Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Autistic 5th-grader handcuffed & arrested for playing with 'imaginary gun' at school

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 11 May 2018 08:15 UTC
David Sims
After the shooting in a Parkland, Florida high school earlier this year, the entire nation is on edge and is taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. Because authorities ignored the shooter's threats, and essentially allowed the massacre to take place, police are being extra cautious now to ensure this does not happen again.

Since that fateful day, school children across the country have been arrested for threatening behavior. Now, however, a case out of Texas has many wondering if this reaction to fear is going to far as a 5th grade autistic student was arrested for "brandishing an imaginary rifle."

On Monday, 12-year-old David Sims, a 5th grader in Conroe Independent School District's Bozman Intermediate school, was handcuffed, hauled away and charged with a crime for motioning his hands like he had a gun.

The boy's actions apparently threatened his art teacher who then called the police.

"She (CISD Police Officer) just put handcuffs on me and told me I need to go with her," David told Fox 26.

"They just said, 'We don't tolerate that. We take it as a threat.' A threat? He didn't threaten anyone. He didn't do anything but play," said Amy Sims, David's mother.
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Bad Guys

Israel expels high-ranking HRW official over past BDS activism


RT
Fri, 11 May 2018 09:54 UTC
People take part in an anti-Israeli demonstration in Paris
© Matthieu Alexandre / AFPPeople take part in an anti-Israeli demonstration in Paris
Human Rights Watch (HRW) director for Israel and Palestine Omar Shakir is being deported by Israeli authorities. They accuse him of supporting the boycott movement as HRW decries the move as an attempt to shun criticism.

Shakir's work permit has been revoked and he has to leave Israel within the next 14 days, the Interior Ministry informed HRW in a letter earlier this week. The ruling was based on an Israeli dossier compiled against Shakir, which claimed that the US citizen of Iraqi origin, "has actively and consistently supported strategies calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel (BDS), since his early days as a student and into the present. He often retweets and shares content on BDS against Israel."


Comment: See also:

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Dollar

Royal Bank of Scotland agrees to $5bln settlement with US for shady loan sales


RT
Thu, 10 May 2018 08:06 UTC
royal bank scotland
© Andrew Winning / Reuters
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to end a long-running probe into its actions in the lead-up to the 2007-2008 global financial crisis.

Under the agreement, the bank will pay a penalty of $4.9 billion. RBS boss Ross McEwan called the settlement "a milestone moment."

"Reaching this settlement in principle with the US Department of Justice will, when finalized, allow us to deal with this significant remaining legacy issue and is the price we have to pay for the global ambitions pursued by this bank before the crisis," he said.
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Heart - Black

Assange forced to comply with new rules banning him from taking visitors and phone calls at Ecuadorian embassy


RT
Thu, 10 May 2018 08:02 UTC
assange
© Peter Nicholls / Reuters
Julian Assange has been hit with new rules limiting his communications by officials at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. The new measures include bans on using the phone and having visitors, according to WikiLeaks.

The founder of the whistleblowing website has reportedly found himself isolated within the embassy recently. In March, he had his internet access curtailed after taking to Twitter to criticize Britain's response to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, as well as repeated comments about Spain's dispute with Catalonia. At the time, the Ecuadorian government said Assange had breached a written commitment "not to issue messages that might interfere with other states."

Speaking with the foreign press Wednesday, Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa confirmed that Assange was still being denied internet access while talks between the UK and Ecuador to decide on his fate are still ongoing.
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Newspaper

$325k Iron Man suit disappears from Hollywood warehouse


RT
Thu, 10 May 2018 23:47 UTC
Robert Downey Jr with the Iron Man suit in 2008
© Patrick RiviereRobert Downey Jr with the Iron Man suit in 2008
The original Iron Man suit from the first Marvel franchise movie has gone missing from a warehouse in Hollywood. The iconic red and gold costume is valued at a jaw-dropping $325,000.

Investigators might count themselves unlucky that they can't call on Tony Stark, the billionaire tech playboy who built the tank-busting super-suit in the film series. All they have to go on is that it could have gone missing sometime between February and late April, according to the LA Times.
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Attention

Iran-Contra antagonist Oliver North projects his corrupt character, says all Iranians are liars


RT
Thu, 10 May 2018 22:38 UTC
Oliver North mug shot
Retired Marine Colonel Oliver North, who gained notoriety for his involvement in the Iran-Contra gunrunning scandal and lying to Congress about it, took to Fox News on Wednesday to accuse the Iranians of lying.

"Never believe an Iranian - because if their lips are moving, they're lying," North told Fox host Sean Hannity on Wednesday. The new president of the National Rifle Association and Hannity were discussing the airstrikes on what Israel said were Iranian forces in Syria that had fired on Israeli positions earlier in the day.

North made a similar statement the day before, accusing Tehran of lying about its adherence to the Iran nuclear deal and calling for renewed sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

"The Iranians have been lying. Every time their lips move, they're lying," he said on Fox & Friends. Hours after North's statement, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Iran deal.

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Black Cat

Disgusting! IDF soldier filmed executing Palestinian freed after just 9 months in jail


RT
Thu, 10 May 2018 18:55 UTC
A gleeful Elor Azaria
© Debbie Hill/Reuters
An Israeli soldier caught on film by a human rights activist executing an injured Palestinian man has been released from prison early after serving half of his original 18-month sentence in a military prison.

Elor Azaria was convicted of manslaughter in January 2017 of manslaughter for shooting dead alleged assailant Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in the West Bank. During his trial, the court heard Azaria fired the fatal shot as al-Sharif lay prostrate on the ground having been wounded during an attempted knife attack on another IDF soldier

The trial judge at the time rejected Azaria's claim that he feared the disarmed assailant might detonate an explosive belt, labelling the incident as "unjustified." Azaria was sentenced to 18 months in jail, a term which was subsequently reduced to 14 months.

Comment: See also:

'Kill them all': IDF soldier who executed Palestinian man has sentence reduced again

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Gingerbread

Oh boy! Boy Scouts just lost 425,000 boys in 1 week - after announcing it will change its name by leaving out 'boy'

Joe Saunders
Conservative Tribune
Wed, 09 May 2018 19:19 UTC
boy scouts
The Scouts should have been prepared for this.

One week after the century-old Boy Scouts of America announced it was changing its name and its mission to accept girls at all levels of scouting, its single biggest participant announced Tuesday that it was cutting ties to the Scouts.

And taking one-fifth of the Scouts membership with it.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, usually known as the Mormons, announced Tuesday that it was severing its relationship with the Scouts effective Dec. 31, 2019, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

In a statement issued jointly by the church and the Scouts, the church explained the move by noting that its membership was more global now than ever, and required a global approach.
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People 2

Cambridge 'Women's Campaign' student group requests burden of proof in sex assault cases be lowered


RT
Thu, 10 May 2018 08:42 UTC
The University of Cambridge
© Gustavo Valiente / Global Look PressThe University of Cambridge.
The University of Cambridge may lower the standard of proof in sexual assault cases after a women's union complained that the current requirement of beyond reasonable doubt, as is the law - is too tough on victims.

Cambridge University admitted in February that it has a serious problem with on-campus sexual misconduct, after the university received nearly 180 complaints in nine months under its newly launched anonymous reporting system.

Over 800 students have penned an open letter to Cambridge's Vice-Chancellor Stephen Toope, demanding a change in how sexual misconduct cases are handled by the university. The letter argued that requiring the same standard of proof as criminal law puts victims off coming forward.
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Yoda

Capitol police drag former CIA analyst Ray McGovern from Haspel hearing after anti-torture protest


RT
Wed, 09 May 2018 21:36 UTC
McGovern protest Haspel hearing
© Kevin Lamarque / ReutersFormer CIA analyst Ray McGovern is removed during acting CIA Director Gina Haspel's testimony at her Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 9, 2018.
Former CIA analyst and anti-war activist Ray McGovern was forcibly removed from the US Senate hearing where Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump's nominee for CIA director, was answering questions about her record on torture.

McGovern was dragged from the room by Capitol Police after demanding that Haspel answer questions put to her about the waterboarding of terror suspects at a CIA "black site" in Thailand.

Comment: Look at the smug expressions of the bureaucratic flunkies as Mr. McGovern is violently hustled out of the hearing room. Hannah Arendt's banality of evil is alive and well.

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