Society's ChildS


Георгиевская ленточка

Lucky Russians! Putin's government has become more accessible and accountable

Paul Goncharoff
Russia Insider
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 17:37 UTC
switchboard operators
This year over 6,000 officials were fined approximately 30 million rubles, and 14,000 were reprimanded and disciplined with similar permanent notations on their service records
The digital age has truly opened up what was previously a "closed shop" in Russia. When a citizen logs a complaint over his personal computer or smartphone, the complaint is systemically monitored. The civil servant cannot simply induce it to disappear or otherwise go away

It is springtime in Russia and as the locals say, "the sap is rising in the trees", cats are making unholy noises at night, and the Prosecutor General's Office is reviewing punishments doled out to over 20,000 officials who violated procedures in handling and resolving appeals by citizens.

This year over 6,000 officials were fined approximately 30 million rubles, and 14,000 were reprimanded and disciplined with similar permanent notations on their service records. This springtime assessment is about cases where officials look at complaints or requests for too long or completely ignore them. Not too many years ago such officials had a relatively free hand in determining the rhythms of action or inaction which of course paved the way for "sweetening" such requests.
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Chalkboard

Does every high school student really need to learn advanced math?

Tonya Mosley
WBUR
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 16:43 UTC
student with calculator
© Mike Groll/Associated PressAndrew Hacker, a political science professor at Queens College, says all students don't need to learn calculus, geometry and trigonometry. He's pushing for the adoption of "numeracy" -- which would allow students to deepen their ability to use math concepts in the real world.
One professor makes the case for more 'practical' approach

Do high school students really need to take calculus, geometry and trigonometry?

Andrew Hacker, a political science professor at Queens College, says no. He's pushing for the adoption of "numeracy," which, in simplistic terms, means the ability to measure, make estimations and break down simple percentages.

You might be thinking, "What does a political science professor know about math?" Well, Hacker says he's spent his life studying people and society, and one thing he's consistently noticed is that many Americans seem to have a fear of math.

Three years ago Hacker decided to begin teaching a course on numeracy, the practical application of math. What he's found, he says, is that his students respond well.
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Chalkboard

SJWs finally lose it: California college students claim no such thing as truth, 'Truth' is a tool of white supremacy

Robby Soave
Reason.com
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 15:23 UTC
pomona college motto
© Claremont IndependentWhat part did the SJWs miss?
Demand expulsion of conservative journalists for reporting on campus illiberalism at Claremont

A coalition of marginalized students at Pomona College are demanding that the president of Pomona (one of the Claremont Colleges) take disciplinary action against student-journalists who write for The Claremont Independent, a conservative paper.

That's not all. The students' letter to the president also stridently rejects the very mission of a liberal arts college. The search for truth is little more than an attempt to silence marginalized people, in the view of these students. Accordingly, the campus administration must revise its commitment to free speech such that no one who espouses hateful views—as defined, in incredibly broad terms, by the offended parties themselves—is allowed to speak at Claremont.

"Free speech, a right many freedom movements have fought for, has recently become a tool appropriated by hegemonic institutions," the students wrote in their letter. "It has not just empowered students from marginalized backgrounds to voice their qualms and criticize aspects of the institution, but it has given those who seek to perpetuate systems of domination a platform to project their bigotry."
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Quenelle

Anti-government demonstrators protest Turkey referendum results as Erdogan tells European observers to 'know your place'


RT
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 14:11 UTC
Anti-government demonstrators Turkey
© Kemal Aslan / ReutersAnti-government demonstrators shout slogans during a protest in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul, Turkey, April 17, 2017.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Istanbul to protest the results of the referendum that extended powers of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Meanwhile, Erdogan celebrated his anticipated victory, telling international observers not to interfere.

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House

Explosion levels two-story home in Firestone, Colorado, 2 killed, 2 injured


Fox31
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 05:56 UTC
Firestone home explosion
© KVDR
Firefighters battled a large house fire after an explosion on Monday afternoon sent at least two people to a hospital, the Frederick Firestone Fire Protection District said.

It happened around 4:45 p.m. in the 6300 block of Twilight Avenue near Colorado and Firestone boulevards.

The explosion was so intense, it leveled the two-story home. It took awhile for firefighters to put out the flames, and on Monday night, the scene was still too hot and unstable to go in to see if there were more victims.

A man and a woman were inside the home when it happened, firefighters said. They were taken to a hospital in unknown conditions, with the woman being airlifted by Flight for Life.

Neighbors said the man works for Firestone Public Works and that he came home to fix a broken water heater. It's not known if that's connected to the explosion.


Comment: CBS News in Denver reports that two bodies were recovered from the basement yesterday.

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Eye 2

Dr. Dao's United ordeal is the inevitable outcome of deregulation

Paul Craig Roberts
Institute for Economic Policy
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 15:14 UTC
David Dao, United Scandal
David Dao, the latest 'Iconic Victim' in the Age of Outrage
A couple of readers asked why I did not include in my column, "A Government of Morons," the violence used against the medical doctor Dao removed from his confirmed seat on a United Flight as a result of airline overbooking. The 69-year old was beat senseless by goons. A few days later United Airlines removed a bridal couple on the way to their wedding from a flight only partially filled. No explanation was given, but the couple wary of the beating that might be heading their way complied with the order.

Clearly United is an airline you want to stay far away from. Clearly, the flight attendants have no sense or judgment. Clearly "security" means the opposite.

The answer to the readers' question is that I was writing a column, not a monograph or a book or a long essay. One doesn't need endless examples in order to make a point. Yes, the treatment of Dr. Dao is a good example that America's only solution is violence, but so is two cops shooting down a 12-year old kid playing in a public park.
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Map

'Calexit' movement breaks up, ends petition for 2018 California ballot


RT
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 14:58 UTC
Californnia and US flags
© Global Look Press
The leaders of the "Calexit" movement, or Yes California, are going their separate ways. Signature-gathering slowed and donors fled amid negative publicity exploiting one organizer's ties to Russia. Now Californians will have to wait to take up secession.

It was never going to happen anyway, critics said. And while the Yes California campaign may have surprised many last year when it received state authorization to begin collecting signatures for ballot access, it all came to an anticlimactic end on Monday.

"For me, today, my ballot initiative petition drive came to an end," Yes California leader Louis J. Marinelli wrote to supporters in an email Monday, according to the Sacramento Bee.

The campaign website has yet to be updated.
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Pistol

About time: Cop ordered to pay $415K of own money to family of unarmed teen he killed

Matt Agorist
Free Thought Project
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 13:20 UTC
cop Josh Hastings, Bobby Moore III
An encouraging end to a tragic story comes out of Arkansas this week after a former Little Rock police officer was found liable in the shooting death of 15-year-old boy in 2012. What sets this case apart from the myriad of other civil cases in which police officers are found responsible for killing, beating, and depriving people of their rights, is that this cop was held personally responsible — and will have to pay the victim's family using his own assets, not the taxpayers.

On August 12, 2012, then-Little Rock Police Officer Josh Hastings, 31, and another officer were investigating a report of car break-ins. The officers attempted to box in a car occupied by the victim, Bobby Moore III, along with two other teens.

Hastings fired 3 rounds into the vehicle of unarmed teens, striking Moore three times, killing him.

As is the norm when police shoot into moving vehicles, Hastings claimed he feared for his life as the 15-year-old boy attempted to run over him.
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Handcuffs

Two 'radicalized' men arrested in Marseille, France, planning attack before election


RT
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 12:29 UTC
French solider in Marseille
© Boris Horvat/AFPA French soldier, police and firefighters vehicles, Marseille, April 18, 2017.
Two suspects planning a "violent and imminent attack" have been arrested in Marseille, French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said, adding that security has been stepped up across the country ahead of this month's presidential election.

"These two radicalized men, born in 1987 and 1993, of French nationality, intended to commit in the very short-term - by that I mean in the coming days - an attack on French soil," Fekl told a news conference as cited by Reuters.

The search at the scene of the arrest in the southern city is continuing, and people have been evacuated from a building at the scene, Fekl added.

The arrests were made between 10am and 11am (08:00-09:00 GMT) local time at an apartment the two suspects were renting, according to Europe 1. Guns and explosives were reportedly found during the search at the Rue de Crimee. The building's residents were evacuated after that, BFM TV reports
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Camcorder

Facebook rethinks censoring violence after the Steve Stephens murder video


RT
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 12:57 UTC
Facebook logo
© Regis Duvignau / Reuters
Facebook has launched a review into how it handles violent content reporting in the future, including creating easier ways to report videos, speeding up their review process, and using artificial intelligence to monitor posts.

In a statement Monday, Justin Osofsky, Facebook's vice president of global operations and media partnerships, said the company will begin reviewing their policies after a Cleveland man posted three separate videos announcing he was about to kill a man, showing the murder, and confessing to the murder on the world's largest social media social media site.

On Sunday, a man police identified as Steve Stephens, 37, recorded himself walking up to Robert Godwin Sr, 74, and shooting him without cause.
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