Society's ChildS


Airplane

As Russian airports get more traffic, infrastructure and aircraft construction on the rise

Anatoly Karlin
The Unz Review
Sat, 12 May 2018 14:08 UTC
russian aviation map
© Seva BashirovMap of the biggest airports in Russia and the ex-USSR by 2017 passenger traffic including transit flights.
Moscow is clearly a central node, accounting for 89 million passengers in 2017 - up from just 19 million in 2001, near the trough of the post-Soviet collapse.

russian aviation
Incidentally, this makes Moscow the world's 13th biggest city airport system (London is first, with 171 million), having risen up from obscurity in the 1990s (see comparison right).

Growth continues to be vigorous into 2018 - as of this month, there are double-digit percentage increases in passenger traffic relative to the same period last year. [you can follow the stats here, in Russian]

Regional cities remain small fry - a function of their much smaller size (Moscow is 10x as big as any other Russian city other than SPB), less economic potential, and lower transit percentage (in Moscow it's at 37%, and accounts for a large percentage of China-Europe flights; indeed, Chinese appears as often as English on signs at Sheremetyevo). However, they are now showing even more vigorous growth than Moscow.

In the past five years, by far the largest increase occurred in Simferopol, Crimea's main airport, which saw 5.1 million passengers in 2017, versus 1.2 million in 2013. What mainly happened is that the prior Ukrainian tourists coming in by road were replaced by higher-spending Russians flying in.
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Bizarro Earth

British beachgoers fear presence of giant great white shark after dolphin carcasses wash ashore

Jennifer Earl
Fox News
Thu, 17 May 2018 15:03 UTC
Great white shark
Great white shark
Beachgoers in Great Yarmouth, England, are afraid to take a dip in the waters off the British coast after half-eaten dolphins washed ashore over the weekend. Locals fear a "monster" great white shark is to blame.

The first dolphin carcass was discovered early Saturday on Yarmouth's Pleasure beach, according to The Sun. A day later, another mangled dolphin washed ashore.

"It's pretty frightening - it can't be a coincidence that something out there keeps attacking and eating seals, dolphins and porpoises," resident Stephen McHugh, 24, told the British newspaper.

Based on the bite marks, residents believe it's the work of a great white shark - but wildlife officials aren't so sure.
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Heart - Black

UPDATE: Injuries confirmed in Santa Fe, Texas school shooting


RT
Fri, 18 May 2018 14:28 UTC
Cops
Police and ATF officers are responding to an active school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas. Santa Fe Independent School District confirmed injuries in the incident, but did not specify if students are among the wounded.

Images from the scene show the extent of the police presence, with students lined up outside the premises.

Santa Fe Independent School District (SFISD) confirmed in a Facebook post that there have been injuries but did not provide detail on how many were wounded or how severely. SFISD also said that the situation "is active, but has been contained."

Speaking to reporters on the scene, Assistant Principal Dr Cris Richardson confirmed that one person had been arrested and is in custody. However, she could not confirm any casualties.

Comment: UPDATE from RT:
Up to 10 people have been killed at a school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas. Police confirmed that one person is in custody and a second person has been detained. A police officer is among those injured.

Speaking to reporters at the scene, a police spokesman said there had been between eight and 10 fatalities, including students and school staff. A male student has been confirmed as the shooter.

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Star of David

Multiple protests take place in London in solidarity with Palestine

Lydia Noon
Mondoweiss
Fri, 18 May 2018 11:58 UTC
free palestine israel
British Prime Minister Theresa May's Twitter feed is quiet of news of Palestine, she has not written a heartfelt message or postponed her busy schedule to remember the dead. Instead of condemning Israeli forces for killing Palestinians or criticizing U.S. president Donald Trump for moving his country's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the conservative leader got her spokesperson to say that "we are concerned by reports of violence and loss of life in Gaza," urging calm to "avoid actions destructive to peace efforts." Theresa May is busy finalizing a weapons deal with Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in London on a three-day visit.

May 14 was the bloodiest day in Palestine since Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense in July 2014. Over 60 men, women and children were killed and 1,400 injured in Gaza while taking part in the eighth Great March of Return, a weekly march towards the Israeli imposed border fence, that began on Land Day on 30 March to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nakba.

Palestinians mark the Nakba, or Catastrophe, on May 15 every year. It refers to the mass expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians and the grabbing of 78 percent of Palestinians' land that took place between 1947 and 1949, with the state of Israel being established on 14 May 1948. Entire villages were eradicated, leaving people internally displaced or forced to flee over borders into Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. For Palestinians, the Nakba continues today.
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Clipboard

Rich and famous preppers are sharing what they're doing

Daisy Luther
The Organic Prepper
Tue, 15 May 2018 00:00 UTC
rich preppers
Prepping just doesn't seem as "crazy" as it used to. It appears that prepping isn't just for doomsday-fearing, tinfoil hat types anymore. Lots of people have woken up to the fact that the worst can happen, and they're getting ready for it.

Even, it so happens, rich and famous folks.

Whether they're worried about a giant asteroid hitting the earth, the breakdown of society, the "big" earthquake, or nuclear war, they have one thing in common - they intend to be ready and to protect the people they love. If these rich and famous folks are publicly doing something as "crazy" as getting prepped, I think we should all pay attention. It's entirely possible that they know something we don't.
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Bulb

Democrat senator warns colleagues: 'Voters don't care about Russian bots'

Carlos Garcia
The Blaze
Tue, 15 May 2018 21:57 UTC
Senator Amy Klobuchar
© YouTube screenshotSenator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) scolded her party for focusing too much on President Trump and "Russian bots" during a progressive conference.
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) scolded her own party for focusing too much on bashing President Trump, and warned them that they would lose if they didn't provide an alternate vision for America.

Here's what she said.

Klobuchar was speaking at a "Center for American Progress" Ideas Conference Tuesday when she made the comments.

"That's what people, is on their head," Klobuchar said, "is what's happening to them with their cost of college, or what's happening, how does that tax bill affect them. Those are things that are going to be on their minds."

"Healthcare premiums, those things," she continued. "I'm well aware of that. They're not asking me about Russian bots, OK? They're asking me about like soybean exports. This is a true story, I spent days in the rural part of our state."
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Star of David

Reporters say Israel deliberately targeting journalists at Gaza protest with snipers and tear gas

Frank Sellers
The Duran
Wed, 16 May 2018 02:23 UTC
Israel snipers gaza protest
© Associated Press/Ariel SchalitIsraeli soldiers on a watch tower along the Israel - Gaza Border, May 15, 2018. Israel faces growing diplomatic fallout from the use of lethal force against unarmed protesters.
US and Israel are very clear: international law doesn't matter, unless it allegedly involves WMDs.

Three separate journalists, not for Palestinian news outlets, have reported being attacked by Israeli forces. While Israel says that it carefully considers each shot fired, if believed, would leave no other conclusion than that the IDF was intentionally trying to harm or liquidate journalists covering the conflict on the Israeli border. Specific information was reported by an Al-Jazeera reporter, who gave the following report to France24 news:

Comment: Israel knows the truth of their actions will be fatally damaging to their image in the world.

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Sheriff

Naked, unarmed science teacher shot dead by Virginia police

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 16 May 2018 23:33 UTC
Marcus-David Peters shooting
The family of Marcus-David L. Peters-an honors graduate and high school science teacher-is asking for answers after a Richmond police officer shot and killed him while he was naked and unarmed. Not only did the officer swiftly escalate to unnecessary deadly force against a naked man, but now the department is telling the public that it was justified.

According to reports, the shooting happened along I-95 in Richmond after Peters lost control of his vehicle, sending it crashing into the trees. Police say that Peters then exited the vehicle, entirely naked, and began running into and then rolling around on or near the interstate.

Police say that Peters had previously struck another vehicle prior to crashing and then fled the scene. After a brief chase, he crashed and then ran naked up the northbound lane of I-95. Police claim Peters then charged an officer who had no other choice but to resort to deadly force against the naked and unarmed man who 'charged the officer.'
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Info

Riverside court overturns California assisted death law

Alexei Koseff
Sacramento Bee
Tue, 15 May 2018 20:36 UTC
Brittany Maynard
© Rich Pedroncelli / AP fileA portrait of Brittany Maynard, a Californian who moved to Oregon to take advantage of that state’s right-to-die law for the terminally ill, sat on the dais of the California Senate Health Committee.
A judge in Riverside County on Tuesday overturned California's controversial assisted death law nearly two years after it took effect, ruling that the Legislature improperly passed the measure during a special session on health care funding.

The court is holding its judgment for five days, according to representatives for supporters and opponents of the law, to give the state time to file an emergency appeal.

"We're very satisfied with the court's decision today," said Stephen G. Larson, lead counsel for a group of doctors who sued in 2016 to stop the law. "The act itself was rushed through the special session of the Legislature and it does not have any of the safeguards one would expect to see in a law like this."

The state plans to seek expedited review in an appellate court, according to Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who said in a statement that he strongly disagreed with the ruling.

Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman, the Stockton Democrat who carried the bill, said Californians who are in the process of obtaining life-ending drugs through the law have had "the carpet ripped out from under their feet."
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USA

Who killed more civilians than Islamic State? Coalition forces

Anne Gulland
The Telegraph
Tue, 15 May 2018 07:01 UTC
Mosul Iraq
© Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFPRuins of Mosul, Iraq
More people were killed during the nine-month battle to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul than during the three-year occupation by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), a study has claimed. Last year's battle to drive Isil out of Mosul left huge swathes of the city in ruins and displaced up to one million people.

A US-led coalition bombed key targets in what were described as "pinpoint airstrikes" by Michael Fallon, who was then the UK's defence secretary, when the city was finally liberated last July.

The RAF struck more than 750 targets during the campaign to liberate the city, second only to the US, according to the Ministry of Defence.

But a survey of around 1,200 households in the city shows that mortality rates among civilians increased nearly 13 times during the battle to liberate Mosul.

The study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, showed that 505 civilians died from what the researchers called intentional violence. The leading cause of violent death during the period studied was air strikes, accounting for 201 civilian deaths, followed by 172 deaths from explosions.

Comment: More harm than good? While the data is imperfect, the premise is as alarming as it is justified. If Mosul is any coalition example, expect little difference in change of action or outcome in other conflicts. War is never about saving the innocent.

See also:

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