<p><center><h1>News Summaries from the WantToKnow.info Archive</h1></center></p>
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<p>Mainstream media often buries important news stories. <a href="http://www.peerservice.org/">PEERS</a> is a US-based 501(c)3 nonprofit that finds and summarizes these stories for WantToKnow.info's <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/subscribe.php">free weekly email newsletter</a> and <a href="https://wanttoknow.info">website</a>. Explore below key excerpts of revealing news articles from our archive that were published on today's date in previous years. Each excerpt is taken verbatim from the major media website listed at the link provided. <strong>The most important sentences are highlighted.</strong> If you find a link that no longer works, please tell us about it in a comment. And if you find this material overwhelming or upsetting, <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info/overwhelmed">here's a message just for you</a>. By educating ourselves and  <a href="https://www.WantToKnow.info/spreadtheword">spreading the word</a>, we can and will <a href="https://www.WantToKnow.info/brighterfuture">build a brighter future</a>.</p><hr>
<p><h3>Spurn materialism, pope tells young</h3></p><p><h4>Published on this day in 2014, by MSN</h4></p><p><a href="http://news.uk.msn.com/world/spurn-materialism-pope-tells-young">Original Article Source</a>, Dated 2014-08-15</p><p>Pope Francis urged Asia's Catholic youth to renounce the materialism that afflicts much of their society today and reject "inhuman" economic systems that disenfranchise the poor. Francis, who received a boisterous welcome from tens of thousands of young people as he celebrated his first public Mass in South Korea, pressed his economic agenda in one of Asia's powerhouses where financial gain is a key barometer of success. In his homily, <strong>Francis urged the young people to be a force of renewal and hope for society. "May they combat the allure of a materialism that stifles authentic spiritual and cultural values and the spirit of unbridled competition which generates selfishness and strife," he said. "May they also reject inhuman economic models which create new forms of poverty and marginalise workers."</strong> Many link success with ostentatious displays of status and wealth. Competition among the young, especially for places at elite schools, starts as early as pre-nursery and is fierce. The country has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Francis said that in such "outwardly affluent" societies, people often experience "inner sadness and emptiness. Upon how many of our young people has this despair taken its toll?". South Korean Catholics represent only about 10% of the country's 50 million people, but their numbers are growing. Once a country that welcomed missionaries, South Korea now sends homegrown priests and nuns abroad to help spread the faith.</p><p><strong>Note</strong>: Read the complete summary and notes <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info/a-spurn-materialism-pope-tells-young">here</a></p><hr>
<p><h3>After A Traffic Stop, Teen Was 'Almost Another Dead Black Male'</h3></p><p><h4>Published on this day in 2014, by NPR</h4></p><p><a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/08/15/340419821/after-a-traffic-stop-teen-was-almost-another-dead-black-male">Original Article Source</a>, Dated 2014-08-15</p><p>Alex Landau, who is African-American, was adopted by a white couple as a child and grew up in largely white, middle-class suburbs of Denver. "I thought that love would conquer all and skin color really didn't matter," [his mother, Patsy] Hathaway [said, speaking to her son]. "I had to learn the really hard way when they almost killed you." That was in 2009, when Landau, then a college student, was stopped by Denver police officers and severely beaten. Landau was 19 at the time, driving around Denver with a friend in the passenger seat. He noticed red and blue lights behind him. The officer who pulled him over "explained I had made an illegal left turn, and to step out of the car," Landau says. Landau thought he was safe. He wasn't in handcuffs, he says, and he'd already been patted down. "Plus there's three officers on the scene. And I had never had a negative interaction with police in my life. "So I ask them, 'Can I please see a warrant before you continue the search?' " Landau says. "And they grab me and began to hit me in the face. I was hit several times, and I remember gasping for air" and spitting blood, he says. <strong>"And then I hear an officer shout out, 'He's reaching for a gun,' " he tells his mother. "I immediately started yelling, 'No, I'm not. I'm not reaching for anything.' " Landau felt a gun against his head, he says. "And I expected to be shot. And at that point I lost consciousness. ... It took 45 stitches to close up the lacerations in my face alone,"</strong> Landau says. I was just another black face in the streets, and I was almost another dead black male." In 2011, Alex was awarded a $795,000 settlement by the City of Denver. </p><p><strong>Note</strong>: Read the complete summary and notes <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info/a-after-traffic-stop-teen-was-almost-another-dead-black-male">here</a></p><hr>
<p><h3>Stop Coddling the Super-Rich - By Warren Buffet</h3></p><p><h4>Published on this day in 2011, by <em>New York Times</em></h4></p><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html">Original Article Source</a>, Dated 2011-08-15</p><p>While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors. Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But <strong>what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent. </strong> If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed mine — most likely by a lot. My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice. </p><p><strong>Note</strong>: Read the complete summary and notes <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info/a-stop-coddling-superrich">here</a></p><hr>
<p><h3>Bishop in Missouri Waited Months to Report Priest, Stirring Parishioners’ Rage</h3></p><p><h4>Published on this day in 2011, by <em>New York Times</em></h4></p><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/us/15bishop.html">Original Article Source</a>, Dated 2011-08-15</p><p>In the annals of the sexual abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church, most of the cases that have come to light happened years before to children and teenagers who have long since grown into adults.  But a painfully fresh case is devastating Catholics in Kansas City, Mo., where a priest, who was arrested in May, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of taking indecent photographs of young girls, most recently during an Easter egg hunt just four months ago. Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has acknowledged that he knew of the existence of photographs last December but did not turn them over to the police until May. A civil lawsuit filed last week claims that during those five months, the priest, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, attended children’s birthday parties, spent weekends in the homes of parish families, hosted the Easter egg hunt and presided, with the bishop’s permission, at a girl’s First Communion. The case has generated fury at a bishop who was already a polarizing figure in his diocese, and there are widespread calls for him to resign or even to be prosecuted. <strong>Bishop Finn, who was appointed in 2005, alienated many of his priests and parishioners, and won praise from others, when he remade the diocese to conform with his traditionalist theological views. He is one of few bishops affiliated with the conservative movement <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_Dei#Critical_views">Opus Dei</a>. </strong></p><p><strong>Note</strong>: Read the complete summary and notes <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info/a-bishop-missouri-waited-months-report-priest-stirring-parishioners-rage">here</a></p><hr>
<p><h3>Apollo 14 astronaut claims peace-loving aliens prevented 'nuclear war' on Earth</h3></p><p><h4>Published on this day in 2015, by Fox News</h4></p><p><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/08/15/apollo-14-astronaut-claims-peace-loving-aliens-prevented-nuclear-war-on-earth/">Original Article Source</a>, Dated 2015-08-15</p><p>From “The Day the Earth Stood Still” to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” to “E.T.,” pop culture is filled with stories about friendly, curious extraterrestrials visiting Earth to learn more about mankind. For Apollo 14 veteran Edgar Mitchell that plotline is less fiction than it is reality. <strong>The sixth man to walk the surface of the moon <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/science/peace-loving-aliens-tried-save-6235113">told <i>Mirror</i> online</a> that he believes peace-keeping aliens visited our planet to prevent a nuclear war between Russia and the United States</strong>. Mitchell claims that <a href="http://www.wanttoknow.info/ufocover-up10pg#2">military insiders viewed strange flying crafts</a> cruising over U.S. missile bases and the White Sands facility in New Mexico, the site of the first-ever nuclear bomb detonation in 1945. “They wanted to know about our military capabilities,” he said. “My own experience talking to people has made it clear the ETs had been attempting to keep us from going to war and help create peace on Earth.” Mitchell, who grew up near the famous Roswell site in New Mexico, said that he has heard from various Air Force officers who claim UFOs were a regular site during the Cold War. “They told me UFOs were frequently seen overhead and often disabled their missiles,” he added. “Other officers from bases on the Pacific coast told me their (test) missiles were frequently shot down by alien spacecraft.”</p><p><strong>Note</strong>: Read the complete summary and notes <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info/a-apollo-14-astronaut-claims-peaceloving-aliens-prevented-nuclear-war-earth">here</a></p><hr>
<p><h3>Trigger happy</h3></p><p><h4>Published on this day in 2014, by <em>The Economist</em> blog</h4></p><p><a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/08/armed-police">Original Article Source</a>, Dated 2014-08-15</p><p>The shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American, by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, is a reminder that civilians—innocent or guilty—are far more likely to be shot by police in America than in any other rich country. <strong>In 2012, according to data compiled by the FBI, 410 Americans were “justifiably” killed by police—409 with guns. </strong>That figure may well be an underestimate. Not only is it limited to the number of people who were shot while committing a crime, but also, amazingly, reporting the data is voluntary. <strong>Last year, in total, British police officers actually fired their weapons three times. The number of people fatally shot was zero.</strong> <strong>In 2012 the figure was just one.</strong> Even after adjusting for the smaller size of Britain’s population, British citizens are around 100 times less likely to be shot by a police officer than Americans. Between 2010 and 2014 the police force of one small American city, Albuquerque in New Mexico, shot and killed 23 civilians; seven times more than the number of Brits killed by all of England and Wales’s 43 forces during the same period. The explanation for this gap is simple. In Britain, guns are rare. Only specialist firearms officers carry them; and criminals rarely have access to them. In America, by contrast, it is hardly surprising that cops resort to their weapons more frequently. In 2013, 30 cops were shot and killed—just a fraction of the 9,000 or so murders using guns that happen each year. Add to that a hyper-militarised police culture and a deep history of racial strife and you have the reason why so many civilians are shot by police officers.</p><p><strong>Note</strong>: Read the complete summary and notes <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info/a-trigger-happy">here</a></p><hr>
<p><h3>Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists</h3></p><p><h4>Published on this day in 2009, by <em>Daily Mail</em> (One of the U.K.'s most popular newspapers)</h4></p><p><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1206807/Swine-flu-jab-link-killer-nerve-disease-Leaked-letter-reveals-concern-neurologists-25-deaths-America.html">Original Article Source</a>, Dated 2009-08-15</p><p>A warning that the new swine flu jab is linked to a deadly nerve disease has been sent by the Government to senior neurologists in a confidential letter. The letter from the Health Protection Agency, the official body that oversees public health, has been leaked to <em>The Mail on Sunday</em>, leading to demands to know why the information has not been given to the public before the vaccination of millions of people, including children, begins.<strong> [The letter] tells the neurologists that they must be alert for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered by the vaccine. GBS attacks the lining of the nerves, causing paralysis and inability to breathe, and can be fatal. The letter, sent to about 600 neurologists on July 29, is the first sign that there is concern at the highest levels that the vaccine itself could cause serious complications.</strong> It refers to the use of a similar swine flu vaccine in the United States in 1976 when: * More people died from the vaccination than from swine flu. * 500 cases of GBS were detected. *  The vaccine may have increased the risk of contracting GBS by eight times. * The vaccine was withdrawn after just ten weeks when the link with GBS became clear. * The US Government was forced to pay out millions of dollars to those affected. Concerns have already been raised that the new vaccine has not been sufficiently tested and that the effects, especially on children, are unknown. The British Neurological Surveillance Unit (BNSU), part of the British Association of Neurologists, has been asked to monitor closely any cases of GBS as the vaccine is rolled out. One senior neurologist said last night: ‘I would not have the swine flu jab because of the GBS risk.’</p><p><strong>Note</strong>: Read the complete summary and notes <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info/a-swine-flu-vaccine-danger-Guillain-Barre-Syndrome-GBS">here</a></p><hr>
<p><h3>We Are All Hindus Now</h3></p><p><h4>Published on this day in 2009, by <em>Newsweek</em> magazine</h4></p><p><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/212155">Original Article Source</a>, Dated 2009-08-15</p><p>America is not a Christian nation. Recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, our selves, each other, and eternity. The Rig Veda, the most ancient Hindu scripture, says this: "Truth is One, but the sages speak of it by many names." A Hindu believes there are many paths to God. Jesus is one way, the Qur'an is another, yoga practice is a third. None is better than any other; all are equal. The most traditional, conservative Christians have not been taught to think like this. They learn in Sunday school that their religion is true, and others are false. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." Americans are no longer buying it. According to a 2008 Pew Forum survey, 65 percent of us believe that "many religions can lead to eternal life" -— including 37 percent of white evangelicals, the group most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone. Also, the number of people who seek spiritual truth outside church is growing. Stephen Prothero, religion professor at Boston University, [says] <strong>"It isn't about orthodoxy. It's about whatever works. If going to yoga works, great—and if going to Catholic mass works, great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist retreat works, that's great, too."</strong> Then there's the question of what happens when you die. In reincarnation, central to Hinduism, selves come back to earth again and again in different bodies. So here is another way in which Americans are becoming more Hindu: 24 percent of Americans say they believe in reincarnation, according to a 2008 Harris poll.</p><p><strong>Note</strong>: Read the complete summary and notes <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info/a-american-religion-shifts">here</a></p><hr>
<p><h3>Texas Police Hit Organic Farm With Massive SWAT Raid</h3></p><p><h4>Published on this day in 2013, by Huffington Post</h4></p><p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/15/texas-swat-team-conducts-_n_3764951.html">Original Article Source</a>, Dated 2013-08-15</p><p>A small organic farm in Arlington, Texas, was the target of a massive police action ... that included aerial surveillance, a SWAT raid and a 10-hour search. Members of the local police raiding party had a search warrant for marijuana plants, which they failed to find at the Garden of Eden farm. Farm owners and residents who live on the property [said] that the real reason for the law enforcement exercise appears to have been code enforcement. Local authorities had cited the Garden of Eden in recent weeks for code violations, including "grass that was too tall, bushes growing too close to the street, a couch and piano in the yard, chopped wood that was not properly stacked, a piece of siding that was missing from the side of the house, and generally unclean premises." <strong>The raid on the Garden of Eden farm appears to be the latest example of police departments using SWAT teams and paramilitary tactics to enforce less serious crimes</strong>. In recent years, SWAT teams have been called out to perform regulatory alcohol inspections at a bar in Manassas Park, Va.; to raid bars for suspected underage drinking in New Haven, Conn.; to perform license inspections at barbershops in Orlando, Fla.; and to raid a gay bar in Atlanta where police suspected customers and employees were having public sex. A federal investigation later found that Atlanta police had made up the allegations of public sex. Other <strong>raids have been conducted on food co-ops and Amish farms suspected of selling unpasteurized milk products. The federal government has for years been conducting raids on medical marijuana dispensaries</strong> in states that have legalized them. </p><p><strong>Note</strong>: Read the complete summary and notes <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info/a-texas-police-hit-organic-farm-with-massive-swat-raid">here</a></p><hr>
<p><h3>Ohio Voting Problems Deemed Severe</h3></p><p><h4>Published on this day in 2006, by <em>Washington Post</em></h4></p><p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/15/AR2006081501232.html">Original Article Source</a>, Dated 2006-08-15</p><p><strong>Problems with elections in Ohio's most populous county are so severe that it's unlikely they can be completely fixed by November, or even by the 2008 presidential election</strong>, a report commissioned by Cuyahoga County and released Tuesday says. A nonprofit group hired to review the county's first election with new electronic voting machines found several problems with the May 2 primary. "The election system in its entirety exhibits shortcomings with extremely serious consequences, especially in the event of a close election," wrote Steven Hertzberg, director of the study by the San Francisco-based Election Science Institute. The report, part of a $341,000 review ordered by county commissioners, suggests that the county revamp poll worker training, develop a plan to ensure all electronic votes are counted in the case of a manual count and consider adding machines to avoid long lines that might scare voters away. Mark Radke, director of marketing for Diebold subsidiary Diebold Election Systems...blamed inadequately trained poll workers, saying the totals didn't always add up because some changed memory cards without also changing the paper receipt rolls.</p><p><strong>Note</strong>: Read the complete summary and notes <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info/a-ohio-voting-problems-deemed-severe">here</a></p><hr>
<p>With best wishes for a transformed world,<br>
Mark Bailey and <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info/aboutus#burks">Fred Burks</a> for <a href="https://www.peerservice.org">PEERS</a> and <a href="https://www.wanttoknow.info">WantToKnow.info</a>
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