empty-walletGovt.Slaves – by Bill Bonner

Yesterday’s good news was that there will beno 25-year recession. “We should be so lucky,” is the way a New Yorker might react. Because the bad news is much worse. The logic of the “long depression” is simple. Aging populations, debt, zombification – all of which slow growth.

How many old people and zombies do you need before an economy comes to a halt? Nobody knows. But the drag from debt is observable and calculable. Over the last three decades, approximately $33 trillion in excess debt has been contracted – above and beyond the traditional ratio to income – in America alone. And growth rates have fallen in half.   Continue reading “The Next 94 Days Could Be Bad for Your Wallet”

Anti War.com – by Jason Ditz

US State Department officials issued a statement of rebuke to Israel’s newly minted government today, criticizing their planned expansion of settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.

“This is a disappointing development,” noted spokesman Jeff Rathke, saying the US wants to “see a commitment for the two-state solution,” and that the latest construction plans are incompatible with that.

The Ramat Shlomo plan dates back to 2010, when Israel unveiled it during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden. This caused a serious diplomatic row at the time, and the plan is now receiving final approval.   Continue reading “US ‘Disappointed’ by Israel’s New East Jerusalem Settlement Plans”

apple mac malware vxerThe Register – by John Leyden

A former NSA staffer turned security researcher is warning that bypassing typical OS X security tools is trivial.

Patrick Wardle, a former NSA staffer and NASA intern who now heads up research at crowd-sourced security intelligence firm Synack, found that Apple’s defensive Gatekeeper technology can be bypassed allowing unsigned code to run. Apple’s Gatekeeper utility is pre-installed in Mac OS X PCs and used to verify code. The tool is designed so that by default it will only allow signed code to run or, depending on settings, only packages from the Mac App Store.   Continue reading “Ex-NSA security bod fanboi: Apple Macs are wide open to malware”

gigglesformayorThe Independent Political Report

A new write-in candidate has entered the race for Flint mayor: Giggles the pig. Gary Ridley reports at MLive.com:

In a bizarre turn of events that has already set the stage for the possibility of a blank mayoral ballot in Flint, local defense attorney Michael Ewing is trying to enter his pet pig, Giggles, into a race that could already consist of all write-in candidates.   Continue reading “Giggles the Pig Enters Flint, Michigan Mayoral Race”

Jail-v-prison-800x500Govt.Slaves – by Steve Straehley

When state governments closed many mental hospitals in the 1970s, it didn’t solve the problem of what to do with the mentally ill, it merely moved it—to jails and prisons.

“There are now more psychologists working in state prisons than (in) state hospitals in this country,” Dr. Jeffrey Metzner, a psychiatrist with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center, said according to The Crime Report.   Continue reading “Are Prisons the New Mental Health Hospitals?”

killerobotThe Daily Sheeple

Google’s android “Terminator” army is nearly ready for its assault on the human race. With tech pioneer Elon Musk (and physicist Stephen Hawking) urgently warning that artificial intelligence (AI) could destroy humanity, Google seems intent on building the android Terminator hardware that AI systems will inhabit. The result, warn an increasing number of experts, could spell the end of humanity and a literal “rise of the robots” as often depicted in sci-fi.   Continue reading “Google’s Military Robot Army Soon Ready for Terminator Assault on Humanity”

Hundreads of trees sit dead in the San Bernardino National Forest in California, due to drought and the bark beetle.Think Progress – by Natasha Geiling

As California’s historic drought continues into its fourth year, the state’s forests are being hit hard by years of below-average precipitation. According to a new study conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, at least 12.5 million trees in California’s national forests have died during the current drought — adding more brittle, dry vegetation to areas already threatened by potentially explosive wildfires.

“The situation is incendiary,” William Patzert, a climatologist for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the Los Angeles Times. “The national forest is stressed out.”   Continue reading “At Least 12 Million Trees Are Dead Because Of California’s Drought”

The Independent

Two Chinese philanthropists have created a “death simulator” allowing willing participants to experience cremation.

The Samadhi Game, located in a corner of the Window of the World amusement park in Shenzhen, opened in September 2014 and for roughly £26 simulates players’ deaths by placing them in a coffin and then transporting them to the incinerator.

Once inside, players are then blasted by hot air (up to 40C) and light to create an “authentic experience of burning,” according to its creators, Huange Weiping and Ding Rui.

When the “burning” is over, volunteers see a womb projected on the ceiling and must crawl until they reach a large, white padded area – supposedly representing a womb – where they are “reborn”. Continue reading “Gee, Sounds Like Fun: Chinese ‘Death Simulator’ Replicates Cremation”

Parents Nationwide Urged to Take Kids to Park, Leave ThemPatch.com – by Deb Belt

As a national debate continues on whether its responsible parenting to let kids walk home alone from a park, supporters plan to take their kids to neighborhood parks May 9 and leave them there.

Parents across the country are being urged to head to parks Saturday at 10 a.m., meet other families, and then, left their children walk home unaccompanied if the parents deem them old enough and responsible enough for the journey.   Continue reading “Parents Nationwide Urged to Take Kids to Park, Leave Them”

Sent to us by Rke.

KCRA – by David Bienick

FAIR OAKS, Calif. (KCRA) —Feather are flying over a proposal to ban roosters in the unincorporated areas of Sacramento County.

But county leaders said the proposal has been largely misunderstood.   Continue reading “Proposed rooster ban ruffles feathers in Sacramento County”

CBC News

Police arrested a 17-year-old and accused him of plotting to detonate three homemade bombs in the Australian city of Melbourne, officials said on Saturday, in the latest terrorism scare involving a teenager.

The teen was arrested on Friday afternoon in a joint federal-state police counterterrorism operation at his home in the upmarket suburb of Greenvale where the explosive devices were found, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Phelan said. The state police bomb squad rendered the devices safe, he said.   Continue reading “Australian police arrest teen accused of plotting to detonate bombs”

Fox News

WASHINGTON –  A North Carolina veteran very much alive is fighting for his life following a clerical error that resulted in his family getting a document from the departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense stating he had died.

The notices, along with the government’s condolences, came with two checks to help pay for burial costs for Robert Pressley — but because the system now says Pressley is deceased, his benefits reportedly have been terminated.   Continue reading “VA claims living veteran is dead, sends burial check, cuts benefits”