Society's ChildS


Attention

Israeli general confirms snipers have orders to shoot children - and defends them for it

Zvika Fogel
© WikipediaIsraeli Brigadier-General (Reserve) Zvika Fogel
An Israeli general has confirmed that when snipers stationed along Israel's boundary with Gaza shoot at children, they are doing so deliberately, under clear and specific orders.

In a radio interview, Brigadier-General (Reserve) Zvika Fogel describes how a sniper identifies the "small body" of a child and is given authorization to shoot.

Fogel's statements could be used as evidence of intent if Israeli leaders are ever tried for war crimes at the International Criminal Court.

On Friday, an Israeli sniper shot dead 14-year-old Muhammad Ibrahim Ayyoub.

The boy, shot in the head east of Jabaliya, was the fourth child among the more than 30 Palestinians killed during the Great March of Return rallies that began in Gaza on 30 March.

More than 1,600 other Palestinians have been shot with live ammunition that has caused what doctors are calling "horrific injuries" likely to leave many of them with permanent disabilities.


Comment: What can you even say in response to a morally perverted human-shaped specimen like Fogel? Clearly, Israeli culture is incompatible with the values of the West - like due process and the sanctity of the individual. If the U.S. had any moral integrity, Israel would be next on the list for a little "freedom and democracy". But the U.S. just likes to virtue signal - it doesn't actually hold the values it professes in words. In fact, when it comes down to it, the values of the U.S. government are in line with those of the Israeli government. They're not human values; they're psychopathic, plain and simple.


Arrow Down

Vigilante justice: Canadian man suspected of murdering indigenous healer strangled by mob of villagers in Peru

shaman lomas peru
Shaman Olivia Arevalo Lomas was a well-known activist for the cultural rights of the Shipibo-Conibo indigenous group in the Peruvian Amazon.
An Indigenous traditional healer's murder has sparked outrage in Peru, and a video has emerged showing a mob of villagers strangling the man they believed to be her killer.

That man has been identified in a statement from Peru's interior ministry as Canadian Sebastian Paul Woodroffe.

Relatives of Olivia Arevalo Lomas, 81, said that a foreigner had asked her for a healing session and then shot her to death.

The man's body was later found buried about one kilometre from Arevalo's home, and an autopsy showed he died by strangulation after receiving several blows.


Question

Student says she was traumatized after Underground Railroad reenactment

McKinley Junior High School Illinois
© GoogleA student at McKinley Junior High School in South Holland, Illinois, claims she was left "traumatized" after participating in an Underground Railroad simulation with her classmates.
An Illinois mother claimed her 11-year-old daughter was traumatized during a camping trip designed to teach students about the Underground Railroad.

Dawn Peterson said daughter Bailey Peterson participated in McKinley Junior High School's annual trip to Nature's Classroom Institute in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. During the trip, students studied nature, conducted science experiments and participated in an Underground Railroad simulation, WSL-TV reported.

Bailey and about 70 other sixth graders from the South Holland school attended the four-day trip in March. "I did have fun. It's just what happened that drove me away from being excited about it," Bailey told the news station.

Dollar Gold

Dumping the dollar: Iran to report foreign currency amounts in euros rather than US dollars

Bank Mellat Iran


Just two weeks after "panic" hit the streets of Tehran as the Iranian government attempted to 'fix' the freefall of the Rial against the USDollar...

Middle East Monitor reports that
Iran's feud with the US is set to get worse after Tehran announced this week that it will start reporting foreign currency amounts in euros rather than US dollars, as part of the country's effort to reduce its reliance on the American currency due to political tension with Washington.

Iran does hardly any trade with the US due to decades of economic sanctions. It's most important trading partner is the UAE, which accounts for around 24 per cent of all Iranian imports and exports. China is not far behind with 22 per cent, followed by Turkey, India and the EU, all of which account for around six per cent of Iran's trade.

Iran's leaders have been threatening for some time to ditch the dollar for a different currency. The shift towards euro took on added urgency after the appointment of Donald Trump and his decision to include Iran on a list of mainly Muslim majority countries banned from entering the US.

Comment: See also:


Dollars

Long life isn't cheap: Most millionaires expect to live to 100

life expectancy
Thanks to modern scientific advancements, people are living much longer than their ancestors - decades in fact. The average lifespan in China, the U.S. and the majority of Eastern Europe is now the late 70's, while those living in Western Europe and Japan can expect to become octogenarians - according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Most millionaires, however, expect to live a century thanks to their ability to buy the healthiest, cleanest, lowest risk lifestyle. Statistically speaking, that's true.
In the U.S., for example, the richest 1 percent of American women by income live more than 10 years longer than the poorest 1 percent, a 2016 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found. For men, the gap between the richest and poorest Americans is almost 15 years. -Bloomberg
In 1930, the average life expectancy for American men was only 58, and 62 for women, according to the SSA. 50 years before that, one could expect to live to around 35 years-old.

Attention

The millions the US spent bombing Syria could have assisted refugees by the thousands

Syrian refugees Gander
© Getty"The frosty little town of Gander - away up north in Newfoundland, Canada - welcomed 18 Syrian refugees in 62 days. That’s 150 percent more than the whole of the US accepted in twice that time."
Last week the U.S. fired 118 missiles at Syria: that's about 11 times as many missiles as refugees the U.S accepted from the war torn nation since January first.

The 2018 cost per missile: $1,400,000.

The 2018 estimated cost per refugee: $15,900.

I know the math is hard, but hang on. The U.S. spent $119.1 million just on the ordnance dropped on Syria-not counting the cost of keeping all those missile delivery systems in place. Aircraft carriers don't pay for themselves, you know. And each B-1B Lancer fighter jet used to convey some of the missiles to their targets cost $95,000 per flight hour. Heck, two hours flying time pays for all the Syrian refugees accepted into the U.S. this year.

Rejecting Syrians is clearly not about the cost to the taxpayer. The US could permanently relocate thousands of them for the cost of last week's light show.

Comment: Its worth remembering that these refugees would not have needed help and re-settling if their country had not been ravaged in the first place by the US and its proxy militants. And the US continues the misery by prolonging the war, obstructing the efforts of the Russians and Syrian government to finally rid the country of these villains so Syrians citizens can return home.


Star of David

Israel claims Hamas used journalist murdered by IDF as human shield - video exposes the lie

IDF journalist shot Land Day Protest Gaza
© Agence France-Presse/Thomas CoexThe military has made a photo from April 13 protests and clashes on the Gaza Strip border part of its public relations effort, with one army spokesman using it in a tweet to suggest bias and recklessness by journalists covering recent demonstrations
Israel's military has suggested that a photo it has distributed shows journalists are willingly being used as human shields by Palestinian militants during recent protests, but video and a witness account of the incident tell a different story.

The military has made a photo from April 13 protests and clashes on the Gaza Strip border part of its public relations effort, with one army spokesman using it in a tweet to suggest bias and recklessness by journalists covering recent demonstrations.

Those suggestions conflict with video footage of the incident shown in the photograph filmed by an AFP journalist and the reporter's description of what happened.

Bad Guys

'Everybody said Larry Nassar was a good guy' - former USA Gymnastics official took a win-at-all-costs approach

USA Gymnastics women's team
© Brian Snyder / Reuters
Former USA Gymnastics women's team coordinator Martha Karolyi, who stood at the helm of the national squad for more than 15 years, said she was unaware of former team doctor Larry Nassar's abusive behavior.

In an hour-long NBC News Dateline special, aired on Sunday, Martha and her husband Bela Karolyi broke their silence, responding to the accusations brought against them by several alleged Nassar victims. The pair declared that they were not involved in the sexual abuse scheme orchestrated by the former team physician.

"The whole gymnastics community couldn't recognize this," Martha Karolyi said. "Everybody said, 'Larry Nassar is a good doctor. Larry Nassar is a good guy.'"

The Karolyis insisted they were fully focused on the training process at their ranch, which housed the country's best gymnasts, without knowing that young female athletes suffered sexual abuse at the hands of the team doctor.

Comment: See also: "I just signed your death warrant": US Olympic doctor Nassar sentenced to 175yrs


Arrow Down

Scottish comedian, Count Dankula, fined £800 in Nazi pug case

Count Dankula
© Count Dankula/YouTube
A man who filmed his pug doing a Nazi salute before posting the footage on YouTube has been fined £800. The case sparked a massive debate on free speech, with high-profile figures such as Ricky Gervais also weighing in.

Mark Meechan - also known as Count Dankula - posted a clip of his girlfriend's pug, named Buddha, responding to phrases such as "gas the Jews" and "Sieg Heil." He was found guilty at Airdrie Sheriff Court last month of committing a hate crime.

Meechan denied any wrongdoing and said he made the video - which got more than three million views when posted on the video streaming platform - to annoy his girlfriend. But under the Communications Act, Sheriff Derek O'Carroll found Meechan guilty of posting grossly offensive material as it was "anti-Semitic and racist in nature."

The case stirred a massive debate on the right to freedom of speech in the UK. High-profile figures, including comedian Ricky Gervais, took to Meechan's defense, saying:

Comment: Do we really want to live in a world where comedians can't be 'offensive'?:


Dig

Neighborhood cleanup for Earth Day uncovers human remains in Indiana neighborhood

human remains creek
© FOX59Human remains were discovered in a creek on Saturday during an Earth Day cleanup in an Indianapolis neighborhood.
A neighborhood cleanup for Earth Day in one Indiana neighborhood turned into a crime scene investigation on Saturday after volunteers found a set of human remains along a creek that may belong to a missing mother.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department told FOX59 the partially covered remains were discovered on the city's east side around 11 a.m.

"It's a little scary to know that something could have happened so close to home and there's body evidence or possible evidence of it," resident Carrie Hawk said. "So, it's a little scary. I have two children who I send on the bus and my son walks back and forth using the city bus."

Detectives spent the day searching for evidence, and the coroner's office was called in to help identify the remains and a possible cause of death.