Society's Child
"I've collected files on corruption in governments. For the first time, I'm naming names and specifics," McAfee warned in a string of tweets stretching back to Sunday. Vowing to release over 31 terabytes of "incriminating data" to the press if arrested or otherwise "disappeared," he posted the names of a "corrupt CIA agent and two Bahamian officials" along with claims they'd taken bribes and been involved with drug trafficking, apparently to show he was not bluffing.
He also promised to release the names of "25 Congressmen and 5 Senators, from both Parties, who are coming up for re-election in 2020, and who MUST be recalled, and if that fails, booted out of office on election day" on Friday.
According to government figures, there are around 13,000 Muslim prisoners in Britain, comprising about 15 percent of the total prison population. The Ministry of Justice study, based on interviews at three of Britain's eight maximum security prisons, said Muslim gangs exert pressure on non-Muslim inmates to convert to Islam, using various tactics including direct violence.
The drug-dealing charges against Golunov, an investigative journalist with Meduza, were dropped on Tuesday due to lack of evidence. The police officers suspected of framing the journalist have been suspended pending an internal investigation.
The highly controversial case spurred a broad public outcry, with supporters saying Golunov had been targeted for his reporting about corruption. Leading media outlets and public figures demanded a swift probe into suspected police corruption.
Comment: See:
Golunov's supporters decided to go ahead with their march on Wednesday, despite his release. Moscow officials had sanctioned the event for June 16 and urged residents not to take part in Wednesday's rally.
A recent comment by my friend and colleague Davefairtex on the Roman Empire's self-destructive civil wars that precipitated the Western Empire's decline and fall made me rethink what I've learned about the Roman Empire in the past few years of reading.
Dave's comment (my paraphrase) described the amazement of neighboring nations that Rome would squander its strength on needless, inconclusive, self-inflicted civil conflicts over which political faction would gain control of the Imperial central state.
It was a sea change in Roman history. Before the age of endless political in-fighting, it was incomprehensible that Roman armies would be mustered to fight other Roman armies over Imperial politics. The waste of Roman strength, purpose, unity and resources was monumental. Not even Rome could sustain the enormous drain of civil wars and maintain widespread prosperity and enough military power to suppress military incursions by neighbors.
An estimated tens of thousands of residents of Hong Kong surrounded the Chinese-ruled local legislature on Wednesday, voicing unease over an extradition bill that would allow people to be sent to mainland China to stand trial there. As the rally grew bigger, some protesters, mostly young people dressed in black, began erecting barricades around the area.
Many of the people have been holding umbrellas, which echo visuals from Hong Kong's 'Umbrella Revolution' of 2014, where they came to symbolize passive resistance to the use of pepper spray by police.
Protesters on Wednesday have also rallied in and around Lung Wo Road, a main east-west motorway running near the offices of embattled Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Hundreds of officers, many wearing riot gear and equipped with batons and plastic shields, prepared to stop the crowd's advance.
During an appearance on Radio 4 last night, Jo Brand, who is a lifelong Labour Party supporter, tacitly endorsed political violence.
"Certain unpleasant characters are being thrown to the fore, and they're very, very easy to hate, and I'm kind of thinking, why bother with a milkshake when you could get some battery acid?" asked Brand.
Comment: As any good criminologist will tell you, all crimes committed by pathological individuals begin with a fantasy...
Under the law, offenders "convicted of a sex offense involving a person under the age of 13" will have to be chemically castrated a month ahead of release and would also be required to continue treatment "until the court determines the treatment is no longer necessary." Offenders would also have to pay for the procedure, but a denial of their parole could not be based "solely" on an inability to pay.
Chemical castration is defined in the law as "the receiving of medication, including, but not limited to, medroxyprogesterone acetate treatment or its chemical equivalent, that, among other things, reduces, inhibits, or blocks the production of testosterone, hormones, or other chemicals in a person's body," according to AL.com.
High Court judges will today (June 11) consider a judicial review brought by children's charity Just for Kids Law accusing the Home Office of exploiting children by allowing them to be used as spies.
The case comes after it was revealed during a House of Lords debate in October last year that a 17-year-old girl was recruited by police to spy on a man who was sexually exploiting her.
While deployed as a covert informant, she continued to be exploited by him and was even coerced into being an accessory to murder.
Government figures reveal that at least 17 children, in 11 local authorities, have been recruited as spies since January 2015 - one aged just 15.
Trudeau did not specify the products to be banned, but said likely candidates include plastic bags, straws, cutlery, plates and stir sticks "where supported by scientific evidence and warranted."
"You've all heard the stories and seen the photos," he said. "To be honest, as a dad it is tough trying to explain this to my kids. How do you explain dead whales washing up on beaches across the world, their stomachs jam packed with plastic bags?
"How do I tell them that against all odds, you will find plastic at the very deepest point in the Pacific Ocean?"

French soldiers stand next to a chopper in front of the penitentiary center of Alencon, in Conde-sur-Sarthe, northwestern France late on June 11, 2019.
One inmate took a guard and a trainee guard - said to be male and female - hostage at the facility during the evening meal time between 18:30-19:00 GMT, according to Le Figaro. The prisoner is reportedly armed with an improvised knife.
Media reports said the French Ministry of Justice has responded to the incident and activated a crisis unit.
Footage from the scene shows heavily armed police officers, as well as military servicemen - who apparently arrived by helicopters - amassing in front of the correctional facility. The police officers apparently belong to the elite RAID unit - a special tactical force, analogous to SWAT.















Comment: This is the second day of pretty massive protests in response to the bill. 'Delaying the debate' may dampen the protests for now - we'll see - but if public response is this big, chances are it will be just as big once the delay is over, unless the bill is scrapped entirely. On yesterday's protest: