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New book 'The Crash Detectives' claims: Malaysia Airlines' missing plane should never have flown


Sputnik
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 15:54 UTC
plane crash
The Crash Detectives, by Christine Negroni, asserts that Flight MH370 should never have departed, as the emergency communications systems were flawed - and the author claims that the airline was aware of the issue.

The book, published on Tuesday, asserts that Malaysia Airlines had received a safety audit in 2013 that should have grounded all of their wide-body passenger planes, as their equipment would not let them report their position more frequently than at 30-minute intervals.

"The aircraft functioned just fine," Negroni, an aviation journalist and industry veteran told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "The airline couldn't track it. The airline could not track the aeroplanes as often as they were required to do."

Negroni believes that Malaysia owes the world, and particularly Australia, which has spent over $60 million on the search, an explanation. She is calling on the Turnbull government to demand that they do.
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2 + 2 = 4

Hysterical Pennsylvania school suspends 46 students for wearing hoodies; students protest

Victor Skinner
EAG News
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 17:03 UTC
Schools ban hoodies
A Pennsylvania high school has suspended dozens of students over dress code violations, many involving students wearing now banned hooded sweatshirts.

Numerous WPXI viewers contacted the news station to complain about numerous student suspensions issued at Penn Hills High School last week over a change in the dress code for 2016-17 that prohibits students from wearing "hoodies."

District spokeswoman Teresita Kolenchak confirmed that a total of 46 Penn Hills students were suspended on Monday and Thursday last week for "various dress code violations," but denied that the bulk of them were related to the hoodie ban, KDKA reports. "We are not sure where the exaggerated reports of 'hoodie incidents' for today are coming from," Kolenchak said. "We have actually been very pleased with the level of cooperation from both parents and students on the issue."

The school's new dress code states that students must remove hoodies while at school and store them in their locker or backpacks because they could cause a "safety concern" and "disrupt the educational process," according to WPXI. While school officials claim the "hoodie incidents" are exaggerated, students commenting online claim they're downplaying the impact of the no-hoodie policy.

"I'm one of the people who got suspended over a hoodie and it wasn't 46," Christopher Dixon posted to Facebook. "Try over 100." "They are lying 80-90 kids got suspended!" Jadah Dane wrote. "It was empty as (f***) today." "F***ing hate Penn Hills," Mara Donald wrote. "I got suspended for having a jacket with a hood on it."
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Alarm Clock

Mississippi cop's 3-year-old dies after being left in back of patrol car for four hours

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 16:38 UTC
Cassie Barker and Cheyenne Hyer
© Via Facebook
Cassie Barker and Cheyenne Hyer
Two police officers are on paid leave while the department investigates the death of Cheyenne Hyer, 3, who died after being left in a patrol car for four hours. Amazingly enough, neither of the officers were arrested for the child's death — as would have been the case had they not had badges.

Glenn Grannon, with the sheriff's department, said Clark Ladner and Cassie Barker were placed on administrative leave after 3-year-old Cheyenne Hyer died Friday. Sheriff Ricky Adam confirmed Barker is Cheyenne's mother, according to WLOX.

According to investigators, Barker was traveling in her patrol car, with her daughter inside, when she stopped at Ladner's home. Leaving the child in the car, Barker stayed inside Ladner's house for around four hours.

According to reports, neighbors were stunned after another police officer found the girl in the car. "In our small community, it really bothers all of us parents as to something like this. It's devastating," said Kiln resident Betsy Nugent.

According to investigators, Cheyenne had been taken from Barker previously by DHS.
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Crusader

Leaked Mormon videos reveal church elders' influence in US Congress and dreams of spreading to Middle East

Brady McCombs & Michelle Price
Associated Press
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 15:32 UTC
Mormons
© AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File
Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the 'Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints', aka 'The Mormons'
In leaked videos, Mormon leaders discuss concerns about the growth of the gay rights movement and hear from a former U.S. senator and church member who tells them the Iraq war could open the door for new converts, according to footage that pulls back the curtain on a religion that is closely guarded about its inner workings.

The 15 videos were posted online Sunday during the final day of the religion's twice-yearly conference. They show top leaders hearing presentations and discussing topics at meetings from 2007 to 2012.

The Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says the videos show briefings that senior church leaders receive from religious, political and other experts on a number of topics.

"The purpose is to understand issues that may face the church, and is in pursuit of the obligation church leaders feel to be informed on and have open discussion about current issues," spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a statement.
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Nuke

Report finds 28 nuclear reactors at risk of failure including core meltdown due to flaws in critical safety components

Oliver Tickell
The Ecologist
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
Sizewell B nuclear reactor
© Simon James via Glickr (CC BY-SA)
Among the 28 EDF nuclear power stations at risk: Sizewell B in Suffolk, England.
A new report finds that 28 nuclear reactors, 18 of them EDF plants in France and one at Sizewell in the UK, are at risk of failure 'including core meltdown' due to flaws in safety-critical components in reactor vessels and steam generators, writes Oliver Tickell. The news comes as EDF credit is downgraded due to a growing cash flow crisis and its decision to press on with Hinkley C.

A new review of the safety of France's nuclear power stations has found that at least 18 of EDF's units are are "operating at risk of major accident due to carbon anomalies."

The review was carried out at the request of Greenpeace France following the discovery of serious metallurgical flaws by French regulators in a reactor vessel at Flamanville, where an EPR plant is under construction.

The problem is that parts of the vessel and its cap contain high levels of carbon, making the metal brittle and potentially subject to catastrophic failure. These key components were provided by French nuclear engineering firm Areva, and forged at its Le Creusot.

"The nature of the flaw in the steel, an excess of carbon, reduces steel toughness and renders the components vulnerable to fast fracture and catastrophic failure putting the NPP at risk of a major radioactive release to the environment", says nuclear safety expert John Large, whose consultancy Large Associates (LA) carried out the Review.
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Card - VISA

Atlantic City on the verge of default after another missed deadline, risks state takeover

Katherine Greifield
Bloomberg
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 02:25 UTC
Atlantic City
Atlantic City is on the verge of another missed deadline that risks pushing the troubled New Jersey resort town into default and closer to a state takeover.

The distressed gambling hub has until the end of Monday to comply with the terms of a $73 million state loan that required the city council to disband the local water utility that serves as collateral for the agreement. Instead, city officials announced their own plan last week that would have the utility buy a closed airfield from the city for about $100 million and asked state officials to wave the terms of the loan.

Moody's Investor Service is not as optimistic. The credit-ratings company said in a report last week that Atlantic City's "impending technical default" is credit negative, and indicates "a disconnection between the city, mayor, and state." The political gridlock puts the city's next bond payment at risk -- $9.4 million due Nov. 4.
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Arrow Down

It's not just Deustche Bank, the entire financial system is sick


dollarcollapse.com
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 17:00 UTC
economic collapse
These are great times for financial assets — and by implication for finance companies that make and sell them, right?

Alas, no. Just the opposite. Each part of the FIRE (finance, insurance, real estate) economy is imploding as "modern" finance hits the wall.

Interest rates, for instance, have fallen for three decades...
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Arrow Down

Modern day slavery: BigAg corporations repeatedly violate human rights, break federal laws in migrant labor camps

Brianna Acuesta
TrueActivist
Mon, 03 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC
U.S. migrant labor
© Sarasota/Manatee Farmworkers Supporters
Big Agricultural companies, such as Monsanto and DuPont Pioneer, are often criticized for a variety of reasons: their use of GMOs and how they contaminate organic crops, the toxicity of their herbicides and pesticides, the effect they have on small farms, and how they use their power and billions of dollars to manipulate politics.

However, one particularly horrible and non-abstract aspect of these companies' dealings is how they treat migrant workers and the conditions the workers are forced to live in. The Big Ag corporations have thousands of migrant labor camps scattered around the country with thousands of underpaid migrants working at each camp.

When state inspectors visit these camps, they find violations as often as 60 percent of the time. Despite giving citations and ordering the properties to make the necessary changes to comply with the law, the demands are often ignored because inspection agencies have little to no power or means of enforcement.

Comment: Not only are they treated inhumanely, but farm workers are regularly exposed to massive amounts of pesticides causing more chemical-related injuries and illnesses than in any other workforce nationwide and most don't receive adequate medical care.

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Arrow Down

Ridiculous waste of resources: Cops make one pot bust every 49 seconds in US


RT
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 14:21 UTC
legal marijuana
While medical marijuana may be legal in 25 states, new crime data shows that police made more than 600,000 marijuana-related arrests in 2015, according to the FBI. Among those arrests nearly nine out of 10 were for possession, not sale or cultivation.

Among a total of 1.5 million drug arrests in 2015 in the United States, 38.6 percent were for marijuana compared to 19.9 percent for heroin, cocaine and derivatives, and 5.1 percent for synthetic or manufactured drugs.

Broken down for marijuana possession arrests totaled 574,641 while trafficking and sale arrests totaled 64,480. It translates to one pot bust every 49 seconds. While half a million arrests may seem high, it still represents a drop of 2.3 percent from 15 years ago.

Comment: What a complete waste of time, money and resources! The situation is so ludicrous that Denver police are are running out of room to store all the pot they have confiscated in raids, despite the fact that marijuana is legal in Colorado. And of course, the department is asking for more funds to handle the problem!

What makes this so egregious is that there is such a dire need for funds that could be more productively used - particularly when poverty and homelessness in the U.S have been growing at such an alarming rate. In a sane society taking care of the homeless or providing for food pantries would be prioritized.

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Question

New Jersey commuter train crash probe stymied as black box failed, conductor has no memory of event


RT
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 13:52 UTC
derailed train hoboken NJ
© Carlo Allegri / Reuters
A derailed New Jersey Transit train is seen under a collapsed roof after it derailed and crashed into the station in Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S. September 29, 2016.
The federal probe into last week's fatal crash of a New Jersey commuter train that killed one person and injured over 100 has turned up no leads, as the train's 20-year-old data recorder did not work and the conductor said he lost memory of the event.

New Jersey Transit's 1614 train on the Pascack Valley Line slammed into the Hoboken terminal on Thursday morning during rush hour, knocking over several support columns and causing the roof to cave in. Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, 34, was struck by the debris and died. More than 100 people, both on board the train and inside the station, suffered injuries.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were unable to get any information from the engine's data recorder, or black box, which was over 20 years old.

"Unfortunately, the event recorder was not functioning during this trip," NTSB Vice Chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr told reporters at a press conference Sunday.

Investigators are trying to retrieve the data recorder from the front car of the train, which is buried under the wreckage of the terminal building.

Comment: Commuter train crash at Hoboken, NJ terminal leaves up to 100 injured and reports of 3 dead

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