Society's ChildS


Marijuana

Dispute over smokable hemp puts North Carolina's farm bill in limbo

Kari Travis
Carolina Journal
Thu, 22 Aug 2019 03:38 UTC
Hemp
© TinaKru from Pixabay
North Carolina's farm bill has passed the House, but it now may be frozen in the Senate.

Senate Bill 315, "North Carolina Farm Act of 2019," was approved Wednesday, Aug. 21, by a 63-48 vote, but only after House members revised the omnibus legislation to outlaw the sale and use of dried, smokable hemp flowers May 1, 2020.

The bill heads to the Senate for concurrence, where its primary sponsor, Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, says he'll recommend his colleagues give it a red light due to "a few glaring flaws."

"The Senate version had his full support, but the changes made in the House are not acceptable," Christopher Stock, a spokesman for Jackson, told Carolina Journal in an email. "This is a Farm Act and in its current form it stands to harm agriculture in North Carolina. That just doesn't make sense."

Comment: See also:

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Bullseye

Why the concept of 'white privilege' is wrong — Part 1

Vincent Harinam and Rob Henderson
Quillette
Thu, 22 Aug 2019 17:26 UTC
white privilege
"White privilege" is a term often invoked as a causal explanation for the success of whites relative to other groups. But the problem with white privilege isn't its assumptions about racial discrimination, but its causal disposition. White privilege suffers from a bad case of mono-causality, or "one-thingism" as Jonah Goldberg puts it.

Rarely does a single explanatory variable account for a complex phenomenon. Instead, complex outcomes are best explained by a confluence of factors. In the case of white privilege, there are a number of variables which, together, better explain differences in group outcomes. Moreover, there is a bevy of countervailing evidence that calls its validity into question.

This is not to suggest that racial discrimination cannot or does not play a role in differential outcomes. Nor is it to suggest that privileges do not exist in some form or another. Where you live and who your parents are can be privileges. But to posit white privilege as the only or a predominant explanation for differences in group outcomes is, based on the empirical evidence, incorrect and irresponsible.

Comment: Yet this pernicious, destructive concept is being hammered into the minds of children and young adults by the social justice warriors infesting the education system. The outcome will be a disaster.

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Briefcase

'Radiation scandal': Class action lawsuit filed against Samsung, Galaxy, Apple iPhone

Zak Doffman
Forbes
Sat, 24 Aug 2019 03:09 UTC
iphone
© Social Media GroupOne Services
In the least surprising news of the week, lawyers have already filed a class action lawsuit against Apple and Samsung, following revelations this week that the radiation emitted by smartphones from both manufacturers exceed safety standards — at least according to tests commissioned by the Chicago Tribune.

The tests, reported the newspaper:
"conducted according to federal guidelines at an accredited lab," found that "radio-frequency radiation exposure from the iPhone 7 — one of the most popular smartphones ever sold — measured over the legal safety limit and more than double what Apple reported to federal regulators from its own testing."
Meanwhile, "the three Samsung phones tested by the Tribune," met safety limits at all distances except 2mm from the body, "to represent a device being used while in a pocket," at which point "the exposures measured well over the standard."

The lawsuit was filed on Friday [August 23] in the the Northern District of California, despite assurances that the products are safe, the lawsuit claims:
"recent testing of the defendants' products shows that the potential exposure for an owner carrying the phone in a pants or shirt pocket was over the exposure limit, sometimes far exceeding it — in some instances by 500%."
The lawsuit sets out the marketing assurances as to the safety and use cases of the devices, seeking to show that if the devices are used as recommended, then this latest testing puts users at risk of medical harm.
"Carry your smartphone in your back pocket? Of course, say the defendants. Use your smartphone to conduct a sonogram of your unborn child in utero? That's ok too, according to Samsung."

Comment: The following excellent video, from 2014, identifies and outlines the scope of health concerns regarding cell phone usage, personal phone habits and effects on the well-being of the user. It is not a wild guess that negative effects of today's 'improved' products may have worsened. Whether or not innovation in capabilities and service have coincided with proportional safety upgrades for the user is the number one question for today's technology. Any bets sales top health?



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Dominoes

Jordan Peterson deepfake voice generator website taken down after he warned of legal action

Zara Muradyan
Sputnik
Sun, 25 Aug 2019 18:10 UTC
jordan peterson
© jordan.b.peterson/instagram
Jordan Peterson has called on lawmakers to take measures and make the production of deepfakes a felony offense after an audio spoofing website, based on a neural network, appeared to mimic the voice of the Canadian professor, thus making him say things he never said.

NotJordanPeterson.com, a website that uses machine learning algorithms to produce deepfake audios that sound exactly like the author of the best-seller "12 Rules for Life", took down its AI voice generator shortly after the Canadian professor called for action against the disturbing tech on his blog.


Comment: See: Jordan Peterson tweets video trashing deepfakes as 'threat to Western democracies'


"In light of Dr. Peterson's response to the technology demonstrated by this site, which you can read here, and out of respect for Dr. Peterson, the functionality of the site will be disabled for the time being", the site's message read.

However, another update suggests that the audio spoofing website may be operational again.
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Attention

US Army mega-city concerns: N. Carolina residents advised of upcoming drills...move along, nothing to see!

Nicholas West
Activist Post
Sat, 24 Aug 2019 00:00 UTC
boots in city
© sputniknews.comComing to a city near you?
Nothing calms the public quite like gunfire in heavily populated areas. Nevertheless, the U.S. Army has plans to do just that starting August 30th and continuing to September 12th in 21 select counties in North Carolina.

The 21 counties include Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson, Davie, Guilford, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Robeson, Rowan, Scotland, Stanly, Union and Wake counties, officials said.

Efforts to calm the public ahead of time come after some past tragic incidents where at least one soldier died and mass panic ensued after a similar exercise was thought to be a real event. While exact locations are not being released, according to The Charlotte Observer residents in the following counties should not be alarmed by gunfire, flares and helicopter activity that might be witnessed.

This latest group of drills is part of "Robin Sage" which is a series of ongoing training exercises conducted out of the Fort Bragg military base. According to The Charlotte Observer, this year's emphasis is being placed on unconventional warfare where "students will match wits with more seasoned soldiers, who will 'act as realistic opposing forces and guerrilla freedom fighters, 'officials said in a release."

It's not clear in the Observer's report if this series of drills has anything to do with a larger U.S. Army mission of preparing for close-combat warfare in megacities, but it does appear to have some of those elements.
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Pills

Oklahoma judge set to reach decision in latest major opioid lawsuit - UPDATES

Meghan Keneally
ABC News
Mon, 26 Aug 2019 12:51 UTC
Johnson and Johnson
A ruling is expected in Oklahoma on Monday in a case brought against Johnson & Johnson, the latest in a slew of legal actions against opioid makers.

A judge in Cleveland County is scheduled to make a judgment in a lawsuit brought by the Oklahoma attorney general against the company for what the state alleges it did to fuel the U.S. opioid crisis.

"Our case has revealed how corporate greed got in the way of responsible practices by Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries," Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said in a statement about the case in July.

The Johnson & Johnson has denied wrongdoing in the case.

Comment: The court ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million, which isn't much considering the huge amount of damage they've caused through people's addictions, and the huge of money they've made selling opioids to the widespread detriment of those who've become addicted. More information at RT.com:
[...]

The state had sought $17 billion from Johnson & Johnson to remediate the crisis - a process Oklahoma officials claimed would end up costing between $12.7 and $17.5 billion. It was awarded just $572 million, a sum Balkman said was the maximum allowed under the public nuisance law and which pales in comparison to the company's annual revenues, which totaled $82 billion last year. However, he left the door open to "additional programs and funding" that could be required "over an extended period of time."

"Johnson & Johnson, motivated by greed and avarice, is responsibility for the opioid epidemic in our state," Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said at a press conference following the ruling, adding that the company "will finally be held accountable for thousands of deaths and addiction caused by their activities" and its insistence on continuing those activities despite warnings from its own scientific advisers.

[ ...]

https://www.rt.com/usa/467346-johnson-johnson-opioid-crisis-oklahoma/


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Eye 2

'It's time to come forward': New reward offered in 2009 double murder of Virginia Tech couple

Emily Shapiro
ABC News
Mon, 26 Aug 2019 11:21 UTC
Murdered Virginia Tech couple
It's been 10 years since two Virginia Tech students were mysteriously shot and killed, and now the FBI is offering an increased reward in the hopes that it'll help solve the case.

Heidi Childs, 18, and David Metzler, 19, drove to Caldwell Fields in Montgomery County, Virginia, on Aug. 26, 2009, the Virginia State Police said.

The couple met in high school through their church youth group but didn't start dating until college, authorities said.

The teenagers were shot and killed in the Caldwell Fields parking lot of the Jefferson National Forest sometime between 8:25 p.m. and 10 p.m., police said.
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Pirates

Swedish no-go zone: Heavily-armed & masked gunmen fire multiple rounds at a family on Malmö beach - Mother killed, child & father hospitalized


The Local, Sweden
Mon, 26 Aug 2019 17:15 UTC
malmo sweden police
© Johan Nilsson/TTPolice cordoned off the area near the Via Napoli restaurant.
A woman in her 30s has died after a shooting near Ribersborg, a popular beach park in Malmö. The woman was taken to hospital after the shooting on Sergels väg in Malmö shortly before 10am. At 1.18pm police said she had died from her injuries. Another two people who were also taken to hospital, reportedly including a young child, were not injured.

"This is one of the most serious crimes there is so we are deploying all of our resources to investigate it, and also sending officers to speak to people near the scene of the attack who might be disturbed by what has happened," Calle Persson from the Malmö police told The Local earlier in the day. "The area has been cordoned off, we are waiting for criminal technical investigators, and we will send several sniffer dogs who are trained to find discarded weapons, bullets, and empty cartridges."

According to witnesses interviewed by the Kvällsposten newspaper, several masked attackers had fired off between eight and ten shots before escaping through the gardens of a nearby apartment building. "It sounded like two different weapons," the witness said.

Comment: But what Swedish media won't report of course - because it would be 'racist' to do so - is that both the target and the perps are not actually Swedish...

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Arrow Down

Deranged university psychologist: Trump 'may be responsible for many more million deaths' than Hitler, Stalin, and Mao

Julio Rosas
Washington Examiner
Sun, 25 Aug 2019 15:14 UTC
Dr. Allen Frances
The former chairman of the Psychiatry Department at Duke University claimed on CNN that President Trump is as bad as the worst dictators of the 20th century, and that his presidency might lead to even more deaths than they did.

While debating the merits of having psychiatrists come out with possible mental health diagnoses on Trump, Dr. Allen Frances said it was an insult to the mentally ill to compare them to him.

Frances, who is against psychiatrists violating the "Goldwater Rule," told CNN doing so will stigmatize people with mental illnesses.

Comment: We've seen a multitude of failed narratives on why Trump is more dangerous than Hitler et al. 'Russia', 'white supremacy', 'xenophobia', etc. And now it's the 'climate'. Of course, many people do see through this nonsense, but it is also clear that that are many who have succumbed to the hysteria of 'Trump Derangement Syndrome'. And it is actually these very people who have been radicalized by a perverse ideology is very close in nature to the destructive ideas spread by 'Hitler, Stalin, and Mao'!

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Attention

Massachusetts neighborhood cancer cluster linked to chemical pollution from abandoned munition and fireworks factory

Jessica Trufant
The Patriot Ledger
Fri, 23 Aug 2019 16:35 UTC
cancer cluster massachusetts
© Greg Derr, The Patriot LedgerNick Squires, of Hanson, with a map of cancer patients in his old neighborhood of West Hanover on Aug. 19, 2019.

Dozens of people who grew up near the former National Fireworks Co. site, where toxic chemicals are known to have been dumped, now have brain tumors. But experts say it's harder than it seems to pin the disease on any one environmental factor.

Growing up in West Hanover, Nick Squires and his friends thought little of the countless hours they spent playing in the woods and ponds of a 240-acre property where a fireworks manufacturer and other companies are now known to have dumped toxic chemicals for decades.

It wasn't until years later that Squires says he realized that spending so much time living alongside land once considered a sure-fire candidate for a federal Superfund site may have made him and others sick.
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