New United Airlines policy offers $10k compensation for forfeiting seat

New United Airlines policy offers $10k compensation for forfeiting seat
Source: RT
April 27, 2017

United Airlines will offer up to US$10,000 compensation to passengers who voluntarily give up their seat when a flight has been overbooked. The new policy comes weeks after a man was dragged from one of the company’s planes, sparking a PR disaster.

The company has also vowed to reduce its level of overbooking, insisting that customers already seated give up their spot only in cases where passengers’ safety and security is at risk.

David Dao was forcibly removed from a United Airlines plane by three Chicago aviation police officers on April 9 after the airline overbooked the flight. Disturbing footage of the man’s ordeal went viral, resulting in widespread condemnation of the airline.

Dao suffered a “significant” concussion, a “serious” broken nose and lost two front teeth in the ordeal, according to his lawyers.

United has since reviewed the incident and published an action report, detailing “10 substantial changes to how it flies, serves and respects its customers.”

“We can never apologize enough for what occurred and for our initial response that followed. United Airlines takes full responsibility for what happened,” reads the opening statement of the report.

United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz was criticized for his initial apology which described the violent removal as simply an effort to “re-accommodate” passengers. However, he followed it up with another apology after the company’s stocks took a nosedive – at one point dropping by over $800 million.

Munoz has described the overhaul of policy as a “turning point” to becoming a “more customer focused airline.”

“Every customer deserves to be treated with the highest levels of service and the deepest sense of dignity and respect.

Two weeks ago, we failed to meet that standard and we profoundly apologize. However, actions speak louder than words. Today, we are taking concrete, meaningful action to make things right and ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”

United’s revised policy to increase the compensation to as much as $10,000 for customers willing to volunteer to take a later flight will come into effect on April 28. Passengers on Dao’s flight were offered only $800 in travel credit plus the cost of meals and hotel accommodations for the evening.

The move follows the example of Delta Airlines who changed its incentive policy earlier this month to offer up to $10,000 to passengers who give up their seats.

The United scandal has also prompted Southwest Airlines – the US airline with the highest forced bumping rate, to review its policy. The company announced, Thursday, that it will stop overbooking flights “very shortly.”

United has already implemented aspects of the new policy, including limiting use of law enforcement officers to safety and security issues and requiring all crew members traveling for work to book in at least 60 minutes before departure.

The company will also provide annual ongoing training for employees to help them deal with difficult situations, beginning in August.

Read More at: RT.com

Book Review: UFOs For The 21st Century Mind by Richard Dolan

UFOs21CM
TheBreakaway | BreakawayConciousness
Zy Marquiez
April 4, 2017

In UFOs & The National Security State: Chronology Of A Cover-up – Volume 1, Richard Dolan carried out his opening salvo into the field of UFOlogy.  Seeking a veritable encyclopedia  of verifiable UFO sightings and never finding one, Dolan wrote a book based upon all data he collated from all the previous research he had undertaken.  In essence, he wrote the book he was looking for in UFOlogy, but wasn’t available.

In UFO’s & The National Security State – Volume 2, Dolan further cemented himself as a genuine historian by buttressing his previous work with another landmark piece.  Like his other books, this book is sourced to the hilt, which is appreciated for those seeking to venture further into the abstruse.  Moreover, this book is also the book in which the term “Breakaway Civilization” was coined.  A notable point to be sure, because that idea has been used by others seeking truth within this field and others, and it’s helped shed light into darker areas in this field.  What’s more, the ‘encyclopedia’ that Dolan began in volume one continued.

Thence, in A.D. After Disclosure, Dolan and his author Bryce Zabel sought to examine how the day after “the Others” are announced might play out, and they carry out the examination in salient fashion.  This book features a very sober analysis to many of the probable scenarios that will play out in a post-disclosure worked.  Anyone seeking to understand the possibilities such a sobering day will bring should ruminate upon getting this book.

Now, in UFOs For The 21st Century Mind, Dolan wrote a book to grapple the mind of newer generations and readers, the unexposed minds, the interested minds that have long sought to dive into “the phenomenon” but didn’t know where to start.

Along this stream of thought, this book strikingly brings about a fresh new look at UFOs, with modern eyes, employing a much broader perspective and dataset than the average UFO book.  Dolan doesn’t simply stick to classic sightings, abductions and declassified documents, but goes beyond to ruminate upon the realm of consciousness, quantum entanglement and more.  This book really is an up-to-date assessment of the situation from a multiplicity of angles.

Dolan begins the book by examining what UFOs could be by guiding the reader closer to the subject thoughtful and yet trenchant manner.  This helps the reader familiarize themselves with the subject and come to realize that there are a variety of explanations for UFO phenomena, many of which do not get considered   at length, if at all.  Additionally, this is also crucial because many individuals still continue to experience the phenomena in a variety of ways, and yet there aren’t any official channels to seek help from.

In Dolan’s own words:

“Whether or not you consider UFOs to be nonsense or of great importance, people are seeing things that are affecting them deeply.  Because there are no institutional structures for them to report or discuss what they see, they often keep silent, and try to forget or only secretly cherish one of the most incredible experiences of their lives.”[1]

Dolan, however, doesn’t shy away from the fact that this is a very serious issue.  While ruminating deeply upon it, he ponders reasons both pro and con that will help bring lucidity to a situation often bathed in shadows.  In fact, implications in the fields of economy, politics, religion, culture and science are given a cursory overview early on, and then are covered at length later in the book.  Dolan doesn’t merely stop there, though.

Journeying back in time, Dolan goes on to explore this phenomenon all the way back into ancient times and attempts to separate the wheat from the chaff.  This is important because it shows UFOs aren’t merely a modern phenomena.   In addition, salient subjects such as pyramids, lost civilizations, and ancient images goes to show that there probably is more than meets the eye within this field.

Interestingly, we know that some pyramids contain astronomical data.  This is particularly interesting because when this information is taken in conjunction with much of the lore and myths that abound those structures, and the fact that there’s hundreds of pyramids around the globe, and the fact that many of the core of the myths echoes nigh carbon copy traditions,  it should bring one pause.  Granted, it’s not proof, but very suggestive evidence nonetheless.

What’s more, some ancient writings seem to have what could be descriptions of ancient technology, such as the passage from Ezekiel, from the Bible, which Josef Blumrich, former NASA employee, sought to debunk.

Ironically, in the book The Spaceships of Ezekiel:

“Blumrich presented technical specifications of the spacecraft that he argued, fit Ezekiel’s description perfectly.  Of course, we should remember that Ezekiel presumably was describing something well beyond his experience for his time 2,500 years ago.  If he did see a descending spacecraft, he would have lacked the language or technological understanding to describe it in any way other than he did.”[2]

Later in the book, Dolan brings the reader up to more modern times when he examines a distinct array of sightings  and issues from the time.  These include ghost rockets, the Airship mysteries, which are rather fascinating in fact, the Minot case, the Malmstrom case, airspace violations and more.  Subsequent to that that, Dolan grapples with the issue of pervasive secrecy which he ruminates upon at length, and all that that entailed.  Many of the classics – Kecksburg, Aztec, Roswell – are also given a cursory glance.

But it doesn’t stop there.  Other significant incidents of “High Strangeness” get examined, such as some famous sightings around the globe, encounters with these beings, abductions [i.e. Travis Walton & Betty & Barney Hill] and even some crash retrievals.  All of this coalesces to allow the reader to note that there’s more than ample evidence to show that the phenomena not only existed for many decades, but was taken extremely seriously by those in the upper echelons of society.

Dolan also makes sure to hone in on quite of few aspects of the early period within UFOlogy’s history.  Here he covers everything from the blatant cover that took place behind the scenes, FOIA requests, the penetration of UFO groups by intelligence agencies and even touches upon the need for more people to get involved in a more serious manner.

This call to arms isn’t to be taken lightly because, as Dolan intimates:

“…a proper study of UFOs is a revolutionary experience.  It shatters old belief systems and forces us to look at our world in a completely new way.  Everything is affected: history, politics, economics, science, religion, culture, and our ultimate vision of who and what we are as human beings.”[3]

This subject seeps into all aspects of life, which is why it should be taken seriously.  When all collated information Dolan has amassed is pondered at length and given a fair shot, it is impossible not see something is going on.  Deeper truths lie locked-up within the rabbit holes of the field.  Undoubtedly, whenever some of these truths arise they will change the face of the world over night.  Those that are researching this field will be ahead of the pack in understanding the phenomenon and much of the disinformation that will also come regarding it, in the future.  That is another point to consider why this book should be read.

This subject is too important to overlook, and if humanity is ever going to prepare itself to live in a post-disclosure era, it is important to know the history of this subject and its implications.  If you’ve never read a book on this subject in your life, make this your first one.  You will not regret it.  As someone whose read over three dozen books on the subject, nothing else comes close to be this comprehensive while also being sober and realistic. Simply stated, if you want a book that is accessible to lay person, but also stimulating enough to get your brain cells churning, get this book.

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Footnotes:

[1] Richard Dolan, UFOs For The 21st Century Mind, p. 9
[2] Ibid., p. 55.
[3] Ibid., p. 2.

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This article is free and open source. You are encouraged and have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and TheBreakaway.wordpress.com.
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About The Author:

Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, researcher, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, humanitarian, and freelance writer who studies and mirrors regularly subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.

His own personal blog is BreakawayConsciousnessBlog.wordpress.com where his personal work is shared, while TheBreakaway.wordpress.com serves as a media portal which mirrors vital information usually ignored by mainstream press, but still highly crucial to our individual understanding of various facets of the world.

I Was Sprayed With Insecticide Flying to Australia: Linked to Brain Tumors, Parkinson’s

spray1-696x928-1

Source: TheMindUnleashed.com
Cassius Methyl
March 7, 2017

Last week I took a flight from California to Australia.

spraying 1111

After a long 14 hour flight, everyone stood up and eagerly anticipated leaving the plane. Instead of getting off, we were informed that the plane would be sprayed with a “non toxic” insecticide.

insecticide

I quickly grabbed my thick jacket, put my hood over my head, covered my face and made sure every breath I took was filtered through the jacket. Flight attendants walked up and down the isles, spraying the luggage bins and the passengers almost directly.

I waited for about 10 minutes while they made us sit in the fumes. I heard a few people cough. When we finally got up to leave the plane, a flight attendant asked me if I was ok because I was covering my face and I said “of course, just avoiding breathing this, it’s toxic.”

He matter of factly responded “it’s non toxic.” I replied “of course it’s toxic, everything that is an insecticide is toxic.”

What I should have showed him is that flight attendants like him have gotten brain tumors and Parkinson’s Disease, and sued the government for mandating use of insecticide on flights.

According to a December 2013 article from the Daily Telegraph titled “Landmark legal case will probe the link between Parkinson’s disease and insecticide sprays used on long-haul flights”:

“LONG-haul flight attendants who have been forced to spray insecticide through aircraft cabins every time they landed in Australia fear the chemicals may have given them Parkinson’s disease.

And experts have warned any frequent international flyer exposed to repeated doses of insecticide within an enclosed aircraft cabin could also face the same risk.

Former Qantas steward Brett Vollus has been diagnosed with the disease, which can leave victims immobile, speechless or with tremors, and is preparing to launch a legal action against the Commonwealth government, which enforces the need for spraying to prevent disease.

Mr Vollus, 52, worked as flight attendant with Qantas for 27 years up until May this year and was referred to a neurosurgeon as the symptoms of Parkinson’s began to kick in.

Checks also uncovered a malignant brain tumour.”

The former flight attendant Brett Vollus continued:

“We all blindly sprayed this insecticide as we landed in Australia after every long-haul flight. Why wasn’t I warned that it could give me this disease?

This is a nightmare that has ruined my life. I am very keen to start a legal action and if it can help others I am happy to lead the way.”

It’s oddly difficult to research online exactly what insecticides are sprayed on flights. The practice is decades old, with the infamous pesticide DDT being sprayed on flights to Australia from the 1940’s to 70’s .

According to Mother Jones:

“Exposing travelers on domestic flights to dangerous chemicals is not new. From 1944 until the late 1970s, airlines sprayed DDT on their planes, sometimes even while passengers were on board.

And from 1986 to 1996, Northwest Airlines used Bolt, a pesticide that contains chlorpyrifos, a potential nervous system poison. In 1994, the Journal of Pesticide Reform reported that chlorpyrifos may cause symptoms ranging from nausea to convulsions, and may also produce birth defects and other genetic damage in humans.”

The most detailed info I could find about what exactly is being sprayed comes from the first hand experience of a passenger, published at Health Nut News in an article titled “Woman removed by 6 Policemen off her flight for questioning what was being sprayed on her.” Reading from it:

“The most common pesticides used on airplanes are the synthetic pyrethroids permethrin and d-phenothrin (they kill insects by attacking their nervous systems) and studies have linked permethrin with Parkinson’s disease. But remember, the World Health Organization says it’s just fine.

Since the spraying began, passengers have reported flu-like symptoms, sinus issues, rash/hives, headaches, and swollen joints- and that’s just some of what’s been reported; far more serious issues like acute respiratory problems and anaphylactic shock have also occurred. But don’t worry, the WHO says there is no evidence that spraying insecticide in enclosed spaces, onto people, is dangerous.”

spray1-696x928-1

The Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources is the agency responsible for overseeing the spraying of insecticide on flights. An Australian government entity that regulates and influences pesticide use is called the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority.

Sometimes the passengers sit in toxic fumes for the duration of a flight, instead of being sprayed for minutes at the end. According to Traveler:

“What happens now is the Department of Agriculture grants approval to airlines to perform their own disinfection treatment. Disinfection spraying is carried out at the last overseas airport before departure for Australia.

Treatment takes place after catering has been loaded, with the airconditioning system switched off, the overhead bins open and before passengers have boarded. If the required disinfection has not been carried out, the aircraft will be sprayed on arrival prior to passenger disembarkation.”

Another recently developed pesticide in Australia is being hyped as a non toxic alternative, Sero-X. It is made from peptides that naturally occur in a plant. This is probably not going to be sprayed on airplanes though.

In concept it sounds like a viable alternative to neonicotinoids or organophosphates, but if you know the history of pesticides you might find it hard to believe in something like that.

Please share this with any person flying to Australia, because it benefits us to know exactly what we ingest, and how bad ideas become a routine aspect of life we are coerced into accepting.

Read More At: TheMindUnleashed.com

Image credit: Wiki, NT, NH365, TL, Source

Airbus’ Flying Car

Source: GizaDeathStar.com
Dr. Joseph P. Farrell
January 24, 2017

When Mr. R.P. sent the following article to me, I said, “yea, right” to myself in a somewhat skeptical and cynical voice. After all, I’m of that generation that grew up reading The Weekly Reader in elementary school. For a younger generation, it’s difficult to recapture the atmosphere of scientific and technological optimism that pervaded the country after President Kennedy made his now famous speech about landing humans on the Moon and returning them safely to Earth. There were stories everywhere of flying cars, Moon colonization, and missions to Mars which would shortly follow the first Moon landings and so on. Maglev bullet trains would whisk us from New York to San Francisco in a few hours, rivaling air travel. It was an era of unbridled and probably unrealistic optimism.

And it was all there in our Weekly Readers.

So, needless to say, when I see the occasional article about flying cars – and there have been quite a few since the 1960s – I tend to roll my eyes and dismiss the whole thing. Patents have been taken out; flying cars have even been built and in a few cases(if my memory serves me correctly), even tested. Yet, I’m still driving my motorized roller skate over potholed streets and crumbling infrastructure.

But nonetheless, willing to give it “one more try”, I opened the article:

Airbus CEO sees ‘flying car’ prototype ready by end of year

What intrigued me here were quite a few things, not the least of which was that this latest pronouncement was not coming from a Weekly Reader, but being reported by Reuters, and coming from the CEO of Europe’s Airbus industries. Airbus has a corporate history on delivering on what it says it’s going to do. “We’re going to build the world’s largest jet airliner and it’s going to be a lot bigger than Boeing’s 747.” And they did. So when they talk about flying cars, I tend to take notice.

But there’s something else here that really caught my eye, and that was the rationale for Airbus’s efforts:

Airbus Group plans to test a prototype for a self-piloted flying car as a way of avoiding gridlock on city roads by the end of the year, the aerospace group’s chief executive said on Monday.

Airbus last year formed a division called Urban Air Mobility that is exploring concepts such as a vehicle to transport individuals or a helicopter-style vehicle that can carry multiple riders. The aim would be for people to book the vehicle using an app, similar to car-sharing schemes.

“One hundred years ago, urban transport went underground, now we have the technological wherewithal to go above ground,” Airbus CEO Tom Enders told the DLD digital tech conference in Munich, adding he hoped the Airbus could fly a demonstration vehicle for single-person transport by the end of the year.

“We are in an experimentation phase, we take this development very seriously,” he said, adding that Airbus recognized such technologies would have to be clean to avoid further polluting congested cities.

He said using the skies could also reduce costs for city infrastructure planners. “With flying, you don’t need to pour billions into concrete bridges and roads,” he said.
(Emphasis added)

Gridlock, and avoidance of expensive infrastructure, like roads and bridges… in other words, Airbus is addressing a crucial issue that has been increasingly saddling localities and municipalities, particularly in the West, and at the time that financial experts – think only of German finance minister Wolfgang Schaueble here – are telling us the “debt-growth model” is over. Translation: there is now immense pressure on hedge funds, pensions, and retirement benefits in the West, and pressure on local governments to maintain, much less develop surface infrastructure, is acute. Indeed, why have roads and bridges at all? Private flying cars and even private flying “trucks” would be…

Continue Reading At: GizaDeathStar.com
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About Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and “strange stuff”. His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into “alternative history and science”.

Book Review: The Secret Space Program & Breakaway Civilization by Richard Dolan

richarddolanbreakaway
TheBreakaway
Zy Marquiez
January 9, 2017

For those that don’t know, Richard Dolan is a scholar, historian, and renown researcher within the field of alternative research.

Dolan’s research has been integral in bringing in a new fresh point of view within the field of UFOlogy and this works exemplifies this rather trenchantly.

The Secret Space Program & Breakaway Civilization by Richard Dolan mirrors incisively the rest of his works quite well, although in a much more shortened manner given the length of the book.

Having coined the term “Breakaway Civilization” in his UFOs & The National Security State series, Dolan follows up with this booklet, which is a salient synopsis of the presentation he gave in San Mateo, CA in 2014 at the Secret Space Program & Breakaway Civilization Conference.

Admittedly, if you have seen that particular presentation of Dolan on youtube, then this will be nothing new.  However, if you are new to the subject, or want to have a written reference for what Dolan discussed in his presentation, then this book is certainly for you.

Dolan begins discusses UFO reports/statistics and the ongoing phenomena.  Thereafter, the author discusses the fascinating story of Ingo Swann and his remote viewing prowess.  Swann’s findings and experience definitely lend a thread of credibility that makes the reader aghast at the possibilities.  The fact that remote viewing experimentations were taking place decades ago shows how vital this type of discipline was to reconnaissance and more.

Discussed soon after are Karl Wolfe’s testimony, which he shared during the Disclosure Project, Donna Hare’s testimony regarding having to airbrush any evidence of UFOs as well as the story of Vito Saccheri.

Throughout the book Dolan homes in on the implications of the SSP & Breakaway Civilization at various stages and how these interweave with our reality in many ways.  This is appreciated given how many new folks will be reading this particular subject, and to have this subject analyzed and spoken about in a methodical, no-nonsense but in-depth and open-minded way is definitely refreshing.

Another data point delved into is Leonard Stringfield’s finding of “the crash retrieval syndrome” coupled with some cases which are highly provocative to say the least.

Also noted within the book is Dolan’s gander at what journalist James Goodall was told, which regarded highly advanced technologies stationed at the Nevada desert at the time.

Most notably, Dolan makes sure to harpoon many of the deeper implications that the subjects of Secret Space Programs and Breakaway Civilizations entail, as well as why it’s vital for the SSP & Breakaway Complex to maintain control of the subject and more importantly, the sciences.

Dolan also gives a glance at the ever illusive paradox of disclosure, while also giving light to some of the more notable renderings that relate to footage of UFOs, such as the STS 114 footage.

Soon thereafter, the author gives what he sees as the most likely scenario of the topic at hand, while also giving a cursory glance to the possible goals of the handlers.

Finally, Dolan gives his take on what individuals can do to detach from the control system and help bring about change in this discipline as well as others.

In its totality, the book not only gives individuals a hardcopy of one of Richard Dolan’s best presentations, but it’s also a different way of assimilating information.   Different people learn in different ways, and having this type of media for people to learn is highly helpful for those that appreciate tangible books like myself.

This book, or perhaps most notably, the idea of a Breakaway Civilization and  Secret Space Program certainly helps put many seemingly disparate pieces come together in a way that helps shed light onto the darkness that abounds.  And in that, this book certainly shines.

Having said that, we need cognize that how the world looks a century from now will be proportional to how individuals decide to live their lives in relation to this topic and others.  If individuals so choose to educate themselves becoming autodidacts, and also incite others into actions such as Richard Dolan has and continues to do, then the world will in fact begin to change accordingly.

….Oh, By The Way, Boeing Has A New Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon [EMP] Weapon…

North Korea obtains EMP weapons from Russia, could now melt most of ...
Source: GizaDeathStar.com
Dr. Joseph P. Farrell
January 6, 2017

A few days ago I blogged about an article from Israel which cited Russian sources that believe the crash of its airliner at Sochi last Christmas was a deliberate take down brought about by some sort of special “radio” means. Before you dismiss that idea entirely, consider this story shared by Mr. J.H.:

Boeing unveils electromagnetic pulse weapon

Granted, this story appeared in 2015, but in the context of my speculations about a new “international Mafia War” hypothesis that I advanced in last year’s Dec 29th News and Views from the Nefarium and this week’s earlier speculations regarding the crash of the Russian Tu-154 outside of Sochi, this is a story worth revisiting here. Consider the implications of the following statements in the article:

The weapon in question: Boeing’s “CHAMP,” short for Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project. It’s essentially the old nuclear electromagnetic pulse weapon that we used to worry so much about — but without the nuclear part. CHAMP carries a small generator that emits microwaves to fry electronics with pinpoint accuracy. It targets not nations or cities but individual buildings, blacking out their electronics rather than blowing up physical targets (or people).

What makes CHAMP even more interesting is that, unlike a nuclear electromagnetic pulse weapon, which fires once, blacking out entire nation-states, CHAMP can fire multiple times, pinpointing and blacking out only essential targets. This would permit, for example, taking down radar defenses in a hostile state while saving the electrical grid that supports the civilian population. In a 2012 test flight in Utah, a single CHAMP was reported to have blacked out seven separate targets in succession, in one single mission.

And then there’s this even more relevant admission:

Even back then, a Boeing representative was able to boast: “We hit every target we wanted to,” predicting further that “in the near future, this technology may be used to render an enemy’s electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or aircraft arrive.” Four years later, that future has arrived. Air Force Research Laboratory commander Maj. Gen. Tom Masiello says CHAMP is “an operational system already in our tactical air force.”

It takes little imagination to envision that this technology could be mounted on almost anything, from drones, to ships, trucks or vans, and so on, and even in manueuverable space satellites, and that it could be modified to track and target moving targets, such as aircraft.

All of this raises the possibility that those Russian sources speculating that their aircraft was brought down by “radio” means – i.e., something operating in the microwave frequency range of the spectrum – are in all likelihood basing their analysis in part on a knowledge of American electromagnetic weaponry capabilities. In other words, the article raises the possibility of a deliberate downing of the Russian aircraft out of the range of fiction and speculation into a very real world possibility. Similarly, it suggests a similar technological capability on Russia’s part may lie behind the USS Donald Cook incident.

If my ‘International Mafia Wars” scenario be true, then one may also expect that certain “extra-national” players may have a similar capability, and this means that…

Continue Reading At: GizaDeathStar.com
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About Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and “strange stuff”. His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into “alternative history and science”.

 

Vatican, Bilderberg and a ‘Migration’ Crisis

Vatican, Bilderberg and a ‘Migration’ Crisis
Source:WilliamEngdahl.com
F. William Engdahl
December 17, 2016

The annual meeting of the secretive Bilderberg Group took place this year in Dresden, Germany from June 9-12. Notable is their terminology in an official press release announcing topics for discussion. Point three (not necessarily in terms of importance) is curiously titled “Europe: migration, growth, reform, vision, unity.” Curious is the choice of the word “migration” for the EU refugee crisis that began in Spring 2015 as Turkey opened the detention centers and refugee camps from Syrian war refugees and pointed them to the EU. More about that later on. Here I want to concentrate on the little-known historical ties or links between the Bilderberg Meetings, founded in 1954, and the Vatican, and the role of both in heating up the current EU refugee instability.

In May, 1954 in Oosterbeek, near to the German border, a highly secret meeting was held at the Hotel de Bilderberg. The meeting was hosted by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, husband of Queen Juliana. It was called simply, “Bilderberg Conference,” from the name of the hotel where the first talks were held. Out of three days of private discussion, a new Trans-Atlantic think-tank was created. It was to become one of the most effective organizations for influencing world events after 1954 up to the present, and one of the most damaging and secretive.

German-born Prince Bernhard was a controversial figure, a notorious philanderer, who had been a member of the German NSDAP and Reiter SS. In 1976 Bernhard was accused of accepting a $1 million bribe from the US fighter aircraft maker, Lockheed, to influence jet purchases by the Dutch Air Force. When Bernhard was forced to resign because of the scandals, he was succeeded as Bilderberg Chairman by then German Bundespräsident, Walter Scheel, and then afterwards by Britain’s Lord Carrington, a confidante and later business partner of Henry Kissinger. From the beginning it was clear Bilderberg was not the Little League of world politics.

In 2014 the Bilderberg Group’s official website, with sparse information, stated its purpose as simply to, “foster dialogue between Europe and North America.” It adds that it meets once a year with around 120 select attendees from finance, politics, industry, media and academia. Its rules mandate that two-thirds come from Europe and the remainder from the USA and Canada, with one third of the total always from the world of politics. Bilderberg participants from the US are always members of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

Shadowy origins

The Bilderberg Group, in the words of the first Bilderberg Secretary General, a shadowy and enormously influential Polish exile, Joseph Retinger, came from an initiative Retinger made in 1952 to counter, “growing distrust of America which was making itself manifest in Western Europe and which was paralleled by a similar distrust of Western Europe in America.” In brief, its aim was to make certain that the strategic policy orientation of Western Europe and of the United States was in harmony. The decisive question to be asked was harmony in pursuit of which and whose geopolitical goals?

Joseph Retinger

Joseph Retinger was one of the most influential political figures shaping the pro-Atlanticist architecture of post-World War II Western Europe. He founded the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, to lobby for the Washington-backed plan for creation of a United States of Europe, today called the European Union. He created the CIA-funded European Movement, as well as the CIA-funded European Youth Campaign. By far his most influential project was bringing the Bilderberg Group into being, and serving as its key European director and Secretary General, all far away from the public eye, as he preferred.

At the time his Bilderberg project took form the Korean War was ending and US Marshall Plan aid to Europe as well. Józef Hieronim Retinger had spent the war years in London as adviser to the exile government of Prime Minister General Wladyslaw Sikorski. While Retinger’s name was virtually unknown to the world at large, he was one of the most influential string-pullers of the postwar period in Europe and the United States. He was able to get private audiences with the Pope as well as the American President at will. It was he who selected Prince Bernhard to act as figurehead host and who selected which Americans and which Europeans would be invited to Bilderberg.

The American Steering Committee for the first Bilderberg Meeting in 1954 consisted of USA chairman Joseph E. Johnson, president of the Rockefeller-tied Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Others included George Ball, who during the Second World War was in London serving as director of the Strategic Bombing Survey, to analyze the impact of British and American bombing of German cities and civilian populations.

The American Bilderberg Steering Committee also included H. J. Heinz II, of the food group and father-in-law of John Kerry’s current wife; George Nebolsine, a State Department consultant on the Marshall Plan; and Dean Rusk, then President of the Rockefeller Foundation, later Secretary of State.

The real guiding hand behind the American side of the Bilderberg Group, however, was the first head of the newly-established Central Intelligence Agency, General Walter Bedell Smith. In 1950 Smith became Director of the CIA. The CIA helped organize, and sponsored the formation, and operation of the Bilderberg Conferences.

In late 1952, Retinger went to America to test his Bilderberg idea on his American contacts, where he met with Averell Harriman, David Rockefeller, and Bedell Smith, then director of the CIA. After Retinger explained his proposal, Smith reportedly said, “Why the hell didn’t you come to me in the first place?” The CIA chief then told Retinger to go to C. D. Jackson, who was about to become President Eisenhower’s Special Assistant for Psychological Warfare, and Eisenhower’s liaison between the Pentagon and CIA. viii.

The attendees at the 1954 initial Bilderberg Meeting included David Rockefeller, who today is the only Bilderberg “Advisory Group” Member. It included State Department official, Paul Nitze. As well, Gardner Cowles, US media baron and founder of Look magazine, who had been the US Government deputy director of the Office of War Information, the US propaganda ministry that created the Voice of America (VOA). It included J.P. Morgan Bank director Nelson D. Jay, a close Rockefeller associate.

The first Bilderberg attendees also included C.D. Jackson, by then Eisenhower’s architect of the Cold War; Alcide de Gasperi, Italian Prime Minister; and Antoine Pinay, a former French Prime Minister. Pinay was to become, the decisive personality shaping the long-term agenda of Bilderberg.

In Retinger’s words he founded Bilderberg Group simply to, “foster dialogue between Europe and North America.” That was for public consumption. In reality he built a very dark agenda that drew in the most reactionary circles in postwar Europe and tied them to the most powerful of postwar American oligarch families, that of Rockefeller, Harriman and their emerging “American Century.” The Bilderberg Group was to insure that that Century would be heavily influenced by postwar Vatican geopolitics. Its first meeting in 1954 was funded by Walter Bedell Smith’s CIA, with subsequent meetings financed by the CIA’s close ally during the Cold War, the Ford Foundation.

Le Cercle—The Vatican-Rockefeller Alliance

The key to the extraordinary power and influence of the annual Bilderberg Meetings from 1954 laid in the unpublished role of the secretive pan-Europeanist organization then known as Le Cercle, sometimes referred to as Cercle Pinay, a reference to the pivotal role in shaping Bilderberg played by the network of French Prime Minister Antoine Pinay, an intimate friend of Bilderberg founder Retinger.

Pinay’s Le Cercle (The Group) was the link that covertly tied most European intelligence services including the German BND and BfV, MI-6 in Britain, France’s SDECE, Holland’s BVD, Belgium’s Surete de l’Etat and Swiss and later even Saudi intelligence and apartheid South Africa’s secret service, BOSS. Prominent politicians associated with Pinay and Le Cercle included Franz Josef Strauss, Otto von Habsburg, Konrad Adenauer, Julio Andreotti of Italy, General Antonio de Spinola of Portugal, a conservative who went on later to become President; Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

Antoine Pinay’s group, Le Cercle, in turn was tied as well to the powerful and very right-wing Roman Catholic lay organization, Opus Dei, which had just been given final Catholic Church official approval in 1950, two years before plans for Bilderberg began, by Pope Pius XII. The organization was made well known, to its discomfort, as a subject of the 2003 Dan Brown historical novel, Da Vinci Code.

Among the later achievements of Le Cercle was the manipulation of the 1979 British elections that successfully brought in anti-labor right-wing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It was done with Le Cercle leading members, Sir Brian Crozier, MI-6 head Sir Arthur Franks, and MI-6 division head, Nicholas Elliott.

The late Bavarian political czar, Franz Josef Strauss, “The Lion of Bavaria,” noted in his memoirs that he had held a friendship with Le Cercle’s Antoine Pinay since the two first met in 1953. Le Cercle networks in Germany promoted Strauss’s candidacy, unsuccessfully, to become German Chancellor. In 1955 Strauss also became a regular member of the Bilderberg Meetings.

Bilderberg founder, Josef Retinger, a Polish-born Roman Catholic, organized his European network of the Bilderberg through the mediation of an Italian CIA asset, Prof. Luigi Gedda, head of Azione Cattolica. Gedda was also medical adviser to Pope Pius XII, a very strong right-wing anti-communist pontiff, who before the Second World War, as Cardinal Eugenio Giovanni Pacelli, had been architect of the 1933 Reichskonkordat with Hitler’s Nazi Party. Already in 1932 Pacelli as Vatican Secretary of State had played a key role in convincing Roman Catholic German Chancellor Franz von Papen to steer his Catholic Center Party into an anti-left alliance and join with the NSDAP of Hitler.

Clerical fascism and Pius XII

As Pope, Pius XII had a clear political bias and it was towards support of clerical or nominally Roman Catholic fascist or extremely repressive right-wing regimes, a form of what some termed clerical fascism, the fusion of the Church with fascist or dictatorial political regimes, such as in Franco’s Spain or Spinola’s Portugal.

During the Second World War Pius XII refused to condemn the clerical fascist pro-Hitler regime of Roman Catholic Ante Pavelić, the leader of the newly proclaimed Croatian state. Informed by Catholic clergy of the genocidal murders of Orthodox Serbs who had refused to embrace the Catholic faith, Pius XII, even though he possessed a list of Croatian clergy members who had “joined in the slaughter,” did not condemn the Pavelić regime or take action against the clergy involved. Instead he elevated Aloysius Stepinac—a Croatian archbishop convicted of collaborating with the Ustaše—to Cardinal.

In effect, Retinger’s European Bilderberg networks linked the extreme right-wing European anti-communist networks—including the Vatican of Pius XII, of Opus Dei, of the Franco government in Spain, of Portugal’s General Spinola and numerous other right-wing European anti-communist networks—to the triumphant American elites around the powerful Rockefeller group, through the networks and person of David Rockefeller. It was a power marriage that was to have a profound effect on the development of postwar European society and politics.

Francis and the ‘Migrants’-Words are all I have…

Now against this background of Bilderberg true history, the question to be asked is whether the first Jesuit Pope in history, Francis, is following in the heavy footsteps of Pius XII? Is he deliberately trying to stir things up in Europe through his support of the huge influx of war refugees from Syria and North Africa in the past year?

Words are an essential form of human communication, quite complex in the energy they convey to others. Depending on the word and its context, it can convey negative energy, hate energy; it can convey neutral energy, neither here nor there; it can also convey love, harmony, peace energy. If there is any organized group on the face of this Earth that is master of such word use precision it is the Society of Jesus, Pope Francis’ mother organization. This is relevant in reading his numerous missives on the population disruptions of the Middle East and Africa and the EU in the past three years.

There are three words being loosely thrown about today in regard to the EU crisis, and crisis it is. There is the word, “refugee,” legally defined as “a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.” Then there is the related term, “asylum-seeker” defined as “a person who has left their home country as a political refugee and is seeking asylum in another.” Third there is the entirely different concept behind the word used both by Pope Francis and by the 2016 Bilderberg Meeting in Dresden, namely the word “migrant.” Migrant is precisely defined as “a person who moves from one place to another in order to find work or better living conditions.” Here there is no mention of war, political persecution or life-endangering calamity.

By calling it what it clearly is not, a migration into the EU from the south, the word completely blunts the causes behind that migration, namely a US-UK-France-instigated series of wars, wars for control of oil and now gas, wars in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, initially called by Hillary Clinton the Arab Spring. The million-plus human beings streaming into the EU from Turkey over the past fifteen months are no migrants. They are refugees from wars.

In calling them migrants it implicitly makes either racist or bigot anyone questioning the legal procedures employed by the Merkel government and the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). According to reliable investigative reports conveyed to this author, the German Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF) since November 2014 has abandoned the rules and legal directives for refugees (not asylum seekers) for no public reason and without any notice to the public. Interesting.

“Structural Reality?”

In a Papal Message of January 17, 2016, the Pope declared, “In our time, migration is growing worldwide…Migration movements are now a structural reality, and our primary issue must be to deal with the present emergency phase by providing programmes which address the causes of migration and the changes it entails, including its effect on the makeup of societies and peoples.” He goes on, “Biblical revelation urges us to welcome the stranger; it tells us that in so doing, we open our doors to God, and that in the faces of others we see the face of Christ himself.” What if that stranger wants to kill you and to rape your daughters?

Nice words these are indeed. It ignores entirely the actual disruptive reality of the flood of war refugees into Germany and the rest of the EU. Rather than to focus his immense influence on bringing about peace and reconciliation of all domestic parties in Syria and condemning the terrorism of ISIS, Al Qaeda/Al-Nusra Front and the others destroying one of the oldest cultures in the world, a poly-religious one, Francis chooses to tell Europeans to open their hearts and even homes to the “migrants.” In this context, as I noted at the start, it is highly significant that this year’s Dresden Bilderberg Meeting referred in their discussion to “Migration” not Refugee Crisis. It appears both the Pope and Bilderberg planners are singing from the same sheet of music on this at least.

On January 6, in his message on the feast of Epiphany, the same Pope released a Papal video in which he called for creating a one world religion in effect: “Many think differently, feel differently, seeking God or meeting God in different ways. In this crowd, in this range of religions, there is only one certainty that we have for all: we are all children of God.”

Some days later, January 11, 2016 in an address to the Vatican diplomatic corps, Francis insisted that Europe has the means to absorb migrants without sacrificing its security or culture. He criticized the distinction made by the international community between refugees fleeing persecution and those fleeing poverty, referring to “the grave crisis of migration which we are facing.” He condemned various EU national attempts to find their own national solutions to this crisis of migration: “…there is no place for autonomous solutions pursued by individual states, since the consequences of the decisions made by each inevitably have repercussions on the entire international community. Indeed, migrations, more than ever before, will play a pivotal role in the future of our world.”

Unlike Francis, I firmly believe that borders DO matter, that national autonomy, like individual autonomy, does matter, is in fact, an essential component of our existence, our individual sovereignty our national sovereignty. We human beings are unique individuals every one. We are not some amorphous blob with no individuality. These differences are sacred in my view. Not according to the words of the Jesuit Pope. Our world with all its wars and deep disturbances is not at the state of nirvana which Pope Francis would like us to believe where peace and Christian charity overcome every obstacle. It well may be in the future but to pretend it already is belies in my view a hidden agenda.

David Rockefeller is an open partisan of a one world order where he and his ilk would sit atop all mankind, a disgusting idea. For such a one economic world, we must dissolve national borders. This, the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is designed to do in large part, if, that is, EU leaders are suicidal enough to agree. Then to control an entire world, it needs a synthetic new religion. The forced refugee crisis is designed to blur national borders and historical ethnic or national culture. There is far more behind all the nice speeches of the Pope and the talks of Bilderberg than we are being told. It’s not without reason that the word “Jesuitical” in ordinary usage means “one using subtle or oversubtle reasoning; crafty; sly; intriguing.”

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F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant and lecturer, he holds a degree in politics from Princeton University and is a best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”

Read More At: WillaimEngdahl.com

What Would Happen If…The Individual Decided To Breakaway?

BreakAway3

TheBreakaway
Zy Marquiez
August 21, 2016

[Note: All Underlines Are Hyperlinked For Those Seeking Additional Information]

What would happen if everyone stopped funding crooked corporations that throw the population under the bus tomorrow?

What would happen if people took responsibility for their health, rather than hand off that responsibility to the Medical establishment?

What would happen if individuals begun vetting all the information from every single source, rather than take everything at face value?

What would happen if individuals quit supporting corrupt politicians?

What would happen if we quit eating unsafe genetically modified foods, that have never been proven to be safe?  Why do you think they want to keep you from knowing what foods are GMOs?  If genetically modified foods were safe, why aren’t they labeled?  Ever ruminate on that?

What would happen if we just quit giving the system our consent [silence is consent], for every illegal, inhumane and brutal action carried out on the populace?

What would happen if people quit drinking fluoridated water that causes neurological issues and countless others, that just happens to make it easier for people to be controlled, which was why the Russians and Nazis used it?  [For More Info Click Here]

What would happen if people asked what toxic substances were in their food, besides genetically modified foods?

What would happen if people knew that when a label says it’s natural, it’s anything but? [If you want something that is real you need to look for Organic/Non-GMO labels on food packages, not “natural”]

What would happen if people quit running for the cure and people began searching for the cause?  Better yet, what would happen if people took a look at Dr. Burzynski’s work?  [Watch His Documentary Here]   Or have you seen the documentary on Forbidden Cures?   [You Can Watch It Here]

What would happen if individuals knew preventable medical mistakes are the third leading cause of death in the United States?  Would they still trust the medical system?  [That doesn’t count the many more [1.5 Million a year, every year, at last estimate] that end up getting run over by Big Medica who don’t get killed by these mistakes.]

What would happen if people knew that key vaccine studies to prove vaccines are safe are funded almost entirely by Big Pharma?  That’s called conflict of interest.

What would happen if people knew the CDC covers up vaccine issues, as one of their very own scientists admitted, but which the mainstream media won’t touch?

What would happen if people knew there’s a vaccination reaction system that has paid out billions even though vaccinations are claimed to be ‘safe’?

What would happen if we quit allowing ourselves to be divided and began standing together?

What would happen if people quit taking excuses for answers from those at the top, and began finding – or better yet, creating! – solutions themselves?

What would happen if individuals decided a better world starts with them?

The point of asking those questions is to show that we, whether we like it or not, are the largest component of the system.

If we merely begun acting on everything that is in our best interest, truly our best interest and not in the interest of the corrupt corporations/politicians then everything would begin to change.

Examples of what happens when individuals begin acting in their best interest follow:

Americans Now Spending BILLIONS On Natural Health Remedies Including Superfoods & Homeopathy, While Denouncing Big Pharma’s Failed Medicine

Monsanto’s Profits Drop 25% AGAIN, As Farmers, Individuals Go Organic

As Demand Skyrockets, Thousands Of US Farms Are Going Organic

This New Neighborhood Will Grow Its Own Food, Power Itself & Handle It’s Own Waste

Environmental Group Establishes Training Centers To Educate Farmers About Organic Growing Techniques

Costco Working To Increase The Organic Food Supply In America By Investing In Farm-To-Market Principles On A Massive Scale

Victory!  Judge Closes Industry Loophole, Barring Pesticides From Compost Used In Organic Food Production

Chef Buys Organic Permaculture Farm To Grow His Own Living Pantry

Demand For Organics Shows *No Sign Of Slowing* After Double Digit Growth

How ‘Farmacy Practice, Or Using Food As Medicine, Can Change The World
Farmers Can Receive Grants To Move To Organic Farming

Please note, those are merely a handful of the stories available, and that’s only the change taking place regarding people wanting real food. 

What would happen if…individuals realized they are the solutions to their very problems, and the time to act is now?

“Space Economist” Molly Macauley Murdered

“SPACE ECONOMIST” MOLLY MACAULEY MURDERED
GizaDeathStar.com
Dr. Joseph P. Farrell
August 12, 2016

This strange story was shared by Ms. K.M., and given our space focus this week, a brief look is in order:

Molly K. Macauley, researcher on economics and space science, dies at 59

I want to concentrate on the first four paragraphs here:

Molly K. Macauley, a vice president for research at Resources for the Future, a Washington-based think tank that studies environmental and economic policy, died July 8 in Baltimore. She was 59.

She was stabbed while walking her dogs near her home in Baltimore’s Roland Park neighborhood and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died. According to the Baltimore Sun newspaper, it was the first homicide in the upscale neighborhood since 1998.

“Homicide detectives are continuing to investigate this case,” Baltimore police spokesman Jeremy Silbert told the Sun.

Dr. Macauley was considered a national leader in the field of environmental economics and helped lead research projects on space, renewable energy, new technologies and natural resources. After joining Resources for the Future in 1983, she developed a specialty in linking economics with space science. Her scholarly interests extended to space stations and eliminating debris in space, as well as commercial opportunities associated with space travel.

In a period that has seen the more-than-suspicious deaths of a lawyer who served a class action suit against the Democratic National Committee for obvious pro-Sanders bias, the equally suspicious deaths of Seth Rich and Victor Thorn, the death of Babylon Five actor and talk show host Jerry Doyle in his Vegas home, and the death of newly-appointed US Space commander Major General John Rossi, I cannot help but think that the sad death of this obviously attractive lady might at least be connected with the latter.

There are a number of questionable points in what little facts are related in this article: (1) Ms. Macauley was walking her dogs when she was stabbed. So the first question, as Ms. K.M. pointed out to me, was what happened to the dogs? Their presence, and the violent manner of her death, suggest that whoever did the killing was known to her, since a stranger doing such might have easily been attacked by the dogs trying to defend their mistress.

Concerning those dogs, the Baltimore Sun indicated that they were not small dogs:

Molly K. Macauley, vice president of an environmental think tank, dies

At night before going to bed, she walked the couple’s two dogs, Wilga, a 71/2-month-old white-and-cream colored wolfhound, and Leo, a dark brown 70-pound Plott hound with a “booming voice. One of the strongest dogs I’ve ever seen,” said Mr. Lasky.

A large 70 pound dog, about which nothing more is said in relation to the murder, raises the stakes, for it does indeed suggest that the murder was known to Dr. Macauley, and perhaps a familiar “scent” to her dogs as well.

(2) Dr. Macauley was linking economics (and therefore, presumably finance) to space issues. And this suggests that Macauley might have run afoul of financial and space interests that did not like where she was going. The question is, where was Dr. Macauley going? A few answers are suggested here:

Molly Macauley, Renowned Space Economist, Killed While Walking Her Dogs – UPDATE 2

You’ll note her specialties:

Macauley was a valued member of the space policy community for decades and renowned for her expertise on the economics of satellites, especially in the earth observation arena. Her professional portfolio was much broader, however, including the use of economic incentives in environmental regulation, climate and earth science, and recycling and solid waste management.  She testified before Congress many times and was the author of more than 80 journal articles, books, and book chapters.

She was Vice President for Research and a Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future, a Washington-based think tank that focuses on the economics of natural resources.  She was a past member of the Space Studies Board (SSB) and of the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and served on many of its study committees.  She was a member of the steering committee for the ongoing Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space at the time of her death.

Earth observation satellites… perhaps Dr. Macauley had “seen something” or learned something she was not supposed to see or learn. Additionally, her focus on the economics of space development and satellites – a specialized field in which she had made a definite mark – suggests that this may have been a prime motivation for the murder. There are the usual theories, including speculation that her murder was racially motivated, but in a period of time that has seen the death of Major General Rossi, I’m not convinced.

There’s something here, but the media is being typically short on analysis and facts, and I don’t know about you, but that raises my suspicion meter into the red zone. And perhaps…

Continue Reading At: GizaDeathStar.com
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Profile photo of Joseph P. Farrell
Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and “strange stuff”. His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into “alternative history and science”.

Moon Express Becomes First Private Company To Get Permission To Go To The Moon

Source: TheCrunch.com
via: AceBreakingNews.com
Emily Calandrelli
August 3, 2016

Moon Express has officially become the first private company in the world to receive permission to travel beyond Earth’s orbit. After months of conversations with government officials, the company received the green light from the FAA to venture to the moon in 2017.

“We are now free to set sail as explorers to Earth’s eighth continent, the Moon, seeking new knowledge and resources to expand Earth’s economic sphere for the benefit of all humanity.” Bob Richards, Co-founder and CEO of Moon Express

The announcement marks an important milestone for private companies in the space industry because, so far, all commercial space activities have been limited to operations within Earth’s orbit.

Moon Express was born out of the Google Lunar X-PRIZE, an international contest with $30 million up for grabs for a private company who can soft-land on the Moon and travel across its surface.

If successful, Moon Express will become the fourth entity in history to soft-land on the Moon. The first three were all superpowers – United States, U.S.S.R. and China – while Moon Express is privately funded and comprised of 26 entrepreneurs and engineers.

It’s important to note that the permission given to Moon Express doesn’t necessarily set a precedent for other companies. Naveen Jain, co-founder of Moon Express, told TechCrunch that this permission is a one-time exception for their company. Jain stated the U.S. government plans to take future requests to travel beyond Earth’s orbit on a case by case basis until laws governing this activity can be passed.

Illustration of Moon Express lander / Image courtesy of Moon Express

Interestingly, the legalities surrounding a private mission to the Moon came about a bit backwards.

First, Moon Express purchased a launch to the Moon with Rocket Lab in October, 2015. At that time, they didn’t have permission from the government to go to the moon or the regulatory security that they could have ownership of lunar resources they obtained if they could get there.

Then, in November, 2015 the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act was passed, which explicitly stated that private companies are allowed full ownership of resources they extract in space. The bill made it legal for Moon Express to mine the Moon and keep what they extracted, but they still didn’t have permission to travel to the Moon in the first place.

This was the last piece of the regulatory puzzle, but from a security point of view, giving this permission to anyone with the resources to go is a bit tricky.

For example, national assets like reconnaissance satellites that monitor specific areas of the Earth are located over 20,000 miles away in geosynchronous orbit (GEO). This is the farthest orbit that private companies have placed satellites in to date. Going beyond this orbit could potentially give a company full view of some of the most important space-based security satellites, making it important for the government to know exactly what a company intends to do on a mission past GEO.

Illustration of Moon Express MX-1 lunar lander / Image courtesy of Moon Express

Because no company had traveled beyond Earth’s orbit before, there wasn’t a plan in place for receiving permission to do so. Jain explained that representatives from multiple federal agencies including the State Department and the National Security Agency worked together to determine that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is already responsible for granting launch licenses to rocket companies, should be the official point of contact for this type of activity.

Continue Reading At: TechCrunch.com