Society's Child

A tale of two methane leaks: Porter Ranch vs Eight Mile

Ivan Penn
LA Times
Sat, 15 Oct 2016 12:01 UTC

© Meggan Haller / For The Times
Markell Williams, 11, has been hospitalized five times this year for seizures, which his mother believes are linked to a chemical spill near his hometown of Eight Mile, Ala.

When methane started leaking out of a well at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility outside Los Angeles last October, noxious fumes blanketed the nearby Porter Ranch neighborhood for months. Residents complained of nausea, nosebleeds and vomiting; more than 8,000 families were forced out of their homes by the stench of the chemical odorant added to natural gas to help detect leaks.

Two thousand miles away, in a poor Alabama community, residents are complaining of similar symptoms after lightning struck equipment at an underground pipeline. An estimated 500 gallons of the same chemical spilled into the soil and groundwater, according to state environmental officials.

But, unlike in affluent, predominantly white Porter Ranch, residents in Eight Mile have been largely ignored, stuck for eight years with the stifling rotten egg stench that still hovers over the low-income, mostly African American enclave just north of the Gulf of Mexico.

Residents say there have been no relocations to hotels or rented homes. No transfers to schools out of harm's way. No U.S. Cabinet members swooping in to investigate. No national media hordes.

Comment: More on the Aliso Canyon Porter Ranch leak:

North Carolina judge convicted of bribing FBI agent with '2 cases of beer' in exchange for spying on his wife

RT
Sat, 22 Oct 2016 04:03 UTC

A North Carolina judge may have been "up for whatever" when he tried to bribe an FBI agent with Bud Light beer in exchange for some "innocent" spying on his wife and her alleged friend, but a unanimous jury found him guilty.

Jurors unanimously agreed Friday that Superior Court Judge Arnold O Jones II was guilty of paying a bribe to a public official, promising and paying a gratuity to a public official, and corruptly attempting to influence an official proceeding.

The verdict wraps up a nearly year-long trial for Judge Jones. In October 2015, Jones reached out to an FBI Task Force Officer, asking him to use his connections to compel Verizon to provide copies of some text messages exchanged between two people.

Whole Foods seen as 'organic traitors'; profits plummet

David Gutierrez,
Natural News
Fri, 21 Oct 2016 11:47 UTC

The financial outlook for Whole Foods Market continues to look grim, as consumers seeking natural and organic products continue to take their business elsewhere.

As far back as 2014, then-CEO John Mackey admitted that the company was hurting due to an explosion in the number of stores selling organic groceries.

"The growing demand for fresh, healthy foods, the offering of natural and organic products is expanding everywhere [in] new stores, existing stores and online," Mackey said.

The company has also been hit by several recent scandals, including allegations of price-gouging, and more recently, of colluding with Monsanto to ensure the passage of a bill that bans the labeling of foods made with genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Comment: See also:

Couple charged with murdering their baby and burying his body in the woods

Lynh Bui
Washington Post
Fri, 21 Oct 2016 11:36 UTC

As the infant boy cried and screamed the morning of Sept. 21, according to police, his father took him to the balcony of the family's apartment and began punching him in the torso to quiet him.

When that did not work, the father brought the infant back inside, snatched the still-crying boy by the arms off the floor and continued punching him, police said in arrest records.

Blood began to flow from the baby's nose and mouth, police said, and the child fell silent.

Court charging documents released Thursday reveal details in the death of 3-month-old Antoine Flemons, who Prince George's County police said was fatally assaulted by his father before being buried in the woods by his parents.

Caught on film: Pakistani cop attacks cameraman and brutally slaps female reporter

RT
Fri, 21 Oct 2016 10:36 UTC

A shocking video has emerged of a policeman violently slapping a female journalist during a scuffle at a government office in Karachi.

The officer from the Frontier Constabulary was seen arguing with Saima Kanwal from channel K-21 as she was doing a live program.

The journalist was doing a report on the issues people face at Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) when she got into a rift with the guard after he grabbed hold of the camera man.

Foreign travelers will be asked to show their social media accounts when entering the US

RT
Fri, 21 Oct 2016 10:18 UTC

Foreign travelers to the US that are eligible for a visa waiver may be asked to provide their social media accounts, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which maintains that visitors won't be profiled over any "social media identifiers."

The plan, first revealed in June and currently under cost evaluation by the Office of Management and Budget, would allow US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to ask certain foreign travelers to the US to provide their social media accounts on customs documents to help "enhance the existing investigative process and provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections," the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says.

The visa-waiver program allows for residents of other countries, including many Western European nations as well as Japan and South Korea, to come into the US without a visa for up to 90 days as a tourist. In exchange, US residents may also travel to the 38 eligible countries without applying for a specific visa.

Barron's exec 'reply all' goof accidentally alerts employees to buyouts and layoffs

RT
Fri, 21 Oct 2016 09:50 UTC

"Reply all" can wreak havoc on an email inbox. But the executives at Barron's were in for a fresh hell when one wrong "Reply all" accidentally informed their staff of an upcoming wave of layoffs.

Employees at the financial news magazine Barron's were informed that their jobs were at risk due to layoffs when company president Ed Finn notified them in an email on Friday. However, Finn did not exactly mean to tell his employees. In fact, he was just trying to forward a message to another executive.

The Dow Jones' media companies, the Wall Street Journal and Barron's, are two heavy hitters when it comes to financial and investment news. However, on Friday, the Wall Street Journal announced that it wanted a "substantial number" of employees to take buyouts in lieu of involuntary layoffs, Politico reported.

Cameroon: Train derailment kills 53, injures 300

RT
Fri, 21 Oct 2016 09:00 UTC

At least 53 people have been killed and nearly 300 others injured after a passenger train traveling between Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, and the city of Douala was derailed, the country's transport minister confirmed.

The crash occurred close to the central town of Eseka, around 120 km west of Yaounde, Transport Minister Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo'o told Cameroon's state broadcaster.

19 dead, 3 survivors after helicopter crashes on Russia's Yamal Peninsula

RT
Fri, 21 Oct 2016 23:33 UTC

Nineteen people were killed and three more hospitalized after an Mi-8 helicopter crash-landed on Russia's Yamal Peninsula in northwestern Siberia, Russian Emergencies Ministry has confirmed.

Two black boxes of the Mi-8 have been found by rescue teams "in good condition," a source told RIA Novosti.

Reports from the ground say that the helicopter was badly damaged upon landing and fell onto its side, but did not explode. Poor visibility was being reported on the ground.

Earlier, a survivor of the crash reached the rescuers via a cell phone. The man said he was trapped in the wreckage.

Two rescue helicopters with paramedics and emergency workers were dispatched to the site, with a total of 140 people involved in the operation.

According to recent reports, the bodies of all of the crash victims have been recovered from the wreckage of the aircraft. The three men in the helicopter crew are listed among the dead. The passengers are said to be oil-industry workers.

Search and rescue operations at the crash site have now ended.

Con artist charged with grand larceny as a hate crime for targeting elderly Chinese immigrants in 'blessing scam'

RT
Fri, 21 Oct 2016 13:58 UTC

An accused scam artist has been charged with grand larceny as a hate crime after reportedly stealing $160,000 worth of cash and jewelry from elderly female Chinese immigrants.

Xuekun Su, 44, was arraigned in Brooklyn on Thursday on four counts of grand larceny as a hate crime. The relatively unheard-of offense was levied against Su after she and her cohorts targeted victims due to their ethnicity, age and religious beliefs, according to prosecutors. Su is also facing grand larceny as a standalone charge.

Su is accused of approaching a 61-year-old Chinese woman and posing as a clairvoyant in order to convince the woman that she or her family members were in mortal danger due to a curse that only she could lift, the New York Daily News reported. She is also accused of stealing from another family.

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Society's Child

A tale of two methane leaks: Porter Ranch vs Eight Mile

North Carolina judge convicted of bribing FBI agent with '2 cases of beer' in exchange for spying on his wife

Whole Foods seen as 'organic traitors'; profits plummet

Couple charged with murdering their baby and burying his body in the woods

Caught on film: Pakistani cop attacks cameraman and brutally slaps female reporter

Foreign travelers will be asked to show their social media accounts when entering the US

Barron's exec 'reply all' goof accidentally alerts employees to buyouts and layoffs

Cameroon: Train derailment kills 53, injures 300

19 dead, 3 survivors after helicopter crashes on Russia's Yamal Peninsula

Con artist charged with grand larceny as a hate crime for targeting elderly Chinese immigrants in 'blessing scam'

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