China rates its own citizens - including online behaviour

"'This is the most staggering, publicly announced, scaled use of big data I've ever seen', says Michael Fertik, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author of The Reputation Economy. 'It certainly feels about as Orwellian as your nightmares would have it be. On the other hand, it is probably a fairly inevitable evolution.'"

Turning America into a Battlefield: A Blueprint for Locking Down the Nation

"The problem arises when you start to add Jade Helm onto the list of other troubling developments that have taken place over the past 30 years or more: the expansion of the military industrial complex and its influence in Washington DC, the rampant surveillance, the corporate-funded elections and revolving door between lobbyists and elected officials, the militarized police, the loss of our freedoms, the injustice of the courts, the privatized prisons, the school lockdowns, the roadside strip searches, the military drills on domestic soil, the fusion centers and the simultaneous fusing of every branch of law enforcement (federal, state and local), the stockpiling of ammunition by various government agencies, the active shooter drills that are indistinguishable from actual crises, the economy flirting with near collapse, etc."

Children's knowledge of nature is dwindling

"And one in seven 25 to 30 years olds believed the best way to attract bees and butterflies to their garden was to put pictures of bees and butterflies around their garden."

Over 2,000 Wizards and Witches Gather to Hold Ritual in Kiev

"One does not forget that apart from the God, there is also the Devil, which through such people can perform what can be first seen as a good thing, but with the use of dark forces."

Crisis in American education as teacher morale hits an all-time low

"As a system like Finland's illustrates, the key to effective schools does not reside in the interventionist strategies and think-tank polished ideas, but in the way teachers and schools are supported, both financially and publicly."

Israeli lies go unchallenged on BBC’s flagship current affairs show

"Your position is clear. You obviously pursue peace from a position of strength."

Who is Delusional? The Answer Is: We All Are

"Any kind of ideology can provide people a sense of control, particularly when experiencing chaos or confusing random events. The more confusing, terrifying, overwhelming, chaotic or unjust the world in which one exists, the more elaborate, concrete, or fantastical the beliefs needed to feel in control, ease anxiety, and have a sense of purpose and importance. In general, belief systems serve to protect us and help us survive."

First They Came for the Anti-Vaxxers

"Nobody wants to be seen as foolish, and most people don't have the time or inclination to look closely at the evidence for and against vaccine safety. If people keep hearing that 'everyone knows' vaccines are safe and effective, most of them will tend to go along with that position even if they don't know much about the topic - if only to avoid being seen as crackpots. Fear of public humiliation can be a beautiful thing in the right hands."

Is Genetically Engineered Food A Fraud?

"I never use the term 'frankenfood.' I’d rather not throw around names. The other side throws names around, branding people who have concerns about GMOs as 'anti-science' or 'Luddites.' Instead of talking about middle ground, I think it's important to talk about the scientific ground and the evidence-based ground. Too many of the proponents of GMOs are not speaking as scientists, but as spin-doctors."

What the News Isn’t Saying About Vaccine-Autism Studies

"The body of evidence on both sides is open to interpretation. People have every right to disbelieve the studies on one side. But it is disingenuous to pretend they do not exist."

Truth Is Washington’s Enemy

"As far as I can discern, not many Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, liberal, conservative, or super-patriot, educated or not, understand that Washington with the cooperation of its presstitute media has defined truth as a threat.  In Washington's opinion, truth is a greater threat than Ebola, Russia, China, terrorism, and the Islamic State combined."

Down the Rabbit Hole: Curiouser and Curiouser

"The study of strange phenomena, which so often finds itself arrayed against an imagined monolith of science, might justifiably consider itself a manifestation of a seemingly oxymoronic 'post-modern' science, the application of reason to the breakdown of ideological containment, in this instance the ideology of the real."

Egyptologist Zahi Hawass Goes Into Meltdown During Debate with Graham Hancock

"Herein lies one of the true roots of our inability to understand our past properly: Arrogant insularity disguised as academic specialization, and a refusal to look beyond your particular area of expertise. It was because of that exact reason Göbekli Tepe was first mistaken for a Byzantine cemetery when it was originally discovered in the 1960s; it wouldn't be until the 1990s when the late Klaus Schmidt re-visited the site and realized its monumental importance. It's people like him, and not stubborn naysayers, who will go down in history as the true searchers of Truth."

Liberate the Bank of Canada, Intrepid Think Tank Urges

"Their campaign is often portrayed as an eccentric sidebar, complete with conspiracy theories, to what is happening in the real world. But if you think having squandered $1 trillion that could have been spent on the public good is a side issue, feel free. And if you think conspiracy theories are unappealing, then you'll have to come up [with] a compelling argument for a coincidence theory that explains why a nation would deliberately impoverish itself in the interests of international finance capital."

Why Rod Serling Still Matters

"'We're developing a new kind of citizenry,' Serling said in 1957, 'one that will be very selective about cereals and automobiles, but won't be able to think.'"

Epidemic depression as a wake up call to humanity

"When participants attempted to influence how the dice turned, the dice rolled in the desired direction about 51.2% of the time. While this may seem negligible at first glance, considering that this was the meta effect observed from 2.6 million dice throws from 148 different experiments by 52 different investigators, it's significant."

The Power of Lies

"As for slavery, Lincoln said: 'I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.'"

Free-Range Children Kidnapped by CPS to Prevent Potential Kidnapping

"Have people already forgotten their own youth? Do they perceive today to be a more dangerous time? Why? Violent crime rates have been plummeting."

Drone delivering asparagus to Dutch restaurant crashes and bursts into flames

"A stunt in December where TGI Friday wanted to have drones carrying sprigs of mistletoe hovering over customers at its restaurants in New York failed spectacularly, with the drone crashing into a woman's face and cutting open her nose."

City Failed to Fix Bridge Where Man’s Daughter Died, Dad Fixes It Himself, So They Arrested Him

"The number one reply from people who are asked the question, 'Why do we need government?' is 'Who would build the roads, without government?' and 'We need police to keep order.'"

Medical Nemesis: The Cycle of Physician-Caused Anger, Despair and Death

"Beyond the misdiagnosis of physical illnesses as psychiatric ones, doctors often diagnose a person with a psychiatric disorder when that person's so-called symptoms are actually normal human reactions."

'Pope Francis effect' leads to exorcism boom

"Some people are mentally ill and do not need exorcism. But others do and there are some classic signs – people who speak in ancient tongues, for instance. Other people have supernatural strength when they are in a state of possession – it might take four men to hold down a slightly-built woman. In some cases, people are able to levitate."

U.S. Propaganda 101: Illegally Invade Countries, Fund the Media, Call it “Independent”

"This Foreign Policy piece is typical of the post-9/11 Western mainstream media witch hunt. In today’s world, if you publish articles that criticize Western policies and contradict the one-sided Western media narrative, you are either a 'conspiracy website' or a shadow propaganda outlet of the Kremlin or whoever is the enemy du jour. What has become obvious to many Western citizens, is that those who are making accusations are committing the misdemeanor. The Western mainstream media has been engaged in war propaganda for Washington for a very long time and has spread numerous conspiracy theories (Iraq’s WMDs, the Syrian government using chemical weapons on civilians, Gaddafi forces raping Libyan women on Viagra, among many others)."

The Planned Obsolescence of America

"They want us to demolish the old brick and mortar building that has sheltered us for so long and replace it with a cheap new imitation. Just as our monetary system has evolved into something cheap and disposable, they want to move us away from the overbuilt constitutional structure that can be repaired and reused indefinitely and build a new structure that is cheap and disposable for easy replacement as the whims of society change."

The surprising downsides of being clever

"'There is plenty of dysrationalia – people doing irrational things despite more than adequate intelligence – in our world today,' he says. 'The people pushing the anti-vaccination meme on parents and spreading misinformation on websites are generally of more than average intelligence and education.' Clearly, clever people can be dangerously, and foolishly, misguided."

Rogue Microwave Ovens Are the Culprits Behind Mysterious Radio Signals

"As one might expect from a cosmological signal, fast radio bursts tend to show up rather randomly around the clock. But, perhaps unsurprisingly in retrospect, the peryton data show those signals 'clustering near the lunchtime hour.'"

Reporter Asks College Students to Perform Common Core Math

"'But even under the new Common Core, if they said 3 x 4 was 11, if they were able to explain their reasoning and explain how they came up with their answer… We’re more focused on the how and the why,' the teacher said."

Propagandists Have Infiltrated Every Segment of Academia and Social Media To Confuse Consumers

"The audience members described Dr. Fox as 'extremely articulate' and 'captivating.' One said he delivered 'a very dramatic presentation.' After one lecture, 90 percent of the audience members said they had found the lecture by Dr. Fox 'stimulating.' Over all, almost every member of every audience loved Dr. Fox's lecture, despite the fact that, as the authors write, it was delivered by an actor 'programmed to teach charismatically and nonsubstantively on a topic about which he knew nothing.'"

Do New Age ideas speak to our high-tech world?

"But what if Weber and Thomas were wrong? Ironically, at precisely the time when Thomas was anatomising the death of magic in the 1970s, bohemian mystics in places such as California and London were reviving it."

The Strange Phenomenon of Fictional Characters Turning Up in Real Life

"'All of a sudden, up the stairs came John Constantine,' Moore revealed. 'He looked exactly like John Constantine. He looked at me, stared me straight in the eyes, smiled, nodded almost conspiratorially, and then just walked off around the corner to the other part of the snack bar.'"

New York Police Spend Big on Steak Dinners, Ecstasy, Jet Skis

"'When examining a suspected illegal substance, it is necessary to have a verified comparison sample to validate the analysis,' Davis said.

Other purchases included $13,584 for eight 'McGruff the Crime Dog' costumes, $69,000 on industrial-grade shoeshine machines and $93,000 on jet skis, according to the report."

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra Silences Valentina Lisitsa’s Music

"Yes, Toronto Symphony is going TO PAY ME NOT TO PLAY because I exercised the right to free speech. Yes, they will pay my fee but they are going to announce that I will be unable to play and they already found a substitute. And they even threatened me against saying anything about the cause of the cancellation. Seriously."

Was "Earliest Musical Instrument" Just a Chewed-Up Bone?

"The Neanderthals may have made music without instruments by clapping their hands or slapping their bodies, Nowell notes. They may also have used instruments made of materials that decomposed."

Mathematical Pattern Found in Enigmatic Radio Bursts, But It’s Not E.T.

"A strange mathematical pattern spotted in blasts of radio waves coming from deep space could be evidence of alien civilizations – or it might be nothing."

Chasing the Dollar, Or Doing Our Own Thing

"Islands of learning and determined liberation do exist, and will continue to flower. They will be mostly ignored for the time being, but these communities, collectives, and affinity groups will only become more valuable to the world, and more noteworthy, as the failed model of endless consuming and individualistic aggrandizement teeters and sputters."

Research findings back up Aboriginal legend on origin of Central Australian palm trees

"The concordance of the findings of a scientific study and an ancient myth is a striking example of how traditional ecological knowledge can inform and enhance scientific research."

Rolling Stone Article on Rape at University of Virginia Failed All Basics, Report Says

"Rolling Stone’s fundamental mistake, Mr. Dana said, was in suspending any skepticism about Jackie's account because of the sensitivity of the issue. 'We didn’t think through all the implications of the decisions that we made while reporting the story, and we never sort of allowed for the fact that maybe the story we were being told was not true,' he said."

Fired for ‘being too nice’: Tenants at luxurious NY tower rally behind sacked doorman

"'Heatherwood wants impartial professionalism… I don’t want to live in an environment like that — where there are robots at the front desk,' Dr. Michael Dardano said."

Army Soldiers Sit Through ‘White Privilege’ Presentation — and the Backlash Isn’t Pretty

"'True story: I went to a forced EEO class and the white female SSG said we white folks were a problem. I looked around the room and everyone of every race were rolling their eyes,' Scott Hampton Truelove recalled. 'We of all races went fishing, eating out, having BBQs, went to the club, together. We all never had a problem with race. We as a group stood up and walked out. She was cutting into our beer drinking time.'"

No, Really, Monsanto Has a "Discredit Bureau"

"Dr. Moar, perhaps forgetting that this was a public event, then revealed that Monsanto indeed had 'an entire department' (waving his arm for emphasis) dedicated to 'debunking' science which disagreed with theirs. As far as I know this is the first time that a Monsanto functionary has publicly admitted that they have such an entity which brings their immense political and financial weight to bear on scientists who dare to publish against them."

ETs for Hillary: Why UFO Activists Are Excited About Another Clinton Presidency

"Asked for clarification of Hillary Clinton's stance on UFO disclosure, a spokesman from her office responded via email. 'Our non-campaign has a strict policy of not commenting on extraterrestrial activity,' Nick Merrill wrote. 'BUT, the Truth Is Out There.'"

This Scientist Says He Keeps Finding Aliens in the Stratosphere

"I give these talks at meetings and no one tells us where we're going wrong. When I ask why they don't believe it, they say, 'because it can't be true.' There's been a lot of complete avoidance of the issues."

Common Core education: the insane bottom line

"The goal wasn’t planting falsehoods. Under the guise of teaching logic and critical thinking, the goal was mass confusion. Young minds want answers. If you keep denying them those answers, you induce chaos. You pour chaos into what would otherwise be a straightforward process. You demean thinking. You make children believe thinking has no purpose. Do you see? Do you see what that achieves? Schools become factories for insanity."

Science and medicine have 'publication pollution' problem, according to medical ethicist

"All these polluting factors detract from the ability of scientists and physicians to trust what they read, devalue legitimate science, undermine the ability to reproduce legitimate findings, impose huge costs on the publication process, and take a toll in terms of disability and death when tests, treatments, and interventions are founded on faulty claims.

Our world is descending into chaos, have you noticed?

"Whether or not the 'mandate of heaven' has basis in reality, history shows that the human experience is broadly defined by a succession of more or less corrupt ruling elites and that those elites reached the peak of their corruption at the times of destruction of the great human 'civilizations'. In addition, there is a wealth of evidence, most of it not in standard history text books, that shows that these human 'colony collapses' were caused by major geologic and cosmic upheavals, and were preceded by the kind of environmental, social and political chaos, ignorance, lies and greed that reign on our planet today. For those who had knowledge of this cyclical nature of human civilizations and were watching the events unfold, it may have seemed that the collapse occurred progressively. But for the majority, who submitted or succumbed to the official exhortations or subtle temptation to ignore or shut out the reality of the world around them, it came as a 'thief in night'."

"Most of all it is integral to develop a philosophy which connects us to the universe. We can look to many sources to understand our union with reality, such as the quantum sciences, religion or spirituality. No matter what we personally resonate with most, as long as we treat our fellow universe and everything in it with the same love and respect that we should be treating ourselves, we’re on the right track."

American Police Killed More People in March Than UK Cops Have Since 1900

"The White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing issued a report last month recommending that the police focus on tactics that would 'de-escalate' a situation to make it less likely that someone would end up getting shot and killed."

The divine witches of cyberspace

"Stone originally conceived Techno Tarot as an intentional criticism of our unquestioning faith in computers, but the response to it surprised even the artist: Users were thrilled by the accuracy of their readings, and found as much meaning in the randomly-assigned digital cards as they might in a real face-to-face reading with a practitioner."

Kill Bigfoot, and prepare to be prosecuted

"Sixth Judicial District Attorney Todd Risberg said while offing Bigfoot would be a criminal act as well as ethically reprehensible, he didn’t yet know how he would charge such a slaying.
 
'If Bigfoot is a human, it would be murder. If Bigfoot is an animal, that might be more of a Division of Wildlife question,' he said. 'I don’t know what Bigfoot is.'"

During Surgery, Cats Prefer Listening To Classical Music Over AC/DC

"Up next, the team wants to investigate how music affects cortisol and catecholamine levels--which provide a more direct way of measuring stress--in both cats and dogs. Eventually, the researchers hope that the right kind of music could lower the dose of anesthesia pets need to stay calm during operations, which could make surgery safer for our furry friends."

Using Google makes people overestimate their own intelligence

"One of the experiments involved showing one group of people the answer to a question via the internet and another group the answer via a printed page with the same information on it. After absorbing this data, the groups were asked a second question on a completely different topic. Despite neither group being able to search for the answer, the people who previously read their info online believed they were smarter than the non-internet group did."

Is this ET? Mystery of strange radio bursts from space

"If the result holds up, says Hippke, 'there is something really interesting we need to understand. This will either be new physics, like a new kind of pulsar, or, in the end, if we can exclude everything else, an ET.'

Hippke is cautious, but notes that remote possibilities are still possibilities. 'When you set out to search for something new,' he says, 'you might find something unexpected.'"

Atheists are being hacked to death in Bangladesh

"For many in Bangladesh, this is the crux of the matter. The target of these killings and crackdowns is not just atheism, but the very idea of questioning received wisdom and authority."