Society's ChildS


Water

Flint prosecutors drop criminal charges in water scandal, will start investigation from scratch

Mimi Hsin Hsuan Sun and Tatyana Walker
CNN
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 17:17 UTC
Flint, Michigan water tower
© Ryan Garza / Global Look Press
Nearly four years since the City of Flint declared a state of emergency over the state of its water -- and three years after the first criminal charges were filed against government officials -- prosecutors on Thursday dismissed all pending criminal cases, pledging to start the investigation from scratch.

Prosecutors said that they had grave concerns about the investigative approach and legal theories embraced by the former Office of Special Counsel (OSC) that oversaw the investigation, according to a press release issued by the Michigan Department of Attorney General. The OSC was appointed by former Attorney General Bill Schuette.

The OSC entered into agreements that gave private law firms that were representing the accused a role in deciding what information would be turned over to law enforcement, according to the release.

"We cannot provide the citizens of Flint the investigation they rightly deserve by continuing to build on a flawed foundation," said Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy, who are now leading the criminal cases.

Comment: More on the Flint water crisis:

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Car Black

Dutch MP wants to bring grid girls back to the Grand Prix


RT
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:10 UTC
grid girls
© Global Look Press / imago sportfotodienstGrid girls at 2017 Monaco Grand Prix.
Dutch politician Roy van Aalst has slammed the removal of grid girls from Formula 1 as an example of "female patronizing," calling for organizers to return the models for next season's Grand Prix in his homeland.

Aalst, a member of the Party for Freedom in the house of representatives, expressed hope that podium girls will take part in next year's event in Zandvoort as the Dutch Grand Prix returns to the F1 calendar for the first time in 35 years.

"The decision that the FIA has taken is the umpteenth form of female patronization. Grid girls belong just as much to Formula 1 as the cars," Aalst said.

Comment: PC culture gone mad: Formula 1 'grid girls' hit back against sacking - Dumped for being 'at odds with societal norms'

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Beer

Drunk man terrorizes streets of small Polish town in Soviet tank


RT
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 14:45 UTC
Tank
© www.twojepajeczno.pl
Police in central Poland responded to a late evening call over an incident that surely sent chills down the spines of Russophobe conspiracy theorists: a T-55 tank rampaging down the main street.

When police arrived at the scene in the town of Pajeczno on Thursday night, they found the Soviet-era tank casually parked on a central roadway with its two occupants nearby, one of whom was an intoxicated 49-year-old man who had been in the driver seat.

As it turns out, he had been authorized to drive the vehicle - although his superiors presumably only wanted him to move it off and on the damaged trailer on which it was being transported, rather than driving it through the city center. They also likely expected him to remain sober while operating the 36-ton armored combat vehicle. To make matters worse, local media report that there was no insurance policy on the tank.

Police were unable to get the tank off the street and onto a trailer until 5am.
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Red Flag

Record number of South Sudanese face critical lack of food

Sam Mednick
Associated Press
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 16:36 UTC
food rations
© AP Photo/Sam Mednick
A record number of people in South Sudan face a critical lack of food. A new report by the government and the United Nations says almost seven million people, or more than 60% of the population, are at risk.

The report released Friday says almost two million people are near starvation nine months after a peace deal ended a five-year civil war. The report stops short of declaring a famine.

The deteriorating situation is attributed to food shortages exacerbated by delayed rainfall, South Sudan's economic crisis and years of strain from a conflict that killed almost 400,000 people.

Some South Sudanese, including children, have told The Associated Press they eat only once a day.
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Red Flag

Canadian man sentenced to prison for defending himself in his home from intruder trying to kill him

Riley Laychuk
CBC News
Fri, 07 Jun 2019 16:26 UTC
courthouse
© Riley Laychuk/CBC
A Manitoba judge says a man was justified in trying to defend himself from a late-night intruder, but sentenced him to jail time for killing the intruder when he took that defence too far.

Dakota Pratt, 28, was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison, after a jury at Brandon's Court of Queen's Bench found him guilty in April of manslaughter in the attack that killed Vincent Bunn.

Court heard Bunn, 21, entered Pratt's home on the Birdtail Sioux First Nation, about 115 kilometres northwest of Brandon, Man., in the early morning of Sept. 2, 2016.

Pratt, who was asleep in a basement bedroom, awoke to a "feeling of being stabbed" in the head, court heard. He got up and found a knife-wielding intruder in his room and - not knowing who the person was - chased him into the hallway.
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Eye 1

Eighth US tourist mysteriously dies in Dominican Republic

Whitney Tipton
The Daily Caller
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 10:35 UTC
resort
An eighth U.S. tourist died in the Dominican Republic under mysterious circumstances.

Leyla Cox, 53, of New Brighton, New York, was found dead reportedly of a heart attack in her hotel room in June, according to her son William Cox, the Staten Island Advance reported.

"I am overwhelmed and confused and in shock," William Cox, 25, told the news outlet Thursday. "I have a right to be suspicious."

Leyla Cox joins a growing list of U.S. tourists who have died in the Dominican Republic under similar circumstances over the past year. She was vacationing alone, according to her son, having arrived on June 5 to celebrate her 53rd birthday. It is not known what hotel resort she was staying in.

Comment: See also: What in the world is going on in the Dominican Republic? (Update)

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Tornado1

Riots erupt in Memphis, Tennessee after US Marshals kill man during attempted arrest

Phil Helsel
NBC News
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 18:03 UTC
Memphis shooting riot Brandon Webber
© Jim Weber / APPolice retreat under a cloud of tear gas as protesters disperse from the scene of a standoff Wednesday in Memphis.
Several law enforcement officers in Memphis were injured during a protest that began after federal authorities killed a man they were attempting to arrest Wednesday, officials said.

A driver wanted on multiple felony warrants attempted to ram law enforcement vehicles when officers with a regional U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force attempted to arrest him in Memphis' Frayser community at about 7 p.m., Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Keli McAlister said.

The man then got out of the vehicle with a weapon, according to McAlister.

"The officers fired, striking and killing the individual," she said. No officers were injured in the incident, she said.

The man was later identified as Brandon Webber, 20, state law enforcement officials told NBC affiliate WMC-TV.

Comment: See also: Riot in Memphis: US Marshalls shoot dead wanted suspect, sparking riot - Police officers injured

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Newspaper

Assange case proved US press 'doesn't believe in free speech'


RT
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 10:13 UTC
Protest
© Reuters / Henry NichollsPeople protest outside the court, where Julian Assange was sentenced, in London. May 1, 2019.
American journalists "go out of their way to disparage" Julian Assange of WikiLeaks because he makes them ashamed of their own failure to challenge the "eternal war footing" of the US, human rights professor Dan Kovalik told RT.

"I don't believe that the press in this country believes in free speech. This is one of the most compliant presses in the world, especially when it comes to foreign policy," Kovalik said on Thursday. "They are unquestioning of the US' eternal war footing and that is exactly what Assange has challenged and that is why they have taken great umbrage at Assange."

Pointing out that the American press was responsible for spreading the "weapons of mass destruction" and Gulf of Tonkin disinformation that served as pretexts for wars in Iraq and Vietnam, he added that Assange's own willingness to "challenge those types of lies" makes US journalists "ashamed," so they attack him at every opportunity.
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Attention

'This is about shutting down dissent' - John Pilger on Assange US extradition case


RT
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 12:41 UTC
Pilger and Assange
© Global Look Press/ZUMAPRESS.com/Sang Tan
The attempt to extradite WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange from the UK to the US is not only about locking up the Australian, but about "shutting down dissent" and "investigative journalism," claims journalist John Pilger.

Speaking outside Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Friday following the decision to open a new, full US extradition hearing in February 2020, Pilger insisted that the motivation of the American authorities in pursuing Assange was clear to see.
... [It] is quite clear that on a wider level this is an attempt to shut down WikiLeaks and put Assange away, but it's also about shutting down dissent. It's mainly about shutting down investigative journalism.

Comment: See also:

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Bullseye

'Assange extradition should be warning to liberals who believe in American democracy' - Zizek


RT
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 12:24 UTC
zizek
© REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo and Wikipedia
The UK's decision to extradite WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange to the US should be taken as a warning to all liberals who still have any faith in 'American liberal democracy,' says cultural philosopher Slavoj Zizek.

The Slovenian sociologist told RT that signing of the extradition order is just one of two recent events that really worry him. The other "ominous" event was the Ecuadorian government's invitation to US authorities to take possession of Assange's property from its London embassy when he was taken to prison, including book manuscripts, computers and other personal possessions.

"The nightmare is that the accuser was directly invited to take possession of all these documents. This breaks even the elementary the norms of legality," Zizek explained.

"The message is, 'Yes, we will be brutal beyond measure.'"
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