Menachem Z. Rosensaft: A neo-Nazi beauty pageant – nefarious glorification of anti-Semitism at its worst

20 Oct 2014

The following article was first published by the ‘Huffington Post’.

One of the most insidious, and perhaps ultimately one of the most dangerous, manifestations of neo-Nazi resurgence may well be its steady subversive infiltration of contemporary popular and consumer culture.

Rabidly bigoted – anti-Semitic, anti-Roma, generally xenophobic – modern day neo-Nazi parties and movements such as Jobbik in Hungary and Golden Dawn in Greece are relatively easy to identify and fight through political, judicial and legislative means. They are the violent heirs of the Nazi Brown Shirts, the SA, who terrorized non-fascist Germans throughout much of the 1920’s and early 1930’s as part of Hitler’s rise to eventual absolute power.

Then there are the more nuanced modern-day fascists such as Marine Le Pen’s Front National in France who combine reactionary views with a calculated strategic effort to make themselves appear more palatable to the political mainstream, often with frightening success. Still, these ultra-right wing extremist movements and parties are relatively easy to identify and expose for what they are – at the end of the day they leave little to the imagination. Bigotry, after all, remains bigotry regardless of any intellectual or dialectic attempts to legitimize the preying on fears and often deep-seated prejudices.

But below the radar screen, there are nefarious attempts to legitimize Nazism and all that Nazism stood for in the popular psyche under the guise of cutting edge fashion, perverse home decoration, and even crass, prurient sexual exploitation. Among some of the more egregious recent examples are:

• The peddling of silver ‘Swastika Rings’ on Sears’ online Marketplace that “are going to make you look beautiful at your next dinner date.” Faced with consumer outrage, Sears quickly yanked this example of what had been described as “gothic jewelry” and removed the offending vendor from its site.

• The sale on the Walmart, Sears’ and Amazon websites of a “home decoration” poster featuring the “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work makes you free”) gate of the Dachau concentration camp. All three retailers pulled this item after their attention was called to it. “We were horrified to see that this item was on our site,” declared Walmart. “We sincerely apologize, and worked quickly to remove it.”

• The Spanish retail clothing chain Zara was forced to apologize for marketing a striped concentration-camp-like tee shirt complete with a six-pointed yellow star. For what it’s worth, Zara had previously sold handbags embossed with swastikas. Lovely.

The latest, and possibly the most nausea-inducing example of this particular fad is an ever so sexy beauty pageant out of the former Soviet Union. Before it was apparently suspended by the Russian social media site Vkontakte, a page on that website solicited women who consider themselves Nazis to submit photos of themselves and statements on precisely why they admire Hitler.

To be eligible, according to the contest’s rules, a contestant had to be, among other things, “a woman Nazi” and “a woman who hates Jews.”

Among the entries are sultry Ekaterina Matveeva from St. Petersburg, Russia, who proclaims that “Adolf Hitler’s position is genius and true, that races are different not only in appearance, but also in intelligence,” and Katya Shkredova from Mogilev, Belarus, who “adores Adolf” and loves his willingness to “experiment on people.”

The winner of this revolting pageant was to be crowned Miss Ostland – the name given by the Nazis to the German occupation regime for the territory covering Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and part of what is today western Belarus – and receive a piece of jewelry featuring one of the Nordic runes that were popular with Heinrich Himmler and his SS. Second prize: a pendant with the German Iron Cross.

Granted, there is no indication that this particular beauty contest ever had a mass or even large-scale following. Nevertheless, it is a timely and potent reminder that neo-Nazism in its vilest form is enjoying a significant revival among at least some segments of society, and the Vkontakte page in question purportedly did have more than 7,000 Russian and Ukrainian followers.

In Kentucky, a white supremacist write-in candidate named Robert Edward Ransdell who is running for the US Senate is posting signs proclaiming “With Jews We Lose” that leave little to the imagination. Ransdell also took advantage of an invitation to participate in the University of Kentucky’s Constitution Week to spew his anti-Semitic bile to college and high school students.

And in Sydney, Australia, a neo-Nazi group is sending out flyers declaring that “It’s time for all White Australians to stop being blinded by political correctness and Jewish lies about equality, multiculturalism and the need for so called diversity. Diversity really means white genocide.”

To be sure, much of the virulent present-day anti-Semitism emanates from Radical Islamic and leftist pro-Palestinian sources. But these are increasingly finding disturbing common ground with the extreme right.

Cries of “Gas the Jews” are suddenly being heard once more in demonstrations in Germany and elsewhere. “The fear is that now things are blatantly being said openly, and no one is batting an eyelid,” Jessica Frommer, who works for a nonprofit organization in Brussels, told the New York Times. “Modern Europe is based on stopping what happened in the Second World War. And now 70 years later, people standing near the European Parliament are shouting, ‘Death to Jews!’ “

As Ronald S. Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, has emphasized, the prevailing atmosphere in which anti-Semitism has become acceptable empowers other equally odious manifestations of bigotry. “When hundreds of thousands of Christians – men, women and children – are killed, this isn’t war,” he declared at a recent gathering of Evangelical Christians in Jerusalem. “This is genocide. And we Jews know what happens when the world is silent to genocide.”

“Anti-Semitism has always been, historically, the inability to make space for differences among people, which is the essential foundation of a free society,” Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, emeritus chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth, wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “That is why the politics of hate now assaults Christians, Bahai, Yazidis and many others, including Muslims on the wrong side of the Sunni/Shia divide, as well as Jews. To fight it, we must stand together, people of all faiths and of none. The future of freedom is at stake, and it will be the defining battle of the 21st century.”

As we approach the 70th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust and the liberation of the Nazi death and concentration camps by Allied troops, we must bear in mind that while the Third Reich was defeated at the end of World War II, the ideology that made possible the genocide of European Jewry is very much alive throughout much of the supposedly civilized world. We ignore or dismiss its presence in our midst at our peril.

Menachem Z. Rosensaft is general counsel of the World Jewish Congress and teaches about the law of genocide and war crimes trials at the laws school of Columbia and Cornell Universities. He is the editor of ‘God, Faith & Identity from the Ashes: Reflections of Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors’ (Jewish Lights Publishing), available December 2014

Story from: http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/15269/menachem_z_rosensaft_a_neo_nazi_beauty_pageant_nefarious_glorification_of_anti_semitism

Fear of a Fat Planet: Nearly a Third of the World Population Is Now Overweight

r of a Fat Planet: Nearly a Third of the World Population Is Now Overweight

A new study shows the scale of the global obesity crisis.

Take Action

(Photo:BSIP/UIG via Getty Images)

 

 

 

 

May 30, 2014 By Willy Blackmore http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/05/30/global-obesity

There are 1.35 billion people living in China, another 1.23 billion living in India. The world’s two most populous nations are each home to a crush of humanity that’s almost impossible to comprehend. But those numbers pale next to the overweight people who live in the world today—2.1 billion, or nearly a third of the world’s population.

The numbers come from a study published yesterday in the journal The Lancet. Researchers looked at 1,700 studies from 188 countries conducted between 1988 and 2013 in order to come up with a comprehensive view of what’s a truly global obesity epidemic.

However, it wasn’t North America—where Mexico and the United States have vied for the title of the fattest nation in the world—that registered the highest obesity rate. Rather, the Middle East and North Africa are the worst; nearly 60 percent of men and 65 percent of women are too heavy. The study says the U.S. is home to 13 percent of the world’s overweight population, the highest percentage of any country.

The sky-high rates in North Africa and the Middle East may come as a shock in the West, where public health stories from the Arab-speaking world can’t break through the wall of coverage of American invasions, oil, revolution, civil war, and military coups. If anything, most of the region borders the Mediterranean, which is most famous in dieting circles as a way to eat a healthy diet heavy in plants, seafood, and the occasional glass of red wine. Even if there’s less wine consumed with dinner in these predominately Muslim countries, they still consume a whole lot of olive oil. But the red flags have been flying for decades, however, and a combination of urbanization, globalization, and regional cultural norms has created a massive public health crisis.

In 2001, a study published in The Journal of Nutrition looked at the obesity rates in Morocco and Tunisia and found that while their governments were still working to address issues of malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, the waistlines of women in both countries were expanding at an unhealthy rate. Public health officials were doing little at the time to address the problem, according to the researchers, “especially since female fatness is viewed as a sign of social status and is a cultural symbol of beauty, fertility and prosperity.” With more people living in urban areas, where processed foods were cheap and easily accessible, issues like malnutrition were steadily being alleviated. But the study goes on to say that, “Western culinary influences lead to new consumption patterns, which affect dietary habits and even the rhythm of consumption.” The study continues, “These new dietary habits have created conditions for chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes to take hold.”

Elsewhere in the region, especially in oil-rich countries, diet trends have followed a similar course. In Saudi Arabia, meat consumption increased by 500 percent between 1973 and 1980, according to a 2011 article in The Journal of Obesity. Changes weren’t as dramatic in less wealthy nations, but the same paper notes that people in Jordan nearly doubled how much meat they ate over the same period, and that the percentage of calories consumed as fat by children in Lebanon increased from 24 percent to 34 percent between 1963 and 1998.

Wealth and development can change diet and health by increasing the amount of meat used in regional cuisines—but American-style dining also seems to crop up in emerging markets around the world, and the Middle East in no exception. Just as global fashion brands and, more recently (and disastrously), institutions like New York University, have tried to catch some of the shimmer of the Gulf’s oil wealth, so have fast-food companies.

This $1,000 McDonald’s-Inspired Dress Is About More Than Income Inequality

“Demand for fast casual dining, which includes the more traditional fast-food chains such as McDonald’s as well as the table service brands like IHOP, is growing amid a rise in disposable income, extravagant shopping malls, and a seemingly unquenchable appetite for Western food concepts,” reads a 2012 trend story on the website Arabian Business. The article cites a study from the research firm Euromonitor that predicts the fast-casual dining in the United Arab Emirates will expand from $6.4 billion in 2011 to $8.7 billion in 2015. Burger chains are expected to propel the boom.

And just as meat consumption has increased across the region, so has the saturation of fast-food brands. The trade website Food Business Africa points out that the demographics across the Middle East and North Africa present an ideal market for fast-food companies: Huge populations of young people who have “grown up eating processed foods and dining in Western-style fast-food restaurants and coffee shops.” For the youth in this region—and around the world, for that matter—drive-through hamburgers are as much of a birthright as for kids in the U.S.

American-style fast food is no longer a foreign novelty, and neither is American-style obesity.

REDEMPTION! What You should know! Shelter killing is the leading cause of death for healthy dogs & cats in the United States!

N

Nathan J. Winograd

Mai 8 um 6:46 PM

Join us for a documentary film about the No Kill revolution in America. Coming to a city near you. Click on the links for tickets:

•Albuquerque, NM: http://bit.ly/1imaROu

•Atlanta, GA: http://bit.ly/1ktZuos

•Austin, TX: http://bit.ly/1m8chgh

•Boston, MA: http://bit.ly/1jI8oxB

•Charlotte, NC: http://bit.ly/1m8dILE

•Chicago, IL: http://bit.ly/P3f7qG

•Denver, CO: http://bit.ly/1nosnCi

•Fayetteville, AR: http://bit.ly/Qnt83o

•Ft. Lauderdale, FL: http://bit.ly/1iTYFkE

•Louisville (Shelbyville), KY: http://bit.ly/1hRMdRl
•Minneapolis, MN: http://bit.ly/1kXtdsN

•Norfolk, VA: http://bit.ly/PM8Qjx

•Phoenix, AZ: http://bit.ly/Q9Yk6B

•Pittsburgh, PA: http://bit.ly/QM7eqK

•Sacramento, CA: http://bit.ly/1qEtiAu

•San Francisco (Palo Alto), CA: http://bit.ly/1t5s97k

•Troy, MI: http://conta.cc/1iUoIcP

•Washington, D.C.: http://bit.ly/1qYvkKg

The film will be followed in most cities by a workshop on building a No Kill community and others with an after party. Check on the links for more details. Coming soon: Buffalo, NY, Cleveland, OH, Las Vegas, NV, Los Angeles, CA, Modesto, CA, Nashville, TN, New York, NY, Seattle, WA, and Tallahassee, FL.

•To watch the trailer, click here.

•For more information about the film, click here.

—————-

P.S. 99% of the film is uplifting and while a small number of images may be difficult, they are not gratuitous. While we expect people who see it will experience a range of emotions, the primary ones they will come away with are hope, inspiration, empowerment, and well, redemption. In short, it is safe for animal lovers to watch.

No Kill Advocacy Center | 6114 La Salle Ave. #837 | Oakland CA 94611
http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org | facebook.com/nokilladvocacycenter

USA: The Efforts to Cover the Struggle for Social Justice and Peace, to Cover the Class Struggle by the “Race War” Concept — WiPoKuLi

No doubt, the US President has suprematist tendencies. No doubt, part of his followers are sick by Racism and ultra Nationalism. No doubt also that Racism is still a severe problem in the US and part of the West. At the same time there is the overall conflict between the US Power Elite and the […]

via USA: The Efforts to Cover the Struggle for Social Justice and Peace, to Cover the Class Struggle by the “Race War” Concept — WiPoKuLi

NY re-entry program awards Cornell $750K for prison education

Aug. 15, 2017
NY re-entry program awards Cornell $750K for prison education
ByDaniel Aloi

Cornell’s Prison Education Program (CPEP) has received $750,000 in grant funding from the College-in-Prison Reentry Program, an effort to expand educational opportunities at correctional facilities across New York state.
Cornell is one of seven colleges and universities in New York awarded grants totaling $5 million to provide college-level classes, training and re-entry services at 17 state prisons over the next five years. CPEP operates at the Cayuga, Auburn, Elmira and Five Points correctional facilities.
Announced Aug. 7 by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., the awards are funded by the Manhattan DA’s office through its Criminal Justice Investment Initiative. The initiative backs transformative projects to prevent crime and improve public safety and the justice system with $250 million seized in international financial crime prosecutions.
Cuomo unveiled the college education program in 2016 as part of a common-sense criminal justice reform package through his Right Priorities Initiative.
“New York continues to stand out as a leader in pushing for criminal justice reform and in thinking of education as a vehicle for decreasing the scale of mass incarceration in the United States,” said Robert Scott, CPEP executive director. “A year or so ago this seemed to be the direction the country was heading in its thinking. The federal administration had a similar initiative proposed, using the Pell Grant to fund prison education.”
There was growing bipartisan support at the federal level earlier in the decade for proactive measures addressing mass incarceration, Scott explained.
“Now New York is distinguished for having done that,” he said. “Other states, such as Indiana, have experienced a reduction of college in prison programs in recent years.”
About 1,000 incarcerated individuals in New York state now receive college-level instruction each year. The College-in-Prison Reentry Program will make classes and training available to more than 2,500 additional inmates across the state, increasing the current number by 500-600 each year through grant and matching funds.
Cornell has pledged to add seats for 50 more individuals to its program over the life of the grant, “but over five to six years it may be much more,” Scott said.
Providing education is crucial in preparing a person in prison for successful re-entry into the community, Cuomo and Vance said.
“Prison isn’t just about serving time for one’s crimes. It’s an opportunity to help those who have made mistakes rehabilitate and rebuild their lives,” Cuomo said.
Participants in prison education programs are 43 percent less likely to return to prison and 13 percent more likely to obtain employment after their release, according to a 2013 study by the RAND Corp.
“It makes no sense to send someone to prison with no pathway for them to succeed when they get out,” Vance said. “Investing in college education programs is a proven, cost-effective way to break the harmful cycle of recidivism and keep our communities safe.”

http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2017/08/ny-re-entry-program-awards-cornell-750k-prison-education

Ignorance is no excuse, Chinese tourists are learning how to behave

China Daily Mail

Taboos for Chinese tourists in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Bhutan (photo from Chinanews.com)

Two Chinese tourists in Berlin in early August “were arrested after posing for photos while making the Nazi gesture in front of the historic Reichstag building …… German law forbids the use of some symbols affiliated with banned organizations in public, such as gestures, uniforms and flags, including those linked to the Nazis.”

A tour abroad is supposed to be a learning process, and it is always for our own benefit because through which we get to know more about the civilizations of some peoples we did not know enough in the past. There are norms, taboos, customs and alike everywhere worldwide towards which we must respect. Using ‘freedom of something’ or ‘rights of something’ makes no sense at all. We expect visitors to respect our traditions and in return we must comply with the host…

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Sat. Aug 19: MILLIONS FOR PRISONERS MARCHES in Washington and San Jose — The Free

anarchist, prison, social revolution, solidarity
Sat. Aug 19: MILLIONS FOR PRISONERS MARCHES in Washington and San Jose
August 16, 2017 thefreeorg 1 Comment

 

 

 

The Washington March & Rally
Prison Advocacy Network is forever humbled to be hosting the upcoming March on Washington DC.
Date:Saturday August 19th
Time: 11:30am-12:00pm March
12:00pm- 5:00pm
Rally Location: White House (Lafayette Park)
Pennsylvania Ave NW & 16th Street
Northwest, Washington, DC 20001

 

Sat. Aug 19, San Jose: MILLIONS FOR PRISONERS MARCH – in solidarity with March in Washington DC
also in San Jose
Posted on August 14, 2017 by prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity
On AUGUST 19, 2017 please join in solidarity with the historic Millions for Prisoners Human Rights March. People from all over the country will be marching and hosting a rally at the White House to formally issue and demand the removal of the 13th Amendment “exception” clause that legalizes slavery. People are traveling from as far as California to join the March. Solidarity marches, rallies, and protests are being planned across the country to coincide with the DC event.  Here’s San Jose!

Join the NEW ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT
MILLIONS for Prisoners HUMAN RIGHTS
SATURDAY, AUG 19, 2017
SAN JOSE
We DEMAND the 13th Amendment ENSLAVEMENT CLAUSE of the United States Constitution be amended to abolish LEGALIZED slavery in America.
We DEMAND a Congressional hearing on the 13th Amendment ENSLAVEMENT CLAUSE being recognized as in violation of International law, the general principles of human rights and its direct links to:
• For profit exploitation of prison labor and the extortion of prisoners/families for needed goods and services
• Incentivizing criminalization by a private prison industry
• Reinforcement of systemic racial inequality and the militarization of police against our communities
• Disproportionate murder of black and brown people by police and the normalization of state sponsored murder via the death penalty
• Use of solitary confinement as punishment and torture
• Voter disenfranchisement of up to 6 million people
• Indefinite detention of entire families under arbitrary Immigration and Customs Enforcement quotas
• A bail bond system that unjustly penalizes the poor and dispossessed
• Producing 25% of the world’s prison population with only 4.5% of its overall population
MARCH WITH
California Prison Focus & Rise Up for Justice
11:00am: GATHER at Raymond Bernal Jr. Park, 7th and Mission Streets, San Jose, CA 95112
11:30am: MARCH to County Jail
12:30am: RALLY at James P. McEntee Plaza, 70 West Hedding, San Jose, CA 95110
Join local organizations, learn more, and hear speakers from San Jose and surrounding communities, including:
Watani Stiner
Sean Ramsey
Laurie Valdez
… and more
For a full list of sponsors or more information, email us at: riseup@forjustice.us
Download and put up Fliers! 8-19-17-Millions-for-Prisoners, SanJose
San Jose March Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/441574739560568/
see also:
The Black Gulag in USA: State owned Slavery is STILL LEGAL in Prisons

The Washington March

via Sat. Aug 19: MILLIONS FOR PRISONERS MARCHES in Washington and San Jose — The Free

Evolutionary Biologist Now Wants Doctors to Kill Suicidal Depressed People

BLOGGIN' BAD w/ Gunny G! ~ HEY! NO MORE PC, REMEMBER? ~AMERICA CANNOT BE GREAT AGAIN UNTIL THE STAIN, STIGMA, STENCH AND SHAME OF "THE PRINCE OF FOOLS" IS OFFICIALLY AND FINALLY UNDENIED, AINOs (AMERICANS IN NAME ONLY) EXPOSED, AND THE SWAMP FLUSHED! -POTUS TRUMP!.....-IF WE CAN KEEP HIM? ~ Illegitimi non carborundum...

Skip to comments.Evolutionary Biologist Now Wants Doctors to Kill Suicidal Depressed PeopleEvolution News and Views ^ | August 9, 2017 | Michael Egnor Posted on 8/9/2017, 2:53:28 PM by Heartlander

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AFSC Releases “Survivors Manual” By and For Prisoners in Solitary Confinement by Jean Casella and James Ridgeway

prison, solidarity, Stop State and Capitalist criminals
free Survivors Manual for 100,000 in US solitary
August 1, 2012 thefreeorg 6 Comments
AFSC Releases “Survivors Manual” By and For Prisoners in Solitary Confinement
by Jean Casella and James Ridgeway
Download PDF here: http://www.afsc.org/document/survivors-manual-surviving-solitary.
The American Friends Service Committee has put out a new edition of the vital publication Survivors Manual: Surviving in Solitary – A Manual Written By and For People Living in Control Units. The volume is a collection of letters, stories, poetry, and practical advice on surviving solitary confinement in prisons. AFSC released the following announcement last week:
Solitary confinement, characterized by 23-hour a day lockout with minimal exercise and lack of human contact, affects an estimated 100,000 prisoners in federal and state prisons in almost every state. Thus the need for “Survivors Manual,” which was first issued in 1998, is even more vital.
“The isolation of solitary confinement is torture according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture. The extended use of solitary severely affects all prisoners’ mental health, making re-entry to society all the more difficult. For those with pre-existing mental conditions, such consequences are even worse,” says Bonnie Kerness, Prison Watch Coordinator for AFSC.
In this powerful collection of voices from solitary, people currently or formerly held in isolation vividly describe their conditions and their daily lives. They also write about how they struggle to keep mind, body, and soul together in an environment that is designed to break them down. Many also analyze the political, economic, and social forces that shape their torturous situation. The collection also includes some stunning artwork and poetry.
A PDF of the manual is available online at the following link: http://www.afsc.org/document/survivors-manual-surviving-solitary. Copies can also be purchased for $3 each at the following site: http://www.quakerbooks.org/survivors_manual.php.
Related articles
Torture in U.S. Prisons? Historic Senate Hearing Takes Up Solitary Confinement’s Devastating Toll (democracynow.org)
New Video: “Solitary Confinement: the Season of Sorrow” Video (inprisonedwomen.wordpress.com)
VOICES from SOLITARY (faktensucher.wordpress.com)
Exonerated Prisoners Testify on Solitary Confinement (incaseofinnocence.wordpress.com)
Russell Maroon Shoats – More than twenty years in solitary confinement (moorbey.wordpress.com)

https://www.spencerfernando.com/2017/07/04/nationwide-outrage-trudeaus-10-million-payment-omar-khadr/

There is massive and growing outrage across Canada against plans by the Trudeau government to give $10 million dollars in taxpayer money to confessed terrorist Omar Khadr. As I noted yesterday, “In 2002, Omar Khadr was captured by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan. Khadr was accused of throwing a grenade and killing Christopher Speer – a U.S….…

via NATIONWIDE OUTRAGE Over Trudeau’s $10 Million Payment To Omar Khadr — Spencer Fernando

London Wimbledon bosses ban Jeremy Corbyn chanting — Dear Kitty. Some blog

This satiric 3 July 2017 video from Wimbledon tennis court in London, England says about itself: CLIFF RICHARD SINGS ‘OH JEREMY CORBYN‘ AT WIMBLEDON Actually, it is video of decades ago at Wimbledon, when it rained, there was no tennis and Sir Cliff Richard started singing; with the sound of recent pro-Jeremy Corbyn chanting superimposed. […]

via London Wimbledon bosses ban Jeremy Corbyn chanting — Dear Kitty. Some blog

If you truly knew what the N-word meant to our ancestors, you’d NEVER use it — Moorbey’z Blog | Colouredjustice Blog

#Poverty costs a staggering £78 billion we are told we do not have have. Ray Woolford.

Declaration Of Opinion

http://lewishamcampaigner.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/poverty-costs-staggering-78-billion-we.html?m=1

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