Society's ChildS


People 2

SOTT Focus: Leave Them Kids Alone! Micromanaging Kids to Death by Banning Best Friends

Doug DiPasquale
Sott.net
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 20:19 UTC
best friends
© GettyI hope those smiles aren't exclusive between the two of you. Please distribute those smiles equally among the class.
There's a scourge plaguing the children of today; an outdated, outmoded concept that continues to interfere with the freedom our children need and deserve. That scourge is best friends. Having a best friend is a terror upon childhood, and it needs to be stopped.

Or so says Dr. Barbara Greenberg , PhD, child and adolescent psychologist, in an op-ed piece for U.S. News. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration. What Dr. Greenberg actually says is that there's "merit to the movement to ban having best friends," and goes on to argue for that "merit". Apparently this is a thing, with Greenberg citing best-friend-banning as being an "emerging trend among European schools, and now some American schools as well." She doesn't give any reference for this, so I guess we'll just have to take her word for it (OK, I looked it up. It's a thing).

When I first encountered the headline of the piece, "Should Schools Ban Kids From Having Best Friends?", my first thought was, 'No, of course not. What a silly idea'. And reading the piece in its entirety didn't do anything to change my mind. The argument can be boiled down to 'because feelings', and outright ignores the importance of friendship and particularly best friends.
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People 2

Kanpai! Booze & flashy fabrics flow as Japanese youth embrace 'Coming of Age Day' (VIDEO)


RT
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 18:29 UTC
Kanpai
© Ruptly
Dressed in gaudy kimonos and other traditional-inspired clothes, young Japanese have embraced their grown-up freedoms on the national Coming of Age day. Downing alcohol and smoking cigarettes were naturally part of the feast.

Dozens of Japanese 20-year-olds gathered outside the Kitakyushu Media Dome in southern Japan Sunday to celebrate the beginning of adult life, dancing around waving flags and umbrellas.

Celebrations were also held across the country, with huge numbers of young people flocking to Tokyo's Meiji Shrine and Disneyland in Chiba Prefecture.
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Cloud Lightning

First major rainstorm in nearly a year prompts evacuations in Southern California burn areas

Alene Tchekmedyian and Brittny Mejia
The Los Angeles Times
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 18:30 UTC
flood prep Los angeles wildfires
© Wally Skalij / Los Angeles TimesResidents from Kagel Canyon in the Sunland area fill sand bags at a fire station on Sunday, before a storm hits the areas burned in the Creek fire. In Santa Barbara County burn areas, evacuations are underway.
The first major rainstorm in nearly a year moved into Southern California on Monday, bringing light showers that will intensify in the afternoon.

The rain is of greatest concern in areas burned in the massive Thomas Fire, where officials said mudslides are possible.

Authorities have ordered evacuations of Santa Barbara County neighborhoods that sit below areas recently burned by wildfires.
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Book 2

New Jersey Dept of Corrections criticized for censoring 'New Jim Crow' book


RT
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 18:04 UTC
Banning of Jim Crow book
© amazon.com
The American Civil Liberties Union in New Jersey has criticized the Department of Corrections for censoring a book, 'The New Jim Crow,' critical of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.

The civil rights group accused the department of violating prisoners' and their families' protections under the US and state Constitutions.

"The ban on 'The New Jim Crow' violated the rights to free speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the US Constitution, and the correlative protection of Article 1, paragraph 6 of the New Jersey Constitution,"wrote ACLU-NJ attorneys Tess Borden and Alexander Shalom to the Commissioner Gary Lanigan of the New Jersey Department of Corrections on Monday

The ACLU-NJ urged the NJDC to end their censorship and restore access to the book.
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Pirates

British soldier used a spade to decapitate ISIS jihadist during Afghanistan gun battle

Teri Webster
Theblaze
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 18:55 UTC
British soldiers
© Noorullah Shirzada/Getty ImagesA British soldier decapitated an Islamic State terrorist using a spade during a gun battle in Afghanistan. The soldier had run out of ammo
A British soldier is credited with using a spade to decapitate an Islamic State terrorist during an ambush in eastern Afghanistan, according to published reports.

What happened?

During a fierce, six-hour gun battle, the veteran sergeant reportedly cut off the gunman's head just as a Special Air Service unit ran low on ammunition, according to the Daily Mail. After killing him, the soldier used the jihadi's own weapon to kill more ISIS members, according to the report. U.S. troops soon moved in to help rescue the SAS soldiers.
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Snowflake

Snow prevents $4k theft at North Dakota party store


RT
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 17:35 UTC
hobbylobby
© @ hobbylobby / Instagram
As the US shivers amid record low temperatures and colossal amounts of snow, the adverse weather appears to have redeemed itself - preventing the theft of party and craft supplies worth $4,000.

It took Dustin Johnson, 22, more than 7 hours to meticulously pack his cart with merchandise from Hobby Lobby in Minot, North Dakota Wednesday night. When he got out of the store without paying for the items, the cart full of goods got stuck in the snow in the parking lot - courtesy of the "Bomb Cyclone."
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Fire

1 person killed, another hospitalized in massive apartment block fire in Russia's Tyumen


RT
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:24 UTC
Fire
© Ruptly
One person was killed and another hospitalized in a massive blaze at an apartment block in the city of Tyumen in Russia's Siberia.

Footage from the scene shows a nine-story building engulfed in flames. The fire was promptly extinguished and most of the residents were evacuated, the firefighters said.
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Newspaper

'Just like Christmas' for predators: Planned nudist swim night at Calgary city facility raises child safety concerns

Sammy Hudes
National Post
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:55 UTC
"Having naked children around a bunch of naked adults doesn't seem like a good idea for any reason," wrote petitioner April Parker

indoor pool
Concerns are mounting over an upcoming "naked water slides and wave pool" night at a city facility.

The private, after-hours event is scheduled for Jan. 14 at Southland Leisure Centre, organized by nudist group Calgary Nude Recreation. Two other events are planned for Feb. 11 and March 11.
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Attention

Okinawa: US Army helicopter forced to make second emergency landing in three days


RT
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:24 UTC
HueyCobra helicopter
© WikipediaA US Army Bell AH-1G HueyCobra.
A US attack helicopter made an emergency landing near a hotel in Japan's Okinawa on Monday. The incident came as a disabled rotorcraft was removed from a beach, where it had landed on Saturday.

The AH-1 helicopter landed on the premises of a hotel in the village of Yomitan after a warning light had come on, the Japanese broadcaster NHK reported. No injuries or damage were reported in the incident.

Also on Monday, a US heavy-lift transport evacuated a disabled US Marine Corps UH-1 helicopter, which had landed on a beach on the eastern coast of Ikeijima Island, near Okinawa, on Saturday afternoon.

No injuries or damage were reported in that incident either but the landing, just 100 meters from a residential area, fueled concerns of local residents over the US presence on the Japanese island.
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Book

It is against the laws and regulations: Iran bans English in primary schools after calls to end Western 'cultural invasion'


RT
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 11:39 UTC
Students
© Raheb Homavandi / Reuters
Iran has banned teaching English in primary schools, a top education official says. The move comes amid repeated calls from Tehran to put an end to the Western "cultural invasion" of the Islamic Republic.

"Teaching English in government and non-government primary schools in the official curriculum is against laws and regulations," Mehdi Navid-Adham, head of the state-run High Education Council, said on state TV on Saturday. "This is because the assumption is that, in primary education, the groundwork for the Iranian culture of the students is laid."

The authorities may also ban non-curriculum English classes, the official said. The video, featuring Navid-Adham speaking about the ban, was posted on Twitter by Fars.

Children start learning English in middle school in Iran when they are about 12-14 years old. Some primary schools also have English classes.

Comment: See also: Iran's real crime in the eyes of the West is that it does not bow to the US Empire

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