Society's ChildS


Black Cat

Radicalization? Hatred and violence among Trump supporters

donald trump
Here's a question: Are Trump supporters violent? Yeah, of course we know that not all Trump supporters are violent - it would be ridiculous to generalize a huge group of people based on the actions of a few...oh wait.

As the GOP frontrunner continues to pick up victories during primary season, his momentum and support base has become more emboldened. With each passing day, the level of hateful rhetoric emanating from the campaign continues to shock the world. But something funny is happening: Trump's popularity continues to rise as the hate rhetoric continues to flow.

During a stump speech in South Carolina, he spoke wistfully about torture, collective punishment and a sickening legend where General Jack Pershing used ammo dipped in pigs' blood to execute Muslim captives in the Philippines during the early 1900's. The anecdote was largely debunked by Snopes, yet Trump resurrected the very same story this week in Ohio.


Trump has also openly supported violence against the growing number of protesters who attend his rallies - offering to pay legal fees for those who commit acts of violence. This Mashable article has tracked the numerous times he has appealed to violence in his speeches.

Comment: Trump's hate-filled discourses are deliberately appealing to those who feel increasingly marginalized, but rather than giving them a vision of a hope-filled and unified world, he fuels the fires of societal division and totalitarianism.


Cross

With bible readings and constitutional fervor, Oklahoma House votes to eliminate requirements for open-carry sidearms

An Oklahoma diner wearing his gun!
© John Clanton/Tulsa WorldA diner wears his gun in a holster at a restaurant in Owasso in 2012. 
Accompanied by Bible readings and constitutional fervor, the Oklahoma House of Representatives voted Thursday to remove license and training requirements for handguns carried openly.

Rep. Jeff Coody said his House Bill 3098 acknowledges rights granted by God and the U.S. Constitution. Rep. John Bennett, R-Sapulpa, backed Coody by reading a selection of Bible verses he said empowers believers to defend themselves.

Coody argued that the Second Amendment, which he called the most important amendment in the Bill of Rights, could not be infringed upon, nor could a person's right to self-defense.

"Is it a good idea to let anyone carry a gun, even if they don't know how to use it or even where the safety is?" asked Rep. Emily Virgin, D-Norman.

"The key word is 'let,' " said Coody. "Somehow we've gotten the idea that the government has to give us permission to exercise our freedoms. That is totally antithetical to me."

The bill excludes felons from open carry, but not people under protective order. This caused some concern, even among gun-rights supporters, and may be addressed when the bill reaches the Senate.

Rep. Mike Brown, D-Tahlequah, noted that the state requires people to learn to drive to obtain a driver's license, and asked why a person shouldn't be required to learn how to operate a gun before carrying one in public.

Comment: Behind the Headlines: Gun Control USA: Do Guns Protect Freedoms?


V

Snowden: NSA mass surveillance has no effect in combating terrorism

snowden

Comment: Snowden is absolutely right. The NSA never intended to stop terrorism, since it is their own government that is the biggest terrorist in the world. Terrorism has merely been used by the US government as an excuse to further erode the freedoms and rights that every American had at one time, freedoms that have been decimated all in the name of making us safer, which Snowden points out, has never actually happened. It's all been a con job, and we're the marks.


Bulk data gathering programs used by US intelligence have no effect in combating terrorism and have failed to prevent any attacks in their 10 years of operation, whistleblower and former NSA contactor Edward Snowden, claims in a recent interview.

"In the wake of the revelations of mass surveillance the [US] president [Barack Obama] appointed two independent commissions to review the efficiency of these [surveillance] programs, what they really did and what effect they had in combating terrorism. [The commissions comprised] the highest priests of these programs, they found these programs had never stopped a single terrorist attack and never made a concrete difference in a terrorist investigation," Snowden told Spanish TV channel Sexta.

The whistleblower went on saying, that "they [the NSA, CIA] violated the constitution and the rights of 330 million Americans for 10 years. We have to ask ourselves: was it ever worth it?" He also stated that despite being justified by preventing terrorist attacks, surveillance programs are more often used for completely different purposes.

"It was diplomatic manipulation, economic spying and social control. It was about power, and there is no doubt that mass surveillance increases the power of the government."

Eye 2

South Sudanese militias allowed to rape women as a form of payment for military service

South Sudan soldiers
Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ

Soldiers were allowed to rape women as a form of payment for their military service. This was stated in the UN report on the situation in South Sudan.

Reuters reports that, according to the UN document, the government of South Sudan not only did not punish soldiers for such crimes, but also supported them.

The High Commissioner of United Nations for Human Rights, Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad, said that in South Sudan horrible things happen of a violent nature towards women from the military and authorities.

The number of raped women during the last six months increased by 1,300 people. The UN report highlights the murder of the local population and the numerous robberies committed by militias.

In the beginning of 2015, another document was declassified, which referred to crimes of a sexual nature. It referred to the abuse by peacekeepers whilst in hot spots.

Cult

Heil Trump: Supporter tells protesters "Go to Auschwitz" while making Nazi salute

trump nazi salute
© kyle bogden
During a recent Donald Trump rally in Cleveland, a man was caught on film yelling some incredibly offensive material at protesters.

Note: The following contains strong language.

Huff Post reports that the unnamed man, who apparently raised his arm in a Nazi salute, yelled:
"Go to Auschwitz. Go to fucking Auschwitz."

Comment: This Nazi glorification is becoming all too common at Trump rallies. Trump's popularity is a billboard signaling America's final decline into a totalitarian state.


Heart - Black

Car bomb injures four people in Russia's Caucasus region

Nazran mosque car bomb
© Ингушское Видео / YouTube
A powerful blast that took place outside a mosque in Nazran, the capital of Russia's republic of Ingushetia in the Caucasus, has injured at least four people and damaged several cars. The bomb may have been targeting the mosque's imam. The car explosion near the Nasyr-Kortovskaya mosque in Nazran injured four people, a spokesman for the Ingushetia department of the Russian Investigation Committee told TASS on Friday.

"Four people,aged 19, 23, 42 and 55, were hurt in the explosion. They received injuries of various degrees of severity," the official said, adding that all of them were taken to hospital.

The 55-year-old man with a serious head wound was operated on and is currently in the intensive care unit. The three others were soon discharged.


Attention

FDA opening a criminal investigation into urination on Kellogg's assembly line video

Kellogg's factory
© Phil Noble / Reuters
A video of a man urinating on equipment used to move Kellogg's rice cereal products went viral over the weekend, but more serious consequences could be pending for both the company and the offending employee. A criminal investigation is underway.

The Kellogg Company was made aware of the footage shortly after it was posted on the viral video site World Star Hip Hop, although Kellogg's told Associated Press that they were able to determine the video was recorded in 2014 at a Memphis, Tennessee plant. The company's internal analysts based the finding on the factory equipment, which they said was different from their current setup.

Since Kellogg's contacted the US Food and Drug Administration, the agency's Office of Criminal Investigations has opened its own case. The offending employee remains unidentified.

Eye 2

Blaming the victim: 13-year-old rape victim sent home from New York middle school for reporting rape

G. in her room
© Sophia Guida for Buzzfeed NewsG. in her room.
A Brooklyn, New York, teen was sent home from school for reporting her rape to the principal.

The 13-year-old, who identified herself by her middle initial G., told BuzzFeed news that a boy in her eighth-grade class at Spring Creek Middle School in Brooklyn secretly filmed himself raping her in April 2015 and then shared it with others. The boy claimed the sex was consensual, but G. said his claim was false.

"It was the most awful thing," she said. "It was bad enough that everyone knew what happened. But knowing that they had seen the video was that much worse." G. said she didn't want to engage in sexual activity with the boy, but others at the school told her it was her fault for not putting up enough of a fight.

"They said I allowed it to happen to me," she said. "But I had no idea what I was supposed to do."

Though the federal gender equity law Title IX requires schools that receive federal funding to investigate claims of sexual assault, G.'s principal decided to send her home while the school attempted to handle the situation.

School administrators never reported the incident, nor did they refer her to legal services or counseling. G. wasn't sent home any work or didn't receive any follow-up contact from the school. After a four-day investigation, G.'s mother said the principal transferred her daughter to another school because there was nothing more they could do.

"Everyone was blaming things on me," G. said. "It was so much pressure. I couldn't take it. At times I felt like giving up on my life."

Comment: The boy, the people who blamed her and the school who dismissed her are disgusting human beings. What a sickening stance to take for the desire of federal money.

Rape Culture in America - How the system protects the rapists and fails the victims


Megaphone

Sisters Uncut blockades Treasury protesting the cut of domestic abuse service funding

female protesters
© Claudia Moroni / sistersuncut.org
Feminist campaigners blockaded the entrance to the Treasury in London on Monday over what they described as "sexist" and "racist" cuts to vital funding for domestic violence services ahead of the government's upcoming budget.

The protest was organized by feminist direct action group Sisters Uncut, which has been campaigning against slashed domestic violence services since 2014.

Sixteen young campaigners arrived at the Horse Guards Road entrance of the Treasury on Monday morning, demanding the government reverse its decision to implement the funding cuts.

The feminists then dropped a monochrome banner demanding the government "ring-fence domestic violence services" as advisers and officials attempted to enter the building.

Family

Hundreds of refugees cross border from Greece into Macedonia

refugees cross Greek-Macedonian border
© Stoyan Nenov / ReutersMigrants wade across a river near the Greek-Macedonian border, west of the the village of Idomeni, Greece, March 14, 2016
Hundreds of refugees and migrants from a camp in northern Greece have managed to get around a border fence and cross into Macedonia, according to a Macedonian police spokeswoman. However, a Reuters photographer estimated the number to be closer to 2,000.

After walking for several hours, the refugees crossed a river while forming a "human chain" and found a way around the fence, which was put up by Macedonian authorities, photographer Stoyan Nenov said.

Many of the refugees, who came from a camp near Idomeni, carried children on their shoulders as they crossed the river.

Greek and international volunteers used a rope to help the refugees across the fast-flowing waters, AP reported.

After the crossing, the refugees found a break in the border fence near the Greek village of Hamilo and entered Macedonia.