Society's ChildS


Camcorder

Morons: White Helmets release video showing them posing with alleged airstrike victim for the cameras


Comment: Has Wag the Dog become reality in al-Qaeda-held areas of Syria?


white helmets
In early October of this year, protesters in Europe easily recreated virtually every "rescue" scene portrayed by "White Helmets" simply by applying flour and red paint to their faces and lying in the streets of European cities. As part of the "Save Aleppo" campaign, the protesters likely sought to bring the "reality" of the "White Helmets'" work to Western audiences, but maybe did so a little too literally - revealing that many of the scenes portrayed by "White Helmet" camera crews in Syria were likely staged in a very similar, theatrical manner.

In real warfare, bombardments generally leave behind unspeakable carnage, including bodies burned beyond recognition, dangling limbs, gushing wounds, and piles of tangled gore. The "White Helmets'" videos are suspiciously absent of these realities, and instead feature almost exclusively the flour and red paint extras seen protesting in Europe's streets last October.

It was noted last October that the only feature missing from the "White Helmets"-inspired protests in Europe was the backdrop of a ruined city and rubble to "bury" actors in.

Comment: Moon of Alabama adds:
The video below was originally uploaded on November 18 in the channel of the RFSMediaOffice (Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office), a propaganda organization supporting various groups fighting the Syrian state.
...
I do not know why the RFS Media Office would upload this. To show that the White Helmets and their videos are fake? Did they not pay their dues? Or was the channel hacked and the upload done by someone else?

The original title "Edge of death | #MannequinChallenge" points to some social media nonsense which The Telegraph describes as:
A viral video craze, it involves people imitating mannequins and freezing for the camera while music plays in the background.
So is this a fake? Or a fake of the fakes the original White Helmets videos are...?



Eye 2

Shell in court over Niger Delta oil spill pollution claims

Nigerian schoolboy
© George Esiri / ReutersA Nigerian schoolboy walks past the logo of Dutch oil giant Shell near Warri in the volatile Niger-Delta region
London's High Court has begun a four-day hearing over Nigeria's claims against Royal Dutch Shell and its subsidiary SPDC. They are accused of environmental damage caused by oil pollution.

Two legal claims have been brought to the court on behalf of over 40,000 Nigerians.

The Nigerian community of 2,335 people, mostly fishermen, say their environment has been devastated by oil spills in the past five years.

Another community which consists of roughly 40,000 people claim repeated oil spills from Shell's pipelines have not been cleaned up.

Comment: See also:
  • Small victory: Shell Oil may be forced to compensate Nigeria for decades of catastrophic pollution
  • The Niger Delta paradox: Armed confrontation, poverty and despair in the midst of plenty



Info

Anti-Trump protests organized by Marxists

trump protest
Ever since Donald Trump's election victory Tuesday night, the media have been abuzz with stories about massive, sometimes violent, anti-Trump protests breaking out in cities all across the country. We've been told that ordinary Americans everywhere are so frightened and angered by the prospect of a Trump presidency—as opposed to a Hillary Clinton presidency—that they're taking to the streets to express their grave concerns for the future of the country.

In Chicago, for instance, thousands of people held an "emergency protest" outside a Trump hotel, chanting: "No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA!"

In New York, some 5,000 people (including the political oracle Lady Gaga) demonstrated outside Trump Tower. "Their concerns," said CNN, "ranged from policies, such as Trump's proposed plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, to the polarizing tenor of his campaign that they say stoked xenophobic fears."

In Oakland, some of the 7,000+ demonstrators damaged police cars, vandalized businesses, hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks at law-enforcement officers, and started at least 40 separate fires.

And in Los Angeles, more than 1,000 people filled the streets, burned Trump in effigy, and sang John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance. "Several protesters said they feared that family or friends might be deported once Trump takes office," said CNN.

From reading the various mainstream media accounts of these events, one comes away with the distinct impression that they are grassroots actions that began organically among ordinary, concerned, well-meaning citizens.

But alas, if one were to think that, one would be wrong.

Comment:




Health

Tribal elder suffers cardiac arrest in DAPL clashes

Police water cannon Dakota Access pipeline
© Stephanie Keith / ReutersPolice use a water cannon on protesters during a protest against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S. November 20, 2016
An unidentified elder is in critical condition after going into cardiac arrest at the scene of violent clashes between law enforcement and water protesters at the Dakota Access Pipeline site.

Demonstrators and heavily-armed law enforcement clashed on Sunday at Backwater Bridge on Highway 1806, where police used pepper spray, rubber bullets and a water cannon against protesters that had been blockaded on the bridge by authorities. The winter temperatures of below freezing make the powerful water cannon even more dangerous.

"At least one elder went into cardiac arrest," Angela Bibens, legal representative of the Water Protectors Legal Collective, told Indigenous Environmental Network organizer Dallas Goldtooth on Sunday, adding that the tribal elder "was revived by CPR at the front lines by medics."

The elder is one of hundreds of demonstrators injured at the pipeline protests, with seven people hospitalized for severe head injuries on Sunday.

Stormtrooper

167 Dakota Access Pipeline protesters injured in altercations with N. Dakota police

police Dakota Access Pipeline
© Ruptly
A total of 167 demonstrators have been injured while protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, according to a medic on site, as cited by Indigenous Rising Media.

Police are reportedly targeting demonstrators' heads and legs.

Seven people have been hospitalized for severe head injuries. Three of those injured are reportedly elders of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.

Bullseye

#NotMyPrince: 'Anti-colonial' Twitter campaign rejects Prince Harry's trip of fun and games to the Caribbean

Prince Harry
© Peter Cziborra / ReutersGreat Britain's Prince Harry
Prince Harry is facing anti-monarchy protesters during his trip to the Caribbean, where the hashtag #NotMyPrince is trending.

Harry, who is fifth in line to the throne, began his two-week tour of the Caribbean when he arrived in Antigua and Barbuda on Sunday.

He will also visit Barbados, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines - all members of the British Commonwealth that share Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state.

Many people in the region no longer feel ties to the British monarchy, however, and their mood is being reflected by the #NotMyPrince hashtag now trending on social media in response to Harry's visit.

Comment: See also: 'Wild-life protector' Prince Harry in 'trophy kill' water buffalo photo


Newspaper

Muslims for Trump wish to see an American policy that actually fights extremism

Iraqi forces Trump
© Ahmad Al-Rubaye/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesIraqi forces watched television coverage of President-elect Donald J. Trump in the village of Arbid on the southern outskirts of Mosul last week.
Many Muslims in the Middle East reacted with a mix of fear, caution, suspicion and scorn on Friday to President-elect Donald J. Trump's appointments of aides with hostile views toward Islam.

From Iraq and Syria and Lebanon and elsewhere, a range of people already skeptical about Mr. Trump said their doubts were only reinforced by announcements that senior security positions in his administration would be filled with figures like Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, known for his outspoken antipathy toward Muslims.

"Trump chose @GenFlynn as his National Security Advisor. We must not shy away from comparing his anti-Muslim rhetoric to that of the Nazis," Joey Ayoub, a well known Lebanese blogger, said on Twitter. He echoed the trepidation about General Flynn's now-famous Twitter post that "fear of Muslims is rational."

Struggling to understand what Mr. Trump's ascent means for them and their war-ravaged region, some, however, expressed hope that he will confront militant Islamist extremists far more aggressively than the Obama administration has done.

Yet others fear that Mr. Trump's views — and his reliance cabinet appointees who have expressed anti-Islam views — will be exploited as a recruiting tool by Islamic State operatives and other violent militants.

Comment: It's rather fascinating to see the media's inclination to compare Trump's views with the Nazis while they sat back in silence during the past 15 years of unending war-crimes on Muslim people. It's no secret the U.S. has not only done little to actually fight terrorism, but that they have actively supported it and used it to further their foreign policy 'interventions'. Now that Trump has made it clear that he wants to work with Russia to actually get rid of terrorism, jihadi sympathizers are coming out of the woodwork and masquerading as human rights advocates.

The New York Times and other Western media outlets appear to be having a hard time understanding that many Muslims in countries like Iraq are supporting Trump. It's apparently a challenge to understand that Western support for terrorism isn't in their best interests.


Stop

Torture evidence mistreated by Britain's Home Office to reject asylum claims, charity claims

torture
© Anis Mili / Reuters
Britain's Home Office is "disregarding and mistreating" medical evidence of torture in order to reject asylum claims, a charity has claimed.

The report by Freedom from Torture says caseworkers with no clinical experience are overriding reports of torture by specialist doctors. In turn, vulnerable people are at risk of being returned to the countries where they were tortured.

It also accuses Amber Rudd's department of failing to implement robust policies and training programs for handling evidence of torture drawn up when Prime Minister Theresa May was home secretary.

The report, Proving Torture, says victims who had been burnt, beaten and imprisoned in countries such as Sri Lanka, Iran and the Democratic Republic of Congo found it "near impossible" to prove their claims in Britain's asylum system "even when they present extensive expert medical evidence."

Comment: See also: Soulless UK think tank: 'Human rights law should not apply to the battlefield'


Dollars

Hackers hit ATMs; program them to spew cash

taiwan cash
Cybercriminals who once earned millions by breaking into individual online bank accounts are now targeting the banks' own computers, with often-dramatic results.

In Taiwan and Thailand earlier this year, the criminals programmed bank ATMs to spew cash. Gang members stood in front of the machines at the appointed hour and collected millions of dollars.

Earlier this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned U.S. banks of the potential for similar attacks. The FBI said in a bulletin that it is "monitoring emerging reports indicating that well-resourced and organized malicious cyber actors have intentions to target the U.S. financial sector."

The FBI bulletin cited software used by a Russian gang known as Buhtrap. Computer-security specialists say Buhtrap and other gangs honed their techniques on Russian banks, then expanded to other countries. Sometimes the hackers break into the systems that process transactions on banking payment networks; other times they have hit ATM networks directly.

Bomb

At least 27 killed, 35 injured as explosion rocks Shiite mosque in Kabul

Afghan security forces keep watch in front of a mosque where an explosion happened in Kabul, Afghanistan November 21
© REUTERS/ Omar SobhaniAfghan security forces keep watch in front of a mosque where an explosion happened in Kabul, Afghanistan November 21, 2016
At least 27 were killed and 35 injured in a suicide attack on a Shiite mosque in Afghanistan's capital, local media cited Kabul police as saying.

TOLOnews relayed the figures from the Kabul criminal investigation directorate police chief.

"Kabul police CID chief confirms 27 dead and 35 wounded in deadly Shia mosque blast," the broadcaster said via its Twitter account.



The broadcaster said early reports indicate that a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device during a ceremony at the Baqir-ul-Olum mosque in the district known as PD6.

Comment: IS claims attack that kills dozens at Shi'ite mosque in Kabul
Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a crowded Shi'ite mosque in Kabul on Monday that killed more than 30 people and wounded dozens in its third major attack on minority Shi'ites in the Afghan capital since July.

Officials said the attacker entered the Baqir-ul-Olum mosque shortly after midday as worshippers gathered for Arbaeen, a Shi'ite ritual marking the end of a 40-day mourning period for the 7th century death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.

A statement in Arabic from Islamic State's Amaq news agency said one of its fighters had targeted the mosque.

Bloody sectarian rivalry between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims has been relatively rare in Afghanistan, a majority Sunni country, but the attack underlines the deadly new dimension that growing ethnic tension could bring to its decades-long conflict.

Fraidoon Obaidi, chief of the Kabul police Criminal Investigation Department, said at least 27 people were killed and 35 wounded, while the United Nations said at least 32 had been killed and more than 50 wounded, including many children. It described the attack as "an atrocity".

"I saw people screaming and covered in blood," one survivor told Afghanistan's Ariana Television, adding that around 40 dead and 80 wounded had been taken from the building before rescue services arrived at the scene.

Another witness said he had helped carry 30-35 bodies from the mosque.