Society's ChildS


Attention

Bystander effect overload: 140 cars, 82 rickshaws, 181 bikers, 45 pedestrians ignore man on the road hit by truck in India

delhi
© NARESH VEERASWARAPU / YouTube
A man was left to die on the side of the road in India after being hit by a delivery truck, despite being passed by hundreds of people - including a police vehicle. The only person who stopped, a rickshaw driver, ignored the man and stole his phone.

CCTV footage shows that the man - identified only as "Matibool" - was struck by the speeding delivery truck at 5:40 am on Wednesday as he was walking home from an overnight shift as a security guard.

The impact caused the man to fly through the air and land in a nearby gutter.

Although the driver of the truck is seen initially getting out of his vehicle, he then decides to drive away.

As Matibool lays severely injured and bleeding, he is passed by 140 cars, 82 rickshaws, 181 bikers, and 45 pedestrians. He is even passed by an emergency response van used by Delhi police.


Comment: Modern society in a nutshell.


Ark

RT targeted with 'cunning' DDoS attack

DDoS attack
© Kacper Pempel / Reuters
RT has been dealing with a particularly well-planned series of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that continued into early Friday. Other than the website, RT's internet provider and data centers in the US, Europe and Russia have been targeted. The latest attack zeroed in on RT's local internet service provider, temporarily causing disruptions for RT.com visitors. We are now resolving the issue to prevent further attacks of the kind.

The attackers were trying to overwhelm the provider's capacity, according to RT's IT specialists. The recent wave of attacks on RT.com started Friday, with IT experts noting that they all seem to be originating from the same source due to the peculiar trends and signature. Moreover, the unknown hackers seem to be smarter than the average DDoSers, knowingly picking their targets and improving methods.

On Tuesday, there was a 2.5-hour attempt to take RT websites down, which came in two phases. The first one targeted RT's American and European data centers, while the second one hit Moscow's infrastructure. The attack did not result in any damage or prolonged service outage, however.

Arrow Down

Bakken pipeline construction to begin despite environmental hazards, destruction of ancestral Native American lands

Bakken protests
© AP / the Bismarck Tribune
Construction on the controversial Bakken pipeline is set to begin any day now, forcing both landowners and Native American tribes in North Dakota to intensify their desperate attempt to protect their land from eminent domain laws.

Twelve people were arrested at a Sioux tribe's protest Thursday after they staged a peaceful protest to keep pipeline construction off of their lands. Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation are concerned that the pipeline could potentially contaminate their drinking water and damage sacred lands.

The Bakken pipeline, also known as Dakotas Access Pipeline, rivals the Keystone Pipeline XL in terms of length and has been given the greenlight to begin construction in Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois and received federal approval in July.

In an effort to stave off construction, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe staged peaceful protests this week. LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a tribal historian at Standing Rock, told AP: "Everybody is nonviolent and peaceful," adding, "We want to hold them back until we can get to court."

Comment: Corporate arrogance: "We Are Enbridge and We Don't Go Around Anything"


Eye 1

'Died like a pig': Deplorable remarks about 14 year-old Chinese athlete from Olympic commentator Byron MacDonald spark outrage

Olympic swimming Rio
© Ricardo Moraes / Reuters
A Canadian sports commentator is facing a tsunami of outrage over his "nasty" and "humiliating" comments in which he said a young Chinese athlete "died like a pig" during an Olympic event. Byron MacDonald's analysis of 14-year-old Ai Yanhan's fourth place finish at the women's 4x200m freestyle relay has outraged viewers of CBC's live Olympic coverage on Wednesday.

Many called for the 66-year-old former swimmer to be fired for his "disgusting" public insult directed at the Chinese competitor. After Yanhan and her teammates missed out on a podium spot to Team Canada, MacDonald remarked that the teenager had "dropped the ball" before following up with a bizarre and needless barb.

"That little 14-year-old from China dropped the ball, baby. Too excited, went out like a stink and died like a pig," MacDonald said.

Airplane

24 injured as JetBlue flight makes emergency landing in South Dakota after encountering heavy turbulence

Jet Blue aircraftt
© Brendan McDermid / Reuters
Twenty-two passengers and two crew members were injured when a JetBlue flight from Boston to Sacramento was forced to make an emergency landing in South Dakota.

Jet Blue's flight 429 is said to have encountered heavy turbulence, and had to divert to Rapid City, South Dakota, where it landed at 7:30 pm local time (3:30 am GMT), CBS Sacramento says.

The injured passengers and crew were sent to the hospital for evaluation, while the remaining passengers and personnel will continue their journey on a replacement plane.

The flight is now scheduled to reach its destination, Sacramento, at 4:04 am (12:04 GMT).

Bad Guys

The symbolic global allegiance of terror groups like Boko Haram to Daesh

Abubaker Shekau
© Twitter/alraqqawiAbubaker Shekau
Following the emergence of Daesh, also known as ISIL, over the years, Emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi once called for jihadist groups around the world to pledge their allegiance. Dozens of militant sub-factions have done just that. But what does it mean, if anything more than symbolic gestures motivated by ever-changing dynamics on the ground?

It was no major revelation when recently Daesh reportedly announced the new leader for its West Africa branch, which is closely associated with the Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram. Rather than insinuating that groups such as these are as structured and organized as they may wish for all to believe.

Abu Musab al-Barnawi, who previously featured in a Boko Haram video in January 2015 as a spokesman for the militants, is featured in the latest edition of a purported Daesh news outlet called Al-Naba.

The interview designates Al-Barnawi as the group's new leader but does not mention the fate of Abubakar Shekau, who has previously led Boko Haram in recent years, as per media investigations.

War Whore

SWAT team has 'standoff with dog' - destroys innocent woman's home

dog killed swat team
© Free Thought Project
Police in Caldwell, Idaho, managed an epic act of incompetence when they shot up and teargassed a woman's home — even though she had given them the key — worse, the only one home at the time was her dog.

"Basically, they had a standoff with a dog," the woman's attorney said, Courthouse News Service reports.

Shaniz West told her ex-boyfriend, Fabian Salinas — a wanted felon — to finish clearing out his belongings from her home while she was away registering one of her daughters for first grade on the morning of August 11, 2014.

When West, who was six months pregnant, returned with her children, an eight-year-old and six-month-old, a slew of Caldwell police SWAT officers surrounded her home.

West gave officers the key to the front door since she wasn't sure whether Salinas was still inside — but they never bothered to use it.

Instead, SWAT brought in an armored vehicle and, for the next ten hours, waged war on the house.

"During the course of the standoff Caldwell police officers broke numerous windows to gain entry, crashed through ceilings while they were maneuvering through the home, and punctured holes in the house by shooting canisters of tear gas that released noxious chemicals into the home," West explained.

While the prolonged assault on the house continued for hours, the irate homeowner says, her "pet dog Blue was the only occupant of the home."

Cult

Some 'joke': Black teacher presented with KKK hood and robe at conference

ku klux klan
© Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters
It may have been intended as a joke, but no one is laughing. Oklahoma's only black agriculture teacher was called to the stage during a work-related conference and handed a Ku Klux Klan robe and a Confederate flag by his retiring mentor.

The stunning incident took place at the Career Tech conference in Oklahoma City, on August 2, and was first reported in an anonymous email. Hundreds of teachers attended the event.

The email also said that in district meetings after the main program, attendees were told that their cellphone video and pictures would be erased when they left the room.

An internal investigation by the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education confirmed on Wednesday that the black instructor was given a robe and hood, but could not confirm whether a Confederate flag was also presented to him, according Tulsa World. The investigative team is looking into the censorship accusation as well.

Info

'Genitalia-eating human-toothed' pacu fish pulled from Michigan lakes

Pacu fish
© The Cosmos News / YouTube
A tropical fish rumored to feast on male genitalia is being dumped by pet owners into Michigan lakes, and conservationists aren't happy about it.

The pacu fish is an all-devouring, or omnivorous, species native to South America and is closely related to the razor-toothed piranha.

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the month of July has become "synonymous with reports of anglers landing pacus" while fishing in the state's lakes.

They suspect pet-owners are discarding the fish when their tanks are no longer able to house the growing creature.

Fire

Sixteen cars torched overnight in Malmo, Swedish police puzzled for motive

Cars burning in Sweden
© Fredrik Sandberg / Reuters File Photo
Sixteen cars have been set alight overnight in Malmo, taking the total number of arson attacks in the Swedish city to over 70 since July 1. Despite calling in reinforcements, police still have not been able to catch any of the perpetrators.

The vehicles were torched at various locations around the city, with the first reports of arson attacks taking place at 20:00 local time. Within an hour nine cars were left burnt out in various neighborhoods.

"All our stations are overloaded and the whole of the Malmo force is out extinguishing the car fires," fire commander Magnus Johansson told SVT. "It is a burden for our organization, but also for other people who really need our help," he added.