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Ankara's Mayor Mustafa Tuna: Ankara renames US embassy street after Turkish Operation Olive Branch


Sputnik
Mon, 12 Feb 2018 20:20 UTC
US Embassy in Ankara
© AP Photo/ Burhan Ozbilici
US Embassy in Ankara
The street in Ankara where the US Embassy is located will be named in honor of the Olive Branch operation carried out by Turkish forces and their allied Syrian opposition units in the northern Syrian district of Afrin, Ankara's Mayor Mustafa Tuna said.

"We signed a request to rename Nevzat Tandogan Street, where the US embassy is located, as Olive Branch Street. The initiative will be introduced for consideration at Ankara's municipal assembly today," Mustafa Tuna wrote on his Twitter page.

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Handcuffs

Russian nuclear scientists detained for 'Bitcoin mining plot'


BBC
Fri, 09 Feb 2018 19:53 UTC
Russian nuclear scientist
© GETTY IMAGES
The arrested scientists worked at the secret factory which made the USSR's first nuclear bomb
Russian security officers have arrested several scientists working at a top-secret Russian nuclear warhead facility for allegedly mining crypto-currencies.

The suspects had tried to use one of Russia's most powerful supercomputers to mine Bitcoins, media reports say.

The Federal Nuclear Centre in Sarov, western Russia, is a restricted area.
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Control Panel

UK's Labour party defends equality conference ban on white straight men


RT
Mon, 12 Feb 2018 12:36 UTC
Labour Party
© Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters
Labour has defended its decision to ban heterosexual white men from its equality conference. The party is facing a backlash for saying attendees must self-define as disabled, LGBT, a woman, or from an ethnic minority background.

The one-day event will allow delegates to vote for women's, black and ethnic minority (BAME), disabled and LGBT representatives to the Young Labour National Committee.

Heterosexual white men are not allowed to vote in any of these categories, as rules state only women can vote for the women's representative, and only LGBT members can vote for the LGBT officer.


Comment: Like a fast-moving virus, the ideology of identity politics is quickly trying to take a hold and influence the thinking and policies of many Western governments - to the detriment of all. And god help anyone who should criticize it lest they be labeled a 'white supremacist,' 'misogynist' or some other derogatory term meant to label and besmirch the messenger and the message; a tactic taken right out of the pages of Zionism's Hasbara manual, the FBI's handbook on COINTELPRO, or the CIA's methodology for undertaking 'regime change' around the world.

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Briefcase

Russia invites BRICS partners to assist with re-building efforts in war-torn Syria


RT
Mon, 12 Feb 2018 18:01 UTC
Destruction Damascus Syria
© Bassam Khabieh / Reuters
Children are inspecting damages on a street in Damascus
Russia has invited its partners among the BRICS nations (Brazil, India, China and South Africa) to establish a foothold in the promising Syrian market, according to the Russian Ambassador to the country, Alexander Kinshchak.
"According to Syrian estimates, losses in the real sector of the economy topped $75 billion," the ambassador told TASS news agency. "UN experts believe that it will take nearly $200 billion to achieve the pre-crisis GDP growth rate," he added.

"We are aware that the Syrian government will find it difficult to obtain a huge amount of money required for the post-crisis recovery," Kinshchak explained.

Comment: Beijing has already committed to playing a bigger role in Syria by investing in the country:
Beijing intends to play a bigger role in Syria by providing more aid to the country struggling to put an end to a seven-year conflict, Chinese Ambassador to Syria Qi Qianjin told Xinhua news agency.

"I think it's about time to focus all efforts on the development and reconstruction of Syria, and I think China will play a bigger role in this process by providing more aid to the Syrian people and the Syrian government," the ambassador said Sunday, as quoted by the outlet.
..

Earlier, the Syrian Minister of Transport told Sputnik that after fixing the transport network within the country, the construction of a railway line to China might be possible.

According to the Global Times, at least 30 Chinese have travelled to Syria since April, looking for investment opportunities
Quite a contrast to the Empire of Chaos where destruction is a specialty, but reconstruction and aid...not so much!

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Camera

New York Times photographer says Trump gives substantially more access to the Oval Office than Obama

Katie Leach
Washington Examiner
Fri, 09 Feb 2018 16:36 UTC
Trump Obama
© AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
"I see him more on a daily basis than we did with Barack Obama," Doug Mills said.
President Trump grants substantially more access to photographers compared to former President Barack Obama, according to a New York Times photographer who covered both administrations.

When asked to compare covering the previous administration to Trump's, Doug Mills of the New York Times said photographers are getting "a lot more" access in an interview with C-SPAN.

"We're getting a lot more, I mean from a photographer's standpoint, we get a lot more access to the president. I see him more on a daily basis than we did with Barack Obama," Mills said.
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Bug

Rose Monday: German carnival satirical floats take aim at world leaders (PHOTOS)


RT
Mon, 12 Feb 2018 14:24 UTC
German carnival
© Thilo Schmuelgen / Reuters
An Angela Merkel float is seen at the Rosenmontag parade in Dusseldorf on February 12, 2018.
Germany's Rose Monday carnival is well known for its elaborate satirical floats that mock world leaders, and this year didn't disappoint. Donald Trump and Angela Merkel found themselves among the victims of German satire.

Rosenmontag (Rose Monday) events are held across the Rhine region each year. The biggest parades are taking place in Düsseldorf, Mainz, and Cologne.

Spectators turned out in droves, as they do every year, with floats mocking politicians from across the globe. As expected, Donald Trump and unsubstantiated claims of Russian meddling were represented.
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Dollars

Baltimore will now force abusive cops to pay victims out of their own pockets -- not with taxpayer money

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 16:39 UTC
corrupt cops
One of the most corrupt policies in place to protect police officers who commit violence in the line of duty is the legal protection that comes when a victim files a lawsuit against an aggressive cop. When a victim of a police assault wins a lawsuit against the police department, the city's taxpayers are usually on the hook for the restitution fees. However, a new policy change in Baltimore-which will set a revolutionary precedent-will finally have the guilty officers feeling the pain in their pockets for once.

In a memo sent out by police union president Gene Ryan this week, Baltimore City officers were warned about how they could be charged with punitive damage if a jury finds that they acted with malice during an attack on a citizen.

The email stated that:
Many of our officers are sued for monetary damages by individuals they have arrested or have come in contact with. These lawsuits allege wrongdoing on the part of the officer and oftentimes allege that the officer acted with malice. Malice means that the officer's alleged actions were motivated by a personal hatred towards the individual suing him or her. If the person suing the officer wins on the question of whether the officer committed a wrong, the Plaintiff can recover monetary damages to compensate him or her for any injury and/or expenses incurred resulting from the officer's actions. If a jury finds that the officer acted with malice, the jury has the option to award punitive damages which are designed to punish the officer and to serve as a deterrent to the officer not to repeat the alleged wrongful conduct found to have occurred by the jury.

Comment: Perhaps this new policy will lead to a decrease in cases of police brutality with some officers. Others, who thrive on power and control and whose amygdala's have been hijacked during the heat of the moment may not change their behavior even when threatened with loss of income. Time will tell.

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Eye 1

'Ghost town': Raqqa residents receive 'nothing at all' from the US and its allies for rebuilding


RT
Mon, 12 Feb 2018 10:45 UTC
Raqqa
Months after its liberation from ISIS by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, Raqqa still lies in ruins. However, neither the militants nor the coalition itself seem to be keen on helping to rebuild the destroyed Syrian city.

The north-eastern Syrian city, which was once the de-facto capital of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist caliphate, was retaken back in October 2017. However, more than three months after what was hailed as a liberation, Raqqa still looks more like a battlefield rather than a living city.

Entire residential compounds have been reduced to rubble. Numerous residential buildings have sustained irreparable damage or been rendered uninhabitable. The streets of the city, which are surrounded by the ruins of what were once residential districts, are still filled with debris.

Comment: The US and its allies never cared about freeing Syria, they only cared about controlling their own interests. Their complete abandonment of Raqqa is simply evidence of what we already knew.

See:

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Handcuffs

Former Trump campaign chair faces 20 years after pleading guilty to 21 counts of child trafficking

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 16:30 UTC
Tim Nolan
Former District Court Judge and school board member Tim Nolan plead guilty to 21 counts of human trafficking on Friday. In court it was revealed that the judge threatened young women and girls under the age of 18 with arrest to force them into sex. On one occasion a victim was living on his property and he forced to evict her if she did not have sex with him. He also gave numerous victims heroin.

As TFTP reported at the time of his arrest, Judge Tim Nolan of California, Kentucky represented District 5 on the Campbell County School Board. He served at the chair of the 2016 Donald Trump campaign in Campbell County.

During Trump's presidential run in 2016, Judge Nolan was serving as the chair of his campaign. The alleged sex trafficking occurred in August of 2016 - while Nolan was working on the Trump campaign.

As RCN reports, Nolan is an outspoken and controversial figure in local politics. In 2016, he sued the creator of GOPfacts.org, which took aim at Nolan and others, and specifically referred to Nolan as a vehement racist and posted a photo that purported to be of Nolan in a Ku Klux Klan robe.

Nolan was appointed by Governor Matt Bevin to the Kentucky Boxing and Wrestling Commission but was removed only days later when the Klu Klux Klan scandal erupted.

Comment: Former Trump Kentucky campaign chair charged with felony human sex trafficking of a minor

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Dollars

DUI convictions thrown out: State forensics labs that receive payment for positive tests are unconstitutional

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 16:22 UTC
magnified money
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled that individuals cannot be convicted of "Driving Under the Influence" if their test results come from forensics labs that receive financial incentives for positive results to lead to their convictions.

It may seem like an obvious conclusion, but the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has been generating around $3 million in revenue each year from the $250 fine motorists are forced to pay for the test, if they are convicted.

The decision stemmed from the case of Rosemary Decosimo vs. the State of Tennessee. She was joined by more than 20 defendants who had also been charged with DUIs in the same county. They argued that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had a clear incentive to produce positive DUI test results and that the $250 it was receiving for "each DUI conviction that is obtained using a blood or breath test, is unconstitutional."

In a ruling on the case, Judge Camille R. McMullen sided with Decosimo, noting it has been well established that "fines and fees should not be used to generate revenue for a court or government agency," and it was unclear how Tennessee's Bureau of Investigation was using the entirety of the funds it received from DUI convictions.
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