ANONYMOUS - OUR VOICE

California EPA To Label Monsanto’s Roundup As A Cancer Causing Chemical

<div readability="32"><a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/california-epa-to-label-monsantos-roundup-as-a-cancer-causing-chemical/roundup-4/" rel="attachment wp-att-40165"><img alt="roundup" class="wp-image-40165 size-medium" height="219" src="http://cdn10.trueactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/roundup-400x219.jpg" width="400" /></a>
<p>Image Credit: Flickr / Mike Mozart</p>
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<p>It was announced this week that the California Environmental Protection Agency is planning to label Monsanto’s <a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/?s=roundup" target="_blank">RoundUp</a> herbicide as a cancer-causing chemical. This is just the most recent warning that has been leveled against the chemical by environmental and health groups around the world. In the past year, government agencies have finally caught up with activists who have been protesting against <a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/?s=monsanto" target="_blank">Monsanto</a> and their dangerous products for years.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://theantimedia.org/roundup-probably-causes-cancer-in-humans/">statement</a> released earlier this year, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced that glyphosate, the main ingredient in RoundUp, is “probably carcinogenic.”</p>
<p>This week, the EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment in California released a “notice of intent” to label the product as a carcinogen. Meanwhile, the issue is up for discussion for California residents, who have until October 5th to speak their mind on the measure. Due to a law passed in the state in 1986 called Proposition 65, the state is required to publish a list of chemicals that are known to cause cancer birth defects or reproductive problems. Now that glyphosate is now on that list officially worldwide, the state is required to add it to the list.</p>
<p>Nathan Donley, staff scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity in San Francisco said that this is a major victory in the fight against <a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/?s=pesticide" target="_blank">dangerous pesticides.</a></p>
<p><em>“California’s taking an important step toward protecting people and wildlife from this toxic pesticide. It’s nearly impossible for people to limit exposure to this toxin because it is just so widespread. That’s why we need much tighter controls on its use,”</em> Donley said.</p>
<p><em>“More than 250 million pounds of glyphosate are used each year in the United States, and the science is clear that it’s a threat to public health and countless wildlife species. It’s long past time to start reining in the out-of-control use of glyphosate in the United States,”</em> he added.</p>
<p>For years, government environmental agencies have denied that these chemicals were dangerous, but now with official proof on record, activists are vindicated and are now able to point to scientific evidence to back up what they have been warning about all along.</p>
<p><span>[embedded content]</span></p>
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<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/jgvibes" target="_blank">John Vibes</a> writes for True Activist and is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war.</p>
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activism knowledge news California EPA To Label Monsanto’s Roundup As A Cancer Causing Chemical

Image Credit: Flickr / Mike Mozart It was announced this week that the California Environmental Protection Agency is planning to label Mo...

Justice At Last: Spain Is Forcing Banks To Pay Fines For Empty Homes

<p>Barcelona’s new mayor has kept her promise to go after the banks who started the crisis, and other cities are doing the same</p>
<p><a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/justice-at-last-spain-is-forcing-banks-to-pay-fines-for-empty-homes/banker/" rel="attachment wp-att-40152"><img alt="banker" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-40152" height="410" src="http://cdn11.trueactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/banker.jpg" width="750" /></a></p>
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<p>In a decision which should cause many a bankster to quake in their boots, the Spanish city of Barcelona has handed down a fine which totals 60,000 euros ($67,640) to three Spanish banks in an effort to force them to make use of empty properties. One hundred other towns and cities, including the capital Madrid, have implemented similar penalties in recent months.</p>
<p>Over one third of all the <a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/3-5-million-homeless-and-18-5-million-vacant-homes-in-the-us/">vacant homes</a> in Europe are located in Spain. The financial crisis hit the country hard: over 3.4 million houses are empty and rising unemployment has seen a sharp increase in mortgage defaults, with 95 homes a day seized by authorities in 2014.</p>
<p>Barcelona’s mayor Ada Colau wants to stop all of that. She took power in May this year and is a housing and anti-poverty activist who co-founded the campaign group MVP (Mortgage Victim’s Platform) to fight the banks who started this crisis. Colau, 41, is also leader of the grassroots group Barcelona en Comú (Barcelona in common), a coalition of several left-wing political parties and thousands of citizen-activists.</p>
<p>The law allowing Barcelona to crack down on banks with <a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/gab_gallery/18600000-vacant-homes-in-the-united-states-enough-for-every-homeless-person-to-have-six/">empty homes</a> was passed in 2014, but was never applied until now. The charges relate to 12 properties that have been empty for over two years. The banks- BBVA, Banco Sabadell and Sareb- have one month to find tenants or they will have to pay an additional fine of €10,000 ($11,274). If no action is taken after two months they will face another penalty of up to €15,000 ($16,913). More empty properties are being considered for the same charges, and activists hope that the policy will be rolled out to include <em>all</em> vacant bank-owned homes in Barcelona.</p>
<div readability="32"><a href="http://cdn11.trueactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/colau.jpg"><img alt="Barcelona's mayor and housing activist Ada Colau" class="size-full wp-image-40145" height="415" src="http://cdn11.trueactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/colau.jpg" width="999" /></a>
<p>Barcelona’s mayor and housing activist Ada Colau</p>
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<p>It’s likely that this will happen: Colau is passionate about the housing crisis, and even intervened in an eviction on her very first day in office. She plans to increase subsidies for those who fall behind on their rent payments, and has promised more public housing in the city. She has also vowed to tackle inequality and political corruption (an ongoing problem in Spain) and she aims to make the city council transparent in its dealings and finances. Job creation and the problem of multinational companies and plush hotels spoiling the historic city’s authenticity and uniqueness (and pushing up rent prices so much that local people cannot afford to live there) are also top on her to-do list.</p>
<p>In April, while running as mayoral candidate, Colau <a href="http://adacolau.cat/en/post/dine-or-not-dine-bankers" target="_blank">blogged</a> about the difficulty as a housing activist to decide whether or not to dine with bankers: “I also don’t think there’s anything wrong in meeting people for lunch or dinner, especially with the full diaries we have at the moment. And yet… And yet something tells me that hiding behind these unimportant anecdotes are practices that are strongly related to the sins of our imperfect democracy,” she wrote.</p>
<p>The first time a bank was slapped with a fine for leaving properties sitting empty was in 2013, when the city of Terrassa (also in the region of Cataluna, which is fighting to become autonomous from the rest of Spain) handed out fines of 5000 euros to three banks. They appealed against the decision, but lost their case.</p>
<p>Meanwhile in the capital city, mayor Manuela Carmena is also prioritizing the big issue of housing and homelessness, overturning eviction orders for 70 families and promising to protect a further 2000 families at risk. Like Colau, Carmena was also swept to victory on May 24 this year when Spanish people voted overwhelmingly for an end to injustice and corruption.</p>
<p>Both women are members of left-wing coalitions associated with Spanish political party <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podemos_(Spanish_political_party)" target="_blank">Podemos</a> (a name which translates as ‘We can’). This anti-austerity party is similar to Greece’s <a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/cause-for-celebration-greece-just-told-the-bankers-to-stick-their-loans-and-austerity/" target="_blank">Syriza</a>, and has seen a huge rise in support due to the human suffering caused by the 2008 crash. Despite being so young (it was formed in March 2014) Podemos is now the second biggest party in the country.</p>
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activism knowledge news Justice At Last: Spain Is Forcing Banks To Pay Fines For Empty Homes

Barcelona’s new mayor has kept her promise to go after the banks who started the crisis, and other cities are doing the same In a decisio...

Obama Orders That America Take In 70,000 Islamic “Refugees,” But Now John Kerry Says That The Number Will Be Up To 100,0...

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<p style="float: right; margin: 0 0 10px 15px; width:240px; height: auto;"><img src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/kerry_2.jpg" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;" width="240" /></p>
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<p><strong>By Theodore Shoebat</strong></p>
<p>Obama has ordered that America take in 70,000 Islamic refugees. Just today press secretary Josh Earnest said that the United States would “accept at least 10,000 refugees in the next fiscal year,” which begins October 1st. But the whole number that has been <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/crisis-grips-europe-us-takes-refugees-33545086" target="_blank">authorized</a> is 70,000. But John Kerry, in a closed-door meeting said that the number could be raised even higher, to 100,000. According to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/11/world/middleeast/obama-directs-administration-to-accept-10000-syrian-refugees.html" target="_blank">one report:</a></p>
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<p>Earlier, Secretary of State John Kerry, said at a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill that that the total number of refugees taken in by the United States could rise to more than 100,000, from the current figure of 70,000.</p>
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<p>When these “refugees” come, what do you think will happen but ISIS terrorists being in the states? The French police are already looking for an ISIS agent amongst the refugees who are heading for England.</p>
<p>La Voix du Nord newspaper <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/french-police-searching-isis-terrorist-6418215" target="_blank">reported</a>:</p>
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<p>An Islamic State combatant believed to be in Calais is being actively hunted by the authorities. … He left Syria at the end of August and hopes to reach Britain where he intends to commit terrorist acts. …He is the subject of most wanted person notice and is considered a threat to state security.</p>
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<p>Hungary’s most popular national TV channel, M1, reported Tuesday Islamic terrorists are amongst the refugees and are disguising themselves as refugees:</p>
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<p>Islamist terrorists, disguised as refugees, have showed up in Europe. [The] pictures were uploaded on various social networks to show that terrorists are now present in most European cities. Many, who are now illegal immigrants, fought alongside Islamic State before</p>
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<p>Here is a photo of one of the terrorists, who is said by Hungarian media to be disguising himself as a refugee:</p>
<p><a href="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/refugee.png"><img alt="refugee" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-85275" height="500" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/refugee.png" width="900" /></a></p>
<p>One of the terrorists, Laith Al Saleh, 30, was <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/314788-hungary-migrants-isis-terrorists/" target="_blank">reported by the AP</a> to have “led a 700-strong rebel unit in Syria’s civil war.” No doubt this is a terrorist, and there is no doubt that the US will be getting these types in its land. Reg Whitaker, a national security specialist, said:</p>
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<p>It is possible that among the stream of wretched refugees desperately looking for a way, that there might be some who aren’t exactly the people we want to bring in</p>
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<p>Stephen Harper, Canada’s Prime Minister, is also expressing concerns that amongst the refugees there are terrorists, saying:</p>
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<p>When we are dealing with people that are from, in many cases, a terrorist war zone, we are going to make sure that we screen people appropriately and the security of this country is fully protected</p>
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<p><iframe width="660" height="440" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/30dRwQtP8as" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>And don’t think for a second that the officials in Washington know the danger and the threat. The American Director of National Intelligence James Clapper <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-09/refugee-flow-to-eu-could-mask-terrorist-inflitration-chief-says" target="_blank">said in Washington:</a></p>
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<p>We don’t put it past the likes of ISIL to infiltrate operatives among these refugees… That is a huge concern of ours. … I’m not as uniformly confident about each European country that is going to be faced with welcoming and allowing refugees into their country… This is a huge issue for all kinds of reasons.</p>
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<p>America will not just be receiving Syrians, but other people from the Muslim world as well, quite possibly Pakistanis and Afghans who have inundated the refugee multitudes. America is going to be taking in people who have seen beheadings, conducted beheadings, and who are desensitized to this violence. So don’t be surprised the next time you see Islamic violence.</p>
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anonymous armageddon isis islam war Obama Orders That America Take In 70,000 Islamic “Refugees,” But Now John Kerry Says That The Number Will Be Up To 100,0...

By Theodore Shoebat Obama has ordered that America take in 70,000 Islamic refugees. Just today press secretary Josh Earnest said that th...

Seattle Teachers Strike On First Day Of School Demanding Better Pay and Benefits

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<h2>Seattle Teachers Strike On First Day Of School Demanding Better Pay and Benefits</h2>
<span>Seattle Teachers Strike On First Day Of School Demanding Better Pay and Benefits</span>
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<div>This article originally appeared on <span>Al Jazeera America</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/field/image/150909-seattle-teachers-strike-jpo-549a_05b022241280739e023033a44e222962.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg?itok=-agQ4z1k" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/styles/slide_narrow/public/field/image/150909-seattle-teachers-strike-jpo-549a_05b022241280739e023033a44e222962.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg?itok=-agQ4z1k" /></a>
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<p>Thousands of Seattle public school teachers went on strike on the first day of school Wednesday, joining teachers in southeastern Washington state who have been striking since their school year began on Sept. 1, local media reported.</p>
<p>The Seattle Education Association (SEA), the union representing the teachers, announced the strike at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, as the Seattle School Board met to discuss potential legal action against strikers, The Seattle Times reported.</p>
<p>The action follows a series of strikes this spring, when thousands of Washington teachers in more than 60 school districts demanded better pay and benefits as well as reductions in class sizes. Although contracts were eventually reached in most districts, teachers in the cities of Seattle and Pasco have not yet reached a deal.</p>
<p>Last week about 5,000 Seattle teachers and support staffers voted to strike after failing to reach a tentative agreement with Seattle Public Schools. Public schools in the city were scheduled to begin classes on Wednesday. The Seattle Public School District has approximately 52,000 students enrolled in its schools.</p>
<p>The state’s legislature hasn’t given teachers a cost-of-living raise in six years, according to the SEA. Lawmakers approved a 3 percent raise this year, followed by a 1.8 percent raise next year, according to local station KIRO TV.</p>
<p>The union asked for a 6 percent pay raise every year for three years, in addition to the 3 percent cost of living increase, the SEA said in a bargaining update on its website Tuesday. It added that the district’s wage proposal barely budged from previous offers and that staffers would work 30 minutes longer each day without additional compensation.</p>
<p>Seattle Public Schools board director Marty McLaren said that although she was a “strong advocate for our teachers,” the district would not be able to afford larger raises, KIRO reported.</p>
<p>Over the weekend, the SEA secured a 30-minute recess for elementary school students but had yet to agree on compensation, length of school days, standardized testing or how to address the disparity in discipline and achievement among students of different backgrounds, KIRO said.</p>
<p>Dan Trocolli, a teacher and a member of the SEA board of directors, said the mood in the union was “angry and defiant,” The Socialist Worker reported Tuesday. “The SEA hasn’t been on strike in 30 years. The problem with that is that people forget. We forget about the power we have to change these things, and our employers forget too,” he said.</p>
<p>The SEA said school district authorities were planning to take the union to court.</p>
<p>“It’s disappointing that the school board is grasping at legalistic straws rather than focusing on ways to provide the supports that educators need to be successful with students,” SEA President Jonathan Knapp said in the update.</p>
<p>“We won’t be scared into abandoning our commitment to winning a fair contract,” he said, adding that such tactics have not worked elsewhere.</p>
<p>In Pasco, about 230 miles southeast of Seattle, the school district’s nearly 1,100 teachers remained defiant despite a court order to end their strike, local news website The Tri-City Herald reported.</p>
<p>The Pasco School District serves over 17,000 students in one of the fastest-growing communities in the nation.</p>
<p>Teachers in the district have been on strike since Sept. 1, when the school year was scheduled to begin. Their strike entered its second week after they voted on Monday against returning to class without a new contract, Pasco Association of Educators (PAE) President Greg Olson told reporters.</p>
<p>Teachers are advocating for more inclusion for themselves and parents in decisions on curriculum and standardized testing requirements, according to the PAE’s website. Washington teachers have complained that they spend too many school days preparing for standardized tests instead of teaching.</p>
<p>The Pasco School District said it was “very disappointed” with the teachers’ decision not to comply with a court order to return to class, spokeswoman Leslee Caul said in a statement, according to the Herald.</p>
<p>Franklin County Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom permitted the district’s appeal on Friday for an initial injunction to end the strike, according to the Herald.</p>
<p>Despite the district’s complaints, teachers said that they have received a lot of support from parents and that they are focused on curriculum rather than penalties.</p>
<p>“It’s a moral issue. We’re going to get the kids the curriculum they need,” Olson told the Herald.</p>
<p>Like Seattle teachers, Pasco educators are demanding better pay.</p>
<p>The Pasco School District on Monday released a three-year proposal, which teachers rejected, that would have given them a 10 percent raise over three years — including a 3.5 percent raise in the 2015–16 school year, according to the district’s website.</p>
<p>Starting annual pay in Pasco for public school teachers is $34,046, and the top salary is $64,174, according to the PAE. In the new contract for Everett, a city near Seattle that is similar in size to Pasco, those numbers are $47,130 and $102,453, the PAE said.</p>
<p>“Veteran educators and newcomers are leaving Pasco in droves. The reasons? Low pay [and] a lack of curriculum, supplies and materials,” the PAE said on its website.</p>
<p>“The budget facts are clear,” the union added. “Educators are told to try to teach without enough basic supplies: white board markers, textbooks, curriculum and computers, in part because district leaders tell the community they will spend millions of dollars more on teaching and teaching support than they actually do.”</p>
<p><a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/9/8/thousands-of-washington-teachers-likely-to-strike.html" rel="nofollow">Originally published by Al Jazeera America</a></p>
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<p>The action follows a series of strikes this spring, when thousands of Washington teachers in more than 60 school districts demanded better pay and benefits as well as reductions in class sizes.</p>
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<p>If it wasn’t clear before, it seems quite evident that the tide is turning: big biotech companies are losing influence by the day, and the addition of two more European countries banning GMOs is evidence of that.</p>
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<p>The settlement could play a role in whether a judge decides to move the trials for the six officers charged in Gray’s death out of Baltimore – a move their defense attorneys say is necessary if the officers are to receive a fair trial.</p>
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<p>The U.K. government this week is once again inviting tyrants and human rights abusers to buy weapons and torture equipment – and facing a loud coalition of activists.</p>
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<p>Liberals are celebrating the news that the federal deficit is $59 billion lower this year than last year and defending Obama's record in the process – but making an argument for decreased public investment is doing conservatives’ work for them.</p>
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<div><span><em>6 days 2 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>A DOJ report released Thursday denounces poor community-police relations, ineffective communication among law enforcement groups, police orders that infringed 1st Amendment rights, and military-style tactics that antagonized demonstrators.</p>
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<div><span><em>6 days 2 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>The widening chasm between workers’ pay and productivity is “the central component of the wage stagnation story” in the U.S., according to an Economic Policy Institute report issued ahead of the Labor Day weekend.</p>
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<p>The argument for raising interest rates focuses not on the wellbeing of workers, but that of the financiers.</p>
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<div><span><em>2 days 6 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>The popular, months-long protest movement led by ordinary people – which some have called the "Guatemalan Spring" – brought justice to the highest echelons of government.</p>
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<div><span><em>6 days 2 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>Buyer beware. And buyer, be aware – the same forces that led to the mass foreclosures and easy acquisition can also make life difficult for even the most earnest property owner.</p>
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<p>Critics cry foul as production exploring youth radicalization gets mysteriously pulled after police visit, in what many people are calling informal and political censorship.</p>
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<p>A DOJ report released Thursday denounces poor community-police relations, ineffective communication among law enforcement groups, police orders that infringed 1st Amendment rights, and military-style tactics that antagonized demonstrators.</p>
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<div><img src="http://www.occupy.com/article/seattle-teachers-strike-first-day-school-demanding-better-pay-and-benefits" /></div>
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armageddon news revolution Seattle Teachers Strike On First Day Of School Demanding Better Pay and Benefits

Seattle Teachers Strike On First Day Of School Demanding Better Pay and Benefits Seattle Teachers Strike On First Day Of School Deman...

Latvia and Greece Kick Out Monsanto Becoming Latest E.U. Countries to Ban GMOs

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<h2>Latvia and Greece Kick Out Monsanto Becoming Latest E.U. Countries to Ban GMOs</h2>
<span>Latvia and Greece Kick Out Monsanto Becoming Latest E.U. Countries to Ban GMOs</span>
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<div>This article originally appeared on <span>True Activist</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/field/image/gmo-debate.jpg?itok=jmx4zSJp" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/styles/slide_narrow/public/field/image/gmo-debate.jpg?itok=jmx4zSJp" /></a>
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<p>First Scotland opted to ban GM crops from its country, citing fear of GMO crops contaminating its food supply, then Germany followed suit.</p>
<p>Now, both Latvia and Greece have booted Monsanto from their countries and banned the only GM crop presently allowed to be grown in E.U. countries, Monsanto’s MON810 GM Maize.</p>
<p>If it wasn’t clear before, it seems quite evident that the tide is turning. Big biotech companies are losing influence by the day, and the addition of two more European countries in favor of banning GMOs is evidence of that.</p>
<p>Under the E.U. law signed in March, individual countries can seek geographical exclusion from any approval request for GM cultivation across the E.U. Every request to "opt out" of GM cultivation has to be approved by not only the European Commission but also the company making the application, Monsanto.</p>
<p>As Sustainable Pulse <a href="http://sustainablepulse.com/2015/08/27/latvia-and-greece-start-green-wave-of-gm-crop-bans-across-europe#.Ver4srTgLzL" rel="nofollow">shares</a>, Greece and Latvia are the first countries in the E.U. to have had their geographic opt-out’s from growing GM crops accepted by Monsanto. Germany and France are only a few of the countries expected to follow suit and ban the cultivation of GM maize within the month.</p>
<p>Just last week, German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt informed German states of his intention to ban the use of GM crops. His announcement came shortly after the Scottish government announced it would ban GM crops to protect that country’s clean, green status.</p>
<p>According to Professor Carlo Leifert, Professor of Ecological Agriculture at Newcastle University, the Scottish Government’s decision to ban GM crops is right and that “there are likely to be significant commercial benefits from Scotland being clearly recognized as a GM-free region.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/latvia-and-greece-kick-monsanto-out-opt-to-ban-gm-crops/" rel="nofollow">Originally published by True Activist</a></p>
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<p>The action follows a series of strikes this spring, when thousands of Washington teachers in more than 60 school districts demanded better pay and benefits as well as reductions in class sizes.</p>
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<p>If it wasn’t clear before, it seems quite evident that the tide is turning: big biotech companies are losing influence by the day, and the addition of two more European countries banning GMOs is evidence of that.</p>
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<p>The settlement could play a role in whether a judge decides to move the trials for the six officers charged in Gray’s death out of Baltimore – a move their defense attorneys say is necessary if the officers are to receive a fair trial.</p>
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<p>"We need a government that is not captured by the tiniest fraction of the 1 percent."</p>
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armageddon news revolution Latvia and Greece Kick Out Monsanto Becoming Latest E.U. Countries to Ban GMOs

Latvia and Greece Kick Out Monsanto Becoming Latest E.U. Countries to Ban GMOs Latvia and Greece Kick Out Monsanto Becoming Latest E....

Baltimore Approves $6.4 Million Settlement In Death of Freddie Gray

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<h2>Baltimore Approves $6.4 Million Settlement In Death of Freddie Gray</h2>
<span>Baltimore Approves $6.4 Million Settlement In Death of Freddie Gray</span>
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<div>This article originally appeared on <span><a href="http://www.guardiannews.com/" rel="nofollow">The Guardian</a></span></div>
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<p>A city board on Wednesday approved a $6.4 million settlement with the family of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who died in April a week after he was critically injured while in police custody.</p>
<p>The settlement, announced on Tuesday, could play a role in whether a judge decides to move the trials for the six officers charged in Gray’s death out of the city.</p>
<p>Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and other members of the Board of Estimates voted unanimously to approve the settlement on Wednesday morning, just a day before Judge Barry Williams will hear arguments on whether the trials should be moved to a different jurisdiction.</p>
<p>Defense attorneys have asked for a change of venue, citing pre-trial publicity and concern that the officers will not receive fair trials if they are tried in Baltimore.</p>
<p>The settlement appears to be among the largest such payments in police death cases in recent years. It was reached before Gray’s parents and his estate filed a lawsuit, although they had filed claims with the city and its police department.</p>
<p>The settlement is meant to bring closure and avoid years of protracted litigation, Rawlings-Blake said at a news conference. She acknowledged that a settlement before criminal proceedings is unusual but said it was in the best interest of protecting taxpayers. She said negotiations lasted for months.</p>
<p>“I again want to extend my most sincere condolences to the family of Mr. Freddie Gray,” Rawlings-Blake said. “I hope that this settlement will bring some measure of closure to his family and to his friends.”</p>
<p>At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, an attorney for Gray’s family said the $6.4 million settlement represented “civil justice” for the 25-year-old’s parents, and praised the mayor for helping to avoid a court battle that he estimated could have lasted three years.</p>
<p>“Lengthy litigation and trial puts grieving families through hell, because it forces them to relive their tragedy over and over in ways large and small,” said the attorney, Billy Murphy. “No grieving wants to go through that, and our city doesn’t want to go through that.”</p>
<p>Murphy said an accelerated program to equip Baltimore police officers with body cameras would mean Gray “did not die in vain”.</p>
<p>Although the city said in a statement that the settlement did not resolve any factual disputes, and expressly did not constitute an admission of liability on the part of the city, its police department or any of the officers, experts say the city’s willingness to pre-empt a lawsuit could have an effect on the officers’ ability to receive an impartial trial in Baltimore – an issue Williams will likely decide Thursday.</p>
<p>“Damages would have been paid if the city went to trial and they’re willing to settle it. But they tell us it’s by no way an admission of fault by the police officers,” said David Harris, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “There’s no doubt that this will figure in to the hearing for change of venue. If I was an attorney for a defendant I’d be revising my motion right now to say the settlement was made to persuade the jury pool that the officers did something wrong.”</p>
<p>Douglas Colbert, a professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey Law School, said the settlement was a step in restoring the public’s faith in local government and mending the relationship between the citizens of Baltimore and elected officials.</p>
<p>“It’s a big step toward a different type of policing,” Colbert said, “and a relationship with the community that deters misconduct.”</p>
<p>An agenda for the board Wednesday described the city’s goal in settling the claim.</p>
<p>“The purpose of the civil settlement is to bring an important measure of closure to the family, the community and the city and to avoid years of protracted civil litigation and potential harm to the community and divisiveness with may likely result.”</p>
<p>In July, New York City settled for $5.9 million with the family of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died after being put in a white police officer’s chokehold.</p>
<p>The city of Chicago settled in 2001 a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of LaTanya Haggerty, a black woman who was shot to death by a police officer who thought her cellphone was a weapon, for $18m.</p>
<p>But Eugene O’Donnell, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said such settlements are damaging for communities and self-serving for governments. By paying off family members, O’Donnell said, cities can prevent real scrutiny of political and social ills that allowed misconduct to occur.</p>
<p>“It’s all too easy to take public money and hand it over to people and say, ‘Well, this is a big aberrational mistake and we’re going to make it good,’ and it generally absolves the policymakers and the people in power of responsibility, when in fact the mistakes are systemic and reflective of a lack of leadership,” he said.</p>
<p>The head of Baltimore’s police union condemned the agreement.</p>
<p>“To suggest that there is any reason to settle prior to the adjudication of the pending criminal cases is obscene and without regard to the fiduciary responsibility owed to the taxpaying citizens of the city,” Lt Gene Ryan said in a statement.</p>
<p>All six officers, including Edward Nero and Garrett Miller, are charged with second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. Lt Brian Rice, Sgt Alicia White and Officer William Porter also face a manslaughter charge, while Officer Caesar Goodson faces the most serious charge of all: second-degree “depraved-heart” murder.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/09/baltimore-approves-settlement-freddie-gray" rel="nofollow">Originally published by The Guardian</a></p>
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<p>The action follows a series of strikes this spring, when thousands of Washington teachers in more than 60 school districts demanded better pay and benefits as well as reductions in class sizes.</p>
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<p>If it wasn’t clear before, it seems quite evident that the tide is turning: big biotech companies are losing influence by the day, and the addition of two more European countries banning GMOs is evidence of that.</p>
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<p>The settlement could play a role in whether a judge decides to move the trials for the six officers charged in Gray’s death out of Baltimore – a move their defense attorneys say is necessary if the officers are to receive a fair trial.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p>The U.K. government this week is once again inviting tyrants and human rights abusers to buy weapons and torture equipment – and facing a loud coalition of activists.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p>Liberals are celebrating the news that the federal deficit is $59 billion lower this year than last year and defending Obama's record in the process – but making an argument for decreased public investment is doing conservatives’ work for them.</p>
</div>
<div><span><em>6 days 2 hours</em> ago</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p>A DOJ report released Thursday denounces poor community-police relations, ineffective communication among law enforcement groups, police orders that infringed 1st Amendment rights, and military-style tactics that antagonized demonstrators.</p>
</div>
<div><span><em>6 days 2 hours</em> ago</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p>The widening chasm between workers’ pay and productivity is “the central component of the wage stagnation story” in the U.S., according to an Economic Policy Institute report issued ahead of the Labor Day weekend.</p>
</div>
<div><span><em>6 days 2 hours</em> ago</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p>The argument for raising interest rates focuses not on the wellbeing of workers, but that of the financiers.</p>
</div>
<div><span><em>2 days 5 hours</em> ago</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p>The popular, months-long protest movement led by ordinary people – which some have called the "Guatemalan Spring" – brought justice to the highest echelons of government.</p>
</div>
<div><span><em>6 days 2 hours</em> ago</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p>The widening chasm between workers’ pay and productivity is “the central component of the wage stagnation story” in the U.S., according to an Economic Policy Institute report issued ahead of the Labor Day weekend.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p>Liberals are celebrating the news that the federal deficit is $59 billion lower this year than last year and defending Obama's record in the process – but making an argument for decreased public investment is doing conservatives’ work for them.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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armageddon news revolution Baltimore Approves $6.4 Million Settlement In Death of Freddie Gray

Baltimore Approves $6.4 Million Settlement In Death of Freddie Gray Baltimore Approves $6.4 Million Settlement In Death of Freddie Gr...