Link: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141834741

A former employee of the major contracting firm DynCorp International admitted Monday that while working in Iraq, he helped cheat the State Department out of millions of dollars.

Jose Rivera, 57, of Potomac, Md., pleaded guilty in Alexandria federal court to conspiracy to defraud the United States, acknowledging that he helped convince his bosses to rent a camp at Baghdad International Airport for a grossly inflated price.

Link: http://www.blacklistednews.com/%E2%80%98Sex_Robot%E2%80%99_Brothels_Gaining_Popularity_in_Europe/60055/0/38/38/Y/M.html

The world’s first sex robot brothel is currently in talks to expand globally, while an Austrian brothel has claimed that its own sex doll is now more popular with clients than real women.

Link: http://www.blacklistednews.com/How_Prison_Labor_is_the_New_American_Slavery_and_Most_of_Us_Unknowingly_Support_it/60031/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Prison labor helps produce goods and services for almost every big business in America. The full list of companies implicated in exploiting prison labor includes:

Bank of America
Bayer
Cargill
Caterpillar
Chevron
Chrysler
Costco
John Deere
Eli Lilly and Company
Exxon Mobil
GlaxoSmithKline
Johnson and Johnson
K-Mart
Koch Industries
McDonald’s
Merck
Microsoft
Motorola
Nintendo
Pfizer
Procter & Gamble
Pepsi
ConAgra Foods
Shell
Starbucks
UPS
Verizon
WalMart
Wendy’s

Link: https://www.rt.com/news/398109-georgia-noble-partner-drills/

American tanks and armored vehicles headed for Tbilisi, Georgia, on Monday, local media reported. The “largest” NATO-led war games with Georgia are part of the bloc’s recent activities in the vicinity of Russia's borders.

Link: https://www.rt.com/news/398125-maduro-us-treasury-sanctions/

US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said it had added Maduro to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. This means that any US-based assets of his have been frozen, and American citizens are forbidden from conducting any business with him. White House considers the elections held in Venezuela to be illegitimate and holds Maduro responsible.

Link: https://www.rt.com/usa/397890-cancer-causing-pollutants-tap-water/

Tap water from 48,000 public water utilities was found to contain multiple cancer-causing agents from arsenic, dioxane, chromium 6 to nitrates, according to researcher with the Environmental Working Group.

Link: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/07/24/529548/Colombia-FARC-peace

Colombia's leftist FARC rebels announced Monday they will launch as a political party on September 1, a major step as the group transitions into civilian life as part of a historic peace agreement. The disarmament last month by the roughly 7,000 members of Colombia's biggest rebel group under the 2016 peace accord brought a complete end to a half-century-old civil conflict between the FARC and the government.

Link: https://sputniknews.com/latam/201707271055923986-venezuela-opposition-us-policy-maduro/

President Maduro: the only US goal was to destroy Venezuela and seize its natural resources. "[The US aim is] to try to destroy our country to establish control over the Venezuelan rich resources. We never forget that Venezuela has the largest certified oil reserves in the world."

Link: https://www.rt.com/news/397758-russian-air-force-syria/

Under the protocol, the Russian Air Force are allowed to stay on Syrian territory for 49 years with an option of automatically extending that arrangement for 25-year periods after this term expires.

Link: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141831537

The House has passed a $788 billion spending bill that combines a $1.6 billion down payment for President Donald Trump’s controversial border wall with Mexico with a budget increase for the Pentagon.

Link: https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/minneapolis-police-chief-resigns-amid-controversy-over?utm_term=.ebYnDkry7#.yr23LDM8g

Nearly a week after a Minneapolis police officer shot and killed an unarmed Australian woman who called 911 to report a possible sexual assault, the city's chief of police announced her resignation.

Link: http://www.blacklistednews.com/China_Forces_Muslim_Minority_to_Install_Spyware_on_Their_Phones/59925/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Chinese authorities in the province of Xinjiang are forcing locals of the Uyghur Muslim minority to install an app on their phones that will allow the government to scan their device for "terrorist propaganda," local media reports.The app is called Jingwang (Citizen Safety) and was developed by police forces from Ürümqi, Xinjiang's capital. Authorities launched the app in April, and also included the ability to report suspicious activity to the police.

Link: https://www.rt.com/news/397513-turkey-west-pressure-erdogan/

Western states should not expect Turkey to blindly follow their instructions anymore, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said ahead of talks between Turkish and EU officials. He also supported the deal on S-400 missile defense systems with Russia. Relations between Turkey and the EU have been on the rocks since the Turkish authorities launched a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent in wake of the failed coup attempt of July 15, 2016.

Link: http://www.activistpost.com/2017/07/new-hampshire-decriminalizes-simple-marijuana-possession-foundation-nullify-federal-prohibition.html

Rep. Robert Cushing (D-Hampton) introduced House Bill 640 (HB640) to end criminal penalties for simple marijuana possession by “allowing offenders to pay fines by mail will result in less time and resources spent on such cases, allowing police and courts to spend more time and resources dealing with serious crimes.”Gov. Sununu signed it into law on July 20.

Link: http://govtslaves.info/military-just-warned-americans-exptect-war-north-korea/

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:”“Many people have talked about military options with words like ‘unimaginable. I would probably shift that slightly and say it would be horrific, and it would be a loss of life unlike any we have experienced in our lifetimes, and I mean anyone who’s been alive since World War II has never seen the loss of life that could occur if there’s a conflict on the Korean Peninsula.

Link: http://govtslaves.info/s-senators-pushing-20-years-prison-citizens-support-boycotting-israel/

United States senators from both the Republican and Democratic parties are pushing to implement a bill that would make it a felony to support boycotting Israel, punishable by up to twenty years in prison. The ACLU issued a letter to the Senate opposing the proposed legislation, The bill in its current form would also make it illegal to even request information about boycotts against Israel, and violations would carry a minimum civil penalty of $250,000 and a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years behind bars.

Link: http://www.blacklistednews.com/Two_Baltimore_Detectives_Plead_Guilty_to_Armed_Robberies_and_Fraud/59877/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Two former Baltimore police officers pleaded guilty Friday to federal racketeering charges, admitting that they committed armed robberies, made fraudulent overtime claims and filed false affidavits. Detectives Maurice Ward and Evodio Hendrix were among seven Baltimore officers indicted in March as part of an alleged conspiracy involving those and other crimes. The seven officers, members of Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force, were accused of stopping people — some of whom were not suspected of any crimes — seizing their money, and pocketing it. In one instance several officers stopped a nursing home maintenance supervisor and stole $1,500 that he was planning to use to pay his rent, according to the indictment.“These are really robberies by people who are wearing police uniforms,”; Maryland US Attorney Rod Rosenstein.

Link: http://www.blacklistednews.com/Bolivia%27s_President_Declares_%27Total_Independence%27_from_World_Bank_and_IMF/59885/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Bolivia's President Evo Morales: Bolivia's past dependence on the agencies was so great that the International Monetary Fund had an office in government headquarters and participated in their meetings. Bolivia is now in the process of becoming a member of the Southern Common Market. Some of Bolivia’s largest resistance struggles in the last 60 years have targeted the economic policies carried out by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Most of the protests focused on opposing privatization policies and austerity measures, including cuts to public services, privatization decrees, wage reductions, as well the weakening of labor rights.

Link: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/because-safety-push-the-walk-button-to-cross-the-road-in-boulder-or-fork-over-50_072017

Pedestrians in Boulder who neglect to activate the crosswalk signal could find themselves slapped with a relatively offensive $50 fine — even when crossing in a manner otherwise in compliance with the law — as authorities crack down on the problem keeping everyone up at night: crossing the street.

Link: https://www.rt.com/news/397270-shooting-israeli-embassy-jordan/

Two Jordanians have been killed and one Israeli injured in a shooting incident at the Israeli embassy complex in Amman, Jordan, police announced.