Italian PM lauds ‘very fruitful’ meeting with Putin

MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was fruitful marking the beginning of friendship, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in an interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman.

"I am very pleased with the visit," he said. "I was received with wonderful hospitality, that was a very warm welcome. I would say that friendly relations have emerged as well. At the end, before saying good-bye, we told each other about that."

"We spent the whole afternoon together, many hours, discussing multiple issues," the Italian premier went on to say. "Those were issues related to both foreign and domestic policy and bilateral exchanges. That was a very fruitful meeting indeed."

Giuseppe Conte specifically mentioned those areas, in which Italian-Russian cooperation is developing dynamically. "Of course, commercial exchange and economic cooperation are developing very intensively in many areas, for example, infrastructure, energy, agricultural production, processing industry and medicine," he said.

"We should not disregard cultural ties, that’s very important," the prime minister stressed. "I said that there were 50 schools in Russia where Italian was taught at all levels, from elementary to high school. At the same time, Italy pays great attention to the Russian language and Russian culture. From this point of view, these are the key milestones. If we add to that exchanges at the level of universities, at the level of research centers, we can be certain that relations between our countries are very intense.".

More:

http://tass.com/world/1027800

Recently Deported Child Sex Offender Caught After Crossing Texas Border

Border Patrol agents in South Texas arrested a child sex offender who was deported in January 2018. His removal followed a five-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a child.

Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Eagle Pass Station arrested a man after he illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico. The agents took him to the Border Patrol station where they carried out a biometric background investigation, according to sector officials.

The background investigation identified the man as 35-year-old Efren Arellano-Arreola, a Mexican national. Further investigation revealed a February 2016 conviction in Dallas County, Texas, for Sexual Assault of a Child, officials stated. Following his conviction, the Dallas County district court sentenced Arellano-Arreola to five years in prison. Immigration officers removed the Mexican man from the U.S. in January 2018.

A search of Dallas County court records by Breitbart News revealed that Arellano-Arreola confessed in open court to sexually penetrating the mouth of a girl under the age of 17 with his penis. Following his confession, the judge of the 203rd District Court sentenced him to spend five years in a Texas penitentiary. He would serve less than two years in state prison before being deported by immigration officers.

Because he was deported for being a convicted felon and sex offender, Arellano-Arreola now faces a federal felony charge of illegal re-entry after deportation. If convicted, the Mexican national could face up to 20 years in federal prison before being deported back to Mexico.

Border Patrol officials note that all illegal immigrants apprehended after crossing the border face biometric background investigations that will reveal criminal histories and known gang affiliations.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2018/10/25/recently-deported-child-sex-offender-caught-after-crossing-texas-border/

>>3601400

you don't belong here

EPA Continues to Approve Toxic PFAS Chemicals Despite Widespread Contamination

Such chemicals, like PFOA and PFOS, have been associated with cancers, hormonal disruption, obesity, and immune and reproductive problems.

Even as the Environmental Protection Agency has been trumpeting its efforts to find and clean up contamination from industrial chemicals known as PFAS, it has been allowing new chemicals in this class to enter into commerce, according to data from the agency. The EPA has allowed more than 100 new PFAS compounds to be made and imported in large quantities in the U.S. after it became aware of the health risks associated with them, and many more have entered commerce through loopholes that allow them to be omitted from the official inventory of chemicals and to bypass a basic safety review.

Since 2002, the agency has allowed 112 new PFAS chemicals to be made or imported in very large quantities, according to a list of compounds kept by the agency known as the Chemical Data Reporting database, or CDR. Companies have to report a chemical on the CDR if they make 25,000 pounds or more of it in a year in a single location. At that point, the agency was already working on a risk assessment of PFOA, which it released the next year with the grim warning that the chemical “raised a number of potential toxicity concerns,” and required additional study. “To ensure consumers are protected from any potential risks, the Agency will be conducting its most extensive scientific assessment ever undertaken on this type of chemical,” the EPA assistant administrator said at the time.

Yet, in 2006, just three years later, when the CDR was next updated, the EPA had allowed four more PFAS compounds to be added to the list of chemicals made or imported in large quantities. That year, the EPA arranged to phase out PFOA and PFOS, two of the best-known chemicals in the class, due to evidence that they caused health problems in people and animals and persisted indefinitely in the environment. By 2012, when it had become clear that PFAS had contaminated water near several industrial and military sources, the list included an additional 14 new PFAS compounds made in large amounts. Last year, when PFAS contamination was so widespread that it was described as a nationwide crisis, the latest CDR was released with 19 more new PFAS chemicals

In all, 203 PFAS have been made in or imported to the U.S. in large quantities since 1986, when the first CDR was published, according to EPA data. Ninety-six chemicals in this class are still being used in large quantities, according to the most recent list, which came out in 2016. The total number of PFAS compounds on the market with the EPA’s permission is likely far larger, since the CDR lists only a fraction of chemicals in use. A tally of chemicals kept by the agency known as the TSCA inventory currently includes 1,223 PFAS, 1,013 of which are in active use, according to an EPA spokesperson. These numbers are expected to grow because the inventory is being updated. Of these, 674 were already in use when the agency began tracking chemicals and didn’t undergo any initial scrutiny before being made or used in the U.S.

The CDR, which listed 8,707 chemicals in 2016, represents just over 10 percent of the most recent TSCA inventory, which included some 85,000 chemicals, though that proportion may change after the update of the inventory is completed in a few months. A recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development identified 4,730 unique identifying numbers associated with PFAS chemicals currently in use worldwide.

Long read:

https://theintercept.com/2018/10/25/epa-pfoa-pfas-pfos-chemicals/

EPA DOC IMAGE:

From a heavily redacted review of a PFAS chemical the EPA approved for import in 2017. According to the review, the chemical will be used at “800 unknown sites.”

>>3601441

There attacking Gaza

Over 250 movie theaters blacklist “Gosnell” documentary to cover up the truth about the mass murder of just-born human babies

Hollywood doesn’t like the fact that people are starting to talk about abortion again – especially when the conversation centers around its true horrors. This is evident by the censorship and removal of the new documentary film, “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer,” from hundreds of movie theaters across the country, despite the fact that the film is already a wild success.

According to reports, more than 250 movie theaters (and counting) have pulled “Gosnell” from their screens, even though the film has grossed more than $2.5 million since it opened on October 12.

Why is “Gosnell” being targeted for destruction, you’re probably asking? If you’re not already familiar with its content, the film tells the disturbing story of Kermit Gosnell, the infamous Philadelphia abortionist who was sentenced to life in prison for first degree murder after he ended the lives of three newly-born babies, as well as the life of one of his patients.

Dubbed the “house of horror,” Gosnell’s abortion clinic looked much like any other – a “women’s health” center providing “female services” to the local community. But in the “Gosnell” film, this veneer of deception was peeled off, which is why it received little attention from the mainstream media, and even had its advertising banned both from Facebook and NPR.

“This movie really exposes something that the Left does not want to report about,” Nick Searcy, the director of “Gosnell,” told PJ Media. “They’re basically trying to ignore this movie. They’re trying to say that it doesn’t exist because they don’t want to have a discussion about abortion.”

For more abortion-related news, be sure to check out Abortions.news.

Abortion is one of the Left Cult’s unholy “sacraments”

The reason why the Left is pretending that the “Gosnell” film doesn’t even exist is because its members consider abortion a taboo subject whenever any discussion of it occurs without their permission. The Left Cult regards murder of the unborn to be one of its religious “sacraments” – a form of homage and worship to the god of liberalism, meaning it’s off limits to critics.

That’s why “Gosnell,” despite drawing huge crowds and plenty of support, is being pulled left and right from Hollywood theaters. Even though theaters are profiting from the film, they’re obviously kowtowing to the demands of leftists who obviously think they own the rights to the abortion narrative.

Never before has a film that’s garnered as much support and revenue as “Gosnell” been removed from the theater lineup like this, which just goes to show how influential the Left Cult is in getting its way.

“We’re in uncharted territories,” John Sullivan, the film’s marketing director, is quoted as saying to The Daily Wire. “The fact that we’ve been dropped from theaters where the move is the number six or number nine movie is just something you don’t see.”

Not only have theaters been dropping “Gosnell” for no apparent reason, but Sullivan says he’s been hearing reports that some theaters are lying to potential ticket-buyers, telling them that the film is “sold out” when there are still plenty of empty seats.

“It’s hard not to believe it isn’t about the content of the movie,” he added.

“They’ve been dropping it after it’s been really successful in that particular theater,” says Phelim McAleer, co-author of the book on which “Gosnell” is based.

“It doesn’t make any business sense at all. I suppose it makes political sense for Hollywood.”

According to McAleer, not a single mainstream movie reviewer has watched “Gosnell,” and most of the usual suspects in print and online media have similarly rejected it.

“The only mainstream media coverage was 400 words in the Los Angeles Times,” McAleer told PJ Media.

To watch the trailer for “Gosnell,” visit GosnellMovie.com.

https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-10-25-movie-theaters-blacklist-gosnell-documentary-about-mass-murder-of-human-babies.html

Militarization of Arctic: Issue of Incredible Importance Not Given Due Attention to

Authored by Alex Gorka via The Strategic Culture Foundation:

Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific are not the only potential theaters of military operations. The Arctic is an area of geopolitical rivalry. The situation there is undeservedly kept out of media spotlight. Meanwhile, 2018 has brought new record lows in the extent of sea ice in the region.

Russia has presented a 1.2 million square kilometers Arctic claim to the UN. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a Coastal state may claim rights to the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles by presenting scientific proof that it is a natural prolongation of its continental margin. The Russian Coastal exclusive economic zone can be extended, giving the state exclusive rights to exploit natural resources in the seabed and the ocean. Actually, Russia sits on $8.5 trillion oil reserves.

Moscow considers the Northern Sea Route (NSR) lying east of Novaya Zemlya and specifically running along the Russian Arctic coast from the Kara Sea, along Siberia, to the Bering Strait as the water area within Russia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in accordance with Article 234 of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. This article grants all littoral states the right, within their exclusive economic zones (200 nautical miles), to pass non-discriminatory laws and regulations concerning navigation in ice-field areas. The US is a signatory but Congress has not ratified the document. Washington does not recognize the Russia’s claims and seeks to internationalize the region.

The US, Canada, Denmark and Norway have their own claims. The Arctic is believed to hold more than $22 trillion worth of resources hidden beneath the ice, including 90 billion barrels of oil and 47 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. It’s only natural for states to have disputes as long as they are addressed on the basis of international law through negotiations. But the gradual escalation of tensions in the Arctic is a fact.

http://theduran.com/militarization-of-arctic-issue-of-incredible-importance-not-given-due-attention-to/

Mueller Locked In Strange Legal Dispute With Mystery Grand Jury Witness

A strange case is working its way through the DC Circuit court which appears to involve special counsel Robert Mueller and a mystery grand jury witness, according to Politico.

It's unclear exactly what the two sides are fighting over, but the case appears to resemble a separate legal battle involving an associate of Trump ally Roger Stone, Andrew Miller, who is fighting a Mueller subpoena. Miller's lawyers are using the case, slated to be argued at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals early next month, to mount a broad legal assault on Mueller's authority as special counsel.

In the more shadowy case, which involves an unknown person summoned before a grand jury this summer, the D.C. Circuit on Monday set a separate round of arguments for Dec. 14.

The case traveled in recent months from U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, back down to Howell and back up again to the appeals court with most details shrouded in secrecy, another indication that much of Mueller's activity is taking place behind the scenes and is rarely glimpsed by the press or public. -Politico

There is no specific mention of Mueller or his team on the two dockets for the mystery grand jury fight, however earlier this month, a Politico reporter staking out the court clerk's office on the due date for a key filing in the dispute observed a man request a copy of the special counsel's latest sealed filing in order to craft a response. "The individual who asked for the secret filing declined to identify himself or his client and replied “I’m OK” when offered a reporter’s business card to remain in touch," Politico reports.

Three hours later, a sealed response was submitted in the grand-jury dispute. Meanwhile on Wednesday "another detail emerged" which suggests that the secret legal battle is with Mueller; a Trump-appointed Judge with a potential conflict of interest in the Russia case bowed out of a decision in the case.

The first appeal appears to have been rejected by a D.C. Circuit panel as premature. The witness's lawyers asked the full bench of the appeals court to review that decision but a notation in court files says only nine of the court's 10 active judges participated. Bowing out was Judge Greg Katsas, the court's only member appointed by President Donald Trump.

Katsas served as a deputy White House counsel before Trump tapped him for the powerful D.C. Circuit last year. At Katsas's confirmation hearing, he acknowledged working on some issues related to the Russia investigation and signaled he would take a broad view of his recusal obligations stemming from that work.

"In cases of doubt, I would probably err on the side of recusal," Katsas told senators last October.

A spokesman for Mueller's office, Peter Carr, declined to comment on the litigation. -Politico

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-10-25/mueller-locked-strange-legal-dispute-mystery-grand-jury-witness

>>3601593

Maybe, now that would be interesting af

Pakistan releases top Taliban commander 'at US request'

Pakistan has released Mullah Baradar, a senior Taliban commander, as a “confidence-building” measure requested by the US, which is engaged in so-called peace talks with the insurgents.

Abdul Ghani Baradar, the former right-hand man of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, had been held in Pakistani detention for over eight years, sources said Thursday.

The move is said to be aimed at aiding the so-called peace talks between the US and the militant group, after the two sides agreed in Doha, Qatar to continue the secretive negotiations.

Less than two weeks ago, US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with Taliban representatives in Qatar to discuss a "peace" deal.

"Baradar was freed yesterday afternoon and he joined his family," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP in a WhatsApp message.

A Pakistani intelligence official also noted that Baradar was "released a couple of days ago".

Baradar was the most high-profile Taliban leader detained by Pakistan since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. He was arrested in the southern port city of Karachi in 2010, reportedly in an operation that was described as a huge blow to the militant group.

Apart from Baradar, several other senior Taliban leaders were freed this week following direct talks with Khalilzad on October 12, a senior Taliban official told AFP, adding that they believe the releases were made at US request.

According to the official, Baradar will likely stay in Pakistan and shuttle between the group's Doha office, Kabul and Islamabad.

The Taliban announced on October 13 that they would continue talks with the US, even though no tangible agreement was reached in the first round of meeting in Doha.

Washington's repeated outreach to the Taliban contradicts its efforts to link other countries, including Iran and Russia, to the militant group.

Early this week, the US Treasury Department blacklisted nine men, including two Iranian military officers, over allegations that they were "linked with the Taliban".

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claimed that the Iranians were providing financial and material support to the Taliban.

Washington has a long history of liaison with the Taliban, starting with the militant group's years of war with the Soviets over their occupation of Afghanistan.

Following the Soviet withdrawal, the US saw the group as a counterbalance to Iran's Islamic Republic and maintained its links with the Taliban.

The Taliban government, however, was toppled during the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 because the group refused to expel the al-Qaeda which Washington blames for the 9/11 attacks.

Senior US politicians have said the CIA also created al-Qaeda with the help of British, Pakistani and Saudi intelligence agencies to counter Iran.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/10/25/578074/Pakistan-release-Taliban-commander-US-request

DID THE U.S JUST RECOGNIZE CRIMEA AS RUSSIA? KIEV UP IN ARMS

Published on: Oct 25, 2018 @ 12:06 – Did John Bolton, the career Russophobic ‘war hawk’ at large, just accidentally recognize Crimea as Russia? It appears so. And it may not be so accidental given the realities of the present situation. US Secretary of Defense James Mattis had previously just done the same in a joint meeting with Sergei Shoigu.

Yesterday, US National Security Adviser to the President John Bolton was on Red Square in Moscow and paid tribute to the victims of the massacre of students and teachers in Russian city Kerch, on the Crimean peninsula, formerly part of post-Soviet Ukraine.

The US Embassy in the Russian Federation actually reported this in their twitter.

“John Bolton laid flowers in memory of the victims of the terrible tragedy that happened last week at the Kerch Polytechnic College,” the report says.

Also, the American Embassy posted the appropriate photo.

In the picture you can see that, along with Bolton, the US Ambassador to the Russian Federation John Huntsman also honored the memory of the citizens of Russia who died in Kerch. This makes three top U.S representatives giving their condolences to Russia, not Ukraine, over the shooting at Kerch.

Earlier, the Ukrainian chattering class of nationalist/liberal pundits and politicos chose to ignore reports that Mattis, during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Shoigu, also expressed condolences over the tragedy in Kerch, thus pointing to the Crimea as Russia. With Bolton’s ‘clarification’ on the U.S position, it’s clear that this is something Ukropians can’t ignore now.

After that, Kiev political analysts have admitted that, by doing this, the United States showed that they recognized the Russian status quo of the Crimea.

Interestingly, it was on on this same trip that Bolton admitted that he came to Putin not bearing a message of peace.

Putin joked on Tuesday with Bolton about the undiplomatic nature of his diplomatic visit in the Kremlin.

“… It is sometimes surprising to see how the United States is taking absolutely unprovoked steps towards Russia, which we cannot call friendly. We don’t even practically respond to any of your steps – no, it’s all going on, going on, ” Putin said, according to the Russian government press agency.

“As I recall, an eagle is depicted on the coat of arms of the United States: on the one hand, he holds 13 arrows, and on the other hand, an olive branch as a sign of a peace-loving policy [branch] with 13 olives. Question: has your eagle already eaten all the olives, are there only arrows left? ”, the Russian president jabbed.

“… I didn’t bring the olive branch and olives with me,” admitted Bolton.

“I knew that,” Putin answered, and those in the room laughed.

Putin said he was ready to meet with his American counterpart Donald Trump during a conference in Paris.

“Of course, President Trump will be very pleased to meet with you in Paris … Despite the differences that exist between us in accordance with the national interests of each country, however, it is very useful for us to meet and find those points of contact that may be for us useful,” Bolton assured.

https://www.fort-russ.com/2018/10/did-the-u-s-just-recognize-crimea-as-russia-kiev-up-in-arms/

Good Republicans: GOP Uses Senate Recess To Ram Through Trump’s Judicial Nominees

"Today’s hearing and last week’s were jokes"

Senate Republicans have learned their lesson from the horror show that was the Kavanaugh hearings by using the current recess as a chance to ram through some of President Trump's judicial nominees.

According to The Huffington Post, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has held two hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee this week even though most senators were absent for the sake of campaigning for the mid-terms. Rather comically, not even Grassley attended the hearings and instead permitted Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) to the chair the hearings.

"Not a single Democrat could attend either hearing," lamented HuffPo. "Only one other Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), was present. That means, between those two hearings, that three of Trump’s circuit court nominees and seven of his district court nominees sailed through without any real questions."

Given that President Trump's last judicial nominee was asked by several Democratic senators about flatulence referenced in his high school yearbook, it is highly dubious to say that "real questions" would have been asked of the latest nominee had Democrats been present. The move is a strategic one: ram the nominee through the sham of a committee hearing and vote on it once the mid-terms conclude.

Even though the Democrats' treatment of Brett Kavanaugh created a cesspool of toxicity on Capitol Hill, HuffPo laments that the GOP's tactics of ramming through Trump's nominees will intensify the situation.

"Today’s hearing and last week’s were jokes," said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor. "No Democratic senators and two GOP senators and no real questions asked?"

At the opening of the hearings last week, Sen. Kennedy announced that Grassley received a statement from the Democratic ranking member Sen. Feinstein giving permission to proceed with the hearings.

"The ranking member not only agreed to hold hearings on Oct. 10, Oct. 17 and Oct. 24, but she also specifically agreed not to object to the timing of these hearings," Kennedy said.

A recent statement from Feinstein's office – the same office that leaked Christine Blasey Ford's letter accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault 36 years ago to the media – says that never happened.

"We were scheduled to be in session at that point," Feinstein spokesman Tom Mentzer told HuffPo. "At no time was there an agreement to do this during recess."

Every Democratic senator on the committee apparently signed a letter to Grassley urging him to postpone any hearings until after the elections. Keep in mind these are the same senators that called for a delay on Kavanaugh's hearing on day 1.

"Holding hearings during a recess, when members cannot attend, fails to meet our constitutional advice-and-consent obligations," their Oct. 15 letter says. "We respectfully request these hearings be postponed until after the recess."

Grassley spokesman Taylor Foy said Wednesday that the hearing was scheduled weeks ago and that the chairman had sent a letter to committee Democrats expressing dissatisfaction with the postponement.

"It would be unfair to nominees to change the schedule at the last minute after they’ve made their travel arrangements to Washington for their hearing," said Foy.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/37608/good-republicans-gop-uses-senate-recess-ram-paul-bois

BOOM