Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

What a waste! NYPD forces vendors to throw out improperly displayed fruit

NYPD
© Getty Images
A video was submitted to the Free Thought Project this week that is sure to infuriate all who see it.

In the video, which was originally posted on the Facebook page of Gary Schlesinger of Brooklyn, New York City trash collectors are being ordered around by an NYPD cop. They are picking up dozens of cases of fruits and vegetables — and throwing them into the back of a trash truck.

According to Schlesinger, "NYC [is] cracking down on fruit stores that put out merchandise more than 4 feet from store."

The food was allegedly blocking a sidewalk, so, instead of asking the owner move it, or merely confiscating it from a non-compliant owner and giving it to a food shelter, the government's decision was to put it in a landfill.

Bomb

Syria rocked by multiple blasts hitting Damascus southern suburb, over 30 feared killed

Syria bombings
© Omar Sanadiki / Reuters
Several explosions have rocked the Sayeda Zeinab district in the southern part of Syria's capital Damascus, Syrian state television reported. Over 30 people are feared killed; suicide bombers are suspected to be behind at least two of the blasts.

Four blasts hit al-Tin Street near the al-Sadr hospital, with two explosions being car bombs and the others suicide bombers, the al-Ikhbariya channel said.

There are casualties among civilians in Sayeda Zeinab district, a police source, who talked to RIA-Novosti, said.

The death toll is currently being verified. Hezbollah's al-Mmanar TV puts the death toll at 22, while the Syrian state TV at 30. Dozens are feared injured.

Comment: The Syrian rebels can't win on the battlefield so now they take their suicidal missions into the cities, killing civilians.


Bomb

Maidan redux? Ultra-nationalist protesters storm Kiev on anniversary of 2014 coup

Ukraine protestors
© REUTERS/ Gleb Garanich
On Saturday, ultra-nationalist protesters descended on central Kiev, clashing with the National Guard, attacking Russian banks and holding a meeting in the city's Independence Square (Maidan); the clashes come ahead of the 2nd anniversary of the bloodiest day of Euromaidan, a political protest movement which resulted in the coup of February 2014.

On Saturday, meetings in Kiev commemorating the bloodiest day of violence between police and protesters during the February 2014 protests turned ugly, with activists from ultra-nationalist groups including the Right Sector clashing with Ukraine's National Guard in the center of the city.

"I am witnessing clashes between the Right Sector and national guards. Right Sector activists told us they were attempting to bring tents to the Maidan [so that] demonstrators could stay warm," a correspondent from Ukraine's News One reported on Saturday.

Star of David

Pink Floyd star on why his fellow musicians are terrified to speak out against Israel

roger waters
© Getty ImagesWalters: 'I have been accused of being a Nazi and an anti-Semite'
American musicians who support boycotting Israel over the issue of Palestinian rights are terrified to speak out for fear their careers will be destroyed, according to Roger Waters.

The Pink Floyd star - a prominent supporter of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel since its inception 10 years ago - said the experience of seeing himself constantly labelled a Nazi and anti-Semite had scared people into silence.

"The only response to BDS is that it is anti-Semitic," Waters toldThe Independent, in his first major UK interview about his commitment to Israeli activism. "I know this because I have been accused of being a Nazi and an anti-Semite for the past 10 years.

Attention

Recently restarted nuclear power plant near Tokyo leaking radioactive waste

Takahama nuclear plant
© Issei Kato / Reuters Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Takahama nuclear power plant.
A nuclear power station in Japan is leaking, this time the Takahama plant, about 380km west of Tokyo. The radioactive water leak comes amid a nationwide push to restart reactors after the catastrophic meltdown at Fukushima five years ago.

The reactor would have been the fourth to come on after the shutdown. The push by the government and utility companies came amid protests across Japan against the continued reliance on nuclear energy, prompted by failures to get the Fukushima crisis under control.

Now Kansai Electric Power says about 34 liters of radioactive water have escaped the plant's reactor No. 4. An investigation is underway.

Comment: The Japanese people have been staging protests over their government's plans to restart nuclear power plants throughout Japan and it appears their concerns are well-founded. There is little evidence that safety can be guaranteed or that the public will be kept informed.


Book 2

40 Iranian state media outlets renew Salman Rushdie death fatwa with $600,000 bounty

Salman Rushdie
© Ralph Orlowski / Reuters
Forty state-run media outlets have joined forces to put a new bounty on the head of controversial award-winning British Indian writer Salman Rushdie.

The reinforcement of the fatwa against Rushdie coincides with the 27th anniversary of the legal decree being issued by the first Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, according to the state-run Fars News Agency.

Khomeini called for Rushdie's assassination in February 1989 on charges of blasphemy over Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses.

Comment: Nobody has the right to make a "religious decree" calling for the death of anyone else. Period. This is a big black mark on Iran which is otherwise generally civilized.


Info

Another one bites the dust: Jeb Bush suspends campaign as Trump secures solid win in South Carolina

Jeb Bush
© Randall Hill / Reuters
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has dropped out of the 2016 White House race after losing the primary in South Carolina to Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and billionaire Donald Trump, who secured a strong victory with around a third of the vote.

"Tonight I am suspending my campaign," Jeb Bush announced to his supporters after Donald Trump secured the primary victory in South Carolina. "In this campaign, I have stood my ground, refusing to bend to the political winds."

Attention

Fed up with police state: French anarchists go on rampage over state of emergency extension

protests in France
© Dfcz Cbybwsy / YouTube
Hundreds of anarchists rioted in the French city of Nantes, showering the city with smoke barrels and paint bombs in defiance of the state of emergency, which was extended by the French parliament for another three months.

Protesters waving red-and-black anarchist banners set off fireworks, threw paint and smoke bombs at bank facades, as they rampaged through Nantes on Saturday.

Riot police officers cordoned off the streets in a bid to prevent further escalation. One of the protesters hurled a firework at a group of police officers, but, as seen in the video published by Ruptly, the projectile missed the target.

Pistol

7 people including 8yo child, killed in random drive-by shootings in Kalamazoo County, Michigan

Police tape
© Khaled Abdullah / Reuters
At least seven people, including an eight-year-old child, have been killed in ongoing shooting in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, local police said, adding that a suspect has been arrested in connection with the apparently random shooting.

"We had several shootings tonight in the county and in the city of Kalamazoo. They all appear to be related. We have multiple people dead," Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas told 24 Hour News 8.

Bomb

Double bombing in Homs, Syria kill at least 25, dozens injured

Dozens of people have been killed and injured in a double bombing attack in Homs, Syria. Talal Barazi, the governor of Homs, said at least 25 people had been killed, but other sources say the death toll was even higher.

The explosions at a traffic light at al-Siteen Street in the al-Zahra neighborhood happened within minutes of each other, witnesses said. One of them may have been triggered by a suicide bomber.