Society's ChildS


Biohazard

UK acid attack epidemic: Scottish schoolgirl jailed for attacking fellow student with acid hidden in viola case


RT
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 15:06 UTC
acid attack scotland
Emily Bowen, left, and the victim, Molly Young.
Teenager Emily Bowen, now 18, poured One Shot drain cleaner into a viola case owned by Molly Young after she discovered the girl had started dating her former boyfriend.

The instrument was destroyed and Young was severely injured when she pulled her viola case from a shelf and the liquid poured over her legs, the Times reports. She was left "screaming in pain" as the acid burnt her clothes and skin at Knox Academy in Haddington, East Lothian.

Bowen, appearing for sentencing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday, admitted recklessly and culpably pouring sulphuric acid into a viola case in the knowledge that it would be removed from a shelf by the victim, causing her injury and permanent disfigurement, on September 18.

Sheriff Michael O'Grady, QC, said he had no other option but to jail her for 21 months for the "utterly wicked"attack. He also imposed a five-year non-harassment order.

Comment: Two British public school girls, and not a Muslim in sight. Where are they getting this from? Western TV 'culture'? The American cult TV show, Breaking Bad, for example, has come up in court cases in the US and Europe, apparently inspiring dozens of murders.

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Handcuffs

Inmates seize area of Arkansas maximum security prison 3 prison guards trapped


Rt
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 14:53 UTC
prison fence
Six inmates trapped three correctional officers inside an area of an Arkansas maximum security prison after they stole keys in the Tucker Unit and took over control of the doors.

The incident occurred at about 3:30pm in Arkansas' Tucker Unit prison on Monday, according to Arkansas Department of Corrections public information officer Solomon Graves.

By 6:30pm, all prison staff had been released, and at 6:45 pm, the situation was fully resolved, according to KTHV.

At 6:50pm, a prison spokesman told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the prison was "in the process of returning to normal operation."
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Card - VISA

US consumer credit card debt balloons to $1.02 trillion, an all-time high


RT
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 14:53 UTC
credit cards
© Maxim Zmeyev / Reuters
American consumers have accumulated $1.02 trillion of debt on their credit cards as of June, according to the US Federal Reserve. This is more than the record set just before the 2008 financial crisis.

US household debt balances were $12.73 trillion in March 2017, compared to the 2008 peak of $12.68 trillion.

This happens as banks continue to invite clients to sign up for cards in the era of low-interest rates.

In the first quarter of the year, more than 171 million consumers had access to credit cards backed by major banks. Credit cards in the US have never been so easy to obtain.

"This record should serve as a wake-up call to Americans to focus on their credit card debt," said Matt Schulz, a senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com, an industry website.

"Even if you feel your debt is manageable right now, know that you could be one unexpected emergency away from real trouble."
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Attention

How big is too big? Amazon bid to purchase Whole Foods sparks antitrust concerns

Ángel González
The Seattle Times
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 14:15 UTC
amazon whole foods
© Elaine Thompson/The Associated PressPedestrians walk past a Whole Foods Market just down the street from the headquarters of Amazon in Seattle. Amazon, already a powerhouse in a number of markets, will bind its customers even more closely once it completes its $13.7 billion bid for the organic grocery store Whole Foods.
Amazon's bid to acquire Whole Foods has sparked political concerns and prompted policymakers and legal experts to ask: How big is too big?

Amazon.com, America's fifth-largest company by market value, is still growing like an adolescent and planting flags in new markets. That is prompting some policymakers and legal experts to ask: How big is too big?

It's a key issue for an economy being rapidly reshaped by e-commerce, a sector where Amazon and the merchants operating on its platform account for up to a third of all U.S. sales, according to some estimates.

It's also critical for Seattle, a city that has hitched its wagon to the e-commerce titan, and that once saw another local champion, Microsoft, mired in a lengthy antitrust battle. That fight, over Microsoft keeping a rival internet browser off PCs running Windows, almost led to the split-up of the Redmond software giant.

E-commerce is not Amazon's only game. It also dominates cloud computing, and it may soon have a significant brick-and-mortar presence, with its pending acquisition of Whole Foods Market. The unexpected $13.7 billion deal announced in June spurred an outcry among critics of the company and some members of Congress who asked the Federal Trade Commission to take a close look at the deal.
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Brick Wall

People fuming at Australian city council that bans building of new synagogue citing fears of attracting terrorism

Beth Baumann
The Blaze
Sun, 06 Aug 2017 10:16 UTC
new synagogue Australia
© Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesThe Bondi City Council in Australia voted against building a new synagogue in the area because of potential terrorist threats.
The Jewish community in Bondi, Australia, was shocked after the city council denied the construction of a new synagogue. According to the council, having a synagogue less than a mile from Bondi's famous beaches could pose a terrorist threat to local residents and tourists.

Even more shocking to them was the Land and Environment Court's decision on Wednesday to uphold Bondi's ruling.

According to Jewish leaders, Bondi's decision stripped Jews of their right to freely practice their religion.

"The decision is unprecedented," Rabbi Yehoram Ulman told news.com.au. "Its implications are enormous. It basically implies that no Jewish organization should be allowed to exist in residential areas. It stands to stifle Jewish existence and activity in Sydney and indeed, by creating a precedent, the whole of Australia, and by extension rewarding terrorism."

Comment: While it seems that the Bondi city council is taking things a bit far in preventing the construction of a new synagogue, maybe Jewish leaders would do better to send their letter of complaint to Israel's Mossad and aligned intelligence agencies of the US, UK and Saudi Arabia for false-flagging and fostering the mentioned climate of fear, paranoia to begin with. Now that would be laying blame for this situation more correctly (for all the good that would do).

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Brick Wall

Conservative profs are being 'blown off' by supposed academic freedom advocates

Anthony Gockowski
Campus Reform
Wed, 02 Aug 2017 03:34 UTC
refuse help yes no
  • The American Association of University Professors claims to champion academic freedom, but many conservative (or just non-liberal) professors say the organization has ignored their plights.
  • While the AAUP has rushed to put out statements defending embattled liberal professors, numerous conservative professors say they have been "blown off" by the AAUP when they faced threats to their own academic freedom.
The American Association of University Professors claims to champion academic freedom, but many conservative (or just non-liberal) professors say the organization has ignored their plights.

The AAUP, founded in 1915 and now one of the most prominent higher-ed trade associations, boasts that it has a tradition of challenging institutions that "violate norms of academic freedom," even offering a series of grants for professors impacted by "threats to academic freedom."

"In the aftermath of [Trump's] election, it has become evident that his election poses a grave threat to the principles that lie at the very heart of the AAUP: academic freedom, shared governance, and economic security for those engaged in teaching and research in higher education," AAUP President Rudy Fichtenbaum declared at his organization's 2017 annual meeting.

And while the AAUP has lent a helping hand to conservative professors such as Mike Adams, who successfully sued his employer after being denied a promotion on the basis of his political views, such cases appear to fall few and far between, so much so that some scholars have dubbed the organization a "politicized guild."
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Cow

Russia's Trade Envoy: US loses over $2bn annually to Russia's embargo on Western food imports


Sputnik
Mon, 07 Aug 2017 22:33 UTC
Alexander Stadnik
© Sputnik/ Eugene Odinokov
The US economy has lost approximately $2.25 billion since Russia imposed an embargo on the import of Western products three years ago and the deficit may reach up to $2.2 billion annually, Russia's Trade Envoy Alexander Stadnik told Sputnik on Monday.

"US experts estimate direct losses for American economy from Russia's countermeasures are nearly $2.25 billion [in three years], while the lost opportunity for export growth for banned products can lead to deficit between $ 1.8 and $2.2 billion a year," Stadnik said.

On August 6, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order imposing an embargo on food and agricultural supplies from the United States, Australia and European Union countries in response to Western sanctions against Russia. The list of banned foods includes poultry, fish, beef, fruit, vegetables and milk.
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Propaganda

The NYT's grim depiction of Russian life is misleading

Gilbert Doctorow
Consortium News
Mon, 07 Aug 2017 20:32 UTC
A busy tourist scene in St. Petersburg, Russia
© Robert ParryA busy tourist scene in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Our five-week stay at our home in the Russian countryside was approaching its conclusion when I got an email from a friend in France asking me to comment on an article in The New York Times entitled "Russia's Villages, and Their Way of Life, Are 'Melting Away'."

The article surely met the expectations of its editors by painting a grim picture of decline and fall of the Russian countryside in line with what the author sees as very unfavorable demographic trends in the Russian Federation as a whole. The fact that his own statistics do not justify the generalization (a net population loss of a few thousand deaths over live births in 2016 for a population of 146 million) does not get in the way of the paint-by-color canvas. Nor does the author explain why what he has observed in a village off the beaten track in Northwest Russia, in precisely the still poor region of Pskov, gives an accurate account of country life across the vast territory of Russia, the world's largest nation-state.

As the author notes, the main source of income from the land of the town he visited was - in the past - linen. That cultivation turned unprofitable and was discontinued. Consequently, the able-bodied part of the population has been looking for employment and making their lives elsewhere (a process internal migration common all over the world, including the United States).

The author fails to mention that linen production is not a major agricultural indicator in Russia today, whereas many other crops are booming. Linen goes into the lovely traditional handicraft tablecloths and napkins sold to tourists at riverboat landings, and that is the extent of demand.
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Lemon

When crooked govts collapse they rob the people - Chicago's Cook County imposes 'sweetened beverage' tax

Jack Burns
Free Thought Project
Mon, 07 Aug 2017 18:08 UTC
soda tax chicago
© The Free Thought Project
Cook County could lose up to 25 percent of its retail sales, as citizens move their purchases to neighboring counties, in order to avoid the newly implemented "soda tax."

When Chicago implemented a new tax on soft drinks, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association responded with a lawsuit arguing that the tax should be overturned because it would hurt sales. While the lawsuit failed, the county is now reportedly retaliating against IRMA to the tune of $17 million.

According to a report from Chicago Tonight, "The county is looking for some payback from those suing to stop the new sweetened beverage tax." Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's office confirmed that it is suing IRMA for "damages" brought about by their lawsuit. At issue is the county's contention the lawsuit delayed the county's ability to rake in taxes hand over fist from the consumption of soda.

Comment: The author's stance on the hypocrisy of taxing an already burdened population for a commodity many consider essential, all to shore up a failing government's budget are understandable.

Still it is amazing how one can be up in arms about taxing a true health hazard like soda, but not a peep about the equally onerous taxes on tobacco, which (if you can find the studies) has been shown to have many health benefits.

The Health & Wellness Show: The Truth about Tobacco and the Benefits of Nicotine

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Gold Bar

Payment in gold bullion banned under new UK law to combat tax evasion

Rupert Neate
The Guardian
Mon, 07 Aug 2017 20:12 UTC
gold bars
© Bloomberg via Getty Images
Panel set up by former chancellor George Osborne issues first ruling to fight 'artificial and abusive' avoidance schemes.

Companies will no longer be able to pay employees their salaries in gold bullion in the first use of a new law designed to combat "morally repugnant" tax avoidance schemes.

An expert tax avoidance panel has ruled that paying employees in gold is a "contrived" tax avoidance scheme designed to "frustrate the intent of parliament" in cracking down on such practices.

It is the first application of the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) panel since it was introduced by former chancellor George Osborne in 2013 as part of a package of measures to tackle tax evasion.
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