Society's ChildS


Bizarro Earth

British police & schools sound warning over 'Blue Whale' social media 'suicide game'


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 21:23 UTC
depression
© uwe umstätter / Global Look Press
A number of local police forces and schools have issued warnings to parents over a social media game called 'Blue Whale' that originated in Russia and has been linked to a number of teen suicides.

There is no indication of whether the suicide game has actually been picked up by any teenagers in Britain.

Nevertheless, a number of British police forces and schools cautioned parents to monitor their children's use of social media to prevent the spread of the game.

Hertfordshire Police Constabulary advised local parents "to be vigilant and monitor children's internet usage," the BBC's Newsbeat reports.

Similarly, a spokesperson from Devon and Cornwall Police Force posted on Twitter:

"Who ever created this horrible game is sick!

"Parents: Please be aware of this 'game' talk to your children about it if concerned."

Woodlands School in Essex, which was informed about the suicide game by the local police authorities, sent parents a letter explaining the Blue Whale game and the risks involved, in an effort to prevent the spread of suicidal practices among schoolchildren.

Comment:

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Info

Decline in consumption leads to slowest US economic growth in 3 years


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 20:53 UTC
consumer
© Brian Snyder / Reuters
The US economy showed its weakest performance since 2014 in the first three months of the year after consumer spending sharply slowed and businesses invested less in inventories.

The country's GDP increased at a mere 0.7 percent annual rate, down from 2.1 percent and 3.5 percent in the second half of 2016. Analysts surveyed by Reuters expected growth of 1.2 percent last quarter.

The decline in growth is due to the smallest increase in consumer spending since the end of 2009, which broadly mirrors fewer car sales. Consumer spending grew only 0.3 percent, reflecting a steep drop from the 3.5 percent gain at the end of 2016.

Comment: So just what did consumers spend their money on? This is what Americans spent the most money on so far this year

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Sheriff

Cops do nothing as fellow officer snaps, pulls gun, and threatens to kill innocent woman

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 18:17 UTC
Cpl. Shellie Maranto
Cpl. Shellie Maranto
A Brusly Police Officer has resigned after body cam footage leaked on LiveLeak has surfaced revealing just how angry some police officers can become when police affairs involve personal relationships.

Cpl. Shellie Maranto can be seen flying like a bat out of hell into a gravel parking lot in her unmarked SUV police cruiser. She jumps out of the vehicle and begins her verbal tirade which also involved deadly threats.

No less than five times did Maranto declare she was going to kill another woman. She even took her service pistol out of its holster and pointed it at her. "I'm going to f__ing kill that whore," she kept repeating. "I'm going to f__ing beat her ass," she would also say. Clearly, the corporal had lost all sense of control, but what's the real story behind her manic rage?

The woman, whom the officer promised to kill, was actually a family member, her sister-in-law, who was apparently stepping out on her brother. The out-in-the-open supposed philandering of her sister-in-law was enough to throw the veteran police officer into a violent rage, the consequences of which are still being played out for all to see.

Maranto has resigned after evidence of her violent outbursts, death promises, and gun waving were released to the general public. The woman, who initially wanted to press charges, changed her mind after she reportedly said nothing would happen with any internal investigation. Apparently, the victim was right too — as Maranto, even though she resigned — has yet to receive so much as slap on the wrist for assault with a deadly weapon, felonious threats, and official oppression, all of which were caught on video.
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Wolf

Berkeley left-wingers silence free speech with a kick in the teeth

Todd Starnes
Town Hall
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 16:38 UTC
masked demonstrators
© Stephen Lam / Reuters
There is a clear and present danger to conservative students at the University of California Berkeley. The birthplace of the so-called free speech movement is now the epicenter of a nefarious movement to silence freedom-loving young people.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter had been scheduled to speak today, but she canceled. Leftwing groups had threatened to silence Ms. Coulter by any means necessary.

But the university refused to guarantee the safety of Ms. Coulter or the students who invited her to speak - the Young America's Foundation.

I know these students. I know this organization. They are good people - patriots all. They are students who battle with words and ideas - not baseball bats and switchblades. And contrary to accusations made by some conservatives on Twitter, Young America's Foundation did not "acquiesce" to the liberal bullies at Berkeley.

Comment: The Young Americans Foundation and the Berkeley College Republicans are taking the University to court on First Amendment violations.



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War Whore

Police force teen to ground, beat him with baton in shocking footage (VIDEO)


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 14:38 UTC
Police
© ArnieArmani / Twitter
Police have launched an investigation after baton-wielding officers were caught on camera repeatedly beating a teenager.

The footage shows a boy being forced to lie on the ground by three Metropolitan police officers, while one of them repeatedly hits him with a baton.

The officers can be heard shouting for the boy to release his hands so that they are in full sight.

In a statement to LBC, Met police confirmed they answered reports of an altercation between a group of people at 5:07pm on March 14.

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Books

'Screen fatigue': UK ebook sales plunge 17% as readers return to print

Mark Sweny
The Guardian
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 15:55 UTC
ereaders
© EyesWideOpen/Getty ImagesA tourist in Goa reads an Amazon Kindle – the market leader in ebooks.
Consumer sales down to £204m last year and are at lowest level since 2011 - when Amazon Kindle sales first took off in UK

Britons are abandoning the ebook at an alarming rate with sales of consumer titles down almost a fifth last year, as "screen fatigue" helped fuel a five-year high in printed book sales.

Sales of consumer ebooks plunged 17% to £204m last year, the lowest level since 2011 - the year the ebook craze took off as Jeff Bezos' market-dominating Amazon Kindle took the UK by storm.

It is the second year running that sales of consumer ebooks - the biggest segment of the £538m ebook market, which fell 3% last year - have slumped as commuters, holidaymakers and leisure readers shelve digital editions in favour of good old fashioned print novels.

"I wouldn't say that the ebook dream is over but people are clearly making decisions on when they want to spend time with their screens," says Stephen Lotinga, chief exeutive of the Publishers Association, which published its annual yearbook on Thursday.

"There is generally a sense that people are now getting screen tiredness, or fatigue, from so many devices being used, watched or looked at in their week. [Printed] books provide an opportunity to step away from that."
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Eye 1

German police probe 'PEGIDA linked' firearms club over potential plot 'to attack refugees, Muslims'


RT
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 19:21 UTC
German police
© Thilo Schmuelgen / Reuters
German police have conducted massive raids against members of a Bavarian firearms club suspected of having close ties with the anti-immigrant PEGIDA movement. The state's Interior Minister said the club might potentially plot attacks against "refugees and Muslims."

"We are concerned that the Bavarian Firearms Sports Group Munich might try to pursue the anti-constitutional goals of PEGIDA Munich in a combative and aggressive way, for example, in the form of attacks against minorities such as refugees and Muslims," the Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said.

He added that his department has launched an investigation against the club and considers banning it.

On Thursday, police in the southern German state conducted a large-scale operation against some members of the gun club as well as local PEGIDA leaders; searching apartments and several other facilities. Eleven sites were raided in the Bavarian regional capital of Munich and the towns of Kaufbeuren and Bad Rodach.

Some 120 police officers, including several special task force units, took part in the operation, German media reported. Police seized two illegal firearms during the raid.

"We have indications that the goal of the firearms group's [activity] was aimed against the constitutional order and against the ideas of mutual understanding between various peoples while the shooting sport was just used as a disguise," Herrmann said in a statement, explaining his decision to launch the shakedown.

Comment: See also : Anti-Islamization group PEGIDA stages rally in Germany's Nuremberg against EU & Erdogan

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Che Guevara

Roger Waters has lost millions defending Palestine - but he doesn't care

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 15:30 UTC
Roger waters palestine
© Roger WatersRoger Waters
Roger Waters has lost lucrative sponsorship deals because of his politics, but the Pink Floyd founder remains undeterred.

Roger Waters, the primary composer and lyricist of Pink Floyd during their most prominent years has for decades, used his music to convey a message of peace and humanity. He has typically got it right and occasion gets it wrong.

One issue he has got totally right is the issue of Palestinian suffering at the hands of Israeli war, occupation and economic blockade. For over ten years, Waters has made the issue of Palestinian freedom a central point in his music and accompanying dramatic stage shows.

Waters is part of the Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions movement which encourages individuals to boycott Israeli products and tourism. Waters uses his status as a 'music legend' to highlight the plight of Palestinians. In 2012 he spoke at the United Nations on the issue. He frequently pens open letters to fellow musicians asking them to refrain from performing in Israel until a meaningful peace settlement is reached.

Comment:

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Bullseye

'Religiously neutral': German MPs approves partial ban on full-face veil


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 08:37 UTC
Face veil
© Nacho Doce / Reuters
German MPs have approved a partial ban on full-face veils, saying it's the country's duty to present itself "in an ideologically and religiously neutral manner." The ban will apply to public servants and military personnel, but there are some exemptions.

The legislation was passed by the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, on Thursday evening.

"The state has a duty to present itself in an ideologically and religiously neutral manner," the text of the law states, as cited by AFP.

The ban applies to public servants, including election officials, as well as military personnel and staff working in the judiciary.

"[The ban] obliges officials and soldiers not to hide their faces while performing their duties or during direct fulfillment of their tasks," a statement on the Bundestag's website says.

However, the legislation does contain some exceptions. For example, military personnel and public servants may wear a full-face veil to protect themselves from infections. Police officers can also cover their faces in order to conceal their identity.

The new legislation also brings changes to existing laws concerning IDs.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Down

PC bureaucracy in action? Healthcare providers not required to report illegal FGM despite half a million women at risk

Michael Patrick Leahy
Breitbart
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 00:00 UTC
female genital mutilation
The barbaric practise of female genital mutilation — a procedure made unlawful by the Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 — has been thrust to the fore of public debate in the United States following the arrests of Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, Dr. Fakhruddin Attar, and Attar's wife Farida in Michigan this month.

According to reports, several young Somali girls were brought from Minnesota, one of twenty-four states that have passed legislation to make female genital mutilation (FGM) illegal according to state laws, to Michigan, one of twenty-six states in which FGM has not been made illegal in state law, where Dr. Nagarwala, with assistance from Mrs. Attar, performed the procedure outlawed by federal law in a medical office owned by Dr. Attar.

"Since 1996, there have been specific federal criminal penalties for performing FGM/C in the United States on anyone under 18 years old, including fines, up to 5 years in prison, or both. In 2013, Congress amended the federal statute related to FGM/C to criminalize the knowing transportation of a girl under 18 years old from the United States for the purpose of performing FGM/C abroad—often referred to as 'vacation cutting,' " according to the June 2016 Government Accountability Office's report Female Genital Mutilation/Cuttin
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