Society's ChildS


Pirates

Five years after IS conquest, Mosul has become 'a cemetery for the living'


RT
Tue, 11 Jun 2019 18:03 UTC
car wreak Mosul
© Stringer/ReutersChildren stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi forces and ISIS in Mosul, Iraq on June 10, 2014.
Mosul had fallen to Islamic State five years ago. The US-led coalition liberated the Iraqi city in 2017, but left it largely in ruins. With the ISIS caliphate gone, are the local residents recovering, and how?

IS takes Mosul

After taking control of Fallujah and Ramadi in early June 2014, IS (also known as ISIS) fighters turned their sights on Mosul, where the Iraqi Army reportedly had just 10,000 soldiers. Crucially, the troops were short of weapons and ammunition, and their tanks had been moved to the Anbar province.


On June 4, IS rode into the city in pick-up trucks and overpowered their Iraqi opponents in mere days, seizing control of government buildings and the airport as some 500,000 civilians fled. Kurdistan had offered to send Peshmerga fighters to help, but Iraq declined, and Mosul fell.

Comment:



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Heart - Black

Saudi Arabia seeking death penalty for teen who allegedly committed offenses when he was 10 years old

Tom Embury-Dennis
Independent
Sat, 08 Jun 2019 17:19 UTC
Murtaja Qureiris
© CNNMurtaja Qureiris could face the death penalty for offences that date back to when he was 10
Saudi Arabia is seeking to execute a teenager who has been imprisoned ever since his arrest as a 13-year-old, human rights experts have said.

Murtaja Qureiris, 18, is facing the death penalty - possibly by crucifixion - over charges including anti-government protests, joining a "terrorist organisation", firing at security forces and making Molotov cocktails which were later thrown at a police station.

The 18-year-old denies the charges, CNN has reported, claiming confessions which the prosecution has relied on were obtained under duress.

Amnesty International said it had confirmed the country's public prosecutor was seeking the death penalty for offences which date back to when Mr Qureiris was just 10 years old.
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V

'I'll f***ing bury you!' McAfee vows to expose corrupt US officials & CIA agents if 'disappeared'


RT
Wed, 12 Jun 2019 17:10 UTC
John McAfee
© Reuters / Darrin Zammit Lupi
Bitcoin evangelist John McAfee has threatened to "bury" the US government if they keep harassing him over unpaid taxes, promising to leak a huge trove of files proving corruption throughout Washington and its allies.

"I've collected files on corruption in governments. For the first time, I'm naming names and specifics," McAfee warned in a string of tweets stretching back to Sunday. Vowing to release over 31 terabytes of "incriminating data" to the press if arrested or otherwise "disappeared," he posted the names of a "corrupt CIA agent and two Bahamian officials" along with claims they'd taken bribes and been involved with drug trafficking, apparently to show he was not bluffing.

He also promised to release the names of "25 Congressmen and 5 Senators, from both Parties, who are coming up for re-election in 2020, and who MUST be recalled, and if that fails, booted out of office on election day" on Friday.
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Light Sabers

Rehabilitate or open UK Gitmo? RT panel discusses Muslim gangs in British prisons


RT
Wed, 12 Jun 2019 17:04 UTC
UK prison
© Getty Images / PA Images / Stefan Rousseau
A fresh UK government report says Muslim gangs at British top security prisons use coercion and violence to force religious conversion of non-Muslim inmates. An RT panel locks horn over ways to tackle it.

According to government figures, there are around 13,000 Muslim prisoners in Britain, comprising about 15 percent of the total prison population. The Ministry of Justice study, based on interviews at three of Britain's eight maximum security prisons, said Muslim gangs exert pressure on non-Muslim inmates to convert to Islam, using various tactics including direct violence.

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People 2

Hundreds attend unsanctioned rally in Moscow to support journalist after drug case against him dropped


RT
Wed, 12 Jun 2019 17:01 UTC
Ivan Golunov
© AFP / Vasily MAXIMOVIvan Golunov
Hundreds attended a rally in Moscow to support reporter Ivan Golunov on the day after drugs charges against him were dropped and his house arrest ended. The rally wasn't sanctioned by officials, who had approved another date.

The drug-dealing charges against Golunov, an investigative journalist with Meduza, were dropped on Tuesday due to lack of evidence. The police officers suspected of framing the journalist have been suspended pending an internal investigation.

The highly controversial case spurred a broad public outcry, with supporters saying Golunov had been targeted for his reporting about corruption. Leading media outlets and public figures demanded a swift probe into suspected police corruption.


Comment: See:

Golunov's supporters decided to go ahead with their march on Wednesday, despite his release. Moscow officials had sanctioned the event for June 16 and urged residents not to take part in Wednesday's rally.
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Colosseum

On the self-destructive trajectory of overly successful empires

Charles Hughes Smith
Of Two Minds
Wed, 12 Jun 2019 16:34 UTC
US unipolar world power map
It's difficult not to see signs of this same trajectory in the U.S. since the fall of the Soviet Empire in 1990.

A recent comment by my friend and colleague Davefairtex on the Roman Empire's self-destructive civil wars that precipitated the Western Empire's decline and fall made me rethink what I've learned about the Roman Empire in the past few years of reading.

Dave's comment (my paraphrase) described the amazement of neighboring nations that Rome would squander its strength on needless, inconclusive, self-inflicted civil conflicts over which political faction would gain control of the Imperial central state.

It was a sea change in Roman history. Before the age of endless political in-fighting, it was incomprehensible that Roman armies would be mustered to fight other Roman armies over Imperial politics. The waste of Roman strength, purpose, unity and resources was monumental. Not even Rome could sustain the enormous drain of civil wars and maintain widespread prosperity and enough military power to suppress military incursions by neighbors.
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Info

Tens of thousands protest extradition bill in Hong Kong - clashes with police reported


RT
Wed, 12 Jun 2019 16:23 UTC
hong kong protest
© Reuters / Tyrone Siu (L) ; AFP / Philip Fong (R)
Hong Kong is hit by another massive rally, with people flooding the streets to demand a backdown on a bill that would allow extradition to mainland China. Tear gas and pepper spray have been used to tackle the unrest.

An estimated tens of thousands of residents of Hong Kong surrounded the Chinese-ruled local legislature on Wednesday, voicing unease over an extradition bill that would allow people to be sent to mainland China to stand trial there. As the rally grew bigger, some protesters, mostly young people dressed in black, began erecting barricades around the area.

Many of the people have been holding umbrellas, which echo visuals from Hong Kong's 'Umbrella Revolution' of 2014, where they came to symbolize passive resistance to the use of pepper spray by police.
hong kong protest
© AFP / Dale de la ReyHong Kong police man a barricade
Protesters on Wednesday have also rallied in and around Lung Wo Road, a main east-west motorway running near the offices of embattled Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Hundreds of officers, many wearing riot gear and equipped with batons and plastic shields, prepared to stop the crowd's advance.

Comment: This is the second day of pretty massive protests in response to the bill. 'Delaying the debate' may dampen the protests for now - we'll see - but if public response is this big, chances are it will be just as big once the delay is over, unless the bill is scrapped entirely. On yesterday's protest:

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NPC

Why bother with a milkshake? British left-wing comedian fantasizes about attacking right-wing politicians with acid

Paul Joseph Watson
Summit News
Wed, 12 Jun 2019 01:00 UTC
Jo Brand
A left-wing comedian in the United Kingdom says she fantasizes about acid-attacking right-wing politicians, asking "why bother with milkshakes?"

During an appearance on Radio 4 last night, Jo Brand, who is a lifelong Labour Party supporter, tacitly endorsed political violence.

"Certain unpleasant characters are being thrown to the fore, and they're very, very easy to hate, and I'm kind of thinking, why bother with a milkshake when you could get some battery acid?" asked Brand.


Comment: As any good criminologist will tell you, all crimes committed by pathological individuals begin with a fantasy...

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Attention

It's official: Child molesters in Alabama will now be chemically castrated

Elias Marat
The Mind Unleashed
Tue, 11 Jun 2019 00:01 UTC
alabama chemical castration
Republican Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill into law Monday that will require some sex offenders to undergo chemical castration one month prior to being released from custody, and will also ensure that offenders have to foot the bill for the treatment.

Under the law, offenders "convicted of a sex offense involving a person under the age of 13" will have to be chemically castrated a month ahead of release and would also be required to continue treatment "until the court determines the treatment is no longer necessary." Offenders would also have to pay for the procedure, but a denial of their parole could not be based "solely" on an inability to pay.

Chemical castration is defined in the law as "the receiving of medication, including, but not limited to, medroxyprogesterone acetate treatment or its chemical equivalent, that, among other things, reduces, inhibits, or blocks the production of testosterone, hormones, or other chemicals in a person's body," according to AL.com.
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People

UK drug war: Child spies put in grave risk of harm by Home Office

Aaron Walawalkar
Rights Info
Tue, 11 Jun 2019 12:18 UTC
looking through hole
© Pixabay
The Home Office is endangering children as young as 15 by allowing them to be used as informants on drugs gangs and terrorists, a court will hear.

High Court judges will today (June 11) consider a judicial review brought by children's charity Just for Kids Law accusing the Home Office of exploiting children by allowing them to be used as spies.

The case comes after it was revealed during a House of Lords debate in October last year that a 17-year-old girl was recruited by police to spy on a man who was sexually exploiting her.

While deployed as a covert informant, she continued to be exploited by him and was even coerced into being an accessory to murder.

Government figures reveal that at least 17 children, in 11 local authorities, have been recruited as spies since January 2015 - one aged just 15.
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