End Times and Current Events

General Category => General News => Topic started by: Christian40 on May 06, 2011, 10:42:55 pm



Title: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Christian40 on May 06, 2011, 10:42:55 pm
(NaturalNews) A lot of people believe the world as we know it is going to end on December 23, 2012. Nonsense, I say. The far more honest answer is that the end of the world as we know it has already begun. And it doesn't mean the end of the world; it means the closing of one era and the birth of a new one. It is a transition between the ages. This particular transition, however, promises to be the most tumultuous and costly transition humankind has ever seen.

But don't wait around for December 2012 to look for the signs. Here are 14 signs that the world as we know it is unraveling right now. We are living through the end of one era and the birth of a new one. In the future, they'll look back and call this all one moment in history, but when you're living through it, it seems to move forward at almost a snail's pace. But make no mistake: We are living through the opening chapters of the end of the world as we know it, and on the other side of all this will emerge a new world that's very different from the one we know today.

#1 - Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis - At first it seemed like a fluke; but now it's a pattern. The weather is becoming increasingly extreme. Over 120 tornadoes recently struck the U.S. Midwest. Texas is on fire and suffering through an extreme drought. And where there aren't fires and droughts, there are floods. This is only the beginning... watch for more freak weather over the next 18 months.

#2 - The silence of the bees - Colony Collapse Disorder continues to accelerate across North America. We already know it's being caused in part by chemical pesticides (and possibly worsened by GMOs), but the chemical industry is engaged in a full-on cover-up to deny this truth while the pollinators of our world suffer a devastating population collapse. (http://www.naturalnews.com/028218_p...)

#3 - The failure of nuclear science - The Fukushima catastrophe proves one thing: Scientists are dangerously arrogant in their planning of large-scale projects, and they fail to account for the awesome power of Mother Nature. Nuclear science promised us clean, green energy -- but now it has delivered a silent, invisible poison that's infecting our planet.

#4 - The vicious pursuit of Wikileaks - In an age of such rampant deceit, there is no room for the truth. So those who tell the truth (Wikileaks) are viciously pursued as if they were criminals.

#5 - The rise of the medical police state - The armed SWAT raids on Maryanne Godboldo in Detroit are only the beginning (http://www.naturalnews.com/032091_M...). The truth is that the medical system uses guns to force its vaccines and chemotherapy onto children and teens across America. The medical system has become so utterly useless, corrupt and dangerous that it must actually invoke guns in peoples' faces just to "convince" people to take its medicine. This is a gunpoint-enforced medical monopoly that exists as a threat to our health and our freedoms.

#6 - The increasing frequency of food shortages and crop failures - Notice the spike in food prices? That's just the beginning: Food prices will continue to skyrocket in the years ahead due to extreme weather, the loss of pollinators and the global contamination of crops by GMOs. Real food is becoming increasingly scarce in our world. You might want to think about starting a home garden...

#7 - The runaway destruction of the world by energy companies - The radioactive fallout from Fukushima isn't the only way in which energy companies are destroying our world: Don't forget about the Deepwater Horizon and the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico -- a spill that isn't over, by the way. They're still spraying Corexit in the Gulf one year later!

#8 - The continued GMO contamination of our planet - This may be the worst chapter in the coming collapse: The widespread genetic pollution of our planet through GMOs. This is a crime against nature and against humanity. It is a "gene spill" that may never be contained as it spreads its deadly DNA across the world's food crops, leading to crop failures and starvation (http://www.naturalnews.com/032167_g...). The use of GMOs is the closest thing to "Satanic" that you'll find in modern agriculture. The agenda behind this is pure evil.

#9 - The tyranny and criminal crackdowns targeting real food (raw milk) - When you can't even sell honest farm food to your neighbors without being targeted and arrested by the cops, something is terribly wrong with the world. But this is happening today, all across America. Now the feds are even targeting the Amish! (http://www.naturalnews.com/029322_r...)

#10 - The escalation of the counterfeiting of the money supply - In a failed economic system approaching collapse, the moronic leaders can only think of "solutions" that actually accelerate their own downfall. The runaway counterfeiting of money by the Federal Reserve (with its "quantitative easing" and other counterfeit methods) is a classic sign that the end of our current system is fast approaching. The economic insanities are obvious to anyone who can still do math.

#11 - The plummeting intelligence of the masses - One of the most disturbing signs that we're already in the collapse is the great dumbing-down of the masses. The drooling, CNN-watching television zombies who dominate our landscape offer absolutely nothing of value to the world. They are the "mindless consumers" who get vaccinated, watch television and eat processed, pasteurized junk food. They're on psychiatric meds and believe everything the government tells them. Most of these people, of course, won't make it through the collapse.

#12 - The complete and utter fabrication of the mainstream news - Much of the mainstream news is now utterly and completely fabricated these days: The reporting on Obama's long-form birth certificate; the news about the war in Libya; the coverage of the economy and the U.S. debt... it's all so utterly false and unbelievable that an intelligent person watching the news can't help but explode with laughter. It is a sign of this collapse that the information sources relied upon by the masses are unable to report the truth anymore and must resort to weaving politically expedient fictions on everything from health care and medicine to the fate of the U.S. dollar itself.

#13 - The ongoing pharmaceutical pollution of our world - Beyond the GMO contamination and the radiation contamination of our world, we are also experiencing the mass pharmaceutical contamination of our planet. It's not just the pharma factories that dump their products into the rivers (http://www.naturalnews.com/025415_w...); it's also the fact that well over half the population is now taking drugs almost daily, and those drugs pass right through their bodies and end up in the water supply where they contaminate the fish (http://www.naturalnews.com/025933.html). Even beyond that, the drugs end up in the human sewage sludge that's packaged and sold as "organic soil!" (http://www.naturalnews.com/029504_o...)

#14 - The radioactive contamination of the global food supply - Here's one that's really insidious: The global food supply is now contaminated with the radioactive fallout from Fukushima. We're told the levels are "low," but we're not told the truth of how radioactive cesium isotopes persist in the food supply for centuries. How is the human race going to survive its exposure to CT scans, radioactive food, chest X-rays, TSA body scanners and even the secret DHS mobile X-ray vans that can penetrate your body with X-rays as you're walking into a football stadium? The total radiation burden on the human race is now reaching a point of mass infertility. That may be the whole idea, actually.
It's accelerating, too
December, 2012 may be a useful date as some sort of mid-point in the crisis, or perhaps as a trigger date for some further acceleration of society's rapid unraveling. But make no mistake: We are already living in the collapse of our modern world. And you have a front-row seat! (Exciting, huh?)

Think about what's happening around you these days. These are the signs of the last, desperate clutches of a civilization built on utterly unsustainable practices that don't value life on our world. These are the End Times of the corporate oligarchy; the monopolistic for-profit corporation machine that destroyed everything in our world in exchange for a slightly higher quarterly earnings report.

In the quest for more money, humanity has sacrificed its food supply, its pollinators, it's oceans, forests and soils. Greed-driven humans have used other humans as medical experiments and cannon fodder. We have created wars to sell more bombs, and we've invented disease to sell psychiatric chemicals.

These are the practices of a failed civilization... and one whose days are numbered. Watching it all crumble is far more interesting than watching it continue its destructive ways, of course, because those of us paying attention realize a future civilization must rise up in the place of this one after the collapse.
Say goodbye to the false power of institutions
It would be nice if our future leaders remembered the importance of liberty and personal responsibility, of course. The answer to all the world's problems, it turns out, is freedom -- freedom in medicine, freedom in economics and freedom from government tyranny.

Because, let's face it: The root cause of most these problems that are bringing down our world right now is bad government. It is bad government (Big Government) that approved the GMOs. Bad government enforced the medical monopoly and allowed the pesticides to kill the honeybees. Bad government drove us into inescapable debt and costly foreign wars. Bad government outlawed health freedom and protected the monopolistic practices of the food companies, drug companies and chemical companies.

The downfall of modern human civilization is, as you probably guessed, also the downfall of the very idea that Big Government creates a better society. Because if there's one idea that needs to stay dead after the collapse, it's the idea that We the People somehow need another group of people (government workers) to live off our hard work while hounding us with their false authority, directing every little detail of our lives.

What we need in our world isn't more government, but more freedom. If we had freedom, integrity and personal responsibility, we wouldn't even be facing the global collapse that has already begun. But alas, the human race is an infant species and it must learn some lessons the hard way, it seems.

This lesson should be long remembered: If you let the corporations, the banks and the governments run your economies, your farms and your lives, they will enslave you and steal your future while you sleep; they will inject silent poisons into the very world around you until you awaken one day to find that all you created has been destroyed. They will promise you paradise but deliver only death. Beware of any entity that is not a living person -- no government, no institution, no corporation has a soul, nor a heart, nor a conscience. They are forces of organized destruction that decimate those things we hold dear while delivering to us things that will only enslave us or harm us.

Beware the corporation; the government; the non-profit institution working as a front group for private industry. Never allow yourself to be ruled over by any institution which exists only as a fictional construct organized from the projection of human greed.

And be ready for the acceleration of the collapse. Because if you are reading this, you are the future of the human race. You have a duty to stay alive, keep your genes intact, and be around to help create the Next Society after this one crumbles into history.

From:
http://www.naturalnews.com/032258_economic_collapse_2012.html


Title: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 25, 2012, 03:47:50 am
Turn Out The Lights - The Largest U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wretchedness

Once upon a time, the largest U.S. cities were the envy of the entire world.  Sadly, that is no longer the case.  Sure, there are areas of New York City, Boston, Washington and Los Angeles that are still absolutely beautiful but for the most part our major cities are rapidly rotting and decaying.  Cities such as Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, Memphis, New Orleans, St. Louis and Oakland were all once places where middle class American workers thrived and raised their families.  Today, all of those cities are rapidly being transformed into cesspools of filth, decay and wretchedness.  Millions of good jobs have left our major cities in recent decades and poverty has absolutely exploded.    Basically, you can turn out the lights because the party is over.  In fact, some major U.S. cities are literally turning out the lights.  In Detroit, about 40 percent of the streetlights are already broken and the city cannot afford to repair them.  So Mayor Bing has come up with a plan to cut the number of operating streetlights almost in half and leave vast sections of the city totally in the dark at night.  I wonder what that will do to the crime rate in the city.  But don't look down on Detroit too much, because what is happening in Detroit will be happening where you live soon enough.

A recent Bloomberg article described Mayor Bing's plan to eliminate nearly half of Detroit's streetlights....

    Detroit, whose 139 square miles contain 60 percent fewer residents than in 1950, will try to nudge them into a smaller living space by eliminating almost half its streetlights.

    As it is, 40 percent of the 88,000 streetlights are broken and the city, whose finances are to be overseen by an appointed board, can’t afford to fix them. Mayor Dave Bing’s plan would create an authority to borrow $160 million to upgrade and reduce the number of streetlights to 46,000. Maintenance would be contracted out, saving the city $10 million a year.

What this means is that there are going to be a lot of neighborhoods that will have the lights turned off permanently.

So which neighborhoods will those be?

According to one top Detroit official, "distressed areas" are going to be on the low end of the totem pole....

    “You have to identify those neighborhoods where you want to concentrate your population,” said Chris Brown, Detroit’s chief operating officer. “We’re not going to light distressed areas like we light other areas.”

City officials know that they cannot force people to move from "distressed areas", so they are going to encourage them to leave by cutting off services.

But turning off the lights is not the only way that Detroit is trying to save money.

Recently, officials in Detroit announced that all police stations in the city will be closed to the public for 16 hours a day.

It is so sad to see what is happening to what was once such a great city.

Back in the old days, Detroit had a teeming middle class population.

Today, 53.6% of all children in the city of Detroit are living in poverty.

Back in the old days, Detroit was a shining example of what America was doing right.

Today, 47 percent of all people living in the city of Detroit are functionally illiterate.

Back in the old days, middle class neighborhoods sprouted like mushrooms all over Detroit.

Today, the median price of a home in Detroit is just $6000.

Needless to say, crime is exploding in Detroit and many families live in constant fear.

Many have taken justice into their own hands.  Justifiable homicide in Detroit rose by a staggering 79 percent during 2011.

But Detroit is only one example of a national trend.

For example, a recent article by Jim Quinn entitled "More Than 30 Blocks Of Grey And Decay" described the filth, decay and wretchedness in West Philadelphia.  Quinn refers to the drive through this area as "the 30 Blocks of Squalor"....

    The real unemployment rate exceeds 50%, murder is the number one industry, with drugs a close second.

    As you drive down the 30 Blocks of Squalor you meet the ghost of Squalor future for West Chester Pike. The population along this corridor is ignorant, dependent, and represents the dregs of our society.

But this area was once home to middle class families.  There were once many beautiful homes in West Philly, but most of them are now either gone or are crumbling badly.  According to Quinn, the physical decay is matched by the social decay....

    The once proud homes are in shambles. Bags of garbage dot the landscape. Most of the people who live here are parasites on society. Personal responsibility, work ethic, education and marriage are unknown concepts in this community. Even though more than 50% of the students in West Philly drop out of high school and the SAT scores of West Philly High students are lower than whale ****, the bankrupt school district spent $70 million to build a new high school/prison to babysit derelicts and future prison inmates. The windows do not have steel bars yet, as the architect was smart to put all windows at least eight feet above street level.

One of the great things about the article is that Quinn pointed out how the retail stores in the area reflect the things that the population of the community truly values....

    The Chestnut Plaza truly represents what is important to this community. This Squalor Center, as opposed to Power Center, includes a video **** store, cash checking/payday loan outlet, smoke shop, donut shop, Laundromat, and liquor store. No need for a wedding ring store or resume writing service.

Sadly, there are communities like this all over the country.  As I wrote about recently, the entire state of California is slowly being transformed into one gigantic cesspool.

Yes, there are still a few areas where the wealthy play that are absolutely beautiful.  If you stay in the wealthy enclaves you might never even know that the rest of the state is badly decaying.

There are really good reasons why millions of people are moving out of California.  For example, a reader named Peter left the following comment on one of my recent articles....

    I am a native Californian ( Im 61) and have lived here all but two years of my life. I can tell you absolutely that this state is not what it was 30 years ago. Cities like San Francisco have gone from being world-class tourist attractions to national disgraces. Los Angeles is a third-world city. San Diego is bankrupt. Even Silicon Valley, despite the recent improvements, is no way what it was in the 90′s. The retail trade is all but dead in this state. Even high-end malls like Rodeo Drive and Ocean Ave in Carmel are full of vacancies.

Throughout the state, good businesses are shutting down and hard working families are selling their homes.  The void that is being created is being filled by crime and gangs.  The following is a comment that a reader named Roberta left on that same article....

    Yep we lived in Oroville CA back in 2007 and it was just starting to get bad then. Montgomery Wards closed, then McMahan’s furniture closed and NOW McDonalds is closing this July along with a grand slam of well known businesses are all folding and pulling out of Oroville or folding lock-stock-n-barrell. It’s turning into a gang town with wide spread rampant drug use. I feel sorry for family and friends that are still their clinging onto the hope that thnigs “will” get better. But I don’t think so.

Perhaps things are still quite good where you live.

Perhaps you think that you will be immune from all this.

Sadly, the truth is that this is just the beginning.

The U.S. economy is actually performing much better than it should be thanks to the trillions of borrowed dollars that Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress have been spending into the economy.

When our debt-fueled prosperity ends, a lot more cities are going to end up looking just like Detroit.

America cannot prosper without middle class jobs, and those kinds of jobs are rapidly disappearing.

Just this week HP announced that it is going to lay off 27,000 workers.

We are losing middle class jobs at a time when we desperately need more of them.

Last year, 53 percent of all Americans with a bachelor's degree under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed.

Yet our politicians continue to pursue the same foolish policies over and over.

So things are going to continue to get worse and America is going to continue to descend into squalor.

You better get ready.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/turn-out-the-lights-the-largest-u-s-cities-are-becoming-cesspools-of-filth-decay-and-wretchedness


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 25, 2012, 03:50:33 am
Half of Detroit’s Streetlights May Go Out as City Shrinks

Detroit, whose 139 square miles contain 60 percent fewer residents than in 1950, will try to nudge them into a smaller living space by eliminating almost half its streetlights.

As it is, 40 percent of the 88,000 streetlights are broken and the city, whose finances are to be overseen by an appointed board, can’t afford to fix them. Mayor Dave Bing’s plan would create an authority to borrow $160 million to upgrade and reduce the number of streetlights to 46,000. Maintenance would be contracted out, saving the city $10 million a year.

Other U.S. cities have gone partially dark to save money, among them Colorado Springs; Santa Rosa, California; and Rockford, Illinois. Detroit’s plan goes further: It would leave sparsely populated swaths unlit in a community of 713,000 that covers more area than Boston, Buffalo and San Francisco combined. Vacant property and parks account for 37 square miles (96 square kilometers), according to city planners.

“You have to identify those neighborhoods where you want to concentrate your population,” said Chris Brown, Detroit’s chief operating officer. “We’re not going to light distressed areas like we light other areas.”

Detroit’s dwindling income and property-tax revenue have required residents to endure unreliable buses and strained police services throughout the city. Because streetlights are basic to urban life, deciding what areas to illuminate will reshape the city, said Kirk Cheyfitz, co-founder of a project called Detroit143 -- named for the 139 square miles of land, plus water -- that publicizes neighborhood issues.

rest: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-24/half-of-detroit-s-streetlights-may-go-out-as-city-shrinks.html


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 25, 2012, 03:52:51 am
Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.
 

By Tom Leonard in Flint, Michigan
Published: 6:30PM BST 12 Jun 2009
Hope springs at signs of life in US housing market: a boarded up house sits for sale in Detroit, Michigan.
A boarded up house sits for sale in Michigan. Photo: GETTY

The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.

Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area.

The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.

Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.

Mr Kildee said he will concentrate on 50 cities, identified in a recent study by the Brookings Institution, an influential Washington think-tank, as potentially needing to shrink substantially to cope with their declining fortunes.

Most are former industrial cities in the "rust belt" of America's Mid-West and North East. They include Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Memphis.

In Detroit, shattered by the woes of the US car industry, there are already plans to split it into a collection of small urban centres separated from each other by countryside.

"The real question is not whether these cities shrink – we're all shrinking – but whether we let it happen in a destructive or sustainable way," said Mr Kildee. "Decline is a fact of life in Flint. Resisting it is like resisting gravity."

Karina Pallagst, director of the Shrinking Cities in a Global Perspective programme at the University of California, Berkeley, said there was "both a cultural and political taboo" about admitting decline in America.

"Places like Flint have hit rock bottom. They're at the point where it's better to start knocking a lot of buildings down," she said.

Flint, sixty miles north of Detroit, was the original home of General Motors. The car giant once employed 79,000 local people but that figure has shrunk to around 8,000.

Unemployment is now approaching 20 per cent and the total population has almost halved to 110,000.

The exodus – particularly of young people – coupled with the consequent collapse in property prices, has left street after street in sections of the city almost entirely abandoned.

In the city centre, the once grand Durant Hotel – named after William Durant, GM's founder – is a symbol of the city's decline, said Mr Kildee. The large building has been empty since 1973, roughly when Flint's decline began.

Regarded as a model city in the motor industry's boom years, Flint may once again be emulated, though for very different reasons.

But Mr Kildee, who has lived there nearly all his life, said he had first to overcome a deeply ingrained American cultural mindset that "big is good" and that cities should sprawl – Flint covers 34 square miles.

He said: "The obsession with growth is sadly a very American thing. Across the US, there's an assumption that all development is good, that if communities are growing they are successful. If they're shrinking, they're failing."

But some Flint dustcarts are collecting just one rubbish bag a week, roads are decaying, police are very understaffed and there were simply too few people to pay for services, he said.

If the city didn't downsize it will eventually go bankrupt, he added.

Flint's recovery efforts have been helped by a new state law passed a few years ago which allowed local governments to buy up empty properties very cheaply.

They could then knock them down or sell them on to owners who will occupy them. The city wants to specialise in health and education services, both areas which cannot easily be relocated abroad.

The local authority has restored the city's attractive but formerly deserted centre but has pulled down 1,100 abandoned homes in outlying areas.

Mr Kildee estimated another 3,000 needed to be demolished, although the city boundaries will remain the same.

Already, some streets peter out into woods or meadows, no trace remaining of the homes that once stood there.

Choosing which areas to knock down will be delicate but many of them were already obvious, he said.

The city is buying up houses in more affluent areas to offer people in neighbourhoods it wants to demolish. Nobody will be forced to move, said Mr Kildee.

"Much of the land will be given back to nature. People will enjoy living near a forest or meadow," he said.

Mr Kildee acknowledged that some fellow Americans considered his solution "defeatist" but he insisted it was "no more defeatist than pruning an overgrown tree so it can bear fruit again".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5516536/US-cities-may-have-to-be-bulldozed-in-order-to-survive.html


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 25, 2012, 03:53:06 am
Shrinking Cities, On Purpose

Flint, Michigan is another ailing city that is considering demolishing entire neighborhoods and returning them to nature as a way to save the rest of the city from blight.

Planned shrinkage became a workable concept in Michigan a few years ago, when the state changed its laws regarding properties foreclosed for delinquent taxes. Before, these buildings and land tended to become mired in legal limbo, contributing to blight. Now they quickly become the domain of county land banks, giving communities a powerful tool for change.

Indianapolis and Little Rock, Ark., have recently set up land banks, and other cities are in the process of doing so. 'Shrinkage is moving from an idea to a fact,' said Karina Pallagst, director of the Shrinking Cities in a Global Perspective Program at the University of California, Berkeley. 'There’s finally the insight that some cities just don’t have a choice.'

While the shrinkage debate has been simmering in Flint for several years, it suddenly gained prominence last month with a blunt comment by the acting mayor, Michael K. Brown, who talked at a Rotary Club lunch about 'shutting down quadrants of the city.'"

http://www.planetizen.com/node/38458

Shrinking City Planning

Detroit's population is rapidly declining, but the answer to revitalizing the city may lie in part in urban farming.

"With enough abandoned lots to fill the city of San Francisco, Motown is 138 square miles divided between expanses of decay and emptiness and tracts of still-functioning communities and commercial areas. Six barren acres of an estimated 17,000 have already been turned into 'mini-farms,' demonstrating the lengths to which planners will go to make land productive."

"The city has more than 500 gardens and 'we plan to triple that every year,' said Michael Travis, deputy director of Urban Farming, a Detroit-based nonprofit corporation that helps clear land and provides topsoil and fertilizer.

The farms may also raise home values. In many neighborhoods, nearby gardens could add as much as $5,000 to selling prices, said real estate broker Russ Ravary, who works in the city and surrounding suburbs. The average price of a home dropped 55 percent, to $18,578, in the first nine months of the year, according to the Detroit Board of Realtors."

http://www.planetizen.com/node/36534

Detroit Could Become Countryside, Planners Say

 team of visiting planners suggested that Detroit could evolve into a series of urban villages connected by countryside.

"The idea may sound improbable, but Alan Mallach, a New Jersey-based planner who led the visiting team, said Detroit is evolving in that direction anyway, with large chunks of the city now largely abandoned.

"In a way, think of it as a 21st-Century version of a traditional country pattern," Mallach said. "You have high-density development on one side of the street and cows on the other, quite literally."

The team's recommendations, contained in a draft report by a committee of the American Institute of Architects, are the latest in a flurry of ideas for dealing with Detroit's growing vacancy.

Detroit's population is less than half of its 1950s peak, and an estimated 40 square miles of the 139-square-mile city are empty."

http://www.planetizen.com/node/39004


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on May 25, 2012, 04:25:33 am
Quote
Flint, Michigan is another ailing city that is considering demolishing entire neighborhoods and returning them to nature as a way to save the rest of the city from blight.

I had this thought some time ago. On the surface it sounds good, but there are issues, namely what happens to all that property that was "privately" owned? Looks like government wants to take possession, then redistribute, which sounds familiar!

No question there has been an over-building of single family residences. No question, and that has added to the drop in values. Whole neighborhoods could (should?) be leveled and not missed for a second, all across the country, especially in the Phoenix area. Cheaply-built "spec" homes have really diluted the market.



Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 16, 2012, 08:45:40 am
These 12 Hellholes Are Examples Of What The Rest Of America Will Look Like Soon

Do you want to see where this country is headed?  If so, don't focus on the few areas that are still very prosperous.  New York City has Wall Street, Washington D.C. has the federal government and Silicon Valley has Google and Facebook.  Those are the exceptions.  The reality is that most of the country has been experiencing a slow decline for a very long time and once thriving cities such as Gary, Indiana and Flint, Michigan have become absolute hellholes.  They are examples of what the rest of America will look like soon.  60 years ago, most Americans were decent, hard working people and there were always good jobs available for anyone that was willing to roll up his or her sleeves and put in an honest day of work.  But now all of that has changed.  Over the past decade, tens of thousands of manufacturing facilities have shut down and millions of jobs have left the country.  Cities such as Cleveland, Baltimore and Detroit were once shining examples of everything that was right about America, but now they stand out like festering sores.  The "blue collar cities" have been hit the hardest by the gutting of our economic infrastructure.  There are many communities in America today where it seems like all of the hope and all of the life have been sucked right out of them.  You can see it in the eyes of the people.  The good times are gone permanently and they know it.  Unfortunately, the remainder of the country will soon be experiencing the despair that those communities are feeling.

The following are 12 hellholes that are examples of what the rest of America will look like soon....

#1 Gary, Indiana

Gary, Indiana was once a great industrial city.

Today, it is one of the ten most dangerous cities in America, and the population has fallen by about 50 percent.

The following is from a recent Daily Mail article....

Frequently rated one of the ten most dangerous cities in the United States, Gary once boomed with jobs and opportunities but now faces the acute difficulties of America's growing rust belt, with 22 percent of families in the once-great city now lying below the poverty line.

This modern American ghost town began life as home for workers at the United States Steel Corporation plant until economic competition from abroad forced a 90 percent job cut.
It is hard to describe what is happening to Gary without using the word "depressing".  You can watch a great video that shows what Gary, Indiana looks like these days right here.

This is what happens when industry leaves and there are no jobs.  Gary has become a wasteland and there is essentially no hope for a turnaround.

The following is how James Kunstler described what he experienced when he traveled through Gary, Indiana recently....

Between the ghostly remnants of factories stood a score of small cities and neighborhoods where the immigrants settled five generations ago. A lot of it was foreclosed and shuttered. They were places of such stunning, relentless dreariness that you felt depressed just imagining how depressed the remaining denizens of these endless blocks of run-down shoebox houses must feel. Judging from the frequency of taquerias in the 1950s-vintage strip-malls, one inferred that the old Eastern European population had been lately supplanted by a new wave of Mexicans. They had inherited an infrastructure for daily life that was utterly devoid of conscious artistry when it was new, and now had the special patina of supernatural rot over it that only comes from materials not found in nature disintegrating in surprising and unexpected ways, sometimes even sublimely, like the sheen of an oil slick on water at a certain angle to the sun. There was a Chernobyl-like grandeur to it, as of the longed-for end of something enormous that hadn't worked out well.
Sadly, Gary is far from alone.  There are a whole host of other formerly great U.S. cities that are degenerating into hellholes as well.

#2 Chicago, Illinois

There is something truly special about Chicago.  Most of America loved the Bears of the Walter Payton era, the Bulls of the Michael Jordan era and the Cubs of the Ernie Banks era.  Chicago is also known for great architecture and great pizza.

But these days "the windy city" is becoming known for other things.

The murder rate in Chicago is up 38 percent so far this year, and the recent spike in violence in the city has made national headlines.

As I noted the other day, there are only about 200 police officers in Chicago's Gang Enforcement Unit to deal with an estimated 100,000 gang members.

That means that those officers are outnumbered 500 to 1, and more gang members pour into the city every single day.

The escalating violence in Chicago was detailed in a recent article in the Telegraph....

"This is a block-to-block war here, a different dynasty on every street," said a dreadlocked young man heavily inked in gang tattoos who calls himself "Killer".

"All the black brothers just want to get rich, but we got no jobs and no hope. We want the violence to stop but you ain't safe if you ain't got your pistol with you. Too many friends, too many men are being killed. We don't even cry at funerals no -more. Nobody expects to live past 21 here."

The victims and killers are mainly black males aged between 15 and 35, often with gang affiliations - but not exclusively. A seven-year-old girl, Heaven Sutton, was buried this month after being gunned down at her mother's street sweet store. And last week, two girls aged 12 and 13 were shot and badly-wounded as they walked home from a newly-opened community centre.
If you are thinking of moving to Chicago, you might want to think again.

#3 Detroit, Michigan

I have written repeatedly about Detroit because it is a perfect example of what the rest of America is going to look like soon.

Once upon a time it was regarded as one of the top manufacturing cities the world had ever seen, but today it has become a total hellhole.

There are very few decent jobs available, poverty has exploded and crime is everywhere.

If you can believe it, 53.6% of all children in Detroit are living in poverty, and only 25 percent of all students in Detroit graduate from high school at this point.

And as I wrote about recently, justifiable homicide in Detroit increased by a whopping 79 percent during 2011, and the rate of self-defense killings in Detroit is now approximately 2200% above the national average.

Is it any wonder that you can still buy a house for $100 in some areas of Detroit?

The truth is that many areas of Detroit now resemble a post-apocalyptic wasteland.  Perhaps that is why one team of investors actually wants to turn some of the worst areas of Detroit into a zombie theme park....

Derelict areas of Detroit face being taken over by hordes of 'flesh and brain-eating zombies' if an ambitious business plan takes off.

Entrepreneur Mark Siwak wants to create live-action terror theme park 'Z World' on Motor City's run-down and abandoned streets.

Customers would pay to be chased by professional actors and try to seek shelter in ghostly homes, factories and businesses.
You can see some great video of the "ruins of Detroit" right here.

#4 Stockton, California

Stockton is one of the ten most dangerous cities in America and it recently made national headlines when it declared bankruptcy.

Unfortunately, as spending on law enforcement has declined it has given the criminals a lot more room to operate in Stockton.  The following is from a recent Business Insider article....

The city has cut more than $90 million in spending over the past few years, specifically in its police department. The city has cut over one quarter of its police jobs, which has led to a "surge in murders," and has created an "emboldened criminal element" in the city. According to police spokesman Joe Silva, the city has had 87 murders since the start of 2011, 29 of which have already occurred this year. In contrast, there were 35 murders in 2009 and 48 in 2010. With six months left in the year, there have already been more murders in the city since the start of 2011 than the two-year stretch of 2009-2010.
A while back in Stockton a billboard was put up with the following message: "Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California. Stop laying off cops."

#5 Flint, Michigan

Flint, Michigan is a city that Michael Moore has made famous.  Flint once supported hordes of middle class workers thanks to a thriving auto industry, but today it is a just a rotting shell.  It looks like a war went through it and nobody bothered to clean up the mess.

At this point, the murder rate in Flint, Michigan is worse than the murder rate in Baghdad.  That is how nightmarish things have become in Flint.

The following is from an article in the New York Times....

It’s not that the cops here are scared; it’s just that they’re outmanned, outgunned and flat broke.

Flint is the birthplace of General Motors and the home of the U.A.W.’s first big strike. In case you didn’t know this, the words “Vehicle City” are spelled out on the archway spanning the Flint River.

But the name is a lie. Flint isn’t Vehicle City anymore. The Buick City complex is gone. The spark-plug plant is gone. Fisher Body is gone.

What Flint is now is one of America’s murder capitals. Last year in Flint, population 102,000, there were 66 documented murders. The murder rate here is worse than those in Newark and St. Louis and New Orleans. It’s even worse than Baghdad’s.
Politicians love to go to Flint and make speeches, but things never get any better.  The following are comments that Joe Biden made about Flint, Michigan during a recent speech he gave to promote a jobs bill....

"In 2008, when Flint had 265 sworn officers on their police force, there were 35 murders and 91 rapes in this city. In 2010, when Flint had only 144 police officers, the murder rate climbed to 65 and rapes--just to pick two categories--climbed to 229. In 2011, you now only have 125 shields. God only knows what the numbers will be this year for Flint if we don't rectify it."
But don't look down on Flint - these kinds of conditions are coming to where you live soon enough.

#6 West Philly

Did you know that 36.4% of all children that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty?

There are some sections of Philadelphia that are actually very nice, but there are others that look like society has forgotten about them for decades.

A recent article by Jim Quinn entitled "More Than 30 Blocks Of Grey And Decay" described the depressing conditions in West Philadelphia.  Quinn refers to his drive through this area as "the 30 Blocks of Squalor"....

The real unemployment rate exceeds 50%, murder is the number one industry, with drugs a close second.
But it was not always this way.  Once upon a time, West Philly was actually a thriving area and was full of middle class families.

So what happened?

That is a very good question.

According to Quinn, the physical decay in West Philly is matched by the social decay....

The once proud homes are in shambles. Bags of garbage dot the landscape. Most of the people who live here are parasites on society. Personal responsibility, work ethic, education and marriage are unknown concepts in this community. Even though more than 50% of the students in West Philly drop out of high school and the SAT scores of West Philly High students are lower than whale ****, the bankrupt school district spent $70 million to build a new high school/prison to babysit derelicts and future prison inmates. The windows do not have steel bars yet, as the architect was smart to put all windows at least eight feet above street level.
These days there is a lot of despair in "the city of brotherly love".  It is so sad to see what is happening to what once was such a proud city.

#7 Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland has always had a love/hate relationship with itself.  Many who live there call it "the mistake by the lake", but the truth is that it was once a truly great city.

Sadly, today it is symbol of what has gone wrong with America.

There has been a steady stream of businesses that have left Cleveland and today 52.6% of all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty.

There are not enough good jobs in Cleveland anymore, and so there are not enough workers to buy the tens of thousands of homes that have been foreclosed or abandoned.

So what is being done with all of those empty homes?

Unfortunately, they are being torn down.

The following comes from a recent CBS News report by Scott Pelley....

Across America, recession-fueled foreclosures and plummeting home values have left countless properties abandoned and vulnerable to looting. As Scott Pelley reports, the problem has gotten so bad in Cleveland, Ohio, that county officials have demolished more than 1,000 homes this year - and plan to demolish 20,000 more - rather than let the blight spread and render nearby homes worthless.
Does that seem right to you?

Should Cleveland be destroying tens of thousands of homes that families could be using?

Something has gone very, very wrong in this country.

#8 Camden, New Jersey

If you want to see what a hellhole looks like just visit Camden, New Jersey.

Although you will probably want to take an armed escort with you.

As industry has abandoned Camden, the gangs have basically taken over.  The "growth industries" in Camden these days are drug dealing and prostitution.

In an article entitled "City of Ruins", reporter Chris Hedges described what life is like in Camden at this point....

There are perhaps a hundred open-air drug markets, most run by gangs like the Bloods, the Latin Kings, Los Nietos and MS-13. Knots of young men in black leather jackets and baggy sweatshirts sell weed and crack to clients, many of whom drive in from the suburbs. The drug trade is one of the city's few thriving businesses. A weapon, police say, is never more than a few feet away, usually stashed behind a trash can, in the grass or on a porch.
Not that other cities in New Jersey are shining examples for the rest of the world either.

For example, if you want to get really depressed just drive through the bad parts of Newark some time.

#9 St. Louis, Missouri

According to U.S. News and World Report, the most dangerous city in the United States is St. Louis.

If you have a death wish, just wander around the streets of East St. Louis at night.

There is a decent chance that someone will shoot you.

Things were not always this way in St. Louis.  But today things have gotten so bad that you can find packs of wild dogs roaming the city digging through trash and threatening children.

The following is from a report by the local CBS affiliate in St. Louis....

...Lewis Reed is sounding the alarm. "I’ve witnessed packs of dogs, 10 and 15 dogs running together, and I’ve seen all these dogs I’m talking about they don’t have collars, they don’t have tags, these are truly wild dogs," he said.

Reed says stray dogs are terrorizing the north side. "It’s obscene that parents have to walk their kids to school, in some parts of the city, with a golf club to fend off wild dogs."
This kind of thing is actually happening in America?

#10 New Orleans, Louisiana

The problems that New Orleans has experienced have been well documented.

But unlike most of the cities listed above, at least New Orleans has an excuse.  New Orleans permanently lost 29% of its population after Hurricane Katrina, and large sections of the city were essentially destroyed by that storm.

Even today, there are still some areas of New Orleans that look as if they have just been bombed.

It has been estimated that about 20 percent of the homes in New Orleans are still standing vacant, and poverty is rampant.  New Orleans will probably never fully recover to the level it was at before Hurricane Katrina hit.

#11 Oakland, California

Oakland has always been in the shadow of San Francisco, and the contrast between the two cities continues to grow.

Oakland has always been considered one of the more dangerous cities in America, and this year crime rates in Oakland are rising rapidly.  The following is from a recent article in the New York Times....

At the beginning of April, murders in Oakland were up 26 percent over a year ago, rapes were up 41 percent, and robberies were up 35 percent.

When Chief Batts arrived as a “change agent” in 2009, the police department employed 837 officers. It now has 635. The department no longer responds to burglaries that are not still in progress, and frequently does not respond to other calls for help.
So if your house has been robbed and the burglars are gone what are you supposed to do?

Due to a crippling lack of resources, the previous police chief decided that his department would no longer be able to respond to all crimes.

The following is a partial list of the crimes that police in Oakland are no longer likely to respond to....

burglary
theft
embezzlement
grand theft
grand theft: dog
identity theft
false information to peace officer
required to register as sex or arson offender
dump waste or offensive matter
loud music
possess forged notes
pass fictitious check
obtain money by false voucher
fraudulent use of access cards
stolen license plate
embezzlement by an employee
extortion
attempted extortion
false personification of other
injure telephone/power line
interfere with power line
unauthorized cable tv connection
vandalism
So what do you do if you are a victim of one of those crimes in Oakland?

That is a very good question.

#12 Baltimore, Maryland

If you can believe it, Baltimore was actually once a great city.

But today it has become a crime-ridden, drug-infested hellhole.

I used to drive up to Baltimore all the time.  It truly is a "blue collar" city.  There are a lot of really hard working people there.

Unfortunately, there are not nearly enough jobs for everyone and a lot of people have turned to drugs and crime.

There are some areas of Baltimore that you really should never enter by yourself.  If you do go into them, you might not make it back out.

There was one incident in Baltimore earlier this year that was particularly disturbing.

One poor young man had gotten drunk and was apparently wandering around all by himself.  Some thugs approached him and they clearly sensed that he was vulnerable.  So they knocked him to the ground, stripped him of his car keys, his watch, his money, his cell phone and his clothes.

A crowd gathered around to watch, and instead of helping the man, several of them got out their cell phones and laughed hysterically while they recorded the incident with their cell phone cameras for YouTube.

What made all of this even sadder is that this happened right in front of a Baltimore courthouse.

What in the world has happened to this nation?

All of us that still love this country should be deeply saddened by everything above.

America is rotting from the inside out, and if we are ever going to find any solutions we need to start admitting how bad things have really become.

The truth is that our problems are not limited to one political party, one special interest group or to one region of the country.  The social decay that is plaguing America can literally be found everywhere.

For much more on this, please see the following four articles....

1) "25 Signs The Collapse Of America Is Speeding Up As Society Rots From The Inside Out"

2) "70 Reasons To Mourn For America"

3) "20 Signs That Society Is Breaking Down And That America Has Been Overrun By Psychos"

4) "12 Factors That Are Turning The Streets Of America Into A Living Hell"

So don't laugh at Detroit or Cleveland or St. Louis.

The rest of the country is declining too.

If the city where you live is not a hellhole already, it will be soon enough.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/these-12-hellholes-are-examples-of-what-the-rest-of-america-will-look-like-soon


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 16, 2012, 08:46:55 am
12 Factors That Are Turning The Streets Of America Into A Living Hell

The United States once had safe, beautiful cities that were the envy of the entire world, but now many of them are degenerating into rotting, festering, crime-ridden hellholes.  All over the country there are communities where crime, drugs, gangs and human trafficking have gotten completely and totally out of control.  Once upon a time you could walk down the streets of most U.S. cities at night without much fear, but these days there are many large American cities where it would be absolutely crazy to wander around the streets at night unless you want to be mugged, shot or sexually assaulted.  If you end up at the wrong place at the wrong time you might end up being abducted by a human trafficker or have your face eaten off by a crazed drug addict high on bath salts.  With each passing day our cities degenerate just a little bit more, and life in many of our worst communities truly has become a living hell.  Sadly, this comes at a time when the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world by far.  We have tried to lock as many people away as possible and our communities are still turning into hellholes.  So where do we go from here?

The following are 12 factors that are turning the streets of America into a living hell....

#1 Out Of Control Gang Violence

The United States has the highest rate of illegal drug use in the entire world.  This makes it easy for gangs to make money and to grow.

In Chicago, there are 200 police officers in Chicago's Gang Enforcement Unit to go up against an estimated 100,000 gang members in the city.

How would you feel if you were outnumbered 500 to 1?

One of the Gang Enforcement Unit officers described to CBS News what gang activity in Chicago is like these days....

Sgt. Little is a decorated veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He said that parts of Chicago are comparable to what he saw in combat.

It's "tribal warfare," he said, "and as it continues to build unless we manage to interdict it, and manage to stop it long enough for the blood to stop boiling, the heat to die down."
You can see a video news report about gang violence in Chicago that contains this quote right here.

Overall, the FBI estimates that the number of gang members in the United States has increased by 40 percent since 2009 and that there are now a total of 1.4 million gang members living in America.

Has your community been taken over by gangs yet?

At this rate, they will take over all of our communities eventually.

#2 Naked Criminals Going Crazy

Lately, we have seen a rash of truly bizarre drug-fueled crimes all over the United States.

Of course most of us have heard about all of the "zombie attacks" that happened all over the country recently that involved criminals attacking and trying to eat their victims.

But now another trend seems to be emerging.

Now, a lot of these drug-fueled crimes are being committed by people that are completely and totally naked.

This first example comes from down in Florida....

A naked man allegedly flew into a violent rampage, biting a chunk out of another man's stomach after leaping from his roof onto a truck and urinating inside his home.


Officers responding to the scene needed backup to restrain Jeremiah Aaron Haughee with leg shackles, a spit hood and handcuffs after he continued fighting despite being Tasered five times.

Authorities did not carry out tests on Haughee to see if he was under the influence of any drugs.


Police first arrived at the home in Flagler Beach, Florida at 4.30 a.m. to find two men restraining the naked 22-year-old in a puddle of urine and glass.
Another "crazy naked criminal" incident happened recently at a hotel in California....

A naked man who may have been on drugs was arrested Saturday for killing a Tracy motel employee.

Andrew Carreiro, 25, is behind bars accused of killing the 62-year-old woman who cleans rooms at the Hacienda Inn on the 600 block of West 11th Street.

Witnesses say they found Carreiro covered in blood and standing near the partially naked body of the woman, say witnesses.

“[It’s] most definitely the craziest thing I’ve seen in my life, most definitely,” said Jermaine Haynes, a motel resident who made the gruesome discovery.
Why are we seeing so much bizarre behavior all over the nation these days?

Can anyone explain this?

#3 Jersey Shore In Real Life

America loves to party.  In a nation where even Secret Service agents "party like rock stars", it shouldn't be surprising that partying is getting out of control in communities all over the country.

Over in New Jersey, one borough "was forced recently to amend its public-urination ordinance to include defecation" because there has been such a problem with public drunkenness.

Some people watch MTV's "Jersey Shore" and they assume that stuff like that simply does not happen in real life.

But it does happen in real life.  In fact, some New Jersey towns along the coast are being invaded by hordes of people that want to live the "Jersey Shore lifestyle" and the results have been absolutely nightmarish.

The following is from a recent Bloomberg article....

For Dave Cavagnaro, life as a full- time resident along the New Jersey shore came with small headaches he expected: scant weekend parking, congestion and the occasional piece of litter.

Nothing prepared him for what is going on these days in his hometown of Point Pleasant Beach, about 90 minutes by car from Manhattan. Public urination. Beer bottles tossed on his lawn. Screaming crowds pouring onto his street after the 2 a.m. bar closing. He’s even caught a couple having sex against the side of his house.
#4 Horrifying Abuse Of Children

America is a world leader in the abuse of children.  Sadly, there are more than 3 million reports of child abuse in the United States every single year.

Much of this abuse is sexual.  What goes on behind many closed doors all over America is so sick that it is hard to find words to even describe how horrible it is.

In the United States today, it is estimated that one out of every four girls is sexually abused before they become adults.

How did we sink so low as a nation?

In this country we are also very physically violent with our children.

One man up in Wisconsin recently brutally murdered his three young daughters right inside the home of his ex-wife.

Unfortunately, that was not an isolated incident.

In fact, the United States has the highest child abuse death rate on the entire globe.

So what is causing all of this child abuse?

Well, the explosion of pornography on the Internet is certainly not helping matters.

Law enforcement officials estimate that about 600,000 Americans and about 65,000 Canadians are involved in trading dirty child pictures on the Internet.

And in a country filled with men that have dirty minds the following kind of thing can happen....

Texas authorities said Tuesday they removed 11 children from a crowded home where a registered sex offender lives after they found eight confined in a small, dark bedroom with restraints tying some to their beds.

Along with the children, 10 adults were living in the one-story, 1,700-square-foot home in Dayton, about 30 miles northeast of Houston, Child Protective Services spokeswoman Gwen Carter said. One month after a raid on the house, authorities are still trying to determine how the children are related and why they were there, she said.
Yes, life in many of our communities is actually turning into a living hell.

#5 Nightmarish Abuse Of Wives And Girlfriends

Children are not the only ones being abused.

All over the United States there is an epidemic of abuse against wives and girlfriends as well.

For example, it was recently reported that one West Virginia man kept his wife chained up for nearly 10 years and treated her like a slave.

And even our politicians get into the act when it comes to domestic abuse.  The following is what Massachusetts State Representative Carlos Henriquez is accused of doing to his girlfriend....

Gonzalves told police that Henriquez came to her mother’s home around 2 a.m. and picked her up, telling her that he wanted to discuss their relationship. She said the conversation turned tense, and that Henriquez spent the next two hours driving around downtown Boston, and along Storrow Drive and into the Fenway neighborhood – assaulting her and refusing to let her out of his car.

“Ms. Gonzalves stated that Mr. Henriquez had punched her with a closed fist repeatedly and strangled her while she was in his motor vehicle,’’ police wrote in the report. “Ms. Gonzalves stated that every time she attempted to jump out of the car the suspect (Henriquez) grabbed her wrists to prevent her from jumping out of the motor vehicle.’’
#6 An Epidemic Of Sexual Predators

In America today you aren't just in danger of being abused in your own home.

The truth is that there are millions of sexual predators out there waiting to pounce on you and your children.

Unfortunately, you never know who to trust these days.  Someone like Jerry Sandusky can seem very respectable, but it turns out that he was an absolute monster and his crimes against children went unreported for years and years.

Sadly, the truth is that there are hordes of Jerry Sanduskys out there.  If you can believe it, it is estimated that 500,000 Americans that will be born this year will be sexually abused before they turn 18.

Yes, there have always been sexual predators in America, but these days they seem to be multiplying.

You never know where one is going to pop up.  For example, just check out what happened at a Wal-Mart down in Georgia recently....

A man posing as a representative of the “America’s Funniest Home Videos” TV show tricked an 18-year-old Georgia woman into allowing him to suck her toe inside a Walmart in Georgia, police report.

According to a Columbia County Sheriff’s Office report, the teen was shopping Tuesday evening when approached by the middle-aged suspect, who cops have identified as Joey Leaphart, a 43-year-old registered sex offender whose rap sheet is littered with foot-related crimes.
But that teen got off easy.  Other sexual predators will kill you once they are done with you.

A recent Daily Mail article detailed a nightmarish incident which took place in North Dakota.  Two crack-fueled predators abducted and brutally murdered a 43-year-old math teacher named Sherry Arnold....

Spell and Waters had left Colorado days before the crime claiming they wanted work in eastern Montana and western North Dakota's oil fields.

After smoking crack **** over the entire trip, Waters allegedly told Spell the drug 'brought the devil out in him' and began talking about kidnapping and killing a female, AP reports.

After they spotted Arnold, Spell claims that Waters told him to 'grab the lady' and pull her into their Ford Explorer as she jogged by.
Once they got her into the Ford Explorer, they choked the life out of her and then buried her body in a shallow grave in North Dakota.

Many of these crimes are completely and totally senseless.

But they keep on happening with increasing frequency.

Sexual predators have become so common on Facebook that Facebook is actually using software to track "suspicious behavior and keywords".  So what happens if the software finds something?  A recent article by Paul Joseph Watson described what comes next....

Words or phrases considered vulgar or an attempt to exchange personal information are red flagged and brought to the attention of Facebook employees, who then decide whether the content is worthy of being brought to the attention of law enforcement.
#7 Horrifying Abuse Of Animals

Is it just me, or does it seem like the abuse of animals is reaching horrifying new levels?

The way we treat our animals says a lot about where we are as a society.

And right now, our treatment of animals says that we are very sick.

For example, one man down in Florida has been charged with biting the lips off of a kitten.

In Waco, Texas police say that a 22-year-old man recently strangled and ate the family dog while he was high on drugs.

Down in Arizona, authorities recently removed dozens of cats from the home of an elderly woman.  This was the third time that they had removed cats from her home.  This time they discovered that she had 64 cats living in her house.  In the past, authorities say that the elderly woman would make a "feline stew concoction" with any of the cats that ended up dying.

#8 Rampant Theft All Over The United States

As the economy has crumbled and unemployment has soared, millions of Americans have started to become very desperate.

All over America we are starting to see desperate criminals steal anything that they think that they can sell for money.

For example, down in Bristol, Tennessee authorities say that there has been an epidemic of lawn equipment theft lately.

Over in California, criminals will even steal the gold right out of your mouth....

Robbers targeted a 17-year-old who had his grill of gold mouth jewelry taken in South Sacramento.

The Sheriff's Department said three men, at least one armed with a gun, beat the teen who was sitting in a car early Sunday morning. Besides taking cash, they took his gold grill, the mouth jewelry worn by many hip-hop fans.

With robbers going wild, stealing gold chains from victims in Stockton, it stands to reason that a grill would be stolen.  An average set covering the upper and lower teeth can cost between $600 and $1,600. More if they are embedded with diamonds.
Down in Fresno, California thieves are stealing so much copper wire from city street lights that it is costing the city about $50,000 a month.  So far, approximately 2,500 street lights have been stripped of their wiring by thieves.

#9 America's Meth Epidemic

As mentioned earlier, America has the biggest drug problem in the world and one of America's favorite drugs is meth.

According to PBS, there are approximately 1.4 million meth users in the United States right now.

Meth can destroy your life faster than just about any other drug.  If you doubt this, just check out these before and after pictures.

Unfortunately, there are lots of signs that meth use is rising again.

According to the DEA, meth seizures increased from 2,839 in 2007 to 6,168 in 2010.

That is very, very bad news.  When people become meth addicts they do absolutely crazy things.  The following examples are from a recent USA Today article....

A mother in Bakersfield, California, was sentenced Tuesday for stabbing her newborn while in a meth rage. An Oklahoma woman drowned her baby in a washing machine in November. A New Mexico woman claiming to be God stabbed her son with a screwdriver last month, saying, "God wants him dead."
And meth is so addictive that addicts will do just about anything to get more of it.

One woman in St. Louis was recently charged with cooking meth inside her purse while she was inside a Wal-Mart store.  When an addict wants more meth, not much else really matters at that point.

#10 Mob Robberies

Groups of young people are banding together in "flash mobs" and are robbing retail stores all over the country.  During a "mob robbery", dozens of people will storm into a store and grab whatever they want and then storm right back out.  The following is one recent example that happened in Baltimore....

“They went in, they started going everywhere in the store, grabbing things and then they just run out. And I knew that they didn’t buy it because they just run out,” Kendra Mellerson said. “They ran that way and they ran that way. And the guy was trying to come out and stop them but they couldn’t because there was so many.”

After some kids ran away, a store manager blocked the door to keep the rest of the kids from leaving. But those kids got so mad that the door was blocked, they started punching the store manager.

“Yes, they really started hitting that guy and he couldn’t keep getting beat on so he eventually let them out. And then they just ran,” Mellerson said.
Mob robberies are kind of like shoplifting on steroids.

You can see video of one very disturbing mob robbery that happened over in Detroit recently right here.

When we start to see groups of young people banding together to commit crimes like this that is a sign that our society has decayed really, really badly.

#11 Police Are Becoming More Corrupt And More Abusive

When bad things do happen, most people respond by calling the police.

That is who we are supposed to call, right?

Unfortunately, it appears that the police in America have become more corrupt and more abusive than ever.

Up in Seattle, police recently tasered a pregnant woman three times after she refused to sign a ticket for a traffic violation.

Who would do such a thing to a pregnant woman?

That little baby could have been easily killed.

Down in Georgia, one police officer recently kicked a woman who was nine months pregnant directly in the stomach.  Amazingly, his superiors in the local police department defended his actions.

If that is how police will treat pregnant women, then how are they going to treat you?

Sadly, police all over the country continue to get caught breaking the very laws that they are supposed to be enforcing.  For example, just check out what one police officer has been charged with doing in Philadelphia....

A Philadelphia cop was arrested over allegations that he abducted a 14-year-old girl, sexually assaulted her and made her watch him have sex with a prostitute.

Police found Anthony Dattilo, 36, at a motel in the Bensalem area of the city Wednesday while responding to a possible abduction, according to the Bucks County Courier Times.

Dattilo, a 12-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department, is reportedly in custody at the Bucks County prison on $500,000 bail.
#12 Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is big business.  It is a 32 billion dollar industry worldwide, and it is an industry that is rapidly growing in America.

Most of those that are abducted and forced into sex slavery are women.  A very large percentage of them are under 18 years of age.

This is one reason why it is a really, really, really bad idea for girls to run away from home.

All over America tonight, "pimps" will force young girls to have sex with strange men at hotels, truck stops and in back alleys.

The following is what one CNN reporter witnessed at a truck stop down in North Carolina recently....

The woman sports baggy shorts, a white T-shirt and frizzy hair. Her fat middle-aged pimp sits in a beat up red Honda, watching as his “lot lizard” moves from truck to truck, in broad daylight.  If this pimp has a cane it is for substance, not style.

She moves through the parking lot, occasionally opening a cab’s passenger-side door and climbing in.

The trucker and **** disappear in the back for 10 minutes.

Danielle Mitchell watches from the other end of the parking lot and shakes her head.

“We know from talking to other victims and other agencies that girls are taken to truck stops and they’re actually traded,” she says, sitting in her car, a shiny silver sport utility vehicle, keeping a healthy 50-yard distance from the pimp.
Sadly, this is rapidly becoming an out of control epidemic in the United States.

According to the Daily Mail, the FBI recently rescued 79 sex slaves all across America in just one three day period....

The FBI has rescued 79 teens held against their will and forced into prostitution from hotels, truck stops and stores during a three-day swoop on sex-trafficking rings across the country.

The sex slaves were aged between 13 and 17, although one said she had been involved in prostitution since she was just 11, authorities said.

During the sting operations across 57 U.S. cities - including Atlanta, Sacramento and Toledo, Ohio - 104 alleged pimps were arrested.
Unfortunately, getting those 79 sex slaves off the street barely made a dent in the overall problem.

America is very sick, and our cities continue to get even worse with each passing day.

You can find even more evidence that our society is collapsing right here.

This article is already over 3000 words long, and I feel as though I have barely scratched the surface.

Sadly, most Americans don't think about these kinds of things very much.

Instead, most of them spend their time obsessed with entertainment and celebrities and other things that don't mean a whole lot in the long run.

That is why the fact that Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez are leaving American Idol is causing so much trauma all over America right now.

Our priorities are seriously messed up.

So what do all of you think?

Are the streets of America turning into a living hell?

Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below....

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/12-factors-that-are-turning-the-streets-of-america-into-a-living-hell


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 16, 2012, 09:17:59 am
25 Signs The Collapse Of America Is Speeding Up As Society Rots From The Inside Out

The problems that America is experiencing right now are not just confined to the field of economics.  The truth is that there are signs of deep decay wherever we look, and without question the United States is rotting from the inside out in thousands of different ways.  For a long time our debt-fueled prosperity has masked much of the social decay that has been festering underneath the surface, but now it is becoming increasingly apparent that the thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted is beginning to disappear.  For many Americans, it is easy to point a finger at a particular group or political party and blame them for all of our problems, but the reality of the matter is that our societal decay cuts across all income levels, all political affiliations and all regions of the country.  We are being destroyed from within, and this decay can be seen on the streets of the most dilapidated sections of major U.S. cities and it can also be seen in the halls of power in Washington D.C. and on Wall Street.  It is undeniable that something has fundamentally changed.  The American people do not seem to possess the same level of character that they once had.  So where do we go from here?

The following are 25 signs the collapse of America is speeding up as society rots from the inside out....

1. Homicides in Chicago are 38 percent ahead of where they were last year at this time.  In fact, the Daily says that "homicide victims in the Windy City outnumber U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this year".  Things are taking a turn for the worse in other major U.S. cities as well.  Just check out the carnage that happened in New York City this past Friday night....

Across barely eight hours, at least seven New Yorkers were murdered and another 21 shot, stabbed or slashed across the city — with only three suspects arrested before the blood stopped flowing
2. Speaking of New York City, a teacher there recently posted the following on her Facebook page....

“Crupi and I survived a shootout today…Thank God we are ok…To all the wanna be gangstas of Staten Island (who say they are from Brooklyn but really aren’t), be grateful you have what you have and stop trying to live a lifestyle you will never understand.”
About a week later, her husband discovered her dead in a pool of her own blood in their apartment.  She had been stabbed numerous times.

3. Reporter James Carlini recently discussed the growing problems that roaming gangs of youths are causing along the Magnificent Mile in Chicago....

There is an increase in problems at night with small gangs roaming around looking for the right prey.

Don't bother looking for any cops, they are far and few between. Little perfume-size pepper spray canisters may be in vogue, politically correct and fit in a purse, but they are not practical. Forget about pepper spray, you'd need a gallon jug of it to stop five or six assailants.

Do you now need a .357 Magnum to walk down the Mag Mile? Maybe a compact .45 or a high-capacity 9MM “just to be on the safe side” is more what you should have. Even the police are telling each other that they better “carry large caliber” off-duty and not be caught unarmed.
4. Down in Florida, a lifeguard named Tomas Lopez was recently fired for attempting to saving a man that was drowning "outside his patrol zone"....

Lopez, 21, was hired by Jeff Ellis Management to monitor a portion of a public beach in Hallandale Beach, Fla. The company allegedly gave Lopez strict instructions to stay inside his patrol zone, ABC News reports.

But when Lopez spotted a man in distress outside his patrol zone Monday afternoon, he ignored those instructions and leapt into action.

By the time lifeguard Tomas Lopez got to the man, other bystanders had already pulled him to shore, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. Lopez stayed with the man until paramedics arrived.

That valiant act was Lopez's last as a lifeguard, as his employer fired him for straying 1,500 feet outside his patrol zone.
5. Authorities say that thieves are stealing identities and filing fraudulent tax returns on a scale never seen before....

With nothing more than ledgers of stolen identity information — Social Security numbers and their corresponding names and birth dates — criminals have electronically filed thousands of false tax returns with made-up incomes and withholding information and have received hundreds of millions of dollars in wrongful refunds, law enforcement officials say.

The criminals, some of them former drug dealers, outwit the Internal Revenue Service by filing a return before the legitimate taxpayer files. Then the criminals receive the refund, sometimes by check but more often though a convenient but hard-to-trace prepaid debit card.
In all, the IRS says that there were approximately 940,000 fake tax returns filed for 2010.

6. U.S. Secret Service agents are supposed to be "the best of the best" and are charged with guarding our top public officials.  But even they have exhibited a consistent pattern of moral decay for many years according to one recent report....

Secret Service agents and officers have been accused of leaking sensitive information, publishing ****, sexual assaults, illegal wiretaps, embezzlement and drunkenness on duty, according to a 229-page log released yesterday.

After a prostitution scandal in April, when agents consorted with hookers while preparing for President Obama’s arrival in Colombia, Service Director Mark Sullivan apologized. But he said it was an isolated case, not a “systemic issue.”

However, the log, which the Service Service released yesterday after news organizations requested it under the Freedom of Information Act, shows a pattern of misdeeds dating back to 2003.
7. These days thieves will steal just about anything that is not bolted down and that they can sell for money.  For example, three thieves recently broke into a Chicago beauty supply store and took off with hair extensions that were worth a total of $230,000.

8. Up in Minnesota, thieves are stealing Bronze Stars from hundreds of military graves, and down in Fresno, California thieves have actually been stealing metal crosses from churches.

9. According to one shocking new report, one out of every 10 Wall Street employees is a "clinical psychopath".  That is a rate about 10 times higher than the general population.

10. Even many police are going crazy these days.  Over in Seattle, police zapped a pregnant woman with a taser three times just because she refused to sign a ticket.

11. Down in California, one man recently sliced off the ear of another man with a knife over an unpaid debt.

12. These days we are seeing senseless crimes being committed even in small towns in the heartland of America.  Just check out what happened in Helena, Montana about a week ago....

Helena Police are working to identify two young men after what they call a random act of violence over the weekend. Helena Police found a 40-year-old homeless man badly beaten in an alley behind the Gold Bar around 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

Helena Police Detective Sergeant Richard Drysdale states,” The video shows two white males surrounding the victim as he was entering the walkway yelling at him and then knocking him down to the ground where they beat and kicked him until he was unconscious.”
You can find a video report about this incident right here.

13. One town in Connecticut was forced to shut down a beautiful new public fountain because too many people were using it as a toilet.

14. According to one very shocking study, the percentage of U.S. households that contain a married couple with children has fallen from 44.3% in 1960 to 20.2% today.

15. A huge brawl between parents erupted during one recent preschool graduation ceremony down in the Los Angeles area.

16. We continue to see "mob robberies" at retail establishments all over the nation.  During one recent mob robbery in Detroit, thugs beat the living daylights out of one very unfortunate stock clerk.

17. Speaking of Detroit, nobody is immune to the spreading violence in that city.  For example, just check out what happened recently to a 22-year-old pregnant woman....

A 22-year-old pregnant woman survived after being bound, driven to Detroit, set on fire and shot early Saturday morning.

The woman, who was nine-months pregnant, had returned from a movie with her boyfriend and dropped him off at his house in Warren when she was approached from behind, Warren police Sgt. Dave Geffert said.

The woman's hands, feet and eyes were bound with duct tape. She was then forced into her car and driven to an unknown place in Detroit where she was doused with lighter fluid, set on fire and shot once in the upper back, he said.
18. Many families returned to their homes following the recent wildfires in Colorado only to discover that their houses had been robbed and looted.

19. One 33-year-old art teacher in Arizona was not satisfied with only having sex with one of her students.  In fact, police have charged her with having sex with four of her male students.

20. Down in Florida, one man has actually been charged with biting the lips off of a kitten.

21. Over in Waco, Texas a 22-year-old man recently strangled and ate the family dog while he was high on drugs.

22. Of course most of us have heard of the recent outbreak of "zombie attacks" around the nation where criminals have actually been biting their victims and chewing their flesh.  The following is another example of this phenomenon from a recent case in central New York....

A synthetic drug known as “bath salts” is blamed for some bizarre behavior in central New York.

The Utica Observer-Dispatch reports that police officers were called to Stanley’s Bar Saturday night to check out a woman described as emotionally disturbed. When an officer approached her, she lunged at him and tried to bite his face. Police say she screamed that she wanted to “kill someone and eat them.”

The woman was taken to St. Luke’s Memorial Hospital for a mental health evaluation.
Another very disturbing "zombie incident" took place down in Georgia recently....

Karl Laventure, 21, was believed to be high on bath salts when he tried to attack the officers in Lilburn, Georgia.


And after they had managed to subdue him he began threatening to eat them.

Laventure appeared out of some woods and was seen running naked around a golf range near Atlanta, swinging a club around his head and screaming.


Police said that it took several officers to subdue the man who had 'super-human strength'.
23. All over America, people seem to be losing their minds.  Just check out what one man in New Jersey did recently when police arrived at his home....

Officers got a call that morning when a witness said Carter was threatening to harm himself with a knife. Two cops responded, kicked in the door and found Carter in the corner, the station reported.

Carter allegedly ignored officers' orders to put down the knife, and instead began stabbing himself in the abdomen, neck and legs.

An attempt to pepper spray the bleeding man had no effect, the Associated Press reported.

That's when Carter -- disemboweled but responsive -- reportedly threw bits of his skin and intestines at the officers.
24. One woman in the St. Louis area was recently caught cooking meth in her purse inside a Wal-Mart store.

25. Anyone that believes that slavery has been abolished in America does not know what they are talking about.  Every single night sex slaves are being horribly abused all over the United States.  The following is from a recent Daily Mail article....

The FBI has rescued 79 teens held against their will and forced into prostitution from hotels, truck stops and stores during a three-day swoop on sex-trafficking rings across the country.

The sex slaves were aged between 13 and 17, although one said she had been involved in prostitution since she was just 11, authorities said.

During the sting operations across 57 U.S. cities - including Atlanta, Sacramento and Toledo, Ohio - 104 alleged pimps were arrested.
It is estimated that "100,000 children are victims of prostitution and trafficking each year" in the United States.

Are you starting to get the picture?

Sadly, there are dozens and dozens more examples like these.  If you want to see more examples of how the collapse of America is speeding up, check out these articles that I recently published....

"70 Reasons To Mourn For America"

"20 Signs That Society Is Breaking Down And That America Has Been Overrun By Psychos"

The frightening thing is that this breakdown of our society is happening at the same time that our economy is completely falling to pieces.

This economic decline that we are experiencing is shredding the middle class and it is plunging millions of Americans into very desperate circumstances.  The following is a brief excerpt from a recent Rolling Stone article....

Every night around nine, Janis Adkins falls asleep in the back of her Toyota Sienna van in a church parking lot at the edge of Santa Barbara, California. On the van’s roof is a black Yakima SpaceBooster, full of previous-life belongings like a snorkel and fins and camping gear. Adkins, who is 56 years old, parks the van at the lot’s remotest corner, aligning its side with a row of dense, shading avocado trees. The trees provide privacy, but they are also useful because she can pick their fallen fruit, and she doesn’t always­ have enough to eat. Despite a continuous, two-year job search, she remains without dependable work. She says she doesn’t need to eat much – if she gets a decent hot meal in the morning, she can get by for the rest of the day on a piece of fruit or bulk-purchased almonds – but food stamps supply only a fraction of her nutritional needs, so foraging opportunities are welcome.

Prior to the Great Recession, Adkins owned and ran a successful plant nursery in Moab, Utah. At its peak, it was grossing $300,000 a year. She had never before been unemployed – she’d worked for 40 years, through three major recessions.
You can read the rest of the article right here.

What would you do if you were in a similar situation?

Sadly, many more Americans will end up just like her.  As I wrote about the other day, the U.S. economy is not going to be able to produce enough jobs for everyone anymore.  In fact, the overall employment picture is going to keep getting worse for working Americans.

Things have gotten so bad that even many very highly educated scientists cannot find jobs in America right now.  Almost everybody is hurting, and we haven't even gotten to the next wave of the economic collapse yet.

The next time that there is a major spike in the unemployment rate, millions of Americans will lose all hope and will become very desperate.

And desperate people do desperate things.

The rot and decay that we are witnessing right now is just the beginning.

Things are going to get a lot worse.

So let us hope for the best, but let us also prepare for the worst.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/25-signs-the-collapse-of-america-is-speeding-up-as-society-rots-from-the-inside-out


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 16, 2012, 09:19:02 am
20 Signs That Society Is Breaking Down And That America Has Been Overrun By Psychos

In order for a society to function successfully, people need to be able to trust one another.  Unfortunately, we are rapidly getting to the point where it is very difficult to trust anyone and society is breaking down.  Just think about it.  Do you trust most politicians?  Do you trust most lawyers?  Do you trust most bankers?  Do you trust the police?  As you will read about below, even doctors are going absolutely bonkers these days.  So if the "upper crust" of society cannot even be trusted, then what about everyone else?  Sadly, the truth is that America has been overrun by psychos.  Most people look somewhat "normal" when you meet them, but unfortunately very few people have pure motives these days.  You never know when someone is going to stab you in the back (literally or figuratively).  These days, most people simply do whatever is right in their own eyes, and that makes society a very unpredictable place.  As the economy continues to fall apart in future years, people are going to become even more desperate, and that is going to cause all of this craziness to get even worse.

Almost everywhere you look, there are signs of societal decay.  During an interview last year, trends researcher Gerald Celente made the following statement....

"Society is breaking down on every level: socially, economically, politically and it's not just the U.S. It's worldwide."
Sadly, he hit the nail right on the head.  There is not a single segment of society that the rot of social decay has not touched.  A lot of people want to put all of the blame on "the politicians" or "the bankers", but the truth is that many of us are just as corrupt as they are.  Instead of pointing fingers, many of us need to look in the mirror.

You might find some of the examples in the list below to be a bit humorous, but a very serious point is being made here.

America is being fundamentally changed, and not for the better.

The following are 20 signs that society is breaking down and that America has been overrun by psychos....

#1 Cannibalism is alive and well in America apparently.  Down in Miami the other day, police shot a man who was literally eating the face off of another man....

"The guy was, like, tearing him to pieces with his mouth, so I told him, 'Get off!'" Vega said. "The guy just kept eating the other guy away, like, ripping his skin."

Vega flagged down a Miami police officer, who he said repeatedly ordered the attacker to get off the victim. The attacker just picked his head up and growled at the officer, Vega said.

As the attack continued, Vega said the officer shot the attacker, who continued chewing the victim's face. The officer fired again, killing the attacker.
It is being reported that the victim in this crime has lost about 75% of his face.

#2 Down in Florida recently, a crazed doctor spit a mouthful of blood on state troopers during a DUI arrest.  It is quite frightening when even doctors are displaying this kind of psychotic behavior....

Bird had $40,000 in his pockets and another $14,000 — along with two handguns, some pills and a small vial of liquid — in his BMW, troopers said.

The crazed doc repeatedly smashed his head against a partition until blood began gushing down the front of his face.

"Hey! Blood, blood, blood, blood all over! Take me to the hospital! Take me to the hospital!" Bird raves in the video, as he uses his head to smear blood all over the car.
#3 A lot of people get on my case for picking on Detroit, but can you really blame me?  So much bizarre material keeps coming out of the city.  For example, just check out what recently happened to a 22-year-old pregnant woman....

A 22-year-old pregnant woman survived after being bound, driven to Detroit, set on fire and shot early Saturday morning.

The woman, who was nine-months pregnant, had returned from a movie with her boyfriend and dropped him off at his house in Warren when she was approached from behind, Warren police Sgt. Dave Geffert said.

The woman's hands, feet and eyes were bound with duct tape. She was then forced into her car and driven to an unknown place in Detroit where she was doused with lighter fluid, set on fire and shot once in the upper back, he said.
#4 Even famous preachers get carjacked in Detroit.  Just ask Pastor Marvin Winans....

Pastor Marvin Winans' SUV remains missing as of Thursday morning and so do the men who punched, kicked and robbed the famous gospel singer.

Winans was pumping gas Wednesday afternoon at a Detroit Citgo station on the corner of Linwood and Davison when at least two men ambushed him.
#5 Would you like to have your lips stapled shut and then be tortured with a power tool?  Well, that is exactly what happened to one man in Utah recently.

#6 A 26-year-old high school teacher in Minnesota has been charged with sending naked photos of herself to the phone of a 17-year-old male student.  Did she really expect to get away with that?

#7 For some teachers, one student simply is not enough.  A 33-year-old art teacher in Arizona was recently charged with having sex with four of her male students.

#8 Many of our major cities are turning into war zones.  According to WGN, a total of 25 people were shot in a single night in Chicago recently.

#9 These days, most people do not seem to care if you are pregnant.  Up in Seattle, police tasered a pregnant woman three times after she refused to sign a ticket for a traffic violation.

#10 Down in Georgia, a police officer recently kicked a woman who was nine months pregnant directly in the stomach.  His superiors in the local police department defended his actions.

#11 After reading how police are behaving these days it is hard to have much confidence in them.  For example, just check out what one police officer is charged with doing in Philadelphia....

A Philadelphia cop was arrested over allegations that he abducted a 14-year-old girl, sexually assaulted her and made her watch him have sex with a prostitute.

Police found Anthony Dattilo, 36, at a motel in the Bensalem area of the city Wednesday while responding to a possible abduction, according to the Bucks County Courier Times.

Dattilo, a 12-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department, is reportedly in custody at the Bucks County prison on $500,000 bail.
#12 The sexual abuse that happens to children in homes all over America each night is absolutely unspeakable.  The following is one recent example from California....

A Superior Court judge sentenced a man to 40 years and 8 months to life in state prison Friday for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old female relative on Christmas Eve while family members slept in other rooms, calling his conduct "depraved."Jorge Miguel Gallegos, 38, of Santa Ana, was convicted in April of six felony counts, including sexual assault, lewd acts on a child under 14, and dissuading a witness from reporting a crime.
#13 Everyone knew that sickos and perverts were going to flock to the TSA so that they could legally touch people, but this is ridiculous.  It was recently discovered that a Catholic priest that left the ministry because of allegations of sexual abuse has been hired by the TSA and works as a supervisor at an airport in Philadelphia.

#14 One recent study found that 5.3 percent of all inmates in state prisons have had a sexual encounter with prison staff.

#15 Down in Arizona, authorities recently removed dozens of cats from the home of an elderly woman for the third time.  This time, there were 64 cats living with her.  In the past, authorities had discovered that the woman would make a "feline stew concoction" with any of the cats that ended up dying.

#16 You know that things are getting bad when people are stealing from ambulances....

Spotsylvania County emergency officials are working to secure drug compartments in ambulances following a recent string of thefts.

Since April, two thefts have occurred at one rescue station and a third at another station. Morphine and other drugs were taken from locked ambulance compartments.
#17 Flash mobs continue to rob convenience stores all over the country.  The following is one recent example from Baltimore....

“They went in, they started going everywhere in the store, grabbing things and then they just run out. And I knew that they didn’t buy it because they just run out,” Kendra Mellerson said. “They ran that way and they ran that way. And the guy was trying to come out and stop them but they couldn’t because there was so many.”

After some kids ran away, a store manager blocked the door to keep the rest of the kids from leaving. But those kids got so mad that the door was blocked, they started punching the store manager.

“Yes, they really started hitting that guy and he couldn’t keep getting beat on so he eventually let them out. And then they just ran,” Mellerson said.
#18 It isn't just people on the street that are behaving like psychos.  In fact, a series of seven scientific studies has found that "upper class people" behave more unethically than "lower class people" do.

#19 As society is breaking down, more Americans than ever are taking pills to dull the pain.  In fact, it is being reported that Americans take 80 percent of all the pain pills that are sold in the world each year.  Sadly, many of these pain pills are extremely addictive and cause people to want to commit crimes so that they can finance their pain pill habits.

#20 In 2008, a majority of American voters chose to send a radical Marxist con man who endlessly smoked marijuana during his early adult years to the White House.  In fact, according to author David Maraniss, Obama and his friends smoked so much weed that they were known as "the Choom Gang"....

As a member of the Choom Gang, Barry Obama was known for starting a few pot-smoking trends. The first was called "TA," short for "total absorption." To place this in the physical and political context of another young man who would grow up to be president, TA was the antithesis of Bill Clinton's claim that as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford he smoked dope but never inhaled.
According to Maraniss, Obama took his weed smoking very seriously....

Along with TA, Barry popularized the concept of "roof hits": when they were chooming in the car all the windows had to be rolled up so no smoke blew out and went to waste; when the pot was gone, they tilted their heads back and sucked in the last bit of smoke from the ceiling.
After reading the list above, do you still have any doubt that society is breaking down?

If things continue along this path, what do you think is going to happen someday when our economy fails and millions upon millions of Americans are hungry and desperate?

These are still the good times.  Even though our economy has declined somewhat, we are still experiencing rip-roaring prosperity.

So if this is how Americans will act when the leaves on the tree are green, what is going to happen when really hard times arrive?

That is something to think about.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/20-signs-that-society-is-beaking-down-and-that-america-has-been-overrun-by-psychos


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 16, 2012, 09:54:27 am
Quote
#10 New Orleans, Louisiana

The problems that New Orleans has experienced have been well documented.

But unlike most of the cities listed above, at least New Orleans has an excuse.  New Orleans permanently lost 29% of its population after Hurricane Katrina, and large sections of the city were essentially destroyed by that storm.

Even today, there are still some areas of New Orleans that look as if they have just been bombed.

It has been estimated that about 20 percent of the homes in New Orleans are still standing vacant, and poverty is rampant.  New Orleans will probably never fully recover to the level it was at before Hurricane Katrina hit.

Having lived in this city for almost 20 years(and left a year after Katrina), it was actually starting to become a "ghost town" like almost a year or so before 9/11. I was driving around with a friend one night in the summer of 2001, and he told me that, and it never occured to me until I noticed around closely, and compared it to when I moved there around 1988(and throughout the 90's).

No, NOLA was never in great shape, per se, but it was in decent shape for the most part.

I haven't been back since 2006, but from what everything I've read, the only decent thing that has happened to that city was the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl. As for the aftermath of Katrina - if I remember correctly, a month or so after it happened, alot of the Emergents/Word of Faith crowd like Rick Warren, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, and Creflo Dollar came down to speak with all of the pastors(both Protestant and Baptist). Warren even gave out checks to SBC pastors as missing work from their churches, and gave them this heretical speech how "Discouragement is the biggest sin, and God will abandon you if you get discouraged b/c we all have to work together for the common good".(and somehow these SBC pastors had no qualms with what he said - even though they should know that the Lord specifically says he will never leave you nor forsake you, and he will chaseth and chastiseth you if you are saved) And Osteen was giving alot of money to the churches down here.

Also - as for that 1st black SBC President from New Orleans(Fred Luter). Supposedly, he has a 5000-8000 member church. I find this hard to believe, why? B/c his church is in the New Orleans East area, a place where it was like the 2nd hardest hit(Chalmette was the hardest) b/c it's one of the LOW areas of the city where it's vulnerable to major floods. Every time I drove through it, it looked hit so bad it looked like it would never recover, much less people moving back in their residents there. But somehow all the media reports are that he has 1000s of members in his church in an area where it's still likely sparse.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 16, 2012, 10:00:10 am
Quote
#3 Jersey Shore In Real Life

America loves to party.  In a nation where even Secret Service agents "party like rock stars", it shouldn't be surprising that partying is getting out of control in communities all over the country.

Over in New Jersey, one borough "was forced recently to amend its public-urination ordinance to include defecation" because there has been such a problem with public drunkenness.

Some people watch MTV's "Jersey Shore" and they assume that stuff like that simply does not happen in real life.

But it does happen in real life.  In fact, some New Jersey towns along the coast are being invaded by hordes of people that want to live the "Jersey Shore lifestyle" and the results have been absolutely nightmarish.

The following is from a recent Bloomberg article....

For Dave Cavagnaro, life as a full- time resident along the New Jersey shore came with small headaches he expected: scant weekend parking, congestion and the occasional piece of litter.

Nothing prepared him for what is going on these days in his hometown of Point Pleasant Beach, about 90 minutes by car from Manhattan. Public urination. Beer bottles tossed on his lawn. Screaming crowds pouring onto his street after the 2 a.m. bar closing. He’s even caught a couple having sex against the side of his house.

I was not familiar with this show until I saw "The Three Stooges" on July 4th - there was a scene in there when one of the stooges(Moe) got casted on there by accident. Anyhow - apparently, yeah, this reality show is so wildly popular that Hollywood included it(and its cast) in a subplot of another movie.

Just from the few clips I saw in that movie, it's as if you can see the current culture of this country via this reality show. And who knows if it's infiltrated the megachurches as well.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on August 04, 2012, 02:57:35 pm
Vacant Detroit becomes dumping ground for the dead

From the street, the two decomposing bodies were nearly invisible, concealed in an overgrown lot alongside worn-out car tires and a moldy sofa. The teenagers had been shot, stripped to their underwear and left on a deserted block.

They were just the latest victims of foul play whose remains went undiscovered for days after being hidden deep inside Detroit's vast urban wilderness — a crumbling wasteland rarely visited by outsiders and infrequently patrolled by police.

Abandoned and neglected parts of the city are quickly becoming dumping grounds for the dead — at least a dozen bodies in 12 months' time. And authorities acknowledge there's little they can do.

"You can shoot a person, dump a body and it may just go unsolved" because of the time it may take for the corpse to be found, officer John Garner said.

The bodies have been purposely hidden or discarded in alleys, fields, vacant houses, abandoned garages and even a canal. Seven of the victims are believed to have been slain outside Detroit and then dumped within the city.

It's a pattern made possible by more than four decades of urban decay and suburban flight. White residents started moving to burgeoning suburbs in the 1950s, then stepped up their exodus after a deadly 1967 race riot. Detroit's black middle class followed over the next two decades, leaving block after block of empty homes.

Over time, tens of thousands of houses deteriorated. Some collapsed, others were demolished. Empty lots gave way to block-long fields.

Jacob Kudla and Jourdan Bobbish were found July 27 in a field off Lyford Street, a lonely road that borders an industrial area and a small municipal airport. The teens from suburban Westland, 18 and 17, respectively, had been visiting Kudla's uncle in Detroit when they disappeared July 22.

Their corpses were found by someone walking along the desolate block. The closest house, about 100 yards (91.4 meters) away, belongs to 74-year-old Ella Dunn.

Over the last 24 years, she has watched nearly all her neighbors move out. Now she constantly hears people dumping tires, furniture and trash.

"They drive down and push stuff out," she said.

A nearby parking lot resembles a small landfill for junk — a coloring book based on Bible characters, a yellow toilet, furniture, shoes and five boats.

"Detroit is a dumping ground for a lot of stuff," said Margaret Dewar, professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan. "There is no one to watch. There is no capacity to enforce laws about dumping. There is a perception you can dump and no one will report it."

In mid-July, the decapitated bodies of a couple were pulled from the Detroit River and a nearby canal. Authorities say they were shot and dismembered in their home in suburban Allen Park, then driven to a little-used Detroit park and dumped in the water. A man who lived with them is charged in the slayings.

The bodies of two Hamtramck women were discovered in March buried in a neglected Detroit park. Five men are accused in the murders.

Back in December, the bodies of two women were found in a car parked near a vacant house. Six days later, the badly burned remains of two other women turned up in a car trunk. Police believe all were killed elsewhere and dumped in Detroit. A man from suburban Sterling Heights has been charged.

Detroit has more than 30,000 vacant houses, and the deficit-strangled city has no resources of its own to level them. Mayor Dave Bing is promoting a plan to tear down as many as possible using federal money. The state is also contributing to the effort.

But it's hard to keep up. About a quarter-million people moved out of Detroit between 2000 and 2010, leaving just over 700,000 residents in a city built for 2 million.

Census figures from two years ago show 793 people living on Lyford and the other 20 or so streets near the Coleman A. Young airport. Two decades earlier, about 2,900 people lived there.

Dunn's modest home is one of only three on the block that are still occupied.

"I couldn't move if I wanted to," she said. "They don't want to give you any money for your house."

On Tuesday, a patrol car slowly rolled by. Officers are more visible after the teens' bodies were found, Dunn added.

A larger police presence is needed across the city, but Detroit can't afford to hire more. The city recently cut police pay by 10 percent.

When he joined the department 13 years ago, Garner patrolled a 3.6-square-mile (9.32-sq. kilometer) area in the tough 3rd Precinct, bumping into another officer every 20 minutes. Now he covers 22 square miles and crosses paths with other officers "maybe once every two hours."

"If we know this, the criminals know this," Garner said.

Sparse patrols and slow response times make it less likely that someone will be seen dumping a body.

"Years back, people would go to rural areas" to dump bodies, said Daniel Kennedy, a Michigan-based forensic criminologist. "Now we have rural areas in urban areas."

Detroit's reputation as a violent city with one of the highest crime rates in the country also works against it.

The body of a woman from wealthy Grosse Pointe Park was found in January in her Mercedes-Benz SUV in a Detroit alley. The marketing executive was apparently killed in the garage of her upscale suburban home, but left in the city. A family handyman has been charged.

If a body shows up in Grosse Pointe, Kennedy said, "those officers are sitting around waiting for something to happen, and they are all over it."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/ap/ap/crime/vacant-detroit-becomes-dumping-ground-for-the-dead/nP9Lz/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on September 22, 2012, 05:41:30 am
21 Facts About America's Decaying Infrastructure That Will Blow Your Mind

You can tell a lot about a nation by the condition of the infrastructure.  So what does our infrastructure say about us?  It says that we are in a very advanced state of decay.  At this point, much of America is being held together with spit, duct tape and prayers.  Our roads are crumbling and thousands of our bridges look like they could collapse at any moment.  Our power grid is ancient and over a trillion gallons of untreated sewage is leaking from our aging sewer systems each year.  Our airports and our seaports are clogged with far more traffic than they were ever designed to carry.  Approximately a third of all of the dam failures that have taken place in the United States since 1874 have happened during the past decade.  Our national parks and recreation areas have been terribly neglected and our railroads are a bad joke.  Hurricane Katrina showed how vulnerable our levees are, and drinking water systems all over the country are badly outdated.  Sadly, at a time when we could use significant new investment in infrastructure, our spending on infrastructure is actually way down.  Back during the 50s and the 60s, the U.S. was spending between 3 and 4 percent of GDP on infrastructure.  Today, that figure is down to about 2.4 percent.  But of course we don't have any extra money to spend on infrastructure because of our reckless spending and because of the massive amount of debt that we have accumulated.  While the Obama administration is spending more than half a million dollars to figure out why chimpanzees throw poop, our national infrastructure is literally falling apart all around us.  Once upon a time nobody else on the planet could match our infrastructure, and now we are in the process of becoming a joke to the rest of the world.

The following are 21 facts about America's failing infrastructure that will blow your mind....

#1 The American Society of Civil Engineers has given America's crumbling infrastructure an overall grade of D.

#2 There are simply not enough roads in the United States today.  Each year, traffic jams cost the commuters of America 4.2 billion hours and about 2.8 million gallons of gasoline.

#3 It is being projected that Americans will spend an average of 160 hours stuck in traffic annually by the year 2035.

#4 Approximately one-third of all roads in the United States are in substandard condition.

#5 Close to a third of all highway fatalities are due "to substandard road conditions, obsolete road designs, or roadside hazards."

#6 One out of every four bridges in America either carries more traffic than originally intended or is in need of repair.

#7 Repairing all of the bridges in the United States that need repair would take approximately 140 billion dollars.

#8 According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, our decaying transportation system costs the U.S. economy about 78 billion dollars annually in lost time and fuel.

#9 All over America, asphalt roads are being ground up and are being replaced with gravel roads because they are cheaper to maintain.  The state of South Dakota has transformed over 100 miles of asphalt roads into gravel roads, and 38 out of the 83 counties in the state of Michigan have transformed at least some of their asphalt roads into gravel roads.

#10 There are 4,095 dams in the United States that are at risk of failure.  That number has risen by more than 100 percent since 1999.

#11 Of all the dam failures that have happened in the United States since 1874, a third of them have happened during the past decade.

#12 Close to half of all U.S. households do not have access to bus or rail transit.

#13 Our aging sewer systems spill more than a trillion gallons of untreated sewage every single year.  The cost of cleaning up that sewage each year is estimated to be greater than 50 billion dollars.

#14 It is estimated that rolling blackouts and inefficiencies in the U.S. electrical grid cost the U.S. economy approximately 80 billion dollars a year.

#15 It is being projected that by the year 2020 every single major container port in the United States will be handling at least double the volume that it was originally designed to handle.

#16 All across the United States, conditions at many of our state parks, recreation areas and historic sites are deplorable at best.  Some states have backlogs of repair projects that are now over a billion dollars long....

More than a dozen states estimate that their backlogs are at least $100 million. Massachusetts and New York's are at least $1 billion. Hawaii officials called park conditions "deplorable" in a December report asking for $50 million per year for five years to tackle a $240 million backlog that covers parks, trails and harbors.

#17 Today, the U.S. spends about 2.4 percent of GDP on infrastructure.  Meanwhile, China spends about 9 percent of GDP on infrastructure.

#18 In the United States today, approximately 16 percent of our construction workers are unemployed.

#19 China has plans to build 55,000 miles of highways by the year 2020.  If all of those roads were put end to end, it would be longer than the total length of the entire U.S. interstate system.

#20 The World Economic Forum ranks U.S. infrastructure 23rd in the world, and we fall a little bit farther behind the rest of the developed world every single day.

#21 It has been projected that it would take 2.2 trillion dollars over the next 5 years just to repair our existing infrastructure.  That does not even include a single penny for badly needed new infrastructure.

So where did we go wrong?

Well, one of the big problems is that we have become a very materialistic society that is obsessed with short-term thinking.  Investing in infrastructure is something that has long-term benefits, but these days Americans tend to only be focused on what is happening right now and most politicians are only focused on the next election cycle.

Another major problem is that there is so much corruption and waste in our system these days.  The government certainly spends more than enough money, but very little of that money is spent wisely.  A lot of the money that could be going toward rebuilding our infrastructure is being poured down the toilet instead.  For much more on this, please read my previous article entitled "16 Sickening Facts That Show How Members Of Congress And Federal Workers Are Living The High Life At Your Expense".

Unfortunately, it is probably appropriate that our infrastructure is decaying because we are decaying in just about every other way that it is possible for a society to decay.

We are decaying economically, politically, mentally, emotionally, physically, morally and spiritually.

We are a complete and total mess.  So why shouldn't what is happening to our infrastructure on the outside match what is happening to us as a nation on the inside?

And sadly, we simply do not have the money that we need for infrastructure because of all the debt that we have piled up.  The federal government, our state governments and our local governments are all struggling to stay afloat in an ocean of red ink, and unfortunately that means that spending on infrastructure is likely to be cut even more in the years ahead.

So get used to rotting, crumbling, decaying infrastructure.  What you see out there right now is only just the beginning.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/21-facts-about-americas-failing-infrastructure-that-will-blow-your-mind


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on October 09, 2012, 05:41:27 am
Police: "Enter Detroit At Your Own Risk"

If you plan on visiting Detroit any time soon, the police have a message for you: "Enter Detroit at your own risk".  That ominous message was actually emblazoned across the top of a flyer that the Detroit Police Officer Association was passing out prior to a rally on Saturday.  The flyer pointed out that Detroit is the most violent city in the nation and that more homicides are committed in Detroit than anywhere else.  Meanwhile, the number of police officers in Detroit has been steadily decreasing.  There are more murders in Detroit today than there were a decade ago, but the number of police officers in the city has decreased by about 1,000 over that time period.  The remaining police officers are overworked and incredibly frustrated.  But Detroit is far from alone.  All over the nation there are major cities that are reporting a spike in crime even as police budgets are being slashed.  Sadly, this is just the beginning.  As the economy gets even worse, budget cuts will become even more severe and crime will become an even bigger problem.

In many areas of the country, police have become little more than report takers.  If you report a crime that is not considered "high priority", you will be lucky to get an officer to come out a few hours later to fill out a report.

In cities such as Detroit, criminals are becoming much bolder and are openly mocking the police.  For example, according to a recent WND article, one gang has literally taken over a convenience store in Detroit and the police literally seem powerless to do anything about it....

Even the old-timers in Detroit never have seen anything like this: A mob of 40 black people moved into a convenience store and will not leave.

They say they now own it. They eat. Smoke. Cuss. Threaten. Spit. Rob. Sell drugs. All on video.

Police, ministers, neighbors, the store owner and just about everyone else seems powerless to stop them.

“It’s a Bad Crew gas station,” said one of the mob to the local Fox affiliate. “If you don’t know what that is, I can’t even tell you.”

The owner calls police, but nothing happens. The police “come here and then they leave. Two minutes later they (the mob) are back.”

What in the world has happened to Detroit?

Once upon a time it was one of the greatest cities in the entire world.

Now it has become a war zone.

As I wrote about a while back, justifiable homicide in the city of Detroit rose by 79 percent in 2011, and the rate of self-defense killings in Detroit is now about 2200 percent above the national average.

But like I said, Detroit is far from alone.

In some ways, what is happening in Chicago is even more frightening.

Many areas of Chicago have essentially been completely taken over by the gangs.  Violent crime has dramatically increased in Chicago so far this year, and nobody seems to know what to do about it.

A USA Today article from last week entitled "Murders in Chicago: What can stop the bloodbath?" painted a very grim picture about what is going on in the city right now....

Driven by gangs, drugs and guns, the bloodshed in President Obama's adopted hometown has resulted in a body count that exceeds the 312 murders this year in New York and 212 in Los Angeles, cities with populations dwarfing that of the Windy City. The toll here is up 25% from 2011: 391 through Sept. 23.

CBS News reporter Walter Jacobson recently sat down with some young gang members in Chicago and asked them some direct questions.  Many of the answers that he got to those questions were quite frightening....

“There’s no solution to the violence,” one gang member tells him. “Killing, killing is the solution.”
When Jacobson asked them how they survive, the following was one of the responses that he received....

"Rob, steal and kill. That’s the only way. We didn’t grow up in Beverly Hills. We don’t get it handed to us"
But what are the police supposed to do about it?

As I noted in another article, there are approximately 200 police officers assigned to Chicago's Gang Enforcement Unit to deal with an estimated 100,000 gang members.

How would you like to be outnumbered 500 to 1?

And the number of gang members in Chicago grows with each passing day.

The violence in Chicago has gotten so bad that it is making headlines all over the globe.  For example, the following is a brief excerpt from an article about the violence in Chicago that appeared in the Telegraph....

"This is a block-to-block war here, a different dynasty on every street," said a dreadlocked young man heavily inked in gang tattoos who calls himself "Killer".

"All the black brothers just want to get rich, but we got no jobs and no hope. We want the violence to stop but you ain't safe if you ain't got your pistol with you. Too many friends, too many men are being killed. We don't even cry at funerals no -more. Nobody expects to live past 21 here."

When young people lose all hope for a better future they become very desperate.

And very desperate people are capable of just about anything.

Sadly, this is just the beginning.

The other day we learned that the number of Americans on food stamps has hit another brand new record high.

Nearly 47 million Americans are on food stamps at this point, and overall more than 100 million Americans are enrolled in at least one welfare program run by the federal government.

But what happens someday if the federal government is forced to cut back significantly on those programs or if food prices increase so much that people can't buy nearly enough food to eat with their food stamps?

When people get really hungry they will do some crazy things.

But the mayor of Costa Mesa, California says that he has an answer to this problem.  He has proposed reducing the homeless population of Costa Mesa by putting all soup kitchens in the city out of business....

The mayor of Costa Mesa proposed to get rid of soup kitchens to deal with the area’s homeless problem at a city council meeting on Tuesday.

“My belief is that if we manage to put the soup kitchen out of business that will go a long way to addressing the attractiveness in our city that’s creating a huge negative impact,” Eric Bever said.

Unfortunately, we are going to see a lot more of this kind of thing in the years ahead.  The number of people that are really hurting is going to continue to increase, and the efforts to remove them from "respectable" areas is going to become more forceful.

Already we have seen feeding the homeless being banned in major cities all over the country.

But no rules, regulations or laws are going to be able to prevent what is coming in the years ahead.  I believe that eventually we are going to see "flash mobs" of poor Americans storm into wealthy neighborhoods and take whatever they want.

Those doing the looting will justify it by saying that they are just taking from the rich and giving to the poor like "'Robin Hood" did, but most other Americans will see it as more evidence that society is breaking down.

And without a doubt our society is starting to break down.  What we are seeing in Detroit and Chicago right now is just the tip of the iceberg.

Things are going to become much, much worse.

(http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Enter-At-Your-Own-Risk.jpg)


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on October 17, 2012, 04:06:07 am
25 Signs Of Extreme Social Decay

Are we on the verge of societal collapse?  Many of the greatest empires throughout world history were not conquered by outside forces.  Rather, they crumbled inwardly as extreme social decay set in.  There have been many that have compared the last days of the Roman Empire to what America is going through right now.  In the decades following World War II, the United States was the most powerful and the most prosperous nation on the entire planet, but now things are rapidly changing.  There are literally thousands of signs that our society is collapsing all around us.  All you have to do to see this is turn on a television or pick up a newspaper.  I spend a lot of time discussing our nightmarish economic and political headaches in this column, but the truth is that our problems go much deeper than that.  Even if a major miracle happened and we got the "right person" into the White House, the Federal Reserve was shut down, our 16 trillion dollar national debt was paid off, our trade deficit went to zero, a solution was found for the quadrillion dollar derivatives bubble and the "too big to fail" banks were broken up, we would still be facing a national crisis of unprecedented magnitude.  The cold, hard reality of the matter is that America has become an absolute cesspool of filth and corruption, and the thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted is rapidly disappearing.  Until we get our hearts right, there is not much hope for the future of this once great nation.

So are these the last days of America?  The following are 25 signs of extreme social decay....

#1 We have come to accept that it is "normal" that security goons should be allowed to touch the private parts of our women and our children in the name of "national security".  Just check out the ordeal that conservative radio host and Breitbart editor Dana Loesch suffered through recently at the hands of the TSA...

    They performed the regular pat-down and then the agent informed me that she would be using the front of her hands to "sweep" my groin. She pressed and swept across my crotch three times horizontally and three times vertically. In any other circumstance this would be sexual assault.

    The agents themselves were friendly and smiled, yet I was still denied a public screening and no witness of my own present for the screening itself (a second agent was in the room at the time). I had no reason to be angry with the agents themselves, yet I was angry, and still am, at the regulations which require them to routinely violate men, women, and children in the name of a false sense of security.

#2 Police up in New Jersey say that a man kept his girlfriend padlocked in a bedroom for most of the last 10 years.

#3 It is hard to imagine some of the sick things that people do behind closed doors.  Down in Florida, one former medical examiner was apparently collecting human body parts...

    In what could be described as an episode of “Auction Hunters” turned reality horror show, authorities in Pensacola are investigating after finding human brains, hearts and lungs in a storage unit they say belonged to a former medical examiner.

    Someone bought the storage unit at an auction last week and noticed a foul smell as they were sifting through furniture and boxes.

    Officials at the medical examiner’s office in Pensacola say the remains of more than 100 people were found crudely stored in Tupperware containers, garbage bags and drink cups.

#4 A former fifth grade teacher down in Atlanta has admitted that she helped her students cheat because they were "dumb as hell".

#5 Many debt collectors are willing to say absolutely despicable things in order to collect debts.  One debt collector recently told a disabled military veteran that if he would have "served our country better" he would not be disabled and that he "should have died"...

    “If you would have served our country better you would not be a disabled veteran living off Social Security while the rest of us honest Americans work our asses off,” one of the agency’s debt collectors allegedly told the vet. “Too bad, you should have died.”

    Michael Collier was declared 100 per cent disabled after suffering permanent spine and head injuries while in the Army. As a result, both Collier and his wife receive disability payments from the federal Social Security Administration, which are exempt from seizure by debt collectors.

#6 In many areas of the country, street drugs have become so powerful that they are pushing users completely over the edge.  Of course there is never any excuse for murdering children, but would any rational person do this kind of thing without being high on drugs?...

    A Camden, N.J. man was charged with murder for allegedly slashing the throat of a 6-year-old Camden boy. Police say he told investigators he was smoking a combination of marijuana and PCP, known as "Wet" just before the killing.

    Osvaldo "Popeye" Rivera, 31, was arrested Sunday afternoon and charged with murder and attempted murder.

    Police say Rivera was trying to sexually assault the boy's 12-year-sister and the little boy tried to come to her defense. Investigators say Rivera slashed the throats of both children.

#7 A school bus driver in Wisconsin recently told a 12-year-old boy that "maybe your mother should have chosen abortion for you" because he didn't like the Romney campaign sign standing in his front yard.

#8 We are continuing to see a rash of "zombie attacks" all over the nation.  The following is one recent example from Pennsylvania....

    A Doylestown man, who was naked and bleeding profusely, gnawed on woman’s head all while “screaming like an animal” during a wild neighborhood rampage, state police said.

#9 A beekeeper over in North Carolina says that someone recently stole 20,000 bees from his property.

#10 Evidence of social decay extends to the highest levels of the federal government.  Just check out what some highly paid federal workers have been doing when they were supposed to be working...

    In 2006, the deputy press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security was arrested for trying to seduce online someone he thought was a teenage girl. Four years later, the Securities and Exchange Commission found that 17 of 31 employees caught accessing **** at work since 2008 — one for up to eight hours a day — were senior staff.

    In 2010, the Boston Globe reported that senior Pentagon staff were downloading child ****. Instead of generating a media storm, the story died. Senior staff were watching the sexual torture of small children on Pentagon computers, and Americans were not outraged?

#11 In a shocking murder trial in southern California, prosecutors have played a tape of a former chef admitting to police that he slow cooked the body of his wife for four days.

#12 The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world, and many of our prisons are absolute hellholes.  The following is what a former inmate named Daniel Miller recently told Business Insider about what really goes on inside our prisons...

    "When they found out the black homosexual had approached me talking that homosexual stuff, I was told 'Look you have to stab him or pipe him down,'" Miller recently told Business Insider about his first experiences during two decades spent in and out of prison, most recently for robbery.

    "The guys were there just to make sure I actually split this guy's head open."

    Those "guys" were the Aryan Brotherhood, one of the most famous and feared jailhouse gangs.

    Miller, now 38, joined up when he first entered the correctional system in Kansas as a teen. He bounced around a number of different facilities before being released on Sept. 19 this year.

    "At 16 years old, I wanted to be accepted in prison," he said. "I would fight everybody."

    He grew so cold and so good at fighting he became the one ordering attacks on fellow inmates — something that still haunts him.

#13 A 7-year-old boy was part of a gang of youths that recently invaded the home of a 51-year-old woman and beat the living daylights out of her.

#14 What in the world has gotten into our kids?  Many of them have literally turned into little monsters.  Just check out what two little boys recently did to a church in Virginia...

    Two little boys caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to a Loudon County church, according to officials.

    The vandals used the children's toys and art supplies to damage the sanctuary, fellowship hall, and Sunday school rooms. They also smeared food for needy families and their own feces and urine on walls and floors.

    According to Loudon County Sheriff Tim Guider, all that damage was done by two boys, aged 6 and 7.

#15 A former high school English teacher has been accused of having sex with five different male students.  The most disturbing part is that she is a mother of three children and her husband is serving this country in the U.S. Army.

#16 You might want to think twice before becoming a pizza delivery worker.  Just check out what happened over in Dallas recently...

    Two Dallas teens called in a pizza order to lure a delivery worker to a Grand Prairie house, then beat the woman in the head with a pistol and sexually assaulted her on the porch, according to Grand Prairie police reports released Wednesday.

    Bleeding and wearing just a bra, the 30-year-old woman drove herself back to a Grand Prairie Pizza Hut, the reports stated.

    The 17-year-olds accused in the July 24 robbery and sexual assault were in custody Wednesday at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in Dallas in what Grand Prairie police are calling one of the city's "most heinous offenses" in recent memory.

#17 According to shocking new research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately two-thirds of all Americans in the 15 to 24 year old age bracket have engaged in oral sex.

#18 Last year it was reported that 86 teen girls at one high school in Memphis, Tennessee were either pregnant or had recently given birth.

#19 Sex trafficking has become a raging epidemic in America.  It is estimated that there are now approximately a million prostitutes in the United States.  Most of them are being trafficked by male "pimps".

#20 As our social decay gets even deeper, it is going to become more important than ever to secure our homes.  Just check out what happened over in Kansas City, Missouri recently...

    An elderly couple is recovering Tuesday after they were brutally beaten inside their south Kansas City home.

    The woman was also raped, according to a police report.

    Tony L. Putman, 18, of Kansas City was charged with six felonies Tuesday afternoon. The charges include one count of **** and two counts of robbery.

    The couple's ordeal began about 1:30 p.m. Monday when a man broke into their home near 73rd Street and Campbell Avenue. Entry was gained through a basement window, which was broken.

#21 It is becoming easy to understand why so many Americans are arming themselves these days.  Even Brad Pitt says that he "doesn't feel safe" without a gun.

#22 Racial hatred is rising to distressing new heights in this country.  Here is one recent example...

    A Michigan State University student is recovering after he was beaten up and had his mouth stapled shut during what investigators are categorizing as a brutal hate crime.

    Zachary Tennen, a 19-year-old sophomore in MSU’s journalism program, said he was at a house party on the 500 block of Spartan Avenue early Sunday morning when two men approached him and asked if he was Jewish. When he responded “Yes,” the two men raised their arms into a Nazi salute and said “Heil Hitler” before knocking him unconscious, according to Tennen’s mother, Tina.

    About 20 people reportedly watched as the men proceeded to staple Zachary Tennen’s mouth shut at the lips and gums. His jaw was broken in two places during the attack.

#23 Overall, more than 50 million abortions have been performed in the United States since Roe vs. Wade was decided back in 1973.  At this point, the number of babies killed by abortion in America every year is almost as high as the total number of military deaths in all of U.S. history.

#24 Respect for parents has declined to shockingly low levels in America.  Just check out what one son down in Florida recently did to his own mother...

    A Florida man yesterday rubbed dog feces in his mother’s face during an argument in the home they share, police report.

    Cops arrested William Jenkins, 22, on a felony domestic battery charge for pushing his mother, 53, to the floor during the dispute, according to a Palmetto Police Department report.

    When questioned by cops, Jenkins denied pushing his mother, but admitted that he “did rub dog defecation on her face because she yelled at him,” investigators noted.

#25 A 21-year-old Utah man is being accused of stabbing his grandmother 111 times and then removing some of her organs.  But news like this hardly makes headlines anymore because crimes such as this one have become so common.

Sadly, a list like this one could go on indefinitely.  More examples of extreme social decay pop up in the news almost hourly.

But we don't like to admit that we have problems.  Our politicians continue to proclaim how we are "the greatest nation on earth" and that the rest of the world should follow our example.

Rarely do you ever hear politicians talk about how we are the most obese nation on the planet, about how we have the highest divorce rate on the planet or about how we have the highest teen pregnancy rate on the planet.

Until we are willing to admit just how bad things have gotten, we will never be willing to accept the solutions that are necessary to start fixing things.

Many Americans are pinning their hopes on the upcoming election, but instead of making things better I am concerned that this election may trigger a lot of the anger that is boiling just under the surface in this country.

If we continue down the path that we are currently on, the social decay that we are now experiencing is going to accelerate.

The fundamental level of trust that any society needs in order to operate efficiently is breaking down, and more Americans than ever are living in fear.  You can see it in their eyes.

Our politicians can pile on millions more laws, rules and regulations and they can put a police officer on every corner, but that isn't going to make Americans trust one another.  Once confidence in our societal institutions and our faith in one another is gone, it is going to be incredibly difficult to ever rebuild it.

Yes, we really are on the verge of societal collapse. What we are experiencing right now is just the leading edge of the coming crisis.

Things are going to get a whole lot worse from here.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-last-days-of-america-25-signs-of-extreme-social-decay


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on October 17, 2012, 09:52:56 am
Quote
But we don't like to admit that we have problems.  Our politicians continue to proclaim how we are "the greatest nation on earth" and that the rest of the world should follow our example.

Even worse, same goes for our modern-day lukewarm churches/pastors - for example, I was listening to a Charles Stanley sermon on "tithing" 10 years ago. First off, he endorses how Christians are required to give 10% of their gross income. That's strike 1 right there. Anyhow - ultimately his message was that despite all the wickedness in our country like p0rnography, liberalism, and aborting babies, America is *still* very blessed b/c we give, give, and give to other nations. And this pretty much summed up his message over why we're commanded to "tithe".

This right there shows a typical Pharisee pastor who's passing over the judgment of God. Seriously - America gets a free pass for aborting all the babies they want, just as long as we give unlimited amounts of money to other nations? Besides - if America is really give billions to other nations, they're doing so by getting the Federal Reserve to print more money, hence creating more *debt*.

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Many Americans are pinning their hopes on the upcoming election, but instead of making things better I am concerned that this election may trigger a lot of the anger that is boiling just under the surface in this country.

I find this very disturbing b/c Romney has more or less made known his *liberalism* views ala Obama. Back in 2000, at least Bush II did a good job masquerading as a conservative Christian. Romney isn't even masquerading as a typical conservative Republican, but on the contrary making known his own true colors.

Even more disappointing is that some of these end times discernment ministries like Jan Markell's are quietly getting on the Romney bandwagon. Maybe not completely, but still a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Seriously - EVERY 4 years they keep saying, "This is the most crucial election - we need your vote!". And now they're pulling this stunt when it's obvious both candidates are one and the same?


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on October 17, 2012, 09:57:01 am
Also about the most recent article posted above - way back in the 90's when these kinds of brutal crimes were committed, these "pro-family" groups, Capitol Hill, and to some extent the MSM were all over the entertainment media's $ex and violent products. No, they didn't really do anything about it, per se, but nonetheless they acted like watchmen who were watching the backs of families. And it reached a high moment when Columbine happened.

Now? Since 9/11, you just don't hear a chirp from these people. Nothing from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, nada from John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Henry Hyde, nil from the "religious right", etc, etc. The one that happened in Grand Prairie, TX(which is in my area) happened to go under my nose as well(first time I've heard about it just now).


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on October 23, 2012, 06:24:46 am
Will Frustrated Homeowners And Armed Posses Take Matters Into Their Own Hands As Home Invasions Rise?


Violent crime is on the rise in the United States, and many Americans are totally fed up.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the number of household burglaries rose by 14 percent last year, and the overall rate of violent crime in the United States increased by 18 percent during 2011.  Based on what we have seen so far this year, we will almost certainly see another huge increase once the statistics for 2012 are released.  All over the country criminals are becoming bolder.  Meanwhile, police budgets are being slashed from coast to coast.  Things have gotten so bad in some communities that police are openly admitting that crime is completely and totally out of control.  For example, police in Detroit recently handed out flyers with this message: "Enter Detroit at your own risk".  Sadly, you can't even escape the crime and the violence by staying in your own home these days.  Home invasions are becoming increasingly common, and many police departments seem powerless to stop them.  If many of the poorer areas of America today, if you are a victim of a home invasion you will be really lucky to get a police officer to show up a couple of hours later to fill out a report.  A lot of frustrated home owners have had enough and have started to arm themselves to the teeth.  Some have even begun to form armed posses to patrol their own neighborhoods.  We are watching America change right in front of our eyes, and it is frightening to think about what is coming next.

The streets of some U.S. cities have been transformed into war zones at this point.  Juts check out this excerpt from a recent story about the horrific violence that is taking place in Camden, New Jersey...

At the vigil last week, residents prayed that Camden would simply find peace and that the masked gunman who killed Jewel Manire and Khalil Gibson would be caught.

As it grew darker, Michael Benjamin stood toward the back of the crowd, his son huddled even closer now, and shook his head.

"I've known at least 45 kids who've been killed in my lifetime," he said, the boy holding his finger. "I stopped counting in 2004, though."
You may think that talk of "armed posses" patrolling local communities is a little "out there", but the truth is that it is already happening.

For example, a groups of residents in Josephine County, Oregon have formed "the CAC Patrol".  They have mounted flashing lights on to their vehicles and they openly carry guns as they patrol their neighborhoods...

There's no room in the county jail for burglars and thieves. And the sheriff's department in a vast, rural corner of southwest Oregon has been reduced by budget cuts to three deputies on patrol eight hours a day, five days a week.

But people in this traditionally self-reliant section of timber country aren't about to raise taxes to put more officers on the road. Instead, some folks in Josephine County, larger than the state of Rhode Island, are taking matters into their own hands — mounting flashing lights on their trucks and strapping pistols to their hips to guard communities themselves. Others have put together a virtual neighborhood watch, using Facebook to share tips and information.

"I believe in standing up for myself rather than waiting for the government to do something for me," said Sam Nichols, a retired marina manager.

Nichols has organized a posse of about a dozen fed-up residents who have started patrolling the small community of O'Brien, which has about 750 residents.
As home invasions continue to get worse all over the country, I expect that we will see a lot more of this type of thing.

In the old days, we were taught that if burglars enter your home that you should let them take whatever they want and leave.

But these days you simply cannot trust that they will leave you and your family alone.  Many home invaders actually hope to find someone inside that they can ****, and many victims end up dead.

That is exactly what happened to one man in Gary, Indiana the other day...

Last Friday, Jerry Hood, 48, of Gary, Ind., left work and decided to go home during lunchtime. Gary police said Hood, who was with a co-worker, noticed activity in his house and called police for help, but did not wait for police to arrive. Instead he went in and lost his life when he disrupted a home invasion, police say. Hood died from multiple gunshot wounds.

And that is exactly what happened to another man in Pontiac, Michigan recently...

A shootout during a possible home invasion left the 27-year-old owner dead and a suspected intruder wounded, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies were called about 3:25 a.m. to an address in the 800 block of Inglewood Avenue near Cesar Chavez, where a home invasion was reported.
A 12-year-old girl down in Oklahoma may have been added to the growing list of dead victims if she had not been willing to shoot first and ask questions later.

The story that she recently told police is absolutely chilling...

"He opened the screen door and started pounded on the door. So I didn't answer it. And I called my mom. She said to go get the gun and hide in the closet."

Kendra St. Clair says she stayed in the closet until she thought the coast was clear. So she went to check the back door.

And he was standing there trying to open it. So I got really scared and I called 911."

She went back to the closet. That's when she heard the man in the house.

"When I was back there on the phone with 911, I heard the bathroom light turn on that was leading to the closet. And when I saw the door handle turn, I shot him. I guess it went through the door, went through him, and went through the wall."

What do you think would have happened to that 12-year-old girl if she had not had a gun?

You normally would not think of Oklahoma as a high crime state, but the truth is that home invasions are on the rise all over the nation.

Here is another home invasion story from Oklahoma.  A young mother was home alone with her three-month-old son when two men started breaking into her home.  Fortunately, she had a gun and was willing to use it...

An Oklahoma woman was recently home with her 3 month old son when two men tried to break in.  Armed with a shot gun and a pistol she called 9-1-1.

Operator: "Are your doors locked?"

Caller: "Yes, I've got two guns in my hand.   Is it ok to shoot him if he comes in this door?"

Operator: "I can't tell you what you can do but you do what you have to do to protect your baby."

The mother did shoot killing one of the intruders.  Oklahoma police called the shooting justified.
Would you do the same thing to protect your children?

Sadly, criminals are becoming more desperate than ever and many of them do not even care if there is anyone inside the homes that they are invading.

For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled "11 Shocking Home Invasion Horror Stories That Are Almost Too Creepy To Believe".

Are you starting to see why I believe that more homeowners are going to start taking matters into their own hands?

Some areas of the country that once had very little crime are now seeing crime absolutely skyrocket.

A while back, I shared what one man down in Georgia says is going on in his neck of the woods...

I worked until around 9:30-10 Friday night, and Saturday morning my tools and equipment were gone. Footprints, fingerprints, a neighbor saw the guys and pickup truck - but the sheriff's department can't afford the resources to track them down (by comparison it's not a violent/murder case or a $40k vehicle...) I have a security camera on the front gate, and they avoided that by a 100 foot radius - dragging everything across a fence and down into a ditch on the other side of the property.

The day before another neighbor literally met and passed by people that had just robbed his farm, on his way back from the store, less than a mile from his house - he recognized his stuff on the back of their trailer. This was in the middle of the day. His gate was locked - but they drove through the ditch and around a field to get to his house.

A local truck repair shop has been in business for 3 generations, and until a few weeks ago had never been robbed. They are on the main street of a little town, and live right behind the shop. The front door of the shop is about 30 feet back from the main street. The thieves parked in FRONT, and loaded up his equipment.

Another big shop was hit on a Saturday morning - main street going into town - they loaded up everything right out the front door, with people seeing them, hundreds of cars driving by... They have bolt cutters, whatever it takes to break in...

Another older shop had a heavy wood door with a metal hasp - they CHOPPED THROUGH THE DOOR WITH AN AXE to cut out the metal hasp. A house is 100 feet from this shop.

We live in Georgia, south of Atlanta, and theft has become so bad, the state recently required all scrap yards to take pictures of everything brought in, with a picture of who brought it, a copy of their drivers license, and their tag number. If it is air conditioning/heating equipment (bigger than a window unit) you must have a commercial heating/ac license or a new equipment bill of sale. People were ripping the copper ground wires off the sides of power poles and tearing wires off the poles for scrap.

A local gas station/restaurant had their AC equipment stolen so many times, they had to build a chain link locked enclosure around all the equipment. You can see it from the main street - out in plain view.

Do you have any stories like this that you would like to share?

What are you seeing in your neck of the woods?

Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below...

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/will-frustrated-homeowners-and-armed-posses-take-matters-into-their-own-hands-as-home-invasions-rise


Title: Detroit Could Go Bankrupt Before End Of Year
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on November 14, 2012, 09:49:13 am
Expert: Detroit Could Go Bankrupt Before End Of Year
13 November 2012, WWJ/AP (CBS Detroit)
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/11/13/expert-detroit-could-run-out-of-cash-in-december/

Detroit’s financial condition is rapidly deteriorating, and City Hall could run out of cash in December, an official told a state oversight board Monday.

City program management director William Andrews made the assessment at a meeting of the Financial Advisory Board, a city-state panel overseeing Detroit’s finances under its fiscal stability agreement with the state.

Detroit’s cash-flow crisis is “more challenging than it’s ever been and more challenged than we reported last month,” Andrews said.

The city must find new revenue sources, he said, blaming the worsening outlook on rising medical expenses and lower receipts from taxes and other revenue sources than the city had previously projected.

“Those aren’t materializing,” Andrews said.

Projections show Detroit’s cash on hand dropping as low as $3.6 million by Dec. 21. It stood at $53 million on Friday.

To keep afloat, the state will be asked to release about $30 million in bond funding from an escrow account under the consent agreement.

But before they cut a check, Lansing will want the City Council to allow an independent firm to look through the city’s operations for more money.

Advisory board chairwoman Sandy Pierce said that despite Michigan voters’ repeal last week of the state’s emergency manager law, the financial stability agreement and the advisory board remain intact.

But she said Detroit may no longer impose new contracts or employment terms or reject collective bargaining agreements unilaterally.

The primary foundation of the consent agreement wasn’t the now-repealed Public Act 4, but rather a state law on intergovernmental agreements and related state laws.

After hearing from Andrews, the board began a closed session to discuss the impact of the repeal of the emergency manager law on Detroit’s consent agreement.

Mayor Dave Bing and four City Council members participated.

Bing and Gov. Rick Snyder agreed in April on state oversight as an alternative to a state financial takeover.

The nine-member oversight board held its first meeting in June.

Last month, Bing said city wouldn’t run out of cash later this year as efforts to cut costs and restructure services move ahead.

But he expressed dissatisfaction with slowed progress on fixing the city’s finances.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on November 21, 2012, 06:26:56 am
When Law and Order Break Down: “People Are Afraid Right Now. You Can See It In Their Faces.”

Cities from coast-to-coast are facing unprecedented budget deficits that have left government officials with no choice but to strip police forces to a bare minimum. We now regularly hear about new ‘records’ being broken in the resulting crime waves that follow.

Law enforcement officials in Chicago, for example, have said that their city has deteriorated into a domestic war zone with gang violence leaving scores of people dead on a regular basis. Murder, ****, robbery and assault have skyrocketed in bankrupt Stockton, California, suggesting that local governments are quickly losing control.

In New Jersey, the city of Camden may soon be granted the dubious distinction of being the poorest and most violent city in America.

    On a walkway 20 feet away, a middle-aged man lies dead, shot in the throat and head, sprawled on his back beside a battered 10-speed bicycle. His face is masked in blood that gleams bright red in the crime scene photographer’s flash.

    Johnson watches tight-lipped as investigators comb the grass for shell casings. “Kids play out here. Average people live here,” he says. “I’m shaking. It’s getting too close.”

    Gunfire rings out often in the neighborhood, he says, a regular reminder of the crime wave that has this city of 77,000 on pace to double its homicides in just three years, and has already shattered a nearly 20-year record for killings.

    With 59 homicides so far this year, the murder rate is on par with levels seen in Haiti in the chaotic aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.

    “A bullet has no name. If somebody shoots and I’m walking, I could be hit,” Johnson says. “People are afraid right now. You can see it in their faces.”

    The crime surge coincides with new census data identifying Camden, long battered by vanishing industry, as the most impoverished city in the U.S., with 42 percent of residents under the poverty line, and an average family income of $21,191. If trends persist, Camden may soon hold the grim title of both the country’s poorest and most dangerous city.

    Source: Huff Post

As local, state and federal officials in the United States realize the reality of our fiscal and economic situations, they will be forced to make serious cuts in areas that have become essential to the American way of life.

Personal safety, food security, health care and critical public services will inevitably be sacrificed as across-the-board austerity measures become the norm, not the exception.

Impoverishment will lead to desperation and anger, which in turn leads to “nothing left to lose” attitudes and a rise in violence and criminal activity.

The system is broke. The mathematics are simple. There is not enough money to go around. What we are seeing in Chicago, Detroit, Stockton and Camden is going to spread.

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/when-law-and-order-break-down-people-are-afraid-right-now-you-can-see-it-in-their-faces_11192012


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on November 22, 2012, 03:45:57 am
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The system is broke. The mathematics are simple. There is not enough money to go around.

True, and true, and false!

It is broke as operated. No question the mathmatics of the current situation doesn't add up. But here Huff Post is spreading their usual bs in support of government. There is plenty of government income, the most in the world of any country. We are flush with government income, even though it's at the expense of the public, we still have plenty of money.

The problem is with what the government is doing with the income it has. Complete and utter mismanagment, along with being a "debt-based" system, the system is being handled to fail.

And what will government do when cities start to come unglued? I think we all know what!

The same thing any socialistic government has done throughout the ages, and that is the government will move in with troops to qwell the unrest, and I have no doubt in my mind they will get help from the UN peace keepers, for the sake of "saving" the largest "too big to fail" government in the world.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on November 28, 2012, 08:16:09 pm
State Senator Proposes Dissolving City Of Detroit

It would no doubt be controversial, but the idea of dissolving the fiscally struggling city of Detroit and absorbing it into Wayne County is being tossed around in Lansing.

WWJ Lansing Bureau Chief Tim Skubick reports some state Republicans are talking about giving the city the option to vote itself into bankruptcy. And mid-Michigan Senator Rick Jones said all options should be considered — including dissolving the city.

“If we have to, that is one idea we have to look at. We really have to look at everything that is on the table,” Jones said. “Again, if this goes to federal bankruptcy, every employee down there will suffer, the city will suffer and the vultures will come in and take the jewels of Detroit and they will be gone.”

Local consultant Tom Watkins has proposed this in the past, but the idea has never played well among Detroiters.

In a live interview on WWJ Newsradio 950 Wednesday morning, Gov. Rick Snyder said he wouldn’t count anything out.

“Detroit needs to solve their problems, but they need support and we’ve been very supportive partners, I believe, in terms of offering different ideas and thoughts. And I just encourage them to work harder about working better together,” Snyder said.

Talking to Talk Radio 1270 host Charlie Langton, Detroit’s ex-communications chief Karen Dumas said she would not support such a plan.

“No, I don’t think that dissolution is the solution for the city of Detroit; I don’t,” said Dumas. “I think people … with every step we get more and more fearful … and maybe at some point that’s going to make everybody wake up and realize that we need to stop playing politics and come up with a solution for progress.   “I don’t know at what point that’s going to happen. “

Detroit Political Consultant Skip Mongo said the answer to Detroit’s fiscal crisis will come with fresh faces in City Council chambers and the Mayor’s office.

“We move forward and we start looking for new leadership, and we don’t make the mistake that we made before — we certainty don’t look around and outsource the mayor’s office,” Mongo said.

Mongo, who believes Detroit Mayor Dave Bing was a poor choice to begin, said Bing doesn’t a chance if he opts to run for re-election.

“Anything short of a tidal wave and Mayor Bing getting out with his boots on, or doin’ a [New Jersey Gov.] Chris Christie, no — he can’t win,” Mongo said. ”I don’t think Mayor Bing could beat me and I’ve never run for anything in my life. Honestly, no. He should leave.”

Meantime, the Bing administration continues to battle with council members over a deal to handle the city’s reform plan.

Bing said the council’s rejection last week of a contract with law firm Miller Canfield means the city missed a deadline to draw down $10 million Detroit needs to stay afloat and endangers a $20 million release in December.  Bing called it a huge setback for the financial recovery of Detroit, adding that unpaid furlough days are on the way for city workers if this isn’t worked out.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/11/28/state-senator-proposes-dissolving-city-of-detroit/



Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on November 28, 2012, 08:20:44 pm
Oakland Crime Rate Soaring As City Loses Officers

Burglaries are up a startling 43 percent in Oakland this year compared to last, part of an ever-growing crime problem in the city.

According to the latest numbers from the Oakland Police Department, more than 11,000 homes, cars or businesses have been broken into so far this year – translating to about 33 burglaries a day. The most popular targets have been cars with more than 5,700 burglarized so far this year.

rest: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/11/28/phil-matier-oakland-crime-rate-worries-city-officials/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on November 29, 2012, 03:17:45 am
Why don't they just put a fence around that state and call it a prison and be done with it? That place is so done for.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on November 30, 2012, 06:19:54 am
34 Signs That America Is In Decline

The United States is clearly in an advanced state of decline.  Many people around the world (and even inside America) rejoice at this, but not me.  I mourn for the country that I was born in and that I still love.  Yes, the United States has never been perfect, but the Republic that our Founding Fathers started truly has been a light to the rest of the world in a lot of ways over the centuries.  Unfortunately, our foundations are badly rotting and our nation is collapsing all around us.  Many Americans like to think that the United States is greater today than it has ever been before, but the truth is that America is like a patient that has stage 4 cancer that has spread to almost every area of the body.  Our nation is being destroyed in thousands of different ways, and more distressing news emerges with each passing day.  This article will mainly focus on the economic decline of America, but much could also be said about our social, political, moral and spiritual decline as well.  We are simply not the same country that we used to be.  Americans are proud, selfish, greedy, arrogant, ungrateful, treacherous and completely addicted to entertainment and pleasure.  Our country is literally falling apart all around us, but most Americans are so plugged into entertainment that they can't even be bothered to notice what is happening.  Most Americans seem to assume that we will always have endless prosperity just because of who we are, but unfortunately that simply is not true.  We inherited the greatest economic machine the world has ever seen and we have wrecked it, and now a very painful day of reckoning is approaching.  But most people will not understand until it is too late.

The following are 34 signs that America is in decline...

#1 According to the World Bank, U.S. GDP accounted for 31.8 percent of all global economic activity in 2001.  That number dropped to 21.6 percent in 2011.  That is not just a decline - that is a freefall.  Just check out the chart in this article.

#2 According to The Economist, the United States was the best place in the world to be born into back in 1988.  Today, the United States is only tied for 16th place.

#3 The United States has fallen in the global economic competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum for four years in a row.

#4 According to the Wall Street Journal, of the 40 biggest publicly traded corporate spenders, half of them plan to reduce capital expenditures in coming months.

#5 More than three times as many new homes were sold in the United States in 2005 as will be sold in 2012.

#6 America once had the greatest manufacturing cities on the face of the earth.  Now many of our formerly great manufacturing cities have degenerated into festering hellholes.  For example, the city of Detroit is on the verge of financial collapse, and one state lawmaker is now saying that "dissolving Detroit" should be looked at as an option.

#7 In 2007, the unemployment rate for the 20 to 29 age bracket was about 6.5 percent.  Today, the unemployment rate for that same age group is about 13 percent.

#8 Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs.  Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.

#9 If you can believe it, approximately one out of every four American workers makes 10 dollars an hour or less.

#10 Sadly, 60 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were mid-wage jobs, but 58 percent of the jobs created since then have been low wage jobs.

#11 Median household income in America has fallen for four consecutive years.  Overall, it has declined by over $4000 during that time span.

#12 The U.S. trade deficit with China during 2011 was 28 times larger than it was back in 1990.

#13 Incredibly, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States have been shut down since 2001.  During 2010, manufacturing facilities were shutting down at the rate of 23 per day.  How can anyone say that "things are getting better" when our economic infrastructure is being absolutely gutted?

#14 Back in early 2005, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was less than 2 dollars a gallon.  During 2012, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has been $3.63.

#15 In 1999, 64.1 percent of all Americans were covered by employment-based health insurance.  Today, only 55.1 percent are covered by employment-based health insurance.

#16 As I have written about previously, 61 percent of all Americans were "middle income" back in 1971 according to the Pew Research Center.  Today, only 51 percent of all Americans are "middle income".

#17 There are now 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing.  That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.

#18 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate for children living in the United States is about 22 percent.

#19 Back in 1983, the bottom 95 percent of all income earners in the United States had 62 cents of debt for every dollar that they earned.  By 2007, that figure had soared to $1.48.

#20 Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago.

#21 Total credit card debt in the United States is now more than 8 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.

#22 The value of the U.S. dollar has declined by more than 96 percent since the Federal Reserve was first created.

#23 According to one survey, 29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are still living with their parents.

#24 Back in 1950, 78 percent of all households in the United States contained a married couple.  Today, that number has declined to 48 percent.

#25 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives direct monetary benefits from the federal government.  Back in 1983, less than a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.

#26 In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7 percent of all income.  Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.

#27 In November 2008, 30.8 million Americans were on food stamps.  Today, 47.1 million Americans are on food stamps.

#28 Right now, one out of every four American children is on food stamps.

#29 As I wrote about the other day, according to one calculation the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of "Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming."

#30 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid.  Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a whole lot worse.  It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.

#31 In 2001, the U.S. national debt was less than 6 trillion dollars.  Today, it is over 16 trillion dollars and it is increasing by more than 100 million dollars every single hour.

#32 The U.S. national debt is now more than 23 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.

#33 According to a PBS report from earlier this year, U.S. households that make $13,000 or less per year spend 9 percent of their incomes on lottery tickets.  Could that possibly be accurate?  Are people really that foolish?

#34 As the U.S. economy has declined, the American people have been downing more antidepressants and other prescription drugs than ever before.  In fact, the American people spent 60 billion dollars more on prescription drugs in 2010 than they did in 2005.

So what are our "leaders" doing about all of this?

Not much.

They just continue to insist that everything is "just fine".

Sadly, the truth is that they live in a world that is very different from most of the rest of us.

Barack Obama is getting ready to take a 20 day vacation to Hawaii.

When was the last time you got to take a 20 day vacation?

And most of our "leaders" have no idea what it is like to struggle from month to month on a paycheck.

Overall, more than half of the members of Congress are millionaires.  We are led by wealthy men who are serving the interests of other wealthy men.

But the problem with our system is not limited to the president and the members of Congress.  The truth is that the political system in America has become a colossal beast that just continues to grow no matter who is in power.  The political establishment of both parties is totally dependent on this beast, and they will continue to feed it and serve it because it has been very good to them.  The following is from an outstanding article by Steve McCann...

   
Quote
The Republican and Democratic political establishments are made up of the following:

    1) many current and nearly all retired national office holders whose livelihood and narcissistic demands depends upon fealty to Party and access to government largesse;

    2) the majority of the media elite, including pundits, editors, writers and television news personalities based in Washington and New York whose proximity to power and access is vital to their continued standard of living; 

    3) academia, numerous think-tanks, so-called non-government organizations, and lobbyists who fasten onto those in the administration and Congress for employment, grants, favorable legislation and ego-gratification; 

    4) the reliable deep pocket political contributors and political consultants whose future is irrevocably tied to the political machinery of the Party; and

    5) the crony capitalists, i.e. leaders of the corporate and financial community as well as unions whose entities are dependent on or subject to government oversight and/or benevolence .

Do you think that there is any chance that this insidious system will be uprooted any time soon?

Of course not.

We will continue on the same path that we are on right now and America will continue to decline.

Many will rejoice as America falls, but I will not.

I will mourn for a mighty Republic that has fallen and for a dream that has been lost.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/34-signs-that-america-is-in-decline


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on December 01, 2012, 06:23:49 am
City Attorney Tells San Bernardino Residents To ‘Lock Their Doors,’ ‘Load Their Guns’ Because Of Police Downsizing

The city attorney of San Bernardino is under scrutiny for telling residents to “lock their doors and load their guns” during a city council meeting.

The official explained that because the city is bankrupt and slashing public safety budgets people will need to start protecting themselves.

City Attorney Jim Penman said he doesn’t regret what he said.

“You should say what you mean and mean what you say,” Penman said.

The city attorney said approximately 150 residents came to a council meeting to voice their concerns about recent crimes in the area, including the murder of an elderly woman last week.

“You could tell the swell of frustration was coming over a lot of folks. They did not feel like they could get an officer out as quickly to some of the quality-of-life issues that they were dealing with as they would have preferred,” said councilwoman Wendy McCommack, who organized the meeting and was present that night.

“Well, if I remember right, I told them to ‘lock their doors and load their guns,’” Penman said.

Penman said the city is dealing with bankruptcy, which has forced officials to cut its police force by about 80 officers. Consequently, there’s been growing criticism about the police department’s response time.

“Let’s be honest, we don’t have enough police officers. We have too many criminals living in this city. We have had 45 murders this year…that’s far too high for a city of this size,” Penman said.

The city attorney said it’s important for people to be smart about protecting themselves and their families.

“I’m not advocating that people go out, who don’t have any training, and buy firearms. I certainly strongly caution anyone who has children at home not to have a loaded gun in the house,” Penman said.

“We need to take our streets back, we need to take our neighborhoods back and we need to protect our homes, and that’s what I think Jim was trying to say,” McCommack said.

The city of San Bernardino has seen a 50 percent increase in murders this year compared to 2011.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/11/30/city-attorney-tells-san-bernardino-residents-to-lock-their-doors-load-their-guns-because-of-police-downsizing/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on December 02, 2012, 03:10:21 am
This is part of how a society unravels into chaos. Law and order starts to break down where citizens cannot depend on law enforcement anymore, then citizens start taking matters into their own hands, and that's when it gets ugly.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on December 05, 2012, 09:59:04 am
Detroit councilwoman to Obama: We voted for you, now bail us out

The city of Detroit faces a major financial crisis and one member of city council thinks President Barack Obama should step in and help.

City Council member JoAnn Watson said Tuesday the citizens support of Obama in last month's election was enough reason for the president to bailout the struggling the city. (Click the video player to listen)

"Our people in an overwhelming way supported the re-election of this president and there ought to be a quid pro quo and you ought to exercise leadership on that," said Watson. "Of course, not just that, but why not?"

Nearly 75 percent of Wayne County voters pulled the lever for Obama in November.

"After the election of Jimmy Carter, the honorable Coleman Alexander Young, he went to Washington, D.C. and came home with some bacon," said Watson. "That's what you do."

Young served as Detroit's mayor for 20 years and served as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1977 to 1981.

The White House has expressed no plans to bailout the cash-crunched city that some experts say could run out of money by the end of the year.

The  federal government has bailed out cities in the past, however. In 1975, President Gerald Ford extended more than $2 billion in credit to New York City to help it avoid a financial collapse.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/20264712/detroit-councilwoman-to-obama-we-supported-you-now-support-us

 ::)


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on December 05, 2012, 10:01:03 am
Police: Execution Style Slayings Leave 4 Dead In Detroit

Detroit police are called to the scene of a horrific discovery on the city’s east side.

A woman called police around 9:15 p.m. Tuesday after discovering the bodies of four people shot to death, execution style.

Police confirmed to WWJ that the bodies were found at a house on Tacoma, near East State Fair and Hayes.

Sgt. Eren Stephens said the victims are one woman and three men, all in their 20s.

The woman who discovered the bodies said there was an apparent drug raid at the house earlier in the day, but police wouldn’t comment on that.

No suspects are in custody.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/12/04/police-execution-style-slayings-leave-4-dead-in-detroit/


Robbers With AK-47s Hit Two Detroit Gas Stations

Detroit police are investigating whether a group of AK-47 wielding robbers who hit two gas stations Wednesday morning are responsible for several similar crimes that have recently occurred across the city.

Sam Adbullah was manning the till at the BP gas station on 7 Mile near I-75 around 4 a.m. when he looked up at the security camera.

“I had the camera turned on in the back. Usually I don’t, but tonight for some reason I had it on the back,” Adbullah told WWJ’s Ron Dewey.

Adbullah said he saw a vehicle drive up and four men exit the car with assault rifles drawn.

“I saw the car and then it disappeared, and then it popped back up on the camera in the back on the building. I saw them come out with the guns and everything. So, I said ‘Oh, s***!’ and I just closed the door, went over there, picked up the phone and called the police,” he said.

Adbullah said he locked the door and got down behind the bullet proof glass. When the robbers couldn’t get in, they left.

“It was frightening but you know, you just take control, your mind takes control,” he said.

Adbullah said unfortunately, dealing with robberies comes with the territory of owning a gas station in Detroit.

rest: http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/12/05/robbers-with-ak-47s-hit-two-detroit-gas-stations/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on December 07, 2012, 10:07:30 am
State laying groundwork for managed bankruptcy for Detroit

Even as the state Treasury prepares to begin another financial review of Detroit's books, a plan is being solidified in the governor's office that would guide Michigan's largest city through what is being called a managed bankruptcy.

The working concept, still evolving, assumes that the state's financial review would find severe financial distress in Detroit, that Mayor Dave Bing and City Council would be unable to push through overdue restructuring, and that the process would culminate in appointment of an emergency financial manager under Public Act 72.

The case would be filed under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy code, according to two ranking sources familiar with the situation, following efforts to reach prenegotiated settlements with as many key creditors — unions, vendors and pension funds among them — as possible before any filing.



From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121207/OPINION03/212070365#ixzz2ENnmmByv


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on December 07, 2012, 11:49:29 am
But somehow Detroit has money to build a new multi-million dollar sports stadium? ::)

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mich-senate-oks-bill-help-021119124--nhl.html

Mich. Senate OKs bill to help build Red Wings home
By JOHN FLESHER (Associated Press) | The Associated Press – Wed, Dec 5, 2012 9:15 PM EST

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The Michigan Senate approved legislation Wednesday to help finance a downtown Detroit project that would include a new home for the NHL's Detroit Red Wings.
 
Team owner Mike Ilitch this week announced plans for a $650 million multiuse development, which would include an events center where Red Wings games could be held. He has said for years he'd like a new arena for the team, which now plays at the aging Joe Louis Arena.
 
The bill approved by the Senate would allow use of tax dollars collected by the city's Downtown Development Authority for the project. DDAs capture shares of local tax revenue to support development activities such as marketing and buying property.

more


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on December 07, 2012, 04:05:34 pm
One big scam after another by city officials, just because they want a pro sports team, they claim will bring in income for the city and increase tourism, and the team owners basically hold hostage the city for public funds to finance their junk product that only a select few of the population even bothers to watch or go to a game, yet they get the whole city to pay for it whether they want to or not.

And officials wonder why they have "budget shortfalls"!


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on December 15, 2012, 06:37:14 pm
http://news.yahoo.com/detroit-serious-financial-problem-michigan-treasurer-180959042--finance.html

.
Detroit has "serious financial problem": Michigan treasurer
By Ann Saphir | Reuters – 2 hrs 32 mins ago.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A check of Detroit's finances has found a "serious financial problem" with the cash-strapped city, a step that could lead to the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
 
Michigan State Treasurer Andy Dillon notified Governor Rick Snyder of the report's findings late Friday, just four days after the review began, according to a statement from the state Treasury Department.
 
"A preliminary review of the City of Detroit's finances has found that a serious financial problem exists in the city," the statement said.
 
The review paves the way for the state to take a deeper look into the city's finances, which in turn could lead to the declaration of a fiscal emergency that would trigger the appointment of an emergency financial manager.
 
That official would have the power to put the city of 700,000 into Chapter 9 bankruptcy if other rescue plans are not feasible or effective.
 
Detroit, home of General Motors Co., has been hit by a steep population decline, years of severe budget deficits and escalating employee costs, all of which led state officials to begin an intervention process last year.
 
The preliminary review by the state treasurer found the city continues to have "significant cash flow problems," but that reporting problems have meant that projections swing wildly from month to month.
 
"A cash flow estimate in August, 2012 projected a cash deficit of $62 million by June 30, 2013, but estimates for October and November projected deficits of $84 million and $122 million respectively," the report said.
 
Should a further review of the city's finances result in the appointment of an emergency financial manager, it could mean a potential bankruptcy, "which could ultimately result in a delay or reduction of payments to city creditors," Moody's analyst Jeffrey Yorg wrote in a report.
 
STATE MONEY RELEASED
 
This week Detroit won a $10 million payment from Michigan after the City Council dropped its opposition to a key measure that had held up the release of the money.
 
By a 5-4 vote, the council approved the appointment of law firm Miller Canfield to work on issues related to a consent agreement that this year gave the state some oversight of Detroit's finances.
 
Last month council members had rejected the appointment, citing potential conflicts.
 
Council President Charles Pugh told reporters after the meeting that he "tried to hold his nose" to vote for the contract so that the city could avoid a state-appointed emergency financial manager
 
State officials, frustrated by the slow pace of reforms in Detroit, moved ahead with the preliminary review of the city's finances anyway.
 
"There is nothing new here," Mayor Dave Bing said, responding to Friday's finding, according to the Detroit Free Press. "We continue to be focused on our financial restructuring plan."
 
The city's oversight board, which was created under the consent agreement that allowed Detroit to avoid a state-appointed emergency manager, voted unanimously on Monday to support Michigan Treasurer Dillon's plan to launch the Detroit review.
 
Legislation that could be passed by the Michigan Legislature this month could also give Detroit a path to a Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing.
 
The bill would give fiscally struggling local governments like Detroit options for fixing their problems, including bankruptcy, emergency managers and consent agreements.
 
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Xavier Briand)


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on December 17, 2012, 04:02:30 am
Society Is Crumbling Right In Front Of Our Eyes And Banning Guns Won't Help

What in the world is happening to America?  I have written many articles about how society is crumbling right in front of our eyes, but now it is getting to the point where people are going to be afraid to go to school or go shopping at the mall.  Just consider what has happened over the past week.  Adam Lanza savagely murdered 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.  42-year-old Marcus Gurrola threatened to shoot innocent shoppers and fired off more than 50 rounds in the parking lot of Fashion Island Mall in Newport Beach, California.  After police apprehended him, he told them that he "was unhappy with life".  Earlier in the week, a crazy man wearing a hockey mask and armed with a semi-automatic rifle opened fire on the second floor of a mall in Happy Valley, Oregon.  He killed two people and injured a third.  On Saturday morning, a lone gunman walked into a hospital in Alabama and opened fire.  He killed one police officer and two hospital employees before being gunned down by another police officer.  So have we now reached the point where every school, every mall and every hospital is going to need armed security?  How will society function efficiently if everyone is constantly worried about mass murderers?

In response to the horrible tragedy in Connecticut, many in the mainstream media are suggesting that much stricter gun laws are the obvious solution.

After all, if we get rid of all the guns these crazy people won't be able to commit these kinds of crimes, right?

Unfortunately, that is not how it works.  The criminals don't obey gun control laws.  Banning guns will just take them out of the hands of law-abiding American citizens that just want to protect their own families.

Adam Lanza didn't let the strict gun control laws up in Connecticut stop him from what he wanted to do.  Connecticut already has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, and Adam Lanza broke at least three of them.

However, if there had been some armed security officers or some armed teachers at that school, they may have had a chance to protect those dear little children from being brutally gunned down.

If gun control was really the solution to our problems, then cities that have implemented strict gun control laws should be some of the safest in the entire country.

But sadly, just the opposite is true.

For example, Chicago has very strict gun laws.  But 10 people were shot in the city of Chicago on Friday alone.  Chicago is now considered to be "the deadliest global city", and the murder rate in Chicago is about 25 percent higher than it was last year.

So has gun control turned Chicago into a utopia?

Of course not.

And it won't solve our problems on a national level either.

You can find more statistics about the futility of gun control right here.

Well, how would things be if we did just the opposite and everyone had a gun?

Would gun crime go through the roof?

That is what liberals were warning of when the city of Kennesaw, Georgia passed a law requiring every home to have a gun.  But instead of disaster, the results turned out to be very impressive...

    In March 1982, 25 years ago, the small town of Kennesaw – responding to a handgun ban in Morton Grove, Ill. – unanimously passed an ordinance requiring each head of household to own and maintain a gun. Since then, despite dire predictions of “Wild West” showdowns and increased violence and accidents, not a single resident has been involved in a fatal shooting – as a victim, attacker or defender.

    The crime rate initially plummeted for several years after the passage of the ordinance, with the 2005 per capita crime rate actually significantly lower than it was in 1981, the year before passage of the law.

    Prior to enactment of the law, Kennesaw had a population of just 5,242 but a crime rate significantly higher (4,332 per 100,000) than the national average (3,899 per 100,000). The latest statistics available – for the year 2005 – show the rate at 2,027 per 100,000. Meanwhile, the population has skyrocketed to 28,189.

When criminals know that everyone has guns, they are much less likely to try something.  And often armed citizens are able to prevent potential mass murderers from doing more damage.  You can find several examples of this right here.

But of course most of our politicians are not interested in common sense.  Instead, they are obsessed with the idea that gun control will make our country "safe" again.

Senator Diane Feinstein says that she is ready to introduce a strict gun control bill in January that will "ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession" of many types of firearms.

Will such a law keep the criminals from getting guns?

No way.  Just look at what is happening with the cartels down in Mexico.  The criminals are always able to get guns.

If our "leaders" were really interested in stopping these mass murders, they would take a look at the role that mind-altering pharmaceutical drugs play in these incidents.  If you look at the mass murders that have occurred over the past several decades, in the vast majority of them the murderer had been using mind-altering pharmaceutical drugs...

    The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has raised concerns about severe acts of violence as side effects of anti-psychotic and antidepressant drugs not only on individuals but on society as well.

    Just a month ago PRWeb described drug induced violence as "medicine's best kept secret."

    And the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHRI) is calling for a federal investigation on its web page which links no less than 14 mass killings to the use of psychiatric drugs such as Prozac and Paxil.

And guess what?

According to the Washington Post, one neighbor says that Adam Lanza was "on medication".

But will our politicians ever consider a law against such drugs?

Of course not.  The big corporations that produce those drugs give mountains of money to the campaign funds of our politicians.

So the focus of the debate will remain on guns.

And a lot of liberals would have us believe that our society could be transformed into some type of "utopia" if we could just get rid of all the guns.

Unfortunately, that is simply not true.  Our society is in an advanced state of moral decay, and this moral decay is manifesting in our society in thousands of different ways.  The corruption runs from the highest levels of society all the way down to the lowest.

For those that believe that gun control would somehow "fix America", I have some questions for you...

Down in Texas, one set of parents kept their 10-year-old son locked in a bedroom and only fed him bread and water for months.  Eventually he died of starvation and they dumped his body in a creek.

Would banning guns have kept that from happening?

A pastor in north Texas was recently assaulted by an enraged man who beat him to death with an electric guitar.

Would banning guns have kept that from happening?

Police up in New Jersey say that a man kept his girlfriend padlocked in a bedroom for most of the last 10 years.

Would banning guns have kept that from happening?

A 31-year-old man up in Canada was found guilty of raping an 8-year-old girl, breaking 16 of her bones and smashing her in the face with a hammer.

Would banning guns have kept that from happening?

According to the FBI, a New York City police officer is being accused of “planning the kidnap, ****, torture and cannibilization of a number of women”.

Would banning guns have kept that from happening?

A Secret Service officer that had been assigned to protect Joe Biden’s residence has been charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

Would banning guns have kept that from happening?

Over in Texas, a very sick 29-year-old man stabbed his girlfriend to death and then burned his one-year-old baby alive because she had gone to court and filed for child support.

Would banning guns have kept that from happening?

Over in Utah, a 21-year-old man is accused of stabbing his grandmother 111 times and then removing her organs with a knife.

Would banning guns have kept that from happening?

There are more than 3 million reports of child abuse in the United States every single year.

Would banning guns keep that from happening?

An average of five children die as a result of child abuse in the United States every single day.

Would banning guns keep that from happening?

The United States has the highest child abuse death rate on the entire globe.

Would banning guns keep that from happening?

It is estimated that 500,000 Americans that will be born this year will be sexually abused before they turn 18.

Would banning guns keep that from happening?

In the United States today, it is estimated that one out of every four girls is sexually abused before they become adults.

Would banning guns keep that from happening?

If there was a way to take all of the guns away from all of the criminals, I would be all in favor of it.  Unfortunately, no government on the planet has been able to do that.

Instead, we have seen that criminals thrive whenever gun bans are instituted and the guns are taken away from law-abiding citizens.

But the bottom line is that our social decay will not be solved either by more guns or less guns.

Our social decay is the result of decades of bad decisions.  We have pushed morality out of our schools, out of government and out of almost every aspect of public life.  Now we are experiencing the bitter fruit of those decisions.

And this is not a problem that our government is going to be able to fix.  Violent crime increased by 18 percent in 2011, and this is just the beginning.

As our economy gets even worse, the rot and decay that have been eating away the foundations of America are going to become even more evident.  The number of Americans living in poverty grows with each passing day, and millions upon millions of people are becoming very desperate.

Desperate people do desperate things, and crime, rioting and looting are going to become commonplace in the United States in the years ahead.

So you can pretend that the government is going to be able to keep our society from crumbling all you want, but that is not going to help you when a gang of desperate criminals has invaded your home and is attacking your family.

We definitely should mourn for the victims in Connecticut.  It was a horrible national tragedy.

But this is just the beginning.  The fabric of our society is coming apart at the seams.  The feeling of safety and security that we all used to take for granted has been shattered, and the streets of America are going to steadily become much more dangerous.

I hope that you are ready.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/society-is-crumbling-right-in-front-of-our-eyes-and-banning-guns-wont-help


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on December 30, 2012, 04:07:24 pm
Not just U.S cities!!!

Lights to be turned off in France to save money and show 'sobriety' Paris may go dark in the early hours of the morning if new plans go ahead
Traders fears the blackout would negatively affect tourism and the economy


Paris may lose its trademark glow next year after plans emerged to extinguish its street lighting at night to save money.
French President Francois Hollande and his energy minister Delphine Batho are considering turning out the lights in and outside public buildings, offices and shops in the early hours of the morning.
If the scheme goes ahead, late-night revellers in the city would be advised to carry torches if they venture out between the hours of 1 and 7am.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254565/Lights-turned-France-save-money-sobriety.html


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on December 31, 2012, 07:17:05 am
Quote
late-night revelers in the city would be advised to carry torches

They might be carrying not only torches, but pitch forks too!


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on January 01, 2013, 06:24:51 am
Why?

Why does it seem like America is getting crazier with each passing year?  It has become glaringly apparent that very deep corruption has taken root in our society from the lowest levels of society all the way up to the highest levels of society.  In fact, some of the worst behavior of all is being exhibited by those that are supposed to be “examples” for our young people – politicians, bankers, lawyers, CEOs, etc.  As we enter 2013, the American people are greedy, selfish, boastful, proud, arrogant, disrespectful, ungrateful, materialistic, unforgiving, without self-control and they are completely and totally addicted to entertainment.  They believe that America will always be “the greatest nation on earth” just because of who we are, and they believe that the rest of the world should look up to us as a bright, shining example of everything that is good in the world.  Meanwhile, we lead the world in a large number of negative categories and our society is decaying right in front of our eyes.  It reminds me of what happened during the waning days of the Roman Empire.  The Romans just assumed that Rome would always be dominant forever, and they became extremely complacent and extraordinarily decadent.  We all know how that turned out, and at this point things are not looking good for America either.

So where do we go from here?

Well, it might help to ask ourselves a few questions as another year begins.

The following are 25 “why questions” for you to ponder as we enter 2013…

Why did the New York Times (the most read newspaper in the country) publish an article by a Georgetown University professor entitled “Let’s Give Up On The Constitution“?  What kind of message are they trying to send by publishing that trash?

Why is the U.S. government actively supporting and giving aid to Syrian rebels that are beheading Christians?  Just the other day, Syrian rebels beheaded one Christian man and fed his body to dogs.  The man that they killed had recently been married and was expecting his first child.

Why is the U.S. military sending troops to 35 different African nations in 2013?  Can we really afford to be the police of the world?

Why does California keep doing such stupid things?  On January 1st, more than 800 new laws (most of them ridiculous) go into effect in the state.

Why is so much U.S. real estate being bought up by China?  Chinese citizens purchased one out of every ten homes that were sold in the state of California in 2011.

Why is Texas Governor Rick Perry resurrecting the Trans-Texas Corridor project?  Does he honestly believe that nobody will notice?

Why is the mainstream media ignoring the fact that the percentage of Americans that are against a ban of handguns is at an all-time high?

Why is the mainstream media ignoring a recent theater shooting that was stopped by a man with a gun?

Why do celebrities that claim to be “anti-gun” constantly make movies that are absolutely brimming with gun violence?

Why is genetically-modified rice that has human genes in it being grown in Kansas?

Why is the Obama administration working so hard to “force Christians to act against their faith“?

Why was a surveillance drone hovering over the Vikings-Packers game at the Metrodome on Sunday?

Why did the U.S. government ask the Mexican government to help them increase participation in the U.S. food stamp program?

Why does the U.S. government have a website that teaches immigrants how to sign up for welfare programs once they arrive in the United States?

If “terrorists” are the threat we are all supposed to be worried about, then why is the U.S. government spending gigantic mountains of money to watch and monitor Americans?  Today, the American people are the most surveilled people in the history of the world.  Why is this happening?  What will our society eventually look like if we keep going down this path?

Why is the mainstream media being so quiet about the giant sinkholes that are opening up all over the world?

Why have volcanic activity and earthquake activity along the Ring of Fire increased so dramatically as we approach 2013?

Why are Protestants losing political power so rapidly in America today?

Why does the Obama administration seem so determined to reduce the size of the U.S. strategic nuclear arsenal?

Why don’t more Americans know about the population control agenda of the global elite?

Why are so many workers claiming Social Security disability?  Back in 1967, there were about 41 workers for every person on Social Security disability.  Today, there are only about 16 workers for every person on Social Security disability.

Why do 77,000 federal employees earn more money than the governors of their own states do?

Why does it cost American taxpayers more than a billion dollars to take care of the Obamas each year?

Why is Hillary Clinton the most admired woman in America?

Why is Barack Obama the most admired man in America?

Do you have any why questions to add to this list?

If so, please feel free to post a comment with your suggestions below…

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/why

uhm, how about Amerikas rejection of Jesus and that we are on the advent of the Great Day of the Lord?


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on January 01, 2013, 08:24:38 am
Oh, I could add a bunch to that list no doubt! All those questions and more is why many are losing it. Nothing is making any sense, and the unbelieving just don't have anything to fall back on that they can trust, so the situation is extremely bleak-looking for them. It appears to them that there is no real hope of saving the country, and when people get to that point of mind, it's gets real bad.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on January 05, 2013, 11:18:55 am
'We've lost respect for life': Detroit records deadliest year in decades

The homicide rate in the city of Detroit continued a grim upward trend in 2012, hitting its highest peak in nearly two decades, officials said Thursday.

A dwindling population -- 706,585 people in 2011, according to the U.S. Census estimate -- and the rise in homicides combined to make Detroit’s murder rate among the highest in the nation, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Police Chief Chester Logan announced at a press conference. 

“We’ve just lost respect for each other; we’ve lost respect for life,” Bing said. “I don’t want to say that you can forget about this generation or the generation before us, but if we’re going to solve the problem, we’ve got to get into the heads and the minds and the hearts of our young people, and it’s going to take all of us to do that.”

Detroit’s total of 411 homicides in 2012, up from 377 the previous year, includes 386 criminal homicides and 25 “justifiable homicides” that included three shootings by police, according to numbers released by the city. The number of criminal homicides increased 12 percent from 344 in 2011. The total in 2010 was 308.

Even as violent crime rates in the U.S. fell for the fifth consecutive year in 2011, the homicide rate in Detroit rose to a level higher than nearly 40 years ago when the city was known as the Murder Capital, the Detroit News reported. The same day the city's official crime statistics were announced, a Detroit woman was charged with fatally stabbing her 8-year-old daughter and a cab driver was killed in a double shooting on the city’s northwest side.

“I think the message that we want our citizens to understand is that we need them. We need them to help us. I just don’t believe that our police department should have the total responsibility for safety in the city," Bing said. "There are, as the chief said, he can have an additional thousand cops, but there are things that are happening in homes and families in the communities and the neighborhoods that whether a cop was there or not is not going to stop the crime.”

Homicides have declined nationwide for years, most notably in New York, where in 2012 there were 414 homicides and a rate of one per 19,915 people.

New Orleans reported a small drop from 199 to 193 in 2012. With a population 360,740, the rate was one per 1,869 residents.

In Washington, D.C., there were 88 homicides in 2012, the lowest total since 1961. With a population of 617,966, that puts the rate at one per 7,023 people.

Elsewhere across the country, homicide rates made only slight jumps compared to Detroit.

In Los Angeles, the homicide rate increased from 291 to 294 last year, with a population of nearly 3.8 million.
The homicide rate in Chicago went up nearly 17 percent in 2012, topping 500 for the first time in four years. Last year’s total was 505, up from 433 in 2011.
Homicides in Cleveland, Ohio, spiked in 2012 with 97 and a rate of one per 4,060 people.
Philadelphia homicides increased from 324 to 331 in 2012. With a population of 1.54 million, that amounts to one per 4,642.
In St. Louis, which has a population of 318,169 people, the rate stayed the same at between 2011 and 2012 at one per 2,815 people. There were 113 homicides last year, well below the average of 141 for the five previous years.
Detroit Police Chief Logan said the criminal activity in the city comes from a small minority of the city's population.

"These aren't the average citizens we are talking about," Logan said. "Many of these people are involved in nefarious walks of life, and there's a difference between a law-abiding citizen who shoots a gun and a criminal or a thug who's out there using one."

Still, Mayor Bing offered messages of hope for the city.

“We can’t give up, we can’t give in, and we’ve really got to let the small percentage of our population that’s creating havoc in our city know that we’re not going to continue to accept it and all of us need to get involved and help each other solve the problem,” Bing said.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/04/16352612-weve-lost-respect-for-life-detroit-records-deadliest-year-in-decades?lite


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on January 06, 2013, 05:50:41 pm
Detroiter Claims 911 Call Of Stolen Van With Gun Was Ignored

While Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Interim Police Chief Chester Logan explore a restructuring of the city’s police department, some residents are expressing frustration with how their calls are being handled.

Detroiter Rachelle Guyton said she called 911 around 6:30 a.m. Saturday to report that her 2003 Chrysler Town & Country minivan had been stolen from an apartment building in Palmer Park — but it wasn’t the van she was worried about.

“I have a gun under my car seat, and when I called the police department to explain this to them and try to have them help… they didn’t give me any attention. They told me I had to wait until 8 o’clock to call back. What if someone gets shot with this? What if a child gets this in his hand? I’m responsible, and I just can’t have that on my conscience,” Guyton told WWJ’s Terri Lee.

Guyton, who has a CCW permit for her 9-millimeter Smith & Wesson, said she’s disappointed in how her call was handled, especially with all the talk about guns surrounding the city’s recently released crime statistics for 2012 — numbers which show the highest murder rate in the city in nearly 20 years.

“They’re not trying to make anything a top priority, they won’t send a car out here to investigate, they won’t do anything. So, I’m stuck here not concerned about the car whatsoever. I will take the bus, you know, that’s not important. The importance here is the gun and the safety for other people,” said Guyton.

Detroit police declined to comment on the situation.

Guyton said her minivan has a Michigan license plate number ”3HZH63″ and is midnight blue in color. Anyone with information is asked to call police.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/01/05/detroiter-claims-911-call-of-stolen-van-with-gun-was-ignored/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on January 06, 2013, 07:09:40 pm
Detroiter Claims 911 Call Of Stolen Van With Gun Was Ignored

While Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Interim Police Chief Chester Logan explore a restructuring of the city’s police department, some residents are expressing frustration with how their calls are being handled.

Detroiter Rachelle Guyton said she called 911 around 6:30 a.m. Saturday to report that her 2003 Chrysler Town & Country minivan had been stolen from an apartment building in Palmer Park — but it wasn’t the van she was worried about.

“I have a gun under my car seat, and when I called the police department to explain this to them and try to have them help… they didn’t give me any attention. They told me I had to wait until 8 o’clock to call back. What if someone gets shot with this? What if a child gets this in his hand? I’m responsible, and I just can’t have that on my conscience,” Guyton told WWJ’s Terri Lee.

Guyton, who has a CCW permit for her 9-millimeter Smith & Wesson, said she’s disappointed in how her call was handled, especially with all the talk about guns surrounding the city’s recently released crime statistics for 2012 — numbers which show the highest murder rate in the city in nearly 20 years.

“They’re not trying to make anything a top priority, they won’t send a car out here to investigate, they won’t do anything. So, I’m stuck here not concerned about the car whatsoever. I will take the bus, you know, that’s not important. The importance here is the gun and the safety for other people,” said Guyton.

Detroit police declined to comment on the situation.

Guyton said her minivan has a Michigan license plate number ”3HZH63″ and is midnight blue in color. Anyone with information is asked to call police.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/01/05/detroiter-claims-911-call-of-stolen-van-with-gun-was-ignored/

Another attempt to promote gun control quietly? :-\


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on January 07, 2013, 03:58:20 am
Large Cities All Over America Are Degenerating Into Gang-Infested War Zones

Large U.S. cities that the rest of the world used to look at in envy are now being transformed into gang-infested hellholes with skyrocketing crime rates.  Cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Camden, East St. Louis, New Orleans and Oakland were once bustling with economic activity, but as industry has fled those communities poverty has exploded and so has criminal activity.  Meanwhile, financial problems have caused all of those cities to significantly reduce their police forces.  Sadly, this same pattern is being repeated in hundreds of communities all over the nation.  The mainstream media loves to focus on mass shooters such as Adam Lanza, but the reality is that gang violence is a far greater problem in the United States than mass shooters ever will be.  There are approximately 1.4 million gang members living in America today according to the FBI.  That number has shot up by a whopping 40 percent just since 2009.  There are several factors fueling this trend.  Unemployment among our young people is at an epidemic level, about one out of every three U.S. children lives in a home without a father, and there are millions of young men who have come into this country illegally and have no way to legally support themselves once they arrive in our cities.  Gangs provide a support system, a feeling of "community", and a sense of purpose for many young people.  Unfortunately, most of these gangs use violence and crime to achieve their goals, and they are taking over communities all over America.  If your community is not a gang-infested war zone yet, you should consider yourself to be very fortunate.  If nothing is done about this, the violence and the crime that is fueled by these gangs will continue to spread, and eventually nearly every single community in the United States will be affected by it.

Let's take a closer look at some of the large cities all over America that are degenerating into gang-infested war zones...

East St. Louis

East St. Louis has a national reputation for being a city that you want to avoid.  The following is from a recent Bloomberg article about the growing crime in that community...

    Dodging open manholes where thieves had swiped cast-iron covers, Stephen Wigginton drives the crumbling streets of his hometown, East St. Louis, Illinois, pointing out new landmarks in America’s most violent city.

    There’s the shopping mall where a police officer was shot in the face, a youth center that saw a triple homicide in September, and scattered about the city of 27,000 are brightly lit gas stations that serve as magnets for carjackers, hit-and-run robbers and killers.

    “It’s the Wild West,” said Wigginton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.

Today, the murder rate in East St. Louis is 17 times higher than the national average, but financial problems have forced huge cuts to the police budget.  The number of police patrolling the streets of East St. Louis was reduced by 33 percent between 2008 and 2011.  Police in the city admit that they are outgunned and outmanned, but there is not much that can be done about it.

Camden

Camden, New Jersey is another city that has experienced huge cuts to the police budget.  Their police force shrank by about a third between 2008 and 2011.  Today, Camden is considered to be one of the most dangerous cities in America and it has a murder rate that is about ten times higher than New York City.

The gangs have a very strong hold over Camden, and kids kill kids on a regular basis in the city.  The following is a brief excerpt from a recent article about the horrible violence that is plaguing Camden…

    At the vigil last week, residents prayed that Camden would simply find peace and that the masked gunman who killed Jewel Manire and Khalil Gibson would be caught.

    As it grew darker, Michael Benjamin stood toward the back of the crowd, his son huddled even closer now, and shook his head.

    “I’ve known at least 45 kids who’ve been killed in my lifetime,” he said, the boy holding his finger. “I stopped counting in 2004, though.”

Chicago

In recent years there have been massive cuts to the police budget in Chicago due to financial difficulties.  At the same time, gang activity has dramatically increased in the city.

As a result, Chicago has become known for murders and violence.  The murder rate in Chicago was about 17 percent higher in 2012 than it was in 2011, and Chicago is now considered to be "the deadliest global city".

If you can believe it, the number of murders in Chicago during 2012 was roughly equivalent to the number of murders in the entire country of Japan during 2012.

And the primary reason for all of this violence in Chicago is the gangs.  As I have written about previously, there are only about 200 police officers assigned to Chicago's Gang Enforcement Unit.  It is their job to handle the estimated 100,000 gang members living in the city.

Approximately 80 percent of all murders and shootings in the city of Chicago are gang-related, and as the gangs continue to grow in size the violence in the city is going to get even worse.  If Barack Obama wants to do something about violence in America, perhaps he should start with his home city.

Detroit

I write a lot about Detroit, but that is because they are a perfect example of where the rest of America is headed if something dramatic is not done.

Detroit used to be one of the greatest manufacturing cities the world has ever seen, but over the past several decades the economic infrastructure of Detroit has been gutted and now there is very little industry left in the city.

Over half the children in the city live in poverty and a sense of hopelessness hangs in the air.  At the same time, financial problems have forced the city to lay off huge numbers of cops.  Back in 2005, there were about 4,000 police officers in Detroit.  Today there are only about 2,500 and another 100 are scheduled to be eliminated from the force soon.

Meanwhile, crime in Detroit just continues to get even worse.  There were 377 homicides in Detroit in 2011.  In 2012, that number rose to 411.

Things have gotten so bad that even even the Detroit police are telling people to "enter Detroit at your own risk".

New Orleans

New Orleans was a crime-infested city even before Hurricane Katrina hit it in 2005, but life has never quite been the same since that time.

The gangs have a very strong presence in the city, and there simply are not enough financial resources to keep crime in check.

If New Orleans was considered to be a separate nation, it would have the 2nd highest murder rate on the entire planet.  There are some areas of New Orleans that you simply do not ever want to venture into at night.

Meanwhile, the police force has been such a mess in recent years that the federal government finally decided to step in.  It is hoped that the "reforms" will mean less crime in New Orleans in future years, but I wouldn't count on it.

Oakland

Today, there are 626 police officers in Oakland, California.  That is about a 25 percent decline from the 837 police officers that were patrolling the streets of Oakland back in December 2008.

Predictably, criminals have stepped in and have taken advantage of the situation.  At one point in 2012, burglaries in the city of Oakland were up 43 percent over the previous year.

If you can believe it, more than 11,000 homes, cars and businesses were burglarized in Oakland during 2012.  That breaks down to approximately 33 burglaries a day.

Stockton

Police cuts in the city of Stockton, California have been so severe that the Stockton Police Officers' Association ran a billboard advertisement with the following message at one point: "Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California: Stop laying off cops!"

At the same time, crime in Stockton continues to get even worse.  there have been more than 250 gold chain robberies in Stockton since the month of April, and there is no indication that crime in the city is going to slow down any time soon.

So what is the solution?

Should we have everyone turn in their guns?

No, that would just make the problem even worse.  The gangs aren't going to turn in their guns.  The only people who would turn in their guns would be law-abiding citizens.  That would just make them even more vulnerable to the violence and crime that are starting to spread like wildfire all over the nation.

We don't have a gun problem in America.  What we have is a gang problem.

In 2006, the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center reported that Mexican drug cartels were actively operating in 50 different U.S. cities.  By 2010, that number had risen to 1,286.

Many of these gang members run up long criminal records, but our overcrowded prison systems just keep releasing them back into the streets.  The results of this philosophy have been predictable.  The following is from a recent article by Daniel Greenfield...

    A breakdown of the Chicago killing fields shows that 83% of those murdered in Chicago last year had criminal records. In Philly, it’s 75%. In Milwaukee it’s 77% percent. In New Orleans, it’s 64%. In Baltimore, it’s 91%. Many were felons who had served time. And as many as 80% of the homicides were gang related.

    Chicago’s problem isn’t guns; it’s gangs. Gun control efforts in Chicago or any other major city are doomed because gangs represent organized crime networks which stretch down to Mexico, and trying to cut off their gun supply will be as effective as trying to cut off their drug supply.

This is not a time to take away the ability of law-abiding American families to defend themselves.  Instead, people need to put even more emphasis on self-defense as police forces all over the country are cut back.

Just recently, the city attorney of San Bernardino, California told citizens living there to "lock their doors and load their guns" because the police force in that city is being cut back again.

And that is good advice.  As the economy continues to decline and as millions more Americans fall into poverty, the violence is going to get even worse.

What would you do if a desperate criminal broke into your house and started searching through your home room by room?  That is the horrifying situation that one young mother down in Georgia was recently faced with...

    She quickly retreated to an attic crawlspace with the children, but not before she also picked up her handgun.

    The burglar, whom police identified as Paul Ali Slater, did a room-by-room search of the home, and when he reached the attic, she was ready.

    Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman told WSBTV: 'The perpetrator opens that door. Of course, at that time he’s staring at her, her two children and a .38 revolver.'

    She reportedly fired all six rounds, missing only once. The other shots hit Slater about the face and neck.

    Sheriff Chapman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 'The guy’s face down, crying. The woman told him to stay down or she’d shoot again.'

What would have happened if she had not had any way to defend herself and her children?

That is something that we all need to think about.

For the last couple of decades, we have been fortunate to live in an era of falling crime rates.  Unfortunately, that era is now over.  Large cities all over the country are degenerating into gang-infested war zones, and what we are seeing right now is just the tip of the iceberg.

After the economy collapses, millions of people are going to become incredibly desperate and things are going to get much, much worse than this.

So what are you seeing in your area of the country?  Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts below...

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/large-cities-all-over-america-are-degenerating-into-gang-infested-war-zones


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on January 07, 2013, 08:44:08 am
Quote
New Orleans

New Orleans was a crime-infested city even before Hurricane Katrina hit it in 2005, but life has never quite been the same since that time.

The gangs have a very strong presence in the city, and there simply are not enough financial resources to keep crime in check.

If New Orleans was considered to be a separate nation, it would have the 2nd highest murder rate on the entire planet.  There are some areas of New Orleans that you simply do not ever want to venture into at night.

Meanwhile, the police force has been such a mess in recent years that the federal government finally decided to step in.  It is hoped that the "reforms" will mean less crime in New Orleans in future years, but I wouldn't count on it.

The Churchianity pastors down there haven't done anyone any favors either(I know b/c I used to live there and crossed paths with a few of them frequently) - before I moved out of there after Katrina, they acted like God gave them visions over how their churches(especially one big Baptist one) would ravamp the city and what their roles would be. The pastor from the big Baptist one ended up partnering with Habitat for Humanity to build homes across the city.

Having done volunteer work at Habitat for Humanity a few years ago, this is NOT a Christian organization, it is ecumenical(which is why I'm confused over why self-professed Christians work at this place). Anyhow, this whole project that this big Baptist Church started in 2006 has unsurprisingly gone from getting alot of attention to now pretty much you don't hear about them anymore.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on January 11, 2013, 10:48:40 pm

Jackie Chan Thinks America is ‘The Most Corrupt’ Nation in the World

(http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18b79xikpbh4ljpg/original.jpg)

http://gawker.com/5975267/jackie-chan-thinks-america-is-the-most-corrupt-nation-in-the-world

1/11/13

As it turns out, Jackie Chan is not very grateful to the country that helped him roundhouse kick his way into an estimated $130 million fortune. Speaking on a television show in Hong Kong, Chan had some harsh words for the good ol' U. S. of A.
 
Chan was discussing recent progress China has made, removing corruption from its government (with limited success) when he called America "the most corrupt [country] in the world." Chan then continues (as translated by Ministry of Tofu), blaming America for the world's troubles and spouting some seriously nationalistic nonsense:

Quote
Chan: Of course. Where does this Great Breakdown (financial crisis) come from? It started exactly from the world, the United States. When I was interviewed in the U.S., people asked me, I said the same thing. I said now that China has become strong, everyone is making an issue of China. If our own countrymen don't support our country, who will support our country? We know our country has many problems. We [can] talk about it when the door is closed. To outsiders, [we should say] "our country is the best."
 
Host: So he can't get enough of his more than 20 ambassador titles. I think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should ask him to be the ambassador to the United States.
 
Chan: Seriously, I am always like, when the door is closed, "Our country is like this and this. Who and who is not good." But outside, "Our country is the best, like so and so, is the best." You cannot say our country has problems [when you are outside], like "Yes, our country is bad."
 
As the Washington Post's Max Fisher points out, Chen has a history of controversial political views. Chan once called Taiwan and Hong Kong examples of what happens when you have "too much freedom." He also once said "Chinese people need to be controlled, otherwise they will do whatever they want," regarding Chinese censorship of his movies.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on January 12, 2013, 02:40:52 am
Spoken like a true Chinese Communist.  ::)


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on January 14, 2013, 04:02:17 am
Armed vigilante groups policing 2 Mexican towns

coming soon to Amerika, oh wait, in some places in Amerika this is allready going on

Several hundred civilians have taken up arms in two towns in a southwestern Mexico state and are arresting people suspected of crimes and imposing a curfew, leading authorities to promise to reinforce security forces in the area.

People wearing ski masks or bandanas and carrying small arms this week began manning checkpoints on roads into the municipalities of Ayutla de los Libres and Teconoapa in Guerrero state's Costa Chica area about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of the Pacific resort of Acapulco. Leaders said they were acting against crime and insecurity.

Guerrero Gov. Angel Aguirre Rivero responded Friday by announcing that security in the region would be bolstered by sending in Mexican soldiers and marines and federal and state police officers.

People in the area said about 800 residents were participating in the armed groups acting as unofficial police. The vigilantes ordered a 10 p.m. curfew for the two towns and are looking for suspected criminals. Schools have suspended classes.

In Ayutla, Romualdo Remigio Cantu, one of the coordinators for the civic group Union of Peoples and Social Organizations of Guerrero, said that more than 30 people had been arrested. The detainees are accused of drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping, he said.

A man in a ski mask at one roadblock told reporters that townspeople had to act against criminals.

"They kill, extort, ****. You do not know if they are drug dealers, thugs, who want to grab everything," he said. "We want to return peace and tranquility to the entire population. Only the people can restore order."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_MEXICO_ARMED_CIVILIANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-12-18-48-21


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on January 28, 2013, 06:50:24 am
Social Decay + Illegal Immigration + Poverty = Open War On The Streets Of America

What did you think was going to happen?  Moral standards have been falling for decades, we have allowed massive hordes of criminals, gang members and drug dealers to enter this country illegally, and thanks to our declining economy our inner cities are being absolutely ravaged by poverty.  Was such a combination really going to produce peace and prosperity?  Should we be so shocked that we now have open war on the streets of America?  In the United States today, there are millions upon millions of young people that can't find jobs, that are living in poverty, that have no hope for a better future, and that have been raised without any moral standards.  These young people are becoming increasingly desperate, and desperate people do desperate things.  As I wrote about the other day, for those under the age of 18 living in the city of Detroit the poverty rate is 60 percent.  Should we be surprised that Detroit police are now telling people to "enter Detroit at your own risk".  At this point, the FBI says that there are approximately 1.4 million gang members living in our cities.  That number has risen by an astounding 40 percent just since 2009.  Did we somehow delude ourselves into thinking that there would not be severe consequences for allowing that to happen?  Today,  Mexican drug cartels are active in more than 1,000 U.S. cities.  Are they selling drugs and committing crimes in the area where you live?  Well, don't be so shocked.  The federal government has left our border with Mexico wide open for decades even though the most violent drug war on the planet has been raging just across that border.  Stupid decisions produce stupid results.  Sadly, this is just the beginning.  When our economy fully crashes the open warfare on the streets of America is going to get much, much worse.

Let's take a closer look at what is currently happening in a few of our largest cities...

Los Angeles

Did you know that Latino gangs are systematically pushing black families out of some areas of Los Angeles?

For example, once upon a time Compton was a predominantly African-American area.  But now it is 65 percent Latino, and there is a relentless campaign of intimidation against many of the African-American families that remain.

One of these incidents was recently profiled in the Los Angeles Times.  A black family moved into Compton near the end of December, and since that time they have been the victims of endless harassment by Latino gangs.  When a 19-year-old African-American friend came to visit the family one day, four thugs told him that blacks were barred from the neighborhood and they started beating him with metal pipes.  A story in the Los Angeles Times described what happened next...

The 19-year-old family friend managed to break free that first day and run into the house, where the children were the only ones at home.

The attackers left, but a half-hour later a crowd of as many as 20 people stood on the lawn yelling threats and epithets. A beer bottle crashed through the living room window as the youngsters watched in horror.

"They were scared if they called the sheriff they'd be killed," Westin said. "So they called their mom, who called the Sheriff's Department."

The gang members were gone by the time deputies arrived, but they kept coming back, almost daily, driving by slowly until they got someone's attention, then yelling racial insults and telling them to leave. The mother sent the children to live with relatives and is now packing up to leave herself.
As horrifying as that sounds, the truth is that it is not an isolated incident.

According to the Los Angeles Times, similar attacks "have taken place in Harbor Gateway, Highland Park, Pacoima, San Bernardino, Canoga Park and Wilmington, among other places."

Oakland

Up the coast in Oakland, a horribly violent gang war has gotten so out of hand that city officials are holding press conferences about it.

Violent crime in the city of Oakland increased by 23 percent in 2012, and police say that gang members were responsible for most of the approximately 2,000 robberies and 65 homicides that took place in the second half of the year.

As the San Francisco Chronicle recently explained, the violence continues to escalate and city officials don't know how to solve it...

Nearly all the violent crimes in Oakland in the last few months, including two killings over the weekend, have been committed as part of a "war" between rival groups that was sparked by the slaying of a girl last summer, Police Chief Howard Jordan said Monday.

Jordan said "about 90 percent" of the killings, robberies, shootings and other "senseless acts of violence" in the city since mid-2012 can be directly tied to the killing of a girlfriend of one of the combatants.

Over time, the warring factions have become increasingly violent and have grown in number, sometimes by merging with other groups, Jordan said at a news conference called in response to an outbreak of gunfire over the weekend.
Chicago

Savage murders happen so regularly in Chicago at this point that very few people are even shocked by the headlines any longer.  The murder rate in the city increased by about 17 percent in 2012, and 2013 has already started with quite a bang.

Just check out what happened on Saturday.  7 people were murdered and six others were left wounded.  The following is how the Chicago Tribune described one of the crime scenes...

On West Van Buren Street, a body could be seen lying in the roadway, near the curb and a bus stop.

A man who only identified himself as the teen victim's uncle said the boy, whose family lived nearby, had simply gone to run an errand.

"He was just going to the store," the man said. "They just killed him just like that."

Later, the man paced back and forth on the sidewalk, shaking his head in disbelief.
So why has Chicago become such a violent city?

It is because of the gangs.

Today, approximately 80 percent of all murders that happen in the city of Chicago are gang-related.  And as I have written about previously, there are only about 200 police officers assigned to Chicago's Gang Enforcement Unit to handle the estimated 100,000 gang members living in the city.

Perhaps Chicago could do more to handle all the crime if they had more money, but at this point they are flat broke and so is the entire state of Illinois.  In fact, the state of Illinois just had its credit rating downgraded once again.

I picked out three examples to discuss above, but similar things could really be said about hundreds of U.S. cities from coast to coast.

Once upon a time, gang activity was fairly limited to certain pockets of the country.  But now, it is more widespread than ever.

According to the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center,  Mexican drug cartels were actively operating in 50 different U.S. cities in 2006.

By 2010, that number had skyrocketed to 1,286.

Are you starting to get the picture?

So why doesn't the federal government secure the border and make sure that everyone that is coming into this country is doing so legally?

That is a very good question.  For some reason, every single president that we have had in recent decades has chosen to leave the U.S. border with Mexico virtually wide open.

And so millions of criminals, gang members, drug dealers and welfare parasites continue to pour into the country.  The following is what one local police chief down in Texas is saying about what he is seeing along the border...

The problem is not going away.

"Most of them have people here or they're just trying to make it over here so they can start making a better living for themselves," La Joya Police Chief Julian Gutierrez told Action 4 News.

No matter how many miles of border fence is erected—it seems nothing will stop the thousands of immigrants, crossing our border illegally, from continuing their journey.

"A lot of times we talk to them and ask them why they're coming here,” Gutierrez explained. “They say they're coming for the 'American Dream.' I always tell them that they're here illegally---how do they expect to find work? They always say it's a lot better than their country.”
So what is the Obama administration doing about this?

They don't consider it to be a problem.

In fact, one of our stations along the border with Mexico will no longer be manned with real people at all.  The following is from a recent ABC News report...

Get ready for the very first "unmanned" border station on the U.S.-Mexico border. Slated to open at the end of this month, the Big Bend National Park in Texas will be staffed by, you guessed it, computers.
But what the Obama administration does seem to be concerned about is giving immigrants lots of "benefits" once they get here.

For example, did you know that the federal government actually has a website that teaches immigrants how to sign up for welfare programs once they arrive in the United States?

Meanwhile, we can't even come close to taking care of our own citizens.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 146 million Americans that are considered to be either "poor" or "low income" at this point.

Poverty is absolutely exploding in this country, and the middle class gets smaller with each passing day.  When the next major economic downturn strikes, the unemployment numbers are going to start spiking again and millions of families are going to lose all hope that things will ever turn around for them.

Meanwhile, the very foundations of our society continue to rot and decay right in front of our eyes.  At this point, approximately one out of every three children in the U.S. lives in a home without a father.  The U.S. has the highest divorce rate in the world, the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the world, and there are 19 million new STD infections in the United States every single year.

Our nation is a complete and total mess, and many of our major cities are being transformed into gang-infested war zones that are on the verge of total meltdown.

Is it any wonder that millions of American families have chosen to become preppers?

Nothing is going to stop the societal meltdown that is coming.  That is especially true with Barack Obama running things.

Sadly, most Americans still have their heads in the sand and are pretending that everything will be okay somehow.

Sadly, most Americans still have a tremendous amount of faith in the system.

But anyone with a brain should be able to see the storm clouds that are coming.

So get prepared while you still can.

Time is running out.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/social-decay-illegal-immigration-poverty-open-war-on-the-streets-of-america


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on January 29, 2013, 10:01:15 am
Stuck in Reverse, Detroit Edges Closer to Bankruptcy

At the Detroit Auto Show earlier this month, luxury was in the air. Pricey new Bentleys and Maseratis glittered - including a Maserati 2014 Quattroporte with a $132,000 price tag; U.S. Cabinet Secretaries and dignitaries rubbed shoulders; and many of the well-heeled attendees ponied up for a $300-a-ticket black-tie charity ball.

But in a city that is slowly dying, the glitz didn't extend much beyond the Cobo Center exhibition hall.

General Motors and Chrysler, which along with Ford gave the Motor City its identity, survived near-death experiences after filing for bankruptcy during the financial crisis. Now, Detroit itself is edging closer to a similar precipice, only unlike the automakers, its chances of getting a federal bailout are almost nonexistent.

The story of Detroit's decline is decades old: Its tax revenue and population have shrunk and labor costs have remained out of whack. But the city's budget problems have deepened to such an extent that it could run out of cash in a matter of weeks or months and ultimately be forced into what would be the largest-ever Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy filing in the United States.

Frustrated by the lack of concrete progress, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, last month appointed a team to scour the city's books. The audit could result in a state takeover of Detroit's finances through the appointment of an emergency financial manager. Such a manager, who would seize control of the city's checkbook, could then propose federal bankruptcy court as the best option.

Snyder, who has called the situation "a crisis in terms of financial affairs," said the team would deliver its report in February.

"Detroit is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy after the City Council has failed to make the necessary cuts to deal with having a smaller population," said Rick Jones, chairman of the Republican majority caucus in the state Senate.

Jones, who has indicated he does not favor a bankruptcy, said he would like to see an emergency manager installed to fix the city's problems. If that failed, there would be a case for finding a way to shrink the Detroit municipal area, he argued.

Detroit's population is now just over 700,000 - down 30 percent since 1990 - but the city still has to provide services to an area encompassing more land than San Francisco, Boston and the borough of Manhattan.

While Democratic Mayor Dave Bing and the Detroit City Council have moved to reduce spending and initiate some reforms to stave off a takeover, including layoffs and wage and benefit cuts, the progress may not be enough for Michigan officials and lawmakers.

Streets Without Lights

In the booming post-Second World War era, Detroit was America's fifth-largest city. Today, it ranks 18th. In addition to a sharp population decline, it suffers from high unemployment related to a loss of businesses, a flood of home foreclosures and a cut in state funding. That has led to shriveling revenue, leaving the city unable to afford a workforce of more than 10,000 and the surging health and pension costs that go with them and with its retirees. As a result, credit ratings on Detroit's approximately $8.2 billion of outstanding debt have sunk deeper into junk territory.

The city's labor costs, including health care and pensions, are shrinking in absolute terms but rising as a share of the budget. They are slated to drop to $968 million, or nearly 49.5 percent of the operating budget, in the fiscal year ending June 30 versus $1.14 billion, or 45.5 percent, a year earlier.

Signs of decline are everywhere - in a rising crime rate, streets without lights and block after block of abandoned buildings. The murder rate of one per 1,719 people last year was more than 11 times the rate in New York City. The jobless rate is above 18 percent, more than twice rate for the country as a whole.

Collision Course

A bankruptcy would be messy.

The interests of creditors would likely collide with those of labor unions wanting to protect workers' benefits, said Eric Scorsone, a Michigan State University economist who has written papers on municipal bankruptcy and on the state's emergency manager laws.

"It is going to require the players - the City Council, the mayor, the state - to be on the same page. If you go into bankruptcy with a lot of conflict and dissent, it's going to cost more," said Scorsone.

It could also be racially explosive. Detroit has the largest percentage of black people of any U.S. city, with 83 percent of the population identifying themselves as African American, black or Negro, according to the 2010 U.S. census. Most of Michigan's state government, including the governor's office, is run by white Republicans.

Detroit Council Member JoAnn Watson, who along with two other members of the city's all-black City Council has been resisting reform measures, said she is still hopeful of a federal bailout or an injection of state money that she claims the city is owed.

Mayor Bing would not comment for this story.

Consequences, What Consequences?

The automakers have little to say publicly about the crisis. Most of their operations in Michigan are now outside Detroit, and getting any top executive to even discuss the possibility of a city bankruptcy was almost impossible at the auto show. "I don't want to get into the politics," said GM CEO Dan Akerson, while Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said: "I don't see what the consequences would be for us."

One of the city's biggest challenges is its complex set of labor agreements with a whopping 48 bargaining units that represent most of the city's workforce.

Max Newman, a bankruptcy attorney at Michigan-based Butzel Long, said a Chapter 9 bankruptcy could help the city throw out its collective bargaining agreements with unions.

Costs would have to be tackled since Detroit cannot just jack up taxes to reduce the cumulative budget deficit, which grew to $326.6 million in fiscal 2012 from $196.6 million in fiscal 2011. The state would likely resist tax increases, and they might only make matters worse anyway. "If taxes go up any further it would exacerbate the flight out of the city," Newman said.

But for some of those who have seen Detroit struggle for years, bankruptcy is starting to look like the least awful option - even though it will be painful.

"I think...off and on, that it wouldn't be a bad idea," said former Ford chief financial officer Allan Gilmour, now the president of Detroit's Wayne State University. "Let's clean this out once and for all."

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100414480


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on January 29, 2013, 10:02:45 am
Detroit firefighters rush 2 kids to hospital after no EMS was available

Two children were transported to a hospital by a rescue squad Tuesday morning after an EMS unit wasn't available to immediately respond to a house fire on the city's west side.

Firefighters responded to a blaze at an occupied home on the 5200 block of Tarnow Street Tuesday morning.

Detroit Fire officials said EMS personnel weren't on the scene after firefighters removed the children from the house, so personnel from Rescue Squad 4 performed CPR on both on the way to Henry Ford Hospital.

"They did a hell of a rescue; I just hope those kids are alright," Senior Chief Lewis Roelans said.

A Rescue Squad is an apparatus that carries medical equipment, Jaws of Life, generators and ropes for rescue. But they aren't typically used as a substitute for EMS rigs.

"They don't do that normally, but EMS wasn't on the scene and where minutes count, they have oxygen and everything handy," Roelans said.

Fire officials said the incident is under investigation.



From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130129/METRO01/301290379#ixzz2JNgajWNO


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on February 08, 2013, 03:44:18 am
Bankrupt, Decaying And Nearly Dead: 24 Facts About The City Of Detroit That Will Shock You

If you want to know what the future of America is going to be like, just look at the city of Detroit.  Once upon a time it was a symbol of everything that America was doing right, but today it has been transformed into a rotting, decaying, post-apocalyptic hellhole.  Detroit was once the fourth-largest city in the United States, and in 1960 Detroit had the highest per-capita income in the entire nation.  It was the greatest manufacturing city the world had ever seen, and the rest of the globe looked at Detroit with a sense of awe and wonder.  But now the city of Detroit has become a bad joke to the rest of the world.  Unemployment is rampant, 60 percent of the children are living in poverty and the city government is on the verge of bankruptcy.  They say that Detroit is just a matter of "weeks or months" away from running out of cash, and when Detroit does declare bankruptcy it will be the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States.  But don't look down on Detroit, because the truth is that Detroit is really a metaphor for what is happening to America as a whole.  In the United States today, our manufacturing infrastructure has been gutted, poverty is absolutely exploding and we are rapidly approaching national bankruptcy.  Detroit may have gotten there first, but the rest of the country will follow soon enough.

Back during the boom years, Detroit was known for making great cars.  Today, it is known for scenes of desolation and decay.  It is full of vandalized homes, abandoned schools and empty factories.  The following description of what Detroit looks like at this point is from an article by Barry Yeoman...

    It’s hard to describe the city’s physical landscape without producing what Detroiters call “ruin ****.” Brick houses with bays and turrets sit windowless or boarded up. Whole blocks, even clusters of blocks, have been bulldozed. Retail strips have been reduced to a dollar store here, a storefront church there, and a whole lot of plywood in between. Not a single chain supermarket remains.

So what caused the downfall of one of the greatest cities on earth?

Well, here is a hint...

Between December 2000 and December 2010, 48 percent of the manufacturing jobs in Michigan were lost.

When you are a manufacturing area, and you lose half of your manufacturing jobs over the course of a single decade, of course things are going to get really, really bad.

So just how bad have things gotten in Detroit?

The following are 24 facts about the city of Detroit that will shock you...

#1 Detroit was once the fourth-largest city in the United States, and it was once home to close to 2 million people.  But over the last several decades people have been fleeing in droves.  According to the 2010 census, only 713,000 people now live in Detroit, and city officials admit that the population has probably slipped under 700,000 at this point.

#2 The population of Detroit has declined by about 25 percent over the past decade.  The last time the population of Detroit was this low was all the way back in 1910.

#3 Today, Detroit is only the 18th-largest city in America.  It is now smaller than Austin, Texas and Charlotte, North Carolina.

#4 Back in 1960, the city of Detroit had the highest per-capita income in the United States.

#5 Today, the unemployment rate in Detroit is more than 18 percent, which is more than twice as high as the nation as a whole.

#6 According to a report that was just recently released, approximately 60 percent of all children in Detroit live in poverty.

#7 Approximately one-third of Detroit's 140 square miles are either vacant or derelict.

#8 The city government of Detroit has closed dozens of schools and has decided to cut off public services to the "heavily blighted areas".

#9 According to one estimate, there are 33,500 empty houses and 91,000 vacant residential lots in the city of Detroit today.

#10 The median price of a home in Detroit is just $9,000, and there are some areas of Detroit where you can still buy a house for $100.

#11 There are more than 85,000 streetlights in Detroit, but thieves have stripped so much copper wiring out of the lights that more than half of them are not working.

#12 Mayor Bing has announced a plan to reduce the number of streetlights in the city of Detroit to just 46,000.

#13 According to one very shocking report, 47 percent of all people living in the city of Detroit are functionally illiterate at this point..

#14 The murder rate in Detroit is 11 times higher than it is in New York City.

#15 There were 377 homicides in Detroit in 2011.  In 2012, that number rose to 411.

#16 Justifiable homicide in Detroit rose by an astounding 79 percent during 2011.

#17 In one recent year, the rate of self-defense killings in the city of Detroit was 2200% above the national average.

#18 Ten years ago, there were approximately 5,000 police officers in the city of Detroit.  Today, there are only about 2,500 and another 100 are scheduled to be eliminated from the force soon.

#19 Due to budget cutbacks, most police stations in Detroit are now closed to the public for 16 hours a day.

#20 Crime has gotten so bad in Detroit that even the police are are telling people to "enter Detroit at your own risk".

#21 At one point, 100 bus drivers in Detroit refused to drive their routes because they were afraid of being attacked out on the streets in broad daylight.  The head of the bus drivers union, Henry Gaffney, said that the drivers were literally "scared for their lives"....

    “Our drivers are scared, they’re scared for their lives. This has been an ongoing situation about security. I think yesterday kind of just topped it off, when one of my drivers was beat up by some teenagers down in the middle of Rosa Parks and it took the police almost 30 minutes to get there, in downtown Detroit,” said Gaffney.

#22 There have been reports that gangs of young men with AK-47s have been terrorizing gas stations all over Detroit.

#23 Detroit was once known for making some of the greatest cars in the world.  Now, it is known around the world as a dumping ground for the dead...

    From the street, the two decomposing bodies were nearly invisible, concealed in an overgrown lot alongside worn-out car tires and a moldy sofa. The teenagers had been shot, stripped to their underwear and left on a deserted block.

    They were just the latest victims of foul play whose remains went undiscovered for days after being hidden deep inside Detroit's vast urban wilderness -- a crumbling wasteland rarely visited by outsiders and infrequently patrolled by police.

#24 Detroit's public schools are an absolute nightmare.  The following is from one of my readers that actually attended one of the "best" public schools in Detroit...

    The school was a new seven story building just a couple of years old. The bathrooms would often lack toilet paper & soap beyond the second floor (the main floor), the bathroom sinks would often not work. The water fountains on north side of the building on from the third floor & up did not work. The elevators would constantly break down. I even got stuck on the elevator before. I almost tripped down a half a flight of stairs because the elastic seal (it was the metal bar at the front of a treader of I don't know the name of it.) the stairs was not properly installed.

    Students would often have sex on the stairs & throughout the school. Parents actually called the school many times & reported kids having sex on the stairs because all of them had glass windows 270 degrees.

Even over in Europe they write stories about the dramatic decline of Detroit.  For example, the following is how one British reporter described his visit to Detroit...

    Much of Detroit is horribly dangerous for its own residents, who in many cases only stay because they have nowhere else to go. Property crime is double the American average, violent crime triple. The isolated, peeling homes, the flooded roads, the clunky, rusted old cars and the neglected front yards amid trees and groin-high grassland make you think you are in rural Alabama, not in one of the greatest industrial cities that ever existed.

For those that want to read even more about the horrifying downfall of Detroit, there are some amazing charts that graphically show the decline of Detroit right here.

So what is the solution?

How can we fix Detroit?

Well, why don't we just build a monorail!  Of course that sounds ridiculous, but the federal government has actually committed $25 million to construct "a streetcar line" that nobody really wants and that very few people would probably actually use.  Perhaps they could be excused for wasting so much money on a bad idea if there had not already been 24 failed attempts to develop a successful public transit system in Detroit over the past four decades.

Well, why don't we just build a bunch of theme parks instead?  After all, tourists would just flock to Detroit, right?

It has been suggested that Detroit would be ideal for an "automotive theme park", and there is actually one group of investors that wants to turn some of the worst areas of Detroit into a "zombie theme park".

What will they think of next?

Actually, a much better idea would have been to not allow millions of our good paying manufacturing jobs to be shipped to the other side of the world, but it is too late for that at this point.

But once again, please do not look down on the city of Detroit.  Instead, let the city of Detroit serve as a warning for the rest of us.

The truth is that the entire U.S. economy is in an advanced state of decline...

-The percentage of the civilian labor force in the United States that is employed has been steadily declining every single year since 2006.

-An astounding 53 percent of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year.

-Amazingly, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans with either Master's degrees or Ph.D.s that are enrolled in the food stamp program at this point.

We are a nation that consumes far more wealth than we produce, we are a nation that is constantly bleeding jobs, businesses and wealth, and we are a nation that is going deeper into debt with each passing day.

Yes, Detroit may have gone over the edge into economic oblivion first, but the rest of the nation is steamrolling down the exact same path that Detroit has gone.

Is it too late for us to change direction?

Please feel free to share your thoughts on that question by leaving a comment below...

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/bankrupt-decaying-and-nearly-dead-24-facts-about-the-city-of-detroit-that-will-shock-you


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on February 11, 2013, 07:27:54 am
Show This To Anyone That Believes That “Things Are Getting Better” In America

How can anyone not see that the U.S. economy is collapsing all around us?  It just astounds me when people try to tell me that "everything is just fine" and that "things are getting better" in America.  Are there people out there that are really that blind?  If you want to see the economic collapse, just open up your eyes and look around you.  By almost every economic and financial measure, the U.S. economy has been steadily declining for many years.  But most Americans are so tied into "the matrix" that they can only understand the cheerful propaganda that is endlessly being spoon-fed to them by the mainstream media.  As I have said so many times, the economic collapse is not a single event.  The economic collapse has been happening, it is is happening right now, and it will continue to happen.  Yes, there will be times when our decline will be punctuated by moments of great crisis, but that will be the exception rather than the rule.  A lot of people that write about "the economic collapse" hype it up as if it will be some huge "event" that will happen very rapidly and then once it is all over we will rebuild.  Unfortunately, that is not how the real world works.  We are living in the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world, and once it completely bursts there will be no going back to how things were before.  Right now, we are living in a "credit card economy".  As long as we can keep borrowing more money, most people think that things are just fine.  But anyone that has lived on credit cards knows that eventually there comes a point when the game is over, and we are rapidly approaching that point as a nation.

Have you ever been there?  Have you ever desperately hoped that you could just get one more credit card or one more loan so that you could keep things going?

At first, living on credit can be a lot of fun.  You can live a much higher standard of living than you otherwise would be able to.

But inevitably a day of reckoning comes.

If the federal government and the American people were forced at this moment to live within their means, the U.S. economy would immediately plunge into a depression.

That is a 100% rock solid guarantee.

But our politicians and the mainstream media continue to perpetuate the fiction that we can live in this credit card economic fantasy land indefinitely.

And most Americans could not care less about the future.  As long as "things are good" today, they don't really think much about what the future will hold.

As a result of our very foolish short-term thinking, we have now run up a national debt of 16.4 trillion dollars.  It is the largest debt in the history of the world, and it has gotten more than 23 times larger since Jimmy Carter first entered the White House.

The chart that you see below is a recipe for national financial suicide...

rest: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/show-this-to-anyone-that-believes-that-things-are-getting-better-in-america


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on February 17, 2013, 03:59:37 am
Copper bandits rob Detroit freeways of light

'For every move we make, the thieves come up with a counter-move'


The Michigan Department of Transportation says one-fifth of the lights along freeways in Metro Detroit aren’t working — and copper thieves are mainly to blame.

MDOT spokesman Rob Morosi said roughly 20 percent of the lights on poles and beneath overpasses on freeways in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and St. Clair counties are dark.

Read the full story › http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/02/15/left-in-the-dark-copper-thieves-rob-detroit-freeways-of-light/



Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on February 22, 2013, 09:11:58 pm
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/22/17058747-looking-for-a-bad-time-visit-americas-saddest-most-miserable-cities?lite

2/22/13

Looking for a bad time? Visit America's 'saddest,' 'most miserable' cities

Michigan has a serious PR problem on its hands, if you believe two studies this week that ranked its cities among the saddest, most depressed in America.

Forbes magazine hit the state with a top two finish Friday in its annual rankings of the "most miserable" cities in the U.S. Detroit ranked No. 1. Flint ranked No. 2.
 
Forbes' rankings are based mainly on economic factors, including unemployment, foreclosures, income and property taxes and home prices, in addition to violent crime. Detroit ranked high on violent crime and the rate at which home prices are falling.

"Right now, it's all about survival," Mayor Dave Bing told Forbes.

more


Title: Michigan's governor declares Detroit in state of financial emergency
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on March 01, 2013, 03:57:10 pm
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/michigans-governor-declares-detroit-state-financial-emergency-1C8638601#/business/economywatch/michigans-governor-declares-detroit-state-financial-emergency-1C8638601

Michigan's governor declares Detroit in state of financial emergency

3/1/13
Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan on Friday declared a fiscal state of emergency in Detroit in a move that could lead to the appointment of a financial manager who could file for the largest municipal bankruptcy ever.

Snyder's decision allows the city a 10-day grace period to formulate a plan to fix its finances before the governor reconsiders appointing an emergency manager who would likely drastically reduce services.

The Republican governor said he had identified a top candidate for the position, but he declined to name the person.

"I believe it's appropriate to declare the city of Detroit in financial emergency," Snyder said at a forum in Detroit.

Snyder said he agreed with a Feb. 19 report by a six-member team of experts that concluded Michigan's largest city is in dire financial shape and a plan put in place last April to aid Detroit was not sufficiently working.

The expert team Snyder assembled in December did not officially recommend the appointment of an emergency financial manager, leaving that decision up to the governor.

Detroit officials now have 10 days to request a hearing with the governor about his determination.

After the hearing or the expiration of the 10 days in the case of no hearing, the governor confirms or revokes his determination. A confirmation will assign management of Detroit's fiscal emergency to a Local Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board composed of three state officials, including the treasurer, who are all Snyder appointees. That board would also appoint a manager for the city, under the current state law.

Detroit officials also will have the ability to appeal the fiscal emergency determination in state court. But that move would likely not delay the appointment of a manager, who could ultimately recommend the city file for bankruptcy. A Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy by Detroit would be the largest ever in the United States.

Detroit has faced the steepest population decline of any American city in recent decades. Once the fifth largest U.S. city that shone as the birthplace of the U.S. automotive industry and Motown music, it now ranks 18th with about 700,000 people - after suffering a 25 percent decline in population between 2000 and 2010.

With the exodus of residents and jobs as the auto industry contracted, the city has suffered from declining tax revenue and rising crime while saddled with the infrastructure and labor costs of a bygone era.

An emergency financial manager for Detroit would have the power to develop a financial plan, revise or reject budgets, consolidate departments, enter into service contracts with other local governments, reduce or eliminate the salaries of elected officials, sell eligible city assets, lay off workers and renegotiate labor contracts. The manager cannot abrogate labor contracts or impose taxes without voter approval under the state's 1990 law.

A new Michigan law that takes effect March 28 will allow existing emergency financial managers to remain in place and will give them additional powers, including the ability to revise or terminate collective bargaining agreements.



Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on March 11, 2013, 04:08:08 am
Suburbs secede from Atlanta
'Detroit of the South' bludgeoned by troubles


As Detroit – beset by violence, debt and social woes – prepares to undergo a historic takeover by the Michigan state government, the city of Atlanta could be sliding toward a similar fate.

Some are quietly wondering whether Atlanta is in danger of becoming “the Detroit of the South.”

The city has experienced an ongoing succession of government scandals, ranging from a massive cheating racket to corruption, bribery, school-board incompetence and now the potential loss of accreditation for the local DeKalb County school system.

For several years, problems of this sort have fueled political reforms, including the creation of new cities in northern Atlanta suburbs. Due to the intensification of corruption scandals in DeKalb, some state-level reform proposals could become national news very soon.

‘Super-white majority’ cities

As a result of the unsavory politics in urban Atlanta, northern suburban communities acted to distance themselves. Beginning in 2005, many communities began the process of incorporating into cities.

Thus far, Milton, Sandy Springs, Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Chattahoochee Hills and Johns Creek have done so.

These cities, after breaking away politically from urban Atlanta, have become so successful that a libertarian think tank, the Reason Foundation, has featured Sandy Springs as a model of effective government. The Economist has also applauded the northern Atlanta cities for solving the problem of unfunded government pension liability and avoiding the bankruptcy that looms over some urban areas. The new cities may soon be able to create their own school districts, which would free them even further from the issues besetting Atlanta.

While incorporation has been popular with residents of the new cities, not all of Atlanta is as satisfied. The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus filed a lawsuit in 2011 to dissolve the new cities, claiming they were a “super-white majority” and diluting the voting power of minorities.

A key leader in the black community and a driving force in support of the lawsuit, who wishes to remain anonymous, bemoaned the “disturbing tendency of black electorates to not elect the smartest and brightest, or even the cleverest.”

Nonetheless, he believes that there is a social contract between the northern and southern parts of the county.

“So when you allow powerful groups of citizens to opt out of a social contract, and form their own, it may benefit the group opting out, but it hurts the larger collective,” he said.

The lawsuit would have canceled incorporation and tied the cities back into the very county that they purposefully left.

State Rep. Lynne Riley, a Republican who represents one of the new cities, called the lawsuit “frivilous” and “disrespectful to the citizens of these cities who are most satisfied with their government.”

The federal trial court rejected the lawsuit, and the court of appeals affirmed the dismissal. However, an attorney for the Black Caucus plans to file an amended lawsuit.

Meanwhile, the same concerns that spurred incorporation continue to mount.

Failing schools

DeKalb County contributed to what the New York Times called “the biggest standardized test cheating scandal in the country’s history” in 2011.

Now, the county is faced with losing its regional accreditation. Losing regional accreditation is, by any objective measure, a devastating indictment of a school board, with severe consequences for students and families within the district.

When nearby Clayton County, Ga., lost its regional accreditation in 2008, it was the first school system in the country to do so in 40 years.

The result in Clayton, according to the Pew Foundation, was that thousands of students left county schools, the district lost millions of dollars and hundreds of teachers were fired.

In response to the Clayton County crisis, after witnessing the fallout and the harm to the state’s reputation, the legislature acted to prevent a repeat. In 2011, the Georgia legislature essentially gave the governor authority to remove board of education members when a district was placed on probation by the accreditation agency.

Last December, DeKalb was placed on probation. Then, in January, the governor of Georgia used his new authority and removed six members of the nine-member DeKalb Board of Education.

This year, well after the accreditation issue broke open, DeKalb school board elections were held. Four of nine board members were up for reelection.  Voters in one of the four districts returned their incumbent board member for another term, despite knowing that accreditation was at risk.

This week, a federal judge sided with the governor and agreed that the six suspended board members can be replaced. The decision places the dispute into the Georgia Supreme Court’s purview.

As the issue looms, the mere mention of losing accreditation has impacted the housing market in DeKalb, with at least one potential buyer directing his realtor not to search for homes in the county.

School leadership

Recently, at the helm of the DeKalb school system stood Crawford Lewis. The former superintendent has been indicted on racketeering charges.

Along with several of his associates, Lewis is accused by the DeKalb DA of fraud, theft by a government employee, bribery and a web of racketeering. The charges arose out of Lewis’ practice of steering lucrative government contracts toward favored companies.

According to the indictment, Lewis also used government funds to pay for a hotel room, which he used as the venue for an affair. Lewis had this affair with a person who held the position of “Executive Director of the Office of School Improvement.”

One of the numerous complaints about the DeKalb school board was that it voted to pay for Lewis’ legal defense. There had been a $100,000 cap on the costs allowed for legal defense, but the school board waived it for Lewis’ benefit.

The CEO in charge

At the very top, the head of DeKalb’s government is the position of CEO. The current CEO, Burrell Ellis, is being investigated for a list of concerns, including alleged bid rigging. Police searched Ellis’s home and office recently, and local news outlets report that while no charges have been filed, search warrants are reportedly aimed toward potential extortion, bribery, theft, conspiracy, and wire fraud in connection with private vendors who contract with the county.

Most recently, Ellis sought approval from the county ethics board to establish a legal defense fund to benefit himself. The board rebuffed the request.

A corrupt school board becomes a civil rights issue

Instead of being treated as a story about rampant, inexcusable corruption, the school board fiasco has morphed into a civil rights issue. Atlanta’s NBC affiliate reports that the Georgia NAACP “accused Republican Governor Nathan Deal of being part of an alleged conspiracy to get rid of black office holders and deprive black voters of their rights.”

State Rep. Tyrone Books pointed out that criticism of the governor needed to include a word about black politicians who supported the governor’s removal authority.

“How can we complain about him when we have black folks standing there embracing the removal of black officials?” asked Brooks, D-Atlanta.

The state legislature is trying to prevent public funds from being used in the legal defense of the ousted board members. Because the ousted board members see their positions as a civil rights entitlement, the attorney’s fees required for their defense will quickly rise, unless legislation puts an end to the entitlement.

One of the suspended board members, Eugene Walker, responded to the judge’s ruling with a familiar appeal: “Minorities should not feel secure if contrived allegations from anonymous sources with hidden agendas can go to private agencies and to have their civil rights stolen away.”

DeKalb has changed from majority white to majority black over the last several decades. As the Atlanta Journal Constitution gingerly put it: “The county’s transition from majority white to majority minority was politically rocky .”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/suburbs-secede-from-atlanta/#IT2hczfgmB1X2Pgm.99




Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on March 11, 2013, 05:47:46 am
And just where did all those new residents in the South, including Atlanta, come from? The north, places like Detroit and other cities that are being run into the ground and abandoned. Those thugs have just moved south, and now the same thing is happening there in Atlanta and elsewhere.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on March 11, 2013, 09:51:46 am
Uhm...isn't Atlanta the same city that just proposed a $1b stadium deal with their NFL Falcons? Somehow they're coming up with all this money for a FOOTBALL STADIUM while their city is having so many problems?

Sometimes things can be just mind-boggling, to say the least!


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on March 11, 2013, 06:10:05 pm
Yep, they want to build a stadium while their city crumbles around them.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on March 12, 2013, 05:51:34 am
Private Prisons: The More Americans They Put Behind Bars The More Money They Make

How would you describe an industry that wants to put more Americans in prison and keep them there longer so that it can make more money?  In America today, approximately 130,000 people are locked up in private prisons that are being run by for-profit companies, and that number is growing very rapidly.  Overall, the U.S. has approximately 25 percent of the entire global prison population even though it only has 5 percent of the total global population.  The United States has the highest incarceration rate on the entire globe by far, and no nation in the history of the world has ever locked up more of its own citizens than we have.  Are we really such a cesspool of filth and decay that we need to lock up so many of our own people?  Or are there some other factors at work?  Could part of the problem be that we have allowed companies to lock up men and women in cages for profit?  The two largest private prison companies combined to bring in close to $3,000,000,000 in revenue in 2010, and the largest private prison companies have spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions over the past decade.  Putting Americans behind bars has become very big business, and those companies have been given a perverse incentive to push for even more Americans to be locked up.  It is a system that is absolutely teeming with corruption, and it is going to get a lot worse unless someone does something about it.

One of the keys to success in the private prison business it to get politicians to vote your way.  That is why the big private prison companies spend so much money on lobbying and campaign contributions.  The following is an excerpt from a report put out by the Justice Policy Institute entitled "Gaming the System: How the Political Strategies of Private Prison Companies Promote Ineffective Incarceration Policies"...

For-profit private prison companies primarily use three strategies to influence policy: lobbying, direct campaign contributions, and building relationships, networks, and associations.

Over the years, these political strategies have allowed private prison companies to promote policies that lead to higher rates of incarceration and thus greater profit margins for their company. In particular, private prison companies have had either influence over or helped to draft model legislation such as "three-strikes" and "truth-in-sentencing" laws, both of which have driven up incarceration rates and ultimately created more opportunities for private prison companies to bid on contracts to increase revenues.
If you can believe it, three of the largest private prison companies have spent approximately $45,000,000 combined on lobbying and campaign contributions over the past decade.

Would they be spending so much money if those companies did not believe that it was getting results?

Just look at what has happened to the U.S. prison population over the past several decades.  Prior to 1980, there were virtually no private prisons in the United States.  But since that time, we have seen the overall prison population and the private prison population absolutely explode.

For example, between 1990 and 2009 the number of Americans in private prisons grew by about 1600 percent.

Overall, the U.S. prison population more than quadrupled between 1980 and 2007.

So something has definitely changed.

Not that it is wrong to put people in prison when they commit crimes.  Of course not.  And right now violent crime is rapidly rising in many of our largest cities.  When people commit violent crimes they need to be removed from the streets.

But when you put those criminals into the hands of private companies that are just in it to make a buck, the potential for abuse is enormous.

For example, when auditors visited one private prison in Texas, they "got so much fecal matter on their shoes they had to wipe their feet on the grass outside."

The prisoners were literally living in their own manure.

How would you feel if a member of your own family was locked up in such a facility?

And the truth is that there seem to be endless stories of abuse in private prisons.  One private prison company reportedly charges inmates $5.00 a minute to make phone calls but only pays them $1.00 a day to work...

Last year the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest private prison company, received $74 million of taxpayers’ money to run immigration detention centers. Their largest facility in Lumpkin, Georgia, receives $200 a night for each of the 2,000 detainees it holds, and rakes in yearly profits between $35 million and $50 million.

Prisoners held in this remote facility depend on the prison’s phones to communicate with their lawyers and loved ones. Exploiting inmates’ need, CCA charges detainees here $5 per minute to make phone calls. Yet the prison only pays inmates who work at the facility $1 a day. At that rate, it would take five days to pay for just one minute.
Speaking of work, private prisons have found that exploiting their inmates as a source of slave labor can be extraordinarily profitable.  Today, private prisons are stealing jobs from ordinary American workers in a whole host of industries.  The following is from an article by Vicky Pelaez...

According to the Left Business Observer, the federal prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens. Along with war supplies, prison workers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services; 93% of paints and paintbrushes; 92% of stove assembly; 46% of body armor; 36% of home appliances; 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21% of office furniture. Airplane parts, medical supplies, and much more: prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for blind people.
And many of the largest corporations in America have rushed in to take advantage of this pool of very cheap slave labor.  Just check out some of the big names that have been exploiting prison labor...

At least 37 states have legalized the contracting of prison labor by private corporations that mount their operations inside state prisons. The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom’s, Revlon, Macy’s, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more. All of these businesses are excited about the economic boom generation by prison labor. Just between 1980 and 1994, profits went up from $392 million to $1.31 billion. Inmates in state penitentiaries generally receive the minimum wage for their work, but not all; in Colorado, they get about $2 per hour, well under the minimum. And in privately-run prisons, they receive as little as 17 cents per hour for a maximum of six hours a day, the equivalent of $20 per month. The highest-paying private prison is CCA in Tennessee, where prisoners receive 50 cents per hour for what they call “highly skilled positions.” At those rates, it is no surprise that inmates find the pay in federal prisons to be very generous. There, they can earn $1.25 an hour and work eight hours a day, and sometimes overtime. They can send home $200-$300 per month.
But of course some of the biggest profits for private prisons come from detaining young people.  Today, private prison companies operate more than 50 percent of all "youth correctional facilities" in the United States.

And sometimes judges have even been bribed by these companies to sentence kids to very harsh sentences and to send them to their facilities.  The following is from a report about two judges in Pennsylvania that were recently convicted for taking money to send kids to private prisons...

Michael Conahan, a former jurist in Luzerne County, was sentenced on Friday to 210 months in custody by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Edwin M. Kosik II. Conahan was also ordered to pay $874,000 in restitution. [...] As Main Justice reported in August, Ciavarella, former president judge of the Court of Common Pleas and former judge of the Juvenile Court for Luzerne County, was sentenced to 28 years in prison and ordered to make restitution of $965,930. [...]

Conahan’s role in the “cash for kids” scheme was to order the closing of a county-run detention center, clearing the way for Ciavarella, once known as a strict “law and order” judge, to send young offenders to private facilities. This arrangement worked out well for Ciavarella and Conahan, as well as the builder of the facilities and a developer, who pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

The arrangement didn’t work out so well for the young offenders, some of them sent away for offenses that were little more than pranks and would have merited probation, or perhaps just scoldings, if the judges had tried to live up to their oaths.
Are you starting to see why private prisons are such a problem?

Hundreds of kids had their lives permanently altered by those corrupt judges.

When you allow people to make money by locking other people up in cages, you are just asking for trouble.

The more Americans they put behind bars, the more money these private prisons make.  It is a system that needs to be brought to an end.

So what do you think?

Do you believe that private prisons are a good idea or a bad idea?

Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below...

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/private-prisons-the-more-americans-they-put-behind-bars-the-more-money-they-make


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on March 12, 2013, 12:37:50 pm
And throw in alot of these high-profile criminal cases like Casey Anthony, Drew Peterson, Sarah Jo Pender, etc - pretty much high profile cases over people that are from the middle/working class segment of society. Ultimately, thanks to alot of the propaganda and "talking points" from the NWO-runned media et al, new laws are created out of the Problem-Reaction-Solution NWO model. You saw it during the Anthony case. Peterson got convicted b/c of a "heresy" law that Illinois passed before they arrested him. In both cases, there was no physical evidence. Ditto the Pender case, despite the prosecution painting her as a Charles Mason type.

Pt being that the more "new" laws they create out of thin air, the more "criminals" they will catch using these "new" laws, and the more people they lock up in prison.

The same can be said for the whole "war on drugs" propaganda - I had a friend years ago who's nephew got caught with a mere sandwich bag of illegal possession of drugs in his pocket, and despite this being his 1st offense, he was fortunate to get 3 years in prison(when federal law says a minimum of 10 for 1st offense). You would think probation would be the proper 1st offense term, right?


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on March 23, 2013, 04:00:09 am
Jesse Jackson calls for mass protest against Detroit's emergency financial manager

The Rev. Jesse Jackson joined the fight against Detroit’s emergency financial manager on Friday, calling for mass, nonviolent protest in the city to fend off what he called an attack on residents’ voting rights.

Jackson and several other opponents to an EFM pledged to file a lawsuit next week challenging the constitutionality of Michigan’s new emergency manager law. It takes effect Thursday and grants broad powers to the incoming emergency financial manager, Kevyn Orr, a Washington, D.C., bankruptcy lawyer.

“As opposed to having a city council that’s democratically elected and a mayor, you’ll have a plantocracy, a plantation-ocracy, replacing a democracy,” Jackson said.

rest: http://www.freep.com/article/20130322/NEWS01/130322040/Jesse-Jackson-calls-mass-protest-against-Detroit-s-emergency-financial-manager-

wow, why is that dirt bag even there? and HOW is that a racial issue? really? a plantation-ocracy? dude you had the gall to wipe Martin Luther Kings blood up off the landing, after you showed up after he was carted off, wipe it on your shirt, than go give a press conference and LIE about how you were there. Just amazing, Detroit needs real help not more shake down artists. 


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on March 23, 2013, 04:05:30 am
Sprawling and Struggling: Poverty Hits America's Suburbs

 The number of suburban residents living in poverty rose by nearly 64 percent between 2000 and 2011, to about 16.4 million people, according to a Brookings Institution analysis of 95 of the nation's largest metropolitan areas. That's more than double the rate of growth for urban poverty in those areas.

"I think we have an outdated perception of where poverty is and who it is affecting," said Elizabeth Kneebone, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of the research. "We tend to think of it as a very urban and a very rural phenomenon, but it is increasingly suburban."

Simons' situation is complicated by the fact she's a single mom. Poverty and financial insecurity among single moms is far higher than for households headed by single dads or two parents.

The rate of poverty among single mothers actually improved dramatically through the 1990s, thanks to a strong economy, more favorable tax breaks and the success of so-called welfare-to-work programs. But two recessions and years of high unemployment erased many of those gains.

rest: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100582664


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on April 02, 2013, 06:49:28 am
Stockton bankruptcy can move forward, judge rules

A federal judge ruled Monday that Stockton is eligible for bankruptcy protection, over the objection of creditors who argued the city could come up with more money.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein said Stockton can move forward with a plan to reorganize debt. He twice stated that the creditors had acted in bad faith and had refused to pay their share of the costs for negotiations.

"The creditors got a big black eye today," said Karol Denniston, an attorney who helped draft the legislation that guided Stockton's mandated mediation before filing for bankruptcy protection. "Now the stage is set for the real dogfight."

In late June, Stockton became the nation's largest city to fail financially. At that time, all eyes were on the port city of 300,000 as experts warned the action could set off a string of similar filings among cash-strapped municipalities. Since then, a half-dozen cities have filed for Chapter 9 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, including the city of San Bernardino.

During the 90-day mediation period, Stockton's creditors refused to negotiate unless the city cut payments to the state pension plan, CalPERS.

By law, the negotiations were confidential, but that detail emerged during the three-day trial that concluded last week.

Klein said the creditors could not legally walk away from the table, but he left the door open for CalPERS obligations to be part of negotiations in the coming phases of the bankruptcy.

At issue will be whether U.S. bankruptcy law trumps California law, which says the pension plan must be funded.

The $900 million Stockton owes to the California Public Employees Retirement System to cover pensions is its biggest debt -– as is the case with many cities in California.

Stockton slashed its police and fire departments, halted bond payments, cut employee benefits and adopted an emergency spending plan that cut many city services. But the city continues to pay into the state pension.

Stockton's bankruptcy is expected to be closely watched for precedent, and could be appealed as high as the U.S. Supreme Court.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-stockton-bankrupt-20130401,0,7979388.story


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on April 02, 2013, 06:50:52 am
State auditor: California's net worth at negative $127.2 billion

Were California's state government a business, it would be a candidate for insolvency with a negative net worth of $127.2 billion, according to an annual financial report issued by State Auditor Elaine Howle and the Bureau of State Audits.

The report, which covers the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, says that the state's negative status -- all of its assets minus all of its liabilities -- increased that year, largely because it spent more than it received in revenue.

During the 2011-12 fiscal year, the state's general fund spent $1.7 billion more than it received in revenues and wound up with an accumulated deficit of just under $23 billion from several years of red ink. Gov. Jerry Brown has referred to that and other budget gaps, mostly money owed to schools, as a "wall of debt" totaling more than $30 billion.

Last November, voters passed an increase in sales and income taxes that Brown says will balance the state's operating budget and allow the debt wall to be gradually dismantled.

About half of the $127.2 billion in accumulated red ink came from the state's issuing general obligation bonds and then giving the money to local governments and school districts for public works projects, the auditor pointed out. The assets built with the bonds remain on local balance sheets while the bonded debt accrues to the state.

The remainder, however, is all on the state's ticket. "Expenses that exceeded revenues and increased long-term obligations resulted in an 81.4 percent decrease in the total net assets for governmental and business-type activities from the 20-10-11 fiscal year," said the report.

The report listed the state's long-term obligations at $167.9 billion, nearly half of which ($79.9 billion) were in general obligation bonds, with another $30.8 billion in revenue bonds, many of which were issued to build state prisons, whose "revenue" is lease payments from the state general fund.

The list of long-term obligations did not include the much-disputed unfunded liabilities for state employees' future pensions, nor the $60-plus billion in unfunded liabilities for retiree health care. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board and Moody's, a major bond credit rating house, have been pushing states and localities to include unfunded retiree obligations in their balance sheets and were they to be added to California's, it could push its negative net worth down by several hundred billion dollars.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/03/state-auditor-california-net-worth-at-negative-127-billion.html#storylink=cpy


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on April 02, 2013, 09:11:23 am
I read the other day that if the high court strikes down Prop 8, hence legalizing gay marriages in CA, then married gay couples would be hit by a marriage tax penalty(which hits all married couples), hence having them pay more in taxes.

I'm not familiar with previous nations and empires(like the Roman Empire in the early 1st millennium) that fell b/c they went into deep debt, but I wonder what other agendas they got themselves into(like the homosexual agenda) in terms of acting out of desperation. I read awhile back that this was one of the reasons why the feminist agenda came about(ie-to get more taxes from the other half of the marriage).

I know we're living in the days of Lot now(and Romans 1 is coming to pass), but nonetheless you can't deny the heavy debt this country is in might also be playing a part in terms of embracing the homosexual agenda(in terms of getting more money).


Title: McDonald's cashier job ad asks for a degree and two years' experience
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on April 04, 2013, 11:02:18 am
http://washingtonexaminer.com/mcdonalds-want-ad-demands-bachelors-degree-two-years-experience-for-cashier/article/2526145
McDonald's want ad demands bachelor's degree, two years experience for cashier
4/3/13

With colleges producing more graduates, and youth unemployment at a sky-high 11.5 percent, even landing a job selling Big Macs is getting competitive.

Consider: A job opening at a Massachusetts McDonald's restaurant for a full-time cashier requires one to two years experience and a bachelor's degree.

"Get a weekly paycheck with a side order of food, folks and fun," offered McDonalds.

It is not clear if the fast-food restaurant really wants that kind of experience or is fishing for the highest-qualified applicants. The website for the Winchedon, Mass., McDonald's also lists jobs in Spanish.

Youth advocates said the ad is proof of how bad the employment situation is for kids. "Sadly we've taxed-and-spent our way to an economy in which there's intense competition for just about any job. Combine that with government meddling in the student loan market that has artificially inflated the cost of higher education and young people are getting screwed over even worse than the country overall," said Evan Feinberg, president of the Washington-based youth advocacy group Generation Opportunity.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on April 04, 2013, 04:47:38 pm
Quote
...Combine that with government meddling in the student loan market that has artificially inflated the cost of higher education...

Uh, meddling where they don't belong sure, but it's the colleges that have raised their tuition to astronomical levels that has resulted in a huge increase in student loan debt. The meddling that government has done is in who manages all those loans and determines who gets financing for those over-priced colleges. EdFund and ECMC is a good place to start to see just how much meddling and double-talk the government is spinning over education loans. The federal government bailed out the California student loan market without anybody even noticing to the tune of over 30 BILLION dollars.

Yeah, the government is meddling, but it is the schools themselves that have been raising their costs to students, forcing students to get loans if they want an over-priced, basically useless degree.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on April 19, 2013, 05:47:19 am
ACLU: Detroit Police Dumping Homeless Outside City

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan says Detroit police are removing homeless people from the popular Greektown entertainment district downtown and dropping them off miles away — sometimes outside the city.

Following a year-long investigation, the ACLU filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department and sent a letter to Detroit police demanding an end to what they call a “disturbing practice.”

“DPD’s practice of essentially kidnapping homeless people and abandoning them miles away from the neighborhoods they know – with no means for a safe return — is inhumane, callous and illegal,” said Sarah Mehta, ACLU of Michigan staff attorney. “The city’s desire to hide painful reminders of our economic struggles cannot justify discriminating against the poor, banishing them from their city, and endangering their lives. A person who has lost his home has not lost his right to be treated with dignity.”

rest: http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/04/18/aclu-detroit-police-dumping-homeless-outside-city/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on April 26, 2013, 06:07:50 am
America The Fallen: 24 Signs That Our Once Proud Cities Are Turning Into Poverty-Stricken Hellholes

What is happening to you America?  Once upon a time, the United States was a place where free enterprise thrived and the greatest cities that the world had ever seen sprouted up from coast to coast.  Good jobs were plentiful and a manufacturing boom helped fuel the rise of the largest and most vibrant middle class in the history of the planet.  Cities such as Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Baltimore were all teeming with economic activity and the rest of the globe looked on our economic miracle with a mixture of wonder and envy.  But now look at us.  Our once proud cities are being transformed into poverty-stricken hellholes.  Did you know that the city of Detroit once actually had the highest per-capita income in the United States?  Looking at Detroit today, it is hard to imagine that it was once one of the most prosperous cities in the world.  In fact, as you will read about later in this article, tourists now travel to Detroit from all over the globe just to see the ruins of Detroit.  Sadly, the exact same thing that is happening to Detroit is happening to cities all over America.  Detroit is just ahead of the curve.  We are in the midst of a long-term economic collapse that is eating away at us like cancer, and things are going to get a lot worse than this.  So if you still live in a prosperous area of the country, don't laugh at what is happening to others.  What is happening to them will be coming to your area soon enough.
 
The following are 24 signs that our once proud cities are turning into poverty-stricken hellholes...
 
#1 According to the New York Times, there are now approximately 70,000 abandoned buildings in Detroit.
 
#2 At this point, approximately one-third of Detroit's 140 square miles is either vacant or derelict.
 
#3 Back during the housing bubble, an acre of land in downtown Phoenix, Arizona sold for about $90 a square foot.  Today, an acre in downtown Phoenix sells for about $9 a square foot.
 
#4 The city of Chicago is so strapped for cash that it is planning to close 54 public schools.  It is being estimated that Chicago schools will run a budget deficit of about a billion dollars in 2013.
 
#5 The city of Baltimore is already facing unfunded liabilities of more than 3.2 billion dollars, but the city government continues to pile up more debt as if it was going out of style.
 
#6 Today, the murder rate in East St. Louis is 17 times higher than the national average.
 
#7 According to USA Today, the "share of jobs located in or near a downtown declined in 91 of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas" between 2000 and 2010.
 
#8 Between December 2000 and December 2010, 48 percent of the manufacturing jobs in the state of Michigan were lost.
 
#9 There are more than 85,000 streetlights in Detroit, but thieves have stripped so much copper wiring out of the lights that more than half of them are not working.
 
#10 The unemployment rate in El Centro, California is 24.2 percent, and the unemployment rate in Yuma, Arizona is an astounding 25.6 percent.
 
#11 It has been estimated that there are more than 1,000 homeless people living in the massive network of flood tunnels under the city of Las Vegas.
 
#12 Violent crime in the city of Oakland increased by 23 percent during 2012.
 
#13 If you can believe it, more than 11,000 homes, cars and businesses were burglarized in Oakland during 2012.  That breaks down to approximately 33 burglaries a day.
 
#14 As I have written about previously, there are only about 200 police officers assigned to Chicago's Gang Enforcement Unit to handle the estimated 100,000 gang members living in the city.
 
#15 The number of murders in Chicago last year was roughly equivalent to the number of murders in the entire country of Japan during 2012.
 
#16 The murder rate in Flint, Michigan is higher than the murder rate in Baghdad.
 
#17 If New Orleans was considered to be a separate nation, it would have the 2nd highest murder rate on the entire planet.
 
#18 According to the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center,  Mexican drug cartels were actively operating in 50 different U.S. cities in 2006.  By 2010, that number had skyrocketed to 1,286.
 
#19 Back in 2007, the number of New York City residents on food stamps was about 1 million.  It is now being projected that the number of New York City residents on food stamps will pass the 2 million mark this summer.
 
#20 The number of homeless people sleeping in the homeless shelters of New York City has increased by a whopping 19 percent over the past year.
 
#21 As I noted yesterday, approximately one out of every three children in the United States currently lives in a home without a father.
 
#22 In Miami, 45 percent of the children are living in poverty.
 
#23 In Cleveland, more than 50 percent of the children are living in poverty.
 
#24 According to a recently released report, 60 percent of all children in the city of Detroit are living in poverty.
 
As I mentioned at the top of this article, the decline of the city of Detroit has become so famous that it has actually become a tourist attraction.  The following is a short excerpt from an article in the New York Times...
 

But in Detroit, the tours go on, in an unofficial capacity. One afternoon at the ruins of the 3.5-million-square-foot Packard Plant, I ran into a family from Paris. The daughter said she read about the building in Lonely Planet; her father had a camcorder hanging around his neck. Another time, while conducting my own tour for a guest, a group of German college students drove up. When queried as to the appeal of Detroit, one of them gleefully exclaimed, “I came to see the end of the world!”
 
For much more on the shocking decline of one of America's greatest cities, please see my previous article entitled "Bankrupt, Decaying And Nearly Dead: 24 Facts About The City Of Detroit That Will Shock You".
 
So are there any areas of the country that are still thriving?
 
Well, yes, there are a few.  In particular, those areas that are sitting on top of energy resources tend to be doing quite well for now.
 
One example is Texas.  In recent years people have been absolutely flocking to the state.  There are lots of energy jobs, the cost of living is low and there is no state income tax.
 
But overall, things are really tough out there.  Over the past decade America has lost millions of good jobs to offshoring, advancements in technology and a declining economy.
 
Last year, the United States had a trade deficit with the rest of the world of more than half a trillion dollars.  Overall, the U.S. has run a trade deficit with the rest of the world of more than 8 trillion dollars since 1975.
 
All of that money could have gone to U.S. businesses and U.S. workers.  In turn, taxes would have been paid on all of that income which could have helped keep our cities great.
 
But instead, our politicians have stood idly by as we have lost tens of thousands of businesses and millions of jobs.  If you can believe it, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities have closed down permanently in the United States since 2001.
 
We have allowed our economic infrastructure to be absolutely gutted, and so we should not be surprised that our once proud cities are turning into poverty-stricken hellholes.
 
And this is just the beginning.  The next wave of the economic collapse is rapidly approaching, and when it strikes unemployment in this country will eventually rise to a level that is more than double what it is now.
 
When that happens, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near our rotting, decaying cities.
 

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/america-the-fallen-24-signs-that-our-once-proud-cities-are-turning-into-poverty-stricken-hellholes


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on April 26, 2013, 06:30:03 am
Child Hunger Is Exploding In Greece – And 14 Signs That It Is Starting To Happen In America Too

The world is heading into a horrific economic nightmare, and an inordinate amount of the suffering is going to fall on innocent children.  If you want to get an idea of what America is going to look like in the not too distant future, just check out what is happening in Greece.  At this point, Greece is experiencing a full-blown economic depression.  As I have written about previously, the unemployment rate in Greece has now risen to 27 percent, which is much higher than the peak unemployment rate that the U.S. economy experienced during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  And as you will read about below, child hunger is absolutely exploding in Greece right now.  Some families are literally trying to survive on pasta and ketchup.  But don't think for a moment that it can't happen here.  Sadly, the truth is that child hunger is already rising very rapidly in our poverty-stricken cities.  Never before have we had so many Americans unable to take care of themselves.  Food stamp enrollment and child homelessness have soared to brand new all-time records, and there are actually thousands of Americans that are so poor that they live in tunnels underneath our cities.  But for millions of other Americans, the suffering is not quite so dramatic.  Instead, they just watch their hopes and their dreams slowly slip away as they struggle to find a way to make it from month to month.  There are millions of parents that lead lives that are filled with constant stress and anxiety as they try to figure out how to provide the basics for their children.  How do you tell a child that you can't give them any dinner even though you have been trying as hard as you can?  What many families go through on a regular basis is absolutely heartbreaking.  Unfortunately, more poor families slip through the cracks with each passing day, and these are supposedly times in which we are experiencing an "economic recovery".  So what are things going to look like when the next major economic downturn strikes?
 
A recent New York Times article detailed the horrifying child hunger that we are witnessing in Greece right now.  At some schools there are reports of children actually begging for food from their classmates...
 

As an elementary school principal, Leonidas Nikas is used to seeing children play, laugh and dream about the future. But recently he has seen something altogether different, something he thought was impossible in Greece: children picking through school trash cans for food; needy youngsters asking playmates for leftovers; and an 11-year-old boy, Pantelis Petrakis, bent over with hunger pains.
 
“He had eaten almost nothing at home,” Mr. Nikas said, sitting in his cramped school office near the port of Piraeus, a working-class suburb of Athens, as the sound of a jump rope skittered across the playground. He confronted Pantelis’s parents, who were ashamed and embarrassed but admitted that they had not been able to find work for months. Their savings were gone, and they were living on rations of pasta and ketchup.
 
Could you imagine that happening to your children or your grandchildren?
 
Don't think that it can't happen.  Just a few years ago the Greek middle class was vibrant and thriving.
 
And we are starting to see hunger explode in other European countries as well.  For example, in the UK the number of people receiving emergency food rations has increased by 170 percent over the past year.
 
This is one of the reasons why I get upset when people say that "things are getting better".  Yes, the stock market has been setting record highs lately, but things are most definitely not getting better.
 
Even during this false bubble of debt-fueled economic stability that we are enjoying right now, we continue to see hunger and poverty rise dramatically in America.
 
Since Barack Obama has been president, the number of Americans on food stamps has grown from 32 million to more than 47 million.
 
Will we all be on food stamps eventually?
 
Will we all become dependent on the government for our survival at some point?
 
According to the Boston Herald, even Tamerlan Tsarnaev was receiving government welfare benefits...
 

Marathon bombings mastermind Tamerlan Tsarnaev was living on taxpayer-funded state welfare benefits even as he was delving deep into the world of radical anti-American Islamism, the Herald has learned.
 
State officials confirmed last night that Tsarnaev, slain in a raging gun battle with police last Friday, was receiving benefits along with his wife, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, and their 3-year-old daughter. The state’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services said those benefits ended in 2012 when the couple stopped meeting income eligibility limits.
 
Isn't that crazy?
 
And yes, there are some people out there that are abusing the system.  In fact, the cost of food stamp fraud has risen sharply to approximately $750 million in recent years.
 
But most of the people on these programs really need the help.  Thanks to our incredibly foolish economic policies, there are not enough good jobs for everyone and there never will be again.  The percentage of Americans that are unable to take care of themselves is going to continue to rise, and the suffering that we are witnessing right now is going to get much, much worse.
 
Not that things aren't really, really bad already.  Here are some signs that child hunger in America has already started to explode...
 
#1 Today, approximately 17 million children in the United States are facing food insecurity.  In other words, that means that "one in four children in the country is living without consistent access to enough nutritious food to live a healthy life."
 
#2 We are told that we live in the "wealthiest nation" on the planet, and yet more than one out of every four children in the United States is enrolled in the food stamp program.
 
#3 The average food stamp benefit breaks down to approximately $4 per person per day.
 
#4 It is being projected that approximately 50 percent of all U.S. children will be on food stamps before they reach the age of 18.
 
#5 It may be hard to believe, but approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are currently living in homes that are either considered to be either "low income" or impoverished.
 
#6 The number of children living on $2.00 a day or less in the United States has grown to 2.8 million.  That number has increased by 130 percent since 1996.
 
#7 According to Feeding America, "households with children reported food insecurity at a significantly higher rate than those without children, 20.6 percent compared to 12.2 percent".
 
#8 According to a Feeding America hunger study, more than 37 million Americans are now being served by food pantries and soup kitchens.
 
#9 For the first time ever, more than a million public school students in the United States are homeless.  That number has risen by 57 percent since the 2006-2007 school year.
 
#10 Approximately 20 million U.S. children rely on school meal programs to keep from going hungry.
 
#11 One university study estimates that child poverty costs the U.S. economy 500 billion dollars each year.
 
#12 In Miami, 45 percent of all children are living in poverty.
 
#13 In Cleveland, more than 50 percent of all children are living in poverty.
 
#14 According to a recently released report, 60 percent of all children in the city of Detroit are living in poverty.
 
For many more facts about the dramatic explosion of poverty in this country, please see my previous article entitled "21 Statistics About The Explosive Growth Of Poverty In America That Everyone Should Know".
 
Unfortunately, most of the time statistics don't really tell the whole story.  Numbers alone cannot really communicate the soul-crushing despair that millions of American families are enduring on a daily basis at this point.
 
How can numbers communicate the pain that a child feels when her grandmother does not eat because there is not enough food for everyone in the family?  But this is what some families in America actually go through because there is not enough money...
 

Vanyshia tells about the sacrifices her Grandmother makes so that she and her siblings can eat. “Sometimes my Grandma can’t even eat because she has to feed me and my brother and sister. Sometimes I don’t eat as much as I want to because I leave some for my Grandma because I don’t want her to sit there and starve. Sometimes she doesn’t have enough money to buy food, so she has to go to the bank and borrow money. It makes me feel sad. I don’t want her to be hungry. I just feel sad sometimes,” says Vanyshia.
 
Things can be particularly tough when you are a single parent.  The BBC recently profiled a single mother that is struggling to raise two young children in Iowa...
 

"We don't get three meals a day like breakfast, lunch and then dinner," says Kaylie. "When I feel hungry I feel sad and droopy."
 
Kaylie and Tyler live with their mother Barbara, who used to work in a factory. After losing her job, she was entitled to unemployment benefit and food stamps - this comes to $1,480 (£974) a month.
 
But they were no longer able to afford to live in their house, which along with bills cost $1,326 (£873) a month, leaving little for food or petrol.
 
Kaylie supplemented their income by collecting cans along the railway track near their old home - earning between two and five cents per can.
 
For more examples like this one, I encourage everyone to go watch a recent BBC documentary entitled "America's Poor Kids" that you can see right here.
 
I wonder why we don't see more stuff like this on the mainstream news in this country?
 
Could it be that the mainstream media does not want to admit how bad things have really gotten?
 
All of this is also a reminder that we need to be generous to those in need.  Times are going to get much, much harder than this, and we are all going to need one another.
 
So do you have any stories of poverty or child hunger from your area of the country to share?  Please feel free to share your thoughts by posting a comment below...

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/child-hunger-is-exploding-in-greece-and-14-signs-that-it-is-starting-to-happen-in-america-too


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on April 26, 2013, 04:00:14 pm
Quote
#8 According to a Feeding America hunger study, more than 37 million Americans are now being served by food pantries and soup kitchens.

Coincidentally, some of these so-called "Christian denominations" do just that, open their places as food pantries and soup kitchens once a week or so. No, not trying to say this is a bad thing per se, but nonetheless some of these denominations like the Presbyterians that do this have been hijacked by Luciferians.(ie-my previous church is SBC, and they opened up their place as a soup kitchen once a week or so) Either way, at the same time, they don't even preach the gospel.

Luke 14:34  Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
Luk 14:35  It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on April 26, 2013, 04:47:02 pm
Quote
...Either way, at the same time, they don't even preach the gospel.

Doctrinally, no they don't. But, one part of the reason, as I understand it, is that the federal government will not allow these religious organizations to preach to the people they feed under these "soup kitchens", or they lose their 501c3.

All they are doing is handing out food to people, and getting a tax break for it. And they continue to feed those people, whether the person is making any effort to feed themselves or not. Really, a function of the world, it's just another aspect of socialism that keeps people looking to Caesar to save them.


Title: 10-year-old boy among victims as more than 20 shot on one Chicago day
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on May 02, 2013, 11:13:41 am
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/02/18013866-10-year-old-boy-among-victims-as-more-than-20-shot-on-one-chicago-day?lite=
5/2/13
10-year-old boy among victims as more than 20 shot on one Chicago day

A 10-year-old boy was shot Wednesday in Chicago toward the end of a day that saw at least three people slain and 20 others wounded, police and local media said.

The boy was standing on North Waller Avenue just before 8 p.m. when a group of men on a nearby street corner began fighting, said Officer Hector Alfaro, a Chicago Police Department spokesman.

During the melee, one of the men pulled out a handgun and opened fire, Alfaro said.

“I’m assuming he was shooting at the other individuals,” he added. “He wasn’t shooting at the child.”

The boy was wounded in the right buttock and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, Alfaro said. No information about his condition was available early Thursday, though Alfaro said he believed the child was “stable.”

Chicago detectives were continuing their investigation Thursday, and no arrests had been made, Alfaro said.

The city’s first 80-degree day in seven months brought a wave of violence, with an average of one per hour at one point, NBCChicago.com reported.

Three cases were fatal, according to NBCChicago.com:

Quote
A man in his 30s was found dead in an alley in the 1900 block of South Drake overnight. After midnight, the first murder of May happened in the South Shore neighborhood where a 27-year-old man was shot in the chest near his home at 68th and Cornell. Neighbors said the man was a father of three.

Another shooting happened in front of the University of Illinois-Chicago police station, where three men were struck around 10:40 p.m. A 19- year-old died. Police said he was a known gang member.

The violence came less than a month after the police department announced that crime in the city had fallen 8 percent in the year’s first quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier, and 15 percent from 2011.

Murders fell by 42 percent in the quarter and shootings by 27 percent, the department said in a news release.

The Austin neighborhood, where the boy was shot, however, saw a rise last year in the numbers of murders and shootings, according to police statistics.

The district, one of 77 in the city of 2.7 million, had 26 murders in 2012, up from 19 the year before, and 116 shootings, up from 98.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on May 13, 2013, 01:02:34 pm
RPT-UPDATE 1-Detroit emergency manager: city "clearly insolvent"
5/13/13
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/13/usa-detroit-emergencymanager-idUSL2N0DU1K020130513?feedType=RSS&feedName=bankruptcyNews&rpc=43

By Nick Carey and Steve Neavling
    May 13 (Reuters) - Michigan's biggest city is "clearly
insolvent" and needs many fixes including to its pension system
and labor agreements to address its problems, according to a
report outlining the state of Detroit's finances.
    "The City of Detroit continues to incur expenditures in
excess of revenues despite cost reductions and proceeds from
longterm debt issuances," the city's recently installed
emergency manager, Kevyn Orr said in his first report. "In other
words, Detroit spends more than it takes in - it is clearly
insolvent on a cash flow basis."
    Detroit had only $64 million in cash on hand and current
obligations of $226 million on April 26, 2013-a negative net
cash position of $162 million, the report said.
    Operating expenditures have exceeded revenues by about $100
million a year since 2008, according to the report. The city had
an accumulated $326.6 million unrestricted deficit. Detroit is
projected to add an additional $60 million to the accumulated
deficit balance when the current fiscal year closes June 30. 
    The city will make $31 million in pension payments this
year, but will defer another $108 million in pension payments.
Orr stated that a city task force is reviewing the plans and
whether actuarial assumptions are accurate and funding is
adequate.
    The city also has $5.7 billion in unfunded retiree benefit
obligations.
    All told, Detroit has liabilities totaling $9.4 billion in a
variety of areas:  special revenue bonds, revolving loans,
pension obligations and other financial instruments. "Debt
service payments place a significant strain on the city's
budget," the report states.
    The city's retiree pool currently outnumbers active
employees by a 2 to 1 margin that is growing, the report said,
so Detroit "must address pension and retiree healthcare
liabilities as part of any comprehensive restructuring."
    On the labor front, Orr signaled he is prepared to take a
hard line with the city's unions. Noting that the state law
authorizes him to "reject, modify or terminate" any of the
city's 48 collective bargaining agreements, Orr states that he
is considering all options.
    "This power will be exercised, if necessary or desirable,
with the knowledge and understanding that many City employees
already have absorbed wage and benefit reductions," the report
states.
    The report also notes that a review of police, fire and
other emergency services is ongoing and that Detroit's
"infrastructure and public safety fleet are aged and decrepit,
which, in turn, increases the City's operating and repair costs
and decreases its productivity."
    The police and fire department both are in need of
restructuring, Orr found.
  Detroit must also evaluate "interest rates, amortization,
outstanding principal amounts, security interests, legacy
liabilities and all other aspects of short and longterm debt"
as part of a "comprehensive restructuring."
   "Significant and fundamental debt relief must be obtained to
allow the City's revitalization to continue and succeed," the
report says.
   Orr was installed by Michigan's Republican Governor Rick
Snyder in March to try to fix Detroit's finances through
bankruptcy if necessary. The city has been running a deficit of
around $100 million a year.
    In his report, which was required by law, Orr says the city
has obligations of "at least" $15 billion, some $2 billion more
than previously thought and will end this year with a deficit of
$125 million.
    Orr's report says Detroit is projecting a positive cash
balance through December 2013, adding "this is only as a result
of the significant amount of payment deferrals and amounts
borrowed from, and owed to, other funds, which is clearly not
sustainable in the long run."
    "Structural change must occur to address the City's
operating deficit and cash burn," the report adds.
    Detroit "will need to make significant investments to
upgrade capital assets so that it can provide necessary services
to its citizens and residents."
    Orr's report also notes that changes to the city's charter
and legislation may be required to reduce bureaucracy and
improve operations.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 25, 2013, 08:34:06 am
Cities Will Collapse Even Sooner Than We Fear

We have written several times about how major population groupings (ie cities) will collapse ‘shortly’ after the essential elements of life cease to smoothly flow in to them as needed.  When there’s no water, no sewage, no food, no gas and no electricity, things will unavoidably get very nasty.
 
In an earlier post we suggested that cities will decay into violent anarchistic morasses within a week or two.  In that article we were deliberately trying to look at a ‘best case scenario’ (don’t laugh – the collapse of cities taking a week or two is, alas, a best case scenario!).  Our projection was based on the ‘best case’ hope that people would remain passive for a few days and it would only be when people realized no help was coming and they were starting to starve that things would turn truly nasty.
 
One of our readers, ‘Lt. Dan’, wrote in to share his perspective of what might go down, and alas, it is not nearly as sunny and optimistic as our earlier best case hope.  His point is that violence will break outimmediately.  There will not be days of ambiguity before things start to fail.
 
He says that in known ‘hot spots’ in larger cities, the violence will start at once, and as soon as the violent offenders realize that the police response is inadequate (or totally missing) it will skyrocket in scope and extent.
 
This is a key issue for us, because it impacts on our decision about when to ‘Get Out Of Dodge’ (GOOD) and hightail it to our remote retreat.  How much time do we have to decide what to do between when a massive problem occurs and when the city becomes lawless?
 
Lt. Dan writes :
 

As a retired LEO with over 30 yrs dealing with “society” I have a number of thoughts on this topic. I grew up on a working farm not close to any major metro center but in adulthood joined a sizable metro PD.  So I have perspective from various angles.
 
The speed and spread of lawlessness with be much faster than most will think.  Even now in “quiet” times LE staffing is usually based on the lowest number of officers to reasonably handle a “normal” day.  Any event(s) beyond “normal” immediately overwhelm on-duty forces.  Planned events like anarchists protesting the latest capitalist conference allow time to plan for enough ON-DUTY personnel (plus resources from other agencies) to be available when violence breaks out.
 
In most major metro areas there are areas the police routinely avoid because they’re too hazardous.  The violent elements in these areas are constantly looking to explode their violence at a moment’s notice when the opportunity happens.  And when it happens it will spread like a ruptured gasoline storage tank afire.  LE forces will be quickly overwhelmed and retreat to a safe place/bunker for self-preservation.
 
Most LEO’s have families and a desire for self-preservation.  If the collapse involves monetary problems (like no paychecks) the officers will not be reporting to duty, they’ll be protecting their own.  When this happens the initial violent outbreaks will mushroom like a nuclear reaction.  If the officers are being paid yet, they’ll set up a “containment perimeter” IF they have enough manpower…. which is highly unlikely in a regional or national SHTF scenario.
 
On other really scary thought I never see mentioned is…. what happens to the tens of thousands of violent criminals in prisons??
 
In a farming community where religion/moral values are generally much higher than urban dwellers, the problems of violence will be much reduced.  Plus everyone usually knows each other so its harder to want to take advantage of them.  One tip for urbanites…..farmers are not working their butts off to feed the city slickers (who’ve been ridiculing them for years as hicks, etc) and they certainly will not welcome the urbanites showing up during a crisis.
 
We asked Dan about his comments and background, and he told us a bit more about how he has formed the views he has – and, let’s face it, thirty years in a major metro police department and retiring as a lieutenant gives him a lot of credibility, particularly on police related operational issues and on matters to do with how people will (mis)behave when given half a chance to do so.
 
Now that he can ‘tell it like it is’ we asked him in particular about something that opinions widely vary on – will the police bravely ‘man the battlements’ and fight to the last man in a failing and doomed effort to save civilization, or will they adopt – as he suggests above – a ‘my family first, everyone else second’ approach when they see the inevitability of a city’s collapse.
 
Dan replied :
 

When I first started on the PD in the 70′s I was stuck in the Comm room and on boring nights I’d actually read the Civil Defense binders (HUGE things) full of detail, much theoretical.  For example, upon receiving alert of a nuke attack we were supposed to call a long list of elected officials and city unit directors etc.  We all knew it’d be a total waste of time to call these clueless government people because all they’d do is panic and babble on the phone asking US what to do!
 
We (cops) talked openly in the Comm Room about what we’d do and we decided we’d immediately leave our posts and spend our remaining time with family.  The point being alerting totally clueless and incompetent “leaders” would do nothing except add to the panic and confusion over which we (cops) would have ZERO control over.
 
It is important to understand how much we can learn from past ‘lessons’ with breakdowns in cities (in the case of the US, the L.A. riots being a prime example) and how much we have to adjust for a future breakdown of society.
 
We suggest that the big difference is that in past events, the problem has been successfully contained to a restricted region, and the police have had, in effect, virtually unlimited reinforcements and resupply, and there has never been any question of what the ultimate outcome would be – of course law and order would triumph.
 
But in a future society-destroying event, none of this applies.  The police will have no resupply or reinforcement, and problems will break out in multiple locations.
 
We agree with Lt. Dan that very quickly, the police will see the unwinnable nature of the contest and will switch from attempting to defend a disintegrating society from itself, and will focus instead on attempting to ensure the safe survival of themselves and their immediate family and friends.
 
Summary
 
Lt. Dan puts it very vividly when he writes
 

[Violence] will spread like a ruptured gasoline storage tank afire
 
This means that if you have a GOOD plan and a retreat to go to, you need to be ready to activate this sooner than you might have otherwise hoped for.  As soon as you hear the first word of lawlessness, rioting, looting, and general disorder breaking out, you should accept that this will spread like wildfire across the entire city, and leave as quickly as you can.
 
Oh – one more unsettling thought.  How will you learn that violence has broken out in another part of the city if the internet is down, and radio and television stations are also down?  Even if some broadcasters remain in service, they’ll probably have limited sources of information and it might take a while for them to become appraised of events and to then broadcast them.
 
It is also reasonable to guess that broadcasters will be asked ‘not to spread panic’ and so initial reports of violence breaking out might be downplayed or omitted entirely.
 
Choosing when to bug-out is a difficult but essential issue.  You need to be willing to leave before it becomes too late, and with inertia and resistance to change and desperate hope all encouraging you to delay your decision, you need to fight these tendencies.  Better to leave ‘too soon’ and return back again some time later, safely; than to leave it too late and suffer the consequences.

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/cities-will-collapse-even-sooner-than-we-fear_05242013


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on May 26, 2013, 07:10:22 pm
6 dead, 11 wounded in Chicago during holiday weekend
5/26/13
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/26/18513859-6-dead-11-wounded-in-chicago-during-holiday-weekend?lite

With Memorial Day weekend underway, Chicago’s violence has spiked as six people were killed and at least 11 others were injured in shootings across the city.

The most recent fatal shooting occurred Sunday when a 42-year-old man was shot in the head and a 44-year-old female was shot in the back on Goose Island on the Near North Side.

The shooting occurred at 2:50 a.m. in the 1000 block of North North Branch Street.

The pair was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where the man, identified as Charles Jones by the Cook County Medical Examiner, was pronounced dead, according to Chicago Police news affairs Officer John Mirabelli.

more


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 31, 2013, 05:48:25 pm
Detroit Citizens Protect Themselves After Police Force Decimated

As crime hobbles Detroit (9845MF)’s attempts to revive itself, the city is bolstering its police department by having unarmed citizens patrol the streets in a program that costs less than annual salaries and benefits for three officers.

Volunteers given radios and matching T-shirts help officers protect neighborhoods where burglaries, thefts and thugs drive away people who can’t rely on a police force that lost a quarter of its strength since 2009. With 25 patrols on the streets, the city hopes to add three each year. Meanwhile, the homicide rate continues rising.

Kevyn Orr, the Detroit emergency manager appointed by the state to supersede the mayor and city council, has called public safety crucial as he reorganizes a city running a $380 million deficit, teetering on a record municipal bankruptcy and struggling to provide services. Orr has said Detroit (AERPDTMI)’s turnaround depends on reversing a population loss of more than 25 percent since 2000.

“Nobody’s going to move back to Detroit as long as people don’t have a sense of security,” said volunteer Lorenzo Blount during his morning rounds in the west-side Grandmont area. “That’s what we’re trying to add in our neighborhood in our little way.”

Detroit once was an economic powerhouse fueled by the auto industry with 1.8 million residents in the 1950s. Now, its 701,000 residents live amid a landscape of blight, poverty, unemployment and crime. Viable neighborhoods are surrounded by deserted tracts with 40 percent of the city’s lots vacant or unused within its 139 square miles (360 kilometers) -- a vastness that makes it difficult to provide basic services and control the streets.
Finding Bodies
Police ranks there fell to about 2,500 from 3,350 in 2009. Interim Chief Chester Logan said in April the city must hire to replenish a force losing 25 officers a month to retirement.
In 2011, the dwindling department took over the 30-year-old neighborhood volunteer program to forge a more direct relationship and institute tighter standards, said Second Deputy Melvin Turner, who oversees the groups. Members, who now must pass criminal background checks, are paid from a $270,000 annual fund for mileage and incidental costs such as vehicle signs.

Thugless Life

Community groups are campaigning for the city to allow them to levy assessments on homeowners to pay for more patrols. A majority of homeowners would have to approve the flat fee, which would be mandatory.

“Police can’t be on every corner,” said Karen Moore, community security manager for the Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation, a non-profit group of five neighborhoods spearheading the push for the special patrol levy. “You should be able to walk your dog, push kids in a stroller or use the parks. We don’t want a handful of knuckleheads to take away our quality of life.”

Data show crime diminishes in areas with active patrols, Turner said.

While homicides in Detroit (9845MF) rose last year to 411 from 344 the year before, other crimes were down 2.6 percent, according to Mayor Dave Bing.
Still, the 16,000 burglaries in 2011 compare with only 12,000 in Philadelphia, a city with more than double Detroit’s population, according to an FBI report. For all property crimes, Detroit ranked sixth -- 6,144 per 100,000 residents -- among U.S. cities with populations of 300,000 or more.

Retiree Posse

The city now looks to its residents to help themselves.

“It’s very important for people to get involved,” said Muhsin “Coach” Muhammad I, a patrol organizer in Grandmont. “In order for evil people to succeed, good people need to do absolutely nothing.”

Muhammad, who rode in a marked van with Blount, credited aggressive surveillance for cutting crime in the enclave of 800 mostly well-kept brick homes. Both men wore bright yellow vests, as did a trainee, Will Smith, 60 a retired teacher.

On Grandmont Street, their suspicion was aroused by a lone teen with a backpack strolling on a weekday morning, prime time for burglary.
“He should be in school,” Muhammad said. Blount drove slowly to make sure the boy saw them, making two passes.

“We may have prevented a crime today,” said Muhammad, a General Motors Co. (GM) retiree.

Eyes and Ears

Turner said neighborhood patrols document break-ins, vandalism, suspected drug dens and “strippers” who rip metal from homes to sell as scrap. They’re to call 911 if they see a crime in progress.

“We teach them to stay at a safe distance, get what information you can without putting yourself in jeopardy,” Turner said.
One group last year recorded a band of thieves stealing catalytic converters from cars, which led to arrests, Turner said.

To be certified, neighborhood patrols must have 12 volunteers who receive police-approved training, Turner said. Vehicles must have at least two volunteers who may not carry firearms or other weapons.

They fill in the city’s empty spaces. Detroit has 3.5 police officers per 1,000 residents, compared to Cleveland’s 3.70, according to an analysis by the International Union of Police Associations, AFL-CIO based in Sarasota, Florida. However, Detroit police must cover an area nearly twice Cleveland’s 77 square miles.

Company Charity

Citizen patrols aren’t the only effort to bolster the force.

Eight area companies, including GM, Ford Motor Co (F). and Chrysler Group LLC, agreed to donate $8 million for 100 new patrol cars and 23 ambulances.

One business district this year will pay about $200,000 to hire off-duty officers, armed and using city cruisers, to guard a main thoroughfare. Wayne County sheriff’s deputies patrol some streets. And a joint city, state and federal program seeks to get repeat offenders off the streets.

The new police chief, James Craig, said he plans to move officers from desk jobs to the streets and to improve morale eroded by pay and manpower cuts. Craig, 56, a Detroit native, begins June 22 after two years as chief in Cincinnati.

“Police can’t do it alone,” Craig said in a phone interview. “We have to have vibrant, effective partnerships.”

Jim Ward, 75, is head of Greenacres neighborhood patrol. Ward, a Ford Motor Co. (F) retiree, said when the group began in 1986, the neighborhood had 130 break-ins among its 1,000 homes. That number dropped to 39 the following year, he said.

In the past two years, the patrol has doubled to more than 100 members, Ward said, thanks to door-to-door recruiting. Each member patrols at least two hours each month, and the group meets regularly with police. They use an e-mail network to spread the word of crimes and descriptions of suspects.

“We have an expression here: We don’t plan to take Greenacres back,” Ward said. “We’re not going to give it up in the first place.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-31/detroit-citizens-protect-themselves-after-police-force-decimated.html


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on June 01, 2013, 03:45:32 am
Quote
Detroit once was an economic powerhouse fueled by the auto industry with 1.8 million residents in the 1950s. Now, its 701,000 residents live amid a landscape of blight, poverty, unemployment and crime.

There is only one reason for that decay...globalization.

The manufacturing industry has been gutted here, and moved overseas, so all those people in once booming cities, now have no jobs since the globalists within the US government have pushed jobs "offshore".

So you now have all those people that can't find jobs now, trying to survive in the world however they can. So that means a breakdown of society, as we know that the whole world lies in wickedness and unbelief, so that makes for a recipe of disaster.

Globalist elite's mission accomplished.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on June 01, 2013, 08:27:16 am
Detroit Blight Authority Secretly Eyes Next Demo Target

Detroit's self-anointed authority on blight has the cash to clear 15 more blocks, reports Bloomberg. Which lucky neighborhood will William Pulte put out of its misery this time? Nobody knows, of course! If our first DBA experience taught us anything, it's that blight clearance gets the most press coverage when executed like a poorly-planned surprise party. Mr. Pulte burns with the desire to demolish 13,000 homes per year, which Bloomberg unhelpfully reminds us is the equivalent tearing down Paducha, Kentucky. He's even asking the State of Michigan for permission to leave the basements of the targeted structures intact, which would save cash to be put towards more demolition. It would also turn the land into an unusable landfill, but we'll just fix that later, right? This next round of demolition is set to begin as soon as next month.

http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2013/05/detroit-blight-authority-secretly-eyes-next-demo-target.php


· Detroit Survival Depends on Speed of Destruction [Bloomberg]
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-30/detroit-survival-depends-on-speed-of-destruction.html

· Detroit seeks a quicker fix to blight problems [Det News]
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130506/METRO01/305060334#ixzz2Ump7EBz2


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on June 01, 2013, 11:57:46 am
There is only one reason for that decay...globalization.

The manufacturing industry has been gutted here, and moved overseas, so all those people in once booming cities, now have no jobs since the globalists within the US government have pushed jobs "offshore".

So you now have all those people that can't find jobs now, trying to survive in the world however they can. So that means a breakdown of society, as we know that the whole world lies in wickedness and unbelief, so that makes for a recipe of disaster.

Globalist elite's mission accomplished.

I know this has happened over a long stretch of time, but nonetheless Lou Dobbs was repeatedly warning about jobs being shipped overseas when he was on CNN during the Bush II years. But of course no one would listen then b/c these "conservative" media outlets were always playing the "liberal media" card toward the MSM that would supposedly have liberal slanting news coverage all the time.

Not sure if Dobbs is a globalist gatekeeper, and if there was some Hegelian Dialectic going on then, but nonetheless, as we know the saying, "We were warned...".


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on June 11, 2013, 12:35:02 pm
1 Dead, 11 Wounded in Chicago Gun Violence
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/52162427
6/11/13

A woman was killed and at least 11 others were injured in shootings across Chicago.

April McDaniel, 18, was shot in the throat, authorities said, when gunfire erupted just before 5 p.m. Monday on the 5700 block of South Sangamon Avenue. Police said four others were wounded in the drive-by shooting in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood.

The shooting wounded a 15-year-old boy in the right leg, an 18-year-old man in the abdomen area, a 20-year-old man in the left hand and right knee and a 21-year-old man in the left leg, police said.

Paramedics initially took two people in critical condition to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County and two people in serious condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, according to Fire Media Affairs.

Fire Department officials said the 21-year-old man made it on his own to Saint Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center.

Elsewhere, shootings injured seven others.

more


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on June 18, 2013, 07:34:13 am
Rotting, Decaying And Bankrupt – If You Want To See The Future Of America Just Look At Detroit

Eventually the money runs out.  Much of America was shocked when the city of Detroit defaulted on a $39.7 million debt payment and announced that it was suspending payments on $2.5 billion of unsecured debt, but those who visit my site on a regular basis were probably not too surprised.  Anyone with half a brain and a calculator could see this coming from a mile away.  But people kept foolishly lending money to the city of Detroit, and now many of them are going to get hit really hard.  Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has submitted a proposal that would pay unsecured creditors about 10 cents on the dollar.  Similar haircuts would be made to underfunded pension and health benefits for retirees.  Orr is hoping that the creditors and the unions that he will be negotiating with will accept this package, but he concedes that there is still a "50-50 chance" that the city of Detroit will be forced to formally file for bankruptcy.  But what Detroit is facing is not really that unique.  In fact, Detroit is a perfect example of what the future of America is going to look like.  We live in a nation that is rotting, decaying, drowning in debt and racing toward insolvency.  Already there are dozens of other cities across the nation that are poverty-ridden, crime-infested hellholes just like Detroit is, and hundreds of other communities are rapidly heading in that direction.  So don't look down on Detroit.  They just got there before the rest of us.
 
The following are some facts about Detroit that are absolutely mind-blowing...
 
1 - Detroit was once the fourth-largest city in the United States, and in 1960 Detroit had the highest per-capita income in the entire nation.
 
2 - Over the past 60 years, the population of Detroit has fallen by 63 percent.
 
3 - At this point, approximately 40 percent of all the streetlights in the city don't work.
 
4 - Some ambulances in the city of Detroit have been used for so long that they have more than 250,000 miles on them.
 
5 - 210 of the 317 public parks in the city of Detroit have been permanently closed down.
 
6 - According to the New York Times, there are now approximately 70,000 abandoned buildings in Detroit.
 
7 - Approximately one-third of Detroit's 140 square miles is either vacant or derelict.
 
8 - Less than half of the residents of Detroit over the age of 16 are working at this point.
 
9 - If you can believe it, 60 percent of all children in the city of Detroit are living in poverty.
 
10 - According to one very shocking report, 47 percent of the residents of Detroit are functionally illiterate.
 
11 - Today, police solve less than 10 percent of the crimes that are committed in Detroit.
 
12 - Ten years ago, there were approximately 5,000 police officers in the city of Detroit.  Today, there are only about 2,500 and another 100 are scheduled to be eliminated from the force soon.
 
13 - Due to budget cutbacks, most police stations in Detroit are now closed to the public for 16 hours a day.
 
14 - The murder rate in Detroit is 11 times higher than it is in New York City.
 
15 - Crime has gotten so bad in Detroit that even the police are telling people to "enter Detroit at your own risk".
 
16 - Right now, the city of Detroit is facing $20 billion in debt and unfunded liabilities.  That breaks down to more than $25,000 per resident.
 
As Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr noted last week, it took a very long time for Detroit to get into this condition...
 

“What the average Detroiter needs to understand is that where we are right now is a culmination of years and years and years of kicking the can down the road,” said Orr, adding that his proposal should not be seen as a “hostile act” but as a step in the right direction.
 
Does that sound familiar?
 
It should.
 
U.S. politicians have also been kicking the can down the road for "years and years and years".
 
But eventually you can't kick the can down the road anymore.
 
Sometimes it is helpful to step back and look at what we have done to ourselves over the past several decades.
 
For example, back in 1980 the U.S. national debt was less than one trillion dollars.  Today, it is rapidly approaching 17 trillion dollars.
 
And our debt binge has greatly accelerated under Barack Obama.
 
During Barack Obama's first term, the federal government accumulated more debt than it did under the first 42 U.S presidents combined.
 
Isn't that insane?
 
In fact, if you started paying off just the new debt that the U.S. has accumulated during the Obama administration at the rate of one dollar per second, it would take more than 184,000 years to pay it off.
 
The following are a lot more facts about our exploding national debt from one of my previous articles entitled "55 Facts About The Debt And U.S. Government Finances That Every American Voter Should Know"...
 
#1 While Barack Obama has been president, the U.S. government has spent about 11 dollars for every 7 dollars of revenue that it has actually brought in.
 
#2 During the fiscal year that just ended, the U.S. government took in 2.449 trillion dollars but it spent 3.538 trillion dollars.
 
#3 During fiscal year 2011, over a trillion dollars of government money was spent on 83 different welfare programs, and those numbers do not even include Social Security or Medicare.
 
#4 Over the past four years, welfare spending has increased by 32 percent.  In inflation-adjusted dollars, spending on those programs has risen by 378 percent over the past 30 years.  At this point, more than 100 million Americans are enrolled in at least one welfare program run by the federal government.  Once again, these figures do not even include Social Security or Medicare.
 
#5 Over the past year, the number of Americans getting a free cell phone from the federal government has grown by 43 percent.  Now more than 16 million Americans are enjoying what has come to be known as an "Obamaphone".
 
#6 When Barack Obama first entered the White House, about 32 million Americans were on food stamps.  Now, 47 million Americans are on food stamps.  And this has happened during what Obama refers to as "an economic recovery".
 
#7 The U.S. government recently spent 27 million dollars on pottery classes in Morocco.
 
#8 The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently spent $300,000 to encourage Americans to eat caviar at a time when more families than ever are having a really hard time just trying to put any food on the table at all.
 
#9 During 2012, the National Science Foundation spent $516,000 to support the creation of a video game called "Prom Week", which apparently simulates "all the social interactions of the event."
 
#10 The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the largest snack food maker in the world (PepsiCo Inc.) a total of 1.3 million dollars in corporate welfare that was used to help build "a Greek yogurt factory in New York."
 
#11 The National Science Foundation recently gave researchers at Purdue University $350,000.  They used part of that money to help fund a study that discovered that if golfers imagine that a hole is bigger it will help them with their putting.
 
#12 If you can believe it, $10,000 from the federal government was actually used to purchase talking urinal cakes up in Michigan.
 
#13 The National Science Foundation recently gave a whopping $697,177 to a New York City-based theater company to produce a musical about climate change.
 
#14 The National Institutes of Health recently gave $666,905 to a group of researchers that is studying the benefits of watching reruns on television.
 
#15 The National Science Foundation has given 1.2 million dollars to a team of "scientists" that is spending part of that money on a study that is seeking to determine whether elderly Americans would benefit from playing World of Warcraft or not.
 
#16 The National Institutes of Health recently gave $548,731 to a team of researchers that concluded that those that drink heavily in their thirties also tend to feel more immature.
 
#17 The National Science Foundation recently spent $30,000 on a study to determine if "gaydar" actually exists.  This is the conclusion that the researchers reached at the end of the study...
 

"Gaydar is indeed real and… its accuracy is driven by sensitivity to individual facial features"
 
#18 Back in 2011, the National Institutes of Health spent $592,527 on a study that sought to figure out once and for all why chimpanzees throw poop.
 
#19 The U.S. government spends more on the military than China, Russia, Japan, India, and the rest of NATO combined.  In fact, the United States accounts for 41.0% of all military spending on the planet.  China is next with only 8.2%.
 
#20 In a previous article, I noted that close to 500,000 federal employees now make at least $100,000 a year.
 
#21 In 2006, only 12 percent of all federal workers made $100,000 or more per year.  Now, approximately 22 percent of all federal workers do.
 
#22 If you can believe it, there are 77,000 federal workers that make more than the governors of their own states do.
 
#23 During 2010, the average federal employee in the Washington D.C. area received total compensation worth more than $126,000.
 
#24 The U.S. Department of Defense had just nine civilians earning $170,000 or more back in 2005.  When Barack Obama became president, the U.S. Department of Defense had 214 civilians earning $170,000 or more.  By June 2010, the U.S. Department of Defense had 994 civilians earning $170,000 or more.
 
#25 During 2010, compensation for federal employees came to a grand total of approximately 447 billion dollars.
 
#26 If you can believe it, close to 15,000 retired federal employees are currently collecting federal pensions for life worth at least $100,000 annually.  That list includes such names as Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, Trent Lott, Dick Gephardt and Dick Cheney.
 
#27 During 2010, the federal government spent $33,387 on the hair care needs of U.S. Senators.
 
#28 During 2010, U.S. Senators pulled $72,370 out of the "Senate Restaurant Fund".
 
#29 During 2010, an average of $4,005,900 of U.S. taxpayer money was spent on "personal" and "office" expenses per Senator.
 
#30 In 2013, 3.7 million dollars will be spent to support the lavish lifestyles of former presidents such as George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
 
#31 During 2011, the federal government spent a total of 1.4 BILLION dollars just on the Obamas.
 
#32 When you combine all federal government spending, all state government spending and all local government spending, it comes to approximately 41 percent of U.S. GDP.  But don't worry, all of our politicians insist that this is not socialism.
 
#33 As I have written about previously, less than 30 percent of all Americans lived in a home where at least one person received financial assistance from the federal government back in 1983.  Today, that number is sitting at an all-time high of 49 percent.
 
#34 Back in 1990, the federal government accounted for just 32 percent of all health care spending in America.  This year, it is being projected that the federal government will account for more than 50 percent of all health care spending in the United States.
 
#35 The number of Americans on Medicaid soared from 34 million in 2000 to 54 million in 2011, and it is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.
 
#36 In one of my previous articles, I discussed how it is being projected that the number of Americans on Medicare will grow from 50.7 million in 2012 to 73.2 million in 2025.
 
#37 If you can believe it, Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years.  That comes to approximately $328,404 for each and every household in the United States.
 
#38 In the United States today, more than 61 million Americans receive some form of Social Security benefits.  By 2035, that number is projected to soar to a whopping 91 million.
 
#39 Overall, the Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years.
 
#40 When Barack Obama first took office, the U.S. national debt was about 10.6 trillion dollars.  Now it is about 16.7 trillion dollars.  That is an increase of 6.1 trillion dollars in a little more than 4 years.
 
#41 The federal government has now run a budget deficit of more than a trillion dollars for four years in a row.
 
#42 If right this moment you went out and started spending one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend one trillion dollars.
 
#43 If you were alive when Jesus Christ was born and you spent one million dollars every single day since that point, you still would not have spent one trillion dollars by now.
 
#44 Some suggest that "taxing the rich" is the answer.  Well, if Bill Gates gave every single penny of his entire fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for 15 days.
 
#45 If the federal government used GAAP accounting standards like publicly traded corporations do, the real federal budget deficit for 2011 would have been 5 trillion dollars instead of 1.3 trillion dollars.
 
#46 The United States already has more government debt per capita than Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland or Spain does.
 
#47 At this point, the United States government is responsible for more than a third of all the government debt in the entire world.
 
#48 The amount of U.S. government debt held by foreigners is about 5 times larger than it was just a decade ago.
 
#49 Between 2007 and 2010, U.S. GDP grew by only 4.26%, but the U.S. national debt soared by 61% during that same time period.
 
#50 The U.S. national debt is now more than 37 times larger than it was when Richard Nixon took us off the gold standard.
 
#51 The U.S. national debt is now more than 5000 times larger than it was when the Federal Reserve was first created.
 
#52 The U.S. national debt jumped more on the very first day of fiscal year 2013 than it did from 1776 to 1941 combined.
 
#53 Historically, the interest rate on 10 year U.S. Treasuries has averaged 6.68 percent.  If the average interest rate on U.S. government debt rose to that level today, the U.S. government would find itself spending more than a trillion dollars per year just on interest on the national debt.
 
#54 A recently revised IMF policy paper entitled “An Analysis of U.S. Fiscal and Generational Imbalances: Who Will Pay and How?” projects that U.S. government debt will rise to about 400 percent of GDP by the year 2050.
 
#55 Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff is warning that the U.S. government is facing a gigantic tsunami of unfunded liabilities in the coming years that we are counting on our children and our grandchildren to pay.  Kotlikoff speaks of a "fiscal gap" which he defines as "the present value difference between projected future spending and revenue".  His calculations have led him to the conclusion that the federal government is facing a fiscal gap of 222 trillion dollars in the years ahead.
 
Please share this article with as many people as you can.  We are in the process of committing national financial suicide and time is rapidly running out to do anything about it.
 
Just like Detroit, a day is rapidly approaching when America will not be able to kick the can down the road anymore.
 
Sadly, our politicians don't seem inclined to do anything about it and most of the population seems to think that our exploding national debt is not a significant problem.
 
By the time it becomes clear how wrong they were, it will be far too late to do anything about it.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/rotting-decaying-and-bankrupt-if-you-want-to-see-the-future-of-america-just-look-at-detroit


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on June 18, 2013, 11:51:10 am
Detroit is just an example of how things change when the overall focus changes in a society.

American cities have been built from the basis of the US being THE economic superpower it once was, with all the trimmings. We had the cash to expand and grow. The country was built up on selling stuff to other countries. Now manufacturing has been moved overseas, and the cash Americans had went with it, so all those cities that were built based on the past technically are no longer cost-effective to keep running under that model.

People should move out, and the city completely leveled, board by board, and clean up the land, then return it to the American people, and not the government under federal lands. No corporations, but individual civilian residents. Let the people decide how it will be, and what they want to make of it.

Unrealistic? Yep, because prophecy says all the cities of the world are coming down in due time. So the only real solution to urban blight, is to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on June 19, 2013, 06:25:28 am
10 Disturbing Tales From The Side Streets And Dark Alleys Of America

Every night Americans prove that they are willing to do absolutely horrible things to their fellow human beings.  Most of the time, we never even hear about the sick and twisted things that happen on the side streets and dark alleys of America.  Once in a while a particularly twisted story will get picked up by the news, but usually most Americans are pretty much able to isolate themselves from the depravity that is happening all around them.  Unfortunately, the social decay that is eating away at our society like cancer is spreading.  It is getting harder and harder for average Americans to keep the darkness at bay.  When it suddenly reaches out and touches your family, it can be absolutely shocking.  America is not the kind, loving and gentle place that is portrayed in our movies and on our television shows.  The sad truth is that America is becoming colder and meaner with each passing day.  Yes, there are definitely some Americans that are kind and compassionate, but they are in the minority.  As our economic decline becomes even more severe, the hearts of even more Americans are going to grow cold.  And people with cold hearts can do some absolutely terrible things.  The following are 10 disturbing tales from the side streets and dark alleys of America...

#1 Beaten, Robbed And Left Naked In A Cow Pasture In Florida

    A Florida man says that a first dated ended with him being beaten, forced to strip at gun point, robbed and then left in a cow pasture.

    A Flagler County Sheriff’s Office case report obtained by NBC News indicated that 34-year-old Shaun Paul Williams was found naked and bloodied on State Road 100 in Bunnell. Williams told deputies that he had met a woman named “Tree” about two weeks ago in Dayton and agreed to go out on June 14.

    When the woman picked him up on Friday, he discovered that two other men we also inside the vehicle. The woman explained that one of the men was her brother. She said that she needed to drop the men off at the brother’s home.

    But instead of going to a home, the brother instructed the woman to stop at an “empty cow pasture.” Williams said that he exited the vehicle to urinate and was struck in the head with a “hard metal object.”

    “Give me all your money and your clothes,” one of the men told him.

#2 Wendy's Customer Totally Loses It When They Put Cheese On His Hamburger


In recent months there have been a lot of videos posted on YouTube of crazed people yelling wildly at employees of various fast food chains.  The most recent example of this phenomenon to go viral is a video of a middle-aged man totally losing it after he discovered that Wendy's employees had put cheese on his hamburger.  You can watch the video here, but please be aware that it contains quite a bit of profanity and it is not appropriate for children to watch.  This is yet another example of how seemingly average people in America are becoming consumed with anger and frustration.

#3 Women Throwing Bleach Into The Eyes Of A Man On A City Bus In Boston

    MBTA Police are searching for three young women who they say threw bleach in the eyes of a bus passenger after robbing him of his money.

    The victim was returning home from work early Sunday morning, riding the #28 bus on Blue Hill Avenue through Roxbury, when it seems the trio sized him up.

    Officials say one female slapped the man about the head, while one went to work to search him for money.

    “One of the women puts her knee on top of his legs so he can’t get up and takes the money from his pockets,” MBTA Superintendent-in Chief Joseph O’Connor told WBZ-TV.

#4 The Wild Dogs Of St. Louis

    Dangerous dogs are becoming more of a problem in parts of north St. Louis County.

    It’s so bad, some people say they’re afraid to go out for a morning jog.

    Resident Carolyn Immer says she was attacked and now has a hole in her leg.

    “I felt like I was out in the middle of nowhere and there was nobody around to help,” Immer says. “I was screaming for a long time – it seemed like a long time lets put it that way.”

#5 Homeless In Dallas

    So as of today I am officially homeless.

    I won't bore you all with long sob stories.

    About a year ago lost my job of twelve years, couldn't find new work, made some bad financial choices, and today I sit in the public library on my old laptop typing away as all my posessions lay in three small suitcases very close to where I am sitting.

    I think this might possibly be the worst place to be homless, given the horrible heat.

    So I have seventy-five cents to my name, am not sure where I'll be putting my head down to sleep tonight, and was wondering if anyone else out there has been in a similar prediciment.

#6 Detroit - Dumping Ground For The Dead

    From the street, the two decomposing bodies were nearly invisible, concealed in an overgrown lot alongside worn-out car tires and a mouldy sofa. The teenagers had been shot, stripped to their underwear and left on a deserted block.

    They were just the latest victims of foul play whose remains went undiscovered for days after being hidden deep inside Detroit's vast urban wilderness — a crumbling wasteland rarely visited by outsiders and infrequently patrolled by police.

    Abandoned and neglected parts of the city are quickly becoming dumping grounds for the dead — at least a dozen bodies in the space of 12 months. And authorities acknowledge there is little they can do.

#7 Impaled On A Wrought Iron Fence In Chicago

    A man was murdered Sunday night by someone who struck him in the head, causing him to become impaled on a wrought iron fence in the South Side Burnside neighborhood.

    The 48-year-old victim was involved in a dispute with unknown individuals near his home in the 9100 block of South Greenwood Avenue about 8 p.m. Sunday when a male struck him in the head, police said.

    The victim’s head was then impaled by a wrought iron fence near the eye, police said. He then fell to the ground and struck his head again.

#8 Robbery Victims Locked In The Trunks Of Their Own Vehicles In North Miami

    CBS4 has learned of a horrible crime that has happened four times in the past two months in the city of North Miami. Gunmen have been forcing robbery victims in to the trunks of their cars while trying to get cash.

    North Miami Police Major Neal Cuevas says he is worried about “copycat criminals” who may one day take a life.

    One victim is speaking out exclusively to CBS4’s Peter D’Oench after being driven around in the trunk of his Mercedes Benz for two hours on Wednesday night. He was abducted at 8 p.m. while leaving his job and was finally rescued by police at 10 p.m. after discovering he had a cell phone in his trunk and after calling 911.

#9 Female Teacher Has Sex With Three Students In Oregon

    A Sherwood High School teacher has been arrested and faces sexual abuse charges, stemming from accusations of sexual contact with at least three students.

    A grand jury indicted Denise Keesee, 38, Monday on six counts of second-degree sexual abuse, according to the Washington County Sheriff's office. Keesee turned herself in this evening, said Sgt. David Thompson, a sheriff's office spokesman.

#10 A Police Officer That Shot Five Kittens While Children Were Watching

    The Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals wants Humane Officer Barry Accorti fired for allegedly shooting five kittens in a home's back yard on Monday.

-----

    Accorti responded to a home Monday afternoon where a feral mother cat and her five kittens were living in a woodpile.

    He allegedly told the homeowner that shelters were full and that the cats would be going to kitty heaven. He then pulled out his gun and shot the five, 8- to 10-week-old kittens.

    Accorti allegedly told the homeowner that he isn't supposed to do this, but it was justifiable. The woman ran into the house to shield her children, who were screaming and crying.

So what do you think about these stories?

Do you have any tales like this to share?

Please feel free to share your thoughts by posting a comment below...

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/10-disturbing-tales-from-the-side-streets-and-dark-alleys-of-america


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on June 19, 2013, 10:08:00 am
Quote
#9 Female Teacher Has Sex With Three Students In Oregon

    A Sherwood High School teacher has been arrested and faces sexual abuse charges, stemming from accusations of sexual contact with at least three students.

    A grand jury indicted Denise Keesee, 38, Monday on six counts of second-degree sexual abuse, according to the Washington County Sheriff's office. Keesee turned herself in this evening, said Sgt. David Thompson, a sheriff's office spokesman.

This seems to have become the "new norm" - remember the story in the 1990's(forgot her name) of a teacher in Mississippi who had an affair and a baby with one of her students, and it got a lot of national attention b/c everyone was disgusted by it.

Now? It seems like it happens rather regularly, and everyone goes on like it's nothing.

Quote
#10 A Police Officer That Shot Five Kittens While Children Were Watching

    The Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals wants Humane Officer Barry Accorti fired for allegedly shooting five kittens in a home's back yard on Monday.

This is the kind of stuff that was in Hollywood products, in particular in the 1990's, especially in "comedies".

Pt being that first they condition the public via the media(in particular "entertainment") before it ends up becoming the "new norm" in real life.

And to boot, it's not exactly teenagers doing this, it's ADULTS.



Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on June 19, 2013, 01:56:44 pm
Yep, and it was adults that invented Bugs Bunny, "Wylie" Coyote, etc.

The world knew, and knows, exactly what it's doing in media. It's all mind games, they say based on science. Whatever. People who walk according to the flesh are susceptible to those games people play with images. Take a "Color Theory" or some graphics design class and you'll see what I mean.

One of my animation classes had at it's core Disney animation, which we picked apart to examine why they did what they did, etc. One of the books we had for the class was "The Illusion of Life - Disney Animation". Big coffee table book that goes into the history of Disney's animation department and the "science" of animating. If your going to work in animation, you will know Disney animation, as they set the current standard for how to make things move in 2d images, which is the basis for 3d animation.

That said, those animated cartoons were made that way for a reason. They knew how to affect the viewer emotionally with images. They also understand body language, and that's is why characters have such exaggerated movements and "bug eyes" when surprised, etc. They teach animators to make the body tell the story, so you don't really need to hear anything, but can convey the storyline just with image movement.

Indeed conditioning, as they have always intended to convey THEIR ideas on the viewer. Now if they are of the world, then obviously their message, their story, will be leavened and have no life in it.

And quite frankly, they teach animation and media with the intent to "suspend disbelief". They are literally trying to project an illusion, which truth be told, is a lie!

"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:" 2 Thessalonians 2:11 (KJB)


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on June 27, 2013, 01:23:47 pm
http://news.yahoo.com/detroit-faces-exodus-police-firefighters-152432884.html
6/27/13
Detroit faces exodus of police, firefighters

DETROIT (Reuters) - After years of pay cuts and reduction in their ranks, Detroit police officers and firefighters in the next week face a tough decision: Retire now or put their careers in the hands of Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr, who has the power to unilaterally cut their pay and benefits.

At least several dozen police officers and firefighters will retire early as they try to lock in benefits before Orr imposes new labor contracts, union officials told Reuters.

A large flight of veteran public safety workers could cause disruption in a city facing some of the nation's highest violent crime rates and a rash of arson fires. This in turn would raise the level of difficulty for Orr as he seeks to address Detroit's myriad urban problems.

Uncertainty over future pay and benefits for the city's 500 mid-level unionized police officers and 917 unionized firefighters is causing some to seek the exit, presidents of the two unions said.

Mark Young, president of the Detroit Police Lieutenants & Sergeants Association (LSA), said 200 of the 500 officers he represents are eligible to retire. He said many are "on the bubble" regarding a decision to retire before the union's contract expires next week.

By retiring now, members of the LSA and the Detroit Firefighters' Association could hope to lock in retirement benefits under their existing contract before Orr could impose cuts to pay and benefits -- a power granted him under Michigan's emergency manager law.

Contracts for the Detroit Firefighters Association, as well as for about 150 unionized emergency medical services workers, both expire June 30. The city's contract with the LSA expires July 6.

Any significant loss of lieutenants and sergeants could immediately damage the Detroit Police Department, said Eric Lambert, head of the criminal justice department at Wayne State University, located in the city.

"You lose the expertise and institutional knowledge if you have too many retire at once," said Lambert.

Orr has had little contact with leaders of public safety unions since his first few days after taking office on March 25, but he has said consistently that public safety is a top priority. He addressed union leaders along with creditors and pension trustees when he forecast large cost cuts and a possible bankruptcy filing in a large-group meeting two weeks ago.

Orr's spokesman, Bill Nowling, said the emergency manager knows a crowd of police officers and firefighters may soon leave. Orr's staff needs to and later this week intends to communicate "at least what our short-term intentions are," Nowling said.

"I know there are guys who are on the retirement bubble and they need all the facts," Nowling said. "We want everybody to make factual decisions and not emotional decisions. We want to provide them with the information to do that."

Orr is holding internal staff meetings and is "hopeful" he can clue the unions in on his plans in the next few days, Nowling added. After the internal sessions, Nowling said Orr can go say to union leaders, "This is what the future looks like, at least for the short-term, so everybody has a clear picture."

One possibility is that Orr may maintain terms of existing contracts for a period of time after expiration, Nowling added.

Police and firefighters are not eligible for Social Security checks because of their city-sponsored retirement funds, to which they contribute with every paycheck. But the city's police and firefighters pension systems are only 78 percent funded, according to estimates by Orr's office. The underfunding is below the 80 percent threshold at which the emergency law allows Orr to replace the board that manages the fund now.

Early retirement likely would not protect retirement benefits, regardless of whether Orr imposes changes or new terms are set under a possible bankruptcy filing. Orr earlier this month said there is a 50-50 chance that Detroit will enter bankruptcy.

"Whether you retire today or you retire two months from now, those two things are going to impact (retirement benefits)," said Nowling.

Dan McNamara, president of the Detroit Firefighters Association, said he is frustrated by the lack of communication from Orr's office.

So is Young, who said, "I have to know what to tell my membership. Right now, we're reduced to collective begging."

Even as Orr decides how to handle pay and benefits, Detroit's new police chief, James Craig, must begin restructuring the police department he will lead beginning July 1.

Craig will "drive the restructuring" of the police department, Nowling said.

Craig is expected to focus on "community policing," which calls for more personal contact between officers and residents. Lambert of Wayne State said that a delayed benefit of new officers may be more openness to new police tactics.

If large numbers of sergeants and lieutenants retire early, Nowling said, Craig will need to promote from within. Around 400 active police officers now working in administrative jobs could shift to patrol positions after some retraining, he added.

The 1,900-member Detroit Police Officers Association has a contract that extends through June 2014. Its members took a 10-percent pay cut last July.

Mark Diaz, president of the police officers union, said the union five years ago represented about 3,000 active officers.

There were more than 700 members in the LSA five years ago, said Young.

Five years ago, there were 1,300 firefighters in the city, and that number has dwindled to 917, said McNamara

Since the beginning of 2012, about 140 firefighters have retired and not been replaced. The department is strapped in trying to cover the city's 139 square miles, he said, and cannot afford even a handful of retirements.

"We're on our last legs everywhere we go," said McNamara.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 18, 2013, 04:08:23 pm
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/reports-detroit-files-bankruptcy-6C10678946
Detroit becomes largest US city to file for bankruptcy
7/18/13

Detroit, saddled with more than $18 billion in debt, became the biggest U.S. city in history to file for bankruptcy on Thursday.

Once a symbol of America's industrial might and more recently an example of urban decay, crime and hopelessness, the home to the nation's automobile industry took the extraordinary step after months of negotiations with creditors failed.

“The fiscal realities confronting Detroit have been ignored for too long. I’m making this tough decision so the people of Detroit will have the basic services they deserve and so we can start to put Detroit on a solid financial footing that will allow it to grow and prosper in the future,” Gov. Rick Snyder said in a statement. “This is a difficult step, but the only viable option to address a problem that has been six decades in the making.”

Snyder authorized the city's emergency manager to file for federal bankruptcy, saying it was the only option to restore the city and provide residents with necessary public services.

Kevin Orr, a bankruptcy expert, was hired by the state in March to lead Detroit out of a fiscal free-fall and made the filing in federal bankruptcy court.


Orr was unable to convince a host of creditors, the city's union and pension boards to take pennies on the dollar to help facilitate the city's massive financial restructuring.

He laid out his plans in June meetings with debt holders, in which his team warned there was a 50-50 chance of a bankruptcy filing.

A number of factors — most notably steep population and tax base falls — have been blamed on Detroit's tumble toward insolvency.

Detroit lost a quarter-million residents between 2000 and 2010. A population that in the 1950s reached 1.8 million is now 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.

The governor's statement said that 38 cents of every city dollar goes toward debt repayment, legacy costs and other obligations. That was expected to reach 65 cents per dollar by 2017.

When Orr made his pitch to creditors, some were asked to take about 10 cents on the dollar of what the city owed them. Underfunded pension claims would have received less than the 10 cents on the dollar under that plan.

A team of financial experts put together by Orr said that proposal was Detroit's one shot to permanently fix its fiscal problems.

Earlier Thursday, the Detroit Free Press, the city's hometown paper, said the filing would set off a 30- to 90-day period "that will determine whether the city is eligible for Chapter 9 protection and define how many claimants might compete for the limited settlement resources that Detroit has to offer."

If the bankruptcy filing is approved, city assets could be liquidated to satisfy demands for payment.

“We want to create an environment that attracts more families, young professionals and job providers to Detroit," Snyder said. "That will be a win for Detroit and a win for Michigan."


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 19, 2013, 04:14:49 pm
Mich. judge rules Detroit bankruptcy unconstitutional

LANSING, Mich — An Ingham County judge says Thursday's historic Detroit bankruptcy filing violates the Michigan Constitution and state law and must be withdrawn.

But Attorney General Bill Schuette said he will appeal Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina's Friday rulings and seek emergency consideration from the Michigan Court of Appeals. He wants her orders stayed pending the appeals, he said in a news release.

In a spate of orders Friday arising from three separate lawsuits, Aquilina said Gov. Rick Snyder and Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr must take no further actions that threaten to diminish the pension benefits of City of Detroit retirees.

"I have some very serious concerns because there was this rush to bankruptcy court that didn't have to occur and shouldn't have occurred," Aquilina said. "Plaintiffs shouldn't have been blindsided," and "this process shouldn't have been ignored."

Lawyers representing pensioners and two city pension funds got an emergency hearing Thursday with Aquilina, and she said she planned to issue an order to block the bankruptcy filing. But lawyers and the judge learned that Orr filed the Detroit bankruptcy petition in Detroit 5 minutes before the hearing began.

Aquilina said the Michigan Constitution prohibits actions that will lessen the pension benefits of public employees, including those in the City of Detroit.

Snyder and Orr violated the constitution by going ahead with the bankruptcy filing because they know reductions in those benefits will result, she said.

"We can't speculate what the bankruptcy court might order," said assistant Attorney General Brian Devlin, representing the governor and other state defendants.

"It's a certainty, sir," Aquilina replied. "That's why you filed for bankruptcy."

Devlin said Snyder has to follow both the Michigan Constitution and the U.S. Constitution.

Schuette's office issued a statement saying an appeal has been filed on behalf of the governor in all three cases before Aquilina.

"In addition, the attorney general filed motions to stay the trial court rulings and any future proceedings while the appeals proceed," spokeswoman Joy Yearout said. "Later today, we expect to file additional motions seeking emergency consideration."

Aquilina issued a declaratory judgment that says the bankruptcy filing violated the Michigan Constitution.

"In order to rectify his unauthorized and unconstitutional actions ... the governor must (1) direct the emergency manager to immediately withdraw the Chapter 9 petition filed on July 18, and (2) not authorize any further Chapter 9 filing which threatens to diminish or impair accrued pension benefits," she said in her order.

John Canzano, a Southfield, Mich., lawyer representing retirees, cautioned that Snyder faces no contempt of court implications if he doesn't follow the judge's instructions. But Canzano said he likely will return to court seeking further relief if Snyder doesn't instruct Orr to withdraw the bankruptcy filing.

Asked what the judge could then do, Canzano said: "I will have to do my homework."

Douglas Bernstein, a partner with Plunkett Cooney law firm in Birmingham, Mich., said Aquilina's ruling is surprising.

"This is generally how bankruptcies occur: You file bankruptcy when there is an impending crisis at the 11th hour," Bernstein said. "You file bankruptcies to stave off litigation."

University of Michigan law professor John Pottow said the issue could travel up the court system, all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court. Or it could be answered decisively and quickly in bankruptcy court.

"There's nothing that precludes a federal judge from adjudicating the constitutionality of the Michigan statute," Pottow said. "The bankruptcy judge can interpret Michigan law."

Aquilina, who like most of the judges on the Ingham court has a Democratic background, appeared prepared for her orders to be appealed.

"Let's get this moving to the Court of Appeals because that's where you all are headed," she said.

She also ordered that a copy of her declaratory judgment be sent to President Barack Obama, saying he "bailed out Detroit" and may want to look into the pension issue.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/19/detroit-bankruptcy-unconstitutional/2569481/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on July 20, 2013, 05:22:34 am
Quote
Aquilina said the Michigan Constitution prohibits actions that will lessen the pension benefits of public employees, including those in the City of Detroit.

How did they get such a law into their constitution? What about the pension benefits of private employees? Man the corruption of these government officials is mind-boggling. With government doing such things, it's no wonder cities are filing bankruptcy. Thieves and robbers, all of them!

Quote
She also ordered that a copy of her declaratory judgment be sent to President Barack Obama, saying he "bailed out Detroit" and may want to look into the pension issue.

Wow! She isn't even bothering to hide her bias! What the heck does the president have to do with a state filing bankruptcy? Nothing. What they are really interested in is taking care that the public is solidly on the public dole.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 21, 2013, 05:42:15 am
25 Facts About The Fall Of Detroit That Will Leave You Shaking Your Head

It is so sad to watch one of America's greatest cities die a horrible death.  Once upon a time, the city of Detroit was a teeming metropolis of 1.8 million people and it had the highest per capita income in the United States.  Now it is a rotting, decaying hellhole of about 700,000 people that the rest of the world makes jokes about.  On Thursday, we learned that the decision had been made for the city of Detroit to formally file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.  It was going to be the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States by far, but on Friday it was stopped at least temporarily by an Ingham County judge.  She ruled that Detroit's bankruptcy filing violates the Michigan Constitution because it would result in reduced pension payments for retired workers.  She also stated that Detroit's bankruptcy filing was "also not honoring the (United States) president, who took (Detroit’s auto companies) out of bankruptcy", and she ordered that a copy of her judgment be sent to Barack Obama.  How "honoring the president" has anything to do with the bankruptcy of Detroit is a bit of a mystery, but what that judge has done is ensured that there will be months of legal wrangling ahead over Detroit's money woes.  It will be very interesting to see how all of this plays out.  But one thing is for sure - the city of Detroit is flat broke.  One of the greatest cities in the history of the world is just a shell of its former self.  The following are 25 facts about the fall of Detroit that will leave you shaking your head...
 
1) At this point, the city of Detroit owes money to more than 100,000 creditors.
 
2) Detroit is facing $20 billion in debt and unfunded liabilities.  That breaks down to more than $25,000 per resident.
 
3) Back in 1960, the city of Detroit actually had the highest per-capita income in the entire nation.
 
4) In 1950, there were about 296,000 manufacturing jobs in Detroit.  Today, there are less than 27,000.
 
5) Between December 2000 and December 2010, 48 percent of the manufacturing jobs in the state of Michigan were lost.
 
6) There are lots of houses available for sale in Detroit right now for $500 or less.
 
7) At this point, there are approximately 78,000 abandoned homes in the city.
 
8) About one-third of Detroit's 140 square miles is either vacant or derelict.
 
9) An astounding 47 percent of the residents of the city of Detroit are functionally illiterate.
 
10) Less than half of the residents of Detroit over the age of 16 are working at this point.
 
11) If you can believe it, 60 percent of all children in the city of Detroit are living in poverty.
 
12) Detroit was once the fourth-largest city in the United States, but over the past 60 years the population of Detroit has fallen by 63 percent.
 
13) The city of Detroit is now very heavily dependent on the tax revenue it pulls in from the ****s in the city.  Right now, Detroit is bringing in about 11 million dollars a month in tax revenue from the ****s.
 
14) There are 70 "Superfund" hazardous waste sites in Detroit.
 
15) 40 percent of the street lights do not work.
 
16) Only about a third of the ambulances are running.
 
17) Some ambulances in the city of Detroit have been used for so long that they have more than 250,000 miles on them.
 
18) Two-thirds of the parks in the city of Detroit have been permanently closed down since 2008.
 
19) The size of the police force in Detroit has been cut by about 40 percent over the past decade.
 
20) When you call the police in Detroit, it takes them an average of 58 minutes to respond.
 
21) Due to budget cutbacks, most police stations in Detroit are now closed to the public for 16 hours a day.
 
22) The violent crime rate in Detroit is five times higher than the national average.
 
23) The murder rate in Detroit is 11 times higher than it is in New York City.
 
24) Today, police solve less than 10 percent of the crimes that are committed in Detroit.
 
25) Crime has gotten so bad in Detroit that even the police are telling people to "enter Detroit at your own risk".
 
It is easy to point fingers and mock Detroit, but the truth is that the rest of America is going down the exact same path that Detroit has gone down.
 

Detroit just got there first.
 
All over this country, there are hundreds of state and local governments that are also on the verge of financial ruin...
 

"Everyone will say, 'Oh well, it's Detroit. I thought it was already in bankruptcy,' " said Michigan State University economist Eric Scorsone. "But Detroit is not unique. It's the same in Chicago and New York and San Diego and San Jose. It's a lot of major cities in this country. They may not be as extreme as Detroit, but a lot of them face the same problems."
 
A while back, Meredith Whitney was highly criticized for predicting that there would be a huge wave of municipal defaults in this country.  When it didn't happen, the critics let her have it mercilessly.
 
But Meredith Whitney was not wrong.
 
She was just early.
 
Detroit is only just the beginning.  When the next major financial crisis strikes, we are going to see a wave of municipal bankruptcies unlike anything we have ever seen before.
 
And of course the biggest debt problem of all in this country is the U.S. government.  We are going to pay a great price for piling up nearly 17 trillion dollars of debt and over 200 trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities.
 
All over the nation, our economic infrastructure is being gutted, debt levels are exploding and poverty is spreading.  We are consuming far more wealth than we are producing, and our share of global GDP has been declining dramatically.
 
We have been living way above our means for so long that we think it is "normal", but an extremely painful "adjustment" is coming and most Americans are not going to know how to handle it.
 
So don't laugh at Detroit.  The economic pain that Detroit is experiencing will be coming to your area of the country soon enough.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/25-facts-about-the-fall-of-detroit-that-will-leave-you-shaking-your-head


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 23, 2013, 06:31:30 am
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/22/19620244-shrinking-population-heavy-debt-make-turnaround-tough-for-detroit-schools?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=1
7/22/13
Shrinking population, heavy debt make turnaround tough for Detroit schools

Michigan’s governor on July 15 appointed a seasoned financial guru to run Detroit’s ailing public school district, a move that many observers hailed as a saving grace for the city's classrooms in decline.

Three days later, Detroit filed for bankruptcy.

Jack Martin, who took office as emergency manager for Detroit Public Schools last Monday, is now tasked with overhauling Motown's rusting educational system during a period of economic calamity.

Roy Roberts, Martin’s predecessor and a former General Motors executive, had signaled earlier this year that he would leave his post.

And although Roberts made key strides — including dragging down the deficit by $251 million and ramping up graduation rates by five percent — the Detroit public schools system is nonetheless in rough shape, according to Professor Elizabeth Moje of the University of Michigan School of Education.

And that’s been the case for years.

“The district was in dire straits long before the bankruptcy,” Moje said.

One of the biggest problems facing the school system: Detroit’s dramatically shrinking population. The economic collapse has reduced the sprawling metropolis to a veritable ghost town.

The city’s population plunged by over a quarter of a million between 2000 and 2010, to just over 700,000 people, according to The Associated Press.

What does that mean for public schools? Population projections suggest that, by 2016, public school enrollment will slip to just 40,000 kids, according to the AP — a relatively meager number for a once-bustling American city.

“These schools are enormous,” said Moje. “But inside, there’s very few students.”

Martin said last Monday that boosting enrollment will be a top priority during his time overseeing public schools.

“I’ll first focus on starting school on time and without incident,” Martin said. “Enrollment is a major focus.”

What’s more, Detroit’s public schools are weighed down by mountains of debt, according to Moje. School administrators are sometimes forced to dip into the budget reserved for school resources to cover old debts, she added.

“Schools of today have less money to spend on their students because they’re paying off the debts of yesteryear,” she said.

That’s one of the reasons why state officials declared a financial state of emergency in public schools across Detroit in late 2008, five years before billions of dollars of debt forced the city to file Chapter 9, according to Terry Stanton, the communications director at the Michigan Department of Treasury.

Four other Michigan school districts have received the same grim prognosis — and all are now overseen by emergency financial managers, rather than traditional administrators, such as a superintendent, Stanton said.

Martin, 74, a certified public accountant, is the third emergency manager to preside over Detroit’s public schools since 2009. He has a lengthy resume at the intersection of finance and public policy — most notably, stints as the CFO of the U.S. Department of Education and CFO of the city of Detroit itself — which makes him a good fit for the numbers-crunching business of budget administration.

“The opportunity will allow me to continue offering leadership and making a positive impact in the Detroit community,” Martin said in a statement. “Fixing education in Detroit is foundational to addressing the myriad of other critical issues facing our community—locally and statewide.”

It remains to be seen if the confluence of Detroit’s bankruptcy and the city's public schools' woes will force officials to shutter more schools, as they did at a staggering rate during a budget-balancing wave in 2011, according to Moje.

Martin, widely seen as a financial wizard, may find a way around closing the doors to classrooms across the struggling city. And yet, ultimately, we shouldn't treat public education strictly as a "numbers game," Moje said.

"Everybody is worried about the numbers and the money, but the bottom line is that we also need to think about improving the quality of teaching and learning in these classrooms."


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 24, 2013, 12:31:18 pm
Detroit council supports calls for federal investigation of possible civil rights charges against George Zimmerman

The Detroit City Council on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution calling for a federal investigation to see whether civil rights charges are warranted against George Zimmerman, who was acquitted July 13 of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

The resolution, sponsored by Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, sparked a discussion over the need for city leaders and others to focus more on violence in Detroit.

“We need to have that same level of outrage with respect to the black-on-black crime that takes place in our community,” Councilman Kenneth Cockrel Jr. said. “How many people were shot — maybe even shot and killed this past weekend in the city — mostly likely by folks who look just like them?”

Watson said there are many events held regularly to address violence in Detroit. “Because the so-called major media does not cover all of the expressions does not mean it does not happen,” she said. “So that’s not correct.”

http://www.freep.com/article/20130723/NEWS01/307230095/

Really? Detroit has fallen apart, it is probably the most dangerous city in Amerika, bank rupt, police say enter at your own risk, and this is what these people do? You people in Detroit need to grab these felons and sting em up and put them in jail for LIFE. Your city is bankrupt and fallen, but here is you leaders pushing RACEISM instead.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 24, 2013, 12:38:42 pm
Detroit council supports calls for federal investigation of possible civil rights charges against George Zimmerman

Am I reading this right? Do I need my glasses to get adjusted? ???


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on July 24, 2013, 04:51:35 pm
No kidding! We just entered the twilight zone!

For those trying to keep up with this insanity, the question is, what say does the city of Detroit have in what goes on in a completely different state? It has zero say. None. The city's system of resolutions is not for promoting personal bias! And they wonder why Detroit is collapsing. ::)


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 25, 2013, 06:08:33 am
Guardian Angels: Don’t Let Mag Mile Become “Muggers’ Mile”

A volunteer group of citizen crime fighters is calling the Magnificent Mile – a popular tourist destination in Chicago – the “Muggers’ Mile,” to spotlight robberies along Michigan Avenue.
 
CBS 2’s Susanna Song reports the Guardian Angels routinely patrol the Magnificent Mile, and the CTA Red Line subway that runs nearby.
 
They said criminals have been turning the popular stretch of Michigan Avenue into their own ATM, and attacks there have grown more violent. However, police said robberies in the area are down compared to last year.

Members of the Guardian Angels were at the corner of Michigan and Chicago avenues Tuesday morning, handing out flyers with safety tips to shoppers and tourists, while making their normal patrols.
 
The men in red berets said they came up with the Muggers’ Mile nickname, because they want to avoid the moniker from becoming reality.
 
They reminded passersby to put their cell phones away, install tracking software on their smart phones, and log off from their apps; whether it’s a banking account, or their email.
 
Over the weekend, police responded to a handful of muggings on Michigan Avenue, and not far away at 200 W. Illinois St.

rest: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/07/23/guardian-angels-dont-let-mag-mile-become-muggers-mile/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 25, 2013, 06:12:30 am
land is becoming desolate...


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 25, 2013, 07:25:09 am
DETROIT - COMING SOON TO A CITY NEAR YOU

By Frosty Wooldridge
June 19, 2013
NewsWithViews.com

For 15 years, from the mid 1970's to 1990, I worked in Detroit , Michigan . I watched it descend into the abyss of crime, debauchery, gunplay, drugs, school truancy, car-jacking, gangs and human depravity. I watched entire city blocks burned out. I watched graffiti explode on buildings, cars, trucks, buses and school yards. Trash everywhere!

Detroiters walked through it, tossed more into it, and ignored it. Tens of thousands, and then hundreds of thousands today exist on federal welfare, free housing, and food stamps!

With Aid to Dependent Children, minority women birthed eight to 10, and in one case, one woman birthed 24 children as reported by the Detroit Free Press, all on American taxpayer dollars.

A new child meant a new car payment, new TV, and whatever mom wanted. I saw Lyndon Baines Johnson's 'Great Society' flourish in Detroit . If you give money for doing nothing, you will get more hands out taking money for doing nothing.

Mayor Coleman Young, perhaps the most corrupt mayor in America , outside of Richard Daley in Chicago , rode Detroit down to its knees... He set the benchmark for cronyism, incompetence, and arrogance. As a black man, he said, "I am the MFIC." The IC meant "in charge." You can figure out the rest.

Detroit became a majority black city with 67 percent African-Americans.

As a United Van Lines truck driver for my summer job from teaching math and science, I loaded hundreds of American families into my van for a new life in another city or state.

Detroit plummeted from 1.8 million citizens to 912,000 today. At the same time, legal and illegal immigrants converged on the city for the free government handouts, so much so, that Muslims number over 300,000. Mexicans number 400,000 throughout Michigan, but most work in Detroit . As the whites moved out, the Muslims moved in.

As the crimes became more violent, the whites fled. Finally, unlawful Mexicans moved in at a torrid pace. Detroit suffers so much shoplifting that grocery stores no longer operate in many inner city locations. You could cut the racial tension in the air with a knife! Detroit may be one of our best examples of multiculturalism: pure dislike, and total separation from America.

Today, you hear Muslim calls to worship over the city like a new American Baghdad with hundreds of Islamic mosques in Michigan , paid for by Saudi Arabian oil money. High school flunk-out rates reached 76 percent last June, according to NBC's Brian Williams. Classrooms resemble more foreign countries than America .. English? Few speak it! The city features a 50 percent illiteracy rate and growing.

Unemployment hit 28.9 percent in 2009 as the auto industry vacated the city. In Time Magazine on October 4, 2009, "The Tragedy of Detroit : How a great city fell, and how it can rise again," I choked on the writer's description of what happened. "If Detroit had been ravaged by a hurricane, and submerged by a ravenous flood, we'd know a lot more about it," said Daniel Okrent. "If drought and carelessness had spread brush fires across the city, we'd see it on the evening news every night." Earthquake, tornadoes, you name it, if natural disaster had devastated the city that was once the living proof of American prosperity, the rest of the country might take notice.

But Detroit , once our fourth largest city, now 11th and slipping rapidly, has had no such luck. Its disaster has long been a slow unwinding that seemed to remove it from the rest of the country.

Even the death rattle that in the past year emanated from its signature industry brought more attention to the auto executives than to the people of the city, who had for so long been victimized by their dreadful decision making."

As Coleman Young's corruption brought the city to its knees, no amount of federal dollars could save the incredible payoffs, kickbacks and illegality permeating his administration. I witnessed the city's death from the seat of my 18-wheeler tractor trailer because I moved people out of every sector of decaying Detroit .

"By any quantifiable standard, the city is on life support. Detroit 's treasury is $300 million short of the funds needed to provide the barest municipal services," Okrent said. "The school system, which six years ago was compelled by the teachers' union to reject a philanthropist's offer of $200 million to build 15 small, independent charter high schools, is in receivership. The murder rate is soaring, and 7 out of 10 remain unsolved. Three years after Katrina devastated New Orleans , unemployment in that city hit a peak of 11%. In Detroit today, the unemployment rate is 28.9%. That's worth spelling out: twenty-eight point nine percent.

At the end of Okrent's report, and he will write a dozen more about Detroit, he said, "That's because the story of Detroit is not simply one of a great city's collapse, it's also about the erosion of the industries that helped build the country we know today. The ultimate fate of Detroit will reveal much about the character of America in the 21st century.

If what was once the most prosperous manufacturing city in the nation has been brought to its knees, what does that say about our recent past? And if it can't find a way to get up, what does that say about Americas fut ure?"

As you read in my book review of Chris Steiner's book,"$20 Per Gallon," the auto industry won't come back. Immigration will keep pouring more and more uneducated third world immigrants from the Middle East into Detroit , thus creating a beachhead for Islamic hegemony in America . If 50 percent illiteracy continues, we will see more home-grown terrorists spawned out of the Muslim ghettos of Detroit . Illiteracy plus Islam equals walking human bombs.

You have already seen it in Madrid, Spain, London, England, and Paris, France with train bombings, subway bombings and riots. As their numbers grow, so will their power to enact their barbaric Sharia Law that negates republican forms of government, first amendment rights, and subjugates women to the lowest rungs on the human ladder.

We will see more honor killings by upset husbands, fathers and brothers that demand subjugation by their daughters, sisters and wives. Muslims prefer beheadings of women to scare the hell out of any other members of their sect from straying. Multiculturalism: what a perfect method to kill our language, culture, country and way of life.

I pray everyone who reads this realizes that if we don't stand up and scream at washington, and, at our local city, county, and state leaders this is what awaits the rest of America. If you think Mexicans and Muslims and other foreigners will eventually fit right in then you are as big a part of the problem as they are.

If you think this is just a bunch of hooey and you feel NO duty to fight for this country, then I'm sorry, I don't know what it will take to motivate you to stand up and fight?

http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty873.htm


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 25, 2013, 07:43:50 am
Not that I endorse Michael Moore, but his films were warning about it as far back as 1989(and then did again at the tail end of his "Fahrenheit 9/11" in 2004).

No, I don't think he did this genuinely, but more as predictive programming.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on July 25, 2013, 02:15:16 pm
Like the rest of Hollywood, it isn't a warning so people can do something about it, it's a statement of what's to come like it or not. It's their way of dividing for future conquer. Get the public riled up and you start to see where people stand. That's valuable info for those who want to change the public's opinions.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 26, 2013, 08:25:46 am
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/detroit-bankruptcy-game-changing-event-meredith-whitney-says-121753612.html
Detroit Bankruptcy a “Game-Changing Event,” Meredith Whitney Says
7/26/13

It’s been just over a week since Detroit filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history and, so far, there are more questions than answers about how this will all shake out. On Wednesday, a U.S. Bankruptcy judge ruled Detroit’s Chapter 9 filing can proceed but local unions, pension funds and other creditors will continue to try and stop the process.

Related: Detroit Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better

Regardless of how the legal proceedings unfold, Meredith Whitney thinks she knows what will happen as a result of Detroit’s bankruptcy filing: “staggering aftershocks” for the muni bond market and “important precedents” for other state and local governments.

“We know [Detroit’s bankruptcy] is a game-changing event for certain,” says Whitney, author of Fate of the States and founder of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group LLC. “It will galvanize other municipalities to either get their act together or follow Detroit’s lead.”

Asked what other municipalities might follow Detroit’s lead into bankruptcy, Whitney cited the five other Michigan cities currently under emergency management: Flint, Pontiac, Ecorse, Allen Park and Benton Harbor. She also reiterated her concerns about the states of New Jersey and Illinois.

Related: Bernanke Costs Illinois $130M: ‘Blue States’ in Peril, Meredith Whitney Says

The Wall Street Journal recently cited Oakland, Philadelphia and Chicago as other big cities with the potential to follow Detroit’s lead but Whitney declined to mention other cities.

“I’m not sure it’s constructive to name towns [and] sound the alarm,” she said. “But there are numerous others across the country. Detroit is hardly unique.”


Of course, Whitney gained increased attention – and considerable criticism – when she sounded the alarm on 60 Minutes in late 2010. At that time, she predicted “a spate of municipal bond defaults. You could see 50 sizeable defaults. Fifty to 100 sizeable defaults. More. This will amount to hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of defaults."

Nothing close to that level of muni bankruptcies has occurred, to date, but ask yourself: Was Whitney 'dead wrong' on 60 Minutes, as her critics continue to claim, or just early?

And check the accompanying video to hear specifics on why Whitney believes Detroit’s bankruptcy is such a “game changing event” and whether she believes the city of Detroit can be 'restructured' via bankruptcy as were automakers GM and Chrysler.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 29, 2013, 06:36:32 am
'It's degrading': Bankrupt New England mill town offers Detroit a bleak preview
7/29/13
http://inplainsight.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/29/19697878-its-degrading-bankrupt-new-england-mill-town-offers-detroit-a-bleak-preview?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=1

In a small mill town in New England, dozens of retired policemen and firefighters are feeling the pain of what they see as a broken promise, offering a glimpse into what could happen to thousands of public workers in Detroit facing massive reductions in pension payouts after the city's declaration of bankruptcy.

Donald Cardin became a firefighter at age 20 in Central Falls, R.I., a town just north of Providence that filed for bankruptcy in 2011. He was making $60,000 a year as a fire chief before retiring at age 42 in 2007 to take care of his wife Lana, diagnosed with thymic carcinoma, a rare cancer with extremely low survival rates.

The couple relied on Cardin’s health insurance, which required no copay, to cover Lana’s $8,000-a-month treatment. Cardin worked a part-time contracting job to make up the difference between his $34,000-a-year pension and his former salary.

But that all changed in 2011 when Cardin, and his fellow firefighters and policemen, were called to a meeting at the local high school, where state-appointed receiver Robert Flanders warned them that the city would not have enough money to survive if pensions were not cut. Weeks later the city would file for bankruptcy.

“After a lifetime of service, with the stroke of a pen, Judge Flanders changes the rest of our lives and doesn’t care,” said Cardin.

Bruce Ogni, 53, president of the Central Falls Police Retirees Association, won't forget that day, either.

“All of a sudden they dropped this on us. There was no real negotiation. Flanders came in and said the city is in big trouble, we need half your pension and your medical,” he said.

'Like I've been robbed'
Beyond trouble covering medical bills and basic needs, former public servants say their golden years have been stolen from them. After a lifetime of working to save the lives of others, the ability to enjoy their own lives has vaporized.

Joseph Laurie, 62, who worked as a fireman for 35 years, said, “I feel like I’ve been robbed.”

“We do nothing anymore,” Laurie said. “We can’t afford to go out and eat, we can’t afford shopping, we have no hobbies, we can’t travel. We’re basically stuck in our house.”

Central Falls' 19,000 residents are tucked into barely more than one square mile. The little city has coped with high poverty and crime and in 2011 found itself with a structural budget deficit of $6 million, along with $80 million in unpaid pension and health insurance benefits owed to the city’s retired workers.

Cardin believes that the city owes him and his colleagues the money they deserve, and that the services provided by him and his men should not be taken for granted.

City officials tasked with rescuing the city from financial oblivion said they had no choice.

“The city was running out of cash to meet its obligations and was literally going to be defaulting on obligations to run the city and take care of the retirees it was trying to pay,” said Flanders, who is now a partner at the law firm Hinckley, Allen, & Snyder.

As a result, Flanders proposed cutting back on pension payments and health insurance for retired workers, asking former police and firemen to take a 55 percent cut to their annual pensions. During negotiations to avoid further litigation, the state agreed to allocate $2.6 million for pensions in Central Falls, allowing retired policemen and firefighters to keep 75 percent of their pensions for the first five years after the city filed for bankruptcy. In 2016, pensions will again be cut to 55 percent.

“You have to figure out what we absolutely need to run the city. We have to have firemen, we have to have police, but we don’t need open pools, and for those who are retired, we don’t necessarily need to make those payments,” Flanders said.

“It’s painful to do this, but when you have to make hard choices like that, the choice is always going to be in favor of current services opposed to past obligations.”

The cutbacks left retired police and firefighters feeling angry, betrayed, and scared for the future.

Beyond learning their pensions would not be paid in full, the retirees were no longer protected by the labor union. They would have to get together and hire their own attorney if they wanted to challenge the city — an additional cost they would have to pick up.

With a wife and twin boys to care for, Ogni lost $1,200 a month and had to pay additional fees incurred by his wife’s health insurance. Eight months ago, Ogni’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, adding more medical bills to the family’s worries.

“It’s degrading to me as a man. I’m supposed to be the father in this family. We were doing OK with my pension, but losing 12 hundred a month and now her health, that’s a lot,” he said.

“I would love to give my children more than what I had. It’s hard to sit here and tell my children if you do the right thing in life you’ll be all set. I did the right thing. I did what I loved.”

Ex-fireman Laurie and his wife, Kathleen, live off disability from social security (which he receives from previously working part-time jobs in addition to his service as a fireman) and a $19,000-a-year pension — down from $39,000 before the cuts.

The Lauries makes just enough money not to qualify for public assistance, but the $2,700 the family brings in each month barely covers their $2,300 in monthly bills.

“If anything comes up out of the ordinary, that’s money we have to take out of our savings,” said Laurie. He added that the family has already made a dent in their nest egg.

Another retiree, who for out of respect for his wife and children preferred not to be named, had to voluntarily surrender his home to the bank.

After putting four children through private school, and with one daughter still in college, they made the choice to give up their three-bedroom home of 25 years, after the pension cuts.

“We took the best way that would create the least personal damage for us,” the retiree said. “It was devastating.”

A 'haircut' rather than a 'beheading'
Flanders said he did what he had to do to save the city, and that it was impossible to sustain a culture where people work for a while, retire and get a nice pension and generous health benefits that cover everybody and their survivors for life.

“The city was running out of cash. Something was better than nothing and a haircut looked a lot better than a beheading,” Flanders said in regards to the city’s retirees.

“He gave us a scalping, he didn’t give us a haircut. There was no haircut. That’s his famous line,” the retiree who lost his home said, with a chuckle.

A little over a year after filing for Chapter 9, Central Falls emerged from bankruptcy.

“I think there’s a new spirit of optimism that has engaged the city and I think most people there would say as painful as bankruptcy was it's put us in a better place to move forward and have a brighter future,” Flanders said.

Despite the city getting back on its feet, retirees still wonder how they will survive with more cuts looming in 2016.

“In 2016, I’m done. I’m dead.”  Joe Laurie said. “I’ll be on the street.”


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on July 29, 2013, 03:37:37 pm
Quote
a fire chief before retiring at age 42 in 2007

So he gets $34,000 a year from the city for the rest of his life? The system can't sustain that. If people work 20 years, and then they draw a pension for the next 30-40 years, that math don't add up! At some point, the amount for pensions will surpass the salaries for current workers, which means less people are paying in than drawing on the system. That's a situation doomed for failure.

Companies cannot keep paying people what amounts to full time salaries when they don't work any more. A small portion to cover "life expenses" maybe, but  $34,000/year plus medical? No company can keep that up. Pensions are just another scam by unions used in "negotiating with management".


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 30, 2013, 05:39:02 am
Police Officers Arrested After Robbing Citizens at Gunpoint

A photograph snapped by a citizen and distributed to the media led to the arrest of two police officers who allegedly robbed and assaulted two citizens last week, Detroit Police Chief  James Craig said Monday.
 
The two men — one a sergeant and 20-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department; the other holding the same rank in St. Clair Shores — allegedly wore  their badges around their necks and drew their department-issued pistols on July  21, when police say they robbed two men at an east-side gas station. One of the victims was assaulted, Craig said.

“It wasn’t until a photograph was sent to the media that someone  investigating the case recognized him as a Detroit Police employee,” Craig  said.

http://christiannews.net/2013/07/29/police-officers-arrested-after-robbing-citizens-at-gunpoint/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 30, 2013, 06:57:19 am
Police Officers Arrested After Robbing Citizens at Gunpoint

A photograph snapped by a citizen and distributed to the media led to the arrest of two police officers who allegedly robbed and assaulted two citizens last week, Detroit Police Chief  James Craig said Monday.
 
The two men — one a sergeant and 20-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department; the other holding the same rank in St. Clair Shores — allegedly wore  their badges around their necks and drew their department-issued pistols on July  21, when police say they robbed two men at an east-side gas station. One of the victims was assaulted, Craig said.

“It wasn’t until a photograph was sent to the media that someone  investigating the case recognized him as a Detroit Police employee,” Craig  said.

http://christiannews.net/2013/07/29/police-officers-arrested-after-robbing-citizens-at-gunpoint/

Didn't say how whoever took the photograph, but my guess is that they took it from their cell phones.

Either way, there's just no way you can get away with everything nowdays in this highly sophisticated digital age where people have all of the tools necessary to do pretty much anything they want.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on July 30, 2013, 01:34:49 pm
And this kind of thing is why police don't want the public to film police at work!


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on August 01, 2013, 10:29:59 am
http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/26/news/economy/detroit-bankruptcy-arena/index.html
New $444 million hockey arena is still a go in Detroit
By Chris Isidore  @CNNMoney  July 26, 2013: 9:16 AM ET

Detroit's financial crisis hasn't derailed the city's plans to spend more than $400 million in Michigan taxpayer funds on a new hockey arena for the Red Wings.

Advocates of the arena say it's the kind of economic development needed to attract both people and private investment dollars into downtown Detroit. It's an argument that has convinced Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Kevyn Orr, the emergency manager he appointed to oversee the city's finances, to stick with the plan. Orr said Detroit's bankruptcy filing won't halt the arena plans.

"I know there's a lot of emotional concern about should we be spending the money," said Orr. "But frankly that's part of the economic development. We need jobs. If it is as productive as it's supposed to be, that's going to be a boon to the city."

But critics say the project won't have enough economic impact to justify the cost, and that it's the wrong spending priority for a city facing dire economic conditions.

Detroit city services are already stretched extremely thin. On average, police take about an hour to respond to calls for help, and 40% of street lights are shut off to save money.

"If you want people to live in the city, and not just visit to go to games, you have to invest in schools, in having the police to respond to calls," said Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic leader in the state senate. "There are so many investments that should trump a sports stadium."

Additionally, Orr wants to make deep cuts to both the pensions and health care coverage promised to city employees and retirees.

The state legislature approved the taxpayer funding for the arena in December. The controversial vote split Detroit's own legislative delegation. Whitmer argues that the matter should be reconsidered given the city's worsening finances.

"If the vote was held today, since the bankruptcy, I wouldn't put my money on it passing," she said.

The arena will be paid for with a $450 million bond issue that will be repaid over the next 30 years. Taxpayers will be paying almost two-thirds of the cost of the arena -- $283 million -- and private developers will cover the rest. Including interest, it's projected that there will be a total of $444 million in taxpayer funds spent on the project. 

Additionally, the developer has committed to spending another $200 million to build retail, office, residential and hotel space as part of the project. The construction is expected to create about 8,000 construction jobs with work due to start next year.


Most of the tax money going into the project would otherwise be going into Detroit schools, which are also under state control due to their dire finances. But the lost money is slated to be made up for by the state government according to Michigan's school-funding formula.

"The schools won't lose a dollar," said Robert Rossbach, spokesman for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., the non-profit agency overseeing the project. "It was designed to have minimal impact on city of Detroit operations."

Mark Rosentraub, a University of Michigan professor and an expert on the economic impact of sports teams, did a study for the arena developers, and estimates that it would create more than $1 billion of direct spending in Detroit during the next 30 years. He said many stadium and arena projects have minimal impact on local economies because they're already thriving or because of poor location.

But he argues that this one -- in a depressed city next to football and baseball stadiums -- will encourage a lot of private investment in restaurants, bars and other entertainment venues.

The Joe Louis Arena where the Red Wings now play is antiquated by modern arena standards, and is relatively isolated from the downtown area where the new arena is to be built.

"The problem behind the financial issues of Detroit has been a flight of capital to the suburban areas," he said. "We have to bring foot traffic and investment back to Detroit. This is exactly what it needs."

Typically, a team threatens to move out of a city in order to get government officials to agree to a publicly financed new home, but the Red Wings have not made that threat.

Andrew Zimbalist, a Smith College economics professor and a sports business expert, said the Red Wings are one of the few profitable teams in the National Hockey League, and there is no chance they would want to leave Detroit, even for the suburbs.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on August 01, 2013, 02:21:18 pm
Those city officials just don't get it! OR, they DO get it, and are intentionally using public funds to prop up big business taxpayers.

So what do they say about all those 8,000 construction jobs when the "project" is complete? Nothing. They don't care, because they will have gotten their stadium, and the private company gets their public funding, and those in society with the cash to waste on these sports events will get a new place to recreate, at the expense of the masses, who don't even like hockey, and never intend on going to a game!

I'd like to know what other industries that cities are using public funds to support and pay for expansions and renovations. Outside of tax breaks to draw a company, I'm not aware of any other industry outside of farming that gets public funds like this.

To me, this is just another case of the rich, with the help of politicians, stealing public money for their own personal gain.

I thought that was illegal, but apparently now days, it's just policy.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on August 02, 2013, 01:51:54 pm
Dems Favor Federal Bailout of Detroit, But Majority of Public Opposed

A new national poll from Quinnipiac University shows that a majority Democrats believe the federal government should bail out Detroit, but an even larger majority of Americans oppose such a move. Fifty-one percent of Democrats support Washington providing federal assistance to Detroit, which last month became the largest American city ever to seek bankruptcy protection.
 
Not surprisingly, there is a strong partisan divide on the question of a federal bailout for the Motor City. Seventy-three percent of Republicans oppose a bailout, while only 18 percent support the idea. Independents are nearly of the same mind as Republicans on the issue: 68 percent oppose federal assistance for Detroit and 28 percent support it.


Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/08/02/dems_favor_federal_bailout_of_detroit_public_does_not_119482.html#ixzz2aq6EymQQ


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on August 07, 2013, 09:48:01 am
11 Examples Of The Escalating Crime And Violence That Are Plaguing Communities Across America

Even though the United States has the highest incarceration rate and the largest total prison population in the world by a very wide margin, hundreds of communities all over America are being overwhelmed by crime and violence.  For many years, violent crime had actually decreased in the United States, but now the trend is going the other way.  Violent crime in the U.S. increased in both 2011 and 2012, and it is being projected that it will increase in 2013 as well.  The frightening thing is that crime statistics are going up even though police departments in some major cities have publicly announced that they will not even respond to certain crimes anymore.  This has the effect of making crime statistics look lower than they actually should be.  For example, in the city of Chicago police will no longer respond in person "to 911 calls reporting vehicle theft, garage burglary or simple assault".  So if someone steals your car or breaks into your garage, you can file a report over the phone if you want, but it probably won't do much good.
 
So what is causing the rise in crime and violence?  Well, we live at a time when economic opportunities for young people are extremely limited.  The younger you are, the more likely you are to be unemployed, and poverty in America has been steadily rising even in the midst of this so-called "economy recovery".
 
When people are poor and feel like they are out of options, they tend to get desperate.  And desperate people do desperate things.
 
Meanwhile, the condition of the family in America continues to deteriorate.  We have the highest divorce rate in the world and approximately one out of every three children in the United States lives in a home without a father.  Without stable families to depend on, our young people have become increasingly vulnerable to other influences.
 
One trend that is extremely alarming is the growth of gangs in the United States.  According to the FBI, there are now 1.4 million gang members living in America.  Unfortunately, the federal government appears very unconcerned about stopping illegal immigration even though it has been one of the primary factors fueling the astounding growth of criminal gangs in this country.
 
There is a lot of anger and frustration out on the streets of America right now, and the moral decay that has been eating away at the foundations of our country is really starting to manifest itself.  The following are 11 examples of the escalating crime and violence that are plaguing communities all across America right now...
 
#1 Flash mob crimes are becoming increasingly common in our major cities.  For example, in Washington D.C. a "flash mob" of 20 or 30 young people recently stormed a convenience store and took whatever they wanted...
 

"It was crazy. Beyond our control," says the manager of the King Convenience store in the 1500 block of U Street in Southeast D.C.
 
He says a flash mob of teens stole candy, soda and other items from his store Saturday night.
 
"Bunch of kids, more than 20 or 30, grabbed everything," he says, asking not to be identified. "They grabbed everything and then ran away from the store."
 
#2 In the Bronx, police seem to be powerless to do anything about the gangs that are ruthlessly terrorizing law-abiding families...
 

The gun-toting teen shot by police over the weekend grew up in a gang-infested neighborhood in the Morrisania section of the Bronx where law-abiding families live in constant fear. Even if young boys try to avoid trouble, it comes looking for them.
 
At first glance, everything looks calm and ordinary in this community. But under the surface, the threat for boys as young as 9 or 10 from gangs and criminal crews pressuring them to join is constant.
 
One boy, whose identity Fox 5 is protecting, said they have no choice but to join a gang. He said he tries to stay busy and off the streets at night when the gangs are out and hunting for new members. He said most boys don't choose to join a gang, but if they don't, they and their families suffer consequences. He said gangs have ransacked the apartments of reluctant recruits.
 
#3 In Baltimore, there have been several reports recently of vicious mobs assaulting innocent pedestrians...
 

A man was assaulted by a group of people early Sunday morning in Baltimore's Little Italy neighborhood and part of the attack was captured on camera.
 
The attack happened at around 12:45 a.m. at Bank and Exeter Streets. The victim, who works at a restaurant in the area, was walking down the street when a mob of people approached him and started beating him.
 
The video shows the victim trying to get away, but stumbles and the mob starts attacking him again. The victim was finally able to run into a nearby wine bar for help.
 
Coworkers of the victims say he is still in the hospital after having surgery on his jaw. They also say they are now taking extra steps to be safe. "A girl at my work got robbed right before that, we think, by the same people. So she's been staying at my house just because it's not safe for her to be by herself. But our managers are making sure that nobody's walking to the garage anymore. So they're driving us to our cars from now on," coworker Jackie Quattrochi said.
 
#4 Drug abuse is rising all over the country, and the results are often deeply tragic.  In Memphis, Tennessee one mother recently stabbed her two little boys to death because "voices told her to do it"...
 

A mother charged with fatally stabbing her two young sons told police she is schizophrenic and that voices told her to do it, court records show.
 
Jamina Briggs, 29, also told officers who arrived at her home on Wednesday night that she was sorry about the stabbings, according to an affidavit of complaint.
 
Officers arrested Briggs after they found the boys, 6-year-old Nicholas Briggs and 23-month-old Jeremiah Briggs, lying face down on a couch with multiple stab wounds. The boys died at a hospital.
 
#5 One man from Staten Island was recently charged with trying to sell his 2-month-old baby on Craigslist because he didn't want her anymore...
 

A Staten Island man is accused of trying to sell a 2-month-old baby on Craigslist.
 
Paul Marquez, 23, posted an ad on the website twice late last month, offering a baby for sale for $100, law enforcement sources said.
 
The ad read, “I have a 2-month-old baby, she loves to play and have her little fun, but there’s one problem, doctors say she has asthma and if she turns a certain way she can stop breathing. She’s really getting on my nerves and I don’t want her,” WCBS 880′s Irene Cornell reported.
 
#6 You wouldn't normally think of Fairfax, Virginia as a hotbed of violent crime, but a vicious mob attack was filmed there recently...
 

A wild assault in Fairfax, Virginia, was recently caught on video. The incident, dubbed by WJLA-TV as a “savage” and “mob-style attack,” included at least six individuals brutally punching and kicking one person (presumably a teenager or a young man).
 
The brawl was recorded by a local resident named Jack Webb. He had installed a security camera in an effort to nab the individuals who have been breaking into his work van, but, instead, he ended up capturing the incident — one that has residents and authorities, alike, deeply troubled.
 
The victim is seen in the video being stomped on and repeatedly beaten. The incident was so severe, Webb said, that it looked like the individual being attacked “wasn’t going to be getting up again.”
 
#7 Even young schoolchildren are going absolutely crazy these days.  Just check out what happened on one school bus in Pinellas County, Florida last month...
 

A cell-phone video captures the 13-year-old boy’s screams for help as he’s pummeled with fists and kicked by three bigger, older youths who “ganged up” on him as he was about to get off at his bus stop.
 
The black teens beat the white sixth-grader for roughly a minute before opening the emergency-exit door and fleeing the bus.
 
As the relentless assault unfolds, the bus driver John Moody yells at the teens to leave the boy alone. He also asks dispatchers to send help.
 
“You gotta get somebody here quick, quick, quick, quick,” he urged. “They’re about to beat this boy to death over here.”
 
#8 And of course this moral decay is not just limited to the cities.  What two men up in northern California did recently to one very young girl is absolutely horrifying...
 

Two Northern California men made brief appearances in federal court Wednesday in what began as another big pot-growing drug bust but what has become a horrifying story of one teenager's alleged torment, captivity and sexual abuse.
 
The criminal complaint against the two men -- Ryan Balletto, 30, and Patrick Pearmain, 24 -- outlines the allegations of a 15-year-old girl's ordeal of being held in a coffin-like box for hours on end at a marijuana-growing "farm" where she worked trimming plants.
 
#9 I have written extensively about the tremendous crime wave that we have seen up in Detroit in recent years, but even the police were shocked by one particular crime that took place recently...
 

Detroit police are wondering if they have a serial attacker on their hands after a third woman’s burned body was found on the west side.
 
Is a serial killer hunting women in Detroit?  At this point police are not sure what to think...
 

Police say it’s the third case in recent weeks where a woman has been set on fire and left for dead. However, investigators aren’t yet sure if the cases are connected. In late July, two women were found just miles apart in vacant fields – both severely beaten and without any clothing.
 
#10 If you are the victim of a crime in Detroit, it may not even be safe to call the police.  In some instances, they are actually the criminals...
 

A Good Samaritan snapped photos of what appeared to be two men impersonating police officers involved in a pistol-whipping and robbery outside a Citgo gas station on Detroit's east side on July 21.
 
Once Fox 2 aired those photos, an even more disturbing picture developed.
 
"Several unidentified police officers were working this particular robbery case, recognized one of the suspects in the photographs as being a member of the Detroit Police Department," Chief James Craig said Monday.
 
#11 In this day and age, the hearts of most people are growing cold.  In fact, many parents don't even seem to care for their own children anymore.  Just check out what recently happened in Live Oak, Texas...
 

Police said a young child found was in a garbage bin and his mother was arrested for child abandonment. Police also said the mother was high on synthetic marijuana.
 
It happened Tuesday night in the 200 block of Shin Oak in Live Oak.
 
Sgt. Anita Seamans said the woman,identified as 21-year-old Brittany Ciccotti, was arrested and charged with abandoning a child, a second degree felony.
 
"She has put him in a garbage can in the driveway of a home and by the grace of God, the child made enough noise in this can and somebody found him," said Sgt. Seamans.
 
All of these examples show that the thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted is rapidly breaking down.
 
This is what happens when we throw morality out the window and we don't teach our kids right from wrong.
 
And all over the country police departments are finding themselves overwhelmed right now.  Due to budget cuts, many police forces are actually getting smaller at the same time that crime rates are surging.
 
So what can be done?
 
Well, in Boston they are actually setting up cardboard cutouts of police officers in an attempt to deter crime.
 
Does anyone believe that will actually help?
 
Even though communities all over America now feel under siege by the growing wave of crime and violence that we have been witnessing, the truth is that this is only just the beginning.  When the next major economic downturn strikes things are going to get much worse.
 
The seeds that we have been planting for decades are now springing to life, and America is about to reap a very bitter harvest.
 
I hope that you are getting prepared.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/11-examples-of-the-escalating-crime-and-violence-that-are-plaguing-communities-across-america


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on August 07, 2013, 11:50:01 am
Quote
#3 In Baltimore, there have been several reports recently of vicious mobs assaulting innocent pedestrians...

When I was a regular viewer of NBC's Dateline in the 1990's, they had one episode over a person getting robbed and beat up on the side of the street, and MANY onlookers and passer-bys did NOTHING. Yeah, cell phones weren't exactly the norm then, but nonetheless the economy was GREAT then, and this country wasn't having these same economic problems like they do now.

Pt being that even these news shows like Dateline have served to be predictive programming as well, it seems.

Quote
#9 I have written extensively about the tremendous crime wave that we have seen up in Detroit in recent years, but even the police were shocked by one particular crime that took place recently...

Believe it or not, this was the norm among the New Orleans Police Department when I used to live there, and this was in the 1990's. Looks like what we saw with the NOPD then was a sign of things to come.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on August 20, 2013, 05:31:09 pm
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/how-broke-detroit-itll-come-down-number-crunching-6C10959170?ocid=msnhp&pos=1
8/20/13
How broke is Detroit? It'll come down to number-crunching

State and city officials trying to fix Detroit's financial mess claim that bankruptcy court is the only option left to reverse a decades-long downward spiral.

A witches brew of opponents to the nation's largest-ever bankruptcy filing — including city unions, pension fund managers, bondholders, bond insurers, vendors, and a long list of other creditors — say the city can be saved without such extreme measures.

A court will decide who is right based on a parade of expert witnesses who will present conflicting accounts of the city’s financial wreckage.

Nothing about this case is simple. With more than 100,000 creditors, multiple classes of bond holders and tens of thousands of current and future retirees owed billions in pension payments, the case is already shaping up as the most complex since Congress set up municipal bankruptcy rules more than 75 years ago.

One of the most contentious questions rests on the arcane art of actuarial analysis: the mix of math and forecasting assumptions used to determine how much the city needs to set aside today to meet its obligations to future retirees decades in the future. The city says the current collection of pension funds is some $3.5 billion short of the mark; city unions and other skeptics say the city has badly overstated what it needs to make good on promised retirement benefits.

Those estimates rely on a series of assumptions about how big those payments will be years in the future, along with the investment return of the money set aside to fund those payments. Tweaking those assumptions by a fraction of a percentage point today can change future projections by hundreds of billions of dollars.

That's why the legal case for Detroit's insolvency will likely rest on a series of expert witnesses both sides will call to crunch the numbers for the court – even if no one can establish with certainty whether the city's dire financial projections would come to pass without big debt write-downs.

"The city doesn't have to show that there aren't other arguments, just that its assumptions are reasonable," said Andrew Gottfried, a bankruptcy lawyer with Morgan Lewis.. "That's what judges do all the time in bankruptcy; they have to value future income. It's a common exercise."

There will be no shortage of arguments when Judge Steven Rhodes, who is hearing the case, gavels the opening of the trial on October 23. Those trying to block the city from moving forward had until midnight Monday to file their objections.

Detroit's unions were among them, arguing in several filings that the city has not proven it is insolvent and has not negotiated in good faith with its creditors. The unions also claim the filing violates the state constitution because the law protects retirement benefits for public workers and that it violates the U.S. Constitution by encroaching on states' rights.

Under the rules for a Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy, the city must first show that it tried to work out a repayment plan with creditors before going to court. To demonstrate that good faith effort, Detroit's emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, will likely point to weeks of talks with creditors earlier this year which yielded settlements with just a handful of bondholders.

Orr will also have to show whether the city can pay its bills, or whether it is so broke that it cannot do that if the court does not help to renegotiate the terms.

The burden of proof for Orr is large. Since 1954, there have been 62 filings for Chapter 9; about half of them have been thrown out of court or settled.

By one measure — the annual flow of cash in and out of city hall — the case for insolvency is pretty easy to make. Since 2004, the city has run deficits of between $155 million and $326 million (last year's gap) —borrowing each year to make up the shortfall, according to a review in February by the Michigan Treasurer's office.

The borrowing spree to cover those deficits added nearly $1 billion to the city's debt. It also cost the city its good credit rating, which made it progressively more expensive to keep borrowing, according to Katilyn Pulcher, a credit analyst with Standard & Poor's.

"Now they've gotten to the point where they can't even afford to borrow because the interest cost would be too high," she said.

Other Detroit watchers argue that the size of the city's debt burden isn't the only measure to watch. Richard Larkin, a credit analyst with investment advisor Herbert J. Sims, noted in a recent analysis that the city pays off its debt faster than many other cities, so if they stretched out the payments the debt service burden could be reduced

"Just like you refinance your mortgage, they could refinance it to stretch out the debt — that could save them $257 million over 10 years," he said.

Opponents of the bankruptcy filing also argue that Detroit isn't trying hard enough to collect the money it needs to pay its bills.

No one disputes that city tax revenues have been falling for years, down 30 percent in the last decade alone, largely because the population has been shrinking. Once the nation’s fifth-largest city, more than 60 percent of its residents have fled since the population peaked in 1950. In the past decade, that count shrank by a quarter.

But an analysis of city tax records in February by the Detroit News found that nearly half of the city's 305,000 property owners failed to pay taxes last year, leaving some $246 million uncollected.

Some of those properties were abandoned by mortgage lenders that foreclosed on houses and then walked away before taking ownership and before assuming responsibility for paying taxes. In 2010, the Government Accountability Office found that Detroit was among the cities hit hardest by the practice.

But homeowners owe much of the unpaid taxes which fund services they are no longer getting. In any case, the city's dismal track record in collecting revenues does little to bolster the argument against letting the city proceed with its Chapter 9 filing, according to Gottfried.

"To say they should have been more aggressive in collecting taxes doesn't eliminate the problem," he said. "Virtually every debtor who comes into bankruptcy court could have done things better in the past. That's why we're here."

Bankruptcy opponents also point to other sources of cash the city could raise to pay its bills.

Detroit's district court, for example, is owed some $280 million in unpaid fines and other payments on everything from parking tickets to drunk driving violations, according to the Treasurer's financial review. While the average collection rate for courts in nearby counties is 60 percent, Detroit is collecting just under 8 percent, the report found.

Then there are assets the city could sell, everything from Belle Isle, a 985-acre, city-owned island park to Detroit Institute of Art masterworks that include Van Gogh, Bruegel and Wyeth and the original Howdy Doody marionette said to be worth $1 million.

Skeptics of such sales argue that relying on one-time asset sales to satisfy an accumulated $18 billion debt is a little like trying to pay the rent with nickels found under the couch cushions.

"A lot of the assets that Detroit has to sell are not liquid assets," said Pulcher. "It's not cash sitting around in the bank."


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on August 26, 2013, 07:38:57 am
Big Cat Has Detroit Area Residents On Alert

Stray dogs are a common sight in Detroit. What about a big cat?
 
According to reports, many residents on the city’s northeast side have seen what appears to be an exotic cat, perhaps as tall as four feet, roaming the streets.
 
Officials with the Michigan Humane Society said they have received several calls about the animal and workers are out in the city, trying to find the feline.
 
Antwaun Asberry, a 6-foot-5 Detroiter, told the Detroit Free Press the cat’s tail is longer than his arm.
 
“I was like, what the (expletive) … I don’t know what it is. I just want it gone,” Asberry said. ”He walked like he ain’t scared of nothing… This thing is out here, bro.”
 
Fourteen-year-old Paul Hatley said the cat, which apparently has large black spots and stripes, stared back at him when he saw it a few days ago.
 
“It wasn’t normal,” he said. “It didn’t run away like a normal cat. It just stared at you. It was scary.”

Just a few hours later a second big cat siting in the Warren area:
 
Cynthia Hogan lives near 13 Mile and Van Dyke she told WWJ that the cat she saw laying down in her neighbors back yard was a long as her 85 pound Doberman

“My dog was barking and I looked – I thought it was a small deer – it had the spots on it, but it’s head didn’t look right and it didn’t have the big ears,” she said. “It was a large cat, it didn’t look like a bobcat – I was able to see if it had the tuffs on its ears and it wasn’t big like a cougar – it wasn’t as meaty as a cougar … I have no idea what this was,” said Hogan.
 
Hogan said that when she and her dog got close to the cat it simply got up and walked toward the Run Run Drain.
 
Officials say they aren’t sure where the cat came from, or if its exotic or domesticated. The Humane Society said if the animal is found, catching and subduing it will be quite the task.
 
Neighborhood association leader Vondell Boyer said he and others are starting to wonder what will happen when the cat runs out of rabbits and other small animals to eat.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/08/24/big-cat-has-detroit-residents-on-alert/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on August 26, 2013, 08:31:13 am
My first thought is the African Serval, but the claim of a long tail doesn't fit. There's a couple others that might fit, but I'm not sure of their sizes. Most are much bigger than a house cat, but smaller than say a Cheetah.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on August 26, 2013, 12:31:50 pm
One time my neighbor was caring for a BIG cat - he was like 2-3 X's the size of a normal cat, but very gentle and domesticated(although not sure if it was this very type of cat that's roaming Detroit now).

Not just Detroit, but ANY city that becomes a desolation like this, even the smaller things will make people fear.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on August 26, 2013, 01:11:40 pm
probably a bobcat


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on August 26, 2013, 03:26:41 pm
The one witness though said it had a real long tail, so no bobcat.

BA, your neighbor may have had a Maine Coon, one of the largest breed of domestic cat in the US. They get BIG!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon)


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on August 26, 2013, 03:32:34 pm
The one witness though said it had a real long tail, so no bobcat.

BA, your neighbor may have had a Maine Coon, one of the largest breed of domestic cat in the US. They get BIG!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Coon)

this site says to have pics.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/25/gigantic-cat-prowls-a-detroit-neighborhood-and-has-residents-more-than-a-little-afraid/

tried posting them and everything got wonky

but the color especially the spots and stripes say bobcat. a thin one no doubt. even the face has that thin bobcat look. It could just have a longer than usual tail.



Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on August 26, 2013, 03:37:05 pm
AHHH, okay!!!

It's a Savannah! I just had forgotten that name, and could only remember the African Serval.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on August 29, 2013, 06:00:59 pm
And somehow Detroit is able to afford a multi-million dollar hockey stadium and THIS... ::)

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/warner-bros-man-steel-sequel-scores-35m-michigan-180139250.html
Warner Bros’ ‘Man Of Steel’ Sequel Scores $35M Michigan Tax Credit For Detroit Shoot
8/29/13

Look out Eminem — Superman and Batman are heading to Detroit. The Michigan Film Office today announced that Warner Bros’ untitled Man Of Steel sequel has been awarded a state incentive of $35 million to film there in early 2014. The office says that the sequel — in which Ben Affleck debuts as Batman and Henry Cavill reprises his Superman role from this year’s blockbuster — is expected to have $131 million worth of in-state expenditures when it films in and around Motor City. The now-bankrupt Detroit will serve as both Metropolis and Gotham in the first feature team-up between the two top DC Comics heroes. “Detroit is a great example of a quintessential American city, and I know it will make the perfect backdrop for our movie,” said director Zack Snyder in a statement Thursday. “Detroit and the entire state of Michigan have been fantastic collaborators and we are looking forward to working together on this film.” The Man Of Steel sequel is set to be released July 17, 2015.

With the state estimating 426 full-time jobs, $5.1 million in hotels and 500 local vendors being use for the film, the Warner Bros production is another big get for the economically ravaged city and state. Disney’s Oz The Great and Powerful was shot at Pontiac’s Michigan Motion Studios and Detroit is standing in for Tokyo in Transformers 4. Once one of the leading production locations in the country after California and New York, Michigan had slipped in recent years over amid the political uncertainty surrounding its film incentives and the lucrative offerings of other states like of Georgia and Louisiana. The first Man of Steel, which has made more than $290 million domestically since its June 14 release, was shot primarily in Vancouver, with additional production in Illinois and California. Part of the move to Michigan for the superhero sequel could be in part because Vancouver saw uncertainty of its own in recent months as the provincial government resisted calls from Hollywood to increase its incentive program. Man Of Steel 2 is expected to shoot in Toronto as well.



Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on August 29, 2013, 06:21:57 pm
Your cities are a financial ruin, and you agree to give some huge profitable movie company a tax break of $35 million?  ::)


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Christian40 on August 31, 2013, 04:53:12 am
Quote
“Detroit is a great example of a quintessential American city, and I know it will make the perfect backdrop for our movie,” said director Zack Snyder in a statement Thursday.

;D


Title: Quinn: I’d Consider Using National Guard, State Police To Help Chicago
Post by: Mark on September 21, 2013, 04:28:49 pm
Quinn: I’d Consider Using National Guard, State Police To Help Chicago

This is dangerous talk, but will become the norm. If they can pull this off they will be able to do this everywhere.

Gov. Pat Quinn says he would consider using state resources to help combat Chicago street violence.

Speaking about this week’s mass shooting in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, Quinn says he’s open to talking with Mayor Emanuel or Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy about supplementing Chicago law enforcement with state police or the Illinois National Guard.

He said he’s had no specific conversations but noted state police are helping patrol in East St. Louis, another city that has its challenges with violent crime.

“I think anyone who saw what happened in Cornell Park the other night was horrified by the violence. I live on the West Side of Chicago. It is an area that has been inflicted with violence, and we’ve got to protect the people,” Quinn told reporters Saturday.

Talk about using state firepower in Chicago isn’t unprecedented. In 2008, then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich suggested using the state police and National Guard to help Chicago police with “out of control” violence.

The comment was widely interpreted as an insult to then-Mayor Richard Daley, with whom Blagojevich was feuding.

Quinn said potential solutions to crime include community efforts to minimize the impact of gangs and early education.

He says he also remains committed to doing something about assault rifles – one is suspected of being used in Thursday’s shooting – and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

The governor spoke in the Little Village neighborhood Saturday morning at the reopening of a credit union.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/09/21/quinn-id-consider-using-national-guard-state-police-to-help-chicago/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on September 22, 2013, 05:13:07 am
Quote
Talk about using state firepower in Chicago isn’t unprecedented.

Uh, it sure isn't! It's talked about in the US Constitution. It's called the "militia".

The state governor is suppose to manage these things in-state. This kind of thing is in part exactly what the state militia is for.

Unfortunately, the federal government considers the "National Guard" as the militia! Which right on the surface is a contradiction in terms using the word "national"! There is no national militia. Federally, that is what you call the "standing army" or "organized militia".

Natural disasters, sure, the Guard can help out. Leave your weapons back at home. The only other way they can legally be involved in any kind of "police action" is by, you guessed it, martial law. I do not believe they can even be involved by "providing material support". Sorry, just don't see it in the Constitution.

The whole point of the "unorganized militia" under the command of each state's governors, is primarily to protect against federal government tyranny.

It's obvious the "founders" knew what they were talking about, seeing the actions of the federal government these days, in their rabid attempt to restrict gun ownership among citizens, and to take command of the National Guard under the standing army, and their out of control militarization of civilian police forces with "federal funds" and their little legal move they call a "joint task force" with "local authorities".


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on September 26, 2013, 05:16:57 pm
Police: Body parts found in suburban Detroit sewer

Authorities say body parts have been found in a sewer in suburban Detroit for the third time in just over a year.

Sterling Heights police say the remains were found Wednesday by workers making repairs.

A statement from police says there's a strong possibility the parts are medical waste that was improperly put into the sewer.

The Detroit News reports three pieces each measure 2-by-2 inches. The Detroit Free Press reports the Macomb County medical examiner's office says DNA samples will be submitted for additional testing.

Officials have said partial remains found in August 2012 in a sewer in Sterling Heights came from a woman, but not the same woman whose body parts were discovered in December 2012 in a sewer line in the nearby community of Warren.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/police-body-parts-found-suburban-detroit-sewer


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on September 27, 2013, 08:20:29 am
White House Details Obama’s $300M Plan To Help Detroit

Ahead of a Friday meeting in Detroit with several members of the Obama administration, the White House is detailing their plan to support the city in wake of its Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing.
 
The administration said their focus is on collaborating with city leaders and local partners to align existing federal resources to effectively support local priorities.
 
While an exhaustive federal bailout isn’t on the table, the White House wants Detroit to take advantage of existing programs to rebuild and right itself financially. The Sept. 27 meeting is part of ongoing discussions between city leaders and Presidential cabinet members concerning the Detroit’s financial troubles.
 
The Administration is committing to the following, in partnership with the state, city, philanthropic and private sector:
 
Unlocking and Attracting Nearly $150 Million for the Effective, Coordinated Demolition of Blighted Properties, Neighborhood Revitalization and Redevelopment in Detroit.
 Unlocking $65 million in Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) funds for blight eradication, housing rehabilitation, and other community revitalization efforts through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in partnership with the city.
 Demonstrating a public private partnership by providing Detroit with $25.4 million for commercial building demolition from the city, state and HUD, as well as business and philanthropic partners. The investments include:
 – $5 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP-3) funding from HUD and the city;
 – $5.4 million of repurposed CDBG funding from HUD and the city;
 – $5 million in program income from NSP-2 from the State of Michigan;
 – $10 million through the fundraising efforts of philanthropic and business organizations.
 Ensuring efficient and green utilization of the recently announced $52 million Hardest Hit Fund allocation for blight elimination through assistance from the Department of the Treasury and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including the release of a “toolkit” for safe demolition.
 Providing Detroit with $10.18 million for affordable housing from HUD.
 Awarding $1.1 million for environmental assessments and cleanup of brownfield sites from EPA.
 Expanding access to a tax lien assistance program that has helped more than 1,600 families and counting avoid foreclosure through a partnership of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and Treasury Department.
 
In addition to the $10 million in private funds for commercial demolition, other contributions to neighborhood revitalization from the philanthropic and business communities include:


 Giving $1.5 million in operating support to the Detroit Land Bank Authority between 2014 and 2018 through an ongoing commitment by the Ford Foundation.
 Awarding $1 million to Invest Detroit for the acquisition and pre-development of residential properties including a new project on the East Riverfront, through the Ford Foundation, in addition to the ongoing support by the Kresge Foundation for the East Riverfront.
 Putting $500,000 toward blight removal in Detroit neighborhoods and a $100,000 investment in a “blight text” technology that allows residents to participate in identifying and addressing blight by the Skillman Foundation.
 
Awarding and Expediting $30 Million to Improve Public Safety, Reduce Crime, and Decrease Emergency Response Time.
 Awarding $3 million in Justice Department funds for hiring new police officers, establishing a bike patrol, supporting prisoner re-entry programs, and supporting youth anti-violence programs.
 Convening police chiefs from across the nation to bring best practices and innovation to the Detroit Police Department.
 Expediting access to $25 million in FEMA funding that will enable the hiring of 150 firefighters and purchasing of equipment to prevent and detect arson.
 Working with the State of Michigan and local leaders, supporting 71 Detroit AmeriCorps members to empower youth, create economic development, and improve public safety.
 Supporting Detroit’s street lighting system through a technical partnership between the Department of Energy, Detroit’s Public Lighting Authority, and DTE Energy.
 
These public investments complement contributions from the philanthropic and business communities, including but not limited to:
 Providing $1.35 million in the next six months to improve safety in neighborhoods and to build a community policing model alongside Detroit Police Department and neighborhood groups by the Skillman Foundation.
 Improving the police department’s CompStat system and ensuring safe pathways to school for kids, as well as other public safety efforts, through a $300,000 investment from the Skillman Foundation and a $300,000 investment from the Kresge Foundation.
 
Deploying Nearly $140 Million in Federal Funds for Improving Transportation Systems for City and Regional Residents.
 Ensuring access to more than $100 million in transit grants from the Department of Transportation (DOT), including immediately releasing $24 million of funding to repair and rehabilitate buses and to install security cameras to protect passengers and drivers.
 Unlocking a $25 million TIGER grant and reaffirming the Department’s commitment to the M1 RAIL/Woodward Ave Streetcar project, a key priority for Detroit’s leaders, that will now help leverage more than $100 million in outside private and philanthropic investment.
 Providing $6.4 million in DOT funding to the newly created Regional Transit Authority (RTA) to help implement a much-needed regional bus rapid transit (BRT) system.
 Attracting potential investors through a New Market Tax Credit convening, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
 
These public investments complement contributions from the philanthropic and business communities, including but not limited to:
 Providing up to $300,000 toward designing a high-performing transportation system serving Detroit residents in line with the recommendations of the Detroit Future City strategic framework plan, from the Kresge Foundation.
 Awarding $3 million to support property acquisition and pre-development for Transit-Oriented Development on the Woodward Corridor to support the M1 RAIL through Ford Foundation, in conjunction with the $30.25 million revolving loan fund for mixed-use housing development announced by the Kresge Foundation and other partners last week.
 
Helping to Create a 21st Century Detroit.
 Deploying a ‘Tech Team’ of leading City Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) to bring innovation to Detroit’s city services through the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
 Connecting small businesses with millions of dollars of business from national customers through the Small Business Administration’s American Supplier Initiative Matchmaker Event.
 Ongoing engagement with and support for Detroit through additional Federal resources and future meetings with the Secretaries of the Departments of Education and Labor, the U.S. Chief Technology Officer, and other senior Obama Administration officials.
 
These public investments complement contributions from the philanthropic and business communities, including but not limited to:
 Providing $15 million to cultivate Detroit entrepreneurs and small businesses through continued funding for the New Economy Initiative from the Ford, Kresge, and Knight foundations.
 Providing $250,000 to foster the advancement of early stage retail and creative businesses in Detroit through support of the Detroit Development Fund from Knight Foundation.
 Providing $500,000 to help implement the Tech Team’s recommendations to improve Detroit city services by bringing in innovation fellows, making needed upgrades, and supporting local tech training and mentoring, through the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Rock Ventures.
 Delivering up to $1 million to upgrade the city’s grants management system from Ford Foundation.
 Awarding $250,000 to fund fifty $5,000 capacity grants subsidizing the enhanced training of public sector and nonprofit employees advancing Detroit’s future from Knight Foundation.
 Committing to fund future classes of “Revitalization Fellows,” 25-30 mid-career professionals sent to city government and nonprofit sector partners, for at least two more rounds, a combined $5 million commitment from the Ford Foundation and Kresge Foundation.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/09/27/white-house-details-obamas-plan-to-help-detroit/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on September 27, 2013, 11:29:49 am
Federal takeover...


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on September 27, 2013, 02:19:50 pm
Maybe take over by proxy, or I should say, financial bribes through "federal funding" of state expenses.

Notice how much of that "funding" is direct at just operational expenses and "studies", which is what happens when you have a bunch of different "agencies" involved. They all want their cut of the federal pie. And as expected, part of their methods is through "partnerships" with private companies. Notice how a bunch of that money is going towards what is obviously redevelopment of business areas with shiny new shops and offices on the water front. In the end, these deals end up being one big land grab. It makes sense at times to just level a place and start over, sure, but that call is still that of the land owner.

Now if the private property is not being claimed and truly is legally abandoned, I think it should be put on the open market, and not taken by government. Let a private sale pay any back taxes, and charge the previous owners the other added costs to it being left unclaimed. Public funds should never be used to pay for the costs, especially when many of those structures are bank foreclosures that the lenders have abandoned themselves. The mortgage servicers who lay claim to ownership of a property they claim the right to foreclose on should be held financially accountable for all those foreclosures out there. They need to clean their mess up, out of their own pocket, or I suspect massive fines, at least, would be in order.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on September 27, 2013, 02:35:12 pm
Apparently, this is part of UN's Agenda 21.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on October 21, 2013, 03:46:04 am
12 Shocking Clues About What America Will Look Like When The Next Great Economic Crisis Strikes

The collapse of American society is accelerating.  For the moment, much of our social decay is being masked by the tremendous level of affluence that we are experiencing.  It has been reported that 4 out of every 5 adults in the United States "struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives", but in general Americans still enjoy a debt-fueled standard of living that is far beyond what most of the rest of the world enjoys.  When that debt-fueled standard of living permanently disappears, it is going to unleash chaos unlike anything that America has ever seen before.  Right now, economic conditions in this country are not anywhere close to where they were before 2008, but this is just the beginning.  We are in the midst of an ongoing economic collapse which is going to get much, much worse in the years ahead.  When the next major wave of the economic crisis strikes, millions of people are going to become extremely desperate.  And desperate people do desperate things.  We are already starting to see this play out all over the nation, but this is only a preview of coming attractions.  What we are going to witness in future years is going to be almost too horrible for words.

So how can I be so sure that this is going to happen?  After all, the United States didn't descend into complete and utter chaos during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  Wouldn't an economic depression unfold in a similar manner today?

Unfortunately, a lot has changed since then.  A lot more Americans were self-sufficient back in those days, and the truth is that the character of our nation has been rotting and decaying for decades.  In a previous article, I described it this way...

    "We are simply not the same country that we used to be.  Americans are proud, selfish, greedy, arrogant, ungrateful, treacherous and completely addicted to entertainment and pleasure.  Our country is literally falling apart all around us, but most Americans are so plugged into entertainment that they can't even be bothered to notice what is happening."

Just last weekend, there were "mini-riots" in several U.S. states when "technical issues" caused the food stamp system to go haywire for a few hours.

What would have happened if there had been an extended outage or if the political crisis in D.C. had caused food stamps to be completely cut off at some point in November?

Let's be thankful that we did not have to find out.

But even though major food stamps riots may have been averted (at least for now), there are a whole host of other signs that America is going to become a very unstable place during the next major economic downturn.  The following are 12 shocking clues about what America will look like when the next great economic crisis strikes...

#1 Would you continue to work as a bus driver if you were stabbed while driving or if a passenger poured urine all over you?  Just check out what has been going on in Detroit lately...

    After two drivers were recently stabbed and another had urine poured on her by an angry rider, union officials representing bus drivers for the city of Detroit are set to protest in front of city hall at 10 a.m. on Monday.

#2 We are starting to see a lot of "group crimes" happen all over America.  For example, just the other day in Brooklyn, New York a gang of 10 young thugs dragged a young couple out of their vehicle and brutally beat them...

    Ronald Russo was dragged to the ground. Then he was punched and kicked in the head. He felt more blows all over his body, investigators said. He suffered a fractured nose, a broken septum, a blood clot and abrasions to his shoulder. He was treated and released from Beth Israel Medical Center.

    In the midst of the attack, there was a steady chorus of epithets. “White motherf-----!” screamed the attackers, who ranged in age from 12 to 18.
    Alanna Russo, 30, was calling 911 when the 12-year-old girl pulled the woman’s hair and threw her to the ground. The victim’s head slammed into the concrete. She suffered a black eye, bleeding and difficulty breathing, prosecutors said, but she refused medical attention.

#3 A lot of people assume that they are perfectly safe inside their own vehicles but that is not the case at all.  A story in the New York Post about a gang of bikers that ruthlessly hunted down a young family that was driving an SUV made national headlines a few weeks ago...

    A gang of bikers terrorized a dad driving with his wife and baby daughter on the West Side Highway — chasing after their SUV and then dragging the man out and beating him to a pulp in front of his horrified family, authorities said.

When the bikers caught up with this family they showed the father of the baby daughter absolutely no mercy...

    One biker can be seen on the video ripping off his helmet and using it to bash in Lien’s driver’s-side window.

    The crew pummeled Lien on the pavement in front of his wife, Rosalyn Ng, and their 2-year-old daughter, police sources said.

    Lien, who also was slashed during the melee, was rushed to Columbia University Medical Center. He needed stitches to his face and chest and had two black eyes.

#4 We are living at a time when hearts are becoming very cold.  Some Americans are becoming so desperate for money that they will do almost anything to get it.  In fact, one couple in Tennessee has actually been charged with selling their four daughters for use in sex films...

    An East Tennessee couple is facing a list of charges, accused of selling their children to take part in sex films.

    Connie Sue McCall, 40, and her husband, Ronnie Lee McCall, 61, of Johnson City have been charged by a federal grand jury.

    Paperwork shows the couple was selling their four daughters.

    Prosecutors say the four girls were between the ages of 5 and 16 when this happened.

Could you imagine such a thing happening in your neighborhood?

Perhaps it is happening, but you just don't know that it is going on.

#5 And it is not only older people that are having their hearts grow cold.  It is happening to young people too.  Last week, a 17-year-old girl was caught carrying around a dead baby (which she probably gave birth to) in a shopping bag in a Victoria's Secret store right in the heart of Manhattan...

    The dead baby found in the teen’s shopping bag at a Victoria’s Secret store in Manhattan was born alive and then asphyxiated, police said Friday, as the macabre discovery turned toward a possible homicide case.

    Police believe 17-year-old Tiana Rodriguez gave birth to the baby at a friend’s house and that the infant was later asphyxiated. However, the city medical examiner’s office said an autopsy was inconclusive, and more tests were needed.

Who does something like that?

#6 Sadly, a lot of mothers appear to be losing the natural affection that they should have for their children.  Just check out another incident that happened in New York City recently...

    So much for no child left behind.

    A stroller-toting mom who used her 1-year-old son as cover during a massive candy shoplifting spree at a downtown Duane Reade used the tot's pram as a battering ram when workers confronted her — and then ran away without the baby, the NYPD said.

#7 One of the clearest signs that American society is decaying is the fact that groups of kids are banding together and agreeing to commit absolutely horrible crimes.  We have seen this with the "flash mob" robberies that are plaguing many cities, but what is even worse is when groups of kids band together to commit violent acts.  In Pennsylvania recently, a group of teens cheered on attackers as they beat up a 15-year-old girl...

    Speaking exclusively to CBS 3, a 15-year-old high school student, whose identity we are concealing, described a terrifying attack by a gang of at least nine teenage boys as she was leaving an Interboro High School football game Monday night.

    The teenage victim described first being taunted by the attackers, who followed her down a neighborhood street, cursing and spitting at her, before she was repeatedly kicked and punched, suffering at least one blow to her head.

The attackers even tried to throw her in front of a passing vehicle and nobody tried to stop them...

    The victim says as at least two of the teenagers pummeled her, the others cheered them on shouting, “Come on, let’s get her!” At one point, the victim says, the gang tried to throw her under the wheels of a passing car, which swerved, narrowly missing her.

What is happening to this country?

#8 We have also been hearing about a lot of "gang rapes" lately as well.  The following is an excerpt from a first-hand account from a 14-year-old girl in Missouri that experienced this type of horrible ordeal...

    About five shots tall, I drank it. I guess I didn't know how badly it would mess me up. But the boys who gave it to me did.

    Then it was like I fell into a dark abyss. No light anywhere. Just dark, dense silence -- and cold. That's all I could ever remember from that night. Apparently, I was there for not even an entire hour before they discarded me in the snow.

You can read the rest of her sobering story right here.

Are you starting to understand why I am so convinced that we have a major problem with our young men in America today?

Instead of raising young gentlemen, we are raising wild animals that seem to have very little self-control.

#9 And sometimes the public does not do anything to stop sexual assaults even when they happen on public streets.  In a recent incident in Athens, Ohio, not only did the public not stop a sexual assault, many actually took photos of the assault and posted them on social media websites...

    Horrific photos of an alleged **** in progress have been shared on social media after crowds at a college homecoming celebration chose to take pictures and videos of the sex act rather than stopping it.

Would such a thing have happened in our country 50 years ago?

Of course not.

We need to come to grips with how far we have fallen.

#10 In America today, young kids can beat a homeless man to death and it barely even makes a blip on the news.  I'll bet hardly any of you have heard about what happened recently to a homeless man in New Jersey...

    Three teenagers were in custody Saturday morning, on charges of beating a homeless man to his death in Hoboken, N.J.

    As CBS 2’s Janelle Burrell reported, Hudson County Acting Prosecutor Gaetano T. Gregory said two 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old were charged in the Sept. 10 death of Ralph Eric Santiago, 46.

What would cause 13-year-olds and 14-year-olds to behave so savagely?

Could it be because we are raising them in a society where basic morality is not taught any longer?

#11 Our young people certainly do not have much respect for the very elderly anymore either.  Instead, the elderly are looked at as "weak" and "easy prey".  Just check out what recently happened to a 70-year-old man in upstate New York...

    A 70-year-old man was seriously injured early Saturday morning after being attacked outside of a 7-Eleven in Syracuse.

    Police say James Gifford had just left the store at the intersection of Valley Drive and South Street just after 6:00 a.m. and was attacked by a group of five or six black males, according to Syracuse Police.

    Police also said this appears to be an unprovoked incident with an innocent victim.

#12 In this day and age, it is very hard to tell who you can trust.  You might meet someone on the street and they might smile and seem very nice, but inside they may be full of all kinds of garbage.  For example, just check out what one man in the Boston area planned to do…

    A Boston-area man, who was planning to kidnap children, lock them in a basement dungeon, **** and eat them, should be imprisoned for at least 27 years, federal authorities said in court documents filed this week.

    Geoffrey Portway pleaded guilty in May to distribution and possession of child pornography and solicitation to commit a crime of violence, according to court documents. He is scheduled to be sentenced on September 17.

    “Portway has pled guilty to some of the most vile and heinous crimes known to our society,” federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing recommendation.

This is how twisted and perverted our society has become.

A lot of Americans believe that if we could just elect "the right politicians" or if we could just change our economic system or if we could just fix one particular issue that everything would be right in America again.

Unfortunately, what we are facing is not so simple.  Our problems are not just in Washington D.C. or on Wall Street.  The truth is that our biggest problem is what is going on inside of us.

America is rotting and decaying on the inside, and the next great economic crisis is going to reveal just how bad things have gotten.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/12-shocking-clues-about-what-america-will-look-like-when-the-next-great-economic-crisis-strikes


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on October 26, 2013, 07:08:11 am
Crime Is Getting Worse: Violent Crime In America Increased By 15 Percent Last Year

If your neighborhood is not as safe as it used to be, then you have something in common with the rest of the country.  All over America, crime is on the rise.  According to a government survey that was just released, violent crime in the United States increased by 15 percent last year, and property crime was up by 12 percent.  If violent crime keeps increasing at this rate, it will approximately double in just six years.  But as I wrote about the other day, when the next major economic downturn strikes it will probably greatly accelerate the growth of the crime rate in this country.  Desperate people do desperate things, and as you will read about below, there are people out there that are already stealing entire truckloads of food.  In the future, when people are extremely hungry or crazy for their next drug hit, they won't think twice about invading your home or pulling you out of your vehicle.  The rise in crime that we are witnessing right now is just the beginning.  It is going to get a lot worse than this.
 
Whenever I do this type of an article, inevitably someone leaves a comment insisting that I am lying because crime rates are going down.
 
Well, that used to be true.  It is no longer accurate.
 
As an ABC News article that was just released explains, the crime victimization survey shows that violent crime in America has now increased for two years in a row...
 

The violent crime rate went up 15 percent last year, and the property crime rate rose 12 percent, the government said Thursday, signs that the nation may be seeing the last of the substantial declines in crime of the past two decades.
 
Last year marked the second year in a row for increases in the crime victimization survey, a report that is based on household interviews.
 
This is one of the primary reasons why so many people are moving out of the big cities right now.  In the city of Chicago, police are so overwhelmed with crime that they will no longer respond in person "to 911 calls reporting vehicle theft, garage burglary or simple assault".
 
Things have gotten so bad in Chicago that a 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted as she was walking to a bus stop this week and it barely made a blip on the news.
 
But we have come to expect this kind of thing in crime-infested cities such as Chicago.  We don't expect it to happen in "quiet communities" such as Augusta, Georgia...
 

"When we first moved out here three and a half years ago, my wife and I, it was a quiet community, it was a deal that we felt we couldn't pass up on," Don McIntee says.
 
McIntee lives in the Butler Creek Mobile Home Community, but he's trying to change that. He recently put his home up for sale because he says the crime in his neighborhood is too much to deal with.
 
"I want to live in a place that I feel is secure and safe for my wife because I'm out of town a lot," he says.
 
And it seems like criminals are becoming more brutal than ever.  For example, one thug actually put his gun into the mouth of a 92-year-old World War II veteran in Fresno, California and threatened to kill him during one recent home invasion...
 

"I was sound asleep at about one or two o'clock in the morning, all the lights were on and a guy shook me with a gun in my face. (I said) Hey what's going on? (He said) Shut up and he slapped me," he explained.
 
While the suspect held him at gunpoint, three others ransacked his house, taking about 200 dollars in cash and jewelry including his 1941 class ring from Woodlake High School in Tulare County.
 
"They were in there for almost a half hour," said Fresno County Sheriff Department spokesperson Chris Curtice. "So they had plenty of time to search the house, it was the middle of the night."
 
At one point, Joseph said one of the suspects put a gun in his mouth and threatened to kill him. While being ordered into the bedroom closet, he said he hit him in the head with a handgun, causing him to fall to the floor.
 
Was there any need for that?  That 92-year-old man was certainly no threat to the four home invaders.
 
But this is what is happening all over the nation now.  Criminals appear to be getting crazier and crazier.
 
In Houston recently, one team of home invaders decided to storm a house at 8 AM in the morning while people all along the street were leaving their homes to go to work and to school...
 

It was about 8am -- daylight, with people going to work and kids going to school, yet no one apparently saw this coming. The homeowner told me four men, armed with guns, broke in through her garage and forced their way inside her house.
 
The woman's daughter and son-in-law were in the home with her, along with two of their daughters, ages four and six. The homeowner says the gunmen pointed guns at all of them -- even the children -- and demanded money over and over. They ransacked the house and the cars- and eventually got away with some cash, at least one cell phone and the homeowner's wallet.
 
Who robs a house at 8 AM in the morning?
 
That is either incredibly bold or incredibly stupid.
 
In my article yesterday, I included another example of a crime which is either incredibly bold or incredibly stupid.  One very enterprising carjacker actually decided to try to carjack the police chief of Detroit while he was sitting in a clearly marked police vehicle...
 

Just four months on the job, Detroit’s new police chief got an early taste of the city’s hardscrabble streets.
 
While in his patrol car at an intersection on Jefferson two weeks ago, Police Chief James Craig was nearly carjacked, police spokeswoman Kelly Miner confirmed today.
 
Craig said he was in a marked police car with mounted lights when a man quickly tried to approach the side of his car. Craig, who became police chief in June, retold the story Monday during a program designed to crack down on carjackings.
 
So what is going on here?
 
Are criminals becoming bolder or are they just becoming stupider?
 
I don't have an answer for that question, but one thing seems certain - crime is definitely getting worse.
 
As I mentioned at the top of this article, some criminals are now actually stealing entire truckloads of food.  A recent CBS News article explained how they are doing this...
 

To steal huge shipments of valuable cargo, thieves are turning to a deceptively simple tactic: They pose as truckers, load the freight onto their own tractor-trailers and drive away with it.
 
It’s an increasingly common form of commercial identity theft that has allowed con men to make off each year with millions of dollars in merchandise, often food and beverages. And experts say the practice is growing so rapidly that it will soon become the most common way to steal freight.
 
And what we are talking about is not just a few isolated incidents.  This is literally happening from coast to coast and the dollar values of some of these thefts are staggering...
 

News reports from across the country recount just a few of the thefts: 80,000 pounds of walnuts worth $300,000 in California, $200,000 of Muenster cheese in Wisconsin, rib-eye steaks valued at $82,000 in Texas, $25,000 pounds of king crab worth $400,000 in California.
 
As economic conditions continue to deteriorate, I actually expect that we will start seeing armed guards on food trucks in a few years.
 
Desperate people do desperate things, and as food prices continue to rise I believe that food trucks will become highly prized targets.
 
America is rapidly changing, and not for the better.
 
So what are things like in your area of the country?
 
Are you noticing an increase in crime?

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/crime-is-getting-worse-violent-crime-in-america-increased-by-15-percent-last-year


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on November 04, 2013, 07:28:35 am
Tide Thefts, Cargo Hijacking And Cattle Rustling: Why Is An Epidemic Of Thievery Sweeping America?

Desperate people do desperate things, and it appears that Americans are rapidly becoming a lot more desperate.  An epidemic of thievery is sweeping across America, and authorities are not quite sure what to make of it.  Down in Texas, cattle thieves can get up to $1,500 per head of cattle, and cattle rustling was up nearly 40 percent last year.  As you will read about below, cargo hijacking is becoming much more sophisticated, and it is being estimated that losses from cargo thefts will total about $216 million this year alone.  And for some reason, Tide laundry detergent has become a very hot commodity among common criminals all across America.  In fact, it is being reported that some grocery stores are "losing $10,000 to $15,000 a month" as a result of Tide thefts.  So why is all of this happening?  Well, as I have written about previously, crime is on the rise in the United States, and poverty is absolutely exploding.  In fact, according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, 49.2 percent of all Americans are receiving benefits from at least one government program each month.  Over the past five years, we have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of people that cannot take care of themselves without help from the government.  Millions upon millions of Americans that have been forced into poverty are becoming increasingly angry, frustrated and desperate.  And what we are watching right now is only just the beginning - all of this is going to get a whole lot worse.
 
When people think of the "social decay" that is happening to America, most of the time Texas and Oklahoma would not be the first places that come to mind.  But according to NPR, there was nearly a 40 percent rise in the theft of cows and horses down in that area of the country last year...
 

Ranchers saw a sharp jump in cattle rustling last year in Texas and Oklahoma. Over 10,000 cows and horses were reported missing or stolen. That’s an almost 40 percent increase from the year before. It’s a trend that’s surprised some in law enforcement.
 
And this is happening even though the penalties for cattle rustling have gotten much stronger...
 

Penalties against rustlers were toughened by Texas lawmakers in 2009. Now, the crime could put you in prison for up to 10 years. But ironically more and more cattle have gone missing or stolen since that law was passed.
 
Another trend that is baffling law enforcement authorities is the huge wave of cargo hijackings that they have been seeing.  According to a recent CBS News article, cargo thefts are becoming a lot more elaborate these days...
 

To steal huge shipments of valuable cargo, thieves are turning to a deceptively simple tactic: They pose as truckers, load the freight onto their own tractor-trailers and drive away with it.
 
It’s an increasingly common form of commercial identity theft that has allowed con men to make off each year with millions of dollars in merchandise, often food and beverages. And experts say the practice is growing so rapidly that it will soon become the most common way to steal freight.
 
You may not think that stealing truckloads of walnuts or cheese is a big deal, but the truth is that the dollar values of some of these thefts are absolutely staggering...
 

News reports from across the country recount just a few of the thefts: 80,000 pounds of walnuts worth $300,000 in California, $200,000 of Muenster cheese in Wisconsin, rib-eye steaks valued at $82,000 in Texas, $25,000 pounds of king crab worth $400,000 in California.
 
And this is not just happening in a few isolated locations.  We are literally seeing an epidemic of cargo theft that stretches from coast to coast...
 

Although cargo thieves prey on companies across the nation, the hot spots are places with shipping ports or rail hubs. California leads the nation. Large numbers of thefts have also been reported in Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
 
Perhaps most fascinating of all is the wave of Tide thefts that is sweeping the nation.  The following is an excerpt from a New York Magazine article from earlier this year...
 

The call that came in from a local Safeway one day in March 2011 was unlike any the Organized Retail Crime Unit of the Prince George’s County Police Department had fielded before. The grocery store, located in suburban Bowie, Maryland, had been robbed repeatedly. But in every incident the only products taken were bottles—many, many bottles—of the liquid laundry detergent Tide. “They were losing $10,000 to $15,000 a month, with people just taking it off the shelves,” recalls Sergeant Aubrey Thompson, who heads the team. When Thompson and his officers arrived to investigate, they stumbled onto another apparent Tide theft in progress and busted two men who’d piled 100 or so of the bright-orange jugs into their Honda. The next day, Thompson returned to the store’s parking lot to tape a television interview about the crimes. A different robber took advantage of the distraction to make off with twenty more bottles.
 
So why are criminals so interested in Tide detergent?
 
Well, apparently it is heavily used as currency in the drug trade...
 

Southern California authorities say it’s a dirty business and a bizarre trend – drug users trading Tide detergent for crack.
 
The Riverside Press-Enterprise says it’s a nationwide problem – people are stealing the popular but expensive detergent and trading it for marijuana and crack ****.
 
San Bernardino police Sgt. Travis Walker says detectives raiding dope houses in recent years were puzzled when they found lots of Tide. Turns out it wasn’t being used to make drugs but to buy them.
 
We live at a time when an increasing number of Americans will do just about anything for money.
 
Down in Florida, one mother was so desperate for money that she was actually prostituting her three teenage daughters.  Two of them were under the age of 18...
 

A St. Cloud mother was picked up Thursday on charges of serving as her three teenage daughters' madam in a West U.S. Highway 192 prostitution ring, according to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office.
 
At 2:30 p.m., Paula Howard flagged down an undercover detective acting as a "John" in front of a bus stop and arranged for him to have sex with one of her girls, ages 16, 17, and 18, an arrest record states.
 
The daughter agreed to perform the act for $20 and hopped into the car, telling the detective, "Oh yea. That's my family, but don't even worry about it. They know what I do," the report states.
 
But haven't you heard?
 
Everything is just fine in America.  Barack Obama and the mainstream media keep telling us that over and over, so it must be true.
 
Right?
 
I think that we got a glimpse into the true condition of America last month when a "technical glitch" caused the system that processes food stamp card payments to malfunction for a couple of hours.  A Time Magazine article described what happened at one Wal-Mart in Louisiana...
 

Customers cleared shelves and police were called in to control crowds taking advantage of suddenly unlimited spending allowed on their Electronic Benefits Transfer cards, which are issued to recipients of government food stamps. Spending limits on the cards were reportedly disabled for about two hours.
 
When a store in Springhill, La., announced over the loudspeaker that the glitch was fixed, shoppers simply abandoned loaded carts, according to Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd.
 
And similar "mini-riots" happened in a bunch of other locations as well.
 
For example, customers at one Wal-Mart in Mississippi just started taking groceries out of the store that they hadn't paid for when their food stamp cards were not accepted...
 

Customers staged a disturbance then walked out of a Mississippi Walmart store with groceries that hadn’t been paid for Saturday night after a computer glitch left them unable to use their food stamp cards.
 
People in 17 states found themselves unable to buy groceries with their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cards after a routine check by vendor Xerox Corp. resulted in a temporary system failure.
 
Shortly after the mini-riot, managers decided to temporarily close the store, citing customer safety.
 
Keep in mind that all of this was caused by a "technical glitch" that only lasted for a few hours.
 
What would happen if there was a problem that lasted for much longer?
 
That is a sobering thing to think about.
 
And as I wrote about recently, all 47 million Americans on food stamps just had their benefits reduced on November 1st.  This is causing food banks all across the country to brace for a huge influx of needy people...
 

Food banks across the country, stretched thin in the aftermath of the recession, are bracing for more people coming through their doors in the wake of cuts to the federal food stamp program.
 
Food stamp benefits to 47 million Americans were cut starting Friday as a temporary boost to the federal program comes to an end without new funding from a deadlocked Congress.
 
Under the program, known formally as the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, or SNAP, a family of four that gets $668 per month in benefits will find that amount cut by $36.
 
In fact, the president of the Food Bank for New York City says that members of her organization "are panicking"...
 

As president of the Food Bank for New York City, Margaret Purvis expects those cuts will draw even more people to organizations that already provide 400,000 meals a day to hungry city folks.
 
"Our members are panicking," she said as time wound down before the benefit decreases go into effect. "We're telling everyone to make sure that you are prepared for longer lines."
 
Purvis also told Salon.com that "when people cannot afford to eat food" it has the potential to start "riots"...
 

“If you look across the world, riots always begin typically the same way: when people cannot afford to eat food,” Margarette Purvis, the president and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City, told Salon Monday. Purvis said that the looming cut would mean about 76 million meals “that will no longer be on the plates of the poorest families” in NYC alone – a figure that outstrips the total number of meals distributed each year by the Food Bank for New York City, the largest food bank in the country. “There will be an immediate impact,” she said.
 
So will we see riots as a result of these food stamp cuts?
 
No, I do not believe that we will see riots yet.
 
But the volcano of anger, frustration and desperation that is simmering just below the surface of this country continues to get hotter.
 
Someday it will explode.
 
What will you do when that happens?

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/tide-thefts-cargo-hijacking-and-cattle-rustling-why-is-an-epidemic-of-thievery-sweeping-america


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on November 08, 2013, 12:05:09 am
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/07/justice/detroit-barbershop-shooting/
11/7/13
Shooting at Detroit barbershop kills 3

(CNN) -- Three men were killed and nine wounded in Detroit on Wednesday when a man fired a high-powered rifle into the back room of a barbershop where 20 to 30 men were gambling, police said Thursday.

Authorities were questioning a "person of interest" taken into custody while wearing body armor. The man, a convicted felon, has not been charged in the slayings, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said at a news conference.

The shooting apparently stemmed from "an ongoing feud between a particular individual and members of the gambling party," Craig said.

Word of the killings first spread on Twitter.

**There goes social media again!

Craig said a man inside an automobile fired at another vehicle outside the business on the east side of Detroit. The shooter got out of his car and fired the rifle into the back room of the barbershop, where men had gathered to ****, he said.

At least one man in the room had a weapon and fired back. The men tried to flee to the front of the barbershop, but the door opened inward, slowing their escape, Craig said.

Detroit long has endured gun violence, but the barbershop shooting "certainly rises up as one of Detroit's more violent incidents," Craig said.

Nevertheless, overall violent crime is down about 6%, he said.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on November 08, 2013, 09:17:50 pm
Video: Flash Mobs Robbing Stores
11/8/13
http://news.yahoo.com/video/flash-mobs-robbing-stores-234938293.html

An epidemic of groups of thieves going into stores and running out with unpaid merchandise.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on November 09, 2013, 02:43:48 am
Quote
Detroit long has endured gun violence, but the barbershop shooting "certainly rises up as one of Detroit's more violent incidents," Craig said.

Not even close! Common stuff for Detroit, considering it's history of organized crime.

And "Flash Mobs", now that's a problem that I think shows just how the public's attitudes have gone south. Many simply don't care anymore, and only look out for themselves because they are mad the government is not taking care of them. And seeing the government is collapsing, the criminals are getting bolder, knowing there's a less and less chance cops will even show up to a crime scene.

It's one phase in the decent into anarchy.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on November 09, 2013, 06:38:24 am
#3 A lot of people assume that they are perfectly safe inside their own vehicles but that is not the case at all.  A story in the New York Post about a gang of bikers that ruthlessly hunted down a young family that was driving an SUV made national headlines a few weeks ago...

    A gang of bikers terrorized a dad driving with his wife and baby daughter on the West Side Highway — chasing after their SUV and then dragging the man out and beating him to a pulp in front of his horrified family, authorities said.

When the bikers caught up with this family they showed the father of the baby daughter absolutely no mercy...

    One biker can be seen on the video ripping off his helmet and using it to bash in Lien’s driver’s-side window.

    The crew pummeled Lien on the pavement in front of his wife, Rosalyn Ng, and their 2-year-old daughter, police sources said.

    Lien, who also was slashed during the melee, was rushed to Columbia University Medical Center. He needed stitches to his face and chest and had two black eyes.

Jury indicts 11 bikers in highway attack

•On Friday, a grand jury indicted 11 bikers, including an undercover NYPD officer
•Police say the incident happened after a group of bikers surrounded a SUV


Nearly two months after a biker-SUV clash went viral online,  11 bikers--including a NYPD detective—have been indicted in connection to the attack.

The group of bikers surrounded Alexian Lien's Range Rover on September 29. Lien initially bumped a biker who slowed down in front of him. When he stopped, the bikers attacked Lien. Police say he was dragged out of the SUV and beaten.

Off-duty police detective Wojceich Braszczok, was formally charged with gang assault, criminal mischief, and other charges in Friday's 14-count indictment. He reportedly saw most of the confrontation that ended with five people hurt. Prosecutors say Braszczok can be seen in the video kicking and using his fist to bash in Lien's rear window. A source says he didn't immediately tell his superiors about what happened.

Lien was reportedly on his way back from celebrating his wedding anniversary with his wife and their young daughter. He has not been charged.

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/11/09/jury-indicts-11-bikers-highway-attack


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on November 11, 2013, 08:57:45 am
82-Year-Old Man Stops to Help Broken-Down Motorists, but When He Made a Tiny Mistake They ‘Beat the F*** Out of Him’ for 10 Min. With a Screwdriver

A Chicago woman  is being held on $2 million bail after she allegedly brutally beat and stabbed an 82-year-old man after he pulled over to help her but then bumped her with his car in the process.

Sophia Body is charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery for her actions against 82-year-old Isaac Tucker Thursday in the neighborhood of Grand Crossing, according to the Chicago Tribune.
 
Tucker told authorities, who responded to a call about the incident as it was occurring, two woman had “flagged” him down and he parked behind them to help. As he pulled over, he allegedly bumped one of them with his vehicle, which started the altercation.
 
The Chicago Sun-Times has more details of what allegedly happened next:
 

“Next thing I know I got a punch,” Tucker said.
 
(Assistant State Attorney Elizabeth) Dibler said the women pulled Tucker out of his car and began to kick and punch him. She said the beating lasted about 10 minutes.
 
“I was stabbed several times in the back and stomped and everything else,” Tucker said.
 
He said he fell unconscious and woke up in the ambulance. He’d been stabbed in the head multiple times, Dibler said, and when police found him he was bleeding from the right side of his head and had lacerations on his upper and lower back.
 
Police recovered a yellow screwdriver they believe Tucker was stabbed with, according to the Sun-Times. The senior citizen was later listed in stable condition at a local hospital.
 
(http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sophia-body.gif)
“Yeah, I pulled his a** out of the car and beat the f*** out of him,” 38-year-old body said of the incident, according to the police report (redacted).
 
“I got out of my car to help, not to offend no one,” Tucker told the Sun-Times. “But when I got out of my car, I was attacked, and I was stabbed several times in the back.”
 
A surveillance camera from a local minimart is being reviewed by police for evidence, both newspapers reported.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/11/82-year-old-man-stops-to-help-broken-down-motorists-but-when-he-made-a-tiny-mistake-they-beat-the-f-out-of-him-for-10-min-with-a-screwdriver/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on November 11, 2013, 09:05:07 am
Tensions are really boiling over in this country.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on November 11, 2013, 12:00:35 pm
I'm curious if they have verified that the women actually had car trouble. Sounds more like an ambush for robbery.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on November 15, 2013, 07:54:06 am
16 American cities foreign governments warn their citizens about

Planning a trip abroad? It’s probably best to check out the State Department’s list of travel warnings for countries with unsafe political situations. At the moment, the State Department has issued travel warnings for 34 countries, from the Central African Republic and El Salvador to Iraq and North Korea.

Well, just as State warns Americans about dangerous places to travel, so too do foreign ministries in other countries — and some countries warn their citizens to avoid heading to certain cities in the U.S. France, in particular, warns travelers to be careful in a large number of specific cities.

Here’s what other countries, mostly France, say about American cities:

Boston: Avoid walking at night in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury, and be wary of “petty crime” in Chinatown, the North End and Fenway.

New York: Be wary in Times Square and at the Statue of Liberty, and don’t go to Harlem, the Bronx or Central Park at night.

Washington: Northeast and Southeast should be avoided, and Union Station is dangerous at night. “Le quartier Anacostia n’est pas recommandable de jour comme de nuit.” Translation: Don’t go to Anacostia, day or night.

Baltimore: “Considered a dangerous city except downtown.”

Richmond: “Do not visit the city on foot.”

Pittsburgh: The French urge their citizens to avoid Mount Oliver, Hill District, Homewood-Brushton and Hazelwood.

Cleveland: Avoid Cleveland Heights, Lakewood and Euclid. That warning got Cleveland Heights Mayor Edward Kelly upset. “The French government is foolish and doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Detroit: “The center is not recommended after the close of business.”

Chicago: Stay away from the West Side and anywhere south of 59th Street.

Houston: Be vigilant if traveling through Downtown, south and east Houston at night.

St. Louis: “Eviter le quartier nord entre l’aéroport et le centre-ville, mais la navette reliant l’aéroport est sûre.” Translation: Avoid northern area between the airport and the city center, but the airport shuttle is safe (Hat tip to our friend Chris Good, of ABC News, for spotting that nugget).

Atlanta: The French are nervous about the southern part of the city, and downtown after dark.

New Orleans: Northwest of Dauphine Street, northeast of Ursulines Avenue, north of St. Charles Avenue and south of Magazine Street are areas of concern.

Miami: “Canadians have been the victims of crime such as break-ins, assaults and pickpocketing in the Miami area, sometimes during daylight hours,” Canada’s foreign ministry warns. France says attacks on tourists in Florida are rare now, but were frequent a few years ago.

Los Angeles: France warns tourists to take care in Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Long Beach, and to avoid Watts, Inglewood and Florence.

El Paso: The British Foreign Office warns tourists about violence along the border with Mexico, and the border crossing at Ciudad Juarez specifically.

Germany doesn’t warn its citizens about any specific cities, but it does caution against letting it all hang out: “Although the laws in individual states categorizing nudity as ‘indecent exposure’, are rarely asserted and punished, those laws should absolutely be followed.  **** bathing and changing clothes at the beach stirs up public agitation and can lead to unpleasantnesses.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/14/16-american-cities-foreign-governments-warn-their-citizens-about//?print=1


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on November 20, 2013, 07:38:29 pm
Rep. Meng robbed near Capitol Hill

Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) was hit over the head and robbed Tuesday night near the Capitol. 

An attacker knocked Meng to the ground with a hit to the head while she was walking back to her apartment after eating dinner. The attacker took her bag and ran away near 6th St. and Pennsylvania Ave — a little less than a mile from the Capitol building.

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“While this was a frightening ordeal, I fortunately was not seriously injured,” Meng said. “Obviously, things could have been much worse. I thank the U.S. Capitol Police and the District of Columbia Police for responding quickly and professionally.”

Meng sustained minor injuries, including a bruise to her chin. She was taken to George Washington University Hospital where she underwent a CAT scan. Meng missed the first two votes on Wednesday but was present for subsequent votes.

The New York Democrat is a freshman elected in 2012.

U.S. Capitol Police, which is leading the “open” and “active” investigation, said no arrests have yet been made. Metro police directed questions to Capitol police.

The lawmaker told reporters Wednesday evening that police are scrubbing for fingerprints on an old cell phone of hers that was found at the scene. The phone was in Meng's bag but was apparently discarded by her attacker.

She said she was fortunate to be carrying her wallet and credit cards in her coat pocket at the time and not in the bag that was stolen.

"I'm lucky," she said.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/190972-rep-meng-robbed-near-capitol-hill


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on November 21, 2013, 02:49:12 am
And I would think that the robber couldn't get more than a block away before they were on at least a half a dozen security cameras, considering the area. Unless of course they don't put up cameras in that area in case they catch somebody important on tape doing something they shouldn't.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on November 24, 2013, 08:35:30 am
America's cities on the edge

When a city is badly broken, it can be very tough to fix.

Just ask Darren Green, president of a coalition of community groups in Trenton, N.J., where deep budget cuts in 2011 forced the city to lay off a third of its police force.

"We're at a place now where it's very dangerous to walk the streets," he said, his thoughts periodically interrupted by the distant sound of passing sirens. "The school system is dysfunctional and not working. You have young people who are robbing elders. Young people who are destroying communities. With no leadership and the community in disarray, there's a lot of bad here."

The disarray and mayhem in Trenton is extreme. In August the city set a record for the most homicides in its 221-year history - at least 32 people killed this year — in this city of 85,000. Trenton's mayor, Tony Mack, has asked the state for emergency funding. But his appeal has been undermined by allegations of corruption after a federal grand jury indicted him in December 2012 on bribery charges. Several key members of his administration also have been charged with other, unrelated crimes.

The plight of the Garden's State's capital city is by no means typical of American cities in 2013. For the most part these regional economic hubs held up relatively well after the Great Recession tore one of the biggest holes in local revenues since the Great Depression.

Some, like San Francisco and Boston, blessed with vibrant high-tech industries churning out high-skill, high-wage jobs, all but escaped the downturn. These high-growth local economies have recouped the ground lost to the recession and continue to help push the national recovery forward. Others, like Orlando and Phoenix, which were hard-hit by the housing bust, have pulled themselves up by the bootstraps. They are turning their economies around by building centers of excellence in growth industries like biotech and alternative energy.

Forward-thinking mayors, such as Chattanooga, Tenn.'s, Andy Berke, have made their cities magnets for foreign investment by investing in leading-edge technology like high-speed gig networks. That has helped recast the southern city, formerly known for Moon Pies, as a model hub for the smart grid. Now it is one of the fastest-growing cities in America.

That's good news. The strength of the U.S. economy is based on our cities that house 80 percent of the nation's population and drive more than 90 percent of GDP, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors and HIS Global. The clout of these metros is a whopping $13 trillion, or nearly one-quarter of the economic output of the 200 largest countries combined.

That's because America has a broader base of large cities than any other developed country in the world. These mega metros are also an integral part of the global marketplace driving export activity and innovation. McKinsey Global Institute, in its "Urban America: U.S. Cities in the Global Economy" report, estimates that more than 10 percent of global GDP growth will come from these local economies over the next 12 years.

Mounting fiscal challenges
 

Today U.S. cities face different prospects for short-term recovery and long-term growth, and each needs to tailor a strategy based on its inherent strengths and weaknesses.

Federal funding cutbacks, combined with the economic damage from the Great Recession, continue to challenge Main Street. Eight cities have filed for bankruptcy since 2010, including Detroit; Scranton, Pa.; and Stockton, Calif. That's not surprising, considering that all but four of the 384 local economies tracked by Moody's Analytics' Business Cycle Index had fallen into recession by 2009. Of those, 255 moved into recovery in 2010.

That gradual improvement continues today. But there are laggards. For example, Decatur, Ill.; Michigan City, Ind.; and Utica, N.Y. have economies that are still retracting.

REST: HAS CHARTS AND MAPS AND STUFF: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101196425/page/1


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on December 02, 2013, 05:56:04 am
Black Friday: A Shameful **** Of Materialism For A Morally Bankrupt Nation

It has been called "America's most disturbing holiday".  Black Friday is the day when millions of average Americans wait outside retail stores in the middle of the night in the freezing cold to spend more money that they do not have for more cheap Chinese-made products that they do not need.  It is a day when the rest of the world makes fun of Americans for behaving like "rabid animals" and "zombies" as we indulge in a tsunami of greed.  It truly is a shameful **** of materialism for a morally bankrupt nation.  It is being projected that approximately 140 million Americans will participate in this disgusting national ritual this year.  Sadly, most of them have absolutely no idea that they are actively participating in the destruction of the economic infrastructure of the United States.  If you don't understand why this is true, please be sure to read this entire article all the way to the end.
 
The amount of merchandise that is purchased on Black Friday is absolutely staggering.  For example, just consider how much stuff is sold at Wal-Mart alone...

rest: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/black-friday-a-shameful-****-of-materialism-for-a-morally-bankrupt-nation


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on December 16, 2013, 07:33:47 am
Camden, New Jersey: One Of Hundreds Of U.S. Cities That Are Turning Into Rotting, Decaying Hellholes

All over America, formerly prosperous communities are being transformed into crime-infested wastelands of poverty and despair.  Of course the most famous example of this is Detroit.  At one time, Detroit was the greatest manufacturing city that the world had ever seen and it had the highest per capita income in the entire country.  But now it has become a rotting, decaying hellhole that the rest of the planet laughs at.  And of course Detroit is far from alone.  There are hundreds of other U.S. cities that are suffering a similar fate.  In this article, the focus is going to be on Camden, New Jersey, but the truth is that there are lots of other "Detroits" and "Camdens" all over the nation.  Jobs and businesses are leaving our cities at a staggering rate, and what is being left behind is poverty, crime and extreme desperation.

(Read More....) http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/camden-new-jersey-one-of-hundreds-of-u-s-cities-that-are-turning-into-rotting-decaying-hellholes


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on December 16, 2013, 12:59:27 pm
Black Friday: A Shameful **** Of Materialism For A Morally Bankrupt Nation

It has been called "America's most disturbing holiday".  Black Friday is the day when millions of average Americans wait outside retail stores in the middle of the night in the freezing cold to spend more money that they do not have for more cheap Chinese-made products that they do not need.  It is a day when the rest of the world makes fun of Americans for behaving like "rabid animals" and "zombies" as we indulge in a tsunami of greed.  It truly is a shameful **** of materialism for a morally bankrupt nation.  It is being projected that approximately 140 million Americans will participate in this disgusting national ritual this year.  Sadly, most of them have absolutely no idea that they are actively participating in the destruction of the economic infrastructure of the United States.  If you don't understand why this is true, please be sure to read this entire article all the way to the end.
 
The amount of merchandise that is purchased on Black Friday is absolutely staggering.  For example, just consider how much stuff is sold at Wal-Mart alone...

rest: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/black-friday-a-shameful-****-of-materialism-for-a-morally-bankrupt-nation

And ultimately, I don't think anyone saves a dime when all is said and done, and not to mention too lose their peace and joy(having to pull an all-nighter in the cold outside waiting in line) - pretty much they're waiting in long lines all day, meaning it ends up eating a lot of time, meaning they end up eating out for lunch at one of the more expensive food courts in the malls, meaning they end up driving around more than normal eating up their gasoline, etc. And not to mention too they might end up running up their credit card bills as well for buying more stuff than anticipated.

When all is said and done, everything comes out a draw(at best).


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on January 08, 2014, 07:33:24 am
12 Signs Of Extreme Social Decay In America That Are Almost Too Horrible To Talk About

Hearts in America are getting colder even faster than the weather is.  Sometimes it is hard to believe how twisted and deranged many Americans have become.  In order for a society to function efficiently, people need to be able to have a basic level of trust in one another.  Unfortunately, we are rapidly getting to the point in America where it is becoming very difficult to trust anyone that you do not know personally.  As you will see below, the United States is rapidly becoming a cesspool of liars, thieves, murderers, perverts and psychopaths.  Please do not allow any young children to read this article.  All of this material is from mainstream news reports, but a lot of it is too disturbing for young kids to be exposed to.  The reason why I write about this stuff is because there is never going to be any hope of a turnaround in this country until we take a good, long look in the mirror and admit how far we have fallen.  Yes, a lot of these things are almost too horrible to talk about, but as a nation we must understand how bad things have become.  There is evidence of extreme social decay all around us, and it is steadily eating away at the very foundations of our Republic.
 
The following are excerpts from 12 recent mainstream news reports.  Once again, let me warn you that some of these crimes are so twisted that it is very difficult to even read about them.  But this is how you get an addict that has reached “rock bottom” to change.  You show them how their behavior is literally destroying them and the people around them.  And without a doubt, America is being systematically destroyed by all of this evil.  The following are 12 signs of extreme social decay in America that are almost too horrible to talk about…
 
#1 ‘Many going to Super Bowl for child sex’ in New Jersey: The Super Bowl has been called the “largest human-trafficking venue on the planet” with many attending the event not to watch football but for sex with men, women and children.
 
#2 A 13-Year-Old Boy Who Murdered His Cousin Because Of An XBox: A 13-year-old boy who allegedly killed his sleeping 16-year-old cousin after an argument over a video game system was ordered held in custody today by a juvenile court judge, authorities said.
 
The teen shot his cousin, Raymond Galloway, in the head at around 5:50 a.m. Sunday while Galloway slept in the teen’s bedroom in the 500 block of East 38th Place, according to Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors.
 
#3 District man charged with fatally stabbing wife during argument over cable bill: A man charged with fatally stabbing his wife in a Northeast Washington apartment had been arguing with her over an unpaid cable bill, which led to a violent confrontation, according to court papers filed in D.C. Superior Court on Monday. A friend found the body of Claudia Hall, 51, on Friday lying on her bed in her residence in the 300 block of 18th Place NE. Police said she had been stabbed in the abdomen and choked, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
 
#4 Surveillance Video Shows Bystanders Walking Over Dead Body in Convenience Store Entrance: Disturbing surveillance video shows the body of 24-year-old Jheryl Wright lying in the doorway of a convenience store in Kalamazoo, Michigan while customers walked by unaffected.
 
Wright had been gunned down at the entrance of the convenience store just minutes before what’s shown in the video, and according to reports, the store clerks didn’t even check to see if he was alive or dead. People came in and out of the store, stepped over him, and acted as if there wasn’t a dead body in front of them.
 
#5 Pizza delivery man arrested after ‘being caught on hidden camera having sex with family dog’: A Papa John’s delivery man in Florida has been arrested and charged after he was allegedly caught on hidden camera having sex with the family dog.
 
Joshua Lee Werbicki, 22, was taken into custody on Friday at the Palm Bay restaurant where he works and charged with felony cruelty to animals and misdemeanor criminal sex act with an animal after a video was handed to the police.
 
Werbicki’s roommate set up the camera after she became suspicious when the dog, a German Shepherd mix, began limping and became startled around people.
 
#6 Stockton Couple Accused Of Dismembering Roommate, Burning Torso In Campfire: A couple is accused of a grisly crime, killing a man and then dismembering the body. Stockton police say the suspects left a trail of blood that led them to the remains.
 
#7 Man Accidentally Recorded Himself Installing Hidden Camera to Secretly Record Coworkers Using Restroom: According to the San Antonio Express-News, police said Ray De la Cruz, 44, was arrested Thursday after a coworker found a recording device “taped to the back of a shelf of a storage locker located directly in front of the toilet.”
 
#8 N.Y. Group Applies To Build Satan Statue At Oklahoma State Capitol: The Satanic Temple unveiled designs Monday for a 7-foot-tall statue of Satan it wants to put at the Oklahoma state Capitol, where a Ten Commandments monument was placed in 2012. The group formally submitted its application to a panel that oversees the Capitol grounds, including an artist’s rendering that depicts Satan as Baphomet, a goat-headed figure with horns, wings and a long beard that’s often used as a symbol of the occult. In the rendering, Satan is sitting in a pentagram-adorned throne with smiling children next to him.
 
#9 First Grade Teacher Tells Young Child That “Jesus Is Not Allowed In School”: On December 13, 2013, first grader Isaiah Martinez took Christmas gifts intended for his teacher and classmates at Merced Elementary in the West Covina Unified School District. Each gift consisted of a traditional candy cane with a message attached that recited the legend of the candy cane. The legend references a candy maker who created the candy cane to symbolize the life of Jesus Christ.
 
Isaiah’s older sister told him about the legend of the candy cane and Isaiah asked if he could share it with his teacher and his classmates. Isaiah and his sister then purchased candy canes, printed the candy cane message and tied a copy to each candy cane.
 
When Isaiah brought his Christmas gift to school, his teacher took possession of the candy canes. After conferring with the school principal, the teacher told Isaiah that “Jesus is not allowed in school” and, at the apparent direction of her principal, ripped the candy cane message from each candy cane, threw the messages in the trash, and handed the candy canes back to Isaiah for delivery to his classmates. Isaiah then nervously handed the candy canes to his classmates in fear that he was in trouble for trying to bring a little Christmas cheer and “good tidings” to class.
 
#10 A Man Who Planned The Sexual Abuse Of His Own Daughter Before She Was Even Born: Evidence at Adleta’s trial showed that he abused his son and daughter and the child of another woman, children who ranged in age from 1 to 4.
 
He also ordered his wife and girlfriend to abuse children and recorded the acts; then he istributed the images as child pornography.
 
Adleta said nothing at the hearing except to answer, “No, your honor,” when asked by the judge if he had anything to say.
 
#11 Coroner: California priest beaten to death with wooden stake, metal gutter pipe: A beloved priest who was killed in the Northern California city of Eureka was beaten to death with a wooden stake and a metal gutter pipe, his autopsy shows.
 
#12 Hundreds of teens trash mall in wild flash mob: A wild flash mob stormed and trashed a Brooklyn mall, causing so much chaos that the shopping center was forced to close during post-Christmas sales, sources said Friday.
 
—–
 
Whenever I do an article like this, a few people out there will try to dismiss it by claiming that these are just a few isolated “anecdotes” and that most Americans are “good people” and that we really don’t have a problem at all.
 
I don’t understand how anyone can possibly come to that conclusion, but for those thinking along those lines I would encourage you to check out the hundreds of other examples of advanced moral decay in America that I have discussed in previous articles.  The following are five of my previous articles to help get you started…
 
1. “Nation Of Sickos: Should We Be Concerned About The Moral Collapse Of America?”
 
2. “12 Signs That The Decay Of Society Is Accelerating”
 
3. “The Knockout Game Is Just A Preview Of The Chaos That Is Coming To The Streets Of America”
 
4. “There Are 747,000 Registered Sex Offenders In The United States”
 
5. “20 Shocking Examples Of How Sadistic And Cruel People Have Become”
 
Of course most people out there already know that this nation is heading in the wrong direction.
 
Most people out there already know on a very deep level that something has dramatically “shifted” in this nation.
 
The American people no longer have the same character that they once did.
 
So what has happened?
 
Why is there so much social decay all around us?

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/12-signs-of-extreme-social-decay-in-america-that-are-almost-too-horrible-to-talk-about


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on January 17, 2014, 06:37:35 am
Vast Stretches Of Impoverished Appalachia Look Like They Have Been Through A War

If you want to get an idea of where the rest of America is heading, just take a trip through the western half of West Virginia and the eastern half of Kentucky some time.  Once you leave the main highways, you will rapidly encounter poverty on a level that is absolutely staggering.  Overall, about 15 percent of the entire nation is under the poverty line, but in some areas of eastern Kentucky, more than 40 percent of the population is living in poverty.  Most of the people would work if they could.  Over the past couple of decades, locals have witnessed businesses and industries leave the region at a steady pace.  When another factory or business shuts down, many of the unemployed do not even realize that their jobs have been shipped overseas.  Coal mining still produces jobs that pay a decent wage, but Barack Obama is doing his very best to kill off that entire industry.  After decades of decline, vast stretches of impoverished Appalachia look like they have been through a war.  Those living in the area know that things are not good, but they just try to do the best that they can with what they have.
 
In previous articles about areas of the country that are economically depressed, I have typically focused on large cities such as Detroit or Camden, New Jersey.  But the economic suffering that is taking place in rural communities in the heartland of America is just as tragic.  We just don't hear about it as much.
 
Most of those that live in the heart of Appalachia are really good "salt of the earth" people that just want to work hard and do what is right for their families.  But after decades of increasing poverty, the entire region has been transformed into an economic nightmare that never seems to end.  The following is a description of what life is like in Appalachia today that comes from a recent article by Kevin D. Williamson...
 
Thinking about the future here and its bleak prospects is not much fun at all, so instead of too much black-minded introspection you have the pills and the dope, the morning beers, the endless scratch-off lotto cards, healing meetings up on the hill, the federally funded ritual of trading cases of food-stamp Pepsi for packs of Kentucky’s Best cigarettes and good old hard currency, tall piles of gas-station nachos, the occasional blast of meth, Narcotics Anonymous meetings, petty crime, the draw, the recreational making and surgical unmaking of teenaged mothers, and death: Life expectancies are short — the typical man here dies well over a decade earlier than does a man in Fairfax County, Va. — and they are getting shorter, women’s life expectancy having declined by nearly 1.1 percent from 1987 to 2007.
 
In these kinds of conditions, people do whatever they have to do just to survive.  With so much poverty around, serving those on food stamps has become an important part of the local economy.  In fact, cases of soda purchased with food stamps have become a form of "alternative currency" in the region.  In his article, Williamson described how this works...
 
It works like this: Once a month, the debit-card accounts of those receiving what we still call food stamps are credited with a few hundred dollars — about $500 for a family of four, on average — which are immediately converted into a unit of exchange, in this case cases of soda. On the day when accounts are credited, local establishments accepting EBT cards — and all across the Big White Ghetto, “We Accept Food Stamps” is the new E pluribus unum – are swamped with locals using their public benefits to buy cases and cases — reports put the number at 30 to 40 cases for some buyers — of soda. Those cases of soda then either go on to another retailer, who buys them at 50 cents on the dollar, in effect laundering those $500 in monthly benefits into $250 in cash — a considerably worse rate than your typical organized-crime money launderer offers — or else they go into the local black-market economy, where they can be used as currency in such ventures as the dealing of unauthorized prescription painkillers — by “pillbillies,” as they are known at the sympathetic establishments in Florida that do so much business with Kentucky and West Virginia that the relevant interstate bus service is nicknamed the “OxyContin Express.” A woman who is intimately familiar with the local drug economy suggests that the exchange rate between sexual favors and cases of pop — some dealers will accept either — is about 1:1, meaning that the value of a woman in the local prescription-drug economy is about $12.99 at Walmart prices.
 
I would encourage everyone to read the rest of Williamson's excellent article.  You can find the entire article right here.
 
In Appalachia, the abuse of alcohol, meth and other legal and illegal drugs is significantly higher than in the U.S. population as a whole.  In a desperate attempt to deal with the pain of their lives, many people living in the region are looking for anything that will allow them to "escape" for a little while.  The following is an excerpt from an excellent article by Chris Hedges which describes what life is like in the little town of Gary, West Virginia at this point...
 
Joe and I are sitting in the Tug River Health Clinic in Gary with a registered nurse who does not want her name used. The clinic handles federal and state black lung applications. It runs a program for those addicted to prescription pills. It also handles what in the local vernacular is known as “the crazy check” -- payments obtained for mental illness from Medicaid or SSI -- a vital source of income for those whose five years of welfare payments have run out. Doctors willing to diagnose a patient as mentally ill are important to economic survival.
 
“They come in and want to be diagnosed as soon as they can for the crazy check,” the nurse says. “They will insist to us they are crazy. They will tell us, ‘I know I’m not right.’ People here are very resigned. They will avoid working by being diagnosed as crazy.”
 
The reliance on government checks, and a vast array of painkillers and opiates, has turned towns like Gary into modern opium dens. The painkillers OxyContin, fentanyl -- 80 times stronger than morphine -- Lortab, as well as a wide variety of anti-anxiety medications such as Xanax, are widely abused. Many top off their daily cocktail of painkillers at night with sleeping pills and muscle relaxants. And for fun, addicts, especially the young, hold “pharm parties,” in which they combine their pills in a bowl, scoop out handfuls of medication, swallow them, and wait to feel the result.
 
Of course this kind of thing is not just happening in the heart of Appalachia.  All over the country there are rural communities that are economically depressed.  In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, economic activity in about half of the counties in the entire nation is still below pre-recession levels...
 
About half of the nation’s 3,069 county economies are still short of their prerecession economic output, reflecting the uneven economic recovery, according to a new report from the National Association of Counties.
 
So what are our "leaders" doing to fix this?
 
Well, they plan to ship millions more of our good jobs overseas.
 
Unfortunately, I am not kidding.
 
Republicans in the House of Representatives are introducing "fast track" trade promotion authority legislation that will pave the way for rapid approval of the secret trade treaty that Barack Obama has been negotiating.  The following is how I described this insidious treaty in a previous article...
 
Did you know that the Obama administration is negotiating a super secret "trade agreement" that is so sensitive that he isn't even allowing members of Congress to see it?  The Trans-Pacific Partnership is being called the "NAFTA of the Pacific" and "NAFTA on steroids", but the truth is that it is so much more than just a trade agreement.  This treaty has 29 chapters, but only 5 of them have to do with trade.  Most Americans don't realize this, but this treaty will fundamentally change our laws regarding Internet freedom, health care, the trading of derivatives, copyright issues, food safety, environmental standards, civil liberties and so much more.  It will also merge the United States far more deeply into the emerging one world economic system.
 
Once again, our politicians are betraying the American people and millions of jobs will be lost as a result.
 
Not that the economy needs another reason to go downhill.  The truth is that our economic foundations have already been rotting away for quite some time.
 
But now the ongoing economic collapse seems to be picking up steam again.  For example, the Baltic Dry Index (a very important indicator of global economic activity) is collapsing at a rate not seen since the great financial crash of 2008...
 
Despite 'blaming' the drop in the cost of dry bulk shipping on Colombian coal restrictions, it seems increasingly clear that the 40% collapse in the Baltic Dry Index since the start of the year is more than just that. While this is the worst start to a year in over 30 years, the scale of this meltdown is only matched by the total devastation that occurred in Q3 2008. Of course, the mainstream media will continue to ignore this dour index until it decides to rise once again, but for now, 9 days in a row of plunging prices is yet another canary in the global trade coalmine and suggests what inventory stacking that occurred in Q3/4 2013 is anything but sustained.
 
Soon economic conditions will get even worse for Appalachia and for the rest of the country.  The consequences of decades of very foolish decisions are rapidly catching up with us, and millions upon millions of Americans are going to experience immense economic pain during the years to come.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/vast-stretches-of-impoverished-appalachia-look-like-they-have-been-through-a-war


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on January 17, 2014, 01:23:22 pm
Quote
The reliance on government checks, and a vast array of painkillers and opiates, has turned towns like Gary into modern opium dens.

Their first mistake is not following Jesus, then the real problems start. Relying on government is the total opposite of the traditional mentality of the people of Appalachia. People refused government handouts, wanted no part of it. They were content with minding their own business on their land, growing the food they needed. Now you have countless families packed onto small lots with no room for any gardening or live stock, so they are dependent on the system for food, but they need income to go buy that food. You don't need much money if your using that land. You got to have cash to buy stuff at a store, and you have to have the means to get to those stores. Working your land and caring for your family requires you to spend time at home primarily. Too many things to do.

Dependency on the carnal, worldly system is what the evil men of the world want, and it's working among the masses. All you have to do is look at the kinds of trash strewn around the poor sections of society. The only animal carcass you'll find is chicken bones from KFC.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on January 17, 2014, 01:40:55 pm
Dependency on the carnal, worldly system is what the evil men of the world want, and it's working among the masses. All you have to do is look at the kinds of trash strewn around the poor sections of society. The only animal carcass you'll find is chicken bones from KFC.

4 people who earn six figures and still feel broke
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/i-earn-six-figures-and-still-feel-broke-215546862.html
1/16/14

To most working class families, a six-figure salary may seem like the antidote to all financial troubles. But earning more doesn’t necessarily confer superior financial management skills, and even high-earners find that it’s shockingly easy to fall into one particularly nefarious debt trap — living beyond one’s means.

“As incomes rise most [people] adjust their standard of living up,” says Kevin J. Meehan, a certified financial planner in Itasca, Ill. “The challenge is that the higher your income goes, the more variable it becomes, [because] much is based on bonuses, options and commissions. When the income goes down — whether on a permanent or temporary basis — most have little free cash to fall back on.”

Often, the higher your income bracket, the more pressure there is to have the kind of lifestyle -- whether it’s from your neighbors, your family or yourself. On top of that, high-paying careers come at a hefty price, typically in the form of college education. A 20-something today will graduate with more than $29,000 worth of student loan debt, certainly enough to put a dent in any future earnings. Add graduate school to the mix (an MBA from a top 20 business school cost $102,000 in 2012), and even with a $100,000 job, you’re still looking at years of loan payments with little room left for saving.

“We have encountered many clients who are high earners, but are not big savers,” says Kacie Swartz, a certified financial planner in Austin,Texas. “It’s no surprise that a higher income can change one’s perspective of ‘want’ and ‘need’.”

--

“Once I put everything on paper, I was just paralyzed."

Ruben Omega, 34, was pulling in more than $100,000 as a product manager at a pharmaceutical company when he realized he was broke.

It was 2010, three years after he and his wife bought their first home in the San Francisco Bay area and had just welcomed their first son. Omega was taking home close to $6,000 a month (after taxes), and yet they were still overdrafting their bank accounts. Debt collectors were constantly calling. Each month, his $3,000 mortgage bill brought another wave of terror and yet their loan servicer told them they earned too much to qualify for a loan modification. He felt poorer now that he was earning six figures than he had scraping by on the $33,000 he was making out of college.       

“Something just didn’t click,” Omega told us. “[My wife and I] felt that our income should be OK but we didn’t feel comfortable. It was like panic mode all the time.”                                 

Grudgingly, they sat down together and brought out the calculator. Even before factoring in their mortgage, the couple owed nearly $190,000 – $168,000 worth of student, home equity, and 401(k) loans, plus another $20,000 on credit cards.

“Once I put everything on paper, I was just paralyzed,” he says. “I actually couldn’t do anything for a while after seeing that.”

When the shock wore off, the real work began. His wife, who cared for their two sons during the week, took up waitressing on the weekends. They used spreadsheets and budgeting websites like ReadyForZero and You Need a Budget to track their progress. Dinners out and vacations stopped. When they needed a new car, they bought used and paid in cash. They got rid of their landline. One of the toughest changes they made was consolidating their three checking accounts so they could keep better track of their money flow.

Their biggest financial mistake was also the hardest to rectify — their house. San Francisco is one of the most notoriously expensive housing markets, and Omega bought the home from his uncle for $520,000 at the peak of the bubble. With an interest-only loan, the $3,000 he shelled out each month didn’t even cover property taxes or insurance. It was way more than they could afford.

“I probably attempted three times to do loan modifications but [my bank] kept saying we made too much,” he says. “Finally, the mortgage was transferred to another lender in 2011, and we were granted a modification.”

They worked as a team, but the stress of tackling so much debt at once took its toll. Omega said he’d sometimes hound his wife, who has an engineering degree, to get “a real job” instead of waitressing. “If anything, it might have been more stressful for her because she was on the other end of my complaining and she takes care of the kids,” he says.

The family is in a much better place today. Buoyed by Omega's $120,000 salary and new budgeting routine, they’ve paid down nearly $100,000 in debt with $70,000 left to go. The effort will take at least three to five years, he estimates.

“I feel happier now than I did before,” he says. “There’s great certainty in knowing where [my money] is going. Whenever someone calls my phone now and I don’t know the number, I just answer it.”

--

"You feel that you deserve nice things and you just have to get over that."

On paper, Jessica Michaels is one of the lucky ones. The 28-year-old Chicago native landed her first job out of a law school in September, a $100,000-plus position at a major law firm in Washington, D.C.

But ask her about her 401(k) balance and the nerves start to creep in.

“I have zero retirement savings at this point, and that’s one of my anxieties,” she says. “I have a fear that I’m not going to save enough for retirement
.”

It’s a familiar feeling for Michaels. Less than five years ago, she was a beat reporter for a local newspaper in Colorado Springs, Colo., just “$40 away from qualifying for food stamps,” she says. What she could not afford, she put on plastic. By the time she gave up on journalism and decided to take a stab at law school, she had accrued more than $10,000 worth of credit card debt.

“I shouldn’t have been living the lifestyle I was living when I wasn’t making that much money,” she says. “That was a mistake I made and I didn’t really think about it. Now I’m paying for that.”

She got a near-perfect LSAT score and was accepted to the University of Chicago. But even after scholarships, she still had to take out $150,000 in loans to cover her tuition and living expenses.

After factoring in her $2,500-a-month student loan bill, saving to replace her rapidly dying car, credit payments, and rent for the D.C. apartment she shares with her boyfriend, more than three-quarters of her paycheck is gone the minute she gets it. Less than a year after moving from Chicago to D.C., they’re already planning to move to a smaller apartment.

“I need to save enough money to move. Ideally, I’d pay off my credit cards first and save up $10,000,” says Michaels, who admits some ambivalence about not being able to afford her desired lifestyle despite a good income.

“But at this point, when I think about how long it will take me to do these things, I get a little overwhelmed. At the same time I [think] I shouldn’t feel that way because I’m making that much money. You feel that you deserve nice things and you just have to get over that. I can’t afford it.”

“There’s at least one week every month where we are broke."

Theresa Lee, 28, earns more than $100,000 as a product manager for a media company. It’s the kind of income she dreamed of as the first kid in her family to attend college.

But like many 20-somethings just starting to get a grip on their careers, Lee says she’s still paying for her years of financial hardship
.

“There’s at least one week every month where [my fiance and I] are broke after we’ve paid all of our bills and we’re waiting for the next paycheck,” says Lee, who lives in Bradley Beach, N.J.

By the time she graduated from a private college in Queens, N.Y., Lee had racked up more than $60,000 in private loans that offered little in the way of flexible payment plans. For a few years, she bounced from one mediocre paycheck to the next, earning $50,000 at the most.

“I was having to stagger my rent payments in order to pay my loans,” she says. “One paycheck went to loans and the other went to rent [for my apartment in Manhattan].” What little surplus she had was spent on food, leaving next to nothing available for savings.

By late 2012, Lee worked her way to a comfortable marketing position at a financial services company. Then she and her fiance learned they were pregnant and she suddenly found herself taking maternity leave just months after starting the job, leaving her savings account as empty as it had ever been.

With the addition of their newborn daughter last March and the time Lee took off, funds today are far from free-flowing.

“We’ve been using generic everything for the baby’s expenses and we shop in bulk,” she says. “I contribute only 1% to my 401(k) right now and as for emergency savings, I have none. None. All of our disposable income is going toward the cost of our wedding at this point.”

They had planned on downsizing from their $2,300-a-month apartment but put it off when the baby was born. The plan is back on the table now.

“We’ll be saving about $500 a month, but we’ll be further away [from our jobs],” she says. “I feel like we’re not drowning, but for the amount of money we make we should not have to stretch our paychecks like we were in college.”
--

"I don't feel financially comfortable"

Ruben Neira is no stranger to failure. The 56-year-old Chilean immigrant has always been an entrepreneur at heart. After moving to Plano, Texas with his wife and two daughters in 1995, he designed their family home and oversaw its construction and launched a successful career as a private physical therapist, bringing home more than $100,000 a year.

But lately, his penchant for new business ideas has proven costly. Since 2006, Neira and a business partner have struggled to get a software company they founded off the ground. They plan on licensing software that helps physicians digitize their medical records. In the meantime, he’s maintained his day job as a therapist, working about five to six hours a day. However, seven years in, his personal investment in his side business began to take a toll.

“I’ve invested a couple hundred thousand dollars of my own money into the business,” he says. “It’s just starting to make money but until six months ago, we had to pay for everything. And now that the company is starting to sell licenses, the [profits] are basically just paying for more software development.”

In the seven years it took to get the business off the ground, Neira found himself sinking deeper into debt. He and his wife are working to pay down $40,000 worth of credit card debt. And he recently found out he had been underpaying his taxes, resulting in a staggering $40,000 IRS bill. Even with an installment plan in place, it will take him five years to settle his tax debts.

To help, he and his wife decided last year to sell their home, which would relieve them of $2,000 monthly mortgage payments and free them to move into an apartment. So far, their timing has been good. Property values in his neighborhood have gone up nearly 10% since they put their home on the market.

Despite his losses, Neira, who has continued working part-time through his physical therapy practice, is hopeful his software business will one day pay the bills.

“In the past, my wife and my daughters have hated my passion for doing new things, but I’ve had way more debt than this before from another business that didn’t work out and I got it down to zero,” he says. “I know that it just cannot be a success overnight. It takes time and hard work and patience. I have so much fun with what I do.”



Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on January 17, 2014, 02:27:59 pm
Quote
...living beyond one’s means.

That's called, "The love of money..."


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on February 05, 2014, 07:34:02 am
You Can Buy A House For One Dollar Or Less In Economically Depressed Cities All Over America

Would you like to buy a house for one dollar?  If someone came up to you on the street and asked you that question, you would probably respond by saying that it sounds too good to be true.  But this is actually happening in economically-depressed cities all over America.  Of course there are a number of reasons why you might want to think twice before buying any of these homes, and I will get into those reasons in just a little bit.  First, however, it is worth noting that many of the cities where these "free houses" are available were once some of the most prosperous cities in the entire country.  In fact, the city of Detroit once had the highest per capita income in the entire nation.  But as millions of good jobs have been shipped overseas, these once prosperous communities have degenerated into rotting, decaying hellholes.  Now homes that once housed thriving middle class families cannot even be given away.  This is happening all over America, and what we are witnessing right now is only just the beginning.

(Read More....) http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/you-can-buy-a-house-for-one-dollar-or-less-in-economically-depressed-cities-all-over-america


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on February 05, 2014, 09:48:40 am
That, and the government wanted to sell the USS Forestall aircraft carrier, but claimed nobody bid on it. Not one bid, eh?

So, the government in their wasteful wisdom, cut a deal with a company and sold it to them as scrap for $1. One single US dollar.

Now granted, the company has to move it from the northeast to a Gulf coast facility to cut it up, and towing a carrier isn't cheap, but come on! The US gave that thing away, and the public made one dollar on the deal.

Imagine how many people would love to live on an aircraft carrier? Convert that huge thing to a bunch of apartments, and now it's making money.

There is big money to be made in dealing with government surplus material, that includes ships and vehicles all over the country.

http://www.govliquidation.com/ (http://www.govliquidation.com/)

There are also individual agencies that sell their surplus, be it DEA, FBI, all the military branches, and many state agencies like sheriff departments.

The big thing with those sells is that one, you got to pay cash, no matter the purchase. And two, it's your responsibility to get the items off the property in a certain time frame, at your own expense. Most deals involve LARGE volumes of stuff, like say dozens of boxes of older uniforms, or several pallets of computer monitors. I found on a site once old military artillery brass being sold as scrap, in dozens of big crates, tens of thousands of pounds of scrap brass.

If you got cash and the equipment, you can get all kinds of things in surplus sales.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on February 21, 2014, 11:46:55 am
http://news.yahoo.com/detroit-files-plan-fix-debt-160238371.html;_ylt=A0LEV0XajwdTy1UAmW9XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTB0bmhzcGJhBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1NNRTQwMl8x
Detroit files plan to fix debt, leave bankruptcy

Detroit files plan to restructure debt, emerge from largest municipal bankruptcy in US history

2/21/14

DETROIT (AP) -- Detroit's emergency manager filed a plan Friday to restructure the city's $18 billion debt by making cuts to pensions and creditors while offering a blueprint for emerging from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

An early draft of state-appointed Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr's plan called for city pensioners to receive $4.3 billion in payments and bondholders about $1.1 billion during the next 40 years. That draft also detailed plans to help pensioners keep more of what they are owed by using state and private funds to protect against the sale of city-owned art at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

"My advisers and I have now expended many months in negotiations, including within Bankruptcy Court-mandated mediations, with all classes of creditors to get to this point, and we are satisfied with the progress made thus far," Orr said in a statement. "However, there is still much work in front of all of us to continue the recovery from a decades-long downward spiral. We must move swiftly to emerge from bankruptcy so that the financial distress harming the City can end.

"We maintain that the Plan provides the best path forward for all parties to resolve their respective issues and for Detroit to become once again a city in which people want to invest, live and work."

The plan still faces numerous obstacles. Most aspects are still being negotiated in mediation sessions with stakeholders. Court appeals are all but certain even after the final version is approved in bankruptcy court.

The early draft included the possible spinoff of the city's Water and Sewerage Department to a regional authority. The city would receive $47 million annually under a lease deal.

Orr included in his early draft a promise of millions of dollars from foundations, the state and the Detroit Institute of Arts to prevent any possible sale of city-owned pieces in the museum to bolster at-risk pensions.

The city also would establish a voluntary employees' beneficiary association that would provide health care benefits to retirees.

The plan was accompanied by a disclosure statement, which outlined the level of reinvestment, including municipal services, planned during the next 10 years.

Orr had hoped creditors would sign off on the plan before he submitted it to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes. But the clock was ticking because Rhodes had set a March 1 deadline. Nevertheless, with negotiations ongoing, changes are expected.

Orr has said the city's debt is at least $18 billion. About $6 billion is Detroit Water and Sewerage Department debt, which is secured by water bill payments. An additional $12 billion is unsecured, meaning it's not covered by a revenue stream. That includes about $2 billion in general obligation bond debt, $5.7 billion in unfunded retire health care obligations and $3.5 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.

Pension officials have disputed that figure.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on February 22, 2014, 04:25:22 am
Quote
Orr has said the city's debt is at least $18 billion. About $6 billion is Detroit Water and Sewerage Department debt, which is secured by water bill payments. An additional $12 billion is unsecured, meaning it's not covered by a revenue stream. That includes about $2 billion in general obligation bond debt, $5.7 billion in unfunded retire health care obligations and $3.5 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.

Now I don't pretend to know much about government stuff like bonds, etc, but after reading this whole article, it's only at the end of the article that they admit this is nothing more than a city trying to get out of their pension and bonds obligations.

At first thought, this appeared, and has been presented as to be a case of a city that has slowly died after the collapse of the US auto industry. Jobs go away, people either move or stay and be jobless. Sounded plausible. Apparently, that's not the case at all.

As the smoke screen clears some, we are seeing the truth is not what has been presented. Not even close. The downfall of Detroit and other cities has to do with certain elements that don't want to pay for their obligations, such as retirement pensions.

What better way to break the unions and pensions stranglehold than to simply ship the jobs overseas where they don't have any pensions and doing business and pay is cheap compared to the US.

No clue why they have such large debt with the water and sewer departments. No question in my mind that there must be some kind of shady dealings going on for the water and sewer departments to be in debt at all. I mean seriously, who doesn't pay their water bill? That's the lowest amount utility bill there is for a residence or business. If the payments by water customers are paying the bills, why is the water department even part of the conversation? Most likely corruption somewhere.

So what this is really about is corrupt and incompetent government officials wasting the public's money, putting the public further and further in debt to the point they say they can't pay, so they in turn give the public the shaft by "restructuring" their ill gotten debt, so that the very community they serve gets nothing, while certain creditors get their cash.

Quote
Most aspects are still being negotiated in mediation sessions with stakeholders

Curious way to put it! "Stakeholders"? And who might they be? Special interest groups and those who have connections to government officials? And why them, versus the public? These things get behind closed doors and make deals in private, with no public input hardly, only for the government to announced they have" reached a deal with creditors" and the public gets squat.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on March 03, 2014, 06:18:04 pm
3 huge cities flirting with bankruptcy

Staggering under pension obligations and debt, any of these could follow Detroit into court.

3/3/14
http://money.msn.com/investing/post--3-huge-cities-flirting-with-bankruptcy

By Karen Riccio
 
Detroit's looming bankruptcy is making news again, this time focusing on current restructuring plans aimed to wipe out $18 billion in debt by axing pension checks of city retirees, including police and fire.

Massive long-term retirement and healthcare promises were by no means solely responsible for the city's fall, but these massive pensions coupled with a tax base weakened by high unemployment and housing vacancies caused the budget to bleed out quicker.

The Michigan city may be the most recent victim of bankruptcy, but many of the 61 largest U.S. cities have adopted the same retirement legacy leading to $118 billion in unfunded healthcare debts. Retired city workers stop contributing to the system; the system keeps paying them; and before you know, a fiscal crisis has begun.

If you think the three cities below are too big to fail, think again.

The solid performance in the stock market in 2013 may have allowed some of their investments within pensions to grow and cover costs. However, when the growth rate of investments slow, and the payout rate speeds up, expect to see any one of these cities next in line at bankruptcy court:

New York City

When adjusted for population, New York owes $20 billion more for retiree health care than Detroit, or a total of $88.2 billion.

On top of those obligations, the Big Apple owed pensioners $69.9 billion more than it set aside as of last year's annual report. Again, adjusted for population, that's $28 billion more than Detroit owes.

One of the reasons New York City can't balance its annual budget is because it has to spend one-third of its revenues on health, retirement benefits, and debt. New York's budget has run an operating deficit six of the past seven years (with the shortfalls covered by pre-2008 surpluses).

Chicago

The Windy City may be closer to bankruptcy than New York. Fitch Ratings recently downgraded the city three notches because of pension liabilities for its 30,000 retired workers and a struggling economy.

Makes perfect sense when you consider that Chicago's four pension systems -- for police, firefighters, laborers and municipal workers -- were short by $19.5 billion at the end of 2012. That does not include the ailing pension fund for Chicago teachers, which had its own $8 billion shortfall at the end of the last fiscal year.

The option to raise property taxes to cover the annual required pension contribution is simply out of the question considering homeowners would be looking at a 35 percent tax increase.

Next year, Chicago must come up with a state-mandated $590 million increase in its contribution to police and fire pension funds, so it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

Los Angeles

When former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan gazed into his crystal ball in 2010, he told the Wall Street Journal, "Los Angeles is facing a terminal fiscal crisis: Between now and 2014 the city will likely declare bankruptcy."

The tremendous growth in payouts for retirement benefits over the years certainly lends merit to his prophecy. According to Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, pension costs in L.A. increased from 8.5 percent of total city expenditures in 1999 to 15.4 percent for fiscal 2012.

Stanford's study also estimated that each of the city's three independent pension funds is unfunded by billions of dollars: the city of Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System is $9.25 billion unfunded; the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System is $11.32 billion unfunded; and the city of Los Angeles Water and Power Employees’ Retirement System is $6.59 billion unfunded.

Many cities have begun to make reforms like trimming benefits, upping the retirement age, increasing employees’ contributions, shifting retirees into Medicare, or reexamining the meaning of "defined benefit" pension plans.

It's likely, though, that reform can't come fast enough for some cities and bankruptcy may be imminent.

One good bit of news in all of this is that municipal bonds are very resilient even when a city files for bankruptcy. For instance, in the well-known and large municipal bond default of Orange County, Calif., the recovery rate was 100 cents on the dollar. Bondholders that held on to maturity did not lose any money because Orange County did not miss a single interest payment or principal payment.

Just be sure to pay attention to a municipal bond's rating. If it falls to junk status, you might want to bail out.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on March 06, 2014, 05:13:52 am
16 Examples That Show The United States Has Become A Seriously Messed Up Country

In recent years, it has been quite common to hear our politicians and top media personalities talk about the need for America to use military force to impose “our values” on the rest of the world.  But what “values” could they possibly be talking about?  The truth is that we don’t have any “values” worth sharing with anyone at this point.  America has become a festering cesspool of garbage and filth, and it is getting worse with each passing day.  As a nation, we need to humble ourselves and turn away from our wicked deeds and rediscover the values that once made this country great.  But instead, we seem to have developed a thirst for evil that can never be satisfied.  The entire nation seems to be slowly going insane, and not that many people are even alarmed by this.  I hope that you will share this article with others, because the American people desperately need a giant wake up call.  The following are 16 examples that show that the United States has become a seriously messed up country…

#1 The American flag is starting to be banned in schools all over the nation, and federal courts are backing them up on this…

    Last week in Dariano v. Morgan Hill Unified School Dist., the 9th Circuit ruled that a public school can actually ban the American flag. Making matters worse, the decision allows the school to ban the American flag and still allow students to display flags of other countries.

#2 Speaking of our courts, many of them appear to have literally gone insane.  Just check out what the highest court in Massachusetts recently ruled…

    Massachusetts’ highest court has ruled that a man accused of secretly snapping photos up a woman’s skirt on an MBTA train did not break the law.

    The State Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday dismissed charges against Michael Robertson of Andover, who was arrested in August 2010 by transit police.

    Officers had set up a sting on the Green Line after getting reports that Robertson was using his cellphone to take photos and video up female rider’s skirts and dresses.

#3 Parents are starting to lose the natural affection that they should have for their children.  For example, a pregnant mother that already had three children recently tried to kill them all by driving her minivan into the ocean…

    “The two in the back seat was crying, with their arms out saying ‘Our mommy’s trying to kill us, please help,’” said Tesseneer.

    A bystander’s video of the rescue shows a rescuer carrying two children away from the sinking van when the children tell them there was another child inside.

    “The kids are like, ‘No there’s a baby. There’s a baby,’” Tesseneer said. “She (the mother) wouldn’t say a word. She didn’t tell us nothing about a baby.”

    The men are seen on video frantically trying to get to the small child through the hatchback and the driver’s side door.

#4 In the old days, some people would cruelly abandon their pets in the woods, but now this is actually happening to children…

    A Florida couple was arrested for allegedly abandoning their three young children in the woods, authorities said.
    Michael and Sarah Butcher, both 30, were first arrested Friday after illegally parking their red truck in a private RV park in Punta Gorda.

    Cops later found crystal meth in their car’s glove compartment, along with a syringe and a burnt spoon, according to the arrest report.

    After the pair was taken to jail –- where they repeatedly claimed to be brother and sister –- the police received a call that three children were found walking in the woods, “very dirty, hungry, and cold,” according to a police report.

#5 Teenagers in America just continue to become even more cruel.  Perhaps we should rethink the way that we are raising our children…

    Four teenagers are accused of carving a swastika into the forehead of a 16-year-old boy.

    The Oregonian reports that Jenna Montgomery, 15, Jess Taylor, 17, Blue Kalmbach, 15, and a 14-year-old boy attacked the boy in a shed, shooting him with a BB gun and hitting him with a crow bar, on top of carving a swastika into his forehead.

#6 The FDA is actually considering making it legal for doctors and scientists to create “three parent babies” in the United States.

#7 Our financial system appears to be more corrupt than it ever has been before.  And yet nobody ever seems to go to prison…

    In a nearly $13 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in November 2013, JPMorganChase admitted that it, along with every other large U.S. bank, had engaged in mortgage fraud as a routine business practice, sowing the seeds of the mortgage meltdown. JPMorgan and other megabanks have now been caught in over a dozen major frauds, including LIBOR-rigging and bid-rigging; yet no prominent banker has gone to jail.

#8 Sexual perversion of all types is running rampant in America.  Just consider what one Florida man recently did with a dog…

    Police have arrested a Tampa man after his neighbors reported that he was having sex with a dog.

    According to Tampa Police, officers were flagged down by the man’s neighbors on N. Marks Street Tuesday afternoon.

    “When officers arrived on scene, they were greeted by a small crowd of residents who were disturbed by their neighbor’s activity with the dog,” a police spokeswoman explained. “Several of the witnesses stated that they yelled at the suspect to stop, but he ignored their commands.”

#9 An all-time high 59 percent of all Americans believe that the traditional definition of marriage needs to be changed.

#10 The popularity of “throuples” has surged so much that a new dating website has been launched that will cater to them specifically.

#11 Authorities around the nation are alarmed at the rise in occult-inspired crimes that appears to be happening.  Most of you have probably heard about “the Craigslist Killer” by now…

    A woman in Pennsylvania who has been charged with murder for killing  a man she met on Craigslist has told reporters that she has committed over 20 murders as part of a satanic cult.

    “When I hit 22 [murders], I stopped counting,” 19-year-old Miranda Barbour told the Daily Item on Saturday.

#12 The United States already has the highest rate of divorce in the entire world, and now the divorce rate is on the rise again.  Some pundits are blaming the “improving economy” for this.

#13 In America today, there are 60 million people that abuse alcohol and there are 22 million people that use illegal drugs.

#14 As I wrote about recently, there are 747,408 registered sex offenders in the U.S. according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.  That number only includes the ones that have been caught and convicted.

#15 Planned Parenthood has produced a video “that promotes bondage and sadomasochism” to teens…

    Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE)–which received more than $2.75 million in government funding in 2012–has produced and posted online a video specifically aimed at teenagers that promotes bondage and sadomasochism (BDSM) and proposes “rules” to follow when engaging in these activities.

    “People sometimes think that those who practice BDSM are emotionally scarred or were once abused—not true, it’s a total myth,” the host of the video, Laci Green, informs its intended audience of teens.

    “BDSM relies upon and creates trust,” she says.

By the way, the U.S. government gives hundreds of millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood each year.

#16 Speaking of Planned Parenthood, more than 56 million American babies have been slaughtered in this country since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973.

What should be done to a nation that does such a thing?

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/16-examples-that-show-the-united-states-has-become-a-seriously-messed-up-country


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on March 06, 2014, 08:51:15 pm
Quote
#12 The United States already has the highest rate of divorce in the entire world, and now the divorce rate is on the rise again.  Some pundits are blaming the “improving economy” for this.

Ultimately, the Apostate church system is largely to blame - it was all and good that they exposed abortion and sodomy through and through, but not once have they said anything about no-fault divorce, especially when their own(ie-Charles Stanley, Hal Lindsey, etc) got them.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on March 11, 2014, 05:26:04 am
55 Things About America You May Not Know

Is America the greatest nation on the planet?  Before you answer that question, you might want to check out the statistics that I have shared in this article first.  The reality is that the United States is in a deep state of decline, and it is getting harder to deny that fact with each passing day.  Mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually and financially we are a train wreck.  Many that are “patriotic” attempt to put a happy face on our growing problems, but the truly patriotic thing to do is to admit just how bad things have gotten so that we can start finding solutions.  If you truly love this country, then you should know that this nation needs a huge wake up call.  We have abandoned the values and the principles that early Americans held so dear, and as a result our society is a giant mess.  The following are 55 things about America that you may not know…

#1 We are supposed to have a government “of the people, by the people, for the people”, but only 25 percent of all Americans know how long U.S. Senators are elected for (6 years), and only 20 percent of all Americans know how many U.S. senators there are.

#2 Americans spend more on health care per capita than anyone else in the world by far, and yet we only rank 35th in life expectancy.

#3 Only one state in the entire country has an obesity rate of under 20 percent.  11 states have an obesity rate of over 30 percent.

#4 Of all the major industrialized nations, America is the most obese.  Mexico is #2.

#5 Back in 1962, only 13 percent of all Americans were obese, but it is being projected that 42 percent of all Americans could be obese by the year 2030.

#6 According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 31 percent of all food in the United States gets wasted.  In case you were wondering, that amounts to approximately 133 billion pounds of food a year.

#7 America has the highest incarceration rate and the largest total prison population in the entire world by a wide margin.

#8 In America, we even put 81-year-old women in prison for feeding the birds.

#9 According to a Newsweek survey taken a few years ago, 29 percent of all Americans could not even name the vice president.

#10 Americans spend more time sitting in traffic than anyone else in the world.

#11 60 percent of Americans report feeling “angry or irritable”.  Two years ago that number was at 50 percent.

#12 36 percent of Americans admit that they have yelled at a customer service agent during the past year.

#13 Only 30 percent of all Americans can tell you in what year the 9/11 attacks happened.

#14 There are more “deaths by reptile” in America than anywhere else in the world.

#15 Right now, 29 percent of all Americans under the age of 35 are living with their parents.

#16 Average SAT scores have been falling for years, and the level of education that our kids are receiving in most of our public schools is a total joke.

#17 According to a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, nearly 70 percent of all Americans are on at least one prescription drug.  An astounding 20 percent of all Americans are on at least five prescription drugs.

#18 Americans spend more than 280 billion dollars on prescription drugs each year.

#19 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, doctors in the United States write more than 250 million prescriptions for antidepressants each year.

#20 Children in the United States are three times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants than children in Europe are.

#21 In the United States today, prescription painkillers kill more Americans than heroin and **** combined.

#22 America has the highest rate of illegal drug use on the entire planet.

#23 According to the federal government, the number of heroin addicts in the United States has more than doubled since 2002.

#24 It is hard to believe, but 56 percent of all Americans now have “subprime credit”.

#25 America exports more weapons to other countries than anyone else in the world.

#26 The United States has the most complicated tax system on the entire planet.

#27 Corruption is rampant throughout our society.  In fact, America leads the world in money given to fake charities.

#28 America leads the world in soft drink consumption by a wide margin.  Today, the average American drinks more than 600 sodas a year.

#29 In 2008, 53 percent of all Americans considered themselves to be “middle class”.  In 2014, only 44 percent of all Americans consider themselves to be “middle class”.

#30 70 percent of Americans do not “feel engaged or inspired at their jobs”.

#31 40 percent of all workers in the United States actually make less than what a full-time minimum wage worker made back in 1968 after you account for inflation.

#32 Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps.  Today, about one out of every 6 Americans is on food stamps.

#33 The marriage rate in the United States has fallen to an all-time low.  Right now it is sitting at a yearly rate of 6.8 marriages per 1000 people.

#34 In the United States today, more than half of all couples “move in together” before they get married.

#35 America has the highest divorce rate in the world by a good margin.

#36 America has the highest percentage of one person households on the entire planet.

#37 100 years ago, 4.52 were living in the average U.S. household, but now the average U.S. household only consists of 2.59 people.

#38 According to the Pew Research Center, only 51 percent of all American adults are currently married.  Back in 1960, 72 percent of all adults in the United States were married.

#39 For women under the age of 30 in the United States, more than half of all babies are being born out of wedlock.

#40 At this point, approximately one out of every three children in the United States lives in a home without a father.

#41 In 1970, the average woman had her first child when she was 21.4 years old.  Now the average woman has her first child when she is 25.6 years old.

#42 America has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the world by a very wide margin.

#43 Approximately one out of every four teen girls in the United States has at least one sexually transmitted disease.

#44 America has the highest STD infection rate in the entire industrialized world.

#45 According to the latest figures released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, there are 20 million new sexually-transmitted infections in the United States every single year, and Americans in the 15 to 24-year-old age range account for approximately 50 percent of those new sexually-transmitted infections.

#46 As I wrote about recently, there are 747,408 registered sex offenders in the U.S. according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

#47 America produces more pornography than any other nation in the world.

#48 America has the most lawyers per capita in the entire world.

#49 If you choose to be a “Constitutionalist” in America today, you may get labeled as a potential terrorist by the U.S. government.

#50 America has the largest national debt in the history of the world.  Back in 1980, the U.S. national debt was less than one trillion dollars.  Today, it is over 17 trillion dollars.

#51 According to the Congressional Budget Office, interest payments on the national debt will nearly quadruple over the next ten years.

#52 Americans spend more money on elections than anyone else does in the world by a very wide margin.

#53 65 percent of Americans are dissatisfied “with the U.S. system of government and its effectiveness”.  That is the highest level of dissatisfaction that Gallup has ever recorded.

#54 Only 8 percent of Americans believe that Congress is doing a “good” or “excellent” job.

#55 70 percent of Americans do not have confidence that the federal government will “make progress on the important problems and issues facing the country in 2014.”

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/55-things-about-america-you-may-not-know


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on March 11, 2014, 11:43:28 am
Quote
#9 According to a Newsweek survey taken a few years ago, 29 percent of all Americans could not even name the vice president.

I noticed that too recently - yes, even Vice Presidents get a lot of publicity too(ie-Al Gore and **** Cheney). But for some reason, Biden has quietly slipped under the radar, despite a lot of his foot-in-the-mouth-disease comments he's made during the course of this administration. Also, Biden is Jesuit trained, so guess it's no surprise if he's playing the role of the Black Pope in the Oval Office.

Quote
#11 60 percent of Americans report feeling “angry or irritable”.  Two years ago that number was at 50 percent.

There was a 1993 Michael Douglas movie "Falling Down" - it was about a man whose life was falling apart(got fired, had an estranged family), and he just ended up losing it throughout the movie. Anyhow - when I saw this movie 20 years ago, and fast-forwarding to this present day, couldn't help but think how this movie telegraphed a lot of punches.

For example - around the beginning of the movie, Douglas tells a Chinese convenient store owner how "This country invests a lot in your country..."(para) - back then, I don't think anyone was aware over how China was slowly but surely owning a lot of our debt. But nonetheless, that movie all but depicted the one day life of a man you see in modern-day society now.

Quote
#13 Only 30 percent of all Americans can tell you in what year the 9/11 attacks happened.

Again, yes, I noticed that too - this "attack" was the day that all but changed the world(ie-in particular, further destroying the US Constitution), but somehow people just never understood the implications of it from day 1.

Quote
#16 Average SAT scores have been falling for years, and the level of education that our kids are receiving in most of our public schools is a total joke.

Hate to say it, but the SAT was a joke from the get-go - I say this b/c it's probably not a good idea to expose children to a lot of the modern-day vocabulary words in it. For example, in the 1611 King James Bible, replenish(which is mentioned in Genesis 1 over God's 6 day creation) means to FILL(and that is ALL). However, as time has gone on, and the culture has "changed", they've modernized this word(for example) to mean REFILL. Hhhhmmm...maybe that's why the Genesis 1:1-2 gay theory ended up taking off?

Quote
#17 According to a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, nearly 70 percent of all Americans are on at least one prescription drug.  An astounding 20 percent of all Americans are on at least five prescription drugs.

THAT many?? :o Yeah, it's come to a point now where they're taking these Big Pharma meds like they're candy or ice cream.

Quote
#33 The marriage rate in the United States has fallen to an all-time low.  Right now it is sitting at a yearly rate of 6.8 marriages per 1000 people.

#34 In the United States today, more than half of all couples “move in together” before they get married.

#35 America has the highest divorce rate in the world by a good margin.

This is largely b/c of all of the modern-day perverted bibles put out into the market, which Churchianity has embraced. They remove all references to fornication, and replace them with words and phrases that are left up to open interpretation. Wescott and Hort HATED America, FYI. Now you're seeing the rotten fruits of this.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on March 28, 2014, 05:45:51 am
What Happens When Teachers, Delivery People And Fast Food Workers Don’t Care Anymore…

One of the big problems in America today is that a lot of people simply do not seem to care about what they are doing anymore.  The level of sloth, laziness and apathy that we are witnessing in this country is absolutely mind-numbing.  Of course this is not true of everyone.  There are still many Americans that are extremely hard working.  But overall, it really appears that people are not taking as much pride in their work as they once did.  Some of the examples that I am about to show you are quite funny.  Others are more than just a little bit disturbing.  But they all have a common theme.  Americans from all walks of life are simply giving up.  Whether they are teachers, delivery people or fast food workers, the truth is that there are a whole lot of people out there that seem to have mentally checked out.

For example, take a close look at the midterm exam posted below.  Does anything stand out to you?...

REST: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/what-happens-when-teachers-delivery-people-and-fast-food-workers-dont-care-anymore


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on March 28, 2014, 06:08:57 am
The example of the fast food worker eating soft serve directly from the dispenser is not a good example of indifference. Who hasn't had the passing desire to do just that? Or maybe a mouth full from a Slurpee dispenser? How how about just digging your hand directly into a big bucket of ice cream and chowing down?

Indifference? Nah, more like many I think are more embolden by the cameras that are just about everywhere these days. People like to show off because ultimately, they are vain and want attention. They truly are bored because they have no real direction in their lives.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on March 28, 2014, 07:30:45 am
Quote
For example, take a close look at the midterm exam posted below.  Does anything stand out to you?...

And he got an A- for his efforts on that midterm! :D

(http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Midterm-Exam-425x556.jpg)


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on April 16, 2014, 02:23:15 pm
Chicago: 36 Shootings in 36 Hours

 Chicago, which has some of strictest gun laws on the books, has a new tragic statistic to add to its crime-heavy history: 36 shootings in 36 hours.

http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/chicago-36-shootings-36-hours


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on April 16, 2014, 02:49:06 pm
Chicago: 36 Shootings in 36 Hours

 Chicago, which has some of strictest gun laws on the books, has a new tragic statistic to add to its crime-heavy history: 36 shootings in 36 hours.

http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/chicago-36-shootings-36-hours

 :o :o


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on April 21, 2014, 05:31:48 am
5 children shot, among at least 35 wounded over the weekend in Chicago - @ABC7Chicago


https://twitter.com/ABC7Chicago


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on April 21, 2014, 11:46:29 am
5 children shot, among at least 35 wounded over the weekend in Chicago - @ABC7Chicago


https://twitter.com/ABC7Chicago

And it's just continuing - yes, gun control has played a large part, but nonetheless never in my wildest imaginations would I have thought it would get THIS wretched.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on April 25, 2014, 07:30:01 am
Bulletproof Subways A Sign Of Violent Times?

(http://cbschicago.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/bullet-proof-subway1.jpg?w=620&h=349&crop=1)

While out on an unrelated assignment, CBS 2 investigative reporter Dave Savini decided to stop by a South Side Subway sandwich shop for a meal.

Savini was struck by the fact that the counter of the store at 116th Street and South Halsted was encased in bullet-proof glass.

Such a sight would be common at crime magnets like gas stations or currency exchanges, but a Subway?

The store was clean and looked just like any other well-run Subway restaurant, except for the bullet-proof protection for the employees and lack of a bathroom for customers.

https://twitter.com/davesavinicbs2/status/459318237809737729/photo/1

In fact, a few patrons asked for hand sanitizer because they couldn’t wash their hands.

Savini took a few photos and sent out a tweet, saying the scene was a sad depiction of gun violence in Chicago:

The restaurant is located on the border of the Roseland and West Pullman neighborhoods, which has seen its share of gang violence.

However, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis, crime in those areas recently has declined.

Nonetheless, both communities rank in the top 15 in Chicago for violent crime.

Savini also posted his photos on Facebook, where one user remarked that there is a similar set up at a Subway in the Austin neighborhood.

An internet search also found a few bulletproof Subways in Oakland and Detroit.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/04/24/bulletproof-subways-a-sign-of-violent-times/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on April 25, 2014, 09:36:53 am
20 years ago, there was a scene in the Woody Harrelson/Wesley Snipes movie "Money Train" where someone walked up to the booth operator and set it on fire.

I bring this up b/c it was subsequently after that when a "copycat" happened in a NY subway, and Bob Dole/Capitol Hill started making a big fuss out of this movie(which is why both the crime and the scene in this movie got so much publicity then).

Pt being that they can "protect" themselves all they want, but ultimately there's 100s of ways a crime can be committed.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 14, 2014, 06:37:28 am
Feds released hundreds of immigrant murderers, drunk drivers, sex-crimes convicts

Immigration officials knowingly released dozens of murderers and thousands of drunken drivers back into the U.S. in 2013, according to Obama administration statistics that could undercut the president’s argument that he is trying to focus on the most serious criminals in his immigration enforcement.

Among the 36,000 immigrants whom U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released from custody last year there were 116 with convictions for homicide, 43 for negligent manslaughter, 14 for voluntary manslaughter and one with a conviction classified by ICE as “homicide-willful kill-public official-gun.”

The immigrants were in deportation proceedings, meaning ICE was trying to remove them from the country and could have held them in detention but released them anyway, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, which published the numbers Monday. The Washington Times also obtained the data.

“This would be considered the worst prison break in American history, except it was sanctioned by the president and perpetrated by our own immigration officials,” said Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican. “The administration’s actions are outrageous. They willfully and knowingly put the interests of criminal immigrants before the safety and security of the American people.”

The data raised thorny questions about how the government decides which immigrants to detain and which it will release as they await court hearings and final action on deportation.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/12/feds-released-hundreds-immigrant-murderers-drunken/#ixzz31gmmiCOE


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 14, 2014, 10:10:17 am
16 Reasons Why the United States is Going to Hell in a Handbasket

A couple of weeks a go after expressing an urgency to put our preps into high-gear, several readers asked why that I felt so strongly, about it, and why I felt the “the end” was getting close. I think that is a good and reasonable question, so I decided to do a write up, and offer an explanation. As you can see, I don’t think any one problem or event will cause the collapse of the American empire, but a number of separate but interlocking events and issues.

Another point to consider is that the U.S. government has the resources, and inside information that would allow them to foretell when a major disaster or complete collapse is coming and they have been prepping and building underground bunkers on a mass scale and despite the fact our tax dollars are being used to build those bunkers we are not invited.

Free Trade with Communist China

Communist China is not our friend and has overtaken the U.S. economically, and will be in a position to surpass the U.S. militarily within the next ten years. Yet we continue to import, buy and consume their products by the millions everyday. In fact it’s getting more and more difficult to  buy a product in the U.S. that does not have the “made in china” label attached to it. U.S. goods and private services trade with China totaled $439 billion in imports 2012.

Meanwhile china uses those funds to build it’s military might and expand it’s military technology.  The U.S has even been selling and giving china advanced technology that could be used against the U.S.  in a military confrontation. A large portion of that technology has passed from the U.S. to Israel and then from Israel on to China.

In 2012 a pentagon contractor was caught selling military technology to China (no doubt bought with funds that U.S. consumers of “made in China” products had sent them) according to the report they had sold China the software and engines needed to make its first-ever modern attack helicopter.

A break down of the traditional family

America has turned from a nation promoting morality and a belief in God to a nation where anything goes, with the most perverse and ungodly acts being accepted, promoted and even glorified.  And if anyone disagrees, or speaks-out against this immorality they are quickly labeled as promoting hate, bigotry or of being a racist. This quickly shuts most opponents up while simultaneously, implanting the message in everyone’s mind, that those acts in-question are are to be accepted and are somehow cool.

A  break down of morality

Everywhere we turn today we (and our children) are bombarded with images of sex and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, music, and TV. This constant bombardment has promoted promiscuity, and corrupted the minds of the American people and made us into a nation a degenerates and perverts. And in many cases molesters of children and even animals.

According to this report Americans spend 13.1 billion dollars on pornography every year.

    Americans spend 13.1 billion dollars on pornography every year, which is the same amount the country spends on foreign aid. More than 260 million Internet pages are pornographic, an increase of 1,800% in just five years. Christian Broadcasting Network said: “We’re living in a sex-saturated society. Even the popular culture is often pulsing to a pornographic beat. Clothing that was seen only in **** magazines decades ago, now drapes some of our most celebrated pop icons

A declining belief in God, the Bible and Christian values

According to a report on The Daily Mail,  “Americans starting to lose faith? Belief in God and miracles declines as Darwinism becomes more popular” from the report;  The number of Americans who believe in God is declining, as a new poll shows a move away from traditional beliefs.  The Harris poll, which questioned more than 2,250 adults about their beliefs, found that those with the strongest faith lived mostly in the South, voted Republican, and were black.  The online poll also showed that more Americans were describing themselves at ‘not very religious’ and that there was an increase in those believing in Darwin’s theory of evolution.

As a nation we are turning away from God and the religious principles that this nation was built on, these founding principles have been what has held us together as a nation and kept us strong, but it seems that we are banning God from the country and our lives.

Declining freedom and turning away from a constitutional government

We have been seeing a decline in freedom for a longtime but after 9-11 the lose of personal freedom, privacy and constitutional rights have been on a rapid decline. Now we are constantly, watched, monitored and recorded, we can now legally be detained and held indefinitely without a trial or due process. And U.S. citizens can even be assassinated on U.S. soil by order of the president.

Just like the imaginary, war on drugs, the war on terror has been used as an excuse to trample on individual constitutional rights and to increase the power of the government and the ultra wealthy that control the country from behind the curtains. Scare the population enough and they will willingly turn over their freedom and rights for a promised margin of safety – even Glenn Beck was so afraid after 9-11 that he supported Patriot Act.

As has been said; and is practiced religiously, by those in power “never let a crisis good  go to waste“, this is also the same tactic that the Obama administration tried to use to destroy the second amendment after the Sandy Hook ordeal…

A militarization of  the police forces nationwide

It seems that just about everyday I get emails from readers and read news reports of police abuse of power – everything from shooting and killing an unarmed and handcuffed man, to shooting a suspect in the back while running away, or a man executed by police for camping on public land (did you hear the “officer” yell, Booyah after shooting the man 6 times?), all justified of course,  to police shooting and killing chained and caged dogs. Even puppies and a 5 pound Chihuahua aren’t safe from thugs in uniform.

And now to make matters worse police departments around the country seem to be gearing up for war with military hardware, and tactics. Who do they plan on going to war with you ask, well the American people of course, who else. We are already living in a police state under a “soft” form of martial law, and they are getting ready to tighten the screws down even tighter, that’s why those in power are getting all of this in place.

A one party political system

Many Americans think that they have a choice when they enter the voting booth. Well guess what they don’t – republicans and democrats, democrats and republicans what’s the difference? Neither represent the American people or give one big crap about defending individual rights or the Constitution.

In the U.S. we have a one party system masquerading as a two party system, to give voters the illusion of having a choice and hope for change, but both parties are controlled by the same people who really run the country. The system is rigged and we don’t have a choice…

Corruption of the political system

See above.  As former Governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura has said; when you spend millions of dollars to get elected to a position that pays a hundred thousand a year, we know those figure don’t add up. They are all a bunch of crooks – money, ego and a hunger for power has corrupted the American political system.

    “The truth is there are very few members [of the U.S. Congress] who I could even name or could think of who didn’t at some level participate in that [system of bribery and corruption in Washington D.C.].” Jack Abramoff, professional lobbyist and onetime power broker for the elite of Washington, D.C. (during a CBS’s 60 Minutes interview, Sunday November 6, 2011)

School system used to indoctrinate children

Government ran school systems are nothing more than indoctrination centers for our children, a place where they can be groomed and molded to the liking the government via propaganda that was designed by trained psychoanalysts to make future generations of American citizens into subservient slaves in a Big Brother police state.

When I was going to school, I carried pocket knives, (so did other kids and no one got cut or murdered) and I even read gun magazines in the classroom and no one said anything, other than my teachers asking to take a look at the magazines after I was done. I think they were just glad that I was reading something. I remember one boy bringing a sling-shot to school, and we set up a cardboard box and shot at it with the sling-shot, while the teachers watched.

Now school is like a prison where everything is watched and monitored and any form of free expression is suppressed and quickly beaten down. They are training children to be adults who view being constantly watched and monitored by “authorities”  as normal and even to be welcomed and demanded by a subservient population.

They are also training children to be dumbed down adults that can not think for themselves, to have no personal beliefs, thoughts or opinion other than what they are told by the “authorities” via the government controlled main-stream media.  Children are

He alone, who owns the youth, gains the Future!

– Adolf Hitler, speech at the Reichsparteitag, 1935

Please read – Hitler Youth… and Indoctrination by Our Public Schools.

A government controlled main-stream media via newspapers, magazines, radio, movies and TV

The stuff that you see on broadcasts like CNN aren’t news or reporting but the controlled media simply spewing forth talking points that have been provided for them by the white house and other government agencies – this has been admitted to by main stream “news” organizations.

    The corporate media is now openly admitting that they are in fact controlled stenographers that do nothing more than echo pre-scripted narratives outlined in talking points created by the rulers of America’s shadow government.

They use the main stream corporate media to push their agenda and views and to pursued the American people to do and believe what they want them to do and believe all while believing that it’s for their own good and was their decision.  This is called mass media brainwashing and those in power are good at it.

    People as drones, as automatons, in some kind of mind-control stupor, while thinking they are living in a free society.  I don’t say this with disdain, but more as matter of fact.

Taking control of the internet…

Just about the only semi-free media left is the internet, and that is why they want to control it. Currently the Obama administration is about to introduce a Chinese-style ID program for everyone and a few other tweaks that will afford government agencies and their controllers to tights their grip and control of everything done and said online.

    What Obama has done to free speech is kill it dead utilizing a bias-oriented justice system and governmental control. He has effectively put the gears forward to shut down free speech on the internet, and is now planning an even more erroneous putsch that will destroy freedom of expression completely. Plans are coming into place for a Chinese style thought control program called the “National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace” which will force every internet user to completely give up their privacy, be labelled, and tracked even further than is usual by the NSA.

And now we have Democrats proposing trolling media, and internet for “hate speech” which will be defined as whatever they say it is. Folks it’s all about control, control of everything you do, control of what you thing and control of what you say, and the best way for those in power to do that is to have full control over all media outlets, including the internet.

Political Correctness is out of control

You might be a racist if you have an American flag, don’t like Mexican food, disagree with Obama policy, but the one 100% guaranteed way to know if you’re a racist is to look in the mirror – if you see a white person looking back at you then you’re a racist – because only white people can be racist. At least this seems to be the general assumption made by the main-stream media and race-baiters like Al sharpton, who would probably call me a racist because, I own white-leghorn hens or maybe it would be because I own two black giant hens, who knows how he would go, but one thing is certain he would probably find a way to make it racial and the main stream media would be all over it.

By now, I’m sure, that you’ve heard about the LA clippers owner Donald Sterling and his racist, comments that he made to his girlfriend during what he thought was a private conversation. And while his comments were undoubtedly, racist against blacks, those comments are his personal views and no matter how wrong those comments might be or whom those comments might offend, is he not entitled to his beliefs and to express those beliefs in a “private” conversation?

Apparently not. At least according to the NBA, the players, the media and fans nationwide. Because of his private (but recorded) comments he has been banned from attending any NBA events, he will have to pay a $2.5 million fine and they are trying to force him to sell his property, which is the L.A. Clippers team.

While his comments were offensive, and disgusting and he is obviously an elitist prick, should anyone be able ban him from public events, or force him to pay a fine or sell his property for something he said in a private conversation?

Almost as soon as this story broke the race baiter Al Sharpton was threatening to call for an advertising boycott of the NBA during an interview with TMZ if Sterling was not punished for his speech.

And who could forget the Paula Dean fiasco…  where she while under oath during a court appearance admitted to using the dreaded “N word” in a private conversation with her husband in the past, resulting in her being fired from the food network, being dropped by sponsors and having her merchandise pulled from store shelves across the nation. All because of something she said 20 years in a private conversation with her husband.

The list could go on and on, but I don’t want to waste anymore time on this. The race issue is being constantly poked by operatives of the federal government like Al Sharpton to keep racial tensions high and the government controlled main-stream media uses this stuff as a distraction to keep everyone occupied and infighting so we don’t come together and see what is really happening with their corruption, to our country,  to our economy and to our freedom.

They want to keep us divided alone racial lines so that they can better lie to and control us.

An entailment mentality

Sadly, the United states is turning, (some would say it has already turned) from being a nation of producers and working folks to a nation of takers that feel that they are somehow entitled to “free money” for doing nothing but setting an their ass, watching TV, playing video games, drinking, doing drugs and breeding like rabbits, after all the more that they breed and produce the larger their check will get in most cases.

According to http://www.heritage.org/

    America is increasingly moving away from a nation of self-reliant individuals, where civil society flourishes, toward a nation of individuals less inclined to practicing self-reliance and personal responsibility. Government programs not only crowd out civil society, but too frequently trap individuals and families in long-term dependence, leaving them incapable of escaping their condition for generations to come.

And according to Statistic Brain there are 12,800,000 Americans on welfare, 46,700,000 on food stamps or SNAP, 5,600,000 on unemployment, with a total government spending on welfare annually (not including food stamps or unemployment) of $131.9 billion. Folks these are the true zombies, that will be clawing at your door when the welfare stops coming and they get tired of waiting for the taxpayer to feed them.

Foreign companies taking over big business and buying up property in the U.S.

China and to a lesser extent other nations are buying up business and property in the United States, for example China recently, purchased 90% ownership in AIG’s airplane leasing unit, International Lease Finance Corporation, to a Chinese investor group for approximately $5.28 billion. And according to the same site the Chinese have also bought 80.1 percent of ILFC for approximately $4.23 billion, with an option for an additional 9.9 percent stake. According to its website, ILFC is ‘world’s largest independent aircraft lessor measured by number of owned aircraft.’

And it’s not only airplanes that the Chinese are interested in – CNBC reports that the Chinese are on a buying spree and sweeping up every energy and natural resource in the United States that they can get their hands on. And they’re even buying up and taking control of the U.S. food supply - China’s largest acquisition to date of a U.S. company, Smithfield Foods, is raising among market watchers who question China’s interest in taking possession of one of America’s largest food producers – via CNBC.

And they’re not stopping there the Chinese are also buying large chunks of land across America, according to Michael Snyder, it the Chinese are on a real estate buying spree all over America…

Declaring  anyone who doesn’t agree with government policies as having a psychiatric disorder

Support the U.S. Constitution, or disagree with government policy or the policy makers then you might have a  psychiatric disorder. After all according to B.O. we “wrongheaded” Americans need to just trust the government more and everything will be peaches and cream from then on…

Obama: “Wrongheaded” Americans Must Trust Government More

    President Obama today said Americans had developed the “wrongheaded” view that Washington won’t look out for them, a fallacy he said was stoked by conservatives and their philosophy that says people are “on their own.”

Disagree with Al Gore and others on global warming then you probably have a psychiatric disorder, don’t want to join the Borg, then you undoubtedly have a psychiatric disorder because Psychiatrists now say non-conformity is a mental illness. Yep, nothing to see here folks, take your meds, and relax, everything is going to be okay. No more “wrongheaded” Americans allowed, you will be assimilated.

Folks this is being done for a couple of reasons, number one if they can legally declare you a nutcase  then they can legally and easily, take away your rights, or lock you up and two no one wants to be labeled or considered a crazy person, so most folks will shut-up and keep their thoughts about the government and governmental policy to themselves.

U.S. national debt at unprecedented levels

As of May 13 2014 the current national debt stands at 17,518,681,450,890 – yep, that’s a lot of numbers, over seventeen trillion in debt and growing fast. To put it into perspective and to see what a trillion dollars looks like click here. How much longer this spending and adding to the national debt can go on before completely crashing is up for debate, but the world is starting to lose faith in the U.S. dollar and are looking to move away from and out of the U.S. currency.

When the world (or a couple key countries) lose faith in the U.S. dollar and stop lending to us, because of our massive  growing debt and our out of control currency printing, the U.S. economy will crash. This won’t happen over night, and has in fact been happening for years, but as we are getting closer to “the end” the whole process will be put into overdrive – we can see this starting now with our lenders using  their dollars to buy euros or yen or gold rather than U.S. bonds.

You see the U.S. dollar is backed by nothing but air and everyone with half a brain knows it – but the fact that many people still view it as having some value, allows you to be able to make purchases with it. But as you can see by the chart below since 1913 the dollar has continually, been decreasing in buying power and will continue to do so… This has been caused mostly by uncontrolled currency printing and increasing debt. For a complete breakdown of how the financial system “works” and is crashing please read  DollarCollapse FAQ’s this is the best and easiest  to understand explanation that I’ve found.

Dollarpurchasing-power1913-to-2013

Well there you have it folks – my thoughts and a few explanations of what I think is wrong in America, why we are collapsing as a nation and why I prep.  I could go on forever, and we could get into issues like our failed foreign policy, the three global predator predator nations all fighting for control and to be the leader of the new world order, the corrupt banking system etc… but we will leave that for another day…

I would love to read your thoughts in the comments below…

http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/united-states-collapse/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Kilika on May 15, 2014, 04:01:06 am
Quote
16 Reasons Why the United States is Going to Hell in a Handbasket

Personally, I couldn't care less. Prophecy says that is exactly where the US and the rest of the world is headed.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Christian40 on May 15, 2014, 04:16:44 am
Not just the US, Britain and Australia are decayed, the worse it gets people might wake up and believe this world is not worth living for, that their minds be turned to the teachings of the Lord Jesus and seek Him in their situation.



Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 23, 2014, 03:52:07 pm
Detroit motorists under siege in 'Carjack City'

When they pull up to a gas station these days, Detroit drivers are looking beyond the price per gallon at a far more threatening concern: carjackers.

The armed auto thieves have become so common here that parts of the bankrupt metropolis are referred to as "Carjack City," and many motorists fear getting out of their vehicles even for a few moments to fill a tank.

So gas stations are taking steps to protect customers, and the city has formed a special police team to go after suspects. Convicted carjackers will even get their faces and prison sentences plastered onto billboards.

"You need to catch these people and make a good example of them," said Mousa Bazzi, who owns a Mobil station in a semi-desolate neighborhood bordering Detroit's east riverfront. He keeps his business well-lit and continually has two to four employees inside to ensure "there's always an extra hand or two" in case of trouble.

Authorities blame many of the carjackings, ironically, on improvements in vehicle security. Anti-theft equipment, GPS systems and advanced locks now prevent many vehicles from being driven without a key in the ignition.

That makes it difficult or impossible for thieves to steal parked cars, leading them to target vehicles that are occupied, said Jonathan Parnell, of Detroit's auto-theft squad.

Also contributing to the thefts is a strong demand for stolen wheels and tires, police said.

Bazzi's station displays pale-green decals depicting a lighthouse — a sign that his business has joined the city's anti-carjacking effort. To be part of the program, stations must have security cameras, good lighting, be open 24 hours and have clerks willing to help motorists and provide a phone for emergency calls.

"There is a waiting list," Sgt. Michael Woody said. "We have so many gas stations that want to become a lighthouse. You get better protection with that big sticker in the window that tells criminals there is proper equipment that will help police investigate these crimes."

Detroit police reported 720 carjackings last year in the city of fewer than 700,000 people. That's down from nearly 850 in 2011 and 1,231 in 2008.

The decline may partly be due to Detroit's freefalling population, but the thefts still exceed the carjackings in some comparably sized U.S. cities.

Sharlonda Buckman, executive director of a Detroit nonprofit, was at a gas station on an October morning when she ran inside for aspirin. Back inside her SUV, she was just closing the door when she saw a carjacker shove his gun inside.

She screamed and jumped out of the vehicle. The carjacker jumped in and drove off. Three other customers gave chase in their vehicles. One caught up to the SUV and got shot in the leg by the carjacker, who was later arrested.

Now, Buckman said, she tries not to pump gas at all.

"If the night catches me, I won't pump gas in the city," she said. "Or I'll call somebody to meet me."

It's difficult to know how Detroit's carjackings rank nationally because many police agencies lump carjackings with all armed robberies in annual reports to the FBI.

Newark, New Jersey, with a population of 280,000, had 382 carjackings last year, giving it a per capita rate that is actually higher than Detroit's. Memphis, Tennessee, with a population of 655,000, had slightly more than 400 carjackings over three years from 2011 through 2013. El Paso, a rapidly growing western Texas city of 670,000, reported only 15 carjackings last year and 18 in 2012.

Through May 19, Detroit has recorded 191 carjackings in 2014, including the Feb. 24 shooting death of CVS security guard Courtney Meeks, who rushed toward a car being taken by three men, and the Feb. 4 slaying of Donald Bradshaw, a 68-year-old man who was beaten to death with a tire iron after he was carjacked at an intersection.

Prosecutors, the FBI and Detroit police recently announced a campaign to spread the word about stiffer federal penalties for carjacking, which can include the death penalty if someone is killed. A similar campaign that includes billboards with photos of convicted carjackers started last summer in Newark.

Detroit police have also announced a partnership with General Motors' OnStar roadside assistance service to track down stolen vehicles and promote rewards tied to an anonymous tip line.

To avoid becoming a victim, security guard Greg Champion wears a handgun on his hip whenever he's pumping gas.

"I don't want to surprise you," Champion said. "I want you to know I'm armed, and I want you to know I can defend myself, and I want you to go somewhere else."

Christine Reed takes the opposite approach. The 27-year-old mother of two won't stop for gas in Detroit. She lives north of the city in Warren and works four days a week cleaning offices downtown.

If she's in a bad section of town, Reed said, she passes through red lights because it's tougher to carjack a moving target.

"It's not a safe place anymore," Reed said. "It's dangerous."

The state-appointed emergency manager tasked with restructuring Detroit's $18 billion in debt has said crime needs to be reduced to make the city attractive to new residents and businesses.

That's going to take more and better resources, said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who complains that she has only a few assistants to try carjackings.

"When nobody has any resources ... all we can be is reactive," she said.

http://www.breitbart.com/system/wire/ap_d522409e321848e6b400060aab947e09


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 27, 2014, 06:21:06 am
Report: 1 in 3 Babies Aborted in Detroit

 A new report about the high number of abortions in Detroit, considered by many to be a failed city because of its financial devastation, reveals that an estimated 31 percent of pregnancies there end in abortion, what one doctor compared to the worst rates on earth.

“We’re seeing a picture that looks more like some Third World country than someplace in the United States,” Dr. Susan Schooley, head of the Department of Family Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital, told The Detroit News.

Among the worst abortion rates around the globe are repressive nations like Vietnam, where there are 83 abortions per 1,000 women, the Russian Federation, where the rate is 68, and Ukraine, where the rate is 57 per 1,000 women.

Continue reading this story >>
http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/1-in-3-babies-aborted-in-this-american-city/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on June 23, 2014, 11:11:08 am
Nearly Half Of Detroit Water Customers Can’t Pay Their Bill

It’s a basic human right: water. But could the United Nations soon help the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department provide the service to struggling customers?

Water department spokeswoman Curtrise Garner says it’s a possibility — but for now, the water bills must be paid.

“We do have programs that do help those that are just totally in need; can’t afford it — but we also know that there are also people who can’t afford it would can not pay and we know this because, once we shut water off, the next day they are in paying the bill in full. So we do know that that has become a habit as well,” said Garner.

“At the DWAS Department — it’s not our goal to shut off water. We want people’s water on, just like they do; but you do have to pay for your water…That’s the bottom line.”

Garner said the reality is that nearly half of Detroit Water and Sewerage customers can’t pay their bills and that has led activists to lobby the UN to step up and take action.

“If they do contact us we are willing to speak with them,” she said, adding “We owe it to the customers that are paying to collect from those that aren’t. Somebody has to pay for the water.”

And while Garner says water is “a God-given right,” she says there is a cost to move water from the water resource to the customer and that the infrastructure costs money.

According to the Free Press, the average Detroit water bill is now $75 a month — much higher than the nation’s average rate of about $40.

So, what’s the solution?

WWJ Newsradio 950 listeners have been sounding off on Facebook.

Posted Kathy Ward, “This is just insane. If someone is that destitute that they truly cannot afford their water bill, there are already welfare programs in place for that. I’m guessing those same people not paying their water also have a TV, cable, I-phone, etc. People need to get their priorities straight, not expect another government handout.”

Wrote Rodney Carter, “Call President Obama he has plenty of taxpayers cash to spend. Wasn’t that a campaign promise he made along with free rent and gas and payin’ my car note…Socialism only works if there is someone to pay for it.”

Calvin Adkins added, “If there are programs available to help these families, I am all for it. God has blessed me with ability to pay my bills so being hateful towards those who aren’t able is just not in me. Yes, there are able bodies out there abusing the system. And those individuals should be sought out. But before we go after those people, how about we go after the real welfare abusers. The elected officials, oil companies, insurance companies, banks, Wall Street. Because those abusers are the biggest beneficiaries of our hard work and tax dollars. Stop kicking those who are already down.”

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/06/23/nearly-half-of-detroit-water-customers-cant-pay-their-bill/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on July 08, 2014, 11:01:03 am
http://news.yahoo.com/14-killed-dozens-hurt-chicago-shootings-222104647.html
14 killed, dozens hurt in Chicago shootings
7/7/14

CHICAGO (AP) — Extra police officers on Chicago's streets were not enough to quell a long weekend of violence that ended with 14 people shot to death and dozens more injured.

During a Monday news conference, just hours after two more people were shot to death earlier in the day, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said his department's best efforts could not prevent the bloodshed that spiked dramatically on Sunday. Chicago's total of 53 shooting incidents for the holiday weekend easily eclipsed Detroit and New York combined, which had a total of 46 shooting incidents, 10 of which were fatal.

"Going into the holiday weekend we had a plan, including putting hundreds more officers on the streets and what were the results?" McCarthy asked. "The results were a lot of shootings, a lot of murders, unfortunately."

The shootings over the Fourth of July holiday weekend included eight incidents that involved police, according to McCarthy. In five of those instances, officers shot at suspects. Two people — both 16 — were killed in those shootouts. McCarthy said that based on preliminary investigations, all of the officer-involved shootings appear to have been justified, including one in which officers fired after a suspect who tried to run them over with his car.

Even with the weekend shootings, Chicago police are on pace with last year for officer-involved shootings, with 33 so far in 2014, compared with 35 at the same time last year, according to McCarthy.

The Associated Press took its tally of shooting deaths for the holiday weekend from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, from Thursday through Sunday. The number of shooting incidents came from Chicago police and was for Thursday evening through Sunday. The two deaths early Monday morning were not included in the weekend totals.

McCarthy, who came to the nation's third-largest city from New York, used the opportunity to again highlight the number of guns that are on Chicago's streets. While Chicago has tough gun sales and possession ordinances, McCarthy maintains that Illinois needs stiffer penalties for people who violate gun laws.

McCarthy said his officers are seeing more suspects who are reluctant to throw down their guns when confronted by police because they're more concerned with harsh treatment from their gangs if they lose their weapons than the legal system if they are arrested with them.

"Possession of a loaded firearm is not even considered a violent felony in the state of Illinois for sentencing purposes," McCarthy said, noting that gangs, on the other hand, may severely beat a member who loses a gun.

The latest spate of shootings also indicates how dangerous the streets can be, particularly in the summer when the warm weather puts more people on the streets. McCarthy noted that nearly half of the 53 shooting incidents over the holiday weekend happened on Sunday, when temperatures climbed into the upper 80s.

Still, the superintendent stressed that even with the weekend deaths, Chicago has had fewer homicides as of July 6 (185) than it did for the same period last year (196). At the same time, he said, the city has had 46 more shooting incidents than last year.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on August 12, 2014, 06:07:11 am
BRAWL AT ST. LOUIS GALLERIA... DEVELOPING...
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/08/massive-brawl-shuts-down-st-louis-galleria-mall-on-lockdown/

Rioters Chuck Bricks on I-270...
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/08/massive-brawl-shuts-down-st-louis-galleria-mall-on-lockdown/

Violence erupts after black teen shot by police in Missouri...
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/violence-breaks-out-near-site-of-vigil-for-teen-killed/article_f9d627dc-e3c8-5bde-b2ab-7f0a3d36a083.html

LOOTING...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/vandalism-looting-reported-vigil-missouri-man-killed-cop/story?id=24923516

ATM STOLEN FROM QUICKTRIP; STORE TORCHED; TANKS BROUGHT IN...
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/08/breaking-ferguson-protesters-attack-police-cars-loot-quicktrip-following-teen-killing-video/

Employee Feared Death...
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/08/11/quiktrip-employee-workers-hid-in-back-room-as-ferguson-store-was-looted-set-on-fire/

Mayor: 'People started driving in from other areas to steal stuff'...
http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/missouri-mayor-looters-were-out-of-towners/

Armed business owners defend shops...
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/08/armed-guards-at-strip-mall-save-north-st-louis-businesses-from-looters/

Men stand guard outside their liquor store...
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/08/11/when-missouri-looting-broke-out-these-men-did-what-they-had-to-do-to-protect-their-store/

'Anonymous' hacks city website...
http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Anonymous-says-they-will-launch-cyber-attacks-against-Ferguson-PD-270706191.html

After riots, hundreds protest...

http://news.yahoo.com/riot-erupts-following-shooting-death-unarmed-black-teen-050037811.html

Trayvon Martin attorney to represent slain teen...
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/2014/08/11/trayvon-martin-family-attorney-to-represent-slain-missouri-teen/13882389/

Officer Responsible For Shooting To Be Identified...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/officer-shot-unarmed-missouri-teen-michael-brown-identified/story?id=24929787

More demonstrations planned...

http://fox2now.com/2014/08/11/protesters-meet-with-police-in-riot-gear-more-demonstrations-tuesday/

Police investigation could take up to six weeks...
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/08/10/police-michael-brown-had-struggled-with-officer-before-shooting

Holder launches probe...
http://thehill.com/regulation/administration/214879-holder-opens-federal-probe-of-slain-teen

FLASHBACK '08: A New, 'Post-Racial' America...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18489466

New crowdsourcing App warning about 'sketchy' parts of town accused of racism...
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2462271,00.asp

News crew robbed investigating...
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dc-news-crew-robbed-while-reporting-on-sketchy-neighborhoods/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on August 12, 2014, 07:16:27 am
Ferguson Is A Perfect Example Of How Quickly The Streets Of America Can Descend Into Chaos

Rioting, looting, burning down stores and shooting police officers - is this about to become the "new normal" in America?  What we just witnessed happen in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri is a prime example of how quickly the streets of America can descend into chaos.  There is so much anger and frustration in this country, especially among our young people, that all it takes is a "trigger event" to spark a wildfire.  In this case, it was the shooting of an unarmed black teen by a police officer.  According to the police, 18-year-old Michael Brown got into a physical altercation with an officer and was subsequently shot.  Word spread quickly throughout the community, and protests were rapidly organized.  But the protests didn't stay peaceful.  People started chanting "kill the police" and throwing rocks and bottles.  Store windows were smashed, the looting began, and people went absolutely crazy.  And it wasn't just a few people that were doing the looting.  Huge mobs of people looted stores all over Ferguson.  At one point an ATM was even dragged out of a QuikTrip gas station and a while after that the store was set on fire.  But this is what happens when things descend into chaos.  The owners of those stores didn't have anything to do with the shooting of Michael Brown, but the violence got directed at them anyway.  And someday when we see similar scenes erupt in major cities all over the nation, it won't matter what your political beliefs are.  You just better not be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ferguson is a little town just outside of St. Louis with a population of about 21,000 people.  You wouldn't think that it would be possible to see such massive rioting in such a small community.  But that is precisely what happened.  On Monday, millions of Americans were absolutely mesmerized by the images coming out of Ferguson.  The following is how one news source described what happened...

    Brian Schellman, with the St. Louis County Police Department, said close to 300 police officers from at least 15 different departments were called to Ferguson when angry mobs began smashing windows, setting fires and looting businesses in the area.

    Schellman said a St. Louis County officer injured his knee while at a Foot Locker store during the rioting. He said another officer was injured when he had a brick thrown at him.

    Throughout the evening, numerous cop cars sustained damage and Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson said someone in a yellow pickup truck fired shots at officers while circling a WalMart parking lot.  Chief Jackson said he got into a cop car to give chase to the truck but the truck got away.

    Police said shots were also fired at a police helicopter in the area.

But words do not really accurately convey the level of craziness that was unleashed.  I would encourage you to watch some of the videos on YouTube of the rioting and looting that were going on in Ferguson.  The video posted below is just one example...

Sadly, this violence might continue for a while.

Just check out what one very angry 30-year-old man told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch...

    DeAndre Smith, 30, of Ferguson was happy to justify the looting when a reporter asked him about it Monday morning.

    "This is exactly what is supposed to be happening when an injustice is happening in your community," he said, adding: "You have kids getting killed for nothing."

    Smith, who moved to St. Louis from New York in December, said there could be more to come.

    "I don't think it's over honestly," he said. "I just think they got a taste of what fighting back means."

Of course this is not the first time that we have seen this kind of thing happen.  Earlier this year, all it took was a snow storm for people in Atlanta to start behaving like crazed lunatics.  And late last year we saw rioting and looting all over the nation when a technical glitch caused the EBT system to go down for a short while.

Even though the economy has somewhat stabilized (at least for the moment), levels of anger and frustration have continued to grow in this country.  We have been taught to hate one another and to blame one another for our problems, and so now the U.S. is more divided than at any other point in recent memory.  For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled "America The Divided: Everyone Knows We Have Problems But There Is Very Little Agreement On Solutions".

We live at a time when things are so tense that even a small spark can light an absolutely huge fire.  America has become a tinderbox.  Next time it might not be a racially-charged shooting.  Next time it might be an Ebola outbreak that sparks looting and panic.  Or it might be some sort of financial collapse.  We just don't know.

But what we do know is that there are lots and lots of people that are willing to riot and loot and commit unspeakable crimes given the right circumstances.

Decades of social decay have gotten us to the point where the thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted every single day is wearing dangerously thin.

The truth is that it is not going to take much to push this nation over the edge.

If this kind of rioting can take place in a community with just over 20,000 people, what would a full-blown riot look like in a city with millions of people?

That is a very sobering thing to think about.

Once upon a time in America, you could leave your doors unlocked at night and you could let your kids play in the streets without ever having to worry.

But now we are a sick, decaying nation that has millions of people ready to riot and loot at the drop of a hat.

Is there any hope for us?

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/ferguson-is-a-perfect-example-of-how-quickly-the-streets-of-america-can-descend-into-chaos


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on August 14, 2014, 09:32:23 am
http://news.msn.com/us/protests-turn-violent-in-st-louis-suburb
Tear gas, Molotov cocktails in St. Louis suburb
8/14/14

FERGUSON, Missouri (AP) — Police used tear gas and smoke bombs to repel crowds who threw Molotov cocktails during another violent night in a St. Louis suburb in the wake of the shooting of unarmed 18-year old Michael Brown.

Hours earlier, the police chief had said race relations were the top priority in the town, where a white police officer fatally shot the black teen. Authorities have vowed to reach across the racial, economic and generational divide in a community in search of answers.

In the streets of Ferguson, though, the polite dialogue heard at community forums and news conferences is nowhere to be found.

Instead, officers from multiple departments in riot gear and in military equipment have clashed nightly with protesters, who chant, "Hands up, don't shoot." Wednesday saw more tense confrontations and further volleys of tear gas from police — this time paired with smoke bombs in response to flaming projectiles and other objects lobbed from the crowd. Protesters faced heavily armed police who at times trained weapons on them from armored trucks.

Photos: Protests over Missouri teen's death

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that about 10 people had been arrested, including St. Louis Alderman Antonio French, who has been chronicling the protests on social media. Police had said earlier they would not have arrest information until early Thursday.

The White House said President Barack Obama — who is on vacation on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard — was briefed late Wednesday on the situation in Ferguson by Attorney General Eric Holder and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. Obama has another briefing scheduled for Thursday morning.

Residents in Ferguson have complained about what they called a heavy-handed police presence that began with the use of dogs for crowd control soon after Brown's shooting — a tactic that for some invoked the specter of civil rights protests a half-century ago.

County Police Chief Jon Belmar, though, said his officers have responded with "an incredible amount of restraint," as they've been the targets of rocks, bottles and gunshots, with two dozen patrol vehicles being destroyed.

"It's pretty amazing how impressed I am and inspired by these officers," he said. "This is a very difficult circumstance."

Police had also asked earlier that people assemble in "an organized and respectful" manner and disperse before evening.

The city and county are also under criticism for refusing to release the name of the officer involved in Brown's shooting, citing threats against that officer and others.

Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson called improving race relations "the top priority right now" but also said he won't be pressured into publicly identifying the officer — despite, he said, mounting demands from clergy, computer hackers and protesters.

Jackson said he welcomes Justice Department training on racial relations in the suburb, where two-thirds of the 21,000 residents are black while all but three of the police force's 53 officers are white.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon asked community members to be patient and calm while the investigation proceeds and urged law enforcement agencies to "keep the peace and respect the rights of residents and the press."

Jackson said the investigation remains weeks away from completion.

Police have said Brown was shot after an officer encountered him and another man on the street. They say one of the men pushed the officer into his squad car, then physically assaulted him in the vehicle and struggled with the officer over the officer's weapon. At least one shot was fired inside the car.

The struggle then spilled onto the street, where Brown was shot multiple times. In their initial news conference about the shooting, police didn't specify whether Brown was the person who scuffled with the officer in the car and have refused to clarify their account.

Dorian Johnson, who says he was with Brown when the shooting happened, has told a much different story. He has told media outlets that the officer ordered them out of the street, then tried to open his door so close to the men that it "ricocheted" back, apparently upsetting the officer.

Johnson says the officer grabbed his friend's neck, then tried to pull him into the car before brandishing his weapon and firing. He says Brown started to run and the officer pursued him, firing multiple times. Johnson and another witness both say Brown was on the street with his hands raised when the officer fired at him repeatedly.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on November 06, 2014, 12:48:05 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wB_hjqZQ1UY

 :o


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on December 20, 2014, 05:37:53 am
West Harlem Residents Are Fed Up With ‘Aggressive’ Raccoons Terrorizing Neighborhood

West Harlem residents say a posse of raccoons has taken over their neighborhoods and in some cases even broken into their homes.

“These things think they live here and they actually walk in if you leave an opening,” said resident Lauren Flanigan.

Pictures from residents showed a raccoon making itself comfortable on the patio of a West Harlem home, and even coming up to the door. And that raccoon was not alone, residents said.

“They came in the kitchen, and they’re not that friendly, and they also pushed the window screens in,” Flanigan told CBS2’s Tracee Carrasco.

“They climb over the fences to the next backyard and they keep going from backyard to backyard, so that’s why it’s not one homeowner’s problem. It’s everybody’s problem,” Maria Freeman said.

Residents complained that the raccoons wreak havoc in the streets daily, and believe they make the trek from Central Park. They want the city to do something because the problem is only getting worse.

“These raccoons don’t behave normally. They’re out during the day time when they should be sleeping. They are not afraid of humans. They’re aggressive,” Flanigan said.

Residents are now asking the city to step in and pay for a trap-and-release service to get rid of the raccoons before mating season starts in January.

In a statement the city said they are “staunchly committed to addressing all constituent requests from New Yorkers across the five boroughs, including animal related complaints and inquiries.”

Residents say help can’t come soon enough.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/12/18/west-harlem-residents-are-fed-up-with-aggressive-raccoons-terrorizing-neighborhood/


(http://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/bill-clinton-harlem.jpg)

JUST SAYING....  :D


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on April 09, 2015, 06:33:11 pm
America's Decay Is Speeding Up

As one who loves America -- not only because I am American, but even more so because I know (not believe, know) that the American experiment in forming a decent society has been the most successful in history -- I write the following words in sadness: With few exceptions, every aspect of American life is in decline.

"Decay" is the word.

The Decline of the Family: Nearly half (48 percent) of American children are born to a mother who is not married. Forty-three percent of American children live without a father in the home. About 50 percent of Americans over 18 are married, compared to 72 percent in 1960. Americans are having so few children that the fertility rate fell to a record low 62.9 births per 1,000 women in 2013. And in an increasing number of states, there are now more deaths than births.

The Decline of Education: Compared to nearly all of American history, the average American school teaches much less about important subjects such as American history, English grammar, literature, music and art. Instead, schools are teaching much more about "social justice," environmentalism and sex.

Any of us who receive emails from large numbers of Americans can attest to the deteriorating education -- including among those who attended college -- in written English. In sophisticated commentary on websites as well as in email, one encounters the most basic errors: "it's" instead of "its;" "their" instead of "there;" "then" instead of "than," etc.

Most universities have become secular seminaries for the dissemination of Leftism. Moreover, aside from indoctrination, students usually learn little. One can earn a BA in English at UCLA, for example, without having read a single Shakespeare play.

To the extent that American history is taught, beginning in high school and often earlier, American history is presented as the history of an immoral nation characterized by slavery, racism, colonialism, imperialism, economic exploitation, and militarism -- not of a country that, more than any other, has been the beacon of freedom to mankind, and the country that has spent more treasure and spilled more blood to liberate other peoples than any other nation.

The End of Male and Female: Whatever one's position on same-sex marriage, one must acknowledge that at the core of the argument for this redefinition of marriage is that gender doesn't matter. Marriage is marriage, and gender means nothing, the argument goes. So, too, whether children are raised by mother and father or two mothers or two fathers doesn't matter. A father has nothing unique to offer a child that a mother can't provide and vice versa.

Why? Because -- for the first time in recorded history -- gender is regarded as meaningless. Indeed, increasingly gender doesn't even exist; it's merely a social construct imposed on children by parents and society based on the biological happenstance of their genitalia. When signing up for Facebook, one is offered nearly 60 options under "gender." In various high schools across the country, boys are elected homecoming queen. A woman was recently kicked out of Planet Fitness for objecting to a man in the women's locker room. She was accused of intolerance because the man said he felt that he was a woman.

The End of Right and Wrong: At least two generations of American young people have been taught that moral categories are nothing more than personal (or societal) preferences. Recently, an incredulous professor of philosophy wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times titled "Why Our Children Don't Think There Are Moral Facts." In it he noted, "Without fail, every value claim is labeled an opinion" (italics in original). This extends to assessing the most glaring of evils. Since the Nazis thought killing Jews was right, there is no way to know for sure whether it was wrong; it's the Nazis' opinion against that of the Jews and anyone else who objects. I have heard this sentiment from American high school students -- including many Jewish ones -- for 30 years.

The End of Religion: There are no moral truths because there is no longer a religious basis for morality. More than the Enlightenment, it was the Bible -- especially the Hebrew Bible (which was one reason America's Christians were different from most European Christians) that guided the Founders' and other Americans' values. Not anymore. Instead of being guided by a code higher than themselves, Americans are taught to rely on their feelings to determine how to behave. Instead of being given moral guidance, children are asked, "How do you feel about it?"

The End of Beauty: Just as morality is subjective; so are beauty and excellence. There is no good or bad art or literature. You like Beethoven; I like rap. You like Shakespeare; I like Batman. "Street art" (aka graffiti) is worthy of museum exhibition; paint thrown by an "artist" from atop a ladder onto a canvas is considered high art and fetches over $100 million; and a giant sculpture of a dog with lifted leg urinating adorns the front of the Orange County Museum of Art in California.

If you acknowledge that American society is in decay, it is your obligation to fight to undo it. If you can't acknowledge that American society is in decay, you are providing proof that it is.

http://townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/2015/04/07/americas-decay-is-speeding-up-n1981613/page/full


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 29, 2015, 05:48:11 am
Prepare Your Homes And Neighborhoods For The Violence That Is Going To Sweep America

The thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted on a daily basis is beginning to disappear, and a new era of chaos and anarchy is coming to our cities.  I don’t know if you have noticed, but violence is increasing on the streets of America.  Over Memorial Day weekend, 29 people were shot in Baltimore and 55 people were shot in Chicago.  But of course the trend that I am talking about is much broader than that.  According to the FBI, the number of police officers “feloniously killed” in the line of duty rose by an astounding 89 percent in 2014.  We live at a time when Americans are becoming extremely angry and extremely frustrated, and this is only going to intensify as economic conditions worsen.  But already we have seen some of this anger and frustration boil over into violence in Ferguson and in Baltimore.  And you know what?  The vast majority of Americans expect more of the same in the coming months.  According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey that was recently released, 96 percent of all Americans believe that there will be more civil unrest in America this summer.  What we have seen up until now is just the warm up act.  The main event is still to come.

If things are this bad already, how bad will they be when the next great economic crisis hits this nation and unemployment skyrockets and poverty is everywhere?

That is why I am encouraging people that currently live in the heart of our major cities to consider moving.  Unfortunately, most Americans are completely dependent on the jobs that they currently have, so moving is not really a practical option for a lot of people.

For those that cannot move, you are just going to have to get prepared right where you are.  That means making your home and your family as unattractive a target to potential criminals as you possibly can.  The goal should be to avoid a violent confrontation if at all possible.  So you will want multiple layers of security between you and those that would potentially harm you and your family.  You want to try to deter the bad guys from ever coming on to your property in the first place, but if they do come, you need to be ready to deal with them.

At the moment, we are still in the midst of relatively stable economic times.  But even in these relatively stable times, violence is escalating.  Just consider what happened in Baltimore over the recent holiday weekend.  A grand total of 29 people were shot…

    Police say 29 people were shot, 9 of them killed over this weekend, adding to the  record-breaking violence.

    The shooting didn’t stop on Monday night after a 9-year-old boy and another man were both injured by gun fire in the 2900 block of Arunah Avenue. Police say the child was shot in the leg and another man suffered a graze wound to the head.

Overall, this past month has been the deadliest month for Baltimore in 15 years.

Things are even worse in the city of Chicago.  Over this past weekend, 55 people got shot…

    Twelve people were killed and at least 43 — including a 4-year-old girl — were wounded in shootings across Chicago this Memorial Day weekend, police said.

    The 4-year-old, identified by her family as Jacele Johnson, was shot about 8 p.m. Friday in the West Englewood neighborhood. She and her 17-year-old cousin Romare Wilson were inside an SUV in the 7000 block of South Justine when another vehicle pulled up and someone inside opened fire, according to their family and Chicago Police.

Early in April, I went on the record and specifically named Chicago and Baltimore as two of the cities where we would be seeing civil unrest.  Since that time we have seen horrible rioting in Baltimore and the violence in Chicago continues to spiral out of control.

Other experts are issuing similar warnings.  For example, consider what an assistant professor at New Jersey City University recently had to say…

    Urban unrest expert Dr. Max Herman says that the United States is on the “cusp” of a wave of domestic disorder and that the country will see more race riots.

    Herman, Assistant Professor of Sociology at New Jersey City University, told the New Republic’s Joel Gillin that the economic downturn, in addition to incidents of police brutality, have provided fertile conditions for civil unrest.

    He sees the re-emergence of a 60’s-style “protest ideology” amongst black communities which will lead to more disorder.

    “It’s very clear from studying history that these things tend to run in cycles,” said Herman, adding, “I think we are at the cusp of another cycle.”

Author Chris Hedges is saying similar things.  The following comes from a recent article about him in the National Post…

    The United States is primed for a rebellion. So argues Chris Hedges in his new book, Wages of Rebellion, in which the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and polemicist examines revolts from 1700s to the ending of apartheid in South Africa, as well as the “sublime madness” that drives the people at the centre of such rebellions.

When asked by the National Post why he wrote his new book, this is what Hedges had to say…

    I didn’t write it as a warning or a prediction. I wrote it more as an assessment. I covered disintegrating societies like Yugoslavia. I know how they break down; I know what the warning signs are, so it’s familiar. I don’t think at this point there’s much dispute. Even just the financial indicators in terms of wealth disparity and chronic unemployment. The fact that Congress has a nine-per-cent approval rating. Where I’m coming from, the book is an attempt to explain where we are in this particular historical period.

But it isn’t just that we are entering a new cycle of unrest.  Our “leaders” have made things much worse by the decisions that they have made.  For instance, Barack Obama’s decision to leave our southern border virtually unguarded has resulted in a massive flood of illegal immigrants coming into this country.  As a result, violent gangs that have roots in Central America and South America have mushroomed in size.  So now major cities far from the border such as Charlotte, North Carolina are being absolutely terrorized by these gangs…

    Recent busts of murderous MS-13 gangsters put the lie to President Obama’s sympathetic amnesty narrative of illegal immigrants as “workers who mow our lawns, make our beds (and) clean out bedpans.”

    Authorities Wednesday rounded up 37 MS-13 gang members in Charlotte, N.C., on racketeering conspiracy charges, along with charges of murder, attempted murder and firearms violations. All of them are illegal aliens from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Several are round-trippers — illegals who broke in once, committed crimes, got deported and broke back into the U.S. — proving that our border is porous and unsecured.

    Charlotte police discovered the rat’s nest of foreign gangsters after some of them started shooting up local nightclubs and bars.

In 2015, it isn’t just our own citizens that we need to be concerned about.  At this point, many of our biggest cities are absolutely packed to the gills with gangs made up primarily of illegal immigrants.

I discussed Chicago earlier.  Did you know that it is estimated that approximately 150,000 gang members now live there?

When things start really breaking down in this country, those gangs are going to have a field day.

America is changing, and not for the better.  And when violence starts sweeping this nation, don’t count on the government to come in and rescue you.  After watching what happened in Ferguson and in Baltimore, you should know better than that by now.

It is time for the American people to prepare their own homes and their own neighborhoods for the chaos and the violence that is coming.

For the moment, things are still relatively stable so we have a little bit of time to prepare, but it won’t last for long.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/prepare-your-homes-and-neighborhoods-for-the-violence-that-is-going-to-sweep-america


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 29, 2015, 05:48:57 am
Baltimore Has Descended Into A State Of Lawlessness – And More Cities Will Soon Follow

Did you really think that Baltimore would return to normal after everything that has happened?  On Thursday, a mother and her 7-year-old son were both shot in the head in a double murder that has shocked the entire nation.  Police believe that the son may have been shot in order to prevent him from identifying the individual that shot his mother.  So is this what America is turning into?  A place where 7-year-old kids are executed in cold blood?  That mother and son were the 37th and 38th murder victims in the city of Baltimore so far this month.  That makes this the deadliest month in Baltimore in 15 years, but because of all the controversy surrounding the death of Freddie Gray, police in Baltimore are afraid to do their jobs at this point.  In some areas of the city, young men boldly smoke weed in public and wave guns around at innocent bystanders without any worry that police will intervene.  Baltimore has descended into a state of lawlessness, and this is just the beginning.  As I discussed just the other day, the same kind of lawlessness will soon sweep all across this country.

Have you ever been afraid to step outside of your own home?  That is what day to day life is like for many residents of Baltimore right now.  In fact, one woman is even barricading her door and setting up metal slabs behind her windows to deflect gunfire.  Just check out the following excerpt from a recent news report about what is going on in the city…

    “I’m afraid to go outside,” said Antoinette Perrine, whose brother was shot down three weeks ago on a basketball court near her home in the Harlem Park neighborhood of West Baltimore. Ever since, she has barricaded her door and added metal slabs inside her windows to deflect gunfire.

    “It’s so bad, people are afraid to let their kids outside,” Perrine said. “People wake up with shots through their windows. Police used to sit on every corner, on the top of the block. These days? They’re nowhere.”

I think that this is an indication of what we can expect from the police when chaos erupts in cities all over America.  In some places there will be troops in the streets to maintain order, but in other areas it will be like the wild west.

Right now, police officers in Baltimore are running scared.  They know that they are targets, and they know that one mistake can land them in prison or on the front page of newspapers all over the nation.  According to Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, there have been times when officers have gone into an area only to be immediately surrounded by “30 to 50 people”…

    “Our officers tell me that when officers pull up, they have 30 to 50 people surrounding them at any time,” Batts said.

    Batts provided more details at a City Council meeting Wednesday night, saying officers now fear getting arrested for making mistakes.

    “What is happening, there is a lot of levels of confusion in the police organization. There are people who have pain, there are people who are hurt, there are people who are frustrated, there are people who are angry,” Batts said. “There are people, and they’ve said this to me, `If I get out of my car and make a stop for a reasonable suspicion that leads to probable cause but I make a mistake on it, will I be arrested?’ They pull up to a scene and another officer has done something that they don’t know, it may be illegal, will they be arrested for it? Those are things they are asking.”

The criminals have the upper hand in Baltimore now, and they know it.

Just consider the words of the head of the police union.  He says that the police in the city “are under siege”…

    “The criminals are taking advantage of the situation in Baltimore since the unrest,” said Gene Ryan, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3. “Criminals feel empowered now. There is no respect. Police are under siege in every quarter. They are more afraid of going to jail for doing their jobs properly than they are of getting shot on duty.”

Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis made even stronger remarks during a recent appearance on Fox News.  He told Sean Hannity that police in Baltimore have been “eviscerated”, “disemboweled”, and have had their “guts removed”…

    Wicomico County, MD Sheriff Mike Lewis (R) declared that police officers are “fearful” of doing their jobs on Wednesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

    “Sean, the Baltimore City Police Department, the officers particularly on the street, have been eviscerated, they’ve been disemboweled, their guts removed to have the courage to go out there and do this job. They’re very fearful that if they go out there and be proactive, which we all should be doing in law enforcement today, we can’t afford to be reactive, especially in urban areas. Those officers are no longer being proactive, and as you see, the violence has surged. … And I hope this is a shot fired across the bow of mayors and urban leaders across this country. Once you disembowel your law enforcement officers, then you cannot no longer expect them to go out there and protect you, or protect your communities. This is very troubling the worst I’ve ever seen in 31 years of law enforcement.”

Can you imagine what must be going through the heads of Baltimore police officers at this point?

One wrong move and you could start a riot.

One wrong move and you could go to prison.

One wrong move and you could be on the front page of every newspaper in the country and be labeled the biggest villain in America.

In early April, I publicly stated that civil unrest was coming to Baltimore, and what we are seeing happen there is eventually going to start happening all over the nation.  Police are going to start pulling back from the most violent areas and will allow chaos to reign in the streets.

It is only human nature.  Police officers are going to be extremely hesitant to risk their lives in communities where they are deeply hated and where they risk ruining their entire lives with a single wrong move.

It is going to take a lot of courage to be a cop in America’s inner cities in the years ahead.  Last year, the number of officers “feloniously killed” in the line of duty increased by 89 percent, and things are only going to get worse.

America is changing, and not for the better.  As economic conditions deteriorate, many of our major cities are going to turn into war zones.  If you are expecting the government to step in and fix things when that happens, you will be deeply disappointed.

This nation is filled with anger and hate, and it is getting worse with each passing day.

I truly wish that things had not turned out this way, but they did.  I truly wish that we could just all learn to love one another and live in peace, but it isn’t happening.

The hatred and frustration that are boiling just under the surface in this country are about to explode, and when that happens we will all pay a very great price.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/baltimore-has-descended-into-a-state-of-lawlessness-and-more-cities-will-soon-follow


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 30, 2015, 09:57:34 am
The New Nationwide Crime Wave
The consequences of the ‘Ferguson effect’ are already appearing. The main victims of growing violence will be the inner-city poor.


The nation’s two-decades-long crime decline may be over. Gun violence in particular is spiraling upward in cities across America. In Baltimore, the most pressing question every morning is how many people were shot the previous night. Gun violence is up more than 60% compared with this time last year, according to Baltimore police, with 32 shootings over Memorial Day weekend. May has been the most violent month the city has seen in 15 years.

In Milwaukee, homicides were up 180% by May 17 over the same period the previous...
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-nationwide-crime-wave-1432938425


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 10, 2015, 07:48:20 am
Violent Crime Is Surging In Major U.S. Cities And The Economy Is Not Even Crashing Yet

Don’t let anyone tell you that crime is going down in America.  All over the United States, rates of violent crime in our major cities are increasing by double digit percentages.  Murders are way up, shootings are way up and rapes are way up.  So what is behind this sudden spike in crime?  In Baltimore, authorities are pointing to the racial tensions that were stirred up by the riots that erupted in protest to the death of Freddie Gray.  But what about the rest of the country?  From coast to coast, we are witnessing a dramatic increase in violent crime, and the economy is not even crashing yet.  So what is going to happen when the next great economic crisis hits us, unemployment skyrockets, and people really start hurting?

When I was surveying the news today, I was very surprised to learn that the murder rate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has more than doubled so far this year…

    Milwaukee, which had one of its lowest annual homicide totals in city history last year, has recorded 84 murders so far this year, more than double the 41 it tallied at the same point last year.

And of course Milwaukee is far from alone.  All over the U.S., violent crime is jumping dramatically.  Here is more from USA Today…

    Baltimore, New Orleans and St. Louis have also seen the number of murders jump 33% or more in 2015. Meanwhile, Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, has seen the homicide toll climb by 19% and the number of shooting incidents increase in the city by 21% during the first half of the year.

    In all the cities, the increased violence is disproportionately impacting poor and predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhoods. In parts of Milwaukee, the sound of gunfire has become so expected that about 80% of gunfire detected by ShotSpotter sensors aren’t even called into police by residents, Flynn said.

The crimes seem to be getting more brutal as well.  Just the other day, I was stunned by one particular incident that happened in Baltimore…

    Gunmen got out of two vans and began firing at a group gathered on a corner Tuesday night, fatally shooting three people, police said.

    The two gunmen shot a total of four people — one who was in stable condition — a few blocks from the urban campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, according to police.

    The three deaths bring the homicide total for Baltimore for the year to at least 154, according to police news releases. That’s an increase of more than 40 percent compared with the same time last year. Shootings have increased more than 80 percent. The city has seen a spike in violence since the April death of Freddie Gray after his arrest. The incident received widespread national attention and sparked unrest across Baltimore.

To me, that almost sounds like a scene out of some really violent mobster movie.

What would cause people to behave like that?

Things are also getting crazy out on the west coast.  According to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, overall crime in the city is up by more than 12 percent so far in 2015…

    For the first time in more than a decade, overall crime is up in Los Angeles through the first six months of the year, rising by more than 12%, according to figures released Wednesday.

    The increase has continued despite the city’s efforts to stem the crime surge, which followed consecutive declines since 2003.

    “This is bad news,” Mayor Eric Garcetti told reporters Wednesday. “Let me be clear: Any uptick in crime is unacceptable.”

And some of the crimes that are being committed out there absolutely defy explanation.  For instance, just the other day someone walked up to a 30-year-old white woman as she was strolling with her boyfriend and fired a shotgun into the back of her head for apparently no good reason whatsoever…

    Sunday night in Los Angeles as a 30 year-old white woman walked with her boyfriend near Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, a mysterious black man walked up behind the couple and without saying a word fired a shotgun blast to the back of the woman’s head, according to police.

    The killer was seen carrying the shotgun as he ran to a car and drove away.

    The search for the killer continues.

But it isn’t just murder rates that are surging.  Sex crime rates are also on the rise all over America.  The following is an excerpt from a recent New York Post article entitled “Sex crimes are soaring in NYC“…

    Sex crimes are soaring in the city, with an especially frightening spike taking place during the past few weeks, The Post has learned.

    Misdemeanor sexual assaults as of Sunday night this year increased by 20 percent over the same period in 2014, from 1,003 to 1,203.

    But they shot up 75 percent for the week ending Sunday compared to the same week last year — from 45 to 79.

I believe that we have reached a turning point.

I believe that we have entered a period of time when violent crime in the United States is going to start skyrocketing – especially once the next major economic downturn arrives.

Meanwhile, budget cuts are forcing police forces to cut back all over the nation.  For example, the number of patrol officers in the city of Detroit has been reduced by 37 percent in the last three years alone…

    There are currently fewer officers patrolling the city than at any time since the 1920s. At one point, the Detroit police force was over 5,000. Today, the force is just 1,590 officers strong — and not all of those are on the street.

    The city has lost nearly half its patrol officers since 2000 and ranks have shrunk by 37 percent in the past three years alone, according to the Detroit News. It’s so bad that precincts are reportedly left with only one squad car at times.

But at least the police in the area have still maintained their sense of humor.  Just recently, someone stole 28,000 pounds of packaged nuts from a location in suburban Detroit…

    Police in suburban Detroit are having a little fun while asking for help from the public in figuring out who swiped roughly 28,000 pounds of packaged nuts.

    The Shelby Township Police Department says a truck and trailer packed with 18 pallets of walnuts and other snack nuts were taken the weekend of June 27. Police say the truck and trailer were found July 1 in Detroit, but the nuts worth more than $128,000 were gone.

This is the photo of the suspect that was actually released by the police…

(http://endoftheamericandream.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Squirrel-Mug-Shot-Facebook-Shelby-Township-Police-Department-460x460.jpg)

Do you know this suspect?  If so, please contact the authorities right away.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/violent-crime-is-surging-in-major-u-s-cities-and-the-economy-is-not-even-crashing-yet


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 20, 2015, 11:58:54 am
Horror on the streets of Detroit: Gang of men 'forced two couples to strip and then raped women in front of their boyfriends'

    Detroit police are searching for suspects who allegedly attacked at least two couples, forcing the male to watch as female was gang raped
    Couples were robbed and stripped of their clothes in each attack
    Police say men took turns sexually assaulting women
    Residents in area want men caught and arrested immediately



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3167468/We-looking-Detroit-police-hunt-three-suspects-two-couples-ambushed-group-men-stripped-clothes-sexually-assaulted.html#ixzz3gS4cR1bS



Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 23, 2015, 05:58:39 am
11 Signs That America Has Already Gone Down The Toilet

Just when you think that the depravity of the United States cannot possibly get any worse, something else comes along to surprise us.  Many of the things that you are about to read about in this article are incredibly disturbing, but it is important that we face the truth about how far this nation has fallen.  There are times when I will be having a conversation with someone else about the state of our country, and the other person will say something like this: “Wow – America is really going down the toilet.”  At one time, I would have totally agreed with that.  But at this point I would have to say that we have already circled the bowl and have made it all the way through to the other end.  Our society is absolutely addicted to entertainment (most of which is utter trash), tens of millions of us are hooked on drugs (both legal and illegal), and we have murdered more than 56 million of our own babies.  Our financial system is consumed with greed, we treat our military veterans like human garbage, and most of our “leaders” in Washington D.C. are deeply corrupt.  In America today, 64 percent of all men view pornography at least once per month, it is estimated that one out of every four girls is sexually abused before they become adults, and we have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the entire industrialized world.  We like to think that we are an “example” to the rest of the world, but the only example that we are setting is a bad one.  The following are 11 signs that America has already gone down the toilet…

#1 All over the United States, the body parts of aborted babies are being bought and sold, and the U.S. government gives the organization at the heart of this sick “industry” hundreds of millions of dollars a year.  This week, another incredibly shocking undercover video has been released which has given us even more evidence of what Planned Parenthood is really up to…

    The most recent video shows a luncheon conversation with Dr. Mary Gatter, who currently serves as president of Planned Parenthood’s Medical Directors’ Council and Medical Director of Planned Parenthood’s Pasadena abortion clinic.

    In the video, Gatter is heard haggling over the price she will charge for intact fetal body parts and is concerned that she will be “low-balled.” She asks for at least $75 per specimen, but wants to see what other Planned Parenthood abortionists are getting to make sure she gets similar compensation so she can buy an expensive sports car.

    “It’s been years since I’ve talked about compensation, so let me just figure out what others are getting and if this is in the ballpark, that’s fine. If it’s still low, we can bump it up. I want a Lamborghini,” Gatter laughed.

This is wickedness at a level that is almost unspeakable, and it is being bankrolled by the U.S. government.

Let’s hope that “I want a Lamborghini” gets plastered all over the Internet hundreds of millions of times.  I encourage everyone to get on Facebook and Twitter and start blasting out messages like this one to everyone that they know…

http://twitter.com/CharmaineYoest/status/623480148466270208/photo/1

If we cannot even stop the U.S. government from funding this kind of evil, what possible hope is there for the future of this nation?

According to WND, some members of this “industry” even receive monetary bonuses “based on the baby parts they harvest”…

    StemExpress, which is run by Planned Parenthood abortion doctor Ronald Berman, offers its procurement technicians bonuses based on the baby parts they harvest, according to the Center for Medical Progress. Larger bonuses are offered for more valuable body parts, classified as “Category A” parts, while smaller bonuses are given for “Category C” parts.

This alone is enough to prove that America has gone all the way down the toilet.  But I will continue with the list…

#2 Just a few days ago, we learned that hackers had stolen personal information from 37 million users on an adultery website known as Ashley Madison…

    A hacking insider has told Sky News he thinks the people threatening to release personal details of users of an adultery website are bluffing and using the publicity as advertising to sell the data to the highest bidder.

    Hackers calling themselves Impact Team have stolen and leaked data from some of the Ashley Madison website’s 37 million users and are threatening to publish more.

    For now the group has released just 40MB of data, including some credit card details and several documents about its parent company Avid Life Media (ALM), it is reported.

The big story here is not the hacking.

Rather, the big story is the fact that 37 million of us have signed up to participate on a website that facilitates adultery.

#3 Rates of violent crime are increasing by double digit percentages in many major U.S. cities in 2015, and some of the crimes being committed are almost too horrible to talk about.  Just consider the following example which comes from the Daily Mail…

    A 22-year-old man and his 21-year-old girlfriend were walking along McNichols Road near Birwood Street on Thursday around 11:30pm when a group of three to six men approached them in the well-lit area, WWJ reported.

    The couple was allegedly forced behind a nearby business, where the six men robbed and stripped them of their clothes.

    Police say the violent men took turns sexually assaulting the woman and when the attack ended, the victims ran **** to a nearby liquor store for help.

    Another couple was attacked just a few hours later at 2:40am when a 21-year-old man and his 19-year-old girlfriend were walking in the area of McNichols Road and Pierson Street.

    Four men ordered them to the ground and then took took turns sexually assaulting the woman, forcing her boyfriend to watch, WWJ reported.

Incredibly, these gang rapes barely made a blip on the news here in the United States.  There are so many similar crimes taking place all around us that there is nothing really “unusual” about these horrific rapes.

#4 Under the Obama administration, our federal government has become absolutely obsessed with political correctness and is spending money in some of the most bizarre ways imaginable.  For instance, the feds recently spent $125,000 “to study adjectives that could be perceived as sexist or racist“.

#5 Speaking of pouring money down the toilet, the Obamaphone program is a perfect example.  It turns out that all you have to do to get a free cellphone from the federal government is to show them someone else’s food stamp card…

    The 2014 CBS4 investigation showed repeated instances of fraudulent activity and waste in the Lifeline program in Denver. It’s an FCC administered program designed to provide free monthly cellphone service to the needy so they can have cellphone service allowing them to seek employment or call for emergency help if needed. Recipients are required to show official documentation like Medicaid, housing assistance or food stamp cards verifying their low income status in order to receive the free phone service.

    But last year a vendor in Denver working under the FCC program had employees who volunteered to use someone else’s food stamp card to secure a free phone and service for a CBS4 producer who was not eligible for the program.

    Vendors typically receive $3 for every phone they are able to give out. In other cases, vendors said a CBS4 producer could simply show someone else’s electronics benefit card in order to secure a free phone and service.

#6 Meanwhile, the government doesn’t even want to talk to normal, hard working citizens that just need a few questions answered.  According to a report that was just released, the IRS hung up on 8.8 million taxpayers that called in looking for help during this most recent tax season.

#7 The federal government has made it exceedingly difficult for law-abiding people to immigrate to this nation legally, but meanwhile they have left our borders completely wide open and have actively encouraged people to immigrate illegally.  As a result, large numbers of criminals, drug dealers, gang members and welfare parasites have come pouring in.  According to one recent report, 2.5 million illegal immigrants have entered this country while Barack Obama has been in the White House…

    A new report estimates that 2.5 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States since Barack Obama took office in 2009.

    The Center for Immigration Studies released a study Monday citing data from the Center for Migration Studies, Pew Research Center and the Census Bureau that indicates 400,000 illegal immigrants on average have entered the country annually since 2009.

    From the middle of 2013 to May 2015 alone, 790,000 illegals have come into the United States. These undocumented individuals entered the country after President Obama unveiled a controversial executive order in 2012 to stop deporting young illegal immigrants who entered the country as children.

And honestly, that 2.5 million number is probably on the low side.  These illegal immigrants are committing some of the most horrible crimes imaginable, and if you doubt this, just read this article.

#8 Our society is being transformed into what I like to call “a Big Brother police state control grid”.  Just a few days ago, we learned of another example of this phenomenon.  The following comes from the New York Post…

    A key part of President Obama’s legacy will be the fed’s unprecedented collection of sensitive data on Americans by race. The government is prying into our most personal information at the most local levels, all for the purpose of “racial and economic justice.”

    Unbeknown to most Americans, Obama’s racial bean counters are furiously mining data on their health, home loans, credit cards, places of work, neighborhoods, even how their kids are disciplined in school — all to document “inequalities” between minorities and whites.

What is truly sad is that so few Americans are actually upset that virtually everything we do is being watched, tracked and monitored.  For much more on all of this, please see this article.

#9 Just recently, I authored a piece which railed about the fact that the average American citizen spends more than 10 hours a day plugged in to some form of media.  Many of us become extremely anxious if something is not playing at least in the background.  We spend endless hours watching television, listening to the radio, going to the movies, playing video games, messing with our smartphones and surfing the Internet.  Sadly, what most people don’t realize is that more than 90 percent of the “programming” that is being continually pumped into our brains through these various media outlets is controlled by just six absolutely enormous media corporations.

#10 At the same time that the elite are endlessly pumping their twisted messages into all of our minds, they are becoming increasingly obsessed with controlling what the rest of us say.  In one recent article, I explained how support for “hate speech laws” in America is rapidly growing.  Today, 51 percent of all Democrats support these kinds of laws, and it is only a matter of time before liberal politicians start pushing really hard for the same kind of hate speech laws that have already been implemented in Europe and Canada.

#11 On top of everything else, we have been stealing more than 100 million dollars an hour from future generations of Americans since Barack Obama entered the White House.

Let that sink in for a moment.

If someone were to write a movie script about the theft of 100 million dollars from a major financial institution, nobody would ever actually want to make that movie because such an amount would be too hard to believe.

But this has actually been happening every single hour of every single day while Obama has been in power.

In a frenzy of insatiable greed, we have been taking trillions of dollars that belong to our children and our grandchildren and spending it ourselves.  When you break it down, it comes to more than 100 million dollars every single hour of every single day.  This is a crime of unimaginable proportions, and if we lived in a just society a whole bunch of our “top politicians” would be going to prison for this.

I could keep going, but I will stop for today.

So what do you think?

Is there any hope for America?

What additions would you make to this list?

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/11-signs-that-america-has-already-gone-down-the-toilet


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 26, 2015, 02:57:45 pm
San Francisco combats the stench of urine with pee-repellant paint

Don't get into a pissing match with walls in San Francisco.

The city's Public Works agency is testing a pee-repellant paint on walls in areas that have been saturated with urine. Anyone urinating on the specially treated walls will get the spray splashed back onto them.

San Francisco's director of public works, Mohammed Nuru - whose Twitter handle is @MrCleanSF - got the idea when he read on social media about the use of the paint in Hamburg, Germany's nightclub district to stop beer drinkers from relieving themselves in the street.

The paint, called Ultra-Ever Dry, is sold by Ultratech International Inc and is billed as a superhydrophobic coating that will repel most liquids.

"The urine will bounce back on the guys pants and shoes. The idea is they will think twice next time about urinating in public," said Rachel Gordon, a Public Works Department spokeswoman. She said the super-hard coating made the "bounce back" effect much stronger than when peeing on a regular wall.

In a pilot program, San Francisco last week painted nine walls in areas around bars and other areas with big homeless populations.

"Hold it! ... seek relief in an appropriate place," say signs posted near the paint. The signs are in English, Chinese and Spanish.

The paint went up just last week, but the city is already getting requests for more.

"We've gotten many, many calls from people who wanted it done in their alley or on their buildings," Gordon said. "Some people are saying it's just a gimmick, but other people hope it will combat some of the smelly areas of San Francisco that have been saturated with urine."

The cost of painting the walls is much lower than sending out workers to steam clean areas, she said. The city gets hundreds of requests a year to clean up urine.

The city has also added public toilets to reduce the urine problem, Gordon said.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/san-francisco-combats-stench-urine-pee-repellant-paint-202003524.html


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on August 01, 2015, 07:07:57 am
Baltimore hasn't seen this many killings in 4 decades

Baltimore reached a grim milestone on Friday, three months after riots erupted in response to the death of Freddie Gray in police custody: With 43 homicides in July, the city has seen more bloodshed in a single month than it has in 43 years.

The 43rd recorded homicide was Jermaine Miller, 18, who took a bullet to his head just before noon the day before.

With his death on Friday, this year's total homicides reached 187, far outpacing the 119 killings by July's end in 2014. Non-fatal shootings have soared to 366, compared to 200 by the same date last year. July's total was the worst since the city recorded 45 killings in August 1972, according to The Baltimore Sun.

The seemingly Sisyphean task of containing the city's violence prompted Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to fire her police commissioner Anthony Batts on July 8.

"Too many continue to die on our streets," Rawlings-Blake said then. "Families are tired of dealing with this pain, and so am I. Recent events have placed an intense focus on our police leadership, distracting many from what needs to be our main focus: the fight against crime."

But the killings have not abated under Interim Commissioner Kevin Davis since then.

Baltimore is not unique in its suffering; crimes are spiking in big cities around the country.

But while the city's police are closing cases— Davis announced arrests in three recent murders several days ago — the violence is outpacing their efforts. Davis said Tuesday the "clearance rate" is at 36.6 percent, far lower than the department's mid-40s average.

Crime experts and residents of Baltimore's most dangerous neighborhoods cite a confluence of factors: mistrust of the police; generalized anger and hopelessness over a lack of opportunities for young black men; and competition among dealers of illegal drugs, bolstered by the looting of prescription pills from pharmacies during the riot.

Federal drug enforcement agents said gangs targeted 32 pharmacies in the city, taking roughly 300,000 doses of opiates, as the riots caused $9 million in property damage in the city.

Perched on a friend's stoop, Sherry Moore, 55, said she knew "mostly all" of the young men killed recently in West Baltimore, including an 18-year-old fatally shot a half-block away. Moore said many more pills are on the street since the riot, making people wilder than usual.

"The ones doing the violence, the shootings, they're eating Percocet like candy and they're not thinking about consequences. They have no discipline, they have no respect_they think this is a game. How many can I put down on the East side? How many can I put down on the West side?"

The city's official tally of 42 homicides recorded in May included Gray, who died in April after his neck was broken in police custody. The July tally likewise includes a previous death — a baby whose death in June was ruled a homicide in July.

Shawn Ellerman, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Baltimore division of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said May's homicide spike was probably related to the stolen prescription drugs, a supply that is likely exhausted by now. But the drug trade is inherently violent, and turf wars tend to prompt retaliatory killings.

"You can't attribute every murder to narcotics, but I would think a good number" of them are, he said. "You could say it's retaliation from drug trafficking, it's retaliation from gangs moving in from other territories. But there have been drug markets in Baltimore for years."

Across West Baltimore, residents complain that drug addiction and crime are part of a cycle that begins with despair among children who lack educational and recreational opportunities, and extends when people can't find work.

"We need jobs! We need jobs!" a man riding around on a bicycle shouted to anyone who'd listen after four people were shot, three of them fatally, on a street corner in July.

More community engagement, progressive policing policies and opportunities for young people in poverty could help, community activist Munir Bahar said.

"People are focusing on enforcement, not preventing violence. Police enforce a code, a law. Our job as the community is to prevent the violence, and we've failed," said Bahar, who leads the annual 300 Men March against violence in West Baltimore.

"We need anti-violence organizations, we need mentorship programs, we need a long-term solution. But we also need immediate relief," Bahar added. "When we're in something so deep, we have to stop it before you can analyze what the root is."

Strained relationships between police and the public also play a role, according to Eugene O'Donnell, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Arrests plummeted and violence soared after six officers were indicted in Gray's death. Residents accused police of abandoning their posts for fear of facing criminal charges for making arrests, and said emboldened criminals were settling scores with little risk of being caught.

The department denied these claims, and police cars have been evident patrolling West Baltimore's central thoroughfares recently.

But O'Donnell said the perception of lawlessness is just as powerful than the reality.

"We have a national issue where the police feel they are the Public Enemy No. 1," he said, making some officers stand down and criminals become more brazen.

"There's a rhythm to the streets," he added. "And when people get away with gun violence, it has a long-term emboldening effect. And the good people in the neighborhood think, 'who has the upper hand?'"

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/baltimore-hasnt-seen-this-many-killings-in-4-decades-2015-7#ixzz3hZ3bjJg9


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on October 14, 2015, 06:51:55 am
America #1? 36 Facts That Prove That The United States Is An ‘Exceptional’ Nation

Is the United States an “exceptional” nation?  Well, the facts show that we are, but not for the reasons that you may think.  Now that it is election season, we have all sorts of politicians running around proclaiming that America is the greatest nation on the entire planet.  And just this week, Warren Buffett stated that “America’s great now — it’s never been greater“.  But is it actually true?  Is the United States still a great nation?  I would submit that the numbers suggest otherwise.  I love America, and in my opinion there is not much hope for us until we are willing to admit to ourselves just how far we have fallen.  The following are 36 facts that prove that the United States is an “exceptional” nation…

#1 According to a brand new report that was just released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States has the fattest population in the entire industrialized world by a wide margin.

#2 That same report from the OECD also found that we are number one in child obesity.  In fact, at 38 percent our rate of childhood obesity is even higher than our overall rate of obesity.

#3 According to USA Today, the obesity rate in the United States has more than doubled over the past 25 years.

#4 The Washington Post has reported that Americans spend an average of 293 minutes a day watching television, which is the most in the world by a wide margin.   And as I have discussed previously, more than 90 percent of the “programming” that we absorb is created by just 6 enormously powerful media corporations.

#5 One study found that the average American spends more than 10 hours a day using some sort of electronic device.

#6 By the time an American child reaches the age of 18, that child will have seen approximately 40,000 murders on television.

#7 The average young American will spend 10,000 hours playing video games before the age of 21.

#8 Out of 22 countries studied by the Educational Testing Service, Americans were dead last in tech proficiency, dead last in numeracy and only two countries performed worse than us when it came to literacy proficiency.

#9 In more than half of all U.S. states, the highest paid public employee in the state is a football coach.

#10 The percentage of wealth owned by middle class adults is lower in North America than it is anywhere else in the world.

#11 Almost half of all Americans (47 percent) do not put a single penny out of their paychecks into savings.

#12 It turns out that Americans are very good at locking people away in prison.  At 716 per 100,000 members of the population, the United States has the highest incarceration rate on the entire planet by a very wide margin.

#13 Approximately one-fourth of the entire global prison population is in the United States.

#14 In 2014, police in the United States killed 1,100 people.  During that same year, police in Canada killed 14 people, police in China killed 12 people and police in Germany didn’t kill anyone at all.

#15 One recently published study found that one out of every six young Americans has stolen something during the past year.

#16 There are more car thefts in the United States than anywhere else in the world by far.

#17 According to Fox News, approximately 70 percent of married men in the United States admit to having cheated on their wives.

#18 Americans spend far more on health care than anyone else in the world, and yet we only rank 26th in life expectancy and our entire health care system has been transformed into a giant money making scam.

#19 According to a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, nearly 70 percent of all Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and an astounding 20 percent of all Americans are on at least five prescription drugs.

#20 According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 31 percent of all food in the United States gets wasted.  In case you were wondering, that amounts to approximately 133 billion pounds of food a year.

#21 In 2013, women earned 60 percent of all bachelor’s degrees that were awarded that year in the United States.

#22 A survey conducted by the Barna Group discovered that 77 percent of Christian men in America in the 18 to 30-year-old age bracket view pornography at least monthly.

#23 There are more than 4 million adult websites on the Internet, and they get more traffic than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined.

#24 70 percent of Americans do not “feel engaged or inspired at their jobs”.

#25 When LBJ’s “War on Poverty” began, less than 10 percent of all U.S. children were growing up in single parent households.  Today, that number has skyrocketed to 33 percent.

#26 In 1950, less than 5 percent of all babies in America were born to unmarried parents.  Today, that number is over 40 percent.

#27 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 20 million new cases of sexually-transmitted disease in the United States each year.

#28 Today, the United States has the highest STD infection rate in the entire industrialized world.

#29 According to a survey that was just released within the last 30 days, only 29 percent of Americans want to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood even after all of the shocking undercover videos that were released this year.

#30 America has the highest rate of illegal drug use on the entire planet.

#31 Doctors in the United States write more than 250 million prescriptions for antidepressants each year.

#32 One survey of 50-year-old men in the U.S. found that only 12 percent of them said that they were “very happy”.

#33 Every single year, the United States has the largest trade deficit in the entire world by a very wide margin.  But most Americans still don’t seem concerned that thousands of businesses and millions of good jobs have been leaving our country.

#34 As you read this article, there are 102.6 million working age Americans that do not have a job.

#35 We are supposed to have a government “of the people, by the people, for the people”, but only 25 percent of all Americans know how long U.S. Senators are elected for (6 years), and only 20 percent of all Americans know how many U.S. senators there are in total.

#36 On average, we have been stealing more than 100 million dollars from future generations of Americans every single hour of every single day since Barack Obama entered the White House.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/america-1-36-facts-that-prove-that-the-united-states-is-an-exceptional-nation


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on October 14, 2015, 01:01:11 pm
Quote
#9 In more than half of all U.S. states, the highest paid public employee in the state is a football coach.

And this is a big problem I have with these professing christians that expose the public education system through and through, but en yet turn right around and profess their LOVE for college football.

To me, this is just pure HYPOCRISY - one of the big reasons why the public education system is thriving is b/c millions of people in America are feeding into the multi-million dollar industry that is collegiate sports(which in turn is feeding millions of dollars into the public education system). Yeah, what is that "Christian" Tim Tebow doing getting involved in this?

Watching college football is a Christian's "liberty"? Uhh...I don't think so! It's actually bringing the Christian much more into bondage!


Quote
#24 70 percent of Americans do not “feel engaged or inspired at their jobs”.

I mentioned this in my testimony - but it looked like I had a fast track in Public Accounting 7 years ago(when I was a false convert) - to be quite honest, I was SO anxious to move up, that I ended up being unsatisfied and discontent where I was at(entry level, which is where EVERYONE starts and continues for a couple of years). The best thing the LORD did for me was force me out of there, and ultimately bring my knees down to repentance, and faith toward our LORD Jesus Christ.

Bottom line - everyone should be thankful they have employment, b/c that's their meal ticket to put food on the table, and provide for their families. Even all the promotions and money in the world won't satisfy them one bit.


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: RickStudy on October 23, 2015, 04:11:34 pm
Be thankful you have a job is a common sentiment across the country. I often hear that very thing at my place of employment. I`m sure the elitists love that saying as it is helpful to the cause of the employment slavery that most people have to deal with. Most of us are landless and have to obtain one of these corporate slave jobs in order to buy water and food. Water isn`t free, we can`t farm, we have to buy a shelter or else pay for the supplies to build one. None of these things are available to the landless peasants unless they have some money.

Meanwhile the corporate slave owners have for many years now, enriched themselves by taking away from their hired slaves. They have taken away rights, jobs, wages, benefits. Every year the peasants are working for less because the corporation inflates the money supply. The corporation fires peasants and gives jobs to cheaper peasant slaves overseas. The corporation takes advantage of the chaos it has created by taking away benefits previously given to the slaves. The corporation is doing very well and is richer then ever before even as it works to oppress it`s slaves and deny them even the freedom to think their own thoughts and opinions.

70% disengaged sounds like a lowball estimate to me. Workers and the 20% unemployed workers are a smoking volcano. The corporation knows it and has it`s corporate government preparing for the unrest. When it erupts it`s going to be very bad and it will distract this place from the real danger that lurks overseas.

All of this would have sounded crazy even just a few years ago but anybody who understands what is going on will get what I am saying here.



Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on December 28, 2015, 06:49:22 pm
America's Newest Christmas Tradition: Black Mob Violence at Malls

American has a new Christmas tradition: Black mob violence at malls.

In the days before, during, and after Christmas, 15 malls reported large-scale episodes of rioting, shooting, looting, rampaging, fighting, throwing rocks at police, damaging cars and more.

Two black people died.

A survey of the mayhem from around the country.

In Louisville, 2000 black people “rioted” at the Mall St. Matthews. In addition, shoppers report several gunshots. “Riots unfolded at Mall St. Matthews today,” reported WHAS TV news of the day after Christmas mob action. “That violence, beginning around 7, forcing mall officials to close early. It actually spread to multiple locations,” (outside the mall.)

“Why was this whole mayhem involving black kids,” asked one viewer of WHAS. “My wife and I were there plus vids show it.”

The police spokesman said the violence was “random.”

In the Stonecrest Mall in a suburb of Atlanta, video from inside the mall shows a group of black people fighting and pulling each other’s hair. Soon after, the group of about 10-15 moved outside, where the video shows fighting, gunshots, and at least one person hitting the ground wounded, while the other participants shrieked with glee.

At the Orange Park Mall near Jacksonville, 200 black people had to be dispersed from a movie theater on Christmas Day. “100's of teens & young adults were at/outside movie theater at OP Mall when fights erupted,” said local reporter Tennikka Smith Hughes,

Eight black people were arrested, three for possession of concealed weapons.

“This happens every Christmas (in Jacksonville), first at River City, now Orange Park,” said one viewer, referring to a 2013 incident also on Christmas Day in Jacksonville, where 600 to 1000 black people stormed a movie theater and rampaged through the parking lot.”

At the Eastland Mall near Detroit, one black person was shot and killed after two groups of black people started fighting in the food court. The shooting took place as the violence moved towards the exit.

In Towson, Maryland, two hundred black people threw rocks at police trying to break up a large crowd at the local mall. Dozens of police responded, one was hit with a rock. On Twitter, TariqToure sent out the word of black victimization: “Tonight, dogs were sent out for black kids in “Baltimore Towson Mall.” He compared it to a Chicago shooting earlier that night.

Others said the riot was a long tradition in Towson and the result of black people in Baltimore not having enough free recreational opportunities, so they go to the mall and create havoc instead.

On Christmas night in Mobile, Alabama, four black people were shot at a movie theater.

At the Mall in Wellington Green in Wellington, Florida, police responded a large brawl at the shopping center the day before Christmas.

At the Park Plaza Mall in Little Rock, “a fight led to a large and rowdy crowd gathering in the food court,” said the ABC affiliate. 200 black people interfered as police tried to break up a fight. One person was arrested.

At the Southland Mall in Chicago, ten black people fought throughout the mall on video. No one died.

In a popular neighborhood shopping district in Chicago, the headline tells the story: “Ho Ho Hold Ups Galore: 4 robbed, 1 pistol-whipped during Christmas Eve armed robbery spree in Lakeview.”

Police are looking for four black suspects.

“The same crew is believed responsible for eight armed robberies on the North Side on Tuesday and Wednesday,” police told CWB Chicago.

Is that a mall? Or something else? We report. You decide.

At the North Riverside Park Mall, also in Chicago, “Fights Close Suburban Mall During After-Christmas Sale,” said the ABC affiliate. Readers of that scintillating best seller Don’t Make the Black Kids Angry, who are also members of the Chicago Police Department, said the rioters were black. And the mall has a history of black mob violence.

At least it did until 2013, when “North Riverside Park became the first shopping center in Illinois to implement what is known as a youth escort policy. It restricts anyone under 17 years old from entering the mall after six p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays unless they are accompanied by an adult over 21.”

After that, no more “teen fights.” At least until now.

At the Deptford Mall in South Jersey, police herded a crowd of 500 “teens” into the parking lot after they were creating mayhem in the mall. Police and mall officials were closemouthed about why they kicked so many shoppers out of their place of business. But NJ.com did report lots of violence in the parking lot, and mall employees said theft was a problem too.

Lots of people on Twitter and other social media figured it out: “Young niggas love coming to the deptford mall (not to shop) but to stand around and be hype.”

At the Roosevelt Field Mall in Long Island on the day after Christmas, a large fight in the food court caused large banging noises when chairs went flying. Shoppers panicked, thinking it was gunfire. It was not.

At the Patrick Henry Mall in Newport News,  the Daily Press reports large groups of people fighting throughout the mall:

James Alford, a Cricket Wireless employee, said the mall was jam packed when the fights broke out. He said it felt like at least 20 smaller groups of people fighting, spanning from the food court, past his booth, which is about 100 feet away.

“There was running, jumping, skipping, everything,” he said.

A Kay Jewelers employee across from Alford's booth, whose supervisor did not allow him to give his name, said he saw scattered pairs of people throwing punches at each other. He said his store closed up for an hour during the incident.

Meg Gorski Albertson, a shopper, said she had “never experienced anything like this” left the mall when the fighting broke out, fearing someone would pull a gun.

“It was like riots,” a shopper told WAVY TV.

Video shows the combatants were black. The mall has a history of black mob violence throughout the year.

The day before Christmas in Charlotte, North Carolina, a gun battle between black people attracted the attention an off duty cop and security guard. He shot Dequan Westbrook, a local rapper known as Donkey Cartel, after Dequan pointed a gun at him.

Dequan’s mix tape is called Convicted Felon with a Gun, and features all the usual lyrics about killing people, selling drugs, and killing more people. Dequan’s parents told local T news he was a good boy and was going to college. Dequan had been arrested 10 times in the last three years, reported Channel 9 News. Last year, he was convicted of shooting a 12-year old, and his probation for that ended in October.

The violence and riots began the same day that a spokeswoman for Black Lives Matter appeared on CNN to say that black people are under constant threat from white racism and police harassment.

Safety for black people is “an illusion.”

“Especially.” she said, “at airports.”



Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/americas_newest_christmas_tradition_black_mob_violence_at_malls.html#ixzz3vfNhqyMQ


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on January 06, 2016, 03:11:58 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEV6CCl7PF8


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on January 28, 2016, 06:56:32 pm
New York City Set To Stop Enforcing Law Against Peeing On Sidewalks Because…RACISM!

New York City’s city council is set to dilute a host of criminal laws including laws against public urination and excessive noise because council members believe too many members of minorities are getting arrested.

The New York Police Department already relaxed its enforcement of many quality-of-life laws after years of enforcing exactly such laws led to record lows of crime in the once-much-grittier city, reports The New York Times,

This relaxation strategy wasn’t enough for city lawmakers.

“We know that the system has been really rigged against communities of color in particular,” council member Melissa Mark-Viverito, a Democrat, told the Times. “So the question has always been, what can we do in this job to minimize unnecessary interaction with the criminal justice system, so that these young people can really fulfill their potential?”

On Monday, Mark-Viverito and other council members will introduce a set of bills called the Criminal Justice Reform Act. The laws are designed to make several quality-of-life laws much more toothless. Misdemeanor crimes to be nearly-but-not-quite decriminalized include public urination, excessive noise, drinking in public, marijuana possession and miscellaneous public park-related infractions.

If passed, the new laws would encourage police not to arrest sidewalk tinklers and violators of the other laws. Instead, cops would usually give out civil summonses. Recipients would then be ordered to appear in a court managed by New York City’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.
First-time offender fines would range from $25 to $250. People too poor to pay could instead perform community service.

Police would still retain the option of actually arresting offenders.


The police department has insisted on the option to arrest. Without it, they warn, keeping law and order will be much harder.

“We have been supportive of having a civil option for the police,” NYPD spokesman Stephen P. Davis told the Times. “Where appropriate, the civil option is probably going to be the go-to option,” he said, but police want to retain discretion to arrest.

Quality-of-life laws in general — and the problem of public urination in particular — have become a source of passionate debate in New York City during the last year as the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio has taken root and, simultaneously, unseemly people and various guttersnipes have begun peeing, pooping and masturbating in public with considerable frequency.

Over the summer, for example, the shenanigans of scruffy drifters were on full display behind a building on the small campus of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.

“I have seen drug deals, public urination, defecation, **** in broad daylight in the Taras Shevchenko alley,” a Cooper Union professor told The New York Post. (RELATED: De Blasio’s New York: Prestigious College Now Home To Pooping, Masturbating Vagrants)

Bums across the city also praised de Blasio for rolling back enforcement against panhandling and public loitering. “I want to thank de Blasio for taking it easy on us. It’s easier for me to get by. Because of him, nobody bothers me,” one homeless man told the Post back in August.

De Blasio, who campaigned heavily on reducing homelessness, has remained publicly noncommittal on the quasi-decriminalization bill.

“The mayor has made a clear commitment to reducing unnecessary arrests while protecting the quality of life of all our residents,” de Blasio spokeswoman Monica Klein said in a milquetoast statement obtained by the Times.

The proposed Criminal Justice Reform Act is a significant step away from the “broken windows” principles of Mayor Rudy Giuliani, which initiated a dramatic drop in crime in New York City beginning in the early 1990s.

http://dailycaller.com/2016/01/24/nyc-set-to-stop-enforcing-law-against-peeing-on-sidewalks-because-racism/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on February 01, 2016, 07:52:40 pm
Los Angeles Police Urge Residents ‘To Protect Themselves’ As Violent Crime Skyrockets

All over America, rates of violent crime are absolutely soaring.  As you will see below, violent crime overall shot up by 20 percent in Los Angeles last year, and the police are telling people that “they need to be able to protect themselves” because the police may not be able to get there in time when they call.  Thanks to deep budget cuts, police departments across the nation are already severely undermanned, and our major cities are now seeing crime rates increase at a pace that we have not seen in ages.  In a previous article, I encouraged my readers to focus on the five basics of preparation – food, water, shelter, energy and self-defense.  Of those five, it is often self-defense that is the most neglected.  When bad people break into your house in the middle of the night intending to do bad things, what are you going to do?  Many of us have not had to think about that for a long time, but now conditions are rapidly changing in America.

If you don’t believe me, perhaps you will believe the head of the union for the LAPD.  According to him, people living in L.A. “need to be able to protect themselves” because the police “can’t guarantee we’re going to get there in time to help you”…

“The citizens need to know they need to be able to protect themselves because if they call 911, we can’t guarantee we’re going to get there in time to help you,” says Police Protective League President Jamie McBride.

He told Paige that Thursday morning between 5:30 and 10 a.m., there were just three patrol cars assigned to the West LA division. Two cars to protect more than 200,000 people in a 65 square mile radius.

“West Los Angeles, at the minimum, should have seven patrol units, two-man units working,” McBride said.

Have you ever been to Los Angeles?

I have, and even in the best of times it can be quite a mean place.

And of course these are not the best of times.  In fact, the overall rate of violent crime in the city was up by 20 percent last year…

Crime is up across the board in the nation’s second-largest city.

Statistics released Wednesday by the Los Angeles Police Department show that homicides and rapes are each up 9 percent and that robberies are up 13 percent. Violent crime overall increased by 20 percent.

Perhaps you are tempted to think that L.A. is just an anomaly.

Well, let’s go from the second largest city in the country to the third largest city in the country.

There were 51 homicides in Chicago last month, which was the highest total for the city in at least 16 years.  Sadly, this is just a continuation of a trend that has been going on for quite some time.  The following comes from USA Today…

Chicago routinely records more homicides annually than any other American city, but the grim January violence toll marks a shocking spike in violence in a city that recorded 29 murders for the month of January last year and 20 murders for the month in 2014. In addition to the jump in killings, police department said that it recorded 241 shooting incidents for the month, more than double the 119 incidents recorded last January.

The rise in violence comes after the Chicago Police Department reported 468 murders in 2015, a 12.5% increase from the year before. There were also 2,900 shootings, 13% more than the year prior, according to police department records.

Some of the crimes that I have been seeing in the news lately are almost too horrible for words.  If reading about acts of violence deeply troubles you, then you might want to stop reading this article right now.  I want to share with you something that recently happened in New York City, and it is the kind of stuff that nightmares are made out of…

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday denounced the **** of a woman by five men at a Brooklyn playground, pledging police would work to swiftly apprehend the suspects in “this vicious crime.”

Police said on Saturday the men took turns raping the 18-year-old woman at the playground operated by the New York City Parks Department in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn just after 9 p.m. on Thursday. One man pointed a gun at the father and told him to leave, police said.

After the father left, the men each assaulted the woman, police said. They fled when her father returned a short while later, accompanied by two officers.

One rapist is bad enough, but how do five young men come together and decide that they are going to randomly **** someone?

To do something so despicable your heart has got to be hard as a stone.

What in the world has happened to the morality of our society?

And to me, one of the biggest questions of this entire story is why the father decided to walk away from his daughter.

If I was in the same position, I would have stood my ground.  Maybe those young men would have shot me, but there is no way that I would have ever let them have my daughter.  They would have had to go over my dead body to get to her.

But this is what we are told to do today.  We are told to let the criminals do whatever they want and then call the police.

Unfortunately, now the police are openly telling us that they probably won’t be able to get there in time to do any good.

As the economy slows down, crime rates are going to go even higher.  When unemployment and poverty rise, people get desperate, and desperate people do desperate things.

We all need to start thinking about how we are going to protect ourselves and our families during the hard times that are coming.  Different people have different methods that they prefer, and that is okay.  But we are all going to have to start taking security a lot more seriously.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/los-angeles-police-urge-residents-to-protect-themselves-as-violent-crime-skyrockets


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on March 01, 2016, 05:55:18 pm
You Won’t Get Arrested for Public Boozing (or Urinating) in Manhattan Anymore

Go ahead and pop the champagne: the NYPD will no longer arrest most people who are caught drinking alcohol in public in Manhattan, the city announced today—but they can still get a summons.

Unless it’s “necessary for public safety reasons,” the NYPD will no longer arrest people for certain low-level offenses in Manhattan, including public consumption of alcohol, public urination, littering and riding between subway cars or taking up more than one subway seat—and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. will no longer prosecute those infractions, his office said today. Offenders can still receive summonses, which require them to pay a fine but don’t give them a criminal record, for those offenses. Summonses are already an option for this offenses, and are often given to violators who do not have a warrant.

“Using summonses instead of arrests for low-level offenses is an intuitive and modern solution that will help make sure resources are focused on our main priority: addressing threats to public safety,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “Today’s reforms allow our hardworking police officers to concentrate their efforts on the narrow group of individuals driving violent crime in New York City. This plan will also help safely prevent unnecessary jail time for low-level offenses.”

But Mr. de Blasio’s office did not put out a press release about the topic, nor did the NYPD. Instead, it came only from Mr. Vance’s office—meaning it likely missed the mailbox of many in the political press corps. The DA touted it as an announcement from him, Mr. de Blasio, and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, but there was no press conference. Mr. Vance was out of state today testifying to Congress, according to his public schedule.

The announcement follows a call from Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito to use summonses instead of arrests for low-level crimes citywide. The news announced today applies only to Manhattan, and this specific initiative began with Mr. Vance, his office said—hence why it doesn’t apply elsewhere.

“By ensuring courts are not unnecessarily bogged down with minor offenses committed by those who pose no threat to public safety, we help focus police and prosecutorial resources on those who commit serious crimes,” Mr. Vance said. “By giving cops the discretion to issue summonses instead of requiring them to make arrests, we ensure they do not spend hours processing cases as minor as littering, and we enable officers to get back to patrolling, investigating, and keeping our neighborhoods safe.”

But some people who are stopped for these minor offenses may still end up in handcuffs—if they have warrants out for their arrest when they are stopped, they’ll be arrested on that warrant.

In fact, many of the people who were previously arrested for these kinds of low-level crimes, rather than getting a summons, were arrested because of an outstanding warrant—but they were often arrested for the new offense, adding another arrest to their record. That will no longer be the case, the DAs office said. If someone has a felony warrant for a crime like burglary, and they are stopped for an open container, they’ll be taken to jail on the warrant, but will only get a summons for the open container violation.

And if someone has an open summons warrant—let’s say they didn’t pay their summons the last time they got caught littering and then they get stopped for that again—they’ll be “detained,” according to the DA’s office, and brought to court to face a judge on that summonses and the new one. But they won’t be arrested.

Ms. Mark-Viverito has argued that old warrants themselves are bogging down the criminal justice system, and in her State of the City called for wiping out more than 700,000 of them in the city, for low-level crimes like the ones Mr. Vance will stop prosecuting.

A single borough changing its approach to prosecuting certain crimes is not without precedent. In 2014, Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson announced he would no longer prosecute low-level marijuana crimes. Later, the city adopted a similar policy—ordering cops to issue summonses rather than arrests for possession of small amounts of pot.

The policy change will begin March 7. Mr. Vance’s office estimates the changes will mean about 10,000 fewer arrests each year on low-level offenses.

http://observer.com/2016/03/you-wont-get-arrested-for-public-boozing-or-urinating-in-manhattan-anymore/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on March 16, 2016, 05:33:20 pm
How Else Was ‘He Gonna Get His Money?’: Relatives Outraged After Homeowner Shoots, Kills Burglary Suspect

unbelievable story

A Miami woman shot and killed a teenage home intruder last week, authorities said. Now, relatives of the teen are saying she acted unjustly and should be prosecuted.

Trevon Johnson, 17, burglarized the home of a 54-year-old old woman last Thursday, according to Miami-Dade police.

The woman told police that she was not home when the break-in occurred, but her surveillance system alerted her that there was an intruder. She said she rushed home and found the teen climbing out of a window.

“She observed a subject leaving the home through the rear,” police Detective Dan Ferrin told WFOR-TV.

A confrontation then took place, according to police, and shots were fired. Police said they were on scene seconds after the shooting and performed CPR on the teen. Johnson was then rushed to the hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

“What’s wrong with her?” Johnson’s sister Nisha Johnson asked. “She did not have to shoot him.”

Johnson told WFOR her brother was a student at D. A. Dorsey Technical College. She and other relatives are outraged by the shooting.

“I don’t care if she have her gun license or any of that. That is way beyond the law … way beyond,” Johnson’s cousin Nautika Harris told WFOR. “He was not supposed to die like this. He had a future ahead of him. Trevon had goals … he was a funny guy, very big on education, loved learning.”

“You have to look at it from every child’s point of view that was raised in the hood,” Harris continued. “You have to understand … how he gonna get his money to have clothes to go to school? You have to look at it from his point of view.”

WOW!!!

Thus far, police appear to be siding with the homeowner who they say was protecting her property.

“She’s a person that is a little distraught because this is her home that someone obviously was in,” Ferrin said.

Police said the woman was taken to a police station for questioning and has cooperated with detectives.

Investigators told WFOR that they are still investigating the incident, but in the meantime, they want the public to remember that, if possible, it is best not to take these types of situations into one’s own hands.

“If there’s any type of situation that happens or they believe there’s a burglary at the home or any type of confrontation, dial 911. Have the police make that confrontation,” Ferrin said. “That’s what we’re here for.”

The case has been handed over to state attorney’s office, but so far, no charges have been filed against the homeowner.

“It’s no reason she should have waited until I think he walked out the yard to try to shoot him,” Harris said. “If she called the police already, why would she shoot him?”

Relatives told WFOR they don’t believe Johnson stole anything from the woman’s home, but detectives would not confirm that.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/03/16/how-else-was-he-gonna-get-his-money-relatives-outraged-after-homeowner-shoots-kills-burglary-suspect/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 15, 2016, 02:23:24 pm
Obama doesn’t think rapists, armed robbers, drug dealers are criminals

It’s only May, but I think I’ve found the euphemism of the year: According to Team Obama, criminals should now be declared “justice-involved individuals.”

The neo-Orwellianism comes to us from the bizarre flurry of last-minute diktats, regulations and bone-chilling threats collectively known to fanboys as Obama’s Gorgeous Goodbye.

In another of those smiley-faced, but deeply sinister, “Dear Colleague” letters sent to universities and college this week, Obama’s Education Secretary John King discouraged colleges from asking applicants whether they were convicted criminals.

An accompanying pamphlet was called “Beyond the Box: Increasing Access to Higher Education for Justice-Involved Individuals.”

So rapists, burglars, armed robbers and drug dealers aren’t criminals anymore. These folks are simply “involved” with “justice,” according to Obamanoids.

Maybe they’re right: “Criminals” is an inherently disparaging term that leads to stigmatization and decreased access to Eugene O’Neill seminars. But don’t we need to retroactively reconfigure how we think of those unfortunate souls who found themselves pursued by harsh enforcers of restrictive behavioral norms?

When you think about it, Jack the Ripper was merely a “cutlery-involved individual” while Jeffrey Dahmer was simply a “unconventional dietary-options-involved individual.”

Colleges generally ask whether applicants have criminal records, and for excellent reason. Parents probably don’t want their eager young freshperson daughter Molly living across the hall from a rapist — I mean, sexual-justice-involved individual.

King notes that when you ask college applicants about whether they brutalized, mugged or otherwise committed outrages against their fellow human beings, the ugly specter of “disparate impact” arises. The black crime rate is higher than the white crime rate, so the “Are you a criminal?” question is bound to do injury to blacks, or so goes the reasoning.

Obama is fighting the war for criminals to get closer to you on several fronts. Last month, through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, he went after landlords, threatening them with penalties if they barred criminals from living in their buildings.

In November, Obama unilaterally ordered federal agencies to strike the box asking applicants whether they had committed crimes and referred to criminals as “folks.” This would be the same president who on Oct. 25, 2010, referred to Republicans as “enemies” and suggested voters should “punish” them. Convicted rapists? They’re just “folks.”

It’s fair to argue that the criminal justice system, and society as a whole, have a strong interest in rehabilitating criminals in addition to punishing them. And Team Obama argues innocently that (the people they refuse to call) criminals deserve to get their foot in the door before the step where they are asked about their criminal history.

But this is just a step in a long-term strategy pursued by progressives, who love criminals the way little girls love Disney princesses. The goal is to sneak criminals into your apartment building or workplace or campus.

Just glance at the Web site of one Ban the Box advocacy group, the South Dakota Peace & Justice Center. Its stated goal is to put off questions about criminal behavior until later in the game: “Only during the interview process will a criminal background check be completed if it is relevant or required for the position.”

In other words: Enforcers will tell you whether an applicant’s criminal background is relevant to a particular gig and order you not to ask about if they deem it irrelevant.

Yet there is no job on the planet in which your criminal background is automatically irrelevant. Employers can weigh how much importance to assign to which crimes and judge for themselves whether a criminal has reformed.

Bringing up “disparate impact” is a way to change the subject between who you are and what you did. One is about characteristics you were born with; the other is about bad choices you made. One is a terrible reason to discriminate you; the other isn’t.

King says that there is no evidence that questions about criminal backgrounds have any impact on campus safety. How hard did he look for such evidence? Because I’m pretty sure that one reliable predictor of crime is the presence of criminals.

Colleges find themselves at a point in time where debates about, say, whether **** is spiking on campus (it isn’t) are treated as so imperilling that they require the establishment of alternative “safe spaces” such as the rubber room established at Brown in 2014 and “equipped with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies,” according to The New York Times.

Yet these colleges are now being nudged not to ask a potential student whether he’s a rapist, or an assailant or a heroin dealer, with the implicit threat of the administration’s power to launch civil rights investigations lurking not far behind.

University donors, and parents of matriculating students, should be eager to ask college admissions officers how far they are willing to go to comply with Team Obama’s wishes: Exactly how many convicts are going to be housed in Molly’s dorm?

http://nypost.com/2016/05/14/owellian-administration-brands-criminals-justice-involved-individuals/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 16, 2016, 07:39:26 pm
Murder Rates in Chicago, L.A., Dallas, Vegas Skyrocket
"Holy cow, do we have a problem."

 According to new reports, 2016 is shaping up to be an even more murderous year than last in over two dozen major U.S. cities as homicides rise at their fastest pace yet.

Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and Las Vegas have seen the worst, all of which experienced increased homicides in 2015, evidenced by acceleration of murders in the first three months of 2016.

Law enforcement officials and experts are saying the increase over the last year is due to many factors, including an uptick in gang and drug-related violence. Yet, many believe cops and citizens are now interacting differently since the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has shifted attitudes to distrust police.

FBI Director James B. Comey expressed concern over the reports:

    "I was very worried about it last fall, and I am in many ways more worried, because the numbers are not only going up, they’re continuing to go up in most of those cities faster than they were going up last year. Something is happening.

    "I don’t know what the answer is, but holy cow, do we have a problem."

Amazingly, these disastrous numbers are actually better than in previous decades. The Washington Post uses Chicago as an example. Every year between 1991 and 1995, there were no less than 800 homicides each year. Though the numbers aren't that high now, murders in the Windy City are on track to easily topple 500 this year, making it the third time since 2004.

That does little to comfort Comey, who said: “How does that make any of us feel any better? I mean, a whole lot more people are dying this year than last year, and last year than the year before, and I don’t know why for sure.”

The White House has its own theory, but it has little to do with what's become known as the "Ferguson effect," as Press Secretary Josh Earnest tried to explain:

    “This administration makes policy decisions that are rooted in evidence, that are rooted in science. We can’t make broad, sweeping policy decisions or draw policy conclusions based on anecdotal evidence. That’s irresponsible and ultimately counterproductive… [T]here’s not evidence at this point to link that surge in violent crime to the so-called viral video effect, or the Ferguson effect. There’s just no evidence to substantiate that.”

Of course, this is the same administration that has launched investigations into U.S. police departments to root out "systemic racism" among its ranks to try and create a better relationship between cops and citizens. Recommendations made from these "investigations" include hiring people who look like the communities they protect and putting new people in power, as in Ferguson which now has a new black police chief in an effort to ease tensions.

The Obama administration has noticed a link whether it wants to admit it or not.

http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/murder-rates-chicago-la-dallas-vegas-skyrocket


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 27, 2016, 06:48:15 pm
A Spirit Of Violence And Civil Unrest Is Rising In America

It was only a matter of time before our deeply divided nation was going to start coming apart at the seams.  Waves of anger, frustration, violence and civil unrest are starting to sweep across the United States, and political rallies for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump have become a focal point for releasing some of that energy.  The angry mob that threw rocks, bottles and burning T-shirts at police and Donald Trump supporters on Tuesday night wanted to get the attention of the national media, and they got it in droves.  Now that the election is less than five months away, this kind of scene is going to be repeated over and over, and this is something that I warned about back in March.  Millions upon millions of our young people have fully embraced the radical left, and they have already made it exceedingly clear that they are not afraid to use violence to advance their cause.

Never before in my lifetime have I seen America so divided.  Our politicians and the mainstream media have been endlessly pitting various groups against one another for years, and wherever you look hearts are growing very cold.

I have said it before, and I will say it again.  I believe that this is going to be the most chaotic election season that we have ever experienced, and the chaos and violence that are going to be unleashed over the next five months are going to shock the entire world.

On Tuesday night, the angry mob that gathered outside of the Albuquerque Convention Center didn’t seem to care who they hurt as they unleashed their anger.  According to Fox News, some of the protesters even tried to set police horses on fire…

The rampaging gang was made up of anti-Trump goons — waving the Mexican flag and burning a Trump banner.

“Viva Mexico,” protesters shouted, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

The rioters even targeted police horses — knocking one down – and throwing burning T-shirts at others. Who tries to burn down a horse?

How sick and twisted do you have to be to try to set a horse on fire?

But this is what happens when a spirit of violence descends on a group of people.  The consequences can quickly spiral out of control in unexpected ways.

Here is how CNS News described the chaotic scene outside of the Albuquerque Convention Center…

In one of the presidential campaign year’s more grisly spectacles, protesters in New Mexico opposing Donald Trump’s candidacy threw burning T-shirts, plastic bottles and other items at police officers, injuring several, and toppled trash cans and barricades.

Police responded by firing pepper spray and smoke grenades into the crowd outside the Albuquerque Convention Center.

According to at least one report, rocks thrown by some of the rioters were actually flying through the convention center windows, and a number of innocent people got hurt.

What would make people act like that?  This isn’t what America is supposed to look like.  But when fundamental institutions such as the family and the church start to crumble, this is how people start to behave.  You can see a clip that includes footage of protesters jumping on police cars last night in Albuquerque right here…

https://youtu.be/ZyiZgG8eJ7w

And of course the spirit of violence and civil unrest that is rising in America is not limited to Donald Trump rallies.

In major cities all over the nation, violent crime is rising by double digit percentages.  In Chicago, the number of people that have been shot so far in 2016 is 50 percent higher than during the same period last year…

This past weekend in Chicago saw another five killed and 40 wounded in shootings, slightly down from Mother’s day weekend when eight people were killed and 42 wounded. The two weekends are indicative of what’s taking place in the homicide riddled city, in which the number of people shot so far this year is running an astonishing 50% above this time last year – what’s worse, summer is not even here yet, which is traditionally the city’s most violent period.

Yikes!

Other big cities are seeing similar spikes in violent crime.  The following is an excerpt from a recent article in the New York Times…

Experts cannot agree on what to call a recent rise in homicides, much less its cause, but new data on Friday that showed a sharp spike in homicide rates in more than 20 cities rekindled debate over whether it was time for alarm.

The data showed particularly significant increases in homicides in six cities in the first three months of the year compared with the same period last year — Chicago, Dallas, Jacksonville, Fla., Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Memphis.

If this is happening now, with the stock market soaring and unemployment a bit lower than it was during the depths of the last recession, what is going to happen when things start getting really bad in this country?

Desperate people do desperate things, and if people are willing to hurl rocks and set horses on fire because they are upset at a political candidate, what are they going to do when there is no food for their families?

Just look at what is happening down in Venezuela.  People are hunting down dogs and cats because they don’t have anything to eat.  There have been at least 107 mass looting events so far in 2016 alone, and crime is completely and utterly out of control.

What is happening down there is eventually coming to America too, and the chaos and violence that we will see during the coming months will be a small preview of that.

The funny thing is that none of these political protests are going to matter anyway.  It remains my contention that the elite will move heaven and earth to do whatever is necessary to keep Donald Trump out of the White House.  They have already spent tens of millions of dollars against him and they have continuously had their media outlets put out “hit pieces” in an attempt to destroy him.

But their bag of tricks goes a lot deeper than that, and this is not a game to them.

I know that a lot of people out there have some very high hopes for Donald Trump, and we should be praying for him and for his family.

However, the time when the people determined the direction of this nation is long past, and the elite guard their monopoly over the political process very zealously.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/a-spirit-of-violence-and-civil-unrest-is-rising-in-america


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on June 07, 2016, 03:03:11 pm
http://www.vox.com/2014/8/30/6084585/watch-how-louisianas-coastline-has-vanished-in-the-last-80-years
6/7/16
Watch how Louisiana's coastline has vanished over the last 80 years

Over the last 80 years, Louisiana has lost nearly 2,000 square miles of coastland — land that has simply vanished into the Gulf of Mexico. And much, much more land is likely to disappear in the years ahead unless major changes are made.

That's the subject of a terrific 2014 investigation from Bob Marshall of The Lens and Brian Jacobs and Al Shaw of ProPublica. You should absolutely go read their entire piece (and check out all of their excellent visuals), but I've made a slider image out of two key maps to highlight the very basic change at play here:

It's worth noting that this mostly isn't a story about global warming and sea-level rise — at least not yet. The land in southeast Louisiana was built up over thousands of years from sediment washed down by the Mississippi River and anchored by plant life in the marshes and wetlands. Without this replenishing, the soil would simply sink into the Gulf of Mexico.

And over the past century, various human activities have disrupted this ecosystem. After the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the US Army Corps of Engineers built up a series of levees along the Mississippi that controlled springtime flooding but also blocked sediment from washing down the river and replenishing the delta.

At the same time, the Louisiana coast became a major source of oil and gas during the 20th century. That meant two things. Energy companies dredged thousands of miles of canals through the wetlands to transport equipment through — and those canals allowed shoreline to crumble and saltwater to seep in, killing off plants. Meanwhile, some scientists argue that the land itself has sunk after companies extracted oil and gas from underground wells.

more


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on August 29, 2016, 08:49:52 pm
57 Shot and Wounded, 10 Killed in Gun-Controlled Chicago -

ifty-seven people where shot and wounded and 10 were killed  as another weekend came and went in gun-controlled Chicago.

The dead included 32-year-old Nykea Aldridge, a mother of four and cousin of Chicago Bulls’ star Dwayne Wade. She was shot and killed Friday while pushing one of her children in a stroller. The Associated Press reports that two men have been charged in Aldridge’s death, both of whom “were on parole for prior criminal activity.”

NBC 5 reports that 9 persons in addition to Aldridge were killed in weekend violence, while “at least” 57 others were shot and wounded between 4 pm Friday and 1 am Monday.

Breitbart News reported that 52 individuals were shot with nine fatalities during the weekend of August 12-15, and dozens were shot the following weekend with four fatalities. ABC News reported that the dozens shot included a 7-year-old girl and a 36-year-old woman who were attending a vigil for someone who had been shot and killed previously.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the most recent string of weekend violence brings the total number of Chicago gunshot victims to 2,818. The total number of victims for the whole of 2015 was 2,988. The number of homicides year-to-date is 464. There were 490 for the whole of 2015.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/08/29/57-shot-10-killed-gun-controlled-chicago/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on September 06, 2016, 05:20:24 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/06/us/chicago-homicides-visual-guide/index.html

500 homicides. 9 months. 1 American city.

A visual guide by Amanda Wills and Sergio Hernandez, CNN

Updated 10:49 AM ET, Tue September 6, 2016

Chicago's 500th homicide of the year happened over Labor Day weekend, according to the Chicago Tribune.

That number carries a lot of weight for the city -- not just in quantity, but in meaning: 2016 is now the deadliest year in two decades.

CHICAGO VS. OTHER CITIES

When you compare Chicago's homicide rate to that of other big cities in the country -- New York and Los Angeles, for example -- it tops the list.

But Chicago is not the homicide capital of the United States.
New Orleans, St. Louis, Detroit, Baltimore and Newark all have higher rates when you drill down the data per capita.

more


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on September 14, 2016, 07:28:53 pm
Desperately Poor Teens in America's Impoverished Inner Cities Are Trading Sex for Food

When people get hungry enough, they will do just about anything for some food.

According to brand new research that was just released this week from Feeding America and the Urban Institute, there are millions of teenagers in America that live in "food insecure" households, and researchers were stunned to learn what some of these teens are willing to do to feed themselves.

Some resort to shoplifting, others deal drugs, and there were a surprising number of participants in the study that actually admitted to trading sex for food. It wouldn't be a shock to hear that these kinds of things are going on in an economically-depressed nation such as Venezuela, but this is the United States of America. We are supposed to be the wealthiest nation on the entire planet. Sadly, even while the stock market has been soaring in recent years, poverty in America has been on the rise. For those on the low end of the economic scale, things have gone from bad to worse since the end of the last recession, and millions of children are deeply suffering as a result.

Let's start with some of the hard numbers. The following comes directly from the Urban Institute website:

    An estimated 6.8 million people ages 10 to 17 are food insecure, meaning they don't have reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food. Another 2.9 million are very food insecure, and roughly 4 million live in marginally food secure households, where the threat of running out of food is real.

    Food insecurity takes a tremendous toll on teenagers. Poor nutrition—and the stress of hunger and poverty—can jeopardize their physical and mental health and development and their academic success. But despite the gravity and prevalence of teen food insecurity, we know very little about how these young people experience and cope with hunger.

The researchers already knew that lots of young people were hungry in America. But what surprised them were the lengths that many of these youngsters said that they would go to in order to get food:

    Some of the youths said they or someone they know—mostly young men—have turned to shoplifting food, selling drugs or stealing items to sell.

    The teens also reported knowing young women who have sold their bodies for food or had sex for money so they could buy food for their families.

    Going to jail or failing a class in order to have to attend summer school were also some of the lengths teens went to.

Could you imagine your daughter or your granddaughter exchanging her body for food?

For most of us that is absolutely unthinkable, but the truth is that this is taking place on the streets of America every single day.

And this wasn't just some blind random phone survey. The researchers conducted personal interviews with focus groups, and what these kids were willing to admit doing was absolutely astounding. Here is another excerpt directly out of the report:

    When faced with acute food insecurity, teens in all but two of the communities said that youth engage in criminal behavior, ranging from shoplifting food directly to selling drugs and stealing items to resell for cash. These behaviors were most common among young men in communities with the most limited job options.
    Teens in all 10 communities and in 13 of the 20 focus groups talked about some youth selling sex for money to pay for food. These themes arose most strongly in high-poverty communities where teens also described sexually coercive environments. Sexual exploitation most commonly took the form of transactional dating relationships with older adults.
    In a few communities, teens talked about going to jail or failing school (so they could attend summer classes and get school lunch) as viable strategies for ensuring regular meals.

Many of these young people understand that what they are doing is wrong. Just consider what some of them told the researchers:

    advertisement

    A girl in Portland, Oregon told researchers: "It's really like selling yourself. Like you'll do whatever you need to do to get money or eat."

    Another comment from Portland: "You're not even dating ... they'll be like ... 'I don't really love him, but I'm going to do what I have to do.'"

    Many prefer to rationalize what they are doing as dating of sorts. A boy in rural North Carolina said: "When you're selling your body, it's more in disguise. Like if I had sex with you, you have to buy me dinner tonight ... that's how girls deal with the struggle ... That's better than taking money because if they take money, they will be labeled a prostitute."

When I read the information in this report, I was stunned. Yes, I write about our economic decline and the rise in poverty all the time, but I didn't know that things were this bad.

And the researchers were surprised by what they were hearing as well. One of them said that the fact that girls are trading their bodies for food "was really shocking to me", and she believes that things are "just getting worse over time":

    "I've been doing research in low-income communities for a long time, and I've written extensively about the experiences of women in high poverty communities and the risk of sexual exploitation, but this was new," said Susan Popkin, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and lead author of the report, Impossible Choices.

    "Even for me, who has been paying attention to this and has heard women tell their stories for a long time, the extent to which we were hearing about food being related to this vulnerability was new and shocking to me, and the level of desperation that it implies was really shocking to me. It's a situation I think is just getting worse over time."

But aren't we being told that things are getting better?

Aren't we being told that our leaders "fixed" the economy?

Of course the truth is that America is mired in a long-term economic decline that stretches back for decades. With each passing year the middle class gets smaller as a percentage of the population, and poverty continues to grow. Last year the middle class became a minority of the population for the first time ever, and a lot of formerly middle class Americans are now among those that aren't sure that they are going to have enough food to eat this month.

Hunger in America is a major crisis and it is growing. Just because you may live in a comfortable home in a wealthy neighborhood does not mean that this problem is not real.

Tonight there are millions of Americans who do not know where their next meal is going to come from, and they deserve our love and compassion.

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/59896-desperately-poor-teens-in-america-s-impoverished-inner-cities-are-trading-sex-for-food


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on February 17, 2017, 07:22:43 pm
Black Leaders In Chicago Finally State The Obvious About Violent Crime

Chicago residents need to start taking responsibility for the city’s shootings, according to black leaders in the area.

The Chicago Police Department hosted an Operation Wake Up event Thursday where leaders urged residents to stop blaming the police, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Here’s a fact: When it comes to violence and our children, there is no side. We are all on the side of righteousness and justice on this,” Glen Brooks said, speaking in response to a widely-held view that Chicago protests only focus on police brutality.

“Nobody wants to see death and destruction visit upon their family, their neighbors or their communities,” Brooks, a CPD coordinator, added.

Numerous officials, police, residents and activists came to the event, which was held close to the place where a two-year-old boy and his aunt were shot over Facebook Live Tuesday. The little boy died from his injuries.

Aleta Clark, a Chicago activist, pointed out at the rally that the police weren’t responsible for those two victims.

“Guess what? Not one police did it this time. We did it. Where’s the outrage?” Clark asked the crowd.

Lavontay White, the two-year-old, was driving with his pregnant aunt and her boyfriend, Lazarec Collins when someone opened fire dozens of times on their vehicle. Both Collins and White died from their injuries.(RELATED:Chicago Woman Livestreams Escape After Boyfriend, Two-Year-Old Toddler Shot To Death [VIDEO])

White’s aunt managed to escape and caught the incident on Facebook Live.

“Call 911 … I got a bullet in my stomach … They shot him … Please, please. I can’t breathe,” White’s aunt said in the video.

Clark also criticized the community for the lack of response over the deaths in Chicago.

“And there is more people that stand in the [Air] Jordan line that there [are] out here in this community for this baby. This baby died for the decisions that we, as young adults, make,” she said.

Other speakers at the rally echoed her words. A first responder told the crowd it was time for them to fix the violence in their city, as too many children have already been lost to it.

“My message is to the community: Come together, block by block, neighbor by neighbor, friend by friend. It’s too many children been laid to rest early and we’re having family reunions every week,” stated Andrew Holmes, whose 11 year-old cousin died of gun violence.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/17/black-leaders-in-chicago-finally-state-the-obvious-about-violent-crime/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on February 19, 2017, 05:45:47 pm
11 Deeply Alarming Facts About America’s Crumbling Infrastructure

No matter what your particular political perspective is, if there is one thing that virtually everyone in the United States can agree upon it is the fact that America’s infrastructure is crumbling.  Previous generations of Americans conquered an entire continent and erected the greatest system of infrastructure that the world had ever seen, but now thousands upon thousands of those extremely impressive infrastructure projects are decades old and in desperate need of repair or upgrading.  The near catastrophic failure of the Oroville Dam is a perfect example of what I am talking about.  We should be constructing the next generation of infrastructure projects for our children and our grandchildren, but instead we are in such sorry shape that we can’t even keep up with the maintenance and upkeep on the great infrastructure projects that have been handed down to us.

Once upon a time nobody on the entire planet could even come close to matching our infrastructure, but now our crumbling infrastructure has become a joke to much of the rest of the industrialized world.  Sadly, this is just another symptom of our long-term economic collapse.  We simply are not able to put as much of our money toward infrastructure as previous generations of Americans did, and as a result we have a giant mess on our hands.  The following are 11 deeply alarming facts about America’s crumbling infrastructure…

#1 According to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, nearly 56,000 bridges in the United States are currently “structurally deficient”.  What makes that number even more chilling is the fact that vehicles cross those bridges a total of 185 million times a day.

#2 More than one out of every four bridges in the United States is more than 50 years old and “have never had major reconstruction work”.

#3 America does not have a single airport that is considered to be in the top 25 in the world.

#4 The average age of America’s dams is now 52 years.

#5 Not too long ago, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the condition of America’s dams a “D” grade.

#6 Overall, the American Society of Civil Engineers said that the condition of America’s infrastructure as a whole only gets a “D+” grade.

#7 Congestion on our highways costs Americans approximately 101 billion dollars a year in wasted fuel and time.

#8 According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, over two-thirds of our roads are “in dire need of repair or upgrades”.

#9 In order to completely fix all of our roads and bridges, it would take approximately 808 billion dollars.

#10 Federal spending on infrastructure has decreased by 9 percent over the past decade.

#11 According to Bloomberg, it is being projected “that by 2025, shortfalls in infrastructure investment will subtract as much as $3.9 trillion from U.S. gross domestic product.”

The quality of our infrastructure affects all of our lives every single day.  For instance, we all simply take it for granted that safe, clean drinking water is going to come out of our taps, but recent events have shown that is not necessarily always going to be the case.

Just ask the residents of Flint, Michigan.

Water pipes, sewer systems and water treatment facilities all over the nation are aging and are in desperate need of repair.  Of course the exact same thing could be said about our power grid.  It was never intended to handle so many people, and on the hottest days of the summer the strain on the grid is very evident.

And of course the power grid is exceedingly vulnerable to an electromagnetic pulse event, and this is something that I covered in my book on getting prepared.  It has been projected that it would only cost a couple billion dollars to harden the grid against an EMP event, but our politicians refuse to spend the money.

Meanwhile, President Trump is completely correct when he says that our airports look like something that you would see in a third world country.  Most of our airports are at least several decades old, and they are definitely showing their age.

But things are even worse when you look at other systems of mass transit around the country.  While other nations such as Japan and China are investing huge amounts of money into high speed rail, we are doing next to nothing even though what we currently have is absolutely pathetic.

I could go on and talk about our ports, schools, waterways, parks, etc. but I think that you get the point.

President Trump’s instincts are right on the money when he says that he wants to spend a trillion dollars on infrastructure.  Without a doubt, we desperately need it.

The problem is that we are flat broke.

We are 20 trillion dollars in debt, and we are adding more than a trillion dollars to that total every year.

So where are we going to get the money?

It is easy for liberals to say that we should raise taxes, but how much more are you going to squeeze out of U.S. consumers?  Two-thirds of the country is living paycheck to paycheck, and we just learned that U.S. household debt has risen to a grand total of 12.58 trillion dollars.

Once upon a time, America was the wealthiest nation on the entire planet and we could afford to construct bold, new infrastructure projects from sea to shining sea.

But today we have the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world and we can’t even afford to repair what we already have.

When I speak of our long-term economic collapse, this is precisely the sort of thing that I am talking about.  We have clearly been in decline for a very long time, and anyone that would suggest otherwise is simply not being honest with you.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/11-deeply-alarming-facts-about-americas-crumbling-infrastructure


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on March 08, 2017, 06:23:15 pm
A Third Of All U.S. Shopping Malls Are Projected To Close As ‘Space Available’ Signs Go Up All Over America

If you didn’t know better, you might be tempted to think that “Space Available” was the hottest new retail chain in the entire country.  As you will see below, it is being projected that about a third of all shopping malls in the United States will soon close, and we just recently learned that the number of “distressed retailers” is the highest that it has been since the last recession.  Honestly, I don’t know how anyone can possibly believe that the U.S. economy is in “good shape” after looking at the retail industry.  In my recent article about the ongoing “retail apocalypse“, I discussed the fact that Sears, J.C. Penney and Macy’s have all announced that they are closing dozens of stores in 2017, and you can find a pretty comprehensive list of 19 U.S. retailers that are “on the brink of bankruptcy” right here.  Needless to say, quite a bloodbath is going on out there right now.

But I didn’t realize how truly horrific things were for the retail industry until I came across an article about mall closings on Time Magazine’s website…

About one-third of malls in the U.S. will shut their doors in the coming years, retail analyst Jan Kniffen told CNBC Thursday. His prediction comes in the wake of Macy’s reporting its worst consecutive same-store sales decline since the financial crisis.

Macy’s and its fellow retailers in American malls are challenged by an oversupply of retail space as customers migrate toward online shopping, as well as fast fashion retailers like H&M and off-price stores such as T.J. Maxx. As a result, about 400 of the country’s 1,100 enclosed malls will fail in the upcoming years. Of those that remain, he predicts that about 250 will thrive and the rest will continue to struggle.

Can you imagine what this country is going to look like if that actually happens?

Shopping malls all over the United States are literally becoming “ghost towns”, and many that have already closed have stayed empty for years and years.

The process usually starts when a shopping mall starts losing anchor stores.  That is why it is so alarming that Sears, J.C. Penney and Macy’s are planning to shut down so many locations in 2017.  According to one recent report, 310 shopping malls in America are in imminent danger of losing an anchor store…

Dozens of malls have closed in the last 10 years, and many more are at risk of shutting down as retailers like Macy’s, JCPenney, and Sears — also known as anchor stores — shutter hundreds of stores to staunch the bleeding from falling sales.

The commercial-real-estate firm CoStar estimates that nearly a quarter of malls in the US, or roughly 310 of the nation’s 1,300 shopping malls, are at high risk of losing an anchor store.

Once the anchor stores start going, traffic falls off dramatically for the other stores and they start leaving too.

Four years ago in “The Beginning Of The End” I warned that empty storefronts would soon litter the national landscape, and now that is precisely what is happening.

Now that the Christmas season is over, some retailers that have been around for decades have suddenly decided that it is time to file for bankruptcy.  Sadly, one of those retailers is HHGregg…

HHGregg Inc., the 61-year-old seller of appliances and electronics, is moving closer to Chapter 11 after announcing a store-closing plan, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The filing may come as soon as next week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Bloomberg previously reported that HHGregg might file for bankruptcy in March if it couldn’t reach an out-of-court solution.

Another retailer that was once riding high but is now dealing with bankruptcy is BCBG…

BCBG, the California-based fashion retailer that had acquired fashion design firm Herve Leger in 1998, and that once had more than 570 boutiques globally, including 175 in the US, and whose cocktail dresses and handbags were shown off by celebrities, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday.

It is buckling under $459 million of debt. It has 4,800 employees. Layoffs have already started. More layoffs and other cost cuts are planned, according to court documents, cited by Bloomberg. It started closing 120 of its stores in January. It wants to sell itself at a court-supervised auction. If that fails, it wants to negotiate a debt-for-equity swap with junior lenders owed $289 million.

If the U.S. economy was actually doing as well as the stock market says that it should be doing, all of these retail chains would not be closing stores and going bankrupt.

But of course the truth is that the stock market has become completely disconnected from economic reality.

We live at a time when middle class consumers are tapped out.  According to one recent survey, 57 percent of all Americans do not even have enough money in the bank to write a $500 check for an unexpected expense.

And people are falling out of the middle class at a staggering pace.  The number of homeless people in New York City recently set a brand new record high, and city authorities plan to construct 90 new homeless shelters within the next five years.

On the west coast we are also seeing a dramatic rise in homelessness.  The following comes from an article by Dan Lyman…

Citizen journalists have captured stunning images and video of homeless encampments that are spiraling out of control in the shadows of Disneyland and Anaheim Stadium in California.

The tent city has recently sprung up along the Santa Ana riverbed, near a busy convergence of three major California highways known as the “Orange Crush,” at the border of Anaheim and Santa Ana, the latter a “sanctuary city.”

Homeless activists estimate that as many as 1,000 people are camped in the region.

You can see some video footage of this homeless encampment on YouTube right here…

https://youtu.be/t01AemE68s4

Incredibly, the Federal Reserve is almost certainly going to raise interest rates at their next meeting even though the U.S. economy is faltering so badly.  That only makes sense if they are trying to make Donald Trump look as bad as possible.

Even though this giant bubble of false economic stability that we are currently enjoying has lasted far longer than it should have, the truth is that nothing has changed about the long-term economic outlook at all.

America is still heading for “economic Armageddon”, and the retail industry is a huge red flag that is warning us that our day of reckoning is approaching more rapidly than many had anticipated.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/a-third-of-all-u-s-shopping-malls-are-projected-to-close-as-space-available-signs-go-up-all-over-america


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on March 13, 2017, 08:43:51 pm
Chicago's violent gangs looting freight cars filled with guns


On the south side of Chicago, in one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods, brazen criminals occasionally hit the gangster’s jackpot: they loot freight containers carrying shiny, new guns.

The guns – boxes and boxes of them – are part of shipments that are destined for gun companies or gun shops across the country. But as gangsters have caught on to the practice, they are ransacking these trains and stealing weapons that eventually make their way to the city’s blood-soaked streets.

"Any time you have individuals who can go in and steal guns from a train, that makes the environment very toxic," said Pastor Cory Brooks, who leads a church around the corner from the freight yard.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said that since 2013, more than 150 firearms have been reported stolen from freight trains. An Associated Press investigation revealed that some were traced to violent crimes and only 16 were recovered.

rest: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/03/09/chicagos-violent-gangs-looting-freight-cars-filled-with-guns.html


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on May 16, 2017, 08:22:27 pm
Baltimore Has Become A Rotting, Decaying War Zone As A Raging Opioid Epidemic Eats Away At The City Like Cancer

It is hard to believe that Baltimore was once one of the greatest cities in the entire world.  Unlike nearby Washington D.C., Baltimore is a blue collar city that is home to some of the hardest working people in America.  When I was in high school, my brother and I were huge fans of the Baltimore Orioles, and once in a while our parents would drive us from our home in Virginia all the way up to Baltimore to see them play.  As an adult, I spent a number of years living near D.C., and I would take frequent trips up to Baltimore.  To say that the city is in a state of decline would be a major understatement.  Everywhere you look there are abandoned buildings and homes, and as you drive through some of the worst areas you can actually see drug addicts just lying in the streets.  Just like so many other communities all over this country, decades of liberal policies have taken a brutal toll, and now the city is just a rotting, decaying shell of the glorious metropolis that it once was.

There are some sections of Baltimore that you simply do not go into once the sun goes down.  And actually it isn’t a very good idea to go into those areas during the day either.  The crime in the city has gotten so bad that authorities have actually formally requested help from the federal government…

According to The Baltimore Sun Newspaper, the city has logged in 118 homicides today with the projection of >400 murders for year’s end. It’s so bad here that Baltimore’s Mayor has asked the Federal Government for help in attempt to regain control. Even the police union sounds the alarm of an officer shortage leading to decrease in patrols. All of this is occurring as the Baltimore population declines, nearing a 100-year low, U.S. Census says.

Through the end of April, Baltimore was on pace for the highest murder rate in the history of the city.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The primary factor fueling all of this violence is an opioid epidemic that is completely and totally out of control…

The opioid epidemic is the quiet killer that has been leaving a trail of bodies on the streets of Baltimore.

“The individuals that are putting these drugs on our street, they’re killing people on our street,” said deputy commissioner Dean Palmere of the Baltimore Police Department.

Drug overdoses is expected to have killed 2,000 people statewide in 2016 and more than 800 in Baltimore alone.

“There are more people dying from overdose here in Baltimore City, than there are dying of homicide,” said Baltimore City health commissioner Dr. Leana Wen in February.

That last paragraph amazed me when I first read it.

Even though Baltimore is on pace for the highest murder rate in the city’s history, more people are actually dying from drug overdoses.

And now police in the city are warning of a new opioid that is reportedly “100 times more potent than heroin”.  It is called Carfentanyl, and it can kill people almost instantly.

I would like to share with you a short YouTube film put out by Alastair Williamson just a few days ago entitled “The Baltimore Experience”.  No matter how much I write, I could never communicate the devastation in the city quite like this little video does…

https://youtu.be/_e_bM7WCehY

Did you see the part near the end where Williamson stops to offer a bottle of water to a man that is just lying in the street?

Hopefully that particular man is not on anything, but it is quite common to see people lying around like zombies in cities where an opioid epidemic is raging.  These are very cruel drugs, and they will utterly consume you if you allow them to.

The more drugs that come in, the worse the violence gets, and within the past 24 hours we have seen four more senseless murders in Baltimore…

Two men were shot and killed Tuesday morning in west Baltimore, police said. Officers responded at 5:52 a.m. to the shooting on the 2800 block of Lanvale Street.

Police said officers found the victims in and around a vehicle. Both had been shot in the head and were declared dead at the scene, police said.

A 35-year-old man was fatally shot Monday evening in southeast Baltimore, police said.

The victim, identified as Charles Gatuthu, 35, was shot in the head and body at about 7:45 p.m. in the 6100 block of Boston Street. He was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital, where he died.

A 25-year-old was shot and killed Monday afternoon in west Baltimore, police said.

Of course Baltimore is far from alone.  On Monday, I wrote about how Chicago is becoming a gang-infested wasteland, and on Tuesday we got news of Chicago’s 200th homicide so far in 2017.

And an official bulletin went out to all members of the Chicago police on Monday warning them about the “high-powered weapons” that gangs are now using to kill people…

Chicago police issued a bulletin Monday warning its officers about gangs armed with high-powered weapons, after three people were shot to death over the weekend – including two attending a memorial for the earlier victim.

Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the three people who were killed in the shootings Sunday were all members of the same street gang.

Sometimes it is hard to believe that this is still America.

The precious people that are getting hooked on these drugs and that are committing these murders were once innocent little boys and girls.  Somewhere along the way they were led down the wrong path, and this is happening on a massive scale all over the nation.

So what should we do?

What we need are some real solutions.  We need to restore the principles and the values that this nation was founded upon, and we need people that are willing to step forward and take this nation in a different direction.

In times of great darkness, light is needed the most, and at this moment in our history we are in desperate need of some lights.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/baltimore-has-become-a-rotting-decaying-war-zone-as-a-raging-opioid-epidemic-eats-away-at-the-city-like-cancer


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on February 20, 2018, 12:18:23 am
Survey of Downtown San Francisco Reveals Trash on Every Block, 303 Piles of Feces and 100 Drug Needles

How dirty is San Francisco? An NBC Bay Area Investigation reveals a dangerous mix of drug needles, garbage, and feces throughout downtown San Francisco. The Investigative Unit surveyed 153 blocks of the city – the more than 20-mile stretch includes popular tourist spots like Union Square and major hotel chains. The area – bordered by Van Ness Avenue, Market Street, Post Street and Grant Avenue – is also home to City Hall, schools, playgrounds, and a police station.

Survey of Downtown SF Reveals Trash, Feces, Drug Needles

As the Investigative Unit photographed nearly a dozen hypodermic needles scattered across one block, a group of preschool students happened to walk by on their way to an afternoon field trip to citiy hall.

“We see poop, we see pee, we see needles, and we see trash,” said teacher Adelita Orellana. “Sometimes they ask what is it, and that’s a conversation that’s a little difficult to have with a 2-year old, but we just let them know that those things are full of germs, that they are dangerous, and they should never be touched.”

In light of the dangerous conditions, part of Orellana’s responsibilities now include teaching young children how to avoid the contamination.

'There’s Poop in There'

“The floor is dirty,” said A’Nylah Reed, a 3-year-old student at the preschool, who irately explained having to navigate dirty conditions on her walks to school.

“There is poop in there,” she exclaimed. “That makes me angry.”

Kim Davenport, A’nyla’s mother, often walks her daughter to the Compass preschool on Leavenworth Street in San Francisco. She said she often has to pull her daughter out of the way in order to keep her from stepping on needles and human waste. “I just had to do that this morning!”

The Investigate Unit spent three days assessing conditions on the streets of downtown San Francisco and discovered trash on each of the 153 blocks surveyed. While some streets were littered with items as small as a candy wrapper, the vast majority of trash found included large heaps of garbage, food, and discarded junk. The investigation also found 100 drug needles and more than 300 piles of feces throughout downtown.

Dried Feces can Lead to Airborne Viruses

“If you do get stuck with these disposed needles you can get HIV, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, and a variety of other viral diseases,” said Dr. Lee Riley, an infectious disease expert at University of California, Berkeley. He warned that once fecal matter dries, it can become airborne, releasing potentially dangerous viruses, such as the rotavirus. “If you happen to inhale that, it can also go into your intestine,” he said. The results can prove fatal, especially in children.

Riley has researched conditions across the poorest slums of the world. His book titled, “Slum Health,” examines health problems that are created by extreme poverty.

San Francisco Compared to Some of the Dirtiest Slums in the World

Based on the findings of the Investigative Unit survey, Riley believes parts of the city may be even dirtier than slums in some developing countries.

“The contamination is … much greater than communities in Brazil or Kenya or India,” he said. He notes that in those countries, slum dwellings are often long-term homes for families and so there is an attempt to make the surroundings more livable. Homeless communities in San Francisco, however, are often kicked out from one part of town and forced to relocate to another. The result is extreme contamination, according to Riley.

'We Aren’t Addressing the Root Cause'

“Unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable,” said Supervisor Hillary Ronen. “We're losing tourists. We're losing conventions in San Francisco. All of this is happening because we aren't addressing the root cause, which is we need more temporary beds for street homelessness.”

Ronen believes San Francisco has been too focused on permanent housing for the homeless and that the city has neglected to provide enough temporary shelter, which can provide the homeless a respite from the streets. The city currently has about 2,000 temporary beds. Ronen, however, believes an additional 1,000 are needed, at a cost of about $25 million.

“We need to find a source of revenue,” said Ronen. “Whether that's putting something on the ballot to raise business taxes or taking a look at our general fund and re-allocating money towards that purpose and taking it away from something else in the city.”

San Francisco Spends $30 Million Cleaning Feces, Drug Needles

Until the problem is fixed, Mohammed Nuru, the Director of the Public Works Department, is charged with the towering task of cleaning the streets, over and over again. “Yes, we can clean, he said, “and then go back a few hours later, and it looks as if it was never cleaned. So is that how you want to spend your money?”

The 2016-2017 budget for San Francisco Public Works includes $60.1 million for “Street Environmental Services.” The budget has nearly doubled over the past five years. Originally, that money, was intended to clean streets, not sidewalks. According to city ordinances, sidewalks are the responsibility of property owners. However, due to the severity of the contamination in San Francisco, Public Works has inherited the problem of washing sidewalks. Nuru estimates that half of his street cleaning budget – about $30 million – goes towards cleaning up feces and needles from homeless encampments and sidewalks.

'Human Tragedy' in San Francisco

A single pile of human waste, said Nuru, takes at least 30 minutes for one of his staffers to clean. “The steamer has to come. He has to park the steamer. He's got to come out with his steamer, disinfect, steam clean, roll up and go.”

Asked if he’d be willing to give up part of his budget and allocate it to more directly addressing the homeless problem – which would likely alleviate his cleaning problem – Nuru said, “The Board of Supervisors, the mayor – those are decisions that they need to make."  He added, “I want to continue cleaning and I want to be able to continue to provide services. The Public Works Department provides services seven days a week, 24 hours a day.”

Ronen acknowledges that finding the money to provide 1,000 additional beds for the homeless may very well take years. The city is planning on opening three new Navigation Centers for homeless people by the summer, but two centers will also be closing.

“We're not going to make a huge dent in this problem unless we deal with some underlying major social problems and issues,” she said. “There's a human tragedy happening in San Francisco.”

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Diseased-Streets-472430013.html


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 05, 2018, 12:48:14 pm
“20lbs Of Human Waste” – Major Medical Convention Abandons San Francisco Citing Street Safety

Tourism is big business in San Francisco, bringing in $9 billion dollars a year to the city’s businesses. Now, a major medical convention expected to bring in 15,000 visitors and drop $40 million in less than a week has decided it will stop bringing its members to the City by the Bay because they don’t feel safe walking the streets. “I come from a third world county and it is not as bad as this,”

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-04/20lbs-human-waste-major-medical-convention-abandons-san-francisco-citing-street


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 05, 2018, 12:48:58 pm
New York City to Roll Out Buses of Peacekeepers After Violence in Communities

New York City will spend $1.8 million this year to roll out “mobile trauma units,” or buses filled with counselors and peacekeepers, to crime scenes throughout the city in an effort to ease tensions in communities after acts of gun violence. The buses will be deployed in January 2019 to each borough to provide trauma relief, as well as job and educational opportunities. Some team members have prior criminal records and former gang affiliations.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-to-roll-out-buses-of-peacekeepers-after-violence-in-communities-1530788400


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 05, 2018, 12:49:49 pm
California Governor Jerry Brown Releases 10,000 Pedophiles, Rapists From Prison

Over 10,000 sex offenders including convicted pedophiles and rapists have been released onto the streets thanks to Governor Jerry Brown and the ruling of a Superior Court Judge in Sacramento who say crimes such as “raping a drugged or unconscious victim” or “intimately touching an unlawfully restrained person” are not violent crimes.

http://www.neonnettle.com/news/4454-california-governor-jerry-brown-releases-10-000-pedophiles-rapists-from-prison


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 10, 2018, 08:37:20 pm
Nearly 30 Shot, Four Fatally, over Weekend in Gun-Controlled Chicago

Four people were killed and another 24 wounded by gunfire in gun-controlled Chicago over the weekend.

https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/07/09/nearly-30-shot-four-fatally-over-weekend-in-gun-controlled-chicago/?__twitter_impression=true


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on September 27, 2018, 04:16:46 am
The Worst Cities In America Are The Ones Being Run By Democrats – The American Dream

Is it just a coincidence that many of the greatest cities in America became poverty-infested hellholes once the Democrats took charge of things?  Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Oakland and Memphis were all once great cities.  But after an extended period of control by the Democratic Party, each one of them has become a festering crisis that never seems to end.  I thought that I was going to do an article about Baltimore today, but it occurred to me that the exact same things that are happening in Baltimore are also happening in a multitude of other major cities, and the common theme among all of them is that the Democrats are in control.  But even though this is the case, voters in those cities just keep choosing Democrats election after election anyway.

Let’s talk about crime first.  According to the FBI, Baltimore had the highest murder rate in the entire country last year…

    Baltimore had the worst homicide rate among the nation’s 50 largest cities last year and the second-highest violent crime rate overall, according to new data from the FBI.

    The grim news was the latest reminder of the sustained cycle of violence that has gripped the city since 2015, when the annual number of homicides soared above 300 for three consecutive years after the unrest that followed Freddie Gray’s death from injuries suffered in police custody.

In fact, it was the highest murder rate that Baltimore had ever seen.

So who runs Baltimore?

Democrats.

But Baltimore is definitely not alone.  When you start going down the list, you find a lot more major cities run by Democrats…

#2 Detroit – Run By Democrats

#3 Memphis – Run By Democrats

#4 Chicago – Run By Democrats

#5 Philadelphia – Run By Democrats

And this is certainly not just a recent phenomenon.  According to a broader study of major cities, there is a very strong correlation between Democratic control and violent crime…

    Using U.S. cities with a population over 100,000 and the most recent FBI statistics on violent crime, USA Today formulated a list of the top ten most dangerous cities in America. Of these ten, eight are currently run by Democratic mayors and city councils, and two are controlled by Independents. Of the past ten mayors of each of the three most violent cities in America — Birmingham, Detroit, and St. Louis — eight have been Democrats. All told, the three most violent cities in this country have been under nearly uninterrupted Democratic control for more than half a century.

So the moral of the story is this – if you want more violent crime, vote for the Democrats.

Not surprisingly, there is also a very strong correlation between Democratic control and poverty.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Democratic-controlled California actually has the highest poverty rate in the entire nation…

    Guess which state has the highest poverty rate in the country? Not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia, but California, where nearly one out of five residents is poor. That’s according to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, which factors in the cost of housing, food, utilities and clothing, and which includes noncash government assistance as a form of income.

But aren’t Democrats supposed to be the ones that care about the poor?

Well, they certainly throw a lot of money at the problem, but all of that money does not appear to be helping.  In fact, the Los Angeles Times has even admitted that California’s spending on anti-poverty programs “actually seems to have made it worse”…

    It’s not as though California policymakers have neglected to wage war on poverty. Sacramento and local governments have spent massive amounts in the cause. Several state and municipal benefit programs overlap with one another; in some cases, individuals with incomes 200% above the poverty line receive benefits. California state and local governments spent nearly $958 billion from 1992 through 2015 on public welfare programs, including cash-assistance payments, vendor payments and “other public welfare,” according to the Census Bureau. California, with 12% of the American population, is home today to about one in three of the nation’s welfare recipients.

    The generous spending, then, has not only failed to decrease poverty; it actually seems to have made it worse.

That is a stunning admission from the Los Angeles Times.

And poverty is not just at crisis levels in California.

It will probably not surprise you to learn that nine of the ten poorest cities in the United States are run by Democrats…

    Referencing data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, CBS News composed a list of the top ten most impoverished cities in the United States. The ubiquity of Democratic governance is heightened in this context, as nine out of the ten poorest cities are run by Democrats. Combining the past ten mayors of the three poorest cities — Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Detroit — there are twenty-three Democrats, three Socialists, two Independents, and two Republicans. In essence, the three most impoverished cities in America have seen more governance in the past 50 years by Socialists than by Republicans, and the ratio of Democratic governance to Republican governance is about 12:1.

Ouch.

And even the Democratic-controlled cities that are supposedly “thriving” economically are still dealing with squalor on an unprecedented scale.

For example, one investigation found 300 piles of human feces on the streets of downtown San Francisco.  The following comes from NPR…

    San Francisco’s streets are so filthy that at least one infectious disease expert has compared the city to some of the dirtiest slums in the world.

    The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit surveyed 153 blocks of the city in February, finding giant mounds of trash and food on the majority of streets. At least 100 discarded needles and more than 300 piles of human feces were also found in downtown San Francisco, according to the report.

The Democratic Party is definitely not the answer, and the Republican Party often makes the mistake of trying to lean closer to the Democratic Party in order to try to win independent voters.  But in the process, the GOP seems to have lost the values and principles that once made it so appealing to so many of us.

We need fresh thinking, and we desperately need to return to the values and principles that once made this nation so great.  This is what I am proposing, and that is what so many other true conservatives across this land are fighting for.

If we keep doing what we have been doing, we are going to keep getting the same results.

If we want different results, we need real change, and that means getting rid of most of the people that are currently holding political office all across America.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/poverty-crime-and-human-feces-the-worst-cities-in-america-are-the-ones-being-run-by-democrats


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on June 28, 2019, 04:01:27 pm
Bubonic Plague In LA: California On The Verge Of Becoming A Third World State

The city of Los Angeles is quickly descending into a cesspool of decay and disease.  With bubonic plague now likely present amongst residents, the city and the state of California are on the verge of becoming a third-world hellscape.  Some say that that’s already happened...

Tucker Carlson had historian Victor Davis Hanson on his show just last week, where the latter said that California is on the verge of becoming the nation’s first Third World state. From trash being illegally dumped to city hall becoming a rat-infested den in the city of LA, it all points to the decay suffered when Democrats run things. Even police stations in the city are loaded with rats and according to Townhall, one was fined $5,000 over its conditions that left one officer stricken with typhoid fever. California’s descent has gotten to the point where there is a possibility that bubonic plague (the black death) may now be present in the city.

This isn’t new information either. Typhus outbreaks were being reported back in February. Typhus is not transmitted person-to-person, and flea-borne typhus can spread to people from infected fleas and their feces. Typhus infection can be prevented through flea control measures on pets, using insect repellent to avoid flea bites and clearing areas that can attract wild or stray animals like cats, rats, and opossums, according to the Department of Public Health.

    Typhus is spread by fleas hitching a ride on rats. While the general population struggles under the weight of the government (local, state, and federal in LA’s case) and the homeless population continues to climb up, the same cannot be said for the rats that carry fleas the cause typhus. The rat population in LA is doing just fine, however, as piles of garbage dot the cityscape, making it Thanksgiving Day every day for the city’s fat, happy rodents, wrote the American Thinker. -SHTFPlan

California’s burgeoning homeless camps are not the most hygienic places to live, obviously.  And with the homeless population growing daily, the encampments are becoming more dangerous when it comes to crime and disease. Dr. Drew Pinsky said this month that there has been a total and complete breakdown of services in the city that has placed the population at risk of infection and other health-related issues.

    “We have a complete breakdown of the basic needs of civilization in Los Angeles right now,” Pinsky told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

    “We have the three prongs of airborne disease, tuberculosis is exploding, rodent-borne. We are one of the only cities in the country that doesn’t have a rodent control program, and sanitation has broken down.”

Pinsky said bubonic plague, which is also known as the “Black Death,” a pandemic that killed off millions in the 14th century, is “likely” already present in Los Angeles. The plague is spread by infected fleas and exposure to bodily fluids from a dead plague-infected animal, with the bacteria entering through the skin and traveling to lymph nodes.

    “This is unbelievable. I can’t believe I live in a city where this is not Third World. This is medieval,” Pinsky said, according to Fox News.

    “Third World countries are insulted if they are accused of being like this. No city on Earth tolerates this. The entire population is at risk.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-27/bubonic-plague-la-california-verge-becoming-third-world-state


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on July 30, 2019, 07:17:07 am
Baltimore’s Rat Problem is So Bad, Roads Are Collapsing

Rodents are tunneling beneath sidewalks.

Baltimore’s rat problem is so bad that it is causing roads in the city to collapse, proving President Trump right when he said the city was a “rodent infested mess.”

After being labeled “racist” for calling Elijah Cummings’ Baltimore district a “rat and rodent infested mess,” Trump doubled down earlier today by drawing attention to the city’s crime problem.

“Baltimore, under the leadership of Elijah Cummings, has the worst Crime Statistics in the Nation. 25 years of all talk, no action! So tired of listening to the same old Bull…Next, Reverend Al will show up to complain & protest. Nothing will get done for the people in need. Sad!” he tweeted.

Trump is still getting heat for calling Baltimore “rat infested,” but it was Animal Planet that pointed out the city’s rat problem was so chronic, it is causing roads to collapse.

“Baltimore’s rat problem is bad enough that at one point, rats tunneled so intensely beneath a particular area of pavement that when garbage collectors drove over it, their truck sunk up to its axles,” reported the TV network. “Rats in the vicinity took full advantage of the mishap and swarmed the truck, gorging on the garbage inside.”

The network listed Baltimore number 3 on the “Top 10 Worst Rat Cities in the World.”

Is Animal Planet racist too?

As we previously reported, a series of videos posted to Twitter by Kimberly Klacik of the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee (an African-American woman) validate Trump’s argument.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh also commented on the city’s rodent issue during a 2018 of Elijah Cummings’ district when she remarked, “What the hell – we should just take all this **** down. Ooh, you can smell the rats.”

https://youtu.be/bhbxLZycZwE

https://summit.news/2019/07/29/baltimores-rat-problem-is-so-bad-roads-are-collapsing/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on September 20, 2019, 06:14:05 am
Doctor’s Updated Warning: Leprosy Spreading In Los Angeles Homeless Camps

Deadly and ancient diseases have made a rebound in the USA as we have growing homelessness and floods of illegal immigrants. Recent reports indicate that leprosy, a particularly debilitating disease, is rearing its head in the homeless population in Los Angeles, California. Leprosy is caused by a bacteria that is contagious and is relatively easily spread by coughing and sneezing. To call it a nasty disease is an understatement.

https://www.davidharrisjr.com/doug/doctors-updated-warning-leprosy-spreading-in-los-angeles-homeless-camps/


Title: Re: Turn Out The Lights U.S. Cities Are Becoming Cesspools Of Filth, Decay And Wret
Post by: Mark on September 20, 2019, 06:23:13 am
The capital of California is collapsing into chaos, feces, drug addiction and homelessness… and it’s all run by Democrats, of course

Even though places like San Francisco and Los Angeles typically get the most attention, out-of-control homelessness is also a major problem in Sacramento, California’s capital, where human feces, urine, trash, and drug needles are reportedly piling up all across the city at an exponential rate.

The Democrat stronghold, and the locale from which Governor Gavin Newsom rules California, is said to currently have about 5,570 homeless people living on its streets – a figure that’s 19 percent higher than just two years ago, illustrating how quickly homelessness is spreading across the Golden State.

With about 130,000 homeless people in total, California leads the pack in societal failure and economic collapse. And Sacramento is quickly becoming one of California’s many ground zeros for rampant homelessness, which is starting to drive away local businesses that can no longer operate successfully due to all the blight.

“I just want to tell you what happens when I get to work,” stated Liz Novak, a local salon owner, to the media about what she’s had to deal with trying to conduct business in Sacramento.

“I have to clean up the poop and the pee off of my doorstep. I have to clean-up the syringes. I have to politely ask the people who I care for – I care for these people that are homeless – to move their tents out of the way of the door to my business.”

Things became so bad for Novak that she finally decided to close up shop and move somewhere else in the hopes that things might improve. But with the way things are going, the homeless problem in California is likely to continue growing and spreading to other cities and towns, as well as into more rural areas.

https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-09-19-capitol-of-california-is-collapsing-into-chaos-feces.html