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More than half of Americans now oppose fracking


RT
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 21:45 UTC
fracking protesters
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
More than half of Americans are opposed to fracking in pursuit of oil and gas, according to a new Gallup poll. The results come amid mounting concerns about the links between fracking and earthquakes and groundwater pollution.

Asked whether they favored or opposed hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as a means of increasing the production of natural gas or oil in the US, 36 percent of respondents said they were in favor, while 51 percent said they were opposed and 13 percent had no opinion, according to the new Gallup poll released on Wednesday.

That is an 11 point increase in opposition since last year. Answering the same question in 2015, 40 percent of Americans were in favor and 40 percent were opposed, while 19 percent had no opinion. The poll was conducted between March 2 and March 6.

Comment: See also:

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Bomb

Suicide bomb strikes police vehicle near bus stop in Diyarbakir, Turkey - 7 killed, 27 injured


RT
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 17:43 UTC
bomb attack turkey Diyarbakir
© Ilyas Akengin / Agence France-PresseTurkish special force police officers walk at the site of a bomb attack in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, on March 31, 2016.
At least seven police officers have been killed and 27 people injured after a suicide car bomber hit a police bus in the mainly Kurdish-populated city of Diyarbakir, Turkey, according to Minister of Development Cevdet Yılmaz.

Thirteen police personnel and 14 civilians are among those injured, the minister said in a statement cited by local TV channels. The attack took place near a bus stop, which explains the high number of civilian casualties.
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Bullseye

New report shows the absolute uselessness of the war on drugs

Claire Bernish
The Anti Media
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 18:33 UTC
war on drugs fail
A crucial new study says the ubiquitous and dubious war on drugs has, in actuality, been detrimental to public health — and should be laid to rest in favor of decriminalization.

Laws and policies criminalizing drugs have had "no measurable impact on supply or use," according to the study as noted by the Independent, and serve no purpose either scientifically or in terms of public health.

Commissioned by Johns Hopkins University and The Lancet, a British medical journal, the study found mass decriminalization programs undertaken by Portugal and the Czech Republic have had enormously constructive results, including "public health benefits, cost savings, lower incarceration [rates], and no significant increase in problematic drug use."

Comment: Most people with a modicum of intelligence and common sense realize that the war on drugs is an epic fail. Unless you're a big bank or part of the military industrial complex ...or an owner of a for-profit prison... Oh, forget it! The war on drugs was an absolute success for the powers that be. It's the little people who get stomped, as usual.

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Megaphone

Beware modern-day doublespeak

Makia Freeman
Activist Post
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 17:32 UTC
orwell quote
Doublespeak is a language that is alive and well in our world today. Doublespeak can refer to terms that are euphemisms (mild expressions designed to hide harsher or more direct ones), deliberately ambiguous (expressions designed to hide the truth) or actual inversions (outright lies which state the opposite of the truth). Although he never used the term doublespeak in his book 1984, many associate doublespeak with George Orwell. After all, it was Orwell who famously wrote that the motto of the totalitarian ruling party in 1984 was "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength" - an example of an inversion. Orwell did however use the term newspeak to refer to a new kind of language which drastically reduced the scope of available words and terms, so as to concurrently reduce the scope of possible free thought among the ruled population.

Many doublespeak terms in the following list are oxymorons, meaning that the term itself is contradictory. Many hide the truth because it is too raw, unpalatable, uncomfortable or outright horrifying. It is vitally important we watch our language, because it plays a great part in how we shape our world and in how we create our reality. In many ways, by unconsciously using these terms instead of more accurate or truthful ones, we are quietly lying to ourselves, or at a minimum acquiescing to the process of being lied to and programmed. Political correctness is a great example of how language control, thought control and doublespeak can be introduced to an entire population without people realizing they are being deceived and manipulated. Below is list of the top 20 modern Orwellian doublespeak terms, with the first half focusing on military and geopolitical terms.
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Stock Down

Corruption backfire: Companies have significantly lower values in areas where corruption is endemic


Phys.org
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 00:00 UTC
dollars covering face on billboard, corruption
© Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters
State-level public corruption in the United States affects firms' value and disclosure policies, according to a new study from The University of Texas at Dallas.

Dr. Steven Xiao, assistant professor of finance, and Dr. Vikram Nanda, O.P. Jindal Distinguished Chair in Finance, studied state-level corruption in the U.S. and its effect on publicly listed firms.

The study, published in the Review of Corporate Finance Studies, found that firms have significantly lower value and informational transparency when located in areas that are more corrupt.

Using the Department of Justice's data on corruption-related convictions of public officials, the researchers found that from 1990 to 2011, firm value was substantially lower in more corrupt states and federal districts.

Comment:

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Wolf

Mark of the Beast: New poll shows support for torture in US grows to 63 percent


RT
Wed, 30 Mar 2016 19:46 UTC
Torture gitmo
© Marc Serota / Reuters

Comment: If the following poll data doesn't send a chill up your spine, nothing will!


Almost two thirds of Americans believe torture is justified to extract information about terrorist attacks from suspects, according to a new poll. Just as many believe a terrorist attack on US soil is very or somewhat likely in the next six months.

The March 22-28 online poll, conducted by Reuters and Ipsos, asked if torture can be justified "against suspected terrorists to obtain information about terrorism." Some 25 percent of respondents said it was justified "often," while 38 percent said it would be justified "sometimes." Another 21 percent could justify it "rarely," while only 15 percent said torture should never be used.

Respondents identifying as Republicans backed the "often justified" option at twice the rate of Democrats, 36 percent to 18 percent, respectively. That figure was at 24 percent among the independents. Just over half of Democrats (53 percent) supported torture "often" or "sometimes," compared to 82 percent of the Republicans.

Only 4 percent of Republicans and 13 percent of independents were against torture outright, with that number rising to 21 percent among the Democrats.

Comment: See also:

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Black Cat

Cop slams woman's head into ATM machine, arrests her for reporting on him

Claire Bernish
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 30 Mar 2016 00:00 UTC
Douglas Ioven philadelphia cop
An ex-transit cop has been found guilty of false imprisonment and official oppression stemming from a Christmas Day incident when he stepped on a woman's foot and refused to apologize — after cutting in line at Dunkin' Donuts in 2013. When the woman attempted to alert the officer's superiors, he slammed her head into an ATM machine — and placed her under arrest.

Douglas Ioven, a former officer with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA), cut in line on Christmas in front of Muibat Williamson, a nurse at Einstein Medical Center, who was on her way home from a night shift. When Ioven was leaving, with coffee and doughnuts in hand, he stepped on Williamson's foot.

In testimony about the 2013 row, reported philly.com, Williamson said she confronted the officer and demanded he apologize — but Ioven refused. An argument ensued, and an unnamed witness said she even inserted herself between the pair to remind them of the holiday. She overheard Ioven tell Williamson,

"Next time, move out of the way."
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Stock Down

Survey reveals nearly two-thirds of working population want to flee from Ukraine


DONi News
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 13:19 UTC
ukraine revolution
Two-thirds of efficient professionals want to leave Ukraine. This is evidenced by results of a survey conducted by the international personnel portal hh.ua, reports The Politnavigator.

In particular, a large part of office workers are inclined to move out of the country as one in six respondents said.
'IT professionals and media representatives are more focused on moving abroad than others. Those whose experience and expertise are difficult to adapt to the conditions of another country - lawyers, bankers and specialists in insurance - are less inclined to leave,' say the results of the survey.
Most of Ukrainians desiring to move live in the Ukraine-controlled part of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as in Western Ukraine. Ukrainian migrants are most attracted to Western Europe. 25% of respondents expressed a desire to move there, the same number would choose Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. The rest of preferences were distributed between the CIS countries and Asia, some have selected Australia, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Comment: Conditions will only get worse for those living under Washington's puppet regime. After all, the best Kiev has to offer is to rob the country blind, burn it to the ground, and blame Russia for the catastrophe. Leaving the country may just be the best option, if anyone can afford to do so. Also see:
These sentiments are quite understandable if we look at average incomes in Ukraine. According to official data from the finance ministry(as of March 2, 2016), the average salary in Ukraine is only 4,362 hryvnas per month (approximately 145 Euros). The minimum monthly wage is currently set at 1,378 hryvnas (46 Euros). Therefore, the vast majority of working people in Ukraine have to get by on a salary of 2,000-3,000 hryvnas (70-100 Euros) each month. And the number of employed is declining every day. In September 2015, Ukrainian Minister of Social Politics Valery Yaroshenko acknowledged that the unemployment rate had reached its highest point in the history of Ukraine as an independent country, with 23% of young Ukrainians unable to find work (in the parts of the Donetsk region that are controlled by Kiev the jobless rate does approach that of Liberia - 50%!).

Ukraine now being compared to Liberia


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People

Widespread protests and strikes hit France over unpopular labor reforms


Sputnik
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 12:12 UTC
France protests
© REUTERS/ Jean-Paul Pelissier
Massive strikes and protests over labor reforms are taking place across France on Thursday, with public transport disruptions and many schools, as well as popular tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, remaining closed, local media reported.

The protests are against a bill that would relax France's labor laws, permitting employees to work much more than the current statutory 35-hour week, imposing a cap on damages in cases of unfair dismissal as well as removing barriers to firing employees on economic grounds.
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People

Polls show majority of Europeans want a say in who joins the EU


Sputnik
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 10:52 UTC
European Union flag
© AP Photo/ Yorgos Karahalis

Comment: Europeans hopefully remember just how much respect the EU's technocrats have for referendums. Remember how Germany crushed Greece, or how UK's ruling elites rigged the Scottish referendum? The elite have already responded to the fact that the Dutch plan to vote 'no' on Ukraine's EU membership by having the Hague "reconsider" its position. While Europeans want democracy, remember that it's hypocrisy and tyranny that rule the day.


According to Sputnik.Polls, the majority of Italians (66%), Germans (63%) and the French (63%) want to be involved in decisions regarding the conclusion of EU association agreements* with other countries through national referendums.

The survey was conducted by the opinion poll companies Populus and Ifop for Sputnik News Agency and Radio.

A referendum on the EU-Ukraine association agreement will take place in the Netherlands on April 6.

According to Sputnik.Polls, Italians are most enthusiastic about holding referendums on such deals with other countries. Sixty-six percent of Italians would like to hold a referendum before concluding an association agreement with any new country.
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