Society's ChildS


Briefcase

Justice Dept. wary to try ISIS fighters in US, but prosecutors push for case

Ellen Nakashima, Matt Zapotosky
LMTonline
Sat, 12 May 2018 06:14 UTC
Alexanda Kotey, El Shafee Elsheikh
© worldjusticenews.comAlexanda Kotey • El Shafee Elsheikh
Justice Department leaders are reluctant to recommend U.S.-based criminal trials for two Islamic State militants captured and detained in Syria, according to American officials who said that, even though federal prosecutors believe they can win in court, it is unclear whether there is sufficient evidence to secure convictions and lengthy prison terms.

At the same time, senior Trump administration officials are adamant that Britain bears responsibility to prosecute the men, Alexanda Kotey, 34, and El Shafee Elsheikh, 29, whose British citizenships were revoked over their alleged affiliation with an ISIS cell suspected of murdering Westerners.

Further complicating matters, Attorney General Jeff Sessions would prefer that Kotey and Elsheikh be sent to the U.S. military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, though he has recognized the success of federal terrorism prosecutions.

Comment: See also:

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Bizarro Earth

UK seeks to turn heat up on internet trolls, judges recommend six months jail for hate speech

Steve Doughty
Daily Mail
Wed, 09 May 2018 00:05 UTC
Laptop
© Getty Images
Social media users who share or comment on racist or anti-gay postings will face jail under rules proposed yesterday.

Advice for judges and magistrates recommends harsh punishments for those found guilty of stirring up hatred against racial, religious or sexual minority groups.

Among those jailed should be people who post comments or share online hate speech because they have been reckless as to whether they stir up hatred, say the proposals from the Sentencing Council.

Those found guilty of hate trolling by commenting or sharing social media should typically receive a sentence of six months in jail.

Comment: Of course the issue here isn't really hate speech but the subjective interpretation of anything that goes against the party line.

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Tornado1

Killary bitches to Aussie crowd: 'In my country' there is fear and rage when women seek power

Lauretta Brown
Townhall
Fri, 11 May 2018 12:10 UTC
Clinton
© TownhallLosing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
Twice-failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke in Melbourne Thursday with Australia's first female prime minister Julia Gillard. The two discussed misogyny in politics and Clinton yet again blamed sexism for her 2016 loss, implying that the U.S. just couldn't handle a leader who is a woman.
"There is still a very large proportion of the population that is uneasy with women in positions of leadership," Clinton told Gillard, "and so the easiest way to kind of avoid having to look at someone on her merits is to dismiss her on her looks."
Gillard compared the chants of "lock her up" that Clinton faced during the election to "the Salem Witch Trials."
"There is this fear, there is this anger, even rage about women seeking power, women exercising power and people fall back on these attacks like you're a witch or you should go to prison," Clinton agreed. "It's not a majority, thank goodness, it's not, but it's a very vocal minority at least in my country. And sometimes these tropes are very much part of the press coverage."
Clinton continued to insist that her opponents who claimed not to be against women have since shown that they are misogynists.

Comment: "There is fear and rage when women seek power." Not if they are competent! With every audience a new excuse, Killary, the rotten gift that never stops reeking, is now projecting her delusions onto all American women, and likewise, her failures onto all American men!

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Network

China officially opens new train route with Iran

MINA
Eurasia Review
Sun, 13 May 2018 19:06 UTC
China Iran
© Wikipedia CommonsLocations of China and Iran
Beijing has officially opened its new train route to Iran, as the US urges its companies to wind down their operations with Tehran.

As US President Donald Trump hardens his confrontational attitude to Tehran, tearing up the 2015 nuclear deal and calling for a new sanctions regime, China is more than ready to grab the opportunity for trade by opening a new international railroad connecting Tehran and Bayannur, a city in China's Inner Mongolia region.

The exact route of the railroad is yet to be disclosed, as there are currently several major railroad projects, some of them even including China's biggest regional rival, India. But, considering Bayannur is located near the northern border of China and there's already an international railroad to Kazakhstan there, it is likely that the new trade route goes through the territories of former Soviet republics Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

According to the Washington Post, China has sent the inaugural train from Bayannur carrying - you'll never guess - 1,150 tons of sunflower seeds, because Bayannur is China's biggest sunflower seed production area. China exports some 180,000 tons of sunflower seeds every year, supplying Middle Eastern, European and US markets, according to Xinhua.

Comment: So much for sanctions on Iran, which will most likely hurt US allies. See also:

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Bomb

13 killed, 40 injured as suicide bombers attack 3 churches in Surabaya, Indonesia


RT
Sun, 13 May 2018 21:03 UTC
Motorcycles burn following a blast at the Pentecost Church Central Surabaya (GPPS), in Surabaya
© Antara Foto Agency / ReutersMotorcycles burn following a blast at the Pentecost Church Central Surabaya (GPPS), in Surabaya , East Java, Indonesia May 13, 2018
At least 13 people have been killed in three seemingly coordinated suicide bombings that hit churches in the second-largest city of Indonesia, police said. Islamic state (IS, formerly ISIS) has claimed responsibility.

The suicide bombers are all members of one family, including teens and children, according to Indonesian police. The Indonesian president said the terrorists used children as suicide bombers.

"The victims are still being identified," said East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera. Police say they have also secured a fourth, unexploded bomb at a church.
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Newspaper

Flashback John Pilger: America's plan for a new Pearl Harbour

John Pilger
New Statesman
Mon, 16 Dec 2002 17:55 UTC
Pearl Harbor
© honigmann
The threat posed by US terrorism to the security of nations and individuals was outlined in prophetic detail in a document written more than two years ago and disclosed only recently. What was needed for America to dominate much of humanity and the world's resources, it said, was "some catastrophic and catalysing event - like a new Pearl Harbor".

The attacks of 11 September 2001 provided the "new Pearl Harbor", described as "the opportunity of ages". The extremists who have since exploited 11 September come from the era of Ronald Reagan, when far-right groups and "think-tanks" were established to avenge the American "defeat" in Vietnam. In the 1990s, there was an added agenda: to justify the denial of a "peace dividend" following the cold war. The Project for the New American Century was formed, along with the American Enterprise Institute, the Hudson Institute and others that have since merged the ambitions of the Reagan administration with those of the current Bush regime.

One of George W Bush's "thinkers" is Richard Perle. I interviewed Perle when he was advising Reagan; and when he spoke about "total war", I mistakenly dismissed him as mad. He recently used the term again in describing America's "war on terror". "No stages," he said. "This is total war. We are fighting a variety of enemies. There are lots of them out there. All this talk about first we are going to do Afghanistan, then we will do Iraq . . . this is entirely the wrong way to go about it. If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy, but just wage a total war . . . our children will sing great songs about us years from now."

Comment: This 'total war' rages on and 17 years later, Pilger's statements still stand true. The amount of lies coming through official channels are monumental - black propaganda - all with the aim to turn public opinion into acceptance of their murderous and insane policies around the world. See also: Israel Lobby Calls for an 'Iranian Pearl Harbor'

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Heart

Brexit and Trump votes messed with our heart rates for months

Chris Stokel-Walker
New Scientist
Wed, 09 May 2018 00:01 UTC
heartbeat
© Telegraph
Endured sleepless nights in the aftermath of the Brexit vote? You weren't the only one. A study of 11,600 wearers of Nokia Health devices shows our biorhythms shift during and after monumental political moments, including the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit vote.

Stress can cause sleepless nights and increase heart rates, but little was known about how this links to big societal changes. "We wanted to add in the quantitative data," says Daniele Quercia of Nokia Bell Labs.

Quercia and his colleagues analysed data from people who wore health monitoring devices, such as smartwatches, in San Francisco and London between April 2016 and April 2017. They found that an entire population's sleeping habits and heart rates, and the collective distance walked, can swing out of sync after big societal events.
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Eye 1

Ex-CIA contractor pleads guilty to retaining classified information, lied to federal investigators

Sarah N. Lynch
Reuters
Fri, 11 May 2018 19:09 UTC
CIA emblem
A former contractor for the U.S. CIA pleaded guilty on Friday for removing and retaining classified information from his government office and later lying about it to federal investigators, the Justice Department said.

Reynaldo B. Regis, 53, of Fort Washington, Maryland, worked for the CIA from August 2006 through November 2016, said prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Virginia.

They alleged that Regis improperly searched classified databases and copied the information into personal notebooks, which he then took to his house.

Comment: Maybe Regis saw that Hillary and Comey got away with mishandling classified information and assumed it was OK.

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Sherlock

Frontman of Scottish rock band posted cryptic tweets before police found his body

Andrea Park
CBS News
Fri, 11 May 2018 17:59 UTC
Scott Hutchinson Frightened Rabbit rock band
© Dominic Lipinski/APScott Hutchison, frontman singer of Scottish rock band Frightened Rabbit, in a file photo from Sept. 22, 2012.
Scott Hutchison, frontman of Scottish rock band Frightened Rabbit, has been found dead at a marina on the Firth of Forth in Scotland, police confirmed. Hutchison, 36, sent tweets asking fans "hug your loved ones" the night before he went missing.

The musician, who had been open about his struggle with depression, tweeted Tuesday night, "Be so good to everyone you love. It's not a given. I'm so annoyed that it's not. I didn't live by that standard and it kills me. Please, hug your loved ones." He added, "I'm away now. Thanks."


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Palette

Man told to remove makeup to be allowed into Texas nightclub

Beatriz Alvarado
Caller Times
Fri, 11 May 2018 17:45 UTC
Bobby Rodriguez makeup
Bobby Rodriguez, 21, wiped off his makeup Wednesday night because he wanted to dance.

Rodriguez, of Kingsville, was in Corpus Christi for a night out and says he was denied entry to Whiskey River nightclub because he was wearing fake eyelashes and lipstick.

"I approached the door I handed my ID to the security at the door (and) his words were and, I quote, 'unfortunately, you cannot enter because you are wearing makeup and we have a rule here that says men need to dress like men,' " Rodriguez said. "I literally had to walk back to my car and rip my false lashes off and wipe off my lipstick.

"I was so upset, I mean, who wouldn't be?"
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