Society's Child

Fear of Trump 'outrage' led to UK dropping objection to death penalty for IS suspects

RT
Tue, 09 Oct 2018 20:22 UTC

The high court has been told that UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid, did not seek assurances from the US that two IS fighters suspects would not face the death penalty, to avoid "political outrage" in the Trump administration.

The allegation came as the high court in London heard an application on behalf of the mother of El Shafee Elsheikh, who along with Alexanda Kotey, faces prosecution over their alleged involvement in terrorist group, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). Maha Elgizouli's application questions the legality of the Home Office's deal to provide evidence to US prosecutors.

Edward Fitzgerald QC, representing Elgizouli alleges that Sir Kim Darroch, the British Ambassador in Washington, had warned UK Home Secretary Javid that seeking assurances over the death penalty of the two suspects would only provoke "something close to outrage" among US President Donald Trump's top aides, namely US Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state and James Mattis, the US defense secretary.

Gender madness: Trans student barred from all locker rooms, left in the open at school shooter drill

RT
Tue, 09 Oct 2018 15:37 UTC

LGBTQ groups have criticized a Virginia public school for leaving a transgender student unprotected during a lockdown drill. While others hid in boys' and girls' locker rooms, teachers argued over where to hide the trans student.

After a spate of school shootings earlier this year inspired copycat threats at Virginia middle schools, area school districts began scheduling "lockdown drills" to put parents' minds at ease. Like fire drills, such pantomimes only go so far to prepare for real, unscripted emergencies. Sometimes a real emergency isn't even required, as one transgender student in Stafford, Virginia discovered last month.

Students at Stafford County public schools are instructed to seek shelter in the middle school's locker rooms during an active shooter drill. The school's lone transgender student was, however, singled out, barred from both male and female locker rooms and made to sit in the gym bleachers while teachers debated what to do with her. She was finally moved to a hallway between the locker rooms, where teachers presumably stopped short of cleaving her in two. Equality Stafford, a local LGBTQ rights group, reported the incident.

The Stafford incident is a warning of what happens when signaling one's virtue outpaces showing common sense. As teachers debated the best way to avoid hurting anyone's feelings, they left the transgender student in an extremely exposed position - easy pickings should a real shooter have been present.

Palestinian victim wins compensation from Dutch supplier of Israeli attack dogs

Adri Nieuwhof
The Electronic Intifada
Mon, 08 Oct 2018 19:59 UTC

© Wagdi Eshtayah / APA images
A dog is used by Israeli soldiers to attack a Palestinian protesting the expropriation of land in the village of Kafr Qaddum in the occupied West Bank, 16 March 2012. Dutch firm Four Winds K9 has supplied Israel with dogs for more than 20 years.

A Dutch company has agreed to compensate a Palestinian who was seriously injured by the attack dogs it supplied to the Israeli military.

The settlement is the outcome of a civil lawsuit filed by Hamzeh Abu Hashem against Four Winds K9 and its directors in late 2017.

The company agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to Abu Hashem towards his recovery although it continues to deny legal liability because the Israeli army trained the dogs. Four Winds K9 "regrets the incident" and the damage done and considers the payment a "gesture of good will," according to Dutch newspaper NRC.

This is "the first time a Dutch firm has paid for violence in the occupied Palestinian territories," Abu Hashem's lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld told the newspaper.

Comment:

Nikki Haley has up to $1 million in debt as she steps down as UN ambassador

Andrew Brown and Andy Shain abrown
The Post and Courier
Tue, 09 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC

© AP / Evan Vucci
President Trump speaks during a meeting with outgoing US Ambassador Nikki Haley, Tuesday October 9, 2018

Nikki Haley's political capital and foreign policy credentials skyrocketed during her time as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but one aspect of the former South Carolina governor's life didn't get the same boost: her personal finances.

Federal ethics reports show Haley had debt from $525,000 to about $1.1 million in 2017.

She owed $25,000 to $65,000 on two credit cards since 2016. She listed a mortgage and a line of credit each for $250,000 to $500,000. She listed ranges of debt and income on the disclosure records.

She claimed to have $1,000 to $15,000 in the bank and earned roughly $10,000 last year with a month's salary as governor before she was confirmed as ambassador. She also listed that she made no money last year from her 2012 memoir "Can't is Not an Option."

Her earnings did not include her salary at the U.N., which is about $180,000 a year.

Comment: Trump accepts Nikki Haley's 'surprise' resignation as UN ambassador

Cristiano Ronaldo accusations are a dangerous test for #MeToo

Igor Ogorodnev
RT
Fri, 05 Oct 2018 18:40 UTC

Campaigners risk a furious backlash if they mete out the same rough justice to Cristiano Ronaldo as they did to less popular suspects, and charges of hypocrisy if they don't "believe" his accuser just because he is a sports icon.

Allegations concerning the Portuguese footballer are a magnitude more grave and specific than many that have already derailed lives and careers since the #MeToo campaign began a year ago. Woody Allen is being shunned due to 25-year-old charges of which he has been legally cleared, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faces public disgrace on the basis of a claim that lacks a place, date or any corroboration. Comedian Aziz Ansari lost his reputation for a single encounter that appeared to break no laws, while New York Review of Books editor Ian Buruma lost his job for merely publishing an article by a man accused of sexual abuse (who himself was pronounced not guilty in court).

'Don't do it'

Whereas many #MeToo incidents were lapses of social etiquette, Ronaldo is accused of an outright crime - assaulting and anally raping a woman in a hotel room. While new details will probably yet emerge and narratives will be contested, what German magazine Der Spiegel revealed last week is substantial and backed by what they say is "hundreds of documents."

Comment: Cristiano Ronaldo allegedly used 'fixers' to obstruct investigation into rape allegations made against him [Update]

10,000 people evacuated as Ukraine ammunitions depot rocked by massive explosions

RT
Tue, 09 Oct 2018 17:51 UTC

Up to three blasts per second rocked a munitions depot near the city of Chernigov in northern Ukraine. More than 10,000 people were evacuated from the area, which was put on lockdown for air and land travel.

The first reports of explosions at the arsenal in the town of Ichnia came in at about 3.30am. Five depots of the arsenal were still engulfed by the inferno in the afternoon.

'Presidential alert' text appeared to knock Pacific Northwest cell networks offline

Paul Roberts
Seattle Times
Wed, 03 Oct 2018 19:18 UTC

presidential text alert cell phone trump

© Lynne Sladky / The Associated Press
A "Presidential Alert" is displayed on a cellphone as electronic devices sounded off across the United States on Wednesday for a Federal Emergency Management Agency test.

Subscribers with several networks, notably AT&T and T-Mobile, reported being unable to download data or use their apps for hours soon after receiving a "presidential alert" test. AT&T blamed an unrelated hardware problem.

Cell phone networks across the Pacific Northwest were hit by a mysterious disruption this morning minutes after the inaugural "presidential alert" - although at least one cellphone provider insists the two events were not related.

For several hours Wednesday, subscribers with several networks, notably AT&T and T-Mobile, reported being unable to download data or use their apps soon after the text alert, which was sent at 11:18 a.m. Pacific Time.

CNN poll shows voters unimpressed with Democrats' handling of Kavanaugh hearing - trouble ahead in the midterms?

RT
Tue, 09 Oct 2018 17:25 UTC

© Roberto Schmidt / Agence France-Presse
A demonstrator displays a sign as he supports others in the steps of the US Capitol while being arrested as they protested against the appointment of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in Washington DC, on October 6, 2018.

Democrats thought they would capitalize on outrage over Kavanaugh's confirmation, but they were wrong, a new poll shows.

Pundits and Democratic strategists predicted that there would be electoral consequences for Republicans' support for Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual misconduct by several women - but a recent CNN poll suggests otherwise.

Comment:

Skyrocketing cancer: French islanders want Paris to accept responsibility for poisoning their land with pesticide

RT
Tue, 09 Oct 2018 13:53 UTC

In Martinique and Guadeloupe chlordecone pesticide was used in the banana industry between 1972 and 1993. Chlordecone’s toxic effects are likely to continue for generations to come, since an estimated 700 years are necessary for it to get cleaned from the soil.

French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe want Paris to take responsibility for harming their land with a toxic pesticide. Ruptly crew went to see its effects on the people, who suffer skyrocketing cancer and fertility problems.

Kepone, also called chlordecone, is a chemical, which was used in the past to kill insects. Just like closely related compounds DDT and Mirex, it proved to be a bad choice, since it doesn't degrade well in the environment, tends to accumulate in animals and causes various health problems. The chemical caused a health scare in the mid-1970s in the US and was promptly banned. The World Health Organization listed it as a possible carcinogen in 1979.

In Martinique and Guadeloupe chlordecone was used in the banana industry between 1972 and 1993, when it was finally banned by the local government. The contamination continued for three years after the chemical was banned on mainland France because plantation owners lobbied for an exception falsely claiming that there was no alternative. Chlordecone's toxic effects are likely to continue for generations to come, since an estimated 700 years are necessary for it to get cleaned from the soil.

Poll finds almost half of young Russians never heard of Stalinist purges

RT
Tue, 09 Oct 2018 15:32 UTC

A recent poll in Russia has revealed a very surprising fact - despite the ongoing campaign to immortalize the memory of the victims, almost half of young Russians claim that they have never heard of the Stalinist repressions.

The poll was conducted jointly by the government-run public opinion research center VTSIOM and the Gulag museum that has been operating in Russia since 2001. The research showed that while Russians in general were well informed about the horrible repressions that took place in the country in the first half of the 20th century, the picture was strikingly different for younger people.

When researchers asked all Russian citizens if they were aware of the Stalinist purges 80 percent gave a positive answer. But when the same question was addressed to people between 18 and 24 years of age, 47 percent of respondents answered that they had only learned about repressions from the poll itself.

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Society's Child

Fear of Trump 'outrage' led to UK dropping objection to death penalty for IS suspects

Gender madness: Trans student barred from all locker rooms, left in the open at school shooter drill

Palestinian victim wins compensation from Dutch supplier of Israeli attack dogs

Nikki Haley has up to $1 million in debt as she steps down as UN ambassador

Cristiano Ronaldo accusations are a dangerous test for #MeToo

10,000 people evacuated as Ukraine ammunitions depot rocked by massive explosions

'Presidential alert' text appeared to knock Pacific Northwest cell networks offline

CNN poll shows voters unimpressed with Democrats' handling of Kavanaugh hearing - trouble ahead in the midterms?

Skyrocketing cancer: French islanders want Paris to accept responsibility for poisoning their land with pesticide

Poll finds almost half of young Russians never heard of Stalinist purges

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