Society's ChildS


Bullseye

Fmr MI5 agent Annie Michon dismisses May's claim that Kremlin was behind Skripal poisoning


RT
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 15:44 UTC
Annie Machon
Ex-MI5 agent Annie Machon
Ex-MI5 agent Annie Machon has dismissed the PM's claims that the origin of the nerve agent used to attack former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal is indicative of an attack from the Kremlin. She explained why to RT'S BIll Dodd.

The former MI5 intelligence officer ignored calls from politicians to boycott the TV network in the midst of the Skripal scandal, sitting down with RT to discuss the latest in the Salisbury case. While many pointed the finger at Moscow after it was alleged that the weapon was a military-grade agent developed in Russia, Machon raised a question that many seem to have forgotten to ask: Where's the motive?

"From the very start of this story... they need to work out what the motive was," she said. "Skripal was a guy who had been caught by the Russians. He'd been tried and convicted, sent to prison, and then released and pardoned by the Russians, and sent back to the UK.
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Attention

California: Armed man takes hostages at veterans' home (UPDATE)


RT
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 23:50 UTC
hostage situation
California police, a SWAT team and negotiators are responding to an active shooter and hostage situation that is developing at a veterans' home in Napa County, where an armed man has taken several people hostage.

"We're currently dealing with an active shooter situation," California Highway Patrol spokesman Robert Nacke told reporters shortly after 1 pm local time.

"As of this moment, there have been no injuries. However, the suspect has three hostages detained in one room. We have him confined," CHP's Chris Child told reporters at a 2pm follow-up conference.

A Napa Sheriff's department deputy "was on scene and engaged with what we now know as a suspect in one of the buildings" just four minutes after an emergency call was received, Child added. "Gunfire was exchanged... It is not known at this time how many rounds were exchanged."

Three different tactical teams are currently on-site and in the building, keeping the gunman contained to one location. "We have hostage negotiators from at least three different agencies," Child told reporters.

Comment: The Blaze reports that after a day-long standoff, four people have died, including the suspect and three hostages:
More than 30 shots were fired in the initial standoff, with law enforcement ultimately discovering the bodies of three female hostages and the killer himself upon entering the treatment center and housing facility in Yountville.

The suspect was a 36-year-old man who was reportedly receiving care at the facility. According to State Senator Bill Dodd, the deceased hostages included a clinical worker, a psychiatrist, and the executive director of the treatment center.

At 6pm, Pacific Standard Time, officers found the dead bodies of the hostages as well as the suspect in the killings. No motive is know for the murders, and thus far there is no word of whether or not the victims were chosen randomly.

A vehicle rented by the suspect was found at the scene, with a cellphone inside. Law enforcement concluded "there is no threat to public safety at this time."

It is unknown whether or not the killer had any relationship with the victims. His name has not been reported, and it is the policy of TheBlaze not to report the names of murderers, regardless.


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Sheriff

Graphic video shows school cop slam 16yo girl like a rag doll, holds her down with his elbow on her neck

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Mon, 12 Mar 2018 15:27 UTC
cop elbows girl
A disturbing video has surfaced showing a police officer's response to two girls who were fighting with one another at school. The mother of one of the girls in the video has since come forward after she says her daughter was left injured from the abuse and the school and police lied to her about what happened.

In the video, we do not see what happened prior to the officer slamming Essence Prince to the ground and smashing his elbow into her neck. What we do see, however, is the massive officer grab the high school sophomore and violently take her down.

The takedown and subsequent elbow and knee on the young girl's neck were enough to cause other students to try to interfere, according to Ebony Dawson, Prince's mother.

"The school attendants threw at least two more students into the wall. Those students were begging for help for her. They were telling them she can't breathe. They even suspended one saying that she interfered with a crime," Dawson said.

Dawson says that she attempted to review the surveillance footage of the incident but that the school and police have refused to allow her access.
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People

Beijing police limits foreigners in university district restaurants during National People's Congress

Nectar Gan
South China Morning Post
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 15:26 UTC
mall restaurants shopping center


Restaurants in Wudaokou in the capital's north say they have been told to not to allow more than 10 foreigners in at any one time

Police are checking various popular student hangouts in Beijing's university district to make sure they have no more than 10 foreigners inside at any one time, as the stability-obsessed authorities ramp up security for China's biggest annual political gathering.

Security is usually tight in the capital during important political events, with petitioners kept at arm's length and activists kept under close watch.

But this time, the focus is also on foreign students in Wudaokou, in the city's north.

Three restaurants and bars in the area said police had told them in the last week to keep out big groups of foreigners until two days after the end of the annual session of the National People's Congress.
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Star of David

BDS co-founder: EU must end its complicity with Israel's illegal settlements

Omar Barghouti
Mondoweiss
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 12:26 UTC
Europe Israel Mogherini Netanyahu
Omar Barghouti gave this speech at the European Parliament on March 7 at the invitation of Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes, for a panel on "The Israeli Settlements in Palestine and the European Union."

Despite Israel's descent into unmasked, right-wing extremism, particularly with the current escalation of its brutal military occupation and repression, and its rhetoric notwithstanding, the European Union (EU) has failed to uphold its legal obligations under international law vs. Israel's settlement enterprise and remains largely complicit in enabling and maintaining Israel's occupation and violations of Palestinian rights. Only effective European civil society pressure can bring this EU complicity to an end, thus contributing significantly to the pursuit of a just and comprehensive peace in our region.
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Eye 2

1,000 children may have been victims in UK's biggest ever child abuse scandal

Callum Adams
The Telegraph
Sun, 11 Mar 2018 12:16 UTC
Lucy Lowe
© Richard Brock/Shropshire StarThe death of Lucy Lowe, 16, in a house fire is linked to the abuse.
Up to 1,000 children could have been abused in Britain's biggest ever child abuse scandal, an investigation has revealed.

Hundreds of children, some as young as 11, are estimated to have been drugged, beaten and raped over a 40-year period in the town of Telford.

Lucy Allan, the Conservative MP for Telford, has called for an inquiry into child sexual exploitation, saying the latest reports were "extremely serious and shocking". She has previously called for a "Rotherham-style inquiry" into the allegations.

"There must now be an independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Telford so that our community can have absolute confidence in the authorities," she told the Sunday Mirror.

The investigation claims that allegations dating back to the 1980s were mishandled by authorities in Telford, who repeatedly failed to punish a network of abusers.

Victims claimed that similar abuse, which has been linked to three murders and two other deaths, has continued in the area.

Comment: It is remarkable that fear of being accused of racism played in favour of child abusers. Has the UK gone too far with its progressive views? For an interesting discussion on this topic, see:



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Attention

Feminism and its internal contradictions

Belinda Brown
Hungarian Review
Sat, 14 Mar 2015 00:01 UTC
women of the world unite
One of the most striking things about feminism is the extent to which a body of beliefs based on notions of equality has produced new inequalities without hardly anyone seeming to notice. I particularly have in mind the inequalities between a rich, privileged female elite and the majority of other women as well as the growing inequalities between men. These are partly the consequence of changes in the employment market produced by a growing pool of female labour prepared to work for a lower wage because their priorities lie elsewhere.

However, they are also due to changes in the structure of the family which have resulted from the way in which Marxist ideas have shaped feminist thinking and ensured that its impact on a rich, privileged minority has been quite different to its impact on others. I believe that this has happened because those ideas were based on a flawed conception of the relationship between the family and the workplace. However, it should be noted that the developments to which I refer are far more pronounced in Western societies than they are in former communist societies where relatively high levels of employment among women and somewhat greater access to top jobs meant that the motivation to develop a women's movement was not as strong as in the West. I would urge caution on those women's groups in Central and Eastern Europe who may feel tempted to adopt Western-style feminism: to do so would risk jeopardising the progress achieved since the collapse of communism by allowing some Marxist assumptions to be readmitted through the back door.

Comment: See also:

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2 + 2 = 4

Black students protest conservative black speaker for stop 'blaming white people' message

Michael Jones
College Fix
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 11:11 UTC
Jason Riley
Jason Riley
A prominent black conservative author and journalist triggered protests by black law students at two recent speeches he gave at Colorado-based universities.

Jason Riley, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and a Fox News contributor, gave talks last month at University of Denver and University of Colorado-Boulder law schools, and the Black Law Students' Associations at the respective campuses organized protests of both.

Comment:

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Brick Wall

Flashback What happened when I explained Christian teaching about gender on Facebook

Francis Phillips
The Catholic Herald
Thu, 11 Aug 2016 00:00 UTC
Facebook offices
© AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, FileThe thread on Facebook was promptly closed.
First the commenters became angry - then they demanded the thread be shut down

Recently I had a surreally disquieting experience. Someone had randomly posted up a photograph of girls in school uniform on my school's Old Girls' Facebook page (this school used to be a convent boarding school but is now a girls' Catholic day school). Above the photo was a caption referring to private schools having to face up to new transgender issues.

I added a one-line comment, saying I hoped that such schools would not give in to political correctness on this matter. There were instant strong objections to my remark. So I added a couple of paragraphs, explaining why Christians follow history, the Bible, biology and common sense on sex and gender and recommending a couple of books. This led to an irrational and angry response on the part of several commentators who demanded that the thread be closed immediately. It was.

Comment: Although the controversy around social media censoring conservative voices is relatively recent, from this story, it's clear to see that Facebook has been silencing voices that counter the identity politics agenda, particularly Christian voices, for at least two years now.

See also:

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Light Sabers

Rise of extremist Buddhism in Asia is defying stereotypes of the peaceful Buddhist

Jerome Taylor
Yahoo News
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 09:29 UTC
myanmar buddhists
© AFP Photo/SOE THAN WINIn Myanmar, ultra-nationalist monks have poured vitriol on the country's small Muslim population, cheering a military crackdown forcing nearly 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh
Buddhism may be touted in the West as an inherently peaceful philosophy, but a surge in violent rhetoric from small but increasingly influential groups of hardline monks in parts of Asia is upending the religion's tolerant image.

Buddhist mobs in Sri Lanka last week led anti-Muslim riots that left at least three dead and more than 200 Muslim-owned establishments in ruins, just the latest bout of communal violence there stoked by Buddhist nationalists.

In Myanmar, ultra-nationalist monks led by firebrand preacher Wirathu have poured vitriol on the country's small Muslim population, cheering a military crackdown forcing nearly 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh.

And in neighbouring Thailand, a prominent monk found himself in hot water for calling on followers to burn down mosques.

What has prompted this surge in aggressive rhetoric from followers of a faith that is so often equated, rightly or wrongly, with non-violence?

Comment: One of the dangers of tribalism is that groups see others in terms of their group, and not as individuals. Naturally, these conflicts tend to be along ethnic or religious lines. It's ridiculous to think that because people are Buddhists they are naturally non-violent. People get violent when their group identity is threatened. From the article above you wouldn't think the Buddhists have any reason for feeling threatened. It's just "perceived (i.e. not real) historical grievances" and "Islamophobia". No mention is made of the Muslim attacks on Buddhists. Here's just one account, from WaPo:
The Hindu woman wept as she vowed never to return home, where she said Rohingya militants slaughtered her son, daughter-in-law and three granddaughters in August.

"They killed my family," Halu Bar Hla, 70, said through tears at a camp for internally displaced people in western Burma. "I will not go back. I will die if I go back to my village. They will slit my throat."
That's not to say a collective response is justified. But the situation is a lot more complex than AFP wants you to think.

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