Society's ChildS


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US federal judge blocks Ohio abortion law, clinics to remain open

Julie Carr Smyth and Kantele Franko
Associated Press
Wed, 03 Jul 2019 13:14 UTC
Judge blocks abortion law
A federal judge temporarily blocked an Ohio law banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected on Wednesday, siding with abortion clinics that had argued the law would effectively end the procedure in the state.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett halts the July 11 enforcement of the so-called heartbeat bill law that opponents argued would effectively ban the procedure. That's because a fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant.

Ohio is among a dozen states that have considered similar legislation this year, as abortion opponents have pursued a national anti-abortion strategy to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision fueled by a conservative swing on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Courts have already blocked substantially similar laws in Kentucky and Mississippi. Abortion providers also have sued in Alabama and Georgia.
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Alarm Clock

Violent protests erupt in Israel after police murder Ethiopian-Jewish teen


RT
Thu, 04 Jul 2019 13:00 UTC
Solomon Teka's funeral
© Reuters/Ronen ZvulunRelatives and friends of Solomon Teka attend his funeral in Haifa, Israel July 2, 2019.
Some 47 police officers were injured and 60 people arrested after a spate of protests across Israel over the shooting dead of 18-year-old Ethiopian-descendant Solomon Teka.

Protesters erected burning barricades and clashed with police in the northern city of Haifa on Monday and Tuesday following Teka's death in Kiryat Haim late on Sunday.


Crowds of Ethiopian Israelis blocked junctions across the country after an off-duty police officer reportedly shot the teenager dead.

The officer involved in Sunday's shooting says he feared for his life as a group of youths, allegedly including Teka, pelted him with stones after he tried to intervene in a fight. The cop has been placed under house arrest and an investigation into the shooting is underway.
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Airplane

Atlanta City Council approves smoking ban at Hartsfield - Jackson Int'l Airport

Evie Carrick
Yahoo! News
Wed, 03 Jul 2019 12:33 UTC
Smoking banned in ATL airport
© Flickr/peace6x
Travelers who smoke might typically land at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and head to one of the airport's designated smoking rooms, but those days may soon be over. The Atlanta City Council approved an ordinance this week that would entirely ban smoking and vaping at the airport, as well as at several of the city's public areas, including restaurants, bars, and hotel rooms.

The council voted 13-2 in favor of the smoking ban, which includes cigarettes, cigars, and electronic cigarettes. If the ordinance is approved and signed by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, it will go into effect Jan. 2, 2020. (A Georgia law passed in 2005 already prohibits smoking in restaurants and bars where people under 18 are permitted and requires a smoking area to be enclosed and private or outdoors

Atlanta's airport is one of the last major U.S. hubs to still offer travelers designated smoking areas. According to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, all but five of the 35 busiest U.S. airports were smoke-free as of Jan. 2, 2019. O'Hare International Airport in Chicago; Los Angeles International Airport; Dallas Fort Worth International Airport; Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina; and recently, Denver International Airport have closed smoking lounges and gone completely smoke-free indoors.

Comment: See also:

Smoke, Lies and the Nanny State

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Newspaper

Trump's decision to display a few tanks in July 4th celebration triggers meltdown among his critics


RT
Tue, 02 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
Abrams tanks and Bradley vehicle july 4
© REUTERS/Leah MillisAbrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles spotted at a rail yard outside of Washington, DC, July 2, 2019
US President Donald Trump's decision to display tanks on the National Mall during the Independence Day festivities is causing a meltdown among his critics, who claim it's an 'authoritarian' move worthy of North Korea - or Russia.

As part of the "Salute to America" celebrations this July 4, the US Navy 'Blue Angels' acrobatic group will fly over the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC and there will be tanks "stationed outside" on the grounds. The event will culminate with the customary fireworks display.

All of this is intended to show off the "strongest and most advanced military anywhere in the world," according to the US president.
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HAL9000

Amazon confirms keeping Alexa voice recordings indefinitely

Stephanie Mlot
geek.com
Wed, 03 Jul 2019 03:29 UTC
Amazon keeps Alexa transcripts
© Piotr Cichosz/UnsplashEcho Dot
Amazon last week confirmed that it keeps transcripts of interactions with Alexa, even after users have deleted the voice recordings.

Based on reports that Amazon retains text records of what users ask Alexa, Sen. Chris Coons in May sent a letter to CEO Jeff Bezos, demanding answers.

The Democrat from Delaware asked Amazon to provide answers on how long it stores transcripts, whether users can delete them, why it collects them and how they are used, and whether the company anonymizes customer identity.

"While I am encouraged that Amazon allows users to delete audio recordings linked to their accounts," Coons, a member of the judiciary committee, wrote in his letter, "I am very concerned by reports that suggest that text transcriptions of these audio records are preserved indefinitely on Amazon's servers, and users are not given the option to delete these text transcripts."

In response, Amazon Vice President of Public Policy Brian Huseman revealed that the tech titan keeps transcripts and voice recordings indefinitely, removing them only when "the customer chooses to delete them."
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Megaphone

Border patrol agents made light of migrant deaths & posted 'sexist' memes of AOC in Facebook group

A.C. Thompson
Pro Publica
Thu, 04 Jul 2019 11:53 UTC
customs border patrol logo
© Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse/Getty
Members of a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents joked about the deaths of migrants, discussed throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress visiting a detention facility in Texas on Monday and posted a vulgar illustration depicting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez engaged in oral sex with a detained migrant, according to screenshots of their postings.

In one exchange, group members responded with indifference and wisecracks to the post of a news story about a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant who died in May while in custody at a Border Patrol station in Weslaco, Texas. One member posted a GIF of Elmo with the quote, "Oh well." Another responded with an image and the words "If he dies, he dies."

Created in August 2016, the Facebook group is called "I'm 10-15" and boasts roughly 9,500 members from across the country. (10-15 is Border Patrol code for "aliens in custody.") The group described itself, in an online introduction, as a forum for "funny" and "serious" discussion about work with the patrol. "Remember you are never alone in this family," the introduction said.
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Arrow Down

Report: US tops list of countries fuelling the waste crisis

Will Nichols
Maplecroft
Thu, 04 Jul 2019 11:53 UTC
waste dump
America's thirst for consumption is not matched by an appetite for recycling, reveals new data identifying the country is the world's top producer of waste and one of the worst of any industrialised nation for managing its trash.

In two new indices, we've measured the waste generation and recycling performance of 194 countries to uncover a global picture of how countries are dealing with the waste they produce at a time where the world is facing a mounting crisis, primarily driven by plastics.

The research calculates that over 2.1 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) are generated globally each year - enough to fill 822,000 Olympic-size swimming pools, which would stretch 41,000 kms if laid out end-to-end. However, only 16% (323 million tonnes) of this is recycled each year, while 46% (950 million tonnes) is disposed of unsustainably.

Comment: Also see: Global recycling crisis shows West can't use poorer countries as dumping grounds

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Windsock

Why do perfectly intelligent people believe in Climate Change?

Dr Andrew Edmonds
Medium.com
Sun, 30 Jun 2019 00:01 UTC
statue
The operative word in this somewhat leading question is "believe". Global warming is a belief system with all the characteristics of a religion.

Look at how non-believers are vilified. Look at how we are told we must make sacrifices to the god of global warming; to sacrifice little old ladies through their unaffordable heating bills; to sacrifice our countryside to windmills and solar farms; to sacrifice our cars and our mobility.

How did we get to this point in our supposedly rational age?

Comment: While the above points are certainly valid, there is some nuance missing. The climate is changing, but it's not for the reasons touted by the mainstream media, activists and globalist propaganda. As far back as 1967 it's been known that the sun controls the climate, not CO2. But that simply doesn't fit the religious narrative.

See also:

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USA

How Antifa apologists defend street violence

Robby Soave
Quillette
Wed, 03 Jul 2019 10:49 UTC
antifa members
2017 photos released by Portland police, depicting antifa members arrested in 2017 and arraigned at Multnomah County Court.
A day before the 2017 Women's March, spectators and activists of all stripes descended on Washington, D.C. for the inauguration of President Trump. Supporters of the new president wore "Make America Great Again" baseball caps and toted "Trump-Pence 2016" signs. Detractors were more colorful.

"Trump is the symptom, capitalism is the disease, socialism is the cure," read one sign, wielded by a woman with a T-shirt depicting a clenched fist.

Others were at least funny: I spotted a man holding a sign featuring a cartoon Batman slapping Trump in the face with the caption "Stop tweeting!" — a parody of a drawing from the Batman comics, in which the caped crusader slaps Robin.

The demonstrations were mostly peaceful. Mostly.

Masked protesters known simultaneously as the "black bloc" (because they wear black clothes and hoods to mask their identities) and "antifa" (as in anti-fascist) smashed the windows of a local Starbucks and a Bank of America. They also set a limousine on fire. How these acts of property damage were intended to undermine Trump remains a mystery, given that the CEO of Starbucks and many Bank of America employees were financial supporters of the Hillary Clinton campaign. The limo driver, we learned, was a Muslim immigrant.
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Extinguisher

Gabriel Nadales: I'm a former Antifa member and enough is enough -- Antifa must be stopped

Gabriel Nadales
Fox News
Wed, 03 Jul 2019 00:01 UTC
andy ngo
Andy Ngo was assaulted at an Antifa riot in Portland
The video showing Quillette reporter Andy Ngo being savagely attacked by Antifa at a demonstration in Portland, Oregon, last weekend has rocked the nation. The footage of masked thugs beating him with blunt objects and throwing "milkshakes" allegedly filled with quick-drying cement is shocking to many.

But I'm not surprised by this horrific behavior — I was once behind the mask.

I first became involved in Antifa in 2010 while I was in high school, and over the course of two years I participated in several demonstrations throughout Southern California. Although I never hurt anyone, I yelled obscenities, I destroyed property and I am ashamed of my actions. While I walked away from the movement over seven years ago, I have been following its growth and today's Antifa members are far more brutal, thuggish and bold than anything I experienced.

Comment: The Andy Ngo beating seems to have been a major turning point for some, with many leftists and leftist media who previously made excuses for Antifa, are now finally calling them out for the thugs that they are. This kind of mob violence against any they disagree with is completely inexcusable, regardless of political orientation.

See also:

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