Society's ChildS


Dollar Gold

Wealth funds in China and Qatar plan to continue investments in Russia as US interest fades

middle east wealth funds
© RDIFMajor sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia have invested in Russian businesses and backed its state-funded private equity fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund
Sovereign wealth funds in China and Qatar on Friday signaled their increased commitment to Russia, boosting Moscow's hopes of strengthening ties with Asia and the Middle East as relations with the West deteriorate.

Major sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia have invested in Russian businesses and backed its state-funded private equity fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). By contrast, U.S. financial investors in the country remain few.

"CIC has invested several billions of dollars in Russia," said Ding Xuedong, chairman of the $575 billion CIC, on the sidelines of the country's main annual investment conference in St Petersburg.

"We will continue to increase our investment in Russia, not only in the public markets, but in direct investments," he said.

Russia's RDIF separately announced that Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, is allocating $2 billion to investments with the fund.

Numerous U.S. financiers avoided the annual investment conference in St Petersburg on advice from the White House. Washington and the European Union have imposed sanctions against various individuals deemed close to Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to the situation in Ukraine.

Comment: Who needs the United States? Not Russia and China


Chart Bar

The essential role of volatility, stress and dissent on the micro and macro levels

The individual or system that never experiences dissent, volatility or stress is systemically unhealthy and increasingly prone to sudden "gosh, I didn't see this coming" collapse.
Stress
To say that volatility, stress, dissent are not just healthy, but essential for maintaining health sounds counter-intuitive. On an individual level, we try to avoid exertion, stress and crisis, and on a larger systemic level, our institutions devote enormous resources to minimizing systemic volatility and suppressing dissent.

In other words, the notion that stress and dissent are to be avoided is scale-invariant: it works the same for individuals, households, enterprises, economies, governments and empires.

What got me thinking about this was some recent research that suggests short bursts of physical exertion several times a day yields the equivalent positive results as 20+ minutes of strenuous workout in the gym.

Doing some strenuous exercise for 60 seconds a few times of day appears to trigger the same immune response and repair systems that longer duration exercise engenders.

Nuke

Seriously? Millions of gallons of nuclear waste to be stored next to the Great Lakes

Try and think of the dumbest thing we could do to ensure the destruction of our environment and water supplies. How about storing nuclear waste right next to Lake Huron, which also happens to connect to all the other great lakes, which also happens to make up the greatest collection of fresh water on Earth.


Comment: Seeking the "voice of reason" from the government will likely lead nowhere. The psychopaths in power won't be satisfied until the entire earth and its inhabitants are utterly destroyed.


Star of David

Stephen Hawking's boycott hits Israel where it hurts: science

Stephen Hawking
© Photograph: PAHawking's boycott 'threatens to open a floodgate with more and more scientists coming to regard Israel as a pariah state'.
Stephen Hawking's decision to boycott the Israeli president's conference has gone viral. Over 100,000 Facebook shares of the Guardian report at last count. Whatever the subsequent fuss, Hawking's letter is unequivocal. His refusal was made because of requests from Palestinian academics.

Witness the speed with which the pro-Israel lobby seized on Cambridge University's initial false claim that he had withdrawn on health grounds to denounce the boycott movement, and their embarrassment when within a few hours the university shamefacedly corrected itself. Hawking also made it clear that if he had gone he would have used the occasion to criticise Israel's policies towards the Palestinians.

Heart - Black

Georgia woman with painful, beach ball-sized tumor turned away from four hospitals for lack of insurance

Image
© Rawstory.comDoris Lewis
A Georgia woman says four hospitals turned her away before one agreed to remove a massive and painful tumor.

Doris Lewis said she lost her insurance coverage when her husband died several years ago, reported WSB-TV.

But the 59-year-old said she never felt a sense of urgency to obtain new coverage until she developed the non-cancerous tumor, which has grown to the size of a beach ball in two months.

"It's getting bigger every day," Lewis said. "I can feel it on my body. My heart hurts a little bit."

Lewis said she didn't realize at first that she had developed the tumor, initially believing she was just gaining weight.

Comment:
Health insurance premiums rising faster after Obamacare than in the previous eight years


People 2

SOTT Focus: Mummy, why is Daddy wearing a dress? Daddy, why does Mummy have a moustache?

echcc cover
Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection
Editor's note: This article addresses several controversial topics (homosexuality, pedophilia, sexual predation, etc.) and its content, as well as some illustrations, may be shocking to some.

If, despite this disclaimer, you decide to read further, keep in mind that the 'devil is in the details', so read carefully and try to avoid black and white thinking.

In particular, do not forget that during the analysis, we focus on a small minority of pathological individuals who have infiltrated the gay community. So this is not an attack on gay people but an exposé of this small minority that pretends to advocate for gay rights but instead exploits the gay community in the service of a nefarious agenda.

This being said, fasten you seat belts, and jump in!

_______________________________________________

The main idea developed in this article came rather unexpectedly while I was writing the last part of Earth changes and the Human Cosmic connection, which has just been released as paperback and for Kindle.

The theorized 'Human-Cosmic connection' might be one of the main mechanisms, if not the main one, through which the human population influences, positively or negatively, its environment, including major cosmically induced catastrophes.

While the above mentioned book offers a much more detailed and precise picture of this essential phenomenon, the last part of this article quickly describes this concept and shows how this might connect all the seemingly unrelated topics that we will address now.

Syringe

Over 50 schoolchildren faint after measles shots

Image
© ONLINE Students receiving medical treatment in hospital.
Over 50 students of a private school in Mingora had to be taken to the hospital on Saturday after they fainted following the administration of the measles vaccine.

Saidu Teaching Hospital (STH) Casualty In-charge Mian Gul Alam said a vaccination team was visiting MR Model School in the morning; however, after the administration of the injections, several of the students fainted and others began vomiting.

"The school administration rushed around 23 students to STH. They were administered first aid and discharged once their condition stabilised," said Alam.

"Vomiting and fainting can occur due to expired medicine or contaminated food," said Alam. He concluded the vaccine was fine but could have caused a reaction in the affected children.

STH Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Iftikhar said 23 students were initially brought to the hospital, but later 30 more were brought in after they experienced similar symptoms.

Comment: Over 90 hospitalized after measles vaccination in east Ukraine

Canada: '52 of the 98 Teens Who Caught Measles Were Fully Vaccinated'

Vaccines designed to fail, say Merck virologists


Cloud Precipitation

Images of Altruism: Risking lives to save animals from Balkans floods

Image
© AFP/Andrej IsakovicA Serbian emergency services worker evacuates a dog from floodwaters in the town of Obrenovac, 40 kilometers west of Belgrade, on May 16, 2014
Unprecedented floods have raged across the Balkans affecting over a million people. Fleeing in panic, in packed boats and trucks, many owners could not bring their animals along - but others courageously risked their own lives to save beloved pets.


Comment: See also:


Ambulance

Isla Vista shooter son of 'Hunger Games' second unit director

isla vista bmw
© AP Photo/Jae C. HongBlack BMW shown at the scene of a drive by shooting
UPDATED: Six people were left dead after a gunman opened fire after 9 pm on Friday night in the college town located near the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Elliot Rodger, the 22-year-old suspect in an Isla Vista mass shooting on Friday night, is the son of Hunger Games second unit director Peter Rodger, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Six people were left dead after a gunman opened fire after 9 pm on Friday night in the college town located near the University of Santa Barbara, California. Another seven others were wounded and the gunman was also found dead of a gunshot wound with a semi-automatic handgun found in the suspect's vehicle, the Santa Barbara Sheriff's office stated.

The Sheriff's office has not officially named the suspect. The attorney for Peter Rodger, Alan Shifman, confirmed by phone to THR that the family had contacted police several weeks prior to the shooting. Shifman also confirmed reports that Elliot Rodger, a student at Santa Barbara city college, had been seeing a social worker and therapists recently.


Comment: What are the chances he was on antidepressants?


The Associated Press earlier quoted Shifman saying that police were contacted after YouTube clips were uploaded "regarding suicide and the killing of people."

Comment: See the alleged shooter's (deleted) video, archived here:




Pistol

7 dead in "mass murder" drive-by shootings near UC Santa Barbara

elliot rodger
A man who identifies himself as Elliot Rodger, pictured, posted a YouTube video before a fatal rampage in Isla Vista, California.
Seven people are dead and seven injured after a swift and deadly "mass murder" rampage by a gunman who plowed through the streets in a black BMW, spraying bullets into Friday night crowds in the Southern California seaside town of Isla Vista near UC Santa Barbara.

The gunman -- identified by an attorney for his father as Elliot Rodger -- was later involved in at least one shootout with sheriff's deputies and died of a gunshot wound to the head, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said at a Saturday morning news conference. He could not confirm whether the gunshot was self-inflicted and the department had not released the idetity of the gunman by Saturday afternoon.

Seven victims were hospitalized and at least one of them underwent surgery for life-threatening injuries, Brown said. Details regarding the other victims' conditions were not immediately available.

Rampage witnesses who spoke with NBC4 identified the gunman as Elliot Rodger. An attorney for the man's father -- "Hunger Games" assistant director Peter Rodger -- later confirmed to NBC News that Elliot Rodger, a Santa Barbara City College student, was the gunman.

The family has not visited Santa Barbara to identify the remains, the attorney said, adding that the family is cooperating with investigators.

Sheriff's department personnel are investigating a video in which a man identified as Rodger sits in a car, detailing plans for "retribution" and "revenge against humanity" prior to the shooting.