Society's ChildS


Eye 1

Israeli govt demolishes Bedouin tribe's village for the 122nd time, arrests elder for trespassing on his own land & has documents to prove it

Bedouin tribe
© Amir Cohen / ReutersBedouin men sit in a village known by Bedouin Arabs as al-Arakib, one of many ramshackle desert communities whose names have never appeared on any official map, November 2, 2011.
A Bedouin elder has been given ten months in prison and a hefty fine for trespassing on land his tribe claims to have lived on for 750 years. RT traveled to the disputed village, leveled by Israeli authorities 122 times.

Since its first demolition in July 2010, the village of Al Araqib in southern Israel has been demolished another 121 times in the Israeli government's struggle to root out the Arab Bedouin tribe that lives there. However, the Al-Turi tribe insists the land in the northern Negev Desert has always belonged to them, and their ancestors inhabited it 750 years ago.

"It will take years until this fight ends," village elder Abu Madiam,68, told RT, saying that Israel is trying to push the Bedouin tribe to give up their ancestral land. Last week, an Israeli court sentenced Abu Madiam to 10 months behind bars and a fine of 36,000 shekels ($10,000), finding him guilty of 19 counts of trespassing on state land, according to Haaretz.

Sherlock

SOTT Focus: Luke Harding: The Latest Media Shill Trying to Prove Russian Collusion Where There Is None

Luke Harding
Luke Harding is an obsequious and insufferable Englishman and long-term foreign affairs hack with The Guardian. He was also the paper's correspondent in Russia from 2007-2011 before he was kicked out for breaking the rules of his press accreditation by visiting the area of counter-terrorism operations without informing the relevant security authorities aka 'spying'. As a self-styled 'Russia expert', Harding claims to know a lot about what really goes on behind closed Kremlin doors. In reality however, his track record of belligerent and spurious allegations against Russia suggests his real bosses are located in MI6 HQ in London.

It's no surprise then that in his recent interview on MSNBC Harding can be seen plying his trade-craft and spreading more lies and nonsense about Trump's 'collusion' with Russia. It's the same old tripe that has been force-fed to the general public ever since Trump won the U.S. Presidential elections last year. Even though the 'Russiagate' scandal has been the most widely reported event of the last year, with CNN mentioning Russia on-air almost 16,000 times since Trump's inauguration, it still amounts to one big 'nothing-burger' packed full of no evidence and lots of hearsay and innuendo.

None of this bothers people like Harding however, as they seek to capitalize on the paranoia and hysteria surrounding the supposed Russia/Trump connection, and in Harding's case, flog copies of his gutter-press new book - supposedly an in-depth expose of how Russia helped Donald Trump win the election.

Comment: To learn more on how the United States Congress is attempting to push a largely made-up story of Russian collusion and hacking into the American political system and last years elections, read Joe Quinn's recent article:


Newspaper

Berlin will provide women-only 'safe spaces' new year's eve

fireworks
© Adam Berry/Getty Images
The government of Berlin has decided to create women-only "safe spaces" on New Year's Eve in order to prevent potential migrant sex attacks that have plagued New Year's celebrations since 2015.

In order to avoid a repeat of the Cologne sex attacks, the Berlin government announced the creation of women-only spaces in the area near the Brandenburg Gate for New Year's Eve. The "safety zone" will be, according to organisers, a space for women to go who may have been harassed or feel uncomfortable, and will be staffed by members of the Red Cross, Kronen Zeitung reports.

Stock Down

Trump effect: Black unemployment hits 17-year low in U.S.

black man suit
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics( BLS), the unemployment rate for black Americans is the lowest it has been since the year 2000, 17 years ago.

In November, the national unemployment rate for black Americans, ages 16 and over, was 7.3%.

The last time it was 7.3% was in the year 2000, during the months September, October and November.

During the Bush and Obama years (2001 -2016), the black unemployment rate fluctuated between 7.7% and a high of 16.8%.

Back in September 2017, the rate was 7.0%, a low that had not been seen since April of 2000. Prior to that, going all the way back to 1972, the black unemployment rate never fell below 7.0% and was largely in the double digits throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Comment:






Handcuffs

'Nigerian Prince' email scammer turns out to be 67-year-old Louisiana man

Michael Neu Nigerian prince
© Slidell Police Department / Facebook
The mastermind who claimed to be Nigerian royalty in order to conduct a well-known 'phishing' email scam has been arrested in Louisiana.

Michael Neu, 67, was arrested this week following an 18-month investigation by Slidell Police Department's Financial Crimes Division. He has been charged with 269 counts of wire fraud and money laundering and is believed to have set up hundreds of scam email accounts costing unassuming citizens thousands of dollars.

The scam emails involve a well-known trope that is almost as old as the internet: A person claiming to be a Nigerian prince, or their representative, emails you requesting personal financial information in order to expedite the transfer of a massive inheritance of which you were hitherto unaware.

Attention

'War on cops' is police propaganda - cop deaths on the decline while citizens killed by cops at epidemic levels

police state
Data from 2017 reveals that the idea that there is a "war on cops" is nothing more than police propaganda, as the number of officers killed in the line of duty dropped to the second-lowest total in more than 50 years.

Conversely, there were over 1,000 people killed by cops for the fourth year in a row, according to the website killedbypolice.net, which operates a database of individuals killed by law enforcement officers.

According to data from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a nonprofit aimed at honoring officers and improving safety, as of December 28:


Comment: As cops continue to become further militarized and trained in the 'us vs them' mentality, the numbers of public casualties will continue to rise. The idea that cops are there to serve and protect the public are long gone by. See also:


Arrow Down

Apple's ill designed Chicago store: bird poop, falling ice and cracking windows

Chicago’s new flagship Apple store struggling with falling ice, cracking windows
Is the issue an anticipated compromise or design oversight?
For all of its fancy engineering and architectural accolades earned since opening in October, Michigan Avenue's glassy new Apple store is struggling with an apparently unexpected adversary: Chicago's wintery climate.

According to a report by The Verge, frozen chunks of snow and icicles sliding off the riverfront building's gutter-less, laptop-esque roof pose a serious threat to pedestrians. The dangerous condition forced Apple employees to close-off portions of Pioneer Court with caution tape and deploy signs reading "Watch for falling snow and ice."

Falling ice wasn't the only winter-related issue facing the Foster + Partners-designed flag ship store this week. According to pictures posted to the discussion forum at Skyscraperpage, Chicago's recent cold snap caused at least one of the store's glass panels to develop a crack.

Chart Pie

Déja vu: Trump's approval rating exactly matches Obama's at the end of first year

obama trump
Let me begin with a rare tweet, courtesy of Matt Drudge, a guy who doesn't tweet much and also the owner of world's biggest news-aggregator, the Drudge Report obviously:
Rasmussen Poll shows Trump at 46% APPROVE this morning, with 53% DISAPPROVE... What about Obama at same exact date first year in presidency?? 46% APPROVE, 53% DISAPPROVE!

Comment: Obviously, there is a large disconnect between what the American people think and what the mainstream media tells them to think. A case in point: The American People Are Coming to Terms With The Fact That Their Government Is A Dictatorship


Arrow Up

Iran to shift focus to policing crime rather than women who violate dress code

bad hijab morality police Iran
© REUTERS/StringerMorality police take down the name of a detained woman during a crackdown on "social corruption" in north Tehran, Iran, June 18, 2008.
One of the more notorious images that often comes out of Iran is that of chador-clad women with police armbands and male police officers rounding up loosely veiled, and often young, women into minivans to be taken to police stations. These officers, known as Gasht-e Ershad, or Guidance Patrol, roam busy avenues, especially during the summer, and are often seen harassing young couples or groups of women. Now, according to statements by Iranian officials, these scenes are to be no more.

On Dec. 27, Brig. Gen. Hossein Rahimi, head of Greater Tehran police, said, "According to the commander of the NAJA [Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran], those who do not observe Islamic values and have negligence in this area will no longer be taken to detention centers, a legal case will not be made for them and we will not send them to court; rather, education classes to reform their behavior will be offered."

Comment: It's nice to see Iran taking a softer approach to policing morality, while in other parts of the world the same can't be said.

See also:


Tornado2

Puerto Rico: 1 million still without power 100 days after hurricane Maria

People who lost their homes during Hurricane Maria in September rest at a gymnasium of a school turned shelter in Canovanas.
© ReutersPeople who lost their homes during Hurricane Maria in September rest at a gymnasium of a school turned shelter in Canovanas.
Though some basic necessities have returned to the island, residents are angry that they are still in "recovery mode."

Puerto Rico is now in its 100th day since Category 4 Hurricane Maria struck the island, damaging vast amounts of infrastructure and nearly eliminating its electrical and running water systems.

Though some of these basic necessities have returned to the island, residents who have electricity say that "blackouts are part of life" and are angry that they are still in "recovery mode."