Society's ChildS


Snakes in Suits

Flint is not an aberration: Government negligence and abuse in America is systemic

flint water pollution
If you wonder how the US could be supporting Turkey that is waging a veritable war on its civil Kurdish population, maybe you should take a look at the way people are being treated in America first. Back in the mid-twentieth century, the city of Flint, Michigan was a bustling industrial town. Home to General Motors car manufacturing plants, Flintonians enjoyed union wages with an average annual income higher than San Franciscans or Chicagoans.

When the General Motors plants began to close in the 1980s, a blue collar work force was left without the blue collar jobs. Unemployment soared. The plant jobs had attracted a largely black population and Flint, once a boom town, became a bust town. In 2011 a state of financial emergency was declared by Governor Rick Snyder. Out of 80,000 industrial jobs, Flint was reportedly left with only 8,000.

Lesson 1: Government disinterested and negligent

It was only after Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, an Iraqi immigrant and director of pediatric residency at a local hospital, made public her findings that the children of Flint were being poisoned with lead from drinking water that the government was forced to act. The results of her lead screening documented the profound level of lead in Flint children's systems and made Dr. Attisha an overnight global hero. Said Dr. Attisha in a recent interview, "....when we shared our results at our press conference we were attacked. They were like 'No, this is wrong, you are an unfortunate researcher, you're causing near hysteria, our numbers are not consistent with your numbers.'"

Comment: America it's time to confront our toxic legacy


Stormtrooper

Man beaten and tasered violently by police "each cop wanted to rip a limb off of him"

cop beatings
Royal Oak police were caught on video on St. Patrick's Day outside of BlackFinn Ameripub in Michigan last week in a clear and cut case of excessive force.

The video was uploaded to Facebook over the weekend and has sparked controversy and a response from the Royal Oak police department. The man who took the video described the chaotic scene saying, "Looks like each cop wanted to rip a limb off of him!"

According to police, the 25-year-old man was allegedly involved in an altercation inside the pub.

"This individual was observed fighting with other patrons in the bar," Lt. Dave Clemens said.

Even if this man had been involved in an altercation inside the pub, when the video starts, he is standing there with his hands behind his back and not posing a threat or even resisting in any way. However, that does not keep him safe from the multiple cops who seemingly wanted to tear him in half.

Comment: The 25-year-old man who was arrested claimed he was never in a physical fight. "One witness said the man saw another man hit a woman inside the bar, and began arguing with him when bouncers intervened and tossed him out." So in other words the man stood up for a woman being hit by a man and the police response was to brutally beat the defender of the women. Good old American justice.


Heart - Black

Profit above all: How Sunday stopped being a 'day of rest' for the American worker

sunday shopping worker unions
© Gilbert R. Boucher II/Daily Herald/Associated PressPSometimes it's harder to come to work than other times.
Following the rest of the retail industry, Walmart gets rid of Sunday premium pay altogether.

This month, workers who have been with Walmart for at least five years received a one-time bump in their paychecks. A couple hundred extra dollars is usually welcome, but this time, it actually symbolizes a loss: No longer will those workers receive premium pay for their Sunday shifts, as the idea of compensating people for toiling on what some consider a day of rest fades from American business.

Walmart discontinued Sunday premium pay, which had been $1 extra per hour, for new hires back in 2011. Those who had continued to receive it will receive a lump sum equal to half the amount of Sunday pay they received last year, according to a company release in January outlining a handful of adjustments that Walmart explained were a way of "simplifying its pay structure" — and reducing the overall cost of increasing base wages to $10 an hour across the board.

That hasn't worked out so well for more experienced employees like eight-year Walmart veteran Nancy Reynolds, a 69-year-old cashier in Merritt Island, Fla., who works Thursday through Monday. Her base pay was already slightly above $10 an hour, so she didn't get much of a raise, and the loss of a few extra Sunday dollars a week will hurt. "The younger people, the ones who haven't been there that long, they got it, and I'm glad for them," Reynolds says. "But they did it at the expense of me and everybody who's been there a long time."

Comment: More down-grading of the worker from human being to replaceable drone. The corporate world's union-busting activities have made it easy to push the exploitation of their work forces. Various state governments are following suit.


Quenelle

Much to Washington & EU's disappointment, sanctions still aren't starving Russia

Boy with Russia flag
© news.yahoo.comCrimea returns to Russia.
During my latest 10 day visit to St Petersburg, I have kept my eye on prices in the supermarkets, in the municipal food markets, and I have some conclusions to share as a follow-up to my first shopping basket survey published on these pages at the end of July 2015.

Statistics on inflation for 2015 started from a high annualized rate of 15% coming out of the EU sanctions and Russian counter-sanctions, namely the food embargo. Food had always occupied a heavy position in Russians' family budgets, partly because eating well is a core value which is relatively inelastic. Therefore, inflation in food prices due to the removal from the market of certain cheap imported products would exert a greater impact on official statistics than other lines in the budget.

At year's end, official inflation had been cut in half. This corresponds to a curtailment in spending on food generally to save money in a period of job uncertainty. This is what the supermarkets report in their lower sales volume and reduced margins. But those numbers need to be inspected more closely. Reduced spending also results from changes in the food basket towards domestic suppliers, which in turn have changed their offer and pricing in many areas.

Snakes in Suits

What is the state of our Presidential candidates' mental health?

Trump disturbed
It's become normal for Americans to demand—and receive-a professional assessment of the physical health of the candidates for president—just as they expect updates on the medical state of the president himself. After all, there have been many infamous cases of presidents, from Franklin Roosevelt to Jack Kennedy, who secretly endured serious debilitating illnesses.

Thus, the current crop of presidential hopefuls has provided medical information—though not necessarily from the most objective sources. Hillary Clinton's doctor, for instance, declared her "fit to serve as president". Donald Trump's physician, opined that Trump's blood pressure and lab results were "astonishingly excellent", his "physical strength and stamina are extraordinary." He concluded, "If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."

But what about Trump's mental health?

Surely, we care if a candidate is mentally deranged. If we consider it reasonable that someone with severe psychiatric problems be prevented from purchasing a firearm, why go along with a system that might permit a similarly disturbed individual to gain control over the largest military arsenal the world has ever known?

Airplane

Private plane slams into buildings in Brazil, killing 7 on board, injuring 1 on ground

Brazil plane crash
© Walyson Alveslima/YouTube
A small private plane has slammed into two buildings in a northern suburb of Sao Paulo, killing seven people on board, and injuring one person on the ground, according to Brazil's emergency services.

The plane crashed at around 3:20pm local time (6:20pm GMT), shortly after taking off from Campo de Marte airport, authorities have announced. All six of the aircraft's passengers as well as the pilot were killed in the accident.

According to local fire department officials, only one person inside the buildings which had been struck by the aircraft was injured, while the rest were evacuated safely.

The seven seater CA-9 model plane belonged to the former CEO of a mining company named Vale, Roger Agnelli. According to Brazilian O Globo Newspaper, the businessman was killed on board the aircraft.


Black Magic

Human skull discovered near Los Angeles' famous Hollywood sign

skull found near Hollywood sign
© Carlo Allegri / Reuters
Police in Los Angeles are investigating the discovery of a human skull by hikers near Los Angeles' famous Hollywood sign.

The skull was found on Saturday afternoon near the Brush Canyon hiking trail and is believed to be several years old, LAPD Lt. Ryan Schatz told AP.

Attention

Violence and pepper spray at anti-Trump march in New York

trump protest NYC
© Brendan McDermid / ReutersPeople watch as demonstrators protest against U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Central Park in New York March 19, 2016.
Police in New York pepper sprayed a crowd of protesters marching toward Trump International Tower on Saturday after pushing and shoving broke out between the NYPD and some of the protesters.

Videos of #CrushTrump protesters cleaning their irritated eyes emerged online after the large group clashed with NYC police officers.

"The police pepper sprayed the crowd indiscriminately," according to eyewitness James Woods, a journalist at US Uncut. "Multiple officers used pepper spray, at least two were arrested, including one photographer."

Thousands of protesters held banners and signs as they walked from Central Park to the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue.

Comment: As one protester states when referring to Trump in the following video, "We want people across the country to know that there's something really dangerous going on and it's really important for everyone to pay attention." That something is called fascism.




Cell Phone

New Jersey: Bill, if passed, could criminalize texting while walking

texter and bike
© theideaforge.comOblivion of texting, the fine art of not paying attention.
Using your cellphone while crossing a street could become illegal in New Jersey, US, with violators facing either a $50 fine or a 15 days incarceration, thanks to one enthusiastic lawmaker. "If a person on the road - whether walking or driving - presents a risk to others on the road, there should be a law in place to dissuade and penalize risky behavior," Pamela Lampitt, Democratic Assemblywoman, who sponsored the bill - which was introduced on Monday - told local media.

She claims that with more people becoming distracted by their evolving gadgets, laws managing their use have to follow. "Distracted pedestrians, like distracted drivers, present a potential danger to themselves and drivers on the road. A pedestrian distracted by their device and unaware of oncoming traffic may cause unsuspecting drivers to brake suddenly or swerve out of the way, creating a potentially deadly situation," Lampitt is quoted as saying.



Comment: New York has figured this out, what's wrong with New Jersey?


Meanwhile, experts have been citing links between distracted walking and pedestrian injury for some time now. According to a study by Corey Basch, associate professor of public health at William Patterson University, based on observing the behavior of some 21,000 pedestrians at five busy Manhattan intersections, "it came as a surprise that there were so many pedestrians distracted by technology during the walk signal, but the fact that there were even more distracted by technology crossing on a 'don't walk' signal is astonishing. It's clearly a public health concern".

Snakes in Suits

Zionism's rhetoric and long history of delegitimizing Palestinians

British Zionist Israel Zangwill
© WikipediaBritish Zionist Israel Zangwill who coined the phrase, "Palestine is a country without a people; the Jews are a people without a country"
Demonstrating once again the sniveling and shameless fealty to the wealthy that she and her husband have elevated to a high art over the last 30 years, Hillary Clinton wrote a letter to Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban last July 6th in which she said that:
I know you agree that we need to make countering BDS a priority. I am seeking your advice on how we can work together across party lines and with a diverse array of voices to reverse this trend with information and advocacy, and fight back against further attempts to isolate and delegitimize Israel.
One of the key reasons for the extraordinary success of the Zionist lobby in America over the last six decades or so has been its ability to generate and repeat sound bites whose discursive purpose is not to enrich the breadth and texture of a debate on the Middle East, but rather to impoverish and attenuate it.

Long before GOP operative Frank Luntz began trawling focus groups for emotionally-charged terms capable of crippling the public's rational faculties during political campaigns, the people at AIPAC and the many pundits in the mainstream media who faithfully carry their water (e.g. ex-AIPAC employee Wolf Blitzer) were already experts at this game.