Pope Francis donating $500K to help migrants in Mexico
The Vatican noted in its statement that about 75,000 people from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have been "stranded, unable to enter the United States, without a home or livelihood."
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/441017-pope-francis-donating-500k-to-help-migrants-in-mexico
500000/
75000
=
6.66r
EU Democracy: Prez Juncker Reveals He Blocks Eurosceptics from Commission Jobs, Regardless of Elections
The EU will make sure eurosceptic candidates are blocked from top jobs in Brussels regardless of the results of May’s election, Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has bragged.
In an interview with Polish media at the weekend, Jean-Claude Juncker rejected the idea that the surge at the ballot box for national populist parties predicted next month would slow the progress of the globalist EU integration process.
“In these elections, those who promote foolish nationalism will pay the price for it,” the European Commission president threatened, crowing: “Nobody knows this, but last time I rejected the candidacies of six of the Commissioners presented to me by national governments”.
“Do remember that governments merely propose commissioners. It is the president of the Commission who accepts them and allocates their responsibilities,” the unelected bureaucrat boasted.
Speaking with Rzeczpospolita, Juncker sneered that, whether the nation’s patriotic ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party wins national parliamentary elections in November or whether it is defeated by a coalition of opposition activists backed by most of the Brussels establishment, Poland would not be leaving the EU due to the financial benefits it provides.
“Poles do not want to be cut off from all this,” the Luxembourgian politician confidently declared, before adding contradictorily that people in Western Europe “should not think Poland is only in the bloc for money”.
He claimed Poland’s EU membership is as a result of the Slavic nation-state sharing “common values” with other EU countries, and said that funding from Brussels “is not a gift, but a recognition of the magnitude of the reforms carried out” since it joined the EU
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/04/30/eu-boss-block-conservative-commission/
Chinese Court Sentences Second Canadian To Death On Drug Trafficking Charges
The simmering feud between Ottawa and Beijing that erupted after Canadian authorities arrested Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou may have disappeared from the headlines…but it's far from over. To wit, on Tuesday, the Jiangmen Intermediate People’s Court sentenced another Canadian to death on drug trafficking charges, making him the second Canadian national to receive a death sentenced in the past year.
According to the Globe and Mail, the Chinese court, in Guangdong province, accused Fan of leading what it called the "extraordinarily serious transnational trafficking and manufacturing of narcotics." The case dates back to 2012.
In January, Canadian Robert Schellenberg saw his sentence of 15 years hard labor on drug trafficking charges switched to a death sentence (China frequently sentences convicted drug traffickers to death). Both Schellenberg and Fan Wei, the Canadian sentenced on Tuesday, were convicted of trafficking methamphetamine.
The court sentenced another conspirator to death, but it didn't disclose his nationality. Several others, including American Mark Swiden and four Mexicans, were also sentenced on drug charges Tuesday. Swiden was given a suspended death sentence, an effective life sentence, but the sentences for the others weren't disclosed - though the court said the minimum sentence was life imprisonment, according to Reuters.
Between July and November of 2012, the court said, the group manufactured 63.83 kilograms of methamphetamine and 365.9 grams of dimethyl amphetamine. However, most of the details on the case available in the West have come through Swiden's family, who have proclaimed his innocence. The businessman was arrested despite the fact that no drugs were found on him or in his hotel room; police said they found drugs on an interpreter, who implicated Swiden in the scheme.
Following Meng's arrest in Vancouver on Dec. 1, Chinese police arrested two other Canadian nationals, including a former diplomat and a businessman who organized trips to North Korea, and is charging them with threatening national security. Both men remain in custody even as Ottawa has demanded their release.
Meng, who is currently out on bail in Vancouver, has denied allegations that she misled banks about Huawei's business in Iran, violating US sanctions. President Trump once said that Meng's case could be used as a "bargaining chip" in trade negotiations.
China, which through its English-language press had threatened "severe" retaliation against Canada for the arrest of Meng, who in addition to being Huawei's CFO is also the daughter of its founder, a Chinese business luminary, has also apparently retaliated against Canada by cancelling Richardson International's license to ship canola to China.
China has previously executed at least two Canadian citizens for drug crimes.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-30/chinese-court-sentences-second-canadian-death-drug-trafficking-charges
Venezuelan coup attempt ‘directly planned in Washington’ – FM
The Venezuelan foreign minister has accused the US-backed opposition of planning Tuesday’s coup attempt in Washington, and said the government would work to keep the peace.
Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told Reuters by telephone that only around 30 soldiers had supported the coup instigated by opposition leader Juan Guaido. He described the plot as “another chapter” of an American effort to topple the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
While downplaying the scale of the uprising, Arreaza said it did not originate within the military, but that opposition leaders planned the event in Washington.
"It is not a coup attempt from the military. This is directly planned in Washington, in the Pentagon and Department of State, and by [National Security Adviser John] Bolton," Arreaza told Reuters.
"They are leading this coup and giving orders to this man Guaido," he said.
Bolton, a long-time major backer of the Venezuelan opposition, went public on Tuesday with his support for the coup attempt, pledging that “the United States stands with the people of Venezuela” while slamming Maduro’s “usurpation of democracy.”
https://www.rt.com/news/457934-venezuela-coup-attempt-planned-washington/
FBI report says Antifa activists tried to buy weapons from Mexican cartel to stage 'armed rebellion' at border
Activists reportedly also wanted to establish militia camps
The FBI investigated "anti-fascist" activists who planned to buy weapons from a Mexican drug cartel in order to "stage an armed rebellion" and sow renewed chaos at the southern United States border amid the ongoing crisis there.
Documents obtained by the San Diego Union-Tribune revealed the alleged plot and the government's subsequent investigation.
What are the details?
The FBI document, dated December 2018, detailed an alleged plot where Antifa activists planned to buy weapons from an alleged Mexican cartel gunman, alias "Cobra Commander," in order to "stage an armed rebellion at the border" hoping to "disrupt U.S. law enforcement and military security operations at the US/Mexican border," according to the Union-Tribune.
The FBI learned of the plot while collecting intelligence on American journalists, lawyers, and activists working with migrants in the Tijuana region, a popular destination for migrants heading north from Central America.
The six-page document is an "information report, not finally evaluated intelligence," the Union-Tribune reported. However, the FBI forwarded the document, which it marked "priority," to numerous federal law enforcement agencies, including:
Department of Homeland Security
Central Intelligence Agency
Drug Enforcement Agency
National Security Council
Customs and Border Protection
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Anything else?
Two people named in the report — Ivan Riebeling and Evan Duke — also allegedly plotted to establish camps in Mexico that would be used to train activists to become "community defense militias."
"Organizers planned for the camps to be used as staging platforms from which five person units would form to train anarchists in fighting, combat, and conducting reconnaissance, and then launch to disrupt U.S. government operations along the border," the report stated, according to the Union-Tribune.
However, both men denied involvement.
"Here I find the government again trying to tie me into some (stuff) I wasn't involved in," Duke told the Union-Tribune.
Meanwhile, Riebeling told the newspaper he once helped migrant caravans but later decided to attack them instead, calling them his "enemies." He also denied being associated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel to which the FBI's report connected him.
"I am not cartel. I don't sell drugs. I don't sell arms," Riebeling said. "I'm a revolutionary. A man who believes in his ideals, and I'm going to defend Mexico.
"The government of the United States knows perfectly well that I am not a member of any cartel," he explained. "I have associates with several of the cartels, yes I do, but I am not a narco-trafficker and they know that."
https://www.theblaze.com/news/antifa-activists-mexican-cartel-border
Bolton calls for ‘regime change’ in Venezuela soon
US national security advisor John Bolton has called for “change of the regime” in Caracas, and accused Cuba of controlling the current government of Venezuela, while backing an opposition politician’s attempt at armed coup.
Bolton called on senior officials in the government of President Nicolas Maduro to switch their support to the US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, “if the Cubans will let them do it.”
He also disputed the media description of Tuesday’s events in Caracas as an attempted coup, arguing that it was a legitimate president giving orders to the country’s military.
This is clearly not a coup. We recognize Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
Bolton maintained there was "overwhelming public support" for Guaido in Venezuela and that Maduro is surrounded by Cuban bodyguards, calling on the head of the Venezuelan supreme court, the defense minister, and head of the presidential guard to defect to Guaido’s side.
“We don't know what the command structure is right now, other than it reports to Havana,” Bolton claimed, adding, “I hope we can have a change in the regime in Caracas soon.”
https://www.rt.com/usa/457948-bolton-calls-for-regime-change/
"We will no longer be the policeman of the world" DJT BULLSHIT
Award Winning Cop, Clergyman, and Teacher Arrested in Sting Trying to Have Sex with Children
A steroid-abusing cop, a teacher, and a clergyman were among more than a dozen child predators arrested in a sting that lasted only 4 days.
Trenton, NJ — Cops in the Trenton, New Jersey area have been in the media for multiple acts of brutality and corruption recently. Now, however, they are making headlines once again — this time, for attempting to have sex with children. It’s not just cops either, members of the clergy and public school system were also arrested.
This month, officers with the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force carried out a sting called “Operation Home Alone.” The sting set up fake profiles on multiple social media apps in which officers pretended to be young children. When the predators would seek the children out for sex, instead of meeting a child, they met the undercover cops.
During the sting, which lasted just four days, law enforcement members made 16 arrests.
“The 16 men we arrested allegedly used social media to stalk victims they believed were vulnerable children who could be sexually exploited. Fortunately, their victims were really undercover officers prepared to put them in handcuffs,” said Attorney General Grewal through a statement. “Parents need to know that the profiles of underage girls and boys we posted on social media to catch these offenders could easily have been profiles of their own children, who might also be targeted by predators on chat apps and popular gaming sites. Our message to parents with Operation Home Alone is be on guard. Our message to child predators is law enforcement is working overtime to find you and arrest you.”
One of the suspected child predators is 28-year-old Peter Tuchol Jr., a resident of Waldwick and police officer with the Ridgewood Police Department. Since his arrest last week, Tuchol has been suspended from the force.
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-arrested-teacher-child-sting/
Archbishop Says Christians Slaughtered ‘Like Chickens’ in Nigeria
A Nigerian archbishop has decried the slaughter of Christians in his country and the media silence surrounding it, declaring that “Christians are being killed like chickens.”
Archbishop Matthew Man-oso Ndagoso told LifeSiteNews said that in the Muslim-dominated northwest of the country people live in constant fear, especially in the state of Kaduna where he resides.
“It is one of the states where everybody walks around afraid. There are kidnappers and bandits and they are killing people. Villages are being burned down,” Archbishop Ndagoso said in an article published Monday.
“In other parts of the country if something happens, the president shows up. But here people are being killed and nothing is being done about it,” he said.
Ndagoso says there is “a systemic persecution of Christians in these states” but the nation’s leaders “do not have the political will to address the issues, to enforce the provisions of the constitution regarding the equality of religions and the equality of citizens before the law.”
Since last October, the archbishop says, “there have been serious attacks in villages especially in my archdiocese of Kaduna. Hundreds and hundreds of villagers have been killed.”
“This conflict has led to attacks and the burning of so many villages,” he said. “I can tell you that between January and now, more than 10 villages that are mostly Christian have been burned and destroyed. There are thousands and thousands of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) in villages around the area whom we are looking after.”
In theory, Nigeria’s constitution provides freedom of religion and the equality of everyone before the law, Ndagoso notes, and yet “Christians in these northwest states where Muslims command the majority are not taken seriously. Their rights are not respected, because they are only tolerated, not treated as equals.”
The resulting atmosphere is one of fear among the Christian population, the archbishop states.
“Many villages have been burned, many hundreds of people have been killed and yet we do not have any rest,” he said.
“Right now, as I am talking to you,” Ndagoso added, “the rainy season has come and villagers who provide food for us are afraid to go to their farms because they will be kidnapped, because they will be killed.”
“So I do actually fear that if nothing happens between now and the next two months when people are supposed to be planting and they don’t go to their farm, only God knows what will happen to us next year in terms of food security,” he said.
“These are things the international community needs to talk about,” he said.
https://www.breitbart.com/africa/2019/04/30/archbishop-decries-slaughter-of-christians-like-chickens-in-nigeria/
Julian Assange: Clinton Foundation and ISIS were funded from the same source
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stated that Hillary Clinton’s Clinton Foundation and the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIL/ISIS) are funded from the same sources.
He was speaking about the organisation’s latest release of Clinton emails, during an interview on the John Pilger Special show that is to be exclusively broadcast by RT, courtesy of Dartmouth Films. The interview took place in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where Assange has been residing since August 2012. The footage was released on Thursday.
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/julian-assange-clinton-foundation-and-isis-were-funded-from-the-same-source/
Gates Foundation quietly plans to control nutritional supplements for the ‘good of humanity’
For the majority of Americans, nutritional supplements are a mainstay of daily health and wellness routines. In fact, according to the 2017 CRN Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements, 76 percent of American adults – over 170 million people – rely on dietary supplements for increased energy, immune health, bone health and overall wellness. Surely, the Gates Foundation – run by Bill and Melinda Gates – wouldn’t think of preventing us from obtaining these supplements … right?
Keep in mind, vitamins and minerals top the list, comprising a whopping 98 percent of all nutritional supplements consumed.
Yet – in spite of overwhelming public support for nutritional supplements – the multi-billion-dollar Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is sponsoring a plan that would ultimately threaten access to these vital nutrients at sufficient quantities needed for a therapeutic effect.
“Global harmonization” of nutrients will limit the potency of nutritional supplements
Many natural health experts – including those at the Dr. Rath Health Foundation – are concerned by a 2018 report that was released following a series of high-level meetings of international health authorities.
The report, published by National Academies Press and titled “Harmonization of Approaches to Nutrient Reference Values,” reveals a plan to make setting “safe upper limit levels” for vitamins and minerals a top priority.
But many natural health advocates fear that the recommendations are simply a way to set the stage for the global “harmonization” (uniformity) of nutrient reference values. This, in turn, could lead to regulatory bans on nutritional supplements.
Upper nutrient levels refer to the highest amount of a nutrient that is likely to pose no risk of adverse effects for almost all individuals in the general population.
While the report purported to focus on establishing nutrient reference values for young children and women of reproductive age, critics say the real intention is to generate a uniform approach.
According to the report, NRVs should only be set by a global body, such as the WHO or FAO – a fact which raises suspicion among proponents of natural health therapies.
The meetings, held at the behest of the Gates Foundation, were attended by representatives from such “heavy hitters” as the World Health Organization; the US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine; the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; and other powerful entities and international stakeholders.
https://www.naturalhealth365.com/gates-foundation-micronutrients-2941.html
Son, of Lawyer Who Questioned Bill Clinton Before Grand Jury, Has Been Murdered
For the record.
Samuel Bennett (23), was simply out for a jog when someone shot and killed him near the Big-4 Rail Trail in Zionsville, IN, reports WTHR TV13.
Police say early Sunday morning, before dawn, Bennett parked his car at Jennings Field, then went for a run. A quarter-mile in, someone shot and killed him.
A dog walker found his body near a retention pond just off the path.
Investigators say Bennett wasn't robbed. His wallet was still on him and his cell phone was still in his car, according to the TV13 report.
Bennett is the son of prominent Indianapolis attorney Jackie Bennett Jr.
From the Bennett law firm web site:
Prior to entering private practice in Indianapolis, Jackie was a federal prosecutor for 14 years. He served in the Office of Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr from 1995 to 1999, the last two years as the Principal Deputy in charge of the OIC’s Washington, D.C. operations. Jackie supervised the day-to-day operations of that office and was involved in a number of high profile investigations and prosecutions. He served as senior advisor to Judge Starr on investigative and prosecutorial aspects of several matters, including the Impeachment Referral of William Jefferson Clinton. In that regard, he was one of three prosecutors selected by Judge Starr to conduct the grand jury questioning of President Clinton. Jackie also played a principal role in several trials during the Arkansas phase of the Whitewater Investigation, including the 1996 fraud and conspiracy trial resulting in the convictions of then-sitting Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker and former Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan owners Jim and Susan McDougal.
UPDATE
A reader adds:
Zionsville is the richest and one of the safest places in Indiana.
UPDATE 2
From The New York Times (June 22, 1998)
After her testimony in the grand jury room, Gloria Cabe was left with a memory of such prosecutorial zeal in the performance of Jackie M. Bennett Jr. that four years later she still finds it chilling for its unfettered aggressiveness.
"He was shouting, telling me I was a liar and everybody in the room knew I was a liar," said Ms. Cabe, board counselor for the Export Import Bank. She was recalling her summons to the Whitewater grand jury when Bennett was delving into Bill Clinton's Arkansas years and proving himself as the right-hand man of Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel.
A lightning rod for critics, a stalwart to colleagues.
"Bennett's style is the meanest attack dog that I've ever seen displayed in any professional setting," added Ms. Cabe, not a target of the investigation and speaking from the perspective of scar-toughened years in the Arkansas Legislature and several Clinton campaigns.
https://www.targetliberty.com/2019/04/son-of-lawyer-who-questioned-bill.html
THE VERDICT IS IN! ~~ I AM AN ANTI SEMITE!!
You criticize France… that’s okay. You criticize Russia… that’s okay. You criticize Venezuela… that’s okay too. You criticize Canada… that’s okay. You criticize South Africa… that’s okay. You criticize the USA… that’s okay. You criticize China… that’s okay. You criticize Israel… you’re a flaming anti-Semite!
https://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2019/04/30/the-verdict-is-in-i-am-an-anti-semite/
Border Patrol releasing thousands who were exposed to diseases like tuberculosis
What happened to the incubation periods at quarantine stations in Ellis Island? Why does coming here illegally exempt aliens from the laws on the books that make them inadmissible until we know they are not a threat?
On Sunday, Aaron Hull, chief patrol agent of the El Paso sector, divulged to the public what we already suspected but most government officials assiduously covered up. The head of the second busiest illegal immigration corridor told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is increasingly “caring for more and more sick people, because a lot of these aliens coming in are carrying contagious health conditions, things like chicken pox, scabies, tuberculosis, lice.”
Tuberculosis. That is the disease we sought to eradicate through our laws as early as 1907 by requiring every prospective immigrant to wait at Ellis Island, away from the population, until they got the green light to enter. That is a far cry from what a CBP official told me two weeks ago – that “we have not seen any specific, unusual, or alarming public health or infectious disease threats in persons in CBP custody.”
CBP declined to comment further on Hull’s revelation upon my request.
If border agents have confirmed the arrival of illegal aliens with tuberculosis who have not been treated in hospitals, what about all those exposed to it in close quarters who did not yet exhibit symptoms and were released within hours of apprehension? Unlike in the past, where illegal immigrants waited for days in ICE facilities before either being deported or released, CBP is directly releasing thousands of aliens into the interior within hours. A bunch of illegal aliens caught in Arizona and El Paso this past month were released in Tucson.
It is simply inconceivable that this is not a priority threat to the American people. It is certainly a violation of current immigration law. The law (8. U.S.C. §1182(a)(1)(A)(i)-(ii)) states clearly that any alien “who has failed to present documentation of having received vaccination against vaccine-preventable diseases, which shall include at least the following diseases: mumps, measles, rubella, polio, tetanus and diphtheria toxoids, pertussis, influenza type B and hepatitis B, and any other vaccinations against vaccine-preventable diseases” are inadmissible. Moreover, 8 U.S.C. § 1222(a) requires the government to detain them “for a sufficient time to enable the immigration officers and medical officers to subject such aliens to observation and an examination sufficient to determine whether or not they belong to inadmissible classes.”
DHS officials, including the current acting DHS secretary, have testified that these people have largely never “received immunizations.”
Why is the lack of detention space a rationale to vitiate our laws and release them anyway and not a rationale to turn them back across the river or at least hold them in tent cities right at the border until or unless they voluntarily depart?
https://www.conservativereview.com/news/border-patrol-releasing-thousands-exposed-diseases-like-tuberculosis/
Virginia Schools Claim 'Thousands Of Students In Virginia Public Schools … Identify As Transgender,' Report Says
Four northern Virginia school systems, reportedly insisting that there are “thousands of students in Virginia public schools who … identify as transgender,” are supporting a transgender teen’s lawsuit filed because she was prevented from using the boys’ restroom.
Gavin Grimm sued the school board in Gloucester County, Virginia in 2015, claimingthat its policy violated Title IX and the equal protection clause of the Constitution. The Obama administration had ruled that Title IX, which in 1972 banned discrimination in public schools “on the basis of sex,” also banned discrimination based on gender identity. In May 2016, the Obama administration issued a directive that threatened schools that did not comply, writing:
A school may provide separate facilities on the basis of sex, but must allow transgender students access to such facilities consistent with their gender identity. A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so … As a condition of receiving Federal funds, a school agrees that it will not exclude, separate, deny benefits to, or otherwise treat differently on the basis of sex any person in its educational programs or activities unless expressly authorized to do so under Title IX or its implementing regulations.
In early August 2016, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a court order that allowed Grimm to use the boys’ bathroom. Later that month, Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that the federal government had issued “directives which contradict the existing legislative and regulatory text.”
In February 2017, the Trump administration’s Justice and Education departments issued a statement invalidating the Obama administration’s directive, writing that the Obama documents did not "contain extensive legal analysis or explain how the position is consistent with the express language of Title IX, nor did they undergo any formal public process. This interpretation has given rise to significant litigation regarding school restrooms and locker rooms." White House spokesman Sean Spicer said, "The president has made it clear throughout the campaign that he's a firm believer in states' rights and that certain issues like this are not best dealt with at the federal level.”
But now the Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax and Arlington county school boards have united to back Grimm’s lawsuit, filing a friend-of-the-court brief for the case, which will be heard in July in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The brief asserts, "Male students, teachers, and parents have not used the policy as a ruse to improperly access female restrooms. Sex offenders have not exploited the policy to prey on children. Transgender students have not suffered greater stigma or trauma. Those fears have proved entirely unfounded."
Ilryong Moon, the Fairfax school board member pushing for the amicus brief, said, "It's a perfect opportunity for us to show support for Grimm.”
The Gloucester County School Board had required students to utilize restrooms that matched their biological genders.
http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2019/04/virginia-schools-claim-thousands-of.html
Youth suicides surge 29 percent after Netflix debuts '13 Reasons Why' — a show all about youth suicides
A new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has found that depictions of youth suicide in entertainment can potentially harm youth.
The report also found that youth suicides are up 29 percent after Netflix debuted 2017's "13 Reasons Why" — a teen-centric drama series based on youth suicides. The series' season finale culminated in a teen — who'd crafted 13 videos explaining why she'd decided to take her life — slitting her wrists in a bathtub and dying.
What are the details?
Following the release of the popular Netflix show, the U.S. youth suicide rate was 28.9 percent higher among children ages 10-17 when compared to previous years, according to the study. The surge was primarily attributed to adolescent males, the study found.
Researchers in the study, which was released on Monday and backed by the National Institute of Mental Health, did add that the findings did have limitations and that they could not make a definitive and direct link to the popular Netflix show.
Researchers concluded that their findings "should serve as a reminder to be mindful of the possible unintended impacts of the portrayal of suicide, and as a call to the entertainment industry and the media to use best practices when engaging with this topic."
A spokesperson for Netflix told Reuters that they were aware of the study and are in the process of reviewing it.
"It's a critically important topic, and we have worked hard to ensure that we handle this sensitive issue responsibly," the spokesperson said.
A third season of the show is in production.
In 2018, Chief Executive Reed Hastings told shareholders that the company would renew the series for a third season.
"'13 Reasons Why' has been enormously popular and successful," Hastings boasted. "It's engaging content. It is controversial. But nobody has to watch it."
Anything else?
In 2017, two families blamed the hit Netflix show for the suicides of their respective teens.
Two 15-year-old girls from two different families committed suicide following screenings of the show. One of the teens' moms said that the show was basically offering up a blueprint for suicide.
Both families voiced their disgust with the fact that the network decided to continue airing the controversial show.
A few months after the girls took their own lives, web searches on how to commit suicide spiked. A study found that in the 19 days after the show's debut, internet searches for "suicide" shot up 20 percent.
In 2018, parents blamed the show for another teen suicide, and demanded that Netflix pull the show from its streaming library altogether.
http://www.hideoutnow.com/2019/04/youth-suicides-surge-29-percent-after.html
Israel cuts offshore Gaza fishing limit after rocket launch by militants
Israel reduced the offshore fishing limit it imposes for vessels operating out of Gaza on Tuesday. The move follows rocket fire from the territory by Palestinian militants.
A military spokeswoman said the rocket fell into the Mediterranean, a few kilometers off the Israeli coast. It was fired by Gaza’s second largest militant group, Islamic Jihad, an ally of the territory’s Islamist rulers Hamas, an army source told AFP.
The fishermen’s union said that a number of fishing boats came under Israeli naval fire early on Tuesday after the military accused them of breaching the fishing boundaries. The statement did not report any casualties.
Gaza fishermen will now be able to operate no more than six nautical miles into the Mediterranean, down from up to 15 nautical miles, which Israel had allowed since April 1.
https://www.rt.com/newsline/457915-israel-rocket-gaza-fishing/
California tap water could be source of thousands of new cancer cases – study
An alarming new study has found that drinking tap water in California over a lifetime could significantly increase your risk of developing cancer, and may have already contributed to more than 15,500 cases.
The state’s drinking water is contaminated with chemicals like arsenic, hexavalent chromium and radioactive elements such as uranium and radium, according to researchers at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) who published their findings in the journal Environmental Health on Tuesday.
The team tested 2,737 different public water systems across California as part of their research, which served 98 percent of the state’s population. The researchers then calculated the cancer risk by establishing the average contaminant levels between 2011 to 2015, and adding them together to create a lifetime risk.
These water systems are regulated by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and overseen by state regulators – which are supposed to test for both regulated and unregulated contaminants. But as the EWG notes: “Legal doesn’t always mean safe.” The California Environmental Protection Agency told CNN they would not be commenting on the study’s findings.
The study’s lead author, Tasha Stobier, pointed out that this research is specific to California, and a risk assessment should be carried out in other communities. She added that simple steps like adding a water filter could greatly reduce exposure to the contaminates.
https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/72383/california-tap-water-could-be-source-of-thousands-of-new-cancer-cases-.html
Palestinians are suing the illegal Israeli settlers who list stolen property on AirBnB
Last year, AirBnB declared that it would withdraw listings on its site from Israeli settlers based in Jew-only colonies in the West Bank
Last year, AirBnB declared that it would withdraw listings on its site from Israeli settlers based in Jew-only colonies in the West Bank. All such colonial-settlements are illegal under international law.
The move came after years of campaigning by Palestine solidarity activists. The effect of their efforts was acknowledged by AirBnB when the property lettings company announced the initial withdrawal.
However, under pressure, AirBnB has now capitulated to demands from Israel and its supporters to reverse the move. Part of this pressure was a lawsuit by Israeli and Israeli-American settlers and supporters against the company in a US court.
As my colleague at The Electronic Intifada, Nora Barrows-Friedman reported in April, Amnesty International called this U-turn a “reprehensible and cowardly move that will be another devastating blow for the human rights of Palestinians.”
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign calling on AirBnB to drop its Israeli settlement listings is not over, though. Palestinians directly dispossessed and discriminated against by the colonists listing their settlement properties on AirBnB launched a countersuit some months ago. In the wake of AirBnB’s capitulation, they have confirmed that their countersuit against the settlers will be going ahead.
“Although I am disappointed by AirBnB’s about-turn, we have always known that the road to justice would be a long one,” said Randa Wahbe, one of the Palestinians lodging the countersuit. “We laid out the settlements’ discriminatory realities for the court and how they impact our daily lives. I hope the court will allow us to proceed with our claims.”
As a Palestinian resident of the West Bank, she is not able to enter Jerusalem or to enter Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Although she also has US citizenship, the racist nature of Zionism dictates that, as a Palestinian, she is not able to rent from AirBnB’s Israeli settlement listings in the West Bank.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190430-palestinians-are-suing-the-illegal-israeli-settlers-who-list-stolen-property-on-airbnb/
Voices from Inside the Besieged Venezuelan Embassy
“If [the U.S. invades the Venezuelan Embassy] tomorrow, it will send a message to the world that no embassy is safe in the United States… it’s a message that ‘if you don’t bow down to us, do what we tell you, put in the government that we’d like, we will take your embassy.” – Kevin Zeese
VENEZUELAN EMBASSY, WASHINGTON — A group of activists banding together as the “Embassy Protection Collective,” in defense of the sovereignty of the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, defied orders by the U.S. government to vacate the premises by the 25th of April. Later in the morning, the Trump administration’s special envoy to Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, condemned the activists, saying that they would “have to leave.”
The activists, Abrams argues, are “clearly breaking the law.”
In interviews with MintPress News, Embassy Collective protesters argued the opposite: that an invasion of the Venezuelan Embassy by U.S. authorities would be illegal under international law as defined by Article 22 of the Vienna Convention. The article states:
Article 22 confirms the inviolability of mission premises – barring any right of entry by law enforcement officers of the receiving State and imposing on the receiving State a special duty to protect the premises against intrusion, damage, disturbance of the peace or infringement of dignity. Even in response to abuse of this inviolability or emergency, the premises may not be entered without the consent of the head of mission.”
“Today is the last day that Venezuelan diplomats in the United States have to leave the country,” Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK and member of the Embassy Protection Collective, told MintPress News. “There were a few diplomats left that work with the Organization of American States (OAS) and today they said they had to be out. So tomorrow there are no diplomats left in the embassy, which opens the way for the Guaido folks to come in.”
After the OAS recognized the representatives of Venezuela’s self-appointed president, Juan Guaido, in violation of its own charter, the State Department issued the Venezuelan diplomats a two-week ultimatum to vacate the embassy.
Meanwhile, the elected government of Venezuela has turned over the keys to the activists in hopes they may be able to safeguard the building. For the past two weeks, members of the collective have been protecting the building.
Speaking via live stream, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza repeatedly thanked the group:
We are very honored because you are protecting the Venezuelan territory… And please, keep on doing it. It’s important, it’s really important for the Venezuelan people. You are an example to us, to all the Venezuelan people. You are an example to the American people as well.”
https://www.mintpressnews.com/voices-from-inside-the-besieged-venezuelan-embassy/257910/
yep then formed and run Hezbolah too
Kushner’s Secret Golan Heights Deal: “They’re all thicker than thieves!”
Ira Greenstein: Jared Kushner‘s Criminal Deal With Israel Behind U.S. Involvement In Syria For Genie Energy’s Control of the Golan Heights
A major conflict of interest looms over the Rose Garden, whether it spells the end of the Trump administration, has yet to be determined.
The Trump administration along with Jared Kushner employed in the White House, a lawyer by the name of Ira Greenstein from Newark, New Jersey, who was by all accounts still acting as President and/or in the interest of his energy corporation when the U.S. bombed Syria.*
Genie Energy.
An energy corporation operating privately in Syrian territory — the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration are inherently subjugated by this paradigm of interests. When commencing with hostile military action against Syria, they did so while having a direct conflict of interest, primarily related to business ties with this corporation. This, along with seemingly ulterior political dealings with the Israeli government, has gone part and parcel to the destabilization of Syria. While benefiting Genie Energy, its backers and involved officials.
Officials such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This essentially represents extortion against Syria, as part of a behind-the-scenes deal between parties, with Greenstein’s boss, the founder of Genie Energy and top Netanyahu donor Howard Jonas having made billions through a telecommunications deal made possible under the watch of both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Kushner-directed White House Office of American Innovation (OAI) — for which to benefit said parties for their actions.
The U.S. has since attacked Syria’s government a number of times, furthering the risk of nuclear war or a widened conflict in the Middle East. Ira Greenstein left the White House on March 30th, 2018 following earlier reporting by this author.
https://medium.com/@zanting/ira-greenstein-jared-kushner-s-criminal-deal-with-israel-behind-u-s-873da65223ce
Part 1
Cordish has since stated that he is leaving his position at the White House.
Importantly, Jared Kushner’s Office of American Innovation (OAI), where Cordish and Liddell worked — was responsible for upgrading $82.0 billion worth of information technology for the federal government.
The Trump administration also proposed a federal takeover of 5G, which is worth noting, as the same line of reasoning for China and national security was used by IDT Corporation in 2003 in an attempt to acquire Global Crossing.
Axios:
Trump national security officials are considering an unprecedented federal takeover of a portion of the nation’s mobile network to guard against China, according to sensitive documents obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: We’ve got our hands on a PowerPoint deck and a memo — both produced by a senior National Security Council official — which were presented recently to senior officials at other agencies in the Trump administration.
The main points: The documents say America needs a centralized nationwide 5G network within three years. There’ll be a fierce debate inside the Trump administration — and an outcry from the industry — over the next 6–8 months over how such a network is built and paid for.
The proposal, whether considered or not, is also an issue by default because Greenstein is directly involved in wireless spectrum through SPCI and as noted had also vetted government applicants during the presidential transition. Which — once again — included intelligence and national security positions.
SPCI is headed by CEO and President Davidi Jonas. Son of Howard Jonas.
It wouldn’t be the first time that Jonas has used the White House to do his bidding, back in the early 1990s he strong-armed AT&T and the FCC due to personal connections he had with the Bush administration.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA):
Jonas and his wife give away more than 20 percent of their income to charity, favoring causes that help the impoverished. Yet he is an ardent supporter of President George W. Bush and the Republican Party, whose tax cuts and other policies often are seen as favoring the wealthiest Americans and widening the gap between rich and poor.
In the early 1990s, AT&T petitioned the Federal Communications Commission demanding that IDT’s callback service be declared illegal and turned off immediately. But Jonas prevailed, thanks in part to connections with the Bush White House.
That lunch was not Jonas’ first meeting with the president. Photos of Jonas with Bush, and one with Vice President Dick Cheney, adorn IDT’s executive suite. Jonas is an ardent Republican, and he will be one of 12 vice chairs of this summer’s Republican National Convention in New York City.
U.S. President Donald Trump recently pardoned Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney’s former aide, who was convicted of lying to the FBI in 2007.
Part 2
Kevin Kauffman
Founder, Chairman, CEO and President of K.P. Kauffman Company, Inc., a leading independent oil and gas exploration and production Company operating in the Rocky Mountain states.
Shelley Berkley
Former Member of Congress and member of House Committee on Ways and Means.
Stephen Trauber
Head of Global Energy Investment Banking at Citigroup.
Wes Perry
Chairman, Genie Energy. Founder and CEO of E.G.L. Resources, an energy exploration and development company.
Biographies parsed from current and web archives of Genie Energy’s website.
Part 3
As the name entails, the bill is designed to oppose or prevent boycotting or criticism of Israel for political reasons by groups such as Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), while primarily targeting the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Yatar CTU
The Trump administration is tied to Jerusalem’s private security contractors through this energy corporation. Genie Energy’s Vice Chairman, Geoffrey Rochwarger, heads an organization called Yatar CTU, which works with the Israeli government to enforce both the ‘Old City’ of Jerusalem and territories bordering occupied settlements.
Part 4
NEWSFLASH: US Is Fomenting Revolution in Venezuela Because It Wants the Oil
Why is Venezuelan President victimised and demonised by the United States, other than the Neocons in Trump’s Administration admitting unashamedly that they want to steal Venezuela’s oil?
It is a very simple issue to understand.
In a free world, I don’t like to use the much abused word democracy, it is the inalienable right of a sovereign people to self-determination. FULL STOP. Millions of Venezuelans voted for Nicolas Maduro to be their President.
It does not matter whether the United States government agrees with Maduro and his policies and the way he runs his Country, or the government of his Sovereign nation. It does not matter because six million Venezuelans elected him.
https://russia-insider.com/en/newsflash-us-fomenting-revolution-venezuela-because-it-wants-oil/ri26908
What a load of shit. Replace him with a C_A creation. You dumb fuck regime change for oil and 5-7 year war is what is coming this will spread to Cuba and Nicaragua