Society's ChildS


Attention

You're fired! Trump's VA terminates over 500, suspends 200 for misconduct

Donald Trump
© REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Five hundred and forty-eight Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees have been terminated since President Donald Trump took office, indicating that his campaign pledge to clean up "probably the most incompetently run agency in the United States" by relentlessly putting his TV catch phrase "you're fired" into action was more than just empty rhetoric.

Another 200 VA workers were suspended and 33 demoted, according to data newly published by the department as part of VA Secretary David Shulkin's commitment to greater transparency. Those disciplined include 22 senior leaders, more than 70 nurses, 14 police officers, and 25 physicians.

Also disciplined were a program analyst dealing with the Government Accountability Office, which audits the department, a public affairs specialist, a chief of police and a chief of surgery.

Ambulance

Out-of-control bus crushes car in horrific fatal motorway pile-up (VIDEO)

Car crash
© AutoCast 오토캐스트 / YouTube
A horrific crash on a South Korean motorway which saw a bus driving over a row of vehicles was captured in dramatic dashcam. Two people were killed in the smash.

The video shows a bus suddenly rising into the air, careering over multiple cars and completely crushing one under its front wheels. The bus also plows into several other vehicles along the highway before coming to a halt.


Evil Rays

British Muslim radio suspended after "accidentally" broadcasting 24 hours of al-Qaeda propaganda

Awlaki
Just another coincidence... Senior Al Qaeda leader Anwar Al Awlaki was clicking glasses together at the Pentagon with American military brass just months after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Also, "coincidentally," he had in fact met at least one of the several alleged hijackers. He also, just before being liquidated by a US drone attack in 2011, allegedly funded the terror cell responsible for the recent Paris shootings.
A British radio station has been suspended after it broadcast more than 25 hours of lectures by a suspected Al-Qaeda recruiter during Ramadan that called for "holy war" and "encouraged violence."

The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has temporarily revoked the license of Sheffield-based Iman FM for playing lectures by radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a hate preacher who was killed by a US drone strike in 2011.

Ofcom said it received a complaint from a listener in June. When contacted by the watchdog, the radio station said it decided to broadcast a series of pre-recorded lectures during Ramadan as the regular presenter was not available.

In one, Awlaki said, "prepare whatever strength you have for holy war in the cause of Allah. This is a form of worship," according to the Daily Mail.

Comment: If that was an accident, it was a pretty dumb one. Awlaki is practically a household name. And a 5-second Google search would've told the programmers everything they needed in order to come to the decision that broadcasting him was probably not the greatest idea.


Info

General Nick Carter: UK military should adopt 'American-style approach'

US and British soldiers
© Kacper Pempel / Reuters
Casting aside centuries of rigid, martial tradition in favor of a US-style approach to rank and structure would benefit the British military, according to the UK's most senior army officer.

General Nick Carter told the Telegraph that a serious shakeup of rank structure along US lines was due, with other changes to allow late career experts in a range of subjects to join as civilians.

"We may need to adopt a more American-style approach. They have these people called chief warrant officers," Carter said.

"A chief warrant officer is typically a pilot or avionics officer who moves up through this different system of status and I think that the British Army is going to have to think about doing that sort of thing as well."

Other changes will allow experts in fields like cyber technology and aviation to join but remain civilians.

Info

China given priority to help rebuild Syria

Chinese buildings
China and Syria are already increasing economic ties while Damascus confirms that China will be given priority in all post-conflict reconstruction.

With many in Damascus increasingly confident that Syria will win the war against the terrorists who have invaded their country, focus is starting to gradually shift to re-building Syria's damaged infrastructure. China is set to be the key player in this respect and preparations to increase China's business ties to Syria are already in the works.

On Sunday the China-Arab Exchange Association in cooperation with the Syrian Embassy in Beijing held the Syria Day Expo where Representative from over 1,000 Chinese business specializing in redevelopment, infrastructure and investment met with Syrian officials.

The event itself is something of a prelude to a forthcoming larger event, the Syrian Reconstruction Expo.

Laptop

WikiLeaks nominates Assange to run Trump's 'US-Russia cyber security unit' - already 'has the CIA's best stuff anyway'

Assange
© Neil Hall / ReutersJulian Assange
The whistleblowing website Wikileaks has suggested that Donald Trump appoint Julian Assange as the chief of the joint cyber security unit as discussed with President Vladimir Putin. Trump, however, clarified that discussions do not mean any plans for such unit are in the works.

On Sunday, Trump announced on Twitter that among other pressing issues he and his Russian counterpart had "discussed" was creating "an impenetrable Cyber Security unit."

WikiLeaks was quick to respond and nominated Assange, the whistleblowing platform's founder, to run the unit.

Cardboard Box

Hidden crisis: UK homelessness in rural areas is vastly underestimated

homelessness UK Britain
© Luke MacGregor / Reuters
People are sleeping rough in parked cars and barns in the countryside because the stigma attached to homelessness in rural areas is "much stronger" than in cities, a new report says.

According to a study by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank, the "hidden crisis" of homeless people in England's countryside is being "underestimated" as people bed down away from the public eye in places like parked cars, barns, outhouses and tents.
"Homelessness, traditionally depicted as an urban street phenomenon, is notably absent in people's understanding of rural life," the report said.

"The stigma of being visibly homeless in rural areas can be much stronger than in urban areas and difficulties accessing local authority services can mean households remain uncounted in official records."
The report found that between 2010 and 2016, cases of homelessness increased by a staggering 32 percent in mainly rural areas, while they jumped by 52 percent in largely rural ones.


Question

London police claim only 80 people died in Grenfell Tower fire, up to 255 residents survived

Grenfell tower
© Hannah McKay / Reuters
Up to 255 residents survived the inferno which engulfed west London's Grenfell Tower in June, the Metropolitan Police has said.

The fire killed around 80 people according to current estimates, but the majority of those living in the Kensington tower block did reportedly escape.

The force claimed on Monday that its investigations had shown that 350 people should have been in the tower in June with 14 residents out on the night the blaze took hold.

Comment: London's Grenfell Tower blaze killed 500 residents: Local resident


Pistol

2 family dogs shot in unfortunate encounter with witless cop

cop shoots dog
Sadly, there's been another cop versus dog shooting. This time the horrific shooting took place in Minneapolis and didn't involve just one family pet — but their two dogs.

As TFTP has noted, if citizens kill police dogs, it's practically considered murder, and the suspects are charged with felonious assault on a police officer (dog). But since police wear a badge, they can kill our pets at will with hardly any ramifications.

Jennifer LeMay did her part to protect her home and property by installing security cameras, and we're glad she did because the shooting of her two dogs was caught on camera.

The two Staffordshire Terriers, Cisco and Rocko are owned by LeMay and her four children, and have been in the family since they were puppies. They're therapy dogs, prescribed by a physician to help LeMay's two sons who struggle with severe anxiety.

Quenelle

Older Americans unable to retire; many are working past 70

old man working
More and more Americans are spending their golden years on the job.

Almost 19 percent of people 65 or older were working at least part-time in the second quarter of 2017, according to the U.S. jobs report released on Friday. The age group's employment/population ratio hasn't been higher in 55 years, before American retirees won better health care and Social Security benefits starting in the late 1960s.

And the trend looks likely to continue. Millennials, prepare yourselves. Better yet, consider this and this, so you have a choice in the matter when your time comes.

retirement graph

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