduation ceremony and on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregation in public schools. The court case began in Topeka in 1951.

Read moreMichelle Obama Urges High Schoolers To Monitor Their Families’ Politically Incorrect Thoughts

Obama Seeks To Leave 9,800 Troops In Afghanistan Beyond 2014

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… to protect the opium fields …

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AFGHANISTAN-OPIUM
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 US soldier in opium field

Related info:

– Afghanistan Opium Harvest At Record High (BBC News)

– How Opium Greed Is Keeping US Troops in Afghanistan | Brainwash Update (Video)

– Afghanistan: $37 Million Aviation Facility May Have Been Used To Store OPIUM (Reuters)

– Big Oil’s Central Asian Mafia (Veterans Today)

– U.S. Kicks Drug-War Habit, Makes ‘Peace’ With Afghan Poppies (Wired)

– Veterans Today’s Gordon Duff: Obama’s Drone Strikes On Pakistan Not Targeting Terrorists, But Securing $80 Billion US Opium Empire

– Afghanistan: Opium Cultivation Rose Substantially In 2012 (New York Times)

– Afghan Opium Poppy Farming Increases 20%, Fuelled By High Opium Prices (Guardian)

– CIA Created Afghan Heroin Trade (Veterans Today)

– Afghanistan: Is Creating A ‘Narco-State’ Considered ‘Nation-Building?’ (Veterans Today)

– Brought To You By Poppy Bush, Obama Bin Bush And Al-CIAda: Photos Of U.S. And Afghan Troops Patrolling Poppy Fields June 2012 (Public Intelligence)

– Breaking News: Afghanistan – America’s ‘Total Lie War’ (Veterans Today)

– Afghanistan: Heroin Production Rose Between 2001 And 2011 From Just 185 Tons To A Staggering 5,800 Tons/Year (Daily Mail)

– Afghan Opium Production Increases By 61 Percent, Opium Yield Rises 133 Percent From 2010 (AFP)

– War On Drugs Revealed As Total Hoax: US Military Admits To Guarding, Assisting Lucrative Opium Trade In Afghanistan (Natural News)

– Afghan Opium Production ‘Rises By 61%’ Compared With 2010 – Per-Hectare Price Of Opium More Than Doubled (BBC News)

‘If You Like US Troops In Your Country, You Can Keep Them”

 

U.S. President Barack Obama

– Obama seeks to leave 9,800 troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014 (RT, May 27, 2014):

US President Barack Obama wants to leave 9,800 troops in Afghanistan after the end of this year, a senior administration official told Reuters.

President Obama is expected to announce on Tuesday his intention to keep nearly 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan for training purposes after the war officially comes to a close later this year.

Read moreObama Seeks To Leave 9,800 Troops In Afghanistan Beyond 2014

Walmart Pre-Crime Treats All Customers Like Criminals

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– Walmart Pre-Crime Treats All Customers Like Criminals (The Daily Sheeple, May 26, 2014):

Walmart Pre-Crime treats all customers like criminals…but won’t/don’t stop real shoplifters.

Gone are the days of “Thank you, come again (we appreciate your business).”

Instead, today’s box stores target average customers as potential criminals, subjecting them to post-checkout screenings.

Because… somehow, RFID-tagged & tracked merchandise, ubiquitous security cameras from every angle inside and outside the store, security personnel, police officers and metal detectors at the door just aren’t enough.

Read moreWalmart Pre-Crime Treats All Customers Like Criminals