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2020 Democratic hopeful returns lobbyist's money, bans donation bundlers

Pete Buttigieg
© Reuters / John Gress
Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana who is rising in the crowded Democratic presidential primary polls, has announced he is no longer taking cash from lobbyists and promised to return over $30,000 in contributions.

"Mayor Pete will not be influenced by special interest money, and we understand that making this promise is an important part of that commitment," Buttigieg's campaign manager Mike Schmuhl announced on Friday in an email to supporters.

"Standing up for our collective values not only includes saying we believe that campaigns should not take money from lobbyists; it also means being aware of the loopholes that still allow special interests to impact the campaign."

The campaign also promised to "establish internal procedures" to ensure federal lobbyist dollars didn't sneak in by other means, and pledged to return $30,250 that the candidate has received from 39 registered lobbyists since launching his presidential campaign.

Bullseye

Election meddling: Sargon of Akkad and Tommy Robinson's campaign Twitter accounts deleted before EU Parliament vote

Sargon of Akkad, Tommy Robinson
© ZUMAPRESS.com
Campaign accounts of two British candidates for the European Parliament, Tommy Robinson and Carl Benjamin, have been deleted by Twitter, prompting outcries of election meddling with less than a month before the vote.

Robinson and Benjamin - better known under his YouTube handle 'Sargon of Akkad' - are running in the May 23 election, which the UK will have to participate in due to the ongoing Brexit delays. Benjamin is a member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), while Robinson announced his independent candidacy on Thursday.

Both of them have had personal accounts purged from Twitter a while ago, but the accounts terminated on Friday were run by their campaign staff, and not them personally.

Comment: This isn't the first time these two conservative voices have been targeted:


Attention

Extinction Rebellion demonstrator glues her breasts to road in climate protest

climate protest london extinction rebellion
© AP
EnvironMENTALists being removed from a road block by police (eventually) after a controlled 'rebellion' in the City of London, April 2019.
For the past 10 days, climate change protesters have been causing havoc in central London.

Protesters - organized as the group Extinction Rebellion - have been distrupting traffic and bus routes by blocking bridges and major intersections in non-violent gatherings.

On Thursday, the Associated Press reports the group targeted London's financial business district, blocking the road outside investment bank Goldman Sachs. As part of their demonstration, some protesters glued themselves to the doorway of the London Stock Exchange.

Comment: These people are unhinged.

See also:


Eye 1

Jewish settlers poison well in Yatta, Palestine

jewish settlers
© AL-KHALIL, (PIC)
Jewish settlers on Thursday threw a poisonous substance in a water well in the east of Yatta, south of al-Khalil, in an attempt to kill local residents and their animals.

Local official Rateb al-Jabour said that settlers from the illegal settlement of Maon in eastern Yatta threw a blue toxic substance in a water well used by local shepherds in al-Hamra area in eastern Yatta.

He said that local shepherds in eastern Yatta are exposed to almost daily assaults by Jewish settlers in order to force them to leave their native areas.

Comment: Coincidentally traditional texts judge poisoners of the village well as some of the worst criminals possible - and behavior like this is the norm for Israel's illegal settlers: Also check out SOTT radio's:


Fire

4 dead as runaway semi plows into traffic jam on Denver interstate; driver faces homicide charges

truck crash fire colorado highway
© John Morrissey via Storyful
A stretch of highway west of Denver remained closed Friday hours after an out-of-control semi-tractor trailer carrying wood slammed into stopped cars causing multiple fatalities, police said.
Multiple people were killed in the fiery crash on Interstate 70 in Lakewood, Colorado.

The driver of a runaway semi-tractor trailer has been arrested on charges of multiple vehicle homicide after his truck slammed at high speed into a line of stopped cars on I-70 west of Denver, killing at least four people, police said Friday.

Police said it took hours to determine how many people died in Thursday's mangled, fiery pileup of 24 car and four semis. Lakewood police agent Ty Countryman said least six people were hospitalized.

The crash occurred on the eastbound lanes of Interstate-70 around 4:30 p.m. in the city of Lakewood, which west of Denver. The highway is expected to remain closed until Saturday.

Comment: The Denver Post updates:
Rogel Lazaro Aguilera, of Texas, is being held at the Jefferson County jail for investigation of two counts of vehicular homicide-reckless driving in connection with the crash. The Jefferson County coroner is working on a victim count, which was complicated because of the intensity of a fire that consumed numerous vehicles.

Aguilera will appear Saturday afternoon in Jefferson County Court for an advisement hearing, according to jail records.

So far, four authorities have confirmed four deaths. The identities, genders and ages of the victims have not been released because the fires burned them beyond recognition, Lakewood police spokesman John Romero said.

The impact triggered a series of explosions that killed multiple people and sent six people to hospitals with serious injuries, authorities said.

In a Friday morning press conference, Lakewood police spokesman Ty Countryman said police are not yet releasing the number of people killed in the crash as investigators work to verify the number of fatalities.

"We're still working on a final count of cars to people," said Countryman, adding that the Jefferson County Coroner's office must sort through human remains found inside cars to determine whether multiple victims were inside some cars. In most cases, only one person was in each vehicle, he said.

Lumber from the suspect's flatbed truck shot across the highway and caught on fire when cars exploded and spilled fuel ignited. Raging flames brought temperatures on the surface of the highway to above 2,500 degrees, melting aluminum and turning pavement into rubble, said Josh Laipply, chief engineer of the Colorado Department of Transportation.


"I think we lose sight that vehicles are deadly weapons, and we need to be more careful when we are driving," Laipply said.

The westbound lanes of the interstate were opened just before 2 p.m. on Friday. The eastbound lanes remain closed Friday while police investigate the long stretch of the highway for evidence and road crews clean up debris.

CDOT officials said Friday they will assess bridge and road damage after police finish the investigation. Laipply estimated that the road may not be opened until Saturday because of the need to repave the highway in some locations.

Aguilera is being held for investigation of several counts of vehicular homicide in connection with the crash, Countryman said. There is no evidence the crash was intentional, Countryman said. The driver was one of six people injured in the crash.

Even if mechanical problems contributed to the crash, the semi driver will likely face vehicular homicide charges based on statements by witnesses and video cameras that provide perspective about how the crash happened, Countryman said. As drivers descend the 6 percent grade into Denver, there are numerous signs warning truck drivers to slow down. District Attorney Peter Weir's office will make the final decision about what charges to file.

Countryman described the incident and scene as "devastation."

Emergency calls started streaming into dispatchers at 4:50 p.m. Thursday.

Initially, Countryman reported one person was dead but as West Metro firefighters extinguished multiple car fires, they discovered the remains of other people in burnt-out car shells,Countryman said.

A West Metro Fire Rescue firefighter was also injured by an explosion, fire officials said. The firefighter was hit by debris, likely from an exploding tire. His injuries were described as minor.


Lakewood police had to wait until fire crews were finished rescuing people and putting out roaring car fires before approaching the scene to investigate.

Traffic on I-70 where the crash occurred had backed up because of an earlier crash, Countryman said.

That crash happened on I-70 near Ward Road and involved a school bus and semi-truck. Only minor injuries were reported, but eastbound lanes of the highway were briefly shut down.

"It doesn't appear the bridge was hit," he said. But it was scorched by flames from vehicles and spilled diesel fuel.

The driver suspected of causing the chain-reaction collisions is not from Colorado, Countryman said. After he was treated for minor injuries he underwent questioning by investigators and will be held in the Jefferson County jail.

He said there was no evidence that the suspect driver had been using drugs or alcohol.



Light Sabers

Julian Assange's Victory

Assange
Throughout history, dark and reactionary forces have always attempted to control the world; by violence, by deceit, by kidnapping and perverting the mainstream narrative, or by spreading fear among the masses.

Consistently, brave and honest individuals have been standing up, exposing lies, confronting the brutality and depravity. Some have fought against insane and corrupt rulers by using swords or guns; others have chosen words as their weapons.

Many were cut down; most of them were. New comrades rose up; new banners of resistance were unveiled.

To resist is to dream of a better world. And to dream is to live.

The bravest of the brave never fought for just their own countries and cultures; they fought for the entire humanity. They were and they are what one could easily define as "intuitive internationalists".

Comment: See also: UN Special Rapporteur visits Assange in UK's 'Gitmo' jail to discuss violations of his privacy


Attention

Every man, woman, child owes US $220,000 for America's crippling debt

IOU hand
© Unknown
America's Legacy
The spiraling US government debt is apparently much higher than the official figure of $22 trillion. The indebtedness of the American financial system has now reached $72 trillion, according to the numbers compiled by the US Fed.

The higher debt estimate includes corporate borrowings, consumer loans along with debts being added by state and local governments.

Over the past 40 years, the US Treasury has been borrowing at a rocketing rate with the state debt soaring from less than five trillion dollars during Ronald Reagan's presidency, to $29 trillion when George W. Bush took the helm. The figure nearly doubled prior to the last financial crisis, having reached $54 trillion. Since then, the sovereign debt of the world's biggest economy has increased by another $18 trillion.

Comment: See also:


Fire

Two miners killed, fifteen missing after methane explosion rocks coal mine in Lugansk People's Republic

Coal  mine explosion lugansk
The bodies of two miners have been recovered after an explosion rocked a coal mine in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic in Eastern Ukraine. Fifteen more people are missing, and survival chances appear slim.

A methane explosion hit the SkhidKarbon coal mine in the village of Yurievka on Thursday, trapping 17 miners underground. The head of the Lugansk People's Republic (LNR), Leonid Pasechnik, said that the rescuers have pulled up two bodies. Fifteen people remain unaccounted for.

The head of the region's emergency services, Evgeny Katsalapov, described the situation as "critical."

Comment: Similar explosions have been occurring with increasing frequency:


Star of David

'Anti-Semitic hate crime' in Winnipeg, Canada... was committed by its Jewish owners

Winnipeg police at the scene of a Jewish-owned cafe on Corydon Avenue last week.

Winnipeg police at the scene of a Jewish-owned cafe on Corydon Avenue last week.
An incident at a Corydon Avenue cafe that was originally reported as one of Winnipeg's worst-ever hate crimes was apparently staged, said police.

Three owners of the BerMax Caffé were arrested Wednesday and charged with public mischief, which involves intent to mislead and causing an officer to investigate an incident based on false information.

The cafe was allegedly robbed, the interior trashed and the walls spray-painted with anti-Semitic graffiti on April 18, although investigators now say that was all staged by the owners.

At the time, Winnipeg police Const. Rob Carver told media the attack was one of the "worst" hate crimes he had seen as a police officer.

Police Chief Danny Smyth said Wednesday the investigation has been a significant waste of police resources.

"Over 25 officers have invested nearly 1,000 hours through a busy holiday weekend trying to bring this investigation to a close," he said. "In the end, we found evidence of a crime. It just wasn't a hate crime."

Comment: The Berent family are denying the allegations. It's looks like they're going 'full Jussie Smollett'. To get a whiff of the amount of character disturbance that seems to be going on here, just read what Oxana Berent had to say after being exposed:
"What is happening yesterday and today, it's completely broke our family, our business, everything. It just broke us," she told Ismaila Alfa, host of CBC Manitoba's afternoon radio show, Up to Speed.
That's called a pity ploy. "It" didn't break your family. You did that all on your own, apparently. It's actually quite common for criminals to blame others and avoid responsibility for their actions. There's an endless number of murderers, for instance, who have cried about how getting caught destroyed their lives. "Yeah, I might've killed a few people, but what about me? Look at how it ruined MY life!"


Bulb

Long-time New York Times' liberal columnist argues in favor of Trump's border wall: 'The solution is a high wall'

Thomas Friedman

Thomas Friedman
President Trump has an unlikely new ally -- one of The New York Times' most liberal and well-known voices.

Thomas Friedman, a long-time member of The New York Times and columnist for the newspaper since 1995, has been scathing in his criticism of Pres ident Trump. In a column last February, the award-winning writer described Trump as the "biggest threat to the integrity of our democracy today."

During a CNN interview, the Pulitzer Prize winner also called Trump "disturbed," adding that if Hillary Clinton were president and "done one of the things Donald Trump" was accused of doing, she would have been impeached.


Comment: Nonsense. Killary has already, literally, gotten away with murder.


Yet, Friedman now finds himself standing on the same side as Trump on one of the president's signature issues -- the border wall.

The veteran scribe's latest column begins by detailing a recent trip he took to parts of the southern border.

"On April 12, I toured the busiest border crossing between America and Mexico - the San Ysidro Port of Entry, in San Diego - and the walls being built around it," the piece reads.

Comment: Here are some reactions to Friedman's new stance on the border wall: