THIS WEEK IN REVIEW

China has created artificial islands on reefs in the South China Sea, which it has declared as new sovereign territory. The US and Australia are planning to patrol the area, and China says it will respond with military force if warships come closer than twelve nautical miles. ZeroHedge 2015 Oct 15 (Story) (Cached)

President Obama announced that he is canceling his plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan during his presidency. He said that the current force of 9,800 will remain through 2016. [Our view is that he did not cancel his plan because he never really had such a plan in the first place. It was just campaign rhetoric.] CBS News 2015 Oct 15 (Story)

Theoretical physicist and former Princeton professor, Freeman Dyson, is a Democrat and Obama supporter who says that Obama is very wrong about global warming. He also says that pollution from fossil fuels should not be confused with global warming and that increasing levels of CO2 are beneficial, not harmful. Fox News 2015 Oct 15 (Story) (Cached)

Twenty Syrian migrants in a makeshift camp in Berlin are suing the Berlin government for taking too long to provide better shelter and benefits. Germany is separating Syrian war refugees from economic migrants from other areas of the Middle East and Africa. Odisfun 2015 Oct 14 (Story)

US: The Oath Keepers organization is introducing a program to teach high-school and college students how to defend themselves and fight back against shooters. The first chapter will be established at the Umpqua Community College in Oregon where nine students victims were killed earlier this month. Washington Times 2015 Oct 14 (Story) (Cached)

A small airline now is being paid by the Swedish government to fly migrants from the Middle East directly to Sweden where they are granted asylum. Is it any wonder the number of migrants continues to rise? InfoWars 2015 Oct 14 (Story) (Cached)

Georgia: Fifteen members of a group formed to defend the right to fly the Confederate flag were charged with terrorism by a grand jury. The charge is based on a verbal confrontation, during a motor parade, between the pro-flag group and participants at a party at the home of a black family. CBS News 2015 Oct 13 (Story)

UK: Landlords renting to illegal immigrants could face five years in jail. Prime Minister David Cameron is pushing a bill to create a ‘hostile environment’ for illegal immigrants. Under the proposed measures, migrants could face six months in prison for working illegally, and public-sector workers would be required to speak fluent English. AFP 2015 Oct 13 (Story) (Cached)

During the Democrat Presidential-candidate debate, former Virgina Governor, Jim Webb, defended the Second Amendment, saying that it is a right and tradition for Americans to defend themselves. He added: “There are people at high levels in this government who have bodyguards 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The average American does not have that and deserves the right to be able to protect their family.” CNN 2015 Oct 13 (Story)

Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the US, lost 10% of its market value today, a decline of $21 billion. Most of the loss was due to higher employee wages. About 500,000 store employees received raises as high as $9 an hour. Wal-Mart’s stock has fallen 30% this year which is a sign that investors believe that dividends will suffer in the wake of higher salaries. Fox Business 2015 Oct 13 (Story) (Cached)

India: The government’s new ‘gold monetization’ program is an attempt to persuade its citizenry to “recycle” their gold back into the economy so the country will not have to import so much. It is estimated that 20,000 tons of gold are held by citizens as their primary form of savings. The government and the banks want them to use their paper money, instead. It will be difficult to convince the Indian people that paper is better than gold. Only more advanced societies fall for that ploy. AFP 2015 Oct 13 (Story)

How to listen to (and delete) everything you have ever said to Google. Google records and stores the voice commands and comments of all users of Google Voice Search. Here is a quick guide to how to retrieve and delete that recording. Guardian 2015 Oct 13 (Story) (Cached)

Germany: 250,000 activists protested in Berlin over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) treaty being drafted by the European Union and the United States. Opponents say the trade deal will benefit large corporations at the expense of average citizens. Many trains and more than 600 buses were chartered to bring protesters to Berlin. Over three million people have signed an online petition calling on the European Commission to abandon the deal. True Activist 2015 Oct 12 (Story) (Cached)

US: The EPA spends $75 million per year on military weapons. These include guns, body armor, camouflage equipment, unmanned aircraft, radar, night-vision gear, and amphibious assault ships. When the agency comes knocking, it is further armed with a thousand lawyers, arrest-and-criminal data, and business-and-property histories. All this to protect the environment. Washington Times 2015 Oct 12 (Story) (Cached)

Greece: The government announced that it will prohibit civil servants and pensioners from withdrawing more than €150 per week from their banking and savings accounts. Any spending above that limit will have to be done through credit and debit cards. The government says this will combat tax evasion, but it also is the first phase of a larger plan to eliminate cash altogether. ZeroHedge 2015 Oct 12 (Story) (Cached)

The US military air-dropped 50 tons of ammunition to so-called moderate rebel groups in Syria, and an unidentified official gave his assurance that the weapons fell to ‘friendly’ forces. The US has a strange history of giving weapons to its enemies. Meanwhile, Russians are dropping bombs on the same forces that receive US weapons. Nothing is what it seems. ZeroHedge 2015 Oct 12 (Story) (Cached)

‘Peeple’ is an app to rate individuals on the web, similar to Yelp, but designed to allow negative comments (that would stay online indefinitely) even if the person being rated did not agree to participate. Because of the potential for abuse by competitors and pranksters, the Facebook account of the promoter of the concept was hit with thousands of negative comments, and the company’s website was shut down after it was attacked and hacked. Ironically, Peeple became the victim of its own idea. Daily Herald 2015 Oct 11 (Story) (Cached)

Ankara, Turkey: Unidentified terrorists set off twin bombs in a crowd of 14,000 pro-Kurd peace demonstrators that killed 95 and injured more than 500. The country now is on the verge of civil war, because the government is fighting the Kurds in the southern part of Turkey. The US and Kurdish forces are fighting ISIS in Iraq and Turkey. CNN 2015 Oct 11 (Story) (Cached)

Durham, Ontario, Canada: Raw-milk dairy farmer, Michael Schmidt, was raided by multiple law-enforcement agencies, but they backed down when they became outnumbered by protesters. When the police threatened the protesters, they volunteered to be arrested. HealthWorks posted 2015 Oct 10 (Story) (Cached)

Roseburg, Oregon, was the site of a school shooting last week that left nine people dead. Obama made a personal visit to Roseburg after saying he intended to politicize the tragedy to create support for gun control. Hundreds of people gathered for his arrival, not to welcome him, but to tell him to go home. Fox News posted 2015 Oct 10 (Story)