Category Archives: Original

40% of 2014 California Measles Outbreak Had Been Vaccinated

19th March 2014 alternativefreepress

By AlternativeFreePress.com

KCCP California Public Radio reports that “California public health officials say 19 of the 32 cases of measles they have confirmed so far this year are in people who had not been vaccinated.”

That means that 40% of the infected population was vaccinated against measles.

The article says “Ten of this year’s cases involve people who traveled to the Philippines, where there is a large outbreak, or to India or Vietnam, where measles is endemic, health officials say. They have not clarified whether any of those people were vaccinated.”

It’s likely safe to assume that if the majority of the ten people who visited an outbreak area were not vaccinated, we would be hearing about it. I’d guess that most people who are not vaccinated would avoid travel to an area with a large outbreak & it seems reasonable to assume that many of the ten people identified were vaccinated.

In a report regarding 2013’s outbreak Slayer Ji cites “a substantial body of literature, including peer-reviewed and published epidemiological and clinical studies, indicating that the recent measles outbreaks are just as likely caused by the failure of the vaccine as by presumably irrational and/or irresponsible parents exercising their legal right and responsibility to choose whether or not to vaccine their children.” driving home the point that “vaccine-induced synthetic immunity does not guarantee real world protection, and certainly not with anything near 100% effectiveness, despite what the CDC, vaccine manufacturers or mainstream news reports imply by blaming the non-vaccinated for vaccine-failure associated outbreaks.”

Public health officials and mainstream media pundits regularly declare that 95% vaccination is required for “herd immunity”, but Ji goes on to list numerous historical outbreaks within areas with extremely high (98-99%) vaccination rates. These examples include the New England Journal of Medicine in 1987 concluding “that outbreaks of measles can occur in secondary schools, even when more than 99 percent of the students have been vaccinated and more than 95 percent are immune.”

Written by Alternative Free Press

40% of 2014 California Measles Outbreak Had Been Vaccinated by AlternativeFreePress.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Sources for this article:

1. 14 of California’s 32 measles cases this year were intentionally unvaccinated http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/03/18/42870/majority-of-states-measles-cases-were-unvaccinated/

2. The 2013 Measles Outbreak: A Failing Vaccine, Not A Failure To Vaccinatehttp://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/2013-measles-outbreak-failing-vaccine-not-failure-vaccinate1

Study Confirms Genetically Modified Corn Doesn’t Work

19th March 2014 alternativefreepress

By AlternativeFreePress.com

A study conducted by a team led by Aaron Gassmann, an entomologist at Iowa State University in Ames, and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences details how genetically modified corn is no longer efficient at killing the western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera):

“Beginning in 2009, western corn rootworm with resistance to maize producing the Bt toxin Cry3Bb1 imposed severe injury to Cry3Bb1 maize in Iowa. We show that cross-resistance exists between Cry3Bb1 maize and mCry3A maize and is associated with severe injury to Bt maize in farmers’ fields. These results illustrate that Bt crops producing less than a high dose of toxin against target pests may select for resistance rapidly; consequently, current approaches for managing Bt resistance should be reexamined.”

The abstract concludes, “These first cases of resistance by western corn rootworm highlight the vulnerability of Bt maize to further evolution of resistance from this pest and, more broadly, point to the potential of insects to develop resistance rapidly when Bt crops do not achieve a high dose of Bt toxin.” Gassmann warns, “Unless management practices change, it’s only going to get worse…There needs to be a fundamental change in how the technology is used.”

This has occurred because of a combination of corruption and incompetence. The EPA is a joke and today’s average farmer doesn’t really know how to farm. Rather than tend the soil and rotate crops, they just keep growing GM corn and ask the chemical company to “fix” any issue.

Wired quotes two entomologists:

Entomologist Bruce Tabashnik of the University of Arizona called Bt resistance “an increasingly serious problem,” and said that refuge sizes need to be increased dramatically and immediately. He and other scientists have pushed the EPA to double current refuge requirements, but so far without success.

“Biotech companies have successfully lobbied EPA for major reductions in refuge requirements,” said Tabashnik.

Entomologist Elson Shields of Cornell University agrees. “Resistance was caused because the farmers did not plant the required refuges and the companies did not enforce the planting of refuges,” said Shields, who has written that “a widespread increase in trait failure may be just around the corner.”

Shields also lamented the difficulty he and other academic scientists long experienced when trying to study Bt corn. Until 2010, after organized objections by entomologists at major agricultural universities forced seed companies to allow outside researchers to study Bt corn, the crop was largely off-limits. Had that not been the case, said Shields, resistance could have been detected even earlier, and perhaps stalled before it threatened to become such a problem.

“Once we had legal access, resistance was documented in a year,” Shields said. “We were seeing failures earlier but were not allowed to test for resistance.”

Corruption and incompetence.

Sources for this article:

1. Field-evolved resistance by western corn rootworm to multiple Bacillus thuringiensis toxins in transgenic maize http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/03/12/1317179111

2. Voracious Worm Evolves to Eat Biotech Corn Engineered to Kill It http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/03/rootworm-resistance-bt-corn/

Written by Alternative Free Press

Study Confirms Genetically Modified Corn Doesn’t Work by AlternativeFreePress.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Original, Privacy

Malaysian Airlines phones reportedly active, why hasn’t NSA tracked them?

11th March 2014 alternativefreepress

By AlternativeFreePress.com

The NSA collects about 5 billion records a day on the locations of cell phones around the world. The Washington Post reported back in December 2013, “Analysts can find cellphones anywhere in the world, retrace their movements and expose hidden relationships among the people using them.” Whistleblower Edward Snowden released documents cited in the report which provide evidence of the CO-TRAVELER tools described as providing “the methodical collection and storage of location data on what amounts to a planetary scale.”

On March 10th the Washington Post reported that cell phones of the missing passengers are still ringing and some instant message accounts seem to be showing active.

Why has the NSA not found any of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 passengers phones?

Why is tracking law abiding citizens 24/7 considered proper use of government resources?

Why is tracking down a missing airplane full of people less important than tracking supposedly free citizens?

Sources for this article:
1. NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents showhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-tracking-cellphone-locations-worldwide-snowden-documents-show/2013/12/04/5492873a-5cf2-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html

2. Vanished Malaysia Airlines flight leaves relatives with anger and phantom phone calls http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/vanished-malaysia-airlines-flight-leaves-relatives-with-anger-and-phantom-phone-calls/2014/03/10/fdb78642-a862-11e3-b61e-8051b8b52d06_story.html

Written by Alternative Free Press

Malaysian Airlines phones reportedly active, why hasn’t NSA tracked them? by AlternativeFreePress.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Geopolitics/War, Original

Ron Paul Slams Liz Wahl’s Censorship Claims

7th March 2014 alternativefreepress

By AlternativeFreePress.com

Recently RT anchor Liz Wahl resigned & complained about the outlet for “promoting a Putinist agenda.” She did this after interviewing Ron Paul about Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and has claimed the interview was censored. But what does Ron Paul think?

“She did bring my name up on this and yet I was quite satisfied with the interview”.

Does Ron Paul feel his views were censored? No. Paul says, “The position that I had got reported exactly the way it was supposed to” adding “I think if somebody allows me to speak out and tell the truth and they put it on the TV, I can’t complain too much about it”

Ron Paul clearly does not feel the interview was censored, a position which directly contrasts Whal’s claim. In his video addressing the Whal resignation on The Ron Paul Channel, the former congressman said:

“I would say that essentially it all got in there in a fair and balanced manner, but she had implied something that they did that they edited something I said that might have benefited her position, I don’t recall any of that. I thought the report and the essence of what they put on TV was exactly the message I was trying to get out.”

Paul acknowledges bias at RT, but says it pales in comparison to most US media:

“…I recognize exactly who Russia Today is, but they have given me a fair shake all the time, and if you think back and I think back on quite a few occasions about some of the treatment I got in the campaign. I mean it was malicious, it was horrible and very biased, and they were caught in it many times…”

Paul suggests that Wahl identifies with the neo-con agenda for foreign intervention but says he is not sure if this was a publicity stunt following Abby Martin’s statement and subsequent media attention. In contrast to Wahl, Abby Martin is staying with RT and has shown herself to be consistently dedicated to the truth. Martin has consistently opposed military intervention, but US media has opportunistically jumped on her recent comments about Russia while ignoring US military aggression and her comments opposing it for years.

Martin recent spoke to Piers Morgan on CNN bemoaning “the corporate media coverage almost wanting to revive the Cold War” adding “warmonger and fearmonger the American people.” She questioned Morgan, “Why do I have to work for RT to tell the truth about corporations and the US government? I mean, seriously, you guys are beholden to advertisers that you cannot criticize.”

The full video is worth watching as it contains much more than is quoted here. You can watch the full video at The Ron Paul Channel

Sources for this article:
1. Russia Coverage: RT, Liz Wahl and Media Biashttp://www.ronpaulchannel.com/video/russia-coverage-rt-liz-wahl-media-bias/

2. Piers Morgan Interviews Abby Martin on CNN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jX_B5tmCfU

Written by Alternative Free Press

Ron Paul Slams Liz Wahl’s Censorship Claims by AlternativeFreePress.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Geopolitics/War, Original

False Flag Confirmed by Recorded Phone Call?

6th March 2014 alternativefreepress

Conversation Suggests Ukraine Snipers Hired by US-Backed Maiden

By AlternativeFreePress.com

A leaked phone conversation between Catherine Ashton (EU Foreign Affairs Chief) & Urmas Paet (Estonian Foreign Affairs Minister) seems to indicate that the US-backed Maiden was responsible for hiring gunmen who shot protesters in Kiev.

“There is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition,” said Paet, adding “And second, what was quite disturbing, this same Olga [Bogomolets] told as well that all the evidence shows that the people who were killed by snipers from both sides, among policemen and then people from the streets, that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides,”

The phone call took place on February 25, 2014.

Sources for this article:

1. Breaking: Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and Catherine Ashton discuss Ukraine over the phone
http://youtu.be/ZEgJ0oo3OA8

Written by Alternative Free Press

False Flag Confirmed by Recorded Phone Call by AlternativeFreePress.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Geopolitics/War, Original

Ukraine Situation Escalates: U.S. Sending Fighter Jets

6th March 2014 alternativefreepress

By AlternativeFreePress.com

The Pentagon will increase the number of U.S. fighter jets on a NATO air patrol mission in the Baltics and ramp up training with Poland’s air force. Defense officials confirmed that the U.S. will “augment the mission” in Baltic countries by sending six F-15s and one KC-135 to the region. They will be sent from a base in Britain to Siauliai Air Base in Lithuania. The U.S. military has already been providing four F-15s to the Baltic Air Policing rotation since January.

Sources for this article:

1. BREAKING: U.S. Military Sends Fighter Jets To Assist NATO On Ukraine
http://benswann.com/breaking-u-s-military-sends-fighter-jets-to-assist-nato-on-ukraine/

2. More U.S. jets on NATO patrol in Baltics amid Ukraine crisis: source http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/05/us-ukraine-crisis-pentagon-idUSBREA242D320140305

Written by Alternative Free Press

Ukraine Situation Escalates: U.S. Sending Fighter Jets by AlternativeFreePress.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Drugs, Original

Study says LSD psychotherapy can reduce anxiety

5th March 2014 alternativefreepress

By AlternativeFreePress.com

A double-blind, randomized, active placebo-controlled pilot study found that when administered safely in a methodologically rigorous medically supervised psychotherapeutic setting, LSD can reduce anxiety. The study was conducted to examine safety & efficacy of lysergic acid diethylamide(LSD)-assisted psychotherapy in a dozen patients with anxiety associated with life-threatening diseases.

Treatment included drug-free psychotherapy sessions supplemented by two LSD-assisted psychotherapy sessions 2 to 3 weeks apart. The study concludes: “This pilot study in participants with anxiety associated with the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness has demonstrated safety in 22 psychotherapy sessions assisted by 200µg of LSD with no drug-related severe adverse events. Group comparison results support positive trends in reduction of anxiety after two sessions of LSD-assisted psychotherapy, with effect size estimates in the range of 1.1 to 1.2. In view of promising historical studies with adjunctive LSD treatment in this population and a recent promising study using psilocybin (Grob et al., 2011), as well as the urgent need for more effective treatments of anxiety in these participants, further study is warranted into the potential of LSD-assisted psychotherapy”

The study found no acute or chronic adverse effects persisting beyond 1 day after treatment or treatment-related serious adverse events. The Discussion section notes: “In our study, using appropriate inclusion/exclusion criteria, detailed participant preparation, and a carefully supervised experience in a supportive psychotherapeutic setting, psychological side effects were mild and limited. There were no AEs often attributed to LSD such as prolonged anxiety (‘‘bad trip’’) or lasting psychotic or perceptional disorders (flashbacks). Congruent with studies in the past (Hintzen and Passie, 2010), the few mild somatic effects of LSD such as changes in heart rate and blood pressure were of no clinical significance.”

The LSD was supplied by Lipomed. Capsules were prepared by Bichsel Laboratories. Quality control, randomization, and blinding were performed by R. Brenneisen, PhD, at the Department of Clinical Research, University of Bern, Switzerland. Doses consisted of 200µg or a 20µg active placebo.

Sources for this article:

1. Safety and Efficacy of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-Assisted Psychotherapy for Anxiety Associated With Life-threatening Diseases http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Documents/90000000.0-00001.pdf

Written by Alternative Free Press

Study says LSD psychotherapy can reduce anxiety by AlternativeFreePress.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Geopolitics/War, Original

Hypocrite Kerry tells Russia ‘you don’t invade a country on completely phony pretexts’

3rd March 2014 alternativefreepress

By AlternativeFreePress.com

It appears that the US Secretary of State has a poor memory, or at least a selective one, seemingly forgetting the recent US invasions of Iraq, Afghanistan & Libya.

“You just don’t invade another country on phony pretext in order to assert your interests,” John Kerry said during an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press. “This is an act of aggression that is completely trumped up in terms of its pretext. It’s really 19th-century behavior in the 21st century”

A report prepared in 2006 at the direction of Rep. John Conyers, Jr. concluded that “members of the Bush Administration misstated, overstated, and manipulated intelligence with regards to linkages between Iraq and Al Qaeda; the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iraq; the acquisition of aluminum tubes to be used as uranium centrifuges; and the acquisition of uranium from Niger.” and further that they were “making false and misleading statements about Iraq’s attempt to acquire nuclear weapons, the record shows the Bush Administration must have known these statements conflicted with known international and domestic intelligence at the time.” and “these misstatements were in contradiction of known countervailing intelligence information, and were the result of political pressure and manipulation.” It appears clear that the US invaded Iraq on completely phony pretexts.

In October 2001, the United States rejected more than one offer by Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban to turn over Osama bin Laden for trial in a third country if they would stop the air attacks and could provide evidence against bin Laden. It appears the US was more interested in using fear of bin Laden to justify military force rather than actually capture the man who had been their intelligence asset for years.

Even if we ignore the US administration’s lack of desire to capture Osama bin Laden in 2001, Marjorie Cohn in ‘Afghanistan: The Other Illegal War’ for Alternet argues that: “The invasion of Afghanistan was not legitimate self-defense under article 51 of the charter because the attacks on Sept. 11 were criminal attacks, not ‘armed attacks’ by another country. Afghanistan did not attack the United States. In fact, 15 of the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, there was not an imminent threat of an armed attack on the United States after Sept. 11, or Bush would not have waited three weeks before initiating his October 2001 bombing campaign. The necessity for self-defense must be ‘instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation.’ This classic principle of self-defense in international law has been affirmed by the Nuremberg Tribunal and the U.N. General Assembly.”

Regarding Libya, Alan J. Kuperman in a 2011 op-ed for the Boston Globe entitled “False pretense for war in Libya?” concludes that “Evidence is now in that President Barack Obama grossly exaggerated the humanitarian threat to justify military action in Libya.” and “It is hard to know whether the White House was duped by the rebels or conspired with them to pursue regime-change on bogus humanitarian grounds. In either case, intervention quickly exceeded the UN mandate of civilian protection by bombing Libyan forces in retreat or based in bastions of Khadafy support, such as Sirte, where they threatened no civilians.”

Of course, the US is in many more countries than just these. Democracy Now pointed out in 2012: “U.S. Army teams will be deploying to as many as 35 African countries early next year for training programs and other operations as part of an increased Pentagon role in Africa. The move would see small teams of U.S. troops dispatched to countries with groups allegedly linked to al-Qaeda, such as Libya, Sudan, Algeria and Niger. The teams are from a U.S. brigade that has the capability to use drones for military operations in Africa if granted permission. The deployment could also potentially lay the groundwork for future U.S. military intervention in Africa.”

You don’t invade a country on completely phony pretexts, unless you are the United States or a US ally.

Sources for this article:

1. NBC’s MEET THE PRESS: March 2, 2014 http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-transcript-march-2-2014-n42471

2. Iraq: A War of Aggression. No WMDs, No Connection to Al Qaeda http://www.globalresearch.ca/iraq-a-war-of-aggression-no-wmds-no-connection-to-al-qaeda/5327548

3. U.S. Rejects New Taliban Offer http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=80482&page=1#.T4tKU6tDySo

4. Afghanistan: The Other Illegal War http://www.alternet.org/story/93473/afghanistan%3A_the_other_illegal_war

5. U.S. Army Teams Heading to 35 African Countries http://www.democracynow.org/2012/12/26/headlines

Written by Alternative Free Press

Hypocrite Kerry tells Russia ‘you don’t invade a country on completely phony pretexts’ by AlternativeFreePress.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Health/Environment, Original

Study links industrial chemicals to neurodevelopmental disabilities including ADHD, Dyslexia & Autism

1st March 2014 alternativefreepress

By AlternativeFreePress.com

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Southern Denmark and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have reviewed and identified 11 developmental neurotoxicants. In 2006, they did a systematic review and identified lead, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, arsenic, and toluene. Since 2006, epidemiological studies have documented six additional developmental neurotoxicants—manganese, fluoride, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers. The study, “Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity”, concludes that current regulations are inadequate to safeguard us from hazardous chemicals found in the environment and everyday items and have proposed a global prevention strategy. Untested chemicals should not be presumed to be safe to brain development, and chemicals in existing use and all new chemicals must therefore be tested for developmental neurotoxicity.

There are now at least 214 chemicals known to damage the human brain that are not regulated to protect children’s health. Perhaps even more troubling is that of the more than 80,000 industrial chemicals widely used in the United States, most have never been tested for their toxic effects on children or fetus. The study finds that “strong evidence exists that industrial chemicals widely disseminated in the environment are important contributors to what we have called the global, silent pandemic of neurodevelopmental toxicity” and “we emphasise that the total number of neurotoxic substances now recognised almost certainly represents an underestimate of the true number of developmental neurotoxicants that have been released into the global environment.”

The findings include that pesticides showed links to cognitive delays and that fluoride in drinking water directly contributes to both mental and behavioral disorders in children. The study says “an increased risk of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder has been linked to prenatal exposures to manganese, organophosphates, and phthalates.” It also notes that “Phthalates have also been linked to behaviours that resemble components of autism spectrum disorder” and that “experimental studies have reported Parkinson’s disease as a result of developmental exposures to the insecticide rotenone, the herbicides paraquat and maneb, and the solvent trichloroethylene”

The study cites several historical examples of new chemicals that were introduced because they conveyed certain benefits, but were later shown to cause great harm and include several neurotoxicants, such as: asbestos, thalidomide, diethylstilboestrol, and the chlorofluorocarbons.

The study concludes: ” Our very great concern is that children worldwide are being exposed to unrecognised toxic chemicals that are silently eroding intelligence, disrupting behaviours, truncating future achievements, and damaging societies, perhaps most seriously in developing countries. A new framework of action is needed.”

Sources for this article:

1. Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422%2813%2970278-3/fulltext

2. Study finds toxic chemicals linked to autism, ADHD http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/study-finds-toxic-chemicals-linked-to-autism-adhd-20140215-32snz.html

Written by Alternative Free Press

Study links industrial chemicals to neurodevelopmental disabilities including ADHD & Autism by AlternativeFreePress.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Geopolitics/War, Original

Russian Forces Take Over Crimea

28th February 2014 alternativefreepress

By AlternativeFreePress.com

Ukraine’s western-backed new government accused Russia of a “military invasion and occupation” on Friday.

“Around 400 people are in the airport of Belbek now. They have occupied runway and all plane movements have been stopped,”
Interfax news agency quoted a military source as saying.

Ousted president Yanukovich said today “it is not correct” to tell Moscow what to do, but believes “Russia cannot abandon Ukraine to its fate and should use all possible means to prevent chaos and terror in its neighboring country.”

Sources for this article:
1. Ukraine says Russian forces invade Crimea http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/1.577037

2. Yanukovich denies ouster, says ‘ashamed & guilty’ for not preventing chaos http://rt.com/news/yanukovich-ousted-president-russia-203/

Written by Alternative Free Press

Russian Forces Take Over Crimea by AlternativeFreePress.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Conversation Suggests Ukraine Snipers Hired by US-Backed Maiden

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