It has come to my attention that some of the VIDEO digests don't show some of the videos in the mailings. These are accessible on the website. The Video-related content I send out will have a link to the website so you can view the videos, instead of seeing just a list:
http://www.dustcircle.com
Wikileaks: How the United States Government Runs the World Wikileaks has risen to fame when it leaked the highly private series of conversations between the US government and its diplomats stationed all over the world. It’s not yet clear how the security was breached but everybody is more interested to know the secret thoughts of those people in power in Washington. The series of leaks revealed the hidden intention and action of those people with power to protect their own interests.
The Great Financial Crisis: Explanations and Trend PredictionsIt’s not without a doubt that America is currently experiencing one of the greatest financial crises of its history. Some experts say that the worst has passed and that the country’s economy is slowly gaining its ground. For those people who invested in stocks and mutual funds, the crisis is still not over. This documentary carefully studies the events that triggered the crisis and the possible aftermath of this in the future.
Cancer: The Forbidden Cures Over the last century, several natural cancer treatments have been developed and used to treat patients in the US and in other developed countries.
Crash Course: US History John talks about the Native Americans who lived in what is now the US prior to European contact. The Spanish have a long history with the natives of the Americas, and not all of it was positive.
Slavery by Consent This documentary highlights the nature and history of our enslavement, the absurdity of an all-powerful governing (controlling) class to a free human race and the philosophy of liberty which we all need to adopt if we are to ever be a free species on this planet living in balance with the natural world.
IS IT REAL? Exorcism This documentary goes over the real story behind the 1973 horror film ‘The Exorcist’. Meet some of the people who claim to have exorcised evil spirits from their victims, objects, places and animals. The episode also reveals the likely explanations for the behavior of those suspected of being possessed.
Bomb It – Global Graffiti Through interviews and guerrilla footage of graffiti writers in action on 5 continents, BOMB IT tells the story of graffiti from its origins in prehistoric cave paintings thru its notorious explosion in New York City during the 70′s and 80′s, then follows the flames as they paint the globe. Featuring old school legends and current favorites such as Taki 183, Cornbread, Stay High 149, T-Kid, Cope 2, Zephyr, Revs, Os Gemeos, KET, Chino, Shepard Fairey, Revok, and Mear One. This cutting edge documentary tracks down today’s most innovative and pervasive street artists as they battle for control over the urban visual landscape. You’ll never look at public space the same way again.
The only TV doc to have advance access to the biggest Wikileaks release ever. This is what really happened during the Iraq war, not what the US PR machine of the time wanted us to believe. The reality behind the civilian death count; al-Qaeda’s fictitious presence; torture, torture and more torture. A wall of truth revealing unprecedented levels of unwarranted aggression.
How to dispose of nuclear waste is an issue that’s divided opinion for years. And as the world’s most dangerous waste takes thousands of years to become safe, it’s a debate that’s not going to go away.
Some define hacking as “finding creative solutions to technical problems.” To them, hacking means having an exploratory mindset about technology, and a willingness to “get under the hood” to tinker and see what happens. Other groups, like Anonymous, employ more subversive hacking practices to forward social and political causes, embedding a social consciousness into the traditionally murky dark-side of security hacking. Looking beyond the media hype and scare tactics, it is clear that “hacking” is a term whose meaning should be up for debate, and that some hackers could in fact be heroes, and not just villains.
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Sixty years ago, in the spring of 1945, Allied forces liberating Europe found evidence of atrocities which have tortured the world’s conscience ever since. As the troops entered the German concentration camps, they made a systematic film record of what they saw. Work began in the summer of 1945 on the documentary, but the film was left unfinished.
FRONTLINE found it stored in a vault of London’s Imperial War Museum and, in 1985, broadcast it for the first time using the title the Imperial War Museum gave it, ‘Memory of the Camps.
Stepping into the lives of men and women who until recently were slaves demands the softest of treads.
The experience of being enslaved – forced to work for no pay, often under the threat of violence and with no hope of escape, burns deep and leaves wounds which take a long time to heal.
From impoverished and often illiterate Thai farmers to women forced into prostitution; from men tricked into servitude in Brazil’s brutal charcoal industry to entire families trapped as bonded labourers in Pakistan’s feudal brick kilns; we met and filmed dozens of slaves for this series.
Food Chain Slaves. It is a nation built on the abolition of slavery, but there are at least 40,000 slaves in the US today. In the opening episode of Slavery: A 21st Century Evil, Al Jazeera’s Rageh Omaar investigates food chain slavery in the US.
Sex slaves. There are an estimated 1.4 million sex slaves in the world today and international trafficking is on the rise.
Bonded Slaves. It is a form of slavery that is passed down from one generation to the next, enslaving millions.
Child Slaves. There are at least 8.4 million child slaves in the world today, many of them held as forced labour.
Charcoal Slaves. Poverty-stricken men from the north of Brazil are often lured to remote camps where they are used as slave labour.
Bridal Slaves. In the midst of widespread poverty, fueled by economic inequality and rampant corruption, a new form of slavery – bridal slavery – has flourished in India. Women and young girls are sold for as little as $120 to men who often abuse them.
Prison Slaves. Over the past 20 years China has become the world’s biggest exporter of consumer goods. But behind this apparent success story is a dark secret – millions of men and women locked up in prisons and forced into intensive manual labour.
Bonus: Al Jazeera slavery debate. Luis C d’Baca from the US State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons; Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves; David Batstone, president of Not for Sale; and Joy Ezeilo, UN Special Rapporteur for Trafficking in Persons.
Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 3 hours, 42 minutes)
Extradition is a film that explores the injustices of the Extradition Act 2003 through the suffering of two individuals and their families.
Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmed held without charge can be extradited according to the European Court of Human Rights. They have been held without charge for over 14 years collectively.
The court concluded that “there would be no violation of the applicants’ rights if extradited to stand trial in the United States”.
These men have been let down by the British justice system and now face being incarcerated in one of America’s toughest prisons. It may be four more years before these men face trial in the United States all the while they will be kept in Prison.
These men are UK citizens; they were born in this country and paid their taxes in this country. There is not enough evidence to charge these men in Britain.
The UK police have admitted that they have not seen the bulk of evidence seized from Babar’s home but it was instead sent to the US authorities and which now forms the bulk of the indictment against Babar and Talha.
Created in 1962, a now infamous document was issued in secret to bishops. Called Crimen Sollicitationis, it outlined procedures to be followed by bishops when dealing with allegations of child abuse, homosexuality and bestiality by members of the clergy. It swore all parties involved to secrecy on pain of excommunication from the Catholic Church.
This document was reissued in 2001 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and sent to all bishops. Yet rather than ordering more openness and cooperation with the authorities as demanded by both law enforcers and the victims, he reiterated its policies and ensured that the Code of Silence be applied to all cases of child abuse involving a priest. Cardinal Ratzinger also instructed that all cases should now be referred to his office directly and that he would maintain ‘exclusive competence’ over the handling of allegations. This is the Catholic Church’s policy to this day and Cardinal Ratzinger is now Pope Benedict XVI.
The policy laid out in the above document has led to systemic failure by the result that a significant number of priest have, in effect, been allowed to abuse again, and further children have been put at risk.
As the documentary explores, Colm O’Gorman is the man responsible for breaking open decades of abuse by Catholic Priests in Ireland in the BAFTA award-winning BBC special Suing the Pope. He links international ‘systemic evidence’ to argue the Vatican has a policy to cover up the sexual abuse of thousands of children across the world.
In Sex Crimes and the Vatican O’Gorman explores four separate cases internationally of widespread clerical abuse, putting the Roman Catholic Church on trial for the reckless endangerment of children. O’Gorman raises the question, ‘Is the Church in default of its obligation as a signatory to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child?’ (Excerpt from news.bbc.co.uk)
The US locks up more people than any other country in the world, spending over $80 billion each year to keep some two million prisoners behind bars.
Over the past three decades, tough sentencing laws have contributed to a doubling of the country’s prison population, with laws like the ‘Three Strikes and You’re Out’ mandating life sentences for a wide range of crimes.
Why does the US put so many people behind bars and what lies behind California’s new push for leniency? But a clear sign that Americans are rethinking crime and punishment is a voter’s initiative on California’s November ballot called Proposition 36 that seeks to reform the state’s three-strikes law.
Some 27 states have three-strikes laws patterned after California’s version, which was one of the first to be enacted in the country.
Activists who are campaigning to change the three-strikes law in California are also trying to raise awareness about conditions inside prisons. They are targeting the use of special security units at maximum security prisons
This short documentary looks at how easy it is to make fake passports and scam the rich into trusting you with thousands of dollars.
If the fraud industry were its own country, it would have the fifth strongest economy in the world, just ahead of the UK.
Meet the fraudsters who’re making a killing from the fastest growing crime on Earth.
VICE showcases the British fraud industry and the unapologetic mindset of the type of people who turn to that life to make a living.
It’s interesting to see it from their perspective, but it’s nothing short of violating to know that these are the types of people who think identity theft, credit damage and stealing are viable ways to make a living.
BI documents just obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) pursuant to the PCJF's Freedom of Information Act demands reveal that from its inception, the FBI treated the Occupy movement as a potential criminal and terrorist threat even though the agency acknowledges in documents that organizers explicitly called for peaceful protest and did "not condone the use of violence" at occupy protests.
Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School killings, there have been widespread calls for Congress to pass gun control laws - and it should. But there has been less talk about another important tool that could be used to reduce gun violence: lawsuits against the gun industry. Some of these suits can succeed despite the PLCAA - as the Daniel Williams case shows - and we need more of them to be filed. But if Congress wants to get serious about gun violence, it should repeal the PLCAA.
U.S. Government Redistributes Wealth… to the Rich For about thirty years now, the federal government has been implementing policies that take tax dollars from middle class Americans and give them to the rich, supposedly as a way to spur economic growth. Although Americans actually want greater economic equality, the net effect has been to redistribute wealth to the rich and create the most unequal developed society on earth. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33436.htm
American Pro-Israel Groups Warm Up to Kerry as Top Diplomat The bond Kerry has forged with the Jewish community because of his roots and because of his interest in the Middle East has helped smooth over rough patches when he has criticized Israel. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33433.htm
On a snap visit to Kabul a few days ago, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta declined to clarify what is in store for Afghanistan after NATO’s announced pullout in 2014. The American-led forces arrived in Afghanistan 11 years ago on a United Nations mission to combat terrorism. In a recent interview with Afghan television, Russian Ambassador Andrei Avetisyan said this mission is far from accomplished, as is the task of equipping Afghanistan with modern armed forces.
The Pentagon has informed Congress of its plans to sell four Global Hawk high-altitude spy drones to South Korea. Under the deal Seoul’s surveillance capabilities would be greatly improved, even though the US DoD itself wanted to retire the aircraft.
Abraham Foxman, head of Israel-Jewish lobby group ADL has called Minister Louis Farrakhan (born 1933), head of the Nation of Islam (NOI), an antisemite for later’s criticism of Steven Spielberg’s latest movie ‘Lincoln‘ for ignoring the fact that Jewish elites funded both sides during the American Civil War, played a major role in African slave trade but also hated president Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). Rabbi Isaac M. Wise in his eulogy had said: “The lamented Abraham Lincoln believed himself to be bone from our bone and flesh from our flesh. He supposed himself to be a descendant of Hebrew parentage. He said so in my presence“.
Generation Y professionals entering the workforce are finding careers that once were gateways to high pay and upwardly mobile lives turning into detours and dead ends. Average incomes for individuals ages 25 to 34 have fallen 8 percent, double the adult population’s total drop, since the recession began in December 2007. Their unemployment rate remains stuck one-half to 1 percentage point above the national figure.
US history is littered with repressive laws. Constitutional protections and civil liberties have been targeted. The 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts restricted First Amendment freedoms. So did the 1917 Espionage Act, 1919 anti-communist Palmer raids, 1934 Special Committee on Un-American Activities, its House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) successor, FBI COINTELPRO crackdowns, 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, 2001 USA Patriot Act, and other post-9/11 measures.
Is Our Economy Being Artificially Maintained and Propped Up? If So, How and Why?
Out of one side of the establishment's mouth we hear excitement about "green shoots," and out of the other side comes breathless warnings of fiscal cliffs and the urgent need forunlimited bailouts by the Fed in the form of ongoing "quantitative easing," which consists of the Federal Reserve Bank creating $85 billion a month out of thin air, and using it to buy two things: 1) huge amounts of government bonds from the US Treasury Department, and 2) huge amounts of near-worthless mortgage-backed securities from private banks (i.e. banksters). What this amounts to is a kind of ongoing bailout and gift, which, at its core, is an ongoing transfer of wealth to rich banksters and other Wall Streeters, from the rest of us.
No Glory, No Spoils, No Closure - The Double Whammy of Rip-off Wars
Today's easy riddle: what will cost more, last longer, and accomplish less than our troop-heavy, anachronistic, perpetual overseas occupations? Nothing, nada, rien -- certainly not annual deficits, Bush tax cuts, or formal defense budgets. Put aside human suffering and unbelievable dislocation: we've all shouldered a four trillion dollar price tag on two failed wars, plus the double whammy that both Iraq and Afghanistan remain unstable havens for mayhem. Is any fiscal cliff that might happen worse than two indeterminate rat holes that have happened?
A conservative friend of mine was astonished to learn that a couple with two children in his town would need an income of $52,000 per year to live there. "I'm a CPA and I've had partners who didn't make $57,000 some years," he said.
God Particle or Hype Particle? What the Higgs Boson Means to You
Laws of War Violated During Gaza-Israel Fighting: Report
Occupy Homes, one year on and growing daily
On December 6, the one-year anniversary of the Occupy Homes movement, Meusa and Wheeler were only two among thousands of people who gathered for coordinated direct actions focused on the human right to housing. Building on a year filled with eviction blockades, house takeovers, bank protest and singing auction blockades, the anniversary of Occupy Homes demonstrated that the groups were still committed to risking arrest to keep people sheltered. Yet, even more significantly, the day’s events demonstrated a crystallization of the movement’s central message: that decent and dignified housing should be a human right in the United States.
Zero Dark Thirty: Why the Film's Makers Should Be Defended And What Deeper bin Laden Controversy Has Been Stirred
To those critics of Zero Dark Thirty who claim the film misleads the public on the role that waterboarding and other torture played in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, I suggest they look forward to the making of some other film that represents their ideals rather than make Zero Dark Thirty their scapegoat for the many conflicting and misinformed statements issued by American policy makers concerning the use of torture (I will not here legitimize the misleading euphemism "enhanced interrogation techniques") during the War on Terror.
Drones may violate international law
