Welcome to Sott.net
Fri, 05 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Society's Child
Map

Stormtrooper

Poor dears! French cops claim they're too tired to keep policing massive protests

france_protest
© Unknown
Months of mass demonstrations and violence linked to the Euro 2016 football tournament have left French police begging for mercy. A heated combination of protests against controversial changes to France'semployment laws and outbreaks of violence by Russian and British football fans has taken its toll, leading a union leader to beg for a reprieve for French law enforcement.

Protests opposing Francois Hollande's proposals to relax France's labour code began in March and have been called the largest and longest-lasting since the French Revolution.

While the government argues the changes are crucial to lower unemployment, protesters claim they are bad for workers' rights.

Countrywide protests have included strikes and blockades of oil refineries and hundreds of fuel depots. Workers also downed tools at the state-owned rail company.

Comment: We should all take note. We ARE the majority!


Cell Phone

Addicted to technology: Millennials spend more time engaged with their phones than with other humans

smartphone

39% of millenials interact more with smartphones than lovers, parents, friends, children or co-workers.
It's not your imagination: Millennials really are glued to their smartphones.

Nearly four in 10 millennials (39%) say they interact more with their smartphones than they do with their significant others, parents, friends, children or co-workers, according to a survey of more than 1,000 people released Wednesday by Bank of America. That's compared with fewer than one in three people of all ages who say they engage with their smartphones more.

This means that, on an average day, millennials — defined here as being ages 18 to 34 — "interact with their smartphone more than anything or anyone else," the survey concluded.

This may not surprise anyone who has looked at millennial smartphone usage. More millennials (77%) own smartphones — and spend more time on them (over two hours a day) — than any other age group, according to a 2014 report that examined the behavior of more than 23,000 adults, and was released by Experian."In fact, millennials spend so much time on their smartphones that they account for 41% of the total time that Americans spend using smartphones, despite making up just 29% of the population," the report concluded.

Comment: It appears the The Zombie Apocalypse has already occurred.


Attention

Employees of Nevada company who filmed themselves dumping chemical waste in desert claim they were forced by employer

carson city chemical company
A disturbing video has surfaced of employees of a Nevada company allegedly being told by their boss to dump chemical waste into the desert and light in on fire (video below).

The video, posted to YouTube, begins with an unseen employee pointing the camera at barrels of chemical waste stacked together in the desert. The employee says, "We've been ordered to dump these barrels, two or three a night, and then burn 'em out."

The employee then frets about how what he and his co-workers are doing is "so illegal," and goes on to say, "This is what we gotta do, or we'll lose our jobs."

As another employee, identified by the speaker as Cliff, dumps a barrel of waste into the desert, the employee with the camera can be heard lamenting, "Oh my God. God forgive me. I'm so sorry."

The employee with the camera then focuses on the label on one of the barrels. It reads, "Houghton International, Inc. Hocut 795-H."

Houghton is a specialty chemical company. According to the company's website, Hocut 795-H is: "A general-purpose cutting fluid, Hocut 795-H is an industry-changing soluble oil that operates independent of sump-side additives even in the most severe conditions."

Heart - Black

Woman charged after attacking mother in Ontario supermarket and trying to pull her hijab off

london hijab assault

The alleged assailant has been identified by police, but the name has not been released
Police have arrested and charged a woman after a shopper in a hijab was allegedly attacked in a London, Ont. supermarket.

A 38-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday afternoon in connection with the alleged unprovoked assault, police said. She is charged with one count of assault.

The suspected yelled at a Muslim woman in the store, then spat on her, punched her several times, grabbed at her hijab and pulled her hair.The victim suffered minor injuries in the incident, police said.

Police had asked for the public's help in identifying a suspect in the case.

Comment: People everywhere are disintegrating faster and faster.


Heart - Black

Video catches police savagely assaulting and tasing teen girl, then put a bag over her head

genele laird arrest
A video showing police in Madison, Wisconsin, violently assaulting an unarmed black teenage girl at a mall has gone viral, and the footage captured by a bystander is causing alarm as it spreads across social media.

In the video, originally posted by Facebook user RichBoy Robinson, the girl, who local media identified as 18-year-old Genele H. Laird, is seen standing in front of the East Towne Mall on East Washington in Madison, Wisconsin, being manhandled by a police officer. The officer, who is struggling with the girl to force her to the ground, soon gets help from a backup officer, who proceeds to repeatedly drive his knee into Laird's ribs. The officer also punches Laird several times.

After Laird is beaten into submission, the two officers hold her on the ground, while one repeatedly uses his taser on Laird's torso and leg. During the beating, Laird is heard screaming and pleading with the police to get off of her, saying "I can't breathe." Near the end of the video, a bag is put over Laird's head while she lies facedown on the concrete.

TRIGGER WARNING: This video is extremely violent and upsetting.


Camera

South Africa: Drone photos capture massive division between rich and poor

inequality south africa
© johnny miller
Never before has the division between rich and poor been so easy to grasp. Activists can thank South African artist Johnny Miller, who captured the following photos with a drone to illuminate the vast difference between living conditions among the classes.

The project, titled "Unequal Scenes," began as a Facebook post that eventually went viral, reports PetaPixel. After the photo of the Masiphumelele community and its surroundings in the Republic of South Africa was shared more than 1,000 times, Miller knew he was on to something. He went on to capture many other, similar photographs and videos across South Africa.

Comment: Further reading:


Handcuffs

Nanny state: Mother jailed for disciplining her children after catching them breaking into neighbor's home

Schaquana Evita Spears
© Live Streaming News 4 / YouTube
Schaquana Evita Spears
A Louisiana woman's method of keeping her sons away from crime has led to her arrest. However she received wide community support for whipping them with a cord after catching her three boys breaking into a neighbor's home.

On Friday, Schaquana Evita Spears, 30, caught her sons — ages 13, 12, and 10 — breaking into a neighbor's home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, according to a Sheriff's Office report. They reportedly stole a hoverboard, electronics and other items from the home of Lisa Nicholson.

Spears, a cook who recently opened a catering business, was arrested early Monday. She admitted to hitting her sons as punishment for the break-in. She allegedly used an RCA cord on the boys, the 13-year-old son told child services officials at a juvenile detention center in Baton Rouge, The Advocate reported.

Spears told WBRZ that she used a belt on the boys when she arrived home following a phone call from a neighbor.

Comment: While beating her children with a cord is an extreme reaction, it should not be the state's right to arrest her and take her children away from her. That's only going to cause more trauma and pain.


Magnify

Report finds attacks from far-right extremists are vastly more deadly than those with Islamist agenda

Anders Breivik
© Hakon Mosvold Larsen / Reuters
Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik
Fascist and nationalist 'lone-wolf' killers are vastly more deadly than those with an Islamist agenda, according to a study by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank.

In its report, 'Countering Lone Actor Terrorism', the RUSI argues that far-right extremists in Europe present a serious threat which should not be ignored.

The authors say that between 2000 and 2014, 94 people were killed and 260 were injured by far-right lone-wolf attackers. By comparison, lone-wolf Islamists killed 16 and injured 65.

The report warns that "right-wing extremists represent a substantial aspect of the lone actor threat and must not be overlooked" and identifies 98 separate plots and 72 attacks in 30 European states over the period in question.

Pistol

Attacker takes hostages in German cinema complex, releasing tear gas before being shot by police (UPDATE)

germany theater shooting
© Rhein-Neckar Fernsehen / Facebook
A man has been killed by police after taking hostages and releasing tear gas inside a cinema complex in Viernheim, western Germany. Previous reports suggested the man fired a gun, injuring up to 50 people.

The interior minister of the German state of Hesse, Peter Beuth, confirmed that the man was shot and killed after police stormed the complex.

Beuth said the man was armed with a rifle. Previous media reports stated that the man was firing shots at people inside the building. Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that four shots were fired, and the Darmstadter Echo said that between 20 and 50 people had been wounded.

However, Focus later reported that the man was armed with a blank weapon, and that people were only hurt by tear gas.

Comment: Here's the newest version of events:
An armed man was killed by police after taking hostages inside a cinema complex in Viernheim, western Germany, local officials confirmed, adding that no one was hurt in the incident. Previous reports said the man had fired a gun, injuring up to 50 people.
...
"The police had an emergency call at 2:45pm (12:45 GMT). The caller said there was a masked man...armed with a long gun. It is unclear whether it was a real gun," Beuth told the Hesse parliament. "The caller heard four shots and said that the masked man appeared a little mentally unstable. Police special forces were called."



Syringe

'Heroin epidemic': US users at 20yr high

heroin epidemic
© Albeiro Lopera / Reuters
AThe United States is struggling with a heroin "epidemic," with the number of users reaching a 20-year high, according to a United Nations report. Heroin-related deaths have also increased significantly.

According to the UN's World Drug Report 2016, the number of heroin users in the US reached around one million in 2014 - almost three times the amount in 2003. Heroin-related deaths have also increased by five times since 2000.

"There is really a huge epidemic [of] heroin in the US," said the report's chief researcher, Angela Me, as quoted by Reuters.

"It is the highest definitely in the last 20 years," she said, stressing that the trend is continuing.

Me said the rise could be attributed to US legislation introduced in recent years, which makes it harder to abuse prescription drugs such as oxicodone, a painkiller than can have similar effects as heroin.

Under the law, the texture of such pills was changed to make it more difficult to crush them and inject them into the bloodstream.

"This has caused a partial shift from the misuse of these prescription opioids to heroin."

Comment: