Friday, March 25, 2016

Voting To Destroy The Establishment: “We Now Can Plainly See the Left Wing and Neo-con Wing Both Have The Same Agenda”

SHTF Plan - When It Hits The Fan, Don't Say We Didn't Warn You
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It looks like we are going to find out what happens when enough people bind together to destroy the establishment. It’s going to be a wild ride. Prepare yourself and your loved ones.

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Thursday, March 24, 2016

The NFL Really Doesn't Like Being Compared to Big Tobacco

MoJo Blogs and Articles | Mother Jones
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For more than a decade, the National Football League supported a series of peer-reviewed studies that concluded that brain injuries sustained during football players' careers did not lead to long-term consequences. But a new investigation by the New York Times reports that the research omitted data from more than 100 documented concussions—and, perhaps more troubling, that the NFL had a closer connection to the tobacco industry than previously known.  

While the Times found "no direct evidence that the league took its strategy from Big Tobacco," its story lays out a series of overlapping ties between the league and tobacco giants, from hires to requests for advice. A league attorney challenged the assertion in a letter to the Times that was included in the story, writing, "The N.F.L. is not the tobacco industry; it had no connection to the tobacco industry." 

But the league didn't stop there. On Thursday morning, the league released a statement pushing back against the Times report. The newspaper then followed up with a series of tweets refuting the NFL's statement—after which the league responded with another statement.

Here's a point-by-point breakdown of what the Times reported and how both sides responded to each other's claims on Thursday: 

Times on NFL's use of flawed data: "For the last 13 years, the N.F.L. has stood by the research, which, the papers stated, was based on a full accounting of all concussions diagnosed by team physicians from 1996 through 2001. But confidential data obtained by The Times shows that more than 100 diagnosed concussions were omitted from the studies—including some severe injuries to stars like quarterbacks Steve Young and Troy Aikman. The committee then calculated the rates of concussions using the incomplete data, making them appear less frequent than they actually were."

NFL's initial statement: "In fact, the MTBI studies published by the MTBI Committee are clear that the data set had limitations…The studies never claimed to be based on every concussion that was reported or that occurred. Moreover, the fact that not all concussions were reported is consistent with the fact that reporting was strongly encouraged by the League but not mandated, as documents provided to the Times showed."

Times' responses:

NFL's follow-up statement: "The studies themselves expressly noted the limitations in their work and never claimed to be based on every concussion that was reported or that occurred. The fact that not all concussions were reported is consistent with the fact that reporting was strongly encouraged by the League but not mandated, as the documents we provided to the Times showed. We nevertheless agree that these limitations could have been more clearly stated."


Times on Dorothy Mitchell, a former legal liaison who oversaw the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee, and her ties to the tobacco industry: "Before joining the N.F.L., Ms. Mitchell, a young Harvard Law School graduate, had been one of five lawyers at Covington & Burling who had provided either lobbying help or legal representation to both the N.F.L. and the tobacco industry, sometimes in the same year."

NFL's initial statement: "Her experience as a young lawyer working on a tobacco case (among many other cases) was entirely unknown to the NFL personnel who hired and supervised her, as well as to members of the MTBI Committee, until they learned of this proposed story."

Times' response:

NFL's follow-up: "At her law firm, Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., Dorothy Mitchell worked on a wide variety of matters, including employment matters for the League and a matter for the Tobacco Institute as a young associate. The NFL did not seek out Ms. Mitchell for employment or know that she had worked on any tobacco matter."


Times on contact between Lorillard general counsel Arthur Stevens and former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue in 1992: "In 1992, amid rising concerns about concussions, Mr. Tisch—the Giants and Lorillard part owner—asked the cigarette company's general counsel, Arthur J. Stevens, to contact the N.F.L. commissioner at the time, Mr. Tagliabue, about certain legal issues…In a letter obtained by The Times, Mr. Stevens referred Mr. Tagliabue to two court cases alleging that the tobacco and asbestos industries had covered up the health risks of their products."

NFL's initial statement: "In fact, neither then-NFL Commissioner, Mr. Tagliabue, the League nor its counsel ever solicited, reviewed, or relied on any advice from anyone at Lorillard or the Tobacco Institute regarding health issues."

Times' response:

NFL's follow-up: "Commissioner Tagliabue did not know Mr. Stevens and does not recall communicating with him prior to or after the October 20 letter. There is no evidence in an extensive review of files that Mr. Tagliabue solicited the advice, reviewed the advice or acted upon the advice. Nor did anyone else at the League ever take any action regarding health issues based on advice from Lorillard or the Tobacco Institute."


Times on the league and tobacco industry sharing lobbyists: "Still, the records show that the two businesses shared lobbyists, lawyers and consultants. Personal correspondence underscored their friendships, including dinner invitations and a request for lobbying advice."

NFL's initial statement: "In fact, the League has never participated—either through its counsel of over 50 years, Covington & Burling, or otherwise—in any joint lobbying efforts with the Tobacco Institute."

Times' response:

NFL's follow-up: "The NFL has worked with Covington & Burling for more than 50 years, and both the NFL and the Tobacco Institute have retained Covington & Burling at various times for lobbying services—as have any number of other companies and individuals in Washington and elsewhere. But the NFL never participated in any joint lobbying efforts with the Tobacco Institute. Regarding health and safety, the NFL retained assistance from Covington & Burling from 2009-2014 for its lobbying efforts in state legislatures to pass youth concussion laws, the 'Lystedt Law,' in all 50 states."
 

Times on NFL's use of the same research firm as the Tobacco Institute: "On at least two occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, the N.F.L. hired a company whose client list included the Tobacco Institute to study player injuries. The league also hired a company — for a matter unrelated to player safety—that had performed a study for the tobacco industry that played down the danger of secondhand smoke."

NFL's response: "The Times asserts a connection between the League and the Tobacco Institute because both hired the Stanford Research Institute (SRI)…In fact, one of the research studies the Times alludes to was jointly commissioned by the NFL and the NFL Players Association. There is no evidence that SRI engaged in misleading or inappropriate research."


Times on former NFL president Neil Austrian: "Neil Austrian, a former N.F.L. president, had previously run an advertising agency that under his leadership reversed its ban on taking tobacco clients. He called Philip Morris 'an honorable company that sets high standards.' It was during his tenure at the N.F.L. that the concussion committee was created."

NFL's response: "Mr. Austrian had no involvement with the MTBI Committee during his tenure at the NFL. Mr. Austrian was responsible for the business entities of the league."


Times on Joe Browne, the NFL's former senior vice president of communications: "When Congress was considering legislation that dealt with when a team owner could relocate a franchise, Joe Browne, a league official sought lobbying advice from a representative of the Tobacco Institute. 'I would like to take the opportunity to sit down and discuss this bill with you further,' Mr. Browne said in a 1982 letter to the institute's president, Sam Chilcote."

NFL's response: "The Times implies that there was a nefarious relationship between Joe Browne and Sam Chilcote. In fact, Joe Browne (then NFL SVP of Communications) built a personal relationship with Sam Chilcote while Mr. Chilcote was at the Distilled Spirits Council in the 1970s…Mr. Browne contacted Mr. Chilcote in 1982 for some advice as someone he knew in Washington, DC about a subject completely unrelated to tobacco, concussions, or any player-related or medical issue. We have seen no evidence—from the Times or otherwise—that demonstrated their relationship had anything to do with tobacco or NFL health and safety."



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12 Year Old Girl Arrested For Pinching Boy’s Butt: “Kids Can’t Even Be Kids”

The Daily Sheeple
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And society is officially learning its lessons about how anything that can be considered "offensive" is a criminal offense.

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Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Barely Half of Student Loans Are Being Repaid | Foundation for Economic Education

Barely Half of Student Loans Are Being Repaid | Foundation for Economic Education: "Total taxpayer exposure, including government guarantees of private loans, is up to $1.2 trillion. This is larger than outstanding auto loans ($1.1 trillion) and credit card debt ($0.7 trillion). The student loan balance is also growing faster than most other types of debt: credit card debt has grown 4.3 percent over the previous year, while housing debt has grown just 0.1 percent. Of the major debt types, only auto debt grew quicker than student loans, at a rate of 12 percent."



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Tuesday, March 22, 2016

At Emory University, Writing 'Trump 2016' on Sidewalk Is a Racist Microaggression, Unsafe

Reason.com Full Feed
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It's enough to make you root for Trump. Well, almost.


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Sunday, March 20, 2016

Study: Knowledge of mass surveillance creates 'chilling effect' and is silencing dissent online

Signs of the Times
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Thanks largely to whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelations in 2013, most Americans now realize that the intelligence community monitors and archives all sorts of online behaviors of both foreign nationals and US citizens. But did you know that the very fact that you know this could have subliminally stopped you from speaking out online on issues you care about? Now research suggests that widespread awareness of such mass surveillance could undermine democracy by making citizens fearful of voicing dissenting opinions in public. A paper published last week in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, the flagship peer-reviewed journal of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), found that "the government's online surveillance programs may threaten the disclosure of minority views and contribute to the reinforcement of majority opinion."

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Friday, March 18, 2016

WikiLeaks Accuses Facebook of Censorship Regarding Hillary Clinton Email Release

Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines
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Twitter The Hillary Clinton email scandal was once again revived in the news this week, thanks to WikiLeak’s release on Wednesday of an archive of 30,322 emails pulled from a private account she used during her tenure as secretary of state. Two days later, WikiLeaks called Facebook on the carpet for allegedly censoring users’ access via the social network to WikiLeaks’ latest Clinton dispatch. If WikiLeaks’ charge is valid, the tech behemoth that Mark Zuckerberg built could effectively be aiding the Democratic presidential hopeful—and since well before Super Tuesday III, the mainstream media’s christened Democratic front-runner—in her efforts to keep those pesky emails from getting between her and the White House. Here’s a closer look at the dispute, which was fittingly touched off via social media. Below is the tweet WikiLeaks sent out on Friday accusing Facebook of censorship: Dear @Facebook: stop censoring our Hillary Clinton email release. No, really. Stop it. There is no technical excuse. pic.twitter.com/AMbIUiPkid— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 18, 2016 Gauntlet: thrown. But what does it mean? The image included below the tweet’s text suggests a sequence of events, visually summed up in a screen shot, in which a Facebook user had spotted WikiLeaks’ story about the Clinton email release and tried to get to the archive by clicking on WikiLeaks’ link as displayed on his or her Facebook news feed. Instead of taking the user to Clinton’s emails, the click produced a pop-up message containing a “security precaution” that warned, “your computer may be infected with a virus or a malicious browser extension.” So far, still cryptic. Much has been written over the years about how Facebook influences news-gathering and consumption patterns in ways that don’t exactly cultivate a politically enlightened public, and media-watchers have fretted about how Internet-addled Americans are echo-chambering and cherry-picking away their higher faculties and civil liberties while Facebook eats the world. Defenders of the technology megacorp have brandished handy disclaimers to the effect that any narrowing of users’ world views or news feeds has come about as a result of some combination of individual agency and impersonal algorithms (see: hegemony) and not deliberate actions on Facebook’s part to influence which stories, not to mention candidates, are given wide exposure on its hugely influential platform. But WikiLeaks apparently doesn’t view Facebook as operating from the de facto position when it comes to the Hillary Clinton email incident—the language of the accusation clearly points to a deliberate, active attempt to block access to the archive. Wherever the truth lies in this case, this is clearly not the first time WikiLeaks, or founder Julian Assange, has encountered static from a global superpower, and the claim is significant, considering the intense scrutiny surrounding Clinton’s emails and that they were obtained as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request. Basing the tweeted allegation on a technical glitch or a one-off user error would be the kind of rookie mistake that WikiLeaks, having spent several go-rounds at this kind of rodeo, would be ill-advised to make. We’re investigating further and will add updates as more details emerge. A request for comment from Facebook’s office was not returned by press time. Meanwhile, more than 30,000 of Clinton’s emails are now available for perusal in archived format—but they might be best accessed directly on Wikileaks’ site. —Posted by Kasia Anderson

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Brazil is Engulfed by Ruling Class Corruption — and a Dangerous Subversion of Democracy

The Intercept
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Western media is depicting street protests as a noble populist uprising. The facts are much more complicated.

The post Brazil is Engulfed by Ruling Class Corruption — and a Dangerous Subversion of Democracy appeared first on The Intercept.



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Proof It Is Rigged: “Fed Moved 93% of Entire Stock Market Since 2008″

SHTF Plan - When It Hits The Fan, Don't Say We Didn't Warn You
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Fact: The Fed has screwed over the country. Monetary policy has been the single most important factor in the economy for some time, and this data proves it.

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Copying Japan: The Big Banks Confess

SGTreport - The Corporate Propaganda Antidote - Silver, Gold, Truth, Liberty, & Freedom
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by Jeff Nielson, Sprott Money:

Back at the end of 2008, Western central banks (led by the Federal Reserve) embarked upon the most radical, extreme, and simply insane monetary policies ever contemplated in our modern economic era as a supposed response to the Crash of ‘08. Zero-percent interest rates. “Quantitative easing.” Hyper-inflationary levels of [...]

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