Society's ChildS


Light Saber

Massive rallies in Iran urge Palestinians to resist Israel to the end

Image
© AFP Photo/Behrouz MehriAn Iranian man wears a blood stained shirt with a headband bearing the word "Gaza" during a demonstration in Tehran on July 25, 2014 to mark Quds (Jerusalem) Day.
Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets across Iran to show solidarity with the Palestinian people, and condemn Israel's military operation in Gaza, which has already seen over 800 people dead.

According to state television, massive rallies were held in the capital, Tehran, and most other Iranian cities to mark Jerusalem Day - Iran's annual day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The protesters, who had photos of Palestinian children killed by the IDF in Gaza, chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America."

Washington was condemned for their support of Tel-Aviv's actions, with American flags being burned along with the Israeli flags.

The demonstrators also carried banners, reading: "Defending Gaza and Palestine is our religious duty".

Comment: It should be noted that whichever technology Hamas has to manufacture arms, it is far from the kinds of weapons used by the IDF. In fact, most claims of media-spread Palestinian attacks on Israel need to be taken with a grain of salt.

For more information, see SOTT editor Joe Quinn's paragraph 'Staged Palestinian Terror and Rocket Attacks?' in his recent article, and SOTT editor Niall Bradley's paragraph 'Israel and missile deception' in his latest article: Asymmetric Warfare: MH17 False-Flag Terror and the 'War' on Gaza.

Frankly, this is a one-sided 'war' in which Israel repeatedly bombs innocent civilians who cannot protect or defend themselves.


Cult

Meanwhile, in Iraq: Isis forces Christians to convert to Islam, pay a tax or die

The ultimatum imposed by militants for Christians to convert to Islam, pay a tax or be killed has passed with the collapse of communities that have existed for millennia

ISIS
© AFP / HO
The last Christians in northern Iraq are fleeing from places where their communities have lived for almost 2,000 years, as a deadline passed for them to either convert to Islam, pay a special tax or be killed.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) issued a decree last week offering Christians the three options accompanied by the ominous threat that, if they did not comply by midday on 19 July, "then there is nothing to give them but the sword".

It is the greatest mass flight of Christians in the Middle East since the Armenian massacres and the expulsion of Christians from Turkey during and after the First World War. Isis, which now rules an area larger than Great Britain, has already eliminated many of the ancient Christian communities of eastern Syria, where those who had not escaped were given a similar choice between conversion, payment of a special tax or death.

Comment: And all this extreme lunacy and cruelty thanks to western intervention in the region. Indeed, in 2003 the Bush government lied to the world about Iraq's weapons capabilities and proceeded to destroy and occupy it. Later the Obama administration and their western allies funded and supported real terrorists to fight the Syrian government. The monster they created has now a life on its own and calls itself Isis, and is free to do as it pleases in the crippled state of Iraq. That's how exporting democracy works, American style.


Book 2

Immigration reform? Obama preparing to issue executive action granting temporary relief from deportation

Immigration
© Unknown
The Obama administration is preparing to effectively "nullify" the immigration laws of the United States through an executive action, says one Republican senator. As Time reported Thursday, President Obama appears prepared to provide millions of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. work authorization via executive orders:

When President Obama issues executive orders on immigration in coming weeks, pro-reform activists are expecting something dramatic: temporary relief from deportation and work authorization for perhaps several million undocumented immigrants. If the activists are right, the sweeping move would upend a contentious policy fight and carry broad political consequences.

The activists met privately with the President and his aides June 30 at the White House, and say in that meeting Obama suggested he will act before the November midterm elections. They hope his decision will offer relief to a significant percentage of the estimated 11.7 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. "He seems resolute that he's going to go big and go soon," says Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-reform group America's Voice.

Star of David

Protestors stage 'die-in' at Israel Discount Bank in Manhattan

Israel Discount Bank protest
© ObserverThe windows of IDB on 5th Avenue were defaced this afternoon by demonstrators protesting the war in Israel and Gaza.
It was not a normal summer Friday for the employees of the Israel Discount Bank, on 511 5th Avenue.

According to tweets, various employees (who wish to remain anonymous), and emails obtained by the Observer, the bank's windows were attacked and smeared with fake blood as pro-Hamas demonstrators staged a "die-in" on the sidewalk in front of the bank.

An employee of IDB who works at 511 but cannot give his or her name without authorization said in an email obtained by the Observer, "This afternoon, there was [an] anti-Israel protest of about 30 people in front of Israel discount bank ... They defaced the front windows and sidewalk with fake blood. The employees were holed up inside and the doors were locked. No police presence beforehand."

According to another source, "one of the IDB security guards was splashed with paint on the back of his shirt." The Observer later learned that the security guard who'd been painted has the first name James.

Arrow Up

Thousands gather in Times Square to protest against Israeli slaughter in Gaza

New York protests Gaza
© AFP Photo / Getty Images / Spencer PlattDemonstrators in lower Manhattan protest against Israel's recent military campaign in Gaza on July 24, 2014 in New York City.
New York was awash with protesters on Friday, as thousands came out in support of more than 880 Palestinians killed in Israel's Gaza offensive. There are increasingly deep fault lines between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel supporters worldwide.

Anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 demonstrators flooded the streets around Times Square, with the police keeping a watchful eye on the crowds, who waved Palestinian flags and signs condemning Israel and criticizing US aid to the Jewish state, Reuters reported.

"We're trying to break the siege and end the killing in Palestine. We just want them to live like human beings," said Ramsay Jamal, an American of Palestinian descent, who protested with his eight-year-old son on his shoulders. The child held a banner with the words - 'Israel, I'm just a kid. Please don't kill me', with a child's hand prints in red paint around the words.

X

Police brutality strikes again! Ali Shahi, Sunwing threat suspect, is mentally ill: family

Image
© Alain AlphonsoPolice come on the Sunwing flight to deal with an 'unruly passenger' who threatened the security of the plane.
Flight from Toronto to Panama City made emergency landing after man allegedly made threats.

A man charged with allegedly making "direct threats" aboard a Sunwing flight from Toronto to Panama City on Friday morning has a history of mental illnesses that weren't properly addressed by police and the health system, family members say.

Ali Shahi, a 25-year-old Canadian, faces several charges after Flight 772 made an emergency landing at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. It was escorted by two U.S. F-16 military jets.

"I am sorry for what happened on the flight, but Ali is not at fault," his father Shadegh Shahi said. "I blame the police and health system. We called the police for help more than 23 times in the last two to three years, but unfortunately they did nothing to help us or help my son."

Shahi became agitated when he found out the price of cigarettes on the flight was about 25 cents cheaper than what he paid at the airport and wanted to be reimbursed for the difference, family members told CBC News.

Stormtrooper

Police State made in Canada: Toronto SWAT team storms plane, arrests man

Image
A passenger captured dramatic cell phone video of a Canadian SWAT team storming onto a Sunwing flight at Toronto's Pearson International Airport Friday. The video shows the police tactical team swarming onto the plane with their weapons drawn, yelling at passengers to get their hands up, and forcefully removing a 25-year-old man from the aircraft.

The airline said the Panama-bound plane was forced to return to Toronto Friday morning about 45 minutes into the flight after a passenger, identified by authorities as Ali Shahi, made a "direct threat against the aircraft."

Witnesses told CNN affiliate CTV that Shahi said he wanted to bomb Canada.

Airplane

Air Algerie plane wreckage photos

One day after Air Algérie Flight AH5017 crashed en route from Burkina Faso to Algeria in a desolate part of northern Mali with 118 people on board, the first images of the plane's wreckage began to emerge on Friday.
Image
© ECPAD / AFPIndeed! It appears that the aircraft has disintegrated!
- The wreckage of flight AH5017 was spotted late on Thursday in Mali by a French military drone. It crashed just after passing the Burkinabe border as it headed north to Algiers and was carrying 118 people, including 54 French citizens. An earlier count of 51 French nationals was revised to include dual citizens.

- The crash left no survivors, said French President François Hollande. He added that one of the black box flight recorders had been recovered and would be analysed.

Dollar

Monsanto to pay $93 million for poisoning small town residents with Agent Orange chemicals

Monsanto
© unknown
Big wins can happen in small places. The West Virginia State Supreme Court finalized a big blow to the biotech giant Monsanto this month, finishing a settlement causing Monsanto to pay $93 million to the tiny town of Nitro, West Virginia for poisoning citizens with Agent Orange chemicals.

The settlement was approved last year, but details were worked out only weeks ago as to how the funds were to be spent.

The settlement will require Monsanto to do the following:
  • $9 million will be spent to clean dioxin contaminated dust from 4500 homes.
  • $21 million will be spent to test to see if people have been poisoned with dioxin.
  • Citizens will be monitored for such poisoning for 30 years, not just a few months.
  • An additional $63 million is to be allotted if additional tests for dioxin contamination testing is necessary.
  • Anyone who lived in the Nitro area between Jan. 1, 1948, and Sept. 3, 2010 will be tested for dioxin. Although they must show proof they lived in the area, they will be eligible for testing even if they no longer live in Nitro.
  • Former or present employees of Monsanto are not eligible for any of these benefits.
  • An office will be set up to organize testing for Nitro citizens. The registration of participants is to be overlooked by Charleston attorney Thomas Flaherty, who was appointed by the court.
  • Residents have a right to file individual suits against Monsanto if medical tests show they suffered physical harm due to dioxin exposure.

Arrow Down

Police turn blind eye to Swedish 'slave trade'

Slave Trade
© TT

Police in Gothenburg have confirmed that sex trafficking in the city has developed into a full-blown slave trade - but that they lack the resources to do anything about it.

Gothenburg police busted a large Romanian pimping network in 2011, but it wasn't long before new brothel-keepers from various countries took over.

Now the problem is back with a vengeance, with police admitting they lack the resources to address it - and are thus forced to ignore the reports.

"We haven't worked with the issue at all for a year now," Stefan Adamsson, police officer in the Gothenburg trafficking unit, told The Local. "We would need to be three times as many police to be able to do anything about it."

Newspaper Expressen reported earlier this week that human traffickers had gone from "just" selling sex to selling women as lifelong slaves.

The newspaper's sources said the cost for a slave - "for life" - is €2,000 ($2680). For 700 kronor ($100) one can rent a couple of girls for a day, for cooking, cleaning, or anything else. "Do what you like with them," one seller reportedly said.

"It has really always been a form of slave trade," Adamsson told The Local. "It's just a different name. Some are sold to work and some are sold for work, but they are just different forms of human trafficking."

Human trafficking is an acknowledged problem in large Swedish cities, with well-established red-light districts in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. However, there are no clear statistics on how widespread the black-market business actually is as much of the trade is conducted online.