Society's ChildS


Arrow Down

Shameful: TSA slammed for 'invasive groping' of triple-amputee US veteran


RT
Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:52 UTC
TSA officers
The online community has been outraged by the "shameful" and "disgusting" treatment of a triple-amputee Purple Star veteran of Iraq, who was subjected to an "invasive" search by a TSA agent in Arizona over the weekend.

Strong words of support were voiced for Brian Kolfage after a video surfaced showing the 37-year-old Air Force veteran being "groped" by a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer during an invasive frisk on Saturday in Tucson International Airport.

"They groped and searched under his hips and buttocks, his groin and his half-arm, searching for what?" YouTube user James Hoft wondered in the comments to his video of the incident.
Read More...
Heart - Black

Man accused of murdering pregnant girlfriend spared abortion charge thanks to Cuomo's new law


New York Post
Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:52 UTC
Anthony Hobson Jennifer Irigoyen
© Dennis A. Clark/FacebookAnthony Hobson and Jennifer Irigoyen
Prosecutors initially included a charge of abortion against the Queens man arrested Friday in his pregnant girlfriend's murder - but rescinded it because of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's new Reproductive Health Act.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown sent out a press release saying Anthony Hobson, 48, would be charged with second-degree abortion as well as murder in Sunday's fatal stabbing of Jennifer Irigoyen, 35.

But a DA spokeswoman later told The Post that the abortion charge "was repealed by the Legislature, and this is the law as it exists today."

Comment: Also see: Defying God: Governor Cuomo declares abortion a constitutional right

Read More...
USA

Conservative artist Joy Villa wears 'build the wall' dress to 2019 Grammys

Daniel Chaiten
Washington Examiner
Sun, 10 Feb 2019 10:52 UTC
Joy Villa build the all dress
© Jordan Strauss/Invision/APJoy Villa arrives at the 61st annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, in Los Angeles.
Conservative artist Joy Villa has done it again.

Her third year in a row making a political statement at the Grammy Awards, the singer showed up to this year's red carpet in Los Angeles on Sunday wearing a dress tailored to look like President's Trump planned border wall.

The gown featured a design with white bricks and black mortar. Resting on Villa's shoulders was a ring of barbed wire, complementing a steel crown on her head. On her back in red letters read the message: "Build the wall."
Read More...
Arrow Down

Social media users slam Daily Mail after it publishes series on Corbyn being a 'dangerous hero'


RT
Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:52 UTC
corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn looking particularly old and frail drinking his cuppa.
A series of Daily Mail articles claiming to reveal Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's "extremist views" and evidence of both his laziness and ruthlessness is being mocked as social media users list all the ways he is a #DangerousHero.

Read More...
Take 2

Best of the Web: Fake News: The Tienditas Bridge "blockade" between Venezuela and Colombia

Justin Emery
Medium
Sat, 09 Feb 2019 10:17 UTC
Or how to turn an unopened bridge into an international news story to build support for your coup

Edit: Someone has translated the article into Spanish: Traducción Española

Over the last couple of days, you may have seen an image like this in the news:
Puente Tienditas Colombia Venezuela
Puente Internacional Tienditas en la frontera entre Colombia y Venezuela.
This is Tienditas International Bridge (Spanish: Puente Binacional Tienditas) on the border between Colombia and Venezuela. I have a feeling that we will be seeing much more of this bridge in the news over the coming days.

Venezuela is a country in crisis. More specifically, a presidential crisis. The president since 2013, Nicolás Maduro, was re-elected in 2018, but the election is disputed by the opposition. An opposition politician, Juan Guaidó, declared himself as interim president on January 23rd 2019 (despite not having stood in the 2018 election). The US and allies (including my country, the UK) have recognised Guaidó as president. Other countries continue to recognise Maduro as president. It appears that Maduro holds more power within the country, particularly as the military still support him.

The presidential crisis is a symptom of ongoing economic and political difficulties within Venezuela. I won't comment on which side is right or who is to blame for the situation, but I do understand that a lot of people are struggling and suffering.

Comment: The job of journalists is not to quote what the authorities say. Their job is to verify that what they say is actually true.

Read More...
Piggy Bank

Finland basic income trial left people 'happier but jobless'

Ashitha Nagesh
BBC News
Fri, 08 Feb 2019 00:01 UTC
finland
© Getty ImagesSome 2,000 unemployed people in Finland were randomly selected.
Giving jobless people in Finland a basic income for two years did not lead them to find work, researchers said.

From January 2017 until December 2018, 2,000 unemployed Finns got a monthly flat payment of €560 (£490; $634).

The aim was to see if a guaranteed safety net would help people find jobs, and support them if they had to take insecure gig economy work.

While employment levels did not improve, participants said they felt happier and less stressed.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Star

10 reasons the Gilets Jaunes are the real deal

David Studdert
Off Guardian
Sun, 10 Feb 2019 00:01 UTC
révolution gilets jaunes yellow vests
We live in a world where democracy is a threat and freedom is a punishment, where you can't tell a turd from a diamond, where 5G is trumpeted even as it threatens to kill us, where the prevailing ethos is buyer-beware and where anyone against warmongering and eternal war is smeared and painted as a monster.

Who do you believe? All the things you felt certain about Democracy, liberty, the right to free speech, television news, all these things are not only being undermined, in reality, they are being thrown in your face. Democracy in the Nazi-controlled Ukraine, moderate jihadi rebels, no democracy in Russia or Venezuela, despite the fingerprint tests on voters and the voting booth cameras, and this voice saying they're fair elections and a dozen saying what about France isn't that democracy and twenty other voices say they're not and right-wing groups going off in the streets and chemicals in your food and forgetting to turn your wi-fi laden house on before you rush to another meeting or charge your phone, and, and...well...I got lost just writing it.

Comment: For the duration of the Gilets Jaunes protests, armchair spectators have been predicting its demise. How long before it's infiltrated and subverted? How long before it peters out? Yet the movement only seems to grow as time goes on, despite police violence, MSM smearings and being completely ignored by the media stateside. All the points in the above article point to the fact that the Gilets Jaunes are legit and that they're not going anywhere. It remains to be seen if they can affect real change.

See also:

Read More...
X

Conservative organization PragerU banned from advertising on Spotify

Chase Watkins
The College Fix
Tue, 05 Feb 2019 23:18 UTC
banned
Organization will not say why PragerU was banned

Spotify, the popular streaming music platform, has banned the conservative advocacy group Prager University from advertising on its website.

Prager University is not an actual school; rather, it's an organization that produces short instructional videos on numerous political topics. Its motto is "Short Videos. Big Ideas." PragerU currently boasts well over 1.9 million subscribers on YouTube. A number of its videos have gone highly viral; its explainer video on the electoral college, for instance, has received over 50 million views.

The organization recently tried running advertisements on Spotify, only for the streaming service to halt the ads a few weeks into the arrangement. In an email obtained by The College Fix, Spotify told PragerU: "Our policy team has re-reviewed the ads that you have submitted through Ad Studio and determined that the content of the ads do not comply with our editorial policies."
Read More...
Bulb

ACLU comes out in support of Betsy DeVos' protections for due process on Title IX

Conor Friedersdorf
The Atlantic
Sun, 10 Feb 2019 20:50 UTC
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos
© Mike Theiler / ReutersEducation Secretary Betsy DeVos
After Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos proposed a new rule on the obligations of colleges under Title IX, focusing on the due-process rights owed to students accused of sexual misconduct, members of the public submitted more than 96,000 comments. The ACLU's contribution is of particular interest.

By way of background, Title IX is a law that states, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." Under President Barack Obama, the Department of Education published a letter setting forth a new interpretation of what colleges had to do to meet their obligations under the statute. Any failure to comply would risk their ability to receive federal funding.
Read More...
Stop

Plans for Holocaust memorial in London park opposed by charity responsible for its oversight due to 'significant harmful impacts'


The Guardian
Sat, 09 Feb 2019 19:30 UTC
planned holocaust memorial London
© Adjaye Associates & Ron Arad ArchitectsAn impression of the David Adjaye: Making Memory UK National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre.
Proposals for a Holocaust memorial have been dealt a blow after the charity responsible for looking after the central London park in which it is supposed to be built said it was opposed the move.

The new landmark, which would also feature a learning centre, is planned for Victoria Tower Gardens on Millbank, alongside the River Thames close to the Houses of Parliament.

It will be dedicated to the 6 million Jewish men, women and children and other victims murdered by the Nazis.

A planning application for the memorial is currently being considered by Westminster city council.

But Royal Parks, a charity which looks after Victoria Tower Gardens, said it did not support the planning application "given the impact it will have on a popular public amenity space in an area of the capital with few public parks".

In a letter to Westminster's planning team, Royal Parks described the gardens as a "highly sensitive location in planning and heritage terms".
Read More...