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Britain appoints 'minister for loneliness' to tackle an epidemic of social isolation affecting millions in the UK


PressTV
Wed, 17 Jan 2018 19:19 UTC
loneliness
© Getty images
The breakdown of traditional families and social housing has led to the loneliness epidemic and social isolation affecting millions of people in the UK, says an academic and political analyst in London.

"In the UK, the genuine cracking of the traditional family has been going on for quite a long time. And as a result, particularly among old people has benefited off its loneliness," said professor Rodney Shakespeare.

"It is also being reflected among younger people where the units are getting smaller and smaller. This combines with a decline of availability in the social housing. So the trend has been developing for quite a while and the government now wants a patch-up solution," Shakespeare told Press TV on Wednesday.

"I do think that loneliness is an aspect of a social breakdown, a type of disintegration of society," he added.

Comment: This epidemic of loneliness is a major symptom of the societal disintegration in the West.

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Road Cone

Popemobile grinds to a halt as Pontiff assists police woman who fell from her horse


RT
Thu, 18 Jan 2018 23:00 UTC
Popemobile
© AFP
Pope Francis walks towards a police officer who fell from her rearing horse after it was frightened by the cheering crowd as he was passing in the popemobile.
Pope Francis broke protocol when he ordered his so-called 'popemobile' to a halt so that he could assist a mounted policewoman who was thrown from her horse.

The officer fell off her horse while escorting the pontiff as he waved to crowds in the city of Iquique, northern Chile.

The pope reportedly waited by the stricken policewoman's side for several minutes until an ambulance arrived.
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Fire

Wall of fire: Oil transit pipeline leak sparks huge blaze in Russian village (VIDEO)


RT
Thu, 18 Jan 2018 22:11 UTC
Fire
© Мобильный репортер official / YouTube
A monstrous blaze resembling a wall of fire has engulfed a village in Russia's southern Saratov region after an oil transit pipeline sprung a leak. The flames raged for hours, devastating several houses.

Some 2,000 cubic meters of oil spilled over to the adjacent territory and flooded several streets of the neighboring Krasnoarmeiskoe village in Russia's Volga region. The oil then caught fire. A video posted on YouTube shows a wall of fire racing towards the village.

The flames engulfed three residential houses and a non-residential building, prompting the evacuation of 12 people, TASS reports, citing the local branch of the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
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Handcuffs

2 boys arrested for vandalism that killed 500k bees at a local business in Sioux City, Iowa


RT
Thu, 18 Jan 2018 22:18 UTC
Bees
© Silas Stein / Global Look Press
Police in Sioux City, Iowa have arrested two boys over a rampage that killed half a million bees at a local beekeeping business.

The boys, ages 12 and 13, have been charged with criminal mischief, agricultural animal facilities offences, burglary, aggravated misdemeanour and possession of burglar's tools. As they are underage, their names have not been released.

The damage to 50 beehives at Wild Hill Honey farm in Sioux City resulted in the honey bees freezing to death just days after Christmas

"They knocked over every single hive, killing all the bees. They wiped us out completely," co-owner Justin Englehardt told the Sioux City Journal.
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Attention

'Highly respectable family': Grandmother defends couple accused in California 'house of horrors' abuse

Melissa Chan
Time
Tue, 16 Jan 2018 11:16 UTC
Turpin house of horrors
The grandmother of 13 children who were allegedly kept inside a "house of horrors" is defending the Perris, Calif., couple accused of abuse, including shackling their children to their beds.

Betty Turpin said she was in "total shock" to learn her 57-year-old son David Turpin and his 49-year old wife Louise Turpin could face torture and child endangerment charges. Police said they found the couple's 13 children, between the ages of 2 and 29, living in "dark and foul-smelling" conditions in their Perris, Calif., home Sunday after a 17-year-old girl escaped and called 911, claiming her parents were holding her siblings captive.

"We don't believe anything until we find definite proof," Betty Turpin, 81, told TIME on Tuesday. "It's just a one-sided story. You can't always go with that."

Comment: It's not unusual for friends and family members to express shock and surprise when those they thought they knew well are unexpectedly accused of criminal behavior. When they learn of the crime their first thought is that the person they know could not possibly be the perpetrator because it is totally "out of character." Stanton Samenow explains in his book, The Myth of the Out of Character Crime, that people always respond 'in character' and that those with a criminal disposition are very adept at concealing their true nature. What a person presents publicly often differs radically from what he is like privately. Behavior is a direct result of the way a person thinks and behind criminal conduct in every case there are 'thinking errors' which provide clues to the personality of the individual.

See also: Social workers take 13 children from home in California after one child runs away and claims abuse

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Red Flag

Bizarro World: Woman legally marries 300yo ghost of Haitian pirate

Frances Mulraney
Irish Central
Mon, 15 Jan 2018 19:19 UTC
Amanda Teague
© Amanda Teague
The ghost of a Haitian pirate proposed marriage to a Co. Louth woman after she told the spirit she was no longer content with casual sex.

A 45-year-old woman from Co. Louth married the ghost of an 18th-century Haitian pirate after the couple met when she felt his presence laying beside her in bed in 2014. Amanda Teague, from Drogheda, Co. Louth, traveled to international waters to marry her pirate partner Jack through the means of a medium after telling the spirit that she was no longer happy to just have casual sex.

Teague, who has five children from a previous marriage with a living man, believes she has found her "soulmate" in Jack, who was executed over 300 years ago for theft at sea.

The Louth woman, who works as a "Pirates of the Caribbean" Jack Sparrow impersonator, believes it was the pirate link that brought her own Haitian pirate to her. She even claims the sex is better than with living men.
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Sheriff

'He sold his badge to traffick drugs': Los Angeles County sheriff indicted after FBI sting


RT
Thu, 18 Jan 2018 18:10 UTC
LA County, Calif Sheriff's Department
© LA County Sheriff's Department / Instagram
A Los Angeles County deputy sheriff has been charged with operating a drug-trafficking ring in which other officers were hired to act as enforcers for dealers.

Kenneth Collins, 50, was arrested along with three other men in Pasadena Tuesday morning. The group is accused of offering protection services to an undercover team from the FBI for the transport of around 45lbs (20kg) of cocaine and more than 13lbs of methamphetamine - in return for a $250,000 cash payment.

"Deputy Collins sold his badge to assist an individual he thought was a drug trafficker," US Attorney Nicola Hanna said in a statement. "This case is part of our long-standing and ongoing commitment to root out corruption, particularly when it involves sworn law enforcement officers."

Two other men - David Easter, 51, and Grant Valencia, 34 - were also charged in the federal criminal complaint filed last week. A fourth man, Maurice Desi Font, 56, is expected to be charged by federal prosecutors in the coming days.
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Sherlock

Founder of Community Action Network looks at the major reasons for Los Angeles' homelessness and "off the rails" poverty


Sputnik
Thu, 18 Jan 2018 17:31 UTC
skid row la
© AP Photo/ Jae C. Hong
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has counted a disheartening number of individuals on the streets - about 58,000 in 2017, marking a 23 percent increase compared with the year before. Sputnik interviewed Pete White, the Founder of the LA Community Action Network, and summed up the facts about the most notorious hot spot for the homeless.

An astonishing video, featuring thousands of homeless people on the streets of Los Angeles, appeared on the web over Christmas. The number of people in the 50-block district Skid Row has risen to an estimated 20,000, with the majority of them having erected tents to have a shelter for the night. Pete White, the Founder and Executive Director of an organization that works to ensure that the rights to housing, health and security are maintained in the city, has shared his views on the plight.


Discussing the reasons for being homeless with Sputnik, White expressed his hopes that in 2018, society has moved beyond the idea that homeless people live in the streets by choice, or because they are suffering from mental illness or substance abuse.

"The three major reasons for people being homeless in Los Angeles County are: housing availability, housing affordability and poverty," he explained.
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Chart Pie

What do Americans really think about abortion? 76% favor substantial restrictions

Dr. Susan Berry
Breitbart
Wed, 17 Jan 2018 18:00 UTC
fetus
A new Marist poll reveals more than three quarters of Americans would restrict abortion to, at most, the first trimester of pregnancy.

The poll, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, is released as thousands begin to descend upon Washington, DC for the annual March for Life.


The survey finds that 76 percent of Americans are in favor of limiting abortion to, at most, the first three months of pregnancy, including 92 percent of Republicans, 78 percent of Independents, and 61 percent of Democrats.

Additionally, while 51 percent of Americans identify as "pro-choice," even 60 percent of those agree with substantial restrictions on abortion.

Comment: See also:

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Robot

Julian Assange keeps warning of AI censorship, and it's time we started listening

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Wed, 17 Jan 2018 17:43 UTC
Julian Assange
Throughout the near entirety of human history, a population's understanding of what's going on in the world has been controlled by those in power. The men in charge controlled what the people were told about rival populations, the history of their tribe and its leadership, etc. When the written word was invented, men in charge dictated what books were permitted to be written and circulated, what ideas were allowed, what narratives the public would be granted access to.

This continued straight on into modern times. Where power is not overtly totalitarian, wealthy elites have bought up all media, first in print, then radio, then television, and used it to advance narratives that are favorable to their interests. Not until humanity gained widespread access to the internet has our species had the ability to freely and easily share ideas and information on a large scale without regulation by the iron-fisted grip of power. This newfound ability arguably had a direct impact on the election for the most powerful elected office in the most powerful government in the world in 2016, as a leak publishing outlet combined with alternative and social media enabled ordinary Americans to tell one another their own stories about what they thought was going on in their country.
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