Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Private security guards have become a common sight across our society, whether they’re escorting cash in transit, patrolling shopping malls, conducting screening at airports or protecting VIPs. In many places, the guards dress like police officers and are equipped with firearms.

As Statista’s Niall McCarthy notes, private security is booming and the sector is worth approximately $180 billion, a number that’s expected to increase to $240 billion by 2020. That’s greater than the GDPs of 100 countries including Portugal, Romania and Hungary. An estimated 20 million workers are employed in the private security sector while its biggest company, G4S, has 585,000 employees and revenues of nearly $10 billion.   Continue reading “Where Private Security Outnumbers The Police”

Wolf Street – by Don Quijones

The first country to fully legalize the recreational use of marijuana, Uruguay, has suddenly found itself facing an unexpected obstacle: the international banking industry.

It all began a few weeks ago when one of the 15 pharmacies that had agreed to sell the two varieties of cannabis distributed by the Uruguayan State announced that it was withdrawing from the scheme after its bank, Santander, had threatened to close its account unless it stopped providing services for the state-controlled sales. Shortly afterwards it was revealed that other banks, including Brazil’s Itaú, had canceled the accounts of the private companies that had been granted a license to produce marijuana as well as some cannabis clubs.   Continue reading “Global Banks Sabotage Uruguay’s Efforts to Legalize Marijuana”

Intel News – by Joseph Fitsanakis

American officials have revealed more information about a mysterious sonic device that is believed to have caused numerous diplomats to suffer hearing loss and other serious ailments. Last month, the Associated Press reported that the first hearing-loss symptoms were reported by personnel at the US embassy in Havana in the fall of 2016. The news agency said that at least five embassy personnel reported suffering from sudden and unexplained loss of hearing. The symptoms were so serious that caused some American diplomats “to cancel their tours early and return to the United States”, according to the Associated Press.   Continue reading “More facts revealed about mystery sonic attacks on US embassy in Cuba”

Haaretz

Sara Netanyahu is expected to be indicted, pending a hearing, on charges of fraudulently receiving items worth 400,000 shekels ($111,851), Haaretz has learned. Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit is expected to inform Netanyahu, wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of the charges against her in a few weeks.

Sara Netanyahu is suspected of ordering chef’s meals at the prime minister’s official residence, which is against regulations, and concealing the fact that she did so. She and her husband have accused the former chief caretaker of the official residence, Meni Naftali, who is currently leading protests against the prime minister, of inflating the residence’s expenses.   Continue reading “Sara Netanyahu Expected to Be Indicted for Fraud in Pocketing $110,000 in Goods”

Wellness Mama – by Katie

Ketchup is one of the most kid-friendly foods out there, and some kids (mine!) will eat anything, including liver, with ketchup on it. Unfortunately, most store-bought versions are packed with GMO tomatoes and high fructose corn syrup.

It really is worthwhile to make homemade ketchup. The taste, texture, and flavor blows store-bought ketchup out of the water! This is one well-loved condiment in our house.  Continue reading “5-Minute Homemade Ketchup Recipe”

DW

An 87-year-old woman has been sentenced to prison after she claimed that Jews were never exterminated in Auschwitz. Her criminal record includes two fines and another sentence for sedition.

A court in Detmold on Friday sentenced Ursula Haverbeck to eight months in jail on charges of sedition. The presiding judge ruled out the possibility of parole and said that Haverbeck had a lack of “any kind of respect” and that she had made more offensive comments in the courtroom.   Continue reading “‘Nazi Grandma’ holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck sentenced to jail”

Phys.org – by Charlotte Hsu

Human antidepressants are building up in the brains of bass, walleye and several other fish common to the Great Lakes region, scientists say.

In a new study, researchers detected high concentrations of these drugs and their metabolized remnants in the  tissue of 10  species found in the Niagara River.

This vital conduit connects two of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, via Niagara Falls. The discovery of antidepressants in aquatic life in the river raises serious environmental concerns, says lead scientist Diana Aga, PhD, the Henry M. Woodburn Professor of Chemistry in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences.  Continue reading “Antidepressants found in fish brains in Great Lakes region”

Tech Dirt – by Mike Masnik

Earlier this week, we wrote about Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions bringing back the Defense Department’s 1033 program, which helped militarize local police forces with surplus military equipment. We’ve been covering all sorts of problems with the 1033 program over the years, and people like Radley Balko have written entire books on the problem. And the previous ban on the 1033 only put a fairly narrow limit on the practice of militarizing police — but now even those modest limits are gone.

What’s truly incredible, however, is the complete nonsense being used to justify this. Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a speech about this on Monday, in which he trotted out his standard misleading and out-of-context stats, falsely claiming that there’s some massive new crimewave across the country, when there’s really just been a tiny bump after decades of decline in crime rates (the use of percentages by Sessions shows the he likely knows the absolute numbers are so meaningless that he has to mislead with percentages working off a small base).   Continue reading “Attorney General Jeff Sessions: Hurricane Harvey Is Proof We Need To Militarize Our Police Forces”

Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist

Milwaukee, WI — Bishop Kennedy was relaxing in his own home on a Saturday afternoon last month, when two police officers rudely interrupted him.

The two officers, Gonzalez, and Wolf, claimed to have been doing a welfare check on Kennedy. They said someone called in and said he might be trying to overdose to hurt himself. However, it was clear that Kennedy was vibrant and nowhere close to an overdose.

Clear-headed and assertive, Kennedy refused to allow the officers to push him around in his own house. He demanded they leave.   Continue reading “This Awesome Old Man Flexes His Rights After Two Cops Refuse to Leave his Home, He Wins!”

Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist

Houston, TX — It is time to strike while the iron is hot. Media coverage of the devastation in Texas is at a peak right now and history shows us that people will help when they see it on TV. However, when coverage stops, so does most of the support. Knowing this, it is time to make your move and show your support to your fellow humans who are suffering dearly right now after being hit by one of the worst storms in US history. But, before you simply click the link and donate to the Red Cross, you should know their history and know there are far better ways to help.

The Red Cross is no stranger to scandal. Putting them on the corruption map was their reaction to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti. In 2010, hundreds of thousands of Haitians lost their lives in a tragic earthquake. Gail McGovern, the Red Cross’ CEO, and her staff quickly responded with a massive marketing push to raise funds. They received countless celebrity endorsements and even President Obama jumped on the train. In just a few days, they raised a half a billion dollars.   Continue reading “Don’t Trust the Red Cross, 10 Ways YOU Can Help Harvey Victims Without Enriching Scammers”

Free Thought Project – by Jay Syrmopoulos

Washington, DC — This week the Trump administration announced that they were lifting an Obama administration ban on certain military grade weapons being sold to state and local police for pennies on the dollar. While there is a growing awareness that local law enforcement has received massive amounts of surplus military hardware under the federal 1033 program, authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act, exactly what equipment local law enforcement agencies have been stockpiling has remained largely obscured from the public’s view.   Continue reading “Unconcerned About Trump’s Militarization of Police? This Database Shows What Your Local Cops Have”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

On January 16, 2013, the Bundesbank – one of the biggest gold holder in the world, with 3,378 tonnes – shocked the world: out of the blue, the German central bank announced that by December 31, 2020, it intends to store half of Germany’s gold reserves in its own vaults in Frankfurt, up from only 31% at the time. The plan would mean repatriating a total of 674 tonnes of gold, 300 from the New York Fed’s gold vault, and another 374 from the Bank of France. The transfer, the Bundesbank explained, was meant to “build trust and confidence domestically, and the ability to exchange gold for foreign currencies at gold trading centers abroad within a short space of time.”   Continue reading “German Central Bank Completes Repatriation Of $28 Billion In Gold Three Years Ahead Of Schedule”

The Guardian

Authorities in Mumbai have shut down a manufacturing company after it was accused of dumping untreated industrial waste and dyes into a local river that resulted in 11 dogs turning blue.

The group of strangely coloured canines was first spotted on 11 August, according to the Hindustan Times, prompting locals to complain to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board about dyes being dumped in the Kasadi river, where the animals often swim.   Continue reading “The blue dogs of Mumbai: industrial waste blamed for colourful canines”

South China Morning Post – by Raymond Yeung

Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog has found 38 out of 60 shampoo samples it tested contained a harmful solvent used in manufacturing, with seven exceeding the limit recommended by the European Union.

The Consumer Council also found 20 per cent of the shampoos contained allergy-causing preservatives, and one even tested positive for a heavy metal.

But the agency insisted none of the samples constituted an “immediate” health risk, and only urged those with sensitive skin to be extra cautious when making their choices.

Continue reading “38 out of 60 shampoos found to contain harmful manufacturing solvent in tests by Hong Kong consumer watchdog”