When The S*** Hits the Fan

Anti- #Trump #Riots Go Primal: “Demonstrators Smash Up a Squad Car, Punch a #Donald Supporter”

April 29, 2016 by mac slavo

Those who see violence as an inevitable result of this tumultuous election cycle are being proven right.

Last night saw hundreds of protests with Mexican flags clashing with police and attacking Donald Trump supporters in Southern California.

Chances are that we haven’t seen anything yet…

As the Daily Mail reports:

Protesters clash with cops at California Trump rally: Hundreds of Mexican flag-waving demonstrators smash up a squad car, punch a Donald supporter and scuffle with riot police amid angry scenes

[…]

The protesters flooded the street outside the amphitheater with some stomping on cars, hurling rocks at motorists and forcefully declaring their opposition to Trump – bringing traffic to a halt and creating a tense standoff with authorities.

[…] Photos from the scene showed a visibly bloodied Trump supporter after he was punched in the face as well as several people being arrested and handcuffed by police.

In the chaotic scenes, some of the demonstrators reportedly carried benches and blocked the entrance to the 55 Freeway along Newport Boulevard.

Here are some of the videos from the insanity as demonstrators attack a police cruiser:

Hundreds of cops were also on scene, and made several arrests, while at least one Trump supporter was bloodied.

Of course, Donald Trump has repeatedly been compared unfavorably to Hitler, and accused of being a fascist for his bold positions on building a wall on the Mexico border, a key flashpoint for his detractors who have taken to the streets in violence.

By the time the RNC and DNC conventions arrive, this type of rioting may be typical of every city the candidates campaign in, and could very likely escalate during the formal nomination process – particularly if the GOP insiders follow-through with their threat to defeat Trump through a brokered convention.

Could this unrest reach a tipping point and spread to the point of justifying a massive clamp down on free speech and civil liberties?

Things could definitely get nastier… just wait and see.

Trump is Riding a “Rising Tide of Discontent Within the U.S.,” But Can He Really Change Things?

Establishment Collapsing: Trump Beating Grand Ol’ Party Of “Serial Child Molesters” and Has Beens

The Bubble Will Burst, But Fed Is Waiting For Politics “With Trump Lurking Around”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

“ #DIY #Antibiotics”: What To Grow to Protect Your Health In a #Crisis

April 29, 2016 by mac slavo

What will you do in a crisis without life saving medicine and antibiotics?

If society breaks down, hospitals, pharmacies and clinics will be unavailable, and the medicine you or a loved one need may be unavailable.

Clearly, this means you need to have to supplies on hand, particularly for anyone who is dependent upon insulin or other medications that can be deadly if disrupted.

But those supplies will only go so far. Something that is also important to do is become familiar with medicinal herbs and plants, and grow some of the ones that could be most useful to your family or network.

Wilderness and homesteading survival teacher Marjory Wildcraft shows how you can grow and process your own medicines – many of which are more potent and potentially beneficial than those developed in the medical industry. Best of all, it is relatively simple to do:

Yes, you can make your own anti-biotics at home. I’ll show you how to make a really super powerful one (it’s easy to do). Anyone can do it. Most people will want to do this in their backyards or on a patio. But I suppose you could do it indoors too. This one I’ll show you how to make is way more complex than anything the pharmaceutical companies can produce, yet it is simpler and easier to make. No, you won’t need a lab of chemistry set. No, you won’t need microscopes or chemicals. Nope, you won’t even need a spectrum analyzer….

This particular anti-biotic not only helps boost your immune system for any time you have an infection, but it is also good for when you have a cold, it’s known to help lower cholesterol and high blood pressure, it’s been known to help balance blood sugar, fight cancer, fight fungus, and more.

The answer is simple… Garlic is perhaps the single best natural antibiotic, and very well known for staving off colds, infections and for overall supporting a healthy immune system and restoring good health.

Quite simply, garlic is well worth growing, eating and having around, as this video demonstrates. Adopt some of the best practices for growing and storing it, and it will always be around.

There are, of course, many other important medicinal plants that can be grown and utilized than just garlic:

Sara an expert in Medicinal plants explains the properties of several different plants and what their uses are for different ailments. This is information that could save you lots of money in buying medicine and can help you live a healthy diet. Filmed at the eco village of Valdepiélagos, Madrid

According to Sara (in the video above), these plants and many more can address many health issues, including some of the most serious.

• Stevia isn’t just a “sweet leaf” to be used as a sugar substitute, but eating the leaf or its extract can help regulate blood sugar (not in the processed form used by soda companies).

• Kalanchoe Daigremontiana can strengthen the immune system and reportedly even fight cancer.

• Melissa and Evalouisa – Plants from these families both have similar medicinal properties for digestive and stomach relief, as well as as a sleep aid.

• Caledonia can help with cataracts (the orange liquid can be put in the eyes) or for cuts on the skin

•Artemisia Annua is another powerful anti-bacterial that can fight malaria and other serious diseases.

• Galio can be used to regulate the hormonal system

• Epiolobium can reduce inflammation in the prostate

(Note: some of these names may be more familiar to Spanish speakers, or go under a different name elsewhere)

There are, of course, hundreds of more varieties of plants that you can cultivate, but you will need to do your own research. Many plants are found in certain regions only, and others may be difficult to grow outside of their typical climate.

Though they have been used for centuries, no one can guarantee they are safe for everyone, and most doctors and hospitals refuse to recognize the potential of these natural (and unpatentable) medicines.

Regardless of whether or not you endure a collapse or prolonged crisis situation, these are valuable skills that could improve your personal well being, or come in handy as a tradable and necessary skill within a self-reliant community or survivor group.

Along with goods and precious metals, exchanging skills & service is a useful part of any barter economy that could thrive under the right circumstances of determined and freedom loving people.

Tom Brown’s Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants (Field Guide)

First Aid Kit Best 100 Piece Compact Multipurpose Essential for Survival & Medical Emergencies with Durable Canvas Bag & Ideal for Auto Office Travel Home Camping Hiking Sport & Outdoors. Be Prepared!

The Four Prescription Drugs You Must Have in a Crisis… And How to Get Them

3 Barter Items You Probably Haven’t Considered But Will Be Valuable Even If the Poop Doesn’t Hit the Fan!

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Watch #Comedian Rip #US Government Over 9/11 and 28 Pages in Under 4 Minutes

April 28, 2016 by claire bernish

Claire Bernish
April 28, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) While President Obama recently vowed to veto a bill offering families of victims of 9/11 the chance to seek justice from foreign governments that may be complicit, outrage largely centered on the families — for the most part ignoring what the veto intimated. Though designed to lift immunity from the litigation traditionally provided to parties culpable in terror attacks — specifically, attacks on U.S. soil, and specifically in this case, Saudi Arabia — the bill could feasibly expose the U.S. to the same.

And therein lies the problem. Because, as Lee Camp wryly highlighted on Redacted Tonight recently, the United States government nefariously meddles in global affairs — often employing terroristic tactics or direct acts of terrorism for hegemonic, imperialistic goals.

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To wit, Camp’s critique of U.S. violent hegemony includes a rundown of 30 examples — a telling figure in itself — but his list constitutes an exceedingly limited overview of the stultifying hubris of American foreign policy, past and present. Is there any doubt why Obama and a bipartisan Congress sought to withhold potential justice for loved ones of victims from September 11, 2001?

Sure, the Saudis threatened to yank three-quarters of a trillion dollars in U.S. assets from the already fragile economy should Obama pass the bill — but, in consideration of the aforementioned meddling, this political and economic blackmail appears an awfully convenient excuse for a veto.

As indicated in the length of the following far-from-complete list, the number of violent interventions the United States government would have to explain makes apparent Obama’s desire to veto this bill.

This article (Watch Comedian Rip US Government Over 9/11 and 28 Pages in Under 4 Minutes) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Claire Bernish and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

Kids Learn #Fascist Lesson at 9/11 Memorial: “Even if you don’t agree with it … you must respect authority”

April 28, 2016 by daisy luther

April 28, 2016

“You must respect authority.”

That was the take-home lesson for some middle schoolers at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City.

It probably comes as no surprise that this is what kids are being taught these days in public schools.

Last week a group of patriotic kids went to the 9/11 Memorial site and began singing the national anthem. One would think this was a respectful thing to do for fallen countrymen, whose lives, according to the official story, were taken by evil terrorists whom we should all fear.

Apparently, the 1st Amendment is as dead as those victims at the 9/11 site, because the kids were immediately silenced by a security guard.

But that wasn’t the worst lesson that kids got

You’d think that would be the worst of it, but you’d be wrong.

Their teacher – who shouldn’t even be allowed to housebreak puppies with this outlook – explained to CNN that she used this as a teaching opportunity.

Unfortunately, the teaching opportunity wasn’t about the constitutional rights that were being trampled on. Nope.

Instead, it was a more of a brainwashing opportunity that could easily have been part of the curriculum at Nazi Elementary School.

She said that they “reverently…complied” (reverently???) and then she went on to explain to them this valuable lesson: “Even if you don’t agree with it or don’t understand it, you must respect authority.”

Just obey

So, even if you think something is wrong, kiddos, do what you’re told. Obey without question. Be quiet and respectful. This will make you fine citizens later when you ignore the ever-worsening atrocities that are being committed by those in authority.

This video will blow your mind and make you want to homeschool if you aren’t doing so already. (Or go even more crazy and do away with any ties to “the education system” altogether.)

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#McDonald’s Will Replace Jobs with #Kiosks: Ex-CEO Says $15 Wage “Will Trigger Massive Layoffs”

April 28, 2016 by mac slavo

The future of fast food service will involve much less human interaction.

Instead, humans will line up like rats to pellet dispenser, and computer screens will take orders, as the classic menial, entry-level job will gradually disappear along with many other jobs in the workforce.

Former McDonald’s CEO Ed Rensi, who headed the company during the 90s, blasted the push for a $15 minimum wage, which he argued, food companies won’t pay – they just won’t pay it.

And jobs will suffer because of it.

The company will admitted choose to cut jobs altogether, and phase in automated kiosks, rather than pay more in minimum wage. (Perhaps that was their plan all along, and the $15/hour minimum wage controversy is the perfect excuse to put it into action.)

via the Daily Mail:

A Former McDonald’s CEO has predicted that raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour will cost people entry-level jobs.

In a column he wrote for Forbes, Ed Rensi says… “it will mean wiping out thousands of entry-level opportunities for people without many other options.’

[…]

Labor organizers have been demanding an increase in wages… Rather than raise prices, McDonalds is more likely to replace people with self-service computer kiosks so they do not have to pay the high wage. […] Over a million American youths may otherwise be out of a job.

[…]

‘You’ll see their legacy every time you visit the Golden Arches, where “would you like fries with that” is a button on a computer screen rather than a phrase spoken by an employee in their first job,’ he wrote.

Admittedly, McDonald’s has already cut thousands of jobs in Europe, where it put in more than 7,000 kiosks to take orders rather than pay wages.

And you can bet that there is much more of that sort of thing coming.

From the company perspective, it is obviously a matter of the bottom line. For society, it is an unfortunate perfect storm as automation alone is poised to destroy millions and millions of jobs.

The future just doesn’t need many burger-flippers and order takers – the computers do it much more efficiently and accurately, after all.

Could they cut money elsewhere – like from the salaries and bonuses of overpaid CEOs? Of course.

But that’s not the point, and it won’t make the difference. These companies simply don’t care… and the economics are against anyone caring ever again.

It is harsh, but true. Please brace yourself as best as you can for this looming change in our society.

As Zero Hedge reported, McDonald’s has already been rolling out test kiosks in Chicago, and as the above article noted, in Europe as well:

According to Brand Eating, fast food king McDonald’s has been spotted testing a self-serve McCafe coffee station/kiosk out in downtown Chicago. The station is located in the restaurant but apart from the counter and looks to be a theoretically more convenient way for those who just want a cup of coffee to skip the regular line (while also freeing employees from having to make each drink in the back)

In essence, this is the company’s latest venture to make employees responsible for one less task as corporate HQ slowly but surely responds to minimum wage hikes sweeping all states, and in the process, outsource its minimum wage workers to simple machines which will never unionize or have any demands aside from being cleaned occasionally.

That site, of the self-serving kiosk, is already familiar at many grocery stores and Wal-Marts, and will become a mainstay of the shopping experience in all sectors, along with driver-less cars, and somewhere, unrecognized by the media, an endless line of former middle class and working people desperate on food stamps and benefits.

It is all happening so fast… before we know it, it will have happened.

Where will everyone go? What will they do?

The Age of Machines and Unemployment: “Robots Could Steal 80 Million US Jobs”

This is a Tipping Point: Robots “Cheaper Than Any Human Worker” Means the End of Jobs

Hey Boss, The Robots Are Coming For Your Job Too: “Easier to Automate First”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

#CIA-Backed Artificial Intelligence #Palantir Firm To Spy on #WallStreet Traders

April 28, 2016 by jake anderson

Jake Anderson
April 27, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) — Swiss multinational bank, Credit Suisse, will collaborate with data analysis firm, Palantir, to launch a trader surveillance program. According to Bloomberg’s Jeffrey Voegeli, the joint venture, called Signac, aims to catch rogue Wall Streeters engaged in illegal trading. It comes in the wake of a number of trading scandals in recent years that have cost banks billions of dollars.

Palantir was co-founded by Peter Thiel and seed-funded by the CIA. The company was funded in part by In-Q-Tel Inc., the venture capital investment arm of the CIA that has a long, symbiotic history with startups, the NSA, the FBI, and DARPA. In fact, In-Q-Tel specifically funds tech start-ups “to advance ‘priority’ technologies of value” in the intelligence community. The group has ties to Donald Rumsfeld’s Total Information Awareness initiative and is believed by some to have worked closely with Google in its earliest years.

Palantir itself has lived in the shadows since its 2004 inception, working primarily to create a proprietary data mining system used by law enforcement agencies, finance firms, and security companies to isolate criminality. For example, Palantir’s software was used to analyze the troves of millions of documents related to the Bernie Madoff scandal.

Palantir has an extensive relationship with the U.S. government, and includes among its clients the CIA, DHS, NSA, FBI, the CDC, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, Special Operations Command, West Point, the Joint IED-defeat organization and Allies, the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Another client is the Los Angeles Police Department. A leaked document from 2013 included a quote from Sergeant Peter Jackson, who said Palantir’s technology is allowing the LAPD to become more efficient.

The new trader surveillance co-venture comes at a time when Credit Suisse finds itself in dire straits. After adhering to a so-called Pursuit of Revenue “At All Costs” policy, the company now finds itself facing $90 billion of distressed debt and rampant illiquidity.

Now bank executives view the problem as stemming largely from rogue traders, and believe Signac will help them turn things around. Signac will use algorithmic artificial intelligence to monitor unauthorized trades.

It is perhaps worth noting that Signac will monitor internal transactions that harm Credit Suisse – not any of the myriad transgressions made by the financial industry at large, such as the kinds of predatory lending we saw prior to the Great Recession. We may have to wait for a larger, more aggressive artificial intelligence presence for that kind of oversight.

This article (CIA-Backed Artificial Intelligence Firm To Spy on Wall Street Traders) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Jake Anderson and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

School Shushed for Singing #Anthem at 9/11 Memorial: “Obey #Authority, Even if We Don’t Understand It”

April 28, 2016 by contributing author

This article was written by Melissa Dykes and originally published at The Daily Sheeple.

Editor’s Comment: This is outrageous. Everything this country stood for is being twisted into absurd and stupid blind obedience.

The children here are actually getting a perfectly educational “lesson” the nature of power, witnessing first hand how they are being set up to conform to a system that has so many rules and petty laws, even if it is unjust or ridiculous. Worse, the 9/11 memorial has gone out of its way to prevent free speech at the solemn site – lest some ‘disrespectful’ protest voice controversy – that they are actually policing naive displays of patriotism.

The take away, for anyone paying attention:

The country isn’t really free; most of the people in charge are idiots; but you are expect to do whatever they say anyway, even if it turns you into an idiot, too.

Any questions?

———

Watch: Security Stops Middle Schoolers from Singing the National Anthem at 9/11 Memorial

by Melissa Dykes

This is the epitome of modern Orwellian America.

A group of 51 middle schoolers from North Carolina traveled all the way to the 9/11 memorial and decided to sing the national anthem.

They were stopped — from singing the national anthem at the 9/11 memorial — halfway through by 9/11 memorial security because, well, it seems they didn’t have the proper permit.

“You have to stop. This is considered a public demonstration!” one of the guards of one of Disneyland of American false flag monuments with a $60 million/year operating budget shouted at kids who don’t understand how misplaced their patriotism has become in modern America.

Even though the teacher had previously asked a security guard for verbal permission, that was not good enough. The teacher was supposed to apply for a permit, pay $35 in fees, and wait the requisite ten days so the kids would be granted the permission by the memorial staff to sing the national anthem.

The punchline?

Waynesville Middle School principal Trevor Putnam reportedly said the whole incident was a great lesson in civics, NOT because they could have discussed the First Amendment or destruction of the Bill of Rights, but then he could ask the kids “Why are there limits put in place in public forums?”

Why indeed.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

#Cop Saves a Man From #Suicide, Somehow Igniting Serious Debate on Social Media

April 28, 2016 by claire bernish

Claire Bernish
April 27, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Riverdale, NJ — In a swift and valiant move, a New Jersey police officer rushed to tackle a man who attempted to end his life by jumping from a highway overpass bridge on Monday.

Sgt. Greg Bogert, an 18-year veteran of the Riverdale Police Department, responded to multiple 911 calls concerning a man in apparent distress who had been wandering in and out of traffic on I-287. “When I first got the call at about 11:30 Monday morning, it was about a man walking back and forth, looking at the edge of the bridge and jumping in front of vehicles,” Bogert explained, according to NorthJersey.com.

“I could kind of tell he was trying to commit suicide,” Bogert continued. “I didn’t want to spook him, so I cracked the door to my car open and started to get out slowly.”

Though Bogert said he attempted to verbally persuade the distraught man not to jump, telling him, “Don’t do it, don’t do it,” the unidentified man ignored the pleas — and as can be seen on dashcam footage released by the department, suddenly took drastic measures.

Without warning, the man sprinted toward the edge barricade with the obvious intent to jump, “and I took off after him,” Bogert said. “He had one leg up and over, and he was trying to get the other leg up when I grabbed him.” Bogert’s lightning reaction saved the man from a split-second decision.

Lt. James MacIntosh noted in a press release cited by NorthJersey.com that before his attempt to jump over the edge, the man had yelled, “My family is dead. I just want to die.”

After Bogert eventually calmed the man down enough to load him into an ambulance, he was taken to a hospital for evaluation and observation.

Though the majority of discussions surrounding Bogert’s move commended his actions, there has been some debate about the unidentified man’s right to do with his life — and death — as he saw fit. And perhaps Bogert interfered with his right to bodily liberty, not just in preventing the man’s suicide, but in the mandated psychiatric evaluation that will restrict his freedom even further.

While this critique certainly bears consideration, as one commenter keenly noted, the hospital evaluation — and Bogert’s speedy intervention — could ostensibly act as a stay for him to consider if suicide is, indeed, the route he truly wishes to take. Perhaps if he had thoroughly considered and acted to take his own life while in his own home — and not in a public setting in such a drastic manner — outrage over Bogert’s move might be more clear-cut.

Bogert claimed police did learn the man’s family was unharmed, despite what he had said before attempting the jump.

In the end, Bogert’s expeditious tackle — whether you feel it was heroic or otherwise — gave a distraught man another chance to consider an abrupt and likely hastily made decision. For once, at least, the debate involves a cop preserving — rather than ending — another human being’s life. Perhaps, that in itself should be worth celebrating.

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This article (Cop Saves a Man From Suicide, Somehow Igniting Serious Debate on Social Media) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Claire Bernish and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

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From theantimedia.org Team

Did #Bernie #Sanders Just Go Full Establishment? #feelthebern

April 27, 2016 by michaela whitton

Michaela Whitton
April 27th, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Comments made by Bernie Sanders this week may just have blindsided and disillusioned swathes of his support base. Some of those with higher expectations of the ‘peacenik’ candidate breathed a collective sigh of disappointment after he endorsed Obama’s extrajudicial drone assassination program.

At the same time, the Democratic candidate backed the recent deployment of 250 U.S. troops to further death and destruction in Syria. During the town hall meeting at Philadelphia’s National Constitution centre, he told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that the people of the United States have a right to defend themselves. The warmongering endorsement, which could have easily slid under the radar, was slotted into a much wider discussion that included vote-winners like Planned Parenthood, violence against women, marijuana, and gun control.

Despite acknowledging he would do everything to avoid perpetual war in the Middle East, when asked if he would he keep the government’s secret “kill list” if he were to become President, the “progressive” candidate was unhesitant: “Look. Terrorism is a very serious issue. There are people out there who want to kill Americans, who want to attack this country, and I think we have a lot of right to defend ourselves,” he said.

Asked if he thinks the current method in which the White House decides which suspected terrorists are added to the ‘kill list’ is constitutional and legal, he added:

“In general I do, yes.”

While some Bernie supporters came to the slow and painful realisation that there are no saviours, others took to Twitter and accused him of being a quasi-socialist warmonger and brutal imperialist. It appears that soon, the only ones ‘feeling the Bern’ will be the families killed by the drone programme that he fully supports.

This article (Did Bernie Sanders Just Go Full Establishment?) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Michaela Whitton and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

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From theantimedia.org Team

“Time Traveler”: Unearthed 1500 Year Old #Mummy Wearing… #Adidas?

April 27, 2016 by mac slavo

How can it be?

Scientists have put a rare find on display – a mummified woman found in Mongolia who appears to be wearing modern footwear.

RT reports:

The rare and ancient discovery of a mummified woman in Mongolia has been overshadowed by an obsession with her footwear, as people liken the 1,500-year-old boots to a pair of Adidas sneakers.

Archaeologists unearthed the female’s remains on the Mongolian side of the Altai Mountains.

Indeed, the striped boots worn by this woman, who lived around the year 500 A.D., look more like those on store shelves today – especially since the top of the boot is hard to see in the video:

Did this Mongolian mummy travel back from our modern day to the time that archaeologists have pegged her too?

Maybe…

More likely is that earlier forms of civilization aren’t given enough credit for their ingenuity and inventiveness – and today’s shoes have been cheap knockoffs that wear out quickly ever since.

Whereas this ancient woman may well have made these boots herself, people today must rely upon Chinese slaves to make them, and stores to sell them.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Establishment Collapsing: #Trump Beating Grand Ol’ Party

April 27, 2016 by mac slavo

Cartoon by Bruce Plante, Tusla World.

The corruption is on every front. And it is pretty obvious that the two party system has thoroughly rotted through, and its decrepitude obvious to all the onlookers.

There is a great deal of uproar about the collapse of the GOP – which has been thoroughly thwarted and upstaged by Donald Trump at every turn… but it should really come as no surprise.

Everyone hears the warnings that the system is collapsing, but when it doesn’t happen right away, every goes back marching to the music.

But the establishment party hacks – who have long forced sellout candidates pushing a draconian agenda to the captive people – could not fill their empty suit in 2016 with any of their 16 other party-loyal candidates. They were so desperate, they even considered rolling out two-time presidential loser Mitt Romney and Speaker Paul Ryan as last minute candidates.

Even now, the party insiders are trying to reinvent the twist with a Ted Cruz/ Carly Fiorina “dream team” ticket that is sure to make anyone cringe, but the party hopes will keep it all in the family anyway:

He doesn’t have the Republican nomination. He doesn’t even have the lead for the nomination. In fact, he has no clear path to the nomination. But it looks like Ted Cruz will have a running mate.

Naming Carly Fiorina as his vice-presidential pick at this point provides Mr Cruz with several benefits… Mr Cruz has his back to the wall. He needs a win in Indiana, and he really needs a strong performance in California. Mrs Fiorina on the ticket could help – and at this point, anything that might work is worth a shot.

The desperation is comical, especially as Fiorina has already been rejected by voters who were put off by her cold matron authoritarian traits, and since the race started with Ted Cruz positioning himself as the Tea Party “outsider” whom the party disliked.

Now Cruz is their last standing man, and he is about to crash in a bicycle-plane built for two.

Most spectacular.

Click to watch video

Why? Because the corruption of the system has reached its limit.

For years, the conspiracy theorists and quiet historians have been warning that the empire was reaching a point of no return.

Nobody cared, not that they could have stopped the ride anyway (though perhaps they could jump off in time).

And now it is too late.

If the tyranny isn’t naked enough for you, just take a look at Dennis Hastert – once in the third most powerful office in the land as Speaker of the House.

Now, he has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for crimes related to his sordid past as “a serial child molester,” as the presiding judge phrased it at his sentencing:

Former US house speaker Dennis Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Wednesday by a federal judge who called him a “serial child molester” after emotional testimony from a man who said Hastert abused him when he was 17.

Hastert admitted for the first time on Wednesday that he had abused multiple teenagers when he was a high school wrestling coach.

[…]

Hastert’s attorney asked for the 74-year-old to be spared jail time in light of Hastert’s age and poor health.

Hastert, a Republican, served as US House speaker from 1999 to 2007, during which he was second in line for the presidency. He was first elected to Congress in 1986.

Of course, he wasn’t even tried for his real crimes, but rather a lesser financial indiscretion that was provable linked to hushing up his victims.

Obviously, plenty of people knew about the immoral and illegal proclivities for young boys held by the former speaker of the House.

Plenty of people also knew about the biggest open secrets from inside the Bush and Clinton administrations – ranging from drug smuggling, secret arms trading, prostitution and the like to paramilitary and gang sponsorship and CIA assassinations of top leaders.

Though no one has even been held accountable, they rank among the darkest scandals in the nation’s history.

But it wasn’t until now that enough people were fed up with it.

The future regret the country might have as “Trump’s next ex-wife,” is nothing compared to the battered and bruised relationship it has had under the last several decades of political alignment.

Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich – part of the old-line establishment leadership that included Hastert – told the GOP to “get over it” and acknowledge that the party has been defeated.

Pro-torture establishment senator Lindsay Graham lamented the death of his party’s grasp on power two months ago in a surprisingly riveting admission of defeat:

The present party is over. Tag end of an era onto politics, along with the economy and the American Dream in general.

But no person, and no establishment, is too big to fail.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

#Alaska Man Sentenced to 60 days in Jail for Growing $1.5 Million in #Pot

April 27, 2016 by lou colagiovanni

Lou Colagiovanni
April 26, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Homer, Alaska — Joseph Gabryszak, 32, of Homer, Alaska was arrested earlier this year after he was found to be in possession of $1.5 million worth of marijuana.

The trouble began for Gabryszak on February 12, 2016, when Alaska’s State Drug Enforcement Unit raided a 4,500 square-foot building leased to Gabryszak and found 1,000 plants that allegedly contained around 6,000 ounces of marijuana, according to a local report by Homer News.

Further complicating matters, in 2014 Alaskan voters passed “Ballot Measure 2” with 52% of the vote, which legalized commercial, medical, and personal use of marijuana. In March of this year, the Alaska Marijuana and Alcohol Control Board began to accept applications for citizens interested in growing marijuana commercially. However, while they have accepted applications, as of this article’s publication, zero licences have been granted.

Gabryszak’s lawyer, Evan Barrickman, argued in court, “What happened here is he kind of jumped the gun on the new marijuana regulations in Alaska.”

The kinks in Barrickman’s argument concerned elements of Ballot Measure 2 that granted cities and municipalities the right to decide if they wanted to allow marijuana to be commercially grown within the limits of their borders. Gabryszak was arrested on February 12; on February 8, the Homer City Council introduced an ordinance to ban the commercial cultivation of marijuana in Homer. A second ordinance was introduced to zone districts to allow for commercially cultivated marijuana. The overall ban on commercial cultivation was rejected while the zoning of districts passed. This means commercial marijuana cultivation is legal in Homer — if a citizen has both a licence from the Alaska Marijuana and Alcohol Control Board and proper zoning permissions from the city. Gabryszak had neither.

Gabryszak had his day in court, and Homer District Court Judge Margaret Murphy sentenced Gabryszak to 360 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. Part of Gabryszak’s sentence was suspended, including 300 days in jail and the $5,000 fine. Gabryszak will spend 60 days in jail as part of a plea deal in which he agreed to plead guilty and forfeit his grow operation equipment, as well as a variety of electronics including a camera, laptop computer, television, and gaming equipment.

Had Gabryszak’s marijuana growing operation been legal, he would have owed the state $50 for each ounce of marijuana, totaling $300,000. The city of Homer would have received $67,000 in sales tax. Instead, the state receives nothing, and Gabryszak owes nothing — assuming he fulfils the judge’s sentencing requirements.

This article (Alaska Man Sentenced to 60 days in Jail for Growing $1.5 Million in Pot) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Lou Colagiovanni and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

Man #Beaten Then Jailed 3 Days for NOT Stealing a Tomato from #Walmart

April 27, 2016 by carey wedler

Carey Wedler
April 26, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Atlanta, GA — An Atlanta, Georgia man has sued an off-duty officer who beat him viciously over the incorrect assumption he was stealing a tomato from Walmart. Though he says he was innocent, he was ultimately jailed for three days before the charges against him were dropped. He sustained permanent injuries from the beating.

Tyrone Carnegay was leaving Walmart in October of 2014 when an off-duty police officer working as a security guard approached. Video footage of the incident shows Carnegay attempting to exit the store when Atlanta police officer Trevor King begins questioning him. After no more than a few seconds, King begins beating Carnegay with his baton.

Carnegay says he was never told why he was being questioned, though according to court documents, a manager on duty at the time told the officer he had stolen the tomato.

“He’s giving me a verbal command. As he’s grabbing me, he’s beating me at the same time. ‘Get on the ground.’ Beating me at the same time,” Carnegay said as he re-watched surveillance video with WSB-Atlanta’s Craig Laurie. “My leg started giving out.”

King hit Carnegay at least seven times, ultimately cracking two bones in his leg and rupturing an artery. He now has a titanium rod in his leg and walks with a limp. Carnegay says he was never asked for the receipt — which he says he had. According to Carnegay, after he was on the ground in handcuffs, the officer reached into his pocket and found the receipt — along with his change from paying for the tomato.

Carnegay’s attorney, Craig Jones, said the entire incident could have been avoided with one question. “Somebody could have come up to him and said, ‘Excuse me sir, do you have [a] receipt for that tomato?’ and he would’ve shown him the receipt.”

Instead, Jones says, “The officer went into Robocop mode and beat the crap out of him.” Carnegay claims the cop “found the receipt and stood there like he hadn’t done nothing.”

In spite of this, Carnegay was still sent to jail and charged with simple battery against police, as well as willful obstruction of law enforcement officers. He was first taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was chained to his bed, and then transferred to Fulton County Jail.

He was released after three days and the charges were dropped, but between the false accusations, brutal attack, and subsequent incarceration, Carnegay does not feel justice was served. According to his lawsuit, filed April 6 against Walmart, the manager on duty, and King, he is seeking damages for “pain and suffering, damage to his reputation and legal fees he incurred defending himself,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The lawsuit could take three years to complete, according to WSB-Atlanta.

Walmart offered a tepid statement on the incident and subsequent lawsuit. “We take the matter seriously. We will review the allegations and respond appropriately with the court,” a representative told WSB-Atlanta.

Atlanta police declined to comment — but the audacity their off-duty officer displayed by brutally attacking a man for not stealing a tomato speaks volumes.

This article (Man Beaten Then Jailed 3 Days for NOT Stealing a Tomato from Walmart) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Carey Wedler and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article at edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

Cops Seize $53,000 Raised for #Charity by #Christian Band

April 27, 2016 by s.m. gibson

SM Gibson
April 26, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Muskogee County, Oklahoma – Eh Wah is a refugee from Burma who became a citizen of the United States more than a decade ago. Today, the 40-year-old resides in Dallas, Texas, where he regularly attends church and helps out as a volunteer manager for a Christian rock band from Burma, Klo & Kweh Music Team.

The group has been touring all over the United States in order to raise money for a Christian college in Burma and an orphanage in Thailand, but recently hit a setback when Eh was pulled over by a cop on his way back home to Texas to see his family. He had been on the road with the band for 19 concerts.

Eh, who is in charge of keeping up with all the money raised from the band’s merchandise and album sales, as well as donations received, had $53,249 on him when was pulled over in Muskogee County, Oklahoma for a busted taillight. And because Eh’s first language isn’t English, the officers had a difficult time understanding the explanation he provided, even when they interrogated the man for hours back at the police station.

“I just couldn’t believe it. An officer was telling me that ‘you are going to jail tonight.’ And I don’t know what to think. What did I do that would make me go to jail? I didn’t do anything. Why is he saying that?” he said.

As the Washington Post reported:

“Eh Wah even had the officers call one of the band’s leaders, Saw Marvellous Soe, who was living in Miami while the band was on a break. ‘The police officer started asking questions,’ Marvellous recalled. ‘I explained: ‘We are a music team. We came here for a tour.”‘ Marvellous tried to explain that the band was from Burma. ‘He kept telling me, “You are wrong, you are wrong,”‘ Marvellous said. ‘Everything I said, [he said,] “You are wrong.” I said: “We are doing a good thing! And now you are accusing us of being like a drug dealer or something like that.”’”

“I realized that they were seizing all of the money. I was like, ‘This can’t be happening.’ But I didn’t know what to do,” Eh said.

Although the property receipt states Eh was brought in for possession of drug proceeds, he was released that night — but five weeks later was charged with a felony for “acquir[ing] proceeds from drug activity.” It is worth noting that absolutely no weapons or drugs were found in Eh’s possession, despite a drug-sniffing dog extensively searching the vehicle for illegal paraphernalia or items.

The officers’ theft of the money earmarked for the orphanage and college is called asset forfeiture and is perfectly legal in Oklahoma, a state that does not require any conviction whatsoever for police to remain in possession of 100% of all property confiscated from citizens.

Having taken Eh’s case on pro bono, the Institute for Justice had the criminal and civil charges against him thrown out on Monday afternoon after his case was reviewed by Muskogee County District Attorney Orvil Loge. After his decision, the District Attorney said, “I looked at the case and met with the officers, and determined that we would not be able to meet the burden of proof in the criminal case and in the civil case.” A check will be sent to Eh’s lawyers for the full amount taken from him, according to Loge.

The Institute for Justice says that despite the ultimately positive outcome in Eh Wah’s case, his is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the injustice of civil asset forfeiture laws in the United States.

Nevermind that it should have never been allowed to happen in the first place.

This article (Cops Seize $53,000 Raised for Charity by Christian Band) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to SM Gibson and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

This Woman Woke Up To An #Unidentified #Cop Creepily Sitting on Her 4-Year-Old’s Bed

April 27, 2016 by claire bernish

Claire Bernish
April 26, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Ontario, Canada — If you woke to find someone in your four-year-old daughter’s bedroom who refused to identify themselves to you or explain their presence in your house, what would you do? In the case of Cheryl Yurkowski — who lives in Ontario, Canada — you attempt to defend your child, your home, and yourself.

Cheryl’s ordeal began after having an argument with her husband and his mother at a restaurant. Tired from the disagreement and wishing to avoid further conflict with the intoxicated man, she left separately to go home and go to bed. Not realizing his wife had already arrived at home and was asleep, Cheryl’s husband began yelling on a phone call — but his raised voice concerned neighbors, who then summoned the Kawartha Lakes Police.

Cheryl explained what happened next, from her perspective, in a self-made video and subsequent interview with Larken Rose:

“I woke up to my four-year-old daughter crying in her room. I was wrapped in a blanket, and I went to go see why she was crying — and lo and behold, I walked right into a female police officer. She did not identify herself; and she was then sitting next to my child, touching her … hair. So I said, ‘Get out of my house. You have no warrant to be here. Who let you in? Nobody let you in. Get out — get the fuck away from my child; get the fuck out of my house.’”

Since Sergeant Janette Drew and Officer Mark Ryan Donaldson didn’t bother to identify themselves, Cheryl understandably acted as any mother would in such a situation — she went on the defensive. In an interview with Anti-Media, she described her immediate thoughts upon awakening to strangers in her home:

“What the fuck are they doing here? How did they get in? Why are they touching my child and asking her questions? Who called them?”

Cheryl readily admitted to using profanities to address the officers; but, instead of explaining to her why they were there in the first place — and acting as if she had no right to free speech, even in her own home — Drew took drastic measures.

“She then slammed me into the wall, in front of my four-year-old daughter, in my daughter’s room,” Cheryl recalled, adding she then flipped off the lights to try to avoid having her daughter witness violence against her mother. And violence there was.

After Cheryl was shoved into the wall, the physical altercation escalated — by the cops’ own doing. Drew, while attempting to arrest Cheryl for defending herself in her home, yanked the young mother’s arm out of its socket and slammed her to the ground. Drew then sat on her, forcing her bad arm behind her back — “She was squeezing so hard, that I heard my shoulder pop,” she explained — but would not let go despite Cheryl’s repeated requests through screams of pain.

With no choice left to defend herself from the searing pain, Cheryl bit the officer — who immediately released her grip — as she had been taught to do in self-defense courses.

But this seemed to enrage the officers, as Donaldson took Drew’s former position on top of Cheryl — wrapping his hands around her neck and choking her, to the point, she described, “my eyes were rolling in the back of my head. And I was gargling [sic] for air — and I almost went unconscious. So, they almost killed me — all in front of my four-year-old daughter who [had] crept up the stairs. She saw all of this — and that is the worst part about it,” she said, nearly in tears. “My daughter almost saw her mom get killed by police officers.”

Once the officers ultimately loaded Cheryl into the back of their squad car, hitting her head against the window in the process, Donaldson turned to face her with his fist aimed at her face, and as she explained, he said, “I will personally make sure you never see your fucking child again,” repeating the threat “three or four times.”

There are several telling details that should be highlighted in this incident. Cheryl emphasized in the interview with Anti-Media that she has “NO criminal record,” the officers came to her house to essentially ensure the safety of the residents, and the officers — not Cheryl — escalated the situation in their refusal to identify themselves or explain their presence in her home. Later, she explained, the officers lied about a number of details in the incident — and completely left out Donaldson’s nasty threats.

But perhaps the worst part about the whole ordeal is that Cheryl now faces charges for defending herself against unidentified-at-the-time strangers in her home — including threats to a ‘peace’ officer, resisting arrest, and assault causing bodily harm. She explained they’re seeking to lock her in jail both before and after trial — and she could end up spending three to five years behind bars.

Her next court date is set for Thursday the 28th, though she plans to ask for an adjournment, or extension, as she attempts to have the inexplicable charges thrown out. Cheryl has been fortunate to have her mother intervene on her daughter’s behalf to prevent her from being taken by child services.

Though what she endured could hardly be called an isolated incident, Cheryl still emphasized the need to defend yourself and your family from any act of aggression — and said she would do the same if presented with a similar situation. The police, after all, had been dispatched to check on people’s welfare in a domestic disturbance and nearly killed the person whose safety might have been at stake — all in front of a four-year-old little girl.

Anti-Media would like to thank Cheryl Yurkowski for taking time to discuss what happened to her.

To hear Cheryl’s story in full from her own mouth, make sure to tune in to AntiMedia radio tonight at 11pm est/ 8pm pst.

This article (This Woman Woke Up To An Unidentified Cop Creepily Sitting on Her 4-Year-Old’s Bed) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Claire Bernish and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

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Report: #Cyber Attackers Infect #Nuclear Power Plant Systems With Computer Virus

April 27, 2016 by mac slavo

The threat of a large-scale terrorist attack caused by chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons of mass destruction has been at the forefront of investigations in recent months, so much so that in March the White House issued a warning highlighting the four most likely scenarios for a nuclear attack on U.S. soil.

Following the attack in Brussels earlier this year it was learned that terrorists had not only targeted nuclear facilities in Belgium, but that the chief of the power plant in question had been staked out, recorded and followed. A security guard at the nuclear plant also died under mysterious circumstances.

Now, according to a report from Zero Hedge, another nuclear plant has been targeted, this time with a virus that has infected its computer systems:

Remember when “someone” used the Stuxnet virus, or rather worm, in an Iranian nuclear plant several years ago to freeze Iranian nuclear production, leading to a major diplomatic scandal involving the spy agencies of both the US and Israel, as the world learned that in the present day industrial sabotage only needed a flash drive and a computer virus to render even the most sophisticated piece of industrial machinery obsolete? Well, moments ago, Bloomberg reported that a computer virus was discovered in a German nuclear power plant.

A computer virus was discovered at the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant in Bavaria, German news service DPA reported.

No danger to employees or populace

Power plant noticed the virus in its Block B on Mon.

RWE specialists to determine how malware entered computer system built in 2008

BR (google translated) is reporting that the malware is thought to be brought in by a data carrier, and the affected portion of the system is the fueld assembly loading area.

The affected IT system is part of the fuel assembly loading machine of the power plant. This raises, for example, old fuel from the reactor core and transports it to the storage pool. An influence on the control of these loading machine has the IT system according to the operator but not. In the power plant all other safety-related IT systems have been checked without finding the meantime.

The competent authority and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) have been informed. The reconnaissance takes place with the assistance of IT specialists in the RWE Group. The malicious software may have been introduced by a data carrier.

Ironically, in the case of the Iran “infection”, one of the suspected parties was Germany’s own Siemens. It would be painfully ironic if the same someone had infected a Germany nuke at roughly the same time.

While the WMD threat once again appears to be centralized in Europe, the fact is that the United States has scores of power plants across the country and in all likelihood terrorists, whether middle eastern, state-sponsored, or rogue organizations, are actively looking for ways to cause maximum damage to American citizens.

An attack on a nuclear facility may be improbable, but it’s certainly a real and highly dangerous possibility that could leave tens of thousands of people dead and entire regions of the United States uninhabitable.

Moreover, the threat isn’t restricted to just to nuclear plants. With our porous southern border and no immigration control to speak of, those who mean to do us harm can easily cross into the United States, WMD in hand, to launch an attack on the American people.

In fact, in the summer of 2014 the Texas Rangers were dispatched to the southern border after nuclear materials that could be used in a dirty bomb attack were stolen in Mexico.

In 2011 it was reported that Customs and Border Protection had identified and seized a nuclear weapon of some kind as it was being smuggled into the United States.

The threat is most certainly real and as completely insane as it may sound, it’s only a matter of time before such a CBRN weapon is used in a large population center in the United States or Europe.

Perhaps it’s time Americans consider preparing for a nuclear attack:

Regardless of whether you decide to stay or bug out, there are a few items you should strongly consider adding to your prepping supplies. Aside from the usual stuff like food, water, tools, weapons, and medical supplies, you’ll probably need the following:

Gas mask with filter specifically designed for radioactive materials

Hand crank radio for weather reports

Geiger counter

Potassium iodide for thyroid health

Zeolite, bentonite clay, and activated charcoal for decontamination (buy food grade versions for detoxing the body)

Chlorella or spirulina for detoxing your body

You’ll find that everything on this list will also be useful for other scenarios like nuclear war and dirty bomb attacks. Truth be told there are countless ways that you or family could face a radioactive threat, but with the right mindset, gear, and supplies, you can survive even the worst nuclear disasters.

New Map Shows 120 Million Americans are at Risk of Nuclear Fallout

Report: Terrorist Nuke Attack May Be Carried Out Inside the United States in Next 12 Months

What Happens to Nuclear Power Plants Following an EMP?

Nuke Planning Official: “It’s More Survivable Than Most People Think”

Report: Weapons Of Mass Destruction Have Been Smuggled Into Europe: “Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear”

7 Natural Supplements You Should Have in Case of Nuclear Fallout

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

On the 30th Anniversary of #Chernobyl, Here’s What We Are Still Not Being Told

April 26, 2016 by claire bernish

Claire Bernish
April 26, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) On the 30th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe yet, a new report shows radioactive contamination from the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl in Ukraine still lingers in startlingly large amounts across the border in neighboring Belarus.

In an exclusive report by the Associated Press, fresh milk from a Belarusian dairy farm contained a radioactive isotope, traceable to the Chernobyl disaster, at “levels 10 times higher than the nation’s food safety limits” — thirty years after the accident occurred.

Though the AP turned to a laboratory to test the milk, dairy farmer Nikolai Chubenok called the results “impossible.”

“There is no danger,” Chubenok asserted to AP journalists at his farm, just 28 miles from the site of the 1986 explosion and meltdown. “How can you be afraid of radiation?”

Though Chubenok and the Belarusian government — itself notoriously authoritarian and intent on denying the dangers still present — might insist on the area’s safety, other reports from doctors and scientists paint the landscape in a vastly different light.

Belarusian milk, though indicative, is inadequate in illustrating the astronomical devastation of the Chernobyl legacy.

In 1996, ten years after the explosions, meltdown, and raging nuclear fires at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimated the disaster had spewed “400 times more radioactive material into the Earth’s atmosphere than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.”

Lichens and mushrooms so thoroughly absorbed this radioactivity, in particular radioactive cesium, that reindeer over 1,000 miles away in Norway — where the meat is eaten — remain unfit for human consumption. Wormwood Forest, near the accident site, stands as an eerie monument of contamination with dead trees turned ginger-colored. Mass evacuations of humans from the areas surrounding Chernobyl naturally led to an explosion in wildlife numbers in species such as boars and wolves. And, as scientists discovered in 2011, birds displayed 5 percent smaller brains than average due to radioactivity lingering in the atmosphere.

Estimating the total number of human casualties resulting from the spectacularly failed foray into nuclear energy has largely been an exercise in futility. Greenpeace estimated ten years ago the total number of cancer cases resulting from Chernobyl would top 250,000 — with around 93,000 of those being fatal. Based on a Belarusian study, Greenpeace surmised 60,000 people had perished in Russia and potentially an additional 140,000 in the Ukraine and Belarus would die directly as a result of Chernobyl radioactive contamination. That study challenged the lowball estimate of 4,000 total deaths proffered by the United Nations in 2005 — a figure eventually abandoned once it realized “unacceptable uncertainties” made quantifying fatalities too tricky.

As Timothy A. Mousseau wrote for U.S. News & World Report, “in the past decade population biologists have made considerable progress in documenting how radioactivity affects plants, animals, and microbes […]

“Our studies provide new fundamental insights about consequences of chronic, multigenerational exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation … The cumulative effects of these injuries result in lower population sizes and reduced biodiversity in high-radiation areas.

“Radiation exposure has caused genetic damage and increased mutation rates in many organisms in the Chernobyl region. So far, we have found little convincing evidence that many organisms there are evolving to become more resistant to radiation.”

In myriad ways, the Chernobyl catastrophe earned the distinction of being a darkly pivotal moment in history — not only did world perception of nuclear power drastically change, but an unsuccessful attempt by government to downplay the extent of the accident is widely believed to have cemented the downfall of the Soviet regime.

Though the devastation at Fukushima often earns comparisons to Chernobyl, the latter still stands dubiously as the worst civic nuclear calamity in history. Thirty years after Chernobyl became a household name, its impacts are still experienced on an eye-opening scale.

Perhaps, when considering both Chernobyl and Fukushima, it’s imperative we ask whether risks of potentially devastating consequences resultant of human error or technical failure could possibly be worth our continued attempts to harness nuclear energy — particularly when advances in solar and wind could make the long-term ‘experiment’ technologically and critically obsolete.

This article (On the 30th Anniversary of Chernobyl, Here’s What We Are Still Not Being Told) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Claire Bernish and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

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This Precious Metals Ratio Signals A Big Move Ahead: “We Will Ultimately See Triple Digit #Silver Prices” #gold

April 26, 2016 by mac slavo

Earlier this year, as investors around the world panicked and stock markets crashed across the board, one asset class held strong and actually gained. It was, by all accounts, a capital flow panic out of broader stocks and into precious metals. As a safe haven, precious metals like gold and silver have long been sought by a panicked populace during times of crisis and given the current economic and monetary debacle created by central banks, we can safely forecast a continued rise over coming years for this reason alone.

But according to Keith Neumeyer, there is another key reason for why we could see explosive prices, specifically in silver, because major shortages loom and current valuations for the precious metal are nowhere near where they should be. Given his experience and current position as the CEO of billion-dollar mining company First Majestic Silver and Chairman of mineral bank First Mining Finance, there is no better source for understanding what’s happening in silver markets today and where we can expect them to go in the mid to long-term.

As Neumeyer notes in his latest interview with The Daily Coin, gold is currently selling for about 75 times the price of an ounce of silver, but from a mining and production standpoint, the physical ratio is about 10-to-1. Coupled with growing global supply shortages for this essential metal, that means prices for silver should be trading significantly higher than they are today:

We are currently trading about 75-to-1 thereabouts and the mining ratio is about 10-to-1… so for every ounce of gold we’re mining 10 ounces of silver… so that tells you it’s way rarer than the market understands… I think that as gold goes higher over the next couple years, the ratio is going to collapse on a percentage basis… and that’s why I think we will ultimately see triple-digit silver.

Watch the Full Interview via The Daily Coin:

(Watch At Youtube)

Neumeyer goes on to note that the silver shortage is already becoming apparent in electronics markets, citing a recent discussion with a large electronics company that was having problems acquiring the precious metal for components in their products:

Markets go through periods of time where they’re imperfect, but they do perfect themselves over time. What I mean by that is eventually supply and demand will take over, particularly in the silver space where it’s such a tight market… We have seen in 2015, lower production across the board… and silver is a lot more rare than most people actually think it is…

We were contacted by a a big electronics manufacturing company… a manufacturer of televisions and cell phones looking for silver supply… In the thirteen year history of First Majestic I have never been contacted directly by an electronics manufacturer for supply of silver… so that’s telling me there is something different going on in the market place…

What’s happening is that mine production slow-downs and global shortages are finally catching up with the market and electronics companies are having difficulty sourcing silver. This has been seen in other sectors as well, including the U.S. Mint and Canadian Royal Mint, both of which were forced to suspend sales of silver coins and bars respectively in 2015 as a result of high demand and lack of supply.

These are key indicators that industries dependent on silver are already running into problems acquiring the supplies needed to continue operations.

And while prices have yet to catch up, the trend is clear, especially considering the recent admission by Deutsche Bank that it has been complicit in the suppression of precious metals prices and that other large financial institutions are in on the scheme.

Given the dire state of the global economy, failing monetary policies from central banks around the world, supply-demand fundamentals, and the fact that price suppression schemes have now been exposed, one can’t help but consider that the current gold-to-silver ratio will, as Neumeyer suggests, collapse to its natural state in the near future.

That can only mean one thing: higher silver prices, and perhaps as the Chairman of First Mining Finance notes, triple digit prices that will see massive capital flows into silver related assets.

To learn more about Keith Neumeyer and what his company First Mining Finance is doing to take advantage of the coming boom in silver click here.

For more informative financial interviews like the one you just watched visit The Daily Coin.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Did #GoldmanSachs’ Latest Move Into Main Street #Banking Just Give Us A Warning About The Coming Financial Crisis?

April 26, 2016 by mac slavo

(Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has claimed his company is “Doing God’s Work.”)

If there were ever a signal that large investment banks may be preparing for financial crisis and that they’ll be using your money to bail themselves out when it hits, this could be it.

According to a new report from the Financial Times via The Daily Star, mega-banking giant Goldman Sachs is now getting into the retail banking business and looking for more depositors to help fund their operations. The bank has reportedly “been under pressure to develop new streams of funding” after posting lower than usual equity returns in the first quarter of 2016. In response, Goldman recently acquired a portfolio of 145,000 retail depositors from GE Capital totaling some $16 billion in deposits.

Goldman now intends to aggressively pursue retail depositors whose accounts they will then tap to help fund their investing and trading operations:

The bank last week launched GSBank.com, a platform it inherited via the acquisition of a $16bn book of deposits from GE Capital.

Through that deal it gained about 145,000 retail depositors and is now seeking more, offering annual interest rates of 1.05 per cent on a savings account – many times better than the rates of the biggest US brick-and-mortar lenders such as Citibank, JPMorgan Chase or Bank of America. Stephen Scherr, Goldman’s chief strategy officer, said the aim was to broaden sources of funding for GS Bank, its New York State-chartered lender. Until now, the unit has focused on wholesale funding sources and so-called “brokered deposits”, which are bulk sums that banks acquire from brokers in exchange for high interest rates.

By tapping regular retail depositors, Mr Scherr said, the bank can open up “a different avenue to use, with a different orientation and a different tenor”.

For as little as $1 you can now start your own savings account with Goldman at a whopping annual interest rate of 1.05%.

What could possibly go wrong when you deposit your money with one of the firms directly responsible for the fraud that led to Crash of 2008? They are, after all, doing God’s work according to Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

While depositing your money at Goldman’s new bank could well be a spiritual experience, we highlight for our readers the fact that Goldman is doing this for one specific reason: to fund their trading operations with new deposits from retail customers. And if they’re doing business anything like they did ahead of the 2008 crash, we can assume that when the whole thing blows up again Goldman is going to be in serious trouble, and that means depositors will be in serious trouble. Back in 2008 Goldman Sachs was “forced” to take a $10 billion TARP bailout from the Federal government.

According to Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer, the next time such a crisis strikes, there will be bailouts, but not like before. This time, those bailouts, dubbed “bail-ins” will not come from the government, but rather, from you, the bank account holder.

Recent comments delivered by Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer suggest that not only are global and domestic economies still struggling, but the U.S. government itself is preparing financial contingency plans in anticipation of another widespread economic event.

However, this time around, according to Fischer, the government won’t be bailing out financial institutions in need of cash. Instead, failing banks will turn directly to their unsecured creditors when they need money. And within this context, that means you:

As part of this approach, the United States is preparing a proposal to require systemically important banks to issue bail-inable long-term debt that will enable insolvent banks to recapitalize themselves in resolution without calling on government funding–this cushion is known as a “gone concern” buffer.

Though Fischer doesn’t detail exactly what “bail-inable long term debt” actually is, one only needs to look to Europe, namely Cyprus, to understand what he means.

When the Cypriot banking system collapsed because of an inability to service its debt in 2013, the government forced bank depositors to cover the debts. This led to banks forcibly seizing funds from depositor accounts in order to pay their debts.

Goldman Sachs needs more money for their Wall Street gambling houses.

They’re coming to you to get it.

And when the whole thing detonates, they’ll simply seize your funds to compensate for their losses… and every other retail bank in America will do the same.

Just so we’re clear, we are all bank creditors by these definitions, thus the regulations being created apply not to just large bond holders, but every individual depositor.

Notice how they didn’t say “in case future bank rescues are necessary.” That’s because they know what’s coming.

…When the next banking crisis hits the United States you can be assured that creditors (i.e. individual depositors) will be forced to ‘bail them in.’

…So, if you’ve got any significant amount of money at financial institutions, you’d better think twice about how safe it is.

You’ve been warned.

Hattip Durango Kid

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Everything You Need to Know About Raising Baby #Chicks on a #Budget

April 25, 2016 by daisy luther

April 25, 2016

Baby chicks…they’re adorable, fluffy, and incredibly delicate! Despite their fragility, they’re actually pretty simple to raise. If you have some outdoor space and live in an area where it’s allowed, fresh eggs and meat (if you’re interested in that) can easily be yours!

This week’s self-reliance strategies are all about getting started with baby chicks.

I don’t have 20 years of experience with baby chickens, but I’m now on my 4th batch of them. Each new batch has been more successful than the one before. Just like any other new skill, it works best if you simply find a reliable guide, plunge in, and learn “on the job.” Below, we’ll talk about how to get started on the most adorable hobby around. Trust me – anyone can do this! This article is long, but it contains basically everything you need to know to get started raising baby chicks.

Before you start

We’ve all read about the war on self-reliance. It seems like feeding yourself is becoming increasingly illegal. People are forced to rip out thriving front-yard vegetable gardens, raw milk is illegal in many states, and some states require an “egg handler’s license” before you can sell, give away, or otherwise distribute fresh eggs. We’ve come a long way from the days when being self-reliant was seen as your patriotic duty.

Because of this, if you live in an urban or suburban area, be sure to check the bylaws before bringing your birds home. Often, you can find information on this forum about your town’s specific chicken bylaws.

It would be irresponsible to recommend breaking the law, of course. *coughs* I’ve heard that although chickens aren’t exactly stealth animals, sometimes if you pay protection in eggs, neighbors will look the other way as long as there are no roosters crowing at 4 am or hens enjoying their rosebushes as an afternoon snack. Discretion is the better part of valor, to borrow a phrase from Shakespeare.

I really love having a source of organic meat and eggs in my own backyard. Don’t be intimidated! I started as a total newbie just about a year ago, and thanks to the internet, my personal library, some knowledgeable friends, and the motivation to try out a new skill, we’re now successfully producing protein for ourselves. If I can do this, you can do this. Don’t wait until after a disaster to get started. It took the better part of a year before I had a reliable source of food from my chickens.

Where to get your baby chicks

Baby chicks are everywhere at this time of year. You can get yours mailed to you from a reputable hatchery (that’s where my current flock of 25 Freedom Ranger babies came from) or you can pick yours out at your local feed store. (That’s where I got most of last year’s babies.) Sometimes you can even buy older chicks which are closer to laying age and out of the fragile stage. (I got 3 Barred Rock girls that way last year, too.)

Here are some articles that go into more detail about acquiring your fluffy new babies.

How to Order Hatchery Chicks

Where to Buy Baby Chicks

Mail Order Chicks and Delivery Options

However you get them, it’s very likely that the baby chicks are only going to be a couple of days old when you get them home. Like any newborn, they’re exceptionally fragile. You may lose a few. It’s very sad when this happens, but most of the time, it isn’t your fault. Sometimes there is a physical issue with the chick that doesn’t allow it to survive, sometimes they get sick, and sometimes an accident occurs. (They’re prone to drowning in their water, for example, but we’ll talk about precautions.)

What supplies do you need before bringing them home?

Before you bring your babies home, you need to have a few things on hand. Here is my own list of must-haves.

A Brooder

Mine is very similar to this one, but I had someone local build it for me. We keep it in the laundry room for the first week if it’s cold outside, then on the porch, then we move it out to the coop. The good thing about using something like this as a brooder is that it can pull double duty as your infirmary if you ever need to separate a sick or injured chicken from the flock.

I plan to raise chickens for meat a couple of times per year, which makes a permanent brooder a good investment for me. Here’s my brooder out on our back deck.

However, if you are just raising a few backyard laying hens and not planning to raise new chickens every year, you don’t have to go crazy expensive. Below, you can find some really awesome DIYs.

Here’s one you can make for less than $12!

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Before I got my big brooder, I made one similar to this, except I didn’t fasten the hardware cloth to the top. I cut the hardware cloth bigger than the opening of the Rubbermaid container where it would hang down over the edges, and simply snapped the lid with the hole cut out on top of it. I’m all about the shortcuts and not always the handiest soul around.

Here are more articles about a brooder set-up.

Build a DIY Brooder Box

This link has some videos about incubating eggs and brooding the chicks once they hatch.

How We Brood Chicks (there’s another really cool DIY brooder in this article.)

A heat source

Baby chicks must stay warm, or they’ll die. If they were being raised by their mama, they would huddle underneath her to stay cozy. Since you are the mama, and if you sat on them it wouldn’t end well for anybody involved, you have to go with other methods. The least expensive way to keep them warm is by using a standard heat lamp and a red bulb. A red bulb is recommended instead of a white one so that the chicks sleep better. This is the method that I have used for all my chicks.

But please use extreme caution when heating this way. Many a tragedy has started with a heat lamp. I had a near fire from one out in a wooden chicken coop my first year raising chicks. Luckily, I caught it just as it began smoking, but it could have been a disaster. It can’t be touching anything flammable or meltable, nor can it be too close to the babies. Be sure to hang it in a way that the chicks can get away from the heat if they get too warm.

Another excellent heat source is the EcoGlow. This piece of awesomeness has far less risk of fire or harm to the chicks but it costs a lot more than the standard heat lamp. A friend of mine owns one and it’s a really great method of brooding chicks. You can raise it up as they grow, allowing more room underneath.

Invest in a cheap digital thermometer so you don’t have to guess about the temperature in the brooder. Here’s the rundown on the minimum temps the babies need:

Week 1: 95-100 degrees

Week 2: 90-95 degrees

Week 3: 85-90

Week 4: 80-85

Once they’re fully fledged (that means they have all their feathers instead of just fluff) they can handle lower temperatures.

Aside from a thermometer, here’s how you can tell if the temperature is right in the brooder.

If they’re all huddled together and making a lot of noise it means they’re cold and distressed.

If they’re spread far apart, lethargic, and panting, they’re too hot.

If they’re active, randomly spread out, and making happy little peeping noises, they’re just right.

My dog paid an unnerving amount of attention to the baby chicks in their brooder under the heat lamp.

Bedding

I use wood shavings for bedding, but you can also use straw. Be sure not to get something artificially scented, as this can cause respiratory problems for the delicate babies.

For the first couple of days, I put paper towels on top of the bedding so I can see their poop. See the section on health issues for the reason why.

Feeders and waterers

You’ll need some containers for feeding and watering your babies.

First, a note. Baby chicks are adorable, but they’re messy and they poop everywhere. That includes in their food and water containers. Initially I don’t like to use an open bowl for feeding for this very reason. It doesn’t seem to bother them much, but ew.

I have a couple of different feeders for the littles.

These are awesome because they are inexpensive and they simply screw on the bottom of a regular mouth quart jar. The jars can easily be sanitized in the dishwasher afterward. (They’re less than $5 at the time of publication.)

I also have one of these. I had so many chicks in my last batch that I had to set out 3 feeders for them to be certain everyone got something to eat.

For water, it’s really important to note that a lot of baby chicks die from drowning. It’s heartbreaking to see (thankfully it hasn’t happened to us!) There are two ways to avoid this.

#1. First, you can get a water container that doesn’t have enough room for them to fall in and die. I like the kind that you screw on to the bottom of a mason jar. You can also get them in plastic but it’s only a few cents less. You’ll have to fill these several times throughout the day, depending on how many chicks you have.

#2. You can use a bigger one-gallon water dispenser, but line the trough area with pebbles. this way, they can still get a drink but there isn’t room for them to fall in and be unable to get out. You will only have to do this for a week or so before they’re too big to fall in.

I like to raise the water dispenser up just a little bit to keep it from getting filled with bedding. The bedding can soak up the water like a sponge, leaving you with thirsty babies. You can use just about anything to raise it up. I have a couple of pieces of scrap wood beneath my waterers.

What to feed baby chicks

There are several different types of food on the market for baby chicks. You can get some inexpensive starter, but you probably aren’t giving your chicks the best beginning with it. It’s like feeding them fortified cereal. Instead of food with actual nutrients, the nutrients are artificially added to a stripped product. They’ll probably survive, but they won’t be as healthy as chicks fed a better quality of food.

The next debate is whether or not to give them medicated feed. Some people swear by giving them medicated feed for the first few weeks of their lives, claiming that all of the medication will be out of their systems by the time you consume the eggs (or the chickens if you’re raising them for meat.) It provides them with an immunity to coccidiosis.

Many people are raising chickens to provide them with organic eggs or meat at a better price. If that is your goal, you’ll want to go with an organic food. This starter is a high quality organic product at a reasonable price.

Another option is GMO-free feed if you aren’t worried about strictly organic. It’s a good happy medium between the low-quality “Doritoes” chicken feed and the expensive organic feed. You can usually find a good quality GMO-free crumble at your local feed store.

I always start out with crumble, which is coarsely ground, and as they get bigger, I mix the crumble with the pellets. I like pellets because there is far less waste. I also like to supplement them with fresh fruits and vegetables. However, if you are supplementing them, be sure to provide a little dish of grit to help with their digestion.

Baby chick health issues

Obviously, prevention is key. One great way to prevent illness in your chicks is to add 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar to a gallon of water. (Get the good kind with the mother – the cheap stuff does absolutely nothing.) You can also get those little packets of probiotics to add to their water, but mine have been just fine with the ACV.

Coccidiosis: Remember how I said I put paper towels over the bedding for the first few days? That’s so I can check their poop. It’s important to check that on a daily basis. You’re looking for anything bloody. ( Turn off the red heat light if you’re using one because you can’t see bloody stool under a red light.) If you see anything with even a tinge of blood, you need to act immediately. This is a symptom of coccidiosis.

It’s not difficult to treat. Although this medication is labeled for use with calves, it can be used for baby chicks if you water it down sufficiently, as per my local feed store. Add 2 teaspoons of Corid to a gallon of water. They’ll generally consume enough if they aren’t too sick to drink.

Here’s an article with more information about coccidiosis in poultry.

Pasty butt: I lost several chicks in my first flock to pasty butt and it absolutely broke my heart. This is evident when their vent gets sealed shut with poop. If it becomes clogged, the waste backs up in the chick’s system and they can’t pass their waste. It’s essential during the first week or two after bringing them home to check everyone’s bottom on a twice daily basis. If there is a little clump of poo on the bottom, you have to act.

You will have to very gently remove the clump on their bottoms. BE CAREFUL. Just pulling on it can actually disembowel the poor baby. Also, you need to be certain it’s the vent and not the umbilical stump.

This video shows you how to clean the chick’s bottom.

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This article gives you more information about pasty butt.

This article discusses a variety of chicken illnesses and symptoms.

How to raise your new babies.

So…you’ve got your babies home. They’re safely ensconced in the brooder. What now?

You need to keep them fed, watered, and warm. That’s about it!

I free feed my chicks and try to make sure there is always food available for the first month or two.
There should always be fresh water in the coop or brooder.
Keep the temperature at the right range for their ages.
Handle them briefly and gently a couple of times per day so they get used to you. It’s much easier to raise them if they aren’t terrified of the giant human.
Check their bottoms 2x a day for signs of pasty butt. (You can do this while you handle them.)

These excellent resources can help you learn more about raising your baby chicks.

My absolute favorite resource is this course which teaches you how to raise them naturally even if you’re on a budget. It’s fantastic!

Here are some articles and books:

Chickens from Scratch

How to raise baby chicks naturally

Chickens: Naturally Raising a Sustainable Flock

Raising Day Old Chicks

How to Get Ready for New Baby Chicks

9 Things You Need for Starting Baby Chickens

Introducing the Chickens

Raising Baby Chicks

Raising chicks for meat? There are a few differences

This time around, I’m raising chickens for meat instead of for eggs. Since this is a first for me, I did a bit of research. While the basics are the same, there are some breed differences of which you should be aware. These articles can help you.

Getting Started with Meat Chickens

8 Pounds in 8 Weeks: Raising Day Old Chicks for the Dinner Table

When they’re big kids…

Once they graduate from the brooder, it is time to introduce them to the rest of the flock. This can entail some bloodshet, so you need to be careful and supervise them well.

My most recent batch of chicks was housed in a dog kennel inside the coop with the Bigs. We had an awful storm the other night and the kennel began to flood. I had no option but to mix the flocks immediately, and fortunately it went well. That was, in part, because they were already accustomed to one another through the safe barrier of the kennel.

Here is an article about introducing baby chicks to your flock

Why should you raise your own chickens?

First, let me get on my animal-lover soapbox for a minute. The poultry and egg industries are enough to make you sick – both physically and emotionally.

More and more information is coming to light about the horrible mistreatment of the birds that provide us with meat and eggs. It’s enough to make a carnivore turn vegan. Even if you don’t care about the well-being of the animals, don’t even get me started on the food safety risks or raising animals the way that they do. If the creatures you consume for sustenance are ill then how can you expect to be healthy when you eat them? If they must be on antibiotics their entire tortured lives to survive, then is this really something you want to feed your family?

If you want more details, here is a horrifying, graphic article about the chicken industry. (No, it’s not by PETA – it’s by a friend who eats meat.) If you aren’t choosy about the chicken and eggs you purchase, you are, by default, endorsing this horrific abuse. *climbs off soap box*

If you can’t or won’t raise your own chickens, please, please consider finding a local farmer who raises his or her animals the traditional way and buy from them. Your business means a lot to them, and voting with your dollars is the only way to make Big Agri change their horrific practices.

On to more positive reasons.

When you raise your own chickens, you learn first-hand where your food comes from. You know what your birds ate, that they are healthy, that they haven’t been given risky supplements or medications, and that they were treated humanely. Unfortunately, the labels at the grocery store are basically meaningless, with the exception of “pasture-raised.” That’s a lot closer to what folks envision when they think about ethically raised poultry.

It’s also very economical to raise your own chickens. Have you checked out the price for organic, pasture-farmed eggs recently? Ouch! My hens eat about $20 worth of food per month and spend their days controlling the bugs and weeds for me. In return, I end up with 3-4 dozen eggs per week. Now, we can’t eat all of those eggs, but they are lovely gifts for friends without farms, and our Great Pyrenees loves them as a delightful addition to his dinner.

I get a lot of joy seeing my goofy hens frolic around the backyard. Each one has a distinct personality, and because they were hand raised, they’re all pretty friendly. If I walk out into the yard, I’m instantly surrounded by happy, feathered friends. My laying hens are like pets that provide us with eggs.

Questions or comments?

If you are a veteran chick raiser, please provide your best tips below! If you are new to chickens, let me know what’s holding you back from starting your own flock! Do you have any questions that I might be able to help with? I hope this article encourages you to take the plunge!

Here’s A Rundown of #Election #Fraud in the 2016 Presidential Race So Far #feelthebern

April 25, 2016 by claire bernish

Op-ed by Claire Bernish
April 25, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Supporting an anti-establishment candidate, as the 2016 election cycle has thus proven, at best amounts to little more than a maddening exercise in futility. Yet, droves continue flocking to the polls, ignoring that fixing a corrupt, authoritarian system by validating it through participating in its carrot-on-a-string illusion will somehow — this time — all work out for the greater good.

Though participation through voting might offer the feeling of power and control — as well as comfort in the illusion — the establishment maintains a thorough stranglehold on the current system, by design. If you’re still unconvinced, consider the evidence thus far — some blatant, some subtle — found in virtually every primary and caucus this year.

Iowa

To grasp how arbitrarily the popular vote can be manipulated to fit the establishment’s intended outcome, the Iowa caucus would be a good place to start. As if insufficiently trained volunteer staff, voter confusion, inadequate voter registration forms, and general disorganization weren’t telling in themselves, in multiple locations the awarding of delegates came down to coin tosses — literally.

While described as “the closest Democratic caucus in Iowa history” by the state’s Democratic Party, according to Salon, apparently the same Party felt the need to give Hillary Clinton an advantageous edge. One of Bernie Sanders’ delegates was sneakily awarded to Clinton amidst the confusion, but the Iowa Democratic Party didn’t bother to inform the precinct secretary it had done so. It then refused, despite the somewhat suspect happenings, to perform an audit.

“What happened Monday night at the caucuses was a debacle, period,” The Des Moines Register penned in an editorial afterward. “Democracy, particularly at the local party level, can be slow, messy, and obscure. But the refusal to undergo scrutiny or allow for an appeal reeks of autocracy.”

Nevada

Though Nevada didn’t have to resort to its deck-of-cards method to figure the awarding of delegates — as Iowa had done with its coin tosses — that didn’t stop anecdotal picture and video evidence from proving rampant issues and possible fraud.

Inexcusably hours-long lines, a lack of paper ballots, and poorly trained elections workers meant general disenfranchisement pervaded caucus locations. The situation so outraged voters, it was characterized a “fiasco.” Those who did manage to procure a ballot discovered Clinton propaganda in plain sight; though electioneering is prohibited at polling locations, one Reddit user posted a photo of a sign-in sheet emblazoned with the Hillary for Nevada logo at the top. Asked for an explanation, the poll worker handing out the not-at-all neutral sign-in claimed it was “for the democratic party,” US Uncut reported.

Worse, a Twitter user discovered Hillary supporters allowed to caucus without registering, to which a precinct volunteer offered the rather effrontery explanation that they’d be permitted to register after casting a ballot — and it was all captured on video.

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Worse still, another Reddit user claimed a poll volunteer registering new Democratic voters automatically marked them as favoring Clinton — and not only seemed stubbornly hesitant to correct the error, but later appeared working for the “Hillary group’s tables.”

Chaos in the Republican caucus mirrored that in the Democratic event, including reports of ballot mismanagement; one was allowed to fall to the floor and was ripped up by a volunteer unsure of its validity. Another witness tweeted “some guy voted for trump twice.” Caucus volunteers, who are required to forego campaign gear, sported Trump paraphernalia and, as another Twitter user claimed, were “Actively bullying folks. Not checking IDs.”

Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday’s primaries and caucuses offered no relief to the election madness, as Colorado and Massachusetts, in particular, similarly devolved into messy embarrassments.

Polling sites for the Democratic caucus in Colorado seemed to arbitrarily switch locations, voters were turned away upon arrival, volunteers were unprepared, and, in one case, a private residence intended to be a caucus location met voters with a locked door.

So marred by troubles was the situation in Colorado, one Twitter user asserted, “I honestly cannot say enough negative things about the caucus system. Disorganized, undemocratic, just generally bad. Primary please!” Another voter summarily tweeted, “The caucus process in Colorado is bullshit!” Indeed, after the debacle, swaths of voters called for a return to the primary system, which had been in place until 2002.

Massachusetts saw an appearance by Bill Clinton, who took advantage of the opportunity to electioneer for Hillary, both inside and outside polling locations in a likely illegal violation of state law. So egregious and unusual was the situation, Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin told the New York Times his office “had to remind some of our poll workers that even a president can’t go inside and work a polling place. He can go in, but he can’t approach voters.”

A petition created afterward calling for Bill Clinton’s arrest and prosecution has since garnered over 127,000 signatures.

While not fraudulent, the Republican Party garnered its own firestorm of criticism by eliminating the popular vote from the nominating process — much to the ire of Trump supporters. As the Denver Post explained:

“Colorado GOP leaders canceled the party’s presidential straw poll in August to avoid binding its delegates to a candidate who may not survive until the Republican National Convention in July.

“Instead, Republicans selected national delegates through the caucus process, a move that put the election of national delegates in the hands of party insiders and activists — leaving roughly 90 percent of the more than 1 million Republican voters on the sidelines.”

“The people of Colorado,” Trump, in part, proclaimed afterward on Twitter, “had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians.” Later, Trump expounded further, declaring in an interview, “The system is rigged. It’s crooked.”

To wit, the Colorado GOP hubristically boasted on Twitter, “We did it. #NeverTrump” — but likely realized the potentially damning repercussions of its candor and swiftly deleted the tweet.

Arizona

“We’ve received complaints throughout the whole day of lifelong Democrats showing up to the polls and being told they are either independent or have no party affiliations,” stated Arizona Democratic Party spokesman Enrique Gutierrez, according to the Phoenix New Times.

Though locations across Arizona experienced massive voter turnout — which, as in many states before, overwhelmed grievously unprepared volunteers — Maricopa County, home of Phoenix, reported average wait times of up to 90 minutes. Long waits had been anticipated, to an extent, as Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell had drastically cut the total number of polling places from 200 four years ago to just 60 — questionably citing expected low voter turnout for the reduction.

To grasp the magnitude of difficulty this presented, one person tweeted, “Most counties I surveyed had enough polls for 2.5K or fewer voters per site. Maricopa County? 20,833 voters per polling site.” A local NBC affiliate reporter also noted on Twitter:

“Consider: 2012 primary had 300,000 voters and 200 polling places. 2016 primary has estimated 800,000 voters at 60 polling places.”

In predominantly Latino neighborhoods, that consolidation of polling sites was exponentially magnified — so few polling sites were available to Phoenix’ nearly 41 percent Latino population, even politicians publicly rebuked Purcell’s cuts.

“In my district, there is only one polling place,” Democratic State Senator Martin Quezada noted in a written statement, cited by AZCentral.com. “In my neighboring district, LD 30, there are no polling places.”

New York

In what could only be dubbed a farce, so copious were the complaints lodged about the New York City primary, city Comptroller Scott Stringer announced the Board of Elections would be the subject of an audit — hours before the close of polling. In fact, before voting even commenced, over 126,000 voters had been wholly purged from the records.

Diplomatically describing “widespread reports of poll site problems and irregularities,” Stringer wrote in a letter to New York City Board of Elections (BOE) Director Michael J. Ryan:

“Voters across the city have complained about poll workers erroneously redirecting them to different poll sites, poll workers unable to operate voting machines, poll workers unable to produce the correct party ballot for an individual voter, and poll workers giving conflicting information.

“Of particular concern are numerous allegations of widespread removal of eligible voters from voter-registration rolls, as well as instances of incorrect party affiliations on individual registration records. These errors have conspired to bar first time and longtime voters from exercising their fundamental democratic right.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio swiftly backed the call for an audit, and despite repeated denials from Ryan any major issues had tarnished the day, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman claimed his office had received “by far the largest volume of complaints” from any election since 2011, according to Politico. Both the comptroller’s and attorney general’s offices began investigations following the debacle.

A top official for the NYC BOE has since been suspended without pay and an internal investigation has been launched over discrepancies in voter records and purging of voter rolls in Brooklyn.

✱✱✱

This list is woefully incomplete — Ohio is now investigating its primary, and Sanders managed to lose Wyoming, despite winning by a margin of 12 percent; this article didn’t even delve into superdelegates. Even so, the pattern of suspicious activity before, during, and after elections presents clear evidence many have not been willing to admit.

Your vote — if you’re able to jump enough hurdles to cast it — doesn’t matter. But worst of all, this farce of an election simply amounts to a theater of illusion, designed to distract people who might otherwise realize the change they seek through politicians could best be implemented by all of us, now, without needing to validate the very system of our modern-day enslavement.

This article (Here’s A Rundown of Election Fraud in the 2016 Presidential Race So Far) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Claire Bernish and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

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Doug #Casey Warns: “It’s The Next Stage Of The Greater #Depression… The Economy Is Going To Be Very, Very Bad”

April 25, 2016 by mac slavo

While President Obama took credit this weekend for saving the world economy from a global depression and stock markets are hovering around all-time highs, not everyone is convinced that central bank policy and government involvement in financial markets has stabilized the system. Doug Casey, one of the most well respected institutional investors in the world and someone who thrives in environments plagued with volatility and risk, joins Future Money Trends to explain exactly why the world has not avoided a Greater Depression and how things are about to get “very, very bad.”

And by very bad he means that centrally manufactured super-bubbles and bubbles are set to wipe out trillions.

You’ve got to remember that all of these governments and central banks all around the world have driven interest rates not just to zero, but to negative levels in some cases… and they are simultaneously printing up trillions of currency units. And even while they are desperately doing that the economy is falling apart in lots of different ways.

…They’ve created a super-bubble in bonds, a bubble in stocks, and meanwhile commodities have collapsed and are below production costs in many cases.

…The economy is going to be very, very bad… It’s the next stage of what I call the Greater Depression.

Full interview via Future Money Trends:

(Watch At Youtube)

But as centrally manufactured bubbles burst in one sector of the economy, says Casey, capital will flow en masse to other sectors as investors panic. First to safe haven assets like gold, and then to to broader commodities which have been left for dead since the start of the decade:

Commodities, despite the fact that the economy is going to be bad, I think are headed up at this point because they’re the only cheap thing in the world and that’s where a lot of this excess money is going to flow.

And the excess money is going to flow rapidly. As Casey notes, while there may be panic selling in some parts of the economy, there will be panic buying elsewhere:

I’m extremely bullish on gold because it bears emphasis… gold is the only financial asset that is not simultaneously somebody else’s liability and all of these paper currencies all over the world are going to go to their intrinsic value, which is essentially zero.

What these central banks and governments are doing is incredibly irresponsible and stupid, printing these currency units up by the trillions… so there’s going to be a panic into gold.

As part of that you’re going to find China, maybe Russia, are going to go to a gold-backed Yuan and gold backed Ruble because they want to dethrone the U.S. dollar as the world’s premier currency… Well, the U.S. government is going to do it because of its incredibly foolish policies.

As you might expect, Casey’s focus is on the assets no one else has been interested in during the run up in broader stock markets. And like the Chinese government he’s been acquiring major stakes in commodity producers, including one particular gold mining company:

Yes, it is possible at this point [to invest in companies that will rise 20 to 30 times their current prices]. Because there’s going to be a panic into gold and it’s going to take gold much, much higher. The next commodity bull market is going to be led by gold and it’s going to take these stocks with them.

…I think this is the best part of the market to be in.

On America’s political future, Casey, a self avowed anarchist and anti-establishment proponent, says he supports Trump because he’s the only one in the field who is not a professional politician and perhaps the only one who can change the system as it exists today for the better:

Yes, he says a lot of stupid things… but all of these people say incredibly stupid things… Regardless of the persona he’s projecting at the moment to get attention, I think he’s much more intelligent and much more responsible than any of the people running. I think he’s definitely going to be the Republican candidate unless he’s actively defrauded… and I think he’s going to win regardless of whether Hillary is the democratic candidate or not… Hopefully she’ll be indicted for one or more of her numerous crimes before that happens.

I’m putting my money on Trump for winning the election. Not my ideal choice, but by far the best choice that we have.

… he actually has an understanding of business… and he has common sense… and he’s not part of the political machine… pray that Trump makes it because he’s also the least war-like of all these people… he’s the person that’s least likely to involve us in World War III or something that resembles it…

I believe politics is the problem and not the solution… I support Trump and hope he wins… Remember, we’re going into the Greater Depression… he’s certainly better than anybody else that’s out there at the moment.

But the legendary International Man isn’t just putting all his eggs in one basket in the hopes of a Trump victory or some sort of magical solution to the problems the United States faces. Casey says you need to diversify in these times of uncertainty, and not just with your financial portfolio:

It’s not just important to diversify investment-wise and heavily into gold at this point… It’s even more important to diversify internationally and politically and geographically… you don’t want all your eggs in North America. It’s a big world out there and most of the world is doing better than we are.

For more interviews, breaking documentaries and financial news visit Future Money Trends. To learn what investors like Doug Casey are doing to diversify their portfolios as we enter the next stage of the Greater Depression click here.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Possible End Game: The United States Has Created a Climate That Could Easily Be Transformed Into a #War

April 25, 2016 by contributing author

Most readers have been watching, as the U.S. and Russia seem to be positioning themselves along Cold War lines. The posturing is not confined to maneuvering military assets; it also runs along economic lines, in which most warfare is at least based if not a major or the sole impetus. Each power has sought to cement its claims/presence in areas bordering the sphere of influence of, or the actual territory of the other power. Such posturing can be dangerous and lead to an incident that escalates into the uncontrollable.

Recently the news media has been abuzz with the Russian fighter aircraft buzzing the U.S. in the face: first the incident with the two fighters coming within 30 feet of an American naval vessel, and another separate incident involving aerial theatrics around a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft (a Boeing RC-135 intelligence-gathering spy plane). The U.S. responded in kind on April 20 by allowing a guided missile destroyer, the U.S.S. Cook to encroach upon Russian borders while conducting maneuvers near Poland. The U.S. claimed that Russian aircraft were doing fly-by’s to intimidate the destroyer.

Unlike the puissant response by John Kerry, feigning anger and doing nothing with the Russian aircraft incidences of the past two weeks, Russia is not playing with the destroyer incident. The Russian ambassador to NATO, Alexander Grushko is reported by Reuters to have made the following statement:

“This is about attempts to exercise military pressure on Russia. We will take all necessary measures, precautions, to compensate for these attempts to use military force.”

This statement by Grushko was not limited to the incident with the Cook. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has affirmed in the past week the intention of NATO to deploy command and control centers in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania. Exercises are currently being planned and prepared in Estonia by NATO air assets, to include participation by Sweden and Finland, both non-NATO members. The exercises are scheduled to commence on April 28.

Although the exercises are superficially being dubbed maneuvers to help with control of civilian airports and coordination with them during “an emergency situation,” in reality they are both posturing and stationing aircraft on Russia’s western flank. Also, the mainstream media barely mentioned the fact that last month, NATO fighter aircraft approached a Russian aircraft carrying Sergei Shoigu, the Russian Defense Minister who was en route to inspect military facilities and readiness in Kalingrad, toward Russia’s western border.

Much has also been mentioned by NATO of Russian “aggression and encroachment” regarding Ukraine, still beset by more than a year of fighting in its eastern region between Ukrainian forces and ethnic Russian separatists. NATO has condemned Russia for supplying these separatists with equipment, materials, and personnel. Russia has responded to this accusation by declaring eastern Ukraine to be mired in a civil war.

There are also underlying economic issues to all of this. As mentioned in previous articles, the entire involvement of NATO wanting to “assist” Russia in her support of Syria was nothing more than an attempt to oust Assad. This, in turn took a back seat to the desires of NATO and the U.S. to annex a portion of Syria in order to enable a natural gas pipeline from Qatar into Western Europe for the purpose of negating Russia’s Gazprom from supplying Western Europe with natural gas. Basically, the Russians solidified Assad’s position, bombed the insurgents into submission, left supplies and advisers with Assad, and withdrew from the board. The U.S. was left stultified with egg on its face.

Now the BRIC nations are starting their markets up in earnest, backing their currencies with gold and trading in Shanghai, China, and Moscow in Russia. These two nations, incidentally are #1 and #3 respectively regarding gold production. The former produced 490 tons in 2015, and the latter put out 295 tons that year. The two nations account for 25% of the gold production for the world. Those are staggering numbers. In addition to production, China and Russia have been building up their reserves of gold astronomically.

They are ranked 5^th and 6^th respective to gold reserves. The U.S. is listed as “#1” but this is another faux pearl attached to others on a string, such as phony employment numbers and the inflated GDP as reported by parrots of the media and business insider networks who are, in reality inside of the pockets of the administration and the Federal Reserve.

Another point of interest that may have a great effect is that Congress is in the midst of passing legislation to hold Saudi Arabia partially accountable for the 9-11 attacks.

The Saudis responded with informing the state department that they will call in assets and all accounts payable if that is the case. This could really domino and also spell an immediate end to the Petrodollar. Wouldn’t that be interesting? Congress would hit the Saudis up with a bill, and the Saudis would pay us in “fiat” Federal Reserve notes, maybe cutting off the oil supply as well. Payment of the bill then may as well be in toilet paper.

To summarize, akin to ancient Rome, the United States has over-extended herself. She has created a climate that could easily be transformed into a war on a slight pretext. Wars, as it is well known are also a means a nation can extricate itself from debt and financial responsibility. The dying Petrodollar system has been on life support for some time, and it appears other nations such as the BRIC’s are taking the initiative to return to a true monetary standard. This is the same gold and silver standard that the U.S. should never have left in the first place.

Jeremiah Johnson is the Nom de plume of a retired Green Beret of the United States Army Special Forces (Airborne). Mr. Johnson is also a Gunsmith, a Certified Master Herbalist, a Montana Master Food Preserver, and a graduate of the U.S. Army’s SERE school (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape). He lives in a cabin in the mountains of Western Montana with his wife and three cats. You can follow Jeremiah’s regular writings at SHTFplan.com or contact him here.

This article may be republished or excerpted with proper attribution to the author and a link to www.SHTFplan.com.

Also Read:

The Flashpoint Continues to Build: Intelligence Sources Indicate Russia May Be Planning A Spring Offensive

How an Attack on America Would Probably Begin: Possible Courses Of Action By Foreign Military Powers

How To Survive Occupied America: “Red Dawn Just Started… And You’re In It”

Collision Course: As Obama Weakens America, The Russians And Chinese Prepare

Report: Is China Preparing For a Land Of Invasion Of the West Coast Of the United States?

Russia’s Attack Posture: “The Enemy Must Be Destroyed Or Conquered; The Ultimate Soviet Objective Is Total Victory”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

#Hillary #Clinton’s Million Dollar Professional Internet Troll Army

April 24, 2016 by nick bernabe

Nick Bernabe
April 24, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Hillary Clinton-aligned Super PAC, Correct the Record, is taking a page out of Vladimir Putin’s playbook by employing a $1 million dollar professional internet troll army to build a paid, positive consensus about the Clinton campaign. The effort, called “Breaking Barriers 2016,” claims:

“While Hillary Clinton fights to break down barriers and bring America together, the Barrier Breakers 2016 digital task force will serve as a resource for supporters looking for positive content and push-back to share with their online progressive communities, as well as thanking prominent supporters and committed superdelegates on social media.

“Correct The Record will invest more than $1 million into Barrier Breakers 2016 activities, including the more than tripling of its digital operation to engage in online messaging both for Secretary Clinton and to push back against attackers on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram.”

The campaign will essentially be employing an unknown number of paid, pro-Hillary trolls to spread positive news about the candidate and counter anyone posting negative information about her. And these aren’t just ragtag trolls living in their mothers’ basements — they are industry and campaign professionals. As Correct the Record acknowledges:

“The task force staff’s backgrounds are as diverse as the community they will be engaging with and include former reporters, bloggers, public affairs specialists, designers, Ready for Hillary alumni, and Hillary super fans who have led groups similar to those with which the task force will organize.”

In response to this news, Bernie Sanders campaign staffer Mike Casca told The Daily Beast, “Our campaign and our vendors are not paying people to reply to anti-Bernie comments on social media.” He added, “Come on man, really?”

The Hillary campaign was also recently called out by The Intercept for deploying “astroturfers” into the media — people with ties to Clinton who act as experts and political commentators to promote her campaign without disclosing their ties to the candidate.

With Hillary’s highly effective media strategies employing media surrogates — and now internet trolls — it’s becoming increasingly hard to decipher a distinction between actual Clinton supporters, unbiased political commentators, and paid campaign shills.

This article (Hillary Clinton’s Million Dollar Professional Internet Troll Army) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Nick Bernabe and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Image credit: Gage Skidmore. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

#Commodities: “The Men Behind The Curtain Are Being Revealed” – CEO Says Real-World Pricing Will Return To Gold, Silver And Commodity Markets

April 24, 2016 by mac slavo

Astute observers of financial markets, especially in the precious metals sector, have long argued that small concentrations of major market players have been manipulating asset prices. Last week those suspicions were confirmed when Deutsche Bank, one of the world’s leading financial institutions, not only admitted to regulators that they have been involved in the racket, but that they were prepared to turn over records implicating many of their cohorts in a global scheme to suppress prices.

In his latest interview with SGT Report, straight-shooting Callinex Mines CEO Max Porterfield explains that now that the men behind the curtain are being revealed, asset prices in precious metals, base metals and other commodities will return to more natural pricing mechanisms based on core supply and demand fundamentals.

They are being revealed, most certainly… whether anybody actually takes a fall for it is a whole ‘nother discussion in its own right.. It’s good someone is being held accountable in some form or fashion and at least we understand what we’re dealing with.

… The real world pricing is being seen not only in the precious metals space, but it’s being played out in other base metals as well… Underlying all this manipulation is really the supply demand fundamentals for all these commodities…

Full Interview Via SGT Report:

(Watch at Youtube)

With the genie now out of the bottle, many of the institutions involved in price manipulation and suppression appear to have backed off for fear of multi-billion dollar class action lawsuits from investors. The direct result, as we have seen just in the last couple of weeks, has been upward price movement in gold and silver.

If you start getting some of the manipulation to come out of the market for fear that people are going to get called out on it, then you can allow the fundamentals to play out.

And according to Porterfield, those fundamentals bode very well for gold, silver and base metals investors who have thus far been pillaged by paper market conspirators:

I think this has signified the start of a new bull market… what we’ve been through, these nice gains… I can tell you right now… I travel frequently to investor hubs in North America and Europe as well… the sentiment is improving quite significantly compared to where it was last November when I was in Zurich where people were very, very negative.

There’s more optimism in the space, particularly in the precious metals space… and in the not-too-distant future in the overall base metals space as well.

I think investors should be aware and be prepare for pullbacks in any bull market and I think that’s healthy for any kind of bull market you’re in… it is a bumpy road no matter what… but there’s definitely a lot more upside ahead of us.

We know that during the bear market in gold, silver and other commodities many companies either slowed their operations or completely shut their doors. This reduction in supply, a growing demand for precious metals amid global economic chaos and the official acknowledgment of paper price suppression by at least one major financial institution (and likely many more) suggests that gold and silver prices could rise significantly over coming months and years.

Learn more about CEO Max Porterfield and his company at the Callinex Mines web site.

For more interviews, breaking news, and commentary visit the corporate propaganda antidote at SGTreport.com

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

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