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Friday 12 June 2015

Indian reporter burned to death by police for reporting on local corruption

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Jagendra Singh

They came in the heat of the late afternoon, two cars jammed with enforcers and police officers allied with a local dairy minister. They charged into the reporter's house and reminded him that he had been warned many times that "he should not write anything against the minister."

At least that's what the reporter, Jagendra Singh, told a police official on his deathbed, with 60 percent of his body covered with burns after, he said, the men doused him with gasoline and set him on fire.

It was payback, he said, for his many posts on social media linking Ram Murti Verma, the minister of dairy development in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, to illegal sand mining and taking possession of unoccupied land, two underground activities rampant in the state.

"They warned him that they will not leave his fingers in such a state that they would be able to write anything against the minister," said Mr. Singh's son, Rahul, in a telephone interview on Thursday.

The police in Uttar Pradesh said Thursday that they were investigating the accusations against Mr. Verma and his associates. Amitabh Thakur, a senior police official, went to check on Mr. Singh in his hospital bed in Lucknow, the state capital, before he died on Monday evening, a week after he was burned in the dusty town of Shahjahanpur on June 1.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called this week for an independent inquiry into Mr. Singh's death.

"Given the allegations of police participation, and India's poor track record of solving crimes in connection with reporting on local corruption, the involvement of an independent authority is essential," Sumit Galhotra, a research associate for the group's Asia branch, said in a statement.

The statement noted that the superintendent of police in Shahjahanpur, Babloo Kumar, had denied that Mr. Singh was a journalist and told the organization that Mr. Singh had committed suicide. When reached later by telephone, Mr. Kumar did not repeat those claims, saying only that the investigation was ongoing. Mr. Singh, who had been working in the Hindi news media for 15 years, had written several Facebook posts in recent months accusing Mr. Verma of involvement in illegal activities. His fear for his own safety was apparent, and he said that he had been attacked by the minister's loyalists before.

"Ram Murti Singh Verma can have me killed," Mr. Singh wrote in a post on May 22. "At this time, politicians, thugs, and police, all are after me. Writing the truth is weighing heavily on my life."

While there have been no arrests in the case so far, the police have filed a complaint against six men, including Mr. Verma, in the burning of Mr. Singh, according to Mr. Kumar. A special police team has been set up to investigate the attack.

"Whoever is found guilty, including the minister, will be arrested accordingly," said Mr. Kumar, the police superintendent. "Nobody will be spared."

Indian journalists say that their safety has long been compromised, particularly in small towns where the local authorities can wield enormous power.

According to the Press Council of India, a statutory press watchdog group, 79 journalists were murdered in the past two and a half years in India, with very few convictions. The International News Safety Institute, based in Britain, put the number slightly lower in a report this year— 69 journalists killed from 2004 to 2014.

That made India the fifth most dangerous country for journalists, after Iraq, the Philippines, Pakistan and Mexico. India placed 13th on the Committee to Protect Journalists' annual global impunity index from 2014.

Woman accused of locking child in hot car arrives at court, leaves kids in parked vehicle again...

© Reuters/Francois Lenoir

A Virginia woman going to court to turn herself in and face charges for leaving a child in a hot car locked her kids in a vehicle outside the courthouse. She picked up an additional charge, has been arrested and denied bail.

Laquanda Newby, 25, was slapped with three counts of contributing to the delinquency or abuse of a child after police said she left her kids in a vehicle, outside the Henrico County Courthouse on June 8, as well as for a previous incident.

Following a tip off, police found the woman's children outside the court, in a car with the windows shut.

"Their shirts were wet, sweat rolling off their brows," Henrico Sheriff's Capt. David Kinkle told WTVR. "They seemed to be OK, but it was very hot."

The temperatures were reportedly in the 90's, and officials were not able to say how long the children had been left in the car, but surveillance footage showed they had been there for more than an hour.

"Had a citizen not alerted us to this, it's a situation that would've turned out much differently," Henrico Sheriff's Capt. David Kinkle said.

Officers gave the children, aged six and one, water and snacks until their father came and picked them up.

Newby was arrested, charged and booked into the Henrico Jail. She has been denied bail.

The mother was attending the courthouse for previously leaving a child in a car when she went shopping on May 26. When police arrived they found Newby by her car, but could not arrest her because the officer hadn't witnessed the alleged crime. She promised to turn herself in, hence her visit to the court on Monday.

More than 600 US children have died from being left in cars since 1990 as a result of heatstroke, according to the nonprofit safety group, Kids and Cars.

Here's the CIA's Just-Released Top Secret File on Saudi Ties to 9/11

True to form, the CIA waited until 4:16 p.m. EDT this afternoon to release a trove of documents related to the September 11 attacks. Deep within one of those documents is a section on everything the agency learned after 9/11 about “Issues Relating to Saudi Arabia.” We can now share it here for the first time.

The Saudi Arabia findings comprise literally the final section, the last 30 pages, of the CIA’s massive, 495-page master report—completed in 2005 and never revealed before—on who was accountable for what intelligence failures in the September 11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. High-level Saudi involvement in the attacks has long been suggested by many parties in the know; several members of Congress and the 9/11 Commission have urged the release of a still-secret 28-page excerpt of the commission report, believed to detail connections between the House of Saud and the Al Qaeda hijackers. But the U.S.’s special security relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and its reliance on foreign oil, give the federal government incentives to keep that knowledge under wraps.

New claims from the so-called "20th hijacker" have bolstered the almost-unthinkable… Read more Read more

With that in mind, here are the highlights of the CIA’s findings on Saudi Arabia, with a complete version of the PDF embedded below them.

Here’s the first page:

Here's the CIA's Just-Released Top Secret File on Saudi Ties to 9/11

Here is the first of several figures and diagrams:

Here's the CIA's Just-Released Top Secret File on Saudi Ties to 9/11

Here is a subsection on “implications”:

Here's the CIA's Just-Released Top Secret File on Saudi Ties to 9/11

And a subsection on who was accountable:

Here's the CIA's Just-Released Top Secret File on Saudi Ties to 9/11

Here is the only unredacted text in the entire section, filling up slightly less than one of its 30 pages:

The report emphasized that the JI had made “no final determinations as to the reliability or sufficiency of the information” regarding Saudi Issues raised by its inquiry.

Assessment of the finding

Many of the points of this finding relate to the investigative efforts on the Saudi intelligence presence in the United States and of Saudi officials’ contacts with terrorists in the country, and, as such, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) 9/11 Review Team defers consideration of these to the Department of Justice and the FBI. The Team lacks access to the full range of investigative materials in FBI possession and is therefore unable to either concur or dissent on those points. In addition, the Team encountered no evidence that the Saudi Government knowingly and willingly supported al-Qa’ida terrorists. Individuals in both the Near East Division (NE) and the Counterterrorist Center [REDACTED] told the Team they had not seen any reliable reporting confirming Saudi Government involvement with and financial support for terrorism prior to 9/11, although a few also speculated that dissident sympathizers within the government may have aided al-Qa’ida. A January 1999 Directorate of Intelligence (DI) Office of Transnational Issues Intelligence Report on Bin Ladin’s finances indicated that “limited” reporting suggested that “a few Saudi Government officials” may support Usama Bin Ladin (UBL) but added that the reporting was “too sparse to determine with any accuracy” such support. None of the Saudi Government officials named in that report was a member of a [REDACTED FOR 26 MORE PAGES]

Read the entire documenton “Issues Relating to Saudi Arabia” below, and consider yourself fortunate to live in a nation that is so transparent with the citizenry about its shortcomings and its ill-advised strategic arrangements.

Read the entire documenton “Issues Relating to Saudi Arabia” below, and consider yourself fortunate to live in a nation that is so transparent with the citizenry about its shortcomings and its ill-advised strategic arrangements.

American Dreaming - From G1 To Bilderberg

What’s the connection between the G7 summit in Germany, President Putin’s visit to Italy, the Bilderberg club meeting in Austria, and the TTIP – the US-EU free trade deal – negotiations in Washington?

We start at the G7 in the Bavarian Alps – rather G1 with an added bunch of “junior partners” - as US President Barack Obama gloated about his neo-con induced feat; regiment the EU to soon extend sanctions on Russia even as the austerity-ravaged EU is arguably hurting even more than Russia.

Predictably, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande caved in – even after being forced by realpolitik to talk to Russia and jointly carve the Minsk-2 agreement.

The hypocrisy-meter in the Bavarian Alps had already exploded with a bang right at the pre-dinner speech by EU Council President Donald Tusk, former Prime Minister of Poland and certified Russophobe/warmonger: “All of us would have preferred to have Russia round the G7 table. But our group is not only a group (that shares) political or economic interests, but first of all this is a community of values. And that is why Russia is not among us.”

So this was all about civilized “values” against “Russian aggression.”

The “civilized” G1 + junior partners could not possibly argue whether they would collectively risk a nuclear war on European soil over a Kiev-installed ‘Banderastan’, sorry, “Russian aggression.”

Instead, the real fun was happening behind the scenes. Washington factions were blaming Germany for making the West lose Russia to China, while adult minds in the EU – away from the Bavarian Alps – blamed Washington.

Even juicier is a contrarian view circulating among powerful Masters of the Universe in the US corporate world, not politics. They fear that in the next two to three years France will eventually re-ally with Russia (plenty of historical precedents). And they – once again – identify Germany as the key problem, as in Berlin forcing Washington to get involved in a Prussian ‘Mitteleuropa’ Americans fought two wars to prevent.

 

As for the Russians – from President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov downwards - a consensus has emerged; it’s pointless to discuss anything substantial considering the pitiful intellectual pedigree – or downright neo-con stupidity - of the self-described “Don’t Do Stupid Stuff” Obama administration policy makers and advisers. As for the “junior partners” – mostly EU minions – they are irrelevant, mere Washington vassals.

It would be wishful thinking to expect the civilized “values” gang to propose alternatives for the overwhelming majority of citizens of G7 nations getting anything other than Mac-jobs, or barely surviving as hostages of finance-junkie turbo-capitalism which only benefits the one percent.Rather easier to designate the proverbial scapegoat – Russia – and proceed with NATO-infused fear/warmongering rhetoric.

Iron Lady Merkel also found time to pontificate on climate change – instilling all and sundry to invest in a “low-carbon global economy.” Few noticed that the alleged deadline for full “decarbonization” was set for the end of the 21st century, when this planet will be in deep, deep trouble.

 

Achtung! Bilderberg!

Obama’s neocon-induced newspeak continues to rule that Russia dreams of recreating the Soviet empire. Now compare it to what President Putin is telling Europe.

Last week, Putin found time to give an interview to the Milan-based Corriere della Sera at 2 am; the interview was published as the Bavarian Alps show went on, and ahead of Putin’s June 10 visit to Italy. Russia’s geopolitical interests and US- Russia relations are depicted in excruciating detail.

So Putin was a persona non grata at the G1 plus junior partners? Well, in Italy he visited the Milan Expo; met Prime Minister Renzi and Pope Francis; reminded everyone about the “privileged economic and political ties” between Italy and Russia; and stressed the 400 Italian companies active in Russia and the million Russian tourists who visit Italy every year.

Crucially, he also evoked that consensus; Russia had represented an alternative view as a member of the G8, but now “other powers” felt they no longer needed it. The bottom line: it’s impossible to have an adult conversation with Obama and friends.

And right on cue, from Berlin –where he was displaying his sterling foreign policy credentials, Jeb Bush, brother of destroyer of Iraq Dubya Bush, fully scripted by his neocon advisers, declared Putin a bully and rallied Europe to fight, what else, “Russian aggression.”

The rhetorical haze over what was really discussed in the Bavarian Alps only began to dissipate at the first chords of the real sound of music; the Bilderberg Group meeting starting this Thursday at the Interalpen-Hotel Tyrol in Austria, only three days after the G1 plus junior partners.

Possible conspiracies aside, Bilderberg may be defined as an ultra-select bunch of elite lobbyists – politicians, US corporate honchos, EU officials, captains of industry, heads of intelligence agencies, European royals - organized annually in a sort of informal think tank/policy-forming format, to advance globalization and all crucial matters related to the overall Atlanticist agenda. Call it the prime Atlanticist Masters of the Universe talkfest.

To make things clear – not that they are big fans of transparency - the composition of the steering committee is here. And this is what they will be discussing in Austria.

Naturally they will be talking about “Russian aggression” (as in who cares about failed Ukraine; what we need is to prevent Russia from doing business with Europe).

Naturally they will be talking about Syria (as in the partition of the country, with the Caliphate already a fact of post-Sykes-Picot life).

Naturally they will be talking about Iran (as in let’s do business, buy their energy and bribe them into joining our club).

But the real deal is really the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) – the alleged “free trade” deal between the US and the EU. Virtually all major business/finance lobbyists for the TTIP will be under the same Austrian roof.

And not by accident Bilderberg starts one day before “fast track” presidential authority is to be debated at the US Congress.

 

WikiLeaks and a ton of BRICS

Enter WikiLeaks, with what in a fairer world would be a crucial spanner in the works.

The fast track authority would extend US presidential powers for no less than six years; that includes the next White House tenant, which might well be ‘The Hillarator’ or Jeb “Putin is a bully” Bush.

This presidential authority to negotiate dodgy deals includes not only the TTIP but also the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA).

WikiLeaks, just in time, published the Healthcare Annex to the secret draft “Transparency” chapter of the TPP, along with each country’s negotiating position. No wonder this draft is secret. And there’s nothing “transparent” about it; it’s an undisguised hold-up of national healthcare authorities by Big Pharma.

The bottom line is that these three mega-deals – TTP, TTIP and TiSA – are the ultimate template of what could be politely described as global corporate governance, a Bilderberg wet dream. The losers: nation-states, and the very concept of Western democracy. The winners: mega-corporations.

Julian Assange, in a statement, succinctly nailed itIt is a mistake to think of the TPP as a single treaty. In reality there are three conjoined mega-agreements, the TiSA, the TPP and the TTIP, all of which strategically assemble into a grand unified treaty, partitioning the world into the West versus the rest. This 'Great Treaty' is described by the Pentagon as the economic core to the US military's 'Asia Pivot.' The architects are aiming no lower than the arc of history. The Great Treaty is taking shape in complete secrecy, because along with its undebated geostrategic ambitions it locks into place an aggressive new form of transnational corporatism for which there is little public support."

 

So this is the real Atlanticist agenda – the final touches being applied in the arc spanning the G1 + added junior partners to Bilderberg (expect a lot of crucial phone calls from Austria to Washington this Friday). NATO on trade. Pivoting to Asia excluding Russia and China. The West vs. the rest.

Now for the counterpunch. As the show in the Bavarian Alps unrolled, the first BRICS Parliamentarian Forum was taking place in Moscow – ahead of the BRICS summit in Ufa next month.

Neocons – with Obama in tow - knock themselves out dreaming that Russia has become “isolated” from the rest of the world because of their sanctions. Since then Moscow has signed major economic/strategic contracts with at least twenty nations. Next month, Russia will host the BRICS summit – 45 percent of the world’s population, a GDP equivalent to the EU, and soon bigger than the current G7 – as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, when India and Pakistan, currently observers, will be accepted as full members.

G1 plus junior partners? Bilderberg? Get a job; you’re not the only show in town, any town.

Fast-tracking of TiSA and the destructive block of monetary reform

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In March 2014, the Bank of England let the cat out of the bag: money is just an IOU, and the banks are rolling in it. So wrote David Graeber in the same month, referring to a BOE paper called "Money Creation in the Modern Economy." The paper stated outright that most common assumptions of how banking works are simply wrong. The result, said Graeber, was to throw the entire theoretical basis for austerity out of the window.

The revelation may have done more than that. The entire basis for maintaining our private extractive banking monopoly may have been thrown out the window. And that could help explain the desperate rush to "fast track" not only the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), but the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). TiSA would nip attempts to implement public banking and other monetary reforms in the bud.

The Banking Game Exposed

The BOE report confirmed what money reformers have been saying for decades: that banks do not act simply as intermediaries, taking in the deposits of "savers" and lending them to borrowers, keeping the spread in interest rates. Rather, banks actually create deposits when they make loans. The BOE report said that private banks now create 97 percent of the British money supply. The US money supply is created in the same way.

Graeber underscored the dramatic implications:

. . . [M]oney is really just an IOU. The role of the central bank is to preside over a legal order that effectively grants banks the exclusive right to create IOUs of a certain kind, ones that the government will recognise as legal tender by its willingness to accept them in payment of taxes. There's really no limit on how much banks could create, provided they can find someone willing to borrow it.

Politically, said Graeber, revealing these facts is taking an enormous risk:

Just consider what might happen if mortgage holders realised the money the bank lent them is not, really, the life savings of some thrifty pensioner, but something the bank just whisked into existence through its possession of a magic wand which we, the public, handed over to it.

If money is just an IOU, why are we delivering the exclusive power to create it to an unelected, unaccountable, non-transparent private banking monopoly? Why are we buying into the notion that the government is broke - that it must sell off public assets and slash public services in order to pay off its debts? The government could pay its debts in the same way private banks pay them, simply with accounting entries on its books. What will happen when a critical mass of the populace realizes that we've been vassals of a parasitic banking system based on a fraud - that we the people could be creating money as credit ourselves, through publicly-owned banks that returned the profits to the people?

Henry Ford predicted that a monetary revolution would follow. There might even be a move to nationalize the whole banking system and turn it into a public utility.

It is not hard to predict that the international bankers and related big-money interests, anticipating this move, would counter with legislation that locked the current system in place, so that there was no way to return money and banking to the service of the people - even if the current private model ended in disaster, as many pundits also predict.

And that is precisely the effect of the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), which was slipped into the "fast track" legislation now before Congress. It is also the effect of the bail-in policies currently being railroaded into law in the Eurozone, and of the suspicious "war on cash" seen globally; but those developments will be the subject of another article.

TiSA Exposed

On June 3, 2015, WikiLeaks released 17 key documents related to TiSA, which is considered perhaps the most important of the three deals being negotiated for "fast track" trade authority. The documents were supposed to remain classified for five years after being signed, displaying a level of secrecy that outstrips even the TPP's four-year classification.

TiSA involves 51 countries, including every advanced economy except the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). The deal would liberalize global trade in services covering close to 80% of the US economy, including financial services, healthcare, education, engineering, telecommunications, and many more. It would restrict how governments can manage their public laws, and it could dismantle and privatize state-owned enterprises, turning those services over to the private sector.

Recall the secret plan devised by Wall Street and U.S. Treasury officials in the 1990s to open banking to the lucrative derivatives business. To pull this off required the relaxation of banking regulations not just in the US but globally, so that money would not flee to nations with safer banking laws. The vehicle used was the Financial Services Agreement concluded under the auspices of the World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The plan worked, and most countries were roped into this "liberalization" of their banking rules. The upshot was that the 2008 credit crisis took down not just the US economy but economies globally.

TiSA picks up where the Financial Services Agreement left off, opening yet more doors for private banks and other commercial service industries, and slamming doors on governments that might consider opening their private banking sectors to public ownership.

Blocking the Trend Toward "Remunicipalization"

In a report from Public Services International called "TISA versus Public Services: The Trade in Services Agreement and the Corporate Agenda," Scott Sinclair and Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood note that the already formidable challenges to safeguarding public services under GATS will be greatly exasperated by TiSA, which blocks the emerging trend to return privatized services to the public sector. Communities worldwide are reevaluating the privatization approach and "re-municipalizing" these services, following negative experiences with profit-driven models. These reversals typically occur at the municipal level, but they can also occur at the national level.

One cited example is water remunicipalization in Argentina, Canada, France, Tanzania and Malaysia, where an increasing frustration with broken promises, service cutoffs to the poor, and a lack of integrated planning by private water companies led to a public takeover of the service.

Another example is the remunicipalization of electrical services in Germany. Hundreds of German municipalities have remunicipalized private electricity providers or have created new public energy utilities, following dissatisfaction with private providers' inflated prices and poor record in shifting to renewable energy. Remunicipalization has brought electricity prices down. Other sectors involved in remunicipalization projects include public transit, waste management, and housing.

Sinclair and Mertins-Kirkwood observe:

The TISA would limit and may even prohibit remunicipalization because it would prevent governments from creating or reestablishing public monopolies or similarly "uncompetitive" forms of service delivery. . . .

Like GATS Article XVI, the TISA would prohibit public monopolies and exclusive service suppliers in fully committed sectors, even on a regional or local level. Of particular concern for remunicipalization projects are the proposed "standstill" and "ratchet" provisions in TISA. The standstill clause would lock in current levels of services liberalization in each country, effectively banning any moves from a market-based to a state-based provision of public services. This clause . . . would prohibit the creation of public monopolies in sectors that are currently open to private sector competition.

Similarly, the ratchet clause would automatically lock in any future actions taken to liberalize services in a given country. . . . [I]f a government did decide to privatize a public service, that government would be unable to return to a public model at a later date.

That means we can forget about turning banking and credit services into public utilities. TiSA is a one-way street. Industries once privatized remain privatized.

The disturbing revelations concerning TiSA are yet another reason to try to block these secretive trade agreements.

Flush the TPP

The Citizens Trade Campaign

Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch

Eyes on Trade

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Lightening strike sparks wildfire near San Francisco, California

© Jennifer Lance
Saddle Fire Trinity County

An out-of-control wildfire raging through a Northern California forest as the state battles a devastating drought has forced authorities to warn about 250 people to evacuate or prepare to leave their homes in a remote town, officials said on Friday.

The fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest follows an outbreak of lightning-sparked blazes in neighboring Oregon that prompted authorities to warn residents that drought and low mountain snowpack could lead to a destructive fire season.

California's so-called Saddle Fire has charred at least 880 acres (360 hectares) since a lightning strike sparked it on Tuesday, officials said.

The flames are tearing through forest land, much of it in areas scorched by a 2004 blaze that has left dead and downed trees on the ground which could provide ample fuel for the latest wildfire, said Shasta-Trinity National Forest spokeswoman Andrea Capps.

Also the area has many damaged trees with limbs at risk of falling, Capps said. Firefighters have not managed to build any solid containment lines against the wildfire.

"It makes it a really dangerous situation for our firefighters out in the field," she said.

Authorities placed a handful of residents on the outskirts of Hyampom, a town about 200 miles (320 km) north of San Francisco, under mandatory evacuation orders on Wednesday and told the rest of the town of about 250 people to prepare to leave if flames get near, said Trinity County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Lynn Ward. Those orders remain in place.

One front of the fire is just a couple miles north of the town, and if it advances to the southeast the blaze could destroy homes, Capps said. So far, the blaze has not destroyed any structures.

Nearly 200 firefighters are battling the fire, setting backfires to clear trees that could be consumed by the blaze and dropping flame retardant by helicopter, she said.

The wildfire is the first major Northern California blaze in an annual fire season that normally runs from June to September in that region, Capps said. It also is the nation's highest-priority wildfire, she said.

Since it began, the fire has advanced in the late afternoon hours when winds and heat increase and moisture levels drop, Capps said.

"We have lots of resources out there, we're feeling good about the people we have on the ground, we feel hopeful about being able to catch this in the next few days," she said.

Peddler's Permit required: Cops crack down on lemonade stand run by little girls

Remember when you were a kid, and summer came, and you and your siblings or friends decided it would be fun to make and sell lemonade to your neighbors?

People came by and bought little cups of your refreshing, sugary thirst-quencher when they were taking breaks from mowing their lawns or gardening.

Maybe, like me, you even sold homemade cookies to go with your lemonade. Neighbors complimented your drink-mixing and baking skills and tossed a little extra change in your money jar.

Yeah, those days are over.

You see, nowadays, you need a PERMIT to do that.

Two creative young ladies in Overton, Texas found this out the hard way earlier this week. Sisters Andria and Zoey Green wanted to raise $105.00 to buy their dad a special Father's Day gift, so they set up a lemonade stand.

"We were trying to raise some money to take our dad to Splash Kingdom," 8-year-old Andria explained.

Zoey described their business plan to KCTV:

"We had kettle corn and lemonade. The lemonade was for 50 cents and the kettle corn was a dollar, but if you got both it was a dollar."

An hour and $25 in earnings later, the Fun Police showed up and ruined everything.

"We were there for about an hour and the police department pulled up, code enforcement officer and the chief. She pulled me to the side and said we needed a permit," said their mother, Sandi Green Evans.

"I felt a little confused. I was like, what is, what is going on here?" said Andria.

The city agreed to waive the $150 fee for the "Peddler's Permit," but the girls' mother said they hit another obstacle: they were told they'd have to get licensed by the Rusk County Health Department before being allowed the permit.

A . To sell lemonade and kettle corn.

What planet are we on, again?

"Texas House Bill 970, or the Texas Baker's Bill, prohibits the sale of food which requires time or temperature control to prevent spoilage. Since lemonade technically must be refrigerated to prevent the growth of bacteria, by law, the girls can not sell it without an inspection and permit," explains KCTV.

The girls' mother said, "I think that's ridiculous. I think they're 7 and 8 and they're just trying to make money for their own cause."

I think most rational people would agree with her.

Oh, except for Police Chief Clyde Carter, who said it is the LAW and Overton police are going to enforce it:

"We have to follow by the state health guidelines. They have to have a permit if they're going to do the lemonade stands."

The girls obviously had to stop selling their goodies.

Thankfully, publicity surrounding the story led to generous donations from local businesses.

"We received free passes to Splash Kingdom, where the girls wanted to take their dad for Father's Day," Evans said. "We got them from the owners of the theme park and then again from a radio station." They were also given free tickets to Six Flags.

The girls were also given $200 in donations, but they aren't keeping the money:

"We do have so many positives coming out of this, and since I don't feel right keeping the money now that they got their dad's gift for free, we're going to give away the extra tickets and set up scholarships with the donations they've collected," Evans said. "We're going to give the scholarship to a local graduating high school senior majoring in business management."

Here, the girls talk about their first run-in with The Law:

[embedded content]

Paranoid patriotism: We're trapped in vicious cycle of militarism, says US Army colonel

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© © Flickr/ The US Army

Americans have come to the point where they fear they can't live without war, US Army Colonel Gregory A. Daddis said, adding that the US' addiction to war is fed by "paranoid patriotism."

Since the end of the Second World War Americans have found themselves trapped in a vicious cycle of warmongering, fed by constant fear of an external threat, noted Gregory A. Daddis, a US Army colonel and a professor of history at the United States Military Academy.

Throughout the Cold War American policy makers spoke "in apocalyptic terms" about a major threat presented the Soviets and Communism. Remarkably, nothing has changed since the collapse of the USSR, and "the gravest threat looms continuously on the horizon," the colonel pointed out.

"The 2015 National Security Strategy, published in February, offers a case in point. While acknowledging America's growing economic strength and the benefits of moving beyond the large ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the document stresses the 'risks of an insecure world.' Despite its global power and reach, the United States, we are told, faces a 'persistent risk of attacks,'" Gregory A. Daddis emphasized.

Washington still persists in creating the atmosphere of inevitable doom, referring to the substantial threat purportedly posed by Russia, or China, or by omnipresent terrorists.

A series of overseas military interventions have not dispelled Americans' illusory fears, instead they have only strengthened the positions of proponents of a "perpetual war." Citing American political scientist Andrew J. Bacevich, Daddis underscored that "the seduction of war" obscures rational thinking prompting individuals to equate American superiority with military superiority.

The US colonel called attention to the sheer hypocrisy of those who insisted that the US' interventions were meant to promote "freedom" and "democracy." According to the expert, explanations of the necessity of war have always been aimed at downplaying "the economic aspects of global engagement."

"Americans traditionally have been uncomfortable with the word "empire," even if its current form suggests securing economic access abroad rather than promoting traditional colonialism... War meant liberty triumphing over evil rather than promoting the nation's economic interests abroad," he emphasized.

Furthermore, the US has been entrapped by both the idea of America's indispensability and a deep-seated fear of no longer being "the indispensable nation," the colonel remarked adding that this condition has been dubbed "paranoid patriotism" by philosopher Kelly Oliver.

Maintaining Washington's supremacy at all costs has made Americans "suspicious" of any world power or entity that might undermine the US' "self-affirmed global position," feeding its addiction to war, Colonel Daddis elaborated.

"In reality, we don't want peace. We're not just entranced by war. We have come to a point where we fear we can't live without it. War has become a means to deal with our fears, while our fears have become a justification for more war," the American colonel highlighted.

However, the time has come to reconsider this stance, the expert noted. US interventionism is only escalating military conflicts and is threatening the fragile global stability, stressed the colonel referring to a new potential US Middle East incursion and long-standing latent confrontation with China.

"After more than a decade of war, the time has come for us to move beyond our state of national insecurity. Paranoia does not equal preparedness," Daddis stressed.

"We need to stop conforming to the relentless militarization afflicting our national mental health. And, above all, we need to stop being so afraid," he concluded.

West Point Operation Desert Storm Iraqi Freedom.

DHS agent harassed for investigating corruption in immigration program

© Still from Youtube video

After voicing concerns about an obscure US immigration program for foreign investors, a Department of Homeland Security agent says she was barred from owning a personal firearm and almost lost custody of her one-year-old adopted daughter.

Taylor Johnson, a senior special agent with a division of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Thursday. She was at a hearing alongside several other whistleblowers who claim that they have also faced harassment for speaking out against their agencies wrongdoings.

Johnson told the committee her problems started after investigating the so-called EB-5 program, which offers visas to foreign investors. When she questioned whether visas were being approved with enough scrutiny, her managers began to receive complaints about her queries. She was removed from the investigation and the case was closed.

"Some of the violations investigated surrounding the project included bank and wire fraud, and I discovered ties to organized crime and high-ranking politicians and they received promotions that appeared to facilitate the program," Johnson testified.

The whistleblower discovered that "EB-5 applicants from China, Russia, Pakistan, Malaysia had been approved in as little as 16 days" and that case files didn't have "the basic and necessary law enforcement queries."

[embedded content]


Johnson told the committee her gun was confiscated. She mentioned her access to her workplace and government databases were revoked and the government vehicle she used was also taken away. "I was told I couldn't even carry or own a personal weapon, which is a constitutional rights violation," she added.

"When an adoption social worker tried to contact and verify employment, she was told that I had been terminated for a criminal offense," Johnson said, choking up. "I almost lost my one-year-old-child."

Johnson's testimony comes as the EB-5 program is already under intense criticism due to a report released in March by the DHS' inspector general John Roth. Roth's report concluded that Homeland Security deputy secretary Alejandro Mayorkas violated ethics rules by intervening as the head of USCIS on several occasions in EB-5 visa cases involving prominent Democrats, such as Senator Harry Reid and Governor Terry McAuliffe.

Mayorkas has since said, "I regret the perception my own involvement created." It is unclear however if Johnson's investigation concerned Mayorkas or any of his associates.

Is US 'Banana Republicland' headed the way of Zimbabwe?

Image
My last piece was quite long and involved, some liked it and "got it", others not so much. The breaking of confidence was the point I was trying to get to. I intend to try again with this writing but from a different viewpoint. Today, rather than continuing to hammer away at the fraud, collusion, and upside down logic of global politics, economics and finance, let's look at a real world case. I received a rather long note from a reader earlier this week who was visiting of all places ...Zimbabwe! I did not ask "why" he was visiting and can only imagine, but in light of where "we are going" it is fortuitous for us to have a pair of boots on the ground! The following is "the heart" of what he wrote. Please read this twice so it really sets in, I will comment afterward and hopefully this exercise will "make you think".

...First Hand from Zimbabwe;

"Yes, they try to sell you their funny colored money with lots of zeros on it ROFL. They seem offended when you decline their offers. I told the guy I bought some off of ebay, and got the "deer in headlights" look back. I just moved on.

Anyway, met a guy who was friendly so started chatting.

This is first hand from someone who grew up here, born here, lived through the hyperinflation, had a real job, parents, house, savings, etc. I just asked him things point blank: what happened and what did you do during that period just to see what reality was.

His parents were pretty well off, brits of course, retired (or very close) for a normal Zimbabwean. Considerable savings. Not a mil USD (equivalent) but up there ($250K-$500K'ish I think in hard savings).

He said:

"They went from set for life here in Zim to not being able to afford a loaf of bread in 2 days."

(these were his exact words, not mine, not a paraphrase, the exact statement, I remember it clear as day, and this was only 2 hrs ago).

The first question of course I followed with was: Um, why they didn't buy gold? And here you have the story:

He said his parents were very conservative and placed complete trust in the system and the gov. It would never even occur to them to do something like that, and he said they said it would be way way too risky to do something like that (not because it was illegal or anything, but because gold was viewed as risky, asset wise!).

He said he might (!!) do gold next time. His first response was he'll buy a few barrels of oil and keep them in his back yard to sell/barter LOL. Seriously. But he said, yeah, gold would be worth doing next time. I honestly don't think that this option had occurred to him yet even to this very day, until I asked him this question. That's just the feeling I got, as he had to pause like he was thinking about do the head nod (thinking, thinking....) what I just said before he answered.

So even now, if it happened AGAIN, the people would not necessarily turn to gold (wow, wow, and wow!). They would all instead INSTANTLY convert everything (it seemed he was indicating) into dollars to be safe! (another wow, wow, and wow)!


I told him the USD was likely on it's way towards hyper'ing also. He seemed quite (totally) surprised. He said, he thought the EUR was headed that way, but not the USD. It seems that Zimbabwe feels the dollar is now, and always, solid as a rock."
First, please remember this was a conversation with just one person so it is by no means even a "sampling". It was however a conversation with someone "who had something ...and lost it all". The story is important in my opinion for several reasons I will touch on.

"Mathematically", the U.S. dollar is headed for the inferno of hyperinflation. There is no argument on this point from anyone with intelligence. Even Harry Dent and Martin Armstrong the most staunch "deflationists" around admit the final chapter is that of wildly high gold prices (which means a breakdown of confidence in the dollar). The difference between "them and us" is "how" we get there? I believe we have already been witnessing the "squeeze" and run into the dollar as a "safe haven", they see it as a continuing and future event.


The absolute most important thing to take from our reader's comments is this line He said: "They went from set for life here in Zim to not being able to afford a loaf of bread in 2 days." Yes I know, something in your gut is telling you "but we aren't Zimbabwe", the U.S. is far more sophisticated, has the greatest military in the world and of course the "it can never happen here" syndrome is chirping in the back of your mind. Let me say this, "NO, we are not Zimbabwe, what a shame!". I might have lost or confused you here and I'll get to this in a moment.
"Banana Republicland" (debt to GDP ratios of 100% or more) is now occupied by a large percentage of the world's sovereign nations. The U.S. has more than a 100% debt to GDP ratio just using "funded" or on books debt. The ratio goes ballistic and out of control when you add in "guarantees and future obligations". After researching the Zimbabwe situation, their debt to GDP number was not greater than Japan's currently and approximately (180%) equal to that of Greece ...with Italy slightly behind. My point is this, the debt to GDP ratio in the U.S. when everything is included is some God awful number, maybe 500% or even multiples more! I have news for you, we are already Zimbabwe on STEROIDS! Before commenting further, I will refute the obvious, "but the U.S. has the strongest military in the world ...probably yes, but we are stretched out with many various "scopes" targeted at us. The days of "forcing" the dollar on the rest of the world are waning very quickly! World War 3 will be our main concern should the U.S. try to "force" dollar dominance. All you need to do is look around, the ROW [rest of the world] is and has been angered by our "forcing" the use of dollars. They have been reacting by doing trade to the EXCLUSION of the dollar. The days where our military could foist the dollar on the world are over!

I mentioned above, "it is a shame we are NOT Zimbabwe", can you guess why? Because the U.S. still "has" (or believes it does) mass wealth. Yes we have really split into the have's and have not's as the middle class has been attacked and fallen into the have not category but ...our living standard is far advanced from Zimbabwe's in general. We have more to lose. In other words, "it is better to have never had than to fall from grace". Zimbabweans lost their savings, on average their "fall" in living standards is miniscule to an event like that happening in the U.S.. Not to mention the unrest and riots we will see when people who were previously "entitled" ...wake up to nothing! As an analogy, their fall was off the bottom rung, ours from a skyscraper! A very timely side note, while writing this article, the Zimbabwe dollar will officially "go away" (see here)

I also found it curious that this person had not "figured out" gold and to this day still has a feeling of "risk" when it comes to the metal. Stepping back for a moment, why do you suppose invading forces ALWAYS steal their captor's gold rather than the currency and the plates to make the currency? Please don't tell me I am living in Roman times, or the Middle Ages, or Napoleonic times. I am not even living in WW I or II times, as recently as the last several years, Iraqi, Ukrainian, Greek and Libyan gold has ALL been pilfered! Ask yourself this question, if the U.S. was invaded, would our conquerors steal our dollars or break into our vaults in search of gold (maybe to a very bad and empty surprise?)?

Please think this through for yourself, can we in the U.S. and the West in general wake up to closed markets and panic conditions? Do you really believe paper currency will become more valuable (for more than a week or two) if the debt markets and derivatives are closed with no bids? Do you really believe gold and silver will be "offered" in any fashion except maybe for something you have as barter? I still cannot get over the deflationists argument the dollar will strengthen in this scenario. The killer question of course is this, where exactly should (can) we store all of these valuable notes and digits "safely"? I suspect there will be a run on wheel barrows and those old "Radio Flyer" wagons will actually again have a function beyond their antique value!

Regards, Bill Holter
Holter-Sinclair collaboration
Comments welcome! [email protected]

Electricity can make you see hovering shapes

© Tiago Sousa

There is a term for the little glowing shapes that temporarily appear when you rub your eyes or bang your head - phosphenes. In the 1930s, a German scientist found ways to make them appear via the use of electricity, and later the use of drugs.

Phosphenes can be caused by all kinds of things. The simplest ones are the little points of light that appear whenever you rub your eyes. Things get a little more complex when you take a hit to the head. Smacks to the visual cortex tend to result in people "seeing stars."

In the 1930s, one scientist found a more reliable, and less bruising, way to produce phosphenes. An electrical engineer by training, he found he could use electromagnetic waves to stimulate the brain. By varying the frequency of the waves by less than ten percent he found he could produce a "great number" of forms.

Eventually, he came up with fifteen different shapes that most people were likely to see. They could be variations on circular shapes, like radials, concentric circles, or spirals. They could also lines arranged in patterns like lattices, waves, and poles. (Personally I think he's being too vague when he gets to the eighth group, which he just classifies as "odd figures.")

© Kellogg, R, Knoll, M., Kugler, J. (1965)

In the 1930s, one scientist found a more reliable, and less bruising, way to produce phosphenes. An electrical engineer by training, he found he could use electromagnetic waves to stimulate the brain. By varying the frequency of the waves by less than ten percent he found he could produce a "great number" of forms.

Eventually, he came up with fifteen different shapes that most people were likely to see. They could be variations on circular shapes, like radials, concentric circles, or spirals. They could also lines arranged in patterns like lattices, waves, and poles. (Personally I think he's being too vague when he gets to the eighth group, which he just classifies as "odd figures.")

Study shows Vitamin D supplements may help treat Crohn's disease

© Stock Photo
Vitamin D

New research published in this month's edition of journal suggests that supplementation with vitamin D may impact on the intestinal barrier dysfunction associated with Crohn's disease, and could have a role in the treatment of the condition. The study is by Professor Maria O'Sullivan and Tara Raftery. Department of Clinical Medicine, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, St. James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.

Crohn's disease (CD) is a lifelong chronic relapsing and remitting gastrointestinal condition, characterised by inflammation, which can involve any portion of the gastrointestinal tract. CD is associated with abdominal pain, diarrhea, fatigue and in many cases can result in a reduction of quality of life, time off work, hospitalisations and surgery. The exact causes are unknown; however, immune, genetic and environmental factors are thought to be involved.

Incidence of CD varies across Europe, with up to 10 cases per 100,000 population per year. Generally, case rates are higher in northern and western Europe than southern and eastern Europe.

There is emerging data that Vitamin D supplementation may prolong remission in CD; however, the clinical efficacy and underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this new research, the authors aimed to determine changes in gut barrier function (as determined by intestinal permeability and antimicrobial peptide concentrations) as well as disease markers in CD, in response to vitamin D supplementation.

In a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled study, the authors assigned 27 CD patients in remission to 2000 IU/day vitamin D supplementation or placebo for 3 months. They found, that patients treated with the supplementation were more likely to maintain their intestinal permeability, whereas this deteriorated in the placebo group. Increased intestinal permeability is considered a measure of gut leakiness, which is shown to predict and precede clinical relapse in CD. In addition, patients with the highest blood levels of vitamin D had signs of reduced inflammation (measured by C-reactive protein and antimicrobial peptides), and these patients also reported better quality of life.

The authors conclude: "This is the first reporting of effects of vitamin D supplementation on intestinal permeability and antimicrobial peptide measures in a CD cohort. Whilst the data requires further confirmation, it broadly supports evidence from previous experimental studies that suggest a role for vitamin D in maintaining intestinal barrier integrity." Whilst the data is promising, the authors highlight that in order to understand its translation into treatment for CD, further larger randomised controlled trials will be required.

UEG's inflammatory bowel disease expert, Dr Charles Murray of the Royal Free Hospital, London, UK comments; "This is an exciting development in the treatment of Crohn's disease and we welcome anything new that could potentially help patients with this debilitating condition."

Jupiter's Great Red spot is shrinking temporarily?

© Damian Peach
Graphical comparison showing how Jupiter’s Great Red Spot has shrunk in the past 125 years using photographs taken in 1890. See below for details on how it was done.

Maybe it's too soon for a pity party, but the profound changes in the size and prominence of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) in the past 100 years has me worried. After Saturn's rings, Jupiter's big bloody eye is one of astronomy's most iconic sights.

This titanic hurricane-like storm has charmed earthlings since Giovanni Cassini first spotted it in the mid-1600s. Will our grandchildren turn their telescopes to Jove only to see a pale pink oval like so many others rolling around the planet's South Tropical Zone?

Maybe.

© Michael Carroll
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a cyclone that’s presently about 1.2 times as big as Earth. As recently as 1979, it was twice Earth’s diameter as illustrated here.

An inspired image prompted this sad train of thought. UK astrophotographer Damian Peach came up with an ideal way to depict how the GRS would look to us now if it we could see it as it was in 1890, 125 years ago. Those were the glory days for the "Eye of Jupiter" as Cassini was fond of calling it. With a diameter of 22,370 miles (36,000 km), the GRS spanned nearly three Earths wide. What a sight it must have been in nearly any telescope.

Peach compared measurements of the Spot in black and white photos taken at Lick Observatory in California in 1890-91 with a photo he took on April 13 this year. He then manipulated his April 13 data using the Lick photos and WINJUPOS (Jupiter feature measuring program) to carefully match the storm to its dimensions and appearance 125 years ago. Voila! Now we have a good idea of what we missed by being born too late.

© Agnes Clerk’s book/A History of Astronomy in the 19th Century
At left, a crude photograph of Jupiter’s enormous Great Red Spot in 1879 from Agnes Clerk’s book

"A century ago, it truly was deserving of its name!" wrote Peach.

© Donato Creti
Painting by Italian artist Donato Creti showing a telescopic view of Jupiter in 1711 above a nightime landscape. The Great Red Spot is clearly visible above center.

The shrinking of the Great Red Spot isn't breaking news. You read about it here in Universe Today more than year ago. Before that, Jupiter observers had grumbled for years that the once-easy feature had become anemic and not nearly as obvious as once remembered. Astronomers have been following its downsizing since the 1930s.

© Anthony Wesley
Dramatic fading of Jupiter’s South Equatorial Belt (SEB) between 2009 and 2010. The belt has since returned to view. The Red Spot is also seen in both images.

That doesn't mean it's necessarily going away, though if it did — at least temporarily — it wouldn't be the first time. The Spot vanished in the 1680s only to reappear in 1708. Like clouds and weather fronts that keeps things lively on Earth, Jupiter's atmosphere constantly cooks up new surprises. The entire South Equatorial Belt, one of Jupiter's two most prominent "stripes", has taken a leave of absence at least 17 times since the invention of the telescope, the last in 2010.

© NASA
The Great Red Spot photographed by Voyager 1 in 1979 and reprocessed by Bjorn Jonsson shows an incredible wealth of detail.

Perhaps we should turn the question around? How has the Red Spot managed to last this long? Hurricanes on Earth have lifetimes measured in days, while this whirling vortex has been around for hundreds of years. Any number of things should have killed it: loss of energy through radiation of heat to outer space, or energy-sapping turbulence from nearby jet streams. But the Eye persists. So what keeps it alive? Astronomers think the storm might gain energy by devouring smaller vortices, those small white dots and ovals you see in high resolution photos of the planet. Vertical winds that transport hot and cold gases in and out of the Spot may also restore its vigor.

Just in case it disappears unexpectedly, take one last look this observing season. Jupiter's currently getting lower in the western sky as it approaches Venus for its grand conjunction on June 30. Below are times (Central Daylight or CDT) when it crosses or transits the planet's central meridian. The GRS will be easiest to see for a 2-hour interval starting an hour before the times shown. It's located in the planet's southern hemisphere just south of the prominent South Equatorial Belt. Add an hour for Eastern time; subtract one hour for Mountain and two hours for Pacific. A complete list of transit times can be found HERE.

* June 13 at 8:58 p.m.
* June 18 at 12:16 a.m.
* June 18 at 8:08 p.m.
* June 20 at 9:47 p.m.
* June 22 at 11:26 p.m.
* June 25 at 8:57 p.m.
* June 27 at 10:36 p.m.

Stop eating gluten immediately if you exhibit these ten signs

Though going gluten-free has become more popular in recent years, there are still many people who are unaware that they are allergic to gluten. Mild symptoms of a gluten allergy often still go undiagnosed.

There are of course all sorts of gluten allergy signs, but many are commonly misinterpreted and confused with symptoms of other allergies and diseases. That's why it's important to know the signs and if you are experiencing any of them, to cut gluten out of your diet.

10 Gluten Allergy Signs You Wouldn't Expect

1. Poor Digestion
The most common sign of a gluten allergy is any kind of trouble with digestion, from an irritable bowel and stomach pain, to bloating and gas. Because your body can't properly digest the gluten, problems quickly arise.

2. Chronic Headaches

A sensitivity to gluten can be felt in the form of mild headaches or severe migraines. If you find yourself getting headaches more often than normal, and especially after eating foods with gluten, you should get checked out.

3. Constant Fatigue

If you feel tired even when you haven't done anything, gluten intolerance could be why. Fatigue can be caused by all sorts of different deficiencies and diseases, but a gluten allergy is worth investigating further.

4. Foggy Brain

Often people suffering from a gluten sensitivity feel as if they're living in a fog and can be confused, dizzy, and have difficulty concentrating. With the fast pace of life, it's hard enough to think clearly without gluten making things worse.

5. Joint Pain

If your joints constantly hurt it could be the result of a gluten allergy causing inflammation and swelling.

6. Weaker Immune System

If you get sick more often than normal, it could be because a gluten sensitivity is weakening your immune system.

7. More Moody

People living with an intolerance to gluten are more likely to feel depressed, anxious, irritable, and are generally more prone to mood swings.

8. Skin Conditions

Eczema, psoriasis, and keratosis pilaris are all typical gluten allergy signs. Itchy red skin, bumps, and rashes can appear just about anywhere and are commonly found on your thighs, arms, and face.

9. Tooth Decay
A gluten sensitivity can actually cause your teeth to decay, defects in your enamel, and canker sores.

10. Hormonal Imbalance

Gluten intolerance can affect your hormones, especially estrogen, causing irregular menstrual cycles, hot flashes, and weight loss or gain.

What You Should Do If You Have These Symptoms

If you have any of these symptoms or a combination of a few, you should talk to your doctor about getting tested for celiac disease. However, even if that test comes back negative, you may still be allergic to gluten and simply have a non-celiac gluten sensitivity.


To confirm your sensitivity you will have to try a gluten-free diet to see if your symptoms improve. It could take a while for your system to be cleared of gluten, but if you are allergic, you should notice an improvement in a few days.


http://bit.ly/1Fdxtbb
http://bit.ly/1Fdxs6S

Jupiter's Great Red spot is shrinking maybe temporarily?

© Damian Peach
Graphical comparison showing how Jupiter’s Great Red Spot has shrunk in the past 125 years using photographs taken in 1890. See below for details on how it was done.

Maybe it's too soon for a pity party, but the profound changes in the size and prominence of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) in the past 100 years has me worried. After Saturn's rings, Jupiter's big bloody eye is one of astronomy's most iconic sights.

This titanic hurricane-like storm has charmed earthlings since Giovanni Cassini first spotted it in the mid-1600s. Will our grandchildren turn their telescopes to Jove only to see a pale pink oval like so many others rolling around the planet's South Tropical Zone?

Maybe.

© Michael Carroll
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a cyclone that’s presently about 1.2 times as big as Earth. As recently as 1979, it was twice Earth’s diameter as illustrated here.

An inspired image prompted this sad train of thought. UK astrophotographer Damian Peach came up with an ideal way to depict how the GRS would look to us now if it we could see it as it was in 1890, 125 years ago. Those were the glory days for the "Eye of Jupiter" as Cassini was fond of calling it. With a diameter of 22,370 miles (36,000 km), the GRS spanned nearly three Earths wide. What a sight it must have been in nearly any telescope.

Peach compared measurements of the Spot in black and white photos taken at Lick Observatory in California in 1890-91 with a photo he took on April 13 this year. He then manipulated his April 13 data using the Lick photos and WINJUPOS (Jupiter feature measuring program) to carefully match the storm to its dimensions and appearance 125 years ago. Voila! Now we have a good idea of what we missed by being born too late.

© Agnes Clerk’s book/A History of Astronomy in the 19th Century
At left, a crude photograph of Jupiter’s enormous Great Red Spot in 1879 from Agnes Clerk’s book

"A century ago, it truly was deserving of its name!" wrote Peach.

© Donato Creti
Painting by Italian artist Donato Creti showing a telescopic view of Jupiter in 1711 above a nightime landscape. The Great Red Spot is clearly visible above center.

The shrinking of the Great Red Spot isn't breaking news. You read about it here in Universe Today more than year ago. Before that, Jupiter observers had grumbled for years that the once-easy feature had become anemic and not nearly as obvious as once remembered. Astronomers have been following its downsizing since the 1930s.

© Anthony Wesley
Dramatic fading of Jupiter’s South Equatorial Belt (SEB) between 2009 and 2010. The belt has since returned to view. The Red Spot is also seen in both images.

That doesn't mean it's necessarily going away, though if it did — at least temporarily — it wouldn't be the first time. The Spot vanished in the 1680s only to reappear in 1708. Like clouds and weather fronts that keeps things lively on Earth, Jupiter's atmosphere constantly cooks up new surprises. The entire South Equatorial Belt, one of Jupiter's two most prominent "stripes", has taken a leave of absence at least 17 times since the invention of the telescope, the last in 2010.

© NASA
The Great Red Spot photographed by Voyager 1 in 1979 and reprocessed by Bjorn Jonsson shows an incredible wealth of detail.

Perhaps we should turn the question around? How has the Red Spot managed to last this long? Hurricanes on Earth have lifetimes measured in days, while this whirling vortex has been around for hundreds of years. Any number of things should have killed it: loss of energy through radiation of heat to outer space, or energy-sapping turbulence from nearby jet streams. But the Eye persists. So what keeps it alive? Astronomers think the storm might gain energy by devouring smaller vortices, those small white dots and ovals you see in high resolution photos of the planet. Vertical winds that transport hot and cold gases in and out of the Spot may also restore its vigor.

Just in case it disappears unexpectedly, take one last look this observing season. Jupiter's currently getting lower in the western sky as it approaches Venus for its grand conjunction on June 30. Below are times (Central Daylight or CDT) when it crosses or transits the planet's central meridian. The GRS will be easiest to see for a 2-hour interval starting an hour before the times shown. It's located in the planet's southern hemisphere just south of the prominent South Equatorial Belt. Add an hour for Eastern time; subtract one hour for Mountain and two hours for Pacific. A complete list of transit times can be found HERE.

* June 13 at 8:58 p.m.
* June 18 at 12:16 a.m.
* June 18 at 8:08 p.m.
* June 20 at 9:47 p.m.
* June 22 at 11:26 p.m.
* June 25 at 8:57 p.m.
* June 27 at 10:36 p.m.

How to be assertive without being aggressive

Have you ever been told you need to be more assertive? Do your needs get bulldozed or do you often capitulate to keep the peace? Sure, we would all love to be more self-confident, but there's a fine line in between being firm about our needs and being petulant. How do we tell the difference?

If you're like me you're ready to live your truth, but you don't know where to start. I grew up in the South, in an authoritarian household. Women in my family weren't given a say in anything — I mean quite literally women remained silent at the dinner table while the men spoke. Women were considered silly, frivolous things that should neither be financially independent or self-reliant.

Fifteen years and three degrees later, I still find it difficult to find my voice — especially with new people. It could be something as simple as telling the movers I want my sofa against the south wall, not facing the fireplace. I don't spit it out, they put it in the wrong place, and then I just figure "I'll move it later." If I order the wrong thing at a restaurant, I may not bother the waitress to change it. With work, I tend to do the grunt tasks that others shrug off and if someone needs to work the weekend, I'm your woman.

I wish that I could set myself on a direct course for happiness and stop feeling waylaid by the needs of others. I'm taking my name off the sign-up sheet for thankless living, how about you?

1. Embrace the fact that you're not asking for too much or being a pain.

This kind of thinking is what got us here in the first-place. We don't want to put anyone out and we have a hard time considering the possibility that our needs are important, no matter how small.

Whatever it is, your needs are normal. You're not being extraordinary. No one wants someone to jump in front of them in line. No one wants to go along with a plan they think is doomed. No one wants to pay for something they dislike. You get the picture.

Keep your eye on one thing: living your truth. Be compassionate about your values and advocate for yourself. You need to have your own back because no one else can do it for you.

2. Make "no" a priority.

People like us have a hard time saying no. We spread ourselves thin and have trouble enjoying our lives because we think we have to meet all the needs of those around us.

It's time to say no without making excuses. It's not anyone's business why you're refusing. It's your time. Claim it. Don't give someone a five-paragraph essay parsing it out.

This goes for other things, too ...

3. You don't need proof.

According to Dorland's Medical Dictionary, assertiveness is "a form of behavior characterized by a confident declaration or affirmation of a statement without need of proof; this affirms the person's rights or point of view without either aggressively threatening the rights of another (assuming a position of dominance) or submissively permitting another to ignore or deny one's rights or point of view."

You need to know your point of view. No one says you have to became a world-class debater. You don't need to write a review of Terrence Malick's last movie to explain why you don't want to go see his next film on Saturday. You have a right to feel however you want without having to justify it. By that same token, you can't control how others feel.

I often find myself in a position where waitstaff at a restaurant wants to know why I didn't finish my dinner. The answer is because I'm a tiny person. I'm barely 5'3". I can't finish a whole portion of anything. I shouldn't. When I do, I gain weight and you'd notice every last inch of it because there's nowhere for it to go. In the past this has led to me apologizing, sending my regards to the chef. I didn't want them to have hard feelings because I didn't clean my plate.

And maybe I don't want to take my leftovers with me. It may sound strange, but having Chinese food more than once a week doesn't seem healthy to me. Why can't I just pretend I ate it? But instead of saying this, I'm learning to just say, "No, thank you."

4. There's no statue of limitations on asserting yourself.

This is a special issue for me. I feel like I'll appear wishy-washy or dumb if I change my mind or correct myself later. I worry I'll upset someone who had formerly been pleased. But who said I can't change my mind? Why is that totally off-limits?

Don't worry about the B-word. Or if you're a man don't worry about the A-word. When you're assertive, those words go flying around. It doesn't mean you've gone overboard. In fact, it probably says more about who you're dealing with than anything else.

That being said, you must respect the boundaries of others just as you want them to respect your new boundaries. As long as you're focused on your values, remaining calm and civil, you're not bulldozing their needs.

5. Make sure this translates to all your relationships.

It's not enough to just be assertive at home or at the grocery store or with your spouse. We have to break the habit of submissiveness everywhere so we can form new, healthier habits. Being assertive in all areas of your life lets confidence flourish.

Man drowns in police custody, officer who speaks out is demoted and harassed


Brandon Ellingson

On May 31, 2014, 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson was stopped by a Missouri Highway Patrol officer for suspicion of boating while intoxicated.

The events that followed Brandon's arrest are shocking, horrible, and tragic.

Ellingson was taken into custody by Trooper Anthony Piercy while boating on The Lake of the Ozarks after the officer claimed to see a beer can fly off of the young man's boat.

Piercy ended up arresting Ellingson. He cuffed the college student's hands behind his back and placed an ill-fitting life vest on him.

The wrong kind of life vest. Piercy used a Type III vest on Ellingson. But that kind of vest has armholes and cannot be properly secured on someone who is already handcuffed. Type I jackets go around a person's head, so even if they are handcuffed their head will float to the surface of the water. Type I life vests are the kind which troopers are trained to use on handcuffed subjects.

They were available on Piercy's boat.

One was just feet from where Ellingson was seated during field sobriety tests.

But Piercy was "in a hurry," as he explained during a phone call to Sgt. Randy Henry after the incident. That was his excuse for using the wrong life vest, placing Ellingson in the boat improperly, and driving the boat recklessly when heading back to the station.

Piercy's profound lack of competence and disregard for proper procedure cost Ellingson his life. The young man fell overboard and drowned.

A series of lies and cover-ups followed, naturally.

And, to date, no one has been held accountable for Ellingson's death.

The Kansas City Star published an update on May 29, 2015. Here's an excerpt.

In the year since Brandon Ellingson died, slipping to the bottom of the Gravois Arm, legislators have worked to make state waterways safer, and family and friends have pushed for answers. They have fought to hold the trooper, Anthony Piercy, accountable. More than 133,000 have signed an online "Justice for Brandon Ellingson" petition.

So far, family members say, they haven't gotten that justice. Although a special prosecutor has been investigating — taking on the case in March after another prosecutor recused herself — charges have yet to be filed. The U.S. Department of Justice also is reviewing the case.

"I probably spend more time in frustration than anywhere else," said Sherry Ellingson, Brandon's mother. "I'm frustrated all of the time. It's just the lack of accountability. ... In a normal situation, there's a boss that holds their people accountable. There's no one holding anyone accountable."

Now, an officer who dared to speak up and break the blue wall of silence is suffering the consequences.

Sgt. Randy Henry, the Missouri Highway Patrol trooper who spoke with Piercy the night of Ellingson's death, gave investigators a recorded statement, and told them that he had concerns about inconsistencies and changes in Piercy's story.

Henry was not invited to testify at the coroner's inquest. Neither was a family who witnessed the drowning. That's likely because their testimony would have supported an involuntary manslaughter charge - at the least - for Piercy.

Yesterday, it was announced that Henry has been demoted to corporal and moved from Lake of the Ozarks, where he's worked for nearly three decades. He is now assigned to Truman Lake, according to his attorney, Chet Pleban of St. Louis, who sent out a release Thursday detailing the discipline and referring to his client as a whistleblower.

Pleban told The Star:

"Randy Henry doesn't have a horse in the race. He's not on one side or the other. He has testimony to give that's material. The truth is the truth. He went to his superiors to say, 'This is wrong. This is what happened.' And they blew him off. So now here we are."

"You're going to make that man move from his home, where he's lived for 19 years, and force him to move to Truman Lake? And you're going to say that's not retaliation, malicious and vindictive?"

In May, Henry was deposed in the civil suit the Ellingsons have brought against the patrol.

Pleban said Thursday that the patrol set out to retaliate against Henry:

In recent months, the patrol sent Henry to a mental-health provider for an examination, according to a letter Pleban sent to patrol commanders. No cause for concern was noted, the attorney said.

Henry was sent for a second exam. Again, no concern.

"Ultimately, the mental-health provider warned that because she found nothing wrong with Sgt. Henry, it would be unethical for her to see him a third time at the insistence of the patrol," Pleban wrote to Johnson. "When the mental health route failed, a Professional Standards investigation surfaced."

Pleban told KRCG:

"They don't remove his service revolver, they don't take that, so that kind of tells me that there's something else going on here, other than a good faith that he needs a mental health examination and we believe that it's all because of his willingness to tell the truth and allege essentially that there's a cover up by the highway patrol in connection with that tragic drowning."

Pleban said Sgt. Henry is prepared to fight the disciplinary action and said a future hearing will occur. He also said that he believes the demotion and transfer of Henry was designed to force the trooper to retire.

Craig Ellingson, Brandon's father, said Henry's discipline is wrong.

"It's retaliation," he said. "They shouldn't be doing that."

South Front Crisis News 11-12 June: Bombings in Odessa, civilians killed by Kiev troops in Donetsk

Series of explosions hit the city of Odessa in Ukraine last night. Witnesses report about at least 2 hard explosions in the center of the city. Partisans blew up 2 propagandistic constructions claiming to inform Security Service of Ukraine about so-called ''household separatists" - people who don't support Kiev political regime or doubt in need of war against population of Donbass region.

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Five civilians, including 2 children and 3 women, were killed in a shelling attack of Kiev forces on the Novorossian town of Gorlovka on Thursday. A representative of the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination of the ceasefire regime in the southeast of Ukraine has confirmed the report on casualties.

Hezbollah and Syrian troops have advanced in the Jarajair barrens of the Qalamoun Mountains as well as the outskirts of the border town of Arsal, Al Manar broadcaster reported on Friday. Before that on Wednesday, the leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah lauded the Lebanese resistance' fighters' "major victories" against al-Nusra Front terrorists on the outskirts of Arsal. Nasrallah also hailed advancements made against ISIS in Qalamoun.

At least four people have lost their lives and 19 others sustained injuries after a string of bomb attacks struck various neighborhoods across the capital, Baghdad on Thursday. Firstly, a bomb went off close to a popular market in the Sabaa al-Bour neighborhood in northern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding eight others. Later in the day, a bomb explosion ripped through a sheep market in Baghdad's southwestern neighborhood of al-Suwayd. One person was killed and six others were injured in the attack. Then, a civilian lost his life and another five people suffered injuries when a bomb blast targeted commercial buildings in Baghdad's central Sheikh Omar Street.

11 June

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12 June Military Report

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11-12 June Military Report

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Fungi expert holds the patent that could destroy Monsanto and change agriculture forever

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Paul Stamets

If there's anything you read - or share - let this be it. The content of this article has potential to radically shift the world in a variety of positive ways.

And as Monsanto would love for this article to not go viral, all we can ask is that you share, share, share the information being presented so that it can reach as many people as possible.

In 2006, a patent was granted to a man named Paul Stamets. Though Paul is the world's leading mycologist, his patent has received very little attention and exposure. Why is that? Stated by executives in the pesticide industry, this patent represents "the most disruptive technology we have ever witnessed." And when the executives say disruptive, they are referring to it being disruptive to the chemical pesticides industry.

What has Paul discovered? The mycologist has figured out how to use mother nature's own creations to keep insects from destroying crops. It's what is being called SMART pesticides. These pesticides provide safe & nearly permanent solution for controlling over 200,000 species of insects - and all thanks to the 'magic' of mushrooms.

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Victimized by pesticidal fungi

Paul does this by taking entomopathogenic Fungi (fungi that destroys insects) and morphs it so it does not produce spores. In turn, this actually attracts the insects who then eat and turn into fungi from the inside out!

This patent has potential to revolutionize the way humans grow crops - if it can be allowed to reach mass exposure. To tolerate the use of pesticides in modern agriculture is to deny evidence proving its detrimental effects against the environment. Such ignorance really can no longer be tolerated. For example, can you imagine a world without bees? Monsanto's chemical concoctions which are being sprayed all over farmers' fields around the world are attributed to the large-scale bee die off. While a growing number of countries are banning Monsanto, it's still being used in in nations who should be aware of its dangers. To say that new methods need to be implemented before it is too late is an understatement.


Monsanto presently generates $16 billion dollars per year (as reported in 2014), therefore you can be certain they do not want anything interrupting that flow of revenue. Such income gives them nearly limitless resources and abilities to suppress information that may be damaging their reputation.

But by becoming educated on the benefits of growing sustainable, organic, and bio-dynamic food, sharing articles like this, and boycotting GMO & herbicide-sprayed crops, the corporate demon may soon get the message.

Here are helpful links to understand more about the incredible patent discussed above:

Here is a link to the patent we are speaking of: 7,122,176
http://bit.ly/1KLmbC5

A list of all the patents Paul has applied for:
http://bit.ly/1MPmCug

Plenty of information about Paul Stamets:
http://bit.ly/1KLme0G

Wikipedia page about Paul Stamets:
http://bit.ly/1MPmCuj

And finally, here is a TedTalks video by Paul in 2008 called:

6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save The World

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