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Sat, 06 Nov 2021
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Post-It Note

Felicity Huffman pleads guilty in bribery scandal

Felicity Huffman
Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty for her involvement in the "Operation Varsity Blues" scandal in a Boston federal court Monday afternoon.

The "Desperate Housewives" star was accused of paying $15,000 to increase her oldest daughter's SAT scores.

Huffman agreed to plead guilty for "conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud" in April.

Pirates

FBI discovers homegrown Islamic terror camp in Alabama, same leader as New Mexico compound

Siraj Wahhaj

Siraj Wahhaj
The FBI has uncovered a homegrown, jihadist compound in Macon County, Alabama.

The FBI's search warrant described the property as a "makeshift military-style obstacle course" in a story first reported by Sinclair Broadcast Group. The land where the group gathered reportedly looked like an "abandoned dump," and was led by Siraj Wahhaj, who allegedly trained children to commit school shootings in a similar terrorist breeding ground in New Mexico last year.

Wahhaj and four other alleged Islamic extremists were indicted on terrorism, kidnapping, and firearm violation charges earlier this year.

Comment: See also: Child abuse charges dropped against New Mexico 'Muslim extremists' after local DA fails to indict them


Magnify

Bayer to investigate French media claims that Monsanto compiled file of journalists, lawmakers to sway opinions on pesticides

Bayer CEO, Werner Baumann

Bayer CEO, Werner Baumann has defended the multi-billion dollar deal, despite huge legal costs.
Bayer said on Sunday it was hiring an external law firm to investigate French media complaints that Monsanto, the U.S. seed maker it took over last year, had compiled a file of influential personalities.

The German life sciences and pharmaceuticals group said that, following an internal review, it understood that this initiative had raised concerns and criticism.

"This is not the way Bayer seeks dialogue with society and stakeholders. We apologize for this behavior," Bayer said in a statement. It added, however, that there was no indication that compiling the lists was illegal.

French prosecutors opened an inquiry on Friday after newspaper Le Monde filed a complaint alleging that Monsanto had compiled a file of 200 names, including journalists and lawmakers, in the hope of influencing their positions on pesticides.

The French investigation is the latest fallout from Bayer's $63 billion takeover of Monsanto. It already faces potentially heavy costs from U.S. class-action lawsuits in which plaintiffs argue that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.

Comment: Monsanto continues to be a bitter pill for Bayer. The above mentioned claim by Le Monde is quite in keeping with Monsanto's modus operandi - there is documentation showing that Monsanto has in the past taken extreme measures to bias courts, lawmakers, regulatory agencies and the public in order to continue selling its toxic products.


Attention

Burkina Faso: Armed men open fire in Catholic church leaving 6 dead

Burkina Faso gendarmes
© Joe Penny, Reuters
A Catholic church in north-central Burkina Faso was attacked by armed men on Sunday morning, leaving at least six people, including the priest, dead, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported.

The attackers opened fire on the faithful at the beginning of Mass in the village of Dablo, 90 km from Kaya, according to FRANCE 24's sister radio station, RFI.

"Towards 9:00am, during mass, armed individuals burst into the Catholic Church," the mayor of Dablo, Ousmane Zongo, told AFP. "They started firing as the congregation tried to flee."

The attack is believed to have been carried out by a "group of some twenty to thirty armed men", according to a security source.

"They burned down the church, then shops and a small restaurant before going to the health centre where they searched the premises and set fire to the head nurse's vehicle," Mr. Zongo said. "The city is filled with panic. People are holed up at home. Shops and stores are closed. It's practically a ghost town."

Boat

Russian men use shovel as paddle to miraculously survive in Pacific Ocean

Ocean
© AFP / Joe Raedle
The motorboat of three Russian men capsized in the Pacific Ocean, but after struggling for six days, two of them managed to return to the mainland by rowing with a simple shovel.

Earlier in March, three friends got on a boat in the port city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and departed for Ust-Kamchatsk in Russia's Far East. But when they were 150 kilometers from the shore, the boat was capsized by the waves.

Propaganda

Coca-Cola Ramadan campaign opens up can of anti-PC outrage in Norway

Coka-Cola
© Reuters / Lucy Nicholson; Instagram / cocacolano
A campaign launched by Coca-Cola Norway aimed at celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan has sparked accusations of political correctness gone mad, with some even threatening to protest the move by drinking Pepsi.

Coca-Cola is known to roll out Ramada campaigns in Muslim-majority nations, but this is the first time the company has marked the Islamic month of fasting in Norway, where an estimated 5.7 percent of the country's 5.2 million inhabitants are Muslim. The campaign features the iconic Coca-Cola logo adorned with a crescent moon, an important symbol in Islam.

The marketing manager for Coca-Cola Norway told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet that the company wanted to take a firm stance on the importance of celebrating diversity.

"Diversity and inclusion have always been important to Coca-Cola. For example, many do not know that in the 1950s we were actively engaged in the civil rights movement. Cola was the first to front women in advertising campaigns," Johanna Kosanovic said.

Comment: See also: Coca Cola funds non-profit organization to spread obesity disinformation


Sheriff

Sexual assault by police: A true menace to society

police sexual assalt
"Sexual predation by police officers happens far more often than people in the business are willing to admit."-Former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper
How could this be happening right under our noses?

That's what readers wanted to know after my column went viral about the extent to which young children are being bought and sold for sex in America.

Where are the police when these children-some as young as 9 years old-are being raped repeatedly?

For that matter, what is the Trump Administration doing about the fact that adults purchase children for sex at least 2.5 million times a year in suburbs, cities and towns across this nation?

I'll tell you what the government is doing: little to nothing.

While America's children are being menaced by sexual predators, the Trump Administration and its congressional cohorts continue to wage endless wars, run up the national debt, and distract the populace with vitriol and kabuki political theater.

The police are not much better.

Comment: The following in just a small sampling of sexual predation by police officers:


Airplane

Ultra-rich may leave United Kingdom in anticipation of 'Corbygeddon'

British Airways passenger jets
© Reuters / Stefan Wermuth
Billionaires and multimillionaires are preparing to leave the UK, taking their assets with them, should Jeremy Corbyn enter Downing Street.

Bracing for what some called "Corbygeddon," people featured in this year's Sunday Times Rich List, are ready to shift their businesses overseas to avoid a tax raid on their finances. The exodus may take up to £1 trillion (US$1.3 trillion) of capital from the UK, according to the newspaper.

Some of the wealthiest people in Britain have more concerns over Corbyn taking power and potential tax increases than they do Brexit, the boss of Coutts, the Queen's bank, revealed to the outlet. The wealth advisor said he was helping clients to move their money out of the UK.

Meanwhile, tax expert Brian White told the newspaper that his business exports "people out of the UK at a fast rate." Over the past year, he has assisted 10 people with net worth more than £500 million ($649mn), the total of more than £5 billion ($6.4bn), in leaving the country.

People

'It was neglect': Woman forced to give birth alone in jail cell speaks out

Tammy Jackson and baby
Tammy Jackson -- the woman who gave birth, alone, in a Broward County jail cell -- is home Wednesday, and spoke to exclusively to Local 10 News about her ordeal.

Jackson suffers from a mental illness, bipolar schizophrenia, according to her mother, Shirley Nixon, who was with her when she was released from the hospital Wednesday after several days of mental health evaluation.

Her condition is delicate, and what happened to her is disturbing.

But, Jackson was determined to say what she had to say.

"If anything, blessed to be alive," Jackson said.

Her little girl, Miranda, who weighed 6.6 pounds, 7 ounces, was also released from the hospital Wednesday. Miranda is currently being cared for by the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Cut

Hollywood actress proposes mandatory vasectomies to counter restrictive abortion laws

Evan Rachel Wood
© Reuters / Danny Moloshok
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood has called for mandatory vasectomies for men in response to harsh abortion bills being introduced in the US. The actress says it is a way to prevent unwanted pregnancies when abortion is not an option.

Wood made the comment in response to Georgia banning abortion after a heartbeat is detected, which is usually at six weeks. Women often don't know they are pregnant until at least the fifth week, so the law makes abortion very difficult. "They want to control our bodies," Wood said.