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Sat, 23 Oct 2021
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Detroit police kill puppy in couple's backyard while chasing suspect, arrest dog owner when asked questions

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© Clickondetroit.com
Bianca Alakson and Ryan Showalter say Michigan cops shot and killed their 10-month-old dog, Rock.
A Michigan couple is furious after police shot and killed their 10-month-old lab-pit bull puppy in their own backyard.

Bianca Alakson and Ryan Showalter said their dog, Rock, was in their backyard Sunday morning when police began chasing a suspect through their Redford Township neighborhood, WDIV-TV reported.

Police said they saw their suspect in the couple's home. When officers went through the gate into the backyard to find the suspect, Rock charged, one officer said.

The officer fired one round, but when that didn't stop the dog, he fired a second, fatal shot.


Airplane

Overheated TSA agents go home, leaving passengers stuck in massive lines at La Guardia

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© Reuters / Shannon Stapleton
A woman is given a pat-down by a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screener at LaGuardia Airport in New York.
When the air conditioning went down at LaGuardia Airport on Monday, several Transportation Security Administration agents were sent home due to illness, causing massive lines and overheating in the sauna-like conditions.

The air conditioning system went out Monday morning and one of the two security checkpoints at LaGuardia's Terminal C lost power at the same time, Fox affiliate WNYW reports. The conditions forced passengers to mass around the one remaining checkpoint, raising the already-warm temperatures.

USA

Record number of Americans renounce citizenship after push from new tax law

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© Reuters / Yuriko Nakao
A record number of Americans are renouncing their citizenship as they seek to remove the burden of filing complicated and costly tax returns simply for living in another country.

According to Bloomberg News, just over 1,000 Americans gave up their nationality in the three months from January to March. That's a significant increase from the 670 who did so in the same time span last year, and it's already one third of the way to matching the total number of Americans who renounced their citizenship in 2013.

Last year, data from the Internal Revenue Service showed that approximately 3,000 Americans gave up their passports - a number that tripled the average of the previous five years.

Although the reasons for doing so can range from one individual to another, many of the cases have been linked to the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act, which has been gradually taking effect since it was passed in 2010. Looking to crack down on tax dodgers and institutions that help make that behavior possible, Congress passed the legislation in the hopes that it would bring in hundreds of billions of dollars in unpaid taxes.

Since the US is one of the few countries that taxes its citizens regardless of where they live, however, the law has ended up ensnaring all Americans who live and work overseas and use foreign accounts to pay bills at home. As of 2012, all banks working with the US are now required to divulge information on their accounts held by American citizens.

Arrow Down

Tech billionaire buys California public beach, uses armed guards to close it

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© (Reuters / Stephen Lam )
Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.
A billionaire who bought a popular beach only to close it off to the public finally spoke on the contentious issue on Monday, although his comments seem to have only generated more frustration among concerned Californians.

Vinod Khosla, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who co-founded Sun Microsystems - a computing pioneer perhaps best known for developing the Java programming language - took the witness stand in a civil trial on Monday regarding his purchase of Martins Beach.

The civil suit was first filed in San Mateo County in March 2013 against the then-unidentified owner of the beach for painting over a billboard welcoming people to the seaside location, locking the gate, preventing entry, and hiring armed guards to keep the public out.

The beach had been open to the public for 100 years, acting as a popular swimming location for the duration of that time. It is located 35 miles south of San Francisco and was especially popular among surfers trying to ride waves that are hard to find elsewhere. Private ownership of California beaches has become an increasingly contentious issue as more billionaires have come out of Silicon Valley.

Comment: "Life's a beach," for those who can afford one.


Megaphone

Andreas Popp speech at 'Monday Demonstration' in Berlin: 'Turn off the TV, don't vote, and get informed about the interational banking elite ruining the planet'

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Listen to the following speech by Andreas Popp at the Easter 'Monday Demonstration' 2014 in Berlin, where 6,000 demonstrators gathered to voice their disgust with the West's war against Russia, continued U.S. occupation of Germany, and global socio-economic injustice.

Andreas Popp is a businessman and author who, together with his friends at Wissensmanufaktur Institute, has developed an alternative "Plan B" for the western economy and society since they realized that the current system does not serve the people, and cannot be 'healed' from within.

German mainstream media continues to ignore the peaceful weekly Monday demonstrations, now being held in over 34 German cities - defaming them ludicrously as "a new right-wing movement", whatever this should mean - as well as the efforts and offerings of Wissensmanufaktur and many other activists.


Comment: It's interesting that the equivalent movement in France has also been labelled by its government as 'right-wing'...

See also:

Plan B - Revolution des Systems für eine tatsächliche Neuordnung (EN: 'Plan B: A Systemic Revolution for Real Transformation', .pdf), von Andreas Popp und Rico Albrecht


Megaphone

German journalist and activist Ken Jebsen: 'The system is demasking itself'

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Watch this extraordinary speech by former mainstream journalist Ken Jebsen at a demonstration against globalization and for peace - Berlin, May 5th 2014.


Wreath

Update! Turkey mine blast in Manisa province kills 201, traps more

Turkish mine disaster
© AP

An explosion at a coal mine in the western Turkish province of Manisa has left at least 201 people dead and more than two hundred others trapped, officials say.


A faulty electrical transformer is believed to have caused the explosion at the mine, which occurred in the town of Soma at around 3:30 p.m. local time (1230 GMT).

Early on Wednesday, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz described the situation at the mine as "worrisome," saying, "We fear the number (of casualties) could rise even further because those who came to help out may be among the injured and affected by the smoke."

Turkey's energy minister further said that 80 miners were also injured in the explosion and ensuing fire in the mine and noted that 787 workers had been underground at the time of the blast.

"As the time passes, we are very quickly heading to an unfavorable outcome," Yildiz said.

Cow Skull

Junta's attack continues: Self-defense units in Slavyansk, Kramatorsk claim to have killed 8 Ukrainian gov't troops, destroyed several armored vehicles

Kramatorsk  clash
© Reuters
Ukrainian soldiers in an earlier clash with pro-Russia protesters in a field near Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine
Self-defense units opposing the de facto Kiev authorities in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, the Donetsk region of Ukraine, claim to have killed at least 8 troops and destroyed several armored vehicles belonging to the government forces early on Wednesday.

"There was another armed clash at night, and the enemy again tried to launch an offensive at about 1 o'clock. However, we managed to rebuff the attack and destroy several enemy armored vehicles. Eight of their men have been killed and seven wounded. Unfortunately, we also have losses," Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the people's mayor of Slavyansk, told Interfax on Wednesday.

Ukrainian security forces attacked several areas outside Slavyansk and Kramatorsk in the early hours of Wednesday, Ponomaryov said.

"They used armored personnel carriers, they have fortified firing points there, and they used heavy mortars in the village of Andriyivka. They mainly fight on the outskirts and fear to enter the city," he said.

Ponomaryov said also that the situation in both Slavyansk and Kramatorsk was calm on Wednesday morning.

"Everything has been quiet since morning. There's been some shooting now and then, but we've got used to it," he said.

Cult

Thieving Rabbi charged with stealing $12.4 million from New York disabled kids

Rabbi Samuel Hiller
© Unknown
Photographs of Rabbi Samuel Hiller and his three accomplices being displayed on a board
A New York rabbi and three others were indicted for stealing over $12.4 million in public aid for disabled pre-schoolers and using it to spruce up their homes, get catering discounts and fund a relative's cosmetics business, authorities said on Tuesday.

The four men, who had ties to one of the city's largest providers of special education services for disabled pre-schoolers, were due in court on Tuesday on criminal charges in a 42-count indictment, including grand larceny, identity theft, and falsifying business records, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.

If convicted, each faces up to 25 years in prison.

They are accused of stealing money meant to benefit the Island Child Development Center in Queens, a non-profit special education provider for Orthodox Jewish children aged 3 to 5.

Bad Guys

US infrastructure rotting away while billions go to surveillance, killing, and foreign bribery

US infrastructure
© Reuters / Ivan Alvarado
A federal fund employed to improve roads, bridges, and ports in the United States is dangerously bare, the Obama administration told Congress.

According to the White House, over 112,000 ongoing projects - that come with around 700,000 jobs - could fall idle without action in Congress to boost the Highway Trust Fund.

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the project delays would have a terrible effect on commerce.

"We have an infrastructure deficit in this country," Foxx said Monday from the White House.

Comment: It is becoming more obvious every day that the US government has no interest in taking care its own citizens. Those in charge are only interested in fomenting war around the world while poverty, declining quality of life, and economic stagnation destroy the country from within.
Infrastructure of US Doomed?
Infrastructure is Crumbling While US Congress Blathers: Bridges, Tunnels and Railroads Structurally Deficient
US Government Wasting Tax Money on Iraq, Afghanistan Reconstruction Failures
U.S. already third world economy: American economist
Decline of the American empire? Global configurations of power, the swindle economy and the criminal state