Welcome to Sott.net
Fri, 05 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Society's Child
Map

Snakes in Suits

Corporations, 'the cancer' that are slowly killing American middle-class says 'Wire' creator David Simon

John Mulholland
Rawstory.com
Sun, 28 Sep 2014 20:39 UTC
Image
© John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
David Simon
The writer's next show, Show Me a Hero, is the true story of a battle over public housing that convulsed New York in the 80s. Here, on location in Manhattan, he talks about how money corrupts US politics, the erosion of the working class, why it's a crime to be poor in America - and why he likes to argue

At the end of a long day scouting locations for his new TV miniseries, David Simon is sitting in his Upper West Side office in New York describing the type of person who needn't bother tuning in to his new show. He's speaking as a TV writer but also as a citizen angered by a political system that he thinks fails many of his fellow countrymen.

"People who think we're being well governed at the moment... well, there's no reason for them to watch. People who look at the inertia of Washington, at the partisanship, at the divisive and polarised discourse... people who think that's the way to build a just society, well, don't watch the show, because I got nothin' for you."

If, on the other hand, "You're starting to believe that even the vernacular we're using to argue about solutions to problems is dysfunctional, watch this show because I think it's a perfect metaphor for what the American government is no longer capable of doing - addressing problems in a utilitarian fashion for the good of most people. American politics has left the room when it comes to finding solutions for our problems."

Show Me a Hero, which will appear on screens late next year or in spring 2016, is based on a non-fiction book of the same name by former New York Times writer Lisa Belkin. It marks the time, says Simon, when American politics left the room.
      Read More...
USA

America's dirty little secret: Sex trafficking is big business

John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:25 UTC
"For every 10 women rescued, there are 50 to 100 more women are brought in by the traffickers. Unfortunately, they're not 18- or 20-year-olds anymore. They're minors as young as 13 who are being trafficked. They're little girls." - 25-year-old victim of trafficking
"Children are being targeted and sold for sex in America every day." - John Ryan, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Sex Trafficking
© US Department of Justice, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The mysterious disappearance of 18-year-old Hannah Graham on September 13, 2014, has become easy fodder for the media at a time when the news cycle is lagging. After all, how does a young woman just vanish without a trace, in the middle of the night, in a town that is routinely lauded for being the happiest place in America, not to mention one of the most beautiful?

Yet Graham is not the first girl to vanish in America without a trace - my hometown of Charlottesville, Va., has had five women go missing over the span of five years - and it is doubtful she will be the last. I say doubtful because America is in the grip of a highly profitable, highly organized and highly sophisticated sex trafficking business that operates in towns large and small, raking in upwards of $9.5 billion a year in the U.S. alone by abducting and selling young girls for sex.

It is estimated that there are 100,000 to 150,000 under-aged sex workers in the U.S. The average age of girls who enter into street prostitution is between 12 and 14 years old, with some as young as 9 years old. This doesn't include those who entered the "trade" as minors and have since come of age. Rarely do these girls enter into prostitution voluntarily. As one rescue organization estimated, an underaged prostitute might be raped by 6,000 men during a five-year period of servitude.

This is America's dirty little secret.

You don't hear much about domestic sex trafficking from the media or government officials, and yet it infects suburbs, cities and towns across the nation. According to the FBI, sex trafficking is the fastest growing business in organized crime, the second most-lucrative commodity traded illegally after drugs and guns. It's an industry that revolves around cheap sex on the fly, with young girls and women who are sold to 50 men each day for $25 apiece, while their handlers make $150,000 to $200,000 per child each year.
      Read More...
Magnify

Spotlight: Washington's secret agendas

Paul Craig Roberts
paulcraigroberts.com
Sun, 28 Sep 2014 00:00 UTC
Owl-Orwell
© www.truthliesdeceptioncoverups.info
One might think that by now even Americans would have caught on to the constant stream of false alarms that Washington sounds in order to deceive the people into supporting its hidden agendas.

The public fell for the lie that the Taliban in Afghanistan are terrorists allied with al Qaeda. Americans fought a war for 13 years that enriched Dick Cheney's firm, Halliburton, and other private interests only to end in another Washington failure.

The public fell for the lie that Saddam Hussein in Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction" that were a threat to America and that if the US did not invade Iraq Americans risked a "mushroom cloud going up over an American city." With the rise of ISIS, this long war apparently is far from over. Billions of dollars more in profits will pour into the coffers of the US military security complex as Washington fights those who are redrawing the false Middle East boundaries created by the British and French after WW I when the British and French seized territories of the former Ottoman Empire.

The American public fell for the lies told about Gaddafi in Libya. The formerly stable and prosperous country is now in chaos.

The American public fell for the lie that Iran has, or is building, nuclear weapons. Sanctioned and reviled by the West, Iran has shifted toward an Eastern orientation, thereby removing a principal oil producer from Western influence.

The public fell for the lie that Assad of Syria used "chemical weapons against his own people." The jihadists that Washington sent to overthrow Assad have turned out to be, according to Washington's propaganda, a threat to America.

The greatest threat to the world is Washington's insistence on its hegemony. The ideology of a handful of neoconservatives is the basis for this insistence. We face the situation in which a handful of American neoconservative psychopaths claim to determine the fate of countries.

Comment: Americans have lost the fine art of discernment. Politicians are bought and sold. Economics, for the rich and few, run agendas. Propaganda becomes the truth. We have become a nation of surface dwellers living on instant information and gratification, losing all scope of the depth and breadth of what is truth versus lies and perversion, purposely avoiding facts--the real ones--and thereby buying into false fear and abdicating our power. Is it complicated? Yes. Imperative we figure this out? Hell yes. Who did this to us? By default, we did.

      Read More...
People 2

'Don't apologize, resign!' Family of killed teen demands justice amid renewed Ferguson unrest


RT
Mon, 29 Sep 2014 09:30 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Gary Cameron
Ferguson's top cop should resign, the best apology from him will be not words but the arrest and prosecution of the police officer who killed their son, the parents of Michael Brown said as tensions in the St. Louis suburb escalated again this week.

The parents of Michael Brown said they were unmoved by Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson's apology which he offered earlier this week, more than a month after their 18-year-old son was killed by a white police officer.

"An apology would be when Darren Wilson has handcuffs, processed and charged with murder," Michael Brown Sr. told the AP, while Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, said Chief Tom Jackson should be fired.

The killing by Officer Darren Wilson of an unarmed African-American teen on August 9, sparked weeks of unrest in the predominantly black community of Missouri, while the highly militarized response to protests and demonstrations near the site of the shooting exacerbated tensions and galvanized the local population to call attention to racial grievances.
      Read More...
Light Sabers

Hong Kong: Demonstators subject to teargas, pepper spray as thousands-strong protest turns violent


RT
Sun, 28 Sep 2014 16:33 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Stringer
Riot police fire tear gas to disperse protesters after thousands of protesters blocked the main street to the financial Central district outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong September 28, 2014.
Hong Kong police used tear gas and pepper spray on a crowd of pro-democracy protesters who ignored warnings and blocked the city's main highway. The violence came after several days of student protests.

Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters have besieged the Hong Kong government headquarters in a protest against Beijing's decision to restrict a democratic election in the city.

Local law enforcement had to use force to disperse protesters in the city's Admiralty district near the main government offices, where they have been camping out throughout the weekend.

As the crowd ignored police warnings, charging barricades and refused to leave, blocking a key road, security forces went ahead and used tear gas and pepper spray. The measure, however, turned out to be counterproductive as protesters regrouped and spread briefly after the crackdown.
TEAR GAS #OccupyCentralpic.twitter.com/tHqNuXtaVK
- Phila Siu (@phila_siu) September 28, 2014
Many of the protesters had goggles or covered faces with masks, and protected themselves with raincoats and umbrellas against the pepper spray.
Protesters all the way to Central now; very tense standoff. Crowd angry as tear gas fired again. #OccupyCentralpic.twitter.com/eGzYKTmAfo
- Tesa Arcilla (@TesaArcilla) September 28, 2014
      Read More...
Black Cat

Sexualizing children: Nevada school district proposes sex ed for Kindergarteners

Kathryn Schroeder,
Opposing Views
Sun, 28 Sep 2014 00:00 UTC
sex ed kids
© FOX5
Changes to the Clark County School District's sexual education curriculum could lead to it beginning as early as kindergarten.

The sexual education curriculum currently begins in the fifth grade in Clark County and is abstinence-based.

That could all change if the school board decides to adopt suggestions outlined in a 112-page document called Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education that was put together by a task force of educators and health experts, reports FOX5.

One change proposed in the document is for sexual education to begin in kindergarten.

Many parents are upset over the proposed changes.

"I was sick to my stomach. My wife and I read it. We're sick to think elementary age kids would be exposed to these types of things," parent Ronald Withaeger said.

Comment: It appears that the schools are attempting to override parental discretion in determining the timing and appropriateness of sharing explicit sexual information with their young children. It is becoming more obvious that the State desires to take away as much parental control of children as possible.

It's not perfectly normal: U.S. schools teach masturbation to 8-year-olds
The new school curriculum: Reading, riting & recreational sex
Programming Complete: Why 6-Year-Old Girls Want to Be Sexy
Sex and the Public Schools

      Read More...
Hardhat

Sicilian oil refinery tank catches fire, panicking residents


RT
Sun, 28 Sep 2014 01:35 UTC
refinery fire Milazzo
© AFP Photo/Giovanni
Flames arise after a fire broke out at the Mediterranean Refinery of Milazzo, one of most important in southern Italy, in Milazzo, near Messina on Sicily Island on September 27, 2014.
A huge overnight fire at an oil refinery on the Italian island of Sicily sent hundreds of panicked residents fleeing the area, fearing the fire could spread to residential buildings. The fire was reportedly seen miles away.

The Milazzo oil refinery, near the northeast coast of Sicily, caught fire Friday afternoon. The flames were seen several kilometers around the facility, AFP reported, citing local media.

The fire started in a 5,000-liter tank at the refinery, which is jointly owned by Italy's energy giant Eni and Kuwait Petroleum.

Though firefighters managed to bring the fire under control, the tank was still burning Saturday morning. They said it would burn until the oil tank is empty.
      Read More...
Quenelle - Golden

Thousands gather in cities across Scotland to protest vote rigging and rally for independence


Evening Telegraph, UK
Sun, 28 Sep 2014 23:15 UTC
Image

Two Scottish lasses react to London's decision to invade Iraq for the third time in 25 years. Yes rally at Holyrood Parliament in Edinburgh Saturday 27 September 2014
Thousands of people have gathered outside the Scottish Parliament for a rally in support of independence.

A sea of saltires waved as the crowds listened to musical performances and speeches from campaigners.

The rally, organised under the Voice Of The People banner, comes just over a week after Scotland rejected independence in the referendum.

Many of those in attendance were still sporting badges, signs and banners in support of the Yes campaign, which won 45% of the vote on September 18.

They joined in with renditions of Flower Of Scotland and Caledonia, while speakers urged them to carry on with the campaign.

Those addressing the crowd included SNP MSP Marco Biagi and Kate Higgins of the Women For Independence group.

Ms Higgins urged people to reach out to the older female generation who may have voted No, and to take the campaign into deprived communities across Scotland.


Comment: Here's footage of the rally in Inverness:



Meanwhile the Mirror - one of the UK's largest newspapers - ran a poll over the weekend:

Image
© The Mirror
Keep in mind that this includes a majority of English visitors to the Mirror's website. They are on Scots' side against the British establishment
Here's another report on the protests, this time from the independent alt.media site, 'Ace News Desk 2014':
Scottish independence: Thousands at Holyrood rally, Edinburgh
Shaun Gibson: @ShaunyNews - 28 Sept 2014

No chance of trouble in Edinburgh today, or tonight, as we don't have any unionists in or around our city. Half the people I know were there today. We've been having pictures and videos sent in all afternoon when I was doing the live football. THIS IS HOW A PEOPLE CONTROL A GOVERNMENT!

Take note, World, when Government doesn't work for Scotland (and the English, to be fair) we take to the streets. Today passed with no trouble at all in Edinburgh; it was all in good spirit. I heard there were a few warned by police to not talk about the ongoing police investigation with the Electoral Commission over vote fraud and there were a few angry voices.

Similar to today happened all over Scotland with Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, and Glasgow, amongst others. We're not giving in to what we all know to be a rigged Election/Referendum. As the police and Electoral Commission gather findings for possible evidence for the procurator fiscal in the highest court in the land on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, we just won't accept blatant cheating that has been more than proven.

Still we wait for DevoMax powers. We were told on Thursday by David Cameron he will 100% hand them to us, but with the SNP (Scottish National Party) a party for Scotland ONLY - and being now the 3rd largest in the UK and looking to overtake the Conservative party in joined members - I think we all know in Scotland that freedom is not too far away.

David Cameron and his Westminster buddies made a HUGE error by signing a legally binding document, twice, for powers the people of England and Wales also now want. It may be that our freedom will come quicker than expected as Cameron tries to save his English vote. We have more pandas in Edinburgh Zoo than we do serving Tory/Conservative politicians in our parliament building.

Image

Protesters in Glasgow bring food to distribute to poorer families attending rallies
Image
Image


      Read More...
Arrow Down

Kansas Governor declares October Zombie Preparedness Month

Greta McClain
Digital Journal
Sun, 28 Sep 2014 10:42 UTC
Topeka - Forget tornadoes, Dorothy and Toto, zombies are what Kansas Governor Sam Brownback is worried about, prompting him to declare October as Zombie Preparedness Month.
Zombies
© tatu43
As part of an initiative by the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, Governor Sam Brownback signed the Zombie Preparedness Month proclamation at the Kansas State House ceremonial office on Friday.

The goal of the initiative is to encourage residents to prepare for potential emergencies, including a zombie apocalypse, by tapping into people's fascination with zombies and television shows such as The Walking Dead.
      Read More...
Arrow Down

Streetcorner exorcism reported in the U.K.

Andrew Jameson
Croydon Advertiser
Fri, 26 Sep 2014 21:12 UTC
Exorcism
© Grant Melton
'GET THE DEMON OUT': The group gather opposite Woodside Medical Centre.
Apparent "exorcisms" of children have been taking place in the early hours of the morning on a street corner in South Norwood.

The Advertiser witnessed a group of eight people congregating at 5.25am on Tuesday (September 23) and chanting in a group around a toddler behind South Norwood Leisure Centre.

Some of the incidents involve children, but it is not known whether it is the same child in all the alleged 'exorcisms'.

On Tuesday, members of the group took up different spots in the roads around Enmore Road, Portland Road and Denmark Road. They then gathered under a street lamp on the corner of Enmore Road and Denmark Road, near Woodside Medical Centre and South Norwood and Woodside Social Club.

Members of the group were heard to say "release your spirit" and "get the demon out" - which has alerted the council and police to monitor what is feared may be an exorcism.

The child stood in the middle of the group appearing not to move while the leader - a woman - repeatedly shouted "in the name of Jesus".
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts