Society's ChildS


Rose

Rob Ford, former crack-smoking mayor of Toronto, dead at 46

David Rider and Jennifer Pagliaro
The Star
Tue, 22 Mar 2016 15:44 UTC
Rob Ford
© Rick Madonik/Toronto Star
Rob Ford, the Toronto city councillor who became the world's most famous mayor during a wild, scandal-filled term, is dead at age 46.

The married father of two young children died after 18 months of treatment for a rare and aggressive cancer first diagnosed in the midst of his 2014 bid to be re-elected mayor. Ford would have turned 47 on May 28.

A brief statement from the Ford family announcing the death Tuesday described the former mayor as a "dedicated man of the people" who "spent his life serving the citizens of Toronto."

"The family will not be making any statements to the media or taking any questions," the statement said.

Comment: The is the same Rob Ford featured in the articles below:

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Eye 1

Ex-State Department 'sextortion' culprit sentenced to less than 5 years in prison

Charles S. Clark
Government Executive
Mon, 21 Mar 2016 14:13 UTC
London
© Andrew Winning / Reuters Michael Ford was stationed in London from 2013-2015.
A onetime State Department employee who used embassy computers to extract sexually explicit photos from women was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison on Monday, according to news reports.

Michael Ford, who was stationed in London from 2013-15, in December had pleaded guilty to nine counts of cyberstalking, seven counts of computer hacking to extort and one count of wire fraud, according to investigators for the Justice Department and State's Diplomatic Security Service.

His nearly five-year sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross in Atlanta decided. She granted him a delay in reporting to prison until August because his wife is expecting a baby in July, according to the Associated Press.

Ford—while on the job in London—used online aliases to target young females, many of them students in sororities with ambition to be models. Posing as a representative of a common Internet service provider's "account deletion team," he sent messages warning the women that their accounts would be canceled if they failed to provide their passwords. He then hacked into their accounts in search of nude photos, after which he threatened the women with exposure unless they helped him take additional explicit photos of attractive women in gym locker rooms or store changing rooms.

At the sentencing, friends and family described Ford as a doting husband. He apologized to his victims and told the judge he was depressed and wanted to be fired from his government job. "What I did was a low and cowardly act by a person who was desperate," he said.

Comment: This man maliciously and intentionally exploited young women for his own depraved ends. That is not the mark of a depressed man desperate to get fired, but the actions of a sexual predator. He deserves a lot more than 57 months.

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Pistol

Supreme Court overrules lower court on stun gun possession


RT
Tue, 22 Mar 2016 04:18 UTC
taser
© Lucy Nicholson / ReutersA stunning reversal by the Supreme Court.
The US Supreme Court tossed out a Massachusetts court ruling which argued that stun guns were not covered under the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. The top court's Monday decision throws the case back to Massachusetts, giving the lower court another chance to rule, according to the Associated Press.

The justices, with no apparent dissent, issued an unsigned opinion in favor of Jamie Caetano, who was convicted for violating an anti-stun gun law. Caetano was arrested for possession of a stun gun, which she said she kept in her purse for self-defense because of an abusive former boyfriend.

Massachusetts is one of a handful of states prohibiting the possession of stun guns. The state Supreme Court's ruling in Caetano's case in March of 2015 stated that the US Congress would not have envisioned a weapon like a stun gun in 1789, when it passed the Constitution's Second Amendment protecting the right to bear arms, according to Reuters. Caetano's lawyers had argued in court that stun guns should be considered "arms" under the Second Amendment and that the Massachusetts law banning them went too far.

In their own opinion, the Supreme Court justices said "the explanation the Massachusetts court offered for upholding the law contradicts this court's precedent," according to AP. The justices were referring to a 2008 Supreme Court ruling in the District of Columbia v. Heller case, which struck down Washington, DC's handgun ban and affirmed the Constitution's recognition of an individual's right to own a gun, at least for self-defense at home.

Comment: It is the usage and intent that defines an item, not the technological upgrade or variation in design. For the time being, there is still respect for the US constitutional amendments and citizens' rights, but that could change on a dime.

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Eye 1

Israeli tribunal sentences underage children 12-39 months for throwing stones

Lisbeth Mechter
South Front
Sun, 20 Mar 2016 14:58 UTC
IDF detains Palestinian boy
© South Front
An Israeli tribunal condemned seven Palestinian underage kids to spend sentences between a year and 39 months in prison after accusing them of throwing stones against Israeli objectives.

The announcement was made by the Palestinian human rights NGO Adamir, whose lawyer, Muhamad Mahmud added that the kids were sentenced after throwing stones to Israeli vehicles in the venues of Bet Hanina neighborhood, in East Jerusalem, zone occupied by Israel since 1967.

Three Palestinian kids of 14 years old, two aged 16, one, 17 and a seventh whose age has not been determined are being prosecuted by the Israeli judicial system. According to the Palestinian news agency Ma'an, all of the kids have already spent eight months in home arrest.

Israel toughened the sanctions against Palestinian citizens who throw stones against trains and vehicles by the time the violence escalation began six months ago, after the first Israeli fatal victim was product of an accident caused by stones throwed against a vehicle in a highway of East Jerusalem.

According to Adamir, the number of kids under arrest of Israeli Forces has tripled since last summer, with 450 detainees in Israeli prisons till last February.

The wave of violence that's been striking the region since October 1st has left above 180 Palestinian citizens dead, more than two thirds of them executed in the moment they intended to attack (or actually attacked) Israeli objectives. Until now, there are 28 fatalities among Israelis, product of Palestinian attacks.

Comment:


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Bomb

'Suicide bomber' detonates hand grenade in Belgrade, Serbia bakery


RT
Mon, 21 Mar 2016 13:21 UTC
Belgrade bombing
© Rademaroevic/Instagram
A suicide bomber has detonated a hand grenade inside a bakery in Belgrade, Serbia, the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs has confirmed. Ambulance crews and police are at the scene.

"An unknown man was killed today at around 12:38 p.m. (11:38 GMT) on Ilije Garasanina Street after he activated an explosive device in a cake shop," a police statement said. "Interior ministry officials are probing all the facts and circumstances of the event," the statement continued.

The man reportedly entered the pastry shop, chased everyone out, and then detonated the device, RTS reports. The suicide bomber was killed and one other person was injured, according to Serbia's Ministry of Internal Affairs. The bomber apparently laid down on the explosive before detonation. As a result, little damage was caused to the shop.


Comment: Suicide bomber? Just based on the details in this report, it sounds more likely that he was holding a grenade that was primed to explode (for whatever reason), and deliberately attempted to get everyone out of harm's way before taking the brunt of the explosion on himself. Hardly the antics of a "suicide bomber".

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Bomb

Breaking news: Twin explosions hit Brussels airport; 17 dead, dozens wounded


RT
Tue, 22 Mar 2016 07:13 UTC
Brussels airport bomb blast
© mvw8500 / Instagram
17 people have reportedly been killed and dozens wounded after two blasts rocked Brussels' Zaventem airport.

Brussels police have told Sputnik that Zaventem's great hall was targeted in the blast, but they couldn't confirm the number of the victims in the attack.

"There was an explosion, but we cannot say more," a police spokesperson said.

Reports also suggest that first there was a shot fired in the departure hall, then something was called out in Arabic, and only afterward, two explosions rocked the facility.

Reports are coming in that one of the explosions took place near the American Airlines check-in desk. A government source confirmed to VRT broadcaster that it was an attack, while Anke Fransen, spokeswoman for Brussels Airport, said there were multiple injuries. "We can confirm that there have been two explosions in the departure hall. We called the emergency services on the ground - they [are] now provid[ing] first aid to the injured."


Comment: Another blast has been reported at the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels, which is just meters away from the Gare de Bruxelles-Schuman railway station. The Mallbeek station is also near a number of important EU buildings such as Berlaymont building, which houses the EU Commission and the Council of the European Union.

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Attention

Circle of life: 4 more bald eagles found dead in Delaware, 2 hatch in Washington, D.C


RT
Tue, 22 Mar 2016 20:25 UTC
American eagle
© American Eagle Foundation.
Almost a month after 13 birds died in nearby Maryland, four dying bald eagles could not be saved in rural Delaware. Authorities are puzzled as to what is killing the birds, the national symbol of the US. At the same time, two eaglets hatched in DC.

Workers with the Tri-State Bird Rescue, a private nonprofit based in the area, found one dead eagle on the road near Dagsboro in Delaware's Sussex County on Sunday. Three more birds were found in a nearby field and could not be revived. A group of eight eagles was found alive in the area, but three flew away before they could be taken in for examination. Of the remaining five, two are receiving medical care at Tri-State.

Comment: See also: 13 bald eagles died in Maryland

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Red Flag

Minority couple forced to spell their names by poll workers in North Carolina during recent primary

Eric Kleefeld
Raw Story
Mon, 21 Mar 2016 20:45 UTC
I voted stickers
© Flickr user Joe Hall
A man in North Carolina has detailed the wringer through which both he and wife were subjected when trying to vote in the state's recent primary, as people with South Asian names in a state with a strict voter ID law. And this happened not once, but twice.

Rudy Ravindra, a resident of Wilmington, penned an op-ed piece in the Raleigh News & Observer about his experience when he went to cast his ballot during the early voting period.

"I gave my driver's license to a poll worker, HW. He kept it face down and ordered me to spell my name," Ravindra explained. "Although I go by Rudy, my legal name is Rudravajhala. In order to save time, I requested HW look at my ID. He barked, 'You gotta spell it!' So I took a deep breath and began. 'R-U-D-'"

During the encounter itself, there followed a scene reminiscent of an old literacy test — administered by somebody who might've had their own problems at passing it. Ravindra described it as a "spelling test."

Comment: Here we see the likely purpose of voter ID laws. They are used to legally allow racial profiling and to discriminate against minorities.

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Cult

Ex-Scientologist life coach drank bleach in desperate attempt to escape forced hard labor after being caught kissing a woman

Travis Gettys
Raw Story
Mon, 21 Mar 2016 20:35 UTC
Scientology HQ
Nora worked with Scientology's biggest celebrities at Scientology's main HQ in Los Angeles where a lot of celebrities like Tom Cruise visit for meetings and parties
A former top Scientologist says she was forced to spend three years performing hard labor after she was caught kissing another woman.

Nora Crest worked as a life counselor at the Los Angeles Celebrity Center, where she mentored the children of celebrity Scientologists John Travolta and Tom Cruise before she was banished for her same-sex attraction, reported the Daily Mail.

Crest was a member of the hardcore Sea Org group of dedicated members who sign "billion year" contracts tying them to the church — to which she was introduced as a young child by her active Scientologist parents, Kathy Thomas and Constantine Panfilous Sova.

Crest, now 39 and married to another ex-Scientologist, said she never went further than kissing — but church founder L. Ron Hubbard classified homosexuality as an illness and sexual perversion that must be cured.

So she was placed into the Rehabilitation Project Force in March 2000 and required to perform hard labor 80 hours a week at a West Los Angeles facility operated by the Church of Scientology.
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Dollar

U.S. student loan defaults hit an astounding $121 billion with 40% of all borrowers not making any payments

Victor Skinner
EAGNews
Mon, 21 Mar 2016 19:31 UTC
Student debt
© Via YouTube

Comment: The results of decades of debt slavery: Human beings are bought and sold for an education degree that is pretty useless in America.

Federal student loan defaults have hit an astounding $121 billion, with about 40 percent of all borrowers not currently making any payments, according to a government report.

"This is a slow-moving disaster," Jason Delisle, director of the Federal Education Budget Project at New America, told the Detroit Free Press. "Why no hearings on Capitol Hill? Why isn't the administration talking about it more?"

The U.S. Department of Education highlighted the report in a self-congratulatory news release about an increase in the number of students who are enrolling in income-based repayment programs. In December 2015, there were 4.6 million borrowers using income-based repayment plans, which represents a 48 percent increase from the year prior, and a 140 percent increase from two years ago, according to the news site.

"Today's analysis suggests that the administration's efforts to help struggling borrowers are having a positive impact," U.S. Education Secretary John King Jr. said. "While we see promising signs of progress, we know we have to work to do to ensure that every borrower in distress has a clear path to avoid default. And I will continue to fight to ensure that students have access to an affordable education that helps them get ahead, rather than drowning in debt."

Many folks, however, simply don't have the money to make their payments, the Free Press reports.

Detroit 26-year-old Gail Menesko told the news site a divorce forced her to quit cosmetology school to care for her two children, and it's been nearly a year since she made a payment on her student loans. "I want to pay, but other things are a priority now," she said. Menesko is now in default, a category reserved for borrowers who don't make a payment in more than 270 days.
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