Society's ChildS


Megaphone

Best of the Web: Yellow Vests protests held across France for 15th week in a row


RT
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 21:18 UTC
yellow vest
© Jean-Francois Monier / AFP"Yellow Vest" protest in front of the Chateau de Chambord.
The Yellow Vest movement staged anti-government protests for the 15th week in a row on Saturday, with thousands participating across France. Some minor clashes were reported during the generally peaceful day of action.

The French Interior Ministry estimates that a total of 41,500 people marched in streets around the country, a dwindling number compared to almost 300,000 at the peak of the movement's strength.

French authorities arrested 13 protesters in Clermont-Ferrand, with the police reporting the seizure of baseball bats, crowbars and other weapons.

A further six people were taken into custody in the capital, Paris, while in Nantes police deployed tear gas against the demonstrators.
Read More...
Attention

Horrifying videos show ramming at Simon Bolivar bridge in Venezuela


RT
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 17:44 UTC
Bridge collapse
© Schneyder Mendoza / AFP
Three Venezuelans, who rammed a barrier blocking a border bridge in Venezuela before defecting to Colombia, seem to have paid little care about the well-being of civilians and injured several people.

The incident occurred on Saturday morning amid a larger confrontation there, over the attempts by Venezuela's US-backed opposition to force a delivery of 'humanitarian aid' into the Latin American country - a move that its government denounced as a PR stunt and possibly a cover to smuggle arms.

Footage of the incident released by AFP shows two armored vehicles speeding towards the camera and a crowd of people running away to avoid being hit. The front vehicle then rams into the metal barrier. In the aftermath several people appear to be hurt, including a young woman covered in blood with an injury on her forehead.
Read More...
Bullseye

Saddam Hussein's granddaughter: "Whole world has seen outcome of US occupation"


Sputnik
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 19:44 UTC
hareer hussein kamel
© Instagram/hareer.hussein.kamel
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's granddaughter Hareer Hussein Kamel lives in Jordan, where she has obtained a Canadian university degree, started her own family, and even authored a book of family memoirs and archives. However, her life hasn't always been tranquil and peaceful, she said in an interview with Sputnik.

Iraqi Memories

The 32-year old has shared with Sputnik the details of a "cold and scary" night in 2003, when she and her family fled war-torn Iraq.

"We were in Mosul. My mother Raghad and Aunt Rana, Saddam's second daughter, took their kids and went to Syria without delay. While we were crossing the border on foot, Syrian border guards opened fire. It was really frightening, but no one, fortunately, was hurt", Hareer recalled, adding that having spent several days in Syria they set out to Jordan, after the Hashemite Kingdom issued an invitation for them to travel there.

She recalled that after the American occupation, the new Iraqi authorities issued a decree prohibiting potential refugees from obtaining foreign passports, with numbers of families left without documents whatsoever.
Read More...
Cross

German cardinal admits church destroyed documents on clergy sexual abuse


ABC Action News
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 18:32 UTC
Cardinal Reinhard Marx
Cardinal Reinhard Marx
In a remarkable admission, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx said Saturday that documents that could have contained proof of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church were destroyed or never drawn up.

"Files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed or not even created," said Marx, the archbishop of Munich and president of the German Bishops' Conference.

"The stipulated procedures and processes for the prosecution offenses were deliberately not complied with," he added, "but instead canceled and overridden.

"Such standard practices will make it clear that it is not transparency which damages the church, but rather the acts of abuse committed, the lack of transparency, or the ensuing coverup."
Read More...
Magnify

Chicago media takes journalistic high road with its careful coverage of Smollett story


The Hill
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 18:30 UTC
Jussie Smollett
The public is provided regular examples of media outlets getting a big story horribly wrong. This has eroded trust in media for many Americans.

That erosion is especially amplified on the right, where 92 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents "say that traditional news outlets knowingly report false or misleading stories at least sometimes," according to a 2018 poll conducted by Axios and Survey Monkey.

That sentiment also extends to independents and even a majority of Democrats, with 79 percent of the former and 53 percent of the latter saying they also believe traditional outlets knowingly report false or misleading stories at least sometimes. Which brings us to the latest fiasco regarding the Jussie Smollett story - a story too Hollywood to be true. Smollett appears to have wanted sympathy, a bigger profile and - most importantly - the perfect example that Trump supporters are violent racists. Here were two pro-Trump guys, Smollett said, ready to attack a gay, black man with bleach and a rope to use as a noose and at 2 a.m. with cameras everywhere during a polar vortex.

National media ran with the story as absolute fact despite the obvious questions. This was evidenced by the word "alleged" curiously missing from dozens of headlines and articles weeks after Smollett first made his claim.

Comment: The good news is there are still mainstream journalists with a sense of responsibility to accurately report news - the bad news is that they are a vanishing breed. See: More on the Smollett hoax:

Read More...
Pistol

Napa, CA: Illegal immigrant killed in shootout with police had been previously deported, local cops didn't honor ICE detainer


CBS SF
Wed, 20 Feb 2019 07:04 UTC
Javier Hernandez
© Facebook/Napa County Sheriff's OfficeArmed suspect Javier Hernandez
Napa County Sheriff's investigators released a stunning body cam video Wednesday of a fatal weekend deputy-involved shooting of an armed suspect on a rural roadway.

On the video from a camera worn by Sheriff's Deputy Riley Jarecki, the suspect can be seen sitting in his car as the deputy approached the vehicle. Jarecki asked the suspect if she can look around to make sure there are no weapons or suspicious items inside.

She told the suspect - Javier Hernandez Morales - not to move. As she walked around the car, Jarecki tapped on the driver's side window and asked Morales to roll it down several times before he appeared to respond.

Jarecki spoke with Hernandez Morales for about five minutes, according to Napa County Undersheriff Jon Crawford.

Hernandez Morales then rolled down the window, quickly pulled out a gun and fired a shot at Jarecki, who returned fire several times. She was not physically injured. Hernandez Morales died at the scene.

*This post contains graphic video content and is not suitable for children.*


Comment: More from CBS5 2/21/2019:
ICE told KPIX 5 that Hernandez-Morales had been deported three times prior to 2011. After 2011, Hernandez-Morales was arrested a number of times for crimes including driving under the influence, battery on a peace officer, and probation violations.

Immigration officials said they issued detainers four separate times for Hernandez-Morales following his arrests but none were honored by local jails.

"ICE is grateful the deputy involved in this shooting was not harmed during this attack," the agency said in a statement. "It's unfortunate that our law enforcement partners and the community are subjected to dangerous consequences because of inflexible state laws that protect criminal aliens."

"This incident may have been prevented if ICE had been notified about any of the multiple times Hernandez-Morales was released from local custody over the last few years. This is an impactful, scary example of how public safety is affected by laws or policies limiting local law enforcement agencies' ability to cooperate with ICE."

ICE said it issued three detainers for Hernandez-Morales to Napa County Jail in 2014, 2015 and 2016; and a detainer to Sonoma County Jail in 2016, none of which were honored.

Late Thursday afternoon, Napa County officials said they were complying with a change in state law in 2017. "We are in compliance with state law. That is the law of the state of California, and the county intends to comply with state law," said Napa County Supervisor Vallea Ramos.

"We have to continue to learn from these unfortunate incidents," said Napa County Sheriff John Robertson. "Once we get all the facts, I think it's going lead us to really understand the facts more, then make a decision if state law does need to be changed."


Read More...
SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: The Truth Perspective: Match Made in Heaven: The Surprising Similarities Between Radical Islam and Talmudic Judaism


Sott.net
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 17:00 UTC
ISIS video still
What is the only way to demonstrate one's faith in the God's complete power over the fate and destiny of humans? Under what conditions is it permitted to let a non-Jew die, or to kill unarmed civilians in warfare? These are the kinds of questions asked and answered by the theologians and ideologues of the more radical forms of Islam and Judaism. But the reasoning by which the answers are found, and the assumptions about human nature that determine the answers, say more about the individuals doing the reasoning than they do about the ideologies themselves.

Today on the Truth Perspective we continue our look at the work of Shiraz Maher on Salafi-Jihadism, the ideology behind groups like ISIS and al-Nusra, and introduce the work of Israel Shahak, author of Jewish History, Jewish Religion, on how the modern state of Israel has been shaped by the ideology of classical Judaism. While diametrically opposed in some ways, the two religious ideologies share much in common, specifically a peculiar view of human nature and a doctrinaire, legalistic mode of reasoning and enforcement of religious rules.

Running Time: 01:35:25

Download: MP3

Read More...
Info

Torture claims by Russian Jehovah's Witnesses prompts investigation


Radio Free Europe
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 18:17 UTC
Yevgeny Kayryak
Yevgeny Kayryak, one of the Jehovah's Witnesses who said he was tortured by Russian police.
An official of Russia's main criminal investigative body says the organization is looking into allegations that its officers tortured members of the banned Jehovah's Witnesses religious group.

In a February 19 statement, the religious group said seven of its adherents were "subjected to torture - electric shocks, suffocation, and cruel beatings" by Investigative Committee officers in the city of Surgut in northwestern Siberia.

The Investigative Committee initially denied the torture claim. But Interfax on February 22 cited regional committee official Oleg Menshikh as saying it had decided to investigate the claim because of "agitation that has arisen after publication of this information in the media."
Read More...
Newspaper

12 y.o. journalist stands her ground against cop trying to arrest her

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 18:10 UTC
Hilde Kate Lysiak
If you have been to the Free Thought Project before, chances are you've seen one of the countless videos we've covered showing police officers threaten to arrest people for practicing their First Amendment right to film in public. However, the following video is like any we have ever seen, as the person flexing their rights is a 12-year-old girl, who runs her own news company out of Arizona.

Hilde Kate Lysiak is a reporter/publisher of the website Orange Street News - which she founded. Since she was in the single digits of age, this little journalist has been an inspiration to those who value dedication to the free press becoming world famous for being the first to report on a grisly murder in her town-at age 9.

Because Lysiak has been in the business for so long, even though she is only 12, she knows the ropes when it comes to filming in public. So, when she was approached and threatened with arrest for filming, she was undeterred.

On Monday, Lysiak was investigating a tip for a story in Patagonia when she was threatened with arrest.

We'll let Lysiak describe the rest:

The OSN was biking down Roadrunner Lane investigating the tip at about 1:30 pm on February 18th when the reporter was stopped by Patagonia Marshal Joseph Patterson and asked for identification.

The Orange Street News identified herself as a member of the media, including name and phone number.
Read More...
Light Saber

Max Blumenthal: 'People who hate Maduro often need humanitarian aid the least'


RT
Sat, 23 Feb 2019 17:44 UTC
venezuela blumenthal food shortages
© Youtube / Grayzone ProjectMax Blumenthal goes shopping in Venezuela
The narrative about dictator Maduro starving his own people aims to split a polarized Venezuela where the poor still support the government, while those backing the opposition are cashing in on the crisis, Max Blumenthal told RT.

Despite mainstream media painting a dire picture in which the entire Venezuelan society -of course, besides Maduro himself and his corrupt inner circle- are in desperate need of food and basic necessities, the independent journalist discovered a different situation while touring parts of the country.

"The problem here is with speculation," Blumenthal told RT from Caracas, explaining that, while many food products indeed suffered from the massive hyperinflation triggered by the falling oil price and US sanctions, local supply to the population sometimes costs them nothing at all.

Comment:

Read More...