Society's ChildS


People 2

Discrimination: Heterosexual couple denied civil partnership in possible 'breach of human rights'

Rebecca Steinfeld (L) and Charles Keidan
© Stefan Wermuth / ReutersRebecca Steinfeld (L) and Charles Keidan outside the Royal Courts of Justice, London.
A heterosexual couple who appealed in court for a civil partnership have lost their case despite judges admitting it may be in "breach of human rights."

Londoners Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, who have been together for 10 years, took their case to the Court of Appeal after losing their case in the High Court last year.

The couple, who have a 20-month-old daughter, wanted a civil partnership because they reject the "patriarchal" institution of marriage on principal.

However, the Civil Partnership Act 2004 only grants civil partnership to homosexual couples, who also have the choice of marriage after it was legalized in England, Scotland and Wales in 2014.

Health

Dallas neurosurgeon gets life in prison for botched surgeries

neurosurgeon
© Ian Waldie / Reuters
A jury in Dallas has sentenced a neurosurgeon to life in prison after hearing about several cases where he maimed, paralyzed or killed his patients.

On Tuesday, Christopher Duntsch, 46, was found guilty of injury to an elderly woman, a first-degree felony in Texas, where someone "intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence" causes injury to an elderly person.

Fire

Rioters set cars on fire and loot shops in Stockholm suburb

Riot in Sockholm, Sweden
© Aftonbladet / www.globallookpress.com
Police in Sweden were forced to fire warning shots after a group of unidentified persons ran riots in the Rinkeby district of Stockholm late on Monday, setting cars on fire, throwing stones at police and looting local stores.

A police officer was injured during the clashes, forcing law enforcers to fire several warning shots at the crowd, Swedish public service broadcaster SVT reported, citing a local police spokesperson.

At least seven or eight cars were burned in the area during the evening, police said in a statement.

Comment: Trump vindicated? Trump slams 'fake news' lies that Sweden's mass immigration 'is working out just beautifully'


Treasure Chest

Cognitive dissonance: Goldman Sachs strategist says US stock market record rally is irrational

New York Stock Exchange
© Brendan McDermid / ReutersTraders at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs has seen "cognitive dissonance" in the stock market surge after Donald Trump won the US presidency. While the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are posting record highs daily, Goldman is pessimistic about the rally.

"Cognitive dissonance exists in the US stock market. S&P 500 is up 10 percent since the election despite negative [earnings per share] revisions from sell-side analysts,"said David Kostin, the chief US equity strategist at Goldman Sachs.

The rally in US stocks is explained by Donald Trump's promises of tax cuts, more infrastructure spending, less regulation and other protectionist measures, which boost confidence in the American economy.

Pistol

Killer of Whittier police officer was on 'early release' from jail, linked to other East LA murder same day

police line
© Frank Duenzl / Global Look Press
Whittier police officer Keith Boyer was killed during a shootout with a "known gang member" suspected in another murder hours earlier in Los Angeles County. A procession and candlelight vigil were held to commemorate his 27-year career and sacrifice.

Just after 8:00am Monday, Boyer and Officer Patrick Hazel both responded to a traffic accident in separate patrol cars. When the officers asked the suspect to exit his vehicle, he pulled out a semiautomatic pistol and began firing at them.

Boyer and Hazel returned fire, injuring the suspect before backup came.

After other officers arrived, Boyer and Hazel were rushed to the hospital, where Boyer was pronounced dead. Hazel and the suspect were both reported in stable condition and are expected to survive. The suspect was taken into custody after being treated.

Quenelle

Oliver Stone outlines 'hundreds of thousands of lives lost' thanks to US imperialism during WGA speech

Oliver Stone
It's essentially expected of actors, writers and directors to slam Trump when accepting awards now, but Oliver Stone took it a step further at the Writers Guild Awards on Sunday night, taking aim at the entire political system, incorporating both sides of the spectrum.

Accepting the Laurel Award at the ceremony, he reminded younger filmmakers: "You can be critical of your government and your society.

"You don't have to fit in. It's fashionable now to take shots at Republicans and Trump and avoid the Obamas and Clintons. But remember this: In the 13 wars we've started over the last 30 years and the $14 trillion we've spent, and the hundreds of thousands of lives that have perished from this earth, remember that it wasn't one leader, but a system, both Republican and Democrat. Call it what you will: the military industrial money media security complex. It's a system that has been perpetuated under the guise that these are just wars justifiable in the name of our flag that flies so proudly."

Comment: Oliver Stone is a celebrity who is willing to put his career on the line in order to speak truth to power. For his latest work, check out:

Ukraine on Fire: The Oliver Stone documentary the US Empire doesn't want you to see
Ukraine on Fire has the same potential and could make a contribution that even goes beyond what the Davis film did because there was very little new information in Hearts and Minds. Especially for American and Western European audiences, Ukraine on Fire could be revelatory in that it offers a historical explanation for the deep divisions within Ukraine and presents information about the current crisis that challenges the mainstream media's paradigm, which blames the conflict almost exclusively on Russia.



Bomb

16 year old Syrian refugee on trial in Cologne over ISIS bomb plot charges

bomb plot
© Michael Dalder / Reuters
A 16-year-old Syrian refugee has gone on trial in the German city of Cologne over charges that he planned a bomb attack on behalf of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

The teenager, identified only as "Mohammad J" by RTL News, was arrested at an asylum shelter in the city in September. Authorities described him as a "serious threat" at the time, according to AFP.

According to police, the 16-year-old's mobile phone showed he had been in touch with an IS contact abroad, and had expressed a willingness to carry out an attack.

Prosecutors speaking at the trial on Monday said that investigators also found online chat messages on the phone which included "concrete instructions" on how to build an explosive device.

Pistol

5 injured in Istanbul cafe shooting

Istanbul shooting
© Osman Orsal / Reuters
Two people on motorcycles opened fire at a coffee shop in Istanbul, wounding five people, DHA news agency reported.

The attack took place in the northwest Istanbul district of Fatih where provincial government offices, authorities, including the governor's office, police headquarters and the metropolitan municipality are based.

Comment: Updates to follow.


Heart - Black

Torturing their own: Daesh now raping Sunni women too

sunni_rape
© Reuters/ Zohra Bensemra
Daesh fighters are detaining, ill-treating, torturing, and forcibly marrying Sunni Arab women and girls in areas under their control in Iraq - the first cases identified of such practices being inflicted against Sunni Arab women.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) researchers interviewed a number of women who fled the Daesh-controlled town of Hawija, to the northern city of Kirkuk. While HRW and the United Nations have previously documented extensive sexual abuses carried out by Daesh against Yazidi women, including the execution of 250 girls who refused to be sex slaves, this is the first time such abuses have been detected among the Sunni community.

Pills

You're not being shamed. You're being expected to act like a civilized adult

shamed adult
By some stroke of misfortune I happened across this headline from People Magazine: "Yoga Instructor Practices in White Pants While Free-Bleeding to Make a Point About Period Shame."

I only hope aliens from an advanced civilization aren't able to access our Internet. Surely, if they saw this, or pretty much anything else that gets posted to the internet on a daily basis, they'd correctly surmise that we are a race of dangerous lunatics. Their only recourse at that point would be to incinerate us with their alien Death Ray.

On second thought, maybe I do hope they can access our internet.

The article tells us about a woman named Steph Gongora who takes inspiring Instagram videos of herself bleeding into her pants while she does yoga poses. Her latest video has this caption:
"I am a woman, therefore, I bleed. It's messy, it's painful, it's terrible and it's beautiful. And yet, you wouldn't know. Because I hide it. I bury things at the bottom of the trash. I breathe, ragged and awkward through the cramps, all the while holding onto this tight-lipped, painted-on smile... Hundreds of years of culture have made us embarrassed to bleed, have left us feeling dirty and ashamed..."

Comment: Liberalism once purported to stand for human values. However, Western society as it is today shows it values the absence of values most of all. The fringe and the degenerate are placed on pedestals. People now demand respect for a lack of basic human decency. A society centered on deterioration will get the very thing it seeks.