SPRING BRINGS CATTLE MUTILATIONS

Officials bewildered by Texas cattle having genitalia and tongues removed with 'precision' cuts, no blood or tracks left behind

PAUL SACCA

April 22, 2023

Officials in Texas are bewildered by several cattle that mysteriously had their tongues and genitalia removed. There was no blood or signs of struggle anywhere near the dead cattle.

This week, six cattle were found dead under mysterious circumstances across Madison County, Texas. Ranchers first found a 6-year-old longhorn-cross cow "lying on her side, deceased, and mutilated on their ranch."

The Madison County Sheriff's Office issued a statement regarding the suspicious cattle deaths.

"A straight, clean cut, with apparent precision, had been made to remove the hide around the cow’s mouth on one side, leaving the meat under the removed hide untouched," the Madison County Sheriff's Office said. "The tongue was also completely removed from the body with no blood spill."

The police noted that there were no signs of struggle, footprints, or tire tracks near the mutilated animal.

"Ranchers also reported that no predators or birds would scavenge the remains of the cow, leaving it to decay untouched for several weeks," the statement continued.

The police revealed that five other cattle deaths were eerily similar.

The Madison County Sheriff's Office stated, "The other cows were found in the same condition, lying on one side with the exposed side of their face cut along the jaw line and the tongue, once again, completely removed."

Again, there were no signs of struggle or evidence of blood near these mutilated cattle, and no other animals scavenged the five dead cattle for several weeks.

Two of the five cows had a circular cut that removed "the anus and the external genitalia." Police explained that these cuts were made with the same precision that was made on the jaws of the other mangled cattle.

All of the cattle were found along a highway in three counties — Madison, Brazos, and Robertson. Each animal was reportedly part of a different herd, and in a different pasture.

Authorities have yet to determine the cause of death of all six cattle.

The Madison County Sheriff’s Office is urging anyone with information regarding the suspicious cattle deaths to call 936-348-2755.

In 2019, five bulls were found dead in Oregon with tongues and genitalia removed. There were no tracks or blood found near the dead animals.

In 2021, seven cattle were found mutilated on a ranch in Oregon. The Associated Press reported, "In most cases, the dead animal’s sex organs, tongue or eyes are cut away cleanly and there is no blood."

Cattle mutilation

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Cattle_mutilation

Cattle mutilation (also known as bovine excision and unexplained livestock death, or animal mutilation) is the killing and mutilation of cattle under unusual, ...

‎History · ‎1974 mutilations and... · ‎Conventional explanations · ‎Human intervention

The Mysterious History of Cattle Mutilation

History Channel

https://www.history.com › Stories

Apr 27, 2021 — The bovine corpses stunned the ranchers who found them. The animals' ears, eyes, udders, anuses, sex organs and tongues had routinely been ...

cattlemutilations-fbi-vault.pdf

The Black Vault

https://documents.theblackvault.com › paranormal

PDF

mutilation of livestock which would enable the FBI to enter. such an investigation. ... For several months my office has been receiving reports of cattle.

Maggots, mutilations and myth: Patterns of postmortem ...

National Institutes of Health (.gov)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › articles › PMC1681190

by PN Nation · 1989 · Cited by 5 — Abstract. Based upon what is known about the habits of common carrion eaters in Alberta, we review the patterns of postmortem scavenging of carcasses of cattle.

Missing: FBI ‎| Search with: FBI

Extreme Weather Is Nearly Universal Experience: AP-NORC Poll

An overwhelming majority of people in the United States say they have recently experienced an extreme weather event, and most attribute that to climate change.

Apr 22, 2023, 


WASHINGTON (AP) — An overwhelming majority of people in the United States say they have recently experienced an extreme weather event, a new poll shows, and most of them attribute that to climate change.

But even as many across the country mark Earth Day on Saturday, the poll shows relatively few say they feel motivated when they talk about the issue.

The findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll echo growing evidence that many individuals question their own role in combating climate change. Still, the poll suggests people are paying attention.

About half of U.S. adults say they have grown more concerned about the changing climate in the past year, and a growing number say they are talking about it.

Adriana Moreno said she feels like she’s been talking about climate change for years, but it’s only recently that the 22-year-old high school teacher has noticed her older family members bringing up the issue more and more – “almost every time I see them,” said Moreno, a Democrat in New York.

Her family on the East Coast talks about how the seasons have changed while her family in El Salvador talks about how poorly some crops on their farm are faring. After years of hearing about Moreno’s own interest in the issue, her parents have themselves become more interested.

It’s not that they didn’t believe in climate change before, Moreno said, but it was “out of sight, out of mind.”

Overall, about 8 in 10 U.S. adults say that in the past five years they have personally felt the effects of extreme weather, such as extreme heat or drought, according to the poll. Most of them – 54% of the public overall – say what they experienced was at least partly a result of climate change. They’re not wrong, said the head of the federal agency overseeing weather and climate issues.

“It is a reality that regardless of where you are in the country, where you call home, you’ve likely experienced a high impact weather event firsthand,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Rick Spinrad said at a meteorological conference this year, noting that the United States has the most weather disasters that cost $1 billion of any nation in the world.

NOAA uses weather disasters that cost $1 billion as a measure of climate change and how it affects people. Last year there were 18 of those events, costing more than $165 billion in total and killing 474 people. That included Hurricane Ian and an ongoing drought in the West.

These types of weather events hit the nation on average once every 82 days in the 1980s, but are now smacking the country at a rate of slightly more than once every two weeks, Spinrad said.

“With a changing climate, buckle up,” Spinrad warned. “More extreme events are expected.”

The poll shows about three-quarters of U.S. adults say recent extreme weather events have had at least some influence on their beliefs about climate change.

After 2 1/2 years living in Agoura Hills, California, Rick Hoeft has noticed extreme weather events that make him concerned about climate change now more than ever before. He hadn’t been face to face with the same weather whiplash when he lived for decades in Hawaii and Michigan, where he’s moving back to this month.

“Hearing about the things like the fires and seeing the hills around here being brown and not getting any rain for three, four, five months in a row ... it’s not something I’d ever thought of anywhere else because I’ve never been in such extreme drought,” the 65-year-old Republican retiree said. Then, “when we finally do get rain, it’s extreme.”

He says his girlfriend, who had lived in California for 45 years, tells him “this isn’t normal.”

PAJARO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 14: Patrick Cerruti walks through the flooded Pajaro Coin Laundry on March 14, 2023 in Pajaro, California. Northern California has been hit by another atmospheric river that has brought heavy rains and flooding throughout the region. The town has been inundated with floodwaters since Saturday after a levee was breached along the Pajaro River.

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Extreme downpours, like the series of winter storms that flooded California, and large droughts are happening more frequently and with more intensity because of climate change, studies show. Tornadoes are moving further east and the supercells that spawn them are expected to get more frequent and move even further east as the world warms. Wildfires have been devastating for years, worsened by warming.

Half of U.S. adults say they have spoken with friends and family about climate change in the past year, compared with about 4 in 10 who said the same last June.

Still, many say they rarely or never talk about the issue.

John Laubacker, a 36-year-old truck driver from Lockport, New York, says climate is an important issue to him personally. But he doesn’t find himself talking about it much.

Laubacker, a moderate Republican, says he finds the conversation on climate, like other issues, is dominated by those with extreme views on both sides of the aisle.

The poll finds people don’t tend to talk about climate change with people they outright disagree with on the issue. Among those who talk with family and friends, about half say they mostly agree with those they talk to, while most of the remainder say they tend to equally agree and disagree.

A clear majority say they have learned new information in a conversation on the subject, but only 19% of U.S. adults say their minds have been changed because of a conversation about climate change.

The poll also finds few feel very hopeful or motivated when they talk about climate change; roughly half feel those at least somewhat. That’s true of anxiety and sadness as well.

Anthony Thompson, a 74-year-old retiree and a Democrat, thinks climate change has accelerated, but he picks and chooses who he talks to about it in “ruby red” Jackson, Tennessee. But if it comes up when tornadoes or hailstorms tear through their area, he offers what he’s learned as “food for thought.”

To Thompson, changes in weather have become more severe – as has his concern.

“I’m more concerned now because I think people kind of take everything for granted and I don’t think they really care, to be quite honest,” he said. “Hopefully if we concentrate on some of this stuff we can at least slow it down.”
___

AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report.
___

The poll of 1,230 adults was conducted April 13-17 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

PRISON NATION U$A
#InsideJob

Ridding Our Nation’s Prisons Of Solitary Confinement Is Far Harder Than It Should Be: Part 1 Of A 3-Part Series

March 16, 2023

 by Chandra Bozelko

The SHU at California's Pelican Bay

Written by Chandra Bozelko

BLast year, California’s State Legislature passed a bill that prohibited solitary confinement for a list of people who are at higher risk for its harms: people with mental or physical disabilities, people who are pregnant, under 26 years old, or over 59 years old.  

In addition, Assembly Bill 2632, known as the California Mandela Act, followed the United Nations’ recommendation that no one be held in isolation for more than 15 days in a row or more than 45 days within a six month period. 

““Solitary confinement is a harsh measure which is contrary to rehabilitation, the aim of the penitentiary system,”  said Juan E. Méndez, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on torture.  “Segregation, isolation, separation, lockdown, Supermax, the hole, Secure Housing Unit… whatever the name, solitary confinement should be banned,” he said.

When AB2632 passed both houses in the state legislature, it was considered to be a large step forward.  But, a month later, Gavin Newsom vetoed the legislation. Now, although the bill has returned in the new 2023 session in the form of AB 280, at the moment, its future doesn’t appear to be very bright.  

California isn’t the only state to take one step forward in eliminating solitary confinement only to take that step back again. In Massachusetts, inmates filed a class action lawsuit against the state’s department of corrections because it allegedly failed to implement their new law addressing the topic.   In New York City, the promise to end solitary confinement as the city knew it was retracted when newly elected Mayor Eric Adams issued an executive order last July that stopped the new rules from taking effect. 

Even if the backtracking isn’t explicit, states find ways around restrictions against placing prisoners in isolation. New Jersey’s Isolated Confinement Restriction Law went into effect in 2020, limiting segregation terms to 20 days or no more than 30 days in a 60 day period. Those 20 days are five more than the 15 day limit established in what is known as the Mandela rules – the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015 to provide guidelines for the treatment of prisoners and to ensure that their rights are protected. 

Even with those restrictions in place, New Jersey women still landed in “Restorative Housing,” a rebrand of the same old solitary, for long periods of time. 

In many ways, it was California that taught us the lesson that, on the matter of solitary, even when fundamental reforms appear to be achieved, that achievement is tentative in nature. 

In 2012, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a federal class action suit against the state for its extreme use of solitary confinement in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison where people spent a decade or far more in solitary. The 2015 settlement of Ashker v. Governor of California ended indefinite stays in solitary — or at least it was supposed to. 

Within one year, the number of people in indefinite isolation went down 99 percent, but then bounced back when guards and administrators wielded the state’s prison discipline system against people to send them back to solitary. The reasons were often both trivial and often not even close to conclusive, such as if an informant said they knew someone who may or may not be a member of a prison gang.

The Ashker attorneys continue to find themselves in post-settlement battles in which plaintiffs seek to enforce the agreement.  

For example, a little over a year ago, on March 3, 2022, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken found that, for more than five years, high-level California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials used solitary to retaliate against Todd Ashker because of his prominent role in the lawsuit that bears his name.

The irony is that maintaining these practices causes more harm than it prevents. Studies found that violence within prisons went down after significant reduction in restrictive housing. 

Yet the practice persists in every state in the country.  According to an August 2022 report released by the Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law, 25,083 U.S. residents live in restrictive housing. Yet, that number is likely much higher in that the Liman Center study accounts only for 68% of the 50 states. The study’s authors estimate that, in reality, as many as 48,000 people are held alone in a cell for more than 22 hours every day. 

And 25% of these people have been confined alone, in a parking space-sized cell for more than a year.

Such torture isn’t evenly distributed among those livin facilities. This month, a study conducted by New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang reported that racial disparities worsened After a 2015 New York Times investigation identified disturbing race-based differences in how white and Black prisoners were sanctioned, New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang instituted her own expanded study on the matter, which was released in November 2022.  The new report, not only validated the NYT findings, it found that racial the disparities in the frequency and severity that incarcerated people were sanctioned (which included being put in solitary) was worse than the 2015 investigation had found,  Furthermore, the disparities continued to widen  in the years between 2017 and 2020.  

Meanwhile, another investigation released in 2018 by the partnership of NPR and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, concluded that women were disciplined twice as often as men were and the disparity included being put in solitary.  

It’s a grim picture, but Judith Resnik, the Arthur Liman Professor of Law at Yale Law School, finds reason for optimism.. 

“I am modestly optimistic that over the decades — we’re moving in decades — the idea of solitary will seem increasingly bizarre and utterly outside the bounds,” she told me. “We’re far from there. But it’s more on the table than it was. 

When she and her colleagues began their reports on the issue in 2012,” said Resnick, some officials even objected to the term solitary confinement.

 “The people who run prisons didn’t like that word,” she said.  “Now our newest data has four jurisdictions that say they have no one [in solitary] for 15 days or more. 

Resnick’s not wrong. In 2014, 80,000 to 100,000 were held in this type of confinement.  Now, more than eight years later, the country has halved the number of people it tortures through enforced segregation. 

But those 41,000 to 48,000 individuals who are still in isolation don’t always have decades to wait. The longer they stay in this state the higher the likelihood of damage that could be life ending. 

According to the authors of a study released in October 2020 by researchers at University of North Carolina, Emory University, and the North Carolina Departments of Public Safety and Public Health, any amount of time spent in solitary confinement more than doubles the risk of death for people recently released from prison. This includes deaths by suicide, homicide, and opioid overdose.  

On any given day in the United States, the study’s authors further noted, over 10,000 incarcerated individuals are released directly from solitary confinement into their communities. 

****

Author Chandra Bozelko is an expert on a broad number of issues related to criminal justice reform.  She also has personal experience with the topic.

A magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University, Bozelko was in the middle of postgraduate study in law and public health when she was arrested for non-violent crimes that remain on appeal.  She served more than six years at the York Correctional Institution, Connecticut’s state-run women’s prison. 

While locked up, Chandra was the first inmate to write a regular newspaper column from behind bars.  Her prize winning column, “Prison Diaries,” has been followed, since her release, by a book of poetry, and commentary for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, USA Today, US News and World Report, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Elle, Ms. Magazine, The Guardian and more.   As she wrote, Bozelko continued to gather prizes.

Now Chandra Bozelko is writing a regular column for WitnessLA called “Inside Job.”

The reporting for this 3-part series was done in fulfillment of Solitary Confinement: Unfinished Business Fellowship sponsored by the Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation at the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay College.

GOP states targeting diversity, equity efforts in higher ed

by DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press

April 22, 2023

Photo by Andrew Patrick on Pexels.com

Frustrated by college diversity initiatives he says are “fomenting radical and toxic divisions,” Texas state Rep. Carl Tepper set out to put an end to diversity, equity and inclusion offices in higher education.

The freshman Republican lawmaker filed a bill to ban such offices. Three months later, he filed a new version of the legislation doing the same thing. The difference? Tepper switched the wording to align with a new model bill developed by the Manhattan Institute and Goldwater Institute, a pair of conservative think tanks based in New York and Arizona, respectively.

Republican lawmakers in at least a dozen states have proposed more than 30 bills this year targeting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education, an Associated Press analysis found using the bill-tracking software Plural. The measures have become the latest flashpoint in a cultural battle involving race, ethnicity and gender that has been amplified by prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, potential rivals for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.

Many of the proposals root in one of a half-dozen conservative or libertarian organizations offering recommendations for limiting consideration of diversity, equity and inclusion in employment decisions, training and student admissions. Some measures mirror the model bills nearly exactly. Others copy key definitions or phrases while adapting the concepts to their particular states.

“There’s a tremendous appetite on the right to deal with this issue,” said Joe Cohn, legislative and policy director for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which in February added its own model bill to the swelling ranks of proposals.

The bills are an outgrowth of recent Republican attempts to limit critical race theory, a viewpoint that racism is historically systemic in the nation’s institutions and continues today to maintain the dominance of white people in society. Christopher Rufo, who now is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, helped propel conservative outrage in 2020 against what he has described as critical-race-theory concepts infiltrating governments and educational institutions.

Trump responded by issuing an order in September 2020 banning training involving “divisive concepts” about race for government employees and contractors. Similar wording began cropping up in state-level legislation the following year.

Florida’s so-called “Stop WOKE” law, which DeSantis signed last year, is among the most prominent measures. It bars businesses, colleges and K-12 schools from giving training on certain racial concepts, such as the theory that people of a particular race are inherently racist, privileged or oppressed. Courts have currently blocked the law’s enforcement in colleges, universities and businesses.

DeSantis has continued to press the issue. He proposed legislation this year to ban diversity, equity and inclusion offices as part of a broader agenda to reshape higher education. He also appointed Rufo and other conservatives to the New College of Florida’s oversight board, which then abolished the liberal arts college’s office that handles diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

“DeSantis has been so vocal about the changes he wants to make in universities that it has probably spurred activity in other states,” said Jenna Robinson, president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, a conservative nonprofit based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

On their face, diversity, equity and inclusion may seem uncontentious. Higher education institutions, along with many businesses, have devoted resources to inclusivity for years.

“DEI is woven into the fabric of good universities,” said Karma Chavez, chair of the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies and co-chair of the College of Liberal Arts diversity committee at the University of Texas.

Campus DEI offices often spearhead services tailored to students of various races, genders, sexual orientations, cultures and abilities. Some college administrators also consider diversity and equity when admitting students, providing scholarships or deciding which faculty to hire and promote. Applicants may be asked not only for resumes and references, but also for statements about how they would advance DEI efforts.

Tepper contends DEI initiatives are “ideologically driven” on a “Marxist foundation.” Republican lawmakers in other states have used similar arguments.

During a recent Missouri House debate, Republican Rep. Doug Richey put forth a series of budget amendments prohibiting state funding for DEI initiatives in government agencies and higher education. He asserted the offices espouse “racist policies” and “Marxist ideology that is trying to strip away from us the concepts of the nuclear family, of merit, of character and of being judged by what you are capable of.”

Provisions blocking spending on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts also have been added to budget bills in Kansas and Texas. Separate bills banning spending for DEI offices in higher education have been proposed in Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia, though some of those already have failed.

Other bills, such as in Ohio and South Carolina, would allow such offices but ban mandatory DEI training and forbid administrators from requesting DEI statements from staff and students.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s administration warned state entities in February not to use DEI factors in employment decisions. That prompted the state’s largest university systems to pause such practices and led students at the University of Texas to organize in defense of DEI efforts.


“It feels like an attack on my identity,” said Sameeha Rizvi, a university senior who said she has benefitted from DEI initiatives as a Muslim woman of color with a disability. “It is exceptionally hurtful and tiring to see this very hateful rhetoric being employed by legislators.”

The American Association of University Professors, which has about 45,000 members nationwide, said the bills mischaracterize DEI initiatives.

“They’re dog whistling that DEI initiatives are something sinister and subversive that people should be afraid of, and that’s not true at all,” association President Irene Mulvey said.

The Martin Center and Goldwater Institute released model legislation last year describing mandatory DEI statements from students and staff as a prohibited “political test.” Lawmakers in Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas all filed bills this year using the suggested wording.

Cicero Action, an advocacy group based in Austin, Texas, and the newly formed Do No Harm organization, based in Richmond, Virginia, also have provided guidance to state lawmakers drafting bills against diversity, equity and inclusion requirements in higher education. Similar bills in Missouri and Tennessee both follow Do No Harm’s outline of barring mandatory DEI instruction for medical students and health care providers.

University of Missouri medical students have lobbied against the legislation, asserting it could jeopardize the school’s accreditation and prevent doctors from learning about unique circumstances affecting the health of people from various ethnic, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds.

“We’re not just hurting ourselves, we’re hurting patients if these bills get passed,” medical student Jay Devineni said.

Families left to fend for themselves after asbestos cleanup efforts stall at Denver condo complex

Families who live and own property at Atlantis Condominiums have been out of their homes for three weeks



By: Danielle Kreutter
 Apr 23, 2023

DENVER — Families who live and own property at Atlantis Condominiums on Hale Parkway in Denver have been out of their homes for three weeks, forced to fend for themselves as asbestos cleanup efforts stall.

Denver7 has been covering what's becoming a common problem in Colorado. We've shared the story of owners at Club Valencia who have been out of their homes for months after a major asbestos problem was discovered following a fire at the Parker Road complex.

Owners at Atlantis Condominiums also have no timeline on when they can go back home after they said asbestos was discovered in their building and they were told to evacuate on March 27.

"They told us it would be a week, then we'll be able to come home. Now it's been three weeks," said one homeowner who did not want to be identified, but said he was compelled to share the story about what his family and dozens of other owners are going through.

Condo owners aren't allowed back and anything inside is likely contaminated. He, his wife and their newborn baby have been staying in a hotel since then.

"We spent months just trying to prepare for the newborn baby, but now everything that we have in the condo, most of the things, they're going to be thrown away," he said. "I also work from home. That's my main source of income, so now I can't work."

Residents told Denver7 that the announcement about asbestos came not long after renovations began. The building manager said the exact cause is under investigation.

The family said their homeowner's insurance company told them their personal policy does not cover asbestos. The building's insurance is what would cover them.

Weeks have gone by with no progress and clean-up has yet to start. Homeowners are feeling the financial pinch.

"We are paying for the mortgage. We're paying for the hotel expenses. We didn't even enjoy the first few weeks that we were planning to enjoy with our newborn baby," the homeowner said.

The building manager told Denver7 the board is working with the building's insurance company and a vendor's insurance company to see who will cover the cleanup.

"We don't know if we would be able to live in that building anymore. We don't even know if we're financially able to afford buying a new property, even if we want to move out. This is messing up plans that we've been having for years," the homeowner said.

He is hoping for answers soon for all the homeowners who have been left to fend for themselves.

In the meantime, he has set up a GoFundMe to raise money to cover the out-of-pocket costs piling up while his family waits for the cleanup to begin. Click here if you'd like to support it.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

NIGERIA
EXCLUSIVE: Buhari’s Minister, Festus Keyamo Caught In US Home Purchase Scandal Despite Bragging As EFCC Prosecutor


April 22, 2023

The document showed that Keyamo got the property at 5509 Silver Canyon LN TX 77583 in Savannah Trace, with no traceable income that could justify the purchase.

Adocument exposing how the Nigerian Minister of state for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, bought a property in Texas, the United States worth over $359,000 has been obtained by SaharaReporters.

The document showed that Keyamo got the property at 5509 Silver Canyon LN TX 77583 in Savannah Trace, with no traceable income that could justify the purchase.

Keyamo had in the past been a prosecutor with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) but got the same property few years after he was appointed as minister.



“Behold the man that keeps bragging that he is EFCC prosecutor; he bought a house in Texas. How much was he earning as a minister barely two years after he was appointed? Remember he had stopped practicing because of his appointment,” a top source queried.

Keyamo, also presently spokesman of the Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress, had handled several corruption cases for the EFCC,

In 2016, he withdrew as the prosecuting counsel in a corruption case between the Federal government and former Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State.

Keyamo had said he was stepping down as the lead prosecutor for the case instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, due to recent developments which could hinder him from prosecuting the case effectively and vigorous.
He did not give details of the developments.
‎
To put forward the paraphernalia of a public servant without corruption, Keyamo had in January 2023 written to the anti-graft agencies, ICPC, EFCC and CCB to arrest, interrogate and prosecute the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar for alleged fleecing of public funds.

The minister gave the agencies 72 hours to initiate arrest, investigation and possible prosecution of the former Vice President.

In a suit filed at an Abuja Federal High Court against the CCB, ICPC and EFCC, the Minister prayed the court to make a mandatory order compelling the anti-graft agencies to invite and/or arrest, investigate and (if found wanting) prosecute the Atiku in respect of the information available to him “in respect of a certain bank account belonging to a company named Marine Float and other accounts of two undisclosed companies, which information he disclosed to a certain close aide of his called Michael Achimugu, as to how the said accounts were used as “Special Purpose Vehicles” to secretly divert and misappropriate public funds between 1999 and 2007 when the 1st Defendant served as Vice President of Nigeria.”

He had also asked for a mandatory order compelling Atiku to make himself available to the anti-graft agencies “to aid and investigate the former Vice President on information available to him in respect of a certain bank account belonging to a company named Marine Float and other accounts of two undisclosed companies, which information he disclosed to a certain close aide of his called Michael Achimugu, as to how the said accounts were used as a “Special Purpose Vehicles” to secretly divert and misappropriate public funds between 1999 and 2007 when the 1st Defendant served as Vice President of Nigeria.”

Number of bodies exhumed from suspected Kenyan cult graves jumps to 47

A photograph shows an abandoned house in the forest that buried bodies have been exhumed 

 Shakahola, outside the coastal town of Malindi, on April 23, 2023. — AFP pic

Monday, 24 Apr 2023 7:32 AM MYT

NAIROBI, April 24 — Kenyan police have now exhumed the bodies of 47 people thought to be followers of a Christian cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves to death.

Police near the coastal town of Malindi started exhuming bodies on Friday from the Shakahola forest.

“In total, 47 people have died at the Shakahola forest,” detective Charles Kamau told Reuters on Sunday.

The exhumations were still ongoing, Kamau said.

Earlier this month, police rescued 15 members of the group — worshippers at the Good News International Church — who they said had been told to starve themselves to death. Four of them died before they reached hospital, police said.

The leader of the church, Paul Mackenzie, was arrested following a tip-off that suggested the existence of shallow graves belonging to at least 31 of Mackenzie’s followers.

Local media, citing police sources, reported that Mackenzie has refused to eat or drink while in police custody.

Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said the entire 800-acre forest had been sealed off and declared a scene of crime.

“This horrendous blight on our conscience must lead not only to the most severe punishment of the perpetrator(s) of the atrocity on so many innocent souls, but tighter regulation (including self-regulation) of every church, mosque, temple or synagogue going forward,” he said.

 — Reuters

Kenyan 'cult' leader arrested after starved

bodies found in shallow graves


The flag of Kenya. Photo: Leonid Altman / 123RF

Kenyan police have exhumed 21 bodies near the coastal town of Malindi, as they investigate a preacher said to have told followers to starve to death.

Dead children were among those exhumed, and police said they expected to find even more bodies.

The shallow graves are in Shakahola forest, where 15 members of the Good News International Church were rescued last week.

Preacher Paul Mackenzie Nthenge is in custody, pending a court appearance.

State broadcaster KBC described him as a "cult leader", and reported that 58 graves have so far been identified.

Mr Mackenzie has denied wrongdoing, but has been refused bail. He insists that he shut down his church in 2019.

He allegedly told followers to starve themselves in order to "meet Jesus".

The Kenyan daily The Standard said pathologists will take DNA samples and conduct tests to determine whether the victims died of starvation.

Police arrested Mr Mackenzie on 15 April after discovering the bodies of four people suspected of having starved themselves to death.

Victor Kaudo of the Malindi Social Justice Centre told Citizen TV "when we are in this forest and come to an area where we see a big and tall cross, we know that means more than five people are buried there".

The preacher allegedly named three villages Nazareth, Bethlehem and Judea and baptised followers in ponds before telling them to fast, The Standard reports.

Kenya is a religious country and there have been previous cases of people being lured into dangerous, unregulated churches or cults.

- BBC

Dead wildlife found at oilsands tailings pond in northern Alberta

Suncor and Alberta Energy Regulator have initiated investigations

Stephen Cook · CBC News · Posted: Apr 22, 2023 

The discovery was made at a tailings pond at Suncor's base plant north of Fort McMurray, Alta. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press )

The Alberta Energy Regulator is investigating after dozens of bird carcasses were discovered at an oilsands site near Fort McMurray, Alta.

A post on the AER website on Saturday afternoon said Suncor reported around 4 p.m. Friday that 32 dead waterfowl were found at a tailings pond 29 kilometres north of the community. An update from the regulator late that night said a sweep had been completed by Suncor on Saturday and revised the count to 43 birds as well as two muskrats, one bat and one vole.

An AER inspector was immediately sent to the site to investigate, the announcement said, to ensure mitigation strategies are in place and implemented appropriately by the energy company.

A spokesperson for Suncor said its wildlife team made the discovery during a regular, required check at the edge of a tailings pond at its base plant.

"Based on the wildlife's state, we believe this is not due to a recent event," spokesperson Erin Rees said in an email.

She said the company has a wildlife mitigation program in place to prevent operating harming wildlife, including a regulatory approved bird protection plan.

At the time of discovery, all bird deterrent systems — which includes canons, radar, and effigies — were active, Rees said.

Suncor has initiated its own investigation.

AER said it will continue to assess the situation and provide further updates as needed.

The agency said it is working with Suncor, Alberta Environment and Parks as well as Environment Canada to ensure that all safety, wildlife and environment requirements are met during the response to the discovery.

Nearly 6 million litres of water from oilsands sediment pond released into Athabasca River

Imperial Oil CEO 'deeply apologetic' in Commons committee testimony on oilsands tailings leak

Incidents of bird deaths at oilsands tailings ponds over the years include 50 birds that landed at an Imperial Oil tailings area near its Kearl oilsands project in northern Alberta in May 2020. Imperial said at the time it believed it occurred in spite of deterrents because most of the natural water bodies in the area were still frozen.

In January 2019, Syncrude was fined more than $2.7 million after pleading guilty to environmental charges in the deaths of 31 great blue herons at one of its oilsands mines north of Fort McMurray in 2015.

Syncrude was also fined $3 million in 2010 after more than 1,600 ducks died when they landed on a tailings pond in 2008.

WHITE CHRISTIAN MALE SNOWFLAKES

Montana Republicans condemn 'hate-filled' remarks by transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr: 'Not public service'

Montana legislator Zooey Zephyr said Republicans have blood on their hands

By Andrea Vacchiano , Jon Street | Fox News

Montana trans lawmaker rips colleagues who support bill banning transgender medical treatments for minors

Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr said when debating SB99, "If you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments I hope the next time there’s an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands."

A Montana state representative condemned a transgender legislator's "hate-filled remarks" to Fox News Digital, accusing the representative of "seeking media attention."

The controversy stems from comments made by State Rep. Zooey Zephyr during a Tuesday debate about a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for minors.

Zephyr accused the bill's supporters of being complicit in the deaths of transgender youths.

"The only thing I will say, is if you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments, I hope the next time there’s an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands," Zephyr said.

TRANS MONTANA LAWMAKER LASHES OUT AT GOP COLLEAGUES DURING HOUSE FLOOR DEBATE: 'BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS'

Braxton Mitchell (L) and Zooey Zephyr (R). Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr — the first transgender lawmaker in Montana legislature history — drew criticism Tuesday after telling Republican colleagues during a House floor debate on amendments to Senate Bill 99 that the lawmaker hopes they "see the blood on your hands" when they pray. (Montana Legislature via leg.mt.gov)

After her remarks, Republican Speaker Matt Regier refused to allow Zephyr to express her thoughts on a bill that would put binary definitions of sex in the state code. Zephyr was also barred from speaking at Thursday and Friday sessions.

"Not only has my colleague violated decorum, but has broken the trust given by the other 99 Representatives," Montana state representative Braxton Mitchell told Fox News Digital. "The hate-filled remarks were an act of self-service, not public service."

MONTANA TRANS LAWMAKER DECRIES MISGENDERING BY REPUBLICANS CALLING FOR CENSURE OVER BLOODY PRAYER REMARK

Republican Sen. Theresa Manzella is shown with members of the conservative Montana Freedom Caucus in the Old Supreme Court chambers at the Montana State Capitol on Jan. 19, 2023. The caucus deliberately misgendered a transgender lawmaker in a letter and a social media post demanding the House censor Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr for comments she made on the floor about a bill to ban gender affirming medical care for transgender children. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP)

"I applaud the Speaker and Majority Leader for giving my colleague opportunities to rectify the consequences of this stunt," the Republican lawmaker added. "Since the hateful attack on the House, the Representative has tried to create further opportunities to seek media attention. We will not stand for it."

Regier reportedly demanded Zephyr to apologize before allowing her to speak in the sessions again. Zephyr stood by her remarks, accusing the bill of targeting her community.

FILE - Zooey Zephyr, right, attends a legislative training session at the state Capitol in Helena, Mont., on Nov. 16, 2022. Zephyr, who is one of the first two transgender candidates elected to the Montana Legislature, was intentionally misgendered on April 18, 2023, in a demand by the Montana Freedom Caucus that the state House censure her for comments she made on the House floor about a bill to ban transgender medical care for children. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)

"When there are bills targeting the LGBTQ community, I stand up to defend my community," Zephyr said. "And I choose my words with clarity and precision and I spoke to the real harms that these bills bring."

MACHETE COOKS
Danny Trejo on his new book, 'Trejo's Cantina'

April 22, 20235:18 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
LISTEN·7-Minute Download

Transcript

NPR's Adrian Florido speaks with Danny Trejo about his new cookbook, Trejo's Cantina: Cocktails, Snacks & Amazing Non-Alcoholic Drinks from the Heart of Hollywood

ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:

Chances are you know Danny Trejo's work as an actor. He's known for portraying tough guys in films like the "Machete" franchise, "From Dusk Till Dawn," "Con Air." If you go way back, you remember him from the classic LA gang film "Blood In Blood Out." But in addition to his decades-long acting career, food and cooking are also a big part of Danny Trejo's life. Here in Los Angeles, he's got several successful Mexican restaurants, a cantina and a coffee and donut shop. Now Danny Trejo has a new cookbook where he explains his love for food, community and his hometown, LA. It's called "Trejo's Cantina: Cocktails, Snacks & Amazing Non-Alcoholic Drinks From The Heart Of Hollywood." And Danny Trejo is with me now to talk more about the book and what inspired it. Danny Trejo, welcome.

DANNY TREJO: Hello. How are you doing?

FLORIDO: I'm doing fine. I'm excited to talk with you today.

TREJO: Thank you. Thank you, man. It's a pleasure.

FLORIDO: This is a book of recipes for cantina food. About half his food, but the other half is recipes for cocktails and drinks. But you don't drink. You've been sober for - what? - 40 years now?

TREJO: Fifty years. Yeah. I know. I dedicated this book to the non-drinking community, the recovery community. But it has some great recipes. And I have my favorite of all times, you know, my fight night nachos, which are, like, just perfect for, you know, guys over watching the fights or a football game. And we do our nachos special because every time people make nachos, you always run out of the top before, and then you just got a whole plate of chips down at the bottom that nobody wants to eat. So what we did was we put a bed of chips and then a top of the topping and then another bed of chips and a top of topping. So what you have is a full meal and...

FLORIDO: Which is just the way it should be, done, right?

TREJO: Yeah. Right. For breakfast, I just put two eggs over easy on top of that, and I got breakfast.

FLORIDO: What got you into cooking?

TREJO: Well, you know what? My mom was an unbelievable cook. When I was in the universities in California, and...

FLORIDO: When you talk - wait. When you say the universities of California, you're talking about...

TREJO: San Quentin, Folsom (laughter).

FLORIDO: They're prisons. Yeah.

TREJO: Yeah.

FLORIDO: You spent some time in prison in the '60s, as is a well-known part of your life story.

TREJO: Yeah. And, you know, it's so funny. There's a friend of mine, a guy named Clifton Collins, who was actually Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez's grandson. And Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez was one of the first Latinos in movies. He was John Wayne's sidekick all the time. And he developed a book. It's called "Ramen." And it's all the recipes from different penitentiaries that guys use to make Top Ramen. There's some great recipes in there. And those were all the ones because when me and him were talking, we gave him our recipes, you know.

FLORIDO: Wait. So you were telling me about how in prison you would bring all this stuff down to the yard.

TREJO: Yeah. And put everything together and mix it up and make, you know, Top Ramen with egg and hot dogs and cheese. And you'd make a nice casserole, you know, And everybody loved it. So we just brought it out to the streets. Me, I brought it, you know, into my restaurants (laughter).

FLORIDO: You pepper this book with a lot of the lessons that you learned about cooking while in prison.

TREJO: Right.

FLORIDO: And maybe not even just about cooking, but about, you know, the role that food plays in our lives. How do those lessons from prisons show up in this cookbook?

TREJO: I did a movie called "Machete," and in it, actually, Jessica Alba says a quote. She says something that I was - we were talking about. She says, my Jualita (ph) always says, you know, don't have any problems without eating a good meal. It's tough to make a good decision if you're hungry. It's tough to be in a good mood if you're hungry. So it's like, you know, like, you have to celebrate food. You have to celebrate life, you know. And food and life go together.

FLORIDO: A big part of your book is what you call the holy trinity - cilantro, onion and lime...

TREJO: (Laughter).

FLORIDO: ...Which are a big part of a lot of Mexican food. And I have to be honest with you. I cannot stand raw onion. And so I have had to get through being a Mexican without eating raw onion.

TREJO: You - raw onions? I like cooked onions...

FLORIDO: Yeah, that I can do...

TREJO: ...Myself (laughter).

FLORIDO: ...But raw onion I can't, and it's in everything. So every time I go and order a burrito, I have to say, (speaking Spanish), you know, no onion.

TREJO: Cook my onions, you and me. You know, I loved cooked - everything - I loved everything cooked. And it's like I think the only thing I'd ever eat would be one of my danger dogs, I'll eat chopped onion on that, you know. But I like, you know, just cooked a little bit.

TREJO: I noticed that there was no recipe in this book for guacamole, but I have a, like, very important question for you about guacamole, because whenever my dad calls up, like, all of his kids and his brothers and sisters, my aunts and uncles, to come over to the house because he's making carne asada, I am the guy who gets tasked with making the guacamole. They hand me the molcajete, the mortar and pestle, because I learned to make it from my grandmother. And it's a really simple recipe where you ground raw garlic into the molcajete.

TREJO: Yes, yes, yes.

FLORIDO: Then ground in some toasted jalapenos, the (speaking Spanish) and a little bit of salt on top.

TREJO: Yeah.

FLORIDO: No onion. No diced tomato. I see raw onion and diced tomato in guacamole everywhere now, and I'm wondering how you feel about that.

TREJO: Our recipe for guacamole was in our first book. And we have probably some of the best guacamole in LA. And we do it with a little ground-up jalapeno like your grandma. And I absolutely love it. But yeah, I don't have no onion in it.

FLORIDO: No onion. Right. Good. Good. You're one of mine. (Speaking Spanish). I'm glad to know that Danny Trejo and I have the same taste in guacamole.

TREJO: Yes.

FLORIDO: Well, Danny Trejo, in addition to cooking, I understand you've got another new venture. It's a new record label, Trejo's Music. And you've got a new album which includes this song called "Outlaw." Let's listen to a little bit of it.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OUTLAW")

TREJO: (Singing) From San Jose to East LA, I'm a motorcycle rider, a highway flyer. I'm an outlaw, baby. Just an outlaw.

(LAUGHTER)

FLORIDO: Tell me a little bit about this song.

TREJO: Yeah. You know what? I started the record label, so we put a studio in my garage. And I was on the microphone. And I was singing. And Baby Bash came over, and he was listening to me and says, let's put that on the album. I go, I'm not a singer. He goes, that's not a voice song. That's a sing song. So we put it on. It did really well (laughter). But I'm not switching careers, so don't worry, fans.

(LAUGHTER)

FLORIDO: You'll stick to cooking, it sounds like - cooking and acting. I've been speaking with Danny Trejo. His new cookbook, "Trejo's Cantina: Cocktails, Snacks & Amazing Non-Alcoholic Drinks From The Heart Of Hollywood" is out now. Danny Trejo, thanks so much for joining us.

TREJO: Hey, thank you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.


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