Society's ChildS


Robot

Are robots about to take away 18 million jobs in Germany?

Robot_1
© DPARobots are set to wipe out large sectors of the work force.
A study commissioned by ING-Diba claims that 59 percent of Germany's work force could be replaced by machines and software in the coming decades. The impact on German society is set to be radical.

The results of the study paint an almost doomsday-esque scenario for Germany.

Almost two thirds of its workforce will be unemployed. Of the 30.9 million people currently in full or part-time employment in Germany, 18 million will be made redundant by improved technology, the report claims.

Although the study looked into the effect that advancing technology will have on the work place in several European countries including Finland and the Netherlands, it was Germany that came out the worst.

This, argues the report, is the price Germany will pay for its strong industrial sector. Factory workers and the administrative army behind global giants such as Volkswagen and BMW will soon become superfluous as advanced algorithms and sophisticated machinery are developed which can do their jobs faster and more efficiently.

Stormtrooper

Video of Baltimore police arresting media member saying, "I don't care"


This video was filmed beginning at 10:08 p.m. on May 2, 2015 in Baltimore by News2share credentialed reporters Ford Fischer and Trey Yingst.

It records the events before, during and after the involuntary detainment of Fischer by Baltimore police officers for allegedly breaking the citywide 10:00 pm curfew even though news media were exempt from the curfew.

Prior to the detainment approximately 4 minutes into the video, Fischer is attempting to objectively and safely record the events of the evening.

He remains on the opposite side of the street in order to avoid protesters and to stay out of the way of police.

While filming, he witnesses pepper spray, blunt force, and the threat of submachine guns used against people outside to enforce the curfew. When the police make an arrest, they approach Fischer and ask for his credentials. They are satisfied, and one says out loud "He's credentialed media" and another officer says "I don't care."

Bad Guys

Brutality is a hallmark of our society that extends to healthcare

health care protest
© Jobs With Justice/cc/flickrProtesters hold a banner that reads, "Health Care is a Human Right."
Over the past several weeks, we've seen so many examples of brutality played out in our cities -- and mostly our most impoverished areas -- that it isn't difficult to see why so many people are in the streets. Many say white people cannot truly understand the deep racial issues that target African American people and their communities, and that is no doubt true. But that sort of thinking also keeps groups of people apart who might otherwise band together to exert powerful forces on the corruption that manifests itself in so many places in our society.

Since I advocate for transformation of our health care system, I see brutality -- economic and physical -- exerted on patients all the time. Yet patients often do not speak up or gather enough support to wage even a small protest. We've so ingrained the notion of personal financial responsibility in our market-based system, that patients and their families and friends often struggle alone to remedy their current health-related financial crisis rather than risk care denials, more illness and perhaps even death. Black skin or white, our health care system knows no divide aside from the ability to pay, and those who cannot demonstrate sufficient ability to pay are weeded out.

Just recently, I was hospitalized twice in a short period of time. I have insurance, but I do have co-pays and deductibles that must be considered before deciding to seek care. The first hospitalization was due to a life-threatening GI bleed. Just 36 hours after discharge from six days in the hospital, I was rushed back in with a life-threatening bloodstream MRSA infection. In both instances, while in the emergency room in desperate shape, hospital business office staff made their way into my patient care area with their rolling computers and asked me how I wanted to pay my $250 ER co-pay. It was a different sort of brutality, but it was brutal to be sure.

Comment: The profit driven healthcare system in the U.S. is brutal and reflective of a society which is ruled by psychopathic elites who can never satisfy their greed. Until more people wake up to the fact that these same elites are causing this misery while actively promoting divisions between all sectors of society, we will continue to be captives of their systemic brutality.


Lemon

United Nations has a history of covering up abuse by 'peacekeeping' forces

UN peacekeepers
© MINUSMA/Fred FathUN peacekeepers in Ménaka, Mali
The recent scandal involving the sexual abuse of African children carried out by members of a UN peacekeeping mission, despite numerous efforts of this international organization to play it down, will not be ignored. And the international community must finally recall what was the original purpose of the UN as established by allied powers after the Second World War in the name of peace and security for all people on the planet.

According to a series of publications by Bruxelles2, France Info, Guardian and a number of other media outlets, a number of French and Georgian soldiers that were employed in the UN peacekeeping operation "Sangaris" in Central Africa, are responsible of child sexual abuse.

It should be recalled that an armed conflict between the government of the Central African Republic and Muslim rebels, many of which took part in the civil war of 2004-2007, resulted in the French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announcing that France would deploy a thousand soldiers in CAR to carry out a UN peacekeeping mission. On December 9, 2013 the United States decided to take part in this operation, while the Georgian parliament also agreed to send its soldiers to CAR a year later, on February 22, 2014. By June 2014 the number of Georgian Armed Forces in the Central African Republic reached 140 members.

According to the French news agency France Info, French and Georgian soldiers were raping children aged 8 to 15 years in the area near M'Poko airport and were subjecting them to sexual exploitation.

Comment: The only way they continue to get away with calling themselves peacekeepers is by systematically covering up the abuses and punishing whistle blowers. And it appears they have been doing just that for some time.


Arrow Down

Riots erupt in Poland after police open fire on crowd killing football fan

police line poland riot
© Reuters / Kacper Pempel
Some 200 people rioted and clashed with law enforcers on Saturday night in southern Poland as a football fan died after getting wounded by a rubber bullet. A crowd had wanted to interrupt a match between two local teams prompting police response.

The city of Knurow was hosting a match between two local teams on Saturday - Concordia (Knurów) and Ruch (Radzionkow). During the game, a brawl between the fans descended into the pitch as stones and fires were pelted from the benches.

As the referee stopped the game, around 50 people invaded the stadium, according to TVN24.

Comment: Seems Polish police are taking cues from their American counterparts.


Handcuffs

Another elementary school child handcuffed 'for his safety'!

children handcuffs
© Sipa Press/Rex Features Handcuffing of young children is frequently reported in the US.
The idea that police officers should use handcuffs and leg shackles to control an unruly individual is hardly unusual in the US, where fondness for the use of metal restraints runs through the criminal justice system.

What is unusual is when the individual in question is five years old, and the arrest takes place in an elementary school.

New York state police were called last week to the primary school in Philadelphia, New York, close to the Canadian border, after staff reported that a pupil, Connor Ruiz, was disruptive and uncontrollable. When officers arrived at the premises, they placed the five-year-old boy in handcuffs, carried him out to a patrol car and put his feet into shackles before taking him to a medical center for evaluation.

The child's mother, Chelsea Ruiz, told the local Watertown Daily Times she was shocked and angered by what had happened.

"An officer told me they had to handcuff his wrists and ankles for their safety," she said. "I told him that was ridiculous. How could someone fear for their safety when it comes to a small, five-year-old child?"

Comment: School administrators and police are always quick to excuse their over-the-top responses to unruly children, but it is telling that these extreme responses have been escalating at a time when police in general have been acting like out of control thugs everywhere. It seems no one, not even small children or pets can be protected from the police state mentality.

Handcuffs, leg shackles and tasers: The new face of punishment in US public schools


Stock Down

More economic indications and warnings

Advisor Perspectives' Doug Short recently published an update on margin debt, accompanied by several well-made charts. But it only takes one to make the point.

See below for the relationship between margin debt — money borrowed by retail investors against their stocks and used to buy more stock — where Short has enhanced the visual impact by inverting the margin debt line. As presented here, a downward sloping red line means margin debt is increasing. So when the two lines diverge, that means stock prices and margin debt are both rising.

Image

Comment: Evidence is mounting that economic collapse is just around the corner.


Megaphone

Israel, like America, allows their cops to brutalize anyone with dark skin and the people are fed up

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© AFPEthiopian protesters scuffle with Israeli security forces in the city of Tel Aviv, on May 03, 2015, during a demonstration against police brutality and institutionalized discrimination.
Israeli police forces have clashed with Ethiopians protesting against the Tel Aviv regime's racism and police brutality. Sunday's clashes erupted in the city of Tel Aviv on Sunday as Israeli forces fired stun grenades and tear gas to disperse thousands of Ethiopians, who had taken to the streets to voice anger against institutionalized discrimination and police violence.

Some demonstrators threw stones and glass bottles after attempting to storm the municipality building. According to local media reports, at least 20 policemen and several protesters were injured during the clashes.

Demonstrators were chanting and holding up signs reading, "A violent policeman must be put in prison" and "We demand equal rights".

The event's organizers reportedly put the number of people attending the rally at 10,000. Ethiopian demonstrators blocked major arteries and junctions in central Tel Aviv, vowing to continue rallies until their demands are met.

Comment: Not even second-class, but third-class. Seems the brilliantly repressive tactics of the Israeli and American police forces are eerily similar. Brutalize anyone with dark skin while the rest of the country tolerates it due to cultural racism.


Sheriff

Unbelievable: Young girl dies while in police custody, cops offer no explanation, media silent

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Shenenque Proctor, 18 years old at the time of her death
A young African American woman from Brighton, Alabama recently died in police custody. Police have still refused to provide any reasonable explanation for the cause behind her death. We were among the first and only news sites to report on the death of Sheneque Proctor. But we honestly expected mainstream coverage of the tragic death of this 18-year-old woman to follow, especially given how widely our report on her death circulated.

We are used to being among the first to cover cases of police brutality and injustices, only to see the mainstream, corporate media catch on weeks or sometimes months later. But this time something is different. Unlike our early coverage of John Crawford, or Tamir Rice, the story of Sheneque Proctor continues to be ignored by the mainstream media, in spite of the numerous similarities to high profile cases like that of Eric Garner.

A new petition has begun circulating in response to Proctor's death at the hands of police officers. Many have begun referring to Proctor as the "female Eric Garner," not to diminish her unique life, personality and death, but instead to highlight how the media is ignoring the death of an African American woman with asthma in police custody.

The petition demands a federal and state investigation into the death of the 18-year-old, who died in the Bessemer City Jail after she was arrested on November 1st. She was at a Bessemer hotel at a party with friends when police arrived and arrested her for "disorderly conduct," according to her aunt, Tracy Rodda. Early the next morning, Proctor was found dead in her jail cell, after having complained of problems with asthma which police apparently refused to take seriously.

Comment: Please take a moment and sign the petition. Anytime you share a story, sign a petition, or comment expressing yourself you let the universe know where you stand. Every action we take can have an impact, even if it doesn't seem like it.


Sheriff

Baltimore cop pepper sprays passive protester wearing 'F*ck the police' t-shirt, flings him to the ground

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© AP video screengrabBaltimore man on ground after being pepper sprayed.
In dramatic footage captured by the Associated Press, an unidentified Baltimore protester wearing a "F*ck the police" t-shirt is pepper sprayed before being dragged to the ground by his hair.

As the man stands impassively in the street with his arms at his side, an officer walks up to him and, without provocation, sprays his face with pepper spray. As the man attempts to shake it off, not even reaching upwards to his face, the officer then grabs him by his hair and flings him to the ground as fellow officers swarm all over him.

After being dragged to the sidewalk another officer pours water on his face as he lays moaning on the ground, his hands bound behind him.

Leaning against the wall next to the man is a protest sign reading "Amnesty 4 Jailed Youth."

According to the Associated Press, the man was reportedly on the street after the 10PM curfew.

Watch the video below uploaded to YouTube by the Associated Press:


Comment: It's pretty clear that human lives do not matter to police. The brutal use of force and lack of accountability creates fear, anger and feelings of helplessness that lead to compliance among the citizenry - part and parcel to totalitarian police states.

The path to tyranny: The Nazi Gestapo and the US police state