27 Feb 2015
The Truth About Leather
PETA Asia’s groundbreaking investigation into the Chinese dog-leather industry created a tidal wave of outrage earlier this year.
Now Hollywood superstar Joaquin Phoenix is using his voice to let more people know that dogs are bludgeoned and killed so their skins can be turned into leather items to be sold around the world.
Watch Joaquin’s eye-opening video:
26 Feb 2015
Citizenfour
CITIZENFOUR is a Oscar winning real life thriller, unfolding by the minute, giving audiences unprecedented access to filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s encounters with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA).
Poitras had already been working on a film about surveillance for two years when Snowden contacted her, using the name CITIZENFOUR,in January 2013. He reached out to her because he knew she had long been a target of government surveillance, stopped at airports numerous times, and had refused to be intimidated. When Snowden revealed he was a high-level analyst driven to expose the massive surveillance of Americans by the NSA, Poitras persuaded him to let her film.
CITIZENFOUR places you in the room with Poitras, Greenwald, and Snowden as they attempt to manage the media storm raging outside, forced to make quick decisions that will impact their lives and all of those around them
25 Feb 2015
The Truth Behind Elephant Rides in Thailand
Throughout Thailand, there are countless elephant tourist parks and camps. The vast majority of these camps are commercial enterprises, making huge amounts of money from tourists keen to have their photos taken with elephant calves, bathing with the elephants or riding them, or watching them paint. Some elephants are used in performances, dressed up and forced to perform unnatural, painful and demeaning tricks.
The sad and devastating reality is that this tourist-driven demand is fuelling a huge and unsustainable illegal trade in baby elephants. Recent reports indicate that at least 50-100 calves and young females are removed from their forest homes in Burma every year and are illegally traded to supply tourist camps in Thailand. It is estimated that for every calf smuggled across Burma's border into Thailand, up to five adult elephants, including the calf's mother and other protective family members, are killed.
24 Feb 2015
Expédition 7e Continent
90% of plastics present in sea come from our continents ... no ocean is preserved by the massive presence of plastic (8 to 10 million tons per year discharged several hundred million tonnes identified as the surface of an ocean) ... these plastic carry endocrine disruptors, heavy metals and other pollutants, and biodiversity are all traps for fish, marine mammals and birds that ingest them.
While France is hosting the conference on climate ParisClimat2015, generating national and international commitment to the environment, it is time to UNDERSTAND, EXPLAIN and ACT.
Expedition 7th Continent, works for an ocean preserved combining scientific knowledge, educational, media, structured around a shared commitment by action,
2 Expeditions are planned this year : May 15 to June 15, 2015 in the North Atlantic and in December 2015 / January 2016 South Atlantic.
Orthodox Jews in talks with US health officials over oral suction circumcision
The Orthodox Jewish tradition known as oral suction circumcision reaches back to biblical times but it has created a modern-day dilemma for New York City health officials, who have linked it to 17 cases of infant herpes since 2000. Two died and two others suffered brain damage.
Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration, which came into power a year ago with a promise to reconsider an existing regulation on the ritual, is now negotiating with a group of rabbis over how to protect children's health while still preserving religious freedom. 'The talks are ongoing but I cannot go into particulars,' said Avi Fink, the mayor's deputy director of intergovernmental affairs who has been leading the talks. 'Our goal is to achieve awareness of the risks.'
21 Feb 2015
UN: Food Challenge At Worst Level Since World War II
The World Food Program is confronting its worst challenge since World War II in trying to tackle five top-level humanitarian crises at the same time, the head of the U.N. agency said Friday. Ertharin Cousin said in an interview with The Associated Press that the five crises — in Syria, Iraq, Central African Republic, South Sudan, and the Ebola epidemic in West Africa — currently require large-scale operations by WFP and other humanitarian agencies.
In addition, she said, WFP is doing preparatory work for a potential scale-up in food assistance to four other countries where there is growing political instability — Yemen, Nigeria, Ukraine and Libya. Cousin said the demands are overwhelming the donor community and as a result WFP had to cut food assistance to six million Syrians inside and outside the country by 30 percent in January. "We have more crises that require surge operations of the humanitarian community, and WFP specifically, since World War II," she said.
Wag The Dog Re-make
The David Icke Videocast: Wag The Dog Re-make Called 'War Against ISIS' and 'Russia Is A Threat To The World'
20 Feb 2015
Saudi Cleric Reveals The Sun Rotates Around The Earth
A Saudi Arabian cleric has made a groundbreaking discovery that could redefine science in the 21st century –- the Earth does not rotate. What’s more, the sun is orbiting the static body, not the other way around. The breakthrough was made by Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari, who delivered his thesis during a recent lecture in the United Arab Emirates, having been asked by a student about the movement of the planet.
'The Atheist Experience' Is Disgraceful Yet Again
They have rapidly become ground zero for bullshit PC, hyper liberal, excuse making, issue dodging, cowardice online.
17 Feb 2015
Muse - Animals
This video is the winner of a competition with Genero.tv asking people to produce the music video for the song Animals. The winning entry was created by Inês Freitas and Miguel Mendes (onenessteam) from Portugal.
16 Feb 2015
Waiting for Mary
Pere Ubu on "Night Music". An old late-night music/talk show hosted by David Sanborn. They are joined by Sanborn, and Blondie's Debbie Harry!
15 Feb 2015
805 Million Names – Zlatan Ibrahimović
On 14 February 2015, Paris Saint-German played against Caen at Parc des Princes. For most players this game was just another day on the job. For Zlatan Ibrahimović this was his most important game to date.
Underneath his sweater he had 50 new names tattooed. Names of people he’d never met, but still wanted to keep close. Names of some of the 805 million people suffering from hunger today.
These people don’t often make the front page, yet hunger and malnutrition are the number one risk to health worldwide — greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
This is a campaign from the World Food Programme, the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. In emergencies, they get food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters. WFP is part of the United Nations system and is voluntarily funded.
On average, WFP reaches more than 80 million people with food assistance in 75 countries each year. About 11,500 people work for the organisation, most of them in remote areas, serving the hungry.
Support The United Nations World Food Programme and Zlatan Ibrahimović’s fight against hunger at http://WFP.org/805millionnames
Hitler Didn’t Die, He Fled To Argentina
On April 30 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker. His body was later discovered and identified by the Soviets before being rushed back to Russia. Is it really possible that the Soviets have been lying all this time, and that history has purposely been rewritten? No one thought so until the release of the FBI documents. It seems that it is possible that the most hated man in history escaped war torn Germany and lived a bucolic and peaceful life in the beautiful foothills of the Andes Mountains.
Recently released FBI documents are beginning to show that not only was Hitler and Eva Braun’s suicide faked, the infamous pair might have had help from the director of the OSS himself, Allen Dulles. In one FBI document from Los Angles, it is revealed that the agency was well aware of a mysterious submarine making its way up the Argentinian coast dropping off high level Nazi officials. What is even more astonishing is the fact that the FBI knew he was in fact living in the foothills of the Andes.
Democracy RIP
Several protesters were arrested at Parliament Square, London, on Saturday during a peaceful demonstration organised by the activist group Occupy Democracy.
13 Feb 2015
Rachmaninoff 3rd Piano Concerto
Vladimir Horowitz plays the Rachmaninov 3rd Piano Concerto in Avery Fisher Hall, New York, 1978 with Zubin Mehta ( His last recording ever of this concerto and maybe the last time he played it. Horowitz was 75 years old in this recording!!!)
11 Feb 2015
Putin Gives Egyptian President El-Sisi The Gift Of An AK-47
Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting Egypt this week, and like any good guest he didn't come empty-handed. After arriving in Cairo airport on Monday, the Russian leader cracked open a metallic case to produce an AK-47 assault rifle, which he presented to Egypt's beaming President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Putin's present is perhaps a nod to the multibillion-dollar arms deal that Russia and Egypt are reportedly seeking to ink, or the Soviet history of military aid to the country, but the possible symbolism has lent the gift special significance. Criticized for serious human rights violations, el-Sisi's government has become know for crackdowns in which security forces have used live ammunition to shoot and kill protesters and activists.
Since the overthrow of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood government by the army in 2013, mass jailing and death sentences of Brotherhood supporters, as well as the arrest of journalists, have been commonplace in Egypt. The most notorious event was the August 2013 Rabaa massacre, in which security forces used brutal force to clear out a protest camp, killing an estimated 817 people.
10 Feb 2015
Two Reporters Fired By Fox News For Exposing Monsanto
How far will corporations go to silence whistleblowers?
This is video is from the documentary The Corporation which examines modern-day corporations, featuring interviews with corporate critics such as Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Howard Zinn.
Steve Wilson and Jane Akre were working on a series talking about health concerns related to Monsanto’s growth hormone. The growth hormone did not comply with safety requirements as highlighted by Canada health. Mysteriously that conclusion was deleted from the final published version of Monsanto’s report. Days before the series was to begin they received a fax from one of Monsanto’s high-priced lawyers in New York, saying there will be consequences for Fox News if they proceed with the story. Scared that they were going to get sued, the general manager tried to bribe Steve and Jane, asking them not to proceed with the story and not to discuss it with anyone.
They refused and got FIRED!
Pollution In China Is Out Of Control
With a newly-minted elite and an economic growth rate of over 10%, the environment has taken a backseat in China, the world’s most populous country. Growing pollution has led to unusable waterways, increased incidence of birth defects, and some of the dirtiest air on earth. It’s so nasty that there’s now a word for it: “smogpocalypse”.
With that said, China is not oblivious to its ecological impacts, and according to the Harvard Business Review “is taking this challenge much more seriously than others… doing things differently, making longer-term, sustained commitments that are much larger.” In 2010, China ranked as the world’s leading investor in low-carbon energy technology, which makes sense given national political leaders’ tendency to view clean energy as a great economic opportunity.
9 Feb 2015
7 Feb 2015
Another Earth Discovered With Probable Life, Scientists Say
NASA have discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting a nearby star within a part of our galaxy which they claim could contains life. Kepler-186f is 500 life-years from Earth and is within the Cygnus constellation.
This is the first Earth-sized planet to be found within the habitable zone of another star. The habitable zone, known as the Goldilocks zone, is the region around a star where planetary-mass objects with sufficient atmospheric pressure can support liquid water on their surfaces. More at yournewswire.com
Sharepowered.com reports:
In addition to Kepler-186f, there are 4 other planets that orbit a nearby star within the Kepler-186f system. What this means is that if the nearby star to this planet is similar to our Sun, then the probability of life on this planet exponentially rises.
“We know of just one planet where life exists – Earth. When we search for life outside our solar system we focus on finding planets with characteristics that mimic that of Earth,” said Elisa Quintana, research scientist at the SETI Institute at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., and lead author of the paper published today in the journal Science. “Finding a habitable zone planet comparable to Earth in size is a major step forward.”
Lynchings Of Black People In The USA In The Last Century
Lynching, the practice of killing people by extrajudicial mob action, occurred in the United States chiefly from the late 18th century through the 1960s. Lynchings took place most frequently against African-American men in the Southern US after the American Civil War and emancipation, and particularly from 1890 to the 1920s, with a peak in 1892. Lynchings were also very common in the Old West, where victims were primarily men of Mexican and Chinese minorities, although whites were also lynched. (Wikipedia)
6 Feb 2015
Why All The Songs On The Radio Sound The Same
The music industry has learned how to use data from apps like Spotify and Shazam to predict new hits. However, just a glimpse at the Billboard charts will tell you that today's pop music is more homogenous that it has been in decades. Why? Because we like to hear the same songs, over and over again.
How and why Fake News Stories are created and pushed
Naomi R. Wolf is an American author and former political consultant for the Clinton/Gore administration. This was filmed at the 2014 Free State Project's Liberty Forum in New Hampshire.
4 Feb 2015
Bigfoot vs Buffalo
Would you risk death by buffalo to pull off a Bigfoot hoax? In this clip we see four big, furry somethings (Bigfoot) stalking four buffalo in Yellowstone National Park.
Bill would let Texas teachers legally kill students
Schoolteachers in Texas will be allowed to use lethal force against students without risking legal repercussions if a new bill being considered in the Lone Star State’s legislature becomes a law. The bill –HB 868, or the “Teacher’s Protection Act” – affords educators legal immunity in the unlikely event that they happen to kill any of their students during school-sanctioned events.
Specifically, the bill – introduced to the Texas State Legislature on January 22 by Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Canton) – says “an educator is justified in using force or deadly force on school property, on a school bus or at a school-sponsored event in defense of the educator’s person or in defense of students of the school that employs the educator if, under the circumstances as the educator reasonably believes them to be, the educator would be justified…in using force or deadly force, as applicable, in defense of the educator or students.”
Indeed, the language does not limit any hypothetical action on the educator’s part to be done in self-defense: the proposed bill actually allows teachers to use deadly force on children if they believe another student or their self is in danger. As of August 2014, Texas was among eight states in the country where laws allow school employees to carry firearms on campus, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. And, as the Houston Chronicle pointed out this week, teachers in Texas are already granted immunity if they assault a student, and the “use of force, but not deadly force, against a [student] is justified.”
3 Feb 2015
Nancy Reagan refused to help Rock Hudson get pioneering AIDS treatment
Nancy Reagan refused to help dying Hollywood star Rock Hudson get a bed at a French hospital at the forefront of experimental treatment for AIDS, it has been claimed. Then First Lady Mrs Reagan turned down a request from Hudson's publicist for help getting the actor transferred to a French military hospital where he could be seen by Dr Dominique Dormant.
Dr Dormant, who had treated Hudson for AIDS months earlier, was at the time working on an early experimental drug that promised to help bolster the immune systems of AIDS sufferers. Hudson, who had kept secret his homosexuality and his AIDS, was eventually given a bed at the Percy Military Hospital in Clamart - thanks to strings pulled with French officials. But in the end it transpired that his condition had deteriorated so badly that even Dr Dormant's experimental HPA-23 treatments could not help him. He chose to return to Los Angeles and died just two months later, in October 1985.
2 Feb 2015
Peter Greste 'won't give up' until colleagues are free
The family of Peter Greste, who has been released by Egyptian authorities after 400 days in prison, have said the award-winning Al Jazeera journalist's relief at being free is marred by the continued imprisonment of his colleagues. Baher Mohamed, a producer, and the channel's Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy, who were working on the same stories as Peter, are still in jail and on Monday started their 401st day behind bars.
Greste's brother Andrew said on Monday that Greste was still worried about the fate of his colleagues. "Straight up he's not going to forget his two other colleagues. There's no doubt that his excitement is tempered and and restrained and will be restrained until those guys are free," Andrew said at a news conference in Brisbane. "He won't give up until Baher and Mohamed are out of there," he added: "We are thinking of Baher, Mohamed and their families."