451 error code, inspired by Ray Bradbury's " Faranheit 451", will be used on pages censored by the government for legal reasons.

 

Error 451: New Bradbury-inspired HTTP code to show legal censorship

 

 

Published time: 22 Dec, 2015 21:32Edited time: 22 Dec, 2015 21:55

 

 

© Samantha Sais / Reuters

 

A newly approved 451 error code will be used on pages which have been censored by the government for legal reasons. The code number was inspired by the famous dystopian Ray Bradbury novel ‘Fahrenheit 451.’

 

The Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) approved on Monday a new Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) status – code 451 that will be seen by internet users when the page is blocked by government due to ‘legal obstacles.’

“This status code indicates that the server is denying access to the resource as a consequence of a legal demand,” the body, responsible for internet operating standards, said in a statement.

Mark Nottingham @mnot

The IESG has approved the 451 (Unavailable for Legal Reasons) #HTTP Status code; great job @timbray! #censorshiphttps://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-httpbis-legally-restricted-status/ …

10:49 PM - 17 Dec 2015

 

 

 

IESG said that it advises the authorities to include the information on who and why blocked a certain website.

However, “it is possible that certain legal authorities might wish to avoid transparency, and not only demand the restriction of access to certain resources, but also avoid disclosing that the demand was made.”

Though it said that in many cases the sites could still be accessed using a VPN or the Tor network.




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White House issues veto threat over refugee bill. White House says legislation, which sets high hurdles for refugee admissions, is ‘untenable’

 

By Karl de Vries, CNN

Updated 6:37 PM ET, Wed November 18, 2015

 

Some governors say they won't accept Syrian refugees 02:34

 

Story highlights

• "The certification requirement ... is untenable and would provide no meaningful additional security for the American people," the White House said
• The refugee issue has emerged as a key political issue in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in Paris

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama on Wednesday vowed to veto a GOP-drafted bill that would suspend the program allowing Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the U.S. until key national security agencies certify they don't pose a security risk.

"The certification requirement at the core of H.R. 4038 is untenable and would provide no meaningful additional security for the American people, instead serving only to create significant delays and obstacles in the fulfillment of a vital program that satisfies both humanitarian and national security objectives," the White House said in a statement.

Read More Here

 

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Could the government shut down over refugees?

 

 

By Deirdre Walsh and Ted Barrett, CNN

Updated 8:12 PM ET, Wed November 18, 2015

Story highlights

• President Barack Obama and House Democrats said they would oppose a GOP-drafted bill to suspend the program allowing Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the U.S. until key national security agencies certify they don't pose a security risk
• The deadline to reach a spending deal is December 11, and the refugee issue could make it more difficult to reach an accord

Washington (CNN)The "je suis Paris" mood didn't last long in Washington.

House Speaker Paul Ryan called for a bipartisan response to the ISIS terrorist attacks in France, but President Barack Obama and House Democrats said they would oppose a GOP-drafted bill to suspend the program allowing Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the U.S. until key national security agencies certify they don't pose a security risk.

The White House Wednesday afternoon said Obama would veto the bill, saying the certification requirement is "untenable and would provide no meaningful additional security for the American people, instead serving only to create significant delays and obstacles in the fulfillment of a vital program that satisfies both humanitarian and national security objectives."

White House issues veto threat over refugee bill

 

The battle over what to do about the program, and whether it should continue receiving federal money, could trigger what Ryan was hoping to avoid -- another government shutdown.

Ryan made a rare floor speech on Wednesday arguing that the legislation the House would take up on Thursday was a reasonable response to concerns about new attacks. He distanced himself from some Republican presidential candidates who have urged that the U.S. refuse asylum for Muslim refugees.

"We will not have a religious test, only a security test," Ryan said.

The House Republican proposal would halt the program permitting refugees fleeing war in Iraq and Syria to enter the United States until the Secretary of Homeland Security signs off that those applying to come in do not have ties to terrorism. The proposal also requires that the FBI certify that those applying to enter the U.S. have had background checks, and that federal agencies regularly report to Congress about those who were vetted.

Obama's vocal criticism of Republicans pushing for restrictions in the refugee program seemed to deepen the divide on Capitol Hill, and even take some Democrats aback

.

While traveling through Turkey and the Philippines, the President called some GOP suggestions about the program "offensive" and ripped those warning that allowing those refugees fleeing the war posed a threat.

"Apparently, they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America," Obama said, responding to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who said he would refuse entry of a 5-year-old Syrian orphan into the United States. "At first, they were too scared of the press being too tough on them in the debates. Now they are scared of 3-year-old orphans. That doesn't seem so tough to me."

Obama slams Republicans over refugee stance

 

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, said the President's partisan rhetoric "went over the line."

"I haven't called for a halt or a moratorium. So I'm sympathetic to the administration's position here," Flake said. "But instead of blaming people or assuming people are bigots, come out and explain what the vetting process is and I think people will feel more comfortable."

House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul of Texas pointed out it was concerns raised by officials from the FBI and Homeland Security that prompted the legislation he drafted with Rep. Richard Hudson, R-North Carolina.

"It's not me making this up," McCaul said.

In its veto threat, the White House added, "No refugee is approved for travel to the United States under the current system until the full array of required security vetting measures have been completed. Thus, the substantive result sought through this draft legislation is already embedded into the program."

Read More and Watch Video  Here

 

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Obama threatens to veto House Republican bill on Syrian refugees

 

By Erica Werner November 19, 2015, 2:29 am 3

 

 

Syrian refugee children look from their tent during a visit by UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien to the Zaatari Refugee Camp, near Mafraq, Jordan, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Wednesday threatened a presidential veto of House Republican legislation aimed at increasing screenings for Syrian and Iraqi refugees before they enter the United States, calling new requirements in the bill “untenable.”

The legislation, which sets high hurdles for refugee admissions, including FBI background checks and individual sign-offs by top federal officials, “would provide no meaningful additional security for the American people, instead serving only to create significant delays and obstacles in the fulfillment of a vital program that satisfies both humanitarian and national security objectives,” the White House said.

President Barack Obama would veto the legislation if it reaches his desk, the statement concluded.
Republican leaders, eager to respond quickly to Friday’s terror attacks in Paris, had described the bill as a middle-ground approach. It institutes tough new screening requirements, but steers clear of demands from some Republicans, including presidential candidates, for religious questioning or a complete end to the US refugee program.

“This is common sense. And it’s our obligation,” Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said on the House floor ahead of the veto threat. “If the intelligence and law-enforcement community cannot certify that a person presents no threat, then they should not be allowed in.”

In the Senate, lawmakers emerging from a closed-door briefing with administration officials Wednesday night said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Republican Sen. Jeff Flake planned to introduce a bill that would restrict visas for any individual who had been in Iraq or Syria in the past five years.

Read More Here

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DNA Data From California Newborn Blood Samples Stored, Sold To 3rd Parties

 

The blood of a two week-old infant is collected for a Phenylketonuria, or PKU, screening.

U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt Eric T. Sheler    Wikimedia.org


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SF Bay Area

 

November 9, 2015 11:49 PM By Julie Watts

 

(KPIX 5) — This might come as a surprise to California natives in their 20s and early 30s: The state owns your DNA.

Every year about four million newborns in the U.S. get a heel prick at birth, to screen for congenital disorders, that if found early enough, can save their life.

Danielle Gatto barely remembers the nurse even mentioning test performed on her two daughters. “I don’t think that any woman is in a state of mind to sit down and start studying up on the literature they send you home with,” she said.

But later she was shocked to find, her daughters’ leftover blood was not thrown away. “The state collects the cards and then uses them in a database,” she said. The information is buried on page 12 of the brochure about the Newborn Screening Program that hospitals give parents of newborns before they go home.

Turns out a non-descript office building in Richmond contains the DNA of every person born in California since 1983. It’s a treasure trove of information about you, from the color of your eyes and hair to your pre-disposition to diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer.

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The Ghosts of War: Understanding the Shocking Suicide Rate of US Vets

 Sputnik

 

© AFP 2015/ Jewel Samad

Opinion

20:17 08.11.2015(updated 20:43 08.11.2015) Get short URL

125066231

Why are suicide rates among veterans higher than in the general US population, American author David Swanson asks, posing yet another question: why does the subject of war as a suicide-related motive never arise in official studies?

 

 

The problem of high suicide rates among war veterans is widely discussed in the United States: the latest study has found that the suicide rate among recent veterans is 50 percent higher than non-military civilians.Incredible as it may seem, official reports brush aside the idea that war itself has anything to do with the problem, American activist and author David Swanson notes.
"Remarkably, the subject of war, their role in war, their thoughts about the supposed justifications (or lack thereof) of a war, never come up," Swanson wrote in his article for Information Clearing House.
The psychiatric studies and mass media reports are being focused on various "factors to blame" from "prior suicidality" to "poverty." However, they tell us virtually nothing, according to Swanson.

"Perhaps their goal isn't to tell us something factual so much as to shift the conversation away from why war causes murder and suicide, to the question of what was wrong with these soldiers before they enlisted," the author remarked.

Read More Here

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The Center For Public Integrity

Suicide rate for veterans far exceeds that of civilian population

Nearly one in five suicides nationally is a veteran, 49,000 took own lives between 2005 and 2011

By Jeff HargartenForrest BurnsonBonnie CampoChase Cook

6:00 am, August 30, 2013 Updated: 12:19 pm, May 19, 2014

Victim's mother speaks out about military suicide

The mother of Kimberly Agar, Margy Agar, talks about her daughter's struggles with symptoms related to a traumatic brain injury. Kimberly died by suicide in Germany in 2011. Margy Agar now spends her time at home, suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress, and speaking out against mental illness stigma in the military.
Video by Chase Cook, News21

Veterans are killing themselves at more than double the rate of the civilian population with about 49,000 taking their own lives between 2005 and 2011, according to data collected over eight months by News21.

Records from 48 states show the annual suicide rate among veterans is about 30 for every 100,000 of the population, compared to a civilian rate of about 14 per 100,000. The suicide rate among veterans increased an average 2.6 percent a year from 2005 to 2011, or more than double that of the 1.1 percent civilian rate, according to News21’s analysis of states’ mortality data.

Nearly one in every five suicides nationally is a veteran — 18 to 20 percent annually — compared with Census data that shows veterans make up about 10 percent of the U.S. adult population.
“Anytime a veteran who fought our enemies abroad or helped defend America from within our borders dies by their own hand, it’s completely unacceptable,” Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, told an American Legion conference in Washington earlier this year. The suicide rate has remained consistently high, he said, adding that more work was needed to address gaps in veterans’ mental health care.

“It’s not enough that the veteran suicide problem isn’t getting worse,” he said, “it isn’t getting any better.”



Read More Here

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Report: Suicide rate spikes among young veterans

 

By Leo Shane III

Stars and Stripes

Published: January 9, 2014

WASHINGTON -- The number of young veterans committing suicide jumped dramatically from 2009 to 2011, a worrying trend that Veterans Affairs officials hope can be reversed with more treatment and intervention.

New suicide data released by the department on Thursday showed that the rate of veterans suicide remained largely unchanged over that three-year period, the latest for which statistics are available. About 22 veterans a day take their own life, according to department estimates.

But while older veterans saw a slight decrease in suicides, male veterans under 30 saw a 44 percent increase in the rate of suicides. That’s roughly two young veterans a day who take their own life, most just a few years after leaving the service.

“Their rates are astronomically high and climbing,” said Jan Kemp, VA’s National Mental Health Director for Suicide Prevention. “That’s concerning to us.”

Read More Here

Related

• Death rate unusually high for young veterans
• Report: VA's mental health efforts fall short now, won't keep pace in the future
• Report: Stigmas stop veterans in need from seeking health care
• Iraq vet biking across US to raise awareness about military suicide
• More Stars and Stripes coverage of veterans

Despite having run for the White House as a “change” candidate, Obama has mostly favored continuity, including bending to the Military-Industrial Complex

Consortium News

Obama Keeps Pentagon Spigot Open

October 31, 2015

Though he ran for the White House as a “change” candidate, President Obama has mostly favored continuity, including bending to the usual pressure from the Military-Industrial Complex to keep the Pentagon spending flowing, as budget watchdog Chuck Spinney explains.
By Chuck Spinney

The Pentagon just won another small skirmish in its long war with Social Security and Medicare. That is the unstated message of the budget deal just announced gleefully by congressional leaders and President Barack Obama. To understand why, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane.

Last January, President Obama submitted Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 budget to Congress, and he proposed to break the spending limits on both defense and domestic programs.  These limits are set by the long-term sequester provisions of the Budget Control Act of 2011  (BCA), which, for better or worse, is the law of the land, and Obama was asking Congress to change the law.

Mr. Obama wanted to finance his ramped up spending proposals by increasing taxes.  Of course, he knew that the Republican-controlled Congress lusted for defense increases but hated domestic spending, particularly entitlements, such as Social Security and Medicare.

Moreover, he knew increasing taxes was like waving the red cape in front of the Republican budget bulls. So, he knew his budget would be dead on arrival. Obama’s budget, nevertheless, had one virtue: it was up-front about the intractable nature of the budget problem. In effect, whether deliberately or not, Obama laid a trap that the Republicans merrily walked into during the ensuing spring and summer.

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Turns Out Police Stingray Spy Tools Can Indeed Record Calls

...

A real cell tower. (Image: Flickr, Carl Lender via Bus. Insider)

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WIRED

• Kim Zetter Security
• Date of Publication: 10.28.15. 10.28.15
• Time of Publication: 3:00 pm. 3:00 pm

The federal government has been fighting hard for years hide details about its use of so-called stingray surveillance technology from the public.

The surveillance devices simulate cell phone towers in order to trick nearby mobile phones into connecting to them and revealing the phones’ locations.

Now newly released documents confirm long-held suspicions that the controversial devices are also capable of recording numbers for a mobile phone’s incoming and outgoing calls, as well as intercepting the content of voice and text communications. The documents also discuss the possibility of flashing a phone’s firmware “so that you can intercept conversations using a suspect’s cell phone as a bug.”

The information appears in a 2008 guideline prepared by the Justice Department to advise law enforcement agents on when and how the equipment can be legally used.

The Department of Justice ironically acknowledges in the documents that the use of the surveillance technology to locate cellular phones 'is an issue of some controversy.'

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California obtained the documents (.pdf) after a protracted legal battle involving a two-year-old public records request. The documents include not only policy guidelines, but also templates for submitting requests to courts to obtain permission to use the technology.




Read More Here

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Putin Makes Obama an Offer He Can’t Refuse

CounterPunch

October 29, 2015

by Mike Whitney

Why is John Kerry so eager to convene an emergency summit on Syria now when the war has been dragging on for four and a half years?

Is he worried that Russia’s air campaign is wiping out too many US-backed jihadis and sabotaging Washington’s plan to topple Syrian President Bashar al Assad?

You bet, he is. No one who’s been following events in Syria for the last three weeks should have any doubt about what’s really going on.  Russia has been methodically wiping
out Washington’s mercenaries on the ground while recapturing large swathes of land that had been lost to the terrorists.  That, in turn, has strengthened Assad’s position in Damascus and left the administration’s policy in tatters.  And that’s why Kerry wants another meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pronto even though the two diplomats met less than a week ago.   The Secretary of State is hoping to cobble together some kind of makeshift deal that will stop the killing and salvage what’s left of Uncle Sam’s threadbare Syrian project.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Iran had been invited to the confab which will be held in Vienna on Thursday.  The announcement is bound to be ferociously criticized on Capital Hill, but it just shows to what extent Russia is currently setting the agenda. It was Lavrov who insisted that Iran be invited, and it was Kerry who reluctantly capitulated. Moscow is now in the drivers seat.

And don’t be surprised if the summit produces some pretty shocking results too, like a dramatic 180 on Washington’s “Assad must go” demand.   As Putin has pointed out many times before, Assad’s not going anywhere. He’s going to be a part of Syria’s “transitional governing body”  when the Obama team finally agrees to the Geneva Communique which is the political track that will eventually end the fighting, restore security, and allow millions of refugees to return to their homes.

Read More Here

Court Ruling to Halt DEA from Harassing Medical Marijuana Shops

A 'promise' Obama made years ago

 

by Christina Sarich
Posted on October 28, 2015

 

 

 

In a huge legal win, a federal judge in San Francisco has issued a landmark ruling that could serve to halt the DEA’s overly liberal interpretation of laws that have allowed them power to conduct search and destroy missions for medical marijuana.

In possibly the first-ever federal decision of its kind, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, slapped more than the DEA’s wrists. His decision stated that the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment clearly prevents the Justice Department from spending taxpayer money to hunt and chase marijuana users in states that have established medical marijuana programs.

 

The federal ruling comes from a case involving the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana founder, Lynette Shaw, who was forced to close down her medical marijuana dispensary in 2011 after the Justice Department served her with a federal injunction.

Read More Here

Death toll in Saudi haj disaster at least 2,070 - Reuters tally

World | Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:11pm GMT

Reuters

 

Rescue workers carry the body of a Muslim pilgrim after a stampede at Mina, outside the holy Muslim city of Mecca, in this September 24, 2015 file photo.

Reuters/Stringer/Files

 

 

The deadly crush that occurred at the haj near Mecca last month killed at least 2,070 people, nearly triple the number accounted for in a death toll maintained by Saudi authorities, a Reuters tally indicated on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia has come under heavy criticism for its handling of the disaster. Safety during the pilgrimage is a politically sensitive issue for the kingdom's ruling Al Saud dynasty, which presents itself as the guardian of Islam and custodian of its holiest sites in Mecca and Medina.

The figure, based on information provided by the state and religious authorities and local media reports in the home countries of the victims, would make it the worst such catastrophe to befall the annual pilgrimage since 1,400 people were crushed to death in a tunnel in 1990.

Saudi officials have stood by their official counts of 769 dead and 934 injured, which have not been updated since two days after the crush. The healthy ministry has said any discrepancies in death tolls may stem from countries counting pilgrims who had died of natural causes.

Read More Here

Turkey didn't get the memo not to bomb US armed rebels. Watching helplessly the Washington watches it's Syria Strategy unravel even further.

More than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war. More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from Islamic State. This is the story of the civil war so far, in eight short chapters.  BBC

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Washington's Syria "Strategy" In Complete Disarray As "Ally" Turkey Bombs US-Armed Rebels

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/27/2015 12:43 -0400

A little over a week ago in “Full Metal Retard: US Launches ‘Performance-Based’ Ammo Paradrop Program For Make-Believe ‘Syrian Arabs’” we outlined what is perhaps the most hilarious Pentagon scheme designed to arm rebels in Syria to date (and that’s saying something).

Following the comical demise of the latest “train and equip” program, the US is out of options for supporting the opposition in Syria and so Washington decided to go back to Old Faithful: the Kurds.
But that presents a problem.

The US is now flying sorties from Incirlik and Turkish autocrat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hates the Kurds and has gone out of his way to make it clear that Ankara doesn’t distinguish between the PKK and the YPG. For the uninitiated, here’s the problem broken down in bullet points:

• The US is flying from a Turkish airbase
• Access to that airbase came with NATO’s tacit approval of Erdogan’s move to crack down on the Kurdish PKK operating in Turkey (that crackdown is designed to bolster support for the government ahead of elections next month)
• Both the US and Turkey designate PKK as a “terrorist” group 
• BUT while Ankara equates the PKK with the Kurdish rebels battling ISIS in Syria, Washington actually supports those same rebels, setting up a conflict of interest
•  

Now clearly, this is beyond absurd. That is, Turkey only got NATOs support for the politically motivated crackdown on the PKK because Ankara agreed to bundle said crackdown with a military campaign against  ISIS. But the Syrian Kurds are the most effective ground force of them all when it comes to combating Islamic State.  Because those Syrian Kurds are aligned with the PKK, Turkey is effectively trying to say its army is fighting ISIS, the PKK, and YPG all at once even as both the PKK and the YPG are also fighting ISIS.

Read More Here

Islamic State evolved from the Arab Spring and gained momentum due to the duplicity of certain world powers : The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service

ISIS rooted in Arab Spring, gained momentum due to double standards - Russian Security Service head

Published time: 28 Oct, 2015 07:25Edited time: 28 Oct, 2015 12:51

 

© Stringer / Reuters

 

Islamic State evolved from the Arab Spring and gained momentum due to the duplicity of certain world powers, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has told a meeting of top security heads of ex-Soviet states (CIS) in Moscow on Wednesday.

 

 

There are world powers that are using Islamic State (IS, former ISIL/ISIS) as a kind of “terror battering ram” to ensure their interests in Asia and Africa, said FSB director Aleksandr Bortnikov. In pursuing their goals with IS, these countries have put the world on the verge of a global religious and civilizational crisis, he added.


The outcome of this global conflict could be disastrous, Bortnikov stressed


READ MORE: FSB chief urges international campaign to discredit ISIS ideology and leaders

 
Russia's security agency chief also said that with parts of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan joining Islamic State, there is an imminent threat of the terrorists invading Central Asia.

Read More Here

Obamacare customers are facing an average 7.5 percent price increase for a key benchmark health plan next year; But the average rate hikes will vary dramatically from state to state

 POLITICO

Roughly 80 percent of Obamacare customers received subsidies. | Getty

Obamacare rates to rise 7.5 percent next year

But the figures will vary widely from state to state.

By Paul Demko

10/26/15 06:18 PM EDT

Obamacare customers are facing an average 7.5 percent price increase for a key benchmark health plan next year, according to limited data the Obama administration released just days before the start of a challenging enrollment season.

But the average rate hikes will vary dramatically from state to state — skyrocketing more than 30 percent in Alaska, Montana and Oklahoma while dropping 12.6 percent in Indiana.

The administration's analysis looks at the second-cheapest "silver" plan available to customers when open enrollment begins on Nov. 1. Those benchmark plans, which are among the most popular sold on the law's health insurance exchanges, are important because they're used to calculate how much federal support low- and middle-income exchange customers will receive toward their monthly premiums.

More than 70 percent of exchange customers chose silver plans this year, which cover about 70 percent of medical costs. Roughly 80 percent of Obamacare customers received subsidies, worth an average monthly credit of $270.

Read More Here

An obscure Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program grants millions of dollars every year, but a government official won’t say how the money actually combats poverty.

 A store damaged from riots after the death of Freddie Gray is seen in Baltimore, Maryland, May 13, 2015. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Silent But Expensive: An Anti-Poverty Program’s Mysterious Achievements

Ethan Barton

An obscure Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program grants millions of dollars every year to only three eligible organizations, but a government official won’t say how the money actually combats poverty.

More than $429 million has been granted through Section 4 of the HUD Demonstration Act of 1993 to help local organizations – called community development corporations – combat poverty through “capacity building” – a vague phrase that essentially means building their size and expertise, according to a HUD document.

“Capacity building develops core skills that strengthen the ability of local community based organizations to implement HUD programs, raise capital for community development and affordable housing, coordinate on cross-programmatic place-based approaches and facilitate knowledge sharing,” the agency’s 2015 request for funding says.

The funds pass through one of three eligible groups, known as intermediaries, which then either redistribute Section 4 funds to local groups or provides them with direct assistance through trained staff. Those three groups defined by law are Enterprise Community Partners, Habitat for Humanity International and Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

According to HUD’s 2015 funding request, $20 million will “result in: approximately 5,000 housing units newly constructed renovated, or preserved; 600 training opportunities; and an estimate of more than $200 million in total development costs channeled to low-income communities in more than 250 communities nationwide.”

But HUD officials won’t say how indirectly backing local groups after funds pass through an intermediary will achieve those claims, and the intermediaries can still receive grant dollars without providing evidence of successful urban renewal.

Read More Here

“I believe that, I hate to say this, a lot of these mass murders and all this funny stuff that’s going on, I believe a lot of this is engineered”, Steven Segal

Collective Evolution

Watch Steven Segal Say That American Mass Shootings Are “Engineered” By The Government

October 19, 2015 by Arjun Walia.

It’s never easy for a celebrity to share their opinion on global issues. If they do, they run the risk of endangering their life and the lives of their loved ones, along with their career and reputation. That being said, a growing number of celebrities have been choosing to use their status to help enact positive change on the planet and create awareness about various important issues.

Some recent examples include Roseanne Barr, who stated that Hollywood and the entire entertainment industry itself are dominated by MK Ultra – the name for a previously classified research program through the CIA’s scientific intelligence division. It was the CIA’s program of research in behavioural modification and the manipulation of the mind. You can read more about that here.

Another is Ashton Kutcher who, a couple of years ago, stated that Hollywood and the industry are full of insider secrets to keep your career going, and that he felt like a fraud. He told his fans that that when you grow up, you don’t have to think like everybody else, or how you are told to think, or follow the rules that some people have created for us — that you can build your own life and create something new. You can watch that video here.

Russell Brand is another great example. He has been using his voice, reach, and popularity to create awareness for a variety of issues. You can find out/read more about that by clicking here.

Last but not least is Steven Segal, a prominent actor for many years who has been very vocal about a number of issues. You may ask yourself, what does Steven Segal know? Well, he did facilitate a U.S. congressional visit to Russia on counter-terrorism cooperation and also has many ‘high’ connections within the Russian government. He also knows the Russian president personally.
He was quoted as saying (in the interview below with RT news) that:

“We believe that many of the people in America are not going along with the hocus pocus of certain governmental bodies who want to try and perpetuate the Cold War, we believe that the Cold War is a fantasy and a hoax to perpetuate maybe some sort of financial gain….” 

“You have to understand, whether or not it is intelligent, or ethical, or moral, one of the great techniques of even Adolf Hitler … [is to] tell a lie enough times and it becomes the truth. One of the things that, you know, certain people’s regime has become very adept at is controlling the press, and controlling the media … For example, CNN, do I think CNN is completely telling it like it is? No, I think they have an agenda, I think their agenda is bought and paid for…. This isn’t about telling the truth, who’s right or who’s wrong, it’s about a smear campaign and who can manipulate the press.” 

“I am not prepared to make a comment on what’s happening in Syria because in America I don’t believe we are being told the whole truth.” 

“I believe that, I hate to say this, a lot of these mass murders and all this funny stuff that’s going on, I believe a lot of this is engineered.” 

Read More Here

Despite review, State Dept. objects to Clinton documents on Benghazi release. Claiming 'not appropriate for public release.'

From top to bottom, and left to right: the President and Vice President being updated on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa night of September 11, 2012; President Obama, with Secretary of State Clinton, delivering a statement in the Rose Garden of the White House, Sept. 12, 2012, regarding the attack on the U.S. consulate; two photographs released through a FOIA request showing post-attack burned automobile and spray paint graffiti of militant Islamist slogans on ransacked consulate building; Secretary Clinton testifying before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on January 23, 2013; portion of "wanted" poster from FBI seeking information on the attacks in Benghazi.

Wikipedia.org
..........
POLITICO

State Department objects to email release by Benghazi panel

Despite review, agency calls messages 'not appropriate for public release.'

By Josh Gerstein

10/20/15 02:30 PM EDT

 

The State Department is objecting to the House Benghazi Committee’s plan to release more than 200 documents in connection with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s much-anticipated testimony to the panel Thursday, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO.

While State is opposing the public email disclosure by the House panel, the agency also conducted a “sensitivity review” of the records in response to committee Chairman Trey Gowdy’s plan to make the records public.

 

“We do not agree to these documents being released to the public outside of the Freedom of Information Act process……It is the Department’s position that these documents are not appropriate for public release,” State said in an unsigned memo to the panel Saturday.

“However, in recognition of the Committee’s stated intent to publically [sic] release them, this production reflects our best efforts—within the limited timeframe allowed by the Committee, to redact any sensitive information that could damage national security, subject any people or US facilities to harm or damage, interfere with any law enforcement activities, or result in an unwarranted intrusion of personal privacy,” the memo said.

2016

Inside Clinton's Benghazi hearing game plan

By Annie Karni

State’s memo said the review was driven by Gowdy’s indication that he planned to release a set of emails Clinton exchanged with outside adviser Sid Blumenthal without redactions if State failed to propose deletions from the records.

A State spokesman declined to comment on the memo Tuesday.



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Coal Company Faces $5,000 Fine For Displaying ‘Fire Obama’ Signs

 

 

Murray Energy reviews media inquiries on a case-by-case basis.  All media inquiries should be directed to media@coalsource.com

Image Via  Murray Energy Corp

 

Michael Bastasch

The coal company Murray Energy agreed to pay a $5,000 fine for failing to disclose it funded anti-Obama signs during the 2012 election cycle, according to a decision by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The FEC ruled Friday that Murray Energy will be fined for not disclosing payments for signs saying “STOP the WAR on COAL — FIRE OBAMA” in the months leading up to the 2012 election. The FEC investigation found that Murray Energy had paid $22,000 for anti-Obama signs, but did not include a disclaimer on them as required by federal election laws.

Murray energy argued it didn’t know it had to disclose paying for the signs, adding that the signs could “reasonably be read to primarily advocate a policy result longtime publicized” by the company. Murray also argued it stopped distributing the signs once a complaint against them was filed, and the company noted it hadn’t included a disclaimer because other similar signs did not have one.




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Feds keeping us in the dark : 11 co-ops “are either on a corrective action plan or enhanced oversight. More than $900 million of the original $2 billion in loans has been lost.

Feds Hide Secret List Of 11 Staggering Obamacare Insurers

 

 A man looks over the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) signup page on the HealthCare.gov website in New York in this Oct. 2, 2013 photo illustration. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

Richard Pollock

Federal officials have a secret list of 11 Obamacare health insurance co-ops they fear are on the verge of failure, but they refuse to disclose them to the public or to Congress, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation has learned.

Just in the last three weeks, five of the original 24 Obamacare co-ops announced plans to close, bringing the total of failures to eight barely two years after their launch with $2 billion in start-up capital from the taxpayers under the Affordable Care Act.

All 24 received 15-year loans in varying amounts to offer health insurance to poor and low income customers and provide publicly funded competition to private, for-profit insurers. The eight co-ops to announce closings served populations in ten states: Iowa, Nebraska, Kentucky, West Virginia, Louisiana, Nevada, Tennessee, Vermont, New York and Colorado.

Nearly half a million failing co-op customers will have to find new coverage in 2016. More than $900 million of the original $2 billion in loans has been lost.

 

The 11 unidentified co-ops appear to be still operating but are now on “enhanced oversight” by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which manages the Obamacare program. The 11 received letters from CMS demanding that they take urgent actions to avoid closing.

Aaron Albright, chief CMS spokesman, said 11 co-ops “are either on a corrective action plan or enhanced oversight. We have not released the letters or names.” He gave no grounds for withholding the information from either the public or Congress.

CMS officials have stonewalled multiple congressional inquiries into the co-op financial problems. The latest congressional inquiry came in a September 30 letter to CMS acting administrator Andy Slavitt demanding transparency over the troubled program.

“We have long been concerned about the financial solvency of CO-OPs,” three House Ways and Means committee members wrote to Slavitt. “Which plans have received these warnings or have been placed on corrective plans,” the congressmen asked. To date, they have received no reply.
Insurance commissioners in Vermont were the first to refuse to license the federally approved co-op there in 2013 because they feared those financial plans were unrealistic. But then the dominoes began to fall this year, resulting in at least eight co-op failures. And if CMS officials are to be believed, more failures may be on the way.

Sen. Charles Grassley , a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee who has been an outspoken critic of the troubled co-op program, said transparency should be a top priority for the faltering program.

“Since the public’s business generally ought to be public, CMS should have a good reason for not disclosing which co-ops are troubled,” he said.



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