Society's ChildS


Magic Hat

CNN claim that Russia used Pokemon Go to meddle in US elections gets mocked online


RT
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 18:55 UTC
Pokemon Go
© Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters
An investigation by CNN has discovered that suspected Russian actors allegedly used the popular augmented-reality game Pokemon Go to sow discord and fuel racial tensions among Americans during the 2016 US presidential election.

The report alleged that a Tumblr page linked to a supposed Russian hacking group promoted a contest encouraging people involved in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement to play Pokemon Go at sites known for being scenes of police brutality. The aim, the report claimed, was to inflame racial tensions.

In what seems an elaborate, and rather contrived, scheme, players were apparently told to change their characters' names to victims of the incidents. A post by 'Eric Garner', the name of a man who died after being put in a chokehold by police in Staten Island, New York, in 2014, even promoted a contest offering the winner an Amazon Prime gift card. CNN found no evidence that anyone entered the contest.

"According to CNN logic, African Americans shape their public stance playing Pokemons," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook. "That is how feebly the TV channel explains the emergence of racial problems in modern USA. Russians are to blame again... and the Pokemons they control."
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Chart Bar

Should life insurance companies be prohibited from giving longevity predictor tests?

Ronald Bailey
Reason.com
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 18:55 UTC
dancing seniors
Two as-yet unidentified life insurance companies plan to use Life Epigenetics' M-Panel test to predict how long potential clients will live. The test, based on research by the UCLA scientists Steven Horvath and Brian Chen, essentially estimates an individual's biological age (as opposed to his chronological age) using markers associated with turning various genes off or on.

Horvath and Chen report that for about 5 percent of the people who take it, the M-Panel test finds that their biological age is around 10 years higher than their chronological age. For those unfortunate people, their risk of mortality is 48 percent higher than the average for their age cohort. More happily, about 20 percent of the test population learns that their biological age is 5 years younger, and their mortality risk 18 percent lower.

Needless to say, this could have interesting consequences for the life insurance market. If my results indicate that my biological age is younger than my chronological age, an insurer would be happy to charge me less for a term policy. On the other (and sadly more likely) hand, if my test indicated that my biological age is greater than my chronological age, the insurer would want to charge me higher premiums.
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Heart - Black

Former cop arrested and charged with raping two boys gets sweet plea deal avoiding serious felony charges, angering local resident

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 12 Oct 2017 16:28 UTC
david turkos
The headline reads "Ex-Dupont police officer sentenced to prison for corruption of minor" but former Dupont Borough police officer, David Turkos, 44, will likely never spend an entire day inside of a prison cell for raping two young boys. Judge Michael T. Vough sentenced Turkos for 9-23 months, at Luzerne County Correctional Facility, but the former officer is immediately eligible for work release.

For those unfamiliar, work release allows a prisoner to go to a job during the day and only have to sleep nights in jail. It is essentially state-funded housing.

Turkos was charged in 2015 with three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, two counts of indecent assault and a count of simple assault. However, he only pleaded guilty in June to two counts of corruption of minors. The plea deal was accepted by Vough and the more serious felony rest counts were withdrawn - a typical and common privilege afforded to the thin blue line, even for the vilest of offenders.
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Sheriff

Ohio cops force K9 to maul teacher for 'not complying'

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 12 Oct 2017 18:46 UTC
Ashley Zuress
The video footage is gruesome, and the photos of the resulting injuries are horrific-a former teacher has now filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Newark and the police officer who unleashed an attack dog on her, and she is claiming she was not breaking any laws, and posed no threat to police at the time.

Ashley Zuress, 31, was the passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over for a traffic violation in March 2016. When the driver, her boyfriend Jeffrey Grooms, got out of the vehicle and fled the scene, she said police said nothing to her about staying where she was. Because she was not the one responsible for the violation, she climbed into the driver's seat and began to drive away.

According to the lawsuit, as reported by the Newark Advocate, after Zuress left the scene, she was pulled over by police who told her to get out of the car and walk backwards to them. While it is not clear what Grooms' status was, or if he had been apprehended by police, Officers Dave Burris and April Fleming appear to be the ones involved in the original traffic stop, who then went after Zuress.

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Георгиевская ленточка

Putin generation: Poll finds almost half of Russian students intend to support Putin in presidential election


RT
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 12:47 UTC
russian presidential election
© Evgenyi Samarin / Sputnik
Russian students describe themselves as the "Putin Generation," and intend to support the incumbent president in the presidential election, a recent poll shows.

On Friday, popular Russian daily Izvestia published the results of a poll conducted by the Laboratory of Political Research of one of country's leading economic institutions - the Higher School of Economics. The poll was conducted among students of higher education establishments across the country - both state-sponsored and private.

A little over 47 percent said they would vote for current Russian President Vladimir Putin if the presidential election was held next weekend and, of course, if the incumbent president decides to run again. None of the other potential candidates managed to receive six percent support, while 12 percent of the respondents said they would not vote at all, and 15.4 percent said they had not yet decided who to vote for.

When asked to describe Vladimir Putin, most respondents mentioned qualities such as intelligence, self-restraint, charisma, responsibility, and love for the country. They also emphasized the president's resoluteness - a quality, they believe, has helped him implement his policies in both the domestic and international spheres.

Comment: A hero and leader in a time of madness - Documentary on Putin, the world's best President

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Snakes in Suits

Harvey Weinstein: A product of a sick Hollywood culture of excess and abuse

John Wight
Sputnik
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 16:16 UTC
weinstein
© AP Photo/ Matt Sayles
The only surprise concerning the revelations that Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is a serial abuser of women is that anybody could possibly be surprised. We are, after all, talking about town, industry and culture which not only produces monsters, it goes out of its way to cultivate and worship them.

Sympathy for Mr. Weinstein is notably in exceedingly short supply among former friends, associates, and fellow studio execs in Hollywood - not to mention from high profile political figures within the US liberal political community whose "loyalty" and friendship he'd cultivated over the years with the judicious use of campaign donations. All of them have not only run they have scrambled for cover, treating a man they once outdid themselves in getting close to as something akin to radioactive waste overnight.

It is indeed an astounding and vertiginous fall from grace to befall a man whom for decades was so synonymous with Hollywood and the movie industry he was considered infallible, one of the very few movie executives with the ability to make and ruin careers with one phone call.
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Heart - Black

Former Olympic gymnast alleges NBC stonewalled story about abuse in competitive gymnastics

Christine Rousselle
TownHall
Thu, 12 Oct 2017 15:43 UTC
Dominique Moceanu child abuse olympics
Dominique Moceanu
Guy wrote earlier about how NBC's shameful conduct regarding the allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Multiple reports from inside NBC claim that the network went out of their way to kill or impede stories about Weinstein's despicable conduct.

Now, former Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu is making similar claims about the network, saying that when her memoir, Off Balance was published in 2012, she was told that NBC attempted to "bury" the stories she wrote about in her book. Moceanu claimed that she faced emotional and physical abuse from her coaches, Bela and Marta Karolyi. Moceanu was the youngest member of the "Magnificent Seven" team that won the gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Comment: Sports are not the only institution where predators try to insinuate themselves. Any large group of vulnerable individuals are like a magnet to these monsters.

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Megaphone

UK professor: Mainstream media against open debate, British officials go on RT to get their voices heard


RT
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 15:50 UTC
blame russia
Elected British officials appear on RT as they can't get their voices heard on the existing mainstream media. Britain's The Times runs against open and free debate, denying the democratic process of airing their opinions, says Professor Piers Robinson.

An article in Britain's The Times newspaper suggests UK lawmakers are doing the Kremlin's bidding when they appear in RT's programs.

The Russian embassy in London responded to The Times in a tweet questioning the logic behind the article by asking if Russian politicians by appearing on the BBC help out the British prime minister.

RT discussed this with Professor Piers Robinson, the chair in Politics, Society and Political Journalism at the University of Sheffield
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Brick Wall

Whistleblower: Horrible conditions in UK prisons are 'a humanitarian crisis'

Mary Baines
RT
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 07:19 UTC
Cell covered in graffiti
© justiceinspectorates.gov.ukCell covered in graffiti
Severe overcrowding, squalid conditions and lax security in England's jails constitute a "national crisis," a prison whistleblower has told RT, as photographs released from inside reveal vermin-infested cells, blood-stained walls and toilets being used as dining chairs.

Faith Spear was sacked from her role as chairman of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) at Hollesley Bay prison in Suffolk last year, after voicing her concerns about the state of Britain's jails.

Despite "dirty tactics" allegedly employed by the Ministry of Justice to stop her from speaking out, the criminologist told RT she will continue to do so until changes are made.
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Handcuffs

Prisoners attempt to break out of high-security prison by setting fires, leading to 2 dead prison employees


RT
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 15:45 UTC
Pasquotank Correctional Institute
Pasquotank Correctional Institute
Multiple fires set in an attempted mass escape from North Carolina's Pasquotank Correctional Institute in North Carolina have resulted in two deaths, according to the sheriff's department. Nearby schools were placed on lockdown as a precaution.

The Pasquotank County Sheriff's Department has confirmed two deaths in connection to the attempted prison break, WAVY reported. The people who were killed worked at the "high security" prison, according to the North Carolina Department of Safety (DPS).

Senatra Health has confirmed that it hospitalized 10 patients, but has not commented on their conditions.

Officials made three counts of the prison's inmate population, determining no escape attempt was successful after all prisoners were accounted for.
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