Society's Child

Big military spendings make us broke, not safe

Miriam Pemberton
Other Words
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 13:30 UTC

Backing down from nuclear war would make us a lot safer than piling more money into the Pentagon.

We're all tense. Hearing about our fellow citizens in Hawaii scrambling around, looking for a place to hide from a nuclear bomb, will do that to you. So will contests between two unstable world leaders over the size of their nuclear buttons.

Now, some politicians say they'll protect us by adding massive amounts to the Pentagon budget. This seems like a no-brainer: feel threatened, give more money to the military. But it isn't.

Practically everyone from the president on down, though, seems to take it as a given. "In confronting these horrible dangers," Donald Trump said during his State of the Union, "I'm calling on Congress" to "fully fund our great military."

The president and his party are now looking to add somewhere between $30 and $70 billion more in military spending to their budget for next year - on top of the increases for this year. Democrats seem willing to go along, with a few caveats.

BBC correspondent was detained for 17 hours in Indonesia over disputed tweet

Andreas Harsono
Human Rights Watch
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 12:20 UTC

© 2018 Antara Foto/M Agung Rajasa/via Reuters
Indonesian soldiers along with a local resident unload food and medical aid in Ewer, Asmat District, in the remote region of Papua, Indonesia January 29, 2018 in this photo taken by Antara Foto.

Authorities Restrict Independent Journalism in Papua

Last week, Indonesian authorities arrested a BBC correspondent for tweets she made while reporting from Papua. The journalist, Rebecca Henschke, was questioned for a total of 17 hours by immigration and military officials before being freed.

Henschke, based in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, went to Papua to report on both the measles outbreak, which has killed roughly 100 indigenous Papuan children, and on how logging and deforestation have destroyed forests where the staple food, sago palm, grows, leading Papuans to eat more instant noodles and cookies. She had a travel permit, a requirement for foreign journalists traveling to Papua.

She was arrested the day she arrived, February 1, after tweeting a photo of supplies on a river dock, writing, "aid coming in for severely malnourished children in Papua - instant noodles, super sweet soft drinks, and biscuits." Another tweet said, "Children in hospital eating chocolate biscuits and that's it."

Comment: It wouldn't be the first time that the BBC was caught misrepresenting the facts - if that is what actually happened. But even if so, it was an extreme reaction to detain someone for a tweet - an official response would have sufficed!

Cops sneak up on tattoo shop owner, beat him without mercy (VIDEO)

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 08 Feb 2018 12:24 UTC

Three Colorado cops beat a cigar smoking tattoo shop owner unprovoked and without mercy. Now the man is suing and will likely win now that video backs up his story.

A Colorado man is suing Sgt. Steven Holton and Detective Ben Russell of the Westminster Police Department and North Metro Drug Task Force for excessive use of force he and his attorneys say caused lasting painful injuries.

Since 1988, David Martinez has been the owner of Davian's Tattoo: Body Tattoo and Piercing and has been in business. Martinez claims he was beaten last summer without provocation by Holton and Russell and now has the video to prove it.

European women fight back with anti-migrant violence campaign video

Voice of Europe
Thu, 08 Feb 2018 12:24 UTC

The campaign that was launched by German women against migrant violence is becoming very successful. Its video has over 1.5 million views and women from all over Europe are using the 120db hashtag.

The 120 decibel (120db) movement is named after the noise level of the "rape alarms" some women in Germany carry in their handbags. Its campaign was launched last week by a group of women who are increasingly worried about migrant violence and sexual assaults.

Comment: Further reading:

ISIS video shows jihadists waiting in French countryside to attack "Paris before Rome"

Bridget Johnson
PJ Media
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 12:28 UTC

The pro-ISIS group that last month depicted the invasion of Washington this week declared "Paris before Rome," depicting a terrorist invasion that began with cells in the countryside outside Paris before attacking the city.

Al-Abd al-Faqir Media released what they called "a cinematic film about the invasion of the Islamic State of the capital of degeneracy ... in the near future, inshallah."

The video opened with a man visiting an ISIS social media account on a computer and a recording of deceased ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani: "The time is now -- we want Paris before Rome and before al-Andalus, after we make your lives miserable and bomb your White House and Big Ben and Eiffel Tower." Sacking Rome has been a cornerstone of ISIS theology since the beginning of the caliphate.

Showing a map of France, the group showed a rendering of a drone approaching Paris from the southwest, "type: al-Burraq," which is a drone used by the Pakistani Air Force, "belonging to the caliphate army - location: the western countryside of Paris."

Comment: We wonder if this laughably absurd video is intended more for those Muslims who are gullible enough to take it seriously and do something stupid or for the Western masses to remember to be very afraid.

It's funny how drones now feature in terrorist propaganda videos, especially considering the recent incident of a swarm of drones attacking Russian bases in Syria:

Pew Research: Five facts about the religious lives of African Americans

David Masci
Pew Research
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 00:01 UTC

Religion, particularly Christianity, has played an outsize role in African American history. While most Africans brought to the New World to be slaves were not Christians when they arrived, many of them and their descendants embraced Christianity, finding comfort in the Biblical message of spiritual equality and deliverance. In post-Civil War America, a burgeoning black church played a key role strengthening African American communities and in providing key support to the civil rights movement.

For Black History Month, here are five facts about the religious lives of African Americans.

Canada's gender-neutral pronoun bill should be a warning for Americans

Jordan Peterson
The Hill
Tue, 18 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC

Two weeks ago I posted three YouTube videos about legislative threats to Canadian freedom of speech. I singled out Canada's Federal Bill C-16, which adds legal protection for "gender identity" and "gender expression" to the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal code.

I noted that the policy statements surrounding similar legislation - most particularly those on the Ontario Human Rights Commission website - were dangerously vague and ill-formulated. I also indicated my refusal to apply what are now known as "preferred" pronouns to people who do not fit easily into traditional gender categories (although I am willing to call someone "he" or "she" in accordance with their manner of self-presentation).

The trade in dog meat South Korea doesn't want Olympics tourists to see

Nick Fagge
Daily Mail
Tue, 06 Feb 2018 22:18 UTC

© Roland Hoskins
Dogs and even puppies are sold openly for food in Moran market, Seongnam, the country's largest open-air dog market, near Seoul, which has survived an animal rights campaign to shut it before the Winter Olympics - and claims by the local authorities to have closed it

These are the images South Korean Olympics organizers do not want you to see - dogs being slaughtered and sold for food just 70 miles from where the Games begin on Friday.

Dogs and even puppies are sold openly for food in Moran market, Seongnam, the country's largest open-air dog market - contradicting claims made last year by local authorities that it was closing.

Up to 80,000 dogs are sold and slaughtered at the market each year, to be made into a soup which folklore claims boosts the eater's sex drive.

Comment: First off, the conditions described in the article are tantamount to animal abuse, and it should be outlawed to keep any animals in those conditions. But when it comes to the practice of eating dogs things become a little morally ambiguous. Is it that different from eating pigs? On the one hand, dogs have been the companions of humans for millennia. But piggies seem to have a similar disposition to human companionship. If the only reason to eat dog is the silly superstition about sexual virility, or if its just a leftover from times of scarcity, then there's really no reason to keep the practice. Overall, it seems like there is just something inherently wrong about eating dogs (and cats, for that matter).

See also:

Norovirus outbreak at 2018 Olympic Games: Number of people with vomit illness symptoms grows

Rachel Axon
USA Today
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 06:49 UTC

Korean officials on Wednesday confirmed additional cases of norovirus at the Pyeongchang Olympics, bringing the total of people infected to 86.

The Korean Centre for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed an additional 54 cases after announcing 32 on Tuesday.

The disease is considered highly contagious and typically includes symptoms of diarrhea, stomach pain, vomiting and nausea.

"The peak season for norovirus is January and February so unfortunately we're in a bad time of year where outbreaks occur," said Kim Hyunjun, director of the Korean CDC.

Comment: Rather ironic that the Olympic committee, which clearly caught the "anti-Russian bug", has their event plagued by a viral outbreak. While 28 of the Russian athletes who were banned from competing have been cleared due to "insufficient evidence" of wrongdoing, 11 bans still remain.

More on the Olympics:

Banks close 1,700 branches in past 12 months, fastest pace in decades

Rachel Louise Ensign, Christina Rexrode and Coulter Jones
Wall Street Journal
Mon, 05 Feb 2018 23:04 UTC

© DAVID MORRIS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Charlene LeBlanc continues to bank at Regions even after it shut its branch in Centreville, Miss. She now has to drive 30 miles to get to the nearest branch

Banks are closing branches at the fastest pace in decades, as they leave less profitable regions and fewer customers use tellers for routine transactions.

The number of branches in the U.S. shrank by more than 1,700 in the 12 months ended in June 2017, the biggest decline on record, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data.

Branch numbers fell again in the second half of 2017, according to related data submitted to bank regulators and reviewed by the Journal. That would add to the thousands of locations closed following the financial crisis, and is the longest stretch of closures since the Great Depression.

Many of the closings were in big cities and surrounding suburbs, where branches were consolidated largely because of falling foot traffic. Others were in rural areas, where some large regional lenders are leaving town altogether.

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Society's Child

Big military spendings make us broke, not safe

BBC correspondent was detained for 17 hours in Indonesia over disputed tweet

Cops sneak up on tattoo shop owner, beat him without mercy (VIDEO)

European women fight back with anti-migrant violence campaign video

ISIS video shows jihadists waiting in French countryside to attack "Paris before Rome"

Pew Research: Five facts about the religious lives of African Americans

Canada's gender-neutral pronoun bill should be a warning for Americans

The trade in dog meat South Korea doesn't want Olympics tourists to see

Norovirus outbreak at 2018 Olympic Games: Number of people with vomit illness symptoms grows

Banks close 1,700 branches in past 12 months, fastest pace in decades

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