Society's ChildS


Fire

Explosion at Grand Bazaar in central Tehran injures dozens

Mary Chastain
Breitbart News
Wed, 16 Mar 2016 19:33 UTC
Tehran explosion
© Twitter/Xinhua
An explosion in Iran has injured at least 39 people at the Grand Bazaar in central Tehran.

Al-Bawaba reports the likely cause of the blast as a faulty gas cylinder at a three-story building in Green Square. The fire department, though, said "the precise cause of the explosion is still not clear." They do believe the explosion happened on the first floor of the building. Financial Times reporter Monavar Khalaj says sources on the ground have dismissed terrorism as a possible reason for the explosion.


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USA

New petition made for changing US national anthem to 'War Pigs' by Black Sabbath

Claire Bernish
Anti Media
Tue, 15 Mar 2016 00:00 UTC
War pigs
As U.S. election politics plummet rapidly toward a nadir in vanishing ethics, fear-mongering, and tabloid-esque rhetoric, it shouldn't escape headlines that no major party candidate harbors intentions to disentangle the country from America's growing number of military operations worldwide.

Of course, the United States managed to elect Barack Obama, whose expansive bellicose policies — in conjunction with having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — embody a quintessential irony seemingly only possible in America.

Obama isn't the only politician who has managed to tout strict gun control for U.S. citizens while espousing the killing of terror suspects by drone — a program that inevitably causes the murder of anyone who happens to be standing nearby when a bomb is unleashed. Not one of the leading presidential candidates even hinted at a desire to eradicate that contentious practice.
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War Whore

Damning study says 1 in 3 of all excessive force claims against police involve physically or mentally disabled people


RT
Wed, 16 Mar 2016 02:22 UTC
disabled people police brutality
© Reuters
A new study has found that at least one third of all victims of police killings are people with disabilities. The researchers hope a closer look at the issue will change the conversation about police violence.

The statistics regarding police abuse of the disabled by police are not easy to come by. In its new study, the Ruderman Foundation found that "there is no legal requirement for local, state or federal law enforcement agencies to aggregate or collect the number, type, and result of violent incidents that occur between police officers and disabled people."

However, by compiling media coverage of cases involving disabled individuals, they managed to find 378 cases involving abuse or mistreatment by police between 2013 and 2015. The disabilities range from documented mental illnesses to physical disabilities.

These numbers were confirmed by the Los Angeles Police Department which found that over one third of the people shot by LAPD had documented signs of mental illness.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has recognized that this is an issue for their force as well. A report from the LAPD found that out of the 38 people shot by police in 2015, 14 of them had documented signs of mental illness. The issue persists in less serious cases as well. In 2015, roughly a quarter of the nearly 1,900 less-serious uses of force were used against someone believed to be mentally ill and under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
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Snakes in Suits

US gov't actually has a zombie apocalypse plan — now declassified

Jake Anderson
Anti Media
Wed, 16 Mar 2016 00:00 UTC
Zombie apocalypse
A few year ago, the Center for Disease Control launched a zombie preparedness initiative that drew significant attention. The Department of Defense followed suit and developed an entire training course intended for the Joint Operational Planning and Execution System (JOPES). The complete response plan, called CONPLAN888, was recently declassified, and it's just as weird and creepy as you might imagine.

The Black Vault posted two documents retrieved from the NSA using the Freedom of Information Act.

The purpose of the plan, according to the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), was to use a fictitious scenario to prepare for real-world emergencies.
"[The training focused on how to] undertake military operations to preserve 'non-zombie' humans from the threats posed by a zombie horde. Because zombies pose a threat to all 'non-zombie' human life (hereafter referred to as 'humans'), USSTRATCOM will be prepared to preserve the sanctity of human life and conduct operations in support of any human population-including traditional adversaries."

Comment: We knew about the threat of Vegetarian zombies - but chicken zombies ?! On a more serious note though, this plan looks like it is intended more to condition gov't employees into an 'us or them' mindset than anything else. That they would come up with so many paranoia-inducing variants on the zombie theme at all suggests a huge streak of pathology among the folks who wrote it. But what else is new? This is a US gov't plan we're talking about here, however "fictitious". The real question is: How are we going to protect ourselves from those gov't zombies??

See also:

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Light Saber

A true hero: Crimean prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya on standing up to Ukrainian fascism and fighting for Crimea


Sputnik
Thu, 17 Mar 2016 01:46 UTC
Natalia Poklonskaya
© Press Service of the Republic of CrimeaNatalia Poklonskaya
Two years after a referendum that cemented Crimea's reunification with Russia, Natalia Poklonskaya became the republic's prosecutor after the Kiev-appointed man defected, and became an iconic symbol of a new Crimea in a turbulent time. Now she shares her story and reveals what has changed.

On the anniversary of Crimea's referendum for independence from Ukraine and request to become a part of Russia, Natalia Poklonskaya, who famously ran the prosecutor's office in that turbulent time told RIA Novosti in an interview about her views on the events and what has changed since then.

Natalia, how did the Crimean Spring begin?

The starting point of the events was the heroism of soldiers of the Crimean "Berkut" [Ukrainian police special forces], who stood as a human shield on the Maidan, facing bullets and Molotov cocktails. They made the Crimean people to believe in themselves, straighten their shoulders and repel fascism, which was spreading rapidly across the country. Berkut is a symbol of the unbroken Crimean spirit, as they remained true to their principles to the end, and stood with the Crimean people at a difficult time.
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Book

Ireland bans book for first time in 20 years over multiple descriptions of child rape


RT
Sat, 12 Mar 2016 14:54 UTC
Book
© Hernán Piñera/Flickr
A book called 'The Raped Little Runaway' has become the first title in nearly two decades to be banned in Ireland for obscenity, over its multiple descriptions of child rape.

The book, written by Jean Martin and published through Star Distributors Ltd, was referred to the Irish Censorship of Publications Board, which found the novel to be "indecent" and "obscene".

The board regularly convenes in Ireland to discuss books and periodicals referred by members of the public or through its own investigation. However, it has not fully prohibited a book from entering the Irish market since 1998.

According to the Irish Independent, the censored book contains "explicit descriptions" of the rape of a minor.

Under Ireland's Censorship of Publications Act, texts can only be initially banned for a period of 12 years. Board members must all read the submissions and then decide by majority on whether to censor a text.

Strangely, authors who choose to appeal the decision must pay a very specific fee of €6.35 (US$7), which will be returned "if the appeal is considered to be a serious one".

Porn publisher Star Distributors Ltd had a long list of titles on Ireland's last obscenity list issued 18 years ago.

Back then the distributors, with an address in New York, saw eight of their books blocked from ever being sold legally in the country.

Comment: Good for Ireland! Who in their pathological mind would want to read, write or publish a book on such an abhorrent, monstrous subject?

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Megaphone

Indian media lauds Putin's achievements in Syria, says Obama was following his lead


TASS
Wed, 16 Mar 2016 19:18 UTC
putin
© Artiom Korotaev/TASS
Russian President Vladimir Putin has achieved in five months what US President Barack Obama has not in five years - impose a ceasefire and bring the warring factions in Syria to the negotiating table, The Hindustan Times said on Wednesday.

"Mr Obama's support to these initiatives was crucial, but it's clear that in Syria the US has followed Russia's lead," the newspaper said. "His [Putin's] surprise announcement [on withdrawing Russian forces from Syria], in keeping with his style, is a departure from conventional diplomacy, but is sure to bring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has expressed ambitions to retake Syrian territory using force, to the negotiating table," it added.

"While Washington has been pusillanimous of ground intervention, Moscow went ahead, took the lead and is today determining the narrative in Syria," the newspaper noted.
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Sheriff

Off-duty officer shoots and kills 16yo boy after car chase


RT
Tue, 15 Mar 2016 19:05 UTC
crime scene tape
© Nancy Wiechec / Reuters
A sixteen-year-old boy is dead following an officer-involved shooting in Addison, Texas. Police said an off-duty officer attempted to intervene during a "crime in progress," but the situation escalated to a car chase and gunfire.

"If he did something he shouldn't be doing, then he should be arrested - not shot," said the teen's cousin, Nora Rubi, who gathered with the teen's family to demand answers at Addison police station on Monday night, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Jose Raul Cruz, 16, was shot and killed on Sunday night. That's when an off-duty Farmers Branch police officer, Ken Johnson, allegedly saw Cruz and another male breaking into a vehicle in a parking lot.

Police said there had been a series of vehicle break-ins in the neighborhood. Officer Johnson, who was not in uniform, saw the pair leave in Cruz's red Dodge Challenger, so he pursued them in his SUV. Half a mile later, the vehicles collided.

Comment: This has become the norm for policing in America: Officer gets involved in altercation, officer claims to "fear for his life", officer shoots and kills person. Officer's bosses defend the actions of officer. It's a sick cycle that just keeps repeating itself. Until people start demanding the authorities change the way they handle officer killings, the cycle won't change.

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Propaganda

NYT whitewashes Israeli poll: Half of Israelis think Palestinians should be expelled from Israel, 80% favor preferential treatment of Jews

James J. Zogby
The Jordan Times
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 17:17 UTC
idf palestinian
© AP"I need your land, your home, and your motorcycle."

Comment: Conclusion 1: the more religious Israelis are, the more racist and radicalized they are. Conclusion 2: Israelis don't need to be religious to be racist and radicalized. Nothing really surprising there, or new, but the NYT continues to do a stellar job covering up for Islamic State's ideological blood brother, the apartheid Jewish State.


This past week, the Pew Research Centre released the results of a massive poll of Israeli public opinion — focusing on their attitude towards religion, identity, values and political issues facing their country.

In the days that followed the release, a number of articles appeared in Israel and the US commenting on the study's findings.

The strangest and most troubling of them was the piece titled "Deep Rifts Among Israeli Jews Are Found in Religion Survey", printed in the New York Times on March 8, 2016.

Written by Isabel Kershner, the article was a transparent effort to combine straight reporting with tortured apologia.

Kershner began the piece with a simple recitation of a few of the poll's findings: "A majority of Israeli Jews marry within their own religious or secular groups" and the different sub-groups "largely separate social worlds" and have "starkly contrasting positions on many public policy issues", like whether West Bank settlements contribute to Israel's security.
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Water

Let them drink arsenic: Texas still insisting tainted water is safe - report


RT
Tue, 15 Mar 2016 13:07 UTC
Tap water
© Eric Thayer / Reuters
Drinking water systems in 34 Texas communities have tested positive for excessive levels of the carcinogen arsenic for more than a decade, yet the state continues to claim there is no emergency or need for an alternative, a new report says.

Arsenic concentrations in several Texas water systems have exceeded standards set under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, which calls for arsenic in drinking water to be no more than 10 parts per billion (ppb). High arsenic levels affecting these 34 communities across the state, affecting some 51,000 people, have not been seriously addressed in at least the last decade, according to a new report ‒ "Don't Drink the Water" ‒ by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).

In addition, 31 other communities, serving approximately 30,000 people, have been in violation of the federal arsenic standard for at least two years, according to data from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Comment: People don't just drink the water. They bathe in it, they wash their clothes and dishes in it, wash their hands with it, cook with it, etc.. This is a health hazard that needs to be resolved now, and anyone that's covered it up or tried to downplay the dangers needs to be booted out of office and thrown in prison.

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