Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

Yemenis fear for their lives, afraid to visit hospitals due to constant bombing by Saudi-led coalition

shiara hospital yemen, saudi bombs hospital yemen
© msf.org The Shiara hospital, an MSF-supported facility in Razeh district, in Northern Yemen, was hit by a projectile on 10 January
The constant bombing of health facilities in Yemen has created conditions in which the locals fear for their lives and try to avoids hospitals at all costs, MSF said, noting that over 100 facilities have witnessed attacks ever since the Saudi-led intervention. A week after a missile hit the Shiara hospital in Yemen, killing six and injuring seven people, Yemenis are trying to visiting medical facilities only in acute cases of emergency, as being present inside any medical facility is seen by the locals as an imminent threat to their lives

"People still consider hospitals a target and try to avoid them as much as possible. The only cases that we are receiving are emergencies and mass casualties following attacks," Juan Prieto, general coordinator of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) projects in Yemen said.

On January 10, one missile hit the Shiara Hospital, where MSF has been operating since November, 2015. The humanitarian organization said they are unable to say who was responsible for the attack, but mentioned that Saudi-led planes had been seen flying over the facility at the time that the attack took place.

Comment: Nothing typifies the hypocrisy of the United Nations appointment of Saudi Arabia to the 'Human Rights' council more than this monstrous disregard for civilians. What a twisted and demented joke on humanity.


Blackbox

Stephen Hawking warns humanity to leave Earth before the ruling class destroys it

Stephen Hawking
Humanity's future is in peril thanks to so-called advancements in science and technology, claims Professor Stephen Hawking, who cited "nuclear war, global warming, and genetically-modified viruses" as deadly threats to our existence.

Hawking described various "things that could go wrong" to an audience of hundreds attending the first in a series of BBC Reith Lectures, which pertain to research about black holes. He asserted the necessity for colonization of other planets to ensure survival of the human species. According to the BBC, Hawking cautioned:
"Although the chance of a disaster to planet Earth in a given year might be quite low, it adds up over time, and becomes a near certainty in the next thousand or ten thousand years.

"By that time, we should have spread out into space, and to other stars, so a disaster on Earth would not mean the end of the human race.

"However, we will not establish self-sustaining colonies in space for at least the next hundred years, so we have to be very careful in this period."

Jet3

Symbolic? F-16 fighter jet crashes near Bagdad, Arizona

fighter jet
© Ints Kalnins / Reuters
An F-16 fighter jet from Luke Air Force Base crashed near Bagdad, Arizona on Thursday morning, the base said. The pilot's condition and the cause of the crash are both unknown.

The plane is assigned to the 56th Fighter Wing, base officials said on their website.

Bagdad is in northwest Arizona, 85 miles (137km) northwest of Luke AFB, which is in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale.

The Fighting Falcon crashed around 8:45 a.m. local time. The cause of the crash is unknown, Luke spokeswoman Lieutenant Tanya Wren said.

Heart - Black

Blame game: Michigan officials dodged responsibility for lead-filled water while insisting it was safe to drink

flint MI, lead drinking water
While residents of Flint, Michigan complained of drinking lead-filled water that was slowly poisoning them, state and local officials tried to shift blame around, emails released by Governor Rick Snyder reveal.

Dennis Muchmore, the governor's then chief of staff, wrote to Snyder in a September 25 email saying that state health officials were worried that the issue could turn into "political football," according to CBS News. Muchmore retired on Tuesday, USA Today reported.

"Of course, some of the Flint people respond by looking for someone to blame instead of working to reduce anxiety," Muchmore wrote. "We can't tolerate increased lead levels in any event, but it's really the city's water system that needs to deal with it."

The message was made public on Wednesday as part of the governor releasing 273 emails regarding Flint from 2014 and 2015 due to pressure from residents and the media.

Comment:


Blackbox

Were the Americans kidnapped in Baghdad actually mercenaries?

iraq police
© APIraqi security forces on streets of Baghdad Monday searching for three Americans reported kidnapped by Shiite militia
Two of three missing US civilians kidnapped by Shiite militia forces in Baghdad at the weekend are believed to have been working on a "critical" multimillion dollar deal to train Iraq's counter-terrorism forces in the fight against the so-called Islamic State.

The Bureau has learned that a contract for US defence giant General Dynamics to provide services to Iraq's government was quietly renewed by Washington without any formal tendering process towards the end of last year.

The deal had to be rushed through, according to a Federal procurement document, which stated: "Time is critically short due to the nature and complexity of international negotiations and agreement."


Comment: In other words, they rushed to push it through because the Iraqis were less than receptive to the idea of renewing the deal (see below).


The value of the renewed contract, which started last month, is not yet known but the previous 12-month deal that expired in November was worth $4.4million.

The question of using American contractors to train Iraq's special forces has now been thrown into sharp focus.

Comment: So what is General Dynamic really up to in Iraq?

The Shiite militias have been explicit in their distrust of American forces in Iraq:
"We will chase and fight any American force deployed in Iraq. Any such American force will become a primary target for our group. We fought them before and we are ready to resume fighting," said Jafaar Hussaini, a spokesman for Kata'ib Hezbollah, one armed Shiite group.

"All Iraqis look to (the Americans) as occupiers who are not trustworthy," said Muen al-Kadhimi, a senior aide to Hadi al-Ameri, leader of the Badr Organization. The Badr Organization is a political party with links to Iran, which forms part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The PMF is an Iraqi state-run umbrella organization comprised of scores of armed groups fighting the Islamic State.



Eye 2

New allegations of culture of rape and 'pimping' emerge at UK army camp as calls for public inquiry increase over death of army recruits

Army training camp Deepcut
© WikipediaArmy training camp Deepcut
New allegations that recruits were raped and "pimped" out by officers have emerged as calls increase for a public inquiry into the army's notorious Deepcut training camp.

The new allegations center on the culture of the Surrey facility where the shooting deaths of four army recruits took place between 1995 and 2002. They emerged during a new inquest into the case.

On Saturday, an investigation by The Independent newspaper raised questions about a culture of rape, abuse and exploitation at the camp. It emerged that up to 60 complaints were made to local police by recruits in 1995 alone.

Lawyers acting for the family of Private Cheryl James told a pre-inquest hearing that she may have been sexually exploited by high-ranking soldiers entrusted with her care and raped the night before the 18-year-old was found dead with gunshot wounds to the head.

Red Flag

Coast Guard suspends search for Marines who went missing after two helicopters crashed off coast of Hawaii last week

Coast Guard search vessel
© AP Photo/Audrey McAvoyA search vessel cruises the waters off the beach at Haleiwa, Hawaii, Friday, Jan. 15, 2016.
The U.S. Coast Guard will stop actively searching for the 12 Marines who went missing when the two helicopters carrying them apparently crashed off the coast of Hawaii last week. The search suspension goes into effect at sunset Tuesday.

No survivors have been found nor bodies reported recovered.

"A decision to suspend searching without finding survivors is extremely difficult given the depth of its impact. ... Our thoughts and prayers are with Marine Corps helicopter squadron and particularly with families and loved ones of those missing," said Coast Guard Capt. Jim Jenkins in a written statement.

A witness last Thursday saw a fireball in midair; another reported seeing a flare. The U.S. Marine Corps notified the the Coast Guard that two CH-53 copters, carrying six men each, were missing. A search ensued involving the Navy, the National Guard, as well as Hawaii fire, police and Ocean Safety.

When the search is officially suspended at sunset Tuesday in Hawaii, a total of 130 rescue personnel will have covered 40,530 nautical square miles, an area about the size of Florida, in a 115-hour search effort, the Coast Guard said.

Any follow-up actions will be left up to the Marine Corps.

Comment: The fact that no bodies have been found, both above water and below, is very weird. It's almost as bizarre as Flight MH370 that went missing over the waters around Southeast Asia.


No Entry

British doctors demand Israel be banned from World Medical Association

blood israeli flag
© www.ibtimes.co.uk
British doctors have called for the removal of Israel from the World Medical Association (WMA) over claims of "medical torture" on Palestinians seeking treatment.

Some 71 UK doctors have started to pressure the WMA to revoke the membership of the Israel Medical Association over claims that "our doctors perform medical torture on Palestinian patients,"said Ze'ev Feldman, the representative of the Israeli doctors, during a Knesset meeting held on the subject of boycotts against Israeli academic institutions on Wednesday.

If the British physicians succeed, the Tel Aviv regime will be banned from taking part in international medical conferences and publishing in journals. The move follows similar measures launched by scholars around the world over the past few months.

In December, over 200 South African scholars released a statement announcing their support of an academic boycott of Israel. In November, the American Anthropological Association, the largest professional organization of anthropologists in the world, approved a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions.


Comment: The PTB in Israel are afraid the academic boycott would have a domino effect and radiate to all other scientific associations.


Moreover, the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, known as BDS, is gaining momentum in US college campuses and churches as well as in many places in Europe. The BDS movement seeks to end the Israeli occupation and colonization of Palestinian lands.

Comment: The torture of Palestinian detainees and prisoners has been an ongoing since at least 1995, but more realistically for decades and nothing ever seems to come of it. The IMA turns a blind eye. Accusations backed, for years, by hundreds of doctors around the world have been ignored. Men, women and children who undergo torture abuses are not being reported by Israeli physicians and there is no medical intervention on behalf of patients who are mistreated. Doctors fail to keep proper medical records during interrogations and without evidence, there is no legal redress for the patient. If the WMA doesn't address this, it is complicit.


Bad Guys

Ukraine has slid into tragic poverty ever since the US-backed Maidan 'revolution'

Kiev Ukraine
© AFP 2016/ SERGEI SUPINSKY
Two years after the US-backed Maidan revolution, Ukraine is worse off than it was before - the country is sliding into poverty, Germany's daily newspaper Junge Welt reported, describing the life of ordinary Ukrainians as "staggering."

"Since the end of the Yanukovych era, the average income has decreased by 50 percent," the media outlet noted.

In addition, consumers in Ukraine have lost half of their purchasing power. Inflation reached 25 percent in 2014 and spiked to 44 percent last year, according to the data released by Ukraine's Central Bank in late December.

Comment: This is what a country can expect whenever the West begins meddling in their affairs. If it didn't already, their leadership will come to consist almost entirely of parasites, who bleed the people dry.

Further reading: Study proves Maidan massacre was carried out by current Ukrainian government


Dominoes

2 reasons why the decline of Russia's currency is a good thing

Putin
© Unknown

It may seem weird to be cheering on the decline of the national currency but now is the time when that is the right thing to do, journalist Tim Worstall wrote.

A weakening ruble is just what the Russian economy needs now, observer Tim Worstall wrote in his article for Forbes.

"It might seem a little odd to be cheering on the collapse in value of a currency. It does, after all, mean that the people of that country are becoming poorer. However, there are times when that is the right thing to be happening and right now in Russia is one of those times," the article read.

On Thursday, the exchange rate hit a historic low of 85 rubles to the dollar and then rolled back to 83.8.

Comment: Further reading: Doing it right: German paper Bild's interview with Putin