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Terminex fined $10 million for using nerve agent and poisoning US family


RT
Wed, 30 Mar 2016 17:10 UTC
US Virgin Islands
© luxuryretreats.com
The Justice Department has fined Terminix $10 million after the pest control company illegally used a nerve agent that sickened a Delaware family vacationing on the US Virgin Islands.

"Terminix companies knowingly failed to properly manage their pest control operations in the US Virgin Islands, allowing pesticides containing methyl bromide to be applied illegally and exposing a family of four to profoundly debilitating injuries," US Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden said in a statement Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

A criminal investigation began last year after a Delaware family vacationing in St. John in March 2015 was poisoned and suffered seizures. Employees of Terminix had used methyl bromide at a vacation unit below the one the family had rented.

Two teenagers were hospitalized in critical condition and have permanent neurological damage, while their parents also underwent treatment. A lawyer representing the family said that the brothers were barely able to move months later, trapped in bodies badly damaged by the nerve agent.

"Neurologically, it's like being in a torture chamber," attorney James Maron told CNN last year.
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Dollar

Ukraine blames 'Russian aggression' for skyrocketing inflation


RT
Wed, 30 Mar 2016 16:59 UTC
woman Ukraine supermarket
© Konstantin Chernichkin / Reuters
A woman reads the label of a food product at a supermarket in Kiev.
The Ukrainian inflation rate over the last three years of 80 percent is "a result of aggression from Russia," according to Ukraine's Social Policy Minister Pavel Rozenko.

"There was a high inflation rate [in Ukraine - Ed.] of about 80 percent during 2013-2015, primarily due to the aggression [from Russia - Ed.] and the loss of industrial capacity," he said at a government meeting on Wednesday.

At the same time, the minister said Ukraine's government had managed "to fulfill only 13 percent of the country's social obligations". He, therefore, called for more minimum social standards in the 2017 draft budget to compensate the people for losses from inflation.

Russian officials have repeatedly refuted allegations of conducting any military operations in the Donbass area, calling the allegations "fake propaganda."
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Star of David

Cold-blooded country: Poll finds majority of Israelis support IDF soldier's killing of wounded Palestinian


RT
Wed, 30 Mar 2016 16:49 UTC
israel police
© Mussa Qawasma / Reuters
Israeli security forces inspect the scene as the dead body of one of two Palestinians, whom the Israeli military said were shot dead by Israeli troops after they attacked an Israeli soldier, is covered in Tal Rumaida in the West Bank city of Hebron March 24, 2016
The majority of Israelis support an IDF soldier, accused of shooting and killing a severely wounded Palestinian assailant in Hebron last week. According to a poll by an Israeli TV station, only 5 percent of responders deem his actions lawless.

Some 57 percent of Israelis said there was no need to arrest the soldier or launch an investigation, revealed the poll, conducted for Israel's Channel 2. Over 40 percent of those polled deemed the soldier's actions 'responsible'. Only 5 percent described the shooting as 'murder'.

The soldier is currently held in custody while being investigated by the Israeli military police on suspicion of murder of 21-year-old Abed Fatah al-Sharif last Thursday.

The shooting of the young Palestinian, accused of stabbing another Israeli soldier minutes earlier, was caught on camera and emerged at B'Tselem human rights center's YouTube account. It featured one of the soldiers reloading his weapon and firing a headshot at the motionless victim lying on the ground. Sarit Michaeli, a spokesperson for B'Tselem, called it an"execution," while the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov labeled it "a gruesome, immoral and unjust act."
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Briefcase

Trials and errors: Prosecutors rarely held accountable for incompetence and misconduct

Lily Dane
The Daily Sheeple
Tue, 29 Mar 2016 14:49 UTC
No justice

“The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty and reputation than any other person in America.” – Former United States Attorney General and Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson
Imagine that you are convicted of two separate crimes - a robbery and a murder.

First, you are prosecuted for the robbery, because that will make it easier for prosecutors to secure the death penalty in your murder case. You sit on death row for 14 years.

While facing the horror and trauma of your seventh execution date, a private investigator hired by your appellate attorneys reveals a shocking and heartbreaking discovery. Scientific evidence of your innocence had been concealed by the district attorney's office for 15 years.

This scenario may sound like the plot from a John Grisham legal thriller, but this story is not fictitious.
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Laptop

D.C. hospital system paralyzed by cyberattack


RT
Wed, 30 Mar 2016 14:12 UTC
hacker
© Ints Kalnins / Reuters
MedStar, a Washington, DC-area healthcare provider, has reverted to using paper systems after a cyberattack its computer network completely offline.

Starting Monday morning, MedStar's patients could no longer book appointments, and the healthcare provider's 30,000 staff and 3,000 physicians were unable to access record systems, check their emails or even look up phone numbers, due to a computer virus infection. The system remained down Tuesday morning.

"MedStar acted quickly with a decision to take down all system interfaces to prevent the virus from spreading throughout the organization," spokeswoman Ann Nickels said in a statement. "We are working with our IT and cyber-security partners to fully assess and address the situation. Currently, all of our clinical facilities remain open and functioning."
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Whistle

Trump rally violence continues: 15 y.o. girl sexually assaulted and pepper-sprayed outside event


RT
Wed, 30 Mar 2016 13:56 UTC
Trump protest
© Scott Olson / Getty Images / AFP
Demonstrators have a heated discussion with a supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outside a campaign rally at the Holiday Inn Express hotel on March 29, 2016 in Janesville, Wisconsin.
A teenage girl was sexually assaulted and pepper-sprayed outside a Donald Trump rally in Wisconsin, according to local police. The incident occurred after the girl tried to fend off a man in the crowd who had groped her.

"A 15-year-[old] girl from Janesville was pepper sprayed in the crowd by a non-law enforcement person. A 19-year-old woman from Madison received second hand spray as well. Both individuals received medical attention at local hospitals," the Janesville Police Department said in a statement.

"A male in the [crowd] groped the 15-year-[old] girl, when she pushed him away; another person in the [crowd] sprayed her. We are currently looking for two suspects, one for the sexual assault and one for the pepper spray," the department continued.

Comment: Radicalization? Hatred and violence among Trump supporters

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Sheriff

Civil asset forfeiture lives on: Justice department and local cops to continue sharing the proceeds of stealing your stuff

Lily Dane
The Daily Sheeple
Tue, 29 Mar 2016 13:40 UTC
police theft
In January 2015, before leaving his position, former Attorney General Eric Holder appeared to do something honorable: He announced that state and local officials would no longer be allowed to use federal law to seize private property such as cash or cars without evidence that a crime was committed.

While Holder did not end the program - called "equitable sharing" - entirely, his limits were the first ever to be placed on the program in its three-decade existence. This seemed to be a positive change, especially considering that asset forfeiture has more than doubled under Obama.

Civil asset forfeiture is, simply put, the government stealing your property - including but not limited to cash, jewelry, cars, and even homes - without charging or convicting you with a crime.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Syrian experts horrified by the devastation ISIS inflicted upon Palmyra


Associated Press
Wed, 30 Mar 2016 06:29 UTC
palmyra arch
© Bernard Gagnon
Palmyra's historic monumental arch.
The recapture of Syria's ancient city of Palmyra from the Islamic State group has brought new revelations of the destruction wreaked by the extremists, who decapitated priceless statues and smashed or looted artifacts in the city's museum.

Experts say they need time to assess the full extent of damage in Palmyra, a UNESCO world heritage site boasting 2,000-year-old Roman-era colonnades and other ruins, which once attracted tens of thousands of tourists every year. Syrian troops drove IS out on Sunday, some 10 months after the militants seized the town.

The world knew through satellite images and IS videos that the militants destroyed the Temple of Bel, which dated back to A.D. 32, the Temple of Baalshamin, which was several stories high and fronted by six towering columns, and the Arch of Triumph, which was built under the Roman emperor Septimius Severus between A.D. 193 and A.D. 211.
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Pistol

Mississippi state Senate: Bill passed letting churches appoint unaccountable 'soldiers of god' as armed security

Arturo Garcia
Raw Story
Tue, 29 Mar 2016 17:27 UTC
jesus and gun
© www.rawstory.com
"Soldier of God" accountable to no one in Mississippi.
The Republican-dominated Mississippi state Senate approved a bill on Tuesday allowing churchgoers carry concealed firearms without a permit while also allowing churches to designate and train members to serve as armed security. According to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, House Bill 786 would also block state officials from enforcing federal regulations or executive orders that would conflict with the state constitution.

Supporters of the bill also managed to hold off adding an amendment requiring churches to post signs if they were employing armed security under the bill. "Unfortunately, our nation has seen tragic incidents carried out in places of worship," said Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves in a statement. "Mississippians should be able to attend church knowing they have security measures in place to protect them from anyone trying to do them harm."

Sen. Sean Tindell (R), who backed the measure, cited the mass shooting inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina last June as the inspiration behind allowing churches to designate a "sergeant-at-arms" and offer them legal protection for performing in that capacity. "I wish we lived in a world where this bill wouldn't be necessary," said Gipson, who is also a pastor.

The "Mississippi Church Protection Act," as the bill is called, passed in a 36-14 vote, but not without strident objections from state Sen. Hillman Frazier (D), who "waved a sheathed sword" as he argued against the measure. "We don't need to pimp the church for political purposes," Frazier said. "If you want to pass gun laws, do that, but don't use the church." The bill has also been denounced by the Secular Coalition for America, which called it the worst state bill in the US.

Comment: Would a mosque and Muslim worshippers be given the same rights and protections to have unregistered, non-permitted, concealed weapons without accountability as will the Mississippi gun-toting Christian 'Soldiers for God' in the guise of armed security? Or would they be considered terrorists...

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Jet4

Russia garners military contracts from success of Syrian air campaign


Sputnik
Tue, 29 Mar 2016 14:53 UTC
Russian chopper
© m.rusvesna.su
The success in Syria has a bonus of boosting sales.
The Russian Aerospace Forces' success in Syria has already attracted the attention of a whole array of foreign customers. Russia may benefit significantly from the success of its air operation in Syria; the value of contracts for the purchase of advanced Russian arms that it has received in the wake of the campaign are due to be ten times that of the operation itself, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported.

In the next few years, Russia may clinch such contracts, worth about seven billion dollars, as compared with the 33 billion rubles that were spent [approx. $500M] on the country's air campaign in Syria, the newspaper said. According to the Kommersant, the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation has already received plenty of proposals pertaining to purchasing advanced Russian military hardware, mainly aircraft.

Comment: This is an example and context of how the "profits of war" should be experienced.

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