Link: https://www.rt.com/business/419158-switzerland-embraces-bitcoin-cryptocurrencies-ico/

While financial regulators across the world are cracking down on bitcoin, Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has decided to encourage digital currencies by issuing guidelines on initial coin offerings (ICOs).

According to the regulator, Switzerland has recently seen a sharp growth in the number of upcoming ICOs planned to be launched in the country, as well as numerous enquiries about cryptocurrency regulation. In an attempt to encourage the ICO market and blockchain technology, FINMA has clarified how standards around anti-money laundering and securities regulations could be applied to virtual currencies.

Link: https://www.rt.com/usa/419127-fbi-trump-russia-florida/

US President Trump has accused the FBI of being too obsessed with Russian interference to see the clues that could have prevented the recent mass shooting in a Florida school. Seventeen people died in Wednesday’s massacre. Trump: Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!

Link: https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/63774/fannie-mae-wants-another-taxpayer.html

Fannie Mae incurred a net loss of $6.5 billion in the final quarter of 2017 and announced Wednesday it is in desperate need of a taxpayer bailout.

Fannie Mae said Wednesday the Federal Housing Agency (FHA) is seeking a $3.7 billion infusion of taxpayer money from the U.S. Treasury to make up for the loss, which reportedly stemmed from the changes Republicans made to the corporate tax code.

Link: https://www.rt.com/politics/418739-communists-draft-nationalization-bill-in/

A group of Communist Party lawmakers is pushing for a nationalization drive in a bid to boost the Russian economy and strengthen national security.

In a draft document sent to the State Duma and published on the Russian parliament’s website on Wednesday, the group describes nationalization as a forced but compensated confiscation of private property. It says that turning assets over to the federal state would help meet public needs, increase the general effectiveness and social orientation of the national economy, and strengthen Russia’s national security and sovereignty. A group of Communist Party lawmakers is pushing for a nationalization drive in a bid to boost the Russian economy and strengthen national security. Assets that would be subject to nationalization include land plots, mineral deposits, forests, natural bodies of water, and enterprises in strategically important branches of the economy, such as energy, transport and heavy industry.

Link: https://medium.com/hult-business-school-draft/73-mind-blowing-implications-of-a-driverless-future-58d23d1f338d

Uber announced it ordered 24,000 self-driving Volvos. Tesla released an electric, long-haul tractor trailer with self-driving capabilities UPS preordered 125.. Google ordered thousands of Chryslers for its self-driving fleet already on the roads in AZ. Vehicles (being electric) will be able to provide portable power for a variety of purposes (which will also be sold as a service) — construction job sites (why use generators), disaster/power failures, events, etc. Traffic lights and signs will become obsolete. Demand for taxi and truck drivers will go down, eventually to zero. Cities will lose revenue from traffic tickets. Traditional petroleum products (and other fossil fuels) will become much less valuable as electric cars replace fuel powered vehicles. Movement of goods will become cheaper. Autonomous vehicles will create new jobs and opportunities off-set by job losses by nearly everyone in the transportation chain today.

Link: http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=57920

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said immigration is a "social bomb ready to explode" and pledged to deport 600,000 illegal immigrants after a Nigerian migrant brutally murdered an 18-year-old girl and triggered a retaliatory attack where six African migrants were shot and wounded should his centre-right coalition enter government after elections on 4 March

Rather than repeat platitudes about how "our diversity is our greatest strength," Berlusconi called for a return to sanity.

Link: http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=57934

Former president George W Bush said Thursday that America needs illegal immigrants to "pick cotton at 105 degrees," because Americans won't.

Bush was speaking at a summit in Abu Dhabi put on by the Milken Institute (founded by convicted felon and financier Michael Milken.)

As the Gateway Pundit notes, "Americans have not picked cotton by hand in decades."

It's performed by machines. Most menial jobs are being eliminated thanks to technological advancements.

Link: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/02/12/585130274/trump-administration-wants-to-decide-what-food-snap-recipients-will-get

The Trump administration is proposing a major shake-up in one of the country's most important "safety net" programs, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. Under the proposal, most SNAP recipients would lose much of their ability to choose the food they buy with their SNAP benefits.

The proposal is included in the Trump administration budget request for fiscal year 2019. It would require approval from Congress.

Under the proposal, low-income Americans who receive at least $90 a month — over 80 percent of all SNAP recipients — would get about half of their benefits in the form of a "USDA Foods package." The package was described in the budget as consisting of "shelf-stable milk, ready to eat cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans and canned fruit and vegetables." The boxes would not include fresh fruits or vegetables.

Link: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-12/trump-proposal-end-food-stamps-sends-dollar-stores-tumbling

Shortly after 1pm ET, the shares of Dollar General and Dollar Tree tumbled after it was unveiled that President Donald Trump's budget was proposing to effectively abandon food stamps, slashing the program's traditional cash payments and substituting them with packages of "100% American grown food" for recipients. According to Bloomberg, this would represent "one of the biggest shakeups of the US food stamp program in its five decade history."

The reason why deep discount dollar chains were sold off on the news is because they are particularly vulnerable to changes in the food stamp program as they largely cater to less affluent shoppers

Link: https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/63705/woman-dragged-out-of-hearing-for-exposing-big-energy-donations.html

A candidate for the West Virginia House of Delegates was dragged out of a hearing after listing the donations received by state lawmakers from fossil fuel companies. She was testifying on a bill on oil and gas drilling rules.

Lissa Lucas was criticizing a proposed bill, HB 4268, which would allow oil and gas companies to drill on private land with the consent of just 75 percent of the landowners. Energy companies are currently required to have 100 percent approval from landowners before they can extract gas and minerals from land. As part of her testimony, she read out the list of names of lawmakers who received sizeable donations from fossil fuel companies.

Lucas was ordered by House Judiciary Committee members to desist from making “personal comments” about members. As Lucas persisted, her microphone was cut off.

Link: https://www.rt.com/politics/418544-internet-should-not-be-accessible/

Russian Communist Party MP and Nobel Prize-winner Zhores Alferov has urged restrictions on internet access, saying unlimited access to information can harm people’s morals and mental health.

“The internet must have limitations and it must not be available to everyone,” Alferov stated in a recent interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily. He went on to explain that in his opinion the total lack of control and restrictions of the net can affect people’s behavior and damage publicly-accepted moral guidelines. Alferov is a world-renowned physicist, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics. He is also a State Duma MP representing the largest opposition party, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF).

Link: https://sputniknews.com/military/201802121061567057-montenegro-nato-afghanistan-kosovo/

The Defense and Security Council of Montenegro has sent at least 40 members of its Armed Forces of Montenegro to Kosovo and Afghanistan as part of NATO ‘peacekeeping’ missions, participating with the possibility of rotation.

The Montenegrin Army first sent a contingent to Afghanistan in March 2010, with the country becoming the 44th non-NATO state to contribute to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission.

Link: https://sputniknews.com/world/201802121061568690-trump-israel-careful-settlements-west-bank/

US President Donald Trump has called on Israel to "be very careful" with building settlements in West Bank as this issue complicates the opportunity to continue the peace process.

"The settlements are something that very much complicates and always have complicated making peace, so I think Israel has to be very careful with the settlements," Trump told Israel Hayom newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

Trump added that the issue of settlements will be discussed, when asked whether this issue would become a part of the US plan to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Link: https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/63685/canadian-military-to-spend-170000-so-leaders-can-see-what-its-like-to-be-stoned-on.html

The Canadian Forces is buying kits that will let its leaders experience what it’s like to be stoned on marijuana.

The “marijuana simulation kits” will include “marijuana impairment goggles,” among other items. The Canadian Forces wants to acquire 26 of the kits by April 30 or sooner if possible. Department of National Defence spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier said Friday that the kits will be used in the Military Personnel Command’s supervisor training course. “This will help ensure that CAF members in leadership positions will be able to identify signs of, assist in detecting and provide guidance regarding, prohibited drug use

Link: https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/63674/turkish-helicopter-shot-down-by-kurdish-militia-in-syrias-afrin-.html

Turkish army helicopter was shot down by Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters near the north Syrian town of Afrin, Reuters reports President Tayyip Erdogan saying: “One of our helicopters was downed just recently,” Erdogan said speaking to members of his AK Party (AKP) in Istanbul. “These things will happen, we are in a war… We might lose a helicopter, but they’ll pay the price for this.”

He did not mention any casualties.

YPG sources separately confirmed the downing of the helicopter, the first officially confirmed destruction of a Turkish aircraft over Syria during the country’s long-running civil war.

Link: https://boingboing.net/2018/02/07/this-is-not-ok.html

Teachers haven't gotten a raise in 10 years. Teachers are fleeing the state, including the Teacher of the Year, who quit his job in 2016 shortly after receiving his award, taking a better-paid teaching job in a neighboring state (the Dallas school system actively recruits Oklahoma teachers with Oklahoma City hiring booths).

Their health plan was replaced with a private system; more than $1000/month for a family of three -- one teaching aide was actually paying to work her job, spending $200/month more on health insurance than she was paid in salary. Teachers make ends meet with public housing, food stamps, and school food-bank drives. The highway patrol has been given orders not to completely fill their gas-tanks at the pump, to help with state cash-flow.

Link: https://articles.mercola.com/herbs-spices/chili-peppers.aspx

Chili peppers were first cultivated by ancient farmers in Central and South America, Today, chili peppers are grown all over the world, Mexico, China, Spain, Nigeria and Turkey are among the largest commercial producers.

Chili pepper contains a bioactive plant compound called capsaicin, Helps Fight Inflammation — Capsaicin has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Boosts Immunity Helps Reduce Insulin Levels — help with blood sugar level management. Protects Your Heart — The compound capsaicin can help reduce triglycerides, cholesterol and platelet aggregation. Prevents Sinusitis and Relieves Congestion.

Link: https://www.rt.com/politics/418124-russia-prepares-bill-totally-banning/

Russian Upper House speaker Valentina Matviyenko has revealed that the body’s committee for social policies is preparing a bill that would completely ban the advertising of drugs. TV companies get about 11.5 billion rubles (over $205 million) in revenues from such ads.”

The upper house speaker also spoke in favor of regulating the advertising of unhealthy food and described such advertising featuring children as an outrage.

Link: https://www.rt.com/politics/418325-russian-ex-governor-gets-13/

A court in the Russian Far East region of Sakhalin has sentenced former Governor Aleksandr Khoroshavin to 13 years in prison for running a ring that brought in over half a billion rubles in bribes for him.

Apart from the sentence, to be served in a maximum-security prison, the court ordered the ex-governor to pay a fine of 500 million rubles ($8.6 million) and banned him from assuming any official posts for five years after the sentence is served. Other suspects in the case – the former adviser to the governor, the ex-deputy chairman of the regional government, and the former Sakhalin minister of agriculture and trade – were also convicted of corruption crimes and received lengthy prison sentences and multi-million-ruble fines.

Link: https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/63624/chinese-transit-cops-deploy-facerecognition-glasses-to-spot-indebted-people-oppressed.html

Chinese transit cops are wearing glasses with heads-up displays and cameras tied into the country's facial recognition to spot criminals, people smugglers, and riders who are using high-speed trains in defiance of rules that prohibit indebted people and people from ethnic and religious minorities from traveling.

The glasses' manufacturers claim that they can match people with a 10,000-face watchlist in 100ms.

So far the glasses have identified people suspected of misdeeds ranging from traffic infringements to crimes like human trafficking.

A further 26 people using fake identity documents were also prevented from traveling.

In China, people must use identity documents for train travel. This rule works to prevent people with excessive debt from using high-speed trains, and limit the movement of religious minorities who have had identity documents confiscated