Society's ChildS


Family

Jackson, Mississippi warns pregnant women, kids of lead in water


RT
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 19:14 UTC
Jackson, Mississippi water
© Reuters
Officials in Jackson, Mississippi have cautioned pregnant women and children against drinking the city's tap water to avoid lead exposure. The city says it is taking steps to prevent a repeat of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

The water in Jackson has not been deemed unsafe. However, out of an "abundance of caution," pregnant women and small children are recommended to follow the Mississippi State Department of Health's recommendations for the prevention of lead exposure from drinking water, city officials said in a statement.

Out of 58 water samples taken from random homes in June, 13 of them showed to have lead levels between 17 and 20 parts per billion ‒ exceeding the federal "actionable" threshold of 15 ppb. The affected areas included residences in southwest Jackson and north Jackson.

The city has begun to re-sample the affected area, along with an additional 42 sites.

Comment: See also: Water: A legalized biological weapon?
  • Michigan state officials lied about lead in Flint's water - knowingly poisoning countless children


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Bandaid

Foul-mouthed army instructors told by MOD to stop cursing at recruits


RT
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 16:02 UTC
Recruits
© David Moir/Reuters
Swearing at recruits is no longer acceptable, army instructors have been told by the Ministry of Defence.

Following a BBC documentary on basic military training, during which recruits were verbally abused by an instructor, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) told the broadcaster "it does not condone the use of abusive or insulting language towards recruits."

During the Civilians to Soldiers program which was recently aired, one instructor told a recruit who had failed to complete a task: "Seriously, I ask you to do one f***ing thing, it was to do that f***ing list on the board which I had the kindness to write down for you lot."

"Well that didn't work. Right now, you lot have got me f***ing raging! Mr f***ing Nice Guy is not coming back," he added. The BBC says it has now been informed a meeting will he held to address the issue, but that it is unlikely swearing will be banned throughout the British Army.

The news is particularly embarrassing against the background of a second inquest into the shooting death of recruit Cheryl James at the army's notorious Deepcut training camp in 1995. The original verdict was one of suicide. Three other recruits died of gunshot wounds at the camp between 1995 and 2002 and lawyers for James' family have raised allegations that recruits were abused, pimped out and female trainees seen as a sexual challenge by instructors.

Comment: Basic military training isolates recruits from the support of family and friends, instills fear, deprives them of rest and if they try to leave, they are punished (AWOL). The training is designed to break human beings down into mindless killing machines - swearing is the least of their problems.

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Footprints

Syrian civil war: On the front line with Iranian Revolutionary Guards

Robert Fisk
Independent
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
Syrian forces bridge
© Getty ImagesSyrian government forces cross a retractable military bridge on the outskirts of Aleppo.
'England is helping Isis and an English reporter is here asking for information'

We knew who they were the moment they approached us on the front line outside Aleppo. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards - no longer merely advisers but fighting troops alongside the Syrian army - emerged on the roadside in their grey-patterned camouflage fatigues, speaking good though not perfect Arabic but chatting happily in Persian when they knew we could understand them.

Why, they asked politely - they were courteous, but very suspicious in the first few minutes - were we filming this part of their line? A mortar exploded in a field to our right - sent over either by Isis or by Jabhat al-Nusra - and we had
Iranian Rev Guard
© www.frontpagemag.comIranian Revolutionary Guard now in Syria.
filmed its cloud of brown smoke as it drifted eastwards.

I told the Iranian commander, a tall, bespectacled and thoughtful man, that we were journalists. I got the impression that these men wanted to talk to us - which proved to be the case - but they were wary of us, as if we were dangerous aliens.

"When I heard that there was an English reporter asking for information in this area," the man said, "I said to myself: 'England is helping Isis and an English reporter is here asking for information'. The immediate thing in my mind was, 'Where is this information going to go?'"

He apologised. We must not think he was hostile to us. "If you were in my place and you were fighting a harsh and brutal enemy like Isis in this location - and this is our front line - you would ask yourself this question: 'What is the English reporter doing here - why should he be allowed here?'"

Comment: A more personable encounter in the war in Syria and how people are just people, given half a chance to get to know and trust one another, even if just briefly.

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Cowboy Hat

Symbolic? Russian man strangles attacking rabid wolf with bare hands


RT
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 19:23 UTC
Angry wolf
© Rafael Marchante/Reuters
A man in the Rostov region in southern Russia killed a rabid wolf barehanded after the animal attacked him, a woman, and a dog.

The wolf came into a village at dawn. He first bit a woman who was working in the yard outside her house, and then launched itself at the dog in front of her neighbor's. The owner heard his dog barking and rushed to the rescue. He first tried to beat off the predator with a stick, but the wolf became even more enraged and managed to bite the man several times. The man then abandoned the stick and, having become as enraged as the wolf, went on the offensive, grabbing the animal by the neck.

The man strangled the wolf to death, local veterinary service told RIA Novosti news agency.

Both the man and the woman are now being treated at a hospital, doctors said, without specifying the dog's fate. In inspecting the wolf's body, specialists found that it had been infected with rabies.

Authorities have been fighting an outbreak of the disease in the region by vaccinating various animals, including cattle, and were even forced to quarantine a number of areas in the Rostov region.

Meanwhile, in the Republic of Komi in northern Russia a man died after being bitten by a rabid polar fox. The victim worked at one of the region's field deposits, and was attacked by the animal in January, Sever TV channel reported. Instead of immediately consulting with medics, the man treated his wound himself with iodine.
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Mail

Prison blocks Manning's mail on prison censorship citing 'U.S. copyright law,' EFF cries foul


RT
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 06:00 UTC
Bradley (Chelsea) Manning.
© Jose Luis Magana/ReutersU.S. Army Pfc. Bradley (Chelsea) Manning
The US military prison has blocked delivery of printed articles on prison censorship to jailed whistleblower Chelsea Manning, citing copyright laws. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which sent the articles, suspects something else was behind the ban.

The American digital rights group sent printouts of six articles - four of its own and another two by Buzzfeed and Harvard Business Review - addressed to Manning, who is serving a 35-year term at the US Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

However, Manning was denied the delivery because the package contained "printed Internet materials, including email, of a volume exceeding five pages per day or the distribution of which may violate US copyright laws," the military prison's staff said in a notification to the WikiLeaks whistleblower.

The EFF's Dave Maass said he suspected that the USBD's staff was not genuine in its reasoning.

"It is possible that the Army withheld the documents because they were longer than five pages. However, we believe this to be unlikely since the documents it did deliver were far longer than any of the other materials and exceeded five pages," he wrote in a post on the EFF website.

Manning did receive a 65-page handbook titled 'Inmate Admission and Orientation' and the Bureau of Prisons' eight-page guidebook on 'Combating Inmate Facebook Usage.'

"That means that it was potentially copyright concerns that resulted in Manning's mail being censored," Maass wrote.

Comment: This sends a message to anyone who seeks to expose evildoers or continues to try and do so. Yet, there are no serious consequences for those that committed the egregious acts he blew the whistle on.

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Robot

Rise of the machines: Company owned by Google shares video of robot Atlas performing human functions


RT
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 18:34 UTC
atlas robot
© Boston Dynamics / YouTube
Google-owned Boston Dynamics scared the bejeezus out of the world this week by releasing video of its humanoid robot Atlas, a possible breakthrough for the cyborg takeover of Earth.

In a video that is simultaneously mesmerizing and creepy, the newest version of the 5ft 9in (175cm), two-legged cyborg is shown navigating snow-covered terrain, lifting 10lb (4.5kg) boxes with ease, and resisting a human's attempt to knock it over.

Engineers are also seen taunting and teasing Atlas by repeatedly knocking one of the boxes out of its hands with a hockey stick, which could backfire later if the robot develops revenge programming.

"It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess the terrain, help with navigation and manipulate objects," Boston Dynamics said about the 180lb (82 kg) machine.

The video ends with the robot opening a door and exiting the building, presumably to go plot the fall of mankind.

Earlier this month, the company showed off their four-legged robot, Spot, and, again, staff were shown repeatedly kicking their creation as it slowly built up a resentment for humans.

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Heart - Black

Cecil effect: Zimbabwe wildlife preserve considering culling 200 lions due to overpopulation


RT
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 18:00 UTC
lion eating prey
© Noor Khamis / Reuters
The largest wildlife reserve in Zimbabwe said it may be forced to cull 200 of its lions after the predator's population "exploded" due to hunters being scared off by international outrage over the killing of Cecil the lion last year.

Bubye Valley Conservancy, which is home to more lions than anywhere else in the south African country, said that the population of over 500 was too much for the reserve, the National Post reports.

The big cats have been decimating the population of antelopes and giraffes, and even wild dogs, cheetahs, and leopards, which have become easy prey after a dry summer left the grass short.

Bubye Valley now fears that it will have to kill more than a third of its lions to ensure the survival of other species. The conservancy has appealed to other reserves across Africa, asking them to take the predators in to avoid a worst case scenario.
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Cheese

What's with all the Chuck E. Cheese melees?

Piper McGowin
The Daily Sheeple
Tue, 23 Feb 2016 17:23 UTC
Chuck E. Cheese band
How many times are we going to see a scene like this coming out of a Chuck E. Cheese? Is it the bright lights? The abundance of electromagnetic frequencies? The creepy animatronic puppet band?

Here's a recent scene fresh out of a Chuck E. Cheese in Manchester, Connecticut:

Comment: Society has disintegrated so much that concepts such courtesy, politeness and basic manners have taken a back seat gladiator-like brawls over minor infractions. Treating others with civility is Basic Humanity 101 and remedial lessons are long overdue in these cases.

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Eye 2

Refugee teen who took course on how to behave towards women charged with raping female social worker


RT
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 16:52 UTC
refugees on cellphones
A 16-year-old Afghan refugee, who had recently taken a course on how to behave towards women, has been charged with raping a female employee at a refugee shelter in Belgium. The center's spokeswoman told RT he had had "an eye on her for quite some time."

The incident took place in the Belgian town of Menan near the French border. The minor, who "has been staying in the center in Menan already for five months," followed the "young cook into the basement," where he allegedly raped her, An Luyten, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross Flanders, told RT.

She added that the teenager "apparently already had an eye on her for quite some time."

Belgian prosecutors confirmed that the Afghan minor had attacked the young woman, who works for a catering firm providing services to the Menan refugee center, adding that a judge had ordered that the suspect be detained in youth custody until his next hearing.

Comment: Are Muslim men unable to control themselves because they are raised in a society where women are veiled? What ARE the justifications for the Hijab? It seems to make Muslim men weak and unable to control themselves. God certainly doesn't care...

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Red Flag

Hystericization: Parents upset when school assigns homework asking children to write Muslim conversion letter


RT
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 16:47 UTC
classroom
© Jean-Paul Pelissier / Reuters
Parents in Guernsey were shocked to hear about a creative writing homework which asked their children to write a letter saying they had converted to Islam.

The exercise in creative writing was part of a Religious Education lesson, where students were instructed to write the letter while thinking about how it might affect their feelings and the feelings of those around them.

But parents of the 12-and 13-year-old children complained that the exercise was insensitive, given that many British young people had converted to Islam and traveled to Syria to fight with extremist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Currently less than 1 percent of Guernsey's population is Muslim, and the island's local authorities recently refused to accept any Syrian refugees, the MailOnline reported.
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