Society's ChildS


Eagle

Latvian neo-Nazis tear down Soviet WWII monument to fallen sailors


RT
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 21:09 UTC
Latvian monument
© Nacionālā apvienība / Facebook
A neo-Nazi group, including former Latvian Nazi Waffen SS veterans, has demolished a monument to fallen Soviet troops in a Latvian town with the support of a nationalist party which forms part of the ruling coalition in Latvia's parliament.

The monument to fallen Soviet sailors in the northern Latvian town of Limbazi, located about 100 kilometers from Riga, was demolished by activists from neo-Nazi group Daugavas Vanagi (the Daugava Hawks), which calls itself an organization of the former Nazi Waffen SS Legion veterans.

The demolition was also supported by the National Alliance, which is a part of the ruling coalition in the Latvian parliament.

The party even posted a video of the demolition on its Facebook page with a march playing in the background.

Comment: How interesting that aspiring US-vassal states like Ukraine, and now Latvia, have such strong pro-Nazi political parties - and are both so vehemently anti-Russian.

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Star of David

'The defiant femininity of Israel's female soldiers': you're kidding, right?

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 22:57 UTC
Eden Abergil Facebook photo in August 2010 of herself with Palestinian prisoner
© Eden Abergil Facebook
Vice, a publication that has done some excellent work reporting on the occupation, has gone in for Jim Crow journalism: a series of intimate portraits of Israeli female soldiers taken by a former Israeli soldier under the self-parodying headline, "The Defiant Femininity of Israel's Female Soldiers." The story appeared two days ago on Vice's photo pages, along with this text, aiming to justify the pictures as a form of protest.
Mayan Toledano's intimate series showing female Israeli soldiers was inspired by her own experience in the Israeli military. Her time in the army left her feeling stripped of all vestiges of femininity and any sense of herself as an individual, and in the photos collected here, she shows female Israeli soldiers whose girlishness and teenage boredom act as a subtle but undeniable form of protest.
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Megaphone

An exception to free speech: School teacher suspended for defending Palestine at Toronto rally

Ali Abunimah
Electronic Intifada
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 22:00 UTC
Nadia Shoufani
Canadian school teacher, Nadia Shoufani
Schools open again next Tuesday in Mississauga after the summer break.

But Nadia Shoufani does not know if she will be back in class with her students in the Southern Ontario city, just outside Toronto.

The elementary school teacher has been suspended for almost a month, as the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board investigates her over a speech supporting Palestinian rights that she gave at a rally in Toronto.

The rally on 2 July marked al-Quds Day, normally the last Friday of Ramadan, which many people observe as a day of solidarity with Palestinians.

Since then, Shoufani has been the target of a campaign by pro-Israel groups in Canada which seek to have her dismissed for allegedly supporting "terrorism."

During her address, which can be seen on video, Shoufani defends the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation and colonization. She says she speaks on behalf of Palestine solidarity groups frustrated at the "silence towards what's happening in occupied Palestine." She condemns extrajudicial executions by Israel, land theft by settlers, home demolitions and arrest raids.

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Attention

Ex-Al-Qaeda recruiter now works at George Washington University

Susan Svrluga
Chicago Tribune
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 20:46 UTC
Jesse Morton, 37, formerly Younus Abdullah Muhammad
© George Washington University
A former Islamic extremist who supported al-Qaida and exhorted others to follow Osama bin Laden has joined George Washington University as a research fellow.

Jesse Morton, who was born in Pennsylvania and said he became a Muslim when he was 20 after reading "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" in prison for a drug offense argues that he can offer an insider's perspective on Islamic radicalization - and how to counter that threat.

Morton is the first former extremist in the United States to join an academic program, Lorenzo Vidino, director of GW's Program on Extremism said, although there are some working in Europe, and he pointed to the ways law enforcement works with former gang members to infiltrate criminal networks.

"This is the first time it's been done with a jihadist," Vidino said.

Morton offered something unique: experience as a recruiter for al-Qaida. And a master's degree from Columbia University.
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V

Over 30 activists arrested in Dakota pipeline protest in Iowa


RT
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 20:21 UTC
pipeline activists
© Ruthy Munoz / ReutersDemonstrators join members of North Dakota's Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to protest against construction of a Bakken shale pipeline they say would pollute water and desecrate sacred land, in Washington DC August 24, 2016
More arrests have been made in North Dakota and have started taking place in Iowa over the proposed construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline. Since protests began several months ago, more than 60 people have been arrested.

Over 100 protesters took a stand against the pipeline in Boone, Iowa on Wednesday, near the construction site where they chanted "this is what democracy looks like."

The Iowa protest was held in in solidarity with rallies which began two months ago by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe over the construction of the pipeline in North Dakota. The pipeline, if constructed, would travel through the four states of North and South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.

Iowa protesters tried to create human chains to block four entrances to a construction staging site leading to 30 arrests.

One of the arrestees was Crystal Defatte, a stay-at-home mother with three children. "Every year you hear about oil spills. I don't want oil in the water that my children drink. This is a moral responsibility for me," Defatte told the Des Moines Registrar.
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Blue Planet

Take that Soros! Human rights advocates in Russia propose alternative NGO for Eurasian states


RT
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 10:14 UTC
Russian Presidential Council
© Michael Klimentyev / SputnikA session of the Russian Presidential Council on Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights
Russian activists have prepared a proposal to launch a major international rights organization that would work in the Eurasian space and would be not as 'politically-biased' as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

"We want to create the Eurasian Human Rights Group or EARG with the primary task of constant monitoring of observation of human and civil rights. It is important for activists to coordinate their activities and when it's necessary to urgently go to places where violations of human rights are registered. In addition, our group will distribute humanitarian aid," the main figure behind the project, the head of the Russian Volunteers Union and secretary of the Russian Council for Human Rights, Yana Lantratova, said in comments to Izvestia daily.
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Telephone

Russian State Library evacuated after bomb hoax by anonymous caller


RT
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 20:16 UTC
Russian State Library
© Maksim Blinov/Sputnik
More than 1,500 visitors and staff were evacuated from Russia's largest library in central Moscow, after an anonymous caller warned that a bomb had been placed inside. Police failed to uncover any explosives.

Several eyewitnesses told local media that a suspicious object had been found inside the Russian State Library in Moscow, before police began to escort people out of the building, which is located next to the Kremlin walls.

A police source, who was not authorized to reveal his name, told RIA Novosti that an "inebriated male voice" was heard during the initial call.

Military engineers, police patrols, emergency services and several fire crews were immediately directed to the scene.

Sniffer dogs began to inspect the visitor halls, which contain over 17 million tomes, while officials ordered the evacuation of all those inside.

"No devices or explosive were located inside the building," said a police statement. If the caller is found, he faces up to three years in jail for raising a false alarm.
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Laptop

Romanian hacker Guccifer sentenced to 4 years in prison for exposing Killary's private email server


RT
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 20:15 UTC
guccifer
© Silviu Matei / ReutersMarcel Lazar Lehel, 40, is escorted by masked policemen in Bucharest, after being arrested in Arad
The Romanian hacker "Guccifer," who exposed Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, was sentenced to 52 months by a US federal judge in Virginia. The near-maximum sentence under US law is meant as a deterrent to future hackers, the judge said.

Marcel Lazar Lehel, 44, a former taxi driver and paint salesman, was arrested in Romania and charged with hacking. He was extradited to the US in 2014.

In May this year, he pleaded guilty to one count each of aggravated identity theft and unauthorized access to a protected computer, admitting to hacking almost 100 Americans over a 14-month period.

"This epidemic must stop," said US District Judge James Cacheris on Thursday as he meted out a 52-month sentence to Lehel in his Alexandria, Virginia courthouse. A tough penalty would deter future hackers, the judge said.

Comment: The PTB are clearly sending a message that their illegal doings are off-limits to anyone considering revealing them to the rest of the world.

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Megaphone

Wikileaks dismisses NYT article on Russian intel behind DNC hack as conspiracy, not journalism


RT
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 19:49 UTC
assange
© Neil Hall / ReutersWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
WikiLeaks has dismissed a wordy article by the NYT suggesting that leaks by founder Julian Assange may have benefited Moscow or come from "Russian intelligence." The claims are "false" and "impute conspiracy," the website states.

The article, published in the New York Times on Thursday, claimed that "the agendas of WikiLeaks and the Kremlin have often dovetailed," and that the majority of Julian Assange's revelations had an anti-American and slightly pro-Russia bias.

Without citing reliable proof, the newspaper went on to speculate that Assange could have received Democratic Party documents - leaked earlier this year - from Russian intelligence.

Wondering if the website has become a "laundering machine for compromising material gathered by Russian spies," the NYT said it comes into conflict with WikiLeaks' initial policy to fight "oppressive regimes" in China, Russia and Central Asia.

"The only hard news in the article is that 'American officials say Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks probably have no direct ties to Russian intelligence services,'" the website responded in a statement on Thursday.
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Blue Planet

Atone for global warming sins by recycling and carpooling, says the Pope

Thomas D. Williams, PhD
Breitbart
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 18:09 UTC
pope francis
© Tony Gentile / Reuters
In his message for the "World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation" Thursday, Pope Francis said that human-induced global warming, as well as a loss of biodiversity are "sins" against God, which must be atoned for by planting trees, avoiding the use of plastic and paper and "separating refuse."

"Global warming continues, due in part to human activity," Francis said, adding that "2015 was the warmest year on record, and 2016 will likely be warmer still."

"This is leading to ever more severe droughts, floods, fires and extreme weather events. Climate change is also contributing to the heart-rending refugee crisis. The world's poor, though least responsible for climate change, are most vulnerable and already suffering its impact," he wrote.

Comment: Man made global warming is a myth and it's gonna take a lot more than recycling aluminum cans to set things right, Pope. While it is true that the Earth is being despoiled, these atonements are directed at the little people while the true rapists and pillagers of the world -- the psychopaths in charge -- continue to wreak havoc with nary a peep from the Vatican. And speaking of a "polluted wasteland of debris, desolation and filth", have you looked at your own church lately?

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