Society's ChildS


Sheriff

Court collusion with police increases blue privilege while laying waste to your rights

police blue priviledge
As state legislatures convene across the country, police unions and their lobbyists have begun a nation-wide campaign to preserve - and, where possible, expand - "Blue Privilege" in its various guises, from efforts to criminalize video-recording police to the preservation of the officially sanctioned larceny called "civil asset forfeiture."

Police unions in Maryland are pressuring the state legislature not to override last year's gubernatorial veto of a package of bills that would decriminalize possession of marijuana paraphernalia and place restrictions on the practice of asset forfeiture. Senate Bill 528 would establish a $300 threshold for cash seizures, redefine "presumptions and ... certain burdens related to forfeiture of money" (which is to say, it would place the burden on the state, not the property owner), and prohibit the transfer of confiscated property to federal control "unless there is a federal criminal charge or the owner consents." That last provision would impede the pernicious practice of "equitable sharing," in which seized property or cash is handed over to the Feds as a way to prevent victims from seeking redress through state courts; the Feds then keep a small portion and kick back the rest to the state or local agencies that confiscated it.

Comment: The war on drugs is a total failure. Its real purpose seems to be to seize assets to create more funds to militarize police departments who then act against the people that they are sworn to protect.


Fire

Another chemical plant explosion in Brazil; residents urged to stay inside

Santos chemical fire
© EPA Mayor said chemical elements 'could burn the skin'.
A chemical explosion at a cargo warehouse in Brazil has spread toxic gas over the country's biggest port.

The company owners said the containers in Santos were full of acid and a disinfectant which came into contact with rainwater, causing a reaction.

The area's mayor said at least 66 people were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.

Officials said the fire had been controlled but that there is still smoke in the area.

The cargo terminal and nearby homes were evacuated and residents were asked to stay inside.

The container terminal was operated by Localfrio, a logistics company, in Guaruja, an area on the eastern side of Santos, in Sao Paulo state.

Fire

Ten dead and seven injured after massive explosion at Chinese fireworks factory

Explosion at a fireworks factory in Kaifeng, Henan province
Incident: Ten people have been killed at an explosion at a fireworks factory in Kaifeng, Henan province
Ten people have been killed and seven others injured in an explosion at a fireworks factory in Kaifeng city, central China's Henan province.

The explosion occurred at around 11am local time today, the People's Daily Online reports.

The incident comes as the country prepares to celebrate Chinese New Year in a few weeks, the peak time for the purchase of fireworks and firecrackers.

According to Tongxu County Government Hospital, seven people are injured, five of them seriously.

Emergency services attended the scene and the fire has now been brought under control.

However there are reports of firecrackers still exploding as the flames dampen down.

Trucks near to the factory were also caught up in the blaze and completely destroyed.


widespread damage across the area
Deadly incident: The accident took place at 11am local time, causing widespread damage across the area

Magnify

Unarmed black protesters who occupied wildlife refuge in 1979 were forcibly removed and jailed

Harris Neck camp-in
Harris Neck camp-in
After a group of armed militants seized an Oregon nature preserve earlier this month, many wondered: What would have happened if they were black?

It's impossible to know for sure, of course, but there is a somewhat recent historical precedent that offers some clues, reported The Oregonian.

In 1979, 40 members of People Organized for Equal Rights set up camp on a federal nature preserve south of Savannah, Georgia — where their ancestors had lived for generations.

A white plantation owner had deeded the land to a former slave after the Civil War, and other freed slaves and their descendant moved to the area — known as Harris Neck — to live, work, fish and farm for decades.

That all came to an abrupt end in 1942, when the U.S. military took over Harris Neck through eminent domain and gave residents three weeks to leave.

Handcuffs

More than 60 hostages rescued in Burkina Faso after Al Qaeda attack

Burkina Faso
© AFP 2016/ AHMED OUOBA
Remis Dandjinou, Burkina Faso's minister of communication, said that 63 hostages, including a Burkina Faso minister, have been evacuated from the Splendid Hotel in the country's capital, Ouagadougou, which came under attack on Friday.

More than 60 hostages, including a Burkina Faso minister, have been evacuated from Splendid Hotel in the country's capital, Ouagadougou, which came under attack on Friday, Remis Dandjinou, Burkina Faso's minister of communication said.

"Liberation of Minister [of the Civil Service, Labour and Social Security] Clement Sawadogo and some thirty hostages. Operation continues," Dandjinou wrote on Twitter.

Comment: Where is the Western media when terror attacks ravage Burkina Faso?


Padlock

Walmart closing hundreds of stores, thousands of layoffs

walmart
© www.usatoday.comThe last roundup.
US retail giant Walmart, the world's largest company by revenue, will close hundreds of stores around the world and layoff thousands of employees. The company announced Friday it will close 269 stores across the globe, including 154 in the US. In all, 16,000 employees will lose their jobs by the store closings, about 10,000 of whom are in the US. Walmart is closing the stores to shift resources to Supercenters and smaller-format Neighborhood Market stores.

Walmart has more than 11,000 stores worldwide, including 4,655 stores in the US. Internationally, Walmart is closing 115 stores, including 60 in Brazil. The remaining stores are primarily small, money-losing stores in other Latin American countries. "Closing stores is never an easy decision, but it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement.

Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, Walmart had a total revenue of $485 billion in 2014, according to the Fortune magazine. It is also the biggest private employer in the world with 2.2 million employees. According to labor rights groups, many Walmart employees earn close to the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour.

A study in 2013 by Congress found employees at a single Wisconsin Walmart receive about $1 million per year in public assistance. Millions of low-wage American workers in the retail and fast-food industry have protested in recent years for higher wages and the right to form labor unions.

Comment: What to do with the billions built on the backs of public-subsidized employees?
In the US, Wal-Mart is closing 102 Wal-Mart Express stores, the competition experiment to the growing dollar stores. (Well, the buck stops here for that experiment!) Also closing are 23 Neighborhood Markets, 12 supercenters, seven stores in Puerto Rico, six discount stores and four Sam's Clubs. It will, instead, open 50 to 60 supercenters, 85 to 95 Neighborhood Markets and 7 to 10 Sam's Clubs in the U.S. during the fiscal year that begins Feb. 1. Outside the U.S., Wal-Mart plans to open 200 to 240 stores.
At least the rich are keeping themselves busy. Will be interesting to see if a lot of the closures coincide in states that are upping minimum wage.


Fire

Study emphasizes government's need to prepare for Yellowstone eruption and other potential catastrophes

Yellowstone volcano caldera
The rim of the Yellowstone caldera, and ancient volcano, encircles the inner portion of Yellowstone National Park.
It's long been known that if the Yellowstone supervolcano were to erupt at full force the loss of life would be substantial and the effects on the world's climate would be disastrous — water sources would be fouled, crops would fail, many people would die directly and indirectly.

In an international report that has recently captured headlines, scientists have attempted to quantify the threat of such catastrophes while also urging governments worldwide to collaborate on investment in scientific research to better prepare the world in hopes of lessening the impacts of such a calamity.

"I think the paper and its contents are very valuable," said Bob Smith, a University of Utah researcher who has long studied the geodynamics of Yellowstone, even if certain websites tend to sensationalize the findings to the "point of annoyance."

The warnings and recommendations are contained in "Extreme Geohazards: Reducing the Disaster Risk and Increasing Resilience." The report was supported by the European Science Foundation and included an international cast of authors with expertise in such diverse fields as economics, health and earth sciences.

"It's one of the only reports I've ever seen that takes a geologic perspective in thinking about hazards," said Jake Lowenstern, a research geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey and scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

Heart - Black

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

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.


Heart - Black

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

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:


Sheriff

NYPD cop blasted for incendiary and racially charged social media posts

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