Society's ChildS


Marijuana

Mexico's highest court declares marijuana prohibition unconstitutional


RT
Fri, 02 Nov 2018 21:13 UTC
cannabis
© Anthony Bolante/Reuters
The ban on marijuana use in Mexico has been declared unconstitutional by the supreme court, raising hopes that one day the drug might be legalized and available for commercial sale.

The historic ruling ruling was handed down on Wednesday in two individual cases concerning personal use of marijuana. It brings the number of similar rulings to five, with the highest court now ordering that Mexico's Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risk enable people to take the drug.

The ruling found that "adults have a fundamental right to personal development which lets them decide their recreational activities without interference from the state," according to the Associated Press.

"That right is not absolute, and the consumption of certain substances may be regulated, but the effects provoked by marijuana do not justify an absolute prohibition of its consumption," the supreme court added, according to reports.

Comment: The prohibition of cannabis (marijuana) was a policy concocted by the US which it demanded its 'allies' follow, but now with legalization in Canada, and increasingly throughout the US and Europe, it makes sense that Mexico would follow suit: Also check out SOTT radio's: The Health & Wellness Show: The Highs and Lows of Cannabis as Medicine

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Arrow Up

Wall Street Journal notes that the price of everything is about to go up

Daisy Luther
The Organic Prepper
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 00:00 UTC
inlflation
We've been pretty lucky over the last ten years in terms of inflation, which has remained at about 2%. However, if the Wall Street Journal is correct, our luck is about to run out.

The price of just about everything is set to increase in the coming months. Part of this is because manufacturers and suppliers are facing rising costs, just like the rest of us.
Airlines are paying about 40% more for jet fuel than they were a year ago. Trucking costs were up 7% annually in September, as trucking companies passed along their own higher labor costs. Private-sector wages and salaries in the September-ended quarter rose 3.1% from a year earlier, the strongest gain since 2008, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturers are paying roughly 8% more for aluminum and 38% more for steel than a year ago as the industry adjusts to tariffs the Trump administration levied on imports of those metals. Also, a 10% tariff the administration imposed in September on $200 billion worth of various goods from China is weighing on businesses that buy those imports. (source)
With that being the case, it isn't surprising that those costs will be passed on to consumers.

Comment: And then there's the stark possibility of hyperinflation occurring in the not-too-distant future:

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Quenelle - Golden

India's farmers plan mass march to national parliament to call attention to neo-liberal-caused agrarian crisis reaching 'civilization proportions', suicide of over 300,000

Colin Todhunter
Dissident Voice
Tue, 30 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Indian farmers protest
With over 800 million people, rural India is arguably the most interesting and complex place on the planet. And yet it is also one of the most neglected in terms of both investment and media coverage. Veteran journalist and founder of the People's Archive of Rural India P. Sainath argues that the majority of Indians do not count to the nation's media, which renders up to 75 percent of the population 'extinct'.

According to the Centre for Media Studies in Delhi, the five-year average of agriculture reporting in an Indian national daily newspaper equals 0.61 percent of news coverage, while village-level stories account for 0.17 percent. For much of the media, whether print or TV, celebrity, IT, movements on the stock exchange and the daily concerns of elite and urban middle class dwellers are what count.

Unlike the corporate media, the digital journalism platform the People's Archive of Rural India has not only documented the complexity and beauty of rural India but also its hardships and the all too often heartbreaking personal stories that describe the impacts of government policies which have devastated lives, livelihoods and communities.
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Pumpkin 2

'I'm not a vampire,' says billionaire Peter Thiel after years of blood transfusions from young donors


RT
Fri, 02 Nov 2018 19:12 UTC
Peter Thiel
© AFP / Michael Cohen
PayPal co-founder and Donald Trump donor Peter Thiel has denied partaking in life-extension therapies involving blood transfusions from young donors, saying he is in fact "not a vampire," lest anyone have any lingering doubts.

Speaking to an audience at the New York Times Dealbook conference, Thiel insisted that he has never injected himself with the blood of a younger person in an effort to extend his own life.
I want to publicly tell you that I'm not a vampire. On the record, I am not a vampire.
Questions have plagued Thiel about his interest in life-extension therapies for years. In 2016, the now-defunct Gawker website claimed that it had received an unverified tip that the billionaire spends $40,000 per quarter to receive an "infusion of blood from an 18-year-old based on research conducted at Stanford on extending the lives of mice."
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Bullseye

'Last stop!': Paris bus driver kicks everyone off bus for not making room for wheelchair user


RT
Fri, 02 Nov 2018 16:59 UTC
Man in wheelchair
© Facebook / François Le BerreFrancois Le Berre told passengers that "everyone might need a wheelchair one day”.
A Paris bus driver is being hailed as a hero after he expelled all passengers on board his vehicle because no one would make room for a wheelchair user.

The incident took place in mid-October but has gone viral in recent days, with unnamed the driver receiving plaudits from around the world after the story received widespread media coverage.

Francois Le Berre, who uses a wheelchair as a result of his multiple sclerosis, waited for passengers already on board the bus to make room. When no one would oblige, the driver took the drastic action of kicking everyone off.

"Last stop! Everyone out!" he reportedly shouted, as cited by RTL, before turning to Francois and saying, "You come on, they can wait for the next one."
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Star of David

Israeli military's violent harassment of Palestinian family at home

B'Tselem
Mondoweiss
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 00:00 UTC
Torture by IDF
© B'TselemAlaa Karamah injured ear • Samir Karamah • Zuheir Karamah
Hanaa (39) and Jamal (49) Karamah live with their six children - Jamil (20), Jannah (19), 'Othman (16), Baraah (13), Muamen (10) and Tasnim (5) - in Wadi Abu Katilah, in the northwestern part of the city of Hebron. The neighborhood is located in Area H1, ostensibly under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Between 25 August and 20 September 2018, soldiers showed up at the family's home in the middle of the night on four different occasions.

On 25 August 2018, soldiers arrived at the Karamahs' home at 1:30 A.M. They handed the parents a summons to appear for an ISA (Israel Security Agency) interrogation the next day, and took a photo of Jamal Karamah holding the summons. The soldiers also demanded to photograph Hanaa Karamah with the summons, but she refused and they relented. The next night, after neither parent appeared for the interrogation, soldiers arrived at the home at around ten o'clock. This time, the soldiers assaulted members of the family, searched the home, turning it upside down, and then arrested Jamal Karamah and confiscated the family car. Shortly after they left the house, friends of the family told them the soldiers had abandoned their car after it broke down. Jamal Karamah was held in custody until 30 August 2018. About ten days after his release, soldiers once again arrived at the family home and once again confiscated the car.

On 19 September 2018, at around 11:30 at night, Jamal Karamah received a phone call from a man who introduced himself as an ISA officer and demanded to know why he and his wife had not appeared for interrogation as required in the summons they were given on 25 August 2018. When Karamah said he was willing to undergo an interrogation, but his wife would not come to the ISA office, the officer told him soldiers would come to the family home that same night to arrest his wife. Dozens of soldiers showed up at the home shortly before dawn. The events that unfolded were exceedingly severe even for the routine violence West Bank residents are subjected to.

Comment: The IDF is a hotbed for psychopathic behavior with no apparent restraints, reinforced with every incident, every victim. See also:

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USA

Migrants sue the Trump administration claiming a violation of Fifth Amendment rights of due process

Edmund DeMarche & Amy Lieu
Fox News
Fri, 02 Nov 2018 17:32 UTC
migrant caravan
© AP
A dozen migrants traveling by foot from Honduras to the U.S. to seek asylum filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday against President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security and others, claiming a violation of their due process under the Fifth Amendment.

The Fifth Amendment states that, "no person... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

A recent PBS report cited former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who ruled in 1993 case that "it is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law in a deportation proceeding."

Twelve Honduran nationals, including six children, are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The suit, which was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., said it is widely known that Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are "undergoing a well-documented human rights crisis." The lawsuit also claims that the plaintiffs' right to the Administrative Procedures Act and the Declaratory Judgement Act were being infringed upon.
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Attention

Respected historian and journalist William Blum of 'Anti-Empire Report' needs help

Theodore Sayeed
Mondoweiss
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 17:23 UTC
William Blum
William Blum
The historian and critic of US foreign policy William Blum has been in failing health for some time. 85 years old, he suffers from kidney failure and is on dialysis. Over two weeks ago he sustained a serious fall at his apartment in the Washington, D.C., area and was rushed to the hospital after a friend discovered him still lying where he fell two days after his injury.

Below is a letter from family notifying readers of his newsletter, the Anti-Empire Report, by email why it has missed publication this month and detailing the extent of his medical injuries:

Comment: William Blum has been for decades, an articulate, passionate voice against the Empire. If you are able to support him, please do so at his website.

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Star of David

BDS supporter Susan Abulhawa detained indefinitely at Ben Gurion airport pending deportation appeal

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 00:00 UTC
Susan Abulhawa
© Dorthe KarlsenSusan Abulhawa

Update, Nov. 2: Overnight, a judge ruled that Susan Abulhawa should be deported. Abulhawa is appealing the decision. Her associates do not know when that appeal will be heard. She is due to speak at the Palestine Literature Festival tomorrow.

Original post, Nov. 1: The Palestinian-American writer Susan Abulhawa was detained at Ben Gurion airport this morning as she entered Israel en route to a literary festival in Palestine. Israeli authorities sought to deport her on the grounds that she did not have a visa. She has appealed the deportation and is in a detention center, according to a friend who has spoken with Abulhawa's lawyer.

Abulhawa, 48, is scheduled to appear at the Palestinian Literature Festival, November 3-7. She is a guest of the British Council, a sponsor of the festival. The Council has stood by her throughout the deportation attempt, says her friend Linda Hanna. The Kenyon Institute, a British research group, is also representing Abulhawa.

Abulhawa is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS). Israel has said that it will prevent supporters of BDS from entering the country. Hanna says that Abulhawa was not asked political questions when she was detained. Rather, Israeli authorities noted that she had been deported from Israel three years ago and said she therefore should have obtained a visa before attempting to enter the country again. Abulhawa was not aware of such a rule, Hanna said.

Comment: Israel in fear of exposure: Dirty tactics against BDS

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Fire

Massive fire breaks out at restaurant near Saudi embassy in London with unconfirmed reports of explosions


RT
Fri, 02 Nov 2018 15:31 UTC
Restaurant fire near Saudi Embassy in London 11.2.2018
© Twitter: @HappyHumanistUKRestaurant near Saudi Embassy in London ablaze
A massive blaze has broken out at a restaurant near the Saudi Arabian embassy in London. Members of the public reported hearing explosions, but the fire brigade could not confirm the reports, according to The Telegraph.

The London Fire Brigade say forty firefighters have been sent to the blaze, in Chesterfield Street, Mayfair, after a 999 call was made at 9.17am on Friday. The fire was under control at 10.47am.

They say the fire is at a restaurant with flats above in Curzon Street in Mayfair - adding "the restaurant's extraction system from ground to third floor is alight."

Images posted on social media showed a terraced building adjacent to the Saudi embassy engulfed in flames with the fire brigade tending to it.
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