Thursday, August 31, 2017

Arkema CEO: "No Way To Prevent Imminent Explosion" At Texas Chemical Plant

by Tyler Durden

Aug 30, 2017 4:27 PM

Update: here is the statement posted late on Wednesday afternoon on Arkema's US website on the current status of the Crosby, TX plant:

Comments from Rich Rowe, President & CEO, Arkema Inc. on our Site in Crosby, Texas

The nation is dealing with a natural disaster of enormous magnitude in Texas. As part of that, Arkema is dealing with a critical issue at our Crosby, Texas facility.

Please let me begin by thanking our brave and dedicated employees who safely shut down the site before Hurricane Harvey made landfall. Like everyone else in the region, these folks were dealing with personal and family issues caused by the storm, yet they performed their tasks in the most professional manner.

Next, we apologize to everyone impacted by our situation, particularly in combination with the horrible conditions visited upon the region by the hurricane. We are working closely with many governmental authorities and first responders, and we want to thank them for their guidance, professionalism and dedication. People are working around the clock under extremely challenging conditions, and the work thus far has been tremendous. We cherish the strong relationships and support we have received from our neighbors, the United States Department of Homeland Security, Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency, Harris County Fire Marshall’s Office, Harris County Texas Sheriff’s Office, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and our elected representatives.

Our Crosby facility makes organic peroxides, a family of compounds that are used in everything from making pharmaceuticals to construction materials. But organic peroxides may burn if not stored and handled under the right conditions. At Crosby, we prepared for what we recognized could be a worst case scenario. We had redundant contingency plans in place. Right now, we have an unprecedented 6 feet of water at the plant. We have lost primary power and two sources of emergency backup power. As a result, we have lost critical refrigeration of the materials on site that could now explode and cause a subsequent intense fire. The high water and lack of power leave us with no way to prevent it. We have evacuated our personnel for their own safety. The federal, state and local authorities were contacted a few days ago, and we are working very closely with them to manage this matter. They have ordered the surrounding community to be evacuated, too.

New Texas law means Harvey victims have good reason to file claims by Friday

A new law, set to take effect Friday, aims to crack down on frivolous insurance lawsuits. But House Bill 1774 also reduces the penalty fees that insurance companies face for late payments if the policyholder files a lawsuit.

by Alana Rocha Aug. 28, 2017 Updated: 9 hours ago

_{*Clarification appended}
^{Editor's note: For more information on how to file a Harvey-related insurance claim, read our interview with Texas Department of Insurance Deputy Commissioner Stephanie Goodman.}

For many Texans ravaged by the rain and winds Hurricane Harvey carried ashore this past weekend, filing an insurance claim for the damage their property sustained is probably the farthest thing from their minds right now. But waiting to submit a claim past Friday could cost them big.

A new law set to take effect Friday aims to crack down on frivolous insurance lawsuits. But House Bill 1774 also reduces the penalty interest rate insurance companies face for late payments if the policyholder files a lawsuit.

If insurance companies are late in paying claims as a result of a lawsuit, they must pay an additional penalty to policyholders. Under current state law, that penalty comes in the form of a fee that totals 18 percent of the claim. For claims filed after Friday, that rate will be determined by a market-based formula that is capped at 20 percent. Currently, the rate would be 10 percent.

While people filing claims by Friday would benefit from the higher penalty payouts in lawsuits, those same cases would be subject to provisions in the new law. Those provisions would decrease the chances insurance companies will have to pay the plaintiff’s attorneys fees in full and protect agents from being personally sued.

Jeff Raizner, a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, which opposed HB 1774, said the law is a mixed bag.

“I want to be completely fair, there were some bad actors,” said Raizner, a Houston trial lawyer who has worked on insurance cases for 25 years. He added that some of what the new law requires addresses that problem – like the strengthened rules on communications regarding claims issues and the structure for paying attorneys' fees.

But he calls the penalty changes an overreach.

“Much of this new law is a money grab by the insurance industry,”

FBI Fear Awan Case Was Cleverly Rigged To Protect Obama, Lynch, Holder, Wasserman, Congressional Dems

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Investigative Bureau

The fix was in to protect Justice Department officials as high up as the US Attorney General even before the Awan investigation started, FBI veterans with knowledge of the case now fear.

And so far President Barack Obama, who appointed the US Attorney in the District of Columbia who is slow walking the case, has proven insulated too from an investigation now on the fringes of exposing espionage and blackmail of Democratic members of Congress.

The US Attorney in DC is Channing Phillips, who worked for Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder in key roles during their tenures as US Attorney General. Phillips was appointed by Obama shortly before the Awan grand jury convened. The confirmation of Phillips’ replacement nominated by President Donald Trump has been stalled by Sen. Chuck Schumer for eight months.

The explosive Awan case could also possibly implicate Obama as well as former attorneys general Holder and Lynch. Those tenets have not been lost on veteran federal agents with knowledge of the evidence unfolding in this complicated case against a family of alleged Pakistani IT gurus linked to dozens of Congressional Democrats, including Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

“He (Phillips) could be protecting Holder, Lynch and Obama depending how deep this mess is,” a FBI insider said. “He may have been appointed for the sole purpose of quashing this case.”

FBI agents feel they have amassed crucial evidence to expand the Awan case into a wider investigation of possible espionage and blackmail but the Bureau is getting push back from the US Attorney’s Office in D.C., federal sources confirmed.

President Trump has nominated Jesse Liu as the new US Attorney to replace Phillips, the Obama holdover. However, Schumer and senate Democrats have stalled Liu’s confirmation. This has provided Schumer de facto control of the Awan investigation which otherwise could implicate dozens of his fellow Congressional Democrats. Wasserman hired the Awans as IT specialists and shared the four Awans with other Democrats for classified computer work.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Can Massachusetts taxpayer money subsidize historic church renovations? SJC will decide

Posted on August 28, 2017 at 12:30 PM

By Shira Schoenberg

Through the early 1800s, the meetinghouse was the center of both religious and civic life in Massachusetts. Boston's famous Freedom Trail includes four historic churches, and hundreds of the state's historically significant houses of worship have been preserved through public funding.
But can public grants for historic preservation legally be given to a church? Or does that constitute illegal taxpayer support of a religious institution under the Massachusetts Constitution, which contains an "anti-aid" amendment, which prohibits the use of public money to aid a church or religious institution?

The Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments on Sept. 7 in a case, George Caplan v. Town of Acton, that could have implications for the use of public money for church renovation projects around Massachusetts.

The case has attracted the attention of national groups on both sides of the issue.

One side argues that public money should not be going to subsidize a house of worship. "We understand that historical preservation is valued in Massachusetts," said Eric Rothschild, senior litigation attorney at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs. "But the commonwealth was also very emphatic when it passed this amendment that it was not going to require people who are not members of congregations to have to set aside the dictates of own conscience to fund churches they're not a part of."

Special election to fill Flanagan's seat set

By Michael P. Norton, State House News Service

Updated: 08/29/2017 09:25:06 AM EDT

BOSTON -- The special election to fill the Senate seat that will be given up later this week by Sen. Jennifer Flanagan so she can serve as the governor's appointee on the Cannabis Control Commission will be held Dec. 5.

The Senate on Monday set the special election date with the preliminary election being held Nov. 7, the date of this year's municipal elections in Fitchburg, Gardner and Leominster, according to Secretary of State William Galvin, the state's top elections official.

The Worcester and Middlesex District includes the cities of Fitchburg, Gardner and Leominster, and the towns of Berlin, Bolton, Lancaster, Lunenberg, Sterling, Westminster, Townsend and two of Clinton's four precincts.

The still-developing field of those seeking the seat so far includes Democrats Michael Kushmerek of Fitchburg and Michael Mahan of Leominster, as well as Fitchburg Republican Lou Marino.

Kushmerek is the Fitchburg City Council president and represents Ward 4. He also is the director of annual giving at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and held a similar position a Fitchburg State University after earning two degrees in history.
Kushmerek is allowed to continue his candidacy to retain his Ward 4 seat on the City Council while seeking the Senate seat.

Mahan, who also announced his intention to run for the seat last week, works as the director of client services for a Marlboro shipping and logistics software developer Pierbridge Inc.
He also serves as Fitchburg State University board of trustees clerk and a member of the HealthAlliance Hospital board of trustees, and has served on the Democratic State Committee.

Mahan earned an MBA from Boston College and a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from WPI.

Marino is originally from West Springfield and most recently lived in Chelmsford, where he served as Town Meeting representative for Precinct 5 and unsuccessfully ran for Chelmsford Board of Selectmen in 2015.

According to his LinkedIn page, Marino earned an associate degree from Springfield Technical Community College, and a bachelor's and master's degree from West New England University. On his LinkedIn page, Marino also lists himself at the owner of Black Onyx Recoveries, which offers services like judgment recovery, debt collection and employment screenings, according to the Black Onyx Facebook page.
To appear on the ballot, candidates must gather 300 certified signatures, which are due with local registrars of voters by Sept. 26, according to Galvin.

Despite the urging of her supporters, Leominster state Rep. Natalie Higgins, a former intern for Flanagan, said Monday that she will not be attempting a run for the Senate.

"It would not be fair to the people of Leominster for me to run for Senate at this time," she said. "I am just getting started here in Leominster and transitioning to a district of ten-and-a-half cities and towns would mean I would have to divert my focus from Leominster before finishing what I have started."

Higgins was elected in November 2016, succeeding former state representative Dennis Rosa.

Katie Lannan of the State House News Service and Cliff Clark of the Sentinel & Enterprise contributed to this report.

FBI Denies FOIA Request For Hillary Documents Due To "Lack Of Public Interest"

by Tyler Durden

Aug 29, 2017 6:34 PM

It was just over a year ago that James Comey boldly consolidated the roles of investigator, lawyer, judge and jury when he announced that, although Hillary was "extremely careless" in her mishandling of classified State Department emails, no reasonable prosecutor would be willing to bring charges against her.

The decision sparked national outrage, particularly since it came just a few days after Bill Clinton happened to be spotted by a local reporter meeting privately with then Attorney General Loretta Lynch on a tarmac in Phoenix. Combine that with Comey's admission under oath that Loretta Lynch clearly attempted to interfere in the FBI's investigation and it all wreaked of just another Clinton coverup...said another way, just a bunch of Republicans trying to "criminalize things that are normal."
Be that as it may, at least one attorney, Ty Clevenger of New York, has been working diligently to make sure that Hillary and various members of her staff face at least some consequences for their alleged crimes which range from perjury under oath to willful destruction of evidence protected by a Congressional subpoena (see: The "Oh Shit" Moment: Hillary Wiped Her Server With BleachBit Despite Subpoena), among many others. We noted the efforts of Clevenger to get Hillary disbarred in the state of Arkansas back in June in a post entitled "Hillary Not "Out Of The Woods": Arkansas Bar Considers Disciplinary Action Over Email Scandal."

Alas, it seems as though Clevenger's pursuit of Hillary has been has been held up by the FBI for a rather curious reason, namely a "lack of public interest." As the Washington Times points out, after filing a FOIA request for Hillary documents with the FBI, Clevenger received the following emailed response:

“You have not sufficiently demonstrated that the public’s interest in disclosure outweighs personal privacy interests of the subject,” FBI records management section chief David M. Hardy told Mr. Clevenger in a letter Monday.

“It is incumbent upon the requester to provide documentation regarding the public’s interest in the operations and activities of the government before records can be processed pursuant to the FOIA,” Mr. Hardy wrote.

Dear FBI, on behalf of Mr. Clevenger, please allow us to submit Exhibit A regarding the public's interest in this and all future FOIA requests regarding Mrs. Clinton's records...there are roughly 63mm people (and probably a couple of Democrats as well) who are very eager to learn anything you might have to disclose regarding Hillary's alleged transgressions.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

A First: Drug Lowers Heart Risks by Curbing Inflammation

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUG. 27, 2017, 5:03 A.M. E.D.T.

For the first time, a drug has helped prevent heart attacks by curbing inflammation, a new and very different approach than lowering cholesterol.

Many heart attacks occur in people who have normal cholesterol but high inflammation, which can lead to clogged arteries. A study tested the Novartis drug canakinumab (can-uh-KIN-yoo-mab) in heart attack survivors at risk of another one because of high inflammation.

A middle dose, given as a shot every three months, cut the risk of a repeat heart attack, a stroke or a heart-related death by 15 percent over four years.

FILE - This Oct. 25, 2011 file photo shows the logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG on one of their buildings in Basel, Switzerland. According to results published Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, for the first time, a drug has helped prevent heart attacks by curbing inflammation, a new and very different approach than lowering cholesterol, which has been the main focus for decades. Canakinumab's maker, Novartis, sponsored the study. (Georgios Kefalas/Keystone via AP, File)

Results were published Sunday by the New England Journal of Medicine and Lancet, and presented at a heart conference in Barcelona, Spain.

Journalist Interrogated, Fired For Story Linking CIA And Syria Weapons Flights

by Tyler Durden

Aug 28, 2017 11:15 AM

A months-long investigation which tracked and exposed a massive covert weapons shipment network to terror groups in Syria via diplomatic flights originating in the Caucuses and Eastern Europe under the watch of the CIA and other intelligence agencies has resulted in the interrogation and firing of the Bulgarian journalist who first broke the story. This comes as the original report is finally breaking into mainstream international coverage.

Investigative reporter Dilyana Gaytandzhieva authored a bombshell report for Trud Newspaper, based in Sofia, Bulgaria, which found that an Azerbaijan state airline company was regularly transporting tons of weaponry to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Turkey under diplomatic cover as part of the CIA covert program to supply anti-Assad fighters in Syria. Those weapons, Gaytandzhieva found, ended up in the hands of ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq and Syria.

While it's long been understood that the US-Gulf-NATO coalition arming rebels inside Syria facilitated the rapid rise of the Islamic State as the group had steady access to a "jihadi Wal-Mart" of weapons (in the words of one former spy and British diplomat), the Trud Newspaper report is the first to provide exhaustive documentation detailing the precise logistical chain of the weapons as they flowed from their country of origin to the battlefield in Syria and Iraq. Gaytandzhieva even traveled to Aleppo where she filmed and examined labeled weapons shipping containers held in underground jihadist storehouses.

The Bulgaria-based journalist obtained and published dozens of secret internal memos which were leaked to her by an anonymous source as part of the report. The leaked documents appear to be internal communications between the Bulgarian government and Azerbaijan's Embassy in Sofia detailing flight plans for Silk Way Airlines, which was essentially operating an "off the books" weapons transport service (not subject to inspections or tax under diplomatic cover) for the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Saudi Arabia, Israel, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. Silk Way Airlines has been the subject of other recent investigations involving weapons supplies for the Saudi war on Yemen. In addition, the military monitoring site Balkan Insight has exposed similar weapons cargo flights in and out of neighboring Serbia.

But perhaps the more explosive finding involves private American companies contracting with the US government to help train and equip militants in Syria. An investigative series by Buzzfeed - the first of which was published in 2015 - named military contractor Purple Shovel LLC as the recipient of two no-bid contracts totaling more $50 million as part of the US train and equip program for Syria. Gaytandzhieva's report definitively links Purple Shovel and other private American military contractors to the Azerbaijan Silk Way Airlines shipments. One leaked memo includes a cargo manifest for multiple tons of anti-tank grenades purchased in Bulgaria by Purple Shovel which were ostensibly designated for the official consignee - the Ministry of Defense of Ajerbaijan - but which never made it to Ajerbaijan. The documents, however, reveal that the military cargo was offloaded at Turkey's Incirlik air base, which is one of the US and NATO's main command centers for covert operations in Syria.

Though Gaytandzhieva's report is months old and began through a series of smaller investigations, it gained little traction in Western or international press, even though it was promoted on social media and discussed among some of the world's foremost experts on Syria and the Middle East. However, on Sunday Qatar-based Al Jazeera featured the story while reporting the shocking news that Gaytandzhieva had been interrogated by Bulgarian authorities before being fired from her newspaper:

Gaytandzhieva said on Thursday in a tweet that she was fired from her job at Trud after she was interrogated by the Bulgarian national security which tried to find out her sources.

She said she first got suspicious of the weapons transferred to Syria when she found Bulgarian-made weapons at the hands "terrorists" in Aleppo while reporting on the Syrian war there.

She said that she then traced those weapons to its Bulgarian manufacturer only to find out that those weapons were legally exported to Saudi Arabia, which in turn supplied it to "terrorists" in Syria.

Al Jazeera is now belatedly highlighting the story in the midst of the current Qatari-Saudi diplomatic war which has resulted in a general airing of dirty laundry as each side continues to accuse the other of supporting terrorism. Regardless, Al Jazeera's coverage constitutes the first time this story has entered the mainstream. While we've reported the recent Trump decision to end the CIA covert program of regime change in Syria, it appears the apparatus for external weapons shipments to jihadists in Syria remains in place through the continuing Silk Way Airlines weapons pipeline.

As Al Jazeera reports:

Speaking to Al Jazeera by phone on Sunday from Bulgaria, Gaytandzhieva said: "Saudi Arabia, UAE and the US must stop using the cover of Silk Way Airlines diplomatic flights to supply Eastern European weapons which end up in the hands of terrorists around the world. Diplomatic flights are exempt from checks and inspection."

Tracking weapons from Eastern Europe to Syrian al-Qaeda: December 2016 Bulgarian news broadcast by Dilyana Gaytandzhieva. Brief English commentary begins at 1:00 mark. The report investigates Bulgarian origin rockets and weaponry said to have been in possession of Nusra Front (AQ in Syria). Leaked documents would later confirm Bulgarian weapons shipped to Saudi Arabia as part of the covert Syria program.

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) also carried out their own lengthy investigations which are consistent with Trud News journalist Gaytandzhieva's findings. Infographic source: Balkan Insight

The CIA program relied heavily on US ally Saudi Arabia to arm anti-Assad jihadists, and while it appears that the White House recently ended the CIA side of things, there's no evidence to suggest that Saudi Arabia or other participating allied countries ever ceased or even slowed their part of the operations. Also, given that both the CIA and Pentagon contract with private firms acting as middle men to get weapons to the Syrian battlefield, it is uncertain if all aspects of the CIA program have really been shut down. Historically, the CIA has sometimes farmed out legally questionable activities to private contractors for the sake of 'plausible deniability'. Furthermore, the Pentagon side of the program, which supplies Kurdish and Arab groups in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) appears to be ramping up of late.

Given the latest development of Trud Newspaper firing its own journalist and Bulgarian authorities attempting to locate her sources, it is entirely possible and likely that pressure is building for Trud to remove the story from its website. The new Al Jazeera story has brought fresh international attention to Gaytandzhieva's findings, which is sure to increase the controversy.

*****

Below are excerpts from the original Trud report with images of select leaked documents. The original report contains dozens of downloadable leaked memos which were translated with contents summarized by Dilyana Gaytandzhieva.

Congress Quietly Passed A Bill Allowing Warrantless Searches of Homes - Only 1% Opposed It

by Tyler Durden

Aug 27, 2017 11:19 AM

y Rachel Blevins of The Free Thought Project A bill that will allow homes to be searched without a warrant was passed with overwhelming support by the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Trump—and it happened with no media coverage and very little fanfare.

On the surface, House Joint Resolution 76 looks harmless. The title of the bill claims that its purpose is “Granting the consent and approval of Congress for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of Maryland, and the District of Columbia to enter into a compact relating to the establishment of the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission.”

“Whereas the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, an interstate compact agency of the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the State of Maryland, provides transportation services to millions of people each year, the safety of whom is paramount; Whereas an effective and safe Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority system is essential to the commerce and prosperity of the National Capital region; Whereas the Tri-State Oversight Committee, created by a memorandum of understanding amongst these 3 jurisdictions, has provided safety oversight of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.”

The proposal for a safety commission to act as a wing of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority may sound logical, when its power includes thing such as the ability to “Adopt, revise, and distribute a written State Safety Oversight Program” and to “Review, approve, oversee, and enforce the adoption and implementation of WMATA’s Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan.”

However, there is one major red flag buried within the text of the bill that stems from the list of “powers” given to the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission, and it violates one of the basic tenets of the U.S. Constitution.

“In performing its duties, the Commission, through its Board or designated employees or agents, may:Enter upon the WMATA Rail System and, upon reasonable notice and a finding by the chief executive officer that a need exists, upon any lands, waters, and premises adjacent to the WMATA Rail System, including, without limitation, property owned or occupied by the federal government, for the purpose of making inspections, investigations, examinations, and testing as the Commission may deem necessary to carry out the purposes of this MSC Compact, and such entry shall not be deemed a trespass.”

The text gives the Commission the authority to enter property near the Metro Rail System “without limitation” and without a warrant, for the purpose of “making inspections, investigations, examinations, and testing.”

Monday, August 28, 2017

From the Town Administrator's Report

August 24, 2017

4. d. Should any final draft presented to you gain your approval, or – failing that – should you decide to continue negotiations, we will also need to discuss the schedule for Town Hall and any changes to your meeting schedule. This will also impact potential revisions to the Countdown to the FY’19 Budget & Legislative Package.

You asked me to consider accelerating the presentation of the FY ’19 revenues (which I can move to your workshop of 10/02 if I am not trying to also present the five-year financial forecasts envisioned in the Draft financial policies). You have also asked me to consider accelerating the review process. I am not at all convinced we can do this by having all departments present and defend on the first workshop of 03/02.

First this would be a substantial amount of material for you to have to review in the week between the 02/26 presentation and this workshop. Secondly, I do not believe you could get through all of the departments in the one evening. Therefore, I am going to suggest that we look at adding some meetings in March such that we can target 03/26 as Adoption.

Weekly Report:

We have some potential upcoming work-flow issues on the administrative side of Sewer between illness in the full-time position and a vacancy in the part-time position. I contributed to the several redrafts of the IMA/TA work and participated in the joint subcommittee meeting.

The Forester has been working on the Dump site marking and measuring trees. He

advises that the area that is harvestable is considerably smaller than we initially thought because of several streams and wetland areas that are inoperable and an area that contained smaller trees. However, he believe the site would generate $7k to $10k. Once this site is out to contract he will proceed with the Highway site. {FY 18 counted $10,000 as annual revenue from this source}

I’ve come to learn that we are not requiring insurance certificates for the use of our various facilities by others (Gilman Waite, Town Common). This is exposing you to great liability risk. I will prepare a full memo for your consideration and schedule it for the first possible workshop inviting the various units involved.{ Thought this was why we had insurance as a town}

I’ve been doing follow-up on the Barre Road property being developed by the Corporation for Independent Living (CLI) in an effort to answer resident questions. I have not connected with CLI yet but will keep you posted.{ Templeton's bylaw on group homes /treatment centers which may house registered sex offenders was repeaeld}

I met with Mike Pingpank from COG to discuss the upcoming CDBG grant round and who potential partners might be. We also discussed – and he will provide a firm proposal – to retain them to review subordination requests over the next few years (as opposed to us bring it in house). { Thought Templeton was ineligible for applying for Federal grants due to lack of consistent audits?}

Finally, I spent time with Alan M. and Bob from Highway trying to sort out a cost effective way to have a fleet ready to take on the winter season given deterioration of the vehicles and sanders beyond what we had anticipated and planned for.{Exactly which highway sanders and vehicles were planned to be replaced? With what money?}

Public Works
Highway Department: Two new employees were added to the Highway division payroll to replace two that left earlier in the year. They began getting their feet wet in assisting in cleaning up the trees that were taken down on N. Main Street and Baldwinville Road. Trees were also removed in Templeton Center.

Before removal the trees were evaluated by an Arborist and found to be diseased and hollow on the inside, therefore a hazard to residents. A tree hearing was posted and held on the 14th, there was no opposition to the removal of these trees. The new guys also lent a hand in erecting the new Heart Safe signs for the Fire department throughout town. Some hole patching was done and road side trimming.

The Director and Administrative assistant attended the quarterly DPW info share meeting held in Winchendon. These meeting are held every 3 months as a way to share ideas with local facilities. Many new ideas were on the table for discussion and we saw a few new faces. The next meeting will be in November and the location is still undisclosed.

Meetings the Week of August 28, 2017

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Meetings the Week of August 28, 2017

Monday 8/28/17

Clown College PCS Town Hall* 6:30 pm

* Pauly Cosentino Sr. Town Hall

Court Confirms DNC And Wasserman Schultz Showed "Palpable Bias" Against Bernie Sanders

by Tyler Durden

Aug 27, 2017 7:20 PM

A federal judge this week dismissed a class action lawsuit brought against the Democratic National Committee and its former chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. But not before confirming what was already widely suspected: That the DNC rigged the 2016 primary to favor the eventual nominee, Hillary Clinton.

Amazingly, the DNC’s attorneys never bothered refuting the lawsuit’s claim that the primary process was biased against Clinton’s rival, Bernie Sanders.

Instead, they argued that the DNC has a right to conduct primaries however it chooses, and, furthermore, that Sanders supporters knew the primaries were rigged, therefore relieving the DNC of any responsibility it might’ve had.

Here’s more from the New York Observer:

“DNC attorneys claim Article V, Section 4 of the DNC Charter—stipulating that the DNC chair and their staff must ensure neutrality in the Democratic presidential primaries—is “a discretionary rule that it didn’t need to adopt to begin with.” Based on this assumption, DNC attorneys assert that the court cannot interpret, claim, or rule on anything associated with whether the DNC remains neutral in their presidential primaries.”

And…

“The Court would have to find that people who fervently supported Bernie Sanders and who purportedly didn’t know that this favoritism was going on would have not given to Mr. Sanders, to Senator Sanders, if they had known that there was this purported favoritism.”

Jared Beck, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, argued that DNC effectively defrauded Sanders’s donors and supporters by acting against its charter’s imperative to conduct a neutral primary.

In his ruling, Federal Judge William Zloch, dismissed the lawsuit after siding with the DNC’s attorneys – but not before confirming the plaintiff’s allegation that the DNC demonstrated a “palpable bias” against Sanders during the primary, according to the NYO.

“In evaluating Plaintiffs’ claims at this stage, the Court assumes their allegations are true - that the DNC and Wasserman Schultz held a palpable bias in favor Clinton and sought to propel her ahead of her Democratic opponent,” the court order dismissing the lawsuit stated.”

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Free Speech, Say What?

Regarding the third OML complaint filed by the Templeton Board of Selectmen against the Templeton Advisory Committee:

From the August 24, 2017 TA report:

The following is intended to provide information where a full memo may not have been
warranted or supplement the provided information.

Business Meeting or Workshop:

4. c. The response takes refuge in a defense on the basis of free speech rights and does not acknowledge the issue of a majority of the board viewing or commenting upon matters over which they have domain. That said, it seems the best approach would be a continuation of that expressed by the Board at its last meeting.

What a concept! When Templeton's "select" few try to stomp on Adv. committee's right to free speech, the Adv. Committee would take "refuge " in the right to free speech. Gotta love it!

Original Complaint:

Advisory Committee response:

Friday, August 25, 2017

EXCLUSIVE: Wasserman Schultz’ ‘Islamophobia’ Claim Prompts Angered Marine To Go Public On Awans

A Marine who provided key evidence in the FBI case against Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s former IT employee said he is appalled by her claim that Islamophobia led U.S. Capitol Police to frame the former staffer.

Also Wednesday, two of Imran Awan’s relatives went on the record to say they think he would do anything for money.

Andre Taggart alerted the FBI to damaged harddrives and a cache of electronics tied to Imran Awan, a former IT specialist for dozens of House Democrats. Awan is the central figure in a criminal investigation of suspected procurement fraud and violations of the congressional IT network, including diverting data to an off-site server.

Taggart told The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group Wednesday that “it was amazing” that Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, describes Imran as a victim of religious discrimination by law enforcement. Taggart rented the Northern Virginia home of Awan, who had frantically moved out after learning authorities were onto him.

“It pisses me off,” said Taggart, a black Marine who says he votes Democrat. He believes Wasserman Schultz is crying wolf and devaluing the meaning of genuine discrimination, while also exposing herself and the nation to risks.

Wasserman Schultz claimed Imran Awan is being “persecuted” by the Capitol Police and FBI after she was told that he is suspected of “data transfer violations,” even as she lamented the seriousness of the hacking of the Democratic National Committee. Wasserman Schultz was chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee when its IT network was hacked in 2016.

“I just want to get these [guys] locked up and exposed and now,” Taggart told TheDCNF. “The people who facilitated them should also be locked up, as far as I’m concerned.”

TheDCNF cited Taggart without naming him in a July report that the FBI had seized the hard drives and electronics. Imran attempted the next day to board a flight to Pakistan, but was arrested by the FBI at Dulles International Airport.

US Taxpayers Spent $50 Million For Luxury Cars, Guns, & Booze To Mentor Afghan Intel Officers

by Tyler Durden

Aug 24, 2017 3:09 PM

Via Judicial Watch,
A foreign company hired by the U.S. government to mentor and train Afghan intelligence officers billed Uncle Sam for more than $50 million in luxury cars - including Porsches, an Aston Martin, and a Bentley - and the lucrative salaries of executives and their spouses (who didn’t do any work). The firm also spent $1,500 on alcohol and $42,000 on automatic weapons prohibited under the terms of the contract, according to figures provided by a U.S. Senator from a federal audit that has not been released to the public.

It marks the latest of many scandals involving the free-flow of American dollars to controversial causes in Afghanistan, where fraud and corruption are rampant in all sectors.
In this latest case, the Department of Defense (DOD) hired a British firm called New Century Consulting (NCC) to operate a program called “Legacy East” that was supposed to provide counterinsurgency intelligence experts to mentor and train Afghan National Security Forces. Instead, NCC billed the Pentagon millions of dollars in questionable or unallowable expenses, including seven luxury cars and exorbitant $400,000 average salaries for the “significant others” of corporate officers to serve as “executive assistants.” Other prohibited expenses include severance payments, rent, unnecessary licensing fees, extensive austerity pay, and the cost of personal air travel.

The outrageous figures became public when the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Claire McCaskill, wrote a letter to Defense Secretary James Mattis demanding answers. As a federal lawmaker McCaskill had access to the information after viewing a report from the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), which provides financial oversight of government contracts for the Pentagon and operates under the Secretary of Defense.

McCaskill discloses that the British firm continued receiving lucrative DOD contracts despite having “many previous problems,” involving billing and performance practices. The senator also questions why the Pentagon kept pouring money into a “troubled” program that a separate federal audit had determined was likely ineffective. That assessment, made by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), came after investigators found that a lack of performance metrics makes it nearly impossible to assess whether the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the mentoring and training programs for Afghan intel personnel are effective. “Despite all of the listed issues with NCC’s performance and billing practices, the Army continued to engage in contracting with NCC for sensitive work in Afghanistan,” McCaskill states in her letter to Mattis.

Afghanistan reconstruction has been a huge debacle that continues fleecing American taxpayers to the tune of billions and Judicial Watch has reported extensively on it over the years. Many of the details are regularly disclosed in provoking reports published on the SIGAR website. Highlights include the mysterious disappearance of nearly half a billion dollars in oil destined for the Afghan National Army, a $335 million Afghan power plant that’s seldom used and an $18.5

When in Doubt, Get It Out

Arthritis

Current evidence strongly indicates that some people diagnosed with “arthritis” are in fact suffering from low-grade fluoride poisoning.

Joint pain and stiffness are well known symptoms of excessive fluoride intake. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, too much fluoride causes “chronic joint pain” and “arthritic symptoms.” (DHHS 1991). U.S. health authorities have long dismissed the relevance of this by insisting that fluoride only causes arthritic symptoms in patients with advanced forms of skeletal fluorosis, a bone disease caused by fluoride. Modern research clearly shows, however, that fluoride-induced joint pains can occur in the absence of obvious skeletal fluorosis. This makes fluoride’s effects on joints extremely difficult to differentiate from common forms of arthritis. In fact, research has found that fluoride can be a direct cause of osteoarthritis, with or without the presence of classic skeletal fluorosis. (Bao 2003; Savas 2001; Tartatovskaya 1995; Czerwinski 1988; Chen 1988).

In cases where fluoride is the cause of a person’s arthritic problems, reduction in daily fluoride intake for a period of several weeks or months can eliminate the symptoms in the absence of medical treatment. Correct diagnosis is thus critical to effective recovery.

Fluoride causes arthritis in absence of obvious skeletal fluorosis

Chronic fluoride exposure can cause a bone disease known as skeletal fluorosis. In the classic type of skeletal fluorosis, the lower spine and pelvis area develop a hyper-dense bone condition known as osteosclerosis. U.S. health authorities have long claimed that spinal osteosclerosis will be evident on x-ray if a person’s joint pains are caused by fluoride. When spinal osteosclerosis is absent, therefore, doctors have traditionally dismissed the possibility that a patient’s joint pain could be caused by fluoride.

Research, however, has now repeatedly shown that fluoride can cause joint pain and stiffness, including clinical osteoarthritis, before bone changes in the spine are detectable on x-ray. This means that the traditional criteria for diagnosing skeletal fluorosis results in people with fluoride-induced joint problems being misdiagnosed as suffering from “arthritis.” The extent of this misdiagnosis remains unknown.

The doses that cause fluoride-arthritis remain poorly understood

According to U.S. health authorities, a daily dose of 10 mg of fluoride for over 10 years is sufficient to cause “crippling skeletal fluorosis.” (NRC 1993). Since crippling skeletal fluorosis represents the most severe stage of the disease (a stage where bone changes are readily detectable in the spine), common sense alone should indicate that earlier stages of fluorosis can be produced by doses lower than 10 mg/day. No systematic research, however, has been conducted in the United States or any other fluoridating country to determine how low the arthritic dose might be, and how this dose varies based on an individual’s age, nutritional status, health status, and exposure to repetititve stress.

Current data indicates that doses as low as 6 mg/day can cause arthritic symptoms

Although there has been a lack of systematic research (in western countries), a case study published in The Lancet found that daily doses of 6 to 9 mg per day were sufficient to cause arthritis in an avid tea-drinker. (Cook 1971). The subject of the study, an English woman with a 25-year history of debilitating arthritis, experienced complete relief in her symptoms within 6 months of stopping her tea consumption. In light of the woman’s recovery, the author concluded that “some cases of pain diagnosed as rheumatism or arthritis may be due to subclinical fluorosis which is not radiologically demonstrable.”

More recent (and more comprehensive) research from China confirms that doses lower than 10 mg/day can cause early stages of fluorosis as well as osteoarthritis. In 2000, a group of Chinese health agencies conducted a large-scale study to determine the daily doses of fluoride that cause the various phases of fluorosis. (Experts Group 2000). They found that doses of just 6.2 to 6.6 mg/day consistently produced x-ray evidence of skeletal fluorosis. It stands to reason, therefore, that doses less than 6 mg/day may cause arthritic symptoms, as fluoride can cause chronic joint pain prior to the development of x-ray changes.

Another large-scale study from China recently investigated whether the incidence of osteoarthritic symptoms rates in a population are increased in areas with elevated fluoride levels. (Ge 2006). After examining over 7,000 individuals from six regions, the authors found that the rate of osteoarthritis was significantly increased at water fluoride levels of just 1.7 ppm — a concentration that would be associated with daily doses in the 5 to 6 mg/day range. (Ge 2006) The following figure displays the rate of pain and rigidity in the knee and vertebrae that the study found:

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Free Fun Fridays!

Free Fun Fridays

Bulky Waste Day Saturday August 26th

Kinder Morgan paying Massachusetts State Police hundreds of thousands to quell Berkshire pipeline protests

By Phil Demers

pdemers@masslive.com

Texas-based energy transfer pipeline giant Kinder Morgan is paying Massachusetts State Police thousands to quell protests at a Western Massachusetts project site, where troopers have arrested dozens so far.

Financial records obtained by customer funded journalist network Muckrock reveal the Houston, Texas-based company had, as of June 3, paid state police $115,949.33.

The payments cover "authority" and "security" services related to the company's ongoing work in Otis State Forest, according to an invoice.

Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio on Wednesday explained the relationship in response to a MassLive inquiry.

"Security details or overtime assignments for event or venue security are routine -- we do them for Patriots games, for the Marathon, for concerts, for the July 4th fireworks event on the Esplanade in Boston, for the Head of the Charles Regatta, to name a few," he said.

Citing the state police mission in the forest, Procopio added, "The State Police mission at the pipeline extension project is to ensure the safety of all involved parties, including the project team, local residents, and demonstrators. We seek to ensure that the rights of all parties are protected, including the rights of the contractors to complete this legally-authorized project, the rights of nearby residents to safety and privacy, and the Constitutionally-protected rights of demonstrators to have a safe environment to lawfully assemble, speak and protest."

Massachusetts State Police Troop B has maintained a regular presence in the forest since May. Services to Kinder Morgan involve the arrest and removal of dozens of protesters, who have congregated in the forest in opposition to this project specifically and new fossil fuel infrastructure generally.

The Sugar Shack Alliance, an organizing coalition founded in 2016 to resist Kinder Morgan's plans, addressed the police agency's financial relationship with Kinder Morgan in a Facebook post Wednesday.

"All interactions with the Massachusetts State Police and the Sugar Shack Alliance have been amicable and respectful on both sides. But we must always keep in mind just who is paying for this party," the post read

In a second post, the group added, "It looks an awful lot like the state police are protecting Kinder Morgan, not the public, by arresting us for criminal charges that never stick. And yet we persist."
Arrested persons total more than 60 so far, including 98-year-old Northampton activist Frances Crowe.

Here's How The Next Recession Begins

by Tyler Durden

Aug 22, 2017 4:25 PM

Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,
In 1886 there were only 38 states in the United States.

Electric power was still cutting edge technology that few people had ever seen.
The Statue of Liberty hadn’t even been dedicated yet.

But it was that year that a man named Richard Sears founded a small retail company in Minneapolis, Minnesota that would grow into a retail juggernaut.

Sears was truly the Amazon of its day.
Even in the late 1800s the company was able to deliver just about any product you wanted right to your doorstep.

This was no small feat considering the first delivery truck wouldn’t be invented until 1895. There was no transportation infrastructure. And two-thirds of the population lived in remote rural areas.

Yet despite those challenges, Sears was still able to put any product you wanted in your hands.

Over time as consumer trends changed, the company started opening physical retail stores.
And once the concept of the ‘shopping mall’ became popular, Sears department stores became a mainstay at malls across America.

To give you an idea of the size and dominance of Sears back at its peak– the company owned stock broker Dean Witter Reynolds (now part of Morgan Stanley), Coldwell Banker (real estate brokerage), Allstate Insurance (currently a $33 billion company) and it started the Discover card (a $22 billion company).

Sears seemed unstoppable… a company so large and powerful that it would rule retail forever.

Then Wal-Mart entered the scene.

And after years of focusing on efficient logistics and cost savings, Wal Mart eventually outmaneuvered Sears to become the world’s largest retailer.

By 2001, Wal-Mart’s revenues were about five times that of Sears.

Then Amazon was founded… and consumers began changing their tastes to shop online.
Sears totally missed the trend. And today the company is a tiny shell of its former self.

Over the past three years alone, Sears has lost more than $5 billion. And its stock price is down nearly 75% since 2014.

Plus the company has had to lay off more than half of its peak workforce, around 200,000 employees.
To add insult to injury, the company spent about $6 billion over the past decade buying back its shares at prices as high as $174 a share.

Shares now trade below $9. That’s a 95% loss to shareholders.

Sears recently announced it will close an additional 43 stores (on top of the 265 closures it already announced this fiscal year).

This will leave the company with 1,140 stores – just above half its 2012 size.

This is a death spiral. And it could mean the sudden loss of 140,000 American jobs.

And that’s just Sears. We could see several, large retailers shutter causing hundreds of thousands of lost jobs.

Retailers have announced more than 3,200 store closures this year. And investment bank Credit Suisse expects that number will increase to more than 8,600 before the end of the year.

For the sake of context, the WORST year on record for retail store closures was in 2008 when the global financial crisis kicked off.

But even in 2008, only 6,163 retailers closed.

Bear in mind that about one in 10 Americans works in retail.

And given the rise of e-commerce, most of those retail jobs are going away. Quickly.

E-commerce currently accounts for 9% of the approximately $22 trillion in annual retail sales, up from 0.6% in 1999.

And that number is only growing.

Most retail stores operate very LOW margin businesses. They rely on having LOTS of customers in order to stay profitable.

If even a small percentage of their prospective customers stay home and shop online, they’re finished– from Sears all the way down to the small mom and pop stores.

We could see hundreds of thousands of retail workers lose their jobs as companies like Sears fail.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

The Incoming MBTA GM's Former Company May Face Bankruptcy

Global Power Equipment Group, the corporation run previously by incoming MBTA General Manager Luis Ramirez, has had to sell off assets, lay off employees, and risks declaring bankruptcy as a result of erroneous financial statements it filed with federal regulators while Ramirez was CEO.

A WBUR analysis of Global Power Equipment’s most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that the company suffers from what it calls “severely constrained liquidity” as a consequence of having to correct four years worth of error-riddled financial reports to the SEC.

In March, the company reported that without a new infusion of credit, Global Power may not have the cash to fund daily business operations.

Global Power has yet to file its 2016 annual financial statement or its first two quarterly reports for 2017.

The MBTA celebrated Ramirez’s experience as a private sector turnaround specialist when it announced his appointment to general manager last week. State Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack pointed to Ramirez’s turnaround skills in a new statement issued to WBUR.

“I selected Luis Ramirez based on his long and successful career of transforming and turning around complex organizations, including several divisions of General Electric,” she said. “Luis is the right person at the right time to move the MBTA further down the path to being one of the best transit systems in the country.”

“We believe his body of work is exactly what the T needs."
Gov. Charlie Baker

The statement included a note that Pollack led the general manager search, and “per statute is responsible for appointing the GM/CEO.” The MBTA did not respond to multiple requests to speak with Ramirez himself.

Gov. Charlie Baker also weighed in Tuesday. “We believe his body of work is exactly what the T needs,” Baker said of Ramirez. “I have no doubt that when we have this conversation a year from now, most other people will agree with me.”

Ramirez’s LinkedIn page highlights his tenure as CEO at Global Power, and his leadership turning around at least two business units at GE: the corporation’s Energy Rentals division from 2002-2004, and GE Energy Industrial Solutions from 2009-2012.

GE is currently selling the Industrial Solutions unit, one of the company’s smallest, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“I keep hearing myself described as a turnaround guy,” Ramirez said in Boston last week. “And it’s true I have been charged with improving and transforming very complicated operations.”

A detailed analysis of SEC filings tells a different story, at least at Global Power Equipment Group.

'We May Not Generate Sufficient Cash Resources To Continue'

Ramirez served as CEO of the Dallas-based energy industry manufacturer from July 2012 to March 2015.

The company discovered major accounting errors in the firm’s financial statements during a first quarter 2015 internal review. Ramirez resigned on March 20, 2015.

In May 2015, Global Power Equipment notified the SEC that it would have to correct the errors and refile its 10-K form, the annual report all publicly traded companies must file with the federal government.

A spokeswoman for the company said Ramirez's departure was not related to the restatements, but did not comment further on the circumstances of his resignation.

The company was forced to restate reports for 2011, and 2012-2014 -- the three-year period Ramirez served as CEO. That triggered a cascade of consequences for the firm, including a shareholder lawsuit and an SEC investigation. The company’s stock price has also fallen dramatically, down 75 percent from its value near the end of Ramirez’s tenure.

A T spokesman previously told WBUR that the GM search committee was "well aware" of the shareholder lawsuit.

But the financial restatements also triggered an even bigger problem. “We may not generate sufficient cash resources to continue funding our operations,” the firm’s restated March 2017 10-K declares.

Global Power had two principal sources of money for day-to-day business: cash from daily operations, and a “revolving credit facility” — a line of credit companies commonly use to fund known and fixed daily operating costs such as payroll.

Such a credit line is not unusual for an equipment and manufacturing company, according to Andrew Vollmer, a federal securities law expert at the University of Virginia.

“Some companies need revolving credit to smooth out the mismatch between the time cash comes in and the time cash must be paid out," Vollmer said.

Global Power lost access to that critical credit line in May 2015, immediately after the company announced that its former financial statements could “no longer be relied upon.” With that admission, the company was no longer in compliance with the terms of its loan from Wells Fargo Bank, its former creditor. The bank also took control of some of Global Power’s accounts.

Unable to access credit for daily operations, “we have ... funded our operations from our net cash flows from operating activities,” Global Power wrote in a 2017 report. “That is not sustainable," the company said.

A Plan To Keep The Company Running