A non-profit news blog, focused on providing independent journalism.

Tuesday 30 December 2014

Mystery object appears near Milky Way's monster black hole

G2 gas cloud

© SO/MPE/Marc Schartmann 3

A computer simulation shows the G2 gas cloud's encounter with the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way, as well as the paths of the many other objects that orbit the black hole.



A mystery object at the center of the galaxy has astronomers scratching their heads, and a new piece of information won't be solving the case before the New Year.

In yet another twist to a saga of astronomical proportions, astronomers have identified what they say is a gas cloud that made a tight orbit around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy 13 years ago. The object could be one in a series of gas clouds, the second of which may soon become a snack for the black hole.


The newly discovered object has been dubbed G1. An object known as G2 has been in the news for more than a year, ever since astronomers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany hypothesized that it was a gas cloud. If that is true, it should lose some of its material to the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way (known as Sagittarius A* or Sgr A*). This giant black hole - its name is pronounced Sagittarius A(star) - doesn't dine on material often, so the event would be a rare chance for astronomers to watch a black hole eat.


While the scientists at Max Planck contend that G2 is a gas cloud, a group of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, led by astrophysicist Andrea Ghez, argue that G2 is more likely a star surrounded by a layer of dust and gas. Over the summer, G2 made its closest approach to the black hole and was not torn apart. Ghez and her group argued that this was a knockout punch for the gas cloud theory - clear evidence that G2 is a solid body.


G1 object

© Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics

Using a combination of simulation and high-resolution images, researchers at the Max Planck Institute concluded that the G1 object (blue) would have taken a path very similar to the G2 object (red) around the super massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy (marked with an "x").



But the researchers at the Max Planck institute countered with an explanation for how G2 could have remained intact even if it is a gas cloud. Their theory incorporates the idea that G2 was once part of a larger gas cloud that subsequently broke up into smaller gas clouds that all follow the same path, like beads on a string. This "beading" of gas has been observed in the universe before. If additional clouds of gas could be identified following the same path as G2, that would strongly indicate that G2 is a gas cloud and not a star, the scientists say.

In their newest paper, the Max Planck group provides a computer model that retraces the path of G1. According to their research, G1 followed a path nearly identical to G2. The model does make certain assumptions about G1's motion - for example, that it decelerated near closest approach to the black hole.


"The good agreement of the model with the data renders the idea that G1 and G2 are part of the same gas streamer highly plausible," Stefan Gillessen, a co-author on the new research, said a statement.


The new study was first published on the online preprint journal arXiv.org and has been accepted to the


The west's enabiling of Kiev's official policy for east Ukraine: Starvation, torture, rape, and murder

Save-Donbass-People-From-Ukrainian-Army

Imagine a sign pinned to the podium on the floor of the US Senate that reads Ferguson will be ours! Pictured on it is an armored personnel carrier with the United States flag driving over a mountain of corpses. This picture shown below says just that about Donbass. This is Kiev's official statement on mass murder for the area. This was pinned to the podium on the floor of the Ukrainian Senate ().

President Petro Poroshenko and his government have run out of wiggle room to deflect charges of genocide any more.


On December 18th the newly appointed Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Senate) deputy Semen Semenchenko, formerly commander of the battalion "Donbass" warned that Ukraine intends to pursue terrorists from Donbass anywhere in the world. The terrorists from Donbass Semenchenko wants to pursue is anyone that did not leave when the ATO began.


Ukraine-Podium

© Unknown



Andrey Biletsky, former "Azov" battalion commander, Ukrainian nationalist ideologist, and a favorite in Victoria Nuland's circles ( Biletsky was made a Verkhovna Rada deputy by Arseni Yatsenyuk) made clear who those terrorists are in an interview with Foreign Policy.

"Unfortunately, among the Ukrainian people today there are a lot of 'Russians' (by their mentality, not their blood), 'kikes,' 'Americans,' 'Europeans' (of the democratic-liberal European Union), 'Arabs,' 'Chinese' and so forth, but there is not much specifically Ukrainian... It's unclear how much time and effort will be needed to eradicate these dangerous viruses from our people."



Biletsky, a new Senator who is being groomed for the Ukrainian presidency thinks even his American handlers are part of the infecting Ukraine.

Rape is Official Policy in Ukraine?


His Azov battalion (with Nazi insignia) are showing their true American and European values in Mariupol by gang raping women prisoners at prison every night, torturing, and murdering some of them. This is someone that describes Americans and democratic values as a dangerous virus that need to be eradicated making sure your US tax dollars hard at work again.


According to an article that was published



in the Kharkov News by Rita Samoilov on December 25th 15-20 women prisoners at penal colony #107 are taken to the military camp every night and raped by the Azov battalion. Earlier in the year I reported the same behavior at the mines in Lower Krynka by Aydar battalion which resulted in reports of mass rape, torture, and mass graves found on the site where over 5000 Ukrainian cleansing troops and national guard were camped. Upon checking the allegations the OSCE found them to be true. Kiev responded by making Aydar the new model of policing in Ukraine.

One of the nurses at a hospital that treats the torture victims after the fact is saying that they are working to save the lives of some of the women that are dropped off with expanding construction foam stuffed inside their vaginas and anuses. Originally it was an employee of the prison that brought this to light by calling Rita Samoilov about the story.


The women are treated this way because they are considered to be terrorists in a city where not having pro- nazi contacts on your phone is enough to get you arrested. Is it as ok for Ukrainian nazis to rape women prisoners as it is fellow soldiers?




In Mariupol the Ukrainian government is directly responsible for the welfare of the women in the penal system. Could a US governor walk away from this kind of scandal unscathed? If governor Rick Perry was suspected of even knowing (Ukraine is the same size as Texas) a state crime this big might be going on broadcast news would be all over it. The investigations would be swift and he would NOT be allowed to conduct them himself.

In Odessa, a city Poroshenko described as Ukrainized after the May pogrom; Ukraine is bringing in tanks and armored personnel carriers to hunt for separatists. The cleansing crews arriving on December 30, 2014 are going through social media lists arresting people that have done nothing against Ukraine.


Lets be clear; this isn't State sanctioned rape and torture on Kiev's part. This is the Ukrainian government providing the rape and torture victims. The women are kept in prison, many for the charge of separatism. This is State sanctioned rape of prisoners by every country and government outside of Ukraine that is supporting Kiev that won't step in and investigate it.


Ukraine Where Murder is the base of your financial planning


Why would people volunteer to do this? One Ukrainian volunteer that was captured twice answered this question to a large degree. They asked him why he came back? The volunteer (not a conscript) said the first time he was in Donbas he made enough money to purchase a car. He came back because he wanted to make money and buy a house.


Thugs

© Unknown



This murder for hire mentality is prevalent inside the cleansing battalions. These battalions are committing most of the atrocities and do so with definite rewards in mind. Look at the Rada in Kiev today. The more land they clear of people, the more property they are given. To do so the people that live in those cities, towns, and homes need to go one way or the other. If you can't scare them, kill them.

According to an article in Since June 2014 members of ATU and family members of deceased servicemen in the territorial bodies Goszemagentstva ( Dept of Land Resources)was filed 15,582 applications for land.


These represent land grants given by the Ukrainian government for how effective they have been getting rid of separatists. The cleansing battalions don't fight in the war. They murder and rob. They torture and rape. They fill tractor trailer loads with the possessions robbed from the murdered and displaced they want to keep or sell. They like their work.

Free Speech, law and order in Ukraine


The city of Kharkov is outside of Donbass.



© Latuff Zooz



It is and has been under Ukrainian control this whole time. Kharkov has a strong anti-maidan movement in it. In the new democratic Ukraine on November 22 Victor a VK anti-maidan group editor was arrested and taken for questioning by the SBU (Ukrainian FBI). VK (V Kontakte) is the Russian version of Facebook. The group editor is the person that publishes the posts for the group on the page.

Victor who clearly wasn't in Donbass and not a militia member was tortured for 4 days before being dumped on the side of the road in a coma. He never regained consciousness and died on November 26th. The official cause of death on the certificate from the hospital was pneumonia. Four days earlier Victor's family says he was healthy.


Every one of Victor's fingers were broken and bent to the back of his hand. His finger nails were pulled out. Every rib was broken. Alexander's skull was split. This was just questioning. He was never charged formally.


This is the same Kiev government that promised amnesty for anyone that did not participate in the war and included amnesty for people that guarded warehouses for instance according to Andrey Lysenko the speaker of the National Security and Defense Council in Kiev.


This is happening today all across Ukraine from Lviv (Galicia, western Ukraine) to the Kiev controlled areas inside the neutral area outside Donbass. The only area the official Ukrainian style of questioning isn't happening is Donbas.


Ukraine's Official position on the Humanitarian Blockade


In Ukraine, news can't be reported until it is cleared through official channels. Reporters that go against this on a good day find themselves out of work. On a bad day they are sent to the front lines in Donbass as conscripts in the army.


In an effort to shape public opinion popular news presenter Natalya Stanko stated bluntly that Kiev should bomb Donbass into oblivion because bombing them was nobler and starving people to death was to slow. Linguistically the word for "death" she chose referred to slimy undesirable creatures, not typically referenced for people.


In the video below Ukrainian senator Semen Semonchenko explains the reason why they won't let humanitarian convoys into Donbass is that there is no humanitarian crisis there at all. According to him if the pensioners that had their payments cut off want to reinstate them all they needed to do was to go to a city in Ukrainian control like Slavyansk and apply there.


Semenchenko then stated that the humanitarian cargo they stopped was needed for a city that had a real humanitarian crisis- one in Kiev's control since mid summer. If the people there were getting their pensions, utilities, or heat like he said Donbass pensioners could get what does this mean?


Semenchenko left out the fact that without having a living permit (Propiska) in a city, you can't apply for anything.


[embedded content]




The positions of the Ukrainian government are also clear in the tank battles that have been raging near Donetsk over the last few days. Towns inside the supposed neutral area have been attacked by Ukrainian tank battalions. Towns inside Donbass have been lost to Kiev and then won back over the last few days and nights. The attacks continue. Kiev never abided by the Minsk agreements or the cease fire.

All of this will seem small if Kiev is allowed to attack again. Since the peace started they kept the convoys of weapons and ammunition moving into Donbass. The probing attacks they have conducted point to a large offensive starting very soon, possibly within days.


Should American or European money be used to fund this?


The humanitarian crisis in Donbass continues to grow rapidly. Currently the only direct help coming in is from Russia. Please consider donating to humanitarian groups working directly in Donbass.


The west's enabiling of Kie's official policy for east Ukraine: Starvation, torture, rape, and murder

Save-Donbass-People-From-Ukrainian-Army

Imagine a sign pinned to the podium on the floor of the US Senate that reads Ferguson will be ours! Pictured on it is an armored personnel carrier with the United States flag driving over a mountain of corpses. This picture shown below says just that about Donbass. This is Kiev's official statement on mass murder for the area. This was pinned to the podium on the floor of the Ukrainian Senate ().

President Petro Poroshenko and his government have run out of wiggle room to deflect charges of genocide any more.


On December 18th the newly appointed Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Senate) deputy Semen Semenchenko, formerly commander of the battalion "Donbass" warned that Ukraine intends to pursue terrorists from Donbass anywhere in the world. The terrorists from Donbass Semenchenko wants to pursue is anyone that did not leave when the ATO began.


Ukraine-Podium

© Unknown



Andrey Biletsky, former "Azov" battalion commander, Ukrainian nationalist ideologist, and a favorite in Victoria Nuland's circles ( Biletsky was made a Verkhovna Rada deputy by Arseni Yatsenyuk) made clear who those terrorists are in an interview with Foreign Policy.

"Unfortunately, among the Ukrainian people today there are a lot of 'Russians' (by their mentality, not their blood), 'kikes,' 'Americans,' 'Europeans' (of the democratic-liberal European Union), 'Arabs,' 'Chinese' and so forth, but there is not much specifically Ukrainian... It's unclear how much time and effort will be needed to eradicate these dangerous viruses from our people."



Biletsky, a new Senator who is being groomed for the Ukrainian presidency thinks even his American handlers are part of the infecting Ukraine.

Rape is Official Policy in Ukraine?


His Azov battalion (with Nazi insignia) are showing their true American and European values in Mariupol by gang raping women prisoners at prison every night, torturing, and murdering some of them. This is someone that describes Americans and democratic values as a dangerous virus that need to be eradicated making sure your US tax dollars hard at work again.


According to an article that was published



in the Kharkov News by Rita Samoilov on December 25th 15-20 women prisoners at penal colony #107 are taken to the military camp every night and raped by the Azov battalion. Earlier in the year I reported the same behavior at the mines in Lower Krynka by Aydar battalion which resulted in reports of mass rape, torture, and mass graves found on the site where over 5000 Ukrainian cleansing troops and national guard were camped. Upon checking the allegations the OSCE found them to be true. Kiev responded by making Aydar the new model of policing in Ukraine.

One of the nurses at a hospital that treats the torture victims after the fact is saying that they are working to save the lives of some of the women that are dropped off with expanding construction foam stuffed inside their vaginas and anuses. Originally it was an employee of the prison that brought this to light by calling Rita Samoilov about the story.


The women are treated this way because they are considered to be terrorists in a city where not having pro- nazi contacts on your phone is enough to get you arrested. Is it as ok for Ukrainian nazis to rape women prisoners as it is fellow soldiers?




In Mariupol the Ukrainian government is directly responsible for the welfare of the women in the penal system. Could a US governor walk away from this kind of scandal unscathed? If governor Rick Perry was suspected of even knowing (Ukraine is the same size as Texas) a state crime this big might be going on broadcast news would be all over it. The investigations would be swift and he would NOT be allowed to conduct them himself.

In Odessa, a city Poroshenko described as Ukrainized after the May pogrom; Ukraine is bringing in tanks and armored personnel carriers to hunt for separatists. The cleansing crews arriving on December 30, 2014 are going through social media lists arresting people that have done nothing against Ukraine.


Lets be clear; this isn't State sanctioned rape and torture on Kiev's part. This is the Ukrainian government providing the rape and torture victims. The women are kept in prison, many for the charge of separatism. This is State sanctioned rape of prisoners by every country and government outside of Ukraine that is supporting Kiev that won't step in and investigate it.


Ukraine Where Murder is the base of your financial planning


Why would people volunteer to do this? One Ukrainian volunteer that was captured twice answered this question to a large degree. They asked him why he came back? The volunteer (not a conscript) said the first time he was in Donbas he made enough money to purchase a car. He came back because he wanted to make money and buy a house.


Thugs

© Unknown



This murder for hire mentality is prevalent inside the cleansing battalions. These battalions are committing most of the atrocities and do so with definite rewards in mind. Look at the Rada in Kiev today. The more land they clear of people, the more property they are given. To do so the people that live in those cities, towns, and homes need to go one way or the other. If you can't scare them, kill them.

According to an article in Since June 2014 members of ATU and family members of deceased servicemen in the territorial bodies Goszemagentstva ( Dept of Land Resources)was filed 15,582 applications for land.


These represent land grants given by the Ukrainian government for how effective they have been getting rid of separatists. The cleansing battalions don't fight in the war. They murder and rob. They torture and rape. They fill tractor trailer loads with the possessions robbed from the murdered and displaced they want to keep or sell. They like their work.

Free Speech, law and order in Ukraine


The city of Kharkov is outside of Donbass.



© Latuff Zooz



It is and has been under Ukrainian control this whole time. Kharkov has a strong anti-maidan movement in it. In the new democratic Ukraine on November 22 Victor a VK anti-maidan group editor was arrested and taken for questioning by the SBU (Ukrainian FBI). VK (V Kontakte) is the Russian version of Facebook. The group editor is the person that publishes the posts for the group on the page.

Victor who clearly wasn't in Donbass and not a militia member was tortured for 4 days before being dumped on the side of the road in a coma. He never regained consciousness and died on November 26th. The official cause of death on the certificate from the hospital was pneumonia. Four days earlier Victor's family says he was healthy.


Every one of Victor's fingers were broken and bent to the back of his hand. His finger nails were pulled out. Every rib was broken. Alexander's skull was split. This was just questioning. He was never charged formally.


This is the same Kiev government that promised amnesty for anyone that did not participate in the war and included amnesty for people that guarded warehouses for instance according to Andrey Lysenko the speaker of the National Security and Defense Council in Kiev.


This is happening today all across Ukraine from Lviv (Galicia, western Ukraine) to the Kiev controlled areas inside the neutral area outside Donbass. The only area the official Ukrainian style of questioning isn't happening is Donbas.


Ukraine's Official position on the Humanitarian Blockade


In Ukraine, news can't be reported until it is cleared through official channels. Reporters that go against this on a good day find themselves out of work. On a bad day they are sent to the front lines in Donbass as conscripts in the army.


In an effort to shape public opinion popular news presenter Natalya Stanko stated bluntly that Kiev should bomb Donbass into oblivion because bombing them was nobler and starving people to death was to slow. Linguistically the word for "death" she chose referred to slimy undesirable creatures, not typically referenced for people.


In the video below Ukrainian senator Semen Semonchenko explains the reason why they won't let humanitarian convoys into Donbass is that there is no humanitarian crisis there at all. According to him if the pensioners that had their payments cut off want to reinstate them all they needed to do was to go to a city in Ukrainian control like Slavyansk and apply there.


Semenchenko then stated that the humanitarian cargo they stopped was needed for a city that had a real humanitarian crisis- one in Kiev's control since mid summer. If the people there were getting their pensions, utilities, or heat like he said Donbass pensioners could get what does this mean?


Semenchenko left out the fact that without having a living permit (Propiska) in a city, you can't apply for anything.


[embedded content]




The positions of the Ukrainian government are also clear in the tank battles that have been raging near Donetsk over the last few days. Towns inside the supposed neutral area have been attacked by Ukrainian tank battalions. Towns inside Donbass have been lost to Kiev and then won back over the last few days and nights. The attacks continue. Kiev never abided by the Minsk agreements or the cease fire.

All of this will seem small if Kiev is allowed to attack again. Since the peace started they kept the convoys of weapons and ammunition moving into Donbass. The probing attacks they have conducted point to a large offensive starting very soon, possibly within days.


Should American or European money be used to fund this?


The humanitarian crisis in Donbass continues to grow rapidly. Currently the only direct help coming in is from Russia. Please consider donating to humanitarian groups working directly in Donbass.


Death toll exceeds 150 in India cold wave

cold_new delhi

© Money Sharma, EPA



New Delhi - More than 150 people have died in a cold wave sweeping across northern and eastern India and dense fog disrupted air and rail services, reports said Tuesday.

Sixteen more people died in intense cold or fog-related accidents in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Monday, taking the region's death toll for the month to 140, the said.


Temperatures reached a low of 0.5 degrees Celsius in the state's Sonbhadra district.


Twelve more cold-related deaths were reported from the eastern state of Bihar, national capital Delhi and neighbouring Haryana state, reports said.


Thick fog at the Delhi airport led to delays of about 100 flights and cancellations of 16 more, broadcaster NDTV reported. About 100 trains were running late due to low visibility.


Winters in India are brief, beginning in December and ending by February, but cause many deaths in the country that is better prepared for its long, hot summers.


Weather bureau officials say cold weather is likely to persist over the next few weeks in most of the northern regions.


Neuroscientists reveal the anatomy of the undead's brain, propose survival techniques

zombie brain anatomy

Their lumbering, menacing gait and insatiable hunger for flesh strikes fear into even the most seasoned horror film fan.

Now, two neuroscientists have analysed the behaviour of the walking dead to reveal the inner workings of their minds and defined a comprehensive diagnosis of 'zombiism'.


And with this knowledge they have even hatched a plan for how to survive a zombie apocalypse.


Neuroscientists have analysed the behaviour of the walking dead to reveal the inner workings of their mind and coined a diagnosis of 'zombisim'. This diagram shows parts of the brain that are responsible for certain zombie behaviours, such as impulsive aggression and difficulty processing emotions


Zombie fanatics Timothy Verstynen, an assistant professor in the department of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Bradley Voytek, assistant professor of cognitive science and neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego, summarised characteristic zombie behaviour seen in films, which can be explained by looking at the structure of the brain.


They have dubbed the condition 'Conscious Deficit Hypoactivity Disorder', or CDHD, which they describe as an acquired syndrome in which infected people lack control over their actions.


In films, the undead display symptoms such as lethargic movement, loss of pleasure, language dysfunction, amnesia and the inability to suppress hunger and aggression.


Hungry: Zombie fanatics Timothy Verstynen, of Carnegie Mellon University and Bradley Voytek, of University of California, San Diego, summarised characteristic zombie behaviour seen in films, including .


There are two subtypes of the syndrome - CDHD-1, which affects 'slow' zombies with uncoordinated movements and CDHD-2, which is typical of 'fast' zombies that have no problem chasing humans in films, such as and


[embedded content]




Theories to explain causes of the zombiism

The zombie apocalypse occurs in many different forms in zombie films.




  • Space radiation -

  • Chemical weapons -

  • Biological infection -

  • Genetic manipulation -

  • Parasites -

  • Magic -

  • Supernatural possession -

  • Depression -



'Zombies often have difficulty recognising familiar people and suffer chronic insomnia that results in a delirious state,' they write.

Undead individuals would also exhibit antisocial behaviour, such as biting and eating people, but they would be friendly to each other and swarm with other infected individuals, according to the scientists' book, .


The neuroscientists have come up with two subtypes of the syndrome - CDHD-1, which affects 'slow' zombies with uncoordinated movements and CDHD-2, which is typical of 'fast' zombies that have no problem chasing humans in films.


This may be because at the moment of death, our circulatory systems stop, starving the brain of oxygen and glucose.


In zombie films, they resume at the point of infection - in a limited form - and the brain gets its nutrients by zombies feasting on human flesh.


The longer the brain is starved of oxygen, the more extensive the damage to zombies, the neuroscientists say.


The brains of both types of zombies would change in different regions, from a combination of decreased activity and altered activity in multiple brain networks.


Lesions to the temporal lobe would partly cause zombies to act like they do in films.


Six Tips to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse



Don't fight: Zombies wouldn't have the neural responses to care about pain, so unless you could shoot to kill, it would be best to run for it.


Keep quiet: Zombies with CDHD would have very little memory and poor concentration, so if you hid, something else would likely capture their attention, keeping you safe.


Distract them: Damage to zombies' posterior parietal cortex would mean that they couldn't concentrate and would be at the mercy of whatever grabs their attention. Try fireworks for a quick getaway.


Out-run them: This only would only work with CDHD-1 zombies, who would only be able to lumber along clumsily.


Don't try reason: 'CDHD presents with a massive dysfunction of the language circuits in the brain. This means that zombies can't understand what you're saying, nor can they talk back,' the neuroscientists warn. Their 'fight' reaction would dominate, leaving you pleading with an angry hungry zombie.


zombie brain anatomy



Copy to survive! Zombies wouldn’t be able to recognise faces so they identify each other by movements and sounds. ‘If confronted with a herd of the undead with no clear avenue of escape, do what Shaun and his friends did in “Shaun of the Dead” – act like a zombie, the experts said



Mimic them: Zombies wouldn't be able to recognise faces so they identify each other by movements and sounds. 'If confronted with a herd of the undead with no clear avenue of escape, do what Shaun and his friends did in - act like a zombie. Do it with enough accuracy and you can wander through the herd undetected,' Professors Verstynen and Voytek say.

Specifically, damage to the fusiform gyrus would impair the undead's ability to recognise faces, while damage to the superior temporal gyrus would hamper their ability to process emotional facial expressions, resulting in apathy to the feelings of others.
zombie brain anatomy



Zombies are known for their poor eyesight and visual impairment would come from damage to the parietal lobe. It perhaps explains why CDHD-1 zombies, such as those seen in the TV show, The Walking Dead (screenshot pictured), can only look straight ahead and see one object at a time in films



Professors Verstynen and Voytek say lesions in the temporal parietal junction - an area of the brain where the temporal and parietal lobes meet - would result in severe difficulties in understanding language and in speaking; making communication difficult and causing slurring, as seen in films.

Meanwhile, damage to the medial temporal lobe - especially the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory and navigation - would mean that zombies couldn't form new memories and would find it hard to find their way around towns, giving humans a change of surviving an apocalypse.


Zombies are known for their poor eyesight and visual impairment would come from damage to the parietal lobe. It perhaps explains why CDHD-1 zombies can only look straight ahead and see one object at a time in films. Problems with spatial attention as a result of this injury, would also make general motor skills difficult.


CDHD-2 zombies, however, would not suffer as much damage to this brain region, according to the scientists.


But both types of zombie would have sustained 'extensive damage' to the frontal lobe, which is responsible for immediate tasks, planning, and motivation.


The inability to suppress inappropriate responses, such as the desire to eat people would be due to damage in the orbitofrontal cortex, while damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex would make decision making difficult.


Lesions to the interior frontal cortex, especially Broca's area,which is linked to speech production, would result in communication difficulties.


Damage to the cingulate cortex would mean that individuals may feel conflicted about emotional attachment to people and eating them, but they would not be able to suppress the desire to eat.


The cerebellum, a region of the brain that plays an important role in motor control, would likely degenerate in CDHD-1 zombies, explaining their severe coordination difficulties in films.


'Individuals exhibit a wide stance and lumbering gait as well as difficulties reaching and grasping,' professors Verstynen and Voytek write.


Damage to this area of the brain would also lead to slurred speech, but CDHD-2 zombies would be spared extensive cerebellar damage, making them more eloquent.


zombie brain anatomy

© Zephyr/Science Photo Library/Corbis



In humans, tapeworms (shown in an MRI scan) can make its way into the brain to change our behaviour, but a microbe called Toxo plasma gondii (T.gondii) goes a step further. Found in cat faeces, it can infect humans and stop them fearing risky behaviour, with tragic results



Zombies' insomnia could be explained by lesions in the hypothalamus, which links the nervous system to the endocrine system.

In the mid-brain, lesions to the amygdalae - two almond-shaped groups of nuclei located deep within the temporal lobes of the brain - may explain enhanced fight or flight behaviours in zombies on the silver screen, expressed as impulsive aggression.


However, primary sensory areas of the brain that allow humans to process sights, sound, smell, touch and taste signals would remain intact, meaning that zombies could use all sensory information, but wouldn't respond emotionally to it.


Some areas of the brain allowing basic movement, such as the thalamus - which is used to process neural signals - and the brainstem, would function as usual upon infection, the neuroscientists explain.


'In conclusion, the series of brain changes seen in CDHD, reflect a loss in so-called "higher order" cognition areas and the neocortex the CDHD-1 subtype also reflects a degeneration of the cerebellum,' they say.




How can science fight the Zombie Apocalypse?



  • If neural programming causes CDHD, scientists could 'hack' the brain itself, perhaps using experimental stem cells to re-grow damaged parts of the brain itself. Scientists have tried a slightly similar approach to cure Parkinson's disease, by replacing a certain type of neurons. Bur replacing dead cells with living ones would be a temporary fix, because whatever killed off the original living cells could attack the new ones too.

  • A procedure called 'deep brain stimulation' (DBS) could be used to 'turn on' parts of the brain, with help from implanted electrodes, which could even be used to control zombies. However, the neuroscientists warn that this would be a long-shot because it would take too long and CDHD affects multiple brain areas.

  • A direct current could be applied to the scalp of zombies using a battery to stimulate tissue, causing neurons to fire and make them more 'human' again. The technique would not cure zombiism, but it might moderate the undead's aggressive urges.


Public feminists, atheists, journalists and other activists: Living with the reality of death threats

death threat target

© AwayPoint



More than twenty years have passed, but Jonathan Hutson still vividly remembers one specific day during his stint as editor of a New Hampshire weekly.

[I was] writing a series on the titans of trash - about racketeering by the nation's two largest garbage haulers. A lawyer came to my office one day to convey a warning about my latest investigative reporting. "Jonathan, I hope I don't open up the pages of the Union Leader one day," he said, "to read that the editor of a certain weekly newspaper got into his car, turned over the ignition, and got blown sky high." "That shall not happen," I said. "How can you be so sure?" "Because I don't own a car."



To some extent the specter of violent death hangs over us all, lurking at the edge of consciousness most of the time, perhaps brought into focus by a mass shooting in which victims remind us of our children or friends, or of ourselves. Or maybe we are shaken by a local story about domestic violence, a murder suicide, a drive by, or road rage turned lethal.

For women in particular, the threat never completely disappears. A cartoon that made its way around Facebook underscores the point. On one side a thought bubble above a male figure reads, "What if she gave me a fake number?" On the other, a bubble above a female says, "What if he rapes and kills me?"


Mercifully, for most of us most of the time, the risk of violence seems small and distant. Even so, it can shape how we live. It can make us hesitate to say no. Or yes. It can make us hesitate to stay home alone. Or go out at night.


Or speak our minds.


Fear has the power to paralyze and silence even strong, determined people, which is why threats of violence are such a potent, common, and toxic presence in political discourse. Consequently, it is a wonder, and a gift to us all, when engaged citizens like Jonathan Huston refuse to be silenced.


Threats of violence can be explicit or implied, verbal or behavioral. They can target a single individual like the president, or a class of individuals, like queers. And the intimidation can take many forms: the mob lawyer's casual comment about a car bomb; an assault weapon slung over a shoulder in a Texas restaurant; a Louisiana law forcing abortion providers to publish their names, addresses and photos; the body of a lynch or rape victim swaying from a tree.


As a psychologist turned writer, I found myself wanting to understand more about what life is like for activists who find themselves living - to borrow a biblical phrase - in the valley of the shadow of death. I wanted to understand also why some of them, instead of backing down decide to lean in. So, I started asking around. One of the first things I learned was how surprisingly many people within two degrees of separation from my own life had dealt with threats of violence at one time or another. The second thing - less surprising - was that staying centered and engaged in the face of even threatening innuendo is far from easy.


Progressive commentator "Gottalaff" had been in the public eye for years as an actress in stage shows, comedy, radio and improv, when one man's reaction to her quirky posts at The Political Carnival turned ugly. First the comments were just rude, but then they got personal:



He Google mapped me, and he showed me a map within a few miles of my house. And he said, "It shouldn't be hard to figure it out-where you live." I was fully dressed, locked in my house, but it's the same kind of feeling one would get if you saw a peeping Tom. When it got that close I got really scared. I stopped using my real name; I use California instead of where I live. I was an actress on TV, I used my picture and real name all the time - and politics changed all of that.



That first cyberstalker was followed by another and then another, who tweeted hundreds of pornographic images, close-ups of defecation, strings of gendered slurs, and graphic details of the sexual violation she deserved. He made repeated attempts to find out the identity of the woman behind her public persona. Today Gottalaff doesn't give her real name to anyone she hasn't met.

For blogger, Jesse Wendel, who spends his days as a professional in information technology, the first warning of danger came in the form of a physical assault. Wendel had encountered violence in prior work as a Nationally Registered EMT-Paramedic. "People have attacked me before but they were drunk or mistook me for cops or were high. That just goes with the territory when you're a paramedic." But this was different.


Wendel was in a bar next to a favorite breakfast place he had written about. He was blogging a sports event when a man interrupted. He told Wendel that he wrote badly, then escalated to calling him names. Over the course of the event he left and returned several times and then, unexpectedly attacked. As Wendel struggled to protect his head and neck with a cane that he requires to walk, the bartender and others pulled off the assailant.


Wendel emerged physically intact, but the assault and then stalking by the same man, changed his life.



Once I saw him at the house, I got my daughter out of the house. She was eighteen. I moved her out within two days, so that it was just me. Then I moved out three weeks later. My home was already being renovated to put it on the market. That was already scheduled. I was going to move out in two months but I moved out right then. I rented a room and was gone. I got a carry permit, which I didn't have till then. I didn't go back to the house. Nobody knows where I live. My children don't know where I live, my office doesn't know where I live, my mail doesn't forward there. I never went back to that restaurant. It was my favorite place. I never went back to say goodbye.



Afterward, Wendel experienced post traumatic symptoms: sleep disturbance, hyper-vigilance, and what he called paranoia. "Like a constant condition orange - never letting my guard down." Over the course of six months, the symptoms dissipated to the point that they got triggered only occasionally - by a public shooting, for example, or a car accident. At the time I spoke with him, his blogging had slowed to a trickle. "I may pick it back up as we move back into the election cycle," he said. "It's fun to go to the conventions. Then again I may not."

Political writer Cliff Schecter knows what that feels like. "You're naked," he says. "You're putting yourself out there, and there's nobody telling you what's smart to do and what's not smart to do." In 2008, Schecter published a book titled The Real McCain. In it, among other things, he broke a story about John McCain's explosive temper - about him calling his wife a cunt. Abruptly Schecter found himself in the public eye - mentioned in Vanity Fair and on John Stuart, invited onto left and right wing talk shows that sought to influence the election - and he found himself notorious. He received emails saying he should leave the U.S.: "The country would be better off if you were dead."


In the US, death threats often target left leaning activists, feminist women, or religious and racial minorities. Former national president of Planned Parenthood Gloria Feldt is all of the above. Feldt believes that growing up as a Jewish child in a small Christian town helped to prepared her for the threats she received as an abortion service provider. "I do think that when you are Jewish (I grew up in a small town in Texas, in the Bible belt) you learn a kind of public courage or else you go crazy."


For Feldt, the threats - coupled with racial slurs - first heated up when she became CEO of Planned Parenthood in Arizona, and for almost two decades coping with them was a way of life.




I had stalkers, picketers at my home. I had telephoned and written death threats. Institutionally we had bomb threats. When you're at a local affiliate and providing direct services and people know you more intimately, the kinds of threats are likely to be more up close and personal. In a local clinic role, folks know who you are, where you live, what you drive. I had a lot of anti-Semitic screed combined with physical threats. Neo Nazi language really stuck in my mind. They snorted like pigs.




The onslaught was frightening, but Feldt drew on the toughness she had acquired during those childhood years in Texas and other early encounters with hostility. For example, soon after moving to Phoenix in 1978, Feldt once went to see her dentist, whose office was in the same strip mall as a private reproductive health clinic. As she parked her car, a dozen "sidewalk counselors" swarmed around her, telling her not to kill her baby.

I felt my blood pressure go up and my heart start pounding. I knew who they were, I was well aware of their tactics and I wasn't even pregnant, but even so I felt the reaction one has in that situation. It gave me an insight into what it feels like to be a patient and be accosted like that. It made me want to do everything I could to limit the protesters' access to patients. I think it also prepared me emotionally for when we started getting aggressive demonstrations.



Violence and threats of violence cast a long shadow. When a public figure gets targeted, whether by an individual stalker or a political/religious sector that wields threat as a means of social control, family members become collateral damage.

After graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy and law school, Mikey Weinstein, launched a coveted career as a Judge Advocate Officer, later becoming a political appointee in the Reagan administration and an advisor to third party presidential candidate Ross Perot. During his years in the Air Force, it never occurred to Weinstein that his greatest risk of violent death would be at a podium or in his own home. But in 2005 Weinstein founded the Military Religious Freedom Foundation to fight the growing influence of Christian dominionists in U.S. military academies and service branches.


In the intervening years Weinstein has received literally thousands of messages wishing or threatening harm to him or his family. He no longer makes public appearances without security. I spoke with Weinstein's son Casey and daughter-in-law Amanda, both Air Force Academy graduates, and with his wife Bonnie about the impact on their lives.


As we all know, people say things in email that they wouldn't say face to face, and they threaten things they wouldn't do, so at first Casey didn't know how seriously to take the threats his dad was receiving. Then someone vandalized the house.



A dead rabbit was left on the front porch. Tires were slashed. The front window was shot out. Feces left on the porch. Then they started threatening my mom. They read off her license plate number and they knew we were going to a game and said that her blood would be all over the car. That was pretty freaky because that means they clearly have seen your car and have seen her. They know the address - have been to the house. They know where the house is and could get to us if they wanted to.



What cut the deepest was the reaction of some friends, who pulled away. That, in combination with the swastika that was painted on the front of the house. "The swastika really got me thinking. I just had a vision of them standing feet away from our door, putting a swastika on the house. It brings up a lot of images that are engrained in Jews. It brings you back to that fear of helplessness. Or that fear of people turning against you. When they carry out some physical act, that brings it home."

For Bonnie, who has multiple sclerosis, the constant sense of siege exacerbated her symptoms. She found herself making the rounds of specialists, on multiple medications. "I'm not a crier," she says, "I'm more of an internal person. It affected me physically." She recalls, in particular, a series of phone calls they received, first live and then recorded. The voices were those of young children, chanting: "Now we lay you in your grave. If you die before you wake we pray the devil your soul to take." In the background adults egged them on.


Like Jesse Wendel, Bonnie lives with an ever present sense of heightened vigilance.



It's like when there's a rapist in the area. Women have to go on alert. They get an escort in the parking lot. They carry mace. Woman can probably be more empathetic to that. When the dogs are barking, I stop what I'm doing. I look and see. When the doorbell rings and I'm not expecting someone I grab the gun by the door. It's a different lifestyle. I've always been comfortable with guns. I used to go out shooting with my dad. But I never chose to have them in the house. This was a decision we made to have them in the house.



Amanda says that since most of the threats target Mikey and Bonnie that gives her a little breathing room. When asked if she carries a concealed weapon, she responded wryly. "I teach statistics, so I don't feel any safer with a gun." She does double check the locks on the doors, and make sure lights are on outside the house.

Amanda admires Mikey but is angry at the price the family has had to pay.



I'm very proud of him and he's the only one and I don't want him to stop. At the same time it takes a toll on the family. Is it fair for one family to take it all on? The answer is no. It's not fair. It not fair! He's just fighting for what should have been. It's in the constitution. It's not fair for one family to have to take that on.



All three members of the Weinstein family that I spoke to have lost relationships because of the work Mikey does. Amanda's family is Evangelical - she was once a member of Ted Haggard's church in Colorado Springs - and some relatives think Mikey's advocacy is wrong. Bonnie's family, also Christian, is split. But some relatives and friends have rallied around them. And that makes a world of difference. One positive note cancels out ten death threats, says Casey, or one person offering to help in the fight. Bonnie draws an analogy to being attacked by a bear in the forest:

You're being chased by a bear and you fall, and your friend runs ahead of you and realizes you're not there. Do they keep running or do they turn around? The people you think will keep on running sometimes turn around and come back, and the people you think will turn around sometimes don't.



In what he sees as a fight to defend America's constitution and founding principles, Mikey is all in - answering texts at the dinner table and responding to calls at all hours - and he can drive family members crazy. But despite her husband's obsessive engagement and despite the risks to life and health, Bonnie has chosen to stay and help him as best she can. "To be attached means I am also attached to a tumor, but could you back out of your child's life? That's where I'm at. For me it's simply not possible."

Young atheist blogger Kacem El Ghazzali, born into a Muslim family in Morocco, can only dream of that kind of support. El Ghazzali began writing at age 20, questioning Islam and religion more broadly. After his views aired on an international channel discussing atheism in the Arab world, he started getting death threats. The most frightening came via Facebook; the sender promised to slaughter him like a sheep in the city of Al-Hajib, where he often went to meet with friends. El Ghazzali knew from the start that open criticism of Islam was risky - "There's nothing new about this. There are so many free minds that were deprived of their sacred right to life by the warriors of Allah." - But he is defiant.



The believer who protects his god by committing murder has no respect for that god. If Allah the all powerful can neither make me a believer nor protect himself, then why am I supposed to worship him in the first place? The believer inadvertently insults Allah when he declares "I'm defending Allah," for we only defend that which cannot defend itself.



El Ghazzali's father found out about the threats (and about El Ghazzali's lack of belief), and struck him, breaking his glasses. Other family members sided with his father, and most of his friends turned away. He was kicked out of school. The threats escalated and became more specific, and El Ghazzali went into hiding, ultimately seeking and obtaining asylum in Europe, where he has continued to oppose Islamic theocracy.

Why do they do it? What causes an otherwise sane person to choose life in the valley of the shadow of death?


Defiance like El Ghazzali's is certainly a part of the picture. Fear shares space in the human psyche with anger and resolve. Our basic instinctive reactions to threat are flight or fight, and sometimes predators who mean to trigger one instead trigger the other.


But beyond those fundamental animal instincts, lies something profoundly and uniquely human - a sense of calling or purpose, a conviction that the fight I am fighting, however risky, is a core part of who I am.


Asked why he keeps at it, Kacem El Gazzali becomes emphatic: "It's a battle for freedom, if they silent me freedom will lose; and by keeping walking I'm more being myself than anything else!"


Gottalaff also puts it bluntly: "I'm passionate about what I write. My voice is more important than their infantile threats. If it was more serious I would have taken steps to increase my security around the house, but I wouldn't stop typing. I have to express myself and nobody is going to stop that ever."


Cliff Schecter is more philosophic, but even so, it is clear that political journalism taps the core of his identity. "If things got bad enough - I wouldn't want to go do corporate marketing, but . . . I'm not some kind of hero. But the stuff that I'm engaged in, I'm passionate about. It's what I'm wired to do. It's what I'm talented at. Some people were made to be bankers. Some were made to be oceanographers. That's the intersection of their talents and their heart. Some people wake up in the morning thinking about political strategy."


In her years as an abortion provider, Gloria Feldt looked into the eyes of her patients and found all the reason she needed to keep going. "There wasn't a day went by that someone didn't say, 'You saved my life.' What is better than that?" Yes, it was hard, but "Along the way I realized that like with any terrorism if you let them change your life, then they have won. I just don't think that is right. . . ." Reflecting back on it, she sees her work as part of something bigger: "I am part of a wave that cut our teeth on the civil rights movement. My work was and is an extension of that. Civil rights activists encountered exactly the same kind of hate, threats and violence. But you know you are doing something that advances social justice."


Bonnie Weinstein muses about how she ended up in the complicated, harried life she lives - the intersection of who she is, who Mikey is, and the world's need. "There was never really a point that I decided to go forward with it. I just choose not to ignore the elephant in my living room. It's not my nature. It is his calling and I love him dearly and so we're in this together. Mikey and I are not the kind of people . . . he's not the kind of person who's going to hold the yarn for me while I ball it up to knot my sweater. This just happened to find us."


She hesitates, then sums it all up in a sentence. It feels like a life well lived.


Valerie Tarico is a psychologist. She is the author of Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light. She is also the founder of WisdomCommons.org.


This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.


Tragic accident: Two-year fatally shoots his mother in an Idaho Walmart

Walmart

© Dystopos



A two-year-old boy in an Idaho Walmart accidentally shot and killed his Mother on Tuesday, authorities said.

The woman, 29, was shopping in the Hayden, Idaho store with the boy and three other children when he reached into her purse and discharged the concealed weapon, the Associated Press reports. They were in the northern Idaho town to visit relatives. The store was closed following the shooting.


Kootenai County sheriff's spokesman Stu Miller said the shooting "appears to be a pretty tragic accident." Miller said the boy had been in the shopping cart when he grabbed the small caliber handgun, which discharged once. Miller added that his mother, whose identity has not been released, had a concealed weapons permit.


The woman's husband was not inside the store when the shooting occurred, Miller said. He arrived shortly after the shooting, and the children have been taken to a relative's home.


[embedded content]


Not surprising: Palestinian statehood bid fails at UN Security Council


© AFP Photo / Kena Betancur

The United Nations Security Council.



The UN Security Council has failed to adopt the Arab coalition's bid calling for the creation of a Palestinian state and an end to Israeli "occupation". The US and Australia voted against the move with 5 abstentions.

The draft resolution gathered only 8 votes in favour, so it was automatically defeated. The US however still used its veto power and voted against the resolution. Another veto power state, the UK, along with Lithuania, Nigeria, Korea and Rwanda have abstained from the vote.


An official bid for statehood was submitted to the Council Tuesday by a Jordan-led Arab coaltion. The bid featured a revised draft resolution of a similar proposal submitted earlier this month. Delegates voted on the measure Tuesday afternoon.


Highly opposed by the US and Israel, the first version of the draft resolution was submitted "in blue" to the UN Security Council last Wednesday. The Council includes five permanent members who hold veto power and ten additional members who serve two-year terms.


The resolution gives 12 months for a "just, lasting and comprehensive peaceful solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which it regards as the creation of a "sovereign and viable" Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, as well as the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the occupied territory by 2017.


Its text had already seen several amendments that concern East Jerusalem as capital of the future state of Palestine, Israeli settlement building, and Palestinian refugees' right of return, Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee member Abu Yousef told newspaper.


According to the current draft, Jerusalem is regarded as the capital of both Israel and Palestine, but the role of East Jerusalem in a future Palestinian state is not specified. "International legitimacy is our ceiling on this issue, and we cannot drop below this ceiling," Yousef told the paper.


"I think there is very little doubt that any resolution in the Security Council that actually created a Palestinian state or called for real statehood would be vetoed," US activist and journalist Phyllis Bennis told RT. "I think there is a big question whether the drafts that are now circulating actually do that. The French amendments in particular significantly weaken the idea that this is something that would actually create the Palestinian state."


Bennis explained that "there is no consequence named. The resolution is not taken under either Chapter 6 or Chapter 7, which are the coercive chapters of the UN charter." These chapters imply the use of military force and putting pressure against the state, such as sanctions.


On Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said his administration would "no longer deal" with Israel in case of the resolution's failure. "If the Arab-Palestinian initiative submitted to the Security Council to put an end to [Israeli] occupation doesn't pass, we will be forced to take the necessary political and legal decisions," the Algerian APS news agency quoted Abbas as saying.


Last Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called a UN bid for Palestinian statehood an "act of aggression."


"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is adopting measures whose sole aim is to attack Israel, with no benefit for the Palestinians," Lieberman said in a statement.


This summer, tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank escalated, leading to the 50-day conflict between the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinians. Operation Protective Edge claimed over 2,200 lives - most of them Gaza civilians.


Bright fireball seen along eastern U.S. coast; from Montreal to New Jersey


© Fox News



People along the East Coast reported seeing a bright fireball in the skies on Monday evening at about 6:35 p.m.

The American Meteor Society says it received more than 330 reports.


The fireball was seen from Montreal, Canada to Maryland and Delaware.


Peter Czech captured video of the fireball on a dashcam as he drove near I-287 and the Route 10 interchange.


One person in New Hampshire reported seeing flames.


A person in Sicklerville, New Jersey reported that they were driving in their car and were not sure if it was a fireball or a spent firework because of what they saw.


Peter Czech captured video of the fireball on a Garmin camera as he drove near I-287 and the Route 10 interchange in Hanover.


If you saw the fireball and you would like to report it, you can go to the AMS website.


[embedded content]


31 dead, 7 missing after Tropical Storm Jangmi triggers floods, landslides in Philippines


© AP / Fruhlein Econar

Motorists drive past a fallen marker which was toppled by Tropical Storm Jangmi at Alcantara township, Cebu province in central Philippines Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014.



Flash floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Jangmi left at least 31 people dead and seven missing in the Philippines, including in areas still recovering from last year's Typhoon Haiyan, officials said Tuesday.

Jangmi, packing winds of 65 kilometres (40 miles) per hour and gusts of 80 kph, dumped heavy rains Monday on southern Mindanao Island, where floods destroyed bridges and highways, sending thousands of residents to evacuation centres. The storm then pushed its way through eastern and central islands, where most of the deaths occurred Tuesday.


The government weather bureau said that as of late Tuesday afternoon, the eye of the storm was 140 kilometres (87 miles) southwest of central Iloilo City, moving west at 19 kph toward western Palawan Island.


Mayor Stephanie Uy-Tan said 12 people died when a landslide buried two vans and six houses near a mountainside highway in eastern Catbalogan City. She said voices could still be heard from one of the vans and that rescue efforts were ongoing.


Olive Luces, a regional civil defence official, said 11 members of a family died after a creek-side house where they had gathered was washed away by flash floods in central Cebu province. Six other people were missing in the same town.


In eastern Leyte province's Tanauan town, which was devastated last year by Typhoon Haiyan, army rescuers retrieved five bodies from a house buried by landslide.


A 65-year-old man died due to drowning in southern Compostela Valley province, while another resident remains missing after crossing a swollen river.


In central Bohol province, an 80-year old man drowned to death, while a 10-year-old girl died in a landslide that hit her home in southern Butuan City, officials said.


Land of the free: Congressman barred from seeing uncensored 9/11 report

Reuters

© Reuters

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL



A request by US Rep. Alan Grayson to access a portion of a 2002 congressional report on the September 11, 2001 attacks was denied by the House Intelligence Committee based on political reasons, the Florida Democrat said.

Grayson's request pertains to 28 pages of Congress' Joint Inquiry that were ordered to be redacted by then-President George W. Bush. The congressman said his search stemmed from proposed legislation in the House that seeks to release the classified section to the public.


The censored section of the Joint Inquiry provides information on "specific sources of foreign support" for the 9/11 attackers while they were in the United States. "The role of Saudi Arabia in funding 9/11" is part of these classified materials, according to former US Sen. Bob Graham, a fellow Florida Democrat, who co-chaired the Joint Inquiry.


Grayson, of Orlando, told BrowardBulldog.org that the House Intelligence Committee's vote to block his access of the classified sections amounted to a political attack based in part on the congressman's support for Edward Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who in 2013 leaked a massive trove of documents detailing the National Security Agency's global spying regime.


"Why was I denied? I have been instrumental in publicizing the Snowden revelations regarding pervasive domestic spying by the government and this is a petty means for the spying industrial complex to lash back," Grayson said last week, according to BrowardBulldog.org.


Grayson said outgoing House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) orchestrated the denied request. The Committee voted along party lines, 8 to 4, on Dec. 1 to block Grayson's access. The Committee went onto to overwhelmingly approve requests for access to other classified material from 11 other House members.


"Congressman Rogers made serious misrepresentations to other committee members when he brought this up," Grayson told BrowardBulldog.org. "When the reported on the fact that there was universal domestic surveillance regarding every single phone call, including this one, I went to the floor of the House and gave a lengthy speech decrying it."


Grayson said Rogers, a Republican, distorted the Democrat's denunciation of the NSA.


"Chairman Rogers told the committee that I had discussed classified information on the floor. He left out the most important part that I was discussing what was reported in the newspaper," said Grayson. "He clearly misled the committee for an improper purpose: to deny a sitting member of Congress important classified information necessary for me to do my job."


Rep. Walter Jones (R-North Carolina), has sponsored House Resolution 428, which calls on President Barack Obama to publicly release the censored 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry report, as those pages are "necessary for a full public understanding of the events and circumstances" of 9/11, Jones said.


Former Sen. Graham, the report's co-author, has called for declassification of the pages, as have 9/11 Commission Chairman Thomas Kean and Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton.


"I'm embarrassed that they're not declassified," said Hamilton, a former congressman, according to BrowardBulldog. "We emphasized transparency. I assumed incorrectly that our records would be public, all of them, everything."


Grayson, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is known for being one of the most outspoken liberals on Capitol Hill. He has been especially dogged over matters of militarism, surveillance and Wall Street improprieties.


His support for Snowden extended to the top reporter, Glenn Greenwald, instrumental in helping the former contractor divulge the NSA's secrets. After the leaks, Grayson wrote to US Attorney General Eric Holder seeking assurance that Greenwald would not risk facing detainment or arrest if he returned to the US from his home in Brazil.


Earlier this year, former NSA chief Keith Alexander left the surveillance agency and took his valuable knowledge of America's deepest spycraft secrets to the welcoming arms of the private sector. Grayson was a top critic of Alexander's new private sector company, IronNet Cybersecurity, after the firm hired a current NSA executive to work concurrently with that group and the government. Alexander's monthly consulting fee, upwards of $1 million per client, also raised eyebrows.


"I question how Mr. Alexander can provide any of the services he is offering unless he discloses or misuses classified information, including extremely sensitive sources and methods," Grayson wrote earlier this year to the Security Industries and Financial Markets Association when it was revealed that they had retained the former spy chief. "Without the classified information that he acquired in his former position, he literally would have nothing to offer to you."


Last year, Grayson invited Pakistani victims of US drone strikes to speak in front of members of Congress to urge an end to the mechanized, extrajudicial killings.


New Year's eve temperatures to drop below freezing for majority of U.S.


Those headed out to celebrate New Year's Eve may want to bundle up as arctic air affects much of the nation.

The worst of the cold will focus on the Rocky Mountains and northern Plains, but temperatures are forecast to dip below freezing across a majority of the nation on Wednesday night.


"Temperatures will plunge well below zero from portions of the Dakotas and northern Minnesota at night through the end of 2014," said AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.


AccuWeather.com RealFeel® Temperatures will be even lower, dropping below zero in cities such as Denver and Chicago.


Florida will be one of the only spots in the entire country to evade the freezing weather with lows in the 60s in Orlando and Miami.


Folks headed to outdoor venues to ring in the new year, such as Times Square in New York City, will want to dress warm to stay protected from the cold weather.


Wearing gloves, hats, and multiple layers of clothing are suggested to stay warm when spending extended periods of time in the outdoors.


Sosnowski warns, "that while the consumption of alcohol can make you feel warmer, it can sharply lower your core body temperature."


Despite dealing with the cold, many people should not have to worry about rain or snow hindering their celebrations.


However, a low pressure system will cause disruptions across much of the Southwest.


The highest impacts will be felt across the region's interior with accumulating snow falling in Las Vegas, Nevada; Flagstaff, Arizona; and St. George, Utah.



Southern California should avoid the worst of the storm with showers on Wednesday clearing out for overnight celebrations.

If you are traveling across this region on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, you should prepare for delays and allow for extra time to reach your destination.


Know when the precipitation will start and stop with AccuWeather MinuteCast®.


Dry weather and below-normal temperatures are forecast to continue for much of the country heading into New Year's Day.


Texas will be one of the few exceptions to this as rain, drizzle, and even a bit of ice, will spread over the state.


India: Over 130 people die in cold snap


© Gulf Times



The death toll of a cold spell in northern and eastern India has reportedly exceeded 130.

The cold snap in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh has disrupted rail and air transportation, media reported on Monday.


However, Uttar Pradesh Secretary and Relief Commissioner Leena Johri has not confirmed the number of fatalities. Citing authorities, Johri said there has been no report of death due to cold wave.


Meanwhile, Delhi-based All India Radio (AIR) reported that severe cold weather and fog has caused accidents which claimed the lives of 25 people in Uttar Pradesh during the weekend.


In the National Capital Territory of Delhi, as well as neighboring northern state of Haryana, and Bihar, a state in east India, 12 cold-related deaths were reported.


Foggy conditions caused serious disruption in air and rail transportation.


Some 137 flights were delayed and 14 more canceled at Delhi airport. The fog and low visibility have caused delays in 78 train departures as well.


The potentially deadly winters in India are short and last only from December to February.


According to officials in India Meteorological Department, cold weather will prevail in the northern regions few weeks longer.


Czech veteran returns NATO medals - cites 'shame' for having served 'criminals'

nato medal

© wikipedia.org

The NATO ISAF medal



A former military doctor who participated in missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan has asked the Czech Defense Ministry to take back his NATO medals, calling the North Atlantic alliance a "criminal organization" with "atrocious interests."

Lieutenant Colonel Marek Obrtel, former chief of the 11th Czech military hospital in Afghanistan, who also served in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina, wrote to the Czech Defense Ministry and government in an open letter.


Obrtel said he was giving back four NATO medals he received for his role in international peacekeeping missions as he was "deeply ashamed" of having served in the organization, "led by the US with its monstrous interests around the world."


NATO Czech Republic

© Reuters

Soldiers from the 4th Rapid Brigade of ISAF Czech contingent based in Chrudim, Czech Republic in Camp Altimur in Logar province



"I always performed the service the best I could, according to my belief that such operations cannot be left 'half done,'" Obrtel wrote. "But even then, particularly in the context of the Kosovo conflict, I began to suspect that our path [military action under NATO's auspices] is not right."

He said that "anyone who opposes any power interests of the US, even if defending identity, economy and sovereignty of their nation, must be 'wiped off the map.'"


Obrtel explained he had an opportunity to talk with locals on his missions - in order to "analyze and assess the situation from all possible angles." Those conversations convinced him of the "utter absurdity" of NATO's steps and recent developments, which he called "a new Cold War."


The Czech Republic's Defense Ministry has answered the letter, telling the veteran, who retired 11 years ago, that there was no law under which it is possible to take away medals, but he can return them, if he wishes to give them up.


'You're either a cop or little people': The American police state in 2014



"You're either a cop or little people." - Police captain Harry Bryant in Blade Runner




Police State

© agovernmentofwolves.com/



For those of us who have managed to survive 2014 with our lives intact and our freedoms hanging by a thread, it has been a year of crackdowns, clampdowns, shutdowns, showdowns, shootdowns, standdowns, knockdowns, putdowns, breakdowns, lockdowns, takedowns, slowdowns, meltdowns, and never-ending letdowns.

We've been held up, stripped down, faked out, photographed, frisked, fracked, hacked, tracked, cracked, intercepted, accessed, spied on, zapped, mapped, searched, shot at, tasered, tortured, tackled, trussed up, tricked, lied to, labeled, libeled, leered at, shoved aside, saddled with debt not of our own making, sold a bill of goods about national security, tuned out by those representing us, tossed aside, and taken to the cleaners.


As I point out in my book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State , we've had our freedoms turned inside out, our democratic structure flipped upside down, and our house of cards left in a shambles.


We've had our children burned by flashbang grenades, our dogs shot, and our old folks hospitalized after "accidental" encounters with marauding SWAT teams. We've been told that as citizens we have no rights within 100 miles of our own border, now considered "Constitution-free zones." We've had our faces filed in government databases, our biometrics crosschecked against criminal databanks, and our consumerist tendencies catalogued for future marketing overtures.


We've been given the runaround on government wrongdoing, starting with President Obama's claim that the National Security Agency has never abused its power to spy on Americans' phone calls and emails. All the while, the NSA has been racing to build a supercomputer that could break through "every kind of encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government records around the world." Despite the fact that the NSA's domestic surveillance program has been shown to be ineffective at preventing acts of terrorism, the agency continues to vacuum up almost 200 million text messages a day.


We've seen the police transformed from community peacekeepers to point guards for the militarized corporate state. From Boston to Ferguson and every point in between, police have pushed around, prodded, poked, probed, scanned, shot and intimidated the very individuals - we the taxpayers - whose rights they were hired to safeguard. Networked together through fusion centers, police have surreptitiously spied on our activities and snooped on our communications, using hi-tech devices provided by the Department of Homeland Security.


We've been deemed suspicious for engaging in such dubious activities as talking too long on a cell phone and stretching too long before jogging, dubbed extremists and terrorists for criticizing the government and suggesting it is tyrannical or oppressive, and subjected to forced colonoscopies and anal probes for allegedly rolling through a stop sign.


We've been arrested for all manner of "crimes" that never used to be considered criminal, let alone uncommon or unlawful, behavior: letting our kids walk to the playground alone, giving loose change to a homeless man, feeding the hungry, and living off the grid.


We've been sodomized, victimized, jeopardized, demoralized, traumatized, stigmatized, vandalized, demonized, polarized and terrorized, often without having done anything to justify such treatment. Blame it on a government mindset that renders us guilty before we've even been charged, let alone convicted, of any wrongdoing. In this way, law-abiding individuals have had their homes mistakenly raided by SWAT teams that got the address wrong. One accountant found himself at the center of a misguided police standoff after surveillance devices confused his license plate with that of a drug felon.


We've been railroaded into believing that our votes count, that we live in a democracy, that elections make a difference, that it matters whether we vote Republican or Democrat, and that our elected officials are looking out for our best interests. Truth be told, we live in an oligarchy, politicians represent only the profit motives of the corporate state, whose leaders know all too well that there is no discernible difference between red and blue politics, because there is only one color that matters in politics - green.


We've gone from having privacy in our inner sanctums to having nowhere to hide, with smart pills that monitor the conditions of our bodies, homes that spy on us (with smart meters that monitor our electric usage and thermostats and light switches that can be controlled remotely) and cars that listen to our conversations and track our whereabouts. Even our cities have become wall-to-wall electronic concentration camps, with police now able to record hi-def video of everything that takes place within city limits.


We've had our schools locked down, our students handcuffed, shackled and arrested for engaging in childish behavior such as food fights, our children's biometrics stored, their school IDs chipped, their movements tracked, and their data bought, sold and bartered for profit by government contractors, all the while they are treated like criminals and taught to march in lockstep with the police state.


We've been rendered enemy combatants in our own country, denied basic due process rights, held against our will without access to an attorney or being charged with a crime, and left to molder in jail until such a time as the government is willing to let us go or allow us to defend ourselves.


We've had the very military weapons we funded with our hard-earned tax dollars used against us, from unpiloted, weaponized drones tracking our movements on the nation's highways and byways and armored vehicles, assault rifles, sound cannons and grenade launchers in towns with little to no crime to an arsenal of military-grade weapons and equipment given free of charge to schools and universities.


We've been silenced, censored and forced to conform, shut up in free speech zones, gagged by hate crime laws, stifled by political correctness, muzzled by misguided anti-bullying statutes, and pepper sprayed for taking part in peaceful protests.


We've been shot by police for reaching for a license during a traffic stop, reaching for a baby during a drug bust, carrying a toy sword down a public street, and wearing headphones that hamper our ability to hear.


We've had our tax dollars spent on $30,000 worth of Starbucks for Dept. of Homeland Security employees, $630,000 in advertising to increase Facebook "likes" for the State Dept., and close to $25 billion to fund projects ranging from the silly to the unnecessary, such as laughing classes for college students and programs teaching monkeys to play video games and gamble.


We've been treated like guinea pigs, targeted by the government and social media for psychological experiments on how to manipulate the masses. We've been tasered for talking back to police, tackled for taking pictures of police abuses, and threatened with jail time for invoking our rights. We've even been arrested by undercover cops stationed in public bathrooms who interpret men's "shaking off" motions after urinating to be acts of lewdness.


We've had our possessions seized and stolen by law enforcement agencies looking to cash in on asset forfeiture schemes, our jails privatized and used as a source of cheap labor for megacorporations, our gardens smashed by police seeking out suspicious-looking marijuana plants, and our buying habits turned into suspicious behavior by a government readily inclined to view its citizens as terrorists.


We've had our cities used for military training drills, with Black Hawk helicopters buzzing the skies, Urban Shield exercises overtaking our streets, and active shooter drills wreaking havoc on unsuspecting bystanders in our schools, shopping malls and other "soft target" locations.


We've been told that national security is more important than civil liberties, that police dogs' noses are sufficient cause to carry out warrantless searches, that the best way not to get raped by police is to "follow the law," that what a police officer says in court will be given preference over what video footage shows, that an upright posture and acne are sufficient reasons for a cop to suspect you of wrongdoing, that police can stop and search a driver based solely on an anonymous tip, and that police officers have every right to shoot first and ask questions later if they feel threatened.


Now there are those who still insist that they are beyond the reach of the police state because they have done nothing wrong and have nothing to fear. To those sanctimonious few, secure in their delusions, let this be a warning: the danger posed by the American police state applies equally to all of us: lawbreaker and law abider alike, black and white, rich and poor, liberal and conservative, blue collar and white collar, and any other distinction you'd care to trot out.


The lesson of 2014 is simply this: in a police state, you're either a cop or you're one of the little people. Right now, we are the little people, the servants, the serfs, the grunts who must obey without question or suffer the consequences.


If there is to be any hope in 2015 for restoring our freedoms and reclaiming our runaway government, we will have to start by breathing life into those three powerful words that set the tone for everything that follows in the Constitution: "we the people."


It's time to stop waiting patiently for change to happen and, as Gandhi once advised, be the change you want to see in the world.


Get mad, get outraged, get off your duff and get out of your house, get in the streets, get in people's faces, get down to your local city council, get over to your local school board, get your thoughts down on paper, get your objections plastered on protest signs, get your neighbors, friends and family to join their voices to yours, get your representatives to pay attention to your grievances, get your kids to know their rights, get your local police to march in lockstep with the Constitution, get your media to act as watchdogs for the people and not lapdogs for the corporate state, get your act together, and get your house in order.


In other words, get moving. Time is growing short, and the police state is closing in. Power to the people!


This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.