Society's ChildS


Cell Phone

Image shows woman paid to manipulate App Store rankings

James Walker
Digital Journal
Thu, 12 Feb 2015 22:32 UTC
An image posted to Chinese social media site Weibo allegedly shows a "ranking farm" of racks of iPhones that are used to manipulate ratings and reviews of apps in the App Store.
App Store Rankings
© Weibo.comThe photo shows a Chinese employee sitting in front of about 100 iPhones and apparently manipulating app store rankings.
The image shows a woman sat in front of a rack of over 50 iPhone 5Cs linked together in a tangled mess of cabling. There appear to be more iPhones surrounding her, with the App Store running on their screens.

Although the photos cannot be verified, The Verge reports that it is easy to find adverts for such services on Chinese e-commerce sites, leading to an indication that this is genuine.
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Attention

Police state will strap you down, choke you out, and draw your blood - without your consent

Cassandra
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 07 Feb 2015 22:15 UTC
Image
A lawsuit has been filed alleging that Austin police put a hood over a woman's head, restrained her arms and legs, put her in a choke hold until she went limp, and pinned her arm down with a boot, all to draw her blood over a DUI test.

Caroline Callaway is suing the city of Austin, Travis County, Austin police officers, county sheriff's officers, Pro-touch Nurses and one of its employees, alleging unlawful search and seizure, excessive force, assault and battery, negligence and medical malpractice, Court House News reports.

The scene painted by the lawsuit reads like the horror stories we hear from Guantanamo Bay, yet it took place here in Texas- over a would-be misdemeanor.

The woman, who suffers from an anxiety disorder that she uses prescription medications to manage, was arrested by Officer Patrick Oborski after refusing to submit to a breathalyzer test.

Callaway claims that upon arriving at the Travis County Jail she was taken into a small padded room and strapped into a chair with her legs, wrists, and shoulders restrained; all while surrounded by police officers. The situation caused the woman to tremble with fear, which she says prompted the officers to place a "protective hood" over her head. The bag covered her eyes, nose, and mouth and made it difficult for Callaway to breathe.

Comment: The video is extremely disturbing. How could such a clear-cut constitutional violation be 'legal'? Is it reasonable to strap someone down, forcefully take their blood, potentially injure and traumatize them over a misdemeanor?

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Health

120,000 deaths per year in the U.S. caused by job stress


RT
Fri, 13 Feb 2015 21:57 UTC
Image
© Reuters / John Kolesidis
Job stress can be fatal and contribute to the deaths 120,000 Americans a year. It can also lead to hypertension, cardiovascular disease and decreased mental health, a new study argues. It also costs tens of billions of dollars in healthcare.

On the bright side, the study also found that improving management practices could save lives.

The Harvard and Stanford Business School working paper published in the Management Science journal looks at why Americans spend $180 billion every year on healthcare yet experience average or subpar health outcomes compared to the rest of the world.

The study combined common job stressors - including layoffs and unemployment, lack of health insurance, shift work, long working hours, job insecurity, low organizational justice - with management choices such as long hours, lack of control, job insecurity and perceptions of unfairness in the workplace.
Job stress 'making staff unhealthy' http://t.co/hyN7d0OZKA and will only get worse if Govt insist on low paid, insecure, poor quality work

— I'm a JSA claimant (@imajsaclaimant) February 12, 2015
Co-author Professor Joel Goh of Harvard Business School told Working Knowledge, "These factors affect health in two ways. They are both inherently stressful on the body, and also lead to unhealthy behaviors like alcoholism and overeating."
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Pistol

Firing squad executions are one step closer to coming to Wyoming

Payton Guion
The Independent, UK
Fri, 13 Feb 2015 21:31 UTC
Firing Squad
© The Independent, UKThe Wyoming House of Representatives passed the bill on Thursday, moves on to Senate.
Half of the Wyoming legislature on Thursday passed a bill that would permit firing squads to be used in executions in the state, though it still must be approved by the state Senate before it can be signed into law.

The Wyoming House of Representatives narrowly passed the bill, called Senate File 13, which would call up firing squads to carry out executions in the event lethal injection drugs weren't available, according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

Wyoming's Senate had a chance to pass the bill on Thursday but could not get enough votes for concurrence on an amendment adopted in the state House. The Senate will try again on Tuesday and if the bill is approved it will go to the governor's desk to be signed into law.
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Sheriff

NYPD cop pleads not guilty to fatally shooting unarmed man


RT
Fri, 13 Feb 2015 20:50 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Carlo Allegri
Peter Liang, an NYPD rookie officer, accused of fatally shooting an unarmed Brooklyn man Akai Gurley in the stairwell of a local apartment complex last year, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and all other charges.

The officer arrived in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Wednesday after the jury issued a six counts indictment against him. The charge included second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault and criminally negligent homicide, a misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment and two counts of official misconduct. The defendant faces up to 15 years of imprisonment if found guilty.
Here is the full list of charges Liang faces in the death of Akai Gurley. Story soon via@Brooklyn_Paper pic.twitter.com/e3tcRL6uWW

— Noah Hurowitz (@NoahHurowitz) 11 февраля 2015
Peter Liang pleaded not guilty to all the indictments. He has not testified before the jury yet.

"This is the first step in justice," Kimberly Ballinger, Gurley's child's mother, said. "Now all we need is a conviction, which I have faith that we will get."

Comment: There doesn't seem to be any reason given for why the officer even had his weapon in hand. The innocent man was not a threat, yet not only was he killed in cold-blood, but the officers didn't even call for help immediately which if it were an accident would be the very first thing, aside from providing to aid to the victim, that they would do. Police too often feel like they can shoot first and cover up later. They need to start paying for their police state actions. A guilty verdict in this case would be a step in that direction.

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Camcorder

VIDEO: Pasco, WA cops execute unarmed man for throwing rocks

Mike Carter and Erik Lacitis
Seattle Times
Thu, 12 Feb 2015 19:27 UTC
Image
© Alan Berner/Seattle TimesLaura Alvarado, who knew shooting victim Antonio Zambrano-Montes and knows one of his relatives, lights a candle Thursday at the site of the police shooting in downtown Pasco outside of Vinny's Bakery and Cafe in front of dozens of bystanders during the Tuesday rush hour.
The Franklin County coroner is considering convening a rare inquest jury to look into the shooting death of a homeless man by Pasco police earlier this week. Coroner Dan Blasdel said controversy over the shooting of 35-year-old Antonio Zambrano-Montes by a trio of officers would justify a coroner's inquest, in which a jury is presented evidence of the shooting and decides whether the officers were justified in their use of deadly force.

"We don't want another Ferguson here in Pasco," he said, referring to the suburb of St. Louis, where the shooting of an unarmed African-American teenager by police in August sparked weeks of riots.

The shooting of Zambrano-Montes, which occurred Tuesday in front of dozens of bystanders at one of the city's busiest intersections, has drawn sharp criticism from Mexican authorities, some witnesses and members of Zambrano-Montes' family.


Comment: Not to mention countless thousands across social media. Here's the video referenced below:



Comment: They'll continue to kill people in the streets, either for minor crimes, or no crime at all. Merely being the wrong race, mentally disabled, or even suffering a seizure can earn you a swift trip to the other side courtesy of Police State USA.

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Hearts

Russian people still love Putin: 85% approval rating


RT
Fri, 13 Feb 2015 19:48 UTC
Putin
© RIA Novosti / Aleksey NikolskyiRussian President Vladimir Putin.
The latest poll has shown that 85 percent of Russian citizens trust President Vladimir Putin and 74 percent say they would vote for him if presidential elections were held next weekend.

The poll, conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation on February 7-8 and released on February 13, shows that the current 85 percent trust rating is up from 75 percent in February 2014. The share of those who said they were ready to vote for Putin was also up from 45 percent one year ago.

84 percent of those polled said they approved of Putin's work as president and only 7 percent admitted they were discontented with it.

The general attitude toward Putin was also mostly positive - 75 percent of Russians said they sympathized with their leader. Fourteen percent said they had both positive and negative sentiments about him and 7 percent reported that their attitude to the president was purely negative.

Comment: Russians clearly see Putin's involvement in 'Minsk 2.0' as worthy of approval. While all its points are probably unlikely to be fulfilled, it has put Kiev in the position of assuming the most responsibility, responsibilities that are practically impossible for them to fulfill. In other words, once again, Putin has put Russia's position on the moral high ground, and Kiev ends up looking like the bad guy (rightfully so).

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Sheriff

Don't mess with Texas: Mom wrestles carjacker to ground before police arrive


Yahoo News
Fri, 13 Feb 2015 00:00 UTC
carjacker dallas tx
© ABC NewsAlleged Texas Carjacker No Match for Minivan-Riding 'Mama Bear'
An alleged carjacker is behind bars in Texas after an encounter with a woman police called a "Mama Bear."

Police say Artrai Alexander, 40, robbed a store then carjacked a white Dodge Challenger Wednesday, before leading cops on a high-speed, eight-mile pursuit. The chase ended in a major accident. The Challenger smashed into a minivan being driven by Jessica Liesmann.

Instead of waiting for police to arrive, Liesmann took matters into her own hands. Liesmann and her boyfriend Charles Cook stormed out of the minivan and confronted Alexander, holding onto the straps of his overalls and wrestling him to the ground before officers arrived.

"I think he ran up against a Mama Bear," one police officer said.

Comment: It's wonderful that things turned out well, but it could have been a dangerous situation, if the man had a gun. Reacting without thinking is not usually the most prudent way to manage situations!

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Roses

Best of the Web: Chapel Hill: We can't stop speaking out, even if our voices shake

Samah Assad
MondoWeiss
Fri, 13 Feb 2015 18:00 UTC
chapel hill
© The Herald-Sun | Bernard Thomas SuzanneBarakat (left) is pictured at Wednesday's UNC vigil honoring the death of her brother Deah Shaddy Barakat. She is pictured with her parents Namee Barakat (center) and his wife Layla Barakat (right).
Dear Fellow Muslim-Americans,

I know many of you are afraid.

I am, too. It's hard not to be, when it could've been us.

This letter is a token of faith to all of you - if you have been discriminated against for your beliefs before or after Feb. 10, and if you have been, or are, scared to leave your home today.

This is for anyone who feels like they've been bullied into silence.

I'm sure you're probably asking yourselves: do your lives hold any value? Are we worth any headlines?

They do, and we are.

Comment: Suzanne Barakat talks about the death of her brother.



See also: Now is the time for everyone to stand up and speak out.

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Arrow Down

Another hate crime? Arson suspected in Houston Islamic fire

Tony Tran
Opposing Views
Fri, 13 Feb 2015 00:00 UTC
fire islamic center
The Houston Fire Department are investigating an arson case after an Islamic Center was set on fire early Friday morning.

At 5:39 A.M. a fire was reported at the Quba Islamic Institute in southeast Houston. According to local station KHOU 11, heavy smoke began pouring from the building as flames shot over the roof.

By 6:30 A.M. the fire was under control.

According to those in the community who utilized the building, the facility was once used as a church and school but was just purchased to be used as a family center. The building was destroyed but thankfully no one was injured.

Officials are now searching for a cause of the fire and arson investigators were at the scene of the fire.

Comment: Although it is too soon to tell, it appears that this is the result of the anti-muslim hysteria that is sweeping the globe. It is unfortunate that humans are so easily manipulated into singling out a group of people to scapegoat. History appears to be repeating itself as people have not learned from earlier mistakes.

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