The Real Reason Putin Withdraws from Syria

Michael Pento-Global Currency Depreciation Derby

US Government Blames 9/11 On Iran, Fines Iran $10.5 Billion; Iran Refuses To Pay

On March 14th, Iran announced that it will never pay the $10.5B that a U.S. court demanded it pay for the 9/11 attacks.

The same Bill-Clinton-appointed judge who had ruled, on 29 September 2015, that Saudi Arabia has sovereign immunity for 9/11 and so can’t be sued for it, ruled recently, on March 9th that Iran doesn’t have sovereign immunity and fined Iran $10.5 billion to be paid to 9/11 victims and insurers; but, on March 14, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Iran won’t pay, because, as the Ministry’s spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari put it, "The ruling is ludicrous and absurd to the point that it makes a mockery of the principle of justice while [it] further tarnishes the US judiciary’s reputation.”

The United States is allied with Iran’s enemy Saudi Arabia, the largest purchaser of U.S.-made weapons, and also the top influence in the Gulf Cooperation Council of Arabic oil royal families regarding where they buy their weapons. Those purchases, which are crucial to the stockholders in Lockheed Martin and other U.S. weapons-makers, are determined basically by the Saud family, the owners of Saudi Arabia.

The Sauds, as the owners of the leading fundamentalist-Sunni country, including sole ownership of the world’s largest oil company Aramco, also own Islam’s two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, and are therefore the leaders of Islam worldwide, because all Muslims (not only fundamentalist Sunnis) are required to bow down in prayer five times every day facing Mecca — facing the Saud family and the clergy that authorize continued ownership of Saudi Arabia by the Saud family: the Wahhabist clergy. Back in 1744, the founder of Wahhabism, Muhammad Ibn Wahhab, and the founder of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad Ibn Saud, jointly swore an eternal oath that Saud’s descendants would own the country, and that Wahhab’s clergymen would grant them God’s approval of their ownership and of their right to conquer other lands to expand the faith. (Religions throughout history have mainly been spread by conquest.)

Part of that oath was also that the Sauds would exterminate Shia Muslims, so as to unify Islam worldwide as fundamentalist Sunnis, in order to enable a unified (100% Sunni) faith to take over the entire world. Iran is the center of Shia Islam, and so is especially the target of the Sauds to conquer and ‘convert’ the world to Wahhabism — which is called “Salafism” outside Saudi Arabia, and which is known outside Islam as simply fundamentalist Sunni Islam. Al Qaeda, ISIS, and other global-jihadist groups, all are Salafists; they’re all Sunni fundamentalists. Shia Islam has no real equivalent to this “global Caliphate” idea, the goal of conquering the world to ‘convert’ all lands someday to Islam. Jihadism, in that sense, doesn’t exist, except in the Sunni variant of Islam. Perhaps this is what Mr. Ansari meant by calling that judge’s verdict “ludicrous and absurd.” (However, Shia Islam tends to be more anti-Israeli  than does Sunni Islam; but, again, that’s no sort of global  aspiration; it’s strictly  Middle-Eastern.) (And, of course, historians, and the U.S. government, know these things, even if the U.S. public don’t — especially because it would be inconvenient for the U.S. government if the U.S. public knew what’s actually driving this nation’s foreign policies.)

According to the evidence (or alleged evidence) that the judge in this case, George B. Daniels, cited in his “Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law”  — in this case called “Fiona Havlish v. Usama Bin Laden”:

Iran has been waging virtually an undeclared war against both the United States and Israel for thirty years.

...

Iran wages this undeclared war through asymetrical, or unconventional strategies and terrorism, often through proxies such as Hizballah, Hamas [which is actually “a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist organization” and as such is devoted to the destruction of Shiite Iran as well as Jewish Israel], Al Qaeda [which is likewise Salafist], and others  [all of which are Salafist].

...

For more than two decades, the IRGC [Islamic Republican Guard Corps, run by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khameni] has provided funding and/or training for terrorism operations targeting American citizens, including Hizballah and Al Qaeda. [Hizballah has targeted American citizens who are serving in the U.S. military in Lebanon, because Hizballah is anti-Israeli, not because they are anti-American; and the U.S. military protect Israel. However, Al Qaeda targets non-Sunnis everywhere, and this also means that Al Qaeda is anti-Shia and aims to conquer Iran too: Al Qaeda is Salafist, dedicated to the conquest of all non-Sunni nations. Iran doesn’t fund or train its own enemies, such as Al Qaeda and ISIS.] … The factual reality — as found by the 9/11 Report — is that ’the relationship between Al Qaeda and Iran demonstrated that Sunni-Shia divisions did not necessarily pose an insurmountable barrier to cooperation between terrorist organizations.' 

...

While Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda were headquartered in Sudan in the early 1990s, Hassan al-Turabi fostered the creation of a foundation and alliance for combined Sunni and Shi’a opposition to the United States and the West, an effort that was agreed to and joined by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, leaders of Al Qaeda, and by the leadership of Iran. … Thereafter, senior Al Qaeda operatives and trainers traveled to Iran to receive training in explosives. … In 1993, in a meeting in Khartoum, Sudan, arranged by Ali Mohamed, a confessed Al Qaeda terrorist and trainer now in a U.S. prison, … Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri met directly with Iran’s master terrorist Imad Mughniyah and Iranian officials. [Wikipedia’s article on that witness, Ali Mohamed, says: "Ali Abdul Saoud Mohamed, is a double agent who worked for both the CIA and Egyptian Islamic Jihad simultaneously, reporting on the workings of each for the benefit of the other.” He would tell U.S. interrogators whatever they wanted to hear — such as that Iran was significantly involved in the 9/11 plot.]

Iran’s news-report on March 14th summarizes that U.S. court decision by saying:

The court ruling is based on the 9/11 Commission Report which stated that some attackers moved through Iran and did not have their passports stamped.

The verdict comes as none of the 19 hijackers on September 11 were Iranian citizens. Fifteen were from Saudi Arabia, while two from the United Arab Emirates [another Salafist-run country] and one each from Egypt and Lebanon [Salafists from each]. 

That alleged permission for “some attackers” to move freely through Iran instead of requiring them to use other countries to transit, is the basis of the court’s blaming Iran for 9/11, even though nothing is alleged in the court’s findings, that Iran participated in the 9/11 attacks, and also despite the following being noted even in the judge’s findings:

“Although Al Qaeda operatives Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh (now Guantanamo detainees) denied any reason, other than Iran’s refraining from stamping passports, for the hijackers to have traveled through Iran or any relationship between the hijackers and Hizballah, … their denials are not credible. ... The actions of Iranian border authorities in refraining from stamping the passports of the Saudi hijackers vastly increased the likelihood of the operational success of the 9/11 plot.”

Therefore, the U.S. government blames 9/11 on Iran, and only  on Iran (not at all on the Sauds and their Salafist friends).

However, according to the bookkeeper and bagman for Al Qaeda — the man who travelled to collect in cash each one of the multi-million-dollar donations to Al Qaeda, with which donations the organization paid, as he said, the “salaries” of all of the fighters, including all of the 9/11 hijackers — almost all of the donors were members of the Saudi royal family, and a few of their friends. 

Among the named multimillion-dollar donors were: Prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud, Prince Waleed bin Tallal al-Saud, Prince Turki al-Faisal al-Saud, and Prince Mohammed al-Faisal al-Saud. Furthermore, he delivered sealed letters back-and-forth between bin Laden and Turki as well as "Abdullah, Fahd, okay, Salman [the present King], Waleed bin Talal, Bandar, Turki of course, and ... Shaykh Bin Baz, Shaykh Uthaimeen, Shaykh Shehri, and Shaykh Hammoud al-Uqlaa.”

Bin Laden was advising them on whom the next Saudi King should be. He also advised, on that, "Halad or Shaykh Abu Hasan, Shayk Mujahideen, Shaykh Aman, and Shaykh Abul Sef … they want to know who they should support.” However, ultimately, the deciders on whom the next King should be were “Ulema [the Wahhabist clergy], essentially they are the king maker, … the people who … certify the Islamic legality of the jihad of Osama bin Laden.”

He explained that the royals donated to bin Laden because he was spreading the faith and was therefore important to the Ulema — the clergy. That’s why they funded Al Qaeda — to spread the faith. For example, "Prince Nawaf" (bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz al-Saud), even though he, like “all the Prince(s), they were giving money” to Al Qaeda, was rejected  by the Ulema, "because Nawaf was known as a(n) extremely anti-Islamic person, okay, Sul — Sultan was being seen as a sodomite.” So, the ultimate people behind 9/11 were not only the Saud Princes but the Ulema — the kingmakers (who, however, are required to select the King only from among the Saud Princes).

But, like the Sauds, and their lesser royals (all of them likewise Salafist) who rule the other Arabic oil-kingdoms, the U.S. government wants to conquer (yet again, after the first  time, the 1953 coup) Iran; so, the U.S. court-system, in this decision, is declaring the Iranian government to be not just a cause, but — in effect — the sole cause, of 9/11. It’s a way to squeeze Iran, to keep it down until another ‘revolution’ there (hoped to be by the CIA, like the first one was).

And, as far as the 9/11-victim families are concerned: the U.S. government, obviously, has higher priorities than to be concerned about any sort of real “justice” for them. Punishing Iran (until it breaks, ‘America’s’ way) is far more important, to the powers-that-be in America. The victim-families can find their ‘justice’ only in heaven - if ever. (And, of course, the Salafists - including the 9/11 perpetrators - would have a different opinion regarding which individuals go to heaven, and which to hell.)

Credit to Zero Hedge

OBAMA’S PATH TO WAR

Last week, the deputy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brigadier General Hossein Salami boasted that Iran has ten times as many missiles as its Hezbollah proxy and threatened that those missiles “are ready to hit enemies and targets from different parts of the country.” By conservative estimates, Hezbollah has accumulated a stockpile of roughly 100,000 missiles. If Salami’s boasts are to be believed, that means that the Iranians have accumulated a staggering missile arsenal of 1,000,000 or roughly one missile for every 8.5 Israelis.

The antagonistic comments followed two Iranian missile launches fired from Iran’s eastern Alborz mountain range. The missiles are said to have a range of 2,000 kilometers and are believed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Written in both Hebrew and Farsi and emblazoned on the missiles was the phrase, “Israel must be wiped out from the face of the earth.”

If the threats written on the missiles were not clear enough, the head of the IRGC’s aerospace division, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, emphasized that the missile tests were designed to demonstrate that Israel was well within range of Iran’s missiles. He noted that the missiles were intended to “confront the Zionist regime” and that “Israel is surrounded by Islamic countries and it will not last long in a war. It will collapse even before being hit by these missiles.” Not to be outdone, other Iranian political and military officials weighed in with similar threats and bombast.

It appears that the launches were timed to coincide with Vice President Joe Biden’s recent trip to Israel. In response to the launches, Biden stated that “A nuclear-armed Iran is an absolutely unacceptable threat to Israel, to the region and the United States. And I want to reiterate which I know people still doubt here: If in fact they break the deal, we will act.” Biden however, qualified his remarks by stating, “And all their conventional activity outside of the deal is still beyond the deal, and we will and are attempting to act wherever we can find it.” The latter comment was deliberately designed to provide the administration with some wiggle room to argue that the Iranian missile launches constitute conventional weapons tests and therefore fall beyond the scope of the provisions of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Biden’s comments were typically long on rhetoric and short on action. Moreover, they convey a sense of ambiguity with no clear sense of direction. UNSC resolution 2231 clearly prohibits Iran from test firing nuclear capable ballistic missiles but In fact, the Iranians have conducted multiple nuclear-capable ballistic missile launches since the signing of the JCPOA. The Obama administration has all but ignored these transgressions opting instead to either overlook them or impose pinprick sanctions on specific individuals and entities that have had no meaningful effect on the Iranians. These sanctions are designed to mollify an increasingly restive and distrustful congress rather than make an impact on Iran’s nefarious ambitions.

Along with reestablishing diplomatic relations with the despotic Castro brothers, Obama has touted the JCPOA as his crowning foreign policy achievement and has conveyed the impression, by both word and deed, that he will do nothing to derail it even if the Iranians blatantly violate its terms. This mindset is precisely what worried many experts and policy makers before the Iran deal was signed. More importantly, the Iranians are cognizant of this fact and continued American and international inaction in the face of repeated Iranian violations of the JCPOA will only invite further breaches.

The Iranians are currently testing the administration and are well aware that Obama will remain complacent during his remaining time in office. The missile launches are part of a multi-pronged effort by the Iranians to see just how far they can push the envelope and judging by the U.S. response thus far, it appears that they’ve got a lot more room for maneuver.

Iran’s repeated breaches of the JCPOA must be viewed in the wider context of its regional and international machinations. Its support of the Assad regime in Syria has directly led to the emergence of ISIS and has invited Russian involvement. Its support of proxy armies and terror groups in Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen and Iraq represents an attempt to secure wider regional domination and control of two important regional waterways – the Bab Al Mandab strait and the Strait of Hormuz, chokepoints controlling much of the world’s maritime traffic.

The Iranians are recognized as the world’s premier state-sponsor of international terrorism, having hatched dozens of terror plots in countries across five continents. The latest plot was uncovered by Bahraini authorities on January 6. They managed to crack an Iranian-Hezbollah scheme to foment unrest in the kingdom through a series of bombings. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet and more than 7,000 U.S. service members are deployed there. The site’s choosing by Iran was no accident.

Iran’s seizure of 10 U.S. sailors and their heavily armed assault boats in the Arabian Gulf on January 12 under still as yet unclear circumstances represents another Iranian attempt to test American resolve. Obama allowed the humiliation to go unanswered and his secretary of state even thanked the Iranians thus further emboldening the mullahs.

Obama tried to sell the American public on the nonsensical notion that the JCPOA would usher in more moderate Iranian leaders but the opposite has in fact occurred. The Iranians have only grown more extreme in both rhetoric and action and their latest missile test launches buttress this fact. The only thing the JCPOA has managed to accomplish is fill Iran’s coffers with $150 billion and allow the mullahs to conduct secret nuclear experiments at their top secret Parchin facility, a facility that still remains off limits to international inspectors despite the JCPOA.

Obama’s precious JCPOA, the crown jewel of his meek foreign policy accomplishments, has made the world a more dangerous place. Like the Munich Diktat of 1938 it will lead us to the path of war. It is now only a matter of “When” not “If,” and judging by the administration’s vacillation and fecklessness, the “When” will likely arrive sooner than we think.

Credit to frontpagemag.com

http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/262161/obamas-path-war-ari-lieberman

Sanhedrin Performs Rare Biblical Commandment Not Seen For 2,000 Years

“This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.” Exodus 12:2 (The Israel Bible™)

Men gather to celebrate the new month. (Photo: Sanhedrin)

Last Thursday, a Biblical commandment that hasn’t been seen in 2,000 years was fulfilled. In the Cardo neighborhood of the Old City of Jerusalem, two witnesses stood before the Sanhedrin and gave testimony that established the beginning of the new month.

Setting the new month by witnesses is considered by Rashi, a prominent commentator on the Bible, to be the first mitzvah (Biblical commandment) the Nation of Israel received after leaving Egypt. With great spiritual meaning, establishing the calendar is far more than a convenience. It is so important that it takes precedence over the Sabbath. In Biblical times, witnesses were permitted to break the Sabbath in order to arrive in Jerusalem and stand before the Sanhedrin.

Professor Hillel Weiss, spokesman and secretary of the Sanhedrin, explained the significance to Breaking Israel News.

“On a simple level, without this mitzvah, we are saying that God does not exist in nature or the passage of time, that nature runs like mechanical clockwork,” Professor Weiss said.

On a technical level, the event was a step in the process of correcting the Hebrew calendar. By Biblical law, the new month for the Hebrew calendar was established by reliable witnesses appearing before the Sanhedrin. Hillel II, president of the Sanhedrin in the fourth century, established a written calendar based on astronomical calculations. This calendar, still in use, standardized the length of months and the addition of months in leap years over the course of a 19-year cycle, so that the lunar calendar realigns with the solar years.

In the times of the Temple, the new month would be established by both calculation and by witnesses appearing before the Sanhedrin. When the Temple was destroyed and the Sanhedrin disbanded, the Hebrew calendar was figured solely according to the astrological calculations and the template established by Hillel II.

It is remarkable that Hillel II’s calculations stood for as long as they did. However, 1,700 years later, there are discrepancies between his calendar and the astronomical reality. This is a serious problem the Sanhedrin is taking steps to gradually fix.

“Though we have received witnesses in the past, this is the first time we have done so publicly, which is an essential part of the mitzvah,” Professor Weiss explained.

“The only thing lacking is for all of Israel to agree on one central authority for this,” he continued. “This is just one of many mitzvot we neglect merely because we haven’t done them for so long. There is no other reason not to do this and raise Judaism.”

Professor Weiss expanded on the idea. “For 2,000 years we practiced Judaism a certain way. Even though we are in Israel, the Torah and mitzvot are still in galut (diaspora). There are many practical things we could do, and in truth, should do, to make Judaism richer and more like it was in the times of the Temple.”

Joshua Wander, a resident of the Mount of Olives who attended, thought the event was clearly necessary. “Things come up when you actually do these things, dilemmas that you could never anticipate from just sitting in Yeshiva and learning from a book.

“For example, the witnesses were questioned by the Sanhedrin. They were asked where in the sky it was, what direction the moon was facing, what time it was exactly. It seemed that the witnesses were not prepared for this level of questioning, which is dictated by the Talmud. One of them asked if he could look at a photo from his cell phone. After consultation, the Sanhedrin ruled that it was permissible.”

The Sanhedrin’s declaration of the new month was preceded by a ceremony recreating the Temple service. The ceremony, intended for instructional and not religious purposes, did not include slaughtering an animal, though in many other respects it was absolutely authentic. The musical instruments, and vessels, provided by the Temple Institute, were made to Biblical specifications. The priests were kohanim, members of the Jewish priestly class. Dressed in holy garments, they performed the priestly blessing. A small scale model of the altar was also set up, and a grain offering was burnt on it.



Credit to Breakingisraelnews.com
Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/63610/sanhedrin-performs-rare-biblical-commandment-not-seen-2000-years-jewish-world/#BMr8tw1U9wY5Jqm1.99

Brussels Plot To Create "United States Of Europe"

If there’s one person who exemplifies anti-refugee sentiment in Europe more than anyone else, it’s not Frauke Petry, it’s not Geert Wilders, and it’s not Lutz Bachmann. It’s Viktor Orban.

Orban raised eyebrows in September of last year, when the Hungarian PM built a 110-mile, razor wire migrant-be-gone fence along his country’s border with Serbia.

But the fireworks began in earnest when dozens of refugees decided to try and break through the barrier. When the asylum seekers tested Orban’s resolve, riot police responded with water cannons and tear gas and that, as they say, was that when it came to traversing Hungary along the Balkan route to Germany.

From that point forward, migrants were diverted through Croatia and Slovenia on the way to Austria and Germany. Some applauded Orban’s efforts to protect the integrity of Hungary’s borders, but many decried what they viewed as an inhumane and xenophobic response to a pressing humanitarian crisis.

To put it lightly, Orban didn’t care about his critics.

In fact, he doubled down on the rhetoric, insisting that his approach was necessary to “preserve Western Europe’s Christian heritage.”

In his most recent slap in the face to Angela Merkel and anyone else in the bloc who supports her open-door policy, Orban called for a referendum on Europe’s quota system.

"Nobody has asked the European people so far whether they support, accept, or reject the mandatory migrant quotas," Orban proclaimed, at a press conference late last month. "The government is responding to public sentiment now: we Hungarians think introducing resettlement quotas for migrants without the backing of the people equals an abuse of power."

“This is a fundamental, unavoidable, essential question of Hungarian politics: can anyone else decide for Hungarians who we Hungarians should or should not live with?,” he asked.

Not one to let sleeping dogs lie, Orban is back at it, this time positing a Brussels conspiracy to turn the bloc into the “United States of Europe.”

Speaking at an event to celebrate Hungary’s 1848 revolution against the Habsburgs, Orban proclaimed that “the time has come to ring the alarm bells and gather allies" in an effort to thwart Brussels’ scheme. "If we want to stop the mass migration, first we must put the brakes on Brussels," he said.

As AP notes, “Hungary granted some sort of international protection to just 508 people last year.” Those who received protection were “real refugees,” the country says, drawing a distinction between those asylum seekers and the river of migrants that’s now cut off from the country via Orban’s fences on the Serbian and Croatian borders. Here are more excerpts from today’s speech at the National Museum:

"The truth is not allowed to be said."

"It is forbidden to say that immigration brings crime and terror to our countries. It is forbidden to say that the arriving masses from other cultures are a threat to our way of life, our culture, our habits and our Christian traditions."

"Mass migration is a slow water which erodes the shore with a persistent flow. It masquerades as a humanitarian issue but its true nature is to occupy space."




Meanwhile, EU President Donald Tusk traveled to both Cyprus and Turkey on Tuesday ahead of yet another summit in Ankara on Thursday where EU leaders will once again attempt to hammer out some kind of deal to stop the flow of migrants into Western Europe with Turkisk PM Ahmet Davutoglu who will, as always, simple parrot whatever Erdogan told him to say.

In any event, Orban seems close to being in open rebellion against the powers the be in Brussels and looks hell bent on stoking a nationalistic furor among Hungarians.

When the PM speaks of "gathering allies," he won't have to look far. The far-right is on the rise across the bloc and if Brussels doesn't start paying attention, a whole bunch of eurocrats may find themselves out in the cold - with the migrants.

Credit to Zero Hedge

N.KOREA THREATENS TO TURN MANHATTAN TO ASHES

Prescription Painkiller Crisis: Why Do Americans Consume 80 Percent Of All Prescription Painkillers?

If Americans are so happy, then why do we consume 80 percent of the entire global supply of prescription painkillers?  Less than 5 percent of the world’s population lives in this country, and yet we buy four-fifths of these highly addictive drugs.  In the United States today, approximately 4.7 million Americans are addicted to prescription pain relievers, and that represents about a 300 percent increase since 1999.  If you personally know someone that is suffering from this addiction, then you probably already know how immensely destructive these drugs can be.  Someone that was formally living a very healthy and normal life can be reduced to a total basket case within a matter of weeks.

And of course many don’t make it back at all.  According to the CDC, more than 28,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses in 2014.  Incredibly, those deaths represented 60 percent of all drug overdose deaths in the United States for that year…

A report released by the US Centers for Disesase Control and Prevention (CDC) in January revealed that drug-overdose deaths reached a new high in 2014, totaling 47,055 people. Opioids, a type of powerful painkiller that requires a prescription, were involved in 60% of those deaths.

Many Americans that start out on legal opioids quickly find themselves moving over to heroin because it is often cheaper and easier to obtain, and the U.S. is now facing a tremendous epidemic of heroin abuse as well.  In fact, the number of Americans that die of a heroin overdose nearly quadrupled between 2000 to 2013.

Finally, the federal government has started to take notice of this crisis.  A bill was recently passed to spend more than a billion dollars over the next two year fighting this problem.

But as long as doctors are writing thousands upon thousands of new prescriptions for these painkillers each year, this crisis is not going to go away any time soon.

In the Appalachians, these prescription painkillers are commonly known as “hillbilly heroin“, and all of the attention that the New Hampshire primaries received focused a lot of attention on how this crisis is destroying countless numbers of lives up in the Northeast.  But one survey found that the states with the biggest problems with painkiller addiction are actually in the West…

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a survey of approximately 67,500 people across the United States, found that the states with the highest rates of narcotic painkiller abuse were in the West – Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.

Unless you are about to die, I would very strongly recommend that you resist any attempt by your doctor to put you on these “medications”.  Just consider what happened to one stay-at-home mother named Norah Mangan…

I am an educated, suburban wife and stay-at-home mother of four. Life had been good to me until a fateful visit with an orthopedic physician, my chief complaint being mild arthritic pain in my toes. My physician handed me the first of many monthly prescriptions for Oxycodone and what followed that appointment was a rapid descent into hell. Within six months, I had become a raving drug addict.

Before too long, Norah had to turn to means that were less than legal in order to keep fueling her addiction.  Her life was turned into a complete and utter disaster by drugs that were legally prescribed to her…

It wasn’t long before my legal monthly prescription fell woefully short in terms of keeping my life altering pain at bay. In the interest of not incriminating myself, I’ll simply share that when procured through other means, Oxycodone generally sells for one dollar per milligram. I was draining our savings and was out of my mind. I was so tortured that I didn’t care about the deterioration of my moral values, in fact, I didn’t even notice. It’s hard to imagine that in such a short period of time I had morphed from a Mrs. Cleaver, baking hot cinnamon buns in anticipation of my children’s arrival home from school, to Scarface crushing pills on the glass top of the executive desk in our home office while thinking to myself as I heard them arrive from school…why oh why are they home already? 

You can read the rest of her amazing story right here…

The truth is that we are the most drugged people on the face of the planet.  It has been estimated that 52 million Americans over the age of 12 have used prescription drugs in non-medical ways, and this problem gets worse with each passing year.

According to research that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 59 percent of all U.S. adults are currently on at least one prescription drug, and 15 percent of all U.S. adults are on at least five prescription drugs.  And the numbers are far worse for older Americans.  The following statistics come from one of my previous articles…

–According to the CDC, approximately 9 out of every 10 Americans that are at least 60 years old say that they have taken at least one prescription drug within the last month.

–There is an unintentional drug overdose death in the United States every 19 minutes.

–In the United States today, prescription painkillers kill more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined.

–According to the CDC, approximately three quarters of a million people a year are rushed to emergency rooms in the United States because of adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs.

–The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than in any other country in the world.

–Children in the United States are three times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants as children in Europe are.

–A shocking Government Accountability Office report discovered that approximately one-third of all foster children in the United States are on at least one psychiatric drug.

–A survey conducted for the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that more than 15 percent of all U.S. high school seniors abuse prescription drugs.

We are a deeply unhappy nation that has been trained to turn to pills as a “quick fix” for our hurt and our pain.

Yes, there are medical situations that call for prescription pain relievers.  But what we are seeing in America today goes far, far beyond that.  We are a nation of addicts that is always in search of a way to fill the gaping holes that we feel deep in our hearts.  This prescription pain killer crisis is just another symptom of a much deeper problem.

So what is the solution?

Credit to Economic Collapse