Welcome to Sott.net
Tue, 02 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Society's Child
Map

Airplane

Security theater idiocy: TSA screening delays cause nearly 7,000 passengers to miss their flights

Melissa Dykes
Activist Post
Tue, 10 May 2016 18:02 UTC
TSA check
And in other news, the TSA continues to suck.

It isn't even summer yet, and major problems with longer and longer TSA screening times are happening at major airports across the nation, including Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and San Jose just to name a few. During Spring Break (March 14-20) this year alone, an estimated 6,800 airline passengers missed their flights due to TSA screening delays on American Airlines — just American Airlines.

Who knows how many people in total — mostly innocent Americans who bought a ticket to ride on a plane simply because they want to travel quickly from one place to another — missed their flights that week in this country. Or how many miss a flight in total on a daily basis thanks to the TSA. The number would probably shock us all... or not. (It is the TSA we're talking about.)
      Read More...
Christmas Tree

Research finds US laws for driving while under influence of marijuana are unscientific


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 17:59 UTC
smoking marijuana
© Reuters
US laws governing driving under the influence of marijuana are unscientific, research reveals. Legal blood limits are not an adequate way of testing for impairment, and this technique may lead to the wrong drivers being prosecuted, the AAA says.

The science has been clear on alcohol - the more of it in your bloodstream, the worse off you are. But marijuana is not metabolized the same way by our body, so studies need to be done to understand if it's the quantity of THC that is truly causing impairment. It was found that drivers can have a low level of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) in their blood, and still be unsafe behind the wheel, while others with high levels may not be as dangerous. This turns traditional assumptions upside down.

Six states use blood-level tests to determine if the driver is impaired, but the study by the United States' largest automobile club, commissioned by AAA's safety foundation, found that you can't test for impairment that way at all.

The foundation believes that instead a trained officer should determine if the person is truly too high to drive safely - and then back that up with a test for the presence of THC. But the study is clear that a particular amount of the chemical is no indicator.
      Read More...
Eye 2

Judge accused of trading sex for reduced sentences resigns after investigators find photographs on his computer depicting nude defendants


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 17:46 UTC
judge
© AFP
An Arkansas judge accused of trading sex for reduced sentences with young male defendants for the past three decades has resigned after investigators said they found thousands of photographs depicting nude male defendants.

Cross County District Judge Joe Boeckmann announced his resignation on Monday in a letter to the state Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission. In it, he said he would never again seek a job as a local, county or state employee in the State of Arkansas.

Documents released by investigators found thousands of sexually explicit photographs depicting young men inside or outside his home, many of whom were identified as defendants.

Investigators also said the photos showed evidence that some of the men had been paddled, and the discipline commission told the former judge to turn over the paddle used in the photos.
      Read More...
Cell Phone

Parents' smartphone obsessions lead to children lacking in social skills, says new report

Ben Farmer
The Telegraph
Mon, 09 May 2016 17:12 UTC
children playing
© Dave Thomopson/ PA
Nearly 200,000 children will be unready for primary school when they go this September.
Parents' immersion in smartphones has left some neglected children starting primary school unable to hold conversations, new research warns.

Almost a third of children starting school are not ready for the classroom, with many lacking social skills, having speech problems or not toilet trained, the survey of senior primary school staff has found.

Teachers warned of children suffering from a lack of attention and interaction from parents obsessed with their smartphones.

Comment: Idiocracy is here.

      Read More...
Yoda

Green Party candidates share refreshing views on curing US problems in debate hosted by RT


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 16:27 UTC
green party debate
© Aliza Krichevsky / RT
In a debate hosted by RT America, Green Party candidates Jill Stein, Kent Mesplay and Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry shared their views on everything from whistleblowers to foreign relations with Russia. Here are 15 of their best quotes.

#1: The threat of Islamic terrorism "was created by the CIA and the Saudis in order to fight the Russians in Afghanistan "before it spread to other parts in the Middle East, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein said. "The war in Iraq, Syria, and Libya has fanned the flames of ISIS," she added, urging the US to "stop the arming and the funding."

#2: "Under a Stein administration, when we turn the White House into a 'Green House,' we will ensure that everyone has healthcare as a human right," Stein said, stressing that the government will have nothing to do with "dictating" the health of US citizens.

#3: Green Party presidential candidate Kent Mesplay said there is a need for a "cultural shift to not have a militarized police force" and stressed a need to "take the money out of the military."

Comment: If the US were truly a free, democratic country, these three candidates would be given the same amount of chance of winning as the presumptive Republican and Democratic candidates. Instead, we have a system where the idea of a true democracy is just a farce, an illusion foisted upon the American people by the rich and powerful and given credence through the lapdog mainstream media. George Carlin laid it all out for us some time ago:



      Read More...
Light Sabers

German court refuses to grant injunction requested by Erdogan against publisher who supported Bohmermann poem


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 16:15 UTC
erdogan
© Adem Altan / AFP
A Cologne court refused to grant an injunction against the chief executive of leading publishing house Axel Springer, Mathias Doepfner, at the behest of Tayyip Recep Erdogan. Doepfner penned an open letter in support of a satirist mocking the Turkish leader.

"The defendant has a right to free expression of opinion," said a statement from the court, following Tuesday's hearing.

Seeking a preliminary injunction, Erdogan requested that a lawsuit be filed against Doepfner, Reuters reported on Monday citing German media and Ralf Hoecker, the Turkish President's lawyer. In a letter published by Die Welt in April, Doepfner said that he "wholeheartedly"endorsed the critical poem over which the German comic Jan Bohmermann has been facing defamation charges from Erdogan.

"For me your poem worked. I laughed out loud," he wrote according to AFP. In his letter Doepfner said he stood on the comedian's side and took whole credit for the letter's content.
      Read More...
Take 2

Police evacuate train stations and public places in several Czech cities after police claim to receive bomb threats


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 16:09 UTC
police tape
© Radovan Stoklasa / Reuters
An anonymous tip-off about an impending bomb attack in the Czech Republic has prompted a mass response from the national police.

The tip-off mentioned 10 bombs, Czech media reported.

"An anonymous person informed us by telephone that there were bombs at the central railway station in Prague and other places across the Czech Republic," police chief Marketa Janovska told the local media.

Janovska did not disclose which other places were named by the caller, citing security concerns. Czech media reported that police had ordered the evacuation of public buildings in the cities of Pardubice and Plzen.
      Read More...
Eye 2

Indian woman tortured to death by Saudi employer


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 15:55 UTC
looking out window
© Reuters
A 25-year-old woman from India, working as a housemaid in Saudi Arabia, was tortured to death by her employer, the woman's family claims. However, The Saudi hospital where she had been treated says she died of "natural causes."

Asima Khatoon, from Hyderabad, had managed to sneak a call to her family two months before her death to blow the whistle on her ill treatment at the hands of her employer, Abdul Rahman Ali Mohammed, the ANI news agency reported, citing Asima's family members.

They said the young woman complained of being harassed both physically and mentally, and begged her parents to help her get back to India as soon as possible.

The Telangana state government sent a request to the Ministry of External Affairs asking for help in repatriating the woman, Indian media report.

It was a call from an unknown source that informed relatives in India she had died at the King Saud hospital for chest diseases.

Comment: It's completely hypocritical for the West and Saudi Arabia to condemn Syria for anything when they are the worst offenders of human rights across the globe. Fix your own house before you go around criticizing others' homes, or, as the case may be, destroying their homes.

      Read More...
Red Flag

German restaurant forced to close due to threats from selling "Erdogan burgers"


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 15:50 UTC
erdogan burger
© Urban Burgery / Facebook
A restaurant in Cologne that was selling "delicious and juicy" Erdogan burgers, apparently named after the Turkish president, was forced to close over "credible threats" it had received, the eatery said.

The burgers had only been on sale in the Urban Burgery restaurant since April.

"Delicious, juicy, and the next big thing, is Erdogan the burger," was the intriguing announcement on the restaurant's Facebook page, "It [the burger, definitely not the Turkish leader] weighs more than any kebab."

The "tasty and delicious" Erdogan burgers were served with goat cheese, the restaurant said, apparently referring to German TV satirist Jan Bohmermann's poem implicating Recep Tayyip Erdogan in alleged sex acts with goats and a proclivity for child pornography. Erdogan and later German Chancellor Angela Merkel found the poem insulting. Bohmermann now faces prosecution under a rarely-used law that punishes those who insult foreign dignitaries.
      Read More...
Attention

Man reportedly shouts 'Allah is great' and stabs people at train station near Munich killing one and injuring three


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 14:32 UTC
Munich stabbing
© Sammy Khamis/Twitter
At least one man has been killed and three injured after a knife-wielding German man reportedly shouting "Allahu Akbar" attacked people at Grafing train station near the city of Munich. The attack might have an Islamist motive, officials said.

Apart from "Allahu Akbar" the man was heard shouting "unbelievers," Das Bild newspaper reported, citing local witnesses.

The prosecutor has confirmed the death of a 50-year-old man. He added that "two people are badly wounded, one is in critical condition." The three injured are aged 58, 43 and 55.

The "assailant made remarks at the scene of the crime that indicate a political motive - apparently an Islamist one," Ken Heidenreich, spokesman for the prosecutor's office, told AFP. "We are still determining what the exact remarks were."

The 27-year-old German citizen stabbed a newspaper delivery man in the back, a firefighter told the Merkur paper.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts