Society's ChildS


Light Saber

Journalist Van Jones shreds the idea of college campuses having ideological 'safe spaces'

Michael Krieger
LIberty Blitzkreig
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 22:02 UTC
Van Jones
Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones is an American activist, commentator, author and non-practicing attorney.
Nothing that Van Jones states in the clip below is novel. Many of us have making the exact same point for many years. Nevertheless, he delivers the argument in such a passionate and eloquent way, it is indeed worth applauding and sharing.

This clip got me thinking about why those who oppose Trump seem so incapable of offering thoughtful, empowering resistance other than to quote George W. Bush or engage in CIA worship. I think part of the problem goes back to the fact that we've been telling young people that they're victims for pretty much their whole lives. If you convince everyone that they're a victim, they'll start acting like victims.

Victims are the last thing this society needs. We need strong, ethical, courageous men and women who are willing to step up the plate, challenge authority and make this world a better place. College safe spaces are simply assembly lines for creating future victims, and we've got more than enough of those.

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Seismograph

Shale oil industry's fracking practices put 3 million Americans at risk from human-induced earthquakes this year

Doyle Rice
USA Today
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 21:33 UTC
fracking earthquakes
© David Bitton/Associated PressEmployee Talia Pershall, 16, puts syrup back on a shelf while cleaning up at White's Foodliner grocery store Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016 in Pawnee, Okla., following a 5.6 magnitude earthquake that hit just after 7 a.m., in north-central Oklahoma.
According to a U.S. Geological Survey, three million Americans are at risk from human-induced earthquakes in 2017.

Three million Americans, primarily in Oklahoma and Kansas, are at risk from human-induced earthquakes this year, the U.S. Geological Survey said Wednesday.

That's the conclusion of a new report that cites wastewater disposal from fracking as triggering the quakes. The number of Americans affected this year is less than last year, when the agency reported 7 million were at risk.

The drop is the result of fewer earthquakes occurring in 2016 than in 2015, the USGS said. Wastewater injection may have decreased in 2016 as a result of new regulations for its disposal, or slowed due to lower oil prices and less overall production.

"The good news is that the overall seismic hazard for this year is lower than in the 2016 forecast, but despite this decrease, there is still a significant likelihood for damaging ground shaking in the U.S. in the year ahead," said Mark Petersen, chief of the USGS National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project.

Comment: The dangers posed by the oil shale industry's practices have been known for a long time. It's not just the seismic issues, but health concerns too.

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Camcorder

Filming cops is a right, says Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:46 UTC
police brutality
There's been an ongoing battle between police and the citizenry over who has the right to film in public. Disputes between police and the public have led to cameras being confiscated by police, and citizens being manhandled, beaten, and arrested. Now, it seems, the courts are weighing in, and not on the side of police.

The court's opinion comes from a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Phillip Turner vs. Driver, Grinald, and Dyess (2017). The plaintiffs are all officers from Ft. Worth, Texas. According to court documents, "Plaintiff-Appellant Phillip Turner was video recording a Fort Worth police station from a public sidewalk across the street when Defendants-Appellees Officers Grinalds and Dyess approached him and asked him for identification. Turner refused to identify himself, and the officers ultimately handcuffed him and placed him in the back of a patrol car."

Prior to this case, there was no clear precedent that specifically established filming the police as a First Amendment right. In fact, as we've reported before, U.S. District Judge Mark Kearney of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued a ruling last year stating that citizens do not have a First Amendment right to record the police in public.

Comment: We'll see if this makes it to the Supreme Court. As it stands, there have been several arrests and incidents of brutality when people have filmed cops. Here are some of them:

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People 2

Facebook has started using AI to identify suicidal members


RT
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 20:33 UTC
Facebook social media cell phone twitter
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
Facebook has started using artificial intelligence to identify and help users that display suicidal thoughts.

The social network has developed an algorithm to spot warning signs in posts, comments, and live videos following three separate suicides broadcast on Facebook Live in as many months.

On Wednesday, the company's Global Security team said they are adding prevention tools to their Live feature that will give concerned viewers the option to reach out to the person directly, and report the video to Facebook staff.
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Heart - Black

Cop tase 12 y.o. girl for refusing to wear skates at skating rink

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 16:34 UTC
roller skaters
A video uploaded to social media this week is causing quite the controversy after showing a violent interaction between two deputies with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office and a 12-year-old girl — at a skating rink. At the center of the controversy is the deputies' decision to taser the girl for compliance.

The video is of an incident that took place over the weekend on Saturday night at The Skatin' Place. According to Hamilton County Sheriff's Office spokesman Mike Robison, the deputies asked the 12-year-old girl to leave the establishment multiple times. However, according to deputies, she refused to comply.

Deputies then told her to leave and "using extremely disrespectful language she vehemently refused to comply," reads a press release.

According to police, the 12-year-old girl only got physical once police grabbed her and attempted to escort her from the premises.
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Eye 1

Journalist investigating claims of migrant-related violence in Sweden 'escorted by police out of Rinkeby' (VIDEO)


RT
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 17:27 UTC
Vandalism
© TT News Agency / Fredrik Sandberg / ReutersA policeman investigates a burnt car in Rinkeby suburb, outside Stockholm, Sweden February 21, 2017.
A US journalist who accepted an invite by a far-right news editor to visit "crime-ridden migrant suburbs" in Sweden has claimed he was escorted out of the Rinkeby area of Stockholm by police. Tim Pool is investigating claims of migrant-related violence.

Rioting and looting erupted in Rinkeby last month after police reportedly arrested a wanted person at a metro station. Several cars were burnt out and a police officer and a press photographer were injured in the disturbances.

Pool tweeted this latest incident saying several men put on masks and followed him before police escorted him out of the area. In a video Pool said he was warned by the police that "it would get really dangerous if we don't leave Rinkeby."

Comment: See also: Fake News: Fox News host Bill O'Reilly admits criticism of network is valid after using Swedish "expert" Nils Bildt to highlight refugee problem

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Stock Down

Banker suicides continue: 'Depressed' Wall Street exec jumps to his death in New York City

Jamie Schram, Kevin Fasick, Yaron Steinbuch and Daniel Prendergast
New York Post
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 12:14 UTC
Emergency services at the Apthorp building
© David McGlynn
A 47-year-old financial company executive was killed Wednesday when he jumped from a luxury apartment building on the Upper West Side, authorities said.

Kevin Bell jumped from a ninth-floor kitchen window at the famed Apthorp building on West End Avenue near West 79th Street around 7:20 a.m., a source told The Post.

He landed on some scaffolding that was set up in front of the building and was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.

Bell left a note indicating he had been depressed, the source said. He had a history of depression, the source added.

He left behind a wife and two daughters, a worker at the building said. His family was at home when he jumped, according to the source.

"The family is hysterical. He was under a lot of meds. He did not give a specific reason why he jumped, but he was depressed," the source said.
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Bad Guys

Group of visitors stone crocodile to death at Tunisia zoo


The Peninsula
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 20:19 UTC
Crocodiles
© Patrick Foto/Shutterstock
A group of visitors at a Tunisia zoo has stoned a crocodile to death, authorities in the capital said Wednesday, denouncing the "savage" act.

The municipality of Tunis posted gory pictures on Facebook of the dead animal's head next to what appeared to be a bloodied paving slab and another large rock.

"A group of visitors to the zoo threw stones at the head of a crocodile, causing internal haemorrhage that killed it," it said.

The municipality said the act at the Belvedere Zoo in central Tunis was "savage behaviour". The animal died after being hit on the head by two large rocks late Tuesday afternoon, Amor Ennaifer, a vet at the zoo, told AFP.

"It's terrible. You cannot imagine what animals endure from some visitors," he said. "Citizens leave waste and plastic bags... They throw stones at lions and hippos."
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Stock Up

Dow Jones Industrial Average breaks the 21,000 point mark after Trump's speech to Congress


RT
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 15:40 UTC
Dow Jones
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
The premier US stock index broke the 21,000-point mark the morning after President Donald Trump heralded big infrastructure and military investments and called on the country to "believe, once more, in America."

The Dow Jones rose past the milestone in Wednesday morning's trading, just over a month after shattering the 20,000-point ceiling on January 25.

Trump himself pointed to the rising stock market in a Tuesday morning interview, saying that "trillions of dollars in wealth" have been created since his victory in November. The Dow has risen by over 2,700 points since the election.

Comment: See also: Trump effect: Stock value of America's top 500 companies hits $20tn for first time

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Cross

Catholic church sex abuse victim quits Pope's commission over 'shameful resistance' from Vatican administrators


RT
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 18:45 UTC
Marie Collins
© Alessandro Bianchi / ReutersMarie Collins has resigned from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Marie Collins has resigned from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
Irish sexual abuse victim Marie Collins has quit the commission which advises Pope Francis on how to tackle the clerical sexual abuse of children, over a "shameful" lack of cooperation from Vatican administrators.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was set up by Pope Francis in March 2014. Since its inception it has been repeatedly dogged by internal disputes and resignations.

Collins, who was the only remaining Commission member to have suffered sexual abuse by a priest, said Vatican officials were hampering the work of the panel resulting in "constant setbacks."

She rose to prominence in Ireland as a campaigner against clerical abuse almost 20 years ago when she challenged the late Cardinal Desmond Connell's failure to report her abuse at the hands of priest to police.

Comment: See also: Pope's clemency for pedophile priests under scrutiny following latest scandal

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