The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe has requested bids for the construction of a massive underground bunker facility.
It’s no secret that such bunkers exist throughout the United States as a contingency for emergencies and disasters that may involve anything from nuclear war to a breakdown in social order. What makes this particular request so interesting is that the facility will be built at an Israeli Air Force base just outside of Tel Aviv, Israel.
Even more noteworthy than it’s location is the facility’s name.
As reported by the Washington Post, the facility has been curiously dubbed “Site 911.”
Other than indicating the facility will have an auditorium and some classroom facilities, the government’s true purpose for the highly classified Site 911 remains a mystery.
It will encompass over 127,000 square feet, have five levels below ground, and cost somewhere between $25,000,000 and $100,000,000 to build.
The Corps of Engineers’ solicitation for companies to bid on the construction project in Israel is available for viewing at the government’s Federal Business Opportunities website.
According to the request, bidding will end by December 3, 2012, with construction to be completed no later than 900 days from a tentative approval date scheduled for the end of 2012.
Security requirements are strict, with only companies from Israel, the United States, and a handful of others allowed to submit bids or workers, and approved US security clearances required to enter the construction area.
Y–Construction Project in Israel
Solicitation Number: W912GB-12-R-0012
Agency: Department of the Army
Office: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Location: USACE District, Wiesbaden
Description of Services: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District may conduct a competitive procurement for a contractor to provide construction services within Israel. The Government requires a contractor to construct a complex facility with site development challenges. The key disciplines required for this construction services include electrical, communication, mechanical/HVAC, and plumbing. The estimated magnitude of construction is between $25,000,000 and $100,000,000. The maximum contract duration of construction is anticipated to be 900 calendar days from Notice to Proceed.
Security Clearance Requirements: A fundamental condition for participation in this tender is that the Offerors must implement and execute all security clearance requirements. The Offerors must possess a US Secret or Israeli Sodi Security Clearance. The Offerors competing in the Phase II Request for Proposal are required to qualify their office and personnel in accordance with the tender Security Clearance Requirements. The Security Clearance Requirements are:
1.) Obtaining a minimum US Secret or Israeli Sodi Security Clearance for the offices and installation of the company, to include either a US facility clearance or an Israeli clearance to store material classified at the Sodi level for facilities in Israel and signing of a security agreement with the Israeli Ministry of Defense (MOD);
2.) Company management must have either a Israeli Sodi or US Secret clearance;
3.) The Offeror is required to complete and submit the personal security clearance forms to MALAMB (security body appointed by the Israeli MOD) or provide US Secret for US personnel;
4.) Some of the Offeror’s representatives and workers involved in the project will be required to have personal security clearances at the level of US Secret or Israeli Sodi due to their exposure to information at this classification;
5.) An Offeror competing on Phase II must have a US Secret Clearance or an Israeli Sodi clearance. Key personnel and any other persons involved in writing the Offeror’s proposal or management of the project must also meet these criteria;
6.) Prime contractor personnel involved in the project must have either a US Secret clearance or Israeli Sodi clearance through the life of the contract.
Frank Drover is a co-editor and contributor for The Daily Sheeple, an alternative media hub for leading headlines, head lies, opinion, and commentary. Wake the flock up!
This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to www.TheDailySheeple.com.
While you are out doing your holiday shopping, the criminals will also be out in full force conducting their own ‘shopping’ (preying upon others). It’s import that you are aware of your surroundings at all times and prepared to use any and all means necessary (including deadly force) to protect yourself and your loved ones. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Some people believe that we are hurtling towards physical disaster with our delicate electrical grid. Just how that disaster might occur is open for debate, but we need only look at major power outages over the last few years to see how precarious our grasp on electricity is. It isn’t a matter of “if” the lights will go out, but a matter of “when”.
Severe weather has given the grid a walloping over the past few years. For example, three years ago, parts of Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia and Missouri suffered through 3 weeks sans power after a record-setting ice storm. Last summer, people in the Washington, DC metropolitan area were without power for a week during a heat wave as the result of a severe thunderstorm accompanied by high winds. And most recently, of course, we have witnessed the plight of the victims of Hurricane Sandy as they have struggled to function in the most populated area in the United States without electricity and running water, all while attempting to clean up the detritus of the massive storm.
Mother Nature could have other tricks up her sleeve with the possibility of a solar flare-related coronal mass ejection that could cause not only outages but irreparable damage to items powered by electricity. Many countries have developed EMP (electromagnetic pulse) weapons that could perpetrate the same type of damage.
However it happens, whether it’s for 3 weeks or for the long haul, we need to learn to function differently than we do right now. We need to reduce our dependency on municipally delivered power and either create our own power or simplify to the extent that we need less power.
Many preppers spend hundreds to even thousands of dollars on generators. Most of these are powered by gasoline, although some are fueled by propane. These investments would certainly be handy during a short term outage but are they really worth the money? This really depends on two things: your ability to store fuel and your budget.
If you live in surburbia, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to have hundreds of gallons of gasoline stored in a shed in the back yard – not only will regulations prohibit this, but there simply won’t be the space on a typical in-town property.
Will purchasing a generator mean that you have to sacrifice other things in your prepping budget? Will you still have enough food to get through an extended supply emergency? Will you be able to afford a water filtration system? What about first aid supplies, seeds, books and home defense items?
The next consideration is the probable length of the emergency. Many people in New York and New Jersey had generators, but only enough gasoline for 2-3 days. Who can forget the long lines where people waited for hours to only be allowed to purchase 5 gallons of gasoline? Depending on the generator and what appliances are being powered, 5 gallons will supply 3-8 hours of electricity. When you do the math, in the event of a long-term emergency complete with fuel shortages, a gasoline generator is not going to be a long-term solution for most.
Other options (I have not researched these methods because they are currently out of reach for me, so I can’t go into detail on the pros and cons) are solar power, wind power and harnessing the energy of nearby running water. Consider your environment before investing in these systems in order to purchase the one that will be most in line with the area in which you live.
So what can you do? If you can’t afford to have an off-grid electrical system installed at your home, does this mean that you are destined for an over-crowded shelter, or worse, doomed to failure in the event of a down-grid situation?
NOT AT ALL.
This just means you have to adapt your requirements.
First, check things out at your home or retreat. Make a list of the items that you use every day that require electrical power.
Then, look at your list and scratch off the items that are absolutely unnecessary – the television, the video game console, the microwave in the kitchen, etc. (If you have those things – we downsized a great deal before relocating here.)
See what you have left. Of these items, how can you supply your needs without electrical power? Here are some examples from my family’s list and the solutions that we either have or have planned:
Lights: Solar garden lights, candles, kerosene lights
Heat: Wood stove, small propane heater for the bathroom or kitchen for the coldest days, 2 large canisters of propane
Cooking: Wood stove, nutritious home-canned meals that only require reheating, small and large cast-iron dutch ovens to use on wood stove, sun oven, outdoor fireplace
Refrigeration: Large cooler to be packed with snow in the winter and used indoors, a plastic storage bench that is lockable to be used outdoors in the winter (the lock is to keep 4 legged critters out of it), root cellar for summer, change of eating habits in summer
Water: (our well runs on an electric pump and we rent, so unfortunately we can’t modify this) 1 month supply of drinking water stored, Berkey water filtration system, buckets along with a sled or wheel barrow depending on the season, for bringing up water from the lake for flushing, filtration and cleaning.
Anything else, we can really live without. These are the things which are vital, and the solutions are all long-term.
Now, apply this to your own situation. Find as many solutions as possible for the issues you would face if going for weeks (or longer) without power. You must stay warm, eat, and drink. Everything else is a bonus.
Some people like to give arguments as to why they can’t resolve these issues. They live in an apartment, they rent, they have a limited budget….the list is as long as indefinite detention. The fact is, by realizing these things are necessary and refusing to face them and find solutions for your particular situation, you are setting your family up to suffer, and possibly even die, when it could be avoided.
I like electricity. I like the convenience of turning on a light at the switch, of putting ice cubes in my water in the summer and watching a movie after making popcorn on the stove. But will I die without those things? No. Anything electrical that is vital to life has a back-up.
Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca
Last night, the U.S. Senate voted on Amendment No. 3018 to the National Defense Authorization Act sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), and co-sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul, which protects the rights prescribed to Americans in the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution with regard to indefinite detention and the right to a trial by jury.
The amendment passed, 67-29. However, many Senators, including McCain and Graham, voted for the amendment because they made the argument that the amendment authorizes indefinite detention.
Moments before the vote, Sen. Paul took to the Senate floor to again voice his support for the amendment and inspire his colleagues to do the same. Below is video and transcript of his floor speech.
Can law enforcement enter your house and use a secret video camera to record the intimate details inside? On Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unfortunately answered that question with “yes.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents suspected Ricky Wahchumwah of selling bald and gold eagle feathers and pelts in violation of federal law. Equipped with a small hidden video camera on his clothes, a Wildlife agent went to Wahchumwah’s house and feigned interest in buying feathers and pelts. Unsurprisingly, the agent did not have a search warrant. Wahchumwah moved to suppress the video as an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment, but the trial court denied his motion. On appeal before the Ninth Circuit, we filed an amicus brief in support of Wahchumwah. We highlighted the Supreme Court’s January 2012 decision in United States v. Jones – which held that law enforcement’s installation of a GPS device onto a car was a “search” under the Fourth Amendment — and specifically focused on the concurring opinions of Justices Alito and Sotomayor, who were worried about the power of technology to eradicate privacy.
In our brief we argued that although a person may reveal small bits of information publicly or to a house guest, technology that allows the government to aggregate that data in ways that were impractical in the past means that greater judicial supervision and oversight is necessary. After all, a video camera can capture far more detail than the human eye and is specifically designed to allow the government to record, save and review details for another day, bypassing the human mind’s tendency to forget. That means police need a search warrant to engage in the type of invasive surveillance they did in Wahchumwah’s house.
Unconvinced, the Ninth Circuit instead relied on a case from 1966, Hoffa v. United States, ruling that Wahchumwah forfeited his privacy interest when he “voluntarily” revealed the interior of his home to the undercover agent. But its conclusion contradicts not only the Supreme Court’s decision in Jones, but also earlier Ninth Circuit caselaw as well.
In Jones, the Supreme Court made clear that a law enforcement trespass onto private property for the purpose of obtaining information was a “search” under the Fourth Amendment. Under common law, a defendant was not liable for trespass if their entry was authorized. But the Ninth Circuit previously made clear in Theofel v. Farey-Jones that a person’s consent to a trespass is ineffective if they’re “mistaken as to the nature and quality of the invasion intended.” In fact, Theofel cited another Ninth Circuit case where the court found a “police officer who, invited into a home, conceals a recording device for the media” to be a trespasser.
What that means here is that when the undercover agent concealed his identity and purpose, making Wahchumwah “mistaken as to the nature and quality” of the home visit, the government trespassed onto Wahchumwah’s property. Since that trespass was done for the purpose of obtaining information — to get evidence of bald and gold eagle feather and pelt sales — the government “searched” Wahchumwah’s home. And it needed a warrant to do that; without one, the search was unconstitutional.
Its troubling that the Ninth Circuit did not see it this way (nor are they the only one). Because the sad truth is that as technology continues to advance, surveillance becomes “voluntary” only by virtue of the fact we live in a modern society where technology is becoming cheaper, easier and more invasive. The Wahchumwah case exemplifies this: on suspicion of nothing more than the benign misdemeanor of selling eagle feathers, the government got to intrude inside the home and record every intimate detail it could: books on a shelf, letters on a coffee table, pictures on a wall. And we’re entering an age where criminal suspicions is no longer even necessary. Whether you’re calling a friend’s stolen cell phone and landing on the NYPD massive database of call logs, driving into one of the increasing number of cities using licenseplatescanners to record who comes in or out, or walking somewhere close to hovering drones, innocent people are running the risk of having their personal details stored in criminal databases for years to come.
The only way to avoid pervasive law enforcement monitoring shouldn’t be to make the choice to live under a rock in the wilderness somewhere. Instead, the Fourth Amendment means today what it meant in 1787: that the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects” shouldn’t be violated unless the government comes back with a warrant.
Please visit and support EFF for electronic privacy and freedom.
This fan documentary, written and directed by David Brennan, reveals how, just as the original Star Wars trilogy was modeled after mythology and folklore, the prequel trilogy was modeled after history. It goes over the prequel’s story of false flag terrorism step-by-step, and then reveals how George Lucas had this element planned since 1973!
Author’s note: This is part two of a multi-part interview with a government insider intimately familiar with the events that took place in Benghazi. It is important to note that the information contained in this series was developed from interviews that spanned over 100 hours. In this part, the insider provides information about the events of the attack and the continuation of the cover-up at the highest levels of our government. (For Part I, please click here).
We’ve heard different accounts and different timelines concerning the attack at Benghazi. What exactly happened?
First, people must understand that the compound that was attacked was situated in a somewhat rural area and was not a consulate, but a rented villa, or a residential structure. The residence was the primary building, and what has been referred to as the annex was located about 1800 feet away as the crow flies, but just over a mile to travel by road. And again, visible security was not present as the compound was the headquarters for a covert operation. No one wanted to draw attention to what was taking place at this location.
The first indications of problems there began at least twelve-(12) hours before the first shot was even fired. One of the men at the compound observed a policeman or Libyan security officer taking photographs outside of the villa. Keep in mind that Ambassador Stevens, the point man in this Obama-sanctioned weapons running operation, was hastily scheduled to meet with the Turkish consul general at this location. The meeting was deliberately planned for dinner time, toward evening, when the events that happened next could be performed under the cover of darkness.
It’s also important to consider the location of this meeting. Tripoli is the seat of power in Libya, and a genuine diplomatic meeting could more safely have been conducted there, at the embassy. Also, what most people don’t know is that Libya is split, much like East and West Germany before the wall. The eastern part is more closely aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, the same group that controls Egypt. The Turkish consul general had to meet there, not just with Stevens but with other factions involved in this covert operation.
Now I’ll digress for a moment. It is reasonable to ask whether the Turkish consul general was setting Stevens up for a hit, like a classic mob-style hit. First, there is no dispute that there was surveillance done at 6:30 a.m. Next, consider that three hours before the first shot was fired, about 6:30 p.m. local time, some strange things were observed taking place near the compound. Military type vehicles began closing of the streets with trucks that had 50 caliber guns mounted on them. Checkpoints on the streets and at intersections were being quietly closed off around the compound. Nearby residents began going inside their homes. Anyone walking in the area got off the streets, like a scene from a movie in the Godfather series. It was obvious that the stage was being set for a strike against the compound. This alone reveals preplanning and coordination.
It’s also noteworthy to point out that the Turkish counsel general most likely passed through one or more of these checkpoints, or at least would have noticed that things were not right in the area. You must remember that just as Stevens was previously CIA working under diplomatic cover, the Turkish counsel general was his counterpart. It’s typical spy versus spy stuff.
Also consider this. One of the men stationed at the compound, a British national, left the compound at about 9:20 p.m., reportedly to get more phone cards. That’s right, phone cards, like you would buy at Walmart. Why? Because they men at the compound ran out of minutes. Just who do you think they were talking to that day to burn through the minutes, and why do you think they needed them at that exact time?
They were using the phones as a last and perhaps only line of communications to provide assessments of the strange things going on earlier. They knew that something was being planned and they were conveying that information – their observations to those who could assist them, in Tripoli and DC.
Based on these activities, it is clear that the men at the compound suspected that they were in trouble long before the first shot was ever fired. they were calling anyone who would listen, or who should have listened. We knew trouble brewing and no one responded in any meaningful way.
Could the man who left to buy more phone cards have known what was about to take place?
Well, it’s possible, but there is no indication of that.
Was the Turkish counsel general in on this, to set Stevens up?
Well, what have we heard from our government? Has anyone even bothered to interview him? What did he say? Don’t forget, this administration decided to handle this attack as a crime and not a terrorist attack. How long did it take for the FBI to be able to access the ‘crime scene’ after the attack? More importantly, what was left at the ‘crime scene’ to examine by the FBI due to this delay. Do you think the delay was accidental?
Do you know what was discussed, or the reason for the meeting between Stevens and the Turkish consul general?
Yes, I know some key points. First, keep in mind what this arms running operation was all about. It was to topple Assad and replace him with a Muslim Brotherhood leader. It was to destabilize Syria to advance the agenda of Saudi Arabia. They were using U.S. and NATO forces to do exactly that.
However, Assad is no Gaddafi, and there is no comparison between Assad’s army and the Libyan army. It would take much more than rebels inside Syria to topple Assad. There is no way on earth that the Syrian rebels, or Free Syrian Army, has the capability to accomplish this objective alone. It required U.S. assistance, arms and training.
Now, Turkey is a NATO ally. They were assisting the Obama-Clinton-Saudi plan to funnel weapons ultimately to Syria, but the primary staging areas for these weapons were in Turkey near the Syrian border. Visual surveillance by Russia, using satellites and other means amassed photographic documentation of the U.S. assisting the ‘anti-Assad rebels’ inside Turkey. They developed evidence of the U.S. training these rebels and assisting them into Syria to fight against Assad.
Think about this. What if surveillance images observed anti-Assad rebels being trained to handle and mount chemical weapons – gas shells – onto rockets? The process would be apparent and would obviously be detected by a number of visual indicators. Obviously, Syria wanted this to stop. By extension, so did Russia.
One aspect of the weapons plan was to set up a false flag operation to make it appear that Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. Imagine the outcry from the civilized world to the news that Assad ‘gassed’ his own people. That would be an invitation to NATO and the West to openly intervene. Don’t forget about the timing of all of this. Two months before the elections, and time was running out. The job of taking out Assad was not yet complete. Such an event would quickly advance this agenda. By this time, however, being caught and placed in a rather unenviable position between Russia and the U.S., the Turkish consul general was in a ‘CYA, clean-up’ mode, assuring that none of the chemical weapons that might have still been in Libya were headed for Turkey.
It is also important to understand that the covert weapons running operation was just about finished. An estimated 40 million pounds of weapons were already shipped from Libya, and things were winding down.
There was another issue as well, a very important and telling one. Seven members of the Iranian Red Crescent had been kidnapped or snatched from the streets of Benghazi on or about July 31, 2012. Again you must understand that virtually anyone walking on the streets of Benghazi not indigenous to the area are spies. Covert operatives, operating under various covers. From all nations.
Along with the message that the weapons running operation was compromised, the Iranians had good reason to suspect that the ‘Red Crescent workers’ were snatched by the CIA or with their assistance. Iran wanted them back. They were spies, and countries want their spies back! So part of the meeting was to address this, as there was pressure by Russia against a wavering Turkey to switch sides. Anyway, you’ll see how this ties in to the way the actual attack was executed.
Please continue.
So at 9:30 pm local time, the compound began to take on small arms fire. Based on all reports I’ve reviewed, there were three twelve-man attack teams armed with small arms, RPGs, and other sophisticated military style weapons. These were not run-of-the-mill street weapons, but military issued type weapons. The types of weapons alone scream that this was a preplanned attack.
Eyes on the area [author's note: satellites, surveillance drones] confirmed that two of these teams surrounded the villa and the annex. The third team was elsewhere, lying in wait. The two teams began their assault on the compound where Stevens was inside about an hour after the Turkish counsel general left. Remember, he had to pass the checkpoints after the meeting. Just keep that in mind.
Anyway, we all know now that there was an intense firefight that lasted nearly nine hours during which four Americans, Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Dougherty and Tyrone Woods were killed. And of course that attack was not over a video and there were no protests before the attack.
Now there are questions that are not being asked. The two well-armed ‘hit teams’ had the capability to reduce the compound and annex to rubble quickly. Why a protracted firefight? There are a couple of reasons.
First, what was the makeup of the ‘hit teams,’ or who were the attackers? We have verified that the attackers were a combination of members of Ansar al Sharia and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), but they were operating under the flag of Ansar al Sharia. Who is Ansar al Sharia? Iranian terrorists. They are a terrorist group that receives their training by and funding from Iran. Now think about this. Carefully consider the implications here. IRAN. It’s the elephant in the room no one wants to mention or talk about.
The attack on our ambassador and our people – Americans – was an attack by Iran. It was an attack at a nation-state level.
AQIM also assisted. They are indigenous to Africa and are extremely dangerous. AQIM is a very ‘elite’ and extremely well funded group, and very limited in number. Our last assessment suggests that there are only 400 or so members, but they are very influential across Africa and into South and Central America and Western Europe. Their importance and relevance will become evident shortly.
The reason that they did not just take out the compound and everything and everyone in it is that they were looking for their spies. Remember the Red Crescent workers? The Iranian spies? They suspected that they might be held at the annex. As such, they wanted to free them and did not want to risk killing them.
Oh, and there were others ‘missing’ as well. AQIM members. These were terrorists involved in drug running operations from the Tri-border (TBA) areas of South America through North Africa and into Western Europe. By the way, this is the way they made their money. Drugs sell at higher profits in Western Europe than elsewhere, so there is money to be made. The problem is that some of them got caught – snatched up in Benghazi and northeastern Libya.
Now regarding AQIM, this has a direct connection not only to South America, but also to Mexico and Mexican drug gangs. You think that what’s going on in Libya is just ‘over there,’ and far away from the U.S. and has nothing to do with our safety and security? Think again, but more on this in a bit.
There’s also another reason. The hit teams fully expected rescue teams from the U.S. to be dispatched to the compound. Certainly, calls for help went out. By waiting for the back-up or rescue forces, a surprise assault by the other ‘hit team’ team would have exposed our forces to possible causalities and turned the event into a much bigger event where the actual nature of the operation could be exposed to the world. Instead of being a cover-up for which they have yet to be held accountable, it would have been an international incident that would have exposed the entire affair.
So the Ansar al Sharia attack groups deliberately conducted a protracted assault on the compound. Just imagine, our men and even the bad guys never expected team Obama would leave our people twisting in the wind, fighting for their lives. That alone should speak volumes to every American.
As daylight approached, they had to wrap things up so they could disappear under the cover of darkness. Oh, and the crowds that are often cited by this administration, did form in the area as the attack progressed, much like a growing mob in riot. They provided the fog, or the cover, that permitted the attackers to escape amid the crowd.
You mentioned the missing Iranian Red Crescent workers and members of AQIM. Were they ever released or found?
Yes, and this is an extremely important part of this entire story. This reaches into the highest levels of our government. This is so very important that it must be addressed separately.
So the attack was first and the crowd came later. I noted that the administration said that there were protests going on at the Embassy in Cairo at the same time and they compared it to Benghazi.
Yes, that’s their cover story and they know that there is absolutely no comparison. This is one huge lie that is easily addressed and put out of its misery.
How soon did U.S. intelligence officials know who was responsible for the attack?
Almost immediately, if not concurrent with the attack. Every part of that area is under active aerial surveillance by the U.S. There was SIGINT or communication intercepts at the time of the attack. Then, there was even an admission by the attackers. Obama knew. Hillary knew. Clapper knew. Everyone knew, expect the American people. And you know what? The American media knew as well.
I heard a statement that they did not admit knowledge to avoid alerting the perpetrators.
Yes, it was said that Rice and others did not want to alert the ‘bad guys’ or tip their hand or some such nonsense, but did that mean that Susan Rice, for example, had to appear on national television and lie to every one of us, to the country? In my opinion, Rice took on the temporary job of propaganda minister for a day in exchange for a shot at Secretary of State in the future.
You are painting quite a dire picture.
It gets worse, much worse, and it involves real threats across the globe and even to us here in the United States. But it’s all because of our actions, the covert weapons running from Libya to Syria by way of Turkey at the direction of Barack Obama and his Saudi ‘handlers.’
FORTY THOUSAND men, women and children are dead in Syria as a direct result of this attempt at nation building, or tearing down Assad. There are four dead Americans. We are arming some of the very people who are killing our troops. Not only are we on the wrong side of this, we are actively pushing the world to the precipice of World War III.
We are engaged in a real war here with Iran and Syria and by extension, with Russia and China. And we are being lied to about it every step of the way, and the lies are getting worse, but so are the attempts to stop the truth from getting out.
What do you mean?
What do you think the recent directive issued by Obama, the one you wrote about ‘insider threats,’ is all about? Obama does not want the American people to know the truth about what is going on. He’s doubled down to stop leaks, like this. But you know what? He just might be too late, because we’re not done here. I’m not done talking, and there’s much more that needs to be exposed.
Douglas J. Hagmann and his son, Joe Hagmann host The Hagmann & Hagmann Report, a live Internet radio program broadcast each weeknight from 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET.
Douglas Hagmann, founder & director of the Northeast Intelligence Network, and a multi-state licensed private investigative agency. Doug began using his investigative skills and training to fight terrorism and increase public awareness through his website.
The condition in Syria continues to worsen by the day, and now this week it seems that the internet and all mobile communications have been cut off mysteriously.
The first suspect in these matters would be the government, as they maintain a strict control over all internet traffic and many remember just over a year or so ago when Egypt shut off the internet, prompting a massive public outcry.
However, the Syrian government denies any involvement, claiming that terrorists are responsible for the disruption in communications.
“Networking firm Renesys said the country’s connection protocols were unreachable, “effectively removing the country from the internet”.Local reports suggested that the internet had been down since early afternoon, and that telephone lines were only working intermittently. The Syrian government has blamed “terrorists” for the disconnection.”
Syria’s minister of information told a pro-government television station that”The terrorists targeted the internet lines, resulting in some regions being cut off”. Local activists have said that small outages of this nature have happened in the past, before military operations took place, but never before has an outage of this scale occurred.
Renesys, a US-based company which tracks internet connectivity worldwide, said on its blog: “In the global routing table, all 84 of Syria’s IP address blocks have become unreachable.”
“The Syrian Internet is only about 2 percent the size of Egypt’s Internet, it’s a much smaller place,” said Jim Cowie, chief technology officer and co-founder of Renesys. “It’s extremely plausible someone could do this by turning off the Internet, or that it’s collateral damage of someone turning off the power in critical facilities.”
The graph below was posted by another online monitoring firm called Akamai:
The graph shows an instant cut off for all communications across the board around 10:30am, which was 12:26 p.m. local time. As this outage takes place the battle is still raging between the Syrian government, western backed rebels, and the innocent people of Syrian who are caught in the middle.
J.G. Vibes is the author of an 87 chapter counter culture textbook called Alchemy of the Modern Renaissance, a staff writer and reporter for The Intel Hub and host of a show called Voluntary Hippie Radio.
You can keep up with his work, which includes free podcasts, free e-books & free audiobooks at his website www.aotmr.com
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One of the most morally offensive things about society as we know it today, all across the world, is the different rules that exist for different people based on their political and social status.
It is no secret that it is the worst among us who are attracted to positions of power, yet those who rule over the populations of the world continue to claim the moral high ground and hide in a cloak of false legitimacy.
This week in Sweden, a politician named Lars Isovaara has come under media scrutiny after a binge drinking episode where he called the police on a group of immigrants who helped him back into his wheelchair when he fell down drunk on the sidewalk while on his way home. In reality, the politician had left his things at the bar in his stupor and he also seems to have some deep seeded animosity towards immigrants, which may be the reason behind the call to police.
Much to his dismay one of the police who arrived on the scene was actually an immigrant, and they were treated very harshly by him as a result. The police reported that Isovaara was insulting the officer that he took issue with, even spitting at him and making growling noises.
The government was covering up for him until word came from a local bar that they had found his bag in their establishment just after he left. Now Isovaara is even loosing the support of some of his closest allies.
“Isovaara’s version of the story was put in doubt when tabloid Expressen revealed a new timeline of events. They report that Isovaara called the police at 2:30am on Wednesday to report being robbed, allegedly by two “unknown, immigrant-background men”, in an encounter that made him fall out of his wheelchair.
Isovaara had been on his way back to his overnight quarters at the Swedish parliament building from a restaurant. Staff there told Expressen they had found his bag at 2.10am, a full 20 minutes before the alleged robbery.
Police called to the scene then witnessed Isovaar “making pig noises” and “spitting in contempt” at the guard, who reportedly had an immigrant background, prompting the officers to report the MP for racist abuse. The party quickly sprang to Isovaara’s defence, saying the witnesses must have mistaken his sobs for grunts. As news of the bag find broke, however, they altered their tune.”
This is just the most recent and interesting situation where a European politician has been in the news for acting this way towards immigrants.
Unfortunately, many people don’t understand the true nature of the European Union or its architects so they misdirect their anger at their neighbors instead of directing where it belongs. Additionally, politicians like Isovaara take advantage of this by using immigrants as scapegoats for their own transgressions.
This divide and rule taking place between immigrants and locally born people is becoming more and more prevalent in the European Union where central bankers and central planners have created a perfect storm of debt, poverty and fascist bureaucracy. The bankers and politicians are the ones who benefit from it and they are the ones to blame, not random working people who happen to be born outside of an arbitrary geographical territory that was charted by aristocrats centuries ago.
Looking even deeper we can see how politicians pretend to be these perfectly boring people in the public arena, so much so that they can decide what other people can do with their own bodies and their own money. Yet in private these politicians are just as messed up in the head as the people that they complain about, if not more so. Actually, definetly more so.
J.G. Vibes is the author of an 87 chapter counter culture textbook called Alchemy of the Modern Renaissance, a staff writer and reporter for The Intel Hub and host of a show called Voluntary Hippie Radio.
You can keep up with his work, which includes free podcasts, free e-books & free audiobooks at his website www.aotmr.com
We believe that the world has reached a turning point as the corporate funded and controlled mainline media has become obsolete as humans are now seeking the truth. Intellihub.com™ strives and will continue to uphold it’s duties to inform humanity of what is really taking place in the world around them. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
The United States is clearly in an advanced state of decline. Many people around the world (and even inside America) rejoice at this, but not me. I mourn for the country that I was born in and that I still love. Yes, the United States has never been perfect, but the Republic that our Founding Fathers started truly has been a light to the rest of the world in a lot of ways over the centuries. Unfortunately, our foundations are badly rotting and our nation is collapsing all around us. Many Americans like to think that the United States is greater today than it has ever been before, but the truth is that America is like a patient that has stage 4 cancer that has spread to almost every area of the body. Our nation is being destroyed in thousands of different ways, and more distressing news emerges with each passing day. This article will mainly focus on the economic decline of America, but much could also be said about our social, political, moral and spiritual decline as well. We are simply not the same country that we used to be. Americans are proud, selfish, greedy, arrogant, ungrateful, treacherous and completely addicted to entertainment and pleasure. Our country is literally falling apart all around us, but most Americans are so plugged into entertainment that they can’t even be bothered to notice what is happening. Most Americans seem to assume that we will always have endless prosperity just because of who we are, but unfortunately that simply is not true. We inherited the greatest economic machine the world has ever seen and we have wrecked it, and now a very painful day of reckoning is approaching. But most people will not understand until it is too late.
The following are 34 signs that America is in decline…
#1 According to the World Bank, U.S. GDP accounted for 31.8 percent of all global economic activity in 2001. That number dropped to 21.6 percent in 2011. That is not just a decline – that is a freefall. Just check out the chart in this article.
#2 According to The Economist, the United States was the best place in the world to be born into back in 1988. Today, the United States is only tied for 16th place.
#3 The United States has fallen in the global economic competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum for four years in a row.
#4 According to the Wall Street Journal, of the 40 biggest publicly traded corporate spenders, half of them plan to reduce capital expenditures in coming months.
#5 More than three times as many new homes were sold in the United States in 2005 as will be sold in 2012.
#6 America once had the greatest manufacturing cities on the face of the earth. Now many of our formerly great manufacturing cities have degenerated into festering hellholes. For example, the city of Detroit is on the verge of financial collapse, and one state lawmaker is now saying that “dissolving Detroit” should be looked at as an option.
#7 In 2007, the unemployment rate for the 20 to 29 age bracket was about 6.5 percent. Today, the unemployment rate for that same age group is about 13 percent.
#9 If you can believe it, approximately one out of every four American workers makes 10 dollars an hour or less.
#10 Sadly, 60 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were mid-wage jobs, but 58 percent of the jobs created since then have been low wage jobs.
#11 Median household income in America has fallen for four consecutive years. Overall, it has declined by over $4000 during that time span.
#12 The U.S. trade deficit with China during 2011 was 28 times larger than it was back in 1990.
#13 Incredibly, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States have been shut down since 2001. During 2010, manufacturing facilities were shutting down at the rate of 23 per day. How can anyone say that “things are getting better” when our economic infrastructure is being absolutely gutted?
#14 Back in early 2005, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was less than 2 dollars a gallon. During 2012, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has been $3.63.
#15 In 1999, 64.1 percent of all Americans were covered by employment-based health insurance. Today, only 55.1 percent are covered by employment-based health insurance.
#16 As I have written about previously, 61 percent of all Americans were “middle income” back in 1971 according to the Pew Research Center. Today, only 51 percent of all Americans are “middle income”.
#17 There are now 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.
#18 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate for children living in the United States is about 22 percent.
#19 Back in 1983, the bottom 95 percent of all income earners in the United States had 62 cents of debt for every dollar that they earned. By 2007, that figure had soared to $1.48.
#20 Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago.
#21 Total credit card debt in the United States is now more than 8 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.
#22 The value of the U.S. dollar has declined by more than 96 percent since the Federal Reserve was first created.
#24 Back in 1950, 78 percent of all households in the United States contained a married couple. Today, that number has declined to 48 percent.
#25 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives direct monetary benefits from the federal government. Back in 1983, less than a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.
#26 In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7 percent of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.
#27 In November 2008, 30.8 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, 47.1 million Americans are on food stamps.
#29 As I wrote about the other day, according to one calculation the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of “Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”
#30 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a whole lot worse. It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.
#31 In 2001, the U.S. national debt was less than 6 trillion dollars. Today, it is over 16 trillion dollars and it is increasing by more than 100 million dollars every single hour.
#32 The U.S. national debt is now more than 23 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.
#33 According to a PBS report from earlier this year, U.S. households that make $13,000 or less per year spend 9 percent of their incomes on lottery tickets. Could that possibly be accurate? Are people really that foolish?
#34 As the U.S. economy has declined, the American people have been downing more antidepressants and other prescription drugs than ever before. In fact, the American people spent 60 billion dollars more on prescription drugs in 2010 than they did in 2005.
So what are our “leaders” doing about all of this?
Not much.
They just continue to insist that everything is “just fine”.
Sadly, the truth is that they live in a world that is very different from most of the rest of us.
When was the last time you got to take a 20 day vacation?
And most of our “leaders” have no idea what it is like to struggle from month to month on a paycheck.
Overall, more than half of the members of Congress are millionaires. We are led by wealthy men who are serving the interests of other wealthy men.
But the problem with our system is not limited to the president and the members of Congress. The truth is that the political system in America has become a colossal beast that just continues to grow no matter who is in power. The political establishment of both parties is totally dependent on this beast, and they will continue to feed it and serve it because it has been very good to them. The following is from an outstanding article by Steve McCann…
The Republican and Democratic political establishments are made up of the following:
1) many current and nearly all retired national office holders whose livelihood and narcissistic demands depends upon fealty to Party and access to government largesse;
2) the majority of the media elite, including pundits, editors, writers and television news personalities based in Washington and New York whose proximity to power and access is vital to their continued standard of living;
3) academia, numerous think-tanks, so-called non-government organizations, and lobbyists who fasten onto those in the administration and Congress for employment, grants, favorable legislation and ego-gratification;
4) the reliable deep pocket political contributors and political consultants whose future is irrevocably tied to the political machinery of the Party; and
5) the crony capitalists, i.e. leaders of the corporate and financial community as well as unions whose entities are dependent on or subject to government oversight and/or benevolence .
Do you think that there is any chance that this insidious system will be uprooted any time soon?
Of course not.
We will continue on the same path that we are on right now and America will continue to decline.
Many will rejoice as America falls, but I will not.
I will mourn for a mighty Republic that has fallen and for a dream that has been lost.
My Fox Detroit has reported that a teacher in South Lyon, Michigan has been suspended for allowing a student in her class play a “pro-gay marriage” song last Wednesday.
Susan Johnson, an eighth grade performing arts teacher at Centennial Middle School, was asked by a student if he could play the song Same Love by rapper Ben Maclemore. Johnson asked the student questions about the song to ensure that it didn’t include violence or profanity, and he said that it did not, so she allowed it. Once Johnson realized the song’s topic matter, she thought that it was something her students could learn from. However, not everyone agreed. Another student went to the school office and complained.
Johnson stated:
“This is one of the things in my school that we’re trying to practice and we’re trying to instill in our students is tolerance to diversity.”
Johnson was initially told that she was suspended indefinitely without pay, but in a closed door meeting later, the principal and assistant superintendent informed her that her suspension is only three days, two of them without pay. Johnson says she was “paralyzed” and “very disappointed in the bias, the bigotry that I feel that they’re really hiding behind.”
“I really love my kids and I never want to hurt them, but I also know that there’s a lot of bullying and there’s a lot of gay bashing and racial issues going on in our country and I want the kids to feel comfortable in my class no matter who they are.”
The paperwork that Johnson received from the school stated that the song had controversial content (homosexuality, religion, political views and a sexual slur), and that Johnson should have asked permission first. The school has refused to comment. Assistant Superintendent Melissa Baker said “No one is going to have a comment for you. We don’t go on camera here in South Lyon.”
Johnson told Fox Detroit that the ACLU and the LGBT support group called Affirmation are involved.
Brian Terrell, co-coordination of the group Voices for Creative Nonviolence, is scheduled to report to a Federal Prison in Yankton, S.D for protesting drones outside of Whiteman Air Force Base.
At my sentencing I told the judge:
“Each of the government’s witnesses, all of them Air Force police personnel, testified that participants in this protest were nonviolent, respectful and peaceable in assembling at Whiteman Air Force Base, a government installation, to petition that government for redress of a grievance, demanding that the remote control killing carried out daily from Whiteman cease. They testified that at no time, before or during our protest, did they perceive us as a threat.
“Our expert witnesses testified that our behavior was consistent with the activities that the drafters of the First Amendment intended to be protected, not persecuted, by the government. The order and security of the base would not have been compromised had the security police allowed us to proceed to the headquarters to deliver our petition. No testimony to the contrary was offered this court.
“Instead of planning to accommodate a constitutionally protected peaceable assembly, however, the Air Force chose intimidation and conspired to deprive us of the rights they are sworn to protect. We learned from government witnesses that the phalanx of goose-stepping riot police is a ‘Confrontation Management Team,’ deployed only in the case of preannounced events. Whiteman security did not call out the Team to defend the base but to intimidate citizens engaged in lawful activities.”
Back on April 15th, about 40 people, mostly from the Kansas City area, went to Whiteman Air Force Base and held a short rally outside the gates on a public right of way. We had a petition — an indictment we called it — that listed the laws that drones are violating and the damage they are doing. We took that to the gate and were stopped. Three of us asked directions to deliver the petition and were immediately put inhandcuffs. About 40 military police in full riot gear appeared (video) and did a choreographed dance including high kicks and grunts and beating their shields, two steps forward and one step back, to get rid of the rest of the U.S. citizens, who were acting legally under the First Amendment.
For a while now, especially since the arrival of YouTube ordinary citizens have been attempting to make police accountable for their actions by videoing them. Many times police officers do not have a problem being videoed. However the State of Illinois does not like their officers being videoed and sought to impose a penalty of up to 15 years in prison tied to a 50-year-old anti-eavesdropping law. On Monday that was upheld a lower court’s ruling that the 50-year-old law was unconstitutional and violated the First Amendment rights of individuals who record police officers in public.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday delivered another blow to a 50-year-old anti-eavesdropping law in Illinois, choosing to let stand a lower court finding that key parts of the hotly debated law run counter to constitutional protections of free speech.
In that critical lower-court ruling in May, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the law – one of the toughest of its kind in the country – violates the First Amendment when used against those who record police officers doing their jobs in public.
To bring this into perspective it was not questionable whether or not it was ok for citizens to video police officers actions when Rodney King was attacked, was it? Of course not. Everyone knew it was perfectly legal, even important to the legal proceedings.
In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Rodney King incident, Joel Rubin wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Police now work in a YouTube world in which cellphones double as cameras, news helicopters transmit close-up footage of unfolding police pursuits, and surveillance cameras capture arrests or shootings. Police officials are increasingly recording their officers. Compared to the cops who beat King, officers these days hit the streets with a new reality ingrained in their minds: Someone is always watching.”
The King incident brought new awareness to how police officers are to conduct themselves. In fact LAPD Sgt. Heather Fungaroli told new recruits, “I don’t care if you’re in a bathroom taking care of your personal business…whatever you do, assume it will be caught on video.”
However, it wasn’t until 2007 that recording police officers became an issue. On the evening of October 1, Simon Glik was walking by the Boston Common we he witnessed three police officers attempting to arrest a man using what he thought was excessive force. As soon as he heard a bystander yelling at the police that they were hurting the man and demanding that they stop, Glik pulled out his cell phone and began recording.
As soon as the man was subdued, one of the officers turned to Glik and told him that he thought he had taken enough pictures. Gilk repolied that he had videoed the event and that he witnessed the officer punch the man. It was then that the officer arrested Gilk, put him in handcuffs, and charged him with violating Massachusetts’ wiretap law, disturbing the peace, and aiding in the escape of a prisoner! Yes, you read those charges correctly.
Gilk attempted to handle the situation by filing an internal affairs complaint. This did nothing. So in February of 2010 Glik filed a civil rights action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He claimed that his First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated by the officers. Naturally the three officers tried to quash the action, but the judge in the case threw out their request and ruled that Glik’s “First Amendment right publicly to record the activities of police officers on public business is established.”
Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting “the free discussion of governmental affairs.” This is particularly true of law enforcement officials who are granted substantial discretion that may be misused to deprive individuals of their liberties…
We conclude, based on the facts alleged, that Glik was exercising clearly-established First Amendment rights in filming the officers in a public space, and that his clearly-established Fourth Amendment rights were violated by his arrest without probable cause.
There was also the case of Christopher Sharp in May of 2010 and in that incident, which had a similar outcome to Glik’s except in the case of Sharp, the U.S. Department of Justice weighed in on the case by filing a statement of interest, which read:
This litigation presents constitutional questions of great moment in this digital age: whether private citizens have a First Amendment right to record police officers in the public discharge of their duties, and whether officers violate citizens’ Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights when they seize and destroy such recordings without a warrant or due process. The United States urges this Court to answer both of those questions in the affirmative. The right to record police officers while performing duties in a public place, as well as the right to be protected from the warrantless seizure and destruction of those recordings, are not only required by the Constitution. They are consistent with our fundamental notions of liberty, promote the accountability of our governmental officers, and instill public confidence in the police officers who serve us daily.
Obviously lower level courts and even a Justice Department backing, in an Obama administration, concluded that there was nothing criminal about citizens videoing police officers. Officers are not above the law. Their role is to be servants of the citizens, not tyrannical thugs. It seems many police officers think they are somehow free to video a citizens every move with surveillance cameras in their cars, at their buildings and out in the open, but they do not want citizens recording them.
Recording of police officers violates no one’s rights. In ensures the privacy rights of both officers and citizens. It may be annoying, but that’s just tough. Many things about “free speech” can be annoying and even disagreeable, but that doesn’t mean that people who disagree with you are not allowed to speak.
The ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court blocking Illinois’ unconstitutional law and kicking it back to the lower court should be clear enough that this should never come up again, but it will. Liberals and tyrants will not rest until the freedoms of the people are thoroughly cast under foot and trampled upon. Therefore, we must be ever vigilant against them.
Our slavery is ingenious because it’s so very subtle. Most people not only don’t see (much less feel) their shackles – they get angry when someone calls attention to them. Most people, in other words, still imagine themselves to be free. This despite the obvious fact that they must first beg – and obtain – permission before they may exercise any of their former natural rights.
Even the elemental right to choose your spouse, for instance, is no longer a natural right; the state demands the couple seek its permission to marry. Exactly as feudal lords once demanded of their serfs. And serfs we have become.
One reason to do it officially – that is, to beg the state’s permission – is simply to have the legal standing in case, for example, your spouse falls ill. An officially anointed husband (or wife) has specific legal rights that a non-sanctioned (by the state) “partner” does not. And of course, there is the issue of taxes and the disposition of property following the death of a spouse.
The concealed carry handgun permit is exactly similar to the marriage permit. They are both usurpations of natural rights in that they force you to beg permission to exercise your (former) natural rights – and strictly define and delimit how you may exercise these ex-rights. It is the same as regards now-conditional property rights, the former right to travel freely, to speak (and even write) freely… and on and on. These things are now privileges that require permission.
As noxious as all that is, the alternative is even worse: Fail to get permission and your rights disappearcompletely, insofar as any obligation of the state to respect or even acknowledge them. To put a finer point on it, you can expect to be punished for any attempt to exercise your former natural rights.
They not only get you coming and going – they got you before you got going.
If your wife is severely injured or falls seriously ill, for instance, and has been taken to a hospital you have no legal standing to take decisions as regards her treatment – if you are not legally married in the eyes of the state. You may have exchanged vows – you may have done so in the presence of witnesses and clergy. Irrelevant – as a matter of law – absent the state’s permission slip. In which case, if your spouse is seriously ill and cannot make her wishes known, the wishes of her family – as defined by law, which means, her parents or other next of kin – take precedence over your wishes. And if there is no “legal” family – then the wishes of the state will decide. You are nothing more than a bystander. You don’t even have the right to see her in her room. If her father – or the doctor – does not like you, he may legally prevent you from seeing “your” wife – because technically, you are not her husband.
Thus, people beg the state’s permission. Much worse, they have accepted this as normal and reasonable. They do not take umbrage – or even become mildly annoyed. Many – all too many – take pride in having begged for (and received) their permission slips. In having acquired a birth certificate (of ownership) for their children. A driver’s license, a Social Security number…. and so on.
Guns: At one time – and still within living memory – the natural right to possess and bear (carry, in modern terms) a firearm was explicitly and implicitly acknowledged and respected. Not only was there no law limiting any citizen’s right to possess and carry, it was taken as agiven that free men need no permission to possess and bear arms. Before November 1963, one could even order a gun through the mails and have it delivered directly to one’s home. After November, 1963, prior restraint began to be exercised against everyone because of the actions of one. The former natural right to possess a firearm became a conditional privilege – requiring a permission slip . If one wished to bear – that is, carry – the firearm beyond the borders of one’s home, a permit was required.
Ignore “the law” – and get caught exercising your natural right to carry a weapon on your person without having made the proper supplications first – and you will discover exactly how much credence the state gives your ex-rights. You will be charged as a criminal – for acting as a free man.
Because freedom is illegal.
By definition. A child must ask permission of its parents. He is not free. A bondsman must ask permission of his master; he is not free. Anyone who must ask permission before he is permitted to act is not – cannot – be free.
As with the practical necessity of obtaining the state’s permission/sanction to wed whom you wish and have the union respected (somewhat) under the law – or to possess/carry a firearm - it has become a practical necessity to – in effect – concede that you have no rights in order to be permitted the conditional use of any of them. You cannot operate – or even own – a car without the requisite permission slip. You may not legally even make improvements to “your” home without first obtaining a by-your-leave. Your food must be approved. You may only transact business if you have permission to do so – and only under certain conditions. It is not possible to live anymore without first having begged permission.
This is the evil genius of the system. It gets people to acknowledge that they have no rights by getting them to beg permission to exercise them.
For if you have a right to something, then by definition you do not require permission to exercise that right. And more – the state (organized force) has no standing – under natural law – to use force to limit the exercise of that right in any way whatsoever. But the reverse is just as true. By having conceded that you need to beg permission, you become party to a binding legal contract – whether you see it that way or not is immaterial.
You have accepted the state’s rights – by giving up yours.
The satanic brilliance of the system we live under is that it has transformed all of our former natural rights into conditional privileges – and we have signed on the dotted line. Given our consent – by accepting the premise. The most vicious part of this devil’s deal is that few people are even aware of the flim-flam. They actually feel empowered when, for example, they obtain a CC permit. Or a permit to exercise their ex-right to free speech (in a “free speech zone,” of course).
The system leaves free men but one alternative – to act as free men and damn the state to hell. This of course, is no easy thing. In fact, it is a very hard – a very dangerous thing. As it was for the lone hero who stood in front of that tank in Tiananmen Square back in 1989. As it was for the White Rose (just kids, really) resistance in Nazi Germany. They painted slogans like “Freedom!” on the walls – and paid for it with their lives.
Free men do not beg permission. They insist that their rights be respected. Come what may.
But before anyone can insist that his rights be respected, he must understand that his rights exist because he exists. Not because his rights were written on a document. Not because the state acknowledges them formally. Rights just are. And once he has such understanding, he will resent like hell ever having to ask permission to exercise them.
Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author who has written for the Detroit News and Free Press, Investors Business Daily, The American Spectator, National Review, The Chicago Tribune and Wall Street Journal. His books include Road Hogs (2011) and Automotive Atrocities (2004). His next book, “The Politics of Driving,” is scheduled for release in 2012. Visit his web site at Eric Peters Autos.
Frank Drover is a co-editor and contributor for The Daily Sheeple, an alternative media hub for leading headlines, head lies, opinion, and commentary. Wake the flock up!
This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to www.TheDailySheeple.com.
Can you prevent getting a bout of flu or a winter vomiting bug as its so inelegantly called here in the UK? Well, not entirely, but here’s a hell of a lot you can do to minimise your chances of getting either of these very common, debilitating and for those who are very young or fighting other illnesses, sometimes fatal conditions. Firstly, realise that you can’t prevent others from walking around and happily sharing their germs with everyone else including you, it’s your actions that make the difference not theirs.
On returning home, wash your hands before going about your normal business.
Now, a few facts for you:
The toilet seat is not the most germ infested place in the house
The bathroom door handle is worse
The telephone handset is worse still
The computer keyboard is even worse
The TV remote has more germs on it than any other item in a home cleaned to a reasonable standard…
BUT, the very worst thing is…..I’ll tell you in a minute.
By giving these items a quick once over with a baby wipe every day, or more often if someone in the house already has a cold, you cut your chances of not only catching a cold or flu but of getting many of the gastrointestinal viruses that do the rounds at this time of year.
When you’re out and about, there are some quite obvious germ hotspots you can easily avoid. In public washrooms if you have to open a door after washing your hands, go right down to the bottom of the bar handle, most people grab the middle and if they have a cold, or worse haven’t washed their hands after using the facilities, God knows what you are getting onto your nice clean hands. For regular handles keep a tissue in your pocket and use that as a barrier between your hand and the handle.
In lifts, push the button with your knuckle, that way if you touch your face with your fingertips you are less likely to transfer germs, and avoid holding onto the rails or grab bars if possible. If you are in an elevator with someone who has a cold, turn away from them, if the germs don’t get into you, you don’t get a cold. Simple. On public transport, if you can keep you head tilted slightly downwards you are less likely to get a million germs sneezed into your face, and you are more likely to scratch your face through the scarf, again stopping germ transfer. A scarf, even a very lightweight one in front of your nose and mouth is a very effective barrier.
As I said, if the germs don’t get into you, you don’t get sick and other than getting directly coughed and sneezed on it’s your hands that transfer most germs from the outside to the inside of your body. WASH THEM OFTEN. That single action, if employed routinely by everyone would massively diminish the amount of germs that are passed from person to person.
Cold and flu viruses can live on hard surfaces for up to 72 hours and on soft surfaces for up to 24 hours, that’s a long time, and at any point during that time you get those germs onto your hands, and then touch your nose or mouth you are effectively giving these unwanted passengers a lift right to your respiratory system. Gastrointestinal viruses can survive quite well for even longer periods.
Okay, I said I’d tell you what the dirtiest thing is…it’s money, paper money. Paper money has millions more germs on it than its nearest rival the TV remote. Every person that has touched that money has either taken some germs off it, added some germs to it or both. The shop assistant with a streaming cold, the woman he handed it to with an upset stomach, the person who doesn’t wash their hands after using the bathroom, little nephew Tommy who you sent it to in a birthday card, remnants of a discarded McMeal, dog faeces and cat pee when Tommy dropped it on the floor showing his friends in the street.
Everywhere that note has been is represented on its surface. Of course some bugs will die, but some will be inside your purse and wallet, in your jeans pocket, and on your skin way before they die, and all of them have the possibility of causing illness. Some even like the nice cosy sometimes damp paper and will breed on it quite happily. Others are spores that can live for 70 days on almost any surface. These can cause many illnesses including Clostridium difficile, a very nasty and sometimes life threatening condition causing chronic diarrhoea. Now obviously there is no avoiding this issue, especially for those of us that prefer cash to plastic. What you can do however is minimise your risk. Don’t touch your face with your bare hands after touching paper money, wash your hands or use sanitizer. In winter, wear your gloves, have a couple of pairs and wash them frequently. Wipe the inside of your money purse at least once a week.
The problem with paper money is far worse abroad and warning about this is part of the welcoming chat on arriving at many resorts. Most people traveling in the Middle East don’t contract stomach upsets from the food or water, it’s from the money. As I said it’s so bad the travel reps mention it at the welcome meeting! I am incredibly fussy over handling paper money and hand hygiene when I am abroad, employing plastic ziplock bags, spray sanitizer and even the ice box in my room to kill off bugs that my system is not used to and that frequently cause quite severe illness in foreign travellers.
I admit I am not so fussy in the UK, I don’t bother with the plastic bag and I don’t freeze my notes. I still use the hand sanitizer and I use an antibacterial wipe on the inside of my money purse once a week, I still wash my hands as soon as possible after using a shop, any shop, any form of public transport, and every time I have used an elevator. Some will think this is over the top, I can see why, but what I will tell you is I have had two bouts of flu in my adult life and no gastro issues that I can recall. My child is wonderfully healthy and it is all down primarily to one simple thing.
HAND HYGIENE
Take control this flu season, wash your hands often, use sanitizer when you can’t get to soap and water. Teach your family and anyone else who will listen the benefits of hand hygiene and give yourself a decent chance of avoiding flu and winter stomach bugs this year.
FOOTNOTE
When travelling abroad putting the (paper money)notes in a ziplock bag, spraying them with sanitizer whilst in the bag and stuffing them in the icebox of the mini fridge in your room seems to work. For those having backpacker type vacations where this may be difficult carry a pack of baby wipes and hand sanitizer about you at all times and use them both religiously after handling money, and regularly throughout the day. Wipe all cutlery before use if you have ANY doubt about the place you are eating in. When in the Middle East, North Africa or the Indian sub-continent remember the differences in culture and hygiene standards. These regions have particularly virulent bacteria and viruses in the general population that your system will not cope with and that causes very serious illnesses in travelers on a very regular basis. NEVER let young children or anyone with any immunity issues handle paper money in these regions. In addition to the usual Delhi Belly/Montezuma’s Revenge type issues parasitic illnesses abound and often appear a couple of weeks after exposure leading to hospitalization on your return.
Lizzie Bennett retired from her job as a senior operating department practitioner in the UK earlier this year. Her field was trauma and accident and emergency and she has served on major catastrophe teams around the UK. Lizzie publishes Medically Speaking on the topic of preparedness.
North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un has been named “The Sexiest Man Alive”
What started as a joke by humor web site The Onion turned into major news that swept across China when the faux story was picked up by the People’s Daily, a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party.
The Onion is proud to announce that North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un, 29, has officially been named the newspaper’s Sexiest Man Alive for the year 2012.
With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman’s dream come true. Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper’s editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile.
“He has that rare ability to somehow be completely adorable and completely macho at the same time,” Onion Style and Entertainment editor Marissa Blake-Zweibel said. “And that’s the quality that makes him the sort of man women want, and men want to be. He’s a real hunk with real intensity who also knows how to cut loose and let his hair down.”
The Chicago Tribune’s Adam Minter says, “the Onion’s satire was perfectly engineered to appeal to editorial biases.”
So perfect was the ruse, that an online editor for the People’s Daily is still in denial about the satire:
“It was an objective report; the website did name him the sexiest man,” an online editor from the English-language version of People.com.cn, the website of People’s Daily, said yesterday, declining to be named.
“It is a fact.”
While this isn’t the first time a news report has been lost in translation, one can’t help but laugh.
The Chinese propaganda machine must have been overcome with emotion and joy, throwing logic to the wind, when an American news agency was seen as providing support for a budding communist dictator.
Frank Drover is a co-editor and contributor for The Daily Sheeple, an alternative media hub for leading headlines, head lies, opinion, and commentary. Wake the flock up!
This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to www.TheDailySheeple.com.
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