Here we go, another Bigfoot story, 'best Bigfoot tracker in the world' releases killed photo of the beast

'Master Bigfoot tracker' releases new photo of beast he claims to have killed a year ago by luring it with pork ribs
--Rick Dyer claims to have killed the Bigfoot in Texas on September 6, 2012
--Says he shot the creature dead after luring it with pork ribs nailed to a tree
--Dyer released a photo and claims to have performed DNA tests on the body
--Now plans to take the corpse on an international tour starting in February
--Dyer was previously involved in a high-profile Bigfoot hoax back in 2008
--Hoax was revealed when frozen Bigfoot turned out to be a rubber ape suit

By JOHN HALL and ALEXANDRA KLAUSNER
DAILYMAIL
January 29, 2014 

A man who claims to have captured and killed Bigfoot after luring it with pork ribs now says he is planning to take the corpse on an international tour.

Rick Dyer, who describes himself as 'best Bigfoot tracker in the world' and claims to have shot the beast near San Antonio in Texas in September 2012, says the world tour will begin on February 6 in Flagstaff, Arizona, with further locations to be revealed over the coming weeks.

Although he also released a second photograph supposedly showing the dead Bigfoot, there is a great deal of skepticism over their authenticity, not least because Dyer was previously involved in a Bigfoot hoax in 2008 when a 'corpse' he put on public display turned out to be a rubber suit.

On display: Rick Dyer released this new image, supposedly showing the Bigfoot he killed lying dead on the floor of his tent. He now plans to take the corpse on an international tour

Body of the beast: Rick Dyer claims that this is a photo of legendary creature Bigfoot, which he shot near San Antonio and now plans to take on tour

Mr Dyer claims that he lured the beast by nailing pork ribs he had bought from Walmart to a tree in San Antonio, Texas in September 2012.

He initially released a grainy close up photograph supposedly showing the creature's face, but has now released a second photograph of it lying dead on the floor of his tent.

Speaking about inevitable doubts over the authenticity of his supposed kill, 36-year-old Dyer told New York Daily News that he doesn't regret his 2008 hoax, as it put him in contact with people who now fund his full-time Bigfoot operations ever since.

He claims that without the previous publicity stunt, he would never have been able to 'really' capture a Bigfoot.

Speaking of killing the animal, he said: 'I nailed... pork ribs from the Walmart down the street to the side of the tree, and lo and behold, he came and started eating the pork ribs off the tree.'
Mr Dyer claims to have filmed the creature as he was enjoying his last meal before going to get his gun and 'with tears in my eyes' shooting it dead.

On the Bigfoot trail: Rick Dyer says he managed to lure the beast in by nailing some pork ribs that he bought at Walmart to a tree. While the creature was eating, Mr Dyer allegedly shot it

The excitement surrounding Mr Dyer's claims is tempered somewhat by the fact that he was involved in a Bigfoot hoax back in 2008. Back then, as now, he claimed he had the body of Bigfoot. But The National Geographic reported that, once the frozen body began to thaw, the body turned out to be nothing more than a rubber ape suit.

This time Mr Dyer is adamant that his Bigfoot is 'for real'.

He said: 'From DNA tests to 3D optical scans to body scans. It is the real deal. It's Bigfoot and Bigfoot's here, and I shot it and now I'm proving it to the world.'

Mr Dyer has yet to produce the results of the DNA tests and optical scans, but he says he will be holding a press conference soon to answer any questions.

Bigfoot sightings have been reported in forested areas all over the world, but physical evidence - such as a partial or complete body of the creature - has so far proven elusive.

Has a UFO been spotted on MARS?

Has Nasa's Curiosity rover spotted a UFO on MARS? Rover images reveals conical object streaking through the sky
--Image taken by the Curiosity rover on the Martian surface
--Shows white streaking object in the air which appears to have a conical shape and vapor trail
By DAILY MAIL
January 28, 2014 

UFO hunters believe that may have found evidence of a UFO streaking through the sky - on Mars.

They claim a picture taken by the Curiosity rover shows a possible extra terrestrial craft.
In the image, a bright object can been seen appearing to leave a trail in the Martian sky.

UFO spotters claim the object in the top right of the sky could be a UFO - saying the conical shape exhibits all the hallmarks of an extra terrestrial craft, credit JPL/NASA

The video, posted by prolific UFO hunter Streetcap1 uses an image stored on Nasa's servers.

'Enlargement of the object reveals a spherical top cone, a rounded center mass and what looks like some kind of propellant ejecting from its tail,' the Bublews site claims.



Does Mars have its own space program?'

According to the ufosightingsdaily site, 'Another UFO was caught in a Mars rover photo.

'If you look at it closely, you see that it has a trail behind it and it looks to be moving to the upper right side of the photo.' The image is one of several UFO hunters have claimed show mysterious objects in the sky. However on further inspection many turn out to be meteors in the sky.

One Youtube commenter points this out, saying 'I'm sure they will have a meteor excuse but the trail says otherwise.' The finding is not Curiosity's first brush with extraterrestrial life - according to some experts.

This iguana-shaped rock is seen on the top right of this image. It would be easy to miss, but the keen eye of Scott C. Warin, was able to spot the iguana rock in several photos taken by the Mars Curiosity rover

In May, a science blogger claimed to have spotted a lizard meandering around Mars. The unknown spotter from Japan alerted Mr Warin of the unusual sight. The claim, posted on UFO Sightings Daily, caused some excitable conspiracy theorists to fear that Nasa could be planting life on the planet for scientific testing. ‘Then again, is NASA placing animals from tiny cryogenic chambers inside the rover onto the surface of Mars to conduct tests?' he continued. 

Curiosity landed on Mars on August 6, 2012, and has spent its time investigating and analyzing the landscape and geology of the red planet. The $2.5 billion rover was sent to the planet to assess if the planet most like Earth has or ever had the chemical ingredients and environments for microbial life.

Forget global warming, worry about the Earth`s MAGNETOSPHERE...will Earth eventually turn into Mars?

Forget global warming, worry about the MAGNETOSPHERE: Earth's magnetic field is collapsing and it could affect the climate and wipe out power grids
--Earth's magnetic field has weakened by 15 per cent over the last 200 years
--Could be a sign that the planet's north and south poles are about to flip
--If this happens, solar winds could punch holes into the Earth's ozone layer
--This could damage power grids, affect weather and increase cancer rates
--Evidence of flip happening in the past has been uncovered in pottery
--As the magnetic shield weakens, the spectacle of an aurora would be visible every night all over the Earth

By ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD
DAILYMAIL
January 27, 2014

Deep within the Earth, a fierce molten core is generating a magnetic field capable of defending our planet against devastating solar winds.

The protective field extends thousands of miles into space and its magnetism affects everything from global communication to animal migration and weather patterns. But this magnetic field, so important to life on Earth, has weakened by 15 per cent over the last 200 years. And this, scientists claim, could be a sign that the Earth’s poles are about to flip.

The Earth's protective field extends thousands of miles into space and its magnetism affects everything from global communication to animal migration and weather patterns, credit: Ian Cuming/Ikon images/Crobis

The Earth's protective field extends thousands of miles into space and its magnetism affects everything from global communication to animal migration and weather patterns. Experts believe we're currently overdue a flip, but they're unsure when this could occur. 

If a switch happens, we would be exposed to solar winds capable of punching holes into the ozone layer. The impact could be devastating for mankind, knocking out power grids, radically changing Earth’s climate and driving up rates of cancer.

‘This is serious business’, Richard Holme, Professor of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences at Liverpool University told MailOnline. ‘Imagine for a moment your electrical power supply was knocked out for a few months – very little works without electricity these days.’

The Earth's climate would change drastically. In fact, a recent Danish study believes global warming is directly related to the magnetic field rather than CO2 emissions. The study claimed that the planet is experiencing a natural period of low cloud cover due to fewer cosmic rays entering the atmosphere.

The Earth's magnetic field explained:


Radiation at ground level would also increase, with some estimates suggesting overall exposure to cosmic radiation would double causing more deaths from cancer. Researchers predict that in the event of a flip, every year a hundred thousand people would die from the increased levels of space radiation.

'Radiation could be 3-5 times greater than that from the man-made ozone holes. Furthermore, the ozone holes would be larger and longer-lived,' said Dr Colin Forsyth from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL.

The magnetosphere is a large area around the Earth produced by the planet's magnetic field. It presence means that charged particles of the solar wind are unable to cross the magnetic field lines and are deflected around the Earth, credit: NASA

The magnetosphere is a large area around the Earth produced by the planet’s magnetic field. It presence means that charged particles of the solar wind are unable to cross the magnetic field lines and are deflected around the Earth.

Space agencies are now taking the threat seriously. In November, three spacecraft were launched as part of the SWARM mission to uncover how the Earth’s magnetic field is changing.
The mission plans to provide better maps of our planet's magnetic field and help scientists understand the impact of space weather on satellite communication and GPS.

‘Whilst we have a basic understanding of the interior of the Earth, there is much we still don’t know,’ said Dr Forsyth. ‘We do not fully understand how the Earth’s magnetic field is generated, why it is variable and the timescales of these variations.’

The mission will provide a current map of Earth’s magnetic field. But historic evidence of its decline has already been found in a surprising source – ancient pottery. Scientists have discovered that ancient pots can act as a magnetic time capsule. This is because they contain an iron-based mineral called magnetite. When pots form, the magnetite minerals align with the Earth’s magnetic field, just like compass needles.

By examining pottery from prehistory to modern times, scientists have discovered just how dramatically the field has changed in the last few centuries. They’ve found that Earth’s magnetic field is in a permanent state of flux. Magnetic north drifts and every few hundred thousand years the polarity flips so a compass would point south instead of north. If the magnetic field continues to decline, over billions of years, Earth could end up like Mars - a once oceanic world that has become a dry, barren planet incapable of supporting life.

But scientists claim the rate of decline is too fast for the Earth’s core to simply burn out. Instead, the story told by ancient pottery suggests the Earth's poles could be about to undergo another flip.

According to the British Geological Survey, the Earth's magnetic field has on average four or five reversals in polarity every million years and we’re now overdue a similar event.
‘At the moment, we cannot accurately determine whether or not the Earth’s field is about to flip,’ said Dr Forsyth. ‘We have only been recording the Earth’s field for around 170 years; about 1-15 per cent of the time a flip is expected to take.’

If a flip occurs, it would cause the Earth’s magnetic shield to be weakened for thousands of years, opening up our defenses and causing cosmic radiation to get through.

'We have a double layer defense shield,' Jim Wild a space scientists at Lancaster University.
'Space is full of stuff that’s not great for biological tissue. If we didn’t have an atmosphere, that stuff would be hitting us. It’s the magnetic field protects atmosphere from the solar wind.'

‘Some speculative studies have suggested that as the Earth’s magnetic field weakens we could see an increase in cloud coverage in the troposphere and an increase in the polar ozone holes,’ added Dr Forsyth. 'This would be particularly evident in the northern hemisphere where up to 40 per cent of the ozone within the hole region could be lost, far greater than the current losses.’

In fact, in one area, there is evidence that a flip is already occurring. ‘The increasing strength of the South Atlantic anomaly, an area of weak field over Brazil, is already a problem,’ said Professor Holme.

Not all of the effects of a weak magnetic field will be bad. The much sought-after spectacle of an aurora would be visible every night all over the Earth as solar winds hit the atmosphere

‘Satellites flying over have far more problems than in other locations. Astrophysical satellite are just switched off in this location, but from my perspective, this isn’t much good if you want to study the Brazilian rainforest.’

'The very highly charged particles can have a deleterious effect on the satellites and astronauts,' added Dr Mona Kessel, a Magnetosphere discipline scientist at Nasa.
Scientists however, are quick to point out that while a magnetic flip could cause problems for mankind, the event won’t be a catastrophic.

‘We’ve had many reversals in the past, and haven’t been able to show that they had anything to do with, for example, mass extinctions,’ said Professor Holme. And not all of the effects will be bad. The much sought-after spectacle of an aurora would be visible every night all over the Earth as solar winds hit the atmosphere. There remains, however, much work yet to be done in understanding the properties of the deep Earth.

The Earth’s core is a hostile world where the crushing forces and temperatures, similar to that of the surface of the sun, take our scientific understanding and abilities to the limit.

'This isn't some crazy theory that might happen,' said Professor Wild. 'There is evidence, but we still need to do more science to understand the impact...I'm confidence we can come up with a solution.'

New Iraq-Iran alliance in boosting oil output to challenge reigning Saudi Arabia will be game changer

Iraq and Iran plot oil revolution in challenge to Saudi Arabia
Iraq's goal of pumping 9m barrels a day of crude could be a game changer for oil prices and British companies

By Andrew Critchlow
The Telegraph
Jan 28, 2014

Iraq sets its sights on the top spot of Middle East oil producers

Iraq is poised to flood the oil market by tripling its capacity to pump crude by 2020 and is collaborating with Iran on strategy in a move that will challenge Saudi Arabia's grip on the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"We feel the world needs to be assured of fuel for economic growth," Hussain al-Shahristani, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy in Iraq told oil industry delegates attending a Chatham House Middle East energy conference.

Al Shahristani said on Tuesday that Iraq plans to boost its capacity to produce oil to 9m barrels a day (bpd) by the end of the decade as Baghdad rushes to bolster its economy, which is still shattered by war and internal conflict. Iraq was producing 3m bpd in December, according to the International Energy Agency.

Iraq's intention to challenge Saudi Arabia's status as the "swing producer" in the OPEC cartel could see a dramatic fall in oil prices if Baghdad decides to break the group's quotas and sell more of its crude on the open market.

"It's very difficult to predict actual world (oil) demand by 2020 because the world economy is unpredictable," said Mr al-Shahristani.

British oil giants BP and Royal Dutch Shell are also poised to benefit from Iraq's ambitious production plans. Both companies are already managing two huge oil fields in southern Iraq which are vital if Baghdad is to achieve its goal.

However, even if Iraq is able to achieve its target of boost production capacity it is unlikely to be able to put in place sufficient pipeline and port infrastructure to export the additional crude.
Iraq's main export terminal for loading oil tankers at Al Faw near Basra will require billions of pounds worth of improvements in addition to the refurbishment of its pipeline network.

Iraq's ambitious plan could see it clash increasingly with the regime in Saudi Arabia, which has used its influence in OPEC over the last decade to keep oil prices above $100 a barrel. Saudi itself is now under pressure to boost output to maintain market share. The kingdom pumped 9.8m bpd in December up by about 100,000 barrels from the previous month.

Experts say that attention within OPEC, which pumps 30% of the world's crude, could increasingly focus on compliance with more of the group's members tempted to pump more barrels to protect their share of the market as the cartel grapples with the rise of US shale oil production.

OPEC agreed in early December to renew for six months its 30M bpd output cap for the first half of the year to keep prices above $100. However, quotas have in the past proved difficult for OPEC as a group to enforce without any binding penalties for over-producing. Since its restoration to OPEC following the 2003 Gulf War, Iraq has been excluded from the group's quota system to allow its economy to recover but pressure is mounting for it to comply this year.

The International Monetary Fund this week warned that Iraq's weak economy remains vulnerable to fluctuations in oil markets. Crude oil exports account for 93% of government revenues. The IMF estimated that Baghdad required an average oil price of $106.1 per barrel in 2013 to balance its budget, up from $95 in 2011 because of higher spending.

Despite Mr al-Shahristani's hopes for boosting Iraq's energy sector there are severe concerns over security amid fears the country may again be slipping toward a civil war between Sunni and Shia Muslim factions.

In a further challenge to Saudi Arabia, which is mostly closed to international oil companies, Mr al-Shahristani revealed that Baghdad is working with Iran to help it attract investment ahead of the possible lifting of sanctions. Oil companies are understood to be queuing up to win Iranian oil deals.

"Iran has been in touch with us," said Mr al-Shahristani. "They want to share our contracts model and experience."

Combined, Iran and Iraq hold greater reserves of oil than Saudi Arabia and the potential with the help of international investment to match its capacity to produce oil, which currently stands at around 12.5m b/d of crude.

© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2014

Is the Queen going broke? With royal palaces 'crumbling and leaky' and the Queen down to her last £1 million, what lies ahead for the British monarch

Queen down and out? UK royal palaces ‘crumbling and leaky’ as her finances dwindle
RT NEWS
January 28, 2014

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.(Reuters / Philip Toscano)

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, long thought to be one of the world’s richest women, is apparently down to her last million in savings, with palaces leaking and falling to pieces as MPs say she has been failed by her advisers and the Treasury.

The Queen’s courtiers have been advised to take money saving tips from the UK treasury, as her finances dip to an historic low with just £1 million left in reserve, the Telegraph reported.

A report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee found that her reserve fund had fallen from £35 million in 2001 to £1 million today. While the Royal household had made efficiency savings of just 5 percent over the past five years, government departments have made savings of up to a third.

MPs on the committee said that the Treasury must help to protect royal palaces from further damage and deterioration.

“We believe that the Treasury has a duty to be actively involved in reviewing the household’s financial planning and management – and it has failed to do so,” said Margaret Hodge, the Labour chairperson of the committee.

Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle are both in a terrible state of repair with staff required to catch rain in buckets to protect art and antiquities.

Meanwhile, in Buckingham Palace the 60-year-old boilers were running up bills of £774,000 a year and the wiring has not been replaced since 1949. More than a third of the royal estate has been found to be below “target condition.”

The committee compared Buckingham Palace, which has just 500,000 visitors a year, to the Tower of London, which has more than £2 million.

“If you look at the Tower of London and its visitor numbers it makes you think that there’s potential here. Have they done their darnedest to maximize value for money?” Hodge said.

The report also found that the royal household has not even attempted to cost up its huge backlog of repairs because it believed there was no point in doing so until it has new funding in place.

The Crown Estate gets 15 percent of its income from the Sovereign Grant, which replaced the old way of funding the Royal Family through the civil list in 2012.

While the Royal Household’s net expenditure was £33.3 million last year, £31 million of this came from the Sovereign Grant. To find the difference, it had to dip into its reserve fund.

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace insisted that the Sovereign Grant had made the Queen’s funding “more transparent and scrutinized” and was resulting in a “more efficient use of public funds.”

But the committee found that much more needs to be done if the Crown Estate and the Royal Household are to properly manage the Queen’s finances.

“We got the impression that they just haven’t tried to make greater savings. Here we are, we’re all in it together, but they are failing to eke out better value for the Queen. They are dipping into their reserves in a way that just isn’t sensible,” Hodge said.

The report found that the Treasury was not doing its job properly. It is responsible for overseeing the Royal Household finances but is not doing enough and should draw on its extensive experience and “offer advice on key packages.”

“The Household needs to get better at planning and managing its budgets for the longer term – and the Treasury should be more actively involved in reviewing what the household is doing,” Hodge said.

Number crunching
A closer look at both the report and the figures in it reveals that the Queens finances may be healthier than the Committee found, and in areas where she has lost money it is not the fault of the Treasury but of her managers, the Guardian reports.

The report its self was compiled from a series of questions and answers with just two witness giving the answers, Sir Alan Reid, Keeper of the Privy Purse and Mike Stevens, Deputy Treasurer to the Queen.

When asked why they did not cut back their expenditure, Sir Alan Reid replies: “We really believed that it is not wise to cut back on the level of activity of the monarchy.”

The figure of 1 million pounds does not accurately reflect the value of assets held by the Royal Household, the Guardian says. Their total reserves stand at 14.2 million pounds, 11.8 million pounds of which comes from property, plant and other equipment.The biggest chunk of royal spending goes on payroll, and although staff numbers remained unchanged over the past year cost have risen considerably.

Austin Mitchell, one of the members of the committee, asked: “It looks to me that you managed to survive and manage the finances by letting the buildings deteriorate, by freezing the staff costs and by digging into the reserves. Is that a fair summary of what has happened?”

To which Sir Alan replied, “I think that does summarize, to a degree, what happened last year.”

The Hitler mystery continues...is this finally the proof we`ve been looking for?

New book claims THIS picture proves Hitler escaped his Berlin bunker and died in South America in 1984 aged 95
--Fuhrer 'fled to Argentina and then Paraguay before settling in Brazil'
--Hunted for treasure with a map given to him by Vatican allies, book claims
--Author Simoni Renee Guerreiro Dias claims fascist actually died aged 95
--Claims he had a black girlfriend to disguise his fascist background
--Says her suspicions increased after she photoshopped a moustache onto the grainy picture and compared it to photos of the Fuhrer
By ANNA EDWARDS
DAILYMAIL
January 25, 2014 

He is believed to have died after shooting himself in a Berlin bunker in 1945 when he realized Germany had lost World War II.

But a startling new book claims Adolf Hitler actually escaped his hideout and died incognito in 1984 in a small town near Brazil's border with Bolivia - and it can be proved by a picture.
Not only that, but the author believes the Fuhrer fled to Argentina and then Paraguay before settling in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso to hunt for buried treasure - with a map given to him by Vatican allies, according to its author.

Simoni Renee Guerreiro Dias claims this picture proves Hitler lived in the small town of Nossa Senhora do Livramento with his girlfriend, Cutinga

Old clothes meant to be worn by the Fuhrer: An author claims the fascist actually died aged 95

As part of his elaborate ruse to escape detection, he also had a relationship with a black woman called Cutinga, which was meant to prove that he could not be the dictator who hated anyone who did not fit his Aryan ideal, the book claims.

Post-graduate student Simoni Renee Guerreiro Dias has outlined her bizarre theory, claiming the fascist actually died aged 95.

The book, titled 'Hitler in Brazil - His Life and His Death', challenges the accepted view that the dictator shot himself in his Berlin bunker on April 30 1945.

She claims he may have lived as Adolf Leipzig in the small town of Nossa Senhora do Livramento, 30 miles from the state capital Cuiaba.

Simoni, a Brazilian who comes from Cuiaba, says Leipzig was known locally as the 'Old German.'

Simoni is now planning to use DNA tests using a relative of Hitler living in Israel, after been given permission to exhume Adolf Leipzig's remains from his alleged final resting place in Nossa Senhora do Livramento.

The journalism student has linked the Fuhrer's alleged arrival in the area to a Vatican offer of ownership rights over buried Jesuit treasure in a cave near his adopted home.

She points out in her book Leipzig was the birthplace of Hitler's favorite composer Bach.

Hitler's Bunker in the Chancellery, Berlin, where many believe he shot himself

The supposed burial site: The Fuhrer 'fled to Argentina and then Paraguay before settling in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso'

She says her suspicions about Adolf Leipzig increased after she photo-shopped a moustache on to the grainy picture she obtained of him and compared it to photos of the Nazi leader.
According to Simoni, an unidentified Polish nun recognized an elderly man due to have an op at a hospital in Cuiaba in the early eighties as Hitler and demanded he leave - but was reprimanded by a superior who claimed he was there on Vatican orders.

Academics in Brazil have also rubbished the theory Hitler lived and died in Nossa Senhora do Livramento.

Candido Moreira Rodrigues, a history professor at Mato Grosso's Federal University said: 'There's nothing new in people who claim to be historians coming up with the most far-reaching theories about Hitler supposedly living in south America and subsequently dying in one of the countries in this region.'

Ten of thousands of Nazis escaped after the war, including the notorious Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele.

Investigators probing Hitler's demise were hampered by the lack of any physical evidence for his death.

Fantasists were given added ammunition he didn't die in his Berlin bunker when 2009 DNA tests on skull fragments found near the bunker, believed to be his, turned out to belong to a woman.

Rochus Misch, a former bodyguard of Adolf Hitler who has been named as the last man to see the Fuhrer alive during his final hours in Germany, died last September aged 96.
Misch, who lived with Hitler and his mistress in their underground refuge as the allies closed in, told before his death he saw Hitler slumped with his head on the table after hearing a gunshot behind his closed door.

THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES SURROUNDING HITLER'S DEATH
Conspiracy theorists have long argued Hitler escaped from Germany and fled to south America.

Authors Gerrard Williams and Simon Dunstan claimed in a 2011 book Grey Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler, that the Fuhrer fled with his mistress Eva Braun to Patagonia and had two daughters before dying in 1962 aged 73.

The claims about Hitler's life in Argentina were ridiculed by historian Guy Walters, who described them as '2,000 per cent rubbish' when the book was published.

He added: 'It's an absolute disgrace. There's no substance to it at all. It appeals to the deluded fantasies of conspiracy theorists and has no place whatsoever in historical research.'

The REAL truth the US economy - ACTUAL unemployment and benefit numbers are obscured from reality

Silent misery: Actual US unemployment 37.2%, record number of households on food stamps in 2013
RT NEWS
January 22, 2014 

As the White House proclaims a recovery is occurring, and the stock market has a head of steam, millions of Americans and their dependents are being left out of the recovery, according to a set of economic indicators.

Perhaps the most worrying yet least reported aspect of the so-called US recovery involves the national labor picture. Although the official US unemployment rate is 6.7 percent, this figure obscures the reality, according to an influential Wall Street adviser.

In a leaked memo to clients, David John Marotta calculates the actual unemployment rate of Americans out of work at an astronomic 37.2 percent, as opposed to the 6.7 percent claimed by the Federal Reserve.

“The unemployment rate only describes people who are currently working or looking for work,” he said.

“Unemployment in its truest definition, meaning the portion of people who do not have any job, is 37.2 percent. This number obviously includes some people who are not or never plan to seek employment. But it does describe how many people are not able to, do not want to or cannot find a way to work,” he and colleague Megan Russell reveal in their client report, which was leaked to the Washington Examiner.

Contrary to expectations, a drop in the unemployment rate, Marotta argues, is presently a sign that the unemployed are simply dropping out of the job market.

The “officially-reported unemployment numbers decrease when enough time passes to discourage the unemployed from looking for work,” said Marotta and Russel. “A decrease is not necessarily beneficial; an increase is clearly detrimental.”

The authors then take aim at the so-called Misery Index, which provides something of a pulse rate of American prosperity, based on unemployment and inflation. The Wall Street adviser said the Index, which he maintains is actually over 14, as opposed to the 8 advertised by Washington, fails to address how the US economy is being hugely subsidized by various schemes, including monthly bond purchases by the Federal Reserve.

“Today, the Misery Index would be 7.54 using official numbers,” the two analysts wrote. However, taking into consideration the full unemployment picture, including workers who have given up the job search, which is 10.2 percent, together with the historical method of calculating inflation, which is now 4.5 percent, ‘the current misery index is closer to 14.7.”

In food stamps we trust
Marotta’s findings, which put the actual US unemployment rate at over 37 percent, seem more credible when viewed alongside other indicators, including the number of Americans who now rely on government assistance to make ends meet.

It has just been reported that a record 20 percent of American households were receiving food stamps in 2013, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The USDA data shows there were 23,052,388 households on food stamps in an average month of fiscal 2013, a jump of 722,675 from fiscal year 2012, when there were 22,329,713 households on food stamps per month on average.

Last year, according to data from the Census Bureau, there were 115,013,000 households. With 23,052,388 households – or 20 percent of the total number of households –now dependent on food stamps.

In just half a decade, the number of American households on food stamps has significantly increased. In fiscal year 2009, for example, the number of households receiving the government assistance program was 15,232,115. Five years later, in 2013, that number had surged by 51.3 percent to hit 23,052,388 households.

Meanwhile, the monthly average for individuals on food stamps hit an all-time-high of 47,636,084, according to the USDA. This is an increase of 1,027,012 over the 46,609,072 people who were getting food stamps in 2012.

In 2009, the number of individuals relying on the government program stood at 33,489,975. In 2013, the number was 47,636,084, an increase of 42.2 percent.

It should come as no surprise that spending on the US government’s food stamp program, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), has reached an all-time high.

Last year, SNAP cost $79,641,880,000 - a 164 percent increase over the past decade.

During the last five years, the SNAP program exploded by 36.8 percent, from $58,223,790,000 in 2009 to $79,641,880,000 in 2013.

Mars Rock Mysteriously Appears

NASA scientists are baffled by a piece of rock that has mysteriously appeared in front of the Mars Opportunity rover. The doughnut-sized rock, nicknamed Pinnacle Island, showed up in photos taken a few days ago but is noticeably absent from photos snapped earlier this month. The six-wheeled rover has not moved in several weeks due to rough weather conditions on the Red Planet. News of the strange rock was announced by NASA Mars Exploration Rover lead scientist Steve Squyres.               More at Discovery News

A comparison of two raw Pancam photographs from sols 3528 and 3540 of Opportunity's mission (a sol is a Martian day). Notice the "jelly doughnut"-sized rock in the center of the photograph to the right. Minor adjustments for brightness and contrast. NASA/JPL-CALTECH

More atrocities by US forces in Iraq uncovered...Abu Ghraib 2.0 in Fallujah

[Editor`s note: And they dare called Saddam the 'Butcher of Baghdad?' Who has killed more Iraqis, the US or Saddam, and has subjected the Iraqis to cruel and inhumane punishment? If Saddam was truly guilty, why put him through a kangaroo court and hang like a dog for trumped-up charges for responsding to a presidential assassination. Where were the decades of human torture he stood blindingly accused of? The great country of the Tigris and Euphrates has been left in utter shambles, not reminiscent of its past glory and before the war...yet countless Iraqis continue to die like cannon fodder with no end in sight...who is ULTIMATELY responsible and will face justice? Unfortunately, these are things we will never understand till the good Lord above judges...]

Abu Ghraib 2.0? Horrifying images of US Marines burning Iraqis prompt military investigation
RT NEWS
January 15, 2014


[WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW]

The picture that defined the Abu Ghraib
prisoner torture, credit: wikipedia

The Pentagon confirmed early Wednesday that a formal investigation has been launched after photographs began to surface purportedly showing US troops burning the remains of dead Iraqis.

Those images were published Wednesday morning by website TMZ, which claims to have recently come into possession of 41 photos in all that they believe to have been taken in Fallujah sometime in 2004 amid the US-led Iraq occupation.

The website has only published eight of the images, including ones in which men appearing to be US Marines are seen dousing the dead with chemicals and setting them ablaze. TMZ is withholding the majority of the photographs, however, because many are simply “too gruesome,” they claim, including one alleged to be in their possession showing a human body being devoured by dogs and another covered in flies.

Among the photographs that were published by TMZ is one in which a man in full military garb is shown holding his high-powered firearm to what appears to be the charred remains of a human skull.

According to the website, the photographs were turned over to the US Department of Defense last week. TMZ says that Col. Steve Warren, the Pentagon’s director of press operations, told them the images do seem to show US servicemen engaged in unlawful activity.

Now as authorities begin their probe, the latest leak may uncover the most embarrassing incident of its kind to plague the US military since images taken inside America's now infamous Abu Ghraib prison were published nearly 10 years ago.

When those photographs were first published almost a decade ago, images showed the world horrific instances of abuse and torture that even today remains one of the biggest scars to mar the Iraq War and occupation during its nearly nine-year-long duration. Eleven US troops were convicted for their conduct there.

With regard to the latest leaked images, Col. Warren also confirmed the existence of an investigation to Stars & Stripes, a news outlet carried out as a service of the US Defense Media Activity. That website is refusing to publish the images until more information about them develops.

Warren informed Stars & Stripes that the US Marine Corps is conducting the military’s probe, and Capt. Richard Ulsh, communications director for the Marine Corps, told the Pentagon-affiliated paper that an investigation has indeed been launched to examine the veracity of the photographs, the circumstances involved and possibly the identity of the alleged servicemen caught on film.

“The findings from this investigation will determine whether we are able to move forward with any investigation into possible wrongdoing,” Capt. Ulsh said.

As far as Pentagon spokesman Warren is concerned, though, the Defense Department can’t at this time say for certain that the alleged troops seen in the images engaged in any conduct that without a doubt fails to comply with the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

“On the burning, you know, it’s hard to tell [whether it’s a violation of the UCMJ],” he told Stars & Stripes. “While we don’t routinely burn human remains, there are circumstances when that might be necessary for hygiene, health — things like that.”

Mishandling human remains is a violation of the UCMJ, however, and the results of the just-launched Marine Corps investigation may soon call for a court-martial to convene in order to prosecute anyone thought to be affiliated with unlawful activity uncovered by TMZ.

"The actions that are depicted in these photos are not in any way representative of the honorable, professional service of the two-and-a-half million service members who went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade,” Col. Warren told TMZ.

Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Ty Balzer echoed Warren’s remarks when reached for comment by the New York Daily News early Wednesday.

“I can’t stress that enough,” Capt. Balzer said. “Service members go over there and follow the rules, they really do.”

Even taking into consideration the Abu Ghraib incident, the most recent embarrassment suffered by the military is hardly the first as of late. In January 2012, video footage made its way to the web showing US troops urinating on the bodies of what appeared to be slain Afghans, and several months later the Los Angeles Times published photographs depicting US soldiers posing with the gory remains of several Afghan suicide bombers.

A spokesperson at the Pentagon press office’s Iraq desk did not immediately return RT’s request for a comment on TMZ’s alleged Fallujah images.

Horrific: Shocking images depicting U.S. soldiers burning the bodies of what appear to be Iraqi insurgents, have emerged today

Burning: The explosive photographs, reportedly taken in Fallujah in 2004, appear to show U.S. soldier pouring gasoline on the bodies of Iraqi insurgents

Grim: Many of the 41 gag-inducing shots are just too grisly to publish

probe: The gruesome images have already sparked a Marine Corps investigation

Charred: Two more pictures capture the horrifically charred bodies

Pentagon: The sick snaps were exclusively obtained by TMZ, who turned them over to the Pentagon last week, triggering the probe

Posing: Other horrific pictures show a Marine squatting next to a skull to pose for the camera. His U.S. military uniform is clear, on his face he wears a wide grin and he is pointing his gun at the skeleton

Pickpocket: The Department of Defense said the pictures appear to show U.S. soldiers in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The code outlines that it is a crime to mishandle remains

Read more:
Home Pics of Marines Burning Bodies Trigger U.S. Military Investigation [PHOTOS] Iraqi Death Scene Pics of Marines Burning Bodies Trigger U.S. Military Investigation [PHOTOS]

NASA designs largest rocket ever built, hopeful to carry man to Mars...finally

NASA reveal plans for the biggest rocket ever made to take man to Mars - dwarfing the shuttle and the Saturn rockets that took us to the moon
--Construction of the SLS system has already begun
--Rocket will be 384 feet tall and weigh 6.5 million pounds
--First test flight scheduled for 2017
--Will be able to carry 130 tonnes into space
--Expected to be used to launch far larger interplanetary probes
--Could be used as part of Manned Mars missions
By MARK PRIGG
DailyMail
January 15, 2014

NASA`s SLS rocket, set for launch in 2017 credit: NASA

It is set to become the largest rocket ever built, dwarfing the rockets that took man to the moon and paving the way for manned missions to Mars.

Nasa today reveal stunning new pictures of its SLS (Space Launch System), which will eventually be capable of lifting 130 tonnes into orbit.

The rocket will be used to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, and to help us explore the outer reaches of the solar system.

It is even hoped the craft could play a role in manned missions to Mars, being able to launch 'stepping stone' bases into orbit.

'The potential use of SLS for science will further enhance the synergy between scientific exploration and human exploration,' said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

'SLS has the promise of enabling transformational science in our exploration of the solar system and cosmos.'

Currently under construction, NASA’s Space Launch System will be the world’s most powerful launch vehicle.

Designed to enable human exploration missions to deep space destinations, including an asteroid and Mars, SLS is working toward a first launch in 2017.

For that first flight test, the rocket will be able to launch 70 metric tons (77 tons) of payload into low-Earth orbit, almost three times what the space shuttle could carry.

From there, SLS will be evolved to a configuration that will be able to carry 130 metric tons (143 tons), more weight than any rocket ever has been able to carry.

'While many people think of the Space Launch System in terms of human exploration, SLS could have a wide application in a lot of other areas, including space science,” said Steve Creech, assistant program manager for strategy and partnerships for SLS.

How it compares: NASA`s SLS is larger than the Saturn V that took man to the moon, credit: NASA

NASA`s previous rockets: The Saturn, Shuttle and right: the smaller version of the SLS, credit: NASA

'For missions to the outer planets, for example, SLS could make it possible to do things that are currently impossible, such as sending larger scientific spacecraft with more instruments to far off destinations with reduced transit times.'

Agency scientific and engineering teams have been evaluating whether there would be potential benefits from launching deep space robotic spacecraft, such as the Europa Clipper, a proposed mission to one of Jupiter's icy moons, on the SLS rocket, and determined the rocket would enable the spacecraft to fly direct trajectories to our solar system’s outer planets, rather than using planetary gravities to gain speed, reducing transit time compared to current launch vehicles.

In the case of the Europa Clipper, for example, the transit time would be reduced to less than half of what it would be using other launch vehicles.

'For as long as people have been launching rockets into space, mission designers have had to work within certain limitations – a spacecraft can only be so heavy and it has to fit within a certain width,” Creech said.

'Depending on how large you make it, it can only go so fast, which in some cases limits where you can go.

An artists impression of the giant rocket taking off, credit: NASA

An artist`s impression of the vast hanger needed to set the rocket up for flight, credit: NASA

'Today, if you want to send a mission to the outer planets, you have to be able to make it fit within that box. With SLS, we’re about to make that box much larger.

'With the space shuttle, for example, we were able to launch missions like NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope that were about the size of a school bus.

'With SLS, you can design a spacecraft even larger than the space shuttle that carried Hubble.
'It’s going to open up an entirely new way of thinking about how we plan and design planetary science missions.'

'The Space Launch System could be really game-changing for space science,” said ACO manager Reggie Alexander.

'For some missions, it makes it much easier and quicker to carry them out.

'A Mars sample return mission, for example, could be flown using only one rocket instead of three.

'But for other destinations, SLS lets you do things we could only dream of before – like collecting samples from the geysers of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.'

The top section of the rocket, credit: NASA