Society's ChildS


People

Americans are more politically polarized than ever with millennials more conservative than you think

Jacqueline Howard
CNN
Wed, 07 Sep 2016 20:30 UTC
millennials
Millennials: born between 1980 and 1994.
It might be time to rethink the millennial voter.

A new paper suggests that Americans are more politically polarized now than they've been in the past 46 years, and millennials are guiding this trend.

The young adults, who were born between 1980 and 1994, are currently more politically polarized than Generation Xers and Baby Boomers, according to the paper, which was published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin on Wednesday.

Additionally, millennials are more likely to identify as conservative than either Generation Xers or Baby Boomers were at the same age, said Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and lead author of the paper.

"High school seniors are more likely to identify as political conservatives now compared to 10 years ago. Most surprising, more identify as conservatives now compared to the 1980s, presumably the era of the young conservative, such as the character Alex P. Keaton in the 1980s show 'Family Ties.' That goes against the common view of millennials as very liberal," said Twenge, author of the book about millennials titled "Generation Me."

Comment: Our nation is headed to hell in a handbasket and voting won't change that.

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Question

Russian author Gennady Sokolov: Tycoon Berezovsky murdered in 2013 by UK spies for Prince Philip 'porn pics'


RT
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 11:23 UTC
Berezovsky
© Andrew Winning/ReutersBoris Berezovsky, a murky past, a murky death.
Russian business tycoon Boris Berezovsky was assassinated by British spies after threatening to hand over scandalous photos of Prince Philip to Moscow, a Russian intelligence expert and author has said.

Critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin have long speculated that one-time billionaire Berezovsky was murdered by pro-Putin hitmen in 2013. But Moscow espionage author Gennady Sokolov has now pointed the finger at British spies, insisting the killing was connected with scandalous photos of Prince Philip, according to British tabloid the Sun.

The alleged photos, taken in the 1950s at the Thursday Club - a drinking and social set of which Prince Philip was a member - reportedly show the Duke of Edinburgh at a party with other club members and half-naked women. Prince Philip is said to have been fully clothed in the pictures.

The snaps are believed to have been taken by Prince Philip's photographer friend Baron Nahum, but were reportedly copied by a Soviet spy, Evgeny Ivanov, who brought them to the USSR during the Cold War, the writer claims. The same Evgeny Ivanov seduced Christine Keeler, the lover of then-British War Minister John Profumo.

According to Sokolov, Berezovsky acquired the photographs at some point, and likely handed them over to the British authorities - taking them out of circulation and preventing the risk of a media frenzy which could have left the Duke of Edinburgh red-faced. Sokolov believes such a move would have been part of an effort by Berezovsky to get into the good books of the British government, as he was aiming to gain political asylum in the country.

Comment: This is Sokolov's third for sure theory on Berezovsky's death. Others have speculated about a heart attack, suicide, and strangulation. Due to previous attempts on Berezovsky's life, he employed ex-spies from the Mossad as bodyguards. In addition, he had health issues treated in Israel, heavy debts, faced bankruptcy, massive lawsuit losses and account freezes. A plethora of reasons, plus contradictory evidence, entertain a plethora of theories. Brits protecting their own? As good as any other.

See also:

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Cowboy Hat

'Enemy kills': Three former US Air force drone operators back Yemeni victims' lawsuit


RT
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 19:23 UTC
Yemen wall painting
© Khaled Abdullah
Three former military veterans who were once involved in the US drone program are supporting a Yemeni man's lawsuit demanding answers about why his family members were killed in a 2012 strike.

All three vets ‒ Brandon Bryant, Lisa Ling and Cian Westmoreland ‒ worked on the Obama administration's covert drone killing program and filed an amicus curiae, or "friend of the court" brief, in Jaber v Obama in the US District Court of Appeals in Washington, DC.

"Contrary to Executive Branch claims that the program operates with strict adherence to international legal principles and state sovereignty, amici witnessed a secret, global system without regard for borders, conducting widespread surveillance with the ability to conduct deadly targeting killing operations," stated the veterans' 17-page filing, urging the court to overturn a previous decision to throw out Jaber's case.
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People

Indian workers staged one of the largest strikes in history: No one on U.S. cable news covered it

Zaid Jilani
The Intercept
Tue, 06 Sep 2016 18:45 UTC
workers rally against Modi's economic policies
© Ajay Verma/Reuters
Ten Indian trade unions staged one of the largest strikes in human history on Friday, with tens of millions of public sector workers participating in a shutdown of parts of the Indian economy to protest Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic plans.


Comment: Union officials said about 180 million workers, including state bank employees, school teachers, postal workers, miners and construction workers, were participating, but the figure could not be independently verified.


But if you're an American relying on cable news, it would be hard to know it ever happened.

Not a single American cable news network ran a segment focused on India's massive strike, even on Labor Day, the U.S.'s annual holiday dedicated to workers.

Comment: Modi has ambitious plans for the densely populated country: Narendra Modi's new world: First 100 days,10 top moves

And is seen to be popular: India under Modi: Pew survey shows national pride has never been this high since 1970

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Bulb

Paralyzed man considers suing EasyJet after being removed from flight


RT
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 18:42 UTC
easyjet flight
© Jacky Naegelen / Reuters
A hemiplegic Frenchman with a half-paralyzed body who was removed from an EasyJet flight after he had already been helped to get on board found the experience humiliating and is now considering taking the airline to court.

The incident took place on Monday when 33-year-old Nicolas Morvan boarded a flight from Bordeaux - Mérignac International Airport to Lyon. He was traveling to Lyon for the baptism of his niece.

Airport staff helped Morvan, who has difficulties moving, to board the flight, and EasyJet staff approached him only when he was already sitting in his seat.

"The cabin staff asked me if I could take life vest and move to an exit door in case of emergency... I answered 'No' as my mother had already noted in the questionnaire a few days earlier," he said in an interview to Sud-Ouest newspaper.

Then cabin staff went to consult with the captain and then returned to explain that Morvan couldn't be accommodated on the plane without special assistance. Morvan's neighbor volunteered to help, but his assistance was reportedly rejected.
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Question

Brown University: Free tampons to be handed out in women's and men's bathrooms

Sydney Hutchison
Campus Reform
Wed, 07 Sep 2016 18:15 UTC
man with tampon
Brown University's student body president will be hand-delivering menstrual products to all nonresidential bathrooms on campus, including men's rooms, with the help of 20 other students.

Viet Nguyen, President of the Undergraduate Council of Students, announced the initiative in a campus-wide email Tuesday, saying he wants to communicate the message that not all people who menstruate are women, according to Newsweek.


Comment: Seriously?! Menstruation is right up there with having breasts and a vagina as one of the hallmarks of womanhood.


"There's been a lot of conversation about why pads and tampons are a necessity, not a luxury, but not a lot of action. We wanted to take it into our own hands," Nguyen explains in the email, observing that "low-income students struggle with having the necessary funding for food, let alone tampons."

Comment: There is nothing wrong with handing out free menstrual products but handing them out in male bathrooms defies all logic. This gender inclusivity nonsense is absolute lunacy.

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Red Flag

Italy decriminalizes public masturbation


RT
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 17:42 UTC
italy flag
© Stefano Rellandini / ReutersCulprits will face a fine, but no prison time
Those who like to play with their sausage and meatballs in the company of others have a new Mecca after Italy's Supreme Court declared public masturbation is not a criminal offense.

The decision overruled the sentence of a 69-year-old man for "taking out his penis" and "practicing autoeroticism" outside a university in Catania. The court ruled the "act is not included in the law as a crime," according to La Republica, eliminating his three month prison sentence.

The culprit, known as "Pietro L," still faces a hefty fine of between €5,000 to €30,000, but he is free to roam and play with himself in the streets.

Last year, the Italian parliament decriminalized lurking in places frequented by young girls with the intention of masturbating in front of them, paving the way for this more recent ruling.
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Pistol

Shooter dead at Texas high school, student and police officer injured


RT
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 17:06 UTC
alpine high school
© Alpine School District / Facebook
A female student and a police officer were shot and injured at Alpine High School in West Texas. The shooter appears to have committed suicide, police said. All schools in the Alpine Independent School District are on "critical lockdown."

The shooter was also female, Brewster County Sheriff Ronny told Alpine Radio. Five shots were fired. The police officer was shot during a friendly fire incident, according to the Alpine Avalanche.

Authorities are now directing resources to Sul Ross State University, also in Alpine, after receiving a threat against the school, Dodson told Marfa Public Radio.
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Sheriff

Violent school crime has declined by 82%, so why are police still in schools?

Aaron Kupchik
The Conversation
Tue, 06 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
school police
Children across the U.S. have now returned to school. Many of these children are going to schools with sworn police officers patrolling the hallways. These officers, usually called school resource officers, are placed in schools across the country to help maintain school safety.

According to the most recent data reported by the Department of Education, police or security guards were present in 76.4 percent of U.S. public high schools in the 2009-2010 school year.

In many of these schools, police officers are being asked to deal with a range of issues that are very different from traditional policing duties, such as being a mental health counselor for a traumatized child. This is an unfair request.

Days after the recent tragedy in Dallas, for example, as he grieved for the five slain officers, Dallas Police Chief David Brown referred to this problem when he said,
"We're asking cops to do too much in this country... Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve. Not enough mental health funding, let the cops handle it. ... Schools fail, let's give it to the cops. ... "
For the past decade I have been studying how we police schools and punish students. My recent book, "The Real School Safety Problem," and a growing body of other studies point to the fact that, indeed, schools ask police to do too much in schools.

Not only is it unfair to the police, it can be harmful for children.

Comment: Schools are becoming more like prisons as American kids are now subject to the same violent police behavior that plagues the rest of the criminal justice system. Children are being searched, spied on, threatened, beaten and treated like criminals for the most minor infractions making them easy targets for the private prison industry, which profits from criminalizing childish behavior.

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Red Flag

Gary Johnson crushes the hopes of libertarians everywhere by asking, "What is Aleppo?"

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thu, 08 Sep 2016 16:36 UTC
Gary Johnson
The Libertarian candidate for president has apparently not been keeping close tabs on the Syrian civil war that has decimated the country and created hundreds of thousands of refugees. As TalkingPointsMemo details the entire conversation...
"What would you do if you were elected about Aleppo?" Mike Barnicle asked Gary Johnson on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"About?" Johnson asked.
"Aleppo," Barnicle repeated, referring to Syria's second-largest city, which has been hit in recent weeks by a series of devastating chemical gas attacks and targeted bombing strikes on its few remaining medical facilities.
"And what is Aleppo?" Johnson asked sunnily, to the astonishment of the "Morning Joe" hosts.
"You're kidding," Barnicle said.

Comment: The 3rd party candidate issues an explanation:
Following his Aleppo flub this morning, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson has issued a statement:
This morning, I began my day by setting aside any doubt that I'm human. Yes, I understand the dynamics of the Syrian conflict — I talk about them every day. But hit with "What about Aleppo?", I immediately was thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict. I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of this campaign.Can I name every city in Syria? No. Should I have identified Aleppo? Yes. Do I understand its significance? Yes.

As Governor, there were many things I didn't know off the top of my head. But I succeeded by surrounding myself with the right people, getting to the bottom of important issues, and making principled decisions. It worked. That is what a President must do. That would begin, clearly, with daily security briefings that, to me, will be fundamental to the job of being President.
While some presidential candidates might have claimed it was a sexist question, attempted to distract from the question with ad hominem attacks, or blamed past medical problems, libertarian Gary Johnson offered a refreshingly honest statement basically saying, "sorry, I am human."


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