Common Dreams – by Eoin Higgins

President Donald Trump often says he listens to military generals more than anyone else, and, as the White House prepares to send 1,500 soldiers to the Middle East, that claim is being tested by a Friday letter from the American College of National Security Leaders.

The letter, which is signed by 76 retired generals, admirals, ambassadors, and diplomats, was published Friday morning by War on the Rocks. The letter asks the administration not to pursue war with Iran, mainly for strategic reasons.  Continue reading “This Is Big’: 76 Retired US Generals and Diplomats Warn Trump Against War With Iran”

Health Nut News – by Erin Elizabeth

Newly proposed legislation in New Jersey would allow minors, beginning the year they turn 14, the right to consent to vaccinations. Whether their parents or guardians consent. The legislation would cover the polio, mumps, measles, diphtheria, rubella, chickenpox, Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib), pertussis, tetanus, pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease, human papillomavirus or hepatitis B vaccines.  Continue reading “New Jersey could let 14-years-old get vaccines without parental consent”

CNS News – by Patrick Goodenough

(CNSNews.com) – To whoops of delight, the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday night voted to advance legislation to provide a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who arrived in the U.S. without legal permission as minors (“Dreamers”) and allow some immigrants with temporary protected status to apply for permanent legal status.

Voting along partisan lines after lengthy debate, the committee marked up three bills – the Dream Act (H.R. 2820), the American Promise Act (H.R. 2821) and the Venezuela TPS Act (H.R. 549).  Continue reading “Cheers Erupt As House Judiciary Committee Approves ‘Path to Citizenship’ Bills”

CBS News

Did you get a 7% raise last year? Didn’t think so. But, hey, if you did, then congratulations: Your raise was in line with what CEOs at the biggest companies got — only for chief executives, that 7% was roughly $800,000 in additional compensation.

Pay for CEOs at S&P 500 companies rose to a median of $12 million last year, including salary, stock and other compensation, according to data analyzed by Equilar for the Associated Press. The eight-figure packages continue to rise as companies tie more of their CEOs’ pay to their stock prices, which are still near record levels, and as profits hit an all-time high last year due to lower tax bills and a still-growing economy.  Continue reading “Typical CEO pay package up 7% last year to a total $12 million”

STAT News – by Adam Feuerstein

he Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first gene therapy for a type of spinal muscular atrophy, a lifesaving treatment for infants that will also be the most expensive drug in the world.

Known as Zolgensma, the gene therapy treats children under 2 years of age with spinal muscular atrophy, an inherited neuromuscular disease that causes progressive loss of muscle function. The most severe form of SMA causes infants to die or rely on permanent breathing support by the age of 2. The disease is caused by a defect in a gene that makes SMN, a protein necessary for the survival of motor neurons. Zolgensma uses a re-engineered virus to deliver a functional copy of the defective gene so that SMN protein can be produced.  Continue reading “At $2.1 million, newly approved Novartis gene therapy will be world’s most expensive drug”

CNN

A new floating bullet train capable of hitting speeds of 600 kilometers per hour (about 372 miles/hour) is one step closer to reality in China.

On Thursday, the body prototype for the country’s latest high-speed magnetic-levitation (maglev) train project rolled off the assembly line in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao. Continue reading “China unveils 600km/h maglev train prototype”

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Archive: TWFTT 5-24-19

Middle East Monitor

Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem has released a video showing illegal Israeli settlers setting fire to fields in the occupied West Bank, contradicting the Israeli army’s claim that the blaze was started by Palestinians.

The Spokesperson’s Unit of the Israeli army was yesterday forced to change its original statement, in which it claimed to have extinguished “a fire set by Palestinians”.  Continue reading “Video shows Israel settlers started West Bank fires, contradicting army statement”

Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist

Orlando, FL — If ever you needed an example of the immoral imbecility of America’s war on drugs and the utter lack of critical thought by those who enforce it, the story TFTP reported earlier this month of a great-grandma getting kidnapped and caged for completely legal CBD oil is it. Now, the story gets even more infuriating as the body camera shows the entirely innocent great-grandma on the verge of collapse as she is being kidnapped by police.  Continue reading “Infuriating Video Shows Great-Grandma in Panic as Cops Arrest Her for CBD to Treat Arthritis”

Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist

Sperry, OK — Residents in Oklahoma are experiencing near-historic flooding this week as well as damaging wind and tornadoes. Thousands of people have been displaced and have lost everything. Adding to the extreme harsh hand dealt out by mother nature is the fact that in at least one instance, people trying to save their property or rescue others are being harassed and fined by police—for being good Samaritans.  Continue reading “Cop Caught on Video Harassing, Fining Flood Victims for Trying to Help Each Other”

Press TV

Two airstrikes carried out by US forces in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand and eastern Kunar provinces have killed at least 14 civilians, mostly children and women.

Five women and seven children were among those killed in the attacks that took place in Helmand’s Gereshk and Kunar’s Chawki districts on Monday and Wednesday, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said Thursday.  Continue reading “US airstrikes kill at least 14 civilians in Afghanistan”

Canary – by Mohamed Elmaazi

The current US secretary of state – also an ex-director of the CIA – recently put out a statement regarding Iran. And it was so outrageous that the response on Twitter was overwhelming.

Mike Pompeo claimed – apparently without a hint of irony or shame – that the Iranian government had been engaged in “40 years of unprovoked aggression”:  Continue reading “Former CIA director claims US is victim of ’40 years of unprovoked aggression’ by Iran. Twitter responds accordingly.”

Breitbart – by Edwin Mora

Police officers in Pakistan this week arrested an engineer from China for allegedly pushing a Pakistani worker into a three-story-deep furnace for failing to understand his instructions at a factory in Punjab’s Faisalabad region. The move prompted other employees to protest against Chinese national’s alleged mistreatment of locals staffers.

The worker, identified only as Shehroz, survived but sustained burns to 40 percent of his body.  Continue reading “Pakistan Arrests Chinese Man for Throwing Local Worker into Furnace”

ABC News

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday announced her resignation, putting an end to months of speculation over her future because of her handling of Brexit.

“It is now clear to me that it is in the best interests of the country to have a new prime minister,” May told reporters.  Continue reading “UK Prime Minister Theresa May resigns in wake of mismanaged Brexit”

Eric Peters Autos – by Eric

One of the neat things about being a “law enforcer” is having the power (because you’ve got the gun) to make up laws – and then enforce them.

Here we have a guy walking around in a public area, taking video of things which can be viewed from the public area. There is no law prohibiting either nor requiring permission prior to doing either thing.  Continue reading ““It’s National Security Stuff” Says AGW”