The counter-jihad website Creeping Sharia reported Monday that “according to a Facebook post, Somali staffers that work at Minneapolis City Hall declared February 28 ‘Hijab Day’ at City Hall and convinced the police chief and female city council reps to wear hijabs on the job.”

The idea originated with female Muslim City Hall employees, who then cajoled non-Muslim women into participating in Hijab Day as well. One enthusiastic participant was a Muslim woman named Ilhan Omar, who is on the staff of Minneapolis City Council Member Andrew Johnson. Omar recently instigated a brawl at a Democratic caucus meeting in Cedar-Riverside, leading to several injuries and the cancellation of the meeting.

Pictures depicted Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau and several female City Council members, all smiling and wearing hijabs. Why? Is there wear a kippah day? A Sikh turban day? A Christ on the cross day? A Wiccan witch day? What’s next? Slaughter a live animal and let it bleed out for lunch day? Inshallah!

This is imposing Islam in Minneapolis. This is dhimmitude on steroids. A municipality celebrating “Hijab Day” is a violation of the establishment clause. The dhimmi Chief Harteau ought to be fired.

The hijab is a political statement, not a religious mandate. Mark Steyn says in his book America Alone that “there is no evidence that any Muslim woman anywhere ever wore the jilbab before the disco era, when it was taken up by the Muslim Brotherhood and others in the Arab world. It is no more ancient and traditional than platform shoes, bell bottoms, and cheesecloth shirts.”

And “celebrating” Hijab Day is a political statement.

The Minneapolis officials could have more accurately called it Misogyny Day, as the hijab is a call to women and girls to cover up and hide their femininity. It is offensive, and it is misogynistic. The message to women: Hide who you are, because savages cannot control their carnal appetites! Do it and like it! Embrace the hate! Celebrate the most extreme, brutal and misogynistic ideology on the face of the earth!

More notably, Police Chief Janeé Harteau is a homosexual. “Celebrating” the symbol of a virulently anti-gay ideology is the height of cluelessness and/or self-loathing. Gays under the sharia are persecuted, oppressed and executed. Over at my newsite Atlas Shrugs, I run weekly, sometimes daily, news stories of gays getting beaten, whipped or killed under Islamic law. And Police Chief Janeé Harteau is celebrating this? Why hasn’t Harteau joined us in condemning the Muslim oppression of gays under the Sharia? No, instead she bullies her division into wearing this garment of oppression.

The fault, however, doesn’t lay solely with these Janeé Harteau and her friends. In his submission speech in Cairo in 2009, Barack Obama said: “Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one’s religion. That is why there is a mosque in every state in our union, and over 1,200 mosques within our borders. That’s why the United States government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab and to punish those who would deny it.”

But the women who really need protection are not Muslimas who are wearing hijabs – who is bothering them? The real problem is the women around the world, including non-Muslims, who have been threatened and even killed for not covering their heads, including Aqsa Parvez who was murdered by her father and brother for not wearing her hijab; Amira Osman Hamid, the Sudanese woman who took off her hijab and was sentenced to be flogged for doing so; and Amira, the young girl in Egypt who killed herself after she refused to wear the hijab and her family beat her.

Arab American News reported that the last recorded dispute between Michigan honor-killing victim Jessica Mokdad and her stepfather Rahim Alfetlawi, who killed her, was over the wearing of the hijab, which he originally forced her to wear. Jessica didn’t want to wear it, thereby bringing shame on him and the family. Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Bill Contaldo said: “He thought she was becoming too Westernized. I think this was a very nice young lady wanting to experiment with Western culture without control and without abuse.” The Detroit Free Press reported: “Mokdad’s mother told police that Alfetlawi felt so shamed by her daughter’s Western ways. He killed her in an honor killing, Warren Police Sgt. Stephen Mills said.”

The Mokdad honor killing was covered up, although I exposed the facts about it at my AFDI/SIOA Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference on honor killing and Islamic law on April 29, 2012 in Dearborn, Michigan. Probably Janeé Harteau never heard of Jessica Mokdad. But Hijab Day at the Minneapolis City Hall is monstrous in light of the fate of girls like Jessica and Aqsa Parvez.

And it’s not just a few fanatical fathers: last September, according to AFP, an Al-Qaeda group in Syria said that girls in areas it controlled would not be allowed to attend school unless they wore “Islamic clothing” – that is, the hijab (at least). These things aren’t happening only in Muslim countries: in February 2013, South Australia’s biggest Islamic school warned both Muslim and non-Muslim teachers that they would be fired if they didn’t wear hijab to school functions.

Creeping Sharia adds: “Meanwhile, the sons of hijabis in Minneapolis were busy striking terror at an LA Fitness where police responded to 147 incidents in 2013 and 24 incidents this year.”

When are they having Female Genital Mutilation Day at Minneapolis City Hall?

Pamela Geller is the President of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), publisher of PamelaGeller.com and author of The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America and Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance. Follow her on Twitter here.

 
 
 
  Reported by Breitbart 7 hours ago.

A tiny crystal trapped in a rough diamond, blasted from 400 kilometers below earth's surface, indicates that there may be a lot of water deep beneath our feet.In a report, published in the magazine Nature, a group of scientists say that X-ray and spectroscopic analysis of a small diamond found in magma from a Brazilian volcano showed a 40 micrometer speck of a mineral called ringwoodite. Further analysis revealed that its crystal lattice contains at least 1.4 percent water.Ringwoodite is... Reported by VOA News 7 hours ago.

An American scout-attack drone, "almost invisible at a height of 4000 meters" has, according to AFP, been intercepted in the Crimean sky. Reports from the Russian state arms and technology group Rostec stated, judging by side-markings it was an MQ-5B drone - which is likely part of the *66th US Recon Brigade based in Bavaria*. It was possible to break the drone’s link with its American operators with the help of the EW (electronic warfare) complex Avtobaza. As a result, the device *made an emergency landing and passed into the possession of the self-defense forces almost unbroken*."

 

 

Via AFP,



An American scout-attack drone was intercepted in the Crimean sky, the Rostec state corporation reports. "*Judging by side marking, the MQ-5B drone was part of the 66th US brigade of military intelligence with the main location in Bavaria*," the report on the website of the corporation reads.

 

According to the report, at the beginning of March, the American brigade was relocated to the Ukrainian Kirovohrad, from where drones commit reconnaissance raids in the direction of Crimea and Russian border areas.

 

Earlier, they reportedly appeared in the Kherson region, in the area of the Crimean roadblock Chongar. "According to some data, the American reconnaissance brigade had 18 MQ-5B drones in its arsenal. This is the second time the American UAV is intercepted over Crimea," the report says.

 

"*The drone was at the height of about 4 thousand meters and was practically invisible from the earth. It was possible to break the drone’s link with its American operators with the help of the EW (electronic warfare) complex Avtobaza. As a result, the device made an emergency landing and passed into the possession of the self-defense forces almost unbroken*," the report says.



"Self-defense" it would appear does not cross a red-line (until Sunday).

It is perhaps ironic that the US is complaining abouit Russia's military presence in Ukraine even as its own equipment is reportedly operating in the country.

What next: CIA spooks in Kiev inciting a violent coup, oh wait, that would be Libya or Egypt. And everyone knows what a success that way.

And as expected, the Pentagon promptly denied the drone belonged to the US. It denied it not the biblical three times, but four. They must really mean it.

 



Seeking expert opinion on who else has UAV MQ-5B drones. Pentagon say not playing semantics "No truth" its US. Asked four times, four ways.

— Peter Foster (@pmdfoster) March 14, 2014

Reported by Zero Hedge 6 hours ago.

Ashley Feng discusses American-educated Chinese youths entering the world of politics at home

Top US colleges are packed with American students who dream of becoming senators, Secretaries of State, even President. Chinese students at these universities are likewise incredibly bright and ambitious; furthermore, the names of their schools command an unimaginable degree of deference and respect in their home country. So why don't more of them pursue public service when they return?

The most obvious barrier to public service is that central feature of Chinese society and politics: guanxi. Relationships in China have become crucial to everything from buying real estate to landing employment out of college to receiving quality medical care. The massive bureaucracy responsible for a billion people makes this especially true for the political system. "Even if you pass the entrance exam and land an entry level position, if everyone at your level has connections they will advance many times faster than you," says Matthew, a senior at UPenn from Hong Kong.

The incompatibility between local government and US-educated students is two-fold. Although local bureaucrats may respect these youth for their academic achievements, they don't consider them suitable for work in their own offices. "[After college in the US] you're seen as too naïve, too Westernized," says Jing, a Chinese senior also at UPenn.

Officials must be willing to grant favors to local business interests and order sometimes violent crackdowns to contain situations. Xiaodian, a police chief in a prosperous and well-developed coastal city, notes that he has protesters outside his office every day, sometimes every week.

Eric, a 2013 Yale graduate from northeast China, says "the municipal officials in my city are like thugs. People like you and me, how can we deal with those people? And our local government is perceived as so corrupt that no one with a US education wants to be seen interacting with them."

Eric's statement hints at perhaps the single strongest driving force behind the choice to avoid political careers. Mianzi, or face, is the ultimate goal many students in the Chinese and Chinese American communities pursue, it is what drives them to succeed in high school and college. Government jobs carry little prestige, relative to other opportunities available to a Chinese graduate of a US college. "Prestige is everything," said Matthew. "I was at a different school my freshman year. When I told people I studied in the US they all asked, 'Harvard or MIT?' and lost interest when it was neither. When I transferred to Penn, they all responded 'Oh that's amazing.' I felt like I was still the same person but their perceptions completely changed. There's so many people in China that you can't sit down with everyone and get to know them. So people read signals, and school and career are two of the biggest."

Indeed, many of these students choose to work for the Chinese branches of major Western companies. Matthew notes, "I can't think of any friends in Hong Kong or Beijing who would want to go into politics. Everyone wants to enter industry, business, finance, medicine, or law." Due to the more meritocratic structure of Western firms, well-connected young graduates believe they are accepting a greater degree of responsibility for their careers when they choose to work at these companies.

The investigation into hiring practices of JP Morgan and other major Western banks, on the other hand, reveals that foreign companies wishing to do business in China have also been willing to consider the background of applicants, sometimes just as much as their merit. But while children of the elite hold an advantage at any firm, they often have less of an edge at Western companies than they would have in the state-owned enterprises where their family members work.

A former analyst at a Chinese branch of JP Morgan who chose to speak anonymously noted that Chinese hires fell into two pools -- merit hires and relationship hires. She had the background to come in as a relationship hire, but chose to compete in the merit pool instead, because relationship hires garnered less respect and were the first to go when it came time to cutting personnel.

Wen, a Chinese sophomore at Yale whose father works for a state-owned bank, says "My father's friends tell me, 'You'll go three times as fast up the career ladder if you come back to China and work in your father's field. He has so many friends. Use them."

But rising through the ranks of national politics often requires starting at the local level. According to Jing, "the way Chinese politics and government works is that it focuses a lot on down-to-earth wisdom gained through practice. Most Chinese leaders have been through local level government. Hu Jintao was party chief of Gansu, one of the poorest provinces in China. Especially for people with our background, you're not likely to be very welcome. You need to show people you know how things work and you're not an American-educated, naive teenager."

Despite all these barriers, Young graduates truly wishing to serve society have found alternatives. In recent years, numerous young Chinese have returned to China to work in the nonprofit sector, with some even launching their own organizations.

Still, China's political system is not making the most of the talent and leadership potential of its young college graduates. There are indications, though, that this will change, albeit gradually. The problem of graduates avoiding local government jobs for their lack of prestige may be remedied by the ongoing anti-corruption campaign, which has reduced some of the most conspicuous nepotism and multiplied the likelihood of punishments for accepting bribes and other offenses.

Those rare haigui ("sea turtles," a nickname for those who return from studying abroad) like Qin Yuefei who do decide to pursue politics make it that much easier for those who follow. Jing, who is pursuing Chinese policy research in D.C., notes that hers "is a pretty new path to follow. I know what the path is like for consulting and finance, because of all the people who have gone before me, but I've had to figure out my own internships and career path. Most people gravitate toward the known paths because they fear uncertainty."

The possibility that descendants of the political elite may take the ideas they encounter abroad back home with them when it becomes their term to chart China's future remains a possible, but as of yet unrealized prospect._____Ashley Feng is a sophomore at Yale College. Contact her at ashley.feng@yale.edu.

This article also appears in China Hands Reported by Huffington Post 6 hours ago.

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, who returned to Earth March 10 after 166 days aboard the International Space Station, will be available for live satellite media interviews from 7-8 a.m. EDT Thursday, March 20. Hopkins began his extended... Reported by PR Newswire 6 hours ago.

It was Wednesday, November 10, 2004, 7:30 a.m. in London, England.

Alone, bleary-eyed and mainlining coffee, I’m seated at a table in Indigo Restaurant, within the confines of the very shi-shi One Aldwych Hotel. I’d arrived from New York the day before and would be doing the reverse commute the day after.

The purpose of my trip was a pending daylong ebookers plc board meeting — at that time a publically listed company whose board I sat on and were the ones kind enough to put me up at this trendy hotel. In July, a decision had been made to sell the company. Today, investment bankers from Credit Suisse were going to walk us through the various suitors’ offers. The company’s CFO was picking me up in the hotel lobby around 8:30 a.m.

Half glancing at the Financial Times, half trying to pull it together — the afte-reffect of a late night emptying wine bottles with an old colleague from my early-1990’s WPP days — I’m jolted by some rather spirited political chatter at the next table. I lift my throbbing noggin and look over towards the debate. Zeroing-in and shaking the cobwebs, “Holy crap, Rupert Murdoch and a few of his lieutenants, shooting the morning breeze.”

Going from groggy to wide-eyed in a flash, I’m thinking, “How fortuitous … hold on, run the checklist:

·      When opportunity arises seize it — This is that.

·      No gods, only people, on earth — Amen.

·      Approach only if having something to offer — Big time.

·      You don’t know if you don’t ask — A rare hold back.

·      Don’t interrupt — Damn!!!

·      There’s always a way — Exit stage left, Plan B time.”

The serendipity of the situation was uncanny. I’d recently heard from a friend on Wall Street that Murdoch had said in a meeting, with News Corp. investors, that he had looked at buying Monster Worldwide — my former employer — but its CEO & Control Shareholder, Andy McKelvey, wasn't selling. No doubt easy for Rupert to understand as he was ensconced similarly at the much larger News Corp.

Meanwhile, no one wanted Monster sold more than me. Despite quitting in 2002 — over strategic, governance, and morality differences with McKelvey — I was still Monster's second largest individual shareholder. I couldn’t bring myself to sell at share values depressed by managerial ineptitude — a long-running battle line between McKelvey and me. I’d been trying to get him to resign or auction off the then very valuable banana republic for at least five years.

When I first heard of Murdoch's interest in Monster I wrote to McKelvey (and his board) to put him on notice, including the additive phrase also attributed to Murdoch about Monster, there would be a lot of buyers.”

Now was my chance to validate Murdoch’s interest and offer some insights. Looking at my watch, now about 8:15 a.m., I calmly motioned for the check, signed-off, packed-up, and headed for the elevator. Plan B? Back up to my room before going down to the lobby. Once in my room, I dropped my bag, plopped down at the desk and rifled through the drawers in search of the standard-issue hotel stationary. I began writing under the One Aldwych letterhead, something like:

Dear Rupert,

I saw you and your team dining this morning but didn’t want to disturb you I’ve heard rumor that you might be interested in Monster Worldwide and were put off. I’m their former President/COO and, as far as I know, still their second largest individual shareholder — albeit diminutively so, in comparison to Andy McKelvey's stake.

From my perspective, Monster is stewarded rather poorly and would be a perfect fit inside News Corp. for a variety of reasons… both large organic growth and expense-reduction opportunities…etc. … If this is of any interest to you I’d be more than happy to sit down and explore it sometime. If not, please forgive the intrusion… I’m in board meetings all day and head back to the United States tomorrow but you can always reach me at XXX-YYY-ZZZZ and/or JJTXXX@YYYZZZ.com

Best,

Jim Treacy

I folded the note up, sealed it in a One Aldwych envelope and wrote on it, “RUPERT MURDOCH – PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL. ” Note in one hand, I grabbed my bag with the other and raced for the elevator — leaving my overcoat behind, thank goodness for a day of door-to-door car rides.

The elevator opened and I leapt into the lobby, aware that I was a bit late. The first thing I see is ebookers’ CFO, Michael Healy, smiling at me. After greetings, a quick apology, and Michael’s assuring me that we had more than enough time to arrive promptly for the board meeting, I asked for his indulgence for just another moment.

Zipping over to the hotel bellman: “Excuse me…good morning…I saw Rupert Murdoch upstairs at breakfast…I have no idea if he’s staying here, checked-out, whatever and I know you certainly aren’t allowed to tell me but if you would just do me this favor…” – handing him both the envelope I marked for Rupert and a twenty pound note – “…if he is staying here and not already left can you see that he gets this…if he’s not, or you cannot, no worries, just toss the note after I leave…thank you…enjoy your day…”

High-stepping back to Michael, jogging out the lobby door, hopping into his car and off to the board meeting.

The board presentations began around 9:30 a.m. and went into the early evening — a long grueling day reviewing each of the proposals, contemplating the impacts of each on the various stakeholders (shareholders, clients, users, employees), agreeing a course of action, etc. Toss-in my minimal sleep, aching head and tuning in to fast-moving British accents, I was ready to hit the hay. But Michael and the investment bankers would have none of it. It was a hugely productive day and they were insistent on entertaining the board’s lone Yank. Who could refuse such hospitality?

Needless to say, they took me to a terrific restaurant. We had a sumptuous meal and the wine was flowing. Good company, fine food, some hair of the dog that bit me.

Feeling no pain or chill, despite no overcoat, I poured myself into a cab, at roughly midnight, for the trip back to One Aldwych and a much-needed repose, collapse perhaps a better description. On the ride back all I was thinking is “thank god I have nothing to do tomorrow but make an early afternoon plane, I can sleep-in.”

R-I-N-G – R-I-N-G – R-I-N-G – WTF??? Where am I? Oh yeah. Reaching for the phone, noting the clock, 6:15 AM, “Who's calling me at 6:15 a.m.?” Looking around, jacket and shoes on the floor, shirt and suit pants still on, prone on top of the turndown service, oh boy… Hoarsely, “Hello?”

“Good morning, Jim. Is it you?”

“Who is this?”

“It’s RUPERT! I got your note. Can we meet for breakfast in a half hour?”

“Holy crap, again…he got the note, bless the bellman…this guy wastes no time if he has an interest…now what do I do…no way can I do this in a half hour…serious bedhead, stubble... must shower, shave, search for unwrinkled clothes…besides never good to look too eager…Rupert, I’m sorry but I had a few crazy nights here and don’t think I can make it in a half hour…”

Chuckling, “Okay, Jim … I have a full schedule, was just trying to fit this in while we were both still here … I’ll get in touch with you when I’m back in the States … We can arrange a time to meet then … All right?”

“That would be great, Rupert…I’d look forward to that and am happy to travel to you at a place and time of your convenience…”

We finished-up and I’m thinking, “Hope he means it, damn wine…” Then I drifted back off to sleep – under the sheets.

So how did this all end up? Board meeting success and checklist validation!:

·      On Thursday, December 2nd ebookers was sold for a handsome price. Today it is part of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW).

·      I’d put Rupert out of my consciousness, figuring I blew it and he had moved on. Then on Monday, December 6th, the phone in my den office rang. I picked it up, “Jim? Is that you? It’s RUPERT!” Love how he dials himself, here a man after my own heart.

·      So on Wednesday, December 8, 2004, Rupert Murdoch, his son, Lachlan, and I sat down together in his 1211 Avenue of the Americas office, for a lively, almost two-hour, meeting.

In the broader sense, as in whereto from here? Let’s leave it at a long story, with many episodes. There are many moving parts and consequence to all battles. For another time...

*Follow Jim Treacy on **Twitter**: **www.twitter.com/jimtreacy*

Join the conversation about this story »

 
 
 
  Reported by Business Insider 5 hours ago.

NEW YORK, March 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network that are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area. If you are interested in interviewing any of the experts, please contact them via the contact information at the end of the listing.... Reported by PR Newswire 6 hours ago.

A call for blog comment contributors to show their faces. Reported by NYTimes.com 5 hours ago.

This week's poll from the Lester & Charlie Institute of Forward Thinking!
Have you ever wondered how corrupt a place would have to be to compel an awesome power to swoop in and just wipe it off the face of the earth?

No, this is not a review of Noah. We're talking about the tiny rural city of Hampton, Florida in the heart of conservative America.

As The New York Times reported this week, Hampton is so hilariously rotten that Florida (Florida!) gave it 30 days to plead for its very existence. If the city can't clean up its act, it's simply gotta go. Wiped off the face of the earth!

What makes this town -- a single square mile that's home to 477 people -- so horrible?

Mostly it has to do with the hundreds of thousands of dollars they've been raking in annually with a "speed trap" that exists on the town's sole stretch of highway -- a piece of road that's just 1,260 feet long. The town annexed it back in the mid-1990s and promptly lowered the speed limit on it to catch "speeders" with radar.

It's easy to get addicted to that kind of free money, so much so the town expanded their speeding task force to 17 "officers." That's about 3.5 of its population on speed trap duty. It's like New York City hiring a quarter million people to catch jaywalkers.

Yet, while exploiting this windfall for years, Hampton managed to operate at a fiscal deficit. There were rumors of rampant nepotism, missing city funds, stories of "personal use of city credit cards, trucks and gas," trips to the former city clerk's "clutter-filled house to hand over cash payments for water bills for which she offered no receipts." (The water utility is the sole utility controlled by the city, and any resident that complained about the way it was run was threatened with a shut-off of their water supply.)

Meanwhile, auditors discovered that almost half of the city's water went unaccounted for. Three city commissioners were never sent a water bill for 17 months. City records can't account for what's missing because most of the records were inexplicably "lost in a swamp."

Swamp, indeed. It turns out the former city clerk -- the one who collected those cash payments for water bills -- is the mother of the man who used to run the water system. The police chief became a minister and started holding church services at City Hall. The town's mayor -- just elected last September -- is already in jail, charged with possession of Oxycodone with intent to sell.

And you thought D.C. was corrupt! But this awesome story may be coming to an end -- if Florida makes good on its threat to eliminate the city all together. We feel kinda bad about all of this. It's like discovering they've cancelled your favorite trash TV show just as you started getting into the first episode.

But here's the upside: In any good story like this, there's gotta be a big finale. And they haven't pulled the curtain down yet. Hampton still has a few weeks left! So we're wondering: While there's still time to snare some easy money, what are the citizens of Hampton going to do? What do YOU think?"While there's still time to snare some easy money, what are the corrupt citizens of Hampton going to do?"

*Click here to take the poll!*
*Subscribe to the Lester & Charlie Weekly Newsletter*

*Follow Lester & Charlie on Facebook* Reported by Huffington Post 5 hours ago.

Neal Wooten is the author of a new and exciting young adult novel titled The Balance. In the distant future, three classes of people live in a precarious and ultimately untenable balance. the Children and the Scavs (who call themselves the Spirit People), live on the surface of Earth in a land called Canus and are mortal enemies. The Fathers live in a utopian, although emotionless, city in the sky.

The story is told through the eyes of a nineteen year old young man, Piri, who falls quite literally to Earth and is rescued by Niko, a nineteen year old male who is a part of the Children tribe. Piri, who has led an emotionless life in the sky, is tossed into the pain and difficulty of life on the surface. But, as his feelings grow for Niko and Niko's family, he experiences love and joy for the first time in his life. It is a captivating and adventurous love story where Piri will do anything to protect his new family, including disrupting the balance.

I had the opportunity to speak with Neal about his new book, which is published by Bold Strokes Books and will be release on April 15th.

*At the heart of The Balance is a love story between Piri and Niko and it's a same sex relationship. What prompted you to create this romance?*

The original manuscript began with the lead character being a girl, but there were many same-sex couples in the story. It was the advice of two literary agents that convinced me that it might be a better story if it was written from a male's perspective, hence adding one more same-sex couple. They were right.

*The world you create in the future is populated by three groups, the Father's, the Children and the Scavs. How did you arrive at these three groups?*

It is the evolution of the three social classes: the poor, middle class, and the wealthiest. This is just an advanced form of the separation that now exists. The rich build their homes away from the other classes, and the poorest citizens literally scavenge for survival.

*What was the most difficult scene for you to write and why?*

The scenes where Piri is thrown into society on the surface. His lack of emotions, a normal trait for the city dwellers, made it difficult to portray him as likable and interesting. And whereas likability might not be a requisite for readers to associate with a book's character, being interesting is very important.

*Which character do you most identify with and why?
*
I am probably most like Curz, the old loco man, except for him wanting to be alone. I like having people around, but his sense of humor came directly from me.

*What did you edit out of the book?*

Tons. The story originally revolved around the moon receding too far from the earth. I completely started over several times throwing entire chapters away. After six years, this was the final story and the original premise became a short story titled "Veggie Moon," which was published by a British publisher in their "Looking Landward" anthology.

*There is a scene between Niko and Piri that makes me cry. Which scene fills you with the most emotion? (Don't give away the scene!)*

It is the later scene with Payo, a simple but lovable character. I cried like a baby when I wrote it, and every 25 or so times I've proofread it. Even knowing what's coming, I can't control it.

*The children speak a mix of English and Spanish and live on the surface of Earth in the future. Did you have a particular city in mind when writing this?*

There are also Canadian words and phrases. No actual cities remain on the surface, but it mentions the Great Lakes, the Smoky Mountains, and the Rocky Mountains. The land of Canus (which is derived from Canada and the U.S.), is somewhere in the middle of this continent, maybe on the old border of both countries, what's left from rising waters.

*You published this book through Bold Strokes Books, a publisher that specializes in LGBT literature. Was this your first time publishing there and how did you find the process?*

This was my first time. This was my first novel that classifies as a LGBT book. When I finished it, I sent it to every LGBT publisher I could find, and it was accepted by all of them. I chose Bold Strokes Books because they have much more to offer in terms of reputation and distribution. The process has been a long yet devoted one. They have their stuff together and after 15 months, we're almost there.

*If you could highlight one message that this book delivers, which would it be?*

Labels are not real. The three subspecies in the book are all just people. Like today, there should be no labels, but as a species, we use labels to not only identify ourselves, but to separate others. In the future presented by The Balance, there are no gay people, no straight people, only people.

*Will there be a sequel?*

Yes, it will be a trilogy. I am already writing the first sequel, where we discover, among other things, what manner of creature resides in the northern forest.

*In your future world, same sex relationships are accepted like any other relationship. How long do you think it will take until this becomes the norm in our society?*

That's hard to say. For every inch gained in this country, we sometimes take giant steps backward. I hope it is in my lifetime. I hope to have young people look at me when I'm old and gray and wonder, "What was wrong with you people back then?"

*Follow Neal Wooten on Twitter www.twitter.com/NealWooten* Reported by Huffington Post 5 hours ago.

In 1935, FDR promoted the building of dams and this grew to include over 75,000 dams standing more than 3 feet tall throughout the United States. Many of these dams have outlived their usefulness, and many caused great damage to ecosystems and fish, especially salmon. The response to this for some has been civil disobedience and acts of environmental activism, which include painting huge cracks and scissors on the dams themselves, at great physical and legal risk to the members of groups such as Earth First. There is one particular CEO and company founder, who stands on the side of the environmentalists and puts his money where his mouth is by supporting civil democracy through action.

Yvon Chouinard's company, Patagonia, and his philosophy and commitment to environmentalism is directly linked to why his company exists. The very name of his company comes from a trip he took to Chile's Patagonia decades ago, a place which he still works to protect today. This commitment has now helped to produce a feature documentary, shown this week at SXSW in Austin, entitled, Damnation. Through the use of beautiful cinematography and authenticity on several levels, it educates the audience in a powerfully moving way. I came away from this film feeling I had truly learned something and that I was not being "sold" anything, yet the fact that the film was entirely supported by a "brand," Patagonia, left me intrigued.

During the panel discussion following the film, Yvon Chouniard, along with one of the filmmakers, the head of Patagonia's marketing and Vimeo's representative, all came together to tell the story of how this film is establishing an outside the box approach to both producing and distributing a film with a strong environmental message.

Firstly, it is stunning in the way it is filmed. The filmmakers were approached by Chouinard, and the scientific advisor, because of their previous works focusing on fishing. Included in the film is a member of Earth First, who painted cracks on dams which no longer served their purpose and which were in fact doing harm in various ways to the environment, specifically to salmon and fishes which once thrived in the rivers prior to the dams being built.

The US is actually now leading the way in dam removal, and the film focuses not only on what has been lost, at a price of millions of dollars, but also on how quickly the natural habitat and fish return once the dams are removed.

Gorgeous archives of the predam days, especially those of environmental activists Katie Lee, naked amongst the caverns and cliffs, which will soon be flooded, and her outspoken stance on freeing the rivers, made the film for me. Earth First activist, Mikal Jakubal also makes an appearance or two and is a delight to watch as he joyfully depicts close encounters with the law.

But as I watched the film, I never once thought of the brand, the company behind the film. Yet the fact that Patagonia would give creative freedom to the filmmakers, and the fact that those included in the making of the film are authentically engaged in hard-core environmental activism, made the story not only poignant, but I became convinced that their message was one that needs to be spread.

I had never thought much about dams and imagined they had been built to generate hydropower, which was necessary. I had no idea that tens of thousands of dams were built across the US and was somewhat ignorant about their extremely damaging impact on so many native communities and salmon. I had lived in the Pacific Northwest during Earth First's most active days and had heard about fish ladders and hatcheries, and had driven by a few huge dams, but I never had imagined how the still waters killed so much life when dams were put in place.

The filmmakers interview Native Americans whose spiritual and day-to-day lives are tied to the salmon, which have virtually disappeared. They interviewed a farmer who almost began to cry as he spoke of the beauty of the rivers coming back and the damage the dams had done. They filmed guerilla acts of environmental activism. And managed to capture the removal of a dam with dynamite. Damnation portrays the fictional "Monkey Wrench Gang" coming to life as we enter into the mindset of those who can no longer sit back and watch the planet and the rivers be destroyed. This, along with archival footage of other dams being blown up and removed, was juxtaposed with footage of the rivers flowing wildly and coming back to life.

When asked about why he wanted to back such a documentary, Yvon Chouinard said very seriously, "Propaganda." He felt that there had been so much disinformation about why dams were needed that it was important to counter that with images and information, which told the truth. When I asked him what he thought about other company CEOs and founders who claim to be socially responsible, he replied, "The elephant in the room is growth. We cannot just continue to grow and grow." When asked specifically about Patagonia, he responded, "Actually everyone should wear used clothes and then hand them down when done with them." This response is astonishing in itself for someone who has become successful selling sporting and outdoors clothes. But Choiunard is highly respected by fellow CEOs and his philosophy and book on how he began Patagonia is used in business schools across the US.

To me this did not feel like "branded" content and the filmmakers only agreed to take on the subject if they could have final cut and complete freedom to tell the story in an authentic way. Chouinard and Patgonia gave them that. But what is highly impactful is that Patagonia's stores and marketing architecture allow for the film to be released and distributed in a highly unusual way. There will be screenings in the stores, DVDs will be sold there and special interest and educational screenings will be held with NGOs and schools to spread the message about the importance of dam removal. Vimeo will also screen it on demand and it will be part of curated content, which will help audiences find films such as Damnation, which have environmental themes. A petition will be sent to President Obama to support the eradication of more unnecessary dams.

The film's message thus leads the audience to a call for action, but it also made me think a lot about the power that CEOs and companies have to do good. Sadly, not enough of them have such an authentically committed founder. Perhaps that should be a film in itself, the philosophy of those who do put their money where their mouth is and take action to support creative works, which educate us and help to make this world a better place. That is real impact. That is true activism. And Yvon Chouinard's life and work are directly tied to both.

How can you not trust a man, a CEO of a clothes company, who tells you to help save the Earth by buying and wearing used clothes and handing them down? At the screening of Damnation, I looked around and saw numerous Patagonia jackets on audience members, for the most part; the clothing was well worn and much loved.

www.damnationfilm.com DamNation is produced by Patagonia in association with a Stoecker Ecological & Felt Soul Media Production and is set for theatrical release in select cities beginning in April. Directed by Ben Knight and Travis Rummel. Produced by Matt Stoecker and Travis RummelExecutive Producer: Yvon Chouinard. Reported by Huffington Post 4 hours ago.

(Credit: Prakash Lab/TED)

The Foldscope -- a low-cost microscope that can be constructed like origami out of a sheet of paper with components embedded -- has the potential to revolutionize health care in developing countries -- but it has the potential to do something else, too.

Creator Manu Prakash of Stanford University's Prakash Lab wants to inspire a new generation of up-and-coming young scientists. To this end, he has created the Ten Thousand Microscope Project. Prakash will be giving away 10,000 Foldscopes to "people who would like to test the microscopes in a variety of settings and help us generate an open-source biology/microscopy field manual written by people from all walks of life."

(Credit: Prakash Lab/TED)

"Many children around the world have never used a microscope, even in developed countries like the United States," Prakash said. "A universal program providing a microscope for every child could foster deep interest in science at an early age."

The idea is to create a guide that will show examples of how to use the microscope, collated from the field testers, who may have unique perspectives and use the Foldscope in ways that others might not even imagine, thus inspiring other Foldscope users.

To sign up, users have to send an email to the address listed here, detailing the community they belong to and at least one thing they would like to do with the Foldscope. Experiments will need to be documented in a way that makes them replicable by anyone. The Foldscopes will be shipped this year to the applicants judged to have the best ideas.

"My dream is that someday, every kid will have a Foldscope in their back pocket," Prakash said.

(Source: Crave Australia)
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  Reported by CNET News.com 3 hours ago.

With Beth at his side, Roger stopped in front of the Trick Dog restaurant on a hipster industrial street in the Mission District, where young professionals strolled into the trendy restaurants sprouting up at every corner. For Roger, it was a welcome change from the valley's boring industrial parks, where you were lucky to find a passable eating spot in a strip mall. The only trouble was that the nondescript establishment that was to be their restaurant had no obvious sign. "Should be a fun business meeting," Roger said, as he pulled open the door for Beth. "No worries," Roger said, understanding that Beth had had no time to change clothes after the over-clocking explosion at the hacker hostel. The mushroom-shaped barstools were occupied by an eclectic mix of patrons in acid-treated T-shirts, hoodie business casual, suits and elaborate piercings. Seated at a two-top table in the Trick Dog's loft, Andy was freaking out. "In your professional opinion, how would you have dressed me?" he asked, giving her a rakish smile. Billy could get away with lateness, unlike the peeps of the technology world, whose lives were synchronized by their satellite-tracking atomic clocks that analyze the Earth's crust and won't gain or lose one second in 3 million years. [...] a perky woman with a precise bob and pumps that could crush cockroaches was poised to greet them, smiling like a cruise director at the end of the gangplank. Reported by SFGate 3 hours ago.

Neil Young's Pono dreams soon to come true, Ep. 151

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Neil Young's PonoMusic service blew past its Kickstarter fundraising goal in one day. Are FLAC files the next wave in music? We also hear some jams from a cyborg drummer on Earth, and wake up to the sweet smells and sounds of the Bacon Alarm.

Crave stories:

- Robotic arm gives amputee drummer better beats

- Bacon alarm clock wafts meat odors from your iPhone

- Forget planking, #whaling is the hot new Vine trend

- Neil Young's PonoMusic hits Kickstarter

- Watch robotic pole dancers shake their actuators

- Crave giveaway: $500 shopping spree from Rakuten.com Shopping

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*Related Links:*
Neil Young's PonoMusic hits Kickstarter
Neil Young's PonoMusic hits $2M on Kickstarter in one day
Robotic arm gives amputee drummer better beats
Bacon alarm clock wafts meat odors from your iPhone
Watch robotic pole dancers shake their actuators

 
 
 
  Reported by CNET News.com 2 hours ago.

Submitted by Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform blog,

“The risk of catastrophe will be very high. *The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule.* If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort – in other words, a total war. Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward ratchet in the technology of destruction, and in mankind’s willingness to use it.” 

*– Strauss & Howe - **The Fourth Turning*

 

“In the need to develop a capacity to know what potential enemies are doing, the United States government has perfected a technological capability that enables us to monitor the messages that go through the air. Now, that is necessary and important to the United States as we look abroad at enemies or potential enemies. We must know, at the same time, that capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left such is the capability to monitor everything—telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide.

If this government ever became a tyrant, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government, no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know. Such is the capability of this technology.

I don’t want to see this country ever go across the bridge. I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.” – *Frank Church on Meet the Press regarding the NSA – 1975*

Ever since Edward Snowden burst onto the worldwide stage in June 2013, I’ve been wondering how he fits into the fabric of this ongoing *Fourth Turning*. This period of Crisis that arrives like clockwork, 60 to 70 years after the end of the previous *Fourth Turning *(Civil War – 66 years after American Revolution, Great Depression/World War II – 64 years after Civil War, Global Financial Crisis – 62 years after World War II), arrived in September 2008 with the Federal Reserve created collapse of the global financial system. We are now five and a half years into this Fourth Turning, with its climax not likely until the late-2020’s. At this point in previous Fourth Turnings a regeneracy had unified sides in their cause and a grey champion or champions (Ben Franklin/Samuel Adams, Lincoln/Davis, FDR) had stepped forward to lead. Thus far, no one from the Prophet generation has been able to unify the nation and create a sense of common civic purpose. Societal trust continues to implode, as faith in political, financial, corporate, and religious institutions spirals downward. There is no sign of a unifying regeneracy on the horizon.

The core elements of this *Fourth Turning* continue to propel this Crisis: debt, civic decay, global disorder. Central bankers, politicians, and government bureaucrats have been able to fashion the illusion of recovery and return to normalcy, but their “solutions” are nothing more than smoke and mirrors exacerbating the next bloodier violent stage of this *Fourth Turning*. The emergencies will become increasingly dire, triggering unforeseen reactions and unintended consequences. The civic fabric of our society will be torn asunder.    

In retrospect, the spark might seem as ominous as a financial crash, as ordinary as a national election, or as trivial as a Tea Party. The catalyst will unfold according to a basic Crisis dynamic that underlies all of these scenarios: An initial spark will trigger a chain reaction of unyielding responses and further emergencies. The core elements of these scenarios (debt, civic decay, global disorder) will matter more than the details, which the catalyst will juxtapose and connect in some unknowable way. If foreign societies are also entering a Fourth Turning, this could accelerate the chain reaction. At home and abroad, these events will reflect the tearing of the civic fabric at points of extreme vulnerability – problem areas where America will have neglected, denied, or delayed needed action.” – *The Fourth Turning** – Strauss & Howe *

*Debt*

The core crisis element of debt is far worse than it was at the outset of this Crisis in September 2008. The National Debt has risen from $9.7 trillion to $17.5 trillion, an 80% increase in five and half years. It took 215 years for the country to accumulate as much debt as it has accumulated since the start of this Crisis. We continue to add $2.8 billion a day to the National debt, and the president declares it is time for this austerity to end. The total unfunded liabilities of the Federal government for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, government pensions and now Obamacare exceeds $200 trillion and is mathematically impossible to honor. Corporate debt stands at an all-time high. Margin debt is at record levels, as faith in the Federal Reserve’s ability to levitate the stock market borders on delusional. Consumer debt has reached new heights, as the government doles out subprime auto loans to deadbeats and subprime student loans to future University of Phoenix Einsteins. Global debt has surged by 40% since 2008 to over $100 trillion, as central bankers have attempted to cure a disease caused by debt with more debt.

All of this debt accumulation is compliments of Bernanke/Yellen and the Federal Reserve, who have produced this new debt bubble with their zero interest rate policy and quantitative easing that has driven their balance sheet from $935 billion of mostly Treasury bonds in September 2008 to $4.2 trillion of toxic mortgage garbage acquired from their owners – the insolvent Too Big To Trust Wall Street banks. This entire house of cards is reliant upon permanently low interest rates, the faith of foreigners in our lies, and trust in Ivy League educated economists captured by Wall Street. This debt laden house of cards sits atop hundreds of trillions of derivatives of mass destruction used by the Wall Street casinos to generate “riskless” profits. When, not if, a trigger ignites this explosive concoction of debt, the collapse will be epic and the violent phase of this *Fourth Turning* will commence.

*Civic Decay*

The core crisis element of civic decay is evident everywhere you turn. Our failed public educational system is responsible for much of the civic decay, as a highly educated critical thinking populace is our only defense against a small cabal of bankers and billionaires acquiring unwarranted influence and control over our country. Our children have been taught how to feel and to believe government propaganda. The atrocious educational system is not a mistake. It has been designed and manipulated by your owners to produce the results they desire, as explained bluntly by *George Carlin*.

“There’s a reason that education sucks, and it’s the same reason it will never ever ever be fixed. It’s never going to get any better, don’t look for it. Be happy with what you’ve got. Because the owners of this country don’t want that. I’m talking about the real owners now, the big, wealthy, business interests that control all things and make the big decisions. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else. But I’ll tell you what they don’t want—they don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interest.”

The urban ghettos become more dangerous and uninhabitable by the day. The inner cities are crumbling under the weight of welfare spending and declining tax revenues. The very welfare policies begun fifty years ago to alleviate poverty have hopelessly enslaved the poor and ignorant in permanent squalor and destitution. The four decade old drug war has done nothing to reduce the use of drugs. It has benefited the corporate prison industry, as millions have been thrown into prison for minor drug offenses. Meanwhile, millions more have been legally addicted to drugs peddled by the corporate healthcare complex. The culture warriors and advocates of new rights for every special interest group continue their never ending battles which receive an inordinate amount of publicity from the corporate media. Class warfare is simmering and being inflamed by politicians pushing their particular agendas. Violence provoked by race and religion is growing by the day. The fault lines are visible and the imminent financial earthquake will push distress levels beyond the breaking point. Once the EBT cards stop working, all hell will break loose. Three days of panic will empty grocery store shelves and the National Guard will be called out to try and restore control.  

*Global Disorder*

The core crisis element of global disorder is evident everywhere you turn. The false flag revolution in the Ukraine, initiated by the U.S. and EU in order to blunt Russia’s control of natural gas to Europe, has the potential to erupt into a full blown shooting war at any moment. The attempt by Saudi Arabia, Israel and the U.S. to overthrow the Syrian dictator in order to run a natural gas pipeline across their land into Europe was blunted by Russia. Iraq is roiled in a civil war, after the U.S. invaded, occupied and destabilized the country. After 12 years of occupation, Afghanistan is more dysfunctional and dangerous than it was before the U.S. saved them from the evil Taliban. Unrest, violent protests, and brutal measures by rulers continue in Egypt, Turkey, Thailand, Venezuela, Bahrain, Brazil, and throughout Africa. American predator drones roam the skies of the world murdering suspected terrorists. The European Union is insolvent, with Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal propped up with newly created debt. Austerity for the people and prosperity for the bankers is creating tremendous distress and tension across the continent. A global volcanic eruption is in the offing.

It is clear to me the American Empire is in terminal decline. Hubris, delusion, corruption, foolish disregard for future generations and endless foreign follies have set in motion a chain of events that will lead to a cascading sequence of debt defaults, mass poverty, collapsing financial markets, and hyperinflation or deflation, depending on the actions of feckless bankers and politicians. There is no avoiding the tragic outcome brought on by decades of bad choices and a century of allowing private banking interests to control our currency. The “emergency” QE and ZIRP responses by the Federal Reserve to the Federal Reserve created 2008 financial collapse continue, even though the propaganda peddled by the Deep State tries to convince the public we have fully recovered. This grand fraud cannot go on forever. Ponzi schemes no longer work once you run out of dupes. With societal trust levels approaching all-time lows and foreign countries beginning to understand they are the dupes, another global financial crisis is a lock.

*The Snowden Factor *

With ten to fifteen years likely remaining in this *Fourth Turning* Crisis, people familiar with generational turnings can’t help but ponder what will happen next. Linear thinkers, who constitute the majority, mistakenly believe things will magically return to normal and we’ll continue our never ending forward human progress. Their ignorance of history and generational turnings that recur like the four seasons will bite them in the ass. We are being flung forward across the vast chaos of time and our existing social order will be transformed beyond recognition into something far better or far worse. The actual events over the coming decade are unknowable in advance, but the mood and reactions of the generational archetypes to these events are predictable. The actions of individuals will matter during this *Fourth Turning*. The majority are trapped in their propaganda induced, techno distracted stupor of willful ignorance. It will take a minority of liberty minded individuals, who honor the principles of the U.S. Constitution and are willing to sacrifice their lives, to prevail in the coming struggle.

Despite fog engulfing the path of future events, we know they will be propelled by debt, civic decay, and global disorder. Finding a unifying grey champion figure seems unlikely at this point. I believe the revelations by Edward Snowden have set the course for future events during this Fourth Turning. The choices of private citizens, like Snowden, Assange, and Manning, have made a difference. The choices we all make over the next ten years will make a difference. A battle for the soul of this country is underway. The Deep State is firmly ingrained, controlling the financial, political and educational systems, while using their vast wealth to perpetuate endless war, and domination of the media to manipulate the masses with propaganda and triviality. They are powerful and malevolent. They will not relinquish their supremacy and wealth willingly.

Snowden has revealed the evil intent of the ruling class and their willingness to trash the Constitution in their psychopathic pursuit of mammon. The mass surveillance of the entire population, locking down of an entire city in pursuit of two teenagers, military training exercises in major metropolitan areas, militarization of local police forces by DHS, crushing peaceful demonstrations with brute force, attempting to restrict and confiscate guns, molesting innocent airline passengers, executive orders utilized on a regular basis by the president, and treating all citizens like suspects has set the stage for the coming conflict. Strauss & Howe warned that history has shown armed conflict is always a major ingredient during a Fourth Turning.

“History offers even more sobering warnings: Armed confrontation usually occurs around the climax of Crisis. If there is confrontation, it is likely to lead to war. This could be any kind of war – class war, sectional war, war against global anarchists or terrorists, or superpower war. If there is war, it is likely to culminate in total war, fought until the losing side has been rendered nil – its will broken, territory taken, and leaders captured.” - *The Fourth Turning** – Strauss & Howe -1997*

It appears to me the Deep State is preparing for armed conflict with the people. Why else would they be utilizing Big Brother methods of surveillance, militarization of police forces  and Gestapo like tactics of intimidation to control the masses? This doesn’t happen in a democratic republic where private individuals are supposed to know everything done by public government servants, not vice versa. They know the cheap, easy to access energy resources are essentially depleted. They know the system they have built upon a foundation of cheap energy and cheap debt is unsustainable and will crash in the near future. They know their fiat currency scheme is failing.They know it is going to come crashing down.

They know America and the world will plunge into an era of depression, violence, and war. They also know they want to retain their wealth, power and control. There is no possibility the existing establishment can be purged through the ballot box. It’s a one party Big Brother system that provides the illusion of choice to the Proles. Like it or not, the only way this country can cast off the shackles of the banking, corporate, fascist elites, and the government surveillance state is through an armed revolution. The alternative is to allow an authoritarian regime, on par with Hitler, Stalin and Mao, to rise from the ashes of our financial collapse. This is a distinct possibility, given the ignorance and helplessness of most Americans after decades of government education and propaganda.       

The average mentally asleep American cannot conceive of armed conflict within the borders of the U.S. War, violence and dead bodies are something they see on their 52 inch HDTVs while gobbling chicken wings and cheetos in their Barcalounger. We’ve allowed a banking cartel and their central bank puppets to warp and deform our financial system into a hideous façade, sold to the masses as free market capitalism. We’ve allowed corporate interests to capture our political system through bribery and corruption.

We’ve allowed the rise of a surveillance state that has stripped us of our privacy, freedom, liberty and individuality in a futile pursuit of safety and security. We’ve allowed a military industrial complex to exercise undue influence in Washington DC, leading to endless undeclared wars designed to enrich the arms makers. We’ve allowed the corporate media and the government education complex to use propaganda, misinformation and social engineering techniques to dumb down the masses and make them compliant consumers. These delusions will be shattered when our financial and economic system no longer functions. The end is approaching rapidly and very few see it coming.

*Glory or Ruin?*

The scenario I envision is a collapse of our debt saturated financial system, with a domino effect of corporate, personal, and governmental defaults, exacerbated by the trillions of currency, interest rate, and stock derivatives. Global stock markets will crash. Trillions in paper wealth will evaporate into thin air. The Greater Depression will gain a choke-hold around the world. Mass bankruptcies, unemployment and poverty will sweep across the land. The social safety net will tear under the weight of un-payable entitlements. Riots and unrest will breakout in urban areas. Armed citizens in rural areas will begin to assemble in small units. The police and National Guard will be unable to regain control. The military will be called on to suppress any and all resistance to the Federal government. This act of war will spur further resistance from liberty minded armed patriots. The new American Revolution will have begun. Leaders will arise in the name of freedom. Regional and local bands of fighters will use guerilla tactics to defeat a slow top heavy military dependent upon technology and vast quantities of oil. A dictatorial regime may assume power on a Federal level. A breakup of the nation into regional states is a distinct possibility.

With the American Empire crumbling from within, our international influence will wane. With China also in the midst of a Fourth Turning, their debt bubble will burst and social unrest will explode into civil war. Global disorder, wars, terrorism, and financial collapse will lead to a dramatic decrease in oil production, further sinking the world into depression. The tensions caused by worldwide recession will lead to the rise of authoritarian regimes and global warfare. With “advances” in technological warfare and the proliferation of nuclear warheads, this scenario has the potential to end life on earth as we know it. The modern world could be set back into the stone-age with the push of a button. There are no guarantees of a happy ending for humanity.

The outcome of this Fourth Turning is dependent upon the actions of a minority of critical thinking Americans who decide to act. No one can avoid the trials and tribulations that lie ahead. We will be faced with immense challenges. Courage and sacrifice will be required in large doses. Elders will need to lead and millennials will need to carry a heavy load, doing most of the dying. The very survival of our society hangs in the balance. Edward Snowden has provided an example of the sacrifice required during this Fourth Turning. How we respond and the choices we make over the next decade will determine whether this Fourth Turning will result in glory or ruin for our nation.

“Eventually, all of America’s lesser problems will combine into one giant problem. The very survival of the society will feel at stake, as leaders lead and people follow. The emergent society may be something better, a nation that sustains its Framers’ visions with a robust new pride. Or it may be something unspeakably worse. The Fourth Turning will be a time of glory or ruin.” *– Strauss & Howe - **The Fourth Turning*

Click these links to read the first two parts of this three part series:

*Do No Evil Google – Censor & Snitch for the State*

*Google, China, the NSA and the Fourth Turning* Reported by Zero Hedge 2 hours ago.

Reported by ZENIT 48 minutes ago.

Officials with the European Space Agency (ESA) announce that they will next year start an in-depth campaign to monitor the amounts of methane that appear to be missing from Earth's atmosphere. At the forefront of this investigation will be the Tropospheric Ozone Monitoring Instrument (Tropomi) aboard the ESA Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite, which is currently scheduled for launch in 2015. The mission, valued at around €45 million ($62 million), will seek to determine if the la... Reported by Softpedia 12 hours ago.

*1. Andy Serkis to Direct 'Jungle Book' for Warner Bros*

You gotta give it to this guy. Andy Serkis makes his name as a performance-capture actor and works his way up to directing an A-picture for Disney.

While playing Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Serkis fought to do the voice; fought for the overall profession of performance capture, and then fought for  Academy recognition of motion capture actors. He has also done 2nd unit directing for Peter Jackson.

Now he's an A-List director.

Good for him.

 

*2. Christian Bale Is David Fincher's Choice to Play Steve Jobs in Sony Movie*

How many Steve Jobs movies is Hollywood going to make? Hollywood has yet to make a Martin Luther King biopic but here we go again… Aaron Sorkin wrote the script. This, though, actually does sound interesting:

The film consists of three long scenes regarding Apple's buzzed-about product launches, including the Mac, NeXT (after Jobs had left Apple) and the iPod.

The last Jobs film starring Ashton Kutcher grossed only $35 million.

* *

*3. THR 'Noah' Review: 'Numerous … heavy-handed ecological doomsday messages'*

From the sounds of the review, director Darren Aronofsky has rewritten the Bible. God is not wiping out the Earth due to the moral failings of His people, it is because they don't recycle.

Variety pretty much says the same:

Where Noah is the model locavore, who takes from the land only as much as he needs and strives to be at one with his surroundings (but who, being Russell Crowe, can also kick serious butt when need be), Tubal-cain personifies the debauched, resource-plundering wastrels God seeks to smite from the universe.

We'll find out March 28.

 

*4. Netflix CEO: Are the New Distribution Bottlenecks Internet Providers?*

In a new blog post, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings doesn’t' seem as okay with the premium his company just paid to Comcast as was first reported. If you recall, some Comcast customers, who are paying for the kind of Internet service that should allow them to enjoy trouble-free streaming of Netflix, were having problems because Comcast wasn't delivering the bandwidth. To solve the problem, Netflix paid Comcast an undisclosed  "toll." In a lengthy and thoughtful post, Hastings appropriately frames the debate as a Net Neutrality issue:

Netflix believes strong net neutrality is critical, but in the near term we will in cases pay the toll to the powerful ISPs to protect our consumer experience. When we do so, we don’t pay for priority access against competitors, just for interconnection. A few weeks ago, we agreed to pay Comcast and our members are now getting a good experience again. Comcast has been an industry leader in supporting weak net neutrality, and we hope they’ll support strong net neutrality as well.

 ISPs sometimes point to data showing that Netflix members account for about 30% of peak residential Internet traffic, so the ISPs want us to share in their costs. But they don't also offer for Netflix or similar services to share in the ISPs revenue, so cost-sharing makes no sense. When an ISP sells a consumer a 10 or 50 megabits-per-second Internet package, the consumer should get that rate, no matter where the data is coming from.

 Some ISPs say that Netflix is unilaterally "dumping as much volume" (Verizon CFO) as it wants onto their networks. Netflix isn't "dumping" data; it's satisfying requests made by ISP customers who pay a lot of money for high speed Internet. Netflix doesn't send data unless members request a movie or TV show.

The glory of the Internet, which Hastings correctly describes "as  improving lives everywhere – democratizing access to ideas, services and goods[,]" could be just another version of modern-day Hollywood and cable TV if the few companies who provide Internet are allowed to bottleneck distribution.

Netflix, and Netflix customers who paid for all that bandwidth, were singled out by Comcast for a form of blackmail. Comcast is also a bundled cable provider -- a business facing extinction from streaming providers like Netflix.

 

* 5. Is the Sex Scene Dead?*

In Esquire, Stephen Marche argues that the sex scene is dead. Oh, there is still plenty of sex on our television and movie screens, but it is either oppressive, grim, or boring. "The era of the titillating mainstream sex scene has abruptly ended," he writes.

The article actually made me feel better. I thought it was me. I thought I was getting old. **

*Quick Hits*

Johnny Cash's Great-Niece Found Stabbed to Death

Pitt might replace McConaughey in True Detective

Ouch: A&E Pulls Mark Wahlberg's ‘Breaking Boston’ After One Episode

‘Wolverine 3′, ‘Fantastic Four 2′, ‘Taken 3′ and More Get Release Dates

Will Marvel Studios Expand To Releasing 3-4 Movies Per Year?

 

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  Reported by Breitbart 9 hours ago.

A viral article is claiming a woman named Gemma Sheridan was stranded on a deserted island for seven years before she was found via Google Earth after she put up an “SOS sign.” However, the article is completely fake, and …

The post Gemma Sheridan: ‘Google Earth Finds Woman Trapped on Deserted Island’ is Fake, Goes Viral Anyway appeared first on The Epoch Times. Reported by Epoch Times 9 hours ago.

A pie chart of the society in Divergent, the YA franchise coming to theaters Friday, would have five slices, representing the five types of people in the fictional universe devised by author Veronica Roth: Dauntless, Amity, Candor, Erudite, and Abnegation. Dauntless are the warrior class, those in Amity farm the earth, the clever Erudite store knowledge, Candor members enact the law, and selfless Abnegation leads. “It all works,” explains Tris (Shailene Woodley) in the opening voice-over, referring to the system by which 16-year-old kids choose their factions and then stay there for life. “Everyone knows where they belong.” Reported by Slate 9 hours ago.