Society's ChildS


Bullseye

96yo 'Bookkeeper of Auschwitz' fit to serve his sentence, says court


RT
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 14:44 UTC
Oskar Groening
© ReutersOskar Groening listens to the verdict in the courtroom during his trial in Lueneburg, Germany, July 15, 2015.
A former Nazi SS guard dubbed the 'Bookkeeper of Auschwitz' faces a four-year jail term after a German court ruled the 96-year-old is fit to serve his sentence.

Oskar Groening was convicted on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder at the Nazi death camp in July 2015 and handed down the sentence of imprisonment. The court case was considered one of the last major Holocaust trials.

Groening, however, filed an appeal for the sentence to be suspended and has been living at home despite his conviction. On Wednesday a court in Celle, northern Germany, rejected his appeal, ruling that incarcerating Groening would not violate his fundamental rights.

"Based on expert opinion, the superior regional court finds that the convicted individual is fit to serve out the term despite his advanced age," the court said.
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Airplane

Lauri Love to appeal extradition to the US

Ella Matthews
New Internationalist
Tue, 28 Nov 2017 12:22 UTC
Lauri Love
© William GoodwinLauri Love Extradition: the British hacker could face life in a US jail if extradited. Photo:
Lauri Love, the British hacker accused of infiltrating US government official databases as part of civil disobedience carried out by Anonymous, is appealing against extradition to the US in the High Court of Justice tomorrow and the day after, 29 and 30 November.

If he loses, he will probably spend the rest of his life in prison in a country he's never been to before.

Lauri, a 32 years old Finnish-British activist who has Asperger's syndrome, was originally arrested in October 2013.

In October 2014, the Crown Prosecutor Service announced it no longer intended to prosecute Love. His bail was cancelled, and for a while he thought he was free. But in July 2015, Love was arrested again, and found out he was wanted by the US Government.

Love was never told what charges he faced, because the US has never pressed charges against him.

His arrest is believed to be related to Anonymous' cyber attack Operation Last Resort, which infiltrated US databases including NASA, the US Army and the Missile Defense Agency.

The attack was a protest against the treatment of Aaron Swartz, a prominent US cyber activist, who took his own life January 2013 while awaiting trial for downloading four million academic journals to make a point about public distribution of publicly funded academic research. He faced up to 35 years in prison.

Comment: See also:British hacker Lauri Love will be extradited to face US charges despite health concerns

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Cross

The Christian legal army behind 'Masterpiece Cakeshop', the bakery that refused to make cake for same-sex wedding

Sarah Posner
The Nation
Tue, 28 Nov 2017 06:00 UTC
Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop
© AP Photo / David ZalubowskiJack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, is at the center of a case that will be considered by the Supreme Court on December 5.
On a sunny morning in September, Representative Vicky Hartzler, a Missouri Republican, held a press conference with four of her congressional colleagues to announce their support for Jack Phillips, a Colorado baker. The conservative Christian and "cake artist" had been found in violation of Colorado's anti-discrimination law when he refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Phillips is now the plaintiff in one of the most closely watched cases on the Supreme Court's docket this term, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

Hartzler had just spent a good part of her summer pressing for a ban on transgender people in the military because she believes they constitute a "domestic threat." She was one of 86 Republican lawmakers who had just signed onto an amicus brief supporting Phillips's novel claim that baking and decorating a wedding cake is constitutionally protected artistic expression. Phillips has also argued that he should not be required to deploy his creative talents on behalf of a same-sex couple, because doing so would violate his religious beliefs.

"A government that tells you what you must say and what you must do, and punishes you if you don't, is frightening," Hartzler said. "That kind of state power should scare all of us."

Comment: See also:

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Eye 2

John Derbyshire: The 'Pervnado' Witch Hunts & the Case for Destroying Liberal Arts Colleges

John Derbyshire
The Unz Review
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 12:53 UTC
Roy Moore
© Marvin Gentry / ReutersRepublican candidate Moore along with his wife
There was a rally last week in Montgomery, the Alabama state capital in support of U.S. senate candidate Roy Moore, who I very much want to win December 12th, mainly because he's so not a Ryan-McConnell Establishment Republican donor puppet empty-suit-bot. The newsworthy thing about this rally: it was all-female. It was in fact organized by Kayla Moore, the candidate's wife. Quote from her:
I have been married to my husband for over 32 years. He was a graduate of West Point and served our country in Vietnam and he has always been an officer and a gentleman. He is a loving father and a grandfather. Most important, he is a Christian.

[Women are standing up for Roy Moore, By Bob Fredericks, NY Post,November 25, 2017]
A poll published Thursday this week had Roy Moore up seven points over his liberal Democrat opponent for the senate seat. That's shortly after a different poll showed him six points ahead.
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Star of David

Fifty-five conscienceless Israeli lawmakers demand freedom for soldier who killed wounded Palestinian

Jonathan Ofir
Mondoweiss
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 12:53 UTC
Kill them all Palestine genocide Israel
Fifty-five Israeli lawmakers, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, have signed a petition to the President today, for him to reconsider his decision not to pardon Elor Azarya, the soldier-medic who killed an incapacitated Palestinian with a bullet to the head in March 2016.

In addition to Netanyahu, the petition included Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, Welfare Minister Haim Katz, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, as the Times of Israel reported today.

The letter stated that Azarya had "already suffered enough" - echoing the military statement two months ago that Azarya had "endured a lot". At that time, the military command commuted Azarya's original 18 month sentence by four months.
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Passport

Sweden considers legalizing third gender passports to make Trans People less depressed


Sputnik
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 12:04 UTC
Sweden marching for pride
© CC BY 2.0 / Hendrik Wieduwilt / Marching for Pride
Sweden is getting ready to take its commitment to achieving gender equality one step further by legalizing the third gender, together with other measures to improve trans people's well-being.

Swedish Democracy Minister Alice Bah Kuhnke has received an almost 1,000-page government report on steps to improve the living conditions of trans people in the Nordic country. The report suggests introducing a third gender as a legal option, discard gender-based personal numbers and allow gender-neutral public restrooms.
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Bizarro Earth

#MeToo comes to Britain

Lara Prendergast
The American Conservative
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 11:51 UTC
America's culture war is ruining British politics.

Me too art
© duncan c/Flickr
In Britain, we always seem desperate to fight the latest American culture war. So when the New Yorker revealed Harvey Weinstein's predations, we immediately started scrambling around for Weinsteins of our own. We would prefer not to miss out on any of the clashes happening across the Atlantic. And #MeToo is nothing if not an inclusive battle cry.

As in the U.S., the latest squabble here is between men and women-or as someone suggested to me after I wrote about this for The Spectator, "predators and victims." It seems mad, but it is fast becoming heretical to state that you do not think most women are victims and most men are predators. To say so is to leave oneself open to accusations of either childlike ignorance or willful callousness.
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Fire

Finance Ministry offices in Aden, Yemen, hit with car bomb - casualties reported


RT
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 04:07 UTC
Aden Yemen
© Mohamed al-Sayaghi / ReutersA general view shows the southern city of Aden, Yemen
A powerful car bomb has struck the offices of Yemen's Finance Ministry in the port city of Aden. Initial reports suggest four people were killed and several others injured as a result of the blast.

The device went off outside the ministry's headquarters in the Khor Maksar district of Aden, which serves as a temporary capital of the UN-backed Government of National Accord. The explosion was so strong it could be felt in the nearby area, local media reported, citing witnesses.

Comment: According to PressTV the attack was claimed by ISIS:
The Takfiri Daesh terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack through its propaganda media outlet.

This is the third deadly terrorist attack by Daesh in Aden since November.

Daesh and the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have taken advantage of the chaos and breakdown of security in Yemen to tighten their grip on the southern and southeastern parts of the Arab country.

Aden is dominated by pro-Hadi Yemeni forces, backed by the United Arab Emirates, which is a key member of a campaign led by the regime in Riyadh against Yemen.

bomb Aden Yemen
© ReutersPeople gather at the site of a car bomb attack outside a police forces camp in Yemen’s southern city of Aden on November 14, 2017.


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Stormtrooper

US: Policeman caught on camera detaining teens "because you're white" (video)


RT
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 09:15 UTC
because you're white policeman teenagers teens
© Dezi Baczek / Facebook
A suburban Chicago police officer has been disciplined after a video went viral showing him yelling at a group of teenagers, threatening to arrest them and saying they were being detained based on their race.

On Tuesday, Lake Villa Police Chief Craig Somerville said an officer was conducting a theft investigation when he ordered five teenagers to sit down on the curb.

Dezi Baczek, 18, who recorded a video of the incident and posted it online, said that when they left the pawn shop, the officer made them all sit down "without any reasoning."


Comment: Although the officer used a clearly racist justification for his actions, he probably did so not so much out of mere racism but simply because he was being a bully. He might as well have said: "Because I feel like it". However, it is still significant that he chose those words, which are reflective of a wider shift in the social discourse in America, where once-oppressed groups are often represented as deserving special treatment or even 'retribution'. One obvious likely consequence is that they will become the oppressors.

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Snowflake

Tim Farron: 'Liberalism isn't very liberal anymore'


RT
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 09:02 UTC
Tim Farron
© Neil Hall
British liberalism "isn't very liberal anymore," according former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, who claims the movement has "eaten itself." The idea of a unifying set of British values is a "myth," he added.

Farron, an evangelical Christian, stood down as the party's leader after two years following a number of occasions on which he was asked whether he considered gay sex to be a sin. He avoided giving a direct answer, saying his views on personal morality did not matter and "we are all sinners."

Scrutiny of his religious beliefs persisted during this year's election campaign. He resigned in July, saying: "To be a political leader and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible's teaching, has felt impossible to me."
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