Semi-official Iranian news agency posts insane article claiming ‘US-Alien-Hitler’ link

By End the Lie

(Image credit: screenshot of Fars News Agency report)

The semi-official Fars News Agency (FNA) has posted an absolutely insane article that reads like something published by The Onion, claiming some kind of clearly imaginary “US-Alien-Hitler” link. Seriously.

Read our latest posts: “New drone transforms from a helicopter into a truck to evacuate troops” and “Russia says they will continue to back Assad; hundreds killed in rebel infighting”

If you believe any of this, I’m sure someone has some wonderful oceanfront property in Oklahoma to sell you.

In what appears to be an attempt to shatter what little credibility FNA had, the news outlet published details (reported mirrored via screenshots here) on what they call a “stunning [Russian] Federal Security Services (FSB) report” detailing a supposed “alien/extraterrestrial intelligence agenda.”

The FNA report cites the equally insane website WhatDoesItMean.com, a site promoting wild alien-focused conspiracy theories and a host of nonsense based on never-to-be-seen reports with headlines that almost always include words like “stuns” and “shocks.”

FNA apparently was happy to pick up the “stunning” report, which doesn’t actually exist of course, on “incontrovertible proof” of an “alien/extraterrestrial intelligence agenda” driving U.S. domestic and international policy since at least 1945.

FNA reports that one of the “many explosive revelations in this FSB report,” a report that, again, doesn’t actually exist outside of the minds of FNA and “Sorcha Faal” of WhatDoesItMean.com, is the confirmation of some kind of imaginary alien race behind the “stunning rise of Nazi Germany during the 1930’s.”

This imaginary alien race, called “Tall Whites,” is somehow responsible for the rise of Nazi Germany, though this is, of course, never explained.

FNA cites supposed documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that state these “Tall Whites” met with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954. If it isn’t abundantly clear at this point, it should be repeated that there is absolutely no evidence to back up any of these claims whatsoever. This is purely the product of severe delusion.

These “Tall Whites” also have some kind of top-secret plan for world domination, according to FNA. The report also claims there is some “cataclysmic power struggle is currently underway against this ‘secret regime’ now headed by Obama by ‘forces unknown.’” The report also claims there are other “alien-extraterrestrial power[s]” at work in this giant imaginary scheme.

How any of this is supposed to make any sense whatsoever is unclear. It seems that FNA will publish absolutely anything in an attempt to make the U.S. look bad, even if it does not even begin to make the slightest bit of sense.

FNA also cites former Canadian Defense Minister Paul Hellyer, a man who makes similarly baseless claims about aliens and unidentified flying objects. Hellyer claimed last year that “at least two” live aliens “are working with the United States government,” according to The Huffington Post.

In a Jan. 5 interview, Hellyer claimed that aliens live on one of Saturn’s moons, on Venus and Mars, among a wide range of other places. Hellyer even claims that there is some kind of “Federation” of aliens and that Kevlar vests come from alien technology.

Why anyone would take Hellyer’s claims seriously or broadcast them on television is beyond me. Then again, the video of Hellyer’s interview has received over 260,000 views in just eight days, so I guess if you’re just looking to get viewers then broadcasting claims with absolutely no evidence whatsoever is fine. Thankfully, the interview wasn’t totally credulous at all times (although she was still far too credulous) and you at least have to give her credit for somehow keeping a straight face.

[H/T: Mediaite]

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Semi-official Iranian news agency posts insane article claiming ‘US-Alien-Hitler’ link

Spate of violence continues in Beirut with latest bombing claiming 5 lives (VIDEO)

A blast in Lebanon’s capital Beirut killed at least five people Thursday, the latest attack in a spate of violence to hit the country.

Dozens were wounded when the car bomb went off during the evening rush hour in a southern suburb known as a stronghold of the Shia militant group Hezbollah.

The blast left the mangled wreckage of cars in the street and blew out store front windows.

“Suddenly, the whole area went bright and we started running away,” Ali Oleik, an accountant who works in a nearby office building, told The Associated Press. “I saw two bodies on the street, one of a woman and another of a man on a motorcycle who was totally deformed.

No one claimed immediate responsibility for what is the latest in a wave of attacks to hit Lebanon in recent months as tensions between Sunnis and Shias grow.

Violence from the war in neighboring Syria has crept into Lebanon, after Hezbollah sent fighters to aid Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s troops against the rebels.

More from GlobalPost: Beirut bombing kills former Lebanese ambassador to US, 5 others

Just last Friday, a car bomb in downtown Beirut killed half a dozen people and injured dozens more.

Among the dead was Mohamad Chatah, a former Lebanese finance minister and ambassador to the United States who was a vocal critic of Hezbollah and Assad.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, to whom Chatah was an adviser, blamed Hezbollah for that attack. The Islamist group has denied any involvement.

Thursday’s attack comes a day after Majid al-Majid — the head of a Sunni jihadist group that claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut in November — was reportedly arrested.

More from GlobalPost: Hezbollah assassination in Beirut: 3 Questions with our correspondent

The November attack, which hit the same part of the city as Thursday’s blast, left 23 people dead.

On Dec. 4, Hezbollah commander Hassan Lakkis was shot dead in Hadath, near Beirut.

Later this month, four Hezbollah members are set to stand trial in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was also killed in a car bomb attack.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/lebanon/140102/beirut-blast-kills-at-least-5-violence-continues

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Spate of violence continues in Beirut with latest bombing claiming 5 lives (VIDEO)

Health Experts Takedown Right-Wing Study Claiming Obamacare Hurts Young People

Health Experts Takedown Right-Wing Study Claiming Obamacare Hurts Young People

A new study purporting to show that young people will pay significantly more for health insurance under Obamacare has been met with resounding criticism from health policy experts.

The study, conducted and released by the right-leaning American Action Forum (AAF), paints a stark picture for young people hoping to purchase insurance under the new law.

“Due to the ACA’s sweeping market reforms,” the study finds, “rates for low-premium plans have increased exponentially between 2013 and 2014. In fact, on average, a healthy 30-year-old male nonsmoker will see his lowest cost insurance option increase 260 percent.”

Chris Holt, Director of Health Care Policy at the AAF, discussed the study’s findings with PolicyMic via e-mail.

“Our study, at the American Action Forum, found a staggering increase in premium costs for a healthy 30-year-old man. With price increases in every state and an average increase of 260% it demonstrates a real challenge for the administration, as they seek to lure young adults onto the exchanges. They need those young adults to help subsidize the older and sicker individuals who will be purchasing health insurance. Ultimately the success or failure of the president’s signature legislative achievement could depend on his ability to convince young people to purchase health insurance despite having created financial incentives for them to do just the opposite.”

The study’s findings, however, have been met with fierce criticism from many in the health policy community. Dr. Christine Eibner, Senior Economist at the RAND Corporation, disputed many of the study’s assertions in comments to PolicyMic.

“First, it’s important to keep in mind that this analysis if focused on a specific subset of individuals — young, non-smoking men — and does not represent the change in premiums for all Americans.”

Dr. Eibner also added that, “in comparing the individual’s expected premium spending to the individual mandate penalty, the AAF analysis does not account for the fact that enrollees get something for their money when they buy health insurance — namely lower out-of-pocket costs for medical services and reduced risk of experiencing a catastrophic health-related expenditure. In contrast, paying the penalty has no benefit to the individual.”

Dr. Eibner is not the only expert in the field to take issue with the study’s findings. Dr. Claire Brindis, Director of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California-San Francisco, also expressed her reservations about the study.

“I am very concerned about the report’s approach, which suggests the purpose is to scare rather than inform. For example, the title asserts that a premium spiral is ‘impending,’ even though the text of the article acknowledges that predicting how young adults will respond to the individual mandate is an ‘inexact science.’”

“The statement that premiums for a healthy 30-year-old male will rise by 260% is misleading,” she continued, “because it does not take into account subsidies that will be available to many young adults through the exchange, nor the catastrophic health plans that some young adults will be eligible to purchase. Nor does it take into account that some young adults will be newly eligible for Medicaid in states that choose to expand it.”

All of the attention on these sorts of ACA studies may be moot, however. The importance of these studies may not lie in their individual findings, but rather their cumulative effects on public opinion. Dr. Robert Blendon, the Richard L. Menschel Professor of Public Health and Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis at Harvard University, rejected the importance of individual studies and instead placed more emphasis on the impression that such studies create in the public’s mind.

“At the end of the day the question is, ‘What’s the overall picture an average voter in Lousiana and Illinois and Indiana’s going to have of this bill?’ And so it’s going to be a picture of all the things that come out and how the media covers it. And that’s really important. If I read on the front page of the Indianapolis Star this study, and that’s all I see, I’m going to say this is very harmful to young people. If I see another study and it says they’re getting it for $ 50 a month or something, it’s something else.”

“This is going to be part of the campaign, but it’s not a one-month campaign,” he added, noting the importance of the 2014 midterm elections in determining the law’s fate. “What’s building up over between now and November is the picture that the various groups want in the public’s mind…[T]he campaign’s going to run between now and November 2014, where both sides are going to try to get the picture.”

PolicyMic

Health Experts Takedown Right-Wing Study Claiming Obamacare Hurts Young People

Cambodian opposition raises the stakes by claiming election win

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Cambodia’s main opposition party said on Wednesday it had won the weekend’s general election, stepping up its battle with the party of authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen that has also claimed victory and rejected allegations of electoral fraud.

Reuters: Top News

Cambodian opposition raises the stakes by claiming election win

Cambodian opposition raises the stakes by claiming election win

1 of 2. Military policemen stand in front of a poster of Cambodia’s long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen in central Phnom Penh July 30, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Samrang Pring

By Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH | Wed Jul 31, 2013 2:38am EDT

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Cambodia’s main opposition party said on Wednesday it had won the weekend’s general election, stepping up its battle with the party of authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen that has also claimed victory and rejected allegations of electoral fraud.

Yim Sovann, a lawmaker and spokesman for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), said the CNRP had won 63 seats in the 123-member parliament, with Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) getting 60.

The claim was based on its own data.

“This is according to figures of votes we collected from various provinces and this needs to be investigated,” Yim Sovann told Reuters.

The government announced on Sunday that the CPP had won 68 seats, a sharp fall from its previous tally of 90 but beating the CNRP’s 55.

The election campaign and voting on Sunday were largely peaceful but Phnom Penh remains tense because of the political stand-off. Police and the military are maintaining a presence on the streets, although business is mostly back to normal.

Hun Sen, 60, has been prime minister for 28 years and has crushed dissent in the past while building a network of government and military allies. He has kept out of sight since Sunday and made no comment on the election.

The CNRP was formed last year from the merger of two opposition parties. Long-time opposition leader Sam Rainsy returned from exile on July 19 to galvanize its campaign after a royal pardon that removed the threat of jail for what he called trumped-up charges relating to criticism of a new border the government agreed with Vietnam.

That pardon was recommended by Hun Sen, apparently under pressure from aid donors demanding a free and fair election, analysts said.

Sam Rainsy has demanded an inquiry into the election with United Nations involvement, alleging in particular that up to 1.3 million names were missing from the electoral rolls. The government has rejected that idea.

The United States and European Union have expressed concern about irregularities. Both have said an investigation should be conducted by Cambodia’s National Election Committee.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch called on Wednesday for an independent investigation, saying senior CPP officials appeared to have issued fake voting documents to supporters and had allowed some people to vote in more than one place.

“The multiple voting scheme suggests the possibility of systematic election fraud by the CPP and raises serious questions about the credibility of the election,” Brad Adams, its director for Asia, said in a statement.

“Since the National Election Committee and local election commissions are under the ruling party’s control, influential governments and donors should demand independent investigations into these and other credible allegations of election-related irregularities,” he said.

Even by the government’s own figures, Sunday’s vote was Hun Sen’s worst election result since Cambodia returned to full democracy in 1998 after decades of war and turmoil that included the 1975-79 “Killing Fields” rule of the Khmer Rouge.

Prolonged wrangling over the result and a weakened Hun Sen could raise uncertainty over policy in the small but fast-growing Southeast Asian country that has built up a thriving garment sector and forged economic ties with China and Vietnam.

(Editing by Alan Raybould and Paul Tait)

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Reuters: Top News

Cambodian opposition raises the stakes by claiming election win