Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

Zero compassion: Family of hostage killed by US drone strike still have not heard from US officials over killing


RT
Sat, 16 Jan 2016 01:30 UTC
Giovanni Lo Porto
© Welthungerhilfe / AFPThis handout photo released on April 24, 2015 by German NGO Welthungerhilfe shows Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian aid worker who worked for Welthungerhilfe as he was kidnapped in Pakistan in 2012 with a German colleague
The family of an Italian aid worker held hostage by Afghan Taliban for years and killed in a US drone strike last January says neither American nor Italian authorities contacted them directly since official public condolences were delivered.

Giovanni Lo Porto, 37, who had been held hostage by Taliban since 2012, was killed along with another foreign hostage, an American citizen Warren Weinstein, on January 15, 2015, by a Hellfire missile fired from an American drone allegedly belonging to the CIA.

Later, American intelligence claimed it was unaware of the presence of the hostages in the Islamists' compound in the tribal area on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

US President Barack Obama delivered general condolences, making a rare admission that the US classified counterterrorist operation had killed the wrong guys, including foreign hostages, despite "hundreds of hours of surveillance" allegedly being conducted before the airstrike was ordered.

The airstrike eliminated in the first place "dangerous members of Al-Qaeda," otherwise unassailable, Obama said in a statement delivered on April 23, 2015.

Comment: For the US government, this is another instance of "the ends justify the means". If innocent people are killed in the act of going after whoever they decide to kill that day (probably more innocents or dupes), then that's collateral damage in their PR war to look like they are doing something in the war on terror.

Read More...
Heart - Black

Employees of controversial security firm G4S caught abusing children at private detention center

Michaela Whitton
The Anti-Media
Thu, 14 Jan 2016 01:12 UTC
G4S protests, security firm G4S
Five men have posted bail after a BBC Panorama investigation into abuse at a young offenders centre in Kent. Four were arrested on suspicion of child neglect and a fifth was held on suspicion of assault. The employees of controversial security firm G4S were dismissed after being caught on camera abusing teenagers. The world's largest private security company has long been exposed for its complicity in global human rights abuses, but Monday night's programme uncovered violence and abuse a little closer to home.

Undercover filming at the G4S-run Medway Secure Centre stunned viewers after footage documenting numerous counts of child cruelty by employees of the multi-national company was revealed. Police are investigating allegations of the use of unnecessary force after staff were shown punching and slapping children.

Some of the allegations being investigated include:

— Staff punching a youngster in the ribs and slapping another several times on the head.

— Staff pressed heavily on the necks of young people and unnecessarily used restraint techniques, including squeezing a teenager's windpipe so that he had difficulty breathing.

— Staff used foul language to frighten and intimidate youngsters and boasted of mistreating young people, including using a fork to stab one in the leg.

— Claims workers tried to conceal their behaviour by ensuring they were out of sight of CCTV cameras or in areas not covered by them.

Comment:

Read More...
Sheriff

NYPD cop blasted for incendiary and racially charged social media posts


RT
Sat, 16 Jan 2016 01:12 UTC
Protesters
© David Ryder / Reuters
A New York City police officer was slammed by local activists and dismayed a local councilmember for what critics called incendiary and racially charged social media posts. Police brass have warned officers about using personal media sites.

A screenshot on the Twitter account @newyorkyearzero shocked Black Lives Matter organizer Keegan Stephan, who ultimately found that a police officer was behind the controversial post.

"I saw a screenshot of the... Instagram post which identified another Instagram user, Longone, wearing the T-shirt that says 'I [handcuff] PrOTesters,'" Stephan told RT on Thursday. The capitalized "OT" refers to overtime.


Stephan visited the Longone Instagram account and found it included photographs of New York Police Officer Langone of the 103rd Precinct in Queens and his colleagues. The officer's first name is not currently known.

"I was taken aback and pretty upset that the person who was proudly wearing the 'I [handcuff] PrOTesters' T-shirt was an NYPD officer, because I am a protester in New York City and the idea that an officer here views protest as something to make an arrest of and make overtime off is bothering."

Comment: It's likely that the attitude expressed by this policeman is prevalent in the police force, both in New York and across the country. Just look at the way protesters are treated by police: Number of protests across US surged during 2015

Read More...
Laptop

Woman faces jail time over Facebook post that violated order of protection

Julia Marsh
NY Post
Thu, 14 Jan 2016 23:04 UTC
Facebook
Facebook users, beware: That tag you're about to ­apply to a post may be used against you in court.

A New York woman faces a year in jail for violating an order of protection involving her former sister-in-law — because the violator linked the woman in a Facebook post that called her "stupid."

Maria Gonzalez tried to argue that the protection order "did not specifically prohibit [her] from Facebook communication" with her former sister-in-law, Maribel Calderon.

Westchester County Supreme Court Justice Susan Capeci disagreed, writing, "The order of protection prohibited the defendant from contacting the protected party by electronic or any other means."
Read More...
Black Magic

Berkeley, CA joins list of cities suing Monsanto for poisoning San Francisco Bay

Everitt Numbers
The Anti-Media
Wed, 13 Jan 2016 00:00 UTC
san francisco
Monsanto and its ancillaries are facing another lawsuit over pollution caused by their manufactured chemicals. A 6-0 vote by the Berkeley City Council last week prompted an official complaint demanding the conglomerate pay for a cleanup of the PCB-compromised San Francisco Bay.

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) were almost exclusively produced by Monsanto from 1935 to 1977, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). The ATSDR marked the company's production figure at 99 percent. The Environmental Protection Agency banned PCBs in 1979, deeming them probable human carcinogens. However, the chemical, commonly used in products like paint and ink, is still present in the environment, and it is seeping into the Bay through storm drains.

The January 5 closed meeting of the Berkeley City Council led to the filing of a lawsuit in San Jose's Northern District Court. The lawsuit points to "elevated levels of PCBs in sport fish" as the cause of long-standing contamination across "all segments of the Bay."

"Monsanto's conduct was malicious, oppressive, wanton, willful, intentional, and shocks the conscience, warranting punitive and exemplary damages, because Monsanto callously decided to increase sales and develop new ways to promote PCBs, knowing PCBs are toxic, cannot be contained, and last for centuries," the lawsuit argues.

Comment: Monsanto's long history of death and destruction appears to be finally catching up with them, and it cannot happen soon enough.

Read More...
Arrow Down

Following in the footsteps of the Nazis: Switzerland to seize assets of migrants


RT
Fri, 15 Jan 2016 11:00 UTC
migrants
© Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters
Switzerland says it will introduce legislation which will force refugees to hand over cash and valuables to the authorities to help pay for their upkeep. The move by the Swiss follows a similar plan implemented by Denmark.

Refugees arriving in the Alpine nation will have to turn over any assets they possess which are worth more than 1,000 Swiss francs ($997).

"If you have property worth more than 1,000 Swiss francs when you arrive at a reception center you are required to give up these financial assets in return for a receipt," an information sheet for refugees states, as cited by Reuters.

However, the move has been met with condemnation by human rights groups, who have called it "undignified." Stefan Frey from refugee aid group Schweizerische Fluechtlingshilfe said that the practice "has to change."

Comment: Stealing assets from those whose lives are in shambles as a result of the EU's participation in the global wars of conquest in Africa and the Middle East is nothing short of pathological.

Read More...
Ambulance

U.S. emergency rooms experiencing increased shortages of life-saving medications

Madeline Kennedy
Reuters
Fri, 15 Jan 2016 14:56 UTC
emergency room drugs
U.S. emergency rooms are increasingly running short on medications, including many that are needed for life-threatening conditions, a recent study documents.

Since 2008, the number of shortages has risen by more than 400 percent, researchers found. Half of all emergency room shortages were for life-saving drugs, and for one in 10 there were no available substitutes, they report in Academic Emergency Medicine.

Half of the individual shortage incidents had no explanation, the authors found. The rest had a variety of systemic causes that add up to a U.S. drug supply too low to meet public demand.

"Drug shortages are of particular concern in emergency care settings where providers must rapidly treat ill and injured patients," said lead author Kristy Hawley of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C. "For most medications, substitutes exist but may not be as effective and may have more side effects, or providers may not have as much experience with them," she told Reuters Health by email.
Read More...
Alarm Clock

Residents of Flint are being billed for poisoned water and threatened with shutoffs if they don't pay

Bryce Covert
ThinkProgress
Thu, 14 Jan 2016 15:28 UTC
Flint_water
© AP?Paul SancyaFlint resident Genetha Campbell gets free water
Last week Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) declared a state of emergency over the level of lead being found in Flint's tap water, and this week he activated the state National Guard to help provide residents with bottled water, filters, and lead testing kits.

But even in the midst of this crisis, city residents aren't just being charged for their poisoned tap water — they're being threatened with shutoffs if they don't quickly pay their bills.

In 2011, Flint lawmakers imposed a rapid 35 percent increase in water rates, against a city law that requires utility hikes to be implemented gradually, and started issuing shutoff notices to those who were past due. A judge halted the shutoffs last summer, ordering the city to undo the increase and revise customers' bills. But the shutoff notices resumed in November based on the prior rates, going out to about 1,800 past due households.

And while they were paused for the December holiday season, they have once again resumed this week. Finance Director Jody Lundquist could not tell Michigan Live how many notices are expected to be sent out in this round.

Even residents who aren't behind, though, are frustrated that they're still being billed for water they can't even drink. "The city is still billing residents for the contaminated water being pumped to their homes and expecting immediate payment," Sylvia Orduno of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization explained in an email to ThinkProgress.
Read More...
Eye 1

Man becomes first to use an implanted microchip to take a flight

Hugh Morris
Telegraph
Fri, 15 Jan 2016 21:49 UTC
Andreas Sjöström
© Youtube/Andreas SjöströmAndreas Sjöström strolls through Stockholm airport.
A man who implanted a microchip containing his airline booking details into his hand was able to use it to pass effortlessly through security to his flight.

Andreas Sjöström, vice president of digital for technology consulting company Sogeti, had the near-field communication chip (NFC) about the size of a grain of rice injected into his hand with a syringe, before using it at Stockholm Arlanda Airport to pass through security and board his plane.

The technology has been used before to make digital payments, control a mobile phone and unlock doors, in the same way contactless payment cards work. All it requires is a scanner to link up to that is compatible with the NFC.

Comment: Effortless and convenient or just a push to get everyone chipped?

BBC Propaganda: "Why I want a microchip implant"

Read More...
Shopping Bag

Canadians are going loonie over skyrocketing food prices

Joshua Krause
Ready Nutrition
Thu, 14 Jan 2016 21:22 UTC
cucumber price canada
It's no secret that America has a serious inflation problem. Though the Federal Reserve insists that our inflation rate is only at around .5%, we've all seen the price of food, rent, healthcare, and energy skyrocket over the past 10-20 years. However, this has been a gradual shift. Canada on the other hand, has just seen the price of every day goods rise precipitously over a very short period of time.

The crash in oil prices has crippled their economic growth, and led to the decline of the Canadian dollar, as well as a predictable increase in the cost of imports like food. For those of us living in the US, this provides a really good example of what life may be like should the dollar take a plunge in the near future. Here's what our northern neighbors have been dealing with:
Read More...