Global News

Generic Drug Companies Granted Total Immunity Against All Lawsuits From Patients Harmed By Side Effects

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– Generic drug companies granted total immunity against all lawsuits from patients harmed by side effects (Natural News, July 10, 2013):

You may want to think twice before taking any more generic copies of brand-name pharmaceutical drugs, thanks to a recent Supreme Court ruling that effectively eliminates manufacturer liability in injury cases resulting from negative side effects. In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court recently overturned a $21 million judgment awarded to a New Hampshire woman injured by a generic pain drug, declaring in the process that generic drug manufacturers cannot be sued when the drugs they produce injure patients.

Since generic drugs are mere replicas of brand-name drugs that, at one time, were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as “safe,” generic drug manufacturers are exempt from being held liable in the event of injuries caused by harmful side effects. This is the opinion of the majority of the Supreme Court anyway, which has now made it that much harder for members of the public to seek remedy for injuries caused by pharmaceutical drugs.

According to Reuters, the ruling affects lawsuits filed under state law, which allegedly conflict with federal regulatory guidelines as they pertain to safety approval for brand-name drugs. When it comes to federal versus state law, federal always tends to win these days, which means the big boys in the drug industry basically get to call all the shots. And if you are injured by a drug, in this case a generic drug, well then tough luck for you.

Read moreGeneric Drug Companies Granted Total Immunity Against All Lawsuits From Patients Harmed By Side Effects

‘Financial Fascism’: Jon Corzine Will Not Face Criminal Charges Over MF Global

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Flashback:

– Congressional Investigators: MF Global’s Jon Corzine Ordered Funds Moved To JP Morgan

More links are down below.

– Jon Corzine will not face criminal charges over MF Global: report (MarketWatch, July 8, 2013):

There will be no criminal charges for former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine over the use of customer funds leading up to collapse of MF Global.

The criminal probe into whether there was wrongdoing on the part of Corzine by the Department of Justice will now be dropped due to lack of evidence, said a report in The New York Post, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.

Read more‘Financial Fascism’: Jon Corzine Will Not Face Criminal Charges Over MF Global

Leader Of Fukushima Explosion Response Team Dies From Cancer

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Former Fukushima Nuclear Plant Head Masao Yoshida, an engineer by training, led the fight to bring the Fukushima nuclear station under control in the immediate aftermath of Japan’s strongest earthquake on record and an ensuing tsunami that hit the plant on March 11, 2011, causing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Photographer: Jiji Press/AFP via Getty Images

– Leader Of Fukushima Explosion Response Team Dies From Cancer (ZeroHedge, July 10, 2013):

With a ridiculous monetarist experiment that is doomed to fail, currently raging in Japan, where girl bands plaud the masculinity of deranged FX and stock traders, it is easy to forget that some two years ago the country suffered the worst nuclear disaster in history. And what is worse, the delayed consequences, all of them tragic, will stay with Japan for the years and decades to come. We got a very sad reminder of the true Japanese tragedy (because deflation is only “horrible” if you live outside your means) earlier when we read that Masao Yoshida, the plant manager who led the fight to bring Japan’s Fukushima atomic station under control during the 2011 nuclear disaster, has died from esophageal cancer. He was 58. He died on July 9 at a hospital in Tokyo, according to a statement from Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.

Read moreLeader Of Fukushima Explosion Response Team Dies From Cancer

Pentagon To Send Four F-16s To Egypt

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– US To Send Four F-16s To Egypt (ZeroHedge, July 10, 2013):

We have only one question regarding this just released news……

And that would be: WHO gets the jets? The overthrown president, formerly fully endorsed and supported by the US, or the non-MB forces that last week staged a coup in the US-supported country?

U.S. Soldiers Not Getting Paid, Left Broke

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– Special Report: How the Pentagon’s payroll quagmire traps America’s soldiers (Reuters, July 9, 2013):

As Christmas 2011 approached, U.S. Army medic Shawn Aiken was once again locked in desperate battle with a formidable foe. Not insurgents in Iraq, or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan – enemies he had already encountered with distinguished bravery.

This time, he was up against the U.S. Defense Department.

Aiken, then 30 years old, was in his second month of physical and psychological reconstruction at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, after two tours of combat duty had left him shattered. His war-related afflictions included traumatic brain injury, severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), abnormal eye movements due to nerve damage, chronic pain, and a hip injury.

But the problem that loomed largest that holiday season was different. Aiken had no money. The Defense Department was withholding big chunks of his pay. It had started that October, when he received $2,337.56, instead of his normal monthly take-home pay of about $3,300. He quickly raised the issue with staff. It only got worse. For all of December, his pay came to $117.99.

All Aiken knew was that the Defense Department was taking back money it claimed he owed. Beyond that, “they couldn’t even tell me what the debts were from,” he says.

At the time, Aiken was living off base with his fiancee, Monica, and her toddler daughter, while sharing custody of his two children with his ex-wife. As their money dwindled, the couple began hitting church-run food pantries. Aiken took out an Army Emergency Relief Loan to cover expenses of their December move into a new apartment. At Christmas, Operation Santa Claus provided the family with presents – one for each child, per the charity’s rules.

Eventually, they began pawning their possessions – jewelry, games, an iPhone, and even the medic bag Aiken used when saving lives in Afghanistan. The couple was desperate from “just not knowing where food’s going to come from,” he says. “They just hit one button and they take your whole paycheck away. And then you have to fight to get the money back.”

Read moreU.S. Soldiers Not Getting Paid, Left Broke

China Warns Of Grim Trade Outlook After ‘Surprise’ 3.1% Fall In Exports

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H/t reader M.G.:

“China just released a very grim forecast according to the UK Guardian. Their lies are catching up with them. They were claiming to be exporting far more than they were, they got caught. Now, drops in exports to the USA over 5%, to the Eurozone, even bigger drop.”

Related article:

– Whistleblower Forces China To Come Clean Over Data Manipulation

– China warns of grim trade outlook after surprise 3% fall in exports (Guardian, July 10, 2013):

Figures defy expectations and likely to raise fresh concerns about extent of slowdown in economy and global demand

China has warned of a grim outlook for trade as the world’s second-largest economy surprised financial markets by reporting a fall in exports and imports when both had been expected to rise.

The figures, which follow a government crackdown on the use of fake invoicing that had exaggerated exports earlier this year, are likely to raise fresh concerns about the extent of the slowdown in the economy and global demand.

Read moreChina Warns Of Grim Trade Outlook After ‘Surprise’ 3.1% Fall In Exports

Canada: Toronto Underwater – Severe Thunderstorms Cause Flooding, Blackouts, Havoc On Roads

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Update:

More photos here:

– Toronto flood photos show parts of city underwater (CTV News, July 9, 2013)

Videos and photos here:

– Severe thunderstorms cause flooding, blackouts, havoc on roads around GTA (Toronto Star, July 9, 2013):

Severe thunderstorms that have caused flooding and power outages around the city Monday will likely exceed 100 mm of total rainfall before it tapers off later this evening, according to Environment Canada.

Meteorologists from Environment Canada are tracking a slow moving cluster of thunderstorms capable of producing localized flash flooding.

The amount of rainfall has beaten the previous same-day rainfall record of 29.2 mm in 2008 and trounced the roughly 70 mm monthly average for July.

Radiation Levels Soar On Coast At Fukushima Daiichi

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– Fukushima Watch: Tritium Levels Soar on Coast at Fukushima (Wall Street Journal, July 8, 2013):

More than two years after the devastating accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. 9501.TO +6.37% is seeing levels soar of a radioactive element called tritium.

The problem spot is on the coastal side of the plant’s heavily damaged No. 2 reactor, one of the areas where Tepco regularly monitors groundwater to check for radioactive elements that may have leeched from the plant’s partly melted fuel cores and into the environment. In May, Tepco found that tritium levels in the groundwater there had suddenly risen to 17 times their December levels. Since then, Tepco has drilled more monitoring holes and stepped up measurements. They’ve found tritium levels are continuing to rise, with the latest readings, taken on July 5, some 20% higher than they were in May.

Read moreRadiation Levels Soar On Coast At Fukushima Daiichi

Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Rejects Transition Plan

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Related info:

– Grim ritual of death unfolds in Cairo morgue filled to capacity (McClatchy, July 7, 2013)

– Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood rejects transition plan (USA TODAY, July 9, 2013):

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday rejected a new timetable announced by the military-backed interim leadership that sets a fast track for amending the Islamist-drafted constitution and holding new parliamentary and presidential elections by early next year.

The quick issuing of the transition plan showed how Egypt’s new leadership is shrugging off Islamists’ vows to reverse the military’s ousting of President Mohammed Morsi and wants to quickly entrench a post-Morsi political system.

…

The Michael Hastings Car Crash: No Skids Marks, A Flying Engine And ‘Boston Brakes’

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See also:

– Barrett Brown and Michael Hastings v. FBI (Cryptome, June 20, 2013):

– Michael Hastings Told WikiLeaks Lawyer He Was Being Investigated By The FBI Only A Few Hours Before Deadly Car Crash (Daily Mail, June 20, 2013)

– On The Assassination Of Journalist Michael Hastings: ‘We Got The Message …’ (Video – Veterans Today, June 19, 2013):

“For those who didn’t watch the entire video, go back.  Catch the last few seconds.  I was flabbergasted.”

– The Michael Hastings Car Crash: No Skids Marks, a Flying Engine and “Boston Brakes” (Liberty Blitzkrieg, July 9, 2013):

In cases such as the highly suspicious and tragic car crash/explosion that killed celebrated investigative journalist Michael Hastings, I try to reserve commentary for a little bit to let facts emerge following the initial speculative flurry. Particularly when it involves a journalist with whom I am only slightly familiar.  I think we can all agree at this point that based on what has come forward in the past several weeks it is more than likely Mr. Hastings was murdered. The following report from San Diego News 6 provides an excellent summary of what we know, and what we don’t know.  The LAPD doesn’t seem to care much about the latter.

From San Diego 6:

An eyewitness at the scene, Jose, employed at nearby business ALSCO Inc said, the car was traveling very fast and he heard a couple explosions shortly before the car crashed. In fact, the explosion was so intense that it took the LA County assistant corner, Ed Winter, two days to identify the burned-beyond recognition body of Hastings.

Read moreThe Michael Hastings Car Crash: No Skids Marks, A Flying Engine And ‘Boston Brakes’

America’s Second Largest Employer Is … A Temp Agency

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– Meet America’s Second Largest Employer: A Temp Agency (ZeroHedge, July 9, 2013):

Despite the mainstream media’s inability to see things as they are – as opposed to how they hope them to be for fear of exposing the status quo for the illusion that it really is – the subject of ‘job quality’ in this recovery-less recovery has never been far from our thoughts since 2010. David Stockman has often discussed the loss of ‘bread-winner’ jobs and in fact not only are there a record number of Americans with temporary jobs (28 million or one-in-ten non-farm workers) but behind Wal-Mart (itself arguably a somewhat part-time employer), the Washington Examiner reports, that the second largest employer in America is Kelly Services – a temporary work provider. The company, started in 1946, serves 99% of the Fortune 100 and had revenues of $5.5bn in 2012 (though even this burgeoning growth area is struggling in the last quarter).

Read moreAmerica’s Second Largest Employer Is … A Temp Agency

China: Elderly Can Sue Kids Who Don’t Visit

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– As China’s respect for elderly fades, they can sue kids who don’t visit (McClatchy, July 8, 2013):

SHANGHAI — Yan Meiyue, 90, said her 72-year-old daughter rarely visited, even for the annual Spring Festival, when families traditionally reunite. So Yan, a widow since her husband’s death nearly a decade ago, spends every weekday at a modest community center near her home, where she plays mahjong and eats meals prepared by a volunteer staff.

“The volunteers keep us company,” she said with a smile, her voice tapering off.

Yan is one of a rapidly growing number of self-described “orphan grandparents” who feel personally or financially abandoned in a society that traditionally has treated its elders with a respect bordering on reverence.

For generations, elderly Chinese citizens could count on having a place in multi-generational households, where their children could treat them in infirmity. But today this ancient social contract is giving way as the Chinese economy booms, prying apart families with job opportunities in distant cities or abroad.

Read moreChina: Elderly Can Sue Kids Who Don’t Visit

Chinese Insurer Buys Landmark Lloyds Of London Skyscraper For 260 Million Pounds

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– Chinese insurer buys landmark Lloyds of London skyscraper (Reuters, July 8, 2013):

Chinese insurer Ping An has bought the landmark London home of insurance market Lloyds of London for 260 million pounds, the first in a predicted wave of property deals by Chinese companies in London.

A German fund managed by Commerz Real (part of Commerzbank) sold the building to the Chinese company in a deal that represents a rental yield of 6.1 percent, broker Savills said in a statement on Monday.

Read moreChinese Insurer Buys Landmark Lloyds Of London Skyscraper For 260 Million Pounds

U.S. Government’s Secret Move To Hide Files On The Osama Bin Laden Raid

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Flashback:


– It’s Getting Better: CIA Director Panetta Admits Complete Video Blackout During The Raid On ‘Bin Laden’ Compound

So what exactly were these clowns watching?

– U.S. Government’s Secret Move to Hide Files on the Osama Bin Laden Raid (Liberty Blitzkrieg, July 8, 2013):

The Osama Bin Laden raid was suspect from the very beginning.  Not only were key initial descriptions of the assault completely incorrect (such as him being armed and his wife being killed), but the manner in which his body was rapidly tossed into the ocean was beyond bizarre.  I mean, Tony Soprano keeps a body longer than that.

Well it seems the “most transparent administration ever” has made sure that the American public never receives any information beyond the propaganda of Zero Dark Thirty.

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s top special operations commander ordered military files about the Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden’s hideout to be purged from Defense Department computers and sent to the CIA, where they could be more easily shielded from ever being made public.

The secret move, described briefly in a draft report by the Pentagon’s inspector general, set off no alarms within the Obama administration even though it appears to have sidestepped federal rules and perhaps also the Freedom of Information Act.

But secretly moving the records allowed the Pentagon to tell The Associated Press that it couldn’t find any documents inside the Defense Department that AP had requested more than two years ago, and could represent a new strategy for the U.S. government to shield even its most sensitive activities from public scrutiny.

Read moreU.S. Government’s Secret Move To Hide Files On The Osama Bin Laden Raid

Report: Vatican Bank Facilitated Money Laundering

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– Vatican Bank facilitated money laundering, report says (PressTV, July 8, 2013):

Italian investigators have said the Vatican Bank operated in a way that facilitated money laundering, according to a leaked inquiry.

The disclosed report followed a three-year inquiry into the bank, officially known as the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), and was recently quoted by two Italian newspapers, Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica.

According to the report, IOR did not carry out enough checks on its clients and the bank allowed account holders to transfer large sums on behalf of others.

“There is a high risk that the way the IOR operates, without specifying its real clients, can be used as a screen to hide illegal operations,” the report read.

Read moreReport: Vatican Bank Facilitated Money Laundering

Presenting China’s First Too Big To Fail ‘Lack Of Liquidity’ Casualty

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– Presenting China’s First Too Big To Fail “Lack Of Liquidity” Casualty (ZeroHedge, July 9, 2013):

China’s biggest private shipbuilder, China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group, last week filed for a profit warning as it expects a loss in the first half of 2013. That was the good news. The bad news is that Rongsheng appealed for government aid last Friday and said it was cutting staff as it was delaying payments to suppliers to deal with tightened cash flows. It also called on its shareholders for financial help and said it was in talks with banks and other financial institutions to renew existing credit lines. In other words a complete liquidity collapse.

Read morePresenting China’s First Too Big To Fail ‘Lack Of Liquidity’ Casualty

1994 Vs 2013: Spot The Carbon-Copy Similarities – ‘It Can’t Happen … It Can’t Happen … It Can’t Happen … It Just Happened’

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– 1994 vs 2013: Spot The Carbon-Copy Similarities (ZeroHedge, July 9, 2013):

The only thing that is necessary for something to happen, is for everyone to say it can’t possibly happen. Such as a carbon copy replica of the 1994 bond crush. Presenting: 1994 vs 2013, or as it is better known “It can’t happen… It can’t happen…It can’t happen…  It just happened”

And some rather spot on commentary on just this from Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd, who just like us, sees the inevitable outcome of the upcoming taper (which is coming), as the untaper, i.e., even moar printing by the Chairman (or woman as the case may be in 2014).

From Guggenheim‘s Scott Minerd

The Fed’s Bind: Tapering, Timetables and Turmoil

Read more1994 Vs 2013: Spot The Carbon-Copy Similarities – ‘It Can’t Happen … It Can’t Happen … It Can’t Happen … It Just Happened’

Now That Is Totally Disgusting: Golden Corral (Shocking Photos And Video)

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– Shocking photos and video shows Golden Corral more disgusting than a cow feedlot (Natural News, July 9, 2013):

Shocking photos posted on the internet claim to show behind-the-scenes filth at a Golden Corral restaurant. The photos appear to show filthy dishes stacked nearly head-high, with food waste littering the floor right next to beverage service carts. Three employees are clearly depicted in the photos, and they appear to be wearing uniforms consistent with those worn by Golden Corral employees.

The photos (see below) also show overflowing trash cans and food refuse so thick that employees are walking all over it while mountains of filthy dishes appear to be ready to collapse onto the floor.

All photos are shown below.

Adding to the apparent filth, a young man who claims to be a Golden Corral employee has posted a shocking video that he says shows Golden Corral hiding fresh meat near dumpsters while the restaurant undergoes an inspection. Once the inspection is over, he explains, the food will be carted back into the restaurant and served up to hungry customers (but without all the flies).

Below, take a look at some of the shocking photos from the dishes area. All the bolded comments are my own…

See the shocking photos that claim to be taken at Golden Corral

Hey, do I get free Obamacare with this job?

And to think, this was just the appetizer round!

Everybody FREEZE! Or this whole thing may collapse and we’ll have to excavate our way out!

Golden Corral name badges

By the way, how do we know these are Golden Corral employees and not people working at some random restaurant? The name badge and uniforms give it away.

Take a look at this P.R. announcement of Golden Corral bringing jobs to Springfield, MA. Here, you can clearly see the Golden Corral logo and name tag on these black aprons which are part of the Golden Corral uniform.

Now take a look at a zoomed-in image of the black apron and name tag from the “dirty dishes” photo shown above:

See the shocking video: Baby back “dumpster” ribs!

Hungry for some “dumpster ribs?” A man named Brandon Huber posted a jaw-dropping video a few days ago which has already garnered over one million views. The video claims to show fresh food being temporarily “hidden” in the dumpster trash area behind the restaurant while Golden Corral undergoes an inspection.

Watch the video here:


YouTube

Read moreNow That Is Totally Disgusting: Golden Corral (Shocking Photos And Video)

Solar Powered Plane Completes History-Making Cross-Country Flight, Lands At JFK Airport

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– Solar powered plane completes history-making cross-country flight, lands at JFK airport (Washington Post/Ap, July 7, 2013):

NEW YORK — A solar-powered aircraft completed the final leg of a history-making cross-country flight Saturday night, gliding to a smooth stop at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.The Solar Impulse touched down at JFK at 11:09 p.m., completing the final leg of the cross-continental journey that started in California in early May. For Saturday’s final leg, the aircraft left Dulles International Airport a little before 5 a.m.

The flight plan for the revolutionary plane, powered by some 11,000 solar cells on its oversized wings, had called for it to pass the Statue of Liberty before landing early Sunday at New York. But an unexpected tear discovered on the left wing of the aircraft Saturday afternoon forced officials to scuttle the fly-by and proceed directly to JFK for a landing three hours earlier than scheduled.

Pilot Andre Borschberg trumpeted the milestone of a plane capable of flying during the day and night, powered by solar energy, crossing the U.S. without the use of fuel.

Read moreSolar Powered Plane Completes History-Making Cross-Country Flight, Lands At JFK Airport

Female Inmates Sterilized In California Prisons Without Approval

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– Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval (Center For Investigative Reporting, July 7, 2013):

Doctors under contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 female inmates from 2006 to 2010 without required state approvals, The Center for Investigative Reporting has found.

At least 148 women received tubal ligations in violation of prison rules during those five years – and there are perhaps 100 more dating back to the late 1990s, according to state documents and interviews.

From 1997 to 2010, the state paid doctors $147,460 to perform the procedure, according to a database of contracted medical services for state prisoners.

The women were signed up for the surgery while they were pregnant and housed at either the California Institution for Women in Corona or Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, which is now a men’s prison.

Read moreFemale Inmates Sterilized In California Prisons Without Approval

Russian Official: Venezuela Is Snowden’s ‘Last Chance’

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– Russian official: Venezuela is Snowden’s “last chance” (CBC News, July 7, 2013):

An influential Russian parliament member who often speaks for the Kremlin encouraged NSA leaker Edward Snowden on Sunday to accept Venezuela’s offer of asylum.

Alexei Pushkov, who heads the international affairs committee in Russia’s parliament, posted a message on Twitter saying: “Venezuela is waiting for an answer from Snowden. This, perhaps, is his last chance to receive political asylum.”

Read moreRussian Official: Venezuela Is Snowden’s ‘Last Chance’

Japan Moves Closer To Restarting Nuclear Reactors (Guardian)

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– Japan moves closer to restarting nuclear reactors (Guardian, July 8, 2013):

Utility companies apply for safety inspections of idled plants in clearest sign of return to atomic energy after Fukushima disaster

Japan has moved a step closer to restarting nuclear reactors, with four utility companies applying for safety inspections of 10 idled plants, the clearest sign of a return to atomic energy almost two and a half years after the Fukushima disaster.

With all but two of the country’s 50 reactors offline since a tsunami swept through the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in March 2011, Japan has been almost without nuclear energy that once supplied about a third of its power.

Read moreJapan Moves Closer To Restarting Nuclear Reactors (Guardian)

Illinois Illegally Seizes Bees Resistant To Monsanto’s Roundup; Kills Remaining Queens

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YouTube

– Illinois illegally seizes Bees Resistant to Monsanto’s Roundup; Kills remaining Queens (Global Research, May 24, 2013):

The Illinois Ag Dept.  illegally seized privately owned bees from renowned naturalist, Terrence Ingram, without providing him with a search warrant and before the court hearing on the matter, reports Prairie Advocate News.

Behind the obvious violations of his Constitutional rights is Monsanto. Ingram was researching Roundup’s effects on bees, which he’s raised for 58 years.  “They ruined 15 years of my research,” he told Prairie Advocate, by stealing most of his stock.

A certified letter from the Ag Dept.’s Apiary Inspection Supervisor, Steven D. Chard, stated:

Read moreIllinois Illegally Seizes Bees Resistant To Monsanto’s Roundup; Kills Remaining Queens