Society's ChildS


Bad Guys

New opposition leader Pablo Casado tells government Spain can't absorb "millions of Africans"


RT
Wed, 01 Aug 2018 16:21 UTC
migrants spain
© Jorge Guerrero/Agence France-PresseA group of migrants arrive on a Spanish coast guard vessel into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on January 1, 2017
Spain is the new center of Europe's migrant crisis - and the conservative Popular Party leader Pablo Casado has blamed the socialist government after they accepted migrant rescue boat Aquarius, which Italy had turned away.

The rescue boat, which carried 630 migrants, has been operated since February 2016 by SOS Mediterranee and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). Italy and Malta rejected the rescue boat in June, sparking a bitter row within the European Union, with the two countries demanding another member of the bloc take in the migrants on board. The ship ended up docking in Valencia; a move that Casado warned may be seen as a welcome sign for more arrivals.

Comment:

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Chess

Saudis suspend oil shipments through Red Sea


Reuters
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 16:50 UTC
Ras Tanura oil refinery
© REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah/File Photo
Saudi Arabia announced last week it was suspending oil shipments through the Red Sea's Bab al-Mandeb strait after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis attacked two ships in the waterway.

To date, no other exporters have followed suit. A full blockage of the strategic waterway would virtually halt shipment to Europe and the United States of about 4.8 million barrels per day of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

Western allies backing a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen expressed concern about the attacks, but have not indicated they would take action to secure the strait. That would risk deeper involvement in a war seen as a proxy battle for regional supremacy between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
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Magnify

Upside-down values: Swede deemed 'hero' for stopping deportation of migrant sentenced for assault


RT
Wed, 01 Aug 2018 16:31 UTC
sweden refugees
© ReutersRefugees on a stairway leading up to trains at the Hyllie train station outside Malmo, Sweden
A story about a Swedish student being hailed as a 'hero' for temporarily stopping the deportation of an Afghan man has taken a surprising twist after it emerged that the migrant 'victim' had reportedly been sentenced for assault.

The 'deportation drama' unveiled on board an airliner about to take off for Turkey from the Swedish city of Gothenburg earlier in July. Elin Ersson purchased a ticket after learning that a 52-year-old Afghan asylum seeker would be on the plane, as he was being sent back to his home country.

Live-streaming the whole event on her Facebook page, Ersson explained the reasons behind her protest amid tense and emotional scenes.

"There is a man who is going to get deported to Afghanistan, where he will most likely get killed," she said in the footage, adding that she would not "sit down until this person is off the plane." "All I want to do is stop the deportation and then I will comply with the rules here. This is all perfectly legal and I have not committed a crime," the lone activist can be heard saying.

The emotive video gathered almost five million views and Ersson has since amassed some 50,000 followers on Facebook. People branded the girl "a hero" and thanked her for her courage.


Comment: Toxic compassion? There's a place for kindheartedness - it's an essential component of being human - but without the addition of thought, it is worthless. It's what leads naive people like Ersson to support terrorists, rapists, murderers, and other criminals - all in the name of compassion. Solzhenitsyn warned about this trend 40 years ago, and it has only gotten worse.

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TV

Liberal media hacks and bad behavior in the Oval Office

Jim Hoft
The Gateway Pundit
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 16:05 UTC
Jim Acosta Oval office
© NBC NewsReporters at the Oval Office
The behavior of liberal media hacks is just unbelievable!

President Donald Trump met with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conti Monday in the Oval Office.

President Trump opened the room to reporters so the two leaders could make a few statements during their meetings.

The reporters know when they come into a meeting whether or not the president will take questions. On Monday the president was not planning on taking questions.
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Chart Pie

Unflattering: Over 50% of Israelis support the new apartheid 'nation state' law


Sputnik
Tue, 31 Jul 2018 16:04 UTC
israeli
© REUTERS / Ammar Awad
Fifty-eight percent of Israelis support the controversial nation-state law anchoring the privileged status of the Jews in Israel, The Jerusalem Post newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing a new poll.

The law is opposed by 34 percent of respondents, while eight percent have no opinion on the issue, The Jerusalem Post reported citing the Panels Research poll conducted for the Walla! News.

The new legislation has a solid support of 85 percent among those, who define themselves as right-wing parties' supporters.

Another indicator of popular support for the policy of the Israeli government is the public support for the ruling party of Likud, which would get 33 out of 120 seats in the Knesset comparing to 30 seats it currently holds.

The poll was conducted among 532 Israelis with a margin of error amounting to 4.4 percent.

Comment: Back in 1978, in his Harvard address, Solzhenitsyn stated his opinion that Israel "should not be reckoned as part of the West, if only because of the decisive circumstance that its state system is fundamentally linked to religion." He's right. Israel isn't part of the West. It's a Jewish State - not a democracy.

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Eiffel Tower

Workers plan to go on strike over long lines at Eiffel Tower


AFP
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 12:48 UTC
Eiffel Tower
© AFP Photo/Ludovic MARINPeople cooling off in the Trocadero Fountain in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on July 27, 2018 on July 27, 2018, as a heatwave continues across northern Europe.
Eiffel Tower workers are planning to strike this week over a new access policy for visitors which they say is generating "monstruous" waits at the famous tourist landmark, union officials said Monday.

Since early July the monument has set aside half of daily tickets for people who buy them in advance on the internet and choose a scheduled time for their visit.

Previously just 20 percent of tickets could be booked ahead of time.

But the tower's management has also decided to reserve specific elevators for each type of ticket holder, a move which "creates lines that are at times monstruous and often lopsided," the CGT union said in a statement.

During off-peak times for pre-booked tickets, such as early afternoon or evening, the reserved elevator might be half empty -- despite lines of up to three hours at the elevator for walk-ins.
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Star of David

USS Liberty survivor among those captured when Israel seized Gaza relief flotilla

Joe Lauria
Consortium News
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 15:13 UTC
Israel Gaza Freedom Flotilla al-Awda
© Israel Defense Forces press-service/FileIsraeli navy seizes last Freedom Flotilla ship
Israeli soldiers in international waters boarded the Al Awda ship headed to Gaza to deliver relief supplies on Sunday, detaining everyone on board, including a USS Liberty survivor, after beating and tasering some passengers, according to an eyewitness account.

Only two of the 22 passengers on the ship have been released, with the rest being held in Givon prison in Israel, the flotilla's organizers said on Monday.

One of those released, Zohar Chamberlain Regev, an Israeli citizen, contested an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) statement that the ship had been captured "without exceptional incident."

"People on board were tasered and hit by masked IOF soldiers. We did not get our passports or belongings before we got off the boat. Do not believe reports of peaceful interception," Regev said in a statement to the organizers, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. Regev referred to the IDF derogatorily as the Israeli Occupation Force.

She said she saw "blood on the deck of the Al Awda as the last participants were being dragged off the ship," according to the coalition's statement. Regev and a second Israeli passenger, Yonatan Shapira, were charged with attempting to enter Gaza and conspiracy before being released.

Comment: The Freedom Flotilla has released a statement voicing concern for their crew and participants who are still in unlawful detention at Givon prison. Details about the detainees, including last videos and personal statements, can be found on the website and Facebook pages: www.facebook.com/FreedomFlotillaCoalition/
Although the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) claim that the capture of our vessel happened 'without exceptional incident', eye-witness Zohar Chamberlain Regev reports that at the time of boarding: "People on board were tasered and hit by masked IOF soldiers. We did not get our passports or belongings before we got off the boat. Do not believe reports of peaceful interception." We urgently need to know the details of who was injured and how seriously, and what treatment they are receiving, if any. A military attack on a civilian vessel is a violent act and a violation of international law. Taking 22 people from international waters to a country which is not their destination constitutes an act of kidnapping, which is also unlawful under the international Convention of the Law of Sea.

From the time we lost contact around 13:15 local time on Sunday, we know that the IOF blocked all communication signals, including satellite phones. We are very concerned about this violation of journalists' right to report freely and we remain gravely concerned about their ability to keep their professional equipment and their storage media. As Australian journalist Chris Graham recently observed "Bad things happen when good people stay silent, as history well records. But horrendous things happen when media are prevented from scrutinizing the actions of a state."

Two of our participants who are Israeli citizens have been charged with attempting to enter Gaza and conspiracy to commit a crime, and were released on bail this morning. One of them, boat leader Zohar Chamberlain Regev, reports seeing blood on the deck of the Al Awda as the last participants were being dragged off the ship.
[..]


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Red Flag

Despite sufficient evidence ex-governors grandson gets no jail time for violent rape

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 01 Aug 2018 15:31 UTC
Stephen Dalton Baril
The suspect who was charged with forcefully raping a woman was let off the hook and avoided jail time, despite the presence of "sufficient evidence," and he also happens to be the grandson of a former governor.

According to ABC7, 21-year-old Stephen Dalton Baril is accused of raping a woman he met at a bar near the University of Virginia where they both had classes. According to the victim, that night she told Baril that she wanted to leave the bar and go home around 11:30 p.m. Baril offered to walk her home since they lived close to one another, and she accepted. However, when the two approached the area, Baril grabbed her and physically carried her in the direction of his apartment.

The victim said she reluctantly played along and agreed to hang out at his house for a few minutes, but told him that she could not stay long and needed to be home soon. According to the NYPost, when she came back from the bathroom Baril had reportedly stripped down to his underwear.

"Please don't make this bad," she allegedly pleaded with Baril, according to the prosecutor.

Baril then forced her into his bedroom and forcibly raped her, eventually allowing her to leave after she pleaded with him to let her go.
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Newspaper

'You can break a person': Widow of Swedish #MeToo witch-hunt victim blames campaign for husband's suicide


RT
Wed, 01 Aug 2018 15:18 UTC
#MeToo sign
© Issei Kato / ReutersA protester raises a placard reading "#MeToo".
Sweden's #MeToo movement has come under fire after its most prominent target committed suicide. However, an investigation failed to prove accusations against Benny Fredriksson, a leading figure in Stockholm's art world.

Fredriksson was the artistic director of the Swedish capital's arts and culture center Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, and the husband of Swedish opera superstar Anne Sofie von Otter. Last December, he resigned after anonymous reports surfaced in the media that he had sexually abused employees.

On March 17, while he was accompanying his wife on a singing tour of Australia, Fredriksson took his own life.

In an expansive interview with German newspaper Die Zeit, von Otter lashed out at the #MeToo movement and those who had demonized her husband, telling the paper how her husband had spiraled into the "deepest depression." She accused the movement against sexual harassment of encouraging a mob mentality. "You can break a person," the internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano, 63, added.
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Star of David

Israel criminalizes poetry: Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour sentenced to 5 months in prison for posting poem on social media

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Tue, 31 Jul 2018 00:00 UTC
Dareen Tatour
© Dareen TatourDareen at a March of Return demonstration.
An Israeli district court sentenced Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, 36, to five months in prison and a six-month suspended sentence on Tuesday for posting a poem she wrote to social media in 2015.

Tatour, a Palestinian citizen of Israel from the Galilee, was convicted of three counts of incitement and supporting a terrorist organization last May after a lengthy trial. Prior to sentencing, Tatour had spent nearly three years under house arrest, during which she was banned from publishing and accessing the internet.

During the hearing prosecutors focused on a video posted to social media of Tatour reciting an original poem titled "Resist, my people resist them," against backdrop images of violent confrontations between Palestinian and Israeli armed forces.

The indictment against Tatour included a full Hebrew translation of Tatour's poem, which her attorney argued mistranslated the original Arabic word for a "victim" to a "terrorist" from a stanza that was raised repeatedly during the hearing:
"Cast them aside for a coming time./Resist, my people, resist them./Resist the settler's robbery/And follow the caravan of martyrs."

Comment: See also: Palestinian woman convicted for the crime of poetry

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