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Deep Thought: Should I get my DNA Tested?April 6, 2017 at 10:18 pm | Posted in Deep, DNA, should, tested, Thought, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: African, American, ancestry.com, Asian, babel, bad, Caucasian, countries, country, Creation, deep, DNA, Eastern, ethnicity, European, extremism, family, fighting, Genesis, get, God, good, human, I, Indigenous, information, Middle, multicultural, My, Native, not, of, one, or, origins, percent, pride, privacy, pure, race, Records, Roots, shared, should, story, tested, thought, Tower, tree, Why, World
How Safe is Your Information When You Use a DNA Testing Kit?
by Jessa Barron October 22, 2015 nextadvisor.com
"..They can help us discover more about our origins and even help us connect to family members we didn't know we had. While there are questions about how these tests are completed, one of the more pertinent questions relates to the security of these tests. Many are concerned with who has access to your DNA test once it's sent back into the lab and what the lab can legally do with your DNA. To help you determine how safe your information is if you use a DNA testing kit, we answer some of the most common questions when it comes to protecting your information and test results…"
Risks of DNA Testing in Search for Ancestors May 30, 20069:00 AM ET npr.org
"..I should point out that, when you look at the mitochondria and you look at the Y chromosome, it is only looking at one chapter in the 23 chapters of the DNA history. And DNA is, if you want to think about it in a more practical term, it's like a tape recorder. And it records all of your ancestral migrations, and it has nothing to do with politics, or race, or religion. It is only recording those events, and half of it comes from your mother and half of it comes from your father. But it's not always equal.
So, that being said, parents and children do not necessarily always inherit, let's say the minor components of a genetic ancestry. So you might have three children, and one child would inherit, let's say, a 15 percent sub-Saharan African content, and the second child will inherit none. And that's just the DNA shuffle, as we call it. ..
But we also know that this DNA and this racial categorization is used in forensics and in criminology, in ways that your own privacy might be subject to a court order, for example. To find out if any relatives in your family might be involved in some activity. "
Privacy risks lurk in DNA tests, experts warn By Patrick Cain National Online Journalist, News Global News August 15, 2016 8:00 am globalnews.ca
"..But others are curious about the complex, highly personal information about you coded in your DNA: drug companies, insurers, sometimes police.
And once you put your cheek swab in the mail, you risk permanently losing control over a complete copy of your genetic data, linked to your real identity.
Should insurers see the secrets locked in your genes?
Liberal MP Rob Oliphant announces bill to prevent genetic discrimination
Internet of Things our 'biggest threat to privacy,' expert warns
"I think you have to assume that you're going to lose control over that information," warns Ann Cavoukian, a former Ontario privacy commissioner who runs the Privacy and Big Data Institute at Ryerson University…
Closing a 23andMe account doesn't necessarily mean the company's copy of your genetic data will disappear:
"We allow customers to close their accounts. It's a bit complicated by our regulatory compliance for laboratories in the United States, which requires that raw information be held for a minimum of 10 years. The information will be de-identified, but will continue to be stored for that set amount of time."…"
…Your genetic data can show your odds of getting diseases, like the BRCA1 genetic mutation that can mean a much higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Some diseases, like Huntington's disease, are genetic, and susceptibility can be read from someone's genetic information. With the science of genetics in its infancy, it's impossible to know what can be told about you from your DNA in the future.
"With genetic data, it is very concrete, in terms of a road map to your physical conditions," Cavoukian says….
"We are very clear that users own and control their data," ancestry.com spokesperson Patrick Erlich wrote in an e-mail. "They can download it, ask us to delete it and destroy the sample, and can revoke their opt-in consent to participate in research projects at any time."
"As disclosed in our policies, DNA samples are stored without personally identifying information at either a testing laboratory or other storage facility and may be kept by us unless or until circumstances require us to destroy the sample, or it is no longer suitable for testing purposes. "
So what should an individual do? Like any other decision about digital privacy, the answer really comes down to your own comfort level, and how you perceive the trade-off between some information now and a potential privacy breach in the future…"
CORRECTION: Ancestry.com Hands Over Client DNA Test Results to Cops Witho̶u̶t̶ a Warrant*-
A pretty good way to discourage people from using gene testing services
Ronald Bailey|May. 6, 2015 1:11 pm reason.com/blog
-Health Liabilities?
The Risks and Benefits of 23andMe DNA Analysis | Healdove healdove.com
In the event of corporate bankruptcy, consumers' genetic data would likely be considered a corporate asset and sold. That is what happened when deCODE, a prior competitor of 23andMe, went bankrupt in 2009. Pharmaceutical giant Amgen purchased the company in December 2012 for $415M, in part for its large data bank.
You may learn about your own health risks or carrier status and by extension the potential risks and carrier status of your relatives…"
Differences Between Companies
Ancestry DNA vs 23andMe: Full Comparison
23andMe, Ancestry and Selling Your DNA Information 23andMe, Posted on December 30, 2015 dna-explained.com
"..However, opting out of his higher level DOES NOT stop the company from utilizing, sharing or selling your anonymized DNA and data. Anonymized data means your identity and what they consider identifying information has been removed.
Many people think that if you opt-out, your DNA and data is never shared or sold, but according to 23andMe and Ancestry's own documentation, that's not true. Opt-out is not truly opt-out. It's only opting out of them sharing your non-anonymized data – meaning just the higher level of participation only. They still share your anonymized data in aggregated fashion…"
Uprooted: The dangers of DNA testing
Virginia Hughes | October 1, 2013 | MATTER geneticliteracyproject.org
"Searching your genetic ancestry can certainly be fun: You can trace the migration patterns of 10,000-year-old ancestors, or discover whether a distant relative ruled a continent or rode on the Mayflower. But the technology can just as easily unearth more private acts—infidelities, sperm donations, adoptions—of more recent generations, including previously unknown behaviors of your grandparents, parents, and even spouses. Family secrets have never been so vulnerable…"
Problems with AncestryDNA's Genetic Ethnicity Prediction? Blaine Bettinger19 June 2012 201 Comments thegeneticgenealogist.com
Different Reference Populations and Algorithms
As I suggested above, different companies use different reference populations and algorithms to create a biogeographical estimate, which can result in varying estimates.
For example, in my previous review of AncestryDNA's Genetic Ethnicity Prediction, I compared my genetic ethnicity results from three companies (Ancestry.com, 23andMe, and FTDNA), and found that their results varied considerably. I'm not surprised by this, but I do expect that over time – as the industry arrives at more standard reference populations and algorithms (which the cheap whole-genome sequencing revolution will enable) – that estimates from different companies will align much more closely. Be patient and enjoy being a pioneer…"
-Results didn't show?
Ask Ancestry Anne: Where Is My Native American DNA? blogs.ancestry.com
"..So how much of your great-great-grandmother's DNA are you likely to have? Probably around 1.5625%! And that may not be enough to detect Native American ethnicity.
dna percentage2
If you can find older generations on that line to test, I recommend that. Also, get brothers, sisters and cousins tested. You never know who might have enough DNA to be detected.
Even if you find the DNA connection, you will still want to follow the paper trail. I recommend our Native American Research Guide to get you started.
Happy searching!."
Family Roots
Elie Dolgin January 18, 2011 Kurt Hoffman forward.com
DNA tests to uncover Jewish origins have been offered for decades by companies such as Houston-based Family Tree DNA and DNA Tribes of Arlington, Va. They have shown, for example, that many Hispanic Americans likely descended from Jews who were forced to convert or hide their religion more than 500 years ago in Spain and Portugal. Yet although standard ancestry-testing platforms can point to centuries-old Jewish origins, none would have flagged Pickrell's relatively recent Semitic pedigree.
That's because most DNA tests have traditionally relied on only two small parts of the genome: the Y-chromosome, which is passed down almost unchanged from father to son, and mitochondria, which mothers pass faithfully to their offspring. Because these stretches of DNA remain relatively consistent from one generation to the next, they are particularly useful for testing direct-line paternal and maternal ancestry, respectively; however, they essentially ignore the bulk of someone's DNA ancestry and cannot detect genetic signatures that cross gender lines…
CeCe Moore, a 41-year-old amateur genealogist who runs a television production company in Orange County, Calif., is one such customer. In 2008, Moore tested her mitochondrial DNA and her father's Y chromosome, but found no traces of Jewish heritage. Then, last year, she obtained her DNA readout from 23andMe and learned that a small but significant amount of her genome appeared to be of Ashkenazi origin…"
Ever got your DNA tested? Why or why not? What did you find out? Any other comments, suggestions, feedback, questions, etc… regarding the content above or not mentioned that you suggest me sharing here?
Good News Multiculturalism
Deep Thought: Are all "sins" equal?February 16, 2017 at 1:30 am | Posted in All, are, Deep, equal, sins, Thought, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: 1, 32, 5, All, are, bible, Biblical, Chapter, death, debate, doctrines, equal, Exodus, Eyes, God, Gods, good, Gospel, hot, in, John, lead, New, news, not, Old, or, question, Scripture, sin, sins, Testament, that, to, verse, verses
Are all sins equal to God? Is all sin the same? gotquestions.org
"..So, although Jesus said that lust and adultery are both sins, that does not mean they are equal. It is much worse to actually murder a person than it is to simply hate a person, even though they are both sins in God's sight. There are degrees to sin. Some sins are worse than others. At the same time, in regard to both eternal consequences and salvation, all sins are the same. Every sin will lead to eternal condemnation (Romans 6:23). All sin, no matter how "small," is against an infinite and eternal God, and is therefore worthy of an infinite and eternal penalty. Further, there is no sin too "big" that God cannot forgive it. Jesus died to pay the penalty for sin (1 John 2:2). Jesus died for all of our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21). Are all sins equal to God? Yes and no. In severity? No. In penalty? Yes. In forgivability? Yes.
All Sins Are Not Equal J.I. Packer/ DECEMBER 28, 2004 christianitytoday.com
"..Scripture shows that in God's estimate some sins are worse and bring greater guilt than others, and that some sins do us more damage. Moses rates the golden calf debacle a great sin (Ex. 32:30)….
… Ezekiel in his horrific allegory says that after Oholah (Samaria) had ruined herself by unfaithfulness to God, Oholibah (Jerusalem) "became more corrupt … in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister" (Ezek. 23:11, ESV). John distinguishes sins that do and do not inevitably lead to death (1 John 5:16), picking up Jesus' warning about the unforgivable sin (Mk. 3:28-30).
43 Are all Sins the Same ?
, from youtube.com
Are All Sins Equal Before God?
, from youtube.com
"Consequences matter when it comes to weighing sin.
Unforgiveable sin?
What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? bibleinfo.com
"…Is there a sin that cannot be forgiven?
Yes, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, is any sin that a person clings to by continually resisting the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. Keep in mind that there is not one specific sin that is unforgivable, such as lying, stealing or murder, but rather a perpetual hardening of the heart and willfully sinning against God and man (1 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:15). In Acts 7:51, Stephen says the following to the Pharisees, "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you." In a nutshell the unpardonable sin is any sin that a person doesn't want to give up, confess, or even ask forgiveness for and additionally doesn't want to hear any more about it from the Holy Spirit…"
"7 Deadly sins"
What Are The Seven Deadly Sins allaboutgod.com
QUESTION: What are the seven deadly sins?
What are the seven deadly sins? gotquestions.org
Bible Study: Defining The Seven Deadly Sins
, from youtube.com
Lead to "death"?
What is the sin that leads to death, or the sin unto death, that John talks about? compellingtruth.org
"..Many interpretations exist regarding this "sin that leads to death." Unfortunately, the text is not clear what this "sin" is. It does appear clear John wrote to believers and was speaking of physical death. For example, Ananias and Sapphira experienced physical death for their sin (Acts 5). In 1 Corinthians 11:30, Paul wrote concerning wrongful practice of the Lord's Supper, "That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died."
There is Sin that Leads to Death
1 John 5:14-21
by Cooper Abrams bible-truth.org
"…c. The unpardonable sin is in context a part of the dispensation of the Law. It is a specific sin of blasphemy, in which a person would credit the devil for the work of the Holy Spirit. The special circumstances involved in blasphemy can not be duplicated today. The Scribes and Pharisees committed this sin in attributing the work of Jesus to the Devil. (see Matthew 12:24, Mark 3:22, Luke 11:15)
People KILLED by God – The Bible Study Site biblestudy.org
"..Ananias and his wife Sapphira were New Testament believers. After selling some land, they decided to give the church PART of the proceeds but make it seem that they were donating the entire amount of the sale. The apostle Peter, however, saw through their mutually agreed ruse. After confronting each one separately regarding their sin, they both immediately died (Acts 5:1 – 10).
Learned anything new? Thoughts, feedback, questions, prayer requests, etc..?
Good News Sin
Neutral Perspective: Oil Pipeline Construction is Economically Beneficial and NOT for the United States?February 14, 2017 at 2:19 am | Posted in beneficial, construction, economically, Neutral, not, oil, Perespective, pipeline, States, Uncategorized, United | Leave a comment
Tags: and, areas, beneficial, construction, dumbell, flat, Flat Dumbbell Fly, fly, is economically, neutral, not, oil, perspective, pipeline
Keystone pipeline: How many jobs it would really create by Rene Marsh and Chris Isidore @CNNMoney January 28, 2017: 1:35 PM ET money.cnn.com
".. "If we can get that pipeline built. A lot of jobs; 28,000 jobs. Great construction jobs," he said when signing executive orders this week aimed at restarting both Keystone and the Dakota Access pipelines that the Obama administration had blocked.
But according to official estimates, constructing the pipeline will generate far fewer construction jobs than that.
A State Department report on the pipeline that was issued under the Obama administration found that there would be 3,900 direct construction jobs if it was built over one year, or 1,950 if the work was spread over two years. …
Once the pipeline opens it would require only 35 full-time permanent jobs to run it, and 15 full-time temporary jobs, according to the state department report. TransCanada, the company seeking to build the pipeline, does not dispute those numbers. …
…TransCanada also pointed out that there would be benefits beyond the jobs and wages, including "significant property tax revenues, as well as sales and use and other tax revenues, to counties and states along the proposed project route." ..
Trump claims the Keystone XL pipeline will create 7 times more construction jobs than it actually will Dana Varinsky
Jan. 24, 2017, 4:44 PM 9,957 businessinsider.com
"..The number of permanent employees the pipeline would require after construction ends is dismally low: just 35…"
Most Of The Dakota And Keystone Pipeline Construction Jobs Trump Touts Are Temporary Chris White 2:35 PM 01/25/2017 dailycaller.com
"…Meanwhile, only 3,900 of the remaining 16,000 positions would be "construction jobs," with all but 50 being temporary, most of which would be responsible for Keystone's general upkeep.
The Dakota pipeline's 12,000 jobs also include non-construction jobs for those in the services area that would see an increase in business during the project's construction phase. Just 40 full-time permanent positions will remain after the controversial DAPL is completed, according to estimates by the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based liberal think tank…"
Here Are The Jobs The Keystone XL Pipeline Would Create Under Trump's Executive Order Jan 24, 2017 @ 05:45 PM Ellen R. Wald , Contributor forbes.com
"..or the Keystone XL Pipeline, construction job estimates have ranged from 2,500 to 9,000. TransCanada, the S. Federal Government and the Global Labor Institute at Cornell University all produced interesting studies on this issue. Nearly all construction jobs for this project would be temporary.
Analysts also look at "spin-off" jobs, which are jobs that are created in related industries as a result of the new pipeline. These include sectors like refining, manufacturing, petroleum transportation and petroleum-dependent manufacturing. These jobs rely on too many variables to accurately predict and even measure after the fact…"
Dependence on Foreign Oil: Economic Risks, Global Demands for Petroleum – Alan Greenspan (2006) , from youtube.com
"Published on Oct 20, 2015
In the early 20th century the United States became a major oil supplier to the world. World War II prompted a Synthetic Liquid Fuels Program but it did not go beyond research. In mid-century the country shifted from being a major exporter to a net importer. An import quota imposed in 1959 limited imports to a fraction of domestic production until 1973.[10]
America's dependence on foreign oil rose from 26 percent to 47 percent between 1985 to 1989.[11] After the 1973 oil crisis, the United States Department of Energy and Synthetic Fuels Corporation were created to address the problem of fuel import dependency. According to the Washington & Jefferson College Energy Index, by 2012, American energy independence had decreased by 22% since the tenure of President Harry Truman.[12]
America's imports of foreign oil fell to 36 percent in 2013, down from a high of 60 percent in 2006.[13]
Many proponents of energy independence look to the United States' untapped domestic oil reserves, either known or potential. Those who favor increasing domestic oil production often suggest removing many of the limitations on oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (see Arctic Refuge drilling controversy) and the Outer Continental Shelf. Foreign dependence is not the only factor in North American energy politics, however; environmental concerns around land and water pollution as well as greenhouse gases related to are also a matter of controversy.
Some proponents of U.S. energy independence promote wider use of alternatives such as ethanol fuel, methanol, biodiesel, plug-in hybrids and other alternative propulsion. A 2013 report published by the Fuel Freedom Foundation said that without a shift to domestic feedstocks for fuel, such as natural gas and biomass, the U.S. would not be able to achieve energy independence.[14] As of 2014, the United States imposes an import tariff of 54 cents a gallon on ethanol fuel (there is no such import tariff on oil). Ethanol fuel in Brazil is produced from sugarcane, which yields much more fuel per acre than the corn used for ethanol production in the United States.
In Canada and Mexico there is also the concern not to have energy policy dictated by the United States, as well as tension over American ownership of energy companies.
In 1937 Mexico passed a constitutional amendment to nationalize its oil industry, which led to the creation of Pemex, the national oil company. There have been several proposals to privatize Pemex since, but they have never come to fruition as many Mexicans fear foreign control of this strategic industry.
The 1957 Canadian election was fought partially in response to the 1956 Pipeline Debate which concerned whether or not the government should allow a U.S.-owned company to build a trans-Canadian gas pipeline and whether the route should be entirely within Canada or partly through the United States. The right-leaning Progressive Conservatives and leftist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation opposition parties opposed American involvement in the pipeline while the Liberal government supported it. The Liberals were defeated in the 1957 election.
In 1973 Canada created its own state energy company Petro-Canada. It began operations in 1976, though it bought assets from private companies rather than seizing them as in many other countries. In 1980 the National Energy Program was launched to create oil self-sufficiency within Canada. It attempted to use tax incentives to discourage oil exports (mostly from Western Canada, primarily the province of Alberta) to the US, and redirect these towards to the oil importing provinces of Eastern Canada. The Foreign Investment Review Agency was also created to screen foreign (mostly U.S.) takeovers of Canadian companies. These policies were bitterly opposed by the provincial government of Alberta, and were repealed and reserved during the Conservative government of 1984-1993 which sought closer economic ties with the U.S., including the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement of 1988.
-Learn from Past Pipelines
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline: Lessons for the Keystone XL Pipeline Debate
November 18, 2014 20 min read Download Report heritage.org
"..Proponents touted the jobs associated with the pipeline, but then as now, these jobs were discarded as "temporary." As Brew noted in the environmental impact analysis, "At the end of construction, unemployment would probably increase."[22]..
As far as the pipeline's harmful effects on the ecosystem, those fears were never realized. A study presented in 2002 at the American Society of Civil Engineers 11th International Conference on Cold Regions Engineering found:
[T]he ecosystems affected by the operation of TAPS and associated activity for almost 25 years are healthy. With the exception of very limited local impacts, the vegetation, fish, and wildlife along TAPS have not been impacted at the resource population level. TAPS, as it exists today, is simply another feature on the landscape, to which the flora and fauna have habituated. Even Alaska's North Slope, with extensive oil fields, has a healthy community of flora and fauna. Populations of large and small mammals, birds, and fish are healthy despite development of the oil field.[44]…
Total oil spilled averaged less than 8,083 barrels (340,000 gallons) per year, including the Exxon Valdez spill, since the pipeline opened, while production has averaged nearly 20 billion gallons annually. Not counting the Valdez spill, which was not a result of problems with the pipeline, total oil spilled averaged 1,151 barrels per year throughout TAPS, including all other Alyeska spills, shipper vessel spills, and contractor spills. Including the Valdez spill, which was approximately 150,000 barrels, just over 291,000 barrels was spilled from 1977 to 2012 (8,083 barrels per year)[46] out of around 400 million barrels produced annually. Many of the spills were small and easily contained and cleaned up, posing no environmental threat. …
The pipeline has transported nearly 17 billion barrels of oil over the past 37 years. Today, TAPS transports more than 500,000 barrels of oil per day. Although the volume continues to decline gradually from the peak of 2.1 million barrels per day, the original estimate of 10 billion barrels of total production was exceeded in 1994. Every barrel flowing through the TAPS is another barrel of economic benefit exceeding expectations.
Alaska has become an energy production powerhouse. The 17 billion barrels of oil accounted for nearly 20 percent of U.S. domestic energy production for 1980–2000. Even now, Alaska accounts for 10 percent of U.S. domestic energy production, although volume is falling, in part because of federal prohibitions against drilling in certain areas, such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).[55] The economic value of this oil is more than $1.7 trillion at today's prices.
Construction employment was significant. More than 21,000 contractors were employed at the peak of the construction project in addition to more than 6,300 other workers. Throughout 1969–1977, more than 70,000 individuals were employed at some point in the construction.[56] While some decry the temporary nature of some of these construction jobs, it is important to note that this line of work is by nature temporary—at some point the project is finished. Real families prospered and built wealth because of these jobs.
Oil and gas employment in Alaska has surged. Today, 127,000 jobs in Alaska (one-third) are oil related—either in production or in state oil revenue.[57] Another 60,000 jobs have resulted from the "broad economic benefits created by oil industry activities and by state spending of its huge oil revenues."[58] The Alaska state constitution established the Alaska Permanent Fund, which states, "At least 25 percent of all mineral lease rentals, royalties, royalty sales proceeds, federal mineral revenue-sharing payments and bonuses received by the state be placed in a permanent fund, the principal of which may only be used for income-producing investments."[59] The current value of the fund is more than $53 billion—more than $71,000 for each of Alaska's 731,000 residents. .."
5 Reasons Why the Keystone Pipeline is Bad for the Economy by Brendan Smith labor4sustainability.org
"…Here are 5 reasons why building the Keystone pipeline is bad for the economy — and workers…
urns out that 40 percent of U.S oil-industry jobs consist of minimum-wage work at gas stations. Instead of bankrolling an industry that is laying off workers and threatening our economic future, isn't it time to take the billions in subsidies going to oil companies and invest instead in a sector that both creates jobs and protects the planet?…
…For example, the solar industry continues to be an engine of job growth — creating jobs six times faster than the overall job market. Research by the Solar Foundation shows a 13 percent growth in high-skilled solar jobs spanning installations, sales, marketing, manufacturing and software development — bringing total direct jobs to 119,000 in the sector. And according to the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts""Amherst, investment in a green infrastructure program would create nearly four times as many jobs as an equal investment in oil and gas…"
-Learn from Past Pipelines
Secondary Negative Effects schoolbytes.com
".. economy. They discovered what money was and what you could do with it. (Strohmeyer, 1993) The pipeline exposure and money caused much trouble in the balance of native villages as drugs entered the environment for the first time and so did the greed for money. Many young people left the older members of the villiage to go and live in the city, or pushed for changes in the old ways of the village. Many villages were ruined by this split caused by money. The construction of the pipeline had many negative effects on the social and economic structure of Alaska. It brought much crime and drugs to a relatively quiet Alaska. Also it disrupted many lives of Native Alaskan villages. Many of these problems were due to Alyeska's effort to have the pipeline finished as quickly as possible at high costs. This rush also brought upon negative impacts when the pipeline began to start running. Between 1970 and 1986 there has been over three hundred spills of more than one hundred gallons of oil from the pipeline. Since 1977 over 10,000 meteric tons of crude oil has been lost. (Coates, 1991) Most of these spills are due to the rush job that Alyeska did to build the pipeline and their lack of management of the pipeline when it was running. Pumping stations lacked management and often equipment. Employees often lacked the proper training to work the machinery and safety was at the bottom of the importance list for Alyeska. Oil spill safety drills were considered jokes by employees and were never carried out properly. Former oil spill coordinator for Alyeska Jerry Nebel was quoted as saying "We knew exactly what was coming, where we were supposed to be, and we still messed it up. Drills were a farce, comic opera." In a 1988 inventory of cleanup equipment conducted by Alyeska, half the emergency lights were missing. They were later found set up in preparation for Valdez's winter carnival. The reason Alyeska could get away with such flagrant mismanagement was that there was no real punishment the government could administer besides shutting down the pipeline , which was never considered because of the money at stake that the pipeline provided. The sensitivity of the detection equipment was definitely not up to par for oil spills from the pipeline. Late in the seventy's, 3,000 barrels of oil could leak out in one day from the pipeline and no instruments would pick it up. Also Alyeska only had one helicopter flight a day along the pipeline. After many spills and many complaints from environmental groups and the government, did Alyeska finally upgrade it's detection system to pick up a 1000 barrel leak and had three helicopter flights a day along the pipeline. The biggest leaks along the pipeline happened June 1979 at Antigun Pass, which is the highest point along the pipeline route. The pipe sagged after the ground below thawed and 5,267 barrels of oil spilled into the Antigun River and headed north to the Beaufort Sea. There was another large leak at the 734 mile mark along the pipeline that was also a result from the thawing of the ground. (Coates, 1991) Another impact that the pipeline's mismanagement had was in the area of air pollution…"
Good News Financial
Neutral Perspective: Housing for Mental-Physical Challenged "Wasteful" or NOT?February 7, 2017 at 1:19 am | Posted in challenged, Housing, mental, Neutral, not, or, Perespective, physical, Uncategorized, Wasteful | Leave a comment
Tags: adults, bad, Care, challenged, children, department, for, foster, good, government, group, home, Housing, human, Maine, Maryland, mental, Mentally, Minnesota, money, neutral, New, not, of, or, payers, perspective, physical, Physically, researchers, Services, State, tax, taxpayers, Wasteful, York, youth
NPR : People with Mental Illness, Who Needs Housing, Housing First npr.org
"..But in 1998, 283,800 people with mental illnesses were incarcerated in American jails or prisons – four times the number in state mental hospitals, according to the Department of Justice. "These days, the largest single provider of housing for people with severe mental illness is the criminal justice system," says Sperling. ..
Today's reality falls far short of the vision of four decades ago, when the deinstitutionalization movement was born. In theory, people were to move from mental hospitals into community mental health care systems, and be reintegrated into towns and neighborhoods where they'd get services and shelter. Several studies have shown the idea can work, and thousands of Americans with mental illness have benefited — but thousands more have failed to get adequate follow-up, treatment and assistance.
The supportive housing model also saves taxpayers money, experts say. Researchers at Berkeley University's Goldman School of Public Policy examined the consequences of providing supportive housing for 250 people with mental illness. Before moving in, the participants had made frequent use of emergency rooms and hospitals, costing thousands of dollars per person annually. Once the people were placed in supportive housing, the study found a 58 percent decrease in emergency room visits, a corresponding drop in hospital stays, and virtual elimination of their use of residential mental health facilities. …
Approximately one-third of the nation's homeless have a severe mental illness. Many others with mental illness end up living nomadically, moving among the homes of parents and other family members. Outside the family, group homes are the primary housing option for people with mental illness, but they often face stiff resistance from neighbors: "There are huge NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) battles about establishing a four-person home for people with depression," says Allen. .."
Our View: Maine government puts group homes at risk by cutting rates Posted December 11, 2016 pressherald.com
Families are right to be worried about the loss of services for adults with disabilities.
The Editorial Board
"..Mary Mayhew, Maine's health and human services commissioner, wrote a Dec. 8 column in the Portland Press Herald, accusing the paper of "needlessly frighten(ing) families and vulnerable individuals," because it reported how cuts to reimbursement rates were undermining the system of community-based services for people with developmental challenges. ("Maine used to be a leader in caring for adults with intellectual handicaps. What went wrong?" Dec. 4).."
1 person, 1 home, millions of dollars By: Jeff Baillon Posted:Feb 02 2017 07:11PM CST fox9.com
"…One person lives in the three bedroom home and state employees come and go around the clock. There are at least three per shift and they are hired to support the needs of the lone occupant.
"They really don't need a house this size for one person," neighbor Bob Krahn said.
The Fox 9 Investigators discovered it is costing taxpayers almost a million dollars a year.
An 18-year-old man, whose initials are W.O., was placed in the home last summer.
W.O. is a ward of the state, has intellectual and developmental disabilities and a history of difficult behavior.
"Handled the right way it's a good thing for a neighborhood because we need to see people of all abilities," Lemoyne Corgard, a neighbor, said."
Part 2: Alone and at risk in Minnesota's group homes Story by Chris Serres and Glenn Howatt • Photos by David Joles • Star Tribune StarTribune.com NOVEMBER 9, 2015 — 12:00AM
Set up to be safe havens, some group homes for the disabled have become remote "prisons," where residents are vulnerable to violence and neglect.
"..Remote clusters
Minnesota's reliance on group homes dates to the late 1970s, when it led the nation in shutting down large state hospitals that housed people with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities. The state encouraged small, private group homes as a more humane and cost-effective alternative, and subsidized them through Medicaid and other programs…"
And though group homes were meant for people needing 24-hour care, such as patients with severe mental illnesses, many accept just about anyone with an intellectual or developmental disability. Records show that even clients who need just basic assistance with daily activities — like cooking meals or catching the bus — can wind up in group homes that cost up to $80,000 per person per year….
New York
GROUP HOMES OVERPAID Posted on Jun 30, 2015 11:00am PDT nyrealestatelawblog.com
".. The state's Office for People with Developmental Disabilities' Finger Lakes Developmental Disabilities Service Office (DDSO) skirted state procurement laws for more than 1,400 purchases worth more than $1 million, gave one vendor an unfair advantage in obtaining the state's business and overpaid for hundreds of household items, according to an audit recently released by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.
"The state's procurement process is intended to ensure fair competition, guard against favoritism, and protect taxpayers," DiNapoli said. "By failing to follow the state's procurement requirements, Finger Lakes DDSO wasted taxpayer dollars and gave an unfair advantage to one vendor. This cannot continue, and our recommendations should be implemented immediately."
The Finger Lakes DDSO is responsible for coordinating services for approximately 1,500 persons with developmental disabilities living in 150 group homes across eight counties. Employees at each group home routinely purchase food and household items necessary to keep the homes operational.
The DDSO purchased food and household items through a centralized contract with Palmer Distributing until the contract expired in June 2012. Thereafter, the DDSO should have purchased items that met their needs first from preferred sources (which are established in state law), then from other centralized contracts, and, last, through a formal competitive process to ensure a fair procurement…"
Congress to Consider Scaling Down Group Homes for Troubled Children by Joaquin Sapien ProPublica, May 20, 2015, 11:47 a.m. propublica.org
At a hearing in Washington, a renewed call for addressing the violence and neglect that plagues group homes for foster youth.
".."There is tremendous momentum and truly bipartisan support for this right now, so hopefully we're at a real turning point," said Rob Geen, director of policy reform and advocacy for the Casey Foundation. "There are far too many children being separated from their families and being placed in what is available instead of what is best for them. Now we have an agreement that there is a problem and a growing consensus on how to fix it."
According to the report, 40 percent of children living in group homes don't have a diagnosis that warrants such a placement. The report suggests that children are often sent to the homes because there is nowhere else for them to go…
Grüber, the former foster child who testified at the hearing, said she certainly would have preferred staying with a family member as opposed to living in a group home for two years.
In an interview, she told ProPublica that when she was first removed from her biological parents' home at age 15, she was placed with her uncle and his three sons in a three-bedroom home. She wanted to stay there. But she said that the Connecticut Department of Children and Families moved her to a homeless shelter and then into a foster home based on a technicality: that there weren't enough bedrooms for all the children living in her uncle's home.
"If I had stayed with my uncle, I would've had more stability. It would've been so much better to feel more involved with my family. My uncle is very involved in the church. He's really strict, but I think that would've been helpful to me. I needed that structure," Grüber said….
Kari Sisson, executive director for the American Association of Children's Residential Centers, told ProPublica that Australia closed its residential programs in the 1990s because foster care was cheaper. In time, she said, foster parents got overwhelmed and quit. Many youngsters ended up homeless or in jail. And Australia had to reopen the homes with more intensive therapeutic services in the mid-2000s.
"The conversation is fair, but it's not informed," she said. "I worry that they are making decisions that will seriously affect children who need therapeutic residential treatment. I've been a foster parent for many years and there are a lot of kids in the system that can't live in my house, because it's not safe for us and it's not safe for the community. They need a lot more intensive care than a foster parent can offer. It's very challenging."
Sisson was not called to testify…"
Nonprofits reap generous perks April 11, 2005|By JOHN B. O'DONNELL AND JONATHAN D. ROCKOFF articles.baltimoresun.com
Children in private group homes may be shortchanged in care, but the owners can profit handsomely
"..Despite all the gaps in financial accountability, state officials say they don't plan any major changes. DHR Secretary McCabe says that while department auditors should look at group homes' financial statements, inspectors lack the expertise to ferret out improper spending. "Our licensing unit is not necessarily designed to do that," he said.
Diane Coughlin, a health department official, also argues that inspectors lack the skills to police inappropriate spending, even if limits were put on salaries, rent and other non-care items.
"We'd never be able to enforce it," said Coughlin, director of the Developmental Disabilities Administration, a health department unit that has licensed 35 group home companies with 115 facilities.
"But having said that, do we expect people to spend tax dollars wisely? You're darn tootin' we do."
About the series
In an investigation of state oversight of group homes going back a decade, The Sun found that:
Mistreatment of children has gone unpunished.
People with criminal convictions can – and do – work at group homes.
Taxpayers' money is often wasted on poor care, denying youths a range of services.
Maryland subsidizes high salaries and perks…"
New York
Reaping Millions in Nonprofit Care for Disabled By RUSS BUETTNERAUG. 2, 2011 nytimes.com
"..Medicaid money created quite a nice life for the Levy brothers from Flatbush, Brooklyn.
The brothers, Philip and Joel, earned close to $1 million a year each as the two top executives running a Medicaid-financed nonprofit organization serving the developmentally disabled.
They each had luxury cars paid for with public money. And when their children went to college, they could pass on the tuition bills to their nonprofit group.
Philip H. Levy went as far as charging the organization $50,400 for his daughter's living expenses one year when she attended graduate school at New York University. That money paid not for a dorm room, but rather it helped her buy a co-op apartment in Greenwich Village.
The rise of the Levy brothers, from scruffy bearded social workers in the 1970s to millionaires with homes in the Hamptons, Sutton Place and Palm Beach Gardens, reveals much about New York's system for caring for the developmentally disabled — those with conditions like cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and autism…"
Homeless Shelters
State Seeks To Move Homeless From Hotel Rooms To Group Homes Rupa Shenoy
The New England Center for Investigative Reporting February 23, 2014 news.wgbh.org
"..Sixteen months ago Espada's family became homeless, and she applied to the state for help. But Massachusetts has no room left for homeless families. The state's 2,000 shelters filled up during the recession as parents who lost their jobs, got foreclosed on, got sick, or just couldn't earn enough became homeless along with their children. So, like roughly 2,000 other families, Espada is living in a hotel paid for by the state…"
Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme youtube.com
"..Published on Sep 22, 2016
The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), is working across Ireland to reduce disadvantage. SICAP is open to people and groups from different walks of life.
• Are you looking for a job or want to improve your skills?
• Could you benefit from an education or training opportunity?
• Are you in a community group which is working for changes locally?
If yes to any of these, SICAP can help you! To empower yourself or your community, find out more at http://www.pobal.ie.."
What abilities do you have?..Don't focus on your "dis-abilities, but your "abilities"! goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com
Health: Mental-How to "fight" mental illness? goodnewshealthandfitness.wordpress.com
This is such a BIG on-going social issue, so all the article above that I found are just "some" of the challenges and have yet to re"search" the "positives" going on with group homes. Feel free to share any (both negative and bad)..
Good News Physical-Mental Challenges
Neutral Perspective: To "swear" or "NOT" to swear?February 2, 2017 at 2:56 am | Posted in Netural, not, or, Perspective, Swear, to, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: anger, bad, bible, Christian, circumstances, cope, cultural, culture, curse, debate, DiCaprio, environment, evil, Filipino, growing, kids, Leonardo, list, model, movie, N-word, Negative, neutral, not, of, or, perspective, politics, Positive, profane, profanity, Racist, release, say, sex, sexist, society, stats, Swear, taming, to, tongue, up, what, with
Do you "swear" ? Be honest!?? I think we sometimes don't know what we say are actually "swear" words. Here are some sites that have a list of them:
List of Swear Words & Curse Words – Starting With A noswearing.com
Hyperhero's list of swearwords, hyperhero.com
Why Do We Swear?
"Published on Nov 26, 2016
There are certain words I just can't write in this sentence. Profanity. Swear words. But… why? Benjamin Bergen explains the science of swearing.
Thanks For Listening.
profane merriam-webster.com
verb pro·fane \prō-ˈfān, prə-\
Popularity: Top 20% of words
Examples: profane in a sentence
Definition of profane
profaned; profaning
transitive verb
: to treat (something sacred) with abuse, irreverence, or contempt : desecrate
: to debase by a wrong, unworthy, or vulgar use..
In front of "kids"?
It's Okay To Swear Around Your Kids, Says Science scarymommy.com
"Like it or not, when you become a parent, you become a role model. And in order to be the best example for your kids, you're often forced to change your behavior. It's not always easy, but a new book from a professor of cognitive science is here to ease your load. Because according to him, it's okay to swear around your kids. F___ yes!…"
N' Word
Leonardo DiCaprio was uncomfortable with cruel Django Unchained character 17/12/2012 newshub.co.nz
"..He says, "It was this incredibly interesting horrific character. I mean, there was absolutely nothing about this man I could identify with. I hated him and it was one of the most narcissistic, racist characters I've ever read in my entire life."
DiCaprio reveals he almost chose to soften his character – but was persuaded to stick to his tough approach by Foxx and Jackson, who both play slaves, because there really were slave masters like that throughout American history.
He continues, "One of the pivotal moments for me was this initial read through, I wondered if it needed to be this violent and this atrocious to other human beings and it was Sam and Jamie who said, 'If you sugarcoat this people are gonna resent the hell out of you. You got to push this guy to the outer extreme.' That is what ignited me into going the way I did into the character. Once I read about the sugar plantations (in history), we're just scratching the surface of what happened in this country."
DiCaprio was also hesitant about using the 'N' word repeatedly, as dictated by Tarantino's script, but Jackson let him know none of his black co-stars were offended by the racially derogative term because it was the language of that time.
Foxx explains, "At one point he (DiCaprio) was feeling it was tough saying his lines, 'nigga, nigga' and Samuel pulled him aside and says, 'Hey motherf**ker, this is another Tuesday for us. Let's go!' They were really trying to go back to that time.".."
Donald Trump Swearing ***Graphic Language*** , from youtube.com
Unpresidential Profanity: The Reason Trump Doesn't Give a Damn<
Posted to Politics February 08, 2016 by David Eldridge insidesources.com
"..Even Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, who calls Trump a friend, said the blue language is inappropriate: "Advice to Trump: Using profanity on campaign trail is not presidential. Most use it, including me, but we are not running for [president]," O'Reilly tweeted Friday.
But linguists who study the way Americans curse say that in a culture more saturated than ever with blunt language — from Martin Scorcese films to HBO series to pop music lyrics and uncensored tweets — Trump isn't breaking new ground. He's simply reflecting a new norm.
Jesse Sheidlower, author of "The F Word," said cultural definitions of what is or is not taboo shift — sometimes dramatically — over time…"
People who swear a lot are more likely to be honest, study finds – Mirror mirror.co.uk
Episode 002 Swearing
Swearing on YouTube: Should You Cut the Profanity?
"Published on Dec 11, 2014
While you may curse, use swear words, and say all sorts of profanity with your friends, should you use it in your YouTube videos? There's certainly benefits to not swearing in your videos if you're hoping to have as many opportunities available to you as possible (like brand deals), but some creators may feel like they then have to pretend to be someone they're not. What do you think? Do you eliminate swearing from your videos or do you keep it in?
SPONSOR: Visit FameBit for brand deals and video sponsorships
Jerry Seinfeld Explains How To Be Funny Without Sex Or Swearing
How Matt Santoro Developed His Unique Brand on YouTube
Biblical Perspective
Profanity – A Biblical Assessment by Wayne Jackson christiancourier.com
"..He wonders how it is that one identifies "profanity." The Bible only warns against the evil use of language in a general way, but it doesn't specify which words are to be avoided. Is it a cultural question?
This is an excellent item for study. It is true that this issue is not addressed in a solitary, compact biblical context. There are, though, helpful principles in Scripture that assist in clarifying this bewilderment. Think about these points for a moment…"
Sal: I used to swear "a lot" growing-up due to anger issues and the culture. I remember one swear word in Filipino (parents' native language) as my parents would say it all the time whenever my siblings or I would do something bad. They would get mad if we repeat it..lol! I didn't realize how bad it was until I went to college after becoming a Christian (see personal testimony) and my "friends" would tell me that I need to cut it! One friend challenged me to put a quarter in the church offering every time I swore. This was a great challenge as a "poor" college student. I slowly decreased my swearing as I realize I didn't really have enough money anymore! Lol! My profanity/swearing didn't go right away. I remembered many years ago I was doing a "church" volunteer activity and a lady from church "challenged" me that the words I was using isn't used in her household. I never realized what I was saying was "profane", which was opened my eyes more on the "need" to grow out of this. When I catch myself saying anything "negative" overall now, I try to ask God for forgiveness and double the "negative" with a "positive" (e.g. I would sing/say "Praise the Lord"!) I'm getting better each time..thank you God for helping me!
What are your thoughts? Should "we" swear or not? Why? Feel free to share your sources or websites that you might have to support your answer..
Good News Words
Neutral Perspective: U.S.A. Should Ban and NOT Ban Particular "Muslim" Countries?January 30, 2017 at 1:39 pm | Posted in ban, countries, Muslim, Netural, not, particular, Perespective, should, U.S.A., Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: 21, 7, 9/11, administration, Afghans, Africa, agenda, Al-Qaeda, and, ban, border, business, Card, China, Chinese, Clark, conspiracy, countries, debate, democrat, destabilization, East, fact, false, flag, green, History, illegal, immigrants, immigration, India, interest, Iran, Iraq, ISIS, Islam, Jihad, Jihadists, laws, Lebanon, legal, Libya, living, majority, Middle, migrants, Muslim, myth, nations, neutral, not, Obama, of, open, or, Orlando, over, overpopulate, overpopulation, particular, parties, perspective, political, populate, refugees, republican, selection, seven, shootings, should, Somolia, soverign, Spicer, stabilization, standard, States, Sudan, Syria, terrorists, Trump, truth, U.S.A., United, vet, vetting, Wesley, Yemen
Spicer: Obama administration originally flagged 7 countries in Trump's order By Mallory Shelbourne – 01/29/17 09:54 AM EST thehill.com
"White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Sunday defended President Donald Trump's latest executive order on immigration and refugee vetting, arguing the Obama administration originally flagged the seven "countries of particular concern."..
Trump on Friday signed an executive order that calls for a 90-day ban on nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries entering the United States. The countries included are Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Somalia.
In February of 2016, the Obama Administration added Libya, Yemen, and Somalia to a list of "countries of concern," which placed some restrictions on Visa Waiver Program travel on those who had visited the countries after March 1, 2011.
Iran, Syria, Iraq and Sudan were already on the list from the administration's original law in 2015.
Spicer said on Sunday there are many other Muslim-majority countries not included in the ban.
"There's 46 Muslim-majority countries that are not in this seven," he said.
Trump's Friday order also calls for a 120-day halt on the admittance of refugees, in addition to an indefinite pause on admitting refugees from Syria."
7 Countries Targeted in Trump's Executive Order Initially Identified as 'Countries of Concern' Under Obama Administration
Posted 2:06 PM, January 29, 2017, by CNN Wire, Updated at 03:33PM, January 29, 2017
The U.S. Plan To Topple All 7 Countries On Trump's Refugee Ban List
By Darius Shahtahmasebi | January 27, 2017
According to four-star General Wesley Clark, shortly after the attacks of 9/11, the Pentagon adopted a plan to topple the governments of seven countries; Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran.
"…The executive order specifically invoked the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the 2015 shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California. In the hours after it was released, many questioned why the list omitted other countries with direct links to those terror attacks. The 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Sunday pointed to the Obama administration's actions as the basis for their selection of the seven countries.
"There were further travel restrictions already in place from those seven countries," Spicer said on ABC's "This Week." "What the president did was take the first step through this executive order of insuring that we're looking at the entire system of who's coming in, refugees that are coming in, people who are coming in from places that have a history or that our intelligence suggests that we need to have further extreme vetting for."
Some also questioned whether Trump deliberately left off countries where he has business interests.
The list does not include Muslim-majority countries where the Trump Organization does business, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.."
General Wesley Clark: Wars Were Planned – Seven Countries In Five Years
(ANALYSIS) — According to Reuters, Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order that would include a temporary refugee ban and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries.
The list is expected to include Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. If those countries are starting to sound familiar, there's a reason for that.
According to four-star General Wesley Clark, shortly after the attacks of 9/11, the Pentagon adopted a plan to topple the governments of seven countries; Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran.
Although such a refugee ban is welcomed by many frightened Americans due to the overplayed hype that the media has reported on the threat of refugees sweeping into Western nations, these Americans cannot turn their attention away from the hand America has had in creating these refugees in the first place.
Clark's list of countries is not an irrelevant conspiracy theory. These countries have seen heavy interference from the United States in the last decade or so. In 2016, the country Obama bombed the most was Syria. The United States was spending approximately $1 billion a year assisting rebels who have known ties to al-Qaeda, the majority of whom share ISIS' core belief system. The U.S. air war against ISIS has now cost American taxpayers over $11 billion. Iran is bound to Syria by a mutual defense agreement and has lost significant personnel in the battle. Iran has also taken full advantage of poor Afghans, recruiting them to fight in Syria.
Libya was destroyed in 2011 by NATO powers, an offensive in which the U.S. played the most integral role. The U.S. was backing jihadists who fought against the U.S. in Iraq to topple the Libyan regime (these fighters were later rebranded as ISIS). Even up until his last day in office, Obama was still bombing Libya (from Missouri, believe it or not.)
Obama bombed Somalia throughout his presidency. He not only relentlessly bombed Yemen, but he also supported the Saudi-led coalition's brutal assault on Yemen's civilian population. It could be argued that Trump is set to discontinue these practices; but, so far, he is well on his track to rapidly pursuing them. In his first weekend since inauguration, his administration conducted a number of drone strikes in Yemen with no hint at a reversal of Obama's policies, though his approval was not required for those particular strikes…"
Trump's Travel Ban Includes 7 Countries Pentagon Wanted To Destabilize In 2002 avatar by Rachel Blevins | Jan 29, 2017 wearechange.org
"..It is not just Obama's polices that are being implemented, it is also the policies from former President George W. Bush. The seven countries that Trump restricted travel from, are the same countries that U.S. General and former NATO commander Wesley Clark mentioned when he exposed the Pentagon's plan to destabilize those countries in 2002…"
*see Deep Thought: Who to "blame" for the world's corruption? goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com
Trump's Anti-Muslim Ban Could Apply To People Who've Never Been To The 7 Countries It Targets
It's way more extensive than he wants you to think.
01/29/2017 02:44 pm ET | Updated 5 hours ago huffingtonpost.com
But in Saudi Arabia, citizenship is based on your father's citizenship, not where you were born. Since Maya's father was a Syrian citizen, she is, too — which means that even though she was born in Saudi Arabia, she's subject to President Donald Trump's executive order banning Syrians and people from six other majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. without special permission. In fact, she may have been subject to it even if she had never set foot in Syria. Trump's order appears to be based on nationality, not country of origin…"
What You Need to Know About President Trump's Ban on Immigrants/Non-immigrants from 7 Countries & Suspension of U.S Refugee Program 28.01.2017 at 11:51 pm By BellaNaija.com
"U.S President, Donald Trump's Executive Order signed on Friday is sending shockwaves round the globe, as the businessman turned politician banned citizens from seven countries, including three from Africa, from entering the U.S for the next 90 days. The policy also affects Green Card holders…
Visa Declined
Kim LaCapria Jan 31, 2017 snopes.com
Comparisons between a 2011 Obama administration slowdown on processing Iraqi visas and President Trump's stay on immigration from seven countries are inaccurate.
"..WHAT'S TRUE: In 2011 the State Department's issuance of SIVs to Iraqi applicants slowed after two individuals in Kentucky were identified as having possibly been improperly screened; multiple national news outlets reported on the State Department visa processing slowdown while it was occurring and in subsequent years.
WHAT'S FALSE: Neither President Obama nor the State Department banned or stopped those applications entirely; the slowdown affected a single type of visa from a single country (and not all entry from several countries); the slowdown occurred in order to implement enhanced screening procedures, which remained in place in January 2017.
The sinister possible reason why Trump's "Muslim ban" targeted seven particular countries Written by Aamna Mohdin January 31, 2017 qz.com
"…But a look at the origins of the list of seven countries suggest the administration may have been simply looking for a way to lay the legal precedent for discrimination on Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama.
The list of countries arose in a rare show of compromise between the White House and the Republican-led Congress in 2015, which resulted in the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015.
Thirty-eight countries participate in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which allows their citizens to visit the US for limited periods without applying for a visa in advance. Following the Nov. 13, 2015 attacks in Paris and the Dec. 2 shootings in San Bernardino, California, Republicans and White House officials cobbled together an overhaul of the VWP. Jamal Abdi, policy director of the National Iranian American Council, suggests Republicans had been goaded by Trump's call for an outright ban on Muslims entering the US in the wake of the two attacks, and "forced Obama's hand."
The resulting legislation removed visa-free travel for citizens of VWP countries who had travelled to Iraq, Syria, Iran, or Sudan since 2011, or who also held citizenship of those countries. The countries were picked because they either had "significant foreign terrorist organization presence" or were designated as state sponsors of terrorism.
Six other times the US has banned immigrants aljazeera.com
Donald Trump's 'Muslim ban' is not the first time specific groups or nationalities have been blocked from the US.
"..But this is not the first time that the US has banned immigrants from its shores. Over the past 200 years, successive American presidents have placed restrictions on the immigration of certain groups.
Here are six occasions when laws have been passed to restrict some people from entering the country.
Exclusion of the Chinese
President Chester A. Arthur.
Signed on May 6, 1882.
The Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned "skilled and unskilled labourers and Chinese employed in mining" from entering the US for 10 years, was the first significant law restricting immigration to the country. It came at a time when the US was struggling with high unemployment and, although Chinese made up a very small segment of the country's workforce, they were nevertheless scapegoated for its social and economic woes.
Americans Have Grown To Like The Idea Of A Temporary Ban On Muslims Photo of Alex Pfeiffer Alex Pfeiffer Reporter 11:27 AM 06/22/2016 dailycaller.com
"..The next polling of Americans generally (rather than just Republican primary voters) on the issue came out in late March. That poll was conducted following the Islamic terror attack in Brussels that left 35 people dead…
YouGov polled Americans again on the Muslim ban and, by that time, support for the ban had increased to 51 percent and opposition to it had dropped to 40 percent…"
The Reuters poll has remained steady after the Orlando terror attack. On June 14, fifty percent of likely voters supported a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, while 42 percent opposed it.
A Morning Consult poll released Wednesday had 48 percent of Americans supporting a Muslim ban and 40 percent against the proposal…
*see Deep Thought: Prayers for Orlando Shooting goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com
How Many Americans Now Support Trump's Muslim Ban? A Lot. dailywire.com
"..The question now is how will the massacre in Orlando — carried out by the radical Muslim son of a Taliban-sympathizing Afghan refugee — impact the poll when its 5-day rolling average does not include pre-attack survey results. Trump's clarification of the limits of his ban in his speech following the attack might also play a role in national opinion on the issue. ..
[J]ust a few weeks before San Bernardino, the slaughter, that's all it was was a slaughter, Hillary Clinton explained her refusal to say the words "radical Islam." Here is what she said, exact quote, "Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people, and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism." That is Hillary Clinton.
We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer. Many of the principles of radical Islam are incompatible with Western values and institutions.
Remember this, radical Islam is anti-woman, anti-gay and anti- American.
I refuse to allow America to become a place where gay people, Christian people, Jewish people are targets of persecution and intimidation by radical Islamic preachers of hate and violence.
This is not just a national security issue. It's a quality of life issue. If we want to protect the quality of life for all Americans — women and children, gay and straight, Jews and Christians and all people then we need to tell the truth about radical Islam and we need to do it now."
Muslim community leader supports Trump's proposed ban
"Published on Dec 9, 2015
Imam and Islamic activist debate the issue on 'Hannity'
Watch Sean Hannity talk about Elections, Presidential Primaries, and Republicans on Hannity."
Varney & Co FOX Business interview why support Muslim ban from an ex muslim
"Published on Oct 6, 2016
I am an ex Muslim. A proud Arab by blood and American by law and I fully support Donald Trump and specially his ban on muslim ways in America.
*see Varney & Co FOX Business interview why support Muslim ban from an ex muslim goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com
Yemen says Trump's travel ban on Muslims supports extremists
World News | Sun Jan 29, 2017 | 5:18pm EST .reuters.com/
Trump's "Muslim ban" is a huge gift to ISIS Updated by Jennifer Williams@email@example.com Jan 29, 2017, 3:03pm EST vox.com
ISIS says the US is at war with Islam. Trump just helped them make their case.
"..ISIS has been trying for years to convince Muslims around the world that the West — and especially the United States — is at war with Islam. President Donald Trump's new executive order on immigration will make it much easier for it to make its case.
The executive order — which bans all immigrants and visa holders from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US for 90 days, bans all refugee admissions for 120 days, bans Syrian refugees indefinitely, and puts Christian refugees at the front of the line — plays right into the ISIS narrative.
No immigrants from any of the seven countries on the list — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, and Somalia — have killed Americans in terrorist attacks in the US. Not one. What immigrants and refugees from most of those countries are doing, however, is fleeing repression, violence, and war — in the case of Iraq and Yemen, wars started or supported by the US itself. .."
Donald Trump Ban Muslims: Protest at US Airports Against Donald Trump Muslim Ban
"Published on Jan 29, 2017
Donald Trump Ban Muslims: Protest at US Airports Against Donald Trump Muslim Ban
Muslim-majority countries angry at Trump travel ban
Iran says order is 'gift to extremists' and insult to Islamic world, with condemnation also from Iraq and Sudan
Muslim-majority countries angry at Trump travel ban
Iran says order is 'gift to extremists' and insult to Islamic world, with condemnation also from Iraq and Sudan
Donald Trump's ban on Muslim travellers Global condemnation and calls to cancel UK state visit – but president stands defiant: 'Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting' Mo Farah tells family: 'Daddy might not be able to come home' Thousands join angry protests at American airports
Donald Trump's ban on Muslims: Global backlash as Boris Johnson hits out amid calls to cancel state visit
Sir Mo Farah describes going from being knighted to an 'alien' under ban Boris Johnson hits out at Trump saying "we will protect UK nationals" MPs call for Trump's UK state visit to be cancelled as online petition reaches debate threshold Theresa May criticised for weak response as Tory's express 'heartbreak' Reaction and protests in pictures How the world's media covered Donald Trump's immigration ban 'The American dream is dead' – comment from Rob Crilly
Jeremy Corbyn has called for Donald Trump's UK state visit to be cancelled amid global outcry over the President's immigration order.
The US President's controversial order prevents travellers and refugees from seven Muslim countries gaining entry into the US.
The Government has criticised the measure calling it "divisive", but the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for Mr Trump's state visit to Britain in the summer should be cancelled.
It comes as a federal judge in New York issued an emergency order temporarily barring the US from deporting people from nations subject to President Donald Trump's travel ban.
Despite worldwide outrage the US President has defended the measure – insisting it is "not a Muslim ban… but is working very nicely."
There were widespread protests throughout America on Saturday night as well as global condemnation for the ban, which has seen by people refused entry at US border controls and turned away from boarding flights.
The Government's chief secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke, has described the measures as "divisive" and suggested they could fuel terrorism.
People gather for a protest at the Arrivals Hall of San Francisco's SFO International Airport after people arriving from Muslim-majority countries were held at the border control Credit: PETER DASILVA
A senior Homeland Security official said that roughly 375 travelers affected by the order so far. Out of the 375, 109 were in transit to the US and denied entry. Another 173 people were stopped by airlines from boarding an aircraft to the US. An additional 81 travelers with green cards or special immigrant visas received waivers.
Civil rights and faith groups, activists and Democratic politicians were furious and vowed to fight the order.
Capping a day of confusion and chaos and protests in several airports across the country, a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, granted a temporary reprieve. The American Civil Liberties Union successfully argued for a temporary stay that allowed detained travelers to stay in the United States.
The court action does not reverse Trump's order, which was criticized by some of America's closest allies.
Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Saturday
Along with Syria, the ban affects travelers with passports from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The order "affects a minor portion of international travelers," the department said in a statement, saying the measures "inconvenienced" less than one percent of travelers.
The new rules blindsided people in transit and families waiting for them, and caused havoc for businesses with employees holding passports from the targeted nations and colleges with international students."
Why a Muslim ban would cripple immigration Morning Joe 8/3/16 msnbc.com
MSNBC's Ari Melber joins Morning Joe to discuss a new report on Donald Trump's proposed Muslim ban, why it is 'virtually impossible to implement and would cripple the current immigration system.'
Secret weapon to take over America revealed Published: 09/21/2014 at 3:09 PM .wnd.com
No need for 'violent jihad' with this in their arsenal
"…But this is not about numbers, it's about a religion that has intentions to take over the state."
So, as Spencer explains, it's not just a matter of the Muslim community advancing in Europe and America, it's that all of the possible neutralizing factors are in retreat, hiding behind well-intentioned fantasies of multiculturalism, diversity and tolerance.
Spencer is not the only Western scholar who is worried.
"Some 5 percent of the EU, or nearly 20 million persons, presently identify themselves as Muslims," wrote historian Daniel Pipes in an article for the New York Sun. "Should current trends continue, that number will reach 10 percent by 2020. If non-Muslims flee the new Islamic order, as seems likely, the continent could be majority-Muslim within decades.
He told WND that the Muslim Brotherhood strategy from 1966 forward has been to avoid confrontations with American power. Instead, he says, the Brotherhood attempts to coax the U.S. into using its power for the Brotherhood's own benefit.
The Brotherhood's strategy is three-pronged, he said. It uses its front group CAIR to influence the government and military life, while ISNA works to foster "interfaith" dialogue with major Christian denominations and Jewish organizations. A third front group, the Muslim Student Association, or MSA, focuses on influencing K-12 and university education.
It is through these three groups that the Brotherhood wages "cultural jihad," or what Christian calls "stealth jihad."
"They want to influence the whole United States," Christian said. "They see the U.S. as three things – it's a government, it's a religious institution and it is colleges and education; so we have three organizations and all are designated to each one of those things."
Agenda 21
Fox News – Depopulation
Obama Depopulation Policy Exposed! Red Alert!!!!!! , from youtube.com
"Uploaded on Jun 25, 2009
Obama, Ezkiel list of confessions:
Ezkiel ISRAEL Emanuel is the brother of Rahm ISRAEL Emanuel And Son of a Well Known ISRAELI TERRORIST
End Agenda 21 endagenda21.com
"… U.N. Agenda 21 is also about population reduction…"
Agenda 21 and The Forced Relocation in Stack and Pack Cities bibliotecapleyades.net
"..Rural Flight In the United States
I know that this will come as a shock to many reading this article because they did not learn of these events from FOX or CNN.
However, in actuality, the process of moving the United States towards a complete Agenda 21 style of total urbanization has already commenced and it began nearly 20 years ago.
In 1994, the US became official participants in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was a 'liberalized' trade agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
Under NAFTA, farmers' income in all three countries has plummeted and millions of small farmers have lost their land, while agribusiness corporations (i.e. large government subsidized corporate farms) have reaped huge profits.
NAFTA has had three dramatic effects on farmers in North America and all three effects further the cause dense urbanization as outlined in Agenda 21 documents.
The Roots of Illegal Immigration
The first notable effect of NAFTA is that it immediately bankrupted over three million farmers in northern Mexico and this group became the vanguard of millions of Mexicans illegally entering the US in search for subsistence work of any type.
The Elite's Flawed Depopulation Agenda Is Quickly Morphing Into Genocide thecommonsenseshow.com
"..The depopulation agenda is being legitimized in print by various global think tank groups as a means to deindustrialize the planet in order to save it from the overuse of fossil fuels. Further, the depopulation agenda is being used as an excuse to protect this planet's inhabitants from a dwindling food source. This is one of the biggest lies being perpetrated upon the people. A growing population base is not causing the planet to run out of food. Here is a short video which exposes this deceptive agenda…"
Related Sites:
Neutral Perspective: The U.S. Should NOT Allow and Allow Syrian Refugees? goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com
Benefits of Immigration in America? goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com
What Does the Bible Say About Refugees? – OpenBible.info
Ways to "reach" out?
Learned anything new? What other substantial sources do you have that can support either side? Why do you support it? What can "we" do to show "love" and "peace" to the Muslims already in the United States and/or outside?
Good News USA
Deep Thought: Should we "divest" or "not" in banks that funds "oil" projects ?December 21, 2016 at 12:38 am | Posted in banks, Deep, divest, funds, not, oil, should, Thought, Uncategorized, we | Leave a comment
Tags: bank, banks, companies, divest, ethnical, Fargo, fossil, fuels, funding, funds, global, in, internatioinal, not, oil, or, petroleum, pipeline, pipelines, project's, should, spills, that, unethical, we, Wells
The Big Banks Are Corrupt — and Getting Worse
05/22/2015 12:15 am ET | Updated May 22, 2016 huffingtonpost.com
"..According to the report, "Nearly one-third of respondents (32%) believe compensation structures or bonus plans in place at their company could incentivize employees to compromise ethics or violate the law. "
In fact, bankers' bonuses do incentivize unethical and criminal behavior – and anything else it takes to generate profits. "Clawbacks" for ill-gotten gains are still few and far between. Remarkably few bankers have been fired for the widespread fraud that continues to characterize their industry. Prosecution for criminal behavior is extremely rare.
A system which rewards antisocial behavior begets social tragedy. It's also a law enforcement nightmare. Criminology teaches that the presence of reward for criminal behavior, along with the absence of deterrence, almost inevitably leads to more crime…"
Top 10 Corporate Criminals List globalexchange.org
"…Global Exchange has compiled a new list of "most wanted" corporations of 2016 based on issues like unlivable working conditions, low pay, violations of human right and voting rights; climate change denial, and environmental destruction, just to name a few.
Four corporations, Koch Industries, McDonald's, Chevron and Monsanto were on earlier lists but are included again, as the corporate behavior of these companies has reached egregious levels this year and merits repeat attention.
The Ten Top Corporate Criminals list is a guide to what companies like Energy Transfer Partners, Exxon Mobil, H&M and others are doing to undermine human rights and the environment. Share the list with friends, family, and co-workers. Use the Take Action section to add your voice and increase the pressure…
1. Energy Transfer Partners
..The pipeline is supposed to stretch from North Dakota to a market hub in Illinois, and from there another pipeline is to ship the oil to the gulf coast for Asian export. It would deliver up to 570,000 barrels of what the company calls its "light, sweet crude," fracked in North Dakota's Bakken and Three Forks fields.
The pipeline is to cross 209 rivers, creeks and tributaries, including the nations longest river, the Missouri, which is the Standing Rock Sioux tribe's main source of drinking and irrigation water. It will also destroy tribal burial grounds and sacred sites.
The Bakken Pipeline Resistance Coalition representing farmers, ranchers, environmentalists, student and local community organizations along the pipeline route as well as nationwide, has been fighting the pipeline since late 2014. On August 25, just days before the September 3rd assault, more than 30 national and tribal environmental organizations had joined together to write President Obama a letter calling on President Obama to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. And on September 9, minutes after a federal judge declined the Tribe's request for an injunction to stop construction on the pipeline, the Obama administration made a surprise announcement that it would not permit the project to continue for now. Continued action is essential to keep the pipeline from being built…""
Defund DAPL: Divest from banks funding the pipeline
"Published on Nov 17, 2016
Lakota People's Law Project is calling on individuals and organizations to divest from banks funding the Dakota Access Pipeline. Sign our petition at http://lakotalaw.org/pipeline-action
Check out our DAPL Timeline at http://lakotalaw.org/oceti-sakowin-camp.
Who's Financially Supporting it?
38 banks are directly supporting the companies building the pipeline, totaling $10.25 billion in loans and credit facilities. These banks are increasing our dependence on fossil fuels.
Energy Transfer Family:
Sunoco Logistics: ($2.5 billion revolving credit from 24 banks) (provides transportation, terminalling and acquisition and marketing services to crude oil markets. Energy Transfer Partnership owns a 99.9% interest in Sunoco Partners LLC.)
Energy Transfer Partners: ($3.75 billion revolving credit from 26 banks, going toward expanding oil and gas infrastructure holdings)
Energy Transfer Equity: ($1.5 billion revolving credit from 26 banks) (a sister partnership to Energy Transfer Partners)
Dakota Access: ($2.5 billion project-level loans by 17 banks for construction of pipeline) (subsidiary of Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company, which is part of the Energy Transfer Company)
List of banks:
RSA ANIMATE: Crises of Capitalism
"Uploaded on Jun 28, 2010
In this RSA Animate, celebrated academic David Harvey looks beyond capitalism towards a new social order. Can we find a more responsible, just, and humane economic system?
The RSA is a 258 year-old charity devoted to creating social progress and spreading world-changing ideas. For more information about our research, RSA Animates, free events programme and 27,000 strong fellowship.
Follow the RSA on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RSAEvents
Like the RSA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rsaeventsoff…
Listen to RSA podcasts: https://soundcloud.com/the_rsa
See RSA Events behind the scenes: https://instagram.com/rsa_events/
Produced and edited by Abi Stephenson, RSA.
Animation by Cognitive Media. Andrew Park, the mastermind behind the Animate series and everyone's favourite hairy hand, discusses their appeal and success in his blog post, 'Talk to the hand': http://www.thersa.org/talk-to-the-hand/"
Bank of Nova Scotia: $100 million (Sunoco Logistics)
Citizens Bank: $72.5 million (Sunoco Logistics)
Comerica Bank: $72.5 million (Sunoco Logistics)
US Bank: $275 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners)
PNC Bank: $270 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
Barclays: $370.5 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
JP Morgan Chase: $312.5 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
Bank of America: $350.5 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
Deutsche Bank: $275.5 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
Compass Bank: $340.5 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
Credit Suisse: $340.5 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
DNB Capital/ASA: $340.5 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
Sumitomo Mitsui Bank: $265.5 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
Royal Bank of Canada: $340.5 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
UBS: $336.4 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
Goldman Sachs: $243.9 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
Morgan Stanley: $225.1 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
Community Trust: $30 million (Energy Transfer Partners)
HSBC Bank: $189 million (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
Wells Fargo: $467 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity) (Dakota Access)
BNP Paribas: $444.5 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity) (Dakota Access)
SunTrust: $435 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity) (Dakota Access)
Royal Bank of Scotland: $250.5 million (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity)
Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ: $548 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity) (Dakota Access)
Mizuho Bank: $589.5 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity) (Dakota Access)
Citibank: $521.8 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity) (Dakota Access)
TD Securities: $365 million (Sunoco Logistics) (Dakota Access)
ABN Amro Capital: $45 million (Energy Transfer Equity)
Credit Agricole: $344.5 million (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity) (Dakota Access)
Intesa Sanpaolo: $339 million (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity) (Dakota Access)
ING Bank: $248.3 milllion (Energy Transfer Partners) (Energy Transfer Equity) (Dakota Access)
Natixis: $180 million (Energy Transfer Equity) (Dakota Access)
BayernLB: $120 million (Dakota Access)
BBVA Securities: $120 million (Dakota Access)
DNB First Bank: $120 million (Dakota Access)
ICBC London: $120 million (Dakota Access)
SMBC Nikko Securities: $120 million (Dakota Access)
Societe Generale: $120 million (Dakota Access)"
-Divesting effective?
How to Contact the 17 Banks Funding the Dakota Access Pipeline Emily Fuller posted Sep 29, 2016 Updated Nov. 30, 2016 yesmagazine.org
Here are CEO names, emails, and phone numbers—because banks have choices when it comes to what projects they give loans to.
"..Food & Water Watch researcher Hugh MacMillan: "Ask these banks to clarify whether funds they are providing are being used, in any amount, to pay for the heavily militarized response to the Standing Rock Sioux, including the attack dogs, sound-cannon trucks, heavily armed officers."
"People should also ask these institutions why they are sinking so much money into maximizing the amounts of oil and gas that can be brought to the surface and burned at a time when climate science is clear we have to maximize what we keep in the ground instead," said MacMillan.
The organization's deputy communications director, Seth Gladstone, suggests saying: "As a customer of your financial institution, I reject the notion of my money helping to support your investment in the Dakota Access pipeline, an inherently dangerous and unjust oil pipeline that threatens air and water quality in many states, and violates sacred lands of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. I urge you to give up your financial stake in the Dakota Access pipeline immediately."
Here are names of CEOs and other bank executives involved in these decisions—along with their phone numbers and email addresses. The first 17 banks (*) are directly funding the Dakota Access pipeline. The rest of these banks are offering credit lines to its parent companies: Sunoco Logistics, Energy Transfer Partners, and Energy Transfer Equity.
The following bank information has been updated periodically, most recently Nov. 30, 2016. Some banks have disconnected phones and disabled email addresses since the start of the campaign. Contact us with adjustments.."
Wells Fargo*
CEO Timothy J. Sloan
Corporate Office:
Wells Fargo
420 Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94104
*pic of their hq's in Minnesota
U.S. Bank
Chairman and CEO Richard K. Davis
Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications Dana Ripley
Brand, Corporate Social Responsibility, Sponsorships:
Susan Beatty
Corporate Office:
U.S. Bancorp Center
800 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55402
800-685-5065 and 651-466-3000
An Open Letter To Investors In The Dakota Access Pipeline November 29th, 2016 by Susanna Schick cleantechnica.com
"..While Norwegian investors pull out because the DAPL does not meet their Corporate Social Responsibility requirements, and Energy Transfer Partners sells its company to Sunoco to better compete against Russia, I would like to propose that all investors pull their funds from this project, as there are other energy projects with a much higher ROI that actually build a stronger US economy. I am addressing Goldman Sachs because of its stated commitment to environmental stewardship and its long track record of successful investments.
Dear Mr. Blankfein,
As one of the best investment banks in the world, Goldman Sachs' job is to keep one foot firmly planted in the future. The oil industry is dying, and "energy" companies that refuse to expand into other forms of energy will die along with it. Do you wish you'd invested in a film camera company 15 years ago? This is the same situation, but with a much bigger industry.
As a journalist covering clean tech, I've seen the future, and it's electric. This was never more clear than on October 28th, when Tesla announced its Powerpack 2 batteries, grid-scale batteries twice as energy dense at the same price. Customers like SoCal Edison will install them next month to decrease their dependency on natural gas, the main commodity ETP offers. The same commodity which recently caused the biggest methane leak ever in the US…"
DeFund DAPL: Crashing JP Morgan Party in NYC (12/15/2016)
"Published on Dec 15, 2016
#DeFundDAPL #BankExit #NoDAPL DeFund DAPL is Live in New York City Crashing a JP Morgan Party…join the movement: http://www.defunddapl.org/ Check out DeFund DAPL on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeFundDAPL/"
Major Victory! One of the Largest Banks Funding DAPL Just Pulled Its Assets from the Project Claire Bernish November 18, 2016 thefreethoughtproject.com
"Water protectors from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe can now declare their most tangible victory to date — one of the heftiest investors in the Dakota Access Pipeline, Norway's largest bank, has pulled its assets from the project.
Just 10 days ago, DNB warned it might withdraw funding for construction of the contentious pipeline if concerns raised by the Standing Rock Sioux were not addressed promptly…
"The news that DNB has sold its assets and is considering terminating its loans is a victory for the water protectors who are fighting to stop this disaster of a project. All financial institutions with a stake in the pipeline must quickly realize that financing this project is toxic. It would be smart for them to get out ahead of the growing movement of customers looking to divest from banks that finance the destruction of our planet and ignore Indigenous rights and sovereignty. Citigroup, TD Securities, Wells Fargo, SunTrust, and the other banks backing this project should see this as a sign to get on the right side of history…"
Financing Dakota Access Pipeline puts US bank in more hot water Frank Hopper • December 13, 2016 indiancountrymedianetwork.com
"…Under the proposed legislation the city's current contract with Wells Fargo, which ends in one year, on December 31, 2017, would not be renewed. In the meantime, the city would "enter into a voluntary debarment agreement with Wells Fargo Bank for a period of at least one year, and refrain from conducting banking, investment, or other business with Wells Fargo Bank for a period of at least one year when it is in the City's discretion."..
Why Wells Fargo?
While many different banks are financing the Dakota Access Pipeline, research by Food & Water Watch identifies 17 banks as loaning directly to Dakota Access LLC. Most are located in other countries such as France, Japan, the Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Germany, England and Spain. Of those located in the U.S., only two are large with many branch offices: Wells Fargo and Citibank. Wells Fargo is being targeted because it is the most visible of the U.S. banks financing the pipeline, loaning close to $500 million for its construction.
Additionally, federal regulators recently revealed a scandal involving Wells Fargo employees who opened over 2 million unauthorized bank and credit card accounts in the names of customers, apparently to hit sales targets and make money on fees. Approximately 5,300 Wells Fargo employees have been fired.
And if that weren't reason enough, in 2012 the U.S. Department of Justice forced Wells Fargo to pay $175 million after it was determined they engaged in discriminatory lending practices against black and Hispanic borrowers…"
How Standing Rock's Divest Campaign Can Stop Future Pipelines
By Colby Devitt | December 19, 2016 billmoyers.com
As banks begin to respond, environmental movements are learning the importance of speaking clearly about the financial risks of fossil fuel investment.
Between Now and Trump, We Must #DefundDAPL December 16, 2016 gofossilfree.org
"…On December 4th, the Obama Administration announced that it will not grant Energy Transfer Partners the final permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline to drill under the Missouri River, and called for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the project. This milestone is a testament to the amazing movement that indigenous leadership and the camps at Standing Rock have led, and has re-defined what is possible when thousands of people come together to peacefully resist.
But the fight to stop Dakota Access isn't over — and right now, before Trump comes into office, is a critical moment.
We can't say for certain what will happen when Trump's in office, and we don't know how an attempt to reverse this decision will play out in the courts – so right now it's crucial that we use another source of our strength to stop this project: our financial power and collective pressure.
The divestment movement has already shown the power of moving our money and rejecting the social license of the fossil fuel industry. Just this week, it was announced that total assets committed to divest surpass $5 trillion. Now we need to turn that power and momentum to Dakota Access.
The Dakota Access pipeline is being financed in various ways by 17 banks (here's a list with contact info for each). .."
"Published on Dec 19, 2016
For English petition please click
詳しいは/More information
Petition endorsement: Japanese Big Banks: Stop funding human and environmental rights abuses at DAPL now!
PDFはこちらです。PDF here.
Protestors rally in Auckland against ANZ's investment in fossil fuels video TAO LIN Last updated 14:43, May 4 2016 stuff.co.nz
"..Climate change activists have kicked off a global campaign against fossil fuels by throwing a beach dance party outside one of ANZ's Auckland offices.
The Break Free campaign targets fossil fuel projects around the world through demonstrations with the aim of keeping coal, oil and gas in the ground.
350 Aotearoa, the New Zealand arm of an international climate movement, is behind the protests and is targeting ANZ for its "heavy investment" in fossil fuels…"
Where to Invest?
Is Your Bank Funding DAPL? Here's How to Find One That Isn't Gerald Mitchell posted Dec 01, 2016 yesmagazine.org
There's an entire industry of ethically minded banks and financial institutions out there to choose from.
"..Every day in December has been declared a day of action for those protecting sacred ground and water from the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. While most of us can't be there in person, a growing number of supporters are taking action by breaking up with banks that are funding the pipeline. As an act of solidarity with the water protectors at Standing Rock, this also helps put pressure on the banks to change their practices now and in the future. But closing your megabank account raises the question: Where should I move my money?
Luckily, there's an entire industry of ethically minded banks and financial institutions out there to choose from. While they aren't always guaranteed to have a clean environmental record, they do invest locally and in underserved areas. And they are also almost certainly not funding DAPL and trampling on indigenous sovereignty…"
Ethical Banks moveyourmoney.org.uk
Oil Industries that are "unethnical"?
The 12 Least Ethical Companies In The World: Covalence's Ranking … 03/30/2010 05:12 am ET | Updated May 25, 2011 huffingtonpost.com
"…Among those companies with the most awful records are some of the usual suspects in the oil and mining industries but Covalence also found some lesser-known offenders….
#10 Total SA
French oil and gas company Total has been accused of building a pipeline with the aid of slave labor in Myanmar. In addition, in 1999 one of the company's oil tankers, the Erika, which had 30,000 tons of oil on board, sunk off of the coast of Brittany. A French court later asked the company to compensate the victims of the spill…
#6 Occidental Petroleum Corporation
Occidental, one of America's largest oil and gas companies, has been involved in a number of territory disputes in multiple countries, including Ecuador and Colombia. The company also drew ire from environmentalists in 2005, when it proposed building a road through Ecuador's Yasuní National Park.
#3 Chevron Corp.
Chevron, the oil and gas behemoth, has been accused of tax evasion as well a number of environmental infractions in several countries around the world. But perhaps most controversial was a 1998 episode in Nigeria: after protesters took hostages as part of a demonstration against the company, Nigerian soldiers shot at the demonstrators, killing two. Chevron was accused of facilitating the transport of the soldiers, known for their "general history of committing abuses," to the scene. The company, however, was cleared of the charges in 2008…
#2 Halliburton Company
After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Halliburton, the oil and gas company famously associated with former Vice President Dick Cheney, was accused of unfairly procuring billions of dollars in government contracts for oil repair in the country.
Currently still re"searching" on this controversial issue. Feel free to share any info. Any other newsworthy items that needs to be told?
Good News USA
Neutral Perspective: Iraq War was justified or not?December 17, 2016 at 5:11 pm | Posted in Neutral, Perespective, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: 9-11, against, Aleppo, Anti-War, any, Arab, bombing, bush, CIA, debate, destruction, Donahue, East, Eastern, exposure, facts, former, found, Freedom, general, George, Guard, History, Hussein, invaded, invasion, Iraq, justification, justifications, justified, Kuwait, lies, mass, McVeigh, media, Middle, military, National, nations, neutral, not, of, Oklahoma, or, perspective, Phil, Police, President, Presidents, propaganda, public, Saddam, Spring, Syria, Syrica, there, ties, Timothy, truth, U.S., U.S.A., United, uranium, veterans, W., war, was, weapons, where, WMD, WMD's
I decided to write this blog topic after #standingrock
After Two Wars, Standing Rock is the First Time I Served the American People by Will Griffin Published on
Sunday, October 30, 2016 by Common Dreams commondreams.org
'I've been on the wrong side of history'
"…I was in Iraq when President Bush announced the "surge" in January 2007. I was in Afghanistan when President Obama announced the "surge" in December 2009. But it wasn't until I visited Standing Rock in October 2016 when I actually served the American people. This time, instead of fighting for corporate interests, I was fighting for the people.
I traveled to Standing Rock with a small group of members from Veterans For Peace (VFP). VFP has had a continued presence at Standing Rock for months now, rotating members in and out. Two VFP members, Tarak Kauff and Matthew Hoh, were arrested on Oct. 10, Indigenous People's Day, while peacefully protecting (not protesting) the water. We were also joined by VFP members Ellen Davidson, Sam Adams, Richard Gilchrist, Martin Bates, Michael Sullivan, Ann Wright, and drone whistleblower Cian Westmoreland.
Fellow veteran Matt Hoh and I agreed the camp was a reminder of Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) in Iraq and Afghanistan, without the mortars or rockets blowing up everywhere…
Matt and I also agreed that after our military "service" and multiple deployments to two wars, this was the first time we served the American people. After going to a few nonviolent direct action protests against the Black Snake, we realized what it actually meant to stand by the American people and fight in their interests. We suddenly had this feeling of honor, something we never had from our deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan.
We agreed that the only "people" we served overseas fighting were the likes of Halliburton, KBR, AECOM, DynCorp, Raytheon, Environmental Chemical, and so many more. We know that our own government lied to us. We know that the world is not a safer place than it was before the United States illegally occupied Iraq and Afghanistan; we understand that militaries don't bring peace. Looking into the eyes of the police at Standing Rock, we saw ourselves.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Peace is not merely the absence of war but the presence of justice." That's what we were fighting for at Standing Rock, peace and justice.
The militarized police forces on the ground weren't keeping the peace or protecting justice, they were protecting corporate interests. The police were blocking peace and obstructing justice on behalf of corporations, greedy bankers and investors. During my 11 days there, I saw local law enforcement, out-of-jurisdiction police forces, private security forces, and the North Dakota National Guard—all on behalf of the corporations and the state, not the people. They arrested the people and protected the construction equipment.
We saw journalists being attacked and warrants issued for their arrests just for holding a microphone and interviewing people. We saw police forces using military-grade equipment that Matt and I used in combat zones overseas. We saw the infringement of constitutional rights such as the right to assemble. But most important, we saw Native Americans courageously continue to defend their land and people from a genocidal 500-year war against the state and corporations alike…
That's why I joined the military; to provide a selfless service to my country. That myth has been shattered. After two wars, PTSD and moral injury, I've come to realize I've been on the wrong side of history."
Below are other sides of this still on-going debate able topic..
John Howard defends Iraq war, saying it was 'justified at the time' Ben Doherty @bendohertycorro Thursday 7 July 2016 01.32 EDT theguardian.com
Former PM says claims Australia went to war on a lie are untrue: 'There were errors in intelligence but there was no lie'
"..The Chilcot report was excoriating in its assessment of the British government's decision-making process over going to war, saying that the threat posed by dictator Saddam Hussein was overplayed, intelligence was flawed, and the legal basis for the war was unsatisfactory…"
5 Reasons the Iraq War Was Not a Mistake by Joel B. Pollak19 May 2015 breitbart.com
"..2. An American force in the Middle East would increase pressure on Iran. Removing Saddam Hussain meant removing a threat to the Iranian regime. But putting hundreds of thousands of American troops on Iran's western border–along with those already in Afghanistan to the east–meant posing a much more potent threat to the regime. That is why Iran temporarily slowed its nuclear program after 2003–and why the Iranian people found the courage to rise in 2009.
3. Freeing the people of Iraq was, and is, a worthy goal. Just a few years ago, with American and allied troops still in Iraq in significant numbers, the sectarian violence and terrorism that had plagued the country for years had begun to slow down. The Iraqi people began to enjoy some semblance of order, of democracy, and of liberty. Instead of staying in Iraq to guide and protect that process–as Obama had promised to do in 2008–Obama abandoned the Iraqi people.
4. International law means nothing unless it is backed up by the will to enforce it. Saddam Hussein defied international law repeatedly: He used WMD against his own people; he invaded his neighbors; he sponsored terrorism. And he did it because he had no fear of facing the consequences. International law, flawed though it is, is a necessary and stabilizing institution–and needs enforcement, even (especially) when global institutions are too corrupt to enforce it.
5. There is potential for freedom in the region–with American leadership. The fall of Saddam Hussein inspired the Lebanese people to rise up against Syrian occupation, and planted the seeds of what later became the Arab Spring. If American leadership had remained strong, that process might have been a positive one. (Certainly Syria would not have become a killing field.) The Middle East may never be fertile soil for democracy, but it can certainly be freer than it is today.
There are, of course, excellent arguments against the war. The best is that it was carried out in crisis management mode, without any real attempt to grapple with the strategic challenge of Iran (or extremism in other nations, such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan).
That argument still stands. But it has nothing to do with the question of whether Iraq had WMD…"
The CIA Just Declassified the Document That Supposedly Justified the Iraq Invasion By Jason Leopold March 19, 2015 | 12:10 pm news.vice.com
"..The NIE also restores another previously unknown piece of "intelligence": a suggestion that Iraq was possibly behind the letters laced with anthrax sent to news organizations and senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy a week after the 9/11 attacks. The attacks killed five people and sickened 17 others…
According to the latest figures compiled by Iraq Body Count, to date more than 200,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed, although other sources say the casualties are twice as high. More than 4,000 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq, and tens of thousands more have been injured and maimed. The war has cost US taxpayers more than $800 billion.
In an interview with VICE founder Shane Smith, Obama said the rise of the Islamic State was a direct result of the disastrous invasion.
"ISIL is a direct outgrowth of al Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion," Obama said. "Which is an example of unintended consequences. Which is why we should generally aim before we shoot.".."
Tom Cotton Thinks The Iraq War Was Justified from youtube.com
"Published on May 23, 2015
Several prominent Republicans have recently backed off from full support of the Iraq war, which is certainly a change of pace from just a few years ago. Do not get tricked into believing that all Republicans no longer support that disastrous war.
John Iadarola (Think Tank) and Ben Mankiewicz (What The Flick) discuss the details of the story. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
Read more here: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tom…
"Tom Cotton, the Iraq war veteran from Arkansas turned Republican senator, has a message to fellow soldiers: 'We should not be ashamed of the war we conducted in Iraq.'
Leading Republicans are sticking by the Iraq war, declining to follow the Democrats into full retreat and regret.
Cotton, while conceding that there are lessons to be learned from the conflict and that it might have been handled differently in retrospect, maintains that President George W. Bush made the best decision he could at the time based on the available intelligence about Saddam Hussein's presumed stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.""
Christopher Hitchens on Reasons for the Iraq War, Justifications, Military, and Media (2005) , youtube.com
"Published on Oct 14, 2013
The rationale for the Iraq War (i.e. the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent hostilities) has been a contentious issue since the Bush administration began actively pressing for military intervention in Iraq in late 2001. The primary rationalization for the Iraq War was articulated by a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress known as the Iraq Resolution.
The U.S. stated that the intent was to remove "a regime that developed and used weapons of mass destruction, that harbored and supported terrorists, committed outrageous human rights abuses, and defied the just demands of the United Nations and the world". Additional reasons have been suggested: "to change the Middle East so as to deny support for militant Islam by pressuring or transforming the nations and transnational systems that support it." For the invasion of Iraq the rationale was "the United States relied on the authority of UN Security Council Resolutions 678 and 687 to use all necessary means to compel Iraq to comply with its international obligations".[3]
In the lead-up to the invasion, the U.S. and UK emphasized the argument that Saddam Hussein was developing "weapons of mass destruction" and thus presented a threat to his neighbors, to the U.S., and to the world community. The U.S. stated "on November 8, 2002, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1441. All fifteen members of the Security Council agreed to give Iraq a final opportunity to comply with its obligations and disarm or face the serious consequences of failing to disarm. The resolution strengthened the mandate of the UN Monitoring and Verification Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), giving them authority to go anywhere, at any time and talk to anyone in order to verify Iraq's disarmament."[4] Throughout late 2001, 2002, and early 2003, the Bush Administration worked to build a case for invading Iraq, culminating in then Secretary of State Colin Powell's February 2003 address to the Security Council. Shortly after the invasion, the Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies largely discredited evidence related to Iraqi weapons as well as links to Al-Qaeda, and at this point the Bush and Blair Administrations began to shift to secondary rationales for the war, such as the Hussein government's human rights record and promoting democracy in Iraq. Opinion polls showed that the population of nearly all countries opposed a war without UN mandate, and that the view of the United States as a danger to world peace had significantly increased. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described the war as illegal, saying in a September 2004 interview that it was "not in conformity with the Security Council."
Accusations of faulty evidence and alleged shifting rationales became the focal point for critics of the war, who charge that the Bush Administration purposely fabricated evidence to justify an invasion it long planned to launch. Supporters of the war claim that the threat from Iraq and Saddam Hussein was real and that this has later been established. The U.S. led the effort for "the redirection of former Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) scientists, technicians and engineers to civilian employment and discourage emigration of this community from Iraq."
Other critics have noted that the Iraq War has several similarities with the Korean War and Vietnam War.
The United States officially declared its combat role in Iraq over on August 31, 2010, although several thousand troops remained in the country until all American troops were withdrawn from Iraq by December 2011; between that time American troops also engaged in combat with Iraqi insurgents…"
Paul Schiffer interviews Jayna Davis on Terrorism and Middle East Connection to Oklahoma City-first , from youtube.com
The Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing Paperback – July 27, 2008 by Jayna Davis .amazon.com
"..In this alarming book, reporter Jayna Davis tells of her amazing journey leading from the smoking rubble of the Murrah Federal Building to the sleazy haunts of John Doe #2, the mysterious Middle East suspect who the Justice Department was at first desperate to find?then insisted never existed.
With a reporter's practiced skill, Jayna Davis unscrambles the convoluted and distorted facts of the Oklahoma City bombing to present a compelling case that proves Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols did not act alone and in fact worked in tandem with Middle East connections that lead directly to Saddam Hussein's personal army.
Ten years after the tragic April 19 bombing, this revised edition of the controversial book that captured the attention of the 9/11 Commission offers new information and a new afterword that covers the Iraq War, the verdict in the Nichols state murder trial, and recent confirmation of Al-Qaeda General Al-Zawahiri's visit to OKC to approve the bombing…"
1995 Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was a Muslim sympathizer Posted on November 23, 2015 by Dr. Eowyn fellowshipoftheminds.com
"..In her bestseller, The Third Terrorist, investigative journalist Jayna Davis presents the evidence showing that Timothy McVeigh was a front man for Middle Eastern terrorists, and that a third co-conspirator was an Iraqi — the mysterious "John Doe" who was never found. Davis says the evidence was ignored and dismissed because the Clinton Administration didn't want to go to war with Iraq, the likely culprit, and wanted to blame the attack on domestic right-wingers for political reasons. .."
Homeless Muslim Arrest Revisits OK City Bombing Islam Connection March 11, 2011, – 2:15 pm By Debbie Schlussel debbieschlussel.com
"…An FBI spokesman in Boston, Greg Comcowich, said Thursday night that a man named Hussain Al-Hussaini was "thoroughly investigated" in connection with the Oklahoma City bombing and "was found to not have any role whatsoever in the attack on the Murrah Federal Building in 1995.".."
BILL OREILLY •Taken Down• BY U S IRAQ WAR VET from youtube.com
Uploaded on Mar 22, 2009
->Is an armament sickening U.S. soldiers updated 8/12/2006 10:43:50 PM ET nbcnews.com
"…Depleted uranium is the garbage left from producing enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and energy plants. It is 60 percent as radioactive as natural uranium. The U.S. has an estimated 1.5 billion pounds of it, sitting in hazardous waste storage sites across the country. Meaning it is plentiful and cheap as well as highly effective.
Reed says he unknowingly breathed DU dust while living with his unit in Samawah, Iraq. He was med-evaced out in July 2003, nearly unable to walk because of lightning-strike pains from herniated discs in his spine. Then began a strange series of symptoms he'd never experienced in his previously healthy life.
Then the medic from their unit showed up. He too, was suffering. That made eight sick soldiers from the 442nd Military Police, an Army National Guard unit made up of mostly cops and correctional officers from the New York area.
Tests come up positive, but …
Reed, Gerard Matthew, Raymond Ramos, Hector Vega, Augustin Matos, Anthony Yonnone, Jerry Ojeda and Anthony Phillip all have depleted uranium in their urine, according to tests done in December 2003, while they bounced for months between Walter Reed and New Jersey's Fort Dix medical center, seeking relief that never came…
The veterans, using their positive results as evidence, have sued the U.S. Army, claiming officials knew the hazards of depleted uranium, but concealed the risks.
The Department of Defense says depleted uranium is powerful and safe, and not that worrisome…
Echoes of Agent Orange
It took more than 25 years for the Pentagon to acknowledge that Agent Orange — a corrosive defoliant used to melt the jungles of Vietnam and flush out the enemy — was linked to those sufferings.
It took 40 years for the military to compensate sick World War II vets exposed to massive blasts of radiation during tests of the atomic bomb.
In 2002, Congress voted to not let that happen again.."
Saddam Hussein should have been left to run Iraq, says CIA officer who interrogated him By Ishaan Tharoor December 16 at 12:44 PM washingtonpost.com
"Both President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump believe the United States never should have invaded Iraq in 2o03 (or, at least, Trump claims he now does). The war in Iraq and its chaotic aftermath in many ways prefigure the present moment in the Middle East; it triggered a sectarian unraveling that now haunts both Iraq and Syria and looms large in the minds of an Obama administration wary of further intervention in the region's conflicts.
In a new book coming out this month, John Nixon, a former CIA officer who interrogated Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after he was captured by coalition forces in December 2003, details his encounter with the toppled despot and the varied discussions that followed. Early on, Hussein warned that the occupation of Iraq wouldn't be as much of a "cakewalk" as Washington's neoconservatives assumed at the time. From an excerpt published on Time magazine's website:
Nixon now reckons Hussein had a point and that a ruthless strongman like him was necessary to "maintain Iraq's multi-ethnic state" and keep both Sunni extremism and the power of Shiite-led Iran, a Hussein foe, at bay…"
When I interrogated Saddam, he told me: "You are going to fail. You are going to find that it is not so easy to govern Iraq." When I told him I was curious why he felt that way, he replied: "You are going to fail in Iraq because you do not know the language, the history, and you do not understand the Arab mind.".."
Bush, Blair and the Lies That Justified the Illegal Iraq War Jul 6 2016 By Robin Andersen fair.org
'..Of three possible justifications, two were dismissed. Self-defense was not plausible, as British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw argued: "The case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his WMD capacity was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran." Nor would humanitarian intervention make the case: Saddam was not engaged in genocide. The foreign secretary solved the puzzle when he said: "We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force."…
This case illustrates that what journalists know and understand is something quite different from what they actually report. For the most part, the known and the reported are two very different narratives. With a "nothing new" defense, reporters and editors are making astonishing admissions of complicity and redefining the role of journalism. Admitting to understanding at the time that justifications for war were a ruse, yet not challenging such claims, leaves them not only complicit, but compelling actors in promoting war…
Untold Story of the Iraq War ~ Commandos, Dirty Wars and Col. James Steele
"Published on Mar 22, 2013
Shocking information for many!!
Col. James Steele: America's mystery man in Iraq – Full Documentary
Iraq war: 10 years on
A 15-month investigation by the Guardian and BBC Arabic reveals how retired US colonel James Steele, a veteran of American proxy wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, played a key role in training and overseeing US-funded special police commandos who ran a network of torture centers in Iraq. Another special forces veteran, Colonel James Coffman, worked with Steele and reported directly to General David Petraeus, who had been sent into Iraq to organize the Iraqi security services.
The Worldwide Network of US Military Bases
The Global Deployment of US Military Personnel
Iraq War Media Propaganda – Al Jazeera Perspective 1 of 2
Iraq War Media Propaganda – Al Jazeera Perspective 2 of 2
"..Uploaded on Jan 26, 2008
Al-Jazeera perspective on the propaganda during the Iraq war. The full documentary "Control Room – Propaganda of the Iraq War" goes for 1Hr 24 Minutes and can be downloaded from google video.
The link for playing from google video is :
Phil Donahue on His 2003 Firing From MSNBC, When Liberal Network Couldn't Tolerate Antiwar Voices
Published on Mar 21, 2013
http://www.democracynow.org — In 2003, the legendary television host Phil Donahue was fired from his prime-time MSNBC talk show during the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The problem was not Donahue's ratings, but rather his views: An internal MSNBC memo warned Donahue was a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war," providing "a home for the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity." Donahue joins us to look back on his firing 10 years later. "They were terrified of the antiwar voice," Donahue says.
Take a moment to view our interactive Iraq War timeline at http://owl.li/jd2ur.
Visit the Democracy Now! news archive to see 10 years of reports on the Iraq War at
To watch the entire weekday independent news hour, read the transcript, download the podcast, search our vast archive, or to find more information about Democracy Now! and Amy Goodman, visit http://www.democracynow.org.
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Breaking The Silence: Truth And Lies In The War On Terror johnpilger.com
"…Damning archive footage shows contradictory speeches by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice. In a lengthy address to the UN Security Council on February 5, 2003, Powell solemnly declares that Iraq is in possession of vast stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and is involved in an elaborate campaign to conceal weapons materials and manufacturing facilities. However, two years earlier Powell and Condoleeza Rice claim the opposite. Speaking in Cairo on February 24, 2001, seven months before 9/11, Powell categorically declares: "He [Saddam Hussein] has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours." Rice repeats this in July 2001 when she tells US television that the Iraqi military has not been rebuilt since the 1991 conflict.
Pentagon paid UK PR firm $540mn to make fake terrorist videos during Iraq war
"Published on Oct 4, 2016
The Pentagon paid a UK PR firm half a billion dollars to create fake terrorist videos in Iraq in a secret propaganda campaign exposed by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/7quh
-Confessions of "Whistleblowers"
"I Don't Work For You No More"
"I Am No Longer the Monster I Once Was" informationclearinghouse.info
"…A former Marine who had served two tours in Iraq, Jon Turner did not look like a monster. He was a little above average height, good-looking, with a thick thatch of blond hair, and gentle manners. If not for the small blue-dot earring in his left ear – and the tattoos he later exposed – he could easily pass for the all-American boy.
But the stories he related, and the videos and slides he showed during four days of hearings called "Winter Soldier Iraq and Afghanistan," were a million miles away from Norman Rockwell America.
During last month's hearings, held just outside Washington, D.C., a group called Iraq Veterans Against the War presented 55 veterans, including Turner, who gave personal testimony of what they had seen and done in Iraq. It was one horror story after another.
Turner, whose unit had lost 18 soldiers in Iraq, reported routinely firing rounds into mosques just out of anger; "kicking in doors and terrorizing families"; the mistaken firing of rounds into cars filled with civilians whose drivers were simply confused or didn't understand the English commands to stop; and dozens of other brutalities carried out daily against the population of Iraq.
Other veterans testified to similar incidents, but two of Turner's stories were among the heaviest we heard in those four days.
The first was of Turner's "first kill" – a "fat man" on foot whom he shot for refusing a command to halt. The "fat man" did not die from the first bullet that Turner put in his neck, so while he screamed and looked pleadingly into Turner's eyes, Turner deliberately dispatched him with a shot at close range.
The second story was even worse. Turner and his men were having a bad day – and bad days are apparently not hard to have in Iraq – so Turner and two fellow soldiers "took out some individuals" who were doing them no harm. Turner shot a man going by on a bike, then threw the body behind a wall and tossed his bike on top of it.
At the hearings, my friend Anthony Swofford, author of "Jarhead" and a former Marine himself, leaned over to me and said, "I think Turner just confessed to murder." But putting that remark in perspective, Swofford would also tell me later, "I know that for every guy up there testifying today, there are probably a thousand others out there keeping silent."
Some of the protesters outside, including the group Eagles Up!, claimed these testifiers weren't real vets, but they had all been thoroughly checked out by a verification team from Iraq Veterans Against the War. Moreover, nobody – unless they'd done a few years at the Actors Studio – could have faked the emotions these vets were displaying as they testified: voices choking up and cracking, tears spontaneously welling.
Although the horror stories kept coming for four days, not all of them involved personal malice. Marine gunner James Gilligan sobbed as he recounted how in Afghanistan in 2004, he placed an unfamiliar compass too close to a machine-gun barrel, causing it to give a false enemy position. Instead of taking out the Taliban artillery, the troops caused extensive civilian casualties in a nearby Afghan village.
The name Winter Soldier was taken from a similar series of hearings held by Vietnam Veterans Against the War in Detroit in 1971. The term originally derived from Revolutionary War patriot Thomas Paine's description of Washington's soldiers at Valley Forge, who withstood a terrible winter on starvation rations in order to come back and fight for their nation one more time – and eventually win. Clearly these Iraq vets, just like their Vietnam vet counterparts, saw themselves as still fighting for their country in trying to bring the truth they experienced into a public forum.
They spoke with no discernible hostility or partisan bias, and less anger than one would have expected. Most expressed their reason for being there along the same lines as former Marine scout Sergio Kochergin, who said he was expecting his testimony to be heard by Congress and to help bring a rapid end to the war.
US Soldier Exposes USA FEMA Camps
Jon Michael Turner (American) voiceseducation.org
"..Jon Michael Turner is a returned Iraq War veteran, who has taken up the art of paper and book making since his return to the United States. Originally from Connecticut, he now makes his home in Burlington, VT and works out of the Green Door Studio. Jon has also traveled with the Combat Paper Project, telling his story while teaching other veterans the art of papermaking and telling their personal stories…"
-Aleppo, Syria?
Why Everything You Hear About Aleppo Is Wrong Daniel McAdams Posted on September 29, 2016 antiwar.com
"..The mainstream media portrays the fight for Aleppo as one between Syrian President Assad and the people, painting Assad as someone killing his citizens for the fun of it. In other words, as they did with Iraq and Libya, etc. the mainstream media again happily takes up the role of mouthpiece of the US government. The reality is quite different, in fact. Today's Ron Paul Liberty Report speaks with independent journalist Vanessa Beeley, who has recently returned from an investigative trip to Syria including in Aleppo. What's really going on there? Tune in!.."
*see Now you know: Who are "mercenaries"?
James Le Mesurier – Syria Civil Defense maydayrescue.org
"..James has spent 20 years working in fragile states as a United Nations staff member, a consultant for private companies and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and as a British Army Officer. Much of his experience has involved delivering stabilisation activities through security sector and democratisation programmes. Since 2012, James has been working on the Syria crisis where he started the Syrian White Helmets programme in March 2013. In 2014, he founded Mayday Rescue, and is dedicated to strengthening local communities in countries that are entering, enduring or emerging from conflict…"
Brother of airport shooting suspect says US gov't failed him
DANICA COTO,Associated Press 3 hours ago (1.7.16)
"…Esteban Santiago, 26, had trouble controlling his anger after serving in Iraq and told his brother that he felt he was being chased and controlled by the CIA through secret online messages. When he told agents at an FBI field office his paranoid thoughts in November, he was evaluated for four days, then released without any follow-up medication or therapy.
"The FBI failed there," Bryan Santiago told The Associated Press. "We're not talking about someone who emerged from anonymity to do something like this."
Bryan Santiago said his brother had requested psychological help but barely received any.
"I told him to go to church or to seek professional help," he said.
Pray for Iraq War vets and Iraqi (many various tribes, ethnic groups, Muslim sects, etc..)..
"Come & let your Peace fill this…."
Is there any other topics on either side that I didn't share yet? Feel free to share below…thanks and God bless!!
Good News Middle East
Neutral Perspective: I will & NOT support Hillary Clinton for U.S. PresidentAugust 4, 2016 at 4:27 am | Posted in Clinton, Hillary, Netural, Perespective, Presidential, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: 2016, and, Assange, Bernie, Campaign, chaos, Cheryl, Clinton, Colbert, convention, DFL, divided, e-mail, email, emails, financial, first, for, Hillary, I, leaked, leaks, liberal, Libya, Mills, neutral, nomination, not, NRA, perspective, President, Presidential, primaries, protestors, rigged, Russia, Sanders, scams, Secretary, sex, State, Stephen, support, trafficker, trafficking, U.S., U.S.A., vote, war, wiki, wikileaks, will, women
#ClintonNation: This is why Americans are voting for Hillary Clinton
Rick Hampson, USA TODAY 12:28 p.m. EDT July 25, 2016 usatoday.com
"..They're with her because they find Hillary Clinton so qualified and Donald Trump so … terrifying.
"I'm excited — I want Hillary to get elected. But kind of scared, too,'' says Jennifer Gibbens, 36, a Springfield, Mo., social worker. She's afraid Trump would "take us back to the Dark Ages.".."
All About Hillary Clinton – US Presidential Election 2016 Democrat Candidate
Here are 7 Republicans Voting for Hillary Clinton Over Donald Trump
Katie Reilly @katiemacreilly time.com Aug. 3, 2016
"…Republican donor and Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman announced her support for Clinton on Tuesday, as did retiring Republican New York Rep. Richard Hanna—both coming a day after Jeb Bush adviser Sally Bradshaw did the same.
Here are the prominent Republicans who have said they'll be crossing party lines and voting for Clinton in November:.."
Will NOT vote!
Western Journalism
Our very own Tom Hinchey says Hillary is "looking more like a mob boss than a president." Find out why:
SHOCKING: Author Peter Schweizer says he's had to hire full-time security since releasing his controversial new book, which questions millions in foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation while Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state.
MUST READ: http://go.cbn.com/34
Will Hillary be able to recover from this campaign firestorm?
FBI recovers private emails from Clinton server: Bloomberg
September 22, 2015 9:34 PM
As he told me: "No one would hire such a person to work at a McDonald's, and yet she is being considered for president of the Minnesota United FC States."
*corporate run
David Wilcock & Corey Goode – Secret Space Program, ET Disclosure, Inner Earth
*hillary's security guards killed in a freak "head-on car collision"????
Why Hillary is more dangerous than Trump JOhn Pilger.docx
How EXACTLY the New World Order try to FORCE YOU to be part of it?? (2016 -17 REVIEW. BEST EVIDENCE)
*see 12:30 mark
Julian Assange fuels conspiracy theories about Democratic aide's death
Michael Walsh 13 hours ago (Aug 10th 2016) news.yahoo.com
"..In an interview on Dutch television, the Australian cyberactivist invoked the unsolved killing of Seth Rich, 27, earlier this summer to illustrate the risks of being a source for his organization.
Citing WikiLeaks protocol, Assange refused to confirm whether or not Rich was in fact a source for WikiLeaks, which has released thousands of internal DNC emails, some of them politically embarrassing. Experts and U.S. government officials reportedly believe that hackers linked to the Russian government infiltrated the DNC and gave the email trove to WikiLeaks.
But Assange was apparently interested in hinting about an even darker theory.
"Whistleblowers go to significant efforts to get us material, and often very significant risks. There's a 27-year-old, works for the DNC, who was shot in the back, murdered just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington," Assange said on Nieuwsuur. BuzzFeed drew more attention to the interview in the U.S.
BREAKING : Clinton Foundation Tied to Convicted Child Trafficker Laura Silsby – MEDIA SILENT By TruthFeedNews November 5, 2016 truthfeed.com
"…Silsby is the former director of "The New Life Children's Refuge." She was caught trying to kidnap 33 Haitian children, most of whom had families. By following the trail of declassified Wikileaks emails the social media blogger discovered that Huma Abedin was "constantly forwarding emails to Hillary Clinton" about Laura Silsby's organization.
The blogger also linked Clinton emails to an attempt to protect Laura Silsby from prosecution.
The blogger known as PleadingtheYiff was a user on social media website Reddit according to a Daily News article which Charisma News quoted in their story. They suggested that there was a connection to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills and others after finding emails that appear to be drafts after extradition.
The discovery also included Wikileaks emails from Hillary Clinton, the content of which reveal Clinton contacting a lawyer regarding ten people arrested involved in the child trafficking ring. It was also revealed that the lawyer who represented Silsby was a convicted child sex trafficker.
Stephen Colbert Takes The Gloves Off: Hillary's Email Scandal
This Video SHOULD Cost Hillary Clinton The Black Vote
"..Published on Feb 15, 2016
WATCH Hillary Clinton's racist "super predators" speech. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks breaks down the speech and what Clinton really meant. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALXul…
"Is Hillary Clinton really the kind of candidate who will rally progressives and the black community behind her when she refers to urban youth as "super predators" with "no conscience, no empathy"?
She suggests that rather than trying to understand how poverty and social exclusion may have led children to make certain choices, it is more important to first "bring them to heel."
That's "heel" with an "e," not "heal" with an "a."
Hillary is talking about using the full force of the law to drive these children into submission."*
Read more here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/….."
Hillary Says Black Thugs are "Super Predators" with "No Conscience" , from youtube.com
Crooked Hillary Clinton Hates Black People , from youtube.com
Sanders vs. Clinton
Allegations of fraud and misconduct at Nevada Democratic convention unfounded
By Riley Snyder on Wednesday, May 18th, 2016 at 6:40 p.m. politifact.com
Wikileaks Proves Primary Was Rigged: DNC Undermined Democracy-
20,000 freshly leaked emails reveal resentful disdain toward Sanders, as party favored Clinton long before any votes were cast
By Michael Sainato • 07/22/16 2:00pm observer.com
Half-empty DNC during prime time Crooked Hillary Clinton nomination. Philly. Jul 26, 2016
Secret World of US Election: Julian Assange talks to John Pilger (FULL INTERVIEW)
"Published on Nov 5, 2016
Whistleblower Julian Assange has given one of his most incendiary interviews ever in a John Pilger Special, courtesy of Dartmouth Films, in which he summarizes what can be gleaned from the tens of thousands of Clinton emails released by WikiLeaks this year.
READ TRANSCRIPT: http://on.rt.com/7ty5"
WikiLeaks Continues to Prove Worst Fears About Clinton Presidency By Michael Sainato • 11/08/16 4:20pm observer.com
"…Hillary Clinton has been proven to be as inauthentic and scripted as her critics initially claimed, with her campaign staff often debating in released emails what Clinton should say and what her policies should be without the candidate making any actual input. Clinton's highly paid PR consultant Mandy Grunwald called her "cronyistic" and said that she hasn't driven a car in 35 years and has flown all over the world but accomplished nothing.
Several emails revealed the Clinton Campaign illegally coordinated with Super PACs.
Dubious and prolific Clinton donors George Soros and Haim Saban have unabated access to Clinton and her campaign staff.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook pursued foreign donations Podesta received payments from donors.
The Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice Peter Kadzik was tipping off the Clinton campaign to confidential dealings of the DOJ.
Mainstream media journalists allowed Clinton campaign staff to plant articles, edit and proofread, and halt negative coverage.
The Clinton campaign meddled with the dates of the Democratic and Republican primaries to benefit Clinton. Donald Trump was purposely elevated by the Clinton campaign and mainstream media in order to provide Clinton with a weak opponent in the general election.
Are you going to support Hillary -yes or no? Why?
Good News USA