Society's ChildS


USA

US considers restrictions on green cards for immigrants receiving public benefits


RT
Sun, 23 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
Donald Trump
© Carlo Allegri / ReutersDonald Trump at a campaign rally
The Trump administration may deny green cards to legal immigrants, both living in the US or just seeking to enter, if they have been dependent on certain public benefits, like housing vouchers, Medicaid or food stamps.

The possible new restriction on migration policy was proposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Saturday. The proposal could make it harder for immigrants to stay in the US if they are deemed likely to become a "public charge," in other words, a new "burden" for American taxpayers and can potentially be dependent on government assistance.

Comment: See also:

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Heart - Black

Great March continues: Israel kills 25yo Palestinian, injures hundreds in single day after week of raids and airstrikes, killing at least 6


IMEMC News
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 10:50 UTC
great return march gaza
© Mohammed Asad/Middle East MonitorThousands of Palestinians assemble along the Gaza-Israel border to reaffirm the ‘Right of Return’ on 30 March 2018
Israeli soldiers killed, Friday, a young man, and injured 312 other Palestinians, including 54 with live fire, after the army attacked the Great Return March processions, in several parts of the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has confirmed that the soldiers killed Karim Mohammad Kollab, 25, after shooting him with live fire, east of Gaza city.
Karim Mohammad Kollab
Karim Mohammad Kollab
It added that the soldiers also injured 312 Palestinians, including 100 with live fire.

100 of the wounded Palestinians were rushed to hospitals in the Gaza Strip, while five of the injured residents suffered life-threatening wounds.

The Health Ministry also said that among the wounded are twenty children and two women.

In related news, an Israeli tank fired a shell at Palestinian protesters near the perimeter fence, east of Gaza city, while an Israeli drone fired two missiles at a site, east of Gaza.

Comment: IMEMC is usually a great resource, but the quality of reporting leaves something to be desired. This single report gives three different figures for the number of Palestinians injured by live fire (bullets) on Friday: 41 (from the earlier report), 54, 100, with no indication of which is the accurate figure, if any.

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Boat

Captain arrested in Tanzania ferry disaster as death toll climbs to 209

Faith Karimi and Idris Muktar
CNN
Sat, 22 Sep 2018 23:10 UTC
ferry disaster
© AFP/Getty ImagesNavy divers resumed the search operation inside MV Nyerere after hearing sounds suggesting signs of life.
The captain of an overloaded ferry that capsized on Lake Victoria has been arrested as Tanzania mourns more than 200 people killed in the latest maritime disaster in the East African nation.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli said the captain is in custody and ordered the arrest of all the other operators of the ferry, which capsized Thursday.

Magufuli told the nation in an address Friday that the captain left the ferry's steering in the hands of a person not trained for the job, The Citizen newspaper reported. The death toll rose to 209 on Saturday, government spokesman Hassan Abbas told CNN, but it's expected to go up as more bodies are pulled out of the water.

Initial reports indicated that overloading contributed to the deadly disaster, but an investigation will determine the exact cause, the Tanzanian leader said.

It's unclear how many passengers were aboard the ferry. There are reports it had a capacity to carry 100 people, and it was carrying an estimated 400 instead.
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Calculator

Economic damage wrought by hurricane Florence nearly 10 times worse than expected

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 22 Sep 2018 14:30 UTC
hurricane florence damage
© ReutersA tree rests on a newly constructed house after Hurricane Florence struck in Belville, North Carolina, on Sept 15, 2018
Rivers in the Carolinas are still rising and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has warned that it still isn't safe for displaced residents to return to their property. But that hasn't stopped Moody's from releasing the first estimate of the economic damage wrought by Hurricane Florence.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the ratings agency's estimates put the total economic toll at somewhere between $38 billion and $50 billion - more than double an initial estimate of between $8 billion and $20 billion from Goldman Sachs and S&P. And nearly ten times CoreLogic's initial estimate of between $3 billion and $5 billion.

If damages reach the upper end of that range, it would leave Florence in seventh place among the biggest storms, just after 1992's Hurricane Andrew, according to Moody's estimates.

Comment: See also:

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Pills

Ex-Trump aide and CNN pundit Jason Miller accused of drugging lover with abortion pill


RT
Sat, 22 Sep 2018 16:56 UTC
Jason Miller
© Eduardo Munoz/ReutersFormer Trump campaign communications advisor and CNN pundit Jason Miller
US news network CNN is facing calls to drop ex-Trump aide Jason Miller from its pundit roster, after court documents were leaked accusing him of drugging with an abortion pill a pregnant woman he had an affair with.

The court documents obtained by the website Splinter come from the custody battle between Miller and another Trump aide, AJ Delgado, with whom he had a child with in 2017.

Supplied by Delgado's legal team, the documents allege that Miller had previously engaged in another extramarital affair with a Florida-based woman he met at a strip club.

Upon finding out that she was pregnant with his child, Miller called to the woman's apartment with a smoothie, which unbeknownst to her was laced with an abortion pill.
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Eye 1

2018: The year of the spying transit police


massprivateiblogspot
Sat, 22 Sep 2018 15:12 UTC
transit police
Today's Public Transit Police Departments offer a frightening glimpse into the future of commuter surveillance.

Last year the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) was accused of creating an app that spied on commuters travel plans, texts and emails. At the same time the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority began a pilot program that used facial biometric body scanners to spy on commuters.

Also in 2017 the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) unveiled their new SEPTA Transit Watch app that allows commuters to "discretely" spy on anyone. The app also sends commuters BOLO or "Be On the Look Out" alerts, essentially turning commuters into Transit Police spies.

In New Jersey politicians considered cutting Transit Police Department funding from $88 million to $48 million. To find out what happened scroll down to 2018.

In 2016, I warned commuters that the NJ Transit secretly installed microphones and cameras to spy on commuters. Privacy advocates called it a "monumental invasion of privacy."
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Sheriff

No charges against dad who shot officers in another unlawful home raid

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 14:51 UTC
pointed gun
A team of police officers who were serving a search warrant at the wrong house encountered an armed father who was trying to protect his daughter from what he believed were intruders.

During a news conference on the incident, George's County Police Chief Hank Stawinski admitted that a nine-member special operations team went to the apartment when they served a search warrant around 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

"A law-abiding, hard-working citizen and his daughter were home at the point where we began to execute that search warrant," Stawinski said.

The police chief claimed the warrant was originally granted because a "confidential informant" told officers that a drug dealer was living at the residence. "Our officers had worked to corroborate the information from that confidential informant, however, we did not draw the right conclusion," he said.

According to a report from NBC Washington, when the officers arrived at the home, they "announced" their presence, and then "used a device to open the door." It is not clear whether they used a battering ram to break down the door, or if they threw flash-bang grenades inside the home to startle the residents.
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Arrow Down

Another recession can hit in 2019, says credit union association chief

Tess Bonn
The Hill
Mon, 17 Sep 2018 14:43 UTC
recession
Credit union association chief Dan Berger is warning that the U.S. could be in for another recession by the end of 2019 if the government doesn't step in and break up big banks.

Berger, the chief executive officer of the National Association of Federally-insured Credit Unions (NAFCU), said some banks are so large that they could cause an economic collapse if one of them failed.

The CEO said that NAFCU is urging Congress and the Trump administration to take action and protect consumers before the U.S. hits another recession.

"One bank is bigger than an entire credit union industry out there - there are trillion dollar institutions, so you have large investment banks using consumer's deposits to make risky investments," Berger told Hill.TV co-host Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on "Rising."

"The recession could probably hit end of 2019 - maybe the first, second quarter of 2020, something for Congress to take a look at so American consumers are protected," Berger said.
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Sheriff

Deputy fired for planting drugs on innocent people; dozens of cases now have to be dropped

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 22 Sep 2018 14:34 UTC
police drug plant
Earlier this month, Jackson County Deputy Zachary Webster was fired after an investigation revealed that he planted drugs on multiple suspects. Now, prosecutors are dropping a least two dozen different cases that he was involved with after his own body camera showed him framing innocent people.

Last month, The Florida Department of Law Enforcement opened up an investigation on Webster after body camera footage confirmed allegations that he planted drugs on innocent people. However, the investigation into allegations of official misconduct is still open, and no charges have been filed against Webster.

State Attorney Glenn Hess of the 14th Judicial Circuit said that he believes Webster is guilty after seeing the evidence.

"The investigation is not complete. However, I saw a video, and I saw still photographs captured from that video that caused me to lose confidence in the cases that the deputy has made. It is an unfortunate situation. However, as the state attorney, I have a responsibility to make it right," Hess told the Tallahassee Democrat.

In a letter sent out to Webster's victims, Hess said, "Please be advised that our office has information that an investigation into the professional conduct of Deputy Zachary Webster is underway. No conclusions have been reached, nonetheless, you should be aware of its existence."
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Folder

Poison Papers reveal: Monsanto knew PCBs were dangerous and kept profiting for decades

Samantha Wohlfeil
inlander.com
Thu, 20 Sep 2018 13:05 UTC
Spokane
© James NisbetThe city continues to deal with a legacy of PCB contamination in the Spokane River.
Spokane is now suing, and the 'Poison Papers' show why

It's one thing to hear rumors that major chemical companies knew their products were harming people for decades. It's another to see physical proof, in the form of internal meeting minutes, questionable studies, and other documents from the 1930s to 1970s that all show companies strategically continued to sell chemicals despite clear evidence they could hurt animals, people and the environment.

That's exactly why investigative journalist Peter von Stackelberg and a small but dedicated team worked to digitize and post more than 100,000 pages of documents dubbed the "Poison Papers" online last year, so everyone could see for themselves.

Comment: Inside the "Poison Papers"

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