Society's ChildS


Георгиевская ленточка

'Never was a story of more woe': 90Yo Russian WWII veteran recalls her one and only love


RT
Wed, 11 May 2016 01:00 UTC
Vasily and Taisia Kononenko, WWII love story
War and Love rarely go well together, but one story stands out from the others. Taisia served at a reconnaissance aviation regiment, Vasily was a pilot. They got married during World War II. When she thought she had lost him forever, he came back.

"I saw this young man come in. He was tanned, with dark hair and dark eyes. I just liked him instantly," Taisia Kononenko told RT, describing her husband Vasily, a navigator of the 10th separate reconnaissance aviation regiment.

By July 1943, Captain Kononenko had made 196 sorties to bomb military targets and enemy troop concentrations. In 1944, he received the highest distinction, a Hero of the Soviet Union medal.

Comment:

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Attention

Selective empathy: Video casts British child as refugee to highlight horrors faced by children fleeing war


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 15:27 UTC
Save The Children
© SaveTheChildren / YouTube
Save the Children UK has released a powerful campaign video depicting a British child fleeing a hypothetical war-torn London in a bid to highlight the reality for thousands fleeing conflict for the safety of Europe.

The video, a sequel to the charity's 'Most Shocking Second a Day,' which amassed more than 50 million views, shows 12-year-old Lily's journey as she escapes the UK in search of safety.

Risking their lives in overcrowded boats, frightened and vulnerable, a total of 325,000 children have now crossed the Mediterranean and the Aegean, fleeing war, poverty and persecution, Save the Children says.

Comment: It's sickening that a charity knows that Westerners will feel more empathy for the plight of these children when they see this horrific reality from their own perspective. Many of these vulnerable children never make it to a safe haven, and this travesty is directly attributable to Western war-mongering.

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Fire

11-year-old boy is facing hate crime charges for burning bus


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 23:51 UTC
bus fire
© CrownHeights.info Videos / YouTube
An 11-year-old African-American boy is being charged with a hate crime in connection with a fire which was lit on a Jewish school bus in Brooklyn. The bus had been parked in front of the Beth Rivkah Hebrew School for girls when a group of children set fire to it.

A surveillance tape released by CrownHeights.info found that approximately seven children had been involved with the arson incident on Sunday. The video shows several children boarding the bus - which had been left open and unattended - with pieces of cardboard in hand. The kids rush out as flames appear in the front of the bus.

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Question

Flint mayor tried to redirect water crisis donations to campaign account - lawsuit


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 23:42 UTC
Flint, Michigan Mayor Karen Weaver
© Gary Cameron / ReutersFlint, Michigan Mayor Karen Weaver
A former city administrator of Flint, Michigan is suing Mayor Karen Weaver for allegedly trying to funnel donations intended for a lead water crisis charity into her own personal campaign fund.

Filed on Monday in US District Court, the wrongful termination lawsuit alleges that former City Administrator Natasha Henderson was fired for shining a light on the issue, and that the decision was a violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act as well as free speech protections.

Back on February 9, Henderson met with a city employee who informed her that Mayor Weaver was telling the employee and a volunteer to redirect donations that were being sent to the Safe Water/Safe Homes charity. Instead, the mayor wanted the funds funneled to an organization she set up called "Karenabout Flint," a group that was not approved to receive donations by the City Council.
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Boat

Experts fear shipping attacks after UK-trained navy officer allegedly joins ISIS


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 14:06 UTC
ISIS
© AFP
Kuwaiti-born Ali Alosaimi trained on a Merchant Navy course in the UK before allegedly fleeing to join Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), leading to concerns his knowledge could be used to attack shipping.

Defense experts claim the 28-year-old's knowledge and training could make him a threat to the UK.

Alosaimi enrolled on a three-year course at a marine college in South Shields in 2011, although it is not known whether he completed his studies.

Former Navy chief Admiral Lord West told the Daily Mail: "This suddenly raises the specter of IS damaging shipping. Someone with his knowledge opens up a whole new area where terrorism can take place."

Alosaimi joined IS after being radicalized by videos of Syrian troops bombing civilians. His details came to light in a cache of document leaked to the Mail, revealing he had previously worked for a Kuwaiti shipping company.

It is feared, but not confirmed, that he had access to information about vessels chartered to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
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Attention

Transportation secretary threatens to shut down D.C. subway if safety does not improve

Bart Jansen
USA Today
Tue, 10 May 2016 20:05 UTC
D.C. Subway
© Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty ImagesA Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority worker walks past a new 7000 series train car in Washington on April 13, 2015.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx threatened Tuesday to shut down the D.C. subway if the system fails to make immediate changes to fix dangerous safety lapses.

Foxx said he "would have no hesitation to shut down the system," the nation's second largest, if safety doesn't improve.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's subway system, known locally as the Metro, carries the second largest number of passengers in the nation. Metro's six lines serve 91 stations and traverse 117 miles of track.
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Handcuffs

Justice Dept. busts international ring of psychic frauds who stole almost $200 million from Americans


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 19:04 UTC
crystal ball
© Bob Daemmric / AFP
Perhaps they should've seen this coming: An international ring of "fraudulent" psychics has been shut down by the US Justice Department after it allegedly stole close to $200 million from more than a million Americans.

The international ring involved eight individuals and companies who used the US mail to deliver letters stating that the recipients could be in line to win millions of dollars via the lottery or that they could become rich some other way. The letters claimed to have been written by alleged psychics Maria Duval and Patrick Guerin, both of whom reside in France.

"To line their own pockets, the defendants preyed upon the superstition and desperation of millions of vulnerable Americans," said US Attorney Robert L. Capers for the Eastern District of New York in a statement.

In the letters, the psychics allegedly claimed to have had "a specific, personalized vision or psychic reading revealing that the recipient of the letter has the opportunity to achieve great wealth," the Justice Department stated. In order to make sure that great wealth became a reality, people who got these letters were told to purchase a number of goods and services.
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Oscar

Historian returns Turkish "Medal of High Distinction" because of Erdoğan's "dictatorial" rule


Turkish Sun
Tue, 10 May 2016 18:25 UTC
Historian Erik-Jan Zürcher
Historian Erik-Jan Zürcher
World renowned Turkey historian, Dutch Erik-Jan Zürcher, decided to return his Turkish "Medal of High Distinction" presented to him by then Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül because of the "dictatorial" rule in Turkey.

On Tuesday (May 10), the professor from Leiden University published an article on nrc.nl explaining why he wanted to send his medal back. Zürcher said he was awarded the medal in 2005 thanks to his contribution to Turkey's European Union (EU) bid. He argued that Turkey has a shared history with Europe, and Turkey's Muslim majority should not be an obstacle to accession as Islam is a part of Europe, and Turkey has been a secular country for almost a century. He also said it was beneficial for Europe as it could defend its interests in Middle East and Caucasia.

In his article, Zürcher said "these arguments are still valid", but then he admits he was wrong about Recep Tayipp Erdoğan and his intentions. Erdoğan's party, Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP), came to power in 2002 with a majority government and EU reforms were accelerated in the first few years, which gave many Europeans the idea of admitting Turkey to the club.

He said his disappointments with Erdogan's administration came from the following issues: the ending of the peace process with Kurds, "sabotaging" the possibility of a coalition government after June 7, 2105 election, persecuting the academics for peace petition, suppression and censorship of the media and social media, "threatening" the constitutional court and not respecting it, the taking down of a "softer" Prime Minister (meaning Ahmet Davutoğlu), too many defamation of the president charges, persecuting Europeans who are critical of Erdogan, and using their influence to dominate Islamic norms and values in public spaces.
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Airplane

Security theater idiocy: TSA screening delays cause nearly 7,000 passengers to miss their flights

Melissa Dykes
Activist Post
Tue, 10 May 2016 18:02 UTC
TSA check
And in other news, the TSA continues to suck.

It isn't even summer yet, and major problems with longer and longer TSA screening times are happening at major airports across the nation, including Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and San Jose just to name a few. During Spring Break (March 14-20) this year alone, an estimated 6,800 airline passengers missed their flights due to TSA screening delays on American Airlines — just American Airlines.

Who knows how many people in total — mostly innocent Americans who bought a ticket to ride on a plane simply because they want to travel quickly from one place to another — missed their flights that week in this country. Or how many miss a flight in total on a daily basis thanks to the TSA. The number would probably shock us all... or not. (It is the TSA we're talking about.)
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Christmas Tree

Research finds US laws for driving while under influence of marijuana are unscientific


RT
Tue, 10 May 2016 17:59 UTC
smoking marijuana
© Reuters
US laws governing driving under the influence of marijuana are unscientific, research reveals. Legal blood limits are not an adequate way of testing for impairment, and this technique may lead to the wrong drivers being prosecuted, the AAA says.

The science has been clear on alcohol - the more of it in your bloodstream, the worse off you are. But marijuana is not metabolized the same way by our body, so studies need to be done to understand if it's the quantity of THC that is truly causing impairment. It was found that drivers can have a low level of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) in their blood, and still be unsafe behind the wheel, while others with high levels may not be as dangerous. This turns traditional assumptions upside down.

Six states use blood-level tests to determine if the driver is impaired, but the study by the United States' largest automobile club, commissioned by AAA's safety foundation, found that you can't test for impairment that way at all.

The foundation believes that instead a trained officer should determine if the person is truly too high to drive safely - and then back that up with a test for the presence of THC. But the study is clear that a particular amount of the chemical is no indicator.
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