Society's ChildS


Bad Guys

Israeli Supreme Court doubles sentence of officer who murdered Palestinian teen to a whopping 18 months


RT
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 19:06 UTC
Ben Deri Israeli policeman
© Photo: via Twitter
Doubling the sentence of an ex-Israeli cop who killed an unarmed Palestinian is rare, as the courts always seek to be more lenient, but 18 months in jail will hardly deter the next shooter, a Haaretz correspondent told RT.

Israel's Supreme Court on Sunday doubled the prison sentence of an Israeli police officer, Ben Deri, who was initially sentenced to nine months under a plea bargain struck with the Jerusalem District Court in April. The decision to increase Deri's sentence to 18 months was surprising, because the Israeli justice system usually looks for loopholes in lethal use of force crimes against unarmed Palestinians, a senior defense and political commentator and columnist for Haaretz, Amir Oren, told RT.

"When it comes down to the courts, they always find ways to pass more lenient sentences. They find mitigating circumstances. One can always find such circumstances," Oren said. "After all, this is a conscript, a soldier, who was drafted and then had to police the West Bank and encountered demonstrators. One can always find a context in which it can... be explained away."

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Sheriff

Nevada cops attack & arrest man for LEGAL possession of marijuana

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 19 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Nevada Cop chokehold legal marijuana
For almost three years, medical marijuana was legalized in various regions of the state of Nevada. However, recreational marijuana sales only started in specific areas of the state at the beginning of July 2017 because of a law that took effect at that time; this law renders persons that are at least 21 years old and bear valid identification legally capable of purchasing the drug in those regions for recreational purposes. However, as a recent video shared with the Free Thought Project shows, police, lots of them, are still willing to attack and assault people for having the plant.

According to the new Nevada law, pot generally can only be legally imbibed on property owned privately by residents, and it may not be imbibed in any public location on the Strip such as a bar or casino. So, when Josh Martin sat in his truck to roll a joint-on private property-he was well within his rights, according to Nevada law, to do so.

The fact that Martin was not breaking any laws, however, was of no concern to the cops who showed up and assaulted the innocent man.

As the body camera footage shows, the cop even admitted to Martin that rolling the joint in his car was not illegal.
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Star of David

Ethnic cleansing: The de-Arabizing of Jerusalem

Miko Peled
MintPress News
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Jerusalem Old City
© Expert VagabondJerusalem's Old City
The reality is that for seven decades Israel has been engaged in the crime of ethnic cleansing. If this crime is not immediately brought to a stop, the City of Jerusalem will lose its heritage forever.

It is 2:30 p.m. on a weekday in Jerusalem's Old City, and one would expect the stores and restaurants to be open and busy. Standing near one of the first stations along the Via Dolorosa, the final path Jesus took as he carried his cross to his own crucifixion, I was looking around me and Abu-Shkri restaurant was closing, as were some of the t-shirt and souvenir stores. I turned to one of the shopkeepers and asked him why they were closing so early. "No business," he replied.

This seemed like an odd thing to say as the street was full of tourists. There were some tourists walking in groups and others walking in pairs or alone. "There are thousands of people here," I said to him. "Yes, but they don't stop to shop, not even to look or ask for prices." He was right. Not a single tourist was stopping. "Look," he continued after he noticed I continued to stand there, "if you pay attention you will see: the tour guides tell their groups not to buy from the Arabs. So there is no business."
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Health

Charlie Rowley, 'Novichok victim', returns to intensive care


RT
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 08:42 UTC
Salisbury hosp
© Peter Nicholls/Reuters
Charlie Rowley, a survivor of the late-March alleged nerve agent poisoning in Amesbury, has been taken back to the hospital, UK media report. The man has almost gone blind, but it's not a nerve agent symptom.

Rowley was taken back to the intensive care unit of the Salisbury Hospital on Saturday. His brother, talking to British media, said the man had blurred vision and couldn't see.

Rowley's sudden illness is unrelated to the supposed nerve agent attack he suffered weeks ago, however. The hospital staff has made no comment on Rowley's admission, but made it clear they are not treating anyone with nerve agent poisoning symptoms.

Rowley and his girlfriend Dawn Sturgess, both known drug and alcohol addicts, were first taken to the hospital in late June after suffering what British authorities said was 'Novichok poisoning' - the effects of a supposed Soviet-made nerve agent used on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in March. Sturgess is said to have sprayed herself with the chemical from a perfume bottle they picked up in a park while out drinking.
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Dollar

Ten big Silicon Valley liberal money players behind this November's U.S. midterm elections

Theodore Schleifer
Recode
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 18:09 UTC
A cheat sheet to the gusher of cash flooding the system in advance of Election Day.
Silicon Valley
Tech resistance to U.S. President Donald Trump has reached its zenith. But the universe of Democrats who are willing to cut seven-figure checks to liberal causes is still very small.

By Silicon Valley standards, the amount of money required to be a top-tier player in political fundraising is shockingly small. One million dollars in political giving - a small part of some tech billionaires' net worth - could make them revered and feared campaign donors. But we've seen little changing of the guard.

Now, there are some new, ascendant Democratic financiers in Silicon Valley. People such as venture capitalist Rob Stavis have been awakened this cycle after years of relative passivenes. And even traditional big-money givers like Chris Sacca are rethinking how they spend their money - turning to startups and nonprofits instead of the typical party-aligned establishment organizations that had a stranglehold on Democratic donorville.
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Handcuffs

Animal Farm: Three Pennsylvania men facing thousands of charges of having sex with horses, cows, goat, dogs

Chris Murphy
UK Mirror
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 17:19 UTC
Matthew Brubaker
Matthew Brubaker, 32, was one of three men discovered living on the remote Pennsylvania property with the abused animals
A group of men were arrested on suspicion of having sex with at least 12 farm animals after a tip off to police led to a raid.

Three men are being held by Pennsylvania state police who served a search warrant at a rural home in the small town of Munson, Clearfield County which is 130 miles north east of Pittsburgh.

Terry Wallace, 40, Matthew Brubaker, 32, and Marc Measnikoff, 34, face more than 1,000 charges each after what is thought to be five years of abuse of the animals.

District attorney Bill Shaw told them the charges so far are part of an ongoing investigation into the abuse of animals.

He told them: "This is an unpleasant topic, but the facts are that we received a report of folks having sexual intercourse with animals, farm animals."

The men are accused of having sexual relations with at least nine female horses, a cow, a goat, and dogs, at a property on Mouse Road.

Police also recovered several semi-automatic weapons at the home.

Comment: "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." --George Orwell

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Dollars

Sanctions and tariffs have become Trump's big guns in the money wars

Simon Tisdall
The Guardian
Sun, 19 Aug 2018 16:27 UTC
Trump signs sanctions iran
© Xinhua/Barcroft ImagesDonald Trump displays the signed presidential memorandum for new sanctions against Iran.
Some US presidents use military force to impose America's will on other countries. Most prefer traditional diplomacy and negotiation, or else they ask allies to help them get their way. Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama stressed the importance of moral example in projecting global leadership.

Donald Trump does things differently. Since taking office last year, he has repeatedly resorted to draconian economic sanctions and trade tariffs, launching them like missiles at countries and people he does not approve of. Trump did not invent the practice but it has become his foreign policy weapon of choice.

The US Treasury imposed sanctions on 944 foreign entities and individuals in 2017, a record. This year, the total is projected to surpass 1,000. It currently lists 28 "active sanctions programs" ranging from Belarus and Burundi to Venezuela and Zimbabwe. In February alone, people and businesses in Lebanon, Libya, Colombia, Pakistan, Somalia and the Philippines were targeted.
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Bandaid

Shoe on the other foot: Asia Argento denies accusations of sexual assault - despite $380k payout


RT
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 17:09 UTC
Asia Argento
© Brendan McDermid/REUTERS
The #MeToo figurehead and actor Asia Argento has denied accusations she sexually assaulted former co-star Jimmy Bennett. The alleged hush money she gave him was an act of compassion, she said.

Argento, who has accused movie producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, is herself the subject of allegations surrounding an inappropriate relationship with Bennett.

As shown by documents seen by the New York Times, Argento allegedly arranged to pay Bennett $380,000 after he accused her of sexual assault in a California hotel when he was aged 17.


Comment: Live by the sword, die by the sword. It's quite ironic to see a woman at the center of the #MeToo movement ("always believe victims") put in the exact same position as many of the men on the receiving end of accusations. Should we not "believe the victims"? Here's the thing: Argento may be innocent. That's the point. People are innocent until proven guilty - something the #MeToo movement has forgotten. Unfortunately, this latest bit of news isn't likely to change their minds.

What makes this particular case slightly more disturbing - if the allegations are true - is that Argento and Bennett referred to each other as "mom" and "son".

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Attention

That's progress: Saudi Arabia pushes 'equality' - considers executing first woman for supporting political protests


Sputnik
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 16:53 UTC
Riyadh Skyline
© CC BY-SA 4.0 / B.alotaby
State prosecutors in Saudi Arabia are calling for the death penalty for Israa al-Ghomgham, a human rights activist from Qatif who was arrested in 2015. If executed, it will be the first time the country has carried out capital punishment on a woman.

Ghomgham was arrested in December 2015 for "anti-establishment activities," the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper reported. She has been in detention for 32 months but was recently put before the specialized criminal court (SCC) in Riyadh. The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) described the court, responsible for implementing the notorious 2017 counterterrorism law, as being "under total control by the king, and therefore many of these trials are merely show trial and have pre-determined outcomes which serve the narrative of the state."

Many news outlets have reported that Ghomgham has already been executed, but these reports appear to be premature.


Comment: The sources reporting that her execution has already taken place include PressTV, Shia Rights Watch and the Shia Young Journalists Association. Fort Russ News reports having a video alleged to portray the execution, showing "an executioner placing her in prone position on the ground before decapitating her with a sword, as security forces stood by."

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Oil Well

France's Total has officially quit Iran: oil minister


Al Monitor
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 16:14 UTC
total oil company logo
© Eric Piermont/Agence France-PresseThe logo of Total at the company's headquarters in La Defense business district in Paris
French energy giant Total has officially quit its multi-billion-dollar gas project in Iran, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Monday, following the reimposition of US sanctions.

"Total has officially left the agreement for the development of phase 11 of South Pars (gas field). It has been more than two months that it announced that it would leave the contract," he told the ICANA news agency, which is linked to the oil ministry.

The United States said in May that it was abandoning the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposing sanctions on Iran in two phases in August and November. The second phase will target Iran's oil industry, and Total had already said it would be impossible to remain in Iran unless it received a specific waiver from Washington, which was not granted.

Comment: Sputnik reports Terhan looking for new company to fill the gap:
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said that France's Total has officially left Iran, according to Iranian state TV.

"Total has officially withdrawn from the agreement on the development of South Pars 11 project. It has been more than two months since the company announced its withdrawal from the agreement," Bijan Zanganeh said as quoted by the ICANA news agency.

The minister noted that Tehran was currently looking for a company which would replace Total in the project.

The US relations with Iran have further deteriorated in the wake of Washington's decision to withdraw from the historic 2015 nuclear deal in May, as well as to reimpose sanctions on Iran in two phases in August and November.

On August 7, the United States officially put into effect the first package of sanctions against Tehran, which are targeting Iran's purchase of US dollar banknotes, trade in gold and other metals and transactions involving the national currency.

The second phase is set to target Iran's oil industry, and Total had already said it would be impossible to remain in Iran unless it received a specific resolution from the US.
France can hardly be happy about this.

Seeing as the US has pretty much burned its bridges in Iran, and also locked its allies out of the country, look for Russia to express interest. It's a natural fit. Iran would welcome a stable, honest business partner. Another win for Putin?

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