Society's ChildS


Cloud Grey

London mayor introduces new congestion fee to combat air pollution


RT
Tue, 04 Apr 2017 20:05 UTC
Sadiq Khan
© Toby Melville / ReutersMayor of London Sadiq Khan.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced the "world's first" low emission zone as part of sweeping new measures aimed at cutting pollution levels in the "appalling air" in the UK capital.

Motorists with the most polluting cars could be charged up to £24 ($29.80) a day to travel in the ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ), which will share the same borders as the congestion charge area.

The new measures mean pre-2016 diesel and pre-2006 petrol cars will have to pay a fee of no less than £3-4 and as much as £12.50 ($15.50).

That is on top of the current £11.50 ($14) congestion charge for traveling in the heart of London.

While the congestion charge applies every Monday to Friday from 7am to 6pm, the fee to travel within the ULEZ will be applicable 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The newly announced plans, which are designed to cut carbon emissions by 50 percent, come in response to reports of an increase in the number of diesel cars in circulation, despite their threat to public health.
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Donut

2 choke to death in huge donut & pancake eating contests within 24 hours


RT
Tue, 04 Apr 2017 09:04 UTC
Pancakes and raspberries
© Martin Poole/www.globallookpress.com
A 20-year-old college sorority sister in Connecticut and a 42-year-old man in Colorado both choked to death within a 24-hour period after separate eating contests. One was a charity benefit involving pancakes, and the other was a huge donut challenge.

Caitlin Nelson was in critical but stable condition when she was rushed to a hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Thursday evening. She had reportedly eaten four or five pancakes when she began choking during a contest hosted by her sorority Kappa Delta at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, according to FoxNews.com and the Associated Press.

Nelson died Sunday at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, where she had been transferred Friday. The 20-year-old junior's LinkedIn page showed she was certified in youth mental health first aid. Her father, James Nelson, was a police officer with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who died on September 11, 2001, responding to the terrorist attacks.

"It's a tragic event that started out as something fun," Fairfield police Lt. Bob Kalamaras said, according to AP. "It was just a tragic accident."
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Bizarro Earth

Delusional RealDoll creator thinks his sex-robots will teach people to love again

Tracy Clark-Flory
Vocativ
Tue, 04 Apr 2017 17:20 UTC
sex robots love
© R. A. Di Ieso
The workshop of sex doll manufacturer RealDoll is filled with dozens of naked, headless female figures hanging from the ceiling by metal hooks. Their heads, sculpted with supple, parted lips and adorned in permanent makeup, await them in another room. Scattered around are uncannily realistic parts yet to be to assigned a body: Pert little nipples, tidy, bright pink labia, and tufts of pubic hair. A wall of breasts, from perky to surgically enhanced, displays the many sizes, shapes, and skin tones on offer. It looks like a laboratory for an idealized feminine form — a literal experiment in objectifying the female body.

It is surprising, then, that CEO Matt McMullen says his latest project, an anatomically correct female robot capable of basic conversation, will demand to be treated as much more than an object. Not only that, but he argues that his red-headed, green-eyed robot, Harmony, could teach us to be better humans.

"We're trying, in a way, to train people to be nicer to each other," McMullen says. "People zero in on the whole sexual aspect of what we're doing with the robot and being able to just do whatever you want, whenever you want, but we want to actually simulate the kindness and the legwork that goes into building a connection."


Comment: A connection...with a robot. How about just making an effort to connect with an actual human being?!

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Gold Coins

New Hampshire cops call SWAT after veteran pays parking fine with pennies

Ben Keller
Photography Is Not A Crime
Mon, 03 Apr 2017 15:48 UTC
Billy Spaulding and NH police
New Hampshire cops accompanied by a member of the SWAT team escorted a Marine Corps veteran out of city hall last Monday after he attempted to pay a parking ticket with pennies.

Manchester police not only violated the Coinage Act of 1965 that states all coins are legal tender for debts by escorting Billy Spaulding out of city hall, they violated his friend's First Amendment rights by claiming he needed their permission to record the interaction.

Spaulding knew they were well within the law, but ultimately obeyed police as they escorted he and his friend out of city hall on March 27.

Spaulding, who spent eight years in the Marines, was also open carrying a pistol that day, which is legal, but thankfully, police respected that law.

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Info

Federal judge blocks Indiana's abortion ultrasound mandate


RT
Tue, 04 Apr 2017 15:31 UTC
ultrasound
© Ton Koene / www.globallookpress.com
A federal judge has blocked an Indiana state law requiring women to undergo an ultrasound at least 18 hours before having an abortion, finding that it creates "clearly undue" burdens on women and is unconstitutional.

In July, then-Governor Mike Pence, who is now US vice president, enacted the mandate when he signed House Enrolled Act No. 1337. Days later, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) against Indiana's Department of Health and other local officials.

On Friday, US District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ruled with Planned Parenthood, granting a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks the mandate.
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Pistol

New Jersey teen pleads guilty in terrorist/ FBI 'plot' to assassinate Pope

Gina Cherelus
Reuters
Tue, 04 Apr 2017 15:30 UTC
Pope Francis
© Max Rossi / Reuters
A New Jersey teen pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to terrorists in what media called an ISIS-inspired effort to kill Pope Francis in 2015 during a public Mass in Philadelphia, according to a statement by federal prosecutors.

Santos Colon, 17, admitted on Monday in a federal court in Camden, New Jersey, that he attempted to conspire with a sniper to shoot the Pope during his visit in Philadelphia and set off explosive devices in the surrounding areas.

Colon engaged with someone he thought would be the sniper from June 30 to August 14, 2015, but the person was actually an undercover FBI employee, according to prosecutors. The attack did not take place, and FBI agents arrested Colon in 2015.

"Colon engaged in target reconnaissance with an FBI confidential source and instructed the source to purchase materials to make explosive devices," prosecutors said in a statement on Monday.
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Briefcase

Swiss man on trial for defamation after 'liking' Facebook posts


RT
Tue, 04 Apr 2017 14:42 UTC
Facebook like button
© Brendan Smialowski / AFP
A Swiss man is on trial for 'liking' Facebook posts that accused an animal rights activist of racism and anti-Semitism. The prosecution has accused him of defamation in the landmark case.

The 45-year-old defendant from Zurich is facing charges after becoming involved in an online argument within the animal rights community - by merely 'liking' eight Facebook posts.

Those posts accused Erwin Kessler, the president of the animal protection association Vereins gegen Tierfabriken, of racism and anti-Semitism.
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Bomb

US finally admits "ISIS HQ" that we blew up was actually an innocent family's home

Claire Bernish
Free Thought Project
Tue, 04 Apr 2017 14:22 UTC
Arab woman war
Overnight from September 20 through 21, the U.S.-led coalition carried out an airstrike against a family home — putatively believed to be a strategic Islamic State target — killing four members of the Rezzo family and wounding others on scene.

Airwars reports, "University professor Mohannad Rezzo; his 17-year old son Najib Mohannad Rezzo; his brother Bassim's wife Miyada Rezzo and their 21-year old daughter Tuka Rezzo" perished together, as bombs intended for Islamic State leaders instead heedlessly destroyed a family.

But, unironically, it took until April Fool's Day 2017 for U.S. officials to concede the coalition's heinous error.

"This report was opened and a credibility assessment completed in 2015. However, the report was never officially closed or reported publicly. I do not know why that was," Colonel Joe Scrocca, Director of Public Affairs for the Coalition, told Airwars. "The case was brought to our attention by the media and we discovered the oversight, relooked [at] the case based on the information provided by the journalist and family, which confirmed the 2015 assessment, and officially closed the report in February."
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Smoking

Anti-smoking fascism: New laws come into effect in Britain in a few weeks

Joshua Nevett
Daily Star
Tue, 04 Apr 2017 13:31 UTC
Menthol cigarettes and rolling tobacco
© Getty Images/Ocado
Six new laws aiming to crackdown on "harmful" and "dangerous" cigarettes killing more than 120,000 Brits a year are coming into force.


Comment: These numbers are estimates, not based on real data. They also take no account of the health damage from extraordinary levels of pollution from diesel vehicles, especially in places like London.


Under the new rules small packs of rolling tobacco and menthol cigarettes will be banned outright. Packs of 10 cigarettes will also no longer be available from shops.

It comes after smokers were hammered with a government price hike that saw the cost of a premium 20 deck soar to £10.26.

The government gave shops a year to adjust after rolling out the new laws in May last year. Now the changes will come into full force from May 20, 2017.

Here are the six laws that smokers need to be aware of.
  • Ten decks of cigarettes will not be available to buy in shops;
  • All packets of rolling tobacco under 30g will disappear from shops;
  • The cheapest packet of fags will cost £8.82 from May 21;
  • Menthol cigarettes will be outlawed completely by 2020;
  • Plain cigarette packets with graphic images will be introduced;
  • Some flavoured tobacco will be made illegal.

Comment: Just like Russia, smoking gets blamed for all sorts of troubles it doesn't cause. Tobacco does not cause cancer and is not unhealthy for everyone. Educate yourselves and light up!

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Snakes in Suits

Sick and Heartless Iowa politician, Shannon Lundgren, calls for women who miscarry after 20 weeks to carry dead fetuses to full term

Mike Moffitt
San Francisco Chronicle
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 21:38 UTC
Shannon Lundgren
Iowa Rep. Shannon Lundgren
An Iowa state representative is under fire after saying women who miscarry after 20 weeks of pregnancy should be forced to carry their dead fetuses to term.

During a hearing Wednesday of Senate File 471, which would clear the way for a state ban on abortions after the 20-week mark, Republican Rep. Shannon Lundgren — the manager of 471 — faced a question from fellow Rep. John Forbes, a Democrat.

Noting that he has a daughter who is 20 weeks pregnant, Forbes asked that under the bill, would his daughter have to carry her child to term even if a doctor told her there was no longer a heartbeat.

"Is that good medicine?" Forbes wondered.

Lundgren's response:

"This bill wasn't written for the intent to protect or govern on the side of the woman. It was written to save babies' lives, giving the choice and being the voice of those babies...that don't have one. I understand what you're saying—this fetus, this baby, is not alive. I would concur that in that instance, if your daughter's life is not in danger, that yes, she would have to carry that baby."
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