Society's ChildS


Shopping Bag

These six drivers are gone, and that's why the global economy is toast

Charles Hugh Smith
of two minds
Mon, 12 Aug 2024 00:00 UTC
toast
The global economy is toast. All that's left is the distribution of the burned bits.

The six one-offs that drove growth and pulled the global economy out of bubble-bust recessions for the past 30 years have all reversed or dissipated. Absent these one-off drivers, the global economy is stumbling off the cliff into a deep recession without any replacement drivers. Colloquially speaking, the global economy is toast.

Here are the six one-offs that won't be coming back:

1) China's industrialization.

2) Growth-positive demographics.

3) Low interest rates.

4) Low debt levels.

5) Low inflation.

6) Tech productivity boom.
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Stop

A "retail apocalypse" is gaining momentum all over America

Michael Snyder
The Most Important News
Sun, 11 Aug 2024 00:00 UTC
city lights out
Why are retailers closing thousands of stores if the U.S. economy is in good shape? Of course the truth is that the U.S. economy is not in good shape at all. The cost of living crisis is absolutely crushing working families all over the nation, and U.S. consumers simply don't have as much discretionary income as they once did. Needless to say, our retailers are highly dependent on discretionary spending, and many of them have been reporting very disappointing sales numbers recently. Sadly, the problems that our retailers are experiencing are only going to intensify as U.S. economic activity continues to slow down.

According to CBS News, U.S. retailers have announced the closing of more than 3,000 locations in 2024...
The retail industry is going through a tough time as it copes with inflation-weary consumers and a rash of bankruptcies, prompting chains to announce the closures of almost 3,200 brick-and-mortar stores so far in 2024, according to a new analysis.

That's a 24% increase from a year ago, according to a report from retail data provider CoreSight, which tracks store closures and openings across the U.S.
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Post-It Note

Nordic nation ramps up security over 'child soldiers'


RT
Sun, 11 Aug 2024 15:57 UTC
FILE PHOTO: Danish police.
© Sean Gallup / Getty ImagesFILE PHOTO: Danish police.
Danish police are trying to curb gang violence as criminal bosses often rely on teenagers from Sweden to do their bidding

Denmark is stepping up security at the border with Sweden after a series of shootings involving alleged hitmen - several of whom turned out to be minors - who had arrived from its Nordic neighbor.

Speaking to the broadcaster TV2 on Friday, Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard described the situation as "serious," adding that the Danish authorities are ramping up the physical presence of law enforcement at the border, particularly on trains crossing the Oresund Strait that separates the two countries. Police are also increasingly using security cameras.

Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer described the new measures as a natural step. "It is new development that criminal groups operating in Denmark recruit contractors in Sweden. Of course, this is serious and we have a strong common interest... in stopping this," he said.

Comment: The article fits well under the category "Society's Child"

An article in a Danish media, Berlingske, reads if translated: Experts: Border control will not stop the 'Swedish child soldiers'

Another Danish article, this one from Ekstra Bladet has:
LTF's rivals: 'Strawberry', Unknownteam and Danish hash men
The Danish-Swedish alliance, which is believed to be behind a number of attacks over the spring and summer, is a motley group, Ekstra Bladet's research shows.
Ekstrabladet crime
By Camilla Marie Nielsen and Cecilia Erland
The Loyal to Familia gang, which was banned by the Supreme Court in 2021, is a well-documented case in the criminal underworld.

The other party, the Danish-Swedish alliance, which the police call an 'unnamed criminal group', is on the other hand a more diffuse size with actors in the Middle East, Sweden, southern Spain and Denmark. [...]
Denmark and Sweden have together about 17 million people. What goes on between these countries is probably what goes on within many countries with larger populations. To illustrate the point, the homicide rates in Denmark and Sweden are still around 1-1.1 per 100,000 inhabitants while in France it is 1.5, in the US it is above 6, in Brazil around 20, in Mexico 26, and South Africa 45. (Wiki link).

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Bizarro Earth

Best of the Web: 'Inconceivable depravity': Former BBC zoologist jailed for raping and torturing dogs

David Averre
Daily Mail
Mon, 12 Aug 2024 00:18 UTC
Adam Britton
© CopyrightAdam Britton (pictured) has been jailed for more than 10 years over his 'grotesque' depravity and cruelty towards dogs.
A crocodile expert and former BBC zoologist who filmed himself raping and torturing dogs has been jailed for more than 10 years in Australia for what a judge condemned as 'inconceivable depravity'.

Adam Robert Corden Britton was sentenced in Darwin Supreme Court on Thursday having pleaded guilty to 56 offences related to the torture and sexual exploitation of more than 42 dogs on his rural property.

The 53-year-old, who was born in West Yorkshire and earned a PhD in zoology from Bristol University before emigrating to Australia, was sentenced to 10 years and five months with a non-parole period of six years, backdated to his April 2022 arrest.

Chief Justice Michael Grant also ordered that the once-respected academic be banned from owning or having on his property mammal-type animals for the term of his natural life.

Comment: Hell is fast becoming empty:

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Post-It Note

Korybko: The Serbian gov't is inadvertently responsible for the latest color revolution intrigue

Andrew Korybko
korybko.substack.com/
Sun, 11 Aug 2024 23:20 UTC
riot tinto protests serbia
The problem is systemic and due to Serbia's "national model of democracy" that's taken root under Aleksandar Vucic during his decade in power as Prime Minister and now President.

The so-called "Bulldozer Revolution" that toppled the erstwhile Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 is considered to be the first Color Revolution even though the concept of weaponized protests predates that drama. It's for that reason why observers, especially those who support the emerging Multipolar World Order, take claims of another Color Revolution there very seriously. Such was the case over the past week after a Serbian newspaper warned about the opposition's plot to seize power on Saturday:

Comment: Unfortunately it may be that Vucic does actually have valid reason to be paranoid about every protest, because the West does appear to be hellbent on 'regime change' in Serbia:

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Sheriff

Bodycam footage shows enraged Butler cop saying he told Secret Service to cover warehouse used by shooter


Truth Press
Fri, 09 Aug 2024 20:35 UTC
bodycam trump assassination butler police
Still from Butler Police bodycam
'I f**king told them!'

Bodycam footage from local Pennsylvania police reveal that in the moments after last month's attempted assassination of Donald Trump, an officer says he told the Secret Service to cover the warehouse used by shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks.

"I f — ing told them that they needed to post guys f — ing over here...I told them that f — ing Tuesday," said a Butler Township officer in audio captured by his body-worn camera and obtained by the Wall Street Journal.

"I talked to the Secret Service guys. They're like, 'Yeah, no problem. We're going to post guys over here,'" the officer continues.

The footage paints a more complete picture of the anger and frustration moments after Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to fire eight shots at the former president from an AR-style assault rifle.
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Handcuffs

The Biden admin's political prisoners: 'Reduced to a pulse' - Jan. 6 defendant recounts prison treatment, DOJ's overreach

Kerry Picket
Washington Times
Mon, 29 Jul 2024 21:38 UTC
john strand jan 6 doj political prisoner
© AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-RhoadesJohn Strand speaks during an event hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 13, 2023
John Strand, Jan. 6 defendant, said he endured four months of solitary in federal prison

A Jan. 6 defendant said he spent four months in solitary confinement in federal prison, harsh conditions that could have been avoided in light of the Supreme Court's ruling that the Justice Department overreached when it charged hundreds of the U.S. Capitol defendants with felony obstruction.

John Strand, who was released early from prison last week, said federal prison officials in Miami locked him in solitary confinement for four months of his term over accusations ranging from publicly revealing online how far he had to walk to reach a computer, to helping other Jan. 6 defendants in prison receive support from outside groups.

"It's kind of like your entire existence is within a giant concrete shoe box," Mr. Strand, 39, said of the cell where he served his sentence at the Miami Federal Correctional Institution. "It's covered on all sides. There's supposed to be a window, there's usually some sliver of excuse for a window, but it's not much of a window to the outside, so it's almost windowless."

Comment:


The Biden Admin made its agenda clear regarding opposition right from the get-go:

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Star of David

Best of the Web: Nothing's changed since 1948 - except now Israel's excuses don't work

Jonathan Cook
jonathan-cook.net
Thu, 08 Aug 2024 21:23 UTC
We have been lied to for decades about the creation of Israel. It was born in sin, and it continues to live in sin
headline gaza evacuation order IDF
The headline above, about yet another Israeli operation to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians in the tiny, besieged and utterly destroyed enclave of Gaza, was published in yesterday's Middle East Eye.

When I began studying Israeli history more than a quarter of a century ago, people claiming to be experts proffered plenty of excuses to explain why Israelis should not be held responsible for the 1948 ethnic cleansing of some 750,000 Palestinians from their homes - what Palestinians call their Nakba, or Catastrophe.
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Skull

'I'm afraid of dying': How and why Ukrainian men hide from military service

Christine Sizova
RT
Thu, 08 Aug 2024 18:31 UTC
various people
Almost 30 months since Vladimir Zelensky banned males from leaving the country, many refuseniks are resorting to any means necessary to avoid army service.

Ukraine's general mobilization - announced in the spring of 2022 - changed the lives of thousands of military-age men. There are questions about the motivation levels of forced conscripts, yet Kiev desperately needs more troops in the combat zone. In an attempt to escape tightening mobilization laws, Ukrainian men are resorting to increasingly desperate measures: from donning strap-on breasts to risking their lives by crossing the border. Here, we look at the steps the Kiev authorities are taking to hunt down draft dodgers, and the risks many are willing to take to avoid being caught.

Tightening what looks more and more like a noose

After the start of Russia's military operation in February 2022, the Ukrainian authorities imposed martial law. General mobilization followed soon afterwards. The rights of a significant part of Ukraine's male population have been restricted ever since, including a ban on military-age men from leaving the country. However, in April of this year, the rules were further tightened, and the draft age was lowered from 27 to 25.

Moreover, a category describing people as having "limited fitness" for military service was abolished. A potential serviceman is now either "fit" or "unfit" for duty. This effectively means that the Ukrainian army is conscripting people who would be considered unfit for service in most parts of the world - such as those with HIV, chronic viral hepatitis, stage 1 hypertension, and even those with hearing problems and "neurotic mild mental disorders."
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Caesar

Russia begins stripping citizenship from draft-dodgers


TASS
Sat, 10 Aug 2024 18:23 UTC
miltiary draft russia
© Kirill Kukhmar/TASSThe document binds interior agencies to refer to the military register data about men who have been granted Russian citizenship before they take their citizenship oaths
Russia's Federation Council, or upper house of parliament, has approved a bill making amendments to the Law on Russian Citizenship, stipulating that any person dodging military registration will have their Russian citizenship revoked.

Under current law, persons can lose their Russian citizenship if they provide knowingly false information about his or her commitments to honor the Russian constitution and its laws, which constitutes a crime posing a threat to Russia's national security. The bill supplements this norm with a provision saying that non-observance of Russia's laws may include non-registering with a military commissariat.

Comment: This doesn't appear to be an issue with Russia struggling to find enough conscripts - as is the case with the Kiev-junta - instead it seems to be more about demonstrating one's commitment to Russia and its values; which, as the West's weaponised mass migrations shows, is critical for a proper functioning and cohesive society, and more so in our tumultuous times.

It's also worth bearing in mind, whilst Westerners are, understandably, rather averse to conscription, because it's now irrefutable that the wars being waged by their leaders are illegitimate, there are instances where the cause may indeed be righteous: Russia to increase troop number to 1.5 million in response 'external threats' - Shoigu

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