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The reason why I didn't vote in the Ukrainian local elections

Anton Dmytriiev
Open Democracy
Thu, 29 Oct 2015 00:00 UTC
ukraine ballot
© www.rferl.org
Local Ukraine election, rife with Western-style corruption.
  • Local councils packed with characters who should really be behind bars
  • Life not improved in fact the opposite - constant acts of terrorism in Odesa
  • People choose slogans, not concrete issues and visions
  • Parties agreed in advance who would head the country's key cities
  • Voter bribery operation done with impunity, didn't bother to hide it
I belong to that rare category of people who try to do something for their neighbourhood or their street off their own bat, although I work with the local authority on other issues. That's why I didn't vote in the local elections - I just didn't see the point.

Dymtriiev
© www.opendemocracy.net
Anton Dymtriiev
At the time of last year's parliamentary elections, a lot of people felt sorry for me - after all, a few years ago I worked for Oleh Lyashko, who is now a prominent politician (leader of Ukraine's Radical Party and former presidential candidate). And now that many of his assistants from back then are parliamentary deputies themselves, people were telling me I'd missed my chance.

But I believe it's better to be free and to do what you want, rather than carrying out someone else's orders, thinking only what you're supposed to think and pretending to be enthusiastic about things you don't agree with. So I decided to concentrate on journalism and start-ups, and leave politicking to others.

Comment: "I don't want to have to choose between one populist or gangster and another; I don't see a single political agenda that focuses on local issues and I haven't seen any candidate putting any real effort into improving peoples' lives and the places where they live." Sounds just like the USA...wait a minute...wasn't that the point of all that pesky meddling "to improve" the lives of Ukrainians...so they could become the unwitting beneficiaries of their very own exceptional and dystopian republic? Mission accomplished!

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Handcuffs

Lies and empty promises: Obama can shut down Gitmo, but doesn't


Sputnik News
Thu, 12 Nov 2015 01:31 UTC
close guantanamo protest white house
© Flickr/ stephenmelkisethian
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama agreed to sign a new defense bill that undermines his promise to close the Guantánamo Bay prison camp before the end of his term. Human rights lawyers, however, maintain that he still has the ability to do so.

Soon after taking office, Obama signed an executive order that required Guantánamo to be closed within a year, but the facility remains open, housing several detainees who have been held for years without being charged with any crime, to this day.
"The detention facilities at Guantánamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than 1 year from the date of this order," read the statement he signed on Jan. 22, 2009.

Comment: How Americans can explain away the fact that the US imprisons people indefinitely (which is essentially a form a psychological torture), without any criminal charges or due process whatsoever, is beyond rational comprehension.

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Life Preserver

Disabled people in UK 'sleeping in wheelchairs because of social care cuts'

Andy Wells
Yahoo News
Tue, 10 Nov 2015 22:17 UTC
disabled wheelchair
© n/a
A new report claims that disabled people are being forced to sleep fully clothed in their wheelchairs because of cuts to the care services.

Charity Scope found that over half of the 500 disabled people they questioned were not able to get the support they needed to live independently.

Iain Duncan Smith
© n/a
Iain Duncan Smith
They blamed a cut in welfare packages made by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), headed by Iain Duncan Smith.

The charity said that some people were surviving on nothing more than biscuits and were forced to sleep in their wheelchairs as there was no one to help them into bed.

Rachel Watt, a 36-year-old from Southampton, told the charity: "Since 2010, I have had two thirds of my care package cut, from two and a half hours a day down to 45 minutes.

"In November 2010, I lost my evening call to help me get ready for bed. Then a few months later I lost my domestic assistance, and then the following year I lost my meal preparation time.

"Now I just have a short morning call to help me get washed and dressed.

"On my worst days, I can't get undressed properly in the evenings, or transfer from my power wheelchair into bed, so I have to sleep in my chair, in my clothes."

Comment: The UK government keeps on cutting the support and benefits to those most vulnerable in society, but still manages to find enough to spend on death dealing abroad via disastrous foreign policies, to renew the Trident nuclear missile system and its attendant submarines, and the interest payments to private financial institutions on public money borrowed to bail out their buddies in the banking sector. All of which leaves just enough to fund 45 minutes of care and some biscuits for the needy. It's an economy run for the benefit of the few.

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People

People power! In solidarity with University of Missouri, more colleges campuses protest racism


Press TV
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 14:43 UTC
Image
© Press TV
Yale students participate in a “March of Resilience” on Monday, November, 9, 2015.
University students across the US will hold protests this week against racism on college campuses, prompted by protests over the rising number of racist incidents against black students at the University of Missouri.

Peaceful marches and walkouts have been held or are planned at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York and Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. A crowd of more than 1,000 gathered peacefully at the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale University for a "March of Resilience," in solidarity with black students at the University of Missouri located in Columbia, Missouri.
Image
© Press TV
A walkout is also planned at Ithaca College "for all the injustices students of color face on this campus and other colleges nationally," a student group called People of Color at the private university announced on its Facebook page.


Comment: Top University of Missouri leaders resign over racial turmoil

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Light Saber

Connecticut branch of AFL-CIO labor union backs boycott of Israel

Ali Abuniah
The Electronic Intifada
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 21:41 UTC
Image
© Oren Ziv/Active Stills
Palestinian workers holding Israeli work permits take cover from the rain after crossing the Eyal checkpoint between the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya and present-day Israel, 4 January 2015.
The Connecticut branch of the AFL-CIO has voted to back key elements of the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) on Israel. AFL-CIO is the largest US labor federation, counting dozens of unions with a combined membership of almost 13 million workers as its affiliates - 200,000 of them in Connecticut.

At the Connecticut branch's convention in October, delegates passed a resolution calling on the national AFL-CIO to adopt BDS "in connection with companies and investments profiting from or complicit in human rights violations arising from the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the State of Israel, and to urge its affiliates and related pension and annuity funds to adopt similar strategies."

It also calls on the US to "diligently apply all diplomatic and economic tools to bring an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and to support a fair and just peace in which the people of Israel and Palestine can live in peace and security in accordance with international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." The resolution notes that Unite, the largest union in United Kingdom and Ireland, has backed BDS.

Democratic Party ties

The move is significant because while many rank-and-file members of AFL-CIO-affiliated unions have supported Palestinian rights, the same has not been true for the federation's leadership. The national AFL-CIO worked closely with the US Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War to subvert left-wing movements and governments around the world. It has contributed millions of dollars to Democratic candidates and remains closely tied to that party's pro-Israel establishment. Both the administration of President Barack Obama, as well as his would-be successor Hillary Clinton, oppose any form of boycott of Israel, including of its settlements.

Comment: Israel's long running collective punishment of the Palestinians is gaining some attention, but certainly not enough.

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Dollars

Monsanto sued by city of Oakland over contaminating San Francisco Bay with toxic chemicals


RT
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 21:42 UTC
Image
© Robert Galbraith / Reuters
Agrochemical giant Monsanto knowingly contaminated Oakland's storm water and the San Francisco Bay with a highly toxic chemical for decades, a new lawsuit filed by the California city claims. Oakland wants the company to pay for the environmental cleanup.

The State Water Resources Control Board determined that the presence of highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) in Oakland's storm water threatens the San Francisco Bay's ecosystem and interferes with the bay's use and enjoyment by Californians, the city said in a statement.

PCBs were widely used for five decades to insulate electronics and were incorporated into paints, caulks and other building materials until they were banned by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1979. Despite the 36-year prohibition, the chemicals are a common environmental contaminant in water and in the tissues of marine life all the way up the food chain to humans.

"Monsanto knew that PCBs were toxic and could not be contained as they readily escaped into the environment, finding their way into bays, oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, soil and air," the statement read. "Although evidence confirms that Monsanto recognized that PCBs were becoming 'a global contaminant', well before the 1979 ban, it concealed this information and increased production of these profitable compounds."
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Fire

Blaze on London's Fleet Street near Goldman Sachs offices


RT
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 17:04 UTC
Image
© Needhams1834/Twitter
London Fire Brigade (LFB) battled a blaze in a Fleet Street building adjacent to the offices of Goldman Sachs on Wednesday. LFB tweeted at 16:30 GMT it is "under control and crews are damping down."Smoke engulfed the building at some point after 14:30 GMT on Wednesday afternoon.

Some 30 firefighters and six fire engines attended the scene.


Tim Dickens, of the Royal Television Society, reported that a specialist ambulance crew arrived. There have been no reported injuries.

Transport for London (TfL) confirmed Fleet Street was closed in both directions between Ludgate Circus and Fetter Lane due to the fire.The LFB say the blaze was in a first floor flat above a pub on Fleet Street.

A Goldman Sachs employee told the Huffington Post UK the investment bank's offices were evacuated following the fire.They said a "significant amount of smoke appeared to be coming from [the] building above Pret a Manger.
"Surrounding buildings were partially evacuated, including Goldman Sachs."
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Laptop

Hacking as a business model: Feds charge 3 men for stealing financial data from 100 million people


RT
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 15:03 UTC
internet screen
© Mal Langsdon / Reuters
Federal prosecutors called it "the largest theft of financial-related data in history" when they unsealed an indictment against three men at the center of a sprawling hacking criminal enterprise. The men face decades in jail, and one is still at-large.

"The charged crimes showcase a brave new world of hacking for profit," said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara in a statement on Tuesday. "It is no longer hacking merely for a quick payout, but hacking to support a diversified criminal conglomerate. This was hacking as a business model."


The men, two Israelis and an American, hacked the networks of a dozen US financial institutions over an eight-year period and stole customer data from 100 million people, including 80 million from one financial institution alone, according to prosecutors. They manipulated stock prices, processed payments for other criminals and concealed over $100 million in a Swiss bank account and other accounts.

"These three defendants perpetrated one of the largest thefts of financial-related data in history - making off with the sensitive information of literally thousands of hard-working Americans," said US Attorney General Loretta Lynch in a statement.

Comment: It's curious that these three men were able to build such a large criminal enterprise before being caught. But one thing's for sure, their 'diversified criminal conglomerate' sounds a lot like most multi-national banks and corporations. Check out:

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Cult

More Vatileaks scandal: Vatican owned properties used as brothels and massage parlors where priests pay for sex

Michael Day
The Independent
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 18:05 UTC
medieval brothel
Vatican-owned properties in Rome are operating as seedy saunas and massage parlours where priests pay for sex, according to the latest in a series of leaked reports to embarrass the Church.

It is also claimed that Vatican officials are allowing buildings to be rented out at peppercorn rents as favours to powerful colleagues and turning a blind eye to shady property deals, as well as allowing addresses to be used as red-light establishments.

Among the properties mentioned in the document, made public by a Vatican mole, are premises in two streets close to the Italian Parliament and a solarium near Piazza Barberini, according to press reports.

One particular Vatican department, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, has been highlighted in the list. It owns hundreds of high-value properties in central Rome, worth hundreds of millions of euros.

Comment: Dirty laundry? Two senior Vatican officials arrested in new VatiLeaks scandal

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Ambulance

Yorkshire, UK: School evacuated after 40 children and 1 staff member fall ill and collapse


RT
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 19:45 UTC
Outwood Academy, Yorkshire UK
A number of students aged between 11 and 16 have been rushed to hospital after collapsing at a school in North Yorkshire. Fire crews believe a "ripple effect" caused the incident.

Emergency services were called to Outwood Academy School on Clotherholme Road at around 12:30pm GMT on Wednesday after staff members witnessed a group of children lose consciousness.

North Yorkshire police believe the incident occurred between 11am and 11.30am.

The school is working with fire and ambulance services to establish what caused the students to collapse.

Outwood Academy student Olivia Craft told ITV News students began to feel unwell during the minute's silence taking place to commemorate Armistice Day. She said students started to collapse just after 11am.

According to the Daily Mirror, emergency services are now investigating a suspected gas leak at the school, which could have caused the students to collapse. Car bonnets in the area are being searched.
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