diumenge, 18 de setembre del 2016

Contra la manada

'Qué importante es que los ciudadanos no descansen jamás en su guerra contra la manada y en la exaltación sin fisuras del individuo. Porque la manada es lo animal, y es lo contrario del hombre civilizado' | JUAN ABREU



Un par de sinvergüenzas

El saqueo de los ERE dejó sin ayudas a 120.000 trabajadores



EL MUNDO.- En su escrito de acusación, el Ministerio Público detalla que, en los años de la malversación de los fondos, hubo en Andalucía exactamente 9.461 empresas que presentaron expediente de regulación de empleo (ERE) y 120.829 trabajadores se vieron afectados por aquellos expedientes. Prácticamente ninguno de esos ERE fueron bendecidos por el maná de los fondos que arbitrariamente repartía la Junta. El número de empresas que sí recibieron fondos es de 77 y, a la vista de las irregularidades en los expedientes, no necesariamente fueron compañías en situación de crisis, como se ha demostrado en numerosos casos.
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El Parlamento catalán hará un 'acto supremo de soberanía'







La violencia de género contra los hombres se triplica en la última década en EEUU


THE SUN.- A record 5,640 wives and girlfriends were convicted of assaulting their male partners last year — up from 1,850 in 2007.

The issue has become a taboo because victims are often too ashamed to talk about their experiences.

But an MP is now calling for action after evidence emerged the problem is growing at an alarming rate.

Stats released by the Attorney General show 177 women are convicted of domestic abuse EVERY WEEK.

They show 1,850 women were convicted of domestic violence in 2007 but last year the total dealt with by the courts had risen to 5,640.
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Subvertir la democracia en Rusia

Rusia celebra hoy unas elecciones parlamentarias en que la mayoría de los candidatos de la oposición han sido bloqueados o excluidos



Moscow (CNN)As millions of Russians vote in parliamentary elections this weekend, one of the stand-out features of the campaign has been the presence of the opposition.

In past votes, most opposition candidates have been blocked or excluded. But in this election, taking place on Sunday, hundreds of Kremlin critics have been allowed to run for office.

Some have even been given air time on Kremlin-controlled state television, which is normally free of any opposition voices.

"[The authorities] think they should create some kind of picture that elections are free and fair in accordance with international standards," said Mikhail Kasyanov, leader of the PARNAS opposition party.
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Mapa de agresiones a la oposición
BELL?NGCAT.- Russia’s parliamentary elections on September 18th come at a critical moment for Vladimir V. Putin, whose party, United Russia (Edinaya Rossiya), is losing popular support amid economic crisis. Though Putin himself has remained insulated from national dissatisfaction, United Russia has not, threatening the party’s dominance and Putin’s own interests. After all, it is from United Russia that Putin’s successor, should he choose not to run in 2018, will come; and it is United Russia’s deputies in the Duma, currently possessing a majority, who will push through controversial bills such as this summer’s anti-terrorism laws. The upcoming elections offer Putin a chance to re-legitimize his party and protect his interests in the parliament.

With stakes that high, it is unsurprising that attacks on the opposition and instances of electoral misconduct have spiked in recent months. But few, if any, are being punished for it. Russia’s accountability vacuum is such that even with a reform-oriented official like Ella A. Pamfilova at the helm of the Central Election Commission (Tsentral’naya izbiratel’naya komissiya), those guilty of intimidating opposition politicians or engaging in electoral misconduct are unlikely to be prosecuted or penalized. It’s a situation made all the more egregious by the frequency with which perpetrators are caught on camera by journalists, bystanders, politicians, and activists.

Coercing Russia’s Opposition

Violence against the opposition, while mostly non-lethal, is becoming a norm in Russia. A report released this summer by the Center for Economic and Political Reforms (Tsentr ekonomicheskih i politicheskih reform) found that, halfway through the year, 2016 was already well on its way to becoming the most violent year for the opposition in recent history: while 2014 saw 60 attacks, 2016 had already witnessed 55 by the end of June.

Overwhelmingly, perpetrators of political violence belong to ultra-conservative elements in Russian society. Though these include Cossacks, for the most part, it is “national liberation” groups that carry out attacks against the opposition. Such organizations, like Anti-Maidan and the National Liberation Movement (Narodno osvoboditel’noe dvizhenie, or NOD), see Russia as being perpetually at war with the West and Russia’s opposition as a fifth column. Opposition leaders such as the Party of Progress’ (Partiya progressa) Aleksei A. Navalny and the People’s Freedom Party’s (Partiya narodnoy svobody, or PARNAS) Mikhail M. Kasyanov are regularly told to return to their “real” homelands, the U.S. and Europe, and attacks against them and their colleagues are launched with cries of “Get off our land!”

Throughout 2016, assailants have exploited knowledge of their targets’ campaigning schedules, which allows them to pursue candidates, most notably Kasyanov, across the country. From February to August, Kasyanov was harassed or attacked a total of six times. Of these instances, three took place in, or in front of, hotels where Kasyanov was staying; one occurred in an event hall he was due to speak at; and another saw him confronted in a restaurant he was dining at.

Other opposition politicians, including Navalny, who was assaulted after exiting a Novosibirsk courthouse in March and ambushed at an Anapa airport by Cossacks in May, have also had their itineraries used against them. More worryingly, some opposition figures, like PARNAS’ Aleksandr Bragin and Solidarity’s (Solidarnost’) Igor Ivanov, have been viciously assaulted in front of their very homes. In the former case, the attackers laid in wait for Bragin, who was attacked en route to his car; in the latter, Ivanov was lured out of his apartment when the assailants called him, claiming to have accidentally damaged his car.

Screenshot from a video posted by Alla Naumcheva showing attacks from the NOD and SERB movements. (source)Screenshot from a video posted by Alla Naumcheva showing attacks from the NOD and SERB movements. (source) Attackers’ tactics include throwing eggs, feces, cakes, and condoms (a humiliating experience for any public figure), striking with blunt objects, punching, kicking, and even firing non-lethal “traumatic pistols.” One particularly creative incident involved an attempt at forcibly putting a quilted jacket saying “Misha is a thief” onto Kasyanov, and underscored the often-theatrical dimension of political violence in Russia.

Whether by means of violence or humiliation, attackers aim to coerce opposition politicians into withdrawal from the public eye at a time when visibility and outreach are key to political success. In Kasyanov’s case, safety concerns led to the cancellation of at least one campaigning event, in Nizhny Novgorod.
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Los bebés cabezones suelen ser más brillantes


THE SUNDAY TIMES.-The size of babies’ heads at birth is strongly linked to their future success, with larger head circumferences and brain volume associated with higher intelligence, scientists have found.

The finding is among the first to emerge from data gathered by UK Biobank, in which 500,000 Britons are being studied over the long term to discover the links between their genes, their physical and mental health and their path through life.


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El cannabis, la nueva fiebre del oro de California


MAILONLINE.- Two years ago, the city of Adelanto, a crumbling outpost in California's Mojave desert, was facing a bleak future as it teetered on the brink of bankruptcy and struggled with double-digit unemployment.

"We were about to vanish, to be incorporated into another city," says councilman John "Bug" Woodard Jr. "The place was dying and in total despair."

Today, however, the once-desolate town is firmly back on the map, having joined a handful of communities in California in embracing large-scale commercial cannabis cultivation -- a move that smells of success as the state prepares to vote in November on legalizing the use of recreational marijuana.

Though California already allows the use of medical marijuana, the initiative to fully legalize the drug -- seen as likely to succeed -- is expected to transform the most populous state in the US and one of the world's largest economies into a new epicenter for cannabis, bringing in billions in revenue.

According to the Arcview Group, a cannabis investment and research firm based in California, medical and recreational marijuana sales are expected to more than double to $6.5 billion in the Golden State by 2020 if the drug becomes fully legal after November.
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Más del 40 % de los adultos solteros de Japón son vírgenes


THE TELEGRAPH.- More than forty per cent of young singletons in Japan are virgins, according to a new study that highlights concerns about the country's demographic challenges. Japan already suffers from the world's oldest population and a shrinking birthrate, with the government struggling to incentivise marriage and parenthood.

Now a survey of unmarried people aged 18 to 34 found that around 42 per cent of men and 44.2 per cent of single women had never had sex.

The study is carried out by Japan's National Institute of Population and Social Security every five years.
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