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Monday 8 June 2015

Vitamin B5 or Pantothenate (Pantothenic Acid): The "anti stress" factor

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Vitamin B5, otherwise known as pantothenic acid or pantothenate is a water soluble B-vitamin that is critical for normal function of the human body. This vitamin is also commonly called the anti-stress nutrient because it plays a role in the production of stress hormones by the adrenal glands. Deficiency of B-5 contributes to the inability to cope with stress. Additionally, pantothenic acid plays vital roles in energy production from foodstuffs. Pantothenate is a component of coenzyme A, which is necessary for energy production from carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and other compounds, as well as synthesis of fats, cholesterol, steroid hormones, porphyrin and phospholipids.

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Signs and Symptoms of Deficiency:
  • Fatigue
  • Elevated cholesterol
  • Burning and pain in the arms and legs
  • Burning feet
  • Nausea
  • Indigestion
  • Irritability
  • Fainting
  • Hair loss
  • Elevated heart rate
  • Susceptibility to infection
  • Premature graying of the hair
  • Gluten sensitivity intolerance or celiac disease
Vitamin B5 has been shown to be beneficial for the following conditions
  • Achlorhydria
  • Depression
  • Dermatitis
  • Adrenal disease (adrenal burn out or failure)
  • Headaches
  • Insomnia
  • High Cholesterol
  • Chronic Fatigue syndrome
  • Fibromyalgia
Drugs or Medications that may interfere with or deplete vitamin B5
  • Caffeine
  • High blood pressure medications
  • Acid reflux medications
The following foods are the richest dietary source of Pantothenate

The term pantos is Greek and means "everywhere", therefore; B5 is found in most foods. Meat, legumes, vegetables, nuts, and seeds are rich sources.

Video transcript

Hi, Doctor Osborne here with Web Wellness University and today I want to talk about vitamin B5.

Vitamin B5 is very, very important and an essential nutrient. The body can't survive without it. Its nickname, you might have heard or seen this written on food labels, "Pantothenate", also known as Pantothenic Acid, and more importantly its nicknames, which derive or give us a derivative of what its functions are. One: the anti graying factor and the other: the anti stress factor. So vitamin B5 is an essential nutrient B vitamin that plays a role in the stress response and without it - without its function - we're going to have an inability to cope and tolerate and deal with stress.

So let's talk about some the symptoms associated with vitamin B5 deficiency, some of the functions of vitamin B5. One of the primary target organs for vitamin B5 is it helps the adrenal glands. Okay, if you've ever heard the term "Adrenal burnout", a lot of doctors are talking about that measuring adrenal hormones, but it helps the adrenal glands properly produce cortisol, which helps us to fight inflammation. So cortisol is actually one of the major mechanisms by which we are capable of fighting inflammation on a day-to-day basis. One of the other functions of vitamin B5 is it actually helps to stimulate your adrenal glands' ability to stimulate eosinophilic production. So these are specialized cells that help us cope and deal with allergies. So B5, okay, is a fuel or a food for the adrenal glands and that helps us to produce cortisol, which helps us fight inflammation, but also helps us to fight allergies.

Okay, the other component here under its ability to help our immune system, and that's to produce antibodies like IgG, IgA, IgE et-cetera; the antibodies that we make, that our immune systems make to help defend our body from all of the different types of allergenic responses that we might be exposed to: environmental responses, viruses, bacteria, parasites, et-cetera. We have to be able to produce these antibodies in order to be able to function. One of the other main components to vitamin B5 deficiency, and again this is all - these are all functions of B5 - is there's a nickname, you sometimes hear this term or you may have if you took biochemistry: acetyl CoA. And this is a, sometimes in biochemistry, nickname for vitamin B5 but its primary role is in the formation of a molecule called aceytlcholine. And maybe you have, or maybe you haven't heard of aceytlcholine: this is the primary nerve chemical that allows your nervous system to talk to your organs. Okay, so your nervous system, your spinal cord, your brain, communicates with your heart and your lungs and your spleen and your kidney and your liver through the part of the nervous system that is dependent upon this chemical for that communication. Additionally, your nerves communicate to your muscles through acetylcholine so without vitamin B5 we can develop neuropathy, we can start to develop signs of nerve damage.


So that brings us to, you know, what are some the symptoms of a choline deficiency or of, not a choline deficiency, but an acetylcholine deficiency: neuropathy. And one of the classic signs of a vitamin B5 deficiency is what we call a "burning feet" neuropathy. In other words, the feet will feel actually like they're quite on fire. Other symptoms associated to these effects of vitamin B5 deficiency would include: headaches, many people develop GI pain - gastrointestinal pain. So one of the functions of vitamin B5 is its role in the aid of digestion. So GI pain: an inability to properly digest the food can occur as a symptom or a side effect. Generalized symptoms of fatigue is quite common as well. So we can have a lot of these types of symptoms, we can have a lot of these types of problems when we suffer from vitamin B5 deficiency for a long enough period of time.

Where do we get B5? B5 comes from the Greek word, if we look at at the Greek root of pantothenate right, which is what we said earlier, pantothenate was what vitamin B5 is a synonym for, right, and this word right here Panto, actually add an s, Pantos, is a Greek word that means everywhere, or found everywhere. So this particular B vitamin is actually found in all foods, and so where we see problems with people developing a deficiency is when they are chronically stressed. If you think about it, B5, we said earlier, it plays a role feeding the adrenal glands which helps us make cortisol and this is a big part of the adaptive stress response. And so what happens with B5 deficiency is we actually lose our ability to respond appropriately to stress; we become stress intolerant. So even things that may have not bothered us five or ten or fifteen years ago will wipe us out today. Some people become exercise intolerant. Some people will get sick at the drop of a hat. So we can't exercise or we get increased illness, and that could be upper respiratory infections, it could be urinary tract infections, it could be chronic viral infections, et cetera, but we lose our ability to cope and adapt to stress so even small forms of stress tend to build and to affect us much, much sooner than what they should or otherwise would.

Again we said that B5 means everywhere, right, Pantos means "found everywhere", so all foods are going to generally tend to contain vitamin B5 and meats, fish, and egg, and milk products, are probably some of the foods that contain the most vitamin B5, so very, very important that you have adequate quantities of those foods in your diet especially if you suspect B5 deficiency.


Now one of the other things and I get this question asked a lot because we said before it's the "anti-graying" factor, right, some people have asked whether or not adding B5 to the diet or adding B5 as a supplement could reverse graying of the hair and the answer to that question, clinically, is no. I haven't really seen a whole lot of that happen. I have seen halting of graying hair, in essence. I've seen gray hair coming slow down in patients when we started to correct their B5 deficiency, but typically you don't get a reversal of gray hair. Now, in lab rats we do see anti graying, we do see reversal of graying at the hair when giving vitamin B5, but not humans. So don't think that you should take B5 if you're graying prematurely and you want to reverse the color of your hair but you might want to take it if you're graying prematurely and you're under a lot of stress and you can't figure out why.

So again vitamin B5 deficiency causes adrenal problems, can cause nervous system problems, causes the inability to cope and adapt to stress, causes immune system dysfunction, reduces your body's ability to produce antibodies, and overall it's not a deficiency that we want to cross. In essence, we want to make sure there our levels of vitamin B5 are always adequate. One of the best ways to measure B5 deficiency is through a test called lymphocyte proliferation. This test was actually designed at the University of Texas. There was a research study - took about seventeen years to do lymphocyte proliferation. As a result of that, there is a test that came out where we can actually measure the storage of vitamin B5 within the white blood cells, so it gives an average of B5 levels over a six-month period of time. So, if you're asking your doctor to measure your vitamin B5 levels, please don't have him measure B5 in the serum, it's not going to be very effective. Have him measure your lymphocyte proliferation levels for vitamin B5 and in so doing, you're going to get a much more accurate representation and much more accurate reading.

Hope this was helpful. If you like this information, please hit the subscribe button down below and click the link to get more information on vitamin B5. Have a great day.

A sad state of affairs: The pathocratic Harper government provides neo-nazi military training to Ukraine National Guard

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The Canadian media has highlighted Prime Minister Harper's one on one meeting with Ukraine's president Poroshenko in Kiev (June 5, 2015). The official story which has been fed to Canadians is that Ottawa is providing "non-lethal aid" as well support to the country's civilian police force:

"We supply a range of non-lethal military equipment," Harper said... While disappointed about this, Poroshenko praised Canada for supporting Ukraine since "the first hours" of his presidency and said the military aid it had provided to his country, such as medical kits and mobile hospitals, "addressed an acute problem. (, June 6, 2015, emphasis added)

Harper also announced that Canada would be sending 10 police officers to Ukraine to help reform the country's security sector in a partnership with the United States.

Harper announced the $5 million project during a visit in which he watched training exercises by police cadets. ... (CP News 24, June 6, 2015, emphasis added)

This story contradicts earlier reports and government statements.

The gist of Harper's flash visit to Kiev prior to the G7 Summit was to reaffirm Canada's commitment to the dispatch of "military instructors" in support of Ukraine's National Guard, which is controlled by the two Neo-Nazi parties, Svoboda and Right Sector.

In April, Washington confirmed that it would send in a US contingent of instructors "of 290 specialists which will be working with the National Guard. Britain has dispatched 75 military personnel responsible for training "in command procedures and tactical intelligence". (Los Angeles Times, April 20, 2015).

Ironically, the Harper government quite candidly acknowledged that there were Neo-Nazi elements within the National Guard, and that provisions were being envisaged to prevent Canadian military instructors from training Neo-Nazis:

The Canadian government is confident that troops from Petawawa won't end up instructing Neo Nazis and far right extremists when they begin their training mission in Ukraine this summer, but a former diplomat is warning it will be difficult to weed out such extremists as their militia units are now being integrated into Ukraine's regular forces.

Some members of Ukraine's most effective fighting units [Azov batallion] have openly acknowledged they are Nazi sympathizers or have expressed anti-Semitic or extreme right wing views. (, April 18, 2015, emphasis added)

The solution proposed by Canada's Defence Minister Kenney is contradictory to say the least: Ottawa will support the National Guard as a means to avoiding the training of Neo-Nazis. Canada's military instructors will be dispatched and allocated to the National Guard:

"We're not going to be in the business of training ad hoc militias... We will only be training units of the Ukrainian National Guard and army recognized by the government of Ukraine." (Ibid, emphasis added)

What is Ukraine's National Guard

The National Guard which is now supported by Canada has been responsible for countless atrocities in the Donbass region.
The wear Nazi insignia on their uniforms.

Below is the Nazi emblem of the National Guard [Національна гвардія України] which is defined as Reserves of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They operate under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The National Guard is part of the so-called "Internal Troops of Ukraine." The emblem is a stylized swastika (see below).

The main battalion of the National Guard under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs involved in the Donbass region is The Azov Battalion (Батальйон Азов).

This battalion is supported by the Western military alliance including Canada.

The Azov Battalion -which displays the Nazi SS emblem - (below left) is described by the Kiev regime as "a volunteer battalion of territorial defense".

It's a National Guard battalion under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Officially based in Berdyank on the Sea of Azov, it was formed by the regime to fight the opposition insurgency in Eastern and Southern Ukraine. It is supported by the US and NATO.

These militia bearing the Nazi SS emblem supported by the US and Canada are casually referred to as "Freedom fighters".

Scroll down for Selected Images of the Azov Battalion "Freedom Fighters"

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Imagine what would happen if Canada's RCMP or the US National Guard were to display swastika-like symbols.

Media Disinformation

Unknown to both Americans and Canadians, the West is channeling financial support, weapons and training to a Neo-Nazi entity. Both Washington and Ottawa have sent in military instructors.

Nobody knows about it because the use of the words "Neo-Nazi" and "Fascist" in relation to Ukraine is a taboo. The have been excluded from the lexicon of investigative reporting. In media reports they have been replaced by "Ultra-conservative", "Extreme Right" and "Nationalist".

Ukraine's National Guard - which is supported by Canada - glorifies Adolph Hitler and Stepan Bandera, Ukraine's World War II Nazi leader and collaborator of the Third Reich.

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Svoboda

People holding UPA (horizontal red and black) and Svoboda (3 yellow fingers on blue) flags march through Kyiv to the honor of the Nazi ally, Bandera.

See http://bit.ly/1T8lFBv
It is worth noting that Ukrainian Jews were the target of the Third Reich's Einsatzgruppen (Task Groups or Deployment Groups) which were supported by Ukrainian Nazi collaborators led by Stepan Bandera . These "task forces" were paramilitary death squads deployed in occupied territories.

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Talking about Neo-Nazis in Ukraine, who are part of the coalition government, is a taboo. It is not newsworthy. Yet, the Neo-Nazis play a central role in the country's security apparatus.

Surely Canadians should be made aware of the fact that their government is sending military instructors to train Neo-Nazi recruits.

In contrast to the scanty news which is fed to Canadians, the Ukrainian media's coverage of Harper's visit to Kiev has nonetheless acknowledged Canada's support for the country's National Guard:

Canada will allocate $5 million to train new police officers and military instructors for the National Guard of Ukraine, Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatseniuk said.

Besides, Canadian military instructors will arrive to Ukraine to train the National Guard, the premier said. (Interfax-Ukraine, June 6, 2015)

US Defense Department paid 14 NFL teams $5.4M to honor soldiers

The waving of the red, white and blue, comes with a healthy dose of green. According to Christopher Baxter and Jonathan Salant of NJ.com, the New Jersey Army National Guard and the Department of Defense, paid the Jets a total of $377,000 from 2011 to 2014, for their salutes and other advertising, citing federal contracts. [1]

The NFL does just about everything it can to align itself with the military, whether that means discussing itself using the terms of warfare, or making overt displays of respect to those who have served in the armed forces. Of course, this is hardly a magnanimous gesture — it serves as positive PR for a league that frequently takes harsh criticism on a host of other issues. [2]

Promoting and increasing the public’s understanding and appreciation of military service in the New Jersey Army National Guard increases the propensity for service in our ranks and garners public support for our Hometown Team,” Guard spokesman Patrick Daugherty said. According to their documents, the Defense Department has paid 14 NFL teams $5.4 million over the past four seasons for the patriotic displays.[3]

Those of us go to sporting events and see them honoring the heroes,” U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said. “You get a good feeling in your heart. Then to find out they’re doing it because they’re compensated for it, it leaves you underwhelmed. It seems a little unseemly. . . .

They realize the public believes they’re doing it as a public service or a sense of patriotism,” Flake said. “It leaves a bad taste in your mouth”. The deals include segments saluting “Hometown Heroes,” and other advertising and marketing.

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - SEPTEMBER 9: Members of the military hold a large American flag over the field before the start of a game between the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on September 9, 2012 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Schultz /Getty Images)ST RUTHERFORD, NJ – SEPTEMBER 9: Members of the military hold a large American flag over the field before the start of a game between the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on September 9, 2012 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Schultz /Getty Images)

The Jets weren’t the only team accepting tax dollars in exchange for access to football, as the Falcons, Ravens, Bills, Bengals, Browns, Cowboys, Packers, Colts, Chiefs, Dolphins, Vikings, Steelers and Rams have also accepted the money.

Ex-US Intelligence Officials Confirm: Secret Pentagon Report Proves US Complicity In Creation Of ISIS

Two weeks ago, courtesy of the investigative work of Nafeez Ahmed whose deep dig through a recently declassified and formertly Pentagon documents released earlier by Judicial Watch FOIA, we learned that Western governments deliberately allied with al-Qaeda and other Islamist extremist groups to topple Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad. In his words: "According to the newly declassified US document, the Pentagon foresaw the likely rise of the ‘Islamic State’ as a direct consequence of the strategy, but described this outcome as a strategic opportunity to “isolate the Syrian regime.

Now, in a follow up piece to his stunning original investigative report titled "Secret Pentagon report reveals West saw ISIS as strategic asset Anti-ISIS coalition knowingly sponsored violent extremists to ‘isolate’ Assad, rollback ‘Shia expansion", Nafeez Ahmed reveals that according to leading American and British intelligence experts, the previously declassified Pentagon report confirms that the West accelerated support to extremist rebels in Syria, despite knowing full well the strategy would pave the way for the emergence of the ‘Islamic State’ (ISIS).

The experts who have spoken out include renowned government whistleblowers such as the Pentagon’s Daniel Ellsberg, the NSA’s Thomas Drake, and the FBI’s Coleen Rowley, among others.

Their remarks demonstrate the fraudulent nature of claims by two other former officials, the CIA’s Michael Morell and the NSA’s John Schindler, both of whom attempt to absolve the Obama administration of responsibility for the policy failures exposed by the DIA documents. 

This is Nafeez Ahmed's follow up story, originally posted in Medium

Ex-intel officials: Pentagon report proves US complicity in ISIS

Renowned government whistleblowers weigh in on debate over controversial declassified documen

Foreseeing ISIS

As I reported on May 22nd, the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) document obtained by Judicial Watch under Freedom of Information confirms that the US intelligence community foresaw the rise of ISIS three years ago, as a direct consequence of the support to extremist rebels in Syria.

The August 2012 ‘Information Intelligence Report’ (IIR) reveals that the overwhelming core of the Syrian insurgency at that time was dominated by a range of Islamist militant groups, including al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). It warned that the “supporting powers” to the insurgency?—?identified in the document as the West, Gulf states, and Turkey —?wanted to see the emergence of a “Salafist Principality” in eastern Syria to “isolate” the Assad regime.

The document also provided an extraordinarily prescient prediction that such an Islamist quasi-statelet, backed by the region’s Sunni states, would amplify the risk of the declaration of an “Islamic State” across Iraq and Syria. The DIA report even anticipated the fall of Mosul and Ramadi.

Divide and rule

Last week, legendary whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, the former career Pentagon officer and US military analyst who leaked Pentagon papers exposing White House lies about the Vietnam War, described my Insurge report on the DIA document as “a very important story.”

In an extensive podcast interview, he said that the DIA document provided compelling evidence that the West’s Syria strategy created ISIS. The DIA, he said, “in 2012, was asserting that Western powers were supporting extremist Islamic groups in Syria that were opposing Assad…

“They were not only as they claimed supporting moderate groups, who were losing members to the more extremist groups, but that they were directly supporting the extremist groups. And they were predicting that this support would result in an Islamic State organization, an ISIS or ISIL… They were encouraging it, regarding it as a positive development, because it was anti-Assad, Assad being supported by Russia, but also interestingly China… and Iran… So we have China, Russia and Iran backing Assad, and the US, starting out saying Assad must go… What he [Nafeez Ahmed] is talking about, the DIA report, is extremely significant. It fits into a general framework that I’m aware of, and sounds plausible to me.”

Ellsberg also noted that “it’s pretty well known” in the intelligence community that Saudi Arabia sponsors Islamist terrorists to this day:

“It’s kind of a deal that the Saudis will support various Islamic extremists, all around the world, and the deal is that they [extremists] will not try to overthrow the corrupt, alcohol-drinking clique in Saudi Arabia.”

Ellsberg, who was a former senior analyst at RAND Corp, also agreed with the relevance of a 2008 US Army-commissioned RAND report, quoted in my Insurge story, and also examined in-depth for Middle East Eye.

The US Army-funded RAND report advocated a range of policy scenarios for the Middle East, including a “divide and rule” strategy to play off Sunni and Shi’a factions against each other, which Ellsberg describes as “standard imperial policy” for the US.

The RAND report even confirmed (p. 113) that its “divide and rule” strategy was already being executed in Iraq at the time:

“Today in Iraq such a strategy is being used a tactical level, as the United States now forms temporary alliances with nationalist insurgent groups that it had been fighting for four years… providing carrots in the form of weapons and cash. In the past, these nationalists have cooperated with al-Qaeda against US forces.”

The confirmed activation of this divide-and-rule strategy perhaps explains why the self-defeating US approach in Syria is fanning the flames of both sides: simultaneously allying with states like Turkey who have continued to covertly sponsor ISIS, while working with Assad through the Russians to fight ISIS. Ellsberg added:

“As Assad is the main opponent of ISIS, we are covertly coordinating our airstrikes against ISIS with Assad. So are we against Assad, or not? It’s ambivalent… I think that Obama and everybody around him is clear that they do not any longer as they’ve been saying want Assad to leave power. I don’t believe that that is their intention anymore, as they believe anyone who succeeds Assad would be far worse.”

If true, Ellsberg’s analysis exposes the deep-rooted hypocrisy of the previous campaign against Assad, the current campaign against ISIS, and why both appear destined for failure.

Frankenstein script

Coleen Rowley, retired FBI Special Agent described my report on the DIA document as “excellent.”

Rowley, who was selected as TIME ‘Person of the Year’ in 2002 after revealing how pre-9/11 intelligence was ignored by superiors at the FBI, said of the document:

“It’s like the mad power-hungry doctor who created Frankenstein, only to have his monster turn against him. It’s hard to feel sorry when the insane doctor gets his due. But in our case, that script is constantly repeating. The quest for ‘full spectrum dominance’ and blindness of exceptionalism seems to mean we are doomed to keep repeating the ‘Charlie Wilson’s Frankenstein War’ script… The various neocon warmongers and military industrial complex, most of them inept Peter Principles, just don’t care.”

Also commenting on the declassified Pentagon report, former NSA senior executive Thomas Drake?—?the whistleblower who inspired Edward Snowden?—?condemned “the West’s role in ISIS and threat of ‘violent extremists’, justifying surveillance and libercide at home.”

Wedge strategy

Alastair Crooke, a former senior MI6 officer who spent three decades at the agency, said yesterday that the DIA document provides clear corroboration that the US was covertly pursuing a strategy to drive an extremist Salafi “wedge” between Iran and its Arab allies.

The strategy was, Crooke confirms, standard thinking in the Western intelligence establishment for about a decade.

“The idea of breaking up the large Arab states into ethnic or sectarian enclaves is an old Ben Gurion ‘canard,’ and splitting Iraq along sectarian lines has been Vice President Biden’s recipe since the Iraq war,” wrote Crooke, who had coordinated British assistance to the Afghan mujahideen in the 1980s. After his long MI6 stint, he became Middle East advisor to the European Union’s foreign policy chief (1997–2003).

“But the idea of driving a Sunni ‘wedge’ into the landline linking Iran to Syria and to Hezbollah in Lebanon became established Western group think in the wake of the 2006 war, in which Israel failed to de-fang Hezbollah,” continued Crooke. “The response to 2006, it seemed to Western powers, was to cut off Hezbollah from its sources of weapons supply from Iran…

“… In short, the DIA assessment indicates that the ‘wedge’ concept was being given new life by the desire to pressure Assad in the wake of the 2011 insurgency launched against the Syrian state. ‘Supporting powers’ effectively wanted to inject hydraulic fracturing fluid into eastern Syria (radical Salafists) in order to fracture the bridge between Iran and its Arab allies, even at the cost of this ‘fracking’ opening fissures right down inside Iraq to Ramadi. (Intelligence assessments purpose is to provide ‘a view’?—?not to describe or prescribe policy. But it is clear that the DIA reports’ ‘warnings’ were widely circulated and would have been meshed into the policy consideration.)

“But this ‘view’ has exactly come about. It is fact. One might conclude then that in the policy debate, the notion of isolating Hezbollah from Iran, and of weakening and pressurizing President Assad, simply trumped the common sense judgment that when you pump highly toxic and dangerous fracturing substances into geological formations, you can never entirely know or control the consequences… So, when the GCC demanded a ‘price’ for any Iran deal (i.e. massing ‘fracking’ forces close to Aleppo), the pass had been already partially been sold by the US by 2012, when it did not object to what the ‘supporting powers’ wanted.”

 

Intel shills

Crooke’s analysis of the DIA report shows that it is irrelevant whether or not “the West” should be included in the “supporting powers” described by the report as specifically wanting a “Salafist Principality” in eastern Syria. Either way, the report groups “the West, Gulf countries and Turkey” as supporting the Syrian insurgency together?—?highlighting that the Gulf states and Turkey operated in alliance with the US, Britain, and other Western powers.

The observations of intelligence experts Ellsberg, Rowley, and Drake add further weight to Crooke’s analysis. They come in addition to comments I had previously received on the DIA document from former MI5 counter-terrorism officer, Annie Machon, and former counter-terrorism intelligence officer, Charles Shoebridge.

The comments undermine the recent claims of disgraced US national security commentator, John Schindler, a retired NSA intelligence officer, to the effect that the August 2012 DIA report is “almost incomprehensible,” “so heavily redacted that its difficult to say much meaningful about it,” “Nothing special here, not one bit,” “routine,” “a single data point,” and so on.

Schindler cites the DIA’s use of ‘Curveball’?—?the Iraqi informant who fabricated claims about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD)?—?as evidence of the agency’s “less than stellar reputation.” But this misrepresents the fact noted by the CIA’s Valerie Plame Wilson that “it was widely known [in the intelligence community] that CURVEBALL was not a credible source and that there were serious problems with his reporting.”

As I’ve documented elsewhere, the WMD threat mythology was not the outcome of an ‘intelligence failure’, as Schindler and his ilk like to claim, but a consequence of the corruption and politicization of intelligence under the influence of dubious vested interests.

Also contrary to Schindler’s misinformation, an IIR provides raw intelligence data from human sources (HUMINT), not simply rumour, gossip or opinion. Before wider distribution, the IIR is vetted to determine whether it is worthy of dissemination to the intelligence community. IIRs then provide a source basis for evaluation, interpretation, analysis and integration with other information.

Far from justifying the dismissal of the relevance of the declassified DIA documents, this shows that urgent questions must be asked:

What happened to this raw intelligence data, described by six US UK intelligence experts as providing damning confirmation of how Western strategy led to the rise of ISIS?

And why did it not lead to a change in policy, despite DIA analysts’ clear warning of the outgrowth of an ISIS-entity from Western allies’ desire to see a ‘Salafist Principality’ in the region?—?a warning which was, in hindsight, quite accurate?

 

Are intel critics traitors?

Schindler previously characterized NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden as a traitor and “pawn… of America’s adversaries.”

He now declares that those who cite the DIA report as proof the intelligence community “knew more about the rise of the Islamic State than they let on” are at best “fools; at worst, they’re deceivers who have lied to the American people.”

On the contrary, six decorated former senior US and British intelligence officials, many with direct experience of IIRs and their function, agree that the DIA report provides significant insight into the kind of intelligence available to the US intelligence community at the time.

Yet for Schindler, it seems, Ellsberg, Drake, Rowley, Crooke, Machon and Shoebridge are all, effectively, traitors simply for lending their expertise to public understanding of the newly declassified documents.

As Marcy Wheeler points out in Salon, the large corpus of secret DIA documents obtained by Judicial Watch demonstrates, at the least, that:

“The Intelligence Community (IC) knew that AQI had ties to the rebels in Syria; they knew our Gulf and Turkish allies were happy to strengthen Islamic extremists in a bid to oust Assad; and CIA officers in Benghazi (at a minimum) watched as our allies armed rebels using weapons from Libya. And the IC knew that a surging AQI might lead to the collapse of Iraq. That’s not the same thing as creating ISIS. But it does amount to doing little or nothing while our allies had a hand in creating ISIS. All of which ought to raise real questions about why we’re still allied with countries willfully empowering terrorist groups then, and how seriously they plan to fight those terrorist groups now. Because while the CIA may not have deliberately created ISIS, it sure seems to have watched impassively as our allies helped to do so.”

However, Wheeler overlooks that the reliance on foreign allies is a standard proxy war strategy?—?as Ellsberg explained in his interview?—?used by the covert operations arm of the US government to guarantee ‘plausible deniability.’

As I noted in my Middle East Eye analysis of the DIA document, there is extensive evidence against which to contextualize the DIA report’s assertions. This evidence shows that the CIA did not merely watch “impassively” as the Gulf states and Turkey supported violent extremists in Syria, but actively supervised, facilitated and accelerated this policy.

The August 2012 DIA document further corroborates this by repeatedly pointing out that the support to the Syrian insurgency from its allies was itself backed by “the West”?—?despite awareness of their intent to establish an extremist Salafi political entity.

While the DIA document was, indeed, just one data-point, analyzing it in context with the other DIA reports along with incontrovertible facts in the public record, establishes that the Pentagon was complicit in its allies’ support of Islamist terrorists, despite recognizing this could create an “Islamic State” in Iraq and Syria.

These revelations show that the real traitors are not the courageous whistleblowers who sacrifice everything to speak out on behalf of the public interest, but shameless shills like Schindler and Morell who willfully sanitize a dysfunctional and dangerous ‘national security’ system from legitimate public scrutiny.

 

 


Dr Nafeez Ahmed is an investigative journalist, bestselling author and international security scholar. A former Guardian writer, he writes the ‘System Shift’ column for VICE’s Motherboard, and is also a columnist for Middle East Eye. He is the winner of a 2015 Project Censored Award, known as the ‘Alternative Pulitzer Prize’, for Outstanding Investigative Journalism for his Guardian work, and was selected in the Evening Standard’s ‘Power 1,000’ most globally influential Londoners.

 

Nafeez has also written for The Independent, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Scotsman, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, Quartz, Prospect, New Statesman, Le Monde diplomatique, New Internationalist, Counterpunch, Truthout, among others. He is the author of A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It (2010), and the scifi thriller novel ZERO POINT, among other books. His work on the root causes and covert operations linked to international terrorism officially contributed to the 9/11 Commission and the 7/7 Coroner’s Inquest.

Strange trumpet sound echoing through the sky in west Phoenix, Arizona

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Strange sound again tonight. Lasted about 20mins. West Phoenix/Glendale area 11:30pm 6/1/15

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Strange sound echoing through the sky in west Phoenix early this morning. Not the local train! It lasted from 12:20am to 12:50am. Sounds musical. Very bizarre.....

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Strange groaning sounds come from the sky in Long Island, New York

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Slave or Rebel? Ten principles for escaping the matrix and standing up to tyranny

"Until they become conscious, they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled, they cannot become conscious."—George Orwell

© movieimage.tripod.com

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

It's a shell game intended to keep us focused on and distracted by all of the politically expedient things that are being said—about militarized police, surveillance, and government corruption—while the government continues to frogmarch us down the road toward outright tyranny.

Unarmed citizens are still getting shot by militarized police trained to view them as the enemy and treated as if we have no rights. Despite President Obama's warning that the nation needs to do some "soul searching" about issues such as race, poverty and the strained relationship between law enforcement and the minority communities they serve, police killings and racial tensions are at an all-time high. Just recently, in Texas, a white police officer was suspended after video footage showed him "manhandling, arresting and drawing his gun on a group of black children outside a pool party."

Americans' private communications and data are still being sucked up by government spy agencies. The USA Freedom Act was just a placebo pill intended to make us feel better without bringing about any real change. As Bill Blunden, a cybersecurity researcher and surveillance critic, points out, "The theater we've just witnessed allows decision makers to boast to their constituents about reforming mass surveillance while spies understand that what's actually transpired is hardly major change."

Taxpayer dollars are still being squandered on roads to nowhere, endless wars that do not make us safer, and bloated government agencies that should have been shut down long ago. A good example is the Transportation Security Administration, which, despite its $7 billion annual budget, has shown itself to be bumbling and ineffective.

And military drills are still being carried out on American soil under the pretext of training soldiers for urban warfare overseas. Southeastern Michigan, the site of one of the many military training drills taking place across the country this summer, has had Black Hawk helicopters buzzing its skies and soldiers dressed for combat doing night combat drills in abandoned buildings around the state.

In other words, freedom, or what's left of it, is being threatened from every direction. The threats are of many kinds: political, cultural, educational, media, and psychological. However, as history shows us, freedom is not, on the whole, wrested from a citizenry. It is all too often given over voluntarily and for such a cheap price: safety, security, bread, and circuses.

This is part and parcel of the propaganda churned out by the government machine. That said, what we face today—mind manipulation and systemic violence—is not new. What is different are the techniques used and the large-scale control of mass humanity, coercive police tactics and pervasive surveillance. As we have seen with the erection of the electronic concentration camp, there is virtually no escaping the invisible prison surrounding us. Once upon a time, one could run and hide or duck into a cave, but that is no longer feasible as caves are quite scarce, and those running the camp have their eyes watching everything.

Moreover, we are presented with the illusion that we act of our own volition when most of the time we are being watched, prodded, and controlled. "The nature of psychological compulsion is such that those who act under constraint remain under the impression that they are acting on their own initiative," Aldous Huxley stated. "The victim of mind-manipulation does not know that he is a victim. To him, the walls of his prison are invisible."

In fact, with the merger of the Internet and the corporate state, unless you are alert and aware, it will be increasingly difficult to discern the difference between freedom and enslavement. With the methods of mind manipulation available to the corporate state, the very nature of democratic government has been changed. Again, as Aldous Huxley writes:

[T]he quaint old forms—elections, parliaments, Supreme Courts and all the rest will remain. The underlying substance will be a new kind of nonviolent totalitarianism. All the traditional names, all the hallowed slogans will remain exactly what they were in the good old days. Democracy and freedom will be the theme of every broadcast and editorial . . . Meanwhile the ruling oligarchy and its highly trained elite of soldiers, policemen, thought-manufacturers and mind-manipulators will quietly run the show as they see fit.

To many, the situation seems hopeless. But is it?

From the day you're born until the day you die, the choices you exercise are very limited. You don't choose to be born or choose what sex you are or who your parents are or where you live. When you are a child, you are told what to do, and when you enter school, you sit plastered to a desk and are taught what others demand you should know. Yes, the indoctrinating process begins on day one.

Then there are the rules, the endless rules. If you say the wrong word, write the wrong story or wear the wrong clothes, you can get thrown out of school or even arrested. You live where you are told and eat what others think you should eat. As you grow older, this list expands into employment, marriage and so on. In other words, your so-called reality is socially constructed. It is predetermined for you, and if you step out of line and disagree with what the current society deems proper, you will be ostracized. If you speak your mind to the governing authorities, you might find yourself behind bars.

The point is that in order to develop a compliant citizenry, people must be forced to live in a mental matrix of words, ideas, ideologies, and teachings that are designed to make us conform. "As the Matrix in the movie was used to facilitate the exploitation of humans," writes author Henry H. Lindner, "so the current ideological Matrix was created for, and serves to exploit us, turning us into unthinking workers and consumers—slaves of the ruling elite who themselves are trapped in the Matrix." In fact, "few of us are able to escape the Matrix. We do not even know it exists."

For there to be any hope of real change, you'll have to change how you think about yourself, your fellow human beings, freedom, society, and the government. This means freeing your mind, realizing the truth, and unlearning all the myths you have been indoctrinated with since the day you were able to comprehend language.

The following principles, taken from my new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, may help any budding freedom fighters in the struggle to liberate themselves and our society.

First, we must come to grips with the reality that the present system does not foster freedom. It denies freedom and must be altered. "Our authoritarian system is based on cruelty and control—it increasingly drives natural love and feelings from our society and produces violence and greed," Lindner recognizes. "Our society is deteriorating morally and intellectually. This system cannot be reformed."

To start with, we must recognize that the government's primary purpose is maintaining power and control. It's an oligarchy composed of corporate giants wedded to government officials who benefit from the relationship. In other words, it is motivated by greed and exists to perpetuate itself. As George Orwell writes:

We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish a dictatorship. . . .. The object of power is power.

Second, voting is practically worthless. "In principle, it is a great privilege," Aldous Huxley recognized. "In practice, as recent history has repeatedly shown, the right to vote, by itself, is no guarantee of liberty."

We live in a secretive surveillance state that has virtually no accountability, transparency, or checks and balances of any kind. As Jordan Michael Smith, writing for the Boston Globe, concludes about the American government:

There's the one we elect, and then there's the one behind it, steering huge swaths of policy almost unchecked. Elected officials end up serving as mere cover for the real decisions made by the bureaucracy.

How many times have the various politicians, when running for office, lied about all they were going to do to bring hope and change to America? Once they get elected, what do they do? They do whatever the corporate powers want. Yes, the old boss is the same as the new boss. The maxim: power follows money.

Moreover, voting is a way to keep the citizenry pacified. However, many Americans intuitively recognize that something is wrong with the way the electoral process works and have withdrawn from the process. That's why the government places so much emphasis on the reassurance ritual of voting. It provides the illusion of participation.

Third, question everything. Don't assume anything government does is for the good of the citizenry. Again, that is not the purpose of modern government. It exists to perpetuate a regime. Remember the words of James Madison, considered the father of the U.S. Constitution: "All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree." Power corrupts. And as the maxim goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Fourth, materialism is a death knell to freedom. While it may be true that Americans are better off than citizens of other nations—we have jobs, food, entertainment, shopping malls, etc.—these are the trappings meant to anesthetize and distract us.

Like the dodo, any "bird that has learned how to grub up a good living without being compelled to use its wings will soon renounce the privilege of flight and remain forever grounded," Huxley warned. "Same thing is true of human beings. If bread is supplied regularly and capaciously three times a day, many of them will be perfectly content to live by bread alone—or at least by bread and circuses alone." Free as a bird, some say, but only if you're willing to free your mind and sacrifice all for a dangerous concept—freedom.

In other words, the hope is that the cry of "'give me television and hamburgers, but don't bother me with the responsibilities of liberty,' may give place, under altered circumstances, to the cry of 'give me liberty or give me death.'" This is indeed dangerous freedom.

Fifth, there is little hope for any true resistance if you are mindlessly connected to the electronic concentration camp. Remember, what you're being electronically fed by those in power is meant to pacify, distract, and control you. You can avoid mind manipulations to a large degree by greatly limiting your reliance on electronic devices—cell phones, laptops, televisions, and so on.

Sixth, an armed revolt will not work. Although we may have returned to a 1776 situation where we need to take drastic actions to restore freedom, this is not colonial America with its muskets and people's armies. Local police departments have enough militarized firepower to do away with even a large-scale armed revolt. Even attempting to repel a SWAT team raid on your home is futile. You'll get blown away.

Seventh, be wise and realize that there is power in numbers. Networks, coalitions, and movements can accomplish much—especially if their objectives are focused and practical—and they are very much feared by government authorities. That's why the government is armed to the teeth and prepared to put down even small nonviolent protests.

Eighth, act locally but think nationally. The greatest impact can be had at local governing bodies such as city councils. Join together with friends and neighbors and start a Civil Liberties Oversight Committee. Regularly attend council meetings and demand that government corruption be brought under control and that police activities be brought under the scrutiny of local governing bodies and, thus, the citizenry.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, for example, police were involved in 39 shootings dating back to 2010. After a 2014 police shooting of an unarmed homeless man camped out in a public park, residents engaged in nonviolent acts of civil disobedience to disrupt the normal functioning of the city government and demand that the police department be brought under control. Community activists actually went so far as to storm a city council meeting and announce that they would be performing a citizens' arrest of the police chief, charging him with "harboring fugitives from justice at the Albuquerque police department" and "crimes against humanity."

In Davis County, California, in August 2014, after a public uproar over the growing militarization of local police, council members ordered the police to find a way of getting rid of the department's newly acquired MRAP tank. One man at the council meeting was quoted as saying: "I would like to say I do not suggest you take this vehicle and send it out of Davis, I demand it."

Ninth, local towns, cities and states can nullify or say "no" to federal laws that violate the rights and freedoms of the citizenry. In fact, several states have passed laws stating that they will not comply with the National Defense Authorization Act which allows for the military to indefinitely detain (imprison) American citizens. Again, when and if you see such federal laws passed, gather your coalition of citizens and demand that your local town council nullify such laws. If enough towns and cities across the country would speak truth to power in this way, we might see some positive movement from the federal governmental machine.

Tenth, understand what freedom is all about. "Who were the first persons to get the unusual idea that being free was not only a value to be cherished but the most important thing that someone can possess?" asks Professor Orlando Patterson. "The answer in a word: slaves."

Freedom arose from the hearts and minds of those who realized that they were slaves. It became a primary passion of those who were victims of slavery.

Some Americans are beginning to realize that they are slaves and that if they don't act soon, they will find themselves imprisoned in the electronic concentration camp indefinitely. Mind you, there may not be any chains hanging from the dungeon walls, but it is a prison nonetheless, and we are, without a doubt, inmates serving life sentences.

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Groaning, trumpeting sounds heard in Batangas, Philippines' sky

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Some US hospitals' mark up exceeds 1,000 percent

© Thinkstock

Some 50 hospitals in the United States charge the uninsured and out-of-network patients 10 times what's allowed by Medicare, reports a new public health study.

The study, led by Gerard F. Anderson of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Ge Bai of Washington & Lee University was based on a review of 2012 Medicare costs reports.

"There is no justification for these outrageous rates but no one tells hospitals they can't charge them," Anderson said in a release.

"For the most part, there is no regulation of hospital rates and there are no market forces that force hospitals to lower their rates. They charge these prices simply because they can."

"For-profit hospitals appear to be better players in this price-gouging game," says Bai, an assistant professor of accounting at Washington & Lee University. "They represent only 30 percent of hospitals in the U.S., but account for 98 percent of the 50 hospitals with highest markups."

Those with insurance or seeking in-network care typically pay lower fees negotiated by their insurers.

"Thirty million uninsured Americans are likely to be charged the full rate, as are patients receiving out-of-network care and those receiving workers' compensation or auto insurance benefits," the researchers wrote.

"As a result, uninsured patients, who are often the most vulnerable, face exceptionally high medical bills, often leading to personal bankruptcy, damaged credit scores or the avoidance of needed medical services."

Only Maryland and West Virginia set rates for what hospitals can charge, the researchers said. Federal law does not regulate the hospital rates and most hospitals don't share how much they charge for services.

"This system has the effect of charging the highest prices to the most vulnerable patients and those with the least market power," Anderson said. "The result is a market failure."

Creativity and psychosis share a genetic source

© agsandrew/iStockphoto

Artistic creativity may share genetic roots with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, a new study suggests.

The research, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, delves into a well-known genetic database -- the deCODE library of DNA codes derived from samples provided by the population of Iceland.

The authors first compared genetic and medical data from 86,000 Icelanders, establishing a DNA signature that pointed to a doubled risk for schizophrenia and an increase of a third for bipolar disorder.

The next step was to look at the genomes of people engaged in artistic work.

Those samples came from more than 1000 volunteers who were members of Iceland's national societies of visual arts, theatre, dance, writing and music. Members of these organisations were 17 per cent likelier than non-members to have the same genetic signature, the researchers found.

The finding was supported by four studies in the Netherlands and Sweden covering around 35,000 people, comparing individuals in the general public and those in artistic occupations.

Those investigations used somewhat different parameters but found the probability was even higher, at 23 per cent.

"We are here using the tools of modern genetics to take a systematic look at a fundamental aspect of how the brain works," says the study's first author Dr Kari Stefansson, head of deCODE Genetics.

"The results of this study should not have come as a surprise because to be creative, you have to think differently from the crowd, and we had previously shown that carriers of genetic factors that predispose to schizophrenia do so," he says.

Syrian Electronic Army hacks US Army's army.mil website

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© Wikipedia/ SEA ARMY

The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) group of hackers who support the Syrian government broke into and defaced the US Army's official website on Tuesday redirecting it to an image promoting the Syrian Army.
The US Army's website, army.mil is down as of 5:10 p.m. GMT, but the SEA left an archived copy of the page it was replaced with.

The SEA also apparently gained access to the website's internal databases.


The SEA, known for hacking websites belonging to organizations it considers critical of Syria's government. Most recently, the SEA hacked the 's mobile website on May 14.

The group also previously hacked emails of high-ranking Turkish and Saudi Arabian officials. It is also alleged to have hacked anti-government rebels' smartphones and computers.

In 2013, the SEA hacked former FIFA President Sepp Blatter's Twitter account, using it to make Tweets such as "His excellency the emir of #Qatar has been the most generous figure I have even met" and "I have recommended his excellency prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan as my successor."

Revealed: Israel built and tested dirty bombs

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© AP Photo/ Dan Balilty

The Israeli government, which has never declared what is widely considered to be an extensive nuclear weapons program, built and detonated "dirty bombs" containing nuclear material over years of testing.

The project consisted of 20 detonations with explosives laced with a radioactive substance, according to a report by Israeli newspaper . Mini-drones measured radiation levels and sensors logged the force of the explosions.

In interviews with the paper, researchers were quoted as saying that the tests were only defensive and conducted to see how such an attack by a hostile force would impact the country. Most of the detonations were carried out in the desert and one was performed at a closed facility.


Researchers measured a high level of radiation at the center of the explosions, while a low level of radiation was dispersed by particles carried by the wind. The dispersed radiation is not enough to pose a substantial danger, outside of any possible psychological damage, sources at the reactor told .

The series of tests, dubbed the "Green Field" project, concluded in 2014 after four years of testing; its findings have been presented at scientific gatherings and on nuclear science databases, reported.

Another project, known as "Red House," involved experiments in which a radioactive substance was left in a crowded public space but not exploded. In those tests, researchers put a radioactive material mixed with water in the ventilation system of a building that simulated a shopping mall.

Scientists ultimately found that such an attack would be ineffective as a majority of the radiation remains in air conditioning filters, Haaretz reported.

Israeli defense officials and scientists refused to comment on the report when reached by the Associated Press.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has been very vocal in his criticism of US-led nuclear negotiations with Iran. Netanyahu has warned that lifting sanctions against Iran will enable Tehran to enrich its nuclear program, which he views as a threat to Israel.

Stating the obvious: CIA Director admits US foreign policy causes terrorism

© P Photo/ J. Scott Applewhite

Brennan, who has served as CIA chief since March 2013, offered the following admission during an appearance on :

"I think the president has tried to make sure that we're able to push the envelope when we can to protect this country. But we have to recognize that sometimes our engagement and direct involvement will stimulate and spur additional threats to our national security interests."

But as John Schwarz of the points out, that statement by Brennan contrasts comments he made five years ago - as the White House counterterrorism adviser - in an interview with the late reporter Helen Thomas about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who tried to blow up a US flight over Detroit:

Thomas: And what is the motivation? We never hear what you find out on why.

Brennan: Al Qaeda is an organization that is dedicated to murder and wanton slaughter of innocents ...

Thomas: Why?

Brennan: I think this is a - this is a long issue, but al Qaeda is just determined to carry out attacks here against the homeland.

At his sentencing hearing the following year, Abdulmutallab explained his motivations:

"I [attempted] to attack the United States in retaliation for US support of Israel and in retaliation of the killing of innocent and civilian Muslim populations in Palestine, especially in the blockade of Gaza, and in retaliation for the killing of innocent and civilian Muslim populations in Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and beyond, most of them women, children and noncombatants."

In fact, the government's own sentencing memorandum for Abdulmutallab cites this statement, and points out that trying "to retaliate against government conduct" is part of the legal definition of terrorism.

According to Schwarz, of the :

"So Brennan well understands that our foreign policy causes attacks against Americans. And our legal code specifies that attempting to retaliate against US actions is what makes you a terrorist. Nonetheless, this obvious reality is almost never said out loud by government officials."

That certainly was not laid out by former President George W. Bush who, while addressing Congress after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, said the country had been targeted by "enemies of freedom."

Al Qaeda leaders, he said, "hate ... our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other."

Strange trumpet sounds in the sky over Indonesia

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© Youtube

    
Actually, I've already heard sound like this several times since about 2 years ago. But at that time, I just take it casually. I thought it might be the train's horn. But, fact is, there is no train station or train's rail track near my home. Then I thought it could be the big truck's horn, but truck usually pass through a highway or, at least, a big road. While another fact is my home somewhat away from such a wide road. Then I've been noticed about this global phenomenon until seeing some of the same occurrence happened lately around the world.

Whether it's coincidence or what, I heard this typical sound again on last drizzling night, when I entered my bedroom to sleep, just after watching tv. It was a pretty long and aloud 'horn-like' sounds when I first stepped in that I'd been in rush to take my cellphone, trying to record the rest of this sound-phenomenon.

So, what is this sound exactly? Is that really a prophetic shofar sound from heaven? Or merely a general nature global phenomenon? You decide.

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Comment: There are two more videos published in the same time period from other YouTube users:

From May 30, 2015: "I heard some sound but this is like a nguung nguung, sound from unknown."

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And another posted on May 28, 2015:

"Strange sound from the sky also heard on Sumatera, Indonesia.What will happen to this world ?"

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Idaho School District Says We Can’t Rely on Police, Trains and Arms their Staff

idaho-schools-to-arm-staff

 

Garden Valley, ID — A school district in Idaho has recently made news by purchasing firearms and training members of the staff to use them, in the case of an emergency.

It takes at least 45 minutes for officers to reach the Garden Valley School district, so this measure reduces the dependence on a near useless call to 9-1-1.

The cost isn’t high either, it was reported that the school has only spent $3,500 to purchase ammunition, which is far cheaper than hiring police officers. The rest of the weapons were donated by the community. As a safety measure, what type of weapons and how many weapons is not being disclosed.

It is actually a lot safer too, because now the administrators don’t have to worry about an overzealous cop shooting down a child. Sure, there is always an off chance of a teacher shooting someone, but this his highly unlikely because the teacher would actually face consequences.

“I hope we never have to use them, but in the event something did happen, we wanted to be prepared,” Alan Ward of the Garden Valley school board said.

For an attacker, knowing that they are walking into a firing squad can be a very strong deterrent. On the other hand, under our current “gun-free school zone” policies, attackers are given the message that the whole building will be defenseless.

Of course, the school is being chastised by the anti-gun crowd. According to the Guardian:

Even with training, there is no guarantee teachers and staff will prevent fatalities in a high-stakes situation, said Allison Anderman, a staff attorney with Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a nonprofit opposed to arming teachers.

She added that housing guns in schools could create a chilling effect for students who may be less inclined to speak out knowing that the teacher could be armed.

“Just having people armed doesn’t make a school safer,” Anderman said.

The sheer ignorance in stating that arming people doesn’t make them safer, is mind boggling. Being able to defend against a gun, with a gun, by definition makes one safer.

As many of you who follow my regular work are already aware, I am an advocate of unschooling and homeschooling. I feel that the kind of schooling that we have today is counterproductive and oppressive, so I don’t feel that children should be forced to go to public school to begin with.

There may be a lot of great teachers out there, who care about what they do and have very good intentions, like the world famous educator John Taylor Gatto. But even he found the top down structure of the school system and the curriculum provided is very damaging to the minds of children.

He left public schools by writing his resignation letter in the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal, starting the letter off by saying that he “refuses to continue hurting children.” He then went on to start an incredible career in writing, researching and speaking out about the dangers of compulsory schooling.

This element is important because the public school system combined with other forms of child abuse has worked to create the kind of violent and angry culture that we see today. When you treat people like prisoners and second class citizens for the most vital developmental years of their lives, you are going to create confused, bitter and deranged people. There is still value in group learning settings, and there is still value in teachers, but what we have today is indoctrination, not education.

With that being said, whether we are talking about a place of voluntary group learning in a free society or the compulsory public schools that we see today, the administrators should be armed. A convenience store clerk protects his store with a gun, and by the same logic a teacher or administrator should be able to protect the lives of children with a gun as well.

Cop arrested on child abuse charges after slamming boy to ground at middle school

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© Shutterstock

    
A Florida police officer was arrested on child abuse charges after he was accused of slamming a teenager to the ground.

Mario Badia, a Kissimmee police school resource officer, was placed on paid administrative leave during an investigation of the May 8 incident, which was recorded on surveillance video.

Witnesses said the 40-year-old officer threw the 13-year-old student down, pinned him to the ground, and twisted the boy's arm behind his back in the front office of Kissimmee Middle School.

The teen had been arguing with his mother when the police officer intervened, authorities said. Badia yelled at the boy and attempted to grab his chin to turn the teen's face. The boy raised his hand to block the officer, who then grabbed the teen's shirt and arm, lifted him up, and threw him to the ground.

The officer "torqued" the student's arm behind his back for more than 40 second as the boy screamed in pain, police said. Badia shoved the teen into a desk after he got up.

Police said the boy never showed aggression toward the officer, who was released on $5,000 bond after his arrest.


Comment: The video evidence must have been pretty damning for the police to arrest one of their own and charge him. Clearly police are being taught that no one, not even children, is beyond being beaten and harassed by our increasingly psychopathic police forces in the U.S. The only thing that will force the police to change will be more arrests of officers who are increasingly taking the law into their own hands.

So long U.S. hegemon: GDP of BRICS could surpass G7 in 2-3 years

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© RIA Novosti/Vladimir Fedorenko
Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on International Affairs Alexei Pushkov

    
The GDP of the BRICS countries may surpass that of the G7 within two or three years, as it has already hit $32.5 trillion and rising, claims State Duma Foreign Relations chief Aleksey Pushkov.

"In 2014, the total gross domestic product of BRICS countries reached 30 percent [of the world's GDP - Ed.]. This is less than that of the G7, but the difference is seven or eight percent. The combined GDP of the BRICS countries, according to the International Monetary Fund is $32.5 trillion [by purchasing power parity - Ed.]; the G7's is $34.7 trillion. Given that the BRICS members mostly show much higher growth rates than the G7, we can assume that in the next two or three years the aggregate GDP of the BRICS countries will exceed the G7's," said the head of the State Duma Foreign Relations Committee, Aleksey Pushkov, speaking to reporters at the first BRICS Parliamentary Forum in Moscow.

He went on to say that BRICS should make this Forum regular, preferably annual, and when that happens, it would help to make the world more equitable and multipolar, based not on the superiority of one country over the other, but on the balance of interests.

The economic center of the world is changing, the developed West will have to share its influence and authority in the global arena with players like BRICS, said Pushkov.

Speaking about Western counter-efforts to consolidate and integrate, he mentioned the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the US that aims at tariff reductions and the elimination of regulatory barriers to business.

If signed, it would turn Europe into the branch of the US economy, said Pushkov.

Pushkov's comments were made as G7 leaders were meeting in Kruen in the Bavarian Alps. Russia was expelled from the group last year over reunification with Crimea.

BRICS skyrocketing

Since being established in 2006, the BRICS group has proposed many projects aimed at enhancing business relations between the members.

In July 2014, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa agreed a $100 billion BRICS New Development Bank intended to rival the IMF and World Bank and sponsor business projects of the group.

Russia expects to launch the bank as well as a currency reserve pool worth another $100 billion at the July BRICS summit in Ufa, said Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among other projects is a special business travel card which will simplify visa procedures and boost business between members.

BRICS account for more than 40 percent of the world's population and about 30 percent of the world's GDP.

Former EPA scientist speaks out against GMOs

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A former senior scientist from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been speaking out against GMOs, but his voice is especially noteworthy among the many scientists who talk about genetically modified organisms. Why? Because he studied the impacts of altered crops on the environment. Read on to find out what this expert has to say about a genetically modified world and the 'pesticide treadmill' that biotech has us all running on.

Dr. Ramon Seidler's credentials are nothing to sneeze at. He was a professor of microbiology at Oregon State University for 16 years before he worked at the EPA. He holds many honors, too, including being listed by the International Biographical Centre of Cambridge, England as one of the 2,000 outstanding World Scientists of the 20th Century.

During Seidler's tenure at the EPA, he (along with other scientists) conducted GMO experiments that were contained in indoor environments. The experiments were meant to mimic what happens outside, just as if a farmer had planted a GM crop in Idaho, Michigan, or California. The gene transfer capabilities and survival rates of genetically modified seed were observed. He also observed transgenic DNA and Bt toxin products in agricultural ecosystems.

What he and his scientific peers found was that GE bacteria survived for years in soil, even after it was removed from the plants.

The former professor states that GE crops provide no significant increase in crop yields, but do pose several other major concerns: namely cross-pollination of non-GM species, and negative impacts to the environment. He calls these 'side effects' of broken biotech promises.

He also points out that one-third of the world already has the choice to 'opt-out' of GMOs because their food is labeled, and though Americans overwhelmingly want GM foods to be labeled, they are not.

As other scientists have pointed out, Seidler mentions the fact that very little true research has been conducted by independent scientists at any American universities. Biotech has restricted these studies by requesting that professors sign an agreement prior to the research being completed which forces them to send all results to the biotech companies before being published - ostensibly - to be vetted and discounted should it paint their GM seed in any negative light.

The former scientist says this is nothing short of censorship, and individuals who have conducted years of research are unable to publish their findings in any reputable journals because biotech would simply veto the results.

Seidler also details how the biotechnology industry has parroted the claim that "pesticide use has declined' since they introduced GMOs, but he states this is absolutely untrue. He commented:

"Initially, insecticide use declined due to the effectiveness of Bt toxin in controlling pest insects. However, as time went on glyphosate use increased some 13-fold to control weeds and other non-genetically engineered synthetic chemicals were introduced to control insects as the Bt toxin became ineffective.

Glyphosate has been extensively applied to hundreds of millions of acres of genetically engineered crops, and the residues are in our air, water, and human bodies.

Now virtually all of genetically engineered seeds are coated with insecticides and fungicides and these chemicals have increased some 10-fold in the last 10 years.

When seed coated pesticides are added to those pesticides that are injected into the soil at seed planting, pesticide use climbed back to where it was approximately 10-12 years ago."

This 'pesticide treadmill' as Seidler has dubbed it, has all of us sick, and our soil contaminated.

To read more about a former EPA's stance on GMOs, read the entire interview here.

Why Is the Army hiring people to provide 'emergency support to disaster stricken areas throughout the US'?

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Does the Army expect that there will soon be "disaster stricken" areas all over the country? As you will see in this article, a job advertisement has been posted on a federal website seeking workers that "will provide emergency support to disaster stricken areas throughout the US". This was originally reported by Shepard Ambellas of Intellihub, but it is not receiving nearly as much attention as it perhaps should. What parts of the nation does the U.S. Army believe will soon be "disaster stricken"? By itself, this job ad wouldn't be raising that many eyebrows, but when you combine this with the unusual number of "military training exercises" that are taking place all around the country and with the very strange movements of military equipment that have been reported recently, it gives the appearance that the U.S. military is feverishly making preparations for something big.

You can find the job advertisement that I mentioned above right here. The following is an excerpt from that job posting...

Employees occupying these positions will provide emergency support to disaster stricken areas throughout the US. Employees must pass a stringent medical screening and be prepared to live and work in extremely austere conditions. Work schedule will initially be arduous, with much overtime. Sleeping arrangements may be limited to using a sleeping bag or in the vehicle used to move from location to location. The duty station for pay purposes for these positions is Kennewick, WA with possible 75% or Greater Business Travel in various locations throughout the US.

Provides emergency support to disaster stricken areas throughout the US.
The duty station for pay purposes for these positions is Kennewick, WA.

On the surface, this ad could certainly be interpreted quite a number of different ways. And maybe there is nothing strange about this ad at all. But the reason why it is raising so many eyebrows is because of the overall context of what is happening right now.

An unusual number of large scale military exercises are being held all over America in 2015. In the alternative media, most of the focus has been on the upcoming Jade Helm exercise, but that is only one of many that are being conducted.

And sometimes, local residents are not even being warned in advance that a major exercise is going to be held in their community. This was certainly the case with one that took place in Flint, Michigan recently...

It was a peaceful afternoon, and then residents said it seemingly turned hostile.

"I was standing there, and all of a sudden, boom!" Jean Glenn said.

"I mean it was loud, it blew up the whole sky or whatever, it was like four or five big bangs," Annette Humphrey said.

Explosions you'd expect in a war zone echoed through Flint. People's homes shook and those inside were caught off-guard. It all went down Tuesday at the shuttered Lowell Junior High on the city's east side.

Even though the people living there knew nothing about it until they were caught off guard by the very loud explosions, it turns out that the Army had been planning the exercise for at least six months, and it was all part of a much larger exercise being conducted all over the country...

Flint's spokesman Jason Lorenz said the city has been in talks with the Army for six months now about using parts of the city. This is part of a joint exercise being carried out across the United States.

Yes, holding military exercises in U.S. cities is certainly nothing new. But in 2015 it appears that we are witnessing an unprecedented amount of activity. It is almost as if preparations are being made for some really big event. A recent Intellihub article summarized some of the things that we have been witnessing lately...
  • On March 13th, Intellihub founder Shepard Ambellas detailed photos and documentation of nearly 40 U.S. Army soldiers, wielding training rifles and dressed in full combat gear, participating in an urban warfare style training drill just outside the Texarkana Regional Airport perimeter.
  • In the middle of April, a report out of Big Springs, Texas revealed that a train full of military equipment and over a dozen helicopters had arrived in the town ahead of Jade Helm 2015.
  • Photographs taken in Corona, California a few days later added to the Jade Helm speculation after they showed a MRAP full of what looked to be U.S. Marines driving down the 1-15 freeway. "In broad daylight with not a care in the world"
  • On April 24th a shocking report on Intellihub News detailed armed troops seen confronting angry protesters in a "professional news package"of riot control training released by the military
  • "A massive buildup, a lot of movement and its undeniable at this point," read the headline on April 25th after a convoy was seen in Oroville, California that stretched as far as the eye could see.
  • Moving into May, photographs taken in Indiana showed a massive military convoy heading down the freeway. The photos, taken by a concerned citizen, show the convoy heading west on I-70 for reasons unknown.
  • Two days later, video footage, this time out of Texarkana, Arkansas, highlighted a convoy of Humvees driving down the highway as well as a trainload of military vehicles that was seen shortly after.
  • In mid May, Intellihub reporter Alex Thomas published a detailed report that confirmed that the military was indeed training to take on the American people, this time in the form of domestic house to house raids.
  • The next day a new report, also by Alex Thomas, proved that Marines were actually practicing for the internment of American citizens.
  • On May 18th, a train full of hundreds of military Humvees was spotted, further revealing the increased military buildup across the country leading into Jade Helm 2015. The train was heading towards Cleveland for unknown reasons although a possible connection to planned upcoming protests had been mentioned.
  • This past week a massive military war game simulation called Raider Focus was announced. The war game will include the largest military convoy seen on the roads of Colorado since World War II.
  • On may 23th, Intellihub News reported on pictures sent to ANP that show a 1/4 mile long military train convoy near the Colorado Wyoming border.
  • Finally, a report published this week detailed a stunning propaganda move by the military involving a New Jersey school and the worship of the military on the streets of America. "As parents, teachers, and students looked on with joy, Marines from the Special-Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force landed helicopters on the baseball diamond of a New Jersey school."
Is all of this activity building up to something big?

Do those at the top of the food chain anticipate that some very unusual event will happen later this year?

I wish that I had all the answers. But without a doubt, all of this military activity around the nation seems quite unusual. And of course if the purpose for all of this activity is to prepare for some big event that is coming, they are not going to tell us in advance anyway.