Society's ChildS


Cross

Ukraine's chief rabbi calls law on renaming of Ukrainian Orthodox Church unconstitutional


Interfax
Sun, 06 Jan 2019 14:11 UTC
Yakov Dov Bleich
According to Chief Rabbi of Kiev and Ukraine Yakov Dov Bleich, by adopting the anti-church bill, MPs crossed all borders, "playing religion according to political rules".
Ukraine's chief rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich has spoken in defense of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, calling the law on its renaming unconstitutional.

"The state wants to decide for the Church what it should be called [...] We cannot exclude 20-25% of Ukraine's population and say they are low-grade citizens if they belong to this church. These people are Ukrainians, too, they live in Ukraine and they believe in God," Yaakov Dov Bleich, who also chairs the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and religious Organizations, said in an interview with Glavcom.

"The decision made by the Verkhovna Rada means that no religion can feel protected from state interference in Ukraine. Today's it's the Moscow Patriarchate, tomorrow it's Muslims, Jews, etc. That is, if the state doesn't like you, it can interfere. Because the state tells you how to believe in God," the rabbi said.

Yaakov Dov Bleich said he was absolutely certain that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko would not sign that law because it contradicts the Ukrainian Constitution and had negative consequences to a majority of the country's population.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
USA

The Bromance continues: Trump thanks Kanye West for 'nice words'


RT
Sun, 06 Jan 2019 17:33 UTC
Trump and Kanye
© Reuters / Andrew KellyDonald Trump and Kanye West at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
Despite quitting politics a few months ago, Kanye West started 2019 with tweets of support for Donald Trump and promise to wear his MAGA hat on stage. The display of affection didn't go unnoticed by the US president.

"Thank you to Kanye West for your nice words," Trump wrote in his favorite microblog on Saturday.

In the same tweet, the president expressed his satisfaction over the unity shown by both Republicans and Democrats in supporting the Criminal Justice Reform. Trump signed its First Step Act into law in late December.


Comment: Kanye's real success: Trump now supports criminal justice reform, reducing sentences and sending fewer to prison


Comment: Kanye West jumps back on the Trump train in his first 2019 tweets

Read More...
Laptop

Male students lead movement to ban access to porn sites on college campuses

Robby Soave
Reason
Sat, 05 Jan 2019 15:57 UTC
notre dame
A movement to ban porn is gaining steam on some college campuses-and it's mostly led by male students.

Jim Martinson, a senior at Notre Dame, penned a letter to the campus newspaper in October asking the administration to install a porn filter so that students wouldn't be able to access websites like Pornhub and Redtube on the university's wifi. Martinson's argument against porn is threefold: He claims it is immoral, it warps men's brains, and it dehumanizes women. As he wrote in his letter:
Pornography is the new sex education, providing a disturbing script about what men find sexually appealing and what women should do to please them. Notre Dame's sincere efforts to educate students about consent and other aspects of healthy sexuality are pitifully weak in light of the fact that by the time students arrive on campus, many have been addictively watching pornography for years.

Porn is not acting. The overwhelming majority of contemporary pornography is literally filmed violence against women -- violence somehow rendered invisible by the context.

Comment: While it is great that these men are becoming aware of the dangers of porn and spreading the word, there really is no need to wait for the university to take action. Regain your humanity and just stop watching. An inner impetus to stop watching porn, whether via computer or cell phone, will do more good in the long term than restricted access on the university level.

Read More...
Arrow Up

TSA employees calling in sick to protest being forced to work without pay during govt shutdown


RT
Sun, 06 Jan 2019 10:45 UTC
TSA frisk
US Transportation Security Administration employees are calling in sick in protest over being forced to work without pay during the government shutdown, which shows no sign of ending after 14 days.

After a recent CNN report that call-ins have shot up, more than doubling in some cases and affecting four major airports, TSA and its parent agency initially denied the problem existed, and are now downplaying its scale.

TSA union officials claim the call-ins are not an organized protest, explaining that workers are being called out to work at second jobs as the shutdown begins to bite. But federal officials reportedly believe the "blue flu" - TSA uniforms are blue - has all the hallmarks of a coordinated protest against the shutdown.

TSA employees are considered "essential" - meaning even though their funding has run dry, they have to report to work anyway. Of the approximately 800,000 employees affected by the shutdown, about 420,000 are considered "essential" and forced to keep working.

Comment: No doubt travelers are breathing a sigh of relief at the prospect of a less grievous airport experience: Is the TSA a Milgram Experiment?

Read More...
Pistol

Arkansas cop who shot dog in the face has been fired

Brittany Reese
KATV 7
Sat, 05 Jan 2019 15:41 UTC
Reese the dog
© Whitney Arnold
Update: Faulkner County Sheriff Tim Ryals has fired Deputy Keenan Wallace following an investigation. Sheriff Ryals says it does not appear that the deputy violated any state law or agency policy, but he will refer the investigation to the prosecuting attorney's office for further review. The sheriff posted the following message on Facebook explaining his decision:

"Good Evening,

Since taking office in 2017, I have been an advocate of integrity, professionalism and transparency. I hold my Deputies to the highest of standards to protect and serve the residents of our community. Unfortunately, a Deputy fell short to those standards.

I was notified Friday of an incident involving Deputy Keenan Wallace. Deputy Wallace fired his service weapon that injured an animal while in close proximity to a citizen. I believe there were numerous opportunities to de-escalate the incident.

Over the last 24 hours, at my request, Faulkner County Investigators have been working diligently to investigate whether Deputy Wallace violated any state law or our agency's policies and procedures. While it appears no policies or laws were violated, I hold every employee within our agency to the highest of standards and will be forwarding the investigation to the Prosecuting Attorney's Office for further review.
Read More...
Bullseye

International child porn ringleader beaten to death in Michigan prison

Katherine Rodriguez
Breitbart
Sat, 05 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
Christian Maire
© LinkedIn
A man who ran an international child porn ring was beaten to death in prison this week, but one of his victims predicted his fate long before his demise.

A judge sentenced Christian Maire, a married father-of-two from upstate New York, to 40 years in federal prison in December for running an online operation where he and eight of his accomplices posed as teenage boys on dating sites trying to convince young girls to perform sex acts via their webcams.

The men even tried to convince their victims to cut themselves while in front of their webcams.

But at least one of Maire's victims did not seem surprised that Maire would suffer this fate. One female victim, who is now 20-years-old, predicted at Maire's December 2018 sentencing he would get beaten up in prison.
Read More...
Eye 1

Colombia: Four community leaders killed in first four days of 2019


TeleSUR
Sat, 05 Jan 2019 12:00 UTC
Wilmer Antonio Miranda
© Social media.Wilmer Antonio Miranda was murdered Friday in Cauca, Colombia.
Campesino activist Wilmer Antonio Miranda and community leader Jose Rafael Solano were murdered in Cauca.

Colombian campesino activist Wilmer Antonio Miranda and Jose Rafael Solano, president of the Community Action Board (JAC), were fatally shot in the Cauca region Friday; the third and fourth social leaders murdered since January 1.

According to the political movement Marcha Patriotica (Patriotic March), at 6 p.m. four men in civilian clothing approached Miranda and shot him repeatedly, killing him instantly.

Miranda was a member of the Association of Campesino Workers, affiliated to the national agrarian union, the Association of Campesino Reserve Zones, and the Coordinator for Coca, Poppy and Marijuana Growers.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Bizarro Earth

'Progress': Saudi courts will let women know by SMS they've been divorced


RT
Sun, 06 Jan 2019 09:57 UTC
Saudi women
© Reuters / Faisal Al NasserFILE PHOTO: Saudi women at an exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia September 28, 2017.
Saudi Arabia has adopted a new regulation that requires courts to notify women by text message if they've been divorced. The forward-thinking law is designed to crack down on the kingdom's penchant for "secret divorces".

Before the new rule, Saudi men were able to end their marriages without telling their wives. Starting from Sunday, the country's courts will be directed to send text messages informing women that their marriages are over.

The regulation, which bears a striking resemblance to relationship-ending tactics employed by twelve-year-olds, aims to ensure that women are aware of their marital status and can take necessary legal measures to protect rights such as alimony.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
People 2

Forgotten France rises up

Serge Halimi
Le Monde
Sun, 06 Jan 2019 13:18 UTC
female cleaner
© Jacques Demarthon · AFP · GettyShe's probably part-time, and doesn't want to be.
France's yellow vests, coming together in informally organised groups, took just one month to challenge policies on taxation, education, transport and environment, and make the Macron government back down.

December 15, place de l'Opéra, Paris. Three yellow vests read out an address 'to the French people and the president of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron' saying: 'This movement belongs to no one and to everyone. It gives voice to a people who for 40 years have been dispossessed of everything that enabled them to believe in their future and their greatness.'

The anger provoked by a fuel tax produced, within a month, a wider diagnosis of what ails society and democracy. Mass movements that bring together people with minimal organisation encourage rapid politicisation, which explains why 'the people' have discovered that they are 'dispossessed of their future' a year after electing as president a man who boasts he swept aside the two parties that alternated in power for 40 years.

Comment: See also: Also check out SOTT radio's:

Read More...
Hardhat

SOTT Focus: Niall Bradley on PressTV: 'Suppression of Yellow Vest Protests Will Likely Backfire on French Government'


PressTV
Sun, 06 Jan 2019 12:31 UTC
Niall Presstv yellow vests
Yellow vest protesters had promised to keep rallying into the new year, and that's what they did today. An 8th weekend of protests was held in defiance of the government dismissing protesters as agitators and hardliners, which appears to indicate a tougher stance against the movement.

It's not fuel price hikes that they are protesting against anymore. Macron's concessions have not appeased them either. The protesters are questioning the very state of democracy in the country and demanding fundamental change. While Macron's popularity rating plunges to a record low, for how much longer are the protests likely to go on?

On today's The Debate, we discuss the tense stand-off in France with columnist Catherine Shakdam in London, and Niall Bradley, editor at independent news site SOTT.net

Read More...