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Sunday, 24 May 2015

Genies blamed for school sickness, possessions in Saudi Arabia

© Shin Megami Tensei II design
Jinn

    
Last week in Saudi Arabia nearly 200 elementary and middle school students "refused to attend classes after nine students claimed that genies — or jinn, as they are better known in the Arabic world — had made them sick" according to ArabNews.com, which added that "the students had fainted and experienced spasms at the start of the second semester, prompting many parents to believe jinns were present at the school."

Jinn are described in the , the Muslim holy book, as creatures made by Allah of smokeless fire. Belief in jinn is widespread throughout the Arabic and Muslim world. Just as many Christians readily accept the literal reality of angels, many Muslims accept the existence of genies as self-evident. Both religions share the belief that spirits such as demons and jinn can take possession of humans. Jinn are believed, like ghosts, to haunt buildings, homes and other locations.

It will often begin with one or two people exhibiting symptoms and as others in the same location see the behavior they unconsciously begin experiencing the same or similar symptoms. Episodes are most common in closed social units such as schools and factories, and among females — likely because they tend to have stronger social bonds than males. The symptoms are not serious and go away on their own, often within hours or days.

This is not the first time that jinn have been blamed for unexplained fits in Saudi schools. In his book Robert Lebling notes that in 2000:

"Newspapers in Saudi Arabia reported the haunting of the al-Fikriyah Institute of Education, a functioning girls' school in the Red Sea port of Jeddah, in an incident with unusual psycho-social overtones. A number of teachers at the school were reportedly subjected to fits and epileptic-like seizures, supposedly as a result of a (jinn) haunting."

Though many doctors attributed that incident — like the one last week — to mass hysteria, some, including a cleric tasked with investigating the matter, insisted that jinn did in fact inhabit the school and were responsible for the symptoms.

As with many folk beliefs, the reality of jinn is less important than whether people believe in them; if a group of students or teachers believe that jinn can make them faint and there is no other ready explanation, then jinn will be blamed.

Though the school fits were harmless and soon passed, sometimes these beliefs can be dangerous; earlier this month a Moroccan woman who was believed to be possessed by a jinn died during an exorcism. According to a news story:

"To cast out the evil spirit from her body, the (exorcist) loudly recited incantations and passages from the , the holy book of Islam. With the help of four of his assistants, the hit her with a stick all over her body in order to 'force the evil spirit' to leave her."

In 2012 a Pakistani man and his family was convicted of killing his young wife during an exorcism who he believed was possessed by a jinn.

Jinn belief is also common among elected officials and rulers. In 2011 associates of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were accused of summoning genies to attack political adversaries supposedly giving one man a heart attack. And according to a news story last month the Turkish presidential palace has been doused with a vinegar water solution to protect it from genies — and, oddly, cyber-attacks.

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At least 135 children killed in Yemen since Saudi-led attack started in March

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© Reuters / Khaled Abdullah

    
Since the Yemeni conflict in March,as many as 135 children were killed and 260 injured, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

At least 135 children have been killed and 260 more injured in the Yemeni conflict since March, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement Sunday.

"Since the conflict escalated in March, as many as 135 children have been killed and 260 injured. Almost one-third of the deaths have been in the coastal city of Aden, where violence has again accelerated over the past few days," UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said.

The UNICEF chief urged all parties to the Yemeni conflict to protect children from harm as required by international humanitarian law.

Lake also called for an end to hostilities in Yemen, adding that at least a humanitarian pause is needed to deliver lifesaving supplies to those affected by the violence.

A Saudi-led coalition has resumed airstrikes on the Houthi rebels' positions in Yemen after a five-day humanitarian ceasefire expired late last Sunday.

The coalition launched an air campaign in Yemen in late March at the request of displaced Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

Yemen has been in a state of turmoil since early 2015 after the Houthis seized large parts of the country, including capital Sanaa, forcing President Hadi to flee.

According to UN estimates, at least 1,850 people have been killed and some 7,400 injured in airstrikes and fighting on the ground since mid-March in Yemen.

Solar halo over Mexico City

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A solar halo in Mexico City

    
A solar halo appeared in Mexico City on Thursday - prompting dozens of calls from worried locals to meteorologists.

The phenomenon, which is actually an optical illusion, is caused when sunlight passes through ice crystals, causing the light to bend into a colourful ring.

Not satisfied with this scientific explanation, locals on social media claimed that an alien invasion was nigh, while other conspirators suggested the government was attempting to blind voters ahead of an election.

The halo was spotted in three cities, most notably above the capital's most famous landmark, the Angel of Independence.

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Gray whale found dead on Portuguese Beach, California

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© Damien Jones / California State Parks
A young gray whale washed up on Portuguese Beach in Sonoma County early May 23, 2015.

    
A dead, juvenile gray whale washed up on the Sonoma Coast this weekend at Portuguese Beach.

The 28-foot whale appeared to have been dead for some time and was in a state of obvious decomposition, according to California State Parks Ranger Damien Jones.

He said the carcass came ashore Friday night or Saturday morning. The Marine Mammal Center took a tissue sample in an attempt to determine cause of death, but it did not to appear to be from trauma, he said, such as being struck by a ship.

Jones said State Parks did not plan to remove the whale from the beach, which is about halfway between Jenner and Bodega Bay. He said the tide could carry it out to sea again.

"Generally we leave dead and sick animals where they are and let nature take its course," he said.

May is the tail end of the gray whale northern migration from their breeding and birthing lagoons in Mexico back to their feeding grounds in Alaska. Although thousands of whales make the approximate 5,000-mile journey, including the newborn calves and their mothers, some of the cetaceans, especially juveniles, are believed to stay closer year-round to a more confined area.

There has been a series of dead whales washing up on Northern California beaches over the past five weeks.

A 40-foot dead gray whale was found Monday near Half Moon Bay.

On May 4, a 42-foot female humpback whale was found near Pacifica. A 48-foot sperm whale was found April 14 in the same general vicinity.

On April 24, two gray whale carcasses washed up on a Santa Cruz County beach, including a 40-foot adult gray whale. The other, a 23-foot yearling, had killer whale teeth marks on its body and other evidence of an Orca attack.

A killer whale carcass was found near Fort Bragg on April 18, and the Noyo Center for Marine Science in Fort Bragg said Saturday another gray whale had washed up in Mendocino this week.

Schools across the country are literally building solitary confinement cells for children

© http://ift.tt/HhKiev
A free-standing isolation booth now banned in Oregon schools.

    
What is "nor­mal"? Is nor­malcy a con­di­tion of pub­lic accep­tance to com­mon trends and cul­ture? Per it's def­i­n­i­tion, nor­mal is defined as con­form­ing to a stan­dard: usual, typ­i­cal or expected.

If you accept nor­malcy by that def­i­n­i­tion then...

- it is nor­mal for kids in our pub­lic school sys­tem to be locked in soli­tary con­fine­ment (4×4 padded cell) for misbehavior.

- it is nor­mal for each state across the nation to have tens of thou­sands of cases of stu­dents being phys­i­cally restrained. In some cases, even shack­led using hand and ankle cuffs.

- it is nor­mal for our police state to inter­vene with trou­ble­some kids with use of phys­i­cal beat­ings and pep­per spray.

Per­haps you didn't know...

Schools across the coun­try are lit­er­ally build­ing soli­tary con­fine­ment cells for chil­dren. They are very small, some­times padded and have win­dow­less walls with no con­tact to other children.

The use of these "seclu­sion rooms" and other restraints are being deployed almost 270,000 times in a nor­mal school year across the nation!!!! In 163,000 of those cases, chil­dren were phys­i­cally restrained. In about 7,300 cases, mechan­i­cal restraints such as hand­cuffs, ankle shack­les or other devices are used. God knows how long kids are actu­ally kept in these cells?!

Take this one instance of a first grader who suf­fered wrist bruis­ing after he was hand­cuffed for run­ning away from school.

© uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com
Austistic child suffered a broken hand.

    
Or how about this instance where an autis­tic boy was afraid and refused to go into his "seclu­sion room" cell. The school offi­cials were so vio­lent with try­ing to get him into the cell that they smashed his hand in the door. His hand was sub­se­quently broken.

Or what about this school offi­cer that beats 13 year old stu­dents for ques­tion­ing where they were headed dur­ing class change? This offi­cer beat the chil­dren with her night stick and pep­per sprayed oth­ers. After the inci­dent, the school said the inci­dent was han­dled appro­pri­ately... Fur­ther­more, while the one child who was beaten was bleed­ing pro­fusely from the head, the par­ents were not noti­fied by the school.

This is the new normal...

You do not need the police to be in the police state. Other author­ity fig­ures such as school admin­is­tra­tion offi­cials, secu­rity guards, or even your own doc­tor (e.g. - vac­ci­na­tions or med­ical advice) are serv­ing to enforce the total­i­tar­ian state. Not only do we need to worry about phys­i­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal abuse of our chil­dren at school, we also have to won­der what com­mon core is teach­ing them. With all these mon­stroc­i­ties com­ing down on our chil­dren, it is no won­der that the num­ber of chil­dren home schooled between the year 2000 to 2012 has dou­bled! As par­ents, we must take a hard look at our schools, how they are being run, and the tac­tics they use. If it is as bad as these trends indi­cate, you might want to con­sider home school­ing for the well being of your child.

Homelessness is not an insoluble problem

© Unknown

    
The costs of homelessness is rarely discussed. We mostly hear statistics about the number of children living on the streets, the vast number of hungry individuals fed in soup kitchens, and the dangers that homeless families face during severe weather.

As communities, we pull together by donating to food banks and participating in homeless outreach programs, even though government regulations are putting limits on where and how we can help the homeless. (see: 90 Year Old Man Arrested for Feeding the Homeless).

We are naturally inclined to want to help people in need, but most of us don't understand the economics of caring for the homeless.

The Costs of Homelessness

Often funded by government subsidies, charity organizations and sometimes private patrons, taking care of the homeless carries a significant price tag, once you add up the cost of running emergency shelters and transitional housing, collecting and distributing food and clothing, offering mental health, rehabilitation and employment assistance, etc. What do these costs amount to?

Ted Clugston, Mayor of Medicine Hat - a small town in Canada that has recently reached its goal of eliminating homelessness - estimates that it costs up to $100,000 a year to "support" a person that lives on the street, versus about $20,000 a year that it would cost to house someone. Why is the cost of homelessness so high? In addition to the services listed above, Clugston found that homelessness also carries with it indirect costs such as increased emergency room visits and more interactions with the police.

Click Here to listen to Mayor Ted Clugston explain the costs of homelessness in Medicine Hat.

Simple and Economical Solutions Exist

Although initially skeptical about ending homelessness in Medicine Hat, Clugston decided to keep true to the town's pledge to put an end to homelessness, which it achieved in 2009. With the help of funding from the providence of Alberta, the town put resources into building new homes. Today, no one spends more than 10 days in an emergency shelter or on the street. Clugston states, "I've come around to realize that this makes financial sense. This is the cheapest and the most humane way to treat people."

Another example of a town where homelessness is no longer an issue is Marinaleda, Spain. Thanks to its olive farming cooperative and eccentric mayor, Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, Marinaleda made global news because it has virtually no police, no crime or unemployment. This is quite a feat considering that the rate of unemployment in the providence of Andalusia stands at 37% (and a staggering 55% for younger people). What is Gordillo's solution to homelessness?

Anyone who wants to build their own house can do so for free. Materials and qualified workmen are provided by the town hall, and the generous allowance of 192 square meters means the homes are spacious. Families they pay just 15 Euros ($19) per month for the rest of their lives, with the agreement that the house cannot be sold for private gain. (Source)

Homelessness in the US

Although the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shows a slow decline in homelessness, the estimate of the homeless people in the US in 2013 is around 610,000. Other sources estimate this number to be up to 3 million. Similar to Medicine Hat, HUD has set some lofty goals: end chronic homelessness and homelessness among veterans by 2015; and end homelessness for families, youth and children by 2020. How do they plan to accomplish this? Will they follow a similar model as Medicine Hat and build more affordable public housing? HUD states little about their approach in their assessment report....

Impact of Individualism and Income Inequality on Homelessness

The solution to homelessness in a city filled with millions may not be as simple as in Medicine Hat with its 60,000+ residents or Marinaleda with its 2,700 residents. This brings up the question, if larger urban areas face societal problems that need to be addressed first, if homelessness is to diminish. Perhaps to answer this question, we can look at the most populated city in the world, Tokyo, with over 13 million people. Tokyo hasn't rid itself of homelessness, but it is relatively low when compared to other cities.

Tokyo, at 13.4 million people, is larger than New York City (8.4 million people) and Los Angeles (3.9 million people) combined. While the rate of homelessness in New York is currently 67 for every 10,000 people, in Tokyo there is just one homeless individual for every 10,000 city residents. (Source)

Why the massive discrepancy in rates of homelessness between two of the most populated cities in the world? Tokyo's government officials state that the city focuses on temporary housing provision, employment training, and ensuring that older homeless people are covered under welfare programs to ensure housing. The culture in Japan also plays a part. The Japanese tend to have a stronger family support system when compared to the US, where individualism and self-independence is prized. Less income inequality in Japan, but a growing problem in the United States, is also believed to be a contributing factor to keep homeless rates low.

Once you're at the poverty level, it is difficult to escape it. Modernized societies are distinguished by lavishness, convenience, and abundance...but only for individuals who can afford it. As the gap of income inequality continues to widen - the poor become poorer, while the rich get richer - if the prosperous aren't willing to put the resources into supporting the less fortunate (...such is not the way for a capitalistic society...), homelessness will continue to prevail.

"We need to rethink our values, the consumer society, the value we place on money, selfishness and individualism." ~ Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo, Mayor of Marinaleda, Spain.

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