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Over 1,200 fake life jackets confiscated by Turkish police, at least 30 dead


Press TV
Thu, 07 Jan 2016 11:30 UTC
fake lifejackets
© www.presstv.ir
Fake jackets sold to unsuspecting refugees.
Turkish police have confiscated over 1,200 fake life jackets destined to be sold to desperate asylum seekers trying to reach Europe through the Aegean Sea. The authorities uncovered the illegal workshop in the western coastal city of Izmir on Wednesday, and seized 1,263 life jackets filled with non-buoyant materials. Two of the four people working in the center were underage Syrian girls.

According to Turkey's English-language newspaper Today's Zaman, the fake life jackets are sold much cheaper than the real ones to lure the refugees to buy them. It added that the demand for life jackets are so high that some shoe and clothes shops, and even street vendors, sell life jackets, including fake ones, as their primary products.

The standard life jackets are made up of water repellent materials, enabling their wearers to float on water for some ten hours, even in an unconscious mode. But the fake ones, stuffed with packaging rather than buoyancy aids, often absorb water, become heavy, and drag the user down. On Tuesday, the bodies of more than 30 refugees, including children, were discovered along Turkey's coast. Many of them had worn life jackets.

An unprecedented wave of refugees fleeing conflict-ridden zones in Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria, has been entering European countries. According to figures released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than one million refugees reached Europe's shores in 2015, with more than 800,000 of them arriving in Greece. Nearly 3,700 people either died or went missing in their perilous journey to the continent.

Comment: Death jackets. Just when you think humanity can't get any worse, the next unbelievably despicable thing is revealed.

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People 2

No hand holding for engaged couples in Turkey; Religious watchdog


RT
Thu, 07 Jan 2016 23:39 UTC
Turkey, young couples
© Murad Sezer / Reuters
Engaged couples in Turkey have been warned to keep public displays of affection, such as "holding hands and other" non-Islamic behaviors, to a minimum by state-run religious affairs agency Diyanet.

Couples are advised to "refrain from flirting, living together, staying together tete-a-tete in a way that could give rise to gossip, holding hands and other behaviors that are not endorsed by Islam."
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Stormtrooper

Texas trooper who arrested Sandra Bland indicted for perjury


RT
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 01:22 UTC
Texas state trooper Brian Encinia opens the driver's side door as he orders Sandra Bland out of her vehicle, in this still image captured from the police dash camera video from the traffic stop of Bland's vehicle in Prairie View, Texas, July 10, 2015
© The Texas Department of Public Safety / Reuters
Texas state trooper Brian Encinia opens the driver's side door as he orders Sandra Bland out of her vehicle, in this still image captured from the police dash camera video from the traffic stop of Bland's vehicle in Prairie View, Texas, July 10, 2015
A Texas grand jury has indicted the trooper who arrested black activist Sandra Bland on July 10, 2015. The Waller Country grand jury indicted Public Safety Trooper Brian Encinia on perjury charges.

Sandra Bland, 28, was driving in Waller County when she was pulled over the by the Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper for allegedly making an incorrect lane change. Encinia intended to give her written warning, but claimed she became uncooperative and argumentative. He arrested her and took her to jail.

Three days later she was found hanging in her cell. A medical examiner ruled her death a suicide caused by asphyxiation.

Special prosecutor Darrell Jordan said the charge of perjury is a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine, The Houston Chronicle reported.
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Stormtrooper

Another one bites the dust: Ahrar al-Sham leader killed in Syria

Chris Tomson
Al-Masdar News
Tue, 05 Jan 2016 23:24 UTC
ahrar al-sham
© REUTERS/AMMAR ABDALLAH
We're all 'moderate' here: Rebel fighters carry Ahrar Al-Sham (left), Free Syrian Army (center) and Nusra Front (right) flags in Idlib city in northern Syria, after they took control of the area March 29, 2015.
Moments ago, Abu Rateb, leader of the influencial Islamist rebel group 'Ahrar al-Sham' was killed in Homs governorate in central Syria. He was assassinated by unknown gunmen while driving towards Farhaniyah near Talbiseh in the southern part of the rebel-held Homs enclave.

His sudden demise comes less than two weeks after Zahran Alloush, leader of Jaish al-Islam, was killed by a Syrian airstrike in East Ghouta, Damascus. With several prominent Islamist leaders dead and rebel setbacks in Aleppo, Lattakia, Damascus and Daraa during the past month, rebel morale is on the decline while the Syrian opposition seems to be slowly falling apart.

Until his death, Ahrar al-Sham commander Abu Rateb had been overseeing remaining Islamist strongholds in the northern Homs. Furthermore, at his direct orders, insurgents launched a surprise December offensive intending to cut off the government-controlled Salamiyah-Hama road. However, this offensive was rolled back by the Syrian Army over the past week.
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Sherlock

Oregon standoff: Real militia calls out agents provocateurs as special ops move in

Jay Syrmopoulos
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 21:57 UTC
militia men
© uscrow
With tensions running high at the Malheur Wildlife Reserve, the Oath Keepers organization is reporting that they have been informed by sources within the U.S. special forces community that special operations assets have been moved into the area.

It was reported on Tuesday that federal authorities are planning to cut the power to the commandeered facility, with hopes that the sub-zero Oregon winter would drive them out without incident, but the potential exists that cutting the power is a simple precursor to laying siege to the building.

According to a report by the Oath Keepers founder and National President, Stewart Rhodes:
Oath Keepers has received very credible information from an active duty source within the special operations community that at least one SOD-X (Reserve/National Guard Special Operations Detachment, see this, this, and this) unit under the command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) has been tasked for this standoff at the Malheur Wildlife Reserve and moved to the area. Given this, we should expect that other special operations assets, such as Delta Force, will also be involved if the Obama Administration decides to give the green light on a military raid/strike. And we should expect the presence of the infamous FBI HRT (which were present at both Ruby Ridge and Waco).

Comment: It will be interesting to see how this plays out and how the government will use the situation to its benefit.

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Nuke

California Governor declares state of emergency over LA county methane leak


RT
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 14:23 UTC
gas leak
California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over a large Southern California gas leak in Los Angeles County, which has led to months of protests and the displacement of thousands of families.

Governor Brown made the declaration on Wednesday, which will make more resources available for dealing with the leak at Porter Ranch, which is within LA County.

In the press release announcing the state of emergency, Brown's office said the order has come due to the "prolonged and continuing duration of the Aliso Canyon gas leak."

The leak at the Southern California Gas Company's Aliso Canyon storage field, which began on October 23, has steadily leaked 62 million cubic feet of methane into the air daily, according to an estimate by the Environmental Defense Fund.

The proclamation calls for the SoCal Gas to maximize the amount of natural gas being removed from the facility, capture leaks while relief wells are being built, and to identify how the company will stop the leak if relief wells don't seal the problem, or if the existing leak gets worse.

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

Palestinian Bedouin village bulldozed in Israel's path of destruction


Press TV
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 06:54 UTC
Abu Nuwar destruction
© AFP
Palestinian Bedouin surveys what remains of his home and belongings.
Israeli forces have demolished five dwellings belonging to Palestinian Bedouin families in the Abu Nuwar community east of al-Quds (Jerusalem), leaving more than two dozen people homeless. According to Dawood al-Jahalin, a spokesperson for the Abu Nuwar Bedouin community, the Israeli military and police vehicles surrounded the area on Wednesday morning and bulldozers razed the dwellings as well as an agricultural structure afterward, Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported.

He added that Israeli forces did not give the Palestinian families any time to collect their belongings before the demolition process. "I showed them a court decision banning demolition, but the officer in charge refused to see it and instead told me he had a demolition order from the Civil Administration," Jahalin said, adding that the families will rebuild their dwellings.

Abu Nuwar is one of several Bedouin villages that have faced forced evacuation as the Israeli regime is seeking to build thousands of illegal settler units in the E1 zone. Settlement construction in the E1 zone would divide the occupied West Bank and make the creation of a Palestinian state almost impossible.

Israeli authorities have been carrying out forced evacuations against Bedouins since 1949. The demolition of Bedouin homes is part of the regime's massive land-grab policy, which will forcefully displace thousands of people.

Tel Aviv has so far refused to recognize the rights of Palestinian Bedouins and denies them access to basic services. Human rights groups say the measure will lead to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians living there.

Comment: Locate Target √ Deny Services √ Refuse Rights √ Forcefully Displace √ Demolish √
Israeli greed is right on schedule.

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Cupcake Choco

Monsanto, US, & Gates Foundation pressure Kenya to reverse GMO ban


RT
Tue, 05 Jan 2016 19:38 UTC
Cocao
© John Vizcaino / Reuters
Kenya may soon allow the use of genetically-modified cotton and maize seeds following pressure from agribusiness giant Monsanto, USAID, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The growing African nation banned imports of GMO products in 2012, but a recent application by Monsanto's Kenyan subsidiary could open the door to the controversial "seeds".

Last year, Kenyans took to the streets to protest the potential change.
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Alarm Clock

The United States Military child sexual assault epidemic - what you don't know

Claire Bernish
The Anti Media
Tue, 05 Jan 2016 18:26 UTC
military sexual assault
© colombiareports.com
A grim new study revealed a startling number of children in military families, hundreds each year, are sexually assaulted. Most often, this abuse occurs at the hands of enlisted male troops who are not related to their victims.

According to the study, there "were at least 1,584 substantiated cases of military dependents being sexually abused between fiscal years 2010 and 2014, according to the data. Enlisted service members sexually abused children in 840 cases. Family members of the victims accounted for the second largest category with 332 cases.

Comment: The US military will continue to do nothing to address the heinous epidemic of sexual assault by military personnel, whether it is children, women or even men! According to the following articles, rape is rampant in the US military and perpetrators go unpunished:
The military justice system is broken, riven with inherent bias, conflicts of interest and a hierarchical structure that ensures perpetrators go unpunished, survivors of military sexual assault told Congress on Wednesday.

At the first Senate hearing into sexual abuse in the armed forces for a decade, victims said the system helped encourage predators in uniform, and urged senators to change the law to give survivors the same protections as civilians - namely an independent justice system.


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Attention

Contaminated 'food': Walmart recalls 90,000 pounds of beef containing wood materials

John Vibes
Natural Blaze
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 00:00 UTC
walmart beef recall
Walmart announced this week that they will be recalling 90,000 pounds of beef because they could possibly contain "extraneous wood materials."

According to a press release from the USDA, The Sam's Choice Black Angus Vidalia Onion items which were produced on various dates between Nov. 19, 2015, and Dec. 9, 2015 are at risk of contamination.

The press release stated that:
The foreign material originated with an incoming ingredient and was discovered during production. There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.
The beef patties were produced by the Huisken Meat Company, which is based in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota.

The food products sold at Walmart are known to be questionable.

Comment: Walmart's low prices are maintained by refusing to pay its staff a living wage and by driving down wages in its global supply chain where overwork and unsafe conditions are prevalent. Whether this latest recall is accidental or something more nefarious remains to be seen, but as cutting corners is a hallmark of Walmart's business model, it would not be surprising that their suppliers could be engaging in the same tactics.

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