Society's ChildS


Gold Coins

Canadian Mint worker busted for smuggling gold nuggets using a common prison trick

Kelly Egan
Ottowa Citizen
Wed, 21 Sep 2016 13:53 UTC
gold bars
© Sebastian Derungs/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
An employee of the Royal Canadian Mint allegedly smuggled about $180,000 in gold from the fortress-like facility, possibly evading multiple levels of detection with a time-honoured prison trick.

Hiding the precious metal up his bum.

The case against Leston Lawrence, 35, of Barrhaven concluded in an Ottawa courtroom Tuesday. Justice Peter Doody reserved decision until Nov. 9 on a number of smuggling-for-cash charges, including theft, laundering the proceeds of crime, possession of stolen property and breach of trust.

The Uck! factor aside, the case was also an illuminating look at security measures inside the Mint, the building on Sussex Drive that produces hundreds of millions of gold coins annually for the federal Crown corporation.
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People

Protests, tear gas, cops injured after 'disabled, unarmed' black man shot dead by Charlotte police


RT
Wed, 21 Sep 2016 13:05 UTC
Police protests in Charlotte, NC
© Ryan Harris / YouTube
Details of Keith Lamont Scott's shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina, are in dispute as protests and clashes break out and police deploy tear gas. Officers say Scott aroused suspicion after being seen with a gun, but others claim all he had was a book.

At least 100 protesters in Charlotte, North Carolina clashed with police late Tuesday night following the deadly police shooting of 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott. Tear gas has been deployed and SWAT teams formed after reports of protesters throwing bottles.

Demonstrators began breaking into a nearby Walmart, smashing through several doors. Police later arrived and the protesters began to scatter. Officers are now on guard at the store.
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Pistol

Excessive force: Dashcam shows mentally-ill man shot 14 times as he flees Sacramento police


RT
Wed, 21 Sep 2016 12:50 UTC
Sacramento police dashcam video
© Entertainment 10 / YouTube
Sacramento police have released three dashcam videos and one surveillance video which show the pursuit and killing of 50-year-old Joseph Mann, who was shot 14 times by police.

Video and audio recordings were released by Sacramento Police Chief Sam Somers on Tuesday after mounting pressure from the mayor, members of the city council and Mann's family, who called for more information surrounding the July 11 shooting.

"It's unprecedented for us to release video prior to the adjudication process," Somers told reporters. "There are times that we're in today, sometimes it's important that we come out with this video or this audio.

"It's a very disturbing situation when you have to see someone lose their life and it's captured on video."
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Eye 2

Cash-strapped Daesh reportedly trafficking children and human organs through Turkish company


Sputnik
Tue, 20 Sep 2016 22:02 UTC
Daesh flag
© Reuters/Ali Hashisho
As Daesh continues to lose territory -- and therefore their means of collecting revenue through oil -- in Iraq and Syria, it is believed that the violent extremist group has resorted to trafficking children, and their own members' organs.

According to an Iraqi News report, the terror group has sold approximately 23 organs taken from their own injured or dead members to a Turkish organ trading organization, the same organization that they are also using to traffic children.

Special medical unit of the organization [ISIS] proceeded to steal human organs for about 23 [Daesh] militants of those who slept in the hospitals of Nineveh," a local source told the outlet. "What has been stolen from those members included the kidneys, intestines and more; they were transferred under tight control to [an] affiliated hospital on the outskirts of the city."

Comment: We can remind ourselves of this story the next time we hear about the US "accidentally" and "inadvertently" dropping a bomb on the individuals working to defeat ISIS.

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Attention

'End prison slavery!' 24,000+ inmates join nationwide jail strike causing lockdowns (VIDEO)


RT
Wed, 21 Sep 2016 02:23 UTC
Prison strike
© Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
More than 24,000 inmates in at least 40 prisons from over two dozen states have refused to follow orders, failing to report for work and causing prisons to go on lockdown, since the nationwide prison work strike began in early September.

From Alabama to Michigan to Texas, despite the isolation of prisons and a desire to cover-up news of the work stoppages by correctional departments, reports are leaking of widespread disruption at prisons.

The nationwide prison strike began September 9, when inmates refused to report for their prison jobs. It is becoming the largest prison strike in US history.

Comment: It seems like a complete overhaul of the prison system is in order.
See also: Bend the bars: US inmates organizing nationwide strike in protest of prison slavery

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Wolf

Dallas has a stray dog problem — about 9,000 of them, woman fatally attacked

Marisa Gerber
Los Angeles Times
Tue, 20 Sep 2016 18:38 UTC
killer dogs
© Guy Reynolds / Dallas Morning NewsStray dogs wander past apartments in south Dallas, where many residents fear the thousands of strays living in the area.
A deep growl came from the other side of Shaniqua Roland's front door.

She was pregnant at the time and headed to a doctor's appointment, but she knew she couldn't leave the house. Not with the dogs back.

For half an hour, as she tried to shoo them away, a pack of pit bulls snarled and snapped at her metal door. She thought of her sister, who'd recently lost a chunk of her calf in a dog attack. She'd see her doctor another day.

"It's crazy," Roland said, sighing. "I don't walk outside anymore. No way."

Across the low-income, predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods of southern Dallas, so many stray, sometimes vicious dogs roam the streets that many residents have given up on going outside without a bat or pipe for protection. Some carry pepper spray, others ride in golf carts to outpace the canine cliques.
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Laptop

Maine high school employs computer program after call for foreign language teacher yields no responses


RT
Tue, 20 Sep 2016 19:46 UTC
computers replacing teachers
© reuters
Foreshadowing a future crisis in teacher availability, a small central Maine high school seeking a teacher for French- and Spanish-language classes has come up with a radical solution: employ a computer program instead.

Madison Area Memorial High School, in the 4,800-person town of Madison, Maine, has turned to a Rosetta Stone program to teach the foreign languages after its call for a teacher yielded no responses. The school also hired an education technician to help oversee the class and the program's operation, according to the Morning Sentinel.

Despite posting the job in numerous places, no applicants answered, and the rural high school was left with few options, Principal Jessica Ward said.

"It was coming down to the wire and school was starting," Ward told the Sentinel. "Students were already scheduled for foreign language, and we can't just not offer it."

Comment: More schools may be facing such dilemmas as many teachers are leaving the profession and fewer students are signing up to replace them. A majority of teachers are stressed to the point of burnout, and it's no wonder considering the robotic experiment of Common Core, the police presence in schools and the difficulties posed by having a large majority of students under stress due to hunger and poverty.

In dark times - why teachers matter

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Airplane

Small plane crashes into home in Gilbert, Arizona

Morgan Tanabe
ABC15
Sat, 17 Sep 2016 07:57 UTC
Gilbert, Arizona plane crash
© KNXV
A pilot is being treated for minor burns and four skydivers escaped uninjured after a small plane crashed into a Gilbert home Saturday night.

The crash happened around 7:30 p.m. Saturday night near Ray and Gilbert roads.

An FAA spokesperson says the Cessna 182 plane crashed in the neighborhood during parachute operations.

Gilbert police say the small plane was carrying skydivers for the annual Constitution Fair.

The pilot is hospitalized with minor burns after landing half a mile away from where the plane went down, Gilbert fire officials said. Four skydivers ejected from the plane and landed safely.

According to officials, the pilot noticed flames on the wing before the plane went down. An FAA spokesperson said circumstances surrounding the crash are unclear at this time.

Two people inside the Gilbert home were able to get out unhurt after the plane crashed toward the back of the house.

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V

Entire Seattle high school football team takes a knee during national anthem


Q13 Fox
Fri, 16 Sep 2016 21:17 UTC
seattle football team kneels
© Seattle Times/Dean Rutz
The entire Garfield High School football team, including the coaches, took a knee during the national anthem Friday night before their game against West Seattle High on Friday night to protest "social injustices."

After the game, which Garfield won, Garfield High School head football coach Joey Thomas said that "the players decided to do this" to bring attention to "social injustices," emphasizing that it was "a player-driven" move and that his players plan to continue the practice during the anthem before every game "until they tell us to stop."

About four or five players on the West Seattle High School team also knelt during the anthem at the Southwest Athletic Complex in the West Seattle area.

Comment: See also:

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Airplane

'Dragon Lady' military plane crashes in California; 1 dead


RT
Tue, 20 Sep 2016 21:17 UTC
dragon lady plane
© US Air Force / ReutersA U-2 "Dragon Lady" reconnaissance aircraft
A Cold War-era spy plane nicknamed "Dragon Lady" has crashed in central California during a training flight, sparking a wildfire. Both pilots have ejected, but the US Air Force confirmed one was killed.

The U-2 spy plane went down in Sutter County, approximately 45 miles north of the state capital of Sacramento, local media reported.

The US Air Force has confirmed the crash, and later in the day said one of the pilots had died, while the other was injured.
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