Society's Child

China passes US in healthy life expectancy for the first time says World Health Organisation

ESP
Thu, 31 May 2018 12:00 UTC

Chinese people can look forward to a longer healthy life than Americans for the first time since records began, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) data.

Chinese newborns in 2016 can expect 68.7 years of healthy life, compared with 68.5 years for American babies, the figures show.

American babies can still expect to live longer overall, dying at 78.5 years compared to China's 76.4. but during the last decade Americans are likely to suffer from ill health.

Comment: So what is causing this very clear decline in the quality of life experienced for the majority of Americans? And it's not just in the US: Life expectancy for poorest girls in England falls for first time since 1920s

Also check out SOTT radio's: The Health & Wellness Show: Love Eating Crap? Blame the Food Processors

Cultural appropriation: When respect for diversity is taken to crazy extremes

I.K.
The Economist
Tue, 15 May 2018 00:01 UTC

Every year the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art hosts a gala. A single ticket costs $30,000. New York's A-listers and wannabes deck themselves in overwrought garments designed for the party's theme. Three years ago "China: Through the Looking Glass" inspired dresses with dragons (pictured), hair held in place with chopsticks and, from a few sartorially confused celebrities, kimonos.

The attire prompted an outcry over "cultural appropriation" - an elastic, ill-defined gripe. No such furore arose over the outfits at this year's gala, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination", even though they included a stilettoed and sequinned pope, Jesus Christ in a gold tiara, and a spectacularly winged angel. Why not?

Comment: See also:

Global Network for Syria: Statement on impending F.U.K.U.S. military intervention in Syria

In Gaza and Beyond
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC

The following is from the Global Network for Syria [see bottom for names]:

Statement on impending US, UK and French military intervention in Syria

Comment: See also:

Isn't it meddling?: Detention of Uighurs must end, UN tells China, amid fake claims of prison camps

The Guardian
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC

© Tom Phillips for the Guardian
A Uighur woman passes a poster celebrating the ‘China Dream’ of President Xi Jinping in a photograph from May 2017.

United Nations human rights experts have called for China to shut down alleged political "re-education camps" for Muslim Uighurs and called for the immediate release of those detained on the "pretext of countering terrorism".

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination cited estimates that "from tens of thousands to upwards of a million Uighurs" may be detained in the far western Xinjiang province. Its findings were issued after a two-day review of China's record, the first since 2009.

China's foreign ministry has rejected the allegations, saying anti-China forces are behind criticism of policies in Xinjiang.

AAASofA: "Pentagon fires a warning shot against EPA's 'secret science' rule"... Riiiight.

David Middleton
Watt's Up With That
Wed, 29 Aug 2018 16:52 UTC

Guest ridicule of the American Association for the Advancement of Science of America by David Middleton

This little gem was in my morning email from the AAASofA:

As is often the case, this really dumb article in Science (as in She Blinded Me With) was originally published by Energy & Environment Greenwire (a publication that has almost nothing to do with energy), kind of like The Grauniad citing SkepSci...

Internet sh*tstorm: Moon landing movie stirs controversy by leaving out American flag

RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 17:44 UTC

One small step for man, one giant sh*tstorm for the internet. A new Canadian-directed Neil Armstrong biopic drew fierce criticism after it left out the iconic planting of the star-spangled banner on the moon.

'First Man' opened to rave reviews from audiences at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday for Canadian actor Ryan Gosling's portrayal of astronaut Neil Armstrong. Faithfully depicting the 1969 moon landing, the movie did leave out one important detail: Armstrong's planting of the American flag, which still stands motionless on the moon today.

American flags could be seen in the background in several shots, but the omission still rankled American viewers. How could Hollywood write such a towering American achievement out of history?

Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) led the charge. "This is total lunacy," he tweeted. "The American people paid for that mission,on rockets built by Americans,with American technology & carrying American astronauts. It wasn't a UN mission."

Immigration agents detain over 100 undocumented workers in Texas raid

Justin Wise
The Hill
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 08:02 UTC

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reportedly detained more than 100 undocumented immigrants on Tuesday as part of a raid at a manufacturing company in Texas.

ICE detained 160 workers at a trailer manufacturer known as Load Trail, according to ABC News. The network notes that the company had been previously charged with knowingly hiring undocumented workers.

"I knew these were clearly illegals. This is not the way we are supposed to be hiring," Katrina Berger, the Department of Homeland Security's special agent in charge of investigations, told ABC News. "They told me to keep doing my job - that if they were visited by ICE again, they would simply pay the fine and go on."

Washington cat killer claims 13th victim; animal shelter offers a $36K reward

RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 18:30 UTC

An animal sanctuary in Washington has offered a reward of $36,000 to anyone who can help identify an individual suspected of a string of cat mutilations across the state.

Some 13 animals have been found dead in Washington in recent times, with the last feline victim found on Thursday in Thurston County, near Olympia in the northwest of the state.

All of the cats have been found in public places, with the latest apparently surgically slit and splayed. In some cases, the cats' spines have been removed and in others, the organs have been laid out beside the body, according to The New York Times.

"Kind of like an arsonist goes back to the scene of fire. They want people to find these animals," Thurston County Animal Services Officer Erika Johnson told the newspaper. "It's for shock value. It's like a trophy."

Over half of all Russians think internet users should be held responsible for reposting extremist material

RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 18:04 UTC

Over half of all Russians think that internet users must bear responsibility for sharing and reposting extremist material, and a third of them supported punishing reposters to the same extent as the original authors.

In a recent poll, researchers from the Public Opinion think tank asked Russians if they thought it right that the law orders responsibility both for original placement of extremist information on the internet and for simply sharing it with other internet users.

The survey found that 55 percent of respondents said they approved of the current situation whereby authors and spreaders of extremist information both face responsibility for their actions. Of those, 33 percent said that, in their opinion, the punishment for spreading extremist materials must be the same as the one ordered for its creation and original publishing. 7 percent said they supported even harsher sanctions for reposters of extremist materials.

'Our humanitarian work is greater than the Israeli occupation': Gaza's battle-hardened medics always on duty

Amjad Ayman Yaghi
The Electronic Intifada
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:35 UTC

Since the beginning of the Great March of Return at the end of March, the Israeli military has left no doubt that it will not feel restrained in dealing with Gaza's demonstrations.

With rules of engagement that have left at least 125 demonstrators dead, more than 5,000 wounded by live fire, among them over 800 children, the message is clear: Protest and risk death and injury.

But even those not protesting are not safe. Israeli forces have killed two journalists and at least 90 have been injured. Three medics have also been killed.

Still they come: demonstrators, journalists and, of course, medics.

I once wore a kilt to elementary school but that was because it was part of my homemade Braveheart costume. I had shorts on underneath but pranked...

Animanarchy

She hopefully also knocked out a complete chronology of her situation and made it available to the press. God speed lady! Fight that good fight -...

Rowan Cocoan

.. .. Never go to Happy Hour when it's nurses night.. or, Let's go phizzer [Link]

Jibrish

But we're going into a mini 'ice age'! HAARP has nothing to do with this...

tekdude

Ehret an idiot beyond belief

smertzasmert

Society's Child

China passes US in healthy life expectancy for the first time says World Health Organisation

Cultural appropriation: When respect for diversity is taken to crazy extremes

Global Network for Syria: Statement on impending F.U.K.U.S. military intervention in Syria

Isn't it meddling?: Detention of Uighurs must end, UN tells China, amid fake claims of prison camps

AAASofA: "Pentagon fires a warning shot against EPA's 'secret science' rule"... Riiiight.

Internet sh*tstorm: Moon landing movie stirs controversy by leaving out American flag

Immigration agents detain over 100 undocumented workers in Texas raid

Washington cat killer claims 13th victim; animal shelter offers a $36K reward

Over half of all Russians think internet users should be held responsible for reposting extremist material

'Our humanitarian work is greater than the Israeli occupation': Gaza's battle-hardened medics always on duty

Latest News

Picture of the Day

Quote of the Day

Recent Comments

Quantum Quirk

Contact Us