Society's Child

Pope admits abuse & sex slavery of nuns by priests an ongoing problem

RT
Wed, 06 Feb 2019 09:02 UTC

Pope Francis has admitted that sexual abuse of nuns by priests - up to and including "sexual slavery" - is an ongoing problem in the scandal-plagued Catholic Church, but stresses that the Vatican is "working on it."

"I can't say 'this does not happen in my house.' It is true," Francis said, when a reporter brought up a recent article in the Vatican's women's magazine about the sexual abuse of nuns. "Do we have to do more? Yes. Are we willing? Yes."

"We have been working on this for a long time. We have suspended some priests because of this," he added, without volunteering further details.

Asked if he planned to call a bishops' conference similar to this month's summit to address clergy sex abuse of children, the Pope declined to answer. "I want to move forward. We are working on it," he repeated.

Francis praised his predecessor, Pope Benedict, for dissolving one congregation of nuns "because slavery had become part of it - even sexual slavery on the part of priests or the founder." A Vatican press director confirmed the pontiff was referring to the Community of St. Jean in France, which was dissolved during Benedict's first year as Pope after he was blocked from investigating the order as a cardinal. That was in 2005.

Comment: See also:

Downtown Los Angeles sees US military hold unexpected war drill - UPDATE

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Tue, 05 Feb 2019 14:14 UTC

Helicopters swarmed overhead...

Loud booms echoed through the streets...

No, this is not Beirut, Damascus, or Kabul - it's Downtown Los Angeles.

As The LA Times reports, a series of loud booms that rocked downtown LA on Monday night startled some people, but LAPD said there was no need to be concerned, as the noises were part of a U.S. Army training exercise involving aircraft and weapon simulations in urban settings.

Comment: RT provides more information on this bizarre drill that clearly startled many residents and their tweets give some insight into what was going through their minds:

Dozens of Black Hawk helicopters descended on downtown Los Angeles Monday night while residents reported explosions and scrambled to find out if they were looking at a military invasion or a film shoot.

The sinister flock of military birds hovered and zoomed through the high-rise canyons of downtown, accompanied by strange explosions and military maneuvers - and zero explanation from the authorities as to what was going on for what must have seemed like hours.

At least one helicopter actually landed on Wiltshire Boulevard in downtown LA, and explosions were heard all over the city.

The LA Police Department belatedly released a statement assuring Angelenos that it was only a drill, explaining "members of the US Army" had cleared the "military training" with local police and officials.

"The purpose of the training is to enhance soldier skills by operating in various urban environments and settings," the LAPD wrote, stressing that "safety precautions" were in place to prevent "unnecessary risk to both participants and/or area residents and property."

While local news reportedly called the operation an "unannounced exercise to keep the troops sharp," the LAPD claimed "citizens in close proximity to the areas where the training will take place will be notified prior to the training."

Yet they apparently didn't notify everyone, as locals took to Twitter in varying states of terror to try to find out what was happening.

While everyone was looking at the helicopters, a P-8A Poseidon circled the city for hours. The high-powered surveillance craft, known as a "submarine killer," set tongues wagging.

The military exercise, which reportedly involved Special Forces, will continue through Saturday. While the choice of downtown Los Angeles is supposed to "simulate urban environments the service members may encounter when deployed overseas," more than a few worried they were training for a mission closer to home.

Woman behind the arrest of faith healer John of God after claiming he was running a 'sex slave farm' commits suicide at her home in Barcelona

NATALIA PENZA
MailOnline
Mon, 04 Feb 2019 09:30 UTC

© MailOnline
Sabrina Bittencourt (pictured), 38, died at her home in Barcelona just days after accusing John of God - real name Joao Teixeira de Faria - of running a 'sex slave farm'

Sabrina Bittencourt died after accusing faith healer John of God of sex abuse
She claimed he kept women captive and exported their children on black market
The faith healer has been accused of abusing hundreds of women in Brazil

A woman who helped to bring down a Brazilian faith healer accused of sex abuse has taken her own life in Spain.

Sabrina Bittencourt, 38, died at her home in Barcelona just days after accusing John of God - real name Joao Teixeira de Faria - of running a 'sex slave farm'.

She claimed young girls were held captive in a farming operation which exported babies on the black market.

PETA goes nuts over cartoon Bo Peep's sheep-herding crook

RT
Tue, 05 Feb 2019 21:30 UTC

Controversial animal rights organization PETA launched an ad campaign this week, demanding that animation house Pixar edit out a sheep-herding crook from the new Toy Story film, claiming that the object promotes animal cruelty.

Activists at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) saw the crook as a betrayal of Pixar's attempt to give the character a tough "modern" update, claiming that the sheep-herding instrument she carries is "still problematic." "A badass Bo Peep would likely bop the shearers, not the sheep," according to PETA's Lauren Thomasson.

Their problem is apparently not that they think the crook itself is a cruel instrument, but the fact that it "promotes exploiting gentle sheep for their wool."

While it is doubtful that most kids will even know what the old-timey shepherd's tool is in the first place, the world's largest animal rights organization decided that the issue is so serious it merits the film being reanimated from start to finish, to censor the offending instrument.

Comment: More evidence of PETA's unwavering idiocy:

Digital darkness - Life without the internet in Tonga

Mary Lyn Fonua
Digital Journal
Tue, 05 Feb 2019 03:02 UTC

© NEIL SANDS, AFP/File
Tonga, which lies nearly 3,300 kilometres (2,000 miles) east of Australia, was plunged into digital darkness for a fortnight.

A two-week cyber blackout caused financial headache and social heartache in remote Tonga, but it also forced residents of the Pacific island kingdom to rediscover the art of offline communication.

The sudden internet outage on January 20 brought an abrupt halt to many businesses and cut access to social media -- the community's lifeline to the outside world.

"We had to learn how to talk to each other without internet messaging," Joshua Savieti, who works in the creative arts, said of the involuntary digital detox.

"We didn't know anything, what was going on, anything on the news, (or) if there was a cyclone coming."

It took 13 days to find the fault -- a severed undersea cable -- and reconnect Tonga, which lies nearly 2,400 kilometres (1,500 miles) northeast of New Zealand.

During the blackout, a small, locally operated satellite service helped maintain limited service, but the speed was a throwback to dial-up days.

To conserve capacity officials filtered out social media, cutting families off from relatives and friends overseas and dealing a blow to companies which operate through Facebook.

Japanese couple finds drunken sailor in their bathroom

Popular Military
Mon, 04 Feb 2019 20:48 UTC

What do you do with a drunken sailor?

A U.S. servicemember was arrested Saturday in the home of a Japanese couple who found him naked after he'd used their shower, according to local news reports.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Nathaniel Williams, 27, is accused of walking through the unlocked front door of a home in Ebina City while intoxicated at about 5:10 a.m., the Kanagawa Shimbun reported Saturday.

Williams is assigned to the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Depo at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Navy officials said Saturday evening.

Williams was discovered after an unidentified 44-year-old man who lives in the home woke up to use the bathroom and heard water running, the Kanagawa Shimbun report said.

The man thought a family member was using the shower, but soon saw Williams emerge naked from the bathroom, according to the newspaper.

The man then woke up his wife, who called police, the Asahi Shimbun reported.

Bestselling author outed as a pathological liar after repeatedly claiming he had cancer

Sian Cain & Allison Flood
The Guardian
Tue, 05 Feb 2019 20:33 UTC

Dan Mallory, author of the bestselling thriller The Woman in the Window under the pseudonym AJ Finn, has admitted to lying about having brain cancer for years, after a lengthy New Yorker profile accused him of a long history of falsehoods around his professional history and health.

Mallory made headlines in 2016 when his identity as a book editor was revealed during a heated auction for his debut novel, The Woman in the Window. A film version of the thriller, about a woman with agoraphobia who begins spying on her new neighbours, is due out later this year, scripted by Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts and starring Amy Adams and Gary Oldman.

However, the New Yorker article by Ian Parker lays out a history of Mallory fabricating stories of illness and death, including that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer. The article claims Mallory had repeatedly said he had cancer, including in an Oxford University application, and to colleagues while working at publishing houses in both London and New York.

Comment: If he was lying about having brain cancer, he's more than likely lying about being bipolar. The only disorder he can truly claim is chronic fib-itis.

Police teargas protesters in Paris as unions rally over minimum wage

RT
Tue, 05 Feb 2019 19:38 UTC

As demonstrators marched in a union-organized rally over the minimum wage, French police again deployed tear gas on protesters in Paris as violent scuffles broke out.

The ugly scenes occurred as France's largest union, the Confédération générale du travail (CGT), held a rally in the capital.

Comment: See also:

Grave of Karl Marx smashed with hammer

RT
Tue, 05 Feb 2019 19:26 UTC

The tomb of iconic German philosopher Karl Marx, a grave visited by tens of thousands each year, will allegedly "never be the same again," after it was vandalized in a suspected hammer attack.

Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust have published an image on social media showing the damaged marble plaque which honors Marx and some of his family members, including his wife. Damage to the lettering of Marx's name can be clearly seen.

Hypothermia kills nearly 30 children, newborns at refugee camp in Syria

Press TV
Thu, 31 Jan 2019 16:51 UTC

The UN says nearly 30 internally displaced Syrian children have lost their lives because of freezing temperatures and lack of basic needs at a refugee camp in northeastern Syria over the past two months.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement on Thursday that children and newborns died in a teeming camp in Hasakeh, mainly due to hypothermia.

"At least 29 children and newborns are reported to have died over the past eight weeks, mainly from hypothermia, while travelling to the camp or shortly after arrival," the statement read.

The UN health agency also expressed extreme concern over the conditions of those who make it to al-Hol, where lies the main camp for people displaced by the fighting against the Daesh terrorist group and other foreign-sponsored outfits.

Comment: See also: The U.S. Role in the Destruction of Syria

Has everyone seen the documentary Century of the Self? It's about Bernays, PR BS, etc. and is REALLY well done. (I found it at an AA article.)...

Rowan Cocoan

Their were saints in Catholic history who most have heard about and others not so much. Now you have Saint Francis of Assisi, but you also have...

Buffalo_Ken

I have a different definition for the "global commons". It is in the definition of "the commons" definition in the link provided below. Here is a...

Buffalo_Ken

Biden the child-killer. Think of the children, vaxxers, think of the children.

hobnyeba

Thanks, all, for great comments and links. Lots to think about.

ReRan

Society's Child

Pope admits abuse & sex slavery of nuns by priests an ongoing problem

Downtown Los Angeles sees US military hold unexpected war drill - UPDATE

Woman behind the arrest of faith healer John of God after claiming he was running a 'sex slave farm' commits suicide at her home in Barcelona

PETA goes nuts over cartoon Bo Peep's sheep-herding crook

Digital darkness - Life without the internet in Tonga

Japanese couple finds drunken sailor in their bathroom

Bestselling author outed as a pathological liar after repeatedly claiming he had cancer

Police teargas protesters in Paris as unions rally over minimum wage

Grave of Karl Marx smashed with hammer

Hypothermia kills nearly 30 children, newborns at refugee camp in Syria

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