Society's ChildS


Ambulance

Bucharest nightclub explosion causes multiple fatalities

Bucharest Blast
© Radio RomaniaUp to 400 people were attending a rock concert at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest when the fire broke out.
A blast in a Bucharest club has left 26 dead and at least 88 injured, according to officials.

According to Reuters, the explosion has been confirmed by Romania's Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea and Health Secretary Raed Arafat, though its cause is not yet known. Reports indicate that the incident occurred at a club known as Colectiv, in downtown Bucharest.

"It is a great tragedy, 25 are dead," Oprea said, according to EVZ portal.

More than 60 ambulances and fire trucks are on the scene, according to a press release from the Interior Ministry. A mobile hospital has been set up to treat wounded.

Alarm Clock

Palestinian baby suffocates to death from tear gas near Bethlehem

baby suffocates
© IMENCAn eight-month-old Palestinian baby died Friday, from tear gas inhalation, in Beit Fajjar village, to the south of Bethlehem during clashes in the area, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
The ministry said in a statement that Ramadan Mohammad Faisal Thawabta died after inhaling tear gas when clashes erupted nearby between Palestinians and Israeli military forces.

Thawabta's body is being transported to Beit Jala Governmental Hospital.

Three Palestinians were injured with 0.22 caliber bullets during clashes in the village, the ministry added.

An Israeli army spokesperson did not have any immediate information but told Ma'an News Agency that they were looking into the incident.

The eight-month-old child's death brings the total number of Palestinians killed this month to 67, at least ten of whom have been children.

At least nine Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians during the same time period. Earlier Friday, Qassem Mahmoud Sabaneh was shot dead after an alleged attack on an Israeli border policeman in Nablus, and Ahmad Hamada Qneibi, 23, died from his injuries hours after attacking and injuring an Israeli in occupied East Jerusalem.

Black Cat

The very crooked dealings in Hillary Clinton's past

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From 1993 to 2001, Alexander Cockburn and I wrote dozens of articles on the political corruption of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their cronies in DC and Arkansas. In many ways, those years represented the golden age of political journalism, with a fresh scandal ripening each month. As Hillary cruises toward the Democratic nomination, if not the White House, it's time to dig into the Clinton Files and resurrect the stories of sleaze, malfeasance and transgression from that feculent decade. — JSC


In the spring of 1996, Hillary Clinton faced a situation unique in American history: the possible criminal indictment of a president's wife. For two years a federal grand jury had been sitting in Little Rock, Arkansas, reviewing the Clintons' financial dealings from 1978 through 1992. The episodes submitted to their scrutiny by independent counsel Kenneth Starr included the Clintons' involvement in the Whitewater Development Corp.; HRC's legal representation of James McDougal's failing Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan; Madison's possible financing of Clinton campaigns; HRC's role in illegal real estate transactions in the Castle Grande development; the Clintons' fraudulent financial statements submitted in loan applications in the 1980s; and more generally, the political cronyism and favoritism the Clintons took part in during their sojourn in the governor's mansion in Little Rock.

Comment: Hillary Clinton is a parasite, a political animal, and a destructive force towards anything she touches. In the eyes of those in the dark halls of hegemonic power, her nature makes her the perfect candidate for President of the United States; she's got one hell of a track record.

See also: Hillary Clinton should stand trial for war crimes over her role in destroying Libya


Cell Phone

Choosing fantasy over reality: Nearly half of smartphone users can imagine relationship with phone AI

Ex Machina creator nathan stabbed by machine
© Universal Studios"Falling in love" with a machine didn't work too well for this guy
Almost half of all smartphone users could imagine falling in love with Siri, a study has revealed. Experts predict humans will soon start to develop sexual feelings for their virtual assistants.

In recent years, the demand for digital devices has grown rapidly, along with its users' desire to build fulfilling relationships with their virtual assistants.

It appears that artificial intelligence researchers are pushing the boundaries in teaching robots how to understand and react to human emotion.

According to research published in 2012, 87 percent of iPhone users used Siri at least once a month.

However, new research suggests the built in intelligent assistant, which uses natural voice to communicate, has worked its charm on users, as many of them claim they are falling in love with it.

Comment: This is profoundly disturbing and shows how many people would rather live in a fantasy world than actual reality. It seems like a totally narcissistic view of "love": some thing that is attractive and pleasing to the person because it obeys them, not the depth and complexity of a relationship with an actual human being. One wonders if this is one of the results of the epidemic of pornography usage:


V

Benedict Cumberbatch blasts EU handling of migrant crisis: "F**k the politicians!"

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© Johan Persson/PABenedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet at the Barbican centre, London.
The actor Benedict Cumberbatch has shown his growing frustration over the migration crisis during a speech after his Hamlet performance - reportedly saying "fuck the politicians".

The Sherlock star has been giving nightly speeches after his curtain call at the Barbican in London and asking for donations to help Syrian refugees. So far, audience contributions have raised more than £150,000 for Save the Children.

Cumberbatch has been particularly critical of the British government's decision to accept only 20,000 refugees over five years.

During the speeches, Cumberbatch has been reading a poem called Home by Somali poet Warsan Shire, the same one he read in the introduction to Help is Coming, Save the Children's charity single, released in the summer. It includes the line: "No one puts children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land."


Comment: More people need to speak up like Cumberbatch on the dreadful handling of immigrants to the EU.


Sheriff

Cowardly cops claim tasering 8 year-old was justified

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The mother of an 8-year-old Native American girl is suing police who maintain that they were justified in using a taser on the child. The family lives in Pierre, South Dakota and belong to the Rosebud Sioux community. Four police officers decided that this young girl who had a small paring knife was "a danger to herself," requiring them to taser her.

But her mother says that the officers should have used non-violent means to neutralize the threat they believed the 70-pound girl posed. It all happened back in October of 2013, but since then family members have obtained attorneys Dana Hanna and Patrick Duffy and their tribe has released public statements against the incident of irrational police brutality.

"Within seconds," the officer's electroshock weapon discharged snares into the chest of the 70-pound girl, the lawsuit reads.

"The force of the electricity shot through her body, lifted her, and threw her against a wall. After the officers had stunned (the girl) into high voltage submission, they pulled the fish-hook like Taser darts from her chest, gave her emergency medical attention, bandaged the holes left by the razor-sharp hooks, and called the ambulance."

Pierre Police Chief Bob Granpre, however, says that the police acted properly, and a two-month long investigate claims the same thing (PDF).

Comment: Another fine example of what happens when you call the police.


Wine n Glass

Cop with history of drunk driving who posted shot pics before killing people in drunken car crash says he was drugged

Officer Pedro Abad drinks from bottle
A police officer who killed two people in a drunken crash while he was driving the wrong way down the road is now claiming that he is not to blame for the accident because he suspects that he was drugged by strippers. However, it was documented that at the time of the accident the officer had a blood alcohol level of three times the legal limit.

The off-duty officer who was driving the car had posted a photo on his Instagram hours earlier of three shot glasses full of alcohol. In his Instagram post, Officer Pedro Abad identifies the drinks in the photos as "Jack Daniels Fire." He was at a strip club with a number of other police officers for several hours until they eventually left in a car together and crashed into a tractor trailer going the wrong way down a one-way street.
cop posts pics of shots

Comment: This man isn't responsible enough to know when he's too drunk to drive, but he's somehow responsible enough to be given a badge and a gun?


Shoe

Protecting their own: Cops allow sheriff's deputy to flee after being arrested for gun and drug charges

edward tucker, escaped deputy
Arrested three times within the last week for gun and drug charges, a sheriff's deputy was recently caught on video escaping from custody as his arresting officers stood next to him in the parking lot and allowed their colleague to flee. Although the deputy was found high on meth and accused of aiming his gun at children, his arresting officers claim he's a criminal mastermind capable of outwitting Harry Houdini.

On Saturday night, Kern County Sheriff's Deputy Edward Tucker was arrested after allegedly pulling a gun on a group of children at a birthday party. According to a witness, Tucker told a group of girls that he was being chased and was looking for a woman on a bicycle before pulling out his gun. When the girls denied seeing anything, Tucker reportedly aimed his firearm at each of them.

"He pointed the gun straight at them, at their chest, each one individually, and told them, 'You're lying to me,'" the resident described.

As deputies arrived on the scene, Tucker hid inside his car and waited for them to arrest him. After placing Tucker in custody, deputies found five handguns, two shotguns, and an assault rifle in his vehicle. They also found a small amount of methamphetamine in his car and suspected Tucker of being under the influence.

Bad Guys

Young Britons face worst economic prospects in generations, human rights study finds

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© Cathal McNaughton / Reuters
Young people in the UK are at risk of becoming a lost generation, a new report has found, with economic prospects for Britons under the age of 34 at their lowest level for several generations.

The report, published on Friday by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), concluded the average income of a young person had fallen dramatically in the past five years, and more barriers were preventing them from gaining economic independence.

Comment: It seems rather obvious that this situation is by design, otherwise the UK government would ensure all workers are guaranteed the same minimum wage. This is one of the consequences of allowing psychopaths to hold positions of power.


Arrow Up

Compassionate teacher shows a better way to respond to students in difficult situations

Spring valley high school police brutality
© TwitterA South Carolina police officer is seen accosting a student at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, in video online.
A post on Twitter by user Damito Jo (@kiaspeakes) showed on Thursday how the violent incident at Spring Valley High School — in which an white "school safety" officer brutalized a teenage black girl — could have gone differently.

"A former co-worker just shared this," wrote Damita Jo. "This is how good teachers respond to what happened at #springvalleyhigh."

The post said:
About 90 minutes ago, I was observed by my principal. A student had his phone out, I asked him quietly to put it away. He told me he couldn't. I immediately thought about "the situation." I asked him if he was ok, he told me no and burst into tears. He walked out of the room, I contemplated following him. I was being observed after all. I followed my heart though. The young man's brother was killed last night. I told him to write me a letter and express all his pain and use whatever words he wanted to express. He did it and I wrote back. It took me two minutes. When he walked out today, he said "I love you, Mrs. Turner-Swift. Thanks for listening to me." I really only gave him maybe five minutes of my time. That's all he needed; that's why I teach!

Comment: It's heartening to know that there are still teachers who have the compassion and humanity to care about their students. In a society that was not dominated by a psychopathic mindset, this teacher's behavior would be the norm. Hopefully her kind gesture will inspire more people to follow her example.