The Raw Story

A non-profit news blog, focused on providing independent journalism.

Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Pat Robertson advises elderly woman: Reverse mortgage is 'good deal' to help pay '700 Club' dues

© CBN host Pat Robertson (screen grab) TV preacher Pat Robertson on Tuesday advised a senior citizen who was a paying member of his teleministry that a reverse mortgage was a "good deal" if she was having trouble making ends meet."I have been a 700 Club partner for many years," a woman named Maria explained in an email. "I am 67 years old and still working because retirement money does not cover our basic expenses." "I was thinking about a reverse...

Israel launches airstrikes on Syria following rocket attack, 'red line' warning from Iran

© Reuters/Baz RatnerIsraeli soldiers are seen next to mobile artillery units near the border with Syria in the Golan Heights January 27, 2015. Israeli jets struck several targets in Syria in response to Hezbollah rocket fire into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the IDF said. The exchange came as Iran warned Tel Aviv of crossing a "red line" with the murder of an Iranian general in Syria.The Israeli Air Force (IAF) announced striking Syrian army...

From the files of Dr. Obvious: Infant brain waves indicate pain during vaccine jabs

© Dees Illustration The average person realizes that shots hurt. There's a reason children scream and cry in anguish when they receive vaccinations. Apparently, this tidbit hasn't registered much among the medical community or else why would there be a need to widely publish EEG results of infants at the moment they get jabs? People tend to think babies will move on quickly and forget sooner....Not only does the following study demonstrate the painful...

Growing up in a corporate-controlled junk culture

"It seems to me that my daughter and her classmates have more depression and mood disorders than in my day (the 60s and 70s). I know at least one other parent who wonders if there's a cause - the water, vaccines, all of the above."Thanks to you though I think it could be psychiatric drugs, which kids will filch from their parents' medicine cabinets to take and share. Then they are stuck with the withdrawal syndrome."Looking for more of the picture....

FLASHBACK: Ukrainian deputy exposes plans for civil unrest and war in 2013

This video, from November 20, 2013, shows People's Deputy of Ukraine Oleg Tsarov explaining in the Ukrainian parliament U.S. plans for civil unrest and civil war in Ukraine. This was the night before the protests began (on November 21).[embedded content]See below for the transcript.Deputy Oleg Tsarov has the word.Honourable colleagues, Honourable Vladimir Vasiljevitch,In my role as a representative of the Ukrainian people, activists of the public organisation "Volya" turned to me, providing clear evidence that within our territory, with support...

7 shocking facts about Saudi Arabia under 'modernizing' reign of King Abdullah

© Reuters/Zainal Abd Halim ZH/DLSaudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud Taken aback by the fulsome praise the recently deceased King Abdullah has garnered from world leaders, RT has decided to assess whether his record stands up to scrutiny.READ MORE: Saudi King Abdullah dead - state TV The majority of eulogies went beyond the requirements of diplomatic etiquette, while some epithets used by Western politicians made people believe they had stepped...

Gigantic ring system around J1407b much larger, heavier than Saturn's

© Ron MillerArtist’s conception of the extrasolar ring system circling the young giant planet or brown dwarf J1407b. The rings are shown eclipsing the young sun-like star J1407, as they would have appeared in early 2007. Astronomers at the Leiden Observatory, The Netherlands, and the University of Rochester, USA, have discovered that the ring system that they see eclipse the very young Sun-like star J1407 is of enormous proportions, much larger...

4 beheaded in Saudi Arabia less than a week into King Salman's rule

Four people have been executed in Saudi Arabia less than a week after 79-year-old King Salman assumed power following the death of his 90-year-old predecessor, King Abdullah.Under the strict guidelines of Sharia Law, three people were put to death across the oil-rich kingdom on Tuesday. The first, Omar bin Yahya bin Ibrahim al-Barkati, was executed for the crime of incest in the southwestern Asir region, the Interior Ministry announced. “He was...

Writing for health

I hate to admit it but it's true: I'm terrible at keeping a journal. I probably have half a dozen notebooks lying around, each one with no more than 20 entries before I got caught up in other things, made excuses, didn't have the time, or just plain forgot. Reading them when I stumble upon them is always interesting and sometimes helpful. Memories are seldom totally accurate. Time has a way of changing perspective. But, nonetheless, I've never...

10 Catholic priests charged with sexual abuse

Ten Spanish priests were charged with child sexual abuse on Tuesday, in a case brought after Pope Francis telephoned the victim to offer the Church's apology, court documents showed.The victim, now 24, wrote to the pope to say he had been molested when he was an altar boy. The pope called the man in August to apologize, Spanish news site Religion Digital reported in November, a report later confirmed by the pope himself.The pope said in November...

Study finds sleeping and hay fever pills increase risk of Alzheimer's and dementia

© Getty Images Over-the-counter hay fever pills and sleeping tablets can increase the risk of Alzheimer's, a study warned today. The findings have "public health implications" about "potential safety risks", according to scientists. Other drugs for depression and bladder control were also linked to dementia.The drugs have an ­"anticholinergic" effect, which blocks a chemical transmitter that people with Alzheimer's lack. Experts tracked the health...

Gunman opens fire in Minnesota city council meeting

© Screenshot from http://bit.ly/1D601UJ A gunman has opened fire during a law enforcement swearing-in ceremony at a city council meeting in a Minnesota town. Two police officers were injured and the gunman was fatally wounded.Authorities had yet to identify the name of the suspect as of Tuesday morning, but acknowledged that the man was killed when the officers returned fire inside New Hope City Hall outside of Minneapolis.The ceremony began at...

80+ cartoonists and comics workers say: 'No business as usual with Israel'

The following press release was published today:More than 80 cartoonists and other workers in the comics industry, including colorists, writers, critics, and editors, from over 20 countries, signed an open letter released today addressed to Franck Bondoux, the head of the International Festival of Comics at Angoulême, which opens in France on January 29th.The letter, a follow up to a 2014 letter, demands that he sever ties between the Festival...

Russia says no proof to U.S. spy charges, just more of "anti-Russian campaign"

Igor Sporyshev and Viktor Podobnyy were a case study in bumbling incompetence, according to the FBI and US prosecutors Russia has accused the United States of having no evidence against three Russian citizens charged with spying, and says the Americans are using the charges for political purposes.U.S. prosecutors said the defendants were directed by Russia to gather sensitive economic intelligence on potential U.S. sanctions against Russian banks...

Americans' satisfaction with the federal government is at an all-time low

If you have to deal with the federal government - be it the seemingly innocuous Social Security Administration or the eternally-despised Treasury Department, home to the IRS - prepare to be even more annoyed than in the past.According to a report released Tuesday by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, our satisfaction with the federal government has hit an all-time low (at least since the company began collecting data for this index in 2007)....

The growing ties between Palestinian rights activists and U.S. racial injustice movements

© Christopher Hazou/IMEUDelegates on the Dream Defenders delegation pose in front of Israel's West Bank wall, near Qalandia checkpoint. After Black teen Trayvon Martin's 2012 death at the hands of George Zimmerman in Florida, a newly formed group called the Dream Defenders sprung into action. They marched for miles. They occupied the state capitol in Tallahassee. They pushed for legislative measures that would address racial inequality.Today, the...

6 unprovoked shark attacks off Californian coast in 2014

© David Fleetham / Discovery ChannelThough being attacked by a shark like this great white is extremely unlikely, the number of unprovoked shark attacks worldwide has grown at a steady pace since 1900. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, there were 39 reported shark attacks in California from 2001 to 2013. A recent report says there were six unprovoked shark attacks along the U.S. Pacific Coast in 2014. All of them were in California,...

Washington's Terror Inc. has its marks all over Libya

"Human rights" or "democracy" have nothing to do with current wars of conquest except that these words are used as cover to hide institutionalized mass murder and theft. In fact, human rights and democracy are usually the first casualties of any invasion.The "West", however, understands the value of these words to sell wars which invariably destroy "non-compliant" secular governments in favour of divisive fundamentalist regimes.Human lives are...

Pulling all-nighters? How memory affects the sleep cycle

© Kiselev Andrey Valervich/Shutterstock Want to ace that test tomorrow? Here's a tip: Put down the coffee and hit the sack.Scientists have long known that sleep, memory and learning are deeply connected. Most animals, from flies to humans, have trouble remembering when sleep deprived, and studies have shown that sleep is critical in converting short-term into long-term memory, a process known as memory consolidation.But just how that process works...
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