Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Houston man killed for grabbing last piece of chicken

Reinaldo Cardoso Rivera
© Houston Police DepartmentReinaldo Cardoso Rivera, 38, of Houston is accused of stabbing a friend because the man grabbed the last piece of chicken.
One man is dead and another is accused of fatally stabbing him — all over a piece of chicken.

Reinaldo Cardoso Rivera, 38, of Houston was charged late last week with murder in connection with the Friday death of Darwin Perez Gonzalez, 34, of Houston.

Five men had been making dinner and drinking in an apartment in western Houston. But police said Rivera became angry when Gonzalez took the last piece of chicken.

An argument escalated into a fist fight that was taken out into the parking lot of the complex. Rivera then stabbed Gonzalez and fled the scene with the knife, police said.

Rivera later returned to the scene and admitted to police that he had stabbed Gonzalez. Rivera, whose case file says he is not a U.S. citizen, was arrested, charged and is being held in Harris County jail on $200,000 bond.

His next court date is Dec. 16.

"I just felt that a human life taken over a piece of chicken is ridiculous," neighbor John McDonald told KPRC-TV, Houston.

Red Flag

Egyptian president Sisi's first visit to UK met with protest

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© Charles Platiau / ReutersEgyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a military ceremony in the courtyard of the Invalides in Paris, November 26, 2014.
Hundreds of protesters are expected to flood the streets of central London on Wednesday as Egyptian president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi arrives at Downing Street to meet with Prime Minister David Cameron.

The meeting will go ahead despite mounting criticism of Egyptian human rights abuses and mass death sentences.

Since Sisi's visit was first announced in June, a day after an Egyptian court handed the deposed president, Mohammed Morsi, a death sentence, critics have questioned why Cameron would invite a "blood-soaked dictator" to the UK.

Comment: Could this meeting be really about keeping Egypt under the West's influence and away from Russia? Interestingly, this visit and protest coincides with the "Million Man March".


Quenelle - Golden

Europe is becoming 'disenchanted' with Obama over the US' blatant Russophobia

Obama
© AP Photo/ Evan Vucci
European leaders and the White House do not exactly see eye to eye on a number of issues, particularly when it comes to Russia, but there is a major change in this dynamic: European officials and media have lately started blaming Barack Obama directly for what they see as bad decision-making on the part of the US president.

"For years, Europe treated Mr. Obama as virtually untouchable, an off-limits symbol of positive change in America," journalist John Vinocur asserted. In 2008, the Old World was infatuated with a young US senator and his message of change that all could contribute to and should definitely believe in.

Seven years and many unfulfilled promises later this affair is apparently over and "the continent is growing disenchanted with Barack Obama," Vinocur noted. Moreover, "there is a willingness in Europe to place blame on [the US president] himself."

Comment: The U.S. sees the world as its chessboard, and the people as their pawns. Russia sees the world as a set of potentially mutually beneficial relationships. Nowhere has this become more obvious than in the Syrian conflict, where Putin and his team are proving that the U.S. was never interested in fighting a war on terror, but was using terrorism to advance their imperial pipe-dreams. So perhaps Europe is starting to wake up to the US' duplicity. But the propaganda machine is in overdrive because this waking up, of course, is unacceptable to the incompetent authoritarians who rely on the U.S. for their 'legitimacy':

Inside the NATO Troll Factory: Meet Finnish troll-doctor Torsti Sirén, who hates Sott.net


V

Police plan to lockdown Westminster ahead of 'Million Mask March'

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© Paul Hackett / ReutersA protester stands in Trafalgar Square as thousands gathered in central London for the annual bonfire night protest led by the hacktivist collective Anonymous, in London November 5, 2014.
Thousands of extra police officers and rigid public order rules will be brought into Westminster on Thursday night over fears the London leg of the global "Million Mask March" against austerity and state surveillance could spill over into civil unrest.

Organized by the global activist network Anonymous, the march has become an annual event. Last year's protest saw scuffles between police and activists, who wore the distinctive Guy Fawkes masks adopted as the movement's motif.

The Metropolitan Police claims demonstrators will target particular businesses and may cause damage to property.

It says it has briefed potentially targeted firms and has promised a "significant policing operation."

Comment: Anonymous plots next Nov. 5th Million Mask March in UK - world-wide demonstrations expected


Snakes in Suits

Blaming the victim: Principal says sexist dress code helps men not treat women as sex objects

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Try focusing on the boys: At one South Carolina high school, 100 teens wore scarlet letter A's to protest the idea that they are a 'distraction' to male classmates
A Christian high school principal is being criticized for an op-ed where he says dress codes imposed on young women help protect the "gift" of their virginity, which should be preserved for their "one and only."

The piece, published in MLive by Jim Bazen, principal of Plymouth Christian High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan, suggests women and girls can't understand the "more visual" male mind so they need dress codes demanding modesty from them.

"The only way you can help young men not treat young ladies as sex objects is by telling the young ladies to cover up! A young man will not think of a respectfully dressed young woman as a 'sex object' but is more likely to see her for who she is," Brazen writes. "A young man may have no intention to lust, yet when an immodestly dressed girl passes him in the hall, he will think sexual thoughts."

The notion that women are responsible for the actions of men by dressing a certain way has been discredited as victim blaming.

"This idiot should be fired immediately. We don't need [misogynistic] creeps like him punishing young women because he can't control his libido, and doesn't ask the parents of the boys to simply treat girls with respect," one commenter wrote. "What about DEMANDING the boys do so? What about having classroom time teaching our young men that women ARE NOT OBJECTS to be oogled at by male students and teachers."

Comment: This is another instance of an authority figure casting blame on women for something they have no control over. It is the responsibility of all men to control their sexual urges and not treat women as sex objects, no matter how provocatively dressed a woman is. This is one step away from blaming a woman when she's raped for wearing a skirt and high heels. Sadly, the culture of misogyny and patriarchal entitlement is still alive and well in the US, in a time where society should have progressed beyond such outdated behaviors.


Sheriff

Quentin Tarantino: 'I will not be intimidated' in non-apology to police unions

Quentin
© © Kena Betancur / AFPDirector Quentin Tarantino attends a protest to denounce police brutality in Manhattan October 24, 2015 in New York City.
Famed film director Quentin Tarantino did not walk back any of his comments regarding police killings despite persistent rumors he would apologize publicly in the face of boycott threats by police unions. "What I said was the truth," he said.

Ten days after making brief remarks at an anti-police brutality march, Tarantino gave The Los Angeles Times his first public statement. "All cops are not murderers. I never said that. I never even implied that," said the director of Django Unchained.

Taking part in the Rise Up October protest against police brutality, in New York City's Washington Square Park on October 24, Tarantino told the crowd: "I wanna give my time to the families, however, I do just wanna say, what am I doin' here? I'm doin' here, because I am a human being with a conscience. And when I see murder, I cannot stand by, and I have to call the murdered the murdered, and I have to call the murderers the murderers. Now I wanna give my time to the families. Thank you very much."


The National Association of Police Officers, a lobbying organization representing 241,000 law enforcement officers and over 2,000 police units, as well as 11,000 retired cops and some 100,000 others indirectly associated individuals, took offense to the "murderers" characterization.

Comment: Moral obligations of police departments are slipping into the abyss. While some are still within the boundaries of law and justice, others are taking down the system and obliterating citizen protections, sinking civil rights to its lowest level. Tarantino is making a courageous stand, but in fairness, would he still be doing this without his upcoming movie? Perhaps. He seems like a moral kind of guy. Point: Cops die in shoot outs and such. This risk is part of their job. They signed up for this possibility when they joined the force and went through their training. Innocent victims, of police brutality and trigger-happy cops, did not.


Airplane

South Sudan: Cargo plane with Russian crew crash-lands, up to 10 reported dead

Cargo plane
© Alexey Filippov / RIA Novost
A plane has crash-landed near South Sudan's airport shortly after taking off. The aircraft had seven passengers and five Russian crewmembers on board, but only two people survived, local media reports.

The eyewitness saw aircraft lying across the White Nile River, Reuters reports. According to the local radio station's Twitter feed, the crash occurred around 800 meters from Juba airport.

A woman and seven children are among the victims, the National Courier reported.

The plane was headed to Paloich in the Upper Nile region, a source told the local National Courier media outlet.

People

Palestinians aren't trying to go to heaven — they are fleeing hell

Israeli soldiers stand as palestinian walk
© Yotam Ronen/Activestills.orgIsraeli soldiers stand as palestinian walk in the center of the Israeli-occupied city of Hebron, on October 29, 2015. Stabbing attack, Hebron, 29.10.2015 The city of Hebron has seen escalating violence in last weeks.
Despite what Israeli leaders may have you believe, Islamic fundamentalism is not the driving force behind the latest violence.
"Say a prayer before leaving your house, dress in your best clothing. Brush your hair well, and smile for the camera. You may end up as another poster on the bleeding walls of the city. No one is safe from their guns."
— A young Palestinian from Silwan, Jerusalem, October 2015.
This quote was written on Facebook a number of weeks ago by a young Palestinian who has been the subject of dozens of arrests and has spent much of his life in jail, due to political persecution as a result of his participation in protests. Pay attention to the wording: the author treats leaving the house as a nearly-suicidal act, viewing death as an inevitable force in the hands of the (Israeli) ruler. For him, the only means of defense is a short prayer before leaving home. This is where the role of religion begins and ends in the collective consciousness of resistance among most young Palestinians.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, sums it up neatly.

The sharper ones among you — that is, those who do not think that the news starts and ends with Channel 2′s cheap propaganda — may have noticed that despite the relative "calm" of the last two weeks in Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem have been on fire for over a year. The fact that more than 70 Palestinians were killed in October (among them dozens killed in the Gaza Strip) testifies more than anything to the fact the current resistance to the occupation will not end soon.

Bad Guys

Rupert Murdoch takes over National Geographic: Significant layoffs of award-winning staff

National Geographic
© National Geographic
In the opening days of the month when National Geographic magazine is scheduled to be turned over to 21st Century Fox, the magazine's employees were told to stand by their phones to wait for calls - one by one - to come to Human Resources to learn the fate of their jobs.

A memo sent to all staff on Monday from CEO Gary Knell told the magazine's employees to return to Washington to Geographic's headquarters if possible to wait for an eMail on Tuesday which would give them more information about their employment status.

"No one knows how many will be axed today," a source inside National Geographic told News Photographer magazine this morning. "The staff is sitting by their phones, waiting to be called down to HR."

In a Tweet mid-day today, National Geographic photo editor Sherry L. Brukbacher confirmed that she is one of the staff members who've been let go.

"Experienced National Geographic Photo Editor looking for employment. Fox merger elim [sic] many today. Will miss my amazing colleagues!" - @SBrukbacher. She also Tweeted that she won't be talking to reporters. "Too much respect for my many wonderful colleagues," she wrote.

National Geographic picture editor Kim Hubbard was one of those impacted by today's layoffs. She told her friends in a posting on Facebook, "Thank you for the calls and messages on what has been a surreal and sad day. Over the past five years I've worked with some amazing photographers, designers, writers, editors, and scientists on stories that I am incredibly proud of. Now I'm looking ahead to the next big thing (if you know what that is, please let me know! I'll be with Nat Geo until Jan 31st."

An eMail sent out this morning from Nancy Lee Ott, one of National Geographic Creative's picture editors, to the magazine's photographers confirmed that she was one of the staff let go. Ott's eMail today told the NGS photographers, "You have been the light of my life these last 28 years." She started in the magazine's photography lab with 35mm film and up until today's layoffs she worked in the magazine's image catalog collection.

Veteran National Geographic photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols also left the magazine today. Nichols told The Guardian, "I was getting ready to retire in January. So for me this is kind of a gift. But it's a sad day for my friends who were not as ready." He started at the Geographic in 1996.

Among those who were the first to be let go on Tuesday morning, according to our source, was also one of the magazine's top picture editors and one of the magazine's page designers who - according to several photographers - was "the best designer" on staff.

Extinguisher

Fukushima disaster just keeps getting uglier and uglier

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As time passes, a bona fide message emerges from within the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster scenario, and that message is that once a nuclear power plant loses it, the unraveling only gets worse and worse until it's at its worst, and still, there's no stopping it. Similar to opening Pandora's box, there's no stopping a ferocious atom-splitting insanity that knows no end.

Four years of experience with Fukushima provides considerable evidence that splitting atoms to boil water is outright unmitigated madness. After all, nuclear power plants are built to boil water; yes, to boil water; it's as simple as that, but yet at the same time it's also extraordinarily complex. Conversely, solar and wind do not boil water and are not complex and never deadly (Germany knows).

Comment: Perhaps the this will help us to form a final analysis of the disaster:
Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato has expressed anger at the central government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., saying both "betrayed" the people of Fukushima Prefecture with repeated assurances about the safety of nuclear power plants.

"We feel we were betrayed [by the central government and TEPCO]," Sato said during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun on Thursday, nearly a month after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and the outbreak of a series of accidents at the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant.

"The central government and TEPCO repeatedly told us, 'Nuclear power plants are safe because they've got multiple protection systems,' and, 'Earthquake-proof measures have been taken,'" Sato said.

"TEPCO used the term 'beyond our expectations' [to describe the natural disaster], but they can't establish effective policies for nuclear energy safety unless they take into account things that are beyond their expectations," Sato said.

Sato pointed out that more than 100,000 evacuees remain in a state of high anxiety, worrying about radiation exposure every day. "I want to cry out: 'Do the government and TEPCO understand our feelings?'"

Asked about a plan to build a seventh and eighth reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, Sato flatly rejected the idea, saying even to suggest it was "unforgivable."