Infowars.com

June 18, 2013

In this fitting example of the conditioning to never question authority which pervades popular culture and public schools, Miss Alabama, who holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations with a minor in communications, has this to say about Big Brother:

“I think that the society that we live in today, it’s sad that if we go to the movies, or to the airport, to even to the mall that we have to worry about our safety. So I would rather someone track my telephone messages and feel safe wherever I go, than feel like they’re, umm, encroaching on my privacy.”

The eventual winner of the pageant also has this to say about forcing suspects (not yet convicted of any crime) to provide DNA upon arrest:

“I would agree with this. I think that if somebody’s being prosecuted and is . . . committed a crime that’s that severe that they should have a DNA test. I think there are so many crimes going on in this world that if that’s one step closer to figuring out who has done it, I think we should absolutely do so.”

Authority that is just is defined through its restraints; the removal of such restraints leads to authority enslaving, rather than serving, the people. Always question authority to determine, rather than assume, that is it just.

It hardly gets more Orwellian than this. New technology would allow cable companies to peer directly into television watchers’ homes and monitor viewing habits and reactions to product advertisements.

The technology would come via the cable box, and at least one lawmaker on Capitol Hill is standing in opposition.

Mass. Democratic Rep. Michael Capuano has introduced a bill, the We Are Watching You Act, to prohibit the technology on boxes and collection of information absent consumer permission. The bill would also require companies that do use the data to show “we are watching you” messages on the screen and to explain just what kinds of information is being captured and for what reasons, AdWeek reported.

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Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
June 18, 2013

Comedian Russell Brand terrified anchors on MSNBC’s Morning Joe program by lecturing them about how the media distracts from real news by obsessing about superficial distractions.

Brand almost immediately put host Mika Brzezinski on the back foot by describing his tour as an exploration of how Malcolm X, Gandhi, Che Guevara and Jesus Christ “are significant culturally and how icons are appropriated and used to designate consciousness and meaning….they’re all people that died for a cause, they’re all people whose icons are used to designate meaning, perhaps not in the manner in which they intended.”

Brand then poked fun at MSNBC’s army of “actors” in the back of the shot who were supposedly tweeting, noting that they were merely a gimmick to create the impression that the program was a hotbed of news.

The anchors began to get visibly uncomfortable when Brand made the point that mass media was an operation in changing information “so it suits a particular agenda” and that viewers were being manipulated.

Instead of addressing Brand’s point, the anchors instead obsessed about the comedian’s accent and his clothing.

“You’re talking about me as if I’m not here and as if I’m an extraterrestrial,” responded Brand, “thank you for your casual objectification.”

“I’m a little nervous,” retorted Brzezinski, presumably not used to entertaining guests on her program who act like real people.

When the conversation began to break down, Brand asked , “Is this what you all do for a living?” before hijacking the broadcast to talk about Edward Snowden, the NSA spying scandal and Bradley Manning.

“Look beyond the superficial, that’s the problem with current affairs, you forget about what’s important, you allow the agenda to be decided by superficial information – what am I saying – what am I talking about – don’t think about what I’m wearing, these things are redundant, superficial – don’t be distracted,” said Brand as Brzezinski physically cowered.

Brand, who is a close friend of David Icke and was the only celebrity of note to draw attention to the Bilderberg Group with a recent tweet, is known for broaching topics of conversation which firmly go against the establishment grain. He also follows Alex Jones on Twitter.

His Brand X show routinely features guests from the counter-culture as well as those with controversial political views.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

Barroso said teams of the European Commission and the United States are scheduled to meet for the first round of negotiations next month toward a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement.

“Very frankly, three years ago very few would have bet that today we will be in the position to launch negotiations on an ambitious European Union-United States free trade agreement,” Barroso stated, adding that the scheduled meeting will “be the start of a joint undertaking of real strategic importance.”

The announcement came alongside US President Barack Obama and United Kingdom’s Prime Minister David Cameron, as the annual Group of 8 summit is to begin on Tuesday in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

In addition, Barroso underlined that the talks are part is part of an overall agenda on both sides to promote growth and jobs on both sides of the Atlantic by boosting trade and investment. The trade agreement could become a game changer in world economy, and Barroso highlighted that “it is also a powerful demonstration of our determination to shape an open and rules-based world.”

In 2012, the EU and the US exchanged nearly $650 billion, but the core challenge, as Barroso described it, is moving regulatory regimes closer and addressing the negative effect of behind-the-border trade barriers.

“Huge economic benefits are expected from reducing red tape and avoiding divergent regulations for the future,” he said. “I would rather have our companies invest in new innovative products and services and job creation than in double testing and multiple inspections or even separate manufacturing lines.”

Barroso also favored a rapid progress into negotiations, calling on legislators on the European side, especially the European Parliament, regulators, and civil society to play a constructive and engaged part in these negotiations. However, negotiations could last for several months until a deal is reached.

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The investigation against Hall, 83, was launched by Scotland Yard in October 2012 when they received an anonymous letter which alleged the presenter had sexually abused the writer when she was a young teenager in the 1970s. He was eventually arrested in December after four other victims came forward independently.

Hall was charged with three counts of indecent assault for offenses committed between 1974 and 1984 that involved three girls between the ages of 9 and 17. He was arrested again in January after more victims came forward, and he was then charged with one count of rape and 14 counts of indecent assault for offenses committed between 1967 and 1986 that involved 10 girls between the ages of 9 and 17 years.

The former BBC entertainer initially denied all the offenses but eventually pleaded guilty on April 16 to all fourteen counts of indecent assault after four of the charges were rolled into one indictment. He denied raping a 22-year-old woman and prosecutors decided to drop the case, leaving it to lie on file.

The woman who wrote the anonymous letter that sparked the investigation and led to the first arrest eventually came forward in December to identify herself. She was interviewed by officers and gave a formal statement, but she later asked prosecutors not to pursue her case after learning Hall had pleaded guilty in the other assaults.

Appearing at Preston Crown Court on Monday, Hall was sentenced to 15 months in prison for the assaults. Judge Anthony Russell said the presenter would have received 20 months in prison if the case had gone to trial, but he reduced the sentence by five months to reflect his guilty pleas.

“I welcome today’s sentence imposed by the court and I hope that it will help the victims in this case move forward with their lives,” said Detective Superintendent Neil Esseen of Lancashire Constabulary’s Major Investigation Team. “I would like once again to commend the victims in this case for having the courage to come forward.”

Esseen added: “They have lived with what happened for a long period of time and it cannot have been easy for them to come forward, especially as when they did so, they did not know there were others who had also suffered abuse. We are committed to investigating any allegations of sexually abuse thoroughly and with sensitivity, no matter how long ago they happened and we will always strive to protect our communities, no matter the status of the alleged perpetrator.”

In a brief statement, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said the corporation was ‘appalled’ by Hall’s crimes and previously indicated they will no longer work with him. “The BBC is appalled that some of Stuart Hall’s crimes took place in connection with his work at the BBC and offer an unreserved apology to the people he abused,” the broadcaster said.

(Copyright 2013 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)

San Francisco’s bins for mandatory recycling. Photo: Kenneth Lu

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced a plan to penalize New Yorkers who do not compost food waste.

Nanny Mike, who has outlawed consumption of large soft drinks and smoking outdoors, has an ambitious plan to handle 100,000 tons of food scraps a year and convert residential food waste into biogas for electricity generation, according to the New York Times.

Biogas is a trendy alternative to conventional fuel used to generate electricity. In addition to the inefficiency of biogas, it is more expensive than other biofuels.

Moreover, sanitation officials in America’s largest city consider New York too dense and vertically structured for such a policy to succeed.

For now, Bloomberg’s program will be voluntary. New York, however, eventually plans to make it mandatory. Cities around the country, including San Francisco and Seattle, are currently mandating citizen participation in food recycling programs.

San Francisco’s Mandatory Recycling and Composting Ordinance fines building owners if they do not provide blue, green, and black bins and information on their proper use, according to the SFEnviroment web page.

Michael Bloomberg’s nanny state initiative has increased momentum recently. In addition to soft drinks and smoking, New York City’s bureaucrats are attempting to restrict pain medication, purportedly in response to a national epidemic of prescription drug abuse.

“Michael Bloomberg believes the government and its sprawling and ineffectual bureaucracy is far better suited to make patient decisions than doctors and medical professionals,” we reported in January. “Bloomberg’s soda ban and his vendetta against law-abiding firearms owners once again reveals the insatiable drive of government to micromanage and control all aspects of human behavior and further extend its reach into the private affairs of citizen-subjects.”

In May, Bloomberg moved to restrict consumption decisions of citizens.

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
June 17, 2013

14-year-old Jared Marcum faces a year in jail after he was arrested by police in Logan County, West Virginia for refusing to remove a pro-Second Amendment t-shirt.

The incident began at Lincoln Middle School on April 18 when Marcum was asked by a teacher to remove the NRA shirt, which features the words “protect your right” above an image of a hunting rifle, or be suspended, despite the fact that the shirt did not violate the school’s dress code which bars images featuring “profanity, violence, discriminatory messages or sexually suggestive phrases.”

After Marcum refused to take off the shirt, calmly attempting to explain to school administrators that he was exercising his first amendment right, cops were called solely, “Because I would not take this shirt off, because I believe that I should have a right to wear this,” according to Marcum.

When Marcum refused to be silent, he was arrested and charged with “disturbing the education process” and obstruction of a police officer. On Friday, Judge Eric O’Brien bizarrely sided with police and allowed the prosecution to proceed with the case.

Police initially claimed Marcum made “terroristic threats” for daring to exercise his first amendment, but later backed down from that charge.

Both police and prosecuting attorney Michael White refused to speak to the media about the case. Marcum faces a year in jail when he returns to court on July 11, unless his attorney can get the charges dropped in the meantime.

“Every aspect of this is just totally wrong,” said Marcum’s step father Allen Lardieri, pointing out that Marcum doesn’t have a criminal background.

“Me — I’m more of a fighter, and so is Jared. And eventually we’re going to get through this,” he added. “I don’t think it should have ever gotten this far.”

The case has garnered national attention as it underscores how both authorities and the education system treat the first and second amendments as nuisances to be frowned upon and discouraged.

Since the Sandy Hook shootings last year, there have been innumerable instances where schools have reacted with outright panic and hysteria to toy guns, objects shaped like guns or even the mere discussion of guns by students.

Back in February, another 14-year-old boy was asked by administrators at Genoa-Kingston Middle School to remove a t-shirt which featured the word “Marines” above an image of two interlocking rifles.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

Machel, in a statement released by the Nelson Mandela Center of Memory, said the family’s gratitude is “difficult to express” after countless of messages in support of Mandela. The anti-apartheid icon has been hospitalized in Pretoria since June 8 with a recurrence of a lung infection and remains in a serious condition.

“So much love and generosity from South Africans, Africans across the continent, and thousands more from across the world, have come our way to lighten the burden of anxiety; bringing us love, comfort and hope,” Machel, the former leader’s third wife, said in her first public comments since the most serious health scare yet.

“The messages have come by letter, by SMS, by phone, by Twitter, by Facebook, by e-mail, cards, flowers and the human voice, in particular the voices of children in schools or singing outside our home,” she added. “We have felt the closeness of the world and the deepest meaning of strength and peace.”

She added: “Our gratitude is difficult to express. But the love and peace we feel give yet more life to the simple ‘Thank you!’”

On Sunday, while addressing a gathering in the city of Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal province, South African President Jacob Zuma said the condition of Mandela is continuing to improve although he remains in a serious condition. He asked South Africans to keep Mandela in their thoughts and prayers.

“President Nelson Mandela is still in hospital in Pretoria. We are grateful that he continues to get better,” Zuma told the audience. “Over the last two days, although he remains serious, his doctors have stated that his improvement has been sustained. He continues to engage with family.”

Zuma gave no other details about the former leader’s condition but asked the audience to wish him a happy Father’s Day. “I invite you to join me today, in wishing Madiba a very happy Father’s Day today. We love him and know that he loves us too,” he said, referring to Mandela by his Xhosa clan name.

The anti-apartheid icon has been hospitalized several times in recent months, raising concerns about his health condition. Mandela was hospitalized for more than a week in late March, also for a recurrence of a lung infection, and doctors withdrew excess fluid that had accumulated in the space surrounding his lungs.

After the procedure in late March, the government revealed Mandela was able to breathe without difficulty, even though it had previously made no mention of breathing problems and instead said the former leader was in “good spirits” and “making steady progress.” The government has been repeatedly criticized for being reluctant to provide more specific details about Mandela’s situation, causing uncertainty.

Earlier in March, Mandela spent about 24 hours in hospital for what the government described as a ‘scheduled medical check-up’ to manage existing conditions in line with his old age. Officials at the time assured Mandela was “well” but refused to provide more specific details about the nature of the visit.

Mandela was also hospitalized in December 2012 for what was later revealed to be a recurrence of a previous lung infection. The anti-apartheid icon also underwent a successful procedure on December 15 to remove gallstones which were discovered while Mandela was undergoing tests.

The hospitalization in December lasted for more than three weeks. Major South African news organizations harshly criticized the government’s handling of information relating to Mandela’s hospitalization, complaining that the government did not act on a previously developed protocol that would have ensured the former leader’s privacy while keeping South Africans informed of major developments.

Before being elected as president, Mandela was a strong anti-apartheid activist and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress. He spent 27 years in prison after being convicted and sentenced to life in prison on charges for sabotage and other crimes. Much of his prison term was served on Robben Island.

Mandela was released on February 11, 1990, and became president only four years later, leading the country with a multi-racial administration to end the apartheid. Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk were jointly awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa.

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The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia said four people whose infections had previously been confirmed by laboratory tests had died from the illness. It also announced three additional laboratory-confirmed cases, including a 42-year-old man from the kingdom’s eastern region, a 63-year-old woman from Riyadh and a 2-year-old child from Jeddah.

The new coronavirus first emerged in the Middle East last year and is now known to have infected at least 64 people, including 38 people who died from the illness. The disease appeared at a health care facility in Saudi Arabia’s eastern province of Ahsaa in May and infected at least fifteen patients, more than a month after the last case of the virus had been reported.

Later in May, France confirmed the country’s first case of the novel coronavirus in a patient who recently traveled to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where another case had been reported in March. The victim eventually died, and a second person who shared a hospital room in Valenciennes with the first patient remains in a critical condition with the same illness.

Experts are still unsure how people become infected, whether it is from animals, from contaminated surfaces, or from other people. And although there is no evidence yet of continuous human-to-human transmission, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said it appears likely that the virus is able to pass from person-to-person when there is close contact.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan sounded the alarm over the virus – which is also known as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – during her closing remarks at the 66th World Health Assembly late last month, warning that the virus ‘poses a threat to the entire world’ and urging the international community to come together to combat the threat.

“The novel coronavirus is not a problem that any single affected country can keep to itself or manage all by itself. The novel coronavirus is a threat to the entire world,” Chan said. “Through WHO and the IHR, we need to bring together the assets of the entire world in order to adequately address this threat. We need more information, and we need it quickly, urgently.”

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At least 37 people were killed and 34 others were injured in Uttarakhand state, the worst affected area, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI). Among those were three people who died when a three-story apartment building toppled into a river in Uttarkashi, and video broadcast by Indian media showed the dramatic collapse.

At least 15 people were killed in the state of Uttar Pradesh while 10 more died in Himachal Pradesh, the news agency reported, quoting disaster management officials. The figure includes five family members who died when boulders came down on their house in Himachal Pradesh.

Indian Air Force helicopters that were on standby since Sunday were called into service numerous times. The aircraft, including helicopters such as Mi-17 and ALH, carried out missions to airlift rescue workers, equipment, relief material, medical aid and to assist in rescue operations.

The Ministry of Defense said its equipment remained on standby and Air Force helicopters had rescued at least 43 people, including 15 adults and six children in the Nakur area of Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh state and 22 people in the Indri Subdivision of Karnal district in the state of Haryana.

Monsoon rains arrived in India at the beginning of this month, first arriving in the country’s southwest before traveling north as it soaked farmland desperately in need of rain after scorching summer temperatures. The monsoon season lasts from June to September, during which the country receives three quarters of its yearly amount of rainfall.

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