Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

Deaths in custody: 25 years after the royal commission, we've gone backwards

aboriginal flag
© Greg NewingtonIndigenous prison and police custody rates have actually increased since the royal commission tabled its report.
This week marks 25 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody tabled its national report.

With five volumes of research, investigative accounts of 99 deaths in custody, and 339 recommendations, the report was meant to be a blueprint for reducing the disproportionate incarceration of Indigenous Australians and deaths in custody.

But a quarter of a century later, the situation is actually worse.

The impetus

In March 1987, the now-defunct Committee to Defend Black Rights began counting Aboriginal deaths in custody as part of a national campaign. It found one Indigenous person died while incarcerated every 11 days.

Comment: A paradigm shift is indeed the only hope of stopping the ongoing abuse carried out daily by those in power.


Top Secret

Chicago's Homan Square so secretive most police didn't know who they were holding

Homan Square, Chicago
© Jim Young / Reuters
Thousands of people were taken by police to Homan Square, Chicago's off-site interrogation center, over the last decade, yet the public had no way of knowing who was being held at the facility - and most of the time police didn't know either.

Out of the 7,351 arrests at Homan Square that have been disclosed since 2004, Chicago police officers not working at the facility would have been able to find information on only 275 of them - or less than 4 percent, according to a new report by the Guardian, which cited police documents and depositions from officers obtained after it filed a freedom of information lawsuit.

The public, meanwhile, wouldn't have had access to any of the records.

Comment: See also: Chicago police union desperate to destroy key records in Homan Square investigation


Books

Obama to forgive all federal student loan debt to permanently disabled

President Obama
© Jonathan Ernst / ReutersU.S. President Barack Obama
The Obama administration is directing several federal agencies, including the Department of Education and the Social Security Administration, to forgive $7.7 billion of student loans to around 400,000 people with permanent disabilities.

Following last year's White House-announced Student Aid Bill of Rights, designed to reorient how student loans were repaid, President Obama announced on Tuesday a directive to fully forgive the federal student loan debt owed by those with permanent disabilities, or PD.

Comment: See also: U.S. student loan defaults hit an astounding $121 billion with 40% of all borrowers not making any payments


Arrow Up

Russian resolution to restore devastated ancient city of Palmyra approved by UNESCO

temple bel Palmyra
© Gustau Nacarino / Reuters A general view shows the ancient Temple of Bel in the historical city of Palmyra
A Russia-drafted resolution on the role of UNESCO in restoring the devastated ancient city of Palmyra back to its former glory has been unanimously approved by the organization. The initiative comes as Russian sappers along with the Syrian Army work to revive the city.

The proposed document outlines the steps the organization is to take to return the site to its original state. The resolution titled "On the role of UNESCO in restoring and preserving Palmyra and other Syrian cultural heritage sites" was approved unanimously during the organization's 199th session which is currently taking place in Paris.

Russia's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO Eleonora Mitrofanova said the project is both of "practical" and "symbolic" importance.

"The symbolism lies in the fact that having reached consensus on the issue means we are showing our unanimous solidarity to the people of the Syrian Arab Republic, suffering from the war. As for practical sense, it shows that we express our willingness to unite our forces and means necessary to restore and preserve Palmyra and other Syria's World heritage sites," Mitrofanova said.

Comment: Unlike the US empire which rains destruction wherever it goes, Russia continues to demonstrate its commitment to bringing peace, humanitarian assistance and rebuilding countries devastated by war.


Bulb

CEO of Siemens calls for lifting of anti-Russian sanctions

Dietrich Moller
© Mihail Mokrushin / SputnikDietrich Moller, President, Siemens Russia
"We are against sanctions and insist they be lifted," the President and CEO of Siemens Russia Dietrich Moeller told RT on the sidelines of a conference on the development of the industrial internet in Russia.

Moeller says that although Siemens' contracts haven't been affected by anti-Russian sanctions, the company has been losing new orders. "The sanctions have a knock-on effect on us, touching financing," he said, stressing that customers cannot fund new projects.

Major business players such as Siemens are always in touch with government, but politics shouldn't be mixed up with the economy, according to Moeller.

"Siemens is not engaged in politics, our company stands for a favorable business environment and removing sanctions that create an adverse business climate," said Moeller.

Megaphone

Financial whistleblower: CIA is behind the Panama Papers leak

mossack fonseca office
© Ed Grimaldo / AFPPolice stand guard outside the Mossack Fonseca law firm offices in Panama City during a raid on April 12, 2016
Financial whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld, who helped expose American tax evaders hiding assets in Swiss banks, has little doubt the Panama leaks scandal was crafted and orchestrated by the CIA.

In an exclusive interview from Munich, Birkenfeld told CNBC on Tuesday that the leak of over 11 million documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca is most likely not a whistleblower job, but rather an "intelligence agency operation."

"The CIA I'm sure is behind this, in my opinion," Birkenfeld said, citing as evidence selective management of the information exposed to the public domain that "doesn't hurt the US in any shape or form."

"The very fact that we see all these names surface that are the direct quote-unquote enemies of the United States: Russia, China, Pakistan, Argentina... and we don't see one US name. Why is that? Quite frankly, my feeling is that this is certainly an intelligence agency operation," CNBC cited Birkenfeld as saying.

"That's wrong. And there's something seriously sinister behind this," Birkenfeld said.

Eye 2

It's OK when we do it: 11 examples of Americans going for revenge after 9/11

dubya
© Jason Reed / ReutersFormer US President George W Bush
The teenage brother of Paris attack "mastermind" Abdelhamid Abaaoud has reportedly left Syria to "avenge" his death, but while this new information is portrayed as a threat, the same was not the case for those vengeful relatives of 9/11 victims who joined the US military and took it out mostly on Muslims on the other side of the world.

Following the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, relatives seeking revenge was often portrayed as an act of patriotism - with more killing considered a valid way to honor those already killed.

1. George Walker from Savannah, Georgia enrolled after his uncle was killed during the World Trade Center attacks.

2. Army Sgt. Edwin Morales, photographed during the 2015 service at the World Trade Center memorial, says he joined because his firefighter cousin Ruben "Dave" Correa was killed.

Bandaid

Making amends: North Carolina governor makes concessions on some aspects of anti-LGBT law

Gov. McCrory
© Office of Governor Pat McCrory / YouTube
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory made a concession on a controversial new law known as House Bill 2 in an executive order signed Tuesday. Employment policy will now cover discrimination claims related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

House Bill 2 (HB2) is commonly known as the "bathroom bill" that limits anti-discrimination protections for the LGBT community and requires transgendered individuals use the bathrooms corresponding to their birth gender, not their identified gender. The law also prevented local governments from creating their own ordinances and legal protections for transgender people.

Comment: See also: NY Governor and NYC mayor ban nonessential travel to North Carolina as protest over anti-LGBT law
  • PayPal withdraws North Carolina investment project over anti-LGBT legislation



Evil Rays

Everything is super swell at Johnson & Johnson, except for the cancer-causing baby powder

Baby powder
Today let's talk about Johnson & Johnson. You know, the iconic health care and pharmaceutical company? A beloved brand that's trusted around the world but as American as apple pie.

Baby powder? What does baby powder have to do with it?

The name Johnson & Johnson probably brings to mind consumer health products like Neutrogena, Bengay, Band-Aid, Rogaine, and Listerine, or pharmaceuticals like Tylenol, Motrin, Sudafed, Benadryl and Imodium.

What are you talking about? What baby powder story? Look, I'm trying to report on an upstanding company here!

As I was saying, you probably know their famous health products and pharmaceuticals, but did you know they also manufacture medical devices? That's right, Johnson & Johnson devices are used to treat a wide range of conditions, from cardiovascular disease and arrhythmia to hernias and sinusitis.

Alright, look, enough with the baby powder. Technically it's talcum, alright. Talcum. And yes, it's carcinogenic. But it's no big deal, OK?

Well, I'm here today to tell you that Johnson & Johnson's future is so bright you've got to wear shades! Just ask expert stock pickers like The Motley Fool. They'll tell you that J&J has outperformed the S&P 500 all year long. And over the last 5, 10 and 45 years, too!

Books

Russian school may open in Houston, Texas

Houston Independent School District
A Russian school may be opened in the US state of Texas, the chairperson of Russian Civic Chamber's commission on developing public diplomacy and supporting compatriots abroad told TASS on Tuesday.

"The Houston Independent School District addressed us with the initiative to open a Russian-language primary school both for our compatriots and American children, who wish to study the Russian language," Elena Sutormina said. "We back the idea and will ask the Rossotrudnichestvo [the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation] to help us implement the project."

The agency's head, Lyubov Glebova, announced a program on opening Russian schools abroad last year.

On Monday, the Civic Chamber launched the Compatriots Club for Russians living abroad.

"The club is supposed to preserve the Russian culture and traditions and promote our country's interests abroad," Sutormina said.