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Eurojust coordinate arrest of 84 across Europe in crackdown on Italian mob

Mike Corder
AP
Thu, 06 Dec 2018 11:13 UTC
raid mafia
© Christoph Reichwein/dpa via AP
Masked police stand in an ice parlor in Duisburg, western Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018 as authorities conduct coordinated raids in Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands in a crackdown on the Italian mafia.
In an investigation that underscored an Italian crime syndicate's role as a leading player in international cocaine trafficking, police in four countries arrested at least 84 suspected mobsters Wednesday in a series of carefully coordinated raids.

Those detained allegedly work for the Italian 'ndrangheta criminal network that traffics in cocaine on a global scale.

"It's almost a cliche, but the operation carried out today confirms again the great danger of the 'ndrangheta, not just in drug trafficking, where it's the undisputed leader, but (also) in the financial sphere," said Francesco Ratta, a top police official in the southern Italian region of Calabria. "It's an evolved 'ndrangheta, that we can say knows no borders ... It's an 'ndrangheta that day by day changes its skin ... but still keeps ties" to its home base in Calabria.

European officials announced the arrests at the Hague headquarters of Eurojust, the European Union prosecutors agency set up to bolster the fight against cross-border crime in the 28-nation bloc. Eurojust and EU police agency Europol coordinated the raids.

"Today we send a clear message to organized crime groups across Europe," said Filippo Spiezia, vice president of Eurojust, the EU prosecution agency that coordinated the raids. "They are not the only ones able to operate across borders; so are Europe's judiciary and law enforcement communities."

Comment: Arrests on mobsters appears to be on the rise, but it seems some of the most powerful criminal networks, such as the banking institutions, likely involved in these crimes, and worse, are not currently considered targets: Whistleblower exposes biggest money laundering scandal in European history involving Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Danske Bank

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Cell Phone

The digital gap between rich and poor kids is not what we expected

Nellie Bowles
The New York Times
Fri, 26 Oct 2018 00:01 UTC
child class hand up
© Tracy Ma/The New York Times; Getty Images


America's public schools are still promoting devices with screens - even offering digital-only preschools. The rich are banning screens from class altogether.

The parents in Overland Park, Kan., were fed up. They wanted their children off screens, but they needed strength in numbers. First, because no one wants their kid to be the lone weird one without a phone. And second, because taking the phone away from a middle schooler is actually very, very tough.

"We start the meetings by saying, 'This is hard, we're in a new frontier, but who is going to help us?'" said Krista Boan, who is leading a Kansas City-based program called START, which stands for Stand Together And Rethink Technology. "We can't call our moms about this one."

Comment: It's amazing that the rich elite are clearly aware of the detrimental effects of too much screen time on children, yet the whole raison d'etre of their Big Tech companies is to get more kids addicted. Talk about exploiting the lower classes. The growing 'information divide' is not between the rich technologically savvy and the poor digital illiterate, it's between the screen addicted lower-classes and an elite with still-functioning brains. It doesn't get more dystopian than this.

See also.

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Flashlight

Search and rescue in progress for 2 Marine Corps planes off coast of Japan

Elizabeth McLaughlin Luis Martinez
ABC News
Wed, 05 Dec 2018 17:26 UTC
marine planes
Search and rescue operations are underway off the coast of Japan for a U.S. Marine Corps KC-130 refueling tanker and an F/A-18 fighter jet involved in a mishap, according to the Marines.

"The aircraft involved in the mishap had launched from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and were conducting regularly scheduled training when the mishap occurred," according to a Marine Corps Base Camp Butler statement on Wednesday.

There were five personnel on board the KC-130 and two on board the F/A-18, a Marine official told ABC News. The incident occurred about 2 a.m. Thursday off Japan, or about noon Wednesday, Eastern Standard Time.
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Megaphone

Yellow Vest leader vows to continue protest, tax hikes must be cancelled not suspended


RT
Wed, 05 Dec 2018 05:04 UTC
yellow vests gilet jaune
© Reuters / Regis Duvignau
The French government's six-month moratorium on fuel tax hikes wasn't what the Yellow Vests wanted, the protest's leader has said.People want "the baguette", not crumbs, and will take to the streets again on Saturday, he said.

"We didn't want a suspension, we want the past increase in the tax on fuels to be canceled immediately," Benjamin Cauchy, the organizer of the Yellow Vests movement, told BFM TV.

By announcing the half-year moratorium, government is "taking the French people for a ride" in an attempt to win time, he added.

"The French are not sparrows and don't want the crumbs the government is giving them. They want the baguette."

Comment: RT reports on some of the violence the Yellow Vest leader is referring to:
French students gripped by Yellow Vest protest spirit OVERTURN cars in Orleans

Dramatic footage of French students rampaging through the streets of Orleans, overturning cars and clashing with police, has emerged online.

The video taken in the north-central French city captured the trail of destruction. It shows a group of high school students, some of them masked, lifting and rocking a parked car before it finally tips over. As the camera pans down the street, it reveals that other cars have already suffered the same fate, as the students continue to march on in search of more targets.

The scene is typical of actions taken by students in cities across France since Monday, with thousands taking part in street demonstrations. However, they quickly turned violent with students burning cars and building barricades as riot police moved in to quell the dissent.

Organized by the National Union of High School Students (UNL), the protests aim to overturn educational reforms proposed by President Emmanuel Macron.

These include the elimination of core subjects like science, social studies, and literature, as well students having to choose specific degrees sooner. The government also wants to change the criteria for the BAC grade, the examination required to go to university.

The student clashes with police mirror that seen in the recent wave of nationwide Yellow Vest protests, which aimed at overturning a proposed increase in fuel prices.

The scale of the violence and destruction wreaked at its latest demonstration in Paris and Toulouse on Saturday prompted the government to hold an emergency meeting on the issue, with Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announcing a six-month moratorium on any increases on Monday.



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Snow Globe

Just in time for Christmas: Satanic Temple sculpture added to Illinois State Capitol rotunda

Laura Wamsley
NPR
Tue, 04 Dec 2018 22:49 UTC
Satanic sculpture in Illinois Statehouse
© Brian Mackey/NPR Illinois 91.9 UIS
"Snaketivity"
In the Illinois Capitol rotunda this month, several traditions are being celebrated. There's a Nativity scene for Christmas, a menorah for Hanukkah, and then something a little different: an arm holding an apple, with a snake coiled around it.

It's a gift from the Chicago branch of The Satanic Temple. Called "Snaketivity," the work also has a sign that reads "Knowledge Is The Greatest Gift."

Nearby stands a sign in which the state offers a civics lesson - and explains it didn't have much of a choice:
"The State of Illinois is required by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to allow temporary, public displays in the state capitol so long as these displays are not paid for by taxpayer dollars. Because the first floor of the Capitol Rotunda is a public place, state officials cannot legally censor the content of speech or displays. The United States Supreme Court has held that public officials may legally impose reasonable time, place and manner restrictions regarding displays and speeches, but no regulation can be based on the content of the speech."
Illinois Secretary of State spokesman Dave Druker told The State Journal-Record the temple has the same rights as religious organizations. "This recognizes that."
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Chart Bar

The transformation of Ireland - Immigration, asylum and demographics


Parse The Noise
Wed, 16 May 2018 22:33 UTC
mass migration ireland
How does a story about a small town, rejecting the creation of an asylum seeker accommodation centre in their locale, reflect a bigger a tale about immigration, demographics and political failure in Ireland, Europe and the |West as a whole?

This video discusses Ireland's rapidly changing society, the divide between the political classes and the public on the issue, and how all of that fits into the broader migrant and demographic crises in Europe.

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Christmas Tree

Shocking study finds 131,000 children will be homeless in the UK at Christmas

Rob Picheta
CNN
Wed, 05 Dec 2018 16:10 UTC
Homeless person sleeping in a doorway
© CNN
A homeless person sleeps in a doorway in London during a cold snap in February 2018.
One in every 103 children in the UK will be homeless this Christmas, a new study has found, further revealing the scale of the country's housing crisis.

A total of 131,000 children are now estimated to be homeless -- around 50,000 more than five years ago, or a rise of 59% -- according to an analysis of government statistics by homelessness charity Shelter.

Compared with the end of 2017, 3,000 more children are believed to be homeless -- as well as the small number of children sleeping rough, this also includes those living in insecure temporary accommodation.

These calculations mean that an average school in Britain now includes five homeless children. In London, where the crisis is at its worst, there is an average of 28 homeless children for every school.
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Star of David

Israeli soldiers murder a disabled Palestinian man on International Day of Disabled Persons

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Wed, 05 Dec 2018 22:04 UTC
Muhammad Ihbali disabled IDF
© Shadi Jarar'ah/ APA
Palestinian mourners march through the streets of Tulkarem holding the body of 22-year-old Muhammad Ihbali
Israel, along with the rest of the world, commemorated International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Monday, December 3rd, by promising greater integration of the country's 1.5 million disabled citizens, and holding different activities in parks across the country to show off it's handicap-accessible pathways and lookout points.

As Monday's activities came to a close, just across the Green Line in the northern occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, Israeli forces shot and killed a disabled Palestinian man in the back of his head.

It was around 2am when Israeli forces raided Tulkarem city, near the coffee shop where 22-year-old Muhammad Ihbali worked. He usually left work late, after the young men who frequent the shops finished their card games.
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Cross

Russian Orthodox Church: ECHR's ruling on Pussy Riot a blow to religious freedom in Europe


RT
Wed, 05 Dec 2018 20:26 UTC
Pussy Riot band members
© AFP / Andrej Isakovic
Pussy Riot band members
The European Court of Human Rights' (ECHR) decision to reject Moscow's appeal against the сompensation to female punk band Pussy Riot has infringed the rights of millions of believers, Russia's Orthodox Church said.

With no further means to challenge the ruling, Russia's Justice Ministry said on Wednesday that the compensation will be paid in full as the country always thoroughly executes all of the ECHR's decisions.

In July, the Strasbourg court ordered Russia to pay the three members of the scandalous band €37,000 in damages as well as €11,760 more for costs and expenses. The judges said that the right to self-expression of the balaclava-wearing artists were violated after they were handed two-year prison sentences for an unsanctioned political protest at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow in 2012.

Comment: Here is the video of what the members of Pussy Riot did at the church in 2012, a rather disgusting desecration of a spiritual and holy center.


Keep in mind that Pussy Riot staged a different kind of protest in 2008, where they joined with another punk group called Voina and decided that their way to protest presidential politics was to undress and join in a group orgy at a Moscow biological museum. Pussy Riot's leader, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, happened to be a few days away from delivering birth that day. Those are the kind of people that the European Court of Human Rights just defended against the Orthodox Church.

Previously: Double standards. ECHR says you can insult Christianity, but not Islam

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Black Cat

Florida's election nightmare continues - Brenda Snipes won't go away

Philip Wegmann
The Washington Examiner
Mon, 03 Dec 2018 17:01 UTC
brenda Snipes
© Mario Tama/Getty Images
Brenda Snipes
Were Franz Kafka alive, and an American, he would find his muse in a certain municipal functionary from Florida. Her name is Brenda Snipes, and she is the nightmarishly incompetent, bizarre, and wholly illogical supervisor of elections in Broward County.

Snipes became the subject of the nightly news because she couldn't do what all 65 other election supervisors could. She couldn't follow the rules and count votes by the book.

It almost ruined the election between Gov. Rick Scott and incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson. In one election and one subsequent recount, Snipes broke the law in at least three ways:

Comment: It's beyond comprehension that with such a poor record of discharging her duties, Brenda Snipes was allowed to continue in office. On the other hand, she's been very useful to certain political parties.

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