Welcome to Sott.net
Mon, 08 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Society's Child
Map

Question

New Jersey commuter train crash probe stymied as black box failed, conductor has no memory of event


RT
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 13:52 UTC
derailed train hoboken NJ
© Carlo Allegri / Reuters
A derailed New Jersey Transit train is seen under a collapsed roof after it derailed and crashed into the station in Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S. September 29, 2016.
The federal probe into last week's fatal crash of a New Jersey commuter train that killed one person and injured over 100 has turned up no leads, as the train's 20-year-old data recorder did not work and the conductor said he lost memory of the event.

New Jersey Transit's 1614 train on the Pascack Valley Line slammed into the Hoboken terminal on Thursday morning during rush hour, knocking over several support columns and causing the roof to cave in. Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, 34, was struck by the debris and died. More than 100 people, both on board the train and inside the station, suffered injuries.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were unable to get any information from the engine's data recorder, or black box, which was over 20 years old.

"Unfortunately, the event recorder was not functioning during this trip," NTSB Vice Chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr told reporters at a press conference Sunday.

Investigators are trying to retrieve the data recorder from the front car of the train, which is buried under the wreckage of the terminal building.

Comment: Commuter train crash at Hoboken, NJ terminal leaves up to 100 injured and reports of 3 dead

      Read More...
Eye 1

Surveillance state: Feds admit to monitoring license plates of gun show attendees


RT
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 12:28 UTC
gun show surveillance
© John Sommers II / Reuters
Federal agents tasked local law enforcement in Southern California with recording the registrations of cars attending at least one gun show. The surveillance has angered gun enthusiasts, who called the action a violation of the Second Amendment.

Agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) asked local law enforcement to use plate reading technology to record information on vehicles attending the gun show in Del Mar back in 2010.

Data was then cross checked with information on vehicles which crossed the Mexican border, around 37 miles south of Del Mar, in the hope of finding gun smugglers, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

ICE confirmed to WSJ that the activity took place and resulted in no investigations or arrests. The annual gun show at Del Mar, which attracts 9,000 people, is the only show where it was planned to take place, according to the emails seen by the WSJ.

Comment: The U.S. government is watching every move citizens make, so this shouldn't come as any big surprise.

      Read More...
Sherlock

Western cheats: WADA database reveals majority of "sick" athletes are from Exceptional nations

[Translated by Julia Rakhmetova]
Russia Insider
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 13:14 UTC
wada
Five batches of samples from the WADA database, released by Fancy Bear: 107 athletes from 23 countries in 29 sports

Between September 13th and 23rd, Fancy Bear released five batches of samples from the World Anti-Doping Agency database. The information on 107 athletes who tested positive for banned substances, was posted on the internet. However, for some reason, often medical, WADA allowed these athletes to take part in the competitions.

Most "sick" athletes are US or UK citizens - 23% and 22% correspondingly. They are followed by Canada (10%), Germany (8%), Australia (7%), Denmark (6%), Italy (5%) - 23 countries in total.
wada data
Twenty-nine sports are mentioned in the published data. The most often cited are swimming (19%), rowing (10%), track cycling (8%), field hockey (7%), tennis (6%), football (5%), athletics (5%) and mountain biking (4%).

Comment: Yesterday the hacker group Fancy Bears released even more names of athletes who tested positive for banned substances by WADA but were permitted to participate in the Olympics because of the "therapeutic use" exemption. The athletes given an exemption are primarily from Western countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Germany, France, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, Venezuela, South Africa and of course the USA. Rio 2016 Gold medal rower Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand is among those listed as testing positive for banned substances. It should be fairly clear at this point that the banning of Russian athletes at the Rio 2016 Olympics is a complete joke and had nothing to do with doping since everyone is doing it. The Russian ban was not about doping, but about the US propaganda effort to demonize Russia in any way possible.

See also:

      Read More...
Cardboard Box

Colombians narrowly reject FARC peace deal in shock referendum result: Turnout was just 38%

Hisham Aidi
Al Jazeera
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 12:48 UTC
colombia peace referendum

Urbanite Colombians cheer for more death and destruction.
The outcome of the referendum on the peace accord may be shocking but it is largely a result of domestic politics, argues Hisham Aidi

Just last week, western media was praising the Colombian peace agreement. Four years of negotiations in Cuba, commentators noted, had finally put an end to a 50-year conflict between the government and the left-wing rebel movement Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and involving various right-wing paramilitary groups and narco cartels that had claimed an estimated 200,000 lives, and displaced five million people.

The negotiators had hammered out a 300-page document, and on September 26, Colombian officials and FARC representatives signed an accord in Cartagena, in front of foreign dignitaries including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

When Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos and Rodrigo Londono, the leader of the FARC, shook hands, jets flew overhead trailing smoke in the yellow, blue and red of the Colombian flag. The upcoming referendum on the accord, pollsters predicted, would be a resounding "Yes".

Peace process in limbo

And yet on Sunday the pact was rejected - 50.21 percent to 49.78 percent, a difference of 53,894 votes - in a referendum that has thrown the peace process into limbo.

The result while shocking, is not inexplicable. The vote was largely a result of domestic politics.

Comment: The turnout was just 38%, so this result may not end the ceasefire.

      Read More...
Health

Pig sick: Deadly superbug found in British supermarket contaminated pork


RT
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 16:00 UTC
pork
© Simon Newman / Reuters
Tests have shown UK-produced pork products being sold in Asda and Sainsbury's supermarkets are contaminated with a deadly strain of superbug which can be resistant to even the strongest antibiotics.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) tested 97 pork products sold at the supermarkets and found three were contaminated with MRSA CC398 - a potentially deadly bacteria which can cause serious health problems.

The bug is less harmful to humans than the MRSA bug that kills about 300 people in hospitals in England and Wales each year, but is known to be responsible for at least six deaths in Denmark.

In Denmark, the MRSA CC398 is viewed as a public health crisis. Appearing over a decade ago, it now affects about two-thirds of pig farms, with 12,000 people believed to have contracted it.

Current regulations in British import regulations leave an "open door"for MRSA CC398-infected live pigs to arrive from places like Denmark, according to the Guardian.

The bug can be contracted from infected meat and animals, with workers on pig farms able to catch the disease and pass it on to other people. It can cause chronic infections and seriously harm people with compromised immune systems.

Comment: The rise in sales of critically important antibiotics is happening despite the fact it is now known that resistant forms of certain food poisoning illnesses, including campylobacter, and some variations of the superbug MRSA, are directly linked to antibiotic use on farms.

See also: Big Pharma's industrial waste is fueling the rise in superbugs worldwide

      Read More...
MIB

Suspended license leads to body cavity search

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 05:53 UTC
4 police horsemen
© John Lucas / Flikr
Kevin Campbell was driving his wife's new minivan home in June when he was targeted for revenue collection by Allen Park Police Officer Daniel Mack. The resultant stop would end with Mack kidnapping Campbell, throwing him in a cage, and forcefully penetrating his anus with his hand — all over a suspended license.

The incident began on June 7, 2016, when Campbell was stopped because Mack claimed his wife's new minivan's temporary license plate wasn't visible through the back glass.

Comment: A bit melodramatic? Perhaps, but how would the same events be reported if conducted by someone not in uniform?

      Read More...
Megaphone

'He was a patriot and the CIA turned on him': Poor medical care endangers Jeffrey Sterling in prison


RT
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 05:37 UTC
prison from outside
© Rick Wilking / Reuters

Prison officials have been reluctant to provide CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling with the necessary medical care. After a monthlong battle to allow him to see a cardiac specialist, the little treatment he has received is about to end.

It took an uphill battle against the Englewood Correctional Facility in Colorado for Jeffrey Sterling to receive outside medical treatment for a heart issue that he had before he arrived in the prison. But even after receiving it, he may have to keep fighting against the correctional facility that is responsible for keeping him alive.

Sterling is serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence after being found guilty under the Espionage Act in 2015. While incarcerated at the Englewood Correctional Facility in Colorado, he began experiencing heart issues that he described as feeling similar to atrial fibrillation (afib), a condition that left him hospitalized for four days in the past.
      Read More...
People 2

Protests shut down streets in DC to demand justice for Terrence Sterling


RT
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 05:29 UTC
DC Sterling Protest
© @AlexR_DC/Twitter

Terrence Sterling was an unarmed black motorist shot by a police officer who did not turn on his bodycam until after the shooting. The lack of footage has left many frustrated and protesters have taken to Washington DC's streets to demand accountability from the police.

Over 200 protesters have shut down several streets in Washington. They began their protests at 3rd and M Street where Sterling was killed on September 11. Plans to protest on Monday were announced by DC Black Lives Matter on their Twitter page.

The demonstrators are demanding that Officer Brian Trainer, 27, be arrested and held accountable for the death of Terrence Sterling. So far, no arrests have been reported and the protests have remained peaceful and concentrated in downtown DC.
      Read More...
Jet5

Trump insults military vets with PTSD, calling them 'not strong'


RT
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 05:06 UTC
trump speaking
© Mike Segar / Reuters
The Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, told an audience of military veterans that those members who developed mental health issues did so because they were not "strong" and "can't handle it." The comments prompted a massive backlash on Twitter.

"When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat, they see things that maybe a lot of folks in this room have seen many times over. And you're strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can't handle it," the five-time Vietnam draft deferrer Donald Trump told an audience of military veterans at an event in northern Virginia on Monday. "And they see horror stories, they see events that you couldn't see in a movie - nobody would believe it."

Those remarks started a volley of tweets.
      Read More...
People

Colombian referendum result defies predictions: FARC peace deal rejected

Natalie Piri
Council on Hemispheric Affairs
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC
Colombia No + FARC.
© Flickr
No + FARC.
After nearly four years of negotiations between leaders of the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the results of the "people's referendum" have been announced. In a shocking result, the citizens of Colombia have spoken out, with 50.24 percent voted against the peace accord.[i]

The announcement of the vote has created a sense of confusion; how Colombia could have rejected a deal that would have put an end to the 52-year conflict? The numbers show the 'no' campaign winning by the slimmest of margins, with only a small percentage separating the two sides.[ii]

Four years of negotiations appeared to have culminated on August 24 with the announcement of the peace deal. At a public ceremony in Cuba, Humberto de la Calle, head of the Colombian delegation, and Ivan Marquez, chief FARC negotiator, signed the historic agreement. On September 26, the accord was once again signed, this time in Cartagena by President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC commander Timochenko as crowds looked onward and the streets of Colombia broke into celebrations. Throughout the entire process both President Santos and ex-president Uribe led fierce campaigns for and against the agreement respectively. Santos begged Colombians to be rational and see the bigger picture, whereas Uribe, playing to the hearts of the people, urged voters to not simply forgive and forget. Opinion polls taken during the weeks building up to the referendum continuously predicted a "yes" landslide, with a comfortable 66% called just before the election.[iii] President Santos, who has staked his political career on this peace process, believed that his campaign would soon claim victory and peace could finally fall over Colombia.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts