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Child trafficking cases on the rise in Rochester, US

Savannah Smith
The Goldwater
Sat, 03 Feb 2018 11:19 UTC
child abuse
There's an alarming increase in Rochester children who are being sold for sex.

Police, medical officials, and local agencies referred 127 cases of kids in 2014 who could be sexually exploited. Last year, 62 of those children admitted they had been sold for sex. The Center for Youth Safe Harbor program which offers to counsel the children and teens still have more than 200 open cases.

Child rights and protection advocate Melanie Blow, Chief Operations Officer for the Stop Abuse Campaign says such deplorable practice has been going on "for a very, very long time."

Comment: The horror of child trafficking is a disturbing reflection of the ills of our world:

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Arrow Up

Declared dead, family dog found alive after 10 years

Brian C. Rittmeyer
Trib Live
Tue, 30 Jan 2018 22:15 UTC
Abby the Black Lab
© Nate Smallwood/Tribune Review
Abby looks up while waiting for the arrival of her owner at Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley on Jan. 30, 2018. She was reunited with her Washington Township owners after about 10 years.
Abby was dead.

Ten years ago, the year-old black lab mix was playing with the kids outside Debra Suierveld's Washington Township home and wandered off.

They looked for her, but she was gone.

Abby was declared deceased.

On Saturday, Suierveld got a call from Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley. They said they had her dog.

Couldn't be, she said. Her two dogs were right there with her, including Cedona - her black lab mix.

Then they said her name: Abby.

Comment: There's nothing quite as heartwarming as stories about beloved pets being reunited with their owners. See:

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Arrow Down

"Amazon is painful": Shopper finds desperate note with package

Danny De Vaal
The Sun
Sat, 03 Feb 2018 11:19 UTC
'AMAZON IS PAINFUL' Shopper finds desperate
© Mercury Press
On the back of her gift message was a handwritten note that read: “Please help, Amazon is painful!”
A student has been left baffled after apparently finding a bizarre note inside her Amazon delivery which said: "Please help!"

Zahina Rani, 18, received a belated present from her sister Sanna who asked for a birthday message to be included.

But on the back of the gift message Zahina said she was shocked to find the apparent desperate handwritten note which also said: "Amazon is painful".

Comment: Bezos is happy to reap the profits but Amazon has come under fire for its inhumane treatment of its workers: And considering Bezos' attitude to staff at Amazon, this is a worrying development:

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Chess

Germany disregards US sanctions, approves North Stream 2 pipeline with Russia


RussiaFeed
Sat, 03 Feb 2018 13:18 UTC
Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

Component sections of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, waiting to be laid in the Baltic Sea.
In the latest of a slowly advancing series of events, Germany has decided to disregard and work around the American economic sanctions directed at the Russian Federation, and to find a way to bring in the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany.

Finland, Sweden and Denmark have yet to approve the new pipeline project, but with Germany as a major economic power on board it is increasingly likely that they will follow suit.

Comment: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says this pipeline will be a 'threat' to Europe's energy security:
Poland, Ukraine and Baltic states fear the pipeline would increase Europe's dependence on Russian gas and provide the Kremlin with billions of dollars of additional revenue to finance a further military build-up on European Union's borders.

"Like Poland, the United States opposes the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. We see it as undermining Europe's overall energy security and stability," Tillerson said at a joint news conference with the Polish foreign minister in Warsaw.

"Our opposition is driven by our mutual strategic interests," he said.
However, the biggest threat has been from the US, and German businessmen know it. German politicians are increasingly pressuring Merkel to abandon US-imposed sanctions altogether:
Sanctions are "a dead horse one should not ride anymore," Ramelow told Der Spiegel as he pointed out that they did not actually contribute anything to the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis. Ukraine's problems cannot be "solved through a symbolic policy at the expense of our industries," he said. [...]

In December 2017, a study published by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy showed that Germany is de facto Europe's biggest loser from the EU penalties introduced against Russia. German exports to Russia dropped nearly 40 percent with the country losing €618 million ($768 million) each month because of the sanctions.


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Stormtrooper

California man vanishes after last seen on video, handcuffed, getting head-stomped by cops

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 03 Feb 2018 13:36 UTC
Gerardo Bernabe Vazquez cops policemen
© The Free Thought Project
A family is frantically searching for their loved one after he went missing. He was last seen on video in handcuffs, getting his head stomped on by police.

San Bernardino, CA - The family of Gerardo Bernabe Vasquez, 21, is now frantically searching for their beloved family member after he was last seen in handcuffs with a San Bernardino Sheriff's deputy's boot on his face.

According to the family, Vasquez suffered a "mental health episode" last month and they are unsure if he's since relapsed. They are now asking for the public's help in finding him and raising awareness to the fact that he was last seen being beaten by cops while handcuffed.

According to police, the violence started after one officer detained Vasquez for acting strangely. During the stop, a struggle ensued until another officer showed up to help get Vasquez under control. Vasquez was then placed in handcuffs at which point one officer appears to hold him down while another repeatedly stomps on his face.

Comment: If a man was missing and had been last seen being beaten by anyone other than a policeman, what would you think most likely happened?

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Stock Down

America's most hated companies

Kate Gibson
CBS News
Thu, 01 Feb 2018 15:15 UTC
sad statue liberty
Corporate America as a whole is blamed for all sorts of societal ills, from greed on Wall Street to shafting the little guy. But people's scorn can intensify when it comes to individual companies and other organizations, especially after inadvertent missteps or, worse, outright misconduct.

Here's a quick rundown of the 20 most hated U.S. companies, according to 24/7 Wall St., which took customer surveys, employee reviews and news events into account in devising its list:

Comment: For more on the debate surrounding the issue of sexual harassment, mentioned often in the list above, see:

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Bomb

Turkey bombs giant portrait of Kurdish leader Ocalan near Afrin


RT
Sat, 03 Feb 2018 13:31 UTC
landmark dedicated to Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan in Syria’s Afrin area
© TNN HABER / YouTube
A Turkish airstrike has hit a landmark dedicated to Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan in Syria's Afrin area. Ocalan is serving a life sentence in a Turkish prison for crimes related to the PKK militant movement.

According to Turkish media, the skyward-facing portrait is located on the slope of Mount Darmik in the north-western Syrian Kurdish enclave, which is being targeted by a Turkish air-and-ground operation. The footage of the airstrike shows the giant portrait from the air before a powerful explosion hits it. As the clouds of smoke and dust dissipate, a gaping hole can be seen where the Kurdish leader's month was.
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Handcuffs

After extending detention of Ahed Tamimi four times, Israel now delays her trial


Middle East Monitor
Tue, 30 Jan 2018 12:51 UTC
Ahed Tamimi
© İssam Rimawi/Anadolu Agencyİssam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency
16-year-old Palestinian Ahed al-Tamimi appears in court at Ofer Military Court in Ramallah, West Bank on 17 January 2018
An Israeli court has postponed the trial of Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi and her mother to 6 February, according to the Palestinian Information Centre.

Israel's Ofer military court, located west of the West Bank city of Ramallah, delayed the trial yesterday that was originally scheduled to take place tomorrow.

Tamimi, a resident of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank, was arrested after a video of her and her cousin forcing Israeli occupation forces off her family's land went viral on social media.

The incident came moments after occupation forces shot her 14-year-old cousin in the head with rubber-coated steel bullets. The shot required dangerous surgery which involved removing part of the boy's skull in order to take out the bullet.

Comment: Israel may be doing this as a form of psychological torture. They want this brave teenage girl to pay for 'humiliating' Israeli soldiers with well deserved slaps.

For the incident that lead to her imprisonment, see:

The IDF vs The Teenage Girl: Palestinian Activist Ahed Tamimi Arrested For Slapping Soldiers Who Shot Boy

Please consider signing the letter to free Ahed Tamimi.

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TV

BBC's 'GENIUS' satire of Piers Morgan's interview with Trump is... a vulgar ass joke (VIDEO)


RT
Sat, 03 Feb 2018 12:25 UTC
The Mash Report BBC Two
© BBC Two
You can pick apart Piers Morgan's recent interview with Donald Trump for factual flaws, or mock Trump's "not a feminist" comment... or you can simply make anal sex jokes, like BBC Two did.

Both Trump and controversial ITV Breakfast presenter Morgan offered plenty of ammunition for critics during their "world exclusive interview" on Sunday, January 28: From Trump's "I'm not a feminist" admission to his ideas of climate change.

Indeed, RT joined in as well, talking about Trump and Morgan's off-screen links among other things.

But most of those bullets have now been used up, and BBC Two has now decided to run this:


Comment: Wow, BBC. Keeping it classy with UK tax payer's money. A sign of desperation perhaps? Hint: Other people managed to mock the Trump interview without making use of vulgarities:

'Breaking (broken) news' about Trump not being a 'feminist' triggers fierce public mockery

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Stormtrooper

Syrian Kurds outraged over mutilation of female fighter by Turkish backed 'rebels'


Guardian
Fri, 02 Feb 2018 11:49 UTC
Barin Kobani Kurdish woman
© Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images
A picture of Barin Kobani on the phone of a military commander of the Syrian Kurdish Women’s Protection Units.


Turkish-backed rebels accused of filming mistreatment of Women's Protection Units member

Syrian Kurds have accused Turkish-backed rebels of mutilating then filming the body of one of their female fighters after a video emerged of her corpse.

Turkey and allied Syrian rebels have pressed an offensive since 20 January against the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria, whose Kurdish fighters Ankara views as terrorists.

A Kurdish official identified the woman as Barin Kobani, who took part in a US-backed campaign to drive the Islamic State jihadist group from the northern town of Kobani.

Comment: One problem with Turkey's operation 'Olive Branch' is that they are fighting YPG/SDF terrorists with Free Syrian Army terrorists:
Units of the Turkish Armed Forces and the forces of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) coordinated tactics to sweep Afrin from battle groups of Kurdish Forces of the Popular Defence Forces (SNA). The military had identified seven major corridors to enter the city from the East. Armoured units of the Turkish Army and fighters of the FSA will move through them. These forces are divided into four major militant groups, took positions near the Turkish border awaiting the order to advance towards Afrin.
See: Expect much more chaos in northern Syria.

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