Archive for the 'Atrocities' Category
China: ‘Unprecedented’ Policy Changes Ahead
October 28th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: Chinese Politburo member Yu Zhengsheng said reforms to be discussed at a Communist Party meeting next month will be unprecedented, adding to signs that leaders are resolved to spur far-reaching policy changes. Yu’s comments, made in a speech at a forum to promote relations with Taiwan, were reported by the official Xinhua News […]
Science Has Lost Its Way, At a Big Cost to Humanity
October 27th, 2013I’ve posted about this before, but it’s worth repeating. Via: Los Angeles Times: In today’s world, brimful as it is with opinion and falsehoods masquerading as facts, you’d think the one place you can depend on for verifiable facts is science. You’d be wrong. Many billions of dollars’ worth of wrong. A few years ago, […]
Help Wanted in Fukushima: Low Pay, High Risks and Gangsters
October 25th, 2013Via: Reuters: Tetsuya Hayashi went to Fukushima to take a job at ground zero of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. He lasted less than two weeks. Hayashi, 41, says he was recruited for a job monitoring the radiation exposure of workers leaving the plant in the summer of 2012. Instead, when he turned up […]
Afghanistan: U.S. Bought Diesel Fuel for $500 Per Gallon
October 24th, 2013Via: CNN: That was the exorbitant figure paid with U.S. tax dollars to a contractor building a hospital in rural Afghanistan, according to a report from the government watchdog tasked with investigating expenditures on Afghanistan’s reconstruction. In the report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the International Organization for Migration was found […]
Rights Groups Say Some U.S. Drone Strikes May Be War Crimes
October 23rd, 2013Via: Wired: Two prominent human rights groups today blasted America’s drone wars in Pakistan and Yemen, painting a grim picture of massive civilian deaths and potentially grave violations of international law. One report by Amnesty International (“Will I Be Next?“) focuses on recent drone strikes in Pakistan while the other, by Human Rights Watch (“Between […]
U.S. Intelligence Assets Present During Torture and Murder of DEA Agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena
October 13th, 2013How this appeared on Fox News is a mystery to me, but it’s worth saving. Via: Fox News (mirror): The details of the case are not new. However, those involved in investigating the case, have until now remained silent about the role U.S. intelligence assets played in Camarena’s capture and Quintero’s escape. “Our intelligence agencies […]
Ghoulish Corporate Fascism and the Cost of Pharmaceuticals
October 12th, 2013In the piece below, “Market competition among pharmaceutical companies,” means a market failure situation with cartel pricing. Via: New York Times: Thanks in part to the $250 million last year spent on lobbying for pharmaceutical and health products — more than even the defense industry — the government allows such practices. Lawmakers in Washington have […]
Japan Finally Seeks International Help with Fukushima Crisis
October 9th, 2013Via: CBS: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan is open to receiving overseas help to contain widening radioactive water leaks at the crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima, with leaks and mishaps reported almost daily. Abe made the comments Sunday in a speech at an international science forum in Kyoto in western Japan. “We are wide […]
Report: Foxconn Using Forced Student Labor to Build Sony’s PS4
October 9th, 2013Via: Games in Asia: If reports in the Chinese press are to be believed, Sony’s next-gen games console may be being assembled using some very outdated labor practices. According to Hong Kong’s Oriental Daily, thousands of students from an IT engineering program at the Xi’an Institute of Technology are being forced to work at Foxconn’s […]
Britain: Blackpool Considering Adding Fluoride to Milk for School Children
October 9th, 2013Via: Blackpool Gazette: Special plans to introduce fluoridised milk into Blackpool’s primary schools moved one step closer after the scheme was backed by health chiefs. At a meeting of Blackpool Council’s Health and Wellbeing board yesterday it was resoundingly agreed to push forward plans to provide milk to 77 primary schools in the town. Dr […]
