Survey Says: 35 Percent of Americans Would Expatriate
July 1st, 2015Via: CNBC:
As the Fourth of July weekend looms and Americans prep their grills and ready their fireworks, some citizens are packing their bags.
A recent online poll of more than 2,000 adults by TransferWise, a peer-to-peer money transfer service based in the United Kingdom, revealed that 35 percent of American-born residents and emigrants would consider leaving the United States to live in another country.
California Governor Jerry Brown Signs Mandatory Vaccine Law
July 1st, 2015Via: Time:
California Governor Jerry Brown signed a mandatory school vaccination bill into law Tuesday, abolishing the “personal belief” exemption that many parents use as a loophole to avoid vaccinating their children.
Now, under California law, which is among the strictest in the country, children would not be able to enroll in public school unless they have been vaccinated against diseases like measles and whooping cough. The law includes an exemption for children who have a medical reason to remain unvaccinated (like an immune system disorder) and can prove it with a doctor’s note. Parents who decline to vaccinate their children for personal or religious reasons will have to home-school them or send them to a public independent study program off school grounds.
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July 1st, 2015Thank you.
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Cryptogon Earnings for April, May and June
July 1st, 2015Thanks very much to small number of people who helped to keep Cryptogon going over the last few months.
Totals:
April $432.96
May $556.65
June $670.80
April
Amazon $183.20
Amazon UK GBP6.04
blacklistednews.com $25
pookie $75
JR $7.50
AM $5
PB GBP5
HR $30
KL $5
KH $15
TG $5
AM $5
DE $10
Eileen $45
AD $5
May
Amazon $323.48
Amazon UK GBP6.39
Amazon CA CA$3.36
blacklistednews.com $25
pookie $75
JR $7.50
AM $5
KL $5
KH $15
DE $10
TG $5
AM $5
Eileen $45
BH $23
June
Amazon $322.43
Amazon UK GBP1.84
blacklistednews.com $25
pookie $75
JR $7.50
AD $5
AM $5
KL $5
KH $15
RJ $5
TG $5
DE $20
AM $5
Eileen $45
AD $5
DE2 $100 [!!!]
BH $23
Greece Defaults
June 30th, 2015Via: USA Today:
Greece’s midnight deadline passed Tuesday for repaying $1.8 billion to the International Monetary Fund and other international creditors, deepening a financial crisis that threatens the Mediterranean nation’s membership in the European Union.
Despite an eleventh-hour effort by Greek lawmakers Tuesday to secure a new two-year debt deal before the deadline, European finance ministers reviewing Greece’s proposal concluded their conference call without offering a bailout extension.
The ministers agreed to convene again Wednesday to further discuss the details of a new series of loans from the eurozone’s European Stability Mechanism, its $560 billion rescue fund.
After the deadline passed (at 6 pm ET), Greece joined Zimbabwe, Sudan and Somalia in being in arrears to the IMF. Fitch Ratings has downgraded Greece’s government debt further into junk territory.
FBI Investigating 11 Attacks on San Francisco-Area Internet Lines
June 30th, 2015Via: USA Today:
The FBI is investigating at least 11 physical attacks on high-capacity Internet cables in California’s San Francisco Bay Area dating back a year, including one early Tuesday morning.
Agents confirm the latest attack disrupted Internet service for businesses and residential customers in and around Sacramento, the state’s capital.
FBI agents declined to specify how significantly the attack affected customers, citing the ongoing investigation. In Tuesday’s attack, someone broke into an underground vault and cut three fiber-optic cables belonging to Colorado-based service providers Level 3 and Zayo.
The attacks date back to at least July 6, 2014, said FBI Special Agent Greg Wuthrich.
“When it affects multiple companies and cities, it does become disturbing,” Wuthrich said. “We definitely need the public’s assistance.”
Wuthrich said cutting the lines requires tools. Although fiber-optic lines themselves aren’t much bigger than diameter of a pencil, they’re usually protected by tough, flexible conduit. Citing the ongoing investigation, he declined to further discuss specifics of the attacks, which he said have generally occurred in remote areas not monitored by security cameras.
Mark Peterson, a spokesman for Wave Broadband, said an unspecified number of Sacramento-area customers were knocked offline by the latest attack. He characterized the Tuesday attack as “coordinated” and said the company was working with Level 3 and Zayo to restore service.
Spokeswomen for Level 3 and Zayo confirmed the disruption but declined to discuss specifics.
“Law enforcement is involved and restoration crews are working to restore connectivity as quickly as possible,” Zayo spokeswoman Shannon Paulk said via email.
Water Fluoridation Doesn’t Prevent Cavities
June 30th, 2015Via: Newsweek:
The Cochrane Collaboration, a group of doctors and researchers known for their comprehensive reviews—which are widely regarded as the gold standard of scientific rigor in assessing effectiveness of public health policies—recently set out to find out if fluoridation reduces cavities. They reviewed every study done on fluoridation that they could find, and then winnowed down the collection to only the most comprehensive, well-designed and reliable papers. Then they analyzed these studies’ results, and published their conclusion in a review earlier this month.
The review identified only three studies since 1975—of sufficient quality to be included—that addressed the effectiveness of fluoridation on tooth decay in the population at large. These papers determined that fluoridation does not reduce cavities to a statistically significant degree in permanent teeth, says study co-author Anne-Marie Glenny, a health science researcher at Manchester University in the United Kingdom. The authors found only seven other studies worthy of inclusion dating prior to 1975.
The authors also found only two studies since 1975 that looked at the effectiveness of reducing cavities in baby teeth, and found fluoridation to have no statistically significant impact here, either.
The scientists also found “insufficient evidence” that fluoridation reduces tooth decay in adults (children excluded).
“From the review, we’re unable to determine whether water fluoridation has an impact on caries levels in adults,” Glenny says. (“Tooth decay,” “cavities” and “caries” all mean the same thing: breakdown of enamel by mouth-dwelling microbes.)
“Frankly, this is pretty shocking,” says Thomas Zoeller, a scientist at UMass-Amherst uninvolved in the work. “This study does not support the use of fluoride in drinking water.” Trevor Sheldon concurred. Sheldon is the dean of the Hull York Medical School in the United Kingdom who led the advisory board that conducted a systematic review of water fluoridation in 2000, that came to similar conclusions as the Cochrane review. The lack of good evidence of effectiveness has shocked him. “I had assumed because of everything I’d heard that water fluoridation reduces cavities but I was completely amazed by the lack of evidence,” he says. “My prior view was completely reversed.”
“There’s really hardly any evidence” the practice works, Sheldon adds. “And if anything there may be some evidence the other way.” One 2001 study covered in the Cochrane review of two neighboring British Columbia communities found that when fluoridation was stopped in one city, cavity prevalence actually went down slightly amongst schoolchildren, while cavity rates in the fluoridated community remained stable.
F-35 Gets Its Clock Cleaned by 1970s Era Fighter
June 30th, 2015Meanwhile, in Russia: Sukhoi PAK FA.
Via: Medium:
The test pilot’s report is the latest evidence of fundamental problems with the design of the F-35?—?which, at a total program cost of more than a trillion dollars, is history’s most expensive weapon.
…
The F-35 was flying “clean,” with no weapons in its bomb bay or under its wings and fuselage. The F-16, by contrast, was hauling two bulky underwing drop tanks, putting the older jet at an aerodynamic disadvantage.
But the JSF’s advantage didn’t actually help in the end. The stealth fighter proved too sluggish to reliably defeat the F-16, even with the F-16 lugging extra fuel tanks. “Even with the limited F-16 target configuration, the F-35A remained at a distinct energy disadvantage for every engagement,” the pilot reported.
…
And to add insult to injury, the JSF flier discovered he couldn’t even comfortably move his head inside the radar-evading jet’s cramped cockpit. “The helmet was too large for the space inside the canopy to adequately see behind the aircraft.” That allowed the F-16 to sneak up on him.
In the end, the F-35?—?the only new fighter jet that America and most of its allies are developing?—?is demonstrably inferior in a dogfight with the F-16, which the U.S. Air Force first acquired in the late 1970s.
The test pilot explained that he has also flown 1980s-vintage F-15E fighter-bombers and found the F-35 to be “substantially inferior” to the older plane when it comes to managing energy in a close battle.
Puerto Rico Can’t Pay $72 Billion Debt, Governor Warns
June 29th, 2015Via: AP:
The governor is warning that Puerto Rico can’t pay its $72 billion public debt, delivering another jolt to the recession-gripped U.S. island as well as a world financial system already worrying over Greece’s collapsing finances.
Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla is hoping to defer debt payments while negotiating with creditors, spokesman Jesus Manuel Ortiz said Sunday night.
The comments came as legislators debate a $9.8 billion budget that calls for $674 million in cuts and sets aside $1.5 billion to help pay off the debt. The budget has to be approved by Tuesday.
Media Reports Allege Australian Politics Infiltrated by Italian Mafia
June 29th, 2015Via: Reuters:
Two Australian media organisations reported on Monday that Australian politics has been infiltrated at high levels by the Italian mafia, although there was no suggestion of direct links between lawmakers and the criminal syndicate.
A year-long investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Fairfax media found one element of the Calabrian mafia, known as ‘Ndrangheta, had used a number of well-known donors to parties on both sides of the Australian political divide to legitimise its activities.
