Society's ChildS


Stock Up

One last hurrah? Bank profits and housing market boom dominate 'recovery' of U.S. economy

John Rubino
Dollar Collaspe
Mon, 15 Jul 2013 17:36 UTC
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One of the many, many lessons we should have learned from the 2009 crash is that an economy driven by inherently-unstable - and completely unproductive - things like rising home prices and bank trading profits can't be trusted.

And yet here we are again. Bloomberg reports that the Manhattan housing boom has spread to the boroughs:

Brooklyn Home Prices Rise to Record in N.Y. Sales Frenzy
Home prices in Brooklyn, New York's most populous borough, surged to a record as low interest rates and rising rents across the city swelled demand for homeownership amid a dwindling supply of properties for sale.

The median price of condominiums, co-ops and one- to three-family homes that sold in the second quarter was $550,000, up 15 percent from a year earlier and the highest in more than a decade of record keeping, New York-based appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate said in a report today. The inventory of listings fell 19 percent to 4,704, the lowest for a second quarter since Miller Samuel began tracking the data in 2008, said Jonathan Miller, the firm's president.

The median price of condominiums, co-ops and one- to three- family homes that sold in the second quarter was $550,000, up 15 percent.
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Pistol

"Marauding bands of young robbers" catch L.A. cops by surprise, as fallout from Zimmerman trial continues

Joel Rubin, Andrew Blankstein and Emily Alpert
Los Angeles Times
Wed, 17 Jul 2013 13:21 UTC
At least 14 people were taken into custody Tuesday night and many more remained at large after marauding bands of young people conducted a string of robberies, assaults and acts of vandalism along Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles police said late Tuesday.


The crimes did not appear to be related to the protests over the George Zimmerman acquittal in the slaying of Trayvon Martin.

Incident commander Dennis Kato said police were inundated with phone calls beginning about 9 p.m., reporting that packs of young people were roaming along Hollywood and attacking people. Public information officer Rosario Herrera said at least one of the attacks was near Hollywood and Highland.
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People 2

UK: Number of people calling mental health helplines soars by 50% in one year - and 'financial pressures' are to blame

Rachel Reilly
The Daily Mail, UK
Thu, 18 Jul 2013 11:23 UTC
Mind, a mental health charity, has noticed a sharp increase in the number of people calling their infoline

Charity CEO Paul Farmer said that financial worries were usually the root cause of despair and worry

The number of people ringing helplines to seek advice for mental illness has shot up by an 'alarming' 50 per cent, according to new figures.

The nature of the calls made by those who anonymously seek help has also changed - with more people contemplating suicide.

Mind, the mental health charity who compiled the data, have described the figures as 'alarming' and have urged people to seek help as soon as they are concerned about their state of mind.
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Mind, a UK mental health charity, has noticed a sharp increase in those calling their infoline for help. The amount of people ringing with 'complex and acute' problems had increased more specifically

Mind found that the number of calls rose to over 68,000 in 2012/13, from 46,000 in 2011/2012.

They said that they had seen a corresponding shift in the nature of calls, with people presenting more acute and complex problems.
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Pistol

We've had our conversation on race. Now we need one on guns.

Alec MacGillis
The New Republic
Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:45 UTC
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Of course the George Zimmerman trial was about race, and it's natural for us to spend the days after the verdict deliberating that in all its particulars. (The faceoff on the Washington Post op-ed page between Richard Cohen, rationalizing Zimmerman's fear of black boys in hoodies, and Eugene Robinson's cri-de-coeur about the lost youth of African American men pretty much says it all. For the undercard, I heartily recommend the day-long Twitter debate between Will Saletan and Tom Scocca.) But could we spare just a moment to talk about the other factor that led Trayvon Martin to end up lying on a sidewalk in Sanford, Florida with a bullethole in his chest?

I know, I know - guns don't kill people, hyper-vigilant neighborhood watchmen kill people. But that's just the thing: it was far more likely that George Zimmerman was going to be carrying a deadly weapon that night in Florida than his equivalent wanna-be cop would've been in many other states. There are more than one million active concealed-carry permits in Florida. That's tops in the nation - one for every 14 Florida adults. It's painfully obvious, but must be said anyway: if Zimmerman is out protecting the streets that night with naught but his martial-arts skills and maybe some pepper spray, Trayvon Martin would be alive today.

Comment: The lethal combination of "Shall Issue" concealed gun permitting and the "Stand your Ground" laws that many states have will lead to many more unnecessary killings. The fact that anyone can get away with murder by claiming they felt threatened puts many people in danger especially, but not exclusively, young African-American men and boys whom many see as violent and threatening. The Powers that Be have inculcated fear into the public for a reason, despite the fact that violent crime has been dropping sharply in the United States. A fearful, paranoid nation is easier to control.

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Alarm Clock

Welshpool train crash: Tractor driver's miracle escape after 70mph service smashes into his vehicle

Luke Traynor
mirror.co.uk
Tue, 16 Jul 2013 14:44 UTC
The driver was towing a trailer into a neighbouring field and decided to cross the line with the busy service fast approaching
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© Jon Fuller-Rowell / Daily MirrorArriva train has crashed into a farmers trailer
A tractor driver cheated death today after trying to travel across tracks moments before a 70mph train smashed into him.

The driver was towing a trailer into a neighbouring field and decided to cross the line with the busy service fast approaching.

Detectives from British Transport Police arrested the 27-year-old on suspicion of endangering safety following the smash.

Amazingly, the driver emerged unscathed with hardly any injuries following the midday crash at a remote agricultural crossing in Buttington, Welshpool, in mid-Wales.

Up to 200 passengers were evacuated from the 10.06 Arriva Trains Wales service from Birmingham to Aberystwyth and led across fields to waiting buses, while two people suffered minor injuries.

They were taken to Welshpool Hospital for further treatment.

The train managed to stay upright despite the high-impact collision and remained on the tracks with some damage to its front, at around 11.50am today.

One onlooker said: "The tractor ended up in a hedge and the trailer was catapulted 20 metres down the track.

"The train appears to have hit the trailer rather than the tractor which is probably why the driver is still alive. A spilt second earlier and he'd have been dead."

Bob Gittins, landlord of the nearby Green Dragon Inn, was walking his dog with his wife and saw the aftermath of the drama.

The 60-year-old told the Mirror: "It happened in the field next to our pub.

"We heard the train coming as normal, but then a big thud and smoke everywhere.
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Cut

List of Trayvon Martin supporters making retaliatory attacks grows

Dabney Bailey
Opposing Views
Tue, 16 Jul 2013 14:05 UTC
justice for trayvor
The Trayvon Martin case has sparked violent outbursts from angry protestors on both sides of the fence. Unfortunately, the list of violent incidents continues to grow.

March 25-26: At least seven white people were attacked by mobs of black people in Grand Rapids, Michigan. / "The detective also told Jacob that he believed the Trayvon Martin media frenzy is what prompted the attacks."

April 5: A 78-year-old Ohio man said that he was the victim of a hate crime after a group of young black men attacked him while shouting, "This is for Trayvon."

April 10: Police in Gainesville, FL investigated a "racially motivated" incident after several black men attacked a white man. The victim was punched in the face and was then struck several more times while he was on the ground. The attackers allegedly chanted, "Trayvon" before the attack.
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Eye 1

Miami considers JAILING homeless people for sleeping or eating in public places

Sam Webb
The Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 17 Jul 2013 13:05 UTC
Homeless people could face jail under proposed changes to law

Activists say unavoidable parts of street life will be criminalised

But city chief says homelessness has become a serious problem

For years an uneasy truce has existed between people living rough on the streets of Miami and police officers.

Before the late 1990s, Miami police frequently arrested homeless people for sleeping on park benches, eating on paths, or congregating in public places - but after a landmark court case in 1998, officers were instructed not to make arrests for these minor offences and instead take them to a homeless shelter.

But now a Miami commissioner is petitioning the courts to renege on much of the settlement, Pottinger vs City of Miami, so many 'life-sustaining' aspects of street life are once again crimes.
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Miami city commissioner Marc Sarnoff wants changes to empower police to arrest homeless people for certain offences
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Hardhat

Chinese woman stuck between walls mistaken for a ghost, rescued 7 hours later

Ryan Grenoble
Huffington Post
Tue, 16 Jul 2013 12:02 UTC
A woman in China's Anhui province has been rescued after spending a night stuck between two walls.


According to the Independent, she'd taken a narrow path between two buildings, believing it to be a shortcut on her way home, then become lodged, unable to move, for seven hours.

Unfortunately for both the woman and the owners of the buildings she was pancaked against, her calls for help were believed to be the cries of a ghost. As such, they were ignored (as much as the incessant cries of a ghost can be) until the next morning, when passersby raised the alarm, CNN notes.

Once firefighters arrived, she was rescued in less than half an hour.

Shanghaiist reports the woman didn't suffer any major injuries and has recovered.

Earlier this year, firefighters in Portland, Ore., rescued a woman after she also became stuck between two buildings for more than four hours. The woman in that incident had fallen into the opening, though it isn't clear how she'd done so.
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Syringe

May the best junkie win: It's impossible to win Tour de France without taking copious amounts of drugs - Lance Armstrong

John Lichfield
The Independent, UK
Sat, 29 Jun 2013 05:33 UTC
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Riding high as a kite: Seven times world junkie champion Lance Armstrong
Pat McQuaid, the president of world cycling's governing body the UCI, has hit back at claims by disgraced rider Lance Armstrong that the sport cannot change its doping image while the Irishman remains in charge.

Armstrong claimed McQuaid - currently facing a re-election challenge from British Cycling's Brian Cookson - must go if the sport is to clean up.

"Things just cannot change as long as McQuaid stays in power," Armstrong said. "The UCI refuses to establish a truth and reconciliation commission because the testimony that everyone would want to hear would bring McQuaid, [his predecessor] Hein Verbruggen and the whole institution down."

McQuaid yesterday released a statement of his own, which read: "It is very sad that Lance Armstrong has decided to make this statement on the eve of the Tour de France. However, I can tell him categorically that he is wrong. His comments do absolutely nothing to help cycling. Armstrong's views and opinions are shaped by his own behaviour and time in the peloton. Cycling has now moved on."
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X

Tourists hurt as Thai train derails


Press Association
Wed, 17 Jul 2013 03:27 UTC
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© AP Photo/Apichart WeerawongThe Bangkok to Chiang Mai route has seen another derailment
State Railway of Thailand governor Prapas Jongsanguan said the overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai skidded off the tracks in Phrae province and seven of the 10 carriages flipped on to their sides.

Railway authorities believe the accident was caused by old tracks due for repair.

Mr Prapas said one passenger was seriously injured and the rest had minor injuries and were given free transport to their destinations.
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