Society's Child

Russian investigation finds men were shot in the head at close range at Chechen 'prison for gays'

RFE/RL
Mon, 24 Dec 2018 14:50 UTC

According to documents from Russia's Investigative Committee obtained by the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, two Chechen men who were killed in 2017 in a Chechen "prison for gays" were shot in the head at close range.

On December 24, the newspaper published a report saying that Shoto-Shamil Akayev and Ayub Ibragimov were shot on March 30, 2017, a few weeks after they went missing on February 6.

Chechen officials have said the two men were shot while trying to escape.

The Novaya Gazeta report cites documents from the Russian Investigative Committee's investigation into a complaint by Maksim Lapunov, who alleges he was abducted in Chechnya in October 2017 and held in a basement because he was homosexual. He said he was beaten in an effort to force him to name Chechens with whom he had sexual relations.

Comment: See also:

Is warning girls they don't have to give hugs at Xmas good advice or a #MeToo overreaction?

RT
Tue, 25 Dec 2018 21:02 UTC

Is Christmas a time of good cheer to celebrate with family, or a great chance to learn about consent by refusing to hug your relatives, as the US Girl Scouts suggested? Two RT guests engage in an unseasonably hot debate.

"Children have to learn self-determination and self-autonomy, and they have to realize they are in control of their bodies," Reese Everson, a campaigner against sexual harassment, told RT from Washington.

"I think we do want our children to be gracious [gift] recipients, and anything that takes away from that is completely ignoring the conversations that should be taking place between children and their parents on a daily basis," counters psychology expert and conservative voice Gina Loudon. She suggests that girls should be forewarned about any potentially treacherous contacts with family members in advance, rather than told to pull away.

Comment: The current climate by organizations to see danger everywhere is definitely not helping our children. We need to realize that it is not psychologically healthy to teach children to see so many banal and normal interactions in such a negative manner.

Merry Christmas! BC cleric says holiday greetings are worse than murder

Ben Cohen
The Algemeiner
Mon, 24 Dec 2018 19:45 UTC

As Christians around the world celebrate Christmas, footage has emerged of an Islamist cleric in Canada telling an assembly of Muslim young people in British Columbia that "major sins" like "murder" and "adultery" were "nothing compared to the sin of congratulating and greeting the non-Muslims on their false festivals."

In remarks exposed on Monday by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Sheikh Younus Kathrada remarked that, "[N]owadays, of course, we are close to Christmas."

Kathrada added that "with great sadness, we see that amongst us there are those who think it's a small matter, and so, not only might we congratulate them on their Christmas, on their false holiday and celebration, but we may take part in their holiday as well."

The sheikh's comments came in the wake of a stark warning at the start of this month from the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, that Christians in the Middle East were on "the brink of extinction." Writing in the British newspaper The Telegraph on Dec. 1, Welby said that the region's Christians were confronting on a daily basis "the threat of violence, murder, intimidation, prejudice and poverty."

Comment: From whom, exactly? Not secular, multi-confessional states like Syria (and Iraq), where practically everyone celebrates Christmas, regardless of their religion. But ethnic/religious-nationalist states like Saudi Arabia and Israel are different stories... And of course, the loonies and fanatics like al-Nusra, ISIS, and their Wahhabi brethren (supported by the Gulf States, Turkey, the U.S. and Israel at various times over the years) have been the ones trying to destroy Syria, and without whom, Christians would not face any existential threat.

Der Spiegel's outed fake-news reporter Relotius accused of embezzling donations to fictional Syrian child

RT
Mon, 24 Dec 2018 06:02 UTC

Claas Relotius, an award-winning reporter who faked many of his heart-wrenching stories, is facing a criminal probe over a money collection for Syrian children. It is believed that one of the purported beneficiaries did not exist.

Germany's Der Spiegel magazine has filed a criminal complaint against Relotius after it emerged that the reporter not only falsified quotes and invented entire passages in his stories, but may also have swindled some impressionable readers out of their money.

The magazine reported that it was contacted by readers who said that Relotius used his private email account to set up a fundraising campaign for the Syrian orphans who featured in his 'King's Children' report, dating back to July 2016.

The journalist reportedly encouraged readers to make donations to him so he could give the money to those kids, who were said to be affected by poverty in Turkey.

Comment: For more on this scammer, see also:

'Peace and Joy in 2019' tweets Iran's foreign minister in Christmas message

RT
Mon, 24 Dec 2018 21:28 UTC

Iran's foreign minister tweeted an English language Christmas message, wishing 'peace and joy' in 2019. Christians are free to practice in the Islamic republic, but promoting conversions from Islam are illegal.

Zarif, who often sends political messages via twitter, and even argues with the US President (link), used a line from the Koran to congratulate on the holiday. He had to correct the number of the verse in the follow up tweet after followers pointed to the mistake.

Comment: Peace and Joy...make it so!

Fake priest who fooled believers for 18 years unmasked days before Christmas in Spain

RT
Tue, 25 Dec 2018 13:46 UTC

Miguel Angel Ibarra fake Roman Catholic priest Spain

Miguel Angel Ibarra (right) pretended to be a Roman Catholic priest for 18 years

For years believers in Colombia, and then in Spain, confessed, were baptized and celebrated weddings under the direction of a fake priest. The impostor, who was never ordained, has been exposed just ahead of Christmas.

Miguel Angel Ibarra, who posed as a Roman Catholic priest, arrived in Spain in October 2017 from Colombia. He was put in charge of a church in Medina Sidonia in the south of the country with only 11,000 inhabitants. Before his Spanish trip he claimed to have worked in Colombia for many years.

During this whole year the fake priest baptized, wed and heard the confessions of unsuspecting residents. Yet, this December ahead of Christmas the parish learnt the unpleasant truth - the clergyman was an imposter. He has never been ordained and, thus, has no authority to perform any holy rites.

Russia opens criminal case into allegations of slave-labor conditions at Mordovia prison

RFE/RL
Mon, 24 Dec 2018 18:17 UTC

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova served most of her two-year sentence at the prison.

Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) has asked prosecutors to open a criminal case into allegations of slave-labor conditions among female convicts at a prison in Mordovia.

FSIN Deputy Director Valery Maksimenko said on December 24 that the director of prison IK-14, Yury Kupriyanov, had been dismissed, together with an unspecified number of other officials at the prison.

IK-14 was the prison where prominent activist Nadezhda Tolokonnikova served most of a two-year prison sentence for participating in a performance by the political-art group Pussy Riot in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral.

She was released under an amnesty in December 2013. Since her release, she has campaigned for the rights of Russian prisoners.

Comment: Russia has been actively working to reduce its incarceration rate, revamp its prisons and investigate abuses:

Bah humbug! Militant Palestinian group forbids Christmas celebrations in Gaza

Sputnik
Mon, 24 Dec 2018 19:28 UTC

Palestinian militants forbid Christmas Gaza

An armed faction of the Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of armed Palestinian groups, published a flyer featuring a burning Christmas tree and threats in Arabic forbidding the celebrating the holiday, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The development comes amid heightening tensions between Israelis and Palestinians at the Gaza border, which have been mounting since late March, when the Palestinian Authority's Great March of Return began. The situation escalated last week after a gunman killed two Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank.

An armed faction of the Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of armed Palestinian groups, published a flyer featuring a burning Christmas tree and threats in Arabic forbidding the celebrating the holiday, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Specifically, the flyer from the Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades features a verse from the Quran, warning Muslims "not to go the way of the Jews and the Christians" because "indeed God is not for the evil people".

Watch as Yellow Vest protesters chase away Paris cop pointing gun

RT
Mon, 24 Dec 2018 13:31 UTC

A video showing police in Paris being chased away by angry Yellow Vest demonstrators has caught the attention of the French public. Authorities lambasted the protesters for their actions, while some said the story has a flip side.

This Saturday marked the sixth round of the Yellow Vests rallies. Though the last demonstrations in the capital remained relatively calm, some scuffles between police and protesters still popped up.

One video captured a standoff near the Champs-Elysees, an iconic spot, which turned into a true 'battlefield' between law enforcement and protesters. The latest footage shows several officers blocking the road to the avenue using their motorbikes.

Around a dozen 'Yellow Vests' are seen hurling stones and other objects at the officers, who respond with shots of pepper spray. At some point the confrontation gets so tense that one policeman pulls a gun as protesters approach.

Comment: While some cops have been declaring their support for the Yellow Vests, others have been behaving with particular brutality:

Several red flags warning us that we're speeding towards an economic collapse - RIGHT NOW

Daisy Luther
The Organic Prepper
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC

This isn't exactly an article loaded with Christmas cheer, but there's a very good reason that my family has strictly limited our holiday splurges this year. It's because all the signs right now seem to indicate the US is hurtling toward an economic collapse.

It's inevitable, of course. Our economy has been artificially propped up for decades, since abandoning the gold standard. We're $21 trillion dollars in debt, an unfathomable number. The fact that other countries still lend us money boggles the mind. If the United States was a person with such a high ratio of debt that we aren't paying off, we wouldn't even be able to buy a car with one of those 25% interest loans, that's how bad our credit would be.

Not only that, but there are some parties who seem to want to see the economy go belly up for their own greedy and nefarious purposes.

Here are the red flags that have me concerned about an imminent economic collapse.

New Lt. Governor of Virginia Winsome Sears: "We're going to have safer neighborhoods, safer communities, and our children are going to get a good...

parzival

Bill Gates is going to be the one with the uncertain future,,, * New Lt. Governor of Virginia Winsome Sears: "We're going to have safer...

parzival

The more we hear about adverse affects the more we will merely shrug. It's a catch 22. Is that an asteroid trail in the photo?

sass

Welcome to the new normal. The more sensory exposure we have about such things, the less it is an issue.

sass

more misbehaving phuqqin' jewzskies starring on the sott; speaks for itself

Jibrish

Society's Child

Russian investigation finds men were shot in the head at close range at Chechen 'prison for gays'

Is warning girls they don't have to give hugs at Xmas good advice or a #MeToo overreaction?

Merry Christmas! BC cleric says holiday greetings are worse than murder

Der Spiegel's outed fake-news reporter Relotius accused of embezzling donations to fictional Syrian child

'Peace and Joy in 2019' tweets Iran's foreign minister in Christmas message

Fake priest who fooled believers for 18 years unmasked days before Christmas in Spain

Russia opens criminal case into allegations of slave-labor conditions at Mordovia prison

Bah humbug! Militant Palestinian group forbids Christmas celebrations in Gaza

Watch as Yellow Vest protesters chase away Paris cop pointing gun

Several red flags warning us that we're speeding towards an economic collapse - RIGHT NOW

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