Showing posts with label Litigation. Show all posts

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Why are so many in an uproar about this video that Fox News put on it's sites front page when it aired?

Yale fail: Ivy leaguers sign 'petition' to repeal First Amendment

Published December 16, 2015

Fox News version of the video can be seen here. WordPress does not accept their format.

Now Playing Yale students sign petition to repeal the First Amendment

Trigger warning! This story and video may be unsuitable viewing for the “safe space” crowd. Looking to understand just how controversial the debate over free speech on our college campuses really is, filmmaker and satirist Ami Horowitz recently traveled to Yale University, one of our nation’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning, to speak directly to students. “I decided to take this campus free speech debate to its logical conclusion,” said Horowitz, who asked students if they’d sign a petition calling for an outright repeal of the First Amendment. “The result was this unbelievable display of total stupidity.”

Read More Here ...................................................................................................

Now if you watched the video then you would have seen a heavily edited video that made comments available to some and asked questions of others. However, they were never in sync. The responses of the alleged college students were never the same students who were asked a question on the video. Only some were in sync.

Why is that?

Why would anyone who had a straightforward agenda take the time to so obviously over edit this video?

Why are some over reacting to the video itself?

The alleged purpose of the video was to find out what kind of reaction would be elicited from Yale students at the possibility of having the First amendment repealed.

Let me just say that the way the video is edited and how it is pieced together leaves some serious questions as to whether

1) The students who signed the paper he was presenting actually were asked about t he removal of the First amendment.

2) The students who actually signed the petition were actually and honestly informed of the alleged intent of the petition they were signing.

The video's editing make it almost impossible to believe what is allegedly revealed in the video. If the video in fact truly was legitimate there would have been no need for the exaggerated editing. The presentation of the video in it's entirety would have served to convey the true message of the results found on the Yale Campus in question.

Adding to the very obvious attempt at manipulation of this story is the comment of one of the students in question on Youtube.

William Freedberg 4 hours ago

For everyone who believes what they see in this carefully, and admirably, edited video... and believe me, a lot of editing did go into this... Here is a comment from one of the students who was interviewed in the video, which I'm sharing as a fellow Yale student: "This video just came to my attention, and my immediate reaction is outrage and frustration. I was asked about this petition and have been included in this video, but what Mr. Horowitz has presented is a blatantly false narrative of what actually occurred. It is clear to me that this is an intentional misrepresentation, with the purpose of advancing a political agenda and narrative. When I was coming out of the dining hall, a friend and I were stopped by this man, who asked if we could spare a few minutes to talk. Both of us being in a rush, didn’t want to engage in a debate, so when he said he wanted to REPEAL THE FIRST AMENDMENT, I had absolutely no interest in being lectured by a crazy man in the middle of reading week and finals. So, thinking he was just a crazy guy with a clipboard and not a man with a camera, I told him, “This is fantastic. I absolutely agree. I don’t agree with your approach however, but I appreciate what you’re doing here. Good luck.” Then I walked away. My hope was that by showing tacit support for his position, he wouldn’t follow me or insist that I stay and debate him. Now, this is NOT what the video shows. Of course in the video, they have conveniently left out when I said I disagreed with his approach (i.e. to repeal the first amendment…). The editing of the video deliberately misconstrues what happened, and I am positive that Mr. Horowitz is very cognizant of this. In fact, it clearly seems to be his objective: to push his narrative. While I can only speak for myself, I am very compelled to believe that a similar twisting of the truth was done for the 3 second soundbites he has of the other people in this video…. I am disgusted with the way that Horowitz has taken my words and negated my position just so he can rack up the views on a video and bait an audience into believing what he is selling. What I find most upsetting though, is that this video is featured on the FRONT PAGE of Fox News. How dare you, this is not only shameful, but false journalism."

The students recounting of his experience that day does not even remotely resemble what the article claims. The message both Fox News and Ami Horowitz are conveying in this video and article seem to be at odds with what the student claims actually took place.

It is reminiscent of the coverage of OCCUPY by Fox News. All participants were dirty drug addled hippies with no moral or intellectual worth.

Hatred and dissent seems to be the norm for Fox News where any opinion, view or political leaning other than their own is the enemy. There is nothing unbiased or honest about them.

Case in point:

POLITICO

David Axelrod speaks. — W.H. senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday that the Fox News Channel is 'not really a news station.

Fox 'not really news,' says Axelrod

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday that the Fox News Channel is "not really a news station" and that much of the programming is "not really news." "I’m not concerned," Axelrod said on ABC's "This Week" when George Stephanopoulos asked about the back-and-forth between the White House and Fox News.

"Mr. [Rupert] Murdoch has a talent for making money, and I understand that their programming is geared toward making money. The only argument [White House communications director] Anita [Dunn] was making is that they’re not really a news station if you watch even — it’s not just their commentators, but a lot of their news programming. "It’s really not news — it’s pushing a point of view. And the bigger thing is that other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way, and we’re not going to treat them that way. We’re going to appear on their shows. We’re going to participate but understanding that they represent a point of view.” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said on CNN's "State of the Union" that Fox "is not a news organization so much as it has a perspective."

Read More Here

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Monsanto Cancer Milk: FOX NEWS Kills Story and Fires Reporters!

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Uploaded on Jan 26, 2012

http://www.HealthWars.co -

Exposing the global corrupt and dangerous 'system' regarding our health!

FOX NEWS Reporters (Reporters Steve Wilson & Jane Akre) uncover that most of the Milk in the USA, and across some parts of the world is unfit to drink due to Monsanto Corporation's POSILAC®, which has been proven to be a cancer-causing growth hormone (known in short as "BGH" "BST" or "rBGH"), but they were fired for trying to tell people the truth. (Important note: After a long court battle, the Court dismissed the whistle blowers protection for the reporters because the Court stated that there was no law, to force that the NEWS state the truth! FACT! Going on to say the NEWS was no different than other TV shows/reality shows!!) But the FDA has turned a blind eye once again! If you consumed or fed regular milk to your family today (8/21/08), there is more than a 90% chance that it was from a cow injected with BGH (Bovine somatotropin developed by using recombinant DNA technology). You could be killing or harming your child every time you pour them a glass of milk, the same as pouring them a glass of slow acting poison. Please take action to ensure our children's safety, for they can not protect themselves. What first alarmed farmers was the massive amount of pus in the milk, but Monsanto and the FDA still had no concerns by stating that the pus was not harmful to be ingested by consumers! If you have little children, at least feed them certified BGH free Milk, Organic Milk or Organic/BGM free milk equivalent like Organic soy milk. - FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/video may contain copyrighted (© ) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational.

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Got Cancer? Milk poisoning cover-up Fox whistle-blower of Monsanto

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Uploaded on Nov 12, 2010

Monsanto continues to use growth hormones known to cause cancer. Is it in YOUR family's diary products? Fox News fired 2 reporters who insisted on breaking the story and refusing to be paid off to keep quiet. Educate yourself.

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Yet they did place this article on Fox Magazine in 2012

Fox News Magazine

The Truth About Milk

By Tanya Zuckerbrot, MS, RD, Founder of the F-Factor Diet

| August 10, 2012

Milk is truly a nutritional powerhouse. A one-cup serving provides 30 percent of our daily value for calcium, 25 percent for vitamin D, 24 percent of riboflavin (a B vitamin), 20 percent of phosphorus and 11 percent for potassium. In fact, a cup of milk has more nutrition than most fruit juices and sports drinks, and it is one of the best sources of dietary calcium that your body can readily absorb. How much should you drink? According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children ages one through three should get about two servings of milk daily, three servings daily for kids ages four through eight. For children, milk is a key source of calcium and vitamin D, and after age two, they should switch from whole milk to low or fat-free milk. For everyone age nine and older, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends at least three cups of milk or milk equivalent per day. There are a variety of milk products on the market today. Don’t assume just because a new kind of milk comes along that it’s better than the milk we grew up with. Read the nutrition facts on the package so you know what you are drinking. Here’s a quick rundown of popular choices:

Read More Here

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Fox-Can-Lie Lawsuit

People frequently refer to a court case that Fox won, which essentially gives the media the right to lie. This came from an appellate court decision that states that the FCC’s news distortion policy does not qualify as a rule, law, or regulation. From Wikipedia: Jane Akre and her husband Steve Wilson are former employees of Fox owned-and-operated station WTVT in Tampa, Florida. In 1997, they were fired from the station after refusing to knowingly include false information in their report concerning the Monsanto Company’s production of RBGH, a drug designed to make cows produce more milk. They successfully sued under Florida’s whistle blower law and were awarded a US $425,000 settlement by jury decision. However, Fox appealed to an appellate court and won, after the court declared that the FCC policy against falsification that Fox violated was just a policy and not a “law, rule, or regulation”, and so the whistle blower law did not apply. The court agreed with WTVT’s (Fox) argument “that the FCC’s policy against the intentional falsification of the news — which the FCC has called its “news distortion policy” — does not qualify as the required “law, rule, or regulation” under section 448.102.[...] Because the FCC’s news distortion policy is not a “law, rule, or regulation” under section 448.102, Akre has failed to state a claim under the whistle-blower’s statute.”[1] In 2001, Jane Akre and her husband won the Goldman Environmental Prize as a recognition for their report on RBGH. [2] In 2004, Fox filed a US$1.7 million counter-suit against Akre and Wilson for trial fees and costs. Akre and Wilson both appear in a major portion of the 2004/5 critical documentary, The Corporation. In 2007 Jane became the editor-in-chief of the national news desk at InjuryBoard.com.[3]

Jon Stewart Breaks It Down: Fox News Is NOT News

Posted by Mark NC on October 30, 2009 at 1:51 am.:

Once again it takes a fake news program to reveal where the real fake news is. Jon Stewart, of the Daily Show, continues to prove that he is a far better informed and a more insightful media analyst than just about any of the so-called professionals with degrees and awards and jobs on “reputable” news networks. It is apparent to any objective observer that Fox is a journalistic wasteland. Their entire schedule is populated by partisan hacks whose intent is to misinform their audience with reporting that is so slanted as to be little more than press releases and promos for Republican operatives and issues. They even feature a Psycho-Chicken Little (Glenn Beck) who accuses Obama and his staff of worshiping Mao, even as he himself admits that he idolizes Adolf Hitler. But it took Stewart to artfully, and hilariously, point out that Fox has defined themselves into a corner. Stewart, noting that Fox regards their news day as the hours between 9:00am to 4:00pm, and 6:00pm to 8:00pm, rips to shreds the false Fox fiction that there is a distinction between their news content and their editorials.

Read More Here

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Fox Admits to CNN That It Traffics in Opinion Not News

Jon Ponder | Oct 12, 2009

After a brief but concerted challenge by the White House to the credibility of Fox News Channel as a legitimate news organization — including a detailed take down by Communications Director Anita Dunn on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” on Sunday — a spokesman for Fox responded with a de facto admission that the channel is nothing more than a propaganda arm of the Republican Party and the conservative movement. CNN described Fox’s statement this way: “In a written statement given to CNN, Fox News said its programming was comparable to the editorial page of a newspaper.” The fact that Fox says its programming is based on opinions not facts would likely come as a shock to Fox viewers — but, of course, they’ll never know about it. Fox will protect them from this harsh reality the same way it deals with all news that makes conservatives look badly: by not covering it. Here’s the statement by Fox to CNN:

“An increasing number of viewers are relying on Fox News for both news and opinion,” Fox News Senior VP Michael Clemente said in the statement, “and the average news consumer can certainly distinguish between the A-section of the newspaper and the editorial page, which is what our programming represents. “So with all due respect to anyone who might still be confused about the difference between news reporting and vibrant opinion, my suggestion would be to talk about the stories and the facts rather than the [sic] attack the messenger . . . which over time has never worked.”

Not surprisingly, this statement from Fox was carefully crafted to obfuscate the truth from busy or hapless readers. Like the classic non-denial denial, it is a non-admission admission.

Read More Here

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Why anyone would even entertain the idea that Fox News is news and deals in truth is beyond me. To give anything that this rag states as truth credence is ludicrous. If is is only on Fox and no other legitimate media source is stating the same story, then it is probably a lie!

So save yourselves some anguish and don't get yourselves worked up due to anything that Fox News reports. Because in fact it is not news , it is simply their opinion on whatever the flavor of the week is over at Fox according to Murdock .

~Desert Rose~

The court of appeals in Lyon, France, has found agribusiness giant Monsanto guilty of poisoning a man named Paul François.

By WakingTimes December 14, 2015

Court Finds Monsanto Responsible for Poisoning French Farmer

Alex Pietrowski, Staff.

Waking Times

The court of appeals in Lyon, France, has found agribusiness giant Monsanto guilty of poisoning a man named Paul François. François is a farmer who claimed that he suffered a multitude of ailments, including headaches, memory loss, neurological problems and stammering, after he unintentionally inhaled Monsanto’s herbicide, Lasso.

François used Lasso for over 15 years, and in 2004 accidentally inhaled the product. After the incident, the farmer began getting severe headaches and experienced moments of mental absence and an inability to speak.

The chemical’s effects on François were so severe that he fainted, was hospitalized and fell into a coma. François was diagnosed with monochlorobenzene poisoning by his doctors, who found that the chemical permanently damaged his brain. Monochlorobenzene makes up 50% of the herbicide Lasso.
It is worth noting that the herbicide was prohibited in France and the rest of the European Union in 2007, and at the time of the incident, it was already banned in Canada (since 1985), Great Britain and Belgium (since 1992).

During the court hearing, Monsanto’s attorneys repeatedly claimed that the herbicide Lasso was not dangerous. François claimed that the company was aware of the toxic nature of the herbicide but failed to adequately warn about the potential health risks.

Read More Here

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Mark-1 Plumbing Ford F-250 sold to Autonation in Houston, Texas. Ends up in Syria being used as a weapons platform with US company signage intacty!

Texas plumber wants $1 million from dealership that sold his truck to jihadists

Published time: 14 Dec, 2015 19:48

A December 2014 photo of the Ford truck used by jihadists in Syria. The "Mark-1 Plumbing" sign is clearly visible © Twitter

A Texas plumber has dealt with death threats and abusive phone calls after the Ford truck he sold to a local dealership showed up in the hands of jihadists in Syria ‒ with his company sign intact. Now he is suing for at least $1 million in damages.

TrendsSyria unrest

Mark Oberholtzer, who runs Mark-1 Plumbing in Galveston, Texas, says that Autonation Ford Gulf Freeway, a dealership in Houston, resold his 2005 Ford F-250 pick-up without removing the decal with his company’s name and phone number. After the truck ended up in the hands of a Syrian rebel group, a photo of it showed up on Twitter and was featured on the final episode of Comedy Central’s ‘Colbert Report’.

Colbert joked that Syria “is going down the toilet, but for the first time, they know who to call to unclog it.”

By the end of that day, “Mark-1's office, Mark-1's business phone, and Mark's personal cell phone had received over 1,000 phone calls from around the nation,” ranging from degrading to expletive-laced death threats, according to the lawsuit filed in Harris County by Oberholtzer’s attorneys. Up to 200 calls per day continued to come in over the next three weeks, and the plumber still gets calls to this day, especially after Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) commits an atrocity somewhere, the lawsuit said.

View image on Twitter

Follow

Caleb Weiss @Weissenberg7

Chechen Jaish al Muhajireen wal Ansar using plumbing truck against regime in #Aleppo

12:37 PM - 15 Dec 2014

In the complaint, Oberholtzer says the dealership stopped him from removing the decal, claiming that doing so would damage the paint. At no time did anyone at the dealership inform Oberholtzer that they would

“leave the decals on the truck, which would be transferred in some fashion to international jihadists conducting warfare upon innocents in Syria,”

the lawsuit stated, calling what happened an “incomprehensible and horrific eventuality.”

Noting that the plumber had sold several of his old trucks to dealerships in Texas over the years, the lawsuit goes on to add:

“On none of these occasions have any of those dealers transferred to international jihadists the traded-in vehicle with Plaintiffs’ identifying marking still upon them.”

According to Carfax vehicle history reports, attached to the lawsuit as evidence, the truck was sold at an auction on November 11, 2013. It was exported from Houston and ended up in Mersin, a port in southeastern Turkey. On December 15, 2014, a photo of the truck posted on Twitter showed it being used as a weapons platform by a jihadist group in Syria – with the “Mark-1 Plumbing” sign still there.

Read More Here

Monday, December 14, 2015

Syngenta mixed GMOs into US crops to force the world to accept untested biotechnology, lawsuit claims

NaturalNews

Monday, December 14, 2015 by: J. D. Heyes

(NaturalNews) Agri- and biotech giant Syngenta is being sued by hundreds of farmers in at least 20 states for shocking business practices, including using the American people as GMO guinea pigs.
According to Arkansas Business, one of the lawsuits against the Swiss seed manufacturer, which has been filed on behalf of two Newport-area farms, alleges that Syngenta "has engaged in a criminal conspiracy to contaminate the U.S. corn crop to force China (and) other nations that buy U.S. corn and U.S. farmers to accept" GMO corn.

The publication further reported in online editions:

The suit, field by the Emerson Poynter law firm, which has offices in Little Rock and Houston, alleges that Syngenta violated the Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, which is usually used to fight organized crime.

The firm filed the class-action suit in January on behalf of Eagle Lake Farms and Kenny Falwell, both operating farms in the Newport area. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. At least eight other suits have also been filed against the seed maker, the news report said.

In all, there are hundreds of pending suits against Syngenta that have been filed by American farmers since last fall. The suits claim that Syngenta caused financial losses of between $1 billion and $2.9 billion to U.S. corn farmers after selling them GMO corn that China had yet to approve for use. China is a major (and growing) importer of American corn and maize-related byproducts.

Drop in value

In particular, the suits identified the Agrisure Viptera seed, also known as MIR 162. The suits say the seeds have been genetically altered to resist corn pests including earworms and cutworms. The seed was approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2010.

In November 2013, China began banning shipments of U.S. corn after its scientists detected the GMO trait, leading to a dramatic decrease in the price and value of U.S. corn. The suits allege that even farmers who did not use the GMO corn suffered economic losses as well.

Farmers in 20 states have filed suit. Together, they represent 86 percent of all corn planted in the United States last year, plaintiffs' lawyers said.

Arkansas Business further reported:

China went on to approve Viptera in December, but plaintiffs' lawyers say the development has little, if any, effect on their case. Scott Powell of Hare Wynn Newell & Newton of Birmingham, Alabama, is one of those lawyers.

China, with its rapidly expanding middle class, has "a voracious appetite for corn," Powell said, and when it stopped buying U.S. corn, it found other vendors, like Brazil. And once a country finds a substitute vendor for a product, it rarely switches back.

It's not just farmers lining up to sue Syngenta for its shady practice. Other agri-business giants are suing as well.

'We don't mess with China'

For example ADM, one of the world's largest processors of corn, filed suit against the Swiss company in November. "Syngenta chose to sell a corn seed product with traits that were not approved in all major export markets, without undertaking reasonable stewardship practices to prevent the resulting crop from commingling with or otherwise tainting the rest of the U.S. corn supply," an ADM spokeswoman told Arkansas Business.

For it's part, Syngenta says the suits are baseless, saying it "believes that the lawsuits are without merit and strongly upholds the right of growers to have access to approved new technologies that can increase both their productivity and their profitability," as reported by AgWeb.com.

The company added that it "commercialized the trait in full compliance with regulatory and legal requirements," "obtained import approval from major corn importing countries," and "has been fully transparent in commercializing the trait over the last four years."

U.S. farmers take China's business seriously.

"We don't mess with China," Deb Volnek, a Nebraska farmer involved in the suit against Syngenta, told Reuters. "When China buys something, the markets go up. When they don't, the markets go down."

Sources:

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com
http://www.agweb.com
http://www.reuters.com

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About NaturalNews

The NaturalNews Network is a non-profit collection of public education websites covering topics that empower individuals to make positive changes in their health, environmental sensitivity, consumer choices and informed skepticism. The NaturalNews Network is owned and operated by Truth Publishing International, Ltd., a Taiwan corporation. It is not recognized as a 501(c)3 non-profit in the United States, but it operates without a profit incentive, and its key writer, Mike Adams, receives absolutely no payment for his time, articles or books other than reimbursement for items purchased in order to conduct product reviews.
The vast majority of our content is freely given away at no charge. We offer thousands of articles and dozens of downloadable reports and guides (like the Honest Food Guide) that are designed to educate and empower individuals, families and communities so that they may experience improved health, awareness and life fulfillment.

Learn More About Natural News Here

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

More than 1,000 customers were potentially exposed to Hepatitis A after having their meal at McDonald’s , prompting class-action lawsuit in Waterloo, New York

Health Nut News

1,000 McDonald’s Customers Exposed To Hepatitis A, Sparking Class Action Lawsuit

November 21, 2015 by Erin Elizabeth

People buying fast-food from McDonald's Restaurant

In November, more than 1,000 customers were potentially exposed to Hepatitis A after having their meal at McDonald’s prepared by an employee who was recently diagnosed (Nov. 13th) with the virus. The employee who works at a location in Waterloo, New York, could have contaminated food, utensils or dishes if they didn’t wash their hands after using the bathroom. The Seneca County Health Department has advised the community that if they ate at the Waterloo McDonald’s on Nov. 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th and or 8th, that they need to be tested and vaccinated.

However, one customer is suing.

The branch’s owner, Jascor Inc., is being sued by Christopher Welch in a class-action lawsuit, filed on Nov. 18th, for potentially exposing people to the virus, which causes liver infections. Mr. Welch ate at the restaurant on at least one occasion when the worker was present so he received the vaccination. Some of the customers who ate there during that time have said they will get tested but not get the vaccine.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

Read More Here

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Walmart employee fired for redeeming $2 of cans finds groundswell of support

the guardian

Thomas Smith said he was unaware that taking bottles and cans left in shopping carts violated store policy as advocate argues race issues were behind firing

Walmart: all your trash are belong to us. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Mahita Gajanan in New York

@mahitagajanan

Friday 20 November 2015 17.30 EST Last modified on Friday 20 November 2015 17.34 EST

An Albany-area Walmart employee fired from his job for redeeming $2 worth of cans he collected while gathering shopping carts in the store’s parking lot has drawn widespread sympathy and support on social media.

Thomas Smith, 52, told the Albany Times Union that he was fired in early November for redeeming a total of $5.10 worth of cans and bottles on two occasions, and said he was unaware that doing so violated store policy.

Support for Smith grew after a story on his termination from the Albany Times Union. A GoFundMe drive for Smith set up by Dounya Hamdan, of Chicago, has nearly reached the $5,000 goal as of Friday afternoon.

Read More Here

Monday, October 26, 2015

Jared Fogle, Former Subway Pitchman, Pays $1.4 Million In Restitution To Victims

By: John Lester
Staff Reporter
Oct, 25, 2015

Jared Fogle, the former Subway pitchman, has paid $1 million total in restitution to 10 of his 14 victims after pleading guilty to sex acts with minors and distribution of child pornography, and he faces a possible sentence of five to 12 years in federal prison.

In a related report by NewsOXY, the fallout continued between the pitchman and the Subway sandwich chain after a whistleblower admitted a wire for evidence to the FBI. The recording allegedly provided vital information to investigators leading to raid of the Subway pitchman’s home.
The prosecutor Jared Fogle, 37, made payments of $1.4 million under the terms of a plea agreement. The remaining four victims will also each receive $100,000 before a sentencing scheduled for Nov. 19, said the prosecutor, Steven DeBrota of the United States attorney’s office in Indianapolis.

Read More Here

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Numerous States Prepare Lawsuits Against Obama’s Climate Policy

New York Times

By CORAL DAVENPORTOCT. 22, 2015

Empty coal gondolas in a rail yard in Danville, W.Va. Patrick Morrisey, West Virginia's attorney general, said President Obama's climate change regulations would have "devastating impacts" on families in his state. Credit Luke Sharrett for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — As many as 25 states will join some of the nation’s most influential business groups in legal action to block President Obama’s climate change regulations when they are formally published Friday, trying to stop his signature environmental policy.

In August, the president announced in a White House ceremony that the Environmental Protection Agency rules had been completed, but they had not yet been published in the government’s Federal Register. Within hours of the rules’ official publication on Friday, a legal battle will begin, pitting the states against the federal government. It is widely expected to end up before the Supreme Court.

“I predict there will be a very long line of people at the federal courthouse tomorrow morning, eagerly waiting to file their suits on this case,” said Jeffrey R. Holmstead, a lawyer for the firm Bracewell & Giuliani who represents several companies that are expected to file such suits.

While the legal brawls could drag on for years, many states and companies, including those that are suing the administration, have also started drafting plans to comply with the rules. That strategy reflects the uncertainty of the ultimate legal outcome — and also means that many states could be well on the way to implementing Mr. Obama’s climate plan by the time the case reaches the Supreme Court.

Read More Here

Sunday, October 18, 2015

20 Year Old Autistic Girl in Michigan Medically Kidnapped Over Treatment Disagreement

Health Impact News

Hannah G has a smile that lights up the room. Source: #freehannahg Facebook page

UPDATE: 10/9/2015

As of late this afternoon, Hannah is FREE! We don’t yet know the details, but we will update as soon as we can. What we do know is this, from the #FreeHannahG Facebook page:

Besides having a mother and siblings who would NEVER give up, a family that pulled together and formed an amazing circle of support, friends and colleagues that took a stand…and an amazing legal team…and YOUR support, I believe that she freed herself by being an amazing self-advocate. She still managed to touch hearts and make us all laugh from her not-so-royal tower on the 7th floor. This is the time to breathe, thank God and be grateful that she is home. Once the family has had time to rest after this 40 day hell on Earth, they will release a statement that will answer those questions.

Also, we received word that a copy of this article was sent to Michigan Lt. Governor Brian Calley as soon as it was published, and that he read it.

To all who worked hard for Hannah’s freedom, thank you. This is a beautiful testament to what families, communities, and the public can do to fight for freedom for families faced with the injustice and cruelty of medical kidnapping. Sadly, there are many more stories like this. Each victim needs advocates to speak out for them and fight for their freedom.

by Health Impact News/MedicalKidnap.com Staff

Savannah Garcia, or Hannah, as she is known to those who love her, is a fun-loving young lady who is an important part of her community in Traverse City, Michigan. The 20 year old is a regular fixture at her neighborhood ballpark, where she cheers on her favorite players, and she is well-loved by all who know her. She loves her dog, her family and friends, stuffed animals, frappes, and her fiance. Even though she is autistic, she has been living in an apartment attended by a care team, and has been involved in making many of her own choices.

Until September 4, 2015.

That was the day that 2 doctors at Munson Medical Center filed a petition to remove Hannah’s mother as her guardian and to name a person completely unknown to the family, Stephanie Strehl, as her guardian. Health Impact has learned that psychiatrist Dr. Marilyn Conlon and internist Dr. Hal Yost are the physicians behind the charges, yet reportedly they have still not yet consulted with, or even spoken to, Hannah’s long term primary care physician. Nor have they fully reviewed Hannah’s records, according to her attorney Calvin Luker, reported by the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Yet their chosen guardian has taken away all semblance of choice and basic civil liberties from Hannah.

How Hannah Wound Up as a Prisoner at Munson Hospital

According to a press release issued by the RespectABILITY Law Center,

Hannah has a medical condition, Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension, where pressure builds in her brain causing painful, punishing headaches. In 2012, surgeons installed a shunt to drain the fluid that causes the pressure.

Sometimes these shunts need adjustments, which is called a “shunt revision.” The details of the summer of 2015 may be found in the press release, but it comes down to this: on several occasions, beginning in May 2015, Hannah began having severe headaches. Always under consultation with her primary care doctor and neurosurgeon, her mother took her to 3 different hospitals on different occasions where objective medical testing revealed that there was an increase in intracranial pressure, which was causing debilitating headaches. Each time that surgery was performed, they found a medical reason for her severe pain, including a blockage in the tubing with cells. Another time, the tubing itself had become disconnected, and had to be repaired.

Read More Here

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Nestlé lawsuit claims food and beverage giant is illegally bottling California water

the guardian

Environmental groups claim Nestlé is breaking federal law by operating on an expired permit to remove millions of gallons of water from a southern California forest despite the state’s historic drought

A new lawsuit against Nestlé claims the company is illegally pumping millions of gallons of water from California’s San Bernardino National Forest. Photograph: Larry W Smith/EPA

Alison Moodie

Tuesday 13 October 2015 14.15 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 13 October 2015 14.30 EDT

A consortium of environmental advocacy groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the US Forest Service, alleging that the federal agency has allowed food and beverage giant Nestlé to illegally pump millions of gallons of water from California’s San Bernardino National Forest for decades, despite the current historic drought.

The Story of Stuff Project, along with co-plaintiffs the Center for Biological Diversity and the Courage Campaign Institute, claim that Nestlé is breaking federal law, operating on a permit expired nearly 20 years ago, in 1988, removing between 50m-150m gallons of water each year from a creek in the southern Californian forest to use in its Arrowhead bottled water brand. The organizations are asking the US Forest Service to immediately turn off the water spigot and conduct a permit review, assessing the environmental impact of Nestlé’s operations.

“They are taking water from a national forest that desperately needs that water,” said Michael O’Heaney, executive director at the Story of Stuff, a group that advocates to clean up consumer culture. “The Forest Service is obligated by law to ensure the natural resources of the forest are protected.”

Lisa Belenky, senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the Forest Service “has a duty to look at permits and make sure they’re current and do an environmental review to make sure it isn’t impacting areas of the forest”.

But Nestlé says it isn’t breaking any laws, and insists that its permit hasn’t expired.

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Apple Inc could be facing up to $862 million in damages for using technology owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's licensing arm without permission

Apple loses patent lawsuit to University of Wisconsin, faces hefty damages

NEW YORK | By Andrew Chung

Apple Inc could be facing up to $862 million in damages after a U.S. jury on Tuesday found the iPhone maker used technology owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's licensing arm without permission in chips found in many of its most popular devices.

The jury in Madison, Wisconsin also said the patent, which improves processor efficiency, was valid. The trial will now move on to determine how much Apple owes in damages.

Representatives for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and Apple could not immediately be reached for comment.

WARF sued Apple in January 2014 alleging infringement of its 1998 patent for improving chip efficiency.

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The jury was considering whether Apple's A7, A8 and A8X processors, found in the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus, as well as several versions of the iPad, violate the patent.

Read More Here

Friday, October 9, 2015

Free Speech Watch: Prior Restraint Makes a Comeback as US Courts Seek to Squelch Dissent

04.10.2015 Author: Janet Phelan

Barbara Stone was only able to get out of jail when she agreed to stop blogging. Patty Reid is on the lam. Cary-Andrew Crittenden may be facing further jail time for his efforts to inform others about problems in the Santa Clara County legal system. And Ginny Johnson is under a gag order which nearly eventuated in a close encounter with a jail cell.

All these individuals are experiencing, up close and personal, the limits of free speech when that speech inconveniences someone more powerful than they. Twenty, thirty years ago none of these individuals would have faced the grave legal problems they now confront. But thirty years ago, the legal system in the US was not yet in free fall.

The devolution of the US legal system is evidenced in the existence of a dual legal system, wherein there abides two parallel—and often contradictory—systems of law. One system is the written code—the Constitutional and statutory mandates. The other system is what a judge does in his courtroom. And increasingly, judges are acting like monarchs, unaccountable to anyone.

This is well expressed when First Amendment (freedom of speech) issues collide with governmental imperatives. Prior restraint, that is the imposition of gags or inhibitions on speech not yet spoken, is illegal in the US, according to the written code. Increasingly, however, judges are issuing orders which amount to prior restraint when an individual’s speech becomes politically inconvenient.

A previous article discussed the plight of Barbara Stone, whose mother is under a guardianship in Dade County, Florida. Upon visiting her mother in the home in which the guardian had placed Helen Stone, Barbara was shocked to find her mother emaciated and on a feeding tube. Barbara then allegedly took her mother to lunch.

She was subsequently arrested and charged with “custody interference,” and up until recently was confined to house arrest, an electronic tracking bracelet ensuring her compliance.

The problem was that Barbara would not shut up. She filed a number of lawsuits against guardianship court Judge Michael Genden and also against guardian Jacqueline Hertz and her attorney, Roy Lustig, as well as criminal court judge Victoria Brennan and Governor Rick Scott. She also launched a blog with the purpose of exposing the parties involved in what she termed the continuing abuse of her mother. Tiring of her complaints, Judge Genden charged her with criminal contempt for failing to show up at a court hearing and Barbara went into lock-up.

This past week, Stone, who is licensed to practice law in the state of New York, secured her release from jail at a significant price. She has agreed to stop blogging and also, significantly, to not file further papers in her mother’s case without a lawyer. In other words, the price of her freedom was prior restraint.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Activist Post Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program September 25, 2015 cannabis_oilBy Jay Syrmopoulos In a precedent-setting case, a state judge ruled this month that the mother of a New Jersey teenager with epilepsy, who is also her legal medical caregiver, cannot go to her school to administer her daughter’s cannabis oil. The oil treatments, which are legal in the state, control the young girl’s seizures and allow her to function normally in school, according to her parents. In its opinion, the court reasoned that state and federal laws prohibiting drug possession on school grounds takes precedence over the students’ right to use medical cannabis derivatives. This ruling is in spite of the fact that New Jersey has already legalized cannabis for medical use. This court setback is the third such defeat for the Barbour family, who have vowed to continue appealing. According to legal experts, this case is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States. Administrative Law Judge, John S. Kennedy ruled in January and again on appeal in August that the Larc School and the Maple Shade school district are stuck in a legal quandary. If allowed to administer the drug, the school nurse would be violating state laws, which ban the use of drugs in school zones and federal law that deems pot possession a crime. According to a report by NJ.com: Roger and Lora Barbour have sued to require the nurse at their 16-year-old daughter’s special education school in Bellmawr administer cannabis oil, just like the nurse dispenses prescribed medication to other students. Since April, Genny has attended only half-days of school so she can be home for her lunchtime dose of homemade oil, diluted in a small glass of cola. In his 11-page ruling, the judge wrote that the family failed to show that their daughter would suffer “irreparable harm” if she were denied her medicine during the school day. Read More Here

September 25, 2015

By Jay Syrmopoulos

In a precedent-setting case, a state judge ruled this month that the mother of a New Jersey teenager with epilepsy, who is also her legal medical caregiver, cannot go to her school to administer her daughter’s cannabis oil.

The oil treatments, which are legal in the state, control the young girl’s seizures and allow her to function normally in school, according to her parents.

In its opinion, the court reasoned that state and federal laws prohibiting drug possession on school grounds takes precedence over the students’ right to use medical cannabis derivatives. This ruling is in spite of the fact that New Jersey has already legalized cannabis for medical use.

This court setback is the third such defeat for the Barbour family, who have vowed to continue appealing. According to legal experts, this case is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States.

Administrative Law Judge, John S. Kennedy ruled in January and again on appeal in August that the Larc School and the Maple Shade school district are stuck in a legal quandary. If allowed to administer the drug, the school nurse would be violating state laws, which ban the use of drugs in school zones and federal law that deems pot possession a crime.

According to a report by NJ.com:

Roger and Lora Barbour have sued to require the nurse at their 16-year-old daughter’s special education school in Bellmawr administer cannabis oil, just like the nurse dispenses prescribed medication to other students. Since April, Genny has attended only half-days of school so she can be home for her lunchtime dose of homemade oil, diluted in a small glass of cola.

In his 11-page ruling, the judge wrote that the family failed to show that their daughter would suffer “irreparable harm” if she were denied her medicine during the school day.

Read More Here

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Net Neutrality — Is on trial: Help defend it —

Image : Net Neutrality: Why you should care

Via : Ben.Geek.NZ

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The big cable companies are back — and this time they're going through the courts to try to kill the Net Neutrality rules we won earlier this year. Activists are filing a "People's Brief" in a few days to make sure that the court understands just how important Net Neutrality is: Click here to read the brief, and add your name below to sign on.

URGENT: SIGN THE PEOPLE'S BRIEF

A third-party consultant will help us manage data collected from this campaign.

Spread the word.

Click here to add your name to the Net Neutrality People’s Brief — the single best thing you can do to make sure Net Neutrality is here to stay.

These lawsuits are by far the biggest threat to Net Neutrality. Armed to the teeth with lawyers, the odds will be stacked in Comcast’s favor if we stand idly by — even though the new Net Neutrality rules were built on the strongest legal grounds possible.

It’s ridiculous that months after winning Net Neutrality, we still have to fight to defend the new rules. But we knew this was coming. Now, if we don’t take action, we’ll lose it to the cable industry’s army of lawyers.

That’s why we’re organizing tens of thousands of people to weigh in together as part of the People’s Brief, and why we need you to add your name right now.

Click here to add your name to the Net Neutrality People’s Brief and remind the judges who look at this that the public has spoken loud and clear.

Normally in cases like these, it’s only corporations and wonky nonprofits that submit briefs. But given how we won Net Neutrality, with millions of people weighing in to the FCC to support the Open Internet, we wanted to make sure everyone can take part, directly.

Even now that the battle has arrived in its final stages, we can use the Internet to save the Internet. We think that's a pretty cool thing, and we hope you'll join in.

Take action to protect Net Neutrality — join the People’s Brief now.

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Without Net Neutrality, the big cable companies would control the Internet, and make it harder for us to access information that doesn't align with what's best for the companies' bottom lines or that disagrees with their political leanings. If Net Neutrality weren't the norm, we might even have been blocked from engaging in the online activism that helped secure the Net Neutrality rules that we're now working to defend!

Help us share this action with as many people as possible!

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