Society's ChildS


V

Baltimore protests: Violent demonstrations or demonstrations against injustice and violence?


RT
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 19:57 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Shannon StapletonDemonstrators run by a damaged Baltimore police vehicle during clashes in Baltimore, Maryland April 27, 2015
Successive US governments have tried to refashion the world in America's image. Meanwhile, they've ignored the domestic race issue, which has now exploded again.

I know what the anti-RT brigade in the corporate media are expecting here. They imagine I'll take great satisfaction from current events in Baltimore. No, I don't. There's nothing good about watching a nation or city fragment along ethnic or racial lines.

Just as there's no joy in Ukraine's current predicament, where the State Department stoked festering ethnic tensions and destroyed a country. Nor was there anything positive about the civil war that raged in Ireland's north-east corner when I was growing up a couple of hundred miles south.

Throughout history, countries and empires have waged war. Sadly, it continues today, both overtly and covertly. However, no international conflict ever leaves behind the bitterness that lingers after a Civil War or matches the ferocity of contemporaneous feeling when a tribe splits. In America and Europe, there are still exiled White Russian families who won't talk to those they consider 'Reds' and Irish Catholics in Boston who wouldn't date a Protestant. Of course, it's boneheaded, but it happens.
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Chalkboard

"Every Child Achieves Act of 2015," a heartless congressional blunder!

Dawn Hoagland
Agenda 21 News
Wed, 22 Apr 2015 00:00 UTC
robots
© www.theguardian.com"Deliverology" Children in the next generation.
A Teacher's Per­spec­tive on the "Every Child Achieves Act of 2015"

The "Every Child Achieves Act" has passed unan­i­mously out of the Health, Edu­ca­tion, Labor, and Pen­sion Com­mit­tee in the Sen­ate. The usual sus­pects are singing its praises while the peo­ple who actu­ally read all 601 pages of the bill are dread­ing its implementation.

This bill is an affront to every­one who loves chil­dren. The teach­ing pro­fes­sion requires love and patience and cre­ativ­ity. Real teach­ing to inspire real learn­ing requires these traits. Con­tin­u­ous com­puter test­ing for com­pli­ance to a pre­scribed out­come does not. In fact, love and cre­ativ­ity will get in the way of imple­ment­ing this one-size-fits-all exper­i­men­tal disaster.

Any­one who loves chil­dren would not want to sub­ject chil­dren to this cre­ativ­ity crush­ing soul suck­ing sys­tem. This bill funds lots of test­ing and lots of inter­ven­tions for "at risk" stu­dents, which appar­ently includes every­one who doesn't ace the Com­mon Core assess­ments - in other words, everyone.

Any­one who thinks this is a good idea that will lead to improved learn­ing for stu­dents clearly knows noth­ing about human nature or any of the proven analy­sis of W.E. Dem­ing. Top down qual­ity con­trol mea­sures that rely on a sys­tem of pun­ish­ments and rewards plac­ing every­one in a com­pet­i­tive atmos­phere do not even work in the busi­ness world for which they were designed.

Comment: Have our children become products to be inspected, stamped, dated and sold to the highest funder? Can we see the pathological handprint here? Let's create robot worker children who esteem to claw their way to the top without an original thought or creative promise. By the book. By the numbers. Can we surmise that any emotional variance will be punished out and any selfish manipulation will bring praise and reward? And, we will wake up one morning and not know or recognize our kids. They will be the manifestation of a cold and heartless system.

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Airplane

Glitch in iPad software affects dozens of American Airlines flights


RT
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 18:50 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Robert Galbraith
An issue with the software on Apple iPads used by American Airlines pilots affected dozens of flights on Tuesday evening, representatives for the airline say.

"Some flights are experiencing an issue with a software application on pilot iPads," the Texas-based airline explained on Twitter late on Tuesday after passengers began complaining about delays.

"In some cases, the flight has had to return to the gate to access a Wi-Fi connection to fix the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers. We are working to have them on the way to their destination as soon as possible," Andrea Huguely, a spokesperson for American Airlines, later clarified to the Verge.

The airline didn't give specific numbers, but another spokesperson told the Verge that "a few dozen flights" had been affected by the issue. According to updates posted to Twitter by a husband and wife who had planned to fly from Dallas to Austin, they heard that American's entire fleet of Boeing 737s had been grounded over the issue.
@bjacaruso Some flights are experiencing an issue with a software application on pilot iPads. We'll have info about your departure soon.

— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) April 29, 2015
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Dollar

Economic expert: International monetary system needs to be reset


Sputnik
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 18:38 UTC
Image
© Flickr/ Orse
The European Central Bank's 1.1 trillion-euro quantitative easing program has sent bond yields to below zero on securities from Germany to Spain - which is having a negative impact into German bunds.

Germany's government uses bunds to finance its spending. Long term bonds, those with durations of between ten and 30 years are issued the most. Bunds are auctioned off in the primary market and then traded in the secondary market.

According to Jefferies this means that more than 30 percent of all government debt in the Eurozone is trading on a negative interest rate.

That's two trillion euros worth of money that has been borrowed and must be repaid.

"It's an over-indebted global and European economy and that debt is weighing upon the growth function," says Chris Watling from consultancy Longview Economics.

"Productivity it terrible — it's a very sad growth mix for the global and European economy."
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USA

Mass incarceration culture in the U.S. a result of authorities' stance towards minorities


Sputnik
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 18:29 UTC
Image
© Flickr/ telmo32
The US authorities' discriminatory attitude toward the poor and people of color contributed to the emergence of the current culture of mass incarceration, director of Prison Radio Noelle Hanrahan told Sputnik.

Prison Radio is an independent media content company aimed at challenging unjust police and prosecutorial practices which result in mass incarceration, racism and gender discrimination.

"The way the US deals with poor people and people of color... created this culture of mass incarceration," Hanrahan said, adding that in the last forty years the prison population in the United States increased tenfold to over two million inmates.

"One in forty six people in the US will make prison time, and one in ninety nine is currently incarcerated, and the massive incarceration has corrupted our society," Hanrahan said.
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Butterfly

Los Angeles man who built tiny house for homeless woman, launches Tiny House Project LA

Sean Kelly
Opposing Views
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 00:00 UTC
tiny house, homeless
A Los Angeles man built a tiny house for a homeless woman who'd previously been sleeping in the dirt down the street from his apartment.

Almost every day, 60-year-old Smokie visited Elvis Summers' apartment to ask if he had any recyclables. The pair soon developed a friendship, and when Summers discovered Smokie's sleeping situation he knew he had to help.

Summers said he became inspired one day after reading an article about a man in Oakland, California, who built tiny houses out of scrap material. The article prompted him to spend some money of his own to build a home for Smokie so she would no longer have to sleep in the dirt. Five days later, Summers presented the home to his friend.


Comment: See: 'Tiny houses': California homelessness gets new $40 solution


"I had nowhere to really build it, so I just built it in the street outside of my apartment," he said. "The local LAPD cops have been super cool, and have told me they support it - as long as we move it to a different spot every 72 hours."

Comment: It's heartening to hear that their are still people with a conscience and enough creativity to help the homeless, particularly during times when so many cities are actively harassing them and even targeting those who try to help. Projects like these could make a huge difference to millions of lives if they were launched in cities across the world.

Utah is ending homelessness by giving people homes

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Airplane

US Air Force jet mystery: Plane which 'disappeared' over English Channel lands safely after in-flight emergency


Sputnik
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 10:03 UTC
Boeing C-135 jet
© GettyThe Boeing C-135 jet is used to refuel other aircraft

A US Air Force refueling jet, Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker, has landed safely at British base after reportedly disappearing off the radar over the English Channel.

A US Air Force refuelling jet, the Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker has been reported as disappeared off the radar over the English Channel.

The jet left Amiens in northern France at 0.05am local time and was last reported by a flight tracking website to be flying between Dover and Calais.

Fifteen minutes after take-off, at 0.20am, the aircraft fell off the tracking website.

The jet however landed an hour later at RAF Mildenhall, the Royal Air Force station located near Mildenhall in Suffolk.

Comment: There have been other recent cases of planes suddenly 'disappearing' from radar. Last June, an air-safety investigation was launched after 13 planes flying over Europe disappeared from radar screens in two "unprecedented" blackouts, leading to reports stating air traffic control systems had been hacked.

Or is there an element of 'High Strangeness' to these incidents, like MH370?

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Hardhat

Bumble Bee worker cooked to death with tuna batch


RT
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 02:37 UTC
bumblebee tuna
© Image from bumblebee.com
Los Angeles prosecutors charged Bumble Bee Foods and two managers on Monday with violating safety regulations when a worker was cooked to death in an industrial oven with 12,000 pounds of tuna.

Both managers could face serve jail sentences and the company could be charged with a maximum fine of $1.5 million.

Jose Melena, 62, was performing maintenance work in 35-foot-long industrial oven at Bumble Bee's Santa Fe Springs plant in October 2012 when a co-worker, thinking Melena was on a bathroom break, filled the pressure cooker with thousands of pounds of canned tuna and turned it on.

According to a report by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA), Melena's supervisor then noticed he was missing. A search was conducted in the plant and parking lot before his body was found two hours later - after the oven reached a temperature of 270 degrees Fahrenheit.

Prosecutors charged the company and two managers each with three counts of violating OSHA rules: The violation of a safety plan, the violation of rules for workers entering confined spaces and the violation of safety procedures that ensure machinery and equipment are turned off when a worker is conducting cleaning or maintenance

The two managers could face up to three years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 if convicted of all charges. The company faces a maximum fine of $1.5 million.
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Cloud Precipitation

Prepping is just common sense!


Natural Blaze
Sun, 26 Apr 2015 00:00 UTC
empty grocery store, prepping
Just how much damage can result from one severed wire? One crashed circuit board? A few errant keystrokes or transposed digits? It might surprise you to learn the magnitude of the impact of such a seemingly minor glitch.

With the incredible reliance we have on electronic communications, we are very vulnerable to system failures that could erupt in the event of a catastrophic interruption in telephone, data, or wireless communications. While much of the information moving in these networks is recreational, a huge proportion of it pertains directly to the distribution of food and other critical needs.

As simple as it seems to walk into a store and purchase items, the fact is that there are thousands of electronic components that must function without interruption in order to make those goods appear on a shelf.

After decades of this lifestyle, we take it for granted. We should not. Instead, we should all equip ourselves to survive for an extended period with no expectation of being able to buy anything--or even having money to buy it. In an article entitled "20 Facts that Prove the US Retail Sector is About to Collapse", theantimedia.org explains why.

So the logic behind hedging against such a disaster is sound, and the event isn't as unlikely as many would have you believe. Many of your neighbors may be well ahead of you on it.

Comment: Many people tend to dismiss 'preppers' as being too catastrophically minded. However, if one takes even a brief glimpse at the bizarre weather patterns that have been increasing globally and considers how quickly grocery stores might be emptied during even a short supply disruption, then those who are prepared seem much more grounded in reality. And, this does not even consider the potential for chaos that could ensue if the global financial system actually collapses, which is something that is highly likely to happen in the near future. Taking some precautions to insure your family will not suffer unnecessarily, is always wise.

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Light Saber

Bullied Michigan teen defies school officials, reposts video about struggle with bullying, lack of support from administration

Tom Boggioni
Raw Story
Mon, 27 Apr 2015 20:26 UTC
Image
© Screen captureDana Hamrick on You Tube
A Michigan teen who posted a video to Facebook complaining about lack of support from administrators at her high school who had failed to protect her from bullying, has reposted the video to YouTube after being told to take it down.

According to MyFoxDetroit, 16-year-old Dana Hamrick originally posted the video - where she tearfully explained that she is bullied on a daily basis at Harry Truman High School - only to be told later in the day to take it down by school officials.

In the video, an emotional Hamrick says, "One of the vice principals, he would threaten to suspend me for three days because I wasn't in the cafeteria getting bullied," adding, "I am sitting here, bawling my eyes out and you tell me to get out of your sight."

Two days later she reposted the video which had been seen by tens of thousands.

"I posted the video because I want people to know that bullying hurts," she explained. "It does, words hurt."


According to school officials, the morning Hamrick posted the video, her parents were contacted and a meeting was scheduled. Administrators said that they had offered support and an intervention for the teen months ago, but she had refused, saying she was afraid to name her attackers out of fear of retaliation.

Comment: Words do hurt - they actually damage the brain. See:

Sticks and Stones--Hurtful Words Damage the Brain

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