Category Archives: Fail!

Bubonic plague festers in Madagascar′s slums | Africa | DW.DE | 25.11.2014

Ankasina is a poor and overcrowded slum on the northern edge of Madagascar’s capital city Antananarivo. Waste water flows through open gutters; dirt and garbage collects in heaps on the streets. The area is infested with rats, local residents say. Many blame the state for neglecting the neighborhood.

And now, the rats have brought in an even bigger problem: the plague. For the first time in ten years, the disease has started to spread in Madagascar’s capital. A young woman from Ankasina died from the bubonic plague; she most likely contracted it after being bitten by a flea, which had contracted the bacteria from the rodents. She is one of 47 people who have died in the current outbreak on the island.

Warm climate, poor hygiene

Madagascar’s Prime Minister Kolo Roger admits that the plague has now also entered the capital city. He speaks of an epidemic on the island. “For each case, all the necessary measures have been taken to stop the spreading,” he announced. “All cases, whether far away or in the capital of Antananarivo are being dealt with seriously.”

via Bubonic plague festers in Madagascar′s slums | Africa | DW.DE | 25.11.2014.

BBC News – Underwear protest: Mexican farmers take to the streets

Mexican farmers have held a demonstration in their underwear to protest against alleged abuse of power by three former state governors.

The group would like to see former Veracruz governors, Dante Delgado, Patricio Chirinos and Miguel Aleman brought to trial for what they claim to be violations of civil rights.

via BBC News – Underwear protest: Mexican farmers take to the streets.

The Yallahs River, one of the main water sources for Jamaica’s Mona Reservoir, has been dry for months. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS | Flickr – Photo Sharing!

The Yallahs River, one of the main water sources for Jamaica’s Mona Reservoir, has been dry for months. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS

via The Yallahs River, one of the main water sources for Jamaica’s Mona Reservoir, has been dry for months. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS | Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

CENSORED NEWS: Zapatistas Welcome Caravan, Families of Ayotzinapa’s 43 disappeared

The Words of the General Command of the EZLN, presented by Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés, concluding the event with the caravan of the families of the disappeared and students of Ayotzinapa, in the caracol of Oventik, November 15, 2014.

via CENSORED NEWS: Zapatistas Welcome Caravan, Families of Ayotzinapa’s 43 disappeared.

Police blocks French couple from riding donkey across Bosporus | Nation | Daily Sabah

David Verchot and Morgane Lefevre arrived at Istanbul’s Bosporus Bridge on Thursday to cross to the city’s European side from the Asian side on their way to France. However, bridge police stopped the couple mounting a mule and a donkey, to the amazement of Verchot and Lefevre who argued with police officers.

via Police blocks French couple from riding donkey across Bosporus | Nation | Daily Sabah.

Killing time before it kills me

A motorist was viciously beaten, tasered, and maced repeatedly, then charged with 24 separate crimes and maliciously prosecuted for every one of them. He was beaten four (4) times over the course of 11-hours, and not once had he acted maliciously. The incident stemmed from his driving while on an unusually high dosage of legally-prescribed bipolar medication and a subsequent fender bender. Dash-cam footage revealed the extraordinary exaggerations made about the case — 2 years after it took place.

via Killing time before it kills me.

Dental Health, not health – Huh? Health Insurance Enrollment for Exchanges Was Overcounted – NYTimes.com

When your teeth and/or gums are not in good shape or you are in pain – duh? This is a big health issue!

 

The Obama administration acknowledged on Thursday that it overcounted the total number of people signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchanges. Marilyn B. Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in September that 7.3 million people were enrolled. But Bloomberg News reported Thursday that the figure included nearly 400,000 people with stand-alone dental plans, prompting the administration to revise the enrollment figure to 6.7 million as of Oct. 15.

via Health Insurance Enrollment for Exchanges Was Overcounted – NYTimes.com.

Mexico’s Undead Rise Up | Inter Press Service

After Marcos disappeared into the night, the assembled then heard a disembodied voice address them: “Good dawn, compañeras and compañeros. My name is Galeano, Subcomandante Insurgente Galeano. Does anybody else respond to this name?”

In response, hundreds of voices affirmed, “Yes, we are all Galeano!” And so Galeano came back to life collectively, in all of those assembled.

And now 43 disappeared student teachers have multiplied into thousands demanding justice from the state and greater autonomy for local communities, which are already building alternative healthcare, education, justice, and governmental systems. A general strike is scheduled for the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution on November 20th.

In Mexico’s unraveling, there is an opportunity for the rest of the world to witness—and support—the emergence of more direct and collective forms of democracy. As the now “deceased” Marcos said: “They wanted to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.”

via Mexico’s Undead Rise Up | Inter Press Service.

Teeth and Bones: Law Enforcement’s Weakest Link – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Of course it makes no sense to ask the military for ID, but the gesture is what matters — and the result is that nothing happens for an hour. The heavily armed soldiers sit up on their vehicles while García’s people and the self-proclaimed village police force with their hunting rifles stand on the ground around them. It is a perfect image of Mexico in November 2014. Everyone is armed, but it is totally unclear who has control.

via Teeth and Bones: Law Enforcement’s Weakest Link – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

All about money, careers, and publicity! ‘Homeopathy CAN cure Ebola but WHO officials are stopping us’ | Daily Mail Online

“As the momentum for homeopaths to do something built up I got the opportunity and took it,’ she said. ‘We treated all types of cases in the hospital with homeopathic medicines. The response was good to the extent that we have a request from them to promote and teach homeopathy there.’

She said it was unfair to suggest that they were exploiting victims – as some commentators have done – for their own ends.

‘None of the people thought that in Liberia. We helped, they accepted. These critics are armchair intellectuals.’

Her colleague Dr Ortrud Lindemann, who runs a clinic in Barcelona, insisted that homeopathy could prove useful in fighting the Ebola virus.

‘As doctors we have the duty to do everything we can to alleviate the suffering of those poor people stricken with Ebola and we hoped that homeopathic remedies might be able to help in that,’ she told MailOnline.

via ‘Homeopathy CAN cure Ebola but WHO officials are stopping us’ | Daily Mail Online.