Society's ChildS


Car Black

Staggering cost of next-gen Armata tank made Russian army look for cheaper alternatives - Deputy PM


RT
Tue, 31 Jul 2018 15:30 UTC
Russian Armata tank
© Maxim ShemetovA Russian Armata tank before a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade, May 5, 2016
The cutting-edge T-14 Armata tank turned out to be too costly for the Russian army which now has to look at cheaper alternatives like the modernized version of time-tested T-72, a high-ranked government official acknowledged.

The T-14 Armata tank, a technological marvel of Russian military industry, is anything but affordable for the army, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told reporters on Monday. He admitted the Russian military will not be able to purchase the tanks en masse due to their staggering cost.
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Light Sabers

Portland ICE union claims mayor's office violated Constitution by refusing to protect them against harassers


RT
Tue, 31 Jul 2018 15:23 UTC
Photo from Occupy ICE PDX Facebook page
Photo from Occupy ICE PDX Facebook page
Portland mayor's office violated the US Constitution by telling police not to interfere with a protest against federal immigration policies, a letter sent by their union said.

For over five weeks since mid-June people in Portland have been protesting against the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). City authorities refused to get involved, with Mayor Ted Wheeler, who also serves as police commissioner, saying his officers will not be "sucked into a conflict" and "bailout" ICE, an agency that he believed was "on the wrong track". At the peak of the protest the immigration agency's local office was shut down. The protest finally ended on July 25, with the police later clearing the protesters' camp.

Portland newspaper Willamette Weeksaid local ICE officers claimed that city police failed to respond to two calls by his colleagues, who asked for help after being harassed by protesters. One call came from one ICE employee's apartment, where protesters showed up after following his truck.
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Red Flag

UK gov't backing plan to bury radioactive waste under national parks


RT
Tue, 31 Jul 2018 15:20 UTC
lake district
© Wikipedia
UK officials could soon begin burying radioactive waste under some of the country's national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty, according to new plans backed by the British government.

Nuclear waste is currently being stored at above-ground facilities across the UK but it is hoped that deep geological burials will provide a long-term solution to the problem of mounting leftovers. The plans were published in January but have now been bolstered by the support of MPs on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee.

Areas reportedly under consideration are the Lake District national park, which is located near the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria.

Labour MP and committee chairperson Rachel Reeves said the group had decided against excluding national parks from becoming potential burial sites. "It is right for safety matters to prevail over environmental concerns in this case," she said.
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Stock Down

Five biggest tech companies, 'FAANG stocks', could lose at least a third of value, market watcher warns

Keris Lahiff
CNBC
Tue, 31 Jul 2018 08:15 UTC
FAANG stocks
Wall Street's crown jewels, the FAANG stocks, have lost their shine lately.

Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google parent Alphabet are selling off again Monday after losing a combined $185 billion over the previous two sessions.

Ahead of Apple earnings scheduled for Tuesday evening, Larry McDonald, editor of the Bear Traps Report, warns to stay away from what has been one of the hottest areas of the market this year.

Comment: Could investors finally be realizing that many of the hyped-up tech superstars on the stock market don't actually make any money?

See also:

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Red Flag

British MPs call for German-style law to force social media companies to block hate speech

Laurence Dodds
The Telegraph
Sat, 28 Jul 2018 16:06 UTC
cell phone apps
© PA
A new German law designed to crack down on hate speech has prompted Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to delete tens of thousands of offensive videos and posts, according to new statistics.

The new figures will serve as a boost for British campaigners urging tough new steps to combat fake news on hate speech on social media platforms.

MPs have called for the UK to copy the new German law, which regulates social media companies, after new statistics suggested it had significantly curbed online hate speech and abuse.

Comment: The right thing to do is rather murky in this case, one of the main reasons being that the term "hate speech" is so poorly defined. The fact that the burden is being put on the social media companies to define and enforce censorship of "hate speech" is extremely problematic as it seems inevitable that people's right to free speech will be infringed upon (assuming they live in an area that grants the right to free speech). The online world is still in the wild west phase, and its difficult to navigate these issues, but it seems like the politicians are simply passing the buck of responsibility onto the likes of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to avoid having to deal with it themselves.

See also:

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Newspaper

Pew Research Center: US newsroom employment dropped nearly 23% in less than 10 years - newspapers most affected

Elizabeth Grieco
Pew Research Center
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 12:35 UTC
The death of newspapers
© thehiddenrorschach.blogspot
Newsroom employment declined
© Pew Research Center
Newsroom employment across the United States continues to decline, driven primarily by job losses at newspapers. And even though digital-native news outlets have experienced some recent growth in employment, too few newsroom positions were added to make up for recent losses in the broader industry, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics survey data.

From 2008 to 2017, newsroom employment in the U.S. dropped by 23%. In 2008, about 114,000 newsroom employees - reporters, editors, photographers and videographers - worked in five industries that produce news: newspaper, radio, broadcast television, cable and "other information services" (the best match for digital-native news publishers). By 2017, that number declined to about 88,000, a loss of about 27,000 jobs.

This decline in overall newsroom employment was driven primarily by one sector: newspapers. Newspaper newsroom employees dropped by 45% over the period, from about 71,000 workers in 2008 to 39,000 in 2017.

Comment: No doubt that the main cause of this phenomenon is the rise of digital news outlets. But could it also be a consequence of the rise of the 'citizen journalist'? Anyone with an Internet connection can report and analyze on the news. What is interesting is that the audience is choosing these online reports over traditional newspapers. So does this mean that people are telling newspapers that they have failed in delivering honest, critical and professional journalism? Could traditional outlets save their businesses by giving up their fake news practices they are so much addicted to?

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Key

Spain: Taxi strike in protest against Uber brings chaos to major cities

Paul Day and Mark Heinrich
Reuters
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 12:24 UTC
Taxi strike Spain
© Reuters / Susana VeraParked taxis block a section of Paseo de la Castellana, one of Madrid's main avenues, during a strike against what they say is unfair competition from ride-hailing and car-sharing services such as Uber and Cabify in Madrid, Spain, July 30, 2018.
Spanish taxi drivers blocked major city streets including Barcelona's Gran Via and Madrid's Castellana on Monday in a protest to pressure the government to curb licences to online ride-hailing services such as Uber.

Union representatives were due to meet officials of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government later in the day to try to resolve the dispute, in which taxi drivers have choked main roads and snarled airports, bus and train stations since Saturday.

Along with counterparts in many other European countries, Spain's taxi drivers say that ride-hailing apps have made it impossible to compete.
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Георгиевская ленточка

Tired of low wages, 11,000 officers leave Ukrainian Army

Eduard Popov
Fort Russ
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 12:07 UTC
Ukranian soldiers
Disappointing news for Ukrainian militarists has arrived: between January and June 2018, 11,000 officers and contract soldiers were discharged from or quit the Ukrainian Armed Forces. These figures have been unveiled by Ukrainian Military Pages, which has cited reports from Ukraine's Ministry of Defense.

According to these figures, by the end of 2018, the Ukrainian Armed Forces might not even number 18,000 servicemen. The main reason for this exodus, or more precisely for 36% of all dismissals, is low pay for military service. Due to mass lay-offs, Ukraine's defense ministry has been compelled to increase the cash minimum starting October 1st 2018, for which approximately 4.5 billion Hryvnia from Kiev's bankrupt budget will have to be allocated to pay for the cash collateral in the second half of 2018.

This report only surprises people who are not familiar with the problem that is the Ukrainian military. Ukrainian military blogs and opposition media have long been drawing attention to this issue. For example, Apostrof, a publication close to the Nazi street movements, last fall published an interview with Azov leader Andrey Biletsky, who claimed that around a third of officers had been let go from from the "Anti-Terrorist Operation" (Ukraine's jingoism for its war on Donbass, which is now termed Operation United Forces).

Comment: Of course, if pathological personalities take over the state apparatus via an illegal coup, then the process of ponerization will naturally lead to the deterioration and collapse of state institutions - such as the armed forces. To put it differently, who in their right mind would like to do the job of neo-nazi nut-jobs for a pitiful pay?

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Attention

SPLC co-founder accused of trying to molest step-daughter with sex toy, court docs reveal

Peter D'Abrosca
Big League Politics
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 11:42 UTC
Morris Dees SPLC
Morris Dees
A recently-uncovered court document from the divorce proceedings of a prominent Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) figure alleges horrific conduct on behalf of one of the most influential lawyers in America.

Maureene Dees, ex-wife of SPLC co-founder Morris Dees filed for divorce on March 8, 1979 after a decade-long marriage marred by difficulties, according to an appellant brief obtained by Big League Politics. The brief was filed by Maury Smith, Julia S. Waters and Charles M. Crook, attorneys for Maureene, in the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals:

Comment: Is it any wonder a radical leftist non-profit would have a pervert at the helm? That Dees could head an institution that supposedly fights for women's rights, yet at the same time try to molest and exploit a barely-of-age girl in his care is simultaneously jaw-dropping in its hypocrisy, yet not at all surprising. These people are sick.

More on this wonderful, philanthropic non-profit:

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Bullseye

Venker: Feminism is the last thing in the world boys need

Suzanne Venker
Washington Examiner
Tue, 31 Jul 2018 11:37 UTC
woman hugging child
© iStock PhotoFeminism has contributed to boys not having fathers, which is the root of their problems, Suzanne Venker writes.
The sheer degree of havoc feminists cause never ceases to amaze me, nor does their arrogance and condescension. In a ridiculous piece in the The New York Times titled "What Feminists Can Do for Boys," feminist author Jessica Valenti claims that those who share her ideology can help boys become men.

I cannot think of a more preposterous argument. Feminism is a major cause of the predicament boys and men now face. In what world could it be the remedy?

Comment:

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