Society's ChildS


Music

Alabama band accepts invitation to march at Trump inauguration, ignites controversy

Jeff Martin
Yahoo News
Mon, 02 Jan 2017 17:58 UTC
Talladega College band Trump
© Leada GoreThe Marching Tornadoes from Talladega College
The marching band of Alabama's oldest private, historically black liberal arts college has accepted an invitation to perform at President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural parade, organizers said.

Talladega College's band will march at Trump's inauguration as other historically black schools such as Howard University, which performed at President Barack Obama's first inaugural parade, said they won't be marching in the Jan. 20 event.

"We were a bit horrified to hear of the invitation," said Shirley Ferrill of Fairfield, Alabama, a member of Talladega's Class of 1974.

"I don't want my alma mater to give the appearance of supporting him," Ferrill said of Trump on Monday. "Ignore, decline or whatever, but please don't send our band out in our name to do that."

The move has lit up Talladega College's social media sites with a sharp debate about the band's decision to participate in the parade. Some people voiced strong opposition, while others support the band's participation.
Read More...
Dollars

Sheriff sues county claiming bosses ignored his claims of sexual harassment by female superior

Tresa Baldas
Detroit Free Press
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 17:42 UTC
sheriff
When Wayne County Sheriff's officer Philip Kozlowski Sr. complained at work that a female boss was sexually harassing him, his male supervisors allegedly laughed it off.

When a Genesee County Sheriff deputy made a similar complaint against a woman, his male boss allegedly told him: "take one for the team."

Both men took their claims to court. The Genesee County man won nothing from a jury in July.

Kozlowski is taking his chances.

In a salacious employment lawsuit that's unfolding in U.S. District Court in Detroit, Kozlowski, 53, claims a female boss sexually taunted him for a year with raunchy comments, inappropriate behavior and unwanted advances, including: offering him oral sex; suggesting he get his wife drunk and have a threesome with her; giving his partners fake assignments so that she could be alone with him; frequently driving by his house, and texting his personal cell phone.

Kozlowski, however, isn't suing the woman. He's suing his employer for allegedly ignoring his plea for help, joining hundreds of men nationwide who are debunking machismo stereotypes every year in filing complaints about sexual harassment.
Read More...
Bad Guys

French jihadist back from Syria sentenced to 10 years in prison


Sputnik
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 18:42 UTC
Locked prison gate
© Flickr/ Tommaso
On December 2, a Paris court sentenced Nicolas Moreau to 10 years in prison for criminal association with a terrorist organization. The 32-year old did not hear the sentence in person, having refused to leave Fleury-Merogis, the prison where he was being held on remand.

Prosecutors argued the former fisherman from Nantes presented an "extremely dangerous threat," warning he risked returning to jihadism once released. During the trial, Moreau had warned judges that he would "take up arms" again if given a lengthy sentence, as a "heavy penalty" would make it harder for him to reintegrate into society.

Moreau joined Daesh in January 2014 and carried out a number of roles for the organization, including manning guard towers and running a restaurant in the Daesh claimed capital, Raqqa.

However, he revealed over the course of the trial that he also participated in several "actions" during his time there, including a 'inghimasi' — typically regarded as a kamikaze operation by Daesh, which he claimed to have had a 10 percent chance of surviving. He eventually fled the terror organization in June 2015, claiming to be appalled by the "excesses" of the group, wishing instead to get married and return to normal civilian life.

"They abuse and torture prisoners, they sever heads... they make misery even for Muslims," he said at the trial.
Read More...
Laptop

British military's online trolling unit 40% understrength after failing to attract enough recruits


RT
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 17:35 UTC
British cyber soldiers computer
© AFP
The British military's secretive internet trolling unit has failed to meet its recruitment targets despite a high-profile campaign, according to new figures.

Freedom of information requests by the Register show that the much-hyped unit is 40 percent understrength.

The unit is meant to be 448-strong with 182 full-time service personnel combined with 266 reservists. The current strength is just 276.

Comment: The art of disinformation and distraction: How trolls control an internet forum

Read More...
Dollar

Finland kicks off basic income experiment this month, giving 2,000 citizens a guaranteed income

Ivana Kottasova
CNN Money
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 17:05 UTC
euros
Goodbye euros!
Finland has started a radical experiment: It's giving 2,000 citizens a guaranteed income, with funds that keep flowing whether participants work or not.

The program, which kicks off this month, is one of the first efforts to test a "universal basic income." Participants will receive €560 ($587) a month -- money that is guaranteed regardless of income, wealth or employment status.

The idea is that a universal income offers workers greater security, especially as technological advances reduce the need for human labor. It will also allow unemployed people to pick up odd jobs without losing their benefits.

The initial program will run for a period of two years. Participants were randomly selected, but had to be receiving unemployment benefits or an income subsidy. The money they are paid through the program will not be taxed.

If the program is successful, it could be expanded to include all adult Finns.

The Finnish government thinks the initiative could save money in the long run. The country's welfare system is complex and expensive to run, and simplifying it could reduce costly bureaucracy.

The change could also encourage more jobless people to look for work, because they won't have to worry about losing unemployment benefits. Some unemployed workers currently avoid part time jobs because even a small income boost could result in their unemployment benefits being canceled.

"Incidental earnings do not reduce the basic income, so working and ... self-employment are worthwhile no matter what," said Marjukka Turunen, the head of the legal unit at Kela, Finland's social insurance agency.

Comment:

Read More...
People 2

Colleges offer male students programs to help with 'critical self-reflection' of toxic masculinity

Jeremy Beaman
The College Fix
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 16:47 UTC
male vulnerability
'Goal is to create a sense of security in vulnerability ...'

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is currently taking applications for its "Men's Project," a six-week program that aims to counter the alleged harmful effects of society's masculinity paradigms and pressures and empower participants to promote "gender equity."

"Men's Project creates a space for critical self-reflection and dialogue about what it means to be a man and how masculinity impacts us and those around us," organizers state in promoting the effort.

"The experience focuses on the examination of societal images, expectations, and messages around masculinity to empower men to better understand themselves, promote the advancement of gender equity, and raise consciousness in their communities," organizers add.

It's open only to "men-identified students" at the public university and "operates on a transformative model of social justice allyship," according to a news release on the university's website, which adds "by encouraging that kind of dialogue among a men-identified cohort, the goal is to create a sense of security in vulnerability throughout the six-week program."

Participants will begin the project with a weekend retreat in February and continue meeting weekly, discussing topics such as media and pop culture, vulnerability, sexuality, hook-up culture, alcohol, relationships and violence.

The program is now in its second year and was most recently offered in fall 2016, according to its Facebook page.

Comment:

Read More...
Cross

Pope Francis calls for zero tolerance towards child molesters


RT
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 16:40 UTC
pope francis
© Craig Ruttle / Reuters
Pope Francis has called for "zero tolerance" towards sex crimes against children and condemned as "a sin that shames" both perpetrators of such offences among the clergy as well as those who cover up such atrocities.

The head of the Catholic Church addressed bishops across the globe in a letter on December 28, but it was released by the Vatican press service only on Monday. The letter focused on scourge of child sexual abuse within the Church.

"Christmas is ... accompanied, whether we like it or not, by tears. The Evangelists did not disguise reality to make it more credible or attractive. They did not indulge in words that were comforting but unrelated to reality," the Pope wrote.

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has undertaken several steps to battle shameful practices within the Church and to protect children. The problem still exists however, as "we hear this heart-rending cry of pain, which we neither desire nor are able to ignore or to silence."

"Can we truly experience Christian joy if we turn our backs on these realities? Can Christian joy even exist if we ignore the cry of our brothers and sisters, the cry of the children?" the Pontiff asks.
Read More...
Book 2

Hitler's "Mein Kampf" becomes surprise German bestseller

Deborah Cole
Yahoo! News
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 16:22 UTC
Hitler's
© AFP/Tobias Schwarz
The first reprint of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf in Germany since World War II has proved a surprise bestseller, heading for its sixth print run, its publisher said Tuesday.

The Institute of Contemporary History of Munich (IfZ) said around 85,000 copies of the new annotated version of the Nazi leader's anti-Semitic manifesto had flown off the shelves since its release last January.

However, the respected institute said that far from promoting far-right ideology, the publication had enriched a debate on the renewed rise of "authoritarian political views" in contemporary Western society.

It had initially planned to print only 4,000 copies but boosted production immediately based on intense demand. The sixth print run will hit bookstores in late January. The two-volume work had figured on the non-fiction bestseller list in weekly magazine Der Spiegel over much of the last year, and even topped the list for two weeks in April.

The institute also organised a successful series of presentations and debates around Mein Kampf across Germany and in other European cities, which it said allowed it to measure the impact of the new edition.

Comment: See also: Adolf Hitler: A look at how the Dunning-Kruger effect manifested itself in a political archetype

Read More...
Stock Up

Anchor of stability: India's economy set to sustain 7.6% growth rate in 2017


RT
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 03:35 UTC
india railway
© Arko Datta / Reuters
The seventh world economy is set to continue growing quicker than China this year, a UN study forecasts.

"India's economy is projected to sustain a 7.6 percent growth rate in both fiscal years 2016-17 and 2017-18," according to the year-end update of the Economic and Social Survey for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 2016 report of the United Nations.

While India saw a contraction in fixed investment in the second quarter of 2016, the UN study expects a rebound, given the continuing structural reforms by the government.
Read More...
People

Over 8,000 African migrants 'disappeared' off Swiss radar in 2016


RT
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 15:35 UTC
Migrants in a Swiss Federal refugee center
© Ruben Sprich / Reuters Migrants in a Swiss Federal refugee center set-up in a tank hall on the army base in Thun, Switzerland March 22, 2016.
Switzerland has witnessed a 40 percent increase in asylum seekers who dropped off the radar after arriving in the country. Over 8,000 migrants simply disappeared in 2016 after abandoning the asylum procedures without informing Swiss authorities.

Between January and the end of November 2016, a total of 8,166 asylum seekers chose to abandon their refugee applications, Martin Reichlin, a spokesman for the Migration Ministry (SEM) revealed.

Those who dropped out of the bureaucratic process include people who believed that their application would be rejected or those who wished to join relatives in another European country. The SEM believes that these missing migrants continued their journey towards Germany.

Comment: Interesting that the missing migrants are mainly from Africa and not the Middle East.

Germany also has a problem with missing refugees: Some 9,000 refugee children reported missing in Germany; double since start of year

Read More...