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Iran's metal exports rising despite US sanctions


FARS
Mon, 16 Dec 2019 08:51 UTC
iran metal exports
Iran's Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade (MIMT) announced that the country's metal exports have jumped significantly in the first 7 months of the current local calendar year (March 21-October 22, 2019) showing Tehran's economic strategies have outdone the US sanctions.

Amid Tehran's efforts to broaden its access to new sources of hard currency at a time of increased American pressure on the oil industry, the MIMT said in a report published on Sunday that exports to China of major metals and mining products had reached a total of $1.568 billion in value terms between late March and late October this year, a surge of 150 percent compared to the same period in 2018.

It said the top items on the list of exports of various metals to China included iron ore and concentrates on $673 million, copper cathode on $408 million, steel ingot on $207 million, copper ore and concentrates on $127 million and zinc ingot on $57 million.

The report said that the total value of exports of metals and mining products from Iran to various countries in the seven-month period ending on October 22, 2019 had stood at $4.631 billion, an increase of 6.16 percent year-on-year.

Comment: See also:

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Santa

Postmodern hell: Age-old Christmas traditions replaced by progressive agenda - as Santa gets a makeover!


RT
Mon, 16 Dec 2019 17:08 UTC
santa
© REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz 3
Father Christmas, also known as Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas or Kris Kringle, dates back almost 2,000 years, but it seems that it's time for a rethink of everything in 2019 as a modern agenda takes a subversive twist on tradition.

Santa's modern design was created in the late 1800's by American artist Thomas Nast, in a collection of sketches for Harper's magazine. In the 1930's good old Coca Cola popularized his distinctive red-and-white costume and he became the western emblem of festive cheer. But, eighty years later, that archetype is under threat as, heading Down Under, a day-care center has other ideas when it comes to Christmas symbolism.

The alternative venue in Melbourne invited parents to a special picnic event featuring a... "Sustainability Pirate." More yarr harr than ho ho ho, in addition to getting rid of any mainstream commercial icons, the center asked for all food to be organic (featuring a food-swap scheme), said no alcohol would be allowed and eco transport would be preferred. How wonderfully... festive. Not.

The "Santa-free non-Christmas party" was supported by some but mostly mocked online.
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NPC

Homeless in Seattle? City officials will put on a TRANSGENDER STRIP SHOW to lift your spirits

Sophia Narwitz
RT
Mon, 16 Dec 2019 16:53 UTC
Beyonce Black St James
© YouTube / Beyonce Black St James
Local leaders in Seattle, Washington are facing criticism after using taxpayer funds to hire a transgender stripper to perform at an annual event aimed at combatting rising homeless population rates.

Footage, taken last week during a conference organized by a coordinating agency for the homeless in King County called 'All Home,' shows adult performer Beyoncé Black St. James grinding on attendees and waving her flappy bits all over the place.

Unless she's hiding another secret in her pants, it remains to be seen how using government funding to hire a chick with a d**k to sexualize what should be a professional event will cure the local homeless crisis. This is yet another negative mark against a city that's already wasting vast sums of funds to combat a problem it doesn't seem capable of solving.

For quite a while now, Seattle has been tormented by a rise in those without stable housing, and leaders such as Mayor Jenny Durkan have lamented that the crisis "won't just go away overnight." Though, if this most recent video is any indication, attempts to address it aren't exactly serious affairs.
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Megaphone

France brought to standstill as massive strike continues with transport workers erecting flaming barricades and truckers blocking traffic


RT
Mon, 16 Dec 2019 12:37 UTC
france strike
© AFP / Martin BUREAU
French transport infrastructure ground to a halt on Monday as drivers and conductors at state-run companies continued to strike against proposed pension reform, while truckers protested for better wages and working conditions.

As many as 200 people from a local transport trade union congregated outside a TCAR bus depot near the French city of Rouen in the early hours of Monday morning, erecting a burning barricade of shopping carts and setting dumpsters on fire.

The depot gates were blocked off, trapping several staff members inside the facility. The move was ostensibly aimed at 'encouraging' public transport workers to join anti-government protests in a more visible manner.

Comment: Ultimately, this major strike, and the Yellow Vest protests - that have been running since this time last year - are basically about the same thing: the relentless and rapidly deteriorating quality of life, whether that be because of the decimation of pensions or the soaring taxes on fuel - to name just two of the complaints from citizens: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal #26: Globalization vs Nationalism - The Hidden Causes of The Yellow Vest Protests in France

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NPC

Media in a tizzy over 'white power' sign flashed at Army Navy football game


RT
Mon, 16 Dec 2019 16:46 UTC
okay sign
© Flickr / Joe Lodge
The screeching masses on Twitter are melting down over the "white power symbol" flashed by a group of Army and Navy cadets. However, even the media is getting on board, unironically describing the 'okay' gesture as a hate symbol.

The controversy began at Saturday's Army/Navy football game in Philadelphia, after TV cameras caught multiple Midshipmen and Cadets making the "okay" hand gesture, apparently in a bid to distract their classmates and viewers.

Twitter liberals went into a tizzy, claiming that the gesture was an overt display of "white power" and, naturally, blaming President Donald Trump.
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Bullseye

Western leaders, screw your 'Sanctions Target the Regime' blather: Sanctions KILL PEOPLE

Eva Bartlett
RT
Mon, 16 Dec 2019 23:26 UTC
syrian children cancer
© Eva Bartlett
Children with cancer couldn't get adequate treatment due to sanctions (photo Aleppo 2016)
The US has a favourite tool for bullying non-compliant nations: sanctions. Sanctions inflict considerable suffering, even death, on ordinary people in targeted nations. Yet those defiant nations persist and resist.

A recent opinion piece in the Washington Post proposing a new oil-for-food scheme, this time in Venezuela, surprisingly acknowledges that sanctions "can also end up harming the people that they intend to protect."

Okay, first off, we know there is no intention of "protecting" civilians in any of the countless countries targeted by Western sanctions. Do Western talking heads really think we've forgotten the half-a-million dead Iraqi children, thanks to US sanctions?

Yet, ask a Western leader about crippling sanctions placed on nations which don't bow to Imperial demands and you'll be met with some nonsensical explanation that sanctions only target 'regimes' and 'terrorists,' not the people.
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Dollars

Florida officer charged with extorting valet in exchange for not writing parking tickets


ABC News
Mon, 16 Dec 2019 16:42 UTC
parking machine
A Miami Beach police officer was arrested after the owner of a valet company told investigators he demanded $1,000 in cash each month in exchange for not issuing parking citations.

Dante Zirio, 57, was arrested Saturday during a sting operation involving the owner of APS Parking LLC. Company owner Freddy Diaz gave the officer a $750 payment during a conversation that was captured on video.

Zirio has been charged with extortion, bribery, and accepting an unlawful compensation for official behavior.

"It's a sad day when a public officials engages in such behavior, but it is good to know that internally we did the right thing to identify and arrest the perpetrator," Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales said in an email to the city's mayor and commissioners.
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Wedding Rings

Hallmark caves to the gay left and reinstates commercial showing same-sex wedding

Jordan Freiman
CBS News
Mon, 16 Dec 2019 16:35 UTC
gay wedding
The Hallmark Channel on Sunday moved to reinstate ads featuring a same-sex couple that had been removed from the cable network. The decision came after considerable backlash over the initial decision to stop airing the ads from the wedding-planning company Zola.

"The Crown Media team has been agonizing over this decision as we've seen the hurt it has unintentionally caused," Hallmark CEO Mike Perry said in a statement Sunday night. "Said simply, they believe this was the wrong decision."

"Hallmark will be working with GLAAD [Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation] to better represent the LGBTQ community across our portfolio of brands," the statement continued. "The Hallmark Channel will be reaching out to Zola to reestablish our partnership and reinstate the commercials."

Perry also used the statement to apologize, saying, "Our mission is rooted in helping all people connect, celebrate traditions, and be inspired to capture meaningful moments in their lives. Anything that detracts from this purpose is not who we are. We are truly sorry for the hurt and disappointment this has caused."
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Arrow Up

First railway bridge connecting Russia & China promises to boost trade to new highs


RT
Mon, 16 Dec 2019 09:51 UTC
Bridge
© Pexels.com
The construction of the long-awaited railway bridge between Russia and China will be finished by the end of next year, according to Russian presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, Yury Trutnev.

Work on the bridge was initially scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2020, but due to difficulties the initial project had to be redesigned.

"We'll have to start a new project, because the river where our (Russian) side of the bridge is being built, and pillars already installed, is much deeper than what they were designed for. The project objectively needs to be changed," Trutnev told journalists on Monday.

He added that the changes to the project are planned to be made without attracting additional federal budget funds.
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Pirates

We are in the midst of the worst drug crisis in American history

Michael Snyder
End of the American Dream
Mon, 16 Dec 2019 00:00 UTC
drug crisis
There has never been a time in our history when more Americans have been on drugs. According to the most recent government numbers, 24.6 million Americans have used an illegal drug within the last 30 days. Of course the number of Americans taking legal drugs is actually far, far higher. According to Bloomberg, 46 percent of all Americans have taken at least one legal pharmaceutical drug within the last 30 days. In most instances, those legal drugs have been prescribed by doctors with the intention of helping people, but sometimes legal drugs are even more addictive than illegal drugs are. In particular, opioids have destroyed countless American lives over the past decade, and in so many cases those that got addicted originally got them legally. Today, Americans consume approximately 80 percent of the total global supply of opioids, and it is a major national crisis. But even if we were able to get rid of all the opioids, we would still be the most drugged up nation on the entire planet. We have become a nation of addicts, and the self-destructive path that we are on does not have a positive ending.
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