Society's ChildS


Attention

Italy proposing laws to send parents to jail for forcing children to adhere to vegan diets

vegan diet
An Italian baby raised on a vegan diet was hospitalized for 'malnutrition' in July 2016
An Italian official is calling for new laws that would punish parents who put their children on vegan diets, or force "reckless and dangerous eating behavour" on them with a sentence of up to six years in prison, Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported.

The legislation would "stigmatize the reckless and dangerous eating behaviours imposed by parents... to the detriment of minors," the outlet quoted Elvira Savino, a deputy of the center-right Forza Italia party, as saying.

Although the law would primarily target vegan diets in situations when parents force children under the age of 16 to forgo meat, eggs, dairy, and animal products, any diet "lacking in essential elements for growth" would also be subject to it.

In the introduction to the bill, Savino warned that the view of a vegan diet "resulting in significant health benefits" was becoming more widely accepted in Italy.

Comment: Why you should think twice about vegetarian and vegan diets:

Vegetarian and vegan diets are particularly dangerous for children. Vegan diets, in particular, are almost completely devoid of certain nutrients that are crucial for physiological function. Several studies have shown that both vegetarians and vegans are prone to deficiencies in B12, calcium, iron, zinc, the long-chain fatty acids EPA & DHA, and fat-soluble vitamins like A & D. The effects of B12 deficiency on kids are especially alarming as it can lead to long-term neurological disorders in infants and toddlers fed vegetarian diets, as well as impaired cognitive performance, spatial ability and short-term memory.

That said, allowing the state to determine how parents raise their children could set a dangerous precedent having unintended consequences.


Eagle

LA sheriff: Mentally challenged Compton man murdered by police because they thought he may be someone else

la sheriff
© Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's office has admitted that a man who was fatally shot by police, in pursuit of a carjacker, was not connected to the carjacking. Donnell Thompson had no criminal record, and his family said he never posed a threat to anyone.

The concession came after the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department previously said Thompson matched the description of one of the carjacking suspects.


Comment: In other words, he was black.


"We have determined that there is no evidence that Mr. Thompson was in the carjacked vehicle, nor that he was involved in the assault on the deputies," the department said in a Tuesday statement, according to the Los Angeles Times.

During the July 28 incident, a carjacking suspect crashed a stolen car, fired at deputies and fled into a Compton neighborhood. A search ensued, and that suspect was taken into custody.

Handcuffs

Danish police arrest 22yo threatening to blow himself up at asylum center

danish police
© Emil Hougaard / Scanpix / AFP
A man has been arrested after threatening to blow himself up at an asylum center on the Danish island of Funen, according to police. The arrest took place following negotiations with officers.

"The person is on the asylum centre's roof. Police and emergency workers are on location and the residents of the centre are being evacuated," police wrote in a press release.

According to Fyens.dk, the 22-year-old Iranian national was holding something in his hand and seemed to be talking to another man, who was wearing a helmet and standing on a flat roof a few meters away.

Police have confirmed the man's identity, but have not released his name. Authorities say he lived at a different asylum center in Faaborg.

Pistol

Chicago cop guns down unarmed teenager after mistaking police crossfire as coming from victim

Paul O'Neal shooting
Chicago Police officers are now the subject of intensive criticism over the shooting death of 18-year-old Paul O'Neal, after the release of a series of body and dash cam videos showing a number of procedural errors — and a startling lack of coordination — including firing at a fleeing vehicle and an astounding admission by the cop who fired the fatal shot that he did not know if O'Neal was even armed.

That admission appears to indicate that cop perceived crossfire shots from the other officers on scene had been fired by O'Neal, when in fact the teen did not have a weapon at all. In direct violation of departmental policy, officers fired at the vehicle they believed O'Neal had stolen — worse, that gunfire directly endangered not only the suspected car thief, but other officers and everyone in the neighborhood.

In an apparent attempt to atone for the months-long delay in the release of the video showing the shooting death of Laquan McDonald — for which an officer now stands accused of murder — investigators acted swiftly to provide video to the public. But videos of the O'Neal shooting have done little to alleviate public ire. The staggering lack of coordination in officers firing their weapons likely inadvertently led to O'Neal's death as cops believed gunfire was emanating from the suspect instead of each other.

In the series of nine videos, one officer accuses the suspect of firing at them, while another — who seemed to believe more than one suspect had been in the allegedly stolen vehicle — expressed doubt, saying:

"They shot at us too, right?" Another says the suspect "almost hit my partner. I fucking shot at him."


SOTT Logo

Siberian company's refusal to hire gay woman ruled illegal in Russian court

lgbt russia
© Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters
A district court in the Russian city of Novosibirsk has ruled that a private company's refusal to hire a gay woman as a sales manager was unlawful and ordered that 1,000 rubles (US$15) compensation be paid in moral damages.

The Russian LGBT Network NGO reported that the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Novosibirsk had satisfied the lawsuit filed by Anna Balash against the Sib-Alliance wood trading company.

Balash claimed that she had twice applied for a sales manager position in the company, which specializes in wood products, but both times had been rejected because of her sexual orientation.

The head of the company specified that this was the reason in the second letter of refusal, saying that the firm wanted the candidate to directly communicate with customers, and that as most of them adhered to "traditional family values," a gay representative could have a negative influence on the company's image and even profits.

Comment: For comparison and contrast:
gay map



People

Pro-Rousseff protests hit Sao Paulo as Senate votes for her impeachment

Pro-Rousseff protests
© Ruptly
Brazil saw protesters come out en masse in Sao Paulo to support suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, as the country's Senate voted for her impeachment. Protesters called for Acting President Michel Temer to step down.

Activists rallied in support of Rousseff, holding large banners, signs and chanting slogans.

Ruptly's video showed the crowd marching through Sao Paulo in southeast Brazil, waving red flags and singing, as they demanded Temer leave office. During the protest, people also lit fireworks and used whistles.

Chart Pie

Federal govt will track killings by cops for first time

us cops
The day before the two-year anniversary of officer Darren Wilson killing Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the federal government made a historic announcement. For the first time in history, the state will keep count of the people it kills while enforcing the law.

One would think that this number would already be particularly important when considering the public service that is policing. However, there has been no attempt at all to ever accurately account for those sent to an early grave by armed agents of the state.

Before May of 2013, there wasn't even an independent recording authority on how many citizens were killed by cops. The FBI loosely estimated that number to be around 500 citizens annually. However, as we've pointed out, an independent investigation conducted by the Wall Street Journal found that hundreds of police killings were missing from the FBI's tally.

Comment: In the States, you're more likely to be killed by a cop than a terrorist.


Pirates

State-sponsored child abuse: Small girl stages mock beheading in new ISIS propaganda video

ISIS
© AFP
In its new propaganda video Islamic State has resorted to its increasingly prominent tactic of using children to record its messages - in this case a little girl who beheads a doll with a knife, to symbolize killing "infidels." Many such children later become suicide bombers.

A child-sized figure, wearing a niqab, the head-to-toe female clothing adopted in conservative Muslim societies, appears at the start of the video, and starts singing in a high-pitched voice.

After promising to "exterminate" and "terrorize" unbelievers, she says she will take jihad to foreign lands, as she jabs a knife toward the camera. She calls the weapon a "blade of revenge" and promises to attack those who "deserve it."

As the girl stops singing she gets down on her knees, cries out "Allahu Akbar!" and methodically cuts off the head of a doll.


Comment: Remember this one, from last year?

Whether in Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, or Ukraine, the mercenaries the U.S. creates and supports seem to be all the same: child-abusing psychopaths.


Clipboard

Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting autopsies: Third of victims shot in head, half had 5 or more wounds

pulse orlando
© Adrees Latif / ReutersFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials collect evidence from the parking lot of the Pulse gay night club, the site of a mass shooting days earlier, in Orlando, Florida, U.S., June 15, 2016.
More than a third of the 49 patrons killed during the Pulse nightclub massacre were shot in the head, and most of the victims had multiple bullet wounds, according to autopsy reports released this week.

Only two victims had traces of soot, gunpowder or stippling, meaning most of the victims were likely more than 3 feet away when they were shot in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The autopsies show that about half of the victims had five wounds or more, and one victim had 13 wounds.

Gunman Omar Mateen was killed during a shootout with law enforcement officers following a three-hour standoff June 12.

"It shows he shot a lot and had a lot of ammo," said Dr. Stephen Cina, a Colorado-based forensic pathologist, who has no connection to the case.

Comment: Other eyebrow-raising stories about the Orlando shooting:


Snakes in Suits

Beyond absurd: Germany and Austria anti-doping agencies demand outright ban for Russia at 2018 Winter Games

Olympic skier
© Anton Denisov / Sputnik
The German and Austrian anti-doping agencies have demanded a complete ban on the Russian Olympic team at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

"We demanded that already for the Summer Olympics in Rio, and our opinion has not changed," Andrea Gotzmann, chairwoman of the German National Anti-doping Agency (NADA), told the German broadcaster ARD on Monday.

Gotzmann, a former basketball player, said she does not believe in Russia's efforts to fight the use of doping.

"The Winter Games will take place in about one-and-a-half years and you must say here as well that the Russian state has thwarted and cheated the anti-doping system," she said.

"Therefore we must demand a ban on participation for Pyeongchang as well."

"The situation is only worsening," said Michael Cepic, managing director of the Austrian NADA, mirroring Gotzmann's statement. "The structures cannot be changed overnight. Therefore we demand a complete suspension [of the Russian Olympic team] for 2018 [Games]."