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Arizona congressman furious he cannot give sacred Apache land to copper mining company

Native American
© Photos Facebook
An Arizona congressman is angry that sacred Apache land will continue to remain listed in the National Register of Historic Places, according to Tucson Weekly.

Republican Rep. Paul Gosar and Sen. John McCain had joined forces with Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick in an effort to sell off the ancestral Native American land, known as Oak Flat or Chi'chil Bildagoteel to the Apache community, to mining firm Resolution Copper, owned by an Australian-British corporation.

The designation of Oak Flat as a National Historic Place could hamper the plan to construct a copper mine on the land. But ultimately nothing "guarantees that a historic property cannot be modified or even destroyed," said Stephanie Toothman, the National Register's keeper, in a letter to the two lawmakers.

Comment: See also: Sold down the river: Navajo activists protest Utah water rights as a bad deal


Attention

Gerald Celente warns to prepare for the panic of 2016, says "history will remember this"

market crash
Earlier this week hedge fund manager Marin Katusa explained that up until the recent stock market hit all the easy money flowing into the energy sector was being exuberantly spent on hookers, blow and fancy toys. Now, as oil prices hover under $40 per barrel, Katusa said more pain is likely coming and oil, along with other asset classes, are going to go "lower for longer."

In a recent interview with Future Money Trends, trend forecaster Gerald Celente echos Katusa's concerns. Having accurately predicted the Crash of 2008 nine months ahead of the bottom falling out on a global scale, Celente says another panic is coming this year.

But if you thought 2008 was bad, says Celente, this crash will be so severe it'll be one for the history books:

Comment: Celente has a nose for the truth. Do not miss the following (very edifying) interview with him which, interestingly, goes some way towards clarifying his insights into the coming economic turmoil.




SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: The Truth Perspective: What is radicalization?

Orthodox Jews
© Reuters / Toby MelvilleA group of Orthodox Jews attend an anti-war demonstration in central London.
This week, the Truth Perspective hosts were joined by Joe Quinn and Niall Bradley from Behind the Headlines.

If you read the papers or watch the news, you probably 'know' that radicalization is the biggest threat to human civilization and values the world has ever seen. But is it really? The phenomenon of radicalization is much discussed, but ill-defined and not thoroughly understood. The word itself has become a convenient catch-all for individuals and groups with a variety of goals and motivations. Whether religious, social, political, or economic, radicals can be either a force for positive change, or personal and social degradation. We need new words if we want to understand what's really going on.

Moving in that direction, we discussed radicalization in general, the history, goals, and influences on "radical Islam", and how the science of ponerology provides the only comprehensive understanding of what's really going on, and the real threats facing humanity. Relevant topics included: the Iranian revolution, the colonial history of the Middle East, the creation of Israel, the occupations of Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq, the nature of resistance movements, the varieties of 'conversion' experiences, and more.

Running Time: 02:27:03

Download: MP3


Books

Standardized teaching and testing reduces students to cogs in a machine

Testing, standardized tests
© Alberto G. /Flickr
Teaching is more than just assembling a series of best practices that are expected to lead students to perfect standardized test scores.

According to an article published by Florida International University curriculum and instruction professor James Burns, teachers should be lifelong learners who inspire their students to take a critical view of the world around them.

Teachers and teacher educators can do this by:
  • Developing an understanding of teaching and learning as a lifelong process
  • Focusing learning on critical thinking, curiosity, sharing ideas and igniting emotions
  • Relying less on routine, formulaic ways of teaching
  • Focusing less on teaching students to "bank" knowledge
  • Developing a culturally sustaining curriculum that encourages community building, dialogue and democracy

Comment: What passes for education in the US, is little more than an indoctrination system that aims to churn out authoritarian followers who lack critical thinking skills which might enable them to challenge the elite control system. They are dumbed-down by design so they willingly acquiesce to their roles in an increasingly mechanized and controlled environment. Many teachers have become fed up with the current system and are leaving the profession in droves, but there are some who are fighting back and initiating change.


Handcuffs

Prison for profit: Overcrowded jail leads to lawsuits between city and county officials

crowded prison
The epidemic of mass incarceration is coming back to bite authorities in one American city. Because the Greene County jail is completely full, Springfield (pop. 165,000) is unable to arrest more than 12,000 people accused of crimes such as traffic infractions and misdemeanor assaults.

Missouri's third-largest city has lost almost half a million dollars in less than a year from unpaid fines and fees. These lost extortion fees are likely the biggest concern to city officials.
"Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams said offenders are thumbing their noses at police.

"They're tearing tickets up in front of people," Williams said. "Officers are frustrated because they can't arrest anyone, judges are frustrated that they can't see people, prosecutors are frustrated. It has just kind of spun out of control.""

Nuke

5 years later: Why you should still be paying attention to Fukushima

fukushima
March 11th marks the five-year anniversary of one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history, which triggered an unprecedented melange of disasters of human and natural causes — including the worst nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl in 1986: Fukushima.

Five years ago today, as Popular Mechanics summarized, the "earth moved more than 20 meters over a 500-mile zone and the resulting earthquake released as much energy as a 45-megaton hydrogen bomb (to put this in perspective, this is 30,000 times more powerful as the bomb that leveled Hiroshima). It was the fourth-strongest earthquake recorded since 1900 and the strongest earthquake to strike Japan in recorded history. The quake shifted the Earth's axis by somewhere between 4 and 10 inches, altering the length of a day by nearly 2 microseconds."

Comment: No bliss in this ignorance: Fukushima the great nuclear cover-up


Megaphone

Chicago Trump rally cancelled amid protests and chaos

Trump rally protestors
© Kamil Krzaczynski / ReutersProtesters are escorted out of UIC Pavilion before Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago March 11, 2016.
Tensions between protesters and Donald Trump supporters caused the last-second cancellation of the presidential candidate's rally in Chicago. An estimated 10,000 supporters were in the UIC Pavilion and are now facing the thousands of protesters outside.

The crowd inside of the University of Illinois Chicago Pavilion had been waiting for the Republican presidential hopeful to take the stage when an announcement was made that the rally had been canceled.

"Mr. Trump just arrived in Chicago and after meeting with law enforcement has determined that for the safety of all the tens of thousands of people that have gathered in and around the arena, tonight's rally will be postponed until another date," the announcement said. "Thank you very much for you attendance and please go in peace."

Handcuffs

Do as I say, not as I do: Deputy busted in massive narcotics case

Johnny Domingue cocaine
A massive police and DEA conspiracy is currently being blown open after Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office Deputy Johnny Domingue took a plea deal and is rolling over on his co-conspirators.

According to the Advocate, in offering his plea, Domingue admitted his role in a conspiracy to use his position as a Sheriff's Office narcotics agent and his assignment to the federal task force to acquire drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, prescription pills and marijuana.

Domingue was caught using his authority as an officer tasked by the DEA to "shake down" suspects, rob them of their cash and drugs, and then use them and sell them for profits. He also abused his authority to access the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration evidence lockers and steal whatever he wanted.

Family

Family's appeal for justice after police in Coweta County, Georgia taser son to death, then 'high five'

taser death
© Karen bleier / AFP
Family members who called 911 over a relative's drug-induced attack on his girlfriend have accused Coweta County, Georgia police deputies of tasering the man to death. The medical examiner's report ruled the death a homicide.

"His parents did what everybody is supposed to do, you call 911, because 911 brings help. But in the case of Chase, 911 brought death," said Chris Stewart, the attorney representing the family, at a press conference in Atlanta on Thursday,according to WXIA.

Comment: See also: Police ignore Taser heart attack risk and keep firing at suspects' chests


Brick Wall

American graduates dumber than other countries' high school dropouts

american idiot
The US Department of Education just released the results from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), and they are perilously disappointing.

PIAAC is a cyclical, large-scale study of adult skills and life experiences focusing on education and employment. Nationally representative samples of adults between the ages of 16 and 65 are administered an assessment of literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology rich environments, as well as survey questions about their educational background, work history, the skills they use on the job and at home, their civic engagement, and sense of their health and well-being. The results are used to compare participating countries on the skills capacities of their workforce-aged adults and to learn more about relationships between educational background and employment and other outcomes.

When comparing the most recent results of US adults and those in other countries, America looks terrible.

Comment: See also: