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People

Have we lost all sense of perspective?: We mourn the passing of Prince but not 500 migrants

Robert Fisk
Independent
Sat, 23 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
Immigrants
© Getty ImagesRefugees massed onto an inflatable boat reaching Mytilene, northern island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on 17 February, 2016
Has something gone adrift within the moral compass of our 'news' reporting? In the past week, 64 Afghans have been killed in the largest bomb to have exploded in Kabul in 15 years. At least 340 were wounded. The Taliban set off their explosives at the very wall of the 'elite' security force - watch out for that word 'elite' - which was supposed to protect the capital. Whole families were annihilated. No autopsies for them. Local television showed an entire family - a mother and father and three children blown to pieces in a millisecond - while the city's ambulance service reported that its entire fleet (a miserable 15 vehicles) were mobilised for the rescue effort. One ambulance was so packed with wounded that the back doors came off their hinges.

But Prince also died this week.
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USA

Violence and arrests at white power rally in Stone Mountain, Georgia

Chris Joyner and Ernie Suggs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution & WSB-TV
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 21:40 UTC
riot police
© Ben GrayA heavy police protest greeted counter protesters with the All Out ATL group as they entered Stone Mountain Park. Several protesters were arrested when they clashed with police near a "white power" rally in Stone Mountain Park.
Protests surrounding a rally at Stone Mountain erupted in violence Saturday as demonstrators trying to reach a white power group hurled rocks and fireworks at police attempting to block them.

Eight counterprotesters had been arrested by late morning for refusing to take their masks off, authorities said.

At least one was seen spraying a Georgia State Patrol officer with pepper spray. Others engaged in physical skirmishes with law enforcement officers dressed in riot gear, said John Bankhead, Stone Mountain Park police spokesman.

Comment:



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Cell Phone

Pope tells teens happiness can't be downloaded and updated like an app


RT
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 16:36 UTC
Pope Francis
© Tony Gentile / ReutersScarves are thrown to Pope Francis at the end of a mass for the Youth Jubilee in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican, April 24, 2016.
Happiness can't be downloaded like a cellphone app, Pope Francis has said in a special mass for the teens in the Vatican on Sunday.

"Happiness has no price," the Pontiff said, adding that it's "not an app that you can download on your phones, nor will the latest update bring you freedom and grandeur in love," AP reported.

On Saturday, the head of the Catholic Church has made a surprise appearance before tens of thousands of youths gathered at St Peter's Square for a Holy Year weekend for teenagers.

Despite no earlier arrangements made, Pope Francis heard confessions from 16 youths, aged from 13 to 16 years.
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Dollars

U.S. dollar set for further declines as currency investors, hedge funds begin selling

Kristian Rouz
Sputnik
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
US Dollar
Currency investors and money managers have started exiting the US dollar for the first time since mid-2014 as neither the US economy, nor central bank policy, nor corporate earnings have provided any evidence that buying into the greenback will be profitable anytime soon.

As US corporate quarterly earnings figures have proven to be a disappointment for a third consecutive quarter, and macroeconomic data indicate the broader economy is increasingly exposed to the risk of recession, US hedge funds' bearish bets on the greenback are outweighing bullish positions for the first time since July 2014. Investors are exiting the US currency for one more reason: the Federal Reserve's dovishness on policy, stemming from the weak performance of the economy, with the Fed's April policy meeting likely to end with interest rates unchanged. Subsequently, the dollar's weakness opens opportunities for US enterprises to regain some of their international competitiveness, which they lost to the greenback's rally in the last 18 months, while pushing oil and commodity prices higher, to the relief of select emerging markets.

The number of US hedge funds' selling positions on the dollar surpassed buying ones by a total of 21,567 contracts in mid-April, according to data provided by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The greenback is thus poised to slide against its eight major peers for the first time since July 2014, easing the currently rife imbalances in international trade, relieving emerging markets somewhat, and exacerbating disinflationary pressures for Japan, where the yen's strength is hitting exporters' competitiveness.
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Pistol

Albuquerque cops go on shooting rampage, firing 48 shots at a man in SUV

Justin Gardener
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 20:05 UTC
Alberquerque police
The Albuquerque Police Department (APD) released bodycam footage showing 10 officers firing at a man driving an SUV after they cornered him in a yard. The cops involved in the shooting told investigators they thought the driver, 20-year-old Rodrigo Garcia, had run over their lieutenant when, in fact, she had been knocked over by a falling fence.

48 rounds were fired at Garcia, with seven striking him, including one in the head that required part of his brain to be removed. Doctors said his injuries will severely affect the quality of his life.

Garcia, who was wanted on charges of vehicle theft, felony in possession of a firearm and drug charges, had eluded officers the day before. He tried to flee again on May 29, but was not armed and there was no indication that he tried to run over an officer.
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Handcuffs

First Nations woman shares her tale of police brutality

Larken Rose
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 19:48 UTC
Cheryl Yurkowski
Cheryl Yurkowski
"But he seemed so nice and normal!" How many stories about psychopaths and serial killers include a comment similar to that? The problem is that a lot of sadistic monsters know how to feign compassion and humanity when in public, when the cameras are rolling, but when they are alone with their victims their true selves are revealed. Another problem is that positions of "authority"—politician, police officer, etc.—are magnets for sociopaths. And when someone who likes to hurt others gets into such a position, that makes him far more dangerous.

Consider the case of Cheryl Yurkowski, a young mother living in Ontario, Canada. After an argument at a nearby restaurant involving herself, her husband and her husband's mother, she comes home and goes to bed. Her husband comes home separately and, being intoxicated, and not knowing that Cheryl is already at home in bed, he is yelling on the phone. A neighbor calls the Kawartha Lakes police department, and Sargent Janette Drew and officer Mark Ryan Donaldson show up.
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Apple Green

Nigeria: Food prices jump an average 50% as fuel costs jump three-fold


Punch (Nigeria)
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 19:33 UTC
food nigeria
A marketplace in Lagos, Nigeria
Following the persistent shortage in fuel supply and the harsh economic climate, there has been an average of 50 per cent hike in the prices of consumer goods and buyers are complaining bitterly.

In some Lagos markets visited by our correspondent, including Oyingbo, Iddo, Mile 12, Alade and Ipodo, prices of some food items like tomato puree, rice, vegetable oil and seasoning had increased substantially.

Our correspondent found out at the Ipodo Market that a carton of Indomie was sold for N1,500 as against the former price of N1,000; a retail pack of Gino tomato puree (70gm), formerly offered at N1,250, went for N2,700, while a five-litre keg of vegetable oil previously sold for N1,800 was offered for N2,500.

Similarly, the price of a small bag of Semovita, which before now was N900, has gone up to N1,500. The big one is also selling for N2,400 instead of N1,800.

A small tuber of yam that sold for N250 before is now going for between N450 and N500.
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Sheriff

Colorado: Entire police force quits; town does not descend into chaos

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 23 Apr 2016 18:52 UTC
police state
Without giving any reason whatsoever, the entire Green Mountain Police department in Colorado has quit.

The chief of police announced his resignation on Tuesday and he was quickly followed by all the other officers. It has now been 4 days and, remarkably, the town of Green Mountain Falls does not look like a scene out of Mad Max.

"In an election year there's always some people who choose to stay and some people who choose to go, and I think that happens at every level of government," Green Mountain Falls Mayor Jane Newberry said.

Despite giving no reason, it is likely that the department disagreed with the local politics and reacted by abandoning their duty as public servants — thereby illustrating the irrelevance of their job in the first place.

Comment: Surely, the authoritarian followers will be clamoring for protection and rule enforcement soon enough.

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Stop

Disintegrating society: High school teaching aid attacks, wrestles student to the ground in one-sided brawl


RT
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 17:25 UTC
teaching aid attackes student milwaukee
© H. Nelson Goodson / YouTube
A teaching aide has been arrested in Milwaukee after he saw red and wrestled a 14-year-old boy to the ground in a violent classroom altercation caught on camera.

Students at Bay View High School watched as their biology lesson turned into a one-sided brawl involving a pupil and a teaching assistant.

The angry clash kicked off during an argument between the pair, and was filmed on a camera phone by another student, eyewitnesses told CBS News.

Shot from under a school desk, the shaky clip shows the unidentified 14-year-old boy appearing to raise his leg, before being pushed into a row over chairs by his teaching aide and onto the floor.
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Black Cat 2

Symbolic? Major US cities struggle with growing rodent problems


RT
Sat, 23 Apr 2016 03:31 UTC
rats
Cat lovers, prepare to gloat. Several major US cities have seen a serious uptick in rat-related complaints. Residents of Boston, Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC are growing frustrated with the surge in the rodent populations.

Major US cities are seeking new and creative ways to curtail their rat populations as complaints continue to roll in. The number of grievances in Boston tripled in the first quarter of 2016, while reports of rodents increased by 70 percent in Chicago and 39 percent in New York City, USA Today reported.

Washington, DC was previously headed towards a four-year decline in rat complaints, but the national capital's current trend seems inclined to ruin that streak, with 699 complaints as of April 15 compared to 2,004 complaints for all of 2015.

What is behind the spike in the rat populations? To start, the mild winters have not helped. In addition, seemingly minor transgressions common to city life - such as dog waste, open trash, and feeding other outdoor animals - can benefit rats.
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