Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

One day after a Denver man was promptly quarantined after returning to the US from eastern Congo, where he was working with sick people, and became suddenly ill Sunday (he was subsequently cleared), a new Ebola virus outbreak has been confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Governor Julien Paluku said on Wednesday, just one week after the country declared an end to a separate outbreak that killed 33 people in the northwest.   Continue reading “Governor Calls For Calm After New Ebola Outbreak Confirmed In Eastern Congo”

Washington Post

A forthcoming book by New Yorker writer Jane Mayer says that the father of the politically influential Koch Brothers helped build a refinery in Germany in the 1930s that was important to the Nazi war effort.   Continue reading “New book: Father of politically active Koch brothers built a refinery for the Nazis”

Daily Mail

More than two dozen types of salads and wraps sold nationwide at Trader Joe’s and Walgreens may contain parasites, officials warn.

The products, distributed by Indianapolis-based Caito Foods, were found to be contaminated with cyclospora, which causes ‘explosive diarrhea’ up to six weeks after consuming it.    Continue reading “Parasite found in wraps and salads sold at Trader Joe’s and Walgreens”

LA Times

Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell has launched a comprehensive inquiry into secret deputy cliques and is looking into whether gangs that condone illicit behavior are operating within his ranks, he said Thursday.

McDonnell’s announcement at a meeting of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission comes two weeks after allegations surfaced that as many as 20 deputies at the Compton Station have matching tattoos featuring a skeleton holding a rifle.

Continue reading “L.A. County sheriff announces inquiry into secret societies of deputies and their matching tattoos”

Paul Craig Roberts

The Criminal Criminal Justice (sic) System

The United States has the highest incarceration rates in the world. The US not only has a far higher percentage of its population in prison than allegedly “authoritarian” governments, but also has a larger total number of citizens imprisoned than China, a country with four times the US population. The US is by far the largest prison camp in the world.   Continue reading “The United States Is The Largest Prison Camp In The World”

The Baltimore Sun – by Dan Rodricks

Every time I see a Confederate flag in front of a house, I have a thought about starting a conversation with the man or woman, presumably a fellow American, who feels a need to display that thing 152 years after the Civil War.

Have not done so.   Continue reading “Letter to those who raise the Confederate flag”

Bored Panda – by Ligitas Nefas

A bridge outside Da Nang in Vietnam is wowing visitors with its elegant design – seemingly being held aloft by two giant stone hands.

Known as the Golden Bridge, it stands 1,400m above sea level above the Ba Na hills, offering majestic views of the surrounding countryside. The gold-colored walkway is lined with purple Lobelia Chrysanthemums and extends for almost 150 metres, curving around in an elegant design. But it is the sculpted hands that give it the true wow factor. Continue reading “Breathtaking Bridge In Vietnam Has Just Been Opened And It Looks Like Something From Lord Of The Rings”

Yahoo News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Tuesday blocked the imminent release of blueprints for 3-D printed guns, hours before they were set to hit the internet, after several states sued to halt publication of designs to make weapons that security screening may not detect.

U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle, Washington, said the blueprints’ publication could cause irreparable harm to U.S. citizens. The decision blocked a settlement President Donald Trump’s administration had reached with the Texas-based company, which planned to put files online on Wednesday.   Continue reading “U.S. judge halts release of blueprints for 3-D printed guns”

Common Dreams – by Jessica Corbett

U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee of Los Angeles ruled on Monday that a Texas detention center for unaccompanied migrant children and those forcibly separated from their families by the Trump administration must stop administering psychotropic drugs without parental consent.

“A federal court has now confirmed what we already knew: Children are suffering abusive treatment and cruel and inhumane conditions in government detention centers,” responded Jess Morales Rocketto of Families Belong Together, a coalition of groups opposing the administration’s family separation policy. “Children belong with their families, not scared, alone, and subject to abuse in prison-like conditions.”  Continue reading “Judge Orders Trump Administration to Stop Drugging Immigrant Children”

Breitbart

BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government regained control of the frontier with the Golan Heights for the first time in seven years on Monday, after Islamic State-linked militants gave up their last pocket of territory in the area.

The breakthrough against the militants, reported by state media and an opposition-linked war monitoring group, capped a six-week-long campaign to retake the southwest corner of the country.   Continue reading “Assad Regime Regains Control of Territory Near Golan Heights”

Heavy – by Jessica McBride

Richard Black, a decorated Aurora, Colorado Vietnam veteran and grandfather known for carefully tending to his home garden and watching out for neighbors, was identified as the homeowner who was fatally shot by police after he shot and killed an intruder who had invaded his own home.

The tragedy occurred on July 30, 2018, a Monday, and took the life of Black, 73, a retired government worker who was just trying to protect his family from an armed intruder who was trying to strangle his grandson, according to Patch. Protecting others appears to be in character for Black, who was also known for helping out his neighbors and who was honored with the Bronze Star for his valor in Vietnam. Richard Black was known to neighbors as “Gary.”   Continue reading “Richard Black: Tribute to Aurora Homeowner Shot by Police”

KCRA 3 News

Smokers at public housing across the country won’t be able to light up in and near their homes after Tuesday.

In November 2016, HUD announced a rule requiring all federally owned public housing to become smoke-free by July 30, 2018. Smokers will still be allowed to rent in the communities but will have to keep lit cigarettes, cigars and pipes at least 25 feet away from buildings. Electronic cigarettes will still be permitted.   Continue reading “Public smoking ban in, near public housing starts Tuesday”

Independent

In a campaign to improve its image abroad, the Israeli government plans to provide scholarships to hundreds of students at its seven universities in exchange for their making pro-Israel Facebook posts and tweets to foreign audiences.

The students making the posts will not reveal online that they are funded by the Israeli government, according to correspondence about the plan revealed in the Haaretz newspaper.   Continue reading “Students offered grants if they tweet pro-Israeli propaganda”

The Great Recession

While glowing presidential proclamations about US GDP growth last week did nothing to prevent the stock market from rushing headlong over the cusps of a FAANG stock ledge, the market is taking a breather today. So, let’s take a breather and go back and look at why that GDP report had no bite.

Quite simply, I think stock investors looked at the surfacing of real problems in their favorite FAANG stocks and, so, failed this time to find any fun in the frivolous fiction of government factoids. GDP reportage has been fake for years, and it is no less fake under Trump than under any other president. Fake is where you find it. You can find it as much on Fox as on CNN.   Continue reading “Fabulously Fake Facts – “G” in GDP Stands for “Gullibility””