Non-Consensual Sects: Senators Prepare Bill to Protect Russians from Destructive Cults

A sectarian prayer house in the village of Nikolskoe, the Penza Region, Russia © Sputnik

A group of Russian senators are preparing a bill to protect the population from destructive sects, including those of foreign origin and those that mask themselves as ‘schools of leadership’, the principal sponsor of the motion told the press.

“Sects are a very dangerous environment. The legislation on this subject needs to be corrected. We are now preparing proposals how to protect our citizens. Unfortunately, at present moment not a single region in the country is without such sects,” RIA Novosti quoted Senator Elena Mizulina as saying on Thursday.

She said that the bill would be prepared in cooperation with government experts and presented to the lower house before November 30.

Mizulina noted that many of the destructive sects arrived in Russia from foreign countries and that not all of them presented themselves as religious groups – some acted as various leadership courses and the like.

“By using various psycho-techniques these sects are defrauding our citizens of their property. In very widespread cases the sects attempt to manipulate the people’s conscience,” she said.

According to the upper house’s working group for countering the threat of destructive sects, about 500 such groups are currently active in Russia.

In 2012, President Vladimir Putin urged the government to toughen the laws governing the activities of the totalitarian cults cropping up across the country. Totalitarian religious groups pose a threat to the society and people, he said: “It’s a hunt not only for souls, but also people’s property.”

Shortly before this, a reclusive Muslim sect had been discovered in Russia’s Tatarstan. Over 70 people, including 27 children, spent a decade in an eight-level catacomb without access to education, healthcare or daylight. In 2007, a similar story was uncovered in Russia’s Penza region, shocking the entire country: Nearly 30 cultists dug a shelter, stocked it with food and spent several months waiting for the apocalypse, which they expected to happen in May 2008.

In February 2016, the State Duma announced that its members had started preparing a bill to protect citizens from destructive sects, but this initiative has not taken the form of a concrete legislative draft.

In June, 2016, President Vladimir Putin signed legislation that severely restricts freedom of religion by prohibiting any religious speech or evangelization outside of places of worship.

In June, 2017, Russian security forces raided the offices of the Church of Scientology.

In August this year, the Justice Ministry listed the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious group as a banned extremist organization. This happened after a lengthy court process that had been started because some members of this group had endangered the life of their children by refusing to allow blood transfusions – which is in line with Jehovah’s Witnesses beliefs.

Russian law currently allows religious groups to form, including both those that require no official registration and legal formation and ones that should be officially registered. The sects are allowed to stage any activities if they don’t violate existing laws.

It will be very interesting to watch the development of this bill. How far will Russia go in restricting 'foreign' religions? Will only certain Muslim sects like Sunni or Shia be permitted. Will Salafism and Wahabism be outlawed? Will evangelical Christianity be driven out and only Russian Orthodoxy survive? 

Authoritarianism Takes Double-Punch in South America Set-back

Paraguay congress building set ablaze after contentious vote

By Daniel Uria

Protesters in Paraguay set fire to part of a congressional building after 25 senators voted to amend the constitution to allow President Horacio Cartes to seek re-election after his single five-year term. Photo by Andres Cristaldo/EPA

UPI/Reuters -- A congressional building in Paraguay was set ablaze during a protest after a secret senate vote to allow President Horacio Cartes to seek re-election.

Flames covered part of the congressional building as protesters vandalized offices and targeted police vehicles in the capital city of Asuncion on Friday night.

"I didn't expect to witness something like this," speaker of the lower house, Hugo Velázquez, said. "I am calling for harmony."

Firefighters arrived at the scene to extinguish the flames and riot police fired rubber bullets at the crowd. Some protesters were injured.

Paraguay signed a new constitution in 1992 which placed a system of checks and balances on the executive office and limited the president to a single five-year term, following the 35-year brutal dictatorship of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner.

"A coup has been carried out. We will resist and we invite the people to resist with us," said Senator Desiree Masi from the opposition Progressive Democratic Party.

The protests erupted after a group of 25 senators began holding "parallel sessions" to amend the constitution to allow Cartes to seek re-election following the end of his five-year term.

The unrest coincides with a rare high-level international event in the landlocked South American country. Thousands of businessmen and government officials descended on Asuncion this week for the Inter-American Development Bank's annual board of governors meeting.

While Paraguay long suffered from political uncertainty, the soy and beef-exporting nation has been attracting investment in agriculture and manufacturing sectors in recent years as Cartes offered tax breaks to foreign investors.

A senate meeting scheduled to be held on Saturday was canceled following the protests and the damage to the congressional building.

Venezuela reverses decision to remove

National Assembly's power

By Daniel Uria 

Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal of Justice announced it had reversed its decision to strip legislative power from the country's National Assembly on Saturday. EPA/MIGUEL GUTIERREZ

UPI -- Venezuela's Supreme Court announced it will return legislative power to the National Assembly on Saturday.

The Supreme Tribunal of Justice said it had removed certain parts of a judgment that took over the National Assembly's legislative power after government leaders urged it to review the decision and citizens staged daily protests.

The court issued a 20,000-word ruling on Wednesday stating the TSJ or an agency it chose would assume the National Assembly's duties.

On Friday, Venezuela's chief prosecutor, Luisa Ortega, expressed "great concern" about the measure, which she said violated the constitution.

Vice-President Tareck El Aissami also pleaded with the Supreme Court to examine the decision which was viewed by some as a "coup."

"We urge the supreme court to review the decisions... in order to maintain institutional stability and the balance of powers," El Aissami said.

President Nicolas Maduro promised dialogue to end the issue and appeared on national television Saturday to announce an agreement had been reached.

"We've reached an important agreement to solve this controversy," he said.

In other words he received enough credible threats as to be scared for his life! Maduro has to go and go quickly or Venezuela might never recover from the damage he is doing.

Big Pharma Still Sucking the Blood Out of Sick and Needy

There's a new Martin Shkreli on the block

Senators have allergic reaction to EpiPen price hike

© mylan.com

A five-fold increase in the price of emergency allergy medication has drawn a reaction from several US senators, who have accused the manufacturer of exploiting a monopoly. It is also prompting comparisons with “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli.

EpiPen administers a quick dose of epinephrine to counter a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis. The easy-to-use injector is made by the West Virginia-based Mylan Pharmaceuticals, which now finds itself accused of price gouging and compared to Martin Shkreli’s 5,000-percent price hike of anti-parasitic medication Daraprim.

Mylan bought EpiPen from the Merck Group in 2007, and has since raised the price by more than 450 percent, adjusted for inflation, reported the Boston Globe’s health publication STAT. Selling for around $100 in 2008, the injector now retails for around $600. Given that US doctors have issued some 3.6 million prescriptions for the injector last year, the hike is not sitting well with some US senators.

“Not only is this alarming price increase unjustified, it puts life-saving treatment out of reach to the consumers who need it most,” Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) wrote to Federal Trade Commission chair Edith Ramirez on Monday. The increasing cost is driving patients to rely on expired EpiPens or traditional syringes that “require more training and are potentially more dangerous,” Klobuchar wrote.

The letter follows the Minnesota senator’s call for a Judiciary Committee hearing and an FTC investigation into the price hike. In a statement on Friday, Klobuchar pointed out that SanofiUS had to recall its competing product from the market last fall, while Teva’s generic version of the injector failed to receive regulatory approval earlier this year.

“This outrageous increase in the price of EpiPens is occurring at the same time that Mylan Pharmaceutical is exploiting a monopoly market advantage that has fallen into its lap,” Klobuchar said. “Patients all over the US rely on these products, including my own daughter.”

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) took up Klobuchar’s suggestion, writing to Mylan on Monday with a request for explanation.

“Please explain the changes Mylan has made to EpiPen since the acquisition that have caused it to increase the price and reflects the value the product provides,”Grassley wrote, also challenging the company to show its compliance with a 2013 law mandating school access to emergency epinephrine.

Responding to Grassley’s request, Mylan said it has provided over 700,000 free EpiPens to some 65,000 US schools participating in the company’s program.

"Mylan has worked tirelessly over the past several years advocating for increased anaphylaxis awareness, preparedness and access to treatment for those living with potentially life-threatening (severe) allergies," the company said in a statement. "Ensuring access to epinephrine — the only first-line treatment for anaphylaxis — is a core part of our mission.”

Pfft! Ensuring sickening, unjustified profits is THE core part of your mission.

Mylan dodged questions about the specifics of EpiPen pricing, however, by pointing out the “current changes in the healthcare insurance landscape,” with many people enrolling in “high deductible health plans.”

The retail price of an EpiPen went from $265 in July 2013 to $350 in 2014, when the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) went into effect. By the following year, the price was up to $460 and then to $600, according to a Wells Fargo analysis quoted by CNBC.

Heather Bresch - the new Martin Shkreli

As the price of EpiPens rose, so did the company’s stock price, going from $13.29 a share in 2007 to a high of $47.59 this year. Mylan CEO Heather Bresch (left) also saw her compensation go up 671 percent in the same time period, from $2.4 million to $18.9 million, NBC News reported.

But, I'm sure their motives are entirely altruistic, right?

Vermont Senator and former presidential contender Bernie Sanders also blasted Mylan for price gouging, telling NBC News last week that “the only explanation for Mylan raising the price by six times since 2009 is that the company values profits more than the lives of millions of Americans.”

Although, what major industry in America does value the lives of Americans above profits? Can you think of any?