Society's ChildS


Battery

Russia cuts Crimean dependence on Ukraine with Kerch Strait power bridge

power lines
© Sergey Malgavko / Sputnik
Mainland Russia has started supplying electricity to Crimea after the first power bridge to the peninsula was completed across the Kerch Strait. Crimea has had a partial blackout since November 22, after power lines in Ukraine were sabotaged.

The energy bridge will deliver 200 MW of electricity a day from the Krasnodar region in mainland Russia starting from Thursday. Another 200 MW will be delivered by a second power cable expected to be connected by December 20.

This will cover 80-90 percent of Crimea's energy needs, according to Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak. He says another 400 MW energy bridge will be constructed by May 2016.

According to Novak, Crimean authorities will have to decide how to allocate the 200 MW between consumers. Eastern Crimea will be the first to receive electricity from Russia, mainly the cities of Kerch and Feodosia as well as 180 other settlements.

Crimea is currently facing a serious shortage of electricity as a result of bomb blasts which destroyed two pylons in Ukraine on November 22. The power lines were crucial for delivering electricity to the peninsula. The situation was complicated after anti-Russian activists, engaged in the so-called blockade of Crimea, prevented repair crews from restoring energy supplies.

The Russian Energy Minister accused Ukraine of not repairing the sabotaged power lines supplying energy to the Crimean peninsula for "political reasons". In response Moscow is considering halting coal supplies to Ukraine, he added.

Immediately after the blackout, Crimean authorities declared a state of emergency and put in place a power delivery schedule. The regional government said that the attack deprived about 1.9 million people of electricity and that the state of emergency would be lifted only after the energy supply to the peninsula has been fully restored.

Comment: Once again Russia thwarts Ukrainian dreams of manipulating Crimea back into its arms.


Stock Up

Gazprom announces $2.32bn tender to build gas pipeline to China

Gazprom pipe
© Aleksey Nikolskyi / Sputnik
Russia's Gazprom has offered a tender to construct an 822 kilometer section of the 3,246 kilometer Power of Siberia gas pipeline connecting Russia and China.

Gazprom's overall investment in the pipeline is expected to reach about $12 billion. Russia's gas monopoly expects to finish the 822 km in two and a half years.
Gazprom map
© gazprom.com
"The company that will win the tender is unlikely to participate in Gazprom's European projects," one of the potential bidders told Vedomosti.

"The winner will have to relocate equipment, people and other resources to build the pipeline to China. He's likely to lack time and resources to work on several fronts," the source added.

Light Saber

Whistleblower Alabama cops leak massive coverup of planting guns, drugs on nearly 1,000 black men for years

Dothan Cops
© Alabama Justice ProjectCarlton Ott, Clark Rice, Steve Hamm, Steven Parrish, David Jay, Michael Magrino, Dewayne Herring, Andy Hughes, Gary Coleman and Scott Smith.
Leaked documents reveal that an Alabama police department planted drugs and guns on innocent black men for years, and prosecutors helped cover it up

In one of the most shocking cases of badge abuse ever exposed, the Alabama Justice Project revealed that a ring of corrupt cops in the Dothan Police Department planted drugs and guns on hundreds of young black men for over a decade, in most cases resulting in their imprisonment. Their actions were aided by supervisors and covered up by the district attorney.

All of the cops were members of a racist Neoconfederate organization. Many of those involved have been promoted and now hold high positions in law enforcement, with two attending the FBI academy and one holding a position as adjunct professor at Troy University's Criminal Justice Program.

While the corrupt cops advanced their careers, the victims of their scheme were sentenced to prison and some still languish there today. It is believed that over 1,000 men were wrongfully convicted from planted drugs and weapons, while the district attorney's office raked in millions of dollars from court fees and the pre-trial diversion program.

In 1998, several honorable officers in the Dothan PD witnessed their colleagues' criminal behavior and tried to expose them, managing to initiate an internal investigation. However, the investigation was covered up by superiors and the district attorney. Since that time, awareness of police brutality and corruption has grown exponentially, and the whistleblowers believe there is now a better chance at serving justice and freeing those wrongfully imprisoned.

Comment: Dothan is just one small city in the the state. According to the Sentencing Project, from 1998 to the present, the Alabama prison population grew by about 10,000. These wrongfully convicted men would represent 10% of the increase, not to mention the profits their lives gave to corporations. It's jaw-dropping that these civil and human rights abuses are allowed to go on and on and on... for money.


America: Enter the biggest prison system in history


See also:


Pistol

2015 sees criminal charges against killer cops triple

filming cops police
According to a new report from ABC News the number of law enforcement officers who were charged with murder or manslaughter for actions that happened while on duty has tripled this year. While the average nationwide number of killer cops who are actually charged with their crime has remained pretty consistent at around five per year, so far in 2015 there have been fifteen sets of charges against cops who killed while on the job. The most likely reason being given for this is the number of cases being caught on videotape.

However, I do not think this is completely accurate. The surveillance state and private security systems have been in regular use for quite some time now, meaning that many of the killings by police were likely caught on video in recent years, but just never released to the public. The difference now is that citizens are starting to record these deadly encounters and are releasing the videos before police have a chance to confiscate the evidence to cover up their crimes. And so it is individuals and not private businesses or government agencies who are making a difference. Our trust in those institutions to work against their own best interests to insure justice is diminishing enough that people are standing up and taking responsibility to spread the truth, and the results are just starting to pour in. And it is this new cultural attitude, not the video footage itself, that is making all of the difference.

Cow

Turks fling 'cow dung' at President Erdogan and mull life without Russian gas

Turkish protesters
© Umit Bektas / Reuters
The Turkish opposition has given the country's leader a cold shower, telling President Erdogan to heat his palace with dung instead of gas after he stated that Turkish people are used to suffering and can do without Russian supplies.

Answering a question about Russia possibly stopping supplies of natural gas to Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turks "are accustomed to suffering."

The current crisis in Russian-Turkish relations is a result of a Turkish F-16 fighter jet shooting down a Russian Su-24M bomber in Syrian airspace, which prompted Moscow to introduce harsh economic sanctions against Ankara.

"As you know, we have not lived with natural gas our whole lives. We all know how long it has been since we began using natural gas. ... Moreover we will not be doomed if we cannot acquire Russian gas," Turkish daily Today's Zaman cited Erdogan as saying while returning home on December 1 from a climate conference in Paris.

Comment: Turkey is in a world of hurt. Will Erdogan be able to hold on to power much longer?


Stormtrooper

Israeli soldier drops knife, forces Palestinian girl to pick it up prior to her arrest

Israeli soldier forces knife on Palestinian girl
© Electronic Intifada
A video has emerged apparently showing an Israeli soldier dropping a knife on the ground and forcing a terrified Palestinian girl to pick it up before she is arrested.

The video was circulated widely in Palestinian media and on social networks on Tuesday, the same day that two more Palestinian teenagers were shot dead by Israeli occupation forces, who claimed that the youths had attempted to carry out stabbings. Israel further escalated violence on Wednesday by carrying out a revenge demolition of a Palestinian home in Jerusalem.

Forced to pick up knife

The Palestinian news outlet Donia Al-Watan said the video was recorded by a Palestinian who witnessed the incident at an Israeli military checkpoint south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. Several outlets identified the girl in the video as 14-year-old Sabreen Mujahid Sanad. The 3-minute video appears to have been filmed from a vehicle stopped at the checkpoint. At the beginning, a man in civilian clothes can be seen speaking to the girl next to a white truck. Israeli soldiers are standing nearby and giving orders to others.


The girl is not restrained by the soldiers and walks toward the cab of the white truck. At 1:30, one of the soldiers throws what appears to be a knife onto the ground.

The girl, with her arms raised near her chest, trembles. The soldier then appears to order her to bend down and pick up the knife. She kneels down and picks it up, and then appears to talk to the soldier as she holds it. As she kneels, a second soldier aims his weapon at her. A third soldier then approaches and leads her away with her hands behind her back.

Comment: How utterly terrifying for this young girl and all of the victims of Israel's violent occupation. And the world just sits back, does nothing, condoning the genocide of Palestinian people.

Psychopathic Israel: Relentlessly brutalizing millions of Palestinians for decades


Newspaper

We don't really know what is happening

Continuing education picture
And, believe it or not, this is rather good news. I'll explain.

We all like to know what's happening in the world, and for good reason... understanding our surroundings is essential to survival. We instinctively seek information... we need information. There is, however, a problem that we face:

No matter how much "news" you consume, you won't really know what's going on in the world.

We can't know, because 'the news' is half illusion, provided by government-dependent corporations that are paid to keep you watching and to keep you joined to the status quo.

Black Magic

Documents show that an innocent man was 'mistakenly' imprisoned and tortured at Guantanamo Bay for 13 years

Guantanamo Bay

After 13 years of holding him in an inhumane and lawless prison,
US officials admitted that Mustafa al-Aziz al-Shamiri should have never been in Guantanamo Bay, and that he was detained as the result of a mistaken identity.

"It was previously assessed that YM-434 [al-Shamiri] also was an al-Qa'ida facilitator or courier, as well as a trainer, but we now judge that these activities were carried out by other known extremists with names or aliases similar to YM-434's," a newly declassified document revealed.

"From the onset, he has demonstrated a consistent positive attitude towards life after Gitmo. He has a strong desire to obtain an education in order to provide for a future spouse that his family has already located for him," al-Shamiri's personal representative told reporters.

Comment: So it took 13 years - 13 years! - for the U.S. government to determine that Mustafa al-Aziz al-Shamiri was an innocent man, and not deserving of the imprisonment, degradation, and torture that this soul was subject to. Does anyone on God's good Earth still really think that Guantanamo was established to employ justice, or security? No. Its whole raison d'etre is to maintain the pretense of fighting a legitimate 'war on terror,' instilling terror on citizens (look what we can do to you with impunity!), and making the American people ultimately complicit in the barbarous acts of its government. Guantanamo Bay should not only be shut down, but everyone having anything to do with its dealings (post-911) should be tried and imprisoned for the crimes that have been perpetrated there -Including our legislative and executive branches or government. That would be real justice.

See also:


Pistol

American university president urges students to 'end Muslims'

Falwell
© AFPIslamophobian: Dr. Jerry Falwell, Jr, President of Liberty University
The president of a university in the US state of Virginia has urged college students there to be armed and kill Muslims following the recent mass shooting in California.

"I've always thought if more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walk in and kill," said Jerry Falwell, Jr., president of the Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

"I just wanted to take this opportunity to encourage all of you to get your permit. We offer a free course," Falwell told a large formal assembly at the school on Friday. "Let's teach them a lesson if they ever show up here."

The offensive comments came after Muslim communities in the US condemned Wednesday's massacre in San Bernardino, California, urging the public not to blame Islam or Muslims.

Comment: Mr. Falwell is an example of a societal trigger in motion, a perfect upshot of the ramp up of Islamophobia in the US.

Publicized circumstances of and around the San Bernardino shootings are extremely suspicious and follow a pattern of manipulation and distraction to achieve a political and social end, typically employing manipulated patsies. The verdict is still out on this latest tragedy but it smacks of false flag distraction, sucking up media attention for political purposes. Mr. Falwell is less than astute. Reckless words, indeed.


Dollars

Don't pay that surprise medical bill

After heart surgery, a couple gets a $30,000 cardiologist's invoice. Can others avoid the same fate?

heart illustration
© Dmitriip / Shutterstock
When Susan Rosalsky was hired as an English instructor at SUNY Orange last year, she was elated. After several years of unemployment, she and her husband, Michael Trost, had been eating through their savings and 401Ks. Better yet, the job came with good health insurance through New York's Empire Plan and United Healthcare. Rosalsky signed herself, Trost, and their daughter up for the plan.

"I thought we were out of [hot] water," she said.

Comment: 79 Million Americans Struggle to Pay Medical Bills