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Car Black

Living in their vehicles has become 'the new normal' for countless Americans

Michael Snyder
End Of The American Dream
Tue, 11 Jun 2019 16:27 UTC
Homeless sleeping in car
© Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Homeless man and woman sleeping in their car in California.
Once again tonight, countless numbers of Americans will sleep in their vehicles, and this is a problem that is getting worse with each passing year. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the homeless population in the United States hit 552,830 in 2018, but many believe that the true number is actually a lot higher. Because in order to accurately count the homeless you have got to find them first, and many homeless do not want to be found. But even if the HUD figure is accurate, it is still a great national tragedy to have such a high number of homeless, and a large percentage of those homeless Americans are living in their vehicles.

Since they can move around so easily, counting those that are living in their vehicles can be exceedingly difficult to do. But we do have a few numbers, and they are definitely alarming.

A survey that was conducted in the Seattle area last year found that the number of people living in their vehicles had risen 46 percent over the past 12 months. And according to a report that was just recently released, approximately 16,500 people are currently living in their vehicles in the city of Los Angeles. The following comes from the Los Angeles Times ...
Two years ago, Los Angeles began testing an alternative to homeless shelters called safe parking, giving people living in their cars a secure spot to sleep at night.

The first site was quickly deemed a success, so the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority agreed to fund nine more lots in the pilot program, with promises to expand.

Earlier this year, before the release of new data showing more than 16,500 people living in their vehicles, the authority put out a request to providers across the county to help them make good on that promise.

Comment: In contrast, Russia creates a homeless rehabilitation summer camp near Moscow

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Bulb

Yes, dodgeball is a 'TOOL OF OPPRESSION' - but that doesn't mean we should ban it

Igor Ogorodnev
RT
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 16:35 UTC
Dodgeball
© Getty Images/Steven Errico
Forbidding a children's ball game to combat violence and injustice in society makes no sense, as long as young people will ultimately face survival in a real world that is far more violent and unjust.

In one of those stories that was bound to birth a slew of political-correctness-gone-mad responses, Canadian scientists have presented as-yet-unpublished research showing that dodgeball is a form of "legalized bullying" that forms a part of the "hidden curriculum" of oppression in school.

To arrive at these findings, the team interviewed students about which gym class activities they disliked the most - where the ball-throwing game came in top place - and then, for reasons that are less than intuitively clear, decided to measure those answers against the Five Faces of Oppression, a model developed by the post-Marxist feminist philosopher Iris Marion Young.
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TV

Fake news fail! CNN's death spiral continues - loses one-third of primetime audience

John Nolte
Breitbart
Wed, 12 Jun 2019 15:43 UTC
CNN fake news
The far-left CNN's ratings death spiral marched into last week as the fake news network lost one-third of its primetime audience and a breathtaking 55 percent of its demo viewers.

When compared to this same week last year, CNN also lost 21 percent of its total day viewers.

How bad is this?

Well, you can't blame a slow news week because not only was President Trump on an overseas trip, but as you will see, CNN stands completely alone with this massive audience implosion.

By comparison, in primetime, MSNBC and Fox News only lost four percent of their viewers compared to last year and seven and five percent of their total day viewers, respectively.

Let me lay this out for you as starkly as I can.

Comment: See also:

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Pistol

20-year-old aspiring rapper shot & killed by California police (Update)

Sam Levin
The Guardian
Thu, 14 Feb 2019 11:11 UTC
Willie McCoy
© David Harrison
Willie McCoy was startled awake and fatally shot by Vallejo police at Taco Bell, prompting family to allege racial profiling
California police officers fatally shot a 20-year-old rapper who was sleeping in his car outside a Taco Bell, authorities said.

Six Vallejo officers fired "multiple rounds" at the man, identified by family as Willie McCoy, police said. McCoy had a handgun on him when the officers fired out of "fear for their own safety" on Saturday night, according to the department. The family of McCoy, whose rapper name was Willie Bo, said Tuesday that police had racially profiled the young black man and that there was no justification for using deadly force against someone who was sleeping and not a threat.

"There was no attempt to try to work out a peaceful solution," Marc McCoy, Willie's older brother, told the Guardian. "The police's job is to arrest people who are breaking the law - not take the law into your own hands. You're not judge, jury and executioner ... We're never going to get over this."

Comment: The New York Post reports more details of the incident:
Cops were called to the fast-food eatery Saturday at around 10:36 p.m. to check on a driver slumped over inside a silver Mercedes-Benz.

They said that the car was locked and the transmission was somehow in drive.

More officers arrived at the scene and police tried unsuccessfully to open the driver's-side door.

They also moved a patrol car in front of the Mercedes and tried to move another cop vehicle behind it.

That's when McCoy began to stir.

"The driver began to suddenly move and looked at the uniformed patrol officers," police said in a statement.

"Officers gave the driver several commands to put his hands up. The driver did not comply and instead moved his hands downward toward the firearm."

Six officers fired "multiple rounds" at McCoy for about four seconds, police said.

Police didn't release the identity of the victim but a man named David Harrison confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that McCoy, his cousin and an aspiring rapper, was the person shot. [...]

A .40-caliber handgun loaded with an extra magazine that had been reported stolen from Oregon was recovered from the car after the shooting, police said.
Update June 12, 2019:

Fox's KTVU reports that the the officers who shot the rapper 55 times in 3.5 seconds acted reasonably!
A retired peace officer with experience in training police officers in the use of force said the Vallejo police officers' fatal shooting of rap artist Willie McCoy, 20, in a Taco Bell drive-thru in February was reasonable and in line with modern training and police practices, the city attorney said ...

A letter by Blake to Assistant City Attorney Kelly Trujillo, said the review of the Feb. 9 fatal shooting focused on the constitutional aspects of the use of force as well as any human factor psychological aspects which might apply.

Blake said he reserved the right to add, change and delete any of his opinions based on any provision of more information not reviewed at the time his report was completed.

The report says six Vallejo police officers fired 55 rounds in 3.5 seconds at McCoy who was sitting in a silver Mercedes that was still in drive gear.
For more on the US Police State, listen to the SOTT editors discuss on the issue:

Behind the Headlines: Para-military Police State: U.S. cops out of control?

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Megaphone

Jon Stewart lashes out at near-empty congress hearing on healthcare for 9/11 first responders: "You should be ashamed of yourselves" - UPDATE

Emily Tillett, Grace Segers
CBS
Tue, 11 Jun 2019 20:50 UTC
jon stewart congress
Former "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart's demeanor on Capitol Hill Tuesday was vastly different from the one his fans were accustomed to seeing on Comedy Central. He was there to call for the reauthorization of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, which was established nine years ago to provide health care benefits to first responders and others in the community with illnesses related to the 2001 terror attacks. Now, it's running short of money.

In his emotional testimony before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Stewart at times broke down in tears, shouting at the lawmakers and calling them "shameful."

"I can't help but think what an incredible metaphor this room is ... a filled room of 9/11 first responders and in front of me, a nearly empty Congress. Sick and dying, they brought themselves down here to speak to no one ... shameful," said Stewart at the outset of his remarks. A little over half of the 14-member subcommittee members were present, mostly Democrats.


Comment: Is anyone surprised that politicians are essentially ignoring 9/11 first responders? Unless they can use it as virtue-signaling, there's no expedient reason for them to actually come to the aid of the people who were there, willing to risk their lives, to help while their country was under attack. The fecklessness of the political class is stunning.

See also: UPDATE June 12: Apparently Jon Stewart shook committee members out of their complacency. ZeroHedge reports that the House Judiciary Committee has unanimously passed a bill to permanently reauthorize the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler dismissed calls to require a full committee vote after many lawmakers were once again absent, allowing the voting to proceed.

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Cult

The 'Gay Mafia' is blocking needed church reforms, says Vatican whistleblower

Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D
Breitbart
Tue, 11 Jun 2019 12:26 UTC
Pope Francis
© Alberto Pizzoli/AFG/Getty
The former Vatican ambassador to the United States told the Washington Post a gay mafia among Church leadership is blocking attempts to seriously address clerical sexual abuse.

In an extensive interview, snippets of which were published Monday, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò said that the sexual abuse crisis would be "far less severe" if the "problem of homosexuality in the priesthood were honestly acknowledged and properly addressed."

"Given the overwhelming evidence, it is mind-boggling that the word 'homosexuality' has not appeared once, in any of the recent official documents of the Holy See" dealing with clerical sexual abuse, Viganò told the Post.

Instead, a "gay mafia" among the bishops, seeking to protect themselves, was "sabotaging all efforts at reform," he said.

Late last August, Archbishop Viganò released a shocking 11-page report declaring that in 2013 he had personally informed Pope Francis of the serial homosexual abuse of then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, but that the pope had ignored the information, elevating McCarrick to a position of influence in the Vatican.
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Airplane

Families complain of Air Force failures in child sex abuse cases

Justin Pritchard & Foster Klug
AP
Wed, 12 Jun 2019 12:08 UTC
air force base
© Airman 1st Class Greg Erwin/U.S. Air Force via AP
In this Nov. 16, 2017 photo made available by the U.S. Air Force, a fighter plane takes-off from Kadena Air Base, Japan.
To the mothers, the 13-year-old boy appeared largely unsupervised as he roamed among the clusters of townhomes on the U.S. Air Force base in Japan.

It would have been unremarkable - the neighborhood was full of kids - except that young girls were starting to report the boy had led them from play and molested them.

"We were like, 'How is this OK?'" the mother of one 5-year-old girl told The Associated Press, which granted her anonymity to protect her daughter's privacy. She locked her kids inside.

The first girl to report had to wait six days for officials on the largest Air Force installation in the Pacific to provide counseling. The mothers did not sense much urgency from Air Force criminal investigators either. They told the families they'd waited 13 days to meet the boy's father.

By then, mothers had identified five girls, ages 2 to 7, who said the boy had taken them to some trees or a playground or his house. Another five kids would allege abuse soon after.

"We come here, and it takes the worst cases that you can imagine to find out that you don't have the services to support your children," the 5-year-old's mother said. "There's a feeling of complete distrust."
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Fire

Riot in Memphis: US Marshalls shoot dead wanted suspect, sparking riot - Police officers injured

Yolanda Jones
Daily Memphian
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 11:24 UTC
memphis shooting riot
© Jim Weber/Daily Memphian
Shelby County Sheriff's Department deputies brace against the crowd as protesters take to the streets of Frayser in anger against the shooting of a youth identified by family members as Brandon Webber by U.S. Marshals earlier Wednesday evening
A chaotic scene erupted in the Frayser area Wednesday evening following an officer-involved shooting, with heavily armed police facing off against an angry, rock-throwing crowd.


Comment: Notice how, right up front, the protesters are presented as a baying, dangerous mob. That may well turn out to be an accurate description, but people don't generally 'go ballistic' for no good reason...


Rain and tear gas had largely dispersed the crowd by 11 p.m. as officers on horseback patrolled, but not until after agitated onlookers and police clashed in a volatile situation that left several officers injured by flying debris, according to Memphis Police Deputy Director Mike Ryall. None were injured seriously.


Comment: CNN reports 24 injured officers, though just 6 required hospitalization.


Officials from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation took over the scene since a law enforcement officer was involved in a shooting. Before dawn Thursday, Keli McAlister, TBI's public information officer for this region, issued a statement saying the situation began about 7 p.m. in the 2700 block of Durham Street.
memphis riot
© Mark Weber/Daily Memphian
Protesters take to the streets of Frayser in anger against the shooting of a youth identified by family members as Brandon Webber by U.S. Marshals earlier in the evening. Dozens of protesters clashed with police, throwing stones and tree limbs until police forces broke up the angry crowd with tear gas.
According the TBI, officers with the U.S. Marshals-Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force were searching for a suspect "wanted on multiple warrants." They spotted the man getting into a vehicle outside of a residence.

"While attempting to stop the individual," the TBI release stated, "he reportedly rammed his vehicle into the officers' vehicles multiple times before exiting with a weapon. The officers fired striking and killing the individual. No officers were injured."

Comment: 'Officer-involved shooting'?? Who came up with this newspeak??

Anyway, they shot a man dead in Memphis, and the locals really didn't like that. It hasn't escalated into a repeat of the Ferguson, Missouri or Baltimore riots, but it sure escalated quickly and intensely...

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Map

Huawei looks to launch self-driving car in 2021 in move away from smartphones

Shivali Best
The Mirror
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 10:06 UTC
huawei
© Global Look Press / Geisler-Fotopres / Christoph Hardt
Huawei has hit the headlines several times over the last few months - and not for the best reasons.

The tech giant's smartphone business took a huge knock, after Google revealed that it was blocking Huawei from using several apps, as well as its operating system, on its phones.

Following the news, it seems that Huawei is looking at its other options beyond smartphones, and could even launch its own self-driving car.
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Bizarro Earth

Moral decay: New York state lawmakers seek to legalize prostitution


Fox 5
Wed, 12 Jun 2019 19:45 UTC
NY seeks to legalize prostitution
© Fox 5
New York state would legalize the buying and selling of sex under a proposal introduced in the state Legislature Monday that would lift criminal penalties for sex work.

The bill isn't expected to get a vote before the Democrat-led Senate and Assembly plan to adjourn for the year next week.

But supporters still hailed the announcement of the bill as a critical step toward repealing criminal penalties for sex workers and their customers.

Speaking at a press conference in Manhattan Monday, former and current sex workers talked about being forced into the industry as minors.

They said many sex workers rely on their jobs to make ends meet. "We only want to live, be free and be safe," said TS Candii, a former sex worker and current leader in the effort to decriminalize the industry. She said started selling sex at age 13 as a matter of survival.
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