Society's ChildS


Popcorn

Sucking spoilt milk from a bloated dead sow

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With US GDP growth 'officially' back where it belongs, in the Arctic zone close to freezing on the surface but much worse in real life, for reasons both Albert Edwards and Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (not exactly a pair of Siamese twins) remarked this week; that is, excluding the "biggest inventory build in history, the economy contracted sharply", it's time for everyone to at long last change the angle from which they view the world, if not the color of their glasses.

But 'everyone' will resist, refuse and refute that change, leaving precious few people with an accurate picture of the - economic - world. Still, for you it's beneficial to acknowledge that very little of what you read holds much, if any, truth or value. This is true when it comes to politics, geopolitics and economics. That is, the US is not a democracy, it is not the supreme leader of the world, and the American economy is not in recovery.

Declining business investment, a record inventory build and extreme borrowing to hold share prices above water through buybacks, it all together paints a picture of a very unhealthy if not outright dying economy, and certainly not one in which anything at all is recovering. But how are you supposed to know?

Ambulance

Death toll exceeds 7,000 with 14,000 injured; 101-year old man pulled from rubble alive in Nepal

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© Reuters/Adnan AbidiAn earthquake victim walks past a collapsed temple in Sankhu, on the outskirts of Kathmandu.
The death toll after the devastating earthquake that struck Nepal last week, has reached at least 7,040, officials said.

A spokesperson from the National Emergency Operations Centre confirmed the death toll on Sunday. The number of injured has climbed to 14,123, with 6,512 of theses currently being treated in hospital.

The death toll will be "much higher," warned Nepal's Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat.

"There are still villages where we know that all houses have been destroyed, but haven't yet been able to reach. The aftershocks have not receded and we expect the final casualty numbers to climb much higher," he said.

Earlier, Nepal police spokesman Kamal Singh Bam spoke of 7,056 dead and 14,227 injured.

"We are continuing our search and rescue operations, " Bam said on Saturday.

Nepal's Home Ministry official Laxmi Dhakal added there is little hope of finding any more survivors: "Unless they were caught in an air pocket, there is not much possibility."

About 100 people in neighboring India, China and Bangladesh were also victims of the quake.

Heart

A Donetsk schoolgirl's letter to President Putin

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© Reuters
A heart-rending appeal from a young girl whose family has been shattered by the war.

This article originally appeared at Mnews. Translated by Tom Winter at Fort Russ.

Nastia Koptyeva's letter to President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin

Greetings esteemed Vladimir Vladimirovich!

My name is Nastia and I live in Donetsk. I know that you are a very busy person, but I want to tell you about my life today. Why? Two months ago my Daddy died. He was militia of the Donetsk Republic. He went as a volunteer beginning in July. Momma and I did not see him for seven months, he was always at the front, but end of January he was fatally wounded in the fighting near the airport. Now we are left all alone.

Our house is also not far from the airport. Very often we had to hide in the basement all day long; my school was shelled twice, and now I go to school in another part of town. This year I am finishing the city music school, and I want to go to art school. Many of my friends and classmates left Donetsk already last year, but we are not leaving, not for one day; I was born in Donetsk and I love my home town — momma and I could not leave it, even though it has been frightening under the bombardments. But we have survived, together. Now there is practically no shooting, and it is not so scary when Mama leaves the house on errands. But since papa's funeral it has been so lonely; he always protected us and looked after us, and now he has even given his life, protecting us. I miss him, I miss him a lot. Maybe it seems odd, but I decided to write to you.

When I see you on television, I get the feeling that you can protect all people like me. Please, protect me, my mom, and my town from war. We aren't expecting any help from anywhere. Mom is always saying the main thing, is to hold on until victory. My grandmother in her childhood survived the war against the nazis and she always said that Victory Day was a bigger holiday than Easter. It is sad that my father won't be able to celebrate our victory with us, but we believe in it; we have to win because truth is on our side.

Now my dream is to be in Moscow on the day of the Great Victory, to see with my own eyes how the people are glad at the victory, to see the fireworks. After a year of life under bombardment, I've forgotten what a holiday is; I want my mother to stop crying; I want to see her smile. And I hope there will be more smiles, more and more. I ask, can you help? It will be for us a great and long-awaited joy.

Thank you for everything,
Nastia Koptyeva

Nastia and her mother have no internet, sometimes no water and electricity, and because of the shelling, they often have to take cover in a potato storage pit six feet on a side. Nastia never cries in public, and says her mother is always in tears, and refuses to believe that her husband Pasha is dead, just not in communication because of the war.

Stock Down

Another US financial analyst predicts inevitable collapse of US economy

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© Sputnik/ Pavel Lisitsyn
How long do we have until the unsustainable US economy collapses? Todd Wood, the author of the book "Currency," explains why the US economy is on the verge of collapse and why Russia, which keeps increasing its gold reserves, might become the next major economic power.

The fact that Russia bought another 30 tons of gold earlier this week, bringing its total gold reserves to 1,238 metric tons should make the United States worried, said Todd Wood, the author of the book "Currency" and a contributing writer at the Washington Times.

Wood claims that the current state of the US economy is troublesome, to say the least. While both Russia and China keep increasing their gold reserves, the United States has gathered an overwhelming sovereign debt due to foolish spending habits that will inevitably bring the US economy down, the author said.

Comment: The clarion call of the financial world is getting louder on the inevitability of an economic collapse of immense proportions.


Eye 2

UK report: Over 3,000 Metropolitan policemen investigated for alleged 'serious', sexual' and 'non-sexual' assault; 98% remain on duty

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© Reuters/Luke MacGregor
Over 3,000 police officers in the UK are currently under investigation for alleged assault, with only two percent suspended or put on restricted duties, according to a British media investigation.

The Independent has numbered at least 3,082 officers being investigated for alleged "serious", "sexual" and "non-sexual" assault.

The paper sent Freedom of Information requests to all 45 UK police forces, but not all of them replied, so the real number could be higher.

Of around 31,000 officers at the Metropolitan Police (MPS) - responsible for law enforcement in London - 1,218 are under investigation. Yet, only five have been suspended and another 28 placed on restricted duty.

There are 1,185 Met officers on full duty despite being under investigation regarding 714 alleged assault cases.

Despite that, the MPS spokeswoman told the Independent that the "vast majority" of the Metropolitan Police officers are carrying out their duties "with professionalism and courtesy."

"Where the conduct of staff is proven to have fallen below the standards of behavior expected, the MPS will take robust action to ensure that its staff are appropriately disciplined and that lessons are learnt," she stressed.

Ethnicity of a person filing a complainant has been recorded in 443 cases.

Comment: Cops have become such a dangerous threat to society and the system continues to protect them. Time and time again we see these conscienceless goons getting away with murder, rape, assault and the list of victims gets longer and longer...


Cow Skull

Every day, about 150 U.S. workers are killed on the job

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© APThe fatality rate in the mining and oil and gas extraction sector in North Dakota was an alarming 84.7 per 100,000, nearly seven times the national fatality rate in this industry.
  • North Dakota is deadliest state for workers for third year running
  • Workplace violence is the second leading cause of job fatalities
About 150 US workers die every day from hazardous working conditions, according to a new report by the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the US.

In 2013, 4,585 US workers were killed on the job and an estimated 50,000 died from occupational diseases, found the report. Additionally, about 3.8m work-related injuries and illnesses were reported. The AFL-CIO estimates that the real number of work-related injuries is somewhere between 7.6m to 11.4m each year as many work-related injuries are not reported.

For the third year in a row, North Dakota was the deadliest state to work in the US.

"The state's job fatality rate of 14.9 per 100,000 was more than four times the national average," according to the report. North Dakota's fatality rate has more than doubled since 2007, with 56 workers killed on the job in 2013.

"The fatality rate in the mining and oil and gas extraction sector in North Dakota was an alarming 84.7 per 100,000, nearly seven times the national fatality rate of 12.4 per 100,000 in this industry; and the construction sector fatality rate in North Dakota was 44.1 per 100,000, more than four times the national fatality rate of 9.7 per 100,000 for construction."

Other deadliest states include Wyoming with 9.5 deaths for every 100,000 workers, West Virginia with 8.6, Alaska with 7.9, and New Mexico with 6.7. On the end of the spectrum are Hawaii, which has the lowest fatality rate of 1.6 deaths per 100,000 workers, Washington, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.

Comment: The 'system' has become nothing more than a a system of exploitation and jaw dropping inequality designed to benefit those at the top of the food chain. All over the world, many hard working people are being slowly worn down by jobs that suck the life out of them. Excessive work hours, unhealthy work conditions and very little pay; thanks to the greedy 1% who see people as nothing more human capitol.

See also: Americans Are Literally Being Worked To Death


Shopping Bag

More than 6,000 major U.S. retail stores are closing

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© Wealthydebates.com
If the U.S. economy really is improving, then why are big U.S. retailers permanently shutting down thousands of stores? The "retail apocalypse" that I have written about so frequently appears to be accelerating. As you will see below, major U.S. retailers have announced that they are closing more than 6,000 locations, but economic conditions in this country are still fairly stable. So if this is happening already, what are things going to look like once the next recession strikes? For a long time, I have been pointing to 2015 as a major "turning point" for the U.S. economy, and I still feel that way. And since I started The Economic Collapse Blog at the end of 2009, I have never seen as many indications that we are headed into another major economic downturn as I do right now. If retailers are closing this many stores already, what are our malls and shopping centers going to look like a few years from now?

The list below comes from information compiled by About.com, but I have only included major retailers that have announced plans to close at least 10 stores. Most of these closures will take place this year, but in some instances the closures are scheduled to be phased in over a number of years. As you can see, the number of stores that are being permanently shut down is absolutely staggering...

Headphones

SOTT Focus: Behind the Headlines - Interview with Stefan Verstappen - Paradise Stolen

Stefan Verstappen
This was Behind the Headlines' second interview with Canadian author, artist, and martial arts expert, Stefan Verstappen. Stefan has a professional background in communications and business management and has travelled extensively throughout East Asia, where he has studied oriental art, culture and Kung Fu.He's the author of 'The Art of Urban Survival' from which the viral YouTube video documentary 'Defense Against the Psychopath' was taken.

We previously spoke to Stefan about the video he produced on the topic of historical cycles of human civilization and the manner in which they appear to repeat. In his video, Stefan makes the case that we are currently in the final stage of our cycle of history, defined, like all others, by widespread chaos. Historically, only small groups of people survived the periods of destruction that defined the end of a cycle, and they did so by forming themselves into tight-knit communities with specific organizational structures.

More recently Stefan has produced 3 more short videos on the theme of "Paradise Stolen" where he explores the specific reasons for our current state of societal chaos, the alternatives to the way we live today, and what we can do to face the future and survive.

Following our interview with Stephen we discussed some current events including the stolen ballots in the UK general election, the Saudi bombing of Yemen with U.S. supplied cluster bombs and the possibility of infiltration and re-direction of the protests against police brutality.

Running Time: 01:54:00

Download: MP3


Stock Down

One quarter of U.S. renters spend half of their income on housing, utilities; approximately 42 million households

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© Reuters
For more than one in four renters in the US, housing and utility costs take up at least half of their family's income, according to a new analysis of Census data. That number is up 26 percent since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2007.

Rising rents and stagnant wages are pushing more Americans into rental agreements, according to an analysis by Enterprise Community Partners, an affordable housing advocate. More than 36 percent of Americans rent housing as compared to 31 percent before the recession began.

The analysis found:
- 11.25 million families pay at least half of income for rent;

- 6.4 million families headed by women pay at least half of income for rent;

- Low income families paying at least 50% on rent spend about 40% less on food than those with affordable rents.
The states most impacted by rising rents and stagnant wages are Florida, New Jersey, California and New York. In these states, 30 percent of renters are using at least half their income on rental housing and utilities.

The situation is nearly as dire across the nation. In Ohio, Alabama, Maine, Tennessee, Montana, and South Carolina, about 25 percent of renters dedicate half their income to rent and utilities. In fact, at least 20 percent of renters in every state, excepting Alaska, South Dakota, and Wyoming, face similar situations, according to the nonprofit's analysis of 2013 Census figures.

Comment: Under the surface, there is a lot going on in the U.S. economy and its not getting better.


Water

Hypocrisy: Starbucks feel-good 'Ethos' water sourced from exceptional drought region

starbucks, california drought
© Bocman1973/Shutterstock
The coffee giant says it's solving the world's water problems—yet it's profiting off the Golden State's dwindling reserves.

Since 2005, celebrities including Matt Damon and Cameron Diaz have lent their well-hydrated faces to marketing campaigns supporting Starbucks' feel-good Ethos Water mission, which has raised an estimated $12.3 million to help people in developing countries have access to clean water. The company has attempted to "raise awareness" about our globe's water crisis by donating a small portion of proceeds from sales (5 cents from $1.95 water bottles) to water charity projects and hygiene education programs, particularly those aimed at helping children.

Seems there's something in the water, though. Mother Jones did some Internet irrigation and discovered that Ethos's world-saving bottled-water plant is located in Merced and sources its H2O just up north in Baxter, both California towns the United States Drought Monitor has deemed to be in "exceptional drought."

Just how exceptional? Merced residents aren't just restricted from watering their lawns (here's looking at you, Beverly Hills). An April plan from the State Water Resources Control Board mandated that the town must reduce its water use by 35 percent, according to The Fresno Bee, in an attempt to assuage the state's ongoing epic drought.

Merced natives have been increasingly expressing their disdain for the water bottling plant, owned and operated by the grocery store chain Safeway, that had been sourcing and sending out groundwater from the region for sales, reports the Merced Sun-Star. This plant bottles its own water, in addition to producing Ethos. But it's unclear how much water the company has been slurping down because the city holds that as classified information.

Comment: This might put a dent into Starbucks marketing ploys, but it probably won't stop these corporations who wield so much power that they are allowed to suck the life out of entire regions and countries with impunity, while millions suffer. And this continues even though California's drought is now so severe that scientists are predicting there is only one year of water left.