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Sputnik

Pennsylvania has been making more than $157 million by selling driver’s license records to private companies and government agencies since 2010, according to an investigative report by NBC10.

The report indicates PennDOT sold personal information and drivers’’ records to customers in every state in the US. The more than 32,000 recipients include car dealerships, insurance companies, and credit agencies. The merchandise includes names, addresses and driver histories.   Continue reading “Privacy Lost: Pennsylvania Makes Millions Selling Residents’ Driver Records”

USA Today – by Karl Baker

WILMINGTON, Del. — A man deported from the United States at least four times since 2000 — each time following an arrest in Delaware — was arrested here again in February, this time with a bag of cash, according to a document made public by the FBI.

Wilmington police suspected that Richard Diaz-Garcia, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was in the United States illegally after he was arrested Feb. 1 in Newark, Del., about 15 miles away, according to court records.   Continue reading “Man deported 4 times found again in Delaware”

Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration sued the federal government Monday in a fight for a state law that requires transgender people to use the public restroom matching the sex on their birth certificate.

The lawsuit seeks to keep in place the law, which the U.S. Justice Department said last week violated the civil rights of transgender people against sex discrimination on the job and in education. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch was scheduled to describe the launch of “law enforcement action” against North Carolina later Monday.   Continue reading “North Carolina governor files lawsuit over LGBT rights law”

Zero Hedge – by Eric Zuesse

On May 7th, Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, or German Economic News, headlined, “USA planen mit TTIP Frontal-Angriff auf Gerichte in Europa” or “U.S. Plans Frontal Attack on Europe’s Courts via TTIP,” and reported that, “America’s urgency to sign TTIP with Europe has solid reason: Megabanks must protect themselves from claims by European investors who allege that they were cheated during the debt crisis. … The U.S. Ambassador to Italy has now let the cat out of the bag on this — probably unintentionally.”   Continue reading “Obama: TTIP Necessary So As To Protect Megabanks From Prosecution”

Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist

Odessa, TX — On Thursday morning, an Odessa man and his family were rudely awakened by a dozen militarized DEA and SWAT officers with AR-15s at their front door. Instead of cowering to the men who were clearly not authorized to be there, this man stood his ground and sent them on their way.

“We were rudely awakened, they just started banging on the door,” said the man who wishes to remain anonymous in an interview with KEPJ News, “I just didn’t like the way they did it.”   Continue reading “Innocent Man Stands Up to Entire SWAT Team Raiding His Home With No Warrant — He Wins”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Following ‘Jade Helm’ last summer, 2016 appears to have seen an escalation in social unrest and domestic terrorisim threat reaction among America’s authorities. FEME undertaking domestic riot training in the south last month, battle-tanks rolling through Houston last week, and now the Department of Homeland Security plans a bioterrorism attack drill next in the NYC Subway.

Last summer the state of Texas was ablaze over concerns surrounding the Jade Helm military drills held across the state prompted some to speculate that the Federal government was preparing for either a local insurrection, secession planning contencies for the Lone Star state or even a “Texas takeover.”   Continue reading “Homeland Security To Conduct Fake “Bioterrorism” Subway Terror Attack In New York City”

Natural News – by Julie Wilson

Previous reports have linked mass suicides among farmers in India to mounting debt and crop failures as a result of GMO crops, particularly cotton, as it was forcibly converted to patented, transgenic varieties owned by large agrochemical companies. But now we’re learning that pesticide exposure may be to blame for a new wave of suicides among farmers in India.

Some 80 farmers in the village of Badi committed suicide between January and March of this year, according to the Times of India. Home to more than 2,500, Badi village (Madhya Pradesh) has had more than 350 suicides over the last two decades, affecting nearly every family in the village.   Continue reading “India: Doctors link mass suicides, schizophrenic episodes among farmers to pesticide exposure”

CNS News – by Terence P. Jeffrey

The United States has lost approximately 191,000 jobs in the mining industry since September 2014 including approximately 7,000 that were lost in April, according to data published today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The coal mining industry alone has lost approximately 10,900 jobs since April of last year.   Continue reading “U.S. Has Lost 191,000 Mining Industry Jobs Since September 2014”

USA Today – by Greg Toppo

A massive wildfire in western Canada is expected to double in size by late Saturday as shifting winds push it northeast — away from the fire-ravaged Alberta community of Fort McMurray but straight into heavily forested areas offering fresh fuel.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale called the Fort McMurray blaze “an absolute beast of a fire,” and one of the worst he’s ever seen, the Edmonton Journal reported.   Continue reading “Massive Canadian wildfire expected to double in size”

Yahoo News

DENVER (Reuters) – The city of Colorado Springs has agreed to provide restitution to dozens of poor people wrongfully jailed because they could not afford to pay fines they incurred for petty infractions such as loitering or panhandling, attorneys said on Thursday.

The settlement calls for the city to pay each of some 60 named individuals $125 for every day they spent locked up under a since-repealed ordinance that allowed incarceration of offenders who failed to pay fines for otherwise non-jailable offenses.   Continue reading “Colorado city to pay restitution to poor jailed in ‘debtor prison’”

Yahoo News

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Israeli aircraft hit two Hamas targets in Gaza early on Saturday in response to rocket fire as the worst flare-up of violence since a 2014 war entered a fourth day.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket launch and most such fire since 2014 has been carried out by fringe Islamist groups but Israel holds Hamas responsible for all such attacks.   Continue reading “Israel raids hit Gaza as violence flares for fourth day”

CNBC 

Oil prices fell on Friday morning as investors cashed in on a 20-percent rise over the past month, outweighing the impact of crude production cuts in Canada where a huge wildfire has disrupted oil sands operations.

Oil prices were down around one percent in early European trading, with global benchmark Brent prices set for their first weekly loss in five weeks.   Continue reading “Oil falls Friday morning as investors cash in on month-long gains”

Hellenic Shipping News

US crude oil exports reached nearly 508,000 barrels per day in March compared with 374,000 bpd in February, foreign trade data from the US Census Bureau showed.

Exports to Canada were 249,000 bpd while exports to Curacao were 75,000 bpd. Other export destinations include Israel (25,000 bpd), Italy (33,000 bpd), Japan (44,000 bpd), the Marshall Islands (49,000 bpd), the Netherlands (20,000 bpd) and Nicaragua (12,000 bpd).   Continue reading “US crude oil exports in March reached 508,000 bpd: US Census Bureau”

AZ Central – by Mary Jo Pitzl

The Arizona House of Representatives killed, then resuscitated, one of Speaker David Gowan’s key bills, giving him a comeback win in a Thursday evening vote.

House Bill 2568, which gives developers the authority to levy property taxes on homeowners, is now headed to Gov. Doug Ducey’s desk.

The bill had divided the homebuilder community and drew heavy opposition from cities and towns, which argued it is not in the public’s interest to give unelected boards dominated by developer interests the power to tax people who buy homes in the subdivisions they develop.   Continue reading “Arizona House revives and passes bill to allow developers to assess taxes”

Business Insider – by Ben Farmer, The Telegraph

The Royal Navy fired flares to warn of a Spanish patrol boat approaching an American nuclear submarine off Gibraltar.

The fast patrol boat HMS Sabre fired warning shots across the bow of a Guardia Civil vessel as it twice tried to cut across the path of USS Florida during an incursion into Gibraltar’s waters.   Continue reading “Royal Navy fires warning shots as Spanish vessel harasses US sub in Gibraltar”

Reuters

The U.S. government’s latest plan for offsetting the harm to migrating salmon from a series of dams in the Columbia River watershed violates the Endangered Species Act, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

The ruling in a case stretching back 15 years marks a victory for environmental advocates, the Nez Perce Tribe, anglers and others who sued government agencies over their plan for aiding salmon and steelhead that travel between the Pacific Ocean and the upper reaches of the inland Northwest.   Continue reading “Federal court rejects U.S. plan for restoring embattled Northwest salmon”