Society's ChildS


Fire

15,000 homeless after Philippines slum devastated by fire


RT
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 15:30 UTC
Residents look on as a fire destroys hundreds of houses Manila
© Noel Celis / AFPResidents look on as a fire destroys hundreds of houses at an informal settlers community in Delpan, Tondo, Manila on February 7, 2017.
A massive blaze at an overcrowded slum in the Philippines capital of Manila, has left at least 15,000 people homeless.

The fire swept through the shanty town after breaking out in the Parola Compound near the city's port late Tuesday night. It raged for 10 hours into Wednesday morning, according to authorities cited by Reuters.

Hundreds of firefighters fought to contain the flames. Seven people were injured in the rapidly-spreading blaze, according to fire officer Edilberto Cruz.

"The houses in that place are all (made of) light materials. That is why the fire was quick to spread. We are just lucky that no-one was killed," he said, as reported by AFP.
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Cult

Professors at Indiana University call FBI, investigates white supremacy fliers found on campuses nationwide


RT
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 14:30 UTC
protect your heritage
© Identity Evropa / YouTube
Professors of color at Indiana University (IU) contacted the FBI after their office doors were littered with fliers from a white supremacy group.

The fliers were "posted under cover of darkness" by a group that identifies itself with white supremacy, according to a statement released on Monday by IU's Provost and Executive Vice President, Lauren Robel.

The fliers were posted on office doors, and specifically targeted "faculty members of color or scholars of race and ethnicity," Robel said, adding that they were posted to "intimidate, threaten, scare, and provoke anger among faculty, staff, students and visitors."

Charlie Geyh, a law professor at IU, responded to the incident on Facebook, calling the fliers "burning crosses for the 21st century."

Comment: It would be interesting to know who's behind "Identity Evropa."

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Eye 2

Homeland Security arrests South Carolina deputy for soliciting child pornography


WNCN
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 14:34 UTC
Christopher Wilbanks
© Greenville County Detention CenterChristopher Wilbanks
A Spartanburg County sheriff's deputy has been arrested by Homeland Security, according to the Sheriff's Office.

On Tuesday, January 31 the Sheriff's Office was alerted by the Department of Homeland Security about an investigation that involved Chris Wilbanks and inappropriate communication with a juvenile in another state.

Sergeant Wilbanks was arrested Friday as part of that ongoing investigation into child pornography, according to the Sheriff's Office. Wilbanks was arraigned in federal court on Monday morning. He faces a charge of intention to induce or coerce a minor into a sexually explicit act with the purpose of producing a visual depiction of the conduct. In the hearing, Assistant William Wilkins says the former deputy attempted to get pictures from the minor between January 2 and 4th.

Court documents show an 11-year-old girl in Washington state was taken to the police department after her mother discovered that the girl was sending nude photos to a person over the app Kik.

An investigation revealed that the 11-year-old girl had been speaking with a user by the name of "Redneck Rick" on Kik who claimed to be a 14-year-old boy in her class. Conversations on the Kik app between the girl and "Redneck Rick" revealed that he was asking the girl to send him pictures of her naked so he could see how "fit her body was."
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Brick Wall

Centre shuts health mission gate on Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation


Economic Times
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 14:53 UTC
Bill and Melinda Gates
The Centre has shut the gate on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on a critical national health mission, and possible conflict of interest issues arising from the foundation's "ties" with pharmaceutical companies is one of the reasons.

All financial ties of the country's apex immunisation advisory body, National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), with the Gates Foundation have been cut off.

Comment:

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Quenelle

Army Corps of Engineers to grant final Dakota Access Pipeline permit; Standing Rock Sioux Tribe vows to fight


RT
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 14:24 UTC
Demonstrators protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline
© Lucas Jackson / ReutersDemonstrators protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline, outside the Mizuho Bank in New York, U.S., February 1, 2017.
The US Army Corps of Engineers will grant the final easement necessary to finish construction on the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, according to a court filing. President Donald Trump had issued an executive order to review the project quickly.

Along with stating its intentions to grant the easement, the Corps also said it would terminate its plans to prepare an environmental impact statement. That requirement was issued by the Obama administration in its waning days.

The filing of the easement was sent to the US Senate with a 24-hour notice, rather than 14 days, as required, This Week reported.

The stock for Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the pipeline, rose 0.8 percent after the announcement. It had fallen 1.5 percent earlier, according to Bloomberg.
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Snakes in Suits

Audit finds that California wastewater authority mismanaged $32mn in FEMA funds


RT
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 13:33 UTC
Victor Valley Water Reclamation Authority
© Victor Valley Water Reclamation AuthorityVictor Valley Water Reclamation Authority
A US government audit has revealed that a California wastewater treatment authority mismanaged millions of dollars in emergency management funds. The agency received the federal money after major flooding led to a ruptured pipeline six years ago.

The Victor Valley Water Reclamation Authority's (VVWRA) mismanagement has to do with three Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) contracts totaling $31.7 million, in which the agency was found to have not complied with numerous regulations.

A report by the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, which conducted the audit, states that the mismanagement has led FEMA to have "no assurance that these costs were reasonable or that the authority selected the most qualified contractors."
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Snakes in Suits

SEC to file lawsuit against New York Stock Exchange for 2015 blackout


RT
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 13:32 UTC
New York Stock Exchange NYSE
© Brendan McDermid / Reuters
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicated that it will file a lawsuit against a 2015 outage on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The four-hour long blackout was the worst in the exchange's history.

The NYSE is bracing for a civil lawsuit from the SEC after a botched technology upgrade paralyzed the exchange for about four hours in July 2015. In an announcement on Tuesday, Intercontinental Exchange, the NYSE's parent company, confirmed that it had received a Wells Notice that states the SEC's intention to sue.
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Fire

Saudi man makes attempts to set himself on fire in front of Kaaba (VIDEO)


RT
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 13:23 UTC
Mecca Kaaba Saudi Arabia
© joozif / YouTube
A Saudi man, believed to be in his 40s, was captured by police as he was pouring gasoline on himself near the most sacred site in Islam, the Kaaba, just moments before he was able to set himself ablaze in a crowd full of pilgrims.

The footage of the dramatic incident, which unfolded on Monday evening, shows the Grand Mosque's worshipers screaming in panic while several members of the public together with the security guards rounding up the man and restraining him.
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Bad Guys

Serial child rape suspect is 'real life boogeyman,' DA says


ABC Chicago
Mon, 06 Feb 2017 21:20 UTC
William Charles Thomas
Police say they have arrested a suspected child rapist in Bucks County, and there are fears more victims may still be out there.

One detective said that the human race hasn't invented words yet to describe what they found in the trailer of 57-year-old William Charles Thomas.

He lives in the Midway Village Trailer Park in Morrisville, Pa. Investigators released multiple photos of him dating back almost a decade in hopes of helping victims identify him.
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Info

Nassim Taleb: "This is not about fascism - it's a global riot against pseudo-experts"

Suhasini Haidar
The Hindu
Sun, 29 Jan 2017 23:25 UTC
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
© YouTubeNassim Nicholas Taleb.
Economist-mathematician Nassim Nicholas Taleb contends that there is a global riot against pseudo-experts

After predicting the 2008 economic crisis, the Brexit vote, the U.S. presidential election and other events correctly, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the Incerto series on global uncertainties, which includes The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, is seen as something of a maverick and an oracle. Equally, the economist-mathematician has been criticised for advocating a "dumbing down" of the economic system, and his reasoning for U.S. President Donald Trump and global populist movements. In an interview in Jaipur, Taleb explains why he thinks the world is seeing a "global riot against pseudo-experts".
I'd like to start by asking about your next book, Skin in the Game, the fifth of the Incerto series. You do something unusual with your books: before you launch, you put chapters out on your website. Why is that?
Putting my work online motivates me to go deeper into a subject. I put it online and it gives some structure to my thought. The only way to judge a book is by something called the Lindy effect, and that is its survival. My books have survived. I noticed that The Black Swan did well because it was picked up early online, long before the launch. I also prefer social media to interviews in the mainstream media as many journalists don't do their research, and 'zeitgeist' updates [Top Ten lists] pass for journalism.
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