Society's ChildS


Health

Red Crescent convoy bringing aid to Madaya attacked near Damascus

red crescent convoy attacked syria
A Red Crescent convoy on a rescue mission to the Syrian town of Madaya northwest of Damascus came under heavy shelling, according to a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The vehicles were to deliver humanitarian aid to the western town of Madaya and evacuate four people in serious condition on an overnight mission that began Wednesday evening, Rafiulla Qureshi, a spokesperson for ICRC in Damascus, told RT.

Despite the concentrated fire, the coordinators and two doctors managed to survive the attack. The mission had to be put on hold for several hours, but the four people were eventually rescued.

"Yesterday's incident could have been lethal, we were lucky. It was a close call, but nobody was injured," Qureshi said.


Cars bearing the Red Cross or Red Crescent symbols should not be targeted under any circumstances, he stressed.

Handcuffs

FBI arrests nearly every top politician in insanely corrupt Texas town

fbi arrest texas mayor
© Bob Owen/The San Antonio Express-News via APFBI agents gather outside the home of Crystal City, Texas Mayor Ricardo Lopez for his arrest on Thursday morning, Feb. 4, 2016
Nearly every top ranking politician in the small Texas town of Crystal City was arrested last week in a massive corruption sweep. The officials were charged with taking bribes from contractors and working behind the scenes in illegal gambling operations.

The town's mayor, city manager, mayor pro tempore, and a number of different councilmen were arrested in the sweep on Thursday, and indicted on several charges.

One of the councilmen is already facing charges for a separate case where he is accused of smuggling Mexican immigrants into the states. After the arrests, there was just one councilman remaining in the entire city who was not in jail.

Pistol

Cops shoot up family's home, nearly killing them all and then handcuff family - offer no explanation

bullet hole door
A Florida man and his family are lucky to be alive after his house came under gunfire by police in the early morning hours on Saturday — but it was all a terrifying mistake.

According to the man, who asked to remain anonymous, he awoke around 1 am to pounding on his front door; but when he asked who was on the other side, no one responded.

Afraid his home was about to be burglarized, local ABC affiliate WFTV reported, the man retrieved his gun. A bright light shone through the front door when he returned, and someone outside yelled "gun!"

Then the gunfire started.

Comment: Since the police refused to identify themselves, the man had every right to arm himself as he went to the door. Even if the police believed that domestic violence had occurred, why would they not let the man know they were police? The police should be required to pay for all damage caused to the family's home from their reckless and dangerous actions.


USA

Seven teenage girls rescued from Super Bowl sex trafficking ring, says FBI

super bowl sex trafficking
© Isaiah J. Downing / USA TODAY Sports / ReutersA general view during the Super Bowl 50 championship parade celebration at Civic Center Park.
The FBI have released details of their anti-sex trafficking operation which targeted increased forced prostitution in the run-up to the Super Bowl.

Seven underage girls, ranging in age from 14 to 17, were rescued by the FBI in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Among the rescued teenagers were high-school students and children who had been reported missing by their parents. Additionally, a "developmentally delayed adult" who was being sexually exploited was rescued and her pimp arrested.

During the operation, 12 pimps and 85 prostitution clients were arrested, while a further 129 adults were arrested or "contacted" by the FBI for prostitution.

It's no secret that sex trafficking balloons around high profile sporting events such as the Olympic Games, the FIFA World Cup, and the Super Bowl.

"High-profile special events, which draw large crowds, have become lucrative opportunities for sex trafficking criminal enterprises," said FBI agent Bertram Fairries.

Comment: Although we are happy seven teenage girls were rescued, surely the FBI only went after the small fish to make it look like they are doing something about sex trafficking that is global and epidemic.


Magnify

Premiere study shows police Tasers can cause temporary dementia

tasing
© DeesIllustration.comA shocking study
The first study to look at the effects of a Taser shock on the human brain has produced unsettling results that will have major implications for police encounters. People are often questioned and/or read their Miranda rights just after being Tased, but researchers found that receiving 50,000 volts of electricity can cause a state of short-term cognitive impairment comparable to dementia.

Tasers have become the tool of choice for law enforcement "less than lethal weapons," with two million citizens being subjected to the devices. They can indeed be lethal, however, as 47 Americans died after being Tased last year. Tasers do not seem to reduce the number of people shot to death by police either, and they are often deployed needlessly.

Pistol

RFK friend Paul Schrade to defend Sirhan at parole hearing, calls for his release

rfk schrade
© MALDEF / YouTubeRobert F. Kennedy and Paul Schrade with Dolores Huerta
On Wednesday morning in San Diego, Sirhan Sirhan, the convicted assassin of Bobby Kennedy, will once again be considered for parole. Sirhan was originally scheduled for release in 1984 but after intense political pressure, his parole date was rescinded and he has since been denied 13 times.

At the hearing, Sirhan will come face-to-face with Paul Schrade for the first time — a close friend of the Kennedy family who, on June 5, 1968, was walking behind the senator when the shooting started. Schrade was shot in the head by Sirhan.

For over 40 years, Schrade, now 91, has been campaigning to reopen the case, based on eyewitness evidence that Sirhan could not have fired the fatal shot described in Kennedy's autopsy and an analysis of the only known audio recording of the shooting which indicates that 13 shots — and two guns — were fired.

Schrade plans to tell the parole board that new evidence shows Sirhan shot him and several others — but did not shoot Kennedy. In a short statement released in advance of the hearing, he says:
The LAPD and LA DA knew two hours after the fatal shooting of Robert Kennedy that he was shot by a second gunman and they had conclusive evidence that Sirhan Bishara Sirhan could not and did not do it. The official record shows that [the prosecution at Sirhan's trial] never had one witness - and had no physical nor ballistic evidence - to prove Sirhan shot Robert Kennedy. Evidence locked up for 20 years shows that the LAPD destroyed physical evidence and hid ballistic evidence exonerating Sirhan, and covered up conclusive evidence that a second gunman fatally wounded Robert Kennedy.
Schrade argues that a closer look at the bullet that hit him proves a second gun was fired and Sirhan could not have killed Robert Kennedy.

Comment: There is a new ban on audio and video recording of Sirhan's parole hearing. How convenient. The best introduction to the assassination of RFK by far is the documentary Evidence of Revision.


Cut

Hello, censorship: Twitter launches 'trust and safety' council to protect the public from abusive speech

twitter censorship
Twitter announced it will be joining in the pro-censorship campaigns currently sweeping social media under the familiar guise defenders of liberty and free speech love to hate: terrorism.

Twitter's version of the Thought Police, however, sounds somehow even more Orwellian than the original: The Trust & Safety Council — which will, unsurprisingly, "work to develop policies censoring speech on the site," as the Washington Examiner described.

"To ensure people can continue to express themselves freely and safely on Twitter, we must provide more tools and policies," the social media's statement paradoxically begins. "With hundreds of millions of Tweets sent per day, the volume of content on Twitter is massive, which makes it extraordinarily complex to strike the right balance between fighting abuse and speaking truth to power."

V

Pro-Palestinian hacker releases info on almost 30,000 agents for FBI and Homeland Security

FBI Headquarters
© Flickr/ Michael Femla
A hacker has published the personal information of some 20,000 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and 9,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers.

The hacker, tweeting from the account @DotGovs, advertised the data dump with a tweet which signed off "#FreePalestine." The data dumps, which include a list of names, job descriptions, phone numbers and emails, open with the message "Long Live Palestine, Long Live Gaza."

The hacker released the list of DHS agents on Sunday. Less than 24 hours later, he released the FBI data dump.

Several phone numbers on the list correspond to the names listed, according to website Motherboard. The job descriptions listed include special agent, field supervisor and task force officer, among others.

Bulb

Petition calls for Obama to be tried for war crimes at The Hague

obama
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
A petition accusing Barack Obama of war crimes and demanding he be prosecuted has been published on the White House website. It has already gained about 4,000 signatures.

"We demand conviction of a war criminal Barack Obama and trial in the International Criminal Court in [The] Hague. He is guilty of crimes not only against the USA citizens, but against the whole world," the petition states.

The authors also note that "one of the most dreadful prisons in history - Guantanamo - continues to function."

The US added to the de-stabilization of the situation in the Middle East, too, the petition's authors state.

Comment: Everyone should sign and share this petition!


V

Assange: A vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for endless, stupid war

clinton assange photo
© ReutersDemocratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (L) and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has spoken out against US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, calling her a "war hawk with bad judgment" who gets an "emotional rush out of killing people."

"A vote today for Hillary Clinton is a vote for endless, stupid war," Assange wrote via the @wikileaks Twitter account on Tuesday.

He added that he has "years of experience in dealing with Hillary Clinton and have read thousands of her cables. Hillary lacks judgment and will push the United States into endless wars which spread terrorism."

Assange also highlighted Clinton's "poor policy decisions," which he said have "directly contributed" to the rise of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Stating that Clinton went above the heads of Pentagon generals when it came to Libya, he wrote: "Libya has been destroyed. It became a haven for ISIS. The Libyan national armory was looted and hundreds of tons of weapons were transferred to jihadists in Syria."