Society's ChildS


Bomb

5 killed and 15 injured in bomb blast near Damascus


RT
Sun, 08 Jan 2017 15:07 UTC
Bomb blast in Damascus
© FILE PHOTO Omar Sanadiki / Reuters
At least five people have been killed and fifteen injured, including women and children, after extremists detonated a car bomb in the Damascus countryside, Syrian SANA news agency reported, adding that the death toll may rise.

The bombing took place near the crossroad of Beit Jin village near the town of Sa'sa' in the western part of Damascus Countryside Province on Sunday.

Some of those wounded were seriously injured, the agency said.

Ten of the injured, including two children and seven women, were admitted to Mamdouh Abaza Hospital in the city of Quneitra, 25km from Beit Jin village, a medical source told SANA.
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Bomb

Car bombs in eastern Baghdad kill 20, injure at least 60


RT
Sun, 08 Jan 2017 08:12 UTC
A police tape cordons the site of a suicide bomb blast in Baghdad
© Ahmed Saad / ReutersA police tape cordons the site of a suicide bomb blast in Baghdad
Two suicide blasts hours apart rang out in eastern Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite areas. The explosions have claimed at least 20 lives and wounded over 60 people, according to police and medics cited by Reuters.

The Sunday attack took place at a vegetable market in Jamila, a mainly Shiite district of eastern Baghdad.

There is no claim of responsibility yet, but the explosion comes less than a week after a similar blast killed 36 people and wounded 52 in the Sadr City area of the Iraqi capital. Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) took credit then, saying they targeted Shia Muslims.

Update: Islamic State (IS, ISIS/formerly ISIL) has claimed responsibility in a tweet, saying that the explosion was carried out by a suicide bomber.

Comment: See also: At least 32 killed and 61 wounded in Baghdad's Sadr City blast, and Scores killed in New Year's weekend terror attacks in Iraq.

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Cult

Airport shooter said he was "mind controlled" by U.S. Intelligence Agency

Shepard Ambellas
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 07 Jan 2017 22:34 UTC
Esteban Santiago
© McClatchy
Airport shooter admits he was 'mind controlled' by intelligence agency, eyewitness claims there were at least three other "sleepers," shooters, with high-powered rifles shooting into crowd

Eyewitness: "There was like at least three people in there still shooting" after the first guy was caught

Demoted and discharged Alaska National Guard private first class and alleged killer of 5 people at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Esteban Santiago, 26, may have been mind controlled or mentally ill, according to FBI officials.

Santiago, who was arrested in January and waiting to stand trial in March on criminal charges, recently showed up to an F.B.I. office in Anchorage unannounced seeking help.

Santiago told the F.B.I. he thought he was being mind controlled, possibly by the U.S. government or the C.I.A. and admitted hearing voices, which Santiago said told him to study "extremist materials on the Internet," the New York Times reports.
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Blue Planet

Jan Oberg: Thoughts as we move into the new year - 2017

Jan Oberg
Life - Peace & PhotoGraphics
Sat, 07 Jan 2017 21:34 UTC
abstract building
– just look at the world and imagine it a little differently and the sky is blue…
The old years went - in as little a time as it takes to turn around and see who is tapping you on your shoulder. And it is the new, the next year.

I hope it will pass too - in as little time as it takes for me to turn my head and look forward again - because the face of 2017 doesn't look good or kind to me.

Neither do the next ten or so years.

Beyond that the world will become a better place. If, that is, if we survive and don't destroy it all.

It is actually already becoming a better place!

The thing that has too pass - or pass away - is the United States Empire.

In a few years it will go the way Rome and all the rest plus the Ottoman, British and Soviet empires did. No empire lasts forever.

Comment: Oberg's vision is what all normal people long for. Unfortunately the amount of suffering it will take to bring them to those realizations will be immense. In the end we can only work on ourselves, one by one, to make that world possible.

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Ambulance

Multi-vehicle pile up involving 20 cars occurs in Connecticut during severe winter storm


RT
Sat, 07 Jan 2017 21:33 UTC
connecticut vehicle pile up
© ‏@CT_STATE_POLICE / Twitter
Connecticut State Police have shared footage from the scene of a multi-vehicle pile up involving at least 20 cars, three tractor trailers and a tanker which occurred amidst severe winter weather conditions.

The smash which occurred in Middletown, Connecticut, Friday afternoon, has resulted in the closure of the Interstate 91 in both directions.
Connecticut State Police have shared photos and videos of a multi-vehicle smash resulting in the closure of Interstate 91 in both directions. No serious injuries have been reported, according to police.

Troopers are dealing with reports of several crashes in the region as severe weather hampers driving conditions.

A winter storm warning is in place for Middletown, Connecticut and drivers are being advised to take extra caution on the roads with 12 inch snowfalls being forecast.
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Dollars

Philadelphia pays $4.4 million settlement to man mistakenly shot 14 times by plainclothes cops who never identified themselves


RT
Sat, 07 Jan 2017 21:27 UTC
police line
© Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
The city of Philadelphia has reached a $4.4 million settlement with a black deliveryman which 2 officers say they mistakenly shot 14 times leaving him with permanent injuries and a seizure disorder.

The settlement represents the largest in a police shooting incident in the city's history, Philly.com reports, citing Philadelphia Law Department records.

The settlement dates back to an incident in 2014 when then 20-year-old Philippe Holland was working as food delivery man. He had just dropped off a hamburger at a house when he was confronted by two plainclothes police officers.

During sworn testimony, Hollande said that when he saw the two officers, Mitchell Farrell and Kevin Hanvey approaching him, he thought he was about to get robbed. He got into his car on the passenger side to try and get away when one of the men shined a flashlight into the car while the other held a gun.
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Eye 1

US covert retaliation? 'Internet of things' used in cyber-attack on Russian banks

Alexander Abramov - Translation by Krisitna Kharlova
Fort Russ News
Sat, 07 Jan 2017 19:26 UTC
hacking by internet of things
Internet-connected appliances were used in a massive attack on the sites of Russian financial institutions. The attack is suspected to be organized by a hacker from USA or Europe.

A network of thousands of intelligent home appliances attacked the sites of Russian financial institutions. In particular, the attack was carried out by toasters, Internet cameras, coffee makers and communications equipment. In total, the attack could have involved at least half a million devices, stated a report by Kaspersky Lab - a leading Russian and global cyber security firm.

Likely the attack was planned by hackers outside of Russia, according to Kaspersky Lab. The identity of the hacker, was not released. The hacker has previously announced the intention to strike at Russian financial institutions, explaining the intention by the fact that, in his opinion, Russian hackers actively intervened in U.S. presidential election.

In December, Rostelecom announced about observed attacks on major banking and financial institutions. The attack, according to the statement, was carried out by household communication devices. The attacks had a duration from several minutes to several hours.
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V

"Dear CIA!": RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan mocks intelligence report calling RT 'Kremlin propaganda'


Sputnik
Sat, 07 Jan 2017 19:25 UTC
Margarita Simonyan
© SputnikRT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan
A declassified US intelligence report released on Friday directly accused RT and Sputnik of waging a campaign to influence the US presidential vote by helping Donald Trump's election chances and harming his rival, Hillary Clinton.

"Russia's state-run propaganda machine—comprised of its domestic media apparatus, outlets targeting global audiences such as RT and Sputnik, and a network of quasi-government trolls—contributed to the influence campaign by serving as a platform for Kremlin messaging to Russian and international audiences," the report, jointly prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency, said.

It directly accuses RT and Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan of links to the Kremlin.

Simonyan was quick to mock the report as "shallow," failing to name the sources and based on dated and/or false intelligence.
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People 2

Huckabee: Most Americans don't think Russia influenced election, intelligence report will have "very little" impact


Sputnik
Sat, 07 Jan 2017 18:47 UTC
trump
© REUTERS/ Mike Segar
The majority of Americans don't think that Russian authorities had any influence on the outcome of the recent presidential election in the US, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said, adding that the intelligence report alleging that Russia is behind several high-profile cyberattacks which hit the US in 2016 will have "very little" impact.

"Most of the American public... they just don't believe that the Russians impacted the outcome of the election. Even if it's proven that they hacked in the systems and got John Podesta's emails, there is not a shred of evidence, not a centile of evidence that it had any impact on how people voted and certainly not that the Russians were able to involve themselves in the election itself," he said.

Huckabee, a longtime supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, made similar statements in the past.

Opinion polls back his assessment.

A poll, conducted by Politico and Morning Consult between December 15 and December 17, showed that 44% of respondents did not believe that Russia influenced the outcome of the presidential election held in November, with 25 percent unsure. According to an NBC News and Wall Street Journal survey released on December 18, fifty-seven percent of those polled did not think that Russia's supposed cyberattack on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2016 US presidential campaign, made any difference in the election.
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Black Cat

Five injured after wild brawl in America's largest jail


RT
Thu, 05 Jan 2017 18:36 UTC
Cook County Jail
© Trần Thái Cook County Jail brawl
A brutal brawl captured on security cameras has left five inmates seriously injured at Cook County Jail, the largest jail in the US. The vicious melee broke out in a common room at the Chicago state correctional facility on Friday.

CCTV footage shows violent skirmishes taking place between inmates for more than a minute before guards intervene brandishing tasers. Some 30 inmates were in the room at the time.

It is unclear from the video what caused the frenzied fighting, which saw one man knocked unconscious with a single punch and another shanked in the back.
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