Society's ChildS


Dollars

Your tax dollars at work: Chicagoans pay $7K 24 hours a day to victims of police brutality

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 20 Mar 2016 17:04 UTC
chicago police
© Getty Images
As we've seen in recent months, the Chicago police are anything but honest when it comes to officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths. In only a short period, multiple videos were released showing Chicago cops gun down men as they ran away - contradicting their original stories of having a gun pointed at them.

From revelations about the department operating a black site at Homan Square, to multiple incidents of police destruction of records, to officer's general tendency for lying until video reveals otherwise — Chicago police could easily be described as a dangerous gang.

Last December, Spencer Ackerman, a reporter for The Guardian who exposed the Homan Square scandal, testified before the Cook County Commission revealing that more than 7,000 people had disappeared within the black site between August 2004 and June 2015. Instead of formally arresting suspects at Homan Square, Chicago cops are accused of shackling suspects to the wall for hours without bathroom breaks while violating their constitutional rights by threatening and beating them without the presence of an attorney.

Comment: Since most cops cannot be persuaded by calls for compassion, empathy and caring maybe hitting them in their wallets would be a good start. Would professional liability insurance requirement for police weed out the bad cops?

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Beaker

Chemical toxicity in Colorado rec center sends 22 to hospital


RT
Sun, 20 Mar 2016 09:33 UTC
swimmers
© Thomas Peter / ReutersToxic chemicals in public swimming pool sends many children, adults to hospital.
Twenty-two patients, most of them children, were taken to hospitals in Colorado following a chemical incident, initially reported to be a chlorine gas spill, at a Lafayette recreation center's pool. The facility has been closed to the public. The patients reported symptoms such as coughing and nausea, Lafayette Fire Chief David Friedel said, adding he had "no clue why those people took ill."

He couldn't confirm what type of chemical spill took place inside either. Multiple agencies appeared at the scene, Friedel said. The Boulder County Sheriff's office had a Hazmat crew investigating the nature of the incident, Denver TV reported. "It was very hectic originally," Friedel told journalists during a press conference when asked whether the incident was a serious one.

"Whenever you have 22 patients, that's a big deal. We're a small community. That's definitely a mass casualty incident," Lafayette Fire Chief added. Friedel said that no other areas were affected by the incident, which occurred at 4:10pm in the pool area of the Bob L. Burger Recreation Center on Saturday. According to the Daily Camera, one witness, Mike Dufresne said he was getting ready to walk into the locker room when he saw people "coming out coughing and choking and having a hard time breathing." All rec center visitors inside were immediately evacuated and taken to the adjacent Pioneer Elementary School.

The Boulder County Health Department will be carrying out tests on the pool water on Monday. Initial monitoring tests performed at the recreation center by the Lafayette Fire Department and the Boulder County Hazardous Materials Team were unable to detect any lingering gas or chemical levels, the Daily Camera said.

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Eye 1

Study: Knowledge of mass surveillance creates 'chilling effect' and is silencing dissent online

Nafeez Ahmed
Motherboard
Thu, 17 Mar 2016 05:00 UTC
Chilling Effect of Mass Surveillance
Thanks largely to whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelations in 2013, most Americans now realize that the intelligence community monitors and archives all sorts of online behaviors of both foreign nationals and US citizens.

But did you know that the very fact that you know this could have subliminally stopped you from speaking out online on issues you care about?

Now research suggests that widespread awareness of such mass surveillance could undermine democracy by making citizens fearful of voicing dissenting opinions in public.

A paper published last week in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, the flagship peer-reviewed journal of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), found that "the government's online surveillance programs may threaten the disclosure of minority views and contribute to the reinforcement of majority opinion."

Comment: Interesting that Snowden's disclosures can be considered counterproductive from what's implied in this research. But counterproductive or not, one of the things SOTT is designed to do is to 'defrost' this 'chilling effect' and affirm the choice to live in the knowledge and the truth of what our governments (among other organizations and individuals) are doing. One of the problems is that many people - authoritarian followers in many cases - cannot see past the conscious and unconscious fears they have of being isolated, separated or on the outs with 'big brother'. There are others though who are seeking what's true about the world, and for them we serve as a kind of social proof or permission to make the choice to acquire and share knowledge.

We're not holding our breath, but with any hope the signal of truth may one day help reach the tipping point to much wider recognition and awareness of our planet's true problems, like a homeopathic remedy perhaps. And establish a critical mass of said awareness that offers new possibilities for people who hope to be part of a far healthier and better functioning world.

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Star of David

The hypocrisy of AIPAC members protesting the fascism of Trump but remaining silent about Netanyahu

Roy Isacowitz
Haaretz
Sun, 20 Mar 2016 13:42 UTC
Netanyahu
© ReutersNetanyahu acknowledges applause as he arrives to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), in Washington, March 4, 2014.
American Jews are capable of recognizing the potential fascism of Trump, but not the existing tyranny of Israel's rule over the Palestinians, under the decade-long leadership of Netanyahu.

Many American Jews are angered at the prospect of Donald Trump addressing the AIPAC policy conference in Washington this coming week and are promising to abstain from attending, walk out of the hall or protest his presence in other ways.

"Throughout his campaign Trump has made statements that have been bigoted, racist, misogynistic, and Islamophobic - some could argue even statements that were anti-Semitic," wrote Rabbi Jesse Olitzky, representing a group of professionals and clergy which calls itself Come Together Against Hate.

"If we sit around and do nothing, even if we sit in silence, that shows complacency and that, by default, we agree with what he says," Olitzky wrote. "It is imperative to me as a communal leader, and to all Jews there who are going, that we stand up to his demagoguery."

Which would make perfect sense, were it not for the fact that the American community, both as individuals and as communal leaders, has been sitting in silence and showing complacency in the face of demagoguery and racism for years already, without feeling the need to stand up and do something about it.

AIPAC, that bastion of Jewish values, has gone even further. Rather than sitting in complacent silence, it has given repeated and resounding standing ovations, year after year, to Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli demagogues and racists, who not only talk the talk - as Trump has done so far - but walk the walk, as well.
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Heart - Black

Teen horror blogger admits to killing mother and stepfather


RT
Sat, 19 Mar 2016 13:54 UTC
Ashlee Martinson
© FacebookAshlee Martinson.
Under the name Vampchick, Ashlee Martinson wrote disturbing poems and dark tales online, but on her 17th birthday her violent ruminations manifested in a double homicide. She has since pleaded guilty to murdering her mother and stepfather.

On March 2, 2015 a blogger called Vampchick wrote a poem titled "Unworthy" "Welcome to hell," she wrote, "'I whisper in her ear. 'Never again will you see the light of day.'"

Five days later, Vampchick, better known as Ashlee Martinson, shot her stepfather and stabbed her mother over 30 times. The teen had attempted to argue insanity, but accepted a plea deal for second degree homicide.

Martinson's relationship with her mother could be described as rocky, at best. The teen told police that her mother's boyfriends had victimized her since an early age. Court documents show that she claimed one of them had burned her with a cigarette and raped her when she was nine. She also alleges that her stepfather, Thomas Ayers, was no exception.

Court documents show that Ayers, 37, had been previously accused of assault, kidnapping, child enticement and part to the crime of sexual assault of a child under 15 along with "numerous prior arrests and convictions."
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Black Cat

Tiger Farms: Animals 'starved to death' to make $500 aphrodisiac wine with their bones


RT
Sat, 19 Mar 2016 00:00 UTC
Tiger
© Mohsin Raza / Reuters
Tiger wine, an aphrodisiac which sells for more than $500 a bottle, now faces backlash from animal rights activists who say the big cats are being kept in shocking conditions before their bones are eventually mixed in as the special ingredient.

Popular with many Chinese men who believe drinking the wine will enhance their sex drive and make them stronger, the bones are soaked for up to eight years and then mixed with snake extract and herbs.
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Ambulance

Spain coach crash near Barcelona kills 14


BBC News
Sun, 20 Mar 2016 11:46 UTC
Freginals coach crash
The accident occurred near the small town of Freginals
At least 14 people have been killed after a bus carrying foreign students crashed on a Spanish motorway between the cities of Barcelona and Valencia.

Most of the 57 people on board the bus were students on the Erasmus programme who were returning to Barcelona after a trip to a fireworks festival.

Photographs from the scene show a white roofed coach lying on its side, surrounded by emergency vehicles.

The accident occurred near Freginals, 150km (93 miles) south of Barcelona.
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Wall Street

Mystery of New York Fed robbery has central banks scratching their heads

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Sun, 20 Mar 2016 01:57 UTC
New York Federal eserve building
Bangladesh has learned a valuable lesson over the past two months: Do. Not. Trust. The. New. York. Fed.

On a quiet Friday morning in early February, a series of instructions using authenticated SWIFT codes was sent to 33 Liberty allegedly from the Bangladesh central bank requesting the transfer of nearly $1 billion from the country's FX reserves.

Now, the first thing that should jump out at you there is that Friday is a weekend in Bangladesh, a fact which probably should have set off alarm bells. But alas, it didn't and by the time the hackers who sent the transfer instructions screwed the pooch by spelling "foundation" wrong in one of the requests, more than $80 million was sent to the Philippines where it landed in four accounts and eventually ended up transferred to at least two casinos and one unidentified man "of Chinese origin" who has since been named as a Weikang Xu. For those who might have missed the story, here are our three previous accounts of what is truly a Hollywood-esque plot line:
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Rocket

Feel safer? Nuclear missile guards under investigation for cocaine and ecstasy use

Andrew Emett
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 19 Mar 2016 21:09 UTC
cocaine and pills
Tasked with guarding 150 nuclear missiles at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, fourteen airmen are under investigation for allegedly using cocaine. Last year, three launch officers, known as missileers, pleaded guilty to using ecstasy after an investigation into illegal drug possession uncovered roughly 100 officers involved in a cheating scandal.

According to Gen. Robin Rand, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, the 14 suspects are airmen, airmen first class, or senior airmen (E-2 to E-4) from the 90th Security Forces Group at F.E. Warren AFB outside Cheyenne, Wyoming. Responsible for protecting 150 Minuteman 3 nuclear missiles, the 14 airmen have been suspended from their security duties while the investigation continues. Although Gen. Rand refused to specify which drug the airmen were caught using, the Associated Press has reported that they were high on cocaine.

"It came to light because one airman who had suspicion of drug activity by another reported that to his chain of command," stated Rand. "The drug allegations involving these 14 airmen are credible."
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Attention

Decaying public schools are making students & teachers sick

Laura Flanders
Alternet
Wed, 16 Mar 2016 20:24 UTC
Detroit schools
© onpoint.wbur.org
Broken toilet seats in student bathrooms, mushrooms on their classroom walls, leaking ceilings — all tied to a lack of funding.

A picture's worth a thousand words they say, and that was certainly the case earlier this year when public school teachers in Detroit started tweeting out pictures of the crumbling schools they work in.

After months of attempting to grab legislators attention, the teachers called in sick, en masse earlier this year, causing almost all city schools to close, and while they withdrew their labor, they flooded the social media with images of just what they were so sick of:

Broken toilet seats in the student's bathrooms, mushrooms on their classroom walls, leaking ceilings, moldy food.
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