Society's Child

Ex-staffer says Home Office destroyed Windrush landing cards against advice of employees

Amelia Gentleman
The GuThe Guardian
Tue, 17 Apr 2018 17:18 UTC

Evidence of UK arrivals discarded despite case worker protests, says former employee

The Home Office destroyed thousands of landing card slips recording Windrush immigrants' arrival dates in the UK, despite staff warnings that the move would make it harder to check the records of older Caribbean-born residents experiencing residency difficulties.

A former Home Office employee said the records, stored in the basement of a government tower block, were a vital resource for case workers when they were asked to find information about someone's arrival date in the UK from the West Indies - usually when the individual was struggling to resolve immigration status problems.

Although the home secretary, Amber Rudd, has promised to make it easier for Windrush-generation residents to regularise their status, the destruction of the database is likely to make the process harder, even with the support of the new taskforce announced this week.

Comment:

OPCW confirms team's visit to site of alleged chemical attack in Syria

RT
Sat, 21 Apr 2018 16:35 UTC

The OPCW confirmed that a team visited the site in Douma where an alleged chemical attack took place. The Russian Foreign Ministry has voiced concerns about the watchdog's plans to visit fewer sites and speak to fewer witnesses.

On Saturday the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed on Twitter that its fact-finding mission team "visited one of the sites" in Douma "to collect samples for analysis in connection with allegations of chemical weapons use on 7 April 2018."

Comment: Given all the witness accounts collected so far, the OPCW should find no evidence of chemical weapons in the Douma "attack". The Russians have secured the area, so barring pressure on the OPCW from the West (which has happened before), their findings will hopefully corroborate the statements by Douma locals.

Hassan Diab child chemical attack Douma Syria

© South Front
Hassan Diab appears in the video of the victims of the 'chemical attack' in Douma. Later the boy explained to Russian media how the event was staged.

Moscow slams US after two Bolshoi ballet dancers denied entry: 'Even Cold War did not come to this'

RT
Sat, 21 Apr 2018 16:25 UTC

Washington is trying to "fence off" Americans from Russians with a "visa wall," the Russian Foreign Ministry said regarding the visa denial of Russian Bolshoi Theater performers.

Moscow has slammed the US for "artificially" creating conditions to halt the issuance of visas. "Even during the Cold War it did not come to this," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday, adding that art has always served for easing tensions and "melting the ice of distrust."

Now "influential forces" in the US, which are preoccupied with trying to pressure Russia, "do not stop at anything," the foreign ministry said. "They are trying to fence off Americans from Russians with a visa wall, as we've said before, making trips of our citizens to the USA practically impossible," according to the statement.

Israel's propagandists silent after criticism from pro-Israeli Natalie Portman

James North and Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Sat, 21 Apr 2018 16:05 UTC

Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman's refusal to accept an award at a ceremony in Israel because of "extremely distressing" recent events is causing a huge headache for Israel advocates.

Yesterday Portman issued a statement elaborating on her earlier statement. She cited "atrocities" and her discomfort at attending a ceremony aalongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Though she also said she does not support BDS, boycott, divestment and sanctions.

I chose not to attend because I did not want to appear as endorsing Benjamin Netanyahu, who was to be giving a speech at the ceremony...I treasure my Israeli friends and family, Israeli food, books, art, cinema, and dance. Israel was created exactly 70 years ago as a haven for refugees from the Holocaust. But the mistreatment of those suffering from today's atrocities is simply not in line with my Jewish values. Because I care about Israel, I must stand up against violence, corruption, inequality, and abuse of power.

The chief response of Israel's defenders has been silence.

Comment: Here is Portman's full statement posted on Instagram:

My decision not to attend the Genesis Prize ceremony has been mischaracterized by others. Let me speak for myself. I chose not to attend because I did not want to appear as endorsing Benjamin Netanyahu, who was to be giving a speech at the ceremony. By the same token, I am not part of the BDS movement and do not endorse it. Like many Israelis and Jews around the world, I can be critical of the leadership in Israel without wanting to boycott the entire nation. I treasure my Israeli friends and family, Israeli food, books, art, cinema, and dance. Israel was created exactly 70 years ago as a haven for refugees from the Holocaust. But the mistreatment of those suffering from today's atrocities is simply not in line with my Jewish values. Because I care about Israel, I must stand up against violence, corruption, inequality, and abuse of power.

Please do not take any words that do not come directly from me as my own.

This experience has inspired me to support a number of charities in Israel. I will be announcing them soon, and I hope others will join me in supporting the great work they are doing.

Just as the Left is devouring itself, so is the identity-politics obsessed Zionist movement. One tiny deviation from the party line, and a previous (and current) supporter is thrown to the dogs. How pathological must a political "identity group" be to call someone "vile" who supports Israel, doesn't support BDS, yet simply criticizes the premeditated murder of protesting civilians (under military occupation and blockade). In fact, Portman didn't even specifically refer to the murders, just to "violence, corruption, inequality, and abuse of power". That is an accurate, objective description of the Israeli government. You can support a country and criticize their government at the same time, contrary to popular belief.

See also: Natalie Portman says 'enough'! Refuses to accept Israel's equivalent of Nobel Prize based on recent events in Gaza

The road to 2025: Prepare for a multi-polar world

Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 22:35 UTC

If pressed to describe what I think the next several years will look like as concisely as possible, I'd simply provide the following quote, often misattributed to Lenin:

"There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen."

There will be many such weeks from now until 2025, with the end result an emergence of a multi-polar world that will permanently unseat the unipolar U.S. imperial paradigm.

Fmr UK Ambassador to Syria: 'Assad is here to stay, Britain should move in the direction of friendship'

RT
Sat, 21 Apr 2018 14:32 UTC

The UK "should swallow its pride" and reopen its embassy in Damascus, the former UK ambassador to Syria said.

Calling Syrian President Bashar Assad as more of a "figurehead than a dictator," Lord Green of Deddington called for the government to rethink its strategy towards the war-torn country.

Lord Green said the UK should move "more in the direction of friendship" with Assad, as his regime "is here to stay." He was the UK's ambassador to Syria between 1991 and 1994 before he went on to found the Migration Watch think tank, which is dedicated to slashing immigration in Britain.

Comment: It's encouraging to see more circumspect voices speaking out against the hysterical war-mongering of F.UK.US. Whether any of those voices will be heard above the shrill cries for war and more war seems doubtful at this point.

May rejects Corbyn's 'War Powers Act' in second debate on Syria strikes

ISIS terrorist plotted a bombing attack of local security service HQ in Russia, killed by FSB

RT
Sat, 21 Apr 2018 13:40 UTC

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has killed an ISIS terrorist who plotted an attack on its local HQ and an administrative building in Stavropol. Agents recovered a firearm, IED components, and an ISIS flag from the scene.

The FSB operatives attempted to arrest the suspected terrorist in the southern Russian region of Stavropol on Saturday. The perpetrator, however, resisted and engaged in a firefight with law enforcement, receiving a fatal wound, the FSB press service said.

The terrorist plotted an attack on a local office of the FSB and a Stavropol government building, "using firearms and improvised explosive devices (IEDs)."

Waco, Texas: 25 years since the US government committed a chemical weapons attack against its own people

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:20 UTC

When reports claimed that a chemical attack killed 70 civilians in Syria earlier this month, the Trump administration was quick to place the blame on the Syrian government-despite having no evidence - and they claimed that the horror of such an atrocity deserved retaliation in the form of targeted airstrikes.

While the United States military maintained that the 120 missiles launched in the attack destroyed a facility that was used to produce chemical weapons, witnesses on the ground in Douma, Syria, claimed that the airstrikes actually destroyed a cancer research facility.

U.S. intelligence officials have since admitted that the attack was carried out despite the fact that the United States had no proof that the Syrian government had carried out a sarin gas attack. Instead, the U.S. acted before an investigation could be conducted, and as is usually the case with reported gas attacks in Syria, proof has yet to be found to show that President Bashar al-Assad was responsible.

If the idea that a government would use chemicals to kill dozens of its own citizens is so abhorrent that the U.S. would risk World War 3 to take a stand against it, then it must mean that the U.S. would never do the same thing to its own citizens, for fear that it could be subjected to a similar response from another country-right?

Comment: See also:

Italy ramps up search for mafia kingpin after arrests of his family members

Terry Daley
Yahoo News
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:11 UTC

© AFP Photo/ALESSANDRO FUCARINI
Cosa Nostra kingpin Matteo Messina Denaro's brother-in-law, Rosario Allegra, was arrested Thursday.

Italian police arrested the closest aides of Cosa Nostra kingpin Matteo Messina Denaro on Thursday, clamping down on a tightknit, family-run clan which has kept the mobster safely hidden over a quarter of a century on the run.

Twenty-one people were arrested in towns near the Sicilian city of Trapani where Denaro's criminal empire is based, as part of the "Year Zero" police investigation that allowed authorities to uncover a system of paper notes, or "pizzini", that Denaro uses to give orders to his most faithful associates.

Those include brothers-in-law Gaspare Como and Rosario Allegra, both in custody, who allegedly manage their boss's most important affairs.

"The Trapani Mafia is (securely) in the hands of fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro and we can say that because its most important members are his own family," said Pasquale Angelosanto, head of the Italian carabinieri's ROS special investigative unit.

Saudi strikes kill 20 civilians in Yemen

Sputnik
Sat, 21 Apr 2018 14:38 UTC

At least 20 people have been killed in Yemen, after the Saudi-led coalition reportedly struck a civilian vehicle in Taiz province on Friday.

"At least 20 civilians were killed and others were injured in US-backed Saudi-led aggression airstrikes on Taiz province," a security official told Saba news agency on Friday. Meanwhile, a military source in Sanaa told Sputnik that at least 18 people died after "coalition aircraft launched a series of raids."

While some sources said a warplane targeted a single car carrying civilians with several airstrikes, a local medical official told Xinhua, that "two vehicles were destroyed by the Saudi-led airstrikes."

WARNING! GRAPHIC VIDEO!

When is Space Weather Scary? & Top Science Updates | S0 News Nov.5.2021 [Link]

parzival

'Pfizer Shares Surge After Release Of 'Miracle' COVID Pill That Is 89% Effective At Preventing Hospitalization' [Link] * 'Take four red capsules....

parzival

.. .. RT, airplanes, 9/11 & Pelostine: [Link]

Jibrish

Let's go pfizzer! or, Rumor is these 'inexplicably timed, heavily publicized, odd' funds are an additional, off the books entitlement to them...

Jibrish

"Although there isn't a currently known asteroid that's on an impact course with the Earth,…..” They might just fix that next October.

L. Wood

Society's Child

Ex-staffer says Home Office destroyed Windrush landing cards against advice of employees

OPCW confirms team's visit to site of alleged chemical attack in Syria

Moscow slams US after two Bolshoi ballet dancers denied entry: 'Even Cold War did not come to this'

Israel's propagandists silent after criticism from pro-Israeli Natalie Portman

The road to 2025: Prepare for a multi-polar world

Fmr UK Ambassador to Syria: 'Assad is here to stay, Britain should move in the direction of friendship'

ISIS terrorist plotted a bombing attack of local security service HQ in Russia, killed by FSB

Waco, Texas: 25 years since the US government committed a chemical weapons attack against its own people

Italy ramps up search for mafia kingpin after arrests of his family members

Saudi strikes kill 20 civilians in Yemen

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