The Raw Story

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Tuesday, 2 June 2015

'Big, bright' meteor seen over Tasmania

     A meteor sighting over Launceston this morning has prompted a reminder that cold, clear winter conditions provide a perfect platform for sightings. As northern Tasmania shivers through sub-zero overnight temperatures, the clear skies helped the region's early risers spot a rare meteor display. Residents near Launceston reported seeing a large, bright meteor travelling through the sky just before 5:00am. Lesley from Gravelly...

Free speech, Facebook and the NSA: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

"A person under surveillance is no longer free; a society under surveillance is no longer a democracy."—Writers Against Mass Surveillance © hd4desktop.com      THE GOOD NEWS: Americans have a right to freely express themselves on the Internet, including making threatening—even violent—statements on Facebook, provided that they don't intend to actually inflict harm. The Supreme Court's ruling in threw out the conviction...

Mystery moon swirls caused by blasts of comet gas?

© NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University This NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter observation shows the vast swirls of Reiner Gamma in the Oceanus Procellarum region of the moon, to the west of the crater Reiner. Scientists have long pondered the origin of these swirl patters and others like them and new computer simulations point to cometary impacts being a possible cause.      Strange bright swirls have long been known to exist...

Sitting in stillness: The benefits of doing nothing

     We live in a society where sitting in stillness and silence, void of any stimuli, is seen as doing nothing - a view polluted with a negative stigma, with the implication that doing nothing is synonymous with nothing. However, this could not be further from the truth. To sit in stillness is not actually to do "nothing," in the sense that time is wasted and there is no gain. It is, in reality, closer to doing everything,...

Martial law approaches: Defense official warns of DoD Directive allowing the use of military force against American citizens

© marines.mil Military trains for domestic riot control      Defense official's warning destroys media claims that only "conspiracy theorists" believe martial law could be declared in the near future. In a stunning revelation published by a mainstream news outlet, an anonymous Department of Defense official has revealed their belief that a DoD Directive outlining military support to civilian authorities is the latest step towards...

Absurdity: U.S. accuses Syria of backing Islamic State's Aleppo advance

© Reuters/Jalal Al-Mamo A woman reporter runs with a rebel fighter to avoid snipers at the frontline against the Islamic State fighters in Aleppo's northern countryside October 10, 2014.      The United States has accused the Syrian military of carrying out air strikes to help Islamic State fighters advance around the northern city of Aleppo, messages posted on the U.S. Embassy Syria official Twitter feed said. Islamic State...

After 55 year slumber, Chile's Guallatiri volcano shaken by earthquake swarm - alert level raised to 'yellow'

     Guallatiri or Guallatire is one of the most active volcanoes in northern Chile. It is just west of the border with Bolivia and at the southwestern end of the Nevados de Quimsachata. It is a symmetrical 6,071-metre-high (19,918 ft) (3.7723 miles) ice-clad stratovolcano. Wallatiri is capped by a central dacitic dome or lava complex, with the active vent at its southern side. The volcano last erupted in 1960. Elevated seismic...

U.S. accuses Syria of backing Islamic State's Aleppo advance

© Reuters/Jalal Al-Mamo A woman reporter runs with a rebel fighter to avoid snipers at the frontline against the Islamic State fighters in Aleppo's northern countryside October 10, 2014.      The United States has accused the Syrian military of carrying out air strikes to help Islamic State fighters advance around the northern city of Aleppo, messages posted on the U.S. Embassy Syria official Twitter feed said. Islamic State...

America's Biggest Secret: Wikileaks Is Raising A $100,000 Reward For Leaks Of The TPP

If there is one piece of legislation (and in a "democracy", there is no reason why any one law should be fast-tracked through Congress under the shroud of secrecy) that should be passed in complete openness and in full view of the general public, especially by the world's "most transparent organization", it is Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multi-trillion dollar treaty with 29 classified chapters, which - when not if passed - will have an...

ISIS, Assad Regime Now Fighting Together In Syria, US Alleges

When last we checked in on the situation in Syria, ISIS (who a secret Pentagon document recently revealed was, and probably still is, considered a US “strategic asset”) was supposedly on the move, emboldened by recent successes in the ancient city of Palmyra and the conquest of Ramadi in Iraq, where, you’re reminded, Iraqi forces showed “no will” to fight according the Pentagon.  Recent reports also indicated that the militants may have commandeered...

Muslim chaplain refused can of coke by United Airlines so she wouldn't weaponize it

© Reuters / Louis Nastro      United Airlines is facing a customer backlash after discriminating against a Muslim passenger. Tahera Ahmad was on an internal US flight when she was refused an unopened can of soda. The flight attendant believed she would use it as a weapon. Ahmad, a Muslim chaplain from Northwestern University, was traveling from Chicago to Washington, DC, for a conference aimed at promoting dialogue between Israeli...

Renowned pianist Lisitsa, who condemned Kiev war against E. Ukraine, to perform concert in Donbas

© Wikipedia      Valentina Lisitsa, a well-known Ukrainian-born American classical pianist who has faced censure over her strong opposition to Kiev's war in Donbass, has told Sputnik that she is getting ready to hold a concert in Donetsk later this month. Speaking to Radio Sputnik on Tuesday, Lisitsa noted that her performance, to be held in Donetsk, the capital of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, is likely to...

Sickening: Jerusalem kindergarten creates play acting out IDF soldier murdering Palestinian

© Reuters/Ashraf Amrah      A kindergarten in East Jerusalem has come up with a controversial play which showed a kid dressed as IDF soldier "killing" a Palestinian boy with a gun. The supporters of the "victim" then cover him in a Palestinian flag. The play took place in a kindergarten at the Dar al-Hekma private school in Beit Hanina, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, the Arabic-language Himma News reported. The...

Renowned pianist Lisita, who condemned Kiev war against E. Ukraine, to perform concert in Donbas

© Wikipedia      Valentina Lisitsa, a well-known Ukrainian-born American classical pianist who has faced censure over her strong opposition to Kiev's war in Donbass, has told Sputnik that she is getting ready to hold a concert in Donetsk later this month. Speaking to Radio Sputnik on Tuesday, Lisitsa noted that her performance, to be held in Donetsk, the capital of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, is likely to...

A quarter of all Australians interested in having implanted chip used for payments

© Getty/Chip Somodevilla      A mind-boggling 25% of Australians say they are at least "slightly interested" at the prospect of having a chip implanted in their skin that could be used for payments, new research has found. The research by credit card company Visa and the University of Technology Sydney found Australians are open to the prospect of paying for items using wearable tech including smart watches, rings, glasses and...

Europe doesn't need NATO... Nobody does

North Atlantic Terrorist Organization; The US’s Bastard Child      The West has continually forced its "values" upon other sovereign nations. For Western "think-tanks", it is a foregone conclusion that Russia is the threat, and NATO is the "good guy" on the bloc. Russia has to "westernize" by becoming more "democratic". But, who is to say that the evasive terms like "western values" and "democracy" are the best for Russia,...

USA Freedom Act passed by Senate

     Legislative efforts intended to reform aspects of the United States Intelligence Community's surveillance operations have cleared Congress and are expected to be signed into law imminently by President Obama. The Senate voted 67-32 on Tuesday in favor of the USA Freedom Act, adopting the same version of the bill that had overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives last month by 338-88. Backers of the USA Freedom...

China's biometric ATMs have world-wide implications

© occupy corporatism      In what has become a common refrain in all security circles, the elimination of privacy is a necessary tool needed to provide a solution. China is invoking the threat of financial fraud to usher in a new system of facial recognition ATMs that not only will link to an "identity database" but also will scan cash for counterfeit currency. The facial recognition ATM won't let people withdraw cash unless...
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