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France: Phone use illegal in cars even when vehicle is stopped - hands-free sets allowed


The Connexion
Sun, 04 Feb 2018 12:00 UTC
driving phone car
Phone use illegal in cars even when vehicle is stopped Drivers are warned that they must be properly parked in a designated parking area, before using their phones

The Court of Appeal has ruled that it is illegal to speak on or use your smartphone in your hand while in your car, even if you are stopped, pulled over, and with your hazard lights on.

The rule comes after the court judged that a stopped car is still considered to be "in circulation" even if it is pulled over at the side of the road with its engine off and hazard lights on.

Comment: While its understandable that using a phone when driving is distracting and potentially dangerous - so using your driving time to catch up with old friends is probably not advisable - legislating every action a person takes only leads to learned helplessness where people slowly become unable to think for themselves. And generally, when people think a law is unreasonable, where possible, they tend to disobey it:

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Jet5

Israel launches strike near Iranian base in West Damascus, Syrian army responds


RT
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 09:45 UTC
Israeli warplane attacked military targets near Damascus
© Amir Cohen / Reuters
Israeli warplanes attacked military targets near Damascus from Lebanese airspace, according to Syrian state media. The Syrian Army claims it destroyed most of the Israeli rockets.

Syria's official news agency SANA said the military responded to "a new Israeli aggression" near the capital.

The Syrian military did not disclose any information about casualties or damage resulting from the Israeli strike.

Comment: Last night, the Israeli military conducted several missile strikes on the Syrian Army's positions in the western countryside of Damascus.
According to a military source in Damascus, the Israeli missiles targeted the area around the Iranian base in the town of Jamraya.

The source added that a number of these missiles hit their targets, while a few others were intercepted by the Syrian Air Defense units in Damascus.

The video below shows the Syrian Air Defense intercepting one of the Israeli missiles in rural Damascus:



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Jet3

N. Korea to hold 'intimidating' military parade the day before Olympics opening ceremony in S. Korea


RT
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 01:33 UTC
North Korea military parade
© Damir Sagolj / Reuters
North Korea on parade
With the Winter Olympics in South Korea just days away, its neighbor to the north is gearing up for a military parade, the scale of which has been captured by satellites cameras orbiting overhead.

Striking satellite images, captured on February 6, appear to show preparations for the parade in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Deimos Imaging, an UrtheCast Company, have identified armored vehicles and equipment in the photos captured by their satellite, as well as apparent troop formations on the ground.

The lead-up to the Winter Olympics has seen a thawing in relations between the two states. On Sunday a unified Korean women's ice hockey team played their first warm-up game ahead of the tournament. Last month a delegation from the DPRK, including pop star-turned diplomat Hyon Song-wol, travelled south to inspect Olympic venues.
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People 2

Research poll commissioned by President Rouhani reveals 49% of Iranians oppose headscarf law


RT
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 01:10 UTC
Iranian women
© Reuters
Iranian women walk on the sidewalk at Valiasr Square in Tehran on August 2, 2017.
Iran has released a three-year-old study which revealed that 49 percent of the country's citizens are against obligatory headscarves for women. It comes after protests against the existing law led to the arrest of 29 women.

The report - released on Sunday by the Iranian Center for Strategic Studies, a research arm for President Hassan Rouhani - compares data from 2006, 2007, 2010, and 2014. The most recent poll, which surveyed 1,167 respondents, found that 49.2 percent of participants believed wearing a headscarf should be a private matter.

In addition, the 2014 poll found that just 39 percent of respondents believed the government should press charges against women who were caught without a hijab in public. That number was significantly lower than in 2006, when about half of the population believed charges should be filed in such cases.

Comment: Sounds like Rouhani is taking steps to challenge Iran's religious hardliners. Good. It's one thing to oppose the Great Satan, but it's another thing altogether to cut off your nose to spite your face.

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Sheriff

Pro-police Facebook post warns parents that they will shoot their kids

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 06 Feb 2018 21:41 UTC
Thin Blue Line post
The pro-police page, Thin Blue Line either just had one helluva a come to Jesus experience, have been hacked, or made one of the most insane admissions by police we have ever seen. Regardless of the motive behind the post, however, the internet is destroying them.

Below is a screen capture of the post which advocates killing children for being bad. The post reads as follows: "Parents, Please stop telling your children that we will haul them off to jail if they are bad. We are far more likely to shoot them, regardless of how they behave. ...Far more likely."
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Sheriff

Mentally ill woman 'reporting a stalker' shot, killed by police in Texas

Alexandro M. Luna
San Antonio Express News
Tue, 06 Feb 2018 21:23 UTC
Kirsten Kloppe
© Facebook
Kirsten Kloppe
A woman shot and killed by a San Antonio police officer during a welfare check Saturday afternoon has been identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office as Kirsten Kloppe, 43.

Kloppe was shot in the abdomen by an unidentified, six-year female veteran of the force in her North Side home as officers attempted to disarm and subdue her.

According to San Antonio Police Chief William McManus, Kloppe had a history of mental illness.

Police initially responded to the residence after Kloppe called to report someone was stalking her.

Officers found Kloppe locked in her bedroom holding a Glock pistol. McManus said Kloppe raised her gun to her head and a struggle with police ensued.
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Pistol

Sheriff is pleased with ordering the death of an unarmed man

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 06 Feb 2018 21:26 UTC
Sparta sheriff
A chilling body camera video has just been released showing the violent, reckless, and outright insane tendencies of police in Tennessee. While the original killing of Michael Dial was ruled justified-in spite of him being unarmed-the new body camera footage raises some serious questions and shines a disturbing light on police officers and their desire to kill.

Last April, Smithville police attempted to pull Dial over for driving on a suspended license. Only minutes later, police would kill the unarmed man over this minor traffic offense.

Dial was driving a 1976 pickup truck when police turned on their lights to pull him over. Instead of stopping, he continued on. The low-speed chase lasted only a few minutes until police rammed him off the road and shot him in the head. Dial was unarmed.

Michael's widow, Robyn Dial told local media that she couldn't believe how quick a stop over a suspended license escalated to her husband being kill by police. Dial explained that her husband feared the police, so he chose to keep driving-a decision that would seal his fate forever.
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Red Flag

Students at Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology must write essays on white male privilege


Sputnik
Tue, 06 Feb 2018 21:09 UTC
sweden royal institute technology building
© Carles Tomás Martí / KTH Valhallavägen
Computer engineering students at the Stockholm-based Royal Institute of Technology cannot complete their education without presenting their reflections on the benefits of being a white heterosexual man.

Apart from programming and mathematics, students who choose computer engineering as their major at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) also have to expect a compulsory course named "Program Cohesion," which includes a seminar and an essay on minorities and equal treatment, the Nyheter Idag news outlet reported.

To participate in the seminars, students are required to read articles "revealing the hetero norm" at Swedish institutions and on the #Metoo campaign against sexual harassment, as well as watch a film about being black in the Nordic country.
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Cut

New California's 'Declaration of Independence' from California, bid to become 51st state

Josh Hafner
USA Today
Tue, 16 Jan 2018 02:15 UTC
Cal/New CAl
© De Gruyter/KJN
The founders of New California took an early step toward statehood Monday with the reading of their own Declaration of Independence from California, a state they describe as "ungovernable."

Their solution: Take over most of current-day California - including many rural counties - and leave the coastal urban areas to themselves.

"The current state of California has become governed by a tyranny," the group, led in part by vice chairman Robert Paul Preston, declared in a document published online.


Comment: It might be awhile, a long while. Breaking up is hard to do.

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Handcuffs

13yo German girl accuses 18yo Afghan asylum seeker of rape

Chris Pleasance
Daily Mail UK
Mon, 05 Feb 2018 20:46 UTC
Esslingen
An Afghan asylum seeker has been accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in Germany. The 18-year-old man was arrested on Thursday last week after the girl contacted police to say he had attacked her inside a home in Esslingen, near Stuttgart. The man previously served a year in juvenile detention for attempted rape and was released in December last year under court supervision.

Police and prosecutors in Esslingen said the girl visited the man at his apartment in the city on Monday after becoming friends. It was in the apartment that he allegedly forced her to have sex against her will.

The girl saw the man in the city's downtown area again on Wednesday when he threatened her, before she reported the attack to police. He was arrested at his home the following day, Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. He has denied the allegations.

A spokesman of the German Interior Ministry said it is not possible to tell whether the man will be deported while the investigation is ongoing. But, the spokesman pointed out, deportation is mandatory for any asylum seeker handed a prison sentence of three years or more. Asylum seekers can also be deported if they have received a prison sentence between one and three years for crimes directed against another person's physical integrity or sexual self-determination.
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