Society's ChildS

Eagle

US, New York: Judge Upholds Eviction of Wall St. Protesters

Image
© Reuters/Eduardo Munoz Bill Talen, known as Reverend Billy (C), delivers a speech to members of the Occupy Wall Street movement as they return to Zuccotti Park in New York November 15, 2011.
A judge upheld New York City's right to evict Occupy Wall Street protesters from a park on Tuesday after baton-wielding police in riot gear broke up a two-month-old demonstration against economic inequality.

Protesters who had been kicked out in a surprise predawn raid were allowed back 16 hours later but were banned from bringing the tents and sleeping bags that had turned a square-block park near Wall Street into an urban campground the past two months.

New York Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman found the city was justified in enforcing a ban on sleeping in Zuccotti Park, saying the new rules still protected protesters' free-speech rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The judge ruled merely that the case lacked the urgency to approve or strike down the new park rules immediately. The underlying case will be heard at a later date.

After the judge's ruling, police lifted barricades at two points, letting people back in one by one. Several hundred protesters were in the park under a light drizzle, and the crowd thinned as the night wore on. The mood was largely free of tension.

Stormtrooper

US: NYPD Assaults Man & Punches Woman in Face at OWS / Liberty Plaza


Dane from OWS is bounced by the NYPD and @ 1:45 of this video a woman brandishing a court order that affirmed the rights of protesters to occupy Liberty ark is punched in the face by NYPD.

Info

High Childhood IQ Linked To Drug Use

IQ and Drugs
© redOrbit

New research suggests that a high childhood IQ may be linked to subsequent illegal drug use.

Researchers studied data from 8,000 people in the 1970 British Cohort Study, which is a large ongoing population based study.

The IQ scores of the participants were measured at the ages of 5 and 10 years by using a validated scale, and then the information that was gathered on self reported levels of psychological distress and drug use at the ages of 16 and 30.

The team found that about a third of men and a sixth of women had used marijuana by the age of 30, while 8.5 percent of men and 3.6 percent of women had used cocaine in the previous 12 months.

A similar pattern of use was found for other drugs, with overall drug use being twice as common among men as among women.

The analysis showed that men with high IQ scores at the age of 5 were around 50 percent more likely to have used amphetamines, ecstasy, and several illicit drugs than those with low scores.

Stormtrooper

US: Police arrest reporters as press complains of media blackout at 'Occupy Wall St.'

NYPD officers observe Occupy Wall protesters
© David Shankbone
"Occupy Wall Street" protesters weren't the only group who had a difficult morning thanks to NYPD's actions in Zuccotti Park.

A number of reporters complained of a media blackout from covering the morning raid. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly confirmed that several journalists were arrested by authorities.

The Associated Press reported that two of their reporters, writer Karen Matthews and photographer Seth Wenig, were taken into custody. The New York Daily News reported that their reporter Matthew Lysiak was also detained. NPR freelance reporter Julie Walker was arrested but indicated she has been released.

A photographer with Agance France Presse, a reporter for The Local East Village, and other journalists were also arrested. Police don't currently know the exact number of journalists were arrested.

Nuke

Ex-Nuclear Engineer Speaks Out: 'TEPCO is a Terrible Company'

Please click on "cc" to show English subtitles. Mr. Toshio Kimura is a former nuclear designer at TEPCO. He used to work at Fukushima-1 Nuclear Power Plant. When the earthquake/tsunami hit, he was living 15km west of the plant, operating his own business of solar power generation and surfing in his free time. After the explosion of Unit 1 reactor, he and his family evacuated to Kochi Prefecture, where they live now.

Mr. Kimura has given talks at various anti-nuclear rallies around the country. This video is one of his talks at the rally held in Kochi Prefecture on April 29, 2011.


Eye 1

CCTV taxi plan 'a staggering invasion of privacy'

Image
Plans to fit all taxis operating in the city of Oxford with audio recording devices have been branded a "staggering invasion of privacy" prompting calls for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to investigate how widespread the use of microphones on public transport has become.

Taxi drivers in the university town have been told that they need to install the ยฃ460 devices by 2015 or face having their licenses revoked. The microphones, accompanied by CCTV cameras, will activate once the ignition in the car is turned on and will remain recording for 30 minutes after the engine is turned off.

The council says the recording equipment is necessary to protect drivers and passengers as well as deal with any disputes over fares. Recorded information would only be accessible to the police or council officials.

But privacy campaigners say the plans represent a significant "ramping up" of surveillance culture in Britain and may well be in breach of Government guidelines.

Newspaper

US: Antiwar Candidate Ron Paul Moves to Top Tier in Iowa

Ron Paul

The Iowa caucuses are just seven weeks away, but Republican voters in the nation's first presidential nominating state seem as torn as ever over the GOP field.

A new Bloomberg poll of likely caucus participants shows a four-way tie in Iowa, with Rep. Ron Paul joining Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain in the top tier of candidates. Underscoring the uncertainty in the race, 60 percent of respondents said they could be persuaded to back someone other than their first choice for the nomination.

The poll, conducted November 10 - 12 by the West Des Moines-based firm Selzer & Co, shows Cain in the lead with 20 percent, while Paul comes in at 19 percent. Romney wins 18 percent support, and Gingrich earns 17 percent. The margin of error is 4.4 percent.

Shoe

US, South Carolina: Teacher Accused Of Making Students Rub Her Feet

School District Launches Investigation


Lexington County School District Three is investigating after a first-grader complained about having to rub her teacher's feet.

A district representative said the district has launched a full investigation, appropriate action has been taken and the situation has been rectified. But that's not nearly enough for some parents.

"She admitted to the children rubbing her feet," said Brenda Norris. "Just the thought of it... They immediately sent her home, but she's back there today."

Norris is far from satisfied after her 6-year-old granddaughter, who is in first grade, came home from Batesburg-Leesville Primary School last Wednesday to said she was "tired of rubbing her teacher's feet."

"'Do she take off her socks and shoes?'" Norris recounted asking. "'Grandma, she wears flip flops.'"

Megaphone

US: Occupy Wall Street protesters locked in legal battle with New York's Michael Bloomberg

Anti-capitalist protesters are locked in a legal battle with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, after Occupy Wall Street, their New York protest camp, was demolished and demonstrators were evicted.

Image
© Getty ImagesWorkers clean-up Zuccotti Park after New York City police in riot gear removed Occupy Wall Street protesters

Lawyers for the protesters, who have inspired dozens of demonstrations around the world, were arguing in New York supreme court that a police raid on the camp early Tuesday morning was illegal.

Hundreds of NYPD officers wearing riot gear burst into Manhattan's Zuccotti Park at 1am, arresting more than 140 people inside the two-month-old camp and about 60 outside in chaotic scenes.

As they tore down tents, seized tonnes of equipment and binned the 5,000 books in the camp's library, police blocked photographers from observing the raid and physically removed reporters from the site.

Mr Bloomberg said he had ordered the eviction because "health and safety conditions became intolerable" in the park and protesters were encroaching on the rights of others.

"New York City is the city where you can come and express yourself," he told a press conference. But he added: "No right is absolute and with every right comes responsibilities".

Attention

Canada: Occupy Toronto Protesters Get Eviction Notices

'The time has come to remove your tents,' eviction notices read

Image
© Colin Butler/CBCAn Occupy Toronto protester remains defiant in the face of eviction notices issued by the city on Tuesday morning.
The City of Toronto issued eviction notices Tuesday calling on Occupy Toronto protesters who have been camping in a downtown park for more than a month to leave immediately.

Toronto bylaw officers began handing out the notices about 10 a.m. ET.

The notices order occupiers to "remove your tents, structures, equipment and personal belongings from the park.

"The city recognizes the rights of Canadians to gather and protest. However the city has determined that it cannot allow the current use of St. James Park to continue," they say.

"In particular, the city can no longer sanction the appropriation of St. James Park by a relatively small group of people to the exclusion of all others wishing to use the park and to the detriment of those in the vicinity of the park."