There's one week to go until an EU committee votes on a plan to "transform the internet into a tool for surveillance and control," that will permanently cement the place of American internet giants like Google and Facebook, freezing out smaller internet companies (and even large nonprofits like Wikipedia) who lack the tens of millions of dollars that complying with the rule will require.

The public prosecutors office in Klaipeda has recently finished an investigation of numerous instances of human trafficking slavery and filled all related documents to the Lithuanian court, notes BaltNews Among the accused one can come across a married couple from the United Kingdom and a Lithuanian resident, who deceived into believing that he could assist them in emigrating to the UK, only to sell them latter on into slavery to his above mentioned English accomplices.

Those successfully tricked were smuggled to the UK, without any command of English and no resources to support themselves with. With no social guarantees, long night shifts, with no rest to enjoy, had wages than were far inferior to those that are described as minimal in Britain. Kept in slams [sic], with no medical assistance to right [sic] home about, some of those modern slaves received no pay at all.

The Ruhrtriennale festival is threatening to cancel the 18 August performance by the Scotland-based band Young Fathers unless they publicly renounce the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights.
[...]
It appears that Young Fathers is being targeted because it is one of a number of acts that withdrew from last year's Pop-Kultur Festival in Berlin, over that festival's acceptance of sponsorship from the Israeli embassy.

"There is a degree of cynicism and irresponsibility in the Italian government's behavior with regard to this dramatic humanitarian situation," government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux quoted Macron as telling his cabinet.

Gabriel Attal, a spokesman for Macron's party, went further, telling Public Senat TV: "The Italian position makes me vomit."

The bill shortens asylum application deadlines, doubles the time for which illegal migrants can be detained, and introduces a one-year prison sentence for entering France illegally. ... The bill passed by 228 votes to 139, with 24 abstentions, after more than 60 hours of debate over the weekend and hundreds of amendments. ... One of the most significant changes is that failed asylum seekers awaiting deportation can be [detained] up to 90 days, double the existing period of 45 days. The government had initially aimed for a 135-day period.

"There are no American bases on Norwegian soil," she said, adding the decision had broad parliamentary support.

Oslo will ask Washington to send 700 Marines from 2019, compared with 330 presently. The additional numbers will be based closer to the border with Russia in the Inner Troms region in the Norwegian Arctic, rather than in central Norway. ... In addition the U.S. want to build infrastructure that could accommodate up to four U.S. fighter jets at a base 65 km (40 miles) south of Oslo, as part of a European deterrence initiative launched after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

EU migration row boils over as Italy and France trade insults

France and Italy have traded insults, rifts have widened in Germany's ruling coalition and Austria has called for an "axis of the willing" to take action as a simmering row over how Europe should handle irregular migration finally boiled over.

Angrily rejecting French criticism of its immigration policies, Italy summoned the French ambassador on Wednesday and cancelled a planned meeting between the Italian economy minister and his counterpart in Paris.

A day after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Rome had acted with "cynicism and irresponsibility" in turning away a migrant rescue ship, Italy's hardline new interior minister, Matteo Salvini, said it had "nothing to learn from anyone about generosity, voluntarism, welcoming and solidarity."

Living in glass houses, and all that...

"It is not just a position of the sovereignist Lega party, doubts about this agreement are common to many of my European colleagues," underlined Centinaio, who belongs to Lega.

The European Citizen's Initiative Stop TTIP-CETA managed to collect more than 3 million signatures against both free trade agreements and thousands took to the streets to protest the deal around Europe.

Rupture or Deliverance - Three Scenarios - Spiegel Online

Separate meetings of CDU and CSU MPs, verbal attacks on Merkel... CDU MPs gave Merkel a 14 day deadline to find a solution until the EU council meeting.

Everything that had been boiling since the refugee crisis in 2015 is breaking out four months ahead of the elections in Bavaria.

Scenario 1: Rupture

If there is no agreement between Merkel and Seehofer then there could be a showdown next week. Seehofer could give order to reject refugees at the border... [Merkel] would fire her minister, the CSU ministers would leave the cabinet. The coalition would no longer have a majority. ... Or maybe the Greens replace the CSU? ... the most unlikely scenario. Seehofer and Merkel will do everything to avoid it.

Scenario 2: Compromise buys Time

Seehofer will order to start preparing for rejections. Preparations would not be completed until the 28th when the EU summit will start. That's just the two week deadline... A compromise would only stabilize the coalition for the short term. ... hardly last until 2021.

Scenario 3: Deliverance

unrealistic... Merkel and Seehofer find a way to compromise and deescalate.

Amazon.com (AMZN.O), the city's largest employer, was at the forefront of a coalition of businesses running a well-financed campaign to place a repeal referendum on the ballot for the November elections.

As passed on May 14, the measure would have levied a new tax of roughly 14 cents per employee per hour to raise $45 million over five years, with revenue earmarked to build more affordable housing and support services for the homeless.

"This will be a blockbuster summer for media mergers!" said Mary Ann Halford, senior adviser to OC&C Strategy Consultants.

related
DMCA-concern
British Government OKs Comcast Bid for Sky and Fox Bid With Conditions, Setting Up Showdown

archived
Fox deal for Sky not in public interest - UK regulator
Consolidation has accelerated


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Anglo-Dutch food to detergent group Unilever said on Thursday the plan to end its dual headquarters structure and relocate to Rotterdam mean its shares are `extremely unlikely' to stay in the British FTSE 100 index.
[...]
Unilever's shares were likely to have an increased weighting in pan-European indices, while the group would also maintain a premium listing in London, [CFO Graeme] Pitkethly is quoted as saying due in part to strikes by lorry drivers in Brazil.

"Uncertainties related to global factors, including the threat of increased protectionism, have become more prominent, the risk of persistent heightened financial market volatility warrants monitoring," ECB chief Mario Draghi said.
[...]
The spending plans of Italy's new populist government have also revived concerns over the country's huge debt pile < wipes tears >.

"The Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present levels at least through the summer of 2019, and in any case for as long as necessary to ensure that the evolution of inflation remains aligned with the current expectations of a sustained adjustment path," the ECB said.

The biggest complication for the process of normalisation could be a murky economic outlook, muddied by a developing trade war with the US, a populist challenge from Italy's new government and softening [!] export demand [REVENUE].
[...]
The euro's 5% fall against the dollar since April is also helping* the ECB as the weaker currency is increasing the cost [PRICES] of imports and boosting inflation.

archived
'whatever it takes'
26 July 2012,  Global Investment Conference, London, UK.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Troublesome advanced engines for Boeing, Airbus jets have disrupted airlines and shaken travelers | Seattle Times |

A slew of technical problems with the three most advanced models of jet aircraft engines is widely disrupting operations at airlines, bleeding cash from the engine makers and grounding significant numbers of Airbus and Boeing jets.
The most difficult of the issues has this month left almost 50 Boeing 787 Dreamliners sold to some of the world's top airlines sitting powerless on the ground, waiting for engines before they can fly again.

And if the problem isn't contained, it could derail Boeing's plan to raise the 787 production rate next year.

British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce has been inspecting its Trent 1000 engines on the Dreamliners for cracked turbine blades deep inside, and taking off those with cracks for repair.

i will never stop living in awe of trump accidentally stumbling into the correct foreign policy decision and liberals being outraged that he's not doing enough imperialism https://t.co/xUpdGpGA1T

— Frank Furtschool ☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭&# 9773;☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭☭a 73;☭☭☭☭ (@kulturalmarx) 12. Juni 2018

## Sociopaths teaching sociopaths manners.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

If Trump wants to blow up the world order, who will stop him?

There is, of course, little doubt that with Trump in the White House there is an awful lot we should be angst-ridden about. However, the establishment's reaction to the president's shenanigans, in the United States and in Europe, is perhaps an even greater worry for progressives, replete as it is with dangerous wishful thinking and copious miscalculation.

Some put their faith in the Mueller investigation, assuming that Mike Pence would be kinder to them as president. Others are holding their breath until 2020, refusing to consider the possibility of a second term. What they all fail to grasp is the very real tectonic shifts underpinning Trump's uncouth antics.

Then, there is this:

Behind the scenes, Trump astonished Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat's leader in the House of Representatives, by approving every single social program that she asked of him. As a result, the federal government is running the largest budget deficit in America's history when the rate of unemployment is less than 4%.

Whatever one thinks of this president, he is giving money away not only to the richest, who of course get the most, but also to many poor people. With demonstrably strong employment, especially among African American workers, inflation under control and the stock market still buoyant, Donald Trump has his home front covered as he travels to foreign lands to confront friends and foes.

[citation needed] : I haven't followed the US politics (or economics) very closely, but are there any facts and figures to support the above?

An alleged unregistered agent of a foreign state, Paul Manafort, bankrolled by Ukrainian oligarchs;

an alleged slave trader, Keith Raniere, bankrolled by a pair of Seagram's Liquor heirs;

an alleged fugitive from vacated warrant for arrest, Julian Assange, bankrolled by the Republic of Ecuador.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Since then I have read of much excitement over the prospect of adding (4) four US senators and (3) three representatives ("for Dems") to the US House. Why? Because ##Mental disorder is a communicable disease.

Article IV, Sec. 3

New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.

On this date, the House passed the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929, fixing the number of Representatives at 435.

Not so fast, Mr President

[-]Antipodes1 -4 points 10 hours ago
Seriously, when does the US remove all their military bases from South Korea?

[-]EngineerJim 3 points 9 hours ago
when does the US remove all their military bases from South Korea?
Probably when North Korea gives up on their illusion of taking over South Korea.

< wipes tears >

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Going through these sketches again, we may make to the following provisional conclusion: Political party mutations in Nigeria's ruling classes--from 1999 to 2018--have essentially been quantitative movements of association and dissociation, combination and separation. In other words, Nigeria's ruling classes have not been able to produce qualitative changes, that is, ideological ruptures or breakthroughs since the beginning of the Fourth Republic.

Russian state TV is celebrating after seeing the recent report that Trump told G7 leaders that Crimea belongs to Russia because the people there speak Russian.

It's 4 in the morning & what's more the dawning & we are happy as deal done on #RED11 . Pleasure to work with such great people @EU_Commission @Europarl_EN @EUCouncil Thanks all @pepeblancoEP @JerzyBuzek @BasEickhout @ClaudeTurmes @tamburrano @MAC_europa pic.twitter.com/l8FSGl0u1O

— Seán Kelly MEP (@SeanKellyMEP) June 14, 2018

As part of the transport objective, the European Parliament also managed to clinch an agreement that will lead to a phase out of palm oil by 2030, starting with a freeze on existing quantities of imported palm, Turmes told EURACTIV.

That is likely to anger Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's two biggest producers of palm oil, which have threatened of trade retaliation measures in case a ban is agreed.

The biofuels part of the deal also includes a freeze on so-called first generation biofuels like ethanol, which are produced domestically, at the levels of production reached by each EU member state in 2020. A corresponding 3.5% target was set for so-called second generation biofuels coming from non-food crops, like wood residues.

"This blockade cannot be the solution to the discussion that we are going to have. This blockade is illegal. It is not by blocking refineries that we are going to find adequate solutions," Travert told RTL Radio.

Last month, authorities gave Total permission to use palm oil as a feedstock. The farmers are strongly opposed to the importation of the product which, they say, will likely cut into the profits of locally produced rapeseed oil. Palm oil is cheaper than rapeseed oil.

"Our target is the state," Lambert said, adding that Total's decision on palm oil was "the last straw."

Environmentalists have blamed palm oil cultivation for deforestation in southeast Asia [BUT NOT AFRICA]. Some European lawmakers are pushing for a ban on palm oil use in biofuel, citing its effect on the environment.

Defense Bills Seek to Protect U.S. Energy at Base in Germany

Congress may be moving toward reinstating a protected market for U.S. energy companies at a huge Army base in Germany -- an echo of a bygone earmark that cost the government an estimated $2 billion-plus over the last half century.
[...]
Nebraska Republican Don Bacon, the author of the authorization bill provision, says he's interested in making sure the U.S. military facility in Germany is not dependent on Russian gas.
[...]
From 1961 until 2015, appropriators [SIC] required to one degree or another that U.S. bases abroad be powered by Pennsylvania's anthracite coal. The Buy America energy directive [SIC] applied to all European bases until it was narrowed in the early 1990s to cover only energy that powered a base in Kaiserslautern, Germany, according to a history of the issue by Taxpayers for Common Sense.
[...]
The language would require the Pentagon to give preference to U.S. energy sources, including but not limited to coal, in powering a nearly $1 billion hospital being built near Kaiserslautern.

The attempt to push the boundaries toward the Elbe in Northern Germany ended in catastrophic defeat in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, with the loss of three legions (4, 5). This historic turning point was followed by continuing Roman punitive campaigns into Germania until AD 16. In the centuries that followed, military relations between the Roman world and the Northern European areas beyond it became a central aspect of political development in Europe. The ferocity of the Germanic tribes and peoples and their extremely violent and ritualized behavior in the aftermath of warfare became a trope in the Roman accounts of their barbaric northern neighbors (6).

Example: In 1978, Jimmy Carter sent Steve Pieczenik--Deputy Secty State, celebrated "CIA psychologist"hostage negotiator--to help negotiate Moro's release. Instead, Pieczenik & Italy's Interior Minister conspired to ruin negotiations & pressure Red Brigades into murdering Moro pic.twitter.com/4fINqyo71n

— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) 11 June 2018

Here's the weird-as-shit twist: Today, Harvard/MIT/Washington-pedigreed "CIA psychologist" Steve Pieczenik is best known as -- the Sandy Hook Truther on the Alex Jones show! https:t.co/92Y3hP7SQb

— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) 11 June 2018

35 years ago, @nytimes wrote about Pieczenik's CIA work on paranoia as a job hazard. Today's Sandy Hook Truther was yesterday's CIA's expert on "obligatory paranoia" vs bad paranoia https:/t.co/Hn62QkKB3M pic.twitter.com/vZbmbFJtwT

— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) 11 June 2018

"The causes in IQ increases over time and now the decline is due to environmental factors," said Rogeburg, who believes the change is not due to genetics. "It's not that dumb people are having more kids than smart people, to put it crudely. It's something to do with the environment, because we're seeing the same differences within families," he said.

Carl Alsberg, head of the Bureau of Chemistry, tells the Senate Agriculture Committee that the Allies are now better at gas warfare than the Germans. The US will start making mustard gas soon.

They not only have more gas at their disposal and are applying it more effectively than the Germans, he said, but in defensive warefare they have more improved gas masks. He predicted that a preventive against mustard gas woon would be found. "We believe we are on the right track but we haven't yet got it," he declared, referring to experiments now being conducted by his department in conjuction with the Bureau of Mines.

The plant is destroying 780,000 decades-old shells containing 2,500 U.S. tons (2,270 metric tons) of mustard agent. Although it's often called a gas, the chemical is a liquid under most conditions.

"whataboutism"
History and Analysis of Mustard Agent and Lewisite Research Programs in the United States

CWS carried out three basic types of experiments with human subjects. According to Cochrane, these testing programs involved the use of approximately 60,000 human subjects. ... It is important to note that CWS personnel were exposed to a variety of toxic materials. For example, in addition to mustard agents, gases such as phosgene (a choking agent), hydrogen cyanide and cyanogen chloride (blood poisoning agents), and chloroacetophenone (tear gas) were also produced at the arsenals. Other personnel were involved in biological warfare research and production, in locations such as Fort Detrick, Maryland, and a civilian plant in Terre Haute, Indiana (Brophy and Fisher, 1959). Chemicals including napalm and white phosphorus were also stored and packed into bombs by CWS personnel. Even the production and testing of gas masks and filter canisters involved the use of toxic chemicals such as asbestos.4 Finally, many people, including women, were assigned duties in the preparation of impregnated clothing, the most common method of which involved the use of two extremely toxic chemicals, chloroamide and acetylene tetrachloride.