If we’re not living in a militarized police state, then please explain what (why) Ohio State University could possibly need with one of these. (?)

The Ohio State University Department of Public Safety has acquired an armored military vehicle that looks like it belongs in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Gary Lewis, a senior director of media relations at OSU, told The Daily Caller via email that the “unique, special-purpose vehicle is a replacement” for the “police fleet.” He called the armored jalopy “an all-hazard, all-purpose, public safety-response vehicle” with “obviously enhanced capabilities.”

He noted that the vehicle was “acquired at no cost from Military Surplus.”

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/ohio-state-gets-armored-fighting-vehicle-specifically-designed-for-asymmetric-warfar...?

Starting today, PopularScience.com will no longer accept comments on new articles. Here's why.

Comments can be bad for science. That's why, here at PopularScience.com, we're shutting them off.

It wasn't a decision we made lightly. As the news arm of a 141-year-old science and technology magazine, we are as committed to fostering lively, intellectual debate as we are to spreading the word of science far and wide. The problem is when trolls and spambots overwhelm the former, diminishing our ability to do the latter.

That is not to suggest that we are the only website in the world that attracts vexing commenters (sic).

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-09/why-were-shutting-our-comments

46% Suspect Controlled Demolition of World Trade Center Building 7 after Viewing Video Footage of Collapse.

On the 12th anniversary of 9/11, a new national survey by the polling firm YouGov reveals that one in two Americans have doubts about the government’s account of 9/11, and after viewing video footage of World Trade Center Building 7’s collapse, 46% suspect that it was caused by a controlled demolition. Building 7, a 47-story skyscraper, collapsed into its own footprint late in the afternoon on 9/11.

The poll was sponsored by ReThink911, a global public awareness campaign launched on September 1. The campaign includes a 54-foot billboard in Times Square and a variety of transit and outdoor advertising in 11 other cities, all posing the question, “Did you know a third tower fell on 9/11?”
Among the poll’s findings:

38% of Americans have some doubts about the official account of 9/11, 10% do not believe it at all, and 12% are unsure about it;
46%, nearly one in two, are not aware that a third tower collapsed on 9/11. Of those who are aware of Building 7’s collapse, only 19% know the building’s name;
After seeing video footage of Building 7′s collapse:
46% are sure or suspect it was caused by controlled demolition, compared to 28% who are sure or suspect fires caused it, and 27% who don’t know;
By a margin of nearly two to one, 41% support a new investigation of Building 7′s collapse, compared to 21% who oppose it.

30-Second Video Shown to 1,194 Survey Respondents:

ReThink911 is commissioning the polling firm YouGov to conduct a national survey on Canadians’ impressions of Building 7’s collapse and their support for our right to advertise on Ottawa’s public bus system—but we need your help to do it. Please help us raise $6,000 by Saturday, September 14 so that we may conduct this poll on Monday and have the results by the end of next week.

On September 11, 2013, the Chair of the Ottawa Transit Commission called the ReThink911 Ottawa bus ads “insensitive” and said she would request a review of Ottawa’s advertising policy. The Mayor of Ottawa then weighed in to say our “disrespectful” ads were protected by free speech, but that he encouraged the Transit Commission to review the City’s advertising policy. Next Wednesday, September 18, the Ottawa Transit Commission is meeting and our ads will be top of the agenda. We are conducting this poll to make sure the Commission knows exactly where the public stands on free speech and our right to question 9/11 publicly.

ReThink911 is the first ever global 9/11 anniversary campaign. Sponsored by a coalition of more than 40 organizations, ReThink911 will be seen in 11 major cities around the world this September 2013.

http://rethink911.org/

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wbIaYsA4rs

Dr. Bob Bowman, a real Patriot and tireless warrior for Truth, died today at his home in Florida. Our condolences go out to "Maggie" his wonderful wife and all of his children.

We will all dearly miss Bob's courageous statements regarding the horrible lies surrounding the events of September 11, 2001. He and his wife drove cross country some years ago to rally support for a New Investigation and when he was here in Marin County I arranged to have him speak on the local Cable TV network, North Bay Reports where he was keenly appreciated. He was here in the Bay Area again about two years ago and hosted a lecture on our terrible "situation." Even while he was battling cancer he continued to fight for the Truth about 9/11.

The upcoming event September 11th at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, California will be dedicated to Bob.
http://911blogger.com/node/11340

Patriots Question 9/11
http://patriotsquestion911.com/

Gerhard Bedding, Barbara Hull Richardson former State Representative, Mark Basile, Mike Blastos former Mayor of Keene and others join together in support of a New Independent Investigation.

http://youtu.be/F-XsyF4_-ws

Ron Paul unveiled his new online TV channel this week (which reportedly saw over 200,000 people sign up in the first 24 hours) with a block buster interview with Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald.

Greenwald discussed the Snowden NSA revelations and the implications going forward for freedom in the US and the Western world.
Perhaps the most shocking statement came when Greenwald stated that by far the most significant documents Snowden has, and the ones that shocked Greenwald the most when he first saw them, are YET TO BE REVEALED.

http://www.silverdoctors.com/glenn-greenwald-on-ron-paul-tv-the-revlations-that-shocked-me-the-most-are-yet-to-come/

The idea might not win approval with the rest of the Senate, but Republican lawmaker Chuck Grassley has put in a resolution for a new commemorative holiday for the United States – National Whistleblower Appreciation Day.

"Anything we can do to uphold whistleblowers and their protection is the right thing to keep government responsible," said Grassley, who is famous for personally aiding whistleblowers in their battles against rule-breaking officials. "If you know laws are being violated and money's being misspent, you have a patriotic duty to report it."

The choice of 30 July, the date suggested in the proposal, made jointly with Democratic Senator Carl Levin, is not accidental. It marks the 235th anniversary of what was one of the earliest whistleblowing regulations implemented anywhere – by the Founding Fathers in the Continental Congress in the midst of the Revolutionary War.

The Founding Fathers

Amid the Obama administration's crackdown against whistleblowers, Change.gov, the 2008 website of the Obama transition team laying out the candidate's promises, has disappeared from the internet.

The Sunlight Foundation notes that it last could be viewed on June 8, which was two days after the first revelations from Edward Snowden (who had then not yet revealed himself) about the NSA's phone surveillance program. One of the promises Obama made on the website was on "whistleblower protections:"

The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment on why the page was deleted.

Huff Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/26/obama-whistleblower-website_n_3658815.html

In a major national security speech this spring, President Obama said again and again that the U.S. is at war with “Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associated forces.”

So who exactly are those associated forces? It’s a secret.

At a hearing in May, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked the Defense Department to provide him with a current list of Al Qaeda affiliates.

The Pentagon responded – but Levin’s office told ProPublica they aren’t allowed to share it. Kathleen Long, a spokeswoman for Levin, would say only that the department’s “answer included the information requested.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/26/pentagon-war-classified_n_3659353.html

Amitai Etzioni has raised an important question: “Who authorized preparations for war with China?” http://yalejournal.org/2013/06/12/who-authorized-preparations-for-war-with-china/ Etzioni says that the war plan is not the sort of contingency plan that might be on hand for an improbable event. Etzioni also reports that the Pentagon’s war plan was not ordered by, and has not been reviewed by, US civilian authorities. We are confronted with a neoconized US military out of control endangering Americans and the rest of the world.

Etzioni is correct that this is a momentous decision made by a neoconized military. China is obviously aware that Washington is preparing for war with China. If the Yale Journal knows it, China knows it. If the Chinese government is realistic, the government is aware that Washington is planning a pre-emptive nuclear attack against China. No other kind of war makes any sense from Washington’s standpoint. The “superpower” was never able to occupy Baghdad, and after 11 years of war has been defeated in Afghanistan by a few thousand lightly armed Taliban. It would be curtains for Washington to get into a conventional war with China.

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2013/07/24/the-two-faux-democracies-threaten-life-on-earth-paul-craig-roberts/

July 19th

The Washington Post recently obtained a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo that warned staff not to read articles -- get this -- printed in the Washington Post that covered whistleblower revelations about classified information.

Specifically, DHS -- and we are not making this up -- implied that there could be legal repercussions for employees who read Washington Post stories about whistleblowers and the information that they disclose. In particular, a DHS memo prohibited reading of such articles from any computer outside of the DHS office:

The Department of Homeland Security has warned its employees that the government may penalize them for opening a Washington Post article containing a classified slide that shows how the National Security Agency eavesdrops on international communications.

An internal memo from DHS headquarters told workers on Friday that viewing the document from an “unclassified government workstation” could lead to administrative or legal action. “You may be violating your non-disclosure agreement in which you sign that you will protect classified national security information,” the communication said.

July 18

Former US President Jimmy Carter lambasted US intelligence methods as undemocratic and described Edward Snowden’s NSA leak as “beneficial” for the country.

Carter lashed out at the US political system when the issue of the previously top-secret NSA surveillance program was touched upon at the Atlantic Bridge meeting on Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia.

"America has no functioning democracy at this moment," Carter said, according to Der Spiegel.

He added that although Snowden violated US law, he may have ultimately done good for the country.

Russia Today
http://rt.com/usa/carter-comment-nsa-snowden-261/

The owners of the World Trade Center cannot demand billions of dollars more in insurance money for the destruction caused by the September 11 attacks, a federal judge decided Thursday.

The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/18/world-trade-center-damages-airlines