Society's ChildS


Light Saber

Brussels hit by protests over government austerity plans, clashes with police

Belgian Police
© ReutersBelgian police and a few hundred protesters, including many dockers, clashed in central Brussels on Thursday after a largely peaceful march against reforms and austerity measures of the country’s new government
Belgian police used water cannons and tear gas on protesters on the fringes of a march against austerity plans set out by the country's new government, with dozens of riot police deployed Thursday near the capital's Midi Station, the main hub for international rail journeys.

Prime Minister Charles Michel and his cabinet were due to meet unions leading the protests in the late afternoon.

A right-leaning four-party coalition government took office earlier this month and announced plans to raise the pension age to 67 from 2030, as well as delaying the next wage increase under the country's system of wage indexation, which links salary increases to inflation.

The FGTB, one of Belgium's biggest trade unions, said 120,000 protesters took part in the march through Brussels. "Employers have been handed a blank check by the government, without guaranteeing to create jobs," the FGTB said in a statement on its website. "The message is clear - no to an antisocial, unbalanced and unfair government plan which will rob us."

Yoda

Tens of thousands protest against austerity in Athens

greek protest november 2014
The protest rally of the Greek Communist Party labor organization PAME was deemed a success as the organizers claim that an estimated 20,000 people filled Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece, on Saturday noon
Thousands of people demonstrated against the Greek government's austerity policies in the center of Athens on Saturday. They also called for political and economic reforms, pay rises, and other social benefits.

The protesters gathered at the landmark Syntagma Square, located just outside Greek parliament, and marched through the center of the city carrying anti-EU and anti-austerity banners.

The march was organized by the All Workers Militant Front (PAME), a coordination center for the Greek trade union movement, which is closely connected to the Communist party. Aside from rejecting austerity measures, the group calls for a 751 euro (US$940) minimum monthly salary, 600 euro ($751) unemployment benefit, free healthcare, the return of Christmas, Easter and summer bonuses, and the abolition of the single property tax (ENFIA), as well as other extra taxes that eat up family income.

Arrow Down

Healthy Texas girl confiscated from parents who smoked pot, given to murderous foster mother

Alex Hill
© Police State USAAlex Hill, age 2, was taken from her natural parents and put into the deadly custody of the state.
Round Rock - A little girl was confiscated from her loving parents because they smoked marijuana, and given away to a foster mother who put her into a coma and killed her. Alexandria "Alex" Hill, age 2, succumbed to her injuries after being "thrown to the ground."

"We never hurt our daughter. She was never sick, she was never in the hospital, and she never had any issues until she went into state care," said the girl's father, Joshua Hill, to KVUE.

Alex was seized by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Service (TDFPS) after her parents were accused of smoking marijuana while the girl slept. She was taken into state custody in November 2012.

Mr. Hill said that she was put into more than one dangerous foster home.

"She would come to visitation with bruises on her, and mold and mildew in her bag," Mr. Hill told KVUE. "It got to a point where I actually told CPS that they would have to have me arrested because I wouldn't let her go back."

The girl's final home was with Sherill Small, a foster care contractor in Rockdale, Texas. The TDFPS trusted Ms. Small enough to take custody of multiple children displaced by the agency.

Light Saber

Merde! Protesting French farmers dump 100 tons of manure at government buildings

Image
© AFP/Sebastien Bozon

A farmer passes by the main entrance of the DDT (Direction Departementale des territoires) with a manure stacked outside during a protest in Vesoul, France on November 5, 2014
Dumping some 100 tons of manure and rotten vegetables in Chartres was part of a wave of protest by French farmers, who are angry with overregulation, sluggish economy and lack of protectionism.

France was gripped by a series of protests on Tuesday and Wednesday, with an estimated 36,000 people participating. The dumping of manure in front of a local administration building in Chartres in northern France was mirrored by similar action in the central city of Tours, western Nantes and Toulouse in the southwest.

"Manure, we can't spread it any more. You can have it, help yourselves," one of the slogans said.

This year France has started enforcing a 1991 EU directive aimed at curbing nitrate pollution, which forced tens of thousands of farms that previously used manure as fertilizers to undergo costly infrastructure upgrades to comply.

In Dijon, farmers burnt an effigy of French Ecology Minister Segolene Royal.

In other parts of the country farmers organized by two of France's main farming unions, the FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs (Young Farmers) resorted to less dramatic ways to vent off their anger.

Parisians who happened to be near at Place de la République on Wednesday could get some of 60 tons of potatoes and 20 tons of onions, apples and pears grown in the region and dumped on the streets by protesting farmers.

"This is a symbolic action. Often farmers don't harvest their produce because it costs too much and isn't worth it, so it goes to waste. Instead of doing that we decided to give it to the Parisians to help get our message across," Cyrille Milard, a farmer from the Seine et Marne department who participated in the protest, told the Local.

Comment: More and more people are protesting all over the globe!
  • People Power! Global Million Mask March as it happened around the world



Arrow Down

Names of paedophiles with links to the British establishment may be opened

Oxford University
© The Independent, UKFile rumoured to be locked in archives at Oxford University's Bodleian Library.
A secret file which is said to contain the names of paedophiles with links to the British establishment and which is rumoured to be locked away in archives at the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library, could be made public as part of the Government's child abuse inquiry.

Inquiry panel members Barbara Hearn and Sharon Evans, along with Ben Emmerson QC, counsel to the inquiry, assured campaigners at their meeting last week - shortly before Fiona Woolf announced she would be the second person to resign as chair - that they would have top-level security clearance and access to restricted or closed files.

The whereabouts of the "Dickens Dossier", containing allegations of paedophiles linked to the British establishment and compiled by former Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens, is unknown. It went missing after the politician handed it to the then Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, in 1984, as are more than 100 documents concerning child abuse allegations that had been held by the Home Office. It is rumoured it may be in the Barbara Castle archives within the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library.

Red Flag

Election judges in Chicago told to vote Republican then fired when objecting to dirty tricks

Image
© WBBMCook County Republican Party Committeewoman Charon Bryson
Election judges in Chicago said this week that the Republican Party removed them because they objected to being forced to vote for GOP candidates.

Two Republican Party committee members who had been selected as election judges told WBBM's Pam Zekman that campaign workers called them to report to campaign headquarters for additional training related to their election day duties, which normally include setting up polling places and assisting voters.

But instead of getting training, they said that they received instructions on who they had to vote for if they wanted to keep their jobs.

Committeewoman Charon Bryson explained that each party was allowed to select its election judges based on their voting records, but being told who to vote for was going too far.

"They were calling election judges, telling them to come in so they could get specific orders to vote for the Republican Party," she said. "They should not be pressured or coerced into voting for someone to get a job, or to get an appointment."

Bryson said that the tactic was like "buying a vote."

V

Best of the Web: 'Nowhere to hide, we are everywhere!' Global Million Mask March as it happened around the world

MMM sf
© John Harvey/TwitterSan Francisco Million Mask March at Justin Herman Plaza
Protests against mass surveillance, govt austerity and social injustice have taken to the streets in over 400 cities worldwide. Dubbed the Million Mask March, the third annual act of mass civil disobedience was organized by the activist group Anonymous.

United in face and values, hiding behind the stylised Anonymous masks popularized by V for Vendetta movie, activists flocked the streets in the UK, China, and the US, just to name a few.

Some of the biggest protests were seen in London where hundreds of activists engaged in a tense and prolonged stand-off with police in and around the Parliament Square. At least ten people were arrested following scuffles on charges of assaulting police officers and different public order offences.

Comment: French state orders heavy crackdown as anti-government protests spread
Thousands protest against austerity in Athens


Family

72-year old man charged with murder in mercy killing his wife of 37 years

Image
© Rawstory.comJerry Canfield
A 72-year-old California man was charged with murder after placing a dozen roses beside his ailing wife and then shooting her in the head.

Joann Canfield had been allowed to return to her Alameda home Oct. 25 from a nursing home facility where she was being treated for dementia.

Neighbors told KGO-TV that Jerry Canfield left every day at 7 a.m. to visit his wife of 37 years at the nursing home and stayed with her until 9:30 p.m. or later.

"You know, you've heard of being in love? Well, they were that," said Jose De Dios, the couple's next-door neighbor and friend.

The neighbor said Joann Canfield's condition had deteriorated in recent months, and her husband was worried about her.

"Jerry said, 'You know, she's seeing little demons - demons are chasing her around the house,'" De Dios said. "Because she had bruises from, like falling, so she was running and tripping."

She was disoriented and unable to recognize anyone after returning to the apartment with her husband, neighbors said.

Jerry Canfield had promised his wife he would end her life when she could no longer bear the pain, his attorney said - and he went through with their pact Oct. 26.

After fatally shooting his wife, neighbors said he dressed as if going to church, drove to a nearby police station about 6 p.m., and turned himself in.

"In California, if you take the life of another, it's considered a homicide," said Sgt. Rick Bradley, who admitted the case was emotionally difficult for police. "That's how we investigate it, and that's what the facts showed."

Comment: We have been programed by society to fear death - it is such a taboo subject. It seems this was an act of compassion and kindness, not murder. No one wants to see their loved ones suffer.

See also:

May she rest in Peace: Death-with-dignity advocate Brittany Maynard's voluntary death confirmed


Gear

Heads up! Giant steel bolts fall from London's 'Cheese-grater' building

© AFP Photo / Carl Cour"Cheese-grater" building (c).
Two heavy steel bolts broke off one of London's tallest skyscrapers, prompting urgent ultrasound tests on more than 3,000 'mega-bolts' on the City's 'cheese-grater' tower.

The 47-story landmark building was cordoned off from pedestrians after the incident. The bolts are reportedly around the size of a human arm.

Contractor Laing O'Rourke, who constructed the tower, and structural engineers Arup have begun a full investigation testing for weaknesses in the 5-inch-diameter (12.7cm) bolts that hold the building together.

Snakes in Suits

Think about it. Does it really matter who controls the Senate?

Please don't claim anything changes if one party or the other is in the majority. Anyone clinging to that fantasy is delusional.

experimento_republicanos_demócratas
© Desconocido
If you really think it matters which political party controls the U.S. Senate, please answer these questions. Don't worry, they're not that difficult:

1. Will U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast change from being an incoherent pastiche of endless war and Imperial meddling? Please answer with a straight face. We all know the answer is that it doesn't matter who controls the Senate, Presidency or House of Representatives, nothing will change.

2. Will basic civil liberties be returned to the citizenry? You know, like the cops are no longer allowed to steal your cash when they stop you for a broken tail light and claim the cash was going to be used for a drug deal.

Comment: Dempublican. Republocrat. It's all a case of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss." They all play for team psychopath.