Puppet Masters

Nanny State: US to regulate e-cigarettes (and other tobacco products)

AAP
Sun, 27 Apr 2014 10:30 UTC

US regulators have proposed new restrictions on the soaring $US2 billion ($NZ2.33billion) market in e-cigarettes, which until now have been free from federal oversight.

The changes would also apply to other, previously unregulated tobacco products, including cigars, hookahs, nicotine gels, and pipe tobacco.

"This proposed rule is the latest step in our efforts to make the next generation tobacco-free," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a press release announcing the reform.

The proposal by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would require sellers to enforce a minimum age restriction on those who wish to buy the products, including requiring identification.

Companies would be barred from handing out free samples, and would be required to include health warning labels.

G7 agrees Russian sanctions over Ukraine

AAP
Sat, 26 Apr 2014 23:25 UTC

The Group of Seven rich countries have agreed to start slapping fresh sanctions on Moscow as early as Monday over the worsening Ukraine crisis amid Western fears of an imminent Russian invasion.

International tensions were mounting Saturday over the situation in the ex-Soviet republic, where sporadic fighting between pro-Kremlin rebels and Ukrainian security forces flared this week.

Russian warplanes violated Ukraine's airspace several times on Thursday and Friday, the Pentagon said.

Russia has also begun new drills on the border, where it has tens of thousands of troops massed.

China's president warns against growing threats to national security

Sui-Lee Wee
Reuters
Sun, 27 Apr 2014 02:11 UTC

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Saturday that China faces increasing threats to national security and warned of the dangers of terrorism in a speech indicating that Beijing could impose tougher controls on its ethnic minorities.

Xi told a study session of the party's decision-making Politburo "to resolutely stamp out the brazenness of the terrorists," the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Lavrov accuses US of seeking to 'smear Russia'

AFP
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 05:45 UTC

© AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev
An armed men in military fatigues smokes outside a regional administration building seized by pro-Russia separati

Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday accused the United States of seeking to smear Moscow and called US Secretary of State John Kerry's tone over the Ukraine crisis unacceptable.

Lavrov warned "the might of US propaganda" was aimed "at smearing Russia, smearing those who protest against the illegal actions of the (Kiev) authorities who are trying to ban Russian and trying to call all Russians and Russian speakers enemies who should be killed."

Russia responds to threat of more sanctions by violating Ukraine's airspace

Adam Chandler
TheWire.com
Sat, 26 Apr 2014 20:46 UTC

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk with Pope Francis yesterday.

What did Russia do after being threatened with more sanctions by the United States, the European Union, and the leaders of the G7 on Friday? It repeatedlyviolated Ukraine's airspace with fighter jets, of course.

According to the Pentagon, Russian military aircraft entered Ukrainian airspace several times overnight. And for the umpteenth time, Russia was called upon to "de-escalate the situation."

The sanctions, expected to be unrolled next week, are a part of a bid to goad Moscow to stop interfering with Ukraine's efforts to stabilize the eastern part of its country, where battles with pro-Russian separatists are taking places in a number of cities and towns. Just yesterday, Ukrainian Prime MinisterArseniy Yatsenyuk accused Russia of wanting to start World War III. And, as the crisis intensifies, the United States and Russia are reportedly no longer on speaking terms.

Russia's Gazprom issues May 7 ultimatum over gas supplies

Emily Gosden
The Telegraph UK
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 19:49 UTC

© Reuters
About 30 per cent of European gas comes from Russia and roughly half of it passes through the Ukraine under transit agreements.

Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom has ratcheted up the pressure on Ukraine, issuing a May 7 ultimatum to settle $3.5bn unpaid debts or start paying in advance for its gas.

Alexander Medvedev, deputy chief executive, warned that Europe must help Ukraine pay the bill - and a further $5bn needed to refill storage facilities this summer - or face "severe problems" with gas supplies this winter.

Oligarchs, billionaires, uber wealthy are killing capitalism-- They are dangerous

Rob Kall
Oped News
Sat, 26 Apr 2014 14:13 UTC

Capitalism has many faces. That's the message of Thomas Piketty, whose book, Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century, is making right wingers crazy, and clearing the inventory shelves of Amazon. The big message people are taking from his book is that capitalism as it now exists will produce income inequality.

Piketty has put a scientific face on what we've pretty much known already.

The detour capitalism has take that has led to the development of ultra-wealthy individuals could be a dead end-- a dangerous detour that could disrupt capitalism as the world has known it.

This may be a message we, the ninety-nine percent can use against the billionaires, ultra-wealthy and the transnational corporations mutating capitalism to something that threatens the planet.

Reading Naomi Klein's book Disaster Capitalism opened my eyes to the idea that there are different kinds of capitalism, and that some of them can be malignantly evil and toxic.

In Israeli politics, the word "peace" has become poison

Uri Avnery
The Palestine Chronicle
Sat, 26 Apr 2014 07:27 UTC

Imagine a war breaking out between Israel and Jordan. Within two or three days the Israeli army occupies the entire territory of the Hashemite Kingdom. What will be the first act of the occupation authority?

Establish a settlement in Petra? Expropriate land near Aqaba?

No. The very first thing will be to decree that the territory will henceforth be known as "Gilead and Moab".

All the media will be ordered to use the biblical name. All government and court documents will adopt it. Except for the radical Left, nobody will mention Jordan anymore. All applications by the inhabitants will be addressed to the Military Government of Gilead and Moab.

Why? Because annexation starts with words.

Words convey ideas. Words implant concepts in the minds of their hearers and speakers. Once they are firmly established, everything else follows.

Distortions, exaggerations and outright lies about the invasion and occupation of Iraq

Suttonian
DLS Reports
Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:30 UTC

10 myths about the invasion and occupation of Iraq

In perhaps the biggest propaganda campaign since the Second World War, the British political and military elite has attempted to serve up a series of distortions, exaggerations and outright lies to the British public in an attempt to gain support for the unpopular invasion of Iraq and the ongoing occupation. There are two types of myth concerning Iraq. Those, such as Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (sic), that have been completely discredited, and other, more insidious myths, often believed and repeated even by those who are against the war. These, through constant repetition, have acquired the status of common sense 'truth'.

Ignoring Eduardo Galeano's truism that "the words uttered by power are not meant to express its actions, but to disguise them"; large sections of the media have echoed and channeled government propaganda. The writer George Monbiot notes, "The falsehoods reproduced by the media before the invasion of Iraq were massive and consequential: it is hard to see how Britain could have gone to war if the press had done its job."

It is high time we put the record straight.

Lavrov: Kerry's 'prosecutorial' RT assault unacceptable

RT
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 08:41 UTC

Russia's Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has lashed out at US Secretary of State John Kerry over his 'prosecutorial' remarks about RT.

"The US is trying to pervert everything that is going on in Ukraine. They accuse us of turning on - what was called by John Kerry in a prosecutorial tone - accuse us of switching on what they called the 'Putin propaganda machine' called RT," said Lavrov during the press conference.

"Well, It's not civilized to call the media like that," he said, adding that he can "understand John Kerry because RT now presents serious competition for CNN and BBC and other media outlets, which some time ago were confident that they had an absolute monopoly and no competition could threaten them."

However, RT news channel has gathered a large audience among US and European viewers, let alone in Latin America and the Arab World, Lavrov said.

In Australia here's Senator Gerard Rennick attempting to recap vaxx adverse events on Sky News: [Link]

parzival

'X FORM WOO' Symbols & Symbolism used by 'the bug' [Link]

parzival

in march 2020 i put a big sign on the back window of my car "Stop Covid? Turn the telly off"... it's still there... it should apply for the...

richie rich

Astrology of NATO’s ‘cognitive warfare’ [Link]

Javed

This vaccine mandate cartoon got the Australian cartoonist fired. Behold "liberal democracy". [Link]

parzival

Puppet Masters

Nanny State: US to regulate e-cigarettes (and other tobacco products)

G7 agrees Russian sanctions over Ukraine

China's president warns against growing threats to national security

Lavrov accuses US of seeking to 'smear Russia'

Russia responds to threat of more sanctions by violating Ukraine's airspace

Russia's Gazprom issues May 7 ultimatum over gas supplies

Oligarchs, billionaires, uber wealthy are killing capitalism-- They are dangerous

In Israeli politics, the word "peace" has become poison

Distortions, exaggerations and outright lies about the invasion and occupation of Iraq

Lavrov: Kerry's 'prosecutorial' RT assault unacceptable

Latest News

Picture of the Day

Quote of the Day

Recent Comments

Quantum Quirk

Contact Us