Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

The NATO gift that keeps on giving: Refugees seeking new routes forced through old Croatian minefields

refugees minefield croatia
© File photoA warning sign in front of a minefield in the Bosnian town of Modrica, near the Croatian border
The country has scrambled teams of minesweepers

Thousands of desperate refugees who have been turned away at the Hungarian border may be forced to try and cross deadly Croatian minefields in search of safety in Europe.

Left over in the aftermath of the 1990s Balkan wars, there are thought to be between 60,000 and 100,000 landmines covering a 310 square mile area across Croatia.

Efforts to clear them were halted by extensive flooding in 2014, and it is unknown how many remain or are still active.

It makes for a potentially deadly prospect for refugees who, as of Wednesday morning, have begun arriving in Croatia on their way north towards Austria and Germany.

Minesweeping teams have been scrambled to the border area with Serbia, officials said. A spokesperson for the Croatian Demining Centre told Reuters: "Police have contacted us and we sent a team to the border area in eastern Croatia."

Volunteer groups on social media dedicated to helping refugees in Croatia have been publishing guidelines on how to avoid mines and maps showing where the main minefields are.

And while officials said active minefields were clearly marked with warning signs, hundreds have been killed and many more injured by mines since the end of the civil war in 1995.

Comment: It's not enough that these poor people have had to flee their homes because of western-backed violence, they have to contend with the horrors of previous western-backed violence


Bell

Bus breaks down on German rail crossing, driver saves some 60 children

Sixty pupils have escaped a bus-versus-train nightmare in Germany with only seconds to spare. All of them got off after quick thinking by the bus driver. Police put the vehicle damage at 300,000 euros.
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A bus driver's quick thinking, rushing dozens of children off the vehicle after it stopped on a level crossing, averted a tragedy in northern Germany on Wednesday.

Shortly after the bus broke down, a commuter train slammed into it on the crossing, as shaken pupils watched.

After bringing the children and herself to safety, the driver had also tried to alert rail staff by phone, but could not prevent the collision.

The crossing at Buxtehude southwest of Hamburg was reopened late on Wednesday afternoon after repairs.

Comment: Here is a video of the incident:




Brick Wall

German companies refuse to sell Hungary razor wire to use against refugees

One German company has described Hungary's use of razor wire against refugees including children as a "disgrace."
germany hungary razor wire
© Reuters A migrant touches a razor wire fence at the border with Hungary near the village of Horgos, Serbia.
At least two German companies have refused to sell razor wire to Hungarian authorities due to human rights concerns, according to reports Wednesday.

"(Razor) wire is designed to prevent criminal acts, like an intrusion, from taking place. Fleeing children and adults are not criminals," a spokesperson from German fence manufacturer Mutanox told Deutsche Welle.

According to Sputnik News, another unnamed supplier has also declined to make any deliveries, with its CEO stating, "Children, caught in the wire, are a disgrace."

Hungary is currently cracking down on refugees and migrants attempting to cross its border with Serbia, and also plans to erect a new fence on its border with Romania. Much of the existing fence on the Serbian border is already constructed with razor wire, and has sparked criticism from both human rights groups and Hungary's neighbors.

Significantly sharper than barbed wire, razor wire is typically only used for security at industrial, military and other sensitive sites. The razors can cause deep injuries, and are subject to restrictions in some parts of the world.

Global refugee levels are now at their highest point since the aftermath of World War II, and European nations have been divided over how to handle an influx of refugees and migrants.

At least two German companies have refused to sell razor wire to Hungarian authorities due to human rights concerns, according to reports Wednesday. "(Razor) wire is designed to prevent criminal acts, like an intrusion, from taking place. Fleeing children and adults are not criminals," a spokesperson from German fence manufacturer Mutanox told Deutsche Welle.

Megaphone

"Look in the mirror America": Conservative commentator goes on epic rant about Kim Davis, Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton, and dumbed-down America

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Ed Berliner
Ed Berliner is tired of hearing about anger, but he is apparently very angry at everyone.

The conservative commentator went on a rant posted to YouTube saying that Americans are stupid because they continue to participate in a political system that is broken.

Ed Berliner, a host for conservative news site Newsmax, showed clips of Republican candidates Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina, and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, (I-VT) talking about frustration of American voters who are tired of the status quo and never see change, no matter who they vote into office.

"Yes America's angry, but let's also face some facts. A good part of America is stupid," Berliner said. "We're a nation where a majority of people walk into a ballot booth and pull levers, punch out tiny tabs, or marking boxes, everything Republican or Democrat without a second thought."


Comment: It's good to hear at least one person pointing out the ridiculousness of the U.S. electoral process, where our highest position of president is Selected, not Elected.


Pistol

Bystander shot by police during SWAT standoff for holding phone

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© Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department / Facebook

Comment: People may start second-guessing recording police with their phones if police can get away with shooting them and then claiming they thought it was a gun.


A bystander was shot in the leg then arrested during a SWAT standoff with a man firing an automatic weapon. Police feared the witness was holding a gun, but it turned out to be a cell phone. He was shot while police were arresting the suspect.

Daniel Sanchez was standing with his phone outside his garage when police shot at him several times.

"He was yelling, 'Dad I'm shot, I'm shot,' so I grabbed him inside and closed the garage door. I put a tourniquet around his leg and a clean towel," his father, John Sanchez, told KCRA.

The elder Sanchez pointed out four bullet holes in his garage and several more in his car: "You can see how many shots they did: one, two three, four ‒ shooting at my son with a cell phone. C'mon that's ridiculous," he said.

"He went right there over to that corner and stood there with his phone, trying to get some pictures," the father told KOVR.

Stormtrooper

"It looks like a bomb." Muslim boy arrested after bringing homemade clock to school

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© Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer
A 14-year-old Muslim boy who loves to invent things was handcuffed and arrested after bringing a homemade clock to his Texas high school, and could face charges of making a "hoax bomb." The arrest has prompted speculations of Islamophobia.

Ahmed Mohamed, a ninth grader from Irving, Texas, was eager to impress his teachers with his newest creation - a clock which he invented in just 20 minutes, consisting of a circuit board and a power supply wired to a digital display. The clock and its wirings were all strapped inside a case.

But when he showed his engineering teacher the clock, he didn't receive the response he was hoping for.

"He was like, 'That's really nice,'" Ahmed said, as quoted by the Dallas Morning News. "'I would advise you not to show any other teachers.'"

Ahmed took his advice, keeping the invention in his bag for the rest of the day. But when the clock's alarm went off during English class, the teacher complained.

When the 14-year-old showed his teacher the source of the beeping, she said: "It looks like a bomb." Ahmed responded by saying it didn't look like a bomb to him.

Later on, while Ahmed was in his sixth period class, he was pulled out by the principal and a police officer. He was led to a room where four other officers waited. One of those officers, according to Ahmed, said: "Yup. That's who I thought it was."


Comment: So, this is how America treats its brightest youths, when they have brown skin. The police spokesman stated, "The concern was, what was this thing built for?" Has intellectual curiosity become such an absent concept in schools and among our societies' leaders that it is now unfathomable to be the simple reason why Ahmed built the clock?! Shame on the teachers, principal and police in Irving, Texas involved in this incident. See: Hysterical police state USA: 14-year-old Muslim schoolboy arrested for taking homemade clock to school


Apple Green

The dark side of schooling

education, indoctrination
Children' takes a critical look at the education system's obsession with perfection

'Children' is a short animation exploring the dark side of schooling. Created by Japanese illustrator Okada Takuya, it portrays a gray world, a gray neighbourhood, a gray school with gray classrooms. In it sit rows of gray children, indistinguishable from each other except for the numbers stamped on their heads.

It is a thought-provoking film in many ways, looking at the way in which children are not treated as individuals within the education system and how it invariably molds them into sheep. It also forces us to consider the enormous pressure children are under from the minute they start school, and how dull their studies can be. Where is the time for play with all the classes and homework and studying for exams? How does the pressure to get straight As affect them mentally?

Comment: And the same scenario is just as evident in the USA as in Japan. Children are not being educated, they are being indoctrinated, which is another reason that the number of homeschooled children has soared.


Sheriff

The thin blue line is broken: Officer receives death threats after reporting his chief for comparing blacks to monkeys

Dustin Stone, Martin Hoover
An Oregon police officer, who chose to cross the "thin blue line" and alert authorities after his department's police chief disparaged a black woman who had filed a discrimination complaint, is now receiving death threats.

Officer Dustin Stone, of the Clatskanie Police Department, now fears for his life for following his moral code and deciding to be a "good cop." The incident began after him and officer Zack Gibson reported an incident in which Clatskanie Police chief Martin Hoover is accused of making openly racist remarks. Hoover was also seen dancing like a monkey, making howling noises and pounding his chest, according to the officers.

As is too often the case when an officer speaks out against another cop, Stone's life is now being threatened and he fears for his family's safety.

Handcuffs

Sick society: Violent predators to be released from prison to make room for non-violent drug users

drug bust
Jerome Arps, 58, began his sickening obsession with forcing himself on women as a teenager when he participated in the gang raping of a 14-year-old girl. Decades later, in 2006, after multiple other rapes, this monster's addiction to forced sex was so compelling that he grabbed a woman in front of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and publicly raped her on the church's steps.

One would think that in today's society, such a vile serial rapist like Arps would never see the light of day after being apprehended. However, one would be wrong.

Because of the overcrowding of prisons in America, states like New York have revamped their rules. Sickos like Arps, cannot be held unless they are shown to have a mental disability, more serious than just a personality disorder — that causes him to repeatedly rape women.

The Court of Appeals for New York ruled in 2014 that the state has to prove that predators like Arps won't be able to control themselves once they are released back into society.

Comment: Sentencing drug users to long prison sentences while letting violent offenders off with a slap on the wrist is a crime. The War on Drugs is a sham and our criminal (in)justice system needs to be scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up.


Star of David

Judge rules Orthodox Jews can continue sacrificing chickens on Brooklyn streets

Kaporos chicken
© Getty ImagesThe Jewish ritual is allegedly over 2,000 years old
A Manhattan judge has allowed Ultra-Orthodox Jews to continue performing the religious slaughtering of chickens in the streets of New York City. The more-than-2,000-year-old ritual was challenged by animal rights group that called it "a public nuisance."

The ruling by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Debra James came on Monday and marked Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It starts the 10-day period leading up to Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, the holiest day for Jews.

This is also when Ultra-Orthodox Jews practice "Kaporos," or the ritual killing of chickens, to transfer their sins to birds.

Before slitting the chickens' throats, men take roosters and women take hens, and then swing them around their heads three times, saying: "This is my substitute, this is my exchange, this is my atonement. This fowl will go to death, and I will enter upon a good and long life."

The meat is then handed out to the poor.

Comment: Spin a chicken, slit its throat, and there go your sins! If such a thing were possible, you'd think God would be more practical, like sending the sins into things like 'police brutality', 'government corruption', and 'religious extremism', which could then be destroyed as a sin-offering. Humans AND chickens could use less of those things, a lot more than they could use several thousand dead chickens.