Society's ChildS


Airplane

'Boeing, Boeing, Gone': 747 jumbo jet may be nearing the end of the line

Charles Riley
CNN Money
Thu, 28 Jul 2016 09:16 UTC
Boeing plane factory
© David Ryder/BloombergBoeing Co. facility in Everett, Washington
After years of lackluster sales, Boeing has warned it could stop producing its legendary 747 jumbo jet if orders do not pick up. "It is reasonably possible that we could decide to end production of the 747," Boeing said Wednesday in a regulatory filing.

The company previously announced it would halve production of the aircraft from 12 per year to just six beginning in September.

Dubbed the "queen of the skies," the world's original jumbo jet has long been a favorite of the flying public. The aircraft made its commercial debut in 1970, and more than 1,500 have now been delivered. But interest in the 747 has waned in recent years as airlines shifted most of their purchases to smaller, two-engined aircraft in order to save on fuel costs. The Airbus A380, another massive jumbo jet, has also suffered from weak demand. The 747 program has also been hit by slower growth in the air cargo business.

Boeing has at least one more high-profile 747 order to fill. In 2015, the Pentagon announced the next generation of Air Force One would be a military version of the 747.

Boeing (BA) shares are down roughly 7% so far this year. On Wednesday, the company said it lost $234 million during the most recent quarter.

Comment: Strange turn of events since April, 2016, when Boeing garnered four new orders valued $1.5B for its 747 and reported a new lease on life for its production model. Deliveries down? Orders unfulfilled? Stock prices? Maybe it's just 'plane' facts.

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Pills

Americans view opioids as biggest local drug epidemic in communities - poll


RT
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 03:49 UTC
Drugs
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
A new poll shows 44 percent of US citizens believe that opioids such as heroin and prescription painkillers are very serious problems in their communities. The United Nations' World Drug Report found that the US is facing an all-out opioid epidemic.

Opioids kill nearly 100 Americans every day, so it comes as little surprise that a Gallup poll found that over four out of 10 Americans believe it is a very serious problem or worse.

Forty-four percent believe that prescription painkillers are either a "crisis" or a "very serious problem," with 42 percent believing the same about heroin.

The survey found that women are slightly more likely to believe that prescription painkillers are a crisis or very serious problem, with 48 percent believing so, compared to 38 percent of men.
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Question

New 'Stockholm syndrome'? Suspect on Russia's terrorist list apprehended at Stockholm airport, then let go


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 19:38 UTC
Arlanda airport, Sweden
© Johan Nilsson / ReutersFILE PHOTO: Arlanda airport, Sweden
Police at Stockholm Arlanda Airport in Sweden apprehended a suspect who was being sought internationally and was wanted by Russia on suspicion of terrorism and murder. After being questioned, however, the man was later released without charge.

According to Sweden's Aftonbladet newspaper, the 36-year-old man, who was found to hold several passports, was on his way out of Sweden after a short stay in the country. The incident happened around 8.30am local time on Friday.

The case was reported to the International Public Prosecution Office. Prosecutor Ronnie Jacobsson informed reporters: "[The suspect] is in custody, and I have asked him to get a public defender."

Several hours later though, the prosecution office decided to release the man from police custody, revealing little information both about the suspect and why the decision to let him go had been made.

Comment: What a novel idea - actually coordinating data and resources with other countries to help stop terrorism. But since the U.S. and allied Western and Middle Eastern countries are the drivers of world-wide terror acts, they have an interest in not sharing information and keeping the true facts of the narrative close to their chests (because they are mostly responsible for carnage). What this means is that many nations who are brought under heel of the U.S. are told to obey this form of control and to accept and effectively love it "for their own protection," like some weird case of geopolitical Stockholm Syndrome.

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Attention

Pedophile who posed as rapper, Grymey D, groomed girls on social media jailed for 16yrs


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 14:41 UTC
Rapper
© Daniel Rodriguez facebook.com
A London man who pretended to be a successful rapper in order to lure underage girls to have sex with him has been jailed for 16 years.

Dennis Rodriguez, 28, used the alias Grymey D to groom girls as young as 13 over Facebook and Instagram.

He filmed and kept videos of himself having sex with the girls in a house he shared with his parents and sister. One of the victims was still wearing her school uniform.

The "dangerous and predatory pedophile" was sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court on Friday on 15 counts relating to seven victims, including sexual activity with a child, sexual assault and taking indecent photographs.

Comment: 16 years is not a long enough sentence to keep this piece of garbage, Grymey D, from preying on young girls.

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Briefcase

UN human rights expert: U.S. criminal justice system targets minorities more than white collar Wall Street criminals


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 22:09 UTC
racism US
© David Gray / Reuters
The United States continues to be mired in racial, social, and economic inequalities, inhibiting the basic rights of its citizens, especially people of color, says a UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.

Following a 17-day fact-finding visit to various US cities, including Baltimore and Baton Rouge, United Nations human rights expert Maina Kiai reported that systemic inequalities in the US are prohibiting the exercise of peaceful assembly and free association. These inequalities are rooted in the history of the US and particularly impact black Americans, he said, adding that he could not conduct his visit to the US "without issues of racism pervading the discussions."


Racism and the exclusion, persecution and marginalization that come with it, affect the enabling environment for the exercise of association and assembly rights," Kiai said Thursday. He noted the long, sordid legacy of racial discrimination in the US, from chattel slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws to more modern, covert racism engrained in the so-called "War on Drugs" and "three strikes" prison sentencing laws pushed by the likes of former President Bill Clinton.
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Pistol

Armed group that seized police building in Yerevan opens fire, kills policeman


Sputnik
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 17:20 UTC
Police blockade in Yerevan
© REUTERS/ Melik Baghdasaryan/Photolure
An armed group which seized a police building in the Armenian capital has opened fire and killed one policeman, the Armenian police press service said.

"Several minutes ago, fire was opened from the police station. As a result, police officer Yura Tepanosyan, born in 1986, who was in a car at a distance of 350-400 meters [1,150 - 1,300 feet], was killed," Ashot Aharonyan wrote on his Twitter page.

Earlier on Saturday, the Armenian National Security Service demanded that members of an armed group that captured the police station in Yerevan must surrender until 5:00 p.m. local time (13:00 GMT).

"We offer members of the armed group to lay down arms and to surrender to authorities without resistance at 5:00 p.m. (13:00 GMT). Otherwise special police units are empowered to open fire and to neutralize every armed man at the police station as well as outside it," the statement said.

The Armenian National Security Service added that every attempt to enter the police station would be regarded as abetting terrorism.

Comment: Armenia police station standoff: Besieging terrorists or besieged by Maidan?

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Heart - Black

School praised by Conservative Party isolated children, restricted food


RT
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 17:07 UTC
Katharine Birbalsingh
© FacebookKatharine Birbalsingh
A school once praised by the Conservative Party has been exposed for punishing children, isolating them, and restricting their food, when their parents failed to pay for their school meals on time.

Children at the Michaela community school will be made to spend their 60 minute lunch break alone and only be given a sandwich and a piece of fruit until the debt is settled.

The rule was introduced by "superhead" Katharine Birbalsingh, who in 2010 spoke at the Conservative Party conference on how the British education system is "broken."

Her comments led to her being sacked from St Michael and All Angels CofE Academy and turned Birbalsingh into a martyr of the Conservatives' education reforms. However, parents are now saying she has gone too far.

Reon Kelly had been attending the north London school for only two weeks when his mum Dionne received a "threatening" letter advising that her delay in paying for school lunch would be met with a penalty.

Any overdue fee of £75 ($100) will see the 12-year-old put in "lunch isolation."
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Pistol

16-year-old charged with capital murder in shooting of parents

Adam Bennett
KAGS
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 16:47 UTC
Houston shooting
© Metro Video
The 16-year-old son of a southwest Houston couple has been charged with capital murder and is accused of shooting his parents overnight inside their home near Bellaire.

Dawn Armstrong died at the scene. Antonio Armstrong, 45, was rushed to the hospital where he later died.

Their son's name isn't being released because he's a juvenile.

Police found both victims after they were called to Palmetto at Mapleridge around 2:15 a.m. Friday.

They don't know the motive for the shootings.

"It was kinda the all-American family," said HPD homicide detective Jimmy Dodson. "That's why we're trying to get down to figure out what's going on in this household."

"They're the family that everyone wanted to be like," said Vaun Lee Armstrong, Dawn's cousin. "Her and Antonio together, they are what they call a power couple, a power team."
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Network

Clinton campaign and Democratic campaign group target of new computer hack


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 16:36 UTC
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic Party's fundraising committee for its US House of Representatives candidates fell victim to cyber-attacks that are being investigated by the FBI, according to a Reuters report.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) was the target of a cyber-attack in which a dummy website was registered as late as June to mimic a DCCC fundraising domain. The fake website directed donations away from ActBlue, the donation processing contractor working with the DCCC, according to a Reuters report.

What data was exposed is yet unclear, though various personal information including credit card details could have been accessed. Anonymous sources told Reuters that the hack may have been an attempt to cull information about DCCC donors rather than to steal money.
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Gold Bar

False prophet? Meet the Indian godman who dresses up with 12 Kg of gold


Sputnik
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 15:52 UTC
Sudhir Kumar Makkad
© YouTube/Hindustan Times
Indian godman called 'Golden Baba' is adorned with 12 kg of gold, including rings, chains and lockets and travels with cavalcade of 17 sedans.

54 year-old godman Sudhir Kumar Makkad's infatuation with gold has earned him the sobriquet 'Golden Baba.' He has become the center of attraction at Kanwar Yatra (an annual ritual of carrying holy water to offer Lord Shiva) as people from far flung corners come to catch a glimpse of the golden godman.

The godman wears glittering gold lockets, armbands, rings on all his fingers with a specially crafted diamond watch and has a round the clock security detachment of policemen. He wears gold not to show off his wealth and says he is at peace when wears gold and it is the symbol of Luxmi, the goddess of prosperity as per Hindu beliefs.
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