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Attention

About time: EPA finally confirms that fracking contaminates drinking water

Nadia Prupis
Common Dreams
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 16:15 UTC
fracking
© Faces of FrackingAn unlined fracking wastewater pit in the "Petroleum Highway" of Central California.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed on Tuesday that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, contaminates drinking water—but claimed a lack of information makes it impossible to determine how widespread the risks are.

In a final report issued Tuesday, Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas: Impacts from the Hydraulic Fracturing Water Cycle on Drinking Water Resources, the EPA removed a finding included in a 2015 draft which indicated that fracking did not cause "widespread, systemic" harm. Fossil fuel industry lobbyists had praised that version of the draft—which also received misleading media coverage—claiming it vindicated the controversial drilling method that involves shooting chemical-laden water into shale rock at high pressure to release the gas trapped underneath.

And although Tuesday's report stops short of making declarative statements about the severity or frequency of the impacts of fracking, environmental advocates say the confirmation that it contaminates water is enough. Green groups had accused the White House of inserting the now-removed clause, noting that President Barack Obama supports fracking as part of his "all of the above" energy policies.

The EPA's own Science Advisory Board in August demanded a revision of the 2015 report, stating it was "lacking in several critical areas."

Comment: About time indeed - independent studies have proved the health and environmental risks of the practice for years:

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Stormtrooper

Disturbing brutality! Cops allow police dog to bite naked, unarmed man

Joel Grover and Matthew Glasser
NBC4
Mon, 12 Dec 2016 16:04 UTC
police dog attack man
The NBC4 I-Team has obtained police body cam video — never before seen publicly — that shows cops allowing a K-9 to bite a naked, unarmed man, including for over 40 seconds after officers had him pinned to the ground.

Attorneys who've seen the video say it amounts to excessive force, and raises questions for all police departments about how they use K-9s.

The initial police call came out around 8:30 in the morning on a Saturday in August 2015. Patrol officers with the San Diego Police Department were asked to check on the welfare of a naked man screaming and running through a canyon in University City, a San Diego suburb near La Jolla, according to police reports obtained by the NBC4 I-Team.
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Water

Flint water crisis cover-ups exposed: Environmental activist Erin Brockovich on 1st episode of 'America's Lawyer'


RT
Tue, 13 Dec 2016 23:51 UTC
American lawyers
Legendary trial lawyer Mike Papantonio's new show "America's Lawyer" on RT America will kick off with acclaimed environmental activist Erin Brockovich. They talk about Flint water crisis and how environmental disasters are dealt with in the US.

The focus of the first episode will be the ongoing and often ignored water crisis in Flint, Michigan, which has had "undrinkable" water for more than 400 days due to widespread lead contamination. In fact, an estimated 12,000 children have been poisoned by the water after Flint city officials switched the source of Flint's drinking water from the Detroit River to cut down on spending.

"Flint showed us something that we've known that we don't like to talk about very often, and that is cover-ups within state and local agencies," Brockovich says.

Brockovich was met with widespread recognition for exposing groundwater contamination from a natural gas compressor station in Hinkley, California, that was giving its residents cancer. Brockovich and the law firm she worked for won a $333 million class action case against the company behind the facility, the largest settlement for such a lawsuit in US history. More recently, she helped spearhead the movement to hold Flint accountable for the poisoning of its residents with advocacy on social media and on-the-ground support, and is credited with helping to spark President Obama's declaration of a state of emergency in January.
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Nuke

Locals evacuated after hazmat poisonous gas spill in Tennessee


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 15:54 UTC
hazard spill sign
© Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
A tractor-trailer has overturned on the I-24 highway outside Murfreesboro, Tennessee, creating a hazmat situation. Emergency services have told people to stay indoors and close all windows and vents, but later began evacuations.

The incident was reported by local media just after 3am Wednesday, as plumes of black smoke rose over the affected area, leading authorities to instigate the order of shelter-in-place.
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V

Former Politico editor: Drudge Report changed everything - Mainstream media no longer held the keys to information

Paul Bedard
Washington Examiner
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 14:14 UTC
drudge
Matt Drudge, founder of the Drudge Report
The media's angst over its role in "post-truth America" is expanding as President-elect Trump takes shots at the news business and even U.S. intelligence agencies.

The latest example is a lengthy essay by the former editor of Politico for the Brookings Institution that suggests the control of news by mainstream gatekeepers ended when Matt Drudge and his "Drudge Report" broke the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky sex affair.

Susan B. Glasser, Politico's editor during the 2016 presidential election and who has worked in prominent positions for several influential publications, wrote:
"In 1998, I started work at The Washington Post as the investigative editor on the national desk. Little more than a week after my arrival, on January 17, 1998, at 9:32 on a Saturday night, Matt Drudge's website first leaked word of the blockbuster scandal that was about to engulf President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. I had expected to edit stories about Clinton's aggressive fundraising in the White House, not his dalliance with a former intern. But now it seemed that independent prosecutor Ken Starr's unprecedented probe could even force the president to quit, and I remember well the day we all stood riveted in front of the TVs in the Post's famous fifth-floor newsroom to watch Clinton's less-than-convincing denials of 'sexual relations with that woman.' Over the weeks that followed, the internet drove a Washington news story as it never had before: The Drudge Report had proved beyond a doubt that the old gatekeepers of journalism would no longer serve as the final word when it came to what the world should know."
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Pistol

'Pizzagate' gunman tried to recruit friends for Clinton child-sex conspiracy raid


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 15:47 UTC
Edgar Maddison Welch
The gunman who stormed into a pizzeria to "self-investigate" fake news reports that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring from the restaurant's backrooms planned the raid for days and tried to recruit friends to join him, federal papers say.

Edgar Welch, 28, opened fire inside the Comet Ping Pong restaurant in Washington DC earlier this month, after reading fake news stories reporting that Hillary Clinton was involved in a child sex ring being run out of the restaurant - a conspiracy that has been dubbed 'Pizzagate.'

Welch drove 260 miles (418 kilometers) to the restaurant from his home in Durham, North Carolina armed with an AR-15 assault rifle, a handgun, and a shotgun.
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Clipboard

Cheating teachers: Number of students illicitly helped to pass exams rises threefold since 2014


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 15:36 UTC
students taking tests
© Stephane Mahe / Reuters
The number of British teachers cheating to help their students pass GCSE and A-level exams has trebled in the past two years under pressure for schools to perform well, according to new figures.

There were 388 penalties issued to school and college staff in 2016, up from 262 in 2015 and 119 in 2014 according to figures released by Ofqual, the qualifications regulator for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In most cases, penalties were issued to teachers for giving "inappropriate assistance" to students. It's not clear exactly what this means.

Comment: Upward social adjustment in action. We have a generation of fully accredited incompetents.

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Cut

Girls sexually assault football player, dance around him with scissors and chopped vegetables


RT
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 15:27 UTC
scissors hair cut
© Reuters
Three young women are facing lengthy jail sentences after sexually assaulting a footballer, dancing around his half-conscious body, and chopping onions over him.

Brogan Gillard, Shannon Jones, and Paige Cunningham pleaded guilty to sexual assault charges at Preston Crown Court against a 20-year-old man, whose identity is legally protected.

They were said to have met their victim on a night out, before inviting him to one of their homes, getting him drunk on vodka and cutting his hair in a bizarre attack.
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Bomb

Egyptian blast kills 23 people, attacker tied to Muslim Brotherhood in Qatar

Hadeer El-Mahdawy
Ahram Online & Sputnik
Sun, 11 Dec 2016 17:05 UTC
Coptic church Egypt terror attack
© Reuters/ Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Twenty-three people were killed after an explosion inside a church attached to the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo early Sunday, one of the deadliest attacks on Egyptian Christians in years. Minister of Health Ahmed Emad said another 49, most of whom are believed to be Copts, were injured in the blast that took place in Abbassyia district near downtown. "Twenty-nine people were discharged from hospitals after receiving treatment. Three people are still in a critical condition," the health ministry said in a statement.

A bomb went off in the small church of St Peter and St Paul (El-Botroseya), the Coptic Church's spokesman Rev Paul Halim told Al-Ahram Arabic news website. The church was built in 1911 on the tomb of Boutros Ghali, who was Egypt's prime minister from 1908 to 1910. The blast occurred in the church's ladies section, according to local media. The St Mark Cathedral was left undamaged.

"The explosion was caused by a 12 kilogramme TNT bomb," a security source told state news agency MENA. Security forces have blocked the main roads surrounding the cathedral. Hospitals where the injured are being treated, including Dar El-Shefaa and Ain Shams University Hospital, have called for blood donations, while calls on social media for people to donate have gone viral.

Comment: Also read: Blast hits near Christian cathedral in Cairo killing 25 with 35 wounded: Update, Daesh claims responsibilty

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Cut

Witch hunt against Russia continues: Sochi stripped of Bobsleigh & Skeleton World Championships


RT
Tue, 13 Dec 2016 13:25 UTC
International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Championships
© Murad Sezer / Reuters
The Russian city of Sochi will not host February's International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Championships, says an IBSF press release.

"The IBSF decided to move the IBSF World Championships 2017 from Sochi, Russia, to another location which will be determined in the coming days," the federation said in a statement on its website. "The IBSF Executive Committee felt that during this difficult time it is prudent not to organize such an event in Russia."

This decision has been made "to allow athletes and coaches from all nations to participate in a competition that focuses on sport rather than accusations and discussions - whether justified or not," the statement reads.

It also mentions that the Russian Bobsleigh Federation (RFB) "has put a great effort in the preparation of the World Championships," but stresses that the "current climate would make it nearly impossible to appreciate it."

In a statement, RFB said it was "ready to accept this sacrifice, for the sake of proving our compliance."

The news follows statements from several national federations looking to boycott the event over the Russian doping scandal, including the United States, the UK, Latvia and South Korea.
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