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Cow Skull

USDA Wildlife Services killed over 1.3 million native animals in 2017 in the name of Big Agriculture

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Mon, 28 May 2018 12:30 UTC
big agriculture
Data released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that more than 1.3 million native animals were killed by Wildlife Services in 2017 - and despite the fact that the slaughter of wolves, cougars, and birds was funded by taxpayers to benefit the agriculture industry, it is receiving very little media attention.

The total number of animals killed by USDA in 2017 was 2.3 million, and many of the species were killed by the thousands as members of Wildlife Services responded to requests from agricultural corporations by turning to lethal measures to remove the animals by employing the use of poisons, gases, snares, and firearms.

According to the report from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the death toll in 2017 included 69,041 coyotes - 15,631 were shot and killed by snipers on fixed-wing aircrafts, 14,062 were trapped with snares and 12,119 were killed by cyanide poison; 23,646 beavers - the majority were caught by traps and 2,375 were killed by firearms; and 15,933 prairie dogs - the overwhelming majority were targeted and killed by firearms.

Comment: See also:

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Handcuffs

New Jersey cop caught on camera punching beach-goer in the head


RT
Tue, 29 May 2018 11:18 UTC
Jersey cops
© Timothy A. Clary / AFP
A video showing a police officer punching a girl in the head as she apparently resisted arrest on a New Jersey beach on Saturday has gone viral.

Footage of the incident was shared on social media by Twitter user @HewittLexy, who said she was sleeping on Wildwood Beach when she woke up to the altercation just after 4pm local time. RT has reached out to Wildwood Police Department for comment on the video.

Comment: Yet another example of cops using excessive force and acting like brutes. And why not? History shows there will be no consequences.

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Propaganda

'Ignorance or fake news': Russian Embassy derides UK tabloid the Daily Mirror, claiming masked Kiev thugs are 'Russian'


RT
Mon, 28 May 2018 16:23 UTC
Kiev Liverpool football fans
© Valentyn Ogirenko / Reuters
The Russian Embassy in London has admonished British tabloid the Daily Mirror for insinuating football thugs who attacked Liverpool fans in Kiev were Russian ultras, deriding the article as "ignorance or conscious fake news".

Liverpool fans were left bloodied and bruised after an unprovoked attack from a 20-strong group of masked hooligans before Saturday's Champions League final between their team and Real Madrid in the Ukrainian capital. The attack saw the fans pelted with bricks and chairs at a city-center chicken restaurant.

Comment: Leave it to UK tabloid journalism to spin every story they can manage to somehow denigrate Russia or Russians.

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Snakes in Suits

UK government to raid 90 year old charity fund to pay off 0.6% of national debt as economy continues to burn


RT
Sun, 27 May 2018 09:38 UTC
union jack piggy bank
© Darrin Zammit / Reuters
The UK government intends to force open a £475 million ($640 million) charity fund untouched since 1928. It wants to put the money towards paying off national debt.

The National Fund was established 90 years ago when an anonymous benefactor donated £500,000 on the condition that it must stay untouched until it was large enough to pay off the entire national debt.

The fund currently stands at £475 million, representing just 0.06 percent of the country's total debt. UK's total public debt is estimated at £1.7 trillion ($2.3 trillion), about twice the level it was before the 2008 financial crisis.

Comment: Considering successive UK governments have overseen rocketing homelessness and unemployment with millions more in poverty and using foodbanks, and have robbed the country of any remaining publicly owned asset, their shameless attempts to snatch a charitable fund to cover up their pathological greed should come as no surprise:

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Pistol

Liège, Belgium shooting: Two police and a passer-by dead


BBC
Tue, 29 May 2018 10:30 UTC
Belgium shooting
© AFP
The situation is said to be under control with officers at the scene
A man has shot dead two police officers and a nearby driver in the eastern Belgian city of Liège.

The gunman took a female cleaner hostage at a school before being killed by police. Two other police officers were also injured.

The man's motive is not yet clear but terror prosecutors are looking after the case.

Comment: Same script, different city.

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Network

Telling it like it is: WikiLeaks calls QAnon a likely 'Pied Piper' operation

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Mon, 28 May 2018 00:01 UTC
Wikileaks tweet Qanon
A few months back I started having bizarre interactions on social media of a kind I'd never experienced previously. Suddenly, whenever I'd write about President Trump's nonstop warmongering and capitulations to longstanding neoconservative agendas like implementing aggressive new cold war escalations against Russia along multiple fronts, the illegal occupation of Syria with the stated goal of effecting regime change, increasing troop presence in Afghanistan, unprecedented civilian deaths in drone strikes, facilitating the slaughter of civilians in Yemen, or the administration's open regime change policy against Iran, I'd get all these weird accounts telling me things like "Trust the plan" and "This is the Art of the Deal, Trump is playing 4-D chess", and saying I should research something called "QAnon" or "Q".

It happens literally every time I write anything critical of this administration; a deluge of commenters telling me in effect, "Shush. Calm down. This is nothing. What looks like Trump facilitating longtime establishment agendas just like his predecessors is actually brilliant strategic maneuvering." Every single time, without a single solitary exception.

Comment: We pretty much called this from the get-go. Anyone promoting a savior, and claiming Trump is a savant genius playing 4D chess, is at the very least delusional, but possibly nefarious. It might be trolls, it might be an intelligence operation psy-op. The net effect is the same.

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Light Saber

Pepe Escobar's Iran diary: bracing for all-out economic war

Pepe Escobar
Source
Mon, 28 May 2018 23:47 UTC
Imam Reza shrine Mashhad Iran
© Asia Times/Pepe Escobar
Dawn comes to Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad.
The minute you set foot in the streets of Mashhad, the air smelling of saffron, a fine breeze oozing from the mountains, it hits you; you're in the heart of the Ancient Silk Road and the New Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

To the east, the Afghan border is only three hours away on an excellent highway. To the north, the Turkmenistan border is less than four hours away. To the northwest is the Caspian Sea. To the south is the Indian Ocean and the port of Chabahar, the entry point for the Indian version of the Silk Roads. The Tehran-Mashhad railway is being built by the Chinese.

A group of us - including American friends, whose visas were approved at the highest levels of the Iranian government - have gathered in Mashhad for the New Horizon Conference of independent thinkers. Right after a storm, I'm in a van on the way to the spectacular Imam Reza shrine with Alexander Dugin, which the usual suspects love to describe as "the world's most dangerous philosopher," or Putin's Rasputin.
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Family

Russians have better things to do than make love


RT
Sat, 26 May 2018 22:17 UTC
romantic couple love
The top Russian pollster has conducted a survey on what Russians enjoy the most in life, and sex is not at the top of the list. Vodka and bear rodeos aren't either.

Watching TV tops the list of activities that Russians find pleasurable, according to a multiple choice poll published by the Levada public opinion research center on Thursday. Some 34 percent like to spend their time in front of the telly. "Earning good money" comes next, with 26 percent, followed closely by "spending time with children" at 24 percent.

Russians like hanging around with kids about twice as much as they like making them - "making love" clocks in at the unimpressive 16th spot. It's a favorite pastime for just 12 percent of the respondents - on par with hunting and fishing, "drinking in good company" and even spending some time alone.
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Laptop

YouTube in hot water as content creators and subscribers seethe over reordering subscription feeds


RT
Mon, 28 May 2018 21:08 UTC
youtubers
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
YouTube is facing public anger after tinkering with subscription feeds. The video streaming company claims it's merely trying to help users "find the videos they want to watch," but the users and creators are not amused.

The new subscription algorithm started displaying videos in a non-chronological order, and it didn't sit well with some users. Having received complaints on Twitter, the YouTube team said the platform was "currently experimenting with how to show content in the subs feed."

"We find that some viewers are able to more easily find the videos they want to watch when we order the subs feed in a personalized order vs always showing most recent video first,"the company said.

Comment:

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People

Brazilian Govt. agrees to lower fuel prices after week of crippling trucker protests


RT
Mon, 28 May 2018 00:00 UTC
Brazil truckers post strike
© Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters
Cars and people line up to fill jerrycans with fuel, due to the truck owners' strike in protest against high diesel prices, in Luziania, Brazil May 27, 2018.
Brazilian President Michel Temer has signed a series of decrees designed to end a nationwide strike by truckers, who are protesting against rising diesel prices. It follows threats by Temer to bring in the army to clear the roads.

Truckers have been blocking roads across Brazil, impeding deliveries of vital supplies to cities, since May 21. The protest was triggered by a spike in the price of diesel, which has increased sharply in recent months amid soaring oil prices. It has affected hospitals, as well as schools and universities, many of which said they would shut down on Monday.

The shortage of fuel prompted the authorities to order police and military to accompany convoys carrying fuel for public transport, ambulances and police cars.
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