Ne News: Independent News

Ellen H. Brown NSNBC International 18 October 2016 School districts are notoriously short of funding – so short that some California districts have succumbed to Capital Appreciation Bonds that will cost taxpayers as much is 10 to 15 times principal by the time they are paid off. By comparison, California’s Prop. 51, the school bond proposal currently on the ballot, looks like a good deal. It would allow the state to borrow an additional $9 billion for educational purposes by selling general obligation bonds to investors at an assumed interest rate of 5% , with the bonds issued over a five-year period and repaid over 30 years. $9 billion × 5% × 35 equals $15.75 billion in interest – nearly twice principal, but not too bad compared to the Capital Appreciation Bond figures. However, there is a much cheaper way to fund this $9 billion school debt. By borrowing from its own state-chartered, state-owned bank, the state could save over $10 billion – on a $9 billion loan. H...

Joachim Hagopian Global Research 22 October 2016 “A populace deprived of the ability to separate lies from truth, is no longer capable of sustaining a free society.” — Journalist Chris Hedges As the ruling elite pushes its rigged election , forcibly cramming crime boss Hillary down our gullets against the people’s choice or will, so goes suppression of information rapidly shutting off the truth spigot, leaving Americans high and dry. The latest over-the-top signs reflecting the globalists’ desperation are the UK’s RT bank closing its account and cutting off Julian Assange’s internet access in London. It’s bad enough that the WikiLeaks founder has effectively been imprisoned for over four years trapped in the Ecuadorian Embassy, but now he’s apparently been cut off from internet contact with the outside world and media in Ecuador is swimming with the sharks eagerly urging reconsideration of his asylum status. These two significant and most definitely...

David Korten Counter Currents 16 October 2016 In this most bizarre of presidential elections, no one is talking about one of the biggest—if not the biggest—issues of our time. Namely, the global power imbalance between corporations and governments. Not Donald Trump, as he obsesses over the weight of a long-past Miss Universe. Not Hillary Clinton, despite her many substantive proposals that the media largely ignores. Not even Jill Stein, although she offers many proposals for moving power to the people at the national level. Earth is dying. A few hundred billionaires are consolidating their control of the Earth’s remaining real wealth. Racism is rampant. And violence devastates millions of lives. These issues do get mention, though less than they deserve. What is not mentioned, the elephant in the room, is that which blocks serious action on these and other critical threats to the human future: the glaring and growing global power imbalance between corporations th...

David Korten Counter Currents 16 October 2016 In this most bizarre of presidential elections, no one is talking about one of the biggest—if not the biggest—issues of our time. Namely, the global power imbalance between corporations and governments. Not Donald Trump, as he obsesses over the weight of a long-past Miss Universe. Not Hillary Clinton, despite her many substantive proposals that the media largely ignores. Not even Jill Stein, although she offers many proposals for moving power to the people at the national level. Earth is dying. A few hundred billionaires are consolidating their control of the Earth’s remaining real wealth. Racism is rampant. And violence devastates millions of lives. These issues do get mention, though less than they deserve. What is not mentioned, the elephant in the room, is that which blocks serious action on these and other critical threats to the human future: the glaring and growing global power imbalance between corporati...

Allan Swenson Dissident Voice 13 October 2016 The desert town of Agadez in Niger is currently best known as a stop on the people-smuggling route between West Africa and Europe, but it is about to take its place in the geopolitical stage as the American military has announced it will build a  drone base on its outskirts . Reportedly costing U.S. taxpayers as much of $100 million, the base is just the latest American play for military supremacy in Africa — Niger is the only country in that volatile region of the continent prepared to risk allowing Washington a base for its MQ-9 Reapers, the even more lethal successor to the notorious Predator drone. While the U.S. is strengthening its military capabilities in the region, it is also forging deeper ties with Niger’s repressive government. President Mahamadou Issoufou was re-elected in March with a laughably high 92% of the vote. Suspicions about the legitimacy of the landslide win are warranted, considering th...

Paul Anthony Taylor Dr. Rath Health Foundation 13 October 2016 In a recent report , European consumer lobby group BEUC calls on the Brussels EU to increase regulations on food supplements in Europe. Absurdly claiming that consumers are supposedly exposed to “potentially serious side effects” when using them, it demands the harmonization of European law to cover all types available. But while BEUC attempts to portray its analysis as trustworthy and independent, the fact is that, over the last financial years, the lobby group has been supported by billionaire currency speculator George Soros and the Brussels EU.   Stating that it represents and defends the interests of European consumers, BEUC professes to investigate Brussels EU decisions likely to affect them. In the area of nutrition, however, despite widespread evidence that the nutrient content of our food has fallen substantially over the past decades, BEUC has historically taken the scientificall...

Asbjørn Wahl Socialist Project 13 October 2016 The British majority in favour of leaving the EU ( Brexit ) was surprising, even shocking, to many. The discussion runs high on both the result and the causes. The confusion seems to be extraordinarily high on the left, in Britain as in the rest of Europe. In reality, the result of the referendum reflects an EU in existential crisis, while the discussion reflects a Left in deep political and ideological crisis. Seen from a left position, the British campaign was of course not without problems. The Brexit campaign was dominated by forces on the political right, and anti-immigration, xenophobia and racism were at the centre, although it was not as dominant as many media reported. National self-determination was reported as the main reason for the majority’s support of Brexit. And there was also a left organized Brexit movement , even though it was not very strong. What is clear, is that large sections of th...

Dr. Gary G Kohls Global Research 11 October 2016 Note: In its 200 year history, the USA has intervened in, invaded or militarily occupied the following Western Hemisphere nations: Canada, Confederate States of America, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, Surinam, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Grenada. While the dates most associated with the Central Intelligence Agency are the 1953 coup against Iran’s Mohammed Mossadeq and the following year against Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz, the world’s most notorious–and possibly ignoble–spy agency actually was chartered on this day, 18 September, in 1947. Since then, the CIA has played a role in hundreds of assassinations, military coups, and rebellions around the globe, from Argentina to Zaire. Despite it’s championing of freedom, the CIA’s true objective has always been...