Society's Child

'Captivity is degrading': Buenos Aires to shut down its zoo

Elahe Izadi
Washington Post
Sun, 26 Jun 2016 15:48 UTC

The Argentinian capital has hosted a zoo for more than 140 years. But that's coming to an end, Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta announced this week, as he unveiled plans to transform the facility into an ecological park.

"This situation of captivity is degrading for the animals, it's not the way to take care of them," he said Thursday, the Guardian reported.

"Animals have to live in their habitat, not in the middle of buildings," the mayor tweeted.

Most of the Buenos Aires Zoo's 1,500 animals will be relocated to Argentinian sanctuaries and to locations overseas, according to the Associated Press. Some of the birds will be released in a riverside ecological reserve spanning 864 acres in the city.

Comment: Great news for the captives. Zoos are little more than animal prisons.

Dying of thirst: Privatization of water as an owned commodity rather than a Universal Human Right

Joachim Hagopian
Global Research
Thu, 23 Jun 2016 17:32 UTC

© watergrabbing.net
First published in April 2014: There is no greater natural resource on this earth than water. As the sustenance of all life, water keeps every living and breathing organism, every plant, every animal and every human being on this planet alive. In the same way that without air to breathe, without water we humans cannot sustain life for more than a few days.

Due to global warming, widespread drought and increasingly polluted water systems, the projected availability of clean freshwater in years to come to meet the rising demands of a growing global population is among the most daunting human challenges of this century. By 2015 a 17% increase in global water demand is projected just for increasing agriculturally produced food. By the same year 2025, the growing global population will increase water consumption needs by a whopping 40%. While oil played the keenly critical role during the twentieth century, water is being deemed the most valued precious natural resource of the twenty-first century.

As such, several years ago the United Nations declared access to clean drinking water a universal human right. Conversely, willfully denying it is considered a serious human rights violation that denies life itself. And any calculated decision denying people their universal right to life is nothing short of a murderous, shameful crime against humanity.

Comment: Check out the documentary FLOW - For the Love of Water

Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis.

Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel.

Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question "CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?"

Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround.

American Airlines plane fills with smoke; passengers forced to evacuate

Anthony Joseph
Daily Mail
Sun, 26 Jun 2016 14:49 UTC

Smoke could be seen coming from the rear of the aircraft, forcing passengers to flee to safety.

Passengers have been forced to evacuate an American Airlines flight in London today due to smoke in the cabin.

The incident happened at 12.30pm at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 3, with around a dozen people having to use the emergency slides to get out of the plane.

Emergency services have been called to the scenes as the passengers made their way to safety.

A 50-second video was posted on Twitter by Ross Hiscock, 28, who was on another plane.

It shows the American Airlines passengers throwing themselves down the slides at the rear of the aircraft.

18-yo girl dies from brain-eating amoeba causing closure of N. Carolina waterpark

RT
Sun, 26 Jun 2016 13:37 UTC

A North Carolina waterpark has closed after a teen girl was killed by a brain-eating amoeba. The 18-year-old got the death disease while taking part in a whitewater rafting.

Authorities said Lauren Seitz was exposed to the amoeba at the US National Whitewater Center (USNWC) when she was riding a raft that overturned.

"Initial test results found naegleria fowleri DNA was present in the whitewater system," the USNWC said in a statement.

The majority of 11 water samples turned out to have the amoeba in them, Mecklenburg County health director Marcus Plescia added at a press conference.

Refugee planet: 65.3 million people have been displaced around the world due to war & persecution

Nadia Prupis
Common Dreams
Mon, 20 Jun 2016 13:05 UTC

An unprecedented 65.3 million people have been displaced around the world due to war and persecution, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Monday.

The new figure is not only a 21st century record, it is also the first time that the numbers have surpassed 60 million—which means one in every 113 people worldwide is now either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced, or a refugee, the UN said. Half of them are children.

Over the past five years, forced displacement has increased quicker than ever due to long-standing conflicts in regions like Somalia and Afghanistan; "dramatic" escalations in newly destabilized countries like Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine; and a growing resistance from other nations to providing asylum for refugees, the UN reported.

Comment: The following article is from December 2015, in 18 months the number of refugees has increased dramatically!

NATO's 'gift' to the world: Number of people forced to flee their home countries this year has exceeded all previous records

In six months in 2015 over 20 million people fled wars and persecution, more than in the whole of 2014, the UN has reported. Total global forced displacement this year is likely to exceed all previous records and go beyond 60 million people.

"2015 is on track to see worldwide forced displacement exceeding 60 million for the first time - 1 in every 122 humans is today someone who has been forced to flee their homes," the report said.

Economic insiders warn of upcoming system failure

Stefan Gleason
Activist Post
Sat, 25 Jun 2016 00:00 UTC

With each passing day, systemic risks in the financial system become greater. Smart money insiders and billionaire investors are taking note - and taking defensive actions.

Mega-billionaire Carl Icahn, whose long-term track record is unrivaled, recently warned that "there will be a day of reckoning unless we get fiscal stimulus." Icahn's hedge fund is betting on a day of reckoning scenario. He has gone 150% net short the stock market while holding commodity-related positions to the long side.

International currency speculator and leftist financier George Soros has slashed his fund's overall equity holdings by 25%. Like him or not, Soros is no dummy when it comes to the financial system. He is an establishment insider who apparently sees turbulent times ahead. He owns a not insignificant amount of gold, and his largest single equity holding now is Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), a major gold mining company.

"The system itself is at risk," warns bond market wizard Bill Gross. In his latest market commentary, Gross cites "artificially high asset prices and a distortion of future risk relative to potential return."

Income inequality widening as the wealthiest get richer at the expense of the poor

Nadia Prupis
Common Dreams
Fri, 24 Jun 2016 00:00 UTC

© Glenn Halog/flickr/cc
"For every person with more than $30 million, there are over 4800 people living in extreme poverty," said Jenny Ricks of the Fight Inequality Alliance.

The wealth gap keeps growing as the world's richest get richer at the expense of the poor, according to a new study released this week by an alliance of major organizations.

The World Wealth Report from Oxfam, Greenpeace, and other groups found that while the total number of millionaires in the world jumped to 15.4 million—up by nearly 5 million since 2009—more than 702 million people remain in poverty around the globe.

"For every person with more than $30 million, there are over 4800 people living in extreme poverty," said Jenny Ricks of the Fight Inequality Alliance. "This gross inequality is a symptom of an unjust and unfair economic system that allows the rich to get richer at the expense of the poor."

Florida cops shoot schizophrenic inmate through cell door with bullet similar to flashbang grenade

RT
Sat, 25 Jun 2016 02:45 UTC

Attorneys for Mathew Trevino, 30, argue that Pasco deputies at the Land O'Lakes jail used excessive force on their client while in their custody at the Land O'Lakes jail on August 5, 2015.

Matthew Trevino, an Army veteran with a history of mental illness, was having a schizophrenic episode in the Pasco County Jail. When he resisted detention deputies, guards escalated things by shooting him with a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with a Nova round.

Newly-released footage from inside Florida's Pasco County Jail shows the events of August 5, 2015, which sent Trevino to a Veterans Affairs hospital for months and required three surgeries to repair a wound, the Tampa Bay Times reported

The video shows a distressed Trevino, in the throes of a mental episode, resisting deputies as they ask him to extend his hands to handcuff him and search his cell. When he refuses, a deputy produces a shotgun with a Nova distraction round - a bullet akin to a flashbang grenade that is meant to be concussive - and shoots him.

A 1000-dog-rescue by animal rights activists, destined for slaughter at China's Yulin festival

Steve Myall, Kara O'Neill
Mirror
Thu, 23 Jun 2016 15:23 UTC

The pooches were being kept in dark, dingy cages and were clearly frightened when rescuers burst in to save them. An emotional video captures the moment a group of animal rights activists save more than 1,000 dogs destined for slaughter at the barbaric Yulin Festival in China.

The festival, which starts today, sees Chinese traders bring animals from all over the country to be butchered and sold for their meat. In the footage, a group of rescuers are seen carrying some of the dogs to safety. The animals appear to have been kept in a dark cage and squeal in terror as they are approached by humans.

Sadly, the heartbreaking scenes are all too familiar in Yulin, where it's estimated that around 10 million dogs are slaughtered by the dog meat industry in China alone. Dog is a popular winter food in parts of China and Korea, where the rich meat is believed to help keep people warm.

Comment: Man is not always Dog's best friend. But fortunately some truly are.

8-year-old overdoses on ADHD meds: Mom believes the cause was 'pharmacist's sloppy work'

Everett Numbers
The Antimedia
Tue, 21 Jun 2016 15:41 UTC

An eight-year-old boy who loved to dance recently died as a result of taking 1,000 times the recommended dose of his hyperactivity medication, his mother believes. Now, the pharmacist who allegedly made the allegedly toxic mixture of drugs is under scrutiny.

Jake Steinbrecher had used Clonidine prescription pills for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) since he was five years old, but on October 31, 2015, he ingested about as much of the medication as all the prior three years combined. Tests showed 30mg in his system as opposed to the .03mg he was prescribed.

Their were saints in Catholic history who most have heard about and others not so much. Now you have Saint Francis of Assisi, but you also have...

Buffalo_Ken

I have a different definition for the "global commons". It is in the definition of "the commons" definition in the link provided below. Here is a...

Buffalo_Ken

Biden the child-killer. Think of the children, vaxxers, think of the children.

hobnyeba

Thanks, all, for great comments and links. Lots to think about.

ReRan

I ran a search on "Archbishop Viganò" for the last week - just 22,500 results and obviously nothing MSM related Even this SOTT article makes it to...

HashAttack2

Society's Child

'Captivity is degrading': Buenos Aires to shut down its zoo

Dying of thirst: Privatization of water as an owned commodity rather than a Universal Human Right

American Airlines plane fills with smoke; passengers forced to evacuate

18-yo girl dies from brain-eating amoeba causing closure of N. Carolina waterpark

Refugee planet: 65.3 million people have been displaced around the world due to war & persecution

Economic insiders warn of upcoming system failure

Income inequality widening as the wealthiest get richer at the expense of the poor

Florida cops shoot schizophrenic inmate through cell door with bullet similar to flashbang grenade

A 1000-dog-rescue by animal rights activists, destined for slaughter at China's Yulin festival

8-year-old overdoses on ADHD meds: Mom believes the cause was 'pharmacist's sloppy work'

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