Society's ChildS


Boat

Italian coastguard advises rescue ships to 'call Libya for help'


AFP
Sun, 24 Jun 2018 19:12 UTC
Rescue ship
© AFP/File / ANDREAS SOLARO
As Italy's new populist government cracked down on foreign NGO boats operating in the Mediterranean Saturday the Italian coastguard has followed suit telling boats in Libyan waters to "turn to" Libya when in distress.

According to the Italian media the national coastguard sent a message to rescue boats operating in the Mediterranean advising them that Italy would no longer be their first point of reference.

"From now on, under the Solas Convention (Safety of life at Sea), captains who are at sea in the area in front of Libya will have to turn to the Tripoli Centre and the Libyan Coast Guard for help."

Comment: See also:

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Megaphone

Left-wing politicians send letter to Tommy Robinson supporters labeling them the 'resurgent racist right'


Political UK
Thu, 21 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
Dianne Abbott, Tommy Robinson
Diane Abbott, along with over 50 other signatories has sent a public letter to Tommy Robinson supporters.

Dozens of left-wing politicians have sent a strongly worded open letter to Tommy Robinson supporters, labelling the support for Tommy as the 'resurgent racist right'.

The letter states: "The 15,000-strong violent far-right protest to "free Tommy Robinson" on Saturday 9 June has raised major questions for all those who value our diversity. The racist right are using Robinson to reorganise. Nazi salutes and Islamophobia were at the centre of the mobilisation.

"This is the first serious attempt since the collapse of the English Defence League (EDL) to develop a racist street movement and give it a political form. It is supported internationally by notorious figures including from the US and the Dutch Islamophobic right."

Comment: More recent news on the Tommy Robinson saga: Some background on Mr. Robinson:

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Snowflake

Writer for The New Yorker resigns after falsely accusing ICE agent who lost his legs in combat of having Nazi tattoo


RT
Tue, 26 Jun 2018 17:17 UTC
titan 2 Marine tattoo
Justin Gaertner's 'Titan 2' Marine tattoo can be seen on his left elbow
Fact-checker and writer at New Yorker magazine Talia Lavin has resigned from her position after she falsely accused an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent of having a Nazi tattoo on his arm.

Lavin, who worked for the Condé Nast-published magazine for three years, caused a furore online when she tweeted in a since-deleted post about an inking on the arm of ICE Agent Justin Gaertner.

According to ICE, the New Yorker employee "erroneously implied that a tattoo on one of his arms was an Iron Cross and essentially labeled him a Nazi." The tattoo is actually of "the Titan 2" symbol of Gaertner's platoon in Afghanistan, where he was severely wounded losing both his legs in an IED attack.
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Attention

Mexico murder rate peaks at 93 victims per day


teleSUR
Fri, 22 Jun 2018 13:55 UTC
Mexico murders
According to the national registry, 2,890 people have been murdered so far this year, which translates to roughly 93 victims per day or four per hour.

With just 10 days to Mexico's July 1 presidential elections, a new report shows violence has reached a new peak with almost 3,000 murders committed last month alone, the National Public Security System said Thursday.

There has been a total of 2,890 murders, which translates to roughly 93 victims per day or four every hour: the highest homicide rate since 1997.

Since January, a total of 13,298 people have been murdered in Mexico: a 21 percent increase on the same period last year.
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Heart - Black

Woman left 'ashamed and humiliated' after Walgreens pharmacist refused to fill prescription for miscarriage medication


RT
Tue, 26 Jun 2018 17:05 UTC
walgreens
© Mohammad Khursheed / Reuters
A woman said she was left "ashamed" and "humiliated" when a Walgreens pharmacist refused to fill her prescription for medicine to induce a miscarriage because it went against his personal beliefs.

In an emotional Yelp review, Arizona native Nicole Arteaga explained that her doctor had informed her that her baby had stopped developing and she was going to suffer a miscarriage.

"Each week I went for my ultrasound praying to see progress and hear the sound of little heartbeat. Unfortunately, development isn't happening and my body is slowly getting ready to miscarry," she said.

Arteaga was offered a choice between taking prescribed medication to induce a miscarriage or undergoing a hospital procedure. She chose the latter but when she travelled to her local Walgreens in Peoria, 12 miles (20km) outside Phoenix, to have the prescription filled, the pharmacist refused to supply her with the medication.
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Brick Wall

Fmr NATO secretary general who negotiated Iran nuclear deal denied entry to US for visiting.... Iran!


RT
Tue, 26 Jun 2018 16:57 UTC
Javier Solana
© Fadi Arouri / ReutersJavier Solana
A former secretary general of NATO, who played a key role in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, has been denied a US visa waiver because of a visit he made to Iran in 2013. The denial stems from an Obama-era visa policy.

Javier Solana, who served as NATO secretary general from 1995-1999, was due to speak at an event at the Washington, DC-based Brookings Institution, but he learned that he would not be able to enter the country after unsuccessfully applying for an electronic visa waiver.

It appears that Solana, who also served as Spain's foreign minister and the EU's foreign policy chief, was flagged by a system put in place by the Obama administration in 2016, which prevents citizens of 38 countries who had traveled to Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen after March 1, 2011, from coming to the United States using the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).

Comment: American bureaucracy at its finest. The man went to Iran on behalf of Obama and other Western leaders gets denied entry to the US, the very country who we has essentially working for as NATO Secretary General. One can now understand why Albert Maysles once said that "tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance". That's the US Empire in a nutshell!

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Heart - Black

Man kills 1 firefighter after setting blaze and ambushing first responders


RT
Tue, 26 Jun 2018 16:51 UTC
firefighter funeral
© longbeachfire / Instagram
A firefighter responding to an explosion at a retirement home in Long Beach has been fatally shot by a senior resident of the facility, who also injured two more people in what authorities believe to be a planned ambush.

Just before 4:00 am Monday morning, an explosion rocked the Covenant Manor affordable senior housing facility in Long Beach, California. Responding to the scene, firefighters discovered a raging fire at the 11-story building, with windows blown out and sprinklers activated. After quickly putting out the flames on the second floor, Long Beach Fire Department officers went on to inspect the building after smelling gasoline. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was also called to the scene.

As first responders proceeded with their inspections and evacuation of some 80 residents, shots were fired from within the building. Two firefighters and a civilian were shot in what appears to be an ambush by a resident of the housing facility.
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Light Sabers

Republican Senate candidate causes a stir by saying Civil War wasn't about slavery


RT
Tue, 26 Jun 2018 16:43 UTC
A statue of Jefferson Davis
© Joshua Roberts / ReutersA statue of Jefferson Davis
Republican Senate nominee Corey Stewart has argued that the American Civil War was not fought over slavery, but over states' rights.

Speaking to The Hill on Monday, Stewart said that while not all parts of his native state of Virginia's history are "pretty," the Civil War ultimately was not about slavery.

"If you look at the history, that's not what it meant at all, and I don't believe that the Civil War was ultimately fought over the issue of slavery," Stewart said. "We have to put ourselves in the shoes of the people who were fighting at that time and from their perspective, they saw it as a federal intrusion of the state," he said.

Stewart's softening of the Confederate brand drew some criticism on Twitter, with Democrats and critics calling his views "trash" and "out of touch with history and reality."
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Gear

Leaked document in Podesta email cache reveals ClimateWorks Foundation's campaign to foist climate laws on local governments

Anthony Watts
Watts Up With That
Sun, 24 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
climate change laws
This document, from 2016 is part of the cache of John Podesta emails (campaign manager for Hillary Clinton), is a meeting packet for an NGO called The ClimateWorks Foundation. They say this on their web page:
Climate change threatens ecosystems, societies, and economies. These challenges require innovative responses and insights. Using the power of collaboration, ClimateWorks Foundation mobilizes philanthropy to solve the climate crisis and ensure a prosperous future.
And on their BOD page, U.N. climate crusader Christiana Figueres, who was executive Secretary of the UNFCCC from 2010-2016 along with Hillary's campaign manager, John Podesta among others; an unholy alliance in my opinion.
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Dominoes

'I thought she was white': Roseanne apologizes for racially-charged tweet that led to her show being canceled


RT
Tue, 26 Jun 2018 16:33 UTC
Roseanne Barr
© Phil McCarten / Reuters
Actress Roseanne Barr has a perfectly reasonable explanation for the recent racist comments she made on Twitter about Valerie Jarrett, an adviser to former President Barack Obama: she didn't know Jarrett was black.

Barr made an emotional apology on Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's podcast for a tweet in which she said Jarrett looked like what would happen if the "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby." The tweet resulted in the cancellation of her recently rebooted ABC sitcom. Barr said she was sorry about the tweet but said she believes it was misinterpreted because she didn't mean what people thought she meant.

"That's what's so painful," Barr said. "But I have to face that this hurt people-and when you hurt people, even unwittingly, there's no excuse, so I don't want to blabber off on excuses."

Comment: Previously:

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