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Protests against Macron's labor reform take place in 160 cities across France

Macron Protest
© Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
Macron Protest, one of 160 across France.
Thousands took to the streets across France on Saturday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's public-sector reforms. Protesters decried Macron's plans for massive lay-offs of workers and tax breaks for the rich.

Protesters were carrying posters bearing slogans such as "Macron, you can't buy France!" "Stop Macron!" or "Make our planet great again: Austerity, bombing of Syria, eviction of farmers, destroying the public service, pesticides for everyone." Many accused the centrist president of serving the wealthy elites, while ignoring the plight of ordinary people.

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Handcuffs

City fines and arrests its citizens for cracked driveways, improperly stacked firewood - they're fighting back

Cracked drive and cop
© The Free Thought Project.com
A small town is being sued by its residents after they faced massive fines and were threatened with jail time for cracked driveways, improperly stack firewood, and overgrown vegetation.

A city has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit from residents who claim that they have received tickets and have even been threatened with arrest and sentenced to court-ordered probation for the crime of having a cracked driveway, chipped paint on their houses, and overgrown vegetation or improperly stacked firewood in their yards.

Hilda Brucker, a 25-year-resident of Doraville, said she was placed on criminal probation for "Rotted wood on house and chipping paint on fascia boards," "High weeds in backyard and ivy on tree and vines on house," and a "Driveway in a state of disrepair," according to the lawsuit against the city.

The town is being accused of setting up its own court with the city attorney acting as prosecutor and judge. Code enforcement officials, in conjunction with local law enforcement fine residents for such infractions. In essence, the town has transformed itself into a giant homeowners' association where the only major difference is that the town has the power to place code violators in jail.

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Heart - Black

Japanese whalers slaughter 122 pregnant minke whales for 'research'

A 2014 image of three dead minke whales on the deck of the Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru in the Southern Ocean.
© AP Photo/Tim Watters/Sea Shepherd
A 2014 image of three dead minke whales on the deck of the Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru in the Southern Ocean.
Japanese whalers harpooned 122 pregnant whales in Antarctica this summer, a shocking new report reveals.

As Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk flew to Japan for a trade mission on Tuesday, a global conservation group called on her to lobby the Japanese government to end whaling.

A new International Whaling Commission (IWC) report reveals that 95 per cent of the female whales slaughtered by the Japanese were carrying calves.

The whalers killed 333 minke whales - plus 122 unborn calves - in the Southern Ocean last summer.

Biohazard

Skripal doctors didn't think Russian father and daughter would survive Salisbury attack

Yulia Skripal
© facebook.com/julia.skripal
Yulia Skripal at her 'press conference'
Doctors who took care of the Skripals after they were poisoned by a nerve agent in the southern English city of Salisbury said they did not expect them to survive.

Staff from Salisbury District Hospital told BBC Two's Newsnight program they had little hope that former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia would recover after being poisoned with Novichok nerve agent.

"All the evidence was there that they would not survive," said Stephen Jukes, who treated the Skripals a week after they were admitted to hospital.

Lorna Wilkinson, director of nursing at the hospital, said she had feared the incident would have much graver repercussions. "When the [policeman] was admitted with symptoms, there was a real concern as to how big could this get," she said, explaining that there were fears the incident would "become all-consuming and involve many casualties."

"We really didn't know at that point," she said.

Comment: Everything about this story smells, from top to bottom. Just a small sample of the craziness:


Evil Rays

Russian electronic warfare firm will upgrade products after studying captured US Tomahawks downed in Syria

tomahawk missile
© US Navy
The USS Laboon fires a Tomahawk land attack missile.
A Russian military contractor, specializing in electronic warfare, will use information gained from dissecting a US Tomahawk cruise missile, used during an attack on Syria, to boost the capabilities of its own equipment.

The missile, delivered to Russia after the tri-party night attack on Syrian government targets by the US, the UK and France in April, is of particular interest to KRET, a leading developer of electronic equipment for the Russian military, according to Vladimir Mikheev, an aide to the company's First Deputy Director Vladimir Zverev.

"Our new equipment needs to cover all spectra, optical and radio, which we found in the products of our counterparts," Mikheev told Radio Sputnik.

Comment:


Network

Russia is winning big in US gas war in Europe

oil rig
© Maxim Shemetov / Reuters
There's been a lot of talk on both sides of the Atlantic about the US pivot and efforts at locking in natural as market share in Europe.

Much of this comes amid President Donald Trump's so-called American energy independence push as well as both US and several EU members thrust to wean Europe off of geopolitically charged Russian gas.

In fact, Trump has pushed for US-sourced LNG to become so much of the EU's energy security that several European states, particularly Germany, have accused the president of playing energy geopolitics, cloaking American concern for European energy security under the guise and to the benefit of US LNG producers.

Pirates

NHS chief executive blames 'white privilege' for unequal BAME representation

doctors
© West Coast Surfer/ Global Look Press
The NHS has been accused of being wrought with "white privilege" by one of its chief executives. Sarah-Jane Marsh has decided she will no longer sit on any interview panel that fails to ensure appropriate BAME representation.

BAME staff account for 18 percent of the 1.2-million-strong NHS workforce. While 27 percent occupy lower-paid roles, only five percent of them hold very senior positions.

As figures from Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Trust that reveal white people are twice as likely to be appointed, Marsh said that she will no longer sit on any interview panel that does not include an ethnic minority member.

Comment: What kind of analysis has been done and what factors have been looked at to determine that the NHS is inherently racist? Making a determination of 'unconscious bias' with regard to race based on a generalized picture just doesn't fly. Subscribing unconscious racist intentions onto interviewers as well as the reasons for how some BAME interviewees perform through identity politics measures fails to see that there is more to people than their race, be it white, black, Asian, etc. This low-resolution perspective of 'white privilege' doesn't take into account the many variable and complex factors that can be involved. In any case, it was right for Marsh to step down. She's obviously so swept up with the current of 'progressive' hysteria that she is unfit for the job.


Attention

Activist Tommy Robinson jailed for 13 months for contempt of court

Tommy Robinson
© Joel Goodman
Tommy Robinson surrounded by police in April, 2017.

EDL leader-turned independent journalist Tommy Robinson was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court. Leeds Crown Court blocked the media from publishing anything about Robinson's imprisonment via reporting restrictions.

Robinson was on a suspended sentence, as he had previously been arrested for contempt of court after filming outside Canterbury Crown Court in May.

The reporting restriction had prevented the publication of any content to do with Robinson's arrest and subsequent imprisonment. The Independent and Leeds Live, however, successfully challenged the reporting restriction on Tuesday.

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Arrow Down

Vegan activists terrorizing small butchers, threatening to petrol bomb shops

vegans target butcher shops
© Marios Lolos / Global Look Press
Chief executive of Countryside Alliance says that attacks on butchers, markets, and even abattoirs are on the rise. "They usually attack small independent businesses rather than taking on the big boys – it's quite cowardly."
Staff of a family-run butcher shop are living in fear after receiving death threats from vegan activists. In a less violent approach others have also targeted the shop by leaving negative reviews on social media.

Activists spray painted 'Stop Killing Animals. Go vegan' and the logo of the Animal Liberation Front across the front of Marlow Butchers in Kent. The business has received dozens of threats, including one message that said the shop would be petrol bombed, along with slightly less sinister one-star reviews on Facebook.

It is unclear why this business in particular has been targeted.

Comment: Interesting that vegans who decry violence against animals, have no qualms about its use against humans. Perhaps the very serious cognitive deficits that result from vegan diets can be blamed? More on vegan terrorism:


Heart

Crimean officials propose granting visa-free entry to those seeking treatment in Russian medical institutions

Azov Sea bathing
© Maxim Zmeyev / Reuters
People bathe in mineral-rich mud in waters of Azov Sea near Kerch
Crimean officials propose granting visa-free entry to foreigners seeking treatment in Russian medical institutions, including famous Crimean resorts, suggesting that the measure would help to "break the sanctions regime."

The proposal was detailed by an aide to the head of the Crimean Republic, Sergey Strelbitsky, as he spoke at the Zdravnitsa (Health Source) conference that has recently taken place in Kislovodsk - Russia's major spa location in the North Caucasus.

Strelbitsky told forum participants that Crimean government considered it reasonable to grant 30-day visa free stay for people who arrive in Russia for medical treatment in local clinics and resorts. Foreigners who want to spend more time in Russian medical institutions could get a special 6-month visa through a sped up and simplified procedure.