Society's ChildS


Bizarro Earth

Minibus bursts into flames killing three in Russian city where building collapsed


RT
Tue, 01 Jan 2019 20:39 UTC
minibus russia fire
© Ruptly
A tragedy has struck twice the city of Magnitogorsk in the Russian Urals. A minibus turned into inferno killing three people less than two days after a house collapsed killing nine with over 30 still missing,

The video shows a column of fire engulfing the vehicle.

A series of loud bangs can be heard throughout the footage of the incident provided by RT's Ruptly video agency. No official explanation has been provided for the noise, which sounds somewhat similar to gunfire. Witnesses in the video can be heard suggesting that the bangs come from firecrackers exploding inside the burning minibus.

Comment: For more on the devastating gas explosion, see: 4 killed, 35 missing after gas explosion rips through residential building in Russia - UPDATE

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Stock Down

Countless Americans still living paycheck to paycheck with no way out

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sun, 30 Dec 2018 11:22 UTC
paycheck
A recent Philly.com article noted that, despite the supposed economic "boom", professionals like real estate agents, farmers, business executives and even computer programmers are all still living paycheck to paycheck. Responding to a Washington Post inquiry on Twitter, millennials, Generation Xers and baby boomers that work in a range of geographic areas claim that they have simply been unable to save as rent, childcare and student loans have all gotten in the way.

Americans living paycheck to paycheck were highlighted in a recent report from the Federal Reserve that showed four in ten adults say they couldn't produce $400 in an emergency without going into debt or selling something. And now a partial government shutdown that is seeing nearly 800,000 federal workers not getting paid has fueled the discussion on Twitter about how brief income lapses can be disastrous for some households.


Another Twitter user wrote: "Broke my lease to accept new fed job for which I have to attend 7 months of training in another state. Training canceled with shutdown. Homeless. Can't afford short(?)-term housing/have to work full-time for no pay/returning Christmas presents."

Comment: With many people living on the brink of poverty, it won't be long before we see only two classes; the ultra rich and poor. See also:

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Pistol

Marine dead from gunshot wound at Marine Barracks in Southeast, DC


Fox News
Tue, 01 Jan 2019 11:29 UTC
Marine Barracks
Officials report that a Marine is dead after a shooting at the Marine Barracks in Southeast, D.C. The shooting was reported around 5 a.m. Officials say the Marine was shot and hospitalized but later died from a gunshot wound.

A Marine spokesperson did not identify the Marine but said no suspects have been arrested and that there is no threat to public.
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Handcuffs

Syrian national detained by German police, suspected of planning a terror act


Sputnik
Sun, 30 Dec 2018 02:59 UTC
German police
© AP Photo/Julian Stratenschulte/dpa
The police of the German city of Mainz detained a Syrian national, who is suspected of preparing a terrorist attack and is thought to be linked to four individuals, who were detained earlier in Rotterdam, local media reported on Saturday.

Earlier on Saturday, the Dutch police said that four individuals had been detained in Rotterdam on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities.

According to Germany's Zeit newspaper, the 26-year-old Syrian national was detained at an apartment in Mainz, with the flat having been searched by the police. The German police worked in cooperation with the Dutch colleagues, the news outlet added.

The detainee is due to appear before court on Sunday, with the issue of his extradition to the Netherlands expected to be considered.
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Network

Malware attack: Delivery of L.A. Times and Tribune papers disrupted across US

Tony Barbosa, Meg James, Emily Alpert Reyes
Los Angeles Times
Sat, 29 Dec 2018 08:10 UTC
LATimes building
© Los Angeles Times
What first arose as a server outage was identified Saturday as a malware attack, which appears to have originated from outside the United States and hobbled computer systems and delayed weekend deliveries of the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers across the country.

Technology teams worked feverishly to quarantine the computer virus, but it spread through Tribune Publishing's network and reinfected systems crucial to the news production and printing process. Multiple newspapers around the country were affected because they share a production platform.

The attack delayed distribution of Saturday editions of the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union Tribune. It also stymied distribution of the West Coast editions of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, which are printed at the Los Angeles Times' Olympic printing plant in downtown Los Angeles.

By Saturday afternoon, the company suspected the cyberattack originated from outside the United States, but officials said it was too soon to say whether it was carried out by a foreign state or some other entity, said a source with knowledge of the situation.

"We believe the intention of the attack was to disable infrastructure, more specifically servers, as opposed to looking to steal information," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. The source would not detail what evidence led the company to believe the breach came from overseas.
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Star of David

PA sentences Palestinian-American to life in prison with hard labor for selling property to Jews


Sputnik
Tue, 01 Jan 2019 03:11 UTC
Issam Akel
© ScreenshotIssam Akel
Months after being held in the Palestinian Authority's custody, Issam Akel, a Palestinian-American resident of east Jerusalem, was sentenced to life in prison with hard labor this week after he was found guilty of attempting to sell a house to a Jewish organization.

After a weeklong trial, the Palestinian Grand Criminal Court found Akel guilty on Monday of trying to "cut off a part of the Palestinian land and adding them to a foreign country," the Jerusalem Post reported.

Bylaws established by the Palestinian Authority (PA) prohibit the sale of land to a "hostile state or any of its citizens." PA bylaws require residents to obtain permission from the PA itself before carrying out these types of transactions.

Akel reportedly acted as the broker in the sale of the home, jointly owned by the Alami and Halabi families and located in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem. According to the Post, the home fetched the owners a whopping $500,000 from Ateret Cohanim, an Israeli Jewish organization known to purchase Arab-owned properties in the area.

Presently, the bank accounts of Akel and the two families have been frozen by the PA.
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Attention

Two dead, four injured in knife and gun attacks in London over NYE


BBC
Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:08 UTC
london NYE violence
© MPSHACKNEYIn one of the violent incidents early on New Year's Day, a woman was shot at a nightclub in Hackney
Two people have been stabbed to death and four others hurt in separate attacks in the early hours of the morning in London.

A man died after being stabbed outside a private party in Park Lane, in the West End, at about 05:30 GMT.

Two men, aged 37 and 29, and a woman, aged 29, were also stabbed.

About an hour earlier, a woman was fatally stabbed in Southwark and at around the same time a woman was shot at a nightclub in Hackney.

Comment: New Years Eve saw a spate of seemingly random attacks and outbreaks of violence all over the planet:

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Holly

Best of the Web: Christmas colors light up a diverse Syria as peace & stability return - and the West barely noticed

Vanessa Beeley
RT
Mon, 31 Dec 2018 18:34 UTC
christmas syria
© Vanessa Beeley
Christmas celebrations have literally radiated out across Syria and western media was curiously silent in the face of such displays of unity and solidarity among Syria's diverse peoples.

Syrians saw off the year 2018 under a glittering canopy of festive lights and elaborate decorations adorn the streets of many cities, towns and villages throughout much of the country.
christmas syria damascus
© Vanessa BeeleyDamascus Old City, people thronged to the streets to celebrate Christmas 2018.
Izraa, a town in the southern province of Daraa, was liberated from US Coalition client terrorism in July 2018 after the surrender of the armed groups. Residents celebrated Christmas for the first time in seven years and they celebrated in style.

In Damascus, people poured onto the streets of the Old City without fear of a rain of mortars from extremist groups in Eastern Ghouta, an area fully cleansed of armed groups, by the Syrian Arab Army and allies in April 2018. I walked among the thousands of civilians who gathered around the towering Christmas trees and jostled each other to take selfies next to the myriad of Christmas displays that lined the streets.
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Newspaper

Crime in Chicago is down but it still tops 550 people murdered in 2018


AFP
Tue, 01 Jan 2019 17:41 UTC
chicago crime scene
© AFP Photo/Joshua LOTTChicago police say data-driven policing has helped drive down the number of murders in the Windy City, but it still posted the highest number of homicides for an American city in 2018.
Fewer people were killed in Chicago for the second year in a row in 2018, police said Monday, as they seek to stem the tide of violence in what is sometimes called the nation's "murder capital."

The country's third most populous city still accounted for more murders than the combined total in Los Angeles and New York, which both have bigger populations.

More than 550 people were killed in the Midwestern city in 2018 as of December 23, mostly as a result of gun violence fueled by gang and turf rivalries, and the illicit drug trade.

But shootings in the Windy City were down almost a third in 2018 as compared to a peak in 2016, and murders were down by 27 percent from two years ago, when they hit 757, according to police data -- a 20-year record.

City police chief Eddie Johnson said data-driven policing and stronger community partnerships had played a significant role in the reduction of violent crime.
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Bomb

US Strategic Command brags about dropping bombs in out-of-touch New Year's tweet


RT
Tue, 01 Jan 2019 17:28 UTC
B-2 Spirit stealth bomber
© Twitter / US Strategic CommandB-2 Spirit stealth bomber as shown in STRATCOM's New Year video.
The world is ringing-in 2019 with good cheer, but the US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) has a different kind of fireworks in mind. On New Year's Eve, it showed off footage of stealth bombers and big explosions.

STRATCOM's New Year's greetings come in the form of a 40-second video of the B-2 Spirit bomber in flight. The aircraft deploys two GBU-57s - huge bunker buster bombs known as Massive Ordnance Penetrators - which hit a target on the testing grounds.

"Times Square tradition rings in the New Year by dropping the big ball... if ever needed, we are #ready to drop something much, much bigger," STRATCOM tweeted, referring to the traditional celebration in New York City and it's dropping crystal ball.
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