Society's ChildS


USA

70% of Americans 'feel frustrated' about presidential election while half feel angry and helpless

US voting station
© Andrew Kelly / Reuters
Just a handful of Americans view the 2016 presidential election through rose-colored spectacles, the latest poll has found. Seven in 10 people say they feel frustrated with it, while over half, including majorities in both parties, are angry and helpless.

About one-quarter say they have hardly any confidence that their votes will be counted accurately, a poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has revealed. As much as 55 percent, including majorities from Democrats and Republicans, say they feel totally helpless about the ongoing election.

Only eight percent of Americans say they have a great deal of confidence in the Republican Party, and 15 percent - in the Democratic Party. Similarly, just 29 percent of Democrats and 16 percent of Republicans have any confidence in their own political parties.

Newspaper

Toronto man used cat ad on Kijiji to lure woman he drugged and sexually assaulted

Ghenadie Carpov
© Toronto Police handoutGhenadie Carpov, 52, of Toronto, has been charged with sexual assault and administering a noxious substance after allegedly using an online ad about selling a cat to lure a woman to his home.
A Toronto man used an online ad about selling a cat to lure a woman he later drugged and sexually assaulted, police say.

Ghenadie Carpov, 52, was arrested and charged with sexual assault and administering a noxious substance after a woman responded Thursday to his Kijiji ad offering a cat for sale. Police say the woman went to a home in the Yonge and Finch area in the city's north end to see the cat and after she agreed to buy it, Carpov offered her some refreshments.

After eating and drinking with him, she fell ill and "was led to his bedroom where he sexually assaulted her," according to a Toronto Police Service news release.

Pistol

Breaking news: Two dead as active shooter opens fire in Houston, Texas

SITUATION: Police have responded to a shooting in Houston
© ABCPolice have responded to a shooting in Houston
TWO people have been found dead in an active shooter scene in Houston, Texas.

One suspect is dead and another is wounded in an active shooter scene in West Houston still in progress.

A resident was also found dead inside a vehicle.

Gunshots were showered across a residential street near a petrol station as two armed suspects fire "random" shots.

One even hit a gas pump, sparking a huge fire.

The suspect has been described as a man not wearing a shirt, dark shorts with a rifle.

Heart - Black

Over 700 migrants feared dead in Mediterranean shipwrecks, UN says

Migrants sit in their boat during a rescue operation by Italian Navy vessels off the coast of Sicily
© Marina Militare / ReutersMigrants sit in their boat during a rescue operation by Italian Navy vessels off the coast of Sicily
Three separate shipwrecks in the Mediterranean south of Italy in recent days are thought to have claimed the lives of more than 700 people, officials from the UN's refugee agency said.

The information appeared first on the Twitter of spokeswoman at UNHCR South Europe, Carlotta Sami.

"Sunday counting victims. Macabre exercise: will the world realize the over 700 people should have deserved a safe passage?" she wrote.

Water

Operation Flint provides much needed water to residents while the government and mainstream media sleeps

water for flint
Lead contaminates the water in Flint, Michigan, and as you've probably heard, the state government in conjunction with emergency managers needlessly endangered the lives of every resident in the city by poisoning its water supply with toxic lead — for a savings amounting to about $80 to $100 per day. And while the Flint Water Crisis has largely disappeared from headlines in both mainstream and alternative media, residents are no closer to receiving the most basic human right with any consistency.

In fact, the situation, in many ways, continues to worsen as the government not only originally failed to keep informed residents of the economically-depressed city what's being done to solve their crisis, but failed to provide adequate supply for their daily lives.

Imagine suddenly being unable to turn the tap on in warming weather for much-needed rehydration. Imagine not only attempting to cook a meal for your family, but sanitizing cooking utensils, pots and pans, dinnerware, and more — without being able to turn on your faucet. Imagine bathing with individual water bottles — or bathing your children this way. Imagine attempting to clean your house, your laundry, anything — without freely-flowing tap water.

Arrow Up

Dozens of protesters demand 'Justice for Akai'; accuse judge and NYPD of having blood on their hands

Justice for Akai rally
© Ruptly
Dozens of protesters joined the "Justice for Akai" rally in New York to protest the ruling of Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Denny Chun's not to charge a former NYPD cop of manslaughter of an African American.

African-American Akai Gurley, 28, was fatally shot by an NYPD officer, Peter Liang, on November 20, 2014, in Brooklyn at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, as police were patrolling the stairwells in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)'s houses.

The shooting was declared an accidental discharge after the investigation determined that the bullet that killed the black man ricocheted off the wall and hit the victim's chest. In February 2015, Liang was indicted by a grand jury of manslaughter and a year later was found guilty of the charge.

USA

Memorial Day: Remembering all the deaths from all of our wars

Patriotism
Celebration of Memorial Day in the US, originally Decoration Day, commenced shortly after the conclusion of the Civil War. This is a national holiday to remember the people who died while serving in the armed forces. The day traditionally includes decorating graves of the fallen with flowers.

As a Viet Nam veteran, I know the kinds of pain and suffering incurred by over three million US soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen, 58,313 of whom paid the ultimate price whose names are on The Vietnam Wall in Washington, DC. The Oregon Vietnam Memorial Wall alone, located here in Portland, contains 803 names on its walls.

Comment: Howard Zinn on Memorial Day


USA

Texas hate group wants to shoot Muslims with bullets dipped in pig's blood so victims will 'go straight to hell'

BAIR hate group
© Facebook
An extremist group of white men in Texas are training against a Muslim "uprising" by dipping their bullets in pig's blood and bacon grease to target victims.

The so-called "Bureau of American Islamic Relations" (BAIR) said using pig products to line the bullets would ensure victims would "go straight to hell," according to a video released by AJ+.

Comment: This is what happens when the US fuels the anger, hate and feelings of disenfranchisement of Americans. The government appears to be actively working to get people fighting amongst each other so that they stay divided and don't see the bigger enemy that is pulling all of their strings. Divide and conquer gets them every time.


Eye 1

Exceptional USA: How young American girls are sold for sex online

Natalie
© Family Handout
In an old home movie, young Natalie is laughing and running around with a soccer ball. She's around 12 years old, and she looks at the camera and says, "When I grow up, I would like to be a doctor."

But a few years later, that laughing, carefree young girl was sold for sex allegedly through the website, Backpage.com. She estimates she was paid for sex over 100 times, and she firmly believes that the site made it possible for her pimp to post ads offering her for sex over and over again.

"Continuously. All day, every day. 24/7," Natalie told ABC News "Nightline." She has asked us to refer to her as "Natalie" for this report, and her parents have asked that we do not use their last name.

Natalie is now a 21-year-old mother with a toddler and another baby on the way. She is part of a major lawsuit against Backpage.com, the highly controversial online classifieds site that is currently being investigated by the U.S. Senate for its alleged connection to underage sex trafficking.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, told "Nightline" that Backpage "requires more of someone who wants to sell a motorcycle than of someone who wants to sell a child."

Comment: As wicked and guilty as Backpage and this Carl Ferrer obviously are, this article is more of a harrowing look into how absolutely sick this society is when you peel beneath the surface. If a person can simply post an underage sex advert online and receive a huge number of calls within minutes, or a girl can run away from home and is being sold for sex within 48 hours, that says it all. Bring on the comets.


Footprints

Secret service: 41 agents punished for retaliatory private data leaks

Chaffetz
© AP Photo/Carolyn KasterUtah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Chairman of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
Congressman Jason Chaffetz's rejected 2003 application to join the Secret Service leaked last year, and now dozens of agents from the federal law enforcement agency charged with protecting heads of state have been suspended without pay.

Actions of a total 57 Secret Service personnel, including 11 senior officials, were reviewed in a Department of Homeland Security investigation last fall. None of those disciplined Thursday were identified due to federal privacy laws. "Of those, 41 are receiving some level of discipline. This discipline includes a letter of reprimand to one individual, suspended discipline contingent on no further misconduct for a period of five years, and suspensions from duty without pay for periods of up to 45 days," Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said in a statement Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security, the parent office to the Secret Service, released its report in September 2015, finding 45 agents and supervisors peeked at Chaffetz's personnel file, which was stored in an internal Secret Service database and was required by law to be kept private.

A March 31, 2015 email from Secret Service Assistant Director Edward Lowery read that there was "some information that [Chaffetz] might find embarrassing needs to get out." Chaffetz's records were accessed about 60 times, including by officials from headquarters in Dallas, Boston and Phoenix and even from London. The report said that 18 supervisors, including the deputy director and director Joseph Clancy's chief of staff, knew that the information had been accessed from within the agency. "The majority of these instances were in violation of the Privacy Act, Secret Service policy, and DHS policy," Johnson stressed.