Society's ChildS


USA

The war on drugs and the rise in heroin overdoses

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 14:45 UTC
dollar store overdose
A video has begun to go viral showing a heartbreaking scene of a mother laying on the floor of a Dollar Store, unconscious from an apparent overdose, while her 2-year-old cries in horror trying to revive her.

When police arrived at the store, they were able to immediately reverse the overdose using Narcan. However, the mother was then arrested and charged with child endangerment and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to authorities. The child has now become a ward of the state.

According to police, around 10 percent of the fentanyl and heroin cases they respond to, have children present.

Cops are busting down doors and arresting drug users and dealers at a higher rate now than at any other time in history — yet these scenarios continue to play out. Why is that?

It is undeniable that the shocking and heartbreaking video below shows the horrors of what a heroin addiction can do. However, in order to reverse this massive epidemic, we must realize the root of the problem.

Comment: Further reading:

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Cult

Burkini ban: Calling oppression by its true ugly name

Andre Vltchek
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 17 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
Burkini ban
© Stringer / Reuters
In Europe, oppression is never really called by its true ugly name. It is constantly concealed by lofty slogans such as culture, even tolerance. Repression, discrimination and harassment are administered in order for the 'entire society to be free'.

Or so at least the official narrative goes.

In France, recent and ugly row over so-called burkinis, a swimsuit used by many Muslim women all over the world, has demonstrated how little tolerance there really is in today's Europe for other cultures and for different ways of life.

Recently, France's highest administrative court has ruled that "burkini bans" being enforced on the country's beaches are illegal and a violation of fundamental liberties. Still, more than 90 percent of French people are supporting the ban, which is thoroughly illogical and philosophically as well as ethically indefensible.

What is suddenly so shocking about a woman wearing a wetsuit on some French beach? And let's face it: burkinis are nothing else but a wetsuit, which is commonly used on countless beaches of California, Australia, and Europe, in fact all over the world, by surfers and other water sport enthusiasts.

Just compare these images and these. Can you really tell much of a difference?

Comment: France's absurd, misogynist burkini ban is an Islamophobic assault on feminist values

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Attention

4th night of Charlotte protests; interstate shut down as demonstrators demand release of police footage


RT
Sat, 24 Sep 2016 14:27 UTC
charlotte protesters
© Mike Blake / ReutersProtesters march in the streets during another night of protests over the police shooting of Keith Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. September 23, 2016.
In their fourth night of protest, Charlotte demonstrators, demanding the release of police tapes of the fatal shooting of Keith Scott, made their way onto Interstate-277, shutting down the highway.

After a few minutes on and near the highway, protesters left, chanting, "The people united will never be defeated" and "We young, we strong, we marching all night long." The protesters also marched behind banners, one of which read, "Release the tapes."

They also passed the Charlotte Jail Central, where prisoners flicked lights off and on. "We see you, we love you," protesters chanted in response.

The rally remained peaceful and the police did not enforce a curfew this night as several hundred protesters marched the streets

Comment: See also:

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Handcuffs

Trigger-happy Louisiana cop who murdered unarmed homeless veteran just found not guilty

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 24 Sep 2016 13:55 UTC
Louisiana cop murder homeless veteran
On Tuesday, a Ouachita Parish jury somehow returned a verdict of not-guilty for West Monroe police officer Jody LeDoux on charges of negligent homicide. A six-person jury returned the unanimous verdict after less than a single hour of deliberation.

LeDoux plead not guilty at his arraignment on in 2015, for negligent homicide after shooting and killing homeless veteran, Raymond Keith Martinez, 51.

On the evening of December 5, Martinez was attempting to go into a convenience store that he frequented. The store employees would often call the police to have him removed when he would ask people for spare change outside. The owner of the store alleges that on this evening, he told the victim that he could not come inside the store because he was intoxicated
"He (the store owner) stated that officer got out of the car and told him to get his hands up," the police report reads. "He stated that he did not hear the suspect say anything and the suspect turned to reach inside the paper machine, at which time the officer shot him. He stated that he did not hear the suspect say anything to the police. He stated that while the suspect was on the ground he observed a black cellphone by his hand."

Comment: Once again this proves that cops can murder almost anyone with little to no repercussion, this lack of accountability continues to feed the epidemic of criminal behavior and brutality by police.

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Pistol

Mall shooter kills five, manhunt underway in Burlington, Washington State


RT
Sat, 24 Sep 2016 12:12 UTC
Cascade Mall shooting suspect
© KOMO News / Twitter
A manhunt is still underway after SWAT teams swept the Cascade Mall and nearby areas in Burlington, WA, for an active shooter with a rifle. The gunman, believed to have acted alone, killed five people opening fire in the Macy's make-up store.

In their latest briefing, police said that four female victims are confirmed dead, while one man was taken to hospital in a critical condition. Several hours later the man died of his wounds.

"We're doing everything we can to find this person. Stay vigilant. If you see something, just like they say, say something," said Washington State Patrol spokesman Mark Francis as quoted by local Komo News TV. "Avoid the area. If you live close to the area, stay inside - lock your doors."

A still from CCTV footage showing the suspect was also released. Francis tweeted the shooter was "armed with rifle." He reportedly entered a Macy's department store around 7pm.
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Eye 2

Yet another Anthony Weiner 'sexting' scandal: This time New York politician is caught grooming 15-year-old girl

Joanna Walters
The Guardian
Thu, 22 Sep 2016 18:03 UTC
weiner clinton
AW: "Uh, Hillary, can I ask you a favor?..."

HRC:"You've done it again, haven't you?"
Anthony Weiner sent sexually explicit messages to 15-year-old, report says

Disgraced former US congressman Anthony Weiner, whose career nosedived after he was caught sending sexually explicit texts and images to young women while he was still married, has allegedly spent several months this year in an online, highly explicit relationship with a 15-year-old girl, according to a new report.

The ex-politician and failed New York mayoral candidate asked her to undress for him and engage in rape fantasies among a plethora of erotic exchanges that began in January 2016, the Daily Mail reported.

Weiner is still married to Huma Abedin, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's longtime aide and campaign vice-chairman. Abedin announced in August that she was separating from her husband after Weiner was revealed in another report to have sent another woman a provocative picture of himself in his underwear, with his young son next to him.


Comment: 20 years ago, this would have ended a candidate's election run. But not today...


Comment: It's not shocking that there are perverts out there like Weiner. What's shocking is that he remains involved in politics, not least through his recent attempt to become mayor of NYC, and the fact that his wife is so close to Hillary Clinton but the association apparently doesn't trouble leading Democrats!

So what was going on here?

Weiner was a House of Representatives congressman for New York's 9th district (Brooklyn) from 1992 to 1998. Clinton was Senator for New York from 2001-2009. Clinton's connections got him a job in 2015 at a PR firm. Did Hillary Clinton owe Weiner for services rendered? Did the party bosses and/or the Clintons 'reward' him with a marriage to Hillary Clinton's aide, Huma Abedin?
clinton weiner
HRC on the campaign trail in 2000. Over her left shoulder is Anthony Weiner...


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Pistol

UN: US police killings of black men reminiscent of 19th century lynchings


RT
Sat, 24 Sep 2016 09:13 UTC
North Carolina police protest
© Mike Blake / ReutersPolice in riot gear gather as they prepare for another night of protests over the police shooting of Keith Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. September 22, 2016.
A hard-hitting report published by a United Nations working group has drawn a comparison between the racial terrorism of lynchings in the 19th century in the US, and the killings by modern police of black men.

"Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching," said the report released by the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, according to Reuters. The group will present their findings for debate at a UN Human Rights Council meeting on Monday.

Reuters reported that "most lynching victims died by hanging," and a 2015 report by Equal Justice Initiative found nearly 4,000 black people were killed in "racial terror lynchings' in a dozen southern states between 1877 and 1950." Among the recommendations is one stipulating that the US government must do far more to protect black people.

"[The] legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the United States remains a serious challenge, as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent," said the report.
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Star of David

Strip searches at Israel's Ben Gurion airport are illegal says rights group Adalah

Allison Deger
Mondoweiss
Sat, 24 Sep 2016 02:53 UTC
israel airport security arabs
© Muslim Observer
For Arab travelers through Israel's Ben Gurion airport, it is common knowledge that lengthy questioning and strip searches come before boarding. As it turns out, forcing passengers into airport back rooms and requiring them to remove clothing is illegal under Israeli law, says the legal rights group Adalah.

Adalah lawyer Fadi Khoury found Israel's policies on flight security stem from a 1977 law that, "does not authorize Israeli airline security personnel to ask passengers to strip naked and to conduct searches or to escort them to the boarding gates," he said.

Khoury filed a complaint earlier this month with Israel's Airline Authority, which is tasked with enforcing security at Ben Gurion airport. The agency responded in writing that it does not conduct "any improper practices including stripping passengers and/or obligating them to be escorted by security guards following the conclusion of the security procedures they are required to undergo."

Yet Adalah spokesperson Mati Milstein said anecdotal evidence shows otherwise. He commented the practice is "widespread" and "systematic," although indicated no official master count exists of strip searches, his group has found numerous complaints.


There is also reported examples in media, including an apology from the Israeli state-owned El Al airlines for strip searching an American professor flying into Israel as an invited guest to Hebrew University in 2010. The following year Israel's ministry of foreign affairs denounced the strip search of a Spanish traveler invited by the Israeli government to participate in that year's gay pride parade.
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Quenelle

Revolutionary fervor in the US is no passing phase: Expect the riots to continue

Vincent Emanuel
Counterpunch
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
race riots
April 26th, 1992
There was a riot on the streets
Tell me where were you?
You were sittin' home watchin' your TV
While I was participating in some anarchy

- Sublime
100 Years of Riots

In 1917, white supremacists, the National Guard and the St. Louis Police killed an estimated 150-200 blacks in what is commonly referred to as the "East St. Louis Massacre." Much like St. Louis, Chicago was an up-and-coming industrial city that was experiencing massive demographic shifts as a result of the "Great Migration" north at the beginning of the 20th century. Similarly, Chicago experienced its own race riots in 1919, where 38 people were killed and 500 injured. Two years later, over 300 blacks were killed in the "Tulsa Race Riot." In other words, none of this is new for black Americans.

Unfortunately, history has a sick way of repeating itself.

On Friday, September 16th, 2016, a white Tulsa police officer by the name of Betty Shelby shot and killed Terence Crutcher in broad daylight, next to his broken down SUV (she claims she was reaching for her Taser). Four days later, Charlotte police gunned down Keith Lamont Scott as he sat in his car. While people remained somewhat subdued in Tulsa, tensions have increased in Charlotte. So far, one person has been shot and a police officer was sent to the hospital with undisclosed injuries.
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USA

Oh, say can you see - the carnage? Why stand for a country that can gun you down in cold blood?

Mike Whitney
Counterpunch
Fri, 23 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
black flag
If black athletes in the NFL honestly think that African Americans who live under Old Glory are as 'equally protected 'as whites, then they should stand up during the national anthem and sing-along. But if they know that blacks aren't getting a square deal, and that blacks can be gunned down at any time by trigger-happy cops who never face the consequences, then they owe it to themselves and their country to demand change by remaining seated.

I'm sorry that football players have to go through this. I'm sorry they find themselves in a situation where they're forced to make a political statement. After all, they're not politicians and they don't want to be. They're private citizens like the rest of us who just want to do their jobs, make some money, and be left the hell alone.

But what choice do they have now? The epidemic of cop killings around the country is forcing people to stand up and say "Enough". So now black athletes are being asked to either stand up, sing along and act like highly-paid circus animals, or follow in the steps of Rosa Parks and Malcolm X and Mohammed Ali and the other people of conscience who put themselves at risk by acting on principal.
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