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Teen charged with felony for recording conversation with principal

Jay Syrmopoulos
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 23 Jun 2018 13:43 UTC
Paul Boron
A trip to the principal's office at Manteno Middle School resulted in controversial felony eavesdropping charges for 13-year-old Paul Boron, in what is the latest saga of controversy regarding an Illinois eavesdropping law, which critics have warned is ripe for abuse and could be misapplied by authorities.

On the day in question, Boron was called to the office for not showing up for a number of detentions. Prior to meeting with Principal David Conrad and Assistant Principal Nathan Short, Boron turned on an audio recording application on his cell phone to record the exchange.

A report by Illinois Policy explained the chronology of events:
Boron said he argued with Conrad and Short for approximately 10 minutes in the reception area of the school secretary's office, with the door open to the hallway. When Boron told Conrad and Short he was recording, Conrad allegedly told Boron he was committing a felony and promptly ended the conversation.
The incident, which took place in February, resulted in the 13-year-old being charged two months later, in April, with one count of class 4 felony eavesdropping.
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Stock Down

American jobs already under threat from Trump's steel tariffs

Frank Sellers
The Duran
Mon, 25 Jun 2018 12:07 UTC
trump steel tariff
When Trump ran on creating more good paying American jobs and on creating a more business friendly environment, many took him seriously and backed him at the polls. Among that number are those manufacturers that happen to still be producing in America, for whatever reason.

But some American companies that use the raw materials that Trump has passed import tariffs on are finding them to be anything but business friendly, and anything but friendly towards American jobs. In fact, they're seeing their production costs increase dramatically, they're having to cut jobs, and they're looking to the Democrats for help.

The Hill reports:

Comment: While the intent is to encourage companies to move manufacturing back to the US, the tariffs will not do much to encourage that since the higher costs will force companies to move or look to pass them on to the consumer. See also: Petrodollar, Trade Deficit and Tariff: What is Trump Doing?

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Hammer

Israeli army has plan to attack, divide and occupy parts of the Gaza Strip


Middle East Monitor
Mon, 25 Jun 2018 14:21 UTC
Israeli occupation forces
© Salih Zeki Fazlıoğlu/Anadolu Agency
Israeli occupation forces
The Israeli military has prepared plans for a full-scale invasion of the occupied Gaza Strip, in the event of a serious escalation in the south, according to a report by Israeli news site Ynet.

Veteran correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai, citing unnamed Israeli military officials, wrote that the army "is already considering alternatives to the Hamas government", should the latter not cooperate in efforts to establish an economic-security "arrangement" in Gaza agreeable to the Israelis.

"There is a feeling in the [Israeli army's] Southern Command that, this time, the IDF will be able to create a considerable change in the situation if it is required to launch a major campaign in Gaza," wrote Ben-Yishai.

Comment: In other words, Israel appears to be planning its next step and elevating its plans for the slow-motion ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in Gaza. And why aren't we surprised? Israel has a habit of doubling down on all its aggression - and doing so after the killing and maiming of thousands during the March of Return recently will be no different.

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Russian Flag

'I feel safer here than I do in London': UK journalist shocked World Cup is peaceful

Enda Brady
Sky News
Mon, 25 Jun 2018 14:30 UTC
Volgograd Arena world cup stadium Russia

The Volgograd Arena is a football stadium in Volgograd, Russia. The stadium is one of the venues for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It also hosts FC Rotor Volgograd


Enda Brady says he has seen no sign of the ultras and hooligans that certain sections of the UK press have been obsessing over.

There was a moment late on Friday night when my heart sank.

We were seconds away from broadcasting live from Lenin Square in Nizhny Novgorod ahead of England's World Cup match here, when two burly guys in their 20s approached us, drunk on life and heading home.

But what happened next amazed me.

They stood still and silent, behind the camera and listened to what I was saying on live TV.

Comment: It's no surprise that people would be surprised when, after being primed with nonsensical anti-Russian propaganda, they were confronted with the reality that Russians are actually very nice and accommodating people. The fake news hype-machine can't keep up when confronted with the truth.

See also:

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Eye 1

UK's youth increasingly find stability in gangs they don't at home - 30,000 under 10-15 year olds claim to be in gangs

Victoria Friedman
Breitbart
Mon, 25 Jun 2018 12:00 UTC
uk gang police
© Carl Court/Getty
More than 30,000 children are believed to be in gangs in the UK, as the number of 10- to 15-year-olds being treated for stab wounds has increased by two thirds since 2013.

According to research to be released in full in July, over 70,000 young people define themselves as being in a gang, 32,500 of those are aged 10 to 15, reports The Times.

"It's not just in London, Liverpool or Manchester, for the first time last year every one of the police forces, all 43, said they had seen an increase in gangs and the county lines delivering drugs across the country. Children are being drawn in from all over the place. The vast majority are boys," Anne Longfield, Children's Commissioner for England, has said.

The figures were arrived at based on the 2013-14 Crime Survey of England and Wales, which saw 0.9 percent of 10- to 15-year-olds and 0.7 percent of 16- 24-year-olds say that they were part of a criminal gang, the figures approximated for current population.

Comment: As the UK economy continues its downward spiral, vulnerable youth will turn to whichever group offers the most attractive benefits and stability. Previously that came from family and wider society but, increasingly, for some, gangs now fill that vacuum. In this sense, the UK is following a path already well entrenched in some areas of the US which suffers the same problems of a dysfunctional society and poverty, and similarly its youth turned to crime and gangs:

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Propaganda

3 glaring examples of how Snopes and AP facilitated by tech giants failed as the internet's truth police

Matt Agorist
Free Thought Project
Mon, 25 Jun 2018 12:00 UTC
AP fact check
© Free Thought Project
Before the 2016 election, people freely chose their sources for information, had discussions about the veracity and accuracy of those sources if they chose to question them, and then formed opinions based on those discussions. Now, however, this choice and discussion is quickly fading away and is being replaced by a seeming ministry of truth made up of ostensibly objective media outlets like Politifact, Snopes, and the Associated Press.

For years, Snopes has been debunking articles and giving them questionable ratings because of their content, but this was never a big deal because readers like ours are smart enough to question Snopes and read the facts for themselves to make up their own minds.

While our readers are still smart enough to check multiple sources and keep us honest, the power of Snopes and the rest of the "fact checkers" has grown immensely and ominously. Now, Snopes, the AP, and Politifact have woven themselves into the fabric of social media and have become the be all end all of "truth." As a result of this new cozy relationship, they have the power to silence anyone they deem to be false-facts and reality be damned.

Comment: Being able to choose discredited outlets like Snopes and AP as your destination for information is one thing, but to deign them as the arbiters of truth and to defame outlets that don't adhere to their version of events is a prime example of encroaching censorship: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Mass immigration: Wall 'em out of Fortress Europe and the Trump State?

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Eye 2

Georgia policeman arrested for strangling mentally challenged woman and attempting to rape her 12 year old niece

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Mon, 25 Jun 2018 10:26 UTC
Robert Lanier New policeman
© The Free Thought Project
A Georgia cop is being held without bail after being arrested on horrifying charges for strangling a mentally challenged woman during sex and attempting to rape her 12-year-old niece.

Cobb County, GA - A Georgia cop - who once served as the chief of police in Emerson - was arrested this week on allegations of beating and strangling a mentally challenged woman and attempting to rape her 12-year-old niece.

Currently employed as a cop for Cobb County, Robert Lanier New, 46, is in jail on a slew of charges ranging from aggravated assault-strangulation, simple battery, criminal solicitation to computer pornography - wireless internet, meaning he allegedly tried to use an electronic device to commit child molestation or another unlawful sexual offense against a child. The allegations against him are so damning that he is being held without bail.

According to investigators, New assaulted a 44-year-old woman with the mental capacity of a 10-year-old. According to the arrest warrant, obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, New choked and beat the woman while having sex. The woman told police that he strangled her so hard that she was unable to tell him to stop.

Comment: Not fired yet? What on earth is there to consider?

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Rose

Considering root causes

Andrew Glover
Quillette
Tue, 26 Jun 2018 10:15 UTC
What does it mean to claim that something is the 'root cause' of a problem in society?
plants and roots
It's common, for instance, to hear the assertion that 'the root cause of terrorism is Western foreign policy'. The implication being that the responsibility for terrorist attacks ultimately lies at the feet of the West since its interventionist foreign policy has destabilized the Middle East - irrespective of any other source of causality. The phrase 'root cause' invites us to become privy to society's underlying pathologies that, if remedied, could improve the world beyond the scope of someone merely observing the surface.

Much like a bug in a software program causing a computer to shut down, or a leaky pipe causing subsidence under a house, the language of root causes implies that problems can be traced back through a cascading chain of events to an initial fault. Under this assumption, our goal should be to target that underlying problem rather than the ways in which the problem manifests itself in society.

Comment: The VAWA, The Duluth Model, Feminism and the politicization of domestic violence

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Pistol

New Jersey bans guns that hold more than 10 rounds, citizens told to surrender them

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Mon, 25 Jun 2018 10:13 UTC
gunslingers
© Andy Clark / Reuters
A state with notoriously strict gun laws is now giving citizens 180 days to surrender all firearms that hold more than 10 rounds.

The state of New Jersey, which is known for its strict gun laws, has tightened regulations with new legislation that gives citizens 180 days to surrender all firearms and magazines that hold more than 10 rounds - and if they are caught with the newly illegal contraband, they will be treated as criminals.

The new rules are courtesy of Assembly Bill 2761, which was recently passed by the state. The bill's purpose is to reduce "maximum capacity of ammunition magazines to 10 rounds," and the text states that citizens will have 180 days to comply:
"A person who legally owns a semi-automatic rifle with a fixed magazine capacity exceeding 10 rounds or a large capacity ammunition magazine... which is capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition... may retain possession of that rifle or magazine for a period not to exceed 180 days after the effective date of this act."

Comment: On the shooting in Trenton: Suspect dead, 20 injured in Trenton, New Jersey arts festival shooting

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No Entry

Posting a photo of E.T. on Facebook will get you banned while it allows other pages to promote racism and hate

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Mon, 25 Jun 2018 09:29 UTC
facebook ban 1
On Saturday, co-founder of the Free Thought Project, Jason Bassler logged onto Facebook like he does every morning. This time, however, he hit one of their notoriously loathed checkpoint screens informing him that he has been banned from using Facebook for 30 days. His "crime"? Sharing a photo of E.T. which the social media platform determined was "hate speech."

The photo in question was a joke. It was a screen grab from the movie E.T. which showed the moment Elliot was separated from his alien friend E.T. It had the caption, "Actual photo of a child being separated from his illegal alien." It was meant to show the ridiculous nature of calling people who are seeking a better life, "illegal" and had no mal intent whatsoever.

facebook ban 2
It was nothing more than a joke and targeted no group, race, religion, or individual. However, because Facebook picks certain groups to demonize and censor, the post was removed and Bassler banned.

Comment: See also:

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