Society's ChildS


Attention

IDF deliberately shot unarmed civilians, rescue workers

Ambulance in Gaza
© blogs.icrc.org
Reports from the Red Cross and international human rights groups accuse Israeli troops of deliberately shooting and killing unarmed civilians attempting to flee for their lives in Gaza, as well as medical personnel attempting to rescue the injured.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has reported emergency medical workers, ambulances and civilian volunteers have all come under Israeli attack as they attempted to rescue civilians injured during the ferocious month-long air, land and sea bombardment of the densely populated strip.

On July 25, ambulances from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) were attacked by Israeli forces as they attempted to rescue wounded civilians in Beit Hanoun.

The vehicles were clearly marked with the Red Crescent emblem when they were attacked. One medical rescue worker was killed and three others seriously injured in the attack.

Also on July 25, ICRC reported one of its volunteers was fatally wounded while working in Khuza'a. Israeli troops also fired on other volunteers who attempted to rescue him.

The main PRCS hospital and administrative facility in Gaza has also been attacked by Israeli forces, and 40 of its emergency workers have been wounded while on duty. Some 26 ambulances have also been damaged. Many ICRC ambulances have been shot at while attempting to rescue injured civilians.

Doctors, nurses, medical rescue personnel and ambulance drivers described the horrific and dangerous conditions under which they must work, sometimes narrowly avoiding death as they attempt to save others.

Light Sabers

Central Kiev burns anew: Police & activists clash on Maidan

Activists and police have clashed in the Ukrainian capital's center after communal workers tried to dismantle the camp. It follows a months-old conflict over the camp with the city administration.
maidan burns
Camp residents are currently fortifying the old barricades and building new ones, Ria Novosti reported.

Law enforcement officials have been injured in the clashes with activists on the Kiev's Independence square, according to the Interior Ministry press service.

It's not known how many people were injured, ITAR-TASS reports. The majority of injuries were from stones thrown by protesters.

The smoke from burning tires can be smelt all over the city center, witnesses say.

Newspaper

News Flash: Being poor in America has been outlawed

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As they say, you can always judge a society by how they treat their weakest members. So I shudder to think of how future generations will judge our society. We've become a nation that discards our poor like they are trash, and anyone who doesn't "fit in" is segregated from the herd.

The police are now fining homeless folks for any arbitrary offense they can think of, and city councils across the country are making it illegal to sleep in public. They've gone so far as to make it illegal to camp, or even sit or lay down in certain public areas. Worst of all, many cities are making it illegal, or prohibitively expensive to give food to the homeless. According to an interview from The Independent, with a former police chief involved in a charity dedicated to feeding the poor:
The homeless are an embarrassment for the town, said Arnold Abbott, a 90-year-old former police chief from Pennsylvania and director of Love Thy Neighbor, an organization that has been feeding homeless here for over 20 years. Five times the city has tried and failed in court to stop him serving meals each Wednesday on the beach beneath the tourist strip.
The town, he said, really wants the homeless to go away. "They would like to put them in a bus and send them to Miami or Palm Beach. It's very close to ethnic cleansing. But they are not going to succeed."

Comment: Additional examples of the ongoing discrimination against America's homeless:


X

Yoshiki Sasai suicide: Japanese stem cell scientist found dead in Kobe facility

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© ReutersYoshiki Sasai, deputy director of the Riken's Center for Developmental Biology in Japan, attends a news conference in Tokyo April 16, 2014. Sasai, a Japanese researcher at the center of discredited research that was initially hailed as a potential breakthrough for stem cell treatment, killed himself after months of stress and exhaustion, officials said on Tuesday.
A Japanese scientist who was among a team of researchers accused of falsifying the results of two stem cell studies committed suicide Tuesday at a government science institute in western Japan. Yoshiki Sasai, deputy director of the Riken Center for Developmental Biology, was found by a security guard at the Kobe facility with a rope around his neck, the Associated Press reports. Authorities said he had suffered from cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead two hours later.

Sasai, 52, was considered an expert in embryonic stem cell research and co-authored two research papers published in January in the journal Nature that detailed a seemingly groundbreaking method of harvesting stem cells to grow new human tissue. Sasai and lead author Haruko Obokata reported having successfully altered ordinary mouse cells into versatile stem cells by immersing them in a mildly acidic solution. The resulting cells were named stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) cells.

Airplane

Expensive sanctions: Western airlines could be banned from overflying Siberia in tit-for-tat measure over sanctions

Senior government official issues warning over possible curb which could hit major air carriers.
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© Virgin AtlanticExamples of Western airlines overflying Siberia are British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa.
Russian lawmakers are considering limiting or banning transit flights across Siberia on the Europe-Asia route, according to a high-ranking government official.

A report was carried on Tuesday by Vedomosti newspaper and cited by other major Russian media including RIA Novosti.

Consultations are believed to have been held by the Transport Ministry and Foreign Ministry over curbs on Western airlines which have dozens of flights daily using Siberian airspace.

'Any unfriendly measures taken by the EU, including that concerning air transportation, will be considered and not left without the response,' a diplomatic source told Vedomosti. 'To fly to Asia European airlines presently use the shortest Trans-Siberian route and pay for it to Russian Aeroflot. According to the source close to the company, Aeroflot receives less than $300 million annually from foreign airlines,' reported RIA Novosti.

Display

Italian online petition urges 'Nuremberg for Israel' over Palestinian genocide

Italians protest Israel
© rt.comItalians petition for a Nuremberg trial for Israel.
Hundreds of Italians have signed an online petition slamming Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip as a "slow genocide" of the Palestinians and demanding a "Nuremberg trial" for Israel over the "destruction" of Palestine.

The petition was signed by 525 Italians, mainly academics,
Haaretz reported. The signees say they are dismayed by the events in Gaza and accuse Israel of pursuing colonial policies and "ethnic cleansing" of the Palestinians.
The document calls for Israel to face an international tribunal, a Nuremberg-like trial, for its war crimes and the "slow genocide" of the Palestinian people. Italian activists believe that not only the Israeli military and the government, but also the entire state of Israel and "its accomplices" should be brought to trial over current events, as well as those in the past and "the foreseeable future."
The online document also blames the US for supporting Israel, and the EU for "active or passive complicity" in Israel's actions against the Palestinian people. The petition signees also accuse the United Nations of its failure to stop Israel. The Western media, according to activists, paints the events in the wrong light, justifying the Israeli offensive in Gaza as a self-defense operation.

Called 'Noi Accusiamo' (We Accuse), the petition was initially published on an academic website, Historia Magistra, but has gone viral after being re-posted on the website of left-wing newspaper Il Manifesto.

Comment: An old man in Gaza held a placard that said: "You take my water, burn my olive trees, destroy my house, take my job, steal my land, imprison my father, kill my mother, bombard my country, starve us all, humiliate us all but I am to blame: I shot a rocket back."

Since inception in 1948, Israel has systematically become a terrorist state. Its hypocrisy, disinformation and subterfuge authorize self-permission for genocide, destruction, ruthless brutality--including using extreme methods against itself in order to further an agenda (as in the murders of three Israeli teens blamed on Hamas and the killing of its own IDF soldier in order to violate the recent ceasefire). It has purposefully and willfully brought Gaza to the brink of collapse while, without mercy, the death toll of innocent civilians keeps rising. Who will stop this massacre? Who will hold Israel (and accomplices) accountable? And, what is taking so long?


Bizarro Earth

'This is devastation': Toxic British Columbia mine spill compared to Exxon Valdez disaster

BC Disaster
A ruptured dam in a Canadian mine released 4.5 million cubic meters of toxic silt and 10 million cubic meters of water into a nearby lake on Monday, with local First Nations activists already comparing the incident to other disasters, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

"Like the Exxon Valdez, Mount Polley will be synonymous with one of the most disastrous environmental events in British Columbia," Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said in a statement. "The frightening fact is both environmental disasters could have been prevented by vigorous government oversight by an effectively resourced agency bound by robust legislative and environmental safeguards."

Heart - Black

Six youths were taken to a bathroom in a house in Khuzaa and executed by Israeli forces

khuzaa
People and destroyed buildings in Khuza'a, southern Gaza
Israel and Palestinian groups are blaming each other for violating a 72-hour truce that broke down just hours after coming into effect on Friday.

An Al Jazeera team arrived at Khuzaa in Khan Younis to find people retrieving decomposing bodies from homes.

Witnesses said six youths had been taken to a house and executed by Israeli forces. The bodies were left there for several days.

One man said: "It is a mass execution of six Palestinian youths who were brought to this bathroom. Look at the gunshots on the wall."

Heart - Black

Pastor John Hagee: God thinks 'nasty' welfare recipients should get a job or starve

John Hagee
© Unknown
In his Sunday sermon at the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Pastor John Hagee explained that it is "God's position" that welfare recipients should get a job or expect to starve, according to Right Wing Watch.

Stating that America has an underclass of citizens dependent upon help from the government equal to the population of Spain, Hagee asserted that there is a division in America, "Those who pay double through taxes, and those who get a free ride. This is not justice, and this is not the American way."

While admitting that there are some unfortunate Americans who need help, Hagee admonished others to get off the couch and get a job.

"To those of you who are sick, to those of you who are elderly, to those of you who are disabled, we gladly support you," he said as his voice began to rise. "To the healthy who can work but won't work, get your nasty self off the couch and go get a job!"

Hagee went on to say that "America has rewarded laziness and we've called it welfare," before adding "The Bible says 'The man who does not work, should not eat.' I know the liberals hate that verse, but read it and weep! It's God's position."

The video does not show Hagee reading Matthew 25:35 where occasionally-employed itinerant carpenter Jesus Christ reportedly said, "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me."

Dominoes

Latest Gallup poll shows young Americans overwhelmingly support Palestine

protests wdc
Protestors at Washington DC
Large demonstrations against Israel's assault on Palestinians in Gaza were staged across the US on Saturday. The public outpouring of support for Palestinians in US streets suggests that Washington's pro-Israel policies are becoming increasingly unpopular, a trend supported by a recent poll on Israel's latest aggression, which finds that young Americans are twice as likely to support Palestinian rights than Israeli occupation.

Tens of thousands of Americans held a demonstration in front of the White House in Washington, DC. Protestors travelled in buses from around the country to join the national rally, waving Palestinian flags and chanting "free Palestine" in the US capital.

On the other side of the country, thousands of Americans staged a protest in Austin, Texas while a plane flew in the skies with the message "save Gaza free Palestine".