Society's ChildS


Book 2

Someone tell Trump! Hitler's personal copy of Mein Kampf to be auctioned in Maryland

Mein Kampf
© Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
Adolf Hitler's personal copy of Mein Kampf, found by US officers in his Munich flat in May 1945, will be auctioned off in Maryland along with other Nazi-era artifacts. The inflammatory diatribe was never banned in the US and can be bought in bookshops.

Alexander Historical Auctions in Maryland will open up bidding on the 1927 edition of Adolf Hitler's Nazi manifesto for March 17 and 18.

"This edition of 'Mein Kampf,' volume II, was published by official N.S.D.A.P. publishers Verlag Franz Eher in Munich, 1927 ... in a finely-grained red leather cover with four raised hubs on the spine," the auction's listing says. "It is a rare edition of the work, not available to the general public, and was likely kept by Hitler for his own use or as a potential gift for an admirer."

The book was originally found by 11 US officers of a field artillery battalion of the 45th Infantry Division in Hitler's Munich flat following his death in April 1945, and it remained in the possession of one of the officers' daughters until last year.

Question

Texas: Crazy, naked woman dancing on truck shuts down highway traffic

naked woman on truck
© KHOU
A naked 25-year-old woman dancing on top of a big rig completely shut down the westbound lanes of a major highway in Houston, Texas yesterday morning.

She had reportedly been involved in two separate car wrecks before making her way out into traffic on the highway, taking off all of her clothes, and climbing on top of the truck.

Helicopter footage (below) shows her dancing naked on the truck

Heart - Black

Man permanently disabled after being set on fire by cop's taser

man set on fire
A lawsuit filed in Richmond City Circuit Court in Virginia says a Chesterfield County cop ignored orders against discharging his Taser and deployed it anyway, setting a gasoline soaked man on fire.

According to police, 26-year-old Miles November eluded officers and drove without a license after officers pulled his vehicle over for a suspected DUI during the early morning hours of Feb. 8, 2015.

Police said they had November's 2012 Volkswagen sedan stopped in the 7200 block of Jefferson Davis Highway, but when an officer walked toward the car, he drove away heading south toward the intersection of Chester Road.

Comment: Heartless.


Eye 1

Amazon uses Orwellian surveillance, intimidations and threats to keep underpaid, overworked workers in line


Comment: With hourly wages averaging around $12, or less, Amazon's warehouse workers also have to deal with walking 10-20 miles per shift and Orwellian surveillance constantly reminding them 'You are being watched.' It's all completely legal. The American dream...


While waiting to clock in each morning, workers at some Amazon.com warehouses get a steady stream of company-provided reading: the stories of co-workers fired for theft.

In an effort to discourage stealing, Amazon has put up flatscreen TVs that display examples of alleged on-the-job theft, say 11 of the company's current and former warehouse workers and antitheft staff. The alleged offenders aren't identified by name. Each is represented by a black silhouette stamped with the word "terminated" and accompanied by details such as when they stole, what they stole, how much it was worth, and how they got caught—changing an outbound package's address, for example, or stuffing merchandise in their socks. Some of the silhouettes are marked "arrested."
amazon.com, amazon warehouse
© Geoff RobinsonOne example of an Amazon.com warehouse
Theft is a persistent concern for Amazon, with warehouses full of small but valuable items and a workforce with high turnover and low pay. Workers interviewed for this story say the range of thefts posted on the screens is as varied as the company's sprawling catalog: DVDs, an iPad, jewelry, a lighter, makeup, a microwave, phone cases, Pop Rocks, video games. Several recall a post about an employee fired for stealing a co-worker's lunch.

The digital bulletin boards also occasionally display information about firings related to workplace violence. There are cheerier announcements, too, such as updates on incentive bonuses or a message about Black History Month. In some warehouses that don't have flatscreens, workers say, tales of firings are posted on sheets of paper tacked to bulletin boards or taped to the wall.

Bizarro Earth

Mystery spike in radioactivity being investigated by Finnish authorities

Radiation Spike
© AFP Photo/Pekka SakkiFinnish officials said 4,000 microbecquerels of the radioactive isotope caesium-137 per cubic metre of air were detected between March 3 and 4 over Helsinki.
Helsinki - Finnish authorities are investigating a mysterious "highly exceptional" spike in levels of radioactive caesium-137 detected over Helsinki, officials said Tuesday.

Nuclear safety regulator STUK said that while the radioactive surge last week posed no danger to human health, it was keen to get to the bottom of the cause.

"The detection was highly exceptional but from a nuclear safety perspective this level of caesium does not have any effect on human health," Tarja Ikaheimonen, the head of radiation surveillance at STUK, told AFP.

She said 4,000 microbecquerels of the radioactive isotope caesium-137 per cubic metre of air were detected between March 3 and 4, which is a thousand times more than usual but only one-millionth of a level that would require people to shelter themselves from the radiation.

One day later, on March 5, the amount of caesium was back to12 microbecquerels per cubic metre of air. "It means the level of radiation is down to a normal level," Ikaheimonen said.

The nuclear safety regulator said the measurements from its other detection spots around the country did not reveal similar anomalities during the same time period.

"We shall however continue to investigate the source of (this radiation) very actively," Ikaheimonen said.

Light Saber

Varoufakis replies to open letter by Green Members to DiEM25

European Greens Yanis Varoufakis
Following the Berlin Launch of DiEM25, eleven representatives of the GREENS (including two Members of the European Parliament) sent DiEM25 an Open Letter welcoming its 'birth' and urging us to unite in the fight for a Democratic, Sustainable, Humanist, Open Europe. Here is Yanis Varoufakis' reply to their Open Letter (which you can download here or here in pdf):

Dear Young European Greens,
Dear Florent, Julien, Karima, Michel, Rui , Vedran, Adam, Laura, Teo, Zakia, Patrick,

You are right: Dreaming of a united, democratised Europe is our only weapon against a divided, authoritarian, potentially Dark Continent.

Our common dream is the only antidote to the common nightmare already in the works. But to become an effective antidote we need to join forces.

We need to overcome the usual tendency of progressives to fall prey to the sirens of discord.

We need a broad coalition of European democrats from across the Left, Green, Liberal and Progressive Conservative divides.

As Brian Eno put it in DiEM's Berlin Launch, democrats are people who know that they do not possess the answers but who, at the same time, remain convinced that, together, it is possible to come up with good answers, helpful actions, and sensible policies.

Bulb

China prioritizes scientific investment in new economic development plan

China Premier Li Keqiang
© Damir Sagolj/Reuters/NewscomKicking off the National People’s Congress on Saturday, China Premier Li Keqiang promised strong support for science.
China will invest heavily in S&T over the next 5 years and cut red tape hampering science spending with the hope that innovation will help the country weather its economic slowdown.

In a speech to open the National People's Congress on 5 March, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang—the country's top economic official—gave a broad-brush overview of the central government's draft plan for economic development during the 13th 5-year plan, which runs from 2016 to 2020. Major elements include boosting science spending, which will rise 9.1% this year to 271 billion yuans ($41 billion), reducing bureaucratic barriers for scientists, and improving environmental protection while curbing carbon emissions and other pollutants.

"Innovation is the primary driving force for development and must occupy a central place in China's development strategy," Li told delegates on the first day of the 2-week congress. Li's speech, considered a guidepost for the specific policies that will be fleshed out in the next year or two, used the word "innovation" 61 times—nearly double the mentions it received in his work report last year, the state-run Xinhua News Agency pointed out.

Comment: Creativity vs Entropy: China the new 'center of civilization'?


Wolf

Reverse Robin Hood: 6 billion dollar businesses preying on the poor

Western Union
© Jeremy Brooks/flickr/cc'Making money off poor people remains a booming business,' laments Quigley.
Many see families in poverty and seek to help. Others see families in poverty and see opportunities for profit.

Here are six examples of billion dollar industries which are built on separating poor people, especially people of color, from their money, the reverse Robin Hood.

Check Cashing Businesses

Check cashing businesses. Cash a $100 check? At Walmart that will be $3. At TD bank non-customers pay $5 to cash a check from their bank.

Nearly 10 million households containing 25 million people do not have any bank account according to the FDIC. Most because they did not have enough money to keep a minimum balance in their account.

Check cashing business are part of a $100 billion industry of more than 6,500 check cashing businesses in the US, many which also provide money orders, utility bill payments and the like, according to testimony provided to Congress by the industry.

Magnify

Aleppo residents to RT: Truce hasn't changed anything, attacks by terrorists have intensified

Destruction in Aleppo
© GettyDestruction in Aleppo
Piles of rubble which once were houses, never-ending shelling and civilians who have nowhere to go - RT's Lizzie Phelan visited the Kurdish-populated Aleppo district of Sheikh-Maqsood, which has been caught in the crossfire of terrorist artillery.

Having spent just two hours in Sheikh-Maqsood, Phelan said she rarely had a moment when she did not hear shelling. She passed by the ruins of a building which was leveled the day before. A whole family died there - four women and three children.

"We saw something flying towards the house and then there was an explosion. The building collapsed in just a few seconds," their neighbor told the RT crew.

Phelan counted nine destroyed buildings in the neighborhood close to two front lines.


Cross

Christianity today: Creepy father posts ad for marriage to 'godly' virgin daughter in Christian magazine

Christian virgin for sale
© Christianity Today via NY Daily News

Comment: This is the result of decades and decades of religion degrading women and marriage to the point of selling cattle. It is completely immoral and depicts how misguided religion and society have become.

See also:

A Christian magazine has issued an apology after running a personal ad written by an Illinois father looking to find a husband for his daughter.

The ad appeared in the jobs section of Christianity Today with "Son-In-Law" listed as an available position, the Daily Beast reported.

"Her: godly, gorgeous, athletic, educated, careered, humorous, travelled, bilingual, 26-year-old virgin," the ad read. "You: unworthy, though becoming less so daily."

The father then went on to leave his email address for suitors to "apply."

Rachel Stewart -- whose father reportedly posted the job listing -- learned about the ad after readers of her blog brought it to her attention.

"At least it's appropriate they placed it in the Employment Opportunities section because putting up with this father-in-law's shenanigans is a full time job, without any paid vacation," Stewart wrote in a since-deleted blog post, according to The Daily Beast.

Stewart wrote that she was "impressed, but not surprised" by the ad. When she confronted her father Stephen about it, he reportedly closed his office door and defended his decision to place the ad. He then read it aloud to her.

Rachel added that her father had been working on a plan to find her a husband, but refused to give her any details. He called the plan "El Grande," or the "The Big One."

"I'm just nervous if this doesn't work out, next I'll find my face plastered on a billboard," Rachel wrote in the blog post. "Oh gosh, now I'm giving him ideas."