Society's ChildS

Pistol

Shots fired into Tennessee church on same night as Charleston shooting

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© St. Matthews Learning Center
Shots were fired into a church in Memphis, Tennessee on Wednesday night. Police found no victims at the site. The shooting reportedly happened during night choir practice at St. Matthew Missionary Baptist Church.

The Deacon of the church told FOX13 that he noticed holes from the bullets when he was leaving the building after the event early Thursday morning.

Local police say there are no suspects so far. This comes as 9 people were killed when a gunmen opened fire in a historic church in Charleston, SC., killing 9 people.

"There is nothing indicating that this shooting is connected in any way to the shooting in South Carolina," Memphis police told FOX13.

Pistol

2 Ukrainian soldiers confess to executing mother and daughter on suspicion of 'separatism'


Two Ukrainian servicemen have confessed to the murder of a mother and daughter in the Kiev-controlled portion of eastern Ukraine, the local prosecutor's office reported on Wednesday. The soldiers shot the women in the head with a machine gun.

The two residents of the Luganskoe village in the Donetsk region, a 77-year old woman and her 45-year old daughter, were killed on Monday, the statement from the press service of the prosecutor's office in Donetsk region said. The women died of bullet wounds to the head.

An investigation was launched by the local prosecutor's office, which is under the jurisdiction of the Kiev authorities, and two Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen were detained. The soldiers, both in their twenties, have confessed to the murder.

"It has been established that on June 15 the soldiers entered the house of the victims, whom they suspected of separatist sympathies, and killed them with machinegun fire," the official statement said.

The two men have been charged with premeditated murder. If found guilty, they face a jail sentence between seven years and life in prison.

Comment: Kiev is engaged in an 'anti-terrorist operation'. Separatists are now defined as terrorists. It's OK to kill terrorists. These soldiers were just doing their job. Sound logic, right? This is Ukraine's new normal. Take Dmitry Korchinsky, founder and ex-leader of the Ukrainian National Assembly - Ukrainian National Self-defense, who recently said:
Our teachers of democracy are Americans. During the Second World War America maintained all democratic institutions, elections, and so forth, but nevertheless several million American citizens of Japanese origin were deported to concentration camps because of war, because they threatened national security. United States, maintaining democratic standards and high level of humanism in their country, carried out a nuclear strike on Japan, bombed residential neighborhoods in Germany. 80% of cities were bombed by American aviation, the doctrine was to bomb residential neighborhoods in order to demoralize German soldiers.

Ukraine must have the widest level of freedoms, we have little freedom, we need more freedom, but in the frontal zones and on the occupied territories, we must act like the Americans. If we can't regain the territory, they must become uninhabitable. If it can't be ours, it wan't be anybody's.
Hard to argue with that logic! Democracy = concentration camps, nuclear war, bombing civilians.


Binoculars

Video shows Israeli sniper callously murdering random Palestinian

sniper
© Reuters / Ronen Zvulun
A video posted online purports to show an Israeli sniper shooting dead an unarmed Palestinian in the occupied West Bank village of Silwad. The soldier is shown aiming at the faraway figure, then a shot rings out and the person collapses.

"Got it! Wow, got it. Got video, too!" the sniper allegedly says in Hebrew after what looks like a kill shot. This is followed by the camera veering away and the video ending.

According to Israeli website Mako, the soldiers in the video come from the Heredi Netzah Yehuda Batallion of the Kfir Brigade, implicated a few days ago in the controversy over the excessive use of force near a refugee camp in Ramallah.


Comment: Yes, this is how the IDF operates, and how they have been operating for decades. It needs to stop.


Eye 2

Child sex abuse is on the rise: 85 cases reported each day in England/Wales

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© Reuters
Police have recorded a substantial increase in the number of sexual assaults on children, with an average of 85 incidents recorded each day, new figures show.

According to research by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), the number of allegations of sexual assaults on children in England and Wales has risen by more than one-third in a single year.

They found a total of 31,238 allegations of rape, grooming and other sexual offenses had been made in 2013/14, a rise of 38 percent on the previous year.


Comment: And these are just the reported cases.


The NSPCC said more than 75 percent of reported abuses were perpetrated against girls. They further found that while the majority of victims were aged between 12 and 16, over 8,000 crimes were perpetrated against children under the age of 11.

Nearly 3,000 were estimated to be under the age of five and 94 were babies.

Comment: The West is becoming more 'exceptional' and 'free' every day. How many children have to suffer as a result?


Magnify

Update: Charleston shooting suspect, identified as 21-year-old Dylann Roof, arrested during traffic stop in Shelby, NC

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The Charleston shooting suspect has reportedly been identified as Dylann Storm Roof, a 21-year-old from Lexington County, S.C., currently out on bond in connection with recent arrests on drug and trespassing charges.

Roof's uncle told Reuters that he recognized his nephew from the surveillance photos released earlier today and that Roof received a new gun for his 21st birthday in April. Law enforcement agents are, according to the uncle, speaking with Roof's mother at her home. WLTX reports that authorities are searching for the suspect in Richland County.


Pistol

South Carolina Senator Clementa Pinckney among 9 dead in Charleston church shooting - police release image of gunman

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© nbc12.com
South Carolina Senator Clementa C. Pinckney is among the nine people who were shot and killed inside a downtown Charleston church late Wednesday night, according to local civil rights activist Elder James Johnson.

Charleston Police confirm nine people were killed after shots were fired during a prayer meeting inside Emanuel AME Church on Calhoun Street around 9:05 p.m. Police Chief Greg Mullen said officers arrived to find eight people dead inside the church.

A ninth victim died later at a nearby hospital.

Elder James Johnson, President of the Charleston Chapter of the National Action News, said Pinckney was shot inside the church. Pinckney, 41, served as pastor for Emanuel AME in addition to his role as a state senator for District 45.


Crusader

Sanity check: 45 veterans sign letter urging drone pilots to stand down

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© Reuters / Eric D. Warren
A group of 45 former American military members have issued a jointly signed letter pushing drone operators to step away from their controls and refuse to fly any more lethal missions.

The letter draws attention to the controversial operation of drones in foreign nations, where lethal strikes in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan have damaged terrorist networks but have also claimed the lives of innocent civilians.

"At least 6,000 lives have been unjustly taken by US drone attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, the Philippines, Libya and Syria. These attacks are also undermining principles of international law and human rights," the authors write, according to the Guardian.

KnowDrones.com, which sent out the letter, is also looking to distribute them by hand outside several military bases where drone operators are known to work, including Beale Air Force Base in California and Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in New York.

Comment: It is good to hear some sane voices in this insane world. Hope this group gets some traction.


Cowboy Hat

Military chief in Canada forced to apologize after saying men are 'biologically wired' for sexual harassment

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© Reuters/Chris WattieCanada's Chief of Defence Staff General Tom Lawson
Canada's military chief has apologized for saying the prevalence of sexual harassment in the Canadian Forces is due to "biological wiring." His comment drew outrage from politicians and those on social media.

Tom Lawson's controversial statement was made during a Tuesday interview with CBC News.

"It would be a trite answer, but it's because we're biologically wired in a certain way and there will be those who believe it is a reasonable thing to press themselves and their desires on others. It's not the way it should be," Lawson said.

"Much as we would very much like to be absolutely professional in everything we do, and I think by and large we are, there will be situations and have been situations where, largely, men will see themselves as able to press themselves onto our women members,"he added.


Comment: Certainly sounds like a projection from the defense chief. Perhaps in his head, it is normal for a man to force himself onto a woman. But most people have a conscience which stops them from raping others.


Comment: See:


Red Flag

Millionaires will soon control half of world's wealth as income inequality skyrockets

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© Flickr/ Thomas Galvez
In yet another sign that the global wealth gap is expanding, millionaires are set to possess nearly half the world's wealth by 2019.

Boston Consulting Group's annual Global Wealth report says that in 2014 there were 17 million millionaires in the world, up from 15 million in 2013, and they now account for 41% the world's $164 trillion in private wealth, which is expected to rise to 46% share by 2019.

"The wealthier are getting more and more wealthy," BCG partner and managing director Anna Zakrzewski told MSNBC. "They have a much larger share of their wealth invested in equity markets and last year was a good year for market performance."

In another indication that those gaining wealth are making money from money itself, the report says 73% of the world's gains in private wealth in 2014 came from gains on existing assets rather than the creation of new wealth or business.

Water

California cuts off lone supply of water to town of 15,000

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© Flickr/ cayusa
A California community of 15,000 people is days away from running out of water after the state cut off its only water source amidst one of the worst droughts the state has ever faced.

The upscale San Joaquin County community of Mountain House received its water supply exclusively from Byron-Bethany Irrigation District, one of 114 senior water rights holders who were cut off on Friday.

The decision to cut off many of California's longest-held water claims has several of the water districts planning to sue, but that won't help the residents on Mountain House with their immediate dilemma.

The community has storage tanks, but they are built just to ensure the correct pressurization is maintained and can hold less than two days worth of water.