Society's ChildS


USA

Free speech?: Berkeley students file lawsuit over canceled Ann Coulter speaking engagement


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 15:01 UTC
Ann Coulter
© Patrick T. Fallon / ReutersPolitical commentator Ann Coulter.
Two conservative groups have filed a lawsuit against the University of California Berkeley for an alleged 'secret policy' which discriminates against outspoken conservative speakers and infringes on First Amendment rights.

Berkeley College Republicans and the Young America's Foundation have filed a joint lawsuit Monday alleging that college and police authorities have failed to protect the constitutional rights of students and unfairly discriminated against conservative speakers appearing on campus.

The suit claims that voices that fall outside of the "campus orthodoxy" have been stifled and alleges that authorities in Berkeley have "systematically and intentionally suppressed constitutionally-protected expression by the plaintiffs... simply because that expression may anger or offend students, UC Berkeley administrators, and/or community members who do not share Plaintiffs' viewpoints."
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Stormtrooper

Clashes at Venezuelan anti-govt protest, injuries reported


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 14:22 UTC
Riot police Venezuela
© Carlos Garcia Rawlins / ReutersRiot police fire tear gas toward opposition supporters in Caracas, Venezuela April 24, 2017.
Anti-government protesters have shut down main roads and highways across the Venezuelan capital Caracas, leading to confrontations with security forces. Opposition activists claimed they were shot with pellets and have reported injuries.

A special police division, the DCDO, was dispatched to the La California area of the city on Monday, where protesters blocked the Francisco de Miranda Avenue with makeshift barriers of garbage and debris, according to El Nacional.

Tear gas was reportedly fired on protesters next to the Lider shopping center, and opposition activists on social media also claimed that demonstrators were shot at with pellets, leading to a number of injuries.
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Cupcake Pink

Utter nonsense: Transgender students 'shouldn't have to declare sex for uni sports teams


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 13:11 UTC
all gender bathroom
© Jonathan Drake / Reuters
Transgender and intersex students should not have to declare their birth gender when applying to university sports teams, the National Union of Students (NUS) is expected to rule.

Students are currently only allowed to join university sports teams based on the sex they were born as rather than what gender they identify with now.

This can act as a "barrier" for trans students, according to a motion due to be debated by the NUS at its annual conference on Tuesday.
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Cowboy Hat

Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo' complains about reruns, tap water, poor view at New York prison


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 13:00 UTC
Joaquin
© Edgard Garrido / ReutersJoaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán has been protesting against the conditions of his incarceration that are so stressful defense lawyers claim he is hearing voices.

Since his extradition to the US from his native Mexico, 'El Chapo' has been housed in 10 South, the most secure wing of New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center, dubbed the 'Guantanamo in New York.'

Prisoners in 10 South aren't permitted to go outside, and spend 23 hours a day locked in a cell, constantly monitored by security cameras.
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Star of David

IDF fire tear gas & rubber bullets at supporters of Palestinian hunger-striking prisoners


RT
Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:51 UTC
Beit-el checkpoint in Ramallah, West Bank
© Issam Rimawi / Anadolu Agency / Getty ImagesBeit-el checkpoint in Ramallah, West Bank on April 24, 2017.
At least nine people have been injured in the West Bank after Israeli soldiers reportedly fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters who marched in support of the Palestinian prisoners' mass hunger strike.

Clashes broke out between Israeli forces and Palestinian youths on Monday night after the Fatah movement organized a march in the city of Al-Bireh, in the center of the occupied West Bank and 15 kilometers (9.5 mi) north of Jerusalem.

Marching from Yasser Arafat Square in central Ramallah towards the Israeli Beit El checkpoint north of the Al-Bireh city, the activists called on the international community to support the Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli jails.

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Star of David

Netanyahu issues Holocaust Remembrance Day warning


YAHOO News
Sun, 23 Apr 2017 00:00 UTC
Holocaust Remembrance Day
© NOWTHEENDBEGINS.COM
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday threatened to destroy those who call for the destruction of Israel, in a speech to mark the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"Iran and the Islamic state want to destroy us, and a hatred for Jews is being directed towards the Jewish state today," he said at a ceremony in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem memorial. "Those who threaten to destroy us risk being destroyed themselves," Netanyahu warned. "From being defenseless people, we have become a state with a defensive capacity that is among the strongest in the world," he said.

Six Holocaust survivors lit torches in memory of the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during the 1939-1945 World War II.

Israel will also come to a standstill for two minutes at 10 am local time (0700 GMT) on Thursday as sirens wail in remembrance of the Jewish victims of Nazism.

Radio stations and television channels on Sunday were broadcasting programmes about the genocide. More than 213,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel today, many of them below the poverty line, according to survivors' groups.

Comment: Nothing like threats of retaliatory violence, destruction and annihilation to honor a Remembrance Day for violence, destruction and annihilation. Netanyahu is remarkably adept in keeping hatred alive while bragging at the prowess and resources of Israel's defense (offense) capabilities.

A remembrance day, while a reminder of the past, should evoke some sort of change that makes the world a better place, at least to honor those who were sacrificed. Unfortunately, that is not, and never will be Israel.

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Arrow Down

Cartel turf wars: Mexico's unrelenting violence climbs to new highs

Christopher Woody
Business Insider
Sat, 22 Apr 2017 20:39 UTC
Mexico violence, cartels Mexico
© AP / Enric MartiOnlookers watch as police officers and forensic investigators inspect the site where an unidentified man was shot at the El Coloso neighborhood, in Acapulco, Mexico, May 12, 2016.
In March, Mexico had more than 2,000 homicide cases in a month for the first time since summer 2011, when the country was mired in the throes of a bloody cartel war.

The country also had more killings in the first quarter of 2017 than in the start of any year in at least two decades, according to government data released Friday.

Unlike in 2011, when a bloody cartel fight in Ciudad Juarez pushed the national body count to new heights, the current violence has been spread over a number of states.

In January, 25 of the country's 32 states saw increases in homicides compared to the same month in 2016.

Throughout Mexico, there were 2,020 homicide cases in March, up roughly 11% from February. For January through March, there were 5,775 killings around the country, up 29% from the same period in 2016.

Comment: Conspicuously absent from the discussion is the role the US plays in the highly lucrative drug trade:

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Passport

Austrian official suspected of selling residence permits to migrants and asylum seekers

Tiroler Tageszeitung - translated by Samer Hussein
Fort Russ
Mon, 24 Apr 2017 01:25 UTC
asylum seeker
© ReutersOmar, a 27-year-old cook originally from Deraa stands in front of the asylum processing centre in Traiskirchen, Austria, October 13, 2015.
Austrian official, working for the Lower Austrian Foreign Office of the Federal Office for Foreign Affairs and Asylum (BFA), is suspected of having sold residence permits to the migrants and refugees.

According to a report in the Saturday edition of Die Presse, the allegedly corrupted official was in charge of issuing residence permits and is said to have demanded up to 2,500 Euros per issuing a single one. The residence permits were sold to the refugees and migrants from the refugee camp in a town of Traiskirchen, located in the district of Baden in Lower Austria.

The State Prosecutor's Office for Economic Crime and Corruption confirmed the existence of an ongoing investigation. According to spokeswoman Ingrid Maschl-Clausen, the official is suspected to be involved in the acts of bribery and corruption.

The allegedly corrupted official has already been suspended in Autumn 2016. The number of residence permits sold is assumed to be in the "single-digit range". If suspicion of bribery turns out to be legitimate, the asylum seekers involved will have to repeat the whole process of obtaining a residence permit.
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Pistol

Chicago nearing 1,000 gunshot victims this year after another violent weekend

Elvia Malagon
Chicago Tribune
Mon, 24 Apr 2017 14:50 UTC
chicago gun violence
© Abel Uribe / Chicago TribuneChicago police investigate a double shooting at 79th Street and Maryland Avenue on April 22, 2017.
The number of people shot in Chicago this year is nearing 1,000 after a violent weekend left seven dead and 31 others wounded, according to data kept by the Tribune.

As of Monday morning, at least 992 people had been shot in Chicago this year. Last year, the city passed the 1,000 mark on April 20 and had reached 1,054 by this time, the Tribune data show.

The pace of homicides is virtually the same as last year. There have been at least 179 homicides so far this year compared with 180 this time last year, according to the data.

The weekend violence included a span of seven hours Sunday when four men were fatally shot and six other people were wounded across the city. Two of those killed were shot within 15 minutes on the city's South and West sides.

Comment: It seems little has changed in Chicago since Trump threatened to send in Federal agents to contend with the problem.

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Key

40-60 teenagers swarm San Francisco train, assault and rob riders in 'takeover-style heist'

Demian Bulwa
San Francisco Chronicle
Mon, 24 Apr 2017 12:48 UTC
Passengers aboard BART train
© Brian YuenPassengers aboard an idle BART train.
A recent string of robberies on BART trains took a frightening turn when dozens of juveniles swarmed an Oakland station over the weekend and commandeered a train car, forcing passengers to hand over bags and cell phones and leaving at least two with head injuries, witnesses told the transit agency.

The incident — the first of its kind in recent memory — occurred around 9:30 p.m. Saturday at Coliseum Station.

According to a police officials, witnesses said 40 to 60 juveniles flooded the station, jumped the fare gates and rushed to the second-story train platform. Some of the robbers apparently held open the doors of a Dublin-bound train car while others streamed inside, confronting and robbing and in some cases beating riders.

The juveniles "committed multiple strong-arm robberies of bags and cell phones," said a police summary prepared after the incident. "At least two victims suffered head/facial injuries requiring medical attention."
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