Society's ChildS


Smoking

Australian tobacco executive beaten, stabbed in attempted kidnapping

Nick McKenzie
The Sydney Morning Herald
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 20:30 UTC
Smokes!
© Sydney Morning Herald
The attempted kidnapping, bashing and stabbing of an international tobacco company manager outside his family home in Sydney suggests crime syndicates are hitting back at efforts to combat the booming illicit tobacco trade.

A criminal syndicate is suspected of ordering the botched kidnapping in June of a former decorated NSW policeman turned manager of British American Tobacco. Despite high-profile raids by police, illegal tobacco continues to pour into the Australian market and is easy to find in city shops.

The BAT manager was stabbed and bashed by at least three men, after he refused their order that he get into a car. The kidnappers arrived at the man's Sydney home at around 10pm on Saturday June 4. A source said the manager was forced to "fight for his life" to ward off the kidnappers, who have not been identified. He was rushed to hospital after the attack.

The attack appears to be an unprecedented escalation in the struggle between policing agencies and the syndicates driving the illicit tobacco trade. Evidence suggests the attack was linked to BAT's support of police inquiries.
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Attention

Stay away! Travel warnings against the US continue to mount

Angela Waters
USA Today
Thu, 11 Aug 2016 16:53 UTC
terminal 3 lax
© Mike Nelson, EPAPassengers proceed through Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Terminal 3 at Los Angeles Airport in Los Angeles, California, on July 1, 2016.
Government travel advisories are common for war-torn, disease-ravaged nations, but a growing number of countries are warning their citizens about taking trips to the United States.

The United Arab Emirates, Bahamas, France, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Germany are among those urging caution to U.S.-bound travelers. The concerns include mass shootings, police violence, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBT attitudes and the Zika virus.

While it is too soon to determine if the warnings are hurting U.S. tourism, the warnings tarnish the image the U.S. promotes abroad of a country that prides itself on being a welcoming society and bastion of democracy.

"People understand that there is a range of things to do and iconic things to see in the (United) States," said Tom Buncle, managing director of the Yellow Railroad, an international tourism consultancy in Scotland. "But all of the warnings that come from specific instances add up and can potentially erode the positive image of the U.S."

Comment: With the exception of the misguided Zika warnings, these travel advisors do have a point. The US is a scary place to be these days.

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Stormtrooper

Muslim woman sues Chicago police after six officers ripped her hijab off at train station last year


Sputnik
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:04 UTC
chicago police
© Flickr/ Hajee
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said that a Muslim female sued the Chicago Police Department for the use of excessive force, violation of human rights, and freedom of religious expression, after six officers ripped off her hijab at a train station last year.

A Muslim female sued the Chicago Police Department (CPD) for the use of excessive force, violation of human rights, and freedom of religious expression, after six officers ripped off her hijab at a train station last year, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Chicago chapter said in a press release.

"Itemid Al-Matar, trying to catch the train home, was physically assaulted, harassed, publicly strip-searched, humiliated, and falsely arrested by several police officers from the Chicago Police Department," the release stated on Thursday.

Al-Matar, who moved to Chicago from Saudi Arabia, was charged with reckless conduct and several counts of obstructing justice, but found not guilty on June 30, media reported, citing court documents.

CAIR claims that Al-Matar was prosecuted based on race, religion, and other identity-based factors.

The US Department of Justice is currently investigating the case.
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Pistol

Government banking restrictions makes legal pot sellers robbery targets

Justin Gardner
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 16:39 UTC
robber
States across the nation are coming to their senses about cannabis by legalizing its recreational and medicinal use - abandoning one facet of the immoral, wasteful War on Drugs.

Although Washington has made small improvements, such as restricting the Justice Department from pursuing cannabis cases in states where it's legal, the feds are still mired in the irrationality of prohibition.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) doubled down on its propaganda recently, claiming that cannabis grow houses in Colorado - where recreational use is legalized - are "the new meth houses." We can take solace in the fact that this kind of absurdity is a sure sign of desperation for an agency that preys on the citizenry through its drug war.

Besides the denial of freedom to use a plant, the feds' ongoing crusade against weed poses a direct danger to public safety. Because of federal banking restrictions, cannabis businesses in states where its sale has been legalized are forced to operate on a cash basis - making them a prime target for armed robberies.
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Heart - Black

Mother charged after 6yo son beats 13 day-old baby to death


RT
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:00 UTC
Kathleen Steele
© Pinellas County Sheriff's OfficeKathleen Steele
The mother of a 13-day-old baby violently beaten to death by her six-year-old son has been charged by Florida police with aggravated manslaughter.

Kathleen Marie Steele was arrested by Pinellas County Sheriff's Office on Thursday, after her newborn daughter Kathleen died from severe injuries including multiple skull fractures.

Officers say that on August 8, Steele left her three children unsupervised in her minivan for "over 30 minutes" as she visited a cellphone repair store.

In that time, Steele's second-eldest child, aged 6, is alleged to have "slammed" the baby girl around the vehicle in what Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri described as "one of the worst" incidents he had ever seen.
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Red Flag

Teen who was arrested for bringing clock to school forced to flee US due to media misreporting


RT
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 18:27 UTC
Ahmed Mohamed
Teen inventor Ahmed Mohamed, the Muslim boy famous for bringing a homemade clock to school that was mistaken for a bomb, was forced to leave the US due to flawed reporting, made-up facts, and general misinformation in the media, one of his attorneys tells RT.

"There has been a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about what happened," Susan Hutchinson, Mohamed's family attorney said.

"There is misinformation about [Ahmed's family's] connection with other groups of people, the basis of their Muslim faith, about their activities in the Muslim community... there's just a lot of wrong information out there [...] rumors and things made-up by some people in the media," she stressed.

The attorney also noted that the misunderstandings began as soon as the story first broke. In September of last year, 14-year-old Ahmed was pulled out of class and arrested at his high school in Irving, Texas, after he brought a self-made digital clock to class to show his teacher. He was handcuffed, taken to a juvenile detention center, questioned by police, fingerprinted, and photographed for mugshots, before finally being released without charges. Moreover, he was threatened with expulsion if he refused to sign a confession saying he intended to bring a "hoax bomb" to school, according to his lawyers.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

Apple gets approval to build billion dollar data center in Ireland


RT
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 18:06 UTC
apple
© Toby Melville / Reuters
After months of delays and appeals, Irish authorities have given tech giant Apple permission to begin building its new one billion dollar data center that will occupy an area of some 30 football fields in a woodland in western Ireland.

"The Board decided to grant permission for the proposed development," the An Bórd Pleanála, the body that regulates planning and development in Ireland, ruled.

The construction plan was first announced in early 2015 and was approved by the Galway County Council, but that approval prompted a number of complaints to be directed from locals and environmentalists to the planning authority.

Objections to the data center include concerns about local wildlife, such as a possibly negative impact on the bat and badger population, as well as a potential flood risk for a neighboring golf course. Another objection focused on the center's proximity to a defunct nuclear power plant, the Wylfa Nuclear Power Station in Wales, which has been shut down for years. It took almost a year to look into these objections and overrule them, albeit with several reservations.
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Health

Canadian warship on NATO mission suffers outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease

Bruce Campion-Smith
The Star
Wed, 10 Aug 2016 17:47 UTC
HMCS Charlottetown
© Andrew Vaughn/The Canadian Press (file photo)
A Canadian warship deployed at sea on a NATO mission has been hit by an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease, the Star has learned.

Some 20 sailors aboard HMCS Charlottetown came down with the contagious disease in recent days, which can cause painful sores and lesions on the tongue and gums as well as on hands and feet.

A military spokesperson confirmed the outbreak and said that personnel were being treated to ease the symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). "Members with HFMD on board HMCS Charlottetown are being treated to help alleviate their symptoms as required," Capt. Nicola LaMarre told the Star.

The frigate sailed from Halifax on June 27 to take part in Operation Reassurance, Canada's contribution to NATO deterrence deployments in Eastern Europe. In mid-July, the ship was in the Black Sea where it participated in NATO operations, including exercises to hone anti-submarine warfare skills. It's back in the Mediterranean Sea and spent the weekend docked in Souda Bay, on the Greek island of Crete, for a scheduled port visit.
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Camcorder

New video released of disabled woman being beaten by airport police


RT
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 17:39 UTC
police takedown
© The Commercial Appeal/Facebook
New security camera footage shows the confrontation between Memphis International Airport police and confused and anxious young woman with several disabilities, as well as her subsequent violent by officers.

The video released Thursday by the Commercial Appeal is the latest in the case of the 19-year-old Hannah Cohen, who was leaving Memphis Tennessee on June 30, 2015, after receiving a treatment for a brain tumor.

The video shows Cohen and her mother arguing with police after she set off a metal detector at a security checkpoint.

Comment: Lowest of the low: TSA beats disabled teen coming home from brain surgery

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Eye 2

Daily Beast outs gay Olympians, but not gay Republicans at RNC - garners condemnation


RT
Thu, 11 Aug 2016 16:51 UTC
rio olympics gays outed homophobia
© Sergio Moraes / Reuters
Outrage was boiling online over the Daily Beast's choice to publish a voyeuristic piece detailing the sex lives of Olympic athletes. Why the focus on gay athletes rather than, say, a spike in demand for gay escorts at the Republican National Convention?

The Daily Beast's article titled "The Other Olympic Sport in Rio: Swiping" was found by many to be, at best, in poor taste and at worst, homophobic and potentially dangerous. To summarize it, a straight man was sent to Rio to see how Olympians use dating and hookup apps. However, he focused most of his attention on Grindr, a hookup app targeted to gay men.

"No prizes for guessing that Grindr proved more of an instant hookup success than Bumble or Tinder," author Nico Haines wrote in a questionable sentence. Given that Grindr was never intended to be a dating service, Haines' multiple critics took this sentence to cast shame on the sex lives of gay men.

In its original form, the article was published using the pictures of the athletes - one of whom hails from a country where homosexuality is a crime.

For athletes such as him, leaving their country gave them the opportunity to express their sexuality in a way many heterosexual individuals - such as the author of the Daily Beast article - may take for granted.

Pictures have since been removed from the piece, but nothing on the internet is ever truly gone for good. This leaves a number of lingering questions, such as "Why would anyone think this was a good idea?"

Comment: Shameful. Apparently even the "alternate media" is capable of scraping the bottom for ethics and decency when it comes to chasing a readership.

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