Society's ChildS


Hearts

Severely burned at 3-months old, New York woman meets nurse who cared for her

Mary Esch
Yahoo! News
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 16:29 UTC
Image
© AP/Mike GrollNurse Susan Berger, left, and Amanda Scarpinati pose with a copy of a 1977 Albany Medical Center annual report during a news conference at Albany Medical Center, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015, in Albany, N.Y.
For 38 years, a few black-and-white photographs of a nurse cradling a baby provided comfort to a woman who suffered terrible burns and endured years of playground taunts and painful surgeries thereafter. For all that time, until Tuesday, she dreamed of meeting her again.

The photos show Amanda Scarpinati at just 3 months old, her head thickly wrapped in gauze, resting calmly in the nurse's arms. Shot for the Albany Medical Center's 1977 annual report, the images have a beatific, "Madonna and Child" quality.

As a baby, she had rolled off a couch onto a boiling steam vaporizer. Melted mentholated ointment scalded her skin. The burns would require many reconstructive surgeries over the years. The photos helped.

"Growing up as a child, disfigured by the burns, I was bullied and picked on, tormented," she said. "I'd look at those pictures and talk to her, even though I didn't know who she was. I took comfort looking at this woman who seemed so sincere, caring for me."

Scarpinati now lives Athens, 25 miles south of Albany, and works as a human resources manager. All her life, she wanted to thank the nurse who showed her such loving care, but she didn't even know her name. She tried to find out 20 years ago, without success. The pictures were taken by photographer Carl Howard, but his subjects weren't identified. At a friend's urging, she tried again this month, posting the photos on Facebook and pleading for help.
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Nuke

Negotiations flounder as European politicians, public oppose toxic TTIP deal

Deirdre Fulton
Common Dreams
Mon, 28 Sep 2015 20:37 UTC
TTP protest Europe
© greensefa/flickr/ccAlmost 3 million people across Europe have signed a petition calling on the European Commission to scrap the agreement.
As EU-US trade talks flounder, France doesn't rule out 'an outright termination of negotiations'

While public opposition to the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)—the massive proposed "trade" deal between the European Union and the United States—has grown steadily since negotiations started two years ago, new signs suggest that official government backing is also faltering across Europe.

In an interview with French regional newspaper Sud Ouest published Monday, Junior Trade Minister Matthias Fekl said TTIP negotiations were favoring American interests and "either weren't advancing or were progressing in the wrong direction."

"If nothing changes, it will show that there isn't the will to achieve mutually beneficial negotiations," he said, before adding: "France is considering all options including an outright termination of negotiations."

Meanwhile, a group of more than 55 UK members of parliament (MPs) has signed onto a motion expressing major concerns about the mammoth trade pact, which civil society groups have dubbed a corporate giveaway. Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP, put forward the Commons motion, and it has now been signed by every member of the Scottish National Party group at Westminster, as well as the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

Politico's Paul Ames wrote of the "cooling ardor on both sides of the Atlantic" earlier this month, saying that since talks began in July 2013, the trade deal "has lost some of its shine."

"Concern over the impact of TTIP has united disparate groups," he wrote, "from French farmers to German constitutional lawyers and politicians on the left and right."

Comment: More information on this sweetheart 1% proposal:

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Pistol

More school violence: South Dakota high school principal shot, suspected student taken to custody


RT
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 18:19 UTC
South Dakota police
© Carlo Allegri / Reuters
The principal of a South Dakota high school was wounded by a gunshot Wednesday morning. Authorities say that a student is suspected to be the perpetrator, and is in custody. All other students have been reported as safe.

The shooting took place at Harrisburg High School in the town of Harrisburg, about 10 miles south of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Principal Kevin Lein only suffered a flesh wound, according to Superintendent James Holbeck.


Comment: Thank goodness the principal didn't get killed.

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Pistol

FBI to begin tracking police shootings, data to be submitted voluntarily by law enforcement agencies


RT
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 19:57 UTC
police shooting ferguson
© Rick Wilking / Reuters The aftermath of a police officer-involved shooting in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2015
The FBI will begin tracking information on officer-involved shootings for its annual crime report. However, relevant data will continue to be submitted by law enforcement agencies on a voluntary basis, leading critics to call the upcoming data unreliable.

"[T]o address the ongoing debate about the appropriate use of force by law enforcement, we plan to collect more data about shootings (fatal and nonfatal) between law enforcement and civilians, and to increase reporting overall," FBI Director James Comey said in a message introducing the 2014 Crime in the United States report.

The report comprises statistics and information provided by law enforcement agencies to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. It measures the nation's crime problem. Currently the program only collects data on the number of justifiable homicides reported by police as well as information about the felonious killing and assault of law enforcement officers.

Comment: Police are infamous for covering up their crimes, and often it is only when the civilian population forces the issue through social media and local news outlets that their malfeasance comes to light. This latest initiative by the FBI sounds more like a PR campaign than any real attempt to document police brutality or hold law enforcement agencies accountable.

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Chart Bar

Exposing the ugly reality of wealth inequality

Charles Hugh Smith
Oftwominds.com
Fri, 18 Sep 2015 00:00 UTC
us median household income
This chart of median household income illustrates why so many of us feel poorer-- we are poorer in terms of the purchasing power of our income.

A rising tide raises all boats, from rowboats to yachts--this is the narrative of "prosperity."

A rising tide is also the political cover for rising inequality: if the guy in the rowboat makes $100 more a month, he feels like he's participating in the prosperity.

Meanwhile, the guy in the speedboat is making $1,000 more a month and the guy in the yacht is making $1 million more a month.

But this doesn't bother the guy in the rowboat, for two reasons:

1. He thinks of himself as a guy who is currently in a rowboat on his way to buying a speedboat

2. Studies have found that our sense of wealth and "falling behind" is not defined by our actual increases in income or wealth, but by how we're doing relative to our peer group. If everyone else in rowboats is making $200 more a month in the rising tide of prosperity, the guy making only $100 more feels like he's falling behind--even if his absolute income and wealth is rising.

Comment: With the increasing signs pointing to a global economic meltdown, it may not be long before the masses finally wake up to the fact that they have been duped, and they decide it's time to bring out the pitchforks.

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Question

Are Brits and Americans being prepped for a military coup?

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 15:41 UTC
troops
© aftermath news
A recent poll conducted by YouGov revealed that a sizable portion of the American public is open to the idea of a military coup in the United States. The poll was conducted amid the continual polling that takes place during the U.S. Presidential election yet it did not focus on the elections per se, but the potential lack of elections in the future.

The YouGov poll surveyed 1,000 people online and determined that 29% of Americans, over a quarter of the population, could imagine supporting a military coup against the civilian government. Only 41% could not imagine supporting a coup.

The numbers supporting a potential coup were highest among Republicans with 43% of them saying they could envision supporting a coup, 29% of independents followed, with Democrats trailing at 20%.
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Light Saber

Monsanto sued over 'cancer-causing' weed-killer RoundUp


Russian Times
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 14:40 UTC
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Two US agricultural workers have simultaneously sued Monsanto, claiming that the company's weed-killer herbicide caused their cancers. They have also accused the bio-tech giant of pressuring regulators to downplay the risks from its Roundup herbicide.

In his lawsuit against Monsanto, 58-year-old former farm worker Enrique Rubio said he believes that the bone cancer he was diagnosed with back in 1995 was a result of his work with Monsanto's weed-killer.

Comment: 'Decades of experience within agriculture and regulatory reviews using the most extensive worldwide human health databases ever compiled on an agricultural product contradict the claims in the suit which will be vigorously defended.'

How can Monsanto claim that they have the most extensive worldwide human health databases ever compiled and completely deny the following negative health impacts of their products?

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Monkey Wrench

Sanctions be damned: Russia to assemble Ford trucks


RT
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 13:49 UTC
Ford truck
© Dave Kaup / Reuters
The Avtotor plant in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad is about to begin assembling Ford trucks. The vehicles will be adapted specifically for the Russian market and comply with European safety standards.

"We are in a pre-production stage of the four most popular models - tow trucks and road construction machinery ... Actual production will depend on market conditions, as well as currency and inflation that have a direct impact on this," Avtotor told RIA Novosti.

Comment: Once again the economic sanctions and attack on the ruble on Russia are having the opposite effect, much to the chagrin of the West.

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Eye 1

Real Minority Report? Hitachi unveils technology that predicts crimes before they happen


RT
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 09:12 UTC
Real Minority Report
© Luke Macgregor / Reuters
The Sci-Fi predicted future of crime prevention is here. Hitachi has unveiled a system capable of predicting crimes before they actually occur.

Dubbed Hitachi Visualization Predictive Crime Analytics (PCA), the system is able to process huge amounts of data from a variety of sources and then process it using machine-learning to establish patterns of potential violent behavior that humans might simply overlook.

"A human just can't handle when you get to the tens or hundreds of variables that could impact crime," Darrin Lipscomb, an executive in Hitachi's Public Safety and Visualization division, told the Fast Company.

Hitachi acquired the technology after purchasing two crime monitoring tech companies - Avrio and Pantascene - in September 2014.

PCA uses real-time social media and internet data feeds to make calculations and pin-point potential crime scenes down to a 200-square-meter spot. The system also allocates relative threat levels to every situation.

Comment: For more information on this disturbing technological trend, see also: "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Pistol

Chicago's escalating violence: 14 people shot in 15 hours


RT
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 13:08 UTC
Chicago police line
© Scott Olson / AFP
Fourteen people were shot in Chicago over just 15 hours, as the week got off to a bloody start. The latest burst of violence follows two straight weekends where more than 50 people were shot. Chicago Mayor Emanuel said he was angry and "enough is enough."

Six people were killed and at least eight others injured in the 15-hour span between Monday night and Tuesday morning.

The first of the shootings occurred Monday evening, when a family on its way back from an outing was gunned down in New City's Back of the Yards neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. A pregnant mother and grandmother were left dead, as were three others. An 11-month-old boy was wounded, police said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

"You have an innocent family coming home from a family outing. Somebody opens fire on two women, a child and two men," Chicago Deputy Police Chief Eugene Roy told the media, according to the Huffington Post. "In a second, two generations of that child's family were wiped out."

Comment: It is not looking well for Chicago. As conditions worsen in the city, there will be more violence and no amount of policing will help. The root causes of the economic depression in Chicago must be addressed. Chicago's house prices are dropping worse than Detroit's.
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