Society's ChildS


Post-It Note

'A universe beneath our feet': Life in Beijing's underground

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© Sim Chi Yin/VII Twenty-one-year-old Liu Jing sits in her apartment two stories underground in Beijing, China. Her laundry hangs above her head because there's nowhere else to put her clothes.
In Beijing, even the tiniest apartment can cost a fortune - after all, with more than 21 million residents, space is limited and demand is high.

But it is possible to find more affordable housing. You'll just have to join an estimated 1 million of the city's residents and look underground.

Below the city's bustling streets, bomb shelters and storage basements are turned into illegal - but affordable - apartments.

Comment: It is a shame that some people have to live this way. It happens all over the world due to psychopathic greed and mismanagement.


Heart - Black

India suspends controversial U.S. taxi contractor, Uber, after driver sexually assaults female passenger

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© Hindustan Times/Getty ImagesA candlelit vigil during a New Delhi protest against the rape of a female taxi passenger.
India ordered state governments to halt the operations of all unregistered, web-based taxi companies on Tuesday after a female passenger reported she was raped in New Delhi by a driver contracted to U.S. cab company Uber.

The case has caused uproar in India after it emerged that the suspect had previously been charged for rape but had obtained a character reference signed by a police officer that was forged.

It has also revealed a failure to regulate the booming market for app-based taxi services in India. The Delhi transport department said it ordered Uber to cease operations on Monday by post.

Comment: Also see:


Sheeple

The cult of Statism: The most dangerous religion

A great compilation of Larken Rose audio clips taken from various radio interviews put together in a compelling video. Larken explains how blind faith in government leads to excusing evil. Watch the video and see, is Statism the most dangerous religion?

Comment: Statism is describing the psychological state of "Authoritarian Followers".

"Part of the problem seems to be that a large proportion of any population is what psychologist Bob Altemeyer calls "Authoritarian Followers." Let me quote from the Cambridge Dictionary of Psychology: "Authoritarian personality", and "Authoritarian followers". According to the dictionary:
"Authoritarian followers have the psychological characteristic known as right-wing authoritarianism. This personality trait consists of authoritarian submission, a high degree of submission to the established authorities in one's society; authoritarian aggression, aggression directed against various persons in the name of those authorities; and conventionalism, a strong adherence to the social conventions endorsed by those authorities.

Right-wing authoritarianism ("right" comes from "lawful") is measured on so called RWA scale." The Dictionary tells us that:

.... persons who get high RWA scale scores quite readily submit to the established authorities in their lives and trust them far more than most people do.

They supported Richard Nixon to the bitter end during the Watergate crisis. High RWAs also believed George W. Bush when he said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and they supported the war in that country long after others had signed off. High RWAs also are relatively willing to let authorities run roughshod over civil liberties and constitutional guarantees of personal freedom. They seem to think that authorities are above the law.

Bob Altemeyer, one of the champions in the psychology of authoritarians, notices that authoritarians are characterized by a certain specific cognitive behavior:

Compared with others, authoritarians have not spent much time examining evidence, thinking critically, reaching independent conclusions and seeing whether their conclusions mesh with the other things they believe. (...) They carry a list of 'false teachings' and rejected ideologies in their heads. But they usually learned which ideas are bad in the same way they learned which are good - from the authorities in their lives. Highs are not prepared to think critically."

Global Pathocracy, Authoritarian Followers and the Hope of the World
See also: Ponerology: Why the Corrupt Few Wreak So Much Death, Destruction, and Suffering on the Rest of Us


Stormtrooper

Brutal police beating of model shocks Australia

Sydney police
© Reuters/Darren Whiteside
A video showing three Sydney police officers brutally beating a young woman has gone viral, with over 750,000 views on Facebook. During the clip, the victim is repeatedly hit with a police baton and appears to be kicked in the head by a male officer.

Police brutality has been hitting the headlines in the US, but now it seems the unfortunate trend has made its way to Australia. The woman in question, Claire Helen, who works as a model and actress and was on the receiving end of recurring blows from a police officer, said: "It was the most frightening and humiliating experience of my life."

Law enforcement officers allege that Helen punched a policewoman in the mouth, as well as resisting arrest - an action that the model stringently denies. "They pushed me down. They hit me and kicked me. They pulled my dress over my head," she said, speaking to Channel Nine. Onlookers could be heard shouting, "Let her go," and, "She's not resisting arrest."


Helen, who is 1 meter, 60 centimeters tall and weighs 55 kilograms, insists she was just enjoying a quiet night out when she was accosted by law enforcement officers, who were much bigger than her.

"We weren't drunk. We'd been with people playing soccer and went out to have a few drinks. I'm not the sort of person who goes out getting pissed on a Wednesday night. I'm trying to make it as a model and actress. I can't go out every night getting wasted. I definitely don't ever get in circumstances like this," she told Channel Nine news.

Heart - Black

UNICEF declares 2014 a devastating year for children due to global conflicts and disease

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© Reuters/Osman Orsal Kurdish refugee girls from the Syrian town of Kobani play in a refugee camp in the Turkish border town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province November 13, 2014.
The United Nations children's agency UNICEF declared 2014 a devastating year for children on Monday with as many as 15 million caught in conflicts in Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and the Palestinian territories.

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said the high number of crises meant many of them were quickly forgotten or failed to capture global headlines, such as in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Globally, UNICEF said some 230 million children were living in countries and regions affected by armed conflict.

"Children have been killed while studying in the classroom and while sleeping in their beds; they have been orphaned, kidnapped, tortured, recruited, raped and even sold as slaves," Lake said in a statement. "Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality."

Comment: In the daily recounting of the news of war and geopolitics, rarely does the MSM discuss the devastating effects of these conflicts on children. These are the real victims of psychopathic wars of aggression. It's easy for armchair war cheerleaders to voice support for military incursions to 'install democracy' in other countries, but how many actually consider the consequences to the millions of children orphaned, maimed, suffering from PTSD and those who have been forced to become child soldiers?

Jon Snow: The (war on the) children of Gaza

Hundreds of Afghan children killed in U.S. attacks

Iraq's War Disfigured Babies

4 decades after war ended, Agent Orange still ravaging Vietnamese

Children in Conflict: Child Soldiers


Airplane

Another drone near-miss with passenger plane at Heathrow

Drone
© AFP Photo/Bertrand Langlois
A passenger airplane almost collided with an unidentified drone near Heathrow marking the first such incident in the biggest UK airline hub's history, British media revealed on Sunday citing a report due to be published next week.

An Airbus A320 which can carry 180 passengers avoided a collision with a drone on July 22 at 2.16 pm flying at an altitude of 700 feet, the Sunday Times reported.

It said that the official report is due to be published on Friday. UK Airprox Board (Ukab), which investigates all cases of reported near-misses, said the incident was of A category - the highest in five ranks assigned by the watchdog.

In its risk level assessments Ukab evaluates A category as "risk of collision: aircraft proximity in which serious risk of collision has existed," according to its website.

The unmanned aerial vehicle did not show on air traffic control radar so investigators were unable to identify it and the case relied on the pilot's testimony, a source told the newspaper.

Comment: The proliferation of small, unauthorized drones that can reach previously unimaginable heights poses an immediate threat to air traffic. In the US, the NASA database suggests that dangerous brushes between drones and passenger aircraft are more common than the FAA acknowledges.

Drones pose serious threat to commercial air traffic! Close encounters with passenger aircraft increasing and FAA unable to handle problem

Drone came within 200 feet of airliner over New York

FAA official: Drone, jetliner nearly collided over Florida

Drone comes within 50 feet of NYPD helicopter, Brooklyn man arrested


Stormtrooper

Lunatic cop sees graffiti artist "tag" a building, so he runs him over with his car

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Miami, Florida - 21-year-old street artist Delbert Rodriguez Gutierrez is now in critical condition and facing death after a police officer in a patrol car ran him over during a chase. Delbert's artist name is "Demz," and police claim that they caught him tagging a building around 2am on Friday morning, near the intersection of NW 5th Avenue and 24th Street, in Wynwood.

Wynwood is an art district in Miami where graffiti is extremely common, and sometimes artists have agreements set up where they are allowed to tag on buildings. However, it is not clear whether or not Gutierrez had permission to be where he was, and police claim that he fled as soon as he saw the flashing red and blue lights of the police car.

Detective Michael Cadavid chased after the young artist in his unmarked patrol car, eventually running him over. After the incident, Cadavid claimed that Demz jumped out in front of the car and could not be avoided.

Hourglass

Best of the Web: #ICantBreathe - Comedian Jon Stewart on Eric Garner grand jury decision: 'The idea that we live in a society, much less a post-racial society, is a joke'

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John Stewart couldn't find anything to laugh about following the grand jury non-indictment of NYPD cops murdering black man Eric Garner
It's part of Jon Stewart's job to make comedy out of the terrible things happening in the world, but even he was unable to find anything to laugh at following a grand jury's decision not to indict the cop who killed Eric Garner.

He only got to covering the situation in Ferguson after being on vacation last week, but at least there was something for him to poke fun at in regards to the Twitter war between the St. Louis Rams and the St. Louis Police Officers Association. The Eric Garner case hit closer to home, just over in Staten Island.

As people began to gather outside to protest the decision in New York City and around the country, Stewart admitted defeat. Despite the footage and the coroner's ruling that Garner's death was a homicide, the grand jury ruled against indictment, just like with Michael Brown.

"I don't know. I honestly don't know what to say. If comedy is tragedy plus time, I need more fucking time. But I would really settle for less fucking tragedy to be honest with you."


People

San Jose, California: Nation's largest homeless encampment dismantled

NBC homeless clearing
© UnknownPolice and city crews on Thursday began dismantling the nation's largest homeless encampment, notoriously named "The Jungle," in a controversial move that aims to move hundreds of transients from the center of San Jose and find them affordable housing. Peggy Bunker reports.
Police and city crews on Thursday began dismantling the nation's largest homeless encampment, notoriously named "The Jungle," in a controversial move that aims to move hundreds of transients from the center of San Jose and find them affordable housing.

Streams of homeless people wheeled their lives out of the encampment on Story Road, their shopping carts full of their belongings. Some cried they didn't have time or the ability to move everything they own out in time.

Businesses owners surrounding the encampment said the streets filled up with the evacuated homeless looking for somewhere to settle.

"Before they moved them they should've had a place for all of them to go," said Bridgget Tapia, Tap's Keyes Club owner. "Because now we've just scattered them."

Comment: Millions of people in the US don't have Jobs. They can't afford housing. Those who have jobs can't live with their minimum wages. Government vacate the areas where the homeless create their own shelters. Where does this nation expect them to live? There is no common sense in this country.


Star of David

Poll: 65% Israelis don't want Netanyahu as prime minister

Herzog and Livni stake their claims to top post; Channel 2 survey finds 71% intend to vote in March 2015 elections

Bibi Netanyahu
© Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/FLASH90Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, on Sunday, November 30, 2014.
Almost two-thirds of Israelis do not want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lead the next government, a poll published Saturday by Channel 2 found.

The poll was released as the leaders of Israel's center and center-left parties talk of building various alliances to prevent Netanyahu retaining his post after the next elections. The Knesset on Monday is set to pass the second and third readings of a bill to dissolve itself and hold elections on March 17, 2015.

Channel 2 has reported several times this weekend that the elections could still be averted if Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman supports a move to build an alternative coalition in the current parliament, headed by Netanyahu, including the two ultra-Orthodox parties. It said Saturday night that Liberman might be offered the post of defense minister as an incentive. But Liberman's office has denied any prospect of such an arrangement.

Asked whether they want the three-term prime minister to take office again after the March elections, 65 percent of the 500 Israelis polled said they do not want Netanyahu to continue running the country while 30% said they do want him to be prime minister; 5% declined responding to the question.

Comment: It doesn't matter which political leader wins in Israel. The entire Israeli society is pathologically rotten to the core.