Society's Child

New Russian bill orders firing of MPs whose spending exceeds official income

RT
Mon, 23 Apr 2018 09:53 UTC

The Lower House Security Committee of the Russian parliament has approved a new draft law which allows to firing of federal lawmakers who lie in their income declarations and spend more than they officially earn.

The bill, written by MP Anatoly Vybornyi of the majority party United Russia, orders that Russian senators and state Duma deputies who knowingly include false information in their annual income declarations are automatically ousted from parliament. If the mistake is unintentional then the lawmaker responsible can get off with a warning.

In comments to the Izvestia daily newspaper the author of the bill said that the document equates the rights and responsibilities of parliament members to those of other civil servants. At present, civil servants who give false information on their income declaration are punished with automatic sacking, while senators and state Duma deputies face only the obligatory disclosure of this information in the mass media and on the parliament's website.

If passed the bill would make it obligatory for parliamentarians to report all deals made within a year when the size of such deals exceeds the combined income of all their family members for the previous three years. The reports must include the detailed list of sources for the purchase.

In addition, the bill orders automatic expulsion of members of parliament who allowed a conflict of interests to occur and whose actions hurt the interests of citizens, state organizations or the state as a whole.

Fox News commentator and former adviser to Trump campaign defends ISIS in bizarre comments

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Sun, 22 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC

A Fox News commentator and former presidential campaign adviser to Mitt Romney and Donald Trump has gone on record on Twitter to defend ISIS.

Earlier today, Professor Walid Phares tweeted: "Assad air force is bombarding Palestinian refugees camp, Yarmuk, not far from Damascus while his ally Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah is threatening wars to "defend the Palestinians." Is it a war to stop Assad strikes against the Palestinians, perhaps?"

Stench coming from home leads investigators to 10,000 endangered tortoises

Jani Actman
National Geographic
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 12:00 UTC

Authorities found 10,000 radiated tortoises, a critically endangered species, crammed into a house in Toliara, Madagascar.

Soary Randrianjafizanaka set out with police, colleagues, and others earlier this month to investigate a rancid smell coming from a two-story house in Toliara, a town on the southwestern coast of Madagascar. She arrived at a scene unlike any she'd seen before in her role as a regional head of Madagascar's environmental agency: thousands of tortoises of varying sizes covering the floors, jammed up against one another with no room to move.

Randrianjafizanaka said the stench of feces and urine was overwhelming.

"You cannot imagine. It was so awful," she said. "They had tortoises in the bathroom, in the kitchen, everywhere in the house."

The vast majority of the tortoises, although alive, were weak and dehydrated.

Comment: See also:

PACE report finds 'strong suspicion' Council of Europe officials involved in corruption in favor of Azerbaijan

RT
Mon, 23 Apr 2018 18:44 UTC

There is "a strong suspicion" that several Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe officials, including its former head, have been involved in corrupt activities in favor of Azerbaijan, a new PACE report said.

The officials have accepted luxury gifts, including caviar, carpets, and stays in top hotels in the Azeri capital, Baku, the 219-page report conducted by French, UK, and Swedish experts said, stating that "there was a strong suspicion that certain current and former members of PACE had engaged in activity of a corruptive nature."

"The investigation body found that, in their activities concerning Azerbaijan, several members and former members of PACE had acted contrary to the PACE ethical standards," the report, published on PACE's website, said.

The report pointed out that there were allegations of suspicious practices in favor other countries at PACE, but the probe lacked resources to look into all of them. The investigators singled out Azerbaijan due to several NGOs blaming the country of attempts to avoid criticism at PACE "in exchange for gifts and money" to the body's members.

Drag kings seek to combat 'toxic masculinity' by dressing up like men and acting like women

Faith Moore
PJ Media
Mon, 23 Apr 2018 18:21 UTC

For a while now, feminists have been trying to find a way to combat "toxic masculinity." The feminist belief that rape and other sexual crimes stem from societal norms about masculinity, has caused the term "toxic" to come to encompass any behavior that is traditionally considered male. So, to combat toxic masculinity, one must weed out all behaviors that are seen as masculine. Which, of course, leaves only behaviors that are seen as feminine. Which means pretty much everyone would have to act like a woman. Hooray for feminism.

A recent article at HuffPost suggests a way to mainstream the idea that, in order to combat toxic masculinity, men must act like women. The article, called "It's Time For Drag Kings To Detoxify Masculinity On TV," is written by a drag king named Goldie Peacock. A drag king - for all you unenlightened sexist misogynists out there - is a woman who identifies as a woman but impersonates a man.

Russian lawyer who met with Trump Jr questions why Mueller hasn't contacted her

Nataliya Vasilyeva
The Associated Press
Sun, 22 Apr 2018 18:33 UTC

© Associated Press/Dmitry Serebryakov
Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, April 22, 2018.

A Russian lawyer who discussed sanctions with Donald Trump Jr. in New York during his father's 2016 campaign for the U.S. presidency said Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller has not contacted her yet.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Natalia Veselnitskaya also detailed her recent meeting in Berlin with investigators from the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee. Like Mueller, the committee is investigating allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.

Veselnitskaya met in June 2016 with then-candidate Donald Trump's son, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort, his campaign chairman at the time, Paul Manafort, after Trump Jr. was told the Russian lawyer had potentially incriminating information about Hillary Clinton.

Comment: Ms Veselnitskaya appears to be the loose thread of a murky, messy situation Mueller seems keen to avoid.

While the world is transfixed by Gaza protests, Israeli forces continue to invade Nabi Saleh in the West Bank

Anne Paq and Heidi Motola
Mondoweiss
Mon, 23 Apr 2018 18:13 UTC

© Anne Paq
Janna Jihad Ayyad confronts Israeli soldiers invading her village of Nabi Saleh during clashes with youth, April 21, 2018. Janna who turned 12 counts herself among the youngest journalists in the world, and has been reporting about the situation in the village since she has been a very young child.

"What's happening now is what is happening every week, sometimes everyday, since nearly nine years", explains Belal Tamimi, a resident of the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. "Every Friday, we have this situation, the soldiers try to surround the village, they don't want anyone to be near the spring area that the settlers occupied nine years ago. Every Friday, the situation is horrible", says Belal, who has taken the role of documenting the protests and the constant raids by the Israeli army.

Nabi Saleh, a small village of 600 inhabitants, has been recently in the headlines, following the arrest of the young activist, Ahed Tamimi (17), who slapped an Israeli soldier in front of her home last December. However, there is little attention to the fact that the village is regularly invaded by the Israeli army, days and nights, triggering clashes with the youth, who confront the soldiers with stones. The arrests takes place mostly during the nights and currently, according to Belal Tamimi, 19 residents of Nabi Saleh are imprisoned by the Israeli authorities.

Comment: The smirk on the soldier's face in the last photo says it all. The army is untouchable and they know it. So long as the US continues to enable Israeli criminality, the Palestinian people will continue to suffer.

'Nazi scum get out': Milo Yiannopoulos hounded out of NY bar by socialist mob

RT
Mon, 23 Apr 2018 17:24 UTC

Conservative firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos was hounded out of a Manhattan pub on Sunday by a group of political activists and reporters. Video of the incident shows the left-leaning mob shouting: "Nazi scum get out" at Yiannopoulos.

According to reports, Yiannopoulos was patronizing an unnamed Manhattan pub that was also hosting a group of Democratic Socialists, who quickly spotted the controversial commentator and began jeering at him and his associate, Chadwick Moore.

Several journalists from outlets like the Nation and Gizmodo joined in on the "Nazi scum get out" chants, according to media reports and Milo's own retelling of the events.

Comment: It's quite a feat to turn a gay Jewish man married to a black man - into a white supremacist Nazi. The far left is acting out the very things they claim to condemn.

Video proves family's claim that unarmed Palestinian teen was far from border fence when executed by Israeli snipers

RT
Mon, 23 Apr 2018 16:30 UTC

The fact that a 15yo Gaza boy was unarmed and rather far from a border fence didn't stop Israeli snipers from shooting him, a witness who filmed the act told RT, as grieving parents called the killing of their son an "execution."

Mohammed Ayoub was shot dead by an Israeli sniper on Friday, as the heated protests along the heavily fortified Israeli border with Gaza went into their fourth week. The so-called 'March of Return' protest is being staged as a desperate Palestinian claim to their former homes, appropriated from them by Israel in 1948. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, thousands of protesters have so far been injured - and almost 40 killed - as the rules of engagement allow the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) to use live fire against any rioters they deem dangerous.

The moment Ayoub was hit "with an explosive bullet in the head" was captured by a local cameraman, Abdul Hakim Abu Riyash, who told RT the teenager was nowhere near the frontline and rather "far away from the Israeli fence - about 200-300 meters."

"He was not a threat to the Israeli army and he was not making any movement that can be considered as a threat," the cameraman said, emphasizing that the 15-year-old "was participating in the march like everyone else."

Comment: Yes, the incident will be 'thoroughly checked'; IDF soldiers will be cleared of any wrongdoing and congratulated for doing such a fine job: Netanyahu: Israeli snipers are doing 'holy work'

See also:

The failed US strike on Syria: Lies, deception and quiet desperation

Federico Pieraccini
The Duran
Sun, 22 Apr 2018 15:53 UTC

At 4am on April 14, the United States, France and the United Kingdom executed a strike on Syria. The Syrian Free Press reported:

US Navy warships in the Red Sea and Air Force B-1B bombers and F-15 and F-16 aircraft rained dozens of ship- and air-launched cruise missiles down on the Syrian capital of Damascus, an airbase outside the city, a so-called chemical weapons storage facility near Homs, and an equipment-storage facility and command post, also near Homs.

B1-Bs are typically armed with JASSM cruise missiles, which have a 450 kg warhead and a range of 370 kms. US Navy warships launched Tomahawks, which have 450 kg warheads and an operational range of between 1,300 and 2,500 kms. The British Royal Air Force's contingent for the assault consisted of four Tornado GR4 ground-attack aircraft armed with the Storm Shadow long-range air-to-ground missile, which the UK's Defense Ministry said targeted 'chemical weapons sites' in Homs. These weapons have a range of 400 kms. Finally, France sent its Aquitaine frigate, armed with SCALP naval land-attack cruise missiles (SCALP is the French military's name for the Storm Shadow), as well as several Dassault Rafale fighters, also typically armed with SCALP or Apache cruise missiles.

According to the Russian defense ministry, the B-1Bs also fired GBU-38 guided air bombs. Undoubtedly wary of the prospect of having their aircraft shot down after Israel lost one of its F-16s over Syria in February, the Western powers presumably launched their weapons from well outside the range of Syrian air defenses, with all the targets located just 70-90 kms from the Mediterranean Sea, and having to fly through Lebanon first.

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Orwik

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Jibrish

Society's Child

New Russian bill orders firing of MPs whose spending exceeds official income

Fox News commentator and former adviser to Trump campaign defends ISIS in bizarre comments

Stench coming from home leads investigators to 10,000 endangered tortoises

PACE report finds 'strong suspicion' Council of Europe officials involved in corruption in favor of Azerbaijan

Drag kings seek to combat 'toxic masculinity' by dressing up like men and acting like women

Russian lawyer who met with Trump Jr questions why Mueller hasn't contacted her

While the world is transfixed by Gaza protests, Israeli forces continue to invade Nabi Saleh in the West Bank

'Nazi scum get out': Milo Yiannopoulos hounded out of NY bar by socialist mob

Video proves family's claim that unarmed Palestinian teen was far from border fence when executed by Israeli snipers

The failed US strike on Syria: Lies, deception and quiet desperation

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