Society's ChildS


Bizarro Earth

What world peace? There are only 11 countries in the world that are actually free from conflict

Adam Withnall
The Independent
Thu, 14 Aug 2014 18:59 UTC
As new wars and civil unrests seem to be flaring up every week, we look for the only countries in the world that could be considered 'conflict-free'

With the crisis in Gaza, the rise of Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria and the international stand-off ongoing in Ukraine, it can sometimes feel like the whole world is at war.

But experts believe this is actually almost universally the case, according to a think-tank which produces one of the world's leading measures of "global peacefulness" - and things are only going to get worse.

It may make for bleak reading, but of the 162 countries covered by the Institute for Economics and Peace's (IEP's) latest study, just 11 were not involved in conflict of one kind or another.

Worse still, the world as a whole has been getting incrementally less peaceful every year since 2007 - sharply bucking a trend that had seen a global move away from conflict since the end of the Second World War.

The UK, as an example, is relatively free from internal conflict, making it easy to fall to thinking it exists in a state of peace. But recent involvement in foreign fighting in the likes of Afghanistan, as well as a fairly high state of militarisation, means Britain actually scores quite poorly on the 2014 Global Peace Index, coming 47th overall.
global peace index internal
© IEPThe Global Peace Index chart for internal conflicts, showing the countries defined as having 'no conflict' in dark green
Then there are countries which are involved in no actual foreign wars involving deaths whatsoever - like North Korea - but which are fraught by the most divisive and entrenched internal conflicts.
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Light Saber

In protest of Gaza genocide, 150 people squeeze into tiny boxes opposite Parliament

Alain Tolhurst
London24.com
Thu, 14 Aug 2014 12:00 UTC
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© Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
More than 150 men, women and children squeezed into tiny wooden boxes opposite Parliament this morning to put pressure on the Government to help lift the blockade on Gaza.

The protest sought to show the conditions Palestinians were currently living in, and kicked off a national campaign of action by the charity.

Oxfam released a statement saying: "Under the blockade, the entirety of Gaza's civilian population is being punished for acts for which they bear no responsibility.

"This constitutes collective punishment and is illegal under international law."

It, along with other members of the Disasters and Emergency Committee, is delivering urgent humanitarian aid to the area after weeks of conflict in the region, with rocket fire and air strikes destroying towns and killing more than 1,000 people.

Oxfam said now more than ever the seven-year blockade should be lifted, with a huge reconstruction effort needed.
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No Entry

Albania: Five illegal immigrants detained with Ebola symptoms


Theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 18:01 UTC
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© Theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com
Albanian police have detained 40 illegal immigrants from Africa today, five of whom are currently under quarantine after exhibiting symptoms of Ebola, Macedonian newspaper Vecer has reported. Police suspect the five are of Eritrean origin, having arrived illegally in Europe via Greece.

They are currently being tested for carrying the Ebola virus in hospital in the Albanian city of Vlore, less than 86 miles from Italy's closest port. The news comes after one person was quarantined in Montenegro earlier today under suspicion they may be infected with Ebola.

The possible victim entered Montenegro from a West African country with an epidemic of the disease, according to the public health institute. In an attempt to prevent the spread of Ebola, Serbian authorities have currently put 14 people under medical surveillance, each hailing from either Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea or Nigeria, Bulgarian newspaper Standart reported. They will remain under watch for the 21-day incubation period of the Ebola virus.

If confirmed, the cases would constitute the first uncontrolled instances of Ebola in Europe. A Spanish priest became the first European victim of the disease on Tuesday after contracting the disease in Liberia after being flown to a hospital in Madrid.
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Arrow Down

Indiana grandmother suffers violent SWAT raid after a neighbor uses her wireless internet


Police State USA
Sat, 16 Aug 2014 14:26 UTC
Indiana House
© YouTubeThe armored men surround the home and prepare to breach.
Evansville - An innocent elderly woman's home was raided by SWAT when she was suspected of using the internet to trash-talk and post threats toward the local police. In response, gun-wielding assailants breached her doors and windows in a violent search for electronic evidence.

The hair-raising incident took place at the household of Louise Milan on Powell Street. It was the place where she and her husband had raised their six children, and had lived for three decades.

On June 21, 2012, the solitude of the familial home was shattered - along with numerous doors and window panes. Louise Milan, 68, was home with her adopted daughter, 18-year-old Stephanie Milan. Around midday, Louise had been straightening her bedroom when she heard a terrifying sound from downstairs.

"I hear this noise, and I'm thinking something's hit the house," Louise recalled in her deposition. "Then I think the world has come to and end," she added, when she heard "the second bang."
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People

100,000-petition urges U.S. to drop legal action against Pulitzer-winning journalist James Risen


RT
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 16:54 UTC
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© AFP/Brendan SmialowskiNew York Times investigative reporter James Risen, who has been threatened with prison for his reporting, speaks during an event at the National Press Club August 14, 2014 in Washington, DC.
A petition with over 100,000 signatures backing Pulitzer-winning journalist James Risen was handed to the Department of Justice in Washington, urging an end to legal action against him for refusing to reveal a source about a CIA operation in Iran.

The petition demands that the US government not pursue an "illegal case" against Risen, an author and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter, as his supporters believe that it will be in violation of his First Amendment freedom of speech rights. The appeal was put together by Roots Action. The petition handed in to the DoJ contained 4,000 pages of signatures and was decked out in red, white and blue ribbons.

Risen has been subpoenaed to give evidence about who gave him the information, but refuses to reveal his source, saying that it would be a breach of his civil liberties.

Speaking to RT, Risen said: "I don't want to get into any details about the case but I can just say this is all about the issue of press freedom in America and about whether we are going to have the continued regression of investigative reporting in America."

Risen's book "State of War," published in 2006, addressed how the CIA tried to project a negative image of Iran's nuclear program under the presidency of George W. Bush. He was allegedly given the information by Jeffrey Sterling, a former Central Intelligence Agency employee who was later charged under the Espionage Act for allegedly disclosing CIA secrets to the New York Times reporter.

Comment:
  • Blow to investigative journalism! Reporters have no rights to safeguard confidentiality of sources, James Risen ordered to testify in CIA leaker trial

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Whistle

Prominent Israeli rights group blacklisted from national service program


RT
Fri, 15 Aug 2014 17:25 UTC
B'Tselem protest
© www.haaretz.comMembers of B'Tselem protesting Israeli atrocities.
Israel has banned young people from serving in one of its most prominent human rights groups as an alternative to military service because of its campaigns against the war in Gaza and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO), which was founded in 1989; one of its aims is to document human right's abuses in the occupied territories.
Sar-Shalom Djerbi, the director of the Sherut Leumi, the national civilian service administration, which is responsible for the non-military options available to Israelis who don't won't to serve in the IDF said that B'Tselem had gone too far in its recent campaigning.

Israeli soldiers indicted
© electronicintifada.netB'Tselem's investigation leads to indictment of soldiers who abused Palestinians.
B'Tselem has "crossed the line in wartime [by] campaigning and inciting against the state of Israel and the Israeli Defense Force, which is the most moral of armies," he told Channel 2 TV.

Djerbi set out his position in a letter to Hagai el-Ad, the executive director of B'Tselem.

"This is especially relevant now, when the State of Israel is dealing with the threat of thousands of rockets and missiles on millions of its citizens and is in the middle of a comprehensive campaign to remove the threat on its citizens," he wrote.

Palestinian w camera
© unknownIn January 2007, B'Tselem launched its camera distribution project, a video advocacy project. We provide Palestinians living in high-conflict areas with video cameras, with the goal of bringing the reality of their lives under occupation to the attention of the Israeli and international public.
He added that the activities of B'Tselem encourage "extreme anti-Semitic expressions against the State of Israel, as well as violent acts of anti-Semitism around the world."

But Hagai el-Ad said the blacklisting was the latest in a campaign by the Israeli state of intimidation and threats against the rights group over the past three weeks, because of its vocal anti Gaza campaign.

Comment: B'Tselem endeavors to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomena of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights advocacy culture in Israel. (http://www.btselem.org/)

B'Tselem is independent and is funded by contributions from foundations in Europe and N. America that support human rights activity worldwide and by private individuals in Israel and abroad.

They have gained a reputation for accuracy and do their own fieldwork, research and cross checking to ensure reliability. B'T publishes scores of reports covering rights violations, torture, fatal shootings by security forces, restriction on movement, expropriation of land, discrimination, detention and settler violence. They regularly provide Knesset members with information, assisting in placing human rights matters on the agenda.

They advocate for accountability, prosecuting Israeli land-grabs, and Palestinian rights to their land, free movement and self-determination. Their list of press releases attests to the integrity of this organization and the "threat" they pose on the Israeli empirical agenda and status-quo.

Perhaps there is a ray of hope, conscience and sanity out there...but for how long?

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Heart - Black

Sparing none: Israel mercilessly targeted and murdered people with special needs in Gaza

Ibtisam Mahdi
Global Research
Sat, 16 Aug 2014 11:45 UTC
gaza disabled bombeed
© Robert TaitMubaret Phiilistine care home for Orphans and Handicapped in Gaza's Beit Lahiya district. A damaged wheelchair next to the crater caused by the missile that crashed through the building.
During its war on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation has worsened the plight of those whom life has already wronged. Its random and intentional targeting of civilians did not spare the mentally handicapped.

Mohammed Matar, 38, was one such person. He used to make daily visits to the cemetery where his brother had been laid to rest, until he finally joined him in the afterlife after being hit by an Israeli drone missile. It was the 16th day of the war when Mohammed washed his brother's grave with his own blood instead of water.

Mohammed frequently washed and laid flowers on the grave of his older brother Majed, who was shot and killed in the summer of 2007 by occupation forces in the east of Gaza. Majed's martyrdom had struck Mohammed hard, because he was the one who paid him the most attention and care.

A few weeks have already passed since Mohammed, nicknamed "the wild one" was martyred, yet his older brother, Abu Awad, still cannot grasp the idea of losing him.

"He was peaceful and everyone loved him...he went as usual to visit his brother but they killed him," Abu Awad, 45, sighed.

He said that he tried to stop his brother from going to the graveyard in Beit Lahiya, in the north of Gaza, because he was worried about him. But Mohammed kept repeating, "Majed is waiting, he wants water, I must go, I do not want him to be upset with me." He then snuck out of the house without anyone noticing.

A few minutes later, an explosion was heard at a place close by and the media declared that a man was targeted at Beit Lahiya's graveyard. Abu Awad felt at once that his brother was the target; he cried "Mohammed is there.... they killed him."
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Sheriff

Investigation reveals Florida police entrap men to boost sex sting arrest totals

Noah Pransky
WTSP
Sat, 09 Aug 2014 10:41 UTC
Image
© WTSPBut Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, when asked about over-aggressive detectives, instead went on the offensive: "The concern (I have) is that you inflate your investigative reporting to make it glitzy."
This is the first of a two-part series examining how law enforcement is blurring the lines on due process.

In the decade since Chris Hansen and "To Catch a Predator" popularized Internet sex stings, more than 1,200 men in Florida alone have been arrested, accused of preying on underage teens and children for sex.

But as the stings put more and more men behind bars, detectives are working harder and harder to keep up their arrest numbers. And the tactics they're using to put alleged sexual offenders in jail are sweeping up large numbers of law-abiding men, too.

A yearlong investigation by 10 Investigates reveals many of the men whose mugshots have been paraded out by local sheriffs in made-for-TV press conferences were not seeking to meet children online. Instead, they were minding their own business, looking for other adults, when detectives started to groom and convince them to break the law.

While detectives used to post ads suggesting an underage teen or child was available for sex, they now routinely post more innocuous personal ads of adults on traditional dating sites. When men - many of them under 25 with no criminal history - respond, officers switch the bait and typically indicate their age is really 14 or 15 years old. However, sometimes the storyline isn't switched until the men, who were looking for legal love, already start falling for the undercover agent.

According to arrest affidavits inspected by 10 Investigates, law enforcement is also now routinely making first contact with men who have done nothing wrong, responding to their ads on dating sites like PlentyOfFish.com. After men start conversing with what they think are adults, officers change the age they claim to be, but try to convince the men to continue the conversation anyway.
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Propaganda

Guardian is called out for running what is clearly a racist and pro-Israel ad


Presstv
Thu, 14 Aug 2014 10:19 UTC
Image
© Honestreporting.comBritain's Guardian Newspaper demonstrates a deep-seated pro-Israel bias by running a hateful and hopelessly slanted ad that other papers have rejected.
A major UK-based newspaper has come under attack for its pro-Israeli bias after publishing a widely-censured ad paid for by a Zionist group that accused Palestinian resistance group Hamas of "child sacrifice."

Britain's Guardian newspaper has been accused of pro-Israel bias after publishing a widely condemned advertisement paid for by Jewish group This World: The Values Network, which accused Hamas of "child sacrifice."

The pro-Israeli advertisement sponsored was previously run in US-based dailies, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post but had been rejected byThe Times in London.

Explaining its rejection of the controversial ad, The Times of London said, "The opinion being expressed is too strong and too forcefully made and will cause concern amongst a significant number of Times readers."

Comment: The other part of this story would seem to be about Elie Wiesel. One would think that such an individual as Wiesel who has survived the Holocaust and has written and spoken so extensively about it could recognize the IDF's atrocities in Gaza for exactly what they are. Rather than that, however, he has chosen the low road of lies, racism, apartheid, hate and genocide - all in the name of being 'pro-Israel'.

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Wine n Glass

Arizona teacher showed up to school drunk a day after DUI arrest

David Schwartz
Raw Story
Thu, 14 Aug 2014 10:35 UTC
Image
© KPNX-TV
An Arizona math teacher arrived drunk at her high school and hit the bottle again in the classroom, where she yelled at her students before one of the pupils alerted administrators, authorities said on Thursday.

Kathleen Jardine, 57, a teacher at Poston Butte High School faces one count of public consumption of alcohol stemming from the incident on Wednesday in the community about 35 miles southeast of Phoenix, said Sergeant Pat Ramirez, a spokesman for the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.

Ramirez said a student called the main office to alert them that Jardine appeared drunk and was yelling at the students.

An on-site sheriff's deputy responded and he could tell she was "extremely intoxicated," police said.

Later, a school security officer found in her classroom a half bottle of vodka, an empty single-serving bottle of white wine and a half-empty bottle of an orange drink, police added.
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