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Amtrak train breaks apart at 125 mph


New York Post
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 09:39 UTC
Amtrak derailment washington state

Amtrak passenger train #501, derailed near DuPont, WA
Tragedy-prone Amtrak suffered another terrifying setback Tuesday - when a high-speed Acela train broke apart as it raced north toward Penn Station at 125 mph, sources said.

In the third wreck in just one week - and the fourth in two months - several cars of an Acela Express heading from Washington, DC, to the Big Apple decoupled at about 6:30 a.m. and were left held together only by their air hoses.

Sparks flew from dragging cables and the train jerked wildly, but none of the 52 terrified passengers aboard were injured, according to reports.

Comment: Also See:

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Blackbox

Amtrak's high-profile crashes spark concerns but are they justified?


USA Today
Tue, 06 Feb 2018 15:03 UTC
Amtrak train derailiment 2017

Amtrak train derailment from 2017
Federal authorities say that a railway signaling system in South Carolina was down for maintenance when an Amtrak train crashed into a CSX freight locomotive on Sunday, causing the deaths of an Amtrak engineer and conductor. (Feb. 5) AP

A spate of fatal Amtrak accidents in recent months is focusing renewed attention on the passenger railroad and its safety record. The latest deadly incident occurred Sunday in South Carolina.

The crashes appear to stem from different causes, and federal investigators are sifting through each to find out what happened.

Comment: Even though in this instance, according to the article, safety incidents are actually steadily decreasing, America's infrastructure is failing, so it appears that the publicity these accidents receive is a factor in the public's concern. Travelling by rail can be a relatively pain-free experience when compared to the invasive and unjust security checks one has to suffer when flying, and if we look to how other countries are managing their rail network, it seems the west has a lot to learn:

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2 + 2 = 4

#Metoo ideology mania may result in mediocracy

Heather Mac Donald
City Journal
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 11:42 UTC
The coming mania for inclusion will erode standards of merit and excellence.
rainbow circle and equity
If the #MeToo movement only reduces sexual predation in the workplace, it will have been a force for good. Its most likely result, however, will be to unleash a torrent of new gender and race quotas throughout the economy and culture, on the theory that disparities in representation and employment are due to harassment and bias.
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Heart - Black

West Bank 14-year-old girl dumped alone into Gaza by cruel Israeli officials

Jonathan Cook
Mondoweiss
Mon, 05 Feb 2018 11:42 UTC
Gaza Erez crossing
© Oxfam
The walkway between Gaza and Israel at the Erez crossing.
How did a 14-year-old Palestinian girl who has never set foot in the open-air prison of Gaza find herself being dumped there by Israeli officials - alone, at night and without her parents being informed?

The terrifying ordeal - a child realising she had not been taken home but discarded in a place where she knew no one - is hard to contemplate for any parent.

And yet for Israel's gargantuan bureaucratic structure that has ruled over Palestinians for five decades, this was just another routine error. One mishap among many that day.

A single, abstract noun - "occupation" - obscures a multitude of crimes.

What crushes Palestinian spirits is not just the calculated malevolence of Israel's occupation authorities, as they kill and imprison Palestinians, seal them into ghettoes, steal lands and demolish homes. It is also the system's casual indifference to their fate.

This is a bureaucracy - of respectable men and women - that controls the smallest details of Palestinians' lives. With the flick of a pen, everything can be turned upside down. Palestinians are viewed as numbers and bodies rather than human beings.

Comment: Israel sees Palestinians and Africans as things, not people. It is as simple as that. It is the "banality of evil", as Arendt wrote.

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Family

Child slave trafficked to UK begs not to be deported, receives support of thousands

Helen Pidd
The Guardian
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 11:27 UTC
child slavery britain uk
Almost 120,000 sign petition to reverse 'grotesque' decision to deport Stephen, trafficked to the UK to farm cannabis aged 10

A child slave trafficked into the UK at the age of 10 and forced to work in a cannabis factory will on Tuesday plead to stay in the country with the backing of over 116,000 people.

The 19-year-old, known as Stephen to protect his real identity, was rescued by a vicar and his wife three years ago in County Durham, taught to read, and has become a pillar of the parish church community. But in a decision that has been described as "grotesque", the home secretary, Amber Rudd, informed the teenager late last year that his plea for asylum had been refused.
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USA

Thousands of Romanians march for freedom while Americans riot over football game

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 11:27 UTC
Super Bowl Riots police Eagles
Sunday night in Philadelphia, businesses were destroyed, streets burned, property damaged and citizens clashed with cops-not in the name of freedom-but over football.

Last night, thousands of impassioned citizens took to the streets of Philadelphia to take a stand for what they believe in. Ten of thousands gathered - many of whom clashed with police to stand up for their cause - NFL Football.

To celebrate their team winning, the "joyous football fans" mercilessly laid waste to everything around them. They were seen stomping on the awning of the Ritz Carlton until it collapsed.
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Birthday Cake

California bakeshop owner doesn't have to bake wedding cake for gay couple, judge rules

Grace Carr
The Daily Caller
Tue, 06 Feb 2018 11:01 UTC
Cathy Miller
© Californian
A California judge ruled Monday the state couldn't force a cake shop owner to bake a cake for a gay couple's wedding, ruling that doing so would constitute a violation of free speech.

Superior Court Judge David Lampe denied the State of California's request for a preliminary injunction that sought to force bakeshop owner Cathy Miller to design a wedding cake for a gay couple.

"For this court to force such compliance would do violence to the essentials of Free Speech guaranteed under the First Amendment," Lampe ruled, according to a press release sent to The Daily Caller News Foundation. The injunction also posited that if Miller refused to design the cake, the state would force her to close her Tastries Bakery shop altogether.

Comment: The forced group-think penalties suggested by the State of California are rather heavy-handed. 'Design the cake or close down your business - First Amendment be damned'. Here's more on the Jack Phillips case:

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Stop

Nanny state: Thousands of motorists protest 80kph speed limit drop in France


The Connexion
Sun, 04 Feb 2018 12:00 UTC
A huge crowd of bikers assembled in Paris to protest the speed limit change

A huge crowd of bikers assembled in Paris to protest the speed limit change
Thousands of bikers and car drivers have protested this weekend against the government's plans to change the speed limit on main roads from 90kph to 80kph.

The controversial change, which is due to come into force by July 1 this year, will see the limit cut on all roads on which the two carriageways are not separated by a physical barrier.

This will account for more than 400,000km of roads across the country, and government proponents - including Prime Minister Edouard Philippe - say the reduction in speed will save around 350-400 lives a year by July 2020.


Comment: They don't know that. It's actually just another means of spending money the govt doesn't have in order to levy more taxes.


Comment: See also: The day after this wave of protests, farmers began blocking roads around Toulouse, in protest at a drop in agricultural subsidies.

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Red Flag

YouTube to flag government propaganda videos

Frank Sellers
The Duran
Tue, 06 Feb 2018 08:49 UTC
youtube censored
As social media platforms have begun to sift through and flag content that meets certain criteria, YouTube published an announcement this past Friday, that it will begin flagging content that is published by users that are funded by the government. YouTubers will notice a label on videos from users that are publicly bankrolled appearing before the video title.

YouTube's news senior product manager Geoff Samek says that YouTube wants to help "grow news and support news publishers on YouTube in a responsible way". As one of the initial steps that YouTube is taking to foster legitimate news content on their platform, they intend to introduce numerous other steps as the year move forward.

Comment: See also: YouTube to start labeling propaganda videos posted by state-funded media

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Cell Phone

France: Phone use illegal in cars even when vehicle is stopped - hands-free sets allowed


The Connexion
Sun, 04 Feb 2018 12:00 UTC
driving phone car
Phone use illegal in cars even when vehicle is stopped Drivers are warned that they must be properly parked in a designated parking area, before using their phones

The Court of Appeal has ruled that it is illegal to speak on or use your smartphone in your hand while in your car, even if you are stopped, pulled over, and with your hazard lights on.

The rule comes after the court judged that a stopped car is still considered to be "in circulation" even if it is pulled over at the side of the road with its engine off and hazard lights on.

Comment: While its understandable that using a phone when driving is distracting and potentially dangerous - so using your driving time to catch up with old friends is probably not advisable - legislating every action a person takes only leads to learned helplessness where people slowly become unable to think for themselves. And generally, when people think a law is unreasonable, where possible, they tend to disobey it:

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