| Pentagon ‘Accidentally’ Tells The Truth About SyriaPosted: 21 Feb 2020 09:36 AM PSTThe Pentagon has in a rare moment gone off the mainstream narrative script concerning Idlib.The UK’s Sky News interviewed US coalition spokesman Col. Myles Caggins as part of its coverage focusing on Syrian and Russian forces “indiscriminately” attacking civilians and “bombing hospitals” — however, the Army colonel gave a counter angle, instead focusing on the jihadist groups ruling Idlib as the fundamental cause to civilian suffering there.The US-led coalition spokesman called Idlib “a magnet for terrorist groups” that are a “nuisance, a menace and a threat” to hundreds of thousands of civilians just “trying to make it through the winter.”.@OIRSpox Colonel Myles Caggins says the #Idlib province is a “magnet” for terrorist groups who are a “nuisance, a menace and a threat” to the hundreds of thousands of civilians in Syria, who are just “trying to make it through the winter.”Read more ? https://t.co/7IltJzi7Od pic.twitter.com/cS9Tc5TC7r— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 20, 2020He essentially identified “all” of groups operating on the ground as “terrorists” and a “threat” to the local population in the rare frank commentary:“There are variety of groups there — all of them are a nuisance, a menace and a threat to… hundreds of thousands of civilians who are just trying to make it through the winter.”His truthful words are all the more interesting given they come at a moment that CNN and other mainstream networks have “rediscovered” Idlib and “evil Assad and Russia” who they say are attempting to “butcher” children and innocent civilians.The very network that interviewed the Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman elsewhere on the same day questioned “whether the international community is doing enough to restrain the Assad regime.”I love it when US officials accidentally tell the truth. #Idlib https://t.co/Pzxy9U4fRz— Sharmine Narwani (@snarwani) February 20, 2020The main anti-Assad group on the ground fighting the Syrian Army has long been al-Qaeda faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Nusra Front), which is a US Treasury designated terrorist organization.If you watch this piece of naked interventionist propaganda, which begins with Damon’s bonkers claim that a million kids will be murdered, you won’t know why anyone’s fighting in Idlib.No context, no history, no mention of Al Qaeda.The more you watch CNN, the less you know. https://t.co/VxAvSw856M— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) February 18, 2020Typically US and UK media reports leave out this crucial fact and nuance altogether, acting as if the whole conflict is as simple as Assad and Putin wishing to kill as many civilians as possible.Such ultra-simplistic coverage has just been debunked by the Pentagon’s Caggins, who essentially admits that the Russians and Syrian Army are fighting terrorist groups occupying Idlib province.Republished from ZeroHedge.com with permissionThe post Pentagon ‘Accidentally’ Tells The Truth About Syria appeared first on We Are Change. |
| Idiocracy Explained: New Study Finds Western Diet Impairs Brain FunctionPosted: 20 Feb 2020 06:41 PM PSTThe dumbing down of America was explained in the 2006 movie Idiocracy, where Private Joe Bauers (played by Luke Wilson), is the definition of an “average American,” takes part in a top-secret hibernation program via the Pentagon, wakes up five centuries later to only discovery just how dumb society has become.Bauers wakes up in the year 2500, and he’s immediately declared the smartest person in the world. Here’s a snippet from the film:How does America stumble down a path where its citizens are dumber than rocks in the next couple of centuries, or maybe, in the next couple of decades?A new study suggests this is possible through today’s eating trends in western countries that could severely impair brain functions.Researchers discovered that volunteers in the study performed with high cognitive processes when they did not consume high fat and high added sugar diets, commonly found in many western-style meals.Richard Stevenson, professor of Psychology at Macquarie University in Sydney and one of the co-authors of the study, said eating a western-style diet causes some disruption in the hippocampus region of the brain, the part involving memory and appetite control.“After a week on a western-style diet, palatable food such as snacks and chocolate becomes more desirable when you are full,” Stevenson told The Guardian. “This will make it harder to resist, leading you to eat more, which in turn generates more damage to the hippocampus and a vicious cycle of overeating.On a long enough timeline, impairments caused by western-style diets could lead to the long-term decline of brain function in America’s future generations. Here are 18 statistics that prove America has become an “Idiocracy”…#1 One recent survey found that 74 percent of Americans don’t even know how many amendments are in the Bill of Rights.#2 An earlier survey discovered that 37 percent of Americans cannot name a single right protected by the First Amendment.#3 Shockingly, only 26 percent of Americans can name all three branches of government.#4 During the 2016 election, more than 40 percent of Americans did not know who was running for vice-president from either of the major parties.#5 North Carolina is considering passing a law which would “mean only scores lower than 39 percent would qualify for an F grade” in North Carolina public schools.#6 30 years ago, the United States awarded more high school diplomas than anyone in the world. Today, we have fallen to 36th place.#7 According to the Pentagon, 71 percent of our young adults are ineligible to serve in the U.S. military because they are either too dumb, too fat or have a criminal background.#8 For the very first time, Americans are more likely to die from an opioid overdose than they are in a car accident.#9 One study discovered that one-third of all American teenagers haven’t read a single book in the past year.#10 A recent survey found that 45 percent of U.S. teenagers are online “almost constantly”.#11 Today, the average American spends 86 hours a month using a smartphone.#12 Overall, the average U.S. adult “logs 6 hours, 43 minutes of total screen time daily”.#13 In more than half of all U.S. states, the highest paid public employee in the state is a football coach.#14 During one seven day period last summer, a total of 16,000 official complaints about human feces were submitted to the city of San Francisco. And apparently the problem is very real because one investigation found 300 piles of human feces on the streets of downtown San Francisco.#15 Every 24 hours, more than a third of all Americans eat fast food.#16 Less than half of all Americans know which country used atomic bombs at the end of World War II.#17 Even though we fought a war in Iraq for eight long years, 6 out of 10 young adults cannot find Iraq on a map of the Middle East. And that same survey found that 75 percent of our young adults cannot locate Israel.#18 Today, the average college freshman in the United States reads at a 7th grade level.We’ve outlined that it’s not just dieting that has played a major role in dumbing down America or in other western countries, but also the proliferation of smartphones and other devices, which have worn away the ability to focus. Combine less-nutritious food and technology, and it’s producing an “Idiocracy” apocalypse of stupid people.Norwegian researchers in 2018 analyzed the IQ scores of people from western countries between 1962 and 1991 and discovered scores increased by almost 3 percentage points each decade for those born between 1962 to 1975 – but then, in nearly the same year the term “junk food” was popularized in 1976, IQ scores started to plunge.Junk food has plagued many western countries for the last four decades, suggesting a cognition crisis has developed as society becomes stupider by the day. And if it’s by design or just an accident, that remains an open discussion among the tinfoil hat community.One thing remains certain: As the West becomes dumber, the East is rising. Before you know it, the East will be producing self-driving Segway chairs for fat stupid Americans.Republished from ZeroHedge.com with permissionThe post Idiocracy Explained: New Study Finds Western Diet Impairs Brain Function appeared first on We Are Change. |
| Assange Seeks Asylum in France as Extradition Trial ApproachesPosted: 20 Feb 2020 11:30 AM PSTJulian Assange will seek asylum in France, according to the Associated Press. Lawyers for the WikiLeaks founder are currently preparing for his latest hearing, where he faces extradition to the United States on 17 criminal charges for unlawfully publishing the names of classified sources, as well as conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to obtain access to classified information.Manning’s 35-year sentence was commuted by President Obama after spending nearly seven years in prison. Assange, meanwhile, spent nearly seven years on Ecuador’s London embassy before he was ejected and arrested by British police for jumping bail in an unrelated case.Speaking from Paris, Assange’s defense team said that the case against him is unfair, and violates his human rights while his health is suffering.“We consider the situation is sufficiently serious that our duty is to talk about it” with French President Emmanuel Macron, said French lawyer Eric Dupont-Moretti.Assange’s Spanish coordinator, Baltasar Garzon, confirmed that the legal team will argue that former Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) acted as a middle man for the Trump administration to offer Assange a pardon if he showed proof that Russia was not involved in the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee’s email. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham denied on Wednesday.“The President barely knows Dana Rohrabacher other than he’s an ex-congressman,” said Grisham. “He’s never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject. It is a complete fabrication and a total lie.”Republished from ZeroHedge.com with permissionThe post Assange Seeks Asylum in France as Extradition Trial Approaches appeared first on We Are Change. |
