Society's ChildS


Light Sabers

Russian track and field athletes to file class action lawsuit over Rio Olympics ban

olympics
© Bruno Kelly / Reuters
Russian track and field athletes will file collective and possibly individual lawsuits with Lausanne arbitration court to challenge the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) decision banning them from the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Class action against the IAAF decision will be filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) next week, the All-Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF) Secretary General Mikhail Butov told TASS on Thursday.

"A suit or suits will be submitted to CAS next week. It is also necessary to completely determine the legal direction, but we have generally formed a group of lawyers with whom we will work," Butov said.

"I don't known whether Mike Morgan (Morgan Sports Law LLP) of the UK will be among them, so far I'd rather not disclose the names. Class actions will be filed for certain, but some individual suits are also possible," Butov said.

"We are going to have consultations with these lawyers in the coming days. Then we will make the final decision," the ARAF secretary general said.

Comment: It should be totally obvious that the International Olympic Committee is punishing Russian athletes not because of alleged doping, which is widespread in the athletic community, but for political reasons. The US government is likely pressuring the IOC not to allow Russian athletes to compete in the Olympics, as the US is engaged in a prolonged demonization campaign against Russia. The US is getting rather desperate in their anti-Russian propaganda to stoop to such petty levels of control.


Cow Skull

Trophy hunting Swedish politician said, 'Giraffe tastiest meat I ever ate' on World Giraffe Day

Angelo Vukasovic giraffe
© Angelo Av / Facebook
Photos of a Swedish nationalist posing with dead lions, giraffes and hippos he killed and ate have outraged social media. Speaking to Swedish media on World Giraffe Day, he said the tastiest meat he had ever tried was giraffe, a remark that horrified users.

Angelo Vukasovic, the treasurer from the Sweden Democrats party, considered nationalist and far right, has been posting the controversial photos on Facebook since October 2015. However, the pictures have only started circulating widely in recent weeks.


People

A window into the traumas of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine

palestine stones throwing
© Omar Qusini / Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently approved $18 million in government funds to extend illegal settlements in Palestine's West Bank. This comes on top of the $88 million that the Israeli regime already allocates for funding settlement activity.

New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a decree attacking the non-violent Boycott-Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement, which is one of the few avenues in the West to hold Israel to account against its occupation of the Palestinian lands and its illegal settlements.

But, in the United States at least, it is virtually impossible to find the mainstream media being "evenhanded" on the question of the occupation. A new film by Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp—The Occupation of the American Mind—shows that Israeli-funded propaganda (hasbara) has effectively rendered the US media into marionettes of Israeli state policy. At the Democratic Party's platform committee, Cornel West had to make the case that the occupation is a reality. Such a fact could not be taken for granted.

In the mainstream US media, there will be no coverage of the April statement by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the UN Security Council on Israel. Ban pointed out that not only has Israel continued to build its illegal settlements, but it has also systematically demolished Palestinian homes. By early April, the Israelis had demolished as many Palestinian homes as they had demolished in all of 2015, which means that the pace of expansion has increased. Thousands of Palestinians have been displaced by these demolitions. The future Palestinian State recedes further into the distance, a fact that the US media declines to cover.

Comment: Further reading: How Israel's oppressive and humiliating occupation affects all aspects of Palestinian life and incites violent resistance


Quenelle

Ukrainians gather to celebrate defeat of Nazism, demand an end to war in Donbass: "Ukraine and Russia - peace forever!"

Ukraine rally protest war
© YouTubeRally in South Ukraine, erupts into anti-war shouting.
On the Day of Memory and Grief on June 22nd in Kiev, hundreds of citizens gathered in the Park of Eternal Glory, who were not afraid of being persecuted by the authorities and nationalist militants.

The elderly, veterans of the Great Patriotic War and members of their families, representatives of veterans' organizations, the Orthodox unions, and individual sympathizers gathered near the monument to the Unknown Soldier.

Many protesters wearing St George ribbons and Soviet awards brought Soviet flags. In the hands of people were posters with the eloquent slogan: "75 years of the Nazi beast aggression, 75 years since the feat of the Soviet people", "For our Soviet Motherland!", "Nobody is forgotten, nothing is forgotten!", and "Ukraine and Russia - Peace, Friendship Forever!". And all this despite a real danger to their lives, because this kind of demonstration with all these symbols and slogans infuriates Ukrainian nationalists, supported by the Kiev authorities.

And although a spontaneous rally in the Park of Eternal Glory was watched from the outside by the police, as practice shows, in case of a real attack by nationalist militants, the Ukrainian police prefers not to interfere.

Comment: Further reading: Current Ukrainian 'ceasefire' reminds Donetsk residents of the 1941 Nazi occupation


Stormtrooper

Poor dears! French cops claim they're too tired to keep policing massive protests

france_protest
© Unknown
Months of mass demonstrations and violence linked to the Euro 2016 football tournament have left French police begging for mercy. A heated combination of protests against controversial changes to France'semployment laws and outbreaks of violence by Russian and British football fans has taken its toll, leading a union leader to beg for a reprieve for French law enforcement.

Protests opposing Francois Hollande's proposals to relax France's labour code began in March and have been called the largest and longest-lasting since the French Revolution.

While the government argues the changes are crucial to lower unemployment, protesters claim they are bad for workers' rights.

Countrywide protests have included strikes and blockades of oil refineries and hundreds of fuel depots. Workers also downed tools at the state-owned rail company.

Comment: We should all take note. We ARE the majority!


Cell Phone

Addicted to technology: Millennials spend more time engaged with their phones than with other humans

smartphone
39% of millenials interact more with smartphones than lovers, parents, friends, children or co-workers.
It's not your imagination: Millennials really are glued to their smartphones.

Nearly four in 10 millennials (39%) say they interact more with their smartphones than they do with their significant others, parents, friends, children or co-workers, according to a survey of more than 1,000 people released Wednesday by Bank of America. That's compared with fewer than one in three people of all ages who say they engage with their smartphones more.

This means that, on an average day, millennials — defined here as being ages 18 to 34 — "interact with their smartphone more than anything or anyone else," the survey concluded.

This may not surprise anyone who has looked at millennial smartphone usage. More millennials (77%) own smartphones — and spend more time on them (over two hours a day) — than any other age group, according to a 2014 report that examined the behavior of more than 23,000 adults, and was released by Experian."In fact, millennials spend so much time on their smartphones that they account for 41% of the total time that Americans spend using smartphones, despite making up just 29% of the population," the report concluded.

Comment: It appears the The Zombie Apocalypse has already occurred.


Attention

Employees of Nevada company who filmed themselves dumping chemical waste in desert claim they were forced by employer

carson city chemical company
A disturbing video has surfaced of employees of a Nevada company allegedly being told by their boss to dump chemical waste into the desert and light in on fire (video below).

The video, posted to YouTube, begins with an unseen employee pointing the camera at barrels of chemical waste stacked together in the desert. The employee says, "We've been ordered to dump these barrels, two or three a night, and then burn 'em out."

The employee then frets about how what he and his co-workers are doing is "so illegal," and goes on to say, "This is what we gotta do, or we'll lose our jobs."

As another employee, identified by the speaker as Cliff, dumps a barrel of waste into the desert, the employee with the camera can be heard lamenting, "Oh my God. God forgive me. I'm so sorry."

The employee with the camera then focuses on the label on one of the barrels. It reads, "Houghton International, Inc. Hocut 795-H."

Houghton is a specialty chemical company. According to the company's website, Hocut 795-H is: "A general-purpose cutting fluid, Hocut 795-H is an industry-changing soluble oil that operates independent of sump-side additives even in the most severe conditions."

Heart - Black

Woman charged after attacking mother in Ontario supermarket and trying to pull her hijab off

london hijab assault
The alleged assailant has been identified by police, but the name has not been released
Police have arrested and charged a woman after a shopper in a hijab was allegedly attacked in a London, Ont. supermarket.

A 38-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday afternoon in connection with the alleged unprovoked assault, police said. She is charged with one count of assault.

The suspected yelled at a Muslim woman in the store, then spat on her, punched her several times, grabbed at her hijab and pulled her hair.The victim suffered minor injuries in the incident, police said.

Police had asked for the public's help in identifying a suspect in the case.

Comment: People everywhere are disintegrating faster and faster.


Heart - Black

Video catches police savagely assaulting and tasing teen girl, then put a bag over her head

genele laird arrest
A video showing police in Madison, Wisconsin, violently assaulting an unarmed black teenage girl at a mall has gone viral, and the footage captured by a bystander is causing alarm as it spreads across social media.

In the video, originally posted by Facebook user RichBoy Robinson, the girl, who local media identified as 18-year-old Genele H. Laird, is seen standing in front of the East Towne Mall on East Washington in Madison, Wisconsin, being manhandled by a police officer. The officer, who is struggling with the girl to force her to the ground, soon gets help from a backup officer, who proceeds to repeatedly drive his knee into Laird's ribs. The officer also punches Laird several times.

After Laird is beaten into submission, the two officers hold her on the ground, while one repeatedly uses his taser on Laird's torso and leg. During the beating, Laird is heard screaming and pleading with the police to get off of her, saying "I can't breathe." Near the end of the video, a bag is put over Laird's head while she lies facedown on the concrete.

TRIGGER WARNING: This video is extremely violent and upsetting.


Camera

South Africa: Drone photos capture massive division between rich and poor

inequality south africa
© johnny miller
Never before has the division between rich and poor been so easy to grasp. Activists can thank South African artist Johnny Miller, who captured the following photos with a drone to illuminate the vast difference between living conditions among the classes.

The project, titled "Unequal Scenes," began as a Facebook post that eventually went viral, reports PetaPixel. After the photo of the Masiphumelele community and its surroundings in the Republic of South Africa was shared more than 1,000 times, Miller knew he was on to something. He went on to capture many other, similar photographs and videos across South Africa.

Comment: Further reading: