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Fri, 29 Oct 2021
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Rise Up or Die

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© Mr. Fish
Joe Sacco and I spent two years reporting from the poorest pockets of the United States for our book "Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt." We went into our nation's impoverished "sacrifice zones" - the first areas forced to kneel before the dictates of the marketplace - to show what happens when unfettered corporate capitalism and ceaseless economic expansion no longer have external impediments. We wanted to illustrate what unrestrained corporate exploitation does to families, communities and the natural world. We wanted to challenge the reigning ideology of globalization and laissez-faire capitalism to illustrate what life becomes when human beings and the ecosystem are ruthlessly turned into commodities to exploit until exhaustion or collapse. And we wanted to expose as impotent the formal liberal and governmental institutions that once made reform possible, institutions no longer equipped with enough authority to check the assault of corporate power.

What has taken place in these sacrifice zones - in postindustrial cities such as Camden, N.J., and Detroit, in coalfields of southern West Virginia where mining companies blast off mountaintops, in Indian reservations where the demented project of limitless economic expansion and exploitation worked some of its earliest evil, and in produce fields where laborers often endure conditions that replicate slavery - is now happening to much of the rest of the country. These sacrifice zones succumbed first. You and I are next.

Black Cat 2

Psychopathy of elites! Brit millionaire 'told sexual assault victim: you cannot do anything, this will never go anywhere'

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© EPA/AP

Gregory Cox has been charged with the sexual assault of a 21 year old woman on Bondi Beach in January 2013
Gregory Cox, 32, the founder and chief executive of the UK-based Quintessential Finance Group and a graduate of the exclusive Millfield boarding school near Somerset, has admitted to a sexual encounter with the woman - a 21-year-old from Bermuda - but claims she consented.

The trial started with a new jury this week after the first jury was discharged last week for legal reasons.

The alleged assault occurred on Sydney's famous Bondi Beach after 11pm on a Saturday night in January 2012. The pair met at a beachside bar, The Bucket List, where the woman swapped phone numbers with one of Mr Cox's friends.

The woman, who had only arrived in Australia four days earlier, also chatted with Mr Cox about his boarding school and later walked off with him along the beach. But he faces accusations he held her head while standing with his back against a wall on the beach and forced her to perform oral sex.

The crown prosecutor, Huw Baker, told the court that the woman had a patchy memory of what happened after leaving the bar but recalled being "terrified" as she tried to stop Mr Cox's efforts to force her to perform oral sex.

"She recalls being on her knees and she tried to stand up but being unable to stand up because something was holding her down," Mr Baker told the court. "She recalls being terrified at that point."

After Mr Cox withdrew, the woman allegedly cried: "Please stop, please stop - I don't want this."

Mr Cox allegedly told the woman: "There's nothing you can do about it... You can tell the police, you can tell whoever you like but this will never go anywhere - I've got a lot of money."

Black Magic

Psychopathy! Illinois teen athletes raped 12-year-old girl, posted video on Facebook

olympic handcuffs
© unknown
Three Illinois teenagers are accused of raping a 12-year-old girl at gunpoint and posting a video of it on Facebook.

Kenneth Brown, 15, Justin Applewhite, 16, and Scandale Fritz, 16 appeared in court on Friday. They are being charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault.

All three are accused of luring the girl into Fritz's home in Englewood where they sexually assaulted her.

The girl was raped by Fritz and told to also have sex with Brown and Applewhite.

When the girl refused to have sex with them, Brown and Applewhite raped her and ordered her again to perform sex acts on them.

She said she was scared to attempt escaping because she was afraid of getting shot.

A day later, she told an adult what had happened and was taken to the hospital. Police were also contacted.

Heart - Black

Immigration law in Alabama requires physicians to prove U.S. citizenship to maintain license

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Physicians and physician assistants in Alabama are now required to prove they are U.S. citizens, under the state's 2011 immigration law.

Medical professionals received letters this week instructing them to submit paperwork to the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners (ABME) in order to maintain their license to practice.

"A person applying for or renewing a professional license is required to sign a declaration of U.S. citizenship and demonstrate U.S. citizenship or demonstrate lawful presence in the U.S., which is then verified by the federal government," read the May 16 letter published by the Huffington Post.

It says the medical professional has only until May 31, 2013 to send the required documentation. "You will not be permitted to renew you license until this agency is in receipt of the signed Declaration and accompanying documentation," said the letter.

Alarm Clock

Protest planned after gay man murdered in Manhattan


New Yorkers -- including mayoral candidate Christine Quinn -- planned a rally Monday to protest the shooting death of a gay man in the neighborhood that was the cradle of the modern US gay rights movement.

Bacon

Bacon Bacon aroma set to end

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© Mike Koozmin/The S.F. Examiner
Bacon Bacon will be closing Friday following a dispute with neighbors. The eatery’s food truck is also shut down.
Few food items have enjoyed a more surprising recent resurgence than the savory strips of pig fat known as bacon. It is being wrapped around entrees, used to swizzle cocktails, and even serves as a flavor of ice cream.

But now a popular pork-focused restaurant in the Upper Haight must close its doors Friday following months of failed negotiations with neighbors over neighborhood concerns about porcine aroma and grease disposal.

Department of Public Health officials say the owners of Bacon Bacon, located at 205A Frederick Street, have had months since opening the space to address these and other concerns. But following their failure to do so, the restaurant must shut its doors.

Pistol

Girl, 10, shot dead while watching TV with her family after gunmen sprayed her home with bullets

Elvira Campos killed on Saturday night near Sacramento, California

Died after gunmen walked up to front door and opened fire

Father and mother were also injured in the attack


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Tragic: Elvira Campos, 10, was shot to death on Saturday night after gunmen opened fire on her family's home

A 10-year-old girl was shot dead while watching TV after gunmen opened fire on her family's home.

Elvira Campos was killed when at least two suspects sprayed the property with bullets, in North Highlands, near Sacramento, California.

Her father and mother were also injured in the attack, on Saturday night.

At least two gunmen are believed to have carried out the shooting, which took place at around 10.30pm.

About a dozen shots are believed to have been fired at the home from two different weapons.

Four holes were clearly visible in the living room window of the property, where the girl is believed to have been sitting.

Bullet holes could also be seen in the property's front door and in the frame around the front window.

Sheriff's spokesman Jason Ramos said the youngster's parents are expected to recover from their wounds, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Detective Scott Swisher said the family were innocent victims and that they were not involved in any disputes that the police are aware of.

Yoda

Male feminists still need to do the emotional work

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I appreciate pieces like Lauren Rankin's "Feminism Needs Men, Too" over at PolicyMic and interviews like this one Brittney Cooper (of Crunk Feminist Collective) did with The Feminist Wire because they force me to consider more deeply what it means when I identify as a male feminist. I come into this space with a set of privileges (cis, male, hetero) that are in constant need of interrogation, so it's important to take some time to reflect on that a bit.

I'm deliberate about saying I'm a feminist for a couple of reasons. I believe in equality and tearing down the systems of oppression that stand its way, so identifying as a feminist signals my dedication to radical change. But one can be invested in that work without applying the label. I choose it because I always want to be held accountable.

The line that struck me the most in Brittney's interview is when she said: "The thing that we aren't saying about male feminists is that they have to do the emotional work." Relatively speaking, the politics is easy. The emotional work? That shit is hard, but is some of the most important work we're charged with doing.

Because after the dust has settled, the reproductive rights have been won, the pay is equal, and there's equal representation in Congress, the mission is only half complete if sexism still dominates our social spaces. You can say the structural stuff is more important, but it's the everyday stuff that reinforces the structural stuff that adds up to a clusterfuck of mind-numbing oppression. And so many of us are guilty of allowing ourselves to perpetuate it without ever taking a moment to see the damage we're doing.

X

Mysterious bite marks on disabled Philadelphia teenager trigger investigation

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© Fox
In this undated screenshot, 16-year-old Ariel Alexander and her father Randell Alexander are seen.
A Philadelphia teenager with cerebral palsy is recovering after a brutal attack in which she was bitten across her back and shoulders. However, from where the bites originated remains a mystery.

16-year-old Ariel Alexander's condition has confined her to a wheelchair for most of her life, leaving her unable to communicate to authorities about who committed the savage act, MyFoxPhilly.com reported.

Yet the human bite marks across her left shoulder and upper back are clearly visible.

Ariel's parents reportedly believe that the incident occurred at MLK High School, where Ariel is a student in a special needs classroom. Her parents say that a few days after the attack, which they claim took place on May 1, a male teacher took them to one side and informed them that a fellow student was responsible. The school rejects the notion that it occurred on school property, stating that all teachers interviewed have denied seeing anything.

Arrow Down

Inequality surges in world's richest countries, especially in times of crisis

Beggar
© Reuters / Jon Nazca
A man begs for money in downtown Malaga, southern Spain May 15, 2013.
Not only has social inequality risen in the industrialized nations over the past three decades, the economic crisis of 2008-09 sped up the deterioration as "pain of the crisis was not evenly shared," a new report says.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which unites the world's most developed countries, has published an update to its report 'Divided We Stand'. The report published in December 2011 showed that by 2008 the industrialized nations had the worst situation with inequality in three decades.

According to the new data, the gap between the rich and the poor in most of its 34 members has been getting wider since the crisis started at a higher pace than it did before. Inequality grew more over the three years between 2007 and 2010 than it did over the 12 years before that.

Among OECD countries, it appears that "the top 10 percent has done better than the poorest 10 percent in 21 countries," with the widest gaps seen in the United States, Turkey, Chile and Mexico. In the three years described above, their income status had been continuously plunging by 2 per cent every year.