Society's ChildS

Crusader

Let the people speak: Bridging divides of a new Cold War

Ann Wright
As NATO steps up military maneuvers near Russia's borders and congressmen fume about "Russian aggression," a delegation of Americans including former U.S. officials is looking for face-to-face ways to encourage peace, writes Ann Wright.

I just flew across 11 times zones โ€” from Tokyo, Japan to Moscow, Russia. Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, nearly twice as large as the United States and has extensive mineral and energy resources, the largest reserves in the world. Russia has the world's ninth largest population with over 146.6 million people. The population of the U.S of 321.4 million is more than twice as large as Russia's.

I haven't been back to Russia since the early 1990s when the Soviet Union dissolved itself and allowed 14 new countries to be created from it. At the time I was a U.S. diplomat and wanted to be a part of the historic opening of U.S. Embassies in one of the newly formed countries. I asked to be sent to a new country in Central Asia and soon found myself in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Since the new embassies were being logistically supported out of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, I was fortunate to make frequent trips to Moscow in the short three months I was in Uzbekistan until the permanent Embassy staff was assigned. Several years later in 1994, I returned to Central Asia for a two-year tour in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and again made trips to Moscow.

Eye 1

Sexual mind programming: Over half of boys think pornographic sex is realistic

students
© Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters AddThis Sharing Buttons489
Boys who view online pornography believe it's a realistic depiction of sex, according to a study of British high school students by Middlesex University.

The research, which was commissioned by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), found that out of 1,000 pupils aged 11-16, 53 percent said they had viewed online pornography. While some searched for it, many were likely to have come across it accidentally, often through pop-up ads.

Indeed, 53 percent of boys who had viewed pornography said they thought it depicted a realistic impression of sex, while 39 percent of girls thought the images were realistic.

Some 41 percent of boys and girls who viewed porn for the first time felt 'curious,' while 27 percent said they were 'shocked', 27 percent 'confused,' and 24 percent said they were 'disgusted.'

Comment: Don't miss our radio show: The Health & Wellness Show: The Death of Intimacy: Porn and the Ponerization of Sex


Evil Rays

Europe rejects smart meters - Smart grid technology may not be needed

Smart Meter
© Heartland Org
The transition to an intelligent electricity grid in Europe can take place without smart meters, according to industry players who spoke at the annual Eurelectric conference in Vilnius this week.

Euractiv reports that the news will embarrass the European Commission, which pushed a Europe-wide plan to roll out smart meters years ago.

More efficient means include quicker integration of renewables, the development of energy storage and energy demand response solutions, said the industry representatives.

The actual benefits of smart meters were also questioned at the conference, as several member states have done previously. Germany, for instance, has decided not to have a national roll-out plan at all, running counter to requirements laid out in EU legislation.

EU member states are required to implement smart meters under the 2009 Third Energy Package wherever it is cost-effective to do so, with the goal to replace 80% of electricity meters with smart meters by 2020.The 80% target applies to both households and commercial buildings, a Commission spokesperson confirmed. The EU executive will publish in the next one to two years a report on smart meters "in the context of our regular monitoring exercise of the progress of members states," the spokesperson said.

Progress had been sluggish across the bloc in installation of the equipment. And the countries that do have a commitment to smart meters, such as the UK, have run into hurdles in completing its roll-out because some meters would cease to work if a consumer decided to change energy supplier. Markus Merkel, a senior advisor to the management board of German distribution system operator (DSO) EWE, told the Eurelectric conference that "there isn't a positive business case" for smart meters in Germany.

Member states are expected to conduct their own cost-benefit analyses for their national smart meters roll-out plans, the official said.

Heart - Black

Kenya upholds use of anal exam to determine sexual orientation

Court in country where same-sex relations are a crime dismisses argument that exam is torture and degrading treatment
Gay rights protesters
© Ben Curtis/APKenyan protesters wear masks during a rally against Ugandaโ€™s laws on LGBT rights.
A Kenyan court has upheld the use of anal examinations to determine a suspect's sexual orientation, dismissing the argument that the procedure amounts to torture and degrading treatment.

There was no violation of rights or the law, Mombasa high court judge Mathew Emukule said on Thursday. "I find no violation of human dignity, right to privacy and right to freedom of the petitioners," he said.

Two men had sought a court ruling to stop enforced anal examinations and HIV tests of men accused of being gay after they were subjected to the procedures.

The two were arrested in a bar near Ukunda, a town along Kenya's Indian Ocean coast, in February 2015 on suspicion of engaging in homosexual sex, a criminal offence in Kenya. They still face the charges and, if convicted, could be jailed for 14 years.

Comment: See also:


Clipboard

European public does not generally see Russia as 'major' threat

Police terrorism
© Full-tacticalRecent IS attacks in Paris and Brussels fuelled concern, but most Europeans against use of "overwhelming" military force
Most Europeans see Russia as a "minor" threat compared to Islamic State (IS), the refugee crisis or other issues, a survey suggests.

Roughly seven out of 10 people in the EU named IS, the jihadist group which recently carried out attacks in Paris and Brussels, as a "major" menace in a new study by US think tank Pew, out on Tuesday (14 June).

More than half of Europeans said climate change, economic instability and cyber-attacks were "dire" threats. A little less than half also named the number of refugees coming from Iraq and Syria as a "major" challenge.

But just one in three EU nationals put "tensions with Russia" in the same category.

Pew interviewed 11,494 people in April and May from France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US.

The 10 European countries account for 80 percent of the EU population and 82 percent of its combined GDP.

Pistol

New York Times says: Congress should secretly suspend Second Amendment rights

Second amendment rights
A New York Times editorial advocates for a new law allowing a secret court to take away citizens' right to own a gun at the discretion of the federal government.

Citing the Orlando terror attack that left 50 dead including the shooter and 53 wounded at a gay nightclub, the piece advocates for a "no-buy" list similar to "no-fly" lists. Under the law, suspected terrorists would not be able to buy a gun. In an attempt to ensure the integrity of the lists and preserve due process, the author proposes people only be added to this no-buy list after a secret court rules they are ineligible, similar to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court hearings where the federal government obtains permission to wiretap. Under this proposal, an American who has never been convicted of a crime could be denied their right to buy a gun simply because a secret court decided it should be that way.

The piece is written by Adam Winkler, a U.C.L.A. School of Law professor. Winkler argues the secret court is a good idea because the same kind of court is already used for government surveillance, and historically, the U.S. has committed worse rights violations such as Japanese internment camps.


Comment: What a set of arguments! The U.S. has already enacted worse laws - so this one wouldn't be so bad by comparison?


Comment: What mind-numbing page space filler from the New York Times these days. Could it be that the real and intended purpose of such a proposal is to drive up gun sales?

From: The number one driver of gun sales in America

From the White House
we hear that:
President Obama's spokesman said Thursday that the record number of Americans seeking to buy guns in recent weeks is "a tragedy" that the White House is at a loss to explain.

"The more that we see this kind of violence on our streets, the more people go out and buy guns," said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. "That is both ironic and tragic."
But what if this is all bullshit? If it is common knowledge that Obama's incessant calls for more control legislation only drive up the purchasing of guns then why keep harping on about more gun control? Could it be that the people who pull the strings behind the White House are that clueless? If this induced demand is intentional, then this begs the question: Why might the puppet masters be manipulating the masses into buying guns (not that having one used judiciously and for protection is necessarily a bad idea)?

Is it possible that the snakes in power anticipate a situation in the US where they actually want a well armed public battling the Police State apparatus and Federal forces? And if so, why? Or, a more simple explantation, the puppet masters still anticipate major social unrest and are trying to do all they can to maintain their positions via their own firepower and therefore really just want less guns available for when that happens - but are going about it in a counterproductive way?



Eye 1

National Defense Authorization Act 2017 includes draft for women & indefinite detention of American citizens

loss of freedom
© Freethoughtproject.com
The U.S. Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2017 with provisions that will force women to sign up for potential military draft and continues the practice of indefinite detention.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate approved a $602 billion annual defense budget that President Obama has promised to veto because the bill does not allow for the closing of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Senate Bill 2943, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, passed with a voteof 85 Senators in favor and 13 against.

Light Saber

Matt Damon: Whether or not life is a simulation, what we do matters

Matt Damon
It's been almost 20 years since Matt Damon's breakout role in 'Good Will Hunting' and now he's back at MIT giving a commencement address.

Saying 'I'm not running for office', he slams Donald Trump, the media and bankers.

There is a theory that everything around us is simply a simulation that beings, a lot more intelligent than us, have created.

Matt Damon, and even one of the greatest minds in modern time, the person who goes against the oil and power industry head to head, believe that there is "one in a billion chance" that reality is not a simulation.

However weird this is, it changes nothing in addition to the fact that what we do matters, it changes the outcome.

That's why it's necessary to know about the ways corporations, governments and other EGO feeding, greedy systems rob the world and shred humanity.


Attention

9 facts about society that should shock and disturb us, but instead we view as normal

traffic
When you take a moment and look around at the world, things can seem pretty messed up. Take 5 or 10 minutes and watch the 6 o'clock news.

Chances are, the entire time, all you are going to see is war, conflict, death, illness, etc.

Sure, this is part of the mainstream media's content strategy to sell drama and keep people focused on it, but besides that, it reveals something real about the current state of our world.

I believe Michael Ellner said it well in his quote: "Just look at us. Everything is backwards, everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, psychiatrists destroy minds, scientists destroy truth, major media destroys information, religions destroy spirituality and governments destroy freedom."

Sheriff

Send your children to jail: Mad Sheriff Arpaio opens a summer program for kids

kids jail program
© KPHO/KTVKKids that participated in the T.O.U.G.H. Tents program in 2015.
Joe Arpaio, a relentless self-promoter who christened himself "The World's Toughest Sheriff," has invited Phoenix-area parents to send their grade school and teenage kids to jail for the summer.

"Summer Stars" is a two-day program supposedly intended to teach impressionable youngsters about the rigors of life behind bars, thereby deterring them from bad behavior. The program will be held in two sessions - June 23-24, and July 21-22 - and will be open for students from ages 8 to 18.

Arpaio's department says that the experience is "designed to show young people the realities of jail life and prevent them from getting involved in illegal activity," reports KTVK News in Phoenix. Participants will wear prisoner attire, work as inmate laborers, eat jail food, sleep in tents or bunks, and be required to follow jail regulations. Arpaio inexplicably assures parents that the temporary inmates "will have some fun, too" - which to any informed resident of Maricopa County would seem like a threat, rather than an assurance, especially to parents of children who are, or who might be mistaken to be, of Latino ancestry. After all, there is a very good chance that the senescent sheriff may soon find himself facing felony charges before a federal court for abusing people of that description.