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september 17, 2014
When War Erupts Patriots Will Be Accused Of Aiding “The Enemy”
This article has been contributed by Brandon Smith of Alt Market.
In modern times, war is never what it seems. Mainstream historians preach endlessly about grand conflicts over territory, resources, political impasse, and revenge, but the cold hard reality is that all of these “motivations” are actually secondary, if they are relevant at all. As I and many analysts have covered in great detail in the past, most wars are engineered wars. International elites have long seen advantages in pitting two seemingly opposed societies or ideologies against each other while playing both sides of the chessboard to direct events towards a predetermined and desired outcome. This is undeniable historical fact. If you really want to understand the past, or the intricacies of war, you will be lost unless you accept that most conflicts are designed; they are not random or natural.
They are not extensions of man’s mere greed or ignorance. They are not products of resource scarcity (a common and overly simplistic misconception used to mislead activists). They are not inevitable developments of “overcomplexity” according to the Rand Corporation’s “linchpin theory”propaganda. They are not the product of too much national sovereignty or individual liberty. No; traditional war is a tool for the organized ruling class. It always has been and always will be. This tool is used to turn the world into a vast petri dish, a bubbling beaker in a laboratory where social engineers hope to destroy the “old” to create something “new”.
At its most paramount of purposes, the despair and terror of war is intended to change the fundamental collective unconscious of nations and populations. It is meant to change our beliefs, our morals, our principles. It is meant to mutate us into something else, something malleable and terrible, something we would not normally recognize.
As we continue into the latter quarter of 2014, exactly 100 years after the first world war, I see much evidence to suggest we are headed for yet another engineered conflagration. It may be a war of terrorism and attrition between the U.S. and ISIS (an insurgency funded and trained by Western covert agencies). It may be a war of economic escalation between the West and the East (even though Russia is just as much a pawn of international banks like Goldman Sachs as any country in the West). Or, we may see all out global holocaust depending on the level of desperation and insecurity amongst the elites. What each liberty movement proponent, constitutionalist, and freedom fighter around the world needs to understand is that while we will be told that the enemy is Muslim extremism, or Russian aggression, or eastern economic subversion, the real target will be YOU.
The advantages of war at this time would be immense to the globalist establishment, but the primary function will be the ability to co-opt, demonize, and/or wipe out legitimate opposition during the fog and confusion. If you have ever noticed that each consecutive presidential administration seems progressively more hell-bent than the last to sabotage our infrastructure and push us towards endless confrontation, you might want to ponder the possibility that the New World Order does not end with the fall of the American empire – it BEGINS with the fall of the American empire.
Imagine a war in which a tangible and immediate threat is presented against the U.S. Not a CNN covered carpet bombing campaign in some poverty stricken hole on the other side of the world, but a real war right on our very own doorstep. Now, consider how this would psychologically affect the general public, and twist the principles of the average person. Imagine the kinds of morally relative impasses people would be willing to accept when they are truly afraid. Imagine what they would sacrifice to quell that fear. Imagine who they would sacrifice.
In such an environment, the concepts of free speech and personal dissent are rarely respected.
In war, dissent is often labeled treason, and free speech is labeled a peacetime privilege. The truth becomes a nuisance, or even a threat to the endurance of the state and by extension the collective. The same argument always arises – the argument that the survival of the group outweighs any disagreement the individual may have with the objectives of the group’s leadership. In turn, calls for “unification” reach a religious fervor, regardless of whose benefit this unification ultimately serves.
In the meantime, those who were tolerated as activists now become enemies of the state simply for doing what they have always done. The propaganda is already being put in place to assure the liberty movement is caught in the crossfire between the East and West.
For years I have been warning readers about the false East/West paradigm and the directed build up to conflict with Russia and China with the goal of creating a rational historical narrative by which the dollar could be supplanted as the world reserve currency to make way for a long planned basket currency system under the control of the IMF and the Bank of International Settlements. During the crisis, Americans blame the East for the implosion of the dollar system rather than international and central bankers (the true culprits), and chaos ensues as the masses turn on each other while the elites sit back in relative comfort, letting us destroy each other.
Another aspect of this plan, I believe, involves the hijacking of the image of the liberty movement. The liberty movement is essentially the most dangerous unknown element on the elite’s global chessboard. In fact, because we understand that international financiers and central bankers are the real enemy, we have the ability to leave the chessboard entirely and play by our own rules. Widespread economic or military conflict provides an opportunity to neutralize liberty activists who might turn revolutionary.
Recently, I came across an article from ‘The Atlantic’ titled ‘Russia And The Menace Of Unreality’. Now, some alternative analysts would read this article and immediately shrug it off as yet another attempt by the Western media machine to propagandize against Russia. Though their motivations are genuine, these analysts would be cementing the delusion that Russia is the “good guy” and the U.S. is the ever present “bad guy”. The Atlantic piece is a far more intricate manipulation than they would be giving credit for.
In the past I have pointed out that Russian government funded media outlet RT in particular is in fact an ingenious psy-op, not only run by the Russian government as The Atlantic asserts, but influenced by the globalist establishment. It is effective mainly because most of what it reports is absolutely true. What it does NOT report is where we must focus. This might be confusing unless you grasp how false paradigms work. The conflict dynamic between the U.S. and Russia is no more real than the conflict dynamic between Democrats and Republicans. If you understand that this time around, America is scripted to lose its pro-wrestling match with Russia, everything else comes into focus. As far as RT is concerned, here’s the problem:
1) First, RT is relentless in its coverage of corruption within Western governments, but rarely if ever reports anything negative on the Russian establishment. I’m sorry, but Russia’s economic policy is dominated by central bankers who are advised directly by Goldman Sachs and who are avid members of the IMF and the BIS. The RDIF (Russian Direct Investment Fund), manages billions in investments in Russia, works closely with Goldman Sachs, and the managing director of this institution is former IMF head and SDR advocate Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Vladimir Putin has openly called for the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights basket currency to replace the dollar, demanded that Ukraine take loans from the IMF denominated in SDR’s, and has a long time friendship with Mr. NWO himself, Henry Kissinger. The only “conflict” Russia has expressed with the globalists at the IMF is that it wishes to be more fully included in the SDR basket system, which has been the planned intention of the IMF anyway. All of this, and RT doesn’t have any hard questions about the loyalties of its own government?
2) Second, the fact based reporting of RT, at least when it comes to the Western side of the globalist establishment, mimics the alternative journalism growing in popularity in the the U.S. At bottom, RT is a newcomer to the world of independent news analysis, but it is ultimately NOT independent, and most of what they do amounts to little more than regurgitated content from more original and insightful Western independent media sources. The Atlantic article above, very cleverly, makes it sound as if it is we witless writers in America who are getting all our info and inspiration from RT. And this is where we begin to see the true nature of the psy-op…
3) Third, because RT mimics our independent media so well, it appeals greatly to a large percentage of liberty movement activists, who tend to forget or are simply unaware that Russia is as much a part of the problem as our own government. There are many liberty proponents who will angrily defend Russia and RT without question simply because RT “speaks their language”, so Russia must be on their side.
This was not as pressing an issue two years ago, when conflict with Russia was a ridiculous notion for many people. But today, conflict with Russia, at the very least on an economic scale, is an inevitability. If you read in full the linked Atlantic article, the narrative that is being constructed is clear – the establishment hopes to rewrite the history and image of the liberty movement by painting us as dupes radicalized by Russian propaganda, rather than being the originators of our own grassroots movement with our own philosophy and methodology. Through this, they take away our ownership of our own cause.
Also, by blindly supporting Russia or the Russian government without considering their participation in the globalist run crisis, liberty activists help reinforce the soon-to-be manufactured lie that we are nothing but puppets of the Putin regime. If we publicly question the intentions of the Russian government as much as we question our own government, we can help to defuse this lie before it can take hold.
How the mainstream views us or portrays us is not as important as how we view and present ourselves. If we become starry-eyed cheerleaders for Russia, we will lose our sovereign identity as a self motivated counter-movement to the NWO. If you believe like I do that a second American revolution is coming, identity means everything, and it should not be cast aside lightly. Mark my words, one day our activism will be deemed treason, and our rebellion will be marginalized as a servant satellite astro-turf movement organized by Russian interests.
We can’t prevent how they will label us, but we can make it clear now that we work for NO government, by refusing to disregard the trespasses of any government, even those who appear to support our position.
Tied closely to the Russian issue, the liberty movement also has the return of the “White Al-Qaeda” meme to look forward to. I have seen a tidal wave of mainstream news stories lately preaching the horrors of a white middle-class America secretly swarming to the Syrian border to join ISIS. The narrative is setting the stage for false flag terrorism, to be sure, but it is also injecting the theme that anyone who is anti-establishment could be a terrorist. Not an American bred “terrorist” with his own American-centric ideology fighting against what he sees as a despotic government, but a mercenary extremist desperate for any cause, latching onto the concept of Muslim caliphate because he is bewildered, angry, or insane.
In this way, the elites hope to kidnap the liberty culture’s identity, rewriting us into their theater not even as “misguided” freedom fighters, but rather, as pawns of a foreign cabal. Many people could be convinced to join a fight by Americans for Americans, no matter how the mainstream portrays our character. But, no one wants to join a group of traitors and sellouts fighting for theocratic Muslim monsters, or covert Russian agencies after the East is blamed for the collapse of the dollar. The complete erasing and rewriting of a movement’s identity through false association is advanced 4th generation warfare, and it can only be accomplished in the midst of overwhelming catastrophe. The masses have to be so afraid they begin to lose memory of what life was like before, let alone who stood for what cause.
The public is already quite familiar with the idea that governments buy revolutionaries and create rebellions, just as our government has done in Syria. Why wouldn’t they believe that the Liberty Movement’s rebellion is also actually bought and paid for by some outside enemy, rather than real Americans battling for real freedom?
This examination is not meant to undermine the positive accomplishments made so far by liberty advocates. We have come a long way. However, if we underestimate or oversimplify the task we have ahead of us, or the well calculated strategies of the internationalists, then we are destined to fall into the trap of becoming yet another element of another false paradigm ourselves, and we will lose. This is a war on all fronts; informational, emotional, intellectual, psychological, spiritual, and physical. It goes well beyond any war ever fought in generations past. If individuals and the activist movement at large do not have the insight and courage to commit fully to combat on every level, they should throw in their bug-out bags and give up now. If they do have the courage, then it is surely time to begin…
You can contact Brandon Smith at: [email protected]
In modern times, war is never what it seems. Mainstream historians preach endlessly about grand conflicts over territory, resources, political impasse, and revenge, but the cold hard reality is that all of these “motivations” are actually secondary, if they are relevant at all. As I and many analysts have covered in great detail in the past, most wars are engineered wars. International elites have long seen advantages in pitting two seemingly opposed societies or ideologies against each other while playing both sides of the chessboard to direct events towards a predetermined and desired outcome. This is undeniable historical fact. If you really want to understand the past, or the intricacies of war, you will be lost unless you accept that most conflicts are designed; they are not random or natural.
They are not extensions of man’s mere greed or ignorance. They are not products of resource scarcity (a common and overly simplistic misconception used to mislead activists). They are not inevitable developments of “overcomplexity” according to the Rand Corporation’s “linchpin theory”propaganda. They are not the product of too much national sovereignty or individual liberty. No; traditional war is a tool for the organized ruling class. It always has been and always will be. This tool is used to turn the world into a vast petri dish, a bubbling beaker in a laboratory where social engineers hope to destroy the “old” to create something “new”.
At its most paramount of purposes, the despair and terror of war is intended to change the fundamental collective unconscious of nations and populations. It is meant to change our beliefs, our morals, our principles. It is meant to mutate us into something else, something malleable and terrible, something we would not normally recognize.
As we continue into the latter quarter of 2014, exactly 100 years after the first world war, I see much evidence to suggest we are headed for yet another engineered conflagration. It may be a war of terrorism and attrition between the U.S. and ISIS (an insurgency funded and trained by Western covert agencies). It may be a war of economic escalation between the West and the East (even though Russia is just as much a pawn of international banks like Goldman Sachs as any country in the West). Or, we may see all out global holocaust depending on the level of desperation and insecurity amongst the elites. What each liberty movement proponent, constitutionalist, and freedom fighter around the world needs to understand is that while we will be told that the enemy is Muslim extremism, or Russian aggression, or eastern economic subversion, the real target will be YOU.
The advantages of war at this time would be immense to the globalist establishment, but the primary function will be the ability to co-opt, demonize, and/or wipe out legitimate opposition during the fog and confusion. If you have ever noticed that each consecutive presidential administration seems progressively more hell-bent than the last to sabotage our infrastructure and push us towards endless confrontation, you might want to ponder the possibility that the New World Order does not end with the fall of the American empire – it BEGINS with the fall of the American empire.
Imagine a war in which a tangible and immediate threat is presented against the U.S. Not a CNN covered carpet bombing campaign in some poverty stricken hole on the other side of the world, but a real war right on our very own doorstep. Now, consider how this would psychologically affect the general public, and twist the principles of the average person. Imagine the kinds of morally relative impasses people would be willing to accept when they are truly afraid. Imagine what they would sacrifice to quell that fear. Imagine who they would sacrifice.
In such an environment, the concepts of free speech and personal dissent are rarely respected.
In war, dissent is often labeled treason, and free speech is labeled a peacetime privilege. The truth becomes a nuisance, or even a threat to the endurance of the state and by extension the collective. The same argument always arises – the argument that the survival of the group outweighs any disagreement the individual may have with the objectives of the group’s leadership. In turn, calls for “unification” reach a religious fervor, regardless of whose benefit this unification ultimately serves.
In the meantime, those who were tolerated as activists now become enemies of the state simply for doing what they have always done. The propaganda is already being put in place to assure the liberty movement is caught in the crossfire between the East and West.
For years I have been warning readers about the false East/West paradigm and the directed build up to conflict with Russia and China with the goal of creating a rational historical narrative by which the dollar could be supplanted as the world reserve currency to make way for a long planned basket currency system under the control of the IMF and the Bank of International Settlements. During the crisis, Americans blame the East for the implosion of the dollar system rather than international and central bankers (the true culprits), and chaos ensues as the masses turn on each other while the elites sit back in relative comfort, letting us destroy each other.
Another aspect of this plan, I believe, involves the hijacking of the image of the liberty movement. The liberty movement is essentially the most dangerous unknown element on the elite’s global chessboard. In fact, because we understand that international financiers and central bankers are the real enemy, we have the ability to leave the chessboard entirely and play by our own rules. Widespread economic or military conflict provides an opportunity to neutralize liberty activists who might turn revolutionary.
Recently, I came across an article from ‘The Atlantic’ titled ‘Russia And The Menace Of Unreality’. Now, some alternative analysts would read this article and immediately shrug it off as yet another attempt by the Western media machine to propagandize against Russia. Though their motivations are genuine, these analysts would be cementing the delusion that Russia is the “good guy” and the U.S. is the ever present “bad guy”. The Atlantic piece is a far more intricate manipulation than they would be giving credit for.
In the past I have pointed out that Russian government funded media outlet RT in particular is in fact an ingenious psy-op, not only run by the Russian government as The Atlantic asserts, but influenced by the globalist establishment. It is effective mainly because most of what it reports is absolutely true. What it does NOT report is where we must focus. This might be confusing unless you grasp how false paradigms work. The conflict dynamic between the U.S. and Russia is no more real than the conflict dynamic between Democrats and Republicans. If you understand that this time around, America is scripted to lose its pro-wrestling match with Russia, everything else comes into focus. As far as RT is concerned, here’s the problem:
1) First, RT is relentless in its coverage of corruption within Western governments, but rarely if ever reports anything negative on the Russian establishment. I’m sorry, but Russia’s economic policy is dominated by central bankers who are advised directly by Goldman Sachs and who are avid members of the IMF and the BIS. The RDIF (Russian Direct Investment Fund), manages billions in investments in Russia, works closely with Goldman Sachs, and the managing director of this institution is former IMF head and SDR advocate Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Vladimir Putin has openly called for the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights basket currency to replace the dollar, demanded that Ukraine take loans from the IMF denominated in SDR’s, and has a long time friendship with Mr. NWO himself, Henry Kissinger. The only “conflict” Russia has expressed with the globalists at the IMF is that it wishes to be more fully included in the SDR basket system, which has been the planned intention of the IMF anyway. All of this, and RT doesn’t have any hard questions about the loyalties of its own government?
2) Second, the fact based reporting of RT, at least when it comes to the Western side of the globalist establishment, mimics the alternative journalism growing in popularity in the the U.S. At bottom, RT is a newcomer to the world of independent news analysis, but it is ultimately NOT independent, and most of what they do amounts to little more than regurgitated content from more original and insightful Western independent media sources. The Atlantic article above, very cleverly, makes it sound as if it is we witless writers in America who are getting all our info and inspiration from RT. And this is where we begin to see the true nature of the psy-op…
3) Third, because RT mimics our independent media so well, it appeals greatly to a large percentage of liberty movement activists, who tend to forget or are simply unaware that Russia is as much a part of the problem as our own government. There are many liberty proponents who will angrily defend Russia and RT without question simply because RT “speaks their language”, so Russia must be on their side.
This was not as pressing an issue two years ago, when conflict with Russia was a ridiculous notion for many people. But today, conflict with Russia, at the very least on an economic scale, is an inevitability. If you read in full the linked Atlantic article, the narrative that is being constructed is clear – the establishment hopes to rewrite the history and image of the liberty movement by painting us as dupes radicalized by Russian propaganda, rather than being the originators of our own grassroots movement with our own philosophy and methodology. Through this, they take away our ownership of our own cause.
Also, by blindly supporting Russia or the Russian government without considering their participation in the globalist run crisis, liberty activists help reinforce the soon-to-be manufactured lie that we are nothing but puppets of the Putin regime. If we publicly question the intentions of the Russian government as much as we question our own government, we can help to defuse this lie before it can take hold.
How the mainstream views us or portrays us is not as important as how we view and present ourselves. If we become starry-eyed cheerleaders for Russia, we will lose our sovereign identity as a self motivated counter-movement to the NWO. If you believe like I do that a second American revolution is coming, identity means everything, and it should not be cast aside lightly. Mark my words, one day our activism will be deemed treason, and our rebellion will be marginalized as a servant satellite astro-turf movement organized by Russian interests.
We can’t prevent how they will label us, but we can make it clear now that we work for NO government, by refusing to disregard the trespasses of any government, even those who appear to support our position.
Tied closely to the Russian issue, the liberty movement also has the return of the “White Al-Qaeda” meme to look forward to. I have seen a tidal wave of mainstream news stories lately preaching the horrors of a white middle-class America secretly swarming to the Syrian border to join ISIS. The narrative is setting the stage for false flag terrorism, to be sure, but it is also injecting the theme that anyone who is anti-establishment could be a terrorist. Not an American bred “terrorist” with his own American-centric ideology fighting against what he sees as a despotic government, but a mercenary extremist desperate for any cause, latching onto the concept of Muslim caliphate because he is bewildered, angry, or insane.
In this way, the elites hope to kidnap the liberty culture’s identity, rewriting us into their theater not even as “misguided” freedom fighters, but rather, as pawns of a foreign cabal. Many people could be convinced to join a fight by Americans for Americans, no matter how the mainstream portrays our character. But, no one wants to join a group of traitors and sellouts fighting for theocratic Muslim monsters, or covert Russian agencies after the East is blamed for the collapse of the dollar. The complete erasing and rewriting of a movement’s identity through false association is advanced 4th generation warfare, and it can only be accomplished in the midst of overwhelming catastrophe. The masses have to be so afraid they begin to lose memory of what life was like before, let alone who stood for what cause.
The public is already quite familiar with the idea that governments buy revolutionaries and create rebellions, just as our government has done in Syria. Why wouldn’t they believe that the Liberty Movement’s rebellion is also actually bought and paid for by some outside enemy, rather than real Americans battling for real freedom?
This examination is not meant to undermine the positive accomplishments made so far by liberty advocates. We have come a long way. However, if we underestimate or oversimplify the task we have ahead of us, or the well calculated strategies of the internationalists, then we are destined to fall into the trap of becoming yet another element of another false paradigm ourselves, and we will lose. This is a war on all fronts; informational, emotional, intellectual, psychological, spiritual, and physical. It goes well beyond any war ever fought in generations past. If individuals and the activist movement at large do not have the insight and courage to commit fully to combat on every level, they should throw in their bug-out bags and give up now. If they do have the courage, then it is surely time to begin…
You can contact Brandon Smith at: [email protected]
The Catalyst? Obama Sending 3000 U.S Troops To The Ebola Hot Zone
Chris Carrington
The Daily Sheeple
Barak Obama has pledged to send 3,000 troops to West Africa to help fight the Ebola outbreak that is spreading across the continent.
Reports state that the military contingent will be educating health workers and overseeing the building of new treatment centres.
Could this be the catalyst that brings Ebola Zaire to U.S soil? Hundreds of health workers have been sickened and many have died in the current outbreak which started earlier this year. With predictions of tens of thousands more people dying before the outbreak is contained now does not seem a good time to be sending military personnel to the area.
The timing of the announcement could be telling. Mac Slavo published an article just yesterday detailing the State department order for 160,000 hazmat suits. You can read the article here.
Over and over the government have told us that Ebola will not be a problem in the United States, that the chances of an uncontrolled outbreak are next to non-existent, well if that’s the case why have they ordered he suits?
In’s an established fact that every person that comes into the United States from an area where Ebola is running rampant is a risk. Bringing back 3,000 troops could be the catalyst that changes everything.
I know, as you do, that we will be assured that they will be screened and quarantined and all the rest of it, but are there enough facilities to do that?
Will these men and women be afforded the same treatment as Dr Kent Brantly et al should they fall sick?
US officials said the aim of the anti-Ebola initiative is to:
Construct 17 healthcare facilities, each with about 100 beds
Establish a joint command based in Monrovia, Liberia, to co-ordinate between US and international relief efforts
Distribute home healthcare kits to thousands of households
Conduct a home and community-based campaign to train local people in how to handle patients
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are the worst-hit countries in an outbreak that has killed more than 2,400 people. (source)
- See more at: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/the-catalyst-obama-sending-3000-u-s-troops-to-the-ebola-hot-zone_092014#sthash.OtwpRAt9.dpuf
The Daily Sheeple
Barak Obama has pledged to send 3,000 troops to West Africa to help fight the Ebola outbreak that is spreading across the continent.
Reports state that the military contingent will be educating health workers and overseeing the building of new treatment centres.
Could this be the catalyst that brings Ebola Zaire to U.S soil? Hundreds of health workers have been sickened and many have died in the current outbreak which started earlier this year. With predictions of tens of thousands more people dying before the outbreak is contained now does not seem a good time to be sending military personnel to the area.
The timing of the announcement could be telling. Mac Slavo published an article just yesterday detailing the State department order for 160,000 hazmat suits. You can read the article here.
Over and over the government have told us that Ebola will not be a problem in the United States, that the chances of an uncontrolled outbreak are next to non-existent, well if that’s the case why have they ordered he suits?
In’s an established fact that every person that comes into the United States from an area where Ebola is running rampant is a risk. Bringing back 3,000 troops could be the catalyst that changes everything.
I know, as you do, that we will be assured that they will be screened and quarantined and all the rest of it, but are there enough facilities to do that?
Will these men and women be afforded the same treatment as Dr Kent Brantly et al should they fall sick?
US officials said the aim of the anti-Ebola initiative is to:
Construct 17 healthcare facilities, each with about 100 beds
Establish a joint command based in Monrovia, Liberia, to co-ordinate between US and international relief efforts
Distribute home healthcare kits to thousands of households
Conduct a home and community-based campaign to train local people in how to handle patients
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are the worst-hit countries in an outbreak that has killed more than 2,400 people. (source)
- See more at: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/the-catalyst-obama-sending-3000-u-s-troops-to-the-ebola-hot-zone_092014#sthash.OtwpRAt9.dpuf
Wildfire rips through 150 homes in Northern CaliforniaBY ALEX DOBUZINSKIS (Reuters) - Fire crews in California battled on Tuesday to halt the advance of wildfire that has already destroyed about 150 homes, lapped at rural schools and caused power outages that left an evacuation shelter without electricity, authorities said. The day-old blaze, one of about a dozen major fires raging across the drought-parched state, prompted authorities to order the evacuation of about 1,000 households in and around the Northern California town of Weed, which has a population of about 3,000. "Weed is a small community, and a lot of people have lost their homes," said Diane Howard, a clerk for the city. California's fire season, which runs from May to October, is already on track to be the most destructive on record, according to state fire managers. In addition to the 150 homes burned in the fire raging near Weed, more than 30 were charred in another blaze near Yosemite. The so-called Boles Fire near Weed has scorched 375 acres (152 hectares) north of San Francisco near the Oregon border since it erupted on Monday, and has burned down about 150 residences, said Cal Fire spokeswoman Alyssa Smith. The blaze has forced school closures in Weed, where firefighters managed to save the high school although it is now covered in foam, said school district official Sarah Jasmer. Officials were also assessing possible fire damage to the elementary school. Power outages from the fire, now 25 percent contained, left a school used as an evacuation shelter without electricity. The wildfires came as parts of California baked under triple-digit temperatures and the most populous U.S. state grappled with a devastating three years of drought, which has dried out brush and trees, helping fuel the flames. East of Sacramento, the King Fire raging mainly in heavy timber and steep terrain in the El Dorado National Forest led officials to call on about 400 people to evacuate from areas threatened by the blaze, Smith said. That fire has charred some 12,780 acres (5,172 hectares) and was 5 percent contained on Tuesday. Nearly 2,500 firefighters were deployed against the King Fire, out of a total force of thousands more battling the dozen blazes burning statewide, Cal Fire said. Further south, the Courtney Fire in and around the foothill community of Oakhurst and near Bass Lake had destroyed 33 homes and 28 outbuildings since it started on Sunday, officials said. The fire, which was about 50 percent contained, has charred about 320 acres (129 hectares). In neighboring Oregon, firefighters were dealing with six major blazes and had ordered evacuations of about 40 homes overnight due to the so-called 36 Pit Fire outside Portland, which has destroyed 3,600 acres (1,457 hectares), officials said. (Additional reporting by Courtney Sherwood in Portland, Oregon and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh) |
Fed may hint on rate-hike plan as it prepares for policy turnBY MICHAEL FLAHERTY
(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday could offer fresh clues on when it plans to begin lifting interest rates and how quickly it will move, as it prepares for a momentous policy turn after years of aggressive monetary stimulus. Although a tightening of monetary policy is not expected until mid-2015, the central bank could use a policy statement on Wednesday to lay important groundwork. In particular, speculation is rife the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee may change its guidance on how long it is likely to keep rates near zero. The panel may also alter its depiction of the labor market to suggest further progress toward its goal of full employment. Both would signal that a six-year freeze on rates is thawing. Although the market is betting on a policy change, the Fed could also stick to its script. Along with the policy statement it will issue at 2 p.m., the Fed will lay out new economic and interest rate projections that will extend out to 2017 for the first time. The rate projections - or "dots chart" - show where individual Fed officials think rates should be at the end of each year. The statement will follow the release early on Wednesday of monthly U.S. consumer price data, which notched its first decline in nearly 1-1/2 years. The August consumer price data showed that underlying inflation pressures were muted, a trend that bolsters the Fed's view toward keeping accommodative monetary policy in place. But some economists think a spate of mostly good news on the economy could spur officials to hint at a more aggressive rate-hike path, which would widen the distance between their views and those held in the bond market. "The committee’s median projection for interest rates at the end of 2015 and 2016 could be pushed up a bit as they were in June, providing a hawkish signal to markets," economists at IHS Global Insight said in a note earlier this month, adding that the unnamed dots should be viewed with caution. It will be up to Yellen, who holds a news conference a half hour after the statement and projections are released, to clarify the Fed's policy intentions. EYES ON THE LABOR MARKET The path to a rate increase is hugely important for investors. In June, the median of the Fed's projections suggested rates would reach 1.125 percent by the end of next year, more than a quarter point higher than futures marketshave priced in. The Fed also needs to decide whether to maintain a pledge to keep near-zero rates in place for a "considerable time" after its bond-buying stimulus program ends. With the central bank set to reduce its monthly purchases to $15 billion this month, the program will likely end in October. A number of officials have said they are uncomfortable with an assurance that is based on the calendar and not the economy's progress. "If that language isn't softened at this meeting, then it will surely be weakened at October's meeting," economists at Capital Economic said in a research note on Tuesday. After the monthly U.S. consumer price data hit on Wednesday, the research firm published a note saying the softer numbers "ease the pressure on the Fed to amend its "considerable time" rate pledge at the policy meeting on Wednesday. Another phrase some economists think could come under the knife is the Fed's description of slackness in the labor market as "significant," although they appear to be in the minority. While the unemployment rate dipped back down to 6.1 percent in August, job growth slowed and wage gains remained sluggish, factors that are likely to bolster Yellen's resolve not to move too hastily in tightening policy. (Reporting by Michael Flaherty in Washington; Editing by Timothy Ahmann, Steve Orlofsky and Paul Simao) |
Staged ISIS Videos are the Plot of Iron Man 3 (2013)
by Jay Dyer
Jay’s Analysis
As our friend, the talented writer Peter Parker pointed out back in May of 2013, the intelligence scripting for the news events surrounding radical Islamic terrorists seem to find their curious parallel in certain Hollywood blockbusters.
Parker explained with precision how the plot of Iron Man 3 in particular demonstrated this obvious correlation with Ben Kingsley’s character, The Mandarin, playing the laughable role of the British actor cum terrorist. In the plot, the terrorists were fake, kidnapping Iron Man and holding him ransom. Sound familiar?As is usual around Jay’s Analysis, this Hollywood meme is again relevant, with a new ISIS “beaheading” today calling to mind the same scene from Iron Man 3, following last week’s theater showing.
In May 2013, Parker wrote:
“Sometime ago this writer made a discovery that was featured here on Jay’s Analysis concerning an episode of the 1990’s Iron Man animated series. As is the case with numerous films and television shows, this episode contained scenes that seemed to eerily prefigure certain aspects of the 9-11 tragedy.
Interestingly, this particular episode featured not one, but two major parallels to the events of that fateful day, yet surprisingly, at the time, I had never seen this episode featured in any of the internet’s exhaustive lists of ‘9-11 predictive programming.’ I am not suggesting that its absence was due to any conspiracy within a conspiracy, presumably this was merely indicative of the extreme unpopularity of the 90s Iron Man cartoon. However, its absence from most lists is still in some ways surprising, given how closely it resembled the September 11th terror attacks. Arguably, of all the examples of ‘9-11 semiotic programming,’ perhaps only the infamous Lone Gunmen pilot came as close to mirroring the real life event.
The episode, which originally aired in 1994, was entitled “The Grim Reaper Wears a Teflon Coat.” It opens with a control room of NORAD operatives panicking as the new experimental plane, the Grim Reaper, slips by their defenses and begins raining a volley of missiles on New York City. Amongst the buildings hit in the attack are the Twin Towers. Moments later it is revealed that this attack was nothing more than a video simulation being shown to high-ranking military officials, illustrating what might happen should the Grim Reaper, the military’s newest super weapon, fall into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, fall into the wrong hands it does when the Mandarin, a shadowy super-villain who operates out of a secret base in the mountains of Tibet, has his agents steal the plane. Viewers are treated to yet another simulated attack when the Mandarin shows his followers exactly how he plans to use the Grim Reaper; he will fly it into the Pentagon, destroying the heart of American military power! Needless to say, the bad guy’s plans are foiled by Iron Man by the episode’s end.”
Parker explained with precision how the plot of Iron Man 3 in particular demonstrated this obvious correlation with Ben Kingsley’s character, The Mandarin, playing the laughable role of the British actor cum terrorist. In the plot, the terrorists were fake, kidnapping Iron Man and holding him ransom. Sound familiar?As is usual around Jay’s Analysis, this Hollywood meme is again relevant, with a new ISIS “beaheading” today calling to mind the same scene from Iron Man 3, following last week’s theater showing.
In May 2013, Parker wrote:
“Sometime ago this writer made a discovery that was featured here on Jay’s Analysis concerning an episode of the 1990’s Iron Man animated series. As is the case with numerous films and television shows, this episode contained scenes that seemed to eerily prefigure certain aspects of the 9-11 tragedy.
Interestingly, this particular episode featured not one, but two major parallels to the events of that fateful day, yet surprisingly, at the time, I had never seen this episode featured in any of the internet’s exhaustive lists of ‘9-11 predictive programming.’ I am not suggesting that its absence was due to any conspiracy within a conspiracy, presumably this was merely indicative of the extreme unpopularity of the 90s Iron Man cartoon. However, its absence from most lists is still in some ways surprising, given how closely it resembled the September 11th terror attacks. Arguably, of all the examples of ‘9-11 semiotic programming,’ perhaps only the infamous Lone Gunmen pilot came as close to mirroring the real life event.
The episode, which originally aired in 1994, was entitled “The Grim Reaper Wears a Teflon Coat.” It opens with a control room of NORAD operatives panicking as the new experimental plane, the Grim Reaper, slips by their defenses and begins raining a volley of missiles on New York City. Amongst the buildings hit in the attack are the Twin Towers. Moments later it is revealed that this attack was nothing more than a video simulation being shown to high-ranking military officials, illustrating what might happen should the Grim Reaper, the military’s newest super weapon, fall into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, fall into the wrong hands it does when the Mandarin, a shadowy super-villain who operates out of a secret base in the mountains of Tibet, has his agents steal the plane. Viewers are treated to yet another simulated attack when the Mandarin shows his followers exactly how he plans to use the Grim Reaper; he will fly it into the Pentagon, destroying the heart of American military power! Needless to say, the bad guy’s plans are foiled by Iron Man by the episode’s end.”
Rice appeals against indefinite NFL suspension for knocking out wife
(Reuters) - Ray Rice appealed against his indefinite suspension by the National Football League on Tuesday for a one-punch knockout of his wife as the former Baltimore Ravens running back tries to resuscitate his once-flourishing career.
Meanwhile, the NFL continues to grapple with domestic violence issues as some of its top players, including Adrian Peterson, are under scrutiny both by the league and the public.
Rice was originally suspended for two games by the NFL for beating up then-fiancee Janay Palmer in the elevator of an Atlanta City, New Jersey casino in February. But after a grainy video surfaced last week showing the punch inside the elevator, the Ravens cut Rice and the league suspended him indefinitely.
Both NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the Ravens insist they never saw the video showing the punch until last week.
"This action taken by our union is to protect the due process rights of all NFL players," the NFL Players Association said in a statement.
"The NFLPA appeal is based on supporting facts that reveal a lack of a fair and impartial process, including the role of the office of the commissioner of the NFL," it said.
The union said it has requested a neutral arbitrator hear the case since "the commissioner and his staff will be essential witnesses" and would not be impartial.
A three-time Pro Bowler, Rice was set to enter his seventh season in the NFL after being selected out of Rutgers in the second round of the draft. He was the Ravens' leading ground gainer in the 2012 season and helped lead the team to a 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.
Rice was indicted in March by a grand jury on third-degree aggravated assault, but the charge was dropped because now-wife Janay Palmer declined to testify against him. He ultimately agreed to court-supervised counseling as part of a pre-trial intervention program.
The situation involving Rice helped thrust the issue of domestic violence into the spotlight, and the NFL responded Monday by hiring four women to help shape its approach.
Peterson, facing charges in Texas of causing injury to his son by disciplining him with a tree branch, was reinstated by the Vikings on Monday after being held out of Sunday's 30-7 loss to New England.
The Vikings said they will wait for the legal process to play out.
(Editing by Eric Walsh and Paul Tait)
Meanwhile, the NFL continues to grapple with domestic violence issues as some of its top players, including Adrian Peterson, are under scrutiny both by the league and the public.
Rice was originally suspended for two games by the NFL for beating up then-fiancee Janay Palmer in the elevator of an Atlanta City, New Jersey casino in February. But after a grainy video surfaced last week showing the punch inside the elevator, the Ravens cut Rice and the league suspended him indefinitely.
Both NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the Ravens insist they never saw the video showing the punch until last week.
"This action taken by our union is to protect the due process rights of all NFL players," the NFL Players Association said in a statement.
"The NFLPA appeal is based on supporting facts that reveal a lack of a fair and impartial process, including the role of the office of the commissioner of the NFL," it said.
The union said it has requested a neutral arbitrator hear the case since "the commissioner and his staff will be essential witnesses" and would not be impartial.
A three-time Pro Bowler, Rice was set to enter his seventh season in the NFL after being selected out of Rutgers in the second round of the draft. He was the Ravens' leading ground gainer in the 2012 season and helped lead the team to a 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.
Rice was indicted in March by a grand jury on third-degree aggravated assault, but the charge was dropped because now-wife Janay Palmer declined to testify against him. He ultimately agreed to court-supervised counseling as part of a pre-trial intervention program.
The situation involving Rice helped thrust the issue of domestic violence into the spotlight, and the NFL responded Monday by hiring four women to help shape its approach.
Peterson, facing charges in Texas of causing injury to his son by disciplining him with a tree branch, was reinstated by the Vikings on Monday after being held out of Sunday's 30-7 loss to New England.
The Vikings said they will wait for the legal process to play out.
(Editing by Eric Walsh and Paul Tait)