Society's ChildS


USA

American culture: A nation of narcissists

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There are so many examples of the US as a nation of narcissists that when I step outside of my own narcissism, it literally leaves me with vertigo. I can see narcissism everywhere. In how Americans drive, as if they're the only car on the road in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I see it in how people walk on sidewalks, as if no one else will ever need space to walk in the opposite direction, or as if everyone wants to walk at a slow, plodding pace. I see it in how we reacted to even minor criticism, as if the comment "this needs revision" equals "you're a lazy, untalented hack of a writer," and deserves a response equally personal and nasty.

One of the better demonstrations of narcissism American style is through our popular culture. From Frank Sinatra to Rick Ross, Mae West to Nicki Minaj, we have a century's worth of pop culture divas as examples of narcissism at the level of prominent American individuals. The narcissism is so normal that we have benign terms for it, like "self-promotion" or "self-love." People, especially in the pop culture world, should promote and love themselves, of course. But at what point is narcissism a self-defeating process of "me as triumphant," "me as the center of the universe," "me for everyone to like/love more and more?"

Comment: Me, me, me! America's 'Narcissism Epidemic'
Is American society becoming more narcissistic?


Airplane

Planes grounded in Scotland due to major technical problems with air traffic control

glasglow airport
Dozens of flights at Scottish airports have been delayed as major technical problems at the regional National Air Traffic Service (NATS) air traffic control centre in Prestwick, Ayrshire grounds planes.

Several flights from Scottish airports to England have been delayed by up to 1 hour and 50 minutes, the Edinburgh Evening News reports.

A spokesman confirmed to the Independent that some flights to and from Northern Ireland have also been affected.

A statement from NATS said there had been overnight interference with the radio frequencies used to speak to aeroplanes.

It said: "It only affects part of Scottish airspace and flights from some Scottish airports this morning may be delayed as a result.

Display

Man binges on The Walking Dead then kills friend, claiming he began 'to change into a zombie'

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A Prewitt, NM man was arrested Thursday afternoon after allegedly beating his friend to death while they were drunk after the man said his friend began "to change into a zombie," according to the Grants Police Department.

The man, identified as 23-year-old Damon Perry, told police he had been binge-watching "The Walking Dead" on Netflix recently.

Grants police originally responded to a Grants apartment complex after 911 callers said a man - later identified as Perry - was running around the complex threatening people with a knife.

When officers arrived, two maintenance workers were holding Perry down. Inside a nearby apartment, an officer found the friend unresponsive with signs of trauma. The friend was pronounced dead at the scene.

Airplane

British Airways jet crash lands in Johannesburg after landing gear breaks

british airways broken jet
A jet flying under British Airways colours has dramatically crash landed in South Africa after part of its landing gear reportedly broke off.
A jet flying under British Airways colours has dramatically crash landed in South Africa after part of its landing gear broke off.

One passenger reported seeing sparks flying as the left wing of the Boeing 737 'scraped across the runway' as it came into land at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg earlier today.

Fire crews rushed to the aircraft, run by the franchise Comair, after it touched down and the 94 people on board used an emergency staircase as they were led to safety.

Passenger Warren Mann told Traveller24 how the pilot informed those on board shortly before landing that the 'left landing gear had broken off'.

He added: 'This caused the plane to hit the runway at an angle. We could see sparks as the left wing and the engines were scraped across the runway. The wing seemed completely broken off.

Stock Down

IMF warns before the storm: Germany should prepare for severe export crisis

Euro symbol
© Flickr/ Chris Goldberg
The oil price shock could soon negatively affect Germany's export economy. The IMF predicts a crisis in the emerging markets, but does not have any recipes to prevent it and Germany should urgently prepare itself for the alarming situation, DWN wrote.

The world economy is experiencing an alarming state of calm before a potentially violent storm. The IMF has warned of significant stability risks associated with the economic slowdown in China and the crisis in the emerging markets, the newspaper reported.
"We are witnessing a classic emerging markets' crisis, which is [currently] forming."

Comment: Is Deutsche Bank about to go down and take Europe with it?


Heart - Black

State of Nevada found guilty of dumping homeless in other states

las vegas homeless
According to a recent court ruling, government programs in the state of Nevada intentionally shipped mentally ill homeless patients to other states and left them there.

The City of San Francisco recently won a lawsuit against the state of Nevada, receiving a $400,000 settlement after they were able to prove the state sent homeless psychiatric patients to their city with the intention of leaving them there.

In the lawsuit, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera accused a Las Vegas area psychiatric hospital of shipping its patients out of the state.

Comment: Unlike in Medicine Hat, the first city to eradicate homlessness, cruelty and callousness towards the homeless is the norm with no improvement in sight.


USA

US reassigns General responsible for unsuccessful Syria rebel training

US Maj. Gen. Michael K. Nagata
© AP Photo/ Carolyn KasterUS Maj. Gen. Michael K. Nagata
After the US' Syrian rebel training program failed and produced only a few dozen fighters instead of the original 15,000 planned, the US is now dismissing US Maj. Gen. Michael K. Nagata who was responsible for the implementation of the program, media reported.

As part of a military training program, Nagata was responsible for training Syrian rebels over a period of three years, after which they were expected to fight against ISIL.

In 2014, the United States allocated $500 million to train and provide 5,400 "moderate Syrian fighters" with military equipment by the end of 2015.

Sheriff

Ninja cops? California police training with nunchucks

nunchuck police
Instead of body cams or training on how to deal with the mentally ill, cops in California are getting nunchuck lessons — seriously.

Although the origin of the nunchucks is unclear, they can be traced back to Okinawan martial arts. The nunchucks or nunchaku are largely ineffective against most other weapons, which made them historically unpopular. But that's not stopping the Anderson police department from picking up these ancient tethered sticks.

While the idea of a cop with nunchucks seems hilarious, (seriously, we're dying over here), it serves to illustrate a powerful point. Instead of police departments studying the causes of crime, like the war on drugs and recidivism, they are only looking at novel ways to attack the symptoms; in an entirely goofy and inefficient manner at that.

KRCR News reports:

Comment: What's next -- ninja stars?


Red Flag

Student injured in active shooter situation at North Carolina University

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© ABC11
A student was injured late Sunday night on the edge of North Carolina Central University's campus following a shooting.
Just after 11 p.m., NCCU tweeted that there was an active shooter on campus, but school officials said the situation ended less than an hour later.


Durham police were called to the scene to assist campus police near the school's football stadium, off of Lawson Street, near Alston Avenue. NCCU put the campus on lockdown - urging all students to seek shelter and lock their doors as long as it was safe to do so. Officials said one student was injured during the incident and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The NYDailyNews.com reports a NCCU freshman described the incident as an altercation between a group of his friends and the suspect, who briefly left, but returned with a pistol and began shooting. Just before midnight, the school said the active situation was "all clear" and the campus lockdown was lifted.

Further details surrounding the incident, including information about the alleged shooter, have not been released. Anyone with information regarding the incident should contact the NCCU Police Department at (919) 530-6106.

The incident comes as the university kicked off its week-long Homecoming celebration Sunday.


Comment: 30 dead, 53 injured, 52 school shootings so far this year


Boat

Hong Kong ferry crash injures over 100 after collision with 'unknown object'

Hong Kong ferry collision
© Jerome Favre/EPAThe crew of the Fire Services Department rescue boats wait at Government Pier in Hong Kong. More than 100 people were injured after a high-speed ferry hit an ‘unidentified object’ south of Lantau Island.

At least 100 people have been injured in an incident in which a high-speed ferry traveling from Hong Kong to Macau crashed into an unknown object in the water.


At around 6:00 pm local time (10:00 GMT) on Sunday, police received a call that a high-speed ferry carrying 163 passengers and 11 crew had slammed into an "unidentified object" south of Lantau Island.

"So far it is understood around 100 people have been injured," a government spokesman said in a statement.

Television footage showed that the first group of passengers to be rescued by marine police vessels reached the Central Ferry Piers at around 8:30 pm. Some were wearing oxygen masks as they were lifted into ambulances and taken to hospital.