Society's ChildS


Sherlock

Police chief's daughter among suspects charged in Philadelphia gay-bashing, enjoys blacking out and tweeting her homophobia

David Ferguson
Raw Story
Wed, 24 Sep 2014 01:06 UTC
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© Katherine Knott, TwitterKatherine Knott apparently enjoys blacking out
One of the suspects charged in the vicious beating of two gay men on a street in Philadelphia is a police chief's daughter whose Twitter feed is littered with antigay slurs, tweets about binge drinking and blackouts and about how awful it is when your parents write you a check instead of just giving you cash.

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday morning that two of the three suspects wanted in the case surrendered to police after they were identified by social media users who matched their Facebook photos with security footage taken on the night of the attack.

Prosecutors told the AP that 24-year-old Philip Williams and 24-year-old Katherine Knott face charges of criminal conspiracy, aggravated and simple assault, and reckless endangerment, as does their co-defendant, 26-year-old Kevin Harrigan, who is still at large.
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Sheriff

Crazy cop rips open car door and yells at man for exercising his rights

Matt Agorist
Free Thought Project
Sun, 21 Sep 2014 00:55 UTC
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© Video screen grab/Ryan Scott‘Driving is a privilege not a right,’ the cop barked while violating Ryan Scott’s Fourth Amendment rights and illegally entering his car.
Highly questionable "Road side safety check" looks like a scene from military boot camp. A video uploaded to Facebook Saturday paints a vivid picture of the American police state. Over the last decade the United States has witnessed an all-out attack on the Constitution. Freedom to travel unmolested is becoming a thing of the past.

Bi-partisan support from all levels of State and Federal government wage war on your ability to remain secure in your belongings and the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. Remember however, that your constitutional rights still apply in these roadblock situations.

Though police are permitted to stop you briefly, they may not search you or your car unless they have probable cause that you're under the influence or you agree to the search. As such, you are not required to answer their questions or admit to breaking the law.

Comment: More and more we see examples of cops completely out of control and violating the rights of ordinary Americans, innocent of any crime.

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Network

Big changes to Facebook makes online retailers weary


RT
Wed, 24 Sep 2014 23:45 UTC
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© Reuters / Dado Ruvic
Facebook will unveil a new advertising platform as early as next week, according to recent reports, but some online retailers say they're weary of what the changes will soon bring to the already all powerful social networking site.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on Monday that Facebook will announce its new ad platform next week, the likes of which will aim to help marketers more successfully target the website's audience by supplying them with tools and statistics intended to bring commercial content to users more specifically than before.

Atlas, as the platform is known, "promises to help marketers understand which Facebook users have seen, interacted with or acted upon ads that appear both on Facebook's services and on third-party websites and apps," Jack Marshall wrote Monday for the Journal.

"It will also provide an automated ad-buying tool known in the industry as a 'demand-side platform' or 'bidder,' which will offer marketers the ability to buy ads that target Facebook's members as they move around the web," the Journal reported.

Now on the heels of that revelation, another journalist at the paper reported on Tuesday this week that, coupled with other recent changes to the way the social networking site collects information, Facebook is being faced with significant blowback by the advertisers who are expected to help earn the site $12.2 billion this year alone.

Comment: For more information on the machinations of Facebook:

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Eiffel Tower

Political machinations: Sarkozy corruption probe suspended days after announcing his comeback


France24
Wed, 24 Sep 2014 00:00 UTC
Sarkozy
© Reuters / Gonzalo FuentesFormer French bling-bling President Nicolas Sarkozy.
A corruption probe involving former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been temporarily suspended, a judicial source said Wednesday. The case relates to Sarkozy's alleged attempt to seek inside information from a magistrate investigating him.

The Paris appeals court decided Tuesday to freeze the investigation into influence-peddling pending a review of Sarkozy's request to have the case dismissed, a source close to the investigation told AFP on Wednesday. The suspension could last several months.

Sarkozy was placed under formal investigation in July over the corruption allegations. Investigators are seeking to establish whether Sarkozy, with the help of his lawyer, attempted to pervert the course of justice by seeking to obtain inside information from a high court magistrate about a probe into possible misdeeds in the financing of his 2007 election campaign.

Comment: How convenient that the French judicial system appears to be opening the doors to facilitate Sarkozy's return to politics. Just more unsurprising evidence that the systems are rigged. Does anyone doubt that all the widespread corruption cases plaguing him will be swept under the rug?

Sarkozy announces his slimy return to French politics
Sarkozy corruption charge is just one of a number of scandals the former French president is embroiled in

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Wolf

Tiger kills young man at Indian zoo (graphic video)


RT
Wed, 24 Sep 2014 16:14 UTC
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© Reuters / Anindito MukherjeeZoo workers carry the body of a school student who was mauled to death by a white tiger at the National Zoological Park in New Delhi September 23, 2014
An Indian school student has been attacked and killed by a white tiger at a New Delhi zoo. The young man jumped over security barriers before falling over five meters into the tigers' enclosure, where he was mauled to death.

The incident happened just after 1 pm local time Tuesday, when the youngster, identified as Maqsood, fell or jumped into the enclosure. He was immediately confronted by the animal. Onlookers tried to throw stones at the tiger to distract it, but to no avail.

"After he fell down, the white tiger which was further inside the enclosure came towards Maqsood. As the tiger came closer, he clasped his hands and seemed to be praying. The tiger watched Maqsood closely for almost 15 minutes," an onlooker told the Indian Express.

After the standoff, the big cat swiped at him before crushing his neck with a single bite.

"We are all in a complete state of shock," said Amitabh Agnihotri, the director of the city's National Zoological Park.
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Bell

Russia not ignoring war crimes: Calls for probe into executions/beheadings in east Ukraine


RT
Wed, 24 Sep 2014 15:54 UTC
Fedotov
Mikhail Fedotov
Russia is calling for an international investigation into the discovery of burial sites with signs of execution at locations where the Ukraine National Guard forces were stationed two days earlier.

The head of Russia's presidential human rights council, Mikhail Fedotov, has called on the authorities to do everything to "ensure an independent international probe" and "let international human rights activists and journalists" gain access to the site in Eastern Ukraine's embattled Donetsk region.

The crime, Fedotov noted, shouldn't "remain without consequences." He didn't exclude the discovery of other burial sites, reminding that mass killings are "the reality of the modern-day war" and that such crimes were committed in the wars in the former Yugoslavia.

The burial sites near the Kommunar mine, 60 kilometers from Donetsk, were first discovered on Tuesday by self-defense forces.

Four bodies have been exhumed, including those of three women. Their hands were tied, at least one of the bodies was decapitated, self-defense fighters said.


Comment: More evidence of crimes against humanity committed by Ukrainian forces: Note that the second link includes the discovery of another burial site, 8 bodies, one of them decapitated.

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Dollars

Silencing criticism of Israel through donor blackmail

Lawrence Davidson
Consortium News
Mon, 22 Sep 2014 14:49 UTC
separation wall
© Ted LievermanA portion of the separation wall built by the Israeli government jutting into the town of Bethlehem to enclose the tomb of Rachel within the Israeli zone. Many portions of the wall contain graffiti and artwork by the Palestinians and their visitors.
Israel's never-ending persecution of Palestinians is opening a chasm between the world's public, which is growing disgusted by Israeli behavior, and Western elites who shy from criticism because of career fears and financial dependence, observes Lawrence Davidson.

Due to Israel's brutal racism and repeated attacks on Palestinian civilians, it is losing popular support internationally. As this happens, the Zionists appear to be intensifying pressure on societal and political elites, particularly in the U.S. and other Western states, to maintain policies that support and protect Israel's criminal behavior.

Their vehicle for achieving this goal has always been financial gifts and donations to elite individuals and institutions. These gifts and donations help grease the wheels, so to speak, of the systems of power through which the elites operate, and create a monetary dependency on, among others, Zionist donors. It also creates an obligation to respond to these donor's needs. The result is a growing disconnect between evolving popular attitudes toward Israel and the static positions held and actions taken by the elites.
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Nuke

16,000 demonstrators rally against restarting Japanese nuclear reactors


phys.org
Tue, 23 Sep 2014 10:28 UTC
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Cranes work at the tsunami-crippled Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo on July 9, 2014

Some 16,000 people rallied Tuesday in the Japanese capital against the government's plan to restart nuclear reactors, more than three years after the Fukushima disaster, Jiji Press said.

It was one of the largest anti-nuclear demonstrations since the nuclear watchdog on September 10 approved plans to restart two reactors at the Sendai plant in southern Japan.

"Three and a half years has passed since the nuclear accident, but self-examination has yet to be made," Nobel literature laureate Kenzaburo Oe told the Tokyo rally, according to public broadcaster NHK.

"(The government) is going ahead with the plan to resume operation at the Sendai plant without compiling sufficient anti-disaster plans," Oe said.

After the rally demonstrators marched through the capital, carrying banners reading: "We don't need nuclear plants".

On Sunday new industry minister Yuko Obuchi said the resource-poor nation should be realistic about its energy needs as the government tries to convince a sceptical public about the necessity of nuclear power.

Comment: See also here for more on the Japanese nuclear nightmare

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Stormtrooper

Police receive backlash over armored vehicle

Erin Schattauer
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Tue, 23 Sep 2014 17:36 UTC
armored rescue vehicle
© Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez/ChronicleBozeman Police Captain Steve Crawford showcases the department's armored rescue vehicle on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at the Gallatin County Law and Justice Center in Bozeman. The Bozeman Police Department received the vehicle in May.
Bozeman Police Captain Steve Crawford showcases the department's armored rescue vehicle on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at the Gallatin County Law and Justice Center in Bozeman. The Bozeman Police Department received the vehicle in May.

Mayor Jeff Krauss isn't the only one fired up over news that the city owns a new armored vehicle.

In the hours after Monday night's City Commission meeting, where City Manager Chris Kukulski admitted he made a mistake by never bringing the grant application for the vehicle before the commission, the public lashed out online against the police department's new 17,000-pound Lenco BearCat G3.

Some commenters went to the police department's Facebook page, usually known for its campy morning posts, and chastised the department for getting such a vehicle. Others hurdled criticism over the department sidestepping the usual process to get it.

The hashtag #senditback was used by some. A satire Facebook page titled "Send in the Rescue Vehicle" was created.

Critics say it's unnecessary and points to the militarization of local police. But police say it's a regional asset that will protect officers and residents.

The BearCat, which stands for Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck, was paid for by the Homeland Security Grant Program. Its base price was $188,793. After add-ons, which included things like a diesel engine and a four-wheel off-road package upgrade, it ended up costing $248,537.

A purchase agreement between the city of Bozeman and Lenco dated Nov. 26, 2013, for a $248,537 armored vehicle.
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Bacon

A good way to invest your money: Store large amounts of food, like now

Peggy Layton
Survival Backpack
Mon, 22 Sep 2014 00:00 UTC
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There are many reasons for stockpiling a one-year supply of food. The value of food commodities generally increases at the same rate as inflation. Money in the bank doesn't do that. Investing in 500 cans of tuna or in dehydrated food that will last five to 10 years are better bets than putting $350 in the bank.

The most important reason to store food is that it comes in very handy in a crisis. It is comforting to know that you can use your home grocery store for an emergency and to help buffer lean money times. If you had to live on what you had in your basement for an extended period of time, you would wish you had a well-rounded supply of food.

In general, most households do not have more than a one-week supply of food. As a nation, we rely almost totally on the supermarket and fast food restaurants. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the cost of feeding a family of four at home in July ranged from $568 per month (thrifty plan) to $1,293.20 per month (liberal plan). Wow! With food prices rising, your best investment right now is food.

If you ask any supermarket chain manager to tell you how long it would take to empty the shelves in any store in the event of a crises, the answer would be about three days. People storm grocery stores and buy anything they could get. The water is the first thing that goes.
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