The criminal world has gone digital. Crime syndicates are sinking their dirty teeth into cybercrime and today it is the fastest growing criminal activity on earth.

Trillions of Dollars are at Stake

Accenture, considered one of the world’s top companies, numbers digital and technology consulting in its stable of services. The firm predicts businesses will lose US$5.2 trillion to cybercrime globally over the next five years.

Cue the mafia and other nefarious organizations. Cyberattacks cost businesses from large to small on average $200,000 annually, according to Hiscock, a commercial liability insurance company. And the little guy is the easiest target.

Most Businesses Woefully Unprepared for Cyberattacks

Small businesses account for almost half of online attacks – 43 percent – but they are woefully unprepared to stave off breaches because only 14 percent have the technology shield to counter the assaults.

“Modern IT infrastructures are more complex and sophisticated than ever and the amount of virtual ground that we’ve got to safeguard has also grown exponentially,” said Jesse Rothstein of security provider ExtraHop. “…(C)yber criminals can launch thousands of digital attacks designed to compromise our operations at every turn, only one of which ever needs to connect to cause serious disruptions.”

But while large companies are the prime organized crime targets, individuals do not escape notice and while the coronavirus pandemic is a plague to most, to syndicates like the mafia it is a blessing, presenting an opportunity to defraud. From March to May in Canada this year, organized crime swindled individuals out of CAN$1.9 million.

The most common method of bilking people is through email or text messages where the recipient clicks on a link to collect the $2,000 a month the federal government offers to those who have lost jobs to the pandemic. The link takes individuals to a phony website asking for financial information, or it could allow the intrusion of malware that can steal, encrypt, delete or hijack data, leading to financial theft.

Cosa Nostra Goes Online

Italy has had its share of cybercrime courtesy of the world’s most infamous crime syndicate.

In May of this year, 91 suspected mobsters were collared by police probing money-laundering and extortion. Authorities were attempting to stop Sicily’s Cosa Nostra from bilking people who were suffering financially due to the coronavirus.

In one conversation recorded by police, a man said “look, we pay cash” for businesses hard hit by the pandemic. The mob was trying to buy legitimate businesses at bargain basement prices so as to illegally launder dirty money gleaned from extortion and drug trafficking.

Gangs also hold businesses for ransom – hence the name ransomware, a malicious software that infects a computer and restricts access until money is paid to unlock it.

In Israel, the chip wear maker Tower – the computer chip used for processors, memory and other information functions – came under ransomware attack and had to shut down some production systems and its IT systems were damaged, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in August. A publicly-traded company with second-quarter earnings of US$310 million, one day of lost work would cost the company an estimated $3.4 million.

Hackers demanded money and Tower’s insurance company said pay up.

Insurance Company Advises Firm To Pay Ransom

“Its insurance company encouraged paying the ransom, which is estimated at several million dollars,” Einat Meyron, who advises companies on cybersecurity and is well acquainted with this attack, as reported by Haaretz. “It definitely wasn’t $250,000, as has been reported in several places.”

The mafia is becoming so pervasive in cyber crime that its involvement is now known as the “New Mafia.” The mafia has hired cybersmart engineers to hack and uncover where shipments of specific goods are being readied for shipment, then sends in drivers in their own trucks to haul the goods away.

The Internet is also used to help facilitate and plan various crime operations.

Brazilian Gangsters Running Drug Networks from Jail Cell Computers

In Brazil, the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), Sao Paulo’s mafia corporation is using smart phones so members of its council can call the shots from their prison cells. Sao Paulo prosecutors seized two laptops of senior syndicate members and discovered Excel spreadsheets showing the entire cocaine distribution network for the metropolitan area.

Included was the identity of those marked for punishment – and sometimes death – due to embezzlement or not fulfilling their promised participation in crime.

An Expanding Crime Network

In 2018, 30,000 people were members of the PCC and new recruits were joining each day, reported Rolandburger.com, a respected American-based management consulting firm with 50 offices in 39 countries. The PCC is spreading to other South American countries.

Perhaps Malwarebytes, the ubiquitous anti-virus Internet security company, best sums up today’s evolving criminal use of the internet. “What was once the reserve of hobbyists and enterprising individuals has taken a more sinister turn as the world has become more interconnected.

“In the last decade, cybercrime has evolved from computer viruses that commandeered a select number of PCs to spectacular security breaches and cyberattacks that exceed the imagination. The Internet has allowed criminals to send tentacles out all over the world while sitting in comfort thousands of miles away. A new day has dawned for organized crime.

L'articolo The “New Mafia” Takes Crime Online proviene da InsideOver.

As the apocalyptic fourth horseman of pestilence and death rides roughshod over the world spreading a pall of coronavirus, some no doubt think this plague signals the End Times or the work of the Antichrist, Satan’s chief agent on Earth.

The Coronavirus is Significant But it’s Not the Only Pandemic That’s Devastated the World

True, the numbers are staggering — at this writing there are approximately 740,000 Covid-19 cases around the globe and deaths number 35,000 and climbing. The virus has created worldwide panic and played havoc with economies as entire countries have declared states of emergency, closing borders, forcing business to close and ordering citizens to remain quarantined in their homes.

There is not doubt the coronavirus will change the way the world looks when the virus is finally under control. But for those who believe we are doomed, it is worth remembering that pandemics have long plagued mankind and at time appeared hopeless to defeat. Here is a look at some former pandemics that changed the course of human history.

The Plague of Justinian (541-750AD)

Although the Plague of Justinian (541-750 A.D.) is one of the most well-documented plagues, historians find it impossible to accurately predict the number of deaths, although most place the death toll at between 30 to 50-million people. At the time this was about half the population of the known world. This incredibly devastating pandemic happened during the reign of Justinian the First, Byzantine Empire emperor, hence its name.

Infected by fleas, rats in Africa sailed on merchant ships to Europe and were the likely cause and according to ancient historian Procopius. As many as 10,000 infected people died daily. The victims had fevers and swollen lymph nodes, indicating symptoms of the bubonic plague.

The Black Death (1347-1353)

Once again, the Grim Reaper arrived in Europe in the form of the Black Death. The plague was most probably from Italian sailors who had been in the Crimea (or it originated in China and was carried to Europe, opinions differ) and half the population of Europe – 50 million – fell victim between 1347-1353.

Also known as the Bubonic Plague, the disease wiped out entire towns and generations. Welsh poet Jeuan Gethin wrote: “… a plague which cuts off the young, a rootless phantom which has no mercy or fair countenance.”

Smallpox (15th to 17th Century)

The smallpox pandemic lasted from the 15^th to the 17^th century. Europeans carried diseases to North and South America, beginning in 1520 when a Spanish ship carrying an African slave infected with smallpox arrived in Veracruz, Mexico. In short order, up to 95 percent of the population — as many as 20 million — died on the two continents. Europeans had built up resistance by living cheek by jowl with domestic mammals who carried various germs and diseases like smallpox, influenza and measles when they crossed to humans. But it virtually wiped out the native Americans who had built up no immunity.

Cholera (Peak 1817 to 1823, Still Ongoing)

Cholera has still not been entirely defeated. This disease has produced seven pandemics in the past 200 years, killing millions. The most deadly got its start in India in 1817 near the Ganges River. It killed 10,000 British soldiers and ran amok among the native population. Cholera is caused by food or water contaminated with the bacterium vibrio cholerae. While water and sewage treatment plants have made cholera almost unknown in developed countries it still runs rampant in many third-world countries. According to the World Health Organization, cholera infects 1.3 to 4 million each year and 21,000 to 143,000 die.

Spanish Flu H1N1 (1918 to 1919)

As the man-made First World War was nearing its end, a natural disaster awaited in the spring of 1918 – the Spanish Flu hit. The H1N1 refers to the strain of influenza virus. This virus probably did not originate in Spain, but wartime censors kept the news from Western soldiers and civilians so as not to hurt morale. Spain was not in the conflict, so the media there was able to report the grim advance of the pandemic and so it was called the Spanish Flu.

Wherever it began, it was the deadliest flu in modern history, with more than 40 per cent of the world’s population infected and between 20 to 50 million deaths. Extensive studies have been done on the pandemic victims, but researchers are still stumped as to why it was such a lethal strain. However, it did lead to significant advances in public health.

Hong Kong Flu H3N2 (1968 to 1970)

The Hong Kong Flu H3N2 was the third influenza epidemic in the 20^th Century, after the Spanish and Asian pandemics. It is thought the Asian flu of 1957 evolved into the Hong Kong flu a decade later. A scant two weeks after the first case in Hong Kong, 500,000 people were infected. Before it was over, it was estimated that between one-and four million individuals died. As medicine and research advanced, the Hong Kong flu led to scientists and doctors realizing the vital role of vaccinations – the annual flu shot recommended today.

HIV / AIDS (1981 to Present)

Since 1981, it is estimated that 75 million have had HIV / AIDS and 32 million have died. World Health Organization figures show that 37.9 million were living with it in 2018. HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and AIDS is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. The latter is considered to be advanced HIV. It is a sexually or intravenously transmitted disease that lowers a body’s immune system, opening the door to disease. While advances have been made in treatment, there is still no definitive cure.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS: 2002 to 2003)

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) started in China and went on to engulf 26 countries and infect 8,000 people. Of those, 774 fell victims to this coronavirus strain. Scientists say the virus is 88 per cent the same as the novel coronavirus Covid-19 that has the world in its grip today.

Swine Flu (2009 to 2010)

Infecting about 60 million in the U.S., the global death toll of the Swine Flu was between 151,000 and 575,400. It is called Swine Flu because the disease is thought to have transferred from pigs to people.

Ebola (Peak 2014 to 2016, Still Ongoing)

Appearing in Guinea and named after a river near the outbreak, the ebola virus wreaked havoc in West Africa, infecting 28,600 and killing 11,325. It is still with us. Between August of 2018 and June 2019, there were more than 2,100 infected in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 1,400 deaths. The World Health Organization has declined to declare Ebola a pandemic on three occasions for unclear reasons. Ebola is a virus that causes blood to clot and  leads to potentially fatal internal bleeding.

History demonstrates that mankind will survive the Covid-19 pandemic but there will be a lot of pain on the road to recovery.

L'articolo Pandemics That Changed the Course Of Human History proviene da InsideOver.

When the full horrors of Auschwitz and other concentration camps became known after the defeat of Adolph Hitler and his murderous horde of Nazis, the world vowed never again that such a heinous crime against humanity should be allowed to happen.

Anti-Semitism is Back

Yet in 2020, the 75^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the spectre of anti-Semitism is once again casting its ugly shadow in too many European countries. The sad fact is that even today, being a Jew can get you harassed, or even killed.

One example can be found in France. French Yellow Vest protests that began against a proposed fuel-tax hike began to air anti-Semitic strains such as “dirty Jew.”

French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy took to the radio airwaves in February 2019 to call the Yellow Vest movement out.

“We, unfortunately, cannot say that anti-Semitism is on the margins of the movement,” Lévy told Europe 1 Radio. “It is the heart of the movement … That doesn’t mean that the movement is intrinsically anti-Semitic, but it does mean that it is time for them to come forward strongly to say, ‘Not in our name,’ not like they are doing now: ‘Yes, OK, but…’ There are no buts.”

Orban’s Obsession with George Soros

And in Hungary, Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros has been pilloried by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his populist nationalist government. Soros was accused of wanting to pour migrants — mostly Muslim — into Hungary, becoming a convenient scapegoat to foment fear and further support for Orban. Anti-Soros activism and portrayals often use anti-Semitic tropes to demonize him such as portraying him as a grand manipulator behind the scenes and a cynical, heartless opportunist who wants to destroy pure, Christian nations.

Never mind that Soros was born in Budapest, survived the Holocaust and has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to fund school meals, establish a university and contributed to numerous human rights proposals in the country.

The EU Fundamental Rights Agency survey distributed to 16,000 Jews in 12 European countries at the end of 2018 found that 90 percent of respondents felt anti-Semitism was on the rise in their respective countries. Further, 30 percent reported direct harassment.

Outrage Over Belgian Parade Float

In Belgium, the ages-old Jewish stereotype was recently resurrected when a carnival float depicted Orthodox Jews sitting on bags of money.

“It is unthinkable that these images are paraded in European streets,” fumed EU Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas. Nevertheless, the float was paraded.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Anti-Semitism was supposed to be, if not eliminated, at least pushed far from its traditional roots in civilized society. What happened?

Why is Anti-Semitism Returning in Europe?

Many factors combined to spur the resurgence of hatred toward Jews. First, anti-Semitism never really went away. It was held in check once the barbarity of six million Jews being fed into the ovens of German concentration camps in the Second World War became public.

But time has eroded some of the horror and survivors of the camps have died.

As well, the world has cracked and in political terms that means the politics of consensus, of a left and right without strife, is broken. The extremists hitherto relegated to the fringe have managed to slither through into the mainstream.

Violence Against Jews On the Rise

In early 2019, figures revealed the emergence of violent attacks on Jews, with a 74 percent increase in France and, particularly disturbing because of its Nazi past, Germany noted a 60 percent rise.

In Malmo, Swedes rallied in protest of U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to make Jerusalem the capital of Israel and those in attendance threatened to “shoot the Jews.”

In Stockholm a speaker called Jews “apes and pigs.”

And then there is revisionist history, with some European countries downplaying their involvement with Nazi Germany.

Across the pond in the U.S., Trump has expressed his adoration for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but has at the same time sought white nationalist support, saying the movement includes “some very fine people.” Furthermore, during his 2016 campaign which would ultimately land him in the White House, Trump put up a Twitter post that included an image of opponent Hillary Clinton and featured the Jewish Star of David and a large pile of money. That one tweet summed up the history of the persecution of Jews.

The Myth of Secret Jewish Ties to Money

For centuries, Jews have been negatively associated with money. “Jews, Money, Myth” was presented at the Jewish Museum London (England) about a year ago today. Through exhibits, it makes clear the myth of Jews and money that has persisted for 2,000 years.

In the Middle Ages, Christians were not allowed to lend money and charge interest. Jews were barred from owning land and so they lent money to Christians and inevitably, the myth of the rich Jew was reinforced. Too often, rather than pay what was owed, Christians instead used pogroms to eliminate the debt.

Earlier still, there was Judas, a Jew, accepting 30 pieces of silver to betray Christ according to the Christian Bible. So the story became how the Jews killed Christ, never mind that the other disciples and Christ himself were Jewish.

Even in literature, Shakespeare’s Shylock wanted his pound of flesh and Dickens’ Fagin was an evil Jewish pickpocket.

Appallingly portrayed as controlling, sinister and cruelly wealthy, the Jew remains a target today. The world must always be on guard lest anti-Semitism gain a terrifying foothold once again as it has done in the past.

L'articolo Anti-Semitism Slithers Out From The Shadows in Europe proviene da InsideOver.

As Chinese President Xi Xinping pursues deity-like cult status in China, he is following some of history’s most notorious leaders – Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong (aka Mao Tse-tung) to name three of the last century’s worst dictators.

Hitler led Germany into a disastrous world war and killed six million Jews. His racist ideology is still a powerful force today, influencing neo-Nazis and the far right.

Stalin starved at least 3.9 million Ukrainians to death from 1931-34, but even today he has a devoted following in Russia. Chairman Mao, as he was known, allowed tens of millions to die of hunger but he is still revered in some quarters of China and appears on Chinese currency.

These charismatic leaders commanded their countries and were worshiped by the bulk of citizens and established personality cult to ensure devotion. The term became popular after Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev’s speech to the Soviet Party Congress in 1956. He used the term to suggest how Stalin crafted his dictatorship, abused power and yet enjoyed extraordinary adulation among the people.

Like a dark version of Saul of Tarsus on the Road to Damascus, Xi is on the path to cult status but there will be no conversion of Saul to the loving Apostle Paul and a ceasing of his persecution of Christians. Just the opposite, in fact, as Xi’s picture replaces that of Jesus in Chinese Christian churches. The message to Chinese Christians is that Jesus can’t save you but President Xi can and will. Small wonder Xi is going after Jesus, considering that Christianity is the fastest growing religion in China, with estimates of up to 100 million adherents. And this in a country that is officially atheist and sees religion as an opponent to government control and power. In the province of Jiangxi’s Yugan county, officials said residents were happy to remove 624 posters of Christian doctrine and images, and in their place came 453 pictures of the Chinese President. The move is a page right out of Chairman Mao’s playbook, where his face was on the wall of every home.

Xi Wants To Be ‘An Object Of Worship Worthier Than God’

“The Chinese President, like Chairman Mao before him, is trying to propose himself as an object of worship worthier than God,” says Bitter Winter, an Italian-based online website that focuses on religious liberty and human rights in China, in an article headlined: “How Xi Jinping Become God.” It details how indoctrination of teachers and students began last year in the province of Jiangxi. Various methods are used to accomplish this goal, such as the children’s song “Grandpa Xi Is Our Big Friend” and stories of “Grandpa Xi.” And the target is not only toddlers and elementary schoolchildren. Since 2018, students and teachers at the Jiangxi Agricultural University must take an online course called “Young People Study Xi.”

Another mile gained on the highway to cultist status is the persecution of the Muslim Uighurs, as Xi seems determined to wipe out all religions. There are about 11 million of them and Christians are treated with charity in comparison to the way the Uighurs have been manhandled. There are about a million in forced camps, where they are taught Mandarin Chinese, starved of food and forced to renounce their Muslim faith. They are subjected to both physical beatings and mental torture.

Ruler For Life

Xi came to power in 2012 and immediately what had been a faceless government under his predecessor became the face of the president. The two-term limit on presidents was changed and Xi established himself as a ruler for life. At first many might say what is the problem with a cult of personality when the government strictly controls daily life anyway? But Xi is removing bureaucracy and replacing it with himself, as the state-controlled Chinese media dubbed him: “Chairman of Everything.” The system of collective leadership that followed Mao is now being destroyed by Xi.

The danger? In a 2016 essay “The New Dictators”, authors Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Erica Frantz and Joseph Wright determined that a “robust body of political science research” indicates that (one-person dictatorships) tend to produce the worst outcomes of any type of political regime: they tend to produce the most risky and aggressive foreign policies; they are the most likely to invest in nuclear weapons; the most likely to fight wars against democracies; and the most likely to initiate interstate conflicts.”

It seems that if you must live under a dictatorship, one run by bureaucracy is better than one run by a strongman.

L'articolo The Rise of the Personality Cult of Chairman Xi Jinping proviene da InsideOver.

Nations are eyeing the Arctic, formerly an undeveloped area protected by thick layers of ice, snow and bitter temperatures, now that climate change is nipping away at nature’s obstacles.

It has spawned what amounts to a new cold war as countries race to plunder a treasure trove of oil and minerals. Environmentalists fear it will destroy the fragile Arctic ecosystem. Because they take a long time to grow and/or reproduce, any activity that disrupts plant, bird, animal and fish life is damaging.

Since the Arctic is warming faster than anywhere on Earth, it is considered an emerging frontier and the pioneer prize is territory rich in fish, oil, gas and minerals.

To see how climate change and rich deposits make the Arctic such an attractive proposition, one need look no further than Canada’s Baffin Island.

The fifth-largest island in the world sits on iron ore, arguably the world’s richest and most abundant source.

On the island is the Mary River mine with enough iron ore to last for generations. It is already being mined and production will increase as infrastructure grows – a material handling system, a crusher and railcars for unloading.

But there are more opportunities than just mineral deposits. The famed Northwest Passage, where ice is melting, will move from history pages to finally become reality as one of the prime shipping routes. It will also be a tourist destination as travellers flock to the Arctic to gaze upon majestic scenery populated with narwhal, walrus, seals, ox, and the Arctic white fox that lives farther north than any other land animal.

There’s fish like the delicious Arctic Char for the anglers. Hunters and naturalists will be drawn by the vast array of animals, including polar bears, reindeer and moose.

So at least eight nations have queued up for battleground Arctic: Canada, Denmark (includes Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States. All are members of the Arctic Council. The council is supposed to foster co-operation, co-ordination and interaction among members, but that is the ideal, not reality. So rich is the prize that even China has elbowed into the fray, calling itself a near-Arctic state that wants to create a ‘Polar Silk Road.’

And Russia upped the ante in this high-stakes game by putting its first floating nuclear power plant in operation Dec. 19, 2019. Built at a cost of $US232 million and 10 years in construction, the Akademik Lomonosov sits off the tundra along the Arctic coast to northeastern Siberia.

Environmentalists warn it is a potential “nuclear Titanic” with fuel stored onboard and a leak could seriously impact the fragile Arctic.

The United States, which experts suggest has lagged in Arctic development, is now primed to go.

The subject of climate change has had no place in the official political American vocabulary since Donald Trump became president. But that does not mean Americans want to mine the Arctic for its riches.

Trump has tried to reverse Barack Obama’s policy to allow oil drilling in the Arctic but so far has been stymied by the courts and fierce opposition.

Still, after decades of basically who cares, the aggressive interest and oil and gas investments in the Arctic by America’s traditional rivals – Russia and China – has caught the attention of the White House.

In May, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signalled the new interest speaking at an Arctic Council meeting.

“This is America’s moment to stand up as an Arctic nation and for the Arctic’s future,” he said. “Because far from the barren backcountry that many thought it to be…the Arctic is at the forefront of opportunity and abundance.”

Many, such as scientists and native peoples, fear ice melts and the rapid changes in the Arctic. But for Pompeo, the glass is half full.

The reduction in ice makes it possible for cargo ships to use the Northwest Passage and he said the sea lanes could become the “21^st Century Suez and Panama Canals.”

Speaking about Russia and China, Pompeo warned both against provocative actions such as military buildup.

“Do we want the Arctic Ocean to transform into a new South China Sea, fraught with militarization and competing territorial claims?” he asked. “Do we want the fragile Arctic environment exposed to the same ecological devastation caused by China’s fishing fleet in the seas off its coast, or unregulated industrial activity in its own country? I think the answers are pretty clear.”

The race for the Arctic heated up in August 2007 when two Russian submersibles dove to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean and planted a flag at the North Pole. Then Canadian foreign affairs minister Peter Mackay thought the stunt silly.

“This isn’t the 15^th Century,” he said. “You can’t go around the world and just plant flags and say, ‘We’re claiming this territory.’”

But it could also be considered as the first symbolic shot in the cold war for the Arctic. And it is likely the environment will play second fiddle to the economic boom.

L'articolo New Cold War Looms As Arctic Heats Up proviene da InsideOver.

The growing and deadly tendency for American domestic terrorists to target members of various religions and their places of worship has reached a point where some parishioners are arming themselves before entering houses of God.

While God and guns may seem like an odd mix, two recent heinous crimes have spurred a growing call from religious institutions for better security and the right to carry weapons.

On Dec. 29, a gunman killed two parishioners in a church near Forth Worth Texas before armed worshippers, members of security at the West Freeway Church of Christ, shot the assailant to death.

On the seventh night of Hanukkah, the marking of the night Jews rose against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in 167 B.C., a man stabbed five people at a rabbi’s house in New York.

The Dec. 28 assault was the most violent of several anti-Semitic acts promulgated recently.

The assailant tried to enter a synagogue next door but those inside were able to stymie the attack by barricading the door.

Mass shootings, defined in the US as a crime where four or more people are killed, have entered the realm of routine in the United States.

According to database figures extracted by the Associated Press, USA Today media outlet and Northeastern University, there were 41 mass murdered recorded in 2019, taking a total of 211 lives. It is the most mass murders since records have been kept and 33 of the crimes involved firearms.

But even the record did not result in the largest death toll. That dubious honour belongs to 2017 when 224 people died in mass killings. It included the worst mass shooting in American history, with 59 shot to death and at least 500 injured at a music festival in Las Vegas.

Enough Americans have stood steadfast by their weapons, so much so that the majority who want stiffer gun control have a hapless task because politicians are afraid to rile the powerful gun lobby led by the National Rifle Association.

An illustration: Republican Party politicians – stiff proponents for guns – praised the armed security parishioner who gunned down the shooter at the West Freeway Church of Christ and said it was fortunate that Texas state laws allowed guns in houses of worship. Meanwhile the Democrats called for stricter guns laws that they claimed would help prevent such attacks.

And the gun proponents invariably cite the Second Amendment of the Constitution of United States, which states: A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

That was written in 1791, before automatic and semi-automatic weapons, when a single-shot musket was the most common firearm. Guns were also essential to life back then when people had to hunt and shoot dinner and protect themselves from Indian attacks.

President Barack Obama said after the Sandy Hook school massacre where 20 children and six educators were shot to death on Dec. 14, 2012 that stricter gun control was on the way. He admitted defeat five months later when Congress refused to act – it was a “shameful day” in Washington, Obama said.

But leaving the pros and cons of guns restrictions, there is a question both sides of the argument ask: What drives a person to commit a mass shooting?

An analysis of the Violence Project Database shows that shootings committed through hate have taken a sharp increase in the last five years.

Portrait of a mass killer

Two distinct groups emerge – those who were motivated by hate of Islam, Christianity and Judaism, blaming the religions for disappointments in their lives.

The other group attacks the place of worship because they had a grudge against someone worshipping there, such as a family member or girlfriend.

Of the 11 who killed, all were men and the southern United States is a prime breeding ground.

The perpetrator is likely to be white and a resident of Texas, where a third of the crimes took place.

He is as young as his early 20s and as old as early 40s.

The man is single and recently lost his job, most likely fired. He has a criminal history of violence and was in some crisis before the shooting. He also has a documented past of mental illness and substance abuse.

He has been online researching past mass shootings and probably studied white supremacist conspiracy theories. The internet material often pushes them to act.

In short, they are unhappy and hold a grudge against a group the perpetrator blames for disappointments he has suffered.

How to stop it, short of stricter gun control?

Prevention consists of not necessarily arming security personnel, but having paid staff and volunteers greeting worshippers at the church door who are trained to recognize potential problems and on how to de-escalate violence.

And then there is the Internet that has validated the hate and violence. Confronting and challenging hate face-to-face or on the Internet is essential in stopping future mass killings.

(The portrait of a mass murderer who attacks worshippers is based on research by Jillian Peterson, a psychologist and professor of criminal justice at Hamline University in Minnesota and James Densley, a sociologist and professor of criminal justice at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota.)

L'articolo Guns and God: A Strange Mix for Mass Murder proviene da InsideOver.

The “Black Death” that struck mankind in the Middle Ages in 1346 and reaped an estimated 50 to 70 million lives has made a comeback.

Having infected close to 50,000 humans over the last two decades, the World Health Organization (WHO) has now listed the bubonic plague as a re-emerging disease.

And there is a bleak note from the journal of National Center for Biotechnology Information, an organization under the umbrella of the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

“Plague, in the Middle Ages known as Black Death, continues to occur…in many countries, in Africa, Asia South America and even the USA,” the organization said.

While the disease is a threat, antibiotics have proven to be an effective cure, but only if administered quickly.

That is especially true of the pneumonic plague, the most deadly of the three strains where failure to give a patient antibiotics within 24 hours of symptoms can result in death.

The pneumonic strain had not been active since early in the last century until it broke out in India in Surat in west-central India, population about 4.4 million. Surat is famous for its textile industry and the largest centre of man-made fibre in the country.

But in 1994, it became famous for something else, an epidemic of the Black Death that killed more than 100 people in a few days.

According to a New York Times Sept. 24 article that year, the pneumonic plague had not raised its deadly spectre for decades, with experts saying they could not even recall where the last outbreak had occurred.

There were a few cases of the bubonic plague reported, but not the deadly pneumonic strain. But the bubonic plague can lead to the pneumonic strain through the lymph nodes, which then causes bacteria to form in the lungs, bringing on pneumonic pneumonia.

It is spread rapidly to others through respiratory droplets in coughing and sneezing and that is why patients are quarantined.

It is the bubonic plague that wreaked havoc in the mid-1300s as it was transmitted through droplets from person to person and people were infected by bites from fleas hosted by rats.

Untreated, the bubonic strain kills about 50 per cent of those who contract the disease.

While antibiotics are largely responsible for dampening down the disease, superbugs are beginning to become immune to antibiotics. As well, the drugs are not available everywhere or in time to save lives.

The disease is transmitted by fleas that often infect rodents like rats and squirrels, and other animals such as rabbits, so insecticides are employed to control them.

But the World Health Organization is on record as saying that “only after the fleas have been controlled should rodent control be considered, because infected fleas, which feed on warm blood, quickly leave their dead hosts, spreading the disease to humans.”

Chillingly, experts said in a report that there is a high risk of a worldwide pandemic of some sort.

“There is a very real threat of a rapidly moving, highly lethal pandemic of a respiratory pathogen killing 50 to 80 million people,” the report stated.

Such a pandemic broke out in 1918. Known as the Spanish flu, it killed 50-to 100 million, rivalling the Black Death in ferocity. More people died in a year than the Black Death in four years and more than perished in the First World War.

And alarmingly, the report says that we’re are not ready to battle a pandemic, be it bubonic plague, flu or other health threat.

“The world is not prepared,” the report stated. “For too long, we have allowed a cycle of panic and neglect when it comes to pandemics: we ramp up efforts when there is a serious threat, then quickly forget about them when the threat subsides. It is well past time to act.”

The World Health Organization has issued a clarion call to world leaders, urging them to take measures such as creating long-range disaster plans, putting more emphasis on United Nations co-ordination of diseases and establishing preparation systems.

Yet another scenario – experts have warned that the bubonic plague could be released as a cloud over a city, killing thousands.

The Center for Disease Control in the United States lists the bubonic plague as one the highest biological risks for use as a weapon that would have a major public health impact.

It would appear the Black Death is still a threat, almost 700 years after it first reaped the whirlwind.

L'articolo ‘Black Death’ Rears its Ugly Head Again: A Plague Pandemic proviene da InsideOver.

The Amazon Rainforest is under threat from illegal logging and mining as the descendants of prehistoric tribes patrol the huge area that is their home, trying to stop the destruction. But the task is huge. The guardians of the area known as the world’s lungs because it produces 20 per cent of the world’s oxygen are armed with spears, bows and arrows. The intruders carry automatic weapons and shotguns, so the job of safeguarding the ancient homeland where some tribes have lived for thousands of years is a dangerous one.

In late October, Paulo Paulino Guajajara, known as ‘Wolf’, was shot and killed by illegal loggers in the northern part of the rainforest in Brazil. He was the forefront of the establishment in 2012 of the Guardians of the Forest, an organization created by the Guajajara tribe. A month before, a Brazilian official whose duty was to protect the indigenous rainforest dwellers from farmers and loggers was shot twice in the head in front of his family in the city of Tabatinga. The situation has grown so desperate that some of the tribes have called for outside help.

The indigenous tribes are also threatened by fires – about 80,000 were recorded from January to August and most were started by outside human activity – and illegal loggers and farmers. Their own President Jair Bolsonaro has pledged to allow economic development in the rainforest lands that previously were protected for indigenous tribes. “The Bolsonaro government has indigenous blood on its hands,” said the organization Indigenous People Articulation, a body that speaks for many of the 900,000 indigenous peoples who live in the rainforest.

In the face of international criticism over not doing enough to fight the rampant fires and not protecting tribes and land from illegal acts, the Brazilian president remains defiant. In an address to the UN in September, Bolsonaro said the rainforest belongs to Brazil. He called the labelling of the rainforest as the lungs of the world a “misconception” and that to say the Amazon is a human heritage is a “fallacy.” Bolsonaro also pointed to international media as sensationalizing the fires and so-called attacks on indigenous guardians.

Some have said because it is essential to global health, the rainforest has been described as belonging to the world, not just Brazil. That draws Bolsonaro’s ire.

“They even called into question that which we hold as a most sacred value, our sovereignty,” he told the UN members. Bolsonaro has also been accused of cutting environmental and indigenous agencies, so that the tribes have to fend for themselves in defence of their traditional territories. While many of the tribes shun contact with outsiders, the situation has spiralled downward to the point that they cannot fight off the intruders alone.

“We are in great danger,” said Viseni Waiapi, following an attack in July by illegal gold miners toting automatic weapons. The invaders killed chief Emyra Waipai and assaulted women as they went from village to village. Reports say there are as many as 10,000 miners in territories that belong to the tribes.  Incursions began to rise – up 150 per cent – after Bolsonaro took office Jan.1, 2019.

“Bolsonaro represents the biggest attack on the Amazon in the last 30 years,” said Christian Poirier, director of the Amazon Watch Program.

Even as the Waiapi waited for the federal police to come to their aid during an attack, Bolsonaro was at a graduation ceremony for new armed forces touting his policy to allow logging, mining and farming in the rainforest. The rainforest and watch organizations were given a taste of Bolsonaro’s disdain for the indigenous peoples and the rainforest when he equated indigenous peoples with animals in zoos.

Nearly four times the size of Alaska, the rainforest is essential in the fight against climate change. If the commercial development of the area continues, it could change the ecosystem, speed up climate change and kill various species that live there, and end a way of life for ancient tribes.

“The Amazon forest holds something like 90 billion tons of carbon, and if that ends up in the atmosphere, it is not a good thing,” said Thomas Lovejoy, senior fellow at the UN and professor of environmental science at George Mason University.

All of this makes a good case for other countries to form a coalition and to step in and assume joint control over the rainforest, while compensating Brazil with enough funds to grow its economy. In some circumstances, the United States and its allies have acted when mutual interests are threatened.

It may be time to follow that script to save the rainforest.

L'articolo Guardians Use Weapons to Defend Amazon Rainforest Under Threat proviene da InsideOver.

As the world watches in fascinated horror at America’s repeated mass shootings, President Donald Trump makes noise about tougher gun controls, then subsides into silence, fearing the loss of financial and political support of the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA).

But while the president may have more to lose than most – his base is considered to be populated with gun owners – it is a common mantra for politicians to thunder about stricter firearms legislation after events like Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children aged six and seven and six adults were gunned down in 2012.

Yet the fiery rhetoric about enacting tougher gun laws after the massacre was quietly extinguished. A few months after Sandy Hook, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013and a law that would require universal background checks, were both rejected by the US Senate.

There was some action at the state level, though, with background checks initiated in four states that did not have them before, and strengthened checks in seven others. That brought the total to 18 states out of 50 participating in background checks

But a stumbling block to enact tougher gun laws is the American Constitution, bestowing the right to bear arms upon Americans. The provision is used time and again as a shield to limit legislation.

One group has taken substantive action with the NRA dead in its sights.

Earlier this month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors – an 11-member body that oversees the county government – was so disturbed by recent mass shootings that members voted unanimously to declare the NRA a “domestic terrorist organization.”

“The NRA exists to spread pro-gun propaganda and put weapons in the hands of those who would harm and terrorize us,” Supervisor Catherine Stefani said.

While the move has no force in law, “I firmly believe that words matter and I think this is a step in fighting the negative impact of the NRA,” she said.

The NRA response was to sue San Francisco, arguing that the city declaration violated its free speech rights. The matter is in the courts.

Those against stricter gun laws, including the NRA, often say the states that beefed-up gun laws have not deterred shootings.

For example, they point to the Gilroy Food Festival shooting in California this past July. California has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, but a 19-year-old armed with a semiautomatic assault rifle managed to kill three young people and wound 12 others. It was only thanks to quick action by the police who shot the assailant that prevented more deaths.

But the problem is that while California has strict firearms legislation, nearby Nevada’s laws are much less restrictive. In California, you must be 21 to purchase a rifle. The teen shooter at Gilroy bought the gun legally in Nevada, where the age to purchase a rifle is 19.

And that is a crucial factor, because guns can be legally bought in some states and the weapons can be transported to states that have stricter laws, circumventing those laws.

In other words, every state needs to get on the same page. Federally, stricter gun legislation is a non-starter, as Republicans and Trump line up with the NRA.

To say the gun culture is deeply embedded in America is an understatement.

In 2018 the Small Arms Survey found that with a population of 320 million, US citizens have about 393 million guns, almost half the world total. The AR-15 semiautomatic – the main weapon used at Sandy Hook – is the most popular gun in America. It can fire 45 rounds a minute, but modified it can dispense nine rounds per second, more than 500 bullets a minute.

Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke said during a candidate debate earlier in September, “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15.”

A Republican lawmaker responded with, “My AR is ready for you….”

The stricter gun law proponents only fire verbal bullets and the NRA continues to financially support politicians with pro-gun attitudes.

Meanwhile, 40,000 Americans died by the gun in 2017, about 24,000 by suicide

The mayhem continues.

L'articolo Gun Crazy America – The Carnage Continues proviene da InsideOver.

It’s back to school time in the United States and many students are sporting a new accessory – bulletproof backpacks.

Sales of the newest armament in the fight against random killings soared by 200 percent after mass shootings in early August, CNN reported. The El Paso, Texas, Walmart shooting left 22 dead, while the next day nine were killed in Dayton, Ohio. While these were not targeted at schools, the random attacks can occur anywhere and have frightened parents into taking measures to protect their children.

Small wonder, considering that since 2009, there have been 180 school shootings that have claimed 356 lives. The number of mass shootings is increasing.

The backpacks are fitted with lightweight body armour to protect a child in the case of a random school attack. However, there is a caveat to the bulletproof backpacks. Testing demonstrated that the product offered by a Florida company, named Guard Dog, cannot protect against projectiles from rifles and assault weapons favoured by killers. Plus of course they do not protect children from a frontal assault.

But they are just one of the safety arsenals deployed by schools.

At an expo in Florida in 2018, vendors were exhibiting products that would provide more safety at schools.

Whiteboards– mobile panels that can be linked and used as a blackboard on one side for teachers, and that contain ballistic materials to protect against bullets, were offered at $2,900 (US).

“What we want to do is just to give the kids, the teachers, a chance,” said a Whiteboard vendor. “So they can buy a few minutes.” Others offered tourniquets, pepper-ball guns and facial recognition software. Schools are upping security with metal detectors at entrances. Some schools are arming teachers while others are hiring security personnel to patrol schools.

The spate of school shootings has turned school security into a $2.7 billion market. Advocates for stricter gun control were optimistic that the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut, where 20 first-graders and six adults were gunned down, would finally result in political action to curb guns. What it did was frighten various school officials to heighten school security, but in reality little else. It was passive action, rather than prevention through tougher laws.

The gun lobby quotes the 2^ndAmendment in the American Constitution that guarantees a citizen’s right to guns. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

But the muskets of the 1770s when that right was enshrined are a far cry from weapons like today’s AR-15 that can fire 400 rounds per minute.

The powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) calls the AR-15 the “most popular rifle in America” and estimated that Americans own more than eight million of them. The NRA spends millions supporting politicians who resist more stringent gun controls and they fear the organisation’s power at the ballot box.

America requires strong leadership to take action on instigating more stringent background checks and prohibition of weapons like the AR-15. They are not going to get it from President Donald Trump, who is under the sway of the NRA.

Following three mass shootings in California, Texas and Ohio over three weeks, the mercurial president said on Aug. 20 he supported efforts to tighten gun laws. A few days later, after being reminded by the powerful gun lobby they helped propel him into the White House, he walked back his support.

“A lot of the people who put me where I am are strong believers in the 2^ndAmendment, and I am also,” Trump said.

It is often said by gun supporters that the perpetrators of these mass murders are mentally ill, conveniently leaving out that other countries have mentally ill people and they do not have the rampant mass killings like the United States. While states that do have more stringent gun controls, like California, suffer from the fact that guns can be brought in from other states who do not have those regulations.

So for the parents, trivial matters such as whether Johnny got an ‘A’ in Geography cease to exist – the real question is whether Johnny got home in one piece.

L'articolo Bulletproof Backpacks Make Up Back to School Uniform in US proviene da InsideOver.