Three Defendants Sentenced in Multi-State Racketeering Conspiracy Involving Forced Labor of Mexican Agricultural H-2A Workers | OPA | Department of Justice

U.S. District Court Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell for the Middle District of Florida sentenced Christina Gamez, 43, to 37 months in prison; Efrain Cabrera Rodas, 32, a citizen of Mexico, to 41 months in prison; and Guadalupe Mendes Mendoza, 45, to eight months of home detention and a $5,500 fine to be paid over 24 months of supervised release. Judge Honeywell also ordered Cabrera to pay nearly $25,000 and Gamez to pay over $9,000 in restitution to the victims.

“These defendants exploited their victims’ vulnerabilities and immigration status, promising them access to the American dream but then turning around and confiscating their passports and threatening arrest and deportation if they did not endlessly toil away for their profit,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting those who use deception, isolation, intimidation, coercion and control to exploit their victims for compelled labor, and to ensuring that they are stripped of any profits so that the victims can rightfully use restitution proceeds to rebuild their lives.”

Source: Three Defendants Sentenced in Multi-State Racketeering Conspiracy Involving Forced Labor of Mexican Agricultural H-2A Workers | OPA | Department of Justice

Lebanese security ‘cuts internet’ to Syrian refugees

The news came as Lebanon deported dozens of Syrian refugees to Syria as the first part of a “repatriation” plan. Rights groups have condemned the move, pointing out that refugees forced to return to Syria could face arrest, detention, and torture at the hands of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

SMEX said it had received a recording of a man warning refugees “in a threatening voice” that possession of internet connection equipment was prohibited and saying this “was an order from Lebanese intelligence”.

The human rights group added that a source in the Lebanese security forces denied that any equipment was confiscated from refugees.

A Syrian media activist living as a refugee in Lebanon, who preferred to remain anonymous, told SMEX that the confiscations had been ongoing for the past four months in the Western Bekaa, Zahleh, and Barr Elias areas.

He said there were 13 reported incidents.

Source: Lebanese security ‘cuts internet’ to Syrian refugees

Moroccans frustrated over France ‘revenge visa’ in Morocco

“We call on France to stop insulting Moroccans, placing impossible conditions on them, imposing unfair fees on them, depriving them of visiting their relatives, participating in conferences, and their right of movement,” said Aziz Ghali, the President of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), during the protest. Source: Moroccans frustrated over France ‘revenge visa’ in Morocco

Turkeys will cost more because 6 million died during bird flu outbreak | Stars and Stripes

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, turkey farmers from California to Pennsylvania are watching in horror as a virulent new strain of avian influenza wipes out their flocks, killing birds practically overnight and forcing hundreds of thousands more to be euthanized to prevent further infection.

The rampant spread of the virus has already eliminated more than 6 million turkeys nationwide, about 14% of the nation’s total turkey production, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. It is leaving farmers short of their usual offerings and pushing up prices for those that remain, forcing consumers already walloped by inflation to pay an additional 20% or more per pound for Thanksgiving turkeys compared with prices last year, according to several estimates.

Source: Turkeys will cost more because 6 million died during bird flu outbreak | Stars and Stripes

लम्हे / Moments

Kaushal Kishore

लम्हे आते हैं
और चले भी जाते हैं,
लेकिन जिन लम्हों को मैं
कलम से पिरो देता हूं शब्दों में,
वे रह जाते हैं सदा के लिए साथ मेरे…

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

Moments come and go,
but the moments
that I weave into words
with a pen,
stay with me forever….

–Kaushal Kishore

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What Do You Want: Governance Or A Show? — Filosofa’s Word

There are many policy and ideological differences between the two major political parties in the U.S., but as I was reading an article yesterday, one came to me that I had not thought of before:  Democrats in Congress take lawmaking seriously, while for Republicans it is a game, a show.  Republican voters seem to require […]

What Do You Want: Governance Or A Show? — Filosofa’s Word