Society's Child

Media quietly change the record while government blocks press reports on the Skripals

Moon of Alabama
Sat, 28 Apr 2018 14:18 UTC

There has been no recent reporting on the Skripal case in which a British-Russian double agent and his daughter were poisoned in Salisbury, England. There even seem to be attempts to change the public record of the case.

The British government alleged that the Skripals were poisoned by Novichok, a deadly nerve agent, and blamed Russia for it. There are stiill many open questions to ask but the British media, otherwise not afraid of 'door stepping', are curiously uninterested. We already noted in early April that the British press was throwing Novi-Fog™ onto the public. It was repeating outrageous and illogical claims from "security services" but did no genuine reporting on the Skripal case.

Some photo editor made sense of what the "security services" said and introduced an April 5 London Times piece with a picture of a likely source of the alleged Novichok poison:

Now the former British ambassador Craig Murray quotes Clive Ponting, another former senior civil servant, who suspects that the British government issued a D-Notice. Such a notice forbids British media to report on an issue. Murray also points to a tweet by Channel 4 correspondent Alex Thomson from March 12 in which Thomsen mentions a D-Notice specifically related to Mr. Skripal's MI6 handler:

Comment: See also: The UK government's nonsensical Skripal conspiracy theory

Despite "shiny new buildings" children in Northern England face poverty, bad schools and a lack of opportunities

Helen Pidd
Guardian
Mon, 26 Mar 2018 00:01 UTC

Children's commissioner for England says young people feel regeneration will not help them

Children growing up in the north's most deprived communities face a "double whammy" of familial disadvantage and poor institutional performance, with up to 15% of children in some areas dropping out of education and training before they are 18, a report has found.

Despite parts of the urban north experiencing rapid regeneration as the government's "northern powerhouse" project progresses, many children - girls in particular - feel they will not benefit from what they view as just "a few shiny new buildings", according to the children's commissioner, Anne Longfield.

She is calling on the poorest northern children to be put at heart of the northern powerhouse, having spent the past year travelling across the north of England interviewing students and their teachers and carers for a new report, Growing Up North.

Comment: All over the Western world we're seeing the same attempts to tackle poverty and yet it continues to rise:

Supreme Court orders release of audio, video from Las Vegas shooting

Rachel Crosby
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Fri, 27 Apr 2018 18:50 UTC

The Nevada Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the Metropolitan Police Department must begin releasing body camera footage and 911 call audio from the Las Vegas mass shooting.

"The speed with which the Supreme Court made this decision reflects the complete absence of merit in the Metropolitan Police Department's arguments," Review-Journal Executive Editor Glenn Cook said Friday.

A Clark County judge ruled in February that Metro had 30 days to hand over all the records, which were requested days after the Oct. 1 shooting. But Metro contested it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take much longer to produce the footage and audio.

Comment: It's astounding how long it has taken for this information to come out. The secrecy and withholding of information surrounding the Mandalay Bay Las Vegas shooting is extremely suspicious.

See also:

Vladivostok, Russia - one possible location to host Trump-Kim summit

RT
Sat, 28 Apr 2018 20:26 UTC

Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok has emerged on the list of possible locations to host the expected Kim-Trump summit, South Korean YTN TV channel reported, citing diplomatic sources.

While Washington and Pyongyang agreed on the historic meeting between the leaders, there are still disagreements on where the encounter should take place. Vladivostok appeared on the table, while the other locations named in the media, Mongolia's Ulaanbaatar and Singapore, seem to lack the liking of either side.

While the US reportedly preferred the latter city to be the host, Pyongyang was reluctant about the proposal, since the location was too far away. North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un prefers to travel by train, and Singapore, which is located some 4,700 kilometers away, would definitely require a plane flight. Ulaanbaatar, in its turn, has reportedly raised security concerns among the US officials.

On Friday, the US president confirmed that the two sides have narrowed the list of potential summit hosts to "two or three" locations. The meeting between Trump and Kim is expected to happen in May or June.

The UK government's nonsensical Skripal conspiracy theory

Rob Slane
The Blogmire
Sat, 28 Apr 2018 19:57 UTC

- or the art of holding a mass of contradictory thoughts in your head

The Official Narrative on the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal is a collection of illogical claims and assertions that cannot be made to fit together, that make no rational sense, and which would require us to hold a mass of contradictory thoughts in our head if we were to accept it. It is in short a conspiracy theory, and a particularly bad one at that.

As I have pointed out before, I am not attempting to counter this conspiracy theory with one of my own. I make no claims to know what happened in the Skripal incident. I am merely stating that the story that the UK Government and media have so far asked the public to believe cannot be true, since it is full of discrepancies and claims that are impossible to reconcile with the known facts.

Comment:

Clinton nonprofit refuses to allow donor to cancel monthly contribution

KATHERINE RODRIGUEZ
Breitbart
Sun, 29 Apr 2018 21:55 UTC

A Seattle donor to a Hillary Clinton-founded nonprofit group found there was no way to cancel his monthly donation, according to a report.

Corey Koscielniak, 29, told the Seattle Times he wanted to stop giving his $10.48 a month contribution to the Clinton-political action organization Onward Together-which the former 2016 Democratic presidential nominee formed after her loss to President Trump-because the organization did not disclose enough information on how the money is spent.

"Onward Together (OT) accepts payment information but provides no ability to alter or cancel donations once the initial donation is received," Koscielniak wrote in a complaint to the Washington state Attorney General's Office.

Amnesty: Arms embargo needed - Israel's military continues to unlawfully kill and maim Gaza protesters

Amnesty International
Fri, 27 Apr 2018 09:41 UTC

Israel is carrying out a murderous assault against protesting Palestinians, with its armed forces killing and maiming demonstrators who pose no imminent threat to them, Amnesty International revealed today, based on its latest research, as the "Great March of Return" protests continued in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military has killed 35 Palestinians and injured more than 5,500 others - some with what appear to be deliberately inflicted life-changing injuries - during the weekly Friday protests that began on 30 March.

Amnesty International has renewed its call on governments worldwide to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel following the country's disproportionate response to mass demonstrations along the fence that separates the Gaza Strip from Israel.

"For four weeks the world has watched in horror as Israeli snipers and other soldiers, in full-protective gear and behind the fence, have attacked Palestinian protesters with live ammunition and tear gas. Despite wide international condemnation, the Israeli army has not reversed its illegal orders to shoot unarmed protesters," said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

Comment: Israel doesn't need an arms embargo. Nor does it need to investigate itself. What it does need - even for its own survival - is that every politician and general who had a hand in giving its military the go ahead to kill and maim with wanton abandon should be brought to the Hague for war crimes.

See: March of Return: Israel's Officially Sanctioned Use of Deadly Force Against Palestinians Delivers Deadly Blow to Its Credibility

Syrian-allied fighters retake towns from US-backed SDF, ISIS holding out in Yarmouk, Al-Qaeda still a headache for Turkey in Idlib

Moon of Alabama
Sun, 29 Apr 2018 20:19 UTC

The Syrian government issued Property Law 10 (ar) which will help to rebuild the country. Martin Chulov of the Guardian falsely reported: 10m Syrians at risk of forfeiting homes under new property law. The Syrian-American economist Ehsani explains why the Guardian report is wrong. He summarizes:

Without legislation, imagine people returning to say Jobar in Damascus or Bustan al-Basha in Aleppo and starting to build on their own. What code? What property lines? What legal basis? What about the infrastructure underneath? Law 10 is the State's legislative blueprint.

---

In 2012 UN blue helmets from Austria controlled the demarcation line with Israel at the Golan heights. They watched as Takfiris ('smugglers'), likely coming from Israel, set up an ambush. Nine Syrian border policemen pass through the UN checkpoint but are not warned. They drive into the Takfiri ambush. All are killed. An Austrian whistle-blower gave the video (ger) to a local paper in Vienna. The Austrian Defense Ministry is investigating the case.

---

Today tribal forces aligned with the Syrian government attacked and captured two villages (map) controlled by the U.S. proxy force in east Syria north of the Euphrates near Deir Ezzor city. The Kurdish U.S. proxy forces SDF vowed revenge. This might be a local incident but could develop into something bigger. While the U.S. claims exclusive rights north of the Euphrates and to fight ISIS in the area zero progress has been made since November. The U.S. wants keep ISIS alive and well to later reuse it for its own purposes. The Syrian government is trying to disrupt that plan.

Robert Fisk: Damascus research center bombed by F.UK.US doesn't look like a chemical weapons facility

Robert Fisk
Independent, UK
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 19:58 UTC

The great 10th century Iraqi poet Abu Tayyib al-Mutanabbi once lived, O fated city, in the Emirate of Aleppo. He even led a revolt in Syria which was - familiar stuff, this - put down with great ruthlessness. Al-Mutanabbi actually spent two years in prison before reconciling himself to his loss and was subsequently released. Most Arab children in Syria can quote the man by heart and one of their favourite poems begins with these words:

When you see the teeth of a lion,
Don't think that the lion is smiling at you.

I was reminded of this lion while clambering through the ruins on the side of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh last week. This was the centre - now famous from so many satellite pictures - destroyed by Donald Trump's missiles when they struck at "the heart of Syria's chemical weapons programme". Did they? Anything with a Strangelove name like the "Department of Pharmaceutical and Civilian Chemical Research" - the bit of the complex hit by at least 13 missiles - deserves to have its contents studied closely. I'd been refused permission to visit this Syrian institution for three days. If it was all in ruins - which it assuredly is, and on a scale much larger than the photographs suggest - why the delay?

And does it matter? Well, yes. I am reminded of the much more famous Iraqi "baby milk factory" bombed by the Americans in 1991 which General Colin Powell called "a biological weapons factory, of that we are sure". My colleague Patrick Cockburn wrote of this last week, recalling his visit to the factory only hours after the bombing. After the war, it turned out that the building probably had been an infant formula factory after all - although what can't you do with a glass of milk?

Shocker: Russian doping 'whistleblower' claims fail to stand up in court - he made it up

RT
Sat, 28 Apr 2018 19:43 UTC

Russian officials plan to sue Grigory Rodchenkov, whose testimony played a key part in the country's Olympic bans, after a sports court rejected his claims. But most believe it's too late to reverse the impact of the doping saga.The scandal over Olympic doping has been running since 2014, and most of the allegations have been known for years. What's changed?

In a landmark ruling in February, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the highest legal authority in such cases, reversed the life bans of 28 Russian sportsmen and gave them back their medals, many of them from the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

But it was only this week that a 160-page summary of the session exposed exactly how the allegations that led to the exclusion of entire Russian teams in various sports from Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018 failed to stand up to legal scrutiny.

Comment: And the Russians aren't even in the top five when it comes to doping: Guess who the worst doping cheaters were in 2016? Italy, France, US, Australia, Belgium - WADA

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Society's Child

Media quietly change the record while government blocks press reports on the Skripals

Despite "shiny new buildings" children in Northern England face poverty, bad schools and a lack of opportunities

Supreme Court orders release of audio, video from Las Vegas shooting

Vladivostok, Russia - one possible location to host Trump-Kim summit

The UK government's nonsensical Skripal conspiracy theory

Clinton nonprofit refuses to allow donor to cancel monthly contribution

Amnesty: Arms embargo needed - Israel's military continues to unlawfully kill and maim Gaza protesters

Syrian-allied fighters retake towns from US-backed SDF, ISIS holding out in Yarmouk, Al-Qaeda still a headache for Turkey in Idlib

Robert Fisk: Damascus research center bombed by F.UK.US doesn't look like a chemical weapons facility

Shocker: Russian doping 'whistleblower' claims fail to stand up in court - he made it up

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