By William N. Grigg

The U.S. Government failed to deter them through threats of criminal prosecution, and clumsy attempts to intimidate their families. Now four former Air Force drone operators-turned-whistleblowers have had their credit cards and bank accounts frozen, according to human rights attorney Jesselyn Radack.

“My drone operators went public this week and now their credit cards and bank accounts are frozen,” Radack lamented on her Twitter feed (the spelling of her post has been conventionalized). This was done despite the fact that none of them has been charged with a criminal offense – but this is a trivial formality in the increasingly Sovietesque American National Security State.

Michael Haas, Brandon Bryant, Cian Westmoreland and Stephen Lewis, who served as drone operators in the US Air Force, have gone public with detailed accounts of the widespread corruption and institutionalized indifference to civilian casualties that characterize the program. Some of those disclosures were made in the recent documentary Drone; additional details have been provided in an open letter from the whistleblowers to President Obama, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, and CIA Director John Brennan.

“We are former Air Force service members,” the letter begins. “We joined the Air Force to protect American lives and to protect our Constitution. We came to the realization that the innocent civilians we were killing only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS, while also serving as a fundamental recruiting tool similar to Guantanamo Bay. This administration and its predecessors have built a drone program that is one of the most devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world.”

Elsewhere the former drone operators have described how their colleagues dismissed children as “fun-sized terrorists” and compared killing them to “cutting the grass before it grows too long.” Children who live in countries targeted by the drone program are in a state of constant terror, according to Westmoreland: “There are 15-year-olds growing up who have not lived a day without drones overhead, but you also have expats who are watching what’s going on in their home countries and seeing regularly the violations that are happening there, and that is something that could radicalize them.”

By reliable estimates, ninety percent of those killed in drone strikes are entirely harmless people, making the program a singularly effective method of producing anti-American terrorism. “We kill four and create ten,” Bryant said during a November 19 press conference, referring to potential terrorists. “If you kill someone’s father, uncle or brother who had nothing to do with anything, their families are going to want revenge.”

Haas explained that the institutional culture of the drone program emphasized and encouraged the dehumanization of the targeted populations. “There was a much more detached outlook about who these people were we were monitoring,” he recalled. “Shooting was something to be lauded and something we should strive for.”

Unable to repress his conscience or choke down his moral disgust, Haas took refuge in alcohol and drug abuse, which he says is predictably commonplace among drone operators. At least a half-dozen members of his unit were using bath salts and could be found “impaired” while on duty, Haas testifies.

Among the burdens Bryant now bears is the knowledge that he participated in the mission that killed a fellow U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. Identified as a radical cleric and accused of offering material support for al-Qaeda, al-Awlaki was executed by a drone strike in Yemen. His 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, was killed in a separate drone strike a few weeks later while sitting down to dinner at the home of a family friend. Asked about the killing of a native-born U.S. citizen – who, at age 16, was legally still a child – former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs appeared to justify that act by blaming it on the irresponsibility of the innocent child’s father.

As Bryant points out, as a matter of law the elder al-Awlaki was innocent, as well.

“We were told that al-Awlaki deserved to die, he deserved to be killed as a traitor, but article 3 of section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states that even a traitor deserves a fair trial in front of a jury of his peers,” Bryant notes, lamenting that his role in the “targeted killing” of a U.S. citizen without a trial was a violation of his constitutional oath.

Read entire article: http://www.activistpost.com/2015/11/drone-pilots-have-bank-accounts-and-credit-cards-frozen-by-feds-for-exposing-us-murder.html?

By Brandon Turbeville

The Syrian crisis has just seen a drastic escalation in the potential for what could essentially turn into World War 3 with the Turkish military’s downing of a Russian jet over Syria under the guise of protecting Turkish airspace.

The Turks have argued that the Russian jet violated Turkish airspace, a claim which the Russians deny. While some evidence exists suggesting that the plane was indeed within Turkish airspace (only 9 seconds worth of traveling time if the coordinates are indeed correct), the Russian Defense Ministry has stated that “We are looking into the circumstances of the crash of the Russian jet. The Ministry of Defense would like to stress that the plane was over the Syrian territory throughout the flight.” At this point, the Russians are responding with cool and level heads. But, if the evidence available suggests that the jet was indeed safely within Syrian air space, it is unclear what repercussions face the Turks … but there will undoubtedly be repercussions.

Reports suggest that death squad fighters on the ground began firing at the soldiers on their way down, suggesting that the dead Russian soldier may have been killed before he ever reached the ground. The status of the other pilot is not yet confirmed but it is clear that the jihadists have either killed, captured, or are intent on doing both to him in the very near future.

Russian President Vladmir Putin has since labeled the downing of the jet as a “stab in the back by accomplices of terrorism” and that is exactly what it is.

Now, an emergency meeting of NATO has been called by Turkey. “The aim of this extraordinary NAC meeting is for Turkey to inform allies about the downing of a Russian airplane,” said Carmen Romero, NATO’s deputy spokesperson.

Turkey’s actions come as Russian and Syrian forces continue their march across Northern Syria and Aleppo and as terrorist targets in places like Raqqa are finally being destroyed from the air.

While the attack on the Russian jet shows, to some extent, the lengths to which NATO and particularly Turkey’s Erdogan will go to defend and support ISIS terrorists, we have now entered frightening new territory when NATO is willing to risk nuclear war over geopolitical interests and Neolithic savages in Syria.

Turkey’s undying support for ISIS and other related terror organizations should also be given honorable mention in the discussion of the possibility of war between the Russian and NATO alliance since it was Turkey who has attempted to fire the first shot of World War 3. Turkey has long been known as one of the most fervent supporters of terror in Syria since the beginning of the crisis. It has consistently allowed its territory to be used as a staging ground for ISIS, Nusra, and others to enter Syria for the purpose of destroying the secular government of Bashar al-Assad.

Read entire article: http://www.activistpost.com/2015/11/is-turkey-the-real-isis.html?

By Dylan Charles

As we inch further into the future and evermore closer to the next, and certainly last, world war, it seems proper to give pause and consider the significance of the fact that much of the information provided on world events is dreadfully compromised by corporate and political propagandists.

Mainstream media, with its exceptional reach, is able to mold the public’s first impression of any global event thereby establishing the ‘official story,’ the one that is repeated again and again during the first moments of a crisis. They capitalize on the immediate shock value of an act of extraordinary violence or unrest to mold public perception into conformity with a narrative that will become the abiding fiction by which any further substantive investigation of the event must be measured against.

9/11 is perhaps the best example of this, as nearly 15 years afterwards, an incredible amount of information and research has become available to the public, at least enough to unseat the official version of events and inspire a deeper investigation, yet contrary reporting is still not taken seriously at all by mainline media outlets.

The news is all about artificially manipulating the context of stories. The thinner the context, the thinner the mind must become to accept it. If you want to visualize this, imagine a rectangular solid. The news covers the top surface. Therefore, the mind is trained to work in only two dimensions. Then it can’t fathom depth, and it certainly can’t appreciate the fact that the whole rectangular solid moves through time, the fourth dimension. – Jon Rappoport

Sometimes the media gets caught fabricating events and twisting reality. Here’s a disturbing look at some of the more recent examples of mainstream media news deceptions, staged events and psy-ops that have been exposed by the international independent press.

Example #1 – BBC stages a chemical weapons attack in Syria to justify NATO invasion.

Example #2 – Staged ISIS execution videos and terror stooges.

Example #3 – Scripted, staged and phony local news broadcasts.

Example #4 – Staged photo-op of political leaders after the Charlie Hebdo massacre on January 7th, 2015.

Bonus – Phony, scripted and ridiculous local news broadcasting.

Since the mainstream media is working in concert with the military industrial complex and corrupt governments to push the world over the brink and into all-out war, it’s up to individuals and independent researchers to counter the propaganda and free the minds of those who are ready to wake up.

Read about the examples described in detail and supported with videos: http://www.activistpost.com/2015/11/4-examples-of-mainstream-media-fabricating-news-to-push-for-war.html?

By Joshua Krause

There is no doubt that the pace of technological development we’ve seen in recent years has been both amazing, and frightening. It’s certainly made our lives easier, but no one can ignore the fact that these developments are happening faster than the human race can adapt to them. Predictably, this has spawned a widespread fear of technology in our culture.

These fears must be prolific. If they weren’t, then Hollywood would have never made a fortune on movie franchises like The Terminator and The Matrix, and TV shows like Battlestar Galactica. Clearly, there are plenty of people in our society who are deeply afraid of the direction that modern technology is lurching towards.

However, for all their bluster about robots and AI taking over the human race, I don’t think these people are seriously prepared to do anything about it. They may say that they’ll never submit to the comfort and convenience of technologies that dehumanize them, but to be perfectly honest, I think that many of them have already acquiesced.

In fact, when it comes to taking care of our children, the majority of the population is already outsourcing their child rearing responsibilities to the machines. We didn’t notice this development, because it didn’t arrive in the way that pop culture prepared us for. Rather than being brutally subjugated by robot overlords, we’ve been conquered by consumer electronics.

Recently, a study was conducted on over 300 kids between the age of 6 months and 4 years, living in a low-income neighborhood in Philadelphia. The study found that most parents now let their kids use mobile devices; often with the intent of keeping them preoccupied. With numbers like these, I’m sure that plenty of the technophobes in our midst are among them.

Overall, 97 per cent of the children, or 338 kids, had used a mobile device. The researchers gave falling costs, marketing strategies and subsidies by cellular service providers as possible contributing factors.

Other findings from the survey included:

• About 44 per cent of children under age one used a mobile device on a daily basis to play games, watch videos or use apps. The percentage increased to 77 per cent in two-year-olds and plateaued after that.
• One-quarter (28 per cent) of two-year-olds did not need any help navigating a mobile media device, and 61 per cent needed help sometimes.
• Of parents surveyed who allowed their child to use a mobile device, 70 percent reported letting their children play with mobile devices to do chores, to keep the child calm in public places (65 per cent) or run errands (58 percent), and 28 per cent used a mobile device to put their children to sleep.

They also found that half of the children in the study had their own TVs, and three-quarters of them had their own personal mobile device. A third of the kids were found to be using more than one media device at the same time. So much for playing outside I guess.

We have to ask ourselves, is this really what we want? Do we want to foster an entire generation of kids who, rather than simply learning how to use technology, are literally raised by it? We all know by now that these devices aren’t very good for our well-being, just as we’ve known for decades that watching TV all day is bad for us. We know these devices are addictive, and we know that they can stunt the emotional and social development of children.

We’ve all seen the smartphone zombies walking around us with their faces buried in their gadgets, oblivious to the world around them. Do we really want to raise our progeny to be like that? Are we really going to plug them into technology before they’re ever aware of the consequences? (There’s a reason why Steve Jobs wouldn’t let his kids use the devices he pioneered.)

Yes, we are going to do just that, because our society’s obsession with convenience now trumps our fear of technology. We talk a big game, but at the end of the day most of us give up on fighting what we perceive to be inevitable. Most of us are going to let these devices take over our lives, and the lives of our children, because it’s so much easier than giving a damn. Until we see this generation grow up to be devoid of creativity, imagination, social skills, and emotional intelligence, we aren’t going to change our ways.
See more at: http://www.techswarm.com/2015/11/77-of-two-year-olds-now-use-mobile.html#sthash.5xCH07zE.dpuf

(NaturalNews) Just as we predicted, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has brazenly betrayed the public’s trust by approving the world’s first genetically modified (GM) animal in direct defiance of science – a transgenic salmon branded “AquAdvantage” that has never been proven safe for human consumption or the natural environment.

The New York Times (NYT) reports that AquAdvantage, a product of AquaBounty Technologies, has received official FDA approval after years of fierce lobbying by its manufacturer in favor of open approval. Despite repeated warnings from detractors that AquAdvantage poses serious threats to aquatic ecosystems and humans, the FDA has determined that this GM fish is completely safe for everything and everyone on the planet.

Many of the claims made about AquAdvantage by its manufacturer have been debunked, including the lie that this “Frankenfish” grows more quickly than natural salmon and is less prone to disease – both of which claims are patently false. AquAdvantage was also said to pose no threats to aquatic environments because it is supposedly sterile, but this, too, has been called into question by independent scientific review.

The FDA has repeatedly ignored all petitions from consumer watchdog groups to take a closer and more unbiased look at GM salmon to determine its true safety, including whether or not it is even needed. Consumers have overwhelmingly indicated that they don’t want to eat this or any other GM animal, yet the FDA now plans to allow its entrance into the food supply – unlabeled, of course.

“This unfortunate, historic decision disregards the vast majority of consumers, many independent scientists, numerous members of Congress and salmon growers around the world, who have voiced strong opposition,” voiced Wenonah Hauter, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Food and Water Watch (FWW), in a recent statement.

Approval for AquAdvantage has been a long time coming, as AquaBounty petitioned for the FDA’s blessing on its phony fish as far back as the 1990s. Five years ago, the FDA granted a type of preliminary approval for AquAdvantage, but the fish never entered the market due to what many believe was the federal government’s fear of public backlash.

But the FDA’s decision to grant quiet approval for this GM salmon amidst media distraction aimed at global terrorism and war in the Middle East isn’t necessarily going as smoothly as planned. The Center for Food Safety (CFS), which has long opposed approval for AquAdvantage on the basis of science, warned within hours of the FDA’s approval that it plans to file a lawsuit against the agency.

“The fallout from this decision will have enormous impact on the environment,” lamented Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of CFS, in a recent press release. “Center for Food Safety has no choice but to file suit to stop the introduction of this dangerous contaminant. FDA has neglected its responsibility to protect the public.”

Not only have millions of Americans voiced their opposition to GM salmon over the past several years – with no acknowledgment from the FDA – but so have at least 40 members of Congress and more than 300 environmental groups that work on behalf of consumers, animals, fisheries, food companies and restaurants.

“The review process by FDA was inadequate, failed to fully examine the likely impacts of the salmon’s introduction, and lacked a comprehensive analysis,” Kimbrell added. “This decision sets a dangerous precedent, lowering the standards of safety in this country. CFS will hold FDA to their obligations to the American people.”

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/052053_GMO_salmon_FDA_approval_AquAdvantage.html#ixzz3sXu6tX1G

(NaturalNews) Despite the insidious attempts of the corporate-controlled U.S. media to censor the stories about the deadly side effects of vaccines, the truth keeps surfacing. The latest vaccine tragedy to strike has killed two babies in La Pimienta, Mexico and sent 37 more to the hospital with serious reactions to toxic vaccine additives.
“…14 children are in serious condition, 22 are stable and one is in critical condition,” the Chiapas Health Secretariat said in a statement via Latino.FoxNews.com.

What’s especially alarming is that only 52 children were vaccinated in all, meaning that 75% of those receiving the vaccines are now either dead or hospitalized.

The vaccines were administered by the Mexican Social Security Institute, known as IMSS. The IMSS confirmed the deadly reactions occurred after children received injections of vaccines for tuberculosis, rotavirus and hepatitis B — the same viral strains targeted by vaccines routinely administered to children in the United States.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/049669_vaccine_injury_depopulation_agenda_deadly_side_effects.html#ixzz3sXs9NPz5

(NaturalNews) Monsanto-funded scientists are calling for an end to Freedom of Information Act requests after they were ousted for colluding with the biotech industry to push GMOs and their associated pesticides.

Rather than respect the public’s right to greater transparency, industry-bought scientists are demanding total SCIENTIFIC SECRECY, deeming FOIA requests “harassment” and “terrorism.”

The collusion was discovered after the non-profit U.S. Right to Know (USRTK) obtained hundreds of documents and emails revealing the PR strategies of Big Ag, which involves bribing university faculty and staff to manipulate the public and policy makers into believing their products are safe when scientific literature proves otherwise.

University of Florida professor Kevin Folta was implicated as being one of the most eager and cooperative taxpayer-funded scientists to comply with biotech giant Monsanto, which dominates the global market for GM crops.

Folta, who repeatedly denied any financial ties to the biotech industry and insisted he was an
“independent researcher,” was exposed as having accepted bribes from Monsanto in the form of a $25,000 unrestricted grant and funds to travel the country promoting GMOs.

Due to alleged death threats against Folta, the university has claimed that it will give the money to an on-campus food bank.

Folta, who said nobody tells him what to say or think, wrote to Monsanto: “I’m glad to sign on to whatever you like, or write whatever you like.”

Rather than distancing himself from the revelations, Folta went on a Twitter rampage, defending his actions and calling for an end to scientific transparency, complaining of FOIA “abuse” and “harassment.”

Learn entire article: http://www.naturalnews.com/052076_scientific_transparency_Freedom_of_Information_Act_academic_shills.html#ixzz3sXoBhGIl

By mcshane

Antibiotic medicine started out back in the 40s when it was developed, but the constant use of it has helped to create antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Antibiotics should not be taken for viral infections like colds, flus, coughs or sore throats and can actually do more harm than good. In fact, antibiotics only treat infections caused by some bacteria.

They don’t work for those illnesses caused by viruses. Natural immunity from infections by the intake of natural foodstuff that have medicinal value and by limiting the use of antibiotics for every small cold or flu that sets in can we hope to live a healthy life.Our ancestors used natural forms of antibiotics, also known as the herbs and common foods you have in the pantry.

14 Natural Antibiotics That Our Ancestors Used

Garlic

By eating a few cloves of garlic each day, you can effectively fight off all sorts of bacteria, viruses and infections. It’s also a great help in relieving the effects of colds, flus and toothaches.

Honey

Honey can be used to treat inflammations such as cough and sore throat, wounds and illness too. It prohibits the growth of bacteria and neutralizes toxins. It also functions as a natural painkiller.

Olive Leaf

Olive Leaf has an amazing property unparalleled by modern medicine, it can inhibit or destroy a wide range of harmful bacteria, fungi and yeasts while allowing beneficial bacteria to multiply. This natural extract can be taken to help fight all types of infection.

Turmeric

Studies show that turmeric can fight antibiotic resistant bacteria and effectively blast infections. It is also antimicrobial, antifungal, and extremely anti-inflammatory. Other interesting facts about this super herb: it was shown in studies to be more effective than prozac for depression and to work better than NSAIDs for rheumatoid arthritis!

Ginger

It’s incredibly common for ginger to be used in the treatment of flus and colds. It’s also great for treating an upset stomach and for nausea as well as treating muscle and joint pain.

Onions

A relative of garlic, onion has similar medicinal properties, and can be eaten to help reduce pain, inflammation, and increase circulation. Onions have also been shown to be beneficial as an herbal analgesia and anti-inflammatory substance, that increases circulation, alleviates angina, and is used in the treatment of the common cold and flu, and for a persistent cough.

Colloidal Silver

Colloidal silver is a natural antibiotic that has been in use for many years. Colloidal silver should be used from time to time because great amount of silver in your organism may be toxic. However, colloidal silver inactivates the enzymes necessary for multiplication of bacteria and viruses, which makes it a great antibiotic.

Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

The benefits of coconut oil are endless. It is packed with anti-fungal and anti-microbial qualities and is abundant in antioxidants that can’t be found anywhere else in nature. Use coconut oil to improve your immunity, balance your cholesterol, thyroid, and blood sugar levels, and even enhance brain activity.

Oregano Oil

Oregano has antibacterial properties, oregano helps with digestion and promotes weight loss. Carvacrol, an oil that is a part of oregano, is very helpful in the fight against infective bacteria. In addition, it is very efficient against digestive infections and is definitely more than just a spice.

Goldenseal Herb

Strong antibiotic properties. It has a long history of use in infections including bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic. Staph, strep, E. coli, Vibrio cholera, Giardia lamblia,and even tuberculosis bacterium have proven sensitive to this herb.

Echinacea

It is a wonderful natural anticeptic for wounds, cuts, blood poisoning and cellulitis. It effectively treats cold, sore throat and flu too. You can make some tea out of its roots. Echinacea has been widely used in ancient treatments and does a lot of favor in up keeping a good immune system.

Rose water

You can use rose water as an anticeptic wash for wounds and cuts. You can also use it as eye drop to treat dust-associated eye infections and eye redness. Apart from that, rose water keeps you skin beautiful too.

Green Tea

High antioxidant property present in green tea that helps to cleanse the body of the free radicals that can cause damage and sickness. This may not directly have an antibiotic property, but it is proven to make the antibiotic work efficiently, thereby improving the mechanism of action of the antibiotics.

http://blogs.naturalnews.com/14-natural-substitutes-antibiotic-pills-ancestors-used/

NaturalNews) A program to test a variety of genetically modified (GM) eggplant in Bangladesh is in shambles, but continues to be forced through by the government, according to an independent investigation by the development policy research group UBINIG.

UBINIG launched the investigation after hearing the government proclaim that the GM eggplant – engineered to produce the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) pesticide in its tissues – was a great benefit to farmers. The group obtained the list of all 110 farmers participating in the experimental cultivation program overseen by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and Cornell University. It interviewed 72 percent of the farmers about their experiences with the crop. Respondents came from all the regions where Bt eggplant (known by its local name “brinjal”) is being tested.

Poor quality, poor yields

Overall, farmers reported poor yields, high chemical use and a high level of government interference. Officials from BARI and the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) regularly visited the fields to make sure the plants were doing well.

“During the field cultivation the farmers were extensively supervised by BARI and DAE officials,” the report reads. “The DAE officials at Union, Upazila and district levels visited daily or at least weekly and supervised the growth of the plants.”

The report goes on to add that, “According to the farmers, most of the time, the officials took care of the plants themselves as they had to show a good performance.”

In some cases, the investigators found, officials actually uprooted dying plants and replaced them with healthy ones, in a blatant violation of scientific integrity.

Despite the claims of Bt brinjal advocates that it would require significantly less pesticide use than non-GM varieties, farmers reported that authorities directed them to apply pesticide in enormous quantities.

“Thirty-five types of pesticides, including acaricide [kills ticks and mites], insecticide, and fungicide, were sprayed several times in the Bt brinjal fields,” the report reads. None of these pesticides were on the list of chemicals officially recommended for eggplant cultivation in Bangladesh. Five were insecticides that are actually banned in the country.

The farmers were then given “pesticide-free” signs and told to use them to market their crops. The crops were also sold without being labeled as GM, in violation of government rules.

In spite of these measures, farmers reported low yields and losses of Tk. 15,000–30,000 (US$ 192–385). Farmers in similar regions growing non-GM eggplant reported profits of Tk. 70,000–100,000 ($898–1,280).

Part of this problem came from the fact that even under an enormous pesticide load, the GM plants were ravaged by a wide variety of pests. The GM eggplant also lost its freshness quickly, making it harder to sell. Most farmers ended up simply eating the crop themselves, but reported disliking its flavor.

“Worthless crop”

Farmers were widely negative about the crop, with 74 percent saying they would not grow the plant again. Another 20 percent said they would only grow it if all the support came from BARI and DAE, while only one farmer was unequivocally interested in continuing to grow the GM eggplant.

One farmer called the GM eggplant a “worthless crop” while another, Shamsul Haque of Pabna, commented that “The DAE officers were right in their statement that there is no fruit borer in Bt brinjal. The fact is that there was no fruit on the plants. So there is no object for fruit borers to be there.”

UBINIG found that farmers during the first year of the trial had also been widely dissatisfied. BARI failed to publish results of this trial however, and simply recruited a whole new group of farmers for year two – and did not warn them how year one had gone.

To top it off, no reputable data attests to the GM eggplant’s safety, but at least one industry study found that rats who consumed it suffered organ damage.

Between the scandals, the dissatisfied farmers and the failing crops, UBINIG concluded that the Bt eggplant would long since have failed if not for BARI and DAE maintaining it like “a patient in an intensive care unit under life support.”

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/052079_GM_eggplant_Bt_brinjal_crop_failures.html#ixzz3sXl8fND6

(NaturalNews) Nearly 60 percent of all U.S. adults are now taking prescription drugs, according to a study conducted by researchers from Harvard University and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The number rose from 51 percent in 1999 to 59 percent in 2011.

The number of people taking numerous prescription drugs also increased during that period. In 1999, “only” 8.2 percent of adults were taking five or more prescription drugs at once. Now, 15 percent are.

“This is particularly notable among older adults 65 and older,” said lead researcher Elizabeth Kantor. She noted that among adults in this age group, 39 percent now take five or more prescription drugs at the same time.

The figures come from nationwide surveys of more than 37,000 adults.

Top-used drugs: Brain-damaging statins

The rise in prescription drug use cannot be fully explained by an aging population, Kantor said. Instead, she suggested that rising obesity rates might be largely to blame. More than two-thirds of the U.S. population is now considered overweight or obese.

The most widely prescribed drugs are those related to obesity: cholesterol-lowering statins are the most widely prescribed, followed by blood pressure drugs.

Yet, other studies have confirmed that in spite of ballooning obesity rates, statins are wildly overused. Because of their strong ability to lower blood levels of cholesterol, statins were immediately hailed as a miracle drug by the medical establishment. In the decades since their adoption, the threshold for statin prescription has been steadily lowered. In fact, in July 2014, the United Kingdom’s new statin use guidelines were so broad that if applied, they would put 40 percent of British adults on the drugs.

Notably, studies are now showing that while they do lower cholesterol, statins do not actually lower the risk of dying from heart-related disease. Some studies have suggested that the drugs might actually raise the risk of heart disease.

According to a study published in the Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology earlier this year, the benefits of statins have been dramatically exaggerated, and their risks downplayed. The drugs have “failed to substantially improve cardiovascular outcomes [and] the adverse effects suffered by people taking statins are more common than reported in the media and at medical conferences. Increased rates of cancer, cataracts, diabetes, cognitive impairments and musculoskeletal disorders more than offset the modest cardiovascular benefits of statin treatment,” the researchers wrote.

The inclusion of “cognitive impairment” on this list is not a minor point. Indeed, between 2004 and 2014, more than 36,000 cases of brain dysfunction were reported to the FDA’s Adverse Events Database in regards to statin use. These included confusion, depression, disorientation, transient cases of global amnesia, paranoia, memory impairment and dementia. And no wonder: the body’s highest concentrations of cholesterol are found in the brain.

Other drugs also widely misused

The other top drugs in the U.S. are also notorious for their overuse: antidepressants and proton pump inhibitors. According to a 2010 meta-analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association, antidepressants do not outperform placebos, and are significantly less effective at alleviating depression than talk therapy. At the same time, many of them actually increase a patient’s risk of suicide.

Proton pump inhibitors, which are meant for the treatment of severe gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), are instead widely prescribed for simple acid reflux. According to a 2010 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, between 59 and 63 percent of PPI prescriptions are inappropriate.

The researchers found that only one class of prescription drug became less popular since 1999: female hormone replacement therapy, which has been conclusively shown to increase women’s risk of cancer, heart disease and early death.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/052077_statin_drugs_brain_damage_cholesterol_medications.html#ixzz3sXjaoHzb

(NaturalNews) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claims that it’s basically a death sentence for you and your children. But raw milk consumption, according to a new study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, can actually help prevent colds, viruses and respiratory tract infections (RTIs) from forming in kids, as opposed to commercially processed milk which provides little or no health benefits.

A cohort of researchers, doctors and other medical professionals from across Europe investigated the effects of raw milk versus boiled farm-fresh milk and commercial processed milk as part of a larger investigatory project known as “PASTURE.” A group of women, roughly half of whom lived and worked on livestock farms in rural areas of mostly central Europe, were recruited to participate in the research.

All of the women were in their third trimesters of pregnancy at the time of the study, and detailed consumption and lifestyle patterns, including milk-drinking habits, were carefully evaluated and compared. In total, 983 children were included in the final data set, which revealed that milk in its pure, raw, unobstructed form is superior in terms of immune-boosting nutrition.

According to the research, raw milk works a lot like breast milk in providing protective, anti-infective health benefits to children. Compared to highly processed commercial milk, raw milk was found to help lower C-reactive protein levels, which are directly associated with inflammation. Raw milk, in other words, works against inflammation, while processed milk may help promote it due to its altered proteins.

“The main finding of this analysis was an inverse association between consumption of unprocessed cow’s milk and rhinitis [cold or runny nose], RTI [respiratory tract infections], and otitis [ear infection],” wrote the authors. “The effect was strongest when cow’s milk was consumed raw; boiled farm milk exhibited an attenuated effect.”

Does ultra-heat-treated commercial milk promote respiratory and other health problems?

Conversely, consumption of ultra-heat-treated commercial milk, the most widely available milk product on the market, was not found to decrease levels of C-reactive protein, which appear to be a leading cause of disease. With fevers specifically, commercial milk was found to actually increase their prevalence compared to raw milk.

Raw milk, on the other hand, is associated with a roughly 30 percent decrease in respiratory infections and fever, and could help babies and young children overcome these common ailments. Even minimally processed milk boiled directly on the farms was found to be beneficial, though much less so than true raw milk.

“[W]e are now not talking about asthma and allergies, but fever and infections in young children,” stated Dr. Ton Baars, a professor and senior scientist for milk quality and animal welfare at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture in Germany, and one of the lead authors of the study. “It means there is additional new evidence that raw milk is a protective agent in infectious diseases in young children.”

Unlike in the U.S. where irrational superstition and paranoia have landed raw milk in the “dangerous” category, Europe is already widely accepting of raw milk, and increasingly so. In many countries, raw milk vending machines are prevalent on busy city streets, providing quick and easy access to fresh milk from local farms.

“In Europe, the consumption of unpasteurized milk has repeatedly correlated with protection against allergic disease,” wrote Moises Velasquez-Manoff in a piece for The New York Times late last year.

“In America, 80 percent of the Amish studied by Dr. [Mark] Holbreich consume raw milk. In a study published earlier this year, Dr. [Bianca] Schaub’s group showed that European children who consumed farm milk had more of those regulatory T-cells, irrespective of whether they lived on farms. The higher the quantity of those cells, the less likely these children were to be given diagnoses of asthma.”

http://www.naturalnews.com/047821_raw_milk_immunity_infections.html

By Jay Syrmopoulos

After the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Russian airliner, President Vladimir Putin doubled down on the destruction of ISIS. With the United States still refusing to coordinate airstrikes against ISIS, the Russians have chosen to step up their already blistering assault upon the Islamic State.

Over the last 48 hours, Russia has destroyed an Islamic State controlled oil refinery, a fleet of 500 ISIS controlled oil tankers used to smuggle oil out of Syria, and launched a massive sea-based cruise missile attack.

“On November 20, the warships of the Caspian Fleet launched 18 cruise missiles at seven targets in the provinces of Raqqa, Idlib and Aleppo. All targets were hit successfully,” Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told Russian President Vladimir Putin.

There were 10 Russian warships that took part in the operation, six of which are in the Mediterranean. Over the past four days, Russian air forces have conducted 522 sorties, deploying more than 100 cruise missiles and 1,400 tons of bombs of various types, Shoigu said. He added that in a single strike on a target in Deir ez-Zor, utilizing multiple cruise missiles, more than 600 militants were killed.

Earlier in the week, the Russian air force undertook one the most massive, and complex heavy bomber missions in modern history. In a clear escalation of the air war, 25 Backfire, Bear, and Blackjack bombers went on a coordinated, long-range air raid against alleged ISIS forces in Syria.

All three types of Russian bombers can fly thousands of miles while carrying more than 20 tons of weaponry. Only the United States and Chinese possess similar heavy warplanes.

Russia is focused on destroying the terrorists’ economic base, having targeted 15 oil storage and refinery facilities as well as 525 oil trucks, according to Shoigu.“We stopped supplies of 60,000 tons of oil per day to the black market and terrorists are losing $1.5 million daily,” Shoigu said.

The fact that the Islamic State is making mountains of cash selling oil indicates that they are selling the oil to some entity. It would seem like an easy calculation to determine exactly what person, group or state is buying this oil.

In fact, that information seems to be readily available.

Read entire article: http://www.activistpost.com/2015/11/russia-decimates-isis-oil-infrastructure-with-biggest-bombing-raid-in-decades-missile-strikes.html?

Seven myths about GM crops and the truth behind them

MYTH 1: GM crops can feed the world

REALITY: There are no GM crops designed to deliver high yields. Genetic engineering
is ill-adapted to solve the problems underpinning hunger and malnutrition.

It reinforces the industrial agriculture model that has failed to feed the world so far.

MYTH 2: GM crops hold the key to climate resilience

REALITY: Genetic engineering lags behind conventional breeding in developing
plant varieties that can help agriculture cope with climate change. Climate resilience
heavily depends on farming practices promoting diversity and nurturing the soil, not
on the over-simplified farming system GM crops are designed for.

MYTH 3: GM crops are safe for humans and the environment

REALITY: Long term environmental and health monitoring programmes either do
not exist or are inadequate. Independent researchers complain that they are denied
access to material for research.

MYTH 4: GM crops simplify crop protection

REALITY: After a few years, problems such as herbicide-resistant weeds and super-
pests emerge in response to herbicide tolerant and insect resistant GM crops,
resulting in the application of additional pesticides.

MYTH 5: GM crops are economically viable for farmers

REALITY: GM seed prices are protected by patents and their prices have soared
over the last 20 years. The emergence of herbicide-resistant weeds and super-
pests increases farmers’ costs, reducing their economic profits even further.

MYTH 6: GM crops can coexist with other agricultural systems

REALITY: GM crops contaminate non-GM crops. Nearly 400 incidents of GM
contamination have been recorded globally so far. Staying GM-free imposes
considerable additional, and sometimes impossible, costs for farmers.

MYTH 7: Genetic engineering is the most promising pathway of innovation for
food systems

REALITY: Non-GM advanced methods of plant breeding are already delivering the
sorts of traits promised by GM crops, including resistance to diseases, flood and
drought tolerance. GM crops are not only an ineffective type of innovation but they
also restrict innovation due to intellectual property rights owned by a handful of
multinational corporations.

https://www.organicconsumers.org/scientific/twenty-years-failure-why-gm-crops-have-failed-deliver-their-promises

By Jay Syrmopoulos

The Anonymous hacking collective has reportedly taken down over 5,500 Twitter accounts purported to belong to Islamic State members following their declaration of “total war” on the terrorist group after the Paris attacks.

The announcement comes less than 24 hours after hacktivist group warned of a coordinated and targeted attack against the Islamic State in the wake of the deadly wave of terror attacks across Paris.

Anonymous spokesman Alex Poucher told RT:

Our capability to take down ISIS is a direct result of our collective’s sophisticated hackers, data miners, and spies that we have all around the world. We have people very, very close to ISIS on the ground, which makes gathering intel about ISIS and related activities very easy for us.

Poucher went on to say that the groups hacking acumen “might be better than any world government’s tools to combat ISIS online,” adding that although ISIS has its own hacking core, the terrorist group “does not have hackers like we have hackers.”

They picked a fight with Anonymous when they attacked Paris, and now they should expect us,” he said, adding that the collective “will not sit by and watch these terror attacks unfold around the world.

Read entire article here: http://www.activistpost.com/2015/11/anonymous-takes-down-5500-isis-twitter-accounts-24-hours-after-isis-called-them-idiots.html

I regularly look at product labels because that is part of my job. So when I come across a label that says Direct Trade, or even “Direct Trade Certified,” I have to wonder why a brand would compel themselves to create something for consumers in order to differentiate themselves that really doesn’t mean much. As someone that has worked in the fair trade movement for 15 years, I always dig deeper into those claims to see what they really mean.

Many brands are frustrated by fair trade certification, and let me be very clear, it is certification, not fair trade they are frustrated with. There is a social movement to change the way we trade globally, allowing small-scale producers to participate and thrive, and to provide social services locally in impoverished producer communities that are not provided by local or federal governments. That social movement is called fair trade and it is alive and strong. It is fair trade certification that is broken. Fair trade is more than a logo or a brand, it is a movement to strengthen communities.

For the past 5 years, I have had hundreds of conversations about the meaning of direct trade and especially as it relates to fair trade. What are direct traders doing that is different from fair traders? And what are direct traders doing differently than conventional coffee companies? I focus on coffee here since that is where direct trade most often comes up, but we are starting to see an increase of direct trade claims in other sectors, like chocolate, too.

In many ways, the differences are captured in the name and can be summarized this way. Direct trade roasters want to focus on the relationship between the roaster and the producer with an emphasis on price and quality. They may be interested in eliminating exploitation in their supply chains, but they essentially mimic conventional traders who also do not worry about externalized costs or consequences of their transaction on the broader community or system. The direct trade differentiation is just in the higher price, “better” quality, and shortened supply chain.

Authentic fair traders want to change the structures of trade to make it more fair for everyone and they achieve this by working with organized producer communities. In these communities families are owners of a structure (for example a co-op) that allows them to take advantage of economies of scale, helps them gain access to capital and the market and helps them build infrastructure to allow them to scale their capacity and improve quality of what they are producing and how they are producing it. By organizing, they are able to work on policy change and community development as well, important components of really transforming our social structures that currently benefit the 1% and keep increasing numbers in poverty.

Read more: https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/direct-trade-fair-trade-without-other-eight-principles

I’ve often wondered how the media would respond when eco-apocalypse struck. I pictured the news programmes producing brief, sensational reports, while failing to explain why it was happening or how it might be stopped. Then they would ask their financial correspondents how the disaster affected share prices, before turning to the sport. As you can probably tell, I don’t have an ocean of faith in the industry for which I work. What I did not expect was that they would ignore it.

A great tract of Earth is on fire. It looks as you might imagine hell to be. The air has turned ochre: visibility in some cities has been reduced to 30 metres. Children are being prepared for evacuation in warships; already some have choked to death. Species are going up in smoke at an untold rate. It is almost certainly the greatest environmental disaster of the 21st century – so far.

And the media? It’s talking about the dress the Duchess of Cambridge wore to the James Bond premiere, Donald Trump’s idiocy du jour and who got eliminated from the Halloween episode of Dancing with the Stars. The great debate of the week, dominating the news across much of the world? Sausages: are they really so bad for your health?

What I’m discussing is a barbecue on a different scale. Fire is raging across the 5,000km length of Indonesia. It is surely, on any objective assessment, more important than anything else taking place today. And it shouldn’t require a columnist, writing in the middle of a newspaper, to say so. It should be on everyone’s front page. It is hard to convey the scale of this inferno, but here’s a comparison that might help: it is currently producing more carbon dioxide than the US economy. And in three weeks the fires have released more CO2 than the annual emissions of Germany.

But that doesn’t really capture it. This catastrophe cannot be measured only in parts per million. The fires are destroying treasures as precious and irreplaceable as the archaeological remains being levelled by Isis. Orangutans, clouded leopards, sun bears, gibbons, the Sumatran rhinoceros and Sumatran tiger, these are among the threatened species being driven from much of their range by the flames. But there are thousands, perhaps millions, more.

One of the burning provinces is West Papua, a nation that has been illegally occupied by Indonesia since 1963. I spent six months there when I was 24, investigating some of the factors that have led to this disaster. At the time it was a wonderland, rich with endemic species in every swamp and valley. Who knows how many of those have vanished in the past few weeks? This week I have pored and wept over photos of places I loved that have now been reduced to ash.

Nor do the greenhouse gas emissions capture the impact on the people of these lands. After the last great conflagration, in 1997, there was a missing cohort in Indonesia of 15,000 children under the age of three, attributed to air pollution. This, it seems, is worse. The surgical masks being distributed across the nation will do almost nothing to protect those living in a sunless smog. Members of parliament in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) have had to wear face masks during debates. The chamber is so foggy that they must have difficulty recognising one another.

It’s not just the trees that are burning. It is the land itself. Much of the forest sits on great domes of peat. When the fires penetrate the earth, they smoulder for weeks, sometimes months, releasing clouds of methane, carbon monoxide, ozone and exotic gases such as ammonium cyanide. The plumes extend for hundreds of miles, causing diplomatic conflicts with neighbouring countries.

Read more: https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/indonesia-burning-so-why-world-looking-away-0

VIDEO – 2:27

RT News Published on Nov 19, 2015

One of the world’s largest GMO producers has been challenged by Dr. V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, Ph.D. who claims there are absolutely no GMO safety assessment standards. He earlier alleged that GMO-engineered plants accumulate high levels of formaldehyde.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxqiuUoKUD0&feature=youtu.be

(NaturalNews) What you’re about to read will probably shock you to your core. We’re all familiar with genetically modified organisms in food, and we’ve even heard talks about genetically modified animals coming down the pipeline. But are you aware of the fact that the U.S. government is right now using your tax dollars to fund research into genetically modified humans?

A special investigative report by SkyWatchTV uncovers a heinous conspiracy by those entrusted with protecting our freedom and liberty to literally reengineer the human race using many of the same methods commonly used to reengineer food and plant life in the lab. And it’s all happening under the radar with little to no fanfare in the mainstream media.

A short preview of this report on YouTube exposes what the show’s hosts refer to as the coming “genetic Armageddon” – the complete undoing of creation as we know it for the purpose of enriching powerful and greedy corporations. And in the process, humanity will be reconstructed as well, presumably to be more compliant and less resistant to tyranny.

“I’m not sure that the world is ready to receive this,” says investigative reporter Tom Horn. “We’re talking about everything from the food that we eat, to animals, to ultimately humans – literally what we have been doing with genetically modified crops, what we have and are doing with transgenically made animals, we fully intend to do with the human race.”

Congressman, scientist says U.S. government developing blueprints for artificially engineered human race

The goal all along, the report suggests, has not been to enhance humanity through biotechnology, but to replace it. And U.S. Representative Bill Foster (D-Ill.), the last scientist in Congress, warned in a testimony before Congress and in a piece for The Hill that the U.S. government has already instructed top-level researchers to begin laying the groundwork for what will eventually become a genetically engineered human race to replace the one we currently have.

“Right now, the top science departments in our government that dole out taxpayer funded revenue have already been ordered to literally create the guidelines that are going to be used for genetically modifying the human race,” Horn adds in a trailer for the series.

Conventional pet food loaded with putrid meat byproducts and dead animals

The series also captures some of the horrors of the processed food industry, particularly pet food products sold conventionally at grocery and pet stores nationwide. An undercover investigation by Horn and his colleagues revealed that many dried pet foods contain the remnants of diseased animals, not to mention the remains of euthanized pets.

Some shelters literally “recycle” euthanized animals by selling them to pet food manufacturers, according to the report. And millions of Americans are feeding their pets this noxious waste day in and day out, unaware of the true contents of their favorite brands of kibble and canned mush.

It’s all part of the plan, of course, to recreate humanity and creation into the image of the “beast” rather than God. And if non-engineered humanity doesn’t stand up now to oppose this apocalyptic freak show, it will soon be too late and we’ll all be extinct – save an act of God that somehow puts a stop to the madness.

“If Christians are to help shape contemporary culture—particularly in a setting in which I fear the posthuman message will prove attractive, if not seductive—then they must offer an alternative and compelling vision; a counter theological discourse so to speak,” explains Horn in a pre-release to the documentary.

http://www.naturalnews.com/052038_genetically_modified_humans_Monsanto_Armageddon.html

BY Neal D. Barnard, MD