Society's ChildS


Dollar

San Francisco is a sh*thole: The high cost of low-level crime

Erica Sandberg
City Journal
Sun, 19 May 2019 13:43 UTC
san francisco
City workers try to keep San Francisco's streets clean.
San Francisco is the nation's leader in property crime. Burglary, larceny, shoplifting, and vandalism are included under this ugly umbrella. The rate of car break-ins is particularly striking: in 2017 over 30,000 reports were filed, and the current average is 51 per day. Other low-level offenses, including drug dealing, street harassment, encampments, indecent exposure, public intoxication, simple assault, and disorderly conduct are also rampant.

Many in law enforcement blame the crime wave on Proposition 47, which in 2014 downgraded possession of illegal narcotics for personal use and theft of anything under $950 in value from felonies to misdemeanors. Anti-incarceration advocates disagree with that argument, but theft is indisputably booming, and narcotics activity is exploding on sidewalks, parks, and playgrounds. When compounded with other troubles for which the city is now infamous (human feces, filth, and homelessness, which is up 17 percent since 2017), San Franciscans find themselves surrounded by squalor and disorder.

"A lot of people are ready to leave because the crimes are causing depression," says Susan Dyer Reynolds, editor-in-chief of the Marina Times, an independent community newspaper. "Navigation centers" for the homeless, says Reynolds, "are not sober facilities, and people steal and break into cars to feed their habits. Crime will go up. We know this."

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Bullseye

CrossFit, Inc. suspends use of Facebook and associated properties


CrossFit
Thu, 23 May 2019 00:01 UTC
binning facebook garbage
CrossFit is a contrarian physiological and nutrition prescription for improving fitness and health. It is contrarian because prevailing views of fitness, health, and nutrition are wrong and have unleashed a tsunami of chronic disease upon our friends, family, and communities. The voluntary CrossFit community of 15,000 affiliates and millions of individual adherents stands steadfastly and often alone against an unholy alliance of academia, government, and multinational food, beverage, and pharmaceutical companies.

CrossFit, Inc. defends relentlessly the right of its affiliates, trainers, and athletes to practice CrossFit, build voluntary CrossFit associations and businesses, and speak openly and freely about the ideas and principles that animate our views of exercise, nutrition, and health. This website - and, until recently, CrossFit's Facebook and Instagram accounts - has long catalogued CrossFit's tireless defense of its community against overreaching governments, malicious competitors, and corrupt academic organizations.

Comment: Tim Pool's take on this is that CrossFit's pulling out of Facebook is remarkable, not because they're the first (many other brands have left Facebook including SpaceX and Tesla, Playboy, Mozilla and Pep Boys, due to data breech/privacy concerns). But rather the brand is leaving because, despite being inherently unpolitical, they are still being threatened by Facebook's censorship. The Banting7DayMealPlan group had nothing to do with politics - it's a low-carb high-fat diet group - yet they were deemed guilty of wrong-think and subsequently censored. This is a huge move, and illustrates the fact that the culture war is going to come to your front door, regardless of your political stance. Here's Pool's take:

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Handcuffs

SDF Forces Arrest 200 Men in Syria for Resisting Forced Recruitment - Unconfirmed Report


Sputnik
Sun, 26 May 2019 04:50 UTC
sdf syria
© Sputnik / Hikmet Durgun
Civilians refusing to enlist are being imprisoned or executed, sparking violent protests among locals, according to reports. In the meantime, the SDF forcibly thwarted an attempt by a group of women and children trying to escape a camp in al-Hawl.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces arrested approximately 200 male civilians, including children, during raids in Hasaka province of Syria between Friday and Sunday, according to Fars News report. According to the report, the detained civilians were forced to join the ranks of People's Protection Units (YPG), the predominantly-Kurdish militia that comprises the core of multinational SDF.

The raids are said to be in line with the SDF policy of forced mobilization, despite protests among the local population.

The SDF also conducted raids in Raqqa province, arresting dozens of civilians.

On Thursday, SDF forces opened fire on residents of al-Hawl Refugee Camp located in southeastern Hasaka, some 15 km from the Iraqi border, according to Fars. The militants opened fire on a group of women and children who tried to escape the refugee camp due to its unbearable humanitarian conditions.
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Network

Fitness brand CrossFit slams door on Facebook & Instagram after popular user group deplatformed


RT
Sat, 25 May 2019 00:00 UTC
CrossFit
© AFP / Bertrand Guay
Bertrand Guay Popular fitness brand CrossFit has deleted its Facebook and Instagram accounts with a combined following of about 6 million, saying the platforms betrayed users' trust after they removed a popular nutrition-oriented user group.

"Facebook is acting in the service of food and beverage industry interests by deleting the accounts of communities that have identified the corrupted nutritional science responsible for unchecked global chronic disease," CrossFit said in a statement posted on Wednesday, referring to the Banting7DayMealPlan group that Facebook mysteriously deleted - only to reinstate it without an explanation. The group's 1.65 million users shared their experiences and information about low-carb high-fat diets.

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Camcorder

Amazon facial recognition technology sale ban won just 2% of shareholder vote


MSNBC
Fri, 24 May 2019 00:00 UTC
  • Some 2.4% of Amazon.com shareholder votes were in favor of a proposal that the company stop selling facial recognition technology to government agencies
  • A second proposal that called for a study of the extent to which Amazon's "Rekognition" service harmed civil rights and privacy garnered
Jeff Bezos
© Joshua Roberts/File PhotoAmazon founder Jeff Bezos pictured in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 1, 2018.
Amazon.com shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that the company stop selling facial recognition technology to government agencies, while a resolution to audit the service drew more support, a regulatory filing on Friday showed.

Some 2.4% of votes were in favor of the ban. A second proposal that called for a study of the extent to which Amazon's "Rekognition" service harmed civil rights and privacy garnered 27.5% support.

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People

Missouri governor signs pro-life bill banning abortions at 8 weeks


Fox News
Fri, 24 May 2019 00:00 UTC
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Friday signed a bill that bans abortions on or beyond the eighth week of pregnancy without exceptions for cases of rape or incest, making it among the most restrictive abortion policies in the nation.

Under the law that comes into force Aug. 28, doctors who violate the eight-week cutoff could face five to 15 years in prison. Women who terminate their pregnancies cannot be prosecuted. A legal challenge is expected, although it's unclear when that might occur.

The measure includes exceptions for medical emergencies, such as when there is a risk of death or permanent physical injuries to "a major bodily function of the pregnant woman." But the lack of exceptions women who find themselves pregnant after being raped or subject to incest has drawn sharp criticism, including from wealthy GOP donor David Humphreys, a Missouri businessman, who had urged the Republican governor to veto the bill and called it "bad public policy."

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Propaganda

US-backed terrorists "struggle" after returning from Syria in whitewash Financial Times piece

Ulson Gunnar
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 24 May 2019 20:18 UTC
jihadi wife return syria kosovo
© Armend Nimani / Agence France-PresseKosovo on April 20, 2019 repatriated 110 of its citizens from Syria, mostly mothers with their children having followed their partners who went to join jihadist groups in the war-torn country. Kosovo, whose population of 1.8 million is 90 percent Muslim, is one of the European countries with the proportionally biggest number of jihadi fighters in Iraq and Syria.
Upon reading the Financial Times article, "Isis fighters struggle on return to Balkan states," you might almost forget the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was and still is a hardcore terrorist organization guilty of some of the most heinous terrorism carried out in the 21st century.

The article begins, claiming:
In a village in the Kosovar countryside, Edona Berisha Demolli's family have gathered to celebrate her return from Syria where she and her husband fled to six years ago to fight for Islamic militants Isis.

"I am exhausted," said Ms Demolli, as her relatives served guests slices of celebratory chocolate and vanilla cake and children played in the yard. "I thank God, the Kosovo state, and the US for bringing me home," she said, referring to the pressure Washington put on countries to take their fighters back from camps across the Middle East and the logistical assistance they provided to that end.
The Financial Times would note that some 300 Bosnians joined ISIS and that Kosovo has set up barracks to accommodate returning fighters.

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Bad Guys

The new Wild West: Avenatti, Wohl and the Krassensteins prove political media is a hucksters' paradise

Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone
Fri, 24 May 2019 17:48 UTC
stormy avenatti
© The Daily Beast
In the Trump era of cartoon politics, the world's biggest jackasses have an easy highway to fame and fortune

From the depths of scandal, Michael Avenatti gave an interview to Vanity Fair. He cried four times and said: "Some would argue at this point that I flew too close to the sun. As I sit here today, yes, absolutely, I know I did. No question. Icarus."

Michael Avenatti isn't Icarus, or any other Greek mythical figure. He's just a jerk. The quote is the self-promoting sleaze-dog lawyer version of Alex Rodriguez owning two portraits of himself in the form of a centaur.

Already charged for attempting to extort Nike and for embezzling $12 million from a batch of clients, he's been hit with a new indictment. He's accused of blowing the proceeds of porn star Stormy Daniels' book deal on things like his monthly $3,900 Ferrari payment , while stalling her with excuses that the publisher was late or "resisting... due to poor sales of [Daniels's] book."

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Heart

Hawaii woman missing for 2 weeks found alive in forest, spotted from helicopter


Fox News
Sat, 25 May 2019 11:48 UTC
Amanda Eller
© Javier CantellopsA post on their Findamanda Facebook group accompanying this picture said: Amanda was found by our own search team captains Chris and Javier!! They were in a helicopter searching out of the general area where we have been in. She spotted them and they spotted her at the same time. She waved them down. She was deep in a creek bed between two waterfalls. She is just as strong as we always said she would be. We knew she could make it this long. Amanda is doing great she is just talked to her father from air evacuation helicopter. More soon!!
A Hawaii woman has been found alive in a forest on Maui island Friday after going missing more than two weeks ago.

Amanda Eller, 35, was found injured in the Makawao Forest Reserve, the Maui News reported Friday. News of her discovery was announced on the Findamanda Facebook page, Hawaii News Now reported.

"Amanda has been found," the statement read. "She got lost and was stuck and slightly injured in the forest - way way out."

Javier Cantellops said he was searching for Eller from a helicopter along with Chris Berquist and Troy Helmers when they spotted her, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

Comment: See also: Search continues for Amanda Eller, woman who went missing during hike on Maui 4 days ago

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Hourglass

It's time for Alexander Acosta to explain himself, say Jeffrey Epstein victims

Julie K. Brown
Miami Herald
Fri, 24 May 2019 16:54 UTC
Jeffrey Epstein
© Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty ImagesBillionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein attendingLaunch of RADAR MAGAZINE at Hotel QT on May 18, 2005
Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, already under federal investigation for a secret immunity deal he gave to a suspected sex trafficker of underage girls, may have to face some of those victims - who are now adult women - in a federal courtroom.

In a new court filing, two victims, molested as teenagers a decade ago, are asking a federal judge to hold a hearing for all the women who were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein, a multimillionaire financier who received a non-prosecution agreement from Acosta when Acosta was a federal prosecutor in Miami in 2007.

The request for a hearing is one of a litany of possible remedies proffered by the victims, who have been waging a decade-long legal battle to put Epstein in prison for his crimes and to hold prosecutors - mainly Acosta - accountable for violating their rights.

The controversial agreement negotiated by Acosta allowed Epstein to escape federal sex trafficking charges, even though evidence showed that Epstein had molested more than three dozen girls at his Palm Beach mansion in the 1990s and early 2000s. The victims were never told about the deal, which Acosta then sealed - thereby making it impossible for anyone, including his victims, to find out what crimes Epstein had committed and whether there were any other victims or accomplices involved.

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