Society's ChildS


Attention

Canada asks China for clemency in drug-trafficking death sentence of Schellenberg


South China Morning Post
Tue, 15 Jan 2019 13:47 UTC
Robert Lloyd Schellenberg
If you can't do the time...
Canada urged Beijing on Tuesday to grant clemency to a Canadian sentenced to death for drug trafficking, after his sentence reignited a diplomatic dispute that began last month.

Ottawa has warned its citizens about the risk of "arbitrary enforcement" of laws in China following a court's sentencing of Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, to death on Monday, in a retrial after he was previously handed a 15-year prison term.

The new sentence came during a clash between Ottawa and Beijing over Canada's arrest in December of Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, on an extradition request from the United States related to alleged violation of sanctions on Iran.

"We have already spoken with China's ambassador to Canada and requested clemency [for Schellenberg]," Canada's foreign minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters in Sainte-Hyacinthe, Quebec.

Comment: Criminal mind: Canadian sentenced to death in China for drug-smuggling has previously served prison time for drug convictions

Read More...
Attention

Indian villagers brutally attack elephant and calf with firebombs 'for damaging their crops'

Harry Cockburn
Independent
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 15:16 UTC
Elephants
© Caters NewsA firebomb explodes and more rain down on a pair of fleeing elephants in the remote Indian village of Bishnupur.
Deforestation has left elephants' habitats smaller and more fractured

A mob of people in an Indian village have brutally attacked an elephant and her calf, hurling firebombs at the pair after they wandered onto farmland.

Photographs show the two elephants crossing a road fleeing a group of men who are launching flaming missiles at them.

The incident, in the village of Bishnupur - a remote settlement in West Bengal - appears to be part of an increasingly common phenomenon in the country where elephants were previously been regarded as a cultural icon.
Read More...
Clipboard

Northeast Brit newspaper poll shows 70 per cent say Brexit should go ahead even without a deal with EU


Sunderland Echo
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 17:44 UTC
Britain EU flags
Sunderland's MPs have vowed to vote against PM Theresa May's Brexit plan, amid an Echo readers' poll showing overwhelming public support to quit the EU - even without a deal.

Labour members Bridget Phillipson, Julie Elliott and Sharon Hodgson insisted they would not back Mrs May's proposals, being put to Parliament tomorrow. They said they had received clear messages from both Remain and Leave supporting constituents against supporting the PM's much-maligned plan.

It was originally due to be put before the Commons in December, but was postponed at the last minute over fears the Government would lose.
Read More...
Bomb

Student debt crisis just got worse: Florida Board of Health suspends licenses of those in default

Mac Slavo
SHTFplan.com
Tue, 15 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
student debt
The Florida Board of Health has suspended thousands of healthcare licenses over defaults on student loans many used to earn their licenses. But many are concerned that the new crackdown may only worsen the student loan crisis.

The revocation of licenses came after the student loan industry lobbied the government to enact punishments for those who can't or won't repay the money they borrowed. According to ABC Action News, only Florida is enforcing this law as of right now. The state also has the power to garnish up to 100% of a worker's wages until the loan is repaid and the license is reinstated. Under Florida law, once the state suspends a license for student loan default, the only way to get it back is to pay a fine equal to 10 percent of the balance, plus other costs.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Arrow Down

Tanker spills 3,500 gallons of chocolate across Arizona highway

Nicole Darrah
Fox News
Tue, 15 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
Truck spills 3,500 gallons of chocolate
Flagstaff, Arizona turned into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory on Monday when a tanker truck spilled 3,500 gallons of it across Interstate 40.

The "river of chocolate" flowed onto the highway's westbound lanes east of Flagstaff near the 211-mile marker, the state's Department of Public Safety tweeted.
Read More...
Pirates

Texan ISIS convert says he doesn't regret a thing - ISIS executions no different from Texas

Richard Engel
NBC News
Tue, 15 Jan 2019 16:30 UTC
warren christopher clark
© NBC
A Texan who says he offered to work as an English teacher for the Islamic State and was captured earlier this month in Syria by U.S.-backed forces said he witnessed executions and crucifixions during the more than three years he spent with the terrorist group.

But 34-year-old Warren Christopher Clark, who is being held in Kurdish custody, told NBC News in an exclusive interview that he does not regret throwing in his lot with ISIS. No Kurdish security were present during the interview.

"I wanted to go see exactly what the group was about, and what they were doing," he said. "Of course I saw the videos. I think with the beheadings, that's execution. I'm from the United States, from Texas. They like to execute people, too. So I really don't see any difference. They might do it off camera, but it's the same."


Comment: Clark isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Yes, executions are executions. But look at the differences. First in terms of numbers. The U.S. executed 25 people in 2018. How many did ISIS execute? Hundreds, if not thousands. And for what crimes? The vast majority of executions in the U.S. are for the crime of murder. ISIS will execute someone for no other reason than that they are not Salafists. There is no comparison beyond the surface level at which Clark's feeble mind seems to operate. And that's how ponerogenic unions like ISIS operate: their propaganda acts as a hook for weak and pathological minds.


A Muslim convert, Clark was being held in northern Syria after being captured during the campaign to liberate the last pockets occupied by ISIS in Syria, the coalition of militias known as the Syrian Democratic Forces said. (For security reasons, NBC News is not identifying the town where Clark was interviewed.)

Read More...
Bullseye

The Saudi teen who fled her family for asylum in Canada hopes her story will encourage more women to escape oppression

Bill Bostock
Business Insider
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 05:43 UTC
Rahaf al-Qunun
© ABC NewsRahaf al-Qunun spoke with ABC News after she arrived as an asylum seeker in Canada on January 12, 2019.
The Saudi teen who fled her family and found a new home in Canada says that her story will open the floodgates for more women to escape oppression in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking to broadcast media for the first time on Monday from her new home in Toronto, she said more women will escape Mohammed bin Salman's regime, and hoped that her case could be a spark to ignite change.

"I'm sure that there will be a lot more women running away," she told Australia's ABC News. "I hope my story encourages other women to be brave and free."

Canada granted Rahaf al-Qunun asylum after she fled to Thailand to escape her family on January 5.

Comment: See also: Saudi asylum seeker fleeing abusive relatives barricades herself in Thai hotel room - UPDATE: Rahaf al-Qunun given refugee status by UN

Read More...
Heart - Black

Vile: Interim MSU President John Engler says Larry Nassar victims are 'enjoying the spotlight'

Tom Perkins
Detroit Metro Times
Tue, 15 Jan 2019 15:54 UTC
Former Michigan Governor John Engler
© Wikipedia Creative CommonsFormer Michigan Governor John Engler
Michigan State University Interim President and former GOP Michigan governor John Engler is facing backlash for saying that some Larry Nassar sexual assault victims are enjoying the attention.

Engler made the statement to The Detroit News editorial board on Friday, though The News piece didn't focus on the comments.

"You've got people, they are hanging on and this has been ... there are a lot of people who are touched by this, survivors who haven't been in the spotlight," Engler told The News. "In some ways, they have been able to deal with this better than the ones who've been in the spotlight who are still enjoying that moment at times, you know, the awards and recognition."

Comment: Perhaps Engler would like to be sexually abused and then part of a public trial against his abuser and see how much he enjoys being a victim of a sexual predator.

Read More...
Question

True or false?: Russian prosecutors claim corrupt official secretly owns record $150 million worth of property


RT
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 14:52 UTC
!00 bills
© Global Look Press / Andrey Nekrasov
The Russian general prosecutor's office claimed that a Moscow region official, who is being investigated for embezzlement, is secretly a record-breaking multimillionaire. His attorneys claim the report is nothing but a smear.

The prosecutors intend to ask a court to seize and confiscate the property of Aleksandr Shestun, which it estimates is worth 10 billion rubles ($150 million), they said on Wednesday. The wealth allegedly owned by him through a complex network of dupes and intermediaries, includes 565 land plots, 111 houses and apartments, and 22 cars, according to the spokesman for the office, Aleksandr Kurennoy.
Read More...
Pills

Court docs reveal Oxycontin exec forecasted a "blizzard of prescriptions" at opioid's launch party in 90s

Alanna Durkin Richer and Geoff Mulvihill
Associated Press
Tue, 15 Jan 2019 15:42 UTC
purdue pharma protest
© AP Photo/Jessica Hill, FileIn this Aug. 17, 2018 file photo, family and friends who have lost loved ones to OxyContin and opioid overdoses protest outside Purdue Pharma headquarters in Stamford, Conn.
A member of the family that owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma told people at the prescription opioid painkiller's launch party in the 1990s that it would be "followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition," according to court documents filed Tuesday.

The details were made public in a case brought by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey that accuses Purdue Pharma, its executives and members of the Sackler family of deceiving patients and doctors about the risks of opioids and pushing prescribers to keep patients on the drug longer. The documents provide information about former Purdue Pharma President Richard Sackler's role in overseeing sales of OxyContin that hasn't been public before.

The drug and the closely held Connecticut company that sells it are at the center of a lawsuit in Massachusetts and hundreds of others across the country in which government entities are trying to find the drug industry responsible for an opioid crisis that killed 72,000 Americans in 2017. The Massachusetts litigation is separate from some 1,500 federal lawsuits filed by governments being overseen by a judge in Cleveland.
Read More...