Society's Child

Record numbers of Japanese dying from overwork as greedy employers squeeze the life out of them

Stanley White
Yahoo News
Sun, 03 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC

Japan is witnessing a record number of compensation claims related to death from overwork, or "karoshi", a phenomenon previously associated with the long-suffering "salary man" that is increasingly afflicting young and female employees.

Labor demand, with 1.28 jobs per applicant, is the highest since 1991, which should help Prime Minister Shinzo Abe draw more people into the workforce to counter the effect of a shrinking population, but lax enforcement of labor laws means some businesses are simply squeezing more out of employees, sometimes with tragic consequences.

Claims for compensation for karoshi rose to a record high of 1,456 in the year to end-March 2015, according to labor ministry data, with cases concentrated in healthcare, social services, shipping and construction, which are all facing chronic worker shortages.

Hiroshi Kawahito, secretary general of the National Defense Counsel for Victims of karoshi, said the real number was probably 10 times higher, as the government is reluctant to recognize such incidents.

A sign of the times: Depressing survey results show how extremely stupid America has become

Michael Snyder
Economic Collapse Blog
Tue, 29 Mar 2016 13:07 UTC

Ten years ago, a major Hollywood film entitled Idiocracy was released, and it was an excellent metaphor for what would happen to America over the course of the next decade. In the movie, an "average American" wakes up 500 years in the future only to discover that he is the most intelligent person by far in the "dumbed down" society that he suddenly finds himself in. Sadly, I truly believe that if people of average intellect from the 1950s and 1960s were transported to 2016, they would likely be considered mental giants compared to the rest of us. We have a country where criminals are being paid $1000 a month not to shoot people, and the highest paid public employee in more than half the states is a football coach. Hardly anyone takes time to read a book anymore, and yet the average American spends 302 minutes a day watching television. 75 percent of our young adults cannot find Israel on a map of the Middle East, but they sure know how to find smut on the Internet. It may be hard to believe, but there are more than 4 million adult websites on the Internet today, and they get more traffic than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined.

Comment: For more depressing information about how stupid America has become read the following: The cult of ignorance in the United States: Anti-intellectualism and the "dumbing down" of America

Response to the 'American slave system': National prison strike campaign planned for next September

Eric Ortiz
Truthdig
Sat, 02 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC

© American Anti-Slavery Society
Original caption (1836): “Franklin & Armfield’s Slave Prison.” Franklin & Armfield was a Virginia slave trading firm.

Starting Sept. 9, prisoners in the United States will begin a coordinated effort to shut down prisons across the country. They plan to stop working in correctional institutions. Without prisoners doing their jobs, these facilities cannot be run. According to Support Prisoner Resistance, the nationwide prisoner work stoppage will serve as a protest against prison slavery, the school-to-prison pipeline, police terror and post-release controls.

Prisoners organizing the strike are not making demands or requests in the usual sense. They are calling themselves to action in a planned protest and want every prisoner in every state and federal institution across America to "stop being a slave."

Some people may bristle at the notion that prisoners are slaves, but they are forced to work for little or no pay. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery, also maintains a legal exception for continued slavery in prisons. It states "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States."

Comment: "It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones." ― Nelson Mandela

Hystericization: Parked truck leads to evacuation of Times Square in NY

CBS NY
Sun, 03 Apr 2016 12:30 UTC

Police evacuated Times Square after a truck was found abandoned on Saturday, April 2, 2016

A driver was released with a 10 summonses Sunday morning after an abandoned box truck forced the evacuation of Times Square.

Police had to clear out thousands of people from the area just before 8 p.m. on a busy Saturday night.

They evacuated the entire area, even bringing in barricades to keep people a safe distance away from a beat-up white box truck that was found abandoned on 46th Street near Broadway, right outside of two theaters and the Marriott Marquis hotel.

Comment: The hysterization of the population continues unabated.

Two explosions rock industrial zone in southwestern France

Sputnik International
Sun, 03 Apr 2016 12:02 UTC

Two explosions occurred on Sunday near the city of Bordeaux, southwest France, on the territory of the facility specializing in transportation of hazardous materials, a local mayor said.

The explosions occurred at 6:40 a.m. (4:40 GMT) in the building of the CD Trans company, according to France Info.

"First, a truck caught fire, and then exploded, causing a chain reaction," mayor of the Bassens commune Jean-Paul Turon, said as quoted by the radio station.

The causes of the explosion are being investigated.

Iraqi victories: 3,000 families return to Ramadi as Iraqi Army rescues 1,500 from ISIS' underground jail

Sputnik
Mon, 04 Apr 2016 03:26 UTC

About 3,000 families are headed back to the Iraqi city of Ramadi which they had to flee when it was seized by Daesh terrorists, Ramadi district mayor Hamid al-Dulaimi told reporters.

Iraqi forces recaptured Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province to the west of the country, in December 2015.

Residents started to return to the districts cleared of mines and explosives on Saturday, al-Dulaimi said, as cited by Reuters. According to the mayor, the electrical supply network hasn't been restored yet, but drinking water is being pumped to the area from Euphrates river.

Small plane crashes into the sea near Tel Aviv, Israel

RT
Sun, 03 Apr 2016 20:41 UTC

A small aircraft trying to make an emergency landing seemed to forget that it wasn't a floatplane and landed in the Mediterranean Sea near Metzizim Beach in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

The pilot reportedly radioed a mayday to nearby Sde Dov Airport so it could land there, but somehow lost control of the plane and crashed into the water.

Video footage of the incident, which occurred on Sunday afternoon, shows the small plane slowly sinking in the water after the crash, which probably wouldn't have happened if it crashed in the buoyant Dead Sea.

Two people on board the plane, a 57- and 47-year-old described as fully conscious, were rescued by witness who swam out, according to Israel National News.

A police rescue boat then arrived at the scene and took them to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center for minor injuries.

Two bystanders were treated at the scene with minor shoulder injuries sustained during the rescue.

Chicago public school teachers strike to protest funding cuts, poor management by mayor and governor

RT
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 22:30 UTC

Teachers in Chicago's public schools went on strike Friday in a "day of action" to protest funding cuts and poor management by austerity Mayor Rahm Emanuel and billionaire Governor Bruce Rauner.

The teachers have been threatening to strike for months, and when the latest round of cuts of $100 million were announced in February, coupled with the continuing threat of layoffs, Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis called it an "act of war".

The rare one-day strike started with picket lines at schools around the city - with the focus due to move downtown for a rally outside City Hall and the state office building, followed by an evening rush hour march to "shut down the Loop".

"We are dying the death by 1,000 cuts," Lewis said after the strike was announced. "The labor conditions have gotten to a point where they are not tolerable."

Comment: Public education throughout the US is now characterized by a lack of adequate funding, decaying conditions, over-stressed teachers and students, along with increased police presence and surveillance.

The "Land of the Strays": A paradise for 900 free-roaming adoptable doggies

True Activist
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 23:16 UTC

The "Land of the Strays," or Territorio de Zaguates, is seriously heaven on Earth for dog-lovers, especially those looking to adopt a new family member. The privately-funded, volunteer-run organization is in Costa Rica, where they bathe, feed, and exercise the 900 dogs they house by guiding them on scenic walking tours that are free and open to the public.

Visiting the refuge does not mean that there is pressure to adopt a dog; visiting to play and meet with the dogs is free, as many citizens just come by for the fun of it, and the "shelter" is no-kill.

This refuge is said to be one of the happiest places for a dog to live. There's a lush landscape for the dogs to roam freely and play, and an indoor area with beds and bathing and feeding stations for the dogs to relax. Water stations are also placed all around the property to ensure that active dogs can remain hydrated at all times.

Two killed, 30 injured in Amtrak crash near Philadelphia

RT
Sun, 03 Apr 2016 17:07 UTC

Two people have died and 30 suffered injuries when an Amtrak train collided with a backhoe on the tracks and a car derailed near Philadelphia, officials said. Service has been suspended along the Northeast Corridor in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

There were 341 passengers and seven crewmembers on board Palmetto train 89 at the time of the incident, which took place in Chester, Delaware County.

Officials confirmed two people have died on the train traveling from New York to Savannah, Georgia, without revealing the identities of the victims.

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.. .. today's' atta bot' awards nominee: [Link]

Jibrish

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Society's Child

Record numbers of Japanese dying from overwork as greedy employers squeeze the life out of them

A sign of the times: Depressing survey results show how extremely stupid America has become

Response to the 'American slave system': National prison strike campaign planned for next September

Hystericization: Parked truck leads to evacuation of Times Square in NY

Two explosions rock industrial zone in southwestern France

Iraqi victories: 3,000 families return to Ramadi as Iraqi Army rescues 1,500 from ISIS' underground jail

Small plane crashes into the sea near Tel Aviv, Israel

Chicago public school teachers strike to protest funding cuts, poor management by mayor and governor

The "Land of the Strays": A paradise for 900 free-roaming adoptable doggies

Two killed, 30 injured in Amtrak crash near Philadelphia

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