Society's ChildS


Vader

California cops illegally ransacked apartments and threatened poor minority residents

stockton CA police chief
© Associated Press/Damian DovarganesStockton Police Chief Eric Jones discusses "implicit bias and use of force" at a news conference
In an invasive, war-like operation known as the Neighborhood Blitz, police officers in Stockton, California illegally searched the apartments of poor minorities and physically disabled people, according to a class action lawsuit filed Wednesday. Under the guise of standard housing inspections, armed officers routinely burst into homes with little to no warning, ransacked the premises without warrants, demanded personal information from tenants that had nothing to do with their homes, and threatened renters with arrests and homelessness.

The nine plaintiffs — all of whom are African American, Hispanic, or disabled — allege the Stockton PD stormed into their Gateway Court apartments and subjected them to unconstitutional searches. Rather than giving tenants 21 days' notice, per Stockton's municipal code, police entered the units with less than 24 hours' notice and often walked in without the permission of the people living there. Lacking warrants, the cops examined mattresses, closets, drawers, and cupboards — throwing the contents on the floor. They also searched plaintiffs' medications and demanded to see personal documents, including bills and rental papers. Officers would come at any time of day or night — barging in when people were eating or sleeping — and several searches of pregnant women's apartments were conducted without taking the women's health into account.

Comment: This is all too typical of the attitude and behavior of police departments around the country. They deliberately target minority groups and poor people, who they know are generally unable to fight back legally. They often wind up in the highly profitable for-profit prison system, which is generally why these types of searches are instituted - to keep the jails full.


Airplane Paper

Hysterical society: 13-year old charged with assault for kissing 14-year old girl on a dare

Pikesville Middle School 13-year-old charge with second-degree assault
Image
© Dreamshine
A Pikesville, Maryland, 13-year-old will be charged with second-degree assault for kissing a 14-year-old girl on a dare. The "assault" happened at Pikesville Middle School on Friday. Police were called to the scene.

According to WBFF:
School officials took a report regarding a 13-year-old boy who kissed a 14-year-old girl during school hours. The unwanted kiss was allegedly the result of a dare made by students.

Police confirm that the boy is now facing a second-degree assault charge as a juvenile. No one was injured during the incident, police say, and disciplinary actions related to suspension or expulsion will be handled by the school system.
No one was injured. Is that really surprising?

It's of course true that every 14-year-old has the right not to be kissed. I'm not saying the boy's transgression should go unpunished. What I'm saying is this: he should not be charged with assault. He's 13. Thirteen-year-olds do stupid stuff. They screw up. And when the consequences of their actions are as minor as this, it's better to reprimand them in a manner that does not involve the criminal justice system.

By all means, give this kid detention. Make him apologize to the girl. Tell his parents to teach him better manners.

Comment: How utterly ridiculous. Everything is a crime these days!

The Police State is upon us


Stock Down

Five indexes that signal an impending recession

stock market
© unknown
At some point or another, we've all wished that we had a crystal ball that could tell us what's going to happen next. The world can be a hell of a scary place sometimes, and having an idea of what the future may hold can be a lifesaver. Nowhere is this more applicable than with the economy.

The global financial system is a force that none of us have any substantial control over. All we can hope to do is ride the booms and busts of our economy as best we can. However, if we can catch even a small glimpse of what's to come, we can brace ourselves and our families for the hard times that are ahead.

Obviously, when an economy is enduring a downturn it affects every facet of society and the signs are everywhere, but some of these trends actually begin before the economy collapses. Here are a few that you may not have been aware of.

Comment: There is more than enough evidence that the economy is in dire straights, but the PTB are unlikely to give the masses any warning as they are too busy preparing for the aftermath.


Stock Down

Wondering why the stock market has gone insane? People's expectations play a huge role

stocks
© Unknown
If you've been following the markets for the last three weeks, you've probably figured out that something is wrong. The markets are no longer behaving the way they should, and that has people worried. Very worried. In the last 15 trading days, the Dow Jones has experienced an unprecedented 13 triple-digit days, which means that stocks have been sharply rising and falling without any rhyme or reason. The financial media has tried to explain-away the extreme volatility by pointing to slower growth in China, troubles in the Emerging Markets or various dismal data-points. But none of these adequately explain what's going on.

What's really going on is a tug-of-war between current high stock valuations - which are the product of Fed intervention - and much lower valuations, which are based on fundamentals. Some analysts think that the volatility indicates that the Fed's zero rates policy has damaged the market's price-setting mechanism, that six years of overmedication has spawned an unresponsive, drug-addled system that can no longer perform its primary function. This is a persuasive argument, but it's wrong. In fact, stock valuations are not really inflated at all given the colossal amount of support they've gotten from QE and zirp. (Zero interest rate policy) Since 2009, the Fed has made it clear that it is committed to asset-price inflation as a way create the "wealth effect" which is supposed to stimulate growth. Naturally, investors followed the Fed's lead and took on more credit risk, reached for more yield, and loaded up on stocks and bonds confident that the Fed had their back. And the Fed did have their back. The "Bernanke Put" is a term that reflects investors confidence that the Fed would prevent stocks from falling too fast or too sharply. And the Fed has honored that commitment. Stocks have more than doubled in a six year, Fed-fueled "monster" rally.

Comment: Also see: The ponerization of finance - and the irrelevance of mainstream economics


Ambulance

Breakfast tragedy: At least 60 dead in blast at packed Indian restaurant

Image
© AFPPeople gather around the site of an explosion at a restaurant in Jhabua district in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on September 12, 2015.
At least 60 people have been killed and dozens have been injured after an explosion destroyed a two-story restaurant in India's Madhya Pradesh, police reports.

"The restaurant was in a tightly packed locality and a lot of people were here having breakfast, that is why the casualties are so high," Seema Alava, additional police superintendent for Jhabua, told Agence France-Presse from the site by phone.

The blast, which ripped through the restaurant in Jhabua district, is believed to be a burst of a gas cylinder.

It occurred in the town of Petlawad at about 8:30 a.m. local time (5 AM GMT).

Map

German intelligence: Radical Muslims recruiting youths in German refugee camps

germany refugees
© Fabrizio Bensch / ReutersMigrants walk past tents inside a refugee camp at a former police compound in Berlin, Germany September 7, 2015.
Bavaria's Interior Ministry has confirmed media reports that radical Islamists are trying to recruit young male asylum seekers arriving in the country unaccompanied. Up to 800,000 asylum seekers are set to be taken in by Germany by the end of the year.

"Salafists are trying to talk with unaccompanied youths who have come to Germany without their families and who are in particular need of support and connections," a spokesperson from the Bavarian internal security service (LfV) told Süddeutsche Zeitung.

This has been reportedly happening not only at refugee camps, but also at Munich Central Station, where tens of thousands of refugees have arrived over the past week alone.

"The Salafists are trying to use the desperate situation that refugees find themselves in for their own purposes," the spokesperson added.

Comment: Replace the term 'Salafists' with 'Americans' and you'll be closer to the truth. See: 'SOTT Focus: 'ISIS among the refugees' - Prelude to another European "terror attack"?


Arrow Down

U.S. Department of Defense labs under investigation for improper handling and shipping of plague samples

lab
© Manuel Balce Ceneta / Reuters
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating laboratories run by the US Department of Defense for possibly mishandling, and improperly storing and shipping potentially live plague samples.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discovered a plague sample in a freezer outside the containment area of the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center in Maryland last month, according to USA Today.

The sample was labeled inactive, yet the CDC "is conducting additional testing" for an ultimate determination on any potential infectiousness, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said, according to Stars and Stripes. The CDC is also investigating a strain of equine encephalitis discovered at Edgewood.

Comment: The question one might ask is whether theses incidences are just complete incompetence on the part of these labs or is there something more sinister going on?


USA

Almost 30% of Americans would back military coup against government

Soldier
© Brendan McDermid / Reuters
Almost a third of Americans can imagine themselves supporting a coup against the US government, according to a new survey. Slightly less than 50 percent would "hypothetically" back a military takeover if the government violated the Constitution.

The results come from a recent online survey conducted by UK-based YouGov, which polled 1,000 people from September 2-3.

When asked if there was a situation in which respondents saw themselves supporting a military coup against the elected government, 29 percent answered "yes," while 41 percent said "no." Another 30 percent weren't sure.

Comment: Interesting poll results indicating a lot of people feel the government needs to be ousted, even without a specific example of violating the Constitution. People are begining to realize that the government only cares about itself, not the people and that needs to change.


Laptop

Facebook for the dead: Memorialize your account for eternity

memorialized facebook profile
© facebook
By now, many of us have family members and Facebook friends who have passed away, and as well as the usual stages of grieving, the internet age has introduced the added burden of what happens to their Facebook profile.

When someone passes away, their Facebook account can be a memorial to their life — a library of experiences, thoughts, music tastes, whereabouts, relationships, and photographs. Some may be clear on how they want your online presence to endure after death, but most haven't even considered it. Facebook has learned to manage the delicate balance through experience and has devised measures that give family members of deceased users two options.

"If Facebook is made aware that a person has passed away, it's our policy to memorialize the account," the company states.

Comment: Does this mean the NSA can track you even in the afterlife?


Heart - Black

Menendez brothers redux: Atlanta couple drugged and attacked by their sons in murder plot

christopher and cameron ervin
Christopher (left) and Cameron (right) Ervin, 22 and 17, were arrested after an alleged attack on their parents Yvonne and Zachary Ervin, both 50, at their Snellville, Georgia home last Saturday morning.
Police have released the 911 call an Atlanta mother made as her two sons allegedly tried to kill her and their father at the family's home, attacking the parents when they thought they were asleep.

Christopher Ervin, 22, and his 17-year-old brother Cameron were taken into custody on Saturday after police found them outside of their Snellville, Georgia home.

Their parents Yvonne and Zachary Ervin, both 50, were immediately taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

The couple's struggle can be heard in Yvonne's dramatic and disturbing 911 call, which she made shortly before 8am last Saturday.