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Gallery owner Fernando Luis Alvarez arrested after dropping sculpture of giant drug spoon at Purdue pharma

spoon
© Susan DunneArtist Domenic Esposito was inspired to create this 800-pound sculpture, titled "Purdue," by his brother's battle with addiction.
A Stamford art gallery owner was arrested and charged with a criminal misdemeanor and a felony Friday morning after dropping an 800-pound steel sculpture of a bent, burnt heroin spoon in front of Purdue Pharma, a top manufacturer of opioids, and then refusing to remove it.

Fernando Luis Alvarez, who is mounting an exhibit on the opioid epidemic, was charged with obstruction of free passage for his act of "guerrilla art," and for interfering with police in front of the 201 Tresser Blvd. corporate headquarters. The spoon was placed in an automotive drop-off spot, making the path unusable. The placement of the sculpture was the misdemeanor charge; refusal to remove it resulted in the felony charge.

Police also informed Alvarez he might be charged financially for the removal and storage of the artwork, which is 10 1/2 feet long.

Comment: Read more about Purdue Pharma and their 'reckless and irresponsible business practices':


Folder

No work requirements necessary for Kentucky Medicaid recipients, rules judge

Matt Bevin
© Silas Walker/APRepublican Gov. Matt Bevin had threatened to discontinue Medicaid expansion in the state, which covers more than 500,000 people, if the requirements were struck down.
A federal judge has blocked a law that would require certain Medicaid beneficiaries in Kentucky to work as a condition of staying enrolled in the program.

The requirements would have gone into effect Sunday. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin had threatened to discontinue Medicaid expansion in the state, which covers more than 500,000 people, if the requirements were struck down.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, stated in his ruling that the Trump administration's decision to add work requirements was "arbitrary and capricious" because it did not consider whether it would help bring medical care to citizens, which is one of the goals of the program under Obamacare. He noted that studies showed 95,000 people would be rolled off of Medicaid in Kentucky if the plan were to go into effect.

Instead, the Trump administration had put more weight on whether the program would promote health among residents. A central argument from the administration has been that work promotes better health, which is one of the objectives of the Medicaid program.

Eye 1

UK government has turned Tommy Robinson into de facto "persona non grata"

Tommy Robinson
© Press Association/BancroftTommy Robinson
Where is Tommy? Tucker Carlson has not forgotten, but all of mainstream media has remained silent.

It's hard to find much news about Tommy Robinson these days.

Mainstream media is not reporting much on the conservative activist's imprisonment for reporting in front of a grooming gangs court case in Leeds...but just because a media blackout on Tommy Robinson seems to be holding up, it does not mean that citizens in the UK are not aware of the controversial ruling against Tommy.

Comment:


Cheese

Whole lotta cheese: US stockpile reaches 1.385 billions pounds

Wedges of cheddar cheese
© Getty
America's stockpile of cheese is at its highest in more than 100 years, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

According to a report on cold storage from the USDA, America has 1.385 billion pounds o cheese in its stockpile, the highest since records started being taken in August 1917.

The report found that the East North Central region of the United States has the highest stock of natural cheese for American and other cheese, with 339 million pounds of American cheese and 374 million pounds of other cheese.

According to the Washington Post, the cheese stockpile is so high because there's too much milk on hand for processors, and milk is more easily stored as cheese. Combine that with school being out and cows being more productive, you get the record number.

The lowest stockpile of cheese came in 1918, according to the USDA, where there was just over 23 million pounds of cheese.

Biohazard

OPCW report on Syria is 'cynical and politicized' - Moscow

OPCW inspectors chemical weapons
© Yousef Albostany/Local Committee of Arbeen/Associated PressOPCW inspectors
Moscow has classified the report of the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW on the results of the inspection of facilities in the Syrian regions of Barza and Dzhamraye as "cynical and politicized". According to a note from the Russian Foreign Ministry, the document was approved under heavy pressure the US.

"We pay attention to the report of the Technical Secretariat of the Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on the implementation of the decision of the 83rd session of the OPCW Executive Council, in which case the target, of course, was the Research Center with facilities in the cities of 'Barza' and 'Dzhamrayya'," the statement said.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, "for Syria, it had a key importance from the national economic point of view."

Comment: Russia is reasonable in its suspicions regarding the OPCW.


Star of David

Israelis go hysterical over walkout from 'Birthright' tour - "Radicals!" "You will get raped!"

natanyahu birthright
© Gali Tibbon / AFPIsraeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a Taglit-Birthright annual event.
The former congressman Brian Baird once said that when you criticize Israel even privately to Israeli officials, they flip out on you, even if you're a congressman; and this is the most important takeaway of the wonderful Birthright walkout that happened yesterday and that is now all over the Jewish press. A group of five young American Jewish women on their free propaganda trip to Israel kept demanding information about the occupation, and at last left the trip to join a tour of occupied Hebron by the Israeli dissident group Breaking the Silence. And the Israelis went crazy.

The irrational belligerence of the Israeli response to this mild form of dissent by American Jewish women is staggering, and it's on film.

When Bethany, a dissenter, announces the walkout on the bus, the Birthright tourguide berates her and the other walkers-out in a disgraceful manner, shouting at them that they are trying to "bash" Israel and did not come with open minds or clean hearts, they are tyrants who tried to impose an agenda, and his grandfather fought the Nazis, and no Palestinian is going to force him out of here. Later he warns the women to be mindful of their security, their lives could be at stake. When all these young women did, they say calmly, was to ask questions.

And an American member of the Birthright group, who describes himself as a "teacher," taunts the women: "Just go. Go to Palestine. Because guess what's going to happen. You will get killed. You will get raped."

The Israeli newssite YNet is offering characterizations of the young Jews as the pawns of "radical" anti-Israel forces, and stating that the non-Zionist group IfNotNow, which encouraged the protest, is an "extreme left" organization. IfNotNow is surely leftleaning, but it does not oppose Zionism outright, and it works earnestly inside a framework of "Jewish values," and Jewish religious practice.

Comment: Birthright blocked a NY-based Haaretz reporter on Twitter who wrote about the walk-out:
"Birthright gave us a map of Israel that does not denote the West Bank [even though] the director of our Birthright organization admitted that the majority of maps in Israel do include [it]. They keep saying they're apolitical but this is clearly to the right," Katie Anne, one of the five Americans, told Haaretz. "We love our Jewish community and that's why it's so hard for us to see Birthright systemically miseducating it. We cannot stand this injustice."

The author of the story is Taly Krupkin, a Haaretz correspondent based in New York City. On Friday she posted a tweet saying Birthright Israel's official account blocked her.

Hours later she posted an update, saying the organization had reversed the ban and apologized for what they called a mistake.



Che Guevara

Israeli activists answer Palestinian call, hang photos of fallen protesters along Gaza fence

israel fence pictures gaza dead
© ReturnIsraeli activists post pictures on the fence between Israel and Gaza of Palestinians who were killed by Israeli soldiers while protesting during the Great March of Return.
The following press release was sent to Mondoweiss by the Israeli group "Return" regarding an action today along the fence with Gaza:

A group of Israeli activists, dubbed "Return," advanced today towards the fence besieging the Gaza Strip, and hung pictures on the fence depicting Palestinians slain by the military during the Great March of Return.

The activists responded to a call for solidarity made by the organizers of the protests. Gazan organizations have requested that the pictures of the fallen protesters be hung in various locations around the world and particularly in the fronts of Israeli and U.S. embassies, in order to support the protests and their aims. Similar actions are expected to take place globally in the coming weeks.

TV

How the culture of fake news perpetuates American totalitarianism

disinformation propaganda cell phone fake news
American citizens have a problem telling the difference between facts and opinion. That's the finding of a recent survey carried out by the respected Pew organization.

It was found that only a quarter of the people polled were able to correctly distinguish between a factual statement and an opinion claim. In other words, the majority of those Americans surveyed wrongly believed that information presented to them purporting as facts were indeed facts, when the information was actually merely a subjective claim or opinion.

For example, when an opinion statement like "democracy is the best form of government" was read to them, most of the respondents defined that as a fact. Only some 25 per cent of the more than 5,000 people surveyed by Pew could correctly differentiate between facts and subjective statements.

Dollars

Man from Oregon tries to bribe immigration officer with thousands of dollars to deport wife

ICE officer
A 48-year-old man from Portland has been charged with three counts of bribing a public official after attempting to pay a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer to deport his estranged wife and her daughter.

Antonio Oswaldo Burgos offered an immigration officer different sums on three occasions, local media reported, citing the indictment.

He offered $3,000 in May, the same amount on June 5, and increased the offer to $4,000 the next day, according to KATU News.

Black Magic

Trump Derangement Syndrome shows radical liberalism could be considered a mental disorder

liberal snowflake protester screaming trump Inauguration
© YouTube / On Demand NewsA woman screams at the heavens during the inauguration of President Donald Trump, 2017
A political civil war is brewing in America and may already be upon us. In this Trump-centric era, politics is everything. Politics is personal. Politics is irrational. The divisions have never been wider or the rhetoric more disturbing. Where do we go from here? Will it ever end?

Shockingly, 31% of voters say it's likely that the U.S. will experience a second civil war over the next five years, according to a new Rasmussen poll. In addition, 11% say a civil war is "very likely" and 59% are concerned that those opposed to Trump will resort to violence, which is 100% accurate considering the recent onslaught of anti-Trump rhetoric and action in recent weeks, all starting two years ago with the attacks on Trump supporters at a rally in San Jose, California.

Trump Derangement Syndrome is a debilitating disease ravaging the left. It has become a widespread epidemic. Liberals have become unhinged and their actions have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that liberalism is a mental disorder.

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