Society's Child

3-year old killed in crossfire of Facebook argument

Amanda Andrade
Opposing Views
Tue, 21 Oct 2014 01:57 UTC

Amiracle Williams was just 3 years old when she was shot and killed this week due to a Facebook argument. Some teenagers from the local high school were in a dispute that stemmed from Facebook and escalated in front of the Williams home.

A group of young women were locked in a physical fight with Amiracle's older sister, 17. Amiracle's father, 47, "felt his daughters may have been in some sort of danger and responded by shooting one person at the scene," Detroit Police Chief James Craig told the Huffington Post.

Another person involved in the fight responded by unleashing a hail storm of bullets into the Williams' home using a high-powered TEC-9 machine gun. Amiracle's mother, father and sister were also injured, but are expected to recover. It is suspected that Amiracle's father, who has yet to be identified, shot someone during the altercation.

The investigation is ongoing but as of last Friday, the Detroit Police Department had two suspects in custody, the 22-year-old suspected second shooter and his 23-year-old getaway car driver, who was shot in the gunfire exchange. According to police, the second shooter has an outstanding warrant on a felony charge in Virginia. At least one of the men is known to have ties to local gangs.

ATF scared off Annual Gathering of Juggalos by event organizers with cameras

Copblock
Fri, 17 Oct 2014 01:12 UTC

Date of Incident: July 2014
Outfit: ATF

This year the 15th Annual Gathering Of The Juggalos took place from July 23rd-26th, 2014 at Legend Valley Campground in Ohio. Police were inside the grounds this year, which is a drastic change from the last several Gatherings where no police were allowed inside due to the grounds being private property. The police within the grounds made no attempt to stop any of the partying that was going on within the grounds and had been even quoted as saying "really, who cares if they have a little marijuana?" Those officers never left their golf carts during the entire event.

The ATF, however, tried to strong arm their way in. They called Robert Bruce (a.k.a. Jumpsteady), who was the organizer of the event, and told him that they were on the grounds and wanted to know where they could set up camp. He told then to wait a minute. Then, he quickly called the owner of the campground (Steve), the camera crew who were filming a documentary at The Gathering that year, and the Juggalo's own personal lawyer, Farris. They got together quickly and came to the conclusion that the ATF was not allowed to be on their property because Steve had not given them permission, yet they had already stormed onto the grounds demanding to be let in.

Bruce, Farris, the camera crew and several others then went out to meet the ATF where they were sitting. When they got there, they discovered a small crew of ATF officers standing there, as well as about eight more officers sitting on already running Razor 4-wheelers and four more officers who were clearly in charge sitting at a picnic table. When the officers saw a group of about 20 people coming towards them, waving cameras, boom sticks, and the like, their mouths dropped open in shock.

Facebook slams DEA for creating fake profile, violating its terms of use

Jay Syrmopoulos
The Free Thought Project
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 16:26 UTC

© Unknown
DEA uses confiscated pictures on woman's cellphone to create fake facebook account for drug trafficking investigation

Facebook's chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, in a letter to the DEA and their Administrator, Michele Leonhart, has stated that the same rules apply to law enforcement agencies about being truthful and not lying about identity as civilians.

"Facebook has long made clear that law enforcement authorities are subject to these policies," Sullivan wrote. "We regard DEA's conduct to be a knowing and serious breach of Facebook's terms and policies."

Facebook has stated that it wants assurances that fake profiles will not be used in conducting investigations. The letter comes on the heels of a New York woman, Sondra Arquiett, suing in federal court over claims that a fake Facebook page was created using her name and pictures by a DEA agent, Timothy Sinnigen, in an effort to forward a drug investigation.

Initially the Department of Justice defended the tactic. They argued in an August court filing that although Arquiett didn't give direct authorization to Sinnigen to create the bogus account, she "implicitly consented by granting access to the information stored in her cellphone and by consenting to the use of that information to aid in... ongoing criminal investigations."

The Department of Justice last week changed course and opened a review of the case after Arquiett sued the U.S. government, and Sinnigen in federal court.

Investigators had initially seized Arquiett's cell phone when she was arrested as part of a July 2010 drug investigation by a county drug task force, Homeland Security and the DEA, according to court documents.

UK prison whistle blowers being threatened with dismissal

Sandra Laville
The Guardian
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 23:40 UTC

© Brighton Argus/Solent News
Kim Lennon. a prison officer at HMP Lewes, is fighting for her job after speaking to her local newspaper about her concerns over safety.

Tory MP Gavin Williamson attacks 'arrogant, high-handed' attitude to those raising concerns about safety and violence

Whistleblowers in the Prison Service are being threatened with dismissal for raising serious concerns about their ability to keep inmates safe and their fears over soaring levels of violence.

The attempts to silence staff have been condemned by a Conservative member of parliament, who was approached in confidence by a number of officers working at a prison in his constituency during the summer with details of how staffing shortages were causing concerns over safety.

The MP, Gavin Williamson, said the "arrogant, high-handed" attitude to those raising legitimate concerns risked creating another scandal in the public sector on the scale of the Mid Staffordshire affair in the NHS. After the MP was approached an officer was singled out by the prison service and has been served a disciplinary notice which could end with his dismissal.

British scientists warn only 100 harvests left in farm soil

UK Independent
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 23:18 UTC

Modern society's dependence on grains is destroying both the soil and human and animal health

Intense over-farming means there are only 100 harvests left in the soil of the UK's countryside, a study has found.

With a growing population and the declining standard of British farmland, scientists warned that we are on course for an "agricultural crisis" unless dramatic action is taken.

Despite the traditional perception that there is a green and pleasant land outside the grey, barren landscape of our cities, researchers from the University of Sheffield found that on average urban plots of soil were richer in nutrients than many farms.

Sampling local parks, allotments and gardens in urban areas, Dr Jill Edmondson showed that the ground was significantly healthier than that of arable fields. Allotment soil had 32% more organic carbon, 36% higher carbon to nitrogen ratios, 25% higher nitrogen and was significantly less compacted.

Comment: For more on the devastating effects of modern agriculture and a grain-based diet on the health of the planet and that of its human and animal inhabitants, listen to Sott Talk Radio's interview with author of 'The Vegetarian Myth', Lierre Keith.

Less freedom to protest in London's Parliament Square than in Hong Kong!!

Donnachadh McCarthy
The Ecologist
Sun, 19 Oct 2014 23:12 UTC

Donnachadh McCarthy went to Parliament Square yesterday to address a peaceful rally about the failings of British democracy. The intimidatory, violent and inflammatory police reaction only confirmed everything he had to say - as did the dignified restraint of the Occupy Democracy protestors.

Yesterday I was invited to speak about 'The Prostitute State - How Britain's Democracy Has Been Bought' - at the Occupy Democracy Rally in Parliament Square.

The plan was to give the talk (which went well - despite being nervous) and meet up with a friend later for dinner.

Instead I ended up being threatened with arrest not once, not twice but six times and ended up sleeping rough in the open all night in Parliament Square with the amazing people seeking to establish the week-long democracy Occupy Democracy forum!

Chris Hedges: 'The Imperative of Revolt'

Chris Hedges
Truthdig.com
Sun, 19 Oct 2014 22:32 UTC

© AP/Seth Wenig
Protesters chant as they are arrested at the intersection of Wall Street and Broad Street in New York on Sept. 22. The protesters, many of whom were affiliated with Occupy Wall Street, were pointing to the connection between capitalism and environmental destruction.

Toronto - I met with Sheldon S. Wolin in Salem, Ore., and John Ralston Saul in Toronto and asked the two political philosophers the same question. If, as Saul has written, we have undergone a corporate coup d'état and now live under a species of corporate dictatorship that Wolin calls "inverted totalitarianism," if the internal mechanisms that once made piecemeal and incremental reform possible remain ineffective, if corporate power retains its chokehold on our economy and governance, including our legislative bodies, judiciary and systems of information, and if these corporate forces are able to use the security and surveillance apparatus and militarized police forces to criminalize dissent, how will change occur and what will it look like?

Wolin, who wrote the books Politics and Vision and Democracy Incorporated, and Saul, who wrote Voltaire's Bastards and The Unconscious Civilization, see democratic rituals and institutions, especially in the United States, as largely a facade for unchecked global corporate power. Wolin and Saul excoriate academics, intellectuals and journalists, charging they have abrogated their calling to expose abuses of power and give voice to social criticism; they instead function as echo chambers for elites, courtiers and corporate systems managers. Neither believes the current economic system is sustainable. And each calls for mass movements willing to carry out repeated acts of civil disobedience to disrupt and delegitimize corporate power.

33 police officers fire 600 bullets into car knowing it contained a hostage

Cassandra Rules
The Free Thought Project
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 22:35 UTC

© Unknown
"You do not riddle a vehicle with 600 shots, by 33 people, knowing there is an innocent person inside."

An attorney for the family of Misty Holt Singh spoke out on Thursday, asserting that Stockton police used unreasonable force in the July 16th incident when they took the life of this 41 year old mother of two.

Holt-Singh was taken hostage by robbers at Bank of the West in Stockton, California, in front of her 12 year old daughter who was waiting for her in the car.

"Misty was crying," a witness told KOVR. "She was saying her daughter was alone in the car. She said, 'I don't want my daughter to see me coming out with you,' and they said, 'Don't worry, nothing is going to happen,' and they took her anyway."

Unfortunately it was not only the robbers that Holt-Singh needed to worry about.

Holt-Singh was in the vehicle as the three suspects lead police on a high speed chase which lasted for nearly an hour. The suspects reportedly fired over 100 rounds at officers during the 55 mile incident.

Two other women were taken hostage as well, but were either thrown or jumped from the vehicle as it was speeding from police, both survived.

The beloved wife and mother was ultimately shot at least 10 times- not by the suspects, but by the police- 33 of them, who fired 600 rounds into the vehicle despite knowledge that it contained a hostage. Holt-Singh as well as two of the three suspects were killed in the barrage of bullets.

Praise for Cuba that is sending hundreds of medical professionals to West Africa

teleSUR
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 20:27 UTC

© teleSUR
Apparently, there is a U.N. special envoy on Ebola, Mr. David Navarro, who hasn't been very active, to say the least

The New York Times joins the U.N. Special Envoy on Ebola and the leaders of ALBA nations in lauding Cuba's impressive efforts against the deadly disease in West Africa.

The U.N. Special Envoy on Ebola, David Navarro, arrived in Havana on Sunday to participate in the Extraordinary Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Latin America (ALBA) on Ebola to begin on Monday.

Navarro hailed the contributions of Cuba in attacking the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone, where a contingent of 165 health care professionals, including some from Venezuela, are hard at work.

"You are providing impressive support to African people now, as you have done for many years," said the special envoy.

He told the press that Cuba "is providing a high level of solidarity... and it is gratifying to know that the government has agreed to cooperate with other governments."

Comment: If only the U.S. and the EU could do the same.

Navarro said that on Monday, he will speak of the "threat posed by the outbreak of Ebola in the world, and the courage of those who are helping those who have fallen ill with the disease."

Comment: Is the West allowing Cuba to do its dirty work? Double shame on the rich elite that doesn't give one bit about the suffering of others and that gladly hands over responsibility to a small country that they were hell-bent on destroying before.

Huge fire breaks out at Didcot power station in Oxfordshire, England

BBC News
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 18:58 UTC

Fire crews have been battling a major blaze at Didcot B Power Station, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue has said.

At the height of the fire, which broke out in one of the cooling towers, 20 fire appliances were at the scene

Energy company RWE npower, which owns the gas-burning power station, has said the fire is now under control and there have been no injuries.

Police have warned local people to stay indoors and close their doors and windows.

The plant was shut down and all areas isolated before crews moved in to tackle the fire.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: "First, I want to thank the emergency services who are at Didcot working to tackle the blaze.

"I've been reassured by National Grid that there is no risk to electricity supplies. I will be keeping in touch with the relevant authorities throughout.

Comment: Are you paying attention yet?

Take a look at this small sample of recent gas explosions. Don't you think it's a bit peculiar, if not worrying?