Society's ChildS


Wedding Rings

Older couples unable to escape wildfires embrace a last time


Associated Press
Thu, 19 Oct 2017 19:17 UTC
california_wildfires
© AP/Eric RisbergFILE - In this Oct. 16, 2017 file photo, a mailbox, one of few items left at the site of the destroyed home in Napa, Calif., where Sara and Charles Rippey died in a fast-moving wildfire, shows a pink and black polka dot ribbon that indicates a fire crew has visited the location. The vast majority of those who died in the Northern California wildfires were in their 70s and 80s including several couples who died together.
Some had just celebrated marriages of half a century or longer. They spent their time volunteering and playing with grandchildren. A few had lived through both world wars.

The vast majority of the 42 people found dead so far in the wildfires that have ravaged Northern California were senior citizens, most older than 70. Several were couples who died together, including childhood sweethearts who had grown old together.

Comment: May they all RIP! Our condolences to the families.

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USA

Trump launches a petition against the NFL, asks people to stand during the national anthem


RT
Fri, 20 Oct 2017 19:37 UTC
kneeling footballers
© Brad Mills / Reuters
US President Donald Trump has launched a petition targeting the NFL anthem protests, asking people to "show patriotism" by signing up to support standing during the national anthem.

The petition was launched on Thursday by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, and is the US president's latest move to target the wave of protests that has seen NFL players 'take a knee' while the national anthem is played before games.

"The President has asked for a list of supporters who stand for the National Anthem. Add your name below to show your patriotism and support," read the petition, which appeared on the Republican National Committee website.

After an NFL owners' meeting earlier this week, commissioner Roger Goodell said the league believes players "should stand" for the anthem, but decided against punishing those who choose not to do so.

Trump, however, has consistently called for any players who join the protests - which were started last season by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick - to be fired by their teams.
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Arrow Down

Thousands of UK's most vulnerable women turned away from shelters as refuges struggle under huge budget cuts

Maeve McClenaghan and Jasmine Andersson
Mint Press News
Wed, 18 Oct 2017 00:00 UTC
Domestic violence victim
© Laura Dodsworth/Women’s Aid
In a small office in the Midlands the telephone rings every half hour or so. On the line are women desperate for help, trying to flee domestic violence. But there is no space in the refuge, there is almost never any space.

"Last week", says a volunteer, "we had a lady call; she had four children, and the closest space we could find for her was the Orkney Islands." They do not know if the woman took the 600 miles trip to safety; she did not call back.

An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has found domestic violence refuges across England struggling under huge budget cuts. More than a thousand vulnerable women and children have been turned away from refuges in just six months.

Local authorities across England have cut their spending on domestic violence refuges by nearly a quarter (24%) since 2010, according to our new research.

Comment: Interesting how there is always plenty of money to wage wars, but no funding for the UK's most vulnerable:

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Bad Guys

Pedophile mother sexually abused 11 year old boy on camera and sold footage on market stall


RT
Fri, 20 Oct 2017 20:51 UTC
Dawn Davies
© gmp.police.uk
A female pedophile has been jailed for 15 years after she sexually abused an 11-year-old boy on camera. The footage of her molesting the child was then sold at a market stall.

Dawn Davies, 36, was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court to 15 years after a jury convicted her on 12 counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The traumatized 11-year-old was subjected to a campaign of "corruption and depravity" after being lured to Davies' Salford flat, the court heard.
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Arrow Up

Russian MP proposes life sentences for sex crimes involving children under age 12


RT
Thu, 19 Oct 2017 14:30 UTC
Jail, prison
© Sputnik
A working group of lawmakers headed by United Russia MP Irina Yarovaya has proposed the introduction of life sentences for sex crimes involving victims under the age of 12.

"For the first time, we are proposing to make life sentences a punishment for sex crimes against children younger than 12," Yarovaya said at a session of the working group on Thursday.

The Russian MP also spoke in support of changes to the Statute of Limitations in cases of crimes committed against children in order to increase the timeframe within which complaints can be made for the purpose of prosecution.

The bill prepared by the working group would also make an attempt to conceal sex crimes a separate crime, and would consider situations in which a suspect lives in the same home as their victim to be an aggravating factor in the crime.
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Apple Red

#MeToo: Half-dozen women say they were sexually abused and harassed while working for Orange County, CA Democratic Party

Scott Schwebke
The Orange County Register
Thu, 19 Oct 2017 23:16 UTC
ORange County CA Democrats sexual harassment
Fran Sdao, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Orange County, said the organization plans a formal investigation into the allegations.
A half-dozen women said on social media that they were victims of sexual abuse and harassment while working as interns or employees of the Democratic Party of Orange County and the Orange County Labor Federation.

The women, who made their allegations as part the #MeToo campaign on Facebook, said the alleged incidents at the Democratic Party headquarters took place in 2015 and the alleged incidents at the Labor Federation took place in 2014, according to Danielle Serbin, chairwoman of the Orange County Young Democrats.

The accusations were lodged against two men. One now works as a campaign consultant for a Democratic congressional candidate and another holds a leadership position with the Labor Federation.

Fran Sdao, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Orange County, said her organization plans a formal investigation into the allegations.
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Dollar

Inmate sues county jail for mocking him and denying treatment for his 91-hour erection

Curtis Killman
Tulsa World
Fri, 20 Oct 2017 19:12 UTC
handcuffed man
Felipe Dana/Associated Press
A Wilburton man was mocked and needlessly denied medical care by jail officials while suffering a 91-hour erection in 2016, according to a $5 million lawsuit filed on his behalf.

Dustin Lance alleges in his civil rights lawsuit that he suffered permanent injury after employees of the Pittsburg County jail ignored his pleas for medical care while he was suffering from a continuous erection.

Lance, in his petition initially filed Sept. 18 in Pittsburg County District Court, says his troubles began Dec. 15, 2016, when, while incarcerated in the county jail, he ingested a pill offered to him by another inmate.

Lance, in his petition, says he made jail personnel aware the next day that he was suffering "unbearable pain" as a result of his condition.

The lawsuit says jail personnel repeatedly mocked Lance while denying medical treatment until Dec. 19.
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Caesar

"If you have tears, prepare to shed them now": Cambridge gives students trigger warnings for Shakespeare plays

Roisin O'Connor
Independent, UK
Thu, 19 Oct 2017 18:55 UTC
titus andronicus
© Larkin/Rex FeaturesFlora Spencer-Longhurst as Lavinia, William Houston as Titus Andronicus and Dyfan Dwyfor as Lucius Tony
Academics have criticised "trigger warnings" after Cambridge University students were warned about "potentially distressing topics" in plays by Shakespeare.

English literature undergraduates were apparently cautioned that a lecture focusing on Titus Andronicus and The Comedy of Errors would include "discussions of sexual violence" and "sexual assault".

According to The Telegraph, the trigger warnings were posted in the English Faculty's 'Notes on Lectures' document which is circulated to students at the university.

Academics have expressed concern that colleges trying to protect young adults from certain issues may render them incapable of dealing with real life when they graduate.

Supporters of trigger warnings say they serve to help students who may be upset if a text reminds them of a personal traumatic experience.

However critics such as Mary Beard, a Professor of Classics at Cambridge, say allowing students to avoid learning about traumatic episodes of history and literature is "fundamentally dishonest".

Comment: Education is supposed to make you uncomfortable.

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Footprints

More than 1M Syrians return home since start of Russia's operation


Sputnik
Thu, 19 Oct 2017 21:38 UTC
return Syrians
© NPRGoing home.
The Russian air campaign in Syria, which started two years ago, has dramatically changed the course of the Syrian conflict as life begins to return to the country.

The Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria reported on Thursday that since the beginning of the Russian anti-terrorist aerial campaign in Syria two years ago, more than one million Syrian citizens have received the opportunity to get back to normal life in their motherland.

The Syrian settlement process resulted in more than 232,000 refugees returning from abroad since September 2015, while 143,000 of them returned back to their own homes this year, according to the Center. Since the beginning of the year, 480,000 Syrians from camps for internally displaced people have settled in the territories liberated from terrorists.

Russian servicemen noted that terrorists left thousands of schools, hospitals and factories devastated and although Russian support is essential, the international community also has to consolidate its efforts. All conditions for it have already been created and the Reconciliation Center for Syria is ready to assist.

Comment: Syrians returning homeward is welcome news, but with unimaginable difficulties ahead before normalcy begins. There is a debt owed to Syria and all nations who have come under the manipulate and murderous disruption of regime change and the devastation of war for an agenda and ideology not their own.

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USA

The number of mass murders has remained steady over the last decade

Jazz Shaw
Hot Air
Thu, 19 Oct 2017 18:28 UTC
remembrance
Barring some major break in the investigation, we may never know what spurred the Las Vegas shooter to take so many lives. But watching the continuing coverage of that horror show, there's one thing we do know for sure. These mass shootings are growing more and more frequent no matter what we do to try to prevent them, right?

Not so fast, Skippy. It may seem that way when cable news channels are saturating the airwaves with stories about it, but a recent study from the University of Illinois tells a different story. Over the past decade, the number of mass killings (a subtle but important distinction from "mass shootings" which we'll get to in a moment) has actually remained constant. (CBS Chicago)

Research by of University of Illinois professor has revealed a surprising trend about mass murder in the United States.

Contrary to what you might think, mass murders are not on the rise, according to computer science professor Sheldon Jacobson.

Jacobson said there were 323 such killings - in which four or more people are killed in one incident - between January 2006 and October 2016. The mass killings appeared to be evenly distributed over that time, meaning their rate remained stable over the past decade, and did not spike during any particular season or year.

"The data doesn't lie. The rate of these events just is not increasing as the perception is given in the media. This is just what it is," he said.
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