THIS WEEK IN REVIEW

This is the second edition of Need to Know Around the World, which is the new name and look for Unfiltered News.

Judging by the feedback from our readers so far, we hit the bull’s-eye with these changes. However, we still still are anxious to know what you think, especially if there are any features you would like to see changed or added.
We deliberately did not include a cartoon last week to test the reaction – and only one reader urged us to continue them, so we currently are leaning toward cutting back on cartoons to the point where we will use only the best of the best, which likely will mean, on average, one cartoon per month.
OLD INTERNET EXPLORER CAUSING A PROBLEM?
For those of you who may have several computers in service, inclding an old one still running a few legacy programs that will not work on modern operating systems, you should know that versions 8 and 9 of Internet Explorer cannot read some of the more modern programming code that is embedded in this new website. What happens is that the blue color that is intended to be seen only around the outside edges of the site bleeds through and obliterates all text and images. As far as I know, there is nothing that can be done to overcome this problem except to upgrade that old browser with a new one. You will find an interesting discussion of this problem here.

G. Edward Griffin
2015 August 14

P.S. Some features of this new site are not yet functional. Please excuse our work-in-progress. Everything soon will be ship-shape.

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US: A federal judge ruled that Idaho’s controversial ‘ag gag’ law was unconstitutional. He said that criminalizing undercover documentation violates both the free-speech and the equal-protection clauses of the Constitution. The agriculture cartel was trying to silence its critics, but this ruling will have implications nationwide. Seven other states also have ‘ag-gag’ laws. NaturalSociety 2015 Aug 14 (Story) (Cached)

UK: Following in the footsteps of the US, the British government is planning to fast track fracking in England. The plan would allow ministers to intervene on shale-gas drilling applications if they think local council governments are not processing them fast enough. The government says that gas development is crucial for energy security, but critics say the national government is running roughshod over local government policies and is subservient to the financial interests of the oil-and-gas industry. EuroNews 2015 Aug 13 (Story)

The US Inspector General says that Hillary Clinton had at least two top-secret emails on her private server, and it is illegal to send or receive classified information on a private email account or server. However, when she was required to turn over her server to the FBI, the server had been totally erased! Townhall 2015 Aug 13 (Story) (Cached)

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spent $34.5 million for 96 million 4″ plastic balls. These were dumped into a water reservoir to cover the surface and, thereby, block out sunlight. The theory is that this will conserve water by reducing evaporation. It is not known if the plastic will contaminate the water with hormone-disrupting chemicals. Truth Stream Media 2015 Aug 12
(Story) (Cached)

The Pope stated that turning away immigrants seeking shelter is ‘an act of war, violence, and murder’. He said this while visiting the island of Lampedusa in Italy, a country that has received an estimated 98,000 immigrants so far this year. UK Independent 2015 Aug 12 (Story) (Cached)

Portugal: Thousands of angry customers gathered at the Bank Espirito Santo. They are angry because the bank persuaded them to put their savings into high-risk investment plans, which subsequently failed. BES received a taxpayer-funded bailout and reinvented itself last year, but has yet to repay the investors. EuroNews 2015 Aug 11 (Story)

Ferguson, Missouri: Mainstream media is trying to paint the Oathkeepers as a racist, militia group. This is the media’s reaction to the fact that five members of Oathkeepers, armed with semi-automatic rifles, volunteered to help protect the public and businesses from mob violence and looting. Newsweek 2015 Aug 11 (Story) (Cached)

Japan: The Sendai nuclear power plant has been re-started for the first time since the Fukushima disaster. This was done in spite of strong opposition from protesters and from Naoto Kan, the former Prime Minister of Japan who was in office during the Fukushima meltdown. The government is calling for nuclear power to supply 20% of the country’s energy by 2030. The Sendai plant will reduce the government’s cost for imported energy by $60 million per month. Critics say that the cost of another accident is too high. France 24 2015 Aug 11 (Story)

Germany: A new study from Leibniz Institute of Economic Research reveals that Germany gained $109 billion from the economic crisis in Greece. This was because the crisis caused a ‘flight to safety’ among investors that pushed down interest rates on European government bonds. This, in turn, allowed Germany to pay much less in interest on its own debt. The surprising bottom line is that, although Germany was highly critical of Greece’s default, Germany saved more than it lost. AFP 2015 Aug 10 (Story) (Cached)

Turkey’s largest city Istanbul was shaken by twin attacks on the US consulate and a police station. A senior consulate officer was killed in the attack. In the southeastern Sirnak province, five police officers also were killed in an escalating cycle of violence. The attacks occurred after six US F-16s landed at Incirlik airbase in Southeast Turkey, along with 300 U.S. military personnel, following an agreement to lend Turkish bases to the U.S. Fox News 2015 Aug 10 (Story)

Colorado: The EPA, while attempting to contain and treat contaminated water in a condemned gold mine, accidentally caused an estimated three-million gallons of contaminated water to flow into the Animus River. It is believed that the spill carried heavy metals including iron, zinc, and copper. The tainted water is expected flow from Colorado to New Mexico and Utah. CNN 2015 Aug 10 (Story)

Colorado: In a letter-to-the-editor, a retired geologist predicted the contamination spill in the Animus River a week before it happened. But he went further and said that it looked to him like the EPA was deliberately planning the spill so it could get superfund money to clean up the mess – and also to create a sufficiently serious environmental catastrophe to justify closing down all existing mining operations in the area. Gateway Pundit 2015 Aug 12 (Story)(Cached)

Georgia: The Athens-Clarke County Police Department fired officer Jonathan Fraser, and then arrested him after video from his body cam revealed that he used excessive force against 19-year-old University-of-Georgia student, Michael Roquet. Roquet was drunk but posed no threat to Fraser who escalated the situation. FTP 2015 Aug 10 (Story)

California: Santa Maria Police Chief Ralph Martin told reporters that the recent rape and brutal killing of a 64-year-old woman in her home is the result of liberal California immigration laws and federal policies that prevent jailing or deporting illegal aliens. CNN 2015 Aug 9 (Story)

Denver, Colorado: Mark Lannicelli was charged with seven felony counts of jury tampering for setting up a booth outside a courthouse and handing out information on jury nullification. Jury nullification is a long-established principle that jurors have the right to decide, not only the guilt of a defendant, but the merits of the law under which the defendant is charged. That means the jury can refuse to convict people who are technically guilty of violating a bad law. Most judges and prosecutors do not want juries to know about this option, because it can result in fewer convictions – such as with kids who face prison terms for merely smoking pot. This case may never make it to court because jury nullification would have to be explained to the jury, which was called tampering in Lannicelli’s case. Truthstream Media 2015 Aug 7 (Story)(Cached)