Just as it appears that Madagascar is slowly containing their outbreak of the air-borne plague, South Africa is hit with Listeriosis. The food-borne illness has killed 36 people so far.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said a total of 557 cases had been detected this year alone and at least 36 people have died in the last 11 months. According to Times Live, the country usually records 60-80 cases a year. “Most cases have been reported from Gauteng province,” Motsoaledi said‚ adding that the province had accounted for 345 or 62% of the cases reported. The Western Cape had the second-most reported cases, at 71, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 37 cases. “As you can see the three provinces alone are responsible for 82% of the total cases. The remaining 18% is distributed in the remaining six provinces‚” Motsoaledi said.
Motsoaledi explained that the disease was “a serious‚ but treatable and preventable disease caused by the bacterium‚ Listeria monocytogenes.” Animal products and produce can both be infected. Outbreaks of Listeria infections in the 1990s were primarily linked to deli meats and hot dogs. Now, Listeria outbreaks are often linked to dairy products and produce. Investigators have traced most recent outbreaks to soft cheeses, celery, sprouts, cantaloupe, and ice cream.
People with the disease usually suffer from a flu-like illness‚ diarrhea accompanied by a fever‚ general body pains‚ vomiting and weakness. This leads to the infection of the bloodstream‚ which is called septicemia and meningoencephalitis‚ which is an infection of the brain. “The bacteria is widely distributed in nature and can be found in soil‚ water and vegetation. Animal products and fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables can be contaminated from these sources‚” Motsoaledi said.
Simply talking to a strange child in public can lead to a police visit in Australia. An 80-year-old man was stopped by a plainclothes police officer and then visited at his home by two detectives — simply because he chatted with a boy at the supermarket.
The unidentified man stopped to speak kindly with a young boy and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder in September, the mom wrote in a now-public letter. That simple act – common in grocery stores across America – led to the mom reporting the elderly man. A policeman talked to the man in the parking lot.
A few days later, two police detectives appeared at the man’s home in Winmalee, New South Wales, to question him. The detectives showed up unannounced, even though they admitted that surveillance camera footage verified the man had done nothing wrong.
The letter was first discovered taped to the wall of a shopping center in Winmalee. It was written by the man’s daughter, who noted that older people “take joy” in talking to young people.
“I cannot express how much your action of alarm has struck at the confidence of an older man,” the letter states. “His expression of goodwill undone by an overly zealous parent, who did not have the courage to speak of their opinion directly to my father, or guide the child away, or to join in and add to the conversation.
“Instead, you covertly and unnecessarily inform authorities,” it continues. “About what, I do not know. We were all strangers once to others we now know — overcome through communication skills, learned and improved by conversing with an array of persons.
“And a closed, dysfunctional society is formed of reading too much into a situation, and acting on exaggerated thought and impulsive negative action, rather than that of a considered positive outlook.”
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One of the men apparently dropped a knife and they ran off when they saw Vandal toting the gun.
“It was last Monday morning around 10:30,” Vandal told Fox 8. “I looked at the door and there was a man, right there, right outside looking like he was going for my door.”
Police are looking into the incident but have made no arrests.
“It’s hard for me to relax or sleep because I keep seeing his face,” Vandal said.
She is now keeping her doors locked and her gun close.
“It never used to be like this around here,” Vandal said, noting she has lived in her home for more than 20 years. “I don’t want to ever hurt anyone, but I feel like I need to protect myself.”
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Orange County, FL — There’s probably no better example, to highlight the systemic problem our system of justice currently faces, than the following story. An elderly man, William Howard (75), who had never been in trouble with the law before, had a run-in with police after his wife said he “began to act strange.”
Howard was arrested and taken to jail for attacking his wife with a knife. But it’s what happened next which illustrates just how violent the system truly is.
The convergence of mental health issues, crime, and the criminal justice system worked against Howard’s favor following his arrest. Why he wasn’t taken to a mental health facility following the attack is a question which remains to be answered — especially considering the fact that this man with no arrest history did something so outlandish. Nevertheless, Howard found himself an inmate in Florida’s Orange County Jail on November 16, 2016.
Because of his diminished mental state, jail personnel were having a hard time getting Howard to cooperate with their orders. Appearing confused, according to reports, Howard would not come out of his jail cell.
The corrections officers on the scene worked patiently, it seems, to coax Howard into compliance. They jingled keys and spoke to the man, advising him to come to the sound of the clanging noise. “I’m over here,” a jailer can be heard saying as he shook the keys.” “Come over here,” he implored.
Howard didn’t budge, and so the controversial decision to use force was made. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the wisest of decisions. While Howard appears to be a tall man of formidable stature, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know the man, being elderly, is also quite frail.
READ MORE:Mom Calls Cops to Take Her Son to a Mental Health Facility, Cop Shows Up & Kills Him
A crew of more than a few jailers entered his cell and grappled with him. But it’s what happened after they controlled him which is reportedly leading Howard’s family to consult an attorney.
After controlling the elderly man, the same use of force procedures were used on him as are used on inmates much younger. He was taken to the ground — but not gently. He was slammed to the ground on his face, an action which the coroner stated led to his death.
According to the autopsy, two vertebrae in his neck were broken, and his spinal cord was crushed. Yet even though the actions of the officers ultimately led to his death, the Orange County district attorney concluded no laws were broken and no jail employee would be criminally charged.
The resolution to Howard’s unfortunate death will likely be determined in civil court, as a result. But to date, no lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Howard’s family.
Attempting to dissect the problems with Howard’s death is difficult, especially since the officers involved have already been cleared of any wrongdoing. Given the nature of Howard’s behavior, in attacking his wife with a knife, it may be that he was suffering from some sort of medical issue. Indeed, it is what all signs point to, especially considering his wife’s description of him acting strangely.
Strokes, manic episodes, schizophrenia and other illnesses can lead someone to carry out an attack on the ones they love the most, even a concussion can create such behaviors.
It’s unclear if Howard’s actions were the result of such a medical condition, nor is it clear that his mental state was evaluated prior to locking him up in jail. What is certain is that submission methods when dealing with an elderly inmate must be reevaluated.
READ MORE:Dashcam of Cops Beating 83yo Man Mysteriously Deleted Due to "Technical Failure"
If there’s a risk a man’s bones can be broken, his spinal chord crushed, and death can be a result, some other method of containment must be employed. More must be done to ensure jailers do not end up being executioners.
Warner Twp., Mich. – A community is outraged after “the grandpa that everyone loves” suffered a shattered elbow and bloody nose at the hands of State Police, and is now facing a felony charge of resisting and obstructing police. Cops are telling a different story than the account given by 83-year-old Larry Sevenski, and the truth could easily be known – except that the police cruiser dashcam had a mysterious “malfunction” during Sevenski’s arrest.
Sevenski is the owner of the only bar in the town of Warner Township, population 410. Larry’s Seven-ski Inn was full on the night of St. Patrick’s Day, with happy customers enjoying Irish food and music. Someone informed Sevenski that State Police were parked on his property waiting to harass people leaving the bar in hopes of collecting some revenue, so Sevenski decided to have a word with them.
After driving around and looking for the cops, Sevenski made a U-turn, and that’s when a patrol vehicle pulled him over. Sevenski acknowledges getting out of the car and approaching the cops, but Michigan State Trooper Brock Artfitch tells a tale of this 83-year-old man making threatening statements and attacking the officers.
“Artfitch said Sevenski ignored shouted orders to return to his vehicle and instead walked directly at the trooper, reaching him near the front of the patrol car. Artfitch said he put out his hand to stop Sevenski’s advance and pushed on his chest to try to walk him backward toward Sevenski’s car. He asked if Sevenski was carrying any weapons.
“His response was ‘I wish I had one,"” Artfitch said.
Artfitch, 28, said he then grabbed Sevenski’s left hand to try to turn him around for a pat down.
“He squeezed my hand very tightly and he took his right arm and cocked it back in a punching position and formed his right hand into a tight fist,” Artfitch said.
Sevenski’s lawyer, Rick Steiger, asked if he was fearful of Sevenski at that point.
“Yes,” Artfitch said.
Artfitch said he used what’s known as a straight arm bar takedown to get Sevenski on the ground.
When he did, Sevenski’s nose was bleeding, his glasses were chipped and he was screaming in pain, saying his arm was broken. Artfitch and his partner handcuffed Sevenski, called for an ambulance and began performing first aid on Sevenski’s nose.”
Perhaps Sevenski was a bit angry that his patrons in the small town were being preyed upon by revenue collectors as they celebrated a holiday. However, the idea that 83-year-old Sevenski – known for being kind and gentle – would attack the cops and deserved to be brutally taken down defies belief.
READ MORE:Lose Two Lawsuits for Assault, Stay on the Force, That"s How the Police Do It
All of this could be cleared up, and the beloved grandpa could likely be free of charges, if only the police dashcam wouldn’t have experienced a “technical failure.” When the car’s overhead lights are activated it is supposed to automatically turn on the dashcam, but somehow that didn’t happen that night.
“There was a technical failure with the video camera installed in the patrol vehicle involved in this incident,” 1st Lt. Mark Harris, commander of the Gaylord State Police Post, said in a statement. “While the camera log shows that the camera started recording when the patrol car’s lights were activated, the camera malfunctioned and did not write the incident to the memory card.“
The camera did begin recording but only after paramedics had begun tending to Sevenski’s wounds. Despite clear grounds for skepticism, the District Judge went ahead and sided with the State Police trooper anyway, sending Sevenski to trial for resisting and obstructing police.
District Judge Thomas Phillips apparently thinks slamming an 83-year-old man to the ground and causing severe injury is a natural and just outcome, saying, ”When you don’t obey lawful commands, often a physical confrontation results.”
Sevenski has the full support of the community, who put together a benefit to help pay the medical bills caused by the cops’ brutality. Outside of the courtroom, local residents let their anger be known.
“Shame on you, beating on that 83-year-old man,” shouted Don Koshmider, as he recorded Trooper Artfitch leaving a court hearing. “Why did you turn off your video camera?”
READ MORE:VIDEO: Cop Shoves Handcuffed Boy Through Window, Nearly Killing Him -- Loses Only 5 Days Vacation
Sadly, this is just one more example of how the American police state is poised to enact violence on the citizenry which it claims to “protect and serve.” De-escalation seems to be a vanishing practice, and instead, cops like Artfitch are eager to use their “takedown methods” even on the most vulnerable.
When asked if he’s known for being strong by the Detroit Free Press, Sevenski said, “You should’ve seen me at the first trial. I was very sick, very tired. But, I stood up straight. I showed them that they ain’t puttin’ me down. They won’t put me down.”
The One World Governance of U.N. Agenda 21, now morphed into U.N. Agenda 2030, requires that every societal decision be based on the environmental impact on global land use, education, and population control and reduction.
The lynchpin of this agenda, Sustainable Development, has deemed “not sustainable” most human activities that form our modern civilization: private property, suburban sprawl, fossil fuels, consumerism, farming, irrigation, commercial agriculture, pesticides, herbicides, farmland, grazing of livestock, paved roads, golf courses, ski lodges, logging, dams, reservoirs, fences, power lines, and the family unit.
As Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the U.N.’s Earth Summit said in 1992, “Current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class – involving high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work air conditioning, and suburban housing are not sustainable.”
Fossil fuel energy must be replaced by solar and wind generated power, no matter what the cost and consequences will be to humans and to wildlife. And both solar panels and wind turbines are decimating wildlife.
The Paris Climate Agreement signed in 2016 by 178 countries, the same nations that ratified the 1992 U.N. Agenda 21, was touted as an “incredible achievement.” According to Dr. Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center in Denmark, “the Paris Agreement will cost a fortune, but do little to reduce global warming.” The cost by the end of the century will be astronomical, $100 trillion, he said, with an insignificant decrease (0.023 degrees F) in temperatures supposedly caused by carbon pollution.
Conserving the planet, water, soil, and air for future generations and taking measures to reduce pollution is quite different from the scam of the climate change industry that is punishing humans dearly for existing. Somehow, in the globalist mind, taxing and redistributing wealth to the third world are supposed to arrest and reverse the much maligned anthropogenic global warming. Sending humans back to a simple, pre-civilization life is magically going to stop the planet from going through normal cycles of cooling and warming. Yet little is made of the Vostok ice core samples that have proven that such swings in global temperatures have occurred naturally without any interference from human activity.
As I wrote in my 2012 book, “U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy,” there is never a shortage of new converts to the global warming scam as the educational system is deliberately dumbing down our students in order to accept the Sustainable Development goals. “Generally, more highly educated people, who have higher incomes, consume more resources than poorly educated people, who tend to have lower incomes. In this case, more education increases the threat to Sustainability.”
Agenda 2030 is spread by Public Private Partnerships and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), now re-baptized Local Governments for Sustainability. Smart Growth, Green Growth, Green Building Codes, Going Green, to name a few, are Sustainable Development (SD) policies implemented at local levels with tax dollars channeled through Public Private Partnerships between the federal government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
With the help of the American Planning Association, grants reach municipalities that are in dire straits financially, distributing them to struggling communities, grants that came with strings attached such as “visioning consensus,” the vision of a third, unelected government tier, composed of the United Nations and non-profit foundations that promote the interest of globalists and wild animals over the interest of the local humans.
U.N. Agenda 2030 makes suggestions and recommendations that are adapted into law at state and local level through comprehensive land use plans which are voted on and included by the board of supervisors into local zoning codes. Citizens do not understand its damaging ramifications to their private property, to the ability to make a living, to use their land, grow food in their gardens, irrigate their crops, sell their produce freely, and collect rainwater and snowmelt on their own property.
U.N. Agenda 2030 goals and recommendations include several types of social engineering:
Redistribution of population according to resources, a type of social engineering that includes removing any borders around the globe
Government control of land use in order to achieve equitable distribution of resource, hence the social justice movement around the globe
Land use control through zoning and planning
Government control of excessive profits from land use
Urban and rural land control through public land ownership
Regionalist authorities in control of development rights, superseding local and state government authority
U.N. Agenda 2030 aims to control:
Energy production, delivery, distribution, and consumption via Smart Grid, Smart Meters, and renewables
Food growth via FDA regulations
Education via a curriculum centered on the environment, Mother Earth, and global citizenship
Water through irrigation denial in agriculture, home use, recreation, limited hydroelectric generation
Land through abolishing private property
Finance through a single currency
Population by reducing it to “manageable levels” through sterilization and eugenics
No borders, no sovereignty
No national language and culture, no national history
Mobility restriction to 5-minute walk/bike to/from work, school, shopping, entertainment
Longer distance travel via rail use
No homesteading, stacking people in high-rise mixed-use tenements in order to designate formerly privately-owned land for wildlife habitat
Living small is heavily promoted around the world. People are encouraged to live in spaces the size of a small RV, packing and unpacking furniture daily in order to be able to move around their tiny spaces, to sleep, cook, and sit down. While this many seem attractive to a young person who cannot afford to pay a lot of rent, it is very difficult to raise a family in a 250-400 square feet of space, less than the average hotel room. Americans will be hard-pressed to give up their land, suburban homes and living, and move into such crammed quarters.
The latest push in the Agenda 2030 is to “rethink development to prepare for aging population.” The aging population has managed to live just fine for centuries without social engineers re-directing their life styles to fit into the globalists’ plans. Floridians even built their own highly successful retiree town called the Villages.
The Institute for Research on Public Policy discovered that “With Canada’s population aging rapidly, municipalities must refocus their community planning efforts to deal with the impact of decades-old car-dependent suburban sprawl that leaves less-mobile seniors isolated.”
What is the solution? Amend the land-use plans to make housing “age-friendly” – “walkable development and promoting aging at home, nudge municipalities to take concrete steps to integrate the age-friendly concept in their planning and development-review processes.”
“The suburbs of the future are pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods that contain a mix of housing types and provide for the needs of residents at all stages of their lives.”
I bold-faced certain words because they are exactly the words used in the original U.N. Agenda 21 goals of controlling population movement, car use, location, mixed housing, and walkability. Municipalities have added “park benches, better lighting, and clearer signage.” But that is not enough progress towards the full implementation of U.N.’s Agenda 2030.
To believe that the government really cares about the fate of their elderly population is dubious. As government reduces their access to medical care, sky-rockets their insurance premiums, and taxes them so much that they are unable to pay for assisted living, these planners are trying to crowd the elderly into tiny apartments on the premise that their lives would be improved by proximity to public transportation, work, shopping, dining, and entertainment. It is just another attempt to herd human beings into tiny spaces in order to control land use, mobility, and urban sprawl, all Sustainable Development goals.
Japanese car maker Toyota plans to sell a “companion robot” next year for about $400 in the hopes it will serve as a friend to lonely people. [1]
At just 4 inches tall, the robot – Kirobo Mini – speaks in a high-pitched baby voice, and will hit the market in Japan in 2017. [2]
Kirobo is a combination of the Japanese word for hope and robot. The Kirobo Mini is a tinier version of the original Kirobo, which Toyota joint-developed and blasted into space in 2013 alongside Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese astronaut to command the International Space Station. [3] [1]
The pint-sized robot can hold basic conversations while blinking its doe eyes and wagging its limbs. It comes with a “cradle” that can fit in a car’s cup holder, “helping it fulfill its role as a cuddly companion always on hand for heart-touching communication,” said Toyota. [3]
A cuddly robot?
Videos depict Kirobo entertaining children, chatting over tea with an elderly woman, and giving a pep talk to a new college graduate as she heads to a job interview.
The friendly gadget can even identify human emotions. If you’re feeling blue, Kirobo knows it, and it will ask you why you’re sad.
The video’s narrator says:
“As you live together, you will come to love and be kind towards the Kirobo Mini, just as it does to you.”
If you slam on the brakes suddenly in traffic, the pseudo-pal yells, “That was scary!”
The Kirobo Mini comes with a smartphone connection and a monthly 300 yen ($3) subscription fee. (Aren’t the best things in life free?) It comes equipped with a camera, microphone, and Bluetooth. [1] [2]
Unlike cats, Kirobo Mini responds when spoken to.
Fuminori Kataoka, general manager in charge of the project, said:
“Toyota has been making cars that have a lot of valuable uses. But this time we’re just pushing emotional value.” [2]
He went on to say that more people in Japan are now living alone, including the elderly and some singles, and they need someone…er, something…to talk to.
“This is not smart enough to be called artificial intelligence. This is about the existence of something you can talk to.
He wobbles a bit, and this is meant to emulate a seated baby, which hasn’t fully developed the skills to balance itself.
This vulnerability is meant to invoke an emotional connection.
A stuffed animal might not answer back, but people do talk to it, like my daughter once did. But if it talked back, wouldn’t that be better? And isn’t this better than talking to a box?”
In the United States, the concept of a robotic friend is still a bit odd and futuristic, but it’s fairly accepted in Japan.
In 2015, Japanese technology and telecom company Softbank Corp. introduced “Pepper,” a humanoid robot. The first 1,000 sold out right away; and so far, 10,000 Pepper robots have been sold in Japan. [2]
If you’re hoping to get your hands on a Kirobo Mini, you’re out of luck; there are no plans to sell the little robot outside of Japan.
Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.
Who wants to live forever? Well, you can’t. Not yet, anyway. Science hasn’t reached that point. And according to researchers, humans can only live so long, and our species has just about reached its biological limit.
According to a new study published 5 October 2016 in the journal Nature, even though life expectancy is considerably higher now than it was 100 years ago, it’s not likely to rise much more than what it is right now. It’s highly unlikely that anyone will ever live beyond 125 years. [1]
And I have to say, I’m OK with that.
How They Figured Out We’re Going to Die
Geneticist Jan Vijg at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and several graduates analyzed aging trends in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan – home to the longest-living generation in the world.
In a statement, Vijg says that while “there is no reason to think that the ongoing increase in maximum lifespan will end soon,” the data strongly suggest that it’s “already been attained and that this happened in the 1990s.”
According to the team’s findings, humans would need scientific interventions in order to live past 125 years. (You think?) By “scientific interventions,” they don’t mean just ways of making people feel better, like stronger arthritis medications.
The report states:
“Although there is no scientific reason why such efforts could not be successful, the possibility is essentially constrained by the myriad of genetic variants that collectively determine species-specific lifespan.”
The oldest person to have ever lived was Jeanne Calment, who died in a nursing home in France on 4 August 1997 at the ripe old age of 122. Vijg says this is extremely rare, and he doesn’t think that will ever happen again. He says:
“From now on, this is it. Humans will never get older than 115.” [2]
Source: CNN – Jeanne Calment
And the absolute limit is 125. To be specific, the odds of any one person in the world reaching 125 in a given year is less than 1 in 10,000. [3]
Vijg explains:
“While it’s conceivable that therapeutic breakthroughs might extend human longevity beyond the limits we’ve calculated, such advances would need to overwhelm the many genetic variants that appear to collectively determine the human life span.
Perhaps resources now being spent to increase life span should instead go to lengthening ‘health span’ — the duration of old age spent in good health.”
Some Say “Hogwash”
Not all researchers are buying into Vijg’s prediction.
James W. Vaupel, the director of the Max-Planck Odense Center on the Biodemography of Aging, says the notion that humanity is approaching its age limit is baloney. He goes so far as to call the new study “a travesty.” [2]
He says:
“It is disheartening how many times the same mistake can be made in science and published in respectable journals.”
He’s more of a glass-half-full kind of scientist because of the number of years people have been tacking onto their life expectancy over the past 116 years.
A child born in the U.S. in 1900 had an average life expectancy of 50 years. However, a child born in the U.S. in 2016 can expect to live on average to age 79. Japan’s average life expectancy at birth has risen the furthest of any country so far, to 83 years.
Source: CNN
Professor Dame Linda Partridge, director of the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing also says that some of the report’s conclusions are questionable. [1]
“A biological time bomb won’t just set off. Clearly if we’re seeing someone who’s 100 years old they were born 100 years ago — in 1916 — and the conditions there were completely different than those faced by babies being born now.”
Partridge noted infections, diseases, war, and poor food quality as some of the problems a baby born 100 years ago would have faced.
Furthermore, Partridge says, the living conditions were much harsher then than they are now, “so we really can’t project [the lifespan of] babies who are being born right now.”
As for children growing up right now, Partridge is concerned about the world they face, despite so many improvements in living conditions. She says:
“Obesity is a huge tragedy. They’re growing up very unhealthy [and] we need to do a lot more work on the long-term consequences. Their prospects can’t be good.”
She admits there is a limit to how long people can live…but we don’t know what that is, and she doesn’t believe we’ve reached it yet. She explains:
“It’s not biologically feasible to live to 3,000 years. There’s constraints on how fast we run, speeds at which we can see. So without any further interventions, bodies can only last a certain amount of time.”
So quit smoking, start exercising, and eat a healthy diet, Partridge advises. We will all expire eventually, but living a long AND healthy life is clearly doable.
As the saying goes, it’s not the years in your life, it’s the life in your years.
Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.
