Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

Horrible: Suspect reportedly confesses to killing childhood friend & dumping her body

Sarah Stern
Emotions ran high Thursday when prosecutors played jurors an alleged confession tape in which they say their suspect describes murdering a childhood friend for her inheritance money.

Sarah Stern was a promising young artist when she went missing at the age of 19 from her New Jersey home in December 2016.

Months later, her childhood friend Liam McAtasney was charged for allegedly strangling her and enlisting Stern's prom date to help throw her body off a nearby bridge crossing Shark River in Belmar, New Jersey. Her body was never found.

Heart - Black

Five juveniles arrested after murdering lead singer of Nashville band in botched robbery

Kyle Yorlets homicide Nashville
© WSMVFive teenagers are charged in the homicide of 24-Year-Old Kyle Yorlets, in Nashville, Tennnessee.
Five kids are accused of killing a 24-year-old musician outside his Tennessee home, in what police said Friday was an attempted robbery.

Three girls, ages 12, 14 and 15, and two boys, ages 13 and 16, were charged with criminal homicide in the fatal shooting of Kyle Yorlets, according to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.

Yorlets was shot outside his Nashville home Thursday, made it back inside and was found by a roommate, police said. He was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

NPC

Professor claims Lindsay Shepherd's only successful because of her "young white female face"

Lindsay Shepherd
First, it was her views. Now, her gender?

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has just hired Lindsay Shepherd as its first-ever campus free speech fellow-a role whose importance we're reminded of every time a professor opens his, her or, erm, xir mouth.

Case in point: MacEwan University professor Kristopher Wells said in response to the JCCF's announcement that Shepherd was only hired because of her "young white female face."

Penis Pump

"The Third Reich": Rock star Thom Yorke blasts Theresa May's handling of Brexit

thom yorke
© AP Photo/ Amy Harris
A motley crew of celebrities from across the UK have stuck their two cents into the EU debate, with at least 250 - including actors Dominic West and Benedict Cumberbatch - signing an open letter titled 'Stay in the EU' back in late 2016.

Radiohead frontman, Thom Yorke, has poured scorn on Prime Minister Theresa May's handling of Brexit, saying that some of her actions are "worthy of the early days of the Third Reich."

The 50-year-old rock star stormed Twitter to say that Miss May had used her position to "threaten chaos upon this land" and "bring into question the lives of millions in this country as a bargaining tool." He then proceeded to say that the "immense distress and suffering" facilitated by her highly ambiguous Brexit policy was comparable to "the early days of the Third Reich."


Comment: Oh dear.


Comment: That Mr Yorke thinks May's handling of Brexit is comparable to the Third Reich, of all the tragedies that befall our planet, clearly shows that people shouldn't pay too much heed to his opinion on the topic, or others: Radiohead's Thom Yorke gives supporters of BDS the finger during concert in Glasgow

However, there is one musician who seems to see reality with a much more objective eye, and that's Roger Waters from Pink Floyd:


Cow

The US faces a catastrophic food supply crisis as American farmers struggle

homestead farm
American farmers are battling several issues when it comes to producing our food. Regulated low prices, tariffs, and the inability to export have all cut into the salaries of farmers. They are officially in crisis mode, just like the United States' food supply.

"The farm economy's in pretty tough shape," said John Newton, chief economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation. "When you look out on the horizon of things to come, you start to see some cracks." Average farm income has fallen to near 15-year lows under president Donald Trump's policies, and in some areas of the country, farm bankruptcies are soaring. And with slightly higher interest rates, many don't see borrowing more money as an option. "A lot of farmers are going to give the president the benefit of the doubt, and have to date. But the longer the trade war goes on, the more that dynamic changes," said Brian Kuehl, executive director of Farmers for Free Trade, according to Politico.

With no end to the disastrous trade war in sight, many farmers have traveled to Washington to share their plights with the president himself hoping that he'll end the trade war that's exacerbating an already precarious food crisis. Farmers make up a fairly large chunk of president Trump's base, and an unwillingness to put food production in the United States first could be detrimental for Trump reelection chances in 2020. It could also be the beginning of a catastrophic food shortage.

Comment: See also:


Red Flag

'A grip on the trigger': Bahrain opposition begins armed resistance against 'Saudi occupation'

Bahrain opposition
Note: this is the first time I am posting a video by the Middle-East Observer which has now joined the Saker Community (translations) and who will be providing us Arab-language videos translated and subtitled in English. Please see under this video how to support the Middle-East Observer and stay in contact. Please support this work generously!

The Saker

Original description: A prominent Bahraini opposition leader says his al-Wefaq movement has begun carrying out increasingly sophisticated armed resistance operations against the ruling al-Khalifa government and the "Saudi occupation". Sayyed Murtada al-Sanadi said that the ruling al-Khalifa monarchy and its Saudi backers gave no opportunity for dialogue or negotiations despite eight years of peaceful protests by the opposition. Source: Etejah TV (YouTube) Date: 24 January, 2019


Comment: It looks like the people of Bahrain have something in common with Yemenis - who have decided that long-standing Saudi oppression finally required a firm response.


Propaganda

Ironic: Ex-NYT chief Jill Abramson accused of rampant plagiarism In book on ethical journalism

Jill Abramson new york times
Former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson
Former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson has been accused of plagiarizing massive sections of her new book on ethical journalism, Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts.

Citing examples from just three chapters, VICE correspondent Michael Moynihan noted several passages from the book which Abrams copied - or slightly changed - without properly attributing the authors.

Ambulance

Two trains crash head-on in Catalonia leaving 1 dead, dozens injured

train crash spain barcelona
© Twitter / laiiacampsWitness Laia Camps has described seeing many injured passengers, including children and elderly persons.
At least one person was killed and dozens more were injured as two commuter trains collided head-on in Catalonia, the local Civil Protection service has said.

One person was killed, three are described as critical and 16 others sustained less severe wounds, the service tweeted. At least 76 more passengers suffered minor injuries, it added, while 100 others walked away from the crash unscathed.

Footage from the scene shows two trains literally fused into one another, while shocked and injured passengers rest on the adjacent rail tracks.

Attention

Russian psychopath who dug up girls' bodies and turned them into dolls could walk free on a technicality

Dolls
© Sputnik / Varvara Gertie
A deranged man, who dug up the bodies of 26 young girls and turned them into 'human dolls,' could walk free from a psychiatric unit despite the fury of his victims' relatives and the concerns of doctors.

Anatoly Moskvin, a 52-year-old historian from the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, was arrested and sentenced to compulsory psychiatric treatment after two dozen mummified bodies were discovered at his apartment in 2011.

Last year, psychiatrists claimed that they had cured the man and recommended that he continue receiving treatment as an outpatient. However, they recently reversed their decision and demanded that his treatment be extended indefinitely.

However, the body-snatcher could now walk free on a technicality as the order keeping him in the secure hospital expired in December. With a court poised to rule on the issue, relatives of the deceased children whose bodies he took have expressed outrage at the prospect of his release.

Dollars

Universal income doesn't lead to employment but it does make recipients less stressed

Finnish flag
© AP Photo/David Goldman
A nationwide experiment with basic income in Finland has not increased employment among those participating in the two-year trial, but their general well-being seems to have increased, a report said Friday.

The Social Insurance Institution of Finland, or Kela, said "it was not yet possible to draw any firm conclusions" from the first half of the experiment, where about 2,000 randomly selected, unemployed people aged 25-58 got tax-free income of 560 euros ($636) a month with no questions asked.

Finland is looking into ways to reshape its social security system and became in January 2017 the first European country to launch the trial, which will end in 2020.

Critics say universal basic income reduces incentives for people to look for work.

Proponents say it can empower people to start new businesses, knowing that they would continue to receive monthly income no matter how well their new venture does. It can also encourage people to try a new job without the fear of losing their unemployment checks or having to go through the paperwork of reapplying for benefits.

Comment: They really needed to conduct a study to come to this conclusion?