News You Can Use

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[Joel]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Faces Criminal Investigation For Fraud & Bribery

The Times of Israel is reporting that police are calling on Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to allow them to open a full criminal investigation against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Monday, December 26th, Israeli police announced that they are absolutely convinced that a criminal investigation will be opened in the next few days due to new documents that were recently received in a special inquiry that began about 9 months ago.

The offenses that Netanyahu allegedly will face will be bribery and aggravated-fraud. In June it was reported that police had recently started their secret investigation, with demand that no details be leaked to the media.

Attorney General Mandelblit also allegedly instructed employees in the state prosecutor’s office to investigate allegations that Netanyahu accepted 1 million euros (about $1.1 million) from accused French fraudster Arnaud Mimran in 2009.

Earlier in December, in an apparently unrelated case, there were calls for the Netanyahu to be investigated for his role in a Defense Ministry deal to purchase submarines from a German company that is partly owned by the Iranian government.

The affair overtook public debate in Israel last month, as accusations came about that the Israeli prime minister may have been financially swayed in the decision by his personal counsel David Shimron, who himself had ties with the submarines’ builder, ThyssenKrupp. The purchase was opposed by sectors of the defense establishment, including former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon.

A spokesman for Netanyahu defended the Prime Minister by telling The Times of Israel, “This is absolutely false. There was nothing and there will be nothing.”

What is most interesting about this news is the possible correlation with the U.S. decision to abstain from the vote in the United Nations that aims to stop Israeli construction on occupied Palestinian territory. While it only makes logical and legal sense for such construction to be halted, the U.S. decision not to support Israel is a public slap in the face and one that comes at a time where it also makes sense to ask a logical question: Does the U.S. know something about Netanyahu’s investigation and possible crimes and are they now seeking to publicly separate themselves from the controversial Israeli Prime Minister?

However, speculation that Netanyahu has been deeply involved in corruption, bribery and even war crimes have been circulating for years and if indeed true, won’t surprise many.

Will “Bibi” slide away from this scandal unscathed or will this result in criminal charges? What changes might this possible criminal investigation have on the dynamic between Netanyahu and incoming U.S. President Donald Trump? If investigated, will Trump come to the defense of Bibi, or will Trump begin to distance himself as well? This one could get really interesting to watch.

[Joel]

New York Times: Corrupt Border Agents Are Letting Tons of Drugs and Thousands of Undocumented Immigrants Into the Country

According to an investigation by the New York Times, more than 200 Homeland Security (DHS) employees and contractors have accepted nearly $15 million in bribes over the last ten years. In return, these border-security officials have turned a blind eye as tons of drugs and thousands of undocumented immigrants were smuggled over the border.

Reporters discovered that in addition to providing intentionally lax border security, employees were guilty of a whole raft of serious crimes — even, in one instance, providing information to a drug cartel that was used in the attempted murder of an informant.

DHS workers also illegally sold immigration documents, including green cards, and accessed secure law-enforcement databases on behalf of drug dealers and criminals.

While these findings sound damning, officials who have accepted bribes still only account for about 1 percent of everyone working at the DHS. Still, as the inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security John Roth points out, even “one person alone can do a lot of damage.”

In some ways, the corruption on the border is actually a product of improving border security. As America has cracked down on its borders using drones, widespread surveillance, and state-of-the-art equipment, criminals, smugglers, and immigrants looking for passage to the United States have had to look for new approaches, and exploiting human fallibility is an obvious option.

The DHS is aware of its problems. The department has inaugurated new, more comprehensive ethics training for employees, taken on extra internal-affairs investigators, and started using polygraph tests on new hires — though James Tomsheck, the former head of internal affairs at Customs and Border Protection, has claimed that, in one case, a lie detector test didn’t prevent the department from hiring an active drug cartel member.

Just this month, the FBI collaborated with the Department of Homeland Security to launch a campaign aimed at raising awareness of corruption along the border, asking the public to report anything suspicious they see, including instances of government employees letting people and shipments into the U.S. “We want to know what people are seeing and hearing,” wrote Sergio Galvan, chief of the FBI’s Public Corruption Unit, in a statement about the new campaign, “whether you are a frequent traveler, a truck driver, or a law enforcement official who works on the border.”

Customs and Border Protection agents seem especially vulnerable to bribes. The Times found that “dozens of its officers” have been “arrested and charged with bribery.” Now, Mark Morgan, a one-time FBI agent specializing in corruption, will helm the border patrol.

So far, changes at the department have yet to put a stop to the corruption. In 2016 alone, 15 DHS employees have run afoul of the law, having been accused or convicted of accepting bribes.

As recently as last week, one 10-year patrol veteran was charged with attempted distribution of methamphetamine and cocaine and receiving a bribe as a public official after he was caught personally picking up packages of drugs left at the border fence and delivering them to drug dealers in the U.S. in exchange for bribes.

In other cases, reporters found webs of corruption worthy of an episode of The Wire. In November of this year, a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services officer in Los Angeles admitted to accepting bribes from immigration lawyers. In exchange for $53,000, the officer, Daniel Espejo Amos, fraudulently certified that 60 immigrants met the criteria for citizenship. He even provided answers to the naturalization test to immigrants who could not speak English, so they could memorize them.

A report released this spring found that there is still serious structural work to be done at the department and its agencies. Among other suggestions, it called for increasing the number of internal investigators from 200 to 550. Meanwhile, the department’s 2017 budget allows for an increase of only 30 new investigators.

Donald Trump has made border security the centerpiece of his campaign, and famously promised to deport undocumented immigrants and build a wall along the border with Mexico. If problems of corruption remain unchecked, Trump might find that it takes more than physical barriers to seal up a country’s borders. Any wall, no matter how tall or “beautiful,” is only as steadfast as the men and women who run it.

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States Wire Up Roads as Cars Get Smarter - WSJ

FAIRFAX, Va.—On a crowded interstate outside Washington, D.C., large digital signs over four westbound lanes flashed messages lowering the speed limit by 10, then 20 miles an hour.

Drivers slowed just as a fast-moving thunderstorm unleashed sheets of rain that drenched the road and reduced visibility to a few dozen yards. There was no abrupt braking, no swerving and none of the fender-benders that can tie up traffic for miles.

The signs, installed last year, are a first step toward what highway planners say is a future in which self-driving cars will travel on technology-aided roads lined with fiber optics, cameras and connected signaling devices that will help vehicles move as quickly as possible—and more safely.

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Chillies could help beat cancer as research finds capsaicin destroys diseased cells - Mirror Online

Chillies could help fight breast cancer after scientists revealed the spicy ingredient causes diseased cells to self destruct.

Capsaicin, the active component that gives chillies their trademark kick, can switch on specialised channels surrounding cancer cells causing them to die.

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Finland basic income: 2,000 citizens getting guaranteed income of $587/month - Jan. 2, 2017

Finland has started a radical experiment: It's giving 2,000 citizens a guaranteed income, with funds that keep flowing whether participants work or not.

The program, which kicks off this month, is one of the first efforts to test a "universal basic income." Participants will receive €560 ($587) a month -- money that is guaranteed regardless of income, wealth or employment status.

The idea is that a universal income offers workers greater security, especially as technological advances reduce the need for human labor. It will also allow unemployed people to pick up odd jobs without losing their benefits.

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Mysterious 'Boom' Rocks Homes in Southington, Surrounding Towns | NBC Connecticut

Authorities investigated a loud bang after residents reported the noise shook homes in the Southington, Wolcott and Cheshire areas, but found no explanation.

Southington police said they received between 30 and 40 calls reporting a loud explosion around 10:30 a.m. Many of the calls came from the southwest part of town. Both the police and fire departments responded to investigate the calls, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

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News from The Associated Press

PUERTO CABELLO, Venezuela (AP) -- When hunger drew tens of thousands of Venezuelans to the streets in protest last summer, President Nicolas Maduro turned to the military to manage the country's diminished food supply, putting generals in charge of everything from butter to rice.

But instead of fighting hunger, the military is making money from it, an Associated Press investigation shows. That's what grocer Jose Campos found when he ran out of pantry staples this year. In the middle of the night, he would travel to an illegal market run by the military to buy pallets of corn flour - at 100 times the government-set price.

"The military would be watching over whole bags of money," Campos said. "They always had what I needed."

With much of the country on the verge of starvation and billions of dollars at stake, food trafficking has become one of the biggest businesses in Venezuela, the AP found. And from generals to foot soldiers, the military is at the heart of the graft, according to documents and interviews with more than 60 officials, business owners and workers, including five former generals.

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Britain's most lucrative speed camera raises as much money as a 'medium-sized business' 

A speed camera believed to be the most lucrative in the UK has raked in £1.5m in fines in just six months, raising as much revenue as a "successful medium-sized business".

A camera on the North Circular Road in London was responsible for around a third of all speeding tickets issued in the capital, according to figures released by the Metropolitan Police.

It caught motorists breaking a temporary 30mph speed limit on a stretch of dual carriageway in Ealing. Most of the North Circular has a 40mph or 50mph limit. 

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France introduces opt-out policy on organ donation | Society | The Guardian

France has reversed its policy on organ donations so that all people could become donors on their death unless they join an official register to opt out.

The new law presumes consent for organs to be removed, even if it goes against the wishes of the family.

Until 1 January, when the legislation took effect, unless the person who had died had previously expressed a clear wish for or against donation, doctors were required to consult relatives who, in almost a third of cases, refused.

[Joel]

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Anti-surveillance clothing aims to hide wearers from facial recognition | Technology | The Guardian

The use of facial recognition software for commercial purposes is becoming more common, but, as Amazon scans faces in its physical shop and Facebook searches photos of users to add tags to, those concerned about their privacy are fighting back.

Berlin-based artist and technologist Adam Harvey aims to overwhelm and confuse these systems by presenting them with thousands of false hits so they can’t tell which faces are real.

The Hyperface project involves printing patterns on to clothing or textiles, which then appear to have eyes, mouths and other features that a computer can interpret as a face.

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Federal Debt Climbs $1,054,647,941,626.91 in 2016

(CNSNews.com) - The federal debt climbed by more than a trillion dollars during 2016, according to data released today by the U.S. Treasury.

On Dec. 31, 2015, the last business day of 2015, the federal debt was $18,922,179,009,420.89. On Dec. 30, 2016, the last business day of 2016, it was $19,976,826,951,047.80.

The one-year increase in the federal debt during calendar year 2016 was therefore $1,054,647,941,626.91.

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US sends special forces to Russian border as NATO is poised to strike back against Vladimir Putin's 'aggression'

Tensions between Washington and the Kremlin have reached Cold War levels amid reports Vladimir Putin is deploying nuke-ready missiles in the Russian province of Kaliningrad – which borders Poland, Belarus and Lithuania.

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Swedish Six-Hour Workday Runs Into Trouble: It’s Too Costly - Bloomberg

Swedes looking forward to a six-hour workday just got some bad news: the costs outweigh the benefits.

A two-year experiment cutting working hours while maintaining pay levels for nurses at Svartedalen old people’s home in the Swedish city of Gothenburg is now nearing the end. The take away was largely positive, with nurses at the home feeling healthier, which reduced sick-leave, and patient care improving.

But the city has no plans in making the measure permanent or broadening it to other facilities. To do that it would need much more money and even help from the national government. To cover the reduced hours for the 68 nurses at the home it had to hire 17 extra staff at a cost of about 12 million kronor ($1.3 million).

“It’s associated with higher costs, absolutely,” said Daniel Bernmar, a local left-wing politician responsible for running the municipality’s elderly care. “It’s far too expensive to carry out a general shortening of working hours within a reasonable time frame.”

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University ‘Men’s Project’ Seeks to Redefine What Masculinity Really Means | Truth Revolt

More and more, colleges and universities across the country are offering workshops on how to remove toxic masculinity from its campuses. The University of Wisconsin-Madison started offering such a program in the fall of 2016 and in February, the second “Men’s Project” retreat is slated to begin.

Organizers believe the workshop “creates a space for critical self-reflection and dialogue about what it means to be a man and how masculinity impacts us and those around us.”

“The experience focuses on the examination of societal images, expectations, and messages around masculinity to empower men to better understand themselves, promote the advancement of gender equity, and raise consciousness in their communities.”

Just like Duke University men’s project, UWM “operates on a transformative model of social justice allyship.” Oddly enough, this particular workshop is not open to males, per se, but “only men-identified students.” Also, much of the retreat's lessons are organized by female “violence prevention specialist” Sam Johnson.

“A key element of the program is intersectionality. There isn’t just one masculinity; there are many,” she said.

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University ‘Men’s Project’ Seeks to Redefine What Masculinity Really Means | Truth Revolt

and more, colleges and universities across the country are offering workshops on how to remove toxic masculinity from its campuses. The University of Wisconsin-Madison started offering such a program in the fall of 2016 and in February, the second “Men’s Project” retreat is slated to begin.

Organizers believe the workshop “creates a space for critical self-reflection and dialogue about what it means to be a man and how masculinity impacts us and those around us.”

“The experience focuses on the examination of societal images, expectations, and messages around masculinity to empower men to better understand themselves, promote the advancement of gender equity, and raise consciousness in their communities.”

Just like Duke University men’s project, UWM “operates on a transformative model of social justice allyship.” Oddly enough, this particular workshop is not open to males, per se, but “only men-identified students.” Also, much of the retreat's lessons are organized by female “violence prevention specialist” Sam Johnson.

“A key element of the program is intersectionality. There isn’t just one masculinity; there are many,” she said.

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College students are demanding free tampons on campus | News for College Students | USA TODAY College

Julie Chen, a sophomore at Emory College, wanted to help students get access to free tampons on campus, but she didn’t know how. So she started a petition last January to see how many people would use the supplies. In one week, it received more than 900 responses.

“It wasn’t supposed to go viral,” said Chen, now a junior and the college council vice president of finance. “Seeing all of those names made me really motivated and passionate to keep going on with it.”

The petition received so many responses that Emory launched a pilot program during the fall 2016 semester to provide free tampons. The university changed the tampon dispensers in three locations — a dining hall, the library and one of its academic buildings — to make them free. If enough people use the program, it could become a permanent, university-wide initiative.

“Everyone was really excited about it, and we’ve definitely heard positive responses,” Chen said. “One girl left a comment that said, ‘If men had a need for tampons, they’d be falling out of the sky.’”

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Shock Video: White Man Kidnapped, Gagged, Beaten By Racist Black Anti-Trump Gang » Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

The video was uploaded to Facebook live yesterday by a user named Brittany Herring, the African-American woman who appears in the clip.
The 30 minute video shows a young man tied up in a corner with blood coming from his head. The man’s mouth is gagged as thugs humiliate and abuse him.

The victim is repeatedly kicked and hit while forced to denounce white people and Donald Trump.

Chicago police tell Fox 32 that four people are in custody and authorities are conducting further investigation.

[Joel]

Sen. Rand Paul Reintroduces ‘Audit the Fed’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Rand Paul reintroduced his Federal Reserve Transparency Act, widely known as the “Audit the Fed” bill, to prevent the Federal Reserve from concealing vital information on its operations from Congress. Eight cosponsors joined Senator Paul on the legislation.

Representative Thomas Massie (KY-4) has introduced companion legislation, H.R. 24, in the U.S. House.

“No institution holds more power over the future of the American economy and the value of our savings than the Federal Reserve,” said Sen. Paul, “yet Fed Chair Yellen refuses to be fully accountable to the people’s representatives.”

“The U.S. House has responded to the American people by passing Audit the Fed multiple times, and President-elect Trump has stated his support for an audit. Let’s send him the bill this Congress.”

“The American public deserves more insight into the practices of the Federal Reserve,” said Rep. Massie. “Behind closed doors, the Fed crafts monetary policy that will continue to devalue our currency, slow economic growth, and make life harder for the poor and middle class. It is time to force the Federal Reserve to operate by the same standards of transparency and accountability to the taxpayers that we should demand of all government agencies.”

On January 12, 2016, a bipartisan Senate majority voted 53-44 in support of Audit the Fed.

S. 16 would require the nonpartisan, independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors and reserve banks within one year of the bill’s passage and to report back to Congress within 90 days of completing the audit.

Audit the Fed would amend section 714b of Title 31 of the U.S. Code to allow the GAO to fully audit:

transactions for or with a foreign central bank, government of a foreign country, or nonprivate international financing organization;
deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market operations;
transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or
a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the Board and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to clauses (1)–(3) of this subsection.
You can read S. 16, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, HERE

[Joel]

Ethics and journalistic responsibility flew out the window when Phil Mudd, a former CIA counterterrorism official, appeared on CNN and he claimed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is a "pedophile." The CNN program later issued a statement saying they had no evidence to back up the analyst's claim. Georgetown University Journalism Professor Chris Chambers joins RT America's Manila Chan to give his take.