Yea for the USA! Yea for the Boston police! Yea for the FBI! For anyone who wants to get past the jingo-isms and corporate media spin, here’s an hour-long video that succinctly serves up what is now known about the Boston Marathon bombings and other recent events. As in real journalism, this video merely presents the facts as presented to the public and allows the viewer to draw his own conclusions. Don’t miss this one.

Jim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM_dvzLqGNA&feature=em-share_video_user

BIG BROTHER IS LISTENING DEPT.

In the 1970s, Daniel Ellsberg was first vilified as an unpatriotic scumbag but later hailed as a patriotic hero for making public the Pentagon Papers which revealed secret decision-making by the government regarding the Vietnam War. Thais merely involved one man, one deed, and one war. Only time will tell what kind of treatment is received by Edward Snowden who has revealed the incredible extent of U.S. Government spying on its own citizens. Likewise, it remains to be seen what reaction – of lack of one – there will be among the American public. This involves each and every citizen. Will we demand real change and accountability from our elected officials or will we all just go back to our computers and continue to supply the government with all the information it needs to keep us in servitude?

Jim

Breaking: New PRISM slide leaked by the Guardian: NSA has direct access to servers of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple and others

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) Breaking news — this is one of the biggest stories of our lifetime — it is critical for all internet users to read and understand this. The Guardian has just released a new slide today from its collection of 41 PRISM slides detailing the top secret NSA spy program that has, for years, granted the U.S. government “back door” access to the servers of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple, AOL, Facebook and others. The new slide, shown below, reveals that every one of these companies has been blatantly and viciously lying to its users over the last several days as they have denied the government has any sort of “direct access” to their servers.

In a brilliant move of strategic journalism, the Guardian held on to this revealing PRISM slide until today, allowing all these tech companies to dig themselves into deep holes of denial regarding participation in the NSA spy program. Once all the companies were on the record claiming government has no “direct access” to their servers, the Guardian slapped down this jaw-dropping top secret slide image shown below. It reveals, in plain English, that the NSA’s “FAA702″ operations engage in “collection directly from the servers of these U.S. Service Providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.”

That slide, originally published by the Guardian, is shown here:

In one fell swoop, the credibility of the top U.S. technology companies as well as the federal government has now been shattered. They’ve all been lying to us. Maliciously… destructively… demonically!

It is now obvious that Facebook is a massive spy network whose primary purpose is to get you to upload and post all your personal information so that all that information can be data-mined by government spooks. The primary purpose of Gmail is not to provide a free email services, but rather to get people to send and receive emails through an online service that’s directly scanned by the NSA.

All these tech giants — Hotmail, YouTube, Apple, AOL, Yahoo Mail — exist to spy on you and turn over your information to government spooks… in total violation of U.S. law and basic human dignity.

Tech giants conspired with government to betray their own users

What this astonishing PRISM slide reveals is that all your favorite tech companies are actively working against you, treating you like a criminal suspect while secretly sifting through all your personal emails, phone calls, files and photos. This was all being done with the complete approval of Bush, and then Obama. Unless it is stopped, it will certainly be carried on by the next president, too, who will inherit the infrastructure of a massive police state spy grid.

Now the whole world knows that Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Apple and others are actively conspiring with the federal government to violate your Fourth Amendment rights, steal your private data, deceive you about the purpose of their services and betray you at every level. Furthermore, it is now established that the NSA has direct access to tech company servers where it can scan and copy all your private data in real time.

That the federal government even believes it has the right and the power to engage in such a massive surveillance effort is beyond alarming. These are the actions of a government seeking to utterly destroy privacy and dominate all citizens while making sure none of those citizens ever found out what was really going on.

The government’s position is that YOU cannot have any secrets. But the government itself can do anything and everything in secret, including violating your rights and even violating federal law a million times a second as it scans the private emails and postings of innocent American citizens.

Make no mistake: What has been uncovered here is absolute proof that the federal government is a criminal regime which has utterly abandoned the rule of law. It does anything it wants — with no limits or restrictions — because it knows it can get away with it. And when government isn’t held in check, it will always expand like a cancer tumor until it reaches the point of an insane, power hungry police state dictatorship where the citizens are disarmed, censored, yet endlessly surveiled to make sure they don’t say anything critical of the government. That’s what the IRS and DOJ intimidation campaigns were all about, of course: making sure people who are awake and aware are terrorized by the government into keeping their mouths shut.

The U.S. is suffering a “calamitous collapse in the rule of law,” writes Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks. He’s the guy who went public years ago, saying Facebook was a giant spy machine for the U.S. government. It turns out he was spot on.

The conspiracy theorists were right all along

Over the last several years, anyone who warned that the U.S. government was reading your emails or spying on your Facebook posts was instantly derided as a conspiracy kook or nut job by the hilariously dis-informed mainstream media. How many times did the mainstream media make fun of Alex Jones for warning of these exact programs? Alex has been describing Facebook as a “spy grid” for at least three years. He has accurately described Google as “the NSA” for even longer. Instead of taking him seriously, the mainstream media laughed at him and called him crazy. But it turns out he was right all along.

And I’m not just saying this because I’m a fill-in host for the Alex Jones show from time to time. I’m saying it because Alex Jones and the entire Infowars team deserves some sort of massive apology from the mainstream media at this point. Not only was Alex right about all this, he actually under-stated the severity of it. The online spy grid is far, far worse than what even Alex warned about, we now know.

The leaking of these PRISM slides reveals the sobering truth that we are living under electronic tyranny right now. All of our phone calls, emails, voice chats, texts and cloud storage files are being copied, scanned and data-mined by the NSA. Nothing is safe from the government, and as long as this continues, the government will remain the No. 1 threat against our freedom and safety.

When the government knows your secrets, it controls you

The threat of “terrorism” pales in comparison to the threat that this spy grid will be radically abused by the federal government. To have all these secrets on so many people is to wield almost unlimited power to control those people.

Imagine how many journalists or corporate CEOs have engaged in online chat session “affairs” with would-be mistresses or lovers. Imagine all your email conversations with your attorneys, doctors or therapists being read by the government. Imagine the government archiving all your phone calls and geographic locations, then data-mining that information and using it against you in a blackmail campaign.

Imagine how this power could be used to control members of congress, White House staffers or prominent journalists. Any group that controls all these secrets effectively controls the country, because almost everyone is guilty of something that can be used against them in a threatening way.

PRISM isn’t about tracking terrorists; it’s about stalking and surveilling influential Americans

What kind of Americans? Journalists, congressmen, senators, CEOs, tech company founders and so on. Once the secrets are compiled on targeted people, they are used against them to force them into compliance with whatever scheme the NSA happens to be running. The fact that this technology even exists transforms the NSA into an electronic mafia with almost unlimited power.

If this doesn’t shake you to your core, you don’t yet grasp the full implications of it. No one is safe now that this system exists. Freedom is history. Orwell’s 1984 is old hat. The new “1984″ is far more terrifying and powerful… almost omniscient. Citizens must now live in fear of what they say or type, as everything is being watched by Big Brother. It’s not a Big Brother you can trust, either, since the government has gone to great lengths to keep all this secret and make sure the public didn’t know any of this.

This is not what America is supposed to be, but it’s what America has been allowed to become by apathetic citizens who have become so comfortably numb with their lives that they forgot to hold government accountable. So government has grown and festered to the point where it’s now the greatest threat of all. And yet some people are still living in total denial, claiming the spy grid is perfectly fine because, as they say, “I have nothing to hide.”

But of course you do. And the government probably already knows every last detail of it. If you’ve spoken of it, emailed anyone about it or posted pictures related to it, your “secret” is no longer a secret to the NSA.

Combine all this with the NSA’s voice recognition algorithms and photo facial recognition capabilities, and you end up with the world’s most massive socio-relational spy apparatus that would make the KGB of the 1980′s drop to their knees in sheer awe.

Conclusion? Trust in government and tech companies is shattered

So now we know. The tech giants are all handing over your private data to the NSA. They’ve been doing it for years, all in secret, and the federal government has been violating your rights and privacy at every level. Both the government and these tech giants now have zero credibility.

You cannot trust them. They are your enemy. They are a cabal of criminal monsters who abide by no laws and recognize no rights whatsoever. They seek total domination and control, and they have no intention of stopping what they are doing. We must all now make serious efforts to completely divorce ourselves from using anything related to Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and so on.

Because it doesn’t look like the NSA has any plans to stop operating this massive, illegal spy grid. For it to be shut down, it will have to be physically destroyed (i.e. nuked by the Russians or something). No “law” will stop this, since the groups running it already violate countless federal laws. Any Senator or lawmaker who even threatens to try to shut this system down would be blackmailed with private data gathered through the system itself.

The NSA now has Congress by the balls. And the President as well, surely. We are now living under an information regime so terrifyingly powerful that no one is safe… not even the people who built it.

No wonder these slides got leaked by a senior intelligence officer who saw PRISM in action and freaked out about its capabilities. The way he described it, they can “quite literally watch your ideas form as you type.”

Omniscience is dangerous if not coupled with humility and morality. I can think of nothing more dangerous today than government achieving the power of God.

Among my favorite quotes is this one from Robert E. Lee., who, in light of today’s circumstances was quite prescient.

Jim

“I consider it [the constitutional power of the General Government] as the chief source of stability to our political system, whereas the consolidation of the states into one vast republic, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of that ruin which has overwhelmed all those that have preceded it. I need not refer one so well acquainted as you are with American history, to the State papers of Washington and Jefferson, the representatives of the federal and democratic parties, denouncing consolidation and centralization of power, as tending to the subversion of State Governments, and to despotism.”

An excerpt from Robert E. Lee’s letter to the English historian and politician Lord Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton), Dec. 15, 1866.

If you think the revelations of Edward Snowden about unprecedented spying by the Government on its citizens is scary, just listen to what this Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has to say. Perhaps it is time we all start paying attention to the writing on the wall.

Jim

ALERTS –DHS INSIDERS ULTIMATE WARNING!

DHS insider: It’s about to get very ugly

By Douglas J. Hagmann
SteveQuayle.com
June 7, 2013

Something quite unexpected happened just hours ago, in the dark of night, during a two-day layover in Washington, DC. My son and I are scheduled to take part in a seminar outside of Raleigh, North Carolina this weekend, so we combined our travels to include a side-trip to DC for a business meeting we had previously arranged. It was during this layover that something seemingly ripped from the pages of a spy novel took place.

While I was in the middle of a perfectly good and well needed sleep in the very early hours of this morning, I received a message. I cannot disclose how I received this message, at least not now. The discerning reader will understand why, which, by the way, would make a very interesting story alone. The message was extremely clear and precise. I was to meet my high level DHS insider at a very specific location in Washington, DC at a time when most ‘normal’ people, except third-shift workers are still asleep. And, I was to come alone and make certain that I was not being followed, and I was to leave any cell phone or electronic device behind.

Seriously? I thought, as I was still trying to make sense of it all. Is all this really necessary? Is this really happening? I considered waking my son to accompany me, but opted to follow the instructions to the letter. Besides, I thought, he’s not the most affable middle-of-the-night person. I left a hastily written but detailed note in my hotel room before my departure in the event something happened. I looked at the digital clock on my rental car (my personal car would never survive our long distance trip). It was 3:20 a.m.

The meeting

I felt like I was part of a spy movie set in our nation?s capital. A chill rose up my spine as I waited in the dark of a chilly, misty and foggy pre-dawn morning. I was to meet with my DHS insider source at a time when most of the nation is asleep, at a place I could swear was featured in the movie All the President’s Men. No one and I mean no one knows I’m here, I thought, as I could see one of the most recognizable national landmarks in the distance.

My source appeared out of nowhere, or so it seemed, and handed me a cup of coffee with the astute observation that I looked like I needed it. So tell me, I asked impatiently, why do we have to meet at this time, at this location, and under such specific circumstances? “Because this might be our last meeting,” he stated.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, the time, the place, or the chill of the misty rain that caused my sense of foreboding. “Explain,” I asked in an almost demanding tone. So he did, without mincing words.

The details

“If anyone thinks that what’s going on right now with all of this surveillance of American citizens is to fight some sort of foreign enemy, they?re delusional. If people think that this ‘scandal’ can’t get any worse, it will, hour by hour, day by day. This has the ability to bring down our national leadership, the administration and other senior elected officials working in collusion with this administration, both Republican and Democrats. People within the NSA, the Department of Justice, and others, they know who they are, need to come forth with the documentation of ‘policy and practice’ in their possession, disclose what they know, fight what’s going on, and just do their job. I have never seen anything like this, ever. The present administration is going after leakers, media sources, anyone and everyone who is even suspected of ‘betrayal.’ That’s what they call it, ‘betrayal.’ Can you believe the size of their cahones? This administration considers anyone telling the truth about Benghazi, the IRS, hell, you name the issue, ‘betrayal,’” he said.

“We know all this already,” I stated. He looked at me, giving me a look like I’ve never seen, and actually pushed his finger into my chest. “You don’t know jack,” he said, “this is bigger than you can imagine, bigger than anyone can imagine. This administration is collecting names of sources, whistle blowers and their families, names of media sources and everybody they talk to and have talked to, and they already have a huge list. If you’re not working for MSNBC or CNN, you’re probably on that list. If you are a website owner with a brisk readership and a conservative bent, you’re on that list. It’s a political dissident list, not an enemy threat list,” he stated.

“What’s that exactly mean, being on that list, that is,” I asked, trying to make sense of it all.

“It means that there will be censorship under the color of authority of anyone in the U.S. who is attempting to expose what’s going on in our name. It’s about controlling any damning information from reaching epidemic proportions. It’s damage control to the extreme. It’s about the upcoming censorship of the internet in the name of national security. The plans are already in place. These latest reports about ‘spying eyes’ have turned this administration and others connected to it into something very, very dangerous. They feel cornered and threatened, and I’m hearing about some plans they have to shut down the flow of information that is implicating them of wrongdoing. Time is short,” he stated.

“How are they going to do this? How is it even possible?” I asked.

“First, they intend to use the Justice Department to silence journalists like in the Rosen case, but they won’t stop there. They will use a host of national security policies, laws, letters, whatever to take out the bigger threats,” he stated.

Next, they will use some sort of excuse, an external threat, and I believe it will be a combination of the economic collapse and a Mid-East war that will begin in Syria to throttle the information that is accessible on the Internet. And you know what? People will believe it!”

Based on what I’ve seen, most of which I should not have seen, the DHS is co-ordinating efforts with other federal agencies to begin to threaten American citizens with incarceration for non-compliance. You know the old talk of color coded lists? Well, this is what they will be using. People exposing the truth about Benghazi, killing the U.S. Dollar, even those questioning Obama’s legal status and eligibility to be President are the current targets. And they’ve had five long years to get to this point. The ugly truth is that these policies and practices did not start under Obama, but long before. This is about the killing of our Constitutional Republic. The murder of our country and the stripping of our rights. While many have been preoccupied with one issue, few have seen the bigger issue. This is the ‘end game,’ for all the marbles,” he stated.

More to come

“Please,” pleaded my source, “get this information out while you can. Tell people what I’m saying, that we don?t have much time, that after the latest exposure of spying, Obama, Jarrett, Axelrod, and others, including members of Congress, have put their plans into high gear. This is about the Marxist takeover of America. This is about our country being able to survive another July 4th holiday. This is about a world war about to break out that will kill millions of people, all because of the agenda of this administration.”

“They are very dangerous and will do anything and everything to stop the onslaught of negative information that’s being reported by the main stream media. But only about one quarter of the real information is being reported. The other three quarters will be the game changer. But first, tell people what I’ve said. Let them know that more will follow but get this information out right now while the internet is still relatively free. Do it today.”

My source provided additional information, but I am abiding by his wish to get this much out. I am writing now to let people know that we are in for seriously dangerous times ahead. Deadly times. War, and censorship under the color of authority and under the pretext of of national security. It’s about to get a lot uglier. Stay tuned.

What if the owners of the National Football League (NFL) met secretly behind closed doors and refused to tell the public what was discussed? Wouldn’t the corporate mass media throw a conniption fit? Wouldn’t there be blaring headlines and rants on sports radio and TV show? Wouldn’t there be cries of “price fixing!” “collusion!” and “conspiracy!”? But let the most powerful persons in the world meet secretly and we are supposed to believe that any criticism is just conspiracy theory. In fact, for many years, the corporate mass media denied such Bilderberg meetings were even happening. Both Cameron and Obama pledged transparency in government. Neither one has followed through. So, who is really in charge?

Jim

Cameron to attend secretive Bilderberg conference (but will not say who he meets)

Daily Mail
June 7, 2013

David Cameron is to attend a meeting of the secretive Bilderberg Group tonight – but will not say who he meets.

The Prime Minister will take part in a debate on the global economy with an unknown group of ministers, business leaders and academics from around the world.

But his attendance at the heavily-guarded event is certain to spark controversy after Mr Cameron once promised to lead the ‘most open and transparent government in the world’.

Secret: David Cameron, pictured in Scotland today, is to attend the Bilderberg Group conference tonight, but Downing Street said it was a private meeting and will not say who he meets

Controversy: Protesters gathered to at vehicles arriving at the conference yesterday in protest at its secretive nature

Famous for being shrouded in secrecy, the Bilderberg conference is taking place in Britain for the first time since 1998 and conspiracy theorists believe this is where leaders plot world domination.

The huge police operation drafted in to monitor the four-day event in Watford, which has previously attracted mass demonstrations, could cost the British taxpayer as much as £2million or more, it has been claimed.

Mr Cameron is not due to give a speech but will take part in a discussion about ‘domestic and global economic issues’.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘It is a private meeting. He has been invited as head of the government here.

‘My understanding is that is is usual for the Bilderberg Group to invite the head of the government of the country in which it is meeting.

‘He feels it is an opportunity to discuss economic issues with senior ministers, business people and academics.’

‘Outrageous’: The huge police operation drafted in to monitor the four-day event, which has previously attracted mass demonstrations, could cost the British taxpayer as much as £2million or more, it has been claimed

On guard: Police patrol the grounds of The Grove hotel which is hosting the annual Bilderberg conference

Security: A police helicopter hovers over the The Grove hotel in Hertfordshire, with the taxpayer paying for most of the bill

The spokesman said he thought it was the first time Mr Cameron had joined a meeting of the shadowy group. But as Tory leader he attended in 2008.

The Prime Minister has made great play of his commitment to be more open about who he meets.

In 2010 he promised: ‘We want to be the most open and transparent government in the world.’

Downing Street was forced to deny that Mr Cameron’s decision to attend this evening ran counter to his pledge.

The spokesman added: ‘The Prime Minister has always been clear about the importance of transparency, which is why this Government has taken  a number of steps in terms of publishing more data, more information and making details of meetings available.

‘We publish far more information on meetings than previous governments. The Prime Minister regularly has meetings with key ministers from other countries and with business people and others as part of his job.

‘That doesn’t mean that he is not determined to lead the most transparent government.’

Campaigners: Amid tight security, members of the press and a handful of protesters gathered in a fenced-off area just inside the grounds of the hotel, but around half a mile from the redbrick hotel

Sweep: Police are seen to be doing security checks in bushes outside the hotel grounds

Since its inception in 1954, Bilderberg  has held annual gatherings of 120-150 invited political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media, designed to ‘foster dialogue between Europe and North America’.

The group describes the conference as ‘a forum for informal, off-the-record discussions about megatrends and the major issues facing the world’ and states that the private nature of the meeting allows participants to ‘listen, reflect and gather insights’ without being bound by the conventions of office or by pre-agreed public positions.

There is no detailed agenda, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued.

Cloaked: Famous for being shrouded in secrecy, the Bilderberg conference is taking place in Britain for the first time since 1998 and conspiracy theorists believe this is where leaders plot world domination

Ring of steel: Police officers man a road block as delegates arrived for the four-day meetingSeveral cars with blacked-out windows entered the gates of the Grove Hotel, near Watford, in Hertfordshire, have been seen arriving the secretive meeting.

It is thought billionaire executives from multinational companies such as Amazon and Google, high-ranking political figures including Chancellor George Osborne, senior minister Ken Clarke and shadow chancellor Ed Balls and even members of royal families are among the 130 or so attendees.

Downing Street refused to comment on the huge police operation surrounding the event, which has been heavily criticised.

Watford town mayor Dorothy Thornhill said: ‘I think it’s outrageous that the local taxpayer has to pick up the tab for ostensibly a private meeting of trillionaires, probably the most wealthy people in the world.

‘Hertfordshire Constabulary have suddenly got this unexpected budget strain dumped on them at literally a month’s notice. It’s not on.’

Alert: Police on horseback patrol the area around the hotel as delegates arrive for the conference

Keeping watch: The traditionally secretive conference, which has taken place since 1954, is expected to be attended by politicians, bank bosses, businessman and European royalty

Hertfordshire Police has not revealed details of the bill, but they are in talks with the Home Office about a grant for ‘unexpected or exceptional costs’.

This is only approved if expenditure threatens a force’s budget, which would need to be more than one per cent of its overall spend – or about £1.8million, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Hertfordshire Police said the Bilderberg Group has agreed to contribute some of the cost of security, but taxpayers will have to cover the rest.

A spokesman added: ‘We will also be seeking funding from other sources to help cover the costs of policing and are in discussion with the Home Office about other funding sources.’

“They” are always behind things, it is said. So, who are “they”? Here’s the list:

BILDERBERG CONFERENCE 2013: FULL LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2337407/David-Cameron-attend-secretive-Bilderberg-Group-conference-say-meets.html#ixzz2VXT7Utmm

NOTE: Bilderberg began meeting on June 6, 2013 — that’s 6-6 and 2+1+3+ 666. Coincidence?

Here Blogger Mitch Battros explains what well may be the true cause of the wild and erratic weather we have experienced for some time now. Sorry to disappoint those, such as Al Gore, who seek to profit from taxes and trade in “carbon credits.” It is not our SUVs but a natural cause-and-effect of the sun. The proof that this theory is correct may be found in the fact that the polar caps on Mars are diminishing, melting. So it is not “Global Warming.” It is solar system warming. Or perhaps it is being caused by some celestial object altering the magnetic fields of the bodies as it enters our solar system?

Jim

What is the Cause of Today’s “Extreme Weather”?

By Mitch Battros
Earth Changes
June 7, 2013

It is the principle of “convection”. This will be a three part article bringing us up to date on what’s really happening in the scientific community. To describe the sequence of events in its most basic terms – is to say the Earth’s core is overheating. The Earth’s core is overheating due to the amount of radiation (charged particles) coming from the Sun and our galaxy Milky Way. These various forms of radiation coming from solar flares, CMEs, coronal holes, filament, gamma rays, and galactic cosmic rays coming from our galaxy in heightened waves – penetrating the Earth ‘literally’ to its core, is causing temperatures to mirror that of the Sun’s surface.

This formula of causation is something you will be hearing about for the next 10 years. Over the last two decades, most government and private money has been looking up to the stars for answers to our universe, and most importantly, our place in it. But now, coming up on two years scientists have been looking ‘down’ to understand what is the cause of Earth’s cycle’s which includes the one we are in now producing ‘extreme weather’.

Convection is the act of transferring heat by circulation or movement of the Earth’s solid core, transferring heat to the liquid outer core, into the mantle, and making its way to the Earth’s surface. This process has ebb and flowed throughout the life of Earth. Ancient tribes related this to lifecycle of all living things which includes humans and animals. They speak of it as the process of ‘expansion and contraction’.

Here’s an interesting piece regarding the use of an early-day crystal meth used by German soldiers during the Third Reich era. It seems the “War on Drugs” may have begun as a “War Drug.” As you read this, recall that our troops today are being given a debilitating blend of such drugs along with questionable vaccines and that for the past couple of years the greatest cause of death among our soldiers has been suicide.

Jim

‘Pilot’s Salt’: The Third Reich Kept Its Soldiers Alert With Meth

For a while, the stuff seemed to be “the ideal war drug.”

By Megan Garber

The Atlantic
May 31, 2013

A bottle of Pervitin, dating from around 1940. The packing reads: “Alertness aid,” to be taken “to maintain wakefulness” — but, it continues with an exclamation point, “only from time to time”! (via Der Spiegel)

In 1972, Heinrich Böll won the Nobel Prize for literature. But before he became a writer of novels, short stories, and essays, Böll was a writer of letters. During his early 20s, which also happened to be during World War II, he was conscripted into the German military. And as he fought, serving in France, Romania, Hungary, and finally the Soviet Union, Böll corresponded with his family back in Cologne.

The letter he sent on May 20, 1940, contained not just an update, but a request. ”Perhaps you could obtain some more Pervitin for my supplies?”

Just one of these pills, Böll explained, was as effective at keeping him alert as several cups of coffee. Plus, when he took Pervitin, he was able to forget, temporarily, about the trials and terrors of war. He could — for a while, at least — be happy.

Pervitin was the early version of what we know today as crystal meth. And it was fitting that a German soldier would become addicted to the stuff: the drug, Der Spiegel notes, first became popular in Germany, brought to market by the then-Berlin-based drugmaker Temmler Werke. And almost immediately, the German army physiologist Otto Ranke realized its military value: not only could the methamphetamine compound keep fighters (pilots, in particular) alert on little sleep; it could also keep an entire military force feeling euphoric. Meth, Spiegel puts it, “was the ideal war drug.”

And it was, as such, put to wide use. The Wehrmacht, Germany’s World War II army, ended up distributing millions of the Pervitin tablets to soldiers on the front (they called it “Panzerschokolade,” or “tank chocolate”). The air force gave the tablets to its flyers (in this case, it was “pilot’s chocolate” or “pilot’s salt”). Hitler himself was given intravenous injections of methamphetamine by his personal physician, Theodor Morell. The pill, however, was the more common form of the drug. All told, between April and July of 1940, more than 35 million three-milligram doses of Pervitin were manufactured for the German army and air force.

News of meth’s powers, unsurprisingly, spread. British papers began reporting on German soldiers’ use of a “miracle pill.” Soon, Allied bomber pilots were experimenting with the drug. Their tests ended quickly, though; while the soldiers who used pilot’s salt were able to focus on their flying in the short term … they also became agitated, aggressive, and impaired in their judgment over the long.

The Germans would notice the same side effects — the side effects (thanks, Breaking Bad!) we know so well today. Short rest periods, it turned out, weren’t enough to compensate for long stretches of wakefulness. Some soldiers who used the meth died of heart failure; others ended up committing suicide during psychotic phases. Many others simply became addicted to the stimulant, leading to all the familiar symptoms of addiction and withdrawal: sweating, dizziness, hallucination, depression. Leonardo Conti, the Third Reich’s top health official, moved to limit use of the drug among his forces. He was, however, unsuccessful.

As late as the 1960s, in fact, the Temmler Werke was supplying the armies of both East and West Germany with its Pervitin pills. And it wasn’t until the 1970s that West Germany’s postwar army, the Bundeswehr, finally removed the drug from its medical arsenal. East Germany’s National People’s Army wouldn’t follow suit until 1988.

Below, Russ Baker, author of Family of Secrets takes to task a recent article in The New York Times dissing anyone who would question Government pronouncements — despite the fact that our Government has been caught in lie after lie for years. If the Federal Government of the United States was an individual, none of us would have anything to do with him. He is a proven and perpetual liar. But read for yourself Mr. Baker’s lengthy but pithy analysis of corporate mainstream mass media tripe.

Jim

New York Times Warning: Trust Authorities on Boston Bombing, or You’re Nuts

By Russ Baker

http://whowhatwhy.com

May 31, 2013

A huge story can set off alarm bells everywhere, but somehow, with ever increasing frequency, we note the silence of the mainstream media. Having avoided doing its job, it then protects its flank by denigrating those who call for inquiries.

This Is Your Brain on CT

A recent example is this Times article : “Why Rational People Buy Into Conspiracy Theories.”  It is illustrated with a Victorian diagram of the brain, updated to show the conspiracy theorist’s brain–with a flying saucer inside.  The message is unmistakable: if you believe in any conspiracy (i.e., organized but deliberately hidden effort or operation) at all, you also believe in flying saucers carrying little green men.

The article reinforces this implication.

Here’s how it begins:

In the days following the bombings at the Boston Marathon, speculation online regarding the identity and motive of the unknown perpetrator or perpetrators was rampant. And once the Tsarnaev brothers were identified and the manhunt came to a close, the speculation didn’t cease. It took a new form. A sampling: Maybe the brothers Tsarnaev were just patsies, fall guys set up to take the heat for a mysterious Saudi with high-level connections; or maybe they were innocent, but instead of the Saudis, the actual bomber had acted on behalf of a rogue branch of our own government; or what if the Tsarnaevs were behind the attacks, but were secretly working for a larger organization?

Crazy as these theories are…..

The essay, by Times magazine columnist Maggie Koerth-Baker, implicitly suggests the public should immediately halt speculation once law enforcement officials “leak” information intended to shape our perceptions. No matter that these leaks are not the same thing as evidence presented at trial, that the leaks themselves serve an agenda, and that law enforcement has a long history of attempting to persuade the public of false narratives. No matter that the latter is a practice repeatedly, if often belatedly, chronicled by the Times itself.

Science Orders You: Stop Thinking Rationally

The author goes on to say that “recent scientific research” tells us that people who believe there’s more to a story may actually accept several competing theories as plausible. And because they are open to competing theories, they’re basically wacky. Such an ecumenical orientation to mysteries, akin to tolerating various conflicting religious faiths, is supposed to show that there’s something wrong with you.

However, another study might find that those who prefer pat explanations from the authorities are equally irrational.

For example, when the Tsarnaevs were first identified by the public from video footage released by the FBI, the Bureau told us the Tsarnaevs were previously unknown to it. Then the Bureau was forced by the Russians to admit it had known the brothers for quite some time. In fact, the Russians had briefed the Bureau on its concerns several years ago, and at that time, in response to the Russian information, the FBI had begun interacting with the Tsarnaev clan. This unexplained about-face was, according to establishmentarians, just fine. No questions, your honor.

Here’s another doozy. We were initially told that MIT police officer Sean Collier was killed in an altercation April 18 with the Tsarnaevs—perhaps at a convenience store. Later, the authorities said Collier was actually assassinated completely unaware—shot point blank in the head while sitting in his patrol car—at an odd spot in between buildings on the MIT campus—and by unknown assailants. This switcheroo was also A-OK with outfits like The Times. Nothing to investigate, no reason to be suspicious.  

On April 19, the authorities told us that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev shot it out in a long gun battle with police before being apprehended. Later we learned, from the same authorities, that the young man, lying seriously wounded inside a boat parked in a suburban driveway, actually did not even have a gun with him.  In fact, he was nearly executed in a totally one-sided gun battle. This fabulous flip-flop also raised no red flag with the establishment media.

On May 22 the authorities told us the FBI had to kill Tsarnaev’s acquaintance in Orlando, Florida, Ibragim Todashev, because he lunged with a knife and stabbed an agent several times. Later, it emerged that, well, maybe he didn’t have a knife at all, but maybe at some time he brandished a broomstick, or, at article press time, something else. And that was OK too, by gosh, for the journalistic glitterati.

Let’s face it: If a suspect in an interrogation room told this many contradictory stories, he or she would be locked up, and later probably prove eminently convictable by a jury.  But a person who sees something sinister in such official confabulations gets lumped together with the people who see little green men from Mars floating in their soup.

Swami Says

Anyone who has ever written for outfits like the Times knows that sucking up to authority will always serve one well professionally. Consider the eagerly establishment-pleasing Koerth-Baker, a “science editor” who scrupulously follows the journalism-school rules of the road: She dredges up the perennial “academic” so that it appears that her reporting has no agenda—she’s just sharing what some “expert” thinks.

To prove what idiots her fellow Americans are, she turns to her expert, Dr. Viren Swami, a psychology researcher at a university which, we discovered, ranked 70^th out of 106 UK universities on “research standards.”

Swami’s expertise to judge a large part of the population fantasists when it comes to security-state ops seems questionable. His doctorate is in “Body Size Ideals across Cultures”. His post-doctoral study was on “men and masculinities.” He has investigated such issues as “Why do hungry and stressed men idealize a heavier body size than do satiated and unstressed men?” and “the impact of body art (tattoos and piercings) on interpersonal perceptions.”

But more recently, he says, he’s been studying“why some people are more likely than others to accept and disseminate conspiracy theories.”  Swami, in his picture, looks barely out of his twenties. Surely too young to remember all the security-service perfidy and cover-ups revealed by official investigations in both the United States and the UK.  But Koerth-Baker assures us that Swami does include “conspiracy belief” in his many studies, and shares his wisdom with us:

“The best predictor of belief in a conspiracy theory is belief in other conspiracy theories,” says Viren Swami, a psychology professor who studies conspiracy belief at the University of Westminster in England. Psychologists say that’s because a conspiracy theory isn’t so much a response to a single event as it is an expression of an overarching worldview.

Turning the Eye Chart Upside Down

Koerth-Baker invokes a tired and overused Wikipedia-style meme from the late historian Richard Hofstadter on the “paranoid style” (also invoked by a rabid if purportedly liberal Los Angeles Times writer to dismiss a book by yours truly on connections between the Bush clan, their circle, and improperly understood American tragedies, while managing to ignore the book’s massive documentation—including more than a thousand footnotes). Koerth-Baker then says that:

Since Hofstadter’s book was published, our access to information has vastly improved, which you would think would have helped minimize such wild speculation. But according to recent scientific research on the matter, it most likely only serves to make theories more convincing to the public.

Perhaps that is because, of the many hundreds of books on the JFK assassination, about 95 percent of the best written and researched volumes, from credentialed academics, journalists and researchers, conclude that John F. Kennedy was not killed by a lone kook, but by real, powerful people who actively endorsed and sponsored overthrows and murders of elected leaders around the world, No matter. The author continues:

Perfectly sane minds possess an incredible capacity for developing narratives, and even some of the wildest conspiracy theories can be grounded in rational thinking, which makes them that much more pernicious. Consider this: 63 percent of registered American voters believe in at least one political conspiracy theory, according to a recent poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Her assumption is that, in a country perennially employing tens of thousands of top-secret covert operatives, homicide-trained assassins and “special forces” enthusiasts, no one has any reason to suspect that any event involving some kind of death or mayhem was ever engineered on an organized basis.

***

In 2010, Swami and a co-author summarized this research in The Psychologist, a scientific journal. They found, perhaps surprisingly, that believers are more likely to be cynical about the world in general and politics in particular. Conspiracy theories also seem to be more compelling to those with low self-worth, especially with regard to their sense of agency in the world at large. Conspiracy theories appear to be a way of reacting to uncertainty and powerlessness.

We are thus supposed to accept there is something essentially wrong with people who lose hope after seeing, time and time again, the most idealistic, reformist leaders inexplicably snuffed out, and their crusades dashed. This loss of hope and faith in a clearly dysfunctional system is seen as illness.

And, by the way, that article in “The Psychologist” (for which she provides no link or citation) was only three pages long.

Put the Blame on the Brain

“In these moments of powerlessness and uncertainty, a part of the brain called the amygdala kicks into action. Paul Whalen, a scientist at Dartmouth College who studies the amygdala, says the amygdala jump-starts the rest of the brain into analytical overdrive — prompting repeated reassessments of information in an attempt to create a coherent and understandable narrative, to understand what just happened, what threats still exist and what should be done now. This may be a useful way to understand how, writ large, the brain’s capacity for generating new narratives after shocking events can contribute to so much paranoia in this country.”

On the other hand, there is no mention of what part of the brain causes some people to reflexively–if illogically–trust just about anything published in establishment media like the New York Times, The Atlantic, or stated on PBS. Even after they get so very many things wrong time and again.

Avoid Knowledge!

Koerth-Baker invokes the “backfire effect” to explain why conspiracy theorists are supposedly resistant to official narratives. But that effort actually, well, backfires.

 In 2006, the political scientists Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler identified a phenomenon called the ‘backfire effect.’ They showed that efforts to debunk inaccurate political information can leave people more convinced that false information is true than they would have been otherwise.

True, but the “inaccurate political information” being debunked was not a lunatic conspiracy theory–it was government disinformation, some of which was the product of conspiracy—for example, prewar disinformation that Iraq had WMD, or claims that tax cuts increase federal revenue.  Refutation of these false assertions resulted in their reinforcement, the “backfire effect.” The authors suspect “Republicans might be especially prone to the backfire effect because conservatives may have more rigid views than liberals: Upon hearing a refutation, conservatives might ‘argue back’ against the refutation in their minds, thereby strengthening their belief in the misinformation.”

Koerth-Baker then tries to give Swami’s theories a piggyback ride on the work of Nyhan and Reifler:

“Nyhan isn’t sure why this happens, but it appears to be more prevalent when the bad information helps bolster a favored worldview or ideology.

In that way, Swami says, the Internet and other media have helped perpetuate paranoia. Not only does more exposure to these alternative narratives help engender belief in conspiracies, he says, but the Internet’s tendency toward tribalism helps reinforce misguided beliefs.

What worldview or ideology is held by Koerth-Baker and Swami?  Is it bolstered by what they read in the New York Times?

Conspiracy Theories Approved By the Establishment

Koerth-Baker then quotes a historian at the University of California saying that conspiracies do exist. Don’t get too excited: she quickly supplies examples (Watergate, Iran Contra) where the conspirators were supposedly vanquished by an effective system in which the establishment media and Congress got to the bottom of things. In other words, don’t worry, everything is OK.

Except that a growing body of evidence indicates that the real conspiracy in Watergate wasn’t Nixon’s—but that of corporate and national security elements seeking to frame and force from office an uncooperative president. (If all you read is The New York Times, you wouldn’t know that there are at least three impressive best-sellers out there that make this argument persuasively.)

The point is that the establishment will always be consistent. By definition, if the goal is to prevent the public’s waking up to the degraded state of democracy, then the only “real” conspiracies we will be encouraged to worry about will be propagandistic constructions designed to send us off in hopelessly wrong directions. Thus, allowing the Republican establishment to create hysteria around a “socialistic, secretly Muslim president,” while the president and almost all other top officials are in the thrall of a real conspiracy by financial interests to dominate our system. Or vilifying an entire religion as bent on destroying our way of life to the point that we must give up our civil liberties for the protection of the state.

We recognize there is a kind of conspiracy fever in America, and that much of the speculation is groundless. But the authorities have brought this on with decades of deception, unnecessary secrecy, endless cover-ups and real crimes against the public interest. No wonder we can’t distinguish between plots on every corner and a skeptical attitude toward disturbing behavior from authority.

A Farrago

The beauty of Koerth-Baker’s article, published in the Times magazine where supposedly well-educated people get their ideas before going forth to repeat them at dinner parties and on talk shows, is that it is itself inherently irrational—the stuff of editorial and intellectual fogheadedness.

It take a very broad group of people who have little in common, and condemns them all, with the message that anyone who asks questions about official narratives should be considered delusional, albeit not necessarily clinically insane. The truth is, some people have been driven a bit, or more than a bit, crazy by repeated exposure to deeply disturbing real events (assassinations, mass murder, false-flag war-mongering), so that they begin to see a plot and a lie behind everything. This unfortunate strain of OTSD (On-going Traumatic Stress Disorder) is abetted by a substantial industry among radio, website and publishing personalities, who profit off the gullibility of their audiences by selling them bomb shelters and home canning equipment and other products of mass delusion.

But there is another group, to which we proudly belong: people who live in the real world and are not blind to nuance, people who don’t buy what the kook machines have to sell, but also recognize that the establishment media (compromised by, among other things, its financial dependency on the corporate elites) can’t be trusted to get to the real bottom of things.

To lump these different groups together and tar them all with the same brush amounts to a kind of willful journalistic malpractice.

By definition, an analysis involves the separation of a whole into its component parts.  Rather than separating this complex subject into its parts, Koerth-Baker, Swami, et al do just the opposite.  What they have created is a farrago which is, according to Mr. Webster, a confused mixture, a hodgepodge – as in, “a [farrago] of half-truths intended to put the party line in the best light.”

Along these lines, Koerth-Baker notes that ”Americans have always had the sneaking suspicion that somebody was out to get us — be it Freemasons, Catholics or communists.” No mention of the people that most people think are “out to get us” – members of the American aristocracy, without whom the New York Times would not even exist.

Fortunately, a bunch of articulate “nuts’ have challenged this Times piece. Guess who? Times readers. The response comments are full of thoughtful rebuttals. (By the way, we think New York Times readers who abhor that kind of manipulation would welcome the work we do at WhoWhatWhy but perhaps have not heard of our site. When you post intelligent, measured comments over on the Times site, feel free to mention and link to us.)

A Simple Solution

In order to understand who is a crazy conspiracy theorist, you first have to understand which theories are crazy, and which are valid—and that requires a knowledge of current events and history apparently beyond the ken of the likes of Koerth-Baker. Without such knowledge, you’re in no position to assess whether a perceived conspiracy might be real or not.  Example: if you don’t know that John Wilkes Booth had accomplices in the death of Abraham Lincoln, you would judge as bonkers a statement that at least one American president was in fact killed by a conspiracy.

It is not clear whether Koerth-Baker is truly ignorant of these issues—or just wants to help the New York Times keep you ignorant. In any case, when it comes to understanding how the powerful stay powerful, we clearly need fewer critiques of members of the public who ask questions—and a lot more studies of the facts themselves.

The complaint charged him with assaulting a police officer. It seems questionable how a person standing on a platform holding a microphone can be construed as assaulting a policeman who comes onto the stage and grabs him. Here is a good video of Kokesh’s arrest. Try to find the assault.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNOnooHSwug

Now, match this video with the arrest affidavit posted here:

http://freeadam.net/2013/05/20/adam-kokesh-accused-felony/

The video and the affidavit are not compatible.

Next, according to videos taken at the scene, a man appears to be trying to plant something in Kokesh’s pocket. Here’s the video:

http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/134919-2013-05-20-planting-drugs-on-adam-kokesh.htm

It turns out the man in the green shirt is Don DeZarn, a Libertarian candidate from New Jersey. He was depicted earlier with a cigarette in his mouth. Instead of trying to plant a joint on Kokesh, he may have been simply trying to ditch a joint.

A new website dedicated to Kokesh’s incarceration, http://freeadam.net/2013/05/19/free-adam-kokesh-call-flood-mon-may-20-8am/, made this appeal:

“Please pick up your phone for Adam Mon May 20 2013 starting at 8AM EDT, call and politely but firmly demand his immediate and unconditional release. Ranked in order of importance:

“I demand the immediate and unconditional release of Adam Kokesh and the dropping of all charges against him.”

(1) US Attorney (Phila): (215) 861-8200
(2) US Magistrate (Phila): (215) 597-6079
(3) Philadelphia Federal Prison: 215-521-4000 (wait a sec, then press 0)
(4) US Federal Courthouse (Phila): (215) 597-7704
(5) US Park Police Office of the Chief in DC: (202) 619-7350 and Philadelphia: 215-597-7077

After calling, please tweet using the hashtag #FreeAdam.”

To add insult to injury, some of Kokesh’s supporters were confronted by a subway cop on their way home and watch what transpired:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d7c_1369095693#LPwEf6z6sgjXjStx.99

Why would the government, through Philadelphia law enforcement officers arrest peaceful demonstrators exercising their rights?

Perhaps all this has to do with the proposed armed march being organized by Koresh in Washington, D.C. on July 4. At this writing some 3,000 persons were proposing to march across the Memorial Bridge in Washington, which, despite the city’s gun ban being struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, retains the most restrictive gun laws in the nation, armed with slung rifles and shotguns as a protest against gun control. They intended to march past the Capitol and the Supreme Court in violation of traffic and park regulations.

Kokesh has worked with D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier to guarantee a peaceable demonstration. However, Lanier has stated that if a law is broken, there will be consequences. Kokesh pledged he will “submit to arrest without resisting.”

“That is the point, after all,” commented Blogger Stephano Medina. “Though many commentators are attacking Kokesh for everything from being impractical to having poor taste, they are overlooking the fact that this proposed march of thousands isn’t even meant to happen. Perhaps that is because Kokesh is doing something that some Americans no longer understand and others don’t have the patience for: good old fashioned civil disobedience. Of course, the past four years have been historic in terms of protests and demonstrations across the globe, with the Occupy movement, Tea Party, class riots in France and England, and the Arab Spring…

Enter Adam Kokesh. You may disagree with his libertarian politics — I, for one, do — but when he hands off his rifle and quietly submits to arrest this summer, few people will find him selfish or unresolved. He will not be making a coercive point, backed by the force of his masses or the rancor of their voice, but a moral one, the kind that has been made by many before him who have submitted to the rule of law while conceding its flaws. The police won’t be halting his ‘unstoppable force’ more than they’ll be giving it a ramp. Come summer, don’t be surprised if it works.

Source: http://www.policymic.com/articles/40849/adam-kokesh-open-carry-march-what-liberals-can-learn-from-this-revival-of-civil-disobedience

Now let’s see…what better way to nip such a demonstration in the bud than to arrest the ringleaders before it even takes place? That’s the way the authorities would have handled this situation in Nazi Germany or communist Russia. Is this truly what you want for America?

According to research by Sandy Frost, there is more to the scandal regarding the IRS targeting certain groups while accommodating others than has yet been reported in the corporate mainstream mass media. Below is an introduction to her investigation piece regarding the “Jesters,” a Masonic group headquartered in Indiana.

Jim

IRS Apologist Authorized Jester Charity

By Sandy Frost

http://sandyfrost.newsvine.com

May 21, 2013

Congress is investigating Lois Lerner and the IRS scandal. This article reports that she authorized a charity established by the Royal Order of Jesters. I have investigated them since February 2008 and have since exposed, detailed and documented the greatest nonprofit fraud of our time; human trafficking and prostitution at taxpayer expense. The Jesters hold weekend parties, coordinated and executed through a nationwide network of dirty cops, judges, elected officials and others in positions of power to protect their brothers. The Jesters then write off the costs of their weekend parties on their tax returns with the exempt purpose of “spreading the gospel of mirth and merriment.”

A Jester must first be a secretly invited Shriner who must first be a Master Mason.

Elected officials from both sides are calling for Lois Lerner’s replacement. Some stated that the IRS Treasury IG Report highlighted mismanagement at the IRS. This Jester authorization is a prime example and must be included in current Congressional investigations and media coverage.

For the rest of the story, go to: http://sandyfrost.newsvine.com/_news/2013/05/22/18406882-irs-apologist-authorized-jester-charity