Month: December 2017

63-Year-Old Migrant Arrested For Molesting Children As Young As Seven At Swimming Pool

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– 63-Year-Old Migrant Arrested For Molesting Children As Young As Seven At Swimming Pool:

A 63-year-old Iranian asylum seeker was arrested in the German town of Öhringen after being accused of sexually molesting three young children including a seven-year-old boy.

The incident, which occurred on Sunday, is said to have occurred at a public swimming pool in the town where the 63-year-old sexually harassed two girls aged nine and eleven as well as the seven-year-old boy. According to reports, the man is said to have touched the seven-year-olds genitals for several minutes while in the swimming pool, German tabloid Bild reports.

Read more63-Year-Old Migrant Arrested For Molesting Children As Young As Seven At Swimming Pool

All Of A Sudden, Fascists Are Everywhere In Italy

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– All Of A Sudden, Fascists Are Everywhere In Italy:

Via GEFIRA,

Headlines were made in Italy a few days ago when a “casual, unidentified photographer” happened to walk in the streets of Florence and had the uncanny ability of taking a snapshot of an inside wall of the Carabinieri barracks that are literally steps away from the city center.

The flag was not hanging outside a window, as it was inside the private dormitory of military personnel, but it could be partially visible from the outside as the window was open.

The drums of politically correct outrage (“a nazi flag in a Carabinieri barrack”) started beating in the media, and the frontrunner of this public outcry was the Minister of Defense Roberta Pinotti.

Read moreAll Of A Sudden, Fascists Are Everywhere In Italy

Dr. Thierry Vrain, Former Pro-GMO Scientist, Speaks Up Against Glyphosate (Video)

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Dr. Thierry Vrain, former genetic engineer and soil biologist with Agriculture Canada, spoke with us today about his concerns with genetically engineered crops (GMOs) and more importantly, the use of Glyphosate (RoundUp). Dr. Vrain’s background in the field of genetic engineering (for 30 years), makes him an expert on this gene technology. He explained how a cell is genetically engineered and what happens after this random insertion process through a gene gun and how it can have unknown effects.

Since leaving Agriculture Canada 12 years ago, he has learned much more about the process of genetic engineering and the BT process (insect resistant) and the HT (herbicide resistant) crops that make up about 500 million acres. His primary concern at this time is the widespread use of Glyphosate which is a powerful herbicide, mineral chelator and a patented antibiotic. Dr. Vrain stated when speaking about Glyphosate:

“It’s almost as if the entire population of North American is on a low-grade antibiotic diet day in day out from birth, everyday, so this is the reality.”

H/t reader squodgy.

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Did Putin Actually Say “To Forgive The Terrorists Is Up To God But To Send Them To See God Is My Duty”?

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– Classic Putin: ‘To Forgive The Terrorists Is Up To God, But To Send Them To Him Is Up To Me’:

UPDATE: The RT anchor who reported this quotation has apologized, saying it’s not accurate. The part about killing terrorists in the bathroom is genuine, though.

– Putin’s quote about sending terrorists to God was false, says news anchor who tweeted it

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It’s Official: Bitcoin Surpasses “Tulip Mania”, Is Now The Biggest Bubble In World History

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– It’s Official: Bitcoin Surpasses “Tulip Mania”, Is Now The Biggest Bubble In World History:

One month ago, a chart from Convoy Investments went viral for showing that among all of the world’s most famous asset bubbles, bitcoin was only lagging the infamous 17th century “Tulip Mania.”

One month later, the price of bitcoin has exploded even higher, and so it is time to refresh where in the global bubble race bitcoin now stands, and also whether it has finally surpassed “Tulips.”

Conveniently, overnight the former Bridgewater analysts Howard Wang and Robert Wu who make up Convoy, released the answer in the form of an updated version of their asset bubble chart. In the new commentary, Wang writes that the Bitcoin prices have again more than doubled since the last update, and “its price has now gone up over 17 times this year, 64 times over the last three years and superseded that of the Dutch Tulip’s climb over the same time frame.”

That’s right: as of this moment it is official that bitcoin is now the biggest bubble in history, having surpassed the Tulip Mania of 1634-1637.

And with that we can say that crypto pioneer Mike Novogratz was right once again when he said that “This is going to be the biggest bubble of our lifetimes.” Which, of course, does not stop him from investing hundreds of millions in the space: when conceding that cryptos are the biggest bubble ever, “Novo” also said he expects bitcoin to hit $40,000 and ethereum to triple to $1,500.

Read moreIt’s Official: Bitcoin Surpasses “Tulip Mania”, Is Now The Biggest Bubble In World History

German intelligence chief: Number of Islamist radicals ‘at an all-time high’

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– Number of Islamist radicals ‘at an all-time high’, warns German intelligence chief:

German intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen has said that the security services are facing a record numer of Islamists. The news comes as world leaders announce the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, potentially prompting an exodus of fighters.

The number of Islamist sympathizers is at an “an all-time high”, Maassen, the president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), said on Sunday. The number has gone up from 9,700 to 10,800 over the past year, with the fundamentalists increasingly abandoning radicalization in mosques in favor of “small conspiratorial circles, primarily on the internet,” which is proving a “particular challenge” for the security services. The splitting up of Islamist groups into smaller factions has also made them more difficult to monitor, Maassen added.

Salafists follow an ultra-conservative, fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, and Salafist organizations such as Hizb ut-Tahrir see Western-style democracy as incompatible with the rule of God, instead seeking to live under Sharia law. This might not necessarily make them prone to terrorism or violence, but their beliefs provide the spiritual basis for groups like al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).

Read moreGerman intelligence chief: Number of Islamist radicals ‘at an all-time high’

Revolutionary Guard Commander Says Iran Will Support Palestinian Forces In Fight Against Israel

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– Revolutionary Guard Commander Says Iran Will Support Palestinian Forces In Fight Against Israel:

With US forces in the middle-east in chaos and disarray, with Saudi Arabia unsure if it wants to side with Israel or other Arab nations, and with its ally Russia increasingly more influential in the region, Iran is not only increasingly flexing its muscles, but is hardly ashamed to show it off.

Over the weekend, we reported that according to source information, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp, Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani sent a formal verbal message, via Russia, to the head of the US forces command in Syria, advising him to pull out all US forces to the last soldier “or the doors of hell will open up”.

Read moreRevolutionary Guard Commander Says Iran Will Support Palestinian Forces In Fight Against Israel

The Silicon Valley paradox: one in four people are at risk of hunger

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– The Silicon Valley paradox: one in four people are at risk of hunger:

Exclusive: study suggests that 26.8% of the population qualify as ‘food insecure’ based on risk factors such as missing meals or relying on food banks

Karla Peralta is surrounded by food. As a line cook in Facebook’s cafeteria, she spends her days preparing free meals for the tech firm’s staff. She’s worked in kitchens for most of her 30 years in the US, building a life in Silicon Valley as a single mother raising two daughters.

But at home, food is a different story. The region’s soaring rents and high cost-of-living means that even with a full-time job, putting food on the table hasn’t been simple. Over the years she has struggled to afford groceries – at one point feeding her family of three with food stamps that amounted to $75 a week, about half what the government describes as a “thrifty” food budget. “I was thinking, when am I going to get through this?” she said.

In a region famed for its foodie culture, where the well-heeled can dine on gold-flecked steaks, $500 tasting menus and $29 loaves of bread, hunger is alarmingly widespread, according to a new study shared exclusively with the Guardian.

Read moreThe Silicon Valley paradox: one in four people are at risk of hunger

New AI That Makes Fake Videos May Be the End of Reality as We Know It

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– New AI That Makes Fake Videos May Be the End of Reality as We Know It:

A new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm is capable of manufacturing simulated video imagery that is indiscernible from reality, say researchers at Nvidia, a California-based tech company. AI developers at the company have released details of a new project that allows its AI to generate fake videos using only minimal raw input data. The technology can render a flawlessly realistic sequence showing what a sunny street looks like when it’s raining, for example, as well as what a cat or dog looks like as a different breed or even a person’s face with a different facial expression. And this is video —  not photo.

For their work, researchers tweaked a familiar algorithm, known as a generative adversarial network (GAN), to allow their AI to create fresh visual data. The technique involves playing two neural networks against each other, but Nvidia’s new program requires far less input and no labeled datasets. In other words, AI is getting much, much better at mimicking reality.

Read moreNew AI That Makes Fake Videos May Be the End of Reality as We Know It

NRA Silent as States, Feds Ban Gun Sales to Medical Marijuana Patients

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– NRA Silent as States, Feds Ban Gun Sales to Medical Marijuana Patients:

The National Rifle Association (NRA), which fancies itself a champion of the Second Amendment and gun rights, is nowhere to be found as state governments are moving to confiscate firearms from medical marijuana patients.

Police in Honolulu, Hawaii, recently sent out a letter to 30 medical cannabis patients warning them they had 30 days to hand over their guns. When medical cannabis becomes legal in Ohio in 2018, patients will not be permitted to own or possess firearms. Similar restrictions have been imposed in California and Oregon despite state policy, and they are not new.

In 2011, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive issued a warning that because cannabis is illegal at the federal level, patients cannot possess guns. “There are no exceptions in federal law for marijuana purportedly used for medicinal purposes, even if such use is sanctioned by state law,” the ATF said in 2011.

Despite the NRA’s vehemently opinionated stances on many issues, including whether or not suspected terrorists should have access to guns, the lobbying group had little to say at the time about the federal government’s infringements on cannabis patients’ gun rights, merely ‘reporting’ that “If a person admits marijuana use to a licensed firearm dealer, the dealer is prohibited from transferring a firearm to that person because the dealer will have a ‘reasonable cause to believe’ that the person is an unlawful user.”

Read moreNRA Silent as States, Feds Ban Gun Sales to Medical Marijuana Patients

Jon Rappoport: Ten Essential Elements of a Covert Op

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– Ten Essential Elements of a Covert Op:

By Jon Rappoport

I’m talking about major covert ops, not small ones.

ONE: Compartmentalization.

The tasks necessary to carrying out the operation are divided among players at different levels. In a successful op, these groups of players are unaware of each other. They wouldn’t be able to confess to more than their own roles.

And in many cases, the disparate players would never believe they were part of an op. They would swear they were “doing good”—as, for example, in medical research that was—unknown to the researchers—actually designed to obscure a chemical attack on a population, by locating a virus as the false culprit. By training and by general stupidity, the researchers are always predisposed to finding a virus. The last thing on their minds is that they’re part of an op.

TWO: Gaining tremendous media coverage for the effect of the op (even exaggerating the effects), while hiding the cause and the players who planned it.

Read moreJon Rappoport: Ten Essential Elements of a Covert Op

Veil-Wearing Muslims Leave Austria as the Niqab Ban Kicks In

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0- Veil-Wearing Muslims Leave Austria as the Niqab Ban Kicks In:

Austria’s new ban on facial coverings in public has prompted veil-wearing Muslims and their families to leave the country, reports a new documentary.

Police have so far refused to give details on the law’s effect on their work, but a spokesman told news show Vienna Today that there have been around 100 violations of the ban since it came into force on October 1st.

Two thirds of these were said to concern the Islamic face veil, while the remaining third concerned people using masks or scarves to hide their face  — an act which now carries a penalty of €150 since the ban came into place.

Elif Öztürk, from ‘Documenting Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Racism’, told the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) news programme that the ban makes devout Muslims feel their identity is under attack from the state, “even when they are Austrian citizens”.

Read moreVeil-Wearing Muslims Leave Austria as the Niqab Ban Kicks In

Here’s how to shut down the internet: Snip undersea fiber-optic cables

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– Here’s how to shut down the internet: Snip undersea fiber-optic cables:

Hundreds of thousands of miles of fiber-optic cable lay on the ocean floors, a crucial part of the global internet’s backbone, and only rarely do ship anchors, undersea landslides or saboteurs disrupt them.

Still, a few voices now call for stronger global mechanisms and even military action to protect the cables against future malicious activity by states, saboteurs or extremists.

“The infrastructure that underpins the internet – these undersea cables – are clearly vulnerable,” said Rishi Sunak, a British member of Parliament and champion of more vigorous action to protect submarine networks. “They underpin pretty much everything that we do.”

Read moreHere’s how to shut down the internet: Snip undersea fiber-optic cables

Refugee helpers in Germany sued for helping refugees

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– Refugee helpers in Germany sued for helping refugees:

German refugee helpers who guaranteed the living costs of Syrian refugees are being forced to pay back costs by job centers. Refugee organizations say people are being punished for showing humanity.

A administrative court in the central German city of Giessen on Tuesday heard the cases of three refugee helpers who signed declarations guaranteeing the living costs of Syrian refugees — estimated at around €700 ($825) per month per refugee for a maximum of three years.

The cases are part of a series in Germany in which social welfare authorities are demanding money from guarantors even after the asylum seekers have been granted residency rights and refugee status.

In a ruling made last Friday, a court in Münster declared that William Eichouh would have to pay what he estimated at over €30,000 in back payments for unemployment benefits paid to two Syrians (his brother and sister-in-law) who had their asylum accepted within four months of their arrival.

Read moreRefugee helpers in Germany sued for helping refugees

Putin confirms permanent Russian air and naval bases in Syria

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– Putin confirms permanent Russian air and naval bases in Syria:

Putin confirmed ‘partial withdrawal’ of troops from Syria after defeat of IS, but said main military bases were there to stay

Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia would maintain a permanent air base and naval facility in Syria after announcing plans to withdraw some troops from the country.

The Russian president’s announcement came during a visit to the Khmeimim base in Latakia, where Putin told Russian troops they would be “returning” to their homes “victorious”. 

Read morePutin confirms permanent Russian air and naval bases in Syria