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Wednesday 22 October 2014

Doctor assaulted by police at dying son's birthday, tasered so many times he had a heart attack

Montgomery, OH - Dr. Randal Cox was hosting his terminally ill son's 18th birthday when six police officers from two different precincts showed up to his door.


When Dr. Cox opened the door he was attacked by the officers. The incident was captured on cellphone video from one of the guests at the party.


"Somebody grabbed me around the neck, they body slammed me then multiple people got on top of me then I started getting Tased," said Cox.


Cox was then arrested and hauled off to jail in front of his son, who was left devastated at what would be his last birthday. Cox's son died several months later as a result of his terminal brain cancer.


Cox was charged with resisting arrest, which would later be dropped.


He was tasered to the point that he had to hospitalized because he suffered a heart attack and kidney failure as a result of the attack.


Originally Cox thought that the police were at his house because kids attending the party may have parked in someone's yard.


However, that was not the reason. Police came to Cox's residence, pulled him to the ground, and tasered him to the point of hospitalization because they had a warrant.


Based on false information from his ex-girlfriend, who had told police that Cox had violated her protection order, police showed up and wreaked havoc.


Cox's ex-girlfriend said he harassed her at a gas station.


However, according to WLWT, eventually the case went to court. Defense attorneys found security video at the gas station showing the woman, but Cox was not there. In fact, at the time he was seen on security cameras at a cellphone store.


"Because we presented evidence clearly indicating he was not guilty of violating the protection order and not guilty of resisting arrest and because of that evidence the judge dismissed the case with prejudice," said defense attorney Clyde Bennett.


Monday, Cox filed a federal lawsuit against the two Tri-State police agencies claiming they used excessive force.


No officers were found to be at fault for their lack of investigation or their alleged use of excessive force.


"The officers acted appropriately and in an objectively reasonable manner given the active resistance by Cox, and the number, action, and demeanor of the crowd of people who had formed in the close proximity of the arrest," wrote Police Chief Paul Hartinger in a press release.


[embedded content]


Caught On Tape - Folks Jumped The White House Fence, Again



Just weeks after WhiteHouseFenceJumperGatesaw the head of the Secret Service dispatched - having been disappointed not to be able to implement her reforms that would ensure the safety of the White House, the agency reports:



  • *MAN STOPPED AFTER JUMPING WHITE HOUSE FENCE: SECRET SERVICE



What is worse - much worse - is this african-american chap proceeds to kick and harass the guard dogs sent to dispatch him... an egregious act in anyone's book.



  • *AGENTS WITH DOGS STOPPED WHITE HOUSE JUMPER, AGENCY SAYS



Caught On Tape - the dreadful dog-kicking moment...



Video of the incident Wednesday night taken by TV news cameras shows a man in white shorts just inside the White House fence on Pennsylvania Avenue.


The video shows the man lifting his shirt as if to show agents that he has no weapons. The man is then seen kicking and punching two Secret Service dogs that were released on him.



* * *


As The Washington Post reports,


Secret Service officials apprehended a person who jumped the White House fence late Wednesday, news reports said.


Authorities shut down Lafayette Park after the incident, moving dozens of tourists to H Street. Reports said the White House was under lockdown.


Philippe Melaku-Bello, a peace protester who said he regularly spends time outside the White House, said he saw five to six officers with batons out standing over a man on the ground. He said the man was not moving. Officers immediately started moving bystanders farther from the White House. While he was moving away, he heard the barking of a Secret Service dog.









SOTT FOCUS: Ottawa under attack: 'ISIS' assault on Canadian capital another false-flag terror event

In Ottawa today, in an event "unprecedented in Canada's history", someone shot dead - at point blank range - one of the two soldiers who stand guard at Canada's National War Memorial. From there the suspect(s) hijacked car(s) and made their way to Parliament Buildings, where they opened fire in close proximity to Canadian government ministers and legislators. Canada's capital city is currently on lockdown as thousands of personnel from multiple security forces patrol the area and set up checkpoints to monitor vehicles going in and out of the city.

One of the shooters has been killed, allegedly by a security guard inside the Parliament. At least two patients have turned up with gunshot wounds at a local hospital. Eyewitnesses told local news outlet CTV that "a man with long hair carrying a rifle" fired four shots at a soldier next to Canada's 'Tomb of the Unknown Soldier'. That soldier has since died.



Eyewitness: 'It sounded like a shotgun'


One man watched the scene unfold from a third-floor office that faces the war memorial. "It was unreal," said the witness, who asked not to be identified. "I heard the shot and looked out the window. . . The shooter came from the west side and aimed right at the young guy that was standing guard and shot him twice. I think he missed with the first shot; it sounded like a shotgun."






Loaded symbolism: An unnamed Canadian soldier was shot dead at the country's 'Tomb of the Unknown Soldier'



Canada's military has been put on high alert, with all its bases on lockdown. Canada had incidentally raised its national terrorism alert level earlier today, following a separate attack on Monday, in which two Canadian soldiers were run over in a hit-and-run by a "homegrown radicalized jihadist", Quebecois Martin Couture-Rouleau, aka 'Ahmad the Converted'. One of the soldiers died. The suspect was summarily executed following a manhunt by militarized police.


When asked how they already knew so much about the suspect, police said they had been monitoring Couture-Rouleau "for some time" because he's on a list of 90 Canadian suspects involved in "fighting with extremists abroad." In July this year, they confiscated his passport when he tried to leave the country for Turkey. He was released "for lack of evidence that he intended to join a terrorist group," despite the fact that he was clearly bent on joining up with ISIS. Canadian press are reporting today that Couture-Rouleau was "angry that Canada supported the U.S. bombing of ISIS", but reassured Canadians that he "appeared to be a lone wolf..."


From 'Multiple Shooters'... to 'Lone Gunman'


Cellphone video shot by a Globe and Mail reporter showed a chaotic scene in the hallway leading from the front doors of Parliament's Centre Block to the Library of Parliament during the attack:


[embedded content]




Seasoned observers of false-flag shootings and terror attacks should take note of the fact that initial reports described at least THREE (and up to four) shooters:

"We were waiting there for a city tour and suddenly I heard four shots," said Jan Lugtenborg, a tourist visiting downtown Ottawa from Holland.


"Suddenly I saw a small guy with long black hair... with a long rifle, and he ran away after the shots, across streets in the direction of Parliament Hill," he said.


Raivo Nommick, another bystander, said "all of a sudden I just heard a shot, turned around and there was a guy with a rifle....and just pow pow.


"Then I saw one of the other Armed Forces guys just running. He barrelled over, just ran right over. The other guy just dropped. I looked back and just dived underneath and immediately called 911."



Eyewitness Scott Walsh, who was working on Parliament Hill, said he saw:

"...a man running with a double-barrelled shotgun, wearing a scarf and blue jeans. He hopped over the fence surrounding Parliament Hill, forced someone out of a car, then drove to the front doors of Parliament and fired at least two shots."



Eyewitness Tony Zobl described what he saw from his fourth-floor office window directly above the war memorial:

"I looked out the window and saw a shooter, a man dressed all in black with a kerchief over his nose and mouth and something over his head as well, holding a rifle and shooting an honour guard in front of the Cenotaph point-blank, twice."



One report from a government minister suggests an explosive device of some sort was used:

"PM was addressing caucus, then a huge boom, followed by rat-a-tat shots. We all scattered. It was clearly right outside our caucus door," Treasury Board Minister Tony Clement told Reuters.






Ottowa police have "confirmed" that "two or three gunmen were involved in the incident." AP journalist Jorge Barrera reported that police have one of the suspect's cellphones and "are in possession of a photograph of one of the gunmen," described as having "dark skin and long black hair."

As "multiple shooters"' morphs into "lone gunman" in the coming hours and days, keep in mind that Ottawa Police Constable Chuck Benoit told CNN that there was more than one person involved in the shootings. "We have to apprehend and arrest the people that are involved in this morning's incident, and at this time we don't have these people," Benoit said.


It appears that one of the shooters hijacked a "green car", while another shooter used this car to reach Parliament:



© sunnewsnetwork.ca

"The shooter's car"? Or "one of the shooters' cars?"




© ctvnews.ca

CTV News' Maurice Cacho reporting a green car used by one of the terrorists



The ISIS PR department has tweeted this photo they say is "the Ottawa shooter" ... although it's unclear how ISIS in the Middle East figured out what Ottawa police officials don't yet know (that "multiple shooters" is soon to become "the lone gunman"):

The 'lone wolf' is named as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a 32-year-old Canadian citizen. Also from Quebec, Zehaf-Bibeau may have known Couture-Rouleau. He was apparently known to Montreal police, with someone of that name having been arrested for a number of drugs offences. Curiously, though, he was first identified by "U.S. security agencies", who were able to inform their Canadian colleagues that Zehaf-Bibeau too had "recently converted to Islam."



One of the shooters, probably killed, inside the Parliament building.



From Hapless Dupes...

© Wikipedia - http://ift.tt/1FFdwOu

Mubin Shaikh: jihadist, jihadist-trainer, jihadist-recruiter, weapons dealer, drugs dealer... and career agent of Canada's intelligence agency



Back in 2006, there was the 'Ontario Terror Plot', in which 18 people - one as young as 15 - and supposedly "inspired by al Qaeda" - were accused (and found guilty) of planning to - wait for it - detonate truck bombs, open fire in a crowded area, storm the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, storm the Canadian Parliament building, storm the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) headquarters, storm the parliamentary Peace Tower, take hostages, then behead the Prime Minister and other government leaders... all the while screaming 'Allahu Akbar!'

In the course of the trial, it emerged that they were set up by a police informer who had "infiltrated the group" and let it be known to the that he had "military and martial arts training." The evidence that these men were "planning a terrorist training camp" in the Canadian woods was video footage allegedly showing them talking around a campfire and doing 'donuts' with their cars. At a second 'training camp', the younger members were induced to appear in videos mimicking Jihadist beheading videos coming out of Iraq at the time. Their handlers had them sit in front of the black al Qaeda flag with hunting knives.


Mubin Shaikh, the informer, who turns out to be a career operative of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, was accused by the defence of having played a "key role" in setting up and running the trip. He purchased the supplies used, was the "military trainer" at the 'camp' (where 200 police officers were waiting to pounce in this 'sting operation'), instructed them on how to use the firearms and ammunition he bought for the 'terror cell'... and "gave exhortational sermons on Jihad". Shaikh himself described the 'terrorists plotting full-scale ground war against Canada' as "hapless."


...to GLADIO-style Operations





Yes, these two are idiots.. but the people behind them are formidably ruthless



"We are all concerned and surprised that in quaint Canada, this kind of thing could happen," said Richard Teltschik, part of a delegation of German parliamentarians on a visit to Ottawa. "Everybody expects Canada to be remote from all the troubles of the world, peaceful and quiet, and now we have this situation." Indeed, today's events rather defy common sense.

In fact, they make absolutely no sense unless they're seen for what they are: terror attacks organized by the state (or state actors) - in all probability elements of U.S. and Canadian intelligence - with a view to shrinking that "remoteness from the troubles of the world" by bringing the 'troubles over there (created by us)... to our doorstep'.


Hundreds of Canadians and Americans have been enticed, induced or brainwashed into going to Syria over the last 4 years. As proxy forces in a determined effort to remove President Assad of Syria, these hapless dupes are effectively U.S. military conscripts in the front line of a war for U.S. world domination. As hapless dupes, they never stood much chance of defeating Assad's conventional military forces; their primary mission was to draw responses from Assad that the West could vilify as Assad 'killing his own people', at which point Syria would be levelled like Libya was.


Problem is, Russia stands in the way. How else but through some demonstration of the 'real threat' of terrorism can the Canadian government justify Canadian military jets intercepting Russian aircraft along Russia's borders? Prime Minister Harper won't connect the two issues - ISIS and Russia - but that is ultimately what ISIS-mania is all about: legitimizing U.S.-NATO hegemony over 'all those places over there'.


War on Terror Redux



In an unpopular move, Canada's Parliament had recently done its bit for Empire when it voted to participate in Washington's 'Operation Inherent resolve' against ISIS in Syria/Iraq. Draconian legislation is currently on the cards, including a bill that will retrospectively permit Canadian intelligence agencies to circumvent laws that prevent them from spying on Canadians - get this - by "allowing foreign agencies, including those of the United States, to do it for them."

This is the war on terror, folks; you're either with the authorities, or you're "with the terrorists." Today's attack in the heart of Canada's administrative district is intended to remind Canadians - and Westerners in general - that without 'lockdowns', summary executions, farcical judicial processes, 'secret state evidence', increased militarization of police forces, and the circumvention of due process and democratic norms, our benevolent leaders cannot protect us from the monster they created. In these times of universal deceit, Oligarchs everywhere know it is imperative that they remind the Authoritarian Followers "WHY THEY NEED US!"


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CIA pressure in Brazilian elections

Over two thousand Brazilian political activists, intellectuals, people of art and culture signed a manifest on October 26 highlighting the hostile actions of Washington aimed at prevention of Dilma Rousseff election victory. The document is posted to social nets. It says the coming to power of Aécio Neves of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira - PSDB), who serves the interests of tycoons, will inflict irreparable damage to the country and take away all the snags on the way of US direct interference into the Brazilian internal affairs. Neves is to play the role of obedient tool in the hands of US administration. Washington goes to any length to achieve its goal and bring the desired candidate to power - some things are done covertly, some tricks are resorted to in a clandestine way.

All CIA information and propaganda resources are used to support Neves. Around 80 million Brazilians have access to Internet, 150 million are cell phone users. The US special services have perfect command of destabilization techniques. The recent protests and social unrest in Brazil threatened the World Cup proving that the forces are ready to react as the «color revolution» scenario to be implemented at any time.


The activities of non-government organizations are not restricted in any way; their members have close ties with US embassy and consulate staff, as well as ISAID workers. The human intelligence is used to discredit the policy of the Dilma Rousseff government. The lies about its ineffectiveness are spread around by all available means. «Experts» forecast collapse in case the President wins another term. They disseminate dubious results of «rating polls» that complicate the vision of reality.


Propaganda publications devoted to forecasts often use the term «technical draw» which provides many opportunities for CIA to manipulate, falsify and juggle with facts as a way to bolster the chances of the presidential hopeful the US wants to win the race. Some years ago the same thing took place in Mexico. Enrique Peña Nieto, the US-supported candidate ran against Lopez Obrador, a populist and a supporter of Hugo Chavez. The manipulations and rigging to make Peña win were widespread, many Mexicans still doubt his victory, but Washington said the election was transparent and honest.


Rubens Antônio Barbosa

© Unknown

Rubens Antônio Barbosa, the senior adviser of Aécio Neves on international affairs.



Rubens Antônio Barbosa, the senior adviser of Aécio Neves on international affairs and a candidate for the position of Minister of Foreign affairs. The Rousseff supporters believe him to be the leading CIA's agent of influence. He has been US ambassador to London. Now he heads the Superior Council of Foreign Trade of Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo. In accordance with his pro-US orientation, he calls for «depoliticization of foreign policy» and the «reconsideration of US strategic priorities in relation to the United States and China».

After the spying scandal, when the fact of taping the phone of Dilma Rousseff, members of cabinet, military leadership and top leaders of special services by the CIA surfaced, followed by the refusal by President Obama to apologize, Brazil strengthened the relationship with China - the leading trade partner since the tenure of former President Lula da Silva. Now Barbosa says that in case Neves wins the United States will occupy a proper (meaning predominant) place in the Brazil's foreign policy priorities.


There is a phrase said by Barbosa which provides a clue to what the would-be foreign policy of Brazil will be like. He said that the protection of national interests will no more be that passive. Bolivia has expropriated two oil refineries of Petrobraz and the government has done nothing to protect the interests of Brazil. Neves and Barbosa promise to provide access to US oil companies to oil extraction in the Brazilian continental shelf. The Neves staff says the policy will be «more pragmatic» and completely devoid of ideological approach typical for the Workers' Party. The stand on such issues as relationship with Mercosur (the Southern Common Market, a sub-regional bloc), BRICS and other international groups will be corrected.


Washington has gone through thorough preparation for the election race in Brazil; it is at the final stage now. The US State Department and special services have sent to the country dozens of seasoned operatives with rich experience of being involved in similar operations conducted across the world. For instance, Liliana Ayalde, the current US ambassador to Brazil, has done good job in Paraguay doing her best to contain the spread of «populist ideology». Brazil is next. There leading actors involved in the conspiracy against Dilma are the officers of the US embassy and consulate in Brazil: Alexis Ludwig (political counsellor), Paloma Gonsalez (political economic section officer), Samantha Carl-Yoder (chief of consular section), Kathryn Hoffman (political officer, the US Consulate General in São Paulo), and Amy Radetsky (political and economic chief, U.S. Consulate Rio de Janeiro).


It's enough to look at the Radetsky's career record to understand that Washington has prepared for a «non-standard situation in Brazil. In the State Department she has been responsible for monitoring the events in Brazil to see how they affect the bilateral relations and working out the policy towards this country. She was the one to see all the messages going out of the US embassy in the Brazilian capital. A bit later she headed a special State Department team monitoring the emergence and development of crisis situations in the region and preparing situation reports for State Secretary John Kerry. Now she was urgently sent to Rio! What crisis situation makes Radetsky go to Brazil?


Political scholar for Venezuela Eleazar Díaz Rangel calls a possible defeat of Dilma a «disaster». The governments of Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff have made life better for dozens of millions in Brazil who had not even had electricity before. The Workers Party has initiated drastic positive changes on the South American continent. According to Rangel, the Obama administration has mobilized all the opposition forces in Brazil and other Latin America countries, all the potential of media and information agencies to prevent the re-election of Dilma. There are funds allocated for providing support to Neves in the presidential race. Influential US financial and economic circles are involved to help Neves win.


Will Brazilians mobilize themselves and avoid the disaster predicted by Eleazar Díaz Rangel? We'll know in a week.


Demented jackal attacks devotees inside temple severely injuring 3, India




Indian jackal



Devotees sleeping inside the dargah Shehdana Wali got the scare of their life when a jackal entered the premises late on Wednesday and attacked three youths, injuring them severely.

The animal seemed to have gone berserk as it first bit into a youth's legs and clawed at him. As the devotees tried to save him and themselves, the jackal attacked two other youths - 19-year-old Faiz and Arif (24). The duo, along with 25-year-old Farman Ali, was admitted to the district hospital by locals.


After more than an hour of struggle, a few devotees managed to put a blanket on the animal and capture it after which they beat it up. They then took it to the Baradari police station, where cops also allegedly beat up the animal and asked locals to take it back.


The poor animal would have most likely died had it not been for the timely intervention of a team of People for Animals, which got him admitted to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute.


As per reports, more than 200 devotees were sleeping in the courtyard of the dargah, located in the heart of the city, when the jackal attacked the youths. Farman, a resident of Bukharpura area in the old city, was the first to be attacked. He sustained severe injuries. The locals admitted Ali and the other two youths to the district hospital.


Devotees present at shrine at the time of the incident said panic spread after the animal went on a rampage. "Locals were running from one place to another to save their lives. After struggling for more than an hour, some of us put a blanket on the jackal and nabbed him," said Feroz Ali alias Guddu, who lives next to the shrine.


After trapping the animal, angry locals reportedly thrashed it badly. "The animal was tied with a chain and taken to Baradari police station where two constables again thrashed it. The animal's condition deteriorated and he became unconscious, after which police asked us to take him back to shrine fearing that it would die soon," said Abdul Wajid Khan Noori, manager of the shrine.


After bringing it back to the shrine, locals tied it with a rope, chain and dupattas and put a lock on its neck. However, a team of People for Animals reached the spot after getting information from TOI. "If we were late by even 15 minutes, the jackal would have been died as it was in a very poor condition. Despite opposition from locals, we took it to IVRI for treatment. The animal regained consciousness on Wednesday noon," said Dheeraj Pathak, rescue chief, People for Animals.


Divisional forest officer (DFO) Dharam Singh Yadav said, "The forest team and People for Animals together took the jackal to IVRI for treatment. After doctors say its condition is stable, we will release him deep into the forest."


When contacted, Inspector, Baradari police station, RK Singh said, "The constables and other policemen did not attack the animal. We informed the forest department officials, who later took it for treatment."


Vanished without a trace: Rescuers vow to find helicopter that went missing in Tyva Republic


© Russian Ministry of Emergencies

The rescue involves 435 people assisted by 88 units of hardware.



Rescuers vow to find helicopter that vanished in strong winds on 10 October.

There is still no trace of the missing Mi-8 helicopter that went missing Tyva Republic on 10 October with 12 people on board.


Emergency teams have scoured 36,562 kilometres in a huge operation that has involved aerial searches and interviews with more than 600 potential witnesses, including local hunters and fishermen in one of the remotest areas of Siberia.


'There is no set time limit on such search. It depends on weather conditions and other factors,' said the regional centre of the Emergencies Ministry, which has used thermal images from space in a bid to locate the missing helicopter and crew, to no avail.


'We are looking until we find. If an emergency happens in winter, high in the mountains, in several meters of snow, the search becomes incredibly complex.'


The statement acknowledged it maybe necessary to 'wait until spring'.


But hopes remains that some or all the lost men could be alive. 'Whether there is someone alive depends on many factors. There is no information what happened to the helicopter, and in which circumstances. Perhaps the people are all right, but they cannot get in touch. It is a matter of chance, it makes no sense to guess and compare this situation with others. Hopefully, these people are alive.'


The lack of a beacon from the helicopter is seen as a hopeful sign.


If the helicopter crashed, then there is a signal. It is not clear why beacon on missing helicopter did not work, maybe there was no hard fall. It is too early to draw any conclusions yet.'


Four aircraft were deployed on Monday, with 78 people and four vehicles.


On Sunday, more than 200 rescuers on snowmobiles examined more than 250 kilometres of mountainous terrain and taiga.


The rescue operation involves 435 people assisted by 88 units of hardware, not only from Tyva but from other regions as well.


Radio contact with the helicopter was lost when it was on the way between the communities of Sorug and Kyzyl, located 270 kilometres apart.


North America to experience spectacular sunset due to partial solar eclipse October 23

solar eclipse

© Reuters / Abdel-Halim Shahaby



Much of North America will experience a solar eclipse on Thursday, with the moon covering up to 70 percent of the sun in the late afternoon. Along most of the East Coast and Midwest, the event will occur during sunset, allowing for dramatic photography.

"Sunsets are always pretty. One sunset this month could be out of this world. On Thursday, Oct. 23rd, the setting sun across eastern parts of the USA will be red, beautiful and... crescent-shaped," NASA Science wrote. The alignment of the two orbs on the East Coast at the end of the day "will be especially beautiful... transforming the usual sunset into something weird and wonderful."


The farther north viewers are, the deeper the eclipse they'll see, and the farther west they are, the higher the sun and moon will be in the sky. Thus the comparatively later dusk of the Midwest may provide the most spectacular views of sunset-enhanced phenomenon.


"Observers in the Central Time zone have the best view because the eclipse is in its maximum phase at sunset," longtime NASA eclipse expert Fred Espenak said. "They will see a fiery crescent sinking below the horizon, dimmed to human visibility by low-hanging clouds and mist."


[embedded content]




New England and Canada's maritime provinces will not be able to view the event, and the regions' residents must comfort themselves with their gorgeous fall foliage instead.
solar eclipse October 2014

© NASA



A partial solar eclipse occurs when the new moon passes between the Earth and the sun, obscuring part ‒. but not all ‒ of the image of the sun. The center of the moon's shadow will miss the earth, passing above the North Pole. The event will begin near the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Siberia, where it will be Friday morning, then moves eastward and deepens as the moon moves along its orbit.

The greatest eclipse, with more than four-fifths of the sun's diameter covered by the moon, will occur over the Canadian Arctic at M'Clintock Channel in the territory of Nunavut. For much of Alaska, western and central Canada, the Pacific Northwest and the northern Plains, more than 60 percent of the sun's diameter will be covered by the passing new moon. For the Southwest and central and southern Plains, the eclipse magnitude diminishes to between 40 and 60 percent. Across the Ohio, Tennessee and Mississippi valleys, maximum eclipse will coincide with sunset, Space.com reported.


Those who wish to view the unusual event must take special precautions so as to not damage their eyes, telescopes and cameras. The most important is to never look directly at the sun, even with sunglasses on.


"You might think sunglasses are OK, but they're generally not. They can make it worse; they block visible light from the Sun, so the pupil in your eye widens," Slate warned. "That can let in more harmful UV and infrared light."


Ultraviolet and infrared light can cause permanent damage. "Dangerous ultraviolet and infrared light focused on your retinas will damage your vision for life. Nothing's worth that risk," Universe Today explained.


People can safely view the eclipse through "pinhole filters," such as the leaves on a tree or a small hole pierced in a dark shade or piece of paper, will cast an image of the event onto a flat surface. They can also use special eclipse glasses.


Nikon advises the use of a solar filter ‒ specifically full-aperture solar filters ‒ on cameras and telescopes "to keep from harming your camera's imaging sensor as well as for correct exposure."


eclipse glasses

© AFP Photo / Saeed Khan

People can safely view the eclipse through special eclipse glasses.



This eclipse will be the fourth and final of 2014. In April, there was a total lunar eclipse on the 15th and the annular solar eclipse on the 29th. This month, there was a total lunar eclipse on October 8, with the partial solar on the 23rd. Both lunar events were considered "Blood Moons." This year also plays host to five "supermoons," when the orb appears to be bigger and brighter than normal during its full moon phase.

While this year has been an exciting one for professional astronomers and amateur stargazers alike, 2017 promises to be an even better one, when the first total eclipse of the sun to be visible from the contiguous 48 states in nearly four decades will sweep in an east-southeast direction from Oregon to South Carolina. "So, for many, Oct. 23 will provide a rehearsal for the [next] big event" on August 21, 2017,Space.com noted.


Premonition of things to come? Two state Governors declare state of emergency over Ebola

Martial Law

© News Blaze



When most of us think of a State of Emergency, we think of isolated natural disasters like hurricanes, winter storms or a flood that passes through. In those cases it's quite obvious when the emergency is over. But what if an emergency is declared for something that hasn't happened yet? How will we know when it's over?

Both Pennsylvania and Connecticut governors recently declared a State of Emergency, not because a disaster is taking place at this moment, but because bad things may happen in the future. This is an incredible development that citizens should be concerned about.


You should know that during a state of emergency your rights are suspended along with Constitutional restraints on government.


According to Wiki , a state of emergency "means that the government can suspend and/or change some functions of the executive, the legislative and or the judiciary during this period of time," and it "can also be used as a rationale for suspending rights and freedoms, even if those rights and freedoms are guaranteed under the Constitution."


It short, a state of emergency is martial law.


It is the legal equivalent to living under a dictatorship who can change and ignore existing laws while at the same time citizens lose their rights. This power should be viewed as an absolute last resort in times of genuine crisis; but lately it's declared merely over fear of something potentially happening in the future, instead of an actual emergency - which, by definition, is an immediate crisis.


Pennsylvania is currently operating under a state of emergency due to a manhunt for a single individual suspected of shooting two policemen. Police found an unusual orgy of evidence in the case, like finding the suspect's journal detailing all of his alleged crimes. Any detective will tell you that this level of "evidence" almost always indicates a frame job, but I digress.


The state government also hastily passed "temporary" legislation allowing out-of-state law officers to make arrests within state borders.


According to PennLive :



As alleged cop killer Eric Matthew Frein continues to elude police, legislation is heading to Gov. Tom Corbett might make it possible for even out-of-state law enforcement to arrest him should they find him.




The Senate voted 48-0 on Thursday to approve House-passed legislation that would extend arrest powers to out-of-state officers when the governor has declared an emergency and it would remain in effect until the disaster emergency declaration is terminated.



Pennsylvania State Police information officer Adam Reed told PennLive, "It's (the legislation) very important because in any large-scale incident like this, we need to rely on out-of-state agencies. They need to have some method in place ... to grant them arrest powers in extreme cases."

A random fugitive is considered a "large scale incident"? Something smells rotten here. Apparently the emergency is ongoing until this specific individual is detained. What about the next fugitive?


The logic behind the state of emergency in Connecticut is even more ridiculous. The state has not had a single resident or even a passing traveler with Ebola and yet Governor Malloy recently declared an emergency due to the potential threat from Ebola.


From Gov. Malloy's office :



Governor Dannel P. Malloy today signed an order that gives the Commissioner of the Department of Public Health (DPH) the ability to effectively quarantine an individual or a group of individuals who may have been exposed to or infected with the Ebola virus.




The order is not being executed because a specific case has been identified, but rather as a precautionary and preparatory measure in the event that the state has either a confirmed infection or has confirmed that someone at risk of developing the infection is residing in the state.



They even admit there is no actual emergency, but Connecticut officials can now force you into isolation, quarantine you, and medicate you by decree. This is otherwise known as indefinite detention without a right to defense, and it only needs to be based on some bureaucrat's suspicions about your health, not criminal acts. Are you beginning to see how dangerous this is?

And don't we already pay the CDC, HHS, FEMA, and other agencies to prepare and take precautions for potential outbreaks? Why does Connecticut need to declare an emergency to prepare for something that is already being prepared for? It seems ludicrous.


For those of you breathing a sigh of relief that you don't live in either of these states, I've got bad news for you.


America, at the federal level, has been operating in a perpetual State of Emergency since the attacks of September 11th. That is why executive orders are technically legal, as well as warrantless spying, TSA groping, indefinite detention, military patrolling neighborhoods, wars without Congress, and the rest of the seemingly lawless behavior by the government.


These unconstitutional provisions were meant to be temporary due to the "emergency" of 9/11. That's why the PATRIOT Act had annual sunset clauses until Obama auto-signed a four-year extension in 2011. This happened around the time Osama was allegedly killed and Al Qaeda was said to number less than 50. Still, the emergency and war on terror persists.


Isn't it interesting how all these new terror groups and hyped pandemics are gaining momentum in the months leading up to the PATRIOT Act's latest sunset in 2015?


The PATRIOT Act aside, it seems like the government at all levels is either pathetically easy to frighten, or they're looking for any excuse to harness the extra authority that comes during a state of emergency. We have become the land of cowards, but I bet on the latter.


If you care about your rights, you might want to make some noise about these state emergencies that aren't actually emergencies, because they're setting dangerous precedents to justify tyranny.


FLASHBACK: Bears kill eight within a week in Orissa state, India




Several people are reported to have been seriously injured in the bear attacks



A dozen others have been injured in attacks by bears from forestry in the area around Kotpad village.


Angry villagers last week chased the bears and beat one of them to death, the officials said.


They say that the bears could have turned violent following excessive consumption of intoxicating flowers.


The flowers come from mahua trees, which are used by local tribes to brew alcohol.


Officials say the bears are very fond of mahua flowers and might have been attracted closer to human habitations by their smell.


Those injured in the attacks are being treated in hospital and reports say some of the wounded are in a serious condition.


A team of forestry department officials armed with tranquilisers is now camping in the area in case the animals return.


Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced financial compensation for the families of those killed.


Forestry Minister Bijayshree Routray has ordered an inquiry into the attacks and into the killing of the bear, which is a protected animal in India.


Bear attacks elderly man in Sweden


© Reuters

A female bear and its three cubs were slaughtered in Sweden after nearly killing an elderly man.



A bear and its cubs were put down after nearly killing an 80-year-old pensioner in northern Sweden.


Hunters were authorised to slaughter the female bear after it pounced on the elderly man while he was fishing by a lake in Homnabo.


The man, who has not been named, attempted to escape when he spotted the bear, but it quickly caught up with him and threw him to the ground.


The victim wrestled with the bear but managed to escape after being bitten on his shoulder and ear. He was later taken to a local hospital in Gävle.


Eyewitness Nils Hansson told the Swedish Helahälsingland newspaper: "He was completely calm and told me what had happened. When I asked him if he was shaky he replied simply: 'I'm a man of the woods and not afraid of things like this'."


The bear involved in the attack was destroyed, along with its three cubs, after being found on Saturday.


Local officer Ulf Sundgren, of Gävleborg police, said the slaughter was justified because of the attack.


"She has shown that she is a danger to the public because she has attacked a man and bitten him severely," he told the TT news agency.


Sundgren added that the cubs could not have been placed in a zoo instead of being destroyed because "they can't be captured and cubs without mothers are always put down".


Hundreds of brown bears are killed in Sweden every year as part of an annual cull. Last year, approximately 300 bears were professionally hunted between August and October.


According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the hunt is for bear skin and meat, and also to keep the bear population at around 3,000. The authority said a large bear population increases the risk to reindeer and sheep, particularly in the northern part of Sweden.


Bear attacks on humans are relatively rare in Sweden. There have only been two fatalities caused by bear attacks over the last 30-40 years, according to the Swedish protection agency.


Whitewash: Obama chief of staff handling redactions for Senate's CIA torture report


© AFP Photo / Brendan Smialowski

Chief of Staff Denis McDonough



White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough is deeply involved in negotiating how much to redact from a classified US Senate probe into the CIA's post-9/11 detention and interrogation program, according to a new report

McDonough is playing a top role in hashing out what will be available to the public upon release of an abbreviated executive summary for the 6,000-page report, Huffington Post reported citing sources close to the negotiations.


The Senate Intelligence Committee's $40 million investigation into the Central Intelligence Agency's Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation Program - which was active from September 11, 2001 to 2006 - has found that the spy agency purposely deceived the US Justice Department to attain legal justification for the use of torture techniques, among other findings that resulted in the report, completed from March 2009 to December 2012. Of that investigative report, the public will only see a 500-page, partially-redacted executive summary that is in the process of declassification.


McDonough's involvement may indicate how monumental the tug-of-war between the Senate committee and the CIA has become during the investigation. The committee has alleged that the CIA has spied on its staff, while the intelligence agency has accused the committee of leaking classified information amid its "inquisition" of the CIA, as one intelligence source described the probe.


The White House did confirm that McDonough was involved in the negotiations, but questions over the nature of his participation were left unanswered.


"We're not going to get into the details of our discussions, but White House officials, including Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, are in regular touch with [Intelligence Committee] leadership on a variety of matters, including to discuss the committee's review of the Bush Administration's rendition, detention and interrogation program, in an effort to help ensure the executive summary is completed and declassified consistent with national security interests," Bernadette Meehan, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, told Huffington Post.


Sources also said that in addition to redaction edits, McDonough has urged Senate members to avoid attacking CIA Director John Brennan after the report's executive summary is released.


"The Chief of Staff's agenda was about how we could work together to meet the President's desire to ensure the executive summary is completed and declassified consistent with national security interests, so that we can shed light on this program and make sure it is never repeated. These were not discussions about Director Brennan," Meehan said.


While specific details of the Senate committee's report are still unknown, McClatchy news service reported in April that it outlines 20 main conclusions about the post-9/11 torture program which, according to the investigation, intentionally evaded White House, congressional, and intra-agency oversight.


"The report does not put responsibility with the [George W. Bush] White House," a source familiar with the report told McClatchy last week , echoing previous concerns that Bush administration officials will likely avoid any accountability for the the shadowy capture-and-detain regime at Guantanamo Bay and secret "black site" prisons, often fueled by suspect bounties , or for crafting the legal framework that allowed the CIA to interrogate detainees with waterboarding and other methods deemed to be torturous by international standards.




The Senate report "does not look at the Bush administration's lawyers to see if they were trying to literally do an end run around justice and the law," another McClatchy source said last week.

As RT previously reported, former CIA director Leon Panetta has alleged in his new memoir that a former Obama White House chief of staff, current Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, was livid with Panetta upon learning of the latter's cooperation with the Senate probe.

"I was summoned down to a meeting in the Situation Room, where I was told I would have to 'explain' this deal to Rahm... It did not take long to get ugly," Panetta wrote in '.'


"'The president wants to know who the f**k authorized this release to the committees,'" Rahm said, slamming his hand down on the table. 'I have a president with his hair on fire, and I want to know what the f**k you did to f**k this up so bad!'"


Ebola scare motivating interest in immune system functioning and alternative therapies

ebola

© FP Dominique Faget



We are witnessing a stunning reversal of events in the face of the present Ebola scare consuming North America. The drum beatings of fear played all to often by the mainstream media have given way to a symphony of personal empowerment, education, and a mass social movement to take back our health freedom.

The threat of Ebola initially grabbed headlines and paralyzed millions who lacked understanding. Answers were sought amidst the fear peddling and confusion yet few were being found. A disheartened population is now storming the 'alternative' media and independent health networks, websites, and radio shows for direction. What they are finding is currently propelling us all into a new, decentralized health paradigm.


To the disbelief of pharmaceutical companies, people across North America are taking the time to understand what their immune system is. They are then shocked to find out that it's weak, damaged, and under attack daily. Like true warriors, most are activated into action and begin researching.


Physical therapists have the saying, "Pain is a great motivator" to describe patients they see that typically lead sedentary lifestyles until they get hurt. After which, something in them springs to life. A newfound passion and respect for movement; pain free movement. Perhaps we could say now "Ebola is a great motivator". Indeed a catalyst for people to understand that it's no better time to eat healthier, raise their immune system IQ, and truly live a life empowered daily through knowledge and action.


In this perfect storm of order (personal empowerment) out of chaos (media fear), there have been helping hands along the way. First, as if on cue, the current history-making documentary series is exploring and shedding light on the fact that we can stop the cancer epidemic. In fact, Episode 2 is titled "Your First Line Of Defense" and deals exclusively with the importance of your immune system. For those that need an up-to-date primer or a very relevant place to start, I encourage you to listen to doctors and medical professionals pack years of research and learning into one place. Cancer is cured if you want it to be.


Next we have a well-timed Frontline PBS report finally alerting the 'mainstream news consuming public' of the growing issue of antibiotic-resistant illnesses that have proliferated amongst the population. The report concluded that overuse of antibiotics in the meat industry has been a major contributor. Stay tuned for the next Frontline report titled "Oxygen May Assist In Life Says Officials" Yet again the end result is to fortify and rebuild your immune system naturally so you won't need to rely on antibiotics that are losing their effectiveness or a mainstream medical establishment that all too often sees patients as a mere dollar sign.


For the few that didn't get shaken out of their complacency and dis-empowerment at this point, a final catalyst was served to them on a silver platter. While waiting for the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) to come to the rescue and make everything better, no such comfort was afforded. Those still expecting truth from the CDC were met with complete failure of protocols and speechless medical negligence in the face of a possible Ebola pandemic.


This all comes fresh off the heels of the deafening silence and refusal to publicly address the ongoing MMR research fraud and high level CDC whistleblower internally at the CDC. In addition, jaw-dropping conflicts of interest, revolving doors between public/private careers, and alternative agendas leave anyone half paying attention to the ongoing Ebola story with a healthy skepticism. Stacked on top of it all, we come to find out that the diagnostic tests for Ebola are "utterly unreliable" from the essential research of veteran journalist Jon Rappoport.


In closing, there is no doubting the possible danger Ebola poses. In addition, those who have succumbed to the virus are a testament to its threat. Currently there have been few fatalities, if we believe the official reports, in North America at the time of this writing. In "hot zone" areas of Ebola, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia, it is not exactly clear if the outbreak is organic or artificially induced. However, it is likely that in those populations, immune systems are compromised from:




Ongoing war, extreme poverty, malnutrition, starvation, contaminated water supplies, exposure to toxic industrial chemicals, vast toxic overuse of antibiotics, pesticides (some of them banned in other countries), expired and unrefrigerated medicines, vaccines (which, when given to people whose immune systems are already hanging on by a thread, can be lethal). - Jon Rappoport




Regardless of what the future may hold, it is time to mend our health and immune systems. What step will you start with today? Here are just some of the trusted sources of alternative, independent health that are providing almost daily information:

GreenMedInfo.com

Mercola.com

Hippocrates Health Institute

The Robert Scott Bell Show

Homegrown Health Show

Blaylock Health Channel

Global Healing Center

Investigative journalism of Jon Rappoport


5 hours of record rainfall as Palm Beach County floods again in Florida


© NBC



Record levels of rain have once again inundated areas of south east Florida. Parts of Palm Beach county were badly affected, in particular the city of West Palm Beach where roads were blocked and several cars stranded in the flood water.

National Weather Service recorded the following rainfall levels:


Port of Palm Beach - 9.13 inches (230 mm)


Palm Beach - 8.21 inches (208 mm)


Riviera Beach - 5.49 (140 mm)


Lake Worth - 3.32 (84 mm)


Palm Beach Airport - 2.64 (67 mm)


Further north, NWS reported that by around 2.30 pm as much as 1.26" (32 mm) of rain had fallen at Vero Beach Airport. This breaks the record for the day, which was 0.97″ set in 1947.




Flooding on Flagler. Photo: MaryAnn Jones http://ift.tt/1rgRE1Y


- Tyler Mauldin (@TyTheWeatherGuy) October 21, 2014




© John Jamason




West Palm Beach #flooding (pic by John Jamason). #flwx #wpbstorms http://ift.tt/1FDEnKL

- NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) October 21, 2014




Over 8" of rain leads to severe flooding in West Palm Beach, Florida http://t.co/c05g9Va36k #NBCNightlyNews http://ift.tt/1rgRE22


- NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) October 21, 2014



More Heavy Rain to Come

More rain is expected over the next few days. According to National Weather Service, "deep tropical moisture will combine with a frontal boundary, currently stalled across central south Florida, to produce heavy rainfall each day through the end of the week".


Flood Warnings


The National Weather Service announced a flash flood warning for areas of Palm Beach County which has since been removed. However and southern Florida. Earlier today they said: NWS have made a statement regading potential flooding for today 22 October 2014.



There is a potential for urban flooding today, mainly in the east coast metro areas, that have already received heavy rain over the last couple of days.



BEST OF THE WEB: Turmoil in Hong Kong, terrorism in Xinjiang: America's covert war on China




Seriously?!



China is facing increasing pressure along two fronts. In its western province of Xinjiang, terrorists have been stepping up destabilization and separatist activities.

In China's southeast Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, protests have disrupted normality in the dense urban streets, with protest leaders seeking to directly confront Beijing while dividing and destabilizing both Hong Kong society and attempting to "infect" the mainland.


What is more troubling is the greater geopolitical agenda driving both of these seemingly "internal" conflicts - and that they both lead back to a single source beyond China's borders. With the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS) now implicated in receiving, training, and employing terrorists from China's Xinjiang province, and considering the fact that ISIS is the result of an intentional, engineered proxy war the US and its allies are waging in the Middle East, along with the fact that the unrest in Hong Kong is also traced back to Washington and London, presents a narrative of an ongoing confrontation between East and West being fought on the battlefield of fourth generation warfare.


ISIS: Washington's Global Expeditionary Force


If one was asked to name a global-spanning military and intelligence operation opposed to Syria, Iran, Russia, and China, they might say the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the US Government - and they would be right. But they could also easily answer by saying the "Islamic State" or ISIS/ISIL as it is also known. This is especially true after revelations surfaced that US-backed Uyghur separatists in China's western-most province of Xinjiang have joined ISIS for training with intentions of leading an armed rebellion against Beijing upon their return.


Reuters in their article, "China militants getting IS 'training'," would claim:



Chinese militants from the western region of Xinjiang have fled from the country to get "terrorist training" from Islamic State group fighters for attacks at home, state media reported on Monday.



The report was the first time state-run media had linked militants from Xinjiang, home to ethnic minority Uighur Muslims, to militants of the Islamic State group of radical Sunni Muslims.

China's government has blamed a surge of violence over the past year on Islamist militants from Xinjiang who China says are fighting for an independent state called East Turkestan.


However, it isn't just China's government that claims militants in Xinjiang seek to carve out an independent state in western China - the militants themselves have stated as much, and the United States government fully backs their agenda to do so. Indeed, first and foremost in backing the Xinjiang Uyghur separatists is the United States through the US State Department's National Endowment for Democracy (NED). For China, the Western region referred to as "Xinjiang/East Turkistan" has its own webpage on NED's site covering the various fronts funded by the US which include:



International Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation - $187,918: To advance the human rights of ethnic Uyghur women and children. The Foundation will maintain an English- and Uyghur-language website and advocate on the human rights situation of Uyghur women and children.


International Uyghur PEN Club - $45,000: To promote freedom of expression for Uyghurs. The International Uyghur PEN Club will maintain a website providing information about banned writings and the work and status of persecuted poets, historians, journalists, and others. Uyghur PEN will also conduct international advocacy campaigns on behalf of imprisoned writers.


Uyghur American Association - $280,000: To raise awareness of Uyghur human rights issues. UAA's Uyghur Human Rights Project will research, document, and bring to international attention, independent and accurate information about human rights violations affecting the Turkic populations of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.


World Uyghur Congress - $185,000: To enhance the ability of Uyghur pro-democracy groups and leaders to implement effective human rights and democracy campaigns. The World Uyghur Congress will organize a conference for pro-democracy Uyghur groups and leaders on inter-ethnic issues and conduct advocacy work on Uyghur human rights.



ISIS Conveniently Targets Washington's Adversaries Worldwide



'USA, USA, USA!... Oops, sorry, we mean: Urumqi, Urumqi, Urumqi!'



The next step Washington appears to be taking in China is an attempt to enhance the menace of terrorists in Xinjiang. In addition to assisting US attempts to destabilize territory in China, ISIS has also threatened to launch a campaign against another US enemy - Russia - this in addition to already directly fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, the governments of Syria and Iraq, and with ISIS claiming to be behind attacks in Egypt against the military-led government that ousted the West's Muslim Brotherhood proxies.

With both Russia and China now in ISIS' sights, the global public must begin asking questions as to how and why ISIS just so happens to be arraying itself against all of Washington's enemies, by-passing all of its allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, and where exactly they are getting the weapons, cash, intelligence, logistical, and administrative capabilities to do so.


So suspicious is ISIS' appearance, agenda, and actions, that many across the world have long-ago concluded they are simply the latest creation of the US and other Western-aligned intelligence agencies, just as Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood was before them. So loud has this narrative become, establishment newspapers like the have begun writing columns to tamp down what they are calling "conspiracy theories."


The would report in a piece titled, "Suspicions Run Deep in Iraq That C.I.A. and the Islamic State Are United," that:



The United States has conducted an escalating campaign of deadly airstrikes against the extremists of the Islamic State for more than a month. But that appears to have done little to tamp down the conspiracy theories still circulating from the streets of Baghdad to the highest levels of Iraqi government that the C.I.A. is secretly behind the same extremists that it is now attacking.



The dismisses these claims, despite reporting for the past 4 years on the CIA's presence along the Turkish-Syrian border, dumping weapons and cash into the very hotbeds of extremism and terrorism ISIS rose from. Upon closer examination, not only are these claims plausible, they are documented fact.

As far back as 2007, Pulitzer Prize-winning veteran journalist Seymour Hersh would warn of the creation of just such a terror group in his 9-page report in the titled, "The Redirection Is the Administration's new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?" He stated that (emphasis added):



To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia's government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.



That "by-product" is ISIS. It is through America's own premeditated conspiracy to plunge not only Syria, but the entire region and now potentially Russia and even China into genocidal sectarian bloodshed that gave intentional rise to ISIS. The creation of ISIS and its use as a proxy mercenary force for Western designs is once again revealed in ISIS' otherwise irrational declaration of war on Russia first, and now China.

America Opens Second Front in Hong Kong


It was in April of 2014 that two co-organizers of the so-called "Occupy Central" protests now ongoing in Hong Kong, would sit in Washington DC giving a talk hosted by the US State Department's National Endowment for Democracy (NED). There, Martin Lee and Anson Chan set the stage for the impending "Occupy Central" demonstrations, introducing soon-to-be famous "characters" like US-cultivated "activist" Joshua Wong, as well as repeating, verbatim, the agenda, talking points, and slogans now flooding the airwaves and headlines regarding Hong Kong's unrest.


While the US attempts to peel off Xinjiang province by brute force, it is using a more subtle and insidious method in Hong Kong. During Lee and Chan's talk in DC earlier this year, a representative from the Council on Foreign Relations would literally proclaim it was hoped that ongoing movements in Hong Kong would "infect" mainland China. Indeed, while militancy and terrorism is being sown in China's west, sedition, political instability, and social divisions are being cultivated in China's east.


America's Long War With China





1996 cover of Western oligarchial rag 'The Economist'



The adversarial nature of Washington's posture toward Beijing has become increasingly obvious as tensions are intentionally ratcheted up in the South China Sea between US proxies and mainland China, as well as in Hong Kong. This is simply the latest in a much longer proxy war waged against Beijing since as early as the Vietnam War, with the so-called "Pentagon Papers" released in 1969 revealing the conflict as simply one part of a greater strategy aimed at containing and controlling China. While the US would ultimately lose the Vietnam War and any chance of using the Vietnamese as a proxy force against Beijing, the long war against Beijing would continue elsewhere.

This containment strategy would be updated and detailed in the 2006 Strategic Studies Institute report, "String of Pearls: Meeting the Challenge of China's Rising Power across the Asian Littoral", where it outlines China's efforts to secure its oil lifeline from the Middle East to its shores in the South China Sea as well as means by which the US can maintain American hegemony throughout the Indian and Pacific Ocean. The premise is that, should Western foreign policy fail to entice China into participating in the "international system" as responsible stakeholders, an increasingly confrontational posture must be taken to contain the rising nation.


This includes funding, arming, and backing terrorists and proxy regimes from Africa, across the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and even within China's territory itself. Documented support of these movements not only include Xinjiang separatists and the leaders of "Occupy Central" in Hong Kong, but also militants and separatists in Baluchistan, Pakistan where the West seeks to disrupt a newly christened Chinese port and pipeline, as well as the machete wielding supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar's Rakhine state - yet another site where the Chinese hope to establish a logistical hub.


It is not a coincidence that ISIS is standing in for and fulfilling America's deepest imperial aspirations from North Africa, across the Middle East, and now inching toward the borders of the West's two largest competitors, Russia and China. Nor is it a coincidence that "Occupy Central" protesters are parroting verbatim talking points scripted in Washington earlier this year. It is no coincidence that the US State Department's NED is found involved in every hotspot of instability and conflict both within China's borders and beyond them. It is a documented conspiracy that is now increasingly seeing the light of truth cast upon it. Whether or not that is enough to end the unnecessary barbarism and bloodshed that has resulted from the West's hegemonic aspirations remains to be seen.


Soldier and one gunman shot and killed near Ottawa parliament as 3 separate shooting incidents occur




A Royal Canadian Mounted Police intervention team responds to a reported shooting at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada Oct. 22, 2014



Heavily-armed police cleared Canada's Parliament building today and are searching for three suspects after a trio of shooting incidents near the Parliament left a soldier wounded. Gunfire was heard inside Parliament.

One of the three suspects was "dealt with," according to a spokesman for the Ottawa Police.


The gunfire prompted security force to hustle Prime Minister Stephen Harper to a "safe" place not at Parliament Hill, his spokesperson said. Harper's usual office is in a building near the shooting site.


"The prime minister is safe and not on Parliament Hill and being briefed by security officials," his spokesman Jason MacDonald said.


Ottawa Police said via Twitter the initial shooting took place at 9:52 a.m. at the National War Memorial of Canada, but that was just the beginning of the violent episode, which has now stretched into investigations in two other locations: Parliament Hill and the nearby Rideau Centre, a large shopping mall that was subsequently evacuated.


Ottawa Police Constable Marc Soucy told Canada's CTV police were searching for more than one suspect and no one has been arrested.


Civic Hospital in Ottawa, the country's capital, has received three patients, two of whom are in stable condition.


Earlier today witnesses told CTV they saw a man with long hair carrying a rifle and heard four shots fired at the soldier, who was guarding Canada's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.




A witness told Canada's CBC the gunman then ran the short distance to Canada's Parliament, jumped a wall, stopped a car at gunpoint and hijacked it, the witness said. The driver got out safely, then the man drove the car to the Centre Block on Parliament Hill where senior government leaders have their offices.

A CBC reporter inside the Canadian Parliament reported chaos there, hearing lots of gunshots. A lawmaker tweeted more than 30 shots were heard inside Parliament's Center Block.




All military bases in Canada have been put on lock down in response to the events in Ottawa, CTV reported. The U.S. Embassy in Ottawa recently followed suit.

Senior FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials told ABC News they are closely monitoring the situation. The White House said President Obama has been briefed.


Canada raised its national terrorism alert level today, following an incident Monday in which a Canadian soldier was killed in a hit-and-run by a man suspected to have been a radicalized jihadist.


"This level means that intelligence has indicated that an individual or group within Canada or abroad has the intent and capability to commit an act of terrorism," Jean-Christophe de Le Rue, a spokesman for the Public Safety Ministry said, according to AFP.


President Israel: Our country is suffering from an epidemic of violence that must be treated


© AFP Photo / Pool / Ronen Zvulun

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin: “It is time to honestly admit that Israeli society is sick – and it is our duty to treat this disease”.



Israel is suffering from an epidemic of violence that must be treated, the country's President Reuven Rivlin said. After the latest bloody conflict in Gaza, Jews and Arabs seem to have lost the capacity for dialogue, as relations have reached a new low.

It is time to honestly admit that Israeli society is sick - and it is our duty to treat this disease," Rivlin told the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities at a xenophobia conference on Sunday in Jerusalem.


"The tension between Jews and Arabs within the State of Israel has risen to record heights, and the relationship between all parties has reached a new low he said, as cited by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.


"We have all witnessed the shocking sequence of incidents and violence taking place by both sides. The epidemic of violence is not limited to one sector or another, it permeates every area and doesn't skip any arena. There is violence in soccer stadiums as well as in academia. There is violence in social media and in everyday discourse, in hospitals and in schools."


He added that he personally endured verbal abuse, including on his Facebook page.


Israeli society has taken a right-wing swing amid the latest escalation in Gaza this summer. The violence erupted after the kidnapping and subsequent murder of three Jewish teenagers, which triggered a major crackdown by the Israeli security forces in Gaza strip.




As hundreds of Palestinians were subjected to searches and arrests in the search for abductees and homes of suspects were demolished, violent clashes erupted. In Israel, a group of Jewish nationalists was arrested after allegedly abducting and burning alive an Arab teenager in revenge for the crime against Jewish teens. Three people were inducted and reportedly planned to plead insanity during the trial.

Speaking of acts of violence perpetrated by Jews, Rivlin said: "I'm not asking if they've forgotten how to be Jews, but if they've forgotten how to be decent human beings. Have they forgotten how to converse?"



© AFP Photo / Said Khatib

A Palestinian woman walks on the rubble of destroyed houses carrying items she collected in hers on September 13, 2014 in Khan Yunis' Khuzaa neighbourhood in the southern Gaza Strip, an area which was devastated after the Israeli bombing during the summer's fierce offensive on the Gaza Strip



The tension escalated into a seven-week military campaign as radical movement Hamas fired rockets at Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces retaliated with air strikes and a ground incursion. The conflict claimed an estimated 2,200 lives, most of them Palestinian civilians.

The military action was largely supported by the Israeli population, with a total of 92 percent of Israeli Jews saying it was justified, according to the monthly Peace Index poll published in August in the aftermath of the operation.


Today almost 75 percent of Israeli Jews oppose the creation of a Palestinian state along the lines of 1967 - a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict championed by many international mediators, according to a mid-October poll published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Among respondents, who identified themselves as left-wing, opponents of such a move are a majority, comprising over 51 percent.


Rivlin stated that academia had a crucial role in mending the rift through educating parties of each other's cultures.


"The academic sphere, in which cultures and languages are taught from a desire to get to know them deeper, where there is a 'you and I' affinity, there is a place which generates not only learning but also a real encounter," he said.


Venezuelan gang and Colombian paramilitary assassinated Serra


Maduro at palace

© Photo: AVN

President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, during his speech in the Miraflores Palace.



The president of Venezuela called for the elimination of terrorist groups operating in the country.



Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, revealed on Wednesday details of the investigation into the murder of legislator Robert Serra.
The young legislator and his partner were murdered in their apartment two weeks ago.

Maduro spoke from the presidential palace, in Caracas and live on public television, calling for the elimination of both local and foreign terrorist groups active in Venezuela, "plotting" to destablize the country. "Be absolutely certain that we will get to the masterminds of Serra's murder inside and outside the country," he said.


Robert Serra

© www.planetaurbe.com

Slain legislator Robert Serra



President Maduro asserted that Serra's assassination was planned by a paramilitary leader in Colombia. He did not identify the leader but explained that he hired a Venezuelan gang to kill Serra. Maduro alleged that Serra's body guard Torres Camacho, was also directly involved. Maduro said the assassination was another attempt to destabilize Venezuela.

The leader of the local gang was identified as "The Colombian" Padilla Leyva. People wanted by the Venezuelan courts for the crime include "El Poli" (arrested) who declared in a video that they were practising the crime and checking the apartment, Farinez Palomino, "El Eme", Carlos Garcia Martinez, "Tintin"; Johnny Padilla, "Oreja"; Danny Salinas; Antonio Vegas, "El Toni" (arrested).


"The assasination was planned three months before hand," said Maduro.


During the press conference, Maduro presented a series of videos in which one of the alleged murderers of Serra and his partner, Maria Herrera, confess that they are part of the paramilitary gang lead by "The Colombian."


The first video, from security cameras, showed Serra´s chief of security staff, Edwin Torres, and five others enter Serra´s house. Five minutes later, they run out and ride away on motorcycles. Two other men were waiting for them. All the gang members have been identified by Venezuela police.


Maduro also announced a hotline so anyone who has information on paramilitary groups and on Serra's assassination can provide it to the government.


Before the presentation of the of the videos, Maduro recalled all the violent incidents that, according to authorities, are or have been planned by terrorists groups controlled by the far right opposition in Venezuela and abroad, specifically in Miami, and Colombia. The president said that in the upcoming days, his administration will provide evidence of terrorist leaders living in Miami to U.S. authorities. Venezuela has filed a request to Interpol.


Maduro reminded the press that Venezuelan police arrested, earlier this year, a group of Colombian paramilitary who travelled to Venezuela to kill top ranking politicians. He also condemned the assassination of Eliezer Otisa, a popular member of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), on April 28, and slammed the violent demonstrations prompted by the oppostition in which over 40 of people were killed.





Comment: The assassination of United Socialist Lawmaker Robert Serra reportedly cost around $250,000, paid by a source in Colombia and transferred to the Venezuela gang. Former Colombian president and now Senator Alvaro Uribe (a bought paramilitary stooge) has been linked to the assassination while Serra's bodyguard, Torres, and Lorent Saleh (right-wing Venezuela youth leader and terrorist suspect) have been arrested. Saleh made a statement that 20 mid-level leaders will be killed to avenge his recent arrest, hence the killing of Serra. According to incriminating videos released by the Venezuelan government, Saleh was working alongside former military agents and paramilitaries in Colombia in order to carry out terror attacks on the Venezuelan border.

New information reveals the Colombian paramilitaries were also planning the deaths of National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello and Minister Hector Rodriguez as part of the plot to destabilize the country. Uribe is under investigation in the psychological torture of journalist Claudia Julieta Duque and implicated in wiretapping scandals from his administration in 2008 and another this year. Links in the Serra murder to U.S. government protected activists in Miami allege a co-conspiracy as "intellectual authors" of the Serra assassination.


Paramilitarism, not a typical part of Venezuela's history, has been introduced through civil servants on the border by giving identity cards to gangsters who then infiltrate the general populace to carry out their attacks. Not surprising that the U.S. has its hand in this game.



The 2011 English summer riots: Courts accused of 'collective hysteria'

London Riots

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A review of sentencing following the 2011 English riots has shown that sentences were much harsher than realised at first.

And just as people got caught up in the riots and acted out of character the study, carried out by The University of Manchester and Liverpool John Moores University, found that the courts themselves got caught up in a similar kind of collective hysteria.


Dr Hannah Quirk, a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law and Justice from The University of Manchester, was the co-author of the research which has just been published in . She said: "Whilst the offending may have been impulsive, sentencing should not be."


The summer riots of 2011 were commonly described as the worst in living memory due to the speed with which they spread over such a wide geographical area. The disorder began after Mark Duggan, was shot dead by the police in Tottenham, north London.


Over three thousand prosecutions were brought in connection with the unrest, which saw streets in parts of the country awash with violence, looting and arson. By 31 August 2012, of the 2,158 convicted, all but 20 had been sentenced with the vast majority of offending having taken place in London, followed by the West Midlands and Greater Manchester.


Dr Lightowlers, a lecturer in Criminal Justice at Liverpool John Moores University, says the courts decided not to follow sentencing guidelines which led to excessive and arbitrary punishments.


She said: "It was not just the courts that over-reacted. An 'uplift' was applied at every stage from arrest, to charge, to remand, to which court dealt with the case."


Much of the drive came from the Crown Prosecution Service. Suspects were charged with burglary rather than theft which carries a tougher sentence.


Dr Quirk said: "The CPS are prosecutors and not Judge Dredd. From arrest to sentence our research found that a tougher stance was adopted for sentencing riot-related offending and an air of prosecutorial zeal and judicial abandon was commonplace.


"All the agencies were working under great pressure to restore order and the courts made it clear that they saw their role as being to pass enhanced sentences to reinforce notions of punishment and deterrence."


Dr Quirk continued: "The position for sentencing riot-related offending in the future is unclear but the courts should make decisions on an individual level rather than as a blanket decision that all disorder-related offending should fall outside the existing guidelines."


More information: The paper is entitled 'The 2011 English 'Riots': Prosecutorial Zeal and Judicial Abandon', by Carly Lightowlers and Hannah Quirk.