Society's ChildS


Boat

'Crisis' in the making: 700,000 migrants in Libya waiting to board boats to EU

Virginia Hale
Breitbart
Tue, 10 Jul 2018 14:56 UTC
Migrants
© AP/Santi Palacios
Europe's problems with criminal trafficking gangs and illegal immigration are getting worse, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned, just days after the United Nations (UN) claimed that boat arrivals were "necessary" for the continent.

Pointing to a sharp rise in the number of attempted crossings from Africa along with the emergence of increasingly sophisticated ways of trafficking people across borders within the EU, the NCA revealed authorities in Europe are struggling to deal with smuggling gangs and immigration-related crime.

Criminal networks are making profits of up to £6 billion a year from charging would-be migrants, the majority of whom are from Africa, said Tom Dowdall, the agency's deputy director of organised immigration crime.

According to the Daily Mail, the crime agency chief reported that attempted crossings to Spain and Italy have risen 75 per cent from last year while the Italian government's crackdown on NGO boats has resulted in a "bottleneck" of 700,000 migrants currently in Libya who are waiting to get to Europe.

Comment: No, it's still a migrant crisis but staged as a political one where only certain people benefit - and it's not the citizens of the country. See also:

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Chess

Syrian Army makes advances near border with Jordan - and recaptures most of it


South Front
Sun, 08 Jul 2018 00:00 UTC
Syrian Arab Army
On July 8, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) advanced along the Syrian-Jordanian border and reached the town of Khrab al-Shahm, which is located 15km northwest of Daraa city, according to the Syrian News Channel.

Currently, the SAA is only 4km away from ISIS pocket in the western Daraa countryside. Furthermore, only 3km of the border line is still under the control of the terrorist group.

Comment: See also:

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Laptop

Trump's Supreme Court pick hates net neutrality and loves mass surveillance

Jake Johnson
Common Dreams
Tue, 10 Jul 2018 14:23 UTC
Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh
© Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump introduces U.S. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as his nominee to the United States Supreme Court during an event in the East Room of the White House July 9, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
In addition to the mountain of much-discussed reasons the American public should be alarmed by President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh - from his anti-abortion views to his past opinions favoring the interests of big polluters - advocacy groups are warning that the 53-year-old judge's established record of hostility to net neutrality and support for mass surveillance shows that his confirmation would spell "disaster for internet freedom."

"Trump's SCOTUS pick Brett Kavanaugh is an enemy of net neutrality and has sided with big cable companies in the lower courts," noted Demand Progress on Twitter following Trump's official selection of Kavanaugh Monday night, citing his previous argument that net neutrality rules violate the free speech of internet service providers.


Comment: Understandably, something to be concerned about but the days of mass surveillance are already in full swing and 'net neutrality' isn't exactly as 'neutral' as you think it is. In other words, not much is really going to change in that regard. See also: Trump nominates conservative Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court

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Heart - Black

Honduran immigrant killed two women in Miami, dumped bodies on street

Martin Vassolo and Charles Rabin
Miami Herald
Tue, 19 Jun 2018 12:23 UTC
Juan Carlos Hernandez-Caseres
© Miami-Dade Corrections
A Honduran national in the United States illegally has been charged with killing two women in Miami over the past three months and dumping their bodies on the street, police announced Monday.

Juan Carlos Hernandez-Caseres, 37, was arrested Saturday morning for the murders of Ann Farrin, 41, and Neidy Roche, 39. Both women, police said, were prostitutes.

Farrin's body was found by paramedics Wednesday morning in the 3000 block of Northwest 25th Avenue, between Northwest 38th Street and Northwest 37th Street. Hernandez-Caseres told police he had picked Farrin up in his car for the purpose of paying her for sex, but sometime during intercourse, he became "enraged" and punched her in the throat and neck.

Surveillance footage taken at the time shows a black vehicle coming to a stop between Northwest 38th Street and Northwest 37th Street. The driver gets out, removes a body from the passenger side and leaves it on the sidewalk.

Comment: See also: Forensic criminologist: The truth about crime, illegal immigrants and sanctuary cities

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Sheriff

Pennsylvania man calls cops 'Nazis' and was charged with hate crime

Robby Soave
Reason
Fri, 29 Jun 2018 08:05 UTC
Robbie Sanderson's arrests
Police officers in Crafton, Pennsylvania, arrested a 52-year-old black man, Robbie Sanderson, for shoplifting at a CVS in September of 2016. He called them Nazis, skinheads, and Gestapo as they cuffed him.

Because of those epithets, Sanderson was charged with "ethnic intimidation." Insulting the officers in such terms was an anti-white hate crime, from the perspective of the authorities. Sanderson had made bias-motivated "terroristic threats," they claimed. The alleged motivation increased the seriousness of Sanderson's crime from a first-degree misdemeanor to a third-degree felony.

That's according to The Appeal's Joshua Vaughn, who reports that Pennsylvania residents were charged with hate crimes for making offensive statements to police at least three other times. In each of these cases, including Sanderson's, the hate crime charges were eventually dropped. But the threat of a hate crime conviction can still hurt. Defendants might plead guilty to other offenses, for instance, if prosecutors agree to drop a hate crime charge.
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TV

YouTube plans to decide for users what is and is not 'reputable news'


RT
Tue, 10 Jul 2018 14:17 UTC
Youtube
© Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
YouTube will invest $25 million in funding "quality journalism" on its platform. The initiative will aim to provide context and to promote 'reputable' sources; but there are doubts as to what, exactly, that might mean.

YouTube announced the initiative on Monday, and says it aims to make "it easier to find quality news" and improve "the news experience on YouTube." The initiative forms part of a wider, $300 million Google program aimed at "helping journalism thrive in the digital age."

In the coming weeks, videos posted about breaking news events will be accompanied with a link to carefully vetted news article about the events, as well as a reminder that breaking news can rapidly change. YouTube will also highlight breaking news videos from reputable news organizations on its homepage, and recommend that viewers watch similar videos following the ones they were watching.

Comment: If Western governments and mainstream media outlets would actually tell the truth, then there'd be no need for companies like Google, Facebook, and Youtube to act as thought police on their websites.

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Roses

Woman, pilot killed when helicopter crashes into Virginia home

Jasmine Norwood and Brendan King
WTVR
Wed, 11 Jul 2018 19:41 UTC
Helicopter crashes into VA home
© Rodrigo Arriaza / Virginia Gazette)Fire crews from Williamsburg and James City and York counties worked to contain the fire Sunday afternoon and through the night.
The woman killed when a helicopter crashed into her Williamsburg home Sunday afternoon was identified as 91-year-old Jean Lonchak Danylko, according to Virginia State Police. The name of the R44 helicopter's pilot -- who was also killed in the crash -- has not yet been released.

"[The helicopter] departed the Williamsburg-Jamestown airport around 4:30 p.m. [Sunday]. The pilot was the only person on board," National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator Doug Brazy said during a Monday afternoon press conference. "We don't know the destination of the flight yet."

The helicopter crashed into the Bristol Commons Townhomes -- about one mile from the airport on Settlement Drive -- minutes after takeoff.

"The pilot -- who we believe was on board -- held a commercial pilot certificate," Brazy said.
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Health

Salisbury medical report: Male Novichok victim improving


RFE/RL
Tue, 10 Jul 2018 17:07 UTC
Charlie Rowley
© Daily StarCharlie Rowley showing signs of recovery.
A British hospital says a man who was exposed to a deadly Soviet-made nerve agent has regained consciousness and is now in stable condition. The July 10 announcement by the Salisbury District Hospital about Charlie Rowley came two days after his girlfriend, Dawn Sturgess, died from exposure to Novichok.

"We have seen a small but significant improvement in the condition of Charlie Rowley. He is in a critical but stable condition and is now conscious," the hospital said in a statement.

The two fell ill on June 30 and authorities later determined they had been exposed to Novichok, a deadly nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union and used in the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in March.

Police suspect Rowley and Sturgess were accidentally exposed to some residual Novichok left over from the March incident. The Skripals have recovered, but the death of Sturgess prompted Defense Minister Gavin Williamson on July 9 to accuse Russia of committing an attack on British soil. The Kremlin rejected the allegations, calling them absurd.

The poisoning of the Skripals prompted a major diplomatic crisis, with London, and many of its allies, expelling diplomats, and Moscow responding in kind.

Comment: See also:

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Briefcase

Former Navy sailor, pardoned by Trump has filed lawsuit against the Obama administration


RT
Tue, 10 Jul 2018 19:18 UTC
Trumppardon
© Getty ImagesPresident Trump and the pardon for Kristian Saucier
A former US Navy submariner has filed a lawsuit alleging that Obama administration officials denied him equal protection under the law, and went easy on Hillary Clinton for the same offenses.

31-year-old Kristian Saucier served a year in federal prison for taking photographs of classified sections of the submarine he worked on. In the suit, filed in Albany, New York, on Monday, he argues that the same officials who threw the book at him went much easier on Hillary Clinton for using a private email server to handle classified State Department documents.

The US Department of Justice, former FBI Director James Comey and former President Barack Obama are named as some of the defendants in Saucier's complaint.

Comment: Saucier has a point but no skin in the bigger game. He got his pardon.
See also:

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Jet3

NYPD 'cleared' De Blasio's flight on $3M spy plane


RT
Wed, 11 Jul 2018 11:32 UTC
De Blasio
© Brendan McDermid/ReutersNew York Mayor Bill de Blasio
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio travelled to a family vacation aboard a spy plane designed to detect radioactive material used in "dirty bombs" with the backing of the city's police department.

Police Commissioner James O'Neill told reporters on Tuesday that the NYPD's intelligence bureau cleared De Blasio to go back and forth from his holiday in Quebec, Canada, using the $3 million Cessna 208 Caravan. He had taken time out from his week-long break to attend a memorial for a slain police detective.

"Bottom line, the mayor came back to go to a street-renaming for a detective that was brutally murdered a year ago," O'Neill said, according to the New York Post.

Comment: See also:

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