Society's ChildS


Ambulance

Weapons depot blast in Idlib, Syria kills 50 civilians - 40 injured


Sputnik
Sun, 12 Aug 2018 16:16 UTC
remains arms depot
© Omar Haj Kadour/AFPArms depot explosion site, Sarmada, Syria.
Death toll from an explosion at an arms depot in the town of Sarmada in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib increased to 50 on Sunday, a source in the Syrian opposition told Sputnik. Earlier in the day, the source told Sputnik that the blast claimed lives of 36, while 40 people were injured.

"Death toll from the blast at the arms depot in Sarmada increased to 50 people, over 40 people injured were delivered to various hospitals," the source said.

The arms depot was located in the basement of an apartment building, the explosion resulted in the building's destruction and many victims. The depot presumably belonged to an arms dealer. The cause of the blast is yet to be determined, according to the source.
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Magnify

Declassified CIA cable from Thailand blacksite gives steamy description of torture methods


RT
Mon, 13 Aug 2018 18:01 UTC
us soldier
© Ints Kalnins / Reuters
A declassified cable detailing torture at a CIA blacksite in Thailand operated by now-CIA Director Gina Haspel employed hokey language perhaps better suited for an erotic novel - as opposed to documenting the agency's actions.

The bizarre literary work, one of 11 cables obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the National Security Archive, a research institute at George Washington University, describes a "catlike" linguist and "hulking, heavily muscled guards." Just to be clear: The December 2002 cable details the "enhanced" interrogation of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a suspected al-Qaeda terrorist - not a scene from '50 Shades of Grey.'

"HVTI and linguist ... strode, catlike, into the well-lit confines of the cell at 0902 hrs... deftly removed the subject's black hood with a swipe, paused, and in a deep, measured voice said that subject - having 'calmed down' after his (staged) run-in with his hulking, heavily muscled guards the previous day - should reveal what subject had done to vex his guards to the point of rage," the titillating CIA cable, documenting the daily shenanigans at a secret torture dungeon, reads.

"Subject, blinking in the fluorescent light, did a few characteristically flicks of his tongue, reacquired his nervous tick, and in a frail, squeaky voice, replied: 'Nothing.'"
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Broom

Now even the Left-leaning Washington Post is debunking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's ignorant talking points

Ashe Schow
The Daily Wire
Sat, 11 Aug 2018 17:55 UTC
ocasio cortez
© William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images
Self-described "Democratic socialist" Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been making the rounds on liberal media ever since her surprising win over top Democratic incumbent Joseph Crowley in New York's 14th congressional district.

Her statements have been repeatedly fact checked by right-leaning news outlets, but now the left-leaning Washington Post is following Politifact to debunk many of her common claims. The Post doesn't use its standard "Pinocchios" rating scale when doing a round up like this, but it still takes Ocasio-Cortez to task for her claims.

For example, the 28-year-old former bartender claimed on PBS's "Firing Line" that "Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs," and "Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their family."

The Post's Glenn Kessler called her first claim "poppycock."

Comment: Previously:

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Light Sabers

Senior Taliban official praises initial peace talks with US


Sputnik
Mon, 13 Aug 2018 17:29 UTC
taliban
© AP Photo / Allauddin Khan
The Arch enemies entered into talks following the successful implementation of a three-day ceasefire in June for the Muslim holiday of 'Eid al-Fitr.'

A Senior Taliban official has described peace talks held last month with the US as "very helpful" in envisaging a path out of Afghanistan's seventeen year old war.

The leader, from an organisation within the Taliban* called 'Quetta Shura,' has been quoted as saying that both sides intend to hold the next round of talks in September, and that these "will be more specific and focused on key issues." He also added that, "once the breakthrough is started it will be stunning for all."

Comment: The US' sudden willingness to meet with the Taliban more likely comes because Afghanistan has started to turn to Russia and China for help, so Washington has been forced into action.

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Display

11yo child shows how easy it is to hack election office websites, and she's not even Russian


RT
Mon, 13 Aug 2018 17:09 UTC
kids computer
© Felix Vogel/Global Look Press
Ahead of the US midterms in November, the MSM has talked at length about a Russian hacking threat. Meanwhile, a competition in Las Vegas shows that when it comes to interfering with a US election, even a child can do it.

Hosted by technology non-profit R00tz Asylum, the competition was held on the sidelines of the annual Def Con hacking conference in Las Vegas, where children between the ages of 8 and 17 were tasked with hacking into replica election office websites in key "battleground" states where the upcoming US midterm elections in November are expected to be tight.

Of the 39 contestants who entered, 35 were successful in breaking into the sites with the fastest being 11-year old Audrey Jones. She cracked the site's code in just 10 minutes.


Comment: Apparently anyone can hack into these systems, even an 11 year-old child. So much for the 'Russia done it' narrative.

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Radar

Russian warship claimed to have located and tracked US 'stealth' nuclear sub for hours

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 11 Aug 2018 17:04 UTC
Admiral Essen Russia frigate
© IzvestiaThe frigate 'Admiral Essen' of the Russian Black Sea fleet.
A major Russian daily newspaper on Friday revealed a classified incident wherein a Russian battleship located and tracked a 'stealth' US nuclear powered submarine.

It reportedly took place last April, near in time to when the US, UK, and France launched massive strikes from air and sea on targets in and around Damascus in response to the alleged government chemical attack on Douma.

The popular Russian-language daily Izvestia newspaper revealed the story, citing a source in the Russian Navy. While not itself state-owned, the historic newspaper was in the past owned by Gazprom prior to being sold, and has long had close ties to the government.

Comment: Potentially more evidence that Russian military capabilities have left America's bloated, corrupt military-industrial complex in the dust?

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Bad Guys

Gender studies professors earning roughly $15k more than their math and science counterparts

Celine Ryan
Campus Reform
Mon, 13 Aug 2018 16:35 UTC
woman dollar bills money
Professors of subjects such as Women's Studies and Ethnic Studies are largely outearning those that teach more traditional subjects like math and science, according to a new analysis.

A report released by The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) reveals that the average salary for professors of "Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender, and Group Studies" during the 2017-2018 academic year was about $15,000 more per year more than for Biology, Math & Stats, and Science professors.

Comment: How are these 'Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender, and Group Studies' professors helping students become constructive and productive members of society? Becoming 'the resistance' doesn't count.

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Eye 2

Israeli military deliberately targeting civilians in Gaza as 'collective punishment'

Whitney Webb
MintPress News
Fri, 10 Aug 2018 18:40 UTC
Palestinia's Said al-Mis’hal cultural center
© Khalil Hamra / APPalestinians inspect the Said al-Mis’hal cultural center after it was hit destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Aug. 9, 2018
A newspaper article published in the Hebrew-language version of Israeli newspaper Haaretz has stated that the Israeli military (IDF) is intentionally targeting civilians in Gaza as a form of collective punishment aimed at placing Hamas - which Israel continues to regard as a resistance group, though it has governed Gaza since winning elections there in 2007 - "in a problematic situation."

The article states that, after a rocket launched by Hamas' armed wing landed in Beersheva, "the IDF began to attack civilian targets, including population centers, with the goal of causing the residents to understand the price of escalation and placing Hamas in a problematic situation." In other words, the article acknowledges that the IDF is deliberately targeting civilians in Gaza to collectively punish all those living in Gaza for the primitive rockets allegedly launched by Hamas into Israeli territory.

The article goes on to claim that the IDF's deliberate targeting of civilian sites is a "change in policy" for the IDF, as past Israeli airstrikes had "focused on Hamas' clear military objectives, mostly in areas where civilian presence is sparse." Yet, past airstrikes have targeted civilian infrastructure, which were then labeled, after the fact, as Hamas military sites and assets.

Comment: See also:

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Question

Vegas mystery: Slot machines suffer bizarre meltdown just yards from DEF CON hacking convention


RT
Mon, 13 Aug 2018 11:47 UTC
Casino
© Jason Reed / Reuters
Dozens of Las Vegas slot machines crashed simultaneously over the weekend, just yards from where the annual DEF CON hacking convention was taking place. No explanation for the intriguing development has been offered.

The bizarre shutdown took place between 1am and 2am on Saturday at the Linq Casino - right across the road from Caesars Palace where the convention was taking place.

Attendee Matt Anderson captured the moment and told Mashable: "No-one else knew what was happening, but all slots were dead/errored out."
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Attention

Secret Israeli report obtained by Intercept: Israeli armed drone killed four Palestinian boys playing on beach in 2014


RT
Sun, 12 Aug 2018 15:42 UTC
gaza beach
Smoke billowed from a beachside shack in Gaza City on July 16, 2014, after two missiles fired by Israeli drone operators killed four young boys mistaken for militants.
Shells that tragically claimed the lives of four Palestinian children playing football on a Gaza beach four years ago were fired by an Israeli armed drone, a secret report obtained by the Intercept reveals.

The incident, in which Israeli rockets killed four children and injured others, all related to each other and aged from 9 to 11, was condemned by multiple journalists who witnessed the horrific attack and shared pictures of the aftermath in 2014. Back then, the Israeli forces said that the boys had been mistaken for Hamas targets.

The document obtained shows that the strikes were launched from an armed drone, and its operators failed to get permission from their command. The report, which the Intercept says is "the most direct evidence to date that Israel has used armed drones to launch attacks in Gaza," includes testimonies from the drone operators, commanders, and intelligence officers who took part in the attack, revealing how the attack unfolded.


Comment: Israel has tried to keep its use of armed drones to terrorize the Palestinian populace secret, so this is some of the best evidence confirming how common they are, and how lax the rules of engagement are when it comes to identifying 'targets'.

Even if the drone operators were unaware they were firing on children, that doesn't explain this:
Israel's chief military prosecutor decided that no further criminal or disciplinary measures would be taken, since the investigators had concluded that "it would not have been possible for the operational entities involved to have identified these figures, via aerial surveillance, as children."


Efroni did not explain why that was impossible. Two days before the strike in question, Israel's military PR unit had released another video clip in which drone operators could be heard deciding to halt strikes because they had identified figures in their live feeds as children.


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