Society's ChildS


Bullseye

The real enemy is within

Chris Hedges
Truthdig
Sun, 06 Sep 2015 17:14 UTC
Image
© Steve Mann / Shutterstock
If you are not dedicated to the destruction of empire and the dismantling of American militarism, then you cannot count yourself as a member of the left. It is not a side issue. It is the issue. It is why I refuse to give a pass in this presidential election campaign to Bernie Sanders, who refuses to confront the war industry or the crimes of empire, including U.S. support for the slow genocide carried out by Israel against the Palestinians. There will be no genuine democratic, social, economic or political reform until we destroy our permanent war machine.


Comment: Chris Hedges on Bernie Sanders' role within the corporate Democrats


Militarists and war profiteers are our greatest enemy. They use fear, bolstered by racism, as a tool in their efforts to abolish civil liberties, crush dissent and ultimately extinguish democracy. To produce weapons and finance military expansion, they ruin the domestic economy by diverting resources, scientific and technical expertise and a disproportionate share of government funds. They use the military to carry out futile, decades-long wars to enrich corporations such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. War is a business. And when the generals retire, guess where they go to work? Profits swell. War never stops. Whole sections of the earth live in terror. And our nation is disemboweled and left to live under what the political philosopher Sheldon Wolin calls "inverted totalitarianism." Libertarians seem to get this. It is time the left woke up.
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Handcuffs

3 correctional officers charged with murder for "vile and cowardly act" in fatal beating of mentally ill inmate

Henry K. Lee
San Francisco Chronicle
Thu, 03 Sep 2015 15:00 UTC
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© KPIX
Three correctional officers with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department were arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder in connection with what their boss described as a "vile and cowardly act" — the beating death of a mentally ill inmate at the county jail in San Jose.

Jereh Lubrin, 28, and Matthew Farris and Rafael Rodriguez, both 27, were booked early Thursday into the same jail where they allegedly attacked 31-year-old inmate Michael Tyree on Aug. 26 before his body was found the next day, naked and covered in feces and vomit. All are being held on suspicion of murder, conspiracy and assault under color of authority.

At a packed news conference at her headquarters in San Jose, an emotional Sheriff Laurie Smith read a statement from a TelePrompTer and refused to take questions.

She said she wanted to express her "profound sorrow over the loss of Mr. Tyree and remind everyone that Mr. Tyree was someone's son, someone's brother, and his life had value, and that this vile and cowardly act that took Mr. Tyree's life is not indicative of the values that we expect and honor with the men and women of this department."

Comment: To give you an idea of just what kind of individuals could perpetrate such a heinous act, below is an additional description of the events that led to Tyree's death, from the LA Times:
Investigators said the incident started about 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26 after Tyree, who was being held on misdemeanor drug and theft charges, placed his prescription medication in his pocket instead of swallowing it, according to court documents prepared by Sgt. Marc Carrasco.

Tyree was housed in a wing of the main jail for those in protective custody or who have special needs. After Tyree was confronted by Lubrin, he ate the pills.

Then, about 10:38 p.m., Lubrin and Ferris began searching the inmates' cells within a sixth-floor unit for contraband. Ten minutes later, Rodriguez joined them.

As jail deputies searched the cells, they confronted Villa about a dispute he had had with another inmate earlier that day, Carrasco said.

Lubrin, Farris and Rodriguez hit Villa in the head and twisted his arms, leaving visible marks, Carrasco said.

When the jail deputies got to Tyree's cell, he was heard saying, "Do I have to get up?" at which point, Farris ordered Tyree to get up, Carrasco said.

Tyree was heard screaming, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Stop."

Minutes of screaming, thumping, wall-banging and "what sounded like blows to a person's body" were heard throughout the cell unit, Carrasco said.

Tyree had injuries above his eye, near his chin, on his cheek and on his arms, legs, back and hips.

A blow to his lower left back caused significant damage to his spleen and liver, leading to internal bleeding, the sergeant said.

Tyree probably died within minutes to an hour after the confrontation, Carrasco said.

Afterward, Lubrin, Farris and Rodriguez continued their cell searches and did not call for medical assistance, he said.
Not only did they beat a defenseless person to death while he was begging them to stop, they then proceeded to leave him there to either die or to suffer in pain from the vicious beating. People like this, who clearly have no conscience, belong in prison for the rest of their life.

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People

Pro and anti-Israel activists clash over Netanyahu's UK visit


RT
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 14:44 UTC
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© Poppy Bullard / RTProtesters clash outside Whitehall.
Clashes broke out Wednesday when activists protesting Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu's UK visit faced opposition from pro-Israel groups outside Downing Street, completely blocking traffic on Whitehall.

Police intervened to prevent verbal exchanges escalating, as a number of scuffles broke out.

The initial protest was organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) with the support of various groups including War on Want, Palestine Forum in Britain, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Stop the War, and British Muslim Initiative, to oppose Netanyahu's visit to the UK.

Comment: This is a clear indication all is not well with the people over the governments' complicity of war crimes.

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Cross

Russian MP proposes bill to fast-track Russian citizenship for those of Orthodox faith


RT
Tue, 08 Sep 2015 14:43 UTC
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© Andrei Aleksandrov / RIA Novosti
A nationalist party's lawmaker is planning to draft a bill that would fast-track Russian citizenship for Orthodox Christians on the grounds that people of traditional Russian religious faith have better chances of integrating into society.

Mikhail Degtyaryov, an MP for the Liberal Democratic Party in the State Duma, or lower house of parliament, has promised that in the next few months he will propose a series of amendments to the Russian Law on Citizenship allowing any person speaking Russian, having a source of income and practicing the Russian Orthodox faith to get a Russian passport if this person already legally resides in the country.

Currently, Russian law requires that potential applicants for citizenship live in the country for five years without interruption from the date they received their residence permits. Exceptions to this rule are allowed for people born in the Russian Federation who Soviet citizenship, those married to Russian citizens for at least three years and people who cannot earn their living but whose children are Russian citizens.
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Footprints

New Yorkers face travel restrictions without 'enhanced' I.D.

John Galt
Activist Post
Tue, 08 Sep 2015 14:29 UTC
papers please
It has been speculated by those who have been researching the ongoing encroachment of the national security state that it would be fully implemented through a range of restrictions that would make it all but impossible to engage with modern society if one is "non-compliant."

Enter the "enhanced" driver's license.

First off, it's worth noting that having a driver's license at all is a restriction on one's liberty. Nevertheless, for those who have given in to that bit of soft tyranny, it now appears that the standard license is not going to be sufficient to travel as you wish.
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Stock Down

Economic Collapse: The narrowing window of crisis preparedness

Brandon Smith
Activist Post
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 14:04 UTC
hourglass
© sunrise.edu
I wouldn't say that it is "never too late" to prepare for potential disaster because, obviously, the numerous economic and social catastrophes of the past have proven otherwise. There simply comes a point in time in which the ignorant and presumptive are indeed officially screwed. I will say that we have not quite come to that point yet here in the U.S., but the window of opportunity for preparation is growing very narrow.

As expected, U.S. stocks are now revealing the underlying instability of our economy, which has been festering for several years. Extreme volatility not seen since 2008/2009 has returned, sometimes with 1000 point fluctuations positive and negative in the span of only a couple days. Current market tremors are beginning to resemble the EKG of a patient suffering a heart attack.

Stocks are a trailing indicator, meaning that when an equities crash finally becomes visible to the mainstream public, it indicates that the economic fundamentals have been broken beyond repair for quite a while. What does this mean for those people who prefer to protect themselves and their families rather than wait to be drowned like lemmings in a deluge? It means they are lucky if they have more than a few months to put their house in order.

Comment: The world's economic ponzi scheme cannot hold out indefinitely.

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Airplane

Plane catches fire mid-air while landing at Delhi airport

Kashmira Gander
The Independent, UK
Mon, 07 Sep 2015 14:16 UTC
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© ReutersAir India flight AI405 was forced to make an emergency landing at Delhi airport on Monday evening after it caught fire midair.
An Air India flight set on fire mid-air as it prepared for landing in Delhi, injuring at least four people.

Over 100 passengers and crew were on board Flight AI 405 flying from Varanasi to Delhi when it experienced a hydraulic failure as it grounded, One India news reported citing local TV stations.

Between four and five people were reported to have suffered minor injuries during the incident at 7:16pm local time on Monday, and were given first aid treatment at Indira Gandhi airport, International Business Times India reported citing Asian News International.
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Heart

Hundreds of Americans sign online petition offering to take Syrians into their homes

Ian Simpson
Reuters
Mon, 07 Sep 2015 02:55 UTC
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© Getty / Christopher FurlongHundreds of migrants and refugees continue to cross the border from Serbia into Hungary along the railway tracks close to the village of Roszke on September 6, 2015 in Szeged, Hungary. After days of confrontation and chaos Hungary unexpectedly opened its borders with Austria allowing thousands of migrants to leave the country and travel onto Germany
Hundreds of Americans offered on Monday to take Syrian refugees into their homes, saying in an online petition that the United States needed to let in more migrants fleeing civil war.

Almost 1,300 people had signed the petition on the progressive MoveOn.org website calling on the United States to lift its limit on Syrian refugees as Europe struggled to cope with record numbers of asylum seekers.


Comment: The U.S. is appearing to take steps towards helping refugees, but it's unlikely the Obama administration will offer asylum to help Europe with its burgeoning migrant crisis. As the article states,
The US currently operates under the quota of 70,000 refugees, of which only a fraction would be from Syria and it currently takes three years for approval. 11.6 million Syrian people have been uprooted in the past four and a half years, and of those, only 1,500 Syrians were accepted by the USA.

The United Nations says 4 million people have fled the fighting since the start of the civil war in 2011. The United States has admitted about 1,500 refugees, and the White House said it was weighing responses to the crisis, including resettlement.

One petition signer, the Reverend Everett Shattuck, 59, a Church of the Brethren minister from Mill Creek, Indiana, said opening his home to refugees was part of the U.S. tradition of welcoming immigrants.

Comment: At least there are some people aware of the plight of people half a world away and their country's responsibility in the migrant crisis.

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HAL9000

Cyborgs in our midst: Over 10,000 people have digital chip implants

Joshua Krause
The Daily Sheeple
Tue, 08 Sep 2015 13:47 UTC
microchip
It's amazing how quickly cultural attitudes can change on a particular subject, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Take privacy for instance. 20 or 30 years ago, the average American would not have put up with any kind of privacy intrusion. That was something that only happened in poor despotic nations and futuristic dystopias, not in the land of free.

Now however, after the advent of the internet and cell phones, and the attacks on 9/11, most Americans have sheepishly accepted the loss of their privacy to governments and corporations. It's become an unavoidable fact of life here in America. What would have inspired a massive public outcry just a generation ago, is now met with a shrug and a blank stare today.

Comment: The era of widespread biometric identification and microchip implants is here

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Quenelle

Norwegian billionaire offers his hotels to refugees


Sputnik News
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 11:29 UTC
Syria migrant crisis
© REUTERS/ Marko Djurica
Norwegian billionaire Petter Stordalen who made his fortune in the hotel business has offered 5,000 nights in his hotel chain to refugees.

"We are offering 5,000 nights to refugees who need it," Stordalen, who owns the Nordic Choice Hotels chain, wrote on Twitter.

UDI, the Norwegian migration board, said it will consider Stordalen's initiative if there are not enough spots in local asylum centers.

Comment: Hopefully he's not just a psychopath out to take advantage of refugees in crisis.

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