Society's ChildS


Cow Skull

Utah doomsday 'prophet' who promoted child marriage, polygamy sentenced to 25 years in prison


Yahoo! News
Wed, 08 Aug 2018 20:29 UTC
John Coltharp
A self-styled prophet who helped lead a Utah doomsday cult that believed in polygamy and promoted child marriage remained defiant Wednesday as he was sent to prison for at least 25 years.

John Coltharp, 35, told a judge he was following "heavenly laws" and was an Old Testament figure returned to Earth to promote child marriage, the Deseret News reported .

He maintained that it doesn't matter how long he goes to prison because society won't last much longer.

Judge Marvin Bagley told Coltharp his beliefs are wrong and don't come from the Bible. He said he hopes Coltharp is never released from prison.

Coltharp pled guilty to sodomy and child bigamy charges in June. He could spend life in prison as he waits for a parole board to determine a possible release date.
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Cult

Really? Accused pedophile priest says 'the devil' made him molest an 11 y.o. girl


RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 20:13 UTC
priest collar
© Rodrigo Garrido / Reuters
An Italian priest accused of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl in a car has said that he thought the child was older, and that he did what he did because "the devil gave him a trip."

Father Paolo Glaentzer, 70, was arrested last month for allegedly molesting an 11-year-old girl in a car. The court did not jail the priest, but he is currently being held on house arrest as an investigation continues.

The disgraced priest told an Italian newspaper that he is "very sorry" about what happened, but argued that "the devil tripped me" into abusing the girl.

Glaentzer said that the encounter was "an exchange of affection" that got out of control, and added that the victim seemed "much more mature than she was."
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Heart - Black

Missouri couple caged their 4 adopted children in tiny cells; had custom-made prison uniforms for them


RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 18:45 UTC
kids jail clothes
© St. Francois County Sheriff's Dept
A couple in Missouri has been arrested and charged with child endangerment and kidnapping, for confining four children in inhumane conditions inside specially built, windowless cells that were boarded-up with plywood.

Laura Cheatham, 38, and Daryl J. Head, 38, were detained by deputies of the St. Francois County Sheriff's Department, who responded to an anonymous tip on Tuesday of possible child mistreatment in a Farmington home in the state of Missouri.

When police officers and Children's Division worker arrived at the residence, Head seemed reluctant to welcome the unexpected visitors and held the inspectors waiting at the door. In the meantime, Cheatham was witnessed unscrewing plywood from small rooms to release three girls and one boy, ages 5-12.

After gaining access to the house, authorities and the social worker discovered that the couple had modified two of the bedrooms on the main floor into four tiny "specially constructed" spaces that were "smaller than a jail cell," with no lighting, no water access, and no toilet facilities.
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X

Atlanta school abolishes Pledge of Allegiance, claims it is not 'inclusive'


RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 15:11 UTC
US flag
© Flickr'Old Glory'
An Atlanta charter school will no longer recite the pledge of allegiance before class in the morning, as staff feel it does not contribute to "a fully inclusive and connected community."

"Over the past couple of years it has become increasingly obvious that more and more of our community were choosing to not stand and/or recite the pledge," Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School president Lara Zelski said on Tuesday.

Now, students who choose to do so will be allowed to recite the pledge at a point later in the day, while the staff and students work together to create a new school pledge that "will focus on students' civic responsibility to their school family, community, country and our global society."

The mantra "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" was written in 1892, and adopted by Congress as its pledge in 1942. The words "under God" were added to the pledge in 1954, as the US stood in opposition to the 'Godless' communism of the Soviet Union.

Comment: How is the pledge not all-inclusive? What words or meaning do not imply this? It has always been an American right to remain silent, a choice.

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Propaganda

Was the modern concept of 'fake news' born during the Georgia-South Ossetia war a decade ago?

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 17:20 UTC
Tshinval, South Ossetia battle scene
© Denis Sinyakov/ReutersTshinval, South Ossetia. August 16, 2008
An EU-sponsored report found that Georgia, not Russia, started the 2008 conflict, which kicked off after Tbilisi attacked South Ossetia. Nevertheless, much of the Western media and political classes hold Moscow responsible.

This week marks a decade since arguably the first social media war. It began when the Washington-backed former president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili ordered an attack on South Ossetia - the region which had declared independence from Georgia in the early '90s.

Russian peacekeeping troops had been stationed there since around 1,000 lives were lost in fighting between 1991 and 1992. That period had seen ethnic cleansing on both sides, with Georgians torching entire Ossetian villages and houses occupied by Georgians looted and burned down, according to Human Rights Watch.

At the time, the new social media platforms were generally regarded as harmless, fun and frivolous tools, with their downsides not really understood. And the initial reaction to the conflict echoed this perception. Indeed, a famous viral comment saw one user ask (with apologies to the English language):
"I live in georegia but i dont see rusia no where not even sound but they says theres tanks should i be worrie."
At the same time, on Facebook, widely-shared posts saw amateur comedians wondering if they should flee Atlanta before the Russians arrived.

Comment:

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Quenelle

Backfire? Infowars claims 5.6M new subscribers in wake of social media purge


RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 17:11 UTC
Alex Jones Republican rally Ohio 6 Aug. 2018
© Lucas Jackson / ReutersAlex Jones at Republican rally, Ohio, 6 August 2018
In the battle to have Alex Jones and Infowars purged from social media, it's not obvious who won. Jones' critics are celebrating because he's been deplatformed, while he claims to have 5.6 million extra subscribers as a result.

Jones and his right-wing conspiracy platform, Infowars, have been wiped off YouTube, Facebook, Apple, LinkedIn, Spotify, Stitcher, and Pinterest, among others. The big beasts of social media who constantly insist they are independent, appeared to work in a coordinated way to censor the bizarre but undeniably popular conspiracy theorist.

"Infowars has had the highest traffic it's ever had - 5.6 million new subscribers in the past 48 hours - and so has my radio show,"Jones told the Daily Mail, referring to his newsletter and podcast.

Social media platforms risk creating the right-wing answer to Star Wars' Obi Wan Kenobi: strike him down and he will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.


Comment: If Infowars' stats are as claimed, it begs the question - was this the intended result? Some background on Alex Jones: Alex Jones: The Pied Piper of Extremism Who Brands "Truth-Seeking" as Mental Illness


Comment: More on the censorship of Alex Jones and Infowars:

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Ambulance

Ohio woman gives birth while overdosing on heroin in Burger King bathroom


Fox2Now
Wed, 08 Aug 2018 15:52 UTC
Chillicothe woman ODs giving birth
© Jeremiah Shaver
A mother believed to be overdosing on heroin gave birth in an Ohio Burger King bathroom stall, and first responders found the baby alive in the toilet Friday afternoon, according to Chillicothe police.

Police initially responded to reports of a man who had passed out in a vehicle and that a woman, who was with him, had overdosed, according to WSYX.

Officers said they found 26-year-old Zachary Frey passed out behind the wheel of a running vehicle and Elizabeth D. Sanders, also 26, sitting on the toilet in the women's restroom, a suspected ball of heroin on the floor beside her.

Sanders told officers she thought she had suffered a miscarriage, police said. However, when the officer looked inside the toilet, there was an infant lying face up, according to the Chillicothe Gazette. The officer reportedly told Sanders to stand up, causing the child to roll face down into the water.
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Bad Guys

'Heavily armed' New Mexico extremists trained 11 children to commit school shootings


RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 18:35 UTC
Siraj ibn Wahhaj’s compound in New Mexico
© Taos County Sheriff's Office / ReutersSiraj ibn Wahhaj’s compound in New Mexico
Siraj ibn Wahhaj, the son of a prominent New York City imam, was arrested at a "filthy" compound in New Mexico, where 11 children found there had been trained in how to shoot up schools, prosecutors said in court documents.

Ibn Wahhaj, 39, and four other adults were arrested on Friday and charged with 11 counts of felony child abuse. Ahead of a court hearing on Wednesday, prosecutors asked the judge not to grant him bail, saying he was training the children to commit school shootings, AP reported.

Another male, identified as Lucas Morten, and three women - Jany Leveille, 35, Hujrah Wahhaj, 38, and Subhannah Wahhaj, 35 - were also arrested at the compound.
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Binoculars

'Poking their noses where they don't belong': Twitter monitors users off-platform behavior when banning 'hate-mongers'


RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 14:57 UTC
twitter
© Kacper Pempel / Reuters
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said that the company reviews real world activity when dealing with accounts of racists and hate-mongers. Some users were chilled by the prospect of being monitored offline, while others plain confused.

"We look at off-platform behavior as well. At things that aren't just happening on Twitter, but happening on other platforms or in the real world," Dorsey told political commentator and TV host Sean Hannity on his radio show on Wednesday.

Some users caught an Orwellian vibe to the policy and suggested it's unacceptable for a social media platform to poke its nose in what they're doing when not logged on.


Comment: See also: Big Brother: Twitter will monitor users behavior 'off platform'

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Light Saber

'I belong to the people who've taught the world endurance, strength and facing the odds': Asma Assad speaks about her battle with cancer


RT
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 10:42 UTC
Asma Assad
© InstagramAsma Assad
Syrian First Lady Asma Assad has addressed the public a day after revealing she is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, saying she shares the same resilience as her compatriots who have endured the hardships of war.

"I belong to the [Syrian] people who've taught the world the endurance, the strength and facing the odds," said Asma's statement in Arabic, released by the Syrian presidency. The mother of three said she's been empowered by the "determination and strength" of the Syrian people which has only grown in the recent years.

The Syrian presidency announced Wednesday that the 42 year old had a malignant breast tumor. The post was accompanied by a photo of Asma and her husband, Syrian President Bashar Assad, sitting at a Damascus hospital.

Comment: We wish Syria's First Lady a speedy and complete recovery. Read more about this amazing woman who is much loved and respected by the Syrian people:

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