Society's ChildS


Red Flag

NGO predicts 2018 will bring more violence, extremism and famine around the world


RT
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 17:35 UTC
yemen children
© Khaled Abdullah / ReutersChildren stand next to a tent at a camp for people displaced by the war near Sanaa, Yemen
Violence and pockets of fighting in Syria and Iraq, near-famine in Yemen, and Islamic extremists steadily gaining ground in Afghanistan will make humanitarian crises around the world much worse next year than they were in 2017, an NGO predicts.

The 'Humanitarian Overview: An Analysis of Key Crises into 2018' by Geneva-based think tank ACAPS looks at major trends that will shape the face of the world next year. It specifically focuses on countries going through deteriorating or ongoing crises, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Mali, South Sudan, Yemen, Venezuela, among others.


Comment: Interestingly, these are all countries who are under US imperial 'attack'.


"Across these countries, food security, displacement, health, and protection are expected to be the most pressing humanitarian needs in 2018," the researchers said. "Most humanitarian crises in this report are driven by conflict, with a spread in violence and shifts in tactics this year in several countries.

"If 2017 did not look good, predictions for 2018 are no better: violence and insecurity are likely to deteriorate in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Ethiopia, Mali, Somalia, and Syria next year," ACAPS Director Lars Peter Nissen wrote in the report.
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Handcuffs

Fmr US Marine sentenced to life in prison by Japanese court for rape and murder of 20yo woman


RT
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 17:23 UTC
Kenneth Franklin Shinzato
© JIJI Press / AFPPolicemen escort Kenneth Franklin Shinzato (C) to the prosecutor's office in Uruma, Okinawa prefecture, on May 21, 2016
A former US Marine has been sentenced to life in prison by a Japanese court. The 33-year-old, who was a civilian worker at a US base in Okinawa, raped and murdered a 20-year-old Japanese woman last year.

Kenneth Franklin Shinzato pled guilty before the Naha District Court to the sex crime, but rejected the murder charge claiming he had no intention to kill the victim, Rina Shimabukuro. According to the prosecution, Shinzato attacked Shimabukuro near her home in Uruma, in central Okinawa, on the night of April 28, 2016. He clubbed her with a metal bar, took her to a grass field, strangled and repeatedly stabbed her before raping her, The Asahi Shimbun reported. Shinzato's defense claimed he intended to knock his victim out and rape her in a hotel room, but panicked when he couldn't render Shimabukuro fully unconscious.

The prosecution insisted the killing of the woman was intentional. They said when Shinzato left his home in Yonabaru in a car earlier that day he took with him the knife used in the assault and a large suitcase full of dirt. His intention, they argued, was to squeeze his victim into the suitcase and abandon the body in a shallow grave in the forest.
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X

'Generation Y' calls for 3rd-party political choice - is Washington listening?


RT
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 16:51 UTC
voting booth USA america
© Nick Oxford / Reuters
Fed up with 'politics as usual' in the United States, dominated as it is by the Democrat and Republican parties, the majority of US 'millennials' say a third major party is the answer, according to a recent poll.

The Democrats and Republicans remain locked in a political witch hunt known as 'Russiagate', which has been the main obsession in Washington since even before Trump's inauguration. It should therefore come as no surprise that many young Americans are expressing hope for change.

Some 71 percent of Millennials - the generation of Americans born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s - say the Democratic and Republican parties are failing to such a degree at the primary task of representing the American people that a third major party is needed. That's according to a recent NBC News/GenForward poll.

Across the political landscape, neither major party scored particularly well in the poll. Although the Republicans under President Donald Trump appeared to fare worse.
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Candle

Renowned female Soviet pilot and UFO hunter, Marina 'Madam MIG' Popovich, dies at 86


RT
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 04:25 UTC
Marina Popovich
© Vladimir VyatkinMarina Popovich
Legendary Soviet first class test pilot Marina Popovich, dubbed "Madam MIG" for going supersonic in the cockpit of a MiG-21 fighter jet, has died at the age of 86. The aviatrix developed a passion for the extraterrestrial, claiming to have encountered UFOs and a Big Foot.

Born in 1937, Popovich enlisted in the Air Force in the post-war years to revenge the fascist killings in her native village in Smolensk Region. She would tell the Russian media her family was to repeat the fate of many others burned or shot dead by fascists on a killing spree in the village if it was not saved by local militias.

The horrific experience left a deep imprint on her. Popovich was only 16 when she wrote a letter to Soviet Minister of Defense Voroshilov asking to let her become a professional pilot, a career then closed to women. She would add several years to her age to pursue her dream, pretending she was 22 at the time she started training.

Since Popovich claimed she was six years older than she really was, and that deception was reflected in official documents, her "official" age differed from her actual one and caused confusion over the years.
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Dominoes

Senior CNN producer Teddy Davis fired after multiple accusations of sexual harassment

Kate Feldman
NY Daily News
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 17:01 UTC
CNN senior producer Teddy Davis
© TWITTERCNN senior producer Teddy Davis was fired Wednesday for inappropriate behavior
A CNN senior producer was fired Wednesday after multiple accusations of harassment.

Teddy Davis, who worked on Jake Tapper's "State of the Union," had been the subject of complaints from three women, according to the Washington Post.

"A comprehensive investigation was conducted as soon as this matter was brought to our attention," the network said in a statement.

"The behavior attributed to Mr. Davis does not align with the standards and values of CNN and Mr. Davis is no longer with the company."

Davis previously served as the deputy director of political coverage at ABC News, according to his LinkedIn page.

"When CNN executives were told about these complaints, they reacted swiftly and appropriately, as they should," Tapper tweeted.

"Workplaces need to be safe and I am fully supportive of CNN's action."

Comment: There have been a few interesting tweets in response to this firing:




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Camcorder

New footage surfaces of "Today" host Matt Lauer whispering lewd comments to female employee

Jack Davis
Western Journalism
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 21:47 UTC
matt lauer
A video has surfaced showing recently fired "Today" host Matt Lauer making a comment about a female employee's appearance, with multiple media outlets identifying the woman as former "Today" co-host Katie Couric.

Lauer was fired Wednesday from NBC after sexual harassment allegations were filed against him regarding alleged inappropriate conduct during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.


Comment: Ironic: Matt Lauer, who leaked Trump's 'access Hollywood' tape, fired over sexual harassment


The video, which was obtained by TMZ, shows the cast of "Today" during a break while the show had cut to a commercial. TMZ reported that the video was from October 2006.

"Pretty sweater," Lauer said to an off-camera employee TMZ identified as Couric.

"Keep bending over like that. It's a nice view," he added.

If the woman replied, it was not audible on the tape.

TMZ also unearthed a 2012 clip of Couric appearing on Andy Cohen's "Watch What Happens Live." She was asked to cite Lauer's "most annoying habit."

"He pinches me on the a- a lot," Couric said.
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People 2

Thousands of 'gay' Pakistanis denied asylum in the UK


RT
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 12:35 UTC
Pakistani gays
© Reuters/ Danish SiddiquiGay men and women from Pakistan are seeking asylum in the UK but more than half have applications refused.
Thousands of Pakistani immigrants are seeking asylum in the UK, citing the persecution of homosexuals in their home country as one of the main reasons. Government figures show as many as one in five claims is made on the basis of sexuality.

However, less than half of those citing sexuality as the main reason for the claim, or those who have cited issues with the sexuality, have actually been granted asylum. The majority of those seeking asylum on the basis of persecution for being gay or bisexual are from Pakistan. It is followed by Bangladesh and Nigeria.

Home Office statistics show sexual orientation was raised as part of the asylum cases in just over 3,500 claims. This equates to 6 percent of the 58,700 applications between July 2015 and the end of March. One thousand of those claims were based on sexual orientation as the key issue.

Claimants were granted asylum either in the first decision or on appeal in less than half of cases, at 440. In the same 24-month period, 3,535 claims involving sexual orientation were submitted to the Home Office. A total of 1,355 - around 38 percent - were accepted.
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Chart Pie

Thanks for the trickle down! A holiday letter to the wealthiest 1%

Jack Rasmus
telesur
Tue, 28 Nov 2017 14:18 UTC
Trump family
© ReutersU.S. President Donald Trump waves as he walk with First Lady Melania Trump and their son Barron on the South Lawn of the White House upon their return to Washington, U.S., after a Thanksgiving vacation in Florida, November 26, 2017.
As this Thanksgiving holiday comes to an end and the Xmas season approaches, let's not forget to give thanks to our richest 1 percent fellow Americans and their corporations. Thanks to all 1.25 million of you from the 130 million of us 99 percenters.

Your stewardship of the US economy has allowed us to keep 5 percent of all the national income created since the last recession in 2009; while you wealthiest 1 percent got to keep the other 95 percent (see UC Berkeley economist, Emmanuel Saez's annual income inequality analyses).

But the more you get to keep, the more you can 'trickle down' to the rest of us, right? So say your politicians, talking media heads, economists, and other assorted hirelings. So thanks very much for at least sharing something with us.

If not sharing wages, we certainly got more jobs to be thankful for from you - who lose no opportunity to proclaim you are the source of all job creation.

Comment:

Always identity politics. Workers vs. The Bourgeoisie, Men vs. Women, Gays vs. Straights, 99% vs 1%. Always someone to blame.

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Family

Swiss school to use 'simple German' to communicate to non-native parents


RT
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 13:25 UTC
German laguage
© Armin Weigel / Global Look Press
A Swiss school has adopted a "simplified" version of the German language, which it believes is better understood by non-native parents. The school argues the innovation makes communication easier, but critics are uneasy over the use of "feeble German."

Many parents of children attending a primary school in Basel, a city in northwestern Switzerland, have trouble understanding letters sent to them by teachers, Swiss newspaper Blick reported. The language barrier had become so significant that the school had to translate letters into parents' native languages - Portuguese, for example - or invite interpreters to its open events.

Now, school staff believe they have a solution - a so-called "simple German" used to compose letters to non-native parents. A newsletter obtained by the publication announces the introduction of "a better written communication with parents."

"To improve the readability [of our letters] for as many parents as possible, they will be a bit 'dried up,'" reads the document. It explains that the "short, easily understood and coherent sentences" will be used to "make the letters clearer."
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People 2

Norway Armed Forces Colonel says women in army result in decreased combat effectiveness


Sputnik
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 11:36 UTC
norway army women
© AFP 2017/ Kyrre Lien
As the percentage of women in the Norwegian Armed Forces is steadily rising as a result of a campaign for gender equality, questions have been raised about the combat efficiency of the Scandinavian country's defenses.

Norway became the first European nation to introduce universal conscription in the name of gender equality, which is still met with various reactions. The crusade to make the army more gender-inclusive is "perfectly fine," but then it is only natural to accept the fact that the nation's fighting ability is falling, Colonel Lieutenant Harald Høiback argued.

"Armed combat and military actions are an activity very demanding in terms of power and stamina. It can imply returning fire for a few hours from a covered position. A unit's combat ability is therefore projected to decline even when well-trained women are being recruited at the expense of well-trained men," Harald Høiback wrote in a comment in the Armed Forces Forum.

In a comment to national broadcaster NRK, Høiback stressed that he personally is in favor of women in the armed forces, even though diversity issues come at the cost of decreased combat effectiveness.

"All in all, having women in the vanguard has been an impossibility in all societies and at all times. I believe there are good reasons for it," Harald Høiback told NRK.

Høiback stressed the fact that boys on average are stronger and faster, which is why historically there has been few women in combat units.

"If you spend more time and effort recruiting women into combat units, you can run into situations, where women are not strong enough to get their fellow soldier out of a burning tank or onto the deck of a frigate or something," Høiback said.

Comment: While it's true that it's not just about physique alone, it is an important factor when you're at the front lines, which is what Høiback is trying to point out. For her to dismiss that shows her disregard for basic biological facts: when it comes to physical demands, men generally outperform women.

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