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Israel bars two Gazan youth seriously wounded by Israeli gunfire from travelling to Ramallah for urgent medical care


Al Mezan
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 15:23 UTC
Land Day protest Gaza
© Associated Press/Adel Hana
Palestinian masked protesters carrying tires walk toward the border fence during clashes with Israeli troops along Gaza's border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 5, 2018.
Two young men are in danger of losing their legs if they remain in Gaza hospital; Al Mezan, Adalah petition Israeli Supreme Court after Israeli military took four days to reject transfer request

Israel is refusing to let two young Palestinian men-who were seriously wounded by Israeli military gunfire as unarmed protesters during demonstrations in Gaza-travel to the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank for urgent medical care.

Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court yesterday, 8 April 2018, demanding Israel let the two seriously wounded young men leave the Gaza Strip.

The two men -- Yousef Karnaz, aged 20, and Mohammad Al-'Ajouri, aged 17, both from Gaza-were wounded when Israeli troops fired on them during the 30 March 2018 Land Day protests.
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Mr. Potato

Billionaire Steyer takes his 'impeach Trump' tantrum on the road

Kaylee McGhee
Liberty Headlines
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 17:06 UTC
Tom Steyer
© Fortune Live Media/CC
'Those who condemn Trump but do nothing to back their words with action are enabling the damage he is inflicting...'
Billionaire Tom Steyer, a well-known liberal activist, is organizing a nationwide town hall calling for President Trump's impeachment, describing it as "the most important issue in America right now."

During the "Need to Impeach" town hall event in Oakland, Calif., Steyer attacked both Republicans and Democrats who weren't fighting for Trump's impeachment.

Many Democrats aren't vocal about removing Trump from office, Steyer said, "because of political posturing before the midterms."

Now, through his 30-stop national tour, Steyer is trying to shame key Democrats.

Comment: It's never going to fly.

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Bulb

Twice as many Brits oppose war against Syria than support it - YouGov poll


RT
Thu, 12 Apr 2018 17:04 UTC
Syria
© Alaa Faqir / Reuters
The largest share of Britons surveyed in a YouGov poll for The Times is against military action against Syrian military targets.

Forty-three percent oppose, while just 22 percent support, airstrikes against Syria, with 34 percent unsure whether they back the action.

The poll's release comes as UK Prime Minister Theresa May is reportedly readying her cabinet to back military strikes on Syria without asking Parliament for consent.

This is contrary to opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn's position. He is insistent that Parliament must have a say on any airstrikes. His views were echoed by the leaders of both the SNP and the Liberal Democrats.

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Piggy Bank

Federal Reserve chair Yellen blames tax cuts for growing deficit, not entitlement programs

Breck Dumas
The Blaze
Tue, 10 Apr 2018 02:46 UTC
Janet Yellen
© Alex Wong/Getty Images
Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen warns in a Washington Post op-ed not to blame program entitlements for U.S. deficit. The column was written in response to a recent piece by senior fellows at the Hoover Institution.
In an op-ed published by The Washington Post on Sunday, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen joined four other authors in pointing to tax cuts and unfunded wars as the major culprits in America's budget woes.

The column was written in response to a recent piece by senior fellows at the Hoover Institution, which warned of a pending debt crisis and implored policymakers to "reform and restrain the growth of entitlement programs and adopt further pro-growth and regulatory policies."

Major entitlement programs in the U.S. include Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and veterans benefits.

The Hoover Institution economists acknowledged that tax policies alone will not fix the budget issues, insisting that "funding programs as they are currently structured will require high taxes for all income levels, taxes that would sharply reduce economic opportunity and growth, which in turn will make funding entitlements that much harder."

Comment: Actually social programs consume around two-thirds of the federal budget and by 2030 could consume all of it. See: US Wars Fund The Welfare State Which Finances The Liberal March Towards Totalitarianism

US federal spending in 2015

US federal spending in 2015


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Attention

Russia claims 'White Helmets' staged Douma chemical attack: Local doctors say 'not a single person' came in for treatment

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thu, 12 Apr 2018 16:29 UTC
white helmets
Russia claims that the reported chemical attack in Syria last Sunday was staged by the "white helmets," a US-funded NGO lauded by mainstream media for their humanitarian work, while long-suspected of performing less-than humanitarian deeds behind the curtain.

Speaking with EuroNews, Russia's ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizov, said "Russian military specialists have visited this region, walked on those streets, entered those houses, talked to local doctors and visited the only functioning hospital in Douma, including its basement where reportedly the mountains of corpses pile up. There was not a single corpse and even not a single person who came in for treatment after the attack."
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Boat

What chutzpah! US demands shared use of Russia's Northern Sea Route


RT
Thu, 12 Apr 2018 16:15 UTC
Northern Sea
© Pavel Lvov / Sputnik
The Northern Sea Route, which lies in Arctic waters and within Russia's Exclusive Economic Zone, should be a transport corridor open to the entire world community, Admiral Paul Zukunft, Commandant of the US Coast Guard, said.

Zukunft told journalists that the US Armed Forces still do not intend to conduct operations in the Arctic to uphold the principle of freedom of navigation, as is done in the South China Sea.

"There is currently no pressure to conduct exercises for the freedom of navigation in the Arctic, but... the US approach is that the Northern Sea Route should be open as an international water corridor for, let's say, a transit passage - as we see this area is being cleared of ice,"Zukunft said, adding that at the moment there's no certain plan for conducting any exercises in the area.

Comment: How very American! Russia has something the US likes, so the US should be able to use it just because! Considering that it is Russia who is clearing the ice for the corridor in a massive infrastructure project, and that it is within Russia's territory, it is Russia's right to say who can use the corridor and who cannot. If the US wants to use it, then a good start would be to stop poking the bear every chance they get.

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Handcuffs

IS linked terrorists sentenced to jail for planned attacks in Barcelona


The Local
Tue, 10 Apr 2018 17:21 UTC
Terrorists jailed Barcelona attack
© AFP
The cell planned to target Barcelona.
Ten members of a jihadist cell linked to the Islamic State group (IS) who planned attacks in Barcelona and to film a decapitation were sentenced to 8-12 years in jail on Tuesday.

The defendants included five Moroccans, four Spaniards and a Brazilian, the National Court, which handles terror cases, said in a ruling.

They were "ready to wage an attack against institutions such as the police, banks or Jewish institutions in Spain at any time, or to join the ranks of Daesh," it added, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

The cell was based in Terrassa, not far from Barcelona, the Catalonian capital.

Comment: Empire Idiots: Postcard from post-terror Catalonia

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Clipboard

Three Californias? Billionaire gathers 600,000 signatures to trigger referendum


RT
Thu, 12 Apr 2018 15:08 UTC
California Republic flag
© Mike Blake / Reuters
Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper has gathered enough votes to trigger a referendum on splitting California into three separate states.

Draper's CAL 3 campaign has gathered 600,000 signatures supporting the split since he proposed the initiative last August. He told the Telegraph that 600,000 signatures was a "milestone" and sent a message that people across California would "create a brighter future for everyone."

With only 364,000 signatures needed to force a referendum, a vote will be held on the proposal this November, alongside the midterm elections.

Draper's proposal envisions splitting California into three separate states. Northern California, which would include San Francisco and Sacramento; Southern California, including San Diego, San Bernardino, and the Mojave Desert; and California, a sliver of coastline taking in Los Angeles and surrounding areas.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Taliban overtakes 'safe' Afghan district weeks after Pentagon declares progress under Trump's new strategy


RT
Thu, 12 Apr 2018 16:08 UTC
Afghan policeman
© Reuters
An Afghan policeman walks at the government district building after a Taliban attack in Khawaja Omari district of Ghazni province, Afghanistan April 12, 2018.
A district governor was killed in a Taliban raid in an Afghan region once considered relatively secure from attack. The Taliban now claims it controls key parts of the area - even as the US boosts troop levels in Afghanistan.

Taliban fighters killed the governor of Ghazni's Khawaja Omari district, Ali Dost Shams, as well as his bodyguards, seven police officers, and five government intelligence agents, according to a local police official. The Taliban also torched the district headquarters, the police official said, as cited by Reuters.

The Taliban claims that 20 police officers were killed in the attack.
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Blue Planet

Organic Agriculture is worse for the environment than...

David Middleton
Watts Up With That?
Tue, 10 Apr 2018 00:01 UTC
organic agriculture


Inorganic agriculture?

Guest commentary by David Middleton
New study challenges beliefs about organic ag

BY MARK LYNAS
APRIL 9, 2018

Organic agriculture is not as good for the environment as commonly believed, according to a new scientific study reviewing multiple lines of evidence over more than two decades.

The study, conducted by German researchers Eva-Marie Meemken and Matin Qaim from the University of Goettingen and published in the journal Annual Review of Resource Economics, challenges many beliefs that have helped the organic food industry grow into an $82 billion global market.

Comment: The point against "climate-friendly agriculture" is well taken, but the rest of this post seems like pointless nit-picking. OK, the term "organic", as it applies to agriculture or foods, doesn't stand up to scrutiny. But the avoidance of glyphosate alone should be a good reason to try to get as much organic foods as possible. Yes, it's a buzz-term, and of course one needs to wary of marketing gimmicks, but does that mean we should throw out the baby with the bathwater and start poisoning ourselves?

See also:

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