Society's ChildS


Eye 1

Walmart hired Lockheed Martin and contacted FBI to monitor labor protests by its workforce

walmart spying blackwater
The retail giant is always watching.
In the autumn of 2012, when Walmart first heard about the possibility of a strike on Black Friday, executives mobilized with the efficiency that had built a retail empire. Walmart has a system for almost everything: When there's an emergency or a big event, it creates a Delta team. The one formed that September included representatives from global security, labor relations, and media relations. For Walmart, the stakes were enormous. The billions in sales typical of a Walmart Black Friday were threatened. The company's public image, especially in big cities where its power and size were controversial, could be harmed. But more than all that: Any attempt to organize its 1 million hourly workers at its more than 4,000 stores in the U.S. was an existential danger. Operating free of unions was as essential to Walmart's business as its rock-bottom prices.

OUR Walmart, a group of employees backed and funded by a union, was asking for more full-time jobs with higher wages and predictable schedules. Officially they called themselves the Organization United for Respect at Walmart. Walmart publicly dismissed OUR Walmart as the insignificant creation of the United Food and Commercial Workers International (UFCW) union. "This is just another union publicity stunt, and the numbers they are talking about are grossly exaggerated," David Tovar, a spokesman, said on CBS Evening News that November.

Internally, however, Walmart considered the group enough of a threat that it hired an intelligence-gathering service from Lockheed Martin, contacted the FBI, staffed up its labor hotline, ranked stores by labor activity, and kept eyes on employees (and activists) prominent in the group. During that time, about 100 workers were actively involved in recruiting for OUR Walmart, but employees (or associates, as they're called at Walmart) across the company were watched; the briefest conversations were reported to the "home office," as Walmart calls its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.

Comment: There is hardly a noticeable difference between government and corporate clampdowns on legitimate dissent.


Passport

Muslim taxi cab driver shot by Pittsburgh passenger ranting about ISIS

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© Twitter
Muslim taxi cab driver was shot in Pittsburgh by a man who ranted against Islamic State militants before running into his house to grab a rifle instead of paying his fare. The 38-year-old Moroccan immigrant said he picked up the man about 1 a.m. Thanksgiving outside Rivers Casino, and he said the passenger began questioning him about his background, reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"He started the conversation and began to ask questions like, 'You seem to be like a Pakistani guy. Are you from Pakistan?'" said the driver, who asked to remain anonymous because he feared for his safety. The driver explained he came from Morocco but insisted he was "an American guy" — but that didn't satisfy the passenger.

"Then he continued the conversation," the driver said. "He began to speak about ISIS killing people. I told him 'Actually, I'm against ISIS. I don't like them.' I even told him that they are killing innocent people. I noticed that he changed his tone and he began to satirize Muhammad, my prophet, and began to shift to his personal life. He mentioned that he has two kids and was in prison for some time."

When they arrived at the man's house in Hazelwood, he asked the driver to wait because he had left his wallet inside.
"I waited for just five minutes, I think, and I noticed that he came out of the house carrying a rifle in his hand," the driver said. "I noticed him coming toward me. I didn't hesitate. I [made] a fast decision to leave and drove my taxi away because I felt he was going to do something, there is danger he would shoot me or something. I felt like he had the intention to kill me."

The man fired multiple gunshots at the driver's cab, blasting out the rear window and shooting him in the back. The driver drove several blocks before pulling over and flagging down another driver to ask for help. He remains hospitalized in stable condition, the newspaper reported, but the bullet is still lodged between his shoulder blades.


Comment: Never again? The Nazis specifically targeted Jews in the same way. We are witnessing a piece of history repeating itself.


USA

The American story line dissolves

Face palm statue
Sometimes societies just go crazy. Japan, 1931, Germany, 1933. China, 1966. Spain 1483, France, 1793, Russia, 1917, Cambodia, 1975, Iran, 1979, Rwanda, 1994, Congo, 1996, to name some. By "crazy" I mean a time when anything goes, especially mass killing. The wheels came off the USA in 1861, and though the organized slaughter developed an overlay of romantic historical mythos — especially after Ken Burns converted it into a TV show — the civilized world to that time had hardly ever seen such an epic orgy of death-dealing.

I doubt that I'm I alone in worrying that America today is losing its collective mind. Our official relations with other countries seem perfectly designed to provoke chaos. The universities have melted into toxic sumps beyond even anti-intellectualism to a realm of hallucination. Demented gunmen mow down total strangers weekly in what looks like a growing competition to end their miserable lives with the highest victim score. The financial engineers have done everything possible to pervert and undermine the operations of markets. The political parties are committing suicide by cluelessness and corruption.

Eye 1

"Sovereign citizens" identified as potential terrorists, considered a rising threat in Australia

John Wilson
© www.abc.net.auRetired dentist, John Wilson, 73, a sovereign citizen
Anti-government extremists known as "sovereign citizens" have been identified as a potential terrorism threat in Australia by a confidential NSW Police report.

The NSW Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics command assessment — obtained by 7.30 — suggests there are as many as 300 sovereign citizens in the state, and that their numbers are growing. It also suggests they have "the motivation and capability to act against government interests and should be considered a potential terrorist threat".

What are sovereign citizens?
  • Sovereign citizens don't accept Australia's legal framework or government
  • They consider themselves outside the law
  • Counter terror command warns they should be considered "a potential terrorist threat"
  • In NSW, police estimate there are about 300 sovereign citizens
  • The FBI considers them domestic terrorists
Police records show the number of Australian sovereign citizens in NSW doubled from 2009 to 2011 and nearly tripled from 2009 to 2012. Interactions with police increased 50 per cent in 2011, with a "notable increase in threats of violence". In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies sovereign citizen extremists as domestic terrorists. The US Department of Homeland Security has listed them as the number one domestic terror threat in America.

Comment: Thirty-two law enforcement officers were murdered by "domestic extremists" in America. As of mid-November 2015, over 1000 civilians have been killed by police in the US record. 883 were fatally shot by a law enforcement officer; 47 died after being tasered; 33 died from being struck by a law enforcement vehicle; 36 were killed in custody, and the final victim received a deadly blow to the head from an officer. --The Counted, interactive map of US police killings, The Guardian (current total: 1036)

Sovereign Citizens: traitors, criminals, doers of evil...a segment of society at war with the state...or the imperfect counterbalance of tyranny. It is all in how you look at it, all in how you label it.


Megaphone

Putin, Syria, and the United Nations: Is America the Biblical Babylon?

Russian air force in Syria
News that the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to adopt a French resolution to eradicate ISIL is sobering and paradoxical. Even as the UNSC deliberates on the best course to defeat what the body called "a global and unprecedented threat to international peace and security," the United States and other members still double deal on Russia's initiative to solve for terror in Syria. One has to wonder what it will take for the insensitive, even thickheaded American administration to acquiesce. It's as if we're all watching America melt down into a mud puddle of mindless mediocrity. Watching the world unite, and America falling by the wayside, we must question policy in an almost biblical sense.
"History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this." - Karl Marx

Comment: Yes America, we are in bad shape in the worst way. All set up for a rude awakening.


Bullseye

Iran denounces Boko Haram attack on Shia Muslims, Nigeria

Muslim march
© www.abc.net.auShiite Muslims march in northern Nigeria, following a suicide bombing attack.
Iran has denounced a recent terrorist attack in Nigeria that targeted Shia Muslims during a religious ceremony in the northern state of Kano. "Extremism and terrorism are international threats and it is necessary for all countries to cooperate to counter and eradicate these big, global scourges," Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said on Monday. He also sympathized with the bereaved families of the victims as well as the Nigerian government and nation.

At least 21 people were killed on Friday when a bomber detonated his explosives among a crowd of Shia Muslims participating in a march organized by followers of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria in Dakasoye Village south of the city of Kano, the capital of the state with the same name.

The organizers of the procession said several people were also injured in the attack, which happened days before Shias in Nigeria are going to commemorate Arba'een, the 40th day since the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (PBUH) - the third Shia Imam - and his followers in the Battle of Karbala.

One of the organizers also said the assailant "was dressed in black, like everyone else. His accomplice was initially arrested and confessed they were sent by Boko Haram." On Saturday, Boko Haram released a photo of the bomber and claimed responsibility for the attack.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million made homeless since the beginning of Boko Haram militancy in Nigeria in 2009. The terrorists have recently pledged allegiance to the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group, which is primarily operating inside Syria and Iraq.

Comment: Death toll for this incident is up to 22 with an added 38 Muslims with injuries. Despite the attack, the march continued from Kano to Zaria in Kaduna state. BH has waged a six-year insurgency leaving approximately 17K dead and 2.6M homeless, with increasing use of suicide bombers.

We are a self-"deadicated" species, getting better at it all the time.


Eye 1

University of Chicago cancels classes after FBI warns of shooting threats

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© REUTERS/ Andrew Nelles
According to the educational institution's president, classes at the University of Chicago's Hyde Park campus will be canceled on Monday following the FBI warning of a possible threat.

Classes at the University of Chicago's Hyde Park campus will be canceled on Monday following the FBI warning of a possible threat of gun violence from an unknown individual or group, the educational institution's president said.

"The University was informed by FBI counterterrorism officials today (Sunday) that an unknown individual posted an online threat of gun violence against the University of Chicago.... Based on the FBI's assessment of this threat and recent tragic events at other campuses across the country, we have decided..., to exercise caution by canceling all classes and activities on the Hyde Park campus through midnight on Monday," Robert J. Zimmer said in statement.

Comment: The world on the edge of a nervous breakdown: Terror attacks, nonsensical official claims, threats, house raids, explosions...


Propaganda

"Black Day of the Press": Hundreds protest arrest of Turkish journalists amid revelations of Turkey supplying weapons to ISIS

Cumhuriyet protest
© Associated PressJournalists with chained hands protest against the jailing of opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper's editor-in-chief
Journalists from one of few remaining independent newspapers in Turkey, Cumhuriyet, whose editors were recently, arrested, have spoken to RT from their Istanbul office, sharing what they know about Turkey's alleged connections with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). An RT crew visited the newspaper's office in Istanbul, and were allowed to talk with its reporters, while hundreds of people gathered outside the media office to protest against the authorities' decision to arrest Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dundar, and senior editor of the paper in Ankara, Erdem Gul.

In addition to the news of the Cumhuriyet journalists' arrests, it was announced on Friday that another Turkish media worker, Daily Hurriyet columnist and former editor-in-chief Ertugrul Ozkok faces up to five years and four months in prison for "insulting" the Turkish president in an opinion piece published in September. The indictment claimed Ozkok's writing following the tragic death of a Syrian refugee boy, whose body was washed ashore a Turkish beach, exceeded the limits of "acceptable criticism," Daily Hurriyet said.

With a Turkish prosecutor asking a court to imprison the Cumhuriyet journalists pending trial on charges of treason, espionage and terrorist propaganda, the mood in the office was tense and many refused to talk to RT on camera, but still wanted to be heard. In May, the outlet which is considered to be the opponent of the government, published photos of weapons it said were then transferred to Syria by Turkey's intelligence agency.


Comment: Turkey is quickly showing itself to be the state representative of ISIS and is being rewarded by the EU for it.

See also:
  • Turkish newspaper editor in court for 'espionage and treason' after revealing weapon convoy to Syrian militants



Ambulance

10 dead in gas leak at steel factory in eastern China

Map of Shandong, China
A gas leak at a stainless steel factory in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong has killed 10 people and poisoned seven others, authorities said.

Five people were immediately killed by the leak on Sunday, while another five died later in hospital, said local authorities in a post on Weibo.

Officials are investigating the cause.

China has tightened industrial safety regulations following a chemical blast in Tianjin that killed 140 people.

Local authorities named the company responsible for Sunday's leak as Zouping County Shandong Fukai Stainless Steel Company.

They added that the seven survivors were in stable condition.

The Tianjin blast in August decimated a large part of the city's port. The high-profile incident reignited nationwide concerns about industrial safety and proximity of industrial areas to residential districts.

Target

Federal judge rules Muslim-free zone at Florida gun store fails to harm Muslims

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© Gazette Standard
A federal judge has dismissed a complaint filed by a Muslim advocacy organization claiming that an Inverness gun shop violated the Civil Rights Act by declaring itself a "Muslim-free zone".

The suit had demanded an injunction against Florida Gun Supply to prohibit it from discriminating against Muslims and others on the basis of religion. The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed the suit against Florida Gun Supply in July after the store's owner Andy Hallinan enacted a Muslim-free zone.

Hallinan has since posted another video to his store's You Tube channel in response to the ruling. The UK Patriots News is out! "I think the judge understands that freedom of speech prevails and this is American and I have a right to sell guns to whomever I please", Hallinan said. "There are simply no facts grounding the assertion that Plaintiff (CAIR) and/or one of its constituents will be harmed." "We laid out the evidence, and the evidence very clearly showed that I did not discriminate".

CAIR's Florida Executive Director Hassan Shibly said, "The judge simply said that we didn't have standing because nobody from our organization actually went and got service denied...If somebody from the Muslim community were to go and get a denial of service, then Andy will be liable". That could well bring the case back to court.

The store is now offering a "MFZ" (Muslim Free Zone) bumper sticker and shooting targets showing a skeleton wearing a white robe, beard and turban.

Comment: In the land of the free, a Federal court has given its seal of approval for an ideology not much different than 'whites only' and 'no jews allowed'. History is repeating itself.