Society's ChildS


Bullseye

South Carolina: New bill would force journalists to register and submit an affidavit of competency

free speech grafitti
South Carolina has long been known for the ridiculous and off-world bills its State House regularly submits to a vote. Indeed, the residents of the state are routinely subjected to a demonstration of the utter uselessness of the majority of its "representatives" as well as their lack of understanding and concern for civil liberties, Constitutional rights, and the general welfare of the State.

Enter another freedom-shredding bill submitted by the Constitutional non-scholar Mike Pitts, a Republican State House member from Laurens, S.C.

Pitts' bill would establish a "responsible journalism registry" to be operated by the South Carolina Secretary of State.

Comment: A great number of journalist mouthpieces at the big news networks and papers would be ousted with this bill. But, of course, this bill won't target them. It's aimed at real journalists with integrity who pursue the truth and refuse to toe the party line. As we tumble ever faster into outright fascism and the war on truth escalates expect more bills like this and more real journalists being targeted.


Fire

Massive explosion at fireworks factory in southern China kills 3, injures 53

China fireworks factory
© ChinaFotoPressSmoke rises out of the remains of the fireworks factory
A massive explosion Wednesday at a fireworks plant in southern China killed three people and injured 53, while shattering windows of homes in the area, officials and state media reports said.

One additional person was missing from the blast that shook Hongsheng Fireworks Plant in a village outside the city of Shangrao in Jiangxi province, state-run Xinhua News Agency said. A local government confirmed the incident on its official website and said that about 1,000 people were evacuated from the area.

The blast was so strong that doors and windows of residential homes in the area were destroyed with glass shards scattered around, the district government of Guangfeng said.


Comment: Last week another massive explosion at a Chinese fireworks factory left ten dead and seven injured. Some other fireworks related explosions and fires in the past year include:


Water

Florida drinking water system hit by vandals - 400,000 gallons drained from county reserve

vandals drain florida water supply
© veinglory/iStock
A CodeRED alert was sent to 1,700 water utility customers in the area and will remain in effect until further notice.

Vandals drained 400,000 gallons of water from the Plantation Bay drinking water system in Flagler County, Florida, raising concerns about potential contamination, according to news sources.

The incident on Sunday prompted officials to issue a boil water order. A CodeRED alert was sent to 1,700 water utility customers in the area and will remain in effect until further notice.

"When all of that water was drained, the water pressure dropped," explained Heidi Petito, general services director. "The boil water notice is precautionary, and is required any time the water pressure drops below a certain level."

The vandals opened about 20 valves in the largely undeveloped Plantation Reserve Estates and left them running.

Fire

Update - Dubai police say electrical fault caused New Year's hotel fire

Dubai skyscraper fire
© Karim Sahib/Agence France-PresseFlames rip through the Address Downtown hotel, near the world's tallest tower, Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, after it was hit by a massive fire on December 31, 2015
No flammable liquids involved in blaze

The fire which engulfed one of Dubai's most prominent hotel skyscrapers ahead of New Year fireworks was caused by an electrical short-circuit, Dubai's police chief said on Wednesday.

In a presentation to media, police officials said there had been no trace of any flammable liquids such as petrol at the site of the blaze at the 63-storey hotel and residential block, close to the world's tallest building. "The direct cause was an electrical short-circuit," police commander Khamis Mattar Al-Mazeina told reporters. He declined to say whether the cladding - layers fixed to the outside of buildings for decoration, insulation or protection - had affected the development of the fire, and directed queries about building materials to the Dubai Civil Defence authority.

The building was quickly evacuated with only minor injuries reported, and authorities went ahead with a New Year's fireworks display at the 160-storey Burj Khalifa tower a few hundred metres away.

Comment: There's been an unusual number of fires and explosions due to mysterious electrical problems in recent years.


Briefcase

Global economic gloom: Companies throughout Europe announcing mass layoffs and job cuts

job cuts, layoffs
Amid growing global economic gloom, including a slowdown in China and falling oil and commodity prices, major companies throughout Europe are announcing mass layoffs and job cuts.

Last Wednesday, US multinational General Electric (GE) announced plans to cut 6,500 jobs in Europe over the next two years, including 1,700 jobs in Germany, 570 in the UK, 765 in France and 1,300 in Switzerland. According to comments from the head of GE's power division last September, this is part of a plan to squeeze out $3 billion in cost savings over five years.

GE acquired French engineering company Alstom in a €9.7 billion deal in 2014, promising to create jobs. GE France spokesman Laurent Wormser said job cuts in France will hit mainly administrative jobs in the Paris area, in human resources, public relations and the legal department.

After reaching an agreement with the trade unions, French nuclear group Areva announced plans for 6,000 job cuts worldwide, including in Germany, the United States and 2,700 in France. The "competitiveness plan" deal would net Areva €1 billion in savings by 2017.

British Airways is eliminating 5,800 jobs under a plan to cut its debts, on top of 7,600 job cuts already announced earlier. These will largely hit major British airports, including 6,600 jobs cut at Heathrow airport and 3,000 at Gatwick.

Comment: Why this economic slump has legs


Eye 2

Former cop used police database to stalk woman he raped after she reported it to police

Jeffrey Martin
Jeffrey Martin
A former Ohio police officer has been charged with raping a woman in 2014 and then using the police database to stalk her after she reported the crime.

Former Pepper Pike officer Jeffrey Martin, 55, was arrested last month on charges of rape, stalking and menacing. The case was turned over to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's office after the Bedford Police Department said that details in the case file contained information that "would have compromised our ability to stay on the case."

An indictment announced last week revealed that Martin had used a police database to stalk the woman after she contacted Bedford police. Prosecutors said that Martin pretended to be a private investigator so he could stalk his victim onto Ursuline College campus.

The indictment also noted that Martin had used a firearm during the rape, but it was not immediately clear how it was used.

According to Martin's personnel file, he had been suspended four times by the Pepper Pike Police Department. Two of the suspensions were related to inappropriate conduct toward women.

Family

Nearly half of all Americans see 'nothing positive' in Donald Trump

Trump
© REUTERS/ Mark Kauzlarich
US citizens were more likely to focus on Trump's personal traits and style when talking about potential negative aspects of Trump's presidency, according to the survey.

More than four out of 10 US nationals cannot say anything positive about billionaire businessman Donald Trump possibly becoming the country's president, a poll released on Wednesday found.

The United States will elect a new president this November. Despite his controversial remarks on migration, Trump leads other Republican hopefuls in opinion polls.

Comment: The US is not a democracy. It is an oligarchy ruled by a small economic elite. All this media hype, for an obvious bigot who wears his mental illnesses on his sleeve, serves to condition the people to even worse levels of social pathology.

Also see:


Handcuffs

26 corrupt bankers in Iceland sentenced to 74 years in prison

iceland bankers
Iceland just sentenced their 26th banker to prison for his part in the 2008 economic collapse. The charges ranged from breach of fiduciary duties to market manipulation to embezzlement.embezzlement.
Iceland just sentenced their 26th banker to prison for his part in the 2008 economic collapse. The charges ranged from breach of fiduciary duties to market manipulation to embezzlement.

When most people think of Iceland, they envision fire and ice. Major volcanoes and vast ice fields are abundant due to its position on the northern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. (A hot July day in Reykjavik is around 55 degrees.) However, Iceland is also noted for being one of the Nordic Socialist countries, complete with universal health care, free education and a lot other Tea Potty nightmares. Therefore, as you might imagine, they tend to view and react to economic situations slightly differently than the U.S.

When the banking induced "Great Recession of '08" struck, Iceland's economic hit was among the hardest. However, instead of rewarding fraudulent banking procedures with tons of bailout money, they took a different path.

Red Flag

Baby born with brain damage becomes first US case of mosquito-transmitted Zika virus

quarantine
© Ernesto Benavides / AFP
US health officials have confirmed that a baby born with brain damage in Hawaii tested positive for the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus that has been sweeping Latin America and the Caribbean. Pregnant women are advised to postpone traveling plans.

Zika is believed to cause microcephaly, or a dramatically shrunken head, in newborns, which prevents babies' brains from developing properly.

There is no vaccine or treatment for the virus as of yet and what makes matters worse is that the symptoms in infected pregnant women are not that obvious: a slight fever, headaches and a rash that last up to a week.

The problem is worsened by the fact that initial ultrasounds of a fetus could be normal and the microcephaly is only detected toward the end of the pregnancy.

"These are newborns who will require special attention their entire lives. It's an emotional stress that just can't be imagined," Angela Rocha, a pediatric infection expert at Oswaldo Cruz Hospital, told CNN in December.

Eye 2

Amnesty calls out Apple and Microsoft for using child labor in Africa

Coal miners
Artisanal miners work at a cobalt mine-pit in Tulwizembe, Katanga province, Democratic Republic of Congo, November 25, 2015
Amnesty International is calling out major tech manufacturers - including Apple, Microsoft, Sony and others for their alleged links to illegally-sourced cobalt in the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Children are forced to work in subhuman conditions and under constant threat of violence.

The organization says the mineral used in household appliances the world over is largely sourced from child labor that goes on deep inside hazardous mines and tunnels.

The product of this labor then finds its way into batteries and other components of leading brands - from Microsoft to Apple, and Nokia and Samsung to Vodafone. But tracing the supply chain is a tough task, and it has never been the case that a company would simply reveal it. In certain cases, no one wants to know.

But as Amnesty and Afrewatch found out, there are cases when companies simply lie about sourcing any materials from the DRC at all.