Society's ChildS


Brick Wall

Countries cordon off Ebola-racked areas, a lock-down tactic unseen in a century


Theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com
Sun, 17 Aug 2014 15:26 UTC
Image
© Tommy Trenchard for The New York Times
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is so out of control that governments there have revived a disease-fighting tactic not used in nearly a century: the "cordon sanitaire," in which a line is drawn around the infected area and no one is allowed out. Cordons, common in the medieval era of the Black Death, have not been seen since the border between Poland and Russia was closed in 1918 to stop typhus from spreading west.

They have the potential to become brutal and inhumane. Centuries ago, in their most extreme form, everyone within the boundaries was left to die or survive, until the outbreak ended. Plans for the new cordon were announced on Aug. 1 at an emergency meeting in Conakry, Guinea, of the Mano River Union, a regional association of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the three countries hardest hit by Ebola, according to Agence France-Presse. The plan was to isolate a triangular area where the three countries meet, separated only by porous borders, and where 70 percent of the cases known at that time had been found.

Troops began closing internal roads in Liberia and Sierra Leone last week. The epidemic began in southern Guinea in December, but new cases there have slowed to a trickle. In the other two countries, the number of new cases is still rapidly rising. As of Monday, the region had seen 1,848 cases and 1,013 deaths, according to the World Health Organization, although many experts think that the real count is much higher because families in remote villages are avoiding hospitals and hiding victims.
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Sheriff

Local police kill at least 400 people a year, mostly minorities - a black person twice a week on average


RT
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 16:29 UTC
Image
© AFP/Getty Images/Spencer Platt
A white police officer in the United States killed a black person on average of twice per week from 2005 to 2012, according to homicide reports offered to the FBI. But this data is limited, as only about 4 percent of law enforcement agencies contributed.

There was an average of 96 such incidents out of at least 400 police killings each year that local police departments reported to the FBI, according to analysis conducted by USA Today.

The analysis comes in the wake of the fatal police shooting by a white officer of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri that has set off national outrage over US law enforcement's aggressive use of deadly force, incongruent targeting of minorities, and a militarized posture that treats citizens as the enemy.

The FBI report shows that 18 percent of African-Americans killed during those seven years were under the age of 21. Whites killed that were under the age of 21 came out to 8.7 percent.

As USA Today noted, only around 750 agencies - out of the 17,000 law enforcement entities across the United States - offered such data to the FBI.

On top of the limited participation, the self-reported contents of the database are considered incomplete. The data are not audited after submission to the FBI, and information on "justifiable" homicides has often been at odds with independent statistics gathered on police fatalities.

Comment:
  • Welcome to the American Police State: 75 Years in Prison For Videotaping Police?
  • The U.S. has become a worse Police State than Orwell could imagine


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Cell Phone

New app reveals how your smartphone can spy on you without permission


RT.com
Sun, 17 Aug 2014 13:16 UTC
Smartphone
© Reuters/Eddie Keogh
Your Android phone can be turned into a microphone without your permission or knowledge. All that's needed are the gyros in your phone that measure orientation. Stanford researchers have shown how to rewire them to pick up sound waves.

Together with the defense firm Rafael, they created an Android app called Gyrophone, which shows just how easy it is to get the vibrating pressure plates used by the gyroscope to pick up vibrations of sound at frequencies in the 80-250Hz range - the base frequencies of the human voice.

"We show that the MEMS gyroscopes found on modern smartphones are sufficiently sensitive to measure acoustic signals in the vicinity of the phone. The resulting signals contain only very low-frequency information (< 200 Hz). Nevertheless we show, using signal processing and machine learning, that this information is sufficient to identify speaker information and even parse speech. Since iOS and Android require no special permissions to access the gyro, our results show that apps and active web content that cannot access the microphone can nevertheless eavesdrop on speech in the vicinity of the phone," the scientists say on the Stanford Security Research website, where they also offer the Android application as a free download.
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Control Panel

Climate of despair: Psychological problems faced by disappointed alarmists

Eric Worrall
Wattsupwiththat.com
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 12:42 UTC
Psychological Problems faced by disappointed alarmists
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© Search-motive.com
The Sydney Morning Herald has published an article describing the psychological problems alarmists are experiencing, in the wake of their Copenhagen 2009 disappointment.

Ask most alarmists and they will insist they are winning the debate - that the world is about to embrace green orthodoxy, that carbon trading schemes are rising, that "deniers" are more marginalised than ever before.

The article in the SMH tells a very different story - rising despair, despondency, disengagement, and in some cases delusional behaviour, in the wake of serial climate disappointments.

According to environmental scientist Nicole Thornton; "It's strange. Sometimes you just don't feel you're making headway in the time you've got, before it's too late for the planet," Thornton says. "All these little things weigh you down, and then the big stuff breaks you."

The article goes on to describe more serious cases - for example, "Six years ago, a dehydrated 17-year-old boy was brought into the Royal Children's Hospital, refusing to drink water. He believed having a drink would somehow contribute to the global shortage of potable water, and became the first diagnosed case of "climate change delusion".

Comment: Psychiatrists identify first case of "climate change delusion"

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Life Preserver

'Freedom flotilla' reset to sail against Israel's blockade on Gaza

Sarah Lazare
CommonDreams
Wed, 13 Aug 2014 00:00 UTC
3mast ship to gaza
© www.palestinechronicle.comOne ship in "Gaza's Ark."
Following Israel's latest military assault on Gaza, civil society groups from around the world say they are moving forward with plans to break the blockade on this besieged strip by sailing a "freedom flotilla" into Gaza Port.

At a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey this week, the international Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and numerous other groups came to the conclusion that "it is the responsibility of civil society worldwide to sail to Gaza," according to a press statement. They committed to making the voyage during 2014, which has been coined by the United Nations as the "International Year of Solidarity With the Palestinian People."


Comment: The U.N. has done this every year since 2004 - one day per year. They have now increased it from International DAY of Solidarity with the Palestinian People to the International YEAR...perhaps they needed more time to ponder genocide than a few messages before and after lunch?


While the group did not publicly disclose a launch location or date, they announced that they expect participation from civil society organizations across the globe - from Greece to South Africa to Jordan to Malaysia - as a counter to "the complicity of world governments" in the blockade on Gaza.

"Calls to end the blockade of Gaza need to move from words to actions," said Ann Ighe, chairperson of Ship to Gaza and member of the FFC. "We invite all interested citizens worldwide to participate in this initiative in any way you can."
Israel's month-long military assault on Gaza, currently stalled by a tenuous ceasefire, has left at least 1,939 Palestinians dead, 9,886 wounded, over 200,000 displaced, and more than 10,000 Palestinian housing units destroyed or severely damaged. United Nations officials estimate that at least three-fourths of Palestinians killed in Gaza are civilians and one third are children.

Comment: The peaceful challenges of the Israeli blockade of Gaza started in 2008 in the form of boats, financed by civilians and NGOs worldwide, that sailed from Cyprus, Greece and Turkey to Gaza. After the first few missions reached Gaza, Israel fiercely attacked the boats and the activists on board. The violence Israel was showing reached new criminal heights on May 31, 2010, when it killed nine (10, 1 was an American) activists on the Mavi Marmara in cold blood. It was a completely illegal act; Israel had no right to board the ship. The rest of the over 600 people on the flotilla boats were taken to Israel and deported home.

Israel stopped Freedom Flotilla 2, the Freedom Waves initiative and the Estelle which sailed at the end of 2012, continuing its long history of targeting peaceful, non-violent direct action with violence and sabotage. Gaza's Ark was/is again the evolution of the flotilla movement.

The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights notes that "it is common for the (Israeli) navy to open fire on fishermen, pursue them in Gazan waters, and destroy and confiscate their equipment, including their nets and boats. Such acts constitute flagrant violations of Israel's legal obligations as an occupying power under international law, and violate the fishermen's rights to life and work."

With the siege, Israel has also enforced no-go zones in Gaza's sea, to which Palestinians, under the Oslo accords, have the right to fish as far as 20 nautical miles from the coast. Fishermen and human rights groups report that the Israeli navy shoots on, harasses and abducts Palestinians as close at times as less than a mile from Gaza's coast, killing or injuring numerous fishermen while shooting at their boats. The act of the blockade is an act of collective punishment, which is outlawed under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

What is annoyingly dangerous to Israel is a peaceful project, supported by thousands of normal individuals, that will expose its lies and sidetrack its agenda. A flood of independent thinking and action won't float Israel's boat, thus it had to destroy Gaza's Ark.

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Quenelle

Activists delay docking of Israeli ship at Oakland Port

Charlotte Silver
The Electronic Intifada
Sat, 16 Aug 2014 18:48 UTC
Image
© Unknown
San Francisco Bay Area Palestine activists have declared their first victory in attempting to prevent the offloading of an Israeli cargo vessel at the Oakland Port. Originally planning to show up at 5:00 am Saturday morning to block the ship, activists sent word out late last night that the meeting time had been moved up to 3:00pm, as the ship had delayed its arrival at Oakland in an apparent attempt to avoid the protest.

Activist Mohamed Shehk told The Electronic Intifada that the organizers have been tracking the vessel Zim Piraeus, and realized last night that it had stopped before reaching its Oakland destination, spending the night at sea.

"This delay is seen as a victory for us. It shows how much Zim is trying to avoid our protest, and it shows how effective we can be when we can organize these types of actions," Shehk said.
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Airplane

High school band gets crop-dusted with toxic pesticides

Ethan A. Huff
Natural News
Sat, 16 Aug 2014 19:38 UTC
crop dusting
© Teo/Flickr
More than 350 members of a Texas high school's marching band were sent home and told to thoroughly shower and sanitize their instruments after a plane flying overhead doused them with pesticides. Reports indicate that the students, who attend Pearland High School near Houston, were outside practicing when a city plane flew by, dumping chemicals meant for mosquito extermination.

According to reports, the incident happened around 8 a.m. on August 7, when a plane from the Brazoria County Mosquito Control District (BCMCD) flew over a parking lot next to the school's football stadium. When administrators figured out what was going on, they told band members to go inside. But it was too late, as the toxins had already been released.
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Stormtrooper

Police use rubber bullets and tear gas in attempt to quell Ferguson riots - New witness says Michael Brown was shot while 'backing away with hands up'

Adam Withnall
The Independent
Thu, 14 Aug 2014 20:22 UTC
ferguson riots
© Reuters/Mario Anzuoni A protester throws back a smoke bomb while clashing with police in Ferguson
As anger over black teenager's death escalates, Barack Obama has been criticised for staying away on holiday

Police have begun using tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets on those protesting the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, as another witness said Michael Brown was backing away with his hands up as an officer repeatedly fired at him.

The situation in the suburb of St Louis has rapidly deteriorated following largely peaceful vigils on Tuesday night, and has led to calls for Barack Obama to cut short his golfing holiday to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.

Last night some protesters were seen hurling rocks at the heavily-armed and camouflage-wearing police units, while there were reports of young men preparing what appeared to be petrol bombs in a bus shelter.

Angry protests have taken place in Ferguson every night since Saturday, when the 18-year-old was shot to death in what police say was a struggle over a gun in a police car.

A new witness, Tiffany Mitchell, told CNN she was watching when Mr Brown and an officer, who has not been named, were "tussling through the window".

Ms Mitchell said the officer was pulling the teen in as he struggled to get away, and then "a shot was fired through the window".

"The kid finally gets away and he starts running. As he runs, the police get out of his vehicle and he follows behind him shooting," Mitchell said, adding that Brown turned around and put his hands in the air.

"The cop continued to fire until he just dropped down to the ground and his face just smacks the concrete."
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Handcuffs

Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery gives harrowing account of his Ferguson arrest

Wesley Lowery
Washington Post
Sat, 16 Aug 2014 19:19 UTC
Image
© CNN
Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery was detained by police on Wednesday while reporting on the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., following the fatal shooting of unarmed teen Michael Brown by police over the weekend.

For the past week in Ferguson, reporters have been using the McDonald's a few blocks from the scene of Michael Brown's shooting as a staging area. Demonstrations have blown up each night nearby. But inside there's WiFi and outlets, so it's common for reporters to gather there.

That was the case Wednesday. My phone was just about to die, so as I charged it, I used the time to respond to people on Twitter and do a little bit of a Q&A since I wasn't out there covering the protests.

As I sat there, many armed officers came in - some who were dressed as normal officers, others who were dressed with more gear.

Initially, both Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post and I were asked for identification. I was wearing my lanyard, but Ryan asked why he had to show his ID. They didn't press the point, but one added that if we called 911, no one would answer.

Then they walked away. Moments later, the police reemerged, telling us that we had to leave. I pulled my phone out and began recording video.


An officer with a large weapon came up to me and said, "Stop recording."

I said, "Officer, do I not have the right to record you?"

He backed off but told me to hurry up. So I gathered my notebook and pens with one hand while recording him with the other hand.
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Bizarro Earth

What world peace? There are only 11 countries in the world that are actually free from conflict

Adam Withnall
The Independent
Thu, 14 Aug 2014 18:59 UTC
As new wars and civil unrests seem to be flaring up every week, we look for the only countries in the world that could be considered 'conflict-free'

With the crisis in Gaza, the rise of Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria and the international stand-off ongoing in Ukraine, it can sometimes feel like the whole world is at war.

But experts believe this is actually almost universally the case, according to a think-tank which produces one of the world's leading measures of "global peacefulness" - and things are only going to get worse.

It may make for bleak reading, but of the 162 countries covered by the Institute for Economics and Peace's (IEP's) latest study, just 11 were not involved in conflict of one kind or another.

Worse still, the world as a whole has been getting incrementally less peaceful every year since 2007 - sharply bucking a trend that had seen a global move away from conflict since the end of the Second World War.

The UK, as an example, is relatively free from internal conflict, making it easy to fall to thinking it exists in a state of peace. But recent involvement in foreign fighting in the likes of Afghanistan, as well as a fairly high state of militarisation, means Britain actually scores quite poorly on the 2014 Global Peace Index, coming 47th overall.
global peace index internal
© IEPThe Global Peace Index chart for internal conflicts, showing the countries defined as having 'no conflict' in dark green
Then there are countries which are involved in no actual foreign wars involving deaths whatsoever - like North Korea - but which are fraught by the most divisive and entrenched internal conflicts.
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