Society's ChildS


Bomb

Amazon's new parental leave policy is good, and good public relations

Julia Greenberg
Wired
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 15:18 UTC
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Amazon has updated its parental leave plan. The retail giant has expanded paid maternity leave to up to 20 weeks for birth moms and added six weeks of paid leave for new parents regardless of gender.

As reported by The Seattle Times, this means that for the first time new dads at the company will be able to take time off following the birth (or adoption) of a child.The news comes just months after other tech giants, most notably Microsoft, Adobe, and Netflix, announced improved parental leave plans for their employees. Amazon, meanwhile, has faced public scrutiny over how it treats its employees following a scathing New York Times investigation that called its work culture into question. (Amazon and the Times later engaged in a very public back-and-forth over the fairness and accuracy of the story.)

Comment: We'd like to welcome Amazon, Microsoft, Adobe, and Netflix to the 21st century. According to Wikipedia, "In 2014, the International Labor Organization reviewed parental leave policies in 185 countries and territories, and found that all countries except two (the USA and Papau New Guinea) have laws mandating leave; laws vary in whether leave is paid by the employer or through social security." So while the USA still has no law requiring paternal leave, it appears some of the larger companies are now instituting their own policies, quite possibly only to avoid bad public relations, which of course hampers their profits.

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2 + 2 = 4

The extraordinary case of the Guevedoces


BBC News
Sun, 20 Sep 2015 14:11 UTC
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Catherine and his cousin Carla, Guevedoces in the Dominican Republic
The discovery of a small community in the Dominican Republic, where some males are born looking like girls and only grow penises at puberty, has led to the development of a blockbuster drug that has helped millions of people, writes Michael Mosley.

Johnny lives in a small town in the Dominican Republic where he, and others like him, are known as "Guevedoces", which effectively translates as "penis at twelve".
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Camcorder

ACLU obtains gov documents on Stingray surveillance spy tools - your cell phone is a bug


RT
Tue, 03 Nov 2015 05:02 UTC
stingray
© www.rt.com'intrusive' and 'secretive'
The ACLU has acquired the Justice Department's guidelines on the use of Stingray technology, showing the surveillance tools are capable of tracking targets, recording and listening in on calls - even of innocent parties - and bugging.

"The government is using intrusive new forms of technology to invade our privacy but it is shrouding its practices in secrecy, and Stingrays are a very poignant example of that," Linda Lye, senior staff attorney with the Northern California American Civil Liberties Union, told RT. "We shouldn't have to surrender our privacy merely by using the modern conveniences of daily modern life like a cell phone."

The documents confirm long-held suspicions that the controversial devices, which mimic cell phone towers and trick cell phones into thinking it is a legitimate tower, are capable of recording the numbers of a mobile phone's incoming and outgoing calls, as well as intercepting the content of voice and text communications.


Comment: There is currently no official transparency nor disclosure of the stingray operation and its usage capacity. In fact, prosecutors have agreed to drop cases rather than disclose information about the technology. Is this kind and depth of surveillance warranted? And, maybe equally important: what, exactly, happens to all that secretly collected data from both criminal targets and innocent third parties? We will most likely never know.

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Fire

US infrared satellite detected 'heat flash' over Sinai prior to Russian plane crash


RT
Tue, 03 Nov 2015 07:16 UTC
Sinai desert from Airbus A-321-200
© Doomych / WikipediaSinai desert from Airbus A-321-200
Just before a Russian passenger airliner crashed in Egypt's Sinai on Saturday, a US infrared satellite reportedly detected a heat flash in the same vicinity, indicating that an explosion may have happened on board.

The US intelligence community believes that a fuel tank or bomb may have been the source of the heat signature, NBC News reported. The same satellite ruled out a missile attack, as it didn't detect a heat trail that a rocket engine would have produced, the channel's source said.

The heat flash may not be related to the crash since the Sinai Peninsula is a volatile place with regular military activity, a Pentagon official told ABC News.

Comment: An exploding "fuel tank or bomb" or even meteor perhaps, could produce such a heat signature. See also: Russian Flight 9268 downed by extreme weather/meteor event?

On another note, if a U.S. satellite can track the heat trail of any missile fired from the ground, why haven't they come forward with any information about the alleged BUK missile that took down MH17? We guess their infrared sensors just don't work in Ukraine!

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Stock Down

Heartbreaking: Study estimates over 100,000 UK children will be homeless this Christmas


RT
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 17:40 UTC
homeless child in shelter
© Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters
More than 100,000 vulnerable children in Britain will wake up homeless on Christmas Day, a leading charity has revealed.

The report by homelessness charity Shelter found the number of children who will be homeless on Christmas morning has risen by more than 15,000 on last year. This is equivalent to four youngsters in every UK school.

It also found the number of children living in temporary accommodation is at the highest level since 2008, and is predicted to hit 105,251 by the end of 2015.

Since 2010, the year Prime Minister David Cameron first took office, the number of families living in bed and breakfast accommodation has more than trebled to almost 2,700, the report found.

Comment: It's truly heartbreaking to see so many children suffering from economic disparity and homelessness while the rich just keep on getting richer and richer. A government run by people with consciences would tax the excessively wealthy and the corporations to ensure that no child went hungry or homeless, especially at Christmas. See more:

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Stormtrooper

New Jersey cops beat a man bloody over parking infraction, their department says 'nothing wrong'


Filming Cops
Sat, 31 Oct 2015 23:06 UTC
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Phillip A. DuBose and his wife, Cheryl, sued the city, the Bridgeton Police Department and six police officers after a Feb. 20, 2013 traffic stop that left DuBose with a concussion, two orbital fractures, eye injuries, and numerous abrasions, according to court documents cited by the Press of Atlantic City.
Bridgeton city has paid half a million dollars to settle a court case filed by a couple that suffered abuse at the hands of local police two years ago. However, the department says the officers involved acted responsibly and exactly as they should have, that they engaged in "no wrongful conduct."


Comment: That's a terrible contradiction. The department settled the lawsuit for half a million dollars, but still maintains these officers 'acted responsibly and exactly as they should have?' If that's so, why the payout?


On February 20, 2013 Cheryl DuBose was hoping that the staff at the Bridgeton police station would be helpful. She had gone there looking for her husband. A police officer named Lieutenant J. Branch seemed to have some information about Phillip DuBose, but his attitude was far from helpful.

He asked: "Wanna see your husband, Missy?" Then he showed her photograph of her husband, which had been taken only hours ago; in it Philip's face was bruised and he was bleeding profusely. For Cheryl this was a complete shock.

In addition to this, the officers at the station made it extremely difficult for her to post her husband's bail. They asked her numerous times for her bank book and other documents. Branch is not the only officer who showed insensitivity towards the DuBoses that night.

Comment: So not only did they brutally assault this man over a parking infraction, they harassed him and his wife afterward. Then the 'thin blue line' comes down hard and defends the officers actions? Time and time again we see police behaving like childhood bullies, committing crimes in the process, and getting away with it.

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Sheriff

Ex-cop on trial for raping a teenage girl while on duty, other officers reportedly watched

Cassandra Fairbanks
The Free Thought Project
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 22:41 UTC
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Erasmo Mata, Jr. pictured right, is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a child
Trial is set to begin December 1, in the case of former Pharr police officer Erasmo Mata, Jr., accused of repeated first-degree felony sexual assaults of a child. A federal civil lawsuit filed with Texas Southern District Court back in May accused Mata of assaulting the minor five times, on five separate occasions, all while on duty. The suit alleges that the attacks took place in abandoned houses around the city as other Pharr police officers stood by and watched.

The lawsuit also accused the department of engaging in a cover-up to protect the officers from criminal charges, as well as not conducting a rape kit or immediately testing the evidence.

The lawsuit was filed against the officer, the City of Pharr, the Pharr Police Department and the Pharr police chief. Claims against the City of Pharr and the Pharr Police Chief Ruben Villescas were dismissed, however the motion to dismiss Mata was denied. The Pharr Police Department did an internal investigation, but the family claims Chief Villescas told them not to hire an attorney and that he would personally take care of the allegations against the officer, Valley Central reports.


Comment: In typically psychopathic fashion, someone took the fall. The larger crime of covering-up the rape or indicting the higher-ups gets a pass, however. More evidence that the problem with the police is not 'a few bad apples'.


Comment: It's been clear to those of us paying attention to the police force in the US that there is a systemic problem. Officers who commit crimes are generally never charged. When they are, the rate of convictions is very low, and then their sentences are much lighter than the general population. One could argue that when an officer abuses his or her authority they should receive harsher sentences, but that doesn't seem to happen.

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Cross

Dirty laundry? Two senior Vatican officials arrested in new VatiLeaks scandal


RT
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 21:37 UTC
Vatican priests
© Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters
The Vatican capped a months-long investigation into internal leaks to the media by arresting two high-profile officials over the weekend, just days before the publication of a pair of books promising incendiary revelations about the Holy See.

"The leaking of confidential information and documents is a crime," said a communiqué from the Vatican, which has its own police force and legal system.

Comment: For more on the new Pope: "Washington's Pope"? Who is Pope Francis? Good guy or bad guy?

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Heart - Black

Dallas woman arrested for attempting to kill three children by feeding them ant poison


Star Tribune
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 13:35 UTC
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© Screenshot via FoxNews
A Dallas mother accused of forcing her 4-year-old son to drink ant poison after telling her three children that she planned to kill them and herself has been charged with attempted capital murder. Paw Eh, 31, was arrested Saturday. She remained in Dallas County jail on $500,000 bond on Monday. She did not have an attorney listed.

The 4-year-old child was being treated at a hospital, where his condition improved from critical to stable on Sunday. Dallas police did not have an update on his condition Monday. Police say Eh also tried, but failed, to force her 12-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son to ingest the poison.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the 7-year-old boy told authorities: "My mom wants to kill us with poison powder that kills ants and stuff." That boy also told authorities that his mother had put ant poison in a spoon, added water and tried to force his brother to drink it. He said his brother didn't want to drink it and held his mouth closed so their mother slapped the 4-year-old on the cheek, causing him to cry. Eh then put the spoon in his mouth.

The 12-year-old girl told authorities that her mother had told them earlier in the day that she was going to kill them and herself, the affidavit says. Neighbor Nay Thaw, a friend of the family, told CBS 11, that Eh "treated her children well, when I met her."

Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said Eh did not have a history with the agency, and that all three of her children have been taken into CPS custody.
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Robot

Missouri community shuns sexual abuse victim as liar - even after 'good, admirable man' pleads guilty to raping her

Travis Gettys
Raw Story
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 11:57 UTC
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© Rawstory
A child sex abuse victim says she's been denied housing after accusing a "good man" of molesting her for years — and Missouri prosecutors are mystified that so many community members are supporting the admitted sex offender. Darren Paden was sentenced to 50 years in prison Friday after pleading guilty in August to two counts of first-degree statutory sodomy — but friends, family members, church elders and community leaders begged a judge to go easy on him.

Prosecutors said the 52-year-old Paden sexually abused the girl up to 300 times over a decade, beginning before she was 5 years old. His 28-year-old son, Anthony Paden, was also charged with sex abuse, although his case remains pending. But community members have turned their backs on the girl, who is now 18 years old and testified against her abuser in court, and rallied around Paden.

"There are certainly a few good people in this community who have offered support to this young victim," said Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd. "It is shocking, however, that many continue to support a defendant whose guilt was never in doubt. If it takes a village to raise a child, what is a child to do when the village turns its back and supports a confessed child molester?"

Community members simply don't believe the girl, reported the Kansas City Star. "Only God, Darren and (the victim) know what truly happened," said Gene Blankenship, a trustee at the New Market Christian Church in Dearborn. "I feel Darren may have admitted to things he did not do after hours of interrogation and all the pressure to admit guilt."

Blankenship was among about 16 community members who sent letters to the court since September, praising Paden for his service in the Gulf War and a junior deacon at New Market Christian Church. "Darren is one of the most admirable people I know," wrote friend Adele Brightwell. "He holds fast to his morals." Others begged the judge for leniency, arguing that Paden had already suffered enough.


Comment: Shocking, indeed. That sort of 'moral' blindness to reality is what allows sexual predators to get away with what they are doing.

From Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders, Who They Are, How They Operate, and How We Can Protect Ourselves and Our Children by Dr. Anna Salter:
"One molester, who himself was a minister, said: 'I considered church people easy to fool ... they have the trust that comes from being Christians ... They tend to be better folks all around. And they seem to want to believe in the good that exists in all people. And because of that, you can easily convince, with or without convincing words.'

In interviewing victims in the growing number of cases involving priests, I have been surprised - although I should not have been - by how deeply religious many of the victims' families were. I have never before grasped that it was the most religious families who were thrilled to have a priest take an interest in their children, who wanted their children to be altar boys, who could not believe that a priest would do anything so wrong.

The growing crisis in the Catholic Church just underlines the fact that offenders can recognize ideal settings for child molesters even if the rest of us can't. In truth, a deeply religious and trusting group of people, plus the requirement of celibacy (an ideal cover for any man who has no sexual interest in adults), plus a hierarchy that doesn't report complaints to the police and simply moves the offender on to new and fresh territory with new potential victims, is the ideal setting for pedophiles."

Comment: The reaction of the community truly defies all common sense and understanding. A classic example of the effects of ponerology on a microscopic level.

See also:

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