Society's ChildS


Broom

Russia closes 93 prisons in 7 years due to optimization and leniency


RT
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 10:41 UTC
guard jail
© Vladimir Pesnya / SputnikAn employee at Pretrial Detention Center No. 2 (Butyrskaya remand prison) of the Federal Penitentiary Service Directorate for Moscow
A significant decrease in Russia's prison population has led to the closing of 93 prisons in the last seven years, Deputy Justice Minister Valery Maksimenko has announced. Changes in criminal law haved caused the transformation.

"Because of changes in the crime-related policy of the state, the number of inmates in various penal institutions in our country has dropped by more than 200,000 since the year 2000 and today it amounts to 484,000," Maksimenko told reporters on Monday.

He added that this allowed for the closure of 93 prisons over the past seven years, mostly in remote and hard-to reach regions, and to decrease the number of officers in the administration.

Comment: Meanwhile the US can't build prisons fast enough:

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Magic Wand

Trump impeachment dreams are just a liberal fantasy - Dems set the precedent with Bill and Monica

Marc Thiessen
Fox News
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 18:05 UTC
President Clinton poses with Monica Lewinsky in a Nov. 17, 1995 photo
© ReutersPresident Clinton poses with Monica Lewinsky in a Nov. 17, 1995 photo.
Michael Cohen's decision to plead guilty for making hush-money payments on Donald Trump's behalf has raised the prospect that if Democrats take control of Congress, they might try to impeach the president over a matter completely unrelated to a perceived criminal conspiracy with Russia. Good luck with that: Even if Democrats win back both the House and Senate, there is zero chance a two-thirds majority of senators will convict President Trump for paying off an adult-film star.

It would be the height of hypocrisy if Democrats tried to remove the president over allegations of illegality relating to extramarital affairs. During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, congressional Democrats told us the private sexual conduct of a president does not matter, and that lying under oath to cover up a "consensual relationship" is not an impeachable offense. Then-Rep. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said President Bill Clinton's lies under oath about his sexual relationship with a White House intern might have been illegal, but declared the scandal "a tawdry but not impeachable affair" -- right before heading off to a fundraiser with Clinton. At the time, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., declared that the Starr investigation "vindicates President Clinton in the conduct of his public life because we're only left with this personal stuff" and that Founding Fathers "would say it was not for the investigation of a president's personal life that we risked our life, our liberty, and our sacred honor."

But now that a Republican president is accused of covering up an affair, suddenly Democrats are channeling their inner Kenneth W. Starr.
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Car Black

Woman carrying baby leads Texas police on a 100-mph highway chase


RT
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 16:55 UTC
Woman with baby
© Texas Department of Public Safety / YouTubeA woman flees from Texas police with a baby in tow.
Newly-released video shows a Texas woman leading police on a 100-mph chase and crashing her car, before attempting to flee on foot and hijack another vehicle, all while carrying a baby in a portable car seat.

In the video, shot in June but released recently by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the 29-year-old driver flees from police at high speed, reaching speeds of up to 100 miles per hour in her Mercedes-Benz SUV.

Weaving through traffic on a Texas highway, the woman narrowly misses several cars, and police roll out a spike strip to burst her tires. The spikes send the woman's SUV careening off the highway, through the dirt and onto an access road.
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Yoda

Social media users humanize war criminals because George W. Bush passed a candy to Michelle Obama

Caitlin Johnstone
The Greanville Post
Sun, 02 Sep 2018 17:54 UTC
bush obama candy
© Youtube
As of this writing, a tweet by disgraced Broadway fraud convict Roland Scahill has 90 thousand shares and 362 thousand likes, which if you're not used to Twitter is a ridiculously high amount that nobody generally hits. The tweet features nothing but four seconds of video footage from the John McCain funeral, and the caption "George W. Bush sneaking a piece of candy to Michelle Obama is warming my heart."


That's it. That's all it took to win Twitter for the day. Those four seconds of footage have been circulated around TV news stations to 'ooh's and 'ahh's of fawning establishment pundits yammering incessantly about how the death of War Hero John McCain™ has let everyone Put Aside Our Political Differences™ and Come Together As Americans™ to celebrate the life of a man who dedicated his entire political career to sowing death, suffering and devastation at every opportunity. A war criminal giving a piece of candy to the wife of another war criminal at the funeral of a war criminal is all it took to get mainstream American brains gushing with dopamine and oxytocin.

Comment: The fact that a video of Dubya passing some candy to Michelle Obama at the funeral of John McCain warms people's hearts illustrates the deep emotional, intellectual and spiritual crisis the human race is going through. It's almost as if people were willing to forget reality and ignore what the McCains, Bushes and Obamas of the world did - and all for the sake of a few seconds of 'warming the heart', a like and a share.

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Dollars

Twitter weighs in on Killary's 'unpaid internships' and it's not pretty: 'No wonder she wasn't elected'


Sputnik
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 17:38 UTC
hillary intern unpaid
© Associated Press/Andrew HarnikIn this April 3, 2015, photo, intern Jessica Lis works at the Ready for Hillary super PAC offices in Arlington, Va.
The former Democratic Party presidential candidate has a record of offering no monetary compensation to campaign staff during elections, despite enjoying large campaign war chests.

Hillary Clinton is in the news again, this time over reports that her New York City office is offering a four month autumn internship which offers no pay, stipends, or college credit. The internship positions, posted on the Clinton Foundation's website, run from mid-September to mid-December, and require "a minimum of three days per week" of work.

According to more detailed documents obtained by The Daily Caller, the positions, whose criteria includes "a high level of professionalism and discretion," "strong research and writing skills," "a diligent work ethic," etc., are unpaid. The posting, which encourages undergraduates from all majors to apply, does not seem to offer any other forms of compensation, such as school credit or a stipend, either.

Comment: Rumors have been circulating for a long time that Hillary was such a witch that she pissed off many members of her campaign staff and the DNC. Those rumors gave credence to the claim that the DNC emails were not hacked by Russia but downloaded by a seriously irate member of her staff. Now these latest documents obtained by The Daily Caller lend even more credibility to that claim. How long will this ridiculous ruse last before people start to wake up to the fact that Clinton is an inveterate liar and warmonger in the service of the US 'deep state' that is waging an existential geopolitical war against Russia?

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Candle

Best of the Web: Farewell to a hero: 120,000 Russians attend funeral of assassinated DPR leader Zakharchenko


Sputnik
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 12:57 UTC
Alexander Zakharchenko
The farewell ceremony for the assassinated leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko, has begun in the republic's capital, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Sunday.

A coffin with Zakharchenko's body has been put on display in the lobby of an opera and ballet theater in the city's center, not far from cafe Separ where he was killed in a bomb blast on Friday.

A spokesperson for the city administration told Sputnik that over 120,000 people have come to bid farewell to the assassinated leader.

"At the moment, according to the preliminary estimates, there are more than 120,000 people," the spokesperson said.

Comment: See also:

Russian Foreign Ministry: Assassination of Donetsk leader Zakharchenko undermines political settlement in Donbass

'The city is orphaned': 120,000 mourners bid farewell to assassinated Donbass leader in Donetsk

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Heart - Black

'Incalculable' loss as National Museum of Brazil devoured by fire


RT
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 17:32 UTC
National Museum of Brazil
© Tania Dominici / Reuters
The National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro has been hit by a massive fire on Sunday night, with images from the scene showing the entire building engulfed in flames. The cause of the blaze is unknown so far.

No-one was injured in the fire, which started after the museum was closed for the day, local media report. About 50 firefighters have been trying to contain the inferno since 7 pm local time. The flames quickly spread through the 19th century wooden mansion that houses the museum.

Images from the scene show the entire building burning on the inside.

Comment: There have been a number of notable fires recently:

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Fire

Eight people killed in explosion at munitions depot near Cape Town, South Africa


Sputnik
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 17:18 UTC
Capetown, south Africa
It is unknown what exactly caused the blast, News24 reported on Monday. Police haven't provided any comments regarding the incident.

Eight people killed by a blast at munition depot in Somerset West, near Cape Town, South Africa, media said.


Comment: See also: Explosion hits Russian munitions factory, leaving at least 3 dead several injured

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Bullseye

Defining factor in upcoming election, anti-immigration sentiment grips Sweden


RT
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 12:58 UTC
Protesters
© TT News Agency/Adam Ihse / ReutersProtestors demonstrate against Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson.
Anti-immigration sentiment may prove to be the defining factor in the upcoming general election in Sweden. RT explores why some Swedes believe their country's system of dealing with migrants is broken.

Sweden has long considered itself one of Europe's most tolerant nations. When, three years ago, Europe was hit with a refugee crisis in which over a million undocumented immigrants arrived on the continent from the Middle East and Northern Africa, Sweden's share of arrivals was the highest per capita.
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Arrow Down

Bad investments: Daesh loses 90% of its covert Russian revenue in four years


Sputnik
Mon, 03 Sep 2018 16:21 UTC
Rebel weapons Syria terrorist ISIS Daesh
© Sputnik / Morad SafedDAESH weapons seized by the SAA
Amid declining profits, the Daesh terrorist organization* has reportedly started to invest in legal businesses to keep on financing its activity, head of the Federal Security Service's (FSB) intelligence information and international relations service, Sergey Beseda, said Monday.

Profits of the Daesh terrorist organization in Russia have gone down 90 percent since 2014 to $200 million - $300 million a year, Beseda said.

"If we compare those financial receipts that were in 2014 and were estimated at about $3 billion, then now ISIL [Daesh] militants manage to get $200-300 million a year," Beseda said at an international conference on efforts to counter illegal arms supply in the context of the fight against international terrorism.

He said the Daesh started investing money in legal businesses to finance its further activity.

Comment: Looks like the terrorists' sponsors are pulling back on a bad gamble. Without being able to sell stolen Syrian oil and Western backing in general, they can't make it on their own.

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