By 2030, more than half of Americans could be obese, taxing the nation’s health while costing the country $500 billion in lost economic productivity. The food industry, however, is doing its best to keep the public hooked – no matter what the price.
With one out of three adults clinically obese and 40 percent of children officially overweight, the US is the fattest country in the developed world. The burgeoning public health crisis will see instances of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer skyrocket over the next two decades, taking an already strained healthcare system to breaking point. Continue reading “Battle of the bulge: US food corporations fueling obesity epidemic with addictive ingredients”
Hi-tech weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin presented its latest effort in surveillance technology this week – a web of self-organising sensors with the ability to trigger any kind of device from a distance and have it operating autonomously.
The presentation took place at the annual meeting of The Association of the United States Army (AUSA) that took place Monday through Wednesday. Continue reading “Rock, paper, surveillance: US Army investing in smarter ‘spy rocks’”
US authorities have reported their largest-ever Bitcoin bust amounting to $28 million of the digital currency. It was seized from the owner of the controversial Silk Road website, which was shut down three weeks ago.
A Friday statement by federal prosecutors in New York details the seizure of 144,336 bitcoins, which were discovered on the computer belonging to Silk Road founder Ross William Ulbricht, alias “Dread Pirate Roberts,” Reuters reports. Ulbricht was arrested Oct. 1 in San Francisco on several charges of conspiracy. Continue reading “FBI makes record $28 million Bitcoin bust”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The $5.1 billion that JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay hardly ends its legal troubles over mortgage securities it sold.
It’s merely a down payment. JPMorgan still faces heavy financial burdens. The bank has set aside $23 billion to cover legal costs — and it may need it all. In a statement Friday night, JPMorgan called its latest settlement an “important step” toward resolving allegations over mortgage-backed securities it sold. The $5.1 billion would resolve federal claims that it misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about risky home loans and securities they bought before the housing market collapsed. Continue reading “JPMorgan’s $5B settlement doesn’t end its troubles”
Life News – by Wesley J. Smith
The first case of a child smuggled into the UK to be organ harvested has been uncovered. From the Telegraph story:
The first case of a child being trafficked to Britain in order to have their organs harvested has been uncovered. The unnamed girl was brought to the UK from Somalia with the intention of removing her organs and selling them on to those desperate for a transplant. Continue reading “Officials Discover Child Trafficked From Somalia to UK to Harvest Her Organs”
Canada Free Press – by Institute for Energy Research
An August 20th blog post by Peter Miller of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) attempted to discredit California Assembly Bill 32 (AB32) opponents, but instead succeeded in displaying its disregard for facts and the reality of the electricity market in the state. Continue reading “The Truth Behind “Affordable” Energy in California”
Canada Free Press – by Tom Harris & Dr. Jay Lehr
There’s an old saying that when presenting a legal case, if the facts are on your side, “pound the facts,” but if the facts are against you, “pound the table.” The report of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released on September 27th is an obvious example of pounding the table.
The facts, which the IPCC’s report admits to, albeit with obvious reluctance and a good deal of obfuscation, show that humanity’s impact on global climate is too small to justify concern and is certainly no reason for the costly programs governments are imposing. Yet the IPCC persists in asserting the opposite. Continue reading “New UN Climate Report Ignores Reality”
CNet News – by Daniel Terdiman
SAN FRANCISCO — Something big and mysterious is rising from a floating barge at the end of Treasure Island, a former Navy base in the middle of San Francisco Bay. And Google’s fingerprints are all over it.
It’s unclear what’s inside the structure, which stands about four stories high and was made with a series of modern cargo containers. The same goes for when it will be unveiled, but the big tease has already begun. Locals refer to it as the secret project. Continue reading “Is Google building a hulking floating data center in SF Bay?”
The NSA is spying on everyone’s personal communications. It’s operating without any meaningful oversight.
On October 26th, the 12th anniversary of the signing of the USA Patriot Act, we’re holding the largest rally yet against NSA surveillance. We’ll be handing more than a half-million petitions to Congress to remind them that they work for us — and we won’t tolerate mass surveillance any longer. Continue reading “A Rally against Mass Surveillance”
The Guardian – by Samuel Gibbs
A high-profile file-sharing site has been revealed to be a year-long pirate “honeypot”, collecting data on users, file hosters and websites.
The revelation, which had users of the forum up in arms, accompanied the purchase of the UploaderTalk (UT) site by US-based anti-piracy company Nuke Piracy.
A honeypot is a facility, in this case a site, run under false pretences that encourages criminal behaviour in an effort to collect incriminating data. Continue reading “Filesharing site revealed to be anti-piracy ‘honeypot’”
(Life News) – A new Fox News report issued today says soldiers attending a pre-deployment briefing at Fort Hood were told that Christians and conservative political advocates are a threat to the nation. They were also informed that pro-life advocates are “radical.”
From the report by Todd Starnes:
A soldier who attended the Oct. 17th briefing told me the counter-intelligence agent in charge of the meeting spent nearly a half hour discussing how evangelical Christians and groups like the American Family Association were “tearing the country apart.” Continue reading “Army Briefing Tells Soldiers Christians and Pro-Lifers are a “Radical” Threat”
(Gold Silver) – The world is invested in the largest Ponzi scheme in history. According to the CityUK Fund most recent report, the total U.S. and world conventional assets under management are forecasted to reach $94.1 trillion in 2013
This is up from $87.2 trillion in 2012. These global conventional assets are broken down into the following investment classes shown in the chart below: Continue reading “The Coming Collapse of U.S. & World Conventional Paper Assets”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) quietly dropped a bomb in its October Fiscal Monitor Report. Titled “Taxing Times,” the report paints a dire picture for advanced economies with high debts that fail to aggressively “mobilize domestic revenue.” It goes on to build a case for drastic measures and recommends a series of escalating income and consumption tax increases culminating in the direct confiscation of assets. Continue reading “The International Monetary Fund Lays The Groundwork For Global Wealth Confiscation”
America’s pork industry has been gripped by an outbreak of porcine diarrhea since mid-May, the first appearance of the condition in North America. US farmers havereported 768 cases of the disease, known as porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), through the first week of October, which implies that many more thousands of animals could be affected. Continue reading “The disease that killed a million piglets in China has spread to the US, and no one knows why”
The Daily Caller – by Neil Munro
As his signature piece of legislation rapidly collapses in a painful, costly and humiliating heap, President Barack Obama heads to New York Friday in search of more 2014 campaign funds, leaving his deputies behind to manage the Obamacare debacle.
The president is flying to his two New York fundraisers on Air Force One gratis because he’s also got a quick non-partisan stop at a local high school. Continue reading “Obama flees Obamacare disaster for New York fundraiser”
Information Clearinghouse – by Dave Johnson
Republicans are demanding cuts in Social Security and Medicare if Democrats want to change the terms of the “sequester.” I’m sure their Tea Party “base” would be shocked if they understood this. So would most Americans. So is the media giving Americans the information they need in order to make informed decisions?
Yesterday The Hill reported, in House GOP says sequester is leverage in next budget battle, that Rep. Paul Ryan is pushing for cuts in Social Security and Medicare: Continue reading “Republicans Demand Social Security And Medicare Cuts, Is It Reported?”
East Bay Express – by Darwin BondGraham and Ali Winston
Hundreds of police and sheriffs’ officers — about half of them donning military battle fatigues — converged on downtown Oakland’s Marriott Hotel today for the first day of Urban Shield, one of the nation’s largest security conferences and weapons shows. Outside the Marriott, dozens of community members representing churches and racial and economic justice organizations, rallied against the event. United under the name Facing Urban Shield, the coalition said the militarized tone of the event reflects the worsening human rights records of police forces around America, and the waste of billions on jails and state prisons. They also said the presence of arms dealers in the city undercuts Oakland’s efforts to stem gun violence. Continue reading “Drones and Automatic Weapons on Display in Downtown Oakland for Urban Shield”
A partnership between police departments and social media sites discussed at a convention in Philadelphia this week could allow law enforcement to keep anything deemed criminal off the Internet—and even stop people from organizing protests.
A high-ranking official from the Chicago Police Department told attendees at a law enforcement conference on Monday that his agency has been working with a security chief at Facebook to block certain users from the site “if it is determined they have posted what is deemed criminal content,” reports Kenneth Lipp, an independent journalist who attended the lecture. Continue reading “Partnership between Facebook and police could make planning protests impossible”