AlterNet – by Lynn Stuart Parramore

When I moved to a Czech village in 1994 to teach English, I was fascinated by the cultural difference between Americans like me and my new community. At that time, the oppressive memory of the dreaded Communist secret police, the StB, was still fresh. (Check out a haunting series of street photos snapped by agents in their heyday.) As a brash young ex-pat, born after the era of McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover, I understood little of what it felt like to live under constant surveillance.   Continue reading “6 Insidious Ways Surveillance Changes the Way We Think and Act”

CenturyLink – by MIKE STOBBE – AP Medical Writer

ATLANTA (AP) — Overdose deaths in the U.S. are rising fastest among middle-aged women, and their drug of choice is usually prescription painkillers, the government reported Tuesday.

“Mothers, wives, sisters and daughters are dying at rates that we have never seen before,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which compiled the data.   Continue reading “Drug overdose deaths spike among middle-aged women”

Photo: IB TimesIntelliHub – by JG Vibes

After a salt dome collapsed and created a sinkhole, residents from the surrounding area are continually being evacuated since august of last year, with some accepting buyout offers from the company responsible for the disaster.   Continue reading “A giant sinkhole in Louisiana has been slowly expanding, and now has a 22.4 acre opening with a total size of 49 acres.”

UCA_01The Organic Prepper

It’s an exciting time, preparing for your child to leave the nest.  Your young adult is enthusiastically anticipating the independence that is so near, but you, as a parent, are most likely running scenarios in your head of all of the mishaps that could befall your son or daughter.

As a prepper, you want your child to also be prepared for any crisis that might occur when they are out on their own.  My lovely eldest daughter has just graduated from high school, and we put together a dorm-room preparedness kit for her college apartment. Following, you can see the list of supplies that we have assembled.  Different climates will, of course, require different types of preparedness items.   Continue reading “Dorm Room Preppers: The Next Generation of Survivalism”

House Of Cards - Photo by ArealastThe Economic Collapse – by Michael Snyder

Did you know that U.S. banks have more than 1.8 trillion dollars parked at the Federal Reserve and that the Fed is actually paying them not to lend that money to us?  We were always told that the goal of quantitative easing was to “help the economy”, but the truth is that the vast majority of the money that the Fed has created through quantitative easing has not even gotten into the system.  Instead, most of it is sitting at the Fed slowly earning interest for the bankers.    Continue reading “The Federal Reserve Is Paying Banks NOT To Lend 1.8 Trillion Dollars To The American People”

The Atlantic Wire – by Philip Bump

There’s something grotesque about American politics when a woman who was shot in the head has to prove she still likes guns anyway in order to comment on them. But so it goes. Yesterday, Gabby Giffords went to the gun range, as she and husband Mark Kelly kick off a national tour once again centered on bolstering a renewed push on federal gun legislation. July and August will be like March and April all over again.   Continue reading “Gabby Giffords Fires the Starting Pistol on Round Two for Gun Control”

Illinois Governor Pat QuinnAmmoLand

BELLEVUE, WA – -(Ammoland.com)- Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn evidently believes someone elected him emperor of the Prairie State, considering his meddling with the state’s concealed carry legislation today, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said in reaction.

Gov. Quinn, using his amendatory veto authority, inserted his own gun control provisions in legislation adopted last month, including limiting the places where someone may carry, the number of cartridges someone can have in a defensive firearm and the level of concealment one must exercise, all in excess of the legislation passed by the State Legislature last month.   Continue reading “Il Gov. Quinn Plays Emperor With Citizens’ Civil Rights”

AllGov – by Noel Brinkerhoff

While the Obama administration decides whether to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project, Americans have no way to find out exactly where more than a thousand miles of pipe would be laid.

That’s because neither the U.S. government nor the Canadian company pushing the pipeline will reveal the proposed route.

What is known is that the pipeline would travel about 1,700 miles while crossing six states: Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.   Continue reading “The Mysterious Route of the Keystone Pipeline”

21st Century Wire – by Thierry Meyssan

While the world focuses on Washington’s pursuit of NSA whistleblower Ed Snowden, another much more high ranking member of the US power structure has been indicted for espionage this week…

US General James Cartwright was regarded by Washington insiders as ‘Obama’s General’, and now he’s facing prosecution for blowing the whistle on ‘Operation Olympic Games’ which planted the Stuxnet and Flame viruses in Iranian nuclear facilities in order derail Iran’s civilian nuclear program. At closer examination, it appears that Cartwright’s revelations didn’t so much harm US interests per say, but they hindered Israeli ambitions towards a war with Iran.   Continue reading “Beyond Snowden: US General Cartwright has been indicted for espionage”

edward-snowden-1821st Century Wire

More revelations emerge surrounding the Snowden Saga, as intelligence operative Edward Snowden is still in transit within Russia. Edward Snowden’s  father, Lonnie Snowden, has subsequently retained attorney Bruce Fein from The Lichfield Group to aid in Ed’s return to U.S. soil. An interesting move, but what does this mean?

The Lichfield Group is a law firm that holds many global partnerships in addition to its political and media consulting. On its own website it alludes to directing or managing global concerns, including assisting foreign governments to influence the United States Congress:    Continue reading “Elder Snowden ‘engineers’ deal with attorney Bruce Fein for his son’s return to US”

Photo Credit to dmnewsi.comCerebral Industrial Complex – by Josh Wiley

Modern society is living through a revolution of information sharing. Current technology has allowed for an expansion of human intellect and knowledge unparalleled in history, in a league separate from even the technological prowess of the Gutenberg press. That being said, humanity becoming privy to new scientific breakthroughs has proliferated the idea that such unprecedented achievements in the realms of math and science make us virtually infallible to error or manipulation of data.   Continue reading “Crime Lab Corruption in America”

Chinese sailorGuardian

China will join Russia later this week for its largest-ever naval drills with a foreign partner, underlining deepening ties between the former cold war rivals along with Beijing’s desire for closer links with regional militaries.

China has long been a key customer for Russian military hardware, but only in the last decade have their militaries begun taking part in joint exercises.   Continue reading “China to join Russia for largest naval drills with foreign partner”

Post image for Russia has plans to bomb Qatar and Saudi ArabiaPhantomReport – by telegrafist – Translated

A senior source in the Air Force of Russia reported to telegrapher , that Russia has plans to bomb the Gulf monarchies – Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“It is absolutely no secret, such plans were developed in the USSR, since they have slightly changed by replacing the landing in a friendly at the time Iraq to refuel in the air above the Caspian Sea,” – said the officer.   Continue reading “Russia has plans to bomb Qatar and Saudi Arabia”

Anti-War – by Jason Ditz

Recent revelations about the NSA’s broad surveillance of German phone and Internet communications have fueled major concerns in the country, as Federal Prosecutors say they are preparing criminal charges against US and British spies involved.

Hessian prosecutors were the first to receive complaints about the matter, but that is likely to grow precipitously after German media outlets reported the US surveillance has collected more than half a billion phone calls and emails per month in Germany alone.   Continue reading “German Prosecutors May File Charges Over US, British Surveillance”

edward snowdenGuardian – by Miriam Elder

Edward Snowden has withdrawn his request for political asylum from Russia, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, further adding to the uncertainty over the US whistleblower’s future.

A spokesman for Russian president Vladimir Putin said Snowden withdrew the request after Putin’s statement making clear that he would be welcome only if he stopped “his work aimed at bringing harm” to the United States.   Continue reading “Edward Snowden withdraws Russian asylum request”

american_flag_crystal_ball_big_7-13-1PJ Media – by Roger L Simon

As we approach July 4, 2013, is America in a pre-revolutionary state? Are we headed for a Tahrir Square of our own with the attendant mammoth social turmoil, possibly even violence.

Could it happen here?

We are two-thirds of the way into the most incompetent presidency in our history. People everywhere are fed up. Even many of the so-called liberals who propelled Barack Obama into office have stopped defending him in the face of an unprecedented number of scandals coming at us one after the other like hideous monsters in some non-stop computer game.   Continue reading “Is America in a Pre-Revolutionary State this July 4th?”