Society's ChildS


Stormtrooper

Journalist covering Yellow Vest protests has tear gas grenade explode in his face, says French police using 'weapons of war'


RT
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 18:07 UTC
journalist exploding tear gas broken nose yellow vest
© RuptlyIndependent French journalist Julien was injured covering the Yellow Vest protests
A French journalist recalled the terrifying moment when an explosive tears-gas grenade hit him at the Yellow Vest protest, telling RT that there was no justification for police employing combat tools.

The weekend marked one year since the Yellow Vest protests picked up in France, with independent journalist Julien being among the many reporters, covering the anniversary rallies in Paris.

It started peacefully, but things quickly got out of hand as the protest apparently got hijacked by a group of demonstrators in black outfits. "It was a real riot. Some scenes resembled urban guerilla warfare," Julien later recalled.

Comment: The GLI-F4 grenade is weapon of war indeed. How can the French law enforcement justify using such a dangerous device for "crowd control"?
During the 13rd act of the yellow vests movement a GLI-F4 grenade tore off a protester's hand. These grenades contain 25 grams of TNT (0.9 ounces). Hundreds of these grenades have been used against the yellow vests protesters since the beginning of the movement.



Read More...
Bullseye

Son of Assange supporter Vivian Westwood urges immediate action to prevent Assange's extradition to US: 'Death sentence for telling the truth'


RT
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 17:06 UTC
asange torture poster
© REUTERS/Henry NichollsA man walks past an artwork depicting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on a building near Westminster Magistrates Court, where a case management hearing in Assange's U.S. extradition case is held, in London, Britain, October 21, 2019.
Julian Assange is being persecuted for speaking the truth, and the UK public must mobilize to shield him from the 'death sentence' awaiting him in the United States, activist and Agent Provocateur co-founder Joe Corré told RT.

The politically-active entrepreneur, and son of another fashion icon Vivienne Westwood, has been an outspoken advocate for Assange. The imprisoned Wikileaks chief is currently battling his extradition to the United States, where he faces 175 years in prison for obtaining and publishing secret documents. Recounting a recent visit he made to Belmarsh prison, Corré told Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi that Assange was being treated in a "horrific way" by the UK justice system. According to Corré, Assange has been separated from all human contact - a "form of torture" that has affected his mental health.

Comment:

Read More...
Bullseye

'We should thank & cherish CIA,' says star of 'Jack Ryan' - just maybe not for torture, coups & mind control

Graham Dockery
RT
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 17:22 UTC
John Krasinski
© Reuters / Mike Blake and Yuri GripasJohn Krasinski
Americans should be thankful for the services the CIA provides, 'Jack Ryan' actor John Krasinski says. After all, without the agency, who would prop up foreign dictators, stage coups and 'play' with mind-control drugs?

In three decades between the publication of 'The Hunt for Red October' in 1984 and his death in 2013, Tom Clancy pumped out more than 20 books, giving lots of material for spy agency fanboys.

At long last though, there's someone out there who gets even more tumescent at the thought of clandestine criminality than Clancy himself. Actor John Krasinski - star of 'The Office' and now 'Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan' - came out and told reporters before the release of season 2 that "The CIA is something that we should all not only cherish, but be saying thank you for every single day."

Unlike the FBI, the CIA is not tasked with fighting crime in America. It doesn't spend its time tracking murderers and busting pedophile rings. Instead, the agency often operates in the shadows abroad, and while its officers do foil terror attacks and intercept shipments of weapons of mass destruction, the agency has also been referred to by journalist Douglas Valentine as "the organized crime branch of the US government."

So, to be thankful for the agency's work means also to be thankful for a sordid history of highly controversial actions.
Read More...
Dominoes

UN torture envoy demands 'full accountability & compensation' after Sweden drops rape probe against Assange


RT
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 17:19 UTC
assange
© Reuters / Daniel Tapia
The UN's Special Rapporteur on torture has called for a "full investigation" into the role Sweden played in driving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange into asylum and eventual custody, after the rape case against him was dropped.

Swedish prosecutors announced on Tuesday that they would drop a dubious rape inquiry against Assange, as oral testimony against the publisher had "weakened," and corroborating evidence was not strong enough to pursue a case. A Swedish arrest warrant was issued against assange in 2010, and a British court upheld a decision to extradite him in 2012. Threatened with what many saw as a politically motivated extradition, Assange sought refuge in London's Ecuadorian embassy.

"Today's collapse of Sweden's #Assange investigation was inevitable," rapporteur Nils Melzer tweeted on Tuesday. "Given its gross arbitrariness, there must now be a full investigation, and accountability & compensation for the harm inflicted on #JulianAssange."
Read More...
Handcuffs

Ex-Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh indicted over shady book deal

Lia Eustachewich
New York Post
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 16:49 UTC
Catherine Pugh
© Getty ImagesCatherine Pugh
Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh was hit with federal corruption charges Wednesday related to a shady children's book deal that prompted her resignation.

Pugh is accused of improperly tapping into the nearly $800,000 in proceeds from her lucrative "Healthy Holly" book deal, including to buy and renovate a home in Baltimore, pay down personal debt and fund $35,800 in straw donations to her mayoral campaign.

She inked the deal with the University of Maryland Medical System to write a series of self-published children's books while sitting on the group's board of directors.

The books were sloppily printed — and included misspellings of the main character's name and the word "vegetable" as "vegetale," according to the Baltimore Sun. They were distributed to the city's schools, even though school officials never asked for them, leaving thousands sitting in a warehouse.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
NPC

'A leftist mob mentality': NY university apologizes after protesters wreak havoc at Trump-decorated economist lecture


RT
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 16:50 UTC
trump
© Reuters / Jonathan ErnstPresident Donald Trump greets economist Arthur Laffer
Free-market economist Arthur Laffer is hardly a controversial figure alongside conservative rabble-rousers like Milo Yiannopoulos, but even he was shouted down by a crowd of protesters during a lecture at a New York university.

A Reagan administration adviser best known for his contributions to supply-side economic theory, Laffer was scheduled to address a conservative group at Binghamton on Monday when a crowd of demonstrators stormed the lecture hall to protest the event.

With many apparently seated in the audience and some wearing masks, the protesters erupted into cheers when one student stood to deliver a monologue on the injustices of the prison system through a bullhorn, grinding the lecture to a halt. Security guards soon arrived to clear away the protesters, prompting the crowd to erupt into chants of "free speech!" Two activists were arrested in the brief confrontation.
Read More...
Chess

Forget OPEC: China now moves the oil markets

Anes Alic
Oilprice.com
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 16:45 UTC
china
© Pixabay.com
Not so long ago, oil prices would surge or plummet on just a whisper from OPEC, who at the time held all the supply cards.

The mere hint that the world's most powerful oil cartel was going to cut production could send oil prices up dramatically. Those days are over.

When the cartel announced on November 30, 2016, that it would cut production for the first time in eight years amid a major oil-price crisis, the market cheered. Before any cuts even happened, the sentiment alone boosted prices from a $50.74 close on that day to $54.94 at the close on December 5th, 2016.

From that point on, at least up until recently, OPEC could drop the vaguest hint about production, or even think about production, and it would move the market--no fundamentals necessary.
Read More...
Attention

Illinois school district grants transgender students unrestricted locker-room access

Eric Peterson
Daily Herald
Thu, 14 Nov 2019 16:24 UTC
gender neutral bathrooms
© Reuters / Lucy NicholsonA gender-neutral bathroom is seen at the University of California, Irvine
After addressing the controversial issue of transgender students' access to locker rooms in a few different ways over the past four years, Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board members Thursday voted 5-2 to lift a requirement that those students use privacy stalls.

Board members Mark Cramer and Pete Dombrowski dissented. Earlier in the meeting, they were the only board members to vote for Cramer's motion to postpone the vote in favor of an advisory referendum in March.

Some board members said their votes were based on much individual research.

"I myself have been the subject of discrimination all my life," board member Ed Yung said. "I know what these people are fighting for."

Comment: A commenter on the original article provides additional details:
Guess why "of the 25 people randomly chosen to speak [at the school board vote], 15 expressed support for the policy and 10 were opposed"? Because school board member (and sex-ed podcast creator) Kim Cavill started a SuperPac that funded this and they brought in a mob of transgender activists to fill the room, none of whom actually had kids in the district. The community had overwhelmingly voiced opposition to it.

Cavill's SuperPac was formed just 11 days before the school board election in March and specifically aimed to oust 3 board members who refused to vote to let boys use girls locker rooms if they said they ID as girls; trans Hollywood director Lana Wachowski (The Matrix) donated thousands to it. They funneled money from the Trans United Pac into a second PAC they created called "Parents and Neighbors for Quality Education" so ppl wouldn't realize from the name it was purely a transgender advocacy group. They were successful in stacking the school board with members who would vote their way, paving the way for Cavill to push this BS through against the wishes of most of the community and the girls whose privacy is now violated against their will.
See also: Judge denies transgender student's request to change in girls' locker room

Read More...
Cheeseburger

Burger King sued by vegans who complain their meat-free Impossible Whoppers cooked on same grill as regular beef patties

Luke Kenton
Daily Mail
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 15:08 UTC
Impossible Whopper Burger King
A group of angry vegan fast food diners have rallied together to sue Burger King after the company were found to be cooking their meatless Impossible Burgers on the same grill as their regular ones.
A group of disgruntled vegan fast food diners have rallied together to file a lawsuit against Burger King after the company were found to be cooking their meatless Impossible Burgers on the same grill as their beef patties.

The class-action lawsuit was filed by Phillip Williams on Monday, TMZ reported, claiming the chain advertises their Impossible Burgers as a vegan alternative to its meat products - however they're all cooked on the same grill.

Williams says as a result of Burger King's cooking methods, his supposedly meat-free meal was contaminated by meat by-products.

The burger in question was said to have been purchased at a franchise in Atlanta, Georgia.

Comment: Is it any wonder the vast majority of people maintain the stance that vegans are crazy? Burger King doesn't cook their food in a way that can cater to vegans, nor does it appear that they claimed to do so. If you're vegan and you're not cool with this, go elsewhere. That some would waste the court's time and try to make a buck off of this entitled stance is where the real outrage should be unleashed.

See also:

Read More...
Cut

Firing is not enough: There's now a debate if Don Cherry should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame

Becky Robertson
Fresh Daily
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 00:01 UTC
Don Cherry
In the wake of the Don Cherry controversy that has been at the centre of Canadian discourse for the past week, many are now wondering whether the iconic — though problematic — hockey commentator will (or should) be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.


Comment: Let's define everyone who says things that we don't like as "problematic".



Comment: Maybe it's not enough to keep Cherry out of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Maybe he should be retroactively removed from all past Coaches Corner archives - digitally edited out so that no one will ever be exposed to his 'bigotry'. The world can't be set right as long as there is an awareness of the uncomfortable parts of our history. Erase slavery, the holocaust, and any reference to past wars from our history books. Our children need to be protected.

See also: The Don Cherry-Jess Allen double standard is awakening Canada's silent majority

Read More...