Society's ChildS


Bomb

Nicolas Sarkozy: Why is the French President so Disliked?

Hugh Schofield
BBC.co.uk
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:45 UTC
Image
© Agency France Presse

If President Nicolas Sarkozy fails to win a second term, as many polls are predicting ahead of Sunday's first round of voting, perhaps the biggest factor will be the personal loathing that he elicits in so many of the French. What's behind it?

From the moment he took office in 2007, no French president in modern times has been the object of such blatant dislike.

It is an animosity quite distinct from opposition to his actual policies.

All leaders expect hostility for the things they do. Few get it in such measure for the things they are.

"There is an irrational hatred of Nicolas Sarkozy among much of the public, and it is playing a major part in this election," says Jean-Sebastien Ferjou who edits the news website Atlantico.

"I say 'irrational' because that is what it is. Polls show that if you ask people about this or that policy of Sarkozy's - but don't mention his name - they will tend to support it.

Comment: Perhaps the real reason for "Sarkophobia" is that the French on an unconscious level recognize pathology when they see it. For more information on Sarko's machinations, see these Sott exclusives:

New Sott Report: Toulouse Shootings: Mohamed Merah Sacrificed To Give Sarkozy Election Win?

Sarkozy The American's 9/11: Mohamed Merah: 'Liquidated' French Intelligence Asset

Sarkozy's Backers To Use Toulouse Attacks To Steal French Election - UPDATE!

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Pistol

Gun Industry's Economic Impact Skyrockets During Obama Years

Tim Devaney
The Washington Times
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00 UTC
IND UK guns
© Josh Anderson / Associated PressA customer admires the goods in a gun shop in Greenbrier, Tennessee
The economic impact of the firearms industry is up 66 percent since the beginning of the Great Recession, providing an unexpected shot in the arm for the economy, according to a new study.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation says the economic impact of firearm sales - a figure that includes jobs. taxes and sales - hit $31 billion in 2011, up from $19 billion in 2008.

Jobs in the firearms business jumped 30 percent from 2008 to 2011, when the industry employed 98,750.

The industry paid $2.5 billion in federal taxes in 2011, up 66 percent in three years.

"Ours is an industry with a rich history and heritage that remains vital and important to the American economy today," NSSF Senior Vice President Lawrence G. Keane said in a statement. "To millions of Americans our industry's products represent liberty, security and recreation."

Some in the industry attribute the jump in sales to fears the Obama administration will tighten gun control laws in a possible second term.

"There's a concern that in the second term the Obama administration would lead an attempt to restrict gun ownership," Mr. Keane said.
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Clock

Last Surviving FBI Agent at JFK Autopsy Who 'Did Not Believe the Single Bullet Theory' Dies


The Mail Online
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:23 UTC
Kennedy @ Dallas
© XB0002
The last remaining FBI agent present for the autopsy of President John F. Kennedy has died, and with him goes one more account version of what happened when the 35th President was assassinated.

James Sibert was 93-years-old when he died two weeks ago, but he is undoubtedly going to live on in history as one of the people that helped promote the conspiracy theories that followed the president's death that continue to this day.

In interviews following his retirement from the FBI, Mr Sibert publicly said that he 'didn't buy the single bullet theory' which was what the government investigation concluded as fact.

The shooting death of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963 while he was riding in an open-topped convertible along a parade route in Dallas, Texas.

Because of the hurried pace of the investigation, the quick vigilante murder of the lone suspect, and conflicting reports of who knew what have spawned on an undying slew of conspiracy theories that Mr Kennedy was shot by a long list of people other than Lee Harvey Oswald, the man officially thought to have 'acted alone'.
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Key

Baltimore, Maryland Woman, 90, Locks Police Officer in Basement, Wins $95,000 Settlement

Author
Source
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:40 UTC
police car
© Alamy
In one of the more unusual police brutality lawsuits in recent years, 90-year-old Baltimore resident Venus Green was awarded a $95,000 settlement earlier this month after a 2009 incident in which she locked a police officer in the basement of her home.

According to WBAL TV, police came to Green's home after her grandson Tallie had been shot. Green told the TV station that Tallie had been shot at a convenience store, but officers insisted it happened in Green's home, and that Tallie had either been shot by Green or had shot himself. With that, one officer forced his way into her home, without a warrant, toward the basement where Tallie lived to look for blood or other evidence.

Green told WBAL the officer shoved her, pushed her over a chair, handcuffed her and insulted her. When the officer then went into her basement, she says she shut the door and locked him inside. She later brought a civil rights lawsuit, and in early April accepted the city's settlement offer. "[I'm a] law-abiding citizen," Green told WBAL. "I've never been arrested, I paid my taxes, owned my home, my husband died 34 years ago. [I] raised my son and I have been brutally abused. I feel like the police department needs to go back to school."
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Pistol

Florida Teens Executed Over Drug Deal

Michael Allen
Opposing Views
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:48 UTC
Florida drug killing
In Orlando, Florida, Orange County sheriff's deputies identified two bodies found burning along a popular bike trail as 16-year-old Nicholas Presha and 18-year-old Jeremy Stewart. They were apparently shot execution style over a possible drug deal gone bad. Authorities believe the pair owed $500.

The bodies were reportedly found early Sunday morning just off Cady Way Trail near Full Sail University. In a 911 call released by police, a caller says: "I can't tell if there is two mannequins or two people burning."
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Light Saber

About Time! Monsanto sued for poisoning Argentine farmers


Russia Today
Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:59 UTC
Monsanto poisons farmers
© Reuters/Sarah ConardMembers of the "Occupy" movement in the Midwest protest against Monsanto's agricultural practices in front of the Missouri Botanical Garden during the "Occupy the Midwest" regional conference in St. Louis, Missouri March 16, 2012
A lawsuit filed this week claims that the Monsanto corporation, "motivated by a desire for unwarranted economic gain," knowingly poisoned farmers that were pressured to use the company's chemicals.

Farmers from Argentina claim that agricultural giant Monsanto, along with Philip Morris and other major American tobacco companies, asked them to use chemicals on their crops that caused "devastating birth defects." The plaintiffs say that the corporations being included in the suit were aware of the implications but failed to warn the farmers, instead acting "by a desire for unwarranted economic gain and profit."

In the suit, filed this week at New Castle County Court in the state of Delaware, Monsanto, Philip Morris and others are said to have "wrongfully caused the parental and infant plaintiffs to be exposed to those chemicals and substances which they both knew, or should have known, would cause the infant offspring of the parental plaintiffs to be born with devastating birth defects." A 55-page complaint filed in court alleges that those chemicals caused conditions to develop that include cerebral palsy, epilepsy, spina bifida, congenital heart defects, Down syndrome, missing fingers and blindness.
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Hourglass

Best of the Web: François Hollande Leads as Some Sarkozy Allies Bail

John Litchfield
Independent.co.uk
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:21 UTC
Poll saying socialist could win by 14 per cent leaves right wing in despair

Image
© Unknown
Confronted with plunging polls and deserting allies, President Nicolas Sarkozy faces the prospect of a rout in the two-round French presidential election starting this weekend, with senior members of his government already said to be certain of defeat.

Supporters of the front-running Socialist candidate, François Hollande, could scarcely contain their euphoria when they gathered in Lille for their last big rally on Tuesday night before French electors go to the polls on Sunday. They interrupted the candidate's speech endlessly with chants of "François president, François president".

"You are well informed," Mr Hollande quipped. "It is possible we are going to win. It's not certain... but, yes, I feel the hope rising."

New polls published yesterday suggested that Mr Hollande, 57, was leading the field of 10 candidates in the first round with up to 29 per cent of the vote. He had extended his lead over Mr Sarkozy to between two and four points. In voting intentions for the two-candidate, second round on 6 May, Mr Hollande now leads the President by a "landslide" margin of 14 to 16 per cent.
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Eye 1

JetBlue Pilot who Had Midair Meltdown to Plead Insanity-Filing

Ioanna Makris
Reuters
Wed, 18 Apr 2012 03:06 UTC
Clayton Osbon
© The Associated PressPolice yesterday escort JetBlue captain Clayton Osbon (right) from an Amarillo, Texas, hospital to court, where he faced charges of interfering with a flight crew over his midair meltdown.
US - A JetBlue pilot whose midair meltdown prompted a cross-country flight to make an emergency landing in west Texas last month will plead he was insane at the time of the incident, his lawyer said in a federal court filing on Wednesday.

Attorney Dean Roper filed the notice in U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas, saying pilot Clayton Osbon would use an insanity defense.

Osbon, 49, was charged earlier this month with interfering in the operations of a flight crew after he allegedly screamed and pounded on the cockpit door, forcing a March 27 flight from New York to Las Vegas to land in Amarillo.

Osbon was undergoing court-ordered psychiatric examination to determine if he could stand trial. The outcome of those examinations has not been disclosed.

A federal indictment described a harrowing flight during which Osbon had to be subdued and forcibly restrained from re-entering the cockpit.
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Pistol

Austin Police Officer Fatally Shoots Dog After Going To Wrong Address


CBS News, Houston
Wed, 18 Apr 2012 07:16 UTC
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© FacebookPhoto of the “Justice for Cisco” Facebook page.
US - An Austin police officer fatally shoots a dog after showing up at the wrong address for a domestic violence call.

When police officer Thomas Griffin arrived to the address last Saturday, he witnessed Michael Paxton playing Frisbee with his dog, Cisco.

According to reports obtained by CBS Houston, the officer yelled at Paxton to show him his hands. The police car dashboard cam then caught Cisco coming to his owner's rescue by barking at the officer. The officer responded by yelling, "Get your dog!"

Griffin then opened fire on Cisco, killing the dog.

"The dog ran to his feet, he lowered his aim and shot the dog and raised his aim back up at me and told me to get back," Paxton told WAFB-TV. "My dog never made a move to attack him other than the challenging him and barking. He ran to his feet."

The Austin Police Department issued an apology for the incident. Per department policy, an investigation always takes place after an officer fires their weapon.
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Laptop

Children Grow Up Addicted to Online Porn Sites: Third of 10-year-Olds Have Seen Explicit Images

Gerri Peev
The Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:30 UTC
Image
© AlamyDisturbing: The cross-party report reveals four out of five 16-year-olds regularly access porn websites
UK - A 'guinea pig' generation of children is growing up addicted to hardcore internet pornography, MPs were warned last night.

Four out of five 16-year-old boys and girls regularly access porn online while one in three ten-year-olds has seen explicit material, a disturbing cross-party report reveals.

It also cites figures showing that more than a quarter of young patients being treated at a leading private clinic are receiving help for addiction to online pornography.

One appalled MP revealed that her son had told her that swapping hardcore images on memory sticks between pupils at his school is 'absolutely rife'.

There are fears that the rise of internet pornography is leaving teenagers unable to maintain normal relationships and even increasing their susceptibility to grooming by sexual abusers.
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