DeAndre Joshua murdered, fits profile of eye-witness to Michael Brown shooting

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DeAndre Joshua, a witness in the Michael Brown case?

DeAndre Joshua, 20, was murdered on the same night of the Saint Louis Grand Jury announcement. DeAndre was shot in the head, and then a flammable liquid poured on him and set afire inside his vehicle.

Perhaps coincidentally DeAndre Joshua also fits the social profile of an eye-witness who gave a police/FBI statement and testified before the Grand Jury in the Mike Brown shooting case. If that were the only coincidence it might be easy to dismiss. Alas, it's not. Out of an abundance of caution for other witnesses we are avoiding outlining the most direct connections - however, they are not in doubt.

As you are aware he was an employed black male, with no history of drug use or illicit behavior. In the Canfield Community, marijuana is not considered illicit, nor does weed really qualify as drug use - it's as common as tobacco. DeAndre was also a friend of Dorian Johnson who is currently under protection. (Note: Dorian Johnson was Michael Brown's companion the day he was mortally shot.)

© www.nbcnews.com

Michael Brown's friend, Dorian Johnson: He was "shot like an animal."

Tweet, Dorian Johnson: "My Fcking Brother Gone DeAndre Joshua!! Hella Fckd Up, SomeBody come get me right Now I gotta Go!!!!!"

Dorian is very alarmed, understandably so. On the night before the Grand Jury announcement, there were considerable nerves amid a select group in the Ferguson community.

As the attention of a nation turned to the grand jury decision, and also to the demands of the Justice for Mike Brown coalition, Dorian Johnson was potentially going to be the recipient of a tremendous amount of angst. Several people were looking for DeAndre and Dorian.

Dorian was in hiding - DeAndre was vulnerable.

Another witness who falls into this almost identical profile is Witness #35, who has been identified under the name "Viron". However, even the FBI agents who interviewed Viron are unsure of his actual identity.

However, social media is identifying a profile that fits a connection to Dorian as described in the affidavit, Viron becomes Devorion Livingston. Devorion is a friend to both eye-witness and robbery cohort Dorian Johnson, along with the murdered DeAndre Joshua.

Witness #35 presented himself for FBI interview with an "uncle," and a female attorney. When it came to identify himself, well, the ambiguity is almost unbelievable were it not documented by the federal authorities. (See Page #32)

(The witness used a pseudonym.)

Witness #35 would not give his real name, nor his social security number, nor his address or contact information, and would only sign his statement with an alias.

In hindsight, and against the backdrop of the death of DeAndre Joshua, the reluctance of Witness #35 might lead a researcher to understand a prescient fear was not unfounded.

Given the relationships, the connections, and the documented associations, Devorion fits the profile of Witness #35 who gave the painful to read testimony to the FBI where they were consistently reminding him, and warning him, about the risks of lying about the events. Witness #35 read his testimony here.

Devorion Livingston is also pictured below with Dorian Johnson last year at Canfield apartment complex. Note the vehicle in the background:

© theconservativetreehouse.com

Devorian Livingston and Dorian Johnson

white Pontiac Grand Prix Joshua was found inside. (link)

Yes, that's a White Grand Prix behind Dorian Johnson (purple shirt) and Devorian Livingston.

Both Dorian Johnson and Devorion Livingston found out about DeAndre's brutal murder at approximately the same time.

Dorian Johnson, who is in protective custody, was understandably freaking out. Apparently the three Canfield friends, Devorion, Dorian and DeAndre, knew each other for quite some time. However, prior to the grand jury announcement Devorion Livingston and his wife got the heck outta dodge (Ferguson).

Obviously DeAndre Joshua didn't leave Ferguson - he was murdered last Monday in Canfield Greens Apartment complex, mere yards away from where Mike Brown was shot.

So the ultimate question becomes is this just mere coincidence? Dorian, Devorian and DeAndre being close friends. Dorian in hiding , Devorian having left town, and DeAndre now murdered. A person would have to be exceptionally obtuse not to see the connections.

But if it's not a coincidence, then why?

Witness #14 gives a chilling account of what would happen to these kids if they told the wrong story - and what were the risks.

Initially Witness #14 talked to State investigators - however, in his August 12th statement he mentioned the false story surrounding the "hands up - don't shoot" narrative; and the fear and pressure from the community to tell lies in support of the construct (read here).

That initial statement prompted the FBI to come and visit Witness #14 specifically to talk about that aspect of his statement.

Within the FBI interview -a day before he was scheduled to appear before the grand jury- Witness #14 tells the FBI not only about the "hand's up" story being totally made up by the community, but also that Mike Brown's step-dad, Louis Head, was the enforcer to insure compliance (read here).

Apparently Louis Head was the threat to make sure that all of the witnesses in/around Canfield Greens Apartment complex said the right things, the "hands up - don't shoot" things.

...the night DeAndre Joshua was indeed "burned down" while seated in his Grand Prix.

Witness #14 was scheduled to testify on September 25th at 10:30 AM. He never showed up .

Perhaps these are all coincidences. Perhaps.

However, perhaps Louis Head, and those of like-minded association, also hold the greatest motive for anger toward Dorian Johnson, and as a consequence toward anyone who was unsuccessful at getting justice for Mike Brown.

honest testimony to the Grand Jury, were, according to their own statements, warned immediately after the shooting to keep their mouths shut. All of the eye-witnesses were African American. If you read the reports the sense of fear about speaking the truth is overwhelming.

Many, if not all, of the witness statements outlined in police reports, FBI reports, and later in Grand Jury testimony - who testified to the factual events as outlined by officer Wilson, and whose testimony fit the physical and forensic evidence - were threatened by the local Canfield Greens community.

Was the murder of DeAndre Joshua an outcome of a broken street code? His family thinks so:

(Via Daily Mail) A man has died during the Ferguson riots just yards from where Michael Brown was shot dead. Residents on Canfield Drive said that DeAndre Joshua, 20, was shot whilst in his car though police at the scene refused to confirm any details.

© www.eutimes

Joshua, before the grand jury decision that sparked violence and retaliation in Ferguson, Missouri.

DeAndre's grandmother Renita Towns said that 'somebody killed him' during the carnage.

She said that he graduated Beaumont High School and that he was working in Wal-Mart.

Family member Brian Joshua, 45, added: 'He was a good kid, he's gone to high school, he's got a job, he's not into drugs or any of that stuff.

'I only saw him yesterday morning. He was a smart guy, he spoke cleanly, he was positive'.

Police took away DeAndre's white Pontiac Grand Prix and interviewed witnesses around 11AM. A woman in her 20s broke down in tears and said: 'I knew him, he was my twin'. (read more)

This is a typical example of the sentiment, threats and fear: {snip}

Here's another example from the grand jury transcripts: (pg. 197 GJ Vol #7)

St. Louis County Police Department Investigative Report 14-43984

You can read through just this one report and read/see all of the people who would not assist law enforcement or the FBI out of FEAR.

Tweet: "Body of Black male found near Canfield Apt in #Ferguson. In his 20s shot to death and set on fire. 10:40 AM - 25 Nov 2014

Tweet: "Asked whether the apparent homicide near Mike Brown memorial was related to the protests/unrests Chief Belmar: "I imagine there is a nexus." 5:41 PM - 25 Nov 2014

- St. Louis County police say that a 20-year-old man whose dead body was found inside a car in Ferguson, Missouri, after riots erupted had been intentionally set on fire.

Police on Wednesday identified the victim as DeAndre Joshua of University City. His death is being investigated as a homicide, but police have not said whether it's connected to the violence that broke out after the announcement of a grand jury decision to not indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.

Joshua's body was found Tuesday morning at the wheel of a 2004 Pontiac parked near the apartment complex where Brown was killed. He had severe burns, and an autopsy determined that Joshua was shot once in the head.

In the interim, where's the Justice for DeAndre Foundation?

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Nicolas Sarkozy is back as leader of France’s main opposition party

“I would like to thank all the UMP members who did me the honor of electing me leader of our political family,” Sarkozy said on his Facebook page. “Their mobilization, at a level unequalled in the history of our movement, is the best response to two years of internal quarrels and divisions.”

Sarkozy won with 64.5 percent of the votes, beating his nearest rival Bruno le Marie, with 155,000 members of UMP taking part in the election.

The win makes Sarkozy eligible for the 2017 presidential election.

“The time for action has come...this vote marks a new beginning for our political family...we must be united and dedicate ourselves to find new solutions for France,” Sarkozy said.

Sarkozy was first elected party leader back in 2004, with 85 percent of the votes. He then served as president from 2007 to 2012, when he was defeated by Francois Hollande.

However, September polls showed Sarkozy’s growing popularity, while Hollande has been seeing the lowest popularity ratings in France’s history.

The ratings of Hollande fell to a record low in September, with only 13 percent of French people saying they were satisfied with his performance as president and 86 percent stating that they no longer supported Hollande, according to an IFOP (French Institute of Public Opinion) poll.

However, Sarkozy is entering the post with a political past that still haunts him. The former president has been heavily criticized for education reforms that triggered massive protests, as well as raising the retirement age, deporting Roma people, and dragging France into the Libyan conflict.

Apart from that, Sarkozy’s career has also been gripped by financial scandals. Six months after becoming president, he raised his salary by 140 percent. Both his 2007 and 2012 election campaigns are under investigation at the moment for being allegedly financed through fraud.

However, these scandals are unlikely to hurt Sarkozy’s future presidential campaign, international political professor Hall Gardner told RT.

“All of the accusations seem to bounce off of him…Sarkozy is appealing more and more to the right. He is doing this by immigration – he wants to make Schengen 2 – to try to make tougher immigration laws. He is looking towards tighter laws to keep prisoners locked in jail, and he is strongly against gay marriage,” he said, adding that, at the same time, “the majority of French do not want Hollande to run for president again.”

Sarkozy’s biggest opponent in 2017 is likely to be Marine Le Pen, who is due to be reconfirmed as party leader of National Front during a meeting in Lyon on Sunday.

The most recent polls have predicted Le Pen winning the next presidential election with 30 percent.

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Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson Resigns, Hopes His "Resignation Will Allow The Community To Heal"

Days after Ferguson was torched by angry rioters following a grand jury verdict not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, the policeman's lawyer announced moments ago that he has resigned from the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department.

As ABC reports, Wilson has been on administrative leave since the shooting. One of his attorneys, Neil Bruntrager, said the resignation is effective immediately.

Though Wilson was cleared of criminal charges by the grand jury, the Justice Department is conducting a civil rights investigation into the shooting as well as a separate probe of police department practices. Wilson, who has been in seclusion since the fatal shooting, said this week in an interview with "Good Morning America" anchor George Stephanolpoulos that he had gotten married since the Aug.9 shooting and that he and his new wife are expecting a baby.

Wilson's resignation is unexpected because in that interview he announced that wanted to spend his career with the police force, and hoped to one day be promoted to sergeant. "I wanted to stay on the road for 30 years and then retire as sergeant and have a retirement," Wilson said. "That's all that I wanted."

But he said that after what happened, he was not sure he could return to the Ferguson Police Department. He was a member of the department for six years. "I'm not sure it's possible. I mean, you think they would accept me? You think it'd be safe for me?" Wilson asked.

He said his notoriety could also put his fellow officers in jeopardy, and asked: "Can I put them in that situation?"

Though in the interview he said he had not made a final decision on returning to the force, he offered some thoughts on what else he might want to do.

"I would love to teach people. I would love to give more insight on … into the use of force and anything I can," he said. "Anything that I can get out of this career I've had so far and of the incident, I would love to give to someone else."n is unexpected

Wilson's full resignation letter is below:

"I, Darren Wilson, hereby resign my commission as a police officer with the City of Ferguson effective immediately. I have been told that my continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the City of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow. For obvious reasons, I wanted to wait until the grand jury made their decision before I officially made my decision to resign. It was my hope to continue in police work, but the safety of other police officers and the community are of paramount importance to me. It is my hope that my resignation will allow the community to heal. I would like to thank all of my supporters and fellow officers throughout this process."

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Ferguson officer who murdered Michael Brown resigns - effective immediately

© Reuters

Officer Darren Wilson

Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot black teenager Michael Brown, has resigned from the police force, his attorney said. The news comes amid unceasing protests across the US against a grand jury decision clearing Wilson of murder charges.

The resignation is effective immediately, AP quoted one of Wilson's lawyers, Neil Bruntrager, as saying on Saturday.

Prior to the resignation, Wilson was on administrative leave from the Ferguson Police Department since the August 9 shooting.

On Monday, a St. Louis County grand jury decided not to indict Wilson, 28, for the fatal shooting of the 18-year-old Brown.

Wilson testified that he used deadly force against Brown - who was unarmed - in self-defense.

A majority of witnesses told the grand jury that the teenager had his hands raised and was running away from Wilson as the officer shot him repeatedly. This was, however, denied by St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch, who announced the grand jury's decision and highlighted the alleged scuffle between Brown and Wilson, which ended with the police officer unloading his gun 12 times against Brown.

Wilson's attorneys argued that he had been following his training and the law when he shot Brown.

"I know I did my job right," Wilson said during an interview with ABC, adding that shooting Brown was the first time he had used his gun on the job.

A separate civil rights investigation into Brown's shooting is being conducted by the US Justice Department. Police department practices are also being examined.

Earlier, Neil Bruntrager told CNN that Wilson was under "no illusion" about remaining a police officer. "There's no way in the world [Wilson] can go back to being a police officer," Bruntrager said.

Wilson revealed that he has a "clean conscience" over the events of August 9, but believes he will be endangering his own life and those of other officers if he resumes his career as a police officer, Bruntrager explained.

"The first day he would be back on the street something terrible would happen to him or to someone that would be working with him," he said.

Brown's death has sparked months-long protests, anger, and chaos on the streets of Ferguson, which is a predominantly black suburb of St. Louis. The situation was exacerbated by the grand jury's decision not to indict.

© Joshua Lott/Getty Images/AFP

Demonstrators protest the shooting death of Michael Brown November 29, 2014 in Brentwood, Missouri.

The decision triggered a wave of violent protests and peaceful marches across the US and abroad.

People in over 170 cities across America have taken part in protests, expressing anger at the decision not to indict Wilson.

© Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP

Police arrest a demonstrator outside the police station November 28, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri.

On Saturday, Ferguson protests entered into their sixth day, with the latest clashes leading to 15 individuals being arrested.

Overall, at least 400 protesters across the US have been arrested following the grand jury's announcement. Half of them were arrested in Los Angeles protests alone.

In Oakland, California, hundreds marched through the city, vandalizing storefront windows, walls, billboards, and bus stops. San Diego also saw 300 people come out.

Outrage has spread overseas as well, with hundreds of demonstrators marching through central London and occupying Parliament Square.

Protesters demonstrated under slogans such as 'Justice to Mike Brown' and 'Black Lives Matter,' as well as 'No Justice, No Peace.'

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U.S. Polar blast to chill millions from Minnesota to Texas

A fresh blast of frigid air and bone-chilling winds will continue to expand across the Plains and Midwest through Monday, hitting cities from Minneapolis to Chicago and Oklahoma City.

The frigid blast has already dropped temperatures nearly 60 degrees in a 24-hour period across parts of Montana Friday into Saturday. Some locales went from the mid-50s on Friday to nearly 10 below zero F.

The arctic chill will dive south and east through Monday, hitting Minneapolis, Chicago and Oklahoma City with sharply colder air and drastically plummeting temperatures.

Highs near 40 F in Minneapolis Saturday afternoon will be replaced by teens and single digits Sunday and Monday.

Bone-chilling winds will accompany the cold blast on Sunday, forcing afternoon AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures into the single digits below zero. Chicago's RealFeels will sit in the single digits above zero throughout the day on Monday.

"This latest cold blast will not be nearly as wide-reaching or long lasting as the one that hit the country in the middle of November," said AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Mark Paquette. "The Plains and Midwest will be hit the hardest, while the Southeast will avoid much of the chill."

Oklahoma City will be near record highs in the 70s Sunday before highs plummet into the 30s for Monday. Winds will place RealFeel temperatures in the single digits around daybreak Monday.

Residents or visitors set to endure cold wave should prepare to dress warmly and limit any time outdoors. Those traveling home from Thanksgiving travels should put plenty of blankets in the car.

This is especially so across the northern Plains, where RealFeel temperatures will drop dangerously to 20 below zero F Sunday.

An arctic cold front slicing southward will be responsible for the cold wave.

The cold wave will not be accompanied by snow or ice for the most part. However, it may set the stage for an ice threat by midweek.

"Although the chill will not be as harsh across the Ohio Valley and Northeast, the cold air may set the stage for an icy mid- to late-week storm," added Paquette.

AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski explains that a fast west-to-east flow across the nation next week will keep the coldest air out of the South but will lead to unsettled conditions in parts of the West, Midwest and Northeast.

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Look out Hawaii, here come da pro-GMO judge!

If you had any doubt about the boldfaced sham that "democracy" is, that doubt should be completely alleviated now. The people in Hawaii County voted that they did not want GMOs.

...in addition to banning any new GMO crops. The bill forbids any open-air testing or production of genetically modified crops. It also prohibits farmers from growing any new GMO crops but grandfathers in those that are already being grown, such as the Rainbow papaya.

The court overruled that vote in favor of the biggest pro-GMO agricultural corporation of all - state and federal biotech interests.

The complaint from the Big Island farmers and Biotechnology Industry Organization contended that Bill 113, which Hawaii County passed last year, was not backed by scientific evidence. The suit said that genetically modified farming has become a "critical and generally accepted part of agriculture" over the last 20 years, and the ordinance violates both state and federal law.

In Wednesday's decision, Kurren argued that although the state does not specifically regulate genetically modified crops, Ordinance 13-121 still conflicts with the work of state agencies.

He said the state Department of Agriculture and state Board of Agriculture comprise a "comprehensive statewide framework" governing plants that may "injure or harm agriculture, the environment or public health."

"Clearly, the state legislature intended this network of the HDOA, the HBOA, and the advisory committee to have extensive and broad responsibilities over agricultural problems spanning the various counties to form a coherent and comprehensive statewide agricultural policy," he wrote.

"In light of the comprehensive statutes and the network designed to address statewide agriculture problems, the Court concludes that the legislative intent for an exclusive, uniform and comprehensive state statutory scheme on the precise subject matter addressed by Ordinance 13-121 preempts the County's ban on genetically engineered organisms."

Not backed by scientific evidence? I guess they didn't get the Open Letter from World Scientists to All Governments Concerning Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), signed by 815 scientists from 82 different countries.

Ban GMOs Now

This is a dangerous situation for the future of food and farming, one that needs to be reversed as quickly as possible, particularly as GM agriculture is failing on all counts. That can only be achieved by a ban on GMOs, an action already taken by countries and local communities around the world. We need to join forces with them, to put an end to the GM corporate empire.

Ten years ago, 24 scientists from around the world formed an Independent Science Panel and produced a report ([24] The Case for A GM-Free Sustainable World, ISIS/TWN publication) summarizing compelling evidence on the hazards of GM crops and the benefits of organic agro-ecological farming, and called for a global ban on environmental releases of GMOs, and a shift to non-GM sustainable agriculture. This report was widely circulated, translated into several languages, and republished in the US a year later. It remains the most succinct and complete account on the subject; but crucial new evidence has come to light within the past decade that strengthens the case considerably.

First of all, decisive evidence has emerged on the unsustainability and destructiveness of conventional industrial agriculture, of which GM is the most extreme; in stark contrast to the proven successes of non-GM ecological farming: its productivity and resilience, environmental and health benefits, and in particular, its enormous potential for saving energy and carbon emissions in mitigating and adapting to climate change. We presented all that in a comprehensive and definitive report published in 2008 ([25] Food Futures Now *Organic *Sustainable *Fossil Fuel Free , ISIS/TWN publication). Our report is completely in line with the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report [26], which resulted from a three-year consultative process involving 900 participants and 110 countries around the world; a sure sign of the scientific consensus that has emerged around non-GM ecological farming as the way forward in food and farming.

To complete the case, we need to bring together all the damning evidence against GMOs on health and the environment, especially in the light of new discoveries in molecular genetics within the past ten years. That is the main reason for the present report. GM agriculture is a recipe for disaster, as this report will make clear. It is also standing in the way of the shift to sustainable agriculture already taking place in local communities all over the world that can truly enable people to feed themselves in times of climate change. Future generations will not forgive us if we do not stop the GM takeover now.

Please use this report, circulate it widely, and send it to your political representatives.

That, apparently, doesn't count. Neither do the plethora of studies now coming out by reputable scientists such as Dr. Stephanie Seneff, MIT Senior Research Scientist, Dr. Nancy Swanson, Retired United States Navy staff scientist, Anthony Samsel, Retired Science Consultant, and Dr. Don M. Huber, Professor Emeritus, Purdue University, all of whom emphatically state:

A huge increase in the incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases has been reported in the United States (US) over the last 20 years. Similar increases have been seen globally.

The herbicide glyphosate was introduced in 1974 and its use is accelerating with the advent of herbicide-tolerant genetically engineered (GE) crops. Evidence is mounting that glyphosate interferes with many metabolic processes in plants and animals and glyphosate residues have been detected in both.

Glyphosate disrupts the endocrine system and the balance of gut bacteria, it damages DNA and is a driver of mutations that lead to cancer. In the present study, US government databases were searched for GE crop data, glyphosate application data and disease epidemiological data.

The significance and strength of the correlations show that the effects of glyphosate and GE crops on human health should be further investigated.

Unfortunately, any position other than that which states "we the corporations have the right to poison you the people for profit" will not be allowed. If you vote to keep us from doing so, we will throw your vote in the trash and just keep on poisoning you.

Comment: There are mountains of scientific evidence of the evil effects that GMO's have on human health, livestock and the environment. People are waking up to this, that's why Hawaii citizens voted down GMO's, but when you have psychopaths in charge of corporations and the courts your vote means nothing.

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America Has a New Commando Unit: National Guard Special Operations Detachment could boost secretive command

The North Carolina Army National Guard has quietly stood up a new commando detachment for secretive missions around the world.

On Oct. 18th, federal and state officials held a ceremony marking the creation of Special Operations Detachment-X—a.k.a., SOD-X — in the capital Raleigh. The Guard already has 10 commando detachments spread across the country.

“The addition of the of the SOD … means North Carolina now has the ability to accomplish worldwide missions,” Brig. Gen. John Byrd, the state’s assistant adjutant general for domestic operations, said at the ceremony.

All of the Army’s commando detachments align with an active-duty headquarters. We don’t know what the “X” stands for, but it appears the Army intends for the new detachment to help out the super-secret Joint Special Operations Command.

“SOD personnel will provide the special operations community a broad and diverse perspective when planning and executing missions due to their experiences and knowledge from the civilian sector,” said Col. Sean Corrigan, the JSOC chief of staff.

Above and at top—Special Forces soldiers from the North Carolina Army National Guard practice parachuting from a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. North Carolina National Guard photos

It’s possible Special Operations Command is counting on these reserve operators to bulk up task forces in the field, as needed. The specialized troops might also possess specific skills a commander needs for a certain operation.

On average, SODs have around 30 soldiers each. But groups with greater responsibilities—like Rhode Island’s SOD-Global—have more people.

North Carolina’s newest special operations element might also be bigger than normal if it indeed pairs up with JSOC. The command is America’s premier counter-terrorism force.

Insignia worn by a member of SOD-X at the ceremony in October. North Carolina National Guard photo

This notoriously secretive entity is widely understood to carry out the most dangerous and complex covert operations. Most notably, special operators from the command likely led the raid to kill Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.

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More functions for 'junk DNA' discovered

It's not exactly Ferguson, Mo., but the battle between ENCODE researchers and junk-DNA holdouts goes on. Our ongoing coverage of the hostilities left off with the latter sending over their latest salvo. Now, ENCODE is back. Confident that genomes are not mostly junk, they have set their latest contender in the ring: a mouse.

The mouse genome was sequenced in 2002 as a primary model in which to study gene function and human diseases and to develop drugs. This was followed by maps of transcribed messenger RNA molecules and of long, non-protein-coding RNAs, which facilitated such experiments and analysis. Yet although 17 mouse strains have been sequenced, genome function and regulation cannot be understood by sequence analysis alone. Now, in four papers published in this issue, the Mouse ENCODE Consortium presents data sets that dramatically enhance our understanding of the regulation of the mouse genome, and of the similarities and differences compared with the human genome. (Emphasis added.)

The four papers in announce the findings from the Mouse ENCODE Consortium: The gist of the salient results can be seen from Piero Carninci's summary article in the same issue of , "Genomics: Mice in the ENCODE spotlight."

Surprisingly, the Mouse ENCODE Consortium ... finds that sequences commonly considered useless or harmful, such as retrotransposon elements (stretches of DNA that have been incorporated into chromosomal sequences following reverse transcription from RNA), have species-specific regulatory activity. Because retrotransposon elements can contain embedded transcription-factor binding sites, this may provide unexpected regulatory plasticity... Evolutionary conservation of primary sequence is typically considered synonymous with conserved function, but this finding suggests that this concept should be reinterpreted, because insertions of retrotransposon elements in new genomic regions are not conserved between species.

In short, the Mouse ENCODE group takes direct aim at the arguments of Dan Graur and the other junk-DNA faithful, who say that everything evolution did not conserve is junk.

Here are a few of the other surprising results that Carninci summarizes:

• Most of the differences between human and mouse genes appear in regulatory elements rather than gene sequences.


• Despite the different primary sequences of many regulatory elements, the basic reciprocal regulatory networks among transcription factors are evolutionarily conserved between mice and humans.


• Expression of similar genes is species-specific, not organ-specific.


• Many single-nucleotide changes associated with human disease are found in orthologous regions in the mouse genome.


• Chromosome structures are associated with regulation of gene expression, and they replicate together.

Undoubtedly these findings will lead to a great deal of excited discussion about what they mean for evolution or for intelligent design, but the same basic principle applies to Mouse ENCODE that applied to Human ENCODE: much of what Darwinian evolutionists had dismissed as junk appears functional. Non-coding regions of the mouse genome are transcribed, and appear to function in previously unimagined ways, such as regulation of gene expression, chromosomal stability, and maintenance of species identity. Carninci offers further thoughts:

Analysis of these data will continue, both broadly and in the context of specific biological questions, although new tools for visualizing, analysing and interpreting such data are needed to open them up for broader use by experimental biologists. But the existing findings are already thought-provoking. For example, they suggest that we should rethink the relationship between genomic function and evolutionary conservation. Regulatory regions and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are not subject to the evolutionary constraints of protein-coding genes, which may help to explain the sequence drifts reported in these papers. However, it is striking that transcription-factor networks are conserved despite low conservation of their binding positions in the genome.

As the junk-DNA advocates try to explain away the new findings, we look forward to evaluating this flood of new data from a design perspective.

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Ferguson and the shoot-first mentality and training of American police

'Just following orders!'

Few, if any, of the correct questions were asked in the grand jury hearing to decide whether policeman Darren Wilson would be indicted for killing Michael Brown.

The most important unexamined question is whether police are trained to use force immediately as a first resort before they assess a situation or determine if they are at the correct address. Are the police trained that the lives of police officers are so much more valuable than the lives of possible suspects, or a houseful of people into whose residence a heavily armed SWAT team enters, that police officers must not accept the risk of judicious behavior when encountering citizens? If this is the case as all evidence indicates that it is, then the police when they gratuitously murder members of the public are merely doing what they have been trained to do. As police are trained to use violence as a first resort, the police cannot be held accountable when they do.

There are a large number of videos available online that show that the first thing that police do when they arrive is to use force.

No sooner is Michael Brown in the grave than Cleveland cops kill a 12-year old boy who has a toy gun that shoots plastic pellets. The child is threatening no one - indeed there is no one else present. The boy seems to be playing a fantasy game in his head. A busy body calls the police. The police arrive and instantly shoot the kid down.

Here is a selection of videos and reports. Some of the videos are compressed to save the viewer time. They range from 59 seconds to the full 7:51 minute video, which shows the kid is just walking up and down the sidewalk. All the action comes at the end. The police arrive and instantly open fire, making no effort whatsoever to assess the situation.

Just a few days before Michael Brown is killed, Ohio police murdered John Crawford inside a Walmart store. What had Crawford done? He had picked up a BB rifle from a Walmart shelf and was on the phone with the mother of his two children, perhaps checking with her whether he could purchase it for the kids. A busy body named Ronald Ritchie felt threatened and called the police. The police rush in and shoot Crawford. The police claim that they ordered Crawford to drop the rifle, but the video shows the police shooting Crawford on sight. The busy body Ritchie actually caused two deaths, as the incident of Crawford's murder caused Angela Williams to die from a heart attack as she fled the store in response to the police gunfire.

Yes, you guessed it. The grand jury decided the police were justified.

Here is another video that demonstrates that policemen shoot instantly without cause. This is a rare case in which the policeman was held accountable, most likely because the video prevented authorities from fabricating the usual story of police justification.

In this video, police shoot down an unarmed black man in the street. After shooting Kajieme Powell ten times, the cops hold guns on the dead body while they handcuff a dead man. Like an almost endless number of other such videos, this one shows that either psychopaths are recruited for the police force, or police training turns cops into psychopaths.

These two reports examine Officer Darren Wilson's story of why he shot Michael Brown and conclude that Wilson's story doesn't make sense. [Link] and [link]. Most likely, Michael Brown was just another victim of the gratuitous violence that police are trained to use. Darren Wilson's use of deadly force was in keeping with his training.

The problem with the grand jury and prosecutor in Ferguson and everywhere else is that the real problem - the training of police to use deadly force as a first resort - was not identified as the cause of Michael Brown's death.

The Ferguson grand jury's decision is not an exoneration of Wilson's use of deadly force. Anyone familiar with the American criminal justice (sic) system knows that any prosecutor can get or prevent an indictment from a grand jury. Prosecutors are allowed to determine what evidence is presented. Prosecutors are permitted to bribe witnesses with money or dropped charges, and they can coerce false witness testimony by threatening a witness with charges. Seldom does an indictment or refusal to indict turn on the true facts.

The US justice system is no longer concerned with justice, but with the careers of prosecutors, punishing the powerless, and protecting the powerful. As justice has largely departed the justice system, it is hardly surprising that police lack any concept of justice.

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Enough is enough: Hundreds demand independence at Scottish Parliament

© Twitter/ Harry Fear

Articulate speakers angry at ‘greedy #Westminster rule’ over #Scotland, passionately calling for greater autonomy

Hundreds of people have gathered near the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood with St. Andrew's Cross flags, music and speeches in a celebration of Scottish nationhood, amid continued demands for independence as St. Andrew's Day celebrations got underway.

Poetry recitals, speeches and songs were on the agenda, as people wrapped themselves in flags and "Yes"-related paraphernalia. Even the blue Estelada could be seen among the crowds to show a degree of solidarity between various independence movements in Europe.

"Several hundred - even thousands - here today are here to voice Scotland's dream of independence,"RT's Harry Fear reported from Edinburgh.

"Their message is to the Westminster Parliament in central London that their campaign for independence is still on and still strong," he said.

Harry Fear @harryfear

Rally speakers arguing for greater autonomy for #Scotland from 'greedy austerity-obsessed Westminster, blaming Tories, Labour, Lib Dems'

3:06 PM - 29 Nov 2014 Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

The push for independence is tantamount to a greater push for social equality, employment opportunities, and welfare support. June Riley, pro-independence activist told RT:

"This is just not good enough for Scotland anymore. Scotland is now at the stage where we've had enough of being ruled, we're getting nothing, we're putting everything and getting nothing back, and it's time for Scotland to become an independent country."

The Scottish National party has seen unprecedented support since the independence referendum.

A YouGov poll for the Times newspaper published at the beginning of November indicated support for independence stood at 52 percent versus 48 percent who wanted to remain in the union.

Some of the 'no' voters are also feeling disillusioned as their vote was influenced by the vow for extensive new devolved powers.

"We were actually promised home rule or devo-max," pro-independence activist Gordon Johnson told RT. "What we've been offered now is nowhere near these conditions."

"We have lost the first battle, but we will go on to win the war," Johnson added. "We will not stop until we are independent."

Harry Fear @harryfear

'We will get independence whether you like it or not! If you won't give it, we'll take it! There's a storm coming!' #scottishindependence

3:04 PM - 29 Nov 2014 Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

On September 18, Scots held a referendum on whether Scotland should break away from the 307-year-old union with the rest of the UK and become an independent country. With a record voter turnout, 55.3 percent voted against independence, while 44.7 percent voted in favor.

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Sun's shifting magnetic field may predict lightning strikes

© arhip4/Shutterstock

The sun may be partly responsible for lightning strikes on Earth, and scientists think fluctuations in the sun's magnetic field could be used to predict lightning storms weeks in advance.

The sun's magnetic field can bend Earth's own magnetic field, and this twisting and turning may be allowing an influx of high-energy particles into the planet's atmosphere. These particles can cause a buildup of electric charge that can trigger lightning strikes.

From 2001 to 2006, during a period when the sun's magnetic field was severely skewing the Earth's magnetic field, the United Kingdom saw 50 percent more lightning strikes than normal, according to the new study.

This severe skewing happens regularly as the sun's magnetic field shifts. Scientists say this suggests the sun's magnetic field could be used to predict the occurrence of lightning.

"We now plan to combine regular weather forecasts, which predict when and where thunderclouds will form, with solar magnetic field predictions," Matt Owens, a professor of space environment physics at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. "This means a reliable lightning forecast could now be a genuine possibility."

Earth would be a barren wasteland without a magnetic field. The magnetic field shields the planet from blasts of particles from space, such as high-energy cosmic rays and dangerous solar winds.

The sun's magnetic field acts like a bar magnet. As the sun rotates, the magnetic field is either pointing at the Earth or pointing away from it. As the sun's magnetic field shifts around, it pulls the Earth's weaker magnetic field with it.

The 50 percent increase in lightning strikes in the U.K. happened when the sun's magnetic field was pointing away from Earth. During that time, Earth's warped magnetic field made some spots in the upper atmosphere more vulnerable to cosmic rays - streams of high-energy particles that come from the shock waves of giant exploded stars.

Previous research has already shown that cosmic rays can trigger lightning. Storm clouds build up excess electric charge, but not enough for a spontaneous discharge (a bolt of lightning). Researchers think the extra charge comes from cosmic rays that make it through Earth's magnetic field.

"From our results, we propose that galactic cosmic rays are channeled to different locations around the globe, which can trigger lightning in already charged-up thunderclouds," Owens said. "The changes to [Earth's] magnetic field could also make thunderstorms more likely by acting like an extra battery in the atmospheric electric circuit, helping to further 'charge up' clouds."

Scientists have been able to predict the polarity of the sun's magnetic field for more than 40 years. However, this is the first study that suggests the polarity of the sun's magnetic field could have a direct influence on weather on Earth. To adapt the research into a lightning predictor, weather forecasters will need to combine normal weather predictions with predictions of how the sun's magnetic field will shift, the researchers said. Owen and his colleagues now plan to test if combining the data can accurately predict lightning.

The new study was published Wednesday (Nov. 19) in the journal

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VIDEO: Ferguson: "It is officially open season on black folks," says legal expert

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On Monday St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced the grand jury had found "that no probable cause exists" to charge Officer Darren Wilson with any crime in the death of Michael Brown. The jury deliberated for three months and heard dozens of hours of testimony, including from Wilson himself. But did they hear the full story? McCulloch himself had faced public scrutiny throughout the grand jury investigation, with calls for him to resign over allegations of a pro-police bias and questions raised about an unusual grand jury process that resembled a trial. We speak to Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who is just back from Ferguson. "I don't think we can take away anything from this decision not to indict other than that it is now officially open season on black folks when it comes to police violence," Warren says.

AMY GOODMAN: We are in Clayton, Missouri, right next to Ferguson, Missouri, where we spent all last night. Today we're standing in front of - well, the Clayton Courthouse where the grand jury has deliberated close to two dozen times over the last few months, before they came out with their decision yesterday, announced by the prosecutor Bob McCulloch. Our guest right now, in New York, we're joined by Vince Warren, the Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights who will help us decide - will help us understand the decision that the grand jury made. And with me here in subfreezing weather, here in Clayton is Osagyefo Sekou, he is the Pastor from the First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain Massachusetts, dispatched to Ferguson by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He went to high school in St. Louis and has family in Ferguson. We're going to go first to Vince Warren. Can you explain the grand jury decision?

VINCE WARREN: Yes, thanks Amy, and good to see you Sekou. It is almost inexplicable. The first thing we have to remember is that this is not a verdict. This hasn't gotten to verdict. This was an indictment. So the grand jury was asked to consider evidence in order to prefer charges so that the police officer could go to trial, but they did not do that. What was so strange about it is I've never seen, in my years, I've never seen a prosecutor take such a hands-off approach. And to listen to that press conference, Amy, you would think that he had just sort of spread out the pieces of paper on the table and said, grand jury, do your thing. Let me tell you, prosecutors never do that. There's a reason why they say prosecutors can indict a ham sandwich. It's because they can entirely control that process.

Now, they did release some of the transcripts yesterday. And I took a look at some of them, and what I saw, which people need to know, is that this wasn't just the grand jurors listening to the testimony idly. The prosecutors are framing the evidence. And as you heard in that press conference yesterday, there was more talk about what Mike Brown did than there was about what Darren Wilson did. It was almost as if in that grand jury process looking to charge Darren Wilson, that they were really charging Mike Brown. And I also noticed in some of the transcripts that they were setting up - the prosecutors were setting up the sense of fear, even asking the Police Sergeant when he got to Mike Brown's body, when he first got there, leading them into the testimony to say, yeah, there were people that were agitated, there were people that were upset, there were people that were moving around. And of course there were people that were agitated because Mike Brown's body was on the ground. But they're setting this up so that essentially to play into the defense of Darren Wilson, that he acted reasonably out of fear for his life, A, B, that he acted reasonably and pursuant to the law because he thought that Mike Brown was breaking the law.

So what we have is a grand jury system that for most people in the world seems to play out like it was, gosh, what can we do, the evidence was really overwhelming. But I don't think the evidence was. You only have one set of that story. Unfortunately, in this process, Mike Brown's side of the story never gets told. What we do know is the prosecutors were setting this up so that it was in the best light, in my view, it was, from what I've seen, in the best light for the police officer and his "reasonable belief" that his life was in danger, so that is why he shot.

I don't think we can take away anything from this decision not to indict other than that it is now officially open season on black folks when it comes to police violence. That feeling that most of us had yesterday when we were listening to the decision, that feeling in your stomach, that unsettling feeling like there's nothing we can do - that is what injustice feels like. We have to remember that the folks on the ground feel that same way but they felt this for a long time. This is not a media event, this is life for people in the black community in urban areas. This is life for people in Ferguson. And so, yes, people are upset. People are acting out. People are disrupting the status quo. People want to shut it down, and frankly, I think that they should.

We should be thinking about the folks in Ferguson as pro-democracy protesters, as anti-structural racism protesters. Because when you think about what they're challenging on that big a scale, we know that a grand jury decision in one way or another is not when a solve the structural racism problem. What solves the structural racism problem is getting to people like Bob McCulloch so that he can't do the thing that he did in a press conference. If you notice, he on the one hand said this was a justified shooting by the police officer but then on the other hand said, oh, but we have to change the system. Those are completely inconsistent. It makes no sense. It makes no sense legally and certainly doesn't make any sense politically.

What we have with the protesters, and I'm happy that the Center for Constitutional Rights and Arch City Defenders locally on the ground, The National Lawyers Guild and Advancement Project have organized 300 lawyers to come down to be able to help represent the protesters because this is what our democracy looks like. Let's not think about this as these people are burning folks here or these people are throwing rocks here, that entire picture that you're looking at, Amy, that you are involved in, that is the state, the representation of the state of our democracy for black folks in America. It is messy, can be ugly, it's full of passion but people should not turn away from it. People should not try to tamper down and control it. People should begin to understand that if that is what we are dealing with, if that is where we are as a society, we need to think about structural changes in order to change the status quo.

AMY GOODMAN: Vincent Warren, the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office has released Darren Wilson's testimony to the grand jury showing the officer described the 18-year-old Michael Brown as looking like a "demon" on the day of the shooting. Wilson said, "And when I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan." Wilson went on to claim that Brown punched him twice and was concerned the third punch could be fatal or knock him unconscious. He defended his decision to shoot Brown multiple times. Wilson said, "At this point it looked like he was almost bulking up to run through the shots, like it was making him mad that I'm shooting at him." In addition to the testimony, the prosecutors released images of Darren Wilson in the hospital after the altercation. One of his cheeks was red, but wasn't heavily bruised. So, here we have Darren Wilson, four hours of testimony, Mike Brown was not there to give his side of the story.

VINCE WARREN: That's right, Amy. It is important to recognize that at this moment, we have to become clear as a society that police officers can commit crimes even while on duty. And police officers can and do lie particularly, particularly in these types of legal proceedings. I would note that - I was looking through some of the Sergeant testimony and when he first talked to Darren Wilson, when the Sergeant got to the scene, he talked to him about what happened but he didn't write it down. And the reason why he said he did not write it down was because he was multitasking. Now, that kind of evidence collection becomes critically important because it gives - if you don't have it, it gives the police officer the opportunity to change his story, to present the facts in the light that is more favorable to them. And you can certainly do that in a criminal trial when you're the defendant. But remember, police officers have two duties. One is that they have to preserve the evidence in order for people to find out what happened but it sounds to me like Darren Wilson was afforded the opportunity to create an evidentiary narrative that supported his version of the events. This is a huge problem and is not unique to Ferguson. This happens all over the country in every criminal context that we can think of. Ask any defense attorney about this and they will tell you that the way this went down with the prosecutor's office, with the police department was so shady, it was so shady that you can't have any confidence, any confidence whatsoever that the story that Darren Wilson told is in fact what happened.

AMY GOODMAN: Vince Warren, we want to thank you for being with us. Stay with us. We're going to go to break and then we're going to be joined by Reverend Sekou here in Ferguson, though, usually in Massachusetts. He's been here for months organizing on the ground. We also be joined by Jelani Cobb, Professor at University of Connecticut, Head of Africana Studies, writes for the , has been writing extensively about Ferguson. Yet, we were with him last night on the streets of Ferguson. Ferguson has erupted. This is We will be back in a minute.

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UN report details abysmal US record of abuse

© Pat Racimore

The United Nations Committee Against Torture issued a lengthy report today assessing the performance of the 156 countries whose governments have ratified the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which took effect two decades ago.

The report subjected a major country to a wide-ranging critique, indicting it for a long list of human rights violations including:

• Refusal to prosecute officials who engage in or sanction torture of prisoners


• Detaining prisoners indefinitely without trial or other judicial proceeding, or any hope of release


• Kidnapping individuals overseas and torturing them in secret prisons


• Approving a manual for interrogation of prisoners that includes methods classified as torture under the Geneva Conventions


• Imprisoning immigrants under degrading conditions and refusing to acknowledge their claims as refugees fleeing persecution


• Imposing the death penalty on hundreds of prisoners, many of them from oppressed racial and ethnic minorities, many of them demonstrably innocent or unfairly tried


• Widespread use of solitary confinement, considered a form of torture, at all levels of the prison system


• Severe abuse of juveniles, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups both in police custody and in prisons


• Maintaining a regime of police violence, particularly against young men from racial and ethnic minorities, and refusing to restrain or punish police who kill, wound or torture

It will not come as any surprise to readers of the WSWS that the country named is not China, or Russia, or Iran, or some other target of the American ruling class, but the US itself. The government that claims the right to bully, blockade, and attack any country in the world in the name of "human rights" and "democracy" is guilty of the most heinous crimes.

The language of the report is both cautious and bureaucratic, and there are strained efforts to congratulate the Obama administration on alleged improvements, compared to the Bush administration, on such practices as extraordinary rendition and waterboarding. But the overall impact of this indictment is damning.

There are some significant revelations. The committee notes that the US government had filed reservations to the Convention on Torture at the time of ratification, indicating that some practices condemned by the treaty would continue, and that the Obama administration has refused to alter this "restrictive interpretation" of the anti-torture treaty or introduce a prohibition of torture into federal law.

The Obama administration has revoked Bush administration legal opinions declaring that waterboarding and other forms of torture were permissible, but it has not done the same to Bush-era claims that the US is obliged to observe international norms only at facilities within US borders, not at detention facilities on the soil of other countries. In other words, the legal basis for torture at secret CIA and military prisons still remains fully in effect.

The report also notes that the US government is in violation of its commitment under the Convention on Torture to "Ensure that alleged perpetrators and accomplices are duly prosecuted, including persons in positions of command and those who provided legal cover to torture, and, if found guilty, handed down penalties commensurate with the grave nature of their acts." Obama directly repudiated this legal obligation, in his directive to "look forward, not backward" on allegations of torture.

While this remains a closed book to the American political establishment, the report underscores the seamless connection between military violence overseas and militarized police violence at home - though its criticisms are couched largely in racial terms. It condemns "racial profiling by police and immigration offices and growing militarisation of policing activities." A spokesman said the committee members "voiced deep concern at the frequent and recurring police shootings in fatal pursuit of unarmed black individuals."

The document is the product of a three-week session in Geneva that included testimony from the parents of Michael Brown, the unarmed 18-year-old African-American who was shot to death by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson on August 9. The report was made public four days after a St. Louis County grand jury whitewashed the killing and dismissed all charges against the killer cop.

The timing of the report is also significant, coming at the culmination of the protracted effort by the White House and CIA to suppress a major US Senate report on torture at CIA secret prisons between 2002 and 2006. The 6,000-page report was completed two years ago, but release of even a censored version of its 500-page executive summary has been blocked by CIA demands that so much of the document be redacted that it is almost incomprehensible.

Two days before the report was made public, seven UN human rights experts issued an open letter to Obama that, while couched in friendly, even obsequious language, called for "the fullest possible release" of the CIA torture report and warned that Obama's decision on the document would have "far-reaching consequences for victims of human rights violations everywhere and for the credibility of the United States."

The White House, however, has worked closely with the CIA in suppressing the document. Or more exactly, the CIA made its demands, and the White House has followed suit obediently. After initially agreeing with Senate investigators to use pseudonyms to mask the names of CIA operatives, including the torturers, the agency is now demanding that even the pseudonyms should be blacked out of the document. magazine reported last week that the White House was "fiercely resisting the release of an executive summary of a 6,300-page Senate report on the CIA's detention and interrogation program." One Senate aide told the magazine, "Ideally, we should be closing ground and finalizing the last stages right now so that we can release the report post-Thanksgiving. But, despite the fact that the committee has drastically reduced the number of pseudonyms in the report, the White House is still resisting and dragging this out."

An additional factor is the impending takeover of the Senate by the Republican Party in January. Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, who would become chairman of the Intelligence Committee once the Republicans take control, is on record as opposing any public release of any information on CIA activities, regardless of their criminal nature. If the wrangling over release of the report is prolonged another month, the new Republican majority may well vote to withdraw the report entirely, saving the Democrats from having to do the job themselves.

The Senate report is hardly a real indictment of the CIA. Lawyers for the Guantanamo Bay prisoners who were waterboarded dozens of times say that Senate investigators never took testimony from them. In other words, the only account of the torture comes those who participated in the torture, or sanctioned it, not from those who were its victims. It also reportedly does not level any accusations against the top executive, military and intelligence officials who drew up and sanctioned the criminal policy.

That even such a document, with thousands of lines blacked out and vital information withheld, cannot be made public, speaks volumes about the decay and collapse of American democracy. The US ruling elite is incapable of coming clean about the period when, as Obama admitted, "We tortured some folks." That is because the entire state apparatus is preparing for the use of similar methods against a much-feared upheaval among workers and young people at home.

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Why we may need viruses more than vaccines

© GreenMedInfo

A groundbreaking study published this month in challenges a century old assumption about the innate pathogenicity of these extremely small, self-replicating particles known as viruses.

Titled, "An enteric virus can replace the beneficial function of commensal bacteria ," researchers found that an "enteric RNA virus can replace the beneficial function of commensal bacteria in the intestine."

Known as murine (mouse) noravirus (MNV), researchers found that infecting germ-free or antibiotic-treated mice infection with MNV "restored intestinal morphology and lymphocyte function without inducing overt inflammation and disease."

The researchers found:

"Importantly, MNV infection offset the deleterious effect of treatment with antibiotics in models of intestinal injury and pathogenic bacterial infection. These data indicate that eukaryotic viruses have the capacity to support intestinal homeostasis and shape mucosal immunity, similarly to commensal bacteria."

Despite the commonly held belief that viruses are vectors of morbidity and mortality that must be vaccinated against in order to save us from inevitable harm and death, the new study dovetails with a growing body of research showing that our own genome is 8% viral in origin .

Reporting on the new study, in an article well worth reading, the Science Daily states :

"The new findings are the first strong evidence that viruses in the gastrointestinal tract can help maintain health and heal a damaged gut."

They summarized the study's findings as follows:

"The team infected germ-free mice and antibiotic-treated mice with MNV and found that the infection triggered the repair of intestinal tissue damaged by inflammation, restored intestinal cell numbers, restored intestinal cell function, and normalized tissue architecture. The results were apparent after just 2 weeks of MNV infection.

Infection with MNV also helped restore the gut's immune system. The investigators do not yet know how the virus supports the immune system. They did find, however, increased signaling by antiviral type 1 interferon proteins, suggesting the virus was playing a key role in driving the immune response.

The investigators also documented a doubling of T-cell levels in the blood and detectable levels of antibodies in the gut and blood of antibiotic-treated mice after MNV infection. These measures were consistent with a normalization of the immune response. The authors conclude that viral infection of the gut may be helpful once antibiotic treatment has wiped out intestinal bacteria.

Treatment with MNV was also able to improve survival in antibiotic-treated mice receiving the damaging chemical dextran sodium sulphate."

As our knowledge of the critical role of microbes increases, a paradigm-shift is occurring in medicine that is only beginning to trickle down to clinical practice. If our very identity depends on 'germs' - e.g. the bacteria within our body account for 10 times more cells and 99% more genetic material that found in the human body itself - the discovery that the viruses in our body - the total number referred to as the virome - also perform indispensable functions in supporting and maintaining our health, turns on its head widely held assumptions about their role in contributing to human disease and various pathologies.

As reported in the Science Daily article, the senior investigator of the study Ken Cadwell, PhD, from New York University, states:

"We have known for a long time that people get infected all the time with viruses and bacteria, and they don't get sick." "Now we have scientific evidence that not every viral infection is bad, but may actually be beneficial to health, just as we know that many bacterial infections are good for maintaining health."

Consistent with the 'hygiene hypothesis,' natural infections during childhood and onward, may prime our immune system and help to balance the Th1 (innate) and Th2 (adaptive) poles of immunity, producing a healthy immune system as a result. Vaccines, by disrupting this evolutionarily determined balance, may be contributing to widespread immune dysregulation, both suppressing innate immune mechanisms as well as over-stimulating the adaptive pole, contributing to widespread autoimmunity in exposed populations.

As science and molecular biology progresses and continues to reveal the inherent intelligence within the commensal relationship of the human body to the microbial universe, we are left with a crucial question: is the present-day globally orchestrated vaccine agenda really improving health, or does it belie a hubris that shirks the scientific evidence in favor of an agenda that wishes to exert control over the human body due to economic and socio-political agendas?

For additional research on why vaccines do not make sense evolutionarily, read our article on the topic: Why Vaccines Aren't Paleo and Vaccination Agenda: An Implicit Transhumanism / Dehumanism

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FLASHBACK: False-flag terrorism: Ferguson residents say looters 'not from here'

Agents provocateurs were brought in to initiate the looting, then the police sat back so others could see no arrests were being made, then the government can turn to the country and say: "See, looters! Now do you REALLY want to support anti-police brutality protests?"

The looters in Ferguson are reportedly total strangers to the community

The looting and destruction of property that has taken place in Ferguson, Missouri has been the primary justification for the excessive police and military action in the community this week. However, it seems that there is a good possibility that the looters have come from out of town, and are not affiliated in any way with the protesters. It is also highly possible, if not probable, that have been sent in to create trouble, so the police then have an excuse to use as much force as they want against the protesters.

In most cases, political protestors are nonviolent and do everything they possibly can to avoid clashes with the police. Demonstrators are well aware that they are out-matched in terms of firepower and are only getting out in the streets in large numbers to show how much support is behind their message.

Almost every single time there is a public protest, the authorities are unsympathetic and use heavy force to intimidate anyone who may want to resist in the future. However, they don't attack the protesters with guns blazing right away, because they know that it will further expose their oppressive nature and add credibility to the revolutionary movement. So are used to instigate physical altercations between activists and authorities.

are people that work for the police, but pretend to be a part of an anti-establishment crowd. While undercover, these agents commit acts of violence and vandalism to give the police a pretense to use force against the demonstrators. Once the agent smashes one window or throws one rock on behalf of the group they have infiltrated, the authorities are able to send in the heavy guns and turn the protest into a war zone.

29-year-old Craig Ruffin, told the that he believes the looters weren't even from the community. "This is really tragic - we shop at all these stores," he said. "I'm with the peaceful protesting. But this right here, this is not what we're about."

During the interview Craig saw a group of possible looters and told reporters that they were not from the area.

"See? They're waiting for the police to leave the store," he told them. "They're not from here."

Lindsey Johnson, another neighbor that was interviewed, also said that it was strangers who were responsible for the looting.

"We know the people who own that store," Johnson told Daily . "We have relationships with them. They're good people."

"There are a lot of opportunists running around trying to take advantage of what's been happening in Ferguson, but it's not people in Ferguson doing it. Why would you ruin a store where you live and need to go shop at?" Johnson added.

In fact, it was reported by multiple sources that groups of protesters were posted up in front of stores throughout the city to protect them from looters.

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Study confirms: DNA from GMOs can pass directly into humans

The idea that DNA from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is broken down in the digestive tract and rendered innocuous, a common industry claim, is patently false. A recent study published in the scientific journal found that large, meal-derived DNA fragments from GMOs are fully capable of transferring their genes directly into the bloodstream, deconstructing the myth that transgenic foods act on the body in the same way as natural foods.

A combined analysis of four other independent studies involving more than 1,000 human samples and a team of researchers from universities in Hungary, Denmark and the U.S. looked at the assimilation process for GMOs as they are currently consumed throughout the world. This includes derivatives of GM crops such as high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) from GM corn, for instance, and soy protein from GM soybeans, as well as meat derived from animals fed a GM-based diet.

After looking at the data on how the human body processes these and other forms of GMOs, the team discovered that DNA from GMOs is not completely broken down by the body during the digestion process. What would normally be degraded into smaller constituents like amino acids and nucleic acids was found to remain whole. Not only this, but these larger DNA fragments were found to pass directly into the circulatory system, sometimes at a level higher than actual human DNA.

"[B]ased on the analysis of over 1000 human samples from four independent studies, we report evidence that meal-derived DNA fragments which are large enough to carry complete genes can avoid degradation and through an unknown mechanism enter the human circulation system," explained the authors in their study abstract.

"In one of the blood samples the relative concentration of plant DNA is higher than the human DNA."

Genes from GMOs transfer into small intestine, alter composition of beneficial bacteria

This is an astounding discovery that proves false claims made by Monsanto and others that GMOs are no different from non-GMOs as far as the body is concerned. Monsanto even claims on its "Food Safety" page for GMOs that the DNA from GMOs is "extensively digested" and "present[s] no hazards," both of which have now been shown to be lies.

Based on this latest analysis of how food genes are transferred from the digestive tract into the bloodstream, it is now apparent that the genes of GMOs pass into the bloodstream whole. Their presence is also associated with major inflammatory conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, adenoma and colorectal cancer.

The presence of transgenic genes in the small intestine was also found to affect the composition of beneficial bacteria, which are responsible for protecting the gut against foreign invaders and helping the body absorb nutrients from food. Individuals with ileostomies, or perforations in their abdominal walls as a result of surgery, were found to literally be harboring full DNA sequences from GMOs in their intestinal tracts.

None of this is really all that surprising, of course, as the biological activities behind how GMOs are processed by the human body have never been legitimately studied. Biotechnology companies have always just claimed that GMOs are the same as real food, without any evidence to back this up, and this has been enough for the government to keep them on the market for nearly 20 years.

"One small mutation in a human being can determine so much, the point is when you move a gene, one gene, one tiny gene out of an organism into a different one you completely change its context," said David Suzuki, co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation.

"There is no way to predict how it's going to behave and what the outcome will be."

Sources

realfarmacy.com

plosone.org

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

science.naturalnews.com

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