Society's Child

Over 38 workers dead in China after two coal mine explosions in a week

Ben Blanchard
The independent (UK)
Sat, 03 Dec 2016 08:55 UTC

Two separate disasters raise further grave questions over country's industrial safety record

At least 38 people have died in two separate coal mine disasters in China in the last five days, state media said, the latest accidents in a country with a poor record of industrial safety.

In the first incident, authorities confirmed on Friday night that 21 people died after a coal mine blast in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, the official Xinhua news agency said.

It happened at a private coal mine in Qitaihe city late on Tuesday, trapping 22 workers underground, it said. Rescue work continues in an attempt to reach the one person left trapped. Four people have been arrested in connection with the disaster.

On Saturday, 17 people died in a coal mine explosion in northern China's Inner Mongolia region, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Four miners were rescued after the blast, which occurred as 31 people were working underground, said the Chifeng city government in China's Inner Mongolia region.

John Kasich responds to Electoral College: Don't cast your vote for me

CNN
Tue, 06 Dec 2016 03:03 UTC

Ohio Gov. John Kasich doesn't want to take Donald Trump's place as President-elect of the United States.

The former Republican presidential candidate, who ran against Trump in the primary, tweeted Tuesday asking that electors in the Electoral College not cast their votes for him when they meet December 19.

Kasich tweeted a statement that said, "I am not a candidate for president and ask that electors not vote for me when they gather later this month. Our country had an election and Donald Trump won. The country is divided and there are certainly raw emotions on both sides stemming from the election. But this approach, as well meaning as it is, will only serve to further divide our nation, when unity is what we need."

Three Florida voters seek presidential election recount

RT
Tue, 06 Dec 2016 23:18 UTC

Voters in Florida have filed for a presidential election hand recount in their state, arguing that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won more votes than President-elect Donald Trump. The plaintiff's own lawyers said time isn't on their side.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in the central Florida Leon circuit court, the three plaintiffs argued the state's official election results were off because of hacking, malfunctioning voting machines and other problems, and that Clinton won more votes in the state than Donald Trump.

In an unusual move, the three voters demanded a hand recount of every paper ballot in the state at the expense of defendants including President-elect Trump, Gov. Rick Scott and 29 Republican presidential electors from Florida. Trump got more than 4.6 million votes in Florida, beating Clinton by more than 112,000 votes.

North Dakota crude pipeline shut down after spill

RT
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 01:39 UTC

A crude oil transmission pipeline has been shut down in western North Dakota following a leak that spilled oil into a creek. The state's health department said it has sent personnel to the site.

"A series of booms have been placed across the creek to prevent downstream migration and a siphon dam has been constructed four miles downstream of the release point," Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager for the North Dakota Department of health, said, according to Reuters.

The health agency said the spill was discovered on Monday and an unknown volume of oil leaked from the pipeline operated by Bell Fourche Pipeline Company into Ash Coulee Creek, 16 miles northwest of Belfield in Billings County. The leak is 200 miles away from protests taking place over the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Singapore, other Asian nations remain at top of international education rankings

RT
Tue, 06 Dec 2016 19:20 UTC

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has released its newest mass comparative survey of school education across 72 different countries, which sees Singapore, Hong Kong and other affluent Chinese-majority entities top the table.

Last year, PISA, which is funded by the OECD, gave a standardized test to 540,000 15-year-olds, examining their proficiency in reading, math, and science, the first such survey for three years.

Singapore came first in every one of the three categories.

A PISA case study supplied with the survey says that while the historical success of Singapore was based on efficiently preparing students for its burgeoning manufacturing sector, in recent years there has been a move towards "increased flexibility and variety" and now "each school in Singapore offers a range of learning experiences to develop students holistically."

Fidel Castro's remarkable legacy

Marjorie Cohn
Truthdig
Fri, 02 Dec 2016 21:36 UTC

When Fidel Castro died on Nov. 25 at the age of 90, we lost one of the most remarkable leaders of the 20th century. No other head of state has so steadfastly stood up to the United States and survived.

In 1959, the Cuban Revolution, led by Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara, overthrew the ruthless Fulgencio Batista, who had come to power in a coup d'état. Batista's government had protected the interests of the wealthy landowners. In order to control the populace, Batista had carried out torture and public executions, killing as many as 20,000 people. During his regime, Batista was supported—financially and militarily—by the United States. Indeed, the U.S. Mafia's gambling, drug and prostitution operations flourished under Batista's government.

Led by Castro, the new Cuban government expropriated U.S.-owned property, companies and holdings in Cuba. The United States responded with a punishing economic embargo, which later became a blockade. The CIA attempted unsuccessfully to overthrow the revolution in the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.

Since 1959, the U.S. government and the expatriated Cuban-Americans who fled Cuba after the revolution have tried mightily to topple the Castro government, without success. Castro survived more than 630 assassination attempts.

Comment:

Ukraine: Deadly incident of 'friendly fire' under investigation

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Mon, 05 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC

Ukrainian authorities say Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko will personally oversee the probe into what officials are calling a "friendly fire" shootout between police and state guards service agents that left at least five law-enforcement officers dead.

Authorities say the deadly incident occurred at about 4 a.m. on December 4, during a search for suspected armed robbers in the village of Knyazichi outside Kyiv.

The Prosecutor-General's Office said on its website on December 5 that the Kyiv regional prosecutor's office had given the green light for investigations into the shooting. Ukrainian media reports said that a number of armed robbery suspects were detained later on December 4.

President Petro Poroshenko on December 4 said the tragedy "should not be politicized" and called on Ukrainians "not to use it to destabilize" the situation in the country.

Muslim women shouldn't wear veils, integration expert says

RT
Mon, 05 Dec 2016 17:20 UTC

The British government's racial integration expert believes Muslim women wearing veils cannot be police officers or midwives because people "want to see their faces."

Dame Louise Casey, who on Monday presented her report on social integration in Britain, told the BBC Radio 4 Today program that although she does not want to force women to remove their veils, public bodies need to use "common sense" when recruiting.

Her year-long study, which took statements from more than 800 people, researched a series of minority groups in Britain, focusing specifically on Muslim communities. It found "high levels of social and economic isolation in some places, and cultural and religious practices in communities that are not only holding some of our citizens back, but run contrary to British values and sometimes our laws." The research was criticized by Muslim leaders, who dubbed it "inflammatory, divisive, [and] pandering to the agenda of the far right."

Dame Louise argued the problem lies with politicians who are more willing to ignore "inconvenient truths" than address issues of segregation and misogyny. "Inequality within certain communities in these highly-segregated areas is getting worse, not better," she told the BBC. "I will die in the ditch for people in this country to wear whatever they want frankly, in their own homes and in their own livelihood. Do I think that police officers or midwives should be fully veiled? No I don't. I want to see their faces, most of us do."

Dumpster divers arrested for giving perfectly good food to charity

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 06 Dec 2016 20:31 UTC

According to the USDA, Americans waste between 30 and 40 percent of their food supply, which translates into 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food per year, and waste continues to rise. Corporate retail food and restaurants account for a great deal of waste, throwing out arbitrarily expired food products, and dishes left unsold. But even household food waste accounts for a whopping 120 pounds per month, per family of four, according to a CBS News report. Enter Anthony Moyer and Samuel Troyer, residents of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, who knew about the wasteful habits of such corporate entities, and decided to do something about it.

The brothers-in-law thought it would be a good idea to see what they could salvage from local food markets, pharmacies, and other retail establishments. They would wait until about 10 pm, and then head off to the market, although they weren't there to make purchases. Instead, the two went dumpster diving for the valuable goods, which were sealed and unopened, simply discarded and headed for the local trash dump.

As Penn Live reports, At first, they'd bring their haul home and share it with their family and friends. When it got to be too much, the two men started donating whatever they had left to charitable organizations around central Pennsylvania.

Everything seemed to be going fine until the authorities showed up and arrested the dynamic duo for trespassing.

Comment: Food waste can be prevented by not adhering to misleading expiration dates. The US should take a tip from France and make stores sign a donation deal with charities.

Complete lack of awareness: Cops issue multiple parking tickets to a car with a dead body inside

Jake Anderson
The Anti Media
Mon, 05 Dec 2016 13:50 UTC

In a crude indictment of both human inattentiveness and local parking enforcement, it appears that over the course of four days, multiple parking citations were issued to a car that contained a dead man.

The SunSentinel reported that Jacob Morpeau, 62, of Miami, was found by police, his body slumped under the steering wheel. County resident Carolyn White, who discovered the body inside an Isuzu Axiom SUV, said the man held a credit card in his hand.

The Broward County Medical Examiner's office stated Morpeau, an immigrant from Haiti, died from natural causes complicated by hypertensive cardiovascular disease. No one knows how precisely how long his body had been inside the Isuzu. What's also unknown is how many of the tickets were written with Morpeau inside the vehicle.

What we do know is that, according to the SunSentinel:

"Two of the tickets were written within three minutes, and just six hours before White saw Morpeau's body inside the SUV. The same parking officer cited the Isuzu for two expired meters, perhaps because the SUV's front end was in part of the next parking space."

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Society's Child

Over 38 workers dead in China after two coal mine explosions in a week

John Kasich responds to Electoral College: Don't cast your vote for me

Three Florida voters seek presidential election recount

North Dakota crude pipeline shut down after spill

Singapore, other Asian nations remain at top of international education rankings

Fidel Castro's remarkable legacy

Ukraine: Deadly incident of 'friendly fire' under investigation

Muslim women shouldn't wear veils, integration expert says

Dumpster divers arrested for giving perfectly good food to charity

Complete lack of awareness: Cops issue multiple parking tickets to a car with a dead body inside

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