50 confirmed dead in Orlando, 53 injured


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Mayor declaring this event an emergency.

As I hear this news on my TV, this is the image I keep looking at.

This breaks my heaet. As a former Orlando resident, I have gone to the Pulse nightclub and Parliament House. My thoughts are with the city if Orlando. Ecen though I no longer speak with my ex, I hope Ruffryder is safe.

Zimmeh

Carrying Weapons On Way To L.A. Pride Event Is Arrested — REPORT

MARTHA SORREN
10 minutes ago NEWS

After Sunday morning's devastating shooting at an Orlando, Florida gay club, Pulse, that left at least 50 dead and 50 hospitalized, the Los Angeles Times reported that a man "with weapons and possible explosives" was arrested in Los Angeles. According to the Times, he "said he was going to L.A. gay pride parade."

On Sunday morning, Santa Monica police were called to investigate "a suspected prowler." The Times reported that once they arrived on the scene, officers led a search on a car where they found "several weapons and a lot of ammunition as well as tannerite, an ingredient that could be used to create a pipe bomb." According to the outlet, the individual they encountered at the scene "made comments that he was in town for the Pride event in West Hollywood."

http://www.bustle.com/articles/16636...rrested-report

i have no idea ..
but death toll is up too 50

Orlando Shooter Was Reportedly a Regular at Pulse and Had a Profile on Gay Dating App
 

Early Sunday morning, Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, perpetrating the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Mateen, his father explained the next day, had repeatedly been angered by the sight of two men kissing. But according to witnesses, Mateen was also a regular at the club and exchanged messages with at least one gay man on a gay dating app.

“It’s the same guy,” Chris Callen, who performs under the name Kristina McLaughlin, told the Canadian Press. “He’s been going to this bar for at least three years.”

Ty Smith, who also goes by the name Aries, also said he’d seen Mateen being escorted drunk from the club, Pulse, on multiple occasions.

“(He’d get) really, really drunk... He couldn’t drink when he was at home—around his wife, or family. His father was really strict... He used to bitch about it,” Smith told the Canadian Press.

“Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent,” Smith also explained to the Orlando Sentinel, which spoke with at least four clubgoers who remembered seeing Mateen at Pulse at least a dozen times. “We didn’t really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times... He told us he had a wife and child.”

Both Callen and Smith, who are married, tell the Canadian Press they stopped speaking to Mateen after he threatened them with a knife, apparently after someone made a joke about religion.

“He ended up pulling a knife,” Callen said. “He said if he ever messed with him again, you know how it’ll turn out.”

http://gawker.com/orlando-shooter-wa...ium=socialflow

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The FBI is supposedly investigating this angle as there are reports he was on the gaydar since 2007.

Wondered, after seeing the photos of him, if he was a closet case with some serious demons eating at him. If memory serves, overkill is a crime of passion.

If this turns out to be true, this is an even more horrific massacre.

Sigh.

Britain to leave EU.

My sad reflection on Brexit:

The "black swan" has appeared and the forces of nationalism and darkness are surfacing again...it's fucking depressing that we really haven't learned anything and so easily allow our worst and most base instincts to repeatedly drive us to the Right and the slide into xenophobia and Fascism.

The thing is that it does no good to know this unless you believe that our past depravities and genocides were not just aberrations and to warn of them is not hyperbole and to ignore the signs may be folly, again.

Maybe you need to have been there.

in reply to this i want to just say as a Brit that i dont feel we will go back to the dark ages.
i voted to stay in the EU, i really wanted us to stay.

But as it looks now, all the information that is coming out suggests that we are going to be still dealing with the EU to some extent.
We will be like Norway by the sounds.
I actually dont think that for the most part people voted in a malicious way.
I think the general feeling is that people were fed up of giving all that money to the EU and not getting much flexibility in the way of deals, trading etc.
there is of course the issue of immigration, but most people i know dont mind if you come over here and work for a living.
its the people that come over and go straight onto benefits that most people are against.
we are a very diverse country, with different cultures.
I was saddened to her David Cameron as resigned though, i hoped he would have finished his term in office.
I just hope and i think most rational people hope that before We exit that the transition can be made as smoothly as possible and with a lot of care as to what the country needs.

Hi Jools,
I did not mean to imply that Brits are exceptionally malicious or mean-spirited. I was reflecting on our common stubborn nationalism and tribalism that we never seem able to shake no matter how bloody it often becomes and how often we swear it will never happen again.

Bless those who maintain their faith in the goodness and nobility of the masses. I am not there.

Cops: Trans Activist Beaten After Orlando Benefit

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http://gawker.com/hey-happy-pride-tr...ndo-1782648599

Breaking News in Dallas Texas NOW
 

Dallas Texas Police Headquarters has received apparently credible threats that have warranted the SWAT Team, heavily armed. They have shutdown the streets nearby and NO ONE is allowed to go near there. Its live on the news right now.

Hunker down friend and stay safe.
Stay in touch.
Chad

Sources close to the news team are saying there is a masked man that is in the parking garage where police officers park and no one else is allowed in there without a badge, only dpd officers are allowed in that garage. They are looking for that man now. IT's a dangerous situation, the real deal, and telling the news crews and others to stay away from the garage area. They do NOT know if this man is armed and dangerous or what else could be going on to get the police to focus on the garage and something else is planned. This is just wow. What the fuck is going on in the world today ?? It's crazy. Is the end of times near or something?

The police searched the police garage, they guy got away. They're using dogs to sniff out for bombs and for his scent. There is also another credible threat that was made that more gunmen were going to come shootup the headquarters or something like that too. They don't know if the two threats made are one in the same.

All I know is it's freaking crazy lately. The gun violence is more and more each day. I wish it would end.

Yes Tru and you too Chad!

I haven't heard anymore on the news. I probably won't until tonight at 10 central time.

Heartbreaking levels of violence: Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Teenagers
 

Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual High School Students Report Extremely High Levels of Violence

August 11, 2016

CDC Report: First National Study

In August 2016, CDC released the first nationally representative study on the health risks of U.S. lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) high school students. To understand more about behaviors that can contribute to negative health outcomes among LGB students, a question to ascertain sexual identity and a question to ascertain sex of sexual contacts was added for the first time to the national and standard Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) questionnaires. These new data offer insight into the health risks of approximately 1.3 million LGB high school students and highlight the need for accelerated action to protect their health and well-being.

CDC analyzed data from the 2015 national survey (conducted among more than 15,000 students in grades 9–12) plus data from 25 state surveys, and 19 large urban school district surveys.

The findings are described in a CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, "Sexual Identity, Sex of Sexual Contacts, and Health-related Behaviors Among Students in Grades 9-12—United States and Selected Sites, 2015."

The report documents the rates at which LGB students reported experiencing substantially higher levels of physical and sexual violence and bullying than other students.

In the report, sexual minority students were defined as those—

who identified themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual;
who had had sexual contact with only persons of the same sex; or
who had had sexual contact with persons of both sexes.

Collecting information about students' sexual identity and about the sex of their sexual contacts is necessary because some students identify themselves as heterosexual but report having sexual contact with only persons of the same sex, whereas some students who identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual have not had sexual contact or have had sexual contact with only persons of the opposite sex. This dissonance is well documented in other research and can be a normal part of the developmental process that occurs during adolescence.

What This Report Shows

This report describes the first nationally representative study of U.S. lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) high school students. It compares the prevalence of 118 health behaviors among sexual minority students to the prevalence of these behaviors among non-sexual minority students.

These analyses are possible due to the inclusion of two new questions about sex of sexual contacts and sexual identity on the 2015 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).

The findings from this report show the rates at which LGB high school students experience many health risks, compared with heterosexual students.

These health risks are most apparent among students who identify themselves as LGB. Specifically, this report found that compared to their heterosexual peers, LGB students are significantly more likely to report:

Being physically forced to have sex (18% LGB vs. 5% heterosexual)

Experiencing sexual dating violence (23% LGB vs. 9% heterosexual)

Experiencing physical dating violence (18% LGB vs. 8% heterosexual)

Being bullied at school or online (at school: 34% LGB vs. 19% heterosexual; online: 28% LGB vs. 14% heterosexual)

While physical and sexual violence and bullying are serious health dangers on their own, a combination of complex factors can place young people at high risk for suicide, depression, addiction, poor academic performance, and other severe consequences.

Data demonstrate that LGB students may be at substantial risk for these serious outcomes:

More than 40% of LGB students have seriously considered suicide, and 29% reported having attempted suicide during the past 12 months.

Sixty percent of LGB students reported having been so sad or hopeless they stopped doing some of their usual activities.

LGB students are up to five times more likely than other students to report using illegal drugs.

More than 1 in 10 LGB students reported missing school during the past 30 days due to safety concerns. While not a direct measure of school performance, absenteeism has been linked to low graduation rates, which can have lifelong consequences.

Recommendations From This Report

The majority of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students cope with the transition from childhood through adolescence to adulthood successfully and become healthy and productive adults. However, this report documents that LGB students have a higher prevalence of many health risk behaviors compared with heterosexual students. These data highlight the need for collective action to keep these students safe.

Although there are no simple solutions to address the health risks LGB students’ face, research demonstrates the importance of school, community, and family support for LGB youth.

Focused public health and school-based actions and policies that support safe and supportive environments for LGB students are key.

Youth-serving agencies and organizations, including schools, communities and youth-friendly health care centers and providers, can help facilitate access to education and information, health care services, and evidence-based programs and interventions designed to address the health-related behaviors that impact LGB youth.

Outreach efforts and educational programs can provide parents and families with the information and skills they need to help support LGB youth.

Because many health-related behaviors initiated during adolescence often extend into adulthood, they can potentially have a life-long negative effect on health outcomes, educational attainment, employment, housing, and overall quality of life. Many LGB students, therefore, need coordinated action to meet their needs and improve their health and well-being.

What CDC Is Doing

For lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) students to thrive in their schools and communities, they need to feel socially, emotionally, and physically safe and supported. CDC works with other federal agencies, national nongovernmental organizations, and state and local departments of education, health, and social services to raise awareness about the health risk behaviors and support the health and well-being of LGB students by —

Developing policies and practices that support the establishment of safe and supportive environments for all students, including LGB students.

Facilitating access to education, health care, and evidence-based interventions designed to address priority health-risk behaviors among LGB students.

Implementing programs and providing training for those who work with LGB students to better understand needs and services.

Summarizing and applying survey results to increase the effectiveness of interventions and programs for LGB teens.

Providing funding and technical assistance to develop, implement, and evaluate interventions that reduce health risk behaviors and promote healthy practices among LGB students.

Monitoring the impact of broad policy and programmatic interventions on the health-related behaviors of LGB students.
CDC calls for accelerated action to protect the health and well-being of these young people. Coordinated action by schools and communities is needed to protect LGB students and address the health risks they face.

CDC and its partners are taking action by funding, implementing, and evaluating programs that address many of these health risks and supporting the solutions, including violence prevention, developing tools for education partners to promote healthy school environments for all students, forging national partnerships, and providing scientific leadership.


http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/disparities/smy.htm

I don't know if this is necessarily a breaking news event, but it is a new report just released from the economic and social justice advocacy group, Global Justice Now and I don't know where else it would fit. I struggle to find a place to post topical news stories that I wouldn't necessarily classify as a breaking news event, which to me always sounds like some kind of emergency like an earth quake or plane crash or some such. But anyway, this is interesting in that these figures show that individual multinational corporations are wealthier than many countries. For example Walmart is wealthier than Spain, Australia, and the Netherlands.

Link to full article here with an excerpt below.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/201...most-countries

Largest Corporations Wealthier Than Most Countries

Corporations are running the world, according to new figures released Monday from the U.K.-based Global Justice Now.

"As multinationals increasingly dominate areas traditionally considered the primary domain of the state, we should be afraid."
—Aisha Dodwell, Global Justice Now

The economic and social justice advocacy group discovered (spreadsheet) that the ten largest corporations are wealthier than most countries in the world combined.

"Today, of the 100 wealthiest economic entities in the world, 69 are now corporations and only 31 countries," wrote Global Justice Now campaigns and policy officer Aisha Dodwell. "This is up from 63 to 37 a year ago. At this rate, within a generation we will be living in a world entirely dominated by giant corporations."

Indeed, multinational behemoths Shell, Apple, and Walmart each rake in more revenue than the world's 180 "poorest" countries—a list that includes Ireland, Greece, Israel, South Africa, Vietnam, and Colombia—combined.

And the top ten largest companies have a whopping combined value of $2.9 trillion, which is larger than China's economy.

"The drive for short-term profits today seems to trump basic human rights for millions of people on the planet."
—Nick Dearden, Global Justice Now

Walmart, the biggest corporate entity in the world, is valued at over $482 billion, which makes it wealthier than Spain, Australia, and the Netherlands, individually.

"The vast wealth and power of corporations is at the heart of so many of the world's problems—like inequality and climate change," said Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now. "The drive for short-term profits today seems to trump basic human rights for millions of people on the planet. These figures show the problem is getting worse."

"As multinationals increasingly dominate areas traditionally considered the primary domain of the state, we should be afraid," Dodwell continued:

While they privatize everything from education and health to border controls and prisons, they stash their profits away in secret offshore accounts. And while they have unrivaled access to decision makers they avoid democratic processes by setting up secret courts enabling them to bypass all judicial systems applicable to people. Meanwhile their raison d'etre of perpetual growth in a finite world is causing environmental destruction and driving climate change. From Sports Direct's slave-like working conditions to BP's oil spill devastating people’s homes, stories of corporations violating rights are all too often seen in our daily papers.