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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

New York's forgotten finally remembered: Forbidden island where over one million 'unknown' people are buried in a mass grave reveals its secrets in online database

Stack: The bodies, in wooden boxes, are stacked on top of each other. Seen here is an infant grave from 1990
Stack: The bodies, in wooden boxes, are stacked on top of each other. Seen here is an infant grave from 1990

Sitting just off the east coast of the Bronx and a short boat ride from Manhattan is Hart Island, a tiny mile-long atoll and former Civil War prison camp that has for decades, and continues to be, a mysterious mass grave.
Over one million poor or unidentified people have been buried anonymously at the site, with an average of 1,500 fresh corpses arriving each year and put into the ground by inmates from the nearby Rikers Island jail complex.
These burials are of the unclaimed - from stillborn babies, to dismembered bodies and homeless people.
Now, after a slew of lawsuits were brought forward by families of the dead, who claim they should be allowed access to the cemetery - which is closed to public - the stories of those buried on Hart Island are able to accessed by a new interactive website.

Wikileaks: CIA's Brennan on 'witch hunt' when Hastings was killed

A 2010 email released by Wikileaks from a top-level CIA contractor asserts that CIA Director John Brennan, the subject of a story by now deceased journalist Michael Hastings, was on a "witch hunt" against "investigative journalists" perceived as hostile. 
 Image result for MICHAEL HASTINGS

Hastings, a reporter for the Rolling Stone who ruffled many feathers in his career, was killed in an unusual high-speed car accident in which the vehicle exploded on impact with a tree, and perhaps before. Hastings' wife confirmed to San Diego 6 News Television, soon after the uncharacteristic high-speed automobile crash, that Hastings' next "big story," as he called it, was to be on Brennan. The email, written by Stratfor President Fred Burton and reported by San Diego 6, reads: Brennan is behind the witch hunts of investigative journalists learning information from inside the beltway sources. Note -- There is specific tasker from the WH to go after anyone printing materials negative to the Obama agenda (oh my.) Even the FBI is shocked. The Wonder Boys must be in meltdown mode... The story on Brennan was never published. Stratfor was once called "The Shadow CIA" by Barron's. In 2012 WikiLeaks began publishing “The Global Intelligence Files,” over five million e-mails from the Texas-based company. The email has never been disavowed by Stratfor. When San Diego 6 reporter Kim Dvorak asked the CIA for comment on the email in the context of the Hastings' death, in an August, 2013 report, a CIA spokesman responded: “Without commenting on information disseminated by WikiLeaks, any suggestion that Director Brennan has ever attempted to infringe on constitutionally-protected press freedoms is offensive and baseless.” Michael Hasting was killed on June 18, 2013, when the new Mercedes C250 SUV he had just leased hit a tree after running numerous red lights at over 100 mph in Los Angeles. A surveillance video at a pizza shop captured a fiery, violent explosion, which is uncharacteristic of high-speed impacts. Generations of advances in safety design have made accidents exhibiting these characteristics unheard of.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/wikileaks-cia-s-brennan-on-witch-hunt-when-hastings-was-killed/article/421913#ixzz3NXmpALMY

Illinois illegally seizes Bees Resistant to Monsanto’s Roundup; Kills remaining Queens

The Illinois Ag Dept.  illegally seized privately owned bees from renowned naturalist, Terrence Ingram, without providing him with a search warrant and before the court hearing on the matter, reports Prairie Advocate News.
Behind the obvious violations of his Constitutional rights is Monsanto. Ingram was researching Roundup’s effects on bees, which he’s raised for 58 years.  “They ruined 15 years of my research,” he told Prairie Advocate, by stealing most of his stock.
A certified letter from the Ag Dept.’s Apiary Inspection Supervisor, Steven D. Chard, stated:
“During a routine inspection of your honeybee colonies by … Inspectors Susan Kivikko and Eleanor Balson on October 23, 2011, the bacterial disease ‘American Foulbrood’ was detected in a number of colonies located behind your house…. Presence of the disease in some of your colonies was confirmed via test results from the USDA Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland that analyzed samples collected from your apiary….”
Ingram can prove his bees did not have foulbrood, and planned to do so at a hearing set in April, but the state seized his bees at the end of March. They have not returned them and no one at the Ag Dept. seems to know where his bees are.
The bees could have been destroyed, or they could have been turned over to Monsanto to ascertain why some of his bees are resistant to Roundup. Without the bees as evidence, Ingram simply cannot defend against the phony charges of foulbrood.
Worse, all his queens died after Kivikko and Balson “inspected” his property, outside of his presence and without a warrant.
READ MORE:http://www.globalresearch.ca/illinois-illegally-seizes-bees-resistant-to-monsantos-roundup-kills-remaining-queens/5336210

Blamed for Bee Collapse, Monsanto Buys Leading Bee Research Firm

bee collapseeeMonsanto, the massive biotechnology company being blamed for contributing to the dwindling bee population, has bought up one of the leading bee collapse research organizations. Recently banned from Poland with one of the primary reasons being that the company’s genetically modified corn may be devastating the dying bee population, it is evident that Monsanto is under serious fire for their role in the downfall of the vital insects. It is therefore quite apparent why Monsanto bought one of the largest bee research firms on the planet.
READ MORE:http://www.realfarmacy.com/blamed-for-bee-collapse-monsanto-buys-leading-bee-research-firm/

A drug informant lied, SWAT pounced, a man died


Back in July, we looked at the case of Jason Wescott, a Florida man shot and killed by a police SWAT team during a drug raid over an alleged sale of $200 worth of pot to a police informant. The tragedy was exacerbated by the fact that according to friends and relatives, Wescott had been previously threatened by a man who had broken into his home. When he reported the threat to police they apparently told him, “If anyone breaks into this house, grab your gun and shoot to kill.” Officers from the very same police agency then raided Wescott over some pot. When he grabbed his gun, they killed him.
All that would be appalling in and of itself. But a new report from the Tampa Bay Times shows that it’s actually quite a bit worse. The paper was able to obtain the identity of the informant that led to the raid on Wescott’s home, Ronnie “Bodie” Coogle. And he has a lot to say.
READ MORE:http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/12/31/a-drug-informant-lied-swat-pounced-a-man-died/

The Dock Job


The Clarence Gomery Murder- For-Hire Case Is A Hard-Boiled Detective Novel Come to Life
A former prosecutor is desperate. One of his enemies has him against the ropes. He faces bankruptcy, he’s been humiliated and he might lose his law license.
What does he do? Prosecutors say he tried to turn his ex-con dock installer into a hit man. His attorneys want to argue that their client was set up, but it looks like that defense won’t be allowed at trial, which is scheduled to begin Feb. 24.
However you view it, what happened in the Clarence Gomery alleged murder-for-hire case sounds like it jumped from the pages of a pulp fiction novel.
READ MORE:http://www.northernexpress.com/michigan/article-6704-the-dock-job.html

Sandy Hook and Obama’s Connecticut Social Security Number Connection

There has been much controversy surrounding Barack Obama’s social security number since he has became president without so much as providing his birth certificate. Now, as you are about to see, there is new evidence that Obama, his family and his life are a fraud.
American’s have been lied to through out his two terms in office. Now it seems people are starting to wake up to the fact that Obama has been put in power to take America down. He has been destroying American values, American tradition, America’s way of life.
Obama has opened America’s borders to allow illegal immigrants to come into America unabated, all to establish a stronger progressive voter base to further destroy this country. He is allowing illegal immigrants to join our military after establishing that American soldiers would never turn arms against the American people.
Obama has diminished the leadership of our military by firing 200 of America’s top military leaders over the last 6 years, marginalizing the U.S armed forces.

In Focus: Foster Youth Fall Prey to Traffickers

At 18, Crystal had already experienced a lifetime of pain.
She was molested by her mother’s boyfriend and spent the rest of her childhood being moved between foster homes, enduring more sexual abuse, beatings, a failed adoption and a stint in a residential treatment center. She had just escaped a violent boyfriend when someone recommended a woman who would take her in.
Crystal said that, after growing up in foster care, she was coerced into the sex trade. Photo Credit: Patrick Michels/Texas Observer
Crystal said that, after growing up in foster care, she was coerced into the sex trade. Photo Credit: Patrick Michels/Texas Observer

That woman, Crystal said, was the first person to sell her for sex. She gave Crystal drugs and used Crystal’s body to pay the rent, she said. “A guy offered her $1,500 and she said, ‘Crystal, we are going to be out on the streets. Can you please do this? Can you please do this?’ And I did it,” Crystal recalled in an interview with Children’s Rights. “After that, she expected it. She told me if I didn’t contribute to her in that way, I was out. I had no place else to live.”
A few months after moving into the house, Crystal said she went to a party with a man who slipped her a pill, then “had sex with me and told me that I was his.” He made her work in a strip club, sold her to other men, and kept the money for himself, she said.
“There were times when I knew if I wasn’t going to do it, I would get beaten, if I wasn’t going to do it, I would go hungry,” she said.
Crystal is one of the countless young people in the United States swept into the foster-care-to-sex-trafficking pipeline every year. “Unlike a drug, which is sold once, a person can be sold for sex thousands of times a year, with little risk since sex traffickers are rarely prosecuted,” said human rights activist Molly Gochman, who received the Children’s Rights Champion Award this year for her work to fight sex trafficking.
READ MORE:http://www.childrensrights.org/newsletter-article/in-focus-foster-youth-fall-prey-to-traffickers/

Young Boy Shot to Death by Cop Moments After Sitting Down to Watch a Movie in His Home

EUHARLEE — A teenage boy who was about to graduate highschool to join the Marines has been executed by a female officer.
The incident has left the community horrified, with many accusing the officer of incompetence and being “trigger-happy.”

Christopher dreamed of joining the Marines. All of that ended when he was executed by a cop.
Christopher dreamed of joining the Marines. All of that ended when he was executed by a cop.

The OP-Nat Eye reports that 17-yr-old Christopher Roupe was shot and killed moments after sitting down to watch a movie in his family’s home.
At around 7:30 PM, young Christopher took out his Nintendo Wii controller to put on a movie.
As he was sitting down, he suddenly heard knocking on the front door.
A Nintendo Wii controller.
He asked, “Who is it?” but received no response.
At that point he got up from his chair and opened the door.
To his shock, the female cop already had her gun drawn and pointed at him, according to reports.
She immediately fired a bullet into the boy’s chest and killed him, according to Renee Vance, the boy’s aunt.
The police claim that “he had a handgun.”
It was actually the boy’s small Nintendo Wii controller, says the aunt.



The officer gave him “no warning” to drop the controller before taking his life, the aunt added.
The police claimed to be at his house regarding a “probation” matter. It turns out that it had nothing to do with Christopher.
His 13-yr-old little sister heard the gun shot and ran over to the door to find her brother bleeding and crying.
READ MORE:http://filmingcops.com/young-boy-shot-to-death-by-cop-moments-after-sitting-down-to-watch-a-movie-in-his-home/

FBI forensic lab misconduct could affect 2,600 convictions, 45 death row cases

Nearly every criminal case the FBI and US Justice Department has reviewed during a major investigation that began in 2012 regarding an FBI lab unit has involved flawed forensic testimony, The Washington Post reported.
The review – originally spurred by a Post report in 2012 over flawed forensic testimony by Federal Bureau of Investigation lab technicians that may have led to convictions of hundreds of innocent people – was cut short last August when its findings “troubled the bureau,” according to the Post. The review was ordered by the Justice Department (DOJ) to resume this month, government officials said.
Most of the defendants in cases that involved possibly-botched testimony over microscopic hair matches were never told that their case was part of the review, which includes 2,600 convictions and 45 death-row cases from the 1980s and 1990s. In these cases, the FBI’s hair and fiber unit claimed it found a match to crime-scene samples prior to the age of DNA testing of hair.
The FBI reviewed around 160 cases before halting the investigation 11 months ago, officials said. The probe resumed once the DOJ inspector general lambasted the FBI for the delay in this investigation and another involving the same forensic unit.
A DOJ spokesman said that by last August, reviews were completed and notifications offered for defendants in 23 cases, including 14 death-row cases, that FBI examiners “exceeded the limits of science” when linking hair to crime-scene evidence.
Yet the FBI restarted the review given concerns that forensic errors applied to the “vast majority” of cases. This restart caused major delays in the investigation, leading to objections by the DOJ in January. The FBI and DOJ standoff was finally resolved this month.
READ MORE:http://www.blacklistednews.com/FBI_forensic_lab_misconduct_could_affect_2%2C600_convictions%2C_45_death_row_cases/40432/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Family Sues US Defense Department Over Cover Up of Marine's Murder

The family of US Marine Gregory Buckley has filed suit against the Defense Department in a search for more information about the Marine's death in an inside attack on a military base in Afghanistan in 2012.
MOSCOW, December 30 (Sputnik) — The family of a US Marine who was killed at a base in Afghanistan under shadowy circumstances has filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Defense and the Marine Corps in a New York State court to find out what really happened, Fox News reported.
In August 2012, just days before he was set to come home, 21-year-old Lance Corporal Gregory Buckley was killed along with two other Marines in an inside attack at a gym at Marine Forward Operating Base Delhi by a 17-year-old Afghan "tea boy" (an Afghan euphemism for sex slave) armed with an assault rifle. Buckley's parents said that they simply want authorities to provide them with details about what really happened to their son, and do not seek any financial compensation, Fox News explained.
The Buckley family accuses the Defense Department of hiding details about the shooting, and criticizes them for allowing a corrupt, drug-dealing, weapons-selling, Taliban-affiliated Afghan police chief named Sarwar Jan to live and operate out of the base.
Buckley's father, Gregory Buckley Sr., told Fox News: "He [the Afghan teen] shot my son point-blank with an AK-47; shot him four times in the chest and once in his neck. He was in the gym with a pair of shorts and a tank top on. How is that allowed?"
READ MORE: http://sputniknews.com/us/20141230/1016392041.html

Why is it illegal for communities to protect themselves from harm?

by Jon Rappoport
December 30, 2014
NoMoreFakeNews.com
The supposed answer to that question is the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, Article 6, paragraph 2:
“This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”
By inference, the individual states declare their own supremacy when local communities try to nullify or avoid state statutes.
Keep in mind that the US Constitution enumerates powers granted to the federal government, and reserves all other powers for the states or the people. But this restraint has been trampled on so many times it’s barely visible under the tonnage of federal law and regulation.
Therefore, the Supremacy Clause becomes: “We, the federal government, can do anything we want to, and the states and the people are bound by it.”
So…what happens when the people of a community decide that a medical drug or pesticide or genetically modified organism or fracking chemical or vaccine is poisonous and must be banned?
The state preempts the community, and if the state doesn’t, the federal government will move in and assert its ultimate authority.
Take the case of Roundup, or any of the pesticides that contain the toxic glyphosate. If the EPA or the USDA or the FDA decides glyphosate is harmless, and if their “science” is a sham, and if they are merely caving in to big corporations who want to sell it, the people would have no recourse.
READ MORE:jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/why-is-it-illegal-for-communities-to-protect-themselves-from-harm/

HOSPICE, INC. When Hospices Mistreat The Dying, They Almost Never Get Punished


More dying Americans than ever now spend their last days in the care of a hospice, a service that offers a gentle alternative to a hospital setting. Hospice providers give comfort to the terminally ill, often in their homes. The promise is of a dignified death, surrounded by loved ones.
But when a hospice fails in this mission – for one, by putting patients in physical danger – it almost always escapes sanctions. The federal government rarely punishes hospices that violate its health and safety rules, an examination by The Huffington Post reveals.
In June, HuffPost found that hundreds of hospices had gone six years or more without a government agent conducting an inspection to make sure they were following Medicare’s rules. Now, the new analysis shows that when inspections do occur and problems are identified, government inspectors are almost always satisfied with hospice promises that they’ll reform. Medicare’s federal regulator has punished a hospice just 16 times in the last decade, despite carrying out 15,000 inspections and identifying more than 31,000 violations.
In each instance, the regulator terminated the hospice’s license, the only sanction available under federal law. Because Medicare provides about 90 percent of funding for hospices, losing a license essentially forces a hospice to close down.
READ MORE:http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/hospice-inc/top-offending-hospices-rarely-punished

Horrific moment bullied teenager suffocates after collapsing on his classroom floor while his tormentors stand around LAUGHING

Suburban New York judge charged with drunk driving (and pleaded with cops to let him off because he's on the bench)

  • Harrison Town Justice Marc Lust was arrested on driving while intoxicated and other charges on December 19 in midtown Manhattan
  • Lust told police that he was a judge and would 'take care of this'
  • He was unsteady, slurred his words and told them he'd had three drinks at a Christmas party, according to police
    Harrison Town Justice Marc Lust was arrested on driving while intoxicated and other charges on December 19 in Manhattan. Police said that he tried to use his powers as a judge to get out of the charges
    Harrison Town Justice Marc Lust was arrested on driving while intoxicated and other charges on December 19 in Manhattan. Police said that he tried to use his powers as a judge to get out of the charges

Bodies in the sea and bags that will never be claimed: Three AirAsia crash victims found floating alongside tragic passengers' luggage after wreckage of doomed jet is discovered in the Java Sea


  • Bodies of crash victims spotted floating in sea off coast of Borneo Island
  • At least three bodies recovered from the water by Indonesian naval vessel 
  • Officials have now confirmed wreckage is from AirAsia flight 8501 
  • Navy spokesman earlier claimed 40 bodies were retrieved from Java Sea
  • But this figure has now been corrected to three by search and rescue teams  
  •  
    A family member of passengers onboard the missing Malaysian air carrier AirAsia flight QZ8501, reacts after seeing an unidentified floating dead body during a search and rescue (SAR) mission with Indonesian military
    A family member of passengers onboard the missing Malaysian air carrier AirAsia flight QZ8501, reacts after seeing an unidentified floating dead body during a search and rescue (SAR) mission with Indonesian military
  • AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Found: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know


    missing airasia flight found, airasia flight qz8501 found
    Relatives of passengers on AirAsia Flight QZ8501 react to the breaking news of debris and bodies being found on December 30 in Surabaya, Indonesia. Debris and dead bodies have reportedly been sighted in the Java Sea during search operations. (Robertus Pudyanto/Getty)
    AirAsia officials confirmed today that debris and bodies discovered in the Java Sea are from the missing Flight QZ8501, which lost contact on the morning of December 28 while traveling from Surabaya to Singapore with 162 people on board.
    Here’s what we know so far.
    READ MORE:http://heavy.com/news/2014/12/missing-airasia-flight-qz8501-found-bodies-debris/

    Arizona’s Exploding Foster Care Intake: Kids sleeping in State Office Buildings

    Steve Isham addresses the topic of the multi-billion dollar adoption business.
    As we have previously reported at Health Impact News, fertility rates in the United States are at an all-time low. As John P. Thomas has reported in his article, Are GMO Foods, Vaccines, and Big Pharma Producing an Infertile Generation?, fertility rates are plummeting:
    1. The U.S. fertility rate fell to another record low in 2012, with 63.0 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s down slightly from the previous low of 63.2 in 2011. It marked the fifth year in a row the U.S. birth rate has declined, and the lowest rate on record since the government started tracking the fertility rate in 1909.
    2. For five years now, America’s teen birth rate has plummeted at an unprecedented rate, falling faster and faster. Between 2007 and 2013, the number of babies born to teens annually fell by 38.4 percent, according to research firm Demographic Intelligence. This drop occurred in tandem with steep declines in the abortion rate.
    3. A few years ago, statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the number of women having difficulty conceiving at approximately 10 percent—roughly 1 in 10. Now, using results from this newest survey [reported in 2013], that number appears to be closer to 16 percent—1 in every 6 couples. (Full Article.)
    Add to this the growing list of states that are legalizing gay marriages adding more couples unable to conceive children, and it is easy to see that the adoption business is growing due to increased demand.
    Much of what Steve uncovers in this article will apply to children taken away from families for any reason, not simply issues related to “medical kidnapping,” such as being charged with “medical abuse” for simply questioning a doctor or wanting to seek a second opinion regarding medical treatment for one’s child.
    In future articles we will report more about the financial incentives of the medical industry to remove custody of a child from the parents, thereby gaining access to the vast amount of financial resources available via Medicaid to purchase drugs for these children.
    - See more at: http://medicalkidnap.com/2014/12/30/medical-kidnapping-billion-dollar-adoption-business/#sthash.RgXhscnd.dpuf

    Woman Goes Undercover At An Abortion Clinic And Records A Talk With Her Doctor

    December 30, 2014
    This video is worth watching despite the controversy surrounding the topic of abortion. Live Action, a nonprofit organization working to end abortion, started a project called Inhuman, which seeks to expose the truth behind abortion clinics across the nation. In this video, a woman partnered with Inhuman visits a late-term abortion clinic in Phoenix, AZ, and asks Dr. Laura Mercer a series of questions about the procedure. What ensues is a gut-wrenching description of the steps doctors at the clinic would take should a faulty abortion lead to the delivery of a live baby. The video's YouTube description makes clear that the video was shot in December 2012 despite the time stamp on the camera. It's a part of a six-month investigation of abortion clinics launched by Live Action. 

    According to a Live Action press release concerning the video, the nonprofit discovered illegal and barbaric methods being practiced at abortion clinics nationwide. The title of this press release reads: "Third Undercover Video Investigation Exposes Abortion Doctor and Clinic Worker Who Would Leave Babies Born Alive from Failed Abortion to Die. Six-Month Investigation Reveals Illegal, Inhuman, and Gruesome Practices at Abortion Centers across the Country." The press release goes on to explain that the findings brought to light in this video and other undercover videos reveal that many late-term abortion clinics resort to barbaric methods to terminate a fetus. 

    Medical Kidnapping: Billion Dollar Adoption Business

    Steve Isham addresses the topic of the multi-billion dollar adoption business.
    As we have previously reported at Health Impact News, fertility rates in the United States are at an all-time low. As John P. Thomas has reported in his article, Are GMO Foods, Vaccines, and Big Pharma Producing an Infertile Generation?, fertility rates are plummeting:
    1. The U.S. fertility rate fell to another record low in 2012, with 63.0 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s down slightly from the previous low of 63.2 in 2011. It marked the fifth year in a row the U.S. birth rate has declined, and the lowest rate on record since the government started tracking the fertility rate in 1909.
    2. For five years now, America’s teen birth rate has plummeted at an unprecedented rate, falling faster and faster. Between 2007 and 2013, the number of babies born to teens annually fell by 38.4 percent, according to research firm Demographic Intelligence. This drop occurred in tandem with steep declines in the abortion rate.
    3. A few years ago, statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the number of women having difficulty conceiving at approximately 10 percent—roughly 1 in 10. Now, using results from this newest survey [reported in 2013], that number appears to be closer to 16 percent—1 in every 6 couples. (Full Article.)
    Add to this the growing list of states that are legalizing gay marriages adding more couples unable to conceive children, and it is easy to see that the adoption business is growing due to increased demand.
    Much of what Steve uncovers in this article will apply to children taken away from families for any reason, not simply issues related to “medical kidnapping,” such as being charged with “medical abuse” for simply questioning a doctor or wanting to seek a second opinion regarding medical treatment for one’s child.
    In future articles we will report more about the financial incentives of the medical industry to remove custody of a child from the parents, thereby gaining access to the vast amount of financial resources available via Medicaid to purchase drugs for these children.
    - See more at: http://medicalkidnap.com/2014/12/30/medical-kidnapping-billion-dollar-adoption-business/#sthash.RgXhscnd.dpuf

    AirAsia crash victims found: At least 40 bodies from doomed jet are recovered from the Java Sea

    Monday, December 29, 2014

    So, how many did Communism kill? UPDATED: The historical reality of communist oppression is being ignored. But the truth must not be buried

    Why isn't the Black Book of Communism on the curriculum of every school in Europe? Because it isn't exhaustive enough? Because its authors lack credibility? Because there is still more to be understood and researched on the matter?Khmer_rouge

    At more than 850 pages of carefully sifted evidence by a group of top-level scholars from a variety of countries and disciplines, the Black Book is as solid a piece of scholarship as any other you'll find being taught in our schools.
    Is it definitive? How could it be? Communist regimes went to great lengths to conceal their crimes, and one of the most oppressive of all, North Korea, still exists to this day. What the book does is use the best available evidence to give a sense of the scale of what we are dealing with.
    In introducing the Black Book, lead author Stephane Courtois, Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris, offers the following rough breakdown of the numbers of people that communism killed:
    USSR -- 20 million
    China -- 65 million
    Vietnam -- 1 million
    North Korea -- 2 million
    Cambodia -- 2 million
    Eastern Europe -- 1 million
    Latin America -- 150,000
    Africa -- 1.7 million
    Afghanistan -- 1.5 million
    Communist movements, parties not in power -- 10,000
    READ MORE:http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4230/so_how_many_did_communism_kill

    12,000 Children from Foster Care Sue State of Texas over Abuses

    Texas-family-services

    By Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje
    San Antonio Express News
    Excerpts:
    Crystal Bentley, 23, entered the Texas foster care system when she was 2 and wouldn’t leave it until she aged out at 18.
    In the intervening years, as she was shuffled from place to place, she was repeatedly beaten and sexually abused — sometimes by the adults entrusted with her care, sometimes by their biological children, sometimes by other foster kids or her own relatives, Bentley testified in federal court Wednesday.
    A rotating cast of Child Protective Services caseworkers who were supposed to watch out for her safety often didn’t show up for monthly visits, she said. When they did visit, it was usually for a cursory handful of minutes during which they failed to detect what was happening to her.
    “I would hint that something was going on, but when they asked me if I was being sexually abused, it was always right there in front of my abusers,” Bentley testified. “What could I say?”
    Bentley’s testimony Wednesday came on the third day of a trial in a class-action lawsuit brought by Children’s Rights, a New York-based advocacy group on behalf of 12,000 children in long-term state care in Texas.
    The suit, being heard by Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack, alleges the state violated the children’s civil rights through myriad deficiencies: moving them around repeatedly, placing them in unsafe care and keeping them there too long. Children’s Rights, which is presenting its side of the case this week, said it has filed similar lawsuits in 19 states, resulting in 15 settlements or judgments in its clients’ favor.
    - See more at: http://medicalkidnap.com/2014/12/10/12000-children-from-foster-care-sue-state-of-texas-over-abuses/#sthash.C6CC2AeX.dpuf
    By Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje
    San Antonio Express News
    Excerpts:
    Crystal Bentley, 23, entered the Texas foster care system when she was 2 and wouldn’t leave it until she aged out at 18.
    In the intervening years, as she was shuffled from place to place, she was repeatedly beaten and sexually abused — sometimes by the adults entrusted with her care, sometimes by their biological children, sometimes by other foster kids or her own relatives, Bentley testified in federal court Wednesday.
    A rotating cast of Child Protective Services caseworkers who were supposed to watch out for her safety often didn’t show up for monthly visits, she said. When they did visit, it was usually for a cursory handful of minutes during which they failed to detect what was happening to her.
    “I would hint that something was going on, but when they asked me if I was being sexually abused, it was always right there in front of my abusers,” Bentley testified. “What could I say?”
    Bentley’s testimony Wednesday came on the third day of a trial in a class-action lawsuit brought by Children’s Rights, a New York-based advocacy group on behalf of 12,000 children in long-term state care in Texas.
    The suit, being heard by Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack, alleges the state violated the children’s civil rights through myriad deficiencies: moving them around repeatedly, placing them in unsafe care and keeping them there too long. Children’s Rights, which is presenting its side of the case this week, said it has filed similar lawsuits in 19 states, resulting in 15 settlements or judgments in its clients’ favor.
    - See more at: http://medicalkidnap.com/2014/12/10/12000-children-from-foster-care-sue-state-of-texas-over-abuses/#sthash.C6CC2AeX.dpuf
    By Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje
    San Antonio Express News
    Excerpts:
    Crystal Bentley, 23, entered the Texas foster care system when she was 2 and wouldn’t leave it until she aged out at 18.
    In the intervening years, as she was shuffled from place to place, she was repeatedly beaten and sexually abused — sometimes by the adults entrusted with her care, sometimes by their biological children, sometimes by other foster kids or her own relatives, Bentley testified in federal court Wednesday.
    A rotating cast of Child Protective Services caseworkers who were supposed to watch out for her safety often didn’t show up for monthly visits, she said. When they did visit, it was usually for a cursory handful of minutes during which they failed to detect what was happening to her.
    “I would hint that something was going on, but when they asked me if I was being sexually abused, it was always right there in front of my abusers,” Bentley testified. “What could I say?”
    Bentley’s testimony Wednesday came on the third day of a trial in a class-action lawsuit brought by Children’s Rights, a New York-based advocacy group on behalf of 12,000 children in long-term state care in Texas.
    The suit, being heard by Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack, alleges the state violated the children’s civil rights through myriad deficiencies: moving them around repeatedly, placing them in unsafe care and keeping them there too long. Children’s Rights, which is presenting its side of the case this week, said it has filed similar lawsuits in 19 states, resulting in 15 settlements or judgments in its clients’ favor.
    - See more at: http://medicalkidnap.com/2014/12/10/12000-children-from-foster-care-sue-state-of-texas-over-abuses/#sthash.C6CC2AeX.dpuf

    Char-Em School District; Teacher not worthy of teaching.

    A teacher in the Char-Em school district hasn’t been very good at teaching. She is out of school more than she is in.


    The school has been receiving quite a few complaints about this female teacher, saying how they don’t feel like they’re learning. If a student is sick, and asks her what they missed, all she would reply is “It’s on my website.”
    Her website, consisting of “inspirational videos” that the students have to watch and reflect about in their journal, contains no dates or topic. It’s unorganized, and it has things for all different classes.
    Her Spanish II class doesn’t feel like they’re learning. They’ve tried many different procedures. She tells those students to use the textbook, when there isn’t enough for the whole class, which only contains 9 students. Nearly all of the students want to drop that extra-curricular class for something else. “Anything else would be better than being in that class.” said one of the students.
    The Spanish class took a test, on stuff they didn’t really learn about. The highest anyone got was a 60% which was just barely passing. One of the students had answers marked as wrong, when they were right, and the teacher told them that they’d have to do the test over again. This was brought up to the principal, who later exempt that test for the entire class. Another student was looking at his grades and said he was graded for something he didn’t turn in, and it was a good grade. Another student checked her grades and she failed on some things that she did turn in and was correct. This teacher was obviously picking favorites.

    Baby Lisa’s father addresses speculation at vigil marking 3rd anniversary of her disappearance


    Dozens gathered at the home of Jeremy Irwin and Deborah Bradley to pray for the safe return of their daughter, Lisa, reported missing Oct. 4, 2011. She would be four years old today.



    “This is, obviously, a pretty difficult day for us,” Jeremy Irwin, father, said. “It marks three years of Lisa being not home where she belongs, but it feels good. It’s nice to get her back on TV … and remind people she’s still out there and we’re still looking for her.”

    Irwin said he doesn’t know what happened to his daughter. He said he returned home from work and she was gone. Irwin said the last three years have provided little information that would lead to her whereabouts.
    READ MORE:http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1040060/pg1


    Category Archives: Baby Lisa


    Missing Baby Lisa Irwin: Attorney Forced From Case Due to Lack of 'Team Work'


    READ MORE: http://www.christianpost.com/news/missing-baby-lisa-irwin-attorney-forced-from-case-due-to-lack-of-team-work-59947/

    Baby Lisa's parents maintain innocence, believe she's alive 

    READ MORE:http://www.today.com/id/46251157/ns/today-today_news/t/baby-lisas-parents-maintain-innocence-believe-shes-alive/#.VKIp4rAAU

    'Our clients are telling the truth': Lawyer for Baby Lisa's parents claims he has the evidence that proves they are innocent

    The Life and Mysterious Death of Karen Silkwood

     

    Investigation

    Several posthumous investigations were launched in both public and private spheres. The press picked up on Silkwood's story; The New York Times had a front-row seat because Burnham had literally been at the scene of the accident a few hours after it happened. He and Steve Wodka had been waiting for Silkwood at the nearby Holiday Inn. When she was uncharacteristically later than usual, at 10 p.m., they started making phone calls and learned of the accident. After Burnham's stories appeared in the Times, Rolling Stone picked up on the story and ran a series of articles on the plant and Silkwood.
    Silkwood's Honda after the accident
    Silkwood's Honda after the accident
    And locally, people were still trying to hash out what had happened. An accident investigator, A.O. Pipkin was hired to investigate the accident by the union. Pipkin found that the rear bumper of Silkwood's car showed concave markings on the left side that neither Drew Stephens nor the mechanic who had previously worked on Karen's car remembered. That fender also tested positive for rubber, as if a bumper from another car had hit her from behind. Kerr-McGee and police contended that any dents in the metal fender were from the tow truck hauling the car from the ditch.
    Kerr-McGee accepted the narrative put forth by the police department, and when questioned, went on the offensive. Company representatives suggested that Karen had been a drunk, drug-addicted floozy who perhaps had even gone so far as to poison herself to get the plant in trouble. To Silkwood's friends, this was a plainly preposterous notion, considering how much of a nervous wreck she had become over the last few month, but it was a version repeatedly put forth in the lawsuit that soon followed her death.
    READ MORE:http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/forensics/karen-silkwood/investigation.html



    The Kerr-McGee Story

    Karen Silkwood was born on the 19th day of February in the year of 1946.

    She died in the year of 1974 on November 13th. During life, she worked at the Kerr-McGee plant in Oklahoma, near the city of Crescent. She held the responsibility of making pellets composed of plutonium for fuel rods that were nuclear reactor based. Eventually, she came to the point where she questioned the irregularities that occurred at the factory, and stated that they committed many wrongdoings. Once this started to happen, she mysteriously died. It is believed that Karen was part of a conspiracy that would prevent her from revealing information on the Kerr-McGee plant.
    When Karen Silkwood got the job at the Kerr-McGee plant, she become interested in the group called "Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Union". It was not too long after being hired that she joined the group. Shortly thereafter, the union members participated in a strike against Kerr-McGee. The strike would soon come to a close and she would be put in the committee that was referred to as "Union Bargaining" and given the responsibility of investigating issues related to the health of the workers as well as the overall safety of those individuals. She researched the facility and discovered:
    READ MORE:http://www.greatest-unsolved-mysteries.com/karen-silkwood.html  

    Karen Silkwood
    Who killed silkwood christic.jpg
    Poster from the Christic Institute archives.
    Born Karen Gay Silkwood
    February 19, 1946
    Longview, Texas
    Died November 13, 1974 (aged 28)
    near Crescent, Oklahoma
    Nationality American
    Spouse(s) William Meadows (1965–1972), 3 children
    Karen Gay Silkwood (February 19, 1946 – November 13, 1974) was an American chemical technician and labor union activist known for raising concerns about corporate practices related to health and safety of workers in a nuclear facility. She is most famous for her mysterious death, which was the subject of a victorious lawsuit against the chemical company Kerr-McGee. She gained more fame when she was portrayed by Meryl Streep in Mike Nichols' 1983 Academy Award-nominated film "Silkwood".
    She worked at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site plant near Crescent, Oklahoma, United States. Silkwood's job was making plutonium pellets for nuclear reactor fuel rods. This plant experienced theft of plutonium by workers during this era. She joined the union and became an activist on behalf of issues of health and safety at the plant as a member of the union's negotiating team, the first woman to have that position at Kerr-McGee. In the summer of 1974, she testified to the Atomic Energy Commission about her concerns.
    For three days in November, she was found to have abnormal but low levels of plutonium contamination on her person and in her home. That month, while driving to meet with David Burnham, a New York Times journalist, and Steve Wodka, an official of her union's national office, she died in a car accident under unclear circumstances.
    Her family sued Kerr-McGee on behalf of her estate. In what was the longest trial up until then in Oklahoma history, the jury found Kerr-McGee liable for the plutonium contamination of Silkwood, and awarded substantial damages. These were reduced on appeal, but the case reached the United States Supreme Court in 1979, which upheld the damages verdict. Before another trial took place, Kerr-McGee settled with the estate out of court for US $1.38 million, while not admitting liability.
    READ MORE:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood


    ‘Right to Work’ Benefits CEOs, Not Workers



    As Right to Work spreads, people are realizing it fattens the wallets of CEOs more than workers.   (Light Brigade / Flickr / Creative Commons)
    Earlier this month, in the sparsely populated Kentucky county that’s home to Bowling Green, officials voted to convert the place into a right-to-work (for less) sinkhole.
    The county officials did it at the bidding of big corporations. They certainly didn’t do it for their Warren County constituents because employees in right-to-work (for less) states get smaller paychecks than those in states that support the right to unionize. They did it at the demand of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Heritage Foundation, both of which are corporate owned and operated.
    They did it despite the fact that there’s no evidence they have any legal authority to create an anti-union bastion on the county level, which means they’ve subjected the residents of Warren County to substantial costs for a legal battle that Warren is likely to lose.
    Moving right-to-work (for less) from the state to the county level is the latest tactic in the relentless campaign by CEOs and corporations to reverse gains made by workers in the 1930s New Deal. With laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a Democratic Congress slightly moved toward workers the lopsided balance of power that heavily favors corporations. Over the next several decades, the middle class thrived and income inequality decreased substantially. Now, however, income inequality is back up to the point where it was in the robber baron days because CEOs and corporations have stuck their fat thumbs back on the scale.
    The FLSA created the 40-hour work week by mandating time-and-a-half pay beginning at the 41st hour worked. Before the law, managers could force employees to labor 50, 60 even 70 hours a week at no extra pay. During the Great Depression, bosses could fire those who dared complain and easily replace them. Corporations had all the power. FLSA gave a little of that muscle to workers by enabling them to demand extra pay for extra work. As a bonus, FLSA encouraged businesses to hire rather than pay overtime, which increased employment.
    The NLRA provided workers with a pathway to unionize. It established standards for employees to form a union at a workplace and for employers to recognize that union as the collective bargaining agent for the workers. Before the NLRA, Pinkertons, police and national guardsmen all too frequently killed striking workers. After the NLRA, unions multiplied, and collective bargaining achieved better wages, benefits and pensions for workers.
    But from the day these laws passed, corporations and lackey groups like ALEC and the Heritage Foundation fought to reverse them. They wanted all power and wealth to remain with the one percent.
    READ MORE:http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17483/right_to_work_benefits_ceos_not_workers

    Michigan’s Corporate Welfare Queens Should Pee in a Cup

    Last Friday, Gov. Snyder signed into law a pilot program to test welfare family members for illegal drug use. So, in the spirit of fairness for keeping all welfare recipients in line, Michigan should require corporate leaders who receive state subsidies to submit to drug testing. In truth, there was legislation to that effect introduced by Rep. Tom McMillin (R-45) last year — unfortunately it died in committee. Earlier this month, McMillan broke with fellow Republicans in the lame duck session and voted against the welfare drug-testing bill.
    pee in a cup 2
    So, if Michigan were to test corporate welfare CEOs and board members, just how many cups would the state need?
    Michigan remains near the top of the list for handing-out corporate subsidies, second only to New York in total number of recipients, and holds fourth place nationally for cumulative dollars devoted to corporate welfare. According to the “Subsidy Tracker” at Good Jobs First, the rust belt state has doled-out $10,440,043,930 to 15,205 companies in recent decades.
    Last year, Good Jobs First tallied-up what are known as “megadeals” — Michigan topped the list for brokering the most high-dollar subsidies for single corporate entities. In the Good Jobs First report, Megadeals: The Largest Economic Development Subsidy Packages Ever Awarded by State and Local Governments in the United States, Michigan was found to have made fully 29 outrageously over-the-top corporate tax give-aways — making the state the national leader, with New York coming in second at 23. Michigan forfeited a whopping $7,101,236,000 in megadeals to mostly large fortune 500 type companies for little in return. Much like Snyder’s tax breaks, these bonuses were untethered to any real and measurable job growth — they were nothing more than a trickle-down wish and a prayer.
    READ MORE:http://www.democracy-tree.com/michigans-corporate-welfare-queens-pee-cup/

    No More Privacy: Smart Meters Are Surveillance Devices That Monitor The Behavior In Your Home Every Single Minute Of Every Single Day


     
          Have you heard about the new “smart meters” that are being installed in homes all across America?  Under the guise of “reducing greenhouse gas emissions” and “reducing energy bills”, utility companies all over the United States are forcing tens of millions of American families to accept sophisticated surveillance devices in their homes.  Currently, approximately 9 percent of all electric meters in the U.S. have been converted over to smart meters.  It is being projected that by 2012, the number of smart meters in use will rise to 52 million, and the federal government is spending a lot of money to help get these installed everywhere.  But the federal government refuses to explain why they are spending so much money on this effort.  Eventually the goal is to have these smart meters in all of our homes and if that ever happened there would essentially be no more privacy.  Once installed, a smart meter monitors your home every single minute of every single day and it transmits very sophisticated data about your personal behavior back to the utility company.
    So can’t we just tell the utility companies that we don’t want these stupid things?
    Unfortunately, in many areas of the country you can’t.  For example, one outraged resident of California contacted the utility company and was told that if he did not consent to taking a smart meter he would receive no service.
    So unless you want to live “off the grid”, what are you going to do?  Can any of us really survive without electricity these days?
    READ MORE:http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/no-more-privacy-smart-meters-are-surveillance-devices-that-monitor-the-behavior-in-your-home-every-single-minute-of-every-single-day

    Muskegon Prepares to Vote on Controversial Ordinance that will Ban City Residents from Growing and Selling Vegetables

     
    READ MORE:
    Muskegon is a food desert, yet is preparing to pass an ordinance that will refuse to allow city residents to grow and sell vegetables.

    Wayne Whitman from MDARD has agreed to attend a private meeting in Muskegon to discuss the proposed ordinance in the context of the Right to Farm Act at 2:30 pm on December 8th, with city staff and invited guests only.  The public will not be allowed to attend.

    Joshua EldenBrady, resident of Muskegon, provides this overview:

    READ MORE:https://www.michigansmallfarmcouncil.org/blog/muskegon-prepares-to-vote-on-controversial-ordinance-that-will-ban-city-residents-from-growing-and-selling-vegetables?fb_ref=Default&fb_source=message&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

    THE QUEEN’S SPEECH: Deciphered by Chris Everard

    21st Century Wire asks…

    What’s behind all of the tradition, pomp and circumstance?

    Another Christmas under our belts and with that, another Queen’s address to her British subjects, and to the peoples of world at large.

    Who are the Royal Family?

    We see the royals constantly in the media, yet very rarely in public. Where do they come from? How, and why did they acquire the name “Windsor”?

    British historian, researcher, author and prolific filmmaker, Christopher Everard, is offering some answers to these questions about a much-maligned, and often misunderstood Royal Family…


    IT’S A HARD KNOCK LIFE: The Royal Family enjoy an exquisite day of champagne and presents at one of many royal digs.
    READ MORE:http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/12/29/the-queens-speech-deciphered-by-chris-everard/

    Cause of obesity identified

    Share1
    Cabbage(Health Secrets) Early Americana is remembered in part for its legacy of homesteading and family farming where families grew their own fruits and vegetables, raised their own animals for food, and traded their goods locally with neighbors. Today’s American landscape has changed dramatically; a mere 1-2 percent of all consumed food is locally grown today, and over 90 percent of it has been processed. Experts believe this modern food system is directly responsible for the obesity epidemic, and they say that a shift back to locally-grown food would help remedy this cause of obesity and improve public health.
    Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) collected data from a myriad of data sources to analyze the cause of obesity. Upon review, they concluded that the large-scale food system of today has resulted in a glut of readily-available, highly-processed, and typically genetically-modified (GM) foods that are rich in refined flours, sugars, and bad fats, and devoid of many necessary nutrients,vitamins and minerals.

    FROM FACEBOOK - TED VISNER ALLEGES THAT HIS RIGHTS HAVE BEEN VIOLATED ONCE AGAIN - UNBELIEVABLE STORY OF VICTIMIZATION BY LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT

    In a FOIA demand, I was sent a copy of this.
    This picture and write-up has been on public display with my address, date of birth and social security number!
    The picture was taken on the date of my kidnapping where I was later released and refused a court appearance. The picture is labeled a "Mugshot" which leads people to believe that I was lawfully arrested when I was not.
    The following demand was just sent to the county...
    FURTHER DEMAND
    I do NOT appreciate having my picture posted. This is an invasion of my privacy and a violation of my reasonable expectation to my right to privacy.
    This picture was from my kidnapping and not from any lawful arrest.
    This picture was forcibly taken without my authorization and without my consent.
    Calling this picture a "mugshot" wrongly and intentionally implies that I was lawfully arrested when I was not.
    This is slanderous and libelous, defamatory and scandalous.
    I do not have, use and post your home addresses and your social security numbers and other private information about all of you!
    Would you like it if I did that to you?
    This is terrorizing, intimidating and threatening.
    Cease and Desist IMMEDIATELY and EVERYWHERE!
    Also take note that this is criminal harassment and intentional reckless endangerment!
    Either take this complaint against yourself or request a special prosecutor for me.