Rational Review News Digest, 01/16/18 -- News (Venezuela: Regime forces launch deadly assault, capture rebel police officers)
RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
The Freedom Movement's Daily Newspaper
Volume XVI, Issue #3,889
Steemit Edition -- Tuesday, January 16th, 2018
Web Edition: http://rationalreview.com
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TDOAY'S NEWS
Venezuela: Regime forces launch deadly assault, capture rebel police officers
Lavrov: Russia will not support US bid to change Iran nuclear deal
Canada: Toronto police say hijab-cutting incident didn’t happen
Italy: Candidate for premier defends “white race” remark
Chuck Hagel: Trump is an “embarrassment” and US is in danger
ND: Chick-fil-A boots breast-feeding mom
State Department: Visiting North Korea? Draft a will and make funeral plans
Study: Medical cannabis has lowered crime
Nine charged for giving food to homeless in California
UAE: Regime says Qatar fighter jets intercept flights, Doha denies
Study: Mushrooms cure depression by doing exact opposite of antidepressants
IL: Travelers may have been exposed to measles at O’Hare last week
AZ: Disgraced crook Joe Arpaio cranks Teh Krazy up to 11
UK security theater: RAF fighters intercept Russian bombers in international airspace, Guardian pretends it’s news
China: Regime escalates crackdown on cryptocurrency trading
Switzerland: New law bans boiling lobsters alive
UK: Leader of UKIP splits with girlfriend after “appalling” Markle comments
Iraq: Dozens dead in Baghdad suicide attacks
Russian, Turkish regimes condemn US regime’s plans for escalation of Syria invasion
Venezuela: Regime forces launch deadly assault, capture rebel police officers
Source: Miami Herald
“Venezuelan special forces on Monday captured five members of a band led by a rebel police officer who has been on the run for six months. The capture followed a deadly early-morning assault in a village outside Caracas that ended with at least two officers killed and five injured, the government reported. It was not clear if the rebel group’s leader Oscar Perez survived the assault, but CNN reported — citing a high government source — that he had been killed. … The assault was made public early Monday by Perez himself, who posted video snippets on social media, including one in which he appears with a bloodied face. ‘They are firing at us with RPG, grenades and grenade launchers, snipers,’ Perez says in one video. ‘There are civilians in here. We told them that we’re going to turn ourselves in and they don’t want to let us surrender. They want to kill us.’” (01/15/18)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article194721704.html
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Lavrov: Russia will not support US bid to change Iran nuclear deal
Source: Reuters
“Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday Moscow will not support attempts by Washington to modify the Iran nuclear deal, arguing such a move could also complicate diplomacy over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Lavrov spoke days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would waive nuclear sanctions against Iran for the last time to give Washington and its European allies a chance to fix the ‘terrible flaws’ of the 2015 nuclear deal. ‘We will not support what the United States is trying to do, changing the wording of the agreement, incorporating things that will be absolutely unacceptable for Iran,’ Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.” (01/15/18)
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Cotton hits Durbin for claims of Trump’s “sh*thole countries” comment
Source: The Hill
“Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Sunday reiterated that he didn’t hear President Trump call Haiti, El Salvador and African nations ‘sh*thole countries,’ suggesting Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) misrepresented the president’s comments. ‘I certainly didn’t hear what Sen. Durbin has said repeatedly. Sen. Durbin has a history of misrepresenting what happens in White House meetings, though, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by that,’ Cotton said on CBS’s ‘Face The Nation.’ Pressed on whether he didn’t hear the comment or if it wasn’t said, Cotton said, ‘I didn’t hear it. And I was sitting no farther away from Donald Trump than Dick Durbin was, and I know what Dick Durbin has said about the president’s repeated statements is incorrect,’ Cotton added.” [editor’s note: I continue to maintain that without recorded evidence of what Trump actually said, the WaPo has simply become another rumor-mongering TMZ offshoot, like ESPN has – SAT] [additional editor’s note: Deciding whether to disbelieve Tom Cotton or to disbelieve Dick Durbin is a tossup. I’ll have to go with Trump’s previously displayed temperament and language to settle the matter. Which means he probably said it – TLK] (01/14/18)
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Canada: Toronto police say hijab-cutting incident didn’t happen
Source: NBC News
“Toronto police are disputing an 11-year-old girl’s claim that her hijab was cut by a scissors-wielding man as she walked to school last week. Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash said Monday an extensive investigation was conducted and police concluded it did not happen. … Pugash declined to say whether the girl acknowledged it didn’t happen. He said police wouldn’t take a step like this unless they were absolutely confident.” [editor’s note: On the one hand, there seem to be a lot of hoaxes of this variety. On the other hand, if it’s anyone’s word versus the police department’s, I know which side I default to absent a good reason to think otherwise … – TLK] (01/15/18)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/toronto-police-say-hijab-cutting-incident-didn-t-happen-n837791
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Italy: Candidate for premier defends “white race” remark
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
“The head of an anti-migrant party who is running to be Italy’s premier came to the defense Monday of an Italian gubernatorial candidate who advocated for clamping down on immigrants’ numbers to preserve ‘our white race.’ While political opponents condemned the comment by Attilio Fontana, who is running for the governorship of prosperous Lombardy, his League party leader, Matteo Salvini, said Fontana had rightly raised a worry about an ‘invasion’ by Muslims. Fontana, who is running with support from a center-right alliance, whose backers include former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, made the incendiary comments on Sunday on Radio Padania, the mouthpiece of the League.” (01/15/18)
http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Italy-Candidate-says-immigration-endangers-our-12498892.php
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Chuck Hagel: Trump is an “embarrassment” and US is in danger
Source: Raw Story
“President Donald Trump is an ’embarrassment’ who has set the world up for a year of ‘great danger’ in 2018, former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Sunday. ‘Donald Trump is a doing great damage to our country internationally,’ Hagel told the Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska, his home state. ‘He’s an embarrassment.’ Hagel, who served under President Barack Obama after two terms as a Republican senator, said his GOP colleagues may face a moment of reckoning later this year as results from the investigation into Russia election interference emerge. The country and the world at large have entered “a defining year, a year of volatility and uncertainty and great danger,’ he said. ‘We have not really seen these kind of times since Watergate and Vietnam.’ Hagel said he noticed an increase in Russian interference within the U.S. economy and at the Department of Defense during his time in the Obama administration.” [editor’s note: Neocon cold-warrior ranting; dog bites man, film at 11 – SAT] (01/15/18)
http://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/trump-is-an-embarrassment-and-us-is-in-danger-chuck-hagel
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ND: Chick-fil-A boots breast-feeding mom
Source: Fox News
“A mother from Fargo, N. D. says she was kicked out of a Chick-fil-A over the weekend after she started breast-feeding her infant daughter. ‘The owner came to our table where I was showing no more than the upper portion of my breast, barely more than what was visible in my shirt and asked me to cover,’ Macy Hornung wrote on her Facebook page. ‘I tried to explain that I couldn’t, because my baby refuses to be covered and she started harping about the children and men who can see my indecency and I need to cover,’ she went on. ‘I said they could practice the simple art of looking away and tried to cite North Dakota breastfeeding laws. She told me if I chose not to cover, then she would have to ask me to leave, so I told her my review would reflect my experience and I would be relaying the experience in every local mommy group.’” [editor’s note: So one more reason to boycott Chick-fil-a? – SAT] (01/15/18)
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State Department: Visiting North Korea? Draft a will and make funeral plans
Source: Fox News
“Americans can travel to North Korea, if they wish — but it may just be a death wish, the U.S. State Department cautioned. The State Department last week issued a stark warning to people setting out for the Hermit Kingdom, cautioning that anyone heading to the dangerous dictatorship should prepare for the possibility of not returning. ‘The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in North Korea as it does not have diplomatic or consular relations with North Korea,’ the State Department published Wednesday on its website. Those who wish to travel to North Korea must be approved for a special validation, which are handed out on ‘very limited circumstances.’ U.S. travelers given the approval to experience Kim Jong Un’s regime should then prepare for the worst — including drafting a will and making funeral and property arrangements with family and friends.” (01/15/18)
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Study: Medical cannabis has lowered crime
Source: Raw Story
“What are the ways to reduce crime rates in the United States? Gun control, counseling programs, crackdown on drugs… that list could go on, but you probably didn’t think legalizing marijuana. According to a new study by a three-member team of economists, the introduction of medical marijuana has helped bring down violent crime cases in states that border Mexico. The study, titled ‘Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations? The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on US Crime,’ said violent crime fell by 13 percent on average in states located on the Mexican border that have legalized medical use of cannabis. ‘These laws allow local farmers to grow marijuana that can then be sold to dispensaries where it is sold legally,’ said economist Evelina Gavrilova from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), one of the authors of the study. ‘These growers are in direct competition with Mexican drug cartels that are smuggling the marijuana into the U.S. As a result, the cartels get much less business.’” (01/15/18)
http://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/medical-marijuana-has-lowered-crime-study-finds
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Nine charged for giving food to homeless in California
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Nine people in California have been charged after they handed out food to the homeless, violating a rule about sharing food in public places. The group were protesting against an emergency ordinance in the city of El Cajon which was introduced in response to California’s hepatitis A outbreak. They handed out food, clothes and toiletries on Sunday before police arrived and issued citations. Hepatitis A can be spread by touching contaminated foods or objects. The recent outbreak of the viral disease has taken a severe toll on California’s homeless populations, who are most at risk as they do not have access to basic hygiene and sanitation. Local media report that El Cajon City Council passed the ordinance in October.” (01/15/18)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42690251
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UAE: Regime says Qatar fighter jets intercept flights, Doha denies
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
“The United Arab Emirates on Monday claimed that Qatari fighter jets intercepted two of its commercial airliners in international airspace on the way to Bahrain, allegations denied by Qatar. The claims could further escalate tensions between Qatar and the four Arab nations that have been boycotting it for months, among them the UAE, home to the world’s busiest international airport. They also could affect long-haul airline travel, as the region’s carriers are a crucial link between the East and West. It follows two complaints by Qatar to the United Nations about Emirati military aircraft allegedly violating its international airspace amid the diplomatic crisis. The UAE denies the allegations.” (01/15/18)
http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/UAE-claims-Qatar-fighter-jet-intercepts-12498417.php
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Study: Mushrooms cure depression by doing exact opposite of antidepressants
Source: Free Thought Project
“A revolutionary new study is once again revealing a natural approach to be far superior to big pharma solutions — this time involving psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms. The study, published in the scientific journal Neuropharmacology, found that clinically depressed people had increased neural responses to fearful faces one day after a psilocybin-assisted therapy session, which positively predicted positive clinical outcomes. ‘Psilocybin-assisted therapy might mitigate depression by increasing emotional connection,’ neuroscientist and study author Leor Roseman, a Ph.D. student at Imperial College London, explained to PsyPost. This is almost the exact opposite of how standard anti-depressants operate, as SSRI’s typically work by creating an ’emotional blunting.’” (01/13/18)
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IL: Travelers may have been exposed to measles at O’Hare last week
Source: Aol News
“A passenger arriving on an international flight at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport last Wednesday may have exposed some people in the airport to measles, health officials say. While they stress there is no current risk to the public, the Illinois Department of Public Health said in a statement that anyone inside O’Hare between 6:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on January 10 may have been exposed to the measles virus. … The passenger was diagnosed with measles after arriving in his home state. Soon afterwards, the Centers for Disease Control learned of the case and contacted passengers who sat next to the passenger during his journey. Health agencies are now working to inform others who were inside O’Hare on January 10 that they may have been exposed.” (01/15/18)
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AZ: Disgraced crook Joe Arpaio cranks Teh Krazy up to 11
Source: ABC News
“Arizona Senate candidate Joe Arpaio, the controversial former sheriff of Maricopa County and an outspoken ‘birther,’ said Saturday he is not surprised that Hawaiians received an erroneous emergency mobile alert about an imminent ballistic missile attack because ‘there’s something wrong with that government.’ Case in point, according to Arpaio? Former President Barack Obama’s ‘fraudulent’ Hawaii birth certificate. Arpaio claims Obama was not born in the U.S., despite what the birth certificate says. … Arpaio is running for the Senate seat currently occupied by Sen. Jeff Flake, who is retiring from Congress at the end of his term.” (01/15/18)
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UK security theater: RAF fighters intercept Russian bombers in international airspace, Guardian pretends it’s news
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“The RAF has been scrambled to intercept two long-range Russian bombers over the North Sea. The Tupolev Tu-160s, known to Nato as Blackjacks, were monitored on Monday as they flew past Norway and Denmark and near the Netherlands. Two Typhoon jets from RAF Lossiemouth picked them up about 30 miles (48km) from UK airspace and escorted them. Both Russia and Nato, including Britain, routinely test reactions with such sorties, sometimes flying almost up to the boundaries of each other’s airspace.” (01/15/18)
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China: Regime escalates crackdown on cryptocurrency trading
Source: Bloomberg
“China is escalating its clampdown on cryptocurrency trading, targeting online platforms and mobile apps that offer exchange-like services, according to people familiar with the matter. While authorities banned cryptocurrency exchanges last year, they’ve recently noted an uptick in activity on alternative venues. The government plans to block domestic access to homegrown and offshore platforms that enable centralized trading, the people said, without being more specific about how policy makers define such platforms.” (01/15/18)
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Switzerland: New law bans boiling lobsters alive
Source: WDEF 12 News
“Lobsters are a delicious delicacy loved by coastal dwellers across the world — but is boiling them alive inhumane? In a new law, the Swiss government has banned the common culinary practice of throwing the crustaceans into boiling water while they are still conscious. The move is a response to studies that suggest lobsters are sentient with advanced nervous systems that may feel pain. From March 2018, lobsters being prepared in Switzerland will need to be knocked out before they’re put to death, or killed instantly.” (01/15/18)
https://wdef.com/2018/01/14/switzerland-bans-boiling-lobsters-alive/
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UK: Leader of UKIP splits with girlfriend after “appalling” Markle comments
Source: US News & World Report
“The leader of Britain’s anti-European Union UKIP Party said he had split with his new girlfriend after a newspaper published derogatory comments she made about Prince Harry’s fiancee Meghan Markle and black people. Henry Bolton, 54, who became the ailing UK Independence Party’s fourth leader in a year when he was elected last September, said he had ended his relationship with model Jo Marney … Marney, 25, who began dating Bolton just after Christmas, had described U.S. actress Markle, whose father is white and mother is African-American, as a ‘dumb little commoner’ and said ‘her seed with (sic) taint our royal family,’ according to the texts printed in the Mail on Sunday newspaper. Marney also described black people as ugly.” (01/15/18)
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Iraq: Dozens dead in Baghdad suicide attacks
Source: CBS News
“Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a busy street market in central Baghdad on Monday, in back-to-back explosions that killed at least 38 people, Iraqi health and police officials said. The attackers struck during rush hour in the city’s Tayran Square, which is usually crowded by laborers seeking work. The twin explosions also wounded at least 105 people, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media. … No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but it bore all the hallmarks of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has claimed many such attacks in the past.” (01/15/18)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/double-suicide-bombing-baghdad-deadly-toll/
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Russian, Turkish regimes condemn US regime’s plans for escalation of Syria invasion
Source: Washington Post
“Russia, Turkey and the Syrian government on Monday denounced the U.S.-led coalition plans to form a Kurdish-led border force to secure the areas along Syria’s international border to the north with Turkey and to the east, with Iraq. The coalition told The Associated Press Monday that 230 new cadets have already been recruited to the force, which is anticipated to reach 30,000 troops in the next several years. According to the coalition, the core of the force is to be made up of fighters from the existing Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the coalition’s main ally in the fight against Islamic State militants. The SDF currently controls nearly 25 percent of Syrian territory in the north and east.” (01/15/18)
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RATIONAL REVIEW NEWS DIGEST
Editors:
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Editors Emeritus:
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