Society's ChildS

Heart - Black

Leo McKinstry: "How I've seen the France I love torn apart by hatred"

Nice truck
© AFP/Getty imagesAt least 84 people were killed when Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove this truck, riddled with bullets, through crowds celebrating Bastille day in Nice
Bastille Day is meant to be a moment of celebration in France. But when my wife and I had dinner on Thursday evening with neighbours near our French home in the Loire region, we encountered visceral despair about the state of the Gallic nation.

The company was charming, the hospitality magnificent, yet parts of the conversation were profoundly sombre. This was hours before the news of the Islamist atrocity in Nice emerged, but our friends' concern for France's future was palpable.

Mass immigration, the relentless growth of the Muslim population, the alarming spread of jihadism and the enfeebled stance of President Hollande's socialist government had left them with a feeling that their country is increasingly under siege.

Comment: It does indeed herald a bleak future for our continent, maybe if Western powers stopped bombing middle eastern countries and fueling their phony war on terror, refugees would stop fleeing and 'contaminating' Western civilizations. If the French people are looking for anyone to blame it should be their psychopathic leaders who have torn their country apart.


Fire

Man sets himself on fire trying to burn a flag at the Republican National Convention

flag burning
In what was perhaps one of the most violent clashes yet between police and protesters outside the Republican National Convention, a protester accidentally set himself on fire trying to be a bad ass and burn an American flag.

While protesters were yelling "Burn that rag!" a Cleveland police officer reportedly began shouting, "You're on fire! You're on fire, stupid!" at the protester whipping around the burning flag that had to be extinguished by firefighters before more people caught on fire.

Comment: See also: Urine throwing, skirmishes, norovirus and arrests at RNC convention in Cleveland


Heart - Black

Cop enters wrong house and shoots family dog in the middle of 5-year-old's birthday party

Eli Malone
© Phil Cross/KOKHEli Malone holds the cross he made to mark the grave of his dog that was shot by police.
Gruesome. Infuriating. Tragic. Incompetent. Cowardly. Murderous. These are a few of the words that come to mind in regards to the recent puppycide by an Oklahoma cop.

"There's something wrong with Opie," said Vickie Malone's 5-year-old son Eli, during his birthday party โ€” after a Wynnewood police officer just shot their beloved family dog.

According to Vickie Malone, she'd just taken the party inside to serve cake and ice cream when they heard a gunshot.

As parents and kids ran outside to see what was going on, the cop fired two more rounds into Opie with his AR-15 as horrified partygoers watched in disbelief.

"He [Opie] was over here kicking and gasping for air," Vickie said.

Pistol

Louisiana shooter manifesto: 'Create substantial change within America's police force and judicial system'

shooter
© Louisiana State Police / ReutersGavin Long, a black U.S. Marine Corps veteran who shot dead three policemen in Louisiana's capital who deliberately sought out officers to assassinate them, according to officials, is seen in this still image taken from video in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S., July 18, 2016.
A handwritten manifesto purportedly authored by Gavin Long states that the shooter viewed his murder of three police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as a "necessary evil" to combat what he saw as injustice against black people.

The three-page manifesto obtained Wednesday by RT America lays out Gavin Long's reasoning behind his Sunday attack in Baton Rouge that left three officers dead and three others wounded before the attacker was shot dead.

Long, a 29-year-old former marine from Kansas City, Missouri, opened his letter with the salutation "Peace family," before apologizing in advance for the actions that he was about to commit, which he referred to as "horrendous acts of violence."

"You are thinking to yourself that this is completely out of character of the man you knew who was always positive, encouraging and wore a smile wherever he was seen," he wrote. "Yes this does seem to be out of character but I ask you that you finish reading before you make that decision."

Comment: See also: 4 suspects at large after shooting at NYPD cops in Brooklyn


Sun

Fears of riots after looting and violence on London's hottest day echo 2011 unrest

London protests
© RT
Police are bracing for a repeat of the 2011 English riots after a spate of violent incidents and stabbings involving thousands of people in London on Tuesday.

Extra patrols have been launched and officers' leave cancelled amid fears violent summer clashes will continue.

One police officer was stabbed and four more were injured at Hyde Park after a water fight escalated into a clash between police and up to 4,000 young revellers in the city's worst bout of violence since 2011.

Police in riot gear remained in place in the park for almost 12 hours as a police helicopter was deployed.

Bottles were reportedly thrown at officers and two men were treated for knife wounds at the park and taken to hospital.

Mobile phone footage on social media also showed a man being repeatedly stabbed after being chased through traffic on Park Lane.

Cloud Lightning

What to do if a live electrical wire hits your car during a storm

Downed electrical wire on car in New Jersey
© Jessica Remo/NJ Advance Media for NJ.comA 26-year-old Plainfield woman was electrocuted after downed wires fell on her car in Fanwood and she attempted to exit the vehicle.
If you're driving during a storm and a live electrical wire falls onto your car, experts say you should stay inside until help arrives.

New Jersey's three biggest utility companies all advise drivers and passengers to remain inside their vehicle if it comes into contact with wires, because โ€” contrary to popular belief โ€” tires are electrical conductors, not insulators.

"It is true that you are safe in your vehicle when a live wire falls on it. But that's because electricity always seeks the easiest path to the ground," PSE&G says on its website.

"If you remain in the vehicle, the path of the electricity will be on the outside of the vehicle, through the tires, and into the ground. As long as we do not provide a path to the ground through our body, the electricity will not enter it. So when an electrical wire falls on your vehicle, stay in your vehicle until help arrives and the power is shut off," the website says.

If a driver or passenger has to escape from a vehicle because of a fire or other life-threatening situation, PSE&G offers this advice: "Jump out with both feet together, making sure that you are not touching any part of the vehicle when your feet hit the ground." It's important to land with both feet hitting the ground at the same time, said Tricia Ingraham, a spokeswoman for First Energy, the parent company of JCP&L. When you land on the ground, keep your feet as close together as possible, then slowly hop or shuffle as far away from the electrical wires as possible, Ingraham said.

Bullseye

America: Divided and conquered into oblivion

Divide and conquer
Or take the right to vote. In principle, it is a great privilege. In practice, as recent history has repeatedly shown, the right to vote, by itself, is no guarantee of liberty. Therefore, if you wish to avoid dictatorship by referendum, break up modern society's merely functional collectives into self-governing, voluntarily co-operating groups, capable of functioning outside the bureaucratic systems of Big Business and Big Government.

-Aldous Huxley, in Brave New World Revisited (1958)
The single event that changed my life more than any other was TARP, aka the banker bailout. The unfairness, extreme greed and selfishness with which the status quo bailed out financial criminals while leaving the public high and dry changed me forever. When it comes to shaping American history, it is equal in importance to the attacks of 9/11.

As someone who grew up privileged, I never really questioned the criminality of the status quo system. Like so many others who are beneficiaries of the way things are, there's not much incentive to look behind the curtain. Nevertheless, the banker bailouts shook me to my core and opened my mind in ways that no other event could. At the time, I was happily earning a very large income at a young age while doing absolutely nothing to benefit society. As such, I couldn't contemplate why government officials were putting so much money and energy into bailing out people like me, while ignoring everyone else. It felt irrational, unethical and dirty. I wrote about all this for over a year while still working in the financial sector, before concluding that it was time to part ways in early 2010. Even back then, I was incessantly warning that tremendous anger from the banker bailouts would ultimately bubble to the surface and create the sort of backdrop in which authoritarians, demagogues and fascists thrive.

Comment: Yes, but the situation is even graver than what the author supposes. To understand and really grok why all of this is happening right now, there is much to know about this very special time that we are living in.


Stormtrooper

Video shows unarmed black man pleading with arms raised before police shoot him

unarmed black man
© WSNV-Tv
Cell phone video footage has been released that shows the moments before an unarmed black therapist with his hands up was shot by North Miami police while attempting to care for his autistic patient, according to WSVN-TV.

Disabled caregiver Charles Kinsey was lying on his back with his hands in the air, attempting to talk to the officers who were aiming their weapons at them. The police had received reports of a man with a gun threatening suicide.

"When I went to the ground, I went to the ground with my hands up," Kinsey said, "and I am laying there just like this. Telling them again there is no need for firearms. He is autistic. He has a toy truck in his hand."

Kinsey can be heard clearly saying to police on the video "All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behavior therapist at a group home."

Kinsey was shot while in this submissive position. Kinsey said he still has no idea why the officers shot him.

"I thought it was a mosquito bite, and when it hit me I had my hands in the air, and I'm thinking I just got shot!" Kinsey said. "And I'm saying, 'Sir, why did you shoot me?' and his words to me were, 'I don't know.'"

Megaphone

'Hate cops?': Billboard reading 'call a crackhead' provokes outrage

hate cop sign
© Megan Thomas / Facebook
With the recent spate of deadly shootings both police-involved and against officers, an electronic billboard reading, "Hate cops?" in Muncie, Indiana, left at least one local resident dismayed. Offended, she posted a photo to Facebook, stirring more controversy.

In its entirety, the billboard reads, "Hate cops? The next time you need help call a crackhead."

Muncie resident Megan Thomas noticed the sign on Saturday, when she was walking with her niece.

Light Saber

Pakistan moves to ban 'honor killings' after social media star is murdered by brother

Pakistan honor killing
© STR / Agence France-PressMurdered Pakistani social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch
Pakistan's ruling party plans to pass legislation against so-called "honor killings," Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said following the murder of social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch.

The bill will go before a parliamentary committee on Thursday, Maryam Nawaz Sharif told Reuters.

"We have finalized the draft law in the light of negotiations," she said. "The final draft will be presented to a committee of joint session of parliament on July 21 for consideration and approval."

Maryam said that once the parliamentary committee has approved the bill, it will be presented for a vote in a "couple of weeks" before a joint session of parliament. If passed into law, the legislation would remove a loophole which currently allows other family members to pardon a killer.

Maryam, who has become an increasingly influential member of her father's ruling party, said the government wants to pass the law unanimously and has been negotiating with religious parties in parliament.

A senior government official also confirmed to Reuters that all major parties are indeed backing the bill and it is likely to be passed by the joint session of parliament.

"The prime minister is taking a personal interest," a second official and close aide to Sharif added. "You will see in the coming days more will be done, big changes will be announced."

Comment: Pakistan may pass a law banning such horrors, but it will be an uphill battle to change centuries of societal norms. How much effort they put into making those changes will be the real test of how seriously they take this issue.