Society's ChildS


Light Saber

Connecticut branch of AFL-CIO labor union backs boycott of Israel

Ali Abuniah
The Electronic Intifada
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 21:41 UTC
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© Oren Ziv/Active StillsPalestinian workers holding Israeli work permits take cover from the rain after crossing the Eyal checkpoint between the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya and present-day Israel, 4 January 2015.
The Connecticut branch of the AFL-CIO has voted to back key elements of the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) on Israel. AFL-CIO is the largest US labor federation, counting dozens of unions with a combined membership of almost 13 million workers as its affiliates - 200,000 of them in Connecticut.

At the Connecticut branch's convention in October, delegates passed a resolution calling on the national AFL-CIO to adopt BDS "in connection with companies and investments profiting from or complicit in human rights violations arising from the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the State of Israel, and to urge its affiliates and related pension and annuity funds to adopt similar strategies."

It also calls on the US to "diligently apply all diplomatic and economic tools to bring an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and to support a fair and just peace in which the people of Israel and Palestine can live in peace and security in accordance with international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." The resolution notes that Unite, the largest union in United Kingdom and Ireland, has backed BDS.

Democratic Party ties

The move is significant because while many rank-and-file members of AFL-CIO-affiliated unions have supported Palestinian rights, the same has not been true for the federation's leadership. The national AFL-CIO worked closely with the US Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War to subvert left-wing movements and governments around the world. It has contributed millions of dollars to Democratic candidates and remains closely tied to that party's pro-Israel establishment. Both the administration of President Barack Obama, as well as his would-be successor Hillary Clinton, oppose any form of boycott of Israel, including of its settlements.

Comment: Israel's long running collective punishment of the Palestinians is gaining some attention, but certainly not enough.

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Dollars

Monsanto sued by city of Oakland over contaminating San Francisco Bay with toxic chemicals


RT
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 21:42 UTC
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© Robert Galbraith / Reuters
Agrochemical giant Monsanto knowingly contaminated Oakland's storm water and the San Francisco Bay with a highly toxic chemical for decades, a new lawsuit filed by the California city claims. Oakland wants the company to pay for the environmental cleanup.

The State Water Resources Control Board determined that the presence of highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) in Oakland's storm water threatens the San Francisco Bay's ecosystem and interferes with the bay's use and enjoyment by Californians, the city said in a statement.

PCBs were widely used for five decades to insulate electronics and were incorporated into paints, caulks and other building materials until they were banned by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1979. Despite the 36-year prohibition, the chemicals are a common environmental contaminant in water and in the tissues of marine life all the way up the food chain to humans.

"Monsanto knew that PCBs were toxic and could not be contained as they readily escaped into the environment, finding their way into bays, oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, soil and air," the statement read. "Although evidence confirms that Monsanto recognized that PCBs were becoming 'a global contaminant', well before the 1979 ban, it concealed this information and increased production of these profitable compounds."
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Fire

Blaze on London's Fleet Street near Goldman Sachs offices


RT
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 17:04 UTC
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© Needhams1834/Twitter
London Fire Brigade (LFB) battled a blaze in a Fleet Street building adjacent to the offices of Goldman Sachs on Wednesday. LFB tweeted at 16:30 GMT it is "under control and crews are damping down."Smoke engulfed the building at some point after 14:30 GMT on Wednesday afternoon.

Some 30 firefighters and six fire engines attended the scene.


Tim Dickens, of the Royal Television Society, reported that a specialist ambulance crew arrived. There have been no reported injuries.

Transport for London (TfL) confirmed Fleet Street was closed in both directions between Ludgate Circus and Fetter Lane due to the fire.The LFB say the blaze was in a first floor flat above a pub on Fleet Street.

A Goldman Sachs employee told the Huffington Post UK the investment bank's offices were evacuated following the fire.They said a "significant amount of smoke appeared to be coming from [the] building above Pret a Manger.
"Surrounding buildings were partially evacuated, including Goldman Sachs."
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Laptop

Hacking as a business model: Feds charge 3 men for stealing financial data from 100 million people


RT
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 15:03 UTC
internet screen
© Mal Langsdon / Reuters
Federal prosecutors called it "the largest theft of financial-related data in history" when they unsealed an indictment against three men at the center of a sprawling hacking criminal enterprise. The men face decades in jail, and one is still at-large.

"The charged crimes showcase a brave new world of hacking for profit," said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara in a statement on Tuesday. "It is no longer hacking merely for a quick payout, but hacking to support a diversified criminal conglomerate. This was hacking as a business model."


The men, two Israelis and an American, hacked the networks of a dozen US financial institutions over an eight-year period and stole customer data from 100 million people, including 80 million from one financial institution alone, according to prosecutors. They manipulated stock prices, processed payments for other criminals and concealed over $100 million in a Swiss bank account and other accounts.

"These three defendants perpetrated one of the largest thefts of financial-related data in history - making off with the sensitive information of literally thousands of hard-working Americans," said US Attorney General Loretta Lynch in a statement.

Comment: It's curious that these three men were able to build such a large criminal enterprise before being caught. But one thing's for sure, their 'diversified criminal conglomerate' sounds a lot like most multi-national banks and corporations. Check out:

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Cult

More Vatileaks scandal: Vatican owned properties used as brothels and massage parlors where priests pay for sex

Michael Day
The Independent
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 18:05 UTC
medieval brothel
Vatican-owned properties in Rome are operating as seedy saunas and massage parlours where priests pay for sex, according to the latest in a series of leaked reports to embarrass the Church.

It is also claimed that Vatican officials are allowing buildings to be rented out at peppercorn rents as favours to powerful colleagues and turning a blind eye to shady property deals, as well as allowing addresses to be used as red-light establishments.

Among the properties mentioned in the document, made public by a Vatican mole, are premises in two streets close to the Italian Parliament and a solarium near Piazza Barberini, according to press reports.

One particular Vatican department, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, has been highlighted in the list. It owns hundreds of high-value properties in central Rome, worth hundreds of millions of euros.

Comment: Dirty laundry? Two senior Vatican officials arrested in new VatiLeaks scandal

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Ambulance

Yorkshire, UK: School evacuated after 40 children and 1 staff member fall ill and collapse


RT
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 19:45 UTC
Outwood Academy, Yorkshire UK
A number of students aged between 11 and 16 have been rushed to hospital after collapsing at a school in North Yorkshire. Fire crews believe a "ripple effect" caused the incident.

Emergency services were called to Outwood Academy School on Clotherholme Road at around 12:30pm GMT on Wednesday after staff members witnessed a group of children lose consciousness.

North Yorkshire police believe the incident occurred between 11am and 11.30am.

The school is working with fire and ambulance services to establish what caused the students to collapse.

Outwood Academy student Olivia Craft told ITV News students began to feel unwell during the minute's silence taking place to commemorate Armistice Day. She said students started to collapse just after 11am.

According to the Daily Mirror, emergency services are now investigating a suspected gas leak at the school, which could have caused the students to collapse. Car bonnets in the area are being searched.
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House

One killed in New Jersey house explosion; several injured, others feared trapped

Tom Haydon and Jessica Remo
NJ.com
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 10:26 UTC
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© Courtesy of @lulune6cA house explosion in Elizabeth Wednesday morning caused multiple injuries.
At least three people were injured and up to five people may be trapped in a house explosion on the 1000 block of Magnolia Avenue, according to a spokeswoman for the city. One person was killed in the blast, officials said at the scene.As of 9 a.m., three people had been flown to hospitals for treatment and firefighters were still searching the building, said Kelly Vence, spokeswoman for the city.

Additional details about the injuries and the cause of the explosion were not immediately available. Rescue crews continued to remove people on stretchers more than an hour after the 8 a.m. explosion. At 9:25 a.m., Elizabeth fire officials asked news crews to move three helicopters that were hovering because they need to do a silent search for more victims.

"It sounded like a plane crash and I thought it was because we are so close to the airport," said Kayon Pryce who lives in the house next door. "I was on the phone and the phone blew out of my hand. The explosions pushed me out of bed and the tv flew off a stand into me."Pryce also said house the exploded is a two-family unit with an apartment in the garage. He said the first floor tenants had just moved in.

Pryce said the tenants in the second unit of his building - a mom, dad and small child were taken to the hospital. He helped them escape from their unit and firefighters arrived moments later. He said all the windows in his building were blown out and his floors are no long level. Debris was spread across the entire block and adjacent homes also were damaged with windows shattered. Utility crews were on the scene securing power lines knocked down by the blast.


Comment:



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Handcuffs

Terrorizing students: The US Police State and the criminalization of children

Henry A. Giroux
Truthout
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 16:21 UTC
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© Jared Rodriguez / Truthout
Violence has become the problem of the 21st century. This claim is indebted to W. E. B. Dubois' much quoted notion that "The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of color line."[1] For Du Bois, racism was one of the most pressing problems of the time and could not be understood outside of the gross inequities of wealth, power, opportunity and access. What he did not anticipate was the degree to which the violent character of racism would come to define the 21st century on a national and global level. What he described as a ruthless ideology and attitude of racist hostility would later mutate in the new millennium into a raw display of police brutality and state terrorism, camouflaged under the guise of an alleged post-racial society.
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Arrow Down

Pathological dentist still practicing despite over 50 complaints filed for abusive treatment

Travis Gettys
The Raw Story
Tue, 10 Nov 2015 14:39 UTC
Nicole Somer Jerry Carter
© WSBNicole, Somer and Jerry Carter
Dozens of parents have complained that a Georgia dentist ruined their children's teeth or caused them pain — but the state licensing board waited about three years after a criminal investigation was launched to take any action.

Nicole Carter said her daughter, Somer, was about 1 1/2 years old when Dr. Maheshvar Patel destroyed her baby teeth, requiring three root canals and caps on all of her teeth, and sent her from his office bruised and crying, reported WSB-TV.

"When I looked down, her mouth was just pouring blood," Carter said. "It was awful, and when I raised her lip up, everything was just hanging on top."

The family is among several that have filed a malpractice suit against Patel, whose attorney has denied the dentist caused any injuries or damages.

Agents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service and Rome police raided Patel's office in 2012 to investigate more than 50 complaints, and investigators hired a dental consultant to investigate the pile of medical records.

Police said they immediately reported the criminal investigation to the Georgia Board of Dentistry — but the board took no action until July 2015, when it released a public reprimand.

Comment: The only way to explain this increasingly common and horrific treatment of children is that the practice of dentistry has been overrun by pathological predators, and like pedophiles are being protected by those tasked with their oversight.

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Clipboard

Study links career success with narcissism and psychopathy

Justine Hofherr
boston.com
Tue, 03 Nov 2015 14:56 UTC
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© iStockIn a recent study of German employees, narcissism was linked to higher salaries, while Machiavellianism was tied to leadership positions and career satisfaction.
New research may support the phrase "Nice guys finish last," made famous by baseball player Leo Durocher—at least when it comes to the workplace.

In a recent study from the University of Bern in Switzerland, researchers found that German employees with high levels of narcissism were linked to higher salaries, while those displaying "Machiavellianism" (traits related to manipulation and superficial charm) were tied to leadership positions and career satisfaction.

Researchers Daniel Spurk, Anita C. Keller, and Andreas Hirschi analyzed the effects of "Dark Triad" traits (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism) on outcomes like salary and leadership positions, and found a correlation between employees demonstrating those traits and career success, even when controlling for the effects of demographics, job tenure, organization size, and hours worked.

It's worth noting, as Harvard Business Review points out, that the Dark Triad personality traits aren't clinical diagnoses. They're more like personality traits and are "normally distributed in the population."
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