Society's ChildS


Sherlock

Russell Brand: The Sun on Sunday lied about me, but more importantly, lies about everything

Rupert Murdoch holds up the Sun on Sunday
© Arthur Edwards/AFP/GettyRupert Murdoch with the first issue of the Sun on Sunday.
Not a big deal in the scheme of things, but it's still the same fecund bone-yard of gossip, poison and lies. Have they learned nothing?

The Sun on Sunday, which is of course the News of the World with a different hat on, lied about me last week.

In the general scheme of things, the crumbling economy, the savaged environment, the treacherous, inept, deceitful politicians that govern us, the corrupt corporations that exploit us, it might not seem like a big deal. That's because it isn't to anyone, except me or my girlfriend. The pain, disruption and distress, that the Sun inflicted by falsely claiming that I cheated on my girlfriend, in the context of such awesome corruption, is a pale liver-spot on the back of Murdoch's glabrous claw. Still though, it's a tiny part of the demon's dermatology and as such, connected to all the other pestilence. Here's how.

Handcuffs

Best of the Web: Israel Charged with war crimes and genocide. Complete judgment of Kuala Lumpur Tribunal published

Amos Yaron
"The Defendant Amos Yaron perpetrated War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and Genocide in his capacity as the Commanding Israeli General in military control of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps [...]"
The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC) versus the State of Israel

The proceedings directed against the State of Israel were led by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission.

Members of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC) are:

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (Chairman), Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, Dr. Denis Halliday, Mr. Musa Ismail, Dr. Zulaiha Ismail, Dr. Yaacob Merican, Dr. Hans von Sponeck.

Working in liaison with their Malaysian counterparts, commissioners Dr. Denis Halliday, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization were present in Kuala Lumpur throughout the proceedings.

This important judicial process has received very little coverage in the Western media. Global Research will be publishing several reports following this historic judgment against the State of Israel.
"The perpetrators had committed acts against the Palestinians, with intent to kill, cause serious bodily or mental harms and deliberately inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the Palestinians as a whole or in part."
"The Tribunal recommends to the War Crimes Commission to give the widest international publicity to this conviction and grant of reparations, as these are universal crimes for which there is a responsibility upon nations to institute prosecutions.

The Tribunal deplores the failure of international institutions to punish the State of Israel for its crimes and its total lack of respect of International Law and the institutions of the United Nations."

Smoking

Global fascism: Smoking in public places banned in Perth, Australia

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© Mayank Ganger/flickr
City of Perth will become the first council in Western Australia to ban smoking in major pedestrian areas when its malls go smoke-free from Sunday. Changes to the local law mean it will be an offence to smoke in Perth's Hay Street Mall, Murray Street Mall and Forrest Place.

Offenders in the first six months of the awareness campaign will be cautioned, and fines will be issued from 1 June next year.

Healthway's chair, Rosanna Capolingua, said on Thursday nine in 10 people in WA were non-smokers and it was important to show young people that being a non-smoker was a community standard.

"We're talking about hundreds of thousands of city workers and visitors per week who will no longer be exposed to harmful secondhand smoke in these areas," she said. "Smokers too will benefit from this move, and most agree it's a good idea because they want encouragement to quit.

Ambulance

Hundreds of cannabis workers fall ill in Albanian village


Doctors in Albania say hundreds of people have fallen ill from harvesting cannabis in a lawless region that for years has been out of bounds to police, Albanian media reported on Friday.

The hospital in the southern city of Gjirokaster said a total of 700 have sought treatment since June for the effects of planting, harvesting, pressing and packing the cannabis in the village of Lazarat.

"In the last two months about seven to eight people arrive in the emergency ward each day and many more have come earlier with disorders from hashish," Gjirokaster doctor Hysni Lluka told Top Channel television.

Some 2,000 people, including poor Roma who have set up a camp near Lazarat, have been working for months in the cannabis fields, where producers pay eight euros per 10 kilos of processed drug.

People

Inglewood gunman surrenders to police; hostages safe

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© AP Photo/Nick UtInglewood police snipers take up a position outside a residence, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013, in Inglewood, Calif., where a police officer was shot and another received minor injuries in a confrontation with a gunman who barricaded himself inside a home and could be holding a hostage, authorities said.
A gunman fired several shots at a pair of police officers, hitting one, and held two hostages for nearly nine hours - but all came away from the standoff without serious injuries.

The worst injury Wednesday occurred when an Inglewood policeman was shot in his bulletproof vest. He was taken to a hospital in good condition but "in a lot of pain, police Capt. James D. Madia said. He suffered blunt force injuries and was set to spend the night in another hospital as a precaution, police said.

The second officer in was not hit but was hurt when she fell down in the chaos that followed, Madia said. She was treated at a hospital and released.

The 45-year-old gunman and the girlfriend and her 14-year-old daughter that he held hostage in their house all came away unharmed, police said.

Eye 2

Man distracted by phone almost steps on snake

Pedestrians with their heads buried in mobile phones are increasingly being warned against walking carelessly through traffic - but an Australian man texting as he crossed the road has encountered one obstacle he could not have predicted.


An Australian man using a mobile phone has been caught on security vision jumping out of the way of a hidden snake trying to bite him.

In a near-venomous experience near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, a man using a mobile phone was forced to dance frantically out of danger when he almost accidentally stood on a snake as he crossed the road.

The frantic encounter from earlier this month was caught by a security camera and the video posted online this week shows the startled serpent lashing at the man, who tries to get away.

Gingerbread

Why we let our children forget outdoor playgrounds

Parenting 101

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Parenting is said to be one of the most, if not the most, taxing jobs in the world. They say as a parent you don't get paid with money, you get paid with love. And no matter how many children you bear, it still always feels like taking care of one for the first time. According to the American Psychological Association, "Parenting involves three main goals, ensuring children's health and safety, preparing children for life as productive adults and transmitting cultural values". A parent-child relationship built on good values may define how the child will be in the future.

The first walk, the first words, the first tooth, the first birthday, all these things are milestones that any parent would never want to miss as they are indicative of the growth of their precious children. As parents, you may have a different style of rearing your child. You may be authoritative, authoritarian, permissive or uninvolved. You may also be a mix of all four. And mind you authoritarian and authoritative are not at all the same. As parents you should give your children just enough measure of freedom to be able to explore the world and do what they need to do. Free play is the first freedom parents confer their children. Creating a safe and accessible playground for them to explore is a responsibility parents must undertake in order to allow their children's full potential to be unleashed.

Heart - Black

Los Angeles to join New York and 50 other U.S. cities with ban on feeding homeless people

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© Lucy Nicholson/ReutersU.S. military veterans listen to speeches during a Veterans Day observance for homeless veterans at The Midnight Mission shelter on skid row in Los Angeles, Calif. on Nov. 11, 2013
As the number of homeless people in Los Angeles County continues to rise, the City Council is weighing a ban on feeding homeless people in public areas.

City Council members Tom LaBonge and Mitch O'Farrell, both Democrats, introduced the resolution after complaints from Los Angeles residents. Arguing that meal lines should be moved indoors, the legislators said the proposal would benefit both the homeless and residential neighborhoods.

Actor Alexander Polinsky is one Los Angeles resident who complained about the number of homeless people crowding his neighborhood.

"If you give out free food on the street with no other services to deal with the collateral damage, you get hundreds of people beginning to squat," Polinsky told The New York Times. "They are living in my bushes and they are living in my next door neighbor's crawl spaces. We have a neighborhood which now seems like a mental ward."

"This has overwhelmed what is a residential neighborhood," Council member LaBonge said. "When dinner is served, everybody comes and it's kind of a free-for-all."

Comment: The logical consequence of pathocracy setting in at the top is the spread of psychopathic values throughout the population.

See also:

Bloomberg strikes again: New York City bans food donations to the
homeless


Arrow Down

Restaurant fires waitress for refusing to cover dine-and-dash bill

Suzanne Parratt
© Google
It was bad enough when three men in her section decided to skip out on a $96 bill, but it got a whole lot worse for waitress Suzanne Parratt when she was subsequently fired from her job for refusing to cover the unpaid tab.

The 31-year-old server had been employed at the Pig N Whistle in Midtown Manhatan since August without incident.

Then came last Tuesday's dine-and-dash during the evening hours of a hectic double shift.

"As soon as I realized, I went into full blown shock and then a state of panic knowing that I'd be held responsible for their $96 tab," Parratt told Gothamist.

She tried to explain the situation to her manager, Eugene Wilson, but says she was immediately slapped with a threat: Either she covers the check or her coworkers will.

Arrow Down

Shocking figures show 70% of people in Northern Ireland cut back on food to pay energy bills

Energy Bills
© Belfast TelegraphWhen it is cold, almost four out of 10 use less heating than they would like. Picture posed.

More than seven out of 10 people in Northern Ireland have been deprived of basic essentials such as food due to rising energy bills, exclusive new research has found.

It also emerged that eight out of 10 struggle to adequately heat their homes, while almost everyone worries about being able to pay the bills.

Furthermore, the comprehensive study showed that, when it is cold, almost four out of 10 local people use less heating than they would like.

The shock findings come ahead of a major fuel poverty conference today, which is aimed at tackling the deepening crisis.

It has been prompted by ongoing energy price increases and the revelation that Northern Ireland has more fuel poor homes than anywhere else in the UK - or Western Europe.

The Northern Ireland Fuel Poverty Coalition (NIFPC), which is behind the 'Running On Empty' conference, claimed that one in four householders can't afford to keep warm at a reasonable cost.

Indeed, of the four UK nations Northern Ireland (42%) has the greatest proportion of fuel poor households, followed by Wales (29%), Scotland (25%) and England (15%), according to the Fuel Poverty Statistics Report 2013.

Chair of the NIFPC, Pat Austin, said that although the statistics are bad, the real-life stories make for shameful reading.

"I've heard of people putting children to bed and their lips were blue because they were so cold," said Ms Austin.

"In other cases families have been forced to have picnics in shopping centre to keep warm, while some people visit relatives at mealtimes to save money on energy it takes cooking food."

Ms Austin said the NIFPC has called together its 160 members to develop a "reinvigorated plan of attack".