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EUROPE | EN
Casting Resins & Elastomers
Assessment and Repair of Mineral Casting & UHPC
Production Systems Portal
RAMPF optimizes the value creation chain in electronics manufacturing
Grafenberg, 02/09/16.
At productronica China 2016 in Shanghai from March 15 - 17, the international RAMPF Group will be showcasing innovative materials and machinery for casting electrical and electronic components.
RAMPF's comprehensive portfolio of engineering and chemical solutions for casting electrical and electronic components is optimizing the value creation chain for electronics manufacturing – including in China. The Group has been active there since 2004, selling products from RAMPF Production Systems – a leading provider of systems for processing one-, two-, and multi-component reaction resin systems and automation solutions – and RAMPF Polymer Solutions – an international specialist in reactive plastic systems based on polyurethane, epoxy, and silicone.
When the Chinese subsidiary RAMPF (Taicang) was founded in 2007, it began its own production of electro casting resins and foam gaskets using RAMPF Polymer Solutions formulations. "As with all RAMPF subsidiaries, RAMPF (Taicang) also manufactures to the highest quality and production standards," says Fabian Werner, Managing Director of RAMPF (Taicang). "This has enabled us to make our mark on the Chinese market, where there has long been demand for the best products and solutions."
RTI casting resins with high long-term temperature resistance
Electro casting resins from RAMPF provide reliable protection against chemicals and environmental influences such as heat, cold, and moisture for sensitive electronic components in cars, high-precision measuring, monitoring, and regulating sensors, and numerous other electrical components.
Thanks to their outstanding thermal resistance, RTI electro casting resins retain their mechanical and electrical properties, and thus safeguard the performance of electrical/electronic systems – even in extreme conditions. The RTI product range from RAMPF includes electro casting resins with especially high thermal resistance up to RTI 160°C.
"When it comes to electro casting resins, we provide our customers in China with a range of products based on polyurethane, epoxy, and silicone that combine optimum mechanical and chemical properties with excellent thermal conductivity and thus ensure high-performance solutions for a wide variety of electronic and electrical applications," emphasizes Werner.
More flexible, more dynamic – the DC-CNC800 from RAMPF Production Systems
The latest model of this low-pressure mixing and dispensing system DC-CNC800 is the perfect solution for users who need a compact machine design for the two- and three-dimensional application of casting, sealing, and adhesive systems, but are unwilling to compromise on control technology.
When used in the electronics industry, the system ensures the highest level of process reliability, including when applying highly filled heat dissipation materials to electronic assemblies. The system features an integrated material preparation system and can be fitted with piston or gear pumps to suit customer requirements. Further advantages include the CNC Siemens Sinumerik modular control system and integrated process control for continuous monitoring of pressure, fill level, and speed.
As an option, the system can be equipped with a high-pressure rinse agent recycling system, high-pressure water rinsing or various items of automation equipment depending on the application in question. Additional features include standardized operating concepts for shuttle table, rotary index plate, and conveyor feed.
The DC-CNC800 is also fitted with large tanks so that small containers can be filled in a single step, homogenization can be carried out on a more material-friendly basis, and degassing can proceed faster.
The DC-CNC800 can be fitted with the MS-C mixing system for a dispensing output of 0.1 g/sec and above. Vacuum barrel presses for gap filler can also be integrated and accessibility has been optimized for maintenance work on the piston or gear pumps and controls.
Download press release as PDF file
01/19/21 Future-focused solutions for the plastics market
RAMPF Holding GmbH & Co. KG Benjamin Schicker 72661 Grafenberg T +49.7123.9342-0 F +49.7123.9342-2050 E response(at)rampf-group.com W www.rampf-group.com


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HomeNewsThe crop-spraying drones that go where tractors can't
Ago. 03, 2018 at 10:22 pm
The crop-spraying drones that go where tractors can't
Something unusual is happening on farms in the small Central American nation of El Salvador. Many fields, mainly of sugar cane, are now being tended by drones.
Large unmanned hexacopters fitted with 20-litre tanks for carrying fertiliser or pesticides follow pre-mapped routes and spray crops accordingly.
This isn't a case of new tech replacing old farm equipment – some of these fields are being sprayed for the very first time.
"We're spraying crops that previously have not being sprayed," says Nick Nawratil, chief operating officer of Hylio, the firm behind the trial.
"That's one huge opportunity that drones are opening up."
In a country where access to fields is often difficult for tractors and even planes, drones are showing great potential. Mr Nawratil thinks yields could improve by "tens of percent".
At the moment, most of the work with farmers in El Salvador is trial-based, but Hylio is covering a lot of ground. Mr Nawratil says that in one morning a single spray team can service 40 hectares – roughly the same area as 40 international rugby pitches.
He's seen for himself how much more quickly sugar cane, which can grow to be 20ft (6m) tall or more, shoots up after receiving fertiliser.
Drones are touted as useful flying farmhands because they can, in theory, improve the precision with which fertilisers, pesticides or fungicides are applied. This is due to their ability to spray specific volumes on GPS-defined routes through a field.
One South African farmer recently claimed that using drones reduced the pesticide use on her farm by 30%.
This improved efficiency could go some way to allaying fears about the environmental damage that overuse of pesticides and fertilisers can cause, such as reduced biodiversity and the poisoning of aquatic life when chemicals run off into rivers after rain.
For developing countries in highly competitive global agriculture markets, drones are clearly tempting. The Philippines recently announced that 5,000 hectares of vegetable farms would be used to test crop-spraying drones, for instance.
In the future, will farming be fully automated?
And in India, a similar pilot project on cotton farms was revealed by state authorities in May.
A few years ago, Stelios Kotakis and colleagues at market research firm IHS Markit projected that there would be around 400,000 shipments of drones to firms in the agriculture and forestry sectors in 2017.
"From a [follow-up] survey we did across the industry, we were pretty close to that number," he says.
There are many tech companies that claim their drone-based farming systems can increase farmers' yields – among them US-based PrecisionHawk and Airinov in France.
In Airinov's case, multispectral cameras are used to analyse nitrogen absorption at particular stages of a crop's development, charted on what's known as the Zadoks growth scale.
This helps farmers work out the best time to add fertiliser and where it is needed most, reducing wastage of this expensive resource.
A large French farming co-operative called Ocealia has seen an average 10% increase in crop yields, according to the firm.
Multispectral sensors can record non-visible wavelengths, such as infrared radiation and ultraviolet light, as well as visible light, enabling them to identify nutrient deficiencies, pest damage, and water deficiency.
Drones may be automated but they still require humans to pilot, programme and service them, which raises the cost. But in developing countries where labour is cheaper, drones seem more commercially appealing.
"In countries where manpower is cheaper, it tends to be more widely used than in countries like the US and UK," says Philippe Simard at Simactive, a firm that provides software to process imagery from drones and satellites.
Mr Nawratil says that in El Salvador, Hylio's reliance on local labour helps to avoid job losses.
"We don't have Americans down there running these drones, we train locals, locals are the ones providing the services," he says.
Mr Simard's company offers farmers the ability to turn drone-captured imagery into 3D maps of their fields to show how water may flow across them – useful when determining how flooding or run-off might affect crops and soil.
Other things show up in the imagery as well, though. A recent project in Brazil used the system to detect centipede damage on plants, locating where in the field this was a problem.
But despite these promising case studies, drones in agriculture still have a lot to prove, says Bruce Erickson, agronomy education distance and outreach director at Purdue University in Indiana.
Source: https://www.bbc.com
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Similar to AB 341, this mandatory state requirement consists of a tiered system for compliance with organic recycling for businesses and multi-family residential complexes. Businesses and multi-family complexes are required to separate their food scraps and green waste for recycling.
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Putin's best Q&A quotes from 'Ankara sucking up to US' to 'Trump being absolute frontrunner'
RT | December 17, 2015
Never at loss for words, Putin was as straight-forward as ever at his annual Q&A session. Russian relations with Turkey, the Syrian and Ukrainian crises, as well as the US presidential race were the highlights of the 3-hour long marathon attended by 1,400 journalists.
When asked about third party interests contributing to the deterioration of Russia-Turkey relations, Putin wondered if Washington might have something to do with it.
"We don't know that for sure, but if someone in the Turkish leadership wanted to suck up to the Americans, I'm not sure whether they did the right thing or not," he said.
"First of all I don't know whether the Americans need it or not, it's possible there was a certain agreement on some level: 'we down a Russian plane and you turn a blind eye,' 'we deploy our troops to Iraq and occupy a part of Iraq'."
Russia won't cease its military campaign in Syria because of the Su-24 downing, even if Ankara expected that, said Putin.
"[Ankara] thought we would flee [Syria]! No, Russia is not a country to act like that. We increased our presence in Syria; we increased the strength of our air forces. There were no anti-aircraft weapon systems there before – now there is the S-400," he said.
Operating a full-fledged base in Syria is not on Russia's agenda, Putin said.
"Why would we need a base over there? We can get them [if we have to]," Putin said, stressing that the temporary units of the Russian task force currently operating in Syria could be withdrawn within a couple of days.
Putin reiterated that, despite constant accusations, no regular Russian troops have been stationed in Ukraine.
"We never said there were no people fulfilling certain tasks there (in Donbass region of Ukraine), including in the military sphere. But that does not mean there are regular Russian troops. Feel the difference?" Putin said.
After the main part of the Q&A session was over, Putin was asked about his attitude towards Donald Trump.
"It's not our business to define his accomplishments," Putin said. "But he is the absolute leader of the presidential race [in the US]".
"He is a bright, talented person, no doubt about that," Putin added. Trump recently stated he would like to see the US strengthen ties with Russia. "We welcome that of course," said Putin.
Earlier in the same Q&A session, Putin had said he was prepared to work with whoever turns out to be victorious in the 2016 US presidential election.
December 17, 2015 Posted by aletho | Aletho News	| Russia, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, United States | 1 Comment
US Navy accused of covering up SEAL abuse of Afghan detainees
Though several US soldiers accused a SEAL team of beating and waterboarding Afghan men detained after a checkpoint bombing, their commanding officer decided not to press charges. One of the Afghans died after the torment.
The incident took place in May of 2012 at a US outpost near the village of Kalach in southern Afghanistan's Oruzgan province. Six SEALs, as well as four Army and four Navy personnel, were at the base, which was established to help train the Afghan Local Police (ALP), according to an investigation published on Thursday in the New York Times.
After their checkpoint was bombed on the morning of May 31, killing one officer, the ALP rounded up several suspects and marched them to the outpost for interrogation. At the end of the day, one of the detainees had died from his injuries. The soldiers on the base said that three of the SEALs were responsible.
Instead of putting a stop to the ALP abuse of the detainees, three enlisted members of the SEAL team joined in, witnesses said. They kicked prisoners, fired pistols next to their heads, dropped stones on them, and stepped on their heads, according to the testimonials given to the Navy's criminal investigators (NCIS). The NCIS report, with all the names redacted, was obtained by the Times through a freedom-of-information request.
Some of the names were revealed in the Times report, however. Petty Officers First Class David Swarts and Daniel D'Ambrosio and Petty Officer Second Class Xavier Silva were named as the SEALs who took part in the abuse. Their officer, Lieutenant Junior Grade Jason Webb, was preoccupied elsewhere on the base.
Only Silva returned the Times' requests for comment, saying only, "If you knew what it was like on the ground, it would look different."
Staff Sergeant David Roschak reported the abuse on June 3, after the US forces had left the Kalach outpost for the provincial capital of Tirin Kot.
"My squad is being involved in a cover-up regarding the possible killing of detainees," Roschak wrote.
Specialist David Walker, an Army medic who was one of the witnesses in the investigation, said the case was about right and wrong. "You can't squint hard enough to make this gray," the Times quoted Walker as saying in an interview.
In addition to other forms of abuse, Walker and another soldier testified that they had seen one SEAL pouring water on a detainee who was lying on his back in an improvised form of waterboarding torture.
At least three of the detainees were identified by name as well: Faisal Rehmat, Muhammad Hashem, and Assadullah – all itinerant scrap collectors in their mid-20s. After failing to beat any useful information out of the men, the SEALs released the prisoners. Hashem passed away that evening, complaining of crippling pain in his abdomen.
Before they were released, the SEALs took a photo of a bloodied Hashem with a Kalashnikov rifle placed across his chest, Assadullah said.
Despite the testimonies by the Army and Navy personnel on the base, Captain Robert E. Smith, who was in charge of the SEALs based on the East Coast at the time and currently serves as a military assistant to the secretary of the Navy, decided not to press formal charges.
Instead, he called up the members of Team 2 for an internal disciplinary hearing called a "captain's mast" in November of 2012. They only faced charges for failing to report abuse by the Afghan militia, the Times reported. Smith dismissed those charges, giving the SEALs "letters of instruction" suggesting that they improve their "leadership and decision making" skills, according to the paper.
Smith explained that the testimonies of Army and Navy personnel who witnessed the incident were "inconsistent." Prior to the hearing, Army witnesses were summoned for a videoconference with several senior SEALs who questioned them as to the exact details of events that had taken place months before, while pressuring them to change their testimonies.
"They were more concerned with the fact I couldn't remember how many rounds were fired, instead of why they used a weapon at all while questioning the detainees," Sergeant Roschak said.
Originally developed by the Army's Special Forces, the Green Berets, the ALP program was supposed to be a mainstay of the US counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan. While the Green Berets at Kalach would address village elders with respect, have tea with them, and try persuasion rather than threats, the SEALs that replaced them were ill-suited for the civilian outreach mission, according to the Times.
The boisterous Navy operatives quickly got bored and frustrated with the mission and amused themselves by shooting at passing trucks, lobbing grenades over the walls of the base, threatening villagers working in the fields, and hitting children in the face with candy fired from slingshots. One SEAL even fired at a kitten that had crawled underneath a shed on the base, the Times reported.
According to the locals, however, the problem went deeper. Created by the Americans to fight the Taliban, the Afghan militia preferred to boss the civilians around – robbing merchants at gunpoint, ransacking homes and beating anyone who dared resist.
The ALP in Kalach "were like dogs, and the Americans were the masters," said Hajji Ahmad Khan Muslim Gizabe, one of the local elders. "The masters would follow behind the dogs, telling them what to do."
Though he initially supported President Hamid Karzai's reforms, Gizabe told the Times he could no longer back the Americans after the 2012 incident.
December 17, 2015 Posted by aletho | Illegal Occupation, Subjugation - Torture, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes	| Afghanistan, SEALs, US Navy | 1 Comment
Putin signs decree suspending free trade treaty with Ukraine starting January 1, 2016
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a decree to suspend the free trade treaty with Ukraine, starting from January 1, 2016.
"Due to exceptional circumstances affecting the interests and economic security of the Russian Federation which require immediate measures, I order … from January 1, 2016 to suspend the Agreement on the free trade zone with Ukraine, which was signed in St. Petersburg on 18 October 2011," said the decree.
Currently, Russia and Ukraine are trading in accordance with the free trade agreement between CIS countries. However, starting next year the economic part of Kiev's Association Agreement with the EU comes into force making Ukraine part of the European trading bloc.
Last month, Russia's Economic Development Minister Aleksey Ulyukaev said Moscow will impose a food embargo on Ukraine from January 1. According to him, the food ban is to be introduced to counteract Ukraine joining economic and financial sanctions against Russia.
The minister explained the measure aims to protect the Russian market from the illegal supply of embargoed European goods that will become available in Ukraine under the Association Agreement.
Moscow banned agricultural and other products from European countries that joined anti-Russian sanctions.
Ulyukaev also said the Kremlin plans to introduce customs tariffs on imports of other goods from Ukraine. The tariffs will be introduced because Ukraine will no longer be part of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) free trade zone and therefore should not enjoy membership benefits, according to the minister.
December 17, 2015 Posted by aletho | Economics	| European Union, Russia, Ukraine | 1 Comment
Home of the brave? Law professor says freedom to read is too dangerous!
PrivacySOS | December 16, 2015
Live from slate.com : ISIS is so scary that we should think really hard about gutting the First Amendment.
In true Slate pitch form, the website has posted an anti-First Amendment screed by law professor Eric Posner, in which he argues that we should "[c]onsider a law that makes it a crime to access websites that glorify, express support for, or provide encouragement for ISIS or support recruitment by ISIS; to distribute links to those websites or videos, images, or text taken from those websites; or to encourage people to access such websites by supplying them with links or instructions."
Such a law could exempt "journalists, academics, private security agencies, and the like," Posner reassures us. The punishments for unlawfully accessing public information the government does not like would range from "a warning letter from the government" to fines and "prison sentences," to escalate in severity with each commission of an ISIS-related thought crime.
Woefully, Posner writes, the pesky First Amendment interferes with such a plan. Courts have repeatedly held that the First protects our right to access "[s]peech that blasts the American constitutional system and praises America's enemies."
Ughhhhhhhhh.
So what to do about this obnoxious history of judicial rigidity when it comes to free speech and the freedom to read? Posner suggests we turn back the clock, to a time before the 1960s, when "people could be punished for engaging in dangerous speech." Ah, the good old days.
Reminiscing, he cites the prosecution of World War One draft resisters, Nazi sympathizers during World War Two, and even Confederate sympathizers during the Civil War. But he forgot to mention that before the Supreme Court's revolution on expanding speech rights, anti-speech laws were mostly used to crack down on domestic dissent that had nothing to do with support for any foreign "enemy."
The ACLU was founded in response to such attacks, primarily on union and worker speech:
In 1912, feminist Margaret Sanger was arrested for giving a lecture on birth control. Trade union meetings were banned and courts routinely granted injunctions prohibiting strikes and other labor protests. Violators were sentenced to prison. Peaceful protesters opposing US entry into World War I were jailed for expressing their opinions. In the early 1920s, many states outlawed the display of red or black flags, symbols of communism and anarchism. In 1923, author Upton Sinclair was arrested for trying to read the text of the First Amendment at a union rally. Many people were arrested merely for membership in groups regarded as "radical" by the government. It was in response to the excesses of this period that the ACLU was founded in 1920.
Imagine that. Laws passed to deal with a wartime enemy were used to crush domestic dissent and corral American popular opinion.
How could we make sure a law banning certain kinds of reading wouldn't bleed out into criminalizing dissent, as similar anti-speech and censorship laws always have in US history? Posner suggests it's easy: "A simple balancing test would permit laws to target dangerous speech that does not advance public debate."
Right. Because determining what "does not advance public debate" is simple as pie, and not at all subject to wild fluctuation depending on who makes the determination. That's totally not the kind of insane "balancing test" the First Amendment was designed to foreclose. … Full article
December 17, 2015 Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance	| Eric Posner, Human rights, United States | Leave a comment
Privacy advocates blast 'surveillance bill in disguise' after CISA tucked into spending deal
Under the cover of a late-night session of Congress, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced a new version of the "omnibus" federal government funding bill that includes a version of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, outraging privacy advocates.
The new version combines three bills, two passed by the House, and one – the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) – that had already passed the Senate by a vote of 74 to 21.
A long-standing critic of government overreach in surveillance, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), who voted against the Senate bill, issued a statement on Wednesday stating that it was a "bad bill when it passed" and "worse bill today."
"Americans deserve policies that protect both their security and their liberty. This bill fails on both counts," said Wyden, adding that "cybersecurity experts say CISA will do little to prevent major hacks and privacy advocates know that this bill lacks real, meaningful privacy protections."
Under the latest version, the bill creates the ability for the president to set up "portals" for agencies like the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence so that companies can hand information about potential threats directly to law enforcement and intelligence agencies instead of the Department of Homeland Security. It allows for more data sharing between the public and private sector while shielding companies from liability.
It also changes the criteria for when information shared for cybersecurity reasons can be used in law enforcement investigations. Previously, the backchannel use of data could only occur in cases of "imminent threats," while the new bill requires just a "specific threat."
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has strongly opposed cybersecurity bills over the past five years. In a statement, it said they did nothing to address the real problems the government faces, "like computer data breaches that are caused by unencrypted files, poor computer architecture, un-updated servers, and employees (or contractors) clicking malware links."
Other advocacy groups, such as Fight for the Future, have previously referred to the bill as "a surveillance bill in disguise."
The group's campaign director, Evan Greer, called it "a disingenuous attempt to quietly expand the U.S. government's surveillance programs."
"Congress has failed the Internet once again," she added, "now it's up to President Obama to prove that his administration actually cares about the Internet. If he does he has no choice but to veto this blatant attack on Internet security, corporate accountability, and free speech."
The bills were opposed not just by privacy advocates, but also civil society organizations, computer security experts, and many Silicon Valley companies. In April, a coalition of 55 civil groups and security experts signed an open letter opposing an earlier version of CISA.
The Department of Homeland Security itself warned in July that the bill could overwhelm the agency with data of "dubious value," while at the same time "sweep[ing] away privacy protections."
The EFF also said the CISA bill has no place in the federal budget package, a point shared by the Open Technology Institute (OTI).
"They're kind of pulling a Patriot Act," Robyn Greene, police counsel of OTI, told Wired. "They've got this bill that's kicked around for years and had been too controversial to pass, so they've seen an opportunity to push it through without debate. And they're taking that opportunity."
December 17, 2015 Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties, Deception, Full Spectrum Dominance	| CISA, Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, Human rights, Paul Ryan, United States | Leave a comment
Lieberman launches campaign to oust Hanin Zoabi and the Joint Arab List from the Knesset
MEMO – December 17, 2015
Israeli Member of Knesset Avigdor Lieberman, who also heads the Yisrael Beiteinu Party, has launched a campaign to oust Arab MK Hanin Zoabi and the Joint Arab List from the Israeli parliament.
The campaign, which Lieberman began on his Facebook page yesterday, calls for "permanently" ousting Hanin Zoabi from the Knesset. "Together we can expel vandal supporters from the Knesset," he said in a Facebook post.
In a video posted on his page, Lieberman called on the Israeli public to put pressure on MKs from the Likud, Jewish Home, Kulanu, Shas and United Torah Judaism parties to support the proposed campaign, which aims to expel Zoabi and the Joint List from the Knesset.
Lieberman mentions in the video that the Central Election Commission (CEC) previously banned Zoabi and her party Balad (a member of the Arab Joint List) from running but that the Supreme Court overturned the commission's decision. As a result, Lieberman presented a bill seeking to remove the Supreme Court's power of intervening in CEC's decision of whether to approve or ban the participation of a candidate or a list in the Knesset's elections.
Lieberman claims that the banning of Balad was in line with the law, which states that those who support terrorism and armed struggle against the state of Israel, or deny Israel's existence as a Jewish state, cannot be in the parliament. "The party of traitor Azmi Bishara and his successor Hanin Zoabi is doing that openly, and it is time they were made to pay the price," he added.
December 17, 2015 Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism	| Hanin Zoabi, Israel, Palestine, Zionism | 1 Comment
Eyewitnesses in San Bernardino: "Three Tall White Men"
By Gary North | Lew Rockwell | December 16, 2015
The CBS Evening News ran this interview.
This has been dropped down the memory hole.
So has this.
Note: he spoke of a black SUV. Note also that he got verbal confirmation from off-camera. This indicates that there were other eyewitnesses.
The only eyewitness identifications that I can find speak of three white men.
I looked at several published timelines of the shootings. You can, too. Search for "timeline," "Farook," "San Bernardino." No victim identified the two suspects immediately after the shootings, which had ended by the time the police and firefighters arrived at 11:05 a.m. The police had no clues regarding Farook and his wife. The two were shot in a firefight at 3 p.m. They were in a black SUV . . . four hours after the attack.
Four hours. What were they doing during this time? Where were they?
The New York Daily News reported this: "The suspects had escaped the blood-spattered murder scene without swapping a single gunshot with the horde of law enforcement descending on the center, a social services facility for people with developmental disabilities."
The SUV was spotted four hours later, two miles from the crime scene. How did the police find this SUV? The Daily News says only this: "a tip."
Think about this. Two people shoot 35 people, and escape unnoticed the police. They then disappear for four hours. Then "a tip" informs the police of their whereabouts: two miles away from the crime scene.
Here is what the London Daily Mail reported.
As the police close in on the vehicle, which is traveling surprisingly slowly, it is not clear whether the gunshots heard are being fired by cops or by the suspects.
'They're killing that guy,' the man taking the video shouts as he ducks for cover.
Just moments later, after the recording ended, police stopped the SUV and killed the two suspected shooters in a gun battle that left an officer injured.
Note: the report does not say that a policeman was shot, only injured.
Watch this video. There is an introduction by a reporter, then the video. As the SUV drives slowly down the street, the driver is turning the headlights off and on. Why? There is no shooting at this point. The SUV passes by. Then the shooting starts.
The post-shootout photo of the SUV shows the windshield riddled with bullet holes. These bullet holes came from in front of the SUV. The media report says this: they fired 76 rounds, while police fired 380.
Who did the counting? When? Who verified this?
How did they shoot at police from inside the SUV? For how long? How long would it take to fire 76 rounds with semi-automatics? This time includes replacing empty clips. We are supposed to believe that it took 380 rounds to kill them. If so, these are not sharpshooters.
The two are dead. So, there is no legal liability for naming them the killers. There is no "alleged" visible in the media. This ends all discussion. Of course they acted alone. Everyone knows this.
"What are you, a conspiracy theorist?" Yes, I am. We conspiracy theorists — revisionist historians — have a highly developed sense of smell, developed over years of sniffing around. We know when official accounts do not pass the smell test. This story does not pass it.
Here is what I have been waiting for: a forensics report that identifies some of the estimated 100 spent bullets at the massacre with at least one of the rifles recovered in the SUV. I have searched the Web for this report. I have not found it. Is this too much to ask of the authorities? You bet it is.
We need more unofficial investigations. We are not going to get any further official investigation. Case closed. "Move along. There's nothing to see here."
My advice: Don't believe the first official government report. Suspend judgment. Keep snooping. Things are not always what they seem.
December 17, 2015 Posted by aletho | Deception, False Flag Terrorism, Timeless or most popular, Video	| United States | 3 Comments
Washington's 'Plan B' in Syria: Renewed military intervention to oust Assad?
By Finian Cunningham | RT | December 16, 2015
US top diplomat John Kerry appeared to offer cooperation during lengthy talks in Moscow this week with President Vladimir Putin. Kerry said that US policy was not trying to isolate Russia, neither was it seeking regime change in Syria.
Rhetoric aside, Kerry's expressions of goodwill simply do not cut it.
During a walkabout in Moscow, the US Secretary of State chanced on a little Christmas shopping, with Kerry buying a Babushka stacking doll among other souvenirs. The iconic Russian doll containing six shelled figurines could serve as a metaphor for Washington's elusive rhetoric.
Following his three-hour discussion with Putin, Kerry said: "While we don't see eye to eye on every aspect of Syria, we see Syria fundamentally similarly."
US government-owned media outlet Voice of America added: "He [Kerry] said the US and Russia identify the same challenges and dangers, and want the same outcomes [in Syria]."
That, to put it bluntly, is simply not true. Washington and Moscow do not see Syria fundamentally similarly nor want the same outcomes.
Washington wants regime change, no matter what Kerry may declare. From the outset of the conflict in Syria in March 2011, the Obama administration has been demanding that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "must go".
Indeed, it is well documented that Washington and its NATO partners have been seeking regime change against Russia's long-time Syria ally going back to 2007 during the George W Bush presidency. The whole foreign-backed war in the Arab country – resulting in 250,000 deaths and millions of refugees over the past five years – has been orchestrated for the precise purpose of destabilizing Syria.
Certainly, Kerry's latest visit to Moscow marked a softening of the "Assad must go" line. Washington is now saying that the Syrian president may remain in office until a political transition is negotiated. But at the end of the so-called transition, the US still wants Assad gone, as Kerry again noted. That is regime change no matter how you slice it.
Like Kerry's coy claim that the US is not trying "to isolate Russia as a matter of policy," the bottom line is that Washington has imposed unilateral economic sanctions on Russia as a result of provable US regime change in Ukraine in February 2014, and cajoled its European allies to follow suit. Withdrawing unilaterally from arms control treaties and expanding NATO forces on Russian territory are hardly the actions of a party "not seeking isolation" of Moscow.
Washington sure wants regime change in Syria, just as former US General Wesley Clark disclosed back in 2007 – a policy that the American military-industrial complex formulated in 2001 following the 9/11 terror events. There is no reason whatsoever to believe that the same US hegemonic ambitions for the Middle East and beyond have changed under Obama.
What has changed is that Russia's dramatic military intervention in Syria two months ago has shredded the US-led plans.
This week, President Obama made a speech at the Pentagon in which he made the laughable claim that the US was leading the global fight against the Islamic State terror group. "We are hitting them harder than ever," he said.
Such claims by the US commander-in-chief are just downright delusional. It is the Russian aerial bombardment in close cooperation with the Syrian Arab Army that has completely turned the military tables on Islamic State (IS) and other illegally armed groups.
Moreover, it is Russian airstrikes which have wiped out the oil smuggling and weapon supply routes to the jihadists from Turkey.
These jihadists – whether they go by the shell names IS, Nusra, Army of Conquest or Free Syrian Army – are all part of the foreign-backed mercenary force that the US has deployed for sacking Syria.
Washington's losing streak in the covert military objective has forced the US to seek a political track to achieve the same end result of regime change. That explains why Washington is now softening its rhetoric in order to inveigle Moscow into a political transition, euphemistically called a "peace process".
Kerry said that the US and Russia have reached "common ground" on which Syrian opposition groups would be invited to peace talks in New York this Friday. The aim is to create a political opposition to the Assad government ahead of negotiations for a transition beginning in January.
A preview of these "opposition" groups was given last week when Saudi Arabia invited more than 100 so-called leaders of political and militant factions. As the New York Times reported the formation of this front was deemed by Washington as a "prerequisite" for the future talks. John Kerry welcomed the summit in Saudi capital Riyadh as "an important step forward".
Although Al Qaeda-linked groups, IS and Al Nusra, did not attend the Saudi-sponsored and US-countenanced gathering, the NY Times admitted that delegates included "hardline Islamists". Those in attendance included Ahrar al Shams and Jaish al Islam. The latter gained notoriety for holding civilian human shields in cages, as well as being linked to the chemical gas atrocity near Damascus in August 2013.
The Saudi-sponsored opposition that Washington is trying to line up against the Syrian government are braying for Assad's immediate departure. John Kerry may say belatedly that US policy has shifted to permit Assad to remain in power for the duration of a transition, but it should be obvious that Washington is setting up a framework under the guise of a peace process in which Assad's departure is put on the agenda.
But what gives the US and its NATO and Arab cronies any right to make such demands on Syria's political future?
Washington does not seem to get it that its arrogant assertions about political change in Syria are null and void. Russia has time and again rightly pointed out that Syria's political future is for the Syrian people to decide as a matter of sovereignty. Russia's position is fully supported by Iran.
As for Syria's President Assad he has said that there will be no negotiations with the Saudi-sponsored political opposition, labeling them with reasonable justification as "terrorists".
In a parallel development, Saudi Arabia also announced the formation of a 34-nation alliance of Muslim countries supposedly dedicated to fighting the "disease of Islamic terrorism". The newly formed bloc comprises in addition to Saudi Arabia: Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Turkey – all countries associated with the funding and arming of extremist groups in Syria and elsewhere. Strangely, or perhaps not, Iran, Iraq and Syria were not invited to join the bloc.
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter welcomed the new alliance. And the Saudis said that troops from the 34-nation coalition could be sent into Syria and Iraq to "combat" the IS network. Washington also endorsed that, saying that it wanted more regional "boots on the ground" to help fight terrorism.
What that suggests is that if the political track does not go well for ousting Assad, then the US and its allies are giving themselves the license to openly intervene in Syria – ostensibly to fight terror groups, which they have covertly fomented. Such a renewed military intervention can be seen as Plan B, where Plan A – the covert use of terror groups – has failed.
'Washington has gone from 'regime change' to 'political transition' in Syria, but we are not stupid'
December 17, 2015 Posted by aletho | Deception, Militarism	| NATO, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United States | 1 Comment
Egypt gets billions in aid from Saudi Arabia, World Bank
Mada Masr | December 16, 2015
Egypt, which is facing dwindling foreign reserves and a yawning budget deficit, will be getting a major boost this month, thanks to large aid packages coming in from Saudi Arabia, the African Development Bank and the World Bank.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail announced that Saudi Arabia will increase its investment in Egypt to 30 billion riyals (LE62 billion/US$8 billion), support Egypt's petroleum needs for five years, and help boost traffic through the Suez Canal.
The announcement came after a Tuesday meeting of the Egyptian-Saudi coordination council. On Monday, Saudi Arabia announced that Egypt, along with 34 other states, was joining a Saudi-led alliance to fight terrorism.
In a Monday press conference, Ismail told reporters that during the meeting he intended to discuss the possibility of Saudi Arabia depositing funds at Egypt's Central Bank — a more direct form of support for the government than increased investment. Official communications since the meeting have not mentioned this possibility, but an anonymous official told Bloomberg news the Kingdom is considering buying Egyptian treasury bonds and bills instead.
In related news, Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr announced Tuesday that the board of the African Development Bank approved a US$500 million soft loan to Egypt. According to Nasr, the loan is part of a comprehensive economic development program that will loan US$1.5 billion to support Egypt's general budget over three years, and signals the bank's trust in Egypt's economic and social program.
Meanwhile, the World Bank's executive board is scheduled to meet Thursday to approve a US$1 billion budgetary support loan for Egypt. According to Egyptian officials, the loan is part of a three-year, US$3 billion package. It will be granted in accordance with the World Bank's new Country Partnership Framework for Egypt, a document that is also expected to be approved on Thursday.
The last time Egypt received a major infusion of foreign support was April 2015, when Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates each deposited US$2 billion at Egypt's Central Bank. These deposits helped pushed the country's foreign reserves to over US$20 billion.
Since then, reserves have dwindled, reaching US$16.42 billion at the end of November. In early December, Egypt's new Central Bank governor, Tarek Amer, said the country's reserve position was stable, and would improve in the coming months.
December 17, 2015 Posted by aletho | Corruption	| Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates | 2 Comments
Turkish troops 'raiding civilian houses' in Kurdish city of Silopi
© farukencu / Instagram
The Turkish Army has reportedly sent military vehicles, including tanks, into civilian areas in its predominantly-Kurdish southeast. While mainstream Western media remains silent, local activists posted frightening photos on social media.
The People's Democracy Party (HDP) published a series of photos of the Thursday raid by the Turkish Army. According to HDP, soldiers in the Yenisehir district of Silopi "broke into a building and pointed guns at people."
Ferhat Encu, an MP for the People's Democratic Party, was taken into custody in Silopi.
"The world and those justifying this cruelty know well, this isn't an 'anti-terror' act. This is an ethnic cleansing and genocide operation," the party tweeted.
Ankara has been busy conducting military operations in the southeast since summer. Tensions have been mounting for months as security forces have been battling Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants after a ceasefire collapsed in July. The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey for over three decades.
Earlier this week, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu promised that anti-PKK operations would continue in Silopi and Cizre in order to, as he put it, prevent the militants from "spreading the fire" from Syria and Iraq into Turkey.
"The terrorists will be wiped out from these districts. Neighborhood by neighborhood, house by house, street by street," he pledged.
Nurcan Baysal, founder of the Diyarbakir Political and Social Research Institute, has described Davutoglu's language as "very dangerous."
"If the Turkish state wants peace with its Kurdish citizens, it should change its dangerous language into the language of peace," Baysal told the Middle East Eye news outlet. "Unfortunately, the Turkish state has decided to wage war against the Kurdish people again."
"People are without water, electricity, food, medical care, and many civilians have died – and state officials say that they will continue this."
Figen Yuksekdag, the co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), has publicly accused Davutoglu of "ordering a massacre" in Cizre and Silopi.
"Who are these operations against, Mr. Prime Minister?" Yuksekdag wondered at a press conference in Diyarbakir. "There are people living in these houses, Davutoglu," she said.
Thousands took to the streets of Diyarbakir in late November after Tahir Elci, a lawyer and campaigner for Kurdish rights, was shot dead in while giving a speech on November 28. This became the last straw.
Seven Kurds were killed following clashes with Turkish security forces earlier this week. Two died in the city of Diyarbakir as protesters fought with police, while five lost their lives in the Mardin province.
Around 5,000 people gathered for a march in Diyarbakir on Monday, according to AP, which was called by the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). Local residents gathered to voice their concerns about round-the-clock curfews being implemented in the region.
According to the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, there have been a total of 52 curfews imposed since mid-August across seven provinces in the region, affecting areas where some 1.3 million people live.
Residents from the pro-Kurdish town of Silvan (some 80km north east of Diyarbakir) said they had been shelled by Turkish forces in mid-November, while the never-ending curfew had driven them to the brink of starvation.
December 17, 2015 Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture	| Human rights, Turkey | Leave a comment
A People's History of Churchillian Madness
By Elliot Murphy | CounterPunch | December 17, 2015
This year marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, which is almost universally seen in Britain as purely a war against the Nazis and their UK-bound warplanes. Unlike the First World War or the wars in Indochina and Iraq, the Second World War is somewhat unique in that it is likely the only modern war whose reputation has remained pristine throughout the decades, being regarded as the 'Good War'. But the impetus behind Britain's involvement was as much imperial as it was defensive. At the end of the 1930s, Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden believed Germany to be a significant threat to their empire, and not Britain's national security. Some of the ruling class entered the Second World War reluctantly, and contrary to many propaganda cartoons, British elites did nothing to aid the Poles; they did, however, evacuate a segment of the Polish army to deploy in their own objectives in 1940.
Even after the Battle of Britain, Whitehall still marginally favoured Hitler. Indeed, its objection to the Hitler-Stalin pact was merely that it gave Stalin too much power. Between the spring of 1940 (the fall of France) and 1943 (the Allied landing in southern Italy), the British army fought the majority of their battles in northern Africa. Churchill was deeply concerned about the safety of Suez Canal and the region's oilfields, along with Saudi Arabia, which he sought to keep from Roosevelt's influence.
The traditional view of the war, however, is a picture of democracy versus fascism, good versus evil. But this was not the motivation for the Allied leaders, as Chris Harman wrote in A People's History of the World (Verso, 2008, p. 536):
The Churchill who demanded a no-holds-barred prosecution of the war was the same Churchill who has been present during the butchery at Omdurman, sent troops to shoot down striking miners in 1910, ordered the RAF to use poison gas against Kurdish rebels in British-ruled Iraq, and praised Mussolini. He had attacked a Conservative government in the 1930s for granting a minimal amount of local self government to India, and throughout the war he remained adamant that no concessions could be made to anti-colonial movements in Britain's colonies, although this could have helped the war effort.
At the Yalta Conference, Churchill informed Roosevelt and Stalin that 'While there is life in my body, no transfer of British sovereignty will be permitted' in India. His stubbornness over the issue was so extreme that in 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad, instead of pushing back the Nazis thousands of British troops were viciously suppressing demonstrations in India. Churchill's inflexibility on the issue of sovereignty was so extreme that it led to a famine in Bengal which killed three million.
As historians like Harman and Danny Gluckstein (in A People's History of the Second World War) have documented, the Second World War was comprised of two wars; one 'from above' and one 'from below'. In a typically hypocritical act of pseudo-internationalist policy formation, during the war 'from above' in August 1941 Roosevelt and Churchill pledged to respect, in one of the principles of the Atlantic Charter, 'the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live'. Applying different standards to his own actions, Churchill later stressed, when presenting the Charter to the House of Commons, that it did 'not qualify in any way the various statements of policy which have been made [regarding] the British Empire', since it only applied to 'the States and nations of Europe now under the Nazi yoke' (The Times, 10 September 1941). The war was consequently a disagreement between the major world governments about who should dominate, and not a battle against domination itself.
As early as the fall of Singapore in 1942, plans were already being made in Whitehall to reclaim parts of the empire, with the examples of Burma, Malaya, Hong Kong and Nigeria being the most notable. Churchill even drew up a plan, vetoed by the US, of taking over Thailand (covered by P.J. Cain and A.G. Hopkins in their 1993 study British Imperialism: Crisis and Deconstruction 1914-1990). He also issued a stern instruction to Eden towards the end of 1944: '[H]ands off the British empire is our maxim and it must not be weakened or smirched to please sob-stuff merchants at home or foreigners of any hue'. Labour had long confessed a principled opposition to imperialism, though had a change of heart after assuming office in 1945, supporting the renewal of the Colonial Development and Welfare Act and the establishment of a managerial structure run by several generations of educated colonial subjects. As Ernest Bevin modestly put it, 'our crime is no exploitation; it's neglect' – where 'neglect' should be understood in its proper sense of 'more exploitation' (for discussion, see Robert D. Pearce's 1982 The Turning Point in Africa: British Colonial Policy 1938-1948).
In 1936, the Greek king appointed General Ioannis Metaxas as a fascist dictator, who sought to bring about a 'Third Hellenic Civilisation'. A British liaison officer sent to wartime Greece, C.M. Woodhouse, believed Metaxas to be 'benevolent', having 'high-minded motives for undertaking supreme power' (The Apple of Discord: A Survey of Recent Greek Politics in their International Setting, Hutchinson, 1948, pp. 16-17). Britain supported Metaxas because, as a different liaison officer explained in 1944, three years after the dictator's death, the Greeks 'are a fundamentally hopeless and useless people with no future or prospect of settling down to any form of sensible life within any measurable time'. Any remnants of the Atlantic Charter had by now been long discarded from political consciousness. The Allies proceeded to bomb Athens in order to destroy the Greek resistance movement, EAM (the National Liberation Front) and its military arms, ELAS (the National Popular Liberation Army). During the war, zones controlled by EAM underwent large-scale self-government to a level of sophistication rivalling the Spanish anarchists. Residents voted for municipal councilors and judiciaries in mass assemblies, while expensive lawyers were dispensed with and regular justice prevailed.
'Communist' Russia also declined to support EAM/ELAS, and ordered the resistance to fuse with the government of the king. In an effort to dominate as much of the country as possible, Churchill's coup later overthrew the Greek government while also suppressing the communists. Churchill informed General Scobie, in language to match that of any of the century's great dictators, 'Do not hesitate to fire at any armed male in Athens who assails the British authority or Greek authority … [A]ct as if you were in a conquered city where a local rebellion is in progress'. He later informed parliament of his view on EAM/ELAS, preferring collaborators to anti-fascists: 'The security battalions came into existence … to protect the Greek villagers from the depredations of some of those who, under the guise of being saviours of their country, were living upon the inhabitants and doing very little fighting against the Germans', unlike the 'security battalions' deployed by the Greek government who pledged loyalty to Hitler and who, according to Churchill, 'did the best they could to shelter the Greek population from German oppression'.
Post-war Greek persecutors also worked alongside US counterinsurgency forces. Whereas Russia allowed the Nazis to crush the Polish communist resisters, the AK, Churchill actively sought the destruction of the Greek anti-fascists. In 1947 the American New Republic reported that 'Churchill's victory is complete – and neatly underwritten by hundreds of millions of American dollars. It could only be slightly more complete if Hitler himself had engineered it' (15 September 1947). Like the US, Churchill also thoroughly approved of Mussolini. After visiting him in 1927, Churchill once again picked up his pen to confess how he 'could not help being charmed, like so many other people have been, by his gentle and simple bearing and by his calm, detached poise' (Extract from press statements made by Churchill, January 1927, Churchill Papers, CHAR 9/82 B). When Mussolini fell in 1943, Churchill promised that 'Even when the issue of the war became certain, Mussolini would have been welcomed by the Allies'.
Earlier in the 1920s, Churchill had proclaimed his desire for justice when he confessed that poison gas would be an excellent weapon against 'uncivilized tribesmen and recalcitrant Arabs'. This tactic was in clear violation of the Hague Declaration of 1899, calling on all adherents to refrain from 'the use of projectiles the sole object of which is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases', which Britain eventually agreed to sign in 1907. During the Good War, he added that 'It is absurd to consider morality on this topic when everybody used it in the last war without a word of complaint from the moralists or the Church. On the other hand, in the last war the bombing of open cities was regarded as forbidden. Now everybody does it as a matter of course. It is simply a question of fashion changing as she does between long and short skirts for women'. Expressing his concern for the safety of the British public, he continued in a secret memo:
If the bombardment of London became a serious nuisance and great rockets with far-reaching and devastating effect fell on many centres of Government and labour, I should be prepared to do anything that would hit the enemy in a murderous place. I may certainly have to ask you to support me in using poison gas. We could drench the cities of the Ruhr and many other cities in Germany in such a way that most of the population would be requiring constant medical attention. We could stop all work at the flying bomb starting points. I do not see why we should have the disadvantages of being the gentleman while they have all the advantages of being the cad. There are times when this may be so but not now.
Britain engaged in what Churchill called the 'absolutely devastating' tactic of 'area bombing' of German cities instead of hitting specific military targets. Because of the power of aerial bombing, as Prime Minister Baldwin had explained in 1932, 'The only defence is in offence, which means that you have to kill more women and children more quickly than the enemy if you want to save yourselves'. During the later years of the war, Arthur 'Bomber' Harris took this message to heart more than any other RAF commander. He took pride in the fact that his Bomber Command has 'virtually destroyed 45 out of the leading 60 German cities. In spite of invasion diversions we have so far managed to keep up and even exceed our average of two and a half cities a month'; that is, in spite of the existence of actual military targets to hit, Harris continued to wreak unnecessary and horrific damage on Germany.
On February 13th 1945, the Allies initiated the bombing of Dresden, an act which only hardened the resolve of the German military and encouraged it to step up its production of armaments. British and US bombers devastated Dresden's cultural centre, the Altstadt, and destroyed 19 hospitals, 39 schools and residential areas. Meanwhile, core military and transport installation remained unscathed. Between 35,000 and 70,000 people died, and only 100 were soldiers; a civilian:soldier death ratio which would make even Benjamin Netanyahu blush. The only reason the bombing stopped was because Churchill realised that a completely demolished Dresden would leave no spoils, such as 'housing materials … for our own needs'. Likewise, two years earlier, after the end of the Battle of Britain in May 1941, Churchill had wept over the ruins of the House of Commons, though not, strangely, over the deaths of thousands of Londoners.
After the Siege of Sidney Street in January 1911, in which Churchill, Home Secretary in the Liberal government, directed police to attack two jewelry robbers who had left three policemen dead the previous month in Houndsditch, the building the robbers were hiding in ended up in flames and all three were killed. Lindsey German and John Rees comment in A People's History of London (Verso, 2012, p. 167).
Churchill reveled in such confrontations, and exploited the furore over the killing and the emerging popular press's witch-hunt of anarchists to stoke up his own reputation and justify repressive methods overall. In fact the dead men were not anarchists but Latvian social democrats, engaged in what was called an 'expropriation for the cause'.
Consequently, because of Churchill's authoritarianism and the media's assault on anarchists, Latvians, and Russians, one anarchist noted that 'Anyone who walked along in a Russian blouse was considered a suspicious character and sometimes assaulted'. It's against this cultural and political backdrop that any histories of Churchill and the Second World War should be assessed – and any judgements of the benevolent claims of present statesmen should be made.
Elliot Murphy teaches in the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at University College, London.
December 17, 2015 Posted by aletho | Deception, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Militarism, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes	| Africa, India, RAF, UK, Winston Churchill | Leave a comment
US House Passes Bill to Block Hezbollah from International Financial System
Bill also targets Al-Manar TV
Press TV December 16, 2015
The US House of Representatives has approved sanctions against banks that do business with the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.
Lawmakers unanimously voted for the imposition of the sanctions in a bill that will be sent to the White House for US President Barack Obama's signature.
Following a unanimous one in the US Senate on November 17, the House voted for the measure 422 to 0 .
The bill also targets the resistance movement's television channel Al-Manar through attempts to cut the broadcast of satellite operators that air the channel's programs.
Meanwhile, a senior administration official told AFP that the president will sign the legislation, adding the White House and the US Congress have been working together for long "to intensify the pressure" on the organization, which the official described as a "terrorist."
This is while Hezbollah fighters have been engaged in battles against the Daesh Takfiri terrorists in Syria.
Apart from pressuring banks that knowingly do business with the group, the bill also requires the White House to present reports to the Congress in regard to Hezbollah's operations.
The organization has been accused by the US of committing "terrorism" while its fighters keep advancing against the ISIL militants, originally trained and funded by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the government of Syrian President Basher al-Assad.
December 17, 2015 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Wars for Israel	| Hezbollah, Human rights, Lebanon, United States, Zionism | 4 Comments


text:
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# yay, programming!
rate = 0.96
potency = 100
month = 1
while potency > 50:
print(month, potency)
month += 1
potency *= rate
print(month, potency, 'discard')
# might as well one-line it™
[None for dct in [{'month':1, 'rate':.96, 'potency':100}]
for x in iter(lambda: dct['potency']>50, False)
if (print(dct['month'], dct['potency']),
dct.__setitem__('month', dct['month']+1),
dct.__setitem__('potency', dct['potency']*dct['rate']),
dct['potency']<50)[-1]
and print(dct['month'], dct['potency'], 'discard')] or None
20220118: Metric time doesn't mean silly phrases like "80 past 2 on April 47th" as you may have been led to believe. It measures the duration from one point in time to another, just like meters measure the linear distance from one point in space to another. This makes it impractical for everyday human use in tracking our planet's rotation (time of day) and orbit (time of year), but computers tell time in this exact way: start with a single fixed point in time, add a duration, and it'll do the math to give you a date and time you can make sense of.
20211223: Say what you mean! If you're thinking of Christmas, say Merry Christmas, not "Happy Holidays." I'd rather hear an honest assumption that the listener is Christian (which will usually be accurate but can easily be corrected if necessary and desired) than dishonest virtue-signaling.
20211115: Please enjoy "Rich Web, Poor Web," an article about how some web browsers provide a "reader" feature that reformats overloaded modern websites into much simpler pages. I've also updated my earlier articles to work better with such readers and use dark styling.
20211020: Disney and copyright make poor bedfellows, and I will explain why in great detail.
20200820: Sometimes I have to write things on paper. I got pens. I'm using the pens. I remembered that there are some cursive letters that I've never liked. I redesigned them. I animated the forms with a technique wherein you create a path (with e.g. GIMP), export the path to an SVG, animate a dashed line on the SVG's path, make each dash the length of the path, and then tell the dash to start one path-length behind.
2019 20190629: Have you been looking for a convenient way to create and share a shopping list? The Shopping List allows you to add, remove, and rearrange items, and you can share your list as a link.
20190524: Have you ever watched a video? Have you ever turned on subtitles or captioning for such? Have you ever wanted to do so but they're unavailable? Have you ever wanted to assemble that subtitle file on your own? If you answered "yes" to that last question, color me surprised! But my answer is the same, so I wrote a program (HTML/JS/CSS) to help do that. The Subtitle Creator allows you to load a video, retrieve start and end times during playback, and create new cues. You can also edit or remove cues as well as import or export your subtitles (in WebVTT format). It doesn't involve uploading anything, and all you have to download is the page itself. It implements a subset of the WebVTT standard, limited to non-overlapping cues with no comments, styling, etc. (you can modify your subtitles afterward if you like, of course).
20181223: My dad is a colored-pencil artist, and suggested that I write a tool that allows the user to select an image, select a pixel or rectangle on the image, and get a suggestion of which pencils to layer to create that color. The Pencil Finder does just that, recommending a mix of up to three colors mixed in increments of 10%, as well as the color's complement. The tool draws from a selection of 132 Prismacolor pencils.
20181012: The full HTML escaper can now also escape only the unsafe characters in a selection. I've also changed the styling a bit.
20181011: I wrote a full HTML escaper that escapes each character (all but linefeeds, not just unsafe ones like ">") into their respective HTML character entity. There's a button to escape the whole input text and copy it into the clipboard, a button to escape only the highlighted text and replace it in-place in the text area, and a button to unescape and replace highlighted text. The initial version of this app was prototyped in Python, with print(*(''.join(f'&#{ord(c)};' for c in line.rstrip('\n')) for line in __import__('fileinput').input()), sep='\n'), and I would call it from PowerShell 6.1 Core with the ClipboardText module installed so that I could grab text from the clipboard, pipe it to the script, and pipe it back to the clipboard. The JS version will not add an extra linefeed at the end, which is convenient, but the major difference is that the Python version is just using ord, which only reliably handles ASCII. JS's String.charCodeAt, on the other hand, is actually intended for finding the character code for any character, including things way up in Unicode. It'll even handle Zalgo text!
Now, why did I create this, you ask? Well, the League of Legends Boards accept posts by taking the text from an input box, parsing it with an unholy mix of sanitized HTML and limited markdown, escaping unsafe characters, and posting that. When displayed, the escaped entities are unescaped by the browser, so it looks right. However, quoting someone's post copies theirs into yours, escapes included. When you submit your post, all of it is escaped, including the quoted segment, so that text is escaped a second time, disregarding the fact that quoted text was already escaped when it was posted the first time. This results in the characters that make up a character code being escaped. When it's finally rendered by a browser, it's unescaped, but only once rather than recursively until it stops changing, so you end up seeing character entities in quoted text. And if someone ever copies that into a post, or it gets requoted, you'll see an escape of an escape of an escape of an... it's bad.
And this makes it worse! Instead of only screwing up unsafe characters, this screws up everything, which means that the initial post looks okay, but quoting it reveals a block of character codes. This is my idea of fun.
The major shortcoming is that messages become much longer, since each character comprises at least four characters (ampersand, hash symbol, one to five digits, semicolon), so you can run into character limits very quickly. Still, it's pretty good. Enjoy!
20180924: I wrote a slideshow with HTML, CSS, and JS, offering a variety of animations selectable with hotkeys or query strings.
20180609: I have decided that plucking is the default on the DVIICE. Now < turns on sustain through consecutive notes (the old default), while > goes back to plucking.
20180531: The DVIICE now allows "plucking" behavior, giving the start of a note just enough character to differentiate between sustain and repeated plays. Press < (shift-,) to start plucking and > (shift-.) to go back to sustaining. This works with playback in the text area as well.
You can now also indicate a rest with the underscore (_) instead of only with a space.
20180527: When working with the text area of the DVIICE, if you highlight some text before pressing "Play!" it will now limit playback to your selection.
20180526: The DVIICE now allows tempo changes during playback from the text area by writing the new BPM after a colon, surrounded by parentheses, e.g. (:120)bnm(:180)bnm. It will still start playback at the BPM in the text box above the "Play!" button (default 120).
20180525: The DVIICE now has new tunings for the guitar: baritone perfect fourth, baritone perfect fifth, and baritone major third.
20180523: If you enjoy my work (like the DVIICE, my YouTube channel, or my GitHub projects, to name a few examples), you can now donate to me via PayPal. I've only linked it where it won't interfere with normal use of the site's content and apps, it's totally optional, and it'll show me that I have actual visitors here rather than just crawlers, robots, and spiders. :)
20180522: I added a pitch wheel to the DVIICE, between the instruments and the staff. It only works for desktop mode. Click and hold to set a starting point, then drag up and down to bend. Release to stop bending and let notes snap back to their original pitches. Any notes played with the keyboard or played back from the text area will be affected, whether they begin before you click the pitch wheel or afterward.
20180522: Someone asked about playing chords on the DVIICE, so now it is possible to play multiple notes at once with the keyboard, and create chords in the text area for playback. See the help for details. There's a simple notation for basic chords, and a more complex notation if you want to get fancy.
I think it's important to take a step back and remember what the DVIICE is and isn't for. It's a tool to compare notes across instruments. It's not an instrument per se, and it's not music composition software. If you want to play an instrument, you'd be better served with physical hardware like a synthesizer. If you want to compose music, you'd be better served with something like MuseScore. Instruments and MuseScore have many wonderful features, and the DVIICE is meant to complement them, not duplicate them.
20180518: Well, that didn't last long. The sweep button is gone, and instead you can just click and drag naturally without dragging images around, because I figured out how to suppress browsers' default drag-and-drop behavior.
20180518: If you click the "Sweep" button near the version button on the DVIICE, notes will play as soon as you mouse over them rather than waiting for a click.
20180515: The DVIICE has been updated with new back-end code that allows it to work outside of an Apache-capable server. This opens it up to hosting on more basic servers, and it can even run locally, with all features! It used to load instruments by retrieving the corresponding file, reading its contents, parsing those contents as HTML, and inserting that into the page. Now the instruments are stored as strings in a script, and I can simply access them directly. It's like going from Python code of num = int(open('data.txt').read()) to from data import num. Much easier, and not something I would've thought of when I first started writing the original DVIICE back in 2013, before I'd actually learned programming. Anyway, it works the same as before, only now it's available as a zip file for local use. Enjoy!
I also added the ability to select sine, triangle, square, or sawtooth waves with Q, W, E, and R, and set vibrato levels with "`" (off) through 5 (strong). Because.
20180507:
OH MY GOD THE SITE LOOKS DIFFERENT
Yes. I changed it.
It's been about ten years since I last updated this site's look and organization. I realized that all the categories in the navigation bar pointed to things I haven't updated in years, while all the relatively recent stuff was buried in this "News" area. No more! I not only made relevant content more accessible (I didn't delete the legacy pages; your bookmarks won't break), I also updated the code behind the navigation bar. It no longer consists of huge blocks of JavaScript that swap out hand-made images of text - it's pure CSS. Along with the change a few days ago moving to the details HTML tag for collapsible sections, this site gets along without JavaScript except on pages like the clock or the DVIICE.
20180506: The clock had a slight problem on mobile: if the device locked (screen off), the function that announced the time couldn't fire, and there's no way to break through that barrier. However, if the device locks while that function is in progress, it's allowed to complete. My solution was to abandon setInterval (which is the obvious and correct solution for a clock or timer) and set up a wrapper function that calls the primary updating function in a loop, with a one-second sleep. Devices may block functions from starting, but they won't block functions from continuing, so this "foot in the door" lets us hang on to the necessary permissions. So now that works.
I also changed the notes from C/F/D/G to C4/E4/G4/C5 (C5/E5/G5/C6 on mobile), for better clarity on which digit is playing.
20180503: Two updates again! First, the clock now lets you click/tap anywhere on the page if you're on a mobile device, so you don't have to tap the text and have the browser try to highlight it. The mobile version also plays an octave higher (from C5 instead of C4), which is easier for small speakers.
Second, Version 3 of the DVIICE now allows playback! Enter a BPM in the box to the right of the "notes" area (the default is 120 BPM), and click "Play!". Use a space for rests.
20180503: Yes, two updates in one push. The stylesheet I started using back in 2015 just so happens to be bad at actually loading pages. It sometimes tried to add a fade effect to transition to a new page, and sometimes it would either require a refresh on the new page or simply fail with an error. Well, after first changing everything to work with some pure HTML5/JS/CSS code I found, I kept looking and apparently there's now HTML that literally does exactly what I want with nothing but a details tag and a summary tag. So now we're back to the old look, just tidied up a bit.
20180502: Remember when I made a clock a few weeks ago? A clean, simple, uncluttered clock? Well, I cluttered it. The clutter is in the source code, though, and it doesn't load the audio unless you use it, so that's something. Anyway, if you use it the same way as you did the old version, there's no difference. However, you can now click/tap the time, and you'll get a dialog box asking how often you want to hear the time. If you provide a positive integer, it'll beep out the time immediately and then again when the minute is a multiple of n:
First digit of hour, C4 for 0 and F4 for 1
Second digit of hour, C4 for 0 and F4 for 1
First digit of minute, D4 for 0 and G4 for 1
Second digit of minute, D4 for 0 and G4 for 1
So 14:05 would be F FCC D GDG.
Note that the original version is now preserved at tigerhawkt3.com/time.html while the new version has replaced the old version at tigerhawkt3.com/time/index.html.
20180412: It's surprisingly hard to find a good, simple clock these days. time.gov is the standard, of course, with time zones, delay correction, a daylight map, and so on. However, the actual clock widget is very small, and they disable the dynamic update on days where the time changes to ease the server load. So I made my own. And then I made another, and another. First I made one in Python with tkinter, because I like Python and tkinter. That seemed like overkill, so I tried PowerShell - it works fine, but styling is quite difficult in PowerShell and my solution for a large display was Windows Magnifier... not ideal. Then I thought maybe HTML5/JS/CSS would work, and it turns out that it does.
I briefly toyed with centering the display vertically, but that doesn't play well with Chrome for Android's address bar. The window size doesn't take the address bar into account, so content that fits in the window without any scrolling can be hidden under the address bar and the address bar can't be collapsed because that only happens when you scroll down. Android isn't even capable of opening local HTML files in Chrome, and Chrome for Android doesn't have a "view source" option, so that was kind of a pain as well. I don't really like the mobile environment.
Anyway, the HTML version is a simple clock with no applets, ads, or distractions. It works on any device with a modern browser. Note that it gets the time from your device rather than from an online timekeeping service.
20171028: I needed a stopwatch today. When you Google "stopwatch," Google gives you a page with a stopwatch widget. But it still shows the regular search results, which are full of Flash stopwatches. I was sure that was unnecessary, as a stopwatch is just a timer with a couple buttons and a single dynamic element.
Five hours later, I have a Stopwatch that not only lets you run a single timer like normal people want to do, but also allows you to split a session into segments (a "lap timer"), soft-reset completed sessions into a table, keep track of totals and split times, and keep the buttons in sight at the top while also auto-scrolling to the latest split. Press "start/stop" to make the timer run or pause, press "split/reset" while running to split, press "split/reset" while stopped to save the current session and start a new one, and press "split/reset" again before starting the next session to completely reset it.
20170627: Guess what! Something in JS's string replace or parseInt API changed in the last few months, so the HTML/JS STO loot parser was giving wrong results. Instead of replacing all the commas and parsing the result to an integer like "1,000,000" to "1000000" to 1000000, it was parsing "1,000,000" to "1000,000" to 1000. Which is, of course, dreadfully wrong. Fortunately, I double-checked the results for digital rust when I ran it for the first time in a few months, and noticed the discrepancy! It's not paranoia if it actually happens. :) Anyway, I fixed it. If you've been using it between release and this date, rerun it.
20170605: Version 3 of the DVIICE now supports logging for keyboard input! Just click the text box before playing notes, and there you have it. Click outside the text box if you don't want played notes to show up there.
20170509: Version 3 of the DVIICE now supports keyboard input! Play natural notes and sharps in a range of two octaves, selected with ZXCASD. For more, see the Help.
20170105: I wrote a log parser with many loot analysis methods for Star Trek Online in Python last year. I recently rewrote it into a streamlined version and a further-streamlined version in both Python and Julia, as well as a JavaScript version of the more-streamlined algorithm. GitHub links:
The original parser
The streamlined Python parser
The further-streamlined Python parser
The streamlined Julia parser
The further-streamlined Julia parser
If you want a full version with a powerful analysis engine, use the original parser. It allows you to show daily totals, daily cumulative totals, lockbox wins, Dabo results, and more, with any item or category of items you like. If you want a simpler version, use the JavaScript version, as all you have to do is click the link and select your files. It will give you daily totals for Contraband, Dilithium, Dilithium Ore, and Energy Credits. I chose that analysis and those items because those are the figures I'm interested in tracking. If you need more flexibility, use the original version written in Python.
20160429: I've been streaming on YouTube every day now for over a month. I alternate "Let's Play" days and "Let's Code" days. You'll see me either playing a video game for PC, Sega Genesis, or Nintendo 64, or writing a bit of Python code. You can check out my channel here.
20151213: Are Ebooks and Emulators valuable new technologies, or phonies to be scorned? This article is about twice as long as Why Windows?, but it has pictures.
20150917: Chess 11! It uses a new chess notation module I wrote. It's a useful module in its own right: it supports pipes and redirection from your favorite command shell, and can export to space-aligned or tab-delimited output. You'll find it in the Chess 11 source files.
Chess 11 has the following new features/fixes:
There is a new pane to the right of the game board that shows a list of the current game's moves, in ICCF notation.
You can underpromote a pawn to any piece (queen, rook, bishop, knight) instead of the game automatically forcing a queen promotion.
Instead of only being able to load a list of moves in the game's internal notation (which was pretty close to ICCF notation), you can now import a list of moves in ICCF notation, and it will be converted and loaded automatically.
Similarly, you can now export a list of moves in ICCF notation.
You can export a tab-delimited chart of the current game's moves in a variety of notations. You can't import this whole thing back into the game, but you can isolate the ICCF column and import that.
Bug fix: you can no longer move for the AI by stepping back to its turn.
Bug fix: castling moves are highlighted properly during navigation.
Get the source, the 32-bit Windows version, or the 64-bit Windows version.
20150605: New look for this page. I wanted to put the older news items into a collapsible widget, and the ready-made stylesheet I found on w3schools looked like this. Not-quite-black text, off-white background, and sans serif fonts. I think it looks fine. Either way, I don't plan to apply this stylesheet to any other pages.
20150425: Chess 10 is here! New features include the following:
Time control
Background image selection
Background animation color selection
Grid line color selection
Developer console (use with caution)
20150228: Why do I prefer Windows? The answer is a few screens long. You should get a snack.
20150222: There are several new things here that I have neglected to put in this news area. Sorry.
First, what's the smallest floating-point number your device can handle before it rounds to zero? Find out with the Smallest Float page.
Next, there is a schedule for the Winter Wonderland events that occur in Star Trek Online during the winter event. It won't be too useful right now, but just wait until December rolls around.
There is a map of the server room maze in the Star Trek Online episode "Dust to Dust." There is a special bridge officer you can find in that maze, but it's in a random dead end, so you'll just have to have a look around.
I learned Python last year. It's a straightforward language to learn, and a great language to do things in. One of the things I have made so far is a program to help plan half-square quilting patterns (my sister quilts). It is available as source and as a frozen package that runs on 32-bit Windows PCs without needing a Python installation. There's also an earlier version 1 (source or frozen), but you don't want that. Still, it's there, because data. After starting it up, you'll find instructions at the bottom of the window.
Another thing I have made so far - or, I should say, something I make - is a chess game. It is currently on version 9, and I'm working on version 10. I'm keeping old versions available, but I very highly recommend getting the latest one to avoid bugs (not to mention all the cool new features I keep adding).
Chess 5 with piece icons
Chess 5, source only
Chess 6, source
Chess 8, frozen
Chess 9, old frozen release
Chess 9, win32
Those last three are all the latest version, until I'm done with version 10.
20140616: The DVIICE V3 now has the ukulele in various tunings.
20140327: The DVIICE V3 now has Powerbender harps in a full range of 14 keys, from Low F to High G. I have also added natural minor harp tunings, from Abm to Gm.
20140305: Version 3 of the DVIICE is now available. Switch between Chrome/Safari and Compatibility modes on the fly, with the click of a button. Assign instruments to instrument zones with a unified menu.
20140101: The DVIICE now loads instruments and their images in a single click. Added Powerbender tuning (just C for now) to Instrument 1.
20131215: The DVIICE now has alternate guitar tunings, including open tunings, all fourths, DADGAD, and more.
20130903: I have updated the DVIICE with new functionality and better coding. You can now select from a variety of instruments/keys for Instrument 1, Instrument 2, and Instrument 3. Remember to use the "Display (X)" button if you're choosing an instrument with a different layout. There is a Chrome/Safari version, and a compatibility version. Many thanks to "Old Pedant" at www.codingforums.com for his patience and generosity with giving me a new highlighting methodology and helping troubleshoot and debug the whole thing.
20130822: I have created the Digital Virtual Instantaneous Instrument Comparator and Emulator, or DVIICE, a tool that allows users to compare note positions between a 10-hole diatonic harmonica, a six-string guitar, a piano, and a musical scale. Mouse over a note to display all enharmonic (equivalent) notes, and click a note to play it (uses an equal-tempered scale). The Chrome/Safari version (using the Web Audio API) allows you to hold the button down for a continuous note, while the compatibility version (using HTML5 - works on modern browsers) produces fixed tones of one beat (half a second) in length.
Want to change a guitar tab into a harmonica tab? Use the DVIICE to quickly translate each fret on the guitar to the proper hole (with any required overblows or bends) on the harmonica. Want to create sheet music out of your harmonica ditty? Tell the DVIICE how it goes on the harmonica, and it will show you where each note belongs.
You can find links for each version in the "Music" section, accessed via the eponymous button on the navigation bar. Save it for offline use by downloading and extracting this zip file.
20120912: I'm now posting replays of my League of Legends matches.
20120428: Added a large batch of rage comics. Now at 58 comics.
20110814: I made a gallery for my rage comics (mirror).
20110814: I wrote a review for the Fenix TK35 and posted it on 4sevens.com. I didn't take any pictures for it, so I'm just going to link to it instead of making my own page for it. Here it is.
20110808: Did you know that I have a Career? True story.
20100823: WoW-related: GraphCalc scripts for warrior/bear rage generation as of patch 3.3.5.
20080422: The short film "Look, But Don't Lick" is up.
20080316: I gave Paul his birthday present, and he liked it! Video here. I've also added a little video that's funny for you but annoying for me.
20080314: Happy 21st birthday, Paul! There's a video of Paul's newly modded flashlight build, a fully dimmable Maglite.
20080306: The Welcome Mat has been updated! The new version can be found here.
20080222: If you'd like your banner ad near the top of this page, please contact me.
20080217: I've added a new clip to the videos page. Enjoy!
20080206: If you want to view my videos but don't want to stream it in a Flash player, you can download the .avi versions and view them easily at your convenience. Just go to the http://tigerhawkt3.com/videos directory.
20080206: I'm going to start providing updates about the site. It'll include new features, content, and so on.


Making your own cleaning supplies can include natural ingredients like lemon, lavender and tea tree oil.
The popularity of making cleaning products at home is rising as people seek to eliminate toxic chemicals from their environment or save money — and sometimes both.
Many of the ingredients for cleaning products can be found in the pantry — vinegar, baking soda and ammonia are popular kitchen staples that can perform double-duty in cooking and cleaning. In some tasks, homemade cleaners perform as well as store-bought cleaners, and the main ingredients often are significantly cheaper than one bottle of store-bought cleaning solutions.
Even though homemade cleaners may be seen as a less-toxic alternative to store-bought agents, homeowners still need to take some precautions.
Know your ingredients. Lauren Weatherford, families and health agent for the West Virginia University Extension Service, said people need to research individual ingredients before following a recipe found on the Internet.
"You may have heard from your grandmother that you can scrub your floors with baking soda, but you can't just throw baking soda on the floor. As a family consumer science person, I would not use anything without knowing the precautions," she said.
That's because making homemade cleaners is science in action. Some ingredients should never be used together, like bleach and ammonia, and vinegar and bleach, which can cause severe respiratory damage. Hydrogen peroxide and vinegar together create peracetic acid, which causes burns.
"I always go back to what is an alkali, what is an acid, what is a surfactant, and why do you need it when cleaning?" said Pamela Turner, associate professor and housing extension specialist at the University of Georgia. "Just because it's natural, it's still not necessarily safe to use in large quantities in an unventilated area."
Turner also recommends using clearly labeled, dated, dedicated containers for homemade cleaning products to avoid any mixing of ingredients and make them in small quantities.
Brian Sansoni, vice president of sustainability initiatives at the American Cleaning Institute, the cleaning products trade association, said if there are accidents caused by improper use or storage of cleaning products, most manufacturers have provided Poison Control Centers with specific information on product ingredients, which isn't the case with homemade cleaners.
Safety is also why people shouldn't mix homemade and store-bought cleaners, or combine two store-bought cleaners.
Different surfaces need different cleaners, said Sonja Koukel, community and environmental health specialist in the college of Ag, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University. Some homemade cleaners can strip wax off hardwood floors. Some alkaline ingredients like baking soda and sodium carbonate may make irreparable scratches on marble or granite if used improperly, she said.
"You may not even see them, but they can harbor bacteria and germs," she said. "Make sure you're using the right product for the right surface."
When you're buying cleaning products, you don't want to spend a lot on a product that's going down the drain.
But you also want one that won't leave its mark. Literally.
We asked people who work in the cleaning field how to save money on cleaning supplies without sacrificing on quality.
Meg Roberts, president of residential cleaning company Molly Maid, said watch when using vinegar as a cleaning agent on some metals.
"It's great for stainless steel; it's not great for aluminum or cast iron because those are reactive surfaces," she said.
Cleaning versus disinfecting: These terms are thrown around loosely, but they have different meanings. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says cleaning essentially means removing dirt and debris, but cleaning products don't necessarily kill germs. Disinfecting or sanitizing products use chemicals (natural or synthetic) to kill germs. If a product is labeled as a sanitizer or disinfectant, the EPA requires it actually kill the germs claimed to kill.
However, the EPA's review does not evaluate all possible health risks for users of the products. It's those issues that push many people to seek out less toxic cleaners and avoid products like bleach.
Koukel said there's disagreement regarding milder home cleaners on what kills harmful bacteria like E. coli or salmonella, mostly because there is only limited research on how well products like vinegar work to disinfect and at what concentrations.
That's why Roberts said they use professional grade cleaning products in their business unless a client wants 100 percent green products. Even so they will also tell them those products won't kill the germs "in the way we would like to," she said.
Bleach gets a bad rap with environmentally focused people, but that's mostly because people use too much, Koukel and Turner said.
"If you walk into a room and you can smell the bleach that they've used, they're using way too much," Koukel said.
Turner said while green cleaners may not kill all germs, sanitizing isn't always needed.
"Your countertops many times don't need to be disinfected. It depends on what you're doing, how many children you have, and how many people you have in your home who are sensitive or have a compromised immune system," she said.
For people who see eco-friendly store-bought cleaners as a middle road between homemade and traditional cleaners, Turner recommends people go to the National Institutes of Health Household Products database (https://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/) for ingredient information.
"Household cleaners don't have to tell you what's in them. There's no law that makes them tell you," she said.
Tips for making your own. Weatherford, Turner and Koukel all have published home cleaning recipes and information as part of their research and offer the following advice for people who want to make their own products.
•Water-dampened microfiber cloths are great for the simplest cleaning of dust and dirt, especially on windows.
•Essential oils like tea tree, lavender and lemon can add scent to homemade cleaners and just a few drops are needed.
•Don't like the smell of vinegar? Vodka is a good substitute. Weatherford uses a 50-50 mix of vodka and water and a few drops of essential oils for an air freshener and shower spray.