Society's ChildS


Arrow Down

Trump expands drilling in Utah two years after POTUS cut the size of Bears Ears National Park

Chris White
Daily Caller
Thu, 06 Feb 2020 01:28 UTC
Petroglyphs
© REUTERS/Andrew CullenHundreds of petroglyphs cover Newspaper Rock, in Bears Ears National Monument, Utah, U.S., October 29, 2017.
The Department of Interior finalized a rule Thursday expanding drilling rights in Utah two years after President Donald Trump reduced the size of a pair of national monuments in the area.

Trump cut the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments in 2017, which created a firestorm of criticism from activists who said the president's decision hurt Native American communities.

Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase contain vast amounts of oil, gas and coal, as well as grazing land local ranchers hope to use for cattle.

The areas excluded from monuments are protected by federal environmental laws, acting DOI assistant secretary Casey Hammond said in a statement.

Comment: See also: Native American tribes to sue Trump over 'unlawful' Bears Ears decision

Read More...
Gear

When China's supply chains break, the US economy's delusion of invulnerability will too

Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
Wed, 05 Feb 2020 22:28 UTC
shipping containers shanghai china
© Aly Song | ReutersContainers sit at the Yangshan Port in Shanghai, China, Aug. 6, 2019.
Was it ever plausible that China's economy could grind to a halt and there wouldn't be any consequences for the U.S. economy? No.

Many commentators talk about supply chains in China, but how many have actually visited factories in China, other than carefully choreographed PR visits to suitably high-tech facilities? I've visited many factories in China, and not with a staff of minders who swiftly guide the visitors through the happy story of high-tech wonderland.

I've visited some high-tech facilities but also many low-tech factories, where most of the supply chain originates, usually with one or two bored local government functionaries. You get a much less distorted view of the supply chain on the ground, away from the carefully guided tours.
Read More...
Blue Planet

New bill seeks to commit US to planting 3.3 billion trees every year

Emma Fiala
The Mind Unleashed
Thu, 06 Feb 2020 10:25 UTC
Forest
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland would leaders addressed various ways to combat climate change and help the environment. It was there that U.S. President Donald Trump committed to the Trillion Trees initiative.

A bill is currently being drafted by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas) that would set in stone the commitment to the planting of billions of trees annually. If the legislation passes, the U.S. will plant 3.3 billion trees each year over the next 30 years.

Westerman explained:
The pragmatic, proactive thing to do is to plant forests and manage them so that you're actually pulling carbon out of the atmosphere.
Trump said at Davos:
We're committed to conserving the majesty of God's creation and the natural beauty of our world.
Read More...
Dollar

MSNBC panelist comes unhinged when Sanders surrogate calls Bloomberg an 'oligarch'


RT
Thu, 06 Feb 2020 20:02 UTC
Bloombergbus
© AFP/Frederic J. Brown
An outraged MSNBC panelist accused a surrogate for Bernie Sanders of "name-calling" after she dared to label billionaire and fellow presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg an "oligarch" for his ability to buy political influence.

During a discussion on money in politics, national co-chair for the Sanders campaign Nina Turner said Americans should be "ashamed" that "oligarchs" can buy their way into elections. Asked by host Chris Matthews to clarify if she believes Bloomberg is an oligarch, Turner didn't mince words.

"He is. I mean, he skipped Iowa, he's not going to New Hampshire. He's buying his way into this race, period," she said, adding that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had changed its rules to allow the former mayor of New York City to participate in debates. Pressed by Matthews to say whether she believed Bloomberg bought his way into the debates, too, Turner said he "absolutely" did and that it was a "stain on democracy."
Read More...
Arrow Down

Elementary school teaching assistant accused of selling fentanyl to teen who died from overdose

Lee Brown
New York Post
Thu, 06 Feb 2020 20:47 UTC
Marina Deetz
A Florida elementary school teaching assistant has been busted on heroin charges after she was accused of selling drugs to a teenager who later overdosed and died, according to police.

Marina Deetz, a 20-year-old staffer at Moon Lake Elementary in New Port Richey, was accused by a 17-year-old boy of selling fentanyl to him and his 18-year-old friend, who later died, an arrest affidavit shows.

The teaching assistant was accused of selling the drugs to the teens for $50 — then snorting some with them while also doing cocaine, the Pasco County sheriff's report says.
Read More...
Heart - Black

'Vile,' 'Disgraceful': Outrage after Grenfell chairman requests cladding firm workers be exempt from criminal prosecutions


RT
Thu, 06 Feb 2020 19:36 UTC
grenfell
© AFP / DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS
The chairman of the Grenfell Tower inquiry is to seek assurances from the government that any evidence provided by employees of the cladding firms won't be used against them in further criminal prosecutions prompting anger online.

Sir Martin Moore-Bick has written to the Geoffrey Cox QC - the attorney general - requesting that any evidence submitted by individuals responsible for the refurbishment of the 24-story block will not be used to incriminate them. 72 residents perished in the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017.

Moore-Bick warned that if witnesses do not gain immunity then "they will be considerably less candid than would otherwise have been the case as a result of trying to avoid saying anything that might harm their position in the future."

Comment: Previously:

Read More...
Car Black

Israeli soldiers wounded in Jerusalem car-ramming

Judah Ari Gross
The Times of Israel
Thu, 06 Feb 2020 20:14 UTC
suspected car-ramming Jerusalem
© MDAMagen David Adom medics treat the wounded in a suspected car-ramming in Jerusalem on February 6, 2020
At least 12 soldiers were wounded, including one seriously, in a suspected car-ramming terror attack in Jerusalem early Thursday morning, police and medics said.

The incident occurred shortly before 2 a.m. on Jerusalem's David Remez Street near the First Station, a popular entertainment hub. Police said the driver of the vehicle fled the scene and "a large force of officers were carrying out searches."

The car was later found abandoned in the town of Beit Jala outside Bethlehem, but the driver remained at large as of Thursday morning, police said.
Read More...
Eye 1

Without conscience: Woman arrested after trying to suffocate 68-yr-old mother who she was 'tired of looking after'

Sophie Tanno
Daily Mail
Tue, 04 Feb 2020 19:46 UTC
Luciana Paula Figueiredo
This is the moment a daughter is filmed putting her hand on her elderly mother's nose and mouth in hospital in an alleged attempt to suffocate her.

Daughter Luciana Paula Figueiredo, 32, has been arrested for allegedly attempting to suffocate her mother Ana Benedita Figueiredo, 68, in her hospital bed in the Dr Carlos Macieira Hospital in the city of Sao Luis in the Brazilian state of Maranhao.

The sickening footage was reportedly recorded by other patients and shows a hand being placed over Ana's nose and mouth.

The hand appears to be pushing some of the bedding towards the woman's mouth and the elderly victim lifts her hand at one point.

Local media report daughter Luciana was arrested at the scene and later charged with attempted homicide while her mother was taken to the intensive care unit.
Read More...
Ambulance

Italy high-speed train crash: Two people killed and 27 injured 'after 180mph derailment'

Bonnie Christian, Michael Howie
Evening Standard (UK)
Thu, 06 Feb 2020 19:45 UTC
Two people died in the pre-dawn crash
Two people died in the pre-dawn crash
Two people have died and 27 are injured after a high-speed passenger train derailed and slammed into the side of a building in northern Italy.

The state-railway Freccia Rossa train came off the rail around 5.30am local time in the countryside outside the northern town of Lodi while travelling from Milan to the southern city of Salerno.

It is believed the state-railway Freccia Rossa train was travelling at about 180mph when the incident took place.

A train engineer and another rail worker died, while a third person, said to be a cleaner on the train, sustained significant but non life-threatening injuries.

A video of the scene showed the front engine and at least one passenger wagon had skipped the tracks, flipping onto its side. Photographs suggested the engine had broken clear of the rest of the train and smashed into an adjacent building.

Read More...
Family

Church service stampede kills at least 20 including children in Tanzania


Sky News
Sun, 02 Feb 2020 19:33 UTC
The aftermath of the deadly stampede at the outdoor prayer meeting
The aftermath of the deadly stampede at the outdoor prayer meeting
At least 20 people, including five children, have been killed in a stampede during a church service at a stadium in Tanzania.

Some 16 others were also injured in the crush as hundreds of worshippers rushed to walk on "blessed oil" at the prayer meeting in the northern town of Moshi, near the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The event had been organised by pastor Boniface Mwamposa, a popular preacher who heads a church called the Arise and Shine Ministry Tanzania.

Mr Mwamposa has been arrested, according to the authorities.

He had been drawing huge crowds by promising prosperity and a cure for illness to the faithful who passed over what he describes as "anointed oil", poured on the ground during his services.
Read More...