– At Least Six Dead In Washington Navy Yard – Live Stream (ZeroHedge, Sep 16, 2013)
SYRIA: UN Confirms Sarin Was Used, Unable To Say Who Used Chemical Weapons, Unable To Verify Total Deaths
– UN Confirms Sarin Was Used, Unable To Confirm Numbers Or ‘Whodunnit’ (ZeroHedge, Sep 16, 2013):
While perhaps not entirely surprising, the UN’s report on the chemical weapons (alleged) usage in Syria has come back positive:
- *UN INSPECTORS SAY SARIN WAS RECOVERED FROM ROCKETS FOUND
- *UN FINDS ‘CONVINCING EVIDENCE’ OF SYRIA CHEMCIAL GAS USE: AP
- *BAN SAYS 85% OF BLOOD SAMPLES TESTED POSITIVE FOR SARIN GAS
- *BAN SAYS SAYS UN UNABLE TO VERIFY TOTAL DEATHS IN ATTACK
But of course – crucially:
- *UN REPORT, AS PLANNED, DOESN’T SAY WHO USED CHEMICALS IN SYRIA
“On the basis of the evidence obtained during the investigation of the Ghouta incident, the conclusion is that chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian Arab Republic … against civilians, including children, on a relatively large scale,” the report said.
Ex-SAS Sergeant: SAS ‘Assassinated Princess Diana’
– SAS ‘Assassinated Princess Diana’ (Yahoo 7 News, Sep 16, 2013):
A former soldier told his wife Princess Diana was murdered by the SAS after they shone a light into her driver’s face, according to reports in the British media.
The ex-SAS sergeant, who is only referred to as Soldier N, is reported to have told his then-wife a former member of the elite squad was in charge of an assassination squad.
Princess Diana, Dodi Al Fayed and their driver Henri Paul were killed in the crash in 1997.
The extraordinary claim is reported to have happened after Soldier N had taken Prince William on an advanced driving course in 2008.
FDA Deliberately Deceiving Americans Over Arsenic In Rice, Chicken And Other Foods; Contamination Now Widespread
– FDA deliberately deceiving Americans over arsenic in rice, chicken and other foods; contamination now widespread (Natural News, Sep 15, 2013):
There is arsenic in rice, and it’s generally higher in brown rice than in white rice. Consumer Reports tested 223 samples of rice products in 2012 and found significant levels of arsenic in most of them, including inorganic arsenic (the really toxic kind).
As Consumer Reports found, it’s not unusual to see arsenic at levels of 200 ppb or more in rice-based baby cereals. Click here for the complete test results.
The release of this information freaked out the U.S. rice industry, resulting in enormous pressure being put on the FDA to try to assuage fears that rice products were contaminated with arsenic (which they are).
So the FDA, always working in the interests of food corporations rather than the public, issued a statement saying that yes, there was arsenic in rice, but no, it didn’t pose any “short-term” health risks.
Well, we already knew that. Otherwise people would be dropping dead from eating rice. But what the FDA totally glossed over was the long-term health risks from chronic exposure to arsenic.
Larry Summers Withdraws Name For Federal Chairmanship
More on Larry Summers down below.
– Larry Summers withdraws name for Federal chairmanship (Guardian, Sep 16, 2013):
Barack Obama says he will ‘always be grateful’ to his former economic aide for his ‘tireless work and service’
Barack Obama’s hopes of a smooth transition of power at the US Federal Reserve were dealt a significant blow on Sunday night when Larry Summers unexpectedly pulled out of the running to replace Ben Bernanke when he stands down in January.
Summers, a former Treasury secretary under President Clinton, had been frontrunner to take charge of US monetary policy during a crucial phase in the economic recovery but is understood to have been deterred by the prospect of bumpy Senate confirmation hearings.
Despite an impeccable track record as an economist and policymaker, Summers remains widely associated with the period of laissez-faire economic policy-making that led up to the banking crash and his decision to step aside on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the crisis shows how raw the politics remain in Washington.
The White House will issue a report on Monday detailing the steps it has taken to reform Wall Street and repair the economy, but has been criticised by Democrats for failing to tackle the entrenched power of the banks.
Obama paid tribute to the role of Larry Summers in dealing with the aftermath of the financial crisis as director of the White House economic council from January 2009 until November 2010.
“Earlier today, I spoke with Larry Summers and accepted his decision to withdraw his name from consideration for Chairman of the Federal Reserve,” Obama said in a statement. “Larry was a critical member of my team as we faced down the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and it was in no small part because of his expertise, wisdom, and leadership that we wrestled the economy back to growth and made the kind of progress we are seeing today.”
Read moreLarry Summers Withdraws Name For Federal Chairmanship
Ben Bernanke Tet To Begin Fed’s Tapering Of QE
What recovery?
– Bernanke set to begin Fed’s tapering of QE – but is the US economy ready? (Guardian Sep. 15, 2013):
After years of the Fed pumping $85bn a month into financial markets, the strength of the American recovery will be tested
As Barack Obama gears up to announce Ben Bernanke’s successor, the Federal Reserve chairman is expected to make the deeply symbolic gesture this week of announcing the beginning of the end of quantitative easing – the drastic depression-busting policy that has led the Fed to pump an extraordinary $85bn (£54bn) a month into financial markets.
It will signal the Fed’s belief that the US economy is on the mend, but it could also frighten the markets and hit interest rates. So what exactly is Bernanke doing, why now – and how might it affect the UK and other countries?
‘Monsanto Protection Act’ Quietly Extended By Congress
– ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ quietly extended by Congress (RT, Sep 12, 2013):
A budget provision protecting genetically-modified seeds from litigation in the face of health risks was extended for three months in an approved US House of Representatives’ spending bill on Tuesday evening.
Called “The Monsanto Protection Act” by opponents, the budget rider shields biotech behemoths like Monsanto, Cargill and others from the threat of lawsuits and bars federal courts from intervening to force an end to the sale of a GMO (genetically-modified organism) even if the genetically-engineered product causes damaging health effects.
The biotech rider first made news in March when it was a last-minute addition to the successfully-passed House Agriculture Appropriations Bill for 2013, a short-term funding bill that was approved to avoid a federal government shutdown.
The current three-month extension is part of the short-term FY14 Continuing Resolution spending bill.
The Center for Food Safety, a vocal opponent of the rider, released a statement expressing dismay that the measure once again avoided proper legislative process while usurping the power to challenge GMO products in court.
“The rider represents an unprecedented attack on US judicial review, which is an essential element of US law and provides a critical check on government decisions that may negatively impact human health, the environment or livelihoods,” they wrote. “This also raises potential jurisdictional concerns with the Senate Agriculture and Judiciary Committees that merited hearings by the Committees before its consideration.”
Read more‘Monsanto Protection Act’ Quietly Extended By Congress
Dr. John Bergman: How To Reverse Arthritis Naturally (Updated Video)
Description:
Dr Bergman explains how to reverse arthritis without using dangerous prescription drugs…and, yes, even Advil and Tylenol have detrimental effects on the joint cartilage.
Abu Ghraib Torture Victims Ordered To Pay U.S. Contractor’s Legal Fees
– Abu Ghraib Torture Victims Ordered To Pay U.S. Contractor’s Legal Fees (Huffington Post, Sep 6, 2013):
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered four Iraqis who were imprisoned at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison to pay nearly $14,000 in legal fees to defense contractor CACI, an Arlington, Va.-based company that supplied interrogators to the U.S. government during the Iraq War.
The decision in favor of CACI stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the former prisoners in 2008, alleging that CACI employees directed the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The suit was dismissed in June, when U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee ruled that because the alleged acts took place on foreign soil, CACI was “immune from suit” in U.S. court.
Lee did not, however, directly address the question of whether CACI employees took part in the mistreatment of prisoners. The treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib exploded into an international scandal in 2004, when shocking photos emerged of prisoners being stacked on top of each other, threatened with dogs, and sexually abused.
A little over a month after winning the dismissal this summer, CACI requested that the former prisoners be ordered to pay $15,580 to cover the company’s legal expenses.
Read moreAbu Ghraib Torture Victims Ordered To Pay U.S. Contractor’s Legal Fees
Military Cancer (Class War Films Video)
FYI.
YouTube Added: 28.08.2013
Description:
This video is about the Military Cancer attacking our country
Suspected Death Toll Rises From Colorado Floods As Nearly 500 Unaccounted For
Videos and pictures here:
– Suspected death toll rises from Colorado floods as nearly 500 unaccounted for (CNN, Sep 15, 2013):
Boulder, Colorado (CNN) — Rain was still coming down Sunday in Colorado, preventing aerial efforts to search for those missing from a devastating flood, authorities said.
“It’s unlikely at this point that we’ll be able to reach those who are stranded in the hard-to-reach areas,” said Kim Kobel, a spokesperson for Boulder’s Office of Emergency Management.
But rescuers continued their ground efforts, searching for what could be hundreds of people unaccounted for.
A tearful Larimer County Sheriff told reporters that what he’s seen, even in the most devastated areas, has restored his hope.
Sheriff Justin Smith visited areas “somewhat cut off from the rest of the world,” he said.
Read moreSuspected Death Toll Rises From Colorado Floods As Nearly 500 Unaccounted For
TEPCO Admits To Reporting False Radiation Levels For Nearly 2 Years At Fukushima
– Tepco admits to reporting false radiation levels for nearly 2 years at Fukushima (ENENews, Sep 14, 2013):
KBS, Sept. 14, 2013: Japanese media say the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported lower than actual levels of radioactivity in waters around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for nearly two years. […] TEPCO said the inaccurate measurements were taken from July 2011 until May this year, resulting in concentration levels of radioactive cesium being reported some becquerels lower than the actual level. It said the measurements were taken one-point-three kilometers south of the nuclear plant. […]
NHK, Sept 14, 2013: TEPCO under-reported cesium measurements […] After being notified of the error by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, TEPCO discovered that its previous per-liter measurements were several becquerels lower than actual figures. TEPCO says the error was due to the wrong assessment of the impact of radiation in the surrounding area. […] Experts at the meeting criticized what they called an elementary mistake. They also said the matter should not be left to TEPCO alone and called for the Authority’s involvement.
TEPCO’s U.S. Adviser: Japan Must Get Ready To Dump Radioactive Fukushima Water Into Pacific Ocean
– INTERVIEW/ Lake Barrett: Japan must get ready to release Fukushima water into the sea (Asahi Shimbun/Reuters, Sep 14, 2013):
Japan should begin preparing to release a massive tide of water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean, once it regains public trust and can confirm the water has only low levels of radiation, a U.S. adviser to the plant’s operator said on Sept. 13.
Lake Barrett, a former head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Civilian Nuclear Waste Management, spent nearly a decade at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and led the clean-up operations after the 1979 partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant. He has been brought in by Tokyo Electric Power to advise it on the lengthy decommissioning process at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
He said work should begin now to pump groundwater from the plant before it reaches wrecked reactors–a measure that has been stalled by local opposition.
“They should start pumping as soon as practical,” said Barrett, adding that groundwater would have to be released into the sea along with water that had been treated to remove most radiation–by a system designed by Toshiba Corp.
“I believe in a matter of a few months … early next year … water will be cleaned up and be ready to be discharged,” he said in an interview.
Five Years After Lehman, BIS Ex-Chief Economist Warns ‘It’s Worse This Time’
– Five Years After Lehman, BIS Ex-Chief Economist Warns “It’s Worse This Time” (ZeroHedge, Sep 15, 2013):
The froth is back. As we noted yesterday, corporate leverage has never been higher – higher now than when the Fed warned of froth, and as the BIS (following their “party’s over” rant 3 months ago) former chief economist now warns, “this looks like to me like 2007 all over again, but even worse.” The share of “leveraged loans” or extreme forms of credit risk, used by the poorest corporate borrowers, has soared to an all-time high of 45% – 10 percentage points higher than at the peak of the crisis in 2007.
As The Telegraph reports, ex-BIS Chief Economist William White exclaims, “All the previous imbalances are still there. Total public and private debt levels are 30pc higher as a share of GDP in the advanced economies than they were then, and we have added a whole new problem with bubbles in emerging markets that are ending in a boom-bust cycle.”
Crucially, the BIS warns, nobody knows how far global borrowing costs will rise as the Fed tightens or “how disorderly the process might be… the challenge is to be prepared.” This means, in their view, “avoiding the tempatation to believe the market will remain liquid under stress – the illusion of liquidity.”
Read moreFive Years After Lehman, BIS Ex-Chief Economist Warns ‘It’s Worse This Time’
Syria’s ‘Rebels’ Threaten UN – Will Use US Weapons
– Syria’s “Rebels” Threaten UN – Will Use US Weapons (Activist Post, Sep 15, 2013):
Terrorists operating in Syria have threatened to “block” UN inspectors, any bloodshed will be on the hands of the US who is now openly arming them.
In Reuters’ “Syrian Rebels Slam U.S.-Russia Deal, Say Assad Is Moving Chemical Weapons To Lebanon And Iraq,” Qassim Saadeddine of the so-called “Free Syrian Army” rejected the recent Syrian-Russian proposal to turn over Syria’s chemical weapons for independent verification and destruction, vowing to block UN inspectors should they enter Syria to carry out the task.
Reuters reported:
Qassim Saadeddine, said: “Let the Kerry-Lavrov plan go to hell. We reject it and we will not protect the inspectors or let them enter Syria.”
In carrying out these overt threats, the terrorist front will be using US-provided arms, equipment and vehicles, as admitted by US officials in recent weeks.
The Washington Post’s article, “U.S. weapons reaching Syrian rebels,” reported:
The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria, ending months of delay in lethal aid that had been promised by the Obama administration, according to U.S. officials and Syrian figures. The shipments began streaming into the country over the past two weeks, along with separate deliveries by the State Department of vehicles and other gear — a flow of material that marks a major escalation of the U.S. role in Syria’s civil war.
Of course, while this is the first openly admitted, direct military aid the US has provided terrorists operating within and along Syria’s borders, the US and its axis partners have been pouring fighters, weapons, and cash into Syria via Lebanon, NATO-member Turkey, Al Qaeda-saturated northern Iraq, and Jordan for over two years – intentionally into the hands of Al Qaeda and other sectarian extremists.
Dr. Helen Caldicott For RT: Endless Fukushima Catastrophe: Many Generations’ Health At Stake
– Endless Fukushima catastrophe: Many generations’ health at stake (RT, Sep 13, 2013):
Bio-accumulation of radioactive elements around Fukushima will devastate many future Japanese generations, while the Pacific Ocean is also being contaminated by leaking radioactive water. Yet there is still no good solution from the Japanese government.
As I watched the tsunami power into the reactor complex at Fukushima on March 11, 2011, I realized the world would never be the same again. No nuclear reactor can withstand being drowned in a massive wave of water without catastrophic consequences.
There were three nuclear reactors undergoing fission at the time while one, unit four, had just been emptied of its radioactive core, which was now situated in an unprotected cooling pool on the roof of the building, 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground. As the power supply to the reactors was disrupted during the earthquake, and the auxiliary diesel generators in the basements of the reactors failed because they were flooded, the pumps which supplied up to 1 million gallons of cooling water to each reactor failed.
Within hours the intensely hot radioactive cores in units one, two and three started to melt. As they melted, the zirconium metal cladding on the uranium fuel rods reacted with water to produce hydrogen which exploded with overwhelming intensity in the buildings of units one, two, three and four releasing huge amounts of radioactive elements into the air.
On March 15 alone, it is estimated that 100 quadrillion Becquerels of cesium, 400 quadrillion of iodine plus 400 quadrillion of inert noble gases (xenon, krypton and argon) escaped. Over a period of time two-and-a-half to three times more noble gases were released into the air than at Chernobyl.
FBI Admits It Controlled Tor Servers Behind Mass Malware Attack
– FBI Admits It Controlled Tor Servers Behind Mass Malware Attack (Wired, Sep 13, 2013):
It wasn’t ever seriously in doubt, but the FBI yesterday acknowledged that it secretly took control of Freedom Hosting last July, days before the servers of the largest provider of ultra-anonymous hosting were found to be serving custom malware designed to identify visitors.
Freedom Hosting’s operator, Eric Eoin Marques, had rented the servers from an unnamed commercial hosting provider in France, and paid for them from a bank account in Las Vegas. It’s not clear how the FBI took over the servers in late July, but the bureau was temporarily thwarted when Marques somehow regained access and changed the passwords, briefly locking out the FBI until it gained back control.
Read moreFBI Admits It Controlled Tor Servers Behind Mass Malware Attack
‘Follow the Money’: NSA Spies On International Payments (SPIEGEL)
– ‘Follow the Money’: NSA Spies on International Payments (Spiegel, Sep 13, 2013):
The United States’ NSA intelligence agency is interested in international payments processed by companies including Visa, SPIEGEL has learned. It has even set up its own financial database to track money flows through a “tailored access operations” division.
The National Security Agency (NSA) widely monitors international payments, banking and credit card transactions, according to documents seen by SPIEGEL.
The information from the American foreign intelligence agency, acquired by former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden, show that the spying is conducted by a branch called “Follow the Money” (FTM). The collected information then flows into the NSA’s own financial databank, called “Tracfin,” which in 2011 contained 180 million records. Some 84 percent of the data is from credit card transactions.
Read more‘Follow the Money’: NSA Spies On International Payments (SPIEGEL)
On Syria, Putin Is A Modern Machiavelli – And That’s A Good Thing (Guardian)
President Barack Obama shakes hands with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, at the G20 in St Petersburg, Russia. Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
– On Syria, Putin is a modern Machiavelli – and that’s a good thing (Guardian, Sep 13, 2013):
The Russian president’s New York Times op-ed was a scathing indictment of Barack Obama’s morality-based foreign policy
This week, Vladimir Putin outflanked Barack Obama on his home turf. The Russian president’s scathing op-ed in the New York Times did more than simply leave the American president looking “rudderless and outplayed at every turn”, as Max Hastings wrote in the Daily Mail. What shot the piece to the top of the international conversation was its merciless inversion of a long-standing American truism: that the good guys can do no wrong.
Instead, here is our American hero – the compassionate, liberal former professor of constitutional law who once opposed the war in Iraq – now on the verge of bombing a sovereign country without UN approval while the wily old villain plays the part of peacemaker.
Reading Putin’s article was like having “someone whom you personally loathe call out all your personal flaws and be annoyingly accurate about it” confessed a frustrated Fox News reader in a comment on a story about Putin’s statement. “I can’t stand the guy. But nearly everything in it I agreed with”.
Read moreOn Syria, Putin Is A Modern Machiavelli – And That’s A Good Thing (Guardian)
Oxford Researchers: 45 Percent Of America’s Occupations Will Be Automated Within The Next 20 Years
– Report Suggests Nearly Half of U.S. Jobs Are Vulnerable to Computerization (MIT Technology Review, Sep 12, 2013):
Oxford researchers say that 45 percent of America’s occupations will be automated within the next 20 years.
Rapid advances in technology have long represented a serious potential threat to many jobs ordinarily performed by people.
A recent report (which is not online, but summarized here) from the Oxford Martin School’s Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology attempts to quantify the extent of that threat. It concludes that 45 percent of American jobs are at high risk of being taken by computers within the next two decades.
9/11
FYI.
Argentina: ‘Bring What You Want, Take What You Want’
In the face of an intense wave of consumerism, some people in Argentina are beginning to discover the advantages of sharing goods and services, instead of buying them.
Nothing is for sale at this street market in Plaza Italia, in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires. Credit: Juan Moseinco/IPS
– “Bring What You Want, Take What You Want” (IPS, Sep 8, 2013):
BUENOS AIRES, Sep 8 2013 (IPS) – Disillusioned with an economy that promotes individualism and ruthless consumption, thousands of people in Argentina are giving things away in street markets, organising car pools with strangers or offering free accommodation to travellers from abroad.
These are early trends in this South American country, but they are expanding, based on Web 2.0 platforms. Users share a concern for the environment and a rejection of consumerism. But they also have a desire to strengthen a sense of community and trust.
“We need much less than we consume. The basis of our street markets is detachment, the need to free ourselves from the concept of private ownership,” said Ariel Rodríguez, the creator of La Gratiferia (The Free Market) which operates under the slogan: “Bring what you want (or nothing), take what you want (or nothing).”
Read moreArgentina: ‘Bring What You Want, Take What You Want’