Category Archives: Profiteering

Researchers welcome discovery of rare helium gas in Tanzania | News | DW.COM | “Spin, hot air, destroy the earth for profit.”

Researchers say the discovery of as much as 54 billion cubic feet of the gas in southern Tanzania could satisfy total world demand for almost seven years at current rates.

Source: Researchers welcome discovery of rare helium gas in Tanzania | News | DW.COM | 28.06.2016

Rebel US diplomats won’t be heard on Syria, ex-ambassador says – France 24 – “51 Neo-Cons in US State Department attempting – along with Neo-Con elements in the press – to con public that US should go to war with Syria!”

It is a message telling Secretary of State John Kerry that the current policy is failing and that it cannot succeed, that it will continue to fail. It is a memo that says that more must be done to put pressure on the Assad government. It is suggesting that we need limited American strikes against Assad government targets so that Assad understands the ceasefire must be respected, and that there must be compromises and more acceptance of the moderate Syrian opposition in the negotiations.

Source: Rebel US diplomats won’t be heard on Syria, ex-ambassador says – France 24

Dozens of U.S. Diplomats, in Memo, Urge Strikes Against Syria’s Assad – The New York Times {New Neo-Con Spin to “force” US to start another failed Middle East War?}

{The Foreign Service is a corps of some 13,000 employees}

 

More than  have signed an internal memo sharply critical of the Obama administration’s policy in Syria, urging the United States to carry out military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire in the country’s five-year-old civil war. The memo, a draft of which was provided to The New York Times by a State Department official, says American policy has been “overwhelmed” by the unrelenting violence in Syria. It calls for “a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed U.S.-led diplomatic process.”

Source: Dozens of U.S. Diplomats, in Memo, Urge Strikes Against Syria’s Assad – The New York Times

VDU’s blog: More microcephaly to come..?

Meanwhile, it would be great if Brazil published its national numbers in a weekly report – along with confirmed numbers. The promise of the “Boletins Epidemiológicos de Dengue, Chikungunya e Zika” has not been realised with only two reports over the past 10 epidemiological weeks and no specific listing of laboratory confirmed numbers.[6]

Source: VDU’s blog: More microcephaly to come..?

Rio 2016: Studies find ‘super bacteria’ in Olympic venues, top tourist beaches – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Scientists have found dangerous drug-resistant “super bacteria” off beaches in Rio de Janeiro that will host Olympic swimming events and in a lagoon where rowing and canoe athletes will compete when the Games start early August. Key points: Super bacteria found in five of Rio’s beaches, in the Olympic Lagoon, and in a river Federal police are investigating whether Rio’s water utility Cedae is committing environmental crimes Bacteria lie dormant but attack when a healthy person falls ill for another reason The findings from two unpublished academic studies concern Rio’s most popular spots for tourists, and heighten concerns that the city’s sewage-infested waterways are unsafe.

Source: Rio 2016: Studies find ‘super bacteria’ in Olympic venues, top tourist beaches – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Drug Maker’s Former Employees Accused of Shady Dealings With Doctors – The New York Times

Greed wins – we lose!

One top speaker, according to Mr. Roper’s indictment, was paid $147,245 in speaking fees in 2014 and accounted for about $1.2 million in prescriptions of Subsys that were reimbursed through Medicare. Another doctor singled out in the complaint was paid $112,340 in speaking fees in 2014 and prescribed $1.4 million worth of Subsys that was paid for by Medicare, according to the indictment. The doctors were not named in the indictment. Approved in 2012, Subsys is a form of fentanyl that is sprayed under the tongue and is approved for use only in patients who have cancer and experience pain even though they are already on round-the-clock painkillers. Fentanyl can be deadly if it is prescribed in large doses to someone who has not already become tolerant to opioids. Despite the drug’s tight restrictions, sales of Subsys have been strong, taking in $330 million in 2015. Although Insys was an early favorite with Wall Street, it has struggled as it has faced questions about its marketing practices. Its stock is down more than 50 percent in the last year, and fell more than 12 percent on Friday alone.

Source: Drug Maker’s Former Employees Accused of Shady Dealings With Doctors – The New York Times

Boycott Tel Aviv Pride 2016

Tel Aviv is known as a “top gay destination.” However, gay pride brochures fail to mention that it is also an hour away from the world’s largest open prison, Gaza, and that it is built on stolen land. They forget to mention that the gay soldiers you dance with in the pride parade check, arrest, and kill Palestinians on a daily basis. After your day of pride, some tour operators will take you to Bethlehem or the Dead Sea, without telling you that you will travel through the illegally Occupied Palestinian Territories, or that the wine you are drinking in the Golan Heights comes from businesses that have been declared illegal under International Law. So, why are you proud of Tel Aviv? Perhaps Tel Aviv has a vibrant nightlife, hot gay men, and beautiful beaches, but Israel also has an illegal occupation; restricts the mobility of any Palestinian just because they are Palestinian; and uses your tourism money for its next invasion of Gaza or home demolition in East Jerusalem, after which it will say “but look at us, we have gay rights!” Underneath the beautiful beaches lies a different truth: Israel does not respect human rights! Be aware of what you are proud of. Israel sponsors Tel Aviv Pride 2016 with over 4 million dollars! It even tries to attract you with arguably homophobic ad campaigns  It aims to promote Israel as a prime gay tourist destination, because it thinks gay tourists don’t care about other human rights violations taking place in the country. Awesome right? Not only does Israel want to bring more money to Tel Aviv, it also wants your political support for its ongoing occupation of Palestinian Territories and its violation of Palestinian human rights. And if it can’t get your explicit political support, it will just use your presence as a cover up for its war crimes. Israel does not only want your gay tourism money, it also wants to turn “every foreign tourist into an ambassador” for Israel. They are like “look how cool we are with our gay rights!” which makes you forget sometimes that you are actually in a warzone, where freedom is a principle limited to Israelis and international gay tourists. There is nothing hot about cruising in a Warzone! There is nothing celebratory about gay rights when they do not include rights and equality for all people! There is no pride in being used by the Israeli State for its propaganda machine! #BoycottTLVpride until Israel:  Ends its occupation of Palestinian land occupied in the 1967 war and dismantles its Apartheid wall Recognizes the rights of Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality Respects, protects and promotes the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.   Boycott TLV Pride!

Source: Boycott Tel Aviv Pride 2016

Former Trump University Workers Call the School a ‘Lie’ and a ‘Scheme’ in Testimony – The New York Times – “Real story is the trillion or two that similar for-profit “universities” have bilked from low-income students using government-backed student loans.”

In blunt testimony revealed on Tuesday, former managers of Trump University, the for-profit school started by Donald J. Trump, portray it as an unscrupulous business that relied on high-pressure sales tactics, employed unqualified instructors, made deceptive claims and exploited vulnerable students willing to pay tens of thousands for Mr. Trump’s insights. One sales manager for Trump University, Ronald Schnackenberg, recounted how he was reprimanded for not pushing a financially struggling couple hard enough to sign up for a $35,000 real estate class, despite his conclusion that it would endanger their economic future. He watched with disgust, he said, as a fellow Trump University salesman persuaded the couple to purchase the class anyway. “I believe that Trump University was a fraudulent scheme,” Mr. Schnackenberg wrote in his testimony, “and that it preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money.”

Source: Former Trump University Workers Call the School a ‘Lie’ and a ‘Scheme’ in Testimony – The New York Times

Multistate E coli outbreak prompts General Mills flour recall | CIDRAP

Who do you trust? Who can you trust?

Minneapolis-based food processor General Mills today announced a recall of Gold Medal, Wondra, and Signature Kitchens flour in connection with an outbreak of 38 Escherichia coli O121 infections in 20 states. In a press release, the company said E coli O121 has not been found in any of its flour or in the manufacturing facility, nor have consumers reported any confirmed illnesses to the firm, but the recall is being issued out of abundant caution. The recall involves about 10 million pounds of flour, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported today. General Mills said the products are sold in Safeway, Albertsons, Jewel, Shaws, Vons, United, Randalls, and Acme stores.

Source: Multistate E coli outbreak prompts General Mills flour recall | CIDRAP

WHO says ′no public health justification′ for postponing Olympics over Zika virus | News | DW.COM | 28.05.2016 – Deja vu Ebola Fail… economic and politics before public health by member states of WHO!

WHO noted, however, that people continue to travel between countries with the virus. There are also those who do not travel, for a number of other reasons. WHO has already urged pregnant women not to attend the games and in February called the virus a global health concern. The health experts questioned a possible conflict of interest because of WHO’s relationship with the International Olympics Committee. They called for an unbiased, evidence-based assessment to guide the UN health body. Moving the Olympics in such a short time period is not practical and cancelling or postponing the games would entail massive economic losses.

Source: WHO says ′no public health justification′ for postponing Olympics over Zika virus | News | DW.COM | 28.05.2016