Society's ChildS


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Notations from the sibling society

Campus protest march against hate speech
© Fibonacci Blue via Creative Commons
The "snowflakes" problem is not really a snowflakes problem: It is the result of an absence not so much of adulthood as of grown-ups. There is no reason why young people reared between the 1990s and the present should be dramatically different from previous generations of young people. Nor should there be any dramatic difference between the sensibilities and sensitivities of young people who end up in college and those who leave education early to earn an honest living. Yet something like this is what we are enjoined to believe by the idea that, for no diagnosed reason, the present generation of young people is more umbrageous and high-strung than any that went before.

No. When young people demand to be protected from the content of prescribed texts, protest the invitation of voluble "right-wingers," or demand the demolition of campus monuments to national heroes, they are merely doing what young people have always done: testing the resolve of their elders and seeking the limits of their tolerance. The problem is not with the students, but with those who are supposed to be in authority over them, who cannot bear to see themselves as elders.

Take 2

Debunked: How Voice of America 'journalist' pushed fake news story on 'Russian tanks crossing into Ukraine'

Russian tank BMP-3
© Russian Ministry of Defense / SputnikFile photo: Russian infantry fighting vehicles, BMP-3, seen at a firing range in the Russian southern military command region.
The easily-verifiable false claim by Voice of America journalist that Russian tanks were filmed entering Ukraine was shared thousands of times before being debunked. The journalist, however, refused to issue a retraction.


Comment: With the entire world feeling a bit nervous about the New Cold War possibly degenerating into a hot war, propagandists such as those working for Voice of America are not missing any opportunities to up the ante.

See also:

The "systemically murderous and evil' scheming of the empire: Is a new war against Russia in Ukraine unfolding before our eyes?


No Entry

Delusional Zuckerberg: Facebook is in 'arms race' with Russia

protester Cambridge Analytica Facebook
© Getty ImagesImage caption Protesters angry at the Cambridge Analytica revelations attended the hearing
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told US senators his company is in a constant battle with Russian operators seeking to exploit the social network.

"This is an arms race. They're going to keep getting better," he said.

Mr Zuckerberg was answering questions in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data collection scandal.

He also revealed Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, had interviewed Facebook staff.

Comment: See also:


Stormtrooper

Toronto cops ruthlessly beat innocent teenager, causing traumatic brain injury, then release him

TTC toronto teen beaten
A teenager has filed a $3 million lawsuit alleging that Toronto's Fare Inspectors and the Toronto Police used excessive force when they arrested him. At the center of the lawsuit is the disturbing video of his arrest and attack which left him severely injured, both psychologically and physically.

The teen is known in court papers as "John Doe" as he is still a minor.

An eyewitness said she saw the Fare Inspectors violently slam the teen into a bench and then again on the ground. The recorded video starts after Doe is already on the ground. For what appears to be an agonizing 8 minutes, the young man can be heard screaming in pain. As he appears to have done nothing wrong, he maintained his innocence and was unwilling to lay entirely still as police rammed their knees in his back and pummeled him.

Doe's lawyers say he was simply arrested for being Black. He and his mother are seeking $3 million in damages from the Toronto Police Services Board, the Toronto Transit Commission, two unidentified police officers and three unidentified TTC fare inspectors. They claim Doe was a victim of racial profiling, assault, unlawful detention and negligence among other allegations. Together with their lawyers, they filed a complaint with the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), which acknowledged receipt of the following complaints:

Info

Six dead as Mi-8 helicopter crashes in Khabarovsk, Russia

Mi-8 helicopter
© Sputnik/ Igor AgeenkoMi-8 helicopter
Six people were killed on Wednesday in a crash of a Mi-8 helicopter in the Russian Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, a source in local emergencies services told Sputnik.

"At 11:30 a.m. [1:30 GMT] the crisis management center of the Russian Emergencies Ministry at the Khabarovsk Territory... received information that the Mi-8 helicopter made a hard landing... According to preliminary information six people were aboard. The constructions have not been affected by the incident," the regional department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry said in a statement.


Comment: The helicopter that crashed in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk had six crew members on board, none of them survived, the Far Eastern transport investigation department of the Russian Investigative Committee said on Wednesday.
A criminal case was launched into the violation of air transport safety rules.

"The investigation looks into three major versions of the accident: weather conditions, technical malfunction or pilot error," the department said in a statement.



Star of David

Ireland: Dublin City Council votes for Israel boycott

Anti-Israeli Activists in the Dublin rally
© (via Facebook)Activists in the Irish capital Dublin rally outside the GPO building, the scene of the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule, in solidarity with Palestinians shot dead and injured by Israeli forces a day earlier in the occupied Gaza Strip, 31 March.
Dublin City Council passed a motion Monday night endorsing the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) on Israel.

And on Tuesday, Israel claimed to have barred Dublin's mayor from entering territory it controls, but a short time later the mayor appeared to be tweeting from Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

"Since its violent establishment in 1948 through the ethnic cleansing of more than half of the indigenous people of Palestine, the state of Israel has denied Palestinians their fundamental rights and has refused to comply with international law," the motion states.

Comment: See also:


TV

'Evil Russia!' US Congress funds new anti-Russia TV channel 'Current Time'

radio free europe
Based on the old Cold War anti-Russian Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, it is also called 'The Prague Guantanamo" for being the most secretive and autocratic TV channel in the world, where being a snitch is highly encouraged and people get fired for having their own opinion. Meanwhile, programming is so daft and boring that no one wants to watch it.

There is an opinion that this is yet another US government's money laundering scheme, making some in the US establishment very rich, at the US taxpayers' expense.

Meanwhile Ukraine is proposing to transfer the headquarters from Prague to Kiev. The US should go for it! It'll be a lot cheaper and they'll have oodles of Russian-speaking ukro-nazis to recruit. Also, someone has to continue feeding the greedy Ukraine junta oligarchs and fascists to keep them on a leash - why not US taxpayers. And finally, when Ukraine is freed from this brown plague, the new, free Novorossia will thank the US for all that nice broadcasting infrastructure they'll leave behind. So, go for it!

Listen to this piece:


Comment: There's been an exodus of people tuning out of mainstream media in droves to get their news from more objective alternative sources. So how does the US answer? Give them more of the same, but worse!


Cardboard Box

Paradox of prosperity: Why are wealthy American cities seeing a surge in homelessness?

tiny houses, Seattle Licton Springs Village
© Andrew ConstantinoA 'low-barrier' community: two of the tiny houses of Seattle's Licton Springs Village.
The northern wall at the office of the Licton Springs Village on North Seattle's gritty Aurora Avenue features a poster containing a stark notice: "BOTULISM WARNING."

"A suspected WOUND BOTULISM case has been reported in King County. Health officials believe the case may be related injecting [sic] black tar heroin," it reads. "Injecting heroin that contains the bacteria that causes botulism can cause serious infection and even death."

Of course, one might think that the flyer could simply warn that black tar heroin contains...black tar heroin. Heroin is an unusually dangerous drug-wickedly addictive and far more lethal to its abusers than cocaine or alcohol. But Licton Springs Village, a microcommunity of 30 tiny houses and a couple of large dormitory tents-one that is officially sanctioned by the City of Seattle-takes a permissive view of drug abuse. It's a "low-barrier" community, meaning that people can use drugs freely here. Most homeless shelters and encampments demand residents live drug and alcohol free. But here, clean needles are distributed to the residents to prevent the spread of disease, and Narcan is available to resuscitate people who overdose.

Open since April 2017, on a formerly vacant lot squeezed between fast-food joints and low-budget motels, Licton Springs Village is home to nearly 70 homeless people who were "sleeping rough" until they moved in. The residents include several married couples who live together in simple, tiny homes-basically, wooden boxes 12 feet by 8 feet-donated by local groups. Children aren't allowed because of the open drug use. The village is operated by local nonprofit SHARE/WHEEL, and the on-the-ground support staff are all formerly homeless themselves. Conditions are makeshift: There's a shower, but the toilets are all of the port-a-potty variety; there are no individual kitchens, but residents are eligible to eat once each day in the communal dining area.

Licton Springs Village, unique in many ways, exists to address a common and once again growing problem: American homelessness. The problem is particularly acute on the West Coast. Here in Seattle, the homeless population skyrocketed by 44 percent between 2015 and the end of 2017, mirroring the experience of other Pacific coast cities, notably those in the Bay Area, which is also experiencing a homelessness crisis of mammoth proportions. King County, home of Seattle, now boasts the third-largest homeless population in the country.

Comment:


Heart - Black

Red shirt mixup: Cops kill elderly woman while aiming for her mentally ill son

old woman and police
Police have admitted that they shot and killed an elderly woman in an attempt to kill her mentally ill son during a standoff last month, an apparent mix-up they blamed on the fact that both mother and son were wearing red shirts.

Amelia Huron-Macias, 84, was killed when she was hit with a barrage of bullets fired into her home by SWAT team members during an hours-long standoff in which officers claimed they were targeting her son, Fernando Macias.

The Bexar County Mental Health Unit was initially called to execute a mental health warrant for Macias on March 6. Sheriff Javier Salazar told the San Antonio Express-News that relatives reported that they were concerned about Macias' mental state.

"The relatives were worried," Salazar said. "He was not in a condition to care for himself, much less to care for the elderly lady and her needs."

Attention

India: Tragic school bus accident kills 23 children and 3 adults

Himachal Pradesh bus accident
At least 23 children and two teachers were killed when a school bus plunged 328 feet into a gorge in Himachal Pradesh's Malkwal, on the Punjab border, on Monday afternoon. Kangra district officials fear the death toll may rise as 11 other children have been injured in the worst school bus accident in the region in recent years. The condition of at least three of the injured children, hospitalised at Pathankot in Punjab, are said to be serious. All the kids are between 5 and 14 years.

The bus belonging to the Wazir Ram Singh Pathania private school had left the campus at around 3 pm. It had barely covered 6 km when the driver is believed to have lost control of the bus, resulting in the fatal plunge. A local woman who had taken a lift on the bus a few minutes earlier was among the dead.

Officials said it would be difficult to ascertain the cause of the accident until they speak to the survivors and get more details. They have, however, registered a case against the driver Madan Lal, an ex-army man, who, too, was killed in the accident. He has been booked for rash driving and causing death by negligence under the Indian Penal Code.