Society's ChildS


Airplane

Belgian airspace closed: Air traffic control failure grounds all flights as power outage causes chaos

Demid Getik
NL Times
Wed, 27 May 2015 13:58 UTC
airport chaos
© Getty Images/AFP/E. Lalmand
An electrical failure at Belgium air traffic control forced the closure of airspace above Belgium on Wednesday morning, Eurocontrol said in a statement. The regional airspace will remain shut until at least 4 p.m. local time, the Brussels Airport authority and Eurocontrol both said.

Just over 60 flights were cancelled, and 21 were diverted, the airport said at about 11:40 a.m. There were 10,176 departures from the airport, and 10,193 landings last month. In 2013, the Brussels Airport authority estimated that 510,000 passengers based in the Netherlands use the capital city airport.

The electrical failure is causing significant delays, according to the airport authorities. "A number of flights are being diverted to airports in the neighbourhood," they stated.

The cause of the problem was not yet announced. Wednesday morning marked the beginning of a three-and-a-half month long project to renovate runway 25L at the airport.

Dutch air traffic control reports that some of the Belgian flights will land in the Netherlands. Flights that had to cross Brussels airspace on the way to the Netherlands can reroute via Germany or the North Sea.
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Water

​'Gross insult' and 'undemocratic': Petition against Irish water charges snubbed by officials


RT
Tue, 26 May 2015 17:05 UTC
Iriish water protesters
© Reuters / Cathal McNaughtonPeople gather to protest against austerity policies and increases in water bills in central Dublin.
Anti-austerity campaigners in the Republic of Ireland say Cork City Council's refusal to accept a petition opposing the Irish government's water charges is undemocratic and an insult to local citizens.

The petition was handed over by 50 anti-water charges campaigners who had gathered outside Cork City Hall before a local council meeting on Monday.

The petition called upon local councils to stand firmly against the water charges and actively encourage local citizens to resist paying them.

It contained the signatures of 15,000 local people who strongly oppose the Irish government's water taxation policy.


The recently implemented water charges form part of the Irish government's wider debt re-payment plan in the wake of a crippling bank bailout that cost Irish taxpayers over €64 billion. Campaigners maintain they are an austerity tax, and will impact on society's most vulnerable.

In a climate of widespread poverty, negative equity and mounting repossession orders, Irish protesters continue to campaign against the government's recently implemented water charges.Protesters gathered outside Cork City Hall on Monday had hoped to give their petition to Cork's Lord Mayor Mary Shields or Deputy Lord Mayor Ken O'Flynn.

However, they were informed beforehand that neither Shields nor O'Flynn would be available to meet with them.

Comment: Back to reality! What happened to the "new, open, equal society" and "social revolution" that followed the recent historic, euphoric referendum on same-sex marriage in Ireland?

For more insight on this "milestone in Ireland's journey towards a more liberal, secular society", listen to: Behind the Headlines on SOTT Radio Network: gay marriage means equal rights as global society descends into chaos

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Sheriff

Judge orders restraining order against sheriff who arrested man serving him a subpoena

Travis Gettys
Raw Story
Tue, 26 May 2015 21:41 UTC
Image
© FacebookSheriff Tracy Carter
North Carolina sheriff called on his deputies to arrest a man trying to serve him with a subpoena to testify in a federal lawsuit filed by a man who suffered broken bones and other injuries during an arrest.

A judge granted a temporary restraining order against Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter preventing the three-term Republican and his deputies from interfering with attempts to serve subpoenas in the lawsuit filed five years ago.

U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle found in his order that Carter and other members of the sheriff's department were "obstructing or otherwise interfering" with attempts to call witnesses in the trial, which is scheduled to start June 2.

Robert Wade was hired to serve a subpoena to Carter at his home, but the 71-year-old man said the sheriff yelled at him and blocked him from leaving until deputies arrived to arrest him.

Comment: Looks like it's time Sheriff Carter learns an important lesson: those who work for the law are not above the law.

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Red Flag

California considering usage of recycled sewage water as source of drinking water amid drought


RT
Tue, 26 May 2015 21:25 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Lucy NicholsonA man fills a tank with water at the local fire station, in East Porterville, California
Potable water reuse - or converting sewage effluent to heavily-treated, purified drinking water - is receiving renewed attention in California in the midst of the state's four-year drought.

According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, "California water managers and environmentalists"are pushing the idea of recycled sewage water. Yet past efforts in the state to employ similar systems have stalled, as opponents have dubbed the concept "toilet to tap."

This spring, California Gov. Jerry Brown ordered a 25 percent cut in urban water usage based on ongoing drought conditions across the state.

Proponents of potable water reuse say that the system could convert the hundreds of billions of gallons of treated sewage that is already directed into the Pacific Ocean into drinking water.

"That water is discharged into the ocean and lost forever," Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, told the LA Times. "Yet it's probably the single largest source of water supply for California over the next quarter-century."

A potable reuse system would mean effluent would be sent to an advanced treatment plant for a three-step purification process.
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Pistol

Gunman in shooting at North Dakota Walmart an active airman in military


RT
Tue, 26 May 2015 21:03 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
A US airman is suspected of being the gunman responsible for a Tuesday morning shooting in a North Dakota branch of Walmart. The man entered the store, killed one employee and injured one other, before killing himself.

The suspected gunman, Marcell Willis, 21, is an active airman at the Grand Forks Air Force Base.

Police said the shooting occurred a few minutes after 1 am , that left one Walmart employee dead and another injured, may have been random, with no link yet found between Willis, the store or the employees.

"We've not been able to find any linkage to him and any of the victims. That's not to say that can't change," police Lt. Derik Zimmel said during an afternoon news conference, reported by the Associated Press. "There's no apparent motive that jumps out at this time."
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Magnify

Ex-Air Force lawyer: Victims of rape in the military face revenge, backlash from superiors for coming forward


RT
Tue, 26 May 2015 18:00 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Shamil Zhumatov
The US military's system of prosecution has to change, as rape victims are often put in positions where they even regret coming forward, Maribel Jarzabek, ex-Air Force lawyer, said on a recent HRW survey of sexual assault survivors.

Of those who answered the US Army's call to come out as sexual assault victims, 62 percent are facing backlash from their commanders and fellow servicemen, a report released by Human Rights Watch earlier this week stated.

The victims are "spat on, deprived of food, assailed with obscenities - whore, cum-dumpster, slut, faggot - threatened with 'friendly fire' during deployment... demoted, disciplined [or] discharged for misconduct," the paper entitled "Embattled: Retaliation against sexual assault survivors in the US military" said.

According to HRW, only 5 percent of sexual assault cases in the US military lead to convictions of the perpetrators.

"Virtually no-one is held accountable" for retaliating against those reporting rape and other abuses, the report added.
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Pistol

Social chaos: Murder record broken in Baltimore after deadly Memorial Day weekend


RT
Tue, 26 May 2015 17:52 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Shannon StapletonProtesters are gathered for a rally to protest the death of Freddie Gray who died following an arrest in Baltimore, Maryland

Comment: As the citizens of the U.S. watch as their leaders go around the world invading countries and murdering their inhabitants all in the name of power, money, and control, it should not be surprising to see the rest of the country following suit and behaving the same way towards each other.


A surge of fatal shootings in Baltimore, Maryland over Memorial Day weekend has propelled the number of murders so far in May to 35, making it the deadliest month in the city since 1999.

In the midst of a wave of violence that has anything but waned in the weeks since riots unfolded across Baltimore, city officials say the tally of homicides so far in 2015 stands at 108 as of Tuesday morning.

The Baltimore Police Department told local network WJZ News that 28 people were shot over Memorial Day weekend this year. This included nine fatalities.

With the death toll for May now pushing three dozen, officials say the city is currently experiencing its most violent month since 1999.

"It's deplorable," City Councilman William "Pete" Welch told the Baltimore Sun. "The shootings and killings are all over the city. I don't think any part of the city is immune to this. I've never seen anything like it."
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Arrow Down

Texas SWAT team throws flash grenade at 82yo mans home, leaves him alone, crippled without medical assistance

David Edwards
The Raw Story
Tue, 26 May 2015 17:12 UTC
Herman Crisp
© KVUEHerman Crisp
An 82-year-old Texas man alleged this week that officers in military gear stormed his home, broke his hip and then left him without calling for medical assistance.

Herman Crisp told KTBC that Georgetown deputies wearing SWAT uniforms gave no warning before throwing a flash-bang device outside his home last September as he was sitting in a chair and smoking a cigarette.

He said that the explosion knocked him out of his chair, and then officers slammed him on the ground and handcuffed him. The force of hitting the ground broke his hip, according to Crisp, who was 81 years old at the time.

Eventually officers did help inside the home before leaving, but they did not call paramedics, he said. The next day, his family said that they found him lying on the floor in his own feces.

"After they left, I tried to get up because I had to go to the bathroom," he explained to KTBC. "And I couldn't go. So, I just crawled over and laid on the floor right down through here. My sister had to call paramedics."

Attorney Boadus Spivey, who is representing Crisp, accused the Georgetown Sheriff's Office of a "conspiracy of silence."

Comment: SWAT teams are getting more aggressive, yet have an unfortunate problem identifying suspects as they routinely go to the wrong home and inflict damage on innocent people, then deny responsibility or attempt to cover-up their actions. All part of our glorious police state, where every normal human is considered a criminal and all police are considered innocent, only rarely proven guilty of criminal behavior no matter how much evidence of their wrongdoing is provided.

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Nuke

Dumping highly radioactive water into Pacific Ocean a potential trigger to global radioactive contamination

Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research
Tue, 26 May 2015 00:00 UTC
fukushima radiation
Nuclear radiation resulting from the March 2011 Fukushima disaster - which threatens life on planet earth - is not front page news in comparison to the most insignificant issues of public concern, including the local level crime scene or the tabloid gossip reports on Hollywood celebrities.

The shaky political consensus both in Japan, the U.S. and Western Europe is that the crisis at Fukushima has been contained.

The truth is otherwise. Known and documented, the ongoing dumping of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean constitutes a potential trigger to a process of global radioactive contamination.

This water contains plutonium 239 and its release into the Ocean has both local as well as global repercussions. A microgram of plutonium if inhaled, according to Dr. Helen Caldicott, can cause death:
Certain isotopes of radioactive plutonium are known as some of the deadliest poisons on the face of the earth. A mere microgram (a speck of darkness on a pinhead) of Plutonium-239, if inhaled, can cause death, and if ingested, radioactive Plutonium can be harmful, causing leukemia and other bone cancers.

"In the days following the 2011 earthquake and nuclear plant explosions, seawater meant to cool the nuclear power plants instead carried radioactive elements back to the Pacific ocean. Radioactive Plutonium was one of the elements streamed back to sea." (decodescience.com).

Comment: Tepco has been dumping radioactive water into the Pacific for over a year at least, spiking all-time radiation highs at monitoring points near the Fukushima power plant. The radioactive material has been found all over the world with massive die-offs of marine life and reports of radioactive contamination of seafood.

Japan begins purposely dumping 100s of tons of radioactive water from Fukushima into the Pacific

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Dominoes

505 trillion dollar interest rate derivatives bubble in imminent jeopardy

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
Mon, 25 May 2015 00:00 UTC
Image
Now you see the bubble... soon you won't.
All over the planet, large banks are massively overexposed to derivatives contracts. Interest rate derivatives account for the biggest chunk of these derivatives contracts. According to the Bank for International Settlements, the notional value of all interest rate derivatives contracts outstanding around the globe is a staggering 505 trillion dollars. Considering the fact that the U.S. national debt is only 18 trillion dollars, that is an amount of money that is almost incomprehensible. When this derivatives bubble finally bursts, there won't be enough money in the entire world to bail everyone out. The key to making sure that all of these interest rate bets do not start going bad is for interest rates to remain stable. That is why what is going on in Greece right now is so important. The Greek government has announced that it will default on a loan payment that it owes to the IMF on June 5th. If that default does indeed happen, Greek bond yields will soar into the stratosphere as panicked investors flee for the exits. But it won't just be Greece. If Greece defaults despite years of intervention by the EU and the IMF, that will be a clear signal to the financial world that no nation in Europe is truly safe. Bond yields will start spiking in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and all over the rest of the continent. By the end of it, we could be faced with the greatest interest rate derivatives crisis that any of us have ever seen.

Comment: To hear more about the various ways an economic collapse may be brought about listen to the SOTT Talk Radio Show episode:
The Truth Perspective - Michael Snyder - Economic Collapse and Global Chaos

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