False Sense Of Security

Over 1,000 flee homes in south Mexico over violence

"Some 1,000 people have fled their homes in southwestern Mexico after gunfights erupted in their villages and criminal groups threatened them, officials said Thursday. Residents of three villages in the state of Guerrero abandoned their homes Wednesday after an unspecified number of people were wounded and houses were set ablaze, said Bolivar Ochoa, secretary general of the San Miguel Totolapa municipality that oversees the communities. The gang violence has led several communities in another region of Guerrero, the mountainous and rural Costa Chica area, to form vigilante groups in order to conduct their own policing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOver 1,000 flee homes in south Mexico over violence

City of Detroit Files for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy

"If the Chapter 9 filing is approved, Detroit’s case would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States. The tax base has been destroyed. Detroit lost a quarter-million residents between 2000 and 2010. A population that in the 1950s reached 1.8 million is struggling to stay above 700,000. Much of the middle-class and scores of businesses also have fled Detroit, taking their tax dollars with them. Likely those holding any of the $11 billion in unsecured debt will get next to nothing. Per person, the debt of the U.S. government ($54K/person) is about twice as large as the debt of the City of Detroit ($26K/person)." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCity of Detroit Files for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy

Fearful Indian schoolchildren refuse free school meals after 22 die, dozens sickened

"India’s state governments run the world’s largest school feeding programme involving 120 million children. Bihar is one of India’s most populated and poorest states. Educators see the scheme as a way to increase school attendance, in a country where almost half of all young children are undernourished. But children often suffer from food poisoning due to poor hygiene in kitchens and occasionally sub-standard food. Authorities have instructed all teachers and cooks in the state to first taste the free lunch before serving to the children. 'We will have to make parents believe that mid-day meals provide nutrition and are not meant to kill students,' said Lakshmanan." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFearful Indian schoolchildren refuse free school meals after 22 die, dozens sickened

Police corporal jailed after assaulting, illegally arresting pedestrian

"A pedestrian walking by was called over by Palermo and asked why she was walking by his traffic stop. He then asked for the woman’s identification. When the woman insisted she had done nothing wrong Palermo slammed her against the Prius; then onto the concrete driveway near his patrol car. Palermo arrested the woman for obstruction. Upon further investigation supervisors found the woman had lost two teeth and suffered a concussion during the illegal arrest. Palermo was arrested for aggravated assault by a public servant. The woman is currently being treated for her injuries and could require further surgery, according to the affidavit." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPolice corporal jailed after assaulting, illegally arresting pedestrian

The Michael Hastings Wreck: Video Evidence Only Deepens The Mystery

"The day after the crash, I found myself in the homicide squad room in South Los Angeles. The Hastings topic came up, and one of the detectives said, 'Stanley got him. Took his time, but got him. That wasn’t an accident.' (Meaning General Stanley McChrystal.) On cue, a sign showed up the next day on the now-singed Hasting’s Palm: 'This was not an accident.' By nightfall, someone had replaced it with another message: 'Go to sleep people. This was an accident.' Hastings’s death was national news briefly, but it was soon pushed aside by subjects deemed more pressing to the mainstream media." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Michael Hastings Wreck: Video Evidence Only Deepens The Mystery

Kentucky Banning Advice Columnists in the Name of Occupational Licensing

"Kentucky claims that writing an advice column that appears in a newspaper in the state—in the specific case of their complaint, the Lexington Herald-Leader, though it appears in others as well—is not an act of freedom of the press, but rather practicing psychology without the required license. Rosemond has written an advice column since 1976, which is currently syndicated by McClatchy-Tribune (and by Rosemond himself to a different set of publications). It appears in around 200 papers. He’s also the author of many books of parenting and family advice, including five best-sellers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKentucky Banning Advice Columnists in the Name of Occupational Licensing

60 Lab Studies Now Confirm Cancer Link to a Vaccine You Probably Had as a Child

"In 2002, the journal Lancet published compelling evidence that contaminated polio vaccine was responsible for up to half of the 55,000 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cases that were occurring each year. What was it contaminated with? SV40, a cancer-causing monkey virus. The puzzle began in 1994, when Dr. Michele Carbone, a Loyola University researcher, found the virus SV40, which had never before been detected in humans, in half of the human lung tumors he was studying. Since then, 60 different lab studies have confirmed the results, and SV40 has been found in a variety of human cancers, including lung-, brain-, bone-, and lymphatic cancer." Continue reading →

Continue Reading60 Lab Studies Now Confirm Cancer Link to a Vaccine You Probably Had as a Child

China shuts down $88 million mocked museum with ‘fake’ national treasures

"Chinese authorities have closed a museum which contained scores of fake exhibits, including a vase decorated with cartoon characters billed as a Qing dynasty artefact, state-run media reported Tuesday. The facility, built in northern China’s Hebei province at a cost of 540 million yuan ($88 million), has 'no qualification to be a museum as its collections are fake', a local official told the Global Times newspaper. It had been closed, the paper said, while its founders have been placed 'under investigation' after local residents accused them of wasting money." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChina shuts down $88 million mocked museum with ‘fake’ national treasures

Seniors attacked, beaten by NYPD in their home awarded $300K

"Breast cancer survivor Elaine McCarthy, now 71, was reading a Bible in her Canarsie bedroom, and partially paralyzed stroke victim Egbert Thomas, 73, was watching a John Wayne flick on TV when at least five Emergency Service Unit cops rammed through a basement door on Sept. 6, 2008, and began their rampage. The cops — led by an officer who would later commit suicide after another allegation of excessive force, court papers show — weren’t in hot pursuit of a perp, which could have explained why they tossed the seniors aside like rag dolls. In addition, the couple’s pit bull, Trouble, was whacked by a cop with his heavy ballistic shield and died three days later." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSeniors attacked, beaten by NYPD in their home awarded $300K

Seniors attacked, beaten by NYPD in their home awarded $300K

"Breast cancer survivor Elaine McCarthy, now 71, was reading a Bible in her Canarsie bedroom, and partially paralyzed stroke victim Egbert Thomas, 73, was watching a John Wayne flick on TV when at least five Emergency Service Unit cops rammed through a basement door on Sept. 6, 2008, and began their rampage. The cops — led by an officer who would later commit suicide after another allegation of excessive force, court papers show — weren’t in hot pursuit of a perp, which could have explained why they tossed the seniors aside like rag dolls. In addition, the couple’s pit bull, Trouble, was whacked by a cop with his heavy ballistic shield and died three days later." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSeniors attacked, beaten by NYPD in their home awarded $300K