Society's ChildS


Book 2

Brussels: Algerian raid suspect found with ISIS flag and jihadist manual

brussels raid
© www.independent.co.ukPolice at scene where shots were fired, Forest suburb near Brussels.
An Islamic State flag and a manual for jihadists were found by Belgian police on the body of the Algerian-born gunman shot in a Brussels raid on an apartment, the prosecutor's office said. The police raid connected to the Paris attacks is ongoing.

A routine inspection of a suburban apartment in southern Brussels on Tuesday erupted in a fire fight in which three officers were slightly hurt and a fourth sustained minor injuries, according to police. A subsequent raid took place three hours after the first operation, leading to the death of one gunman armed with a Kalashnikov. Two suspects reportedly fled the scene.

The fire fight led to a complete lockdown of the block around the rue du Dries, which lasted for several hours before residents were told it was safe to return to their homes. The police operation connected to the Paris attacks of November was still ongoing on Wednesday, according to Prime Minister Charles Michel.

The dead suspect was identified as Belkhaid Mohammed, 35, an Algerian national residing in Belgium illegally, but who had not been on the authorities' radar before, the Belgium's federal prosecutor office's spokesman Eric Van der Sypt said in a statement. An Islamic State flag and a manual on Salafism were found close to his body, he added.


Comment: Why does this incident sound like a set-up? "routine inspection" (objective: 'anti-terrorism' confrontation), "complete lock-down of the block" (no witnesses), "IS flag and Salafism manual close to/on body" (surely the two things you want to grab in a shoot out), "armed with a Kalashnikov" (convenient or planted Russian aspect), "French assistance a 'mere coincidence'" (for that routine inspection?), "not on authorities' radar" (accidentally killed and framed)...or, this could be the real deal absolute truth, just saying it sounds a lot like...(a dog and pony progress report for the public).


Robot

15-yo student's face pummeled by school cop for wanting to call his mom

cop beats 15 yr od
Last week, Stephanie Petrillo's 15-year-old son Joe was dropped off at their home — battered, bloodied, and with a fractured orbital socket. His mother says she was given no reason for the drop off other than Joe suffered the injuries after he fell on the floor while being restrained by officer Shawn O'Mara of the Gates police department.

After he was dropped off crying and severely injured, Stephanie Petrillo would soon find out about the nasty confrontation between her son and this Gates police officer.

In an interview with Activist and Blogger Davy Vara, Petrillo explained how her son's cellphone led to his assault by a public servant who is nearly double Joe's size.

According to Petrillo, last Friday morning, Joe, who was at school on his lunch break, asked the school's principal, Mary Vito, for his cellphone. In high schools, it is not uncommon for students to have to leave their phones in the office every morning.

Fire

Explosion at Grand Bazaar in central Tehran injures dozens

Tehran explosion
© Twitter/Xinhua
An explosion in Iran has injured at least 39 people at the Grand Bazaar in central Tehran.

Al-Bawaba reports the likely cause of the blast as a faulty gas cylinder at a three-story building in Green Square. The fire department, though, said "the precise cause of the explosion is still not clear." They do believe the explosion happened on the first floor of the building. Financial Times reporter Monavar Khalaj says sources on the ground have dismissed terrorism as a possible reason for the explosion.



USA

New petition made for changing US national anthem to 'War Pigs' by Black Sabbath

War pigs
As U.S. election politics plummet rapidly toward a nadir in vanishing ethics, fear-mongering, and tabloid-esque rhetoric, it shouldn't escape headlines that no major party candidate harbors intentions to disentangle the country from America's growing number of military operations worldwide.

Of course, the United States managed to elect Barack Obama, whose expansive bellicose policies — in conjunction with having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — embody a quintessential irony seemingly only possible in America.

Obama isn't the only politician who has managed to tout strict gun control for U.S. citizens while espousing the killing of terror suspects by drone — a program that inevitably causes the murder of anyone who happens to be standing nearby when a bomb is unleashed. Not one of the leading presidential candidates even hinted at a desire to eradicate that contentious practice.

War Whore

Damning study says 1 in 3 of all excessive force claims against police involve physically or mentally disabled people

disabled people police brutality
© Reuters
A new study has found that at least one third of all victims of police killings are people with disabilities. The researchers hope a closer look at the issue will change the conversation about police violence.

The statistics regarding police abuse of the disabled by police are not easy to come by. In its new study, the Ruderman Foundation found that "there is no legal requirement for local, state or federal law enforcement agencies to aggregate or collect the number, type, and result of violent incidents that occur between police officers and disabled people."

However, by compiling media coverage of cases involving disabled individuals, they managed to find 378 cases involving abuse or mistreatment by police between 2013 and 2015. The disabilities range from documented mental illnesses to physical disabilities.

These numbers were confirmed by the Los Angeles Police Department which found that over one third of the people shot by LAPD had documented signs of mental illness.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has recognized that this is an issue for their force as well. A report from the LAPD found that out of the 38 people shot by police in 2015, 14 of them had documented signs of mental illness. The issue persists in less serious cases as well. In 2015, roughly a quarter of the nearly 1,900 less-serious uses of force were used against someone believed to be mentally ill and under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Snakes in Suits

US gov't actually has a zombie apocalypse plan — now declassified

Zombie apocalypse
A few year ago, the Center for Disease Control launched a zombie preparedness initiative that drew significant attention. The Department of Defense followed suit and developed an entire training course intended for the Joint Operational Planning and Execution System (JOPES). The complete response plan, called CONPLAN888, was recently declassified, and it's just as weird and creepy as you might imagine.

The Black Vault posted two documents retrieved from the NSA using the Freedom of Information Act.

The purpose of the plan, according to the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), was to use a fictitious scenario to prepare for real-world emergencies.
"[The training focused on how to] undertake military operations to preserve 'non-zombie' humans from the threats posed by a zombie horde. Because zombies pose a threat to all 'non-zombie' human life (hereafter referred to as 'humans'), USSTRATCOM will be prepared to preserve the sanctity of human life and conduct operations in support of any human population-including traditional adversaries."

Comment: We knew about the threat of Vegetarian zombies - but chicken zombies ?! On a more serious note though, this plan looks like it is intended more to condition gov't employees into an 'us or them' mindset than anything else. That they would come up with so many paranoia-inducing variants on the zombie theme at all suggests a huge streak of pathology among the folks who wrote it. But what else is new? This is a US gov't plan we're talking about here, however "fictitious". The real question is: How are we going to protect ourselves from those gov't zombies??

See also:


Light Saber

A true hero: Crimean prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya on standing up to Ukrainian fascism and fighting for Crimea

Natalia Poklonskaya
© Press Service of the Republic of CrimeaNatalia Poklonskaya
Two years after a referendum that cemented Crimea's reunification with Russia, Natalia Poklonskaya became the republic's prosecutor after the Kiev-appointed man defected, and became an iconic symbol of a new Crimea in a turbulent time. Now she shares her story and reveals what has changed.

On the anniversary of Crimea's referendum for independence from Ukraine and request to become a part of Russia, Natalia Poklonskaya, who famously ran the prosecutor's office in that turbulent time told RIA Novosti in an interview about her views on the events and what has changed since then.

Natalia, how did the Crimean Spring begin?

The starting point of the events was the heroism of soldiers of the Crimean "Berkut" [Ukrainian police special forces], who stood as a human shield on the Maidan, facing bullets and Molotov cocktails. They made the Crimean people to believe in themselves, straighten their shoulders and repel fascism, which was spreading rapidly across the country. Berkut is a symbol of the unbroken Crimean spirit, as they remained true to their principles to the end, and stood with the Crimean people at a difficult time.

Book

Ireland bans book for first time in 20 years over multiple descriptions of child rape

Book
© Hernán Piñera/Flickr
A book called 'The Raped Little Runaway' has become the first title in nearly two decades to be banned in Ireland for obscenity, over its multiple descriptions of child rape.

The book, written by Jean Martin and published through Star Distributors Ltd, was referred to the Irish Censorship of Publications Board, which found the novel to be "indecent" and "obscene".

The board regularly convenes in Ireland to discuss books and periodicals referred by members of the public or through its own investigation. However, it has not fully prohibited a book from entering the Irish market since 1998.

According to the Irish Independent, the censored book contains "explicit descriptions" of the rape of a minor.

Under Ireland's Censorship of Publications Act, texts can only be initially banned for a period of 12 years. Board members must all read the submissions and then decide by majority on whether to censor a text.

Strangely, authors who choose to appeal the decision must pay a very specific fee of €6.35 (US$7), which will be returned "if the appeal is considered to be a serious one".

Porn publisher Star Distributors Ltd had a long list of titles on Ireland's last obscenity list issued 18 years ago.

Back then the distributors, with an address in New York, saw eight of their books blocked from ever being sold legally in the country.

Comment: Good for Ireland! Who in their pathological mind would want to read, write or publish a book on such an abhorrent, monstrous subject?


Megaphone

Indian media lauds Putin's achievements in Syria, says Obama was following his lead

putin
© Artiom Korotaev/TASS
Russian President Vladimir Putin has achieved in five months what US President Barack Obama has not in five years - impose a ceasefire and bring the warring factions in Syria to the negotiating table, The Hindustan Times said on Wednesday.

"Mr Obama's support to these initiatives was crucial, but it's clear that in Syria the US has followed Russia's lead," the newspaper said. "His [Putin's] surprise announcement [on withdrawing Russian forces from Syria], in keeping with his style, is a departure from conventional diplomacy, but is sure to bring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has expressed ambitions to retake Syrian territory using force, to the negotiating table," it added.

"While Washington has been pusillanimous of ground intervention, Moscow went ahead, took the lead and is today determining the narrative in Syria," the newspaper noted.

Sheriff

Off-duty officer shoots and kills 16yo boy after car chase

crime scene tape
© Nancy Wiechec / Reuters
A sixteen-year-old boy is dead following an officer-involved shooting in Addison, Texas. Police said an off-duty officer attempted to intervene during a "crime in progress," but the situation escalated to a car chase and gunfire.

"If he did something he shouldn't be doing, then he should be arrested - not shot," said the teen's cousin, Nora Rubi, who gathered with the teen's family to demand answers at Addison police station on Monday night, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Jose Raul Cruz, 16, was shot and killed on Sunday night. That's when an off-duty Farmers Branch police officer, Ken Johnson, allegedly saw Cruz and another male breaking into a vehicle in a parking lot.

Police said there had been a series of vehicle break-ins in the neighborhood. Officer Johnson, who was not in uniform, saw the pair leave in Cruz's red Dodge Challenger, so he pursued them in his SUV. Half a mile later, the vehicles collided.

Comment: This has become the norm for policing in America: Officer gets involved in altercation, officer claims to "fear for his life", officer shoots and kills person. Officer's bosses defend the actions of officer. It's a sick cycle that just keeps repeating itself. Until people start demanding the authorities change the way they handle officer killings, the cycle won't change.