Last winter, I wrote, in Grist, about evidence that one of Monsanto's flagship GMO product lines - seeds engineered to produce the pesticide Bt - was succumbing to corn rootworms, the exact insects it was designed to kill. The evidence was somewhat thin - the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received reports from several states that indicated a problem - and certainly not decisive enough to prevent Monsanto from issuing an outright denial.
But now comes a report from Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) on the damage rootworms are doing to the current corn crop and the real concern farmers have that Monsanto's seeds are no longer helping them control pests. The EPA is treating these latest reports seriously; according to the article, EPA officials visited some "problem fields" to observe possible evidence of resistance while awaiting results from Monsanto's own scientists.
The Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday assured congressional lawmakers that agents would play no role in enforcing the controversial requirement that Americans buy insurance under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
"IRS revenue agents will not be involved. There will not be audits," IRS Deputy Commissioner Steven Miller told a subcommittee of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
The law, passed in 2010 and upheld by theSupreme Court, will charge individuals a fee, or tax, if they fail to buy insurance starting in 2014.
Thirteen months after rival rating agency Standard & Poor's stripped the U.S. of its top credit rating amid partisan debt-ceiling gridlock in Washington, Moody's Investors Service says it too may cut its rating if the U.S. can't get a handle on its budget and debt-to-GDP ratio. From Moody's this morning:
"Budget negotiations during the 2013 Congressional legislative session will likely determine the direction of the US government's Aaa rating and negative outlook.... If those negotiations lead to specific policies that produce a stabilization and then downward trend in the ratio of federal debt to GDP over the medium term, the rating will likely be affirmed and the outlook returned to stable. If those negotiations fail to produce such policies, however, Moody's would expect to lower the rating, probably to Aa1."
Moody's timing certainly seems curious and conspicuous, given that its report on the U.S., which hinges on negotiations that will take place in 2013, comes out the morning of the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks, in the midst of a heated presidential campaign less than two months before the November election, and during a week in which the Fed is widely expected to announce further quantitative easing measures, likely via further bond purchases.
Frequent fliers in the US have scolded the TSA's performance in the nation's airports in a survey released this week by Business travel blog Frequent Business Traveler.
Out of 1,852 readers surveyed, over 90 percent concluded that the TSA was doing a "poor" or "fair" job in airport security screening, with just 1.2 percent saying it was doing an "excellent" job.
The poll, conducted in partnership with FlyerTalk, also found that over 80 percent of respondents believe that TSA procedures are either "not effective" or "not too effective" when it comes to preventing acts of terrorism.
Less than 5 percent said that the agency was "very effective" or "extremely effective".
In another shocking example of how the federal government is repositioning itself as a secret police force to target political dissidents, a 16-year-old boy was questioned by FBI agents over a You Tube video he created for a school project which highlighted how America was slipping into a police state.
The video clip, which promotes the presidential campaign of Congressman Ron Paul, was put together by Justin Hallman as part of a project for his American Government class. The video helped earn Hallman an A+ pass and his teacher enthused about how impressed he was with Hallman's efforts.
The video touches on a number of issues, including the National Defense Authorization Act, evidence suggesting the Republican caucus in Maine was fixed to disenfranchise Ron Paul, the hacktivist group Anonymous, military drills taking place in American cities, as well as eviscerations of the right to free speech.
About a month later, Hallman was shocked to receive a knock on the door of his family's home from two FBI agents, including Special Agent Matthew Bowman. Hallman provided us with images of Bowman's FBI card which he left at the property when Hallman decided not to answer the door. When Hallman's mother called the number on the card she was told by Bowman, "We need to talk to your son."
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble questioned on Tuesday how the United States could deal with its high levels of government debt after November's presidential election.
In a speech to the Bundestag lower house of parliament to open a debate on the 2013 German budget, Schaeuble said worries about U.S. debt were a burden for the global economy, hitting back at Washington which has criticized Europe for failing to get a grip on its own debt crisis.
In private, German officials often express concern about U.S. debt levels and the inability of politicians there to reach a consensus on how to reduce it, but Schaeuble's public remarks underscore the extent of the worries in Germany.
I saw first-hand that these regime claims were lies, and I couldn't believe CNN was making me put what I knew to be government lies into my reporting. - Amber Lyon
The Amber Lyon story is just the latest in a series of articles that expose the total Joseph Goebbels like censorship rampant in mainstream media today. The first one I posted several weeks ago exposed how the NY Times basically just regurgitates whatever government officials tell them, while the other showcased how an NPR reporter covering D.C. had to leave and do her own thing out of frustration. This is precisely why alternative media sites are taking off. They provide the only outlets left for genuine journalism.
So back to Amber. Back in March 2011, CNN sent a four person team to Bahrain to cover the Arab Spring. Once there, the crew was the subject of extreme intimidation amongst other things, but they were able to record some fantastic footage. As Glenn Greenwald of the UK's Guardian writes in his blockbuster article from today:
"In the segment, Lyon interviewed activists as they explicitly described their torture at the hands of government forces, while family members recounted their relatives' abrupt disappearances. She spoke with government officials justifying the imprisonment of activists. And the segment featured harrowing video footage of regime forces shooting unarmed demonstrators, along with the mass arrests of peaceful protesters. In sum, the early 2011 CNN segment on Bahrain presented one of the starkest reports to date of the brutal repression embraced by the US-backed regime.
Stanfords 'Anti-Organic' study does not address the real concerns of non-organic plants, which of course include GMO. Also, testing done to Chinese kids and more.
(WSCR) If Lance Armstrong wants to exchange his seven Tour de France titles for seven Chicago Marathon titles, he won't be able to do so.
That's right, according to Chicago Marathon director Carey Pinkowski, sanctioning rules prevent Armstrong from running the Oct. 7 Bank of America Chicago Marathon.
A recently installed PECO meter caught fire early Thursday and caused minor damage to a Bensalem home, a fire official said.
No one was injured, said Bensalem Battalion Chief Rob Sponheimer, who added that this was the third such fire in Bensalem since April.
Sponheimer said the digital meter was installed in late June or early July at the house in the 1800 block of Park Avenue.
Shortly after midnight, volunteer firefighters from the Eddington, Nottingham and Newport companies were called to the house and found the fire mostly burned out, but not before it scorched the side of the home, Sponheimer said.
Five of the twelve new GMO crops that agro-chemical companies Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, and BASF have submitted for approval from the US Department of Agriculture are genetically engineered with a soil bacteria that keeps them alive, even when they're sprayed with massive doses of the herbicide RoundUp. More of these so-called "RoundUp Ready" crops means more RoundUp sprayed on our food. This is horrible because Monsanto's RoundUp causes birth defects. Instead of "RoundUp Ready" we should call these GMOs "Birth-Defect Ready"!
According to a report published by Earth Open Source, industry's own studies - including one commissioned by Monsanto - showed that as long ago as the 1980's that RoundUp's active ingredient, glyphosate, causes birth defects in laboratory animals.
We have until September 11th to urge the USDA to block these new Birth-Defect Ready GMO crops.
It could be time for you to start worrying about what Facebook might be doing with the identity information collected on you and "tagged" photos.
The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information in Germany has announced legal action against the company and charged that Facebook's use of facial-recognition technology is illegal.
If the social network doesn't do this by Sept. 4, the FGCO will sue. Earlier this month, Norway also announced that it is looking into the legality of the social network's use of face-matching technology.In addition, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations is ordering Facebook to stop giving third-party applications users' data without their consent.
In its ongoing quest to develop a robot that can chase down human prey, The Department of Defense now has a robot that can run faster than the fastest human on the planet.
The quadruped robot, dubbed the CHEETAH, by developers Boston Dynamics Inc, recently set a new record as the fastest moving robot in the world by running at a speed of 28.3 miles per hour.
The robot smashed its own previous land speed record of 18 miles per hour, which was setonly six months ago.
Although still tethered to a treadmill and working from an off board power supply, the CHEETAH now moves faster than record setting sprinter Usain Bolt, who reached a peak speed of 27.78 mph over a 20-meter stretch during a 100-meter sprint in 2009. The feat is still recognized as the world speed record for a human.
The technology is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the agency responsible for the development of new technologies for use by the military.
DHS has entered into settlement talks with James Hayes, the head of New York ICE office, following a suit filed by Hayes against DHS secretary Janet Napolitano and ICE; the suit charged two female executives at ICE with turning the agency into a "frat house," and with discrimination against male employees of the agency.
The federal government has begun settlement talks with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official whose lawsuit, claiming discrimination, retaliation, and sexist behavior, has led to the resignation of a top official at the agency.
Fox News reports that James Hayes, head of the New York ICE, sued DHS secretary Janet Napolitano in May, claiming he was overlooked for promotion in favor of female employees, and then demoted when he complained. Hayes also accused the-ICE chief of staff, Suzanne Barr, of running a "frat house"-style agency, according to court papers.
Hundreds of letters of complaint about the TSA's invasive security procedures released this week under the Freedom of Information Act include numerous horror stories about TSA screeners directly touching people's genitals during pat downs.
Following a FOIA request in 2010, the non-profit website Governmentattic.org has released the files after a two year battle with the TSA to make them public. The letters can be viewed here.
The letters confirm what we first reported back in 2010, that the TSA's new security procedures for "advanced pat downs" include literally touching and in some cases groping the genitals of travelers.
(Reuters) - Yosemite National Park broadened the scope of its health alert on the deadly mouse-borne hantavirus on Thursday as the death toll rose to three, warning roughly 12,000 additional visitors to a more remote area of the park about exposure risks.
U.S. officials had sounded a worldwide alert earlier this week, saying that up to 10,000 people were thought to be at risk of contracting hantavirus pulmonary syndrome after staying at the popular Curry Village camping area between June and August.
Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman said the park was now expanding the warning to include another 12,000 people who stayed, or were still registered to stay, in the more remote High Sierra Camps, an area where visitors had not previously been considered to be at risk.
Are forced druggings, indefinite psychiatric detention, and mysterious deaths part of a plot to cover up police rape being the cause of the Columbine shootings?
Columbine shooting victim Mark Taylor is being forcefully drugged and held under psychiatric detention after years of activism against the Big Pharma companies that made the drugs believed to have sent the shooters into their psychotic rage. But that's just the beginning of a more sinister story which involves other victims being treated the same or dying under mysterious circumstances. Families and friends of the Columbine shooting say it all appears to be part of a larger police cover up of numerous events prior to the Columbine mass shooting. Those events include an alleged rape of the shooters by police from the same agency responsible for the investigation and a failure to execute a search warrant prior to the shooting that would have unveiled the shooters plan and turned up evidence implicating fellow officers in the alleged rape.
Editor's Note: Mark Taylor's mother is desperately seeking a lawyer to file paperwork for international political asylum to end the forced drugging and indefinite psychiatric detention being used to silence him. Please contact me if you can help in this matter.
LEHI, Utah (CBS Las Vegas) - A woman catches a mother potty training her two daughters at the dining table of a Utah restaurant.
Kimberly Decker posted on her blog this week a photo of a toddler sitting on a potty training toilet at the Thanksgiving Point Deli in Lehi.
"While we sat down to have lunch, I noticed this young Mother was potty training her two twin daughters at the table. It didn't quite register at first what was happening, but when I took a second glance I realized this is NOT OK! I decided to snap a picture of the whole incident and then later that afternoon as a 'joke' I decided to post it on Facebook. I couldn't believe the response I got," she wrote.
A Brazilian court ruled this week that McDonald's must pay a former franchise manager $17,500 because he gained 65 pounds (30 kilograms) while working there for a dozen years.
The 32-year-old man said he felt forced to sample the food each day to ensure quality standards remained high, because McDonald's hired "mystery clients" to randomly visit restaurants and report on the food, service and cleanliness.
The man also said the company offered free lunches to employees, adding to his caloric intake while on the job. His identity was not released.
