So, Is Sean Penn Really a CIA Agent? Body Language Expert Reveals the Truth Behind El Chapo Interview

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By Regina F. Graham. Since it was revealed that Sean Penn secretly traveled to Mexico to interview Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán Loera for Rolling Stone, the actor has insisted that he had nothing to do with the drug kingpin’s recapture.

Speaking to CBS 60 Minutes’ Charlie Rose, Penn said his intention in tracking down the escaped drug kingpin and writing about him for Rolling Stone was to kick-start a discussion of the US government’s policy on the War on Drugs.

But the public’s attention has instead been focused on the fact that Penn found and met with Guzman for seven hours in a mountain hideout last October while he was still evading Mexican officials . . .

Susan Constantine, a body language expert, analyzed Penn’s interview with Rose for Radar Online to see if the two-time Oscar winning actor is just trying to cover his tracks.

She explained that throughout the interview, Penn appears to be very passionate and emotional and that she doesn’t think it was an act. (Read more from “So, Is Sean Penn Really a CIA Agent? Body Language Expert Reveals the Truth Behind El Chapo Interview” HERE)

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How Mexico Secretly Launched a Crackdown After Penn Met ‘El Chapo’

By Joshua Partlow. Four days after Sean Penn met with Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán last October, Mexican marine helicopters swooped in on the drug lord’s hideout atop a pine-studded peak in the Sierra Madre mountains.

Amid the barrage of gunfire aimed at the collection of four houses known as El Limón, Guzmán was able to make another unlikely escape. But the residents who live scattered in the forests below weren’t so lucky.

Starting that morning, local farmers said, the marines went on a shooting and looting spree that appeared like an act of collective punishment. The marines peppered homes and trucks with bullets, set fire to four-wheelers and stole money, jewelry, blankets and clothes, residents said. The military hemmed in villages, prohibiting people from leaving their homes for up to five days in their ferocious search for Guzmán, according to interviews over four days with residents in the tiny mountain villages. As many as 250 families, nearly 1,000 people, fled the mountains in search of safety, arriving in the nearest city, Cosala, starting Oct. 9, according to the municipal government’s welfare office.

“This did not seem like the Mexican government,” said Maria del Carmen Verenice, a 47-year-old housewife, who added that she crouched in a ditch while shots were fired on the village from helicopters, then spent the next two days hiding in the woods. “This was a terrorist government.”

The Mexican government discounted the allegations against the marines, saying they were unfounded. A Mexican official said the trafficker manipulates his followers to make such claims in order to keep the military out of this drug-producing region of Durango state. “In this moment I have no knowledge that there has been one person” displaced, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. (Read more from “How Mexico Secretly Launched a Crackdown After Penn Met ‘El Chapo'” HERE)

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Wal-Mart Just Made a MAJOR Announcement… This Will Be Horrible for Workers

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The world’s largest retailer is closing 269 stores, including 154 in the U.S. that includes all of its locations under its smallest-format concept store called Wal-Mart Express. The other big chunk is in its challenging Brazilian market.

The stores being shuttered account for a fraction of the company’s 11,000 stores worldwide and less than 1 percent of its global revenue. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said the store closures will affect 16,000 workers, 10,000 of them in the U.S. Its global workforce is 2.2 million, 1.4 million in the U.S. alone . . .

The announcement comes three months after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. CEO Doug McMillon told investors that the world’s largest retailer would review its fleet of stores with the goal of becoming more nimble in the face of increased competition from all fronts, including from online rival Amazon.com.

“Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business,” McMillon said in a statement. “Closing stores is never an easy decision. But it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future.”

Michael Exstein, an analyst at Credit Suisse, described the moves as “baby steps” in his report published Friday, but he believes they are positive ones. He noted that this is the first mass closing that Wal-Mart has announced in at least two decades. (Read more from “Wal-Mart Just Made a MAJOR Announcement… This Will Be Horrible for Workers” HERE)

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Watch: Man Uses Microchip Implanted in Hand to Pass Through Airport Security

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A man who implanted a microchip containing his airline booking details into his hand was able to use it to pass effortlessly through security to his flight.

Andreas Sjöström, vice president of digital for technology consulting company Sogeti, had the near-field communication chip (NFC) about the size of a grain of rice injected into his hand with a syringe, before using it at Stockholm Arlanda Airport to pass through security and board his plane.

The technology has been used before to make digital payments, control a mobile phone and unlock doors, in the same way contactless payment cards work. All it requires is a scanner to link up to that is compatible with the NFC.

Sjöström uploaded his Scandinavian Airlines EuroBonus member ID to the xNT implant and using NFC readers in the Swedish airport was able to register his boarding pass and passport by simply pressing his hand to a scanner.

Uploading a video of his effort to Youtube, Sjöström explained: “A few weeks ago I had an NFC chip implanted into my hand, just beneath the skin. In this video I use the chip to pass through Stockholm Arlanda airport, through security, at the lounge, and finally through the gate to the aircraft.” (Read more from “Watch: Man Uses Microchip Implanted in Hand to Pass Through Airport Security” HERE)

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This Is the REAL Cause for the Rise of ISIS, According to Lawsuit

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A lawsuit filed in the US District Court on Wednesday alleges Twitter knowingly allowed terrorist groups, such as ISIS, to use its micro-blogging service to spread extremist propaganda.

According to court documents, defense contractor Lloyd “Carl” Fields Jr. was killed in a November attack while training security forces in Jordan, an attack that ISIS has claimed responsibility for.

His widow, Tamara Fields seeks compensation and for a public judicial declaration that Twitter is violating the Anti-Terrorism Act, which would entitle her to damages if a family member was injured or killed by an act of international terrorism.

A Twitter spokesperson told The Next Web:

While we believe the lawsuit is without merit, we are deeply saddened to hear of this family’s terrible loss. Like people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups and their ripple effects on the Internet. Violent threats and the promotion of terrorism deserve no place on Twitter and, like other social networks, our rules make that clear. We have teams around the world actively investigating reports of rule violations, identifying violating conduct, partnering with organizations countering extremist content online, and working with law enforcement entities when appropriate.

(Read more from “This Is the REAL Cause for the Rise of ISIS, According to Lawsuit” HERE)

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Researchers: There’s No Such Thing as a Mid-Life Crisis

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Most doctors say a mid-life crisis might occur anywhere from age 37 all the way through your 50s, for men and women . . .

But researchers from the University of Alberta in Canada now say a mid-life crisis isn’t real… it’s just a myth!

They followed a group of high school students for 25 years and a group of college students for 14 years.

The participants were all asked the same question at different ages: How happy are you with your life?

They found that as the people aged, they became happier and more secure. (Read more from “Researchers: There’s No Such Thing as a Mid-Life Crisis” HERE)

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Rare Tropical System Forms Over Atlantic Ocean

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Subtropical Storm Alex has formed in the Atlantic Ocean, making it one of the earliest tropical systems to form in the Atlantic Hurricane Basin since records began in 1851 . . .

Alex is located well in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and doesn’t pose a threat to the United States; however, it will affect the Azores. According to Kottlowski, Alex will bring gale-force winds and several inches of heavy rain to the Azores.

Alex is the first tropical system to form over the Atlantic Ocean in January since Subtropical Storm One in 1978. The earliest tropical storm to form in January was Storm One on Jan. 3, 1939. (Read more from “Rare Tropical System Forms Over Atlantic Ocean” HERE)

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As Diseases Proliferate, Mosquitoes Becoming Public Enemy No. 1

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As diseases go, Zika virus was always considered minor league.

It didn’t make people all that sick; most infected people had no symptoms at all. Zika was confined to a relatively narrow belt that ran from equatorial Africa to Asia.

Today, Zika has spread to Central and South America and is linked to an alarming increase in once-rare birth defects in Brazil. Although Zika was first diagnosed in Brazil in May, it’s been linked to more than 3,500 cases of microcephaly, in which infants are born with small heads and immature brain development . . .

That country is also combating outbreaks caused by dengue and chikungunya viruses, which are known for causing fevers and debilitating joint pain. Dengue can be fatal.

The USA needs to prepare for a similar scenario, in which epidemics of multiple mosquito-borne diseases break out simultaneously, according to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who co-wrote a new report in The New England Journal of Medicine. (Read more from “As Diseases Proliferate, Mosquitoes Becoming Public Enemy No. 1” HERE)

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Watch: The Incredibly Haunting Video David Bowie Released Just DAYS Before His Death

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Rock legend David Bowie passed away at 69 on Sunday, but not before creating a music video, reflective of the death he faced.

In the song entitled Lazarus, from the Blackstar album released on his birthday last week, Bowie sings as he’s pulled from a hospital bed:

Look up here, I’m in heaven
I’ve got scars that can’t be seen
I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen
Everybody knows me now…

The story of Lazarus is synonymous with death and resurrection, based on the biblical account in John 11. Though he healed many, Jesus delayed going to see his very sick friend Lazarus of Bethany, because he had another plan in store. “This sickness is not unto death,” Christ said, “but for the glory of God, that the Son of Man may be glorified through it.”

Lazarus, in fact, died four days before Jesus arrived in Bethany. The teacher told Lazarus’ sister Martha not to be fearful, “I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?” He then went to the tomb, where her brother was buried, and called out, “Lazarus, come forth!” His friend emerged from the tomb in grave clothes to the astonishment of the crowd on hand. (Read more from “Watch: The Incredibly Haunting Video David Bowie Released Just DAYS Before His Death” HERE)

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Sickening: U.S. Frankenstein Laboratories Messing With the Stuff of Life, Creating Animal-Human Chimeras

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Research centers in the United States are now beginning the initial stages of combining human cells with animal embryos with the aim of eventually creating viable organs for transplant recipients. Thus far, all pregnancies achieved with such chimera embryos have not been brought to term.

For the time being, the federal government has declined funding for these grotesque experiments. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced that, until it can further review policies on embryonic animal and human combinations, federal grants will not be issued.

According to Carrie D. Wolinetz the Associate Director for Science Policy at the NIH, part of the reason the feds have decided to forgo such funding is because of “ethical and animal welfare considerations.” Other scientists, such as Dr. Sean Wu from Stanford University School of Medicine, are concerned about public opinion that putting human brain cells into animals might give them human cognition.

While current research may not show direct evidence of this, there have been at least two studies that show an increase in mouse intelligence after having human cells implanted into rodent brains. Incredibly, under current NIH policy, experiments intending to enhance animal intelligence with human brain cell implants would still be eligible for funding because they do not involve embryos.

Of course, the controversial research centers engaged in the creation of human-animal chimeras are still able to receive financial support through private sources. Although creating human organs for transplant may be an admirable goal, mixing animal species with humans is not. Left to their own devices, some U.S. researchers are certain to violate fundamental moral boundaries.

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Why You Should Avoid These Nonprofit Organizations

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If you’re tallying up your charitable donations to claim as a tax deduction or following through on a New Year’s resolution to be more giving, make sure your money is being put to good use. Some nonprofits might not spend your money the way you’d expect or even like, so it’s important to do your homework before you give.

1. Kids Wish Network . . .

The organization has spent less than 3 cents on the dollar helping children, according to an in-depth report, America’s Worst Charities, conducted by the Center for Investigative Reporting and the Tampa Bay Times. The report examined nonprofits’ financial data over the last decade. It found that most of the money goes into the pockets of the charity’s operators and for-profit companies that are hired to solicit donations . . .

[2]. Children’s Charity Fund

[A] report stated that family members were paid more than three times the amount spent on sick children’s wishes and medical care ini 2011, and state regulators have been scrutinizing the charity since its formation, with the latest incident reportedly involving solicitation issues in several states. The Children’s Charity Fund’s latest financial statement shows a $23,500 deficit due to overspending on functional expenses. (Read more from “Why You Should Avoid These Nonprofit Organizations” HERE)

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