18 Feb, 2023 00:07

Children illegally sent to US slaughterhouses. (To work)

A contractor has been fined for hiring minors as young as 13 to clean meatpacking equipment

US cleaning contractor Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI) has been busted for illegally employing children, including some as young as 13, to work in slaughterhouses, one of the country’s most dangerous labor environments.

The Wisconsin-based company employed at least 102 children from ages 13 to 17 and assigned them to work overnight shifts at 13 meatpacking plants in eight states, the US Department of Labor said on Friday. PSSI, which is one of the largest US providers of food safety and sanitation services, paid more than $1.5 million in fines, amounting to $15,138 for each child that it illegally employed.

Federal investigators found that the minors hired by PSSI worked with dangerous chemicals and cleaned slaughterhouse equipment, such as back saws and head splitters. At least three of the children were injured, including a 14-year-old who worked from 11pm to 5am as many as six days a week, and missed school after suffering a chemical burn.

Meatpacking is one of the most dangerous industries in the US, with workers three times more likely to suffer serious injury than the average American laborer, according to government data. With saws, grinders, hooks and extruders all around, common injuries include finger or hand amputations, fractures, burns and head trauma.

“These children should never have been employed in meatpacking plants, and this can only happen when employers do not take responsibility to prevent child labor violations from occurring in the first place,” said Jessica Loman, a deputy administrator with the Department of Labor.

The department found that PSSI ignored the notices it received when its own systems flagged some of its hires as minors. When investigators arrived with warrants, company officials allegedly tried to derail their probe.

“No child should be subjected to the conditions found in this investigation,” said Seema Nanda, solicitor at the Department of Labor. US labor law permits companies to hire minors for some jobs, but not those that are considered hazardous.

https://www.rt.com/news/571673-us-slaughterhouses-child-labor/

Are these illegal migrant children?

18 Feb, 2023 00:25

Ukrainian troops finish crash course on US ‘tank killers’

The first Bradley battalion has completed its training in Germany, the Pentagon announced

The first group of Ukrainian soldiers has completed their “battalion combined-arms training” at the US Army Grafenwoehr training area in Germany, the Pentagon told reporters on Friday. The training focused on using M2 Bradley armored vehicles, which were promised in early January and began to arrive in Germany this week.

“Approximately 635 Ukrainians completed the approximately five-week period of instruction,”Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder said in a statement. The training included “basic soldier tasks like marksmanship, along with medical training, squad, platoon and company training, and a battalion force-on-force exercise,” he added.

The second group began training at the start of February, Ryder said, while another 700 Ukrainians were being taught how to operate M109 Paladin self-propelled artillery. Another 900 or so Ukrainians will start training on field artillery and M1126 Stryker armored vehicles next week.

Located in eastern Bavaria, Grafenwoehr was originally built by Imperial Germany ahead of the First World War and expanded by the Wehrmacht in 1938 to practice Blitzkrieg tactics. The US military occupied it in 1945 and has operated it ever since.

The Pentagon began training Ukrainian forces at Grafenwoehr last May, and expanded the program in December. The program has not been limited to Europe, however; an unspecified number of Ukrainians were also flown over to Fort Sill in Oklahoma, to be trained on Patriot missile systems.

Meanwhile, the first batch of Bradleys arrivedat the US Army depot near Mannheim, Germany on Friday. A ship with 60 or so vehicles left Charleston, South Carolina three weeks ago, shortly after the Pentagon’s announcement it would send the “tank killers”to Kiev. Since then, President Joe Biden has also promised Ukraine a batch of M1 Abrams main battle tanks, though they may not arrive before 2024.

Moscow has warned the US and its allies that further shipments of weapons to Kiev only delay the inevitable and risk direct confrontation. Washington and NATO insist they are not a party to the conflict, though they have sent over $100 billion worth of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine over the past 12 months.

https://www.rt.com/news/571674-ukraine-troops-bradley-training/

>>18367801

Thats what I thought! I’m praying to God for the judgement of all involved. Evil rotten creatures

>>18367809

Damn i saw clouds like waves here for the first time a couple of days ago in GA

17 Feb, 2023 22:38

Islamist attack on police station leaves seven dead

The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for Friday’s storming of a law enforcement compound in Karachi

The Pakistani Taliban has attacked the police headquarters in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi, murdering three officers and a civilian before the militants were killed in an hours-long gun battle with security forces.

The three assailants, armed with grenades and other weapons, stormed the police compound on Friday, targeting a heavily guarded facility that houses the city’s most senior officers. Some reports suggest that the attackers wore police uniforms, just as was the case in a Pakistani Taliban mosque bombing last month that killed over 100 people, including more than 80 officers.

In Friday’s attack, witnesses reported hearing a large explosion from inside the station, following multiple smaller blasts and hail of gunfire. The Islamists were killed as security forces retook control of a five-story office building, going from floor to floor and room to room to find them.

The incident left 18 people wounded. Deputy Inspector General Irfan Baloch told Reuters that there could have been as many as 30 police at the station at the time of the attack.

The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has stepped up its attacks against Pakistan’s government in recent months. TTP has become more active since the Afghan Taliban regained control of neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021.

https://www.rt.com/news/571671-taliban-attacks-pakistani-police-station/

17 Feb, 2023 19:45

Russia should ditch dollar in trade with African countries – economist to RT

Settlements in national currencies are key to boosting commerce, an African studies professor says

Western sanctions have prompted Russia to develop stronger economic ties with African countries, and switching to national currencies instead of using the dollar and euro in mutual trade will further boost cooperation, the head of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences said in an interview with RT.

According to Irina Abramova, Russia-Africa ties gained momentum last year, after Western countries sanctioned Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine. Around 30 large Russian companies are already working in Africa on different projects, including a nuclear power plant in Egypt. However, smaller companies and businesses are still cautious in dealing with the continent, having “no assurance that they won’t lose money” due to the lack of legislation and trade tools that would support their projects.

“We need to be more proactive in amending our legislation, introducing new tools to ensure that our businesses can safely operate on the African continent, starting with the issue of payment systems, switching to payments in national currencies, but also clearing and barter trade,” Abramova said.

According to the academic, Russia needs to “foster public-private partnership” with African companies, with the government creating conditions for businesses to operate on the continent by absorbing some of the risks, reducing taxes and providing guarantees”.

“We need a strong push to gain momentum and kick-start the whole thing. There was a push when our Western partners turned their backs on us and we started searching for new opportunities in terms of both exports and imports. I also think we gained an appreciation of who is our friend and who is our enemy. In this respect Africa is ready to help us,” Abramova said.

https://www.rt.com/africa/571642-russia-africa-ditch-dollar/

It Never Ends – Joe Biden Extends 2011 National Security Emergency over Libya Through 2023

February 17, 2023 | Sundance | 56 Comments

In 2010 and 2011 the Hillary Clinton State Department, working with NATO allies (particularly France), triggered a crisis in Libya during the Obama administration’s intentional effort to remove Muammar Gaddafi from power. This was a key element to the Arab Spring (Islamist Spring or Color Revolution) that flowed from the Cairo, Egypt, speech of President Obama a year prior.

Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and Samanta Power (R2P) were the architects of the destabilization plan. After the country was destabilized and thrown into severe violent crisis by the U.S. support for radical Islamists in eastern Libya (Benghazi region), President Obama then signed (Feb, 2011) a national emergency declaration in regard to the destabilized Libya his administration created.

Five years later, in April 2016, President Obama expanded the Libya emergency declaration to extend the 2011 declaration and envelop a larger portion of North Africa, under the auspices of expanded threats from AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb). This extension allowed the state dept to frame actions in neighboring Egypt, and block any effort to counteract Obama’s mid-east policy which was established to support the Muslim Brotherhood. In April 2016 it was presumed Hillary Clinton would win the election and continue the policy.

Today, a full twelve years after Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton destabilized Libya throwing it into a tribal civil war, Joe Biden signs an executive order continuing the extension of the U.S. National Emergency with regard to Libya {White House Link}.

[…] “The situation in Libya continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and measures are needed to protect against the diversion of assets or other abuses by members of Qadhafi’s family, their associates, and other persons hindering Libyan national reconciliation.

For this reason, the national emergency declared on February 25, 2011, and expanded on April 19, 2016, must continue in effect beyond February 25, 2023. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13566.

This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress. (read full)

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/02/17/it-never-ends-joe-biden-extends-2011-national-security-emergency-over-libya-through-2023/