Society's ChildS


Arrow Down

Greenpeace gives "green" stamp of approval to corporations to destroy the planet

Greenpeace
Greenpeace and Sierra Club are doing more harm than good by co-opting grassroots environmental movements and giving destructive, polluting industries their "green" stamp of approval

"Greenwashing" is an attempt by corporations to cover up environmentally harmful practices by marketing products as "green" or "eco-friendly.' While saavy consumers are catching on that corporations still care more about the green in our pockets than the greenery of the earth, many of them would be surprised to learn that some of the world's most prominent environmentalist organizations have green "blood" on their hands too.

Black Cat

Israel implies BDS movement are terrorists while cracking down on German banks and violating international law

BDS protests against apartheid Israel
© Ruptly
Israel's Public Security Minister has linked the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement with terrorism and is threatening German banks using tactics previously employed against Al-Qaeda.

Netanyahu-appointee Gilad Erdan has threatened to coerce German banks to prohibit BDS activists from fundraising through their accounts, not through Israeli legislation, but the laws of other countries where Erdan has "increased awareness among decision-makers in Europe and North America of the anti-Semitic, anti-democratic, and discriminatory nature of the BDS movement, which seeks Israel's destruction and often has ties to terror-supporting organizations."

Comment: What's astonishing about this is that the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) people simply want to exercise their freedom of non-association and that freedom is being removed in their own countries due to Israel's influence. While clearly many people have missed the boat that Israel is in fact an illegal apartheid occupation, so the stance of the BDS is really a very reasonable response to the reality of the situation, one would think that they would at least respect the rights of others to not have anything to do with them if they don't want to.


Cult

French elites declare open season on Muslim women

French Elites

As billionaire Elisabeth Badinter calls for boycott of clothing lines that produce Islamic fashions, her PR firm promotes Saudi Arabia.


"We are tired and sick of always being targeted, of being the subject of stereotypes and racist fantasies," Sihame Assbague told AlterNet over the phone from her home in Villetaneuse, a suburb north of Paris. "Muslim women are talked about every day, but we are not given the right to speak. Other people speak for us."

An activist against state racism and organizer for the website Contre Attaques, aimed at countering Islamophobia, Assbague is not alone in her frustration. Muslim and Arab communities find themselves increasingly attacked by discriminatory house raids and warrantless arrests, over four months into a heavy-handed "state of emergency" imposed and then extended by the French government in the wake of the Paris attacks.

This state violence is abetted by those in France's intellectual and political classes who are calling for the intensified criminalization and public shaming of Muslim women in the name of "saving" them. Predictably, such figures have declared open season on the veil.

Comment: Watch it happen: The slow-motion horror show that moves step by step to marginalize, subjugate and ultimately destroy the lives of many millions of Muslim people around the world.


Cardboard Box

Spain: Police find hidden cache of weapons and IS flag

IS flag
© REUTERS/Dado RuvicA flag on the play.
Police said on Saturday they had discovered a hidden weapons cache and a home-made Islamic State flag in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco, and are investigating a possible connection to Islamist militants.

The cache of four pistols, including an air gun modified to shoot live ammunition, two Scorpion sub-machine guns, ammunition and variety of knives, was found in perfect condition and buried on wasteland on Thursday, Spain's Interior Ministry said.

Spanish police have detained 15 people with suspected links to Islamic State militants so far this year and 102 people on the same charges last year after police stepped up security measures following attacks in Paris.

Ceuta and Melilla, Spain's other north African enclave, have been a focus of Spanish anti-militant investigations.

TV

The high art of moral transgression in modern television

Scandal
© ABC“Scandal” protagonist Olivia Pope beats a man to death in a scene from the ABC show.
For nearly two decades, we've been told that this is the Golden Age of Television: the smartest, deepest storytelling, the most nuanced and morally complex characters, are found here.

Perhaps it's time for a reconsideration.

Thursday night, on ABC's "Scandal," Olivia Pope, the protagonist — long established in the show's vernacular as a "white hat," or good guy — beat a wheelchair-bound stroke victim to death by pulping his face with an aluminum chair.

It was a lengthy scene, and even for a Shonda Rhimes soap that bills itself weekly on "OMG twists" — gruesome scenes of torture and dismemberment, politically expedient murders and illegitimate war, rape, kidnapping, blackmail, and one interminable scene where an imprisoned terrorist chewed through her own wrist to escape — this one was morally and artistically bankrupt.

Fire

Over 100 dead in temple fire in Southern India after firecrackers cause 'massive blast'

Indian Fireworks
© Amit Dave / Reuters
At least 102 people have died and more than 200 were injured after celebratory firecrackers reportedly caused a massive blast and fire at a Hindu temple located in a coastal town near Kollam in the southern Indian state of Kerala.


Comment: An eyewitness reported feeling tremors from the massive explosion a kilometre away.


Video

'Roadmap to Apartheid' film reveals Israel's fear of BDS

Roadmap to Apartheid

(Roadmap to Apartheid. Ind. documentary, Ana Noguiera and Eron Davidson. 2012.)


It is curious that the more Israel denies apartheid, and the more other states, such as Canada, "condemn" the BDS movement, the more awareness of the true situation of the Palestinians increases in the general population.

Fear of BDS

The Israelis know full well the impact that the label "apartheid" and its associated boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement had on South Africa. Their denials only reinforce the significance of these events and labels. One prime example derives from former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren in his book Ally (Random House, 2015), an account of his life leading up to but mostly concerning his role as ambassador.

At one point he is discussing all the difficult questions he receives concerning Israeli/Palestinian relations. He answers "All questions remained kosher but two." Kosher indicates that something is legitimate or admissible for Jewish concerns. One of the questions that is not kosher is "Isn't Israel an apartheid state just like South Africa?" His red-herring counter argument is that because the Knesset has Arab members as do the armed forces, then how does that "remotely resemble an apartheid state?" That line of argument is disingenuous and would be similar to saying there is no racism in the U.S. because their president is black and so are many of their military - it is simply an invalid argument.

Comment: In fact, BDS is such a concern for Israel that they are marshaling all their forces and influence in order to stem the tide of awareness that is now growing:


Arrow Down

Children living near former California battery plant have elevated blood lead levels nearly double the national rate

lead california battery plant
© Rintesh Roy / YouTube
Children under the age of six living near a former battery plant in Vernon, California have high levels of lead in their blood, a new study finds. Governor Jerry Brown has pledged $176 million in aid, but the affected families aren't holding their breath.

The Department of Toxic Substances Control requested that the children in the area around the Exide Technologies plant be tested. The California State Department of Public Health followed up on the request and found that children less than six years old living near the plant were likely to have more lead in their blood than children from nearby Los Angeles County, City News Service reported.

The study also found that the age of the homes the children lived in was a contributing factor, as lead levels in paint were not regulated until 1978.

Bizarro Earth

The real reason cities in the US have lead and other contaminants in the water supply: "Humans have been written off"

tainted water
Yet another public water supply has been found tainted with toxic lead from corrosive pipes.

It is no surprise to watch crumbling rust belt cities under siege by corrosive, tainted and dangerous lead pipes, though it is tragic.

Cincinnati, like Flint, has a major lead issue in its public water supply. Cassius Kamarampi writes:

Cincinnati city officials sent out letters to 16,000 residents this week, informing them that much of the city's water transporting pipes are still made of lead.
The message is kind of contradictory, admitting the pipes are problematic, while assuring residents that it's safe because they have a "successful lead corrosion control program."

According to Cincinnati.com:

City leaders here in Cincinnati don't want citizens to panic. Greater Cincinnati Water Works closely monitors its water and has never had a lead violation, according to officials. Cincinnati has had a successful lead corrosion control program that has protected customers for years.

But the pipes' mere existence can cause a threat, officials confirm.

[...]

The elected bureaucrats of Flint, Michigan hesitated to inform residents about contaminated water for as long as they possibly could; knowing how officials can be, is this a sign that Cincinnati water is already dangerous?

Airplane

Beefed up US security at airports this summer, new wave of vigilance announced

airport line
© www.cnn.com...two hours later, a couple rows over, they really won't be smiling...
Bomb blasts in Brussels two weeks ago have caused U.S. security officials to do a reassessment back home, meaning summer travelers will likely see a bigger police presence and more random searches before flying this year. TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger told reporters Friday that the agency has significantly stepped up its visible presence after the Brussels blasts, just one effort to deter would-be copy cats from targeting U.S. airports and train stations. "Visibility is a deterrent factor and it's a disruptive factor too," he said.

Neffenger happened to be on a plane pulling up to a gate at the Brussels airport right as the bombs went off. The TSA chief was safe but had to sit on the plane for more than two hours while officials processed the chaos and tragedy inside the building.

For U.S. passengers, security in the aftermath of the attacks doesn't just mean more officers patrolling baggage claim. It will also mean more random bag checks, particularly for bigger luggage, and additional inspections of cars and taxis coming into the airport. Combine the random checks with what's expected to be longer security lines, and passengers could be staring down a frustrating summer travel experience.

Comment: What a fun way to start that summer vacation! What's included in the price of your ticket, you ask? Pokes, prods, snoops, x-rays, pat ups, pat downs, smiles for the surveillance cameras, detectors, vehicle checks, questions, sniff tests (by dogs so far), bag checks, shoe checks, ID checks, monitors and observances, health screens, facial recognition, security guards, no-fly lists, barricades, seat belts, undercover flight marshals...and much, much more! They just have to think it up. They promise to by summer. BTW, how many terrorists have they caught, not including false flag perps?