Society's ChildS


Magic Hat

Wolf in sheep's clothing? Billionaire neoliberal Pierre Omidyar

Mark Ames, and Yasha Levine
nsfwcorp
Fri, 15 Nov 2013 11:51 UTC
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Pierre Omidyar
"We ought to be looking at business as a force for good." - Pierre Omidyar

"Like eBay, Omidyar Network harnesses the power of markets to enable people to tap their true potential." - Omidyar Network, "Frequently Asked Questions"

Update: Glenn Greenwald responds to this piece on Twitter: "The idea that someone would build a pro-business, neoliberal outlet around Scahill, Poitras, Segura, Bates etc is just dumb." When asked about Omidyar Network's investment history, he said "I have no idea what you're talking about there. I don't speak for Omidyar Networks. You should ask them that."

The world knows very little about the political motivations of Pierre Omidyar, the eBay billionaire who is founding (and funding) a quarter-billion-dollar journalism venture with Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill. What we do know is this: Pierre Omidyar is a very special kind of technology billionaire.

We know this because America's sharpest journalism critics have told us.

In a piece headlined "The Extraordinary Promise of the New Greenwald-Omidyar Venture", The Columbia Journalism Review gushed over the announcement of Omidyar's project. And just in case their point wasn't clear, they added the amazing subhead, "Adversarial muckrakers + civic-minded billionaire = a whole new world."

Ah yes, the fabled "civic-minded billionaire" - you'll find him two doors down from the tooth fairy.
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Calculator

How to survive a personal economic collapse

Daisy Luther
The Organic Prepper
Mon, 25 Nov 2013 08:00 UTC
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With all that is being written about the national economic collapse, people seem to be waiting for some huge event.

However, for many North Americans, the collapse is here. This isn't relegated to only lower income neighborhoods. As an article from a Cinncinnati new station stated, "Hunger doesn't know a zipcode."

For many people who were formerly financially comfortable, the economic collapse has already happened, in the form of a job loss, hours that have been cut back due to Obamacare requirements for employers, an exorbitant medical bill or other crushing debt, or simply an inflation rate that has outstripped your pay increases. Despite all of the warnings, many people are still going to be absolutely blindsided.

For many families, personal finances have reached a catastrophic level - they are left to make terrible choices:
  • Which utility can I live without?
  • Should I walk away from my mortgage?
  • Should I eat something so I can work harder or should I skip meals so my kids have food?
  • Should I use the grocery money to take my child to the doctor or should I wait and hope he/she improves without medical intervention?
  • Do I risk the IRS-enforced penalties by forgoing enrollment in Obamacare or should I skip that whole grocery shopping thing so I can pay the monthly premiums and enormous deductibles in order to stay in the government's good graces?
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Smoking

Fascist California city pilots total smoking ban, even in smokers' own homes!

Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.
The New American
Sun, 24 Nov 2013 17:28 UTC
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Government isn't content to control public behavior, it is now clamping down on how citizens act at home, as well.

Multiple media outlets are reporting that the city council of San Rafael, California has passed an ordinance prohibiting smoking inside residences with shared walls. This would include, of course, apartments, condominiums, duplexes, and other multi-family dwellings.

The ordinance was passed in October 2012, but did not go into effect until November 14, 2013.

According to a statement made by the city council on the city's official website, the new regulation strengthens "the City's municipal code to further protect the community from secondhand smoke."

In particular, the ordinance "applies to all new and existing properties and does not allow grandfathering rights. Landlords and property owners are required to enforce this ordinance through new lease language or lease amendments as well as posting signage."

The ordinance may be the strictest in the country, and city officials are proud to be out front on the issue. Breitbart News quoted Rebecca Woodbury, "an analyst in the San Rafael's city manager's office who helped write the ordinance," as boasting: "I'm not aware of any ordinance that's stronger."
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Snowflake Cold

New York-bound Amtrak train carrying 218 people derails in South Carolina, four hospitalized with minor injuries


Daily Mail, UK
Mon, 25 Nov 2013 15:43 UTC
Several cars of the New York City-bound Amtrak train with 218 people aboard flew off the tracks in South Carolina early Monday in freezing conditions. No one was seriously hurt but four passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries after the derailment, in which seven cars left the track but thankfully remained upright.

Witnesses described terrifying scenes as the train tilted, bags flew around and jolted passengers clung to each other just after midnight on Train 20 from New Orleans.
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© Associated PressAftermath: Workers use heavy equipment to remove derailed cars of the Amtrak train as a freight train approaches in Spartanburg County, South Carolina
Passenger Carrie Lambert told The Associated Press that she was at the back of the train when she felt the car start to sway and then tilt. 'The car felt like it was about to flip over... I was holding on to my brother for dear life,' the Atlanta woman told AP by phone. 'Bags went everywhere. It was crazy. Really scary.'

Comment: Yet another train derails...

Sure, it was cold, but it wasn't that cold, and certainly nothing the tracks and trains aren't used to.

Are train tracks deforming in unusual ways? Is this related to sinkholes opening up everywhere?

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Smoking

Anti-smoking homicide


WKRN.com
Sun, 24 Nov 2013 04:26 UTC
Nashville, Tenn. - A singer died after he was shot in the head following an altercation at a bar in downtown Nashville early Saturday morning.

anti-smoking homicide
© UnknownScene of the hate crime
Police confirmed Jerald "Wayne" Mills, 44, of the Wayne Mills Band, died from his injuries on Saturday evening.

The shooting was reported around 5 a.m. at the Pit and Barrel bar at 515 2nd Avenue South near Lea Avenue. The bar was closed at the time of the shooting.
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Vader

Best of the Web: Government's admissions: Americans are finally learning about false-flag terror

George Washington
Zerohedge
Sun, 24 Nov 2013 00:48 UTC
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Governments from around the world admit they carry out false flag terror:
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Ambulance

High school football captain stabs older male lover to death

Jill Konopka
WFSB
Fri, 22 Nov 2013 21:59 UTC
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© BLOOMFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENTTarence Mitchell, 18, is accused of stabbing his older male lover to death Thursday night.
A 27-year-old Bloomfield man is dead, and an 18-year-old football star is now behind bars, accused of stabbing him several times.

Explosive information details in court documents show the two had been in a relationship in the past. The documents said the suspect was trying to move on, and the victim wouldn't let it go.

Tarence Mitchell, Bloomfield High School's football captain stood scared before a judge Friday, accused in the fatal stabbing of Ronald Taylor, Jr.

Police said Mitchell stabbed Taylor five times with a steak knife, and left the utensil in Taylor's back before he managed to pull it out on his own and later dying from his injuries.

At first, investigators said Mitchell lied and said the two were attacked by two unidentified black men wearing hoodies. Mitchell later confessed to the crime, according to documents.
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Top Secret

Jackie Kennedy's bloody pink suit to stay hidden until 2103

Cheryl K. Chumley
Washington Times
Fri, 22 Nov 2013 21:48 UTC
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© APIn this Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, file photo, Jacqueline Kennedy, with bloodstains on her clothes, holds hands with her brother-in-law, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, as the coffin carrying the body of President John F. Kennedy is placed in an ambulance after arriving at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., near Washington. President Kennedy was assassinated earlier that afternoon in Dallas
The pink suit that former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy wore the day her husband was shot 50 years ago - now blood-stained - will stay hidden from public view until at least 2103.

It's never been cleaned, and it's not been seen by anyone except National Archives workers at the building in Maryland, where it's now stored, since Nov. 22, 1963, CNN reported.

Immediately following the assassination, Mrs. Kennedy refused to change out of the suit, a Coco Chanel knockoff, saying several times: "No, I'm going to leave these clothes on. I want them to see what they have done."
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Headphones

SOTT Focus: Behind the Headlines: JFK remembered, ISON approaches, and electric weather

Sott Editors
Sott.net
Sun, 24 Nov 2013 19:00 UTC
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The SOTT.net team's 'All and Everything' series returns to SOTT Talk Radio this week, when we'll be casting an eye on the latest scandals, the trends that matter, and the kind of information Big Brother prefers you never hear!

Following on from last week's show on the murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, we're going to discuss a couple of aspects to the dreadful event that open up intriguing new possibilities. Was the event in Dallas in November 1963 originally meant to be a staged assassination? Did other interested parties then hijack the initial plan by actually killing JFK? We'll look at the evidence for this, including the possibility of Israeli involvement.

With no less than five comets currently flaring brightly within observation range of northern hemisphere observers, 2013 is living up to its moniker as 'Year of the Comets'. As ISON approaches perihelion on November 28th, we'll be asking: is there a connection between the wild spaceweather and the crazy storms taking place around the world of late?

Running Time: 01:58:00

Download: MP3

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Black Cat

Police officer handcuffs and sexually assaults 19-year-old woman during traffic stop

Andy Andy Kossak
Opposing Views
Sun, 24 Nov 2013 00:00 UTC
Jackie Neal police officer
A police officer in San Antonio has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old during a traffic stop.

KENS 5 reports that according to police, Jackie Neal, who is an 11-year veteran with the San Antonio Police Department, pulled the victim over and managed to get the woman to stand behind his squad car. San Antonio police Chief William McManus described what happened next as "unthinkable."

The victim contacted police and an investigation started.

The 40-year-old Neal was taken into custody by SAPD Special Victims' Unit detectives and was arrested on a warrant for sexual assault, a second-degree felony.
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