TBR News September 17, 2017

The Voice of the White House

Washington, D.C., September 17, 2017:” “Considering the Saudi-supported 911 attacks, this is a subject that will be with us for years and will certainly grow in the telling.

The WTC buildings collapsed solely for a number of rational, provable reasons but the following the Suudi attack, all manner of “expert” opinions erupted into the public like some kind of a tropical skin disease and a great army of conspiracy idiots left the stale fictions surrounding the Kennedy assassination and gratefully rush to embrace the new religion, a religion that had the exciting suggestions of “plasmoid clouds.” “Ex-Soviet controlled rockets,” “’Nano thermite explosives planted in both buildings,” and on and on.

How exciting to discover that brilliant, fearless reporters and daring bloggers have exposed and are exposing the Real Truth behind the 911 disaster. We are subjected to the Plasmoid Clouds, The Chinese/Bulgarian Guided Missiles, The ex-Soviet Scientists working with the CIA, and Mossad and the Illuminati.

Ah, and then we learned about the dread Nano Thermite! Yes, more “experts” (as always, unidentified) found traces of this explosive all over the streets after the WTC building collapsed! Of course not a word was ever mentioned about this shocking fact for eight years but why let that bother the seekers after truth?

What about the self-sacrificing US Army Special Forces who actually went inside the buildings, acting on orders from Laura Bush the Freemasons and their controllers, the Illuminati (who were working with the Mossad at the time),  and blew the Twin Towers, and themselves, up? And the acres of foreign rocket engine parts strewed all over New York’s streets, or huge lakes of molten steel found by unidentified “rescue workers” in the cellars of the WTC? God, will these disillusions never end?

Here we have reassurance that all is not lost after all. And do not ignore a stunning report that “scientists” fathered on how Nicolas Tesla’s Z-Ray, controlled by former KGB officers stationed on Planet X,  actually brought down the two buildings,  as well as the Pentagon!”

 

Table of Contents

• Jihadists eye ‘train derailments & food poisoning in Europe’ – French media
• DC eyes tighter regulations on Facebook and Google as concern grows
• World Population Prospects
• What Humans Can Learn from Calhoun’s Rodent Utopia
• British police arrest second man over London train bomb
• The Voices of the Loon:

               Visit to Antarctica Confirms Discovery of Flash Frozen Alien                Civilization

              TIME reports on activities of the nut fringe

• Turkey summons German ambassador to Ankara over Kurdish rally in Cologne
• Student Debt: Lives On Hold

 

 

Jihadists eye ‘train derailments & food poisoning in Europe’ – French media

September 17, 2017

RT

French police have issued a confidential note based on an analysis of “jihadist propaganda,” warning of possible lone-wolf attacks causing trains to derail and even food poisoning, Le Parisien newspaper reports, citing the document. Due to recent jihadist propaganda urging plans for train derailment, particular attention should be paid to any reports of intrusion or attempted sabotage on the premises of railways,” a seven-page report compiled by the police directorate at the beginning of September reads, as cited by Le Parisien.

The document, which focuses on aspects of “jihadist propaganda” over the past three months, warns that terrorists are instructed to make explosives “as shown in tutorials,” conceal their radicalization, calling on “lone wolves” to cause “train derailments, forest fires or food poisoning” in Europe.

The highest police authorities confirm in the report, citing the propaganda analysis, that “the threats of attack remain very high” in France. The confidential document notes that apart from the railway network, increased vigilance is requested for schools and universities, including “sensitive products or materials” which jihadists may steal from laboratories for homemade explosives.

Tourist attractions such as churches, considered “a symbol of the western way of life,” are also listed among the potential targets most vulnerable to attack. The police report also mentions the threat of assaults in which people are attacked by speeding cars. Similar incidents happened this summer in London and Barcelona.

It is highly recommended that car rental companies check the identity of their customers and “report without delay any suspicious behavior” or “theft of vehicles.”

On Friday, a man armed with a knife threatened a soldier patrolling the Chatelet metro station in Paris. The assailant made statements referring to ‘Allah’ and ‘Daesh’ (Arabic pejorative for Islamic State) and was arrested without harming the Operation Sentinel soldier.

The French army’s anti-terrorism Operation Sentinel was established following the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris.

On August 9, at least six French soldiers were injured, three of them seriously, when they were hit by a vehicle in a northwestern Paris suburb. The incident took place in Levallois-Perret commune, only 6km from the capital. The suspect was arrested hours after the incident on a motorway in northern France.

In June, police shot and injured a man who attacked three officers with a hammer near Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris while shouting “this is for Syria.” The man, who injured one of the officers, was also armed with two knives, French media reported. One officer was hit in the head with the hammer, prompting police to shoot at the attacker. The assailant had also threatened passersby before targeting the three police officers, according to BFM TV.

France declared a state of emergency following attacks in Paris in November 2015, in which more than 130 people were killed. It has been extended several times; the latest extension was in July and is expected to last until November 1.

Leader of the French right-wing National Front (FN) Marine Le Pen said earlier this week that terrorism should be treated as an “act of war,” and proposed the idea of creating special courts to judge terrorism-related cases.

 

DC eyes tighter regulations on Facebook and Google as concern grows

Political spending on TV and press is transparent but there are no rules for online ads. With allegations of Russian influence in last year’s election, that may change

September 17, 2017

by Ben Jacobs in Washington

The Guardian

Every time a television station sells a political ad, a record is entered into a public file saying who bought the advertisement and how much money they spent.

In contrast, when Facebook or Google sells a political ad, there is no public record of that sale. That situation is of growing concern to politicians and legislators in Washington as digital advertising becomes an increasingly central part of American political campaigns. During the 2016 election, over $1.4bn was spent in online advertising, which represented a 789 percent increase over the 2012 election.

Online advertising is expected to become even more important in the 2018 midterms and the 2020 presidential election. However, while regulations governing television, radio and print ads are long established, there is little oversight in place for digital political ads. Broadcast television and radio stations are legally mandated to record who bought political ads and how muchthey spent. But online, political ad buyers are under no such obligations – and so the public are flying blind. The result is a landscape that one operative compared to “the wild west.”

For example, last week it was revealed that a Russian influence operation spent over $100,000 on Facebook during the 2016 election. As Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia warned recently, this expenditure could be “the tip of the iceberg.”

The revelation came as the growing influence of major tech companies has become a topic of bipartisan concern in Washington DC, and voices on Capitol Hill are getting louder about the need for more oversight of the digital giants’growing role in American politics.

Although some on the left have long raised concerns about the lack of competition for companies like Google and Amazon, the Trump administration has ushered in a new group of right-wing officials who are skepticalof these companies. Former White House aide Steve Bannon argued in favor of regulating Facebook and Google as public utilities, and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave a pointedly muted response after Google received a record fine from the European Union. “I don’t have anything for us to wade in on a private company,” she said in June.

This has been joined on the left by increasingly vocal comments by prominent progressives like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who warned in a speech last year that major digital companies like Google and Amazon were “trying to snuff out competition.” This gained more attention in August when the liberal New American Foundation fired a scholar who had argued Google was a monopoly. The company, whose CEO Eric Schmidt was a prominent Clinton supporter, had donated heavily to the nonprofit.

This scrutiny is starting to extend to the role of online advertising in American politics. The FEC has reopened a comment period on its rule on disclaimers for online political advertising. However, it’s unclear whether this will lead to any change in its rules, which currently grant most online advertising an exception from regulations that require disclaimers, the small print stating who paid for a particular ad, on “electioneering communications.”

Oren Shur, the former director of paid media on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign told the Guardian, “you have everyone under the sun buying political ads online now. It’s where everything is least transparent.”

As a Democratic digital operative noted to the Guardian, “all advertising on television and radio can be linked back to an FEC filing report. Fundamentally the press and the public can understand who is buying advertising for the purposes of the election, at a basic level you … can see who is spending what to influence an election and that’s just not true with Google, YouTube Facebook and Twitter.”

Facebook and Google now make up roughly 70-75% of political digital advertising sales, but the key question is whether there is any way to effectively implement a method of disclosure that makes transparency a reality. Jason Rosenbaum, the former digital director for the Clinton campaign, suggested these companies adopt a voluntary system of disclosure. He noted that cable companies, which are not expressly regulated by the FCC had long done this. Rosenbaum noted that legislative and regulatory solutions both face significant political obstacles and that it was hard to envision a technological way to track advertisements.

Instead, he thought a voluntary option would not only benefit the public but be good for platforms as it would enable them to sell more advertising which he noted is “what these companies do.” If a campaign knows a rival has bought advertising on an online platform, it is more likely to respond in kind and attempt to match the buy.

In the meantime, without a solution, skeptics of major tech platforms have warned of the consequences.

Luther Lowe, vice president for public policy at Yelp and a vocal critic of Google, told the Guardian, “This is not standard monopoly abuse.” Lowe added, “When a dominant information firm abuses its monopoly, you get the same negative effects of reduced choice and higher prices as in other monopolies, but democracy and free speech are also undermined because these firms now control how information is accessed and how it flows.”

As Lowe noted, the concerns over the dominant role of Google and Facebook are not limited to the realm of political advertising. In the past week, Yelp filed an anti-trust complaint against Google, alleging that it is wrongly scraping Yelp’s content, and Facebook has come under attack for allowing advertisers to target content to users interested in topics like “Jew Haters.” But the potential that a foreign government used any of these platforms to influence the 2016 election looms over all of the other topics.

 

World Population Prospects

June 21, 2017

UN Org

The current world population of 7.6 billion is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, according to a new United Nations report being launched today. With roughly 83 million people being added to the world’s population every year, the upward trend in population size is expected to continue, even assuming that fertility levels will continue to decline.

The World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, provides a comprehensive review of global demographic trends and prospects for the future. The information is essential to guide policies aimed at achieving the new Sustainable Development Goals.

Shifts in country population rankings

The new projections include some notable findings at the country level. China (with 1.4 billion inhabitants) and India (1.3 billion inhabitants) remain the two most populous countries, comprising 19 and 18% of the total global population. In roughly seven years, or around 2024, the population of India is expected to surpass that of China.

Among the ten largest countries worldwide, Nigeria is growing the most rapidly. Consequently, the population of Nigeria, currently the world’s 7th largest, is projected to surpass that of the United States and become the third largest country in the world shortly before 2050.

Most of the global increase is attributable to a small number of countries

From 2017 to 2050, it is expected that half of the world’s population growth will be concentrated in just nine countries: India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Ethiopia, the United Republic of Tanzania, the United States of America, Uganda and Indonesia (ordered by their expected contribution to total growth).

The group of 47 least developed countries (LDCs) continues to have a relatively high level of fertility, which stood at 4.3 births per woman in 2010-2015. As a result, the population of these countries has been growing rapidly, at around 2.4 % per year. Although this rate of increase is expected to slow significantly over the coming decades, the combined population of the LDCs, roughly one billion in 2017, is projected to increase by 33 % between 2017 and 2030, and to reach 1.9 billion persons in 2050.

Similarly, Africa continues to experience high rates of population growth. Between 2017 and 2050, the populations of 26 African countries are projected to expand to at least double their current size.

The concentration of global population growth in the poorest countries presents a considerable challenge to governments in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which seeks to end poverty and hunger, expand and update health and education systems, achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment, reduce inequality and ensure that no one is left behind.

Slower world population growth due to lower fertility rates

In recent years, fertility has declined in nearly all regions of the world. Even in Africa, where fertility levels are the highest of any region, total fertility has fallen from 5.1 births per woman in 2000-2005 to 4.7 in 2010-2015.

Europe has been an exception to this trend in recent years, with total fertility increasing from 1.4 births per woman in 2000-2005 to 1.6 in 2010-2015.

More and more countries now have fertility rates below the level required for the replacement of successive generations (roughly 2.1 births per woman), and some have been in this situation for several decades. During 2010-2015, fertility was below the replacement level in 83 countries comprising 46 % of the world’s population. The ten most populous countries in this group are China, the United States of America, Brazil, the Russian Federation, Japan, Viet Nam, Germany, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Thailand, and the United Kingdom (in order of population size).

Lower fertility leads also to ageing populations

The report highlights that a reduction in the fertility level results not only in a slower pace of population growth but also in an older population.

Compared to 2017, the number of persons aged 60 or above is expected to more than double by 2050 and to more than triple by 2100, rising from 962 million globally in 2017 to 2.1 billion in 2050 and 3.1 billion in 2100.

In Europe, 25% of the population is already aged 60 years or over. That proportion is projected to reach 35% in 2050 and to remain around that level in the second half of the century. Populations in other regions are also projected to age significantly over the next several decades and continuing through 2100. Africa, for example, which has the youngest age distribution of any region, is projected to experience a rapid ageing of its population. Although the African population will remain relatively young for several more decades, the percentage of its population aged 60 or over is expected to rise from 5% in 2017 to around 9% in 2050, and then to nearly 20% by the end of the century.

Globally, the number of persons aged 80 or over is projected to triple by 2050, from 137 million in 2017 to 425 million in 2050. By 2100 it is expected to increase to 909 million, nearly seven times its value in 2017.

Population ageing is projected to have a profound effect on societies, underscoring the fiscal and political pressures that the health care, old-age pension and social protection systems of many countries are likely to face in the coming decades.

Higher life expectancy worldwide

Substantial improvements in life expectancy have occurred in recent years. Globally, life expectancy at birth has risen from 65 years for men and 69 years for women in 2000-2005 to 69 years for men and 73 years for women in 2010-2015. Nevertheless, large disparities across countries remain.

Although all regions shared in the recent rise of life expectancy, the greatest gains were for Africa, where life expectancy rose by 6.6 years between 2000-2005 and 2010-2015 after rising by less than 2 years over the previous decade.

The gap in life expectancy at birth between the least developed countries and other developing countries narrowed from 11 years in 2000-2005 to 8 years in 2010-2015. Although differences in life expectancy across regions and income groups are projected to persist in future years, such differences are expected to diminish significantly by 2045-2050.

The increased level and reduced variability in life expectancy have been due to many factors, including a lower under-five mortality rate, which fell by more than 30 % in 89 countries between 2000-2005 and 2010-2015. Other factors include continuing reductions in fatalities due to HIV/AIDS and progress in combating other infectious as well as non-communicable diseases.

Large movements of refugees and other migrants

There continue to be large movements of migrants between regions, often from low- and middle-income countries toward high-income countries. The volume of the net inflow of migrants to high-income countries in 2010-2015 (3.2 million per year) represented a decline from a peak attained in 2005-2010 (4.5 million per year). Although international migration at or around current levels will be insufficient to compensate fully for the expected loss of population tied to low levels of fertility, especially in the European region, the movement of people between countries can help attenuate some of the adverse consequences of population ageing.

The report observes that the Syrian refugee crisis has had a major impact on levels and patterns of international migration in recent years, affecting several countries. The estimated net outflow from the Syrian Arab Republic was 4.2 million persons in 2010-2015. Most of these refugees went to Syria’s neighbouring countries, contributing to a substantial increase in the net inflow of migrants especially to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

 

What Humans Can Learn from Calhoun’s Rodent Utopia

Between 1968 and 1970, American ethologist John B. Calhoun (1917-1995) conducted a behavioral study of captive mice within a nine-square-foot enclosure at a rural facility in Poolesville, Maryland. Within the enclosure known as Universe 25, several pairs of mice bred a population, which ultimately swelled to 2,200. Eventually, they established social orders that created inside and outside factions, and soon mating ceased altogether.

The study confirmed his grim hypothesis, based on earlier studies of the Norway rat in small settings. In his theory he suggested that overpopulation spawns a breakdown in social functions. That, in turn, inevitably leads to extinction.

Though wildly controversial when first made public, Calhoun’s theory has raised concern over the years that the social breakdown of Universe 25 could ultimately serve as a metaphor for the trajectory of the human race. Consequently, the “rodent utopia project” has been a subject of interest among architects, city planning councils and government agencies around the world.

Early Rodent Studies

Calhoun began his experimental research on rodents in 1947, when he studied an enclosed group of Norway rats at a barn in Rockville, Maryland. Supplying the critters with unlimited food and water, he expected to see their population swell to 5,000 over the course of the 28-month experiment. However, the population capped out at 200 after subdividing into smaller groups, each of which comprised merely a dozen individuals.

Continuing with these studies during the 1950s, Calhoun set up a more complex enclosure to examine how further groups of rodents would behave in a sterilized, predator-free environment. Over the course of these experiments, the same sequence of events would transpire each time:

• The mice would meet, mate and breed in large quantities.
• Eventually a leveling-off would occur.
• After that, the rodents would develop either hostile and cliquish or passive and antisocial behaviors.
• The population would trail off to extinction.

In 1962, Scientific American published Calhoun’s observations from his research in the article “Population Density and Social Pathology,” wherein he coined the phrase “behavior sink” to describe the results of overcrowding — namely the breakdown of social functions and the collapse of populations — in the enclosed rodent environment. Hitting the public just as vast urban expansion saw growing numbers of college grads flocking to big cities for work opportunities, many viewed the article as a warning of what could happen to the human race if populations continued to rise at their current rate.

Universe 25: Calhoun’s Experiment with a Rodent Utopia

Expanding on his earlier studies, Calhoun devised his ultimate research experiment. In Universe 25, a population of mice would grow within a 2.7-square-meter enclosure consisting of four pens, 256 living compartments and 16 burrows that led to food and water supplies.

With a plague-free environment, a plenitude of comforts, a lack of predation and an unlimited supply of consumables, the mice would enjoy all the luxuries equivalent to modern human life. Calhoun initiated the experiment with four pairs of healthy mice, which were set loose into the enclosure to begin the new society.

During the first 104 days — a phase Calhoun dubbed the “strive period” — the mice adjusted to their new surroundings, marked their territory and began nesting. This was followed by the “exploit period,” which saw the population double every 55 days. By the 315th day, Universe 25 contained 620 mice.

Despite the abundance of space throughout the enclosure — each compartment could house up to 15 individuals, and the overall enclosure was built for a capacity of 3,000 — most mice were crowding select areas and eating from the same food sources. The act of eating, as it turned out, came to be viewed as a communal activity, which caused most of the mice to favor the same few compartments.

All of this huddling, however, led to a drop in mating, and the birthrate soon fell to a third of its former level. A social imbalance also took place among the mice:

• One-third emerged as socially dominant.
• The other two-thirds turned out less socially adept than their forbearers.
• As bonding skills diminished among the mice, Universe 25 went into a slow but irreversible decline.

Social Status in Universe 25

By Day 315, behavior disparities between males of high and low status became more pronounced. Those at the bottom of the pecking order found themselves spurned from females and withdrew from mating altogether. Having no roles to fulfill within the society of mice, these outcast males wandered apart from the larger groups to eat and sleep alone — and sometimes fight among one another.

The alpha males, by contrast, became more aggressive and pugnacious, often launching into violence with no clear provocation or motive. At times, these males would roam around and indiscriminately rape other mice, regardless of gender. Meanwhile, the beta males — those ranked between the aggressive alphas and outcast omegas — grew timid and inert, and often wound up being the passive recipients of violence. In several instances, bloodbaths ended with a cannibalistic feast for the victors.

With male mice abandoning their traditional roles in Universe 25, the females were left to fend for their nests. Consequently, many females adopted more aggressive forms of behavior, which would sometimes spill over into violence toward their young. Others would refrain from motherly duties altogether, banishing their unraised litters and withdrawing from further mating, resulting in serious consequences:

• In some compartments, the infant mortality rate topped 90 percent.
• Calhoun named this the “stagnation phase,” alternately known as the “equilibrium period.”
• He attributed the overly aggressive and passive behavioral patterns to the breakdown of social roles and rampant over-clustering.

A Spike in the Mortality Rate

By the 560th day, the population increase had ceased altogether as the mortality rate hovered at 100 percent. This marked the start of the “death phase” — aka the “die period” — in which the rodent utopia slid toward extinction. Amidst the violence, hostility and lack of mating, a younger generation of mice reached maturity, having never been exposed to examples of normal, healthy relations. With no concept of mating, parenting or marking territory, this generation of mice spent all of their waking hours eating, drinking and grooming themselves.

In reference to their perfected, unruffled appearances, Calhoun called these mice the “beautiful ones.” Living in seclusion from the other mice, they were spared the violence and conflict that waged in the crowded areas, yet made no social contributions.

According to Calhoun, the death phase consisted of two stages: the “first death” and “second death.” The former was characterized by the loss of purpose in life beyond mere existence — no desire to mate, raise young or establish a role within society. This first death was represented by the lackadaisical lives of the beautiful ones, whereas the second death was marked by the literal end of life and the extinction of Universe 25.

The Sun Sets on Universe 25

Extending on his observations of the beautiful ones, Calhoun later opined that mice, as humans, thrive on a sense of identity and purpose within the world at large. He argued experiences such as tension, stress, anxiety and the need to survive make it necessary to engage in society.

When all needs are accounted for, and no conflict exists, the act of living is stripped to its barest physiological essentials of food and sleep. In Calhoun’s view:

• Herein is the paradox of a life without work or conflict.
• When all sense of necessity is stripped from the life of an individual, life ceases to have purpose.
• The individual dies in spirit.

Gradually, the mice that refused to mate or engage in society came to outnumber those that formed gangs, raped and plundered, and fed off their own. The last known conception in Universe 25 occurred on Day 920, at which point the population was capped at 2,200, well short of the enclosure’s 3,000 capacity.

An endless supply of food, water and other resources were still there for the mice, but it didn’t matter. The behavior sink had set in, and there was no stopping Universe 25 from careening to its self-made demise. Soon enough, there was not a single living mouse left in the enclosure..

Failed Salvage Attempt and Concluding Observations

Before the rodent utopia imploded entirely, Calhoun removed some of the beautiful ones to see whether they would live more productive lives if released into a new society, free of social strife and carnage. Placing these mice in a fresh setting with few pre-existing residents — a scenario similar to that which greeted the initial pairs placed in Universe 25 — he expected the beautiful ones to awake from their asocial haze and answer nature’s call to populate the barren environment.

However, the relocated mice showed no signs of change from their earlier behavioral patterns. Refusing to mate or even interact among their new peers, the reclusive mice eventually died of natural causes, and the fledgling society folded without a single new birth.

In Calhoun’s view, the rise and fall of Universe 25 proved five basic points about mice, as well as humans:

1.The mouse is a simple creature, but it must develop the skills for courtship, child-rearing, territorial defense and personal role fulfillment on the domestic and communal front. If such skills fail to develop, the individual will neither reproduce nor find a productive role within society.

2.As with mice, all species will grow older and gradually die out. There is nothing to suggest human society isn’t prone to the same developments that led to the demise of Universe 25.

3.If the number of qualified individuals exceeds the number of openings in society, chaos and alienation will be the inevitable outcomes.

4.Individuals raised under the latter conditions will lack any relation to the real world. Physiological fulfillment will be their only drive in life.

5.Just as mice thrive on a set of complex behaviors, the concern for others developed in post-industrial human skills and understandings is vital to man’s continuance as a species. The loss of these attributes within a civilization could lead to its collapse.

Calhoun’s Work After Universe 25

In 1972, Calhoun shared his observations about the results of the rodent utopia in an essay titled “Death Squared: The Explosive Growth and Demise of a Mouse Population.” This work gained instant notoriety for its grim outlook on the consequences of an overpopulated and overly satiated society.

Given all the strife that had been impacting the world in the years immediately before — Vietnam, race riots, political assassinations, the Cold War, China’s Cultural Revolution — the public was fearful Calhoun’s findings were indicative of mankind’s then-present course. The examples of rodent pillage and carnage in the wake of overcrowding seemed to mirror the social unrest of ’60s and ’70s human society, which coincided with unprecedented urban sprawl.

Despite the grim parables presented in Calhoun’s observations, he wasn’t trying to imply humankind was headed down a similar path toward extinction. While he definitely saw parallels between the downfall of Universe 25 and some of society’s ills, he stressed humans — as a more sophisticated species — had the wisdom and ingenuity to reverse such trends.

After all, humans have science, technology and medicine, all of which give mankind the ability to:

• Pinpoint causation
• Avert disasters
• Heal wounds and illness
• Explore new environments

He also pointed out Universe 25 was not a natural habitat, as it was supplied with an abundance of food and luxuries and kept free of predators and disease.

Hope for Humankind?

Still, Calhoun feared mankind could lurch toward a similar doom if cities became overcrowded and the population swelled beyond the capacity of the job market. To help society find ways to prevent this from ever happening, he spent part of his later career exploring different forms of human advancement, which he extended to the concept of space colonization.

To that end, he formed an academic team called the Space Cadets. Its purpose was to promote the idea of humans setting up colonies on other planets.

Calhoun also focused on city planning, which he felt was key to avoiding the behavior sink of Universe 25. He believed the design of cities was partially responsible for the ways in which inhabitants interacted with each other and steps should be taken in tandem with development to maintain positive communication between people.

As part of his effort to promote alternative concepts of city design, he tinkered with the rodent utopia model with more than 100 further Universes over the next two decades. His work in this area was highly esteemed among city planning councils in the United States and abroad.

Legacy and Questions in the 21st Century

More than four decades have passed since Calhoun conducted his Universe 25 experiment. Nonetheless, questions linger regarding the observations he drew from the rodent utopia’s collapse. Most pressing is the question of human population, which globally could top 9.6 billion by 2050 if we stay on our current course. The population trend arouses numerous concerns:

• Will mankind continue to thrive if the population exceeds the number of available jobs? What about disruptive technology, whereby a new product or innovation renders whole fields obsolete, or a task that once required multiple hands can now be completed with the press of a button?
• If most jobs are outmoded by technology, what will sustain the economy? Will large cross-sections of the population become destitute, or will the billionaire class support everyone?
• How will people function and interact with one another in a world where hardly anyone works? Can an individual develop interpersonal skills when there’s no need to pursue working relationships in the outside world?

At the very least, mice and men seem rather similar when Calhoun’s research is compared with modern-day civilization.

 

British police arrest second man over London train bomb

September 15, 2017

by Paul Sandle

Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – British police arrested a second man over the bombing of a London commuter train on Friday that injured 30 people and the security services lowered the threat level for an attack from its highest setting.

The 21-year-old man was detained under Britain’s terrorism laws in the west London suburb of Hounslow just before midnight on Saturday, London police said in a statement.

Police earlier arrested an 18-year-old man in the departure lounge of Dover port in what they called a “significant” step and then raided a property in Sunbury-on-Thames, a town near London and about four miles (six km) from Hounslow.

The home-made bomb shot flames through a packed carriage at west London’s Parsons Green Tube station during the Friday morning rush hour but apparently failed to detonate fully.

Islamic State claimed responsibility, as it has for other attacks in Britain this year, including two in London and one at a concert by American singer Ariana Grande in Manchester in May.

Interior minister Amber Rudd said on Sunday the second arrest showed it was not a lone-wolf attack but there was no evidence Islamic State was involved.

She said the threat level had been lowered to “severe” from “critical”, meaning another attack was highly likely rather than expected imminently.

“It is inevitable that so-called Islamic State, or Daesh, will reach in and try to claim responsibility. We have no evidence to suggest that yet,” Rudd told the BBC.

“But as this unfolds, and as the police do their investigations, we will make sure that we find out exactly how he was radicalized, if we can.”

HOUSE SEARCHES

Police said on Sunday they were searching a home in Stanwell in the county of Surrey near the perimeter of London’s Heathrow Airport, in connection with the Hounslow arrest.

Police continued to search the house in Sunbury nearby but said there were no safety risks to local residents.

Local media said the home belongs to a couple who have fostered hundreds of children, including refugees. The BBC said the couple, 88-year-old Ronald Jones and Penelope Jones, 71, had been honored by Queen Elizabeth for their work with children.

The bomb struck as passengers were traveling toward the center of the British capital. Some suffered burns and others were hurt in a stampede to escape. Health officials said none was thought to be in a serious condition.

Prime Minister Theresa May put Britain on its highest security level late on Friday and soldiers and armed police were deployed to strategic locations such as nuclear power plants.

On Saturday, armed police patrolled the streets near government departments in Westminster and guarded Premier League soccer grounds hosting matches.

The last time Britain was put on “critical” alert was after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at the Ariana Grande concert.

On that occasion, the threat level remained at critical for four days while police established whether the bomber had worked alone or with others. Prior to that it had not been triggered since 2007.

Additional reporting by Andrew Heavens; editing by David Clarke

 

The Voices of the Loon

Visit to Antarctica Confirms Discovery of Flash Frozen Alien Civilization

January 25, 2017.

by Michael Salla, PhD

Exoarcheology

In early January 2017, secret space program whistleblower Corey Goode says he was taken to Antarctica to witness the first scientific excavations of ruins from an ancient flash frozen civilization buried under two miles of ice. While the discovery of the ruins date back to the first Nazi German expedition in 1939 according to Goode, it is only since 2002 that excavations by archeologists and other scientists have been allowed, The archeologists have allegedly prepared documentary films and academic papers whose release will astound the scientific community.

In a December 11, 2016 update, Goode describes how he had been earlier made aware of the Antarctica excavations from multiple sources, and then had the excavations also revealed to him by a senior officer within a USAF led secret space program he dubbed “Sigmund”, Sigmund led a covert mission involving multiple abductions and debriefings of Goode who was being tested for the fidelity of his information.

After being satisfied about the accuracy of Goode’s information and sources, Sigmund unexpectedly shared some of his knowledge about the Antarctica excavations. It involved a civilization led by 10-12 foot tall “Pre-Adamites” with elongated skulls.

In early January 2017, secret space program whistleblower Corey Goode says he was taken to Antarctica to witness the first scientific excavations of ruins from an ancient flash frozen civilization buried under two miles of ice. While the discovery of the ruins date back to the first Nazi German expedition in 1939 according to Goode, it is only since 2002 that excavations by archeologists and other scientists have been allowed, The archeologists have allegedly prepared documentary films and academic papers whose release will astound the scientific community.

Three oval shaped motherships about 30 miles in diameter were discovered nearby revealing that the Pre-Adamites were extraterrestrial in origin, and had arrived on Earth about 55,000 years ago. One of the three ships has been excavated and found to have many smaller spacecraft inside. The Pre-Adamite civilization, at least that portion of it based in Antarctica, had been flash frozen in a cataclysmic event that had occurred roughly 12,000 years ago.

Goode has also been told by his contacts that the most advanced technologies, and the remains of Pre-Adamites themselves have been removed from one archeological site that will be made public. Teams of archeologists have been working with what is left, and told to keep secret what else they had seen.

In addition, select ancient artifacts from other locations will be brought in from vast warehouses and seeded into the archeological site for public release. In their impending announcement about the Antarctica excavations, emphasis will be on the terrestrial elements of the flash frozen civilization in order not to shock the general population too much.

According to Goode, the announcement is likely to be timed as a distraction from upcoming war crimes trails against global elites as leaks emerge about international pedophile rings and child trafficking.

Up until recently, everything Goode knew about the Antarctica excavations had been shared to him by insider sources or Sigmund. That changed in early January 2017, when Goode was himself taken to Antarctica to witness the ruins and the excavations underway,

In a short personal briefing on January 24 and subsequent dinner discussion which included David Wilcock, Goode related some of the details about his most recent Antarctica trip. He has previously reported on an earlier visit to Antarctica where he got to see five of the working underground bases belonging to the Interplanetary Corporate Conglomerate, a corporate run secret space program based in Antarctica.

Goode says that shortly after New Year, 2017, he was taken to Antarctica by an “Anshar” spacecraft. The Anshar are one of the seven Inner Earth civilizations that Goode has met with. He has in earlier reports described being taken to the main underground city belonging to the Anshar, where he witnessed their advanced technologies.

Goode has described his multiple encounters with Kaaree, a High Priestess of the Anshar, who has acted as his guide and friend in many trips into the Earth’s interior, Antarctica and into deep space.

Another key figure in Goode’s revelations is “Gonzales,” who is a U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander that was Goode’s initial contact with a Secret Space Program Alliance comprising the Navy’s Solar Warden Program along with defectors from other secret space programs.

After being exposed due to Goode’s involuntary abductions and interrogations by “Sigmund”, Gonzales has become a liaison between a Mayan Secret Space Program and the SSP Alliance, which no longer requires his presence on Earth.

In his early January 2017 visit, Goode says he was joined by Kaaree, Gonzales, and two other Inner Earth Civilization representatives. One of whom belonged to an Asian-looking race that Goode has described in his initial meeting with representatives from the seven Inner Earth civilizations.

Goode and the others were taken by the Anshar spacecraft to an unexcavated portion of the ruins. This was an area that the nearby scientific teams have not yet reached so it was still pristine, and showed the full extent of a civilization that had been flash frozen.

Goode described seeing bodies twisted and contorted in various flash frozen states. The catastrophe had clearly been unanticipated.

He said that the Pre-Adamites were very thin. He stated it was evident from examining their bodies that they had evolved on a planet with a much lower gravitational environment.

In addition to the pre-Adamites, Goode also saw many different types of normal sized humans, some of whom had short tails, while others had elongated skulls similar to the Pre-Adamites. The conclusion Goode drew was that the Pre-Adamites were conducting biological experiments on the indigenous humans of the planet.

Gonzales had an instrument for taking biological samples that he plunged into the various frozen bodies. He also carried a camera and took many photos. The biological material and photos would be given for study by Secret Space Program Alliance scientists.

In addition, there were scrolls of a metallic alloy that were rolled up with some kind of writing in them. The Anshar and other Inner Earth representatives were collecting as many of these scrolls as possible.

In earlier reports, Goode has described the Anshar Library as being quite extensive and having many ancient artifacts from multiple civilizations. The Anshar was adding the historical records of this flash frozen civilization to their library.

In addition, Goode said that his party was not witnessed by the scientists and archeologists working on the excavations in another part of the Antarctica ruins. The Anshar ship had traveled through the ice to get to the ruins. Goode recalled how the ship could easily move through walls using their advanced technologies.

The significance of Goode’s January trip to Antarctica is that it was confirmation for what he had been earlier briefed about from various sources and the USAF officer, Sigmund. The Antarctica excavations was quite real and Goode was now the first primary witness to it. It is expected that more details about Goode’s trip to Antarctica and the Pre-Adamites will be released by David Wilcock in his upcoming article, “Endgame III.”

Goode’s visit and confirmation of the Antarctica discovery is highly significant. It is disturbing confirmation of Charles Hapgood’s theory that pole shifts have been a regular occurrence in Earth’s history. The flash frozen Pre-Adamite civilization was not the only case of this type of catastrophe that had impacted an ancient civilization.

The visit of many dignitaries to Antarctica in 2016, including then Secretary of State John Kerry, Buzz Aldrin, Patriarch Kirill, and many others in previous years, is circumstantial evidence that a major discovery has been made in Antarctica. Thanks to Corey Goode, we now have first-hand witness testimony of the full extent of the Antarctica discovery, and the scientific excavations underway since 2002 that are expected to announce some elements of the discovery very soon.

 

TIME reports on activities of the nut fringe

Secret Societies Control the World

If you were really a member of the global élite, you’d know this already: the world is ruled by a powerful, secretive few. Many of the rest of us peons have heard that in 2004 both candidates for the White House were members of Yale University’s secretive Skull and Bones society, many of whose members have risen to powerful positions. But Skull and Bones is small potatoes compared with the mysterious cabals that occupy virtually every seat of power, from the corridors of government to the boardrooms of Wall Street.

Take the Illuminati, a sect said to have originated in 18th century Germany and which is allegedly responsible for the pyramid-and-eye symbol adorning the $1 bill: they intend to foment world wars to strengthen the argument for the creation of a worldwide government (which would, of course, be Satanic in nature). Or consider the Freemasons, who tout their group as the “oldest and largest worldwide fraternity” and boast alumni like George Washington.

Some think that despite donating heaps of cash to charity, they’re secretly plotting your undoing at Masonic temples across the world. Or maybe, some theorize, the guys pulling the strings aren’t concealed in shadow at all. They might be the intelligentsia on the Council on Foreign Relations, a cadre of policy wonks who allegedly count their aims as publishing an erudite bimonthly journal and establishing a unified world government — not necessarily in that order.

The Reptilian Elite

They are among us. Blood-drinking, flesh-eating, shape-shifting extraterrestrial reptilian humanoids with only one objective in their cold-blooded little heads: to enslave the human race. They are our leaders, our corporate executives, our beloved Oscar-winning actors and Grammy-winning singers, and they’re responsible for the Holocaust, the Oklahoma City bombings and the 9/11 attacks … at least according to former BBC sports reporter David Icke, who became the poster human for the theory in 1998 after publishing his first book, The Biggest Secret, which contained interviews with two Brits who claimed members of the royal family are nothing more than reptiles with crowns. (Picture Dracula meets Swamp Thing).

The conspiracy theorist and New Age philosopher, who wore only turquoise for a time and insisted on being called Son of God-Head, says these “Annunaki” (the reptiles) have controlled humankind since ancient times; they count among their number Queen Elizabeth, George W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Bob Hope. Encroaching on other conspiracy theorists’ territory, Icke even claims that the lizards are behind secret societies like the Freemasons and the Illuminati.

Since earning the dubious title of “paranoid of the decade” in the late 1990s, Icke has written several books on the topic, including his latest work, The David Icke Guide to the Global Conspiracy, while operating his own website — complete with merchandise and advertisements.

 

 

Turkey summons German ambassador to Ankara over Kurdish rally in Cologne

Ankara has summoned Germany’s ambassador after more than 10,000 Kurds rallied in Cologne. The rally was in support of Kurdish independence as well as the jailed leader of the banned PKK.

September16, 2017

DW

Turkey summoned the German ambassador to Ankara in response to a large rally held by Kurds in Cologne on Saturday.

More than 10,000 people rallied in the west German city in support of an independence referendum in Iraq.

Ankara summoned Ambassador Martin Erdmann to voice concern over what it called a militant rally, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

“We condemn the organization of a rally in the German city of Cologne by the extensions of the PKK terrorist organizations, and the allowing of terror propaganda. We have voiced our reaction in a strong manner to Germany’s ambassador to Ankara, who was called to the ministry,” it said.

On Saturday, Kurdish demonstrators called for freedom for Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), independence for Kurdistan, and democracy for the Middle East, local paper Kölner Stadt Anzeiger reported.

They had gathered at what was ostensibly a cultural festival organized by the Democratic Social Center for Kurds in Germany.”We are protesting and celebrating at the same time – that is our culture,” attendee Rifat Arslan told the paper, after traveling there from Frankfurt with his family. “We demand a recognized and free Kurdistan and want the release of our leader Ocalan,” he was quoted as saying.

The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, Germany and the European Union.

Turkey accused Germany of not doing enough to stop PKK activities.

“The double standard approach Germany has been following with regards to the global fight against terrorism is worrying. We call on Germany to show a principled stance against all kinds of terror,” the ministry said in the statement.

On September 3, about 25,000 Kurdish supporters demonstrated in Cologne against Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, where they also carried posters of Ocalan.

 

Student Debt:  Lives On Hold

Consumer Reports

August 2017 Issue

Millions of Americans who went to college seeking a better future now face crushing debt from student loans—while the industry makes a handsome profit. How a broken system landed so many in this mess.

Almost every American knows an adult burdened by a student loan. Fewer know that growing alongside 42 million indebted students is a formidable private industry that has been enriched by those very loans.

A generation ago, the federal government opened its student loan bank to profit-making corporations. Private-equity companies and Wall Street banks seized on the flow of federal loan dollars, peddling loans students sometimes could not afford and then collecting fees from the government to hound students when they defaulted.

Step by step, one law after another has been enacted by Congress to make student debt the worst kind of debt for Americans—and the best kind for banks and debt collectors.

Today, just about everyone involved in the student loan industry makes money off of the students—the banks, private investors, even the federal government.

Once in place, the privatized student loan industry has largely succeeded in preserving its status in Washington. And in one of the industry’s greatest lobbying triumphs, student loans can no longer be discharged in bankruptcy, except in rare cases.

At the same time, societal changes conspired to drive up the basic need for these loans: Middle-class incomes stagnated, college costs soared, and states retreated from their historical investment in public universities.

If states had continued to support public higher education at the rate they had in 1980, they would have invested at least an additional $500 billion in their university systems, according to an analysis by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.

The calculus for students and their families had changed drastically, with little notice. Today, there is a student debt class like no other: about 42 million Americans bearing $1.3 trillion in student debt that’s altering lives, relationships, and even retirement.

“I feel I kind of ruined my life by going to college,” says Jackie Krowen, 32, of Portland, Oregon, a nurse with a student loan balance of $152,000. “I can’t plan for an actual future.”

One of the beneficiaries in the profit spree behind this debt is the federal government. By the Department of Education’s own calculations, the government expects to earn an astonishing 20 percent for the loans it made in 2013.

Today student debt is a $140 billion-a-year industry, and unlike many of its student customers, the industry’s future looks bright.

Retreat of the States

In the summer of 2010, Saul Newton was a 20-year-old rifleman stationed at a small U.S. Army outpost in the remote, dangerous Arghandab River Valley of Afghanistan.

It was a radical change for a kid from suburban Milwaukee who only months before had been a student at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

But after two years of tuition hikes, Newton found himself with about $10,000 in student loans and the prospect of still more borrowing if he stayed in school. “I couldn’t afford it any more,” he says. He dropped out and enlisted, hoping one day to go back to school under the GI bill.

He wound up fighting the Taliban. His unit’s worst day was when the battalion chaplain and four other soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in August 2010.

“My focus was on doing my job and staying alive,” Newton says. But no matter what else was going on at the outpost, once a month he says he went to the wooden shack where the unit kept a laptop computer and made his online student loan payment of $100.

He worried that if he didn’t pay his loans, his credit would be shot. (Newton says he wasn’t aware that the government offers student loan deferments to active soldiers in wartime.)

Today, back home in Wisconsin as director of the Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerce, Newton says his state’s cuts to higher education will force more young people to face the same choices he did.

“You shouldn’t have to go to war to get a college education,” he says.

In the last decade, Wisconsin has cut back sharply on funding its state university system.

In 2003, students paid about 30 percent of the University of Wisconsin system’s total educational cost, according to data compiled by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. By 2013, after several rounds of state budget cuts, students were responsible for about 47 percent, and more state cuts to higher education are expected.

By 2014, 70 percent of Wisconsin students graduated with debt—the third-highest percentage in the nation for students at public and nonprofit colleges, according to the nonprofit Institute for College Access & Success, or TICAS.

Wisconsin’s trajectory follows a national trend. After World War II, the states appropriated more and more funds for public higher education, and by 1975, they were contributing 58 percent of the total cost. But since then they have steadily reduced their share, pressured by, among other things, the rising costs of Medicaid and prisons. Today, state support is at 37 percent nationally, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

“We ought to invest in the future, not take from the future,” says Thomas G. Mortenson, a senior scholar at the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education. “Where I used to live we called that eating our seed corn.”

As the states cut back funding, universities raised tuition. To cover the increase, more students borrowed, which brought in even more money for the thriving industry. The next step: collecting all the debt.

Calls, at All Hours

The work was automated and fast-paced: Calls were robo-dialed, and the delinquent borrower’s account history flashed on the computer screen in Jessie Suren’s cubicle. Her job, which paid about $12 an hour, was to engage with the borrower, stick to the script—and try to get some money out of people who were delinquent on student loans.

At the massive call center in Harrisburg, Pa., Suren felt like she was working for the enemy. The 28-year-old owes about $90,000 in student loans.

Some calls were scary, Suren says; angry borrowers would curse and threaten, declaring they were jobless and broke. Other calls were heartbreaking; borrowers would say they or their children were terminally ill.

Whatever their story, Suren says she’d have to tell borrowers what would happen if they didn’t pay: American Education Services, a loan servicing company, could take their tax refund and garnish their wages.

After hanging up, Suren would sometimes reflect on her own student loans. “This is going to be me in a couple of years,” she would think. Eventually, she quit.

The federal government holds about 93 percent of the $1.3 trillion in outstanding student loans. That makes the Department of Education, effectively, one of the world’s largest banks, but one that rarely deals directly with its customers.

In the 1980s, the department began contracting with private companies to take over some debt collection. Then after privatization, a surge of investors poured into this field. Established debt-collection firms were bought up by privately held investor funds controlled by the likes of JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.

Today, one in four borrowers are behind in their payments, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with an estimated 7.6 million in default. As borrowers struggle to make payments, debt-collection profits rise.

Contractors are expected to make more than $2 billion in commissions from the government this year, according to the National Consumer Law Center.

With the stakes so high, complaints about overzealous debt collectors have soared. Federal and state agencies have fined contractors millions for misconduct in harassing student debtors. Some have lost their contracts entirely.

San Francisco graphic designer Brandon Hill says debt collectors from Sallie Mae began calling him “yelling and screaming” about his past-due payments as early as 5 a.m. After he complained to state regulators in 2013, Sallie Mae and Navient Credit Finance turned around and sued him for immediate repayment of a combined $73,000 in student loans, records show. “I was sued for complaining,” he says. His lawyer is negotiating a settlement.

In a letter to the California attorney general’s office, Sallie Mae wrote that the company had “acted appropriately” in contacting Hill. The flurry of 5 a.m. calls occurred because Hill’s cell phone has a Virginia area code, so the collectors assumed he was on the East Coast, a Sallie Mae official wrote.

Retired University of Cincinnati professor Mary Franklin says student debt collectors told her they would garnish her disability insurance benefits because she had fallen behind on a student loan dating back decades.

“I tried to explain to them that I was ill,” she says. “They said the federal government [doesn’t] care.” Eventually, she says, she managed to resume payments.

Congress revised the program again and in 2010 took back control of issuing federal student loans; the government now loans directly to students. However, it left intact the industry that had grown up to service and collect the loans.

Other progress has been made. New regulations introduced after 2013 now limit a student debtor’s federal loan payments to as low as 10 percent of discretionary income. And in 2015, the Obama administration launched a pilot program to test whether federal employees could effectively take over the job of collecting unpaid student loans, while at the same time being more helpful and less aggressive than private collectors.

To Deanne Loonin, a lawyer who monitored student debt for years for the National Consumer Law Center, the Treasury experiment is focusing on one of the biggest problems confronting borrowers.

“We need to eliminate the private collection agencies from this process,” she says. “They are incentivized just to collect money, not to work out ways that might be better for the borrowers. We need to see what else might work.”