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Blue Planet

Report on the best and worst countries to spend your childhood -- the US is not even in the top 20

April M. Short
Alternet
Sun, 18 Jun 2017 19:40 UTC
Ghanian kids
© Anton_Ivanov / Shutterstock.com
ACCRA, GHANA: Unidentified Ghanaian girl and her little brother. Children in Ghana suffer due to the county's unstable economic situation.
Norway is the best place in the world to be a kid and Niger is the worst, according to a new report by the international children's rights organization Save the Children.

For 700 million or more kids around the world, childhood ends too soon. This is the premise that prompted a new report called the End of Childhood Index, which ranks 172 countries based on whether or not childhood has ended early for the children living there. Inadvertently, the report maps out the best and worst places to be a kid in today's world.

Save the Children created the 44-page report using eight primary indicators:
  • Malnutrition that stunts growth
  • Under-5 mortality
  • Out-of-school children
  • Child labor
  • Early marriage
  • Adolescent births
  • Displacement by conflict
  • Child homicide
      Read More...
Question

After 25 years, couple exonerated on child sex abuse charges

Jordan Smith
The Intercept
Tue, 20 Jun 2017 19:22 UTC
Fran and Dan Keller
© Jana Birchum
Fran and Dan Keller sign their exoneration paperwork in Austin, Texas, on June 20, 2017.
Twenty-five years after they were convicted of a crime that never happened, Fran and Dan Keller were formally exonerated on June 20 in Austin, Texas.

The couple's prosecution in 1992 was part of a wave of cases across the country amid an episode of mass hysteria known as the Satanic Panic. Beginning in the 1980s, accusations flew that the childcare industry had been infiltrated by bands of Satanists hell-bent on brainwashing and sexually abusing young children. The Kellers' exoneration closes a decadeslong chapter of profound injustice for a couple that paid an exceptionally high price for the credulousness of local law enforcement.
"I still can't believe it's happening," Fran, now 67, said on Tuesday morning while driving with her husband to sign the legal paperwork. She's still wary; they've been waiting for this day for so long she isn't yet sure it is real. "I guess I'm just tired of having to hang on for so long."

Dan, 75, is slightly more upbeat — he always thought this day would come. He recalled a sleepless night in prison in 1995 when he said he heard God. "He said, 'You're going home, but I have some things to sort through first.'" Dan said he slept soundly that night. "We have to try to not have doubt in our life."
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Heart - Black

Day care center sued by parents for duct taping 4yo daughter


RT
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 18:32 UTC
sad child
© Thomas Eisenhuth / Global Look Press
The girl allegedly refused to settle down during nap time and was bound with duct tape at a day care center in St. Louis, Missouri, according to a lawsuit filed by the girl's parents.

Details of incident in March were first revealed when Laura Day was bathing her four-year-old daughter, who seemed to be talking a lot about duct tape, a word previously not in her vocabulary.

When her mother pressed her on it, the little girl said that "Mr. Josh" at day care told her, "I have some shiny red duct tape with your name on it."

The lawsuit claims Day repeatedly pushed her daughter, who revealed that she had been running around when she was supposed to be napping, and the day care teacher, Josh Reeves, bound her legs together with duct tape.
      Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Unrequired: Corbyn didn't bow to the Queen, a tradition at opening of Parliament


RT
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 12:29 UTC
Corbyn not bow
© RT
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn broke with tradition by failing to bow to the Queen as he entered the House of Lords for the monarch's speech on Wednesday. Instead, he gave an unseen observer a cheeky wink.

Corbyn entered the Lord's Chamber with Prime Minister Theresa May ahead of the Queen's Speech, but was seen standing upright as those around him bowed to the monarch. It is not clear whether Corbyn was deliberately avoiding the gesture.

Corbyn's aides have denied he failed to show respect for the Queen by not bowing, saying the protocol was that the Speaker and officials bowed on behalf of MPs. Other politicians including senior Tories Boris Johnson and Damian Green could be seen arriving behind Corbyn, and also appeared not bow their heads. Footage of past State Openings also show former PM David Cameron making his way into the chamber without bowing.


Comment: 'Queen's Speech,' part of the parliamentary procedure in Britain and the dominions of the Commonwealth, is the speech at the opening of each session of Parliament in which the Government outlines its legislative program. It is read by the sovereign or his or her representative. Also called King's Speech accordingly.

      Read More...
Wolf

French "intellectuals" have ruined Western civilization: Postmodernism and its impact

Helen Pluckrose
Aero Magazine
Mon, 27 Mar 2017 13:53 UTC
foucalt

Michael Foucalt
Postmodernism presents a threat not only to liberal democracy but to modernity itself. That may sound like a bold or even hyperbolic claim, but the reality is that the cluster of ideas and values at the root of postmodernism have broken the bounds of academia and gained great cultural power in western society. The irrational and identitarian "symptoms" of postmodernism are easily recognizable and much criticized, but the ethos underlying them is not well understood. This is partly because postmodernists rarely explain themselves clearly and partly because of the inherent contradictions and inconsistencies of a way of thought which denies a stable reality or reliable knowledge to exist. However, there are consistent ideas at the root of postmodernism and understanding them is essential if we intend to counter them. They underlie the problems we see today in Social Justice Activism, undermine the credibility of the Left and threaten to return us to an irrational and tribal "pre-modern" culture.

Postmodernism, most simply, is an artistic and philosophical movement which began in France in the 1960s and produced bewildering art and even more bewildering "theory." It drew on avant-garde and surrealist art and earlier philosophical ideas, particularly those of Nietzsche and Heidegger, for its anti-realism and rejection of the concept of the unified and coherent individual. It reacted against the liberal humanism of the modernist artistic and intellectual movements, which its proponents saw as naïvely universalizing a western, middle-class and male experience.
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Attention

Michigan airport evacuated after police officer stabbed


RT
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 17:38 UTC
Michigan airport officer stabbed
The Bishop International Airport (FNT) in Flint, Michigan has been evacuated after a police officer was stabbed in the neck, local media report. The suspect is in custody, while the airport is closed until further notice.

All passengers are safe and have been evacuated, the airport said in a statement, urging flyers to check with their airlines for potential cancellations or delays.

The incident happened on the second floor of the main terminal, around 9:45 am local time on Wednesday, according to WNEM-TV.
      Read More...
People 2

Survey finds Americans among the most stressed in the world


RT
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 17:39 UTC
stressed
© Global Look Press
A decade-long study shows a disturbing trend of anxiety levels among US citizens. Deep concerns of war and natural disasters continue to distress people across the country, the newly published survey has found.

In the survey conducted by the global information technology company, Unisys, the US jumped to 8 out of 13 countries surveyed. Americans are now on par with Colombia in terms of their perceptions of security, according to the Miami Herald.

The last time the US was included in the survey was in 2014.The score for the US spiked 37 percentage points in the wrong direction in just two years. The Unisys survey was completed in April with 13,000 people canvassed in 13 countries, according to the Herald.

The US sits behind New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands.
      Read More...
Clipboard

Paris attacker swore allegiance to ISIS, had gun permit - was also on terror watch list


RT
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 17:27 UTC
Champs-Elysees
© Charles Platiau / Reuters
Members of the scientific police inspect a burned car on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris, France, June 19, 2017.
The man who rammed a car into police officers in Paris had a gun permit, despite being on a terrorist watch list. He is said to have been raised in a Salafist family and had sworn allegiance to Islamic State. Four of his relatives have been detained.

The perpetrator, who died in the attack on the Champs-Elysees on Monday, has been identified as 31-year-old Adam Djaziri from the Paris suburb of Argenteuil. An assault rifle, two handguns, ammunition, as well as two gas canisters were found in his car after the attack.

Djaziri was in possession of at least nine registered weapons, including pistols and an assault rifle, an unnamed source close to the probe told AFP.

The man pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS, ISIS or ISIL) in a letter to his brother-in-law, according to a source close to the probe as cited by Reuters. Djaziri has been described by media as a person raised in a Salafist family. Four of his relatives were detained by police following the attack - his father, ex-wife, brother, and sister-in-law.

Comment: See also: Paris counter-terrorism unit launch investigation into Champs-Elysees incident - Update: car contained 'number of firearms and explosives'

      Read More...
Heart - Black

Finsbury Park van owner's son on Facebook: "It's a shame they don't hire out tanks"


RT
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 17:09 UTC
finsbury park van
© Neil Hall / Reuters
A white van in the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of North London, Britain June 19, 2017
It was shame that the van hire firm which rented out the vehicle allegedly used to kill and injure Muslim worshippers outside Finsbury Park mosque on Sunday night did not lease tanks, according to the owner's son.

Richard Gear Evans, whose father owns the South Wales-based Pontyclun hire firm, made the now-deleted post in the aftermath of the attack.

Darren Osborne, 47, who allegedly has a history of antagonism toward Muslims, remains in custody after the attack in which one person died and 11 were injured.
"It's my dad's company I don't get involved, it's a shame they don't hire out a steam rollers or tanks could have done a tidy job then," Evans said in a Facebook post, according to the Mirror.
      Read More...
Arrow Up

Russians overwhelmingly support Putin's policies, US poll


RT
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 16:54 UTC
Putin annual Q&A
© Michael Klimentyev / Sputnik
Most Russians support both the internal and foreign policies of the current administration, according to a poll conducted by US company the Pew Research Center.

The report says that 87 percent of the Russian public are confident their president is making the right decisions on foreign policy, with just 12 percent believing the opposite to be true.

When US pollsters asked Russians if they considered their country's role on the international stage to have become more important over the past 10 years, 59 percent agreed with the statement. Ten percent said that Russia's positions on the international arena had weakened, while 21 percent answered that Russia's place among other nations remained unchanged.
      Read More...
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