Reader’s links, May 25, 2018

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Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

116 Replies to “Reader’s links, May 25, 2018”

  3. Security troops on US nuclear missile base took LSD

    WASHINGTON (AP) — One airman said he felt paranoia. Another marveled at the vibrant colors. A third admitted, “I absolutely just loved altering my mind.”

    Meet service members entrusted with guarding nuclear missiles that are among the most powerful in America’s arsenal. Air Force records obtained by The Associated Press show they bought, distributed and used the hallucinogen LSD and other mind-altering illegal drugs as part of a ring that operated undetected for months on a highly secure military base in Wyoming. After investigators closed in, one airman deserted to Mexico.

    “Although this sounds like something from a movie, it isn’t,” said Capt. Charles Grimsley, the lead prosecutor of one of several courts martial.

    A slipup on social media by one airman enabled investigators to crack the drug ring at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in March 2016, details of which are reported here for the first time. Fourteen airmen were disciplined. Six of them were convicted in courts martial of LSD use or distribution or both.

    None of the airmen was accused of using drugs on duty. Yet it’s another blow to the reputation of the Air Force’s nuclear missile corps, which is capable of unleashing hell in the form of Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs. The corps has struggled at times with misbehavior, mismanagement and low morale.

    Although seen by some as a backwater of the U.S. military, the missile force has returned to the spotlight as President Donald Trump has called for strengthening U.S. nuclear firepower and exchanged threats last year with North Korea. The administration’s nuclear strategy calls for hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending in coming decades.

    The service members accused of involvement in the LSD ring were from the 90th Missile Wing, which operates one-third of the 400 Minuteman 3 missiles that stand “on alert” 24/7 in underground silos scattered across the northern Great Plains.

    Documents obtained by the AP over the past two years through the Freedom of Information Act tell a sordid tale of off-duty use of LSD, cocaine and other drugs in 2015 and 2016 by airmen who were supposed to be held to strict behavioral standards because of their role in securing the weapons.

    “It’s another black eye for the Air Force — for the ICBM force in particular,” says Stephen Schwartz, an independent consultant and nuclear expert.

    In response to AP inquiries, an Air Force spokesman, Lt. Col. Uriah L. Orland, said the drug activity took place during off-duty hours. “There are multiple checks to ensure airmen who report for duty are not under the influence of alcohol or drugs and are able to execute the mission safely, securely and effectively,” he said.

    Airman 1st Class Tommy N. Ashworth was among those who used LSD supplied by colleagues with connections to civilian drug dealers.

    “I felt paranoia, panic” for hours after taking a hit of acid, Ashworth said under oath at his court martial. He confessed to using LSD three times while off duty. The first time, in the summer of 2015, shook him up. “I didn’t know if I was going to die that night or not,” he said as a witness at another airman’s drug trial. Recalling another episode with LSD, he said it felt “almost as if I was going to have like a heart attack or a heat stroke.”

    Airman Basic Kyle S. Morrison acknowledged at his court martial that under the influence of LSD he could not have responded if recalled to duty in a nuclear security emergency.

    In prosecuting the cases at F.E. Warren, the Air Force asserted that LSD users can experience “profound effects” from even small amounts. It said common psychological effects include “paranoia, fear and panic, unwanted and overwhelming feelings, unwanted life-changing spiritual experiences, and flashbacks.”

    It’s unclear how long before being on duty any of the airmen had taken LSD, which stands for lysergic acid diethylamide. The drug became popularized as “acid” in the 1960s, and views since then have been widely split on its mental health risks. Although illegal in the U.S., it had been showing up so infrequently in drug tests across the military that in December 2006 the Pentagon eliminated LSD screening from standard drug-testing procedures. An internal Pentagon memo at the time said that over the previous three years only four positive specimens had been identified in 2.1 million specimens screened for LSD.

    Yet Air Force investigators found those implicated in the F.E. Warren drug ring used LSD on base and off, at least twice at outdoor gatherings. Some also snorted cocaine and used ecstasy. Civilians joined them in the LSD use, including some who had recently left Air Force service, according to two officials with knowledge of the investigation. The Air Force declined to discuss this.

    Airman 1st Class Nickolos A. Harris, said to be the leader of the drug ring, testified that he had no trouble getting LSD and other drugs from civilian sources. He pleaded guilty to using and distributing LSD and using ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana.

    He acknowledged using LSD eight times and distributing LSD multiple times to fellow airmen at parties in Denver and other locations from spring 2015 to early 2016.

    “I absolutely just loved altering my mind,” he told the military judge, blaming his decisions to use hallucinogens and other drugs on his addictive personality.

    Other airmen testified it was easy to obtain LSD in a liquid form spread on small tabs of perforated white paper. Airmen ingested at least one tab by placing it on their tongue. In one episode summarized by a military judge at Harris’ court martial, he and other airmen watched YouTube videos and “then went longboarding on the streets of Denver while high on LSD.”

    Harris was sentenced to 12 months in jail and other penalties, but under a pretrial agreement he avoided a punitive discharge. The lead prosecutor in that case, Air Force Capt. C. Rhodes Berry, had argued Harris should be locked up for 42 months, including nine months for the “aggravating circumstance” of undercutting public trust by using hallucinogens and other drugs on a nuclear weapons base.

    “I cannot think of anything more aggravating than being the ringleader of a drug ring on F.E. Warren Air Force Base,” Berry said at the courts martial.

    In all, the AP obtained transcripts of seven courts martial proceedings, plus related documents. They provide vivid descriptions of LSD trips.

    “I’m dying!” one airman is quoted as exclaiming, followed by “When is this going to end?” during a “bad trip” on LSD in February 2016 at Curt Gowdy State Park, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Cheyenne, where F.E. Warren is located. A portion of that episode was video-recorded by one member of the group; a transcript of the audio was included in court records.

    https://apnews.com/98f903367b50404cb3c9695bcabefa5a/Security-troops-on-US-nuclear-missile-base-took-LSD

  4. Reported explosion in Mississauga leaves multiple people with injuries

    https://twitter.com/CP24/status/999854275143577600

    Explosion: Multiple people injured following reports of an explosion at Bombay Bhel Restaurant 5035 Hurontario St near Eglinton in Mississauga.

    https://twitter.com/CBCToronto/status/999861423810535424

    CTV -Explosion at Mississauga, Ont., restaurant injures at least 15

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/explosion-at-mississauga-ont-restaurant-injures-at-least-15-1.3944681

    • “Blast At Indian Restaurant in Canada’s Ontario Injures Over A Dozen”
      India Today – Published on May 24, 2018

    • Explosion at Restaurant in Ontario: Over a Dozen Injured – Reports (sputniknews, May 25, 2018)
      https://sputniknews.com/us/201805251064791930-canada-mississauga-restaurant-explosion-casualties/

      “According to local media reports, an explosion occurred at an Indian restaurant in the Canadian city of Mississauga on Thursday night. At least 15 people have reportedly been injured.

      According to the Canadian broadcaster CP24, emergency crews responded to the area of Hurontario Street and Eglinton Avenue at around 10:30 p.m.

      Canadian police said they are looking for two men suspected of exploding a bomb inside an Indian restaurant in a Toronto suburb.

      “2 suspects attended the scene, detonated an Improvised Explosive Device within the restaurant,” the Peel Regional Police tweeted.

      Police said the suspects — hooded and masked men in their mid-20s — fled the scene immediately after the incident…”

  5. “Ep. 14 – Hillary Beloved on Campus, Millennial Madness & The Babylon Bee”
    FreedomProjectMedia – Published on May 24, 2018

  7. Non-Whites Targeted by Danish Police More Often – Report (sputniknews, May 25, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201805251064800628-denmark-police-migrants/

    “When confronted with statistics that say non-white immigrants are disproportionally targeted by the Danish police, the authorities have stressed that this overrepresentation was not intentional and that the police don’t even keep track of ethnicity.

    Immigrants and non-whites are more likely to be stopped and searched by police without just cause than ethnic Danes and those from a Western background, a new Danish Radio documentary called “In the grip of the police: Dark-skinned and suspicious” claimed.

    According to Statistics Denmark, non-Western immigrants and their descendants had an 86 to 88 percent higher risk of being apprehended without subsequent conviction, compared to ethnic Danes.

    “The figures show that something is wrong somewhere in the system,” Morten Kjærum, the director of the International Human Rights Organization Raoul Wallenberg Institute and former director of the Institute for Human Rights, told Danish Radio.

    According to Lars Holmberg, a law researcher at the University of Copenhagen, these numbers are indicative of discrimination that called for extra investigation.

    Engineering student Hedayat Alefi, 24, told Danish Radio he has experienced unfounded detention time and again.

    “Their attitude is treating you like a criminal. It’s like you’ve just robbed Missis Hansen or something,” Alefi said.

    Consultant James Thomsen, 39, who was adopted, is therefore seen as an ethnic Dane in the statistics. Nevertheless, he claimed being stopped by the police for no reason, even while driving his Porsche from his home in Sweden to Denmark. By his own admission, he has to add a quarter of an hour to be on the safe side. By contrast, he claims not to have experienced anything like this in Sweden, whose police he called “color blind.”

    The Danish police have rejected the idea of discriminating against people based on skin color or ethnic background. Police chief Svend Larsen stressed the fact that very few complaints are actually lodged in this matter. Larsen also emphasized that Danish police don’t register people’s ethnicity as irrelevant to the police.

    However, Denmark’s national police commissioner Jens Henrik Højbjerg promised to open an investigation to find out whether this is a mere coincidence or something that marks a pattern. At the same time, he assured that such a representation in the way in which searches are conducted clearly was not intentional, Danish Radio reported.

    Højbjerg has suggested that the skewed statistics may actually be a result of strategies being employed by the police. The bulk of the police resources to uphold law and order are concentrated on residential areas with a high percentage of non-Danish populations, hence the overrepresentation.

    Højbjerg’s claims have been supported by Preben Bang Henriksen, the spokesman of the ruling Liberal Party.

    “As we are not receiving compensation claims or registering that many complaints, it does not ring any alarm bells for me,” Bang Henriksen said. At the same time he stressed that the police should act on reasonable criteria. Otherwise its routines need fine-tuning, he added.”

  8. Sex-Starved Middle-Aged Ladies Target Migrant Kids in Sweden – Reports (sputniknews, May 25, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201805251064795219-sweden-sex-migrants/

    “A documentary by Swedish Radio has highlighted the problem of prostitution in central Stockholm, where so-called “street children,” mostly of foreign decent, have become a sought-after commodity among middle-aged ladies. One of the “street kids” described the agreement as beneficial, due to money, food and shelter being offered…”

  9. Tommy Robinson Arrested for Live Reporting Grooming Gang Trial (breitbart, May 25, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/05/25/tommy-robinson-arrested-for-live-reporting-grooming-gang-trial/

    “Activist and independent journalist Tommy Robinson was detained by a significant police team for livestreaming outside a court where yet another child grooming gang is on trial.

    Robinson, who founded the English Defence League street protest movement but later renounced it to join the Quilliam counter-extremism organisation, was at Leeds Crown Court to report on ten men accused of offences including child rape, trafficking, and supply of class A drugs to children, according to Caolan Robertson.

    A video posted by Caolan shows Robinson being taken away by three police officers, apparently on suspicion of inciting a breach of the peace…”

  10. Generation Identity UK Co-Leader Fired from Banking Job Following Far-Left Activist Smear Campaign (breitbart, May 25, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/05/25/generation-identity-uk-co-leader-fired-job-far-left-activist-smear-campaign/

    “Generation Identity (GI) UK co-leader Tom Dupré was fired from his banking position at the City of London firm Standard Chartered earlier this week following a campaign by far-left activist group HOPE not Hate (HnH).

    Mr. Dupré, who has been co-leader of the UK branch of the Identitarian movement, was found in breach of Standard Chartered’s internal diversity policies following a number of articles in the mainstream media that cited a report from the far-left activist group, City A.M. reports.

    The 23-year-old, who joined the Identitarian movement in December, told Breitbart London that he had initially been suspended and was waiting for a review of his case after HnH initially released a report on the UK Identitarian movement entitled “A New Threat.”

    Following the initial report, Dupré said that HnH senior researcher Dr. Joe Mulhall had emailed and made at least one telephone call to Standard Chartered in order to get him fired for his anti-mass migration and anti-Islamisation political views, claiming that they were a violation of the company’s diversity policies.

    Mulhall, who has previously tweeted out to Twitter accounts of the violent far-left extremist Antifa movement asking their “thoughts” on work he has produced for HnH, was also featured in a recent high-profile article about the Identitarians and Dupré published in The Sunday Times.

    In the article, Mulhall claimed that GI was “much more extreme than people think and more extreme than groups like the English Defence League”….”

  11. Scottish Government Greenlights Plan to Let Asylum Seekers, Refugees Vote (breitbart, May 25, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/05/25/scottish-government-asylum-seekers-vote/

    “The Scottish government has confirmed that asylum seekers and refugees will be handed the vote under plans to expand the franchise.

    Parliamentary business minister Joe Fitzpatrick told MSPs on Wednesday: “it is right that people who make their lives here and contribute to society should have the right to vote, wherever they are from,” stating the government’s position on a consultation to expand the vote which was launched in December.

    Scotland has already made use of powers devolved in 2016 which allow politicians to make big changes to the country’s electorate, with its parliament voting unanimously to lower the age of franchise to 16 in the same year.

    Asked by the open borders-backing Scottish Greens, who have campaigned for giving every migrant the vote whether the government’s plans include asylum seekers, Fitzpatrick confirmed that extending the franchise “should include those who were welcomed here as refugees and people going through the process of seeking asylum”.

    The Scottish National Party (SNP) minister said: “Scotland is a welcoming country and our intention to extend the opportunity to vote to all those legally resident in Scotland, whatever their place of birth, I think should extend to refugees and asylum seekers.”

    His comments were welcomed by Green MSP for West Scotland Ross Greer, a tireless campaigner for mass migration who, on the one year anniversary this week of the Manchester terror attack in which 22 people were killed and 139 wounded, drew attention to his comment piece on the bombing, which argued the UK must open its borders to the migrants arriving in Europe on boats….”

  12. Soros-funded ‘Human Rights’ NGO Lobbies Merkel to Punish Patriotic Hungary (breitbart, May 25, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/05/25/soros-funded-human-rights-ngo-lobbies-merkel-punish-patriotic-hungary/

    “Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) bankrolled by billionaire open borders campaigner George Soros, is lobbying Germany’s Angela Merkel to crack down on the Hungarian government.

    Soros’s flagship Open Society Foundations network recently announced it would be leaving Budapest, where the financier spent his youth, for Angela Merkel’s Berlin, following the crushing, super-majority landslide won by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party in the recent national elections.

    Now Human Rights Watch, which reported a massive $100 million donation from Soros via Open Society Foundations in 2010, is lobbying Angela Merkel’s party to expel Fidesz from the European People’s Party, the quasi-conservative political group it sits with in the European Parliament.

    “Hungary’s governing party, Fidesz uses xenophobia to fuel discrimination against migrants and is now trying to silence NGOs,” the group claims — referring to the ‘Stop Soros’ package of proposed reforms which would levy taxes on the largely Soros-funded ‘civil society’ groups enabling and endorsing illegal migration, and use the money to strengthen border and immigration controls…”

  13. Children of Migrants Allowed to Spy for Britain for the First Time in Diversity Drive (breitbart, May 25, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/05/25/children-of-migrants-allowed-spy-britain-for-the-first-time-in-diversity-drive/

    “Britain’s MI6, also known as the Secret Intelligence Service, will allow the children of migrants and foreign nationals to serve as spies for the first time as part of a new diversity drive.

    The service is currently pushing to recruit 800 new staff by 2021 and has launched an advertising campaign aimed at groups including women and black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) people.

    The initiative is MI6’s largest expansion drive since the Cold War, and ends 100 years of baring the children of foreigners from applying to the secret and foreign espionage agency.

    “I want people who would have never have thought about joining MI6 to think about joining MI6,” said MI6 chief Alex Younger.

    He told ITV News it was important they were able to attract good candidates from minority groups who previously might not have considered applying…”

  14. ‘Desirable, Reasonable’: Le Pen Supports Italian Populist Govt Plan to Deport 500,000 Illegals (breitbart, May 25, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/05/25/marine-le-pen-supports-reasonable-new-italian-government-mass-deportation-plan/

    “French populist leader Marine Le Pen has given her support to the new populist anti-establishment Italian government’s plan to deport up to 500,000 illegal migrants calling the plan “reasonable”.

    The former presidential candidate, who came second to President Emmanuel Macron last year, argued for the new mass deportation policy in a press conference at the French national assembly this week, Le Figaro reports.

    “It is desirable, the whole thing is that they do not expel them to France. In any case, as long as France does not receive the 500,000 in question I think it’s reasonable,” Ms. Le Pen said.

    The populist leader compared the policy to the situation in 1960 Algeria with the so-called Pieds-Noirs, a largely ethnic French group who had been born in French Algeria during the time of empire and who came back to France en masse following Algerian independence in July of 1962.

    “One million Pieds-Noirs have been sent back to France in our history,” Le Pen Said, adding: “It is perfectly feasible to bring people home and in much more humane conditions than those reserved for the Pieds-Noirs.”

    The victory for populist anti-establishment parties in Italy was a blow to French President Macron, Le Pen added saying that the new coalition government is proof of a wave of anti-establishment Eurosceptic feeling among the voters across the European Union.

    “We Eurosceptics, who want to stop this crazy course of the European Union, we can be the majority,” Le Pen said, referring to the European parliamentary elections set for 2019.

    Ms. Le Pen has been called the leader of the European populist movement by the former senior advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump and former Breitbart News Network executive chairman Stephen K. Bannon who spoke at the party’s annual conference earlier in the year.

    The new Italian coalition has sent shockwaves through Europe and made headlines across the world as some fear the ramifications of one of the EU’s largest economies being governed be a largely anti-mass migration, Eurosceptic coalition with Italian president Sergio Mattarella confirming coalition choice for Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Wednesday.”

  15. Teenager, 18, is charged with 10 terror offences after he was arrested on a north London street (dailymail, May 25, 2018)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5770237/Teenager-18-charged-10-terror-offences-arrested-north-London-street.html

    “An 18-year-old man has been charged with 10 terror offences after he was arrested on a north London street.

    Sudesh Mamoor Faraz Amman, from Harrow, was arrested by officers, who were assisted by armed police, in the early hours of this morning.

    The teenager was detained under the Terrorism Act and taken into custody at a south London police station…”

  16. Iran sets end of May deadline to see EU measures to save nuclear deal (reuters, May 25, 2018)
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-talks/iran-sets-end-of-may-deadline-to-see-eu-measures-to-save-nuclear-deal-idUSKCN1IQ004?il=0

    “Iran wants European powers to present it with measures by the end of May to compensate it for the U.S. decision to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal, a senior official said on Friday, and Tehran would decide within weeks whether to quit the accord…”

  17. Indonesia passes new terror law after attacks using children (abcnews, May 25. 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indonesia-passes-terror-law-attacks-children-55427607

    “Indonesia’s parliament unanimously approved a tougher anti-terrorism law on Friday, lengthening detention periods and involving the military in counter-terrorism operations, spurred into action by recent bombings that involved children as perpetrators.

    Rights groups had criticized some revisions as overly broad or vague and warned against rushing them into law. The scope for the military to become involved in counter-terrorism operations is contentious because it backtracks on two decades of keeping soldiers out of areas under civilian authority.

    President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had threatened to impose the changes by special decree if parliament didn’t rapidly approve them. Changes were first proposed after a January 2016 suicide bombing and gun attack in Jakarta but languished in the legislature.

    Police have killed 14 suspected Islamic militants and arrested 60 since the suicide bombings May 13-14 in Indonesia’s second-largest city, Surabaya, that were carried out by radicalized families, who involved their children, as young as 7, in the attacks.

    The suicide bombings, which horrified Muslim-majority Indonesia, killed 26 people, including 13 members of the families that carried them out. The key perpetrator was leader of the Surabaya cell of an Indonesian militant network that professes loyalty to the Islamic State group.

    The new law triples the maximum detention period without charge for suspected militants to 21 days and roughly doubles the entire permissible detention period from arrest to trial to more than two years.

    Several articles address gaps in the original law from 2003, giving greater legal basis to prosecute individuals such as radical clerics who inspire attacks or Indonesians who traveled abroad to join IS.

    The definition of terrorist acts and threats was expanded to include motives of ideology, politics and security disruption. Some lawmakers said that would prevent the law from being abused.

    Military involvement in counter-terrorism operations will be defined later by presidential regulation…”

  18. Car bombing near hotel in Libyan city of Benghazi kills 7 (abcnews, May 25, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/car-bombing-hotel-libyan-city-benghazi-kills-55427854

    “A car bombing on a busy street in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi early on Friday killed at least seven people, including a girl, and wounded 20, a security official said.

    The blast, the latest to rock Libya’s second-largest city, took place on a commercial street full of people behind the city’s largest hotel, Tibesti, said Capt. Tarek Alkharraz, spokesman for the military and police forces in Benghazi.

    No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack…”

  19. Turkey: Rapper arrested accused of encouraging drug use (abcnews, May 25, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-rapper-arrested-accused-encouraging-drug-55431490

    “Turkey’s state-run news agency says authorities have arrested a popular rap artist on charges of inciting drug use.

    Anadolu Agency said 27-year-old Sercan Ipekcigolu, better-known as rapper “Ezhel,” was detained by narcotics police in Istanbul late Thursday and was later charged with encouraging the use of drugs.

    Other media reports said the rapper could face a five-year prison term for encouraging the use of drugs in his song lyrics and video clips.

    His arrest led to a social media campaign by supporters, with many users calling for his release using the hashtag “FreeEzhel.””

  20. Turkey detains 51 suspected Islamic State members – police (reuters, May 25. 2018)
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-turkey-security-islamic-state/turkey-detains-51-suspected-islamic-state-members-police-idUKKCN1IQ1P3?rpc=401&

    “Turkish police detained 51 suspected members of Islamic State in Istanbul on Friday, anti-terrorist police said.

    The suspects were believed to be planning to travel back to conflict zones in Syria, they said in a statement, adding that all those detained were foreign nationals.

    Islamic State has carried out numerous bombings across Turkey in recent years, including an attack on a nightclub in Istanbul on Jan. 1, 2017, in which 39 people were killed and a bombing in the city’s historic heart that killed 12 in 2016.

    Turkish operations against Islamic State suspects intensified at the end of last year ahead of the anniversary of the nightclub shooting.”

  21. Tech companies scramble as sweeping data rules take effect

    A sweeping set of new data privacy regulations descending on Europe is leaving internet companies in the U.S. scrambling to overhaul their practices to avoid steep penalties.

    Companies like Google, Twitter, Yelp and Uber have in recent weeks sent notices to their users about updates to privacy policies and user agreements aimed at making their data collection practices more transparent.

    http://thehill.com/policy/technology/389284-tech-companies-scramble-as-sweeping-data-rules-take-effect

  22. 2 Shot At Louie’s On Lake Hefner; Suspect Killed By Armed Citizen

    OKLAHOMA CITY –

    A mother and daughter were shot Thursday night at a popular restaurant on Lake Hefner in northwest Oklahoma City, police said.

    The shooting occurred at Louie’s Grill & Bar at 9401 Lake Hefner Parkway around 6:30 p.m.

    According to Captain Bo Mathews with the Oklahoma City Police Department, the suspect described as an 18 to 20-year-old white male entered the restaurant and opened fire.

    http://www.news9.com/story/38274025/2-shot-at-least-1-dead-at-restaurant-on-lake-hefner-in-nw-okc

    • Armed Citizen Fatally Shoots Gunman After Opening Fire In Oklahoma City Restaurant

      A community in Oklahoma City is thanking an armed citizen for stopping a man who allegedly opened fire at a local restaurant.

      Just before 6:30 PM local time, authorities say a gunman walked into Louie’s Bar and Grill and began firing with a handgun.

      A mother and daughter — who were celebrating a birthday — were struck by the gunfire, while dozens of others ran for their lives.

      Once the suspected gunman stopped firing, he reportedly left the building and was confronted by an armed civilian who fatally shot him.

      http://www.oann.com/armed-citizen-fatally-shoots-gunman-after-opening-fire-in-okla-restaurant/

  23. How facial software can identify liars
    May 25, 2018
    Facial-recognition software could warn immigration officers if someone is lying

    Surveillance cameras at airports could be used to identify passengers who are not telling the truth, helping better identify terrorists and drug-smugglers while minimising instances of racial profiling.

    The artificial-intelligence programme was developed by a team of computer scientists at the University of Rochester, New York, using crowdsourcing technology to build the largest public data resource of liars’ facial expressions.

    Researchers used a machine-learning algorithm to analyse over 1.3 million frames of one-to-one interactions interactions.

    http://www.theweek.co.uk/93854/how-facial-software-can-identify-liars

  24. Mortgage rates have been rising at a pace not seen in almost 50 years

    Mortgage rates continued their upward march this week, extending the most prolonged increase in rates in 46 years.

    According to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average climbed to 4.66 percent with an average 0.4 point. (Points are fees paid to a lender equal to 1 percent of the loan amount.) It was 4.61 percent a week ago and 3.95 percent a year ago.

    The 15-year fixed-rate average jumped to 4.15 percent with an average 0.4 point. It was 4.08 percent a week ago and 3.19 percent a year ago. The five-year adjustable rate average rose to 3.87 percent with an average 0.3 point. It was 3.82 percent a week ago and 3.07 percent a year ago.

    “Mortgage rates so far in 2018 have had the most sustained increase to start the year in over 40 years,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Through May, rates have risen in 15 out of the first 21 weeks (71 percent), which is the highest share since Freddie Mac began tracking this data for a full year in 1972.”

    https://www.lmtonline.com/business/article/Mortgage-rates-have-been-rising-at-a-pace-not-12940865.php

  25. Peel Police Chief Jennifer Evans says that “every resource” at her disposal is being used to help track down and apprehend those responsible for a “horrendous” bombing at a Mississauga restaurant on Thursday night.

    Evans says that two suspects were seen carrying an improvised explosive device (IED) into the Bombay Bhel restaurant near Hurontario Street and Eglinton Avenue at around 10:30 p.m.

    She says that investigators believe the suspects fled the restaurant and got into a vehicle “immediately” following the explosion.

    RELATED STORIES
    Two suspects seen running from Mississauga restaurant explosion; 15 injured
    PHOTOS
    Explosion
    Police are shown at the scene of an explosion at a Mississauga restaurant. Police are looking for two suspects who were seen running away from the restaurant in the moments before the blast.

    Restaurant explosion suspects
    Two suspects who police say are connected to an explosion at a restaurant in Mississauga on Thursday, May 24, 2018, are seen in an image released by Peel Regional Police.

    mississauga
    Emergency crews have blocked off a plaza in Mississauga following a reported explosion. (Twitter / @spdill12)

    A total of 15 people ranging in age from 23 to 69 were injured as a result of the blast. Three of those people were rushed to a trauma centre with critical injuries but their condition improved overnight and they are now listed as stable. Those people have been identified as a 35-year-old Brampton man, a 62-year-old Mississauga woman and a 48-year-old Mississauga woman.

    https://www.cp24.com/news/every-resource-being-used-to-locate-suspects-in-restaurant-bombing-evans-says-1.3944757

  26. A 21-year-old Libyan man has been charged with aggravated assault and possession of a weapon after another Libyan man was stabbed several times in the chest outside a downtown Ottawa hotel early Wednesday morning.

    Former Libyan rebel stabbed in downtown Ottawa
    Both men were in Canada receiving medical treatment after being injured in the Libyan civil war. The Canadian Libyan Council told CBC News that dozens of rebels came to Canada for medical treatment after the fall of MuammarGaddafi’s regime in 2012.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/libyan-man-charged-after-downtown-ottawa-stabbing-1.2725255

  27. Trump’s next economic threat: Surging gas prices

    A huge jump in driving costs in recent months is likely to fuel a wave of economic anger across the nation — just in time for the midterm elections.

    President Donald Trump is hoping a wave of tax-cut-fueled economic euphoria will boost his approval ratings and his party’s political fortunes this fall. A sharp spike in gas prices could slam the brakes on all of that.

    As Americans head out for traditional Memorial Day weekend road trips, they’ll confront gas prices of nearly $3 a gallon, the highest since 2014 and a 25 percent spike since last year.

    https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/25/trumps-gas-prices-midterms-570916

  28. Norway worried by intensified Russian naval activity

    LONDON (Reuters) – Russia has increased its naval activity in international waters close to Norway and its military capabilities are a growing concern, Norway’s navy chief said on Thursday.

    Norway has an Arctic border with Russia and its economy is highly reliant on its free access to the seas.

    Rear Admiral Nils Andreas Stensoenes, Chief of the Royal Norwegian Navy, told Reuters it was Russia’s legal right to operate in international waters.

    “We are worried about the increase in activity and the increasing capability because that might be used to their advantage and to our disadvantage later,” he said on the sidelines of a Royal United Services Institute conference in London.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-russia-security/norway-worried-by-intensified-russian-naval-activity-idUSKCN1IP335

  29. Capitol Police Accidentally Gave Evidence To House Hacking Suspect’s Defense Attorney
    Photo of Luke Rosiak
    LUKE ROSIAK
    Investigative Reporter
    9:06 PM 05/24/2018
    0
    The House IG said Democratic IT aides made unauthorized access to data, but prosecutors haven’t charged them
    Democrats appear to want to keep the case out of court; a trial could expose their reckless IT practices
    Capitol Police didn’t make arrests despite numerous red flags and then ‘inadvertently’ gave evidence to defense attorneys that was supposed to go to prosecutors
    Prosecutors appear to be sharing info with someone on Capitol Hill who is leaking details to the hacking suspect’s lawyer

    http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/24/washington-dc-capitol-police-evidence-house-hacking-suspect-attorney/

  32. 2 ‘Sinister’ Motorcycle Gangs Busted in Rhode Island

    OAN Newsroom
    UPDATED 6:48 AM PT — Fri. May 25, 2018

    50 people are arrested in Rhode Island in connection with operating a weapons and drug smuggling ring.

    Authorities announced the arrests Thursday, following a year-long investigation into two rival motorcycle gangs.

    State police identified the two gangs as the Pagans and the Kryptmen, who are known as two of the most violent gangs in the country.

    http://www.oann.com/2-sinister-motorcycle-gangs-busted-in-rhode-island/

  33. President Donald Trump pardoned the first black heavyweight boxing champion Thursday.

    Jack Johnson was convicted by an all-white jury in 1913 of transporting a woman across state lines. Johnson was convicted for violating the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for “immoral” purposes, and served close to one year in prison.

    The pardon comes after Johnson’s great-great niece had been pushing for a posthumous pardon. Actor Sylvester Stallone was also a huge advocate for Johnson’s pardon and joined Trump in the Oval Office for the pardon announcement.

    Johnson was charged due to racially motivated injustice, Trump said and hopes this pardon will help “to correct a wrong in our history,” ABC News reported.

    http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/24/racist-trump-pardons-first-black-heavyweight-boxing-champion/

  34. Capitol police accidentally gave evidence to House hacking suspect Imran Awan’s defense attorney
    By Daily Caller News Foundation May 25, 2018

    The Capitol Police turned over a trove of evidence in the alleged Imran Awan House cyberbreach and theft case to the defense attorneys when they were supposed to deliver it to prosecutors instead, according to court documents and a source.

    And hours after The Daily Caller News Foundation asked prosecutors about the disclosure, Awan’s lawyer said he had learned of the forthcoming story from a source on Capitol Hill. TheDCNF had not told anyone other than prosecutors about it.

    “The cop came to [Awan’s defense attorney] Chris Gowen’s office with a stack of papers … Then he came back and said, ‘I thought you guys were the other party.’ He was very, very angry. But Gowen made copies,” the source, who’s familiar with The Awans, told TheDCNF.

    Awan, three relatives and a friend ran IT for one in five House Democrats and could read all their emails and files until they were banned on Feb. 2, 2017, for “numerous violations of House security policies.” The violations alleged by the House Office of Inspector General include logging into the House Democratic Caucus server thousands of times without authorization. This allegedly occurred during the same period in 2016 the DNC was hacked.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/05/25/capitol-police-accidentally-gave-evidence-to-house-hacking-suspect-imran-awans-defense-attorney/

    • Was this an accident?

      Before the case goes to trial US law requires that all evidence the prosecution has is turned over to the defense. Someone may have decided to do this early.

  35. New York train rider, 58, who launched vile racist tirade against 25-year-old woman for ‘talking too loud’ is charged with a hate crime and could face a year in jail
    Edward Ruggiero, from Long Island, was caught racially abusing Soraya Orelien
    He repeatedly calls her a monkey and a ‘black b****’ during his sickening rant
    He was charged with third-degree menacing as a hate crime and second-degree aggravated harassment and could face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5766183/New-York-train-rider-58-launched-racist-tirade-against-woman-25-charged-hate-crime.html#comments

  36. FBI informant Halper accused of ‘false, absurd’ allegations about Russian infiltration at Cambridge
    By Daily Caller News Foundation May 24, 2018

    The FBI informant who made contact with members of the Trump campaign has made allegations of Russian spy infiltration at the University of Cambridge that people involved in the matters have called “false” and “absurd.”

    A Russian academic who worked at Cambridge with the informant, Stefan Halper, said he made “false allegations” about her interactions with former national security adviser Michael Flynn at an event the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar (CIS) hosted in February 2014.

    Halper’s claim in December 2016 that Russians infiltrated CIS has also been called “absurd” by Christopher Andrew, the official historian for MI5 and head of CIS, the Financial Times reported.

    Halper told the Financial Times that he was resigning from CIS because of “unacceptable Russian influence on the group.” The evidence of Russian penetration was scant, with news reports citing a nearly $2,700 contribution to CIS from a Russia-based company called Veruscript

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/05/24/fbi-informant-halper-accused-of-false-absurd-allegations-about-russian-infiltration-at-cambridge/

    • The Sheriff and the Deputy need to be removed and some honest people start cleaning up that dirty mess.

  38. A top official at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said last month that the US government’s Countering Violent Extremism program should investigate young American Jews who enlist in the Israel Defense Forces.

    According to a transcript provided to The Algemeiner on Thursday by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of CAIR, said at an April 20 event, “You know how many hundreds of Jewish American kids are recruited to join the Israeli occupation army? Hundreds. Every year. They leave their country, leave America, to go join with an army that is engaged, with no debate, in major violations of human rights, and maybe some would argue, and I’m one of them, war crimes.”

    “And yet,” he said, “people in America leave this country and go there. No one has ever established a CVE program to see why would normal Jewish American kids leave their homes and join to be part of an army committing war crimes. Why? But none of that is happening. They go to the American Muslim community.”

    https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/05/24/cair-official-calls-on-us-government-to-investigate-american-jews-who-join-idf/

    • It is against US law for a US citizen to join a foreign army, air force or navy. The people who went north into Canada and joined either the British or Canadian forces in WWII required pardons before they could transfer to the US forces. The only way around this law is for the US government to either ignore the law and not prosecute or to send the people to join. In 1948 then President Truman threatened to prosecute any and all American Jews that went to fight for Israel. He was talked out of the idea and the precident was set that they not be prosecuted. Many young Islamic boys have been arrested for trying to join ISIS. Recently a man as arrested for trying to go to the Middle East to fight ISIS or for going to the Middle East to fight ISIS. I remember the article and a poll about this on the Clarion Project but can’t find the article.

    • USA: Royal Wedding Bishop leads vigil outside White House

      Bishop Michael Curry, who gave a sermon at the Royal Wedding last week, led a candlelit march to the White House in Washington, DC on Thursday night to protest against the US government’s agenda.

      Bishop Curry and hundreds of demonstrators marched to the White House denouncing what they see as a crisis of moral and political leadership in the United States government.

      • He needs to take the rose colored glasses off and take a good hard look at his own country.

  41. BBC – Turkmens warned over presidential toilet paper

    Local police in Turkmenistan are inspecting toilets for evidence that locals have been using newspapers containing photographs of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to wipe themselves, it’s been reported.

    The regional police in the western region of Balkan have allegedly instructed community policing officers to check toilets in public places and private houses, and to find evidence of people using newspapers with pictures of the country’s president as tissue paper, Moscow-based news website Fergana.ru – known for its credible reporting on Turkmen affairs – reports.

    Officers have been told to look for the Turkmen leader’s “soiled” pictures at landfill sites, as well as among garbage at waste collection points.

    “There is a special janitor at each landfill site whose job is to inspect garbage, to look for soiled newspaper photos, to establish the house or flat of the newspaper subscriber and to report it to the police,” Fergana says.

    It adds that people found guilty of “damaging” the president’s image will be issued with a warning. But, according to the Alternativnnyy Novosti Turkmenistana website, there are likely to be a huge number of issued warnings, as Turkmens – impoverished from an ongoing economic crisis – do not tend to spend their money on toilet paper.

    “Why buy toilet papers if you have piles of newspapers which people in Turkmenistan are forced to subscribe to,” the report says. It adds that it is difficult not to soil the Turkmen leader’s photos because his pictures dominate all newspapers.

    The loo paper crackdown comes after several children were reportedly detained over damaging portraits of Mr Berdimuhamedov. US-funded Radio Azatlyk claims.

    It describes one such case where children dropped Mr Berdimuhamedov’s portrait and trampled on it while playing. In another instance, children were reportedly detained for adding a moustache and a beard to the picture of the country’s autocratic leader.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-44236375

  42. CBC – Military looks at foreign recruits to boost ranks

    Review underway to consider lifting citizenship requirement for Canadian Armed Forces

    Canada’s military is considering lifting a longstanding citizenship requirement as a way to boost its numbers.

    Right now, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) offers waivers to foreign nationals only in exceptional cases — to individuals on international military exchanges, for example, or to candidates who have specialized skills in high demand.

    That citizenship requirement is now under review.

    “In line with the government of Canada’s objective of raising the numbers of Forces personnel, there are currently initial discussions to review the possibility for foreign nationals’ recruitment beyond skills applicants,” Byrne Furlong, spokeswoman for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, wrote in an email. “It is too early to mention anything about any results or conclusion of such review?.”

    DND spokesman Maj. Alexandre Munoz said the existingSkilled Military Foreign Applicant program is open to any foreign applicant with a specialized skill set that would reduce training costs or fill particular needs — a trained pilot or a doctor, to cite two examples.

    Only two foreign nationals were accepted into the Forces last fiscal year.

    “It is understood that many foreign nationals and permanent residents have applied to join the CAF, but the majority have been refused as they do not meet IRCC guidelines and requirements,” Munoz said in an email.

    Lifting the Forces’ citizenship requirement would be a sharp departure from Canada’s traditional recruitment practices and could open the doors to applications from thousands of permanent residents.

    Vancouver immigration lawyer Zool Suleman said he supports the change. He argues that recruitment should be based on capability, not on whether the candidate is a citizen or on the path to become one.

    Recruit based on ability

    “I think people can be tested and examined in terms of security and ability and should be able to serve if they want to serve,” he said.

    “If you are loyal to Canada, if you have lived here a short time but you really understand what Canada is about and you really want to serve this country in that way, I don’t understand why permanent residents should not be allowed to serve.”

    Other countries — the U.S. among them — allow non-citizens to serve, with certain restrictions on the positions and ranks they can hold.

    “Green card holders have always been welcome to serve and (are) a key component of our military team,” said U.S. Department of Defence spokeswoman Major Carla Gleason in an email. “Expedited citizenship is offered to service members who have completed initial training and 180 days of consecutive honourable service.”

    The British army also welcomes citizens of Commonwealth countries into its ranks, while the French Foreign Legion recruits soldiers from countries around the world.

    While the CAF recently has seen a modest increase in the number of military personnel, it is still struggling to reach full strength, falling about 2,000 short in regular-force members and 5,300 in reservists.

    Matthew Overton, executive director of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute and a retired brigadier-general who commanded the Forces recruiting group, said there are potential benefits and risks to allowing foreign nationals to join the Canadian Armed Forces.

    “It’s not simply that it will be opening a door to more people who can do jobs in the Forces. It’s going to come with some complexity that we’re not used to dealing with on a regular basis,” he said.

    “So we’d have to really think about that and be prepared to deal with some of those issues on a case-by-case basis with those individuals, to think about what that means.”

    Equity targets

    In 2016, the RCMP scrapped its citizenship requirement, allowing permanent residents who have lived in Canada more than 10 years to apply. The goal was, in part, to boost diversity in the ranks.

    Lifting the citizenship requirement could help meet the military’s equity targets, which aim to have an Armed Forces composed of 25.1 per cent women, 3.5 per cent Indigenous people and 11.8 per cent visible minorities.

    The current Forces makeup is 15.4 per cent women, 2.8 per cent Indigenous and 8.2 per cent visible minorities, though some choose not to not self-identify as belonging to one of the targeted groups.

    Overton said there are benefits to increased diversity which could be enhanced by opening recruitment to permanent residents.

    “Be aware of the individual and their circumstance, as we would be with looking at anyone for the Armed Forces, and take advantage of the opportunities, of the skills, knowledge sets and some of the understandings that they bring with them that would help Canada do a better job in influencing the world,” he said.

    In June 2014, the Conservatives established a new program that allowed foreign nationals who served with the Forces to apply for fast-tracked citizenship. According to figures provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 98 applicants out of 109 have been approved to date.

    Of those applicants, 56 were from England; the remainder came from a long list of countries, including Australia, Germany, Hungary, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/caf-military-foreign-recruits-1.4675889

    • Four military college students accused of desecrating Qur’an with bacon and bodily fluids

      The incident comes as the Forces push to become more diverse

      OTTAWA — Four cadets from the Royal Military College in Saint-Jean, Que., have been accused of desecrating a Qur’an with bacon and bodily fluids during the Easter long weekend, The Canadian Press has learned.

      The alleged incident is said to have occurred during a cottage party and largely involved first-year students from the military college, who reportedly recorded the acts on video.

      Lt.-Gen. Charles Lamarre, the chief of military personnel, says other students at the college reported the incident to their commanders after being shown the videos.

      An investigation subsequently launched by the college commandant found reason to believe that the four cadets broke the military’s rules, but two have since appealed.

      Lamarre says his office is currently reviewing the case, while adding that the desecration of any religious symbol by a member of the Canadian Forces will not be tolerated.

      Desecrating a Qur’an is considered blasphemous by Muslims and has sparked violent protests and deadly riots in recent years.

      The alleged incident at Saint-Jean comes as Lamarre and other military commanders have been pushing the Forces to become more diverse.

      http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/four-military-college-students-accused-of-desecrating-quran-with-bacon

      ============================================

      4 Canadian military cadets accused of desecrating a Qur’an with bacon, bodily fluids

      Four cadets from the Royal Military College in Saint-Jean, Que., have been accused of desecrating a Qur’an with bacon and bodily fluids during the Easter long weekend, The Canadian Press has learned.

      The alleged incident is said to have occurred during a cottage party and largely involved first-year students from the military college, who reportedly recorded the acts on video.

      Lt.-Gen. Charles Lamarre, the chief of military personnel, says other students at the college reported the incident to their commanders after being shown the videos.

      An investigation subsequently launched by the college commandant found reason to believe that the four cadets broke the military’s rules, but two have since appealed.

      Lamarre says his office is currently reviewing the case, while adding that the desecration of any religious symbol by a member of the Canadian Forces will not be tolerated.

      Desecrating a Qur’an is considered blasphemous by Muslims and has sparked violent protests and deadly riots in recent years.

      https://globalnews.ca/news/4231254/canada-military-cadets-desecrating-quran/

    • CBC – RADIO CANADA – Le Coran profané par des élèves-officiers du Collège militaire de Saint-Jean

      Un élève-officier du Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu a été expulsé et deux autres pourraient l’être pour avoir profané une édition du Coran.

      L’un d’entre eux s’est masturbé sur le livre sacré pendant qu’un autre filmait la scène, qui a ensuite été partagée sur les réseaux sociaux, selon ce qu’a appris Radio-Canada.

      […] à l’occasion d’une fête à laquelle participaient huit élèves-officiers.

      […]L’un d’eux a été expulsé par les Forces armées canadiennes (FAC) et deux autres font face à des procédures qui pourraient mener à leur renvoi.pour avoir participé activement à la profanation du Coran et filmé la scène.

      Les cinq autres, qui ont été témoins de l’incident, s’en tirent avec des sanctions moins sévères.

      […]Hassan Guillet, porte-parole du Conseil des imams du Québec, a été consulté par l’armée sur la façon de gérer la crise.

      [….]L’imam croit que les FAC envoient le bon message en expulsant les trois profanateurs de ses rangs.

      « J’ai toujours dit que la société québécoise et la société canadienne ne sont pas islamophobes ni xénophobes, mais il y a des éléments xénophobes, des éléments islamophobes qui sont dangereux, qui sont des pyromanes. Il faut les identifier, les isoler et protéger la société de leurs agissements », ajoute M. Guillet.

      https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1103018/profanation-coran-college-militaire-saint-jean-officiers-suspendus

    • Three officer cadets to be booted from Canadian Forces after desecrating Qur’an

      Three officer cadets will be kicked out of the Canadian Forces after they were involved in the desecration of a Qur’an with bacon and bodily fluids.

      Four cadets from the Royal Military College in Saint-Jean, Que., were involved in the incident that took place March 31.

      The incident involving the Islamic sacred book took place off campus.

      It was reported to Royal Military College Saint-Jean authorities on April 10 and an investigation was initiated the same day, the Canadian Forces said in a statement Friday.

      “Such misconduct goes against our core beliefs and is not tolerated, especially at RMC Saint-Jean, where future leaders of the Canadian Armed Forces are trained and educated,” the military noted in a statement issued Friday.

      Two of the officer cadets were served with a notice that they will be recommended for release from the Canadian Forces for unsatisfactory conduct. Another was served with a release notice based on unsatisfactory performance. One officer cadet was served with a recorded warning and will undergo counselling.

      The officer cadets are appealing the decision to kick them out and a final ruling on that action is expected in mid-June, Department of National Defence sources say.

      The military noted that it was officer cadets who reported the allegations that started the investigation.

      The desecration of the Qur’an was visually recorded. But that imagery no longer exists, according to the Canadian Forces.

      “At this time there is no indication that any of them belong to any kind of hate group,” the military added in its statement.

      The military police and Canadian Forces National Investigation Service were consulted but have not started an investigation. That job was instead handed over to commanders at the college.

      http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/three-officer-cadets-to-be-booted-from-canadian-forces-after-desecrating-quran

  47. As more and more American communities grapple with opioid addiction, the human toll of the epidemic has grown in both scope and severity. And now, scientists at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have found evidence that drug’s impact has literally flowed downstream to affect marine life, as well.

    Specifically, they used mussels as a barometer of pollution in the waters off Seattle, and discovered that oxycodone is now present enough in the marine environment there for shellfish to test positive.

    Since mussels are “filter feeders,” they absorb contaminants from their environment into their tissues in a concentrated way. Scientists used cages to transplant clean mussels from an aquaculture source on Whidbey Island to 18 urbanized locations around Puget Sound. Several months later, they pulled those previously uncontaminated mussels back out of the urban waters and, together with the Puget Sound Institute, tested them again.

    In three of the 18 locations, the mussels then tested positive for trace amounts of oxycodone. How, you ask?

    When humans ingest opioids like oxycodone, they ultimately end up excreting traces of the drugs into the toilet. Those chemicals then end up in wastewater. And while many contaminants are filtered out of wastewater before it’s released into the oceans, wastewater management systems can’t entirely filter out drugs. Thus, opioids, antidepressants, the common chemotherapy drug Melphalan — the mussels tested positive for all of them.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/mussels-test-positive-for-opioids-seattle-puget-sound/

  48. A three-year-old girl won’t be allowed to wear a sundress she loves to preschool anymore after staff deemed the straps on the outfit inappropriate, a Winnipeg family says.

    Sadie Stonehouse said the preschool has put her in the uncomfortable position of having to explain to her daughter, Lola, why the sundress isn’t allowed – a conversation she fears will make her three-year-old question her body.

    When Lola’s daycare provider picked her up from preschool, her parents say staff had a message for them: the dress was “inappropriate for school” due to the thickness of the straps, and that next time she’d have to wear a shirt underneath.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/three-year-old-girl-s-sundress-deemed-inappropriate-for-preschool-1.3944455

  49. WSJ – K.A.Strassel – The Real Constitutional Crisis

    The FBI and Justice Department continue evading congressional oversight.

    Democrats and their media allies are again shouting “constitutional crisis,” this time claiming President Trump has waded too far into the Russia investigation. The howls are a diversion from the actual crisis: the Justice Department’s unprecedented contempt for duly elected representatives, and the lasting harm it is doing to law enforcement and to the department’s relationship with Congress.

    The conceit of those claiming Mr. Trump has crossed some line in ordering the Justice Department to comply with oversight is that “investigators” are beyond question. We are meant to take them at their word that they did everything appropriately. Never mind that the revelations of warrants and spies and dirty dossiers and biased text messages already show otherwise.

    We are told that Mr. Trump cannot be allowed to have any say over the Justice Department’s actions, since this might make him privy to sensitive details about an investigation into himself. We are also told that Congress – a separate branch of government, a primary duty of which is oversight – cannot be allowed to access Justice Department material. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes can’t be trusted to view classified information – something every intelligence chairman has done – since he might blow a source or method, or tip off the president.

    That’s a political judgment, but it holds no authority. The Constitution set up Congress to act as a check on the executive branch—and it’s got more than enough cause to do some checking here. Yet the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation have spent a year disrespecting Congress—flouting subpoenas, ignoring requests, hiding witnesses, blacking out information, and leaking accusations.

    Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has not been allowed to question a single current or former Justice or FBI official involved in this affair. Not one. He’s also more than a year into his demand for the transcript of former national security adviser Mike Flynn’s infamous call with the Russian ambassador, as well as reports from the FBI agents who interviewed Mr. Flynn. And still nothing.

    Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, is being stonewalled on at least three inquiries. The House Judiciary and Oversight committee chairmen required a full-blown summit in April with Justice Department officials to get movement on their own subpoena. The FBI continues to block a fuller release of the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia report.

    Not that the documents that Justice sends over are of much use. Mr. Grassley this week excoriated the department for its routine practice of redacting key information, and for similarly refusing to provide a “privilege log” that details the legal basis for withholding information. His team recently discovered that one of the items Justice had scrubbed from the Peter Strzok-Lisa Page texts was the duo’s concern that former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe had a $70,000 conference table. (Was it lacquered with unicorn tears?) A separate text refers to an investigation that the White House is “running,” but conveniently blacks out which one. The FBI won’t answer Mr. Johnson’s questions about who is doing the redacting.

    This intransigence is creating an unprecedented toxicity between law enforcement and Congress, undermining what has long been a cooperative and vital relationship. It is also pushing lawmakers ever closer to holding Justice Department officials in contempt or impeaching them. Congress hasn’t impeached a member of the executive branch (presidents excepted) since the 19th century. Let’s agree such a step would amount to a real crisis. And the pressure to use these tools to get disclosure is growing, as congressional Republicans worry about losing their oversight authority in the midterms, and suspect the Justice Department is stringing them along for that very reason.

    Which is why Mr. Trump was right to order that Justice comply with Mr. Nunes’s demands for documents about the alleged FBI spy Stefan Halper and other information related to the catalyst of this investigation. As president, he has a duty to protect the reputation and integrity of the Justice Department—even from its own leaders. Forcing officials to comply with legitimate congressional oversight is far better than sitting back to watch those same officials singe the institution and its relationship with Congress in a flame of impeachment resolutions.

    He can – and should – declassify everything possible, letting Congress and the public see the truth.

    That would put an end to the daily spin and conspiracy theories. It would puncture Democratic arguments that the administration is seeking to gain this information only for itself, to “undermine” an investigation.

    And it would end the Justice Department’s campaign of secrecy, which has done such harm to its reputation with the public and with Congress.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-real-constitutional-crisis-1527201552