Society's ChildS


Bullseye

2 journalists on 'kill list' suing Trump & US agencies to be removed


RT
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 02:44 UTC
Plane
© Josh Smith / Reuters
Two journalists added to the US' terrorist "kill list" under President Barack Obama are suing to be removed. They accuse the US of conspiracy to commit murder outside its borders and violating international law by targeting civilians in drone strikes.

On Thursday, Ahmad Zaidan, the former Al Jazeera Islamabad Bureau Chief, and Bilal Kareem, a freelance journalist, filed a lawsuit in the US District Court in Washington alleging they were erroneously placed on a kill list under former President Barack Obama's administration, which they say, President Donald Trump has illegally continued.

Zaidan was the first journalist to interview Osama Bin Laden in 1998 and Kareem is a US citizen who "narrowly avoided being killed by five separate air strikes," according to the lawsuit filed by UK-based human rights group Reprieve.
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Info

Media uproar after Drexel professor tweets he was 'trying not to vomit' after passenger gave seat for soldier

Natasha Brown
CBS News
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 12:33 UTC
George Ciccariello-Maher
© YoutubeGeorge Ciccariello-Maher
A tweet posted by a Drexel University professor is stirring up some controversy.

George Ciccariello-Maher, is an associate professor of Politics and Global Studies at Drexel.

On Sunday he posted a tweet that read, "Some guy gave up his first class seat for a uniformed soldier. People are thanking him. I'm trying not to vomit or yell about Mosul."

Comment: In a debate between this professor and Tucker Carlson the professor expanded on his views:
George Ciccariello-Maher argued that it's "irresponsible" to blindly support wars that lead to the deaths of Americans and foreign civilians, so he wanted to "yell about Mosul" when he saw the act of kindness on the plane.

Tucker pointed out that Ciccariello-Maher's issue appears to be with U.S. foreign policy-makers, yet he's blaming the soldiers.

"Why is it bad to give them a first-class seat?" Tucker asked. "Somebody's trying to be nice to guy who's going through all these hardships ... and that makes you mad. Why?"

Ciccariello-Maher said it was an "empty gesture," and he wants to see policies that actually help the men and women of the U.S. military and innocent civilians.
While he may have a point, he approaches it from the angle of another hysterical, combative 'social justice warrior,' as can be seen in the full debate below:


For more info, check out the must-read series on why the US has become 'Hysterica-America':

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Red Flag

10 women allege sexual abuse at Hawaii women's prison - lawsuit

Rick Daysog
Hawaii News Now
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 07:25 UTC
Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua
© Hawaii News Now
A new lawsuit claims that sex abuse at the women's prison in Kailua was more widespread than realized.

Hawaii News Now first broke the story in 2015 of how prison guards at the Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua traded contraband for sexual favors.

Now, 10 women have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Honolulu, alleging that five WCCC staffers, including a female guard, coerced them into having sex. "It runs the whole gamut whether it's oral sex intercourse, masturbation, you name it. The guards take pictures, they have cell phones on," said attorney Myles Breiner, who filed the suit.

The women are not named in the suit because nine of the 10 are still locked up at the Kailua facility.
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Arrow Up

Assaults on Austria's migrant facilities doubled in 2016, 77% of cases still unsolved


RT
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 13:54 UTC
migrant facilitie
© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
Attacks against migrant facilities in Austria doubled in 2016 from the previous year, with incidents ranging from hurling Molotov cocktails to gas pipes being slashed. In 77 percent of the cases, police failed to track down the culprits, officials said.

The country's interior ministry unveiled the figures in a response to a parliamentary enquiry from the Greens (Die Gruenen).

According to Opposition Green MP Albert Steinhauser, there were 49 attacks against migrant shelters in Austria last year, compared to 25 in 2015.
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Cut

Italian officials outraged after girl's hair shaved off for not wearing Muslim veil


RT
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 13:44 UTC
Muslim
© Cheryl Ravelo / Reuters
The story of a migrant girl, whose head was shaved by her mother for not wearing a Muslim veil, has sparked outrage among Italian politicians, some of whom advised migrants who are unwilling to embrace the Italian lifestyle to "change country."

The 14-year-old girl of Bangladeshi origins, residing in Bologna, managed to trick her parents for a period of time - wearing the veil at home, but taking it off while at school.

The deception apparently ended on Wednesday, as the girl was caught by her mother and promptly punished by having her head shaved for not wearing a veil.


Comment: A harsh and humiliating punishment for a 14-year-old child.

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Windsock

Police separate far-right & anti-fascist protesters during tense stand-off in London


RT
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 12:19 UTC
Standoff in London
London police were forced to separate the groups that gathered near Trafalgar Square, in a tense stand-off heightened by emotion following the March 22 terrorist attack.

The marches are being held ten days after the Westminster attack that left four people dead and dozens injured after British-born attacker Khalid Masood rammed pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before slamming his vehicle into the gates of the parliament buildings and killing a police officer.

A counter-protest, organized by anti-fascist groups, is also taking place to oppose the demonstration.

"Both groups are notorious Islamophobes whose concern is not with the victims or their relatives, but only lie in racism," United Against Fascism said in a statement.
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Laptop

Intelligence sources report Al-Qaeda & ISIS perfecting laptop bombs to bypass airport security


RT
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 13:46 UTC
airport security
© Thomas Peter / Reuters
Terrorist organizations are believed to be working on explosives that can fit inside electronic devices and would not be detectable by airport security systems, US intelligence sources told CNN.

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Qaeda are reportedly testing explosive devices that can pass through airport security screening concealed in a laptop or any other electronic device which is large enough. Terrorists might have gained access to airport scanners to test the advanced technology, according to US intelligence officials cited by CNN.

"As a matter of policy, we do not publicly discuss specific intelligence information. However, evaluated intelligence indicates that terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation, to include smuggling explosive devices in electronics," the Department of Homeland Security told CNN in a statement.

Bomb-makers are able to modify accumulators for devices, using common household tools, FBI information indicates.

Intelligence gathered in recent months has reportedly played a key role in the Trump administration's airline electronics ban aboard direct flights from airports in several mainly Muslim countries. The US Department of Homeland Security expressed its concerns over commercial aviation being targeted following the announcement of the measure.

Comment: There is a lot of vagueness in the supposed intelligence. There is always concerned when one sees words like "believe, might, reportedly, could, indicates etc" rather than straight statements of fact.

See also:
Somali plane forced to make emergency landing after explosion minutes after takeoff

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Biohazard

Indiana city misses target date to relocate 50 families out of lead-contaminated apartments


RT
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 13:35 UTC
West Calumet, Indiana
© wikipedia.org
A public housing complex in West Calumet, Indiana, that the EPA found to be contaminated with lead was supposed to be vacated for demolition by now. However, dozens of families are still living there, reportedly feeling trapped by their limited options.

Friday was initially set to be the final day residents would be living in the West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago, Indiana, but officials are now aiming for next week, according to the Associated Press.

More than 1,000 people, 70 percent of whom are children, were living in the complex when the US Environmental Protection Agency discovered lead contamination in the dirt on the site.
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Handcuffs

NYC mayor backs plan to shut down controversial Rikers Island jail


RT
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 13:36 UTC
Rikers Island Prison
© Chip East / Reuters Buildings of the jail at Rikers Island, New York
Rikers Island jail will close within 10 years to be replaced with smaller, borough-based jails, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced. Prison reform advocates have pressed to close the jail which the mayor previously rejected as a "noble idea."

"It will take many years, it will take many tough decisions along the way but it will happen," de Blasio said at City Hall Friday afternoon.

The mayor's decision, while scant on detail, comes on the heels 97-page report of recommendations from an independent commission created by the city council last year, and led by former state Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman.

Those recommendations suggest closing Rikers Island and replacing it with smaller borough-based jails at a cost of $10.6 billion over 10 years. The largest would be in Manhattan and the smallest on Staten Island.

The plan also suggested shrinking the city's inmate population to 5,500 from some 9,000 currently, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Eye 2

Iranian faces death sentence for disparaging Mohammad on social media


Sputnik
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 12:33 UTC
Iran flag
© Fotolia/ Borna_Mir
A 21-year-old Iranian faces a death sentence for writing negative statements about the Prophet Mohammad on social media.

In 2015, Sina Dehghan was a 19-year-old serving his mandatory military service when he was arrested by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and tried for the crime of insulting Islam.

Dehghan allegedly posted negative statements about Islam and the Quran on the messaging platform LINE, which is popular in Asia and is similar to Facebook Messenger.
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