Society's ChildS


Bullseye

Why the #MeToo movement should anticipate a much needed reckoning

As a much-needed reckoning happens in the workplace, look to college campuses for a note of caution.

Franken
In the final five years of his presidency Barack Obama's administration undertook a worthy and bold challenge: The elimination of sexual assault on campuses. In fact, Obama's team had a much more ambitious goal in mind. Vice President Joe Biden, the point person for the campus initiative, said at the end of his term that the administration was seeking "to fundamentally change the culture around sexual assault"-everywhere. New rules of sexual engagement between college students were written at the directive of the administration, but top Obama officials said they wanted these to be applied in the workplace and beyond. "You're going to change the workplaces you work in," Tina Tchen, director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, said at a 2016 event honoring campus sexual assault activists. "You're going to raise your sons and daughters differently."

They expected this transformation to take years. But with the daily toppling of powerful men who have committed sexual violations in Hollywood, the media, Congress and more, these changes have become seismic. The silenced have been given voice, and their testimony has resulted in the swift professional demise of perpetrators. Shocking descriptions of the behavior of powerful men have shown that it's not universally understood that it's unacceptable to display one's genitals at work or to sexually abuse colleagues.

Comment:


Bizarro Earth

Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson commits suicide on bridge in Mt. Washington amidst molestation accusations

Rep. Dan Johnson
Rep. Dan Johnson
Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson, who was under investigation for alleged sexual molestation, has committed suicide.

Bullitt County Sheriff Donnie Tinnell said Johnson shot himself on a bridge on Greenwell Ford Road in Mt. Washington, and the gun was recovered. Just before 5 p.m. Wednesday, Johnson posted the following message on his Facebook page:

Comment: Also see this:
Second UK Labour party staff member suddenly dies amid sexual misconduct claims in two weeks


Pirates

NYC terror suspect allegedly cites Israeli action in Gaza as motivation - mocked Trump in hours before attack

nyc bomb squad
© Andrew Kelly / Reuters
A man suspected of detonating a pipe bomb in a block-long tunnel near a New York City transportation hub, has revealed that Israeli actions in the Gaza strip, and the sight of a holiday picture, inspired his failed attempt to kill.

Akayed Ullah, 27, who lives in Brooklyn, allegedly carried out the attack at the underground 42nd street passageway near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan Monday. Ullah later told police he carried out the attack, which injured himself and three others, to exact revenge for recent Israeli military operations, an unnamed law enforcement source told CNN.


Comment: Translation: unconfirmed information.


Ullah, a Bangladeshi native who has been in the US for seven years, also reportedly told investigators that he intentionally detonated the pipe bomb in an underground block-long tunnel after he noticed a holiday picture in the corridor. The man further explained that he was inspired by ISIS-style Christmas threats, according to two unnamed law enforcement officials, WNBC reported.

Comment: CCTV caught the blast:

Hours before the attack, Ullah wrote on Facebook: "Trump you failed to protect your nation." Also included in the post, apparently, was a declaration of allegiance to ISIS:
Ullah, who planned to die in the attack, left behind evidence of his festering rage toward the U.S. Investigators scouring the suspect's Brooklyn home turned up a passport in his name with a chilling handwritten note. "O America, die in your rage," it read, the complaint says.

The investigators also found metal pipes, Christmas light fragments and screws that matched the items used in the clumsily constructed bomb found at the scene, according to the complaint.
...
The seeds of Ullah's radicalization were sown about 2014, when he started watching Islamic State videos online, the complaint says. Ullah told police he began doing online research on how to build homemade explosives about a year ago. He dedicated himself to attacking the U.S. after seeing instructions that "if supporters of ISIS were unable to travel overseas to join ISIS, they should carry out attacks in their homelands," the complaint reads.

Ullah, who sources said was most recently working as an electrician, gathered together the bombmaking materials about two to three weeks ago, court papers say. In need of a pipe, Ullah swiped one from his work site near the bus terminal, sources said. He built the bomb in his Ocean Parkway apartment roughly a week before the attack, according to the criminal complaint. The device, strapped to his chest with wires and zip ties, consisted of a 12-inch metal pipe filled with explosive powder and metal screws. It was attached to Christmas tree lights and a 9-volt battery designed to spark its detonation.
...
Ullah, who is recovering from burns and cuts to his hands and stomach at Bellevue Hospital, is expected to appear before a judge Wednesday.

His neighbors on Ocean Parkway in Kensington said he lived a shadowy existence. "He was a loner," said Joseph Ruggiero, 84. "When I'd see him, it would only be for an elevator ride. We never talked."

Ullah lived for a time at his parents' home on E. 48th St. in Flatlands, where he was spotting having a heated argument with his mother and dad late Sunday. "Everyone in the neighborhood heard it," said Youry Valcin, 21, who noted the trio were arguing in Bengali. Valcin said he spotted Ullah leave the home and hop into a car about 6 a.m. on Monday. Ullah looked "depressed" and "sad," Valcin said.
Ullah's family are reportedly "outraged" at investigators' tactics:
"We are heartbroken by the violence that was targeted at our city today and by the allegations being made against a member of our family," said the statement read by Albert Fox Cahn, legal director for the NY Chapter Council for Islamic Relations. "But we're also outraged by the behavior of the law enforcement officials who held children as small as 4 years old out in the cold and who pulled a teenager out of high school classes to interrogate him without lawyer, without his parents." It was not immediately clear if the 4-year-old or the teenager were related to the suspect.

The family continued to criticize the way the investigation was handled - even though the suspect, Akayed Ullah, allegedly launched a failed terror attack in a crowded city subway tunnel. "These are not the sorts of actions we expect from our justice system," the statement read. "We have every confidence that our justice system will find the truth behind this attack and that we will in the end be able learn what occurred today."



Bad Guys

Building firms that installed unsafe cladding on Grenfell-style blocks now being paid millions to remove it

Grenfell
© Clare Doherty/ Global Look Press
Building companies that installed unsafe cladding on social housing blocks are now being paid millions to remove it after the Grenfell disaster. One fire survivor branded the contracts "absolutely ludicrous."

Following the Grenfell fire that killed 71 people and left hundreds homeless last June, it emerged that the tower in North Kensington had been built with a cheaper, more flammable version of two cladding options available. It spurred the British government to order a series of tests on high-rise buildings to establish which sort of cladding complied with safety regulations.

Reuters identified 65 towers that were found to have been approved by local building inspectors, but which government tests revealed did not comply with the statutory regulations. Of those, 29 were having their panels removed or replaced by the same company that installed them in the first place, according to the owners of the buildings, who claim they are having to fork out millions for the work. The rehired companies are Willmott Dixon, Wates and Engie.

Allison Moses, a Grenfell survivor, told RT it is "absolutely ludicrous" that the very same companies which installed the hazardous materials are now being trusted and awarded millions in contracts to get the "rubbish" off the buildings.

Eye 2

Depraved pedophile cop convicted of producing and accessing child porn while on duty and using department equipment

kyle kirby
A former Florida police sergeant is facing up to 120 years in prison after he was found guilty of producing, possessing and accessing child pornography-all while he was on duty, using equipment provided by his department.

Kyle A. Kirby, 37, was charged after an investigation into his patrol car computer in October 2015 revealed images showing young children involved in sex acts. The investigation concluded that Kirby had been using the computer to "download and store child pornography" since at least December 2014. A report from News4Jax noted:
"According to court documents, FBI agents and other law enforcement officers searched Kirby's residence as the result of an online child pornography investigation. That same morning, the Live Oak police chief authorized the agents to inspect and search the computer located inside Kirby's patrol car.

A forensic examination of the patrol car computer used by Kirby revealed that it contained at least 87 thumbnail images that either depicted minor children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including one involving a toddler, or that had titles indicative of child pornography. In addition, the Internet browser history on the computer contained search terms commonly used by individuals who search for child pornography online."
A statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, published by the Bradenton Herlad, noted that evidence of child porn was also found on Kirby's police desktop computer, where investigators "found images of children naked or partially undressed after using a concealed camera to film unsuspecting children."

Attention

Mexico's ruling class preps for mass uprisings: New Interior Security Law

Mexpolice
© Jurist.org
The Mexican Senate is set to approve a new law that would mark a qualitative step in the militarization of Mexican society. The law would put the military in charge of "internal security" and give the armed forces the authority to conduct massive spying operations under the guise of fighting against organized crime. The Interior Security Law was passed by the Chamber of Deputies on November 30, will soon be voted on by the Senate, and is expected to be signed by President Enrique Peña Nieto in the coming months.

The Interior Security Law (Ley de Seguridad Interior) would authorize the president to deploy the Armed Forces in cases of "grave danger to the collective integrity of people and/or the functionality of institutions," or even in situations that could "potentially become threats to internal security." Any such operation would supposedly last up to one year. However, the bill specifies that the president can, without any congressional or judicial approval, extend this period if he or she considers that a "threat" is still present. Under current conditions of deep social and political crisis, the law opens the door to establishing what would amount to a military dictatorship. Small but substantial protests have taken place throughout the country against the law.

Comment: No political or civil advocacy group is opposing this new security law? Do we not learn from other countries' civil rights negligence and the irreversible authoritarian consequences of non-action?


Stock Up

Chain immigration has brought 140K Bangladeshi nationals to U.S. in last 12 years

bangladesh
© AP/Lai Seng Sin
More than 140,000 Bangladeshi nationals - larger than the population of Dayton, Ohio - have entered the United States since 2005 for no other reason than to reunite with extended family members, newly released data reveals.

Previously unreleased Department of Homeland Security (DHS) information shows the large-scale mass immigration that has occurred where foreign relatives can enter the U.S. simply because their family member is an immigrant. This process is known as "chain migration."

Since 2005, the U.S. has admitted and resettled 141,501 Bangladeshi nationals who entered because their foreign relatives were already living in the country.

A chart released to Breitbart News reveals the increasing flow of foreign nationals under the process of chain migration, where on average every two new immigrants bring seven foreign relatives with them to the U.S.

Comment: See also: NYC terror suspect Akayed Ullah entered US as relative of 'visa lottery' immigrant


Arrow Down

The murder of Kate Steinle versus the 'Twinkie Defense'

Zarate
© Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington TimesZarate and the ‘Twinkie Defense’
In the 1960s, San Francisco's cultural and political life was defined by the "politics of tolerance."

Tolerance was certainly a good thing at a time when gays were still bashed and blacks were the object of discrimination and derision. San Francisco decided to be an open and compassionate community.

Of course, not all of San Francisco, a heavily Catholic, working-class city back then, shared those values.

Even before the hippies had taken over the city's Haight-Ashbury District, San Francisco had a radical tinge. It was the home of the militant International Longshoremen's Association that had stood up to police vigilantism during the brutal and still-memorialized strike of 1934.

Book

Flirting or sexual harassment? Swiss lawmakers get the 'good conduct' guide to spot the difference

Lawmakers
© Denis Balibouse / ReutersA general view shows a session at the Swiss parliament in Bern, Switzerland.
When does chatting without any hidden agenda become flirting, and flirting become sexual harassment? Lawmakers in Switzerland will know - all MPs have received a 'manual of manners' that focuses on dos and don'ts for flirting at work.

Spoiler Alert: According to the 'good conduct' guide, sexual harassment has no place in the parliament.

The guide specifically outlines the difference between "flirting" and "sexual harassment," Le Matin reported on Wednesday.

Flirting, according to the booklet, evolves in a "reciprocal" manner and is "mutually desired." It "respects personal boundaries, boosts self-esteem," and is a real "source of joy."

Sexual harassment, in contrast, involves a "one-sided approach, and is unwanted by the other side." It is "degrading, offensive, undermines one's self-esteem and violates personal boundaries."

Bomb

Tunisian soldier killed, six injured by terror mine blast

Tunisian soldiers
© REUTERS/Stringer/File photo of Tunisian soldiers standing guard at the border crossing at Ras Jdir Ben Guerdane, in this picture taken December 5, 2014
A Tunisian soldier was killed and six others injured when a landmine exploded on Monday followed by a fire exchange with a terror group in the central region of western Tunisia, Colonel Belhassen al-Waslati, spokesman for the Tunisian Ministry of Defense, said.

Injured soldiers were transferred to the regional hospital in Kasserine to receive the necessary treatment.

He said that a mine exploded during a military patrol combing Kasserine Mountains in pursuit of terrorists that attacked the local population during the past few days and seized food supplies to families living close to military zone.