Thursday, November 28, 2019

Thanks, But No Thanks

The Globe served you this:

"Inside auditors saw lack of focus on safety at RMV, according to new report" by Matt Stout Globe Staff, November 27, 2019

Employees leaving cash payments lying on their desks during lunch breaks. Alleged threats of termination if wait times at service centers didn’t drop. Workers scanning the driving records of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for no clear reason.

Reminiscent of the drug lab scandal, and that is unfortunately standard operating procedure for the political patronage system that is Ma$$achu$etts $tate government.

Amid its high-profile failure to track alerts on troubled drivers, the Registry of Motor Vehicles has grappled with other serious issues that have frustrated internal auditors, in some cases for years, according to a trove of interviews conducted by an outside firm and made public Wednesday.

My initial reaction the the years worth of troubles is how it impacts the presidential campaign of Deval Patrick.

The details were among nearly 300 pages of notes the firm, Grant Thornton, compiled for its state-commissioned review of the Registry.

This was all brought about by the crash that the Globe grabbed onto.

The interview “notes” — which often read like a transcript — underscore many of the conclusions Grant Thornton has previously made public. It also laid out in further detail former registrar Erin Deveney’s claim that she had previously told Governor Charlie Baker’s deputy chief of staff, Mindy d’Arbeloff, and Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack about a Registry unit’s struggle to process the alerts, but in alarming, and sometimes unvarnished detail, the interviews also paint a vivid picture of criticisms that the Baker administration was so consumed with the Registry’s customer service functions, it pushed aside or neglected its public safety responsibilities.

Government is an agent of corporations, so what's the surprise?

Jim Logan, the Department of Transportation’s director of audit operations, said the pressure was so intense from the administration to slash the abysmal wait times at Registry service centers that employees were “being threatened with their job to get wait times down.” He also said he’d been told second-hand accounts that d’Arbeloff “made the threats to both managers and staff.”

IMPEACH!

“The customer facing side of the RMV was more important,” Logan told interviewers from Grant Thornton. “I am not a fan of Mindy. We saw what went on to fix customer service things.”

Sarah Finlaw, a Baker spokeswoman, denied that officials made such threats, and said that Logan was not involved in what officials had dubbed its “War on Wait Times” initiative after Baker promised to reshape the Registry as part of his 2014 campaign.....

That's when I got sick of waiting and left.

--more--"

It used to be the DMV, but what's in a name?

Straddling the fold:

"Weston man charged with defrauding high schools, international students" by James Vaznis Globe Staff, November 27, 2019

As head of an Allston company that recruited international students, Keenam “Kason” Park collected more than $5 million in tuition and fees from families, money that should have been sent to the private high schools that would be educating the students.

Instead, Park allegedly spent the money lavishly on himself, buying homes in Massachusetts, California, and Korea, and a luxury Aston Martin sports car, according to a federal complaint. When funds ran out and his business, popularly known as Eduboston, was on the brink of closure, Park came up with a scheme to win back the money, traveling twice to Connecticut where he gambled millions of dollars at a casino. His plan backfired, and he lost $3 million at the casino, according to the complaint.

Why didn't he gamble in Ma$$achu$etts?

Now Park is in big legal trouble.

Park’s arrest comes as many Catholic and private schools have been banking heavily on foreign-student recruitment to help remedy declining enrollment and to diversify their student bodies. Park’s business, which closed in September and was officially known as K&B Education Group, had been partnering with schools in Massachusetts and other states for about a decade or longer.

Park played a critical role: His business had people on the ground in many countries, especially China, where they would connect students and families with a high school in the United States.....

What if the kids are spies for the Chinese government? 

Or are turned into informants like the Tsarnaev?

Furthermore, where does this sort of thing fit with the recent protest in Hong Kong, the concentration camps for Uighurs, and China's alleged military aggression and cyberspying is anyone's guess.

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Time to go $hopping (Made in China):

For this reformed shopaholic, a new take on Black Friday

Maybe Santa will be there:

Globe Santa kicks off its 64th year Thanksgiving Day

I gave to it once. Must have been 25 years ago now. Never again.


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My National Lead is a whitewash:

"Russia inquiry review is expected to undercut Trump claim of FBI spying" by Adam Goldman New York Times, November 27, 2019

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s inspector general found no evidence that the FBI attempted to place undercover agents or informants inside Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016 as agents investigated whether his associates conspired with Russia’s election interference operation, people familiar with a draft of the inspector general’s report said.

The determination by the inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, is expected to be a key finding in his highly anticipated report due out on Dec. 9 examining aspects of the Russia investigation. The finding also contradicts some of the most inflammatory accusations hurled by Trump and his supporters, who alleged not only that FBI officials spied on the Trump campaign but also at one point that then-President Obama had ordered Trump’s phones tapped. The startling accusation generated headlines but Trump never backed it up.

Accusations of WMD in Iraq generated headlines and Bush never backed them up, but oh well.

What we are seeing here is the cover-up of the Obama spying and infiltration effort, for such a scandal would destroy the political charade under which we are ruled. 

On to 2020, right?

The finding is one of several by Horowitz that undercuts conservatives’ claims that the FBI acted improperly in investigating several Trump associates starting in 2016. He also found that FBI leaders did not take politically motivated actions in pursuing a secret wiretap on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page — eavesdropping that Trump’s allies have long decried as politically motivated, but Horowitz will sharply criticize FBI leaders for their handling of the investigation in some ways, and he unearthed errors and omissions when FBI officials applied for the wiretap, according to people familiar with a draft of the report. The draft contained a chart listing numerous mistakes in the process, one of the people said.

Time to turn the page, and who remembers Halper, huh?

Horowitz concluded that the FBI was careless and unprofessional in pursuing the Page wiretap, and he referred his findings in one instance to prosecutors for potential criminal charges over the alteration of a document in 2017 by a front-line lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, 37, in connection with the wiretap application.

There is your Deep State scapegoat or willing sacrifice falling on his sword.

Horowitz’s mixed bag of conclusions is likely to give new ammunition to both Trump’s defenders and critics in the long-running partisan fight over the Russia investigation. Last week, Trump described the coming report in a phone interview with “Fox & Friends” as potentially “historic” and predicted “perhaps the biggest scandal in the history of our country.”

He is right, but is going to be very, very disappointed unless this is NYT spin.

A spokeswoman for Horowitz declined to comment. The people familiar with the inquiry cautioned that the draft report was not final. The New York Times has not reviewed the draft, which could include other significant findings.

So who leaked it?

Trump has long chafed at the Russia investigation, which overshadowed the first years of his presidency. Ultimately, the special counsel who took over the Russia inquiry, Robert Mueller, found insufficient evidence to charge any Trump associates with conspiring with Russia’s interference, but the president’s allies have seized on the FBI’s conduct in opening the inquiry as potentially problematic. Attorney General William Barr prompted alarm among defenders of the FBI by accusing the bureau this year of spying on the campaign.....

He's backed away from that and closed the case on the Epstein incident, so it is becoming clear that Barr is nothing more than a bag man for the Deep State like he was during the Iran-Contra days. There is no sense in reading this anymore.

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Related:

Appeals court stays ruling that McGahn must comply with House subpoena pending appeal

It was an Obama judge that ordered him to testify, and "the filings noted that presidents of both parties have invoked immunity for top aides, including most recently a 2014 Justice Department opinion that concluded David Simas, director of President Barack Obama’s Office of Political Strategy and Outreach, did not have to comply with a subpoena issued by the House Oversight Committee."

The pre$$ didn't raise a ruckus then. 

Giuliani was in talks to be paid by Ukraine’s top prosecutor as they together sought damaging information on Democrats

I'm more interested in why a former federal prosecutor helped destroy a 9/11 crime scene and who told him those buildings were going to fall.

Three women accuse Gordon Sondland of sexual misconduct, report says

The first-hand testimony that exonerated Trump must now be thrown out!

"Frank Wuco, a senior adviser at the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, came under scrutiny last year when his past comments involving the promotion of far-right conspiracy theories surfaced. They included debunked claims that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, former CIA Director John Brennan converted to Islam, former Attorney General Eric Holder had been a member of the Black Panthers, and former Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood....."

My pre$$ is becoming increasingly unhinged as impeachment implodes like a WTC tower.

Also see:

"A Hawaii man tormented a Utah family for over a year by sending more than 500 people to their house for unwanted services including food deliveries, repairs, tow trucks, locksmiths, plumbers, and prostitutes, according to a US prosecutor who called it “extreme cyberstalking.”

The problem became so severe that they converted to Christianity.

5 dead, 3 hurt in ‘devastating’ Minneapolis high-rise fire

Why didn't it fall into its own footprint at free fall speed?

Warren Wants to Revoke Medals of Honor for Wounded Knee Massacre

She has dropped 14 points since she had the temerity to mention Palestinian deaths regarding Israel's latest war-criminal foray, which is thankfully ongoing (excuse the disgusted sarcasm, please).

Speaking of people who called them out:

Jimmy Carter out of hospital after treatment for brain bleed

Oddly enough, the director is now dead

The chemical inferno in Texas only merited a photograph in the printed piece of slop I bought this morning.


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The World Lead:

Albania starts to grasp earthquake toll

Below it was a photo of French farmers snarling traffic with tractors in protest.

Next to it:

"The EU Commission president said Wednesday that her ambitious agenda at the head of the European Union’s executive will center on the “existential issue” of battling climate change so the EU can continue to be a leader on global warming......"

Yeah, forget about that early winter.

"Protesters angry over government-set gasoline prices spiking in Iran attacked hundreds of banks, police outposts, and gas stations in the demonstrations, Tehran acknowledged Wednesday as its supreme leader alleged without evidence that a “conspiracy” involving the United States caused the unrest. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the comment while addressing members of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force, which help put down the demonstrations. Meanwhile, one lawmaker was quoted as saying authorities arrested more than 7,000 people over the protests while a security official claimed demonstrators attempted to take over Iranian state television. The remarks represent the latest swing in the response by Iran’s Shi’ite theocracy to the protests, which has seen officials either downplay or demonize demonstrators. Unlike the 2009 Green Movement protests over Iran’s disputed presidential election, or its 2017 economic protests, demonstrations this month rapidly turned violent within a day, showing the boiling anger of many as the country’s economy struggles under renewed US sanctions. Iran’s government still hasn’t offered any statistics on injuries, arrests, or deaths in the protests and security crackdown that followed government-set gasoline prices rising Nov. 15. Amnesty International said it believes the violence killed at least 143 people, which Iran disputes without offering any evidence to support its claims. In comments reported by state media, Khamenei said the Iranian people extinguished “a very dangerous deep conspiracy that cost so much money and effort.” He praised the police, the Guard, and the Basij for “entering the field and carrying out their task in a very difficult confrontation.” Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, described the protests as being orchestrated by “global arrogance,” which he often uses to refer to the United States, “and Zionists.” He described the United States as seeing the price hikes as an ‘‘opportunity’’ to bring their ‘‘troops’’ to the field but the ‘‘move was destroyed by the people.’’

My simple commentary regarding the above is how lame and ludicrous the AmeriKan pre$$ has become. The lead war liars for the AmeriKan Empire hollering conspiracy and citing lack of evidence. That's rich! 

I guess we can all see where this is going. I'm wondering which American city will be selected for the mushroom-cloud false flag. My bet is Chicago. If "they" can attack the heartland, none of us are safe, right?

I also would like to note the Juman rights group Amnesty rushing in on time with an agenda-advancing report.

Related:

Amnesty: Egypt uses prosecution branch to crush dissent

My sense there is that Sissi has not yet signed up for the Iran campaign, and thus the report and article above appear in my printed paper.

"Prime Minister Hun Sen has responded positively to a letter from President Trump that encouraged him to promote democracy and improve strained relations between the two countries. A letter from Hun Sen, dated Tuesday and shared online Wednesday by members of his government, accepted Trump’s invitation to a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders in the United States early next year, as well as an offer for the two countries’ foreign policy teams to hold talks. Washington has long criticized Hun Sen’s government for its poor record on democratic and human rights. Hun Sen, in power for 34 years, has accused the United States of seeking ‘‘regime change’’ to oust him. Trump’s Nov. 1 letter assured Hun Sen that the United States does not seek regime change. The president counseled Hun Sen to ‘‘put Cambodia back on the path of democratic governance.’’

I've given up on that stooge as he mouths the platitudes of the Deep State.

"Pope Francis has tapped a Bank of Italy executive to take over the Vatican’s financial intelligence unit following a scandal that resulted in the Vatican being suspended from an international anti-money-laundering network....."

That is the flip side of the centuries-old child sex abuse, the questions about the Vatican’s "murky finances" concealing money-laundering operations. So what do they do? Hire an insider!

Netanyahu unleashes populist fury over indictments as party members back away

I really don't care about Israeli politics and which blood-pouring-from-the-fangs Zionist frontman is in charge, but I understand why the pre$$ is so interested.

Of course, findings by psychologists suggest that religion may reduce violent antisocial behavior (they must be crazy given the history of the Crusades as well as the rise of ISIS™ and Al-CIA-Duh). 

Hong Kong police to enter campus to clear hazardous items

My attitude with the Chinese on that is do what you have to do.

Bodies of victims found in UK truck repatriated to Vietnam

They have been delivered to God and were sent by UPS:

"UPS employees allegedly ran massive drug shipment operation, evading authorities for a decade" by Arelis R. Hernández Washington Post, November 27, 2019

TUCSON, Ariz. — A group of United Parcel Service employees allegedly helped import and traffic massive amounts of drugs and counterfeit vaping oils from Mexico during the past decade, part of a scheme that exploited a vulnerability in the company’s distribution system, according to police.

The lucrative operation at times involved moving thousands of pounds of marijuana and narcotics each week from narco-traffickers into the US to destinations across the country, using standard cardboard boxes that were carefully routed through the private carrier’s trucking and delivery systems, authorities said. The cash the operation generated was used to buy opulent homes, vacations, properties, and luxury vehicles, detectives said.

Four UPS employees have been charged with drug trafficking in state court, and court records show that at least 11 people — including two UPS supervisors and drivers — have been arrested in the past two weeks on a slew of state charges stemming from the decade-long investigation by a task force of local, state, and federal law enforcement.

Investigators from the Counter Narcotics Alliance said accused ringleader Mario Barcelo — a 20-year UPS employee and dispatch supervisor — used a simple method to obscure the origin and destination of drug shipments, a tactic they worry could be replicated by other UPS employees and other drug-trafficking organizations.

Authorities said Barcelo, 49, used his position as a supervisor in the Tucson distribution facility to ensure known drug shipments were loaded onto the correct trucks and were delivered on time to their destinations without any interference or drug interdiction, bypassing security measures the employees knew well.

Attempts to reach Barcelo were unsuccessful, and it is unclear whether has a lawyer, as none was listed on publicly available court records in the case.

Tucson-area law enforcement had been tracking Barcelo since at least 2009, but Kaderly said detectives were frustrated for years that the company did not work more ‘‘proactively’’ with them to intercept and prevent the suspected criminal behavior. Barcelo was arrested Nov. 13.

‘‘He’s been able to provide this service to drug traffickers without being detected both internally and externally by law enforcement for years,’’ said Tucson Police Sergeant William Kaderly. ‘‘They’ve been doing it for so long that they were truly comfortable that they were never going to get caught.’’

UPS declined to answer questions about the suspected ‘‘vulnerability,’’ as police described it, in its internal delivery system, [and] said in a statement that the company is cooperating with law enforcement officials but that the company is ‘‘not at liberty to discuss the details of the arrests as this is an ongoing investigation.’’

Might as well keep tracking it.

The Arizona attorney general’s office, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment. Some of the defendants were arraigned this week, but prosecutors have withheld specific details of the investigation from public court record because more arrests are expected soon. Some of the indictments have been sealed, police said.

Barcelo and his alleged associates expanded the operation over time, transitioning from delivering marijuana to dealing in more valuable drugs and vaping pens. Similar black market vaping pens and oils have been linked to the deadly outbreak of lung disease that has sickened nearly 2,300 people and killed 47 nationwide.

This should put a dent in things, 'eh?

The drug-ring operators, who allegedly learned how to bypass all security systems, were shipping several thousand pounds of drugs a week at the peak of operation, increasing profits the farther east the packages were delivered, Kaderly said.

‘‘Their sales pitch was that because of who Barcelo was at UPS, he could make sure your package will make it out without anyone finding it,’’ he said. ‘‘He had face time with traffickers.’’

In one instance in 2017, investigators said they learned of a shipment but were prevented from entering a UPS distribution facility in Tuscon to investigate and intercept it. UPS spokesman Matthew O’Connor declined to provide details about the case, referring questions back to ‘‘law enforcement personnel.’’

The company also  that the alleged conspirators used to carry out their enterprise.

Charging documents obtained by The Washington Post show that progress in the case did not come until 2017, when detectives identified some of the UPS drivers who were allegedly involved in the scheme and got investigators inside UPS’s fraud and security divisions to help.

Undercover officers posing as drug traffickers contacted Barcelo’s associates to ship parcels containing sham cocaine and cash over several months in 2018 and 2019. Investigators also placed GPS trackers inside the boxes, documenting the packages’ movement from the homes of the individuals charged in the conspiracy to the UPS hub and out for delivery.

Police also tapped the phones of UPS employees and collected video footage of the group as they coordinated using the WhatsApp messaging app for the loading, handling, shipping, and retrieval of cash and boxes from undercover agents, authorities said.

Along with Barcelo, UPS supervisor Gary Love, 40, and drivers Michael Castro, 34, and Thomas Mendoza, 47, face charges of money laundering, drug possession, and drug distribution. Seven others are facing charges related to the shipping of the drugs and operating stash houses for the illicit materials.

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I wonder if they had help tracking deliveries from the DEA.

Related:

Drug industry quashed DEA efforts to block opioids

They even have a judge to protect them.


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"In Florida and elsewhere, GOP pressured over climate change" by Bobby Caina Calvan Associated Press, November 27, 2019

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — With its 1,350 miles of coastline, Florida faces some of the starkest risks from rising oceans. Higher global temperatures bring extreme weather conditions, including more intense and destructive hurricanes. Miami and other cities could find themselves submerged as glaciers melt into the oceans.

Now the connection between storms and "climate change" is unchallenged and unquestioned in my agenda-pu$hing po$, yet the rich keep building beachfront homes and resorts.

Forty-six percent of Florida midterm voters said they were very concerned about climate change, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 3,700 midterm voters in Florida. Among Florida independents, 51 percent expressed great concern, slightly higher than independents nationally.

As if pre$$ polls were to be believed.

“Republicans have figured out that if you get caught crossways on the environment, you could very well lose an election. That’s how important the issue is to Floridians of all stripes,” said Susan MacManus, a former political science professor at the University of South Florida.

PFFFT!

The state’s rising population is pushing development and asphalt deeper into once-rural areas. Fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals are flowing into creeks, rivers, lakes, and eventually into the waters that surround the Florida peninsula, further damaging coral reefs and putting sensitive ocean life at risk.

One sign of Republicans’ shift is former governor Rick Scott, now a US senator. Many environmental groups accuse him of mostly ignoring the issue during his eight years in Tallahassee. In February, Scott acknowledged in an opinion piece that climate change “is real and requires real solutions.”

Yeah, he got to Wa$hington and the globalist Deep State absorbed him like a Borg.

While Trump has discouraged federal agencies from prioritizing preparation for changes, Governor Ron DeSantis has cast himself as Florida’s environmentalist-in-chief. Two days after taking office, the new governor pledged to invest $2.5 billion during his four-year term — a billion dollar increase from his predecessor’s final four years in office — to protect water resources and help restore the Everglades, the largest ecosystem restoration project in the US.

Florida’s environment — its beaches, swamps, woods, and abundant sunshine — is a fundamental pillar of the state economy, generating billions in tourism and agriculture dollars, said Noah Valenstein, the secretary of Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection.

How that helping the environment? What is the carbon footprint of all the airports?

It's not about "climate change" or rising seas, it's about $$$$ -- as is everything else in my pre$$.

Also see: A lethal disease is devastating the state’s citrus industry

It is the end of Florida orange juice! 

“What you see in Florida is an independent streak, a belief that the environment is important,” Valenstein said. “We as a state have determined that this is a top issue and we’re going to take that on.”

So say's Valenstein, and why then did he DeSantis hold a cabinet meeting in Israel?

How did that help the existential cause of climate change?

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The next page brought this

Two years after hurricanes, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands say they’re desperate for help

They have waited this long so..... what's a little longer?


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Almost time to eat:

Baker shortens e-cigarette ban but signs law restricting sales of flavored tobacco, vaping products

If you can see through the smokescreen you will see how idiotically authorities have handled this. They are banning flavored tobacco, but not all of it. Vapes will be available for (with a new 75% surtax) for smokers and medical marijuana patients, but not for recreational marijuana users. 

WTF?

Made me lose my appetite for more Globe fare:

This Mass. nonprofit makes Thanksgiving feasts for people with dietary restrictions

Bob’s Turkey Farm, purveyor of the Thanksgiving works, rebounds after 2016 fire

Bridge construction mishap kills worker, injures another in Haverhill

Blame gluttony, not the turkey, for post meal sleepiness, a Tufts dietitian says

77 years later, the mystery of the Cocoanut Grove fire remains unsolved

New England news in brief

SWAT officers saw ‘payback’ written on wall in murder victims’ condo

Framingham men recover wedding ring lost on N.H. mountain

Man arrested on gun charges after he was seen running from scene of Roxbury shooting

Allegedly impaired driver strikes car while trying to pass school bus in Walpole, police say

Weymouth gas project gets final federal OK

That last item had no smell (it didn't appear in print, readers). 

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$ome will be thankful this Thanksgiving:

"Judge throws out some convictions in Insys opioid marketing case" by Jonathan Saltzman Globe Staff, November 27, 2019

A federal judge in Boston has tossed some of the convictions of four former Insys Therapeutics executives who were found guilty of conspiring to get doctors to prescribe a highly addictive opioid painkiller, but the judge allowed convictions of all four on other criminal charges to stand — convictions that still carry a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

In a blow to prosecutors, US District Judge Allison D. Burroughs on Tuesday overturned the convictions of Insys founder and former billionaire John N. Kapoor and three former executives for violating the federal Controlled Substances Act and for offering bribes and kickbacks that deprived people of “honest services.”

Burroughs concluded that prosecutors failed to prove at the Boston trial that Kapoor and three other defendants — Richard Simon, Sunrise Lee, and Joseph Rowan — persuaded doctors and other health care providers to prescribe the painkiller to patients who didn’t need it.

Sunrise Lee was a former stripper brought on to woo clients, and I am astonished at the level of influence and raw power that pharmaceuticals wield.

She didn’t dispute that pain specialists received fees through a speakers program if they prescribed the under-the-tongue fentanyl spray Subsys, and received higher fees if they prescribed higher doses. The defendants’ behavior “was reprehensible and designed to financially incentivize health care practitioners to prescribe Subsys without regard for the best interests of their patients,” she wrote in an 85-page ruling, but convicting someone of conspiring to illegally distribute a controlled substance “requires more than an ‘intentional failure to adhere to the standard of care,’ ” she wrote, quoting case law. “The threshold for criminal liability is when a physician ‘ceases to be a physician at all’ ’’ and acts more like a drug dealer, she said.

WELL?

Testimony at the 10-week trial indicated that some patients had a legitimate need for Subsys, which was approved in 2012 to treat cancer pain that could not be relieved by other medicines.

What about the patients that didn't have a need?

They were prescribed Subsys as Insys employees allegedly lied to health insurers about patients’ symptoms to get them to cover Subsys for people without cancer

Burroughs didn’t disturb the convictions of the four former executives on mail fraud and wire fraud. Each of those convictions carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Burroughs wrote that instead of seeking convictions under the laws dealing with controlled substances and honest services fraud, the government “could have easily proved bribery, but it elected not to charge bribes or kickbacks and now must live with that decision.”

As opposed to the families of the hundreds of thousands of victims.

Thanks, judge!

A spokeswoman for US Attorney Andrew E. Lelling said prosecutors had no comment.

He's on to the next thing.

The criminal trial was believed to be the first of pharmaceutical executives who marketed an opioid painkiller since the nation’s deadly epidemic began.

The jury deliberated four weeks before reaching its verdict in May. Two jurors said afterward that they were horrified when they saw that Insys had produced a slick, thumping music video that was played in court.

Inspired by a song by A$AP Rocky, it featured two Insys salesmen rapping about increasing the dose of Subsys. It was intended to motivate the Chandler, Ariz., company’s staff to get doctors to prescribe higher amounts of the drug.

Insys filed for bankruptcy protection in June, five days after striking a $225 million settlement with the Justice Department to settle criminal and civil cases against the company.....

They used to call that a kickback.

--more--"

Remember, the crisis is in vaping!

Not even safe in your own home anymore.

Yeah, so run out there and buy a refrigerator.

"US economy looking durable despite risks from trade conflict" by Martin Crutsinger Associated Press, November 27, 2019

WASHINGTON — A series of government reports Wednesday cast a picture of a steadily growing US economy, fueled by solid consumer spending and defying threats — at least for now — from a US-China trade war and a global slowdown.

The Commerce Department estimated that the economy grew at a moderate 2.1 percent annual rate over the summer, slightly better than it had previously estimated. Other reports showed stronger consumer spending and a rebound in orders for big-ticket manufactured goods.

Many analysts worry that GDP growth is slipping, but most say the slowdown won’t likely be as severe as it might have been because consumers, who drive about 70 percent of the economy, are signaling that they will likely keep spending through the holiday shopping season and into next year. That spending is being supported by rising incomes and an unemployment rate that is near the lowest levels in a half century.

So we are told despite the lowest labor participation rate since 1964.

Economists said the flurry of reports depict an economy that is regaining its footing after absorbing threats this year, from the global slowdown to the intensifying trade war with China, which has perpetuated uncertainties for businesses. The stock market has set record highs on optimism that at least a preliminary US-China trade agreement can be reached soon..... 

Not after Trump signed Hong Kong bill -- although I will bet they will interfere on his behalf in 2020.

--more--"

Say goodbye to the record highs of the $tock market.


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Madonna cancels three Boston shows that were scheduled to start this weekend

People still go to see that over-the-hill skank?

Celebs flock to David Ortiz’s annual charity golf event

The bold-faced names included Hall of Famers from three sports: Former Red Sox left fielder Jim Rice, former Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez, and former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin repped the MLB, while former Miami Heat center Alonzo Mourning and former Celtics shooting guard Ray Allen repped the NBA. Also at the event were a trio of NFLers enshrined in Canton, in former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence “LT” Taylor, former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Warren Sapp.

The shooting has been forgotten, and it is nice to see LTSapp and Lewis there.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, dear reader.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Sunday Globe Glass of Juice

They poured it at the bottom of page A8, but the pulp was in the ads:

"Authorities warn scam uses public USB chargers to steal private information" by Drew Jones Washington Post, November 23, 2019

Many thoughts can go through your mind at the airport as your phone’s battery dwindles from green to yellow to red. How is it already dead? What if I can’t call Uber when I land? Where is my charger? But when you find a place to plug in and charge, it may not be as simple — or safe — as you think.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is warning travelers using Los Angeles International Airport of a new scheme targeting people who need a quick boost at public USB charging stations. The USB charging scam, also known as ‘‘juice jacking,” involves hackers spoofing charging stations to steal information.

Similar to credit-card skimming, fake charging stations are set up via port or cable, and unknowing users who plug into them expose their devices to malware attacks that can lock their devices and export sensitive contents such as passwords and bank account numbers into the hands of waiting information thieves.....

Meaning the U.S. government and the tech companies it works hand in glove with, as well as allies like Israel and Britain.

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Went to the grocery store for more on page A16:

"When the only grocery in a deep red town closed, the city opened its own store. Just don’t call it ‘socialism.’ by Antonia Noori Farzan Washington Post, November 23, 2019

BALDWIN, Fla. — Abandoned by mainstream supermarkets whose business models don’t have room for low profit margins, both urban and rural communities nationwide have turned to resident-owned co-ops or nonprofits to fill the gap, but Baldwin is trying something different. At the Baldwin Market, which opened its doors on Sept. 20, all of the employees are on the municipal payroll, from the butcher to the cashiers. Workers from the town’s maintenance department take breaks from cutting grass to help unload deliveries, and residents flag down the mayor when they want to request a specific type of milk.

‘‘We’re not trying to make a profit,’’ Mayor Sean Lynch said in a recent interview. ‘‘We’re trying to cover our expenses, and keep the store running. Any money that’s made after that will go into the town in some way.’’

Though Lynch knew of no other municipally owned grocery stores when he brought the idea to the Town Council, Baldwin isn’t alone. A similar experiment is underway in St. Paul, Kansas, which has had a city-run grocery store since 2013. David Procter, who directs the Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University, said that another city-owned grocery store will open in Caney, Kansas, in the spring, and at least one other town in the state is considering following suit.

Many small-town grocers are reaching retirement age, and it’s tough for communities with dwindling populations to attract new residents when there’s no supermarket nearby. Consequently, Procter says, ‘‘Food access becomes almost like a utility that you have to have for the town to exist.’’

I'm going to stop in the WaComPost aisle for a minute there and just ponder how government's record regarding regulation of utilities and all the ince$tuous corruption that is inbred in those halls.

This is almost like AntiChrist/End Times stuff where the government controls the supply of food. The same government that overlooks GMOs, chemical pesticides, and fertilizer potions leaking into the soil and water, etc.

I get what they are driving at in the article. It's making the Third Worldization and gentrification of America commonplace and "normal" as we become Romania.

I don't have any answers for you other than to grow your garden for as long as they allow you.

Notably, these experiments in communal ownership are taking place in deep-red parts of the country where the word ‘‘socialism’’ is anathema. “You expect to hear about this in a place like the People’s Republic of Massachusetts,” joked Brian Lang, the director of the National Campaign for Healthy Food Access at The Food Trust, but in many rural, conservative communities struggling to hang on to their remaining residents, ideological arguments about the role of government tend to be cast aside as grocery stores shutter due to population decline and competition from superstores.

‘‘Fundamentally, what you have is people that have lived in these rural communities all their lives, and they want these rural communities to survive,’’ Procter said. “And they realize that without access to food, they’re not going to survive.”

I once again stop to ponder the inane statements and insults coming out of the WaComPo's pie hole. I don't think hunger is a joke here in the "People's Republic of Ma$$achu$etts." The fact is, the state government is nothing more than a corporate kleptocracy with the politicians running interference for them.

As for access to food in the rural conservative communities (what is with the endless stereotyping by the jew$paper anyway?), I will simply point out that where do you think the food is grown? As a proud and embarrassed member of such a community, there are still a couple of local family farm stands where you can get great produce. I know most of the nation's heartland is all Big Agra, but the contradiction in the agenda-pushing swill remains untouched.

By definition, a collectively owned, government-run enterprise like the Baldwin Market is inherently socialist, but Lynch, who has a nonpartisan position but governs a town where 68 percent of residents voted for Donald Trump in 2016, doesn’t see it that way. From his point of view, the town is just doing what it’s supposed to do: providing services to residents who already pay enough in taxes.

I agree with that last statement; however, I no longer know what the terms socialist, conservative, liberal, right, left, etc, etc, mean anymore. Such things are thrown around and thrown out there so often they have become devoid of meaning. They are meant to frame your perception, nothing more. They have no connection with ongoing reality at all. 

Some might even call it FAKE NEWS!

‘‘We take the water out of the ground and we pump it to your house and charge you,’’ he said. ‘‘So what’s the difference with a grocery store?’’

Well, I present Flint and Newark as exhibit A and B. 

Good luck with the food.

With quiet streets, 11 churches, and a water tower that dominates the horizon, Baldwin has more in common with the farming communities to its west than with downtown Jacksonville to its east. About 12 years ago, local officials who were desperate for a supermarket agreed to build a store on a vacant lot the town owned so that they’d have an easier time attracting grocers. That solution worked until 2018, when the IGA shut down.

The town tried to find another tenant, but the 10,000-square-foot store was too small for a Winn-Dixie or Walmart, and too big for mom-and-pop grocers. Raising property taxes was a non-starter, which meant that so, too, was luring retailers with generous incentives.

No one wanted to bet on a brick-and-mortar that has to bribe Big Bu$ine$$ to come to town.

Lynch, a retired Navy veteran who grew up in New York, moved to Baldwin with his family in the 1980s when he was stationed in Jacksonville. They decided to stay for the strong public schools and small-town feel, and, after getting out of the service, Lynch went into the restaurant business. Already familiar with drawing up business plans and negotiating with suppliers, he didn’t find it too much of a stretch to do the same for the shuttered grocery store when it closed last year.

Over the summer, after holding several workshops, the Town Council approved a $150,000 loan from a reserve fund to get the Baldwin Market up and running. There wasn’t much hesitation about getting into the grocery business, Lynch says, since just about everyone was frustrated with the lack of options. The IGA’s former manager gladly took her old job back.

Making the supermarket an extension of City Hall did come with some bureaucratic hassles. It was crucial that the store accept EBT cards, which allow welfare recipients to receive benefits, but when Lynch began filling out the paperwork, he was confounded by the fields asking for the first and last name of the person who owned the store. There was no one owner, he explained over the phone to officials in Atlanta — the store belonged to the town.

So far, though, the experiment has been a success. The Town Council had hoped to take in $3,500 a day, and sales have routinely exceeded that, Lynch says. About 1,600 people — roughly the equivalent of the town’s population — stopped in during opening weekend, according to The Florida Times-Union, and the market sold out of meat. Eight employees, all residents, were hired at the outset; the town recently brought on two more people to help out during the busy holiday season.....

That's when I checked out.

--more--"

Related:

5 states resisting creation of panels to promote the census

It's the usual suspects for the usual reasons, and did you know that California stands to lose a seat in Congress?

Also see: 

His White House engulfed, Trump keeps California in the crosshairs

Nothing but hot air from the New York Times there.

This is what has engulfed the Globe the last three weeks:

"After an extraordinary week, Trump maintains total innocence, putting Republicans in awkward spot" by Liz Goodwin Globe Staff, November 23, 2019

WASHINGTON — After a disastrous week of impeachment hearings, with a somber parade of witnesses implicating him on national television, President Trump assumed a familiar posture: total denial.

They are referring to the call into the friendly territory of the “Fox & Friends” morning TV show last Friday, and it looks to me like it's the Globe that is in denial. Have they been watching any of that farce

Their desperation at the failure and flop of impeachment is shown by the the accusations of conspiracy theories that are putting our democracy in peril as they flip the script regarding Ukrainian interference in 2016. The White House e-mails have turned up nothing impeachable, only "unflattering exchanges and facts that could at a minimum embarrass the president over an unfounded theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 US presidential election," according to the Washington Post.

So what do they do? 

Go after Nunes

Attack the other guy instead! 

Classic diversion tactic!

They are trying to tie him to that former federal prosecutor and 9/11 conspirator and collaborator who destroyed a crime scene through the Jewish mafia thugs he hired (in fact, the whole impeachment seems to be a Jewish affair).

Furthermore, you turn the attention back to Mueller and charges of obstruction as the "whistleblower" fades into oblivion and falls off the edge of the world.

Trump’s extreme denials can put some of his Republican allies in an uncomfortable position, as they attempt to rebuke sworn testimony with the same stamina and enthusiasm as the president. While he is highly unlikely to be removed from office by the GOP-controlled Senate if the House votes to impeach him, Trump still has to convince voters in the coming election that he did nothing wrong, even as they are exposed to more testimony suggesting the very opposite.....

Shouldn't the testimony do more than "suggest the opposite" on such a grave political matter?

And you wonder why I am rarely buying or reading the Clintonista rag anymore?

--more--"

Hungry for more? 

No? 

Maybe this will help:

"Inside the Walmart of Weed: From rural Canada, Big Marijuana seeks to dominate global market" by Naomi Martin Globe Staff, November 23, 2019

SMITHS FALLS, Ontario — The skunky, floral smell of growing marijuana is everywhere, from the parking lot outside the cavernous warehouse, to the lobby, even inside the coffee nook where employees take a break.

RelatedAfter rodent video goes viral, Dunkin’ Donuts in East Boston’s Maverick Square is being sued

Maybe you should go to Cumberland Farms instead.

The building itself is a chocolate brown box that once housed a Hershey’s candy factory. In just one wing, a labyrinth of white halls links seemingly endless rows of windowless rooms, some the size of a school gymnasium, with fields of cannabis inside growing under bright white and yellow lights.

Workers wheel carts piled high with bales of green buds. In large open-floor production rooms, assembly lines of machinery pump out pot products, scores of perfectly rolled joints from the silver fingers of one, slews of red pills for medical marijuana patients in Germany spilling from another.

Welcome to the Walmart of Weed.

With Canada the largest nation to completely legalize marijuana, the world’s most valuable pot company, Canopy Growth Corp., has set up shop in this rural town seven hours northwest of Boston.

Already Big Alcohol, Big Tobacco, and Big Pharma have bought their way into Canopy and other marijuana companies, and, like those longstanding giants, the new cannabis corporations are spending millions of dollars lobbying for laws that let them sell large volumes of potentially addictive products. Even in the Holy Land of marijuana — Jamaica — Canopy and other Canadian companies have contracted with local businesses to gain a foothold in the nation’s new medical market, anticipating a day when they can export ganja from the home of Bob Marley, while small traditional cannabis farmers are struggling to meet regulatory requirements.

“We’re seeing almost exactly the same thing” with marijuana as with tobacco and alcohol, said Dr. Sharon Levy, who runs the adolescent substance use program at Boston Children’s Hospital.

That's the first expert the Globe turns to, proving that are really against marijuana and represents the pharmaceuticals and other interests with their skewed and hyperbolic coverage as they try to help.

As with cigarettes, advertising for marijuana is sharply limited in Canada and the United States, but pot companies have found ways around such rules using sleek videos on social media. Canopy, for example, has announced ventures with celebrities Drake, Seth Rogen, Martha Stewart, and Snoop Dogg. Its new line with Drake was promoted on the rapper’s Instagram page, which has nearly 62 million followers.

Massachusetts has tried to limit corporate domination in the pot business, but as the Globe Spotlight Team reported earlier this year, some bigger pot operators have tried to skirt the state’s cap on licenses and exploit the mandate to foster a diverse industry by recruiting minority entrepreneurs to serve as the local face of the company while maintaining substantial control over the businesses. Companies have also hired former politicians and consultants to help them win coveted permits from municipalities.

Yeah, the Globe is sifting through all the chaff even as the Ma$$achu$etts model once lauded by progressives is now seen as an example of what not to do as you wait for your federal subpoena from the guy who said he would be hands off!  

Of course, "the system has long cried out for a legislative fix, but even when confronted with obvious abuses, state lawmakers have moved at a glacial pace to rewrite the law" -- the very same law they wrote at such a glacial pace after giving themselves a pay raise!

Meanwhile, Cronos, another Canadian cannabis company, received a $1.8 billion investment last year from Altria Group, maker of Marlboro and other cigarette brands, giving the tobacco giant a 45 percent stake in the pot company. Both tobacco and marijuana industries see potential in vaping technologies that can appeal to both consumers and regulators, especially given the recent concern over vaping-related lung illnesses.

Funny how the vape "crisis" only appeared after pot legalization reached critical mass. The paucity of deaths compared to the opioids that are being foisted on the American people and the inability to find a cause of the alleged vape illnesses are signs of a deeper agenda at work, one which seeks to kneecap the fledging industry by attacking it's second-best selling product. Think about it. They can't ban the top-selling flower itself. The PR optics would be terrible. You pile a federal subpoena on top of it and what municipality is going to want to open a store?

I predict that within 5 years all pot shops in Ma$$achu$etts will be bankrupt and out of business, with the government having a list of all the shoppers who went there. 

Public health advocates fear such partnerships will inevitably follow a harmful playbook. Levy, the Boston Children’s Hospital pediatrician, co-wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine that she expects marijuana companies to follow a roadmap drawn up by the tobacco industry.

With Canada serving as a model for legalizing marijuana, Canopy has hosted tours for government officials from around the world, giving it an opportunity to pitch looser cannabis laws. That worries activists, who say the Canadian system has shut out smaller businesses.

“Canopy is going around telling every government on Earth, ‘Do it like us, grow the plants in prison-like facilities with big walls and concrete, we know what we’re doing, don’t let in those little people,’ ” said Jodie Emery, a Canadian marijuana activist. “This reeks of cannabis colonialism.”

In Colombia, Lesotho, and other countries, Canopy has acquired local companies or is contracting with them. Those investments, Canopy points out, have provided stable incomes and health insurance to locals who have never had such benefits.

“To us, it’s inherent to always be giving back and always be locally committed,” Zekulin said, adding the company is also working with researchers and doctors in those countries, but activists see such moves as the wealthy further enriching themselves off the poor.

Oh, now they are worried about wealth inequality!

In Jamaica, where medical marijuana is legal and recreational smoking is decriminalized, small-scale cannabis farmers were “hopelessly outgunned” by the Canadian companies’ lawyers and lobbyists looking to exploit the country’s pot-paradise image, said Rolles, the analyst.

“I’m not naive enough to think cannabis can somehow smash the inequities of capitalism, but it is a blank slate,” he said. “If there’s an opportunity to use emerging cannabis markets to build a fairer, more just, less iniquitous market structure, that’s great. We have a responsibility to try to do it better.”

Except when it comes to the banks, pharmaceuticals, and the Military-Industrial War Machine, etc.

--more--"

Related:

"Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and other generic drugmakers have held talks with the Justice Department in the past six months about resolving a long-running criminal antitrust probe of alleged price-fixing by the companies, according to people familiar with the matter. Among the possible outcomes that have been discussed are deferred prosecution agreements in which the companies would admit to certain allegations but would be shielded from indictment in exchange for cooperating with the investigation and paying fines (BLOOMBERG NEWS)."

Also see:

That's AmeriKan JU$TU$ for you!

Let's hope you don't need an operation, 'eh? 

Here is what is behind the curtain:

"They grew up at the Boston Children’s Theatre. Now they look back with alarm" by Zoe Greenberg Globe Staff, November 23, 2019

An invitation to join Burgess Clark’s private advanced acting class at the Boston Children’s Theatre meant you were going places.

Clark, the theater’s esteemed director since 2008, handpicked the 15 or so students he wanted in the class and made it clear he considered them the crème de la crème.

Many of the teenagers were thrilled to be chosen. The group Clark ran could feel like a family: intensely close, competitive, affectionate, and secretive.

Only years later did some former students begin to think more critically about what, exactly, had transpired in those acting classes and in private lessons with Clark.....

After puking I lost interest and didn't pick up the article on page A19.

--more--"

{@@##$$%%^^&&}

Turning into the Sunday Globe I found these on page A2:

Hong Kong unrest turns quiet race into referendum on protests

As soon as I saw the New York Times byline I moved on. I'm later told the democracy backers are winning big and gaining ground after an election landslide despite being thrown in jail.

Egypt unveils mummies of lion cubs, crocodiles, birds

Only problem is the media was not allowed to cover it, and honestly, I'm tired of their whining.

34 killed amid floods, mudslides

2 sentenced for hiding treasure

They tried to get Viking coins through a metal detector, and were able to get the Saxon royal jewels stolen from a German museum through.

The page also contains ads for Na Hoku, Hawaii's Finest Jeweler since 1924, located at the Natick mall; Lux Bond & Green, Jewelers since 1898; and Glama Furs, the largest and finest furrier in the Boston and North Shore area, and their pre-Thanksgiving day sale. 

Page A3 was a full-page as from Blue Cross and Blue Shield reminding us that the deadline for Medicare enrollment is December 7th -- a day that lives in infamy!


{@@##$$%%^^&&}

A4:

Prince Andrew’s friendship with Epstein joins a list of royal scandals

Yeah, the New York Times is going to help us get to the bottom of it all after they sat on him and Weinstein for a decade, same as ABC or NBC with Matt Lauer (looks like there are whistleblowers and then there are whistleblowers according to my $tink pre$$).

Exiled Bolivian leader claims people clamor for him to go home

It's the New York Times version of the coup in Bolivia

So much for democracy, 'eh?

The problem with Morales is he let it happen. As for the rest of South America, I'm told priests abused deaf children at Argentine school as Uruguay’s opposition has narrow lead in presidential vote. Nothing about the protest in Chile, though!

The lower half of the page carries an ad from Cambridge Savings Bank regarding Small Business Saturday, with by a full-page ad on page A5 for Total Wine -- followed by a full-page ad for the New Hampshire Liquor and Wine Outlet (and the answer to Baldwin's grocery!) on page A11. Must be why the Globe is in the weeds and not focusing on alcoholism and drunk driving.

Flip to page A6 and the left-hand half of the page is an ad for Boston Logan from Massport, while the right hand side is nothing but graffiti from Senegal and an ad for dental implants by Dr. Rothenberg.

Page A7 is a full-page ad for Sandals. Page A9 a full-page ad for Stanford Health Care, while the lower half of page A10 brings me ads for One Kings Lane and Como Audio.

The upper half of page A10 contains these items:

"Mass women’s protest in Paris denounces domestic violence" by Angela Charlton and Thibault Camus Associated Press, November 23, 2019

PARIS — Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Paris on Saturday to demand a national wake-up call and more government investment to prevent deadly domestic violence against women, a problem that President Emmanuel Macron calls “France’s shame.”

A wave of purple flags and signs snaked from the Place de l’Opera through eastern Paris amid an unprecedented public campaign to decry violence against women — and to honor the 130 women that activists say have been killed in France this year by a current or former partner. That’s about one every two or three days.

I'm not minimizing the issue which has been lost amongst the #MeToo furor; however, I'm sick and tired of nothing but agenda-pushing, controlled opposition protest appearing in my paper.

We are the concerns for the women killed in imperial wars for the state of USrael, huh? Where is that concern? Where is the concern for the women of Yemen and Palestine?

While France has a progressive reputation and pushes for women’s rights around the world, it has among the highest rates in Europe of domestic violence, in part because of poor police response to reports of abuse. Many of the women killed this year had previously sought help from police.

PFFFT!

At Saturday’s march — one of the biggest demonstrations this year in Paris — French film and TV stars joined abuse victims and activists calling for an end to “femicide.” Many held banners reading “Sick of Rape.”

The protest came on the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and is aimed at pressuring the French government before it unveils new measures Monday to tackle the problem.

La Libertines!

The measures are expected to include seizing firearms from people suspected of domestic violence and prioritizing police training so they won’t brush off women’s complaints as a private affair.

Oh, they are using women as human shields to disarm you after you have become accustomed to her face!

“We live in a culture that finds excuses for assailants,” Alyssa Ahrabare, spokeswoman for activist group Osez le Féminisme (Try feminism), told The Associated Press.....

Yeah, but it's okay for war criminals to wander around.

The fact that this protest is in the paper proves its controlled opposition crap, as opposed to a real protest that is virtually ignored.

No wonder Macron wants your guns.

--more--"

Oddly enough, to the left of that piece is this:

French officials: Nun’s attire allowed in retirement home

God help us all, 'eh?

I'm sure there is an art to the irrelevant filler and garbage.


{@@##$$%%^^&&}

Page A12 is a full-page ad for Philadelphia Cream Cheese (paper is becoming), while the bottom half of page A14 brings a Black Friday Sale from Gym Source.

The upper-half of page A14 contains these:

"Mike Pence makes unannounced visit to Iraq" by Alissa J. Rubin and Falih Hassan New York Times, November 23, 2019

What a surprise!

BAGHDAD — Iran, which sees the uprising in Iraq as a threat that has encouraged a similar movement at home, has advocated a tough response. The United States has lobbied against that approach, encouraging Iraq to work with the nonviolent protesters, but has taken the same view as Iran toward the prime minister.

A pair of color revolution, regime-change destabilization campaigns. Not only did the NYT basically confirm it in not as many words, but its so damn obvious given the pre$$ concern and past history regarding their selective coverage of overseas events.

Unlike Iran, the United States wants to see reforms made in the Iraqi system to root out corruption and create an electoral system that is less dominated by sectarian apolitical parties that tend to divide up the spoils and do little to represent the people.

What you need to do there is switch Iran and The United States around. Then the paragraph reads right.

The web version of the article added this:

Less than 24 hours before Pence’s arrival, a rocket was fired at Green Zone, the location of the US Embassy.....

An obvious false flag, since it was an unannounced and surprise visit. 

Think about that for a minute. 16 years after Bush initiated a war of aggression based on lies the AmeriKan visit president still has to serendipitously slip into the country because it is not secure. 

Can you say failure, dear reader -- at least as far as the professed goals for the war criminal aggression?

When one realizes it was to really further the PNAC plan and carve the place up to the liking of the USraeli hegemon, then it is a grand success.

--more--"

Speaking of war crimes, at least the Globe knows wrong from right:

Navy may expel SEAL, defying Trump

Dear readers, I am in a vortex of cognitive disassociation when it comes to my pre$$. The so-called "debate" has reached absurd proportions of insanity. He's pardoning war criminals. That's his constitutional prerogative. What the Navy is doing is insubordination. This all comes after the Democrats unanimously passed an extension of the Patriot Act for a president they are impeaching for abuse of power. Whirling at warp speed, Mr Sulu!

Even more telling is its placement as the most important item in the whole world the next day and Esper saying Trump ordered him to stop the SEAL review board (that soldier should have enlisted in the Coast Guard instead).

Rather than focus on small fish, when are the big fish -- Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Obama, Clinton, Kerry, et al -- going to be held accountable, as well as the blood-drenched mouthpiece media that continues to blare war lies from its pages?

Page A14 ads: A craft festival in Wilmington next weekend, Gradner Mattress, and Window World. 

Page A15 ads: Susan Bailis Assisted Living, Ramble Market Rug Sale, and the Greater Boston Food Bank. 

Page A16 ads: Wheels for Wishes, National Office Furniture, Karl's Sausage Kitchen, and a statement from the Globe | store, a handbag that says #FactsMatter truth B told (with the Boston Globe B, how $elf-$ervingly pompous and arrogant. Self-appointed arbiters of the dogma they call truth!).

I think it was at that point that I realized the Globe isn't being written for me based on the ads that appear in its pages.


{@@##$$%%^^&&}

Page A17:

Airlines and veterans riled by conduct unbecoming a support dog

It's the New York Times calling you to attention, TEN-HUT, WOOF-WOOF!

Make sure you charge your phone before arriving at the airport.

The bottom half of the page is an ad for Northeast Home & Energy, while the upper right quadrant contains ads from BU, East Coast Auto Transit, and 3DayBlinds.

A18:

Carcass of giant blue whale brought to surface for study

It was just a Shell of itself as it washed ashore, and at least it was a Green Death.

So when is the pollution of the ocean going to become a crime?

Bottom half page A19: ads for Globe Santa Comedy Night and the Boston Common Tree Lighting, while the bottom half of page A20 contains ads for the Globe's LoveLetters whore and  the Globe Seeing Red in a Globe Event supported by Cross Insurance.

The upper half of page A20 brings me this smoke from the New York Times: 

Juul says its focus was smokers, but former employees say it targeted young nonsmokers

How appropriate that when the page is turned the seven page obituary section begins, eh?

Oddly enough, this next item was left out of the printed paper and she could well appear in the obituary section shortly:

Ginsburg hospitalized for treatment of chills and fever

She has been discharged and is back hearing oral arguments.

{@@##$$%%^^&&}

Metro

B1:

Warren persists despite cold at town hall

Tough Lizzie is no longer leading the pack after she was the only candidate to note Palestinian deaths in Israel's latest war criminal foray into Gaza (not even Bernie mentioned them).

RelatedSuffolk/Globe poll finds Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, Biden in tight race in N.H.

They are not considering Deval Patrick (not way Globe made it sound in Metro section) even as the Globe welcomes him with open arms.

Governor Charlie Baker says he doesn’t need to ride the T. He’s wrong

The Globe basically admits the last few months of coverage was about raising taxes for the urgent problem(?), and whatever you do, stay off your cell phone on the Mass. Pike:

Auditing firm hands over RMV records to Legislature

The article by Abigail Feldman reports that "on WGBH, Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack told host Jim Braude that the Baker administration had urged Grant Thornton from the beginning to make the records available to lawmakers, and that doing so “was the right thing to do,” she said. “As of today, they have turned those over,” she said. When pressed about whether or not anyone outside the Registry was aware of the years of neglect, Pollack said the review showed no evidence of that. “Hopefully the fact that we have been able to jump on it in three months convinces people that we didn’t know about it,” she said."

Can you believe that sagging skank is pushing that cover story?

Yup, nobody knew, just like the decades-long scandal at the state police. 

What she is saying is there will be no accountability for incompetence, corruption, and criminal covering-up here in Ma$$achu$etts.

State Police use Boston Dynamics’ robotic dogs

That article makes my point. After exposing the state police scandal, the Globe is now running public relations garbage and cover for them. I know prosecutions are risky, but.... have fun taking the "dog" for a walk on the Freedom Trail.

Meanwhile, out in the streets:

Sandwich man who seriously injured firefighter in hit-and-run sentenced

Plymouth kicks off Thanksgiving with annual parade

After the slaughter of Native Americans?

WTF?

Isn't it time to time to erase them from our history like the Confederates of Civil War and embrace the holiday in a new way?

(Btw, in a ‘rare case where racial biases’ protected African-Americans3 Maryland men were exonerated after 36 years in prison).

Providence streets used to crackle with gunfire, but police tactics changed and violence dropped. Here’s how.

Bo$ton needs some help.

B2:

Two arrested in early morning fatal shooting on Canal Street

Related:

Suspect in Canal Street murder tried to steal victim’s gold chain, prosecutors say

There was a muffled scream and then they were gone.

My condolencesbtw.


{@@##$$%%^^&&}

"Hundreds of climate protesters disrupt Harvard-Yale game, demand fossil fuel divestment" by John Hilliard and John Powers Globe Correspondents, November 23, 2019

NEW HAVEN, CONN. — Demonstrators stormed the field during halftime at the Harvard-Yale football game Saturday, delaying the game for about an hour to demand that both universities divest their investments in fossil fuels and to call attention to the issue of climate change.

This article came on the very morning there was an inch of snow on the ground!

It is sad to see the debt-laden kids be nothing more than willing dupes in this controlled opposition protest that was staged and allowed to storm the field. I'll bet they wouldn't have gotten very far had they called for the BDS of Israel. That's the whole point of this media analysis I am doing.

Eventually, there will be no crowds at sporting events -- for security's sake. You will simply watch them all on the Matrix, 'er, TV.

ESPNU replaced the live broadcast with another game.

During the midfield protest, the protesters chanted: “Hey hey! Ho ho! Fossil fuels have got to go!” One banner read, “This is an emergency.”

Demonstrators were surrounded by police and security and the public address system asked them to clear the field “as a courtesy to players.”

--more--"

I know October was extremely hot, and with the wind behind them these kids could chart a new course despite the colder weather.

Bottom right corner, ad for the Institution For Savings wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.

B3:

Immigrants ‘work with dignity,’ deserve Mass. driver’s licenses, say demonstrators

Let's hope the RMV can handle the increased workload, 'eh?

I must say, the Globe covered the gamut of agenda-pushing, controlled opposition protest this Sunday, from the immigrants to the enviros to the women and color revolutions.

Below the piece is a profile of Sunday's Child (future Epstein victim?) along with ads for Dion's (fine wine, spirits, and craft beer) and ShelfGenie, while the bottom half of page B4 is a Black Friday Sales ad from Newpro Home Improvement.

After the ads for Bay State Commons choosing community, the Wellan Montessori School, and Gutter Helmet, this was located at the bottom of page B5:

"In 1963, Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, in a scene captured on live television."

Back when you could believe what you saw on TV.

Of course, the very next day the body of President John F. Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. The ma$$ media silence regarding that killing is deafening.

Speaking of assassinations(?)
:

"In 1982, Barack Hussein Obama Sr., a Kenyan government economist and father of President Barack Obama, was killed in an automobile accident in Nairobi; he was 46."

Dead men tell no tales, right?

Bottom half B6: ad for Stannah Stairlifts

B7: Right quadrant contains ad for the Institution For Savings (again), while the bottom half of the page contains a strip ad for boston.com/monster -- which is basically the Globe begging for ads -- along with an ad for Long Roofing.

Page B8 brings and ad for Globe.com/newsletters and RiteWindow&Door, while page B9 is a full-page Auto Dealer Directory (so much for traffic and climate change, 'eh?). 

The section finishes out with the business news and ads from LeafGuard and Rosie's Place Holiday cards on page B10, and an ad for Rockland Trust at the bottom of page B11. 

Page B12 carries the celebrity gossip of which I am sick.

And with that, it is time to hit the road:

An education on the border

Why doesn't he adopt one and help humanize the worldwide refugee crisis?