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Alaska School Gets $127K Penalty for Animal Deaths

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Photo Credit: destination arctic circle / Creative Commons The University of Alaska Fairbanks has been penalized $127,100 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture after 12 musk oxen died from malnutrition at the school’s large animal research station earlier this decade.

An administrative law judge for the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued the civil penalty Thursday for violating of the Animal Welfare Act. An animal rights group that initially filed a complaint over the deaths in 2011, prompting a USDA investigation, announced the penalty Tuesday.

The size of the penalty “tells me the USDA is sending a message to these facilities that they are no longer going to stand for these criminals that break the law, and we’re very happy to see this,” said Michael Budkie, executive director of the group Stop Animal Exploitation Now.

The university entered into the agreement without admitting fault.

Read more from this story HERE.

Dept of Agriculture Orders Submachine Guns with 30 Round Magazines

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Photo Credit: APA May 7th solicitation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks “the commercial acquisition of submachine guns [in] .40 Cal. S&W.”

According to the solicitation, the Dept. of Agriculture wants the guns to have an “ambidextrous safety, semiautomatic or 2 round [bursts] trigger group, Tritium night sights front and rear, rails for attachment of flashlight (front under fore group) and scope (top rear), stock collapsible or folding,” and a “30 rd. capacity” magazine.

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Dept. of Agriculture Orders Ballistic Body Armor (+video)

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Photo Credit: Breitbart A May 7th solicitation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks “the commercial acquisition of ballistic vests, compliant with NIJ 0101.06 for Level IIIA Ballistic Resistance of body armor.”

According to the solicitation, “The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General,” seeks “Body Armor [that] is gender specific, lightweight, [having] trauma plate/pad (hard or soft), [and] concealable carrier.” The order includes “tactical vest, undergarment (white), identification patches, accessories (6 pouches), body armor carry bag, and professional measurements.”

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News Watchdogs Slam ‘Secretive’ Food Stamp Program

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Photo Credit: Getty

Seven journalist and government watchdog organizations have called on the Agriculture Department to release information on how much money retailers that accept food stamps make from the program and what products food stamp dollars are purchasing.

In a letter [pdf] to Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack the organizations — which have a combined membership of more than 16,000, many of them journalists who cover health care, nutrition and the federal government — requested the USDA make public records pertaining to the use of SNAP dollars.

“The USDA has refused to reveal how much money individual retailers make from SNAP, arguing in FOIA denials and subsequent court documents that the law governing the program prohibits it. But we (and others) see nothing in the law barring such disclosures,” the letter reads. “And we believe this information is essential to an informed discussion of the Farm Bill reauthorization and the future of the SNAP program.”

“As the number of Americans receiving SNAP continues to increase, along with the federal taxpayer support of it, a greater level of transparency is more essential than ever,” it continued.

The organization heads who signed the letter were from the National Freedom of Information Coalition, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Association of Health Care Journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Association of Food Journalists, the National Association of Science Writers, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Read more from this story HERE.

Sen. Sessions Presses USDA For More Info On Mexican Food Stamp Use, Participation Rates

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

After an effort to defund the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food stamp outreach partnership with the Mexican government went down in committee Thursday, Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions continued to press the agency for more information about non-citizen participation in the food stamp program.

In a Friday letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack obtained by The Daily Caller, Sessions — who has been exchanging letters with Vilsack about USDA’s partnership with Mexico since last summer — requested additional information about the people the USDA has been enrolling in nutrition assistance programs and the agency’s program goals.

Last month, in a letter recently obtained by TheDC, Vilsack revealed that the share of overall Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamp, benefits going to legal non-citizens has accounted for between 3.5–4.0 percent of the total caseload since 2004.

The agriculture secretary further addressed the fact that those non-citizens who enroll in SNAP are not considered to be government-reliant under the current policies governing immigrant inadmissibility under the public charge statue. He additionally noted that the agency has provided guidance to this effect — pointing to a February 2010 letter from USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon to all state commissioners.

Read more from this story HERE.

Record-Breaking Numbers Continue: 47,791,996 on Food Stamps in December

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Photo Credit: Weekly Standard

On Friday, the United States Department of Agriculture quietly released new statistics related to the food stamps program, officially known as SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The numbers reveal, in 2012, the food stamps program was the biggest it’s ever been, with an average of 46,609,072 people on the program every month of last year. 47,791,996 people were on the program in the month of December 2012.

The federal government also says that in a given month in 2012, the number of households on food stamps was 22,329,713.

The state with the highest average number of participants per month in 2012 was Texas, with an astonishing 4,038,440 folks drawing from the program. The second highest is California, with 3,964,221, and then Florida, at 3,353,064.

Washington, D.C., with an estimated population of 617,996, had an average of 141,147 participants. Meaning, roughly 23 percent of folks living in D.C. are on food stamps, according to the numbers provided by the federal government. The participation rate in Texas, which has an estimated population of 26,059,203, 15.5 percent.

The state with the lowest number of participants in the program was Wyoming, with 34,347 out an estimated population of 576,412.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Legal Analyst- Dept Of Agriculture Emails Prove ‘Impeachable Offense’

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In an interview with Neil Cavuto on Fox News, Judge Andrew Napolitano discussed emails from the Department of Agriculture proving the sequester cuts not to be predetermined.

Contrary to what the President’s earlier claims, the released emails proved that there exists broad discretionary powers with respect to how the cuts are implemented.

Napolitano concluded that if the President is actually spending money to harm America rather than make the government run efficiently, it is an impeachable offense.

See video:

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Video: USDA Whistleblower Speaks Out About Controversial ‘Culteral Sensitivity Training’ Seminar

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Photo Credit: TheBlazeTVA whistleblower from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) joined Glenn Beck on TheBlaze TV Tuesday to discuss a disturbing “Cultural Sensitivity Training” program that encouraged federal workers in attendance to chant racially-charged and controversial phrases. The training was reportedly part of “a broader effort towards cultural transformation at USDA.”

As TheBlaze previously reported, video of the sensitivity training session, conducted by the USDA, was published last week by Judicial Watch after the group was tipped by a whistleblower. Critics have accused the USDA of allowing their workers to be indoctrinated.

Beck began Tuesday’s show by recapping some of the most outrageous statements made by the seminar’s diversity awareness trainer Dr. Samuel Betances. Here’s your refresher course:

“I want you to say, America was founded by outsiders. Say that. Who are today’s insiders, who get very nervous about today’s outsiders. I want you to say, the pilgrims were illegal aliens. Say the pilgrims never gave their passports to the Indians.”

Many of the federal employees at the “diversity” sessions chanted back at him. Watch the shocking footage below:

Read more from this story HERE.

$200,000 USDA Training: ‘Pilgrims Were Illegal Aliens’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: cliff1066™The department most associated with Thanksgiving–the U.S. Department of Agriculture–is training workers to refer to the Pilgrims who celebrated the first Thanksgiving as “illegal aliens.”

In a department “cultural sensitivity training” video uncovered and released by the public watchdog group Judicial Watch, a diversity trainer is shown saying: “I want you to say that America was founded by outsiders – say that – who are today’s insiders, who are very nervous about today’s outsiders. I want you to say, ‘The pilgrims were illegal aliens.’ Say, ‘The pilgrims never gave their passports to the Indians.”

Ag Department workers are heard loudly joining in.

The videos posted on Judicial Watch website show diversity instructor Samuel Betances urging USDA workers to think differently about illegals and minorities, who he calls “emerging majorities.”

According to Judicial Watch, “The sensitivity training sessions, described as ‘a huge expense’ by diversity awareness trainer and self-described ‘citizen of the world; Samuel Betances, were held on USDA premises. The diversity event is apparently part of what USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack described in a memo sent to all agency employees as a ‘new era of Civil Rights’ and ‘a broader effort towards cultural transformation at USDA.’ In 2011 and 2012, the USDA paid Betances and his firm nearly $200,000 for their part in the ‘cultural transformation’ program.'”

See video:

Read more from this story HERE.

USDA tells its employees to not consume meat “to reduce your environmental impact” (+video)

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This week, Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran called on Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to explain why the agency’s employee newsletter encouraged them to not eat meat and participate in the “Meatless Monday” initiative for the environment.

“One simple way to reduce your environmental impact while dining at our cafeterias is to participate in the ‘Meatless Monday’ initiative https://www.meatlessmonday.com/,” The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) July 23, 2012 “Greening Headquarters Update” read. “This international effort, as the name implies, encourages people not to eat meat on Mondays. Meatless Monday is an initiative of The Monday Campaign Inc. in association with the John Hopkins School of Public Health.”

Pointing to the United Nations as their informational authority, the USDA’s newsletter said that going meatless is good for the environment because “animal agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gases and climate change. It also wastes resources. It takes 7,000 kg of grain to make 1,000 kg of beef. In addition, beef production requires a lot of water, fertilizer, fossil fuels, and pesticides.” It further charged that heavy meat consumption has detrimental health effect.

Moran, who represents the third-largest beef-producing state in America, was shocked by the revelation.

“Never in my life would I have expected USDA to be opposed to farmers and ranchers,” Moran said in a statement. “American farmers and ranchers deserve a USDA that will pursue supportive policies rather than seek their further harm.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Here’s the video of Senator Moran attacking this crazy USDA directive from the Senate floor:

Photo credit: Charlie Day