Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Man suspected of planning far-right terrorist act arrested by Australian police

australian police
© David Gray / Reuters
Counter-terrorism units in the Australian state of Victoria arrested a man on suspicion of planning a terrorist act. The man was also found to have links to far-right Australian organizations opposed to Islam and Asian immigrants.

Philip Galea, 31, from Baybrook, is facing charges of collecting and making documents that would likely facilitate a terrorist act, the Australian Associated Press reported. It has not been clarified exactly what the plan was, but the police says the danger has been averted.

Galea appeared at the Magistrate's Court on Sunday, claiming he would "be fighting the charges and I believe they are [is] a conspiracy against the patriot movement." He did not apply for bail, and will be remanded in custody until the next hearing, scheduled for August 9.

Comment: Was he planning something specific? Did he just have a copy of the Anarchist's Cookbook? Whatever is the case with this particular case, it serves as a reminder that 'terrorism' knows no racial or ideological limits. Far-right groups were committing terrorist acts (often with state sponsorship) long before 'Muslim terrorists' were even on people's radar.


Pistol

Two dead in Marseille Kalashnikov shooting described as a 'real ambush'

French police cars
© Stringer France / Reuters
At least two people have been killed in the southern French city of Marseille in a shooting that involved Kalashnikov rifles, French officials told local media, adding that it was "a real ambush."

The incident took place in the Chatreux neighborhood on Saturday morning, the Marseille-based La Provence newspaper reported.

Two victims in the 20s were caught in the Kalashnikov gunfire, Deputy Prosecutor Andre Ribes, said, adding that it was "a real ambush."

Police also found a burned out car in the city's 14th district shortly after the incident, the French publication added. It is not clear if two cases are linked.

Arrow Down

Iraq's children pay the price of war with alarming levels of toxic heavy metals, cancer and birth defects

children iraq war, birth defects iraq
New study finds exposure to heavy metals and other toxins having severe impact on generation who have grown up amid endless bombings and violence

In an effort to learn more about the impacts of long-term exposure to heavy metals and other toxins associated with warzone bombardments and military installations, a new study released Friday examined a sample of donated teeth and discovered that the children of Iraq are suffering from alarming levels of such substances, specfically lead.

The study—entitled Prenatal Metal Exposure in the Middle East: Imprint of War in Deciduous Teeth of Children—focused on Iraq, invaded by the U.S. and coalition forces over thirteen years ago, due to the amount of bombing its population has witnessed over the last thirteen years and the troubling level of cancers and birth defects now evidenced in the population that could be related to that relentless violence. The Iraqi teeth were compared to donated samples from both Lebanon, which has seen a more moderate level of bombing and warfare during the same time period, and Iran, which has experienced relative peace since the end of the Iraq/Iran War in 1988.

"In war zones," the abstract of the study explains, "the explosion of bombs, bullets, and other ammunition releases multiple neurotoxicants into the environment. The Middle East is currently the site of heavy environmental disruption by massive bombardments. A very large number of US military bases, which release highly toxic environmental contaminants, have also been erected since 2003. Current knowledge supports the hypothesis that war-created pollution is a major cause of rising birth defects and cancers in Iraq."

Comment: Understanding the suffering that war brings


Cell Phone

Syrian kids with smartphones chase Pokémon in war-torn Aleppo

Pokemon Syria
© WFP/Abeer EtefaThe Pokémon Dissociation
To escape the harsh realities of existence in war-torn Aleppo, the few children who have smartphones use brief moments of silence in between battles and internet blackouts to hunt Nintendo's virtual creatures amid the city rubble.

While many face difficulties in downloading the game due to a poor internet connection in the ravaged city that has been one of the epicenters in the Syrian war for the last five years, those lucky enough to get a hold of it wind their way through bombed-out buildings to capture digital characters.

The augmented reality game is free to play and operates on the basis of a player's location, randomly spawning Pokemon creatures as the player is traveling in the real world.


Comment: This kind of exploited tragedy, through video games, brings these horrific circumstances to children around the world. Familiarity, linked to and associated with actions of their favorite characters, translates into a childhood normalcy bias and acceptance to a hypnotic state. It is a way to dehumanize the state of war, negate natural empathetic responses and bypass the focus on 'who, what, why and when' of pathologically-induced circumstances. Danger Will Robinson!


Pistol

French mayors militarize police in light of terror attacks

french police
French police have been criticized ever since the Charlie Hebdo attack, by right wing media, portraying the French police as weak and ineffective. This criticism stems from the fact that less than half of the French police are armed. Reports circulated that French police had to flee the scene, unable to bring a halt to the killing by masked gunmen. Dozens of French Mayors have responded to the recent terror attacks in both Paris and Nice, now arming some of their police forces.

France has always had a restrictive policy on firearms. Unlike the U.S., the citizens of France have no inherit right to bear arms. This, for the most part, has carried over into the police force. The majority of French police have not carried firearms and have been restricted to non-lethal weapons, like the baton and Taser. Due to the rash of terrorist attacks, gun restrictions for police have lightened and more and more officers are receiving new firearms and training. A new law handed the regulation of arming police officers to the local mayors. Many mayors are on board with the law and have already started to train officers in specific firearm training.

Handcuffs

Hysteria in Germany: Counter-terrorism unit scrambles to pub only to find half-asleep man in the basement

german police
© Alex Domanski / Reuters
A German police counter-terrorism unit was scrambled to storm a pub after a man, who was at first believed to be armed, barricaded himself inside. He was later found to be almost sleeping in a basement and is said to have mental problems.

The police were deployed after reports that an armed man, who was covered in blood, had barricaded himself in a pub called "Dubrovnik" in the western German city of Saarbruecken. Initial reports from the scene said that the man had ordered the staff out and took no hostages.

A heavily armed police counter-terrorism unit, SEK, arrived at the scene with nearby streets in being cordoned off.

Red Flag

Woman defaces man's Trump sign, tries to run him over with her car

Trump sign vandalism
© WBZSurveillance footage of a Trump sign being defaced.
A woman was arrested after she allegedly vandalized a resident's Donald Trump campaign sign and nearly ran over the homeowner as she tried to speed away.

Andover Police said Susan Bryant of North Reading spray painted the Trump sign on Jenkins Road early Saturday morning.

One side of the sign was painted with "Putin's (expletive)," a reference to Trump's purported relationship with Russia's Vladimir Putin. On the other side, Bryant allegedly painted "Gold Star Fail!"

When homeowner Art Gonsalves confronted Bryant, she allegedly drove off erratically, forcing the victim to run out of the way of her car.

Comment: Anti-Trumpers can be quite rabid. Man holds up Hillary sign at RNC, Trump sign at DNC - see what happens


Attention

Score for Oxitec! FDA approves release of GM mosquitos to combat Zika in Florida

zika
© afp.com/Marvin RECINOS
Our sci-fi future just got a whole lot closer to becoming a reality, after the Food and Drug Administration gave the okay to a field trial that would release genetically modified Zika-killing mosquitoes in the Florida Keys.

On Friday, the FDA released a final environmental assessment of the trial, finding that it "will not have significant impacts on the environment." The project, led by Oxitec, a biotech company that focuses on insect control, calls for the release of thousands of genetically engineered male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The lab insects are bred so that over time they could kill off much of the local mosquito population by passing on a gene fatal to any offspring they have with wild females.

This is not the last hurdle Oxitec faces in turning its dream of disease-obliterating mosquitoes into reality. The company will have to win the approval of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, which plans to vote on the proposal after issuing a survey testing local sentiment of Keys residents this fall. While past surveys have shown the project to have a majority of support, it has also had vocal naysayers. Some fear the environmental impacts that removing the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, a non-native species, might have. Others have more imaginative objections, such as conspiracy theories about the project.

Comment: For more on the abomination of GM mosquitoes see:


Heart - Black

Sadistic cops chase down a woodchuck and run it over with their golf cart

groudhog
Two Rensselaer police officers have been suspended following reports they chased down and ran over a groundhog during a police union golf tournament in Troy, New York.

Chief Rick Fusco promised both officers would be fired if an investigation finds them guilty.

"If in fact this alleged situation happened, I will be recommending they be terminated," Fusco said. "There is no room in any police agency for a person like this to be carrying a badge and a gun."

Three-year veteran of the force, Tyler Sammon, drove the golf cart, and Matt Spath rode as passenger when the two reportedly chased the animal until it was exhausted, and then cruelly crushed it beneath the cart's tires — possibly more than once — in what the Albany Times-Union deemed an act of "woodchuck homicide."

Comment: Nothing and no one is safe around cops.


Radar

Belgium officials reports machete-wielding man caused evacuation in Liege

Belgian police
© Yves Herman / Reuters
A neighborhood in the Belgian city of Liege was evacuated after a machete-wielding man was spotted in the area, local media reported citing the authorities. Police detained the suspect, who is said to be of Turkish origin.

The Liege police received a phone call on Sunday morning at around 06:20 local time, stating that a man armed with a machete was walking around the Carre neighborhood, the Belgian broadcaster RTBF TV reported.

The area was immediately cordoned off by police.

A man in his 20s and believed to be of Turkish origin, was promptly arrested. He was reportedly not planning an attack.