Society's ChildS


Ambulance

Driver in Las Vegas rampage identified, charged with murder

Las Vegas
© L.E. Baskow / AFPThis photo shows police and fire personnel responding to a mass casualty vehicle accident on Las Vegas Boulevard South near the Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood on December 20, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Authorities have identified the woman who drove into a crowd of people on the Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday night, killing one and injuring more than thirty. The Oregon resident was charged with murder, fleeing the crime scene, and child abuse.

Video evidence showed Lakeisha N. Holloway, 24, of Portland, Oregon repeatedly and deliberately driving into a crowd on the sidewalk outside the Paris Hotel, Clark County officials said at a press conference Monday morning. Investigators are still working to discover the motive behind Holloway's rampage and have not ruled out the possibility of terrorism, said Sheriff Joseph Lombardo.

Eye 1

'Prying eyes': Airbnb sued after hidden camera found in California apartment

Airbnb
© Yuya Shino / Reuters
Airbnb are being sued after a woman found a secret camera recording her and her partner in a rental property in Irvine, California that had been booked through the website.

Yvonne Schumacher, who is from Germany, and her partner Kevin Stockton had booked the property from December 16, 2013, through January 12, 2014. The Christmas break did not go as planned, however.

Stormtrooper

Police exposed as whiney cowards who can't abide the same laws they enforce

police brutality
If you've been listening to various police agencies and their supporters, then you know what the future holds: anarchy is coming -- and it's all the fault of activists.

In May, a Wall Street Journal op-ed warned of a "new nationwide crime wave" thanks to "intense agitation against American police departments" over the previous year. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie went further. Talking recently with the host of CBS's Face the Nation, the Republican presidential hopeful asserted that the Black Lives Matter movement wasn't about reform but something far more sinister. "They've been chanting in the streets for the murder of police officers," he insisted. Even the nation's top cop, FBI Director James Comey, weighed in at the University of Chicago Law School, speaking of "a chill wind that has blown through American law enforcement over the last year."

According to these figures and others like them, lawlessness has been sweeping the nation as the so-called Ferguson effect spreads. Criminals have been emboldened as police officers are forced to think twice about doing their jobs for fear of the infamy of starring in the next viral video. The police have supposedly become the targets of assassins intoxicated by "anti-cop rhetoric," just as departments are being stripped of the kind of high-powered equipment they need to protect officers and communities. Even their funding streams have, it's claimed, come under attack as anti-cop bias has infected Washington, D.C. Senator Ted Cruz caught the spirit of that critique by convening a Senate subcommittee hearing to which he gave the title, "The War on Police: How the Federal Government Undermines State and Local Law Enforcement." According to him, the federal government, including the president and attorney general, has been vilifying the police, who are now being treated as if they, not the criminals, were the enemy.

Beyond the storm of commentary and criticism, however, quite a different reality presents itself. In the simplest terms, there is no war on the police. Violent attacks against police officers remain at historic lows, even though approximately 1,000 people have been killed by the police this year nationwide. In just the past few weeks, videos have been released of problematic fatal police shootings in San Francisco and Chicago.

Comment: Sott.net has been covering the explosion of evidence related to police misconduct and abuse of power. This article lists a brief sample of incidents, and yet the list is very long. It's clear that police reform needs to happen, but officers and their representatives will resist any change and are willing to push for even more authority to abuse civilians.


War Whore

Hours after bomb attack at Bagram base, rockets hit area near key ministries and embassies in Kabul

U.S. Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan.
© Google MapsU.S. Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan.
Three explosions shook the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, near key ministries, embassies and residences, officials have told local media. The attack comes a week after a suicide bombing in the area, and amidst a surge in Taliban violence.

Local police told Reuters one of the missiles hit Massoud Square, adjacent to the well-fortified US embassy, and another landed in Shirpur Square, close to the sprawling presidential complex. A third rocket detonated further away from the heart of the city.


Comment: See also: Bomb kills 6 NATO troops in Afghanistan, part of Helmand province seize


Bomb

Bomb kills 6 NATO troops in Afghanistan, part of Helmand province seize

Taliban militants
© ReutersTaliban militants in Afghanistan
A Taliban suicide bomber has killed six NATO troops at the Bagram base outside Kabul. The militant group has also conducting a broad offensive in the Helmand province, in south-eastern Afghanistan.

The attacks targeting foreign troops happened in a village near the Bagram airbase. A suicide bomber on a motorbike approached a joint US-Afghan patrol and set off an explosive device. Local authorities and NATO confirmed that six of its troops were killed, with six more wounded, including several local policemen.

NATO says at least some of the victims were Americans, but in accordance with its usual policy, will not provide a detailed breakdown of the nationalities of the victims.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which coincides with a major insurgency push in Helmand Province. Over 90 security troops have been killed over the past two days as the militants threaten to take over the volatile southern province, according to deputy governor Mohammad Jan Rasulyar

Hardhat

Oil prices reach new low as Washington lifts ban on exports

oil drilling, oil prices
Brent crude prices have fallen close to $36 per barrel, their lowest level since 2004. This comes on worries of global oversupply as Washington lifts the ban on oil exports and US oil reserves reach an 85-year high.

As of 3:00 p.m. GMT Monday, Brent blend was trading at $36.04 a barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $34.00.

On Thursday, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that the current US oil inventories stand at 490.7 million barrels, while refineries operated at 92 percent of their capacity in the week ending December 11.

Oil was dealt a double blow Friday, when US President Barack Obama signed a bill to lift the US export ban. The ban was established during the US oil shortages in the 1970s, as part of a bigger deal that included tax breaks for renewable-energy companies and refiners.

Comment: The oil producing nations are competing against each other in a race to the bottom. None seem willing to cut production and a looming recession will likely continue the decrease in demand.


Quenelle - Golden

The indignity and failure of the Israeli occupation

Palestine
© UnknownAnother picture of Palestine that puts the lie to Israel's claim of the moral high-ground.
Everything is known of the everyday indignities of living under the Israeli occupation: the checkpoints, the separation wall, the embargo, the settlers, the IDF raids...

Much has been written about individual acts of violence and inconvenience. The fundamental immobility of the Palestinians is not often underlined. Palestinians in Gaza are cut off from this in the West Bank, who are themselves not allowed into Israel proper. The seminars I attend rely upon Skype to link intellectuals, whose academic freedom is violated systematically by Israel. Gaza is in a spectacular form of isolation. But the West Bank is also caged in.

The list of indignities when listed again and again attain the status of making the occupation eternal. The Palestinian comes across as victim. The Israeli as powerful and the victor. This is the myth of the IDF and Mossad:: that they are invincible and legendary. Each retelling affirms the Israeli project. The Palestinian movement is tossed into purgatory.

Nothing is further from the truth.

Comment: For more on the 'man behind the curtain' check out:


Airplane

Rescuers find 5 bodies in plane wreckage in Bakersfield, California

plane that crashed in an orchard in Bakersfield
© KIVIFive bodies were discovered from a small plane that crashed in an orchard in Bakersfield, California.
Rescuers pulled five bodies from the wreckage of a small plane that crashed into an orchard in central California after vanishing from radar, local and federal authorities said Sunday.

The Federal Aviation Administration was looking for what caused the crash that killed five people, Kern County sheriff's Sgt. Mark King said. He expected the names of the victims to be released Monday.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the single-engine Piper PA32 around 4 p.m. Saturday as it headed from Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose to Henderson Executive Airport in a Las Vegas suburb, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The plane sent a mayday call. Searchers spotted the wreckage southwest of Bakersfield about three hours after receiving an alert from the FAA about a missing plane that was last detected an estimated 10 miles south of the city, the Kern County sheriff's office said


Jet3

T-50 fighter jet crashes in Indonesia killing 2 pilots

T-50 Golden Eagle plane  crash
© APIndonesian soldiers try to cover the wreckage of the Indonesian Air Force's T-50 Golden Eagle plane which crashed during an air show in Yogyakarta on Sunday.
A T-50 Golden Eagle fighter jet, similar to those recently delivered to the Philippine Air Force (PAF), crashed in Indonesia killing two pilots, local media reported.

Video circulating on social media showed a fighter plane performing manoeuvres in the skies above Yogyakarta before spiralling toward the ground at speed and disappearing from view.

Seconds later a thick, dark plume of smoke rose beyond the horizon, as people in the video can be heard screaming.

Indonesian air force spokesman Dwi Badarmanto confirmed a T-50 Golden Eagle fighter plane had crashed during a demonstration.

"Two pilots died," he told news website Detik.


Fire

Powerful gas blast rocks residential building in southern Russia, one person killed and 11 injured

Volgograd explosion
© Kirill Braga / Sputnik Emergency Ministry crew members are seen near the residential building on Kosmonavtov Street in Volgograd destroyed in a household gas explosion
At least one person has been killed and 11 injured when a powerful gas blast rocked a residential building in the southern Russian city of Volgograd, the Emergencies Ministry said, adding that at least four people may be trapped in the rubble.

Those injured have been taken to hospitals in Volgograd following the incident, the Health Ministry said.

The blast occurred at around 11:50 MSK (0850 GMT) Sunday on the seventh floor of an apartment block on Cosmonauts Street, Russia's Emergency Ministry said. At least 38 apartments were destroyed in the blast.