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Wednesday, July 13, 2016

As Natives Declare Treaty Rights Police Admit Defeat — Cite Lack of ‘Manpower’ to Remove DAPL Protesters

(Via TheFreeThoughtProject) Authorities in North Dakota may be feeling the heat from the international attention the Dakota Access Pipeline is getting. They’re now saying they lack the manpower to remove the encampment of protesters located on federal land near the controversial pipeline. The announcement may signal a softening of the treatment the protesters, up until now, have been receiving.

For months now, The Free Thought Project’s spotlight has been shining on the, some might say, dark and dirty deeds of law enforcement and their treatment of largely Native American peaceful protesters. Attack dogs were unleashed on the protesters in September, injuring six, and an additional 30 protesters, including children, were sprayed with pepper spray. In all, more than 260 people have reportedly been arrested since the protests began in Morton County — over 100 this weekend alone.

The sheriff’s office’s announcement comes just two days after The Free Thought Project encouraged readers to contact Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier’s office demanding him to allow for peaceful protest, even providing a link to a petition for his removal. Spokeswoman Donnell Preskey told The Associated Press the department doesn’t “have the manpower” to remove the more than 100 protesters from the property. “We can’t right now,” she said.

Preskey said the land belongs to a Texas-based firm, Energy Transfer Partners, and was purchased from a local rancher for an undisclosed price. According to the AP, the Native Americans claim the land is theirs by way of an, “1851 treaty and they won’t leave until the pipeline is stopped.” “We never ceded this land,” said protester Joye Braun.

“The $3.8 billion pipeline, most of which has been completed, crosses through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. Opponents worry about potential effects on drinking water on the Standing Rock Sioux’s reservation and farther downstream on the Missouri River, as well as destruction of cultural artifacts,” writes the AP.

The disputed ranch is more than 100 years old and was the first one to be inducted into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame. According to the AP, “It is within a half-mile of a larger encampment on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ land where the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and hundreds of others have gathered in protest. Protesters do not have a federal permit to be on the corps’ land, but the agency said it wouldn’t evict them due to free speech reasons. Authorities have criticized that decision, saying the site has been a launching point for protests at construction sites in the area.”

While the announcement by the Morton County Sheriff’s office may signal a change in tone and the potential for more relaxed police tactics, it remains to be seen. Late Monday, Standing Rock Sioux chairman Dave Archambault II issued the following statement, calling on the Obama Administration’s U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the militant treatment of its peaceful protesters, and asked for an injunction to the pipeline’s construction. Archambault wrote;

The militarization of local law enforcement and enlistment of multiple law enforcements agencies from neighboring states is needlessly escalating violence and unlawful arrests against peaceful protestors at Standing Rock. We do not condone reports of illegal actions, but believe the majority of peaceful protestors are reacting to strong-arm tactics and abuses by law enforcement.

Thousands of water protectors have joined the Tribe in solidarity against DAPL, without incident or serious injury. Yet, North Dakota law enforcement have proceeded with a disproportionate response to their nonviolent exercise of their First Amendment rights, even going as far as labeling them rioters and calling their every action illegal.

We are disappointed to see that our state and congressional delegations and Gov. Jack Dalrymple have failed to ensure the safety and rights of the citizens engaged in peaceful protests who were arrested on Saturday. Their lack of leadership and commitment to creating a dialogue towards a peaceful solution reflects not only the unjust historical narrative against Native Americans, but a dangerous trend in law enforcement tactics across America.

For these reasons, we believe the situation at Standing Rock deserves the immediate and full attention of the U.S. Department of Justice. Furthermore, the DOJ should impose an injunction to all developments at the pipeline site to keep ALL citizens – law enforcement and protestors – safe. The DOJ should be enlisted and expected to investigate the overwhelming reports and videos demonstrating clear strong-arm tactics, abuses and unlawful arrests by law enforcement.

The chairman’s request seems to validate many of the reports coming from the field, that peaceful protesters are being labeled as rioters and are not being treated with the dignity they feel they deserve. As The Free Thought Project reported two days ago, many of the protesters are being thrown to the ground, squashed underfoot, strip-searched, and forced to remove sacred hair braids — all considered “strong-arm tactics, abuses, and unlawful,” by Archambault.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Amazonian Bird Mimics Toxic Caterpillar to Fend Off Predators

While most young birds rely on their parents for protection, the chicks of the Amazonian Cinereous Mourner have their own survival tactic. In order to avoid being eaten by predators, they actually mimic poisonous caterpillars!

On hatching, the chicks are covered with bright orange, spiky feathers that make them look like massive caterpillars that use bright colors to warn predators of their toxicity. And to make their camouflage even more effective, they even writhe about much like caterpillars.

“These traits give it a resemblance to a hairy, aposematic caterpillar,” said Dr. Gustavo Londoño, a biologist at the University of California. “Because predation is the main cause of avian nest failure, selection should favor strategies that reduce the probability of nest predation. The caterpillar we encountered measured 12 cm, which closely matches the size of the L. hypopyrra nesting. The striking morphological similarity is the caterpillars’ orange ‘hairs’ with white tips, which match almost exactly the nestling’s elongated orange downy feather barbs with bright white tips.”

Photo: Londoño Et Al American Naturalist

Dr. Londoño and his colleagues explained that the Cinereous Mourner have modified their behavior over the years in order to keep their young safe. Adult birds deliberately feed chicks only once every hour, to slow down their movements. And the chicks do not beg for food when the parent arrives at the nest, because they don’t know if the arriving bird is a parent or a predator. This helps put off potential predators.

Photo: Londoño Et Al American Naturalist

Scientists believe the Cinerous Mourner developed this fascinating evolutionary advantage to make up for the relatively long time the chicks spend in the nest before venturing out on their own – 20 days. This is when they are most vulnerable to predators.

Interestingly, nothing was known about the Cinereous Mourner chicks’ mimicking abilities up until 2012. But then a team of scientists pointed out how odd it was that these chicks were so bright, instead of blending with the background. Dr. Londoño and his team observed the chicks in the wild, filmed them, and finally uncovered the brilliant survival strategy. Popularly known as Batesian mimicry, the strategy has been found in many other species, especially butterflies.

Via: Odditycentral

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Friday, April 8, 2016

This simple affordable technology is going to make history meet the lifestraw

Over one sixth of the world’s population is without clean water – that’s around one billion people suffering from malnutrition at this very moment. Water.org states that 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related issues, and about 6000 children die every day for the same reason, hence this issue can be considered one of, if not the, greatest current global crises. Safe water interventions are thus the most urgent international dialogues as these technologies have the ability to transform the lives of millions, especially in developing countries.

Enter the LifeStraw, a powerful yet compact and simple water filtration system which may be the solution to world’s water emergency. Its body is tubular in shape, extending 25cm long and 29mm in diameter. How it works is simple: place one end of the tube into water and suck from the other end, that’s it. Positive test results have been achieved on tap, turbid and saline water against common waterborne bacteria such as Salmonella, Shigella, Enterococcus and Staphylococci.

This LifeStraw was designed with special emphasize on avoiding any moving parts, as a sealed unit with no replaceable spare parts, and avoiding the use of electricity, which does not exist in many areas in the 3rd world. Because force (power) is required to implement the filtering, Vestergaard Frandsen chose to use the natural source of sucking, that even babies are able to perform.

What first meets the water when sucked up is a pre-filter of PE filter textile with a mesh opening of 100 microns, shortly followed by a second textile filter in polyester with a mesh opening of 15 microns. In this way all big particles are filtered out, even clusters of bacteria are removed. The first iteration of LifeStraw used iodine to kill bacteria, but the 2012 version contains no chemicals. Instead, the product incorporates mechanical filtration. When you suck on your LifeStraw, water is forced through hollow fibers, which contain pores less than 0.2 microns across — thus, a micro-filtration device. Any dirt, bacteria or parasites are trapped in the fibers, while the clean water passes through. When you’re done drinking, you simply blow air out of the straw to clear the filter.

The LifeStraw website states that each straw has a life-time of 1000 liters, that’s over one year worth of water consumption for one person. With all this in mind, one would think this system rings in heavy on the wallet. However, Vestergaard Frandsen made the cost of this technology its main feature, placing the LifeStraw at a price of only $20 USD. His main goal was for it to be affordable and accessible to people in developing countries.

The original idea was created ten years ago by Torben Vestergaard Frandsen, but over the years in partnership with The Carter Center, Rob Fleuren from Holland and Moshe Frommer from Israel, the Lifestraw emerged from work designed to make water filters capable of safeguarding against Guinea Worm. LifeStraw can also keep away bacteria and diseases like diphtheria, cholera and diarrhoea.

This technology is winning awards for a reason. Through people’s donations the LifeStraw has the ability to make history. Please visit their website for more information and join the movement that’s saving lives all around the globe!

Resources:

http://water.org/water-crisis/water-facts/water/

http://lifestraw.com/

Monday, March 28, 2016

Doctors Inject Modified HIV Into Dying Girl to treat her cancer

Fighting Fire with fire

Professor Carl H. June and his team in Philadelphia, are developing and testing a new ways to turn the power of the immune system on leukemia ( a cancer caused by the white cells growing out of control.

Professor Carl H. June, a highly respected scientist working on cancer, HIV and the immune system and his team developed a technique in which they collect special ‘killer’ immune cells, called T cells, from a cancer patient. These are then ‘reprogrammed’ in the lab using a modified virus, which is very good at smuggling genes into the T cells.

In this case, the researchers added genes carrying instructions that tell the T cells to make a new protein called a “chimeric antigen receptor” – this lets them lock on to molecules found on the surface of cancer cells, killing them in the process.

These reprogrammed T cells are then injected back into the patient, where they grow and multiply, creating an army of killer cells to fight the disease.

Friday, February 19, 2016

Nestle CEO Seeks to Control the World’s Water Supply

Gun control may be a hot topic, but what about water control? Recent comments from Nestle CEO Peter Brabeck imply that the world’s water will soon come under the control of corporations like his. Brabeck makes the astonishing claim that water is not a human right, but should be managed by business people and governing bodies. He wants water controlled, privatized, and delegated in a way that sustains the planet. View the astonishing interview below:

Water control hitting the United States

All of this means that Brabeck’s future plans include monitoring and controlling the amount of water people use. One day, cities and towns may be forced by international law to limit each household to a set amount of water. People may have to obtain permits to dig wells or pay fines for collecting rainwater. Laws like these are already in motion in the United States. Learn more here: http://www.naturalnews.com/029286_rainwater_collection_water.html

Nestle’s CEO thinks all water should have a price

In the interview, Brabeck touts that his company is the largest foodstuff corporation in the world with over $65 billion in profit each year. He proudly claims that millions of people are dependent on him and his company. Does this guy think he is a god?

He calls water a “foodstuff” that needs an assigned value. Who controls the price of water? Brabeck bases his sustainability projects on the fact that a third of the world’s population may face water shortages within 15-20 years. By price controlling water, Brabeck believes he may save the planet from food and water shortages in the coming years.

With the threat of future water shortages, is it necessary to strip all humans of their natural liberty to water, as Brabeck suggests?

What might happen if international controls are placed on water sources as a select few corporate dictators rule over the water supply?

Can a free and thriving people find better ways to conserve and respect water with their own liberty, rather than allow global corporations to control it?

Nestle CEO applauds GMO farming and criticizes organic practices

Putting a person like Brabeck in control of water would create a tyrannical monopoly on something that was meant to be free. If influential corporations put a lock on the water tap, then they could dictate which farms received water. Nestle could protect GMO farming. In fact, in the interview, Brabeck said organic food is “not the best” and he went on to say that genetically modified food is perfectly safe and causes no disease. With this philosophy, a Brabeck economy would cut off organic farming from the water supply and allow genetically modified food to reign over the people.

Working together to preserve our right to water

Free people everywhere must work together to preserve their natural right to water. If one wants to dig their own well and tap the ground water, so be it. They are responsible for their keep. If one wants to collect their own rain water to sustain their own garden, then so be it. If one wants to purify their own water trough charcoal gravity fed filters and ditch bottled water companies altogether, then they will be better off for doing so. Is it time to reject a bottled water industry that is brainwashing people to submit to price controlled water? Humans can self sustain and work together,managing their own water. Greedy corporate CEOs are not the answer. No one is dependent on them. Water should remain unadulterated, free and available as a right to all.

Sign a petition to stop Nestle from dominating the world’s water supply.

stopnestlewaters.org/about

Sources for this article include:

www.naturalnews.com
americanlivewire.com
www.sodahead.com

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Sweden on target to run entirely on renewable energy by 2040

Last year 57 per cent of Sweden's power came from renewables

Sweden is on target to run entirely on renewable energy within the next 25 years, a regulatory official has said.

Last year, 57 per cent of Sweden's power came from renewables such as hydropower and wind sources, with the remainder coming from nuclear power.

The country now plans to tap into its "large potential" for onshore wind power, in order to make the country completely fossil-free by 2040 - a goal set by Sweden's prime minister at the UN General Assembley last year.

"We are not densely populated, we have a lot of good places to put land-based large-scale wind and there is large potential for that in Sweden," Anne Vadasz Nilsson, Director General of the Swedish Energy Markets Inspectorate told Reuters on Monday.

Sweden has steadily increased its output of wind power and as it becomes more cost efficent, wind energy is set to replace nuclear energy in the country's power system.

"Nuclear is quite an expensive energy source due to safety regulations and funding for long-term nuclear waste management among other things," said Ms Vadasz Nilsson.

"Renewables, meaning large-scale wind in Sweden, on the other hand, are cheaper and cheaper to commission and to run. This together with low wholesale prices will make it less likely that new nuclear power plants will replace the remaining ones when they are phased out due to old age."

Four of the country’s 10 nuclear reactors are currently being phased out, she said, adding that the sparodic nature of wind power could be managed by teaming it with a combination of hydropower as well as interconnection with other countries.

"The base load from our [current] hydropower plants and the high degree of interconnection with neighbouring countries [...] This together with a more developed market for demand-side response will safeguard capacity even on cold winter days when the wind is not blowing," said Ms Vadasz Nilsson.

The Nordic countries already lead the world in renewable energy. Denmark produced 140 per cent of its electricity needs through wind power alone in 2015, exporting the rest of the energy to its neighbours, Germany, Sweden and Norway.

While, almost 100 per cent of Iceland's electricity comes from renewable sources, due to its investment in hydropower and geothermal energy production.

In the latest bi-annual EY Renewable energy country attractiveness index (RECAI), released on Wednesday, European countries saw their positions improve, with France, Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Norway and Finland all climbing the ranking.

The United Kingdom, however, bucked the trend of European improvement, falling to an all-time index low in 14th position. It is understood that the Brexit vote, the dismantling of the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) and approval of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station all contributed to a loss of appeal in the eyes of investors.

**This was originally featured on independent.co.uk