Society's ChildS


Blue Planet

Iran reiterates call for ending Saudi-Led aggression on Yemen

Iranian DFM
© UnknownDeputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian reiterated the country's position on the need to stop the Saudi-led attacks against Yemen, and stressed support for true national talks in the war-ravaged country.

Amir Abdollahian made the remarks in a telephone conversation with UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed on Thursday.

They also discussed the latest developments in Yemen on the threshold of Geneva meeting.

Appreciating the UN envoy's efforts to settle the crisis in Yemen, Amir Abdollahian said that Tehran has from the beginning rejected military approaches and has always underlined diplomatic means.

Tehran will continue encouraging effective and real Yemeni-Yemeni talks, he said.

Bad Guys

Citadel military cadets sing Christmas carols while wearing KKK hoods

Citadel KKK
© WCIV/FacebookCitadel cadets wearing white Ku Klux Klan-style hoods
Officials at The Citadel are investigating social media photos that appear to show cadets wearing Ku Klux Klan hoods.

A woman who posted the photos said she was threatened and offered bribes to remove the images from her Facebook page, reported WCIV-TV.

"I was threatened, harassed and offered money from numerous Citadel Cadets to take it offline in order to not 'ruin their lives,'" the woman said.

Bizarro Earth

America's real-life dystopia: Wal-Mart is straight out of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley

walmart
© Unknown
An amazing new piece details life as a Wal-Mart worker -- and how monitored its employees are at all times

It's difficult to read Susan Berfield's outstanding story on how Wal-Mart monitors its workforce without thinking of Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel, "Brave New World."

In a 1949 letter to George Orwell, Huxley compares "Brave New World" to Orwell's recently issued 1984, writing:
...whether in actual fact the policy of the boot-on-the-face can go on indefinitely seems doubtful. My own belief is that the ruling oligarchy will find less arduous and wasteful ways of governing and of satisfying its lust for power, and these ways will resemble those which I described in Brave New World.

Comment:


House

Muslim family in Texas being targeted with hate crimes

Muslim family, Texas
© KTVKIslamic group calls attack on Plano family a hate crime
A Muslim family in Plano, Texas fear that they may have been targeted with a hate crime after rocks smashed through their windows at least two times in the last week.

The family told KTVT that they moved to Plano six weeks ago, and that they believe that the people throwing the rocks may be sending a message about their religion.

Comment: See more:
  • Obama's remarks to US Muslims draws criticism, discrimination
  • Trump, in all of his fascist wisdom, calls for a complete ban on Muslims entering the US and 'closing up' of the internet



Sheriff

'What kind of police do you call on the police?': Oklahoma City cop on trial for raping 13 women

Daniel Holtzclaw
© Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office/ReutersDaniel Holtzclaw
Daniel Holtzclaw should be a household name. He should be on the front page of every newspaper in the country. His criminal trial should be featured in the A-blocks of national news broadcasts.

We should be able recognize him on sight. We should be able to number and name the horrendous crimes he allegedly committed. Should he ever walk the streets again, he should enjoy not a single moment of anonymity.

Holtzclaw, a 28-year-old former Oklahoma City police officer, is an alleged sexual predator who prosecutors say used his badge to rape at least 13 women over a seven-month period. The alleged victims of his increasingly brazen pattern of attacks, prosecutors say, included an underage girl and a grandmother. Ranging in age from 17 to 57, all but one are black and all live in the same poverty-stricken, predominantly African-American neighborhood in the northeast section of the city.

Comment: We can only hope that the jury has some common sense. This predator should be locked away forever.


Nuke

Radiophobia: The social consequences of Fukushima

radiation
It is understood that radiation is physically harmful to those who are exposed to it. However, it is also harmful on a social level. Those who become exposed to radiation form a new class within society, one that is discriminated against and even feared by many ordinary people. This has certainly been the case with the Fukushima nuclear incident. This discrimination is worsened by the government and mainstream media's treatment of the incident. This essay will discuss the social effects of the Fukushima incident by comparing it with the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It will also explain how the media play into this discrimination and attempt to understand why Japanese society is reacting in such a way.

From "the A-bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki" came "a new group of human beings - hibakusha, literally 'A-bombed persons'".[1] Hibakusha not only had to deal with radiation sickness and other health-related effects of the bomb(s), but they were also subject to much social discrimination. They lost "educational and professional opportunities", received "discrimination in marriage and in the workplace",[2] and became "targets of bullying".[3] Because they could not get work, they also often found themselves in poverty[4] and many lived in hibakusha slums, physically separated from the rest of society. This discrimination was due to their perception as 'contaminated'[5]. They were seen as unfit to work and as potentially producing deformed children (a worry which the hibakusha themselves had to shoulder, with many too afraid to reproduce). But beyond this, there was the fear that contact with hibakusha would result in contamination, perhaps a natural response due to the "still 'mysterious'"[6] nature of radiation. Furthermore, due to its 'invisible' nature, even those who displayed no signs of radiation poisoning were discriminated against in exactly the same way.

Comment: For more on the radiation situation and what to do about it listen to this episode of Sott's Health and Wellness Show.


War Whore

FBI system for tracking number of civilians killed by cops 'a travesty'

police brutality
© Jim Young / ReutersA Cook County Sheriff police officer (L) points his gun at a man who walked up to him while officers were conducting an unrelated street stop in the Austin neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, United States, September 9, 2015.
The FBI will revamp its heavily criticized system for tracking fatal police shootings in the US. For the first time, the bureau will release data about all incidents that result in severe injury or death to civilians at the hands of police.

"We are responding to a real human outcry," Stephen L. Morris, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, told the Washington Post. "People want to know what police are doing, and they want to know why they are using force. It always fell to the bottom before. It is now the highest priority," he added.

Morris, who described the agency's current system for tracking fatal police shootings as a "travesty," said the data would be "much more granular" than in the past. It's likely to include such details as the gender and race of law enforcement officers and suspects involved in the incidents, the level of danger the officer faced, as well as the kind of weapons wielded by either party, be it a pepper spray or just a fist.

Most importantly, the data will be collected and shared with the public in "near real-time," as the incidents occur, Morris said, instead of being mentioned only at the end of the year.

David Klinger, a former police officer and a long-time advocate of a better system, said he was skeptical about its implementation.

Comment: This may be the beginning of some police accountability, but don't hold your breath.


Eye 1

New bill would allow British spooks to spy on you using your kids' toys

Barbie
© Mattel
Britain's intelligence agencies could take over children's toys and use them to spy on suspects, MPs have been told.

Antony Walker of techUK said that anything connected to the Internet could "in theory" be hacked into remotely.

The draft Investigatory Powers Bill being considered by MPs would put a legal duty on Internet providers to assist in hacking devices.

With a growing number of toys now including Internet software it would be possible for Britain's spooks to hack them, Mr Walker suggested.

Comment: Some key points from the Investigatory Powers Bill:
  • Requires web and phone companies to store records of websites visited by every citizen for 12 months for access by police, security services and other public bodies.
  • Makes explicit in law for the first time security services' powers for the bulk collection of large volumes of personal communications data.
  • Makes explicit in law for the first time the powers of the security services and police to hack into and bug computers and phones. Places new legal obligation on companies to assist in these operations to bypass encryption.
A draft of the bill can be viewed here.


Handcuffs

Egypt: Convicted Israeli spy released in prisoner exchange

Ouda Tarabin
© www.middleeastmonitor.comOuda Tarabin, part of Egypt-Israel prisoner exchange.
Egyptian officials have released an Israeli who served 15 years in prison on proven charges of espionage for the Zionist regime amid improving ties between Egypt and Tel Aviv.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Thursday that Ouda Tarabin, a Bedouin Arab hailing from a tribe in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, arrived in the occupied territories earlier in the day. Tarabin was arrested in 2000 when he was 19 years old.

The statement said Tarabin had completed his sentence; however, Egyptian media said he was freed as part of a prisoner exchange. "At the same time, Israel released two Egyptian prisoners who were held in Israel and had finished serving their sentences," said the statement, without providing further details on the identity of the Egyptian prisoners and how long they had been behind bars. It was unclear if the sentences of the three convicts could have been extended.

Cairo has sought better relations with the Tel Aviv regime since the government of strongman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power last year. The former army chief in July 2013 ousted Egypt's first democratically president Mohamed Morsi, who had taken office in June 2012.

Israel opened a new embassy in Cairo in September four years after protesters stormed its mission during demonstrations which led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, a long-time ally of the Tel Aviv regime.

Comment: This deal follows the release of Israeli spy, Elan Gharabil. Tarabin was arrested in 2000 on charges of espionage and spying for Israel's intelligence service Mossad. There is nothing more...end of sentence.


Bad Guys

Mexican cartel boss threatens Islamic State over drug trade: 'Don't mess with Shorty'

El Chapo costume
© Ronaldo Schemidt / AFPA costume and a mask representing Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman Loera, aka "El Chapo", are pictured in a factory of costumes and masks, on October 16, 2015, in Jiutepec, Morelos State.
The runaway leader of Mexico's deadliest drug cartel, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, has reportedly sent a threatening letter to Islamic State following the destruction of one of his cartel's shipments.

El Chapo (aka "Shorty") delivered the threat to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi via an encrypted email which was later leaked by cartelblog.com.

Comment: Everybody hates Daesh these days.