US military moving back into 'Stargate' base deep under the Rocky Mountains

      

Why IS the US military moving back into 'Stargate' base deep under the Rocky Mountains a decade after it was abandoned?

• Cheyenne Mountain Complex being refurbished by Pengaton
• High tech communications being installed that are impervious to electromagnetic pulses
• The bunker is build under 2,000 feet of the Rocky Mountains and is able to withstand a hit by a 30 megaton nuclear blast
• Decommissioned 10-years ago because 'the Russians were no longer a threat' 

By James Nye For Daily Mail Online and Afp and Associated Press

Published: 15:55 EST, 8 April 2015 | Updated: 16:40 EST, 9 April 2015

The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is one of the icons of the Cold War - a self-contained and sufficient town buried under the Rockies meant to be impervious to a Soviet nuclear barrage.

It was home to the North American Aerospace Command (NORAD), scanning the skies for Russian missiles and the military command and control center of the United States in the event of World War Three.

The high tech base entered popular culture with appearances in the 1983 Cold War thriller War Games and 1994's Stargate - which imagined the complex as a clandestine home for intergalactic travel.

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Secret: The Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado was built for NORAD to direct the American response to a nuclear war with the USSR during the Cold War

Protection: There are 15 three story building inside the military complex and each is buffered by a 25-ton blast door

Small  town: The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is home to more than 1,000 personnel and is able to operate as an underground town for months with fresh water and food

It shut down nearly ten years ago as the threat from Russia seemed to subside, but this week the Pentagon announced that Cheyenne Mountain will once again be home to the most advanced tracking and communications equipment in the United States military.

The shift to the Cheyenne Mountain base in Colorado is designed to safeguard the command's sensitive sensors and servers from a potential electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, military officers said.

The Pentagon last week announced a $700 million contract with Raytheon Corporation to oversee the work for North American Aerospace Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command.

Admiral William Gortney, head of NORAD and Northern Command, said that 'because of the very nature of the way that Cheyenne Mountain's built, it's EMP-hardened.'

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Power: At its height Cheyenne was home to NORAD who watched 7,000 aircraft per day as part of their surveillance operations

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Headquarters: The US and Canadian military jointly operated NORAD from within Cheyenne and soldiers from north of the border made up 15 percent of the personnel at the base

 

Around-the-clock crews monitor U.S. skies from the command center of the Northern Command located deep within Cheyenne Mountain at the foot of the Rocky Mountains near Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2002

'And so, there's a lot of movement to put capability into Cheyenne Mountain and to be able to communicate in there,' Gortney told reporters.

'My primary concern was... are we going to have the space inside the mountain for everybody who wants to move in there, and I'm not at liberty to discuss who's moving in there,' he said.

The Cheyenne mountain bunker is a half-acre cavern carved into a mountain in the 1960s that was designed to withstand a Soviet nuclear attack. From inside the massive complex, airmen were poised to send warnings that could trigger the launch of nuclear missiles.

But in 2006, officials decided to move the headquarters of NORAD and US Northern Command from Cheyenne to Petersen Air Force base in Colorado Springs. The Cheyenne bunker was designated as an alternative command center if needed.

COLD WAR RELIC? CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN COMPLEX CLOSED IN 2006 

 

Almost 10 years ago, the military closed the secretive defense complex carved into Cheyenne Mountain that for decades monitored American skies for threats.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command operations center was moved to nearby Peterson Air Force Base, which is home to the U.S. Northern Command created after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Cheyenne Mountain Complex is 2,000 feet below the granite rocks and made up of 15 three-story buildings protected from nuclear blasts and seismic movement by a system of 1,000 giant springs.

The entire complex is designed to withstand a direct hit by a 30 megaton nuclear explosion and has 25-ton blast doors surrounding the complex.

NORAD, a joint U.S. and Canadian command, was set up in the 1960s to monitor the skies for threats like missiles, aircraft and space objects.

In 2006, Adm. Tim Keating, who commanded both NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command, said the government's best intelligence 'led them to believe a missile attack from China or Russia was very unlikely.'

  

 

 

Cold War heroes: The Cheyenne mountain bunker is a half-acre cavern carved into a mountain in the 1960s that was designed to withstand a Soviet nuclear attack

That, along with the emergence of varied terrorist threats such as suicide bombers, 'was why we recommended that we don't need to maintain Cheyenne Mountain in a 24/7 status. We can put it on `warm standby,' said Keating.

About 1,100 people work in the mountain, long a symbol of the Cold War. Buildings inside it are mounted on springs to absorb the shock from a nuclear blast, while the entrance is guarded by a vault-like door several feet thick.

The complex includes banks of batteries and its own water supply. Excavation on the site began in 1961.

Canadian crews stationed at Cheyenne Mountain will also made the move to Peterson, Keating said. 

  

Hollywood: Sci-fi movie Stargate (1994) was set inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex while 1983's War Games also imagine a nuclear standoff operated from inside the nuclear bunker.

That move was touted a more efficient use of resources but had followed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of modernization work at Cheyenne carried out after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Now the Pentagon is looking at shifting communications gear to the Cheyenne bunker, officials said.

'A lot of the back office communications is being moved there,' said one defense official.

Officials said the military's dependence on computer networks and digital communications makes it much more vulnerable to an electromagnetic pulse, which can occur naturally or result from a high-altitude nuclear explosion.

Under the 10-year contract, Raytheon is supposed to deliver 'sustainment' services to help the military perform 'accurate, timely and unambiguous warning and attack assessment of air, missile and space threats' at the Cheyenne and Petersen bases.

Raytheon's contract also involves unspecified work at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3031041/Why-military-moving-Stargate-base-deep-Rocky-Mountains-decade-abandoned.html

 

 

Live Affidavit to: Common Law Citizen’s Grand Jury HQ and John Daresh

Live Affidavit to: Common Law Citizen’s Grand Jury HQ and John Daresh

Posted on August 22, 2015 by arnierosner

On Aug 21, 2015, at 11:51 PM, Anna von Reitz <avannavon@gmail.com> wrote:

Moving on we are diligently processing all the Notice functions and court work…..

Please find the copy of the letter accompanying the live affidavit being sent to the Common Law Citizen’s Grand Jury HQ and John Daresh.

Herein I explain one of the things that seems to be befuddling so many people about the Citizen’s Common Law Grand Jury Movement and why it can’t seem to gain traction despite all the brave words.

It’s really very simple. To enforce the presentments and indictments of a Common Law Grand Jury you need the rest of an apparatus of a Common Law Court System — Common Law Judges, Trial Juries, Sheriffs on the Land, Bailiffs, Clerks…..

This seems stupidly obvious when I say it out loud, but apparently the necessity of rebuilding on the Justices of the Peace at the County level and upon the very, very few State Common Law Judges that are operating Common Law Courts and the even fewer Federal Postal Judges—- has not yet occurred to everyone.

From the Desk of Judge Anna Maria Riezinger

c/o Post Office Box 520994

Big Lake, Alaska 99652

Via U.S. Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested

7012 3460 0003 4344 9927

August 21, 2015

Mr. John Daresh

United United States Common Law Grand Jury

In Care of: P.O. Box 59

Valhalla, New York 10595

RE: American Affidavit

Dear Sir:

We attempted to deliver this published and bound Affidavit of Probable Cause to your Alaska Grand Jury Membership, but it was returned to us unopened and for unstated reasons.   We are therefore forwarding it to the National Headquarters.

This is a “live” Affidavit of Probable Cause containing original wet-ink signatures and individual seals of the living men and women and their organic states of the union.

As we have been watching your activities unfold we realize that you are laboring under some of the same misinformation that has been so much a part of the development of the present circumstance.

Please carefully read and examine the evidence and history presented by our affidavit. This will shed considerable light on the overall circumstance.

The Citizen’s Common Law Grand Jury stands as a lynch pin between two (2) completely separate Court Systems—- (1) the Continental Court System operating the land jurisdiction of the United States and the Several States on the Land which has existed for over 400 years and which is competent to render judgments under Article VII of The Constitution for the united States of America, and (2) the Federal Court System which came into being in 1789-90 and which operates the District and Federal “State of State” franchises we are familiar with.

The Citizen’s Common Law Jury is enabled to present charges against American State Citizens and Non-Citizen Nationals and indictments against United States Citizens.   Both.

The problem is that the Continental Court System has been left in disrepair and virtually abandoned, so that it appears that the only venue is the Federal Court System. And the Federal Court System operates exclusively in international and commercial and other foreign venues. Since 1938 there hasn’t been a federal Common Law Court of any kind at any level — which means that if we want to operate under Common Law we have to provide an entire Common Law System for ourselves—not just a Citizen’s Grand Jury, which is only a part — about one-fourth— of a Common Law Court.

To exercise the true power of the Citizen’s Common Law Grand Jury Americans have to rebuild the Continental Court System and restore our own standing as inhabitants of the land jurisdiction of the Continental United States.   This does not imply destroying the Federal Court System. It isn’t “either/or”—-but in order to work properly, our system of government requires that both court systems function and function well.

The essence of this dilemma is found in Erie Railroad v. Thompkins (1938) which determined that there is no general Federal Common Law. This means that for all practical purposes the Federal Court System including the Federal “State of State” and “County of” courts ceased functioning under Common Law and were forced to operate exclusively in the foreign and international jurisdictions of the Sea.

You have to call public meetings and elect people to office to staff the Continental Courts and start the process on a volunteer basis.   Our first meeting here in Alaska was held in my living room. The Alaska State Superior Court is one of only a handful of Common Law Courts operating in America. There need to be Common Law Courts re-established in every county and every State and at the national level, too.

The members of NLA and the Common Law Grand Jury Movement can form the core group needed to reboot the Continental Court System and bring justice back to America. It is only by our own efforts that this vital work can be done.

An important part of this process is coming to terms with your own status and standing.

In the absence of clear public declarations and evidence otherwise, everyone is presumed to be Federal United States Citizens. This is a completely different and foreign status than that of American State Citizens— which is what you think you are. You have unwittingly become subject to hidden contracts that have been exercised against us by foreign commercial interests and unscrupulous members of the American Bar Association.

To function honorably as members of the Citizens Grand Jury and as Judges, Sheriffs, and Officers of the Common Law Continental Court System as a whole, we must each take action to declare our status as American State Citizens and should also take action in the corporate “County of” probate courts to correct the civil records.

We are each protected in doing this by the Universal Right of Self-Declaration guaranteed by the United Nations and by the actual Constitution for the united States of America and by the Geneva Conventional Protocols of 1949. Exactly how and why this is true is discussed in the body of the accompanying affidavit.

Although this appears to be a comic book and is written at the 6^th grade level for much of its content, you will find that the subject matter is very serious indeed. It outlines the important facts and motive forces of the past 700 years and incorporates them as the probable cause for both criminal and commercial complaints in behalf of the living people inhabiting much of the world and in particular the Several States.

Although I appear as one of the authors I do not appear in any judicial capacity. This is a private affidavit published on the public record for the cognizance of all Americans and all people worldwide who value the principles of freedom and their own Natural and Unalienable rights.

We hope that the NLA and Citizens Grand Juries will begin a serious re-appraisal of the situation and renew their efforts to educate everyone concerned.   We also hope that upon serious reflection you will see the necessity of rebuilding the Continental Court System as a whole to establish the only court system that is competent under Article VII to hear cases involving actual people and actual assets of the land jurisdiction.

If you find the information presented compelling, you are further invited to begin deliberation. Several international courts of record are already involved, but under the circumstance, it would be appropriate for the Citizens Grand Jury to be advised and enabled.

Sincerely,

Anna -Maria

http://scannedretina.com/2015/08/22/live-affidavit-to-common-law-citizens-grand-jury-hq-and-john-daresh/

48-hour deadline: Korea about to explode?

48-hour deadline: Korea about to explode?

Pyongyang warns of military action if psychological operations continue

Published: 1 day ago

F. Michael Maloof

 

WASHINGTON – Communist North Korea is threatening a military response to South Korea’s psychological warfare broadcasts across the Demilitarized Zone as the U.S. military conducts joint exercises with its ally. A Defense Department source who requested anonymity told WND that preparations are being made to evacuate non-combat U.S. military personnel and other citizens from South Korea. About 28,500 American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are stationed in South Korea. The South Korean capital, Seoul, is less than 30 miles from the heavily fortified DMZ.

Pyongyang has given South Korea a deadline of Saturday at 5 p.m. local time (4 a.m. Eastern Time) to stop sending the messages via loudspeaker across the DMZ, warning of “surprise operations” along the border.
Tensions between the two countries on the Korean Peninsula escalated after a landmine went off Aug. 4 on the South Korean side of the DMZ, wounding two soldiers. North Korea has denied responsibility and refused South Korean demands for an apology.
In response, Seoul resumed cross-border broadcasts via loudspeaker for the first time in more than a decade. Pyongyang declared it regarded the broadcasts as a declaration of war.
South Korean officials said Thursday that North Korea fired artillery shells over the DMZ and South Korea fired back several dozen shells of its own. No casualties were reported by either side. The U.S. had suspended military exercises with South Korea this week then resumed them after North Korea fired across the border, Assistant Secretary of Defense David Shear told reporters Friday.
Now, North Korea is warning that unless South Korea “stops psychological broadcasting towards the north and dismantles all means for psychological warfare within 48 hours, the KPA (Korean People’s Army) will launch a strong military action.”
The statement issued by North Korea’s state Korean Central News Agency, KCNA, said Pyonyang was prepared to fire on the loudspeakers.
“Commanders were appointed and dispatched to the relevant sectors of the front to command military actions in the areas to destroy means for psychological warfare unless the enemies stop the psychological broadcasting within 48 hours,” the KCNA report said.

Missile deployment detected

Meanwhile, North Korea is preparing to conduct short-to-medium range missile launches, a South Korean source has told South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
The source said the information came from radar-detection systems operated jointly by South Korean and U.S. military forces.
In addition, South Korean media is citing intelligence reports that the North Korean army is moving artillery units toward the border.
Daniel Pinkston, North East Asia deputy project director of the International Crisis Group, told the website NKNews.org that the public nature and specificity of Pyongyang’s ultimatum puts Seoul in a difficult position.
He noted North Korean leader Kim Jung-un reportedly conducted a meeting of his Central Military Commission, the CMC, on Thursday night.
“We don’t have the minutes from last night’s CMC meeting, but the question is: Did they discuss and plan and point whereby the KPA would back down? Or do they plan to carry out the threat of punishment?” said Pinkston.
“If the former, they can back down without serious domestic audience costs, because the regime is not accountable to the public. If the latter, this sets up a commitment trap for the leadership because not carrying out the threat can be perceived as weakness internally by the coalition – especially the KPA and the internal security service,” Pinkston said.
John Grisaff, director of intelligence for NKNews.org, said in his publication’s report that actual preparations for war would include the mobilization of large armored and mechanized units of the KPA, which hasn’t been reported.
“The movement of long-range artillery, however, should still be considered a potential threat as this puts more such weapons within range of Seoul and closer to other targets in general,” he said.

Japan threatened?

Amid the growing confrontation are unconfirmed reports of demonstrations of military power by North Korea that are far more serious than artillery fire.
A Defense Department source told WND that such speculation includes that North Korea may already have shot Nodong and SCUD missiles not only at facilities south of Seoul but also over Japan, with Japanese defense forces shooting them down.
The source said Japan “is mobilizing forces now, but nobody has said anything about deployment.”
He said that the last time North Korea shot a missile, while only a test, it prompted Japan to “come very close to scrapping their constitution,” which allows them to act only in self-defense, and go on the offensive against North Korea.
South Korean sources confirm to WND that military units in North Korea have been placed in a “wartime state.”
North Korea’s Korea Central News Agency has warned that the peninsula is “inching close to the brink of war” due to what it said were “reckless provocations” by South Korea.
Norwegian film director Morten Traavik, who currently is in Pyongyang, told NKNews.org that despite what he termed “rhetoric,” there was little sign of tension in the capital.
“The mood in Pyongyang, just like I suppose it is down south in Seoul, is completely normal,” he said. “People going about their business, cicadas chirping in the trees and the occasional propaganda mobile blaring patriotic songs; but that’s daily fare here anyway.
“Of course, people are fully aware of the current situation … but the (people) I’ve talked to say that they’re ready for whatever happens.”

Click here for reuse options!

Copyright 2015 WND

http://www.wnd.com/2015/08/north-korea-threatens-seoul-with-deadline/

The Death Of Petrodollar Is Near

The Death Of Petrodollar Is Near, Prepare For The Collapse: “V” The Guerrilla Economist (party)

 

FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT HAVE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION THIS IS A TUNE UP.... FOR THOSE OF YOU WAKING UP, IT IS AN EYE OPENING... THE GUY IS SPOT ON , BUT LEAVES THE FACTS OUT REGARDING THAT WE ARE GOING TO A FREE ENERGY WORLD AND OIL WILL BE LESS AND LESS NEEDED OR USED...

FOR THE REST OF YOU WANTING TO STAY STUCK IN THEIR WORLD AND SAY B.S., CONSPIRACY THEORY ETC.... YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE HIT BY A STEAM ENGINE....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmiGKwybnrA

65 countries have erected fences on their borders

  

65  COUNTRIES  HAVE  ERECTED  FENCES  ON  THEIR  BORDERS

World of walls: How 65 countries have erected fences on their borders – four times as many as when the Berlin Wall was toppled – as governments try to hold back the tide of migrants

• Security fears and a widespread refusal to help refugees have fuelled a new spate of wall-building around the world
• A third of the world's countries have completed or are building barriers – compared to 16 at the fall of the Berlin Wall
• They include Israel's 'apartheid wall', India's 2,500-mile fence around Bangladesh and Morocco's huge sand 'berm'
• Experts are dismissive, saying: 'Their main function is theatre. They provide the sense of security, not real security'

By Simon Tomlinson for MailOnline

Published: 13:56 EST, 21 August 2015 | Updated: 02:55 EST, 22 August 2015 

Globalisation was supposed to tear down barriers, but security fears and a widespread refusal to help migrants and refugees have fuelled a new spate of wall-building across the world, with a third of the world's countries constructing them along their borders. 

When the Berlin Wall was torn down a quarter-century ago, there were 16 border fences around the world. 

Today, there are 65 either completed or under construction, according to Quebec University expert Elisabeth Vallet.

Blocked: There are 65 countries either building walls, or which are already have them - including in Belfast, where they are called 'peace lines', as well as numerous in the Middle East, where countries are trying to protect themselves from the risk of terrorism

Symbol of aggression: Palestinians climb over a section of Israel's separation wall near Qalandia checkpoint between Ramallah to enter Jerusalem for Friday prayer in the al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site, during the holy month of Ramadan last month

Effective?: Migrants claim to the top of the fence which runs along the border of Morocco and the North African Spanish enclave of Melilla

Tearing it down: But more than 25 years since the iconic Berlin Wall, which separated east from west Germany, came down, the effectiveness of these walls as little more than a symbol is being questioned

From Israel's separation barrier (or 'apartheid wall' as it is known by the Palestinians), to the 2,500-mile barbed-wire fence India is building around Bangladesh, to the enormous sand 'berm' that separates Morocco from rebel-held parts of the Western Sahara – walls and fences are ever-more popular with politicians wanting to look tough on migration and security.

US presidential hopeful Donald Trump has made plans for a wall along the border with Mexico – to keep out what he called 'criminals, drug dealers, rapists' – central to his inflammatory campaign.

Yet experts say there is little proof of their effectiveness in stopping people crossing borders. 

In July, Hungary's right-wing government began building a four-metre-high (13 feet) fence along its border with Serbia to stanch the flow of refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

'We have only recently taken down walls in Europe; we should not be putting them up,' was one EU spokesperson's exasperated response.

Three other countries – Kenya, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – are all constructing border fences in a bid to keep out jihadist groups next door in Somalia, Iraq and Syria.

Seven miles of barrier have already been erected along the border at Reyhanli town in Hatay province - a main point for smuggling and border-crossing from Syria - the private Dogan news agency said. 

The fence in Turkey will eventually stretch for 28 miles along a key stretch of its border with Syria. 

But the Turkish wall pales into insignificance when compared to the multi-layered fence which will one day stretch 600 miles from Jordan to Kuwait along Saudi's border with Iraq - a line of defence against ISIS.

Migrants storm border fence

Panic measures: A Hungarian soldier stands next to the first portion of a temporary fence the Hungarian military is erecting on its border to Serbia in an effort to keep out refugees. The country has become one of the main crossing points, especially for refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, who arrive via Greece and travel through Serbia and Hungary on their way to countries in northern Europe

Undeterred: Migrants and refugees are still trying to cross into Hungary, trying to keep ahead of the fence building

Human barrier: Today Macedonia decided to block the border with Greece, placing wire on the ground and sending riot police to prevent people crossing into their country - making the world's newest, and most hastily built, wall

                                                 Migrants fight and crush in to police lines

But in spite of the aggressive symbolism, it is not clear that walls are truly effective.

'The one thing all these walls have in common is that their main function is theatre,' said Marcello Di Cintio, author of 'Walls: Travels Along the Barricades'.

'You can't dismiss that illusion, it's important to people, but they provide the sense of security, not real security.'

The limits of their effectiveness are visible everywhere - not least, with the migrants and refugees sitting on top of the fence along the border with Morocco and the small Spanish enclave of Mellila, on the North African coast.

Even the fearsome Berlin Wall with its trigger-happy sentries still leaked thousands of refugees even in its most forbidding years.

Supporters of walls say a few leaks are better than a flood. But, Di Cintio argues we must also consider the psychological price they exact.

                   Drug smugglers cross border in to the USA simply by jacking up the fence

 

Creating tensions: A young man walks next to the border fence between Mexico and the United States. Controversial presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he will build a wall to keep out 'rapists and drug runners' across the length of the border

Stuck: The existing fence along the U.S. - Mexican border has failed to stop the flow of drugs into North America, as the cartels have money to get their wares across the line in other ways. Experts say mainly the impoverished are trapped by these walls

Response: Ukrainian border guards patrol along the on the Senkivka border post, around 125 miles north of the capital Kiev. Dubbed the 'Wall', the ambitious project to seal up Ukraine's porous 1,200-mile frontier with Russia was announced in March 2014 after Moscow seized the Crimea peninsula from Kiev and has since supported separatists in their land-grab offensives in the east of the country

Divide: Along the Moroccan border with Western Sahara is a sand wall called the 'Berm', which is surrounded by mines to stop the Polisario Front fighters crossing. It is second in length only to the Great Wall of China, and has kept families separated for decades

He cites the Native American Tohono O'odham tribe, whose elders started to die off in apparent grief when the Mexican border fence cut them off from their ceremonial sites.

Their story carries shades of the 'wall disease' diagnosed by Berlin psychologist Dietfried Muller-Hegemann in the 1970s after he found heightened levels of depression, alcoholism and domestic abuse among those living in the shadow of the barricade.

Di Cintio also talked to Bangladeshi farmers suddenly cut off from their neighbours when India erected the simple barbed-wire fence between them in the last decade. 

Within a few months, he said, they had started expressing distrust and dislike for 'those people' on the other side.

'I was struck every time at how a structure so simple as a wall or fence can have these profound psychological effects,' says Di Cintio. 

At a localised level, a wall offers more security than no wall.

But they do little to address the roots of insecurity and migration – global asylum applications and terrorist attacks have risen hugely despite the flurry of wall-building. 

Rather, they just force groups to adapt.

They are mostly effective against the poorest and most desperate, says Reece Jones, a University of Hawaii professor and author of 'Border Walls: Security and the War on Terror in the United States, India and Israel'.

'Well-funded drug cartels and terrorist groups are not affected by walls at all because they have the resources to enter by safer methods, most likely using fake documents,' he said.

Problems: A villager walks past a new barbed-wire fences that has come up in his area on the Jaffna peninsula. Sri Lanka's army this year began returning land it has occupied since the end of a decades-long separatist conflict to its original owners in the Tamil heartland of Jaffna. But the process has created new boundaries that have split communities -- and even individual homes -- creating fresh resentment

Anger: The wall separates many in Israel from the most holy sites in Islam, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem

Reminder: The wall marking the boundary of the United Nations buffer zone, seen from the Greek Cypriot-controlled area of central Nicosia. Cyprus is split by the buffer zone east to west, with ethnic Greeks living in the south and Turks in the north

The eerie scenes inside the UN's buffer zone - Cyprus

Shutting down border crossings only 'funnels immigrants to more dangerous routes through the deserts of the US southwest or on rickety boats across the Mediterranean. 

'The substantial increase in deaths at borders is the predictable result,' said Jones.

More than 40,000 people have died trying to migrate since 2000, the International Organisation for Migration said last year.

Real border control comes only through the slow, exhaustive work of building ties and sharing information with other countries, says Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, from Canada's University of Victoria.

'But with the intense flows of people we see today, walls are perhaps necessary for politicians.

'They tap into old myths about what borders should be – the line in the sand – which humans relate to,' he said.

'It's a lot more difficult for people to accept that diplomatic cooperation and sharing databases are much more effective in the long term.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3205724/How-65-countries-erected-security-walls-borders.html

PANIC ON WALL STREET: FEARS OF GLOBAL SLOWDOWN

 

PANIC ON WALL STREET:  US STOCKS SUFFER THEIR WORST WEEK SINCE 2011 AMID FEARS OF GLOBAL SLOWDOWN 

 

• The S&P 500 suffered its biggest daily percentage drop in nearly four years
• Fears of a China-led global slowdown continues to rattle investors
• The Dow plummeted 531 points, concluding its worst week since 2011  

By Associated Press Reporter

Published: 15:19 EST, 21 August 2015 | Updated: 17:58 EST, 21 August 2015

The Dow Jones industrial average has plunged more than 530 points and is in a correction amid a global sell-off sparked by fears about China's slowing economy. 

Oil tumbled below $40 per barrel for the first time since the financial crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell to 16,459.75, and ended down 3.1 percent on Friday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 64.84 points, or 3.2 percent, to 1,970.89. The Nasdaq slid 171.45 points, or 3.5 percent, to 4,706.04. 

The selling began in Asia, then spread to Europe, with major indexes there losing more than 2 percent. Gold, a traditional haven for fearful investors, rose for a second day.

Markets began falling last week after China announced a surprise devaluation of its currency, the yuan. 

Investors interpreted the move as a sign the slowdown in the world's No. 2 economy could be more extreme that they had thought. 

On Friday, they got more bad news: A survey showed the manufacturing sector on the mainland continues to contract.

Investors are also worried about more turmoil in Greece after the resignation of its prime minister.

 Socres on the doors: A screen above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the closing numbers. The Dow Jones industrial average fell to 16,459.75, and ended down 3.1 percent on Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 64.84 points, or 3.2 percent, to 1,970.89

 

A searing six-year rally in United States stocks had advanced into the summer months, shrugging off challenges like the dispute over Greece's debt, but in the last two weeks, world markets tumbled as investors grew increasingly concerned about developments in China, which unexpectedly devalued its currency last week, and the outlook for the economies of other large developing countries.

As the selling gathered steam Friday afternoon, some benchmark indexes were at or near 10 percent below their recent peaks — a 'correction' in Wall Street speak.

The Dow fell into correction mode, down 10% from its most recent high point on May 19.

The S&P 500 was also down 5.7% for the week, its worst weekly performance since 2011, while the Nasdaq fell 6.8%, also in correction territory.

Overseas stock markets' losses just as bad, if not worse, with some indexes in China and the U.K. stock market all now in correction.

          The worry: 'Investors are wondering if growth isn't coming from the U.S. 

             or China, where is it going to come from?' said Tim Courtney, 

           CIO of Exencial Wealth Advisors. 'This is about growth'

The latest red flag came Friday morning from China. The government reported that its manufacturing activity -- a key sign of economic performance -- hit a six-year low in July.

After the government devalued its currency last week, Wall Street has become extra worried about the China slowdown.

Although Chinese officials say the economy grew 7% earlier this year, many experts wonder if it's worse.

'There's nobody that really believes that China is growing at 7%,' said Tim Anderson, managing director at MND Partners in New York told CNN Money. 

'They're afraid to say to what degree their economy has really slowed down.' 

Crude oil prices also fell below the key $40 a barrel level. A year ago a barrel of oil was about $100.

Oil is a lifeline of economic growth for many developing countries, which are also seeing their currencies lose value because of their economic exposure to China.

Brazil's currency, the real, has fallen 9% against the dollar in just the past 4 weeks. Colombia, Chile, Vietnam and Indonesia have also seen significant currency drops against the dollar.

Read more: 

• Dow plunges 531 points - Aug. 21, 2015

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3206508/Panic-Wall-Street-stock-suffer-worst-week-2011-amid-fears-global-slowdown.html#ixzz3jYTdT5YI

By manipulating its search results, Google could decide the next election

BY MANIPULATING ITS SEARCH RESULTS, GOOGLE COULD DECIDE THE NEXT 'ELECTION'

YOU MEAN OVERRIDE GEORGE SOROS' BOUGHT AND RUN 'VOTE COUNTER' MACHINES?! NAH!  NEVER!!! MAYBE NEVER? MAYBE?

What the heck is Alphabet?

The world's most-used search engine is so powerful and national elections are so tight, that even a tiny tweak in Google's (GOOGL, Tech30) secret algorithm could swing the 2016 presidential election, according to Robert Epstein, senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technolo

In an op-ed on Politico.com, Epstein said that he and a team of researchers studied behavior in undecided voters who had been exposed to rigged search results. By displaying results that shone a more favorable light on a particular candidate the researchers could shift opinion towards that favored candidate.

The study boosted a candidate's favorability rating by between 37% and 63% after just one 15-minute search session. The five double-blind, randomized studies included 4,500 undecided voters in the United States and India. 

A Google spokeswoman said that the company's algorithm is designed to provide "relevant answers," and rigging them to favor one view over another "would undermine the people's trust in our results and company." 

Epstein said Google's response was "meaningless."
"How does providing 'relevant answers' to election-related questions rule out the possibility of favoring one candidate over another in search rankings? Epstein wrote in his op-ed. "Google's statement seems far short of a blanket denial that it ever puts its finger on the scales." 

The research suggested that swinging an election was "well within Google's control," considering that President Obama won the 2012 election by just 3.9% and the 2016 polling is similarly too close to call. 

Though Epstein falls short of saying that Google would rig an election, he points to historical precedent suggesting that Google wouldn't be alone if it tried. 

Epstein pointed to Western Union's attempt to swing the 1876 presidential election towards its favored candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes. The election was the closest in U.S. history, and Western Union used its telegraph network monopoly and exclusive carriage contract with the Associated Press to ensure that only positive stories about Hayes made it on the wire. Hayes ultimately won by a hair. 

On average, Google adjusts its algorithm more than once a day. Epstein said it's possible that even if the Alphabet triumvirate of Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt didn't get directly involved in tipping the scales on an election, a rogue employee could tweak the code without the leaders' knowledge. 

"Google could easily be flipping elections worldwide as you read this," Epstein said. 

http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/20/technology/google-2016-election/index.html?iid=obnetwork

California sinking faster than ever

2 INCHES A MONTH: CALIFORNIA SINKING FASTER THAN EVER - INFRASTRUCTURE IN DANGER 

Published time: 20 Aug, 2015 15:25

The rate at which land across vast areas of California are sinking due to overconsumption of groundwater is higher than ever, with some places subsiding two inches a month, a new NASA report says. It comes as the state’s farmers pump water faster amid the historic drought. 

While California has been sinking for decades, the current rate is among the highest ever measured around the world. The alarming findings of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab are based on satellite and aerial photos and measurements of land subsidence in the state.

An area near Corcoran, in the Tulare basin, sank 13 inches in one recent eight-month period, according to the study conducted for the State Department of Water Resources. A stretch near the California Aqueduct, a key leg of the state canal and pipeline system that brings freshwater from the Sierra Nevada Mountains, sank 8 inches in just four months last year.

 California drought causing valley land to sink. 

Info: http://go.nasa.gov/1J5ngCO  #EarthRightNow #CAdrought

The problem is not limited to the San Joaquin Valley, the most arid part of the Central Valley of California. Land near Arbuckle in Colusa County sank five inches during the last half of 2014, the NASA report said.

Heavy pumping of groundwater causes clay between water pockets to collapse and ground to sink. This may damage critical infrastructure and also makes it harder for groundwater reservoirs to replenish. It may also hinder water from flowing through its natural underground pathways.

“Roads can be broken by fissures, pipelines have been exhumed, and the slope of the land can be altered, changing drainage patterns,” the NASA report warns.
Groundwater consumption remains at a historic high amid the drought, while its levels are dropping to record lows of up to 100 feet below previous measurements, says Mark Cowin, head of the California Department of Water Resources.

     Californians opting for 'gray water' recycling amid drought - report http://on.rt.com/g0nq2y 

“We are pumping at historic levels,” Cowin said in a statement cited by AP. “Groundwater acts as a savings account to provide supplies during drought, but the NASA report shows the consequences of excessive withdrawals as we head into the fifth year of historic drought.”
 
“We will work together with counties, local water districts and affected communities to identify ways to slow the rate of subsidence and protect vital infrastructure such as canals, pumping stations, bridges and wells.”

California, a major farming state, has been reluctant to regulate groundwater pumping until Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill last year ordering local jurisdictions to draw up rules. Most areas have until 2020 to comply, with some able to postpone it till 2022.

“I don't think we can end overdraft or subsidence overnight," the governor said. "We do need to take action."

http://www.rt.com/usa/312944-california-sinking-nasa-report/