Society's ChildS


Bullseye

UK police crack down on homeless beggars using millions in taxpayer money

homeless
Police forces throughout the U.K. are being accused of needlessly criminalising rough sleepers by using plain-clothes officers to catch people begging on the streets. In 2015, Sussex Police arrested more than 60 people in the coastal city of Brighton, while arrests for begging in Birmingham jumped by more than two-thirds as part of a mass crackdown on those desperate for small change. Critics have questioned the ridiculous system that costs taxpayers thousands and sees people who have nothing being fined hundreds of pounds.

The vintage legislation used to clamp down on beggars is Section 3 of the Vagrancy Act 1824 that states that it is an offence to beg in a public place. This archaic law was introduced nine years after the Battle of Waterloo to deal with jobless soldiers discharged following the Napoleonic War, and states:
"Every petty chapman or pedlar wandering abroad, and trading without being duly licensed, or otherwise authorized by law; everycommon prostitute wandering in the public streets or public highways, or in any place of public resort, and behaving in a riotous or indecent manner; and every person wandering abroad, or placing himself or herself in any public place, street, highway, court, or passage, to beg or gather alms, or causing or procuring or encouraging any child or children so to do; shall be deemed an idle and disorderly person."

Heart - Black

City of Cleveland adds insult to homicide by billing family of Tamir Rice for ambulance ride

Tamir Rice
© Family Photo via Richardson & Kucharski co. LPA / AFPTamir Rice
The family of an African-American boy killed by police now has an insult to add to their injury: the city is billing them for their son's ambulance ride. Tamir Rice was shot in a playground by cops who mistook his toy gun for a real one.

Rice was only 12 years old when he was shot and killed by Cleveland, Ohio police officers, in November 2014. Officers responded to a call that he was pointing a gun at people at a playground outside a recreation center, and opened fire within seconds of arriving on the scene. The investigation showed they were never told the crucial details: that Rice was a child, and that the gun was probably a toy.

Officers were accused of not immediately providing aid to Rice. He died in a hospital a day later.

On Wednesday, nearly 15 months after the boy's death, the city filed a claim against Rice's family in Cuyahoga County Probate Court. The claim says that that Tamir's estate is overdue on a $500 payment for the boy's "last dying expense." The invoice requests $450 for "ambulance advance life support" and $50 for mileage.

Quenelle

Activist called to court for Flint water crisis Facebook post; 'threatening behavior' cited

facebook protest arrest
A Kalamazoo man sentenced to probation for crawling into an Enbridge pipeline as an act of civil disobedience will face a judge this month after a social media post critical of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's handling of the Flint water crisis resulted in an alleged violation.

Christopher G. Wahmhoff, 37, will face Judge John Hallacy in Calhoun County Circuit Court on Feb. 22 after a comment on Facebook was cited as "threatening behavior" by his probation officer in a show cause affidavit.

Two years ago, Wahmhoff was found guilty of felony resisting police and misdemeanor trespassing after he slid on a skateboard into an Enbridge Inc. replacement pipeline under construction near Marshall on June 24, 2013 and stayed there 10 hours in protest of the company's expansion of a recently ruptured oil pipeline.

Comment: This can hardly be considered a threat but this reaction from law enforcement is to be expected when living in a fascist state.


Eye 1

Top official openly admits the 'internet of things' will be used to spy on the public

bathroom spy
You can't say you weren't warned. The writing on the wall that "smart devices" would prove to be manna from heaven for spy agencies and hackers around the word has been obvious for a very long time.

A year ago, I published two articles on this topic. The first highlighted the revelation that Samsung's Smart TV can and will listen to your conversations, and will share the details with a third party. The second had to do with the release of a high-tech Barbie that will listen to your child, record its words, send them over the internet for processing. If you missed these posts the first time around, I suggest you get up to speed:

A Very Slippery Slope - Yes, Your Samsung Smart TV Can Listen to Your Private Conversations

Big Barbie is Watching You - Meet the WiFi Connected Barbie Doll that Talks to Your Children and Records Them

Red Flag

Modern day slavery: Government investigation confirms children are trafficked in the U.S.

human trafficking
The trafficking of children and sexual slavery world-wide is a global epidemic. Most of the public's image of such horrific examples of modern-day slavery evoke images of poorer countries where this problem is well-documented.

However, a new government investigation confirms that the problem of trafficking children and modern-day child slavery is a very real problem right here within our own borders.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) recently published a six-month investigation looking at 125,000 unaccompanied minors who have crossed the U.S. borders into the United States since 2011, reportedly fleeing violence and unrest in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Comment: SOTT Radio - The Truth Perspective Tammi Stefano - The Truth About Child Protective Services
On the second part of the show, the Truth Perspective interviewed Tammi Stefano, Executive Director of The National Safe Child Coalition (NSCC). Tammi has spent over two decades on frontlines fighting for child safety and serves on numerous committees aimed at protecting children from their abusers, who are often those who should be protecting them in the first place. We discussed the darker side of child protective services, the deep problems of corruption when it comes to children at risk, and what can be done.



Family

One in a million chance: Manchester mom gives birth to black and white twins

twin girls with different skin tones
© Hannah Yarker
A British woman has given birth to twin girls with different skin tones, an occurrence with odds of one in a million.

Hanna Yarker, from Sale, Greater Manchester, started noticing the difference between the sisters some time after they were born.

It dawned on her that while Anaya had taken after Yarker's fair skin and light eyes, Myla's complexion resembled her darker-skinned father Kyle Armstrong, who is mixed-race.

Attention

Sickening: Syrian opposition group reportedly claims missile attack on Assad's mother's funeral

Target on Assad
Syrian president survived alleged assassination attempt, but 4 of his convoy members were killed in the attack, when Grad missiles launched by the opposition faction hit the convoy.

Ahrar al-Sham, a central opposition group in Syria, has claimed responsibility for launching missiles against the convoy of Syrian President Bashar Assad during the funeral for his mother in al-Qardaha on Monday, Syrian media reported on Wednesday.

Assad survived the alleged assassination attempt, but four of his convoy members were killed in the Grad missile attack.

Comment: Nothing to see here, folks. Just some moderate rebels moderately trying to assassinate Syria's president (who was on his way to mourn the death of his mother), and moderately killing four random people in his convoy in the process.


Ambulance

Train derailment in Egypt injures at least 69

Egypt train crash
© Youtube/Real Today (screen capture)
At least 69 people were injured when a train derailed and two of its cars overturned as it was travelling north toward Cairo on Thursday, an Egyptian Health Ministry official said.

Gamal el-Gohari was quoted by Egypt's state-run news agency as saying that the accident took place early Thursday morning near the southern city of Beni Suef. MENA quoted an unidentified security official as saying that the train hit a cement wall while trying to avoid a second one heading in the opposite direction, causing two of its compartments to overturn.

The agency also said that the train conductor was arrested.

Railroad accidents due to negligence are common in Egypt. Egyptians have long complained that the government has failed to deal with the country's chronic transport problems.

Egypt's worst railway disaster was in February 2002 when a train heading to southern Egypt caught fire, killing 363 people.

Source: Associated Press


Bullseye

How the Chinese handle corruption: Jiantao culture and the Flint water crisis

jiantao self confession chinese culture
Yu Yingzeng wife of, Peter Humphrey, confesses on Chinese TV to the couple profiting from personal information about Chinese citizens obtained illegally.
Jiantao is a public punishment primarily inflicted on high-ranking Chinese government officials. Corrupt politicians who have taken bribes, engaged in graft, or otherwise put their self-interest above the Chinese people, get on national Chinese television and apologize for their misdeeds in exchange for a lighter prison sentence or fine.

According to the Wall Street Journal's Andrew Browne, individuals convicted of serious crimes in China are currently giving televised confessions in exchange for leniency. Browne's column describes how individuals like British corporate investigator Peter Humphrey and the owners of fast-food meat supplier OSI have been subjected to harsh, humiliating treatment by the Chinese government. Browne's February 2 column decries this revival of Chinese communist "Jiantao Culture" by President Xi Jinping as totalitarian, and traces its origins to the practices of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong.

Browne's column contains some obvious hypocrisy. While Browne sees televised confessions as extremely cruel, US society is filled with vengeful correctional procedures that are much worse by any objective measure. The United States has the world's highest prison population by numbers and percentage. Human Rights Watch has released a recent report documenting routine human rights violations across the country.

When one compares the human rights violations of the United States with the "Jiantao Culture" Browne describes in China, an obvious difference is very apparent.

Health

Flint Michigan issues boil water advisory over bacteria fears

Flint water tower
© Rebecca Cook / Reuters
The city of Flint, Michigan advised many residents to boil their water, after a water main break stoked fears of bacterial contamination. The city is struggling with a long-running crisis of lead pollution in the municipal water supply.

After a drop in the city's water supply, Flint authorities released an advisory Tuesday, warning residents that "bacterial contamination may have occurred." Corrective measures are currently underway, the city of Flint said in a statement.

While bacteria are common in water supplies and are generally not harmful, city officials are warning residents with water filters to boil tap water for one minute and then let it cool before use. Residents not using filters are asked to flush the water for seven minutes before collecting any to boil, to make sure there is no loose sediment trapped in the water.