Society's Child
Al-Quds International Day is held on the last Friday of Ramadan each year. It's a day when people around the world, Muslims and non-Muslims come together to demonstrate their support for the oppressed in the world, in particular, the oppressed Palestinians who have been living under Israeli occupation for over 60 years. It has been exactly 38 years since the declaration of Al-Quds International Day. This day besides symbolizing the world's support for the freedom of Palestine, it also contains important messages of Islamic unity, international solidarity, and global anti-imperialism.Imam Khomeini's role
This picture, which was always at least somewhat inaccurate, is now profoundly wrong. The results in the recent presidential election in May are another sign that Iran is actually riddled with corruption, that the governing clerical elite is continuing to lose popular support, and that a growing number of Iranians, quite possibly already a majority, are no different than people elsewhere in wanting a government that respects human rights.

Laura Ramos, 31, is accused of having sex with a special education student while working at Central High School in Bridgeport, Conn.
Laura Ramos, 31, was charged Tuesday with second-degree sexual assault, according to the Connecticut Post. Police arrested Ramos, who is a wife and a mother, after she admitted to having sex with an 18-year-old student while she was teaching at Central High School in Bridgeport.
The self-employed consultant, who speaks Mandarin, made an initial appearance in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, according to the Associated Press. Kevin Mallory, 60, was found to be carrying $16,500 in US dollars in his carry-on luggage before being charged by federal prosecutors under the federal Espionage Act.
Mallory is alleged to have traveled to Shanghai China in April where he met with people he thought were associated with a Chinese think tank.
"As alleged, Saddam Mohamed Raishani, a Bronx man, plotted to travel to Syria to join and train with the terrorist organization ISIS. Having already helped another man make that trip to ISIS's heartland, Raishani allegedly acted on his own desire to wage violent jihad, planning to leave his family and life in New York City for the battlefields of the Middle East,"said Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim.
Raishani was arrested at JFK airport as he tried to board a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, via Lisbon, Portugal, on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Egypt and other countries cut diplomatic ties and transportation links with Qatar early in June.
They accuse Doha of supporting terrorism and meddling in the internal affairs of other nations in the region. Doha has dismissed the claims.
"Given the president's testy relationship with the media, however, it's not surprising that 76 percent of Republicans and 51 percent of voters not affiliated with either major political party believe most reporters are biased against the president, a view shared by only 24 percent of Democrats," a press release accompanying the report stated.
Ever since I left my cushy financial services job to do the challenging and often draining work of chronicling our ongoing crime scene, I've spent the vast majority of my free time trying to further educate myself on exactly how this system works. What I've discovered over and over again is that it is far more abusive than even I imagined.

Men and women pray together at the new liberal Ibn-Rushd-Goethe-Mosque in Berlin, Germany, June 16, 2017.
"Death threats, and other threats... are partly coming from the Islamist side," Seyran Ates said. She is one of the seven founders of the unusual prayer site, which accepts everyone except those wearing a full face veil, such as a niqab or burka.
Ates, however, who is a women's rights activist and lawyer, stated that the threats should not stop people's fight for their values.
"As a civil society, we cannot let ourselves be guided by those who threaten us and who forbid us to do something, [threatening] to otherwise take our lives. It is only when we fight together against this hatred that we can change something."
Hodgkinson, 66, fired on House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) and other GOP lawmakers last Wednesday morning, during the final practice for the annual charity congressional baseball game. He fired 60 shots as he stalked the Alexandria, Virginia field, injuring Scalise and three others, from a modified 7.62mm caliber SKS rifle and a 9mm handgun before he was killed, likely by Capitol Police officers on Scalise's protective detail.
On Hodgkinson's body, investigators found a list containing the names of six members of Congress, Tim Slater, the special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, said at a press conference on Wednesday. There was "no context included," though, and Slater would not characterize it as a "hit list" or as individuals being targeted, nor would Slater identify the members on the list in any way.













Comment: Further reading: A New Low: Israeli Blockade of Gaza Has Resulted in 'Humanitarian Shock'